"It is better to be alone than in bad company."-George Washington

"For once in my lifetime, I have no idea what the fuck is going." groaned X-ray. The counter terrorist shot his arms up in the air. "We have mythical creatures that want to kill us for some reason, mythical ponies that don't want to kill us for some reason and a planet whose very nature and culture is ripping us off for some reason."

"You don't think all of this connected some how?" proposed Twilight.

"I for one know what is going!" inhaled Rarity. "We are getting this hydra blood clean off our coats."

In order to subdue the hydra, Shadow needed to dismember all 4 of its heads. However, a lot of its blood spilled all over the Mane 6, covering their bodies in splashes of dark blue in addition to their coat colors.

Scorch rolled his eyes. "Can't you just take a bath when we get back to ponyville?" The demo man turned to face X-ray. "I never thought I'd meet a bitch whiner than you."

"How dare you call me that!" shrieked the white unicorn. "Under no circumstances am I nor my friends going to walk into town covered in blood, we'll look ridiculous."

"You mean more so than usual?" mocked Scarecrow.

"It doesn't matter whether we look ridiculous or not." spoke ip Twilight. "It's blood. When ponies see us, they'll think we've killed. And ponies ARE NOT used to the subject of murder like you 4."

Shadow just shrugged.

"Hey, how come you 4 are never covered in blood?" asked Pinkie. "You meanies have done nothing but shoot your problems but there's no blood anywhere. Your armor stays a wacky blacky!"

"Well duh!" exclaimed X-ray. "When blood covers us, it doesn't come in contact with our armor, it comes in contact with the kinetic barriers."

Scarecrow made a sliding down motion. "All gunk just slips right down! You throw all the dirt you want at us and our armor remains squeaky clean."

"Oh how I wish such a concept would apply to all the garments I've made." dramatized Rarity. "I've lost count of how many times my creations have been tarnished."

"Well we're gettin' close y'all." puffed Applejack. "Check it out!" she pointed.

Across the trees lay a dirt path obviously not made by nature.

"Looks like we're making progress." nodded Scarecrow. "Move along."

Twilight flew infront of the group. "Wait. Before we get to town, there's someone I need to see."

"Don't you mean 'somepony'?" chuckled X-ray.

Twilight shook her head 'no' "You'll see."

The Mane 6 knew exactly who Twilight was talking about. The squad just decided to follow along. While traversing the dirt path, there was a fork in the road. One that lead east while the other led west.

X-ray was looking at feed his recon drone was sending him on his writ computer. "Drone says there's a lot of activity on the east side of the path."

"That's probably ponyville!" cheered Rainbow Dash.

"I'm not comfortable with everpony and my animals seeing me covered in blood." whispered Fluttershy.

"Don't worry, they won't." assured Twilight. The alicorn turned west and motioned the group to follow with her head.

"Hey Twi, doesn't this path lead ta Zecora's place?" asked Applejack.

Twilight nodded. The humans picked up their walking pace and soon outpaced the rest of the ponies. All the while, the alicorn was aware of a very important fact. She spoke in a slightly militaristic tone.

"Remember girls, there's poison joke near Zecora's hut. Be careful and pay attention. I don't want any of us repeating the same mistake like last-"

"OH MY GOSH, SHADOW GET OUT OF THERE!" screamed Pinkie.

The humans looked at the ponies with dumbfounded expressions. Once again, the equines were paralyzed with fear. It was not fear out of horror but the "oh my gosh, what have you done?" kind of fear.

Scarecrow raised an eyebrow causing his shades to flip up. "Is something wrong?" he calmly asked.

"Do you have any idea what you're standing on?" shrieked Rainbow Dash.

The squad looked down and saw themselves standing amongst a group of blue flowers. The flowers were much shorter than them and only went a quarter way up their leg. Slowly, the squad looked up.

"We're standing on pretty blue flowers?" sarcastically remarked Scorch.

"That's poison joke!" yelled Fluttershy. She started waving her fore hooves rapidly.

"Poison what?" asked X-ray.

"Poison joke is plant that causes various afflictions to the body. What it does is totally random!" explained Twilight. "It can cover you in spots, make you shrink, and give you a totally different voice."

"Ach, imagine having X-ray's bitchy voice!" mocked Scarecrow. X-ray in turn elbowed him in the jaw.

"I don't feel any different." remarked Scorch. "Any of you guys feeling messed up?"

The squad turned to their wrist computers to check their vital statistics. A schematic of their bodies appeared on their HUDs. Nothing was wrong according to the reading.

"What are you waiting for? Get out of there!" screamed Pinkie.

The squad looked at each other before walking out of the poison joke field. Scarecrow sighed and crossed his arms.

"Are you 6 sure, that these plants make you messed up?"

"Hey we don't lie partner." growled Applejack.

"The last time we were here, we made the mistake of running through those plants." began Pinkie. "Then all these weird things started happening to us like Rarity getting all puffy, Applejack shrinking, Twilight's horn getting all floppy-"

The humans burst into laughter based on Pinkie's unintended sexual reference.

"So," started Rainbow Dash with a grin. "Weird plant causes all sorts of diseases randomly. Please explain that?"

X-ray snorted. "Simple, poison joke instills a wild card virus into you."

"A wild what?" questioned Twilight.

"A wild card virus is an infectious agent that varies in its symptoms based on the DNA of the infected individual. The first strain of a wild card virus was discovered on the planet Hippocrates in the early 23rd century. While each virus strain still has a single cure regardless of its symptoms, it is often difficult to detect you have a wild card virus based on the agent's unpredictable nature."

Twilight nodded and tried to process that information while the Mane 6 stared at X-ray blankly, not caring their minds were being slightly raped for looking at him for too long.

"Do you...actually memorize all of this?" said Rarity slowly.

X-ray nodded his head rapidly.

"Those signing up for planetary recon need to be adept in at least higher learning biology." boasted Scarecrow.

"That still doesn't explain why none of you were infected." pointed Fluttershy.

"Like we said......a few minutes ago. We haven't actually come into contact with anything due to our barriers." remarked Scorch. "Besides don't we have to see your little friend?"

The ponies nodded and moved along the path. This time, Shadow made an effort to slow down and keep behind them.

"Finally, we're seeing someone new." groaned Scarecrow. "I'm getting sick of the same 6 technicolor horses."

"The feeling is mutual." growled Rainbow Dash in a low voice.

Suddenly there was the sound of magazines being loaded into a gun. Rainbow turned around to see a barrel of a gun pointing at her face. The blue pegasus screamed and fell down in shock.

"Was that a threat?" growled Scorch with his rifle pointed at the equines.

'NO! NO! NO!" shirked Rainbow Dash. The other ponies crowded next to her. Rainbow pushed them aside.

"I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt me or my friends!" nearly cried the pegasus.

The blue mare walked to the feet of the squad and started kissing their feet one by one. The other members of the Mane 6 were in shock as they had never seen their friends stooping to something so low.

Suddenly there was a snicker from Scorch, followed by a full on outburst from the rest of the squad.

"Your expression was priceless." laughed X-ray.

Scarecrow shifted his voice to sound like Rainbow Dash. "I'll do anything you want." then he made the sound of kissing noises.

Rainbow Dash blushed violently and right before she could burst, Pinkie came to her aid.

"That was a joke? Jokes should have you laugh with ponies, not at them! Thanks to you, Rainbow Dash now feels horrible, what do you have to say Mr. Meanie?"

The squad calmed down and gave a genuine apology in unison. "We're sorry Dash, we wont tell anypony about this."

Rainbow Dash flew up. "That's right you better!" she warned. Then she gave a snicker. "Although that prank was genius."

The group continued to walk for a minute. On Shadow's radar, a structure with a yellow blimp, signaling life was detected.

Right when Zecora's hut was in view, the ponies noticed, the lack of human foot steps. The 6 equines turned around to see Shadow frozen still. Underneath their bandannas, their mouths were hanging down.

Twilight flew towards the 4, unsure of their sudden shock. She flexed her hoof in front of them "Um...Epona to Shadow?"

"Is something wrong." asked Fluttershy.

"That hut....is African." gasped Scarecrow.

"Afri-what?" questioned Pinkie Pie.

"Africa used to be a continent on Earth." started Scorch. "A thousand years ago, the people of Africa used to live in huts that were constructed JUST LIKE THAT!"

"Fabulous, more culture clash." face hoofed Rarity.

"I think we should have a talk with your pony friend to see where she got the idea for that design." proposed Scarecrow.

"Zecora ain't a pony." muttered Applejack. "She's a Zebra."

It was as if Shadow's brains smashed like broken glass. The 4 of them slowly snapped their necks to the ponies, who were very uncomfortable with their movements.

"Sentient ZEBRAs?" said X-ray.

"There are Zebras from Earth too?" whimpered Fluttershy.

"Yes!" screeched Scarecrow. "And they came from fucking Africa."

"Look I know it's all very confusing but once we have a chat with Zecora, you'll figure things out. She's a great potion master, honest." insisted Twilight.

"We better." gritted Scorch.

X-ray rolled his eyes under his mask. "You said she was an potion master right? Pfft, that's rich."

"Do you have to go around debunking everything you see?" asked Pinkie.

The 4 humans nodded and started marching towards the hut. Their foot steps were so strong, they were leaving holes in the ground.

Rainbow Dash flew ahead of them to stop them in their tracks. "Hold on! You can't just march into Zecora's hut like that! She'll freak out and you won't get any of the information you want."

"Just stay hidden until we can introduce you, if mean if that's okay." requested Fluttershy.

The squad sighed and cloaked, leaving them invisible. Inside the hut, faint chanting was heard.

Scarecrow's voice startled the ponies. "Guess what, her chanting is pure ancient African as well."

"Hurry up with whatever you need to do so we can start questioning this bitch." ordered X-ray.

The ponies couldn't give X-ray a dirty look because they didn't know where he was standing, so they proceeded to head inside the hut. Inside the structure, the friendly yet odd smell of potions hit their nose. All along the walls were artifacts from the land of Zebrica.

The ponies soon found themselves looking at a familiar striped equine with tattoos and jewelry all over her body, balancing perfectly on her tail while observing a potion vial. The Zebra needed to be in perfect focus or else-

"HI ZECORA!"

The Zebra gave a yelp and tumbled, dropping her potion vial on the ground. Right before the glass could shatter, Twilight used her telekinesis to pick it up and secure it on the table.

Zecora looked up to see a cheery pink pony. Speaking in her usual rhyme format; "Oh my, Pinkie Pie. I did not see you come inside and not welcoming a guest hurts my pride."

"It's okay Zecora, we know you well enough." chuckled Twilight. Other than her close friends, Zecora was the only one who didn't change her views on Twilight once she became a princess. She didn't immediately drop to the ground and start worshipping. Just the way Twilight liked it.

Suddenly Zecora's eyes grew the moment she realized the Mane 6 was covered in blood.

"Oh dear, I am filled with fear." she gapsed. "You all have blood on you, what ever did you do?" The Zebra started backing away.

"It's not what ya think partner!" assured Applejack. "We didn't kill. We got blood on us because-"

Zecora calmed down. "I'm sorry, I should have known you would never kill and never will. But come, we must clean this gore on you before somepony gets the wrong clue."

"Finally!" groaned Rarity.

Zecora went through her drawers searching for the right potion that would have easily cleared off blood on fur. Finally she found the right agent and held it up with her teeth. Using her fore hood, the striped equine motioned the blood covered Mane 6 to follow them.

Outside her hut was a small pond that she often used to heal those who were sick using her various healing agents. Slowly, Zecora tilted her head and the potion dispersed into the lake, giving it a slightly whiter color.

Once Zecora was done, she used her exceptional hearing to listen to the sound of hoofsteps coming from somewhere, even though everypony was standing still.

"I have a feeling that someone is watching us and scheming." muttered the Zebra.

Twilight's ears plopped up when she heard someone snicker to be followed by what sounded like a punch to the face and a 'shush'.

The ponies one by one entered the pond, keeping some distance to themselves to make things seem awkward. The water was cool and slowly, the hydra blood started to dissolve.

"So Ponies," started the Zebra. "While the blood stains clear, mind telling me what brings you here?"

Twilight spoke up. "Hey Zecora, have you ever wondered if there was life out there?"

Zecora looked up the sky as if she was gazing at stars despite it being early morning.

"Since I was a filly, other Zebras called me silly. I always believe the stars held another race, who were all living on a happy place. But a thought like that, is like saying the planet is flat."

"Well Zecora, looks like those other Zebras owe you an apology." snickered Rainbow Dash.

The Zebra raised her eyes.

"Before yesterday, a group of alien soldiers landed on the planet." nervously sated Twilight.

"You say like it's something bad, did these aliens do something to make you sad?" questioned Zecora.

"Well they're not evil. They're military so they don't harm innocents. They even protected us while traversing the forest." whimpered Fluttershy "They're just-"

"Foul mouthed." said Rarity.

"Mean." added Pinkie.

"Scary." added Dash.

"Agressive." remarked Applejack.

"Cynical." finalized Twilight.

"But it's not really their fault." defended Fluttershy. "They have to be mean. This planet is completely new to them, and not everything is happy with these aliens being here."

"But I thought everyone would celebrate alien life, not attack them with strife." countered Zecora.

"Well anything that isn't us wants to outright kill those 4." sighed Rainbow Dash. "They took out a legion of Griffins, a pack of timberwolves and a king hydra."

"So that's why you were covered in gunk." realized Zecora. "Do they just want to kill everything they see, those punks?"

"They might be troublesome." spat Applejack. "But every time they needed to kill, it was in defense."

"But did they have to resort to violence? Shouldn't a space faring being should have more sense?" questioned Zecora.

"Before we move on." moaned Rarity and she watched the last traces of blood disappears. "What is this made of? It cleans stains right off."

"It is an ancient Zebra cleaning aid, only the trained potion maker will know how it is made." chanted the Zebra.

"What potion?" yelled a mechanical voice. "You just mixed Ammonia and detergent."

Zecora spun around rapidly. "Who goes there? I do not see you anywhere."

Suddenly 4 hooded and masked bi-pedals uncloaked and revealed themselves to the Zebra. Zecora was taken by surprise and fell back. The moment she laid eyes on the aliens, her head exploded with pain, some of her vision, blurred and and she heard a piercing screech. It was as if she was hit by Fluttershy's stare.

The Mane 6, still dripping wet rushed to Zecora's aid. Pinkie, with he mouth filled with water, spat on the unconscious Zebra, waking Zecora up.

The striped equine looked up to see the 4 black clad behemoths staring at her. The ringing in her mind died down but still lurked in there.

"I swear." muttered Scorch. "What is it with everything on this planet looking like it got hit by a flash bang every time they look at us?"

The Zebra shook her head. "Oh my, you just appeared out of the sky."

X-ray raised an eyebrow. "Why do you rhyme? It doesn't really sound like a fun time." suddenly X-ray realized what he did.

Scorch laughed. "Ha, X-ray's doing it to! If I started rhyming I don't know what I'd do." Scorch then froze in realization.

"Man you're rhymes are really gay." mocked Scarecrow. "You keep ruining its art Scorch and X-ray." Scarecrow stopped laughing and face palmed.

Everyone was now looking at Overwatch. "I'm not doing it." shrugged the sniper.

"Rhyming is for pricks and for all I care, it can go suck our dicks." Overwatch immediately groaned.

Zecora laughed at the irony of the situation. "My name is Zecora, master of mysterious potions and the owner of an artifact emporia."

"There is nothing mystical about potions Zecora, you can explain everything from fauna to flora." explained X-ray.

"Yeah these 4 think they can debunk everything we call magic." pointed Rainbow Dash.

"We can't explain everything, only the information that our minds bring." countered Scorch.

"But magic and mystery is just an excuse, when logic and reasoning are not in use." rhymed Scarecrow.

Zecora hummed. "Could you explain how a mustache potion works, I used it once to punish some dorks." Zecora remembered how Snips and Snails had caused a lot of trouble last week while trespassing in her hut.

"Easy, that thing you call a potion was just hair growth hormones that affectes facial hair. We used similar sciences to cure baldness" informed Scorch.

The demo man's eyes shot up. "Hey I stopped rhyming and at what great timing!......ARGH!"

Zecora once again sounded uneasy. "Why is your armor black as night? It only fears me with fright."

"Our unit is meant to look scary, it makes our enemies weary. This armor also helps us hide in shadows, to attack unsuspecting fellows." rhymed Scorch.

Zecora gave a nervous chuckle. The Mane 6 were right, their presence caused only anxiety.

"And why must you where that mask? It doesn't help your face bask*" quizzed the Zebra.

"The reason why we wear these, is to hide our face from civvies, and to stop alien bacteria and viruses from entering as they please." informed Scarecrow.

"So you are the ones who defeated the Griffins and Hydra? At least those monsters caught up with their karma." chanted the Zebra. It was evident that Zebras didn't get along with the other discussed mythical creatures.

"Yeah we're pretty tough, but if your friendly, we won't be so rough." chuckled X-ray.

The squad looked over the Zebra and saw the other ponies trotting away. Scarecrow raised his hand to form a shouting gesture.

"Hey you six ponies get back here! It's our job to look after you queers!"

The ponies sighed in defeat and galloped back to the humans. Oh how they wanted some peace and quiet for once.

Zecora was getting curious. "Mind telling me about you? The 4 of you are rather new."

Scarecrow nodded. He tensed to force himself not to rhyme. "The 4 of us are humans. The latin phrase is homo sapiens. We all originate from the planet Earth but for the last half millenium, we've colonized hundreds of planets."

Zecora got a dreamy feeling in her eyes. "You live on more than one planet? Then I give your species a plaudit."

"We were sent to Epona to find intelligents beings and experience the planet first hand. Clearly we got more than what we wanted." chuckled X-ray.

"Are you military? If so that you have quite the responsibility." asked Zecora.

"We're technically counter terrorists." said Scarecrow. "My unit is called Shadow squad. You can call me Scarecrow. That's Overwatch, Scorch and X-gay."

"IT'S X-RAY. Ignore him for he is having a messed up day." roared the rifleman.

The urge to rhyme was overwhelming Scarecrow. "Zecora, what if I told you, we have Zebra's on our home world too?"

The Zebra was struck with awe. "They have Zebras on Earth. Are they intelligent or do they live amongst the dirt?"

"I'm afraid Zebra's on Earth are just creatures." shrugged Scorch. "They don't talk, they don't rhyme, they don't brew potions, they don't live in homes and their societies are graze and mate."

"The ponies of Zebrica would be intersted in hearing this, for it is not a fact I would want to miss." rhymed Zecora.

"Wait did you say Zebras came from a place called Zebrica?" questioned X-ray.

Zecora nodded.

Scarecrow placed a hand on his bandanna "On Earth, Zebras came from a place named Africa. The similarity is uncanny. Not to mention you're culture is ancient African as well."

"But we've had this language and culture for thousands of years, ever since our species' premier. Zecora noticed the past tense. "Also you said came from Africa, does that imply-"

"Um Africa hasn't existed for...quite a while now. Don't worry there are still Zebras obviously." assured Scorch.

Zecora was lost in thought. "I am not good in history as I associate with mystery, but I read book, that talked about creatures with your look."

The humans tensed and looked closely at the Zebra.

"My books talked about a bi-pedal race with hands who use to give our species commands. They were brutal and frugal, until one day came, where life would never be the same, the species disappeared, and Zebra freedom was cleared."

"Obviously those books weren't talking about actual humans right? I mean we're light years apart." stated Scorch.

"I did not learn history strictly." chanted the Zebra. "Although you are likely right, a species so far would haven not caught a historian's sight. In fact it might just be a myth, a field others are better in charge with."

Scarecrow checked the time, it was near 11:40. "Look we can't go into too many details right now since we made a commitment to see the ponies' leader first. But I suggest you contact your leaders to inform them of our presence. After we're done with Equestria we'll traverse to your nation and introduce ourselves. Sorry for the lack of explanation."

Zecora chuckled. "Don't worry it is fine, I will meet my leaders but first I will dine."

The Zebra headed inside. "Farewell, and may you spend your time in Equestria well."

The humans nodded and they turned to meet the 6 colorful ponies. While the humans were chatting with the Zebra, the ponies were enjoying their first uninterrupted conversation for the past few days.

The humans stood infront of the equines and motioned them to move towards town.

"So how was your chat with Zecora?" asked Twilight.

"It was great." shrugged Scarecrow. "She's a nice per-Zebra, we also made a promise to visit her land once we get over yours."

"Oh and Twilight?" started X-ray. All ponies looked right at him.

"No we are not going to assassinate the princesses." Twilight's mouth hung open.

"Applejack, we're not going tear down your farm."

"Fluttershy, we're not going to experiment on your animals."

"Rarity, we're not going to steal your clothes designs and sell them to human fashionistas."

"Rainbow Dash, we're not going dismember your wings."

"And Pinkie Pie, a party would be nice."

All ponies stared at the masked soldiers with confuscian.

Applejack spoke up. "How did y'all-"

"Applejack, you don't hide anything from Shadow." gloated Scarecrow, although the statement sounded better in his head.

Scorch quickly changed the subject. "Hey, I think I can hear chatter a few meters from this position."

X-ray suddenly remembered something crucial. "Guys, if our theory of ponies being similar to medieval society is true, then we may have a slight problem."

"What do you mean?" questioned Scarecrow.

"Well you see, medieval times weren't exactly the best times for left handed people."

Scarecrow brightened up. "That makes it all the better."

The group accelerated their walking pace. Shadow's HUD was reading a large quantity of sentient lifeforms were near their position.

The group brushed past a group of leaves, and right before them, laid a town. It was large, bright and welcoming. The group saw numerous installations within the settlement. Homes, a marketplace, a town hall and farmland were clearly visible."

"Gosh" said Applejack. "Ah really hope we didn't miss anythin' important."

"Don't worry." cheered Pinkie. "Everypony looks happy. I don't think they're panicking."

"Oh my, I have to get to my animals." realized Fluttershy, the yellow pony started to fly ahead until Rainbow Dash flew ahead of her.

"Your animals can wait. Now we have to focus on getting these 4 jerks introduced to town." said the blue pegasus.

"Dash is right." nodded Rarity. "Say Twilight, how will we introduce Shadow?"

"Don't worry everypony I have a plan." assured Twilight. "I say we tacklet the situation slowly, right Shadow?

Twilight got no response.

The 4 humans were staring blankly at the town. Never had they seen such a society like this. The harmony of the working ponies was starting to get to them.

"Are you having a staring contest?" squeaked Pinkie. "That sounds like fun."

Rainbow Dash flew infront of the stupefied humans. "Hey buster, what gives?"

Scarecrow spoke slowly. "This town...is so friendly."

"So colorful..." added X-ray.

"So happy." nodded Overwatch.

"So fucking cute!" yelled Scorch.

"I'm going to hug them all!"

Author's Notes:

*Bask means to expose to light.

I don't know why, but I feel as if this chapter and the one before it feel rushed and not up to my standards.

Oh yeah, Shadow squad is an example of 'bad company' the quote can be referring to.

I need to work on my rhymes.