Zulf found himself taking kindly to the ponies, they took kindly to him too. Everyone wanted to meet him, say hi, ask him questions, sort of thing kindly people would do when they meet a new best friend. Reminded Zulf a lot of some other kind folks who had done much the same, greeted him and helped him and offered him a new home. Made Zulf feel guilty, but made him feel determined too, determined to protect the ponies from people like who he’d been.
Zecora and Applebloom had introduced him to some others, six other ponies who seemed happy to meet him in return. First one was this mare with the kind of pink in her mane that looked like the sun was setting and the yellow in her coat to match. A kindly and quiet mare who spoke like the summer breeze and was as shy as a squirt. Both Zecora and Applebloom had decided she’d be the first to talk to. Seemed they’d been good judges, Fluttershy took to the human without much fuss and he took to her much the same way, saw a lot of Zia in her.
Next was this other mare, Coat of lavender like the sun had dipped below the horizon and the moon hadn’t quite filled in yet, seemed to go just fine with a mane streaked like a comet. She’d asked a lot of questions, seemed a curious sort of girl, Zulf was happy to answer, didn’t realize how many answers he would have to give, took Fluttershy’s calm voice to get Twilight to leave her curiosity for a moment and greet Zulf like a proper mare should. She’d blushed a bit and apologized, Zulf didn’t mind, wasn’t in any sort of rush.
They’d taken him to a third. Seemed to Zulf they were avoiding someone, always took out of the way detours, wanted to avoid some part of town it seemed, Zulf decided not to ask why. Secrets have their purposes, sometimes it’s best not knowin’. Third pony had a smile like a melon, wide and bright. Orange coat like autumn and a blonde mane like apple pulp. Looked like an early morning kinda pony in more ways than one. Met her in an apple orchard that went on for miles, past the eyes and beyond the hills. Seemed like something a lot of work went into, she looked like the pony who did it.
Honest and brash, got right to the heart of matters, got the only answer she cared about, asked him if he meant any harm. Zulf told her the truth, told her he wanted to help how he could. She made to shake his hand just like her sister had and Zulf was happy to oblige. There bit more strength behind it, to no one’s surprise, and she invited the group in for a pie and a glass of cider, the group decided they could stop for a nice little snack. Pie from the Apple Family is a hard thing to turn down.
Way back to her house they heard some snoring comin’ from one of the apple trees, kind of sound that shakes the leaves. Group decided they’d make a short stop, woke up a mare dozin’ in the shade of the orchard. Coat was electric blue and stuck out against just about everythin’ besides the sky, she stuck out there too though, on account of her mane. Looked like rainbow and moved like lightning, seemed to match that mark on her flank just fine.
Zulf wasn’t sure what the marks were, didn’t seem polite to ask. Seemed to match their owners though, everyone seemed to have one, bar the filly. Zecora’d had one a bit more vague, a lot like Twilight’s. Wasn’t sure what to make of the latter’s. Decided he’d find out eventually, watch out for suspicious ones in the meantime.
Turned his attention back to the mare, didn’t want to seem rude. But she seemed not to care much ‘bout Zulf anyway. Least ways not to extent that the other ponies had. Seemed pretty bold, center of the room whenever she spoke. Not a malevolent kind of way, pretty harmless, just liked the sound of her own voice. Zulf figured he couldn’t blame her for that.
Had a right proper group now, kind of group that you didn’t see everyday. Other’s said their were a couple left to introduce him to yet though, Zulf wondered what kind of friends he’d wandered into. All the ponies said he’d get along great with a mare by the name of ‘Rarity’. Sounded like a right proper lady. Thing about the word ‘couple’ though is that it means more than one. No one talked about the other one, Zulf was gettin’ worried by it, tried to hide it. Seemed to get away with it pretty good, none of the others said nothin’ anyways.
The pie was somethin’ else. Kinda thing that tasted too sweet to be real. Kinda seemed like everythin’ was gettin’ like that. He didn’t get along perfectly with all the mares he’d met, but they greeted each other kindly, seemed a bit perfect. Only so much gets passed off as being in a new town, after a while the secrets start to get a bit much. Everyone was kind to him, but they didn’t talk about some things, some important things.
Didn’t say nothin’ about this ‘other friend’ of there’s. Didn’t say nothin’ about the marks. Didn’t say nothin’ about not trustin’ him as they had every right not to. All seemed a bit too nice and Zulf was gettin’ worried. Barely realized he was about to meet this ‘Rarity’ til he was at the stoop of her house. She had a mane that looked smooth as silk and brilliant as royal magenta that painted a brilliant contrast against her pure white coat. Things went just as smooth as everybody said they would, pair of them got along fine. A proper gentleman with a proper lady. Whole thing only made Zulf that much more nervous about everything that was going on.
Twilight said they were goin’ to meet this last friend of there’s now. Didn’t seem as worried about it anymore, seemed happy to be goin’ there. Zulf could feel his heart beating in his chest. If things were goin’ to go bad he wouldn’t be able to run here, they’d catch him. They knew the place better. If things weren’t gonna go bad he’d look like a fool, runnin’ off because of some conclusion he jumped to. Ended up on his decision easy, followed them to the house, he’d made a promise to help them out, couldn’t well do that if he ran away.
Streets seemed empty as they went through the town, all the ponies who’d been wanderin’ around earlier seemed to have vanished. Not a soul in sight, took more effort than Zulf woulda liked to steel his resolve again. Was runnin’ out of determination at this point, he hoped he wouldn’t need it much longer.
When Twilight opened the door to the gingerbread house for him he walked right in, seemed real dark inside, could hardly see a few feet in front of him. Heard the ponies follow him in, not a word from any of them. Heard them close the door.
Darkness. Zulf felt choked by it. Felt like it was holding him by the neck and he couldn’t breath. He wished he’d ran away now. Woulda been worth a shot. All of it caught up to him, didn’t know what was gonna happen. Maybe the gods decided he still needed to pay for his betrayal, if they existed here. Zulf wasn’t sure they existed at all.
Thought he could hear something in the dark, something that made him worry, thought he heard Ura spears. Thought he heard the kid’s musket. His mind couldn’t take it.
He didn’t see the lights flick on, didn’t see the confetti and balloons around the place. Not the party goers or the cake or the pinata. Eyes were closed too tight to see a thing. Didn’t see the pink pony that looked as eccentric as cotton candy, barely heard the cry of ‘surprise’ against his memory and he passed it off. Ponies watched him choke back tears, worried for what mighta happened in those few seconds of dark.
Zulf was doubled over on all fours, saying sorry to some names that none of the ponies new. Some kinda Kid. Girl named Zia. Old man by the name of Rucks even. Said sorry to each of them over and over again, trying not to cry. He never got to apologize to them before and now he needed to. He was so sorry for what he’d done and here he was without the people to say sorry to. Wasn’t nothin’ to be done about it, but that didn’t stop the tears.
Ponies looked at each other, seemed to come to the same idea. Walked up to him and wrapped him in a group hug, not a one of them with a moment of pause. Pinkie told him everythin’ would be okay. Wasn’t no one to hurt him here. Sobs died down slowly but Zulf stayed there. Ponies decided they would throw a party later, always more cake to be had in sugar cube corner. Sent everybody home and they were promised a party some other time. They knew there would be, Pinkie was always good for her word.