Dismay Turned Discord

by Reedling

Chapter 2-Savannah Drama

The Zebra tribes of The Stripped Savanna distanced themselves far from one another. One tribe in particular had quite the taboo on their hooves. An adventurous unicorn had fallen in love with a zebra of the clan. At the foal’s birth it was easy to see why it didn't belong. The hebra had color only a pony could have. His hair followed his mother’s, a mix between reds and browns and his body was a combination of the parents. He had a zebra head with the expected stripes, and these stripes faded at his neck. The tribe chieftain gave him the name Grue, like the tales of creatures that lived in the dark. This tribe believed pure magic was the darkest of energy. Grue would grow up with only a guardian in his memories, as his father was forced to leave by orders of the tribe chieftain. His mother was exiled to The Brush for loving one from the pony tribes. Even though the tribes people spaced themselves out from Grue and his guardian, he was still allowed to learn the zebra ways. What Grue lacked in herbology, he made up for in raw magic.

“Grue, dear can ya tell me ‘de difference between Frog's gut and Lier's Lily?” The herb teacher asked.

“Isn't the lily found by waterbeds?....I think it’s a summer plant.” Grue mumbled.

“A nice guess Grue..” The teacher nodded to him. The sound of classmates giggling at his lack of knowledge surrounded him.

“Hush! Lier's lily is actually a weed,unlike Frog's gut. That flower produces a honey-like scent so that hungry creature's will eat it,it has no real favor until the whole plant has been chewed,petals,leaves and all. If one of you were to eat it-” She winced distastefully. "you vision or hearing might get distorted." The zebra smiled to Grue.

“Keep up in your studies please, even a spell sometimes needs a potion to make it work right.” “Yes, herbalist Maua.”

“Now class let us go find some of them. Lier's lily is a shade plant, while Frog's gut is full sun. It looks like a white flo-” The teacher would go on. Grue stayed behind to write the new facts he had learned, talking as he scribbled.

“And the flower is found in shaded areas. Okay Maua!....” He looked up to see the class was already in The Brush finding the plants. “I should stay close to the village, rather than get lost in The Brush.” He thought. As he turned around he saw another classmate had stayed behind. “Oh, Fahdil.” He tried to act casual. She was a tan zebra, known for her kindness. It was something Grue was glad about in this instance, as he had stayed back other times and had spectators that were not so friendly.

“Hey Grue...I was told to find you, for Uchawi.” She didn’t speak fluent Pony.

“Ah sante.” Grue replied in respect. It made Fahdil giggle, which to Grue’s ears was beautiful. The two trotted to Uchawi’s hut.

---

Morpheus glanced his eyes over to the window. “Com’n dear, Don’t keep Luna waiting.” He thought. He was sitting relaxed on the throne, since he had finished listening to the unicorn’s mayors complaints. It had been a full hour. He really did feel useless without his queen by his side, then it clicked to his mind. "Now would be a perfect time to play with my fillies!" He raced through the empty halls, to meet up with them.

“One must always remember to be calm and po-Pho-Poised!” Luna repeated. She gave a curtsy, then a bow and raised her horn. from it grew a ball of condensed blue energy, that fizzled out like a firecracker. “Drat!” Luna huffed. She folded her arms and flopped onto her bed of pillows.

“You’re going all about it wrong sis’. Magic isn’t something you can force. You have to know what you want to do. Watch this!” Celestia explained. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she pointed to one of Luna’s pillows and shot out a beam of yellow energy. The purple square pillow jumped into the sky, then the fabric pulled and ripped, as it fell it's thread weaved and sewed itself back up.

“So, you told my favorite pillow to jump in the air, tear itself up and then sew back together?” Luna whimpered. Tears began to form for her pillow.

“I made it into a moon.” Celestia rebutted. She lifted the renovated crescent shaped pillow to her saddened sister.

“ ‘Tia!” Luna bawled out as she grabbed Celestia in a tight hug. “It’s beautiful!” She added. Celestia smiled, proud of her abilities. She hugged her sister back.

“Who wants to do something fun!” Morpheus cheered. The princesses jumped as he spoke. They turned to see him resting on the marble banister of Luna’s balcony.

“I do!” Luna jumped.

“Then let’s see how well you too have been training your wings!” The sisters looked to each other rolling their eyes. Dad just didn’t know what fun was. “Come on you two, humor your dear father for a moment?”

“Okay.” They softly sighed. The princesses trotted to the balcony and opened their wings. Luna went first catching up to her father who had cheated a good mile on the two fillies. Celestia was doing a decent job since she didn't fly as much as Luna did. Luna had caught up to her father by the time Celestia had gotten to her top wing speed. But Celestia wasn't actually trying, her focus was on how dense the pine forest around the castle was. The more she gazed at the forest she wondered why Luna and her never actually went in.

" ‘Tia!" Luna yelled

Celestia's ears twitched and she turned her head to Luna who was waving at her to catch up. When the three landed in what seemed like the middle of nowhere Morpheus gave the girls a playful smile. "It's almost time Luna, are you ready?!" Morpheus jumped in the air so high he had to use his wings to land.

"You bet!" Luna squeaked as she bounced around him.

"Where's mother?" Celestia asked while she created a nest of grass from the overgrown field.

"She's on her way honey-just had to check up on a friend. Come on over here in the mowed grass Celes'..."

"Why can't I check out the forest until Mom comes home?"

"Please don’t go in the forest without somepony. I haven't been in there,so I don't know if it's safe. You wouldn't want to be rude to your sister? It is her first time helping me raise the moon." Morpheus looked to her sternly. He understood she just curious but his gut told him, no forced him against it. She sighed flopping on the groomed green while Morpheus began to teach Luna how to lift the night's lights.

---

Astrum had made it back to the garden just in the nick of time. The sun was still in the sky aching to get some rest, due to the fact the she had made the sun to move slower for her sake. She looked around the castle grounds, then she remembered Morpheus liked to teach Luna in a secluded field, She made her way there.

“Just in time honey,” Morpheus chuckled. He got closer to whisper.“How is he?”

“He’s doing fine, besides a bit of boredom.” A half truth to keep her husband’s questions at bay. This was a moment she didn’t want to keep from Luna. Secretly Astrum hoped Luna could raise the moon fast enough before Pan made it close to the fields.

“Could you focus on just the moon for today’s lesson, Morpheus.” Her voice was blunt, but she smiled sweetly hoping to hide her motives.

“Oh...well the moon on the first day seems fair. But Luna spent the better part of the afternoon in her room painting stars. I kinda told her that’s what I imagine doing. She’s all psyched to lift the moon and make stars.” Astrum’s ears lowered as she nodded to Morpheus.

“I’d hate to waste Luna’s enthusiasm....” She smiled and got comfortable while she talked.

“Today-I mean tonight's the night, right Luna?”

“Yes daddy!”

“You remember what your mother said to Celestia for the sun?”

“It’s a biiiiig mirror!...and I must watch it and lift it like I want to see my reflection!”

“Correct-To! Now just ease the moon in. I hope you don’t get unhappy that I already changed the phase of the moon. That’s a lesson for another night.”

“Like this?” Luna gave a strong huff and squeezed every ounce of power from her horn, her cheeks started turning red.

“Don’t forget to breath, honey.” Astrum added, hiding a soft giggle. Celestia wasn’t too focused on her sister’s big day. She had noticed an odd creature poking its head out of the bushes by the tree line. She Inched herself closer to get a peek of the strange critter. Celestia in all her years outside of the castle had never heard of any forest creature that wanted to harm a pony never mind a royal alicorn. But as she got close the creature ran at top speed into The Evergreen forest. The pink haired princess followed eagerly in pursuit.

---

“Finally my star pupil!” The old witch doctor grinned his half missing smile to Grue. “ I need yo' help casting a spell for Upepo.” Uchawi hobbled over to a wooden podium, his left hoof pointed Grue at the other podium across him.

“Right away Uchawi!” as he made his way to the podium, his eyes glanced the spell. It was a healing spell, but this one was one of the tribes more sacred and hidden techniques. These techniques required alchemy, if a spell caster went without the extra power they would likely die. Grue started reading the list, all ingredients he had heard of before. But Grue wasn’t the best at remembering things about plants. “Uchawi....I-I don’t think I know where most of these are found.”

“Of course! I forget you’re a novice at herbology!..Take Fahdil with you, quick! Opepo will be here in the hour!..” The two galloped out of the hut towards The Brush.
“What were the items?” The tan zebra asked.

“Shade’s wort, frog’s gut and heart’s desire...Fahdil.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever thought about outside of the tribe?”

“I haven’t had to, but I can understand why you would.” Grue wanted to smile. She really was a caring zebra, not many of the other zebra classmates even responded to his questions. She always seemed more understanding.

“I guess..”

“Is it hard?...without...a...a-”

“A dad? I wouldn’t know if it was or not, not knowing what having a dad feels like.”

“Just imagine having two moms, but one is pony...”

“And gets banished? It doesn’t help that I don’t even know who my real mother is.”

“S-sorry, strange topic.” She stopped galloping, taking a quick break.

“This tree. Good spot for Shade’s wort. Just make sure not to use hooves. It has horrible smell.” She was right, even in her broken Pony prose. It reeked of stagnant water and skunk spray and he hadn’t lifted a hoof to the indigo fungus. Grue picked up a durable stick with his muzzle, giving a strong swing at its stem, it made a hollow *pop*.

“Got it. Now how are we going to carry it without the whole tribe smelling it?”

“I think if we used...” Fahdil searched a nearby bush “These leaves, from this bush should conceal the smell. Mothers wrap their newborns in it.”

Fahdil picked some of the bigger leaves and placed it to the ground and Grue nudged the mushroom on the leaves. Then the tan zebra wrapped it tight, and she placed it in Grue’s saddle bag. She lead the way for the next ingredient. As they reached the heart’s desire Grue got ready to pick it up when Fahdil yelled to him. “Wait!” Grue followed her pointing hoof to see the tall grass was hiding poison joke. It didn’t help that the sun had gone down, it took forever to fall when they were heading into the thickest part.

“Quick save, thank you.” Grue gave an odd smile. He didn’t smile often so it looked more like a silly grin. Fahdil giggled.

“Can I ask why you don’t like the other zebras?”

“Sure.” Grue grinned. He was trying to joke with her, which hung over him as a sign that he was getting a little too comfortable around the Fahdil.

“Oh...why do you not l-”

“Shh...” Grue whispered.

Author's Note:

New chapters will be published every 3rd and 21st of each month and,
if you see any grammatical errors don't be afraid to post them!