Never Judge A Zebra By It's Stripes.
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. I know it seems like I say that a lot, but it's thanks to our dedicated weather team that sunny days are the norm in our little town. Even though we did have that heavy rainstorm a week ago. Applejack ended up having to sleep at the library with Twilight and Rarity. And if that weren't enough she somehow managed to pull a tree into Twilight's bedroom. Not a tree branch, but the entire tree. I like to think of it as karma for all the times she's laughed about me bucking an apple tree all the way to Canterlot. Not so funny when it happens to you is AJ? But I digress.
Apple Bloom and I were walking with Applejack. We had just finished a produce delivery to Barnyard Bargains and we were heading to Sugarcube Corner to say hello to Pinkie Pie and the Cakes.
"Boy, it sure is a beautiful day isn't it Applejack." Apple Bloom said.
"It sure is Sugarcube," Applejack replied. "The sun is shining, the birds are singing, everypony is out and about, nothing could ruin this day." Except for her tempting fate, it seemed.
As we walked through the town square, everything seemed normal. Then I heard somepony shout, "She's coming!" Immediately everypony stopped what they were doing and ran for the nearest shelter. The square devolved into an aimless stampede with Ponies running every which way looking for somewhere to hide.
"Oh, sweet Celestia!" Applejack exclaimed, her face white with fear. "We gotta find somewhere to hide. Come with me if you want to live." She galloped off toward Sugarcube Corner as fast as her hooves would carry her.
"Whelp here we go again," I said to Apple Bloom rolling my eyes. She nodded at me in a disappointing agreement as we trotted after Applejack.
Oh right, I probably should explain. The 'She' everypony was referring to was Zecora. She was a zebra who visited Ponyville about once a month and looked in all the stores. She never buys anything, of course, that's because the stores are all inconveniently closed. Now at this point, you're probably wondering why everypony avoids her like the ponypox? Well, I've heard that she lives in the Everfree Forest. Which yeah, I can personally attest isn't the friendliest place in Equestria.
She's been doing this for the last few years now. At first, Apple Bloom and I were as scared of her as the rest of them. But now, she's not so much scary as she is meh. Once I saw through her hood with my x-ray vision, I realized she wasn't that different looking than any other pony. Aside from the stripes and her manestyle and her jewelry, but that was no reason to treat her like a social pariah.
And so here we were inside Sugarcube Corner with the lights off again. Applejack's friends huddled around each other in fear. I found it hard to believe these were the mares Princess Celestia had tasked with getting Razor to move out. Who's Razor you ask? Why He's the dragon who's snoring almost covered Equestria in smoke. Turns out he and Fluttershy are pen pals now, go figure.
"Do you see her?" Rarity asked in fright.
"I don't see her yet," Pinkie Pie stood at the window, peering through the blinds for any sign of the 'Evil Enchantress' as she called her. She'd even composed a song titled as such, one that made me grateful Zecora only showed up once a month.
"Tic Tac Toe, Three in a row." Apple Bloom declared with as much boredom as she could show.
"You win," I said with disinterest. "What's the score?"
"I don't know." Was her answer.
Suddenly I heard a familiar voice from outside.
"Does my breath stink?" It asked letting out a short burp.
"Not more than usual," Said another.
As the other voice asked if it was zombies, my eyes saw a face that made my heart flutter. Twilight Sparkle trotted down the street, her trusty dragon assistant riding on her back.
"Twilight," I whispered in a dopey lovesick voice.
"Twilight?" Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow.
"OMG, it's Twilight!" Pinkie said rushing to the door and opening the top half. "Psst Twilight! Spike! Come here, come here, hurry! Before she gets you, " She whispered gesturing to them to come inside.
Twilight let out a groan that told me she wasn't in the mood for Pinkie's antics. I could relate.
"Who? The zombie pony?" Spike asked again as if this was a George Pomero film or something.
"Z-Zombie Pony?" Pinkie asked nervously.
"Spike, there are no zombie ponies," Twilight huffed as the two of them walked inside. "Pinkie, What are you doing alone in the dark?"
Pinkie replied "I'm not alone in the dark," as she pointed to the rest of us.
"Hi, Twilight!" I waved to her.
"Oh hello, Apple Comet." She smiled at me and my heart skipped a beat. "Okay then, what are you all doing here in the dark?"
"We're hiding from her," Applejack drew open the curtain and pointed to the figure outside.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Her?"
"Did ya see her Twilight?" Apple Bloom asked her. "Did you see Zecora?"
"Apple Bloom! A'h told you never to say that name?" Applejack scolded.
"Zecora! Zecora, Zecora, Zecora!"
"And that goes for you too, Apple Comet."
Twilight sighed and said. "Well, I saw her glance this way."
"Glance evilly this way," Pinkie corrected her.
"And then a bunch of you flip out for no reason?" Preach it, sister.
"No good reason? You call protecting your kin no good reason?" Applejack argued pulling both of us close to her. "Why as soon as my brother and sister saw Zecora ride into town they both started shaking in their little horseshoes." Never mind the fact that I've taken on timberwolves, an Ursa major, a full-grown dragon, and the Sands of Hyponos and come out on top every time. Oh, and I would never have defeated that last one if not for Apple Bloom's help.
"No, we didn't, Apple Bloom protested.
Applejack threw both of us on her back. "So A'h swept them both up and brought them here."
"We walked here," Apple Bloom pushed herself off Applejack's back.
"For safekeeping," Applejack continued as I did the same.
"We're not babies, Applejack," Apple Bloom pointed out. "We can take care of ourselves." Well, one more than the other anyway.
"Not with that creepy Zecora around." Applejack lectured.
"She's mysterious," Fluttershy said.
"Sinister," Rainbow Dash added.
"And Spoooooky!" Pinkie Pie finished.
"Argh! She's just a zebra!" I shouted pulling at my mane. "I mean for Celestia's sake, you girls have saved Equestria what is it twice now? Aren't you all a little old to be acting like this?"
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Twilight said. I blushed as I realized she had just complimented me. "Have any of you actually talked to her or gotten to know her? Do any of you even know where she lives?"
"That's just it," Applejack said. "She lives in the Everfree Forest!" A sudden crash echoed through the store. Everypony looked over to see Spike covered in pots and pans.
"Spike!"
"Uh, sorry." As he picked himself up and began cleaning up the mess, Applejack and the others resumed where they had left off.
"The Everfree Forest just ain't natural, the plants grow."
"The animals care for themselves." Fluttershy pointed out.
"And the clouds move." Rainbow Dash said.
"All on their own!" They finished at the same time. Rarity dramatically fainted to the floor.
"And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing evil." Pinkie Pie said. I even wrote a song about her."
"Here we go," Rainbow Dash groaned.
"She's an evil enchantress, she does evil dances.
And if you look deep in her eyes, she'll put you in trances,"
Sigh you know having an eidetic memory can be useful, but sometimes there are things you just wish you could forget. As I watched Pinkie Pie bounce around the room and Applejack shake Apple Bloom like a bored ragdoll I realized that this was one of those times.
"So...watch out!" Pinkie finished her song by standing in a creepy position on top of a table.
"Wow catchy," Twilight said sounding like she didn't know how to rationalize what she just saw.
"It's a work in progress," Pinkie said.
"It gets worse every time she sings it," I whispered to Apple Bloom.
"This is all a lot of gossip and rumors," Twilight said. "Now tell me what exactly have you seen Zecora do?"
"Well...Once a month she comes to Ponyville." Rainbow Dash said.
"Oooooh," Twilight said with much sarcasm.
"Then she lurks by the stores," Rarity added.
"You mean like a customer?" I asked eliciting a chuckle from Twilight and a stare from Applejack.
"Oh my," Twilight giggled.
"And then she digs at the ground," Fluttershy said.
"Good gracious!" Twilight exclaimed dramatically before finally breaking character. "Okay I'm sorry but how is any of this bad? Maybe she comes to town to visit?"
"Yeah, maybe she's just trying to be neighborly." Apple Bloom suggested.
"Did you ever stop to think of that?" I asked.
"Will you two hush and let the big ponies talk." Applejack scolded.
"We will when you start acting like it," I told her.
"Ooh burn!" Spike said.
"W-What about digging at the ground," Rainbow Dash protested. "You've got to admit that's weird."
"What if she's digging for innocent creatures?" Fluttershy hypothesized. Pinkie began singing the evil enchantress song again. No way in Tartarus I was gonna listen to that twice in one day.
"Oh my goodness," I gasped. "Zecora's right outside the window and she's got two heads!"
"AAAAAH! TWO-HEADED EVIL ENCHANTRESS!" Pinkie Pie shrieked. Everypony except Twilight, Apple Bloom, and yours truly ducked for cover.
"Wow, you all really believed that?" Twilight said in disbelief as she looked at the state her friends were in. Rainbow Dash was hanging onto a ceiling lamp. Rarity had dramatically fainted...again, Fluttershy was cowering in the corner with her wings over her face, Applejack hid under a table, her forelegs wrapped tightly around the two of us. Spike was in the kitchen hiding in the oven. And Pinkie Pie the worst offender was hiding in the front display case nervously chewing through a plate of cupcakes.
"Look," Twilight sighed. "I'm sure there is a reason for everything Zecora does, and if anypony here were brave enough to approach her, she would find out the truth."
Or he, I thought to myself. "Hey Applejack, I gotta pee."
"Yeah me too," Apple Bloom said.
"Nice try, how do A'h know you two aren't just gonna run off?" She asked suspiciously.
"Do you want to wait and find out?" I asked her. She immediately released us.
As Twilight continued to try to talk sense into her friends Apple Bloom and I made tracks for the bathroom. Once there, I quickly ushered her into the stallion's room and closed the door.
"See anything?" Apple Bloom asked as I peered out the window behind the toilet.
"Coast is clear, I answered. I opened the latch and slid it open. "After you."
As soon as we were out the door, we made ourselves scarce. My x-ray vision gave us an edge over both Zecora and Applejack.
"What's she doing?" Apple Bloom, asked as I watched the zebra through a nearby house.
"Looks like she's leaving town, come on let's go."
Third Pony POV.
"Those two young' ins sure have been in the bathroom for a while," Applejack said. "Come to think of it, I haven't heard a flush either."
"Sounds like somepony needs some bran muffins!" Pinkie sang out loud while holding up a tray of bran muffins.
Applejack raised an eyebrow and placed her hand on the tray. She slowly lowered it, then turned and walked over to the bathroom without saying a word.
"Apple Bloom, are you alright in there?" She knocked on the mare's bathroom door. There was no response. She turned the knob to find the door was unlocked and Apple Bloom wasn't inside. "Huh, that's strange." She closed the door and tried the Stallion's room. "Apple Comet, Do you know where Apple Bloom is?" Again there was no response, and again the door wasn't locked. Applejack opened the door to find the Stallion's room empty and the window wide open. It didn't much for her to put two and two together.
"Those two are in so much trouble," She muttered menacingly.
Comet's POV
We tailed Zecora to the Everfree Forest. As far as I was aware, the Zebra had no idea we were even there. She trotted down a path that seemed to lead straight to the depths of the forest. I kept Apple Bloom close to my side as we followed after. Any creature that looked at us as a pair of tasty morsels, was gonna end up with a broken jaw. Zecora stopped at a field of blue flowers. She glanced down at them, then proceeded to tread around them. Almost as if they were dangerous in some way. Upon closer inspection, I could see why.
"Interesting, these flower's leaves are covered in a surface oil similar to urushiol found on Toxicodendron diversilobum."
"Huh?" Apple Bloom's jaw hung down.
"Poison Oak," I explained. "But there's a whole other compound in it that I've never seen before.
"You can tell that just by looking at them?" She asked me.
"At the microscopic level yes," I answered.
"Wow," She whispered.
"Looks like they went this way." My ears picked up the distant voices of Applejack and her friends followed by the galloping of hooves. Looks like they found the trail of hoofprints we left along the path. While I could easily fly Apple Bloom and myself back to the farm, I knew I never would be able to logically explain how we got there so fast. That plus the comet's appearance would make it too easy for somepony like Twilight to put all the pieces together. There was only one thing to do, we had to face the music.
"Apple Comet? Apple Bloom?" My sister gasped and turned her head in the direction Applejack's voice came from. Zecora also looked up from the flowerbed as the six appeared from behind us.
"You two are in a heap of trouble, "Applejack snorted.
At this point, Zecora spoke up. "Beware beware you pony folk, those leaves of blue are not a joke."
"Y-You keep your creepy mumbo jumbo to yourself, ya hear!"
"I'd listen to her Applejack," I said. "Those flowers are covered with...
"And you keep your mouth shut young colt."
"Beware, beware," Zecora warned before stepping back into the mist.
"Yeah back at ya Zecora!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"As for you two," Applejack turned back to us. Why didn't you listen to your big sister when you were told to?"
"Because you never specifically told us to listen to you?" I answered. Applejack's face turned red.
"Well, ye'r sure as sugar gonna listen now." She muttered menacingly. "You two are going to march ye'r keisters back home right now or so help me if Zecora didn't curse you already, then ye'r gonna wish she had."
"Just like in my song," Pinkie Pie added. "She's an evil enchantress, she does...
"Alright alright, we're going just for the love of Celestia don't sing that song again!"
"Thank you," Said Twilight in relief.
I grabbed Apple Bloom's hoof and we got the hay out of there. Whatever punishment Applejack had in store for us couldn't possibly be as bad as hearing that song again.
"Well, what do either of you have to say for yourself?" Applejack asked. Apple Bloom and I looked at each other. As soon as we got home, Applejack sat us down on the couch in the living room and immediately began scolding us.
"Y'all lied to me, y'all disobeyed me, y'all ran off on me into the Everfree Forest no less, what am A'h gonna do with you?"
For about a minute, neither of us said anything.
"Well?"
"W-We were just trying to find out more about Zecora," Apple Bloom spoke up.
"And was that worth putting yourself in danger and making me worried sick about you?"
"Apple Comet was with me the whole time, he wouldn't let anything happen to me." That turned Applejack's attention to me.
"Apple Comet," she said in a monotone voice. "What gave you the right to bring your sister into the most dangerous place in all of Equestria? A'h thought you of all ponies would know better than that." Okay, that was a low blow.
She continued. "Just because you can fly and you're stronger than a herd of Brahma bulls does not make what you did okay. What if you got separated or Zecora got the drop on one of you? Y'all would've been cursed or hexed or something worse."
"That's something I wanted to talk to you about." I looked down at her hooves. "You've got some surface oil on your hooves from when you stepped in those blue flowers."
"Don't try to change the subject young colt!" She snapped.
"I'm not honest, I'm just saying you might want to wash them with soap and water.
"Hmph," She turned her head away from me. "Ah'll wash my hooves when Ah'm done working and not a second before."
"Why are you being so gosh darn stubborn?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Because Ah'm your big sister and it's my responsibility to look after you," Applejack answered. "And if you talk to me like that again, y'all can go to bed straight after supper!"
Apple Bloom jumped down from the couch. "One day Ah'm gonna bigger than you Applejack," She declared trotting toward the stairs."And when A'h am, Ah'll be able to go wherever A'h want whenever A'h want and you won't be able to stop me!"
"That's fine but until that day, you'll do as you are told. Now go to you're room and don't you dare come out till supper time." Apple Bloom scowled at her, then walked up the stairs without saying a word.
"And as for you," Applejack said turning back to me. "A'h better not see or hear about a red comet in the sky for the rest of the day! Or else you'll be on pig pen duty for the rest of the year."
With the prospect of shoveling pig droppings for several months in front of me, I did the only thing I could.
"I promise you, you won't." And I kept that promise. The day turned to night and there was no sign of the red comet in the sky.
Dinner that night was tense, to say the least. Applejack and Apple Bloom didn't talk to each other once the entire meal. After dinner, Applejack made Apple Bloom and I wash and put away the dishes, telling us it was the sort of thing 'big ponies' have to do. After that, we washed up, brushed our teeth, and got in bed. As I closed my eyes, my thoughts turned to Zecora. Something told me there was more to her than meets the eye.
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,028 users online
1,646,369 hits today, 2,167,270 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I hope Apple Comet chews out his sister in private for being so stubborn over something different. He is very different as well and she needs this lesson.
Splendid work on this latest chapter. LOVED Comet's narration on the events of the few weeks between the "sleeping dragon" incident and Zecora's trip into town. And, yeah, Comet's reflection on the way the town treats Zecora was great stuff too. I particularly liked how Comet found out about the Poison Joke (which is to normal ponies what Red Koltronite is to him [not that he knows about the latter yet]) via his microscopic vision and can sympathize with how he is trying to explain things to Applejack but keeps getting interrupted.
VERY definitely looking forward to more of this.
As always, this story is awesome!
9869581
Koltronite? Is the bully that punched Apple Comet in the jaw going to be the Lex Luther character?
Well, in AJ's defense, at least the tree didn't come all the way from Canterlot... right?
I'm also surprised Apple Comet isn't more Jealous of AJ than he is. I mean, AJ got to have a sleepover with Twilight. Then again, if Apple Comet got to have a sleepover with Twilight, his brain would probably malfunction. Then again, he'd also be having a sleepover with Rarity, who he's terrified of. So Rarity's presence may actually counteract Twilight's presence.
Is Apple Comet letting Apple Bloom win? Or is his boredom and disinterest just allowing him to be distracted? Because I highly doubt that with his Koltonian brain, he would get anything less than a draw.
And then Spike acts as an analog for the readers when he says...
Anything anyone would've wanted to say about that was beaten to the punch Spike.
Spike, would you like to do the honors?
I'm loving this chapter, because not only has it already provided a reaction for me to use...
I don't even have to use that reaction because this time, Twilight had a fitting reaction...
Granted, Twilight's reaction isn't as versatile as Spike's, but it's apt nonetheless.
My only criticism of this chapter so far is that because of these reactions, it's not leaving anything for the commenters to react to.
You know the drill...
9869581
Wouldn't Red Koltronite only affect one's personality? I mean, I suppose there is a parallel between that and Poison Joke. But Poison Joke has a physical effect, while Red Koltronite has a psychological effect. I am curious as to how Poison Joke would affect Apple Comet though. I doubt it would turn him into a normal Earth Pony, since that's something that he wants to be. It'd be too obvious to say it would make him weak. But if we look at it from another angle, rather than being energized by the sun, the sun would actually sap his strength... but then that would reflect the effects of Green Koltronize too much. Perhaps, assuming Apple Bloom was also affected, Apple Bloom and Apple Comet would swap bodies. As much as the two would like to be like each other, I doubt that they would specifically want to become each other.