Almost immediately after blasting the strange creature with her magic bolt, Twilight widened her eyes in surprise. She wasn't certain why exactly she had done that.
“Your powers certainly did grow, but why did you attack it, though?”
“I-I really don't know! Something just felt so-so wrong. Do you think I hurt it bad? “
Twilight had her eyes wide open while lightly biting her lower lip.
When she saw the creature's chest rise while taking breaths, her expressions softened. Her curiosity overrode her concern.
“What do you think it is?”
“I have never seen such a creature, maybe you should ask your teacher?”
“Princess Celestia … you're right. But I get the feeling I should know what it is ... Oh, if only I could remember where I've seen it before …”
Twilight closed her eyes and tried her best to remember why this alien creature seemed so familiar to her. Even though Diamond Dogs and Minotaur seemed similar she was certain she had never seen this particular creature. Maybe a mutant? No no no. Maybe she had read about it before? A small spark ignited in her subconscious. Yes, she had read about it before, if only she could remember when and where, which book and what it said.
A small cough snapped Twilight out of her thoughts. She looked at Zecora who shook her head, then moved to look at the strange creature again.
It clenched its eyes while arching its back and slightly opened its mouth, revealing its teeth. Twilight guessed it was in pain, perhaps her attack had caused some internal damage. Once more Twilight turned a worried gaze towards Zecora.
The Zebra nodded and started to throw different herbs into what once was supposed to be her dinner.
◊ ◊ ◊
Voices raised Gabriel out of the memory of his first lesson with Starswirl. That was so long ago. At least five years. Starswirl gave him a means to escape his miserable everyday life by teaching him magic.
He had been grateful.
Honestly had Starswirl asked, Gabriel would have followed him immediately.
Thinking back, it was probably what he wished for, even back then.
Especially now.
Perhaps things would have worked out differently. Perhaps his father would have finally cared about him, if he were to suddenly disappear. Perhaps his half-sister would …
No, he couldn't start thinking like this. Things happen. They were history now. No way to change them. Not even with whatever magic and spells he had learned.
When he tried to move, intense pain shot throughout his back. A small groan escaped his lips.
He briefly wondered why. Images of two strange four-legged creatures in a hut, filled with weird masks on the walls and a smoldering cauldron in the center, flashed before his eyes. Then the purple one lowered her head, aiming at him … with her horn? A unicorn? Then a blinding flash of pinkish energy.
His eyes snapped open and he tried to stand up. Another flash of intense pain quickly negated any such thoughts.
With his eyes now open he could see what appeared to be the roof of the hut he had previously entered.
Turning his head from left to right, careful not to move to fast, lest he aggravated whatever injury he had, Gabriel took in his surroundings. There were those creepy masks again. Tribal, possibly african.
Then he saw one of those … horses again. It was that Zebra. The other one didn't seem to be around. He thanked whatever deities he was supposed to thank in these parts, unsure whether they even had any.
The Zebra looked weird. Not so much because she was a Zebra, living in a hut. Not even because of that Mohawk it had.
What freaked him out was the fact she was brewing something in her cauldron, muttering in a sing-song voice he didn't understand.
Instinctively he searched for the crystal that allowed him to use magic. Panic rose when he realized it wasn't in his hand. As fast as he dared, his hand moved to his chest, hoping he had put it around his neck. It wasn't there either.
Only now did he realize he wasn't wearing a shirt anymore. The bloody horses had undressed him.
He wasn't sure whether to feel extremely upset or downright disgusted.
He grabbed the blanket that was covering the lower half of his body and slightly raised it.
A sigh of relief escaped him when he realized the horses had at least allowed him the small dignity of leaving his pants on.
While looking down on his body, he noticed a small irregularity on his chest. Purple cracks adorned the area above his heart. That was where the Unicorn's attack had hit him. Cautiously he touched one of the cracks on his skin.
A slight tingle. The feeling of static electricity. The cracks contained energy.
Upon closer inspection they were pulsating in rhythm with his heartbeat.
The sound of a wooden ladle hitting the metal cauldron forced Gabriel's attention towards the Zebra.
She hadn't realized he was awake yet, merely stopped stirring whatever concoction she was working on.
Her gaze was fixated on the the bandolier on the table. His meager possessions laid spread out next to his shirt and navy blue overcoat. His satchel was also opened, its contents spilling onto the table.
The Zebra's focus was his last vial containing the exploding jelly. She studied it intently before lifting it up in her hooves and walking towards one of her candles.
His jaw almost touched his chest. How did she … with no hands?
His eyes widened when realization hit what the Zebra was planning to do with the vial. She was probably only innocently trying to examine its contents against the candle light.
Bad idea!
“WAIT!” He shouted while propping up his Torso on his arms. Again intense pain flared through his back and he had to wince.
◊ ◊ ◊
Zecora was so startled with the sudden outburst that she almost dropped the vial. Juggling it with both her hooves twice, she managed to safely catch it on her third try. Exhaling a long breath, she grinned sheepishly while turning to her “patient” who had fallen back onto his back, expressing his pain quite clearly.
She hadn't understood what it had said, the urgency of its tone enough to stop her action. She carefully put the vial of brown-orange jelly back onto the table before trotting over to her patient to take a look at the creature.
It took sharp breaths while clenching its eyes tightly shut, gnashing its teeth, several of them appeared quite sharp, while trying to touch its back, it tried to slowly roll onto its side.
She was surprised its chest wasn't more of an issue, the scars of the magical blast should have burned quite severely. Magenta cracks, looking more like veins, radiated outward from where Twilight had struck the creature. Hazarding a guess, the creature's body seemed to be trapping the magical energies within. For what purpose, she had no idea. Her expertise lay in potions and natural remedies, not Magic. Twilight would likely find it very interesting, once she returned with a certain Pegasus.
Having found a position on its side which apparently didn't cause it any more pain, the creature's breathing normalized. The tension left its face.
“To give you some needed relief, that, my brew should easily achieve”
Zecora walked back to her cauldron to inspect her work, unsure whether the creature had understood or not. More often than not, even fellow equine seemed unable to understand her, and at least they were speaking the same language.
She looked over her brew, stirred a few more times, and happy with the results, transferred some of the liquid into a bowl.
Now how could she make the creature drink it?
◊ ◊ ◊
Gabriel was breathing more easily, now that he had found a position that did no cause intense pain.
He would have preferred it if the Zebra would still be ignorant of his awakening, but the situation demanded he intervene. An explosion in the hut, moreover right in front of the Zebra's muzzle, would have likely caused quite a bit of trouble.
Finally managing to open his eyes again, he could see the Zebra looking at him intently, before moving back to the cauldron and pour some of the bubbling liquid into a bowl. The action was taken with its mouth this time. While seemingly more natural than using the hooves, the sight still unnerved him. Horses using tools. He must have arrived in quite a strange place.
The Zebra's gaze shifted between Gabriel and the bowl a few times before she cocked her head slightly to the side.
Don't tell me she expects me to …
Before he could finish the thought, the Zebra placed a spoon into the bowl and, carefully carrying the bowl with her teeth, moved towards him.
Stopping in front him, she placed the broth-filled bowl close to his face. The stench of medicine entered his nose and he almost coughed.
The Zebra balanced the spoon on her hoof and carefully blew on the hot broth.
The gesture was universal, easily understood. Any mother would probably done that for her child. He had seen his step-mother doing it for his baby-sister. He wondered if his mother had done something similar for him as well. He had no memory of it. He expected that people seldom do. He hoped he had merely forgotten.
Any thoughts of resistance melted away. He allowed the Zebra to spoon-feed him the broth. Warmness started to radiate from his stomach. After a few mouthfuls his pain lessened considerably.
Probably some form of natural painkiller, Gabriel thought. Gingerly he straightened his back and and sat up. A dull pain persisted but at least he could manage to stay seated.
The Zebra smiled at him, nudging the half-emptied bowl towards him with her muzzle. He thanked her, somehow sure she would understand the gesture, before lifting up the bowl and feeding himself.
◊ ◊ ◊
Zecora moved back, quietly, trying not to startle her 'guest', then began to watch it intently. When it started using the spoon to feed itself, she chuckled. Obviously it had some intelligence, apparently even little sense of etiquette, not much though, considering how rudely it burst through her door.
The soup was made to act as a painkiller as well as a healing potion of sorts. It wasn't as effective as she might have hoped, as she observed her 'guest' wince every now while lifting the spoon to its mouth. But at least it seemed to be able to move a little bit.
Zecora looked at the door.. Twilight had left in order to get Fluttershy. While she realized that Fluttershy had a hoof for working with animals, Zecora started to doubt whether the shy Pegasus would be able to use her abilities on her 'guest'.
It wasn't that she doubted Fluttershy's abilities. She just wasn't certain anymore if her 'guest' could be classified as an animal. It appeared to be sentient, possibly even sapient. It covered itself with clothes, the material foreign to her, and, as mentioned, it appeared to have rudimentary etiquette.
A knock on the door told Zecora her other guests had arrived. The current one widened its eyes and started looking around for something. It focused on the table, presumably having located whatever it was searching for. Zecora followed its gaze towards the crystal it had grasped before being downed by Twilight. She wasn't sure, but it appeared to emit an orange glow while her 'guest' had held it, but now it was just like any other crystal.
“Come on in, I would like for Fluttershy to begin!”
The door opened up. Twilight walked in, magically dragging a cowering, shivering yellow mass behind her.
It appeared that Fluttershy was as frightened as ever.