//------------------------------// // Tragic End and a Short Break (The Lion King) // Story: I am Cinema! (Aka Educating Ponies on Real Entertainment) // by Quake98 //------------------------------// To be honest after The Circle of Life song I kinda passes out, probably from getting hit on the head a couple of times with hooves, and didn’t wake for a while until ai heard something. Unfortunately, as it turns out, was Zecora trying to warn Simba against listening to his evil uncle Scar “Young Simba whose dreams are bright, don’t listen to your uncle or suffer a great plight! Your uncle Scar is an evil lion with a scheme, to end you and your father’s rightful regime!” It must have been the tone she was using because it was chalk full of anxiety and an equal amount of urgency. Blinking away the sleep from my eyes I looked around confused, “Zecora? What’s the mat-“ She abruptly proved me with her answer by flailing her limbs in a show of panicked energy that reflected in her face. “Brian! The evil scum Scar whose heart is darker than a coal miner, is attempting the foul deed of murder!” Wincing at her volume I looked at the Tv, to see she was right. Scar was implementing his scheme of using Simba as bait to lure his brother away to be killed along with Simba. Zecora I swear would be biting her hooves like nails if she could when the wildebeest herd was charging on with no care for the young cub’s safety. She held her breath when Simba was running away from the herd with all he was worth. Then the scene changed to Zazu and Mufasa commenting on how the wildebeest herd’s early movement was odd. They would have continued if Scar suddenly saying the that the herd’s stampede was heading straight towards the gorge that Simba was in. This caused Mufasa to gasp out his son’s name in horror at the implication. He quickly ran off with Scar in tow to save his son. Zecora was practically yelling at Mufasa and Zasu to not allow Scar to follow them. Of course those yelling of warning quickly changed into quiet panic at seeing Simba being surrounded on all sides by the wildebeest stampede. She almost sighed in relief when climbed onto a dead tree before he got stomped on. The focus was then changed to Mufasa and Scar running towards the gorge while Zazu flew ahead to maybe find Simba. He quickly saw Simba clutching onto the dead tree for dear life. When he cried out “Help me Zazu!” Zazu comforted him by saying that his father and Scar were coming soon. Simba replied with a panicked “Hurry!” He nodded and flew back to the gorge’s rim just in time to tell both Mufasa and Scar where Simba was. When Mufasa saw his son in such a dangers position spurred him to run into the stampede to reach his son. When Mufasa did this Zazu was panicking about what they were going to do. When Zazu came up with the plan to get others to help the king he was batted into the stone wall by Scar, knocking him unconscious. This caused Zecora to gasp in disgust at Scar actions. Of course this was only temporary as she became worried for Mufasa and Simba’s well being. Mufasa was able to slip in between the wildebeest by going a little ahead of the tree and turning back to it quickly. Before he was able to go for the tree however he was hit by a wildebeest and was temporarily stunned. When he regained his senses he saw the tree that Simba was on get destroyed, causing the cub to fly into the air with a cry of fear. He wasn’t the only one as Zecora was struck with just as much fear for his well being. She was quickly relieved when Mufasa lept into the air and caught the cub mid-air. Mufasa, with his son in tow, ran to find somewhere for their escape from the gorge. Unfortunately for Mufasa, he was once again hit by a wildebeest that made him drop his son. Poor Simba was sent flying again, and when he landed he was about to be trampled by a wildebeest. Once again his father came to his rescue and with a few deft maneuvers that allowed Mufasa to place Simba on a ledge away form danger. This caused Zecora to cheer out in elation at seeing the both of them being ok. Unfortunately her cheers were cut short when Mufasa was not quick enough to escape from being swept away with tide of wildebeests. Simba cried out in worry when he couldn’t see his father any more. At this point tears were starting to well up in her eyes, before both Simba and her were relieved at Mufadsa leaping out of the tide of animals and latched onto the cliff side. When Simba saw his father scaling up the rocks he started to climb up to meet his father at the top of the cliff. Zecora’s relief however was cut short as she saw Scar slowly prowling down a edge, waiting for an opportunity to strike. His patience was unfortunately rewarded with his brother begging for his help to pull him up from the cliff. Scar, looking aloof at first, quickly changed to a ferocious one as his claws lept form his paws and with startling speeds dug his claws into Mufasa’s front legs. At the sudden pain, Mufasa winced and Scar lowered his head till it was level with Mufasa’s, where he uttered one sentence that horrified both him and Zecora, “Long live, the king,” And with that he made Mufasa lose his grip on the rock face, making him plummet into the wildebeests below, crying out in agony. Poor Simba saw his father plummet to his doom, an anguished “No!” Tearing out of his throat, his cry only equaled by the cry Zecora couldn’t contain, tears slowly trickling down her face. Simba with as much speed as he could muster ruched down the rocks he just climbed up on not a second ago to see if his father was ok. The young cub looked around the the gorge’s floor, his vision obscured by the kicked up dust from the stampede. He got startled by a lone wildebeest running after it’s herd. His vision followed the wildebeest till it ran around the broken tree, where Mufasa laid broken. The sight of Mufasa’s form looking so lifeless made Zecora draw her hooves to her mouth to cover her horrified gasp, tears still flowing from her eyes. Simba, ears splayed back, ran up to his father’s form. When he was close to his father, he softly asked, “Dad? Hey dad,”- He rubs his head against his father’s snout, trying to lift his head. Hoping, pleading for his father to be ok, “You gotta get up.” When his father’s head simply lowered itself back down, Simba was horrified at the possibility he didn’t want to accept. His father couldn’t be dead. Simba gently continued talking, breaking the heart of both myself and Zecora. “Come on dad,”-He pushed his dad head to get a reaction, “We need to home, come on dad.” He bites Mufasa’s ear as a final attempt to wake his dad up. Still he laid still. Simba drew back and yelled out, “Help! Somebody!” He ran around the gorge floor, “Anybody...” He slowly looked more grief stricken as he barely uttered out a final,”Help.” Before tears started to trail down his face as he turned back to Mufasa, and slowly walked back to him. When Simba reaches Mufasa, he crawled under one of his father’s forelegs and and got as close as he could to his father. Unknown to him, like a reaper approaching it’s victim, Scar glided through the dust till he made presence known. Scar then proceeded to convinced Simba that it was his fault for his father’s death and made him imagine what his mother would think of his actions and himself. Looking for answer Simba looked up to his uncle and asked what he should do. With all of his slyness, he suggested that Simba should run away, to leave Pride Rock forever. Simba, in his distressed state of mind, listened to his uncle and ran away from Scar. I would have kept the movie playing, if I hadn’t looked at Zecora at that very moment, which made me stop the movie and look at her concerned. ‘Honestly I should have known that this would happen, what with how mortality rate is like in this world.’ Poor Zecora, she was still next to me but was crying her little heart out at seeing Mufasa’s death from being trampled to death by the stampede of wildebeest, right in clear view of poor Simba. While it wasn’t very loud, her tiny sobs were rocking her whole body while she had a waterfall of tears coming from each eye, and they didn’t look like they were stopping anytime soon. ‘I ... Am a bad person to do this to her.’ I had no clue what to do without making it awkward and it was tearing me apart seeing such a happy zebra turn into a ball of sadness. ‘Should I hug her? No, she might get mad. Scratch her ears? I don’t think that will help this time. What do I do!? There has to be something-’ Zecora obviously knew what she wanted because she very suddenly buried her head into my side with a speed that’d make Rainbow Dash kinda jealous, if only it wasn’t because Zecora is so broken-hearted. Startled by her sudden contact I wasn’t prepared for when she wrapped her front hooves around my torso and hugged me like her dear life depended on it. “Hey Hey Zecora, it’ll be ok. It’ll be ok. Don’t cry, I’m here to help if you need it.” While saying this I gently picked up Zecora and brought her into a gentle hug, her head resting on my shoulder. Even though I said this to her, Zecora was still crying softly. Seeing my hugging wasn’t working, I started to rub her back, hoping for any positive reaction from the distraught zebra. My efforts were rewarded as her soft sobs were slowly dissipating to nothing along with her body shivers ceasing. I was about to ask her something when she said something softly. “What was that Zecora? I couldn’t hear you, would you mind repeating that a little bit louder?” I felt bad about doing this but I felt it was absolutely necessary to hear what she has to say. “I-If it would b-be a-all the with you, l-let’s stop this f-for another day’s v-view.” She was practically begging for me to stop the movie. “Of course Zecora, besides,”- I looked outside to see it was night already, “I think it’d be a good time to call it a night.” With a soft grunt of exertion I stood up, picking up Zecora with me. To make sure she wouldn’t be to jostled with my movements I put my right arm underneath her and kept my left one free while resting her head on my shoulder. She immediately buried her head into my neck, almost making me laughed when her ticklish fur brushed against my bare neck but some how I was able to keep it in, barely. With Zecora secured onto my person, I tried to pick up the blanket and pillow, which were still on the ground from our earlier fight. ‘Ok, somehow I have to pick up both the of them without shaking Zecora too much, here goes nothing,’ And in a display of deftness that wasn’t usually possible for me, Zecora was placed gently back onto the couch and, with the blanket, was about to try tucking in Zecora, emphasis on try. The distraught zebra was still clinging onto my neck and slightly shaking, “Hey, if you want me to tuck you in your going to have to let go of me.” Instead of Zecora letting me go, her grip felt like it only got tighter and she shook her head softly for a no. I was confused initially by her answer until it dawned on me. ‘She doesn’t want to be alone tonight.’ “You want to stay with me tonight?” I felt so...Weird asking this, but if she wants that then I will do it for her. Anything to make up for her current state. This time I felt more then actually saw the soft nod. With a sigh I picked up Zecora again and I laid down on the couch, me on the bottom as I didn’t want to crush her under my weight. Then with blanket in hand draped it over the both of us. “It’s going to be ok Zecroa,”- I gently bring the mare into a firm hug, “I’m sorry for showing you that without thinking. If you want we cou-“ I was interrupted by her placing a hoof on my lips and she looked into my eyes with steely determination before she finally spoke again, “I wish to see Simba through his journey, to reclaim his rightful duty.” I smiled softly at her nearly in audible answer and pat her neck. “Of course Zecora, just let me know when you’re ready.” She nodded in understanding before she herself fell asleep rapidly on my chest. ‘Amazing how a movie could effect her so badly, then again Disney movies are known for building up your love for a character before either making said character die or see a tragic event. Darn Disney, and it’s ability to shell out timeless classics!’ Shaking my head to clear my head of thoughts I got as comfortable as possible could on the small couch. ‘I better not show them any Beserk ever, might fry those poor ponies minds, considering Zecora was crying from one tragic event with nothing too morbid about it,’ with that last thought I drifted off into my dream land, where I was about to embark on a quest, full of ridiculousness!