The Tallmare (being reworked)

by hus

ch16 The Hermit

The three mares waited at Zecora’s hut while the sound of changeling on zebra echoed throughout the woods. Twilight and the rest of her friends shared the same look of discomfort as they listened to the bizarre couple makeout behind the shrubs.

“Err, you know what can these two just get a room far away from us? I mean sure, Zecora has a nice flank, but can you at least slap it fifty miles away from us.” Applejack said as she cringed and leaned her back against a tree.

“Applejack, I didn’t know you were into mares,” Twilight said as she turned her eyes to the cowpony.

“Well I ain’t, but I got the knowledge from my brother. He stares all the damn time. Plus, I can easily see Big Mac getting jealous over a changeling, like Thorax. Speaking of which, Twilight you’ve never stated your sexuality. Like I assumed you were into mares and stallions do your behavior around some, but you seem less active now. Something changed?.” Applejack said with a huff as she walked away from the tree and looked in the direction of the noises.

“Well, AJ all I have to say is that I don’t have a preference. I lost that long ago. Yes, I was into both at some point, just the idea of a one true love started to seem very fictional to me. I also started to realize why some of the relationships I had sucked, me and my partner expected a pony to give them endless affection and drive their worries away. I think that's when I stopped looking for somepony to love me, and started to love myself. I mean why would I want to suffer the hardship of love again and give shared false promises?” Twilight smirked as she joined Applejack as they stared at the shuffling of the branches.

“So, wait. You don’t like anyone at all?” Fluttershy asked while she gave Twilight a confused look.

“Well, not currently I don’t like anyone. It’s called I’d rather wait until someone can love me in a way that we both understand.” The trio continued to look out into the woods as the couple continued on with their business. A couple of minutes later they came back out with devious smiles while they nuzzled each other.

“Ohh, that was good babe. Anyways, are you three ready to talk now after waiting so long for us to stop wrestling? I mean we were literally wrestling, no dirty thoughts. Especially you Fluttershy, I think you must have a dirty part of your mind hidden from us all.” Thorax said as he pointed to the pegasus who looked frightened at the accusation of unsolicited thoughts.

“Sorry, I’m not thinking that. Can we just talk now?”

Zecora brushed up against Thorax while rubbing her tail against his hind legs and then looked at Fluttershy with a soft smile, “Yes, we will. Now come you have so much to discuss with your sexy hermit and swaggy magician.” she said as she guided them into her hut and closed the door behind them.

The group gathered around the wooden table while Zecora grabbed some herbal drinks for each of them. “So, Zecora, do you know anything about this Tallmare?” Twilight asked as she took a sip of her citrus water.

“Well, yes, I do know but it’s not in the most simplest of terms if you will. She is the one to dwell in one’s mind and has been around as long as there have been princesses. Her nature is that of a parasitic fungus that grows. I’m pretty sure you already knew that. She’s attributed to the secrets and to the mundane esoteric nature of something beyond this world. I got this knowledge from my tribe before we had to seek refuge in your nation from the nation of Colthage as they sought to establish plutocracy. We had talked about tales of an entity similar to her but others as well. We talked about a smiling hyena that drew any zebra mad when they looked into his eyes. We discussed our interpretation of the theory of harmony and about the metaphysical nature of the guidance to a better future. Through our versions of magic and studies of it, my theory is the natural flow of nature does not orbit around this planet but goes into another plane of existence itself. You see changeling magic is highly defined by its practice of connecting to the subterranean. I’ve seen my love bug meditate in these caves and he’s said he detected stuff differently than before. If you’re curious about what I’m meaning dear element of magic, I’m saying that the flow of harmony may also be the flow of disaster and this creature is another fish from an entirely different river. And it’s magic operates on different laws and is much more flexible and nonphysical.”

“So it’s energy-based magic?” Twilight questioned while giving the zebra an intrigued lower brow.

“Yes, this is what I mean but I’m not a unicorn so I don’t know. All I know is that it’s something that operates on the presence of thought and feeling. It’s like electricity connected to metals and water, it seeks, it permeates when it seeks contact.” Zecora explained as she took another sip of her own drink while sitting her flank on Thorax’s left hind leg.

“Ok. That makes a lot of confusion then. But for a non-unicorn, you certainly know a lot about the nature of harmony. And how did you guys meet and become, you know?” Twilight asked as she looked at the couple as they snuggled up against each other.

“Well, long story short. I found him in the woods panting and all that, he’d come up from the river. We started living for each other and taking care of each other. Then I saw the Tallmare too. Then here we are. We’ve been together for five years.” The zebra cooed softly in her natural accent as she lightly brushed her flank on Thorax's leg which did get a blush out of him. In response, Applejack rolled her eyes with a grunt of annoyance.

"Ok I have another question Zecora, are you going to tell us something important about the Tallmare? Im asking that because while we talked I was hoping you would give us an ultimate answer to she/it works but you've been only giving us only talk about how mysterious she is and bits of info that only give us a surface-level understanding of it. So please tell me Zecora, what are you going to tell us?" Twilight felt like she was wasting her time talking to her but also still felt that Zecora did have something to say, even if it could be not a lot it would be very vital for their quest to rid the tallmare from this town.

Zecora let out a light chuckle as she stared at the ground in frustration as the 3 mares looked at her for answers. Throax could tell that she didn't like Twilight's impatience for the answer as well as how impotent she was acting about the nature of what they were dealing with, so Thorax got Zeccoras flank off of him and sat away from her.

"So you are really desperate for an answer. You need to understand that this truth is merely a truth, is an answer but not an answer that would whisp her away." Zecora sipped out of her cup with a serious look in her eyes that told them that they should be careful on what they do.

After a bit, she put the straw back down and sighed. "She is the thing that was born as a bastardized reflection of something else. She is something that hides between this place and somewhere else. She has siblings and they are not known. She sees the flow of harmony and uses it to her aid. She knows what we are doing and she has eyes in the woods."

Comments

[DingoAte]

After a bit, she put the straw back down and sighed. "She is the thing that was born as a bastardized reflection of something else. She is something that hides between this place and somewhere else. She has siblings and they are not known. She sees the flow of harmony and uses it to her aid. She knows what we are doing and she has eyes in the woods."

Stocker