As riddles were told a red dragon sat moodily at the top of a tree. He glared at the village, angry that it had to be a pony village. A faint sound carried to his ears and he stood up. Leaning out he spotted a group of foals scampering just beyond the buildings. He scanned each one carefully. They were all alike yet different, but all alike to him. Some wore hats or clothing and one was even wearing some ridiculous looking costume. The little dragon snorted. Just his luck. They would probably know the pony that he was looking for but to find out he would have to go talk to them. He could just fly into it on his own but either way, he had to deal with ponies. There was another option but it was almost as distasteful as going into a village full of ponies.
“Well, I’m not getting anywhere just sitting here.” He growled. The dragon let himself fall from the branch as he spread his wings and he vanished swiftly into the trees.
* * *
Lily’s hooves suddenly came to a stop. She pulled off her mask and squinted at the distant tree line. She could have sworn that she had seen something red move in one of the trees. When she thought of red and the Everfree she thought of only one creature. Naa, it couldn’t be. Lily turned back to her friends as Twist called out, “What do you have to keep after you’ve given it to somepony?”
“It’s a promise,” Featherweight called back.
“How about this one?” Diamond Tiara announced. “What can travel around the world while it stays in a corner?”
“Oh, oh I know!” Dinky called back as the foals continued their canter around Ponyville. Lily soon forgot the sighting as the riddle war continued.
* * *
Winging through the forest the red dragon continued towards his destination. It wasn’t too far but far enough to a creature who was used to teleporting. After debating it a moment he pictured his destination in his mind. Nothing happened.
“AAA! Come on!” He yelled focusing harder. He vanished in a flash of light only to reappear five feet to the left where he slammed into a tree.
“GAAA!” He flew back and tried again. He vanished and reappeared in the same spot. He roared in frustration as he was forced to continue his journey on wing. When he neared his destination he flew up into the canopy and continued on through the branches. Soon he reached his destination and peered down through the leaves at the odd little house built into a tree. Outside was the strange pony like creature planting something in the ground. Every creature in Everfree knew her or rather knew of her and few ever dared mess with her. She had been known to help a few of the forest residents if they asked politely and those who demanded rudely never did so again.
The red dragon stayed up the branches awhile as he worked up his courage and pondered just whether or not she was a pony. She looked like a pony but yet not so much. As he pondered Zecora suddenly looked up and squinted at the canopy. “Who is that watching me? Is that a little dragon that I see?” The dragon cringed at being spotted.
“Come on down and you can tell me what you want, on the ground,” Zecora intoned pointing at the earth. “If your friendly then you have no reason to feel fright, I can promise you, that I do not bite.”
The dragon shot down from the branches and landed in front of her. “I’m am not frightened!” He growled.
“I see,” Zecora laughed, “Now what is it that you want of me?”
“Well first, are you a pony?”
“Well, no but for me, the best inference is that really there is not too much a difference.” Zecora replied.
“What? Whatever, I’ll just go with not a pony,” The dragon replied. “I need some help.”
“For now let’s put that on the shelf and you introduce yourself?”
“My name is Leftfang,” The red dragon replied, “I’m a mini dragon, if you know what that is?” He eyed her suspiciously as he waited for a reaction. Perhaps that would tell him if she was truly a pony or not.
“Of mini dracos I know, but of your story I do not. Come inside and tell it to me while the tea is still hot.”
Leftfang hung back a moment but then reluctantly followed Zecora. His mind told him that this was a trick meant to lead him inside where he could not teleport, she seemed pony enough after all, but it wasn’t like his teleporting was working anyway.
Once inside he stood in the center of the room and blinked at all the masks that seemed to be staring at him. Zecora poured out two cups of tea and slid one across the table towards him. Leftfang eyed the liquid and sniffed it before taking a sip. It wasn’t bad.
“So then my dear, what reason do you have for coming here?” Zecora asked.
“Dear?! Don’t call me dear.” Leftfang growled. “Anyway, the issue is that my magic has gone haywire. I try to teleport and it rarely works. I try conduction energy to my claws, it doesn’t work. Every time that I try to use my magic, something goes wrong and I know that it has to do with that pony! Regardless, I need you to make some potion to fix it.”
“Before I can help there are more answers that I must seek. Who is this pony of which you speak?”
“She… ua…” Leftfang scratched the back of his neck, “A little pink pony, half your size.”
“Are you trying to play some game? Just start with her name,” Zecora said.
“I don’t know her name! All I know is that I ran into her in the forest and a few days later my magic started acting funny. It wasn’t much at first but over time it kept getting worse. This has never happened before I ran into her and nothing else has happened between then and when my magic started acting up. I don’t know how or why but I know that encounter has to be the cause… do ponies just naturally taint the magic of others?”
Zecora shook her head, “Of hasty conclusions you’ll have halt and explain to me why you think that it is her fault.”
“I don’t think that it is her fault as in she meant to do it but it has to have something to do with her.”
“Then tell the story and leave nothing out, then perhaps we’ll find what this is all about.”