"Thank you so much again for coming with me, girls."
"No sweat, Princess." Rainbow Dash did not turn around as she spoke. Instead, she kept her keen eyes intently scanning the expanse of wilderness ahead of the three youthful pony mares. "Any of these Everfree Forest monsters wants to start something with my friends, I've got a nice big can of whup-rump ready to open."
"Hopefully it won't come to that," Princess Twilight Sparkle replied. "Remember, Fluttershy here is our first line of defence. Only if she can't talk it down or face it down do we resort to more ... direct methods."
Rainbow Dash grumbled in disappointment. "I guess."
"There's certainly no shortage of dangerous creatures in this forest." Fluttershy, a pale yellow pegasus with a flowing, candy-pink mane and tail, was also continuously checking her surroundings. Unlike Rainbow Dash she was not flying but walked beside Twilight. "Communicating with them will be a big responsibility but I'll certainly do my——"
A sharp shushing sound from Rainbow Dash halted Fluttershy's gentle, serene commentary. "We've got company," rasped the blue-coated pegasus, pointing to the sky directly above the trio.
Fluttershy and Twilight squinted upwards and could just make out a tiny, dark speck far overhead. The shape did not stay small for long, though. It quickly changed course and drew nearer, assuming the distinct form of a large, deep purple bird of prey, diving directly towards the three ponies.
"Take cover," cried Fluttershy.
"Too late." Rainbow Dash placed herself in mid-air between the raptor and her two friends and aggressively brandished her forehooves. Twilight Sparkle stood by and pointed her single, spiralled horn towards the attacker. Both ponies grew somewhat more nervous when they registered the monstrous size of the onrushing roc, who was easily big enough to encircle a pony in each of her sickle-talonned feet.
Fluttershy drew directly in front of a surprised Rainbow Dash and hovered with her eyes set directly on the roc. Steadily, she shook her head.
The roc pulled out of her swoop, cruised overhead in a slow circle for a few seconds, then beat her enormous wings and wheeled away. Fluttershy watched the raptor's departure, then continued on her way into the forest, her friends briefly hurrying to catch her up.
Rainbow Dash turned in astonishment to Fluttershy. "That ... was ... amazing!"
"I know," enthused Fluttershy. "The roc certainly is a majestic sight."
"No, I meant——"
A harsh, piercing shriek interrupted Rainbow, whose momentary distraction had prevented her from noticing the hawk-sized figure perched in a nearby tree. She resembled a bird but covered in reptilian scales instead of feathers, and the interior of her beak was lined with barbed, backward-curving teeth. The creature flared her fiery red-and-orange wings and screeched aggressively at the ponies.
Fluttershy spoke soothingly to the creature. "Easy, we're just passing through here." She gestured to her two friends to keep moving.
The winged reptile gave a long, rattling, menacing hiss and kept her eyes trained on the passing ponies, but stayed perched on her branch.
"Nesting season," Fluttershy explained to her friends.
"Wow, Fluttershy, soon there won't be a creature in the whole Everfree Forest that you can't pacify."
"You're too kind, Twilight. I know I'm not as scared of this place as I used to be. I just do what I can to——" Fluttershy's delicate reply gave way to a barrage of frantic squeals and yelps. "Help! Please! Get it away from me!" The pale yellow pegasus hopped this way and that, as if trapped on a patch of scorching hot rock.
Neither Twilight Sparkle nor Rainbow Dash could see Fluttershy's tormentor against the varied colours of the forest but they were aware of a mild buzzing sound, like the beating wings of an insect.
"What is it, a hornet?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"A bot-fly?" asked Twilight.
"A ... uh-oh." Rainbow prodded Twilight's shoulder with her forehoof and pointed the winged unicorn in the direction of a rotund, red-furred flying insect with huge, multi-faceted eyes of iridescent azure. The creature meandered through the air, making a succession of endearing, high-pitched chirping sounds.
Fluttershy had ceased her panicked leaping and was now cowering on the forest floor in a position of abject supplication, trying to avert her eyes from the approaching arthropod. "No. No! If-if I take you with me you'll multiply into a huge, uncontrollable swarm. And then you'll eat up all the yummy, delicious food in Ponyville. Yes you will, you naughty little rascal, you."
The terror had gradually left Fluttershy's voice, replaced with dreamy adoration. She was now gazing with a wide-eyed, glassy smile at the charming figure of the parasprite, who smiled back and continued to weave its way towards its new host, chittering all the while.
Yet the primrose pegasus was suddenly gone, an unseen force yanking her squealing off to her left. Rainbow Dash slammed onto the ground in her place. She too was wearing a smile, yet hers was anything but inviting.
Balancing on one rear hoof, the sky blue-coated pegasus begain pirouetting, increasing her rotation until a funnel of cloud formed around her. Sensing the danger, the parasprite turned to flee. Straining for all it was worth, unable to gain any forward momentum, the insect chirped in a plaintive beseechment and reached its six spindly black legs out to Fluttershy, who stared regretfully at the creature for a second before burying her face in Twilight's side.
Unable to resist the power of the vortex any longer, the parasprite careened into the miniature tornado, which ascended above the forest canopy. With a lusty battle cry, Rainbow Dash hurled the parasprite out over the canopy. As she slowed her rotation to a stop, she could just make out the insect regurgitating a misshapen blob that swiftly formed into another parasprite, the insect pair too far away to relocate the three ponies.
Her task accomplished, Rainbow descended to find Twilight protectively extending her right wing over the shaken and shaking Fluttershy.
"Oh, that was too close. If you two hadn't been here I might have——"
Twilight silenced Fluttershy with a series of gentle shushing noises. "It's over now."
"Yep, all taken care of," added a triumphant Rainbow Dash.
In an instant, Fluttershy shot into the air and eyeballed Rainbow Dash with fearful concern. "You didn't hurt it did you?" Suddenly aware of the instincts taking hold of her, she looked in embarrassment down at Twilight, whom she had inadvertently knocked into a nearby clump of bushes, then back at Rainbow Dash. "I mean, um, thank you."
* * *
The remainder of the ponies' journey passed without incident. However, the sky had become noticeably more overcast as they neared their destination, and the wind had strengthened to the point where Rainbow Dash was forced to stop flying and join her two friends on hoof.
Twilight raised her voice slightly to make herself heard above the breeze. "I was hoping we could stay at Zecora's for a while but at this rate, we might just have to take the herbs and leave."
"Oh dear, I hope Zecora won't be upset. I'd hate for her to think we were being anti-social," fretted Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash merely scowled and gnashed in powerless rage against the elements. How she longed to soar up, staunch the wind and kick those clouds into oblivion, just as she reguarly did back home in Ponyville. Yet the weather in the Everfree Forest did not work the same way as it did in the realm of Equestria. The wind did not arise from the wings or lungs of any living creature; it seemed to come out of nowhere. And the clouds were no ordinary clouds, as Rainbow had learned the first and last time she dared approach one. It looked so innocuous, all cute and white and fluffy like a soft, plush pillow. Yet it hovered almost a mile above the ground, the distance hiding its volume. It was big enough to engulf hundreds of ponies, provided they could tolerate the turbulent rising and falling draughts wracking its interior. Rainbow returned to earth somewhat older and wiser that day, vowing never to speak of her experience.
Eventually, the threesome reached the Zecora's hut, a simple grass structure located in a small forest clearing. Leading the way, Twilight knocked on the front door. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal an adult zebra mare, with golden rings in her ears, a stack of larger golden rings encasing her neck and a stylised spiral pattern marking both sides of her hindquarters. A large wicker basket stood beside her gold-braceletted right foreleg. Covering the contents of the basket was a hoof-crafted doily ringed with blue weighted beads.
"Hi Zecora. Were you able to find the herbs I asked for?"
Zecora clasped her teeth around the handle of the basket and lifted it. Sensing the pull of Twilight's magic telekinesis on the basket, the zebra released her hold so that the winged unicorn could draw the basket nearer to herself.
"These herbs should suit you very well
For conjuring your latest spell."
Zecora's habitual rhyming meter motivated her to choose her words carefully, helping her become more proficient in the ponies' language.
Twilight made a slight adjustment to her spell, lifting one side of the doily while keeping the basket suspended in mid-air. She peered at the contents, and an excited smile spread across her muzzle. "These look like just what I need. Thank you so much, Zecora."
Zecora stretched her neck past her doorway and craned around at the ominously dark clouds.
"I would invite you in to stay.
But you'd best hurry home when skies are this grey."
"In that case we'll be on our way."
There was an awkward pause as the four equines noticed that Twilight had unconsciously imitated Zecora's rhyming meter. All four broke into a round of chuckling, before the three ponies turned to leave.
"See ya, Zecora," called Rainbow Dash.
"Take care," lilted Fluttershy.
"Have a nice day." Twilight suddenly yelped in amused frustration as she realised she had inadvertently created another rhyme.
Rainbow Dash laughed. "What the hey?"
Twilight turned with tight lips to Rainbow. "Don't you start."
"Whatever you say," Rainbow replied before erupting into another round of cackling.
"Rainbow, enough."
Rainbow snickered for a few seconds before a single word burst forth amid yet more saucy laughter: "Okay".
"Stop! Fluttershy, make her stohohhhp."
"I'm stopping, I'm stopping," Rainbow Dash replied with exaggerated petulance.
"Yay."
Fluttershy's quiet, dainty cheer brought renewed laughter from Rainbow Dash, a growl of frustration from Twilight Sparkle and a flash of lightning accompanied by a deafening peal of thunder. The three ponies screamed in primal terror. They were still some distance from the edge of the forest, and the path home was lined with towering trees that made highly attractive targets for any further lightning bolts. The ponies turned tail and galloped back towards Zecora's hut, not quite in time to avoid the onset of a torrential downpour.
Rainbow Dash was fastest. Before she could knock, Zecora flung her front door open, having heard the thunderclap and the ensuing commotion.
"Out of the storm,
over there where it's warm."
She pointed her forehoof towards the centre of her simply furnished hut. There crackled a small fire, with narrow columns of smoke steadily rising to a chimney in the ceiling. The three bedraggled ponies tumbled into the hut and gathered shivering around the fire, their wings spread to help them dry out.
"Oh dear, I hope you're not upset, Zecora. I'd hate for you to think we're imposing on you," fretted Fluttershy.
"There is no need for you to explain.
I could hardly leave you out in that rain.
Now make yourselves at home and stop your stewing.
The storm was not the only thing brewing."
Twilight became aware of a familiar fragrant aroma within the hut. She sniffed the air a couple of times before a long, deep inhalation followed by a hum of pleasure. "My favourite."
Zecora crossed the room carrying the handle of a large pot in her teeth. Steam arose from a nozzle at one end of the pot. Into four small clay vessels she carefully poured serves of a tea made from a wild leaf endemic to her distant home. She had managed to cultivate the plant in the Everfree Forest, which shared a similar climate, and had years ago introduced the rare taste to Twilight Sparkle, who became an instant fan. The zebra rested a vessel in front of each of her guests, accompanied by a baked grass cake studded with small, tart berries. The friends gratefully accepted their refreshments, and the foursome chatted amiably while the storm continued to rage outside.
Rainbow Dash fought to conceal her restlessness. She was fond of her three companions but tea parties weren't exactly her, well, cup of tea. Neither was being cooped up indoors for hours, especially when she had no idea when she could emerge. It wasn't like this in Ponyville. Rainfalls had precise start and finish times: as her town's chief weather steward, she made sure of it. She could prepare mentally and physically, with board games and Daring Do books and the like, and sit out the storm with patience and calm until its scheduled completion. Here, where the elements gathered and scattered at random, she just had to wait, and wait.
Finally, she stole one glimpse too many at the bucketing rain through the window.
"I hope we're not boring you, Rainbow Dash," Twilight asked pointedly.
Rainbow looked back sheepishly before pressing her forehoof into her wincing face. "Sorry guys, I just hate not knowing when the rain's gonna stop. How do you stand this crazy weather, Zecora?"
"Rainbow!"
A gesture from Zecora stilled Twilight's reproof.
"Your question isn't entirely unfair.
The only answer is to prepare.
Scan the sky, smell the air,
Ensure I have food and fuel to spare.
And accept that some things are beyond my control.
I can't calm a storm but I can calm my soul."
Rainbow let out a dubious yet accepting grunt.
Moments later, almost as if Zecora had indeed calmed the storm, the rainfall began to ease noticeably. By this time, dusk had fallen, and the chorus of animal noises outside was gradually transforming. One cry in particular caught Fluttershy's attention: a low, tremulous, drawn-out ululation.
"That sound. I've been hearing that in the distance every evening for a few weeks now, when I've been putting my critters to bed. What is it?"
The zebra did not answer.
"Zecora?" prompted Fluttershy.
"It is a squonk that you can hear.
She has a burrow fairly near."
"A squonk? Really? I thought they were just legend." Twilight's face lit up at the prospect of expanding her knowledge and experience of the mysterious Everfree environment.
"Such a haunting cry," Fluttershy murmured. "Almost as if she really were crying."
"Well she is really crying."
The words died on Twilight's lips as she guiltily realised how misplaced her enthusiasm was. Fluttershy had a unique connection with non-pony animal life, an ability to communicate and empathise. It was this gift that led her to her destiny as the steward of the local fauna. The thought of a suffering creature, even from an untamed wilderness like the Everfree forest, would be all but intolerable to her.
Sure enough, Fluttershy's jaw slackened with disbelief at Twilight's statement. She turned for confirmation to Zecora, who closed her eyes and nodded pensively.
"She spends her days buried out of sight,
then emerges to weep all through the night."
"Y-you mean she's spent every night for the past few weeks ... crying?" Fluttershy began panting heavily through her gaping mouth. "I have to find out what's wrong. I have to help her." She no longer cared about the rain, the darkness, the dangerous forest inhabitants. All that mattered to her was giving whatever comfort she could to the crying creature. She galloped towards the door, only to rear to a halt at Zecora's deep, commanding voice.
"Stop, Fluttershy! Leave her be.
You'll only compound her misery.
For although she laments her loneliness
Being seen causes her even more distress."
"But why?" pleaded the pale yellow pegasus.
"The reason for her cries so piteous:
Of all creatures, the squonk is the most hideous."
"Oh." A look of sad understanding crossed Fluttershy's visage, deepening as the significance of Zecora's words sank in. "Oh no." She shook her head, one forehoof over her mouth. "Oh goodness."
"Oh come on," Rainbow Dash exploded. "That's why she's been hiding away and blubbering all this time? Her looks? How bad can they be?"
"Squat of stature, sparse of hair,
Snout of tapir, vacant stare.
Her hide hangs in deep folds, wrinkled and slack,
And is covered in warts from front to back."
Fluttershy grew even more upset as she contemplated the reactions such an animal must have endured throughout her life. Twilight sat silently, the descriptions and artists' impressions of the squonk from her books not preparing her for the reality of this creature's unfortunate existence.
Rainbow Dash, however, remained unconvinced. "So she won't be sashaying around in one of Rarity's outfits anytime soon. Big deal." She thrust out her lean, muscular chest and pointed proudly towards her heart. "It's what's in here that counts."
"It's easy for you to make such a claim
With your fine blue coat and your pretty mane."
"Stop iiit." Rainbow smiled unwillingly through her clenched teeth as a pink film rose to her cheeks, and nervously poked at her rainbow-striped mane. "I am not pretty. Spectacular, sure, but not pretty."
"Zecora's right," said Twilight before turning to address the zebra. "And you'd know. After all, look at how fearful and suspicious Ponyville's ponies were of you at first. And you just have stripes. No comparison between your appearance and a squonk."
Fluttershy's eyes lit up. "Wait, that's it. Zecora, you understand what it's like to be a pariah. Maybe you could talk to her."
Zecora flinched, suppressing a shudder.
"Believe me, ponies, I have tried.
The more I've reached out, the more she has cried."
Like Fluttershy, Zecora's first instinct had been to seek out the squonk and alleviate her misery. Bearing delicacies and handicrafts from her native land, she carefully approached only for the creature to keep retreating and crying ever more insistently. Zecora did not wish to push the issue. Voicing quiet concern, she repeated her attempts to break the ice, gradually drawing nearer until one evening she went too far and caught full sight of the creature in the moonlight.
The image of the pot-bellied, streaming-eyed, gaping-mouthed monster lying on her side, flaccid folds of skin slapping about, kicking the air in a clumsy effort to right herself having stumbled in fright, would be indelibly branded in Zecora's mind from that moment. Incomparably more horrifying, however, was the noise. The deafening, desperate moan-screech, veering from one register to another. The scream of a prisoner under ruthless torture, unable to think of anything else.
Zecora tried to placate the poor creature yet she could barely hear her own voice above the din. As loud cries of distress tended to be music to the ears of the Everfree's numerous nocturnal predators, the zebra mare had little choice but to cut her losses and hasten back to her hut. There, with the squonk's nightmarish bellows assaulting her mind like an endlessly repeated accusation, she brooded with remorse and humiliation until falling into a fitful slumber. From that night on, she reluctantly resolved to give the squonk a wide berth.
The recollection left Zecora visibly upset. Seeing the zebra's emotional state, the ponies decided to leave well enough alone, and the interior of the hut fell into a gloomy silence. The only sounds were the steady hiss of the rain and the occasional cries of the Everfree's wild denizens, the lugubrious lamentations of the squonk dominating.
Eventually, Fluttershy broke the lull. "It's not fair," she murmured sullenly, staring at the floor. "No, it's worse than not fair. It doesn't even make sense. Predation and parasitism are bad enough but this? Why should squonks be so ugly? What purpose does it serve? A life of nothing but misery and loneliness. Why would a creature like that exist? How did it come into being in the first place?"
"I don't know," Twilight replied.
"You don't know?" Fluttershy's voice rose as she turned to face the alicorn. "But Twilight, you're the most knowledgeable pony I've met. All those books you've read. Can't they give you any insight?"
Twilight felt as if her whole approach to life was under attack. She carefully suppressed her defensive instinct. "That's just it, Fluttershy. I can read ten different books and get eleven different answers. The seeming dark side of nature outside Equestria isn't a black-and-white area. I kind of struggle with it myself."
Twilight's choice of words prompted Fluttershy to glance involuntarily at the downcast zebra. The timid pegasus thought carefully about her words before speaking. "Zecora, please, I'm not trying to be awful. I just want to understand. There's so much cruelty and suffering in your world. How do you cope?"
Zecora turned to Fluttershy and gave a small nod to show she did not resent the question.
"I've lived this way for many years,
And I have shed my share of tears.
Through times of sorrow, fear and pain,
Scorching fire and driving rain.
Yet if I focused only on this
There is so much more that I would miss.
The dappled sunshine on the forest floor,
The fragrant plants I so adore.
Lyrebird, phoenix, cock of the rock,
Tarsier, behemoth, proud peacock.
What's more, many sources of turmoil and strife
Are also essential parts of life.
The forest would soon wither away
Without wet days such as today.
The fire that sets the trees alight
Can warm me through the coldest night.
Lightning strikes, with pow'r intense
Give the soil its nutrients.
Predators have brought an end
To the lives of more than one friend.
My losses I've grieved but I don't cry 'unfair':
Too many plant eaters, the forest can't bear.
So while it cannot be denied
My habitat has its ugly side
Beauty and value exist here too.
And the same holds for me and for each of you.
When bad times come, they don't leave me vexed.
I never ask why, just 'what do I do next?'"
"And you think there might be beauty and value in the squonk's existence as well?" asked Fluttershy.
"Of this I have little doubt.
Alas, I dare not try to find out."
* * *
Soon, the lightning had stopped and the rain had eased enough for the ponies to brave the journey back to Ponyville. They bade their farewells to Zecora and set off, flying all the way to avoid slogging through the mud bog that the forest floor had become. Rainbow Dash was glad to be back in her element. Fluttershy, though, had never felt comfortable flying significant distances. As for Twilight Sparkle, she had acquired her wings a little over a year earlier, as part of her ascendancy to her title of princess. Her flight was improving but there was still much to learn, much to concentrate on; irregular dips in altitude continued to punctuate her progress. It didn't help that she also had to focus on two simultaneous spells: one to light the way home and one to generate the domed overhead forcefield keeping the rain off. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash had offered to carry the basket back home, leaving Twilight with one less spell to maintain.
The matter of the squonk had left the three ponies feeling fairly sombre. None made a sound until Fluttershy stifled a cry of fear. Twilight's beam revealed another parasprite, weaving through the fine misty rain. However, the insect paid no attention to the ponies, apparently far more interested in a curtain of glittering droplets just ahead. It reached the gleaming orbs only to discover too late that they were composed not of rainwater but of glue, studding invisibly thin strands of adhesive silk.
The dangling parasprite accelerated its wingbeats and trilled in alarm but was unable to dislodge itself from the silk. Its chirps increased in volume and pitch as it sensed the silken strand trapping it drawing jerkily up towards the overhanging foliage.
As the ponies passed, Fluttershy kept her eyes on the unpleasant scene for a short while before recoiling away in anguish. She winced even harder seconds later, when the frantic cheeping of the parasprite came to an abrupt halt.
Twilight tried to think of something reassuring to say. "I know it's not pretty, Fluttershy, but if the parasprites' numbers weren't kept in check, they'd strip this whole forest bare."
"That's what makes it so upsetting. This is the way things are and there's nothing anypony can do about it." Fluttershy glanced back at the dark, forbidding wilderness behind them, the world of carnage and unpredictability, and felt a sense of bitterness rising within her, a sense that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to let the parasprites have at the whole thing. Raze it to the ground. Good riddance.
It was irrational, she knew, brought on by her raw emotions, but it lingered, and her continued presence in the forest was not helping.
"Come on, girls. The sooner we're out of this awful place, the better."