Chapter 3
Zebras were few and far between in Equestria, the reason being that Equestria barely recognised Zhosa-Borwa. Princess Celestia had personally condemned the apartheid policies of the afrikneigher minority, though; Equestria wasn’t exactly going to do anything about it. They had no standing forces, in international politics; Equestria was a mediator, not an interventionist. Zecora, to this day, had no idea how she’d managed to get approved for a visa in Equestria and not Welera or South Island. As to be expect she’d had had a lot of trouble just getting in to Equestria, despite not having anything to declare, or actually any luggage at all, save for the book her grandmother had given her. Five long hours of questioning by Equestrian customs officers, she was finally in Equestria, trotting alone through the Fillydelphia harbour.
As to be expected, the Equestrian ponies were not much better than afrikneighers, and while they did not try to order her around or establish their authority over her, there was much gasping, gawking, oohing and ahhing and all that. Zecora ignored it; she didn’t exactly know the Equestrian language to snap back at anyone. She knew afrikneigh, and her tribal tongue, and that was it.
Zecora realised at this point that this was going to be a problem. There were going to be few ponies in Equestria who spoke afrikneigh, and even fewer, if any at all who spoke her tribal tongue. Now what was she going to do?
Well, she hadn’t exactly wanted to be around others at that moment anyway. At least this way, her solitude could be guaranteed. Zecora was lost in thought, that she hadn’t noticed when she had walked into someone.
“Oh! I’m so sorry! Are you all right?” The bright red coated, blonde maned earth pony mare had said. Zecora hadn’t understood.
“Uh...” Zecora began; she resorted to the only way she knew how to communicate with others outside her own people. “Ek is jammer, ek verstaan nie.”
“Huh?” the earth pony asked.
“Ek praat nie jou taal nie,” Zecora said.
“I... don’t... understand... what... you... are... saying!” The mare said.
Zecora wanted to tell her that she didn’t know a single word of the Equestrian language, and that speaking slowly, and about 20 per cent louder, wasn’t going to help, but she figured that would be a complete waste of time.
“Ek is jammer,” Zecora said, apologising for bumping into her and turning and walking away.
“Wait!” the earth pony mare called out, trotting after her.
Wonderful, this pony was going to insist on trying to communicate with her, even though neither of them understood a single word that the other was saying.
“Me. Cherries Jubilee!” the earth pony said, pointing to herself. “Cherries Jubilee!” she repeated, pointing at herself.
Zecora understood this time, and realised that the earth pony was not going to leave her alone, she responded. “My naam is Zecora,” Zecora said, pointing to herself. “Zecora,” she repeated, pointing at herself again.
“Zecora,” Cheeries Jubilee said, pointing at her.
“Cheeries Jubilee,” Zecora said, pointing at the earth pony before her.
Cheeries Jubilee nodded excitedly. “You... need... place... to... stay?” she asked, incorporating crude, yet oddly effective sign language in order to help get her point across. Zecora wasn’t exactly sure if she understood the message entirely. The exact meaning lost in translation to her, but it sounded to her as if Cheeries Jubilee was offering her a place of rest. Zecora didn’t exactly know if she could trust this pony, she seemed nice enough, and was actually making an attempt to communicate with her.
“Boete,” Zecora said, nodding her head in affirmation.
Cheeries Jubilee clearly understood that, and squealed in excitement, grabbing Zecora enthusiastically and pulling her along towards her home. Zecora put up no resistance, too stunned to even try. She could only wonder what she had gotten herself into.
...
From her hiding place in the bushes, Surprise had set her sights on Firefly. She watched her fellow Pegasus as she flew towards the sky, off to who knows where. She peered through a pair of binoculars as she watched Firefly heading towards the east, and descending towards the forest. She was going to prove that Firefly was legitimately too busy to hang out with her. That would show those voices!
Surprise took flight after her, quietly ducking into a tree and leaping between them as she slowly caught up to Firefly, despite being usually loud and obnoxious, she was very sneaky when she needed to be, and she’d be using that to her advantage.
She quickly caught up to Firefly, who was sitting on the ground, tapping a hoof impatiently as she waited.
“Firefly?” another voice said from out her Surprise’s sight.
Firefly turned and smiled brightly at the new comer. “I was worried you weren’t going to show Skydancer.”
Surprise shifted herself slowly and watched as a bright yellow Pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane came into her field of view.
“And miss this? I think not,” Skydancer said with a grin, she leaned in close and planted a kiss on Firefly’s lips, the two closed their eyes and continued to kiss each other passionately, and then, suddenly, Firefly pulled herself away.
“Firefly? What’s wrong?” Skydancer asked.
“Oh... It’s Surprise,” Firefly said. Surprise tensed up at the mention of her name. “Surprise has been bugging me a lot lately, ‘when are we going to hangout Firefly?’ ‘Firefly! I miss you Firefly!’ ‘Firefly Firefly Firefly!’”
Firefly let out a growl of frustration, causing Surprise to snap her hooves over her mouth to avoid gasping.
“The worst thing is, she talks to herself, honestly, and it’s kind of disturbing. I tell you, that pony ain’t got it all up in here,” Firefly said, pointing to her head.
Tears began to form in Surprise’s eyes, the truth was coming out.
“Well don’t worry about Surprise, she’s not here to ruin it for us,” Skydancer said, she took Firefly in her forelegs, and the two began to passionately kiss each other. Skydancer pushed Firefly on her back...
That was the point where Surprise couldn’t watch any more, she bolted from the tree, flying as far and fast as she could away from this scene. She raced to her home, bursting through the door and slamming it shut tightly behind her. She collapsed onto the floor, and burst into tears.
Now she’d found the truth, Firefly was her bestest best friend in the whole wide world, and she had just been pretending to like her. Surprise buried her head in her hooves and cried her eyes out; she cried and cried, only stopping when her tear ducts had dried up completely.
Surprise was crushed, if that was how Firefly felt about her, she could only imagine what the rest of the settlement felt. Surprise had always been the playful, fun loving, party pony for the settlement, and now it felt like Surprise would never be smiling ever again.
They hated her. She knew it now. She decided right there and then that she would be leaving. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew that she couldn’t stay here.’’
A knock came at her door, Surprise ignored it. The last thing she wanted was a visitor.
The visitor knocked again, and again, and again. Finally, Surprise, now more than a little angry went over the door and threw it open. “WHAT?” she screamed in the face of whoever had come to visit her.
The red eyes of Prince Zephyr were looking back at her. “Stand aside,” he said simply.
Surprise, upon realising who it was at her door, did as she was told immediately, and broke down into a kilometre-a-second apology for yelling at the royal unicorn.
“Shut the door,” Prince Zephyr commanded.
Surprise did as she was told.
“What have you learned?” Prince Zephyr asked.
“My friends hate me,” Surprise said with a sniffle, she collapsed on the floor. “The voices were right... they all hate me!”
“Surprise,” Prince Zephyr said. “What if I told you that I knew how to make the voices go away?”
Surprise’s head snapped up in attention. The voices were the reason that Firefly and the rest of the town hated her... if they went away, her life would be so much better! Firefly would actually like her! “How? Please! Please! Make them go away! I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything!”
“Anything?” Prince Zephyr asked emotionlessly, cocking his head to the side, “Swear fealty to me. Be my messenger, my servant, and I shall reward you greatly.”
“I... I swear myself to you!” Surprise managed between sobs. “I swear myself to serve you in any way I can.”
“Excellent,” Prince Zephyr said. He opened his greatcoat and pulled a short, yet slender object from it with his magic, and dropped it on the floor in front of her.
Surprise knew what it was, she had never actually seen a chain-knife before, but she knew what they were. Chain-knives were commonplace industrial tools in order to cut through steel. They were exactly the kind of technology that the founders of the Dream Valley Settlement had wanted to distance themselves from. Surprise looked up at Prince Zephyr in confusion.
“From now on, you shall call me, master,” the royal unicorn said. “You swore to do as I say.”
Surprise looked back at the chain-knife on the ground, and then back at Prince Zephyr. “What... what do you want me to do, master?”
Prince Zephyr cocked his head to the side ever so slightly and gave a simple, two word response.
“Kill Firefly.”