Shamanic Wisdom
Prologue: A Debt to be Paid
By: SteampunkBrony
((A/N: 'sup everypony, Steampunk here. Just giving you all a heads up on how this story reads since it is formatted a little odd. In each chapter I'll include a blurb from the listener's standpoint (underlined), then I'll move into either a second person listener's (italics) or a first person view to tell the actual story (normal font). It may seem a little odd but I'll try to make it easy to read. I'm experimenting with this one so bear with me.))
It was in a tavern, the Coltic Shamrock if my memory serves me right, that I first met him. He was an odd one, a white pegasus with a deep blue mane and matching eyes. He had a series of black tribal patterns dyed into his coat, or at least that's what I thought at the time. Being the curious type I decided to strike up a conversation with him and I asked him if there was a story behind his odd markings.
He just smiled and told me that if I wanted to hear the story, I'd best buy a few drinks because we'd be there a while...
Well, it began with me galloping through the Everfree forest back to Ponyville with the bottle of glowing potion clenched securely in my jaws. At the time I did not realize what I had just committed to, and if I had at the time, I may have just returned the potion and hoped for the best...
I can tell by that look on your face that you don't quite understand what I'm talking about do you?
No?
Well let me give you a bit more back story than that. You see, a dear friend of mine was, at the time, in Ponyville Hospital Urgent Care, suffering from the results of a rather brutal hit and run by a unicorn mugger. His ribcage was as good as dust, and he had severe internal injuries. The hospital staff gave him six hours to live unless a miracle happened. Well, all but one of the staff. Redheart, I believe, was her name. She told me of the zebra named Zecora who lived alone in the Everfree forest, and that she may be able to help, for a price.
Now understand that at the time, I was desperate to find a way to save my friend and that the doctors had pretty much thrown in the towel at that point. Their usual fall back, the princess's protege, was out of town in Appleloosa for a while and nopony had enough magical power to heal him.
So I decided to risk it. I travelled into the Everfree and found the zebra's home...
I knocked hard on the door, my hoof making three sharp clacks as it impacted the solid wood. I heard some movement inside and some muttering in a language I did not understand at the time.
"Come in, come in. My door is open for those seeking me within." Her voice had a rich exotic tone to it as a light sprung up within. I hoofed the door open and stepped in, panting from the run to the hut. "You seem to be in quite a hurry, what is the cause of your worry?"
I had never seen anypony like her before. Her mane was styled so it flowed down past her face, which in itself was exotic. Her colors were only black and white, and she had some sort of symbol, which I later learned was called a Glyphmark, in place of a cutie mark. Her cyan eyes were studying me, it was a bit unnerving to be honest. She had five golden rings sitting snugly around both her neck and left foreleg. Two earrings made of the same golden metal as the ones around her neck completed her jewellery. Her tail was braided for the first few inches but after that it was left loose.
"I need your help, my oldest friend is in the hospital. They said he will die in five hours. It was that unicorn who has been attacking ponies who harmed him, his ribcage is powdered and he has severe organ damage... is there anything you can do?" I asked after catching my breath.
"Hmm... a potion I can brew which to these injuries remedy, however it does not brew quickly. It will take three hours to prepare, and of course there is the mater of the fare." She said as she turned and started gathering herbs.
"How much will it be?"
"The ingredients are very rare, and must be handled with great care. However, because it is to save a life that would otherwise be lost, five thousand bits is the cost." Zecora replied apologetically. "I am sorry, but the price I cannot lower, but due to the matter at hand I am doing you a favour."
"I... I don't have that kind of money. I am a traveller, and I just happened to be in town today." I said crestfallen at the price. "I only have two hundred bits to my name."
"Hmm... Well, seeing as you hold him in high regard, perhaps we can reach an accord." She said as she looked at the bottles of ingredients.
"I'll do anything." I said quickly. "He's saved my life in the past, and it's time for me to pay him back. I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't."
Zecora was silent for a moment or two, then replied. "Come back in three hours time to pick up the potion. As for how you will pay me, I have a notion."
I made it in time with the potion, which managed to fix my friend's body to the point that the doctors could do the rest. They didn't seem surprised that the zebra had managed to produce something that could help. They just didn't seem to like the fact that she managed it with herbs and powders instead of chemicals and magic.
As for what the price was... well, if you care to stick around I can tell the story.
Shamanic Wisdom
Chapter 1: The Price For the Cure
By: SteampunkBrony
I nodded for him to go on as I ordered us some drinks. I had the cash for it and I've found alcohol is a great lubricant for the throats of storytellers. Now that I studied him I could see that he was in very good shape. Now don't get me wrong folks, I'm no colt cuddler, I swear it upon Celestia's Sun, but I felt attracted to that colt... No, stallion would be a better term I suppose, in a... physical way.
Oh laugh all you want Trixie, I know you'd be all over him like you were all over that mare last week.
There was a yelp of surprise and then the sound of hooves on hardwood the room as said showmare ran for the door in embarrassment.
I knew that bit of information would come in handy at some point. But, as I was saying, I don't know why I felt that way. He just seemed to give off this sort of... aura, I suppose would be the word for it. Not to mention that he had to be, in my opinion, the best looking stallion I've ever seen. That night, he was approached by no less than fifteen mares and seven colts, and he turned them all down. I don't know why, I didn’t ask, but that led me to conclude that he wasn't making me the only pony to feel that way, although I would never be able to admit it to him... Anyhoof, back to the story.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
After that, well, I started waiting at the hospital until my friend awakened. It took another few days, but he did wake up. To sum up a long string of events that happened, he woke up, was questioned by the local law enforcement, and then we talked for quite a while.
I didn't mention going to Zecora's to him... I knew he'd try to give me the bits to pay off my debt. I'm not one to freeload off of a friend like that, I handle my own problems. I knew I'd have to face the music sooner or later, and visiting hours were up, so I stepped out of the hospital with a bit of a spring in my step. Well, that was until I noticed the rain.
It was one of those storms that makes you stop and just feel it for a while. I'm never going to understand how the pegasi pull off a warm summer thunderstorm, but they are probably the most enjoyable things out there. I figured since I had nothing better to do it would be best to go talk to Zecora and find out how I'd repay her.
It only took me twenty minutes to reach her hut once I got into the forest. The rain was still warm beneath the canopy, but it was dark. Now I usually don't like the dark, but this time it was comforting. It was a strange feeling to be honest, I can't really describe it. Needless to say I was soaked through to the bone when I reached the zebra's home.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I knocked three times again out of courtesy, before opening the door and entering the home.
"I am glad you decided to return, for that, my respect you have earned." she said with a smile. She was laying down beside the fire pit in the middle of her home, which an empty potion stand hung above. "Come, sit by my hearth. To dry off you could use the warmth."
"Thank you. If nothing else, I honor any deals I make, for what can you claim if you can't even say that much for yourself?" I said as I took a seat by the small blaze.
"This is true, very respectable and nice, however I would assume you are here to discuss the price." She said, her tone becoming more serious.
"Yes, that would be the reason for this visit. But still, the walk here was rather pleasant. A warm rain is always welcome, and the forest seemed inviting for once."
"That is most promising, the Everfree inviting you in. It does not do that for many, now shall we begin?"
"Yes, and do you always speak in rhyme?"
"It is a custom in my homeland to around others rhyme, but when around family and friends dropping this custom is prime."
I simply nodded at that. "Now what must I do to repay my debt?" I asked.
"To put it simply, you will be mine until your debt is paid, which should only be a few months, unless we are delayed."
I sighed, "I had a feeling that would be the case, what would my jobs entail?"
"Well, helping me collect herbs, plants, and other ingredients for my remedies, that and keeping me company. As you may have guessed, I live here alone, and one can get lonely in this forest home."
"Will I be staying here?" I asked glancing around the room.
"If you wish for a place to lay your head, I do have the room and a spare bed."
"That sounds agreeable to me. When do I start?"
"Now." she said with a smirk. "First however, I would ask to perform a test of sorts. It will only take a short while. If you are fine with that, drink the contents of this vial." She said as she handed me a small glass tube filled with some black liquid.
"Oh... kay..." I said, trusting her as I downed the vile tasting liquid. "Now what?"
"You are about to go on a journey of a sort. Relax, and enjoy it." she said, as she guided me over to a bed, my legs starting to feel odd.
"You didn't rhyme." I said with a chuckle.
"You trust me enough to drink an unidentified potion, and you are about to go on what can only be described as a powerful spiritual experience that will show you things you are capable of, things that you couldn't even have imagined possible. I can help you reach the state this potion gives you without needing it. If you wish to learn that, we will be staying together for quite some time." she said, as she laid me down. The candlelight in the room started to, strangely enough, change colors. "Now relax and don't panic. You will be fine once the potion wears off." she said, as she pulled out a djembe and began to beat a slow relaxing rhythm. The deep tones of the drum made the colors seem to pulse.
"Relax and listen to my voice, not the words but the sounds. Feel the rhythm of it and become lost in it." she said, as she began to chant in a strange language. The world began to distort around me as the potion took effect, the powerful brew distorting the lines between the physical and the spiritual.
First came a feeling as if the drum was getting louder, more important... Her voice became something of a background instrument, as the walls seemed to blur away. It started to hit hard about then, and my reality felt like it was slipping away. Colors pulsed along the edges of the shadows in the room.
The masks she kept on her walls, souvenirs of her tribe and homeland, seemed to be watching me with unseeing eyes. I felt as if the room was occupied by far more living beings than before. Their presence seemed to be neither welcoming nor threatening, but instead seemed to be judging me.
The pulse of the drum then stopped as I saw her move. She stood, her stripes a mixture of white, black and all the colors in between. She moved out of my sight, and I could hear a trunk open, although it sounded as if it was far away, the sound barely registering as an echo.
Only then did she speak. I understood the words far later in my time with her... "Leo wewe ni umeonyesha njia mbili na lazima kuchagua, mimi ajabu ambayo moja wewe kuchagua, Njia mnamjua, au mmoja kwamba unajua kitu kuhusu." To translate it roughly, she said, "Today you are shown two paths and must choose, I wonder which one you will pick, the path you have known, or the one that you know nothing about." Even if she had spoken in equestrian I probably wouldn't have understood the depth of her question then. If I had chosen the path I knew I would have been left wondering what had happened that day...
I saw her return, one of the masks was covering her face and she had drawn some patterns upon her fur in colored dye, vibrant greens and blues stood out sharply among the black and white of her coat. She sat beside me, placing an iron dish on stilts in an alcove by the bed. Hot coals glowed an angry red amongst a small pile of ash. "Now, your journey shall begin." She said quietly as she tossed a hooffull of powder into the dish. A pungent blue smoke rose from it and drifted across the bed as the drum beat started again, the source hidden from me as she began to chant. She set a few jars beside me as the odour of the burning powder stung my nostrils.
"I ask you now, do you wish to begin a journey down a path less traveled, a journey where I will teach you the ways of the shamans of my homeland? Do you wish to walk the path of the alchemist who has gone beyond simple understanding of the how?" Her voice dropped low, "Do you wish to see as others refuse to, to speak with those who have passed from this life into the next?" Her voice became nearly a whisper, "Do you wish to learn the shaman arts that Celestia herself shuns, and Luna hides from the eyes of her subjects for fear that they will be forever changed by?"
I replied without a thought, my tongue knowing my answer before my mind could change itself. "Yes."
The bright pigments upon her mask lit up like stars as the drum beat ceased. "Then let us begin." She plucked a mask from the wall and placed it over my face.
It felt as if the bed had dropped out from under me and I was floating in a void. Her voice drifted to me, "You are now deep within your mind and are about to encounter the first of nine gates, each brings a new strength when opened. But, be warned. You will find parts of you that you will not like within these gates, for while they will grant you great power, you must first earn your power. The first gate, the gate of the mind, will be a battle of will. Once you've opened it, you will be immovable, and your decisions truly your own. You may even gain the willpower to influence your reality. Brace yourself, my student, for the test has already begun..."
"Wh... what do you mean?" I asked quietly, gravity returning to the world as I landed on a glass disk about four meters in diameter. "Where am I?" Where has she taken me?
It was strange. I was on the glass disk, but there was nothing supporting it, nor any obvious light source but I could still see. An inky blackness surrounded the disk, an impenetrable void. The darkness thinned in the area left of me, showing Zecora on another disk. "Not exactly the way I first pictured it in my mind, but then again, my tribe did not have glass..." She said with a chuckle, her mask moving as if it were her face. "Now, come over to this disk."
"My mind?" I asked, looking around again.
"Yes, this is your mind, and don't worry, it's not empty. You just simply cannot make sense of the thoughts around you. Now, as I said before, come over here."
"But how?" I asked, "There is no path."
"Are you not a pegasus? Or did you forget to will your wings into existence within your mind?" she said as a pair of black and white feathered wings appeared on her back. "This is your mind. Your will controls what is real here. Think of it as a very realistic dream."
"My wings? My wings!" I facehoofed at the fact that I had forgotten about a part of my own body. Before I could process quite how it would happen, the two feathered appendages popped into existence on my back. "Now how did I do that?" I thought aloud.
"You willed it to happen, or to put it in layman’s terms, you believed it was real. For example, while we know we are inside your mind, shouldn't there be a source of light? Or are we just shadowless?"
As she said it, I realized there was no source of light. A wick lantern appeared by both of us. "So I simply have to believe something is real and it will happen here?"
"It is much easier said than done. For example, there is no such thing as light or gravity here, so why do they exist?"
"Well, I must believe them to be real..."
"You know they exist, so they exist here. You must know something is a certain way before you can alter reality as well. You are forcing the world to bend to your whim after all."
"It doesn't sound very hard. So where's this gate?"
"You are eager to advance, which is good, but going ahead too fast is not. There is a reason we start with the mental gate, as it is the least harmful if you don't succeed."
"What do you mean?" I asked, worried now.
"If at this task, you should fail, your will, you'll find, will be quite frail." Zecora rhymed. "The potential of your will lies behind the gate, if you cannot control it, the life of a servant is your fate. I saw it happen to one of the trainees back with my tribe. He still had a good life, if one of service to his people."
"Okay then... don't botch this or I'm screwed..." I muttered, a bit more worried now.
"Don't worry, the Everfree does not let the weak willed within its borders without spooking them somewhat. That was your test actually. Although the forest accepted you upon your return, your first trot into the trees was a little more spooky, no?"
"Second scariest thing I've ever done." I replied, thinking back to the time I was chased through froggy bottom bog by a rather large hydra. I forget what I was doing there, but I remember the hydra quite well.
"Oh? Did that hydra have anything to do with it?" Zecora said before taking flight.
"Hydra what hydraaAAAAH!" I yelled, as I turned around to find myself face to face with the beast itself. I quickly took flight, noticing my surroundings had changed to that of froggy bottom bog. "Where in Tartarus did all this come from?" I called out to Zecora who was lounging on a nearby treetop.
"It is your mind, do you not recall? It seems the gate has chosen now to challenge you, I suggest you heed it's call." she replied. "The hydra you may kill, but to open the gate, you must dominate the beast with your will."
"And how in the name of Celestia's pearly flanks am I supposed to do that?"
"Simple, know you can." she said, before vanishing in a puff of smoke and a chuckle.
"I'm starting to dislike that zebra..." I muttered, before turning back towards the hydra. "C'mere cupcake..." I said, as I gulped loudly, "Let's dance."