If You Go Down In The Woods Today

by SilverNotes

Will Gather There For Certain Because

Fluttershy kept watching Zecora.

She didn't know precisely what she was watching for. Bark creeping further along the coat? Legs starting to grow stiff? Leaves appearing in her mane? She didn't know what this magic was or how it worked, and didn't know if what she'd done had stopped it, or merely delayed.

The path was sunny again, and Fluttershy knew that not enough time had passed for the sun to rise. Her mind felt clearer, after the encounter with the bear, like the rejection of the forest's gift had loosened its hold over her. It left her going over her memories in between her studying look-overs of the other mare, trying to grasp at the why of all of this.

It felt like there was a gap. She'd been following Harry, with the sense that she was needed, but before...

Fluttershy clawed at the fog in her mind, trying to get to her most recent memory before all this had happened. Pushing, searching, trying to get anything that would make sense.

The day before...

We'd... just arrived back from Appleloosa. It'd been a long train ride and I hadn't seen my animal friends in days. I spent all my time cleaning things up, making sure nothing bad had happened and that everyone was okay. Looking over the injured animals to make sure they were healing well, checking the food stocks to see if anything was running low. Angel wouldn't leave my side the whole time; he's always so clingy after I'd been away for a while.

Fluttershy paused, blinking.

Then I... laid down for bed.

Is this a dream?

The stinging of her wounds from the thorns objected to this theory, but she still closed her eyes, digging her hooves into the earth and focusing her mind on herself, still safe in bed, home in Ponyville, where all of her friends were a short walk away and Zecora was home and whole too, in her hut in the Everfree.

Wake up.

She opened her eyes, and the forest was still there. Closed them again.

Wake up wake up wake up
WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP

When she opened her eyes the second time, Zecora was looking at her, and Fluttershy, in that instant, could read her friend perfectly, without a single word exchanged. She already knew what Fluttershy was doing, because she'd been trying to do the same thing.

Fluttershy opened her mouth, even if she wasn't sure what to say, when a familiar screech cut through the air.

The not-bird was slightly more solid this time, more of its wings in view and Fluttershy able to pick out what may have been some facsimile of a ribcage. It was hard to tell exacts, however, because this time, it didn't land. It appeared and swooped, and both mares flattened themselves to the ground to try avoid its rotted claws as it soared overhead.

Zecora managed to avoid the strike, but Fluttershy felt pain tear through back, and purple-tinged blood struck the earth as her stomach heaved and her veins burned from the inside out. Yellow fur blackened around the wounds as her mouth opened in a soundless scream, and the next sound from the not-bird sounded like wet, bubbling laughter.

Her vision blurred and her head pounded. The rot had claimed her, and she would decay from the inside out, until she was the agent of the infection. She had rejected the forest, and now, she would be its undoing. And she would do it with a smile.

And then she heard the rotten beast screaming in pain.

Blue-green eclipsed Fluttershy's vision, consuming the creeping purple in her eyes, and all at once, the corrosion ceased. It wasn't gentle; the infection burned on the way out as well as in, the purging leaving her body throbbing from nose to tail, and she didn't know how long she laid there, weighed down by aches and fatigue and the fear that if she moved, she'd be subjected to a fresh assault.

Eventually, however, she opened her eyes, and what she saw made her wish she hadn't.

There was nothing left of the rotted not-bird, and Zecora's eyes were glowing with the forest's light. The bark had crept forward over her body, consuming her right to the base of her neck, and even when the light faded, her eyes were now a rich, forest green. Wooden legs slowly moved as she walked over to Fluttershy, and helped her to her own, trembling hooves.

Even with so little of herself left, Zecora smiled at her. The smile that could have, at any other time, made Fluttershy feel like everything would be okay, that the wise mare had a solution that nopony else had, that she would go back to her home and brew something that would make everything better. The smile of forgiveness, of kindness for all creatures that made her compelled to help without a thought to her own wellbeing.

Maybe the Element of Kindness should have chosen her instead. Maybe, in another time, another life, she was there on that long night, and it did. Fluttershy could so easily see the zebra mare standing in front of Nightmare Moon, refusing back down in the face of such power, standing steadfast next to her friends.

Fluttershy wanted to thank her, to apologise again, to make another promise to get them home. Instead she collapsed against Zecora, and sobbed.

Even after rejecting the forest, it had given Zecora the power to protect her.

She wished it had just let her rot.

Let me wake up.

Let us both wake up.

Comments

[Joe Toon]

Even after rejecting the forest, it had given Zecora the power to protect her.

She wished it had just let her rot.

Uh oh

[FanOfMostEverything]

Oh, this hurts. This kind of helplessness along all angles… I do hope this resolves itself soon. These two have been through more than enough.