Present Day
"Here you go, Chamomile! Sorry getting it here was an ordeal!"
The large leaves of the Colocasia plants, or Elephant Ears as they were commonly known, shook slightly at the voice. From behind them, a set of bright pink hooves pushed aside two of the larger ears, revealing who was behind them. The hooves led up to an older pink mare with a crystal blue mane, emerald eyes and large white flower above her left ear. A curious expression graced her features as she looked down at where the voice was coming from.
Opposite the mare stood a small purple dragon with a green frill running down his head. His lime green irises smiled at the mare in the same way his mouth did, making him much less fearsome than a dragon should be. He stood on his hind legs, tail outstretched to keep his balance, and held a small vial in his claws, offering it to the pony. Inside the vial sat a peculiar mushroom brown liquid that looked more like muddy water.
The mare's face lit up as she saw the vial and gently took it from the young dragon.
"Thanks Spiro!" she almost yelled, "I've been waiting for Zecora to brew this for a while!"
The young dragon beamed up at the mare as she turned and uncorked the vial. A small and comedic 'pop' came from the mouth of the vial when he spoke up.
"We had to wait for the half moon to brew it, but it was worth the effort, I'm sure you will admit."
Chamomile wasted no time in dumping the contents of the vial onto a wilting plant. The dried out husk wasn't quite dead yet, but it most certainly on it's way. The crumby soil the roots had taken hold in eagerly absorbed the liquid, sopping it up in a few seconds. Silence washed over the room as both Chamomile and Spike eyed the husk, waiting for something to happen.
As if on cue, the plant husk began to shimmer with a faint light. It was slow at first, but a vibrant blue light steadily began to lift the husk from the shelf it was laying on, extending it to the fullest extent. Once the plant was upright, the blue light glowed a little more brightly before fading away, causing Chamomile to gasp.
Instead of a straw colored shell of a plant, a vibrant green stalk stood straight up on its own. Atop the stalk were several wonderfully colorful flowers, each white around the bud and at the gently became sky blue at the petals through a series of small stripes. Chamomile's eyes widened at the sight, awe etched into her face.
"Vanda cultivar..." the pink pony whispered.
Spiro walked up the white stone steps in a hurried manner, rushing to his destination. The steps wound themselves around a tall tower leading off from the main castle. It was a pain to climb up all these steps, but he was used to it. After all, this was where his surrogate big sister was staying while studying under Princess Celestia.
When he reached the top, a set of wonderfully carved wooden doors greeted him. Etchings of a zebra surrounded by many exotic plants ordained one door while the other was of a young dragon encircled by flames. The only thing linking both doors together was a large spiral that rotated around counterclockwise, surrounded by little lines that made it look like the sun.
Spiro pushed the doors open to reveal a most unusual sight. The entirety of the room looked nothing like a chamber for a pony to reside in. Instead, countless ceramic and earthen jars lined the room on a variety of shelves. They each varied greatly in size and shape, some big and round like pots while others were narrow and long.
All of the containers lined the walls, surrounding a rather large black cauldron that bubbled and frothed with an electric orange color. In the smoke that rose from the contents, Spiro could faintly make out the figure of a pony. As he approached the cauldron, however, three small purple berries plopped into the mixture, causing it to turn a violent shade of bright magenta before the smoke turned green.
As fast as lightning, several vials swiped across the smoke, capturing it in large quantities. As the vials flew by, the magenta potion began to evaporate quickly along with the smoke. In a mere few seconds, the entire potion was gone, evaporated into thin air. The room dimmed as it's main light source extinguished, but Spiro heard somepony shuffle around and eventually a curtain opened, flooding the chamber with light.
"Ah, that is much better," came a very familiar voice to Spiro, "It got so dark, I wouldn't be able to read that letter."
Across the room, a large and pretty zebra stood, basking in the sunlight. She had changed quite a bit since Spiro had first seen her years ago. Back then, she was just a timid little zebra who spent all of her free time meditating. Now she was a full grown mare with many stripes across her pelt and a confident smile. Her teal eyes stared contentedly at the blue sky outside before she turned to Spiro.
"Welcome back, my sweet assistant," Zecora spoke with a smile, "I trust Chamomile used the potion as it was meant?"
"Yes, Zecora," Spiro replied, "The potion restored to the full her flora."
The zebra smiled as she trotted over to a table near her, where upon it sat several vials of the green smoke. She examined them closely before backing away with a proud look.
"That is great news," she spoke confidently, "On this, I hope my teacher will share her views."
The young dragon started to walk over to her when a strange thought struck him.
"Zecora you said it was too dim to view a letter. Is there something you know better..."
As if on cue, the young dragon felt a magical pull in his stomach. A warm sensation filled his throat and soon, he belched. It was a bit rude and disgusting, but green flames flew from his mouth. At the very tip of it, a singed letter appeared and landed in Zecora's hoof with a small 'flump'.
The zebra smiled smugly at the dragon before handing him the letter.
"If you would," Zecora spoke to him.
Spiro took the letter and cleared his throat as he unrolled it. The beautiful script of the letter told him who it was from, but it wasn't like he couldn't already guess.
"My dearest and most faithful student Zecora," Spiro began in a dramatic tone, "You know that I value your diligence and trust you completely, but you simply must stop spending all your time to yourself!"
Zecora's eyes widened at that, a shocked look on her face.
"Zecora, there is more to a young pony or zebra's life than just meditating and crafting potions all day. So, with that reason, I have arranged for you to go to a small town on the Everfree Forest called Ponyville to investigate some new plants that have recently been found there. I also have a more essential task for you to complete while you are there..."
Spiro paused at that, a smirk pulling at his lips.
"Make some friends!"
Zecora spun on the spot, a look of utter shock on her face.
"What does she mean by this 'essential task'?! I have friends here already, just ask!"
Spiro's smirk became more pronounced as he looked a little farther down the letter.
"I know you will claim to have friends here already, but doing favors for ponies like Chamomile does not make them your friends."
Zecora's face became unreadable as a look of shock, confusion and her signature 'say what?' expressions all mixed together at that line.
"I was impressed with your potion and the magical properties you displayed, but according to Chamomile, you shut yourself up for a week and a half to make the potion. That is extremely unhealthy for a young zebra like you and reinforces my point that you need to make friends. There is a chariot waiting for you by the gates and you are to bring no supplies from Canterlot with you. I have arranged for you to stay in a home just inside the Everfree's rim, so you will find most everything you need there.
"Please do this for me. I know it seems extreme, but it is for your own well being. I will contact you shortly after you arrive.
"Signed, her royal highness, Princess Celestia."
Spiro looked up from the letter to a clearly unhappy zebra, his smirk gone but a small smile on his face.
"So, looks like we get a vacation, huh?"
Zecora narrowed her eyes at him and said two words to complete the rhyme.
"Well, duh!"
To say the trip from Canterlot to Ponyville was terrible would be a lie, but then again, it all depended upon the pony or zebra or dragon you asked. For Spiro and the Royal Guards pulling the chariot, it was a very cozy ride. The wind was blowing with them, the sky was clear and there were no birds. For Zecora, on the other hoof, it was utterly boring. She couldn't bring anything with her to tinker around with during the trip and the wind made it difficult to attain full concentration while she attempted to meditate.
Zecora was forced to, instead, think about her leaving Canterlot. She had never been anywhere else outside of the capital of Equeatria, save for her home village back in the Marengetti. It was rather funny to her that, while on vacation of all things, she was taken on as Princess Celestia's personal student. Her mother hit the roof when she found out that Zecora had wandered away from her and into a test for fillies with powerful magical abilities.
What shocked her mother even more, though, was that Zecora had passed the test and had even been invited to study under Equestria's ruler by the Princess herself. There were some tough negotiations between Zecora's mother and Princess Celestia that almost ended with Zecora turning down the invitiation, but thankfully Princess Celestia agreed to have Zecora return home to see her mother every year until she was old enough to live by herself while she studied under her.
Needless to say, it was a difficult road for Zecora to learn the art of Magic without a horn to conduct the flow, but Princess Celestia found a happy medium to educate the young zebra. The voodoo magic Zecora was versed in was very similar to a field of Magic known as Herbology, the study of plants and their magical properties. Using this avenue, Celestia was able to educate Zecora in every kind of magic, from teleportation to transfiguring objects.
As the chariot landed, Spiro hopped out eagerly while Zecora still sat there and daydreamed. The young dragon knew the zebra had an issue with that, especially since she entered into her meditating state when she did, meaning she was oblivious to pretty much everything.
After some awkward waving at her and strained explanations to both the Royal Guards and passing ponies, Spiro breathed a sigh of relief as Zecora snapped back into her normal self. The two set off in the general direction of the Everfree Forest when they met a strange pony.
She was a minty blue with a deep blue and bright white mane. She was a unicorn, a type of pony Zecora had some problems being around, but she had a smile on her face. On her flank was a cutie mark of an hourglass. Spiro nudged Zecora as they approached.
"Go on, say something to her," he whispered, "She can't be any weirder than you were."
Zecora shot him a nasty look before returning her attention to the mare. She smiled awkwardly before trying to say something.
"Hello there, who are you? I see your coat is quite the shade of blue."
Zecora expected the pony to smile and answer her like a normal pony. Instead, the mare's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she rushed up to the zebra without any warning.
"Oh my Celestia! A zebra in Ponyville?! I never thought I'd ever see one of you!"
The mare by this time was examining every inch of a flustered Zecora and then, much to Spiro's amusement, pulled up her lips to inspect her teeth.
"Large front incisors, good for breaking and chewing tough materials like bamboo shoots and tree grass. A set of long canines, most unusual since ponies do not have canines, but you are a zebra, so it makes no difference since you are another species. A series of premolars, ranging from about a two all the way to a five. Good variety. And then are your regular molars, about twice the size of a normal pony's, so you must mostly use those when you chew."
What was really amazing about all of that was the mare said the entire thing in about five seconds before Zecora snapped her teeth at her. The mare let go, as if she was expecting it, and backed away. She smiled even more widely, revealing teeth so white and spotless, they could be mistaken for dentures. As Zecora rubbed her cheeks, feeling like her personal space had been totally violated, the mare grabbed one of her hooves and shook it vigorously.
"Hi, I'm Colgate, the local dentist! I make sure every single pony in Ponyville has good and healthy teeth so they can have perfect smiles. Some ponies say I'm obsessed and I talk really, really fast, but they don't understand how amazing teeth are! Did you know that if you were to use your teeth as they were designed, you could eat both plants and meat?! It's totally gross to think about it, but it's just so fascinating! What's your name?"
Zecora heard all of that in about ten seconds, all the while trying to get her hoof back.
"I'm Zecora, master of the flora. I came here to investigate some odd plants, so please take me there without the rants!"
Colgate's eyes twinkled at that.
"Oh! You're Princess Celestia's student, aren't you?! Mayor Mare said you'd be coming, but I didn't think you were a zebra! The weird plants were found by Thunderlane after he crashed in the Everfree! He was trying to catch this super pesky cloud and missed and went ZOOOOOOM! into the forest! We sent out a search party for him and found him eventually tangled in some strange plants that we couldn't identify! If you don't know him, Thunderlane is a stallion who has a charcoal colored pelt along with a sky blue mohawk shaped kinda like yours!"
Zecora felt her head start to spin as she took in all the mare had to say.
"Uh, thanks for your help, Colgate," she mumbled, "I need to find this Thunderlane before it's too late?"
"Too late?! Too late for what?! I am never late! Okay, there was that one time I was really, really late, but that wasn't my fault because..."
As Colgate rambled on, Zecora seized the opportunity to slip away from her and started walking off with Spiro.
"Okay, that was weird," he said when they were out of Colgate's earshot, "But at least you didn't get jeered."
Zecora rolled her eyes at that, but said nothing. She had to find this Thunderlane pony and find the plants before any more strange ponies found her first.
Sadly, a mailbag smacked her in the face right then.
"Oops! My bad!" came another voice.
The mailbag lifted off of the zebra's face and she rubbed her nose before looking up to find the culprit. Above her, hovering not too far away, was a misty gray pony with a blonde mane and a lame eye. The pony smiled widely to her before holding out some food in her hoof.
"Here, I'm sorry about that!" she almost yelled to Zecora, "But eat this muffin! Everypony feels better after they eat a muffin!"