Seventh Chapter
Thornton woke up once again as an alien bug, although this time not to the smell of emotion. Instead, it was to the smell of something brewing that stirred him to wakefulness. It made his stomach grumble and reminded him of how hungry he felt. He wished he had something to eat.
“Ugh. Still a weird alien thing,” he said nasally as he looked through the holes in his limbs. “I was really hoping that was all a dream.”
But it wasn’t, just like Reece being a weird moose thing wasn’t a dream either. His brother turned to look at him when he spoke– was there any way they could get some clothes?– but the words that came out of his mouth were something strange and unfamiliar to Thornton. Instead of English, he spoke a cross of something between a foreign language and horse whinnies. Did breathing in all that smoke damage his brain? Or maybe it damaged Thornton’s?
He didn’t know, and didn’t have time to ask about it as his eyes focused on another creature in the… where was he? It was a building, obviously. That much was certain. He wanted to say it was a log cabin, except this didn’t really look like it was made out of timber. Instead, it seemed to be carved into the tree itself. It was quite a large open space, a circle of a room that fit a kitchen, dining room, living room, and what had to be the animal version of an office space in it. Open doorways in the back led to what had to be other rooms, and in the center of the whole place was a large black cauldron of a faintly glowing green liquid cooking over a fire, like some sort of potion a witch would make.
Except this potion was being stirred by a horse– no, a zebra. They had zebra’s in whatever world Thornton and his family stumbled into, the black and white stripes of the African animal completely unmistakable. Although unlike zebras on Earth, this one had golden rings around its neck and front left leg, along with large golden earrings on its ears. As well, it looked closer to the type of body his father and sister had rather than an actual horse, complete with the extremely large eyes he and the rest of his family now had. They seemed to him less like eyeballs and more like eye plates.
The zebra now approached him, whinnying something in the foreign language she spoke before scooping a ladle of the glowing green liquid into a bowl. How she held the thing with hooves, Thornton didn’t know, but she was somehow able to hold it out to him, and waited expectantly for him to take it. He didn’t know if he should take this equine’s offering.
At least, he didn’t until Reece whinnied again and gave him a frustrated look. The bug had a feeling that either this would let him communicate with his brother again, or else it would take away ninety IQ points and turn him into an animal completely. He hoped for the former, not that he needed to. He could tell by the zebra’s slightly savory, slightly sweet assurance and the moose’s hot frustration that there wasn’t anything to be afraid of.
He didn’t know how this zebra was manipulating reality with her hooves the way it was, but Thornton knew he would never be able to pick the bowl up with horse-bug hooves like she would, and so resigned himself to simply trying to drink it while she held it. She apparently didn’t mind when he started, the black alien moving up and lapping the first bit of green liquid that hit his tongue… and then instantly spit it out a second later.
“Eew, that tastes like sewage water!” he yelled, his face scrunching up in disgust. “What is that stuff?”
“Just drink it so you can talk to us, Thornton!” Reece demanded.
“I can already talk to you now, so what– wait. What’s going on?”
He wasn’t speaking english– neither of them were. It still sounded like the same half speaking, half horse whinnies and neighs as before. Except now, his brain was somehow interpreting it into something coherent, despite there being no way that he should have understood any of it.
“This is strange,” he said slowly, his own speech whinnies sounding both completely natural and extremely jarring at the same time. “What did that potion do?” he asked, as if he didn’t know. “And where is– ack! Ack! Ack!”
“You are going to want to rest yourself,” the zebra told him in a thick accent, something that sounded like it could have been out of Africa. “Speaking in your condition will not help. The potion you drank will let you speak, but at this moment, you are too weak.”
“Do you remember what happened?” his older brother asked, already explaining before he could answer. “There were, like, wolves or something– I think she called them ‘Timberwolves’, like the ride at Worlds of Fun? And then you changed into a human, and then… I think I created a forest fire. I don’t know how, but I know I burned those things to death. And then we left and you passed out a while later from smoke, so I carried you until I found this girl.”
“Your brother is the one who saved your life,” the zebra confirmed. “He carried you here and put up a fight. A black changeling you are, one I’ve not seen. You have not reformed, that I can glean.”
“And she always speaks in rhymes, too, apparently,” Reece whinnied. “So get used to that soon.”
“I do remember all that stuff, at least up until I passed out, but– god, this is so weird,” the bug said. “Speaking like this is tripping up my brain. Are you getting that feeling, Reece?”
“Yeah, I was, at first, but you get used to it after a few hours.”
“A few hours? How long was I out for?”
“Five hours or more, or so your brother recalls. In truth, not very long at all.”
“Five hours is a long time,” he shot back. “Where are Mom and Dad? And Denver? They aren’t hurt, are they?”
“I don’t know. Don’t you remember that we all split up?” his older brother asked. “Those things all decided they wanted to chase after us and not them, which is actually probably a good thing. They should be able to get out of this forest relatively easily, as long as the forest fire doesn’t move too fast and the forest isn’t too large.”
Forest fire. That wasn’t good, probably not for anyone but Reece since he seemed like it didn’t bother him. Maybe mom, too? She was a dragon, and if she could breathe fire, then she might be resistant. But Denver and his father weren’t going to be able to deal with that if it caught up to them. He hoped they were safe.
“Uh, do you happen to know where they are at all, and if you can help us?” the bug now asked of the zebra. “Actually, first of all, what’s your name?”
“Zecora is my name, if you must. May I ask yours, if it causes no fuss? Your brother is Reece so I have heard, in the few hours before you stirred.”
“It’s Thornton, but I’m gonna ask this question before we get too far down this road,” Thornton started. “Do you always speak in rhymes? Is this going to be a thing from now on?”
The zebra giggled, covering her mouth with a hoof for a moment. “I do not. It’s just a way for me to keep my mind active.” Then she walked away, moving to the wall and grabbing something off the shelf with her mouth, a bottle of a pink potion. Was this zebra a witch? Or maybe a witch doctor?
“While you slept, this kirin kept you near. He was able to guide you safely here. But I have one question above all others: how can a kirin and changeling be brothers?”
So then she was going to keep up with this rhyming nonsense. Annoying, but not something that he was going to bring up since she was helping them so far. He wanted to get the full story of what happened from Reece as soon as he could.
“I don’t know what either of those things are,” Thornton replied. “Am I supposed to be the changeling or the kirin? Or, well, I guess you already said that he was the– ack! Ack!” He broke into a coughing fit, his lungs apparently disliking being filled with smoke a few hours ago. Who knew such a thing was bad for you? It didn’t matter if you were a human or a weird black bug apparently.
“Drink this potion I have brewed,” the zebra told him, pouring the pink potion into the bowl with the green liquid. “In a few minutes, you will feel good as new. As well, if you want this language to last, you must finish the green one fast.”
“That green one tastes like dirty dish water, but… I guess I will.”
The zebra went over to do something else, and his brother sat silently beside him, watching him drink the potion. As he did, that sixth sense he now had for emotions came back to him, stronger now than it was a few minutes ago. The zebra radiated something like determination mixed with a sort of calm passiveness and assertiveness. It was largely what his brother was, too, although his determination was less purposefulness and more tenacity, almost aggressively so.
There was something under the surface, too, that bubbled up. Not fear like he tasted on everyone else before, but a twinge of uncertainty. He knew his brother liked to be the one with the plan, whether it was preparing for another long year of school or his family planning a day out to the park. It wasn’t something he tasted on him until this moment, the moose horse– kirin, Thornton now knew– taking control of their movements up until now. But now he, like the bug, had to trust some creature else. It made his brother feel uncertain.
And he himself felt uncertain, too, what with the unknown status of his family’s situation. Finding those three was going to be their first priority. Well, his second priority, he remembered as he coughed. His first was to drink whatever the heck this nasty dishwater tasting green potion was.
He wondered if horses– or at least zebras– could feel emotions, too, because if felt like Zecora was practically reading his mind when she spoke up again.
“I understand you are concerned,” she started, rhyming again. “But fretting is pointless, you will soon learn. Let friendship and love be your guide. I’ve learned of such things from my friend Fluttershy.”
“What?” Reece asked, just as confused as his little brother was. “Who the heck is Fluttershy?”
“She will be visiting us soon, I know. My large–”
“Okay, I don’t mean to be mean,” Thornton interrupted, “but can you please not speak in rhyme? It’s difficult enough trying to process speaking in whinnies with no effort. I don’t need rhyming added on top of my brain’s confusion.” It earned a glare from Reece and a strong feeling of disappointment radiating from the zebra, one that was powerful enough to make the bug blink in surprise. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said that.
“But, like, I really appreciate what you’re doing for us,” he finished quickly. “I just, you know, can’t handle it right now.”
“I take no offense,” she said, finally stopping her rhymes, at least for now. “I understand that you and your brother are a changeling and a kirin. I can imagine how difficult it must be for you both, especially you since you are still yet unchanged like the other changelings.” She was obviously prejudging the both of them based on how they looked, but the emotion that came from her wasn’t one of malice or hate. In fact, it felt a bit sympathetic, like a slightly sweet taste of honey.
“Um, what do you mean by unchanged?” Thornton asked. “I think I changed… yeah, I turned into a human. Is that what you mean? Actually, do you know how that worked? Can the rest of my family do that?”
“Your mind is sharp, and you do think lightly, but unless they are changelings, this is unlikely,” she started again, annoying and slightly confusing Thornton with her rhymes. He didn’t comment on it though as she continued, “They are ponies and dragons, this kirin told me, so the only shapeshifter is what you will be.”
So then he had a special power, maybe two. Eating emotions and changing his body, not that he could do the latter or really understood the former. Still, it was a place to start. And since Reece had a power, too– apparently being able to start fires like he was Prince Zuko– that meant that it was probably safe to assume the rest of his family could do stuff. But as usual, that was a thought for later. A more pressing question was immediate.
“Where in the world are we?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “What in the world is this place?”
“You will be fine, there’s no need for hysteria. You are in the magical land of Equestria.”
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More good
Magitech wise, rhyming could be considered a way of taking the bounding required for linear transforms and instead forcing a fixed nodal point for making those boundaries the same and one, and thereby making the magic transform function a closed self reinforcing loop?
There has been sme very impressive results with teaching a computer chemistry then getting it to discover hw to make complex medicines from common materials in a lightly heated open air container of light agitated water.
From Thorton's perspective, he should have said, "I turned back into a human."
But that Zecora could whip up a universal translator potion!? Now that's some shit!
Poor bitches back in Twilight's lab are all being hooked up to LED infused colanders at this moment....
camo.fimfiction.net/vDGNGqES2hpM6Impyy4xPKKXvYwJitTtPF55RtRZOrc?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchakatsden.com%2FPony%2FItsScience.png
Still rhyme.
11714572
Zecora can't help it, force of habit.
Reece and his mother will likely be the most powerful ones early on, able to defend the family from sunrise to dawn. I feel that Zecora is not concerned enough about the forest fire, is a house not made of ash something she desires?
11737739
Didn't she had a pond at the back of her treehouse? It could mean she inhabits the swampy parts of the forest and it always seemed so to me. Fire would be less of an issue and Everfree propably has a fair share of unregulated weather that do forest fires from time to time.
Also fancy meeting the Dread League here.