//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Zecora the Mystic 
// Story: Of Love and Video Games 
// by Art de Triomphe 
//------------------------------//

	"'Everfree Forest,'" I read the sign at the edge of the dark woods, "'Turn around if you know what's good for you.' Well, that settles it for me, goodbye."

I began to turn and walk away, before being stopped. Upon turning around, I noticed Twilight's magical aura secured tightly around my belt buckle.

"Don't worry," she reassured, "we've been in there plenty of times. We know the fastest way to Zecora's. It's perfectly safe."

"That sign suggests otherwise," I explained, trying to pull myself out of her grip, to no avail.

"Now don't be such a scaredy-pony," Applejack said as she appeared behind me and started pushing me into the forest.

I had even less luck resisting Applejack's physical strength. Twilight led the way, using her horn as a kind of lantern, followed by Rainbow, Fluttershy, me, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie. Even though it was the middle of the day, the dense foliage of the forest made it seem like night. To my great relief, we seemed to be following a well-traveled path.

Eventually, we reached a bit of a clearing in the middle of which was a tree whose trunk had obviously been hollowed out. The light emanating from the open windows seemed to suggest a friendly presence, though the carved wooden masks hanging beside the door said something different.

"Zecora," Twilight called after knocking, "it's Twilight. We have a situation."

"Come in, come in," a heavily-accented voice said from inside, "you know what awaits you within."

The seven of us entered the makeshift house, and I was stunned to say the least. Everywhere there were bottles full of various liquids, wooden charms, and wooden masks. From the ceiling hung various kinds of plants. And in the middle was a giant black cauldron, like from a bad Disney movie.

Then there was the occupant of the hut. They was much different than the ponies I had already met, mostly due to their white-and-black-striped fur and similarly-colored mane, which was styled in a pretty high mohawk. To be honest, if their leather clothing didn't leave so little to the imagination, I wouldn't have been sure if they were a man or a woman.

"Zecora," Twilight began, pointing to me, "this is Jack. He is a human from another dimension. He's been experiencing some strange symptoms and I'm afriad the dimensional jump may have harmed him."

"Princess you brought him to the right place," Zecora answered, "have him sit there so I can look at his face.

I sat down in the only chair in the hut.

"Tell me true," Zecora continued, directing her question at me, "what ailments have been plaguing you?"

"Well," I said, removing my glasses, "I've been having these strange flashes of green light before my eyes. And not only that, but they hurt, like someone rubbed cayenne pepper in my eyes."

"Hmmm, that's not natural, that's a fact. Just stay calm while I examine you, Jack."

I tried to relax as much as was possible while Zecora looked over various parts of me. She obviously didn't have any modern medical equipment or anything, but Twilight and the others obviously trusted her with this matter, or they wouldn't have brought me here.

Unfortunately, as she was staring deep into my iris' for the third time, it happened again. My vision flashed green, for just a second, but the intense pain was there all the same. I threw my head back, grinding the heel of my hands into my eyes.

"Jack," Pinkie cried out, "you OK?"

"The pain is quite strong," Zecora mused. I regained my vision in time to see her hold a wooden cup out to me, "Drink this, it will go away before long."

I wasn't sure about it, but again, I had no reason not to trust her, so I tossed back the blue liquid in one gulp. It was very sweet and tasted faintly of blueberries. In not five seconds, all the pain was gone, as if it hadn't been there at all.

"Thank you, Zecora," I said, blinking a few times.

Zecora smiled before grabbing a long, wooden, stick, "I am going to need some saliva. So open your mouth and say 'ahh'."

I did as I was told. Zecora stuck the stick in my mouth and rolled it around, basically doing a cheek swab. When she was finished, she walked over to the cauldron and dropped the stick in, along with some other liquids.

"Well, Zecora," Twilight inquired as Zecora continued to stand over the pot and stare.

Suddenly, Zecora's entire demeanor shifted. Gone was the inquisitive, patient, look, replaced instead by one of equal parts fear and anger.

Before I knew what was going on, she had closed the distance between herself and I in two steps, proceeding to give me a swift kick in the jaw which made me fly out of the chair and crash into a near-by table. I heard a collective gasp come from the other six mares in the room as I laid in a crumpled heap, now down one tooth and bleeding profusely from the mouth.

"Zecora," Applejack yelled, "what in tarnation did you do that for?"

"What you have brought here, that thing," she explained, seething, "should not be here, for it is a changeling."

"How do you know that," Pinkie questioned as she kneeled next to me.

"His body is filled with changeling DNA. Such as what my cauldron say. The light of green that brings him pain, is simply his body trying to change back again."

As I listened to this, I lost more and more blood, and with it, I began to lose consciousness. Pinkie would tap my shoulder ever few seconds in an attempt to keep me awake.

"What's a changeling," I whispered so softly that I barely heard it myself.

"What, Jack?" Pinkie replied, knowing I had tried to say something.

"What," I repeated, trying to talk louder, "is a changeling?"

"Don't worry, Jack, you'll be OK."

"What's a changeling?" I repeated the phrase over and over until I finally slipped away.


*-*-*-*-*


For the second time in two days, I was in the hospital. Twilight and the others had apparently convinced Zecora not to kill me and had gotten me back to Ponyville before I bled out. Some strong healing magic later, and I was alive, if not completely well.

Now that I was awake, Twilight had taken the opportunity to answer my original question. Apparently, changelings were these weird bug/pony things that feed on love and have the ability to change their physical form, hence their name. She even told me how their queen, Chrysalis, had tried to overtake her brother's wedding to begin a changeling invasion. These mares had seem some stuff, that's for sure.

Twilight also explained that they had proved, without a doubt, that I wasn't a changeling. Apparently, changelings have a magical aura about them, just like unicorns, even if they are in a non-unicorn form. Since I have no such aura, I couldn't possibly be a changeling.

That still left the question of what was wrong with my eyes. Twilight admitted that neither she, nor Zecora when she calmed down, had any explanation, but that word had been sent to Celestia, and hopefully she could be of help.

By this point, most of the other mares had gone off somewhere. Rarity promised to fashion me some new clothes. Applejack had to get back to her farm. Pinkie Pie had work to do herself. Rainbow Dash had decided to go home, but not until after making sure I was going to live. That just left Twilight and Fluttershy, which I found ironic.

Then, another pony appeared in the doorway to my room. It was Zecora. She had a bag slung over her shoulder and a concerned look on her face.

"Good to see you are awake," she said almost nervously, "We would hate to see you the worse from my mistake."

I'll admit that the muscles in my shoulders involuntarily tensed, but I did my best to crack a weak smile. I reasoned that the fact that she was here meant something.

"Did you bring it, Zecora," Twilight asked.

"The medicine was finished as soon as I was able. It is difficult to work with ingrediants so unstable."

"Un...stable?" I mumbled, still finding it hard to speak properly.

"Zecora found an old medicinal remedy," Twilight explained, "it is to suppress magic when it is found in non-magical beings such as yourself."

"I thought...you said...there was no magic in me."

"Well, according to Zecora, when you have a green-out, your eyes actually glow as well. In my experience, such phenomenon can only occur with magic."

Zecora put a small brown sack on the table next to the bed, "Take it in the morning, one pill a day. With this medicine, your symptoms will go away."

"What...about...my tooth," I stammered, running my tongue over the space where my lower left bicupsid should have been.

"An easy feat to fix your tooth," Zecora said, pulling out canteen of sorts and handing it to me, "Drink this, and be healed, truth."

I figured the first thing she gave me to drink had done its job, so I quickly downed this potion, which tasted like one of those terrible organic smoothies. After a few seconds, I felt a sharp pain in my lower jaw, which quickly went away. Placing my tongue to the spot again, I found that my tooth had returned.

"What...the hell...kind of pony...are you?"

"We are but ponies of white and black," she said with a chuckle, "To be technical, I am a zebra, human Jack."