//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Partings 
// Story: Zodiac Brave Story 
// by Blankscape 
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Begin Chapter 7: Partings


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‘Watch out for snakes…..hmm,’ Fluttershy wondered as she stood at the end of the caboose, looking at the now distant Ponyville partially obscured by the smoke trailing from the engine. That strange warning she received at the last minute from her party pony friend left her uncertain of what lay ahead. It had befuddled her so.

‘I wonder what it really means,’ she thought to herself in her motions to return to her cabin. 

Back then, the muffled sound of the steel running on steel echoing past her only seemed to further the vagueness of the warning, urging her to take off for the end of the train as fast as she could in the hope of getting even a vague answer from Pinkie Pie if any at all. Unfortunately for her, the train had already covered a sizable distance by the time she got there, and it was obvious Pinkie couldn’t possibly catch up to the train on hoof in her exhausted state, even if she wanted to. And so the meek pegasus resigned herself to deciphering the meaning of this ambiguous message alone. She sat in silence and looked to her suitcase beside her, hoping the hyperactive party pony would undo its hinges from within and burst forth with a flurry of an explanation. Though that hope was largely unfounded, it didn’t stop her from considering her own speculations.

‘Fluttershy, there are snakes on that train and all of them are poisonous! It’s not safe there!’ the meek mare assumed the complete message might have been had the party pony been able to catch up to the train in thought.

‘It’s alright Pinkie, I’m sure I can handle a few snakes. It is part of my special talent after all,’ she thought in reply while entertaining the assumption.

‘But what if they bite you? Those nasty scaly things could coil down and spring up at you when you least expect it!’ the imagination Pinkie Pie exclaimed as her own tail wound up and propelled her from one side of the carriage to the other and back again. She tirelessly kept up with the locomotive with her friend’s eyes following her bouncing spectral form. ‘I hear their bites are even more painful than the shots they give at Ponyville General!’ 

‘All the more reason I’m needed here. Snakes only defend themselves when they’re cornered,’ the meek mare countered in her love for animals. ‘Oh, the poor dears, they’re not supposed to be kept in crowded crates. After all, it gets them nervous, and they could hurt themselves if they try to bite through the wood. Their fangs could break and, oh my, they wouldn’t be able to hunt anymore! Even if they reach somewhere safe, without their precious fang-’ Fluttershy worriedly thought to herself as she started to believe her own assumption only to be interrupted by an outside voice.

“Um... Excuse me miss, but may I see your ticket?” the bespectacled conductor in uniform repeated himself as his first and second attempts to get the meek mare’s attention had fallen on distractedly deaf ears. 

“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean to ignore you. I must’ve dozed off,” she shyly whispered to the stallion in a hushed tone.

“What was that? Can’t hear you if you don’t talk loud enough there, missy,” he bluntly replied. 

“O-oh, I’m sorry sir. Let me check on my ticket for a second,” the pegasus shyly excused herself again at an audible volume as she reached a hoof to the cart holding her things. The second she unlatched the suitcase, however, all her belongings sprung out at once since they had been tightly packed. She didn’t see the ticket flutter down to the cabin floor as she struggled to make sense of the unfamiliar order with which Twilight and Rarity arranged her belongings, thinking with great worry that it may have been misplaced in the mishap or even lost. The middle-aged conductor on the other hoof noticed this and took a hold of the ticket with his magic, a rustic gold in color.

“Is this your ticket, miss?” the pale azure stallion asked, holding it up for her to see.

“O-oh, I’m sorry. How clumsy of me. It must’ve fallen down while I was looking through my things,” confirmed the flustered mare in sheepish embarrassment. 

“Nothing to be ashamed of here, little missy; it happens to everyone, so it’s not like anyone is going to think ill of you,” the conductor replied, noting that they were the only two in the carriage. He turned around to continue his business, but seeing a worried look on the mare’s face compelled him to stop and question on.

“But it looks like that isn’t the only thing troubling you. There aren’t many passengers for me to attend to this morning, so I’ve a bit of time to squander. Would you like to talk about it? I can be pretty darn good with advice considering the number of greenhorns I’ve met in my time,” he frankly stated. The mare in question simply nodded, surprised and at the same time relieved that she would be allowed to voice out these insecurities.

“I-i-it’s just,” she started once again in a whisper too low for the middle-aged stallion to hear.

“Speak up, little miss. No one else is in this carriage, so your secret’s safe with me,” the conductor assured.

“Umm…t-this is the first time I’m going somewhere completely unknown to me in a long time,” the meek pony stutteringly began. 

“It’s kind of similar to when I first moved to Ponyville, but also different because a friend of mine already had settled in and helped me with the move,” she further explained, losing the nervous stutters. “So how do I not feel scared about going somewhere all by myself. How can I be brave?” 

The conductor grinned nostalgically at the question as if he’d heard the exact same one before. “In my entire life, I can’t remember exactly how many times I’ve been asked that. All I can do is tell you the exact same thing I told everyone before you,” said the pale azure stallion with a seasoned look about him. He combed his greying ebon mane with a hoof as he then imparted ageless words of wisdom to the young pegasus. 

“The concept of courage and bravery is neither about leaving your fears behind nor racing into the fray all willy-nilly,” the conductor started in a voice that was both prudent and worldly, garnering the mare’s close and undivided attention as he continued.

“It’s about accepting all your flaws and inhibitions as a part of you, but do not let them hinder you in doing what needs to be done. Face every challenge knowing that your imperfections drive you to succeed. Do you understand?” he asked to which the meek pony nodded.

“Honestly, I thought you’d know all this after that fiasco with Princess Celestia’s pet phoenix AND so many friendship reports from your librarian friend,” he strictly lectured, his lecture’s recipient looking sheepishly repentant. 

“Now then, I’ve other passengers to attend to. Have a good trip, little miss,” the conductor bade.

“Thank you for the advice, kind sir,” the meek mare replied with sincerity to the stallion as he went to leave, eying him with gratitude in her heart for the time he took to lend an ear her plight. He stopped by the door in the direction of the caboose, though. He turned his head back to tell her something else.

“Though I’m not sure how things are in this region of the world, I’m quite certain it is still inappropriate to leave your belongings unkempt and out in the open, even if you are the only passenger in the carriage…hmm?” he mentioned with a jovial smirk, staring at the mare and the mess behind her through warm amber eyes.

“Eeep!” 

Fluttershy let out a nervous squeal when she turned to realize that she had completely forgotten about her things. The unorganized pile of cloths, hats, scarves, and accessories as well as other toiletries Rarity thought to pack for her had been laid around her stroller cart in a clutter, and this made the meek mare flush with even more embarrassment. She was about to turn around and apologize to the conductor for the slight misconduct, but he was already gone; the pegasus didn’t even hear the sound of the door opening and closing when he left.

A half hour later, she was finding difficult to fit everything inside the suitcase , and it puzzled her greatly how the fashionista packed all those things so tightly and neatly before in such a short time. As Fluttershy tended to her belongings, she thought about that kind, middle-aged stallion and what he had told her.

‘Accept my fears and insecurities,’ the pegasus pondered as she finished securing her things in the suitcase. 

‘And he refers to others as ‘one’ instead of ’pony’. Strange enough, but it was still considerate of him to hear me out. I do hope we meet again som-’

But as she was about to finish that thought, the meek mare stopped herself when she realized even something stranger.

‘How did he know about Twilight writing friendship reports and that incident with Philomena? Now that I think about it, wasn’t he using magick witho-’

Just as she began to ponder further on the peculiar idea, her thoughts were interrupted once again, this time, by the door from the direction of the engine room, which opened to let an elderly unicorn into the cabin. 

“Good morning, young miss. May I see your ticket?” the wrinkled stallion greeted as he tried to focus in past the thick lens of his glasses with wizened eyes.

“U-um…..I’m sorry but…somepony…else took it already,” she nervously explained.

“Are you sure? I’m supposed to be the only one doing rounds this morning on account of there’s only a hoofful of you taking the train this early,” the elderly unicorn countered with a slight rasp and cackle, hinting to his age.

“What!? B-but he was in uniform and I-”

“Don’t you worry, little missy,” he eagerly interrupted. “I didn’t see anypony else like me in the carriages before this one, so the perp’s probably hiding in the last three. The boys and I will find him.”

“Finally, some action!” he whispered to himself as he made for front of the train. 

When he left, Fluttershy felt more confused than frustrated about the mysterious pony whom she just found out had pilfered her ticket. No matter how far and few between his kind was, how credible were his words of advice now that he was revealed to be a thief and a fraud? She would not get her answer unless the train staff could catch him.






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The light of the full moon shone through the cloudless, starry Sunday eve onto the sleepy subdivision of Palm Brinks as all of the home owners who made residence therein peacefully slept through the night. Each of them would have some matter of normalcy to busy themselves in the following normal morning; children would get up early to attend class at a normal school, and their guardians would have their normal job or some other business to deal with throughout the normal day. Everything about the five acre suburb exuded an atmosphere of normal, and nothing was out of place….all except for the Chandler household. 

As the pale moon rose ever higher to its peak in the night sky, an ebon vortex of arcane energies that blended into the black canvas of the evening gathered and whirled silently overhead, its purpose privy only to its caster. Inside the house on the second floor was Parnella, who had been lying in bed wide awake for a while with a hand on the snooze button of her beside alarm clock that she set to go off at nine forty-five. She had been trying to recall that blissful feeling she felt during the last moments of that ever-recurring reverie. 

Tears fell down her cheeks in relief that these painful yet precious memories had not been taken yet as part of her payment for continued and tolerated existence in this realm, and what relieved her most was that she could still remember her mother’s name as well as her face. She was the only person to ever show her kindness in that desolate time of her life, and merely entertaining the thought that it could be taken away without a moment’s notice was enough to make her shudder with anxiety.

The former scholar rose from bed and stepped off to the balcony with her emerald eyes gazing out at the open evening air, eyes that concealed decades of determination and longing.  Never had their owner made so wistful a gaze into the midsummer night before, as the final steps of a protractedly long journey drew in closer. Parnella leaned on the railings and sighed in contemplation as she continued to stare forlornly to the warm houses and neatly paved roads, thinking back to the once verdant groves and the tranquil stream that they had been built to replace. 

“A hundred years……has it really been that long?” she said to herself nostalgically, much to the contrary of the youth her countenance and figure had shown. She owed this to the fact her life thread originated from the other plane which allowed her to live independent of this world’s flow of time.

Quiet stillness dominated the atmosphere of her home, cut only by the rustling of the leaves in the nearby trees jostled by the magickal spiral above and ever present ticking of a wall clock which indicated that it was now ten o’ seven in the evening. After the short breath of fresh air, Parnella headed for the kitchen to prepare a simple, late dinner, one which she assumed would be hers and her companion's last in this world. Past the heat of the stove and sizzling of oil, the faint sound of footsteps churned the silent hallways and rooms of the house, telling her that said companion had awoken to the affable aroma of cooked food and that she would be joining her shortly for the meal.

“So, any pleasant dreams tonight?” Parnella asked the little one as she entered the kitchen.

“Just the usual ones,” the sleepy youngster replied, “except the bullies were there, and they were making fun of me. Then big sister Shemzy showed up and turned them into rickety, old trees, and we chopped them into firewood!” she managed past a yawn with a satisfied grin following.

“Then, I’m sure Shemzy will be happy to see you again once we get back, Zalmina,” she uneasily chuckled as she reminisced of the childhood taken from her which she was now able to provide to the child who was inadvertently thrust into her life.

“Mom, I told to use my nickname!” the annoyed lass protested past another yawn.

“But isn’t that half the reason they pick on you at school?” the elder countered.

“I told you: Zach’s way cooler than Zalmina. I don’t want be called by a name that sounds like a prissy princess!” the perturbed child argued as she washed her hands. “Anyway, we won’t be coming back, will we?”

“No we won’t, it’s a one way trip… Now, let’s finish up dinner before we go, okay Zach?” she politely requested of her charge after the affirmation of their itinerary. She then lay three pieces of French toast, some bacon, a bowl of fries and pitcher of apple juice on the table, to which Zach eagerly dug in.

The little girl let out a satisfied burp when she finished, and joined her mother in washing the dishes, humming a catchy tune together as they went about the chore. The melodies of their wordless carol echoed throughout the completely empty house, furniture and other such possessions the pair wouldn’t or couldn’t bring along with them having been sold off.

After freshening up and gathering the belongings they chose bring with them, they then made their way down to the basement. It was lit by numerous, dimly glowing, green crystals seemingly strewn about in a pattern of two arcing lines that intersected at two points.  Zach clasped one hand in the other as if praying, and her body went aglow for a moment to which the crystals responded, beaming with greater intensity. There lay on the floor and walls of the illuminated room numerous patterns and circles of ritualistic nature all over drawn in chalk. Some were smeared and written over, while others had large red X’s and notes to the side as reminder of past mistakes.  Quite a strange and foreboding sight one would find in an age of modernity and science.

“Are you sure you want to leave now? We could stay a bit longer and wait for those new cartoons you like so much,” the elder sarcastically suggested at the last minute.

“I wanted to before…..but I could always make my own when we get home,” the little girl replied in ambitious honesty, eyes looking to the future. 

“I’ll write some real good stories that’ll make people smile.” 

The poignant statement took Parnella by surprise and had reminded her of how much this little girl, in her playful insight and defiant knack for magick in a world devoid and intolerant of any, greatly resembled the one who came before her, as well as herself to a lesser degree. A somber expression took hold of her as she thought of what might happen to Zach’s current state should they succeed in this final attempt to open a rift to home. What would happen once they returned to their world? Would she be assimilated into her former and more dominant self or simply fade away? Parnella had no idea how it would affect her once they would cross over. She could only put her faith in the deity who had guided her by hand for this entire trial. 






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Four hours had past and still no sign of the thief. By then, the meek mare had practically resigned herself to being kicked off the train. But the staff ponies were reasonable enough to check the ticket count that morning and had confirmed that Fluttershy paid for hers since it was the only one they weren’t able to account for. Right now, she was heading back to her carriage from the engine room after thanking the staff for their hospitality by treating them to lunch with some of the muffins Pinkie Pie packed for her last night. As the meek mare made her way back though, the train seemed to slow down in its pace, and by the time she returned, the train had come to a complete stop well past Ghastly Gorge, just a ways off from the fork to either Appleloosa or Dodge Junction. Shortly after, an announcement was made on the P.A. system that they had run out of coal, and the staff would be out for a while to gather some firewood.

After the announcement, she thought that now might be a good time to take lunch herself, reaching a hoof to the picnic basket in her cart. However, the lack of muffins therein replaced by a smooth and scaly texture took her by surprise. After flinching back from the sensation, she slowly lifted the lid and found a greyish-green snake in place of her food.

“Why, hello there, little one. Are you hungry?” Fluttershy greeted the reptile with doting eyes as she lifted it out with a hoof to get a better look. It seemed friendly enough when it yawned and started to coil around her foreleg, not showing any hostility.

“Silly snake, you could have just asked for som-” 

She didn’t finish that sentence, shocked from discovering a good portion of the long animal had been cut off, the severed end still bleeding. Before she could even ask herself how and why something so horrible would happen to such a darling snake, it nipped her at the wing without her noticing and sprung out through the open window behind her.  

“Wait, come back! I need to treat your wounds!” she called out to it, paying no mind to the moment’s discomfort in her anxious worrying. It hastily slithered its way into the woods, completely unlike a snake or any animal with a mortal injury for that matter.

‘This must be what Pinkie was trying to tell me. I have to go save that poor snake’s life!’ Fluttershy decidedly thought in her leap after the scaly runaway. So fervent was her desire to rescue and nurse the reptile back to health that she even didn’t think of the consequences of leaving her things on the train, nor did she realize the canopy of the Everfree Forest looming over her as she disappeared into its blackened woodland.






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“Then let’s begin,” announced Parnella as she tightly held the little girl’s hand. 

Energies from the surrounding crystals channeled into Zach then transferred over to the former scholar as the resounding thrum from the chunks of emerald stone filled the room. The entire building subtly shook at its foundation as the arcane cloud outside funneled into the house through the open windows and down to the basement. Then the cloud mass twisted and condensed into a fine point that floated before the pair who attempted to break natural law. The air began to stifle and thicken as the singularity stretched into a pure white halo that radiated around a tiny rift in space that was slowly but surely opening. Beads of sweat formed on her brows, running down her face as she felt a massive amount of mana surge into her from her companion, reciting the necessary incantations with deep mental focus. Then her teal eyes shot out bright amber as she spoke the final words of the spell, demanding the rift to open.

“Alta Oron Sondus Kameela!”

The white halo rimming the tiny portal responded and extended the rift into a gateway, whose light briefly blinded the pair as it turned a royal gold in hue. Parnella took an exhausted step forward to examine her work as she smiled in satisfied accomplishment of the spell she was finally able to perform without fail. She then looked back to the little girl with hope brimming in her eyes that watered at the thought of seeing her mother again.

“We finally did it, Zach! Now after so many failures, we can-” 

Her eyes shot out wide open when the sensation of pain radiated throughout her body. Something tainted and malicious reached out from the now abysmal portal. It lashed out at her and pierced her abdomen wholly, the monstrosity of a limb writhing and slithering through her as it did. Its terrifying body had one disfigured crimson head, the remaining muscles on its grim face contorted in an eternally locked expression of pure wrath as it barely hung out of an opening that had been lined with countless rows of large, backward facing, serrated teeth. The skeletal maw that held the dagger-sized fangs quivered, twitched, and salivated in delight when the abomination let out a despicable snicker that sent chills down Zach’s spine, leaving the little girl utterly dumbfounded, frightened and immobilized.

"Ello there, poppet. Fancy chancing this final meeting with ya, one I’ve been waiting for ages!” the monster spoke in a familiar yet infernal gurgle of a voice.

“It’s you!” Parnella painfully and alarmingly exclaimed as blood leaked from her body in ounces, bathing the floor in its deep crimson hue, “But…how di-”

“Never gave a care to think about it. No point in starting now, so long as ya get what’s been coming to ya!” the fiend wickedly interrupted.

At its word, a foul and vile black liquid began oozing out of its skin that corroded anything it touched, including the victim that struggled in its deathly grasp. The former scholar let out a scream in agony as she felt her internal organs beginning to liquefy into a haphazard mesh of rotten flesh, to which the cretin took pleasure in as he tormented his prey. The snickers had now evolved into outright maniacal laughter. 

Yet, in the midst of the torment the malevolent being dealt upon her all for the sake of revenge, she could only think of the untold destruction that would follow and innocents who would suffer if the rift was allowed to remain open. Despite being merely a few steps away from finishing this life-long ordeal, fate seemed to cruelly conspire against her as if she were destined to live and die in discontented sorrow in the place of all who were happy and fulfilled. But the magus would not let it end this way. With grit the likes of which would leave heroes in awe, she endured the pain in her gut and held out a hand to the scared little girl in front of her while feeling contrite for the promise she was about to break.

“Zach,” she called out with difficulty to the youngster locked in a bout of fright. “Zach,” Parnella cried out again as the black limb began to inch its way to her neck in a fruitless effort to make contact.

“Zach!” she called out once more, struggling in a step away from her assailant to grasp the youngster’s hand, managing to get her attention. The hellion who held her life by a thread ignored her shouts as it savored the bliss of sweet revenge.

“I’m sorry…but I’m going to have to break my promise,” the former scholar painfully apologized. “We won’t be…seeing Shemzy today.”

The little girl simply nodded in understanding upon recovering from her daze and, taking in the gravity of the situation, she channeled what magick still permeated in the cold basement air to the magus. Parnella had to let go when the monstrosity pulled at her innards and tightly wrung her neck, barely remaining conscious as she lost her footing and fell to the concrete floor soaked in her own blood. But this sliver of magick she had received was more than enough, and, even as she struggled to turn and face the demon, a glimmer of steely resolve shone in her eyes as she took hold of the dark rim of the rift and spoke her final words to the fiend, ones that echoed age old wisdom in their simplicity.

“Mother…always taught me to put others before…one’s self. Let it never be said that my actions today…were anything but just!”

And with the last vestiges of her waning strength and magick, she tugged at rift’s rim, disrupting the flow of energies that stabilized the shift and bend in reality, and with a deafening sound, the portal collapsed into itself. The resulting implosion consumed the entire house and the property around it, leaving nothing but a seared, gaping concavity, charred black in color, and a shift in pressure that roared throughout the entire subdivision.

Many of the residents who woke up that night startled by the shock-wave discovered that every window in the direction of where the quaint hazel house with orange roof once stood had been shattered. As the buzzing of police, ambulance and fire truck sirens as well as the anti-theft alarms of cars echoed in the chilly night air, the playground clock tower fortuitously and ominously chimed at the sudden conclusion of the events that it alone had seemed to witness. 

The time was now eleven thirty, and things were very uncertain.












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End Chapter 7: Partings