//------------------------------// // Fight, Flight, Might, and Right, none of these things... are airtight. // Story: A Homeland's Curse. A Zebra's Remorse. // by Taco Belle //------------------------------// "Fight, Flight, Might, and Right, None of these things... are airtight." ~~~~~ Things went wrong suddenly, and violently. Zecora was traveling through an obscured path through the Everfree, making relatively good time despite her intense reluctance in leaving. She felt in her heart that she had no real choice in the matter... the two fillies would drag there friend back to Ponyville, and the knee-jerk reaction would be one of fear and panic... just as Buffalon before them, and Hoofswood before that... just as she began to earn the trust of those in this new land, after having hid in the Everfree for so long. Slight exposure over a long time, to breed familiarity and, hopefully, eventual disinterest... a plan that was expedited immensely by those that had become her closest friends in the last, desperately few moons... the Forsaken has felt, for once, that she had belonged, and it was that hope that she allowed herself to make risky decision after near costly mistake... going out at night for a Celebration, taking on an apprentice... it all came down to last night, where she had accidentally, deeply cut a Filly, a friend of her own apprentice, in a tragic misunderstanding... And now, tho no true bond of blood connects them, the sister of that very filly has exploded through the canopy above her, in a mighty diagonal burst of chromatic force her hooves stroke the left side of the zebra, The cart tips from the shock wave of the force of impact, the ropes connecting the cart to the zebra snap almost immediately under the force and the target itself rolling into a nearby tree, denting and bowing the old tree as Zecora's chosen possessions fall, break, shatter and otherwise tumble from he flipped cart the gnarled thing the ropes were formally tied too now splintered and useless... No Words came from Rainbow Dash, the pegasus blind with fury at the perceived betrayal from the mare she had thought a friend... and snorted hard, when despite the sheer force Dash put behind her now somewhat sore hooves, the zebra gets up calmly, as if she was unharmed by the strike, despite having clearly felt SOMETHING give beneath her flea ridden, treacherous hide. Zecora had actually hoped none would find her, as she exited this land, that the size and scope of the Forest would make her trail impossible... but the fortune of this mare and her friends never ceased to astound her... her expression soft, remorseful, as she locked her gaze with the furious mare... "Please, my friend... Harm is not what i intend, I am full of remorse, that things have gone this course, but i implore you to reconsider your decision to Offend... please-" she pleas were cut off, as the winged mare leaps forward, her assorted physical training coming to the surface, tho build for speed, her dreams had necessitated a more rounded physique... and it is from that physique that a mighty blow from a back hoof in a mid-air, twisting kick, strikes Zecora in the side of the Jaw, forcing it to jut askew with a sickening crack as she was sent from her previous position, to a new one partly indented into another ancient tree... "Oh come on!" The anger-blinded mare muttered through her teeth, as Zecora stands, with the same forced calm motions as before, putting her jaw back into place with audible snap, before continuing.."Please." She pauses, closing her eyes, before opening them, a flash of yellow covering her eyes for a moment.."Do not force me to defend.... I can not hold myself back... if you press the attack." "Shut up! You Hurt a filly! A Poor Defenseless little filly! You tricked us into trusting you!" Dash shouted out so hard spittle spattered the ground between them... and then the attack was pressed, giving the flesh-tearing monster no chance to reply. Dash smashed her forehead, a rather dense portion of a pegasi's skull, a sort of natural crash helmet, into the zebra's muzzle, despite another crack and being knocked back into the tree, Dash gave no quarter this time as her forehooves followed her, slamming into her chest and one foreleg, clearly dislonging one of them, before the one moves from the limp appendage to beating Zecora in the face... a pit sunk in Rainbow Dash's stomach, as usually by now, as not only has Zecora's nose not started to bleed like any other pony receiving a much deserved hoofbeating, she seemed to barely feel it... That is, until Zecora's soft, exotic fur turned coarse and dry, her flesh shriveled, and her Gums pulled back... her eyes shoot open, showing feral pools of unnatural, sickly yellow light, despite Celestia's Sun shining down apon them... and the Zebra, lost in her own instinct to survive strikes back. Her foreleg snaps back onto place with a now familiar, if still horrible sound, and she strikes upwards diagonally with it, the elongated, sharp edge gently cutting Dash's chest, as she retreated in a timely manner with a powerful flap, saving her from blow that would of immediately ended the battle... even so, her blood is shed, as a few small drops of her blood dripped onto the forest floor. She continues to Fly back, putting distance between her, and Zecora's true face, her true nature, as the Once-Zebra returns to her hooves, but not in a normal stance... hunched, ready to pounce, like a actual predator. Her gums being dried and pulled back, Dash can see a truely horrid site of a pony's mouth full of razor sharp, slightly yellow and clearly predatory teeth... Zecora released a Feral, starved, mindless screech, before she dashed at the pegasus with unnatural speed, her jaw opening unnaturally wide and thirsting to sink into Dash's blue throat. She is only now truly, TRULY, appreciating the 'Fastest Flier" title as she continues to put distance between her and the... Thing behind her, turning and raising, not having the focus to acknowledge the Hunter has become the Hunter in but a few hoof swings. As she reached the Tree line, however, she feels teeth sink into her left hindleg, and a jerk downwards, as she had no reason to expect the monster to be able to leap that high. Hitting the ground is not a unfamiliar sensation, but it has never been quite this painful, be it from the odd angle she hit (Bellow down and slightly backwards), or from the sharklike teeth buried into her leg... Perhaps it was because the target-turned-agressor then began lifting her from the forest floor, teeth still in her flesh, and smacked her against a Tree. It was probably that one, as it knocked Rainbow's senses for a painful, disorienting loop, before she was released during a swing the other direction, spinning and twisting through the air with no control, landing on her wing on a even worse angle, shouting as she feels one hell of a sprain shoot through her wing, requiring she roll off of that side and hold her wing in her forehooves, the most prominent arch in her wing sending shivers and shocks of pain to the rest of her body... only to be distracted by a sharpened hoof across the muzzle... staring above her left brow, narrowly avoiding her eye, and going down the side of her muzzle past her lips. and sending her into darkness a few moments later.... when a yellow and pink blur knocked the creature away from her, and her now fully exposed throat... ~~~~~ "Oh no..." muttered Fluttershy, moments before, above the forest... she had been torn on how to stop Dash from hurting their friend, as a deer in cartlights she had just floated there, watching the one-sided fight of Rainbow beating on Zecora.... Why did it to be HER that found them? She and Twilight reached Zecora's house at about the same time, and split up to cover ground faster after reading Zecora's note. She had been concerned if SHE could make Rainbow Dash see reason, and listen to Zecora's side of the story, as explained in the letter left of her door... and now she is concerned with how suddenly and violently the fight shifted gears. Unlike with Dash as the aggressor, this was different. Zecora was not herself, a condition she had seen before with her furry wolf friends... they would sometimes be overcome with emotion and survival instinct, becoming unnecessarily violent and aggressive untill calmed down... and more importantly, and painfully... she has seen this inside herself... a side of herself she shamefully hides, a side of herself she now pulls to the surface, to end a tragedy before it begins. ~~~~~ Monster Struck Monster, both tumble through the undergrowth. Zomcora and Flutterbat are entangled sharp hooves and sharp fangs struggle against each other, Glowing Yellow and Blood Red eyes repeatedly, narrowly miss gazing directly into one another, Each ones unnatural endurance denying the other purchase... The rolling ends with Zomcora on top, Flutterbat's forehooves jet upward to catch her muzzle and jaw inches from her throat, as she releases a high, deafening screech into Zomcora's face, staggering her and giving the Bat a chance to kick the undead mare back before flipping onto her hooves and pressing her advantage by breathing deeply, and releasing a more focused, longer, louder screech that continues to overload Zomcora's senses, causing her to stumble as her ears flatten against her head to try and block out the ultrasonic sound... Zomcora's instincts soon learn that she can not block out the sound, and so she returns, tho clumsily, to the offensive... a violet aura engulfs her, and lifts her from the ground as a new pair of wings descend beneath and canopy behind her... she struggles against the hold, howling and snarling... but the magic of an Alicorn is beyond her mindless, unnatural strength... as her head is forced to stare forward, towards her second foe, the Bat, who now stands not attacking, but staring... Staring deep into her own glowing yellow pools. Staring directly past the fury, hunger, and sheer blinding bloodlust, to the Zebra deep below it all... pulling her to the surface, and filling her with a Calm. Despite her visage, monstrous and decayed, her wild motions to break free slow, and stop... the yellow pools fade, to a yellow, faded, bloodshot form. The Calm spreads deep into Zecora... now staring back at the now calmly, compassionately smiling flutterbat's soft, emotion-filled red eyes by her own accord, craving, needing the comfort they bring, as it lulls her to a deep state of slumber she has not known for a hundred years... Before she fades into unconsciousness, she closes her eyes, and softly mutters..."Thank you...I'm sorry..." before collapsing to her side, and becoming still... motionless and corpse-like tho she may be, her unlife still intact... as the Bat and the Alicorn turn to one in more immediate need of care.