It's Not Easy Bein' Seen

by helmet of salvation

6. Til the break of dusk

"Pinkie, no. That's too much. I'll never eat all of this."

Pinkie Pie lifted her head from the bright red party wagon, bulging with leftover baked confections, that she had wheeled up to Elegy's feet. Her eager grin morphed into a look of cool sobriety. "Elegy, take the advice of Ponyville's premier party planning pony: you never know when you'll need some cake." Breaking back into a smile, Pinkie stotted merrily off to assist her friends with the final stage of the project: cleaning up.

Cleaning up alone was drudgery, even for Pinkie Pie. Clean up with friends, and Pinkie could transform the chore into a mini-party in itself. A continual stream of jokes, friendly chatter, humming and singing kept high the spirits of the volunteers, so that the whole undertaking seemed far less onerous to them than it might otherwise have been.

Rarity used her magic telekinesis to remove the decorations and guide them back to their appropriate storage compartments. Pinkie ferried stacks of used dishes to the kitchen, expertly bearing them on her back, head and outstretched tail. Spike swept the broad ballroom floor, accompanying himself with a medley of humming, whistling, scatting and rhythmic chants of "Sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep". Occasionally he would happen across a puddle of spilt food or drink, which he cleaned with one lap of his reptilian tongue.

Rarity, of course, loudly expressed her dismay at this unhygienic practice, until Spike reminded her that she was only too happy to nibble on grass that goodness knew how many other ponies had touched with their bare hooves, backs or even buttocks. And he would be mopping up afterwards as well, so the possible presence of dragon spittle on the floor was of little concern.

Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, had their own task to execute: escorting Elegy back to her forest home. As they reached the main doorway of the castle, Twilight magically opened the doors to a sky of deepening purple, with gentle tints of orange and pink on the horizon.

"Sundown?" Elegy gaped. "We've been partying til-til sundown? This is the time I should be getting up, not going to bed. It's, it's crazy."

Rainbow Dash grinned. "We won't tell if you won't."

Twilight summoned her protective, transparent sphere around the foursome and elevated it a few feet above the ground. As the orb glided towards the forest, Elegy continued her amazed summation.

"Just knowing that you went to such lengths to bring a little brightness into my life, I think I'll be doing a lot less crying from now on." She paused thoughtfully for a second. "Uh-oh."

"What's wrong?" her escorts chorused.

"Crying. It's how I signal my presence to the other animals in the forest, so that they don't have to look at me. Now I need to come up with something else to keep them away. I'll feel silly talking to myself."

Fluttershy responded, "Would you consider singing to yourself?"

"Singing!" Elegy's voice resonated with wonderment at the possibilities. After a wet, noisy clearing of her throat she let out a moan, similar her usual miserable ululation but holding a single pitch. She emitted another moan, higher in pitch, then another higher still. Next came seven, in an ascending-descending scale, hitting the notes more or less competently. She turned to her pony companions, her eyes alight with joy. "That sounded just like my normal chantpleuring, but I was only pretending to cry. That could work. And you taught me some great new songs today, too. Oh, what was that one I really loved? It was so beautiful."

Fluttershy began to sing in her sweet, birdlike voice.

"There's music in the tree-tops,

there's music in the vale."

"That is a lovely song," replied Elegy, "but it's not the one I'm thinking of."

"Life in Equestria shimmers," Twilight began resonantly.

"No, that's not it either. Oh wait, now I remember:

"First you wiggle your tail.

Oink oink oink.

Then you wiggle your sn——"

At once the three ponies blurted out a hubbub of overlapping sentence fragments indicating that, yes, they recognised the jaunty polka that Elegy sang. Rainbow Dash was the last to finish talking: "... definitely keep other critters at bay."

As the orb drifted deeper into the forest, farther from the ponies' habitat, Elegy's mood became somewhat pensive. "I wish I could see you ponies again sometime, get to know you better."

"What do you mean, Elegy? We'd love to spend time with you again," replied Fluttershy.

"But how? I can't have you all go to the trouble of throwing a masquerade party whenever I feel like some company. There has to be an easier way."

Twilight's eyes gleamed. "Maybe there is."

* * *

"Um, Twilight, are you sure Rarity won't mind?"

The three ponies were returning to their home town, Twilight carrying their party costumes using her telekinetic force.

"I was careful not to make any promises but Rarity adores making outfits. She's already done the hard part. Now that she has Elegy's measurements, it should be no problem for her to make another concealing costume out of a sturdier material, one that she can wear in the forest. That way, she can come and visit us, or invite us for a visit, as she pleases. Or seek out other forest residents who might be willing to make friends with her."

"Even so, if she comes to Ponyville all shrouded like that, other ponies might stare at her."

Rainbow Dash rubbed her lower jaw with her forehoof. "Yeah, having to cover yourself every time you go out in public seems kinda degrading to me. Like wearing a bag over your head or something."

"It's not exactly unheard of, though," replied Twilight. "I've read that the mares of Tarpanistan never leave their homes without wearing outfits that conceal all but their eyes. They consider it a sign of modesty."

Rainbow snorted with disdain at the idea. "And you all think I need to be more modest. Well I draw the line at that."

Twilight continued, "I hear what you're both saying but we have to deal with the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. Attitudes about external appearance don't always change overnight. Even Elegy has to work through her feelings in that regard. If she wants to build friendships she needs to do so at her own pace. And we need to support that."

"Yeah, I getcha. Besides, if the other ponies see us hang with Elegy when she comes, they'll know that she's down with the cool ponies, so they'll show her some respect." Rainbow slicked back her mane with her forehoof.

"I guess that's one positive that's come from the squonk's appearance," mused Fluttershy. "It motivated us to extend our friendship to Elegy, even though it was daunting and challenging. That can only serve to make us better at spreading the magic of——"

Rainbow Dash darted in front of her two friends and blocked their passage with her forelegs. "Uh, is it my imagination or did that tree there just jump backwards?"

Fluttershy squeaked in fright.

Twilight sounded somewhat less concerned. "I ... don't think trees move like that even in the Everfree Forest, Rainbow. It's probably just the fading light playing tricks on your eyes."

From the corner of her eye, Twilight herself caught sight of some movement. She yelped in alarm, reflexively releasing her hold on the costumes, and turned towards the thick tree trunk alongside her in time to see another trunk, farther to her right, heaving and shuffling on the forest floor. And bending. Not swaying, as if battered by a strong wind, but bending. At an angle.

"I gotta admit, that's a pretty impressive trick." Rainbow Dash brandished her forehooves in readiness for danger.

Fluttershy backed gingerly away from the sight. "Um, girls, I think we should probably——"

Twilight summoned a surge of magical energy from her horn, generating a beam of light. As she guided the light around her vicinity, she and Rainbow Dash perceived that the four tree trunks beside them were in fact stout, scaly legs, and the dense canopy above them was a vast underbelly. Timidly, Twilight tracked her light beam behind her in time to see a long, long neck coiling and swooping straight towards them.

Twilight and Rainbow launched themselves into the air, seeking high altitude. Vertical flight was taxing, as it meant directly fighting gravity. The physical effort combined with sense of danger took a toll on Twilight—a comparatively weak and inexperienced flier—and prompted her to over-think the many ways in which flight could go awry. Her frantic wingbeats began to lose their efficacy and she found herself dropping towards their pursuer's rising head—a head that was tiny in comparison to the rest of his body but nevertheless big enough to ensconce one of the fliers comfortably between his jaws. The purple pony unleashed a wail of distress.

Assessing the situation with a single downward glance, Rainbow Dash executed a flawless backward somersault to position herself between Twilight and the beast below. The blue pegasus planted her forehooves firmly on Twilight's buttocks (eliciting an even louder and higher-pitched bleat from the alicorn) and pushed upwards. She cocked her hind legs in readiness to deliver a downwards kick to the behemoth's snout, for what good that might do.

Thankfully, such action was not necessary. Rainbow's fearless act of devotion emboldened Twilight, pushing the worries from her mind and restoring strength and smoothness to her flight. The ponies' combined wing power soon propelled them beyond even the behemoth's prodigious reach. The monstrous creature glared at the hovering ponies for a moment, swaying ponderously on his hind legs, then emitted a brusque sough and began lowering himself to all fours.

"Yeah, nice try, walnut-brain," jeered Rainbow Dash. Her smug demeanour faded an instant later as she and Twilight realised that Fluttershy was not with them. Twilight cast her light beam until it revealed the pale pony, sitting on her haunches as if rooted to the forest floor, her eyes and mouth open wide. Fluttershy remained immobile as the behemoth angled his massive body towards hers.

"Fluttershy!" screamed Twilight.

Rainbow Dash shot like a meteorite towards Fluttershy, gathered her fellow pegasus in her forelegs and hauled her up towards the canopy where Twilight waited. Despite her speed and power, time seemed to slow down for Rainbow. She became acutely aware of the gravity pulling against her ascent, Fluttershy's weight, her own full forelegs hampering her balance and steering. Above all, she was able to take in the overwhelming size of the behemoth.

The creature was the length of a whale and stood fifteen feet tall at his shoulders. His serpentine neck undulated from a vast wall of muscle clad in thick, scaly hide, resting on four towering pillars housing muscles that Rainbow Dash could have slept under. His tail lashed the air like a gigantic whip. "I hope I wasn't out of line with that crack about the walnut-brain," she muttered with just a hint of anxiety.

As she registered that Rainbow Dash was carrying her up towards the forest canopy, Fluttershy looked around in puzzlement and noticed the consternation on her friends' faces. "Um, girls, is something wrong?"

"'Is something wrong?'" repeated an aghast Twilight. "That monster was about to attack you!"

"Monster?" Fluttershy threw her legs tightly around Rainbow Dash, fortunately leaving the latter's wings free. "What monster?"

With a muffled grunt, Rainbow wrenched her muzzle free of Fluttershy's terrified embrace and spat out tufts of yellow fur. "Seriously?"

Fluttershy gaped and released her hold on Rainbow Dash as realisation dawned on her. "Wha-the behemoth?" Her forehoof flicked to her mouth as she burst into a bout of tittering that she immediately tried to stem. "I'm sorry girls, I don't mean to make fun, but really. A behemoth attacking ponies? Look at him. He's not even paying any attention to us."

Twilight and Rainbow looked warily downwards. Indeed, the giant seemed to be looking everywhere except at the ponies. His back was turned to them. He had propped his forelegs against the trunk of a stout tree—it was this, not Fluttershy, he had been turning towards earlier—and was using his hind legs and tail for balance. He repeatedly plunged his long neck into the foliage and withdrew it seconds later, his jaws crammed with leaves. After tipping each mouthful back for the long journey down his oesophagus he cast his head around and sniffed the air for signs of the few forest predators big and powerful enough to tackle him. Such as an Ursa Major, a glittering, bear-like brute with fangs the length of elephant tusks, that could nestle one of its own house-sized cubs in the crook of its foreleg. Or a roc, who could claim the behemoth's life with one well-timed strike of its huge talons around his neck, just below his skull.

"Well he was paying pretty close attention to us a minute ago," Twilight retorted in annoyance.

"Oh, that. Well, he was just cranky because we'd gotten a little too close to him. He needs his personal space, just like we do. That's why I was backing away, to give him some more room. I thought that's what you two were doing as well."

"Then why did you look so terrified?" exclaimed Twilight.

"Terrified?" Fluttershy thought for a second. "Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry if I gave you two the wrong impression. That wasn't terror, that was awe. The behemoth is one of the most magnificent animals in existence. It's not every day I get to come so close to a creature so amazingly awesome." She flicked her eyes between her two friends and gave a little smile. "Present company excepted, of course." She and Twilight broke into a round of chuckling.

Rainbow Dash's smug grin turned into a frown of confusion. "Wait, why is that funny?"

"I'll explain later," Twilight reassured.

Fluttershy gave a quick downward glance. "Um, can we go back down please? I don't like being this high."

Twilight was still uncertain. "You're sure that thing won't get cranky again?"

"Hmm, good thinking Twilight." Fluttershy flew a little closer to the browsing giant. "Excuse me."

The behemoth curved his neck around to face her, leaves fluttering down from his mouth.

"I don't mean to interrupt your dinner but is it okay if my friends and I come down now? I promise we won't get too close."

The behemoth paused for a second, then rumbled, shrugged his massive shoulders and resumed his browsing.

Fluttershy turned back to her friends. "He says it's fine as long as you don't shine your light directly onto him." She and Twilight descended to the ground while Rainbow hovered a foot or so over their heads.

The pale pony heaved a sigh. She would gladly have gazed at the behemoth for hours, as long as that didn't make him feel uncomfortable. "We should be heading back now. It's getting late." Fluttershy failed to keep the disappointment from her voice. She took a longing look back at the majestic beast, then started trudging back towards Ponyville. Twilight levitated the ponies' fallen costumes and trotted to catch up to her.

Rainbow Dash began to follow them, paused, then darted to Twilight's side and whispered briefly in her ear. Twilight thought for a moment, then disappeared, rematerialising straight in front of Fluttershy, facing her.

The alicorn's warm smile eased Fluttershy's alarm. "Two more minutes."

* * *

The soothing, exotic chant came to a sudden halt. Frowning with suspicion, Zecora twitched her ears at the sound and sniffed the afternoon air. She crept towards an alcove in the wall near her bed, slung a belt over her back and plucked three woven pouches from a shelf within the alcove to place in the compartments lining her belt.

Zecora's hut was small and simple but comfortable, and provided her with invaluable shelter from the elements. However, it was also a potential trap. Manticores and timberwolves would gladly make a meal of a zebra given the chance; once they learned that this distinctive structure housed fresh meat ...

To ward off such hazards, Zecora had prepared a number of powders. One would set off a series of light flashes and noisy explosions when thrown, frightening to most wild creatures but harmless unless you came too close. If that were insufficient deterrent, the zebra could also conjure up life-like, luminous images of horrifying monsters that even the forest's fiercest predators would be loath to challenge. Should that fail also, Zecora would resort to a powder that she painstakingly obtained from the seed pods of the fire tree. Any animal whose skin contacted this terrible substance would suffer an unbearable burning sensation that would drive the poor creature towards the nearest pool of water or mud bog: bathing would remove the bulk of the powder but residual pain could linger for hours or even days. Zecora hated the idea of using such a measure even to save her own life; thankfully, her flash-bang powder was all she had needed thus far to keep unwanted visitors from discovering her presence.

Armed with her powders, the zebra peered through a curtain to locate the source of the noise, and saw something quite unexpected. A small, shapeless figure shambled hesitantly back and forth in front of the front door of the hut, occasionally turning back towards the depth of the forest.

Not a prowler, thought Zecora. A procrastinator.

Zecora shed her powder belt, opened the door and registered even greater surprise at the sight. The squat figure was clad in an opaque covering of midnight blue trimmed with silver, with matching veil, hiding all but her beady eyes. The garment was of a fabric resistant to tearing and moisture, yet at the same time rather fetching—Rarity was happy to design for practicality rather than fashion but drew the line at mimicking those horrid Tarpanistani shrouds. The creature shrank back and retreated a step at the sight of the zebra but did not flee.

"One rarely sees such stylish dress

In this neck of the wilderness.

Pray tell, what is it

That has prompted your visit?"

"Z-Zecora? Uh, m-my name is Elegy. I live not far from here. And, uh, I've brought some baked treats from, from a party I went to the other nigh-I mean day."

Zecora was so taken aback by the sight of Elegy that she had not even noticed the burgeoning wagon, covered with a bright, chequered cloth, sitting alongside the hooded creature.

Elegy continued, shuffling from foot to foot. "Anyway, I hear that you brew a really delicious tea so I was thinking, if it isn't too much of an imposition, that we could, maybe, share some of my cakes over a pot?"

As the squonk spoke, one or two of her words betrayed an inflection that sounded familiar to Zecora. She looked intently into the Elegy's beady eyes, her own eyes beginning to flicker with a flash of recognition.

Elegy's eyes puckered and she found herself panting heavily. She knows, she thought. The zebra knows who I am, what I am, what I look like. She's going to get that leer of horror again, just like last time. Those ponies vouched for her. Well, I'm never going to trust——

Sending the squonk's discomfort, Zecora drew back—not too suddenly, lest she look like she was recoiling, just enough to stop herself from staring any further—and spoke soothingly.

"Please forgive my prying eyes.

I thought you were someone I recognised."

Zecora stepped aside from her doorway and gestured towards the interior of her hut.

With a huge sense of relief and gratitude, Elegy crossed the threshold of the hut. She took in her surroundings, looked back to Zecora ... then bleated in consternation and waddled hastily back outside.

Wincing, Zecora sagged against a wall and cursed in her native tongue. "What did I do this time?" she groaned to herself.

More sounds interrupted the zebra's self-reproach. She opened her eyes to see that Elegy had returned and was trundling her wagon behind her.

"Left the cakes outside, didn't I? Heh-heh. Oh, are you okay Zecora? You looked a little upset just then."

THE END

Comments

[Scarlet Cinder]

I was expecting a twist ending where Elegy turns out to be an ordinary pig.

[helmet of salvation]

8156000 Now that would have been funny. Or touching. Alas, it wouldn't quite square with the physical descriptions from Zecora and Elegy herself earlier in the story, especially with ordinary pigs already being canon in FiM.