//------------------------------// // Ch.12 - Bridle Gossip - Part 1 // Story: Ponyville's Tiny Librarian // by CommanderX5 //------------------------------// Ponyville’s Tiny Librarian - Chapter 12 Bridge Gossip  - part 1 Twilight yawned and stretched her legs, feeling energised after a long night of sleep. She quickly turned around and approached the sleeping alicorn, smirking. She gently changed Cadence’s sleeping position, pushing the alicorn’s legs, tail and head closer to the belly, positioning her to be curled like a sleeping cat, her own tail under her head. “Much better,” Twilight said to herself as she stroked Cadence’s head lightly. “My mentor is right, I do look adorable in this sleeping position,” she murmured to herself before jumping from her bed, not having a heart to wake up any of her sleeping friends. Turning back, Twilight ran along her giant pillow with her hooves. Once her pillow looked presentable enough, the little mare jumped from her basket and galloped downstairs. Her attention focused on Overwatch who was still deep in sleep, while Steel Blade was nowhere to be found. As she looked at Spike sleeping deeply on the sofa, she felt pity towards her adoptive son as his young age as a dragon forced him to oversleep most of their adventures despite how desperately he wanted to participate.  Twilight looked at the big clock on the wall, pointing at seven in the morning. It seems that my sleeping habits have returned back to normal… actually, I am up far too early, she thought as she trotted towards the door, and this time she used her magic to open it quietly. Time for my morning exercise, she thought before levitating a heavy weight with her magic.  Not wasting a moment, she climbed up the giant tree while saying hello to the bees in their hive, who greeted her in return and even let her take a small lick of their honey. I must thank Fluttershy for helping me befriend the bees. It’s so much easier to climb up without them curiously walking over me every time I pass their hive. After reaching the top and climbing back down a few times over, Twilight shook sweat from her body and looked upon Ponyville. For some reason the town felt empty as not a single pony was walking around. She levitated the heavy weight back to the ground and, once free of the heavy pressure on her back, she jumped to the ground, her legs flexing slightly from the impact. The little unicorn galloped towards the city while looking around, all the big doors closed and not a single pony in sight. “That’s odd.” “Over here,” a whisper called as Twilight looked around in search for the source. “Who’s there?” “Over here, sugarcube,” once again the pony whispered, as Twilight looked upon ‘Sugarcube Corner,’ only to see upper part of the door open, a big orange hoof gesturing her to enter. “Applejack?” Twilight galloped towards the big house decorated as if it were made of sweets. “Why are you and every pony hid…” Twilight failed to finish her sentence as the moment she was close enough, she was grabbed and hauled in forcefully. “What in Equestria is going on in... here?” Twilight asked as she was being held in a darkened room, trapped in a strong grip as she looked around, recognizing familiar faces. “Fluttershy… Apple Bloom… Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake.” She teleported out of Applejack’s grip and reappeared on the floor, now starting at the farm mare. “Applejack, why are you all hiding?” “B-b-because of h-her,” Applejack pointed her hoof outside of the window. Wasting no time, Twilight galloped and jumped onto it, only too see a hooded Zebra walking the main road.  “A Zebra here?” Twilight said in confusion. “She must have come a very long way from that giant jungle in the south. Does she not deserve some hospitality after such a long trip?” Twilight stated firmly as she turned towards Applejack who trembled for some reason. “Is Pinkie back yet? I bet she would love to organise a party for a new pon… zebra.” “Have ya’ lost yer book-lovin’ mind? Why would Pinkie make a party for an Evil Enchantress?” Applejack asked with fear as Twilight looked at the farm mare in confusion. “Excuse me?” “Are you serious?” Twilight asked in disbelief in her voice as she facehoofed for the third time during Applejack’s and Fluttershy’s explanation. Noticing that both mares nodded their heads in agreement, she sighed. “That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.” “But… but…” Fluttershy tried to say something to change Twilight’s mind, still remembering stories that her changeling mother told her about Zebras. She was happy living in Ponyville and her hive was peacefully living in Equestria in secret. Her legs trembled uncontrollably as fear of her and her kind being exposed went through her bones. “Y-you cannot trust her… she will cast a c-curse on us if we don’t hide from her.” Twilight jumped from the window onto Fluttershy's muzzle and sat on it, while giving Fluttershy a lecturing glare. “I think you need a small education about curses.” Fluttershy nodded slowly, trying not to throw the tiny unicorn from her nose. Twilight spoke, “Curses belong to the branch of dark magic. It is practically accumulated dark energy formed from a spell that use the caster’s anger and hate. When the spell strikes its target, it causes either short or long lasting negative side-effects, but just like every other spell, its effect is just temporary and based on the amount of magic used to cast it.” Twilight turned around despite the limited space she had on Fluttershy muzzle and jumped back to the window, and once again pointed her hoof at the Hooded Zebra who started to dig in the ground. “Zebras don’t have horns, they cannot cast spells, much less curses. My mentor told me that while Zebras have almost the same affinity to magic as the pony races, their magic is similar to earth ponies.”  Noticing that Applejack was giving her a curious glare, Twilight chuckled. “Instead of gaining greater strength and stamina like the earth ponies, the Zebras’ magic has developed to make their bodies more resistant to poisons and illnesses that jungles are full of. It also improves their senses like balance, perception and focus. What's more, they are also much more resistant to mind-control, dark magic, and all kind of hallucinations caused by poisonous plants.” Twilight took a deep breath before continuing, this time more calmly and slower, “Not many ponies may know about it, and it’s not written in books, but my mentor told me that their magic can affect herbs, potions and antidotes, making them much stronger. This is just like how earth ponies can make food grow quicker and with higher quality.” Applejack calmed down a little, while Apple Bloom nodded, “Ah have not much idea what ya just said, but it sounds cool, and yer probably right.” Applejack looked at Apple Bloom, giving her a stern glare, making the filly flinch under it.  “Now with this out of the way, where is Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy approached and spoke calmly, “I saw her passing my cottage on the way to that mountain where we faced the dragon… your guard was with her.” “Steel Blade is still with her?” Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, and I also saw a white unicorn wearing purple glasses with them, while your guard carried something heavy on his back… Poor dear, climbing up with it the entire way must be very stressful.” Twilight looked at Fluttershy curiously while listening to her lecture. “When I asked him what they are doing, he said that they are… umm… something about a dungeon... or was it level grinding inside the Diamond Dogs’ cave… something like that.” “Let me guess. Pinkie Pie’s idea,” Twilight asked suspiciously. The moment Fluttershy nodded, Twilight facehoofed and decided to ignore whatever craziness her guard got himself into. “What about Rarity?”  Applejack trembled even stronger than before as she bit her lip and started to glance about shiftily. “Ah have no idea.” Twilight shot Applejack a suspicious glare, “Let me guess, working on your armor. While you decided to hide away from your farm to avoid her sewing lessons?” Noticing that Applejack started to sweat and didn’t say a word, she smirked at her, “Figures.” After Applejack hid her blushing face behind her hat, Twilight looked upon Fluttershy again, “What about Dash and Gilda?” “Well…” Fluttershy started as she lowered herself to the floor and didn’t look into Twilight’s face. “From what Dash told me, after yesterday's aerial battle simulation, Gilda used Overwatch as a shield. Your guard was not happy about it and there was already a lot of tension between them.”  “And where are they now?” Twilight asked as she tilted her head to the side. Her eyes became wide a moment later and she said, “Wait, don’t tell me…” “Dash is keeping Gilda company in the hospital at the moment,” Fluttershy stated as Twilight sighed at how easily her top guard could turn into an assassin. Twilight turned around and opened a window with her magic, not bothering to challenge her hooves this time.  “What are ya doing Sugarcube?” Applejack asked, only to suddenly dash towards Twilight in a panic as she swung her hooves in an attempt to catch the little mare, but not before Twilight jumped outside and began to gallop towards the Zebra. “Dagnabbit!” Much to the surprise of any ponies still peeking out of their windows, Twilight galloped towards the Everfree Forest, or rather towards the zebra that they all called an Evil Enchantress. “Wait!” Twilight screamed as loudly as she could, causing the hooded figure in front of her to stop in her tracks and slowly turn around, before looking to her left and right in confusion. Noticing that there was seemingly no pony around, she spoke in an annoyed tone, “Wherefrom comes this voice I hear? And is it far or is it near? Stop skulking around and leaving me blind, this disrespect I certainly mind!” Twilight rolled her eyes before bending her legs and jumping upward. “Over here!” The zebra blinked a few times before she took off her hood and looked down at the tiny unicorn in front of her. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, it’s nice to meet you!” Twilight looked at the zebra with a wide smile, standing on her hind legs to be more noticeable and waiting patiently for a response. The zebra leaned forward and examined her thoughtfully. Twilight chuckled awkwardly, feeling as if she was a museum exhibit as the silence continued for many seconds, until the zebra finally broke it. “Could there be something wrong with my eyes, or are you truly this small in size?” Twilight released a breath she was holding as the first ice was finally broken. “Oh, I’m indeed very real, though I understand that seeing a pony of my size would make you think that I’m a puppet or a prank, but I’m made of flesh and blood. I assure you,” Twilight said with a serious tone, her forehoof pressed against her chest.  “You can call me Zecora, a researcher of wild flora.” The zebra lowered herself to ground level, looking at the tiny mare with a soul piercing glare. “Have you made contact with Poison Joke? If so it seems I'm your only hope.” Twilight looked back at the large face in confusion. “Poison… what now?” “Tis a flower of blue in the forest of green, it gives curses and spells and it's really quite mean. Hexes, curses, it can do them all. It could easily be what made you so small.” “Time out,” Twilight said firmly as her two tiny forelegs formed a letter ‘T’. “You’re really thinking that some blue flower called Poison… Joke, is responsible for my size reduction?” Zecora nodded. “The flower's cruel joke can be hard to predict. This curse you have you could never have picked.” Twilight beamed, jumping one meter high, much to the zebra’s surprise. She landed on her hind legs and put her forelegs on the large nose. “There is a flower in the Everfree Forest that can do that?! Amazing!” Twilight said in excitement as she took her forelegs from the surprised zebra and put them together in a pleading gesture. “Can you show me where it is, please, please, please.” “I shall take it then that your minuscule appearance was not the Joke's cause, which gives me some pause." Zecora raised herself and sat, as she looked upon the irresistible puppy eyes of the tiny pony. “In all of my years I have never heard of such an extreme size-altering spell, so I would be grateful if you cared to tell. Please tell me why you're so small, start from the beginning as I want to hear it all.” Twilight nodded as she sat and explained in a very short version how her power surge caused massive damage to the school for gifted unicorns when she was just a filly. She went on about how the princess shrunk her, and that she was tiny ever since. Zecora listened the story in disbelief and admiration, while she herself introduced herself and told Twilight how she lived in Everfree Forest alone in a small house of her making. “I assume you wonder why we are all gathered here today?” asked a big and muscular pegasus royal guard, next to him stood two unicorns and four earth pony royal guards, while in front of them gathered small crowd of ponies.” The crowd started to murmur to one another, while a more brave pony walked in front of it, looking around the spacious building they were in before looking straight forward into the guard’s face. “We are indeed very curious, but we already assumed that the cause behind this meeting must be very important,” said an earth pony with confidence in his voice, as guards in front of him nodded their heads. “You are not wrong, as the day we feared has come. Nightmare Moon has returned from her long-lasting banishment,” A guard said with a serious tone in his voice as panic and confusion appeared upon everypony. “Calm yourself, brothers and sisters, as that is not all of the bad news. It seems that some of those wretched companies, the followers of Nightmare Moon, survived our ancestors’ purge.” Noticing that he had captured everypony’s attention, he continued, his expression now grim, “Nightmare Moon is gathering her army once again as we speak.” The earth pony who ended up as the crowd’s representative spoke with fear in his voice, “B-but what can w-we do. How can we stop N-nightmare Moon… is her Majesty Princess Celestia aware of this?” Guard shook his head, sad and disappointed expression on his face, “Nightmare Moon took the mask of a defenseless and innocent pony to fool our merciful ruler. It is up to us to finish what our ancestors started and get rid of Nightmare Moon and her followers once and for all.” “B-but how?” The guard smirked, “We will purge her in fire.” Zecora walked towards the Everfree Forest, while Twilight sat on the hood on her back. “Your dedication earns my praise, your bravery leaves me amazed!” Zecora paused as she turned her head to look back at her little passenger, smiling deeply. “Even those normal in size flee from me, quite full of courage you must be.” Twilight laughed. “Well, they said some nonsensical things about you being an Evil Enchantress and they are afraid that you will curse them, isn’t that just silly?” Zecora frowned. “Silly? Yes, it seems to be, yet hurtful still it is to me.” Twilight smile vanished as she looked at Zecora with understanding and pity. “I’m sorry, I guess it is mean of them to hide from you for no reason, not giving you even the slightest hospitality.” She started to think deeply as half of a minute passed. “You're clearly thinking hard and long, perhaps you might share what is wrong?” Zecora asked with curiosity. “Well. It is just that… that my friends are very brave, we even faced a dragon a month ago,” Twilight said while Zecora’s eyes opened widely, finding what Twilight said rather hard to believe. “And here they are, panicking over some nonsensical rumours.” She sighed and used her hooves to massage Zecora’s exposed neck as she continued, “Don’t worry, I promise that I will convince everypony that there is nothing to fear. A little education, and you will be welcomed with the kindness and respect that you deserve.” “Speak with them if you feel you must, but why would one so small have their trust?” Zecora asked with curiosity, while Twilight smirked. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I may be small, but I’m very big in their eyes.” Twilight giggled while Zecora wondered what her little passenger meant by that.  “Wait for me!” A familiar voice captured their attention as Twilight turned around, noticing Apple Bloom running right behind them. “I see ya made Twilight as a friend, can Ah be yer friend too?” Zecora looked down at filly and smiled. “Lonely I was, missing my home far away, making friends however has brightened my day.” As Zecora walked into Everfree Forest, Twilight and Apple Bloom asked her various questions as they chatted freely until they reached a huge field of blue flowers. Zecora pointed at them and spoke, “Poison joke you wanted to see, here it is, waiting for thee.” Twilight nodded and jumped from Zecora before galloping towards the flowers in excitement, only for a zebra foreleg to slam in front of her, blocking her path.  “You must not touch the flowers of blue, for horrible spells they may cast on you!” “Awww… is there any antidote?” Twilight asked curiously with a tone of disappointment. Zecora nodded her giant head and spoke proudly, “I have herbs to make a remedium,  but…” she failed to finish her rhythm as Twilight beamed and jumped onto her nose, looking her in the eyes. “That’s great. It mean that I can research this flowers magical effects without fear of being infected longer than I need too. Will you let me research it? Pretty please.” Zecora sighed. “Your thirst for knowledge is obvious to me. For being open minded, I will reward thee.” “Yay!” Twilight screamed with happiness as she released her hold of Zecora’s nose and galloped towards the flowers, only to grab the biggest one she could find with her hooves, and tear it from the roots. Wasting no time, Twilight examined it with several different scanning spells, before capturing it in telekinetic field and walking back to the group. Zecora and Applebloom made a few steps back from her as she looked curiously at them and asked, “Is something wrong?” Zecora nodded. “Poison joke pollen is on you now, it may travel to me if I touch you somehow.” “I see. So this flower releases pollen whenever somepony or animal touches it, and it can be spread on others too, right?” Zecora lectured, “It probably has sunk into your fur and skin, as the effect of the joke will take hours to begin.” Zecora paused before adding, “Though some of it may still be left on you, so I better not risk by touching it too.” Twilight nodded in understanding as Zecora went towards her home, Apple Bloom next to her while the little mare right behind them, keeping a proper distance as she wanted to be a test subject for the flower herself without infecting anyone else. Twilight’s attention was captured by a voice of Applejack that came from a distance, and the moment she turned around, she saw her and Fluttershy standing in the poison joke flowers, screaming at her to grab Apple Bloom and run.  Twilight rolled her eyes and ignored them, annoyed by her friends’ mean behaviour as she followed Zecora towards her home. Once I get back to Ponyville, I will tell everypony that I was in Zecora’s home and nothing bad happened, but if I return now, my friends will most likely not believe me, Twilight though before levitating the blue flower closer to herself. Not to mention all the research I can do. “Next time watch where you’re aiming, you almost made me deaf… again!” Steel Blade shouted as he still heard a bumping sound in his ears. Vinyl Scratch frowned. “Hmn, not my fault that you got in the crossfire. Next time fly up whenever I say, ‘Bass in the hole!’ and you won’t get struck by it.” Steel Blade rolled his eyes, “How was I supposed to know what you meant by that. I thought that you found a bass in a hole,” Steel Blade said as Vinyl facehoofed.  Pinkie Pie quickly got between the two arguing ponies, and with swing of her forelegs, she pushed them away from one another. “Stop arguing and look on the bright side! We won another random battle and got a bunch of experience!” Pinkie pointed towards several unconscious Diamond Dogs as she quickly grabbed a helmet and put it on her head. “And look, they dropped a lot of armors and weapons! We can finally equip ourselves better.” Steel Blade blinked several times before saying, “Pinkie, you understand that what you’re doing right now is stealing?” Pinkie  waved her hoof at him. “Oh, don’t be silly, Steely. It's not stealing! We are getting loot from a won battle. We earned it fair and square.” “Taking something that is not ours without paying for it, without asking for permission, more or less taking it away by brute force is the definition of stealing!” Steel Blade shouted. His work as a Royal Guard left had him with a sense of justice. Vinil touched Steel Blade on the shoulder with her hoof and said, “Would you rather have those weapons and armor be used to capture ponies?” Steel Blade blinked a few times at her in surprise, Vinyl nodded her head. “Yeah, I heard what happened to Rarity.” “Come on guys! Take your loot and let's go go go! We still need to find the boss of this area,” Pinkie said firmly as she was now standing on her hind legs. The Diamond Dog-sized armor, now being sized for a pony, suited Pinkie perfectly. What shocked Steel Blade even more was that when Pinkie threw spears and armor towards him and Vinyl, it took pony shape. “H-how?”  Vinyl put some of the armor on herself and started to push her Soundwave Blaster again as she gave Steel Blade a relaxed look. “The less you think about it, the better. Just let the adventure overtake you and have fun, dude.” Steel Blade sighed and put the looted armor on himself, images of impressing Twilight and overshadowing Big Macintosh giving him courage and determination to proceed. Even if it meant stealing from Diamond Dogs. Cadence yawned deeply as she felt something poking her, and the moment she opened her eyes, she saw the giant hoof of Overwatch. “Wake up. Twilight is gone and her friends asked for our assistance to save her,” Overwatch stated firmly, and tiny alicorn stood up in an instant. “Twilight is in danger?” Cadence asked, though not waiting for an answer as she jumped from the pillow onto the floor, galloping towards the opened doors where Spike was talking with Twilight’s friends.  Everypony jumped back the moment they noticed her little frame landing right on top of Spike’s head, looking at them with fear in her tiny eyes. “What happened to Twilight?!” Everypony blinked in disbelief and confusion before Fluttershy took a step forward and looked at Cadence with worry and curiosity. “You’re so small. Did something happen to you? Did she curse you already?” The group started to panic at the thought of the Evil Enchantress not only taking Twilight and Apple Bloom as hostages, but also shrinking the strongest pony in terms of magical prowess they could find in Ponyville. Cadence shook her head. “Oh, this, I just shrunk myself to participate in Twilight’s night exercise… also, what do you mean, cursed me?” she asked curiously, as everypony released a sigh of relief. The alicorn shook her head. “Nevermind, thats is not important!” Cadence jumped from Spike’s head and hovered in front of the confused group. “Where is Twilight? What happened to her? Please, tell me.” “Oh, that was horrible, just horrible,” Fluttershy started as Cadence put her forelegs on her cheeks, fearing of Twilight’s well being. “We tried to warn her, but she didn’t listen.” Applejack nodded and said with a stern voice, “Ah tried to stop her, but she was to fast for mah hooves as she ran to that witch.”  “Yes… and then… and then, that Evil Enchantress hypnotized her and took her hostage,” Fluttershy added hastily as the alicorn felt a wave of emotion, forcing her to land on the floor as her heart tried to escape her chest.  Cadence looked up at Twilight’s friends with a horrified expression on her face. “And, what happened next ?” Applejack lowered herself and said saddened, “Before Ah noticed, mah sister disappeared too, she was foalnapped.” Cadence eyes opened widely. “She captured a filly too… that's horrible!” she said with a barely audible voice, not yet used to speaking loudly enough in her new size. “We followed them and screamed for Twilight to help us rescue Apple Bloom,” Fluttershy said. “But she just ignored us and followed that hooded Zebra deeper into Everfree Forest,” Applejack added as Cadence horrified expression turned into one of confusion and doubt. “Ah wanted to go and rescue them, but Fluttershy told me that she would just hypnotize me with her evil magic too.” “So we came back as fast as we could, rounded all of our friends and came to you,” Fluttershy said while Rarity and Big Macintosh nodded their heads.  “And that’s why we need someone as powerful as you to counter her evil magic and curses and save Twilight and Apple Bloom from her grasp,” Rainbow Dash said firmly as Cadence looked at them as if they were insane. “Dash, fifth time, Zebras don’t cast curses. They make potions, sure, but don’t cast magic!” Gilda said firmly, growing in annoyance. “Please, save mah sister… and friend, ah beg ya’,” Applejack asked with her hooves held together, giving Cadence the most pleading look she could muster and failing at it. Cadence facehoofed with her tiny foreleg and said as loudly as her tiny mouth could let her, “Are you serious?!”  “Yes we are!” Rainbow Dash said loudly as Cadence put her forelegs on her tiny ears, feeling a huge amount of pain from this verbal assault, “sorry.” Noticing that Cadence recovered, Rainbow Dash said calmly, “We cannot leave Twilight with her alone, just think of all the tortures and curses that this Evil Enchantress will test on her,” the pegasus said firmly. “Twilight is tough, but even she won’t withstand for long all that physical abuse.” Cadence rolled her eyes as giant apple-pony lowered herself to add more nonsense into the pile. “And all that fancy magic she will test on them. What if she turns them into frogs? Only to eat them later. Or she will turn them into an apples, or worse, into an apple and orange and then eats them,” Applejack added with fear in her voice. Cadence turned her attention away from Applejack and looked upon Fluttershy, “Not you too.” Fluttershy smiled awkwardly and added, “What if she decides to cut off Twilight’s horn as a trophy, it would be so horrible.”  Cadence glared suspiciously at her, finding the lack of hesitation and shyness odd, more or less the fake concern that she easily noticed in the always so caring and kind pegasus. The alicorn could feel the floor under her hooves tremble, as her attention focused on the humongous giant whose mighty hoof slammed the floor of the library. “Ah’m gonna rescue mah friend and mah younger sister, and Ah will crush anything in Mah way. With or without yer help,” Big Macintosh stated this with determination in his voice, and the very posture of the giant from Cadence’s perspective was no less than terrifying. Cadence sighed and turned to Rarity, “And what is your side of the story. Any ideas how they will be cursed and tortured that you wish to share?” Rarity thought deeply for a moment before shaking her head. “Nah. If anything, Twilight always pointed out that it is important to look beyond appearance. Until I meet that so called ‘Evil Enchantress’ and talk with her face-to-face, I am not going to make any assumptions,” Rarity stated firmly, her head held high and proudly. Cadence nodded. “At least one pony who can act mature around here,” she said firmly as everypony looked at her in confusion, hardly hearing what she just said. Wasting no time, she flew into the air and looked at them from above, shouting, “I believe we need to have a very long talk!”  Minutes passed as Cadence did her best to convince every pony that the zebra was not an Evil Enchantress and that Twilight was just probably trying to befriend her. After which she gave them a long lecture as if she were a mother scolding a child for being mean and insensitive to another's feelings. Despite her tiny size, all of Twilight’s friends took her words seriously, as Cadence spoke with more than a millennium’s worth of old wisdom.  As she miraculously managed to convince everypony to relax and wait for Twilight to come home. Overwatch didn’t waste a moment before sneaking away from the library, upholding her duty to ensure Twilight’s safely.  “Wait!” Fluttershy screamed, much to everypony’s confusion. “Can I come with you? I can lead the way.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her eyes, once again caught off guard by her friend’s behaviour. “Fluttershy. Overwatch was nothing but mean towards you this whole time, why are you so friendly with her all of a sudden?” She paused before giving Fluttershy a suspicious glare, causing her to flinch. “Much less going into a very dangerous forest. What gives?” Fluttershy rubbed her hoof across the floor, not looking Rainbow Dash in the eyes. “It’s… a long story. Let’s just say that Overwatch and I had a long talk in my cottage. We are on good terms now.” “And what about you being ‘Mrs. I do not fear anything?’ Where is the shy pegasus I always knew?” Fluttershy blushed. “Well… after the incident with the Dragon, I am working on being more assertive. You won’t mind… right…. Right?” she asked hesitantly, her uncertainty and fear returning to her.  “Of course I don’t, it is just… just that… it caught me off guard.” Rainbow Dash smiled proudly. “I guess that my friend from school times is growing up. You make me proud, Flutters.” Fluttershy blushed and thanked Rainbow Dash before she led Overwatch towards the Everfree Forest.  Applejack tried to return to her farm to work alongside Big Macintosh, only to be dragged by Rarity for her sewing lessons while Spike, being annoyed about missing another adventure, locked himself in the laboratory, throwing a tantrum.  Rainbow Dash and Gilda decided to hang out with Cadence until Twilight’s return. “So, what is the real reason you’re leading us there?” Overwatch asked as she trotted right behind Fluttershy. “Is it really that obvious?” Fluttershy asked curiously, only for Overwatch to chuckle. “We’re changelings, and you leave your emotions out like an open book. Now spill it, what’s this ‘Evil Enchantress’ thing all about?” Fluttershy sighed and spoke calmly with hidden sadness in her voice, “It is… a long story.” “Unless you have anything better to do, I can listen.” Fluttershy nodded and said, “Okay. It all started two thousand years ago, when our hive was living south in the jungle, feeding off…” Fluttershy continued storytelling, giving Overwatch more details about her hive’s past culture and feeding habits before… “You don’t need to give me so many details, short version please,” Overwatch plead. “Oh, s-sure…” Fluttershy nodded. “Long story short, our life and feeding habits weren’t much different in the past as they are now. The problem was that it was a lot harder to keep our presence a secret with so many predators and dangers the jungle had to offer. Once some members of our hive lost their disguises due to strong poison or heavy injury, zebras became alerted to our presence, creating a potion that would forcefully drop our disguises.”  She lowered her head and sighed. “We didn’t have any bad intentions and tried to live in peace, but Zebras weren’t very trusting towards our kind. After our numerous attempts of negotiation was meet with hostility, we had no other choice but to retreat and find a new feeding ground. Our hive was greatly weakened during our travels and lost most of its members before we found, and settled in Equestria.” “I see…” Overwatch said, giving the fellow challenging a pitiful glance. “This explain why your hive has such a weak presence. My deepest condolences.”   “Thank you,” Fluttershy said before shaking her forehoof dismissively, increasing her speed a little. “But it was centuries ago, and we don’t mind keeping our influence small. Unlike your hive, we decided to focus on quality over quantity and we integrated into Equestria by peaceful means.” She raised her head proudly. “We may not look like it, but I assure you, one of us can handle more than ten soldiers from your hive.” She lowered her head, now looking the fellow challenging in the eyes. “Speaking of elite changelings, you’re far more skilled and stronger then other members of your hive. You must have had quite the journey, you would fit among us perfectly.” “Thanks for the complement.” Overwatch asked. “And the zebra?”  “Well…” Fluttershy blushed. “Once we found out that a zebra set up a house in the Everfree Forest, we panicked, afraid that she would reveal our presence if given a chance. To counter it, we spread rumors in Ponyville about her being an Evil Enchantress to ensure that this zebra could never tell ponies about changelings.” Overwatch’s brow furrowed. “Seems like a lot of effort for an uncertain outcome. What’s stopping the zebra from just running into town and claiming there are shapeshifters among them?” she asked carefully. “If it were my hive, we’d have probably done away with her altogether. It’s too much risk, and the zebra seems ostracized enough from the rest of Ponyville to make her disappearance go unnoticed.”  Fluttershy shook her head and glared daggers at Overwatch. “Queen Mimic would never agree to take such measures. Our hive never takes innocent lives, no matter the circumstances.” Overwatch rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because revealing the changelings’ existence and creating potions to drop their disguises to starve them to death make zebras angels. A pure example of innocence to the world.” Overwatch took a deep breath and spoke louder, “They tried to commit genocide. It is kill or be killed.” Fluttershy stopped her march and shook her head, looking at Overwatch with growing anger. “They didn’t mean it. They knew nothing about us, they feared us, and they had every right to defend themselves. Even if we never meant any harm, and our eating habits never caused any, they didn’t know that.” After a minute of silence, both changelings calmed down and continued their walk, finally reaching their destination. Fluttershy pointed her hooves at the blue flowers, “When Applejack and I stood in poison joke to call for them, they were heading in that direction.” Fluttershy paused before smirking. “If you follow this path and next climb up upon that small hill, you will see a big tree with a door. This is where our scouts located her when she set up a house here.” Overwatch nodded, but the moment she saw Fluttershy going back to Ponyville, she asked, “What will you do now, and why did you go into the poison-something if apparently you are aware of it?” Fluttershy turned and looked back at her ally from another hive. “Applejack and I will be pranked by poison joke, simple as that. I will just say that Zecora put a curse on us… The only problem is Twilight.” Fluttershy lowered her head and continued, “In the end, I am sure she will convince everypony to befriend Zecora and all our efforts will go to waste. All I can do is to delay it a bit until we come up with a permanent solution.” “If you and your hive are too soft to take her life, I can inform Queen Chrysalis about this threat. After all, she can expose not just yours, but my hive as well.” “You will do no such thing, Overwatch,” Fluttershy said firmly, as she walked towards her and gave her a stare, easy penetrating the changeling’s defenses as she had far more love reserves, giving her the advantage. “Everfree Forest is our territory, and Zecora, even if she is a threat, is under our protection, do you understand?!” Overwatch, feeling overwhelmed, yielded and nodded her head.  Fluttershy smiled and walked away. “I am sure that just like me, you wouldn’t want to cause Twilight to cry over a lost friend she just met, so to make everypony and every changeling happy, we need to find a peaceful solution.”