They all stepped out into the small square in front of Sugarcube Corner. And just as they did so they saw Zecora, the zebra herbalist, strolling calmly up the street that led from the Everfree Forest where she lived. Her dzilla neck rings jingled rhythmically and her hooves tapped in perfect time as she trotted along.
"Howdy, Zecora!" Applejack called. Zecora smiled and nodded, and then smoothly moved to meet them as they approached.
\ Good day to you, my pony friends! \
\ To what place do your journeys tend? \
"We're doing a shopping spree today, Zecora!" Twilight said, being a little quicker than the others in grasping Zecora's poetic manner of speech. "Applejack and Rarity suggested it... I think as a way of getting me out of the Library for the day."
\ A wise notion, this shopping spree! \
\ Does your path have room for me? \
"Sure! We'd love to have you come with us!" Twilight agreed. Zecora nodded her thanks.
"You feel like buyin' in, Zecora?" Applejack asked. "Or jest spectatin'?"
Zecora simply tilted her head in a questioning fashion, her placid expression unchanged. Quickly, they explained the rules of the game. She smiled and nodded in understanding.
\ A few bits to spare, I have it seems, \
\ To take part and share your dreams! \
Pinkie somehow managed to find a black-and-white striped piece of paper in her mane, and Zecora added her slip to the hat.
"So, who's up next?" Applejack asked.
Pinkie jumped in the middle of them and spun around, pointing with a hoof.
"Eeenie-meanie-mynie-moe-catch-a-pony-by-the-toe!"
Her hoof pointed to Zecora. The zebra smirked, and willingly dipped a hoof in the hat. She came up with a light-yellow slip.
Her voice took on a mysterious, woe-begotten tone:
\ Oh my, oh my! O deary me! \
\ For I have drawn... the Shop of Tea! \
"Um, yes... the Tea Shop," Fluttershy said, nodding. "It... seemed like the right kind of store to pick for a shopping spree!"
"It's perfect, dahling!" Rarity agreed. "They are certain to have lots of items to choose from."
But when they arrived at the Tea Shop, which was an upscale storefront right on the Square itself, Zecora walked in, picked up a small tea caddy from the first display island she passed, paid for it, and walked out again, without a single look back.
"Um..." Fluttershy said bashfully, "I think the idea is we spend a little more time looking around?"
Zecora shook her head. When she spoke, her tone sounded subtly different:
\\ I found an item, \\
\\ It was what I wanted most. \\
\\ So I bought it quick! \\
"Huh?" Rainbow dash blinked. "That doesn't even rhyme!"
"No," Twilight said, excitedly. "It's a haiku!"
"A what, Twi?" Spike asked, from his perch on her back.
"A haiku," Twilight explained. "A traditional verse form of three lines: five, seven, and five syllables each."
Zecora nodded, and went back to her previous speaking voice:
\ In my land, this haiku form, \
\ Is spoke by those above the norm! \
She gestured at the Tea Shop's upper-class exterior as she spoke.
Applejack chuckled. "I think she's tryin' to say that's how the tony-ponies talk where she's from!"
Zecora smiled.
\ More or less, \
\ But I digress! \
Zecora nevertheless patiently waited outside the shop while the rest of them browsed. Twilight asked Fluttershy for recommendations of new tea flavors to try, and Rarity seemed to inspect every tea pot and caddy the store had to offer.
They deliberately left Pinkie Pie standing outside for safety's sake, ostensibly to keep Zecora company, with Rainbow keeping an eye on her as well. A bull in a china shop was as nothing compared to Pinkie let loose in a tea shop.