A Shack in the Woods/ Meet Razz

The alluring aroma drew Adora to a small shack built into the side of a hill. Made seemingly out of sticks and adorned with lily pads, Adora was surprised that anyone would choose to live out here. Right away, she realized that there was smoke rising from the chimney. Adora didn't want to take her chances with whoever might be inside until she laid her eyes on what was on the windowsill: a pie. Just like from the festival.

Adora was drooling at the sight of it when suddenly, a little old lady came out of the shack. She was a bespectacled magenta crone with a long, unkempt mane of violet hair in a jam-colored dress. Sweeping the entrance to her home while butterflies hovered around her. Then she stopped. "Did you hear something?" She asked, to no one in particular. "Yes, I did too. Who's there!?"

Rather than risk the hermit's wrath, Adora stepped out from the bushes and approached her as calmly as possible. "I uh didn't mean to intrude. Um, but have you seen a flying horse around here?" Adora realized how ridiculous that sounded but she figured there was no harm in asking.

The old woman adjusted her glasses and squinted at Adora. Immediately, her distrustful attitude turned sweet. "Oh, Mara, dearie, is that you?" Never in her entire life had Adora heard that name before. She glanced around in case there was someone else the woman could be talking to but found nothing. "About time you got here. Come on now, you're wasting away. Let's get going."

The hermit reentered her shack and as confused as Adora was, this strange lady seemed to recognize her. Plus, she seemed pretty harmless so Adora didn't see any harm in following her inside. As soon as she parted the curtains, the crone shoved a slice of pie into Adora's mouth, catching the former soldier off-guard. "Eat, eat! We don't want it getting cold now."

Adora tried to speak up but her mouth was full of pie. Arguably, the best pie she's ever tasted but then again she only discovered what pie was yesterday. Not a crumb or glob of filling was wasted. She swallowed the slice and licked her lips while the old lady gathered her belongings in a basket. "You were waiting Urrrp for me?" Adora asked.

The hermit just laughed at her question. "We made plans to go berry picking today."

"I'm sorry but I think you've mistaken me for someone Brup else." Adora savored the lingering taste of the treat and said. "I don't know who you are."

Squinting again, the old woman said, "No, you don't know Madame Razz, do you? You're not quite the same. This is the wrong time for my Mara, isn't it?" She finished packing some junk into her basket and gave Adora's pudge a poke. "The Mara I know isn't skin and bones. Now you've got the sword instead."

"Wait, whaaUURRP?" Whoever this Madame Razz was, she apparently knew more than Adora expected.

"Ha! Well, never mind. You're here now and there's berries to be picked." Razz hung an extra basket on the sword and handed Adora the rest of the pie. "I can't very well make you more pies without berries, now can I?"

Adora didn't know where to begin with Razz. She was the only person that could give her the answers that she sought but her credibility and sanity were dubious, at best. The same could not be said for her cooking skills. Adora found herself scooping chunks of pie into her mouth while wrestling with indecisiveness. Ultimately, she followed Razz and finished off the pie. Probing Razz for answers while her stomach bubbled like a cauldron. Razz's hold on reality kept slipping as they walked and mistook Adora for Mara constantly.

When Adora asked how long Razz had been living alone, she laughed it off claiming her broom was alive and she had some invisible trickster friend. Which did not fill Adora with confidence. The only thing she was full of was gas. She blamed the pie for why she couldn't stop burping and the rising pressure in her colon. Adora tried to keep it quiet her butt refused to listen. Her farts weren't as fierce as She-ra's but if she ripped these back in the Fright Zone, no one would want to sit downwind of her. Even Catra wouldn't sit next to her unless there was a desk between them.

It was reaching the point where Adora was ready to ditch Razz and find a quiet place to hide until the gas was out of her system. But then they reached their destination.