• Published 27th Jun 2012
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Living in Equestria - Blazewing



A young man finds himself in a world beyond his wildest imagination...

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Zecora of the Everfree

But the fangs and claws never struck.

Instead, there was a loud *crack*, not of thunder, but of something being struck with a wooden stick. There was a yelp and a whimper, and when I opened my eyes, I beheld someone wrapped in a brown cloak standing in front of me, facing the wolves, a staff held out in front of them. One of the wolves had been struck right between the eyes.

A woman’s voice, throaty and spoken in what sounded like an African accent, said,

“Away, you hounds of bark and bite! You shall not feast on his flesh tonight!”

The wolves growled, but backed away, slowly. The figure shouted something in a language I didn’t understand and swept the staff wide in front of her, nearly hitting the savage creatures. Finally, the wolves fully retreated, skulking off into the underbrush.

All I could do was sit and stare, dumbfounded at what had just happened. The figure turned to face me, and I saw that the staff was held in a pair of hooves, but she put it over her back, in a kind of sling, and set herself down on all fours. A white muzzle, dark gray at the nose, was all that was visible through the hood of the cloak.

“Are you hurt, my dear, besides your head? Those wolves would have likely stripped you dead.”

“I-I’m fine," I stammered. "Thank you for saving me, whoever you are.”

“You are lucky I was near, or I might not have heard. This storm would drown out the loudest bird.”

As if to prove her point, there was another crash of thunder.

“But come, we are wasting time as we speak. You shall accompany me, if you are not too weak.”

I had no idea why this stranger was speaking in rhymes, or how she could keep it up, but she'd just saved my life, and I wasn't about to turn down her offer. Shakily, I got to my feet, and my savior slowly walked alongside me, leading the way through the trees, allowing me to support myself with an arm across her shoulders. Whoever she was, she was slightly taller than a normal pony.

At last we arrived at what appeared to be an enormous tree, but what a tree it was! It had a door and windows, meaning it was a dwelling, but the branches and exterior were festooned with creepy tribal masks. The stranger led me inside, where the first thing I saw was a metal cauldron sitting over a fire. There were more masks sitting around, and the shelves were lined with books, bottles, and flasks, the latter two filled with plants, herbs, and various liquids. Was my rescuer a witch doctor?

“I have something in my stock that can settle your wound, so lie back and relax, and I’ll fetch it soon.”

Against one wall was a sofa made of intricately carved wood, and she led me to it, laying me down gently on my back. Then, she took off the sling for her staff, setting it against the wall, before going to one of the shelves, browsing it before pulling down a bottle full of bluish liquid in her teeth. She set it on a small table by the sofa, then, going to another shelf, fetched what looked like a green strip off of some plant and a brown rag. With the rag, held in her hoof, she mopped the blood from my forehead, muttering something in what I assumed was her native language, though it was all gobbledygook to me. Next, she took the green strip, poured several drops of the liquid onto it, then placed it, with the saturated part across my cut, along my forehead.

“EE-YOW!” I yelped, and I would have jumped up abruptly, had she not had one hoof against my chest.

The liquid, or the strip, or both, stung my forehead like a hot iron.

“What are you trying to do to me?!”

“It stings now, yes, but let it work. You’ll ignore the relief if you flail and jerk.”

Even as she said this, tying the strip behind my head like a bandana, I felt the burning sensation subside, to be replaced by a soothing coolness. It was almost like a reverse Icy-Hot. I sighed with relief and lay back down.

“Sorry. I should know better than to distrust someone who knows what they’re doing. I still have no idea who you are, though.”

She gave a slight laugh.

“True, I have brought you all the way to my place, yet have done nothing at all to reveal my face.”

She raised one hoof up and pulled her hood back, revealing the face of a zebra. She had blue, almond-shaped eyes, a mane styled like a mohawk, enormous gold earrings, and several gold neck rings.

“Ohh!” I said, realization dawning upon me at last. “You must be Zecora!”

“Yes, indeed, I am she. Zecora of the Everfree.”

She removed the rest of her cloak, placing it on a hook on the wall. She was slender in build, and aside from more gold rings on her left foreleg, she also had what looked like a cutie mark, resembling a spiral sun, its rays represented by little triangles. Could non-ponies even get cutie marks, or was this something totally different?

“It’s good to meet you at last," I said. "My name’s Dave.”

“Dave,” she repeated, seeming to mull it over. Then, she smiled. “A pleasant name, short and sweet, though it seems much smaller for a lad of 6 feet.”

I couldn’t help cracking a grin at her joke, even if it was another jab at my height.

“I’d heard about you from Twilight Sparkle. You gave her something for her headache.”

Zecora nodded.

“She has done so much good for me, so I, in return, supplied the remedy. I only wish it could have been more, considering what had happened before.”

“Before? What happened before?”

A slightly graver, almost wistful, expression came over her face.

“I’d long been a stranger in this pony land, and my entrance to their presence was not too grand. They believed me an enchantress, an unwholesome seer, and I’m afraid I did nothing to lessen their fear. A zebra from far off, who lives among these trees? Such alone would quake the mightiest of knees. And what do they say when they hear that I brew? That I’m only preparing a hot, pony stew.”

She gave a small scoff at such an idea. I myself found it quite ridiculous to imagine.

“So, just because you live in the forest and practice potion-making, ponies gave you a bad rap before?" I asked. "That’s a pretty lame deal.”

Zecora chuckled again, in a good-natured way.

“But thanks to Twilight and her pony friends, I was able to put those rumors to an end. It took a bit of work, and one very big ‘joke’, but they earned me a place among the pony folk.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, at least. Though I have to ask, why do you live in this forest, if you’re no longer an outcast? It’s a nightmare out there!”

“The Everfree Forest is very perilous, at first, but becomes less so once you’ve already faced the worst,” she said, sagely.

“The worst? You mean like those wolves?”

Zecora nodded.

“The timber wolves, the Ursas, and much more besides, that lurk in the darkness to feast on pony hides.”

“Yeesh…”

“But it is the forest’s flora that keeps me living here. Nowhere else in the forest are they quite as near. My medicines and brews use the rarest plants of all, whether they grow in a bush or in a tree strong and tall.”

“Oh, I think I get it. But, doesn’t it get lonely out here by yourself?”

“Sometimes, but my hut has plenty of room, for visiting ponies, like little Apple Bloom.”

“Apple Bloom??” I asked, surprised, sitting up. “She comes out here all by herself?”

“She is a brave one, that little filly, though her ‘crusading’ antics are incredibly silly.”

“And her family allows this?”

I couldn’t exactly envision Applejack allowing her little sister to wander into the Everfree Forest on her own accord.

“She likes to help me, before it grows dark. She believes it will help earn her cutie mark.”

“I see.”

Then, all of a sudden, as if it were a bolt out of the blue, I remembered something. Scootaloo!

“Zecora! You haven’t seen Scootaloo, have you?" I asked. "You know who she is, right?"

"I know Scootaloo, yes. But why such distress?"

"She’s lost somewhere in the forest, and I’ve been trying to find her. That’s why you found me in the state I was in.”

A look of grave worry came over Zecora’s face.

“Little Scootaloo, out there all alone? Oh, this is a very ill wind that has blown…”

“I know. It almost makes me sick to think of her lost out here. I know she’s a tough kid, but that’s just it: she’s a kid.”

Zecora nodded.

“The bravest of foals are not exempt from their fears. They simply mask it to keep face with their peers. I have not seen her, Dave, I’m afraid. Most unfortunate, as the day begins to fade.”

“Yeah," I said, gloomily "and she’s supposedly been out here since the day before. If she’s survived, it’ll be a miracle, and I’ve always tried to hold onto those small miracles."

Zecora put a hoof comfortingly on my arm, but both of us jumped at the sound of a rapid, oddly quiet knocking on her door. Gesturing to me to keep where I was, Zecora approached one of her windows and peered out. A very puzzled look was on her face.

“What is it?” I asked. “Is it-?”

Zecora shook her head, then went to the door and opened it. Standing in the doorway was…

“Fluttershy!”

“Dave! Thank goodness!”

I’d barely sat up on the sofa before she tackled me in a tight hug around my chest. I wasted no time in embracing her myself. I was so happy to see her, safe and sound. She had a few nicks and scratches, and a stray leaf was in her straggled mane, but otherwise, she looked perfectly fine.

“Fluttershy," I croaked. "I was so worried about you.”

“Worried about me?” she asked, incredulously, pulling away to look me in the face. “Imagine how worried I was for you! When that thunder crashed so close to us, I ran away in a fright, not even thinking about what I was doing. But then, when I saw that I’d left you behind...”

Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought. Then her gaze fell on the bandage around my head, and she gasped.

“You’re wounded, too! Oh no...”

She turned her gaze away from me, guilt etched all over it.

“How could I have been so cowardly? I left you all alone in the Everfree Forest! I should have known better! Oh, Dave, can you ever forgive me?”

It broke my heart to see her so pained, as sweet and sensitive as she was. I could only imagine that she was the sort to feel the most blame for something to go wrong, if she were involved or at least present.

Come to think of it, that sounded just like me. I hated seeing things go wrong, or the impending danger of something going wrong, even in the movies, because it always filled me with a strong sense of guilt or dread. When I was in school, and the whole class was being berated for misbehaving, even if I’d had nothing to do with it, it still hurt my conscience as if I had done something wrong. It sounded just like the sort of thing Fluttershy must have been going through at that moment.

“Fluttershy,” I said, gently, stroking her mane in a consolatory way, “I don’t blame you in the slightest.”

Sniffling, she turned back around, eyes still full of tears.

“I was pretty spooked from that thunderclap, and I was even more scared when I lost sight of you. I’ll admit, I didn’t take it too gracefully, either. In fact, if I might be free to admit it, I went a little nuts.”

Fluttershy sniffled again, but giggled slightly.

“My point is," I continued, "before we went into the forest, you said it was silly to blame myself for Scootaloo’s disappearance. Well, I don't blame you for what happened in the forest. The important thing is that we're both all right, though I have Zecora to thank for my safety.”

I turned an appreciative smile to the zebra, who nodded.

“It's no one's fault. We both lost our heads for a bit. So don’t worry about it, all right?”

Making a wipe at her eyes, she nodded, then gave me a much warmer hug, which I gladly returned, happy to have her back again. Zecora was standing patiently by, watching the scene with an admiring smile on her face. It didn’t matter that the storm was still raging outside, the raindrops beating against the roof. All that mattered was that we were in safe hooves once again, and had survived our trial of fear.

At that moment, someone coughed from somewhere near the open doorway. Fluttershy and I turned to look, and as I’m sure it must have on mine, the color drained from the yellow pegasus’s face, both of our jaws hanging open.

It couldn’t be...

It was impossible...

But it was true.

Standing in the doorway, shivering, drenched in mud, leaves in her mane and tail, and with a miserable, woebegone look on her face, was Scootaloo.

Before any of us could say anything, she had dived in between the both us and curled up into a quivering, sniffling ball. Fluttershy took her in her hooves and held her close, cooing soft reassurances to her. Zecora and I looked at each other, dumbfounded at the filly’s unexpected arrival. When Fluttershy finally let go, Scootaloo, still sniffling, managed to say, in a whimper,

“I wanna go home…”

“Don't worry, Scootaloo," I said, softly. "We're here for you.”

I picked her up and cradled her against my chest, where she nestled against me, tears still running down her cheeks. The mud and dirt all over her didn’t even catch my notice, even as it was spreading onto me as she leaned against me. I looked up at Zecora.

“Can you lead us out?”

“Your guide to the outside I shall certainly be, but the forest is still perilous. Stick close and follow me.”

Fluttershy and I both got up from the sofa, Scootaloo still in my arms, and we followed the zebra out of her hut, back into the forest where so many miseries had befallen the three of us.

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