Warm summer winds blew through the branches of the Everfree Forest. Even after all that's happened over the course of one year, this place still left ponies trembling in fear. Ponies of Equestria have always been taking care of the balance of nature on their own and that is exactly what scared them about this forest; it wasn't maintained by anyone, but an unseen force, which kept the flora growing, least to say some of it was "supernatural". And if the wild plants weren't scary enough, than it were the beasts living in it. And not just the typical lions, tigers and bears, but mystical creatures, such as manticores, ursas, cockatrice and...
"Timber wolfs?" a certain zebra replied at the howling in the distance, "At this time and place? Something doesn't quite make sense."
Despite all the frightening hype that ponies of Ponyville had been making about it, Zecora has lived in the forest for a very long time, though she never bothered explaining why she had moved away from her native lands in the south, but main explanation has always been basically, because of her art of mysticism and love of making special magical brews. To this point, she knew every little corner of Everfree Forest. She has learned the pattern of beasts living there and how to ward herself from them. Zecora knew that timber wolfs were magical in nature and if they were acting abnormally, it meant something was clearly wrong. As she walked deeper into the forest, trying to avoid unwanted attention, she suddenly felt unexpected change in atmosphere, as the air felt heavy and the gloom of the forest became ever thicker, especially during this time of day. But what disturbed her the most was that there was no sound of animals anywhere. It was dead silent. It was only than that her attention was taken by something stuck on her leg, as she passed through one of the bushes.
"Oh no..." she said in a tone which was unlike her and for a good reason.
The leaf that was stuck on her leg wasn't just dried out; it was turned black with tiny gray specks. She quickened her pace deeper into the woods, where she saw an ever greater damage being done to the flora. The once blooming trees were now turning depressingly gray and instead of bright tree sap flowing from them, all that was in its place was sticky dark pus. At this point, Zecora didn't bother taking precautions any longer and galloped off toward the growing gloom. She finally reached the place where the shadow was the thickest and the forest surprisingly ended. The sight she saw, horrified her.
In the center of what was a small clearing, stood a great, thick, deformed, black tree. Its leafless branches stretching high in the sky, with a pair of claw-shaped ones, twisted aground the trunk, as if it was trying to block the sunlight, at its center, a great opened scar, shaped like a maniacal grin and knotholes, from which strange ghostly light flashed every now and then. From those same holes, a strange gray substance was oozing and flowed down the trunk and into the small pool surrounding the tree.
"So vile, cruel and horrible to see.” Zecora cringed, as she watched the horrid site. “What sort of evil would corrupt the forest Everfree?!"
She suddenly heard the bushes rustle nearby and in the last moment jumped away, as a beast leaped out and nearly pounced on her.
It was a bear, but there was something wrong with him. He was bigger than an ordinary one and the color of his fur was much darker tone. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to ponder as the beast jumped at her again, leaving Zecora with no other choice, but to run for her life. She galloped as fast as she could, away from the dark place, yet as the gloom finally begun to fade away, it did not slow down the rampaging bear, which was still on her heels. At this point, there was only one place nearby where she could find some refuge - her hut.
The moment Zecora reached her house, she slammed the door behind in the exact moment, when the bear's jaw was about to reach for her, hitting him in the face. For that one brief moment, the zebra took a deep breath of relief and exhaustion. She was finally safe... or so she thought. The bear suddenly begun to slam his giant claws at the door and it soon became apparent that it's only the matter of time before they would give in under his might. Zecora's own home suddenly turned into a death trap. She tried to collect herself, as in situation like this, the worst it could happen to her was to lose her head. Something greatly bothered her through. She had her fair share of bear encounters in the forest and if they did give her a chase, it was only because she was in their territory. What disturbed her most about this one however wasn't that he was much bigger and different colored fur, but the sheer ferocity he was displaying, as if he was driven by empty and uncontrollable anger...
Anger...
The moment she thought of that word, she hurried to the cupboard on her wall and opened it. In it, sat many different masks, relics from her homeland, yet there were different compare to the ones she put inside and outside her house, which were just big decorations. These particular ones were carved into much smaller piece of wood, painted with several colors and with tiny accessories attached to them, giving them many different expressions. From the collection she picked the one with a rather angry expression. After placing it on the ground, she began to chant a spell in her native tongue; the mask begun to glow green, until it started to levitated in the air.
In that moment however, the door finally gave in as the bear beat them down, yet unfortunately due to his size, he was only able to squeeze in up to his gut through the narrow door of zebra's house, only giving him room to swing his giant claws aground and roar on top of his lungs.
"I see now who and what you are," Zecora said as she turned to face the beast, with the mask floating near her, "but I assure you, you will not get far. And if you are the sign of things to come, than THEY will stop your terrible wrath; but for now, I will make you cease – ga’rah!"
And with that Zecora charged at the monstrous bear, while it, at that precise moment swung his claws at her.