Millennia ago while lost in barren seas
There whispered murmurs of a bloody mutiny
We took up arms, slain Lunar Guards of rank
Blades drawn, wings tied the captain walked the plank
As he fell down to the depths, he swore a deadly curse
With Tartarus my final fate, you'll all soon die or worse
Now we stare down Celestia, waiting for the end
I'll say these final words my friend~
At sunrise we all trot the hempen jig
So raise your hoof, your pint of rum and take another swig
The curse of Captain Maregan has led us to this fate
So have no fear and don't look back, the afterlife awaits
By this time Blaze Fire had gotten into the exercise routine that Sun Shower held. It was a bit shorter than normal, mere maintenance to the usual. "Fifth day, and we're just now gettin' somewhere. This better be what we need." she mused under the weights.
"Indeed." Blaze intoned.
The trot through town was less eventful than previous days, as ponies had gotten used to the sight of the imperial escort. Perhaps seeing Sun with her muzzle still held high after these days was a form of proof of her innocence to them. Trotting past town to the edges of the Everfree Forest, however, elicited some odd looks.
The two stuck to the path that had been partially worn by Zecora and the Bearers. The creatures had begun to avoid this throughway, content to skulk and hunt in the shadowed corners they were used to.
The presence of foreign masks marked the hut as Zecora's home, just as Twilight had described.
"This must be it." Blaze said matter-of-factly.
"Nah. It must be off in the swamps. Y'know, next to all that stuff that wants to eat us." Sun sardonically remarked.
"Smartass." He replied with a smirk. Sun offered a small smile of her own as they approached, and Blaze knocked on the door and waited for the answer.
The door looked crude to an outside eye, but was actually quite well-made of the natural woods of the forest. It opened outwardly without a squeak. "Ah, Twilight, I was expecting you. Here for a recipe or a book or two... Pardon me, but not whom I was expecting to see. Who might you two be?"
"Blaze Fire, and the mare to my side *glancing over* is Sun Shower. Twilight did send us, but seemingly not on business you expect." Sun held out a hoof and gave a jarring hoofshake to the zebra. "Heard you'd know about this stuff." she said as Blaze produced a bag of the powder.
Zecora looked into the bag, and her face visibly lengthened. "I know of the powder of which you produced, come inside for what must be deduced." She held the door open with a hoof as Sun and Blaze followed the instruction. Closing it, she trotted to the wall bearing a number of herbs as the other two took a seat next to a large cauldron. She came to a table nearby and with a sprinkling of herbs and a wave of the hoof produced three cups of a steaming liquid. "Here then, take a drink. The story you hear may not be what you think." The three of them took up a cup and had a sip, a very mild, soothing tea. "We are here to inquire about that powder and the fate of one Java Chip." requested Blaze.
Zecora went back to the shelf and took a hoofful of another powder, and with a puff of breath produced a green-tinted illusion of the pony in question. A stallion with a long mane and glasses over a work apron. "I knew of this Java Chip. And of how fate had sailed his ship."
Sun, lacking in decorum, bluntly asked "Why do you talk like that anyway?" as her escort facehoofed.
"The history of home is often sung, and Equestrian is not my native tongue. To acknowledge the way one has come, I have no need to change the way it is done." She replied, preempting the mare's next question with a slight smirk. She resumed a stoic expression and turned to the illusionary image. "The substance you bring is of my make, and I have warned him of amount of intake."
"So you created this then." noted Blaze.
"Others have bought it from my store, with warnings if they take any more."
"Have any more of the stuff?" asked Sun.
"The production of it I have quit, for the history of it sour does sit." she sadly explained with her muzzle towards the ground.
"So he took too much of it?"
"A side-effect taken a turn for the worse, overdone it can by a type of curse."
Zecora took a long draught of the tea, nerves shaken by the memories. "He had proven trustworthy of a larger supply, if only I had known how strong his inspiration and why..." Her eyes began to well up, no mere tea capable of handling the memory of what's happened on her watch.
Sun looked on with compassion. "Don't blame yourself Zecora. Java was...weird, to say the least." She put down her cup and turned to Blaze. "Think we've done enough damage. Got everything you need?"
"Yes. It's obvious what happened. We are sorry for bringing up the memories Miss Zecora."
"It is alright, these things must be set to light." she somberly replied. The two exited quietly and headed back towards Ponyville, passing Twilight on the way with a saddlebag full of books.
Inside the hut, Zecora waved away the phased image of Java. "What brings on this tear... The past, or that he was sincere?..."