Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 212: Regrouping

For whatever reason, Moondancer had decided to show up here once the battle had reached its conclusion. She bombarded me with loaded questions on our way back to the main zebra town. Many of which I ignored for the sake of my sanity.

“...Just how did you manage to fight through all of this as a desk agent? Don’t you feel out of your element? What about your combined unicorn and zebra mana? Does it take a toll on you?” she rattled off. All in a very strange, overly enthusiastic manner. Which wasn’t like her at all.

I slapped my hoof against my forehead. There were too many things for me to try and process at that moment--including how she managed to get here. “Listen, miss. I’m in a bit of a mental pickle right now. I need to--” When I put my hoof down, I noticed Zecora and her troops had overtaken the town hall and raised the Farasi flag high above it. This little skirmish was officially over. “Well I’ll be damned…” I let out an excited whinny once I saw the results, and galloped towards the capitol building. “Lady Z! Looks like you managed without me, eh?”

Zecora turned her head towards me, and jumped off the roof. She landed before me with the grace of a swan. “That is right. We have put an end to this fight. However, things aren’t exactly one-hundred percent complete. From what the enemy told us, your friends’ lives are still...in danger, you see.”

“...What? How is…” Then I put my mind on it. Could it have something to do with the fact that the ritual to bring back Grogar had still been carried out? If so then...then what did we really accomplish? “This...so you’re saying we didn’t really succeed, then.” I dropped down to the ground with my body in a frenzy from anxiety. I couldn’t bear to fathom the idea of what would happen knowing that I failed to keep my friends safe. What would Pale say? What would Cozy Glow say? This was too much to bear.

That’s when I felt a hoof cup the bottom of my face. Zecora tilted my head upwards so that I could look at her. “...Young man. Do not feel despair. We did what we could and now our hybrid friends can live here. Freely.”

“...I...you mean it wasn’t a waste?” The sound of her voice alone started to lift my spirits. “But how...according to what I heard, the ritual to bring Grogar back is still being worked on.”

Zecora went ahead and pulled me up off the ground. “It is true. However, we won’t need to suffer because our situation is now much less bleaker,” she paused, and motioned for me to follow her into the town hall building.

So I did, and once we entered, we found her fellow Farasi soldiers. They had torn down a secret passage that led to a back room. In there was a pentagram and piles of deadly substances scattered about the summoning star.

Except...an ingredient was missing from one side.

Zecora pointed down to it and finished her sentence from before. “If Grogar comes back, he will be much weaker.”

My heart thumped with hope. So our efforts weren’t for naught! That was good to hear, but in that moment, I had something else on me mind. “Say, anypony seen Neon?”

“Right here, mate,” my batpony of a brother commented as he dropped down from the ceiling, “Actually managed to break myself out. These folks really weren’t puttin’ up much of a fuss now were they?”

I quickly put my hooves around him to give him a tight hug. “Indeed. And now we know why. They knew that their plan would come to fruition regardless, so they essentially allowed themselves to get steamrolled.”

“Tch,” he rolled his eyes, “What a bunch of bull. But at least we have an idea as to what their plans are. Now we can properly anticipate his return and fight back as a collective whole if he’s weakened.”

“Too right, bud,” I nodded and finally released him from my embrace, “If that bastard’s going to do anything crazy, then he only has one asset left available.”

Neon raised a brow from confusion. But then he slowly put it together. “Ah...Cozy, right?”

“Exactly,” I replied, “Once we get back, we need to warn Pale and everypony else. This is almost over. I can feel it.”

Zecora giggled, and finally addressed us. “Well now, you bother together appear quite odd. But when I hear you speak it’s like two peas in a pod.”

There was an awkward pause until Neon finally broke it with a question. “Eh wot?”

I almost laughed as well. “Yeah it’s a zebra thing. Zecora loves to rhyme. She’s saying that she’s surprised to see how alike we are despite appearing so different. Isn’t that right, Lady Z?”

Her response was hesitant. As if she was nervous about something. “...Indeed. You both seem very close. It makes me feel happy to see you treasure what you value most.” She broke eye contact, and started to slowly trot away. “...Anyway, I’ll leave you two alone. There’s work that needs to be done.”

Once she left the room, Neon nudged me. “Mate. Go after her.”

I tilted my head. “What are you on about?”

“Look at her,” he pointed at the sad zebra mare as she walked off, “She clearly has some issues regarding loneliness. Why not help her out on the way back? We gotta all head to Twilight and give a report anyway.”

“Hmm…” I was about to reject his idea, but spending more time with Zecora was...an attractive offer to put it lightly. Wait a sec. “Hold on. What are you thinking?”

Neon had a smug little grin with his serrated bat-like teeth. “Nothing, bruv. Just lookin’ out for ya. I saw how you’ve been eyein’ her up.”

I said nothing. All I did was huff, and stomp off before I caught up with Zecora. If what Neon said was accurate, then giving her support where she had none was important.

...And yes, she was a rather handsome mare.

Comments

[Neo4K]

Flash Drive x Zecora? Dude, way to kill my MoonDrive dynamic, mood killer. 😁

[Jmaster49]

10723933
That would be stepping into harem territory haha. 😝

What did you think overall?

[Neo4K]

10724042
I think this is pretty good. Not as big and intense as the other two missions, but good all the same.