//------------------------------// // V - An Enthusiastic Walk // Story: Golden Crusaders // by Greatazuredragon //------------------------------// An Enthusiastic Walk A heavy silence lingered over the Everfree. Nothing but the faint sounds of insects permeated the faux twilight caused by the massive trees and the sheer entanglement of plant life that blocked most of the sun from reaching the forest floor. It was a near darkness, broken by but the few stray rays of sunlight lucky enough to happen upon some small opening in the mass of green, giving some faint light to the near-perpetual penumbra of the woods. Few things dared break the silence of the woods. Even the animals that called the place home that were out and about, be they hunting or foraging, did not break the silence as they did so, as if they had an unspoken agreement, that doing otherwise would be a herald of great and terrible things. The hooded figure calmly walking upon the shadowed ground was no exception. Her steps were completely silent as she skillfully traversed the rugged terrain. Not a single cracked branch or disturbed leaf marked her passing as she ventured deeper into the dark woods. As she passed by one of the stray rays of light, the midday sun illuminated the features beneath the brown hood. The black and white stripes of her coat showed her to be a zebra. And the ceremonial golden bangles around her neck and hanging from her ears showed her to be a shaman, one of the fabled witch-doctors from far-off Zebrica. The zebra took in her surroundings with careful experienced eyes, knowing far too well the dangers the forest held, but also the bounty it contained. Her eyes glimmered with excitement as they fell upon a small particularly shadowed corner of the woods. Growing underneath a fallen tree there were several neon-blue mushrooms covered with pink polka-dots, something she had never seen or heard of before. A smile graced her lips as she hurried towards her newest find. She had heard the tales, of the great bounty and vast menagerie of unknown species contained within the great green expanse known as the Everfree forest. By the spirits, that had been one of the main reasons to motivate her journey to the great forest in the first place! But, even so, Zecora had not been prepared for the reality of just how diverse the magical fauna and flora of the Everfree truly was! “Hello, little mushrooms in the gloom; I wonder, will you be an ill or a boon?” the witch-doctor mused out loud as she approached the odd-looking spotted mushrooms, her left hoof already moving towards her saddlebags in order to get a container for her newest sample. She had been living in the vast forest for little over two weeks at this point, and yet had already found twice as many new and undiscovered species of plants and fungi as the days she had spent within the woods. And when you took into consideration she had spent a good half of her first week setting down the protective wards and totems around her hut in order to safeguard her living space it all became all the more mind-boggling! Truly, this expedition had been a marvelous idea, even despite all the hassle it had been to traverse from her homeland to the kingdom of the ponies. Just thinking of all the undiscovered magical reagents, all the new salves and remedies that could be made, it filled her heart with joy and excitement. After carefully sealing the container with her prize, she proceeded to place it into her saddlebags, quite happy with today’s first find. Just at that moment, a deafening crack shattered the silence that had been reigning in the woods. And as all the creatures upon the great forest stilled at this violation of the silence, a loud bestial roar shattered it utterly. Swiftly storing away her newest discovery, Zecora did not waste a single moment before drawing her trusty staff from her back and taking a ready stance. She recognized the roar. A manticore. And while the winged-felines were nowhere near as bad as one of the star-beasts that roamed the deep woods, that did not by any means mean the large feline predator was not a danger to be respected. Staff at the ready, she narrowed her eyes in the direction she could hear the predator rushing towards her. Quite loudly, she may add. Which was odd, especially since the great felines were mainly ambush predators. The fact this new interloper was all but trampling all the underbrush on its path as it rushed towards her was most definitely abnormal. A fresh youngling without hunting experience, perhaps? The next moment her musings were sadly proven inaccurate, as a fully-grown manticore blasted out of the underbrush. Easily weighing more than five hundred pounds, and at least ten times the zebra’s size, the beast was a prime specimen of its breed. This could prove challenging. Zecora decided as she prepared herself to dodge the beast’s initial lunge in order to whack its snout and dissuade it of the validity of adding zebra to its menu. She would have to devote her whole focus to this, lest she end her journey far too prematurely. Her path would not join that of the spirits yet if she had anything to say about it! But it was not to be. Rushing past her awaiting form without so much as glancing at her, it dove into the deep overgrowth past her with as much speed as it could muster. “What?” she found herself asking aloud, quite confused by this unexpected turn of events. That response was reinforced even further by what followed immediately afterward. “Get back here you huge pile of fur!” a tiny yellow-coated filly roared as she appeared from the exact same spot from where the manticore had come. She could not weigh forty pounds soaking wet and was less than half the size of Zecora. And yet, that did not stop her as she chased after the fleeing predator. Her teeth flashed a bestial smile that would be far more at home upon the fleeing manticore as she rushed past the flabbergasted zebra far faster than most grown ponies could. Her large red bow flapped wildly upon her equally red mane while the sheer speed of the tiny filly only added to the surreal image of it all. Zecora stood there unmoving, staff at the ready, for a moment longer. The oddness of what had just transpired robbed her of action due to sheer incredulity. She stared at the place first the manticore then the filly had disappeared with very perplexed eyes. She blinked once, then twice, before she finally shook off her surprise and confusion. Turning her muzzle towards her saddlebag, she glared at it. Or more accurately, glared at the unknown mushrooms now contained within said saddlebag. “Well that was quite rude; your answer did not need to be so crude!” she spoke to the colorful fungi. That quite clearly had some very powerful hallucinogenic properties, if the very brief contact with her hoof had been enough to cause her to see this completely crazy scenario. Letting out a very aggravated sigh, the zebra replaced her staff upon her back. Shaking her head, she chastised herself for her own carelessness, touching an unknown reagent with her bare hooves due to her excitement of a new discovery! Her master would have her hide if she knew about this! And rightfully so! “Well, this is quite the conundrum; hopefully with some work, it is something that can be undone,” she mused, already considering the best way to try and make an antidote. If not to cure, at least mitigate the effects of whatever was affecting her until it left her body. “Greetings, wise one,” a melodious voice asked from behind her. Startled at not hearing anyone approaching despite how keyed-up her senses currently were, Zecora swiftly turned around as her hoof once again darted toward her staff, only to immediately relax upon seeing that the new interlopers just so happened to be two more fillies. An orange-coated pegasus politely gave her a nod of greeting, and a white-coated unicorn was addressing her while bowing in the exact same way a fellow shaman would do upon meeting another of their kind. Clearly, the little fungi was not done playing its tricks on her. “Apologies for our intrusion, but would you have perhaps seen a yellow-coated filly pursuing a fleeing manticore?” “Greetings little one, you are quite polite; Alas I fear your friend has escaped my sight,” she cordially answered while gesturing to the point where the filly had disappeared back into the woods. Politeness should always be answered, after all, even if the one offering it was but a figment of one’s own imagination. The young unicorn let out a tired sigh, before bowing her head slightly. “Many thanks, wise shaman. But while I would love to stay and have discourse with you, I fear we must hurry after our companion lest she do something regrettable.” “Think nothing of it, little one; at times there are simply things that must be done,” she replied to the very polite hallucination. A bemused smile was on her lips as she wondered what her subconscious could be trying to tell her by choosing the form of small pony fillies to appear before her. She had yet to visit the pony settlement at the edge of the forest. While not yet at worrying levels, some of her stockpiled supplies could do with some topping off. Perhaps she should fix that in the near future. “Many thanks, until we meet again,” the filly promptly said before darting towards where Zecora had pointed, her pegasus friend giving the zebra one more nod before imitating her unicorn friend. The shaman watched them go with a bemused smile on her muzzle for a long moment, before shaking her head as a small laugh escaped her lips. Turning back to her saddlebags one more time she happily proclaimed. “Well, little spore; at the very least you are not a bore!” As she rushed past the underbrush, dodging and weaving the falling branches that her prey was leaving behind in her wake, Ganondorf could feel her fanged smile grow with each step she took. She was getting closer. That was an undeniable fact. No matter the very respectable speed the manticore was keeping as it ran away, the distance between them was getting smaller and smaller with each moment that passed. The beast really should have known better than to try to deny its betters! A gradual lightening of the penumbra of the woods as the chase continued told the small filly that they were approaching a clearing. It was an excellent bit of news, considering she was almost upon the manticore. Some clear space for their little tussle so that they could fight properly would be more than welcome! And even better! As they both rushed into the clearing it immediately became clear that there was a very respectable rocky hill at the end of it, neatly cutting the manticore’s main avenue of escape! Din was smiling upon her this day! However, she would have to pay attention to not allow it to simply fly away. She really could not remember if this particular creature was fully flight capable or simply used its wings to glide and boost its jumps. The great cat’s wings did look too small to lift it off the ground, but the same was true for all pegasi, and that never stopped the winged ponies before. So until proven otherwise, best to think her prey could escape to the skies and plan accordingly. Getting ready to pounce should that happen, Ganondorf watched as the panicking manticore roared in distress, head swiftly moving one way and then another while clearly weighing its options. Whatever the creature planned to do, it had best decide fast, because the yellow-coated filly was but one bounce away from tackling it. However, the chase had to be put on hold as a far louder, and very annoyed-sounding roar answered the manticore’s. The great feline immediately crouched low to the ground, scorpion tail beneath its legs as it tried to look as small as possible as the earth trembled as something quite heavy moved. Her eyes darted towards a large cave entrance that was neatly half hidden away by the shape of the rocky hill. Ganondorf felt her eyebrow rise in interest as what looked like silver light shone from inside the cave. The source of it immediately became apparent as with several more tremors that caused the manticore to whimper, a very large bear-like creature emerged from the cave’s mouth. The creature’s fur shone as if it was a starry night, giving out a faint silver light. Correction, Ganondorf mused as she tilted her head to get a better angle upon noticing what looked like constellations upon the big bear’s fur, its fur was a depiction of a starry night! How curious! The bear was easily over twenty feet tall, with some very respectable claws and fangs. And it was sporting the very annoyed and angry glower of a heavy sleeper that had been forcefully woken up before they should’ve been. As its red eyes fell upon the whimpering manticore and the madly grinning filly, it was painfully apparent that the huge bear was pissed. And as it took a step towards them that caused the earth to quake and let out a loud and very annoyed roar that caused birds to start flying away in panic for miles, it was clear it was not above venting its annoyance upon those that had dared to disturb its sleep. Din truly was smiling upon her on this day! With a smile so large to basically occupy her whole face, Ganondorf sent Din a quick prayer in thanks. And as the star-bear roared once again, the tiny filly roared back in kind as she rushed past the terrified manticore and straight towards the beast that was larger than her family’s barn. Dodging a massive claw slash that uprooted several trees, Ganondorf crouched low for a moment before borrowing from the Kid’s book of tricks and jumping on the attacking appendage. Using the massive limb as a foothold to jump further upwards she climbed the great beast and got closer to its roaring maw. Dodging the star-bear’s second claw as it sought to squash her as if she was a fly, the wind of the blow caused her mane and the bow upon it to flutter madly every which way. Ganondorf kicked off the beast’s shoulder in order to deliver a very respectable blow right to the creature’s brow. Falling back to the ground upon her hooves, Ganondorf felt her smile grow even larger as the great beast simply took two steps back, shook its head, looked back at the beaming filly, and roared in anger. Star-bear could take a blow, awesome! Ignoring the open-mouthed manticore all but frozen at the sidelines, or the two other fillies rushing into the clearing, the yellow-coated filly charged back toward the gargantuan bear with another roar of her own. The star-bear roared in kind once more before likewise charging at the filly, the earth quaking with each of its steps. All the while, a smile never left Ganondorf’s muzzle. Her day was most definitely looking up! “Of all the harebrained, reckless, moronic stunts you could’ve pulled! Why by Nayru’s eternal wisdom did you think that fighting an Ursa Minor was an acceptable idea?!” Zelda furiously asked as the three fillies approached the ruined remains of a once mighty castle. “Ursa Minor?” the Wielder of Power couldn’t help but ask, interest more than piqued as she emphasized the last word while completely ignoring Zelda’s chastisement. For, if she knew anything about how the stuck-up scholars did things when giving their fancy names to stuff, there being an Ursa Minor most definitely meant there was also an Ursa Major somewhere! “Why do I even bother?” Zelda asked herself, resting her brow upon her hoof in exasperation at the devil may care grin Ganondorf was sporting. “Beats me! The Kid learned to just live with my antics lifetimes ago!” the yellow-coated filly truthfully replied with a shrug of her shoulders, gaining an annoyed groan from Zelda for her troubles. “So, back on topic, is there an Ursa Major then?” The star-bear had been a really fun tussle, after all! Therefore, having a friendly fight with a bigger version of it was a very appealing proposition for the yellow-coated filly! Sighing once, Zelda shook her head before restarting to walk. “Yes, there are Ursa Major,” Zelda simply replied, tone of voice resigned. “And before you ask, they just so happen to be at least five times the size of the one you attacked. But they are exceedingly rare to find, even for a star beast.” “Something to look forward to then,” Ganondorf joyfully stated, a huge smile on her muzzle. “Will have to try and track one down when I have some free time. Or perhaps I could simply wait for Teddy there to grow up. Star-bear has some spunk, so a rematch when he is bigger could be fun!” “Teddy?” Zelda asked while giving Ganondorf an odd look, causing the Wielder of Power to huff in slight annoyance. Naming had never been one of her strong points. But that didn’t give Miss Encyclopedia a reason to nitpick the name she gave her new starry sparring partner! Any further discussion about star beasts and sparring were shelved for later though, as the three fillies turned a corner on the trail and reached the Castle of the Two Sisters proper. “Huh, Sunbutt really let the place go,” Ganondorf idly commented, taking in the crumbled walls and collapsed towers. Her keen eye told her the holes and cracks had been caused by time and the elements of nature, not an attack by an enemy. It truly was a sad fate for a once mighty stronghold, to fall to the ravages of time instead of blazing brightly in a final defiant stand against a worthy opponent. “So it would seem,” Link confirmed, poking with a hoof a very unsteady-looking rickety wooden bridge that seemed to be the only way to cross the ravine separating most of the forest from the castle proper. The fact the light poke caused a rotten wooden board to crack and fall, all the while the ropes made some very unsafe sounding groaning noises wasn’t really encouraging towards the idea of using said bridge. “Yeah, nope,” Ganondorf stated with finality after another moment of inspecting the bridge and deciding she wouldn’t send a bokoblin to cross it, much less herself! “Agreed,” Zelda promptly replied, calculating the distance between their position and the far side before letting out an annoyed grunt. “And with all the wild magic in the air and my currently limited reserves, teleporting us to the other side would be an equal gamble.” “Then we take the long way,” was Link’s simple reply to their statements, already moving by the side of the ravine in search of a place to go down. After but a few moments she found what a generous soul might call a path, with several places where one could grab hold of the rocks for extra stability. Not that that discouraged the Wielder of Courage for even a moment, for as Ganondorf and Zelda had been inspecting the ‘path’, the little pegasus had already started to go down without a moment’s hesitation. Trading a look with Zelda, Ganondorf once more shrugged her shoulders and followed Link. It sure as heck beat the rickety ‘bridge’, that was certain.