Explorers from Giraffia

by Elchar

Act 2 Chapter 2: Zebra, tree and hope

As it turned out Everfree forest was huge. It was located on the outskirts of Ponyville and seemed very dark and thick. Sea Sail vaguely remembered Daisy mentioning it one time, and not in a good way.

As they drew close to the line of the trees, Priness Celestia suddenly stopped. Her sister did the same just a moment after and then the rest of the group.

“I think me and my sister should return to Canterlot,” said Princess Celestia.

“What? Why?” asked Sea Sail confused.

“In this great time of danger, I think we should be available for our citizens. We will be of a more use in Canterlot than here. After all, the bearers of Elements of Harmony are with you. They have already been in many dangerous situations and they will help you, if you need. Come, sister.”

The princesses quickly took their leave and teleported away to Canterlot.

Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped with a shocked expression on her face, “Oh my gosh! We are going to an adventure together and we don’t even know all of our names yet!”

She then immediately threw the names of all of her pony friends at the giraffes and started to describe their personalities right after. However, she was interrupted in a middle of a word as Vermishine started to wake up.

“Wha… what happened…” he seemed to be confused at first but soon remembered everything and realised it wasn’t just some sort of strange nightmare. He was now conscious, but still very weak and so remained on Bluewave’s back for the time being.

Pinkie Pie, however, insisted on repeating her monologue all over again, since Vermishine couldn’t hear the beginning.

Bluewave groaned, his face revealing his opinions towards the pink pony more than obviously. The rest of the giraffes weren’t too keen about it either but Pinkie Pie failed to see that and started. But the rest of her friends were clever enough to interupt her again.

“You know, Pinks,” said the blue winged pony with an incredibly colorful mane. “What about if all of us just introduce and then go to the forest. There’s really not that much time you know. Ancient evil trying to destroy Equestria and all.”

Pinkie Pie, to a big surprise of the giraffes, actually agreed. Each one of her friends than promptly introduced and so did the giraffes.
After the basic introductions were finally over, they took their way into the forest.

•••

The forest was so thick that giraffes had to bow their head very low to keep themselves from bumping into each and every branch and even then it was somewhat difficult to continue.

“So… your zebra friend lives here?” asked Accacia Sprout. “Zebras from our homeland like big planes and open fields, not thick and hard to pass through forests.”

“She just likes her privacy. But she does seem to be happy with her life,” answered Princess Twilight Sparkle, or just Twilight, how she insisted giraffes to call her.

“Careful now,”she continued soon after. “Whatever you do, do not touch those blue flowers. Trust me.”

Accacia Sprout peered closely at one of the blue plants, “Why? What does it do?”

“Basically, it makes fun of you and turns your life into a hell,” answered Twilight.

“Oh…” Accacia Sprout quickly moved away from the plant. All of the giraffes were very careful where they step from that moment on.

•••

They managed to get to their destination fine in the end. The zebra’s home was apparently carved inside of a tree.

“Pretty nice,” commented Acacia Sprout. “I’d really like to live in an alive tree like that. Seems like a very nice idea.”

For some reason Twilight suddenly looked very pained. Acacia Sprout noticed it and wondered what he said. Maybe she doesn’t like her crystal tree home and thinks a real tree would be better too?

Sea Sail went ahead and knocked on the door.

Soon after they opened and a zebra head appeared.

The moment the head saw Sea Sail, it made a very scared face and disappeared back behind the door.

Twilight yelled, “Zecora, it’s me, Twilight! The rest of us are here, too. And, well, a few giraffes. Please, let us in, we need to talk!”
“Oh my friends, you hear – why did you brought the giraffes here? My tribe came from behind thousand waves – in giraffe land, zebras are just a slaves.”

“What?” Twilight looked puzzled at Sea Sail, who just felt very uncomfortable.

“Eeh… Zecora?” yelled Sea Sail through the door. “Your tribe must have come here very long ago. I admit, giraffes used to be slavers and had many zebra slaves, but that was centuries ago! Now, Giraffia trades with zebra tribes and many zebras live in Giraffia - freely!”

Zecora was quiet behind a door for a moment, “I have heard so many tales - in them, giraffes are evil and we are the slaves!”

“Alright, Zecora,” said Twilight. “I understand that you are afraid, but… we are here, too. You trust us, don’t you? I mean, I know the giraffes for only a little while, but from what I could see, they are pretty nice.”

“Yeah,” bounced Pinkie near the door. “They are super duper friendly!”

“Is that the truth? I can’t say – And I can’t just send my friends away! Listen – maybe you are speaking the truth – but what would you do if I wanted a proof?”

Sea Sail decided it’s a right time to speak again, “Well, I don’t have any proof, but listen - we are too big to fit in your house anyway. So just let your friends in. You believe them, right? There is something really bad happening and we need you. Princess Twilight will explain everything, but - Ninki Nanka appeared in the Equestria!”

Zecora imidiately opened the door. Fear in her eyes said more than enough.

“Yes, it’s true Zecora. The giraffes told us it was zebras who realized how to defeat Ninki Nanka back when he ruled. Do you know what happened?”

“I’m afraid not, sadly – but I will give you an advice – and gladly. Ninki Nanka’s powerful and strong, but even he will fall – to the strongest power of them all. As in the times of past, to set Equestria free, the Tree of Harmony holds the key.”

Twilight thought for a while, then nodded, “Yes, you are right, Zecora. Actually, that was our idea too. But we thought we would ask you first. The giraffes told us that zebra shamans were the ones that made the spell that stopped Ninki Nanka.”

“I’ll go with you to the Tree. What will it do - I would want to see. If the giraffes really are nice, it certainly will give advice.”

“What in the name of Giraffepolis is that Tree of Harmony even supposed to be, anyway?’ asked Bluewave.

“Well, it’s very important for Equestria. And it’s actually quite fabulous, you will see,” answered him the white pony with horn - Rarity, if he recalled correctly. She had unbelievably trimed and sparkly mane and was so over the top obvious fashion deva. Bluewave didn’t like her at all.

“Yeah, it’s like super amazing, it is all sparkly and crystally and stuff. And it holds the Elements of Harmony - we gave them to it you see, and- oooo, oh my gosh, I just realised. The giraffes and a zebra from Equestria - nations long separated back together again, you know what this calls for?”

Oh, Pinkie Pie, thought Bluewave, The most annoying one. Since the beginning of their trip. She talked about something like every two minutes and drew him nuts.

I swear to Neckolas III, if she’ll say it-

“A party!”

She said it! She really did! I swear, just don’t-

“I am affraid we don’t really have the time to party right now Pinkie,” said Rarity. Bluewave suddenly liked her much more.

“Aaaaw…” Pinkie Pie looked sad, but it only lasted for like a millisecond or so. Then she was back to her cheery self jumping joyfully around for no apparent reason whatsoever.

•••

Zecora joined their group, but the giraffes could clearly see she was constantly keeping herself as away from them as possible, staying close to the ponies.

“Come on, Zecora,” said Amber Spot. “It hurts me that you are afraid if us so much. It’s different, really. Many zebras live in Giraffia completely freely now.”

Zecora looked up to her, “Please understand - that might be true and maybe not - I’m starting to believe you, but just a jot. You are all so big scary but you also seem very friendly. Ninki Nanka is the real problem here - and also my greatest fear. But you giraffes - are you a threat? I still can’t decide - not just yet.”

“Well, I don’t care what you think about me. Ninki Nanka’s a huge problem, but I could care less about Equestria,” commented Bluewave.

Rainbow Dash was unamused, “That’s really rude you know. What even is your problem? You have got to be the most unfriendly giraffe ever. Try to be a little more awesome, like me.”

“Well, aren’t you full of yourself,” snapped Bluewave back.

Amber Spot quickly took a word, “Please, Rainbow Dash, you misunderstand him. Bluewave can sound really rude, but I know him. Deep inside he’s a strong but soft guy. Even if he tries to hide it.”

“No I am not!” Bluewave’s cheeks started to turn red.

“Calm down, everypony…. and everygiraffe,” inserted Twilight. “We’re getting closer. And this is a really dangerous part of the forest.”
Accacia Sprout was looking at many of the plants along the way, examining them closely and every so often putting some of them into his bags to examine them further later.

“Oh come on… this place is amazing! It’s full of such an interesting plants! They are unlike anything I’ve ever seen!” he commented.

“Well, I don’t like it,” said Vermishine from behind Bluewave’s back. “You giraffes probably can’t see it, but I am an okapi, I know forests, and this one is actually pretty similar to jungles in our homeland… and I don’t trust it. It seems more… evil, however weird that might sound. I feel like it’s silently watching us. You see, in a normal jungle, there are always lots of animal noises, mainly birds. But this forest is so quiet… too quiet. Well, except for us talking.”

Everybody started to listen. He was right. No animal sounds whatsoever could be heard.

“Ah reckon we shoud hurry up y’all. This here forest gives me heebies,” said Applejack.

•••

“So, what’s this place?” asked Sea Sail.

There was some sort of huge and very old castle in front of them. It was in ruins. Near it, a big canyon stretched through the land, and at the end of it was a cave, shimmering with light from the inside.

“Well, this is an old castle of the royal sisters,” ansered Twilight. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to live here… one thousand years ago. And the Tree of Harmony is inside that cave over there. We just have to go down these stairs.”

But that was easier said than done. The stairs were obviously built for a pony hooves rather than a much bigger and clumsier hooves of the giraffes. The time also eroded them, so they were pretty unreliable, sometimes crumbling under their weight as they walked over them. It took a lot of time and carefully planned steps, but everygiraffe and everypony managed to get down safely.

The sun was already setting, reminding them of how much time they’ve already wasted. Ninki Nanka was out there for a whole day now. Who knows how much damage he has already caused? But since the moon appeared on the sky right after, at least it seemed that Princesses were unharmed and able to perform their royal duties.

•••

All of the giraffes stared at the Tree of Harmony.

Accacia Sprout trotted closer to the tree and peered at its trunk, “I can’t believe it! It looks like it’s made out of crytsals, but I think it’s actually alive! How is that even possible? What do you think, madam?”

“Wait a second…” Sea Sail looked closely at tree’s branches. There were some sorts of gems in them, in all sorts of strange shapes. “This reminds me of something… look, there’s a balloon... and a butterfly… a lightning bolt, a gem and an apple. And in the middle…”

“Yes. A star,” interrupted Twilight. “Those are the Elements of harmony. We used to posses them, that’s why they look like our cutie marks.”

“Cutie marks? What the heck is that?” said Bluewave.”Wait, don’t tell me that’s how you ponies call your talent symbols, oh dear Necking, that’s so weird.”

“Talent symbol?” asked Rarity “Well, I have to admit that it does sound better. More… descriptive. Why do we even call them cutie marks anyway?”

“I like the name cutie mark more,” said Pinkie, starring at the three balloons on her flank.

“Well, of course you do,” muttered Bluewave.

„Keep it down, everyone!“ interrupted Twilight. „Let’s hope the Tree of Harmony will help us somehow. We don’t possess the Elements of Harmony anymore so it’s our only chance.“

“Yeah, we know, Twilight. Let’s get this over with,” answered Rainbow Dash and everybody walked close to the beautiful tree.

“So… what do we do now?” asked Fluttershy while they were all rather awkwardly starring at the tree waiting for something to happen.
Twilight touched the trunk of the tree, “I don’t know! Last time it helped as after we gave it back the Elements of Harmony!”

“Hey. Twilight, look!” shouted Rarity, “Your Element is glowing!”

Twilight immidiately looked right up above her. She could see the star shaped gem in the trunk was indeed shinning brightly. She pulled back her hoof and the gem stopped glowing. The tree and the Element in it had to sense her touch somehow.

“Okay, this may sound pretty strange, but I think we should all touch it.” she said afterward.

All six ponies gathered in front of the tree and placed their hooves on its trunk at once. Every gem in the branches started glowing with blinding brightness, The light got more and more intense, so everybody had to close their eyes. When they’ve opened them again, the gems were dim and right in front of the tree stood an elegant case.

“What?” asked Rainbow Dash. “This is getting old. You already gave us one chest, remember tree?”

“Yes, Rainbow, but this one looks even more dazzling than the one before!” commented on the aesthetics of the strange present Rarity.

In that moment, she noticed something else, “Wait, look, there aren’t six locks! There are eight!”

Rainbow Dash flew closer to take a look too, “Eight? But how is that even possible? There are six of us!”

“Maybe… maybe it’s not for us… but for them…” thought Twilight, pointing at the giraffes.

“But there are five of them! So why eight?” contradicted Rainbow.

“You are right… but whatever reason this tree gave us this chest for, it sure must be something important,” answered Twilight.

“Wait, wait, wait,” jumped Sea Sail into the conversation. “What’s with this chest? And what do you mean that it may be for us?”

“Well, there already was one chest like this one. We have found all the keys for it when we stayed true to our elements in hard times. The chest contained something that helped us when Equestria was in danger. Oh, and my castle’ve sprouted out of it.”

“Er… I... ” Sea Sail was just more and more confused.

“But there were six locks and six keys! Because there are six Elements of Harmony! So why does this one have eight locks? That doesn’t make any sense!” continued Twilight her monologue.

“Just don’t mind her for some time. When she’s like this, it usually takes her a while to snap out of it,” said Rainbow Dash to Sea Sail.

Twilight, however, surprised all of her friends when she just stopped, “Oh well, I think it will start making sense in the right time. Until then, this chest is all we have. And we have to find all the keys… somehow.”

“Well, at least something,” said Amber Spot. “I think we can manage to do that. But we better hurry. Ninki Nanka won’t just wait for us to find them!”

Twilight looked at the chest again. The last one was inside a flower, but this one was just standing on the floor. The Tree of Harmony probably wanted them to take it with them.

Amber Spot was the first giraffe near the chest. She picked it up and gave it to Sea Sail, who putted it in her saddlebacks immidiately.

“Whatever the future holds,” she then. “We at least have some… hope now.”

Author's Note:

So... something up there didn't want me to publish this chapter. Just as it was done and waited only to finish the proofreading, I broke my ankle and ended up in the hospital for more than week. Anyway, I am home now and this story is taking a rather... interesting path. Princesses chickened out went to do a royal business (for now, at least). Oh and Zecora appeared. And she is a pain in the flank to write, I tell you.
Well, enjoy for now, bye.

Comments

[IceDragonKing]

What an unexpected! The Zebras are slaves. I like this idea. Wonder what the Princesses will think of this.

Oh and I'm feel sorry for you that you got your ankle broken.

[FoolRegnant]

I've been following this fic for a while, but the writing just seems to get worse as it goes on, and the plot, while fairly promising at first, has veered into strange territory. Honestly, the worst sin this fic has is the absolute lack of anything resembling pacing or dialogue that actually sounds like sentient beings conversing.
I'll be giving this a downvote, one long deserved, to be honest.

[Elchar]

5896936 I am very sorry to hear that. It's strange, really, but... I kind of expected somebody to be disapointed in the way this story took. But I feel like if it would continue just as "Giraffes look at Equestria and comment on stuff every brony knows" it would get boring very fast. Also, in the last chapter, I was trying to make dialogues better and let there be more interaction between characters. I am not an experienced writer and I am not a good writer, but I was trying to do my best. Thank you for reading my story and for feedback, which is always appreciated. I am planning to write other stories, too, maybe they will be better. :D

[PerigeeTheBat]

The image for this story is cringeworthy. Why does the giraffe have four ears?