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// The Zebra's Brew 
// Story: Your Better Half 
// by Jay Bear v2 
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The Everfree Forest used to be a forbidden place where danger lurked and enigmas reigned. No one entered it for fear of what dwelt within. One of its denizens, a mysterious cloaked zebra, would stalk into Ponyville when she was least expected. No one could guess at her intentions, but it was feared that she cast curses with her sphinx-like riddles.
It turns out her name is Zecora, and everyone who’s met her says she’s great. Professor Applejack’s little sister had even built a path to her hut, although it was a long hike. I got there after an hour of following signposts over logs and along narrow ledges, all the while keeping an eye out for puckwudgies or other monsters.
When I arrived, I took a moment to get my thoughts in order. Although I’d seen Zecora around Ponyville a few times, I’d never met her before. I needed to introduce myself and explain what I wanted her help with. Once I was ready, I knocked on her door.
“It seems you’ve had to trek quite far,” Zecora said as she opened it, “to make it to my home, Sandbar.”
“Hi, I’m Sand…” I began before I processed what she’d said. “Oh, uh, you know who I am?”
“The news of Twilight Sparkle’s class, and of the youth she hopes will pass, has spread north, south, sea to sea.” She smiled. “And even here, in Everfree.”
“Yeah, I guess we’re pretty well known,” I said with a nervous laugh. Even if somepony hadn’t heard about the new school, they would have read news about our antics during Friends and Family Day.
Zecora opened the door wider and beckoned me inside. “Come in! Let’s share an herbal brew, and then discuss what bothers you.”
The inside of her hut was more bizarre than anything I’d seen on my hike through the Everfree Forest. Fearsome masks hung from the walls. Jars all around me glowed in unnatural colors. Bottles dangled from roots worming their way through her hut. A cauldron bubbled in its center.
All of that scared me, but only at first. Then Zecora brought some tea with ingredients I’d never heard of, and it was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted. As I set down the mug I had emptied in one swig, it felt like Zecora really could do the impossible. I started to have hope.
“I have bad cat allergies,” I started. “When I’m around cats, I want to scratch myself raw. The doctors in Ponyville say there’s no cure, but I wanted to ask if there’s anything you can do.”
Zecora walked to the cauldron and began stirring it. “Your chances of a cure are faint. As many find with your complaint, there’s just a single remedy. Adopt a dog and live cat-free.”
That was the answer I had worried she’d say, although imagining Gallus as half-eagle, half-dog made me smile. “This isn’t about a pet cat, though. I’m also allergic to one of my friends, Gallus, since he’s a griffon. If being around him is going to turn me into a sneezy, itchy mess…”
Then I’d never find out if he had any feelings for me.
“Then we won’t be able to hang out as much.”
Zecora eyed me through the cauldron’s steam, like she knew I’d held back something.
“Relationships should never break because you suffer chills and aches. What binds two creatures is robust. In friendship’s magic, you must trust.”
I couldn’t make sense of what she was saying until she mentioned friendship and magic. “Oh, I get it! The magic of friendship can stop a lord of chaos, or turn a whole changeling hive good, so it’s got to be strong enough to stop my allergies.”
Zecora circled her hut, picking up jars every few steps. “Though nothing equals friendship’s might, it cannot curb your lymphocytes.”
“What are lymphocytes?”
She kept going. “I’ll mix a potion, if you please, to help you with your allergies. But you must understand for sure, this potion will not be a cure.”
Her mentioning a potion got me excited, until she’d said it wouldn’t be a cure. “So what will it do?”
She took her collection to a table and began working. Herbs mashed to paste in her mortar and pestle. Fluids mixed, sending out puffs of smoke, and powders dissolved. Finally, she split the concoction into two vials.
“Each dose will last a quarter day. Your hives and sneezing will give way. Consume each vial separately as their effect works magically.” She corked both vials and passed them to me. “Allow one day between each dram. A double dose could cause bedlam.”
It wasn’t a cure, but it sounded like it’d work a lot better than anything a pony doctor could give me. A quarter day meant six hours, so I could drink one and hang out with Gallus for a whole afternoon or evening. One dose a day felt restrictive, although it was better than nothing. But why had she given me only two doses?
“When I finish these,” I asked while I tucked the vials into my saddlebags, “can I come back for more?”
“Your ailment’s known for stubbornness, and treatments lose effectiveness.” She laid a hoof on my shoulder. “Once you exhaust this potion’s store, it cannot help you anymore.”
For a moment, I just stared at her in disbelief. “You mean, after these two doses,” I said, my voice on the verge of breaking, “it won’t work again?”
Zecora nodded.
I hung my head, defeated. “That’s not fair.”
“Though time is short, it’s just enough,” she said and pulled her hoof away, “to meet and have a talk that’s tough. What follows that is what it means when friendship’s magic intervenes.”
I thanked her, although she could tell how discouraged I was, and left. Two days with Gallus, and then…
Plodding home, part of me wanted to chuck the vials as far as I could throw them. What was the point if my allergies would keep me from being with Gallus? Maybe it was better to forget about my crush. Nothing goes rotten as badly as hope.
Sunlight warmed my hide. I’d emerged from the Everfree Forest without even noticing it. Above me, a pair of pegasi sat on a cloud, laughing and teasing each other, ecstatic to be together.
Watching them, I rethought things. Zecora had given me two doses. Instead of chucking them and wallowing in misery, I could hang out with Gallus twice. Why not make that time together as awesome as possible? And, with another glance at the pegasi on their cloud, I got an idea of where we could go.