> Trials and Tribulations of a Fledgling
>  by SoarinBrony
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> Chapter 1 - Unexpected
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	I felt a tingling breeze wiz past my face, its soft embrace forcing a sensation upon me that I could only describe as pleasant. The quiet howls of the wind slowly drifting in and out of hearing range as I lay there back-first on the ground.

On the ground? Breeze?

I brought my eyes asunder, hoping to see the ceiling of the room I had been in not five minutes prior, and a pile of dirt shoved under my mattress cover as a sick prank pulled by my brother, or something of a similar caliber. Not even remotely close.

I saw dark. A dark purple with small white dots, and the unmistakable glow of a giant white rock in the sky. Full moon? That wasn't supposed to be till next week.

The only difference was not in the sky however, it's what lay slightly below it, the tops of tall trees in what I could only imagine formed a forest. The odd part of it was that the closest forest to my house was 30 or so miles away from my house. That's assuming I was near my abode.

I jolted my head upright, trying to get a view of what was behind me. To my dismay only more trees took up my view, although there was a small gap in the trees with a dirt path leading through it. I tilted my head left and right, more dirt paths, it's as if I'd been laying at a crossroad. Almost too perfectly positioned there.

'No.' I couldn't assume such things, and the only thing that my mind bothered to instruct me to do was to get up.

Simple enough.

I pulled my right arm up, but was immediately met with regret and pain. I tried to look down to it but all I could see was a reflective surface, and my brain drew one image; Blood.

Blood had been something I could bare. I volunteered as a medical assistant one time at a hospital, and plenty of injuries ended up in a bloody mess. My brother had slipped over on his skateboard and slashed half the skin on his arm up, that wielded plenty of blood which I was able to patch up no issue. But as I saw the state of my own limb, I could do nothing but freeze.

At this point I realized my immobility, I was fairly unable to move. I hadn't needed to previously, except now that I knew that this injury was present and I knew I couldn't do anything about it, the thought of what could happen next terrified me. Not knowing the extent of the possible severe wound had me in a silent and motionless frenzy, but I didn't understand why.

A faint sound came from within the forest. My ears pricked up, taking the attention away from my arm. A sound that I did not want to hear. A sound that nobody stuck in the middle of a forest wanted to hear.

The howling of a wolf.





I opened my eyes quickly, as if I was in danger. I saw brightness, a bright white light that subsided after mere seconds. Then there was the familiar sight of wood, the lines and strokes on it indicate that it's been carved out by a moderately skilled carpenter due to the pattern they appeared to be in. I could see from the bottom left of my view a window, which peered out into the forest, clearly darker than it was before. The forest was near pitch black, and I wouldn't be able to see anything if not for a small group of blue flowers emitting a faint light.

I stretched my legs out; That seemed to bring no harm to them, so it was only natural to assume they were in a decent condition. I moved my arms about slightly, first my elbows, then the rest of the arm. Not one uncomfortable feeling arose. I looked over to it and saw a bandage over the wound which was surely stopping the bleeding, and I felt safe, but there was one thing on my mind; Who helped me?

I studied my surroundings further, there were masks hanging on the wall in many different color varieties, vials of liquids which appeared to be labelled with symbols which I could not make any sense of, and the main feature; A huge cauldron standing in the middle of the room, spewing out fresh steam every second, and wood burning under it to fuel the heat.

From what I could tell I was in a large wooden structure, with decorations implying someone of African origin resided there and a freshly heated cauldron waiting to cook whatever may be placed inside of it.

"Hm." The word was pushed through my mouth. I wasn't scared, oh no, I had plenty of friends with homes like this, but the big burning steel pot was putting me on the edge.

This seemed to trigger a reaction from something within the place I was in, the clang of glass which was quickly followed by two thuds and a chair screeching back. I sat up, moving my legs to the side of the bed so I was sitting on the edge pf ot, awaiting whoever was inevitably coming towards me. I was momentarily shocked by what I could hear, two sets of footsteps, *Thud-thud thud-thud*. Interpreting what they would want from me next was unclear, but I hoped would be as short as a 'Thank you and Goodbye'.





It came from around the corner. I couldn't comprehend what was about to happen next, but my brain couldn't factor together what had just reveled itself to me.

"What in the hell.." Was all I could blurt out, nothing else seemed to fit the moment so perfectly.

Its eyebrows rose, and eyes widened, clearly shocked by my speech. 'Did it just.. understand me?..'

The thing opened its mouth, but seemed to just be frozen for a few seconds, almost as if it was lost for words. The expression on its face returned to normal, or at least what it was before I spoke. "Welcome to my home in the forest. I didn't expect you to speak, if I'm honest."

'I'm either high, or this is a dream. Either one works.' I thought to myself. Not noticing my face change, it was obvious it was in a state of confusion. I tried to rationally come up with an explanation, but nothing came to mind. I had to be blunt.

"You.. didn't expect ME to speak? You're a zebra, animals aren't meant to speak!"