//------------------------------//
// A Hut in the Forest: 5 
// Story: Star Tracker of the Ship Harmony: 
// by Ponyess 
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	I had managed to go through the procedures of the conversion into a Pony, which all of its own wasn't all that bad.  I guess I may have been the one most likely to make this trip, and now I had been beamed down to the planet.

I had found myself on the border of a rather dark place, apparently refereed to, as the 'Everfree forest', I could clearly feel darkness emanate from it, as if it had been a candle emanating light and a creepy scent.

The scent coming to mind is not too dissimilar to a crematorium, even if it also had the feel of an electric chair, I think it would be, the place where people were executed, back in Earth’s history.

Now I follow the chosen path leading me into the forest itself.  I still feel the darkness, but I have a job to do, and a Zebra by the name of Zecora to meet up with.  Apparently it had been falling on my shoulders.  I expect to see why, once I meet her.

If it isn't the fact that I had trodden such dark paths, my guess is that the Captain trust in me, or that there is something similar to the Zebra I'm to find at the edge of the path chosen.  He never told me, just that I was to see a Zebra, living in a hut, midst the dark and forsaken trees of this forest.  I do as he commanded me, only because I know and trust him.  I know he has an even harder path ahead of him, as he set off, infiltrating the Royal Castle.

Shadows haunting my path, darkness dancing all around me, as if there were lost spirits calling out to me.  Words spoken, but lost in the sea of time, distorted by dark magic.  I carefully hasten my steps, trying not to hit a full gallop, which is a sure sign of fear, which isn't what I would like right now.

As I finally do find the hut I had been sent to, the door is closed, so I give it a good knock, as to signal my arrival, to see if she is indeed at home.  I couldn't know, since she could have left since the latest scan had been performed, and I couldn't be informed right away.

A moment later, I hear a sound from within the simple hut, and hoof-steps moving towards the door.  She apparently is at home, or it is whoever was looting her home, and if so had just murdered her.  Only this wasn't feeling very likely to me.  It is in how it feels, the spirit of things.  Maybe this is why I had been sent.  Even if he may have been able to take this on, but he is away on another mission.

The speculations soon proved futile and pointless, as the face of a Zebra entered my field of vision.

“Greetings, what would you want to see me about?” she simply enquired in a curious voice, although her take on the Equestrian was strange and odd, as everything about her, I could still clearly make out what she was saying, and not just because it was a fairly simple phrase, now it finally dawned upon me, why he chose me, of all available members of his crew.

“You're Zecora, right?  I was sent to see you!” I offered lightly, with a slight smile of coy amusement on my lips.

This was starting to prove very interesting a meeting, one I wouldn't have foreseen in a hundred years, not even on the Enterprise, with Picard at the helm.  I guess the mood was shining through, a Pony can only hide so much.

I hadn't cast a glance at my flanks.  Why would I?  Even if they had explained the strange occurring detail among Ponies in Equestria.

Considering what I had been doing back at the ship, would there appear a mark with a drink, or something of that nature.  What I had been missing out on, is that the mark is showing something more than a mere pastime or how to make a living, it is apparently about acceptance too.  I know I'm accepted as the bartender in ten forward, but would it count here.  Right now, I did hope not.

“That would be me.  I guess my reputation has reached farther than could have been expected!” Zecora mused in a more delighted tone than her regular sombre voice.

“I guess you could put it that way.  That would be part of the reason, why I came in the first place.  If I'm to be blunt, I was sent here!” I pointed out, and thus confirming her initial impression.

“Just how much further away are you hailing from?  Even though I see your coat, there is something more, and something very different behind it, something a mere Pony couldn't see.  Is there a Stallion behind your quest?  He sent you here, knowing you are the only one he could trust speaking with me, while his quest is elsewhere!” She pronounced with a deep truth hidden under her breath, but the amusement gone, and a seriousness in its place, as she looked at me.

“How far, several days' flight, at top speed.  From your perspective, I guess I'm just as different, as a Dragon would be.  He is a stallion, and my superior.  He trusted me to connect with you.   He is special to me, and a dear friends in manners my words can't quite cover.  There is a history between us, far too long to recite!” I responded gently and truthfully.

“Flight, you say, but you are an earth Pony.  I sensed you trot through the forest, as if the dangers you felt are all real.  Yet, I can see clearly, you're not of Equestria.  Just like my origin isn't Equestrian either, I fled my homeland long ago, in order to escape the prosecution that had just started up at the time, I was barely a mare at the time.  I wandered off, and eventually found myself here, the spirits led me to the place where I now call my home.  Sadly, I could bring with me precious little, aside from the knowledge I had already picked up, then expanding upon it throughout the gears in this very forest.  The decorations are just the remnants of my culture, such as it was before I left for what now is my exile here, among the Ponies of the land.  In part, I earned their trust, being kind and sharing what I could with them, my knowledge and experience.  From time to time, I help them, with what little I can.  I didn't create the magic of the forest surrounding me, but I guess I do make good use of it.  It's a living fortress for me, in a sense.  It is as strong and reliable as the castle of Canterlot, but isn't that where your Stallion headed off to, in his part of the quest?” Zecora explained, her voice becoming more dreamy and thoughtful as she prodded the vistas of her past.

“Yes, that is true, I'm an earth Pony, but I'm not quite of this world.  I sense more than the eye could possibly see, and thus I feel a sympathy for and with you.  In some ways, I live a life of a similar exile, serving the Ponies around me.  My place appears humble, but the trust from my stallion is as deep as the ocean, and thus I can serve him.  He would currently trotting the halls of Canterlot, but I can not know where, or how he is doing.  His quest is noble and important.  He is a stallion of peace, thus I hope he will find what he is seeking.

“In this case, your secrets are safe with me, I have little to no contact, directly or indirectly with the Ponies of Canterlot.  The only once I interact with, are the Ponies of Ponyville, you may have seen the village, it isn't all that far from here, after all.  I'm mainly giving them advice, when they ask me, and preparing potions, when required.  Then I may ask them to help me gathering the herbs, Flutter Shy has been very valuable in this quest of mine!” Zecora explained.

“When you said potion, you don't merely mean herbal medicine, right?  Some plants does after all have very potent effects.  I just have little to no experience with how this would affect Equestrian Ponies, with the herbs at hoof!” I responded truthfully.

“No, it is no mere medicine, not of the traditional type, anyway.  It laces the potion with the spirit, the magic of the intent, making it far more potent, then merely mixing chemicals together!” Zecora continued.

Then she stood still, for what seems to be an eternity, yet it could never have been more than a few minutes.  She just looked at me, as if she had seen me for the very first time, as if something had changed.  Since it wasn't Zecora, it had to be me.

Then I looked about, casting a glance back at my flank, only to find something actually had changed, there is an image, a pictogram there.  What it is, or what it represented, is still beyond me.

“Apparently I had ignored your blank flank, but it is blank no longer!” she just stated in a confused and amused manner.

“What does it mean?” I pondered.

“It means that you've found your talent, it is a very important moment to Ponies of Equestria!” she informed me, in an unusually sombre tone of voice.

The cutie mark, such as I had been gifted with looks like a green leaf in a heart shape, and with a blue border, a yellow star on top, a red star bottom right, and finally silver star bottom left.

“To my knowledge, this would be a very rare mark, but I don't know enough of Ponies and their marks, so I couldn't say with certainty.  Though he significance of it is powerful!” she pronounced.

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