Chapter 1
Fire.
Fire was amongst the darkness that had, until recently, dominated the Everfree forest. The light of the menacing fire fought the darkness. The relentless battle raged on, and it seemed as though fire was winning. There was really no competition to it. The darkness could do nothing to slow the progress of the fire, and by the time the ponies in Ponyville had a chance to fight it, it would already be out of hand.
All the little ponies could do was try their best to stop it from spreading into the town, and it was lucky it didn’t. Only six ponies amongst the entire population had something precious to worry about. These six ponies had already saved Equestria twice, and had fixed town problems multiple times before. These six ponies were the Elements of Harmony themselves. These six ponies were devoid of hope.
“Hey Twilight? Isn’t there some sort of spell you could use to-” the Pegasus with the light blue coat and rainbow mane that had spoken up. She had lost that rash, cool headed behavior long before she decided to speak. Her question was interrupted by an answer.
“No. Fire is so inconsistent and infrequent that once it gets going like this, there is nothing even a unicorn can do,” Twilight Sparkle answered. “I wish I could do something, but I’m just not good enough yet. Fire has too many variables to be controlled. If only I had known earlier…” Her voice trailed off near the end of the sentence.
Now it was the yellow Pegasus’s turn. She trotted up close to her purple friend and leaned against her slightly. She spoke, but the words were hardly heard. “It’s okay, Twilight. No one’s blaming you.” Her voice was just perfect for warming the unicorn’s heart.
“Thanks Fluttershy,” responded Twilight. Then all was silent once more. Even the ecstatic pink pony that was always having fun and throwing parties was quiet. As far as any of them knew, they were going to lose a friend that they had learned to love over the past few years. Each of them had a reason to be sad, be it because of a mended wing, or a mysterious cure to a crazy illness, they all had lost something dear.
That really is the problem with love. That it’s always followed by loss.
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Inside the forest was another matter.
The door fell in with a loud THUMP, shaking the various bottles and vases inside. The frantic zebra hardly even noticed. She was racing back and forth, grabbing this and that. She nearly spilled the blue contents of the bottle she was currently holding as she ran towards the table on which she was stockpiling items. So far, about ten bottles were rested there.
After adding the newest bottle to the pile, Zecora raced over the the wall farthest from the door. She quickly snatched up a saddle bag, flung it on, and raced over to her various potions and elixirs.
In one swift movement, all of the bottles that had been resting there were swept into the bag that lay on the zebra’s back. She flipped the satchel closed. Having gotten supplies ready, she gave herself a satisfactory nod, and turned to the door.
Much to her dismay, after falling over, the door had gathered up quite a lot of flames. Now the entire doorway was consumed in the fire, and was spreading the fire inside.
Suddenly, a huge vase filled with water was at the door. It had been resting nearby before, and simply had to be moved. The zebra charged towards it, turning around at the last second to use her hind legs to push it over. The vase tipped, spilling water out all over the floor. Most of it landed on the door, and put out the fire that had been blocking her path. With a quick and quiet “thank you”, the zebra headed for the door.
Running quickly across the still-hot door, Zecora left her hut within the Everfree Forest for the last time.
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Once she was on the path back towards Ponyville, Zecora started planning. Her mind raced for solutions, ways out of the forest. The path she was running on had not yet caught on fire, though the same could not be said for the path ahead. The path got fairly narrow as it neared Ponyville, and was surely blocked by fire and debris by now. So what was the solution?
There was a river, but that was probably boiling hot by now. Think Think Think! There has got to be a way out! The only idea that popped into her head was the exit by Ponyville. Why? Of course! Twilight and all of the others must be there! They would be able to help! It looked like a spark of hope for the zebra, and a spark it was.
A searing pain shot through Zecora’s nervous system. A hot ember had landed on her back, and was now slowly burning away at her fur. She turned her head back to blow it off, and successfully removed the ember before it could burn a hole in her fur more than an inch wide. Unfortunately, this meant she was running with her head facing backwards, something nopony should do.
She tripped. Her left front hoof caught on a burning log, and she flipped forward, onto her back. She cried out in pain and the shock of hitting her hoof, the burning of fire, and the pain of falling all added together. Her satchel, which she had worked so furiously to fill, opened up, and half of the potions fell out and shattered.
As quickly as she could, Zecora stood up. It caused pain to shriek about her left hoof. She quickly lifted it up off the ground, and the pain subsided. Her mind quickly raced to the potions she had spilled. A total of six different colored blotches lay on the ground where the containers shattered.
Zecora cursed under her breath, for amongst these spilled potions was the one for healing burn injuries. Despite the fact that she had many pain killers and burn healing potions, she had only brought one vial of the both combined, and now wasn’t the time for mixed doses. The zebra made up her mind, and took a drink of one of the pain killers that had not been shattered.
As the potion worked its way into her body, she set off once more. Only this time she was limping on a painful hoof.
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A tree fell in a distant part of the forest. Its sound carried through the mesh of flames and into the zebra’s ear. The forest she had begun to call home was dying, and thus a part of herself was dying. Each time a tree fell, it felt like a heartbeat trying desperately to help, only to be followed by silence. It pained the zebra to know that she was taking her last steps in this forest. The forest was thick with trees and animals, but that would be its demise.
On the brighter side, all the wicked animals that had caused her friends harm over the years would be done with. Almost as if to punctuate that point, a deep cry of pain erupted from deeper within the forest. All those monsters would be out of a home. Hopefully they would all just die in the fire, because if they didn’t, it would cause a serious problem for the nearby cities.
It seemed unfortunate and unlikely that this fire would even occur. Despite the weather controlling itself, nothing ever seemed to catch fire. It just seemed odd.
This time when a tree fell, it was much closer to the zebra. In fact, right behind her. She turned her head and stopped her limping advances to inspect what lay behind her. An entire tree had fallen across the path behind her. Now there was only one way to go. Forward.
At least that’s what she thought. Right up until another tree nearly fell on her. This one, like the other, was flaming, and was hot just to stand near. The heat was immense, and Zecora quickly backtracked a few steps.
She was trapped.
The zebras body temperature began to rise. Not only was she stopped from moving, but the trap was almost like a miniature oven. The walls of flame did not only provide heat, but were insulating the square bit of path.
There were only two escape paths, and they mirrored each other. Zecora could either run through a thick wall of flames in the forest on her right, or the same on her left. There was no way to tell the difference, up until a small gust of wind helped reveal a nearly untouched area of forest to the right.
Her mind was made. She charged quickly to her right, straight at the flames. Straight at the unbearable heat. Time seemed to slow down a notch as she neared the wall of fire. Her thoughts raced, but it seemed as though everything was going in slow motion. Each of her hooves struck the ground with great intensity until finally all four landed on the ground at the same time.
With all of her might, the zebra dove through the flames. Thank god for small favors. She landed on her hooves, and continued running, determined to get away from the fire. Unfortunately, one of the hooves she required to run was still badly hurt. After two steps she fell over onto the ground. Somehow, she must have sprained her ankle.
As quickly as she could, she got back up, winced at the pain in her ankle, and continued away from the burning path. Zecora’s path forward constantly varied as she tried to make her way back towards the path to Ponyville.
Luckily though, she was away from the fire, and it no longer singed her back. Apart from the light and slight heat of the fire, and the burns and scars covering the zebra’s body, it was almost like a walk Zecora would take from time to time.
The serenity of it all brought back memories.
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It was a cold night, as expected of the Everfree Forest. It was rarely ever warm out in the eerie place. The clouds always did a wonderful job of blocking the sun’s warmth. Hopefully someday the weather ponies will figure out a way to control the forest’s clouds and warm up the area once and for all.
Tonight, two young colts traveled through the forest. Their light hoof steps were the only things breaking the silent night. A small thud was heard every time one of their hooves would hit the ground. The weight of their hooves were just enough to leave small indents on the ground behind them.
Their reason for traveling out into the forest was simple: they were looking for an Ursa Major. According to a traveling unicorn that had stopped by town, there was a pony competent enough to defeat one, in Ponyville! It would definitely be a sight to see if a great and powerful pony beat a great and powerful Ursa Major!
“Hey Snips?” The taller and skinnier orange unicorn spoke.
“Yeah?” responded the shorter and stockier blue unicorn.
“What’s that up ahead? It looks like a hut or something.”
“Yeah! We should go check it out!”
Their minds were almost instantly made. They began to walk at a quicker pace, almost as if they would be late to spy on the residents of the small house, if there even were any.
Their haste brought them up to the window of the hut very quickly, and soon they were observing the inside of the hut. What they saw on the inside was quite sketchy. There was a zebra, with a mohawk. That was already weird because the two ponies had never seen a zebra before. On top of that, the zebra wore many gold rings around her forelegs and hind legs. As well as that, she was standing over a huge cauldron, mixing its green contents. All around her on the walls were weirdly carved masks, and totems.
“She’s a witch.” The orange one said quietly.
“An evil enchantress.” Snips agreed.
They looked at each other with startled faces at first, but then a wide smile grew across both of their faces.
“I dare you to go knock!” they both shouted in unison. It surprised even themselves.
The shorter one quickly followed up, “You first, Snails!”
“Let’s both go, then!” Snails countered.
They nodded in agreement and walked around to the front door of the hut. They both agreed to dive for the bushes on the third knock.
Snips began to raise his hoof up to the door, but hesitated for a moment. He thought about what might happen if they were caught. About what a witch could do to them. After thinking for a bit, he raised his hoof all the way up to the door, and knocked.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
As soon as his hoof touched the door for the third time, the two of them flew into the bushes nearby. They were hardly there for a second more than they needed to be. They were gone and hiding before the zebra even had time to look up at the door.
The zebra appeared at the door a few seconds later. To the young colts it felt like hours had passed. After standing there, staring at the hoof prints left by the ponies, the zebra spoke.
“I do fear for the wanderers near. Their lives could be at stake. For an Ursa Minor can only be beaten, by those so very great. To my dismay, up in the cave, there sleeps such a bear. If they should pass me once more, I will make certain to warn them of their explore.”
With those words, she retreated back into the confines of her modest hut in the Everfree Forest. The ponies hardly even noticed. They had heard what they wanted to hear; there was an Ursa nearby! They had to go get it so the Great and Powerful Trixie could beat it in a real show of power!
They started along the path again, now with a destination in mind. They would soon find the Ursa, thinking it was a Major, and lead it back into town. There a great and powerful fraud would be revealed, and another unicorn would step up and send the bear home. A strong lesson would be learned, and a wonderful letter would be sent to a wonderful princess.
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Now she was dreadfully lost. She was in the biggest forest in the country, hungry, lost, and surrounded by fire. All she could think of was getting home, but she knew her home was destroyed. The only other place was Ponyville, but she got so turned around by the fire that she didn’t even know where that was anymore.
Left? Right? Continue forward? Turn around? Those are my options. Why can’t I decide where to go? Simply put, the reason she couldn’t decide was because she had nowhere to go. The only place she could even consider a home, was impossible to get to. Her hopes were as lost as she was in the forest.
The pain was beginning to seep through the adrenaline, and it was making her delusional. She kept thinking she saw an exit to the vast forest, with her friends on the outside, only to walk right up to a wall of flames. She had burnt her nose a few times now. It was hard to tell what was real and what wasn’t when she had such blurred vision. She kept tripping and landing on her sprained ankle. All of the pain together was enough to make her forget she had pain killer in her pack.
Despite the killing pain her body was feeling, her spirit was in a state of serenity. The orange glow of the fire in the distance made the ground and trees around her look beautiful. The various twigs and sticks cast long shadows down the path. The trees looked like a very large range light. All of it was very calming. It was hardly fitting in the current situation.
The pain, mixed with the serenity, was almost like the world having balance. All of it was very confusing.
Up ahead was another “exit” from the forest. Hopefully this time Zecora wouldn’t be mistaken by the mirage...
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Five of the six were already starting to daze off into sleep. Only one was still watching the path that lead into the forest. That one was Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes were wide open, hoping for some sign that Zecora would walk by, and she could stop being so worried about one of her friends being consumed by the fire.
Already asleep were Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Rarity had returned to her boutique for “beauty sleep”, Rainbow Dash flew up to a nearby cloud and fell asleep, while Fluttershy had simply fallen asleep on the ground. Aside from those three, Applejack was sitting under a nearby tree with her hat over her head, so it was hard to tell if she was really asleep. Finally, Pinkie Pie was laid down next to where Twilight was standing, and her head was down, staring at the ground. She was slowly losing consciousness. As the only time she was ever really quiet like this was when she was asleep, it made sense that she would fall asleep when she was being this silent.
The small crackle of the fire was the only thing that filled the silence. Currently, the fire spread across the path, but only barely. It was Twilight's hope that if Zecora would come by, she could just jump through it practically unscathed. It was Twilight’s hope that the zebra would be seen through the fire in the first place. All six shared hope that she would even make it this far to the edge of the forest.
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Bleary eyes often lead to misunderstanding. As it turns out, there actually was another wall of fire. This one was thinner, yes, but it was still there. Only, it was different this time; Zecora noticed the fire much earlier than usual. She hadn’t even gone three steps towards the “exit” before she had noticed it. Also, for the first time, not all six ponies were standing there waiting for her when she looked the first time. Only the purple one and the pink one, were actually near the exit. All the others were dispersed or gone.
So it just didn’t make sense.
Was she going so crazy from pain that even her delusions were beginning to become inconsistent? What’s more, she even thought she saw them look up when she walked into view. She thought they were actually looking at her in disbelief, as if she wasn’t actually supposed to be there. It was crazy.
Even more, their mouths began to move. Their voices were never heard, but their mouths kept moving. They seemed to be quietly talking amongst themselves, but Zecora heard nothing. She was just stunned. It was just crazy to believe that she would actually be at the exit, but this delusion was very real looking.
How crazy am I? How crazy must I be? How could I believe for a second that that isn’t just a very large fire? Could it be anything else? Could it be an exit? No. Of course not! I'm way too far away for that to even make sense.
A pond! Thank the lord!
She was so close...
Although it’s hard to speak to a delusional mind.
I just wish there was something I could have done, besides stay here and watch. If only my magic wouldn’t just fuel the fire like anypony else's...
These were the thoughts of a purple unicorn, as she watched one of her most dear friends walk into a thick wall of flames, after being so close to making it home.