Chapter 5
Do Zebras Dream of Striped Sheep?
I stepped inside Scarlet's house, finally getting a good look at the place. It wasn't very big, big enough for maybe one or two people to live in no trouble, with the bed pushed up against the far wall next to the window. Shelves full of books lined the entire left wall of the house, mostly medical books by the look of them, with a few novels scattered here and there. To the left there was the kitchen, not very impressive, and a workbench with beakers, test tubes, and all manner of other scientific instruments with notes and papers strewn every which way. I didn't mess with any of it, not wanting to disturb whatever it was Scarlet was doing.
I decided to just grab a pillow and sleep on the floor, not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier. I set my claw beside me, having wiped the blood off in the grass, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I dreamt I was in some kind of straw hut, lots of strange masks and vials decorating the walls and ceiling. A cauldron was heating a bubbling green liquid, which smelled like garbage that had been left to sit in the sun for a month. The thing that really caught my attention though was the woman sitting in a throne that looked woven out of every kind of plant you could think of, and when I got a good look at the women in the throne, my blood chilled. It was the same woman who had sent me to Equestria, except now she was dressed in a black gossamer gown, still sporting all the gold jewelry and the same hairstyle as before. She had a strange bamboo staff in her left hand with beads and other ornaments hanging from the tip and strange black symbols along the entirety of the staff.
She smiled at me and said “Welcome my champion, you look like you've been having fun.”
“Yeah, if you call nearly getting killed by two giant monsters, going against my code of ethics, and getting into a very awkward bed situation fun, then yes, I've been having a fucking blast.” I said sarcastically.
The woman smiled widely and exclaimed “Fantastic!”
I face-palmed, or face-hoofed I guess.
“Oh come on, I'm just having fun, being a goddess gets boring.”
“Well that doesn't mean you can......wait, did you say goddess?” I asked confusedly
The woman looked at me and said “Oh I just love the look on people's faces when I say that, but yes, I am a goddess.”
I sat there, unsure of how to respond.
“Oh come on, it can't be that surprising.” The goddess said a little annoyed.
“The thought had crossed my mind, but to be honest I thought you were some kind of witch.” I said cautiously.
The goddess looked appalled “WHAT, whatever gave you that idea.”
I raised an eyebrow “You show up in my dimension looking like a punk rock reject, catapult me into a different dimension, laughing a creepy laugh the whole time I might add, and turn me into a zebra, what the hell did you expect me to think you were?”
The goddess just sat there looking utterly dumbfounded. After a few seconds of silence, she finally said “Was my laugh really that creepy?”
I face-hoofed again, not believing that anyone apart from Discord or Pinkie Pie could be this random.
“I am not random, I merely have a good sense of humor.” the goddess said with an annoyed look.
I looked at her “How did you...”
“I'm a goddess, I read your mind, seriously you should really start expecting things like this, many surprises are in store for you my champion.”
“You keep calling me your champion, why is that?”
“Oh that's right, I forgot to tell you about the Game.”
I was confused, “Game, what game?”
“OK, long story short, Discord brought a human to Equestria a while back, and the other gods decided to follow his lead, and now a ….lets call it a chess game, is being played by the gods, with you humans as our game pieces, you follow?”
I just sat there, trying to process what this crazy goddess had just told me.
“Oh dear, too much to process at once isn't it?”
I snapped out of my stupor, shook my head and said “No, it's just...I wasn't expecting other humans to be here, how many are here already?”
The goddess pondered this for a moment “It's tough to say, I'd say at least a hundred.”
I said a silent wow as the goddess said “Any more questions?”
I thought carefully, and then a sobering thought crossed my mind “You said this was a game right?”
“Correct.”
“..and we humans are the pieces, right?”
“Right, what are you trying to say?” The goddess said a bit concerned
“So what happens when the winner is decided, what happens to the losers?”
The goddess just looked at me, a look of pity and sadness in her eyes, she walked up to me and crouched down to meet me on eye level “Do you really want me to answer that question?”
The tone in her voice and the look in her eyes said all that needed to be said 'You'll find out'
“I.....I guess not, I never liked spoilers anyway.” I said, trying to laugh off the whole thing.
The goddess stood and smiled “Good choice, but don;t think this means I won't be helping you along your journey, albeit in small ways.”
“What do you mean?”
Before the goddess could answer, the sound of a bell rang through the dream. The goddess looked at me and said “Our time is up, but before I go I must tell you one final thing, go to Canterlot, talk with the princesses, if the guards won;t let you in, tell them to tell the princesses it concerns the chess game, oh and bring a cake too.” her form beginning to flicker.
I stood there confused “Wait, why do I need to talk to the princesses, and a cake?”
“It will make sense in time, for now I must depart. Good bye my champion, and have fun with the little gift I left you.” the goddess said as the hut began to fill with a blinding light.
“Wait, gift, don't go.” The hut became completely enveloped in light, and the dream ended.
“WAIT!” I yelled, not realizing that the dream was over, and the goddess was gone. Scarlet apparently heard my scream, kinda hard not to, and ran into the house from outside, her bow drawn and her horn glowing with magic.
“What's wrong, I heard a scream, are you hurt?” She asked, concern showing on her face.
I waved a hoof to dismiss these claims and said “No, I'm fine, just a bad dream, sorry for worrying you.”
Scarlet let out a sigh of relief and lowered her bow. She was about to say something when her eyes widened, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
Confused, I asked “Uh, you okay Scarlet, let me guess I have serious bed head right?”
Warily, she said “No, look behind you.”
I did as she said, and my mouth hung open in surprise as well. I now understood what the goddess meant by gift, and hell if this wasn't the best gift ever. The goddess had turned the claw I got from my encounter with the Ursa Major into quite possibly the coolest sword I've ever seen. The claw itself made up the blade, with a gold guard and black and white wrappings on the handle. The sword was massive too, a couple feet bigger than myself. It had a note wrapped around the handle that read:
“Use this gift wisely my champion, for you will face many battles in the future.”
I looked at the note for a solid minute, letting the warning settle in. Finally Scarlet broke the silence and said “Who's it from, someone you know?”
I crumpled the note between my hooves, turned to Scarlet and said “You could say that, anyway, what were you doing outside?”
“I was gathering herbs to mix up some herbal remedies, I used up the last of my stocks healing you.”
“Right, sorry about that, but they must've worked, I'm all patched up, see.” I spun around and did a few poses for emphasis. Scarlet just looked at me, her eyes giving me a blank stare.
“Uh, what?”
“I don't get you”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you show up out of nowhere at the edge of the EverFree Forest, cut and bruised and carrying a claw. Then your injuries heal just about overnight when they should've taken at least a week, and then you have some kind of freaky mental talk with an Elder Manticore, kill it, and then cry like a little baby afterward, who exactly are you?”
This question caught me off guard, I'd pretty much told her who I was last night, but given that my explanation was fast and sounded more like the the ramblings of a mad man, I decided to lie.
“Let's just say I'm complex and leave it at that, sound good?”
Scarlet huffed and said “Fine, you don't wanna tell me who you are, that's just fine, by the way, what are you gonna do with the manticore, it's gonna rot if you leave it in the sun any longer.”
“Him”
“What?”
“Not 'It', Him, and his name is Silver Thorn, just because he's a manticore doesn't mean you can label him an 'It'!” I said, my anger rising with each word.
Scarlet held up her hooves in her defense “Ok, calm down, I didn't mean it like that, sorry.” she said, her voice sounding sincere.
I calmed down, let my anger disappear, and said “Ok, sorry for the outburst, and as for my plans, you'll find out here pretty quick.”
I instructed the villagers to gather as much spare wood as they could manage and build a funeral pyre around Silver Thorn's body. After that was done, I had them shave off his lion mane and gather it together, then had them cut off the top section of his tail. They did as I instructed and placed the fur and tail head in front of me.
One of the villagers, a blue stallion a blonde mane, came up to me, looking scared and said “Uh, excuse me mister...”
“Shadow”
“Right, Mister Shadow, what are you planning on doing with all this.”
I looked at him and said the same thing the goddess had said to me concerning my future “Do you really want me to answer that question?”
The stallion had a look of fear on his face, as well as a few droplets of sweat trickling down the side of his face “No, I guess not”.
“Good answer”
With everything prepared, once night had fallen, Luna's beautiful moon shining high in the sky, I gathered the villagers around the pyre and prepared to light the pyre. I had been to funerals before, back on Earth, and I always cried at them, but this was not the time for tears. Even though I had only known Silver Thorn for a very short while, I knew that he would not want me to weep for him, but rather he would want me to honor him with his final wish, for me to use his remains to help me along my journey, and so I shall. With that, I lit the pyre, the smell of smoke and fire filling the night air. Many of the villagers just stood there watching in silence, but a few were shedding tears, overcome by what was transpiring. Scarlet stood by my side through the whole thing, helping me keep myself together through the event.
After a few hours, the flames finally died down, and the villagers went back to there homes to get some rest. I continued to stand there, watching the last bits of embers burn. Scarlet began to leave when she saw me still staring at the pyre “Shadow, you coming back?”
“I'll be back in a bit, I'd like to be alone right now”.
“You sure, cause I can stay if you want”.
“No, I'm fine, go on ahead, get some rest”.
Reluctantly, she said “Ok” and walked back to the house.
I continued to stare at the pyre, even after the fires had burned out and Silver Thorn's body had been reduced to ashes. I thought about all that had transpired the past few days, getting sent to Equestria, becoming a zebra, fighting an Ursa Major and killing it, meeting Scarlet, meeting Silver Thorn and then killing him, and my dream about the goddess. I didn't know what this whole chess game thing was about, but I sure as hell was gonna find out. I looked at the pyre one last time before I headed back to Scarlet's house, this time with my mission clear in my mind.