For the record, she wasn't impressed by the Queen Rap Battle

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Look, it's a zebra! Zecora has unrolled a scroll in her home as a thought occurred to her -- an important one, since a cauldron in the back is belching thick green clouds of something she isn't paying attention to.]

Newponies and old alike
A thought strikes me that I dislike.
A curiosity I present to those
Trapped by changelings. This question I pose
Concerns your health and how you fare
In the days since the invasion scare.
Is anypony feeling unwell
In unusual ways, if you can tell?

Comments

[der_vogelfanger]

Well, I was the one --

The queen sent me along to --

Huh. [He pauses and scratches his head thoughtfully. What had they said? 'Help the prince,' pretty much. He'd just sort of accepted that the Queen could order him to go on a quest without questioning why she would. Thankfully, there's something of an answer anyway.]

I was the one who found the princess first! Tamino and I split up, and I found where she was being held prisoner!

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Privately, his lack of reason makes Zecora wonder if he was sent along by virtue of being present when the duty was being handed out. But no matter if that was true.]

So you rescued the princess from her cage
To her imprisoner's shock and rage?

[der_vogelfanger]

I did! Monostatos -- that's her guard, a very strange-looking fellow -- was going to -- well, he was trying to -- he was going to do something very bad to her. He didn't get a chance, though, because I came in through the window and chased him away, and then I untied her and we ran away together. [That's...okay, all that stuff is kind of true, even if he doesn't dare explain what Monostatos was trying to do. Papageno might have shown a bit less initiative and intelligence in the actual event, though.]

He caught up to us later, but I used my magic glockenspiel to make him and his cronies dance away again. I've still got it here -- and it works on changelings!

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Understanding perfectly well, Zecora has no intention whatsoever of pressing him on details about Monostatos's intentions towards the princess.]

You have a magic glockenspiel?
I admit, that seems almost unreal!
Can you safely demonstrate
Its magic, without harm at any rate?

[der_vogelfanger]

Oh, it doesn't hurt anyone -- but if I play it, it just might make you dance. [Grin grin. Actually, he's not sure -- it didn't make either Pamina or Donna dance when he used it near those ladies. They weren't his intended targets, though.]

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

I'll take the chance that I will dance
It will prove your glockenspiel to be both magic and real!

[der_vogelfanger]

Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you! [Papageno carefully sets his scroll up so it will stay on him hooves-free, then shuffles into the middle of the frame and takes off the box he wears on a strap like a saddlebag, setting it on the floor in front of him and flipping open the lid. Like before, he eschews the little hammers in the case in favor of sitting on his haunches and tapping the bars with his front hooves. A tune emerges, and he starts to sing:]

Zebra, come and dance with me,
Music sweet I offer thee.
Right hoof first,
left hoof then,
round about and back again!

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Zecora's right hoof twitches without any conscious control of hers, like a limb jerking just before sleep hits fully. Then it steps forward, followed by her left hoof, and before she knows it the zebra is turning a circle and back, laughing as she does.]

Magic indeed, as around I prance
Unable to keep from joining the danced.
Quite a feat from quite a lute
Your playing clearly bears wild fruit!

[der_vogelfanger]

[Papageno laughs and lets the tune tinkle out into nothing -- he doesn't feel like he can just cut it off in the middle of the melody, but once he's ready to stop it's easy to bring it to a close.] I'm glad it worked! I've only ever tried it in emergencies before.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

[Zecora finishes off her dance with a graceful little spin, then settles down once again, none the worse for wear.]

Did I follow, without choice
The instructions that you gave voice?
If so, what other orders can
You give? Might I have jumped or ran?

[der_vogelfanger]

[Papageno's eyes go wide.] I never tried! It's always only made people dance -- but it did make Monostatos and the changelings dance away.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Even such control is substantial power
You should test before some new dark hour.

[der_vogelfanger]

[He nods fervently.] All the ladies said was that it would protect me when I needed it -- and that it would make everyone's hearts glad.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

That is a greater magic by far
Than simple control, wherever you are!

[der_vogelfanger]

Tamino's flute does the same -- I think. I've never seen him use it, only heard it when he used it to call to me and Pamina.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Does it work on only those who can talk
Or could you command a chicken or a manticore to walk?

[der_vogelfanger]

I haven't tried that, either -- but I can normally get birds to do what I want with my panpipe anyway. I'm the birdcatcher to the queen, did I mention?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Why did the queen wish her birds to be caught?
Is this normal for your world, while here it is not?

[der_vogelfanger]

...Don't people want birds here? She had a big menagerie...and some of them are good to eat....

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Some ponies may have a pet bird
But to catch one seems absurd.

[der_vogelfanger]

Well, how else are you supposed to get one?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

If you wish a bird's sweet song and grace
You'd best visit Fluttershy's place.
Many animals gather there
So she can check on how they fare.
Many are eager to accept
The role of 'pet', and be kept.

[der_vogelfanger]

[Papageno looks put out.]

But I'm the queen's bird catcher -- that's what I've always done. If I don't have that, what do I have? Not a girlfriend, that's for sure. What's this Fluttershy doing taking away my livelihood?

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

And in those days for which you pine
Were you also an equine?
Time moves forward, you advance.
Give your new circumstances a chance.

[der_vogelfanger]

Of course not. I was a man like any other.

[He deflates, casting his gaze at the ground.] There's a bird on my butt, though, don't you think that means something?