Sorry for taking so long bros. I was procrastinating. :3
Chapter 9: Delays
I never would have thought that there was a hole in my pack. I also never would have expected that a pouch that had an endless expanse from the inside, could possibly let ALL of the food slip out. Not only that but even after backtracking to where we slept the night before we didn't find a single crumb. Twilight had pointed out when we were searching the trail that there had been an awful amount of animals following us, so we could have been robbed by them. Either way, we had no food, and I didn't think we could make it through the forest in time, because heading through it to Ponyville never had a single straight path. The road is completely circling the forest, so it's easy to make it through the road, but heading back could be a difficult path.
"We don't want to waste any time heading back, or do we?" I said to Twilight. "I don't think heading back is an option," Twilight replied as she worked her magic to fix my pack, "Why don't you fly over the trees and search for some food?" "Fly? Oh wait, yeah, fly. I don't think that's a good idea. First, I could be seen, and I've been recognized by the first two ponies I've met. Second, I've never flown before, and I think practice would be necessary first. Third, the trees are too thick. I wouldn't even be able to see through them from above." Twilight seemed to consider this, "I'm not sure what we're going to do then... besides look around for some food."
As a matter of fact the bushes and trees around had many fruits and vegetables, seemingly bursting with the overgrown berries and such. I was picking through a particularly large section of berries when I heard Twilight scream. I whipped around and found her laying on the ground. I also saw the rear end of a pony sprinting away into the forest. Her back legs were two different colors, black and white. Not only that but they were striped. Her hooves were black. I realized exactly what we were up against when I saw the little pouch most commonly used as a medicine bag. A ran to Twilight, who was running, except laying on her side. I stepped closer but one of her hooves struck my ankle and I crashed to the ground. In whatever state Twilight was in she seemed to think she had tripped and started to stand up. I managed to get up and tackle her to the ground. Her struggling was intense, but since her main strength was in her horn she couldn't do much. Her struggling slowed to a stop, and she started slightly shivering. She opened her eyes and turned to face me, "Uh, Flare?" I responded, "Yes?" "What'cha doing?" I was shocked. She seemed to have no recollection of what had just overcome her. I pointed at the medicine bag while slowly loosening my grip, afraid that she would go physco again. She leaned over and sniffed the bag, then yanked her head back and gasped, "Where did you get that?" "Get that? A zebra ran up and did something to you, then ran away while you were freaking out in your sleep!" "What, that's ridiculous! I would remember something like that. Not only that, but I know the only zebra who lives in Equestria." "What is the last thing you remember?" "I was uhhh, picking berries, then, um..., yeah, I think I heard you behind me and you hugged me," She seemed happy, or at least anything but worried, that she had basically been attacked. "That's it? No zebra attack, no falling to the ground and trying to run away, no kicking Flare in the ankle and knocking him to the ground?" She looked at me as if I had eaten a very sour berry. "Flare, nothing happened while you were picking berries, I was doing the same." "No! You were under attack... . What is that stuff anyway," I said pointing to the pouch, "If you know it will probably explain what happened." She looked back at the pouch and examined it for a couple seconds. "It's a memory medicine," she stated bluntly, "I was making some..., wait no, it's a memory poison. I guess I mixed up my ingredients." She looked at my confused expression and continued, "I don't quite remember everything, or I think I don't remember it all. I'm trying to make sure. I just mixed up the ingredients, that's all." "No! I saw somepony, some zebra, do something to you, I-" "Flare! I will not hear any more about this! I would remember something like this. I..., let's go." She threw the rest of her berries into a bag, and packed her medicine in my pack without speaking. Then she turned her back on me and started slowly walking towards the forest. I packed the berries I had dropped and rushed after her.
I caught up quick, and wanted to break the barrier that had come up between us but I couldn't. Everything that came to my head sounded lame, and I didn't end up saying anything. I can't pretend I know how a girl's brain works, but I'm sure telling her she was right would make her feel better. However, telling her she was right would be lying, so I said the only thing that couldn't possibly cause any harm. "Are you hungry?" I didn't know if she was or not, and I didn't know if she would be stubborn or not. She sighed, "Yes..., and Flare," she looked up at me with big, sad eyes, "I'm sorry Flare..., I don't know why I argued with you, I..., I should have known with all the weird things going on that something like that would happen to me." I couldn't believe it. I thought girls would want to right, or assume that they were so and be stubborn about it. I was wrong... or maybe all girls except... my girl. I smiled at the thought. "So what did happen to me?" Her question broke through my thoughts. "Well, you were laying on your side trying to run, like laying down running..., it was weird. Then I grabbed you and you started to calm down. Then you woke up all confused." She pondered that for a second, "I was running?" "Yeah, all out." "Was I..., running away from something, or running after something? Do you think?" "I don't... um..., away. It..., it seemed like you were running away." She nodded, then turned away from me. "Is anything wrong?" I asked, walking up to her. She shook her head, "No matter where we go, if we hid or ran away, they would always find us and we could never be happy." She said that last part looking up at me, tears slowly sliding down her face. I approached and wiped the tears away, "I'll always be happy, as long as you're there." She smiled and hugged me.
"Now," I said, after we had stopped hugging, "You need a nap." I felt the muscles in her back seem to try to un-tense, but it didn't work. I could tell she felt tired after that run, even if she didn't remember it. We found a nice sunny spot, odd in the forest, and rested there. Judging by the sun it was around 12:00. "Wake me in an hour, promise?" she asked. "Mmm maybe." She rolled her eyes and layed down. A couple seconds later I felt a hard pull from my right and I fell next to Twilight. I wrapped my arm around her and she cuddled in next to me. I rested my head on the side of her shoulder.
While Twilight slept I practiced my magic. I started by lifting berries out of my pack. They weren't hard for me. It only took me three tries to lift one into the air and whirl it around. Next I tried a group of berries. I harnessed all my power and levitated them in the air. I made them into a circle and flew other berries through it. Then I took a deep breath. I concentrated my power, loosening my grip on reality as I let it consume my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see my pack flying three feet in the air. I moved it around in the air, focusing on my horn. The longer I held it the easier it seemed to become. Then I remembered, I could do it easily, but when I stopped I crashed. With this fear in my head I immediately stopped my magic. My pack fell to the ground and I was struck by a migraine. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I opened them Twilight was glaring at me, "So much for an hour." "I... I really don't have an excuse." She looked surprised, then smiled, "You are definitely the most honest and courteous pony I have ever met." I smiled, "Yeah, I know." She pushed me laughing, "Maybe not." I laughed with her.
We packed up, eating berries as we worked. "Do..., do you think you could find where this 'Zecora' lives?" I asked Twilight, searching my brain for a possible way to make the big puzzle not so big. "Yeah, she lives in the- this forest. Somewhere in the..., middle? I'm not really sure but she lives somewhere in here." "Do you think that it's possible to find her house or shack, or, whatever she lives in by wandering around?" "Yeah I guess so. By wandering around. It took me a long time to get there when I meant to go there." I pondered this for a minute. I focused on walking and what Twilight was saying. "...this book about advanced spells. It taught me all this cool spells. Do you think you would want to read it?" "Hm? Yeah, sounds nice. Do you have it with you?" "Yes, right here." "Actually I think I might just practice levitating it in front of me." She pulled it out of my pack and held in in front of me for me to practice on. I grunted as I put on my game face and my horn lit up with all the power I could muster. I opened my eyes, having the discomfort of exerting myself gone. I read the cover out loud, "Advanced Unknown Magic." I saw Twilight nod through my periphrials. I read it aloud, as I learned faster that way.
It only took half an hour to read through the whole book. The pictures were illustrated to help the reader along, and the words were big and underlined where there were extremely important details. I whipped through the spells memorizing them as I went. I didn't normally read but I guess I wasn't too shabby at it. I knew I would be able to perform the spells however it would heavily drain me. "Well, what do you think?" Twilight asked. "Well, I'm not sure. These are very dark spells. Some are cool, like walking through walls, or heat vision, or even breathe underwater. But lasers missiles, imprisonment? Those are meant for one clear purpose." She only nodded.
I put the book back in my pack, forgetting my weak magic. I crashed to the ground. "Stay conscious don't faint! I. MUST. NOT. FAINT!" The effort felt like it was killing me but I kept my mind focused, slowly fading into blackness. "Search for something to think about. Come on, come on." I tried thinking of my parents, and I felt myself still slipping, but slower now. I looked into what made me happy, the happiest I had ever felt. Twilight's face popped into my mind, and I stopped feeling faint. My mind going back into it's original state. "Flare! Flare, what's wrong?" Her voice was filling me with a little warmth, more than the heat of my flames. I felt the darkness leaving me and the headache faded completely. I stood slowly. "Twilight..." I stopped, not knowing why I even spoke, and blushed. "Are you all right? You scared the crap outta me." "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you that after I perform magic I normally faint." "Well why didn't you faint this time?" "You sound disappointed." She made a fake scowl. "Well... when I was about to faint..." "Yes?" "I was thinking about whatever I could to keep myself awake..." "Annnnnnnnnnd?" "Well, that thing was you." I said that last part really fast and she didn't hear me. "What? You said that too fast." I sighed. "I was thinking of you, to keep me from fainting." She blushed, "Aww. Really? You mean it, Flare?" "Of course," I said blushing. I felt relieved that nothing had gone wrong, even though I can't imagine anything going wrong at a moment like that. I sat down, not taking my eyes off her. She sat with me, resting her head on my shoulder. We sat like that for ten minutes. Each second slowly moving into minutes for me. But we were distracted by rustling leaves from behind us.
"Hello?" I asked. A dark silhouette of a head appeared over some bushes from which the noise had come from. "Who is there, tell me and there will be no despair," was the response. The voice was definitely female, and deeper than most. Twilight looked up hearing the voice. "Zecora?" "Twilight, is that you? And who might be there too?" The voice was almost creepy, and when it's owner came out of the bushes I had some of my suspicion confirmed. "Flare. Flare is with me. I, uh, met him traveling. Um, we'd like to talk to you." The zebra, or Zecora, had come within my fiery light, revealing her features. She was your typical zebra, nothing much special about her. She had gold rings around her neck, which was common among where she probably used to live. She had big gold earrings and rings around her front right leg. Her eyes were a deep sea green. Her cutie mark was a sun, however, like all zebras it was gray and colorless. She looked down to the ground and spoke as if she had done something wrong, which she had, "I'm sorry Twilight, what I did caused you fright. I had sensed that you were coming back, but felt something out of whack. I had to give to you, the medicine of renew! I heard your memory was not clear, so I fixed that and ran in fear. The fear of renewing your mind, could leave you in a difficult bind. If you were woken up during then, your brain could stop functioning again." "Again?" Zecora nodded. "Come with me, and you shall see." Twilight started after her and I followed suite.
We arrived at Zecora's house as it was really getting dark. She walked over to her cauldron, threw some ingredients in and it flared up with multicolored clouds of smoke. I figured Zecora would try to explain what we were seeing, but she stood silently watching the smoke billow up. I turned my attention to it too. It showed Zecora running up and forcing something down Twilight's throat, then turned and sprinted away. Then the images dissolved into something else. They showed a mare and a stallion, though just the outlines. I could tell the stallion was me, because there aren't too many ponies whose mane is constantly active. I assumed the mare was Twilight, as I never leave her side - for too long. In the smoke it showed some other ponies come up behind us, and Twilight was grabbed. Then something popped up between me and my attackers, and I hit it like a solid wall. I attempted to use magic to get through, but my magic faltered, and they escaped.
The smoke billowed to a stop and quickly dissipated I closed my mouth before anypony noticed me gaping. Zecora nodded her head, "This is why you are here, to see this so you know to fear. The path you choose to walk, will lead you to a block. After that block will come another, and no mater how hard you try the blocks will come forever!" I stared at Zecora, then looked to Twilight. She spoke first, "We know the trials we will face and we will continue down this path. We have a responsibility, and we must be held to it." Zecora only nodded. "Now," said Twilight, "Might you have any food that we could take with us on our trip?" Zecora nodded again, "Right this way, my dear, with this food you will banish your fear."
We thanked Zecora for the meal, and we were getting ready to leave when Zecora beckoned us back inside and demanded we stay the night. We agreed.
Once back inside, Twilight raided Zecora's bookshelves, while I spoke with Zecora about magic. We talked late into the night, which worked out fine because I really didn't need any sleep and Zecora was partially nocturnal. I wanted to know more about what would happen when Twilight was getting abducted by didn't have an answer, only that that was the unchangeable future. I asked her to teach me about magic, and she told me some secrets that were only passed down through zebras, however since zebra's were hornless the tricks were useless to her. So she taught me to the best of her ability. Her teachings weren't spells though, they were advice, like when to use and not use magic, and how to focus more deeply on the hidden talent inside of all unicorns. Eventually she got enough nerve to ask why I was so interested in magic, seeing as I wasn't a unicorn and all. I was surprised by the question, as I had been expecting one like, 'why is my mane on fire'. Then I realized that she had not seen the burnt marks on my forehead, so I answered her, "I am a unicorn, however my horn was burnt off as a baby colt." She nodded, and went to go rest in her bed. I quietly snuck up to Twilight, who was apparently half awake, as she moved over a bit in the small bed, and raised a hoof for me to get in beside her. Blushing to myself, I did as she wanted, and she cuddled up next to me. I felt her breathing even out, like she does when she sleeps. I thought about everything Zecora had told me, and everything I had seen in the smoke.
Yeah. So. Anyway.
Your Fellow Brony - Abridged
