CHAPTER 3: Counting Candles
((Pending Editing))
Having given the book more open space by placing it upon the bed after flattening out the covers, Twilight started to flip from one page to the next. The book opened with Zecora describing her urge to record recent changes that all started during a long trip of hers, north of the Everfree Forest, in search of some rare potion material. As Twilight read on, her heart started to slowly sink while able to picture herself at the zebra’s side.
It had been nearly a day’s walk and time since Zecora had laid eyes upon civilization as she patiently treaded throughout the forest. Eyes and nose scanning about for desired herbs. Ears open for the sound of predators. She found herself following the noises of distant voices and stirring about within the thickness of the trees. The closer she got, the more voices and stirring she picked up. Something felt off as it sounded like there was a massive hidden village she was about to stumble into.
That something also told her it was best to keep her movements slow and quiet as she slipped further in the thicket of trees and bushes. The mass of sounds suddenly died down to an eerie silence that was soon broken by a single voice that echoed loud with a proud with a commanding tone. Zecora’s ears were very sensitive on picking up sound, but she was still too far off from making the words out clearly before that section of forest erupted with what sounded to be like hundreds of gathered and cheering voices, fueled with inspiration.
That’s when the sound of buzzing filled the air.
The trees started to shake all around as if a mighty wind had pressed down upon the forest. Black clouds then erupted from the tree tops. Having followed her instincts, Zecora took cover between several bushes and turned her eyes up, able to see past the looming fauna to the cloud of changelings.
She had seen them around the Everfree before and even more often as of recent as they’d scour about for food in very small groups. Never even had an issue with them even if they tried to pose a threat to her. But there were easily over a thousand this time as they lifted off from their secluded gathering in a massive swarm that headed off towards the mountains.
Towards Canterlot. But where did they come from? She had to know before she’d attempt to pursue. Having taken a moment to wait for the last of the swarm to leave the tree tops and fade from sight, she galloping her way straight to the source. The closer she got, the more holes she noticed within the ground that turned into a series of small caves and tunnels that were weaved between dirt mounds and tree stumps.
The stripped mare had trailed in far enough that she had to keep a close eye on her footing to keep from tripping and tumbling about as the trees may have cleared up but the holes vastly grew in number. What really caught her attention though was the small cliff side with the biggest hole of them all but before her curiosity was cured, the sound of rattling chains from the large cave kept her from leaving so soon. It was there that she found the princess of the night bound in chains with a muzzle that kept her from yelling out. She was battered and bruised but all other injuries looked nothing compared to her missing horn that looked to have been cut clean off, leaving just a small stub of its base.
Before she could help the princess though, Zecora had to deal with the guards. An easy task. With four powerful bucks of her hind legs, they were all out cold. Chains and muzzle clattering to the ground, Luna turned over a thanks to her rescuer but wasted no time for explanation as she commanded the zebra to follow the best she could to Canterlot as it was in great danger. She then spread her wings and took flight from the cave entrance.
It was obvious to Zecora that even though Luna could carry her, it would slow the alicorn down who was clearly in a rush to catch or even pass the swarm if at all possible. Zecora would simply have to serve as back up. It was a good thing that she had a good sense of where she was going as sure enough, she was too slow to keep up with the flying goddess who ended up fading from sight. Having parted from the trees into a vast clearing, Zecora got a clear view of the Kingdom within the mountain tops as it was littered with black spots. Even though it was still far from her reach and she had no idea what she’d do even if she got there in time, she ran forth with all her might.
Dusk was setting in. Her lungs burned and her muscles ached but she kept going till she finally found herself near the road that would lead her safely up the mountain to the castle gates. However, a looming shadow stopped her in her tracks. Peering up into the orange tinted sky, she spotted Luna with Twilight upon her back and several pursuers behind.
“Take her!” Luna commanded before she’d skid into her landing upon the dirt road “Get her and the bag as far from here as possible!”
Though the passed out pony and her equipped brown saddle bag was tossed upon her back, Zecora tried to offer her hoof against the incoming attack but the princess raised her booming royal voice and commanded Zecora’s retreat before she’d turned to face the charging changelings with the beat of her wings sending her head on into the assault.
The zebra was too busy following orders to have watched the fight but did manage a peek over her shoulder to see Luna fly off towards the castle, leaving a trail of broken changelings behind her. As much as she wanted to try and help out at Canterlot, the princess of the night had given her an order and Twilight’s condition looked to be critical which was confirmed once they were well past the tree line. Zecora had laid the pony out upon a flat bed of grass for quick study but it wasn’t the cracked bones, blood loss, and bruises that worried her the most. It was the strange black spot upon Twilight’s left cheek.
It was a steep indent that was as black as tar and was less than an inch in diameter. Any fur that it had grown under had fallen off. It appeared to be a strange infection. One that looked to be very dangerous as it seemed to rot the skin. As much as she wanted to be delicate and take Twilight back to her home with slow and steady steps, the black spot was too much of an unfamiliar injury to chance time with. Not only that, but night was setting upon them. A time when the more dangerous creatures of the forest start lurking. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem for Zecora to deal with alone but with a wounded pony in her care chances of running into trouble increased dramatically.
Before relinquishing Twilight of its weight, Zecora peeked inside the bag to see the elements of harmony cluttered together. She could only assume that they were gathered to try and fight the swarm off but what went wrong would be an answer that she would have worry about later. Wrapping the bag around her and hoisting Twilight upon her back, she focused upon the task at hand of getting them to safety.
It wasn’t much longer after she started her journey that Zecora found herself passing under a small clearing but yet again, she was forced to a stop.
What sounded to be a muffled explosion came from all around. Eyes turned to the reddened dusk sky and watched as it was distorted. Rippled like calm waters disturbed by plunking pebbles from where the sun had perched behind the mountain tops. The distortion waves washed over the sky and soothed out as the lengthy muffled sounds of rumbling faded. It was as if the very planet had trembled before the mountain tops fully swallowed sight of the mighty sphere. More worried than ever, Zecora was well determined to bring her friend back to a clean slate of health.
She galloped off into the night, watching from each passing clearing as the full moon raised high into the star littered sky but not a single break was taken even when Twilight was finally resting within the security of Zecora’s bed with the brown bag stuffed beneath it. There was much work to be done as her suspicions were confirmed once again. The black spot was an infection that was spreading. The first and only thing she could do at the time was give Twilight several off hand potions and healing ointments with hopes that it would slow down, or by some small chance, fully stop the infection. She would have to wait till daylight to find the more powerful herbs needed to help remedy the situation and till then, would let her own eyes rest.
But morning never came.
Her fire pit and candles had burned out several times, yet the moon stayed high and the sky showed no signs of lighting up from the sun trying to peek it’s way around. It was bad news that even overshadowed the good of Twilight’s Infection slowing down to a crawl but no sign of stopping. Zecora was left with no choice but to traverse the forest under the deadly cover of the long lasting night with the difficult task of herb hunting.
Time was counted by the burning candles as the witchdoctor concocted one potion after another but the persistent infection had further spread as days passed. More and more Twilight’s skin withered and blackened which made it apparent that she was being turned into something Zecora once thought impossible. A changeling.
It was a popular myth with horror books and campfire stories that ponies would be turned into emotionless and drone minded changelings once bitten by one, but in this case the infection didn’t start at any one of the bite marks that littered the pony’s body. So part of the myth was still up in the air. It was later theorized that Twilight wasn’t waking due to mental trauma that resonated from a mixture between the physical abuse she suffered during the fight and the infection that was likely taking its toll on her mind. Zecora still held high hopes that she’d be able to take care of both causes.
Time had later come to check on Ponyville and search the shops for imported ingredients that could possibly help her sick friend though Zecora did have the worst of expectations for the village. However upon arrival she found out that even though the small town had herds of changelings pouring through the streets, it was still well populated with pony kind as they lived amongst one another. But by no means peacefully as the ponies have been turned into second class citizens.
The decrepit creatures held and abused the control they were given over the town as they scared, taunted, and even roughed up any ponies for just about any given reason. If any pony ever stirred up trouble against any changeling, they were likely to be dragged off screaming into the night as they were taken to a feeding chamber. Most ponies returned from it battered and emotionally weakened while the rest didn’t return at all.
Despite the terrible looming creatures and the dropping temperature, the town stayed hard at work and had no choice to as no pony was allowed to leave. No matter who was in charge, a standard of living had to be maintained even if it meant bowing to the whim of changelings like slaves from time to time.
Under the cover of the chilling night and her favorite cloak, Zecora found it easy to slip by the patrolling changelings as she pleased to search from one store to another. During her many visits she took some time every once in a while to check upon Twilight’s friends but Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity, nor Pinkie Pie answered their doors. Rainbow Dash’s house couldn’t be reached but Zecora was just as sure that door would go unanswered as the sky was always crowded with clouds.
Of all the doors she tried, only one was answered. Applejack’s.
Sweet Apple Acers was heavily watched by the swarm, but it didn’t stop the hooded Zecora from being welcomed into the Apple family’s house hold for a while. It was there that Zecora got a decent ear full of answers to some questions that had been plaguing her mind.
Queen Chrysalis had taken the Canterlot throne, but to make things worse, the changelings had learned to feed on emotions like fear and sadness rather than just love, causing them to thrive so well without having to imprison every pony in sight. From there they have been spreading all over Equestria, taking over just about every town. By force if need be.
As for Twilight’s other friends, Applejack only knew so much. She clear up the fact that before the battle in Canterlot, Twilight came up with the idea to split up and get a faster search going around Equestria for clues to where Luna went off to. She returned just moments after the sky had been shaken by the strange distortion from the sunset only to witness the town having already overwhelmed with changelings and her friends nowhere in sight till she was tossed into a dungeon cell. They were all imprisoned for a while with their only real high hope being that Twilight go out safely. It wasn’t too long before they were all pulled from their cell and lined up in front of Queen Chrysalis in the throne room to be sentenced to a fitting punishment.
First to be dragged away by changelings wearing the armor of Celestia’s guards was Pinkie Pie whom Chrysalis held an odd smile towards, but was still banished the pink pony from ever showing her face in any town and death to her if she ever did. Next was Applejack who was… persuaded… to beg for forgiveness in order to save not only herself, but her family from being sentenced to life in a feeding chamber. After watching AJ grit her teeth and bow her head several times, the Queen claimed to be in a good mood and accepted her apology before commanding another group of guards to escort AJ out of the throne room and back to Ponyville.
What happened to the rest remained a mystery as none of them returned to Ponyville after Applejack. The Apple family even ended up taking in their pets that were left home alone and even Sweetie Belle who had nowhere to go as Rarity’s house remained while her parents were out of town. As for Spike, he had been sending letters on a constant basis, trying to find out all that happened before the changelings took him away.
The family was in brighter spirits once told that Twilight was still alive and the elements of harmony were safe but when asked why the sun wasn’t coming up back up, everypony went quiet and simply exchanged worried gazes. Applejack shrugged and answered for them all, stating that everypony’s still trying to figure that out. To further ease their minds, Zecora offered them the chance to check upon Twilight, but AJ was quick to shoot the idea down. Understandably she didn’t want any chance taken in doing something that could hurt the family, but did insist that Zecora kept them informed if anything changed.
Another week had passed as Zecora drifted continuously drifted between her house and Ponyville as she stocked up on plenty of supplies. More food, more ingredients, and more blankets for the ever colder growing nights. But a mistake was made as Zecora bumped paths with a group of changelings who spotted her out beneath her hood as a wanted mare who was last spotted with Twilight after crossing paths with Luna. She managed to buck them off and evaded the following backup as she retreated into the forest. Ever since then she had made her trips into town or even outside her house rare and few as patrols picked up in number.
Zecora took the extra precaution of creating a concoction of what she labeled as a potion to hide emotion. It went along well with her basic chameleon lotion that only worked on still objects. The potions emptied in full circle around the outer walls of the tree house together prevent their hideout from being spotted so easily while being able to last just about a candles length.
More time passed. Twilight’s infection grew. Half her head was turned to a slick black shade. Her contaminated eye pulsed with strange dark purple glow. Her mane stayed intact but oiled up and darkened in color.
She kept record of every attempt along the way, mixing crazier ingredients as time went, but all they did was delay what seemed to be inevitable. Fearing the worst, Zecora became more desperate. She had no choice but to turn towards the idea of stalking changelings and observing everything about them. It was risky and was going to take time but it was the only lead she left in figuring out how to reverse Twilight’s condition.
Weeks passed and the night had turned to freezing cold, reaching harsh temperatures that chilled ponies to the bone if they didn’t dress warmly. The changelings on the other hand, seemed lesser effected by the declining climate. The cold was an obstacle that the witchdoctor was prepared for as she roamed the forest. She decided to stalk around the hole filled grounds she stumbled upon before the Canterlot attack that she assumed it to be a hive with tunnels that went down and very deep. Now that they had claimed the kingdom of Canterlot, it seemed they had little used for it.
However, it wasn’t completely abandoned. Several changelings still stirred around for her to study but only after an hour in did she and them turn a surprised expression to the sky. The once full moon that never budged from the sky was started spinning between its light and dark sides. It even freely shifted about and bounced around the sky without a care on several occasions. Needless to say, that period of study was well disrupted.
Time passed and things got stranger.
Clouds were painted with various colors. Rain tasted from grapes to dirt. Various sections of the forest were made entirely of bubble wrap. The wind carried different aromas from delightfully tasty to painfully disgusting. As silly as it all seemed, the sounds of war tended to grow uncomfortably close to the Everfree Forest.
Explosions, fires, swarms of changeling armies, and maniacal laughter went far and wide. Even Zecora who had little experience with the god of chaos knew Discord had been set free by the poor state of Equestria and a war with Chrysalis had been sparked. Though from a distance, it sounded more like he was having fun than trying to beat her.
It became apparent that he claimed Ponyville for a while as it was surrounded by a force field. As usual with Discord, it was a rather odd one that smelled of like garlic, salt water, lavender, and a few other things. Tasted like it all too. Not only did the swarms of changelings not attacked the shield, they kept their distance and constantly looked upon it with disgust. It made Zecora quite curious.
Was the strange protection field just another collaboration of random? Or was Discord onto something that Zecora could use? She had to find out and rushed to do so. After mixing everything she tasted and smelled from Discord’s protection spell into a bottle, Zecora rubbed it all over Twilight’s infected areas and even had her drink some of the tonic just in case.
Time quickly faded. The infection slowly dissipated. Zecora held a smile with a kind of hope filled warmth that she hadn’t felt in a long time as she watched Twilight’s skin and fur coat slowly being restored after coming rather close to being fully engulfed by the curse. However, despite that her wounds had already been dealt with, she knew that it was going to take a long time for the cleansing to fully wipe out the infection. Till then, she’d wait and attend to the unconscious ponies needs.
Half of the infection gone, Zecora had to make another food run. To her surprise, nothing was out of the ordinary. No foul winds, dancing fish, strange colored clouds, or shield covering Ponyville. Discord seemed to have vanished as the small town was once again flooded by changelings and everything seemed just as it was with the exception of a strange blue star in the sky. It was rather large and glowed brighter than any other.
The infection continued to fade. The blue star in the sky grew in size. Its spherical shape became massive and easy to see as it started to provide a very small amount of light but more importantly heat. Not a lot, but just enough to keep Equestria from being turned into a frozen wasteland.
From there on nothing else of true importance was recorded. Mostly just small notes on Twilight’s recovery and the effects of the stabilizing temperature. The rest of the pages were blank. Taking a look at the last recorded date, Twilight slowly closed the book before letting her chin rest upon the cover.
“Three months…” She spoke softly, her voice almost completely void of emotion “It’s been… more than three months.”
As her mind churned about on all she just learned, her emotional shock started to fade. Her throat started to ache and her eyes started to swell as she gazed out the bedside window. There it was. Just peeking through the tree tops.
The blue star had grown to the size of a small sun.