[Zecora's Hut] No Longer Shut [open]

[buxy]

Zecora bustled around her hut, checking each shelf and bottle to see what she had on hand and making note of what would need refilling soon. Once satisfied she'd covered them all she turned her attention toward her books of tonics and remedies.

"Something new today, I think," she said to herself. "So that my business doesn't sink." She glanced at her cart in the corner, brimming with stock. It had been a while since she had last hauled it into Ponyville, the weather in the forest hadn't cooperated on her last few market days. She nosed through the book for a moment before flipping it closed with a sigh.

"A change of pace may be what I need," she crossed the room to her front door, throwing it wide open. "Something to bring me back up to speed." She snatched her baskets off the hook by the door and slung them over her back, trotting out to her garden. She kept her ears perked to the path leading to her hut as she worked, listening in case any visitors approached.

[Tempest Rime]

Pinkie Pie hopped casually down the path towards Zecora's hut, humming to herself and causing quite a bit of noise to warn of her approach. It had been quite a while since she'd heard any news about the mysterious zebra, and she'd figured Zecora might be lonely all the way out here with no company. Plus, Pinkie still felt a little bad about perpetuating the whole 'evil enchantress' thing. So after hours of careful consideration, she'd settled on the same solution she always seemed to end up settling on. A party!

Seeing the door to Zecora's hut wide open, she gasped in horror! "ZECORA!" She dashed to the door and began to talk loudly, at the zebra. "Are you alright!? Your door was open, and since you live in the forest, I thought that might mean some kind of terrible monster had gotten you in the night, since you haven't been in town in a while, even though Twilight said you'd be fine since you're all wise and stuff, and know all about the monsters, but it's still dangerous out here, and I thought you might have gotten eaten by a grue. You weren't eaten by a grue were you? 'Cause I don't know what those are, so I wouldn't be able to tell if you were eaten or not, even though you look not eaten, oh, and also do you want to come to party?"

[buxy]

Zecora heard Pinkie's approach long before the mare was even in sight, and headed back into her hut from the garden. She set aside her recently picked herbs as Pinkie made her way down the path out of the forest, and as soon as Zecora turned around, the bubbly pink mare was inches from her face spouting off one of her sugar fueled monologues. Midway through, Zecora had to stifle her giggles.

"Oh Pinkie Pie, you musn't fear, though my door was open, I was still right here!" Zecora gestured to her bag, brimming with herbs and sprouts. "I was choosing things for my latest brew. It's been quite a while since I've seen that grue..." She added thoughtfully.

"So it's a party you're planning? I'd love to attend!" Zecora smiled, trying to remember how long it had been since she'd had some real fun. Too long, she concluded. "I'm glad you came to see me, my friend.

[Tempest Rime]

"Whew. Ok. Anyway, since we still don't get to see you much in Ponyville, and a lot of ponies are still a little nervous around you, so I thought 'what better way to make to make everyone feel more comfortable around Zecora than to throw a party for her?' After a lot of thinking, I couldn't come up with anything." Pinkie nodded emphatically.

"But I'm not sure you could say I'm really planning it yet. I was hoping to have the party tomorrow, bu I couldn't really get started without making sure you'd be available. So in case if tomorrow doesn't work, I brought the event schedule for Sugarcube Corner to check what other days we might manage. Also, do you have any allergies or things? And I've never thrown a party for a zebra before, do you have any ideas on thematic decorations like those scary masks?"

She produced a thick notebook and pencil, and prepared to jot down notes. Twilight could study her weird magic stuff all she wanted, but laughter and joy were what really made Equestria go 'round in Pinkie's view of the world. Parties were serious business.

[buxy]

"All I had planned was to work outside, but for friends those plans can be set aside. It's been too long since I've seen Ponyville, and I know there are many for me to meet still," Zecora smiled to herself. Pinkie Pie had made the biggest turnaround amongst her new friends. Once absolutely terrified of her, Pinkie seemed more than happy to go out of her way to ensure Zecora felt included.

"Pinkie," Zecora giggled. "I've told you before, these masks are not scary, just symbols of yore. Here," Zecora walked to the door gently lifted a colorful mask from the wall beside it in her mouth, carrying it to Pinkie and leaning it against a table. "Take this one with you. When it's hung by the door only friends can pass through. I think that his spirit will suit your celebration, and I'll ensure his message isn't lost in translation." Zecora winked, she knew her culture was more than a mystery to the local ponies, and though they'd slowly come around, she knew Pinkie was right. She wasn't just a stranger in Ponyville, she was completely foreign. Any chance to turn that around was more than welcome.

[Tempest Rime]

"Uh..." Pinkie looked skeptical for a moment. "Y-yeah, that sounds good." She jotted down 'Scary mask hung by the door,' in her notes and looked back up. "How about music? Do you have any preferences? Or like, that song you were singing that time when we, uh, messed up your house." She gave the Zebra a sheepish look, even though they had already apologized for that.

"Oh, I guess it must be hard to get records from... wherever it is zebras are from. I've never even seen any zebra music even mentioned in catalogues or anything." She frowned, the party she'd thrown together for Gilda hadn't been able to be very thematic, and griffin stuff wasn't that unobtainable. "Hmm, well, if I can't find anything, do you at least have some preferences in pony music? Do you listen to Sapphire Shores or Neon Pop any, maybe?"

[buxy]

"Pinkie Pie," Zecora began, her voice bright. She was still amused by the constant apologies that her new friends spouted, though it seemed there'd be no end to the apologies. "There's no need for guilt, nothing was lost that could not be rebuilt." She cast a quick glance to the corner of the room, where a tribal mask lay in pieces, half reassembed. She bit her lip and stepped in front of Pinkie, blocking the mess from her line of sight.

"Music is very important where I am from," Zecora replied, happy to change the subject before Pinkie spotted the still-broken mask and spent the next hour lost in a manic bout of guilt. "But it can only be heard from a zebra and a drum. No recordings exist of us, I'm afraid. Recordings are purely a pony-run trade. I've never heard of these others you list, but I'm sure it's something that shouldn't be missed. Feel free to choose what would suit those you invite, even without my music, I'll be enough oddity for the night."

[Tempest Rime]

"Well... if you're sure. It's just... well, last time I threw a party for someone who wasn't a pony, they got real mad, and I mean, she was kind of a meaniepants even before that, and everyone else said the party was great, but I thought that maybe the party itself was what put her in a bad mood, 'cause it was really just a normal old pony party, and I thought maybe griffin parties are different and she got upset because of that, and it cost Rainbow Dash an old friend, and I don't want that to happen again, I mean, if that is what actually happened and she wasn't just being a meaniepants, that is."

Pinkie sighed. "But anyway, that's why I wanted to make this party more like what you want it to be like, so, like, you will be sure to like it. Hmm... although, I don't want it to be too strange for ponies either, since the whole point is to help you fit in, hmm." A look of intense thought came over her as she racked her brain trying to find the solution. "I'll have to find the right balance, then. Oooh, this'll be tricky. But don't worry, if anyone can pull it off, it'd be Pinkie Pie, professional party planner!"

[buxy]

"Honestly, I hear griffins are quite grumpy," Zecora said with a sympathetic look. She had yet to meet a griffin herself, but from what she'd read, and heard, they weren't exactly the friendliest creatures around. "And there's really no need to be so jumpy. I have heard your parties are a lot of fun, I'm happy to finally get to go to one."

"Oh my, I nearly forgot," Zecora whirled away from Pinkie and turned toward a small cabinet on the wall. "I also heard you like your food hot. I mixed up a spice, from a pepper from my home land." It was only this past growing season she had finally found the right soil combination to grow some of the vegetables and fruits from her homeland, and she was eager to share some of the exotic tastes with her friends. She lifted a small bottle of a deep red powder and set it down in front of Pinkie. "But be warned, this will make your hot sauce seem bland."

[Tempest Rime]

Pinkie shook her head sternly. "Just because they seem grumpy on the outside doesn't mean they're all bad. Why, if Gilda ever actually came back and apologized, I'd forgive her. Everypony deserves a second chance, right? Er, and every non-pony, too."

At the mention of special spices, Pinkie perked up. "Oooh, sounds good, though I doubt it will be as spicy as those rainbows. That stuff burrrrrrrned. I've been trying to perfect a recipe that makes it not so painful, it's super hard to predict what that stuff will do when mixed with other stuff. It was pretty good in cinnamon cookies, though. Anyway, thanks, I'll try it out. I can use it in something for the party! Any recommendations on what to use it on?"

[buxy]

"So you've tasted a rainbow? Now that's quite impressive. I've heard of their taste, and that the colors are deceptive," Zecora had often wondered what sort of properties concentrated rainbows might have, and how they could be put to a practical use. Without a way into Cloudsdale, though, she'd never been able to find out. Perhaps that was something she could arrange at this party.

"It mixes well with dry grains and vegitables, those make up most of my native edibles. Though you ponies here seem to prefer sweets, I'm not sure how you could work this into those treats," Zecora touched a hoof to her chin. "I'm sure you can figure out something it, there must be some sweet out there that would fit."

[Tempest Rime]

"Hmm, oh I know! I'll whip up a bunch of stuff and leave the spices optional. That way we can try it with a bunch of stuff, and ponies who don't like spicy stuff don't end up eating any either." She nodded forcefully, pleased that she had found a possibility that ought to suit everypony. "Uh, as long as Twilight doesn't go trying to drink it again."

She looked over her list. "Ok, food, decorations, music... hmm... that leaves games? Do you have any favorites? Ooh, or new fun games you could teach us? You don't need to explain them now, I just need to know if there's anything I should have ready."

[buxy]

"I know of a few games I could bring," the zebra said thoughtfully. Mancala, of course, and maybe Zamma as well. "And for that you needn't do a thing. I can bring the boards and pieces all, and I'm sure your friends will have a ball."

"Pinkie? I'm not sure how to express this worry. But..." Zecora pawed at the ground, looking down for a moment before shaking her head and pressing on. "What if the other ponies don't like me? I'm different from you all, and I may seem strange. What if accepting me is too much of a change? It was not so long ago they were so afraid. Not everyone might be so easily swayed." She was grateful for Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and their friends, but many of the citizens still shied away from her. Many of her customers when she set up her cart professed to being new to town, with the notable exception of the twins who ran the spa. She couldn't help but smirk when someone turned up their nose at her, and then proceeded through the spa doors. Nearly every service they offered at this point incorporated something she produced in one way or another. That did little to assuage her fear, though.

[Tempest Rime]

"Okie dokie loki," said Pinkie, and she made a check mark next to games on her list. This party was going to be awesome! So many cool new things.

She smiled as Zecora expressed her misgivings. "Well, that's the whole point of having a party! Even if they're still nervous of you, nopony is gonna want to miss one of my parties, and once they're there, they'll see that there's nothing to be nervous about. I'm sure they'll warm up to you in no time at all."

Pinkie looked once more over her list. "Hmm, I think that's everything, I'll get to work on inviting folks right away. Anything else you can think of before I head out?"

[buxy]

"I'll trust you on this one, Miss Pie, I know on your skills I can rely. I'll try quite hard not to be nervous. You really are doing me a wonderful service," Zecora was trying to reassure herself as much as compliment Pinkie. She meant every word she said, of course, Pinkie was an expert at getting together a group of ponies for a great time, she just had a hard time shaking her apprehension.

"I'm sure that's all I have to share, Pink. Just two more questions of which I can think," the zebra had heard plenty about the party, except two key details. "When should I expect an invitation? What would be the party's location?"

[Hippo]

Applejack sprinted her way to the edge of the Everfree Forest. As she ran, she thought and spoke to herself on her current situation that was unfolding by the dangerous imagination of her mind. She bee-lined to the Ponyville outskirts with her legs, but her brain was spinning in circles. "I swear I don think I'll eva understand that filly! Every tom she feels she's on the verge of gettin' her cutie mark, that lil' runt runs off into territories unknown." Applejack had been looking for Apple Bloom all day. She couldn't find her anywhere on the farm, or in Ponyville. And even though she'd love to think that she and the other crusaders were just playing a massive game of hide-and-seek across Ponyville, she knew that if Apple Bloom ventured for any reason into the Everfree that she would have to search there before long to make sure she wasn't in immediate danger.

Applejack approached the tree line to the Everfree. She angled her hooves against the trail and came to a dust-throwing halt. She looked up at the willowing trees that dropped dark shadows over the damp deciduous floor and dried the inside of her mouth with a stressful swallow. "Well, uh, here it goes. Apple Bloom!? You in here!?" Applejack scurried into the Everfree cautiously, called Apple Bloom's name once every five seconds. Applejack wasn't excited about going into the forest. Even though she had been here a couple times before and proved a few of the legends about the Everfree wrong, she still found the haunting nature to be true and frightening.

[Tempest Rime]

"Well, you can already consider yourself invited or course, I mean, it's your party. But if you want, I can make you a card, too. And for location, Sugarcube Corner doesn't have anything scheduled, so I was just gonna host it there." She paused. "Hmm, say, I don't think I've ever seen you around there, do you know where it is? It's hard to miss, it's the big building that looks like a tasty cake."

She leaned in conspiratorially. "It's not actually tasty cake," she whispered, speaking from personal experience on the matter.

Her ears perked up and she glanced around. "Did you hear something? Oh no, a ghost! It's saying something about DOOM!"

[buxy]

Zecora stifled a giggle with a hoof, imagining Pinkie trying to take a bite out of the building, as she no doubt had at some point. Her ears flicked toward the door before she turned her head in the same direction. She listened for a moment, angling her ears to catch the sound with more clarity.

"A ghost? Don't be silly. It's merely someone looking for a filly. They aren't saying 'doom', but 'Applebloom'. I think it's your friend Applejack," Zecora remembered the last time the two of them had met, the tiny poison joked Applejack lassoing and wrestling her ear. She muttered to herself quietly. "I'm a little surprised she ventured back..."

[Mojo]

(ooc): Here comes one more ‘surprise’ visitor to Zecora’s hut, along with some cameo appearances by some of my other characters.

Walking towards the White Tail Woods, Misty Magic was taking a leisurely stroll by herself. The petite yellow unicorn with short purple mane was a happy Post Office clerk by day, but with every waking hour, wanted to perfect her magical skills. Misty could do simple magical tasks such as levitation, but other spells she’d try often misfired. Today she was determined to practice teleportation. She walked a long distance away from her home so she could practice teleporting back to her living room.

"This is far enough,” the determined unicorn said as she closed her eyes to concentrate. ”There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”

Misty’s horn glowed brightly and in a flash, she had vanished from the woods. Meanwhile, on the Fillydelphia Town Square, Mojo had just finished setting up his peddler’s wagon stage and began his sales speech to the gathering crowd of ponies.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts! Welcome to Mojo’s Traveling Emporium! What have I got to sell? Lots of groovy stuff! Hoofmade crafts, shag rugs, lava lamps, fine homemade jewelry and art! I even sell fresh veggies, grown without the use of magic or any other artificial means! I’ve got everything a hip and happening pony would ever need!”

As he finished speaking, Misty magically appeared on the stage with him, causing the gathered crowd to burst into laughter.

"Hello miss!” the Paint stallion with the peace sign cutie mark neighed. "Ya must be eager to be me first customer!”

"Oh no, no sir!” Misty shouted, looking very embarrassed. ”I was just trying to teleport to my house in Trottingham.”

"Trottingham?” Mojo neighed in shock. ”You’re a bit off course, love. This is downtown Fillydelphia.”

"Fillydelphia? Oh my! I’m really off target! Better try again! Goodbye!” Misty neighed before closing her eyes and vanishing from the stage. Meanwhile, at the main farm house at Sweet Apple Acres, Granny Smith had just placed two apple pies into the oven.

”By thunder, I did it! This old gal can still bake with the best of’m! I can’t wait to surprise my grandkids with my own recipe fresh apple pie to chaw down on!”

As the elderly lime green mare turned to set the table, she screamed and jumped high in the air when Misty appeared on top of her table.

"Land sakes! Youngin, you pertaneer scared the fur off my old hide!”

"I’m very sorry, ma’am! I’m Misty Magic and I was trying to teleport back home.”

"Misty Magic?” Granny Smith asked as she scratched her head with her left front hoof. ”Yur Mighty Magic and Abracadabra’s foal, ain’t ya?”

"Yes! How do you know my parents?”

"Youngin, when ya git to be MY age, you know EVERY filly and colt! Quite a magic act they had in their hayday! If’n ya run into Applejack or any of my other grandkids, tell’m to come straight home cause Granny Smith’s gotta sweet surprise fer’m.”

"I’ll do that, Granny Smith, and thanks!” the yellow unicorn said as she closed her eyes and disappeared again.

"Wait youngin’! Stay fer tea and cookies and .. she’s gone. These brash foals of today! Here one minute and gone the next like a flea on a hot brick! I sure hope Applebloom don’t grow up and act like that!”

While she was teleporting, Misty was trying to focus on her living room, hoping that this time, she’d get it right. She felt herself materializing into a room. She opened her eyes, hoping she was back at her house. Instead, she saw Zecora and Pinkie Pie looking back at her in the middle of Zecora’s Hut.

"Oh dear, I goofed again,” she muttered before looking up at them and smiling with a toothy grin. "Hello there! Hope you don’t mind me dropping in like this. Oh, excuse the pun, I’m sorry, didn’t mean to teleport into your home. I’m Misty Magic, could either of you kindly tell me where I am right now?”

[Hippo]

Applejack continued to shout Apple Bloom's name into the dark and dense Everfree Forest. "Apple Bloom!? Are you here!? Apple Bloom!" It was then that she realized what Apple Bloom might have been doing in the Everfree if the forest was indeed where she was. She pondered a bit about where she would go if she was a cutiemark-less little filly wandering in a creepy self-sustaining forest like this one. Applejack couldn't help but be reminded of her younger days, when big brother Macintosh would go out looking for Applejack who was probably playing tag with the young border collie puppy that didn't know how to play by the rules.

And then it dawned on her. Applejack gasped, "Zecora's hut!" Applejack began trotting towards the area she best remembers Zecora's hut being. "That filly is always hangin' out with that creepy Zecora. I wish she would find normal friends like everypony else." Applejack learned her lesson about gossip and rumors back when she and her friends discovered poison joke from the wrong end of the laugh. But, she wasn't willing to let Zecora's creepy persona leave her thoughts just yet. Everything Zecora did still made her feel uneasy about her little sister spending quality time with the zebra. Most of the time, however, encounters with Zecora in Ponyville were pretty routine after all of the idle gossip had passed. More than anything else, it was Pinkie Pie's "Evil Enchatress" song that made Applejack tremble with fear at the time.

Applejack traversed the forest the best she could. The forest was always changing, it seemed. Her path was both retractable and foreign. And the deeper into the woods she went, the less she recognized her surroundings. Nevertheless, she grew very close to Zecora's hut shouting Apple Bloom's name. But Applejack wasn't at the hut just yet.

[Tempest Rime]

"Oh no!" Pinkie Pie gasped in shock and horror. "Applejack's a ghost!?" She stood on her hind quarters and hollered out into the woods. "APPLEJACK! IF YOU CAN STILL HEAR ME, DON'T GO TOWARD THE LIGHT!"

She frowned. She wasn't quite loud enough to wake the dead. She strained to remember just how loud she'd been the last time somepony had told it was that loud. She glanced into Zecora's hut and spotted a scroll. "Excuse me, Zecora, I need to use that scroll for a second." She stepped into the house as a unicorn appeared right in the way.

"No time!" she yelped as the newcomer asked her about something or other. She pushed past her, grabbed the scroll, and shoved back out into the yard. She half-unrolled the scroll into a makeshift bullhorn and at the top of lungs she screamed into it, causing the trees to shake and several of them to lose some of their leaves.

"APPLEJACK! COME TOWARD THE SOUND OF MY VOICE!"

[buxy]

"Pinkie Pie," Zecora began, following the bouncy pink mare. She stopped short at the sight of the stranger in the middle of her living room. "Oh my."

"You certainly are an unexpected guest," Zecora squeezed her eyes closed and flattened her ears against her head as Pinkie's voice boomed out into the forest, scattering leaves and a few small animals from it's path. She opened one eye and peeked toward the door, waiting until she was sure Pinkie wasn't going to be bursting any more eardrums before continuing. "You are in my home in the Everfree Forest. Of visitors I now seem to have a plethora, and hello to you, Misty, my name is Zecora." The zebra gave a nod, not unlike a bow, to the young unicorn.

"You'll have to forgive my boisterous friend, to a lost aquaintance she is trying to attend." Zecora stepped toward the door, peering out to where Pinkie stood in the path, staring out into the trees for any signs of Applejack. "We heard her voice through the trees just now, but as for getting here, she may not know how."

[Mojo]

"Pleased to meet you, Zecora," Misty said timidly, with a sigh of relief in her voice. The Everfree Forest? She now realized she was really off course. Seeing the panic in Pinkie Pie and the concern in Zecora's voice, the petite unicorn wanted to help out.

"Maybe I can help!" she offered, walking outside where Pinkie Pie stood. "If your friend is lost in the forest, maybe I can make her a beacon to follow!"

Closing her eyes to concentrate, Misty's horn began to glow. Her intention was to magically create a flare that would light the way to Zecora's hut. Instead, when the yellow unicorn opened her eyes, it was she who was glowing brightly.

"Oh my, that's not what I was trying to do," Misty said, shaking her body to stop it from glowing. "I'll try again."

Once more, she closed her eyes and her horn glowed. This time, it was Zecora's hut that began to glow brightly.

"Oh no no no no no! That wasn't it either! Gotta fix this fast! "Oh no no no no no! That wasn't it either! Gotta fix this fast! Oh, I wish the lost pony would appear here right now!"

When Misty stomped her front hooves in frustration, her horn glowed brightly once more. Instantly, Zecora's hut stopped glowing and Applejack magically appeared in front of them. The yellow unicorn's eyes grew as big as saucers when she saw what her magic had just done. Now Misty was afraid again, not knowing how the orange pony in the cowboy hat would take the news that she had been magically teleported. For that matter, was this pony the one who was lost, or did she accidentally summon somepony from somewhere else in Equestria? She swallowed nervously and smiled, only managing to utter a short, "Hi!"

[Hippo]

Applejack heard Pinkie's yell deep in the forest, but she didn't understand what she was yelling. "Pinkie! Is that you!?" The forest grew dark enough for Applejack to lose her sense of direction slightly. "Light? What light? It's so dark, I can't see the darndest thing."

After the short exchange in the dark labyrinth, Applejack listened to hear a response from Pinkie. But at the moment there was nothing. She wondered if something had happened to her, or that maybe something was about to happen to herself. As Applejack perked her ears in all directions listening for anything recognizable, she began to notice all of the little noises the Everfree infests every day. Owls' hoots crowed louder, crickets chirped more rapidly, and the wind whistling through the trees howled a ghost-like presence over Applejack. Applejack trembled. But before she could run and escape into any direction, she heard a loud screech coming from the direction Pinkie Pie was probably yelling. It stunned Applejack and she was petrified of whatever was making the mysterious racket. Animals scurried out of the bushes towards her, fleeing the scene, and the trees swayed back and forth and clapped at her misery.

And then a light. A bright light illuminated further in the forest. It glowed and revealed everything around Applejack that was already there in the dark. This must have been the light Pinkie Pie was warning me about, she thought. "Goodness gracious! The laught!!!!" Applejack ran into the opposite direction as fast as she could turn. But seconds later, the light moved from her six to another location in the corner of Applejack's peripheral vision. Changing direction again, Applejack was unsure which way to retreat as she had already lost her bearings and didn't see any trace of her own tracks to follow back out of the forest. Applejack's heart pounded double time.

Then, without warning, light appeared from the ground where Applejack was standing. "What in the hay?" Applejack began running in place as the light around her got brighter and brighter. During these split seconds, Applejack's life flashed before her eyes. She remembered seeing apples on the counter of the country house's kitchen, her filly self trying to reach them. She remembered the first day Winona came to the farm as a newborn puppy. She remembered her first applebuck season, when Big Mac helped her push the cart in the rain. And she remembered her best friends, all helping her during last applebuck season when Big Mac hurt himself. It was all a blur, but Applejack understood it perfectly. She knew that soon she would be dead.

In a flash of light, Applejack cupped her hoofs over her face and laid down on whatever she was standing on. Applejack felt a shock through her entire body that lifted her from her lowered position. Applejack stood up straight in the new location she was standing. She had no idea where she was. Her eyes crossed as her vision was temporarily impaired, and her senses were intoxicated from her experiences with the light.

"Wha- What happened? Where am ah?" Applejack squinted with her eyes to try to see who was standing in front of her. All she could see was three pink ponies, three yellow unicorns, and 3 zebras all talking in rhyme. She could not hear easily what they were saying to her.