Chapter 2 – Solitude
Very little sunlight broke through the canopy of the Everfree Forest, but it was enough for Zecora to see what she was doing.
The black, brown and green of the forest was only occasionally broken up with the colours of the various flowers, or golden rays of sunlight that streamed in through the gaps in the treeline. The summer afternoon was warmer than most days, but Zecora still had a thick cloak wrapped around her. Her life in Zebrabwe had made her used to the sweltering heat and burning sun, and she hadn’t quite gotten used to this more temperate climate that she now called home. Her eyes glanced down, idly looking to her hooves, when she noticed a lake of blue flowers in front of her. The zebra paused; she didn’t think she had walked that fast, and she had almost blindly trodden into a patch of Poison Joke. Too wrapped up in her thoughts to pay attention to the rest of the world; it wouldn’t do. She circumnavigated the Poison Joke warily, pausing only when she was past it. She looked to her satchel bag, pulled out a pair of tongs with her teeth and used them to uproot one of the flowers, roots and all. She very carefully put it in her bag, having to take the bag off of her back to do so. It was only when she was done that she heard a sound. It was a very faint sound, one of a pencil scribbling on paper. When she did hear it, her head whipped around, but there was no one there.
“Perhaps I imagined it,” Zecora thought to herself, replacing the satchel bag onto her back and beginning her walk again. Now, though, she became more aware of a strange feeling; as if someone was watching her. Her eyes darted around, looking for any hint of her phantom follower. Then she stopped, realising the absurdity of the situation. Based on a sound she wasn’t sure was even real, she was looking for somepony who may or may not be watching her. Even if there was somepony out there, who was to say they knew she was there? She put a hoof to her head, a small chuckle passing through her lips.
“Clearly my solitude is having me jump at ghosts,” she said in her native Zebran, before her face became a little forlorn. “I just wish these ponies were more welcoming hosts.” She looked ahead, noticing a red fungus on a tree and, after extracting a small blade from her bag, began to shave off a sample. She became locked in thought; it probably was her wanting company that had her starting to expect it than any solid suspicions.
Zecora let out a frustrated sigh, a pang of homesickness overcoming her. For as bitter as the land itself could be, she missed the warmth of her fellow zebras back in her home of Timbucktoo. She was self-admittedly quite the loner, more interested in her potions and charms than making friends, but there was always the opportunity to. An opportunity she was now sorely missing, and regretting not taking full advantage of. Still, she had at least had people to speak to; her family, the young pony mare who came from Equestria to study the zebra magics, and of course the nice bazaar owner who sold her whatever wares she needed. It was him who suggested moving to Equestria to study in the first place.
“If you wish to further your magic studies, I learnt all I know there. I guarantee you will find the friendliest faces and leave with knowledge to spare,” he had said, so far as Zecora could recall. It made her want to laugh.
Zecora paused in her scraping, blade still in her hoof. Did she just see a rustle in the bushes? Not unusual, in the Everfree Forest at least, but with her already wondering if there was somepony out there, it wouldn’t hurt to be too short. “Hello? Is there somepony watching me?” She asked into the darkness of the forest. “If there is, this joke is not very funny.” She then looked down, peering at a root vegetable she had nearly tripped over. She made a curious humming noise, before picking up her blade again. “I do not think I need this root, but I take it just in case.”
“Sidhani kama nahitaji mzizi hii, lakini mimi kuchukua ni kama tahadhari.”
Sweetie Drops paused, before looking into the open ‘Zebran-to-Pony’ dictionary she had positioned carefully in front of her. Once she knew what the mysterious zebra had actually said, she dug out her notebook and wrote down her notes.
‘Sentences rhyming, but ignoring syllables and accents. Timbucktoo dialect maybe? Extracting lunkroot, requires further investigation.’
Sweetie Drops looked back up, peering back at the zebra. Only to see said zebra looking back at her. The earth pony froze, her heart leaping to her throat; had her camouflage really failed her? The zebra’s eyes held a suspicious glint as she walked over. Sweetie Drops could feel a bead of sweat running down her forehead, peering at the zebra. The zebra squinted, now mere inches away. The secret agent trembled with fear, knowing that exposure was mere moments away.
The zebra placed a hoof on the large cardboard box Sweetie Drops was sat in and pushed it aside. There was a pause, lasting at least ten seconds, before the zebra seemed satisfied and began to walk away. Sweetie Drops’ nostrils flared as she exhaled in relief, before writing more notes in her book.
‘Cardboard box successful, but subject has better hearing than expected,’ Sweetie Drops thought on the words she had just wrote down, before adding another note. ‘Note; mention success of cardboard box disguise to Shining Armour and rub it in his face.’
“What are you writing, Miss Bon Bon?"
Sweetie Drops nearly smashed the box apart with her head as she leapt up in shock. Her hoof went to a pistol that she kept on her at all the times she could and pointed, only to stop. Her wide eyes narrowed in a deep-set frown. “Pipsqueak?! Shouldn’t you be in school or something?!”
“Miss Cheerilee has taken us out on a field trip, but I got lost and was hoping you had seen her,” Pipsqueak pointed out optimistically. The little pony didn’t seem concerned about the deadly weapon aimed directly at him. However, his brow did furrow in confusion. “Miss Bon Bon, why does your voice sound so odd? Do you have a cold?”
“Look, kid, just scram, alright?” Bon Bon grumbled irritably, before looking out of the eye holes she had cut into her box. Then she grunted loudly. “Lost her. Great. That’s your fault, by the way.”
“Who? That nice zebra lady?”
“You don’t know who that ‘nice zebra lady’ could be! She could be anyone! A spy, maybe? An assassin? A monster in disguise?”
“… well, which of those is she?”
“That’s what I intend to find out,” Sweetie Drops said, finally pointing the gun away from Pipsqueak’s face. She looked out of her eye holes, hoping to spot the zebra again within the dense forest, before looking back to the young child. “Don’t you have anywhere else to be?”
“Well, I don’t know where my teacher went,” Pipsqueak pointed out. Sweetie Drops rolled her eyes.
“Then just go back to your house or whatever, I’m sure your mom will understand.”
“Well… I don’t really have one.”
“A house? Then your flat, or wherever it is you live.”
“You mean the orphanage?”
Sweetie Drops’ face immediately dropped, realising what he actually meant, and she looked back to Pipsqueak. It was only now that she noticed that he was on the verge of tears. The secret agent, for a brief moment at least, completely forgot about her mission and focused entirely on the child that had snuck into her box. “Oh. Wow, sorry, kid. That sucks.”
“S’not your fault, Miss Bon Bon. Besides, Dad’s alive, he’s just only in Ponyville a few days of the year,” he said, managing to hold his emotions back. It was clear that it was a very touchy subject, and Sweetie Drops knew that she was not the best at comforting children. When his eyes met her once more, though, they were filled once again with a childlike glee. “But you’re saying that zebra is dangerous, right? How dangerous? Like on a scale of one to ten?” Sweetie Drops frowned.
“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” she mumbled irritably to herself, before looking back to Pipsqueak. “You really don’t have much in the way of self-preservation, do you?”
“Well, if you need help with anything, I don’t mind at all! I’ve not got anything to do today besides find Miss Cheerilee, and then I’m at the Summer Sun Celebration, but until then I don’t mind helping you with…”
“The Summer Sun Celebration!” Sweetie Drops suddenly called out, her hoof driving into her forehead. “Of course!” For once, her face actually bore a large grin, looking to Pipsqueak. “That’s it! She must be here for that! Say, Pip, you any good at reading?” Pipsqueak’s eyebrow rose.
“This doesn’t sound too exciting…”
“It’s got something to do with monsters.”
“I’m in!” Pipsqueak enthusiastically shouted, almost throwing the cardboard box away in excitement. Sweetie Drops grinned to this.
“Fantastic!” She said, before looking around to make sure that no one was watching them. “Well, we’re going to get to the library, and we’re going to get to the bottom of this.” She looked out into the black, brown and green mosaic that was the Everfree Forest, speaking to no one in particular as she walked forward. “Just watch out, Zebra Lady, if that even is your real name… I’m onto you now...” She began to walk forward, with Pipsqueak following at her heels eagerly.
“They will accept you tonight.”
“We wish for them to do so willingly. Showing them the beauty of our night is only to convince, not to force.”
“Those ponies have had over a millennia of Celestia’s propaganda to make them fear the night. Force may be the only way.”
“Thou shalt not hurt any of our little ponies, asides in self-defence.”
“There are those who will attempt to stop you.”
“And we will talk to them. They will see that our night is truly magnificent.”
“And the cruelty of your sister, of course.”
“…”
“Oh come on, Luna!”
“Even now, it is difficult to not love her.”
“What happened to arrogance and selfishness? Those words from your lips.”
“Of course I… of course we are angry at her, but she loves us. We love her.”
“Pathetic.”
“I just… we just wish she could remember that for a moment.”
“… and she will. All she needs to do is see that we can rule Equestria better than she can, and she will bow to you. All of Equestria will bow to you.”
“And we shall return the gesture. We are here to serve Equestria, not have Equestria serve us.”
“…”
“You are silent, my trusty ally. Doth you have a concern?”
“… let’s just get back to planning our initial entrance, shall we?”