My Littlest Pet Shop: Escape from Equestria

by Drizzle Quill

Chapter Ten: History Lesson

My Littlest Pet Shop: Escape from Equestria

By Drizzle Quill
With much help from nyc2dragon

Chapter Ten
History Lesson

“Hello there, young zebras. Welcome to your history lesson. My name is Zila, but you will refer to me as Ms. Zila, is that clear?”

A slightly younger version of Zelda groaned and rested her head on the desk which had been placed in front of her. Moaning, she traced the circular patterns engraved into the wood and sighed. She hadn’t wanted to go to this dumb history class thing. But, of course, it was Zecora’s decision. What happened to her having her own choices?

“Yes, Ms. Zila,” the class chanted as one – except for Zelda.

Zila was a very tall zebra – even taller than Zecora. Her eyes were not the regular piercing blue, but rather, a very light emerald green, and she wore three earrings in her left ear but not in her right. She, like all other members of the Zebra Tribe, was adorned in golden rings – two around her back right leg and one around her left foreleg. Her mane was in a Mohawk but was curled slightly at the top.

“Now, does anyone have any idea why you are in this class?” she asked, a sharp tone always present in her voice.

Zelda groaned and rolled over, while another zebra, a male known as Zilf who was about her age, raised his hoof tentatively. When Zila nodded at him, Zilf said uncertainly, “Um…to learn about the history of the Zebra Tribe?”

Some of the brattier zebra mares in the back snickered. Zelda just rolled her aquamarine eyes and let out a low moan.

The teacher passed one hoof over the chalkboard she had set up, and turned back to Zilf. “That is one of the reasons.”

As she said this, words began to appear on the board, as if written in chalk. Zelda finally sat up, staring in awe as the words clearly wrote in neat printed writing, “1. Learn about Tribe.”

“There are some other reasons as well,” Zila said, turning back to the board. Once again she passed her hoof over it and turned back to her class, her light green eyes glowing. “We will learn about how this Tribe came to live in the Everfree, when most zebras once lived in a hot, desert-like plain…”

The words appeared, plain as day: “2. Zebra’s actual climate, and how we adjusted.”

The other students were looking a bit more interested now too, sitting up and gazing at the letters in awe. One of them, a mare in the back that Zelda didn’t know the name of, raised her hoof and yelled, “Ms. Zila, Ms. Zila!”

Zila looked at her with an air of annoyance. “In a moment, Zipal. I’m almost done.” With a final move back towards the chalkboard, she said without turning back to her students, “Now, the last thing we will learn about is something that is incredibly secret. The zebras and the zebras alone were trusted with this great burden of knowledge, and were to pass it on to the younger generation.”

Whispers arose from the class; Zila glared at them all until they were silent, and then smiled. “That’s better. Now, where was I? Oh yes, see, this is a story that you will never have leave your mind. It tells of creatures that once roamed Equestria, millions of years ago, before Equestria was even called by that name. They were known as—”

Zelda leaned forward, her attention actually sparked. Zila was a very effective speaker, and she was thoroughly entranced.

The word that came out of the teacher’s mouth was utterly foreign to all of the young zebras. Some of them forgot it within seconds; others kept the memory so they could graduate later. But Zelda remembered it for the rest of her life. She cherished the description of the creatures, their personality, everything Zila knew.

The word was simple – only two syllables long.

“Humans.”

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Humans.

Zelda snapped out of the memory, her aquamarine eyes panicked and almost terrified. She leaned a bit farther out of the bush, just to make sure that her eyes weren’t failing her. They weren’t. Utterly, without a doubt, she was looking at her old teacher’s creatures of legend.

Biff’s black eyes were confused. “What are—?”

The zebra placed one hoof over his mouth. “Shh!”

The humans had been the one making the noise. They were the ones who had been talking so loudly, and in such painful, drawling tones! How they had gotten here she had no idea – according to Zila they had all been banished years ago – but they were here.

It was her history lesson all over again.

“Eww,” one of them said – they were both female, one with white hair and the other with black. It was the white haired one who was speaking now. “Eww, Whitney. I think I just stepped in a puddle of mud.”

“Barf,” the other said, still in that unenthusiastic tone. “Gross. Why are we even here?”

“How should I, like, know?” the white haired girl said, rolling her red eyes. “All I remember is that we were walking by, like, that loser shop of Blythe’s, and then there was a rainbow, and then we were, like, in this forest.”

They were transported here? Zelda wondered, her curiosity spiked. She started to clamber out of the bush but restrained herself and continued to watch, while Biff stared in confusion.

“Yeah, and now we have to, like, get home,” the one that had earlier been referred to as Whitney said, pulling a small device out of her pocket. “I’m going to text Daddy, tell him that we’re lost in a strange land and might, like, not be home in time for dinner.”

A few clicks and beeps and Whitney yelped in frustration. “What the—” She held up her small device, repeatedly clicking a button, though the screen remained black as night. “We’ve got no signal!”

“That’s ridiculous!” the white-haired girl shrieked. “How are we going to get, like, home?”

Biff, who had been watching in steady silence for a while, calmly and unexpectedly stepped out of the bush. “You can come with us, if you’d like.”

Both girls looked up, saw the mountain goat, and openly shrieked.

Zelda did a facehoof and stormed out of the bush. “Biff, you idiot!” she screamed, voice full of absolute unintentional rage. “We weren’t supposed to let them see us!”

Biff turned around, confusion reflecting in his beady black eyes. “But they looked so lonely…and sad…didn’t you want to help them too, Zelda?”

The zebra cursed under her breath at the incompetence of her companion. “Don’t you see, Biff? They’re humans, the things of legend. We never should have revealed ourselves…we shouldn’t be able to understand them!” Zelda paused for a second, thoughts running wildly throughout her head. “No…we shouldn’t be able to know what you’re saying…unless someone’s casted Star Swirl’s spell…but that’s impossible!”

Her head reeling, the zebra placed one hoof to her forehead and groaned, staggering against the tree. It was all too much…too much to comprehend…

…and we’re still broke…

“TELL YOU WHAT?” she finally screamed, taking one hoof and linking it with the black haired girl’s arm, who shrieked again and leapt backward in surprise. “They’re coming with us!”

And then I’ll be able to figure out what to do. I’ll figure it all out…all of it.

“But…but Zelda…” Biff stuttered.

“Do not question me!” the zebra howled. “I know what I’m doing!”

The goat looked appalled, but he bowed his head nervously and slowly backed away, pushing the white haired girl, who began to shriek, “HELP! WE’RE BEING KIDNAPPED BY, LIKE, ANIMALS! TALKING ANIMALS!”

“Shut up,” Zelda snapped at her. “We’re going to help you get home.”

“We are?” Biff asked nervously. Zelda glared at him, and he silently seemed to shrink backwards. “…forget that I asked…”

“How are you, like, going to help us get home?” the black-haired girl asked indignantly. “I mean, you’re just animals. Like Blythe’s animals.” She rolled her red eyes and flipped her hair, exchanging a glance with the other girl, who had to be her twin sister.

“Zelda knows magic,” Biff piped up. “She can transport you home.”

All panic erupted in the zebra’s mind.

She had never thought that duping her goat partner would bring her trouble – in fact, it had only brought her good fortune thus far. But now…but now…

She had no magic. She couldn’t send them back.

“Like, really?” the white-haired girl asked, glancing at Zelda almost disapprovingly. “Can you really send us back to our home?”

“Yeah, because Daddy will be mad at us if we, like, are late again,” the other girl said with another continuous eye-roll.

Zelda wasn’t listening. Her mind was going through several stages of full blown panic all at once. Jumbled, crazed, terrified. What’ll I do? I don’t have the magic to send them back. What’ll I do, what’ll I do, what’ll I do…wait a minute. These are humans. We need business. What if…what if…

A wide grin spread across her face. She could study the mysterious creatures and make money with Biff at the same time. All she had to do was say a few simple words.

“I can send you back, but it’ll take some time. In the meantime, can you help my friend Biff and I with a little…project we’re working on?” Zelda gave her most convincing smile, which was something she hadn’t done in a very long time. “We need your help.”

“Are you sure you can, like, get us home?” one of the girls (Zelda was too busy looking at the ground and running over her plan to look) said.

“Yes…” the zebra said, still thinking wildly. “Just come on back to our place…we’ll fix you right up.”

Author's Note:

Thanks to all who have favorited and upvoted this story! It really means a lot. My next story, a twoshot, should be coming out pretty soon for all who are interested.

Comments

[Cometpluto]

Awesome sauce!

[Lovinlife]

Things I Like:
1. I actually like the character of Zelda, someone who leaves the place they called home because something in them, unexplained, that made them different. Though I see no motivation behind what she does and I hope that this would become clear as the story moves on.

Things that Need Work:
1. Following on what I was saying in the last review, I wish that you didn’t use the backstory to a character whom we have yet to figure out. It’s a more telling way of bringing a character without using all the ways of actually showing the reader their personality and motivations.

Comments:
1. How strangely convenient for two new characters to end up next to the antagonist’s house. I’m not saying this in a bad way as it may work, but my eye is watching for that now.
2. I still see not motivation behind Zelda’s actions and and wanting to find humans so far other than curiosity.

All-In-All:
I like this chapter a bit because of the bringing in of Zelda’s character, as I’m not counting the last one just because nothing was really done with it. I do have a gripe about how the chapter began with another backstory when we didn’t know anything about her and you could’ve brought up her fascination with humans some other way. The other humans showing up was much too convenient and that could really hurt this chapter a lot if you don't tread carefully with it, in my opinion, but this could change because such convenience could really add to the drama if done right, so I’m not going to use that against the chapter, but it’s something to look out for.

Score:
6.9/10

[Brody Deitrick]

really Whitney and Britney?! never a good thing