//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: End of the journey  
// Story: Crossroads 
// by Jasmine Tea 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2
Everfree Forest:
The night was dark with the moon barely lighting the land. A traveler took comfort with the small light, counting herself fortunate for her luck. Trotting along a thorny path she felt a brush of winter air running across her raggedy old cloak, making her frame shiver. But she pushed her discomfort aside and pressed onward.
However, to her dismay, the wind picked up a photograph that she was keen on keeping. With a quick hoof, she grabbed it and looked upon it. She didn't know why she kept it but the best reason she could come up with was for memories. The mare carefully folded it up again and placed it in her cloak. There will be another time, she thought.
The forest that she was in made her wary. Looking up through the barren branches, she tried see the North Star through the sea of the sky. She didn't want to stay out there longer than she had to.
Her cloak shifted a bit, allowing her eyes to be shown through the shadow of her hood. They were a simple brown, framed by a pair of glasses with strange symbols etched on the frame.
“Beautiful,” she whispered with a tiny smile creeping onto her face. Pulling down her hood all away to the spine, revealing herself to be an Earthpony. With a deep red coat and cream/purple color mane. Her face was rather exotic, with her muzzle a bit longer then regular ponies, her eyes having a unique shape to them. But all those features were occupied by the sky. She was quite tempted to just lie down and stargaze all night. However, it wasn't the place or time to do it. Finding the North star she quickly moved down the trail heading towards hopefully an exit out of the gloomy woods.
Snap! Her ears swiveled, halting in her tracks. She peered at the dark surroundings. Nothing. She frowned, with a bit more caution she moved forward.  Snap! Snap!
"ROOOOOARRRRRR!”
“Come out already. I don’t have all night to wait for you,” she stated, scowling at her situation. Claws flashed across her eyes and in a fraction of a second her face calmed while her body relaxed and moved.
A second later the manticore roared in agony and clutched at a stump which previously held a paw. The cries could be heard throughout the forest alerting the inhabitants of his plight. None stepped forward to his aid.
The mare looked at the creature with pity, her face holding a frown. Next to her the missing paw lay there in a puddle of blood.
It was just an animal with no real anger towards her. It was just doing what a predator there should be doing.
She looked hard at the paw, an onlooker might say she seemed conflicted. She heard the beast's whine again as it started to curled up. Then her face straightened, dashing all previous thoughts away.
She calmly picked up the paw and slowly walked up to the manticore. The beast snarled at her and thrashed wildly; the intimidating presence was impressive but she continued onward. She suddenly felt a burning sensation on her front leg. She bit her tongue, not letting a scream whisper out from her lips.  Amongst all the thrashing she failed to notice the manticore's stinger coming at her.
The beast roared in a petty victory, if he lost his paw to this prey then she should lose something too. The mare grit her teeth in pain; she would have to take care of that later but for now she had this to contend with.
"Be still," she commanded, making the cat jump back in fright. He tried to stand on his paws again but couldn't. His whole being shook as she was next to him now. She lightly pet him. “Easy now, I’m not going to hurt you, I’m just putting your paw back on,” she quietly said, being mindful of the creature's state. It still cowered in front of her but she took it as better than before. Calmly the mare went up to his stump placing the paw next to it. A green circle of squiggles appeared front of the lion’s paw and arm.
The mare squinted her eyes in concentration, this was going to use a lot of her reserves.
Both ends of the fleshy wound began to glow. Tentacle like flesh came snaking out from his stump being guided by the lights. The same could be said for his paw, the two mounds of flesh attaching to each other. Once the two halves reunited with each other the circle vanish. The mare stood rigid, panting slightly.
"Go now," she commanded, not showing an ounce of fatigue. The cat sniffed at her, memorizing her scent; then he did something that she didn't expect. He bowed his head towards her and went off. With that the hybrid left giving a mighty roar, alerting the area of his turf; she’d have to thank him for that.
A few moments later she collapsed gritting in pain, the poison and energy drain affecting her now. Gathering her wits she began sucking the venom out of her leg and then spitting it out. She continued doing this process until she was satisfied with her work. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to stop the hallucinations.
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Screams flooded her head. The world around her began to melt away, leaving old film images in it's wake. "By the indalo amazulu." The earth was covered red like a painter gone mad. Red tin soldiers fluttered out from the blobs of red. They all lined up forming into a smiling face. That smile soon collapsed after the ground began to break apart and float upward.
"Please awaken from your slumber." An upside down concrete city springs up from the sky, shining from an land below. Burst of fire began to appeared, dancing throughout the city with its own manic glee.
"You will be safe here. Stop! Do not chafe your body! It is only your mind being unkind. Leave that ill world behind you now." Bodies began to pile up on top of each other, having horrified looks on them. Until one of them exploded, then they all exploded in a happy glee of blue dust. "What is this on your forehead?"
In the center of the mad mare's world was a filly, looking down on her world. In front of her was a bipedal creature. As far as the filly knew it was female to her, it stood on two legs that were translucent, the same could be said about her five digit claws on her arms. The chest was flat with a strange crystal embedded into it. Despite the unusual nature of everything else, the face was the most interesting part of the creature all because of its absence. Only a dot on her forehead.
A black horse came up to the filly and sat down next to her. He looked around at the chaotic mess, then to her again. "Hello my little alien, how are you?" The filly didn't answer, he looked across to the creature. "You know, I think she's lonely over there. Why don't you go over there and be together?" he said warmly, she still didn't answer. The horse frowned, "You're still too scared to talk to her, aren't you?"
"This place isn't real, you aren't real either," she said looking at the black horse. He wore a vacant look before shattering into dust.                              
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Slowly the images began to vanish, leaving her gasping in a cold sweat; clutching her chest. Her mind remained filled with hazy nightmares.
Quickly she looked around with bleary eyes, finding herself in a strange place; her cloak and saddle bags placed neatly next to her. There were Zebrican artifacts covering the walls and floor, some herbs that she recognized and others that she didn't know. In a corner of her eye she saw something black and white.
“I see you’re awake my-” before the zebra finished she was pinned to the wall by the Earthpony mare. Now in the light of the hut the zebra could see something extraordinary about the mare.
Both of her irises were different colors, the left an icy blue and the right a rich brown. Both had a star shaped pupil, which by all accounts was considered quite odd. At the moment those star-shaped pupils were dilated.
She stared at the zebra unflinching even though she was still poison-induced.
“Are you a friend or foe?” The red mare asked in the zebra’s native tongue. Taking stock of her captive she studied the zebra; she wasn't wearing the usual uniforms that she encountered. Her eyes fell to the markings on her gold bands and instantly recognized it. Eyes widening, she quickly and carefully let down the mare from the wall, letting her catch her breath. The Earth mare kneeled down on the floor, her hooves now feeling strain from the earlier adrenaline.
“You are a Shamanka!” she said letting her remorse show in her actions. "Please forgive me for my foolishness.”
The striped mare was in shock. In her long years of travels she had never met a creature like her before. Not only because she spoke her language fluently but she completely jumped her.
"While this is the most unusual way to greet one’s host but I can understand that you are not well," the zebra continued to speak in her tongue, not bothering to make any rhymes. She noticed how disheveled the red mare was.
“Thank you Shamanka,” The young mare replied; still kneeling in front of her. She felt her body burning up but she ignored that feeling.
“Just Zecora will do," she said; pausing for a moment. “What is your name child?” Zecora asked with a motherly tone.
“My name?” she hesitated for a moment, feeling herself going pale. “My name is Chai Tea,” she said not lifting her head up. Zecora lifted her chin up to truly see her, however the poor state of the mare was much more prominent than before.
“Come now Chai Tea, I fear that you may get sick on my floors,” no sooner had Zecora said that Chai emptied out the meager contents of her stomach. She wheezed out her breath and her face was pained; she closed her eyes and proceeded to pass out. “After a bathe first,” Zecora added.
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Chai woke up that morning with a clear mind and felt oddly refreshed. So, with her vision cleared, she stared up to the ceiling seeing a tribal symbol. It was a sun with a spiral inside. She let out a quiet sigh, knowing that she would be safe in this witch-doctor's house. The sound of music perked her ears. She looked to the center of the room, where Zecora stood over a bubbling cauldron; singing a nursery rhyme along with an old gramophone.
“That’s quite beautiful,” Chai couldn't help herself, it just came out. “So Diyara, right?”
The zebra stopped what she was doing and turned. Chai could feel the mare study her, like she was a new species or something. But not like an interrogation or a dissection, it was just too innocent for that. So she decided on calling the situation, curiosity.
"Yes," Zecora for her part just gave a good natured chuckle. “I thank you for the compliment, but may I ask how you knew? It’s not often that I meet another fellow traveler as myself was.”
“I picked up Swahili when I was in the grasslands. A chieftain was kind enough to give me this knowledge,” Chai replied. A memory came floating to the forefront of her mind and a feeling of dread washed across her face. She quickly propped herself up from her bed looking around for her glasses.
"Chai are you are right? May I help?” asked Zecora gently so not to repeat yesterday’s debacle.
The injured mare paused for a moment; thinking carefully of her next few words. “Tell me Zecora, did you see my eyes?” she asked while avoiding looking the zebra in the face.
“Yes. They are like the sky and Earth. Hmm, reminds me of a story I once heard,” as Zecora finished she saw Chai fish out a pair of glasses and put them on. Immediately both eyes began to change. The left blue eye began to fade to Brown, while both her irises contracted into circles. Chai looked up to the zebra with ordinary brown eyes. That unnerved  Zecora, but she said nothing.
“Yes, Heterochromia can do that to a pony,” Chai said in a strange tone, making the zebra eyes glaze over for a moment before she blinked her eyes several times. The red mare continued the conversation like nothing happened. “A story you say?”
“Well not much of a story but, a legend,” Zecora replied nonchalantly. “But enough of that, let us see what we can fix.” She turned off the gramophone and moved towards Chai.
“There’s no need for that, I’m fine now see,” as she said that she began to stand up fully. One by one she moved all her limbs in a circular manner.
“It seems so but still, I worry,” Zecora said frowning.
“Please don’t worry about me, Zecora. Just... did anything happen... after you found me?” Chai asked, having a gut feeling that she did.
“Yes, I’m afraid to say, the other night you attacked me when you were still ill, my dear mare,”  she said, sitting down and rubbing her hoof on her other leg . “I’m only thankful that you saw me as a friend then as a foe,” Zecora added, giving timid smile to the red mare. Looking at the zebra mare closely there was some discoloration around her neck and front leg.
She looked down, her hair covering her face. she felt a stab in her chest. “I’m sorry, thank you for your hospitality; I’ll leave now,” Chai replied in a monotone voice.   
Opening her bag, Chai peer at her belongings with a sense of familiarity. She reached in only to pulled out a small blue glass-like rock. “For all the trouble I put you through,” she said placing the stone in Zecora’s hooves.
Grabbing her bags she passed the zebra mare and headed off to the door, not waiting for her response. She wanted to put distance between Zecora and herself.  
“Are you afraid of yourself warrior; does your heart tell you that this is the right thing to do, to run away?” Chai stopped dead in her track, her whole being shook at that statement. It sounded like blasphemy to her, just what did this zebra know about her anyways. Only three words repeated in her mind, to run away. She turned to the zebra facing her.
“I am a wanderer, Shamanka. Constantly drifting off to places. What gives you that idea that I am?" Chai said politely as to persuade the zebra but Zecora wouldn't have it.
“You recognize me as someone important, someone that should be respected at all times,” Zecora pressed but Chai refused to comment on that. "Outsiders see my craft as the same as any other, except warriors from my land. So again I ask, how is it that you knew?"
"Zecora, Shamans are known throughout the world. That's a bit of a silly question, don't you think?" Chai explained, her argument being valid. She turned back to the pathway, set on leaving.  
"Yes, I am aware of them, however a Sharmanka from the summit of Zebraliland are one of the few to understand combat." The zebra said sagely, "you even gave me a sacred stone that is only known to my kind, to my home. Only given to those who has bested them." Chai had only one thing to say to her.
“Then that should tell you why I must leave," she said in a cold tone. Chai could admit that the zebra had a point; however she had a better one.
"Perhaps you're right, you could've slane me and be on your way,–" as I thought. "–But your honor will not allowed that, my young Maasai." So she thought, Chai could already feel her words biting back at her.
"I do not know who you are, but you show great pain that weight heavily in your heart.  I don't believe a creature with this strain cannot also greave." The zebra came to Chai’s side, nudging her back inside. She didn't budge, Zecora got the idea that she didn't want to speak, then asked. "Do you have a home to g–"
"Where's the nearest Ocean-port town?"  Chai asked forcefully.
"All right then, you do not have to speak. Just listen to what I have to say. You might just want to stay," she said while trying to urge her back inside.
Chai was at a crossroads with herself. She could just leave this mare and be on her way to the next town. On the other hoof, she could stay and listen; it was not like she had anywhere to be. Somehow that notion made her feel unpony like. That home comment struck a chord in a forgotten part of her mind.
‘Chai, home is where the heart is at and if you let other’s in it will only grow bigger.’ Her face softened hearing that distant memory. How did I forget about that saying, brother... Maybe… it's time for me to settle.
“Alright,” Chai began, “I’m listening.” Zecora smiled at her.