“Wake up, wake up.”
Huhh… what’s going…
“Wake up already.”
My head started to involuntarily shake side to side. With that, consciousness returned to me and I could finally see who was talking to me and shaking me. It was the zebra, Zecora, and she looked very nervous. I sat up , still at the base of the tree I was left at, and leaned on the nearby trunk. I held and rubbed my head, as if trying to fully dispel myself from the unnatural sleep.
She stepped back and gave me some space. After a few seconds, I gave her my attention, or at least what I had recovered so far, and said, “E’hhh, I’m up! What is it?”
“We need to get out of here, now, or very bad things will happen to thou.” She was obviously nervous and scared. Though random it may have been, I took her seriously.
The sudden sense of danger helped to finally awaken me. I quickly got on my feet. I was familiar with the sudden sense of urgency and quickly got in the game. I asked her, “What’s wrong, what happened.”
“We’ve no time to spare. Back to my house, I’ll explain there.”
She galloped away and I ran to follower down the hill and through the woods. It didn’t take long to find her hut. In her rush, she didn’t even bother to use her font door. She quickly trampled a small, exotic-looking garden and knocked open her back door, leaving it open as I ran inside after her.
By the time I was closing the door behind me, Zecora was already inside messing with the grand assortment of… liquid things that filled her selves, counters, and hanged from the ceiling. I watched as she grabbed a bag of sorts from a closet and tossed it onto the counter. Within minutes, she filled it with things, after which she slammed into my abdomen with it, eager for me to simply take it.
The bag would’ve been good for a small equine like Zecora or Fluttershy, but to me, it looked more like a militarized purse. To my preference, it lacked any glamour or visual appeal. It seemed to be made up of a very rough fabric, definitely not leather, but seemingly durable and capable nonetheless. Its strap was long enough to wrap around my shoulder and the bag itself could hold its contents well, and that’s all I really care for in a bag.
I opened it up. Inside were a few rolls of bread, a stalk of lettuce, and a canteen of water. As I rummaged through and inspected the items, I asked without turning my head, “You still haven’t told me what’s happened. Seriously, what’s the big deal?”
I lifted my head to find a flying robe so egger to answer my question. It hit me, and when I was pulling it off my face, Zecora said to me, “I’m unsure what exactly you’ve done, but you have definitely enraged the princess of the sun. She’s started a campaign just to find you, they’ve already arrested Fluttershy and I don’t know what else they’ll do.”
“Wait! What did you just say?”
“Do you not have a working ear?! The Royal Guard is marching here!!”
“No! What did you say about Fluttershy?!”
The Zebra took a slow breath before continuing the conversation going argument, “For helping you, your friend was caught. She is now being held in the capital city, Canterlot.”
My fists curled and tensed. My body was quickly filled with anger at the news. Memories flooded my head. Captured. It’s how I lost my friends before, but I won’t let it happen again. I’ll never let it happen again.
Knock Knock Knock
Zecora’s face instantly filled with terror. Her voice dropped to a loud whisper and she said, “I’m sorry for causing woe, but you have to go!” I quickly threw the cloak over my shoulders and left quietly out the back door. And not a moment too soon either, the front doors started knocking again.
Instead of running off into the woods and making a bunch of noise, I climbed up the same tree I just left. It was a bit more difficult because of the moss, but I managed to get a hold on one of the larger branches and held myself there, actually curious as to who was at the door. I stilled my breath and listened in to the conversation. They seemed to still be at the doorstep, but I didn’t risk looking over.
One guest, a male it sounded like, said “Excuse me miss, we have reason to believe that a dangerous monster has been hiding out here in the Everfree woods.”
Zecora calmly said, “There’s always been monsters in the woods, and there’s nothing that worries me in my hood.”
Another voice spoke, it was male again, but definitely a different pony, “Please ma’am, be careful. This thing is new and very, very dangerous. It can be easily identified by the fact that it walks on only two hooves and wears some kind of armor. Have you seen anything like that nearby?”
“Don’t worry about me, and no, but if I see it, I’ll tell thee.”
The first guest spoke again, “Thank you ma’am. Be safe out there.”
“Thank you for your care, but you needn’t worry about this mare.”
I could hear the steps as the two uninvited ponies finally left. I waited in silence for several minutes, even well after there footsteps died off in the distance. When I finally felt confident that they were gone, I slid off the tree and back onto the forest floor. I took a moment to look at the robe Zecora gave me. It was a simple dark brown color, made up of thin, but durable fabric.
I put it on. A small rope of sorts was the only thing to keep the robe around my neck, but a simple knot was all it needed to work. It reminded me of a midevil age monk’s robe. The hood I noticed was well oversized. When I tried it on, it managed to cover my entire face, so I don’t think I’d be using it any time soon. The robe itself was sleeveless and stretched down to mid-thigh. I suspected the robe was designed for pony or zebra usage but I could still work with it.
Before I left, I had one more question for Zecora. I walked back thought the back door. The Zebra came up to me and asked, “What are you still doing here, can’t you see you must disappear?”
“Sorry, but I got one more thing to ask, where’s Canterlot?”
The air stilled and stiffened as I waited several long seconds for an answer, all the while, Zecora was just staring at me, judging me for something it seemed. Her heavy gaze broke with a sigh before saying, “I’m not going to stop you from saving your friend, am I, not even at the world’s end?
I slowly shook my head.
“Canterlot is the capital city of this land. It’s to the north, on the side of a mountain you’ll see it stand. And if your really so eager for a fight … there’s a train leaving for it every day and night.” She lost eye contact with me and started to work with her potions as if I was never here, “Move though town to the north, and the tracks will be in your sight.”
I started to leave, but before I closed the door behind me, I turned around and said, “Hey, I know you didn’t have to do any of this, but I ‘preciate it. Really. Thank you.”
I finally left the hut. I had a train to catch, but I guess I could just take the night one. I wasn’t entirely sure where ‘Canterlot’ was, but somehow I knew, I had a long trip ahead of me.
***
And so, I left the woods, simple as that. I stuck to the fields, taking a long detour around the town. I went approximately to the west, based on the sun’s position. I could watch the sky as several pegasi, usually in pairs or trios, fly in formation, zigzagging through the air in a search pattern. It was easy to avoid their sight. At least these ponies didn’t have human technology like thermal sights… I think… I hope…
And that was most of the day, hiking up and down ridiculous hills through and unbelievably massive apple tree orchard. As you can imagine, my breakfast, brunch, and lunch consisted entirely of apples. Food was food, and I probably needed more apples in my diet anyway, so I didn’t really have any reason to complain. I hiked for what must’ve been a few hours before I finally found some train tracks.
Basing my judgment only on the sun again, the tracks seemed to approximately trail off in either the north or south. Towards the south, the tracks veered off in the distance, and I was left unsure as to where they may lead. To the north the tracks made its way through the edge of town.
I followed the tracks towards Ponyville. As I got closer and closer to the townspeople, or townsponies I guess, I moved slower and slower. There was no point in rescuing my friend if I was killed or captured before even getting to her. Part of me hated the idea, but I planned to move slow and cautious so as to be surer of my success.
I crawled by way into tall grass and the shade of a tree, just outside of a train station. It must’ve been nearing the afternoon by now. I was well hidden a few dozen feet from the tracks and a few more from the nearest building. I planned to stay there until a train did come by. Surely none of these ponies had any business on this side of the tracks. I hoped to simply board the train and leap off before it reached its destination. Hopefully an engine or something would be loud enough to cover my approach, but I think I could manage without it.
It bothered me that there were so many variable and unknown factors, but this was the only plan I had, so I had to make due with it. Hopefully I’ll be able to solve and problems as they arrived, but it was still unnerving.
All I had to do now was wait.
… And wait…
…God, I hate waiting…