Zecora galloped to the place where she had last seen the Basilisk. Heedless of the razor sharp edges of the knife bushes’ leaves, she located one spotted with its dried blood. She took a small vial from her saddlebag, shook it, pulled the cork stopper and poured a few drops onto the largest bloodstain while shouting “Kupata nyoka!”
Tendrils of glowing green smoke rose from the clot and began tracing an ever widening spiral around her upheld hoof. After a moment’s hesitation, the wisps snaked into the forest. Zecora lept over the knife bushes and crashed through the underbrush in hot pursuit.
Thanks to her still damaged eyesight, the trail of the Basilisk wasn’t always obvious, but then, the glowing green tendrils were nevertheless easy to follow even for one visually impaired as she was.
Thank the Maker that I know this spell, she thought as she coursed through the underbrush as fast as she could manage. But it will only last a short while! Grant that the basilisk did not run far! she prayed.
The minutes stretched into eternities as the glowing wisps snaked back and forth following the haphazard path of the wounded reptile. More than once she almost followed it off a precipice as the trail meandered along a cliff in the ridge.
As if in a gruesome exchange for the sharpness of her sight, faces from her own past appeared in every shadow she crossed: her mother’s when she left the village; her sister’s when she announced she was leaving on a voyage to the far north; her father’s as she saw him that last time, hitched to a cart filled with maize; Shad’s as he lay in his sleeping nest, one hoof already in the grave.
I’ve lost so much already! she thought. Please, Maker, I beg of you, spare the little one!
Deep inside, she knew there was more to ask. Her vow to the truth demanded it.
Please, spare me this loss!
As she rushed through the forest, her tears added wet spots to leaves already stained crimson.
The glow was beginning to fade, and Zecora’s hopes with it, when she finally came to a point on the ridge that jutted over the lake far below and stopped, alert. The trees had given way to thin bushes followed by scrub on the stony ground of the promontory. A bloodied green shape laid a short distance ahead.
The basilisk faced her, shivering, belly to the ground. Even with Zecora’s blurry vision it was obvious the creature was gravely hurt. Deep gouges along its head showed where the wounded reptile had attempted to scrape off the golden ring clamped tight around its mouth. Its remaining eye had been spared, but all four of its limbs were crusted over with blood, most of them showing a missing or dangling claw.
Pity, and guilt, filled Zecora’s heart.
“My poor little green skinned cow, I regret I still must milk you now,” she apologized to the battered animal. It rose shakily to its legs and took a step backwards.
Zecora extracted several small packages from her saddlebags. “And since I no longer have the means to stun, for you this process shall not be much fun.” She stood on her hind legs, placed both forehooves together, and focused on the ring clamping shut the animal’s jaws. “Once again, I must cause you pain,” she advised the basilisk.
She spread her hooves apart and the ring grew, and since the metal had embedded itself in the creature's flesh its jaws were forced apart. The basilisk erupted upwards in a scramble of legs, scratching at the ring in its snout and hissing loudly in renewed agony. The bloodied circlet was finally pushed off and landed at Zecora’s hooves, dripping flesh and blood.
The basilisk rushed at Zecora. She stood her ground and dropped a sparkler to each side of her. Each one erupted into bright flame and smoke. The basilisk froze at the sight. It shook its head left and right, trying to spy a way past the zebra with its remaining eye. Failing to see a safe route, it began to retreat again.
Zecora removed another ring from her neck. “I’m sorry I cannot allow you to flee and hide, for one dear to me needs what only you can provide.”
As she had hoped, the basilisk was unable to open its damaged mouth very wide. It hissed at her as she expanded the ring in her hooves. When it was as large as the span of her forelegs, she ran forwards and threw it over the creature’s head and onto its neck, quickly reducing its size. It gleamed like a golden collar against the damaged hide.
Zecora scrambled back to her initial position between the sparklers as the basilisk bucked and fought to remove the choking ring. She kept a close eye on the reptile’s struggles, carefully adjusting the ring’s size around its neck. She would have only a short time in which to milk its poison glands after it lost consciousness. And if it died she would not be able to extract the venom at all.
She took an empty sample bottle from her saddlebags and held it in one hoof as the creature’s struggles grew weak and finally ceased.
“One, two, three...” She counted out loud until she hit sixty seconds and galloped up to the immobile basilisk. With her hooves she forced the reptile’s jaws apart, locating one of the venom ducts in the roof of its mouth. Urgently, she pressed a hoof against the spot until the venom sac inside began to pulse, squirting a foul smelling liquid. She placed the mouth of the sample bottle over the venom duct, collecting the milky liquid inside. When the tube was almost full she pulled away from the basilisk’s mouth and pushed the cork stopper into the sample tube’s opening.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped back to the sparklers and placed the tube inside her saddlebags.
She was about to leave when a wave of guilt assaulted her. The basilisk! You can’t let it die just because it had something you wanted.
She brought her hooves together and then spread them apart quickly. The ring around the basilisk’s neck expanded, releasing the blood flow to its brain.
She waited as the animal lay bleeding in the sun, immobile. It did not resume breathing.
Zecora hung her head. I took too long! Spirits, please forgive me!
She looked back at the beast. “I’m sorry that so much of your blood was spilled. Truly, I did not wish you to be killed,” she whispered. She bent down to pick up her saddlebag when she heard a sudden noise behind her. She rose quickly but before she could turn she was struck by a heavy object.
Zecora tumbled to the edge of the cliff, only barely managing to clamp a hoof around a branch overlooking the drop. She hung precariously as the basilisk slowly shuffled in her direction.
Maker, the colt... The prayer had not yet fully formed in her thoughts when a streak of blue hooves and feathers slammed into the basilisk’s side and sent it flying off of the cliff and onto the rocks far below. In it’s place stood a blue coated pegasus mare with a rainbow mane. She sported a smug grin on her muzzle.
“Saved at the last second by yours truly! Now what could be cooler than that?!” said Rainbow Dash, striking a heroic pose.
“Rainbow Dash! How is possible that you arrive just when I need help to stay alive?”
The blue pegasus trotted forward to help Zecora scramble up to safety. “Oh, you can thank Twilight and Apple Bloom. When you went missing they checked out your house and somehow figured out you were probably around these parts. We’ve been searching for almost a day. And then –” she pointed to the sparklers “– I saw these and figured it might be you and there might be trouble. A bit of fancy flying and awesome hoof work later, and it’s bye-bye monster!”
Her grin was replaced by a puzzled expression when Zecora, finally back on all fours, surged past her to the saddlebag lying on the ground between the two sparklers.
Zecora pulled open the flap and looked inside. A stain and bits of shattered glass marked where the sample bottle containing the venom had been stored. Her head drooped and she fell to her haunches, tears welling up in her eyes.
Rainbow Dash approached. “Zecora? What’s so important about that bag?” she asked.
“The medicine I needed to save the foal, it’s...it’s been destroyed.” Zecora gulped and looked up. “And the one source for it I know of you bucked into the void...”
Dash blushed and looked contrite. “Geez, I’m really sorry, Zecora, but that was a basilisk! A pony doesn’t mess around with dangerous critters like that.”
Dash’s eyes suddenly opened wide. “Say, Zecora! Is this like some medicine you would find in a first aid kit?” she asked, tilting her head. “Twilight insisted we bring her mega-big camping medical kit with us when we set out to find you. She’s maybe ten minutes away at my top speed. Should I, like, go and get it?”
Zecora jumped up onto all fours, fear and hope warring in her eyes. “Rainbow Dash, the kit you must bring! The life of a foal now depends on your wings!”
One instant Dash was there, the next a rainbow trail arced into the sky. A huge bang echoed over the Everfree as an expanding circular rainbow spread out to the horizon.
Zecora gazed up in awe until the colourful arc passed beyond sight. It wasn't the first time she had seen the phenomenon. A miracle on high, that make hearts sigh!
Her smile died on her lips. She limped to the edge of the cliff and looked down. The body of the basilisk lay crumpled at its base, undeniably dead. Or so she thought until she saw the creature's leg twitch, watching in disbelief as the basilisk rose even more shakily than before to its legs and hesitantly limped off into the woods near the cliff’s base. Her smile returned.
A second miracle the heavens allow! Go in peace and heal, my big green cow! With hope in her heart, Zecora sat down to wait for Rainbow Dash’s return.
Zecora didn’t have long to wait. Barely ten minutes had passed when Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash appeared in a lavender flash of light.
The cerulean mare shivered uneasily. “You know, every time you do that it gives me the heebie-jeebies!” groused Dash, rubbing a hoof on her chest as if to reassure herself that she had exited the teleport all in one piece.
Twilight trotted up to Zecora and hugged her tightly. “Thank goodness you’re safe! Dashie says you need medicine for a foal.” Taking a step back she noticed Zecora’s injuries. “Looks like you could use some patching up as well!” She levitated a large satchel marked with a medical symbol into Zecora’s hooves. The mare wasted no time in opening it up and digging hurriedly through its contents.
“A youngster lies nearby with a deadly blood infection,” she said as she pulled and discarded items from the kit. “We must immediately give him antipathogen potion!”
"Ndiyo!" she exclaimed. With a trembling hoof she pulled a small box of vials from the huge kit. “Thank the spirits! We have it!” She began trotting into the forest.
“Wait!” Twilight called, “Zecora, can you point out where we need to go from here?”
The Zebra stopped abruptly and went back to stand next to Twilight. She pointed towards a low hill. “At the base of that mound lies a cave, and within it the colt we must save.”
Dash made a face. “Awe, geez, not ag–”
“–ain!” The three mares stood near a rock wall. Dash inspected her limbs and sighed in relief when she saw nothing was missing. The entrance to a cave was just barely visible next to a large thorn bush.
“Come!” said Zecora, hurrying into the dark opening. Twilight and Dash rushed in after her.
They found Zecora kneeling on the cave floor next to a depression full of soft materials, including a large number of grey feathers. She was injecting a shot of the antipathogen into the flank of a small rust coated earth pony colt.
“Ewe, what’s that smell?” asked Dash. Twilight lit her horn and carefully moved deeper into the cave.
“There’s a pool of vomit here,” she announced. There was a flash. “Correction: there was a pool of vomit here!” Walking back she found Dash with her brow furrowed examining one of the feathers.
“This is a pegasus feather, Twi.” She placed it reverently back into the nest. “I figure these were left here by the kid’s mother.”
Twilight’s horn glowed brighter and she looked around. Her eyebrows rose when the light revealed the walls of the cave. They were full of words and pictures. “Apple, Bear, Cat,” she read. “Looks like the foal was learning to read as well.” She exchanged smiles with Dash.
Zecora, finished with her ministrations, had wrapped her forelimbs tightly around the little foal and was crooning to him softly. “Namshukuru Muumba...”
She could not find the voice to finish the prayer. Instead, she let her tears speak for her.
Looking at the pair, Twilight grew serious and her ears drooped. “Zecora, do you know where his mother is?” she asked.
Zecora took a halting breath. “He has lived alone in this cave for months, if not longer. His survival out here is truly a wonder.” She wiped her eyes then stroked the colt’s mane. “I’ve seen no evidence of young Shad’s mother. That she yet lives, I would not wager.”
She straightened slightly and looked up at Twilight. “He needs the attention of a proper medical facility, can you transport him to Ponyville with your ability?”
Twilight looked at her and nodded. “I can manage a teleport that far nowadays. And not only him but you too, as you’re also in clear need of a doctor. Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah, Twi?”
Twilight pulled an expandable bag from her saddlebags. “Please fill this with everything that will fit from this cave, especially all of the feathers from the nest. They might be all this little fella has left of his mother.” Rainbow nodded and promptly began looking around at what she could gather from the colt’s few possessions.
“And, Dash,” Twilight called. Rainbow looked back. “Bring the team back home safely!” She winked before disappearing in a purple flash of light together with Zecora and the small colt.
The pegasus smiled broadly to herself. “No sweat! I’ll see you there!”