I awoke rather late, only to find that Spike and Twilight had already left. [I have to start getting to sleep earlier,] I thought, dismayed at how late it was.
As I went downstairs, I thought for the first time about my future, and about staying in Ponyville. I do enjoy it here... but I need a job of some sort, first. My only "job" had been subsistance farming up north with mother. Perhaps farming down here would be better...? No, I had never enjoyed it.
Opening the door, I set out with no clear destination in mind. The ponies I passed greeted me, and I did my best to respond in kind, although it was still awkward to do so.
Without meaning to, I arrived at Sugarcube Corner. I was hungry, but with only forty bits left I didn't want to squander it meaninglessly; my mind therefore turned to finances, and finally to work.
"I need to find a job," I said aloud. I thought of my cutie mark - some sort of three-pointed leaf, or perhaps three leaves together - and also of the farm, such as it was, up north. Perhaps I SHOULD see about farming again...? Having no other real place to be, I entered the café.
The place was as busy as it would likely get. Seeing no sign of Pinkie Pie, I sat at a table near the window and waited. A plump pony - one of the two who ran the café - came to the table and said, "Can I get you anything, dear?"
"Oh - no, thanks," I said. "I'm just waiting for Pinkie Pie."
"Oh, right, I remember you," said Ms. Cake. "Pinkie's cousin, right?"
"Y-yes," I said. Was everypony going to keep calling me that?
"Well, any friend of Pinkie's is a friend of ours - and that goes for family, too." Ms. Cake set a cupcake down for me, waving down attempts at payment as she went to serve other customers. Uncomfortable, but grateful, I ate the cupcake.
Pinkie came by a couple of minutes later. "Hey!" she said. "Sorry I took so long - Spike was showing me this really cool thing he found, and you know-"
"Pinkie," I said quietly, and for a wonder Pinkie stopped talking. Continuing, I said "I was wondering where I might find work in Ponyville."
"Well, what did you do before?" asked Pinkie.
"Farmed," said I. "But I don't enjoy farming."
"I totally understand!" Pinkie said, launching into some story about farming rocks, of all things. I just smiled and listened to her go on - I can't quite describe why, but I feel as though the world would be missing something quite significant without Pinkie's… energy.
"Then it's settled!" said Pinkie. I came to with a start - I hadn't quite been dozing, but neither had I been paying much attention to my surroundings, instead allowing my mind to wander.
" Wha-!" I began, but was cut off as Pinkie took me by the hoof and ran out of Sugarcube Corner. Left, right, forward, right, left - I soon lost my tenuous grasp on our location as we went through Ponyville at breakneck speed.
"Here we are!" said Pinkie Pie, stopping quite suddenly and causing me to run headlong into a tree. Catching my breath, I took a moment to see where she had taken me.
An expanse of trees spread out before me. Pinkie told me it was the Everfree Forest.
"Very few ponies ever go in there," she continued. "A really nice zebra named Zecora lives there. She'll be able to help you find what you want to do!"
"Oh... kay," I said slowly. I'd half-hoped Pinkie could have found an actual job for me, but if this Zecora was any good, I might be in luck after all. "Thank you, Pinkie."
"Oh, you're welcome!" I flinched a little as she hugged me. It hit me for the first time that we were family, and I hugged back. Tears welled up as I thought briefly of my mother. As much as I enjoyed solitude, I needed this. I needed family. "Thank you," I whispered.
"You already said that, silly!" said Pinkie as we disengaged. "There's a pretty clear path through to Zecora's - just watch out for the poison joke. It's blue. Bye!" she said, running off.
"Wait-" I began, but she was already gone. Boy, did she ever run fast! Turning, I entered the Everfree Forest.
Three hours later, I came across the poison joke bush for at least the dozenth time. I sat down, lost and exhausted. I tried not to panic as I caught my breath. Creepy as it was, it was still just a forest.
A branch snapping caused me to turn my head rather quickly, creating a twinge in my neck. Wincing, I saw what appeared to be a pony, dressed in dark robes. Memories of tales told about the Nightmare Moon debacle flashed through my mind as I lay there, quivering. "Who are you?" I managed rather weakly.
The pony pulled back her hood, but instead of some horror that drove anypony insane who looked upon it (dear sweet Celestia, my imagination sometimes!) it was a zebra. "Zecora is what they call me," she said. "Lost, are we?"
After a moment's deciphering of what she had said, I nodded. "I was told to find you. Pinkie Pie said you could help me?" I grew quieter with each word. Zecora was somewhat intimidating - nice, just unusual.
"That depends on what you seek," she said, circling around to my right. "Answers lie where we haven't yet peeked."
"Well..." I trailed off, feeling somewhat foolish. Pinkie may have brought me here, but had I really thought hard enough about what I could do around Ponyville?
"Come," said Zecora. "This forest houses many things. All these does the sundown bring."
"A-all right," I said, standing and looking behind myself at the darkening forest. I hadn't noticed, but it was getting rather late. I hurried to follow Zecora.
We arrived at her home as the last rays of sunlight left the trees. The relief I felt as Zecora shut the door behind me was palpable. "Thank you," I said, noting how much I had said thanks today.
"Happy to help a pony in need," said Zecora, trotting over to a steaming pot. The hut looked like the workshop of an alchemist from one of my stories. "Come over here - and bring me that seed." She pointed at a bag with thei image of a strange-looking seed on it. Grabbing it between my teeth, I trotted over to the cauldron, handing over the bag of seeds.
Pouring the bag into the pot, Zecora passed me a long ladle, telling me to stir. As I did, she went back and forth, grabbing various plants as she did. "Are you an herbalist?" I asked around the ladle.
"Herbs and plants are what I do," said Zecora, expertly pouring some grain into the pot. "As did my mother - and her mother, too."
"Must be nice, knowing how to do something so well."
"I never had the choice you face. I would not change what I do, in any case." It was nice, listening to Zecora talk - the rhymes made it sound like a song.
Finally Zecora told me to stop stirring. The liquid in the pot - more of a cauldron than anything else - shimmered a golden brown and smelled divine. "What is it?" I asked.
"Dinner," she said, passing me a bowl. Blinking - that had NOT been the answer I was expecting - I watched as she dipped hers in the soup. I followed suit before following her to the dinner table.
We ate through several moments of companionable silence before Zecora said "Now... what is this problem before you, that Pinkie Pie thinks I can help you through?"
I ate another mouthful of soup before saying "Pinkie's my cousin. She 'found' me about a week ago and sent me a letter inviting me to come to Ponyville. I was all alone up north - I think I want to stay in Ponyville, but I'd need work to do that. And I don't know what I should do."
"May I see your Harmony Mark? It would help me see your path through the dark."
"Oh - you mean my cutie mark? Here," I said, tugging on my cloak. It was a little warm here to wear it, but old habits die hard.
"Hmm," she said, and I blushed, feeling momentarily exposed. This feeling passed and I continued to eat as Zecora trotted away, returning with some charcoal from the cooking-fire and a piece of dried tree bark. A short time later she straightened, bringing the bark up onto the table. I shook my rear half, replacing my cloak, and leaned over to see what Zecora had drawn.
I had only ever seen my cutie mark at an angle, or in the water, so seeing it here was a new experience. It WAS three leaves, long and slender with small leaves coming off the main stem.
"Those look like ferns," I said, and Zecora nodded. Well - one mystery solved, at least.
"What was the work you did before coming here to visit?" asked Zecora.
"We had a small farm, way up north," I said. "Just growing the food we needed, and bartering our surplus."
"Hmm..." said Zecora. "You work well with the natural world... perhaps in the forest your wings could unfurl?"
I laughed at the imagery - me, with wings! - but still thought about it. I had never been in a forest before today, and had managed to get pretty lost; still, with a little training...
"I think I would like that," I said.
"Good," said Zecora. "We should go to sleep - tomorrow's light has started to creep." And indeed, the first tendrils of light were visible on the horizon.
Zecora offered me her bed, but I declined, choosing instead to borrow some hay and sleep in the corner. As I said before, old habits die hard.