Rainbooms and Royalty

The Plan

The walk back was largely a quiet one. Rainbow Dash’s efforts to engage Zecora were largely fruitless as the zebra refused to say anything on the question of Nightmare Moon until they reached Ponyville. Aside from an occasional warning or instruction to change direction to avoid the perils of the Everfree, Zecora was silent.

Rainbow kept an eye on the skies for any sign of the Shadowbolts but either they had been tossed pretty darn far or were keeping their distance from Zecora. The trees thinned out and the two travelers soon found themselves on the outskirts of Ponyville.

There wasn’t anypony out. Every door was shut and locked, every window barred with blinds drawn. It didn’t even look like there were any lights on. For all she knew, everypony in town could’ve upped and left. Dash looked around.

“It’s like a ghost town.”

“For me this is nothing new, it is like this every time I come through.” Zecora replied, her tone empty of any trace of emotion: be it bitterness, sadness, or even mild annoyance.

“Sorry.” Rainbow Dash muttered, feeling oddly guilty and embarrassed on behalf of Ponyville. “I guess they just aren't used to seeing zebras out here. Small town and stuff.” Zecora inclined her head in acknowledgment but said nothing more. Dash coughed. “The library is up ahead. The lights are on so I guess everypony’s still there.”

She went up and knocked on the door. There was a clip clop of hooves on the wooden floor right before the door opened wide revealing Twilight in the doorway.

“Rainbow Dash!” She smiled. “You made it, you’re back!”

“Hey, yeah! Did you guys find anything?”

Twilight frowned and shook her head. “We didn’t even know where to start so we just picked every book we could think of that had to do with Nightmare Night and ancient legends but found nothing. What about you? Did you—” She was suddenly shoved aside by Applejack’s hoof.

“--Didja find that creepy Zecora?” She asked, shoving her snout in Rainbow Dash’s face. “Did she do any of that creep voodoo on y—”

“Applejack…” Rainbow coughed, tilting her head behind her. AJ looked and saw Zecora give a small wave with her hoof.

“…Oh.” The orange farmpony’s face turned red as Twilight and Rainbow Dash both glared at her.

Twilight stepped forward hesitantly. “We’re really sorry, you’ll have to excuse Applejack. It’s just been a…rough night. We appreciate that you came all the way here.” She gave a small, shy smile. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

Zecora smiled gently. “Ah, a lovely name for the time between day and night. Appropriate too, considering the evil we must fight.”

Twilight flushed and stepped back to let Rainbow Dash and Zecora in. “So…was it a good trip?” She asked Rainbow Dash, eager to take the attention off her.

The pegasus shrugged. “Eh, ran into a little interference from those ‘Shadowbolts’ but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” She said breezily, ignoring the look Zecora gave her until she pointedly coughed. Quickly Dash, added “Plus Zecora here? Now she was awesome! Took care of those guys like it was nothing!”

“Why’d she even need to if it wasn’t anything you couldn’t handle?” Applejack asked with a grin. Rainbow appeared flustered as she mumbled some inconsistent explanations until Rarity stepped forward.

“Really, where are your manners? Must I introduce myself?” She gave Rainbow and Applejack a jaundiced look before addressing Zecora. “I am Rarity.” She gave a prim nod.