My little Zebra

by Uncle Knot

Sweet Apple Acres

To my courageous and enterprising Princess Celestia, my 10,945th letter in the 912th YR

It was correct of you to encourage a farm here, but how it grows and disturbs my peace. I find myself spending too much time there helping out and being neighborly. Star Swirl’s tree house is barely out of view of the farm. They had a bit of a hard time at first, waiting for their crops to grow, but some of their ‘young ins’ (as they put it) were resourceful and gathered food from the Everfree forest.

So I packed up and moved to the old place I had built for Zecora and just as I was settling in, guess who returned from far away. My little Zecora is back, reasons unclear, something about watching her grand colts and mares grow old. The zebras of the Selous tribe must age faster, and she hints that they may have learned to fear her because of the extended life she has now. She looks at me with new understanding of how I’ve been around so long and watched so many others pass on. So since I can’t stay there with her, I will use the magic to build myself a new home. You may ask why I can’t stay with her, and I don’t really know. Something about how she appears to be older than me, and yet acts as if I’m still her ‘papa’. It made me most uncomfortable, and I think she noticed it too. But I will make it a point to still take tea together.

As for my new house, I think I have found an ideal location, near a slow moving stream, an equal lateral distance from Zecora’s and Star Swirl’s houses, on the edge of the Everfree forest. The new location will roughly form a triangle, which should give all concern some privacy. For I have been in touch with Rockerfilly, (J.P. Morgan’s railroad competition), and she says she plans to open a rail line to this new farm land area. That will eventually bring a community here and it would be best if the new house for me was far removed from the expectation of a new town. But I will take steps as needed to protect Star Swirl’s home and the Everfree forest. There is the hint of a contest in the air about whether the town will pop out of the earth or the train line will extend its’ reach to here first.

I suppose expansion is necessary, every time I come to Canterlot, there is new growth. The old fortress has become a city and I worry that I will lose my way about town. Giving ponies a new location to live will relieve some of the growing pressures upon Canterlot, but I understand that both Manehatten and Fillydelphia are also facing growing pressures too. Indeed, part of their recent vertical increase in habitation is due to the competition in the steel industry, also between Rockerfilly and J.P. Morgan.

It was convenient not to transplant a tree to the new house location; instead I used a local bush. I wanted to test myself and my magic. Success was achieved using one of those small round bushes with white flowers and yellow petals, the type that attracts butterflies. I really outdid myself this time; I got straight walls inside with two stories. It almost looks like a normal house except for the bushy roof, at least not like Star Swirl’s tree house. I hope it will still produce flowers, but with the magic some aspects of the bush will surely change.

It is time to finish this letter, I must prepare for the next dragon migration. I’ll be doing this one alone. Any special color you want for the next dragon? I lean toward pink this time, there have been enough green, red and blue dragons. With all my kindness, loyalty, generosity, laughter, and honestly, Sum-po-neigh Knot Yew.