4. True Blue

"So this running of the leaves," Shadow was asking Twilight. "What is it again, exactly?"

Twilight smiled. "Basically, since it's towards the end of Autumn, all the ponies gather together to run through the woods to make the autumn leaves fall, so the trees will be bare for the winter snows. Since everypony's running anyway, we make it a race."

Shadow thought about this as he looked at the autumn leaves clinging to the trees. "Won't the leaves fall on their own?"

"Well, they do in the Everfree Forest," Twilight said, "but not in the rest of Equestria."

Shadow blinked at her. "Why?"

"It's part of the magic of the land. The ponies rely on the land for survival, and the land relies on the ponies to mantain order and balance."

"I suppose that answers my question about why have winter at all when you make it yourself, right?" Shadow looked around at the beautiful colors of autumn. "In Mobius, I always liked looking at the colors of Autumn, nature's masterpiece. Here, knowing it was crafted by magic..." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure what to think."

Twilight smiled. "I guess the changes will take some getting used to, but give it a few years. I'm sure you'll come to love it."

Shadow was silent as he looked around at the beautiful environment, knowing it was craftew by unicorn magic, pegasus wing, and earth pony hoof. A thought occured to him. "Does anyone ever get sick in Equestria?"

Twilight paused. "Well, occasionally there's a stomacheache from eating something that doesn't agree with you, and there are a few magical maladies a pony can contract in various ways-"

Shadow interrupted, "I mean, does anypony ever get a cold, or the flu? Or, say, chicken pox, for example?"

Twilight stared at him. "What are those things?"

Shadow stared at her for a while...then turned and ran, holding back the tears as she called after him in confusion. He continued to run, running across bridges, over fields, and finally into a deep forest. Seeing nopony around him, he staggered to a halt. Leaning his head against a tree, he let the tears fall for a while, letting all the emotion he couldn't hold in out of his system. He didn't hear the one approaching him from behind until she spoke.

"Young stallion, tell me true,
What has left you feeling so blue?"

Shadow looked up. Standing before him, watching him with kind eyes, was a zebra. He hadn't seen any other equines but ponies since coming to Equestria, so he didn't know who she was. However...something told him she meant no harm. However, he wasn't about to open up. "I'm fine," he replied shortly.

She looked at him for a time before replying.

"From all the tears that I saw fall,
I'd say that you aren't fine at all.
The pain inside must run quite deep,
But to yourself it need not keep.
Come to my hut and have some sweets,
Then choose to share what at your heart eats."

Turning, she walked into a clearing where a strangely configured house stood, covered with what looked to Shadow like tribal relics, masks and the like. He followed her inside, sitting down at the table as she poured some tea. When she sat, she spoke again.

"Zecora is my given name,
Ancient wisdom my claim to fame.
You, my friend, are the hero Shadow,
But beyond this of you, little I know."

Shadow smiled. "Hero...not many would call me that." He sighed. "It's a long story."

"My potions take some time to brew,
Little but listen I have to do."

Shadow smiled. "Fair enough." He proceeded to tell Zecora what he knew of his past and what was chief in his thoughts at the moment...Maria's medical condition. "See, her immune system was unusually weak. It couldn't cope with the everyday viruses and bacterium that were everywhere on Mobius..." He sighed sadly. "...but apparently don't even exist in Equestria. If Professor Gerald had known about Equestria 50 years ago, he could have sent Maria here, and she would have been able to live a happy life on a planet, without having to worry about her illness." He sighed deeply. "She would have loved to live under an open sky..."

Zecora sat back as he told his tale. Finally, she stood up.

"Tell me truely of this dame,
Would joy from this world truely have came?
You spoke of life in environment controlled,
But into your thoughts might I say so bold,
Though I would not call Ponyville bad,
Is it truely so different than what she had?
Climate, earth, and animal life,
Scheduled, controlled, but free of strife.
Truely you can surely see
That she would have desired Everfree.
But fair warning of this tale,
Of this forest she could not avail.
For life to grow free from the seed,
The whole of nature it does need.
I do not think this world would be
A place where she'd feel anymore free.
Of this forest you should take note
The feel of wind upon your coat.
Different from air driven on wings,
It's praises of which Ponyville sings.
The mystic order is quite stark,
Little different than aboard the ARK.
True nature's beauty was denied to her,
And that was her heart's true desire.
But I would say you think this wrong,
Mourning for what's come and gone.
Think on this and you will see,
Her final act was to set you free."

As Zecora fell silent, Shadow was lost in thought. contemplating her words. The last thing she said struck home though. "Are you saying...Maria wouldn't want me to be focusing on what I might have done? That she'd want me to try and...enjoy my life?"

Zecora smiled.

"While I'm glad that you do see,
I thought I'd said that already."

Shadow smiled, then frowned. "But..." Zecora spoke up before he could continue.

"Her will I won't pretend to know,
But I feel she'd wish you to let her go."

Shadow sighed. "That's...harder then it sounds."

"When past despair, if you'll allow,
Love has a way of coming back around.
Old stories say that lost faces we'll see,
In the eyes of newborn fillies.
Give your wounds their time to heal,
But don't deny what new you feel."

Shadow nodded. "Good advice. Maybe I'll be able to follow it." Getting up, he ehaded out of the hut. "THanks for the tea."

Zecora called after him as he left.

"If other problems you have, I say true,
My door will always be open to you."

She saw him nod recognition as he walked slowly back out into the forest. She turned to a nearby shelf, where a spirit bag glowed with a strange light that was settled in it. She spoke to the light.

"Dear child, I did what I could,
But that boy's head is as thick as wood.
Perhaps Twilight will have better luck
In healing that poor laddybuck.
She has already done much more,
When to her he's opened his heart's door."

A strange, etheral sigh passed through the hut as the light faded, indistinguishable from the wind.

------------

Shadow walked back towards town slowly, looking around at the forest. He could see what Zecora had meant about the difference between Everfree and the rest of Equestria. The difference was subtle, but quite profound. Zecora was right about Maria having wanted to come here, the one place in this world she wouldn't be able to go. Glancing down, he noticed some flowers. They were a bright blue, and looked quite lovely.

Shadow smiled to himself as he bent down to pick some. *Blue was Maria's favorite color,* he thought to himself. As he slipped the flowers into hs saddlebags, he continued to walk through the field of blue flowers. "Zecora's right," he said at last to himself. "I guess...I do need to let Maria go. But I won't ever forget her." He headed out of the forest.

Twilight was there, looking scared out of her wits. "Shadow! What did you think you were doing? That's the Everfree Forest! It's dangerous!"

Shadow shrugged. "I didn't find it so. And I doubt there's anything in there I wouldn't be able to handle."

Twilight started to say something, then stopped. "True, you wouldn't go out of your way to irritate an Ursa Major or anything stupid like that."

Shadow shuddered. He'd read about Ursa Majors, and knew how dangerous they were. "Right. I did meet Zecora, though."

"Oh, how wonderful!" Twilight clapped her hooves together. "Zecora's a good friend, and always seems to know just what to say to help a pony."

"She certainly helped me. We had a nice chat. Does she always talk in rhyme like that?"

"Yeah. Not sure why, though. So what did you tal - no, I shouldn't ask that."

Shadow smiled at Twilight. "She helped me look at things from my past with a clearer head is all."

Twilight smiled back. "I'm glad. You look...happy. You don't nearly enough." Twilight turned back to town. "Come on, the sun's nearly down. We need to get our rest if we're going to compete in the running of the leaves tomorrow."

Shadow followed her back to the library. Having forgotten the flowers for the moment, they remained in his saddlebags for the night.

----------

The next morning, Twilight shook Shadow awake. "Come on, Shadow. We're gonna be late for the opening ceremony. Since when do you sleep late?"

Shadow grunted a bit. For some reason, his body felt strangely sore, but that was already passing. He pushed the covers off his head and looked up at Twilight...who promptly staggered backward. "What?" he asked.

"Shadow..." She couldn't seem to find words, so she pointed him towards the mirror.

Getting up, he looked at himself...and flat out refused to react. His coat and mane had turned a familiar bright blue, with a tan underbelly and muzzle. His eyes were the same red, and he still had a chaos emerald cutie mark, but other than that... "I look like SONIC!" he finally burst out.

Behind him, Twilight giggled, and he trned to glower at her. "Sorry," she gasped out, "but the look on your face when you said that."

Shadow sighed. "Of course." He tilted his head. "Any idea what caused this? You're not the type to prank."

"No, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were the pranksters." Twilight looked at him for a while, thinking. "Did you encounter anything unusual in Everfree Forest?"

"Like what?" he asked.

"Umm...any strange flowers or animals?"

"Well..." He went for his saddlebags, pulling out the blue flowers. "These," he said. He noticed her staring at the flowers. "What?"

She suddenly giggled again. "That's poison joke. It's similar to poison oak, but instead of a rash, it does something...amusing to you."

"I fail to see how making me look like Sonic amusing."

"Well, I'm sure you'll be able to laugh it off after Zecora brews the antidote up for you."

Shadow blinked at her. "I take it you've encountered this before?"

"Yeah, me and my friends. My horn went limp with green spots. Rarity's mane and coat was long and tangled and ragged. Applejack was tiny." She could see that Shadow was starting to grin, so she went on. "Rainbow Dash's wings were on her backwards. Pinkie Pie's tongue was swelled up and covered with blue spots, so she couldn't talk." Shadow was laughing openly now, if quietly, as Twilight focused her magic. "And Fluttershy sounded like this," she said, altering her voice's pitch to match exactly the voice FLuttershy had had.

Shadow laughed out loud. "Oh man...I bet Sonic would have wound up slow as molasses!" He finally managed to calm down. "I see what you mean about funny in hindsight. I bet Discord made this plant."

Twilight shrugged. "You can ask him. He'll be there at the Opening Ceremony...which we're now late for!" Turning, they both ran for the starting line.

Celestia stood there, smiling as they approached. She frowned in confusion when she saw Twilight's companion, however. "Twilight, where is Shadow? And why is Sonic here? I thought he was with Rainbow Dash. Has she returned?"

"I'm not SONIC!" Shadow shouted angrily, taking Celestia aback.

Discord chuckled. "It seems someone's run afoul of one of my favorite creations!" he said happily. "Best joke I ever played...especially making it so pretty."

"I suppose you can fix it then?" Shadow asked.

"Probably...but with your natural chaotic energies, who knows? Better to just wait till after the race and have Zecora use her remedy...but I will let her know to brew up a batch." He vanished in a flash of light.

As Twilight and Shadow made their way to the starting line, Celestia wasn't the only one to mistake him for Sonic. He did his best to mantain his equanimity. When the race started, however, he burst into a flat out run, easily pulling ahead of everypony. While his airshoes had been the source of his speed while a hedgehog, as a pony he was able to easily mantain a good velocity...and he didn't get tired very easily. Without the better runners such as Rainbow Dash and Applejack in the race, Shadow easily claimed first place...and was rather surprised to see Twilight take second.

She smiled as she crossed the finish line, panting. "Paced myself till the final stretch when everyone else was starting to slow down, then pulled ahead. Worked every other time, too. This is the first time I came in second, though."

Shadow smiled, watching the leaves fall. "I'd stay, but I heard Zecora has my remedy ready."

Twilight smiled. "Go get your proper color back." She smiled as she watched him race off to the spa where Zecora had prepared the treatment. It seemed like Shadow was adjusting well. It was good to see him smile more.

She got back to the library before he did, and a certain thought crossed her mind. When it did, she went to a certain locked drawer in her desk and opened it. Carefully, she pulled out a small ring, the exact shade of purple of her horn. She had made this charm as a teenager, when...certain things were all she heard any mare talking about, and her interest had been peaked. She'd never had use for it before. She doubted if she would need it now...but she slipped it over her horn anyway, as it slide perfectly to a halt around the base. "Better safe than sorry, after all," she mumbled to herself, blushing, as she turned to wait for Shadow to get home.