Dear Diary,

I think I met one of the few other Outsiders in the Ponyville area. Then again, I can’t be sure…

In a glance to my left, I saw a clearing. In it, the sunlight only reached the top of the trees, from a long angle. It was sometime in the afternoon. It felt like we had walked for an eternity. It was warm outside, but my insides were cold.

To my right a woman with white skin and an odd shape of black tattoos all over her body walked. Her hair was styled in a Mohawk, seamlessly transitioning between the shaved head and the hair, which both shared the same color scheme. Around her neck was several golden rings, and she had similar earrings and wristbands on her left arm. She was clothed in a brown cloak, with a sleeveless top and shorts underneath that looked to be made of animal hide. Her feet were bare, save for three golden bands on her right leg.

The woman had a hard face, appearing without smile or joy, and her eyes had a color of greenish-blue. They were intense and flickering, as if she looked for something. Constantly I could see her turn her head around for new angles, sniffing her nose, only to look over at me with a disapproving scold that looked like it went through me, as if I wasn’t really there. I assumed my scent interfered with something she tried to pick up, and she simply was too lost in her mind to even notice I noticed. Her nose was shorter and a little wider than Twilight’s, and she had fuller lips. Her tattoos seemed like a stylized artist’s interpretation of a zebra’s stripes, but with a more coherent pattern to it and a lot of artistic licence, seemingly emanating from her spine. She used the spear as a walking stick in her right hand.

Between the two of us, we carried Twilight Sparkle, taking her arms over our shoulders. She had yet to regain consciousness, but the bandages seemed to have stopped the bleeding. Or perhaps it was only masking the bleeding, giving me a false sense of security. I tried to push the thought from my head.

Neither of us had said anything since she said we needed to move. I didn’t know her name, but I assumed she was acquainted with Twilight. In between her searching for signs of something, she gave worried glances to the Princess. Or perhaps she was just a Good Samaritan. Regardless, I couldn’t help but feel suspicion creep into my mind. The Changelings could imitate the forms of other creatures. Who was to say that she wasn’t one of them, taking us to a place better suited for subduing us? At least that way, she wouldn’t have to drag two bodies to where she were going to take us.

It didn’t matter, I told myself as I thought I heard something. It turned out to just be a bird. We were at her mercy one way or another, with Twilight unconscious and me unarmed. I had lost my daggers when we fled the room with the pods in the Changeling lair. And I had no idea of how to navigate this forest. I presumed Ponyville wasn’t too far off, but considering who we had seen in the pod, I’d be careful about going back there. It was a known home for Twilight, so it would surely be watched to see if she returned. How long would it take for “Celestia” to find out about our escape? I could only assume she already knew. Only safe assumption to make.

“Careful, and keep your mind on the task! For Sun’s sake, that is all I ask,” I had lost my balance for a moment, almost landing Twilight face-first on the ground. Some damned tree root or something. The woman scolded me in the same rhyming fashion she had spoken to me before, notably lacking any patience for further mistakes.

The path we followed stopped in front of a large tree which wouldn’t even have registered as strange to me. The woman led us in between some roots, revealing a door.

On the other side of the door, my mind could only turn out the word “Hag”. The shelves were filled with flasks containing liquids in all colors, books with strange plants on the covers and scrolls written in a language I did no know littered every free space, chemistry setup that made Twilight’s look advanced, yet somehow less impressive. The walls were filled with masks and dolls, spears and shields. From the roof, an assortment of dried leaves and roots hand. And it was all crowned with a large cauldron in the middle of the room, over a fire that burned with a green light, giving the room a dulling sensation. Its scent reminded me of wilder and more humid pastures, places I had never been.

Without saying a word, the woman gestured for me to let go of Twilight. I did, and she switched her grip, carrying the girl over to a bed hidden from sight. From what I could see, it was simply an elevated part of the floor, with an assortment of pelts. Careful not to touch Twilight’s horn, she began to undo the bandage. To my relief, the bleeding had stopped. Standing up, the woman appeared relieved as well.

“I could not have asked the Spirits for a greater boon, her wound should be healed fairly soon. To cure an internally broken or shattered horn is all but in vain, but she was lucky, it was only sprained. Quiet and rest is what she’ll need, so sit and, while we wait, let us feed.”

The continued rhyming should have registered more with me, but my attention was focused on Twilight. My heart felt lighter from the moment I heard that it was something that would heal by itself and soon. How soon was something I asked myself, but it didn’t do much to tamper with my newfound mood.

Around me, I saw the woman scuffle around, opening drawers and, to me anyway, invisible cabinets integrated into the walls themselves, taking out a small table, maybe two feet tall, and some variation of a salad. Like her home, which looked a lot like Twilight’s to me, it had its own feel and twist to it. Everything was in order, but felt more “wild”. I couldn’t really describe it much better than that. Savage, perhaps, but that felt wrong too.

Before too long passed, I was seated opposite of the woman, on the floor with the table between us. The salad looked inviting, but I didn’t touch it before she raised her eyebrow at me, glancing down at the food. I felt like I would insult her if I didn’t eat, so I picked up one of the fruit-looking pieces and started to chew. It actually tasted much better than I expected it to do, with must have been visible in my mannerism, as she seemed pleased with herself when she too started eating. Besides the salad, she offered something that looked like water, but had a strange taste to it. I couldn’t make any sense of what it was, it was too feint for me to pin it down.

We ate in silence. To this point, I had yet to say anything to her, and I could feel her eyes on me. I kept my eyes firmly planted in my food. Despite that I felt better with every passing minute, I wasn’t sure what to say or how to look at her. I was just some stranger eating her food.

“So, tell me lad, what adventures have the two of you had?”

“We- I,” I started, unsure of how to tell her what had happened. But it struck me that I shouldn’t tell her what happened anyway. I didn’t know her, and if Twilight did, she’d have to make that decision. “I don’t know if I can tell you. It’d be her decision. And, I don’t want to sound rude, but who are you anyway”

I nodded in Twilight’s direction, swallowed and looked the woman in the eyes. They were curious and perhaps a bit suspicious. I’d have placed a wager that mine were too.

“I am Zecora, daughter of the Enchantress Shia. By her Grace I still walk this land, and in her honor, I kept her training close at hand. Potions and poisons, fluids that alter lives; this caused me to come to this forest, where rare flowers and weed thrives.”

“Potions and poisons? Are you an herbalist?”

“I could be described as such, curing ales for those without much. I never charged for my aid; I have no need, I live on no land which has to be paid.”

“And the poisons?”

“The Everfree is a dangerous place; you never know what you might face. And do not worry, my spear drew no blood. If you were poisoned, that’d be most odd. But, tell me boy, who are you? So far, you haven’t let my questions through.”

I realized that I had followed up what she said too fast to allow her a chance to do more than answer my questions, feeling a blush come to my cheeks. I introduced myself, giving her a little bow of my head. I didn’t want to stretch my arm across the table, even though the meal was done.

“And yes,” I noted as she was about to open her mouth, perhaps more irritable than she deserved. “I have a name and scent that is not from around here. I am well aware.”

“You must have been told before, or else you wouldn’t be so sore. And the apology for your rudeness is accepted, but better manners in the future is expected.”

“But I didn-“ it hit me as soon as I began. “Yes, I’m sorry about that. I’m just, well, a bit on edge. I’ve had a shit day.”

“So I would think, Twilight’s condition made my heart sink. But now you know she will be fine, so why be rude and why whine?”

She raised an eyebrow in my direction. I felt she had a sense of authority about her I couldn’t explain. It unnerved me, making me think back to the Changelings. Was she one of them?

“I don’t know,” it was all I could come up with in response to her question. I wanted to tell her about the Changelings, but stood by my decision to let it be Twilight’s choice. “How long ‘til she wakes?”

“I don’t want to wake her without giving her time, but by tomorrow, it should be fine. The horn will take longer still, but after tomorrow, I’ll let her follow her own will.”

“Tomorrow?” that was a bit longer than I had hoped. But it couldn’t be helped. No reason to argue with the herbalist. Or alleged herbalist. She had to have more knowledge of Twilight’s horn than me. Everyone in this land had to. Something else hit me though. “Speaking of poisons, do you know the antidotes for, erhm, more exotic ones? Or natural ones?”

“Of poisons I know many a thing; like most snake bites can be cured with a Lunar Moth wing. Rarer ones are of a similar kind, say, which one did you have in body or mind?” Again she raised an eyebrow at me, glancing nervously over to Twilight.

“Don’t worry, Twilight isn’t poisoned. I-“ I stopped, trying to act like I had just started the next sentence wrong. It didn’t look like it went over well. Before I even could think of something to say, she looked like she was expecting a lie. It was no backing down now. “I, on the other hand… I might be. I don’t know for absolute sure.”

“And which poison might this be, shall we say, hypothetically?”

“Well, um… Changeling poison…” Zecora didn’t look like she heard me. My voice had to have faded away.

“I fear you must repeat, anyone but Fluttershy speaking in such a meager voice is quite the feat. It is too low for me to hear, I do not have a Dragon’s ear.”

“Changeling poison…” I repeated, a little louder.

“That is-“ she was thrown of her rhythm, stopping the sentence there. It almost looked like her tattoos lost some of their color. Without saying anything else, she jumped to her feet, sorting through the myriad of scrolls and books with haste. Her reaction made a cold feeling grow from my stomach. It couldn’t be good if this was her reaction.

“Now I see you were tense and filled with fear; no wonder, your doom might be near. But there is only one way to be sure: I’ll need to examine your blood to make sure it is pure.”

She walked over as she spoke, with a vial in her hand. When she said “blood” she stuck me with a small needle to the arm, right into one of my veins. Since it took me by surprise, I didn’t have time to get nervous. It stung a little, and I got a little dizzy at first, but it didn’t get any worse than that. As soon as she had a small sample of my blood, she grabbed one of the many flasks and poured some of it on her fingers. As she rubbed it on the stream of blood, it coagulated almost immediately. She took the vial away, over to her chemistry setup. Or perhaps alchemy was a better description for it, since it seemed to almost have magical effects.

“What do you mean by my doom being near?”

“Changeling poison is magical, powerful and rare. My antidote’s effect is dependent on how you did fare. To know if the potion needs to be weak or strong; you’ve been poisoned for how long?”

“I dunno, two, three weeks?”

She stopped what she was doing and looked back at me. “I see, and yet your mind appears to be free. If you’ve been poisoned for that length, your mind must have an abnormal strength. Tell me, is a black, winged girl something you can see?”

“Not since a day or so ago. She have popped in and out of my head for some time though, but yesterday it stopped. Last I remember was that she tried to distract me from-“ I stopped, realizing that I had started to tell the story of what had been going on. “I- Twilight should be the one to tell the story…”

“Vile creatures, I thought I could free them from my mind, but I should have known they were never far behind. Not long after the Royal Wedding they were assumed to be dead, but I should have left to make sure of it instead. If the demons have made their return, there is much we’ll need to learn. The last time I crossed paths with the demons in changing skin, there was no way for me to win.”

“They’ve got Princess Celestia. And Twilight’s friends.”

There was nothing I could say that summed up what had been going on as well as those two sentences. I didn’t care about keeping the events secret anymore. If she was one of them, it wouldn’t make much of a difference in the long run. But if she wasn’t, her knowing who couldn’t be trusted could only be a good thing. Zecora looked to be speechless at the news, trying a few times to form a sentence. Then she just shook her head.

“These are grave news indeed; this will destroy us from the inside, with the Doubting Seed. For us to be able to build trust, an antidote is a must. Until that is done, I cannot leave you free for long.”

“Wha-“ I was about to ask her what she meant by that, but was interrupted by something being thrown in my face. A powder of sorts, with a strange blue glow. I thought I could see the night sky in it. Distantly I felt Zecora take a hold of my arms, tying them to something. My legs too. I couldn’t fight it, my body simply wanted to sleep. My mind agreed, sleep would feel good right about now.

Author's Notes:

The second Chapter is finally done. Originally I meant the first Chapter to be a scene in this one and called it Zecora the Zebra, but I decided that I rather split the Chapter into to. I really wanted a Chapter to be named Zecora the Zebra, but I didn't want to spoil her arrival more than necessary.

Anyway, I hope I managed to do her enough justice, though she was a lot harder to Write than the other characters so far. That rhyming can be a pain. But I'm not giving up, damnit! She is too cool a character to not have in this story!