It was another beautiful day in Ponyville and as usual, Xavier was at his work desk, tinkering with his grappling hook. It's been a few weeks since the dragon incident and things have been peaceful all around, except for a large storm that happened a few days ago. Using the peace, Xavier decided to start modding the grappling hook he made and see where he could take it. While he was working on it, he got hungry so he decided to go to the kitchen and find some food. When he got there though, there wasn't much food in it that he could use.
"Hmm, I may need to do a grocery run..." Xavier murmured to himself. With a new purpose, he grabbed his sword and went to the market. While he was walking, he noticed that there was a lack of ponies outside. When he got to the market, he realized that there was no one around, not even a filly or colt playing. "Huh, what's going on?" Xavier said as he began to walk, his hand near his sword just in case. As he was walking around, he saw a cloaked figure in the distance, so he went up to ask them what was going on. As he got close, he saw that the cloaked figure was scratching at the ground, so he began to speak. "Hello, can I help you with something?" Hearing his voice, The cloaked figure looked up and was surprised to see him.
"Huh, what do we have here? A new breed of creature draws near." The cloaked figure spoke in a mystifying voice.
"Yup, a new species to Equestria I guess..." Xavier said, a bit embarrassed. "I'm guessing you're new around here then?" Xavier said with kindness in his voice.
"No, I live nearby, just not in town. But I am glad that you were found." The cloaked figure said. "For that, you may know my name. My name is Zecora, and potions are my game." Zecora said as she removed her hood, revealing that she was a zebra. Her mane was cut in a way to look like a mohawk and she had gold rings on her neck and ears. With her hood removed, Xavier was surprised to see her.
"A zebra?" Xavier said.
"Oh, I see you are well informed. Why yes, a zebra is how I was formed." Zecora responded, amused at Xavier's reaction.
"Wow, I guess we are both rare species to Equestria then." The two began to laugh as the mood was lifted. "So what's going on, why are you here Zecora?"
"I come here wishing to buy new things. Unfortunately, it seems no pony is out again to sing." Zecora said a bit down as she walked away.
"Huh, this happened before?" Xavier said as he walked up with her.
"Yes, though I wish I could tell. Why they all leave, and leave nothing to sell." Zecora responded. "Oh well, there is nothing to do, except to go back to Everfree and brew."
"E-Everfree?! Is that where you live?!" Xavier said, a bit surprised as to hear that somepony, or in this case, some zebra, lives there.
"Why yes though it is a shock, the flora makes it easy to keep my home stocked." Zecora responded.
"Well, it can be dangerous, so I'll walk with you to keep you safe." Xavier said as he pulled out his sword, surprising and impressing Zecora as it extended. Seeing as he would be fine to follow, she lead the way with Xavier next to her. As they were walking into the Everfree forest, they were striking up a conversation and getting to know each other. Their conversation stopped abruptly however as Zecora went and grabbed Xavier's shirt collar and pulled him away from a patch of blue flowers he was about to walk into. "Gah, what was that about." Xavier said as he tried to regain his balance.
"I'm sorry my friend, but you were about to walk into trouble. Those flowers-"
"Let go of our friend Zecora!" The duo turned to see Xavier's friends standing in a patch of flowers, non of them looking too pleased. Seeing their faces, Zecora began to back away.
"Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!" Zecora said as fog began to accumulate around her.
"Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, ya hear?" Applejack said trying to keep a brave face, but was obvious afraid. the others except for Twilight agreed as they voiced their opinions, as Twilight gave them a look of annoyance
"Beware! Beware!" Zecora said as the fog became so thick, she could not be seen.
"Zecora wait, they won't hurt you!" Xavier said as he saw Zecora fade away. When she was gone, Xavier looked down for a second before turning to the girls angrily. "What was that about girls? You scared her off!"
"Good thing too, you were almost cursed by her" Rainbow said, clearly proud about scaring her off.
"Cursed? You think she was going to curse me? Why?" Xavier said offended.
"Cause she's evil and dangerous!" Applejack said walking up. "You could have been lead into her home and cursed by her!"
"Agreed, I mean just look at her, so horrid." Rarity said backing Applejack up. At that moment, Xavier realized what they were on about.
"Are you telling me that you don't trust her because of her species?" Xavier asked sternly, getting a slightly nervous look from them. "Well, I guess that means you girls don't trust me then." Xavier got mixed reactions from them at that logic. "That's what I thought. Maybe you should think about things before acting." Xavier said as he walked away, going back to his home to take a break from them, avoiding the blue flowers as he went along, getting a bad feeling from them.
The Next Day
Xavier was walking over to Twilight's library with a slightly down face. "Maybe I was a bit short with them. They may be blunt at times, but they may have thought something else, and besides, they all couldn't be on that bandwagon, right?" Xavier thought to himself as he got to Twilight's place. Opening the door, his thoughts were interrupted by a very interesting sight, for all six of his friends were in the library, though they were all different. Twilight's horn had blue spots and was jiggling whenever she moved her head. Pinkie's tongue was inflated and covered in the same spots as Twilight. Rainbow's wings were flipped onto her stomach and couldn't fly straight. Rarity's hair was long and shambled like dreadlocks. Applejack was tiny, having to be carried by a small filly that Xavier met before, her name Apple Bloom. And Fluttershy... she seemed fine. "G-Girls! What happened to you all!?" Turning around, the girls were slightly embarrassed to see him.
"I'll tell you what happened!" Rainbow said as she struggled to stay steady. "We've been slapped with a curse."
"Yeah, all thanks to Zecora!" Applejack added, much to Xavier's frustration.
"What?! Why do you think Zecora did this!?"
"What do you mean 'why' darling?" Rarity asked in doubt.
"Ipth all Zthecora's fault." Pinkie attempted to say, though her tongue made it hard.
"It's not a curse you girls!" Twilight said angrily.
"Maybe he's right..." Fluttershy said, though her voice was extremely deep, startling Xavier.
"What do you mean!?" Rainbow questioned. "It's clear as day she hit us all with a hex!"
"It's not a hex either!" Twilight said, which ended up getting the group to argue with each other. During their arguing though, Xavier's rage was building until he couldn't take it.
"Alright, that's it, shut UP!" Xavier yelled out, causing the entire room to fall silent. "You girls are being ridiculous!! Did my words mean nothing to you yesterday?! Zecora is innocent, and I am going to prove it."
"How?" Rainbow asked doubtfully.
"I'm going to go her home and talking to her right now!" The girls all gasped at him. "I want none of you to follow me, got that! I don't want you to girls acting before reason, and I can defend myself is things get dicey. So let me talk to her, and if any of you get in my way, so help me." Xavier turned around and headed out the door and to the Everfree forest to clear Zecora's name.
"Easier said then done though..."
Xavier was sitting on a log by the path that he and Zecora split off at, thinking about his next course of action. He had no idea where Zecora's home was, so he was sitting to keep himself from getting lost while he planned his next course of action.
"How do I clear her name if I don't know where she lives. Gah, what do I-"
His thoughts were cut off as he heard a snapping twig. Getting up and looking where the sound came from, he saw a terrifying sight. In front of him was what appeared to be a wolf, though it was a lot bigger than the average wolf and made of a large mass of wood. The beast was growling at him as it slowly crept towards him. When the wolf was a jump away, Xavier only had one thing come to his mind.
"Um, nice doggie?"
The Beast suddenly lunged at him. Xavier barely dodged as he got out his sword. He attempted a swing at the beast, but it dodged, retaliating with it's claws. Xavier didn't manage to dodge the entire thing, getting a cut deep enough to draw blood onto his right forearm. Xavier backed away in pain as he gripped it with his free hand. His hopes of getting out diminished as he looked at the wolf coming closer. Suddenly, a jar came flying at the beast, hitting it's head and bursting in a cloud of smoke and liquids. Whatever was in the jar, it stunned and disoriented the wolf so much that it began to dash around recklessly.
"You cannot just stand there!" Xavier turned to the voice to see the zebra he was looking for. "We must flee, while the effects it cannot bare." Seeing an opportunity, Xavier dashed to Zecora as the two ran away from the wolf. After a bit of running, the two came to a halt. "That was too close my friend. If I wasn't there it would have been your end." Zecora said.
"You said it, Zecora, thanks for the save." Xavier said in relief. "I need to talk to you Zecora."
"We can talk somewhere else. My home is close by for my pals. We can go there to chat, whilst I heal up that gash in my flat." Zecora said as she lead Xavier through the forest.
"You have a nice place here Zecora, fit's you to a T."
Xavier was looking around Zecora's hut as she was getting a few things to help patch up Xavier's arm. The place was filled with strange masks, pots, and other bobbles. There were shelves and tables with many different potions and ingredients. There was even a big cauldron in the center of the room filled with a strange substance. To most the place would give the creeps to them, but Xavier knew better and was instead fascinating to him.
"Your words make me smile wide, they are from my home across the tides." Zecora said as she came back over with bandages and a bottle of a strange paste. She began to apply the paste to the bandage as she came over. "This will help heal, so tightly sit. It may sting a slight bit." She then began to wrap the bandage around the wound, getting a pained cry from Xavier.
"GAH! Sting, that's more like stabs!" Xavier yelped, getting a chuckle from Zecora.
"Well, it did touch your vein. But what is the term, 'no pain no gain'"? Getting a groan from Xavier, Zecora continued to work on Xavier's arm. "I must ask you while we have time, why do you come here into this forest of grime?" Xavier then remembered why he was there, so he sighed and began to explain.
"You see after yesterday, I got a bit mad at my friends and went back to my home. Over the night I felt a bit guilty for snapping at them, so I went to one of my friend's home to apologies. When I got there however, all six of my friends had weird things happen to them. While the sudden changes was worrying, the worst part was that most of them blamed you for it, saying that you cursed them. So I got mad and decided to head out to find you and prove you weren't the cause of this. And well... you know what happened..."
"Hmm, that does sound very strange, to blame someone else for outrage." Zecora said as she got up, having finished the bandages. "Though I believe I know what's the cause. Tell me, did they step in blue before their flaws?"
Thinking about Zecora's question, Xavier then remembered that the girls did run trough a patch of blue flowers. "Now that you mention it, they were standing in a patch of blue flowers when we saw them. Is that the problem, because you did pull me away from a smaller patch before they made their appearance?"
Zecora nodded and walked to a bookshelf. "Yes, for those plants are called poison joke. This plant is very similar to poison oak. But this plant does not seek wrath. Instead, it looks simply for a laugh."
"Now that you mention it, the strange changes are pretty ironic." Xavier said with a hand on his chin thinking. "The best spellcaster's horn becomes limp, the best flyer can't stay straight, the quiet, soft-spoken one's voice is super deep, the fusionist's hair looks like vines, the chattiest one can't even speak, and the strongest one becomes the runt of the litter. I guess it really is a joke." Xavier said sighing. "Thank the lord, I was worried that there wouldn't be a good reason and the girls wouldn't have aright to believe you. Well now that we know the cause, is there a cure or is this a thing that time is the only one."
Zecora came over with a book and placed it on a pedestal. "I have the cure right here. In this book will help their fears." Looking inside he found what he was looking for.
"A-ha, Poison joke cure. Huh, it's a bubble bath? Eh whatever, whatever it takes to cure the girls. Do you think you're willing to help me here?"
"I am always up for making a cure. For you, it will work for sure." Zecora walked over to her cauldron. "Although, I do not have everything in the book. Take this list and please go look." Zecora then pointed to a sash with a bunch of casks. "Take that before you go. If trouble comes, give one a throw."
"Will do Zecora. If it means helping my friends and prove your innocence, I will happily oblige." Xavier said as he took the list and sash. "I'll be back, good luck!" Xavier then left the hut and went to look for the things needed.
A While Later
Xavier was walking back to Zecora's hut with all of the ingredients that she needed. As he was walking, he was talking to himself.
"Once Zecora finishes the cure, I'll get the girls over to the hut and get them to take a dip in it. Once they see that Zecora wasn't the cause of their problem but their solution, they will surely believe that Zecora isn't someone bad. And once they see that, the rest of the town will be sure to follow, and then Zecora won't be alone all the time." Xavier smiled and continued to walk. As he got close to the hut though, he saw a group of figures outside her window. Curious, he began to sneak closer to see who they were, becoming both surprised and upset that it was the girls looking in. He began to v=come closer as he began to listen o their conversation.
"I didn't want to believe it, but maybe she is evil." Twilight said sadly.
"Ya see, she is nothin' but bad news." Applejack said.
"Amd watph worth ipht thap we dom't know where Xbabier is." Pinkie said.
"But where could he be?" Rainbow wondered.
"How about standing behind you girls annoyed." The girls then tensed up and turned to see Xavier behind them, arms crossed and with an annoyed expression on his face. "I cannot believe you girls! I've been doing things for you ever since I've shown up and the one time I ask you to do something you do the opposite!"
"Well, we had a very good reason, darling." Rarity spoke.
"We got worried about you since you were gone for so long." Fluttershy whispered.
"And besides, you should be grateful that we did follow you, because we can save you from her." Rainbow announced
"Oh really, and what are you saving me from?" Xavier asked doubtfully.
"Saving you from her turning you into soup." Twilight said a little hesitantly, receiving a very annoyed groan from Xavier.
"UGH, seriously! You think she want's to turn me into soup? You know what, follow me, I'm going to prove to you all that she is a good zebra." Xavier then walked to the door and gestured the girls to follow, to which they complied. Xavier then knocked on the door. "Hey Zecora, it's me, Xavier. I got everything you needed."
"Of course, thank you my friend. Come in so I can make the blend." Zecora said from inside, so Xavier opened the door.
"By the way Zecora, I happened to pick up some loiterers along the way." Xavier said as he let the girls in. Looking up from the cauldron, Zecora looked surprised to see them.
"Oh, what have you brought in? Your pony friend in the skin?" Zecora asked.
"Yup, I found them looking into your window." Xavier said, glaring at them. "Anyway, here's those ingredient's you needed." Xavier handed her a satchel filled with different herbs and flora.
"Perfect young human. This will be worth the effort you ran." Zecora said as she went back to her cauldron. Xavier then went over to his friends.
"Okay, here's the deal. I know you girls doubt Zecora's not evil, so I'm going to have you ask questions to us and we will answer them, so that you girls can get answers about somepony you barely know about. Sound good?" The girls nodded. "Alright, first question." The girls looked at each other, unsure as to what to ask. It wasn't until Rainbow spoke up.
"Why does Zecora come into town in the first place?"
"She comes into town because she want's to shop around and buy things unavailable to her living here." Xavier explained.
"Why does she even live her in the first place, everypony knows that this place ain't natural." Applejack asked.
"Well, this place has a large diversity of plants and flora that you can't find anywhere else, so it makes it easy for Zecora to get the things she needs for her potions."
"Um, why does she dig at the ground?" Fluttershy asked.
"There is a particular type of beetle the lives underground in Ponyville, and it's scales have some interesting properties. She was digging to see if she could find one of those beetles to give it a few scales from it."
"Well, why do we look like this if Zecora didn't curse us?" Rarity chimed in.
"I can answer that, you pony folk." Zecora said for the first time since the QnA started. "The reason is a plant known as poison joke." This got the group confused, so Xavier joined in.
"You girls remember what she said to you before she went home? 'Beware, beware you pony folk. Those leaves of blue are not a joke.' Well, that was no curse she was speaking, but a warning about the blue flowers you were standing in. It's called poison joke."
"That plant is very similar to poison oak, but it's results are like a joke." Zecora said. "This plant does not seek wrath. Instead, it looks simply for a laugh."
"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack asked, clearly confused.
"Well, think about it. All of the things that have happened to you six are kind of like jokes. Like the so-called best flyer not being able to fly straight for five seconds, or the most talkative one having a hard time speaking." The girls thought about it, and realized that these were like jokes played onto them, so they allowed that.
"Okay, fine, I'll give you that. But what about the Cauldron?!" Rainbow demanded.
"And the chanting?" Fluttershy added.
"And the creepy décor?" Rarity included as well.
"Treasures of the land from where I am from." Zecora explained, pointing out a couple masks. "This one speaks 'hello' and the other 'welcome'." The girls understood, though some were still off-put by them. "The words I chanted were from olden times, something you'd call a nursery rhyme."
"But what about the cauldron? What's being cooked?"
"The cure." The girls looked over at Xavier, who was holding a book open. "Check this out, This book has a cure for poison joke in it, and Zecora was brewing it, and I was out getting ingredients to help her. All it is is a bubble bath, so no drinking needed." Twilight looked closer and confirmed that it was the cure. But something still bothered her.
"But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything. What book has this natural remedy?"
Hearing her, Xavier closed the book and showed her the cover as Zecora spoke. "Here is the book, you see? Sad that you lack it in your library."
Seeing the title, Twilight's face soon dropped. "Actually, I do have this book, but I didn't look inside because the title was so... Weird." Xavier then gave the book to her so she could get a better look at it. "Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super." After reading it the title again, Twilight and the girls looked more then guilty. "I...I... I'm so sorry, Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I had bothered to look inside."
"Let this be a lesson to you all." Xavier said with a stern look. "A book can never be judged by it's cover. Now, I believe that you all have something to say to a certain zebra." The girls nodded and turned to Zecora with apologetic faces.
"We're sorry."
"There we go, glad we can all get along. Now then, how's that cure going Zecora?"
"The cauldron's cure needs ingredient's still. But those ingredients are only found in Ponyville."
"Ponyville, huh. I guess it would be good to head over, come on then." Xavier then headed out the door, prompting the others to follow along in hopes to cure their ailment.
An Hour Later
When the group arrived in town, the townsfolk ran into their homes in fear of Zecora. Fortunately, the group excluding Zecora went around and told everypony about the situation, so their fears lowered. Along their goal of clearing Zecora's name, they were also able to collect the last of the missing ingredients needed for the cure. Xavier meanwhile was talking to Aloe and Lotus to see if they could lend their bath for a bit to let the girls soak, to which they agreed. With the ingredients and a place to soak, Zecora and Xavier began adding the ingredients as the girls got into the bath (Except Applejack who had to be put into a small pail because of her size). As the girls soaked, their ailments left them, leaving them as their normal selves.
"Thanks for letting us use the bath Lotus, it really means a lot to me and the others." Xavier spoke to his employer as she smiled.
"Oh but of course, you've done so much for us, this seems fair todo for you and your friends. Although, I would love the recipe for this bath miss Zecora, it is simply luxurious." Zecora nodded as Lotus left them to recover.
"So girls, how are we all feeling?"
"Oh! I have never felt so lovely in all my life!" Rarity said in joy as Pinkie popped out of the water next to her.
"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, Fluttershy?"
"Yes." With Fluttershy's small agreement, the entire group began to laugh as a new friendship was formed between the elements and Zecora.
A little while later
After the girls soaked in the bath for a little while longer, they all got up and said their farewells to each other and left to go home. Xavier decided to walk with Zecora for a bit before he went to his home.
"You sure you don't want to live here in Ponyville? I'm sure we can get the mayor to work something out."
"Xavier, you have done so much for me, it would feel wrong to plea." Zecora said as the two faced each other outside of the forest. "Besides, I have already set up my home, to leave would be quite bold."
"Well alright, I guess. Just remember, if you feel lonely at any time, you can come to Ponyville and hang around me and my friends."
"I will remember that, my friend. May our story continue, and not end." Waving one last goodbye, the two parted ways and went back to their homes, happy that they were able to make a new friend with each other.