“Morning, Canterlot Residential East District, nine hundred and ninety second celestial year, forty-eighth day of summer.”

“Uugh… my head” Spoke a lavender unicorn with a two toned pink highlight as she got out of bed. holding a hoof to her forehead hoping to halt the torrent of pain bursting from her temples. She attempted to use her telekinesis to grab a small cup of water from off the bed side table, however the appendage wouldn’t even release a spark let alone its usual magenta glow that would allow for the stronger spells. Realizing after a few minutes of attempting, that avenue wasn’t going to work she groggily rolled out of bed and plodded up to the table, grabbed the glass with her hooves, slowly lifted it to her lips, and sipped the heavenly ambrosia feeling it slowly rehydrate her body and hopefully remove the unfathomably painful headache. It only dulled it a little sighing in relief that the worst was passed she put the glass container down and turned towards the door to her room. She looked at the lilac coated walls and the rosewood door carefully she made her way over to the portal to the hallway and opened it. The first thing she spotted was another mare with a white coat and a cutie mark consisting of three stars, walking towards the door as the lavender filly opened it with her hooves, and promptly collapsed on the floor.

The white mare’s eyes widened as she began rushing towards the collapsed filly “Twilight? Twilight! , are you ok?” She called as she neared the downed purple form.

“m-mom? I don’t feel so good.” The filly whimpered as she lay on the solid wood floor shivering from the cold air and the burning headache. “I can’t use my magic and I woke up with this… headache” Twilight continued as she trembled to her hooves unsteadily. “Do you think you can get rid of it?” Twilight turned her eyes hopefully on her mother as she regained a semblance of control on her unstable and tired frame.

“Sure” spoke the white mare as she lowered her horn to Twilight's forehead and began to burn away the headache with a simple ice summoning charm with a basic guiding spell to ease the soothing cold onto the troubled areas of the mind relaxing the tense muscles and releasing twilight from the pain into bliss.

Twilight sighed in relief as the headache was cooled off. “thank you mom that really hurt for a few minutes there.” Then her ears drooped and she started to cry. “Mom I can’t use my magic for some reason and whenever I try to focus on it, it makes the headache more painful.” She sniffled as tears dropped from her face.

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The white mare smiled knowingly “It’s alright dear we all have times when our magic is low it just means we need to rest and recuperate our reserves. Why don’t you go down and have breakfast with your father before he goes off to work we have blueberry pancakes this morning and raspberry juice.” She gazed down at the sad filly as her expression immediately turned to immense joy from her dejection.

All too common was her grim facade since she failed to enter Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns, ‘Her brother never did fully forgive her for that disappointment’ she sighed as she watched her filly beam up at her in one of the lavender filly’s rare smiles and began bounding down the corridor, down the stairs to the kitchen. However the white coated mare took her time. ‘twilight.. not only were you disappointed that you failed to enter into the school you also had your brother take back the book when he found out what happened... As of late you spent more time studying than anything else, you are also completely ignoring your own needs, even the foal sitter has had very little success in breaking that dense shell of yours.’ She sighed again as she reached the stairs. ‘You and shining talk very little in passing and you even completely ignore suggestions to relax and have fun.’ Dream Sparkle felt tears begin gathering in her eyes as she reached the bottom landing she quickly shook them away and continued on down the corridor to the kitchen. ‘Why are you still so cold to everypony, since that day very little gets through and those who you do speak to about anything other than your experiments are few and far between. you’re too dedicated to your work, I fear it may have already consumed you.’ “I wish we didn’t push her so hard back then.” She murmured as she reached the kitchen. She looked in watching as her husband Midnight a lovely blue stallion with a crescent moon as his cutie mark ate at the table with her little daughter Twilight.

“Hello honey welcome back I see you got Twilight up easily enough.” The maroon stallion smiled amiably. “I also see that you're looking no worse for wear you really must tell me your secret one of these days.” He got up and padded over to his pearl white mare and gave her a gentle nuzzle. Twilight oblivious to the scene in favor of her fresh pancakes and fruit juice.

The midnight blue stallion chuckled a little and smiled at the mare before him and continued calmly. “Well i guess its time for me to get ready for work I’ll be in the shower if you need me.”

The mare smiled and watched as her husband trotted out of the kitchen, then turned towards her daughter who was barely finishing up her blueberry pancakes and was preparing to enter the massive library that consisted of the majority of their home.

She tried to light up her horn again and grab one of the books from the shelf, after the third fizzle she realized that she still couldn’t use her magic. Rather than crying like most foals her age would she just shouldered the burden without complaining, steeled her resolve to study harder, and continue forward undaunted by the task which she laid before herself.

Dream sighed as she gathered her pancakes and started eating hoping that someday they’d be able to break their daughter out of her shell.

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The lavender filly padded over to the bookshelf and positioned the ladder carefully with her front hooves grunting a little with the effort. She climbed the bookshelf and retrieved the desired volume with her teeth and then climbed back down to safety on the floor. She put her prize down and looked at it. ‘Daily Horn Exercises Volume 3 by Dr. Aurora’ the book was titled. ‘Maybe this will help me figure out what’s going on with my sudden magic loss.’

As Twilight read the volume, she began to learn more about her predicament she started sensing the slight pressure behind her sensitive organ and began feeling the headache build up again. She tried a few of the methods for reducing horn stress that she had found in the book, however instead of alleviating the pain they seemed to intensify it to the point where eventually she cried out in visceral pain. Her entire being was in unimaginable pain from the pressure building up inside of her just as she was about to cry out again, huddling on the floor eyes closed no longer able to think.

Dream Sparkle walked in upon the sight of her filly crying out in pain her eyes glowing from the sheer amount of magic building up just underneath the surface. “Twilight!!!” She exclaimed as she rushed over to her filly and hugged her.“it’ll be ok i’m here for you.” She cooed as Twilight cried from the pain the magic still building up behind her burning appendage.

“M-mom it hurts p-please make it go away.” Twilight cried before a bolt of pure unrefined arcane energy released from her horn blasting away the door to the kitchen and Incinerating a third of the entire book archive. Dream Sparkle wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings and the things that were going on as she watched over her poor filly, wishing desperately that she could relieve her daughter’s pain. Then she heard a noise from outside and looked up to see Midnight gawking at the end of the stares looking through the blasted portal that once led to the kitchens a few charred pieces of wood and shards of broken items littered on the shattered and scorched floorboards, remnants of the wall.

Twilight released another blast of arcane energy this time destroying the roof of the library and a good portion of its outer wall, Dream Sparkle then placed her hoof on Twilights forehead in an attempt to cut off the flux of energy, it was as if the floodgates were released twilight screamed louder than volumes even the royal Canterlot voice could achieve, her body was then engulfed in a maelstrom of pure arcane energy that spread outward in rapid succession immediately leveling her home and incinerating the occupants within, and then another wave of pure energy escaped from within her releasing her from her pain and causing everything to go white.

Her thoughts started to become coherent, she began remembering a happier times under an old tree, without thinking or coercion the remaining arcane energy still surrounding her in a corona as bright as the moon instantly folded in teleporting her to the cherished place of her filly hood memories, dreams, and blacking out upon arrival.

Her eyes fluttered open as she drowsily woke up she noticed the position of the sun and realized that it was midday, she slowly got to her hooves her mind still in a fog “Ughh wha-what happened?” She murmured as she looked around bleary eyed at her surroundings. Upon seeing the tree a memory of one of the times she visited it with her brother. It was a happy occasion celebrating her brother’s acceptance into the royal guard and it was a few days before his training began.

She trotted up to the tree and softly caressed its gnarled bark letting the memories take hold of her letting her remember the good times and helping her clear her mind of the energy induced fog clearing her mind and opening her thoughts. She began to cry as she realize what she had missed in all the time she had wasted in her brooding from her failure that day, she also realized how much she really missed her bbbff and how sad she’s been over the years, how little she has been paying attention to those she loves and that love her in turn.

She started to cry as her mind finally released the torrent of pent up feelings she has been suppressing since that fateful day. She collapsed against the tree crying knowing that the more pain she released the better she’d feel later on after a few minutes of her emotional release she calmed down enough to allow coherent thoughts.“I should probably apologize for the way I’ve acted, I never meant to be so mean to everypony.” Her ears folded back in self recrimination. “I miss you big brother, I’m sorry cadence I didn’t mean to ignore you so much and be a big meanie.” Twilight moaned lowering her head even further sighing into the ground. Then her ears perked up ‘Maybe that’ll work’ She thought. “I’ll apologize to both shining and cadence and even my parents for ignoring them.” ‘I’ll even try to make it up to them.’ Her smile growing as she planned how she'd try and regain her brothers trust and love along with the others dear to her, she was cheerful that is until she looked up from the tree and turned towards Canterlot.

Or what was left of the beautiful white city. The crenelated towers were crumbled and had fallen off the edge of the city, off the face of the cliff, there was smoke billowing out of one of the districts along with debris still falling from the sky, the harder she looked the more she realized that it was the residential district that was bleeding smoke into the air. Then it came to her the strange fatigue from the morning the pain from trying to access her magic, the excruciating release and loss of control then… “CELESTIA NO… mom, dad… no they can’t be” but one look back toward Canterlot told her otherwise. ‘not only have I killed my parents but I’ve also… NO! I don’t even want to think about it… no.’ she looked up with realization “no I can’t go back to Canterlot. No not after this not until i fix it... but... how, and where, where do I go now?” she asked no one in particular.

After a few minutes of thinking it came to her ‘nowhere near here that’s for sure. Hmm the Everfree, maybe? … perfect!’ having lived in a library most of her life allowed her some insight into the geography of Equestria she quickly drew up plans on how to get to the forest in question and immediately turned tail and charged into the whitetail woods at the base of the mountain Canterlot was situated on. She slowed down to rest a few hours after entering the forest curling up at the base of a Cypress tree as the sun reached its zenith nearing sundown.

Twilight realized that even if they wouldn’t punish her for what happened she still wouldn’t be able to deal with the guilt she felt for being the cause of the pain. She rested there at the base of the tree until she felt enough of her energy had returned to continue her journey, And so she went through the woods reveling in the beauty of the life around her, eventually the sun set and the night life came forth as the lavender filly continued on her path through the forest, she reveled in the beauty of the night sky above just behind the canopy of leaves, the occasional glowing pearlescent white moon flowers she came across every now and then within the whitetail woods.

The night slowly soothed her frayed nerves and she calmed down eventually finding a place next to a softly flowing river bed as the sun started to rise and the night came to a close she slept. Those who would have searched for the wayward filly would have found her nestled amongst lavender roses near the winding river within the white tail wood. That morning she dreamt of pain and sorrows nightmares no foal should ever have to see yet as the dreams progressed she began to accept that the part of her life where innocence was her blessing has been over for a long time, and so she resigns herself to the nightmares to listen and see where they lead her.

She woke up late in the evening blearily looking around seeing purple above and below her she quickly regained her wits before she made any futile attempts to call her parents yet her condition was still groggy and encumbered with weariness hearing the water nearby she quickly trotted over to the river and cautiously sniffed the water as if it would harm her, she gazed at the liquid rushing passed as if the mere sight of it would cool and slack her parched throat then without another thought, letting need take over her actions for just a second she dipped her head down and immediately began lapping the cool liquid nectar, the sweet sparkling babbling water, and quenching her thirst soothing her dry sore throat with the refreshing substance. As she finished and pulled her head up her mind now clear due to the sharp fog slicing ice cold frigidity of the fluid, she immediately resumed her planning for how she was to remain uncaptured and safe from harm, she continued her walk towards the Everfree knowing that very few ponies venture into the dark and mysterious woodland and those that did frequently spoke of the dangers involved when entering those dank dark woods in essence the perfect place to hide.

It was now dark out the night air had a crisp feel to it as twilight slowly trotted down through the forest towards the prairie land that separated the two forests with a road in the middle of it leading between Canterlot and one of the myriad of nearby towns that flooded the countryside before Canterlot.

As Twilight passed through the forest she quickly learned a few important lessons about the woods. First was don’t touch anything that looked particularly colorful, second was never underestimate the solidity of a branch or bush, but most importantly examine them from a distance before getting close. She learned the latter the hard way having walked through a small patch of yellowish milky white hanging vines in the process of walking through she felt miniature stings from the white plant only to find out seconds later that she was bleeding from countless tiny wounds but that wasn’t the worst part, the effects of the yellow vine took place thirty minutes later, in the form of giant itchy welts that only went away when she finally took desperate measures and jumped in the river for relief.

She glared at the still healing scabs left over from that particular excursion it’s been three days since she left Canterlot. Three long grueling days of traveling through the forest, then she found what she was looking for the vast green expanse folded out before her as she gazed upon its lush splendor. She stared out upon the field knowing from the track signs that she was now on the edge of the whitetail woods and then there were the trees on the other side of the road, uninviting and foreboding, promising no protection from what awaited within. Quickly grabbing her wits about her Twilight looked to the sky’s, seeing that they were clear of pegasi she checked the road both towards and away from Canterlot, there also she saw nopony to point her out feeling the area was clear she bolted. She bolted quickly across the grassland feeling the light breeze as her hair whipped in the wind from her swift passage, upon reaching the other side and entering the enfolding safety of the forest she slowed down to a more manageable trot slowly regaining her stamina as she passed through the foliage at a slower pace and regaining her breath from her draining rush.

She was now fully recovered and It was still night but not for much longer she was going to need rest soon or she wouldn’t be able to make any intelligent decisions, quickly as the sun rose she found a gnarled tree with roots holding the trunk over the ground, she decided it would be as good a place to rest as any quickly she hit the inside with a small push of telekinesis to check and make sure nothing was inside. almost instantaneously there was a growl that pierced the silence, Twilight quickly paced back a few steps from the yawning hole in the ground as the furred creature quickly exited its resting place to investigate and deal with whatever creature was foolish enough to disturb its rest. Twilight immediately notices the spines and the large mouth of the creature and back trotted a few more feet giving her some space in case the creature decided to charge. Immediately upon seeing the pony the creature careened back the quickly reversed direction and flicked forward launching several needle sharp projectiles from its back.

“Gah” Twilight immediately ducked to the left dodging the lethal spikes by mere centimeters “Oh no you don’t.” returned the favor by charging the creature and landing a hoof on its head in a downward stroke as it tried to tilt back for another toss of its spines quickly she turned and bucked it in the face before it could recover from the first hit immediately it slumped to the ground its skill crushed underneath the impact of the two solid hooves, Twilight stood there panting from the further exertion. “H-ha gotcha… wh-what did the books say your kind were again… oh yeah, spike runners.” She examined the body now that she was closer to it and could see the finer details, A large bulbous head with spines on the top a large mouth and two legs. “Yeah it fits real well, tho the book forgot to mention one minor detail… it forgot that you could launch said spines.” She sighed “Well at least that’s over” She looked from the body to the hole it came out of walked over to the opening and sent another pulse this time however she received no response which told her it was safe to enter, which she did swiftly as the sun started to pierce the horizon.

It was midday when she finally awoke inside the belly of the tree. She quickly crawled out from underneath as her grogginess dissipated faster than it did the time she slept before. She took a quick glance at her surroundings and quickly pushed the body of the spike runner out of her thoughts to keep from the distraction. It was then that her stomach decided to pick up a mind of its own and growled louder than the nearby birds. Her hunger now being known she quickly decides on a direction to search for food and starts trotting after a few minutes she comes across a meadow its voluminous green floor being dotted by a peculiar flower with yellow pollen on extruding points, she quickly passed through the flowers to a nearby rose bush that she spotted on the other side of the small glade, She stopped several paces away from the bush then probed it with a stick and checked for the signs to see if it was moving. ‘If it moves go somewhere else if it doesn’t then it’s safe’. A few days before she almost made the mistake of going straight up to one of the wild rose bushes, she stopped when a squirrel ran past her into the folds of the bush in question, before she could take another step she heard the squirrel scream in pain and then spotted it try and squirm its way out of the bush then she saw the roots as they climbed the stems and grabbed a firmer hold upon the unfortunate rodent and then pulled it down to the thorns where it was pricked and then drained in a matter of seconds by the vampyric plant. Ever since then she’s been wary of any bushes or plants with their roots hanging out of the ground, especially the ones with bones around their bases. Luckily this time she found a real rose bush rather than one of the vampire bushes, the flowers shined a bright red as twilight closed the gap, took one of the rose heads into her maw and bit it off. She started chewing slowly to savor the sweet taste of the bud, as she finished her first one she bit off another then another until she finished on the fifth rose bud.

She sat there her hunger sated for the moment smiling in complete bliss now that her hunger pangs were sated, then she heard it, the soft swishing of a paw upon the grass. Immediately she jumped to her hooves looking in all directions, but before she could even formulate an escape route the creature bounded into the glade and struck her down with full force, using its paw it quickly swatted her into the field of blue flowers she felt the red gashes left behind by the creature's claws the purple unicorn cried out in pain from the gashes as she rose to her hooves again preparing for another assault from the creature, it leaped in for a third and final strike.

A raspy snake like voice, from just behind the purple unicorn cried out. “Glacies Sagitta! ” She felt the air in her immediate vicinity her cool immensely as a frigid bolt of ice sailed above her and right into the manticore’s chest, sending it careening back into a tree as the arrow continued freezing its body. She kept backing away from the freezing beast until she bumped into something dry yet soft, she froze then slowly ever so slowly she turned and the first thing she saw was the brown cloak then as her sight came back to her she saw inside the darkness of the cloak a green scaled thigh.

As her eyes contracted and she immediately jumped forward on unsteady hooves spinning around she stared deep into the yellow slitted eyes of the creature before her. It chose then to move as she backed away into the same tree the manticore was frozen to, the creature slowly lowered itself to her level and stared her in the eye, then spoke softly in the same soft voice “So what brings a pony to these woods? Dangers abound here you should know.” The creature waved its hand in an arc towards Twilight then pointed his middle digit at the manticore still hanging above her as he spoke.

Twilight looked up at where the lizard man was pointing and immediately wished she hadn’t, what she saw would haunt her a good few weeks. The manticores face was still twisted in a snarl at Twilight its features as frozen as its body. “Aaaahhh” She quickly ran away from the fearsome creature only to run into the scaled speaker again except this time instead of giving her a chance to react it lowered a hand to her shoulder and laid it there in a calming gesture, she shivered as her nerves slackened from their tight and she eventually gained full control of her auxiliary abilities. “Ha-how d-did you do that?” She sputtered.

In response the cloaked creature calmly turned the jittering unicorn around to face it. She now got a full look at its features mottled green scales and twin fins, the long spines running down the back of its head, the bright calm yellow slitted eyes, the long snout with needle sharp teeth and two long sharp fangs, she almost wanted to scream and run in fear as she stared in the predator’s face but instead, she continued shivering as it backed up a pace or two. It then held its hand up palm upward and called forth in a soft voice “Glacies sagitta” the words echoing in the unicorns mind. The air above the creatures hand began to cool and turn white as it froze forming into a arrow completely made of ice. The creature spoke again. “It is a simple spell designed to incapacitate our opponents or pray, tho we prefer to use the entangling vines spell, the spell is formed by calling upon our inner spirit to form the object of our desire. ” The creature smiled “It’s actually pretty simple to cast, just a matter of willing the object into existence.”

Her curiosity piqued, she immediately opened her mouth and began. “Why did you save me?” She asked now that the danger had passed.

The creature gave a toothy grin “We are not fond of having the locals thinking our friends be on the menu.” Then the creature chuckled and continued “But never doubt we care that you live we protect any guest we come across in these woods.” The creature sat down as two more of its kind melted out of the brush into the clearing being careful to avoid the blue flowers.

Twilight was quite intrigued by this odd behavior from the creatures due to the fact that she knew the plants were sturdy from both her earlier trek through them and the crash later from the manticore swipe ‘so why would they avoid them?’ she thought. “Thank you again for saving me, tho I forgot to ask, what are you?” she asked with an inquiring glance at their attire and cloaked faces.

The first one nodded and spoke “We are Zaurask, I am Yako De’isu from the northern mire… village of Qualzong however it is a long trip from here and only five hours remain until the effects of the poison joke takes hold, there is a nearby Zebracarian seer who can assist in removing the flowers effects before they become dangerous to you. She is most likely willing to help.”

“Wait! What does poison joke do exactly?” She asked as the Zaurask started standing up.

De’isu finished standing with a stretch of his limbs, he quirked an eyebrow as he looked down at the studious foal and let out a small breath her way. “So you wish to know more about the plant well it is more of a weed than a flower but it contains a special pollen that reacts with a creature’s magic causing random effects,” The cloaked Zaurask started walking along a trail faintly visible through the brush. “For some that love to fly it will reverse their wings as a harmless joke only to cause them to crash, or the case of a magically talented unicorn such as yourself it would render as if you were under horn rot and would block any attempt to dispel it because you wouldn’t have any of your normal methods of casting spells, as you can see it’s as much a joke as it is dangerous were you to be in the wrong location when its effects take hold.”

Taking the initiative she asked another Question “How come I’ve never heard of your race before?”

The hooded lizard smiled as he continued “As to why our race is an unknown entity?” The creature grinned even wider. “Well the Everfree is not the mistress of kindness, but also that we are not as old a race as we seem, we have been around the forest living in its vast swampland for well over seven hundred years, there have been no ponies who have made it to our villages and returned... able to tell of it, which reminds me.” The shadow garbed warrior spoke his mood darkening a little.

The lavender foal looked up at the lizard like creature inquisitively. “What is it?” She asked innocently.

“I ask that you swear to an oath of silence.”He spoke calmly.

“Wh-what why?”

The creature examined her then spoke again softly. “Our existence must remain as it is... a mystery and unknown by those outside, if you do not take it we will not stop you from trying to leave the forest however we would no longer be able to protect you.”

Twilight gulped at the severity of the statement and spoke “If i do not accept the oath would you atleast point me in the right direction to the shaman healer?” She asked not quite saying whether she would accept the oath or not.

The Zaurask looked down and smiled softly at her. “We will but they would do you little in this forest, the trees ever shifting would muddle your path, and the creatures dangerous would not think twice before attacking you. this forest is lethal to those untrained.”

“Hmm...” She closed her eyes bowing her head in thought, when she opened them they gleamed in the light of a decision that has been made. “Alright i’ll make the oath.” ‘If only because the poison joke will be the end of me alone.’

The bipedal lizard nodded in acknowledgement of her statement, and began. “Do you swear by your magic that you will not unless under circumstance involving the safety of Equestria reveal our existence to others, this will you submit?” His request was clear and echoing it was laced with unfamiliar power that lacked subtlety, but was direct and focused.

The magenta unicorn assented her understanding and spoke. “I swear.” She spoke truthfully then immediately the latent energies of the oath took hold, her horn lit up along with the Zaurask’s eyes as the oath was sealed between them.

“What was that?” Twilight spoke in wonderment. Her eyes flitting from her horn to the lizard’s eyes and back again.

The bipedal lizard smiled as he spoke again “That young pony was and oath seal, makes the terms of the oath permanent unless both individuals involved are in agreement that the contract should be broken, this particular oath will bind you so that you should be unable to speak of me and my kin to those in the world outside of our villages. I am thankful you have taken the pact, really do come and go as you please between our village and the outside world. the pact will allow you to talk to those who know of my kind but they are a rare consequence.” The lizard man frowned as he continued “However you cannot come until the seer has cleansed of you, we still must take you to her as those are the terms of my side of the contract, but afterwards however you can then decide on your own path and where you will go from there.”

Twilight smiled and nodded acceptance knowing somewhat the consequences of being late to the healer. “Alright then, thank you. i do appreciate your assistance.” The Zaurask leader nodded in agreement.

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Its been an hour since the oath was taken and they were blazing along one of the many game trails until the forward hunter dodged to the side and ducked behind a tree prompting the others including the Yako to do the same, hissing in annoyance De’isu Grabbed the blundering unicorn who was wondering where ‘her’ guides had disappeared to and pulling her behind the brush next to his tree, then he hissed to the lead figure. “Kaya Xaldon, the threat?”

The lizard in the front with a gray green cloak looked back at the leader. “Hydra two heads. ‘Umbra arcum’. Engage?” He queried back while summoning shadows into the shape of a bow.

De’isu looked from the warrior to the unicorn charge and shook his right hand signaling to go around the threat. Nodding acceptance of the order Xaldon took point and led the group around the hydra, Twilight silently allowing herself to be carried having heard the conversation and realizing it would be easier and faster that way rather than letting her pride force them to take longer than needed.

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Eventually the group made it to the other side of the hydra. There were no more incidents like that one along the path it only took them three hours to arrive at the front door of a small hut in the middle of the Everfree. Kaya Xaldon jumped up into a tree as Yako De’isu softly knocked on the wooden portal and waited with Twilight on his left she decided to speak before the door opened. “I was wondering, back there while we were talking why didn’t you ask my name?”

De’isu turned his gaze to her and quizzically raised an eyebrow, “We do not ask names that are not given, we do not need them, if you wish to give us a name to call you by, it’s your choice.” He spoke softly then turned back to the door waiting.

Twilight lifted her lips in a small smile ‘alright here it goes’ “Thank you for helping me I don’t know where I’d be without your help De’isu, my name is Glimmering Wisp.” She lied calmly maintaining her façade easily after years of practice in holding back her emotions after her failure. Over the years she built a wall to hide the inner turmoil from others including her own family. Just then the door opened at the same time as Xaldon dropped from the tree landing silently next to De’isu.

As the door opened it revealed the occupant within a white and black striped zebra with a five ring neck brace, dual looped earrings, a five band leg brace, with a black and white striped Mohawk. She noticed her visitors and their charge and instantly narrowed her eyes and examined the magenta foal before her noticing the faint coating of blue and yellow dust on her person, and immediately deduced the reason for her arrival, nodded to the Zaurask gatherers then faced Twilight and spoke. “Ah I see you whom requires my brews most dire, thank you my Zaurask friends for bringing her here, I promise her good health, worry not she’ll be well.” The zebra spoke in rhyme.

Xalden wasted no time and told De’isu where the next destination was and immediately they headed off but not before Xaldon dropped a small parchment as he passed Twilight. She quickly picked it up and read it to herself almost squealing in delight, but remembered present company and calmed herself down putting the scrap away for later reading. “So you know the Zaurask?” She began, the Zebra didn’t even notice the event as she watched the scaled warriors melt into the woods without a sound.

The zebra smiled and responded “Of course young friend, I know many within, hopefully my manners do not lack, do come in for a snack, maybe some herbal tea, for a drink?”

The unicorn smiled at the zebra and nodded acceptance “I would like some tea. Thank you. So… my name is Glimmering Wisp, what’s your’s?” Twilight asked as she walked in.

“Some call me Zecora, young Glimmering Wisp.” The striped pony answered, she then smiled and asked. “Which tea would you drink?”

“Jasmine if that’s ok.” She smiled as Zecora stepped over to a kettle and poured some water into a clay container, and stirred some spices into it, trotted back and hoofed the steaming brew to her. “thank you.” She spoke warmly as she started sipping her tea. “This is delicious what kind of herps did you use?”

Zecora smiled at the compliment. “natural materials found in the forest i find are of the most use.” The striped zebra sighed as she sat down.“To hasten the potion’s creation, a solution would you make?” She asked with an inquisitive smile.

“I would be glad to help but… I don’t know the much about potion making.“ Twilight replied her ears drooping a little.

The zebra smiled and pulled down a glass beaker and hoofed it over to the violet unicorn. “A problem it is not, to teach you, to mix these brews.”

Twilight’s tea finished and forgotten, as she grins and accepts the striped zebras offer readily. “Thank you Zecora, I won’t disappoint you.” She stands with the beaker between her front hooves and slowly trots forward to stand next to the zebra who has already gathered a considerable amount of ingredients. “Alright Zecora what do you need me to do first?”

The Zebra smiled at the unicorn and lifted a small bag hoofing it to her, then she pointed at a small bushel of leaves and a wooden spoon. “Here you go, now you know. Smash the leaves of sandal bush and mix with lily dust.” She then quickly added a few ingredients to the boiling cauldron as Twilight accomplished her task.

“I’m finished what do I do now?” Asked the patient unicorn.

“Add the mix and you see, the treatment you need.” The zebra smiled as the perplexed unicorn added the final ingredient to the solution and took a step back. “Do not be afraid for it is time for you to bath.”
“W-WHAT!” Twilight exclaimed staring at the zebra as if she had grown a third eye.

Zecora laughed a little and continued. “This potion is not to drink, as it is to sink. to stop this rash you must take the bubble bath.” Then she walked over to the now bubbling cauldron and tapped it twice in emphasis.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me that ‘Bath’ is probably warm enough to scald the skin off my bones” Zecora chuckled even more and pointed to the coals of the once burning fire underneath the cauldron.

“A mixture I added of thistle and mint, they cool the potion for you to sit. Do not fear, it is a herbal remedy.” Zecora looked on with mirth as Twilight took step after hesitant step towards the cauldron.

Eventually reaching the ledge she lifted a hoof and pressed it against the side of the pot and felt it, she immediately noted that the container was warm but not so warm that the water would be painful to her, but instead she realized that as Zecora said the water was warm enough to soak in, like a bath. “Why a bath?” The purple unicorn asked.

“To remove any and all spores and relax your pores.” The Zebra returned mirthfully.

Twilight nodded once. “Ok” And with that she jumped in, moaning in pleasure as the waters of the bath calmed her muscles and allowed her to rest after four and a half days of straight travel. “Thank you Zecora… though how long do I need to stay in the water?”

“Thirty minutes at the least, and the spores will release.” The Zebra spoke in cadence while walking over to the door.

“Where are you going?”Twilight asked.

The Zebra turned back to the unicorn and smiled “To gather more materials I must, for to lack ingredients is a bust.” She reasoned.

As Zecora went off into the forest to gather more ingredients, Twilight began to think again and immediately her mind shot to the event four days ago. She shivered ‘How many ponies died because of me?’ She thought sullenly. ‘How-how can I fix that kind of mistake? Mom… I wish you were still here’ tears gathering in her eyes and dropping into the pool of water she was in, her mind wondering between subjects. “How can I heal what i’ve done?” She whispered in internal agony. She looked around the hut and began to actually notice the novelty of the zebra’s hut, ‘Maybe… maybe I could ask her to teach me to be a good pony and maybe even teach me her craft, those Zaurask seem friendly enough as well maybe they could also teach me a few things maybe even some of their magics.’ She thought hopefully beginning to think on what ways she could redeem herself in her own eyes. ‘If I learn potion making how can I use it to help others?... Oh I know maybe I can sell them to travelers as their passing through the village… no that won’t work. Wait maybe if I give a way potions and or sell them as I pass between settlements… yea that’ll work but first I must become skilled in the craft, thank Celestia I was taken here hopefully Zecora accepts me as her student.’ She smiled whimsically at the thought.

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Fourtyfive minutes passed as twilight waited for the shaman to return from her gathering. Twilight was already out of the cauldron and dry and was now reading through one of the herbal books in the Zebras meager library, when the door opened allowing the grown striped owner to pass through. She noticed the unicorn reading through her library and with a smile walked over to her “Ah, I see that you are clean and now you read. Knowing the ingredients is important yes but handling them is the quest, familiarity with the ingredients is a must, lest you suffer in dust.” The Zebra warned before pulling another book out of the library and passing it to the purple unicorn “in this book you should look, a simple start it will impart.”

“Thanks Zecora but before I read I was wondering…” Twilight folded her ears back and stared at the floor thinking carefully how she was going to ask the Zebra then decided that it would be best to just be straight. “Would you teach me how to use alchemy and maybe even train me in the arts?” With her ears still folded back she lifted her face and eyes to meet Zecora’s and found the Zebra staring back at her eyes clouded with thoughts, this lasted for a few minutes neither speaking a word as the shaman slowly made her decision then she nodded carefully then again with a smile.

“It would be a joy to teach you but first I must know, where would you go, what is your will, to use this knowledge for good or ill?” The Zebra eyed the unicorn carefully as the purple filly carefully considered her next words.

She looked deep into the Zebras eyes and after a few moments of tense silence, finally spoke. “I seek to learn the arts from you to help fix my mistakes, to better myself, and to help other ponies. I seek this knowledge not out of any misguided concept of glory but out of the need to fix my mistakes so I can live with them. is that ok?.” She turned her gaze to the floor folding her ears back expecting a reprimand. Instead she felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder as Zecora placed a hoof there.

“The pain your eyes I see, so it shall be, you now I will teach.” Zecora then pulled her foreleg back and moved over to the cauldron. “Though surprised I am you see, for your talent is magic mastery.” She smiled while turning back to the surprised unicorn.

Twilight was shocked to say the least “Wh-what?!” The lavender filly exclaimed eyes wide. “What are you talking about I can’t even control my magic let alone be talented at it. What makes you think that?” Twilight quirked an eyebrow at the zebra, who smiled calmly and pointed at the young filly’s flank in return. ‘what is she talking about I don’t have a cutie mar-’ Slowly ever so slowly the lavender mare turned her gaze towards her flank their shining as if it had always been there was her Cutie Mark.

Zecora continued. “The mark does not lie, little child” The Zebra sat and watched as the filly continued gazing at her flank in surprise.

Twilight wasn’t even paying attention anymore her mind filled with unimaginable joy of having found her Cutie Mark, but also unfathomable pain for she realized from what the mark most likely originated from, and that thought causing her to cry tears of bittersweet joy. She looked at the mark carefully and noticed its design. It was a large six pointed magenta star on top of another white six pointed star with six different colored stars on each of its points and six white stars on each point of the large magenta star.

Twilight stared at the mark for a few minutes as she regained control over herself from her near emotional breakdown she sighed then calmly she began. “I Guess I can’t escape the truth now, but would rather use your potions than my magic, it… it leaves a bad memory for me.” She spoke softly.

Zecora nodded understanding as her smile turned to a frown from seeing the torment the unicorn went through just from seeing her mark.“I understand your pain, I assure you it is misplaced. Magic is as much a part of thee as the sight is to me, you must face your fears, or the consequences will be severe. Trust in you I do, to use your magic true.” The Zebra smiled down at the lavender unicorn. “However I will teach you now, my skills most found.”

Twilight looked up at the Zebra and smiled in turn. “Thank you I will do my best to not disappoint you.” ‘I will do my best and see this through to the end’ The lavender fillies grin stretched even wider as she realized that now she had a chance to not only fix her wrongs but also make a new friend . ‘This is turning out wonderfully.’

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Meanwhile in Canterlot Castle…

Celestia sat upon her throne distractedly looking at one of the nearby stained glass windows. She had already put the Canterlot guard on high alert to make sure any further incidents like the one four days ago don’t happen again. “Someday.” she whispered. “Someday I will find you.” With that she turned back to the petitioner before her. ‘And when i do whoever you are, you will pay for what you’ve done.’