It was a good five minutes before Trixie was able to calm herself. During which time she had gone through all the stages of depression in record time.
Denial: "You can't arrest me, do you have any idea who I am? I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Anger: "I'll sue you for everything, you hear me? Marks my words you will rue this day! Rue it I say!"
Bargaining: "Dusk Shine! My best friend, tell him I'm innocent. I'll do whatever you want, as long as it doesn't involve physical labor."
Sadness: "Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaa!"
And finally, Acceptance: "So be it! I'll serve my time but this is not the end of Trixie! I'll be back and better than ever."
Kevin, who's arm was now sore from being jerked along via the handcuffs during Trixie's performance glanced over at Dusk with a raised eyebrow. "Is she always like this?" he asked.
"Pretty much," he answered, "but more importantly, why exactly is she under arrest?"
"Let's have a seat," he said and gave the cuffs a slight tug to prompt Trixie to follow, "I'll explain everything." Dusk first asked Spike to make them something to drink then followed Kevin and his prisoner to the dining room. He took a seat in one of the chairs while the other two sat perpendicular to each other. Spike joined them a moment later with a tray and four cups of hot tea. "First, let me start by saying that this isn't as bad as it sounds." He looked to Trixie, "officially, you're being charged for unleashing a class 9 dangerous creature in a public area."
"But that wasn't my fault!" Trixie shouted. "That weird... thing thralled me. Tell him, Dork Shine!" she looked to dusk with pleading eyes.
"It's true," Dusk said, "her eyes were unfocused and her behavior was erratic. She also suffered headaches and slight memory loss, all symptoms of enthrallment."
"I know," Kevin said simply. At the confused looks he continued, "your 'arrest' is just the official story for anyone who asks. In actuality I'm here both to protect you and continue an ongoing investigation." He leaned in, "what I'm about to tell you three is considered a national security issue and cannot leave this room. Understand?"
When Dusk, Spike and Trixie all nodded in understanding he continued, "on the night of the ursa attack I was following a lead on a potential security breach, it lead me to a strange facility where I was able to watch the whole attack unfold through a computer monitor of some sort."
"So that's how you knew the ursa was coming," Dusk said. That had been bothering him for some time. "But, how were you able to see everything?"
"The creature that thralled you," he said to Trixie, "I was able to see through its eyes. I believe it to be a construct of some sort, the computer called it the Sentinel." He then turned to Dusk, "it also identified itself as Auryn, I believe you're familiar with that word."
Dusk stood with enough force that his chair slid back several inches. "Auryn?" he asked, "as in A U R Y N?"
"Exactly."
Dusk's mind was running a mile a minute but Trixie on the other hand, couldn't be more confused. "Ok, back up. Can one of you please tell Trixie what in Harmony's name is going on? What is that creature? What is Auryn? And WHY is Trixie still in handcuffs?" she demanded.
"I believe it started with the Nightmare Incident," Kevin answered. Dusk went on to explain how he and his friends defeated Nightmare Moon and how, after using their full power, he had a vision of the word AURYN. He didn't mention the other visions or the minor hallucinations he'd had in the days that followed as they didn't seem important. Kevin then told his part of the story, explaining about Lock Tight, the deranged writings in his journal and finally his interaction with the strange device beyond the Great Metal Door.
"...and so Princess Celestia sent me here because she thinks you might be able to unlock the secrets of this artifact," Kevin indicated to the data cube on the table. "She also wants me to watch over you, Miss Lulamoon, in case the Sentinel decides to attack you again."
While Dusk eyed the cube with fascination, Trixie drummed her fingers with a deadpan look. "So let Trixie see if she has this straight," she said, "this buffoon, along with you and five other unremarkable girls from this one horse town in the middle of nowhere defeated an ancient evil that was able to overpower the woman who controls the sun. Then, some creep who's stalking Trixie tells you how to get into an ancient ruin that no one has been able to open in over 10,000 years, inside which you find an advanced computer that gives you a trinket after saying Dork Shine's name. Then you blow it up and come here to arrest Trixie for something you know she's not guilty of. Have I left anything out?"
"Nope, that about sums it up," Kevin replied casually.
"Do you honestly expect Trixie to believe this?" she asked.
"You gotta admit," Spike spoke up for the first time, "it does kinda sound like the summary of a lame Power Pony fanfiction."
"Well, you can believe it or not but the fact is that you're involved now," Kevin said. "And for your own protection, as well as being a part of this investigation, you'll be staying in my custody for the foreseeable future. I've secured a house for us, a little two bed two bath set up on the other side of town."
"Just great," Trixie sighed, "I was this close to getting out of here." That's what she voiced anyway but to Dusk, it she almost seemed relieved. Perhaps she was still worried about that Sentinel thing.
"Oh!" Dusk said as he suddenly remembered the strange crystal they'd found in the cave, "Kevin, that Sentinel, we saw him after we ran off the dragon today."
"So it is still alive, I was afraid of that. Did it attack you?" he asked.
"Of course it did!" Trixie yelled, "it tried to get me like it did last time."
"Actually," Dusk said, "you attacked it. It teleported away without doing anything."
Trixie looked at Dusk with shock, "Are you a fool? We all heard what it said, Trixie can't believe she was the only one who tried."
There was a pause as Dusk stared with confusion. "Trixie, it didn't say anything. It made some techno dub-step sounding noise then you tried to blast it."
Trixie's mouth hung open in disbelief, "how could you not hear it, you were right in front of the thing! It said, clear as day, 'Antagonist E-V-I Trixie located, attempting removal.'" She stood with her hands flat on the table, "don't you see? It want's to kidnap Trixie for her great magical prowess."
Dusk was about to retort but Kevin held up a hand, "are you certain it said 'Antagonist E-V-I'? As in the letters E, V and I?" he asked.
"Yes," she said as she slumped back into her chair. Glad at least one person seemed to believe her. "I'll never forget that things voice."
"But no one else heard it say anything," Dusk protested, "I'd think they would have mentioned it by now."
"A mystery for another time," Kevin said. "Is there anything else about your encounter worth noting?"
"Yes, we found a strange crystal object with weird markings under the surface. The... Sentinel, did you call it? It was standing over it."
"I'd better take a look at it in the morning, right now I'm sure you two are tired," Kevin said. "Miss Lulamoon-"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie!"
"Trixie," he continued and removed the handcuffs linking them, "I apologies for the scare with the handcuffs but I couldn't risk you running off. Not before I placed the binding spell anyway."
"You did WHAT!" Trixie yelled in indignation. Binding spells were unethical at best, even down right illegal in some areas.
"It's a lenient one, I assure you. All it does really is alert me if you leave Ponyville. Again, this is for your own protection, Trixie."
Trixie was fuming but managed to maintain at least some of her composure."Hmph, it must have been a weak one. Trixie didn't even feel it."
"Or you didn't feel it because I'm that good," Kevin smirked.
"Ha! I bet you didn't even cast one, you don't even have a catalyst."
"Oh I do, made it myself and it's quite powerful I assure you."
"No one makes wands stronger than the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
"The name's Kevin, not 'no one'."
"Why you..."
The pair of them continued to bicker back and forth with Kevin clearly enjoying himself too much and Trixie getting more and more frustrated. Dusk and Spike sat at the other end of the table watching the whole affair. "Well, they seem to be getting along," Dusk whispered sarcastically.
Spike shrugged, "meh, I'd still ship it."
"Enough of this," Trixie finally said. "It appears Trixie doesn't have a choice. Can we at least go to this house you mentioned earlier? Trixie is tired and wishes to sleep."
"Actually, the house isn't furnished yet, that happens tomorrow. So Dusk," he turned to Dusk, "I hope you don't mind if we sleep here tonight."
"Not at all," Dusk answered.
***
Dusk found himself alone in a dark void. He couldn't tell if his eyes were open or shut. He floated weightless with no indication of direction or time. His attention was drawn by a flash from behind him. He turned and saw what appeared to be a star shining its light upon a metallic ring on top of a tall obelisk. The ring encircled the star and the obelisk extended down several hundred meters to its base which was on top of a pentagon shaped building. The building was positioned atop what he could only describe as a massive chunk of earth floating in the middle of nowhere.
As Dusk stared transfixed, the light from the star grew brighter. Two specks of light rose out from the star's top and bottom, shot off in opposite directions and vanished into the distance. Before long, they returned, passing over and under the star respectively before returning back to the void.
The motes of light continued this behavior of returning and vanishing causing Dusk to theorize that they were on a circular path. The time between their disappearance and reappearance shortened with each trip meaning that wherever they were going, they were gaining speed. Eventually, the lights were moving so fast that they no longer resembled specks but rings that seemed to stretch out forever. At that point, the gap between them began to shorten.
The light rings moved closer and closer together, eventually into the star and finally into each other. When the two rings fused into one, they vanished in an unimaginably bright explosion that forced Dusk to shield his eyes as the shock-wave consumed him.
***
Dusk quickly rose from his bed. Blinking a few times, he placed one hand on his forehead as he recalled the vivid dream from which he'd just awoken. The memory was slowly fading but he remembered two rings of light coming together in a massive explosion. He'd had weird dreams before but that was one for the records.
Shrugging it off, he looked over to his clock to see that it was just past 8 AM so he decided to get up for the day. After dressing, he proceeded down stairs where he heard a two familiar voices.
"That is NOT how you make an omelet, you plebeian! You need 3 eggs not 2."
"If I used 3 eggs I wouldn't have room for the milk."
"M-milk? What kind of- who adds milk to their omelet? Trixie will not stand for this!"
"Maybe Trixie should make her own breakfast and let Kevin make his then."
Dusk stood in the door to the kitchen as he watched the pair bicker back and forth. After deciding that it was simply too early for such things he made his way to the common room to join Spike on the sofa. "How long have they been at that?" he asked.
"About half an hour," Spike said. He then noticed the bags under Dusk's eyes, "you alright?"
"Yea I'm fine, just a... weird dream," Dusk said as Kevin and Trixie entered from the kitchen. Kevin sat down with his omelet while a very irate Trixie stomped her way towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Dusk asked.
"If Trixie must put up with that insufferable idiot, she will only do so after a proper breakfast!" she answered angrily and slammed the door on her way out. Kevin sat at the table with his breakfast with a similarly annoyed expression.
"It's going to be a loooong investigation," he sighed. "Omelet?"
***
It was mid morning as Dusk was walking through the town market. Kevin had some final arrangements to make for his new housing so the young djinn and his draconic companion decided to go see where Trixie had gone and perhaps get some shopping done in the meanwhile.
"Wow, what a gorgeous day," Dusk commented, "I guess Rainbow actually did her job for once."
"Yea," Spike nodded, "weird that no one is out today."
Dusk stopped in his tracks and looked around. Sure enough, there was no one to be seen. The stalls were all closed, the streets were empty, even the sky was clear of any and all seraphim. "That is weird..." Dusk said, "where is everyone?"
"Is it a holiday?" Spike asked.
"Not that I know of."
The pair walked further down the street, checking every corner and window as they did but found no one. Spike was beginning to get nervous, "Man, I'm getting a '28 Moons Later' vibe here..." he said remembering a zombie movie he'd watched once and had nightmares for weeks after.
"I have my doubts that it's zombies, Spike."
Before Spike could retort, the two of them were suddenly pulled into a nearby building. Dusk prepared an offensive spell while Spike flailed until a moment later when the room lit up and they were able to see their abductors. It was the girls, AJ, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy. In addition, Trixie was there along with a younger girl with a red bow in her hair that Dusk remembered as AJ's little sister, Apple Bloom.
"G-girls?" Dusk said as he calmed himself, "what's going on?"
In response, the young Apple Bloom rushed up to Dusk, "Did you see her, Dusk? Did you see Zecora?" she asked excitedly.
"Apple Bloom!" AJ scolded, "I told you never to say that name."
"I hesitate to ask but, who is Zecora?"
All at once, the girls pointed out the window towards the center of the market area. Dusk looked towards where they were pointing and saw what looked to be an individual wearing a grey robe with a hood standing idly next to one of the market stalls. The hooded figure suddenly turned and looked in their direction causing the girls to all gasp at the glowing yellow her it's eyes.
"Did you see that?" Pinkie asked.
Dusk blinked, "I saw her glance this way..."
"Glance evilly this way!" Pinkie added.
"...And then all of you flip out for no good reason," he finished.
"No good reason?" AJ said indignantly. "You call protectin' yer kin no good reason? Why, as soon as my sister saw Zecora walkin' into town, she started shakin' in her lil' boots." For emphasis, AJ shook Apple Bloom by her shoulders.
"I wasn't shakin'," Bloom tried to retort but AJ wasn't listening.
Dusk turned back to the hooded figure to see them staring at the ground, "so what did she do?"
"What?" AJ asked.
"Zecora, what did she do that made everyone in town scared of her?"
"Well..." AJ hesitated, "It ain't what she's done, it's just that... she's creepy."
"She's mysterious," added Fluttershy.
"Sinister," said Rainbow.
"And spooooooky!" Pinkie finished.
At that moment, Zecora removed her hood and Dusk got a good look at her face for the first time. Her skin was a brownish black with three ebony stripes tattooed from the bottom of her eyes down her cheeks. Her hair was done up in a mohawk style and dyed silvery white with black highlights that matched the stripes on her face. For jewelry, she wore golden hoops on her ears and around her neck. Finally, Dusk noted that her eyes no longer glowed yellow but from his distance he couldn't make out more detail than that.
The girls all shrieked and backed away from the window causing Dusk to roll his eyes. "Would you please cut that out?" he said with annoyance.
"But just look at those stripes!" Rarity declared, "so garish."
Dusk continued to observe the stranger for a moment before he came to a realization, "She's an aziza."
"Ah what?" Everyone but Trixie asked.
"An aziza, have none of you ever heard of them?" he asked.
"Hmph, Trixie has... But perhaps you should explain to everyone what they are, Trixie will fact check."
"Right... Anyway, azizas are one of the fae races. Those stripes aren't a fashion choice by the way, she was born with them." Upon hearing that, Rarity gasped and fainted in a dramatic fashion. Dusk continued on regardless, "they come from a land far to the south, past the Badlands. They rarely travel far from their homes, where exactly does she live?"
"That's just it," AJ said, "she lives in... the Everfree Forest!"
"Dun dun duun..." Dusk flicked Spike in the ear.
"Ain't nothin' good ever came out of the Everfree Forest."
"And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing her evil... stuff! She's so evil I even wrote a song about her!" Pinkie said excitedly. She then cleared her throat and took a breath.
Oh here we go, Dusk thought.
"She's and evil enchantress and she does evil dances,
and if you look deep into her eye, she will put you in trances.
Then what will she do? She'll cook up an evil brew,
and she'll gobble you up in a big tasty stew.
So... WATCH OUT!"
Pinkie finished her song with her hands raised high in a pouncing formation. All Dusk could say was "Wow, catchy."
"Thanks, I just came up with it this morning," she said.
Dusk shook his head to bring himself back to reality. "This is all just a lot of gossip and rumors. Now tell me; what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do?"
"Well," Rainbow started, "once a month, she comes to Ponyville."
"...and?"
"Then, she lurks by the stores." Rarity added.
"NO!" Dusk said in mock disbelief.
"And then, she digs at the ground." Fluttershy said while timidly pointing to Zecora. Dusk looked and saw the so called evil enchantress disturbing the dirt with her left foot.
"No, not the ground! We need that to walk on!" Dusk mocked as he turned back to the girls. "Seriously, how is any of this bad? Maybe she comes to town to visit?"
"Yeah!" Bloom added, "everyone likes to shop. You know what I think?"
"Apple Bloom, hush and let the adults talk." AJ scolded causing Bloom to mutter something under her breath.
"What about digging at the ground? You've got to admit that's weird," Rainbow pointed out.
"Clearly, it's part of a ritual tribute to the Lich King Grogar," Trixie said in dramatic fashion, causing Fluttershy to squeak in fear.
"Or maybe it's a nervous habit. If anyone here were actually brave enough to approach her, they would find out the truth," Dusk countered.
Upon hearing that, Apple Bloom suddenly got a brilliant idea. I'm brave enough; I'm gonna find out myself. That'll show sis. While the others were distracted, she made her way quietly to the door and snuck out.
Dusk, however was still trying to convince his friends of their error. "You girls are being ridiculous! This Zecora person has done nothing to warrant such fear."
"Well, I heard that Zecora eats hay!" Pinkie chimed in.
"Have you ever been to a restaurant in Canterlot? A lot of them use hay for flavoring, its a good source of fiber."
Everyone in the room looked to Rarity. "Well, I mean it really depends on the dish, plus it's not like it's right out of a field or anything..." she answered the unasked question.
"Wait! Where's Apple Bloom?!" AJ asked alarmidly.
Everyone quickly looked around the room until Fluttershy noticed that the door was opened. "Oh my, she went outside."
"Look! She's following Zecora back into the forest." Rainbow added. Sure enough, the aziza was making her way back to the woods and behind her was the youngest of the Apple family only visible from the distance because of her bright red bow.
"That silly lil' filly! I told her to stay put!"
As the girls took off after her, Dusk turned to Spike, "you stay here in case the kid comes back without us seeing."
"Will do!" Spike said.
***
It was the middle of the day and yet Apple Bloom still had trouble seeing in the dense forest. Thankfully the trail was still somewhat visible, she'd lost track of Zecora and without it she would be completely lost. The trail strangely curved around a patch of blue flowers rather than pass right through it and even though she could just barely see it continue on the other side, she decided to follow it around just in case.
She was on the other side of the flower patch when she heard her name called out. "Apple Bloom?" She turned around and saw, to her disappointment that AJ and her friends were behind her. They ignored the path completely and trampled the blue flowers as they made a straight line towards her.
"You get back here right now, Missy!" AJ said angrily. She marched up to Bloom and stared down at her with a scowl. However, once Dusk and the others caught up, they were all startled by a voice from the distance.
"Beware! Beware, you Ponyville folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"
Zecora, who had her hood on once more was looking at them from behind the trees. AJ picked up her little sister and held her protectively. "Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, ya hear?" she said and the others save for Dusk shouted in agreement.
Dusk, for his part, merely rolled his eyes.
Zecora stared for a moment longer then turned and continued down the path. She shouted out one final "beware" as she vanished into the fog.
"Yeah, back at ya, Zecora!" Rainbow taunted, "you tell me to 'beware'? Because I'll tell you where to be! Away from my friends!"
"Damn straight!" AJ added before looking at her sister, "and you! Why couldn't you just listen to yer big sister?"
"I..." Bloom started but AJ cut her off.
"Who knows what kind of nasty curse Zecora could have just put on you?"
Dusk, however, felt the need to point out a hole in AJ's logic. "Applejack, there's no such thing as curses."
"Dusk, don't you use magic all the time?" Rainbow asked.
"Magic is different," he explained, "it's tangible, measurable and it obeys natural laws. Curses are made up nonsense meant to scare people into believing the impossible."
"For once, Dork Shine is right," Trixie added. "Curses are all show and no substance."
"So, kinda like you?" Rainbow quipped.
"Shut up!"
AJ remained unconvinced, "Just you wait, Dusk," she said as the group began making their way home, "You're gonna learn that some folk tales are true."
***
Later that afternoon, Dusk settled down on the couch in the library common room for a quick nap. He was feeling unusually tired but attributed that to the excitement of the morning. In the room with him was Kevin who had spent most of the day examining the strange crystal Dusk had brought back from the dragon's cave and Spike who was dusting the shelves.
As Dusk dozed off, he began to dream once more. Although this dream was less coherent that the one from the previous night. He heard the disembodied voice of Pinkie Pie singing her Evil Enchantress song as well as Zecora saying 'beware'. Images began to appear of his friends in mortal peril while Zecora laughed manically. Finally, he heard AJ repeating what she'd said in the forest. "Just you wait, Twilight; some pony tales really are true." Wait, Twilight? Who was that, and what did ponytails have to do with anything?
Dusk woke from his nap with a deep gasp causing Spike and Kevin to look his way. "You alright, Dusk?" Spike asked.
"Yea... yea I'm fine," he said. "Just another weird dream." Despite his reassurances, the other two occupants of the room continued to stare, making Dusk a little uneasy. "Um, what are you guys looking at?"
"Dusk..." Spike started, "do mana gems... grow?"
Dusk looked at him in confusion, "what on earth are you talking about?"
"I think what Spike is trying to say is that your gem is looking a bit... horny," Kevin said.
"What are you-" Dusk stopped as he felt his forehead with his hand. He felt something hard and pointy jetting out of the spot where his mana gem should have been. He jumped off the couch and rushed to the bathroom to look in a mirror. He saw, to his horror that instead of the smooth, glassy, lavender colored oval gem there was a long and spiraling purple horn.
Dusk, being the man of science and logic that he was, did the only rational thing he could think of in his current situation. He screamed like a little girl.
"No no no no no!" he cried as he ran to the nearest book case and proceeded to rummage through them. "There has to be a cure. Why do none of these books have a cure?"
"Dusk, calm down," Kevin said. "Whatever this is, we'll figure it out."
"Ugh! There has to be a real reason for this!" Dusk said, a little calmer but still frantically searching for an explanation. "An illness? An allergy?!"
"A curse?" Spike offered.
"Don't you start," Dusk replied.
"Here's a book that might help," Spike said, passing a worn book to Dusk.
"Supernaturals?" Dusk read the title. "the word supernatural refers to things like ghosts and spirits and zombies, all make-believe fairy tall stuff."
"Said the wizard to the dragon..." Kevin mumbled.
"But what if you're wrong?" Spike asked, "What if it really is a-"
"Ah pfurse!" someone suddenly said.
"Gah! Pinkie? Where did you come from?"
"Prom tha pout phide!" Pinkie spit. Her tongue was stuck outside her mouth and covered with several colorful poke-a-dots.
"Pinkie? What happened to you?" Kevin asked.
"Pee pah Zthecora! Sthe put a cursthe on me!"
"Hey, say it, don't spray it, Pinkie!" Spike said while covering his face. Just then, their attention was drawn by a thud coming from the other side of the door followed by an 'ow' from Rainbow Dash. Dusk opened the door to let her in. As she flew in, he noticed that her wings were actually upside down.
"Rainbow! Are you ok?"
"No I'm not ok!" she yelled as she crashed into a wall. "Ow, that Zecora bitc- ow, slapped us all with a- ow curse!"
"I'm afraid I have to agree," came the voice of Rarity... beneath a mass of purple hair. Behind her was Fluttershy and Apple Bloom who placed a tiny toy sized Applejack on Dusk's coffee table.
"I hate to say I told ya so, Dusk, but I told ya so!" AJ's voice was very high pitched.
"Whats all that noise down there?" Trixie called from upstairs. "How is one supposed to get their beauty slee-" she trailed off when she saw the assembled group of friends. There was a moment of silence before she burst out laughing. "Aha ha ha!"
"Shut it, Trixie!" Rainbow yelled.
"Oh, oh this is too much," Trixie said between laughs. "this is the funniest thing the Grape and Sour-filled Trixie's ever-" she stopped immediately.
Rainbow snickered, "what did you call yourself, Trixie?"
"I-I am the Lame and Stupid Trixie! ...No!" she yelled. "The Lose and Slutty Trix- gah!" she clapped a hand over her mouth, face red with embarrassment.
"It's a curse, I tell ya," AJ insisted. "That Zecora got everyone what was in the forest this morning."
"What about Fluttershy," Dusk asked. "She seems fine, right Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy didn't say anything but merely nodded. The expression on her face was one of unease, however.
"Fluttershy? Are you okay?" Dusk asked.
Again, Fluttershy merely nodded.
"Good gravy, girl! What's wrong with you?!" AJ squeaked.
Fluttershy sighed and in a deep, heavy, male voice said, "I don't want to talk about it."
Spike, who had been struggling to contain himself finally lost it and burst out laughing. "This is hilarious! Look at all of you! We got: Hairity, Rainbow Crash, Spitty Pie, Apple Teeny, Flutterguy, Mixie Trixie and... uh... I got nothin'... Dusk Shine. I mean seriously, I can't even work with that."
"This is no joke, Spike," Dusk scolded. "Now start looking for more books so I can find a cure!" When attempted to grab a book with his magic, the horn on his head changed into a drooping daisy instead. "What the...?"
"There we go!" Spike cheered, "Daisy Head Dusk!"
Meanwhile Rainbow, who was recovering from her latest crash, offered a suggestion, "I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place!"
"Still not a curse!" Dusk said, though his attention was more focused on the sink faucet that appeared on his head when he tried once again to cast a spell.
"The G-Gra-Grating and Boisterous Trixie.... Ragh!" Trixie took a breath then continued, "is incliend to agree with Rainbow Crash. We shall go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex!"
While the others were arguing, Apple Bloom sat in the corner looking at the floor with her arms crossed. This is all my fault, she thought, If I hadn't followed Zecora in the first place, none of this would have happened. Looking back up, she clenched her fist with determination, I just gotta fix this. While no one was looking, she quietly snuck out the door.
Unbeknownst to Bloom, however, someone was looking. "Now where does she think she's goin' this time?" AJ muttered to herself.
"I don't care what you say, Dusk," Rainbow insisted. "It's time to man up and confront Zecora. Come on, girls. Are you with me?"
"Ah am-ptf!" Pinkie tried to say.
"And I as well." Rarity agreed.
"I- the Irritable and Noisy Trixie- am in as well," Trixie blinked. "Great, the one time Trixie tries to use first person and it doesn't work."
"I don't know," Fluttershy said in her deep voice, "seems awfully dangerous."
"What about you AJ?" Rainbow waited but didn't receive and answer. "AJ?"
"Pthee's gonth!"
"Oh no! Did someone step on her?" Rarity immediately checked her shoes, as did everyone else.
"Quick, check Rarity's hair!" Rainbow said. Pinkie quickly dove into the mass of hair in search of AJ much to the chagrin of Rarity.
"Wha, Pinkie! What are you doing? Ouch!" Nether could be seen under the mass of hair which now resembled a purple colored fight cloud often seen in old cartoons. ""Excuse yo- waha! That doesn't go there! Eek, You ever hear of personal space?"
Finally, Pinkie emerged from the mass of tangles. "Nopthe, noth there."
"Hey," Kevin said, "wasn't there a little girl here too?"
"He's right! Apple Bloom's gone too!" Dusk said after noticing the absence of AJ's sister.
"Could they have gone after Zecora?" Rainbow asked.
"I bet they did. Come on, Girls, lets go make sure they're ok." The group all filed out of the library, some with more difficulty than others due to backwards wings and long, trip-able hair. Dusk turned back to Spike and Kevin, "you guys coming?"
"Nah, I'm gonna stay and look for a cure," Spike said.
"I'll be helping him," Kevin added, "you got my number in case things go south."
Dusk nodded and turned to follow his friends who were already making their way back into the forest.
***
For the second time that day, Apple Bloom found herself following the trail in the Everfree Forest. Ok, everything's goin' good, she thought to herself, just gotta keep following the trail and eventually I'll end up at Zecora's place... I hope.
"Hold it right there, young lady!"
"Eep," Bloom squeaked at the high pitched but still unmistakable sound of her sister's voice.
She looked to her right and saw AJ climbing down out of her hair and on to her shoulder. "You just turn around right now, missy!" AJ scolded, although her authority was somewhat marred by her comically small and unimposing presence. A fact that wasn't lost on Apple Bloom.
"No," she said simply.
"No!?" AJ said, taken aback, "you can't tell me 'no' I'm your big sister!"
Bloom grinned mischievously as she plucked AJ from her shoulder and placed her on a tree branch. "Actually AJ, I'm the 'big sister' now." Sparing only a quick glance to make sure AJ was secure on the perch, Bloom turned and continued on her path, all while giggling at the situation.
"Apple Bloom, you come back here right this instant!" AJ yelled, "I'mma tell Big Macintosh on you!" but her calls went unheeded. Apple Bloom felt a little guilty but it was worth it. Sure, she was going to be grounded for eternity (or one month in adult years) but if she managed to find the cure, at least she'd have a clean conscience.
***
Meanwhile Dusk and the others were beginning to catch up. They were slowed by Rarity tripping over her own hair now and then but otherwise made good time.
"Come on, girls, they cant be that far ahead," Dusk called.
"I- woah, never thought I'd say this but, whaa, wait for me!" Rainbow wobbled through the air, still unable to control her direction with her wings upside down. Despite her best effort, she was losing altitude fast. Once they entered the forest, maneuvering through the trees and brush was all but impossible. "Guys I, wha, oof, sonofa, ouch!" Rainbow bounced off various branches and landed on her back in a bush.
"Rainbow! Thank Harmony!" Rainbow shook off her daze at the sound of Apple Teeny's voice. She looked and saw her small friend climbing up onto her shoulder carrying one end of her lasso.
"AJ? What are-"
"There's no time to lose!" AJ interrupted her, "I need to get to Zecora's pronto!" She ran across Rainbow's collar and reached down to grab the other end of her lasso rope. With both ends in each of her hands, she sat herself down on Rainbow's chest and held the rope like a bridle. "Giddy-up girl!"
"Ex-CUSE you?!" Rainbow said with indignation, "what do I look like? A Pony?"
AJ ignored her protests, however and gave Rainbow a soft kick, "YEEE-HAW!"
To Rainbow's surprise, she found herself involuntarily lifting off the ground. "What the..." she struggled to get control but her inverted flight controllers made it impossible.
"No, Rainbow, the other way!" AJ yelled as they slammed into a tree.
***
Not long after entering the forest, Dusk, Fluttershy, Rarity, Trixie and Pinkie found themselves outside a small cottage in a clearing. Dusk, who now had a carrot in place of his mana gem, slowly crept up to the window followed by the others. Inside they saw what could almost pass as a cozy living room, except for all the bizarre furnishings.
The walls were lined with wooden masks, painted in a variety of colors and expressions. More than one had tusks that rose up to where the nose would be. The shelves were lined with hand carved fetishes and clay jars with foreign writing. Several herbs were laid ut, some bound together by string while others had been ground up and stored in more clay jars. In the center of the room, suspended above a small fire pit, was a black cauldron filled with a bubbling greenish liquid and most troubling of all, Zecora standing over it with a wooden stirring stick.
"Plis place plooks horrible!" Pinkie wisper-spat.
"What did you say about my face?!" Trixie asked.
"She said 'place', darling, and I agree. It really does look horrible," Rarity added. "Nice decorations, if you like creepy!"
"Tatu zaidi lazima kufanya hivyo." They all jumped at the sound of Zecora speaking for inside the house.
"Sthe sthtole my sthong!" Pinkie said.
"Well Dusk? Do you believe us now?" Rarity asked.
Dusk continued to survey the room, his doubt starting to get the better of him. "It-its all circumstantial... those masks and evil sounding chants could be perfectly harmless," he tried to defend.
Unfortunately, Zecora chose that moment to speak her next sentence in Equestrian. "Ah! The perfect temperature, I presume. Now, where is that little Apple Bloom?"
"...okay that's pretty hard to dispute."
It was then that the group heard the battle cry of their tiny friend as she came riding in on Rainbow Dash. " I'm comin' for ya, Apple Bloom!"
There was a mass of confusion as AJ and Rainbow burst through the door to Zecora's hut. Still unable to control herself, Rainbow bounced off the wall opposite the door while Zecora herself jumped back in surprise.
"Nini duniani?" Zecora spoke.
AJ pulled back on her makeshift reins to try and help Rainbow right herself. "Easy, Rainbow Crash," the nickname earned her an angry scowl from her mount.
"Wewe ni nani!?"
"Ahh, oof," Rainbow cried as she finally fell to the floor. She picked herself up and quickly turned to face Zecora with her fists up. AJ Jumped up onto her shoulder in an attempt to look menacing.
"Unataka nini?"
Behind Rainbow and AJ, Dusk and the other girls entered the hut to stand next to their friends. The urgency with witch they entered combined with the small size of the hut caused them to knock over a jar or two on the shelves.
"No! Hayo ni ghali!" Zecora shouted.
"Alright Zecora," Dusk said, "what have you done with Apple Bloom?"
"Genera? What is this you..." she addressed them in Equestrian for the first time but before she could finish, Rainbow let out a cry of pain.
"Ahhhh!" A stray drop from the bubbling cauldron hit Rainbow on the arm causing her to jump on reflex. In the process, she accidentally kicked the cauldron, spilling it's contents into the fire pit.
"No! You know not what you do! You've gone and spilled my precious brew!" Zecora yelled angrily. She fixed the group with an angry stair.
Dusk didn't back down, however, "We're onto you Zecora. I didn't want to believe that you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming!"
"You ruined my hair!" Rarity accused.
"You ruined my voice!" Fluttershy added in her heavy bass.
"Pu pad pe peak predpicpulus!" Pinkie spat.
"And you had the audacity to make the Pale and Pasty Trixie self insulting!"
The aziza returned the glares with one of her own. "How dare you?! You destroy my home, destroy my work. Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?"
"You put this curse on us," Rainbow said, "now you're gonna uncurse us or else!"
The two sides continued their standoff for a moment before Zecora took a deep breath. "Do not continue down this road, least your actions make my anger explode."
"Fine, just tell us what you did with Apple Blo-" Dusk was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Everyone turned to look and there they saw the little red headed girl completely unharmed and carrying a basket full of grasses and roots.
"Zecora, I think I found everything ya asked for-" she stopped when she noticed her sister and friends as well as the giant mess of broken bottles and spilled liquids. "What in Harmony is goin' on in here?"
"Apple Bloom! You're okay!" AJ called from Rainbow's shoulder.
"Yea, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because Zecora is evil and was gonna... cook... you..." Dusk slowed to a stop as he listened to what he was saying. "Damn OCD," he said while smacking himself in the head.
Both Apple Bloom and Zecora burst out laughing. "Dusk, did those silly girls finally get in yer head?" Bloom asked.
"If you will remember back," Zecora spoke, "the words I said were quite exact. 'Beware, beware you Ponyville folk. Those leaves of blue are not a joke.'"
"She was tryin' ta warn ya. Those blue flowers are called Poison Joke."
"A plant that is much like poison oak," Zecora continued, "but instead of a rash it plays a joke."
"What the hay does that mean?" AJ asked.
"It means this plant does not breed wrath. Instead this plant just wants a laugh."
"Do y'all always talk in rhyme?"
Zecora laughed. "Rhyming is the Aziza way, it makes one think before they say."
"So what you're saying is, when we ran in to save Apple Bloom, we ran into the poison joke. All our problems are just little jokes it played on us," Dusk concluded.
"So then what was in the cauldron?" Rainbow asked.
"And what were you chanting?" Fluttershy added.
"And what's with the creepy décor?" Rarity asked as well.
"These masks are treasures of the land I am from," Zecora pointed to a particularly fierce looking one, "this one means 'hello', and 'welcome'. As for the words I chanted at the time, they are what you might call a nursery rhyme."
"And the cauldron was just a pot of boiling water, it wasn't for me, it was for all these herbal ingredients. The cure for poison joke is a simple old-natural remedy. You just gotta take a bath in it!"
"Theres just one last thing that I don't get," Dusk said, "if the cure is just a simple mixture, why didn't I find it in any of my books?"
To that, Zecora picked up an open book from a nearby table, "Here is the book, you see? Sad that you lack it in your library."
Dusk took the book and read the title, "Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super." He stared at the now familiar book in his hands. "That's just deliberately misleading..."
"Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book," Zecora said with a chuckle.
The group of afllicted friends shared guilty looks, except for Trixie who stood with her arms crossed behind the group. "Trixie knew all along this was no curse."
"Oh hush, Trixie, you were right here with the rest of us pointing the finger," Rarity said.
"Humph."
"Gosh, Miss Zecora, we're all a might sorry we accused ya without even knowin ya," AJ squeaked while removing her tiny hat. The others all agreed.
"Zecora, Would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?" Dusk asked humbly.
"Mix it up I certainly will. Yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville."
"But see whenever she comes to town, the shops are all closed because everyone's too scared of her," Bloom added.
"My cloak is enchanted so in the dark I might see, though I suppose the glowing yellow eyes are a tad eerie."
"Don't worry, Zecora," Dusk said proudly, "we can help with that..."
***
A few hours later, Dusk and the girls were enjoying a relaxing bath at the Ponyville day spa. The girls all had on one piece bathing suits provided by the spa specially designed to allow water to flow freely through the fabric while still concealing private areas. Dusk was wearing a similar par of bathing shorts provided for males.
After returning to town with Zecora in tow, Dusk spoke to the citizens of Ponyville that they met along the way to the market, explaining the situation as well as who Zecora really was. The townsfolk, although uneasy at first, slowly began to warm up to the aziza, especially after she explained that her menacing looking hood was a common accessory in her homeland.
Once she had gathered the missing reagents she needed from the market, Zecora was able to quickly and easily make a replacement curative for Dusk and the girls. Lotus Blossom, a terran who co-owned the spa with her twin sister offered the use of their facilities as a sort of apology for suspecting Zecora of being evil.
"Miss Zecora, I vould love to get ze recipe for dis bath. It's simply luxurious!" Lotus said while dipping her hand into the mixture.
"Now that the town sees me for true, I'd be happy to share my recipe with you."
Of all the girls in the spa, none were more excited to be back to normal than Pinkie. "Oh, my gosh! I never realized how horrible it is not to be able to talk. I mean, I love talking so much, and when I couldn't talk anymore, my tongue was all 'ehhhh'! It was the worst! Don't you agree, Trixie?" She inserted herself directly in the terran girl's face, splashing her in the process.
"If Trixie could, she would remove your mouth completely," she said.
Everyone laughed. Dusk, running his hand over his once again smooth, oval shaped mana gem, reflected on the day's events. "It sure has been a busy few days, hasn't it?"
"Yea, no kidding," Rainbow agreed.
"Hard to believe it's only been a week since Gil- oh!" Rarity stopped herself as she realized what she was about to say. She glanced at Rainbow who's smile had faltered a bit. "I'm terribly sorry Rainbow, I didn't mean to-"
"It's cool, Rares," the blue winged seraphim waved her off. "Gilda's a tough bird, wherever she is, I'm sure she's fine." Her smile was blatantly fake but no one pressed her on it. After all, there was little they could do but prey that L-Sec would find the missing harpy.
"Speaking of changing the subject," AJ broke the silence, "did y'all ever find out what that crystal thingy was, Dusk?"
"Oh yea," Pinkie chirped up, "that was the thingy we found after we made that dragon leave." She thought to herself for a moment, "sure feels like a while ago."
"That was yesterday, Pinkie," Fluttershy said.
"Really? Feels like twelve weeks ago..."
"To answer your question, AJ," Dusk said, ignoring Pinkie's antics, "no we haven't quite figured it out but Kevin is working on it diligently."
"We'll, whatever it is, I doubt we have to worry about it." Rainbow said as she slumped down into the bath water to better relax.
***
In the basement of the Ponyville library, all was dark except for a single lamp hanging from the ceiling, shining it's light down on a wooden table. Sitting at the table was Kevin, who was focused intently on the object in front of him.
On the table was a fairly large quartz shaped crystal that Dusk had recovered from the dragon's cave. Kevin had spend the last hour carefully examining it's jet black surface, photographing the golden runes that seemed to exist below the glass surface. Given the nature of the object, he didn't want to risk losing any potential clues should something happen with what he was about to do.
One rune had caught his attention right from the start. Two lines intersecting each other at 90 degrees and capped with circles on the ends of both lines. He'd seen that symbol before, at the base of the monitor where he'd originally found the data cube. Kevin removed the data cube from his pocket and slowly placed it on the crystal so that it's center was right on the point where the cross intersected. Nothing happened but he noted that the lines that made up the cross were the exact length and width of the cube.
Kevin sat back in his seat and sighed. In hindsight he wasn't sure what he expected to happen and although the matching sizes were interesting they could have just as easily been a coincidence. He wasn't deterred, however, setting the cube aside for the moment, he returned to puzzling the meaning of the other runes.
Had he held the cube for a moment more, he might have noticed the surface that had been in contact with the crystal was slightly warmer than the rest.