One of a Kind

by JaHarre


Explanations

Haiba was pacing in front of her hut.

"You didn't find him?"

"No, we found his tracks heading west but he ran off so quickly and so late in the day that we had to get back home before it got dark." Momboza answered.

"Even with the Catoblepas gone, it is still dangerous to be outside the village after dark. Even as we were turning around to come back we heard a monstrous roar off in the distance followed by what sounded to be several massive animals fighting. One of the warriors was even hit on the head by a rock from that direction."

Hearing this didn't help to calm her fears. In fact, it only made them worse and her pacing quickened. When Momboza saw that his wife was truly concerned about this stranger, he put his arm around her to stop her pacing and held her close.

"Don't worry about him too much my dear. He's a big tiger thingy. I'm sure he can take care of himself. I mean after all, He did kill a Catoblepas."

Haiba couldn't help but lean into the safety of the towering strength of her husband. After all these years, it still felt wonderful to be held by him, but she still wasn't so sure about the tiger.

"You didn't see the look in his eyes as he ran off." she responded quietly

"It seemed as though his whole world fell apart around him. The pain and fright seemed too much for him. He looked like a little foal who had lost his way and had no where to turn to."

She was afraid about what he might do to himself while in such a state.

Momboza understood his wife's caring heart. Even when she was a young filly, she had always cared for the well being of others. That has always been her strongest attribute. It has made her a better shaman and, more importantly to him, a better wife and mother for their family. If he was the Village's strength then she was its heart.

He nuzzled her gently.

"Lets go inside and I promise that at first light we will start looking again."

She nuzzled him back and allowed him to lead her inside.

_____________________________________________________________________________

(The next day)

It was about mid day when I finally awoke and sat up.

"uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhgggggggg."

'Ya know, ever since I came to this place I have yet to wake up and not be sore or injured of some sort.' my stomach growled ' or hungry.' I thought as I arched my back and stretched out my front legs. I then stretched out my hind legs and sat down to evaluate how best to get out of this sink hole.

'It only seems to be about twelve feet deep so I should be able to jump out pretty easily,' I crouched down and jumped as hard as I could. I surprised myself as I cleared the top of the hole with two ft. to spare. Oh, and I also surprised a heard of antelope that was grazing nearby. I was kinda expecting them to bolt away. I mean come on, a big 400 pound mass of dirt, fur, teeth and claws all of a sudden pops out of a hole in the ground, and you don't run away? To their credit, they just stood there, not moving.

I just sat there in shock. They did look kind of tasty but I had to test the waters so to speak.

"Hi there, um... can any of you talk?"

"..."

"MONSTER!" They screamed.

And as one unit, they hightailed it out of there.

"Damn! Well I guess that answers that question."

I looked around and tried to figure out which direction I came from. It was nearly impossible to tell with the sun directly over head and the trampling of the antelope scattered any of my own tracks from last night. 'hmmm... Lets see. I do remember running toward the sun in the afternoon so the village must be east...ish from here. I hope. Now which way is east?'

Lets face it, with out a compass or the sun being in one direction or the other, I was lost. With out a direction to go, I decided to at least follow the antelope. They marked a pretty decent trail through the tall grass.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Come on gents! Get those covered carts secured! I don't want the cargo getting lost due to carelessness!" Ordered the burly unicorn as he supervised the mass of activity that involved the entire caravan.

"We only need a few of you to come to the village, so the rest of you can guard the expensive merchandise!"

"But boss, what kind of merchandise should we bring with us?" asked a young pegasus stallion.

The burly unicorn just rolls his eyes

"Your new at this aren't ya?"

The young pegasus just nods.

"You got a name?"

"Fleet Wing, sir"

"Well Slow Hoof, let me clue you in on something.These zebras are pretty stupid. They would pay gems for trinkets so that's what we'll give them. Some glass beads or a cheap set of pots or a bolt of cloth, a couple of dragon scales, I don't care just so long as its not too expensive."

"Uhm... it's Fleet Wing sir, but what do they have that we would travel for two weeks to the middle of nowhere for?"

At this, the unicorn smiled. It sent shivers up the young pegsus's spine.

"Potions, zebras make the most powerful potions in all Equestria and these particular zebras have the best potion maker of all the zebra tribes. Just one potion that she makes will pay for this trip alone, and I intend to clean out her inventory."

____________________________________________________________________

"How far can this guy run?" Momboza mumbled.

He and Zimba and about four other warriors had been out since first light just as he had promised his wife. They had followed his tracts to a huge clearing that looked like it was the place of the fighting animals from yesterday. There was grass and soil torn up, bushes shredded, and rocks thrown all over the place.

"Great! This is going to be fun trying to find his trail in all this." Zimba moaned.

"Spread out and see if you can find his trail again on the edge of this mess." Momboza ordered.

"If we can find wh..."

All of a sudden the ground started to tremble as a whole heard of antelope burst into the clearing.

"Look out!" a warrior shouted.

Momboza ran out of the way of the heard and tripped one of the antelope on the edge with his staff. before it could get back up, he got over top of it and asked,

"Why are you running? What is chasing you?"

"A MONSTER!"

"What monster? What did it look like?"

Momboza knew that antelope were skittish and easily frightened to begin with, but with the mention of a monster roaming around he had to make sure that it wasn't something like the last monster that terrorized his village.

"It was horrible! It was orange and had big teeth and claws and it came straight from Tartarus from a hole in the ground!"

Momboza felt an odd mixture of relief and confusion as he realized that this 'monster' was the missing tiger and not some demon from the underworld come to torment them further. But, why was he in a hole?

After letting the antelope up to run after its herd, Momboza led his small band down the antelope path. They hadn't gone too far when the spied a dirty orange shape in the distance. It seemed to notice them as well because it started running faster.

He skidded to a halt and exclaimed,

"Chief! Zimba! Am I glad to see you guys!

He looked like he was about to embrace them, but Momboza was going to have none of that. With out a moments hesitation, he grabbed his staff and smacked the tiger on the head.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Ow! What was that for?" I asked as soon as I was able to see straight.

"That was for worrying my wife. She's been a nervous wreck since you ran off the other day."

I started feeling guilty as I rubbed the sore spot on my head.

"First Zimba then you. She doesn't deserve this. As it is, you may end up sharing Zimba's punishment."

Now I felt really bad. I didn't mean to upset the mare who had been so helpful to me, and I certainly didn't want to be punished by her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't intend to worry her like that. I kinda got lost and couldn't find my way back to the village."

He took a deep breath and let it out.

"Its alright. Are you going to be ok?

"Yeah, yeah I'll be fine."

"Good"

And in another swift movement, He brought that staff down on my head again.

"GEEZ! What was that for?" I hissed in pain as I held my head.

"That was for making me come out here to find you."

Zimba and the warriors stared chuckling.

"Yeah that, and you need to learn how to duck." Zimba piped in.

Momboza then took a swing at Zimba. There was a resounding smack as it made contact with his head. Now the warriors busted up laughing.

"Looks like you need some more practice your self Zimba!" one of them hollered.

I couldn't help chuckle myself as both of us nursed sore heads.

Momboza just smiled.

"Come on, your mother will have dinner waiting"

____________________________________________________________________

It was approaching dusk when we made it back to the village. Haiba was the first one to greet us as she ran up and embraced her husband and then her son. When she looked at me, she stood up straight and gave me a scolding I'll never forget.

"Where have you been? You had me worried sick! Didn't you know that its dangerous out there by yourself at night? I have half a mind to work you till you can't stand any more. Look at you're self. You're absolutely filthy! You are not allowed back in my hut until you go down to the river and bathe."

She pointed to just out side the village. As soon as she took a breath, she wrapped her hooves around me in the biggest hug.

"I'm sorry that you have had such a hard time here."

This whole display of emotion made me a bit uneasy. I'm not very good with dealing with all of this so I just embraced her back and hoped that my awkwardness didn't show.

"Now,"

she stepped back sniffing as she tried to wipe away some tears. She gave me a bar of lye soap.

"Go and get cleaned up. Dinner will be waiting for you when your done."

As I was washing in the river, I tried to understand just how come these zebras cared so much about me. The care and love of Haiba. The silent concern of Momboza. The playful banter with Zimba. It was like they adopted me with out my permission.

Not that I'm complaining or anything. It has been wonderful being around a family again. It had been a few months since I last saw my own family. I didn't get to make it back home much this past semester.

In order to not be overcome by this recent bout of homesickness, I put all my efforts into scrubbing myself clean. I scrubbed till my coat gleamed. The fur down my chest and stomach was actually white not brown like I had thought it was, and the rest was a nice deep orange with stripes as black as night running all over my body. I finally got a good look at my eyes now that I had the bandage off. They were a metallic green and they were slit pupils like a normal cats eye. I felt and looked like a million bucks.

When I walked into the hut, all conversation stopped as everyone looked at me.

"..."

"What?"

"So that's what you look like." Zimba answered.

"Ha, Ha, I forgot how to laugh."

I sat down next to him as Haiba gave me a bowl with some soup in it.

"You look very nice. Much better than being caked in mud now isn't it?"

"Yes ma'am, it is."

"I just have to know one thing before anypony else asks you questions."

"Yes ma'am, What is it?"

"What is your name?"

I was shocked. I had been with them for nearly three or four days and I hadn't ever properly introduced my self.

"It's Tony"

"..."

"Well that's a stupid name" Zimba said right before his mother slaps him on his foreleg.

"Be polite."

"Its alright. I guess around here it does sound kind of weird"

"Back home, having a name like Zimba would be kinda funny. That kid would get teased to no end."

Zimba slugs me on the arm.

"So where are you from?" Momboza asks as he joins in on the conversation.

Now that was a loaded question. I decided to give them the briefest overview I possibly could.

I explained about earth and a little about its geography. I talked about my home country and how it was divided up into states. I told them about my family and where we lived in the south. They were a bit shocked when I told them that my world had no magic.

"So what was your occupation?" Momboza asked.

"Well, I was just about to graduate collage with a degree in mechanical engineering."

I got three blank stares for that one.

"It means that I can create things that help to solve problems."

"Ohhhhh" they say simultaneously.

"Is that what those strange square things are for? To help you solve problems?" Zimba asked.

"Square things? ... Oh, you mean my computer. Yes, they help me to design things and allows me to take notes and stuff. Not to mention, allowing me to have some fun while I work.

"Can I see it!?"

"Its up to your dad. He has them at the moment."

"Dad can we?"

"Fine, go get them"

And like a black and white streak of lightning, Zimba was out the door and back again in 15 seconds flat. Needless to say, they were all pretty fascinated by my laptop. Luckily with it off, the battery still had a charge to it but only about an hours worth. When I told them it ran on bottled lightning a.k.a a battery, they where astounded. I could have sworn I heard Haiba mumble something about us not having any magic.

I showed them pictures of me and my family and friends. At first they didn't believe me that that was what I looked like before I got here. I showed them how I had songs and games on it as well, and after all this Momboza started to rub his head.

"Now I know how you felt when you got here."

"Yea it was quite a shock"

"Well I'm glad that your all right now and I just wish we could help you get back home." Zimba said.

I shuffled my paws a little, not sure how to say this right.

"I think you already have helped me get a home."

At this, Momboza and Haiba shared a look like they were communicating silently.

"Huh? What do you mean? Zimba inquired.

"Well, ever since I got here you three have nursed me back to health in both body and mind and I have actually felt like you've cared for me. I appreciate you including me like you have."

We all sat there for another good five minutes in silence before Haiba said that it was late and that we needed to go to bed.
As I lay there on my mat, I realized that this was the happiest I've felt since I came to Equestria. I felt a low rumbling in my chest and it started to get louder. It sounded like a diesel engine idling. I laid there for a few minutes as I tried to get it under control but I couldn't stop. ' Am I purring?'

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Author: Hey everypony! I was writing this chapter and it seemed to just keep going on and on so I split it up into two chapters. The plot should move faster in the next chapter. Hope ya'll enjoy it. As always constructive criticism is appreciated. And yes tony the tiger is supposed to be a joke. He has no clue what an appropriate equestrian name is so he gave his human name. which just so happens to be tony, hope you like it.