Little note, I tried and failed horribly at making Zecoras line's rhyme. I suck at that kind of stuff.
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Ever since Spike mentioned Zecora having all kinds of natural remedies, Daring wanted to go see her, but she lived in the Everfree Forest. Daring had been bugging his mom and dad to take him for the past week. And now was finally the time, Big Mac had some free time and could take Daring to see Zecora. Rainbow was in Cloudsdale with Star Rider for some kind of Jr. Wonderbolt Race. While Big Mac and Daring were stuck at home because, well, they can’t walk on clouds. And paying some unicorn to cast the cloud walking spell on them was money they didn’t have.
“Dad, when are we leaving to meet Ms. Zecora?”
“After we have some lunch Daring, the Forest is safer during that time.” Daring nodded his head and went back to reading in the living room, while Big Mac cooked up some grub.
After Daring and Big Mac had their lunch, they began to saddle up for the journey. Big Mac put on a large saddle bag filled with emergency supplies and other basic essentials just in case their short trip ended up lasting longer than intended.
Daring simply tossed some of his books into the back of the wagon so he could read along the way.
And just maybe, Zecora might know something other ponies didn’t. She was a Zebra according to Spike, its not like Spike has ever been wrong before.
Right?
Anyway, Big Mac tied some rope around the wagons handle and attached it to his yoke to make it easier. Why pull something with your mouth when you can easily just attach it to you, right?
Mac had decided the path into the Everfree by Fluttershys’s house would be their best bet of a safe trip, since her animals occupied most of that space and the griffins hunting grounds was just outside that space, so fewer predators were in that general area.
Big Mac had decided it would be best to let Fluttershy know he was going to visit Zecroa with Daring as yet another precaution, you could never be too careful after all. So they made a quick stop to say hello and let her know. Big Mac stopped outside and knocked on the door. To his surprise it wasn’t Fluttershy that answered the door, but Discord.
“Well hello, if it isn’t the brother of the honest Applejack, what brings you here? Not planning to woe my Fluttershy are you?” Discord was giving off a gleeful smile as he gauged Big Macs reaction, to his disappointment Mac stayed straight faced.
“Ah jus came by to let Fluttershy know I was on my way into the Everfree with my boy to visit Zecora. It would be nice to have someone know where we were, besides Granny Smith and Apple Bloom.” Discord looked over Mac’s head and looked at the wagon carrying the pink colt known as Daring.
“Is that so? And this pink colt is Daring I presume?” Daring put his book down and looked up at Discord.
“For your information, I’m light red, not pink. At least I'm not a magical freak.” Daring went back to reading his book without waiting for Discord to respond back.
“Feisty one isn’t he? For being so scrawny and weak looking, his tongue seems rather sharp. I like that.”
“He may be a tad weak in body Discord, but he has enough will and brain power to make up for it. Now if you don’t mind, could you let Fluttershy know where we went?”
“Yes of course! Anything for the brother of one of Fluttershy’s friends.” As they were leaving Discord was waving them off and suddenly shouted as they were crossing the bridge
“Don’t let that greedy fool Umbra rule you Daring!” Daring and Big Mac turned around to look back at the cottage only to see Discord close the door without saying another word.
“Whos Umbra?” asked Big Mac as he looked down at Daring raising an eyebrow
“I...” A deep blue room flashed in Darings mind as he heard the echo’s of a laugh “...Have no idea.” Big Mac squinted his eyes in thought for a moment, then shook his head and continued along the path into the Everfree forest.
Mac was silent for a time as they walked along the path that grew ever dimmer.
“So Daring, you know you can tell me anything right?”
“Yeah dad, I know. When I figure out what Discord was talking about, I’ll let you know. He might just be trying to cause some indirect chaos, but the name Umbra sounds familiar. I just can’t remember where I heard it before though.” Big Mac raised an eyebrow at that.
If there was one thing different about Daring when compared to other children. It was the way he spoke, as if he knew everything. Or he was at least sure of what was going on. Big Mac checked it off as reading too many books with a lot of spare time to think. He really had no outward way to distract himself and those Sci-Fi models he got were only good to kill a few hours of time until he finished them. Sometimes Mac wondered if Daring was having any fun reading all the time.
The walk through the forest toward Zecora’s house was rather uneventful, just as Big Mac had hoped it would be. Daring had been asking for a week to be taken to see Zecora. He had it planned out to the perfect time to leave. All the timber wolves would be on the other side of the forest hunting this time of the month.
With the griffins hunting inside the Everfree, more info was found out about it. And it was no longer as mysterious as it once was. Still dangerous though, but with all the new information the griffins had brought forward, it made treks into it much safer.
It was a brisk 25 minute walk until they reached Zecoras hut. When they arrived they saw a griffin leaving with some bandages around his waist.
“What happened to you?”
“Some bad luck with a Manticore while I was out hunting mate. Good Ol’ Zecora fixed me up free of charge, Sweet little thing she is. What are you here for?”
“My son heard about Zecora’s herbal treatments and was wondering if she could help at all, I’m a might bit curious as well.” Big Mac slowly walked up closer to the griffin with Daring in tow.
“Oh yeah? Whats wrong with him? He sick or something?” Daring put his book down and looked up at the griffin and spoke up.
“Not quite sick, just born... weaker than normal. Its kinda complicated.” The griffin nodded his head in understanding.
“Ah... I think I understand where you’re coming from. My wife has a problem with the eggs she lays, the shells are so thin you can practically see through it. A defective shell gland is what they told her. Unfixable they say, birth defect. It makes having little hatchling’s of our own near impossible. Damn Unicorns don’t have any spells to fix it either, you’d think with all the magic they have they could do something. I bet Science could take us further, but unicorns are always so magically inclined their sight is blinded when looking in other directions.” The griffin released a sigh and patted Mac on the back.
“I wish you luck, hopefully she can help. Names Wyatt by the way.” Big Mac nodded his head.
“Big MacIntosh, this here’s mah son Daring Star.” Daring nodded his head and the griffin nodded his head back in return.
“I’ll see you around then.” As the griffin Wyatt was leaving, Daring set his book down and thought for a moment.
“Why are unicorns so tunnel visioned in the way the world works dad?” Big Mac hummed to himself for a moment,
“I have no idea Daring. Maybe they think if it can’t be solved with magic, it can’t be solved with anything.” Daring sighed
“Like me huh?” Now it was Big Mac’s turn to sigh.
“I’m sure there’s something we can do to fix that. Might just take some time is all. Lets go see Zecora now before it gets any later.” Daring nodded his head and climbed out of the wagon and made his way to the door with his dad.
Big Mac knocked on the door and after a bit of shuffling was heard, the Zebra known as Zecora opened the door.
“So many visitors this day, who now appears before me?”
“Afternoon Zecora. You probably haven’t meet me before, but the names Big MacIntosh, and this heres my son Daring. And well, my boy here heard about your magical potions and medicines and was a wondering if you could help him any.”
“MacIntosh? The older brother of Applejack?” Zecora looked down at the scrawny colt by his side. “Daring, the son born with a strong mind, but a weak body. I have heard from Twilight about this tale of woe.”
“Twilight has already spoken to you about Darings situation Ms. Zecora?” Zecora nodded her head.
“She has. Told her what would be needed, but alas, Twilight said it would be impossible to obtain such things.” Daring perked up,
The fact Zecora knew of a way to make him stronger caused Daring to become excited. But what did she mean by it would be impossible to get what they needed?
“What would you need Zecora? And why would it be hard to get? Is it some rare plant?” Zecora closed her eyes as she inhaled a breath of air.
“No little one, what you have sounds like something seen in my homeland, but the ingredients needed are rare and the tonic must be taken weekly, otherwise you return how you once were.”
“Its not.. Permanent?” Zecora waved them inside so they wouldn’t stand outside any longer.
“Alas it is not, and dragon bones are next to impossible to gather in this land.” Big Mac raised an eyebrow at the idea of consuming a dragon bone.
“A dragon bone you say?” Zecora nodded her head at Mac
“Aye, at least 2 ounces of dragon bone must be ground into a fine powder and mixed with the brew for it to be effective. The magic within the dragon bone and herbs will bind and strengthen your own. At least until the magic wears off.”
“Wait, dragon bones have magic Zecora?”
“Everything has magic in it little one, what I do, alchemy, extracts certain natural magic from plants and things into a drinkable concentrated form. Although, some aren’t drinkable and are more like topical creams.”
“Well, if we need a dragon bone too temporarily fix my bones, what about my body? You have anything to increase my strength or something?” Zecora nodded her head and went over to a book on a table.
“The Amber heart of a Trent and the saliva of a Spider Eater are needed. The Trent heart might be possible to find within this forest, but the Spider Eater is only found within the jungles of my homeland.” Big Mac raised an eyebrow again, he’s never heard of such things before.
“What in the hay is a Trent?”
“And is a Spider Eater some small animal or something?”
“A Trent is a living animate tree, and a Spider Eater is a very large creature, it would probably fill this entire room.” Daring just sat down in the middle of the floor as Zecora explained what she needed.
“Can you do anything?” at those words Zecora nodded her head and went over to a bubbling caldron in the middle of the room and scooped out a small cup of a light blue liquid.
“What is this?”
“An energy brew, it will help clear your mind and prevent distractions. It will also improve your bodies natural magical flow.” Daring looked at the cup filled with blue liquid and took a sip as Zecora brought forth another cup and offered it to Big Mac.
Mac watched as Daring took a sip and followed shortly after he did. It didn’t taste bad, it actually tasted quite good. They soon finished and set their cups down.
“I don’t feel much different, my head feels a bit lighter though.” Zecora nodded her head and chuckled
“Aye it does such a thing.”
“Hey Zecora, can you teach me alchemy?” Zecora nodded her head with a smile at Daring.
“Let me show you the basics of alchemy then. Perhaps you will devise a new way to make your self stronger. If you need books later on, I’m sure Twilight would be more than happy to provide.”
Big Mac and Daring spent the next few hours or so learning the basics of alchemy. From how to detect magical the essence in plants and things, from how to distill them into a potent and useable form.
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Meanwhile in Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash had taken Star Rider to a little Wonderbolt’s competition. It was just going to be a simple 3 lap race around the Wonderbolts normal oval shaped track. The highly trained Wonderbolts themselves could finish a single lap with an average time of 10 seconds.
Star Rider was looking around at all the other fillies and colts in the waiting room.
“Mom, I don’t think I can do it.”
“What do you mean you can’t do it?! You were super excited when I told you about it 2 months ago.”
“Well I’ve been thinking, Isn’t it unfair for me to compete? I mean, look at me! My wings are almost as big as yours, but I’m still a filly.” Rainbow sighed
“Its because you’re better then everyone that you should compete. Letting natural ability like yours go to waste would be a shame...!” Rainbow looked down at Star, she still didn’t look very enthusiastic. “...but, if you really don’t want to do it. I can understand, I guess. But what happened to make you change your mind?” Star sighed
“Some of my friends get mad when I compete saying its unfair to the team I play on. Or its unfair if I’m involved because I will always come in first, no matter how hard they try.”
“Sounds to me like your friends are just jealous of your natural talent. Your ability is what sets you apart from them Star! You were born for greatness, born to be a Wonderbolt like me. You already have the natural talent for it, it just needs to be polished.” Star laid down on the floor resting her head on her hooves. After a moment she jumped up and looked her mom in the eyes.
“I’ll do it then. And I’ll do my best!” Rainbow flew over and grabbed Star into a hug and rubbed a hoof through her mane.
“That’s my little Filly. Do me proud!”
Rainbow and Star kept talking like many of the other parents with their own fillies or colts. Giving various pointers and tips in order to help them fly faster or how to flap their wings to reduce wind resistance. You know, aerodynamic stuff.
About 20 minutes later all of the colts and fillies were called out to line up outside at the starting line. Each one was issued their own numbers, Star Rider got the number 12 and placed it upon her flank. As each of the fillies and colts lined up, they took their stances and flared out their little wings in preparation for take off.
Murmurs could be heard within the crowd and among the other children when Star Rider flared out her wings. Instead of the normal 3 outer feathers with 2 smaller inner ones. She had 5 outer feathers and 4 inner feathers, and they were near the size of an adults wings.
Star Rider ignored the hushed whispers and voices around her. Rainbow Dash simply smirked and watched Star Rider with pride visibly glinting in her eyes as she watched her daughter show off her exotic wings.
The murmurs hushed down when the announcer began to talk into his microphone about the race starting soon. He also advised parents to not place bets, as it’s not a good example and puts unneeded pressure on the children. Rainbow however seemed to miss understand what he had said and rushed over to the bidding counter.
“I wanna place 100 bits on my filly Star Rider, number 12!” The clerk behind the counter looked dumbfounded.
“Uhh, miss, we aren’t taking bets on this children’s race, this is purely for sport...”
“What?! But the announcer dude said to place bets, as it puts needed pressure on the kids!”
“I, don’t think that’s what he said at all actually. If you would please just return to your seat, the race is starting any second now.”
“Bah! You just won’t take any bets because you know my filly is gonna win hooves down! Leaving every other filly and colt in the dust!” Some parents had overheard Rainbows outrage at them not taking bets and had come to see, the second she said that her kid was better, several other parents became a bit upset.
“I’ll have you know my colt, Sonic, number 15, is going to win this race.”
“Oh yeah, well I’m pretty sure Lighting Flare, number 7 is going to beat them all hooves down.”
“Psh, paalease, my colt Arc, who is number 1 by the way, is going to win hooves down.” Several of the parents began to argue over who was going to win in front of the bidding counter. Things were becoming heated.
The clerk called and told upper management what was going on. Shortly after the announcer made it known that some parents were bickering.
“If the parents at the bidding counter would kindly return to their seats, I will get this race started. And as I said before, Betting is NOT allowed during this event.” All of the parents just glared at each other, most had their own wings flared out in anger.
“Lets make a pool, 50 bits each, which ever of our fillies or colts win, takes the pot home, if none of ours win, we get our money back, deal?” They all nodded unanimously and placed 50 bits each on the counter in front of the pony clerk.
“W-What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Just put it into a sack. So it will easier for one of us to take home.” Many of the parents left the counter and went back to their seats without much fuss afterward. After the announcer received word of the parents returning to their seats he told the children to take their places again and to begin at the sound of the horn.
“You can do it Star Rider! Take home the gold! Leave everyone else in the dust!” the parents that had been arguing with Rainbow Dash before hand saw her cheering for her filly and decided to do the same, except louder, or flashier. As one of the parents was a Unicorn.
What was supposed to be a calm event in sportsmanship, had suddenly become a cut throat sport match with money on the table, at least too some parents. Each of the parents that had been quiet before, perfectly content to simply watch and cheer their own child on, had became a competition to who could cheer the loudest.
Without further ado the horn signaling the start of the match went off, and every filly and colt burst forward past the finish line, with so much cheering from all the parents, the fillies and colts who had been shy about this at first were suddenly pumped up, and those who were already pumped, felt like they could go on forever, or as long as the cheers did.
“Look at them all go! I’ve never seen such flying from Pegasi so young before! Looks like number 12 has a good lead on everypony else, but what’s this?! Numbers 1, 7, 3, 5, 14 and 15 are all slowly catching up to her! And the first lap is over in only 22 seconds folks!” Rainbow began to pound her hooves on the cloud floor
“You can do it Star Rider! Just 2 more laps to go!” Rainbow flew up into the air and began to chant Stars name as loudly as she could. The parents saw Rainbow chanting Stars name and joined in with the chanting of their own kids names.
Star glanced over and saw her mom doing loops in the air while chanting her name, it made her giggle a bit seeing her mom cheer so hard. Looking behind her she could see several other fillies and colts begin to catch up to her.
‘Good, I’ll just barely keep ahead of them...’ as she was thinking that she heard the announcer shout through the megaphone in excitement.
“What’s this?! Number 1 and 7 are now neck N neck with each other! And it looks like they might pass up number 12 any second now! But wait a minute here folks! Number 15's form looks familiar to me, is that? It is! I don’t know how folks but he’s using the same streamline form the Wonderbolts themselves use to reduce wind drag! What a talented colt!”
Star looked behind her and noticed that the filly and colt who were neck and neck behind her were now going to be passed up along with her if she didn’t pick up the pace.
“The second lap is over now with number 12 and 15 neck and neck with each other! Only 1 more lap to go folks, Who’s gonna win this race?! We’ll find out in the next 20 seconds or so!” Rainbow gritted her teeth when she saw that some stupid looking dark blue colt spiked hair was neck and neck with her filly.
“Pull out the big guns Star! Do it the way I showed you!” Star Rider looked over to the dark blue colt next to her, he was clearly out of breath and pushing himself a lot harder than she was. She looked over at the stands and saw her mom making an agitated face.
What was she so worked up for? This is just a sport competition, its not like money was on the line or anything.
Right?
Star slowly started to let him pass her, then she adjusted her body the way her mother had shown her before hoof in the waiting room.
“Looks like number 15 is going to win folks! Wait a minute! What’s this!? Number 12 knows how to use the Wonderbolts streamline technique as well?! Sweet Celestia she just left number 15 in the dust along with the rest of the competition! Number 12 wins with a 2 second difference!” Rainbow Dash flew up into the air and did several aerial flips whooping for joy.
“That’s my Star Rider!” Rainbow flew down to the track with many of the other parents, the single unicorn teleporting down. Regardless of the outcome all the parents told their filly or colt good job with a hug and a nuzzle. All except Rainbow Dash who had taken to do some showboating. A little song followed with a little dance.
“Go Star, go Star, its your birthday, its your birthday!” Rainbow started to shuffle her hooves on the cloud floor while bobbing her head. “You did a great job Star, lets go the bidding counter and head on home now.” Rainbow started to walk toward the tracks exit with Star following her.
“What’s at the bidding table? I thought they weren’t taking bets?” Stars eyes got wide “Were you one of those parents trying to place bets mom!?”
“Well, I thought we were supposed to. But when I got to the counter the clerk said we couldn’t place bets. So me and a couple other parents made a pool, and the winners parents would get all the money.” Star felt kinda bad about there being actual money on the line.
But that would totally explain why so many of the parents were suddenly into the race. A decent amount of them went from ‘do your best’ too ‘win at all costs’. Star knew they had been hurting for money, she had seen her dad go through their finances late at night at times. Star just swallowed her guilt and kept pace with her mother.
“Well, how much did we get mom?”
“Well it was 50 bits each, and about 7 parents placed bets so its about...” Rainbow stuck her tongue out in thought for a second. “...300 bits.”
“Mom, that’s 350 bits...”
“I knew that! I was just making an educated guess.” Star just giggled as she followed her mom through the hallways.
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Back inside Zecoras hut Daring was tasting various herbs in order to learn the specific magical properties each one contained. Big Mac started to look out the window but couldn’t really tell how late it was becoming because the Everfree was always dark. To Macs relief Zecora noticed him looking outside and decided to end it for the day.
“Late it is becoming, Home you should head now, before it gets dangerous.” Big Mac nodded while Daring continued to taste more herbs in faster succession.
“I agree Zecora, it is becoming rather late. Come along Daring its time to for us to head out.” Daring sighed and set the next herb that he was about to taste down.
“Alright dad...” as Daring began to gather up his books and some of the herbs Zecora let him have to self study he looked up at her. “...So, everything has magic in it? Even the dirt and grass?” Zecora chuckled
“Yes little one. Even the soil of mother Equestria has power, though very minute it is.” Daring put a hoof to his chin and looked the floor, he then tasted the dirt stuck to the bottom of his hoof.
“Tastes like a strength enhancer...” Zecora nodded her head. “...why can’t I just use dirt to make a powerful strength potion?”
“Because little one, it would taste like mud, and the amount you would need so its noticeable would leave a hole big enough for my hut.”
“So its unrealistic then?” Zecora just nodded her head.
“Yes, now you must leave before it gets any later.” Zecora waved them off as Big Mac reattached the wagon to his yolk and began to pull Daring away. Big Mac looked back at Daring who looked to be deep in thought.
“Did you learn anything useful Daring?”
“I think I found a new hobby. But maybe this will become something more. Its always nice to learn new things, even if the information would be helpful or not.” Big Mac nodded his head.
More distractions for Daring would be a good thing. He had gone through most of the books at the towns library, he would have to start reading history books and such to pass the time at the rate he was going.
“Hey dad, what kind of magical properties do you think the apples back home have?” Big Mac kept his pace but put on a look of, that's a good question I never thought of that. He turned back and shrugged
“No idea Daring, I had no idea everything had magic in it until Zecora said so, and its part of what she does for a living.” Daring just nodded his head.
“Yeah I suppose, I wonder if all the apples will be the same, or if it varies by tree.” Big Mac chuckled. Daring was excited about something again, like how he was when he 1st got into those Sci-Fi books.
“You can do what you want, just don’t go around using a bunch of apples. We gotta make some money somehow Daring.”
“Hmm, I wonder if I can use all the bad apples.” Big Mac just chuckled.
“You can use all the bad apples you want. Otherwise, they are just added to a compost bin that's always full anyway.”
The walk out of the Everfree was uneventful just like Big Mac had hoped it would be. As he came closer to the edge of the forest he could hear some female voices.
“Lets go everypony, Discord said Big Mac took Daring to see Zecora, and that was hours ago! Who knows what happened to them!”
“Stupid brother of mine! I’ll kick his flank if anything happened to em!”
“I’ll kick that stupid husband of mine’s flank before you even get the chance!” As Big Mac stood behind some trees with Daring, he looked down at his son who had been perfectly safe the whole time.
“The Mares are angry son and knowing your mom, I fear for my life.” Daring looked between his dad and the angry group of mares who had decided to go in after them.
“I’m sure once they see we’re both ok, everything will be fine dad.” Big Mac bit his lower lip as he came out from behind the trees with Daring in tow. All of the mares were happy to see them and that they didn’t need to go in after them.
The smiles quickly left when Rainbow flew up straight into Big Macs face.
“What happened?! Why were you gone so freaking long!?” Big Mac began to sweat bullets.
“Well uh, you see...”
“Spit it out already!”
“Nothing happened to us mom, Zecora was showing us some alchemy, or rather, just me. That’s why we were gone so long. Alchemy’s pretty cool and complex.” Rainbow looked over at Daring without moving her head, keeping her face all up in Macs grill.
“You should of waited for more of us to go with you! What if...!” Big Mac stopped Rainbow from speaking anymore by locking lips with her. Rainbow blushed and pulled back.
“I missed you honey pie.” Twilight and the others made embarrassed faces and began to look around. Everyone except Pinkie who simply began to say Oohh while holding a hoof to her mouth.
“You can’t just, wha...” Rainbow grrrred at Mac “...Not Fair.” Rainbow flew back and returned the kiss. “Glad to see you both are ok. After I got back from Cloudsdale and you wern’t around I asked Apple Bloom where you guys went. She said you left for the Everfree after lunch. And its almost Dinner time now! Then when I got to Fluttershy’s she said you stopped by and told Discord you were heading in. You guys were gone for 5 hours! You had us worried sick.”
“Sorry, but Zecora couldn’t do much, and Daring was eager to learn some alchemy from her.”
“Yeah mom alchemy is cool! And unlike those Sci-fi robots, I can put it into actual practice, well without having to spend a bunch of money.” Twilight was eager to learn what he knew, Daring and Twilight were alike in the aspects of their thirst for knowledge.
“Zecora taught her way of alchemy to you daring?” Daring nodded his head at Twilight.
“Yeah! She said everything has some kind of magical essence to it, and alchemy seeks to extract it into potent useable forms that are drinkable or can be applied to the skin, after rubbing it past the fur of course.”
“You should come by the Library later and tell me more about it. It all sounds really interesting, and I’m sure everypony would rather go home knowing you are safe now.”
“I’ll see if I can stop by...” Daring looked over at Big Mac and Rainbow who just nodded their heads at him. “...or maybe you can have Spike come and get me, that would be pretty cool.”
“You and Spike seem to get along rather well it seems.” Daring just shrugged
“Well yeah, we are best friends.” Rainbow flew over to Daring and nuzzled him.
“Alright lets get you home now, your sister is worried about you and dad as well, and oh yeah! She won the Jr Wonderbolt race today! And we got a bit of extra bits as well...”
“They let you place bets on a children’s race?” Rarity chimed in
“Well not exactly...” Mac chuckled along with Pinkie while Applejack just face hoofed with Twilight. Rarity simply shook her head side to side.