Everfree Ravine - Zecora and Apple Bloom
Two weeks after previous Z&A chapter
Apple Bloom gritted her her teeth and both physically and mentally cringed as she looked at her impaled right foreleg. Blood trickled down from both the entry and exit would from around the sharp stick she'd fallen onto after loosing her footing (hoofing?) whilst assisting Zecora in making a new rope bridge in the late afternoon to replace the old one that had once spanned the gap. It hurt. A lot, and it was all she could do to keep from screaming from pain a second time when she tried to stand.
"Apple Bloom, stay where you are!" Zecora called to her from the other side. "I will reach you quicker if you do not go far!"
"No-" she gasped for breath as sweat began to soak her fur. "problem!" She replied barely above a whisper. Sitting down on her haunches and raising her injured leg, Apple Bloom looked around to make sure she was still alone on her side of the ravine. For the moment, she was. But that scream will have told everything within at least half a mile that somepony is nearby! She swallowed nervously, and began examining the stick she'd fallen on.
It looked a bit rotted and the end sticking out closest to her was rough but fairly even, showing that when it had broken off its tree the branch had already been rotten. Some of the bark might have rubbed off in the wound when it slid through me. Cleaning this one is going to be very unpleasant! But necessary if she didn't want a normal infection to set in.
A rustle in one of the thorn bushes along the edge of the forest before the gorge made Apple Bloom whip her head to one side and her eyes widened in fear, though not as much as she might have had a year ago. She was not the weak little filly she once was, though young she still remained. Life in the Everfree Forest was difficult, and what you could not outsmart you had to beat down or outrun.
Rising unsteadily to three legs, Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes and tried to force her brain to ignore the pain pulsing through her body with limited success. If she needed to run, she could at least manage a brisk limping walk on her three good legs, but if she needed to fight, regardless of the pain she was in she would need all four legs.
Apple Bloom took a steadying breath, and then waited.
On her side of the ravine Zecora quickly finished tying off her vine-ropes to the new posts she'd dug and planted and grabbed one of the four dangling ropes and began to pull herself along the one rope that Apple Bloom had already tied off securely to one of the two posts on her side. Holding the rope in the crook of her front legs and back, she hung upside down and moved along it as quickly as she dared. Briefly sparing a look downward into the dark channel that water once flowed through in times long gone she took a deep breath and looked pointedly at the wall in which she was approaching.
The stone that made up the edge of the cliff was gritty and slightly crumbly from old stone being exposed to the weather for many a year. Her first attempt to climb up was met with a chunk of rock breaking off from the side followed by her body rocking forward and backward for a few seconds while a brief thrill of fear ran down her spine. Taking a calming breath Zecora pulled herself a little closer and focused the magic of her people into her front legs before trying once more to pull herself up. Happily leaving the empty space below her behind Zecora hauled her hind end up onto solid ground and quickly moved to her young friend's side.
"Something's out there in the thorn bush, Zecora!" Apple Bloom whispered. Zecora looked at the shaking shrub a moment and then turned her head to her herb pouch.
"Sit. Here is Tanna Root powder and something stronger. Soon you will feel pain no longer!" Zecora replied in a low volume voice. Zecora handed the powder to Apple Bloom and watched as Apple Bloom sat as instructed took a pinch of it to each side of her bleeding injury. When Apple Bloom looked up at her to ask with her expression if she'd done it right Zecora smiled and then turned away to look through her only saddle bag. From it she pulled out a simple vial of home made disinfectant. Unfortunately, before she could use it what had been struggling through the thorn bush finally tore its way free and fell down to the ground out into the open. When Zecora and Apple Bloom looked up from the injured appendage to see what or who it was Zecora briefly bared her teeth.
Though the figure was in bad shape there was no mistaking what it was: a Shambler. Whoever it had once been though, neither of them recognized it now. The creature had no eyes, a few filthy strands of hair for a mane, almost no fur left to its filthy hide, one ear, and was missing one of its front legs. Growling as it rose unsteadily to its hoofs once more, the creature started forward again in the general direction of the two ponies.
Apple Bloom looked around her immediate area quickly, searching for something small and loose she could throw to misdirect the Shambler. There was not much, and what there was the two of them needed to make the bridge. If they bounced too far and went into the ravine they'd be gone for good. Still...
Our lives are worth more than a few tools, and if we get bit it's not like they'll do us much good anyway! Reaching with her good foreleg Apple Bloom grabbed the hammer she'd intended to use to pound the rope pegs into the ground and threw it at a dead tree that dangled over the edge secured by a few roots. It struck the trunk with a quiet but audible thud and the Shambler paused for a second and then turned a little to the right and started walking again.
Remaining silent the two ponies watched as the Shambler stopped upon bumping into the tree and then turned away to the left and walked forward until it fell off the cliff and into the ravine, to which they both shared a chuckle.
"Dumb Shamblers!" Apple Bloom commented. Zecora nodded, but commented that it was not much smarter to not be paying attention to one's immediate area and falling upon a sharp stick.
"More careful you must be, if the end of this plague you are to live to see! This will not heal easy, I fear, and we lack enough bandages here." Zecora looked to her left at the vine-rope that swung gently in the evening's breeze. It was a bit disappointing that they'd not be getting the vines secured today, but bleeding injuries (or any kind of injury for that matter) were not something they could afford to leave untreated.
Kneeling down, Zecora motioned for Apple Bloom to climb aboard.
Zecora shut her house's door and secured it with two wooden bars and also checked the shutters on her windows. Until very recently it had been at least a few months since she'd last returned to and slept within her house along the Everfree path from Ponyville due to the number of Shamblers that often frequented it. Unfortunately the fever that set in two days after Apple Bloom's injury could not be properly treated at any of the small Rest Zones they'd made due to them not having the herbs and the equipment required to make medicines in any of their Rest Zones. There were a few simple things kept in them like bandages and some anti-itch powder for insect bites that were all too commonly discovered upon awakening from a night's rest, but anything stronger than that the two had continued to store in her house whenever it was safe to do so.
Reaching down to the laces on her home-made noise-muffling fur slippers (more like pouches with a drawstring, really) Zecora made sure they were not loose enough to slip off and then silently proceeded into her home's main room to secure her latest flora bounty to the ceiling and also to boil oldest ones into a tea for her patient.
While she did so Apple Bloom lay in Zecora's bed sweating and sleepy. Her leg had been washed, bandaged, and thankfully no longer hurt, but apparently the rest of her body had not gotten the memo because now she had a temperature of one hundred and four degrees. Beside the bed on a small dresser sat a half empty wooden cup of lukewarm water and a plate with a few mint leaves and a few dandelions in case she started feeling hungry again. Since a mere mouthful of it earlier that morning she had not.
I know I should probably eat something. It'll take longer for me to get better if I don't.Her eyes traced over the offerings of the plate and then slid away back to the ceiling and closed. I feel more like taking a nap, though. She opened her eyes again and glanced at the doorway that led into the main room where she could only barely hear Zecora moving about. There was no concern that it would be anypony or anything else because otherwise the door would have likely been bashed in and the scent of decay would have already reached her. And we haven't seen another living critter besides animals and each other in a long time.
Zecora entered the bedroom carrying another wooden cup on a small (also wooden) plate in her mouth and stopped by the bed. She motioned for Apple Bloom to sit up, and with a bit of effort, she did so. Apple Bloom took the cup, frowned a little at the smell, then blew the steam off the top and slowly drank the contents. When she finished she returned the cup to the plate and reached over to the plate next to her to grab a few mint leaves. The tea had tasted about as pleasant as it smelled (and it smelled like burnt garlic) and made her all too happy that she'd not eaten all of her mint leaves earlier in the day. Returning the cup to the other room, Zecora made a cup of ginger tea and dripped a bit of wild honey in it for herself.
Zecora's left ear twitched slightly to the left and she froze in place, barely breathing she listened. Outside her house something large was padding across the path just a few paces beyond the door. The steps were too heavy to be a Shambler, but given where they were such a thing was hardly good news. Moving as quietly as she could, Zecora approached the nearest window and pulled gently on the left tilt rod just enough to see outside. After a few seconds she frowned and lowered the tilt rod again. Their latest visitor was a large black bear.
A problem may certainly be, if our guest should happen to be smelling me.
Although newer Shamblers could hunt by smell, they were a far cry from being worthy of being called trackers and only smelled you if you were close by. Animals on the other hand had a very good sense of smell and normally only followed something that smelled fresh. Knowing this and also knowing how often the path was frequented by Shamblers both Apple Bloom and Zecora had become a little lax in covering their scent around it in recent months. It would seem our choice was not good. We should have known better, in this wood. She frowned. Still, there was a chance that it would leave on its own. Even the predators of this dangerous forest had become unwilling to linger in one place for long when they traveled alone as this bear was.
The bear's heavy steps grew louder as it came closer to the house and as it took the last two steps to reach the door Zecora felt the vibration from its paws landing on the packed dirt run up her hoofs. The bear was too big to actually enter her home, but if it decided to break her door down whatever protection from Shamblers her home offered would be gone. All it would take would be for it to smell her and Apple Bloon's combined recent scent leaking in between the boards-
The door shook as a heavy impact struck the door and Zecora jumped back instinctively. There was an annoyed grunt, and then another blow. The hinges pulled slightly away from the frame they were screwed into but still held, aided by the planks behind it.
Wasting no more time, Zecora spun and raced away from the door and grabbed her saddlebags and began stuffing them with an assortment of supplies. Most of it she could come back for later if they were needed. Her bags full with less in them than she would have liked, Zecora raced into Apple Bloom's room and hurriedly shut the bedroom door. This door was much less sturdy than the front door, but this one would only be being used to keep out of sight from anything outside. In time their assailant would leave, and then they'd be free to as well.
"What's out there, Zecora?" Apple Bloom asked, her eyes widening in fear as the sound of the front door finally being destroyed reached them.
"It is a hunting bear too big to get in. But with time on our side, we shall win. When it leaves we shall as well; this home of mine no longer within is safe to dwell!"
"Ah'm sorry, Zecora!" Apple Bloom apologized, turning away from her. "If Ah hadn't hurt my leg Ah wouldn't 'ave gotten sick, and if Ah'd been healthy we wouldn't 'ave needed to come here and-" Zecora gently placed a hoof over Apple Bloom's mouth.
"Returning to your rest for now would be best. Soon enough we shall have to put your wellness to the test!"