Ponysona: Arcana Crusaders

by Phoenix Kitten


Tea in the forest.

"A time of spirits interlude? No wonder the beasts did elude." Zecora mused after taking a sip of her tea. "Manticores,I have been hunting for awhile. Their venom I need to fill this vial. If I return to my home with samples uncompiled, then from my tribe I will be exiled."

"I've heard about these sorts of things." Sweetie spoke up from the back of the room as she peered out the windows. "A pilgrimage right? You have to leave to gather up objects that may be of use to your tribe, and since you're a.. druid?" She questioned, unsure if she had used the right term.
When the zebra mare nodded she continued. "So you make potions and other items needed to heal Zebra, like anti venoms, I'm guessing there are a lot of rare medicinal plants and lots of unique venoms out here."

"You are correct little filly, but this next part to you might seem silly." Zecora smiled. "Like a cutie mark to you, my pilgrimage will pay me back a very important due. To earn my true name you see, that is what is important to me."

"Yer true name?" Applebloom asked, her head tilted in confusion.

"Hey I'll be right back, I think I saw something getting a bit too close." Sweetie interjected as she made for the door. "Silver, Diamond, with me."

The two earthponies nodded and followed the unicorn out, their weapons slung over their backs.

"Yes Applebloom I did not mispeak, my true name is hidden like a misty peak." Zecora continued as the door closed. "The name you know is just a placeholder, to earn my stripes I must be bolder. For my current name lacks personal zest, in my tongue it simply means Zebra I must confess."

"Wait...you're a zebra, and your.. 'false name' is Zecora, which in your mother tongue means zebra?" Scootaloo wore a dumbfounded expression on her face.

"While technically true, false name is incorrect Scootaloo." the zebra smiled gently. "This practice is unique to my tribe, the full rules would take a while to scribe. Until you have proven yourself like a thieve, you are like water draining from a sieve."

"So yer either useful or yer nopony?" Applebloom frowned. "That don't seem right in mah eyes."

"While it may not seem right to you,for the good of the tribe it is something we must do." Zecora cleared her throat. "To be weak in the desert is wrong, to survive we must be strong. That is the way I have been raised, though the methodology is not to be praised. I have learned a great deal during my time in this land, I hope to impart that wisdom to my home in the sand."

Before Sunny could voice her support the door to the hut opened up as the trio of fillies returned.
"We got you a present Zecora." Sweetie chuckled as she placed a manticore's severed tail tip on the alchemy bench near the back of the hut, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara doing the same. "Trio of manticore were sniffing after our trail. It was fun." The unicorn smiled,her eyes flashing cyan for a second.

"Ah,thank you Sweetie Belle. You bested the manticore's? Do tell." Zecora quizzed as she went to work milking the stingers for their venom.

"It was easy." Diamond Tiara smiled,slinging her great sword onto her back.

"Yeah. Sweetie just knocked them all out with a maz... blast of lightning, then Diamond and I cut the stringers off." Silver cheered.

"Lightning spells at such an age? She may soon be quite the mage." the zebra chuckled as she stowed the three vials of venom in the special padded pouch of her saddlebags. "And that is the last of my hullabaloo,the key to my hut is yours Scootaloo." She smiled,dropping a keyring over the orange fillies ear.

"Mine?" She blinked, hoofing the key out of her eye.

Zecora nodded from the doorway. "Your heat bears scars of quite a load,one a wish for a proper abode. So this is a gift from me,not something to be used sparingly."

"Before you go, Zecora... what is with the rhyming?" Sweetie asked.

"A side effect of my birth, as a second seer on this earth." Zecora nodded.

"A second seer...your mother was a seer then?" the unicorn asked.

"That is untrue, I expected better of you. One entrusted with a key, to unlocking your true destiny." the zebra smiled. "With that I'm afraid I cannot dawdle, to miss my ride would simply awful." she said as she closed the door behind her.

"Wait what?" Sweetie yelled as she charged the door and flung it open to find nopony outside it. "How... what...where did she...?"

"Somethin' wrong Sweetie?" Applebloom asked as she trotted up beside the confused unicorn.

"What was that about a key?" Scootaloo asked from the doorway, holding the one to her new house in her hooves.

"Darn it..." Sweetie grumbled. "As much as I want to to chase her down and find some answers... Crusaders! Make your preparations. We're going for a dive!"