Zecora picked one last bottle out of her collection, the white fluid almost giving off its own light. She shook it gently, showcasing its slightly viscous nature to her impromptu student.

“This potion, of alchemy it has been a wondrous feat; with one gulp, into the past you may peek. But caution must be used even in its creation, for abusing this item will bring you devastation,” she warned.

Sea Breeze took the potion in her hooves with utter care, making sure the stopper was secure. “Poison?” she guessed. “Or addiction?”

A lot of ponies felt that alchemy and natural brews were a healthier choice than modern medicine. Sea Breeze, having apprenticed and educated in the alchemical arts herself, knew that if you weren’t wary enough then natural remedies could lead to a very natural death. Nothing more natural than dying because you choked on a vial of mercury for instance.

“Both,” the zebra answered, her raised up mane remaining unperturbed despite her sudden nod. “A malady of the body the potion is not, but it shall guide the soul to rot. Curiosity brings its own doom, and this the potion intimately grooms. As a secret it must remain, revealed only when all hope is vain.”

The unicorn with the rotten off horn checked her own notebook and copied over the instructions and ingredients needed, taking special notice of their cost as she did so. She wondered how much of the warnings she just heard had to do with the fact that most of the ingredients were so rare they would be worth half a kingdom’s ransom.

“I cannot accept this!” Sea Breeze said, her eyes widening. That potion was worth more bits than she had ever seen in all her lifetime so far. For pity’s sake, she first came here hoping for a few pointers and a Zebrican blessing at best. But Zecora insisted on granting her gifts without stop, teaching her as much as she could in the little time she spent here. And now this.

“But you shall, and so you will; for it might soon come in need,” Zecora retorted with the enigmatic smile Sea Breeze had seen all advanced Zebra alchemists have. Perhaps they had a potion to see into the future if they could make this, who knew? It would explain quite a lot. She graciously accepted the offered potion and made sure it was secure and safe in her saddlebags before continuing her notekeeping.

One of the three fillies that arrived midpoint her visit with Zecora yawned. “This is boring,” the orange coated filly complained. Scootaloo, if Sea Breeze remembered correctly. “Can we do something cool? Or help with a potion? This scribbling is boring. That’s what Twilight does all day.”

“You don’t learn anything without study,” Sea Breeze argued back, happily continuing her scribbling. It didn’t even merit as such. Her mouthwriting was excellent. Zecora’s however was atrocious. She wondered why every witch doctor she ever met had the same problem. Every apothecary as well. Pharmacists too. Hewn Laurel had this issue of making a letter be little better than a straight line.

She sucked on the end of the pencil in thought. Nah, it couldn’t be that. They were all intelligent ponies. No way they were dipping into their own supplies. Right?

“Ah’d rather go back to Ponyville if we ain’t having any fun today,” the one with the adorable bow on her head said, yawning. “Can we go?”

Sea Breeze shook her head, spitting out the pencil. “No! You three should never have come here without escort. I’m taking you back home when I’m done with my effort. Do you have any idea how dangerous the forest is?”

“Alas, I’ve tried as well, and the warning will not take root. At best it will leave the other ear with the whistle of a flute,” Zecora said, giving a disappointed stare to the three young girls, that certainly seemed chastised for a few brief seconds before one of them pointed the others towards something shiny.

“I am bored,” Sweetie Belle said after another minute of blessed silence, reaching up to look outside the window. “Bored, bored, bored, bored, why is Mister Raegdan out there fighting with a tree?”

They all rushed to the window. Zecora and Sea Breeze looked over the heads of the fillies. Her… sometimes superior was really out there, and he really was fighting a tree!

As Raegdan swore in his weird language and broke another thick branch with his hammer, she noticed a piece of wood had gotten lodged in his armor, right behind his helmet. That was probably why this particular tree was chosen as the current punching bag. She didn’t fail to notice the multitude of new marks his armor had either. It looked as if someone trying to whittle it down for a few hours without much success.

Knowing him as little as she did, Sea Breeze could only guess that he had gotten into a fight with something very dangerous in the Everfree Forest on his own. As for his current one, he was probably relieving some stress. It wasn’t the first time she saw him do that.

And apparently, the three fillies running off wasn’t the first time seen by Zecora either as she looked at her open door with a deep, heavy sigh. Sea Breeze and Zecora ran after them. By the time they reached them Raegdan had quieted down, but he gazed down at the chattering girls with a smoldering stance.

She saw the marks and dents on the front as well. Make that multiple dangerous something. Did he get piled on by lions or something?

Zecora greeted the biped with a deep bow. “Reg-dan, it is a pleasure to meet you again after giving me your aid. The Timberwolves of the Everfree are finally under rein. Your potion has been the greatest of boons; more powerful than the most mystical of runes.”

“Hi. Yeah, sure. No problem. I had to go anyway,” he absently answered.

“Potion?” Sea Breeze wondered aloud despite herself.

Raegdan’s stare turned her way. “Water: The Sequel. That’s what she means. Now, Sea Breeze, would you mind explaining to me, very carefully, why you brought these three children here?”

She fought off the sudden urge to cower behind the Zebra. Her right hoof made sure her own helmet was on her side as she left it, a small part of her fearing he would start wailing on her if she had mislaid her gear. Again.

“I didn’t bring them here,” Sea Breeze defended herself. “Apparently they come to visit miss Zecora herein, all too often without warning their kin. I was going to bring them back to Ponyville when I was finished here.”

Raegdan knelt down, eyeing the three fillies. Scootaloo sniffed suspiciously, and backed off a few steps rapidly. “Eww, you stink!”

Sea Breeze felt the smell hitting her own nostrils and fought off a gag. She thanked her lucky stars the young girls couldn’t tell what it was. Zecora silently tapped Sea Breeze and pointed her towards Raegdan’s boots and the seams of his armor, especially on the back. Places where it would be hard to clean without removing it. She could spot where grains of dirt had mixed with blood and caked him with mud that somepony who didn’t know might mistake for dark red clay.

“Thanks. That will make me more lenient, way to go,” Raegdan congratulated sarcastically. “Why do you three came here on your own? Do you want to be eaten?”

“We are fine,” Scootaloo insisted with the fatigue of repeating herself. “See? Whole and uneaten.”

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle added. “Zecora keeps the path to her house clear and we don’t get lost.”

“And ain’t nothing happened to us so far,” Apple Bloom pointed out, matter of factly. “So why bother our sisters and all?”

The helmet turned towards Sea Breeze for a few seconds before switching to Zecora and then back to the three girls. The ever-present bandage was gone, and Sea Breeze caught a glimpse of the horror of his ruined, bloody eye behind the darkened, long eye-slit. “So,” Raegdan said, his finger tapping on the mouth of his helmet. “The problem is that nothing bad has happened to you so far, huh?”

Applejack moved her shoulders to get her saddlebags more comfortable on her back. “Ah ain’t got time for another of your shows, Rainbow. Ah got work to do. Why don’t ya go practice on yer own and you can show me your new tricks after you get them down pat?”

“Pff, I already got them down pat, AJ. If you don’t want to come, then it’s your loss. How about you, Rarity? You can give me a hoof. You got a good eye for routines, you can tell me if it doesn’t look as cool from the ground,” Rainbow Dash requested, turning to her prim and proper friend.

Rarity did seem to honestly mull it for a second. “I’m sorry, darling, but I have to decline. I’d love to help you, but my schedule is simply overburdened as it is. I have a couple of very critical pieces to finish. My time is all yours after I’m done, though.”

Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry at nopony. “Well, that blows. I’ll just get Pinkie instead.”

“You can’t get Pinkie!” both mares at her sides chorused.

“She’s helping me finish my chores.”

“She’s helping me finish my dress.”

“I thought she was going to help the Cakes finish up painting the baby’s room,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“Obviously after that,” both Applejack and Rarity said together.

Any further argument were cut off short as the sound of tired crying and sniffles reached their ears. Two pairs of ears perked up as the instincts of older siblings woke up, and one pair lowed down in self-defense as old instincts told her to keep low lest whoever was getting it pulled her in this time as well.

Raegdan made their way to them, wearing the armor that bode no good. Below his arms he was carrying the Cutie Mark Crusaders like empty sacks, all three tearing up, their little hooves dangling uselessly in the air.

The three mares marched forward to meet him, demands to let their sisters and friends down right now already flying, along with questions of what happened, who hurt them, why they were crying, and with eyes appraising them for possible wounds and hurts. All in all, what met Raegdan was an absolute jumble that not even the three of them could decipher.

“Shut up!” Raegdan shouted, and the volume of his voice was enough to bring the desired effect. He shook the girls stuck under his arms, even the fillies ceasing their cries at his bellow. “Do you have. Any idea. Where I picked them up?”

Applejack exchanged glances with her friends. “No…?” she ventured. Now, she could handle him fine usually. But when he saw himself in the right proper enough to be angry like that… Well, now that there was a conundrum.

“The Everfree Forest. They went in there alone!” Raegdan half-growled.

Rarity gasped. “Sweetie Belle, how many times must I repeat myself that—”

“Shut! Up!” Raegdan roared again. Ponies were already staring through windows, but none of them dared to venture out and watch the exchange closer. Bunch of cowards. If it wasn’t for her sister Applejack would… probably go in there and talk to them, maybe stay a bit to keep them company. “Not one word out of the three of you! Now, I already had a good talk with these three. Now it’s your turn.”

He let his stare traverse across all of them. Applejack noticed a red, evil glare inside his helmet that cut her breath and made her back shiver. “If they go in there on their own again, and I find out, I will punish them myself. Again. Then, I will find the three of you. And then I will punish you. And it will be brutal.”

Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. “Wait, why am I responsible for—”

“Shut! Up!” He took a deep, calming breath through his nose. Then he crouched down and carefully let the three terrified fillies on the ground before standing back up, lording his height over them. “I’m going back to Twilight’s library. I’m going to take a bath, eat, bandage myself, and then keep working on Spike’s room. We won’t talk any more of this. There is nothing more to say. Do we understand each other?”

Applejack swallowed. “Ah reckon we, ah, we do. For sure. No problem here, no sir!” All he demanded was for them to do their job anyway. Maybe it wasn’t his place, but somepony had to step up if Apple Bloom was gallivanting off to the Everfree Forest and Applejack had no idea.

Besides, she now had the perfect boogieman to keep her from venturing in there again.

Raegdan didn’t answer. He turned around and left, leaving his threats and a putrid smell that made Applejack’s stomach roll in his wake. She waited until he was out of sight and her guts settled again, before she asked the question burning in her mind.

“Alright. Now, what did he do to y’all?” she asked. Now, she was dead sure he hadn’t done anything too much, not against little fillies, but she had to make sure he didn’t go overboard. After all, what he might see as light or appropriate punishment might not mean the same for everypony else.

The three girls lowered their head and mumbled incoherently.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity admonished, “head up and speak clearly, please. Now, what happened? In your own words, take your time.”

Sweetie Belle wiped her nose with her leg, prompting Rarity to quickly produce three handkerchiefs out of somewhere and pass them around. “Well,” she sniffled. “He asked us why we went to see Zecora.”

“And we told him,” Scootaloo continued, “because we like her and she’s our friend. Plus, we wanted to ask her for any ideas for our cutie marks.”

Apple Bloom picked up the baton now. “He asked us about our quest for our cutie marks and then he said, ‘Alright. If it’s cutie marks you three want, I can fix that as well. Two birds, one stone.’ We thought that… We thought he could do special magic and give us our cutie marks. He said he could.”

Rainbow Dash was completely baffled. “But… But Raegdan can’t do magic!”

“Apple Bloom.” Applejack glared with her older sister authority. “What did he do?”

The three Cutie Marks Crusaders exchanged another miserable look. Then they half-turned, presenting their sore, aching flanks and the gigantic, bright red handprints that had been embedded on their flanks by sheer force. They were already turning purple around the opened fingers.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Slap Winners,” the young fillies lamented as one.