//------------------------------// // The (sorry excuse of an) Aftermath // Story: A Bit For Your Thoughts? // by Kihano //------------------------------// Deep In Everfree Forest, Noon K grumbled to himself, ducking under branches and twigs while the occasional curse escaped his mouth, as he angrily walked towards who knows where. He wasn't actually angry at the fact that he was in a forest, in fact he loved the forest, heck he practically lived in one. No, he was angry at himself and the fact that he had gotten careless, overconfident with the knowledge that he could beat them easily in a fight. What made him even angrier at himself was that he shouldn't have been overconfident and underestimated the 6 ponies, not after the beating Snowball had given him. And the fact that didn't help him in his situation in the slightest was that he had no bloody idea where the hell he was going. He quite literally closed his eyes, spun around until he was feeling slightly nauseous, and shakily walked towards the direction he faced when he opened his eyes. Really, first he got his ass kicked by a princess, then again by a rabbit, he technically didn't get his ass kicked by the Elements of Harmony, but it might as well have been, and now his magic was being wonky and he had no idea why. What next? *GROWL* 'Oh for the love of Faust, It was a rhetorical question!' And now he was hungry, fantastic. K, in all his immortality, had fought and participated in countless battles, whether they be small or historical, usually involving some kind of power-hungry madpony trying to steal one or two of his artifacts. So to die of hunger, and not in the heat of battle, was quite anti-climactic. Sure he would reform in a few months, give or take a few weeks, but damn it his warrior pride demanded that he go out with a bang. He almost wished that some dangerous wild animal would randomly appear out of nowhere, just so he could kill, cook it, and eat it, preferably in that order. K paused in mid-step and waited, looking around in silence and hope. When nothing happened, he let out a disappointed 'aw' and continued in his path. Zecora's Hut, Noon Zecora looked out through the window of her little hut, idly lifting the wooden cup to her lips to sip some of her delicious home brewed tea. She couldn't help but get the feeling that something strange was going to happen soon. Be it the good kind of strange or the bad kind, she wasn't so sure. *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* The sudden loud disruption in her usual solitude nearly caused her to jump in surprise. When the knocks began again, she placed a hoof on her chest and took a calming breath, trying to ease her heart rate that was beating faster than it should be. "Tis some visiter," Zecora quoted silently to herself, finally calm enough, as she headed towards the door, grasping the knob. "tapping at my chamber door, only this and nothing more." 'I wonder who is visiting me at this hour? To have enough courage to enter this forest and not cower?' The first pony who came to mind was little Apple Bloom. The youngest of the Apple Family had taken to visiting her hut frequently now that Zecora doubted that the little filly had any qualms about entering the forest. Provided she stuck to that path she showed her, of course. As quickly as that thought came, it left. It couldn't have been Apple Bloom. She was most likely still in school and still had to help out her siblings. So then... who was it? Zecora (finally) opened the door and was met with a huge wall of gray fur. She blinked multiple time and even rubbed them for good measure, just to make sure that she wasn't seeing things. A bark from below got her attention and she looked down to see a small brown wolf cub staring at her with a serious expression that looked adorable instead of intimidating. What sounded suspiciously like a cough rumbled out from atop the wall of grey fur, causing Zecora to look back up at it. This time when she got a clear look at it, her eyes widened considerably and she felt her jaw drop in shock. "Please excuse us zebra, but may we take a moment of your time?" The giant wolf's deep voice rumbled out in it's version of a gentle tone. "We are called Sif, and this little one, Fenrir. We are looking for a merchant. Odd creature, green hair, stands on two legs, likes to wear a brown cloak, quite eccentric?" Zecora couldn't take in the fact that there was a ginormous predator that could speak intelligently sitting outside of her hut and should have fainted right then and there. But she didn't, much to her own surprise. Spending days around Ponyville and living in the Everfree Forest seemed to have the ability to give a pony (or zebra in her case) immunity to this sort of thing. Fenrir's head abruptly shot up, the little wolf's nose twitching as he sniffed a scent he was very familiar with. He looked up to Sif and gave him a not-so subtle nod. Sif rolled his eyes at his little companion's attempt and merely nodded back, turning his head downwards to face the bemused zebra who watched their interaction. "It seems that your aid in no longer required, zebra. We are sorry for the inconvenience." The two wolves didn't even make any sort of noise, which was impressive considering the size of the grey wolf, as they quickly bounded off deeper in the forest. Zecora just stood there by her doorway, dumbfounded, before quickly going back inside for a long nap, locking the door for good measure. That was enough strangeness for the day. Golden Oaks Library, Noon "Oh Fluttershy, that must have been absolutely dreadful. To be held captive by such a horrifying monster." Rarity once again dramatically held her foreleg against her head, dropping on a conveniently placed luxury couch, courtesy of Spike. They had all decided to go to the library after what happened and Twilight immediately set off for Spike to send a message to the princess. Right now they were just waiting for Celestia's response pertaining the current situation. "But I wasn't-" Fluttershy tried, Faust know how many times she did, to explain but was interrupted. "What was it like? I bet it was fun. Did you guys have a party? *GASP* I should totally make a 'welcome-to-ponyville' party for him. Does he like parties? I bet he likes parties. Do you think he likes cake? Oh silly me, of course he likes cake. I mean, who doesn't like cakes? Oh, what about-" "Woah there, Pinkie. No need to go houndin' on Fluttershy like that," Applejack said casually, her hoof placed on Pinkie's mouth, preventing her from continuing her endless questions. "Besides I think its a might too dangerous to host a party for... whatever he was. I mean look at what he did to Rainbow." "Hey! I'll have you know that I could've taken him down in 10 seconds flat." Rainbow confidently stated, crossing her forelegs as she idly hovered in the air. "I think it was the other way around with what we saw, sugarcube." Applejack slyly grinned as Rainbow's eye twitched in irritation. Just as Rainbow Dash was about to retort, the familiar sound of Spike belching and a scroll being unrolled reached their ears, and as one, turned to face Twilight who was skimming over the letter. Setting down the piece of parchment, she regarded her friends with an expression of relief. "Celestia said that she, herself, would come to Ponyville to fully analyze the situation. Whatever that thing was, its as good as caught with the princess herself on the case." A few cheers and affirmations broke out from the group, except for Fluttershy, who was very much worried. Even if she did try to explain now, that she wasn't being held against her will, they would probably think that she was just being her usual kind and timid self. So as she hid behind her mane and left, her friends relaxing and also went off to do their respective duties, she knew that things won't end well.