The human body is a marvelous thing. The result of millions of years of evolution to fit into the world of its origin. The peak of the evolutionary ladder, the human body was built to be the top predator. But they did have to earn it. Tens of thousands of years of progress from chasing prey down until it stopped to the information age, humanity had come far.

But even then, there are times when the human body can malfunction despite the long years of evolution.

There are two types of shock that a human can experience. One is the medical condition which could be fatal if left untreated. It can happen when someone's blood pressure is too low and/or where there isn't enough oxygen in the blood to go to the major organs. The symptoms include but aren't limited to: cold or sweaty skin, weak but rapid pulse, anxiety, confusion, nausea and profuse sweating.

The second type of shock isn't medical in nature but more a response to anxiety, fear or a sudden change that the mind isn't able to comprehend right away. Unlike the former, all that's needed to treat this type of shock is to calm the afflicted individual down. The symptoms might be almost the same as the former but to a somewhat less severe extent.

I'd only experienced the latter type of shock a handful of times in my life. When my parents died, when Trixie passed on, and when I first realized I was in what used to be a fictional world. Now I was going through it again. I could barely hear the alarmed voices of my friends as I stared off into space, trying and failing to wrap my head around the revelation that another generation of the famous Pony show was real. I heard Cadance's tone of authority and Twilight's response. Zecora and Scarlet were both saying something to me with fear in their voices but I was so zoned out that I didn't understand what they'd just said.

After a few minutes, or maybe an hour (I had lost all sense of time), a pair of extremely beautiful magenta eyes filled my vision and I heard Celestia's voice said something. But even then I didn't understand what was being said. Everything sounded so far away, like I was on one end of a very long tunnel listening to them speaking from the other end. I could hear my heartbeat thrumming away like some powerful engine on overdrive.

The light changed around me and I felt myself being wrapped in warmth that felt like I had a toasty cloud around me. I grabbed at the warmth and wrapped it tighter around me. A pair of hooves wrapped around me and I was pulled back into even more warmth, but warmth that belonged to a living being. Zecora's heavenly and soft voice filled my hearing and someone even put a warm towel over my eyes. The lack of vision caused me to exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding and I relaxed against the barrel of whoever I was leaning against.

As I slowly snapped back to reality, I began to comprehend the words being spoken. The first who's words I could wrap my head around belonged to Zecora. She was softly singing a song in Farasi to me. An old lullaby she'd shared with me once. One she'd sang to her brother when they were foals.

I reached up and removed the towel and looked around. We had all returned to Celestia's study and I was sitting on a large couch. The others were watching me with concern on their faces. Slowly, I moved around and looked up to face Zecora's piercing deep blue eyes, which locked onto my own. They were full of warmth and love. Slowly I reached out and grabbed her free hoof. She wrapped her own leg around my hand lovingly, leaned down and kissed me tenderly. "My love? How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

"Th…Thirsty," I croaked out, just then realizing just how dry my throat had become due to my mouth hanging open for so long. I closed it and tried to use my saliva to moisten it.

Someone floated a glass of what could only be cider over to me. The glow of the magic indicated that it was Luna. I reached an unsteady hand out only for the glass to move away. "Be still, good sir knight," Luna's voice called out. "You are still weak from shock. Let me do it."

Despite myself, some of my male pride showed through as I began to say, "I'll do it," but one look from the dark blue Alicorn shut me up. I put my hand down in defeat. She floated the glass over and tilted it towards me. The cool and refreshing beverage slid down my throat and I drank like a dying man.

To my right I heard a very equine snort as Sunset said, "You even have the thirst of an emperor."

"Bring on the mead!" Scarlet joked.

"You joke, but after what just happened, I could go for a stiff one or three," I replied with a small smile as I finished the glass. "Thank you, Luna. That helped."

"But of course," Luna said with a gentle smile.

"What happened down there, Jethro?" Celestia asked with a slightly worried expression on her face. "What did you find?"

I exhaled slowly. "Something that just raises more questions," I replied. "Too many, and ones I don't really want to think about."

"You sure you're okay, babe?" Scarlet asked.

"I'm not surprised you reacted like that," Sunset said. "If Generation One is really prehistorical, then could the other two generations be historical, too?"

I shook my head. "I doubt it. Especially Generation Three." Clearing my throat, I sang, "We'll plan a party with Pinkie Pie and watch her balloons lift her up to the sky. Scootaloo will show us games to play, and Toola-Roola will be painting away. Rainbow Dash always dresses in style. Sweetie Belle's magic brings a great big smile. I hope we hear a story from Cheerilee, and a beautiful Starsong melody." I paused to take a breath, then continued, "Generation Three takes place in another place called Ponyville, and the characters are all mixed up. Our Rainbow Dash is if you took Generation Three Rainbow Dash and put Generation One Firefly's personality in."

"Hey, are you insulting me?" Rainbow asked, putting her front hooves on her hips.

I shook my head. "Not at all. I'm just saying that out of all the generations of My Little Pony, show or toys, Generation One would make the most sense."

"Twilight did write to me once about other versions of this line of toys," Celestia said, "but can you explain it more?"

"Oh, I can do more than that. You're gonna want to sit down for this, Celestia. Same with all of you," I said as I slowly pulled out my phone. "I've got something I need to show you." So saying, I opened YouTube, pulled up Rescue At Midnight Castle, then began to project it. Pausing it before it really started, I looked back at the individuals in the room. "Now, before I show you this, I'd like you to hold off all questions until the end. What I'm about to show you is short, but it'll provide some context to what we found." And with that, I hit play.

"My Little Pony! My Little Pony! Isn't the world a lovely place? My Little Pony! My Little Pony! Everywhere you go a smiling face!"

"My Little Pony! My Little Pony! Isn't it time we started home? My Little Pony! My Little Pony! Whoever dreamed how far we'd roam?"

Thirty minutes later, everyone was staring at the ending credits as they rolled on the projected screen in the center of the room. Firefly was flying Megan back home as the ending song was being sung. When the credits were over, I ended the projection and turned back to the others. There were varying degrees of confusion and worry on their faces. Some looked thoughtful, like Twilight and Rarity. Others, like Rainbow Dash, looked just plain confused. Spike, having seen his Generation One self, looked equally as confused.

It was Applejack who first spoke up. "Was that Pony supposed tah be me?"

I shook my head. "I doubt it," I said. "You've gotta remember, this was made back in 1984. Friendship is Magic was airing back in 2010, which is what the year is in Pendragon now. Hell, the human version of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are fans of the show."

"So why show us this?" Luna asked. "What could it have to do with whatever you found?"

"We found an ancient stone tablet written by a Pony named Sǒnnī Blican," I said, waving the projection away with my hand.

"I made a charcoal copy of the tablet," Twilight said, holding up a large piece of paper which had a copy of the stone tablet on it. She must have put the paper down on it and rubbed a piece of charcoal onto it to make the copy, I reasoned as she placed it down on the table.

Celestia and Luna both looked at the paper. "I've seen writing like this before in Starswirl's old room back at our old Castle," Celestia said.

"I concur," Luna said. "It is indeed an ancient language even you and I do not know, sister."

"I can read it," I said, "and the words I couldn't read I could translate on my phone. Like, here. Lemme translate the author's name." I pulled out my phone and placed both words into the Old English translator. The first name meant nothing, but Blican stood out to me. "Blican means To Sparkle," I said, looking over at Twilight immediately.

Twilight looked at the paper in astonishment. "Do…you think that this was written by one of my ancestors?" she asked in awe.

"It's possible," I said as I was furiously looking for a translation for Sǒnnī. "Hang on, I might have found something about that first name…"

"Is that really important at the moment," Spike asked.

"It could be," I said as I went to a Middle English translator site and plugged the name in. "Okay…so the name is Sunny or Sunlight Sparkle," I said as I put the phone down. "Does that name ring any bells?"

Twilight shook her head. "No…I don't think so," she said. "I'll look through the genealogical records later."

"What of the name Milscapuldor Gebéorscipe?" Luna asked. "Could that be of any import?"

"Do you know how to spell it?" I asked, going back to the Old English translator.

Luna raised her horn and the name began spelling itself in the air. "Like this," she said.

"Okay, hold that up for a bit," I said as I put both words into the translator. "Okay, so Milscapuldor means Sweet Apple Tree and Gebéorscipe means Feast, Banquet, or Party." I looked over at Applejack, then at Pinkie Pie, the events of one of the Season 4 episodes coming quickly to my mind. "No way…"

"What's on yer mind, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"Well…spoiler alert, but there's an episode in the fourth season of My Little Pony where Pinkie Pie here finds out that she's possibly related to the Apple family. Fourth cousin twice removed by a fifth cousin. The episode ended kind of up in the air, but if this name means anything, it could indicate some common ancestry. Or it could be a massive coincidence. But we're getting sidetracked." I pointed to the paper. "There are words on here that roughly translate to Rainbow of Light, Dream Castle, Ponyland, Three Guardians and more."

"Are you suggesting humans have been to Equestria before?" Rarity asked.

"It's possible," I said. "In the My Little Pony movie, three humans came to Ponyland. Megan Williams was one, and her two siblings came. Danny and Molly." I pulled up the Wikipedia entry for the summary. "Here, this article explains the plot in detail." I read the plotline over for everyone, then put the phone away. "Three humans from over the rainbow? Three guardians? Sounds like they could be one and the same."

Celestia frowned. "You're talking about ancient history, Jethro," she said. "And from what I just saw, it couldn't have happened quite like you said."

"No, you're probably right," I replied. "I don't know just how it could have happened, but the names I'm seeing are too big of a coincidence to ignore. Plus, this tablet mentions two other tribes of Ponies, and from what I know of Generation One, that could only be Sea Ponies and Flutter Ponies."

"By Sea Ponies, are you referring to the Hippogriffs?" Luna asked.

"I don't know, maybe," I replied.

"What are Flutter Ponies?" Fluttershy asked.

I chuckled at the irony that Fluttershy would ask about Flutter Ponies, but it was quick. "Well, they're a race of flying ponies," I explained, "but instead of wings like those of a Pegasus, they have wings more like those of butterflies. And they have the means to create a powerful wind. At least, that's what I found on the staticnet when I researched them."

"Do you think they exist?" Rainbow asked.

"The tablet mentions five tribes of Ponies, and their description matches with what I've found about them on the Generation One wiki," I said. "But for the moment, I think there's one thing we can gather from what we've learned. And that is that Applejack's new magic isn't new." I pointed to the passage in question. "Here, it reads '…those in tune with the land, the most common of all the Friþhengest, could channel magic through their hooves to create the vast farmlands throughout the land of Eoh Eorðdenu'. If what I saw was any indication, what she did matches what's being described here. She channeled magic through her hooves and made the Hearth's Warming Tree grow."

"But it wasn't even in the ground," Applejack replied. "It was touchin' the ground, sure, but there weren't no roots or nothin'."

"Maybe contact is all you need," I conjectured. "Think about it. As opposed to Alicorns and Unicorns who don't need to touch something to cast magic on it, Earth Ponies might need to. I mean, that's how it works for Pegasi. They need to touch the clouds for their own brand of magic to activate. Bounce on the cloud and make it rain or snow. Push the clouds into place to make a storm or something. That kind of thing."

"Well, we Earth Ponies do have our own connection to the ground," Pinkie said thoughtfully. "When I was back on my family's farm, my sisters would always be able to tell where the best gems were. I can kinda tell, but not as much as my sisters. Especially Maud. She's a prodigy."

"And Granny Smith said she was able tah know when the next season was comin' weeks before just by feelin' the earth beneath her hooves when she was younger," Applejack said. "She can still feel it, but only a few days before now."

"I've felt similar types of magic through my life," Celestia said. "Sometimes, whenever I walk through the Canterlot Palace Gardens, I can close my eyes and feel the life around me. It's very relaxing after a long day."

"I have felt the same way sometimes," Luna added. "It's not often I feel that connection, but it's there."

"But why did it appear now?" Applejack asked. "Ah don't get it."

"I don't know," I said. I turned then to Moondancer. "You said there was Alicorn magic in her? What did you mean?"

"I meant that some sort of Alicorn magic passed through her," Moondancer explained. "Raw magic. Only Alicorns can wield raw magic in its purest form."

"Okay, let's pretend Jethro knows jack-shit about magic stuff like this," I said. "How is raw magic different from the magic I've been using so far?"

Moondancer pointed to her horn. "A Unicorn's horn is what gives us the ability to use magic. We channel the raw magic that permeates the world through it while casting spells."

"Exactly," Twilight added. "Every part of the world has magic in it. All that we Unicorns do is funnel it through our horns whenever we cast it."

"So how did raw magic appear in Applejack?" I asked. "If Alicorns can wield this raw magic, how'd it enter her?"

The room went silent as we all tried thinking about what could have possibly happened. The answer came from one of the most unlikely of sources. "Um…here's a thought," Spike said after a few minutes of thought. "Remember back on Earth where you tried casting magic and it shot out of you? It went into everyone there. Including Applejack."

"But that was on Earth," I said, confused. "If what I cast was raw magic, how'd I do that?"

"Jethro, the magic you cast was a rainbow color, remember?" Twilight said. "What's your normal magic color?"

"A kinda silvery golden one, like my wings," I said.

Celestia stepped forward, then raised her horn. She began gritting her teeth and I thought I saw beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Her horn began to glow, only instead of its normal glow I saw a swirling rainbow around the base of her horn. It began moving up until it enveloped her entire horn. Unlike the normal sound of magic being cast, this sounded like wind blowing through the trees. She took a few deep breaths, then clenched her teeth again. The magic began to vanish, finally ending at the tip. She took a few stumbling steps back, only to be caught by her younger sister. "Sister, why did you do that? You know it consumes too much of your magic," Luna said worriedly. "Now I shall have to be the one to lower the sun."

"No, sister," Celestia said, "I have enough juice left to do that before I go to bed." She turned to me. "Did that look familiar?"

"Yeah," I said. "It looked a lot like the magic that came out of me back on Earth."

"That must have been raw magic, then," she said. "If it passed through Applejack, it could very well have boosted her natural magical abilities."

"Damn it…" I said, turning to Applejack apologetically. "I'm really sorry about-"

"Now don't ya go talkin' like that," she interrupted me. "Ya couldn't have known this would happen. All we can do now is live with it."

I smiled gratefully at her, then turned back to Twilight. "The problem, though, is that the magic I accidentally cast didn't just hit Applejack. It hit Shye, Jackie, Trisha, Diane, Dash, Zecora, Scarlet, Twilight AND Spike. And I know Zecora, Scarlet, Twilight and Spike haven't experienced anything weird. At least, unless you four have something to tell us." I looked at the four in turn with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight shook her head. "I haven't noticed anything odd. Spike?"

The young drake also shook his head. "Nothing weird here. Then again, I'm still kinda getting used to this new body."

"I have not felt anything unusual, dearest," Zecora said.

"Yeah, nothing weird here," Scarlet said, spreading her wings and looking at them carefully. "I still feel the same as ever."

"Ah felt the same before whatever happened," Applejack said, "and ah feel the same now."

"So could this thing with Applejack be an isolated incident?" Rarity asked.

"Well, perhaps," Twilight said as she began pacing the room.

"Do you think we should test everypony here who was affected?" Moondancer asked.

"I've already put in an order for the latest Magiscan device," Celestia said. "I'm having it delivered to Golden Oaks as soon as possible. But for now, yes. I'd suggest you get those hit by the raw magic tested. Even if what Twilight has is out of date, I know she takes very good care of her Magiscan since she got it."

"Well, if that's the case, we can probably still use it," Moondancer said.

"If my sister's student is as meticulous as she claims," Luna said, "then this device of hers should be sufficient to bring more answers."

"And for your sanity, Jethro, focus on one mystery at a time," Celestia said. "I don't want my favorite knight falling into shock researching prehistorical Pony legends."

"I'm your only knight," I replied, "but yeah, you're right…I don't wanna think about this right now. One problem at a time."

"This historical issue is not as pressing as young Applejack here being given magic unknown to her," Luna said.

"I can have some of our historians look at this tablet and see if they can find something useful from it," Celestia said, "but for you all, I suggest you return to Ponyville. It's not quite sunset, but it is getting late. You should all head back. I can provide you all with chariots again if you want."

"Oh yes, please," Rarity said. "Flying over here earlier was simply divine!"

"It's faster than the train," I said, "and plus, I don't like leaving the Sirens and Chrysalis alone in that house with Ember, Gemini and Mica."

"I'll call them right away," Celestia said as she stood. She walked over to me and put a hoof on my shoulder and gave me a sorrowful and knowing smile. "You know, I wish I could give you a time of rest. You never seem to, what's the phrase that's so in vogue these days? Catch a break?"

"That's the phrase, and so do I, Celestia. So do I."

"So, this won't hurt Zecora, will it?" I asked about an hour later. After returning to Ponyville, the other Mane Six had gone home since it was getting dark. Sunset told us that she had a very long day and while she really did want to help didn't feel she was quite up to snuff in her state. Twilight had understood and said she could rest. The rest of us, Moondancer, Twilight, Zecora, Scarlet and Spike were all down in Twilight's laboratory surrounding her Magiscan. Zecora was strapped into the machine, having volunteered to be tested by the machine first. Everyone else was standing near the walls to give Twilight and Moondancer space to work.

"Not at all," Twilight said. "You've seen it work before, so why are you asking?"

"Just worried, is all," I said. "I mean, Zecora's a Zebra, and this machine was designed for Ponies only."

"I will be fine, beloved," Zecora said, giving me a reassuring smile. "Don't fret."

"From my research, Zebras and Ponies are similar physically," Twilight said. "They don't have quite the same connection to magic as any kind of Pony does, but they do still have it."

"We're more like Earth Ponies than any other type," Zecora explained. "Our bodies are strong and resilient."

"That's why Twilight and I have this set to Earth Pony," Moondancer said, pointing at the control panel for the machine. She looked back at Twilight and nodded. "We're all set here."

Twilight nodded in return. It felt nice to see those two getting along again. It was also kind of cool to see Moondancer's old mane style back. Twilight turned back and gently tightened the straps. "You'll let me know if this hurts, right?" she asked the Zebra mare.

"It doesn't hurt at all," Zecora said. "In fact, you can tighten it up a bit more."

Twilight nodded and did so. Turning back to Moondancer, she approached the console and stood beside her old friend. "Okay, I'm turning on the Magiscan. Zecora, you don't need to do anything, just sit there."

"I understand, Miss Twilight," Zecora said.

Twilight nodded then used her magic to turn a few dials and knobs. The device began to hum as the console lit up. "Okay…Moondancer, did you find that book that talks about other creature's magical resonances?"

"Right here," Moondancer replied, levitating a green book up and placing it on a nearby bookstand and opening it. "Now let's see…Zebra…chapter twelve…uh huh…normal resonance frequencies are pretty close to Earth Ponies, uh huh…Twilight? Give me a reading on the alpha wavelength."

"Twelve…point three, I think," she said. "The needle is wavering a bit."

"Huh…that's about five points off from what I'm seeing here," Moondancer said. "Okay, beta wavelength."

"Thirty six," Twilight replied. "Holding steady there."

"That's within normal tolerance," Moondancer said. "Now, heart rate?"

"Seventy three BPM," Twilight replied.

"Well within tolerance," Moondancer said, "Now for the big question: Is there anything on the magical output? With this Magiscan, it would be negligible, between five and ten is the average."

However, Twilight was just gaping at the control panel, purple eyes wide in what looked like shock. "Sweet Celestia…how is that possible?"

Moondancer was right by her side, looking at something only she and Twilight could see. I could feel the tension in the room rising. Not wanting to be like those guys who just waits for an answer, I walked over and looked at the dial they were looking at.

Now, I didn't have to be an expert on magic to understand just why the two magical students were astonished. Ponies seemed to be the only race with any kind of substantial type of magic. Well them, and me, a weird hairless ape who sprouted wings and learned magic because of an accident. I frowned. "Normally, I don't need to state the obvious, but that's nowhere near normal, is it?"

Twilight and Moondancer both shook their heads. I looked back up at a now worried looking Zecora. "My love, what is it?"

The dial I was looking at had numbers from zero to a hundred with a red needle which was slightly trembling. I looked back up at her, then walked over and put a hand over her hoof, which I noted was trembling slightly. "Dearest, your magical output is way above normal. It's almost at fifty."

Zecora's eyes went wide. "Wait…it is?" she asked in a surprisingly calm tone.

I nodded. "It is, sweetie." I squeezed her hoof then turned to the two Unicorns. "Twi? Moondancer? What does this mean?"

The two Unicorns looked at each other, then began whispering to each other. Moondancer was talking a bit more calmly than Twilight, who looked like she was freaking out. The conversation lasted a few minutes before they turned back. Moondancer was the first to talk. "Let me preface this by saying neither of us are experts when it comes to Zebra magical output. However, from what we're both seeing, yes, your magical output is much higher than it should be, Miss Zecora. Higher than most Unicorns, even."

"But that's not the biggest part," Twilight said sharply and with a worried tremor in her voice. "It looks like…" She trailed off, looking at the control console again. "It just can't be…"

"Just tell us, please," I said, now holding onto Zecora's hoof tighter.

Twilight took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Well, it looks like your magic…it looks like the output is only increasing."

There was silence through the underground lab. Everyone looked at everyone with varying expressions of concern (which came from Twilight, Moondancer and Zecora) and confusion (which came from me, Scarlet and Spike). I looked back at the two Unicorns. "What are we missing here, you guys? Is her having this much magic a bad thing?"

"If it were steady, I'd say no, just unusual," Moondancer said, and her tone sounded much more clinical than normal. "However, her magic is only increasing, and that could lead to severe problems."

I was about to ask something, when I heard Zecora take a sharp increase in breath. Turning, I saw that she was breathing heavily all of the sudden. She had her eyes closed and was sweating profusely. "Zecora?! What's wrong!? Talk to me!"

"She's having a panic attack!" Moondancer said as she looked down at the console. "And her magical output is spiking like crazy!"

"She's almost on the verge of a magical surge!" Twilight said in a panic.

I quickly undid the straps on her hooves and lifted her up. She was burning up and her eyes were wide in terror. Those eyes locked on me. "Jethro…help…"

Holding her close to me, I ignored the heat coming from her body and the shouts of alarm from everyone else and rushed upstairs, opening the door with my magic and rushing out into the now darkened but festive looking streets. Spreading my wings, I shot up into the air, holding the terrified Zebra close to me. She clung to me tightly as I flew towards the burned down portions of the Everfree Forest. A part of me noticed that the portion of the forest that had burned down had been cleaned, leaving a large ashy plain covered by snow. I flew down towards a thick snowbank and placed her into the snow.

"Jethro!" Scarlet's voice called out from behind me as my Pegasus marefriend landed beside me, carrying Moondancer in her hooves. Spike was behind her, carrying Twilight in his arms. The four landed beside me.

"Stay back, everypony!" Twilight shouted.

However, I ignored her and knelt beside the twitching Zebra. "Zecora! Hang in there!" Turning back to Twilight, I shouted, "What do we do?!"

"She needs to release the magic inside her, but since she doesn't have a horn, I don't know what she can do!" Twilight said in a panic.

"It hurts! IT HURTS!" Zecora shouted. Her eyes were shut, but from behind her eyelids, I saw a dark blue glow.

"What do we do!?" I shouted, ignoring just how hot she was and holding her as close as I could.

Twilight clenched her teeth and looked like she was doing her best to think. But it was Scarlet who came up with an idea. "Change her into an Anthro form! She might not have a horn, but what if she had hands!?"

Twilight's eyes widened in realization. "Good idea!" She looked over at me then at my wings. "Jethro! I need one of your feathers! Now!" I plucked one from my back and handed it to her. She took it and hovered it into the air between her and Zecora. She grit her teeth and aimed her horn at the poor Zebra. A beam of bright purple magic shot out towards the feather and struck it, making it explode into bright golden silvery light mixed with Twilight's own magical color which then hit Zecora.

Now, I had never seen the Anthro spell in action before, but what I saw I will never forget. The mixture of colors swirled around the twitching and terrified Zebra. She began to glow brightly, the light hiding everything but her head. He eyes shot open and I saw them glowing the same color as her eyes. That gorgeous blue that captivated me every night before bed and every morning whenever I woke up. The same eyes that were consumed with terror and pain as her normally equine body was surrounded by magic which took on the shape of her normal Anthro form. Her forelegs took on the slender shape of human arms, her back legs took on the shapely appearance of attractive human legs minus feet. Her middle formed into the same attractive shape I had seen a few times before.

Suddenly, Zecora spread her new arms up to the heavens. Two large blasts of cyan magic shot out from her hands and burst through the clouds. Cyan lightning bolts shot through the clouds, lighting up the snow covered plain. And, to top it off, a blast of golden silver magic erupted from her back which spread out in a magical bubble. This sent everyone flying back onto the ground except for me, since it just felt like a large soap bubble had passed through me.

Just like that, the light and magic vanished, and the now naked Anthro version of Zecora fell onto the snowbank. I rushed over and wrapped her in my arms and wings. To my surprise, she was still conscious and shivering in my wings and arms. She wasn't hot anymore, however. She reached out and clung to me tightly. "Dear…est…" she said in a trembling voice.

"I'm here, babe," I said softly. "I'm here."

She looked up at me, and the trust in those eyes made me smile wider. I stroked her mane lovingly and poured some Phoenix warmth through my wings. She shuddered a bit and leaned in, placing her head on my chest. "I…I feel much better now, love," she said, sounding very relieved.

I nodded, feeling myself relaxing as well. The others surrounded us, varying degrees of worry on their faces. "Zecora? What happened? We couldn't really see?" Twilight asked.

I held out my hand. "Not right now, Twilight," I said. "She needs some rest. We can discuss what happened tomorrow, okay?"

"Including that?" Spike asked, pointing to Zecora's back.

"What are you-oooh…" I said, looking at Zecora's bare back.

"Is something wrong?" Zecora asked, now looking worried again.

"I don't think so," I said, "but you'll wanna look behind you."

Zecora slowly did so, and her eyes went wide. "What…but…how? I'm not a Pony!"

Nobody could answer her. How could they? The truth of what we were seeing on the Anthro Zebra's back was impossible to comprehend at the time. Because we all were staring at a pair of large white and black streaked Alicorn wings spread from her back.