//------------------------------// // Chapter Twelve // Story: For Lack of a Better Word // by Gunsmith //------------------------------// I startle myself awake, immediately feeling panicked. I look around quickly, not recognizing where I am. I seem to be inside someone's house; in the center of the room is a cauldron, boiling something at the moment. Lining the walls are decorations that appear African in origin. Shelves full of bottles filled with colorful liquids hang on the walls, as well. And finally, a zebra is tending to the cauldron. My focus remains on her for quite some time. She is wearing African jewelry, including a series of golden neckbands and some golden earrings. She notices that I am awake and staring at her, and walks around the cauldron to see me better. "Ah, good creature, it seems you are awake! Do not fear, your life is not at stake," the zebra rhymes in a deep female voice. I can't help but continue staring. "My name is Zecora, potions are what I do, and if I may ask, who are you?" I blink a few times at 'Zecora', then reach towards my pocket with my right hand. Looking down, I see that there is a series of bandages covering my forearm, slightly tinted red by my own blood. I look at myself, noticing a few things. The first is that I'm absolutely covered in blood, mainly wolf blood. It smells awful, metallic and dead in scent. I see the net with three fish in it beside me, and feel some relief in being able to recover those. I continue what I was doing, grabbing my paper and pencil. Zecora the zebra peers at my note for a moment. "Mark is your name, you who are tame?" she asks, receiving a nod in reply from me. I write down a new question. What happened? Where am I? "My house in the forest is where you happen to be. I heard a knock on my door, and what did I see? A creature with wounds from the wolves of this place, I took him in and healed him with fast pace." I look at my arm again, tightly wrapped in bandages. Hope she disinfected that. I look up at the zebra, smiling gratefully before standing up. I scribble out a last note. Thank you. Zecora smiles, bowing a little. "It is of no trouble, mysterious one; take care out there, for being maimed is not much fun," she says with a wink. I chuckle a little, bowing slightly to her before grabbing my net of fish and walking outside. That was too close. I start down the path leading out of the Everfree Forest again, ready to get back to the company of friendly ponies instead of ravenous wolves. I arrive back at Fluttershy's shortly, noting that the day is getting late. I knock on the door, only to have it fly open quickly. Fluttershy looks a little frazzled, to say the least. "Mark! Oh, thank goodness! You were gone for so long, and I thought that maybe...maybe something had happened..." She trails off to a dead silence, apparently noticing the blood all over me and the bandages on my arm. I immediately begin pulling out my writing materials, wincing as I see some red staining a corner of the paper, as well. "Wha...what h-happened?" Fluttershy asks, gaping at the gore covering me. I doubt she's ever seen this much blood in one go, and am afraid she might pass out. I write faster, my arm complaining as I do so. Attacked by wolves. Had to fight off and kill two of them, the rest ran away. Zebra named Zecora patched me up, and I got my fish. Not hurt badly. "Oh...oh my..." she whispers, looking up at me fearfully. I can't tell whether her fear is of me or for me. I'm starting to guess the latter, as she reaches with a yellow foreleg towards my bandaged arm. I crouch down so she can see it more easily, and hold it still. She starts unwrapping it; I'm not exactly sure on how she grips the bandages with hooves, but I don't care too much. I feel cool air hit my skin as my wound is revealed. Upon first glance, it doesn't look very bad too me. The wolf bit down pretty hard, driving his teeth almost all the way in, but whatever Zecora used to clean this wound up must be pretty effective, because the blood has definitely clotted and the bite marks are already starting to scab over. The yellow Pegasus grimaces at the sight of the wound, but peers at it closely for a moment anyways. After a minute she wraps it back up as tightly as before, looking satisfied. "Well, it's good Zecora found you. That hit a major blood vessel." She looks at me sternly. "You could have died, Mark. Why didn't you just give those wolves your fish?" I shrug, frowning. There is a specific order in the wild, and humans are at the top. I want to make sure that doesn't change. She sighs, shaking her head. "You've been around Rainbow Dash too much..." she says. I chuckle softly, rotating my arm and looking at the wraps. "Those poor wolves..." she says softly to herself. "They didn't suffer, did they?" I shake my head solemnly, knowing I made sure they were dead. I remember the wolf that did suffer for a while, knowing I did put him out of his misery, but not feeling any better about it. "Why don't you come clean yourself up a little? Fluttershy suggests. I nod, standing and following her into another room, which from there leads to a bathroom. I kneel down to reach the short, pony-made sink, turning on the water. I look up, and find that a mirror hangs on the wall in front of me. I see someone who looks absolutely out of their sane mind. Badly needing a shave, bloodshot eyes from a bad night of sleep, hair greased with sweat and even some blood, and blood staining a lot of my face, neck, and arms. I'm a mess, I tell myself with a chuckle. I start to wash my hands and arms, watching reddish water run down the drain. After that, I clean my face and rub some water into my hair, then shut off the water, feeling slightly cleaner. My clothes are still...well, horrifying, in sight and smell, but they'll have to do until I can wash them tonight. My clothes...oh, yeah, I need to go see Rarity. Hopefully she isn't too squeamish, but I don't have time to wash my clothes before picking up whatever she's made that hopefully looks better than...this. I start walking back towards the entry room of the cottage, finding Fluttershy waiting there for me. I notice that she has transferred the three fish I caught into some sort of wrap made from thick grasses. I look at her in question. "Oh, I took my net back, if that's okay with you." I nod, and she continues. "I wrapped the fish up so you could carry them better." I smile in thanks, reaching down and picking up the bundle of fish. "Mark?" she questions. I look down at her. "Don't do that anymore. That was too dangerous. I know you need to eat, but at least take somepony with you next time, please?" I nod, smiling as reassuringly as I can to the pale-yellow pony. She nods as well. "Goodbye. Tell Rainbow Dash I said hello, please!" I nod happily, walking outside again. I see that I've only got a few hours of daylight left, so I set off at a quicker pace. *** I knock a few times on the door of Rarity's boutique, going over some thoughts as I await the white unicorn. Still need some ice. My fish sit in my icebox, devoid of ice. Some salt, too...I think, recalling the proper preservation technique. Shouldn't be too hard to find, salt seems to be something ponies like to eat. I remember that it was present at my welcoming party, and more than one had indulged in it. I wrinkle my nose at the idea of eating pure salt. I start to consider that it may be harder to get than I'm thinking, given how most ponies seem to be reacting to my current state. 'Oh, sweet Celestia' is a pretty popular comment, along with a quick stumble away from me. I frown, wondering how Rarity will-- "Oh, Mark, perfect timing, if I may say so myself!" Rarity says upon opening the door. "I just fin--oh my...dear Celestia, are you covered in...blood?" I nod, frowning. To my surprise, the white pony faints dead away. In a moment of panic, I glance about, seeing that no one else is looking, and steal inside, shutting the door quickly. I start fanning my hand in front of Rarity's face, and without avail, tap the side of her face a few times. She starts to stir, and I take a few steps back. She shakily stands up, blinking a few times in surprise. "Oh, my...I apologize, Mark, that was unexpected. If you don't mind, though, please stay a short distance away until you can get into a more...decent...state." I nod, wincing to myself. Oops. "N-now, as I was saying...ah, yes, your clothes. I finished them only a few moments ago. I do hope it is to your liking." She trots off, grabbing hold of something with her magic. She levitates some folded up clothes over to me, setting them on the floor at my feet. I crouch down, grabbing the topmost piece of clothing, unfolding it before me. It appears to be a very nice, button-up suit jacket, a flat matte-black in color. I like it immensely. I start to slip it on over my current shirt, then recall the actual condition of my current shirt. I frown, looking at Rarity. "Would you like some privacy?" I nod. "One moment, darling..." She levitates one of those things that shields one from view while they dress, I forget the proper term. I strip off my shirt, tossing it on the ground. There isn't too much blood on my actual body, so I slip on the suit jacket, slowly buttoning it bottom-to-top. Once it is on, I start moving around, rolling my arms and such to see the flexibility; I find that the jacket offers a nice range of movement, and isn't stiff at all. It's very comfortable, in fact. I step out to one side of the folding-dressing-board-thing, allowing Rarity to see me. She observes the jacket on me with a keen eye, watching as I move my arms and torso about again. "I must say, that actually looks quite nice. I was expecting it to be very drab, given its simplistic nature, but it is actually very fitting. Is it comfortable?" I nod and smile. "Do you like it?" I nod again, continuing to smile genuinely. She smiles as well, content. "Good. Are you going to try on the pants?" I think for a moment, then shake my head. I figure if she did as well on fitting the pants as she did the shirt, they wouldn't be a problem. Now if only I had some dress shoes...I look down at my dirty, bloodied shoes, deciding that cleaning them up would probably look okay. They are fairly neutral in color, anyways. I walk behind the dressing area and switch shirts, folding the new one up neatly and picking the entire suit up, walking out again. "Well, Mark, thank you for the business. I may have to try some new designs because of you," she adds cheerfully. Her voice then takes on a more serious tone. "And, if I may ask, what happened to you?" I smile, setting down my new clothes and writing out a simple phrase that hopefully won't require much more explanation. Quite frankly, I am starving, and want to get some salt, maybe a lantern or two, then go home. Wolves. "Oh my Celestia...and you survived?" I nod, showing my arm to let her know I almost didn't. "That is quite a feat, Mark. It was also a very, very bad idea to fight a wolf." I nod again, having known that from the start. "Just don't go fighting any wolves with your new clothes, yes?" I laugh, nodding in agreement as I start heading for the door. She gives a wave, which I return before walking outside again. *** I push open my door with my shoulder, walking over to the table and setting my goods down. The first thing I do is get my ice, taking it over to the icebox and pouring it in, burying two of the fish. The third I get out, setting it on a counter. I pour some ground salt in with the other fish, then close the icebox, storing the remaining salt away in one of my empty cabinets. Leaving the cabinet open, I grab a bushel of apples I had bought from Applejack ("What in the hay were yah' thinkin', takin' on a pack of wolves? Celestia's sake, Mark, yah' tryin' to get yourself killed?") off the table and store them in there, as well. Finally, seeing as how dark it is getting in the room and I still haven't eaten, I decide to try out my new lantern. I walk back over to the table, sitting down in one of the chairs. I look at the lantern for a moment, then find a small knob on the side of its base. Raising an eyebrow in question, I twist it a few degrees. A small flame lights up inside, reddish-yellow in color. Sweet, magic lantern. I twist the knob a little more, sending more magical fire into the lantern and lighting up the table considerably. Satisfied, I stand again, walking back over to my kitchen area. I pull the dagger out of my belt loop with my right hand, rather than the left. Gripping the fish in my left hand, I shear off the head and begin stripping the fish. My mind starts to drift away as I do the fairly mindless activity in the peace of my house. I think back to yesterday, my faux pas with my Pegasus friend. I mentally smack myself a few times for doing what I did. Why did I even do that? How could I let my curiosity best me so easily? I hear a snap as I accidentally break one of the fish's ribs. After a moment, I'm lost in thought again. What confuses me is Dash's reaction to it all. Like it wasn't a big deal. That seems like a pretty big deal to me. The natives are a lot nicer here, a lot more understanding, though...maybe it wasn't a big deal? She seemed okay with it. Maybe it's because I'm new here, and she knew it was a misunderstanding on my part. I didn't take her as that perceptive, but...I don't know. I frown, getting the last of the skin off of the fish. I start working on separating the white meat from the small bones. Worry starts to enter my mind. I didn't see her at all today...maybe she really was offended, but she was just hiding it really well. I feel a desire to find her and apologize to her again. Searching my cupboards, I find a pan to fry the fish in. I see burners atop my furnace...magic-operated, like the lantern? I find that to be a yes as I turn a knob on the front of the furnace. Nice. I throw the remnants of the fish outside; it will decompose soon. As the fish starts to fry, I walk into my bathroom, stripping off most of my clothes, save for my underwear and socks. I flip on the hot water in the shower, tossing my clothes in and walking out of the bathroom. I do a few more mindless things, taking my new suit upstairs, setting my shoes on the table. I start looking around for something to clean them with, eventually finding a few napkins leftover from the party. I scrub my shoes idly, washing off the mud and blood. I probably won't see her for a while, I realize. Going to Canterlot tomorrow morning...I need to find her before I leave, I decide. But how? I sigh in frustration, switching shoes. Maybe she'll see me on the way to Twilight's...I hope. I set my somewhat-cleaner shoes down in one corner of the room, slightly tinted red now, but it's not too noticeable, I think. Pulling out my tomahawk, I use it as a makeshift spatula, flipping the fish around in the frying pan before sitting down at the table again. I start to run my finger idly along the blade of the weapon, somehow clean from earlier. Sighing again, I think about the wolf I had to put down. Poor guy. All he was doing was trying to survive, just like me. In a game like that, though, there can only be one winner. And I could have let him suffer. I know I couldn't have, though. Can't stand to watch animals of any sort suffer, they don't deserve it. They're hard-wired one way, not like humans. Humans are something else entirely. Maybe the fact that nearly everything is sentient here changes that, but I doubt it will ever change in my eyes. I get the fish out of the pan, turning off the burner. Using a napkin as a plate and my dagger as a utensil, I eat my first meal of the day. Silverware, I add to my shopping list. Eating with a knife looks cool, but it's no fun when one pokes themselves in the roof of their mouth. I eat quietly for some time, watching the flame within the lantern dance upon its own free will. Finishing my food, the carnivore half of me enjoying every bit of it, I clean up what mess I've made. I go and retrieve my clothes from the shower, wringing them out; most of the blood has drained away from them, thankfully. Hanging them outside to dry, then extinguishing my magic-powered lantern, I head upstairs for the night. I set down my tomahawk and dagger, side by side, not regretting my investment in them a bit. Crawling into bed, I shut my eyes, hoping for a better night of sleep.