Chapter 6 (side B): Waterworld
Rainbow Dash flew about above a glade, freely twirling and looping with ease by simply changing the angle of her wings and shifting her body.
Flying came naturally to her and doing tricks even more so. To perform a clockwise barrel roll for example, all she had to do was shift her right wingtips downward and her left skyward, then keep her shoulders straight during the spin to keep flying forward rather than bank to the right.
To turn this into a corkscrew dive, Rainbow waited until she was upside down, then leaned forward until she was perpendicular to the ground and allowed the natural force of gravity to pull her forward as she continued her controlled spin. As her body lined up with the direction of her dive she pulled her wingtips downward, slowing her descent and halting her spin. In arching her back, the pegasus began to steadily level off from the dive just feet from the ground until her stored inertia allowed her to rise higher up toward the sky once more like an ascending rocket.
Rainbow raised her wings and gave a few strong flaps in order to gain enough height to try the Rainbow Turn—essentially a move first pioneered by her personal hero, Spitfire—but Rainbow was trying to make her own way of performing it. Managing her wings once more, she steadied herself about twenty feet above the tree tops and sped up. The stronger winds this high from the ground were easily put into consideration as Rainbow once more pulled her wingtips downward and began to steeply incline. The steeper she flew, the faster her speed drained away.
She smiled at the thought, scoffing even at the idea of being slowed down by gravity. By instinct, Rainbow pulled her left wingtips upward now, keeping her left wing as it was and began to spin clockwise once more. As soon as she flipped over Rainbow normalized her wings, flattening the tips and adjusted ever so slightly until she stopped her turn. Flying upside down now, she moved her wingtips to-
"Great ass, Rainbow Dash!" A deep voice echoed from the ground below.
"The hay!?" Looking up toward the ground in surprise, she forgot that her wings were in mid-adjustment, causing her to tumble in the sky and immediately lose her airspeed. Her instincts quickly took hold and the experienced stuntmare straightened her wings, manipulated the tips and arched her back to prevent from crashing. However she was moving too fast to brake, so the blue pegasus instinctively aimed for the treetops at a nearly flat incline to stretch out the surface area of impact and to lessen the degree of force as much as possible.
She bounced off of the leafy green canopy then started rolling and tripping over the successive branches along the path of her turbulent descent, using them like crumbling safety nets to sap her momentum until she finally slammed face-first into a tree trunk. With a groan, she peeled away from the pegasus-shaped imprint in the bark and tumbled ungracefully to the ground on her back with a final soft thud made safe thanks to the tall grass.
The gleaming rays of sunlight shining against her closed eyelids failed to help with her disorientation or the slowly growing signs of a headache, but they were quickly blocked off when something apparently moved to stand above her. Opening her right eye, then her left, Rainbow noted the strange, lanky creature that looked down at her. The menacing appearance created by the shadows along his features made by his leaning form would probably terrify any other pony.
"Good morning, Rainbow Dash." The creature greeted her happily in a peculiar, gruff accent. His beady eyes peered innocently and without awareness of the muscle soreness the pegasus was contending with at the moment. "That was a really great ass you did!" He smiled, haven obviously enjoyed her stunts and trick flying.
The pony in question did not share the enthusiasm while remaining crumpled over herself on the ground, rear legs dangling above her face.
"Hey...Kevin..." Rainbow's voice cracked as she wheezed out her reply. "...mornin'..." She wondered who exactly was responsible for teaching him that particular gem, and nickered.
---
After a few moments for muscle stretches and preening of disheveled feathers, Rainbow Dash took to the skies once more and she and Fluttershy's hue-men friend, Kevin, left the glade close by the pink maned pegasus' cottage and began traveling at a leisurely pace down the main dirt road toward Ponyville. Of course, they wouldn't go right into Ponyville proper, but instead would ultimately take the path at the fork farther down the road that would go around it to reach their destination.
While moving forward, Dash took this time to perform mid-air checks on her wings. Adjusting her feathers to determine her ability to ascend, descend and bank. She was just about to try a barrel roll when Kevin called out to her.
"What were you doing there?" Rainbow Dash perked an ear at his question, impressed how his accent these days did not make his words sound as garbled as they used to. She swooped around and turned her flight path toward his direction. "We were to meet at Fluttershy's, were we not?"
"Uh, no. If I remember correctly—which I totally do, by the way—you were 'sposed to meet me near my place this morning!" She flapped her wings a few times to stay aloft, then returned to drifting lazily along the soft meadow winds alongside him. "I came by this morning at sunrise and tried knocking. But since you were taking so long, I decided to do a bit of flying practice. You know, rolls, dips, dives, turns?" With a flap Dash lifted up a bit into the air to catch a breeze that pushed her ahead.
"I...please, slow down! Too...fast!" She heard Kevin complain behind her.
"You mean my talking or my flying?" She said with chuckle and gave a passing glance over her shoulder. To her surprise she saw how the two-legged creature was quite a ways back, not limping fast enough to keep up with her even at her cruising speed.
Dash sighed and banked around to practically hover above him with wings constantly flapping, as he traveled slower than a snail's pace (at least according to her scale of speed). He seemed to somewhat appreciate the gesture and continued forward.
Growing quickly bored of this, Rainbow decided to practice her racing laps and began flying lazy figure eights overhead while Kevin limped ahead. She took the opportunity to take quick glances at him from above whenever she crossed the midpoint and as this drill quickly became routine, Dash settled into her thoughts.
'Didn't think the dude would still be hurting after all this time...' Dash noticed as Kevin continued to favor his left leg as he walked. 'His x-rays didn't look any worse than the other times I've shattered my wing bones, or even my legs and ribs!' She nodded to herself while reminiscing about one particularly awesome crash.
She trained an eye at her moving center point, making sure she didn't break form while continuing the pattern. According to the doctors, Kevin was supposedly more fragile than ponies. Which was pretty weird, really, given his comparatively larger size to even a stallion like Big Macintosh.
Then again putting height aside, Kevin's frame was much smaller and less muscular than a stallion's. He was also hairless save for his mane at the top of his head and smaller hairs on his body. She had gotten a look at his teeth when he was conked out from the pain medicines and found his set of sharper dragon-like teeth a surprise. But cool. And yet the whole time he'd stayed with Fluttershy he never once complained about eating like a pony. Then again neither did Spike, but Kevin admitted that hue-mens didn't eat gems.
Kevin was curious. Well, more than the fact that he was strange creature, he was always asking everypony questions. But not in a really irritating way like the Cutie Mark Crusaders could be sometimes. And he was always writing something down into that diary of his that he told them he used in his research. That naturally piqued Twilight's interest, being the egghead that she was. And he had to be at least a bit smart, Dash would admit. He seemed to know a few things and not to mention managed to learn how to speak their language...albeit a bit broken, but still. If an animal like Angel or even her own pet Tank could learn to talk that would be just as crazy.
But so far it seemed only Spike showed that he could speak Kevin's language and even then he had trouble too. It was apparently more like guessing rather than really knowing or understanding the words, which was what Kevin has so far shown he's been doing when speaking to ponies.
And that was what made Kevin interesting enough for Rainbow Dash to volunteer with helping his recovery. It was at least a bit more interesting than having to deal with the bothersome everyday weather duties that the Weather Team could handle themselves. There wasn't even a storm planned for a least a few weeks, and it wasn't like a few clouds in the sky would ruin the perfectly sunny days that have been forecast.
But truth be told, despite his exotic traits, she could admit there were other things about Kevin that interested her. For example, Kevin seemed like a possible new candidate to compete with, what with his longer legs and arms. She wondered what sort of stride that would allow him and how high he could jump. Maybe he could even prove to be a good challenge in a game of hoofball. If it took her to help him recuperate to test her theories out then so be it. She figured it'd be worth the trouble.
---
After a while the two of them were walking side by side along the road, chatting (mostly Dash helping Kevin with how to speak, Rainbow Dash style) and staying just outside of Ponyville proper. In the next moment, they passed a tall front gate and arrived at an orchard of apple trees. Sweet Apple Acres, to be more precise.
Looking around, Kevin seemed to be astounded. With mouth gaping he wandered about, limping as he did so, closer to one of the trees. Dash wasn't sure if he was having one of those "culture shock" things again or if he had never seen an apple tree before.
Turned out it was the former. He explained that he didn't expect ponies to be able to farm to the scale that the Apple family did. He had apparently accepted the level of a home garden from living at Fluttershy's place. Dash was starting to realize more and more how bizzaro Kevin's world was. She was still reeling from the fact for example that horseflies were a type of insect where he came from.
"Okay, that's enough banter." Dash finally announced. They had a job to do that required action and not thinking or talking. And while Applejack herself did not know of Dash's plan to use a portion of the farm to roam about, the pegasus figured that it would be much easier to apologize than to ask for permission.
She cleared her throat to grab Kevin's attention and with a wing-assisted leap she landed next to him. "Time to listen up." Dash began to say with every bit of confidence she could muster. "Fluttershy entrusted me with the job to help you out with your exercise and that's exactly what I plan to do. With that said, I think it's pretty obvious that everything comes easier when you have a goal in mind, right?"
She paused to let her rhetorical question sink in, then continued with her rousing, motivational speech, jumping up to hover at Kevin's eye level. "So! To help out your rehab, I'm going to train you with the best, greatest, most awesomest goal ever! And that's to be fit enough to take part in this year's Running of the Leaves! What do you think? Pretty awesome, right?" Her excitement and wide-eyed smile seemed to take some effect, lifting Kevin's mood. But he looked far from "pumped up" or "mesmerized" like Dash thought he'd be.
Kevin blinked in reply. "What's, uh...what you just said?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Dash said while dropping back down to earth to stand on her hooves. After sitting down, Dash continued. "The Running of the Leaves is a Ponyville tradition. Like how pegasi are needed to arrange clouds in the sky to change the weather and ponies in general are needed to clear up winter,"
"Clear up...winter...?"
"The leaves on the trees during the fall can only drop if enough ponies run by to pull them off the branches. Which is why that part of the year is called 'Fall' in the first place, you know." She flashed a smug smile, happy that she now had the chance to show off her own set of facts or whatever just as much as Kevin and Twilight did. "Now while it's an important part of our history, to rid the trees of the dying leaves before winter begins, somewhere along the way somepony had an awesome idea to make it into a race, which today is the Running of the Leaves."
Kevin blinked again, confused but pretty open minded with what Dash was telling him. "But when I was living in the forest, the leaves fell without ponies..."
"Guh. That's because you were in the Everfree Forest. Things happen there that are mondo weird. Like, the weather changes on its own and the trees grow really big and are completely wild. Guess that's you in a nutshell, huh?"
Kevin blinked once more in response. Dash frowned. "Seriously, though, enough with the talking already." Jumping to her hooves, the pegasus mare flared her wings outward much to Kevin's surprise. "LET'S GET STARTED!"
---
Push ups? No.
Pull ups? No.
Jumping jacks? Sort of.
One legged hops? Only on one leg.
Jump rope? Only on one leg.
Ticking off the final few boxes on her checklist, Rainbow Dash sighed at the starting point she found herself at. At the very least, Kevin was doing pretty fine with sit ups, but then again it was because that sort of exercise didn't require both arms or legs to perform. Although the movement still affected his posture somewhat, since he had to pause every now and then to relax his left leg or to rub a sore spot in his bad arm. He trudged through the pain much to Dash's approval, managing through the rest of the warm up exercises.
But then the actual running practice began...
"What are you lying around, for? You still have like, five more laps, left!" Dash screamed out in dismay. It hadn't even been a full minute of his limp-hop-running and Kevin had already tumbled to the ground. Not to mention she had only given him five laps in total to do in the first place.
He wheezed. "I...I...I..."
"Ugh!" Dash rolled her eyes. "Don't you know never to say never?"
Fatigue had obviously taken its toll on his concentration, making his speech a bit harder to understand. "No never...didn't...say..." Kevin gasped out between pants of breath.
"What n' tarnation is goin' on here?" Turning toward the voice, Dash spotted the blonde maned owner of the farm approaching with a basketful of apples on her back.
Before Dash could answer, the earth pony had arrived next to them and regarded the sweaty and fatigued creature on the ground heaving and wheezing with his arms and legs spralwed out. She tutted under her breath, then with a hoof she picked up her hat from her head and slowly fanned his face. "Ain't he not cleared for this sorta strenuous activity?" Applejack asked.
"I'm rehabilitating him!" Rainbow defensively replied with a glower, despite the other pony facing away from her.
Applejack stopped her fanning for a moment to put the basket on her back onto the ground before turning toward the pegasus with a furrowed brow and a look or disapproval. Her tail whipped slowly side to side to provide cool air for Kevin as she now aimed her focus on the other pony. "Dash, tha' whole point n' rehab is ta take it easy! Dewey-"
"Kevin" Rainbow interjected.
"Beg yer' pardon?"
"His name is Kevin." Rainbow corrected the farmer and said in a smug tone.
Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, Kev-"
"I...don't mind...if you call me...Dewey." A wheezy voice spoke out in-between pants. Applejack blinked, forgetting for a moment that he could talk and understand them now. "...If it's easier...call me Dewey."
She looked over her shoulder to the hue-men behind her then turned back to the other pony. Applejack offered a smug look toward the pegasus, who all but huffed at the counter-correction.
Dash pressed on despite this setback and needed to turn the argument to her advantage. "Why are you even telling me what I can and can't do as his trainer? I won that second Iron Pony competition fair and square-"
"-So ya admit tha' ya didn't tha' first time?"
Dash pouted at the interruption but continued speaking "-so what I say, goes."
"I'll be tha' first ta admit I ain't questionin' yer winnin'. It was a close one, but I respect tha' yer Dew...er, Kevin's trainer. But tha's exactly why I feel I need ta criticize you on yer approach, Rainbow. I-" Applejack stopped when Rainbow Dash sent a dangerous look her way, but the earth pony stood firm and resolute. "'Scuse us a moment, Sugarcube." She nodded her head toward Kevin and ushered Dash out of his earshot.
After moving a few feet away and around a nearby apple tree, Applejack tried again. "Alright listen, Rainbow. Dew...er, Kevin...admitted himself that he wasn't much of an athlete, so why'd ya think treating him like one when he's still injured's tha right way ta go?"
"Well, I-" Dash stepped back, feeling the pressure of doubt pushing against her.
"Secondly I don't recall given ya permission ta train him here on tha farm, so if ya think ya can run him ragged ya can do it off my property!"
"What? But that's-" The rainbow maned pegasus stepped back once more, this time as Applejack physically moved forward to the tree they were standing behind.
"And finally ya seemed to have forgotten that he ain't a pony-"
"-whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your horses, AJ!" Dash stepped forward now, flaring her wings to their full wingspan to increase the look of her presence and jabbed her hoof accusingly against the earth pony's chest. Applejack took a step back in surprise at the act.
Now that she had finally halted the farmer's train of thought, Dash knew she had to take the offensive to get a word in edgewise. "I can understand where you're coming from about me being too harsh with the training, or kind of going onto your farm without asking...and for that I'm sorry. But what in the hay does not being a pony have to do with anything?"
After a slight pause, Applejack said with an arched brow "Er...everythin', really."
Dash narrowed her eyes. "Explain."
"Nopony is sure what ta make a' Kevin. You weren't downstairs with us at tha time, but tha doctor said it was unlikely that tha feller could ever walk again. So if ya think about it, it's a miracle that he was even able to stand up, accordin' ta what tha doctor could tell from Kevin's structure n' all."
Rainbow rolled her eyes, feeling less than impressed. "Is that it? Because that only proves that Kevin is a lot tougher than he looks. Even if he isn't a pony." Dash let out a low nicker and turned to walk back to Kevin.
"Rainbow..." Applejack let out a tired sigh and held her hoof on her pegasus friend's shoulder. "I ain't tryin' ta say anythin' mean by pointin' out he ain't a pony nor am I insinuatin' that ponies are better than anythin' else."
Dash paused but did not turn to face Applejack. "You could've fooled me."
"Rainbow...ya gotta look fer what's best fer tha' fella. Be a might careful with 'im. The way yer doin' things ain't gonna do him any favors."
"Hmph. I'll show you." With heavy stomps Dash's hooves pressed into the soft soil and crunched against the grainy dirt road that ran inbetween the rows of apple trees as she returned to the still-resting hue-men. "Alright you lazy bum, get up! Time to start the real training! Move it, move it, move it!!"
"Yes...madam!" Rolling onto his good side, Kevin managed to push himself back to his feet. He gave a salute and returned to his struggled running.
"You see that, AJ? Kevin's tough. As. Nai-" As he rounded the tree, Kevin stumbled, and then fell to the ground as though he tripped. He pained scream caught the ponies unawares and their ears perked up at the sound.
"Kevin!" Dash yelled out and ran toward Kevin but skidded along the ground suddenly. She looked quickly side to side for any woodland creatures that could be watching. She breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed that her, AJ and Kevin were the only ones around. Another pained cry reminded her with what she was supposed to be doing and Dash leaped to the downed hue-men's side.
"Kev! What's-" She hissed at the sight of the injury. Since he was wearing shorts, his practically bare legs were readily visible and so it was quite apparent to see a big blotch of blue forming from a bruise on the knee of his left leg. Swelling too had become obvious as it was grossly large than his right leg.
Not a moment sooner had Applejack rushed to his side next to Rainbow Dash. "He needs ta get to a doctor, stat. Do you know where Fluttershy i-"
"N-no! We can't do that!"
"What are you talkin' about, Dash? Look at that! I know Fluttershy's good at medicine n' all, but I doubt even she could-"
Rainbow rapidly shook her head. "No, I'm not talking about that! I'm saying that we can't tell Fluttershy about this! She can't know!"
Applejack cocked an eyebrow. "Yer' seriously askin' me that, aren't ya?"
"Well...yeah." Rainbow stated with a bit of confusion hinted in her voice. "Why would I ask you if I wasn't serious?"
AJ stared at the pegasus accusingly, seeing that the other mare knew exactly what she meant. "You know I ain't tha kinda girl to lie, right?"
"...right?"
AJ sighed and looked up at the sky for a moment, finding it remarkable that she had to continue her explanation. The orange earth pony looked back toward Rainbow Dash. "It'd be mighty suspicious fer Kevin here to be spotted at the doctor's by somepony, wouldn't it? Not to mention tha simple fact that the feller got himself a fresh injury. And so if Fluttershy ever asked me to tell her..."
"Just don't tell her, then. That wouldn't be lying. Like that time when you went to the rodeo a-"
"Just hush up 'bout that, will ya?" Applejack let out an aggravated sigh and slowly shook her head.
Changing tactics, Rainbow Dash lowered her head and figured the apple farmer would be the last pony to make fun of her worries. "Please, AJ...I promised Fluttershy I'd take care of Kevin for her...there has to be at least something I can do! I swear I'll tell her what happened after he gets fixed up...I just don't want her to think everything she's done for him was for nothing because of a stupid mistake I made."
Applejack looked Dash straight in the eye, knowing full well that she'd never dare break a promise. And frankly, aside from being a good rival and competitor, that was just one of the few reasons why the farmer could tolerate the pegasus' constant shenanigans. "...aw, horseapples...jus' come along, then. Quick-like."
As Dash helped Kevin stand up on his good leg, she looked over her shoulder at the other pony. Applejack was trotting down the road toward the orchard gate. "Where are we going? Isn't the barn the other way?"
"Do I look like a surgeon?" Applejack asked, looking back while continuing to trot ahead. "Or maybe you think's a good idea for Applebloom ta try fer her doctor cutie mark? Now come along an' jus' trust me, already."
Dash thought over the comment and nodded. "Yeah...nevermind..." She couldn't argue that point and followed after Applejack with Kevin leaning on her for support.
---
Applejack led them west of the farm to the edge of the Everfree forest. Sensing Rainbow Dash's apprehension, the earth pony figured it'd be best to explain her intentions. "Applebloom told me 'bout a time that she got a chipped tooth fixed by Zecora. Now I'll save tha' full story fer another occasion but in any case I reckon tha' Zecora oughta have some other potion or other like it."
"Sounds good to me." Dash nodded and followed after Applejack. However before they entered, Dash stopped much to Kevin's confusion. He stumbled a bit, expecting to have Dash to lean on but nearly fell, and she felt his weight shift and his hand adjust on her back to find his balance once more.
"What's wrong?" She heard him ask. Not responding immediately, Rainbow focused on scanning the winding and twisting road that naturally formed between the irregularly shaped trees of the forest. Many wiry and coiling roots stuck out from the trees and arched directly into the road, or stretched out like a hoof meaning to trip any unsuspecting pony. It was difficult enough for her being low to the ground to notice all of the hazards, and so Dash grew worried about Kevin's chances.
"Change of plans. Get on my back, big guy." She moved right up next to him, bumping her side against his right leg.
"You sure?" His hesitance was not completely unfounded but the strain in his voice reminded Dash still that he had to be in a lot of pain.
"Yeah. I got you." He nodded and acquiesced, much to her relief.
It took some effort, but Kevin was a lot lighter than Dash expected, given his size. He was still pretty heavy, but just not as much as she thought he'd be. It was a few more minutes of walking through the forest to get to the hut, but finally the three of them came into view of a zebra wearing earrings watering flowers with a watering can held in its mouth. She glanced to the side and noticed the ponies and her ears perked up. After setting the watering can down, she eyed the approaching ponies and curled the corner of her lips up into a smile.
"Applejack and Rainbow Dash, what sights for sore eyes, and hello to your friend who is twice our size!"
"Hey there, Zecora!" Applejack called out first. "I know this ain't mighty proper but we're here with a bit of an emergency on our hooves and we were hopin' y'all could help us out!"
Dash grunted out a "Yeah" while walking a bit slower than her earth pony friend and bucked Kevin just slightly to adjust the weight on her back to make it more manageable.
Standing up, much to Dash's relief, Kevin cocked his head in confusion. "Nice to hello you, too. Why are you rhy-oof!"
Applejack jabbed her hoof against his gut without warning.
"This is Kevin, a hue-men that Fluttershy found a few months ago." Rainbow stepped forward after stretching out her back. "Zecora, I really need your help with some-"
The Zebra walked up to Kevin and brought her muzzle close to his leg, inspecting the injury. She made a "hmm" and let out an "oh" before touching her hoof gently against the side of his bruised knee. Predictably enough Kevin winced and yelped to which Zecora stepped back and gave an affirming nod of her head.
"Well of course Rainbow, whatever you need, Kevin's leg swelling needs care of great speed! Now come in my friends, both old and new, there is much to prepare and so much to do."
---
Outside of Zecora's hut, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Kevin stood outside the door after making their farewells and thanks to the zebra and closed the door behind them.
Applejack spoke first. "Hope y'all don't mind, but I'm gonna head on back. It's almost time fer school to finish up n' Granny Smith's off visitin' some family outta town. N' of course Big Mac's busy settin' up the cider press."
She turned to the two of them, then her eyes settled on the other pony in particular. "Jus' take it easy on tha' feller from now on, 'kay, Rainbow?"
"Yeah, yeah...thanks a lot, Applejack." She nodded her head and felt the pang of embarrassment damaging her pride. "I owe you majorly for this."
"Well ain't that the truth?" Applejack chuckled. "Ya kin' start by tellin' Fluttershy 'bout this whole mess when she gets home tonight, then you kin' report back to ma' farm on Apple Cider Day ta' help with tha' production side a' things. I reckon there's gonna be a big line of thirsty ponies this year if Pinkie Pie gets first in line again."
"Don't you mean 'when'?" Dash struggled to keep her feelings of frustration about that pink earth pony pent up just thinking about it. "I'll see you around, Applejack."
"See ya, Dash. Kevin." After tipping her hat to the two of them, the apple farmer followed the path out of the forest at a gallop. A speed that for the moment, neither Rainbow or Kevin were supposed to do until Kevin's leg had healed further.
"Come on, Kev. Let's head back to the cottage and get you rested up."
After drinking the smelly, bubbly, smokey, (and according to Kevin) foul tasting medicine, the pain had all but disappeared and Zecora applied a bandage soaked in a special balm that was supposed to help with the swelling. All that was left now was to get Kevin back to the cottage to rest as well as some food after all the activity that he had done over the course of the day.
With the adrenaline waning now, Rainbow Dash's focus was no longer centered on getting Kevin help as it was becoming aware that she was in the Everfree Forest. No longer riding on her back, Kevin was now using her as support up and down the slightly steep hills that the path went over. Like most ponies, Rainbow found the Everfree Forest just too weird and wild for her tastes.
Trees that grew on their own. Weather that occurred without pegasi. Dangerous animals that roamed and unfriendly to ponies in general.
Everything was just eerie and dark and...rubbing her eyes with a foreleg, a small bright structure was coming up as she and Kevin continued on the path. The way the branches, most barren of leaves, bent and twisted, the structure was kept out of sight when a pony entered the forest and was walking down the path toward Zecora's hut, however it was strikingly obvious walking the other way.
Her two legged friend had become as curious as she was, lifting his hand from her back and walking slightly ahead of her and off the path into the high grass and tall brush. Following after him Dash made a wing-assisted leap and landed into the clearing before Kevin had.
They came upon a campsite, the structure being an old mossy tent. Dash figured it was Kevin's, given what Fluttershy had told her about it. While she had never gone to it herself, she knew that he had emerged from the Everfree and in all honesty the wildness of her surroundings was hard to tell where she was. The path to Zecora's hut was the only saving grace since she would normally stick to flying. But still, Dash could guess that at one point the area looked pretty good but currently? 'Wow...this place is a mess...' she thought to herself.
Kevin took timid steps, while still favoring his injured leg, his limps were no longer as pronounced. He leaned his weight onto the trees as they approached the camp. Suddenly, he rushed forward in a panic, nearly tripping over several roots sticking out of the ground.
"Hey Kev! Wait up!" Dash called out. 'Has it really been that long since he last came here?' Dash thought at the sight of Kevin's frantic actions. 'Not like there's anything worthwhile around here, anyways...'
Kevin was now growling and grunting in his own language as he inspected the area. Turning toward the dirty and worn tent, he quickly disappeared through the flaps.
Not sure what to do, Dash's attention moved to some sort of wrapper pinned by a tube-like object. The wrapper was a small, white, rectangular thing with no discernible markings or writing. If she had to guess, the larger and longer tube-like object looked like a flashlight, with a button on the side and one end wider than the other. But the whole thing was moldy and layers of dried mud had caked over what seemed to have been the original red color.
She nudged at the flashlight with her hoof, managing to have it roll a few inches along the ground before coming to an inevitable stop against a rock.
"RAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!"
Dash jumped at the roar and nearly flew off to escape before she realized that it had come from inside the tent. "Kevin..." She gasped and she ran toward it.
When she parted the tent flap open, Dash spotted Kevin reading a book with a look of shock on his face. His breathing was quick and soon became loud, trembling gasps.
He was screaming and growling. Yelling and sobbing.
He was on his knees, hunched low to the ground in a near fetal position with tears running down his cheeks. In his arms he tightly clutched a journal close to his chest that looked exactly like the one he was always writing in, hoowever it looked worn and ragged.
Dash came closer, confused whether he was bitten or his injury began to hurt or what. It wasn't like she ever took the time to try to study his language like Twilight or Fluttershy did. "Hey, Kevin? Kevin! What's wrong!?" He only growled incomprehensibly in reply.
Right at that moment, rain began to fall from the ever-unpredictable skies above the Everfree. The drops of water pattered against the tent material, and quickly grew heavier in a matter of seconds. The sheer force of the rain nearly drowned out Dash's shouts and Kevin's sobs.
As though the forest too, was crying.
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ah, a human in Equestria, how very original
i2.ytimg.com/vi/yK7Wp3OP4zw/hqdefault.jpg
Kevin's sad. Poor guy.
644750 That was the worst possible quality condescending Wonka picture you could have used.
Simply fabulous.
I find that a Fic is better
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With a glass of chocolate milk!
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It took you 12 chapters to figure that out?
Edit: How silly of me, didn't realize that commenting on the main story page automatically goes to the most recent chapter, teehee...
Oh lawdy. I'm guessin he found something with pictures of his home or something. Aghhhh can't wait for next chapter!
And then suddenly poison joke.
Come on. You know you want to~!
. . . . . . . . . . . . .the words that could properly describe what I'm feeling right now elude me.
also, congratulations on the feature. for like, 2 seconds. aha
Poor Kev.
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Ah, a completely useless comment complaining about a story being HiE. How very original.
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For reals? Cool
GREAT ASS RAINBOWDASH!
650174 I am now unsure as to whether I'm glad or disappointed that Scootaloo wasn't there to hear him.
In any case, could this be the sign of another human? Some sort of temporal anomaly? A peculiarity of the Everfree? I'm intrigued and confused, which is making me even more intrigued.
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
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Reading this in order, so not sure if ya got to it yet, and guessing you may have aldray either read this or done the reasearch, but the only real advantage humans have over animals in the physical matters is extremely high endurance.
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Does Kevin have some sort of weird deficiency that makes him heal like a thousand times slower than other humans, or what? I don't get it, from what I can tell he broke his leg and arm *months* ago.
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Those are the best fanfics