Link stood in front of a set of massive stone doors emblazoned with the Royal Sisters' cutie marks. To his left was Fluttershy, the buttery pegasus, and to his right was Twilight, his adopted sister. In each of their respective mouths, were the keys he had been given by the sisters themselves. "I don't know what's gonna come out of this room, so be ready for anything." He drew his weapon and wore his shield. The two at his sides inserted their respective keys into the holes in the wall.

The doors started to shake, then slowly spread apart, a line of light dividing the two. In moments, darkness took over the light, and threw the doors wide open. There, in the opened doorway, stood a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes and silver hair. It was at this point that Link saw the others had left him alone there. Nevertheless, Link stood his ground as the figure approached him. He tried to make a move, but found his feet had been bound to the cobblestone floor, and his body was unable to move even an inch.

All at once, the shadow dissipated, and reformed right in front of him, flashing a wicked grin wide enough to reveal several rows of teeth. It reached out and struck his shoulder, sending him flying back and his weapons aside. "WAKE UP" it said, in Twilight's voice. A moment passed, and his back slammed into a white wall beyond the color scheme of the room he had been in before.

Link shot up in his bed in a panic sweat, gasping for air as if he had been drowning. He tried to, and succeeded to, regulate his breathing as he looked around the room. There, he saw Twilight, who had a hoof extended toward him and a cautious look on her face.

"Are you okay, Link? Sleep well?" she retracted her hoof and looked at him in worry, unaware of the circumstances that awoke him.

"I'm fine..." he replied, a bit too quickly. "Can I tell you something? Without being mean, of course." Link rose to his feet, still in his tattered clothes from yesterday. She replied with a nod as he started to take off his leather gloves. "Don't touch me to wake me up. I'm a light sleeper. In fact, opening the door quickly will do just fine."

"O-oh. Is that all? Here I was worried you were mad at me. Anyway, Fluttershy and Navi are down in the library and want to discuss some things with you, when you're not busy." Twilight turned and walked out of the room.

Link sighed heavily as he looked out into the morning scenery. The sun had risen a bit into the sky, so he pegged it to be 9 in the morning. Out there, he saw Rainbow Dash and the pegasus from yesterday talking in the clouds above the library. "Right, she's leaving today for the mountains." He changed clothes into his second set, also silver in color, but way neater. With his "casual" attire on, the pouches on his belt and the tattered set over his arm, he set off downstairs.

Twilight and Fluttershy shared the couch while the latter had something under her wing. "There he is. How's the leg?" Twilight asked, looking at his left leg, which no longer caused him to limp.

Link looked around the room before he answered. He found Navi's glow inside Fluttershy's mane, and thought nothing of it. Several books scattered the table in front of him, a few of them opened. "Much better than yesterday, that's for sure. When did you even learn healing magic?"

"About 3 years ago. I wanted to expand my arsenal, and so I chose tissue regeneration. It utilizes the target's inner magic to accelerate the healing process. It was a bit difficult at first. Not many ponies got injured at the castle, so the princess accompanied me to the nearby training camp." She turned back to Fluttershy. "Anyway, Fluttershy is here to help in my research, as she's the only pony that can read music."

Link turned again to the pegasus, who looked down and hid half of her face. "L-let's get started, shall we? Do you have the ocarina?" He nodded his head. "Good. We'll need to test its range. Some instruments have a deeper pitch than others."

He reached down into his pouch and withdrew the second apple. "Eh heh heh... Sorry, I'm a bit hungry." Link held onto the apple in his mouth and tried again, this time successfully. "Here eeh goh." He gave the ocarina to his left hand, and pulled the apple from his mouth with his right. "Sorry, There we go."

Fluttershy extended a hoof. "May I?" Happily, he handed it to her, and continued eating. "Hmm," she studied it over. A few moments passed and she gave it back to him. "I heard you played a tune already. Can you do it again? The same one, please."

Navi came out and made her appearance. "Are you sure that's a good idea? Who knows what'll happen?" She flew over to Link and perched on his arm. "Just thinking about the effects it could cause is reason not to."

"I understand your concern, Navi, but if it'll help, then why not? Besides, it didn't do anything the first time, why would it now?" Twilight countered. Hesitantly, Navi went up and sat on his shoulder.

"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you..." she finished. Link pressed the instrument against his lips and played the same exact tune as he had before, careful to move his fingers in the correct order. 11 notes later, he finished.

"That's very close to the same range mine has, so this'll be easier than I expected."

"And nothing happened?" Twilight asked, looking around with curiosity. "Maybe you did something wrong?"

"I don't even know what that was. But it felt right," he looked toward his sister. "I'm sure it's nothing. Anyway, that was it. Just that..."

"Interesting..." Twilight added. She then held up one of the open books to a bookmarked page. "How about this one?" On the page was the same series of notes she pointed out yesterday, from Starswirl's autobiography.

"I can't read music yet. Best to ask Fluttershy about it," he replied, looking at it. "Hmm... It needs a name. How about... Celestia's Lullaby?"

"I'm using that. It sounds perfect." Twilight scribbled some notes on a part of a scroll at her side. "How about it, Fluttershy? Care to let us hear what it sounds like?"

"um... i . . . i don't think I want to..." she replied, again hiding behind her mane. "i'm not all that great, anyway...."

"You don't have to if you don't want to. Besides, I'm not in any big hurry to mess it up. I do, however, need to practice. So, if you please, can I borrow yours until I can play efficiently? For practice only." Link smiled and looked at Fluttershy.

"ok... sure, why not." She hoofed over her own over to him, who looked at its design. It was very similar in hole placement, despite having been pegasus-made. "this is also for you. while you played your tune, I wrote down what the notes were. that way, you won't forget it, in case something did happen."

"Oh, that'll help greatly. Thanks again, Fluttershy." He looked at it, and saw she had written what each note was. Then again at the ocarina and saw that each hole had a symbol beside it. "You labeled it."

"Yes, so you know what notes you're playing." Twilight nodded. "Organization and all that. I assisted with precise magic control. As it turns out, feathers aren't useful for engraving unless you're really good at it."

"Which I'm not..." Fluttershy added.

Twilight noticed his outfit slung over his arm. "Where were you going just now?"

"Rarity's. 2 reasons. One: I sent Spike there before confronting the Ursa Minor. Two: I want her to use the form of the torn outfit as the base for the one she will make for me." He put away the blue ocarina in his pouch, held the loaned one in his hand, and held his unfinished apple in the other after another bite. "Come on, Navi. Let's get moving."

Navi flew from her mane to his hair. "Right." Together, the two left the library as he ate his apple. Almost immediately, the green Pegasus from the quills store swooped down and perched on the mailbox.

"Hey human. Heard you got into it with a beast last night. Mind if I ask some questions?" she asked as she withdrew a scroll scrawled with questions.

"Only if it's in regards to last night. Nothing personal."

"... Oh, okay then. Hm... How did you recover so quickly? I heard you were injured." She looked up from her scroll as she asked this. oh well. some of these're gonna be made up.

"My leg got injured pretty bad, but Twilight healed me with medical magic. Next."

"It was Twilight who ultimately drove the bear from town, correct?" Link only nodded his head. "Uh huh... And... Hm..." She rolled down a ways to another. "Ah! It appears I don't have any more non-personal questions." She paused for a second. "Well, maybe I do have just one more." She put away her scroll and got down from the mailbox, eyeballing the ocarina in his hand. "Since you have an ocarina, can I give you something? It's a song of my own creation. I whistle it when I'm alone." She reached into her bag and took out a small scroll. As it unraveled, it revealed a series of notes and a set of lines. "I named it after me: 'Storm's Song'. Clever, huh?"

"'Storm's Song'? Is that part of your name then?" he asked, taking it.

"Sure is. The name's Emerald Storm. Pleasure to meet ya, kid." She extended her hoof toward him. He looked at his hands, which were full of things, then shrugged his shoulders. "I see. Your hands are full. Perhaps another time."

"You said you were going to the mountains, correct? Is that particularly far from here?"

"Only about a day's flight and a night's walk. That's not stopping either. I still have stops in Canterlot to make, several item stores for stuff..."

"Then what are you doing here in Ponyville? Besides missing the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Ugh. Had to bring that up, huh? I'm here to visit an old friend of mine." She took this moment to glance at the sky. "But again, I can't stay too long. And with that, I must be going. See ya around, kid!" Emerald took off toward the clouds again, hiding behind one just out of sight.

Link continued toward the boutique. He kept his eyes focused on the music in front of him. "Storm's Song, huh... Do these notes look familiar to you, Navi?"

She came from his hat and looked at the paper. "Hmm... Yeah, 2 of them are the same as the song before, but this one is new. It's repeated, but still. Then it goes on for another ten notes, with a couple new ones there too. If you ask me, I'd say each sequence of notes must be precisely executed, for the desired effect to occur."

"If that's the case, then I hope Twilight can make one that specifically opens the doors..."

In the clouds, Emerald sat with Rainbow out of sight. "You know, Dashie? He's not as strange as the lore makes them out to be." She turned toward her blue friend. "In fact, there's something about him that I find... familiar. I don't know what."

"Heh, feeling sentimental, are you? He's stationed here for the time being. So if you want to see him more, then don't be such a stranger." Rainbow laughed a little at that.

"Come now, Dashie, I'm no stranger. Sure, I left Cloudsdale, but I came back to visit you here. You remember? Last time I was here was about ... 2 and a half years ago?" Storm put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Yeah, that sounds right."

"It is right. 2 and a half years without my best friend. ...I still think I should have gone with you." Dash hung her head a little.

"If you did that, then you never would be the reason I came back here, Dashie." Emerald wrapped her forelegs around Dash in a hug. "You, too, are my best friend." They sat there a moment. "I do have to go though. I'll see you around, then..." Slowly, she released her captive, and took to the sky.

"You better write me this time!" Dash called out after her.

"There's no mail system in the mountains. I will when I get to Canterlot, though. Promise." With that, she faded from sight.

Dash sighed, and lay down. "Yeah, see you in another three years..."

Link knocked on the boutique's front door, only to have a small unicorn answer it. "You must be Link," she said, stepping aside. "I was told to expect you. Do come in."

"Uh, ok." He walked in and looked around as she closed the door behind him. "I think this is the first time I've actually been inside the building. And what a nice place it is. Even though half the floor is strewn cloth and threads."

"My big sister made this mess. So she'll have to clean it up. Anyways, I'm supposed to tell you that Rarity went to Sugarcube Corner with Spike. I don't doubt the others are there as well."

"You use an awful lot of fancy words for somepony your age. What are you, like, 7?" He turned toward the white unicorn.

"Yes, actually. See, I have a lot of free time, so I read the dictionary. Oh, but where are my manners? My name is Sweetie Belle."

"A pleasure. Well, Sweetie Belle. It's been a hoot talking with you, but I must get going. I will, however, ask that you give Rarity a message for me: I'm leaving my clothes here. She can use these dimensions to weave for me an outfit. A sturdy fabric with strong stitches. Just remember, the outer shirt, I want to be a golden yellow. The other clothes are to remain the same color, but of similar fabric." Link finished and looked at her once more. "Get all that?"

"Got it." Sweetie looked at the clothes he set on the couch. "... what was the first part again?"

"Sturdy fabric, strong stitches," he repeated. "I trust you'll remember."

"I will. Oh! One more thing. How old are you? Only in fairness do I ask."

"Me? So far as I'm aware, I'll turn 13 on July 20th. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm in something of a hurry." Link walked out and shut the door. Better tell Rarity too, just in case. Hm? Immediately, he noticed everypony has vacated the streets, save for one who seemed to be poking her hoof into the ground. "Pardon me," he introduced. "It seems like you are looking for something. Perhaps I can assist?"

Surprised, the form removed her hood and backstepped a little. "Do not think my retreat to be in fear. I know not what you are, or why you are here."

Immediately, he noticed how the form spoke in rhyme. This could be fun... or really difficult. Nothing ventured, right? Wait a sec... before, Pinkie had said to wait whenever somepony, or myself rhymed, claiming it wasn't time yet. Is this what she meant? "I'm interested in your rhyming diction. Tell me, is it from a mental affliction?" Wait, that didn't come out right.

"You dare to insult me?! Go away, and leave me be!" She turned and started walking away.

"Forgive me, I meant no offense. And may I add to my defense? See, I saw you poking at the ground. And I had to meet you, having not seen you around." This is getting difficult.

The odd colored pony turned again, to face him. "I come to Ponyville today, for the one thing I need. That something is the elusive 'Wildgrass Seed'. I require this ingredient for a special brew. Might I ask the assistance of you?" she finished, smiling.

I'm done. No more. "Okay, I give up. Sure I'll help. That's what I asked in the first place. 'Wildgrass Seed', you say?"

She laughed for a moment. "I wondered how long, for you, it would take. Rhyming couplets are not easy to make. All the same, I accept your assistance. When I come to town, everypony stays at a distance."

"Eh heh... Yeah, it's not easy. Makes me wonder how you do it. Anyway, it's wednesday, so the stalls are open. They're on the other side of town, according to the map. This way." The two began their walk. Minutes passed and Link again spoke up. "Mind if I ask from where you hail?"

"I hail from a land called Zebrica. It's a long ways away. But the Everfree Forest is where I currently stay," she replied, not missing a beat.

"Do you have the whole conversation prepared, or something? How do you rhyme on time like that?" he asked, turning her direction, and noticing the golden rings adorning her neck.

"This dialect is common among Zebra-folk. My way of speaking may seem like a joke, but fortunately this is not the case. Rhyming is cultural for the Zebra race."

"Ah, so you're a zebra. That explains a few things." Another minute of silence, as they entered the "shopping district". "Here we are. Let's see..." He looked around at the various stalls. The one they sought was the closest, surprisingly. Nothing had ever worked out like that. Link knew the pony behind the counter as Carrot Top, the pony Rarity blew past yesterday in her hurry to the boutique. She sported a green bandana wrapped loosely around her neck. "Hey, Carrot Top? Got any Wildgrass Seed for my Zebra acquaintance?"

The mare looked at the zebra in silence a moment. "I think her name is Zecora. I've heard things about you, but I don't judge. At any rate, I do." She dipped behind the counter and retrieved a small box filled with bags, each with a seed stitched into it. "Got them in yesterday. One bag is 5 bits."

Zecora took 2 bags and left behind 10 bits for the mare. She and Link walked back to where they first exchanged words. "I wish to ask you something. What do you know about a pony named 'Ruby Inferno'?"

"She comes by my hut but once a week. And unlike many, she calls me not a freak. Often, she helps me scavenge for supplies, and she is quite strong, despite her size." She then turned toward the forest.

"Interesting. Do you need anything else?"

"The only thing that I need is this: the Wildgrass Seed. I appreciate your help, I really do. But I must be going, I have a potion to brew." She continued into the woods and immediately faded from sight.

Link stood there, speechless, for a minute. Then, he turned around and saw his friends walking up to him from across the way. "Oh, there you all are. Glad Spike's safe."

"Yes, well. See, he's been helping me ever so much, I had to treat him. But then Pinkie here suddenly yanked me inside SugarCube Corner. I was headed there anyway, but that's beside the point." Rarity had given Spike back to Twilight, who stood between Rainbow and Fluttershy.

"I only came into town, because I needed more scroll paper. Then Pinkie did much the same to me. I found Aj and Dash already inside," Twilight added. "Fluttershy came with, saying she didn't want to let me walk alone."

"That was thoughtful. Tell me, did you see the zebra?"

"I did, and I must say, you handled that better than Pinkie would." The group turned to the pink pony.

"Well... In my defense, she is cooking a brew, of the neutral variety." Link looked at her, puzzled.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know that. But while we're on the subject: what else do you know about her?" he asked, paying attention.

"I know that she's a zebra, who lives in the dark, creepy Everfree Forest. She comes into town once a month, for stuff, but the shops are all closed. I keep thinking she has bad timing, but it's really because she's scary-looking." Pinkie kept bouncing in place as she described the zebra.

Fascinating he thought. "On a different note. Rarity? I swung by your boutique, but found you weren't there. I left my tattered clothing there for you to measure, since it's those dimensions that fit so well."

"Does it have to be the same color? Or is it up to me?" she replied in wonder.

"The higher-ups in the Royal Guard sport golden colored armor, so if you could, a deep yellow will do nicely. This is only for the outer shirt. The pants and undershirt I'd like to be the color they are now. And if you could, I'd like them all to be of very sturdy material, with equally strong stitching. I don't know much about weaving, so I'll leave that up to you." He finished and turned his attention to Pinkie, as Rarity started her reply.

"It's going to take at least a week, between making the materials, collecting the resources, designing the outfit, measuring, not to mention I have no 'human' model." She was met with a glance from Link. "But, all the same. It will get done. I ask only one thing in return: you help with the material acquisition. I have a fabric in mind, but there is a material that I believe will make the bonds unbreakable. Of course, I'll need Twilight's help with this as well." She finished and looked at Twilight, who nodded her head in approval. "In no more than two weeks, it shall be done."

"One more thing, Rarity. I told Sweetie Belle, so do me a favor, and test her memory on it. Sturdy material, strong stitches, golden color, same colored shirt and pants. That is all." He again turned to Pinkie. "I recall you telling everypony that it wasn't time yet. Were you referring to my encounter with Zecora?"

"I was, and it's good you picked up on it. Since my responses are limited, you must ask the right question." Pinkie started hopping back into SugarCube Corner, not waiting for his response.

"... Odd. Anywho, Rainbow Dash. There was a pegasus earlier today who mentioned an old friend and glanced at the sky. I take it she meant you?"

Rainbow flashed a grin. "She sure did! Along with Fluttershy, she's a pony I met at flight camp before I left. Now she adventures the world over. Emmy is one of my best friends!"

"Well, I was given a musical score from her." Link fished it from his pocket as Rarity started back for her boutique. "Twilight, I hope this will aid you in your research." He handed it to Twilight.

"Hmm... It will help, yes, but... You should know: even if there are only 6 notes, then you're looking at 34,375 different sequences of notes, not counting sharps or flats. Until I have something to go by, I'm walking blind." Twilight looked it over, then added, "With this one, we now have three different songs, each with varying effects if any at all. I could try to cross-reference them with each other, but that will be fruitless if you don't actually test them."

"I'm willing to do that, but I must practice with Fluttershy's before doing it with the other." He turned toward the library, the place he could call home. "Well, if you all will excuse me, I have a slice of pie with my name on it." With that, he departed, Fluttershy and Twilight in tow. Aj went back to the farm and finished up her chores alongside Applebloom. Dash went up to her cloud home to sleep the day away.

The chilled winds of the mountains forced Epona to take shelter in a small cave. Huddled in a corner, her own warmth to keep her company beneath a blanket, she caught the sound of something... musical. "Yesterday, and again today. What is that?" Still in her blanket, she ran outside the cave and perked her ears. After a moment, she looked away from the mountain face. "The wind carried a tune... from that way!" She looked southward, then took out her map. "Let's see... nothing there... Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Ponyville, Dodge Junction, then as far away as Los Pegasus and the desert."

Epona rolled up the map and looked at the peak of the mountain. Then again toward civilization. If destiny is making that music, then who am I to ignore it. but... I was so close. She again shook herself out of her thoughts. "No doubting it! The key to my Cutie Mark lies in one of those places. Most likely not Cloudsdale."

She went inside, gathered her stuff, and started her long journey down the mountain, with newfound vigor fueling her step.

Meh chapter. Dealt with Zecora, and now I can move on. Also, check Ch. 5's author notes, I changed them again. (ugh)

Couplets! Couplets Everywhere! Agh! And yeah, Epona. That's a thing here.