//------------------------------// // Zebrican Safari Adventure // Story: Home is where True Peace and Love Is // by MetalBrony823 //------------------------------// It was a rather warm day over the Zebrican savanna, but it was a rather nice weather for fun activities such as safari tours. Luke could hardly wait to look for cool animals while on this safari, and he was determined to look at as much Zebrican animals as much as possible. "Okove, do you know a zebra to give out safari tours that he will help us hear a lion's roar?" Zecora asked her brother. "Trust me, my dear sister." Said Okove. "I know a wise zebra named Wakka-Shu. I have known him for a long while. And he will he a perfect guide for us." The others continued to a small stop where a group of tour-giver zebras were in a line filled with many foreign visitors and native zebras alike. "Okove. I'm curious. What kind of monsters are in Zebrica?" "Well, there are so many ferocious beasts and dangerous creatures out there. Some of them are so dangerous enough to be powerful enough to kill a full-grown elephant." "Why do you ask that question?" Said Zecora. "Was it a suggestion?" "I was just curious, just in case something dangerous attacks us in the safari." Luke replied. "I'll never know when a spitting cobra would be on the ground and if I accidentally stepped on one in the grass, then... you know the rest of that." "You are absolutely right, young Luke." Okove chuckled. "The grass out here hides so many dangers that are quite unpredictable, but, they can hide you as well if you're careful enough." "Fair point. And... don't get scared of this, but I have brought something with me in case a vicious monster or demonic creature would dare attack us." "And what is that?" Said a tour guide, noticing the group Luke and Fluttershy were in together. "Pardom me for the interruption, but I am Wakka-Shu, and I will be your tour guide on this fantastical safari through the plain. Ah, and Zecora, you have finally returned home." "Well. Not exactly." Said Rainbow Dash Uncomfortably. "Zecora's only visiting here." "Oh. I see." "Umm, I think proper introductions are in order" said Twilight. They all introduced themselves to Wakka-Shu one at a time. "The princess of friendship?" Said the tour guide in amazement. "It is quite an honor, your highness. I have always heard of you but I never thought I would actually meet you in the flesh." "Charmed." Said Twilight on flattery. "And of course I have heard of the infamous Elements of Harmony. Always a pleasure to meet all of you as well." And then he looked at the human. "And as for you, Luke, what are you?" He asked curiously. "I'm a human. I know, I know. You never seen someone like me before in your whole life, but I am Equestria's only human at the monent "A human? Are you some kind of.... ape of some kind?" "Well... no, we humans are in the primate family though. I'm from another world and my kind are the dominant species of it." "Fascinating. I am already taking a liking to you." Said Wakka-Shu "And I'm his father." Larry said. "I helped raised him and grow up." "Always a pleasure to meet any visitor from anywhere, especially from another dimension." said Wakka-Shu. "Now, forgive me, but you said you had something to ward off any dangerous creatures. May I ask what you mean." "Of course." said Luke boldly. He pulled out his lightsaber again, and activated the green, glowing blade with a push of the button on the hilt. The tour guide was impressed by how this colorful weapon looked. "Behold, the Lightsaber. This is more powerful than any other sword in any universe. This thing can cut through steel if needed." "Lightsaber, huh? Well, I don't think it is really needed to have this sword with you on this trip." "Still, Zecora and Okove said the grass can hide many dangers out here in Zebrica." "Cannot argue with that. That point is well taken." Wakka-Shu laughed "Very well. Besides, I love the color of this blade. And on the way, I think we have so much to talk about on this wondrous trip." "I couldn't agree more, Wakka-Shu." Luke agreed. "Now, the rules are stay with the group, and it's best not to approach any wild animal here, unless if they come to you." he instructed to the group. "Be sure you have lots of water with you, and feel free to let me know if you need a break. Does everyone understand what I am talking about to you?" "We do, Wakka-Shu." said Fluttershy quietly. "I think we're ready." "Yep, let the safari begin." said Lyra. “Wonderful. Then let us all be off, and of course, I got my eye on you, Discord. Considering the fact that I do not trust you in being the Master of Chaos.” “Don’t worry.” Said Spike. “Fluttershy will keep a good eye on him.” And then they were all off in the trail where Waka-Shu was taking them all to on this safari. They all looked around for any intriguing animals to look at. “Oh! Look up there in that tree, my friends.” The tour guide pointed out with a hood. “The giant eagle owl, one of the largest owls in the world.” “Can they also turn their heads like any other owl in the world?” Twilight asked him cursorily . “Of course. This owls are superb predators who should mostly feed on small animals like meerkats, or any other animal like the meerkat.” “Aww, how adorable.” Said Fluttershy. “Look at those cute little eyes on his chubby face. Oh I just wish I can hold one.” And it was all of a sudden the giant eagle owl swooped down and gently perched on Fluttershy’s back with his talons, it looked like her wish was granted saying that. “Hello there.” She said softly. The owl made a few small “hooting” sounds from himself and looked to and fro with his head at his surroundings. “Wow, it’s giant alright.” Said Spike. “It’s huge!” “Hence the name giant eagle owl.” Said Bon Bon. “I mean, look at the size of this bird.” “Yeah, it can pick up a gopher and scarf the whole thing down his throat.” Applejack remarked “Ooh, dkn’t Even way that, Applejack.” Rarity Said. “I know it’s natural, but it is still a little... unnerving for me, not to mention squeamish when even thinking about those sort of things.” “Come on, Rarity.” Said Rainbow Dash. “Don’t be such a wuss. I love watching that kind of stuff happen, I think it’s cool when stuff like that happens.” “Of course you do, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity Said. “But it does look like a rather adorable animal.” Luke went up to the raptor and began to pet it gently. “Oh, I wouldn’t do that, Luke!” The tour guide said. “A bite from that owl could hurt and make you lose a finger.” “it’s okay.” Said Fluttershy. “He just wants to say hello to us.” And the owl let out a fpcouole more hoots while nodding his head at everyone. The giant eagle owl then let Luke pet him some more around his round neck. The majestic bird-of-prey was really enjoying this type of treatment by the human. “Oh, he likes you, Luke.” Fluttershy noticed. “Thanks to your gift with animals.” Luke said. Unexpectedly, the eagle owl used his sharp talons to try and climb on Luke’s arm. It’s talons felt like very sharp needles and felt like they were piercing the skin of his arm. “You okay, Luke? You need the owl off of ya?” Applejack Asked with Concern. “No. Ah! It’s fine. These talons are probably not as bad as Th martial eagle or the crowned eagle, that’s for sure.” And then the eagle owl looked at the Human with it’s cute little face, and tilted sideways to the right, and then to the left. “Aren’t you a cool bird.” Luke said to it. And the owl made a smile on his face, and twisted his head around once like any other owl would do. “Here, let me help you.” Said Fluttershy. She made clicking noises and the owl immediately got off Luke’s arm, perching back on Fluttershy’s back. “What did you think of him?” She Asked the Giant eagle owl. And then the bird made a couple of chirping noises in response to what she asked her. Fluttershy’s smile grew a little wider and giggled. “What did he say?” Said Lyra. “He said that Luke was an intriguing person. And he liked you, Luke.” The human was rather touched to hear that, and petted the owl again, knowing how much he loved that. “You can communicate with animals, Fluttershy?” Asked Wakka-Shu in amazement. “How is hat even possible?” “It’s my special talent. That’s what my cutie mark is for.” “Yep, That’s Fluttershy’s calling. Animals are definitely her passion.” Said Twilight. “She has so many animals on her cottage back home in Ponyville, and you’d be surprised to see what kind of animals live with her.” Wakka-Shu didn’t really know what to what to think about this. “That’s rather amazing. Why aren’t there more ponies or zebras like you around his world? Perhaps your talents could be a great use to us here.” The yellow Pegasus flushed and said “Well, I don’t know what to say.” And gently pawed her right hoof on the ground. “I don’t want to break any rules in the safari and get in trouble for it, you know?” “Ah, come on. They know about you’re talent now, so there’s no point in holding back, Fluttershy.” Said Luke with a wink. “Yes, Perhaps this trip would need you. If you can talk to that giant eagle owl, I am certain you can talk to other animals here, right?” Asked Lyra. “Of course. I can speak their languages, their dialects, and tell how they feel.” Fluttershy Said. “There you go, Shy.” Said Spike encouragingly. “Besides, you are great with animals. We have seen what you’re capable of with those critters, especially woodland ones.” Fluttershy smiles and said “I know. You’re right. Well, I don’t want to keep you all waiting. I know how much you want to see this, Luke.” “I do,” Said her closest human friend. “Let’s continue on.” “Of course. Onward.” Said Wakka-Shu. They all followed the tour guide once again. And looked around for any cool animals along the dirty path. Twilight was suddenly spooked by something and she hovered in midair with a small scream. She never looked so scared before in her life before,mane hid behind Larry. The others looked confused. “Twilight, What is it?” Asked Larry. “Cobra! Cobra!” She exclaimed. “I hate snakes! Please make them go away!” They looked deeper in the bushes and saw a green and blue cobra raising his head in an intimidating way. “Uh-oh. It’s a Grass Spitting Cobra. These guys shoot venom from their mouths by spitting and when it gets in your eyes, it hurts.” The reptile made low growling sounds and spat venom at the group, but didn’t hurt anyone’s eyes. “Don’t worry, i’ll Take care of this,” Said Fluttershy “What? Wait! Don’t do this!” Said Rainbow Dash. “You’ll get blinded!” But it wasn’t enough to stop the yellow Pegasus. She went over to the spitting cobra, and gave it the “Stare” with her eyes. Just when the snake can shoot venom from his mouth, it suddenly froze in place and lowered his head. “Why are you attacking us?” She Said innher sweet demeanor. The snake began growling and hissing at her, trying to talk to her in snake language. “What? You got kicked out of your hole by another male who stole your mate?” She Said in shock. And the snake began looking angry again. “I understand, but you cannot let that guy bother you, or get under your scales. You need to stand up to him, and fight back. If you really want to win your love back, you need to put your tail and fangs down.” Realizing she was right, the snake had a small burst of courage in him and decided that she was right. It nodded it’s head,mane began to crawl up her. “Oh my.” She Said. “You’re a curious snake. Aren’t you?” “Is that even safe?” Said Pinkie. “It’s Fluttershy,” Said Lyra. “She’ll he just fine.” “Yeah. She does have snake friends at home.” Twilight agreed. The Grass Spitting cobra gave her a kiss by using her tongue to touch the cheeks of her face to show his affection. "Even though I'm still very terrified of them." and then she made a gulp of fear down her throat. The Yellow pegasus felt the cobra coiling down her legs and went off to fight off the intruder male that kicked him out of his hole and reclaim his mate for himself. All the members of the group continued on and Rainbow saw a couple of cheetahs laying on the ground under a tree as shade. There were probably up to three of them under the nice shade from the sun. One of them was a king cheetah, one with more spots and some long, wide stripes running down it's body. "Whoa! Cheetahs!" said Rainbow Dash "Finally we found cheetahs. I wonder how fast I can go with them, or if they can keep up with me." and she had a bold face on herself, and then the cheetahs began running faster than any other land animal they have all seen. Rainbow decided to fly up to them and see if those three big cats could keep up with her. Of course, she didn't want to really race them. No, she wanted to see how fast they truly were from what she heard about them. She was in between the cats, both of the regular-looking cheetahs to her side, and the king cheetah right behind her as she was flying in front of them. "Ooh, you're a cool-looking cat." she admired it. "Never seen a cheetah like you before." All three of them didn't really say anything, but just kept running with their amazing speed. They suddenly turned to their right, and Rainbow followed after, and then to the left, and the group watching her was absolutely amused by how this was turning out. "What a fast pegasus mare." said Wakka-Shu, obviously the one most amazed by Rainbow's gift of flight. "I guess the Wonderbolts were right to have her on their fly team." "You can say that again." said Applejack. "Rainbow Dash is possibly the fastest thing this world has ever seen before." "Indeed. And i perfectly understand how she is one of the elements of harmony, and a savior of your home." "Yep. She is the Element of Loyalty, after all." Luke said. "Hey Rainbow!" he called out to her. "I think you had your fun with them now!" The human wondered if she even heard him, and then she suddenly came back, landing back on the savanna ground. "Was that fun?" he asked her curiously "Yeah! I wished that it would have lasted longer, thought." the Cyan pegasus admitted "Maybe later." said Bon Bon. "But first, I want to see more of this safari." "We all do." said Lyra. "This is getting more and more exciting." "I could not agree more, Lyra." said Fluttershy. "But we still need to be careful, right?" "Of course." said Okove. "There might be more spitting cobras hidden in the tall grass around us." "Okove speaks true, my friends." said Wakka-Shu. "We should always exercise caution in these beautiful fields." and they continued pushing forward with the tour. Through it, they encountered and or saw many intriguing animals on the way, such as meerkats, mongooses, bee-eater birds, lovebirds, and other types. A rather upsetting sight caught Luke's eyes "Oh god." he muttered. the other went over to where he was standing and saw a couple of black vultures cawing in a very harsh type of sound, eating remains of a dead spotted hyena, piece by piece of it's flesh, and the bones were becoming more and more visible. It's face was almost gone, and it's eyes were gouged out by the vultures beaks. "Oh disgusting." said Larry. "Poor hyena. Really hate to be in what he's in right now." "Ew." Rarity muttered in disgust. She felt like throwing up seeing that very grotesque sight far from them. "I wonder what happened to that poor thing." said Starlight Glimmer. "Maybe the sun was so hot and he died of dehydration." "I doubt the sun is warm enough for that. It is still technically winter this time of year." said Zecora. "Perhaps it was attacked by something, Starlight dear." Luke was thinking of it, and had a thought. "I think a lion, or a lion pride attacked it somehow. Lions and hyenas are supposed to be bitter, mortal enemies. Even though hyenas technically have more powerful bite force than lions, they are not as large." "You're right." said the tour guide. "Or perhaps it was attacking a group of rhinos or elephants and was certifiable enough to try and challenge the whole herd." "Another good speculation." said Twilight. "But i don't think we should worry about that so much. It was only trying to survive out here." "It's all part of the circle of life, Twilight." Luke said. "It can be a cruel world out here." "You're absolutely right, my boy." said Discord in agreement. "We shouldn't let this ruin our fun, should we?" "No, of course not." said Starlight. "Let's keep moving." As the group continued with the tour, Luke felt like someone, or something was watching them from the tall grass. He cautiously looked around at his surroundings, and ingited the lightsaber just in case something dangerous was about to pop out. Hearing the lightsaber being activated, Fluttershy said "What is it, Luke?" "I get the feeling.... we're being watched somehow. Something's waiting to pop out and attack us any time soon." And the human looked at the surroundings, and his father pulled out his magnum just in case to protect his son. It was all quiet, and then, something charged at them. Something big, and black, weighing over a ton was charging at Luke, and he looked quite fierce. It was a cape buffalo bull, with his horns looking quite lethal. Despite how fast it was running, Luke and his father dodged out of the way just in time. They fell to the soil and saw the bull looking quite fierce like it was seeing the color of red. "Wait!" said Wakka-Shu. "Babatunde! Do not hurt them!" The buffalo turned around and had his eyes wide to see Zecora and Okove with them. "Wakka-Shu? Forgive me, I was just protecting you all from these two monsters." "They are not monsters!" said Fluttershy. "They're friends of ours." "Your friends?" Said the buffalo. "I have never seen animals like you before." "That's because we're from another world." Luke clarified. And then he put the lightsaber away. The Cape buffalo had a rather intrigued look on his face. "Another world? I do not understand." "Of course you wouldn't understand." Said Discord. "It figures a hot-headed cow like you would be able to understand anything." Babatunde then turned completely angry and shouted like a bull would. "How dare you call me a cow!" And he began charging at the Master of Chaos with astonishing speed almost as fast as a car. Discord didn't even looked scare of being gored to death by a bull Cape buffalo. Okove, Wakka-Shu, and Okove were pushing him back, trying to calm the bovine down and ease his anger. "Calm down!" Zecora grunted. "You need to control your anger now." It took a long while, but Babatunde immediately stopped huffing and let his anger die down. "I'm sorry." He sighed. "Pay no attention to Discord." Said Fluttershy. "He's a troublemaker." Then she sternly looked at the master of chaos. "Discord, tell Babatunde you're sorry." "Alright, alright." Discord cleared his throat, and said to the buffalo very quietly "sorry." "Say it like you mean it, mister." Flutterhy scolded. "Okay! I'm sorry." The Master of Chaos repeated in a louder voice. "Better " spike said with a satisfied smile. "We're very sorry about him." "It's alright. Zebrican buffalo like ourselves can be quick to anger." "Ourselves?" Said Starlight in question. From the grass, a large herd of buffalo emerged and shown themselves to the group looking at them. It was a large family ranging from hundreds or even thousands of them. "This is a full house." Luke remarked. "Anyway, me and my dad are not monsters rest assured you all. We're from another world." "And of we were trying to hurt or kill you, our friends would be dead right now." Said Larry. "Oh." And Babatunde had a nervous look on his face. And the beast walked in front of the human boy. "Please forgive me for my rash action." And he bowed his head to him and his father. "I am very sorry for the inconvenience, boy." "It's alright. I heard of how dangerous it is anyway." "Now, my name is Chief Babatunde, leader of my family you all see before me." "Name's Luke. This is my dad." "Yeah, I'm Larry." "Well met Luke." "I would love to stay her and chat with you some more, but we're in a middle of a safari tour, and I don't want to keep all my friends waiting." "We understand. We live close by. I am certain we'll see each other soon. For now, I have to help all my family and friends here look for water." "I'll see you soon." Luke remarked on a warm voice. Then Babatunde, and all his family and herd within his tribe migrated west from the direction everyone in the safari group was going. It was a rather extraordinary sight seeing a large group of Cape buffalo moving as a large herd as one. Everyone else followed Wakka-Shu down the path again. More and more remarkable animals caught their eyes ranging from giraffes to wildebeest, hartebeest, dik-dik antelopes, and many others. "Uh-oh. Savanna monitor lizard. These reptiles are quite aggressive." Wakka-Shu warned everyone. A medium-sized lizard was in front of them, hissing with a nasty temper. Fluttershy went up to it, and avoided many strikes from the lizard's teeth, and gave the monitor her stare. It immediately froze in place seeing her eyes, and became far more calm. "Was that a nice way to greet anyone?" She asked The lizard then bowed his head in shame. "Oh. It's okay. I forgive you." Fluttershy sweetly replied to the Savanna monitor. And the lizard immediately went off into the brush. Another intriguing sight that was unexpected happened; a pack of painted dogs were curious enough to look at the group and interact with them, much to Wakka-Shu's amazement. "Never thought this would happen." Like said, gently stroking a wild dog's head and ears. Fluttershy was also having fun interacting with the painted dogs trying to say hello to her. "They do not have rabies, do they?" Rarity asked in a worried voice. "No. Of course not." Said Larry. "If they did have rabies, they would try and attack us and eat us as their lunch." "Heh. That is so true." Said Spike. And a dog came up to Spike. Sniffing his face and gently locking his cheeks like a domestic dog would do. Twilight giggled. "Oh Spike." She remarked.