Twilight Sparkle was in a world of pain, which wasn’t entirely bad; it was almost numbing, making running for her life just a bit easier. Her lungs were burning, her legs felt like rubber, and the migraine spreading from the base of her horn was letting her know with a harrowing intensity that magical exhaustion wasn’t far away. Even with the numbing effect of everything hurting, the flock of cockatrice would have likely caught up to her by now were it not for the two stalwart ponies helping her along on either side.
She shook her head. There was no time to focus on the pain, it was up to her to get them out of the Everfree. It was checklist time. Pinkie was fine, leading from the front and keeping them out of thick undergrowth. Applejack had a shallow gash along the side holding up Twilight, and Rainbow Dash had her injured wing draped over Twilight’s back (the cockatrice were effectively blocking any escape by flight). Neither of her support ponies were flagging, even with the pain of their wounds; they could be counted on for a burst of effort, should it come to that. Fluttershy was holding up well, but Barry the bear was badly torn up by cockatrice claws, taking the brunt of any attempts on his charge. He was holding up, but she wasn’t sure how much speed he had left in him, much less from where he had come. Worst case scenario, the angry bear could be counted on for a roaring last stand.
Magic? Nothing. Shooting down that last cockatrice had nearly sent her to her knees, it hurt so badly, and Rarity’s reserves had run out earlier. The fashionista was making up for a lack of magic with spinning kicks and dizzying punches.
If only she had spent more time studying combat magic, she could have used her reserves more efficiently, and they wouldn’t—no! No what ifs, no if only’s, she had to work with what she had. What did they have? Legs, and a bear, a very angry bear. So, run? Bah, that was a horrible plan!
Charging through a clearing, the sky was surprisingly clear of threats. Pinkie Pie planted all four legs and ground to a halt before reaching the other side, however, right ear and eyelid twitching madly.
“Whole lot of baddies that way, go left!” Pinkie shouted, darting that way. The group followed her, but her twitching started up again. Pinkie pulled a 180, zipping back through the group and heading the opposite direction. “Nope, this way!” My, it was easy to forget how quick that pony could be.
Barry and Fluttershy were a little slower turning around, bears not being the most maneuverable of creatures, and one of the leading cockatrice came eye-to-eye with the him. Barry crushed the creature with a massive claw and hurried Fluttershy along with the group, kicking some accrued stone from around his heel. Wild animals seemed to have a mild resistance to the cockatrice’ gaze, Twilight noted; she would have to remember that for later.
Pinkie ground to a halt once again, bright blue eyes wide in terror. More cockatrice were coming out of the woods, hemming them in on all sides. The monsters hesitated, though, hovering at the edge of the clearing and above the tree tops. Tangling with a highly skilled alicorn boasting above-average magic reserves would do that. Of course, a bear crushing a number of them could force some hesitation as well, so Barry deserved a fair bit of credit. It was obvious the bear was wounded, though, but the beasts didn’t know that she was low on steam, and she could use that. Finally, a plan she could work with!
Twilight steadied herself, nodding at Rainbow and Applejack to let her be. Taking a step forward and spreading her wings, she lit up her horn. At least she could manage of bit of light without excruciating pain.
“I am losing my patience!” she bellowed. She ran through a little checklist in her head: spread the wings to maximum width for a larger threat presence, and crank up the light. She bit her lip, pushing down the pain, boy, did that extra bit of output hurt, but they wouldn’t be able to see her flinch past the growing light. “Leave now, or I will be forced to demonstrate my full power!”
Nothing. The ones on the ground fluttered their wings, waiting, while those in the air just continued to hover. They were calling her bluff. It seemed cockatrice were much smarter than she thought. This was a bad plan.
“You’ve forced my hoof then!” Gritting her teeth, Twilight called to mind her brother’s shield spell. No one could cast it like he could, but if she could call up enough power, it could at least buy them some time. Shouting into the night, she pulled as much magic as she could from deep within herself and sent the spell through her horn. That shout quickly turned into a scream as her world shattered in bright light and unimaginable pain. At least the ground was soft. How did she get there?
Everything seemed to slow down. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack stepped over her, and there were some words between the two athletes about who could take down the most before the end. Rainbow bet her signed Spitfire poster, and Applejack bet her hat? She couldn't tell, she could barely feel her hooves, much less make out some nonchalant banter as the noisy flock descended upon them.
There was definitely the boom of the party cannon. The pastry-caked cocatrice flying through air confirmed that, if there was ever any doubt. Rarity shattered a beak with a strong right cross, keeping her chin and eyes down and her horn forward. Seriously, where did she learn to fight like that? Barry was going down, covered by the flying monsters, but a shrill shout paused the fiends in their assault on the brawny bear. Of course, there was Fluttershy, staring down a half-dozen of the monsters while Barry got back up and covered her rear for any beasts that might try and get around her death-glare. That still left several dozen of the beasts, by her count, but—oh, there, the pain must have been making her delirious. She could have sworn she heard a drawn out howl, rapidly growing louder.
Wait, maybe she wasn’t losing cogency. The cockatrice had stopped their assault, hesitating in the air. They didn’t even react when Barry swatted a low-hovering straggler out of the air; they just waited, listening. Cockatrice were obviously social, given the several-dozen strong flock that was currently assailing them, but they didn’t seem to have strong social bonds. Perhaps they only congregated in such large groups in times of food scarcity, or perha—
Twilight’s divergent line of thought was interrupted by a black streak tearing out of the brush and colliding with a cockatrice, which promptly fell to the ground in two pieces. Either her perception of reality had sped back up to normal, or this new creature was impressively fast. She couldn’t quite make it out as it weaved around and, well, through the panicking cockatrice. It was rather large, about as tall as Celestia at the shoulder. It must have been some sort of canid, what with the howling, but she couldn’t make out any details—oh, now Applejack was helping her up onto her back—it was moving too quickly, if only it would slow down. Wait, was Applejack saying something?
“Sugarcube!” Excellent, her hearing seemed to be recovering. “Let’s take this chance and skedaddle!”
“Wait! I have to go through the checklist.” Checklists are important. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine, Twi, now let’s get mov—”
“Rainbow? Are you here?”
“Yes, Twilight, now—”
“Pinkie!”
“Present!”
“Fluttershy? How’s Barry? He good for a bit more running?”
“He’ll be okay Twilight, but we really have to—”
Twilight shifted on Applejack’s back to get a good look at their saviour, who had finally stood still long enough for her to get a decent look at him; or to tear apart the few cockatrice that had dared to gang up on him, it didn’t really matter why. From what she could see, he appeared to be a very large, melanistic wolf. “Mr. Wolf! Are you coming with us?” Oh, wait, she was being pedantic again. She could have just said that he was a large, black wolf, that’s much easier to understand.
The wolf turned to the sound of her voice, and for a moment, Twilight caught his large, expressive yellow eyes. She was sure she saw a flash of fear before he slammed them shut and covered them with a massive, clawed paw. He tensed up, then lashed out and crushed a nearby boulder with his other paw. She could have sworn the limb bent the wrong way, but it quickly straightened out, seemingly shimmering with reflected moonlight. “Run Twilight Sparkle!” he shouted in hoarse, growling baritone. “Safety lies far from me!”
He knew her name? She couldn’t remember meeting any wolves recently. “How do you know—”
Again, Applejack interrupted her. “Don’t argue with the fella, Twi. Let’s go! Pinkie, lead the way!”
* * *
“Interesting,” Luna stated, nursing her cup of coffee. “That was when you passed out, then?”
“Yes,” answered Twilight, fiddling with her cup of tea. “I realized that he was a wolf-pony when I wasn’t suffering from mild delirium.”
“You were so silly!” Pinkie set her face in a grim scowl, but with her eyes crossed. “Fluttershy? How’s Barry doing? Checklists are important!”
“I did not say that in the middle of the woods!”
“Nope, but you were thinking it!”
Twilight applied pressure to the bridge of her nose. “How did you even get in here? You didn’t come in with me, and the door is guarded.”
“I invited her. I was curious to see if she could sneak past my guards.”
“I get a victory pie for doing it!”
“Right. Wonderful. Congratulations, Pinkie. Back to the wolf-pony?”
“Indeed, Twilight Sparkle. I must disagree with you, however, on your assessment of the nature of this creature. My sister did not forward you to me without good reason. I am an expert on that which, in the modern parlance, goes bump in the night, and those cursed with lycanthropy are not capable of speech while transformed. They are ravenous beasts, mad with fury and unable to discern between friend or foe. There wasn’t even a full moon on the night of your misadventure. It is more likely that this fellow was a powerful shapeshifter of some sort.”
“I would agree with you Luna, but you didn’t see his eyes. In the last couple years, I’ve seen ponies in many frightening situations. He fought like a wolf-pony; all rage and unbridled fury. If I hadn’t been delirious with pain, I would have probably been scared out of my mind, and not…” Twilight’s cheeks reddened as she hesitated, “addressed him as Mr. Wolf and asked him if he would be coming with us.”
“The point being,” she continued over the resulting giggling, “ when he recognized me, called me by name, he was easily the most frightened I’ve ever seen any creature that wasn’t panicking or fleeing in terror. He crushed a boulder with one paw and shouted for me to leave because it wasn’t safe near him. I’m sure he’s a wolf-pony, one who has gained some sort of control over the curse, and I think I know who he is.”
Luna immediately stopped giggling. “Do go on.”
“There’s a hermit, living in the Everfree, that regularly comes to the library, though he always comes at times when there would be few customers.”
“But Twi, almost nopony uses the library. Isn’t it full of mostly scholarly books for fancy science ponies?”
“You’re right, Pinkie, it is. He knows this, too, but he still comes right when I open the library.”
“What makes you sure this pony is the one you seek, Twilight Sparkle?”
“Well, there’s the fact that he is the only pony that would be in the Everfree and would know my name. More importantly, however, and less circumstantial, are the books he’s been borrowing. For the last few months, he’s—”
“Wait, wait wait wait!” Pinkie interrupted. “Are you telling me there’s been a new pony visiting Ponyville for months now and you haven’t introduced me? How can I throw him a Pinkie Party if I don’t know he’s here!”
“Pinkie, he’s a hermit. He chooses to live alone, refuses to talk about his past, the most he will talk about over tea that I’ve offered him was the material he’s been reading, and all the information I have about him are a fake name and a pseudo-address within the Everfree. I am one hundred percent sure that he would not enjoy a party, no matter how toned-down or well meaning it’s execution.”
Luna peaked an eyebrow. “A fake name and a pseudo-address?”
“Yes. I needed to give him a library card, and for that you need a name and an address. He told me to call him Repose, and he gave his address as, ‘first hut past the stricken sycamore, bright clearing by the swamp, Everfree, Equestria.’ I was hesitant to lend him some of the books if he was taking them into the Everfree, but he assured me he had a cedar chest that would keep them out of the humidity. He was telling the truth too. If you read his books after he brings them back, they smell wonderful.”
Luna took a sip of her coffee. “You’ve been reading the books he returns?”
“Yes, they’re fascinating material, and it gives me something to actually talk with him about when we share some tea during his visits. You see, they all—”
“Ooh, Twilight, have you been having secret tea dates with the erudite hermit pony?”
“What? Pinkie, no! First of all, he’s been going over some rather interesting material. Second, if I was to start dating, I would prefer someone who could converse upon advanced magic studies easily, so they would almost have to be a unicorn, and Repose is an earth pony. Third, please stop interrupting me!”
Pinkie slumped a little and offered a sheepish smile. “Sorry Twi.”
Twilight put a hoof on Pinkie’s. “Don’t worry about. Sorry for snapping at you.” The pink pony straightened back up. “Now, the books he’s been taking out. You both know that an earth pony’s magic is entirely internal, and manifests as increased strength and endurance compared to the other two tribes. If it is transmitted, it is almost always through touch or proximity, and focuses on soil, flora, and fauna. What you both may not know are the more esoteric applications of earth pony magic: Luna, because it happened in the last thousand years, and I don’t know if you’ve covered such a niche area in your studies so far, and Pinkie, because, well, I highly doubt you’re interested.”
Pinkie took a dainty sip from her tea cup. “I believe you speak of the Zen masters of Neighpon and Southern Zhongguo?” she asked with a faux-posh accent, a small smirk sneaking out from behind a faux-posh facade.
“Oh. Yes.” Twilight’s ears laid back against the side of her head. “I’m sorry Pinkie, I shouldn’t have assumed you didn’t know anything about them.”
It was Pinkie’s turn to rest a reassuring hoof on that of her friend’s. “Don’t worry, silly, it’s not like I act like a Zen master. I’ve been told I think like one, though. At least, that’s what a friend of my dad said when I was little. That’s why I started reading about them.” Pinkie’s face lit up with a mischievous smile. “Don’t let me distract you again, though, keep telling your story!”
“Yes, please go on,” Luna added. “I have never heard of these Zen Masters, nor of their innovative applications of earth pony magic.”
“Actually, it sounds like Pinkie is more qualified to explain this than I am. Would you?”
“Sure!” The pink pony turned to Luna. “You see, Zen is…” Pinkie hesitated, and held her chin with her hoof. She turned to Twilight with a small smirk. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Twilight shot a smirk right back at her. “Maybe.”
Pinkie’s smile grew wider. “Oh, you’re sneaky. I like it.”
Meanwhile, Luna was looking between the two of them with an eyebrow raised and a confused frown. “Is it that hard to explain?”
“Really, yes,” Pinkie replied. “Zen is, and it is being. It is understanding the self for enlightenment, but not really wanting enlightenment. It is… oh, this could take hours!” Pinkie frowned, but it… still felt like a smile? How did she—“I know! I’ll tell you some koans! What is the Buddha?”
Luna’s forehead only crinkled further. “Who? I’m not sure I under—”
“Three pounds of flax! What is the meaning of the Bodhidharma’s coming from the west?”
“Pinkie, I don’t know who that is eith—”
“The cypress tree in front of the temple!”
“Pinkie, I fail to understand why it matters why this Bodhi fellow came from the west, nor why the expected answer is so absurd!”
“You got it! She got it on her first try, Twilight!”
Luna’s forehead crinkling reached critical levels. “Pinkie, you are going to have to explain.”
“It doesn’t matter! It may as well have been so that tree could be planted, because all that matters is he did! The reason doesn’t change anything.”
“While being correct is gratifying, Pinkie, I still do not understand how this has anything to do with a specific lycanthrope’s choice in literature.”
“What Pinkie is trying to illustrate, Luna, is that one of the practices in Zen is a calm mind. Using this calmness, earth pony Zen masters have been able to access and use their innate magic. There was a tea master from the Warring States period of Neighpon who was sentenced to death. He could not be cursed, poisoned, or beheaded. In the end, he was allowed to commit seppuku, because that was how he wanted to die. I think Repose has used Zen principles to exert some level of control over the curse.”
“Interesting. Was this absurdity necessary for my understanding?”
“Kind of? Zen is really simple, but really complicated at the same time.”
“Noted. I will have to look into the subject myself. If you will excuse me, however, I must attend personally to the expedition leader who cleared those ruins for unescorted exploration. Missing an entire nest of cockatrice is a display of gross incompetence that will not be tolerated. I will leave you to contact Repose yourself, but bring him to Canterlot as soon as you can. I may be able to help him.”
“Thank you princess. He should be returning some books soon. I will talk to him then.”
“You are sure?”
“Yes. He never fails to return books on the day they are due.”
“Excellent. Pinkie, you may pick up your pie in the kitchens. Feel free to finish your tea at your own pace. Until next time, girls.”
With that, the princess of the night left her room, nodding to the night guards at the door. “Oh, and Twilight?” she asked, stopping just past the guards. “Do be careful. He may mean well, but he is still caging a monster behind his bones. Monsters do not like being caged.” Without waiting for a response, she continued on her way.
Communicating wordlessly, as close friends so often do, Twilight and Pinkie both stayed seated to finish their tea.
“This is really good tea, Twilight.”
“It is an excellent blend. You can only get it at a certain shop here in Canterlot. We can stop there, if you like, on our way to the train station.”
“Sounds great!” Pinkie took a sip from her tea, then looked Twilight in the eye with unusual seriousness. “I want to be there when Repose returns his books, Twilight.” There wasn’t a hint of a smile in her voice.
“Oh. Ok.” It wasn’t often that Pinkie spoke to anypony with such a tone. “Can I ask why?”
“Well, he saved my life too, remember. He also sounds like he really needs a friend. We’ve never heard about him from Zecora, so he must spend all of his time alone. That’s horrible!”
Twilight sighed and set down her tea cup. “Pinkie, this isn’t like Cranky. Repose is probably choosing to be alone to protect other ponies. He doesn’t want somebody to throw him a party or bake him a cake. He just wants to stay away from other ponies to keep them safe from him.”
“I saw his eyes too, Twilight.” Tears were welling up in Pinkie’s eyes, and a hitch had snuck into her voice. “He’s scared and fighting a horrible curse. No one should have to do that alone. I’m not going to set off the party cannon when he steps in the library. I just want to help him.”
Twilight got up off her cushion and hugged her friend. “That’s very kind of you, Pinkie. Of course you can be there, though it should be just the two of us. We could even have a sleepover so you’re all ready there.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Pinkie hugged Twilight extra tight before bounding for the door. “There’s so much we can do! We can make smores, tell scary stories, braid each others’ manes…”