Grounded
This mare wasn't that old. She was somewhere up there, well ahead of Rainbow in the race to finish the years, but it was hard to gauge the lead. She had a fairly young face, but a really old mane and tail: two things which added to the dignity granted by cravat and glasses. Rainbow supposed it happened that way sometimes and distantly wondered if the early color change was more common to earth ponies, mostly because it was something else to think about.
The office was wood, and darker than the ones in the fire department and police station had been.
"I read the transcripts of your interviews," the mayor stated. Her voice was in a neutral state: no detectable charge in any direction, positive or negative. It could wind up going anywhere.
Rainbow didn't say anything.
"Everypony feels you were telling the truth," the mayor added. "The complete truth. Perhaps because you felt you had nothing left to lose through doing so."
There seemed to be no words left.
"I would like to ask you a few questions," the older mare said.
She waited.
"Ponies began to move towards your home when the rumble grew that deep," the official went on. "It's instinct. Possible fire: many ponies will close in, see what they can do to help. And when you came out, believing your entire home was about to evaporate -- you didn't go back inside. You didn't try to save a single possession. You simply screamed at everypony to get clear, trying to keep them safe. Declaring your intent to stay in the area of what you believed would be plummeting debris so that you could keep it from bouncing into anypony else. Why?"
"...I don't know." She was mostly looking at the floor. Wood. Cold. Hard. Unforgiving.
Silence.
"Very well," the mayor continued. "I'll accept that. Second question: did you know Passing Shower wants you fired over this?"
"No." Although it was easy enough to guess.
"Third. Mrs. Cruelneigh. I received a copy of your inspection report, in which she labeled the vast majority of your efforts as -- and I want to quote this exactly -- 'adequate'. Did she say anything to you?"
"She told me I needed the fire stuff --"
"-- about your house. The creation of it."
The next words burned her. "She said just that. It was adequate." A long pause. "And my fountains were ostentatious."
"I see." Toneless.
"What..." She might as well ask. It wasn't as if she had all that much more time in which to do so. "...what does 'ostentatious' mean?"
"Gaudy," came the answer. "Loud, but in the visual sense. Designed to attract attention without any regard as to what that attention might be."
"...oh." Nowhere near cool at all, let alone radical or awesome. But she still liked them...
"And lastly," the mayor concluded, "you are currently hovering. Not very high. A hoof-height or two. But rather than stand on my floor and face me directly, you are hovering. Why?"
And truth was all that remained.
"My hooves hurt."
"You were injured during the incident? More than the splinter which the medics treated?"
"No. I..." She didn't think she'd ever felt so tired, and she'd passed out on the floor from magical overexertion a night/lifetime ago --
-- no. There had been one day which had been worse than this, as a younger self waited outside the offices at the flight camp. Waiting to hear whether the counselors had decided she'd been the one to nearly kill somepony. The same soul-dragging weight of dread and self-loathing, only with the mass of a near-corpse at the other end.
I never saw her again. I didn't think I'd ever see her again for the rest of my life, that the last pony she'd ever want to see was me, and she lives here. Maybe that means it's a good thing I won't.
Her name was...
"-- Miss Dash?" And then, just a little more softly, "Rainbow?"
It was as if somepony else was speaking, her words reaching her ears from unimaginable distance. "...I... was born in Cloudsdale. I lived there my whole life, except for vacations. I had this one friend... I'd spend summers with her, with her family, far away. But even then, there were clouds. It was almost always clouds. And now there's ground, there's ground all the time, and... my hooves hurt. Hooves aren't supposed to hurt..."
She heard the tiny sigh. She couldn't make herself look at the source.
"You're not the first," the mayor quietly said. "You won't be the last pegasus who comes down and has to -- adjust. I can't say I see it all the time: most of the pegasi who live here have done so for a while. A few who move in have spent significant time at lower altitude before joining this settled zone. But every so often, we get a truly new arrival who finds there's more to Equestria than sky and vapor. That there are trees and rocks and two whole other races of ponies, just waiting to be discovered. It's something of a shock, I imagine. Learning that the most foreign country imaginable rests directly below your hooves."
"How..." She barely got the words out. "How do ponies adjust?"
"They live among us," the mayor told her. "They talk to us. They make friends with us. And some of them hover for a while, because their hooves hurt."
Silence filled the office, added its weight to everything pressing against Rainbow's fur.
"I -- said the wrong thing to an earth pony yesterday."
"Did you." Neutral again.
"It was stupid."
Without any real question in the mature voice, "Was it?"
"And then I destroyed my house..."
"The floor in one section, yes," the mayor passively agreed. "The rest is currently maintaining, although I have some of the local pegasi trying to assist with that. With the key word being trying, because until they joined forces into a true team effort, they were having quite a bit of difficulty in getting past your molding. Officer Swoops said it was like trying to break into a bank vault, and I'm slightly concerned about her choice of comparison."
"What..." She swallowed. "What happens now?"
"Now?" More papers shuffled. "You go to Barnyard Bargains, where Mr. Rich has agreed to let you have a proper fire system on credit. Please pay him promptly when your first pay voucher is cashed. After that, you could begin to work on repairing your home, but all of the questioning has brought us under Moon and I would prefer for you to wait until Sun has been raised again and your work shift is concluded. By the same token, I'd rather you didn't try to sleep there tonight. Thunderlane has offered his couch, but if you're uncomfortable with spending a night near a stallion you've barely met, my husband and I have guest quarters in the attic. I understand from reading the transcripts that you can't possibly afford a hotel right now, so please consider at least one of those offers. Now, when it comes to your food situation --"
The shock was something more than electric. "-- what?"
"'What' to which part?" Marigold Mare politely asked.
"You -- you said Passing Shower wanted to fire me!"
"No, Miss Dash," the mayor corrected. "I said he wanted you fired, because he has no actual power to do so. The Weather Bureau can take direct control of each settled zone's teams, hires new employees and suggests assignments. But ultimately, those teams work for their settled zones. Some of the discretion for firing somepony rests with the Sphere -- but the majority lies with the mayoralty. And I see no reason to fire you for something you did in your own home, while off the clock, where Passing Shower has no authority at all. Now --" a short pause "-- this is not something he's particularly happy about. Rather the opposite. He is, quite frankly, probably going to make the effort of his recent life to turn yours miserable, which would be more work than he's put in on anything for some time. But when it comes to firing you, I review all of his requests, and I will speak to you regarding any accusations he might make. Do you understand?"
And the words had left her again.
"If there is something in your eyes which is making you blink so much," the mayor offered, "the restroom is out the door and down the hall to your left --"
"-- I understand." She didn't believe it. She was waiting to wake up in the hospital with a severe concussion from all the furniture which had fallen on her head.
"Good. Please also understand that there are no criminal charges. You were the only pony hurt, and not badly. I do hope you've come to understand why some books tend to be -- injured, and are thus better left unread." She sighed. "I've been tempted to remove most of that shelf's contents from the library, but there are ways in which censorship is worse. And should something else occur, Mr. Rich is the sort of pony one can approach with a second reasonable request. I hope you'll keep that in mind. So. Take a moment to consider your night's lodgings. Sleep on any changes you might wish to make during the rebuild, which will be inspected after its conclusion. And..."
Another pause, and it was a long one.
"...Miss Dash -- are you aware of why you were assigned to Ponyville?"
"No." The nightscape was going to start breaking up any second now.
"Passing Shower," the mayor said, "has gone beyond the point when he should have become Past. He is beyond the age when most ponies retire, far beyond -- but that great seniority has allowed him to build armor made from connections, which he also uses as weapons at least twice per week. He cannot force me to fire you. But at the same time, I would have some difficulty in firing him. Despite his being so set in his ways and lax in duty, inflexible to the point where he might serve as our last true bulwark against a storm. He is exactly the wrong weather coordinator for Ponyville, and he cannot be casually discarded. But some of his connections have moved out of the Bureau, with others passing into the shadowlands. He has less and less to call on with each passing moon, and in time..."
There was a small shrug.
"When a rather frustrated member of the team who'd been lectured for improperly trying to divert a wild storm outside regulations simply quit on him, I sent a letter directly to the Bureau," the older mare told her. "I asked for youth and inner fire and a pony who would do whatever was necessary to make things work. And Stratus -- sent me you. Why is that, do you think?"
Rainbow, still waiting for that first stinging blow from daylight, had no answer.
"Do you know," the mayor asked, "how many ponies who work from that Tartarus-freed book actually manage to create something which even partially functions?"
"...no."
"Nor do I," the mare declared, and a thin smile played about her lips. "I imagine it's around the same number for which Mrs. Cruelneigh grants a ranking of 'adequate'. Step outside my office, Miss Dash: I need to put some of these papers away, and then if you're coming with me, I'll wait until you're finished at the store, then lead you to my home. I recognize that you're still learning the town. But I recommend memorizing the path to Town Hall, and through the building to this room. Because I expect that even beyond those occasions during which you report any attempted abuses of Passing's position to me, you'll be using it more than a few times. And should you be bound for Thunderlane's, good evening to you."
The attic had been nice. Nothing fancy, but... nice.
Passing Shower had been furious, and he'd expressed that fury by putting her on a two-pony team with Thunderlane (who'd also offended him -- somehow) and sending them both out over the wild zone, spending hours checking for encroaching storms. It gave them time to talk, and she learned that he had a brother, while her nose told her he spent far too much on mane care products. She also learned that the entire team had spotted her injuries and naturally assumed apples had been involved, then tried to change the subject.
After that, they separated: he had something planned in Canterlot and Rainbow was heading into town, where she -- wanted to spend a little time on the ground before she started repairing her home. She needed to learn something about what she was flying over, after all. About the ponies who hadn't sent her back. And if her hooves were going to stop being sore, then they probably needed a lot more experience with the dumb cobblestones, which meant they were going to see some non-cloud walking until they got that experience and quit complaining about everything. So there.
She came in on a west-to-east approach, and so spotted the incredibly full tail as its owner moved up the initial arc of the bridge, just barely keeping the long fall off the rock. Then she saw coral-pink mane, soft yellow fur, and swallowed hard.
She's trotting. I can get ahead of her before she ever sees me --
The same settled zone.
For however long we're both here.
And then she was in front of the shapely form. Rainbow hovered just over the bridge's apex, directly above the keystone, and forced every word.
"I... I don't know if you remember me..."
The yellow head tilted up. Just enough mane fell to the side for the exposure of a single eye.
They looked at each other for a while, caught by a frozen moment in the heart of summer.
"...yes."
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Ah, the daftest version of Rainbow Dash to ever Rainboom herself to sleep rides again!
That was quite an insightful look into Rainbow’s origins.
8451124
actually that might be a easy to explain one in equestrian. Id assume that cloud homes are built on one set of altitude and all other clouds in use for weather are set at another with enough distance between so that they cant merge either way. I mean who would want their little colt or filly jumping on the clouds and either accidently jolting lightning out and hitting somebody below or themselves.
I've missed this. Welcome back, Estee. Thanks for the story.
8451142
The daftest? The daftest?
Behold a man who has never read Spring Is Dumb.
Incredible. Your work with the young Bearers is, in my opinion, some of your best. You dig down to formative experiences that make the characters who they are even in the series premiere, and thus shine light on layers of them that have since been covered by further experience and growth.
In Dash's case, it's more a matter of getting scuffed by all the failed tricks since then, but the point stands. She's impulsive, single-minded, arrogant, proud, and yes, ostentatious. But she's also an instinctive hero, utterly devoted to those close to her, a magical talent on par with a certain lavender unicorn, and does six impossible things before breakfast by accident. Even at this point in her life, she is awesome in every sense of the word, and you captured her magnificently.
And that's saying nothing of the details you've added to the world. Wonders are aptly named indeed; applied magic is often involved in the Continuum's most beautiful moments, and Dash teaching copper to dance is no exception. (And I can't help but wonder what artifacts (power tools?) earth ponies would make were it not for the Secret.) The expansion of the Harshwhinny family tree is a stroke of genius, the Sphere is a fascinating concept, and I'm not sure if Mayor Mare's husband has ever been mentioned before now.
It's good to have you back in the proverbial saddle. Thank you very much for this.
Well, a day late but not a dollar short.
Excellent work, well worth the wait.
Let's see. The pilot covers Twilight's first days. You've covered Rarity, Fluttershy & Pinkie are touched on in Triptych. Apple Jack is a native & presumably stayed in Ponyville since her return from Manehatten. (Cutie Mark Chronicles.) She has since been in Manehatten at least a few times since then but made no effort to contact the Oranges. This seems to hint that their parting was more acrimonious than implied in the Chronicles.
The Crusaders had a cameo in the pilot. It is my understanding that Hasbro has said that is a continuity error & they met in Call of the Cutie. If so, they must have been entering first grade, Ponyville school is bigger than it looks (& has more than one class at each grade level), or one or more of them must have moved to town over the Summer. Also, IMO, school in Ponyville is early August to early May. (This answers "Why wasn't Apple Bloom helping during Apple Buck Season?" Because she was in school.)
And now I need to see RD teaching Scootaloo the finer points of cloud house construction, with Twi. interrupting every few minutes with tricky questions regarding pegasus magic.
Excellent world building !!
Possibly the best global set of head-canons.
I'm definitely looking up your Patreon when I get more cash to burn
Mayor Mare, frustrated though she often is, is truly an exemplar of Rational Authority Ponies.
I am very depressed that this story is over. I was really getting into it, too! :'D
As I said, I love your take on Pagasus Magic, and I hope to see more of it when I go through your other stories (that, or see it in future stories). ;)
Very cool. :)
Now I wonder how they produce things like the fire-suppression system for sale. Do they need ponies with wonder-making marks to hoofcraft them all one at a time? Or have they got as far as constructing wonders that enchant other wonders when pegasi channel magic into them, like assembly line machines... Probably something in between, where a master artisan creates an enchantment, and other workers create duplicates without needing to fully understand it, like Rainbow tried to do.
A very entettaining and interesting read, I enjoyed it muchly.
A Young Rainbow Dash story! So cool!
And all that Ponyville worldbuilding!
Mayor Mare is awesome!
...
Might they be the most racial diverse family in Equestria?
Now here’s a question: Pegasi make wonders. Presumably, this means that there are ponies who have the mark and talent for making wonders. So, what is the difference between that presumably-normal-for-a-Pegasus talent, and Rachette’s talent for devices?
Furthermore, if Rachette could make or repair wonders, surely she would. Which means that she can work with items designed to channel unicorn magic, but not with items designed to channel pegasus magic. Very interesting...
8452048
Would love to see a story in which Marigold, Filthy Rich, and Cranky meet at Berry Punch's bar every other Tuesday in order to spend some time with the other responsible, actually-a-grownup residents of this madhouse of a town.
Meanwhile, Spike has latched on to Cranky as a pseudo-grandkid. The elderly donkey (secretly retired from decades of doing covert work for the Crown) has taken a shine to the kid and takes him out for pizza every so often to let Spike vent about the crazy mares and give the kid a few tips about how to survive the adventuring life when everyone around you insists on doing incredibly stupid things.
8452353
Probably. Twilight mentioned over in Triptych that most devices are like that, that a unicorn with a good field dexterity score can build one with training, even without the mark.
Just amazing.
What a fantastic story. I enjoyed it so much.
It's very layered. The little things like how the sky is a different color on the ground and how her homesickness feeds into her feelings of alienation in her new town.
Maybe it's my rusty memory, but I can't remember a fic that describes Fluttershy and Rainbow's pre-Elements relationship as negatively as this one. That's so interesting and adds some rich history to their friendship.
8453191
The somewhat airtight house filling with unbreathable smoke from the cooking element catching fire, possibly any storage built watertight. Anything that would be easier to make cloud-resistant than out of clouds.
Now I'm curious, though. Could you make a wonder oven? If they can be made temperature sensitive, could some copper wiring in a jacket work as a heating or cooling element? I'd assume highly localised weather conditions are available on demand, so does air conditioning consist of getting a local weather teamer to pull all the hot from your house and magicpatch over the windows?
Oh, yes. The guilty conscience she's got when Fluttershy is concerned. Nice ending point.
It's also interesting that furniture can be permanently enchanted to stand on clouds, but living things like ponies can't.
I looked for pictures of the inside of Rainbow's house, and one of them had things like books and a ball scattered on the floor, and not falling through. Maybe the floor itself is made to support unenchanted items if they're light enough, so pegasi don't have to always remember to put things they bring home only on tables, bookshelves, and in the pantry or refrigerator.
8451149
There's an ideal range of altitude for home construction. Most mixed towns will legislate just how high they're willing to allow cloud homes to be: most pegasus settlements will have a little variance here and there, creating different neighborhoods. (So in Cloudsdale, when you're going to the high-income Heights, you're going up.) But you can't go too high, because atmospheric pressure eventually becomes a problem. So does breathing. And there are illnesses which can strike those who spend too much time in the upper layers.
8451324
The Sphere was first mentioned in Twilight's Escort Service, although not by that exact term. The mayor's talked about her husband, but we have yet to see him.
And who says they don't?
8453904
Yeah, OK, if it's evaporation instead of filtration. Otherwise, I really DON'T want it in my drinking water.
As to Big Mac following directions.... No, that's NOT a guy thing. One of the Mane 6, sure. Directions Are Only For Wimps & Women
And as expected, another masterpiece from the Brony Master (Mistress?) of Worldbuilding himself (herself?). Welcome back, Estee. This story deserves the praises it has, not because of what it represents coming from you at this point in time, but on its own merits as a good character piece and a welcome addition to the Triptych Continuum.
8453904
And very tastefully done. May any future descent to the gutter be equally classy.
(On a more serious note, congratulations on completing this story. I know it has been a tough time. I hope this is the beginning of brighter days ahead.)
8451523
Locally, Snowflake is Scootaloo's primary magic instructor, but he's doing so with the understanding that he's below average in field strength and can only show her so much. Additionally, he lives on the ground. In a house with a basement. Which he enters freely, without fear. This freaks Scootaloo out. Slightly.
So it would take somepony else to start showing her the full details of molding. But Rainbow as teacher is... dubious. Tricky. And still occasionally a little prone to "So I'll kick you out the window now. If you don't start flapping in time, I'll try to beat you to the ground."
8452353
8453085
*nods* It's something like the difference between being a master animation cel artist and being a rotoscoper. Note that Rainbow admits that she basically copied the work without understanding it. Somepony else painted: she traced.
(Triptych states that every pegasus at least has the potential to learn every technique, but it doesn't mean an individual will have the field strength to power it or the field dexterity to keep things under control. Snowflake might eventually understand the principles of the Rainboom, but he'll never execute one. Rainbow doesn't comprehend how the fire system actually operates, but she's at least capable of getting her field into something resembling that configuration.)
8453038
Many of the larger families who've been around long enough to intermix will have all three major pony races represented. There's a huge cluster tied for first place -- which will eventually be broken if it's possible to add the first crystal.
(It's also possible that a few crystal recessive genes made it into Equestria before the Barrier went up.)
8453077
I love the sound of someone asking the next question.
8453512
Believing you'd nearly sent somepony plummeting to their death would put a rough start on a relationship.
Some readers may feel the bridge was a cruel place to end the story. I wanted to leave it there on purpose. They have a lot to talk about, and very little of it will be easy.
8453608
Pinkie had a theory that the burners run on channeled lightning, but she thought the idea was weird.
Air conditioning and temperature maintenance is generally heat-shifting paths laid into the weave by the pegasus who molded the house. (Rainbow makes a minor observation which implies things work better when she's actually in there.) Those lacking in the technique do need to find somepony else for the work,
8453844
This story had Rainbow mention that she has to personally bring in something inanimate.
Hmm... Pegasai have Copper for Wonders, Unicorns have Silver for Devices... Earth Ponies have X for Y?
Gonna say Iron... It's the most Earthy Metal?
Can they all use Platinum??
8451324
What if Holder's Boulder was a colossal earth pony wonder/device, sitting out in plain sight... :)
8451312
I forgot about that. But your Rainbow is still dopier. She's got an ego like the Hindenburg, huge, inflated, with very little weight behind it, and when it crashes and burns it does it in style and with vast amounts of collateral damage.
8453935
>Heat shifting in the weave
One, I'll bet they have righteous saunas. Two, I meant in non-cloud houses. So, Spoiled Rich doesn't want to summer like a peasant and pokes the weather team to send someone around to suck the heat out of the rich house (assuming they don't already have a dedicated minion for that), and set a temperature bubble on the windows (ala Stupid Direction-Face).
Also figuring a lucrative group keeping wine cellars, museums, etc. stable and dry.
Though the bubble gives me another idea. Several pegasai hold the bubble, one or more keep pushing heat in... a simple kiln?
8453904
That was a joke. I mean, Amazon has had people collapse from heat exhaustion in the past, but they've set up water stations now to keep people from fainting.
8453935
Come to think of it has Rachette flown even once in any of her appearances?
8451419
Go read Lazy River right bloody now. It will give you vastly more insight to the 'verse's take on Pinkie and AJ.
I desperately want to see what Estee can do with Pinkie's sisters after reading that.
Edit: Especially Maud. Given what we know about Earth Pony magic, Maud has to be terrifying for anypony who knows. A voice that seems flat and unemotional to the average observer, but roars like the shifting of continental plates to those with ears to hear.
Dammit, Estee, you stopped just when it was going from good to even better!
8454805
I have read it, but
1 It's been awhile
2 It's by no means my favorite Estee story
In short, I'd forgotten it until you jogged my memory. Yeah, it does have some info on Pinkie's back story & Estee's take on Earth Pony magic
Well, if what they wanted was inner fire they certainly got it.
Man, this would have gone so differently if Pinkie hadn't been away on vacation. I can only assume she would have been all up in Dash's business, and the secrets that she wasn't telling anyone would probably have been uncovered. Assuming that Pinkie is even in town at this point, of course.
8454865
If my timeline's straight, Pinkie wasn't very.... Pinkie, at this point in the 'verse. Still finding her voice.
It's a shame you're not the show runner and lead writer for the show. You take such in-depth care to SCULPT your world and its characters until it not only appears real, it sometimes feels as if it must be real.
This is a level of writing only the greatest of fiction writers achieve.
You would turn Pony into something akin to "Babylon 5" or "Gargoyles", and TV Tropes would originate from its narrative threads!
8455014
With sufficient persuasion, all things burn. All. Things.
...very sweet...
8455241
Florine technically doesn't burn. It burns everything else but since it's the best oxidiser known to man (Probably. If not then the best oxidiser takes florine's place in my argument.) nothing makes it burn.
Throughout this story I had the growing feeling of anxiety, the stresses of Rainbow's situation so tangible I could feel the dread. The end was beautiful catharsis. Not all issues have been swept away, but the largest obstacles have been ground down.
I think what fascinates me most about this story is that despite RD in your 'verse is continually depicted as slightly to moderately less intelligent than the other group members, she does actually show a remarkable amount of cleverness here. She's able to memorise the presumably complex design and magical signature of the wonder well enough to actually make it work, even though she doesn't fully understand what she even read or what exactly she's doing. That's... hard. Honestly, most people would think that's easier than understanding something, but it actually isn't. When you understand how something works, you have an easier time remembering it. So what she's doing is pretty impressive on several levels.
I get the feeling that Dash isn't so much not intelligent, but that she runs on instinct and ego to such a degree that she ends up sabotaging herself a lot.
Regardless, this was really well written, had a lot of interesting world building and character exploration, and I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you for writing and sharing.
I love this take on Dash. Are there any more 'Verse stories starring her?
Edit: Nevermind, found it. Laziness overcome!
I really like your world-building sometimes; the chapter about Rainbow Dash making the wonder was particularly fun to read.
8454563
In Mechanical Aptitude, she flew from the library, and from Mrs. Wonderment's, in an attempt to find Duke Cimarron. It is implied that she didn't fly from her shop to the library.
8459517 But... I held my hand under water that hot for several minutes... we even measured the temperature.
I AM A MUTANT!!
If you're covering the Mane 6's early days in Ponyville, then IMO you should rewatch Bridle Gossip. It might have been their first adventure The pilot was June 19-21/22 (depending how long it took to beat Nightmare Moon). Zecora comes to town once a month, & Twilight has never heard of her. This means it can't be later than the end of July. However, no one has come to Twilight "We're being terrorized by an Evil Enchantress. Help us, Obi Wan Twilight. You're our only hope." So, IMO, Twilight had not been around long & had no street cred as a mage. Thus, it must have been before Boast Busters because she surely must have had a HUGE rep afterwards. Probably, it took place before the end of June.
Since everyone (except Twilight) has heard of Zecora, she must have been around for awhile. However, none of them had ever heard of Zebras & were surprised she had stripes (IIRC, Rarity fainted at the sheer fashion horror of it all). But AJ was terrified of her, which argues that Zecora either
1 Was around long enough that when she was a foal, AJ heard stories about her
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=pmv+Swamp+Witch+Zecora&&view=detail&mid=EA6CFBDE76EDAC196F90EA6CFBDE76EDAC196F90&FORM=VRDGAR
2 AJ had an untold encounter with her
a) it must have been pretty rough
b) it must have been pretty embarrassing because AJ never mentioned it
Minor head canon
Ancient Zebras didn't understand about germs. They thought that evil spirits caused diseases. (Who knows? In EQ, maybe they do). The masks are meant to disguise them, so the spirits would think they were dealing with another spirit & not a Zebra. Zecora has all those masks as a sign that she is a healer.
I really needed this today. Thank you.