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// 16 - Lights Out 
// Story: Turn of Luck 
// by David Silver 
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Maya walked down the path, taking in the sights and sounds of the forest thickening all around her. The dense foliage left her wondering where she was going as she moved ever further from the heart of town. "I hope I'm going the right way. I'm not lost. I'm not lost."

The mantra helped ease her thoughts as she pushed further into the Everfree. "My steps are screams. I hope I'm not bothering things by being here." She glanced nervously up at the canopy. "I don't know. I don't know anything about any of this. I just know I have to try."

A crackling branch forced her to start walking again, her ears swiveled to pick up every little sound. "If you're hungry, I taste awful!" She quaked, but smiled, feeling a bit silly at that warding call. "I mean it!"

A little chuckle sounded in response, the voice familiar. "I bet you do. Are you sure about that?"

"I am sure." She peeked about, but saw nothing. "Are you the deer creature?"

"Perhaps. But today is not our day." Maya could hear the sounds of them moving about her. "You are due to meet another that requires you even more than I do. Be gentle with her."

The sounds of hooves retreated, and Maya was alone. "Okay?" She moved a few more feet into the forest before she stopped and called out again. "Hello?" Nothing responded. "Alright." She kicked at a small pebble. "Keep your secrets."

"Secrets are easy to keep." A mare stepped out with stripes across her form. "But what draws you to forest deep?"

Maya stared at the new pony curiously a moment before it clicked. "You're a zebra."

"Zecora is my name." The zebra smiled gently. "Of you, I would ask the same."

Maya bowed. "I'm Maya, a new resident of Ponyville." She straightened with a perking brow. "Why do you talk like that? You're rhyming."

Zecora chuckled with a faint shrug. "I only wish to rhyme. Rhyming is great fun. And the better rhymes you find, the greater your pleasure soon becomes." She nodded. "But why do you come here today? This forest is no kind play for prey."

Maya pinned her ears back. "You're one of those too. I came here because of this." She stepped from hoof to hoof, each glowing soft green hues. "I was told the forest can hear it, however much a forest can hear anything."

"I have heard whispers of such a tale." Zecora inclined her head. "But tell me what they did say. That will help me tell you what I may."

Maya flicked an ear. "I met a deer." She frowned, thinking of the odd creature. "But I don't want to be rude. It's nice to meet you. I'm Maya, and I talk to ponies to help them."

Zecora grinned wide. "And here I stand, beyond your scope. I am hardly the creature you wanted to help cope." She stepped in closer to Maya. "Let us go someplace near." She pointed the way into the forest. "Where I can give the all clear." She led the way with sways of her tail. "You strike me as a curious pony. Our meeting I did not foresee."

Maya followed the zebra through the trees, stepping with care as her hooves sunk into the soil. "I'm sorry I'm not what you were expecting."

"Few things ever are, I do suspect." Zecora turned to look back. "I am pleased you are here, that is why I checked."

Maya bobbed her head as they came into a bright clearing. There was a bubbling cauldron in front of a hut, with a big statue of a face nearby. "Your home?"

"Indeed, I enjoy the wilds. It has all I would ask to provide." She gestured at a tree stump. "Please, do have a seat. I will brew some refreshments for tired feet."

Maya hopped up onto the offered stump. "It's a pleasure. So, you're not a pony?" Zecora shook her head. "But a zebra?" Zecora nodded. "Do you know anything about these?" She held up her forehooves, glowing their soft green shades.

Zecora considered the hooves with a smile. "They look the same to me. I am a bit behind the times, you see." She chuckled and returned to her cauldron. "I once know a dear elder. It's been some time since I last beheld her. Her hooves glowed in much the same way. Whether it was night or the middle of the day."

Maya blinked, thinking back. "How old is that elder?"

"Older than me by several springs, I can assure you." Zecora tossed in a few bits of something from a box near her hooves. "But we are here to discuss your verdant hue. Your friend was not mistaken. Just you being here causes the forest to awaken." She stirred the pot and its contents gently. "The animals stir and move about. The plants are all in a tout."

Maya nodded slowly. "So the forest is reacting to my magic? Does that happen a lot? Or only here?"

"The here is not very special." She dipped a cup into the fluid and served it towards Maya. "It is the why with which we wrestle."

Maya took a gentle sip, only to perk and take a more eager drink. "Mmm, delightful. So, any clues what I should be doing? I want to help, if I can."

Zecora considered that, tapping her hoof on the ground. "You have a gift, this I cannot deny. There are many who wouldn't even try. I am emboldened at your bravery. Perhaps with your glow you can turn back old slavery."

"Old slavery?" Maya cocked her head. "This forest was enslaved? By whom? By what?"

Zecora patted Maya gently on he shoulder. "Have you not heard of him? I imagine not, going on a limb. Master of chaos, he left many marks. Cursing this forest is but one of Discord's arcs. He forgot it all long ago. And the answer comes, her hooves aglow."

Maya squinted, pointing a hoof at herself. "I'm the answer?" She snorted. "What can I possibly do about a demon of chaos that doesn't even know he did something?"

Zecora smiled, baring her teeth in the process. "Not all demons are creatures of night. But many can be turned away by light." She nodded towards Maya's hooves. "Place your hooves in the right place and sing a soft song. It will take effort, but I think you can be strong."

"A song, huh?" Maya finished her tea. "Well, I've heard that's good for a lot of things." She smiled brightly at Zecora. "Can I visit again sometime?"

"Whenever you do wish. But I thought today a curse you'd squish." She inclined her head into the forest. "A walk, side by side, we will do what we must. But only if in me you do trust."

"I trust you." Maya hopped free of her seat. "But do you trust me? We haven't known each other that long."

Zecora smiled as she gestured along the trail. "In my hut, I would not go. If I did not trust you, the least I would do would be to know." She secured things for the trip and blew out the fire. "Come." A single word, perhaps enough to dodge her rhyming need, she began a walk deeper into the forest. "And bring your green thumb."

Maya trotted alongside Zecora as the two wandered into the depths of the everfree. "There are things I don't understand, but I want to. Maybe I'll find a few answers here, with your help." She smiled wide. "Thank you for taking me along."

"I will not lead you astray." Zecora hopped up onto a log to walk along it gingerly. "At least, not this day. Our wishes are as one. But you have what will help a small ton." She leaped to the next, eyes focused forward. "Your magic, so strong. Your soul, so kind. And, at long last, a goal in mind."

Maya climbed up, following as best she could. "You don't talk like anypony I've heard." She chuckled a bit at her own joke. "No offense. I'm sure that's deliberate, right?"

Zecora didn't answer that, hopping down the other side and pushing through the bushes. Things cleared before them, revealing a massive ravine cut into the stone, the sky visible above them in the small break in the forest. Down at the bottom, water lapped and spilled into the cave entrance.

Maya gazed down into the ravine, marveling at the sight of it. "How does something like this even happen?" She trotted over to the edge of the cliffside, leaning to look. "Looks like I'd hurt myself falling into that."

"I recommend you do not." Zecora started down some stairs cut into the stone. "To get down without wings or these stairs, a long shot. Your talent, its place comes soon. Perhaps you can show this forest a boon."

Maya carefully made her way down the stairs, the steep grade causing her to stumble a bit. "Whoa! Easy." She slid to a stop at the bottom and shook herself off. "That was a bit hairy." She burst into snickers. "Wait, no I'm a bit hairy." She shook out her fur with a smile. "You know what I mean."

Zecora looked back and snorted. "Do not confuse, but I believe you mean 'hair-raising'." She walked over to the rocks lining the cliff face, examining them as she walked. "With your hooves, we will be trail blazing." She led the way to a cave. "In here, a tree of great import. It is time for an ancient curse to thwart."

Maya followed the striped mare inside, turning her ears to catch every sound. "Why here? What makes this tree so special?" She perked her ears, catching sounds in the distance. There, ahead of them, a grand tree grew without any sun. The massive trunk split off, branches reaching like fingers, and roots tangled in knots. "Is that it? What makes this so special?"

Zecora pointed to a bare patch of dirt, remaining still until Maya stood on it. She tapped at each of Maya's hooves and nodded, as if the meaning were obvious.

Maya looked down at her hooves and up at Zecora. "Alright? I don't know the song though."

Zecora reached a hoof for Maya's chest. "The song, it rests right here. Channel your glow and it will all become clear."

Maya looked up into the treetop, staring at the shadows as she took a breath. "Right. No pressure, right? Okay, it's fine." She let her eyes close, ears focusing on the gentle caress of the wind against her fur. She planted her hooves in as firm a stance as she could manage, focusing on letting that green power inside her come out, to flow into the ground.

At first it felt like a distant but warm trickle, flowing through her veins and seeping into the soil beneath her. As she continued to focus on the feeling of that energy, it intensified, spreading across her body. The sound of the breeze filled her ears, drowning out all else. She didn't even notice when the song came to her, and her voice raised to echo that breeze, to sing of the wonders of healing and regrowth.

Zecora clapped quietly along with the beat whenever her body wasn't taken along. The heartsong was impossible to turn away, the power surging through them both as they called out and danced in place. The tree above them glimmered as the roots pulled themselves free from their restraints, leaves and branches bursting into color as life returned to the mighty oak.

Maya didn't realize her dance had brought her and Zecora to a hoof hold, their bodies pressing against each other as the shared in the wonderous melody. She only realized in that instant that she had moved, finding herself hoof to hoof with the kind stranger. She blushed, but her eyes were wandering upwards at the magnificent sight.

Zecora stared as well, watching the tree become a beacon in the gloomy cave. "You are a masterful dancer. I know a great deal many. Few know how to match me." She drew her hooves back from Maya, sliding to her hooves. "Today we have done a great deed. Your magic did this tree feed."

Maya looked at her hooves, shaking a little. "I don't think I could've done it alone." She took a step back, feeling the strange power of the place fading. "But, hm, I'm happy, that we did it, together."