• Published 8th Jul 2015
  • 469 Views, 5 Comments

A traveler's tale - axl bishop



Enchanted Brew tells the stories of his travels

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Chapter 1: First stop

Chapter 1
First stop

The next town came into view as Brew continued to walk down the dirt road, he let out a sigh of relief. The sun will be setting soon and he would rather not sleep outdoors after what happened in the last town.

*Everypony seemed really friendly at first but they all kept staring and with the same creepy smile. They also seemed really intent on me meeting this Starlight Shimmer...or was it Starlight Glimmer?

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard somepony.

Dang nabbit!”, noticing a broken down cart Brew stopped.

“Hello? Is anypony there?......hel-”

Agh! I heard ya!” a very disgruntled looking donkey said, walking out from behind the cart. “What do you want?” the donkey asked.

“Oh...ah, I saw the broken cart so I was checking to see if everypony was well...Are you hurt? You appear to be covered in dirt.” Brew replied nervously.

“I'm fine.” Was his only reply before going back to the other side of his cart.

Brew looked to the setting sun, then to the town in the distance and sighed. He walked to where the donkey disappeared to and asked, “Then perhaps some help then?”

“No, thank you.” he simply replied.

“Well, I can't just leave you out here.” Brew responded.

“Sure you can.” the grumpy donkey said, going back to trying to fix his broken cart.

Brew thought for a moment before he started pulling things from his vest.
It was his mom's old vest. It had rather baggy pockets so normally it would hold a lot, but a pony enchanted it as a thank you for her help, increasing space inside each of the pockets as well as the duffel bag like sack attached to the back of the vest which bore a sigil of the family crest. To put it simply, the pockets are bigger on the inside in which proves quite useful.
Pulling out what is needed, Brew begins to prepare some tea while the unnamed donkey continues to pull on something from under his cart.
Finishing the tea, Brew calls out to him, ”Excuse me!” gaining his attention.

“What is it now?”

Handing him a cup of tea, not giving the confused donkey a chance to answer he introduced himself.
“Hello, my name is Enchanted Brew.” He sipped his tea while waiting for him to do the same.

He didn't have to wait long.

“Uh, Doodle…”, he replied.

“Well it is nice to meet you”, Brew added “And what seems to be the problem with your cart?”

Sighing, Doodle replied, “Something is stuck to the bottom and I can’t seem to get it out.” Finally sipping his tea, “Ooh this is nice. What kind of tea is this?” doodle asked.

“Ashwaganda Tea; to help clear one's mind and aids ones exhaustion to calm one’s stress.” Brew replied while setting his tea down and making his way to said cart.

“Something stuck…” Brew replied while looking under Doodle’s cart.

“Yeah, and it won’t budge, no matter how hard I pull,” he said “Nearly twisted my ankle when it happened to.”

Looking back up to Doodle, Brew asked, “You’re hurt?”

“No no, I’m fine, just fell is all.” Doodle replied.

*glad to hear he isn't hurt.

Looking back down, Brew said, “Well that’s good to hear....Strange, the jam here looks like it’s coming out of the bottom of the cart. Like the top to of a guitar...Or maybe a loot?” Brew stated, looking back to him.

Taking a moment to process what Brew said, Doodle stood, dropping his tea, “WHAT!?”

Hopping in the back of his cart he began to dig through his items until, “AHA!” Doodle shouted, pulling at the loot, shaking his cart.
Brew wasn't paying attention. Looking to the now broken tea cup.
*That was mother’s favorite teacup.

“WHOA!”, shouted Doodle, gaining Brew’s attention and turning to see Doodle somehow manage to rock his cart so much it was falling over. Brew pushed against the cart, managing to keep it from falling over. Doodle fell from his cart at some point.

After catching his breath Brew looked to the downed donkey and asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I think so.” replied Doodle. After a moment he held up a banjo, “Looks like we got it.” doodle stated.

Giving the cart a push, it moved a few inches, “Indeed, it looks like that was the problem,” looking to the setting sun, “and not a moment too soon.”


Packing up their things (broken tea cup included), they made their way to the small town, arriving just after sunset.

“Well I gotta find a place to put my cart for the night.” said doodle.

“And I’m going to find a place to stay for a day or two. It was nice meeting you, Doodle.” Brew said before walking off.

Wait!” shouted Doodle, causing Brew to jump with surprise. turning back to see Doodle digging through his stuff. After a moment he pulled out a little box and gave it to Brew. “A thank you and an apology gift for your teacup I broke.”

Taking the box from Doodle, Brew opened it to see a modest tea set inside.
The entire set has blue lilies painted along them.

“You don't have to do this, I was just happy to help you.” Brew replied,

“Yeah, well I think I do. You were awfully kind to help me the way you did, even after how rude I was to you, especially after I broke your tea cup.”

Taking a moment to reply, Brew said, “Thank you, my friend. With this we should enjoy another blend!” in a happy rhyme.

“I would like that but it's getting late.” said Doodle.

“Oh! of course, another time then, Doodle.”

Smiling, the not so cranky donkey said, “Yeah, goodbye Brew,” and walked off with his cart behind him.

Finding himself alone, Brew put his newly acquired tea set away, walking off to find a place to stay.


After a few minutes of walking Brew noticed there were quite a few ponies out at this time and they were all looking at him.

*Oh, not again, he thought to himself. After a few minutes, *odd... every time he turned to look they would turn away, but he could see out the corners of his eyes that they were indeed looking. *Maybe it's because I'm a zebra. Most ponies aren't used to seeing us outside of our country. Then again, Doodle didn't seem to mind what I am...probably just being paranoid. That last town really freaked me out.

Continuing his walk, he eventually spotted a small inn, “The Hive Mind”, Brew read out loud.

The entire building looked brand new and upon entering the building he confirmed that everything looked just as new.

Looking to the pony working the desk Brew said, “Hello…”, he glanced at her name tag, “Dusk Peny. I would like a room.”

The mare replied, “And how many nights will you be staying?”

“Just two, long enough to resupply.”

With a slight smile, Dusk Peny said, “That will be 20 bits.”

Reaching into his vest Brew took out the said amount and paid her.

Taking the bits, Dusk Peny said, “Enjoy your stay”, while ruffling her wings.

Brew looked at the violet colored mare, not noticing them before from her poofy styled alabaster mane, Brew took notice to her leathery wings, “Oh, you’re a thestral”, Brew said aloud.

The mare turned to him defensively, “What did you call me?!”, the sudden volume caught Brew off guard,.

“Um, yes; thestral or bat-pony... don't you agree?”

Seconds passed but it felt like hours until she responded, “Oh! Yes, I, umm...Must have misheard you”, she said while blushing.

“Yes, it’s no problem. It happens to the best of us”, Brew stated, taking the key Dusk Peny gave him.

“Room 13”, Dusk said to Brew which he replied, “Thank you.”


Upon entering said room Brew looked around. There was one bed, a dresser, and a small bathroom. *All and all, a nice room. Thinking back to Dusk Peny, *Strange, usually that only goes that way if you call them bat-pony instead of thestral, hmm.
Thinking to himself for a moment, *Aunty always taught me ‘better safe than sorry’. Digging into his vest, Brew pulled out a bowl, a bottle of clear orange liquid, and a large leaf. Placing the bowl on the dresser, brew poured some of the bottle into the bowl and dipped the leaf halfway into it. Then, with a match, he lit the stem. Brew took a deep breath as smoke filled the room.
The potion is made to act as a barrier similar to that of a unicorn’s magic, everywhere the smoke touched is magically protected from those who would try to use magic against whoever is in the smoke, as well as preventing anyone from entering the room.
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Yawning, Brew looked to the window, seeing the sun setting. Turning to his aunt and the three fillies, “It’s getting late, perhaps you three should be getting home.”

“Awww!’, Applebloom says “Do we have ta?”

Zecora replies, “Why with the gloom, Applebloom? You three are always welcome back to my tree.”

“Really? We can come back to finish the story?” Scootaloo asked, turning to Brew

Brewed sighed, “I don't mind, little ones, as long as aunty is fine with it I don’t mind you coming back to hear more.”

Then the crusaders got up to hug Enchanted Brew, “THANK YOU!” they said all together.

Then Zecora spoke up, “Come, I’ll take you all home so in the forest you will not roam.” She turned to Brew, “You can take the spare bed, when I return I’ll see you fed.”

Brew chuckled at this and said, “You know, aunty I’m not a kid anymore”, to which Zecora smiled and left with the crusaders.

Walking to the back of his aunt’s home he found the spare bed laying down. Brew said, “I don't know why they were so disappointed. I didn't even get to the interesting part yet.” Closing his eyes, having a final thought *I wonder how Gale is doing.

Author's Note:

Edited and proofread by
Rook



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