//------------------------------//
// To Cast Aside The Fears, and Wipe Away Tears. 
// Story: Waking Up in Black and White 
// by _Kenzu_ 
//------------------------------//

To Cast Aside The Fears, and Wipe Away Tears.

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At some point, curiosity got the better of me as I found myself walking closer to my parent’s bedroom door. I could hear their voices inside, arguing about one thing or another. I placed an ear against the door, trying to make out anything beyond the muffled shouts of my mother.

         I knew eavesdropping on anyone was a horrible thing to do, never mind on one’s own parents, but I couldn't help to think it was little bit justified. There was only one thing that they could have possibly been talking about after all, what they were going to do with me now.
   
Hours must have gone by as my parents argued behind the door. After a couple minutes however, I had lost interest in trying to make out their muffled conversation. They must have been speaking quietly as I was only able to make out every other word. Every now and again my mother would raise her voice in a bit of rage, but quickly quiet down again. I could only guess that they knew I was listening in.

           Eventually, I gave up the pointless effort and headed for the living room. Plopping myself on the couch, I stared at the black TV in front of me. At first, I went for the remote control out of habit. After a few failed attempts at using it however, and the buttons on the TV too high for me to reach, I quickly gave up on the idea of watching television. Instead, I turned my attention to the porch window and the world outside

    The late afternoon sun bathed the old neighborhood in an orange light. It was fascinating, seeing all the different shades of oranges, pinks and reds. So much in the neighborhood had changed since I was small, but at the same time much had remained the same. Things I almost never paid attention to before now amazed me since becoming a zebra.

    Little things like the old crooked mailbox at the end of the street, or the large oak that stood on the little island that formed the cul de sac seemed completely vivid and new to me. When I was smaller, well, about the size I was now, I’d try to climb the old oak, much to my mother’s dismay. Many times I was rewarded with a new scratch or bruise as well as a good scolding from older sisters or parents.

    My mind began to wander back to the present with the thought of my parents. I had always worried about how negatively they would react if they had ever found my personal hobbies. When they would watch me geek out over a new sci fi movie, or TV series they would usually tell me that I needed to straighten up and fly right if I was ever going to get anywhere in the real world. Even knowing that though, I still couldn't believe how harshly they had reacted.

    Questions began to surface again as I thought about the afternoon events. What did they think of me now? How long would this last? What would happen to me if I never changed back? Where would I go?

    I gritted my teeth with my usual frustration and fear of not having an answer to any of the questions. Things just seemed to get more and more complicated as the day went on. So I did the only thing that seemed like a good idea. I just laid there and watched the outside world as time went on around me.

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    “J-Jace?” a voice called from the other room. It was my mother, her voice cracked as she tried to keep a calm tone. “It’s time to sit down for dinner...”

    Dusk had made it faster than it ever seemed to in the past. I hesitantly got off the couch and made my way to the dining room. Both my parents had sat down at the large table, just beginning to eat as I jumped into the chair directly across from them. I prepared to do something that was rare in my house, have dinner.

         Unlike most other households, dinner was more of an unusual occasion in my family. Normally if I was hungry I’d just raid the fridge or cook a TV dinner from the freezer. An actual dinner was more of something done for special events like holidays, birthdays, and of course, happy gatherings. As I sat down and looked at both my parents, pretending to be completely focused on their meals, I could tell the atmosphere this night was anything but happy.

    There was barely a sound in the room other than the clicking of metal utensils. Neither of them said a word since the moment I had entered the room. They snuck glances when they noticed my presence at the dinner table before returning to their meals. There would only be an occasional grunt from my father as he worked the food on his plate with a knife and fork. My mother had made a classic meal of steak, potatoes, and green beans for the dinner, which he had wasted no time digging into.

    I looked down at the plate in that my mom had set in front of me, half expecting to have the same thing. Instead I noticed that all I had on my plate were carefully skinned and sliced apples with a side of steamed carrots. At first I wasn't sure where the produce had appeared from. I didn't remember seeing them in the kitchen before when I was looking for food. It took a moment before my mind came to the conclusion. They were the same apples and carrots that I had bought earlier that day from the store. My mother must have been the one to prepare them.

         I looked back up to her with a bit of unease. I was certain that she didn’t want anything to do with me since her last outburst, so why did she go through all this trouble? She glanced back to me before pretending to return her attention to her own meal. I couldn't make out what kind of expression she had on her face for that one instant. For a moment I thought for sure I had noticed a pang of guilt in her eyes, but guilt of what?

    I glanced back to my father as he cut a slice of steak before taking a bite, savoring the flavor. My stomach still twisted in knots as I stared at him before turning away with slight disgust. The idea of eating meat was completely unappetizing to me now. The thought of not being able to eat sweet and sour chicken slightly saddened me, but at the same time filled me with dread at the idea of ever eating it before.
I dismissed the thoughts, looking back to my food with a bit of bafflement. At first, I glanced at the fork beside my plate, reaching the utensil for a moment with a hoof before drawing it back. For a moment I just stared at my hoof uneasily. A fork was about as useful to me now as butter knife would be for a bowl of soup. I looked up to my parents with a questioning look as I noticed their curious stares, but the moment I met their eyes they both looked back to their own plates.
 
I looked to my plate as I could almost feel the gears in my head begin turn. Using utensils was out of the question unless I was a unicorn, which of course with my luck, I wasn't. I knew there was another way to tackle the problem, but, in front of my own parents? Sighing, I accepted that there was just no better way and bent my head down to the plate. Carefully, I grabbed an apple slice with my teeth and sucked it in savoring the new flavors. The explosion of flavor that came from the apple was almost as abundant as it had been earlier that day. I found myself immediately bending down for another one before I glanced back to my mother.
 
She flinched with slight disgust at the site of me grabbing the next apple slice and pulling it in. I returned my sight back down to my plate as I felt my appetite suddenly diminish a bit. Nothing had been said, but I couldn't help but feel that she was right about earlier. Had I really become nothing more than an animal?
“So...,” my father’s voice interrupted the quiet atmosphere, “when are you going to be leaving?”  I looked up at him with a confused glance.
 
“Wha..?” My voice trailed off as I tried to think of what he was talking about. ‘Leaving? What on earth does he mean by that?’

“For New York,” he clarified, setting his fork down on the table beside him. “The news was talking about how they needed ponies out there for some sort of important mumbo jumbo.”
 
“Well... They would not have need of my addition,” I explained “they require a special team, regardless of my volition. If I were to leave without delay, I would probably get in their way...” The thought of going to New York hadn't even crossed my mind, but what good was I? They wanted the elements of harmony, not Zecora. I did not expect my father to know that though. As far as saving the world, Zecora was almost as much of a nobody as I was, at least as much as I knew from the show anyway.
 
“Well, what are you going to do then?” he asked, his voice taking a more serious tone, making me squirm a little in my seat.
 
“I guess I’ll wait and see, just what will come to be?” I answered, almost as skeptical of my response as my father seemed to be. I unconsciously began to fidget the long hairs of my tail with my hooves as I tried to rethink my words.
 
“So first, you take my son...” a voice made me turn to look at my mother, still looking down at her plate. “And now, you think you can just stay here like nothing is wrong?” She looked up to glare at me, tears streaking from her eyes.
 
“Karen,” My father cut her off “You promised you’d control your temper.”
 
“I promised to get dinner ready.” She countered,” I’m sorry, but I can’t just act like this thing replaced my son, and everything is just fine.”  She said as she got up from her chair and gestured at me. “Look at him. He’s become one of those animals.”
 
“I have looked at him dear, and we’re going to find a way to get through this,” my father retorted with a slight bite to his voice.
 
“The least you could do is admit that he has a problem!” My mom brought a fist down on the table. When it struck my ears flinched downwards.
 
“Please mother, I did not mean to bother,” I began. “I’m sorry that I have in the past been aloof, I did not mean for things to get out of hoof.”
 
My mother’s eyebrow twitched slightly as she turned to look at me. “At the very least have the decency to talk normally! At least I’ve had the decency to let you sit in my son’s chair!” Her voice was rising to a pitch as she continued. Myself, I simply lowered my head and shut my eyes. “The least you could do is look at the mother of the child you stole!”
 
“At least he didn't go joining us into some anti-pony hate group!” My father said as his temper climbed with his voice.
 
“I... you...” The shock was enough to cause me to fall out of my chair.  I opened my eyes and stared at her in disbelief. That's why she looked at me that way, the reason she couldn't stand the very sight of me. She was guilty of having a pony as a child.
 
She made it no secret that she was against a lot of things that were still socially awkward. Gay marriage was always a dark subject for her. When she found out about furries, trekkies, and other net fan bases she nearly had a panic attack. But she joined PAPA, out of the blue?
 
“It was for the best,” she retorted, not even noticing my reaction. “We can't just have all these creatures roaming wild. There are laws against that kind of thing.”
 
My ears flattened against my skull. I didn't want to hear any more of this, not from her, not from anyone. I wasn't just an animal, was I? Of course I couldn't be. I moved discretely off the chair, quietly excusing myself from the room. I didn't want to be here anymore, not in this room, not with these humans.
 
“Well what about your son?” I heard my father through the dining room as I began to walk towards my bedroom. “Are you saying he should be locked in a cage as well?”
 
I tried to tune out the words out as I walked down the hallway. I tried listening to the sound of hooves against tiles, or the air conditioner running. My attention went to anything that would get that damn conversation out of my head, anything just to make it stop.
 
“My son, would agree with me if he was here.” My mother’s voice echoed faintly through the hall as I made my way to my bedroom door. “But thanks to those creatures, he’s gone! They deserve to be locked up if that’s what they are doing to people. You still don't--”
 
*SLAM*
 
I bucked the door shut with a rewarding clap as it hit the frame, cutting off the argument the two humans were having on the other side of the house. The sweet silence finally returned at last.
 
I crawled back to my bed, exhausted from the day’s stress, and promptly collapsed as I buried my face into the pillow. I gritted my teeth as I tried as hard as I could to hold my breath. It didn't take long at all before I could feel the tears coming back in full force again, staining my pillow case.
 
How could this all have happened to me? I didn't want any part of this. I didn’t ask to be involved in any of this pony business. I was supposed to just wake up as I always did and go to my classes just as I would every day till graduation. Why couldn't this day just been like all the others? Normal. Why couldn't I have just been normal? Why did I have to wake up like this?
 
I heard the sound of something coming from my mouth. It was strange at first, like some sort of reverse hiccup followed by a cough. I couldn't believe it when I identified it. I was crying? Of course I was crying. I just had my entire life stolen away from me all because I had to turn off my alarm this morning and look in that blasted mirror. If I hadn’t done that and slept in, maybe, just maybe, this all could have been some silly dream gone awry. But it wasn't a dream no matter how much I wished it was.
 
Maybe my mother was right, maybe the ponies did deserve to be locked up for stealing away lives. It didn't seem right. Just to take somepony’s... someone’s life away as if it were so inconsequential. What kind of right did they think they had to do this without any consideration to what would happen to those humans? What would happen to me?
 
I got up and wiped my eyes with my arm... foreleg, and looked across the room to the dresser mirror. It was dark, but I could still make out the image of the zebra that was lying on the bed, as if mocking my desire for entire day to just be some crazy nightmare.
 
I stared at her, wanting so bad to hate her, to hate everything about her. It was because of her that everything went wrong. Every small, tiny, insignificant detail about today that ruined everything, I just wanted to blame all on her. But, it was no use. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn't hate her for my problems.
 
It wasn’t her fault I was weak. It wasn't her fault I hid a stupid little hobby away from my parents. It wasn't her fault for anything. They were my problems, no one else’s. I had to face them sooner or later, but, they were just too frightening to even try.
 
I buried my head into my pillow again, no longer trying to hold back any of the tears or sobs. I finally had to admit it. I was scared. Scared of what happened to me then, not knowing what was going to happen to me next. There was just nothing to hold onto anymore, and that probably frightened me more than anything. It didn't seem like there was anyone left to go to, I was on my own.
 
I wrapped my bed sheets over myself, holding them as tight as I could as I curled into a ball. I just wanted to make myself as small as I could as I lay there. I closed my eyes, only mustering small whimpers as I finally felt my exhaustion begin to overtake me.
 
‘Maybe everything will go back to normal in the morning.’ I thought to myself, ‘Just wake up, and get ready for my classes, and... just... be... normal...’
 





________________________________

 
I stirred as I felt the cold breeze brush against my fur, disturbing me from my nap. It felt strange though, I didn't remember falling asleep. I didn't remember leaving the window open for that matter either. I groaned as I reached for my misplaced covers, wanting to bury myself in their warmth again. But instead of grabbing onto the sheets, my hooves only grasped air. I tried again, before realizing something else seemed to be off. Not only were the covers gone, but there was no warm pillow or bed either. Instead, I felt the sensation of cold wet grass, and firm earth beneath me.
 
‘That’s not right.’  I thought to myself.
 
Slowly I opened my eyes and looked ahead of me. My comfortable bedroom was nowhere to be seen. I looked around, the scene before me was only lit by moonlight. Out of the darkness, great trees covered in thick overgrowth of vines rose around me and made an almost impenetrable forest. The ground was a maze of bushes and wild growth, carpeted by a thick grass and shrubbery. I could only see a couple of feet through the mass of foliage and darkness of the night.
 
Steadily I got on my hooves in disbelief, trying to make sense of where I was. I certainly wasn't home and yet, the strange trees and foliage in this forest seemed oddly familiar. It felt like I had been here long ago, but at the same time was still completely alien to me. I wasn't sure if I should have been relieved or frightened by those thoughts. I mentally shoved them away as I tried to take in my current position.
 
The first thing I began to look for was a path, a trail, anything that could help me find my way out of wherever here was. I quickly became aware though that nothing could penetrate the thick foliage and roots that made up the forest floor. It was as if I had just been plucked out of my bed and deposited in the middle of an uncharted jungle. In lack of any better option, for better or worse, I found myself beginning to wander in a random direction.
 
The trees loomed overhead ominously as I wandered almost blindly in the moonlight. Every sound I heard made my fur stand on end and my ears swivel in all directions. An owl's hoot or even the slightest chirp of a cricket did not sound welcoming here. The forest seemed almost alive and active with sound. The terrain didn't help either. It was filled with large roots, thick vines, and uneven ground. It was almost a challenge just not to trip up as I walked.
 
As I continued my trek blindly through the brush my hoof got caught by something in the darkness. Kicking a tree root, I stumbled before regaining my balance from a near fall. I looked back down at the unexpected “root”. Without warning, it quickly slid into a bush and out of sight. There was a deep growl emanating from the shrub as soon as the root disappeared.
 
“Who’s there,” I called out to the bush like I actually expected an answer from it. To my surprise an answer did come in the form of some strange creature exploding out of the leaves. It gave out and loud angry screech forcing me to cover my ears. I fell to my haunches in shock as I tried to process what was going on.
 
I saw the creature only for a brief moment before I instinctively turned my head to avoid the look of its glowing beady red eyes. The creature had the head of a chicken, but inside its beak was filled with rows of tiny knife like fangs. Its body seemed to be like some sort of tiny dragon with chicken’s feet. It flapped its small leather wings at me in anger. My television watching, and Dungeons and Dragons experience paid off as I recognized the creature almost immediately.
 
‘It’s a cockatrice, don't look!’  My mind screamed at me as I averted my eyes to the side. It didn't make any sense, how on earth could a cockatrice even exist? I didn't bother to think much about that question for long though as I found myself back on my hooves at full speed.
 
I bolted through the trees, unsure of where I was going. I didn't care at the moment though, anywhere was better than where I was. The only thing going through my mind was to get away from the beast. The loud squawk of the chicken lizard confirmed that it was in hot pursuit. It only served to fuel my desire to escape as I ran more frantically, unsure if I was only throwing myself deeper into this forest.
 
The trees and vines seemed to get thicker the denser I tried to get away, some tangling against my legs as I tried to run. I didn't bother to stop to try to find a way around them. I powered through the branches and vines as best I could, but the sounds of the raging cockatrice behind me grew closer with each step.
 
It was getting harder to see through the darkness as the tree canopy over me began to get thicker, blocking out most of the moonlight. The forest floor was almost invisible to me by this point. I didn't see the rock caked with dirt that stuck halfway out of the ground as I ran in growing desperation. I hit it with full force, sending me tumbling into a web of vines.
 
Just as before I tried again to force my way through them, but the more I struggled, the stronger the grip of the vines had on my limbs grew. The cries of the cockatrice approached at a faster pace, as if it knew I was trapped. Desperately I tugged as hard as I could, but the vines wouldn't budge. I stubbornly kept at it, fear beginning to take over.
 
“Come on... come on...” I whimpered as I tried to pull my right hoof loose, the vines finally began to cooperate as I felt it slacken just slightly.
 
“Squawk!” I turned to face the sound in fear, seeing the bird lizard staring right at me, death looming in its eyes. Its eyes seemed to have nothing in them, like staring into a deep red abyss. I couldn't turn away as I looked at them. It felt as if I was staring into an infinite void.
 
The numbness in my tail jerked me back to my senses as I realized what I was doing. I was staring straight into its eyes of the cockatrice. My body was slowly becoming numb, turning to stone. I tried my best to turn away, but I just couldn't. I felt like my gaze was locked with the bird’s. A crooked grin seemed to form on the edge of it’s beak as it stared at me.
 
“No...” I whimpered as I could feel my strength being sapped away as my rear legs and hindquarters began to go limp.  ‘Not like this, not now.’’ I thought as I could feel the numbness climb up my body.
 
The cockatrice seemed to make some sort of strange cross between a cackle and a croak as it approached me, looking ready to dine on its latest meal. I shook my forelegs against the vines vigorously in defiance. As helpless as I was, I couldn't just let it have its way, there had to be something that could be done. Someone had to be here to help, anyone?
 
As if to answer my prayers a large explosion of green smoke appeared in between me and the cockatrice. The moment it appeared, the gas quickly began to take a strange shape. It grew larger, beginning to tower even above the canopy made by the trees till a colossal green dragon stared down at both the cockatrice and I in anger.
 
The cockatrice broke its stare on me to face the new danger allowing me to turn away. The paralyzing numbness that had encompassed most of my body quickly vanished the moment I closed my eyes again. I dared not reopen them, not letting the bird have a second chance at locking its gaze with me. I heard the sound of crumbling rock, feeling shards of stone fall off my hide.
 
My attention was soon enough brought back to the dragon. It lifted itself onto his hind legs, releasing a mighty roar that shook the ground. Flames erupted from its maw in a dazzling display of green hues fire and smoke before it fell back down to all fours, baring its teeth menacingly at the small chicken-lizard. The cockatrice didn't waste another moment as it turned tail quickly running back into the brush and out of site.
 
‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire, literally.’  I thought to myself with a gulp as the dragon shifted its eyes to me.
 
“Young Jace, have no dread or fear. It is only you and I here.” a voice from... inside? the dragon said soothingly. The dragon’s shape began to erode, turning back into the smoke it had once been before dissipating to the forest floor.
 
‘Wait, I know that voice.’
 
“Yes,” The zebra said as she walked out of the dissipating green mist. “It is the very voice, forced on you against your choice.” She spoke whimsically, walking out of the green smoke. There was no mistake, the face, mohawk, rings, the calming smile. It really was her, Zecora. 





Her attention shifted from me to the vines as she walked up to me. She put a hoof to her chin, as if pondering about them deeply. “Aha! “
 
She merely tapped the side of the roots, and the plant fell limp. With that I felt the vines slacken, releasing me from their grasp as I fell ungracefully on the ground before my doppelganger. I looked up to her as she offered me a hoof up. There was no disappointment, or frustration in her eyes like my parents had, just her reassuring smile.
 
Hesitantly I took her hoof as I got back onto my feet. “But, why? I just don't see...”
 
“How there can be two of me?” She stopped my rhyme, “There is much to discuss on what is what, but we will need to save it for back in my hut.” She walked past me, stopping as if waiting for me to follow. “At night, this is not a safe place to be, so far deep in the Everfree.”
 
I sat there for a moment unsure of what to say, but quickly caught up to her as I heard a caw from a far off bird. The last thing I wanted was to be alone again out here in this forest.
 
We wandered for some time through the winding paths of foliage. Every sound made my ears swivel in all directions as I uneasily looked around for each source. When I glanced to Zecora I was surprised to see that she did not share the same unease I had. She continued forward, occasionally looking back to make sure I was still behind her. Nothing about the forest seemed to bother her. The calm zebra’s ears barely made a movement when there would be a snap of a branch nearby, or a distant howl.
 
The Zebra stopped suddenly, throwing her foreleg out to stop me. “Careful of the poison joke flowers, you surely know of their powers.” I looked down, only noticing the simple blue flowers that embedded the ground.
 
They didn't seem unusual or out of place, not like they had in the television series. It suddenly made sense why the main six had blundered through the patch of plants without noticing them. If Zecora didn't point them out, I would almost certainly have done the same.

“They make good defense for my home, from all the creatures here that roam. They see the flowers that are cast, and think it better to wander past.” Zecora mused as she pointed to the narrow path in between the flower garden.
 
She carefully maneuvered us through the groves of poison joke down the trail to a rather large and ominous looking tree. I flinched as I looked at the sheer size of it, noticing three large masks overlooking what seemed to be a door, carved from the trunk of the tree. It took me another moment before I realized what I was looking at. I was staring straight at my... I mean, Zecora’s hut.
 
“Don't be shy, come inside.” The zebra offered as she gestured a hoof to the warm interior of the hollowed out tree. “From the dangers of the Everfree, we shall hide.
 
I peered into the hut from the doorway. The light seemed rather dim, only a few candles here and there, lighting the entire room. Shelves full of bottles and tonics encompassed the walls, while others hanged from the ceiling on strings. Where there weren't bottles, three large masks hung, contributing to the hut’s foreboding atmosphere. A large cauldron sat in the center of the room, the liquid inside bubbling as a fire smoldered underneath it. It almost looked like something out of a witch movie.
 
“Do not be afraid, the masks on the wall, they all behave.” Zecora seemed to jokingly assure as she shuffled me through the doorway.
 
Finally walking in, I had a strange of feeling as if I had finally come home from a long trip away. Everything about the hut that seemed alien before just felt welcoming. ‘But I’m sure I’ve never even been in a place remotely like this,’ I thought to myself, not wanting to alarm my hostess.
 
“It should not be as much of a shock,” Zecora said, shaking me out of my thoughts. “You’ve already noticed the way you talk.” She closed the door behind herself as she walked into the room. “But first my sincerest apologies,” Her expression changed slightly as she looked down, “Your parents and you, I did not wish to displease.”
 
I tilted my head slightly, puzzled about her apology. “I why can not surmise, the reason you’d apologize.”  

    She moved away from the door as she began to search through a rack of bottles and bowls, as if in search for something. “Until now, in the shadows of your mind, this is what I’ve hid behind.” The zebra pulled out a large bottle off the shelf, placing it gently on a table nearby the cauldron. “But what was happening I could see, such fear I could not conceive.”

    I watched in a bit of wonder as Zecora continued pulling bottles or herbs from here or there. “And all this you observed? My situation, most absurd?” I asked, as my confusion began to mount. “So why in that case, have you taken my place?”

“The reasons for what has become, I do not know,” The poetic zebra said as she opened a bottle, pouring its contents into the large pot. “But what is important now, is how close we grow.”
 
“Umm... what now?” I asked out loud. What on earth did she mean by that?
 
Zecora turned back to me giving an unconcerned look as she continued with whatever it seemed she was making in her cauldron. “As, you may have guessed, we are merging together, how else to explain it, I have no way better. You will become me, to put quite simply.”
 
‘What!?’ I stepped back a moment as I looked to her, still working on her mysterious concoction. I was becoming Zecora, not only in body, but in mind as well? The idea that I was losing myself completely filled with me with dread. What would happen to the part that was me? Would it just disappear into darkness?
 
I felt my body began to shake again as I sat down to keep myself from falling over. I wasn't sure how to take that news. I started gasping for breath as my mind replayed Zecora’s statement over in my head. “So, nothing of me will stay?” I said in between gasps, “I’m just going to fade away?”

    Suddenly I felt a weight press itself on my back. I looked up, seeing Zecora’s calming smile. “Young Jace have no worry or fear, there is no way I’d allow you to disappear. It is most true, this will indeed change you. But I already have become aware that something else has given you a scare.”

    I turned my head back down to the floor. I wasn't sure what to tell her. “Th-there’s nothing to have worry, really there’s no story.” I didn't want to lie to her, but I didn't want to admit I was afraid, even if it was overwhelmingly obvious. “Its ok-”

    “Now, now, please do not lie to me Jace,” Zecora brought a hoof up to cut me off. “It’s written all over your face.” She moved herself back into my field of view, trying to make eye contact with me again. “I am a friend you can always trust if others look on you with disgust.”

    I found myself looking at her again. “Well,” I sat there for a moment, half not wanting to speak, half unsure of what to say. “It is not a matter upon which I wish to dwell... the reactions of my parents was not so swell.” I stopped and looked back to the zebra, watching me attentively. “What happens next, I do not know. Where shall I be, if I go with the flow? So many questions, so many directions.” I took a deep breath, not noticing how quickly I had sputtered my feelings out on the line. “I just don't know.”

Zecora only sat there, as if pondering something for a moment. I sat impatiently watching her, waiting for a response. “An answer to your questions is what you desire, from your home you will have to retire. Perhaps it would be best, to do as your father suggest. Travel to New York and in time, your answers I’m sure we can find.”
 
I stared at her in disbelief. “New York? But you know I'd be of no use, I'd just be a piece of refuse. They need the elements of harmony, not the simple aid of a nobody.”
 
Zecora merely shook her head as she turned back to her cauldron “You have tried to stay strong, even when things had gone wrong.” She began to sort the rest of her ingredients out on the table, preparing them for whatever she was cooking up. “To say that you are helpless and small would be an exaggeration quite tall.”

    She gestured for me to come near as she picked up a yellow flower off the table, placing it over the boiling cauldron. Carefully the zebra began to shake the petals into the bubbling water below. “Things that are small in size, can sometimes trick the eyes.”

Zecora shook the flower carefully, each time letting only one or two pedals fall daintily into the pot. “One petal will not make a powerful brew, but if I were to add a few more, it would create something quite unique and new.” A large flash of green light and dark smoke billowed out of the cauldron, causing me to fall back onto my rump. “There is something taking shape, come and take a look, the fumes are quite safe.”

                I paused before I put my forelegs onto the rim of the pot to look inside the bubbling mass. It was hard to see at first, but a green glow began to emanate through the bubbling water. Slowly the surface of the liquid began to settle as an image began to appear.

                An image of my home began to appear. The moment it came into sight I could tell there was something horribly wrong. The old oak in the cul de sac seemed to have been made completely out of candy canes and sugar cubes. Surrounding it was a road completely made of soap and suds as dark drops of rain stormed mercilessly in the scene.

                I stared at the image further, unable to completely comprehend what I was staring at. Many of the old houses had been flipped on their sides as if they were dominos. Others seemed to defy gravity, floating in the air surrounded by chunks of earth. ‘No way. It can't be.’ I thought to myself. The image hazed before returning to a zebra looking out of the doorway to her house, her eyes red and bloodshot if as if she had spent her entire time moping.

                "If the desire to do nothing is what you truly feel,” Zecora interrupted as a figure appeared in the water. “This is an example of what could become real." The zebra was literally thrown out the front door, her rings were gone. She looked like she had been roughed up pretty badly as she tried recollecting herself on the front lawn.

“Certainly this can not be, what will become my destiny?” I shook my head, not wanting to see the zebra in the cauldron. I didn't want to think I’d be trapped like this forever.

    The zebra walked away as steam began to bubble up from the cauldron again. The thick mist obscured the images, causing me to step away to clear my vision. “It is difficult for me to say. Never in one state does the future stay.” Zecora mused as she walked back to my side.

    “I am just a little uncertain. If I do go, will I avoid the end curtain?” I asked sheepishly, getting a confused stare in response from Zecora. To emphasize my meaning, I slid a hoof across my throat.

    “You may slip along your trail,” she said as she placed a hoof on my back, making sure I kept eye contact with her as she continued to speak, “but you surely will not fail. Others are out there for you to befriend. Trust in them, and you will succeed in the very end."

    I sighed, looking back to the other me. Her face was of unfaltering confidence. I couldn't say the same for myself, but she seemed so certain of my abilities. “Alright, I’ll give it my best.” I conceded as I looked back to the cauldron. "I'll go to New York and do the rest"

“Just remember,” Zecora called “The answers that you go off to seek, may not always make your interests pique.”

    I turned back to face her, unsure of what she meant by her riddle. But before I had a chance to ask her she was simply gone. I didn't have any time to look for her however as a wave of exhaustion hit me. The world around me seemed to dissolve away into darkness like dust in the wind as unconsciousness gripped me.