"Good Morning, Zecora!" Wayfarer said happily as he approached the stall of the zebra in question.

Zecora, who'd been looking away from Wayfarer, jerked her head upwards and turned to look at him. Her eyes seemed slightly glazed over, eyelids drooping, and her mouth hanging agape. She let loose a very wide yawn before shaking off her obvious exhaustion and smiling back at Wayfarer.

"Morning, yes Wayfarer, it is indeed. But 'good' is not a word I'd concede."

"Something wrong?" Wayfarer asked. "Did the vines do a lot of damage to your home?"

"All that and more, though that's easily fixed." Zecora grimaced, then turned to walk back into her stall, where Wayfarer followed. "My other problem though had results that are rather mixed." She placed a plant up on the table that Wayfarer recognized as another Anise. "The bug took the bait, and the trap as well. Hardly before I'd even started to ring the dinner bell."

"Ahh, the changeling?” Wayfarer asked. “I think we may have ran into him while the girls and I were in the forest."

“Somehow I doubt they are one in the same,” Zecora said, frowning. “In fact I wonder if this Changeling is in fact tame.”

“What makes you think that?” Wayfarer asked, raising an eye at that. From everything he’d seen and heard of Changelings, they were all the sort of creature to feed first and be nice never.

“As I said, the changeling took the bait,” Zecora explained. “But it actually came back after a small wait. When my back was turned, trying to locate it, the bowl was returned with a fresh coat of spit. If they intended me some ill will, I doubt they’d replace it after eating their fill. Shyness is the diagnosis I’d render here, an illness born of an intense fear. But hunger will force even the most timid critter, to risk its life to approach, dine, and skitter.”

Wayfarer took a moment to translate before responding. “So, the Changeling ate the flower, which you had in a bowl, then gave the bowl back when it was done, and you think this means it’s not out to hurt anyone?” Zecora nodded, smiling. “Alright, so, what are you going to do? If there’s a changeling roaming around then we need to catch it. Even if it doesn’t want to hurt anyone, no one is gonna rest easy if they find out. Wouldn’t it be better if we got it to, I don’t know, go home?”

“Perhaps, but for some, home is not often a choice we make, sometimes it comes down to where body and mind are less likely to break. Do you not wonder why I am here, and not somewhere my own kin are near?”

“Well,” Wayfarer said, unsurely. “Not really, no. I’ve only known of you for a few weeks, I haven’t really had a chance to think ‘why is a zebra here in ponyville?’ But since you brought it up I’m guessing there is a reason?”

“A very good reason, I would say,” Zecora said. “Where I came was no longer safe to stay. I’d prefer to keep my tale at that, it’s not appropriate for a friendly chat. But my own experiences have taught me this, no one is ever away from their people unless something’s amiss. This Changeling is hiding from something, far from home, and if I could converse with it, I’d prefer that then let it roam.”

“You… want to talk with it,” Wayfarer said slowly.

“In lieu of demonizing it and sending it to a prison? Yes, that’d be the first step, of which a need has risen. What’s more my friend I turn to you, could you help me with this plan construe?”

“Me?” Wayfarer said, a little more loudly then he meant to. He looked around to see if anyone else was listening in on them, but the street was thinly populated this morning. “Gosh Zecora, I’m not sure. Why don’t you get Twilight or Fluttershy to help you? Wouldn’t they be of more help?”

“Possibly,” Zecora said, tapping her chin. “But I need someone with daring and an open mind, I don’t want uninterested timidness or inquisitiveness unkind. You seem like a better fit, so it’s you I hope will take the hit.”

“Add this to the increasing list of things I can’t say no to helping out with,” Wayfarer thought. Sighing, he nodded to Zecora. “Alright, fine, if you really think I can help.”

“Excellent, I shall call on you when the time is right, until then do not fret and seem so uptight.”

Twilight and Celestia were out for the day, leaving Wayfarer alone with just Spike for company at the library. In spite of the nearly two month's he'd spent under his and Twilight's roof, Spike still seemed like an unknown to Wayfarer. Always just sort of... there. Wayfarer had only just realized this after his and Spike's moment of bonding prior to heading into the Everfree during the plunder plant fiasco. The idea that Spike "just got used to" being an outlier in Twilight's group of friends concerned him a bit, and he probably would have addressed it at the time had the fate of Equestria not been at the forefront of his mind. Sitting in the front room though, reading up on "101 Ways to Enjoy Breezy Beaches Week," Wayfarer thought it'd be a good time to bring it up.

"What'cha reading Spike?" He asked, trying to remain as inconspicuous about his intentions as he could. Spike seemed to jump at this in surprise, and Wayfarer caught sight of something stuck in between the pages of the book spike was supposedly reading.

"Wha?" The dragon nearly shouted. "O-oh, it's just the umm..." he looked to the cover of the book and cleared his throat. "The Unauthorized Autobiography of Lemony Snicker."

"Who's he?" Wayfarer asked, smirking at Spike's flustered expression.

"Umm... he's ahhhh..." Spike stalled for almost a half a minute as he panically flipped through the first few pages. "He's a very famous pony!"

"What's he famous for?"

"I don't know!" Spike finally cried out, slamming the book shut and snorting. "Alright! I wasn't actually reading it, happy? Gosh I wasn't expecting an Equestrian inquisition!"

"Spike, relax," Wayfarer said, putting his own book aside and walking over to Spike. "I'm yanking your tail, I just asked what you were reading. So unless you've got something you're not supposed to have, I'm not gonna judge you for it." He paused to give Spike a chance to speak up, but all the dragon did was shuffle in place. Wayfarer frowned slightly at that. "Spike are you even old enough for that sort of magazine?"

"It's not like that," Spike said. He sighed, then slowly withdrew the magazine from the book and showed Wayfarer the cover. Instead of mares wearing provocative garments and advertising scandalous interviews, the magazine was covered with a photo of a patchwork quilt and boasted of having the widest selection of threads and fabrics available for order.

"'Thread Bare's Thread Wares,'" Wayfarer said, reading the title. "'All the tools you need to start a memory quilt of your own.' Oh I get it." Wayfarer smiled knowingly at Spike. "You wanna make something for Rarity, don't you?"

"No!" Spike said rolling up the magazine nervously. "Well, yes, but that's not what this is." He tapped the magazine in the palm of his claw, again shifting around nervously. "I want to make a memory quilt... for me."

"...Really?" Wayfarer asked.

"I know!" Spike said in frustration, crossing his arms and looking away with a fierce blush. "It's super girly and not something a boy should want to do. You can say it."

"I'm not saying that," Wayfarer said sternly. "Because that's a load of horse apples."

"Huh?" Spike said, looking up at Wayfarer.

"Spike if you wanna sew a pink frilly dress with hearts on it, more power to you. I think that's great you want to have a personal long term project, and a memory quilt sounds neat. Where'd you ever think that was something a boy shouldn't want to do?"

"I... umm..." Spike unrolled the magazine slowly and took a momentary look at the cover. "I guess I've still got the Dragon Migration thing on my mind. I really don't have a lot of 'guy' friends. It's just been Twilight and the others, and before we moved here from Canterlot it was the mares in Twilight's study group. Twilight's brother is the closest thing to a guy friend I've ever had, but he left for the Guard Academy while I was still trying to learn the alphabet, so we aren't as close to each other as he is to Twilight." Spike tossed the magazine onto a side table and folded his arms again, though looking much more bereft this time.

"I miss hanging out with him on a regular basis," Spike continued. "Shining Armor got me interested in comic books and 'Ogres and Oubliettes.' But Twilight and her friends don't seem interested in those things, so I've picked up a lot more of their interests. Like, sewing and picnics and baking. But those aren't things I ever saw Shining Armor or any other boy do. And then there's the way the dragons during migration treated me. Not just that I wasn't 'dragon' enough for them, I could care less about what I am. I just... thought maybe I should be more like them in other ways. You know, being tough and strong."

"And you think the two are mutually exclusive to each other?" Wayfarer asked, raising an eyebrow as he reached over to pick up Spike's sewing magazine. "You think you can't like comic books and sewing? You think that liking picnics and baking means you can't be strong like Shining Armor? Spike, just yesterday I saw a stallion with more mussel mass then I think is healthy walk into Aloe and Lotus' Day Spa wearing a pink staff uniform. That guy looked plenty strong and yet seemed determined to enjoy his job gussying up ponies."

"Spike, I implore you," Wayfarer finished, putting a hoof on Spike's shoulder and smiling. "Don't bring into Equestria whatever nonsense those dragons put in your head. Just keep doing what you like doing, no one who matters is gonna care if it's 'girly' or not."

Spike smiled, clearly relieved by what Wayfarer had said. "Yeah, you're right! I'm sure there are plenty of other dragons out there who will know how to appreciate a well sewn dress or a nice picnic! I'm not gonna waste time on those losers!"

"He still seems really fixated on the whole 'dragon' thing," Wayfarer thought. "Hopefully it'll eventually stop bothering him."

"Hey," Spike added. "Do you think Shining Armor would be interested in helping me start my Memory Quilt? I'd like to keep it a surprise for everyone else, you know?"

"I'm sure he will," Wayfarer responded. "Now, what was this you said about Ogres and Oubliettes? What edition do you have?"

You could have lit up all of Canterlot with how bright eyed Spike became at that moment.

Author's Notes:

Soooooo yeeeaaahhhhh... It's been a while.

I did not mean for this to happen. To disappear for over a year and leave this story just hanging there. That was not my intent and I deeply apologize to everyone, I can only strive to try harder and press on.

So why such a short chapter ? Well, I wanted to get back in the swing of this story with something small before I try to write another big chapter. And yes, the next two chapters will be pretty big. Maybe even the next few chapters after that as well, I have the next two in story weeks planned out and things are about to get hairy again.

Thank you all again for your patience, hopefully the next chapter will be out in a week.