It was the eve of the Grand Galloping Gala, and Angel Bunny was not happy. He'd been handed off to an old lady, a little kid, and...Well, Big Macintosh was alright, but Angel and the other pets were being holed up in the Apple family's barn, where there was plenty of room for them, while their owners went off to a party. He wandered around in circles, glaring at the two female pets in hopes of keeping them away, until it occurred to him that he had a friend here. He hopped over to Gummy, the gator with his mouth wrapped around a support beam.
“We gotta get out of here.” Angel said. Animals, of course, could not speak. Their language consisted of a few vocalizations, body language, expressions, and more than a little of the ambient magic present in every last bit of Equestria. That special wavelength of magic, flowing through the world, allowed nearly any animal to understand any other. To Angel's knowledge, only one pony had any access to that flow of energy at all: His pony. Fluttershy.
“I don't know. Kind of nice. Got plenty to chew on.” Gummy replied, gnawing toothlessly. “Plenty to eat. Some company.”
“The only company worth a damn here is you, Gums. All I know about the owl is that he won't come down from the rafters, and Winona has no sense of personal boundaries.”
“I think you're forgetting someone.” Opalescence purred from behind them.
“Oh, right, thank you.” Angel nodded to her, smiling, before turning back to Gummy with his standard glaring expression. “And the cat's a total bitch!” Opal gasped at this and turned her head up as she walked away.
“...Fair 'nough.” Gummy removed his mouth from the wooden beam. “How do we get out, and where are we headed?”
“...I've always wanted to see just what's in the forest.” Angel began checking the walls until he finally found a crack big enough for a small bunny. “I don't think you'll fit through here...” He could easily have the time of his life on his own, but Angel didn't just like Gummy. He respected him. He wouldn't leave him behind.
“Go get caught. Pony opens door to bring you in, I slip out, you go back out the crack.” Gummy told him, blinking asynchronously. Angel nodded and squeezed through the hole. A few moments later, the door opened, and Gummy snuck past Big Macintosh, who was holding the little rabbit by the scruff of his neck. When Angel slipped out the crack again, Gummy was there waiting.
“Hop on.” The gator said, facing the forest.
“I can walk on my own, Gummy.”
“Cold night. I'm exothermic. You give me heat, I'll give you a ride.” He told the bunny. Angel shrugged, not really sure what exothermic meant, and climbed onto the gator's back. They slowly made their way forward, through the orchard, to the Everfree Forest. In the dark, peering from between the trees were two dozen glowing eyes. Shadows around the eyes resolved themselves into solid shapes as they drew closer. The Timber Wolves stared at the encroaching creatures who neither slowed nor changed their course.
The moment they stepped through the threshold of the forest, one of them lunged forward, jaws open, to pick the bunny clean from the gator's back. It was surprised, however, when it's jaws closed, to find the bunny not within them. It looked up, Angel having jumped off of Gummy, but before it had a chance to react, Angel brought his fluffy foot down to bear on his attacker's face, bouncing himself back into the air with his powerful leg. The Timber Wolf's head plummeted toward Gummy, who knocked it clean off of the magical creature's body with a strike of his tail. Angel landed smoothly on Gummy's back, and they continued moving in, the Timber Wolves staring and snarling at them. They thought for a minute, and Angel climbed down. They began snapping the pieces of wood that made up the felled magical being, causing a yelp of pain with each one.
They wouldn't kill the wolf. It would be able to reassemble and the wood would repair itself over time, but they hadn't brought the fire they'd need to kill one permanently. The other wolves stared in terror. These intruders had effortlessly and brutally beaten down one of their own. Two more attacked and met similar results. The rest backed away from them, terrified. They resumed their trek into the forest.
“You thinking what I'm thinking, Gummy?” Angel asked, his eyes still angry, but his lips curled in a smile.
“Next time, bring matches?” There were several yelps of fear. Apparently, the Timber Wolves could understand them.
“I don't think that'll be necessary.” Angel replied. “But no...I was thinking we could rule this place.”
“...I like living with Pinkie.” Gummy mused.
“We'll still live in Ponyville.” Angel assured him. “But this whole forest is gonna bow down to us by the time we go back. And—hang on.” he hopped off of Gummy and wandered over to what appeared to be a snake tail sticking out of a bush. There was a cock's comb sticking out as well. He pointed at the tail, grinning wickedly. Gummy secured his mouth on it and yanked just as the Cockatrice emerged, having planned to petrify them. Gummy swung the would-be ambusher over his head, smashing it into the ground over and over.
The Cockatrice stood, dazed and beaten. Angel grabbed it by its neck and began slapping it over and over. “That's for planning to mess with us. Tell your friends what happened here. Warn them what happens to those who defy the...um...Gummy. Lil help?” He asked, unable to think of a name.
“Kings of the Everfree?” They shared a long, serious look, grins spreading wide on both their faces.
“That's right. We're the Kings of the Everfree.” He released the Cockatrice, who stared, not with intent to harm, but with an incredible sense of fear, and, oddly enough, respect. Before it fled, it bowed deep to the both of them, knowing it had fully intended to kill them, and that they had been fully capable of killing the Cockatrice in retaliation, but chose mercy. It would do as they ordered, and as they continued their way in, over the course of hours, they noticed a large group of magical creatures amassing around them, staring from between trees, and looking out from the undergrowth.
Some looked on in wonder, the stories the Cockatrice and Timber Wolves had shared amazing them at the way these two small beings handled themselves. Others believed it to simply be a joke. One such non-believer was a fierce manticore. It stepped forward, teeth bared, wings extended, tail poised to strike. It walked straight up to them, looming over the bunny and gator, and let loose a powerful roar. Angel kicked it right in the jaw, its teeth closing painfully around its tongue. The manticore cried out and fled, its tongue bleeding from several holes, some of which had punctured clear through.
The rest of the crowd continued to watch them, not paying any mind to the manticore that had attacked them. they stared in awe and deference. The new Kings had a sense of otherworldly authority. They had no reason to believe that the manticore would not devour them both, but not only were they unbowed, one of them had swiftly and decisively stricken the beast and sent it running scared. They were two of the smallest things in the whole forest, barring only the parasprites, but their presence was unequaled.
Gummy climbed up onto a large rock, surrounded by their new kingdom's citizens, and Angel climbed off of the alligator to address them. “Never forget who controls this forest. You're all only allowed to kill to eat, or to avoid being eaten, and the eating part's only if you're strictly carnivorous. Not one of you has the right to kill for territory. After all, you're all on our land.” As Angel concluded his address, the two of them surveyed their subjects, and shared a high five for the ages as the sun crested the trees, framing them perfectly.
“...They'll be back home in a few hours.” Gummy told Angel, noting the sun.
“And so will we.” Angel smiled.
“We've got a lot more work to do,” Gummy said, Angel climbing back on. “We've got a lot of attention and some respect, but not a real kingdom."
“In due time.” Angel said, smiling. “In due time. But for now...” Angel sighed with satisfaction. "This has been the best. night. ever."
Rarity lay on Fluttershy's couch, bawling. She was in absolute hysterics. “Oh, it'll be alright, Rarity, I'm sure she just wandered off. She'll be back soon, and I'll have all my little friends keep an eye out for her, OK?” Fluttershy's voice was strained over the sobs of the unicorn.
“BUT SHE RAN INTO THE EVERFREE FOREST!!! If anything happened to my dear, precious Opal, I...I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'D DO!!!!” Rarity replied, a blubbering mess. She grabbed Angel, who had been sitting on the arm of the couch, appraising her with his standard glare. She clung to the bunny as if squeezing him would cause emotional comfort to shoot out like toothpaste from a tube.
Angel kicked her in the face and hopped down to the floor. “Oh, Angel!” Fluttershy was taken aback by this behavior. “Rarity's in distress! She needs us to be supportive!”
“I can do better than supportive,” the bunny told himself, “I can get her out of my damn cottage.” Fluttershy frowned at the coarse choice of non-words, though she could only really understand the intent behind them. She watched with worry as he began hopping over to the open front door.
“Oh dear, um...” Fluttershy frantically looked between him and Rarity. “Don't wander too far!” She told Angel, praying that he would be obedient, but knowing it was in vain. Still, Angel knew how to take care of himself. Fluttershy knew that he was the strength and confidence she lacked made flesh. She nuzzled Rarity.
“See, Rarity? Angel's already going to go look.” She nervously told the unicorn, patting her with her wing.
“Every time. Every freaking time somepony has a problem with their pet, they have to barge into my house, disturb my pony, and make us fix the damn problem.” Angel thought, glowering at the world around him, built to a scale he did not fit. “Lucky me, I know someone who knows how to solve problems.” He hopped his way down to Sugar Cube Corner, walked through the open door, and hopped up the stairs. He looked up at the door and sighed.
“I just hope he's home alone.” He thumped his foot rapidly against the door. It swung open, a pink, grinning pony looming over the bunny. “Ah, crap.”
For the second time today, Angel was plucked by one of his pony's friends, being cuddled degradingly. Unfortunately, the earth pony had a stronger grip than Rarity, and wasn't distracted by her own face full of tears. “I should only be so lucky.” Angel mused. Finally, she set him down, ran off, and came back, setting down her own pet toothless alligator.
The two pets gave eachother some greetings. “We got a kitty missing in the Everfree, and a unicorn bawling on my couch. You in?”
“You even have to ask?” Gummy smiled a bit.
Pinkie gave off a huge grin as she offered up two pairs of tiny sunglasses and two tiny rust colored jackets. “I love it when you guys go on adventures! Gummy always comes back with such amazing stories!”
“...Can she even understand you?” Angel asked the alligator, thinking it a better question than exactly where the tiny sunglasses and jackets came from.
“Beats me. I didn't even tell her. She just...knows." They shared an uncomfortable moment of silence. "Anyway! Let's do this.”
They slid their arms into their jackets in unison. They each pulled downward on the front of the jackets together, adjusting them on their shoulders. They simultaneously flicked open their shades, and slid them onto their faces. Their palms echoed with the force of impact against each other for their high five. Pinkie hopped up and down, clapping her hooves giddily.
Angel smiled and hopped onto Gummy's back. He rode the alligator out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the bakery. The partners wandered through town, attracting a few looks from ponies, but without Fluttershy there to scold him, Angel simply answered their questioning gazes with an expressive mid-digit. Soon, they neared the edge of the Everfree forest. Glowing eyes, much like their first foray into the dark and foreboding wood, lined the trees.
Both Angel and Gummy felt the corners of their mouths turn up a bit as they continued forward, the Timber Wolves moving backward to make room. One or two even seemed to bow their heads in respect, though it seemed more likely that they were afraid of drawing the attention of the two animals, both so much smaller and neither with any magic to their names.
“It's good to be the king,” both said in unison. It had over a month since their first trip into the forest, and there had been several since, and the respect every creature they met showed to them continued to grow, and all without ever actually killing anything. Their mercy earned them at least as much respect as their brutality and competence. Still, they weren't here to lord over their subjects. Angel picked out one of the wolves.
“You! There's a little white cat somewhere in this forest. We are looking for her. We want her found, we want her unharmed. Put the word out.” The wolf felt the will of the rabbit burning into him. He just stared, terrified of the bunny. “Well? I'm waiting.” It dashed off through the trees, howling to every other Timber Wolf in the forest.
“She should be fine.” Gummy told his partner. “If she's smart, I mean. She mentions either of our names, everybody's going to wait for us to show up.”
“When have you known Opalescence to be smart? No, she's either lost or captured or turned to stone. That's if she's not been eaten. So, I say we check with the Cockatrices first.”
“Seems like a safe bet. Manticores would be keeping her safe, they see cats as family. And Timber Wolves would do nothing to anyone if they know what's good for them.” Gummy added, remembering his partner's decree that no killing was to be done for any reason but food or self defense, and the magical biology of the Timber Wolf necessitated neither unless fire was involved. “So, Cockatrice sounds like the worst case scenario. And, if a Cockatrice did get her, we'd need another one to break her out.” Angel nodded at this.
“So all we gotta--...is that Jimmy?” He asked, pointing at a snake tail being dragged by a chicken through the forest.
“Son of a bitch, it is. HEY, JIMMY.” Gummy shouted. The Cockatrice froze in his tracks and slowly turned around. “How much of what we were saying did you hear? Did you know we were looking for a Cockatrice and just decide to ignore us?”
“Look, guys...” He stammered, quickly correcting himself. “Your majesties...I wasn't gonna run off or nothin', I was gonna go ask around. See if anybody I knew, knew the cat you were talkin' about.” He stammered nervously. “Figured I'd be more useful gathering information than just following you around, in case I had to crack open a stone prison someone put him in.”
“It's a her.” Angel corrected. “I don't want you missing any leads because you're looking for a tom.”
“So, you DO want me to go look for leads?” Angel nodded at him. Jimmy relaxed. The Kings apparently found his idea viable. “Alright, I'll come running the moment I find anything.” He charged off, and Gummy glanced up at Angel.
“He's better connected to the other Cockatrice than we are. And he knows better than to cross us. We go asking around, they might get defensive and think they're better off hiding her rock body than owning up to it.” The bunny explained his reasoning. “Besides, having him following us around isn't really on my to-do list. I don't really like Jimmy.”
“You don't really like anybody.” Gummy commented as they continued on. “Guess we're checking with the Manticores now.”
“Yeah. Next most likely possibility.” Angel sat for a moment in silence. “You're wrong, you know.”
“Hm?”
“There's three people I like. And three people I respect. On both lists, there's you, Fluttershy, and me.” He adjusted his shades, and examined his jacket. “Your pony might make it onto the first list though. We look amazing.” Gummy smiled at this, chuckling.
“I like you too, Angel.” He told the bunny, grinning.
“Aw, now don't get sappy on me. I might have to drop you from the respect list.” Gummy bust out laughing in response as Angel smiled. They soon resumed walking in silence. There was something in their friendship, their partnership, that didn't need communication. There was an odd sense of understanding between them that had been there since the first time they met. They felt perfectly comfortable, stoically journeying through the dark and twisted forest with no sense of apprehension.
Finally, they came along a clearing wherein several manticores watched as two of their biggest males lashed at each other with claw and tail. Things died down very quickly as the overwhelming presence of the Kings dominated the perception of those around them.
“Hope we're not interrupting?” Angel asked, lowering his shades and glaring over the rim as he climbed off of Gummy. One of the fighting manticores held up his paws.
“Hey, hey, we weren't fighting to kill or for territory or nothin'. It's a dominance thing, I swear. You guys lead the forest, and the manticores in it. We're just deciding which manticore answers straight to you.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Any manticore we want to talk to answers straight to us,” Gummy told him flatly. “And right now we're talking to you. What's your name?”
“Mikhail.” The manticore replied nervously.
“We're looking for someone. A friend of a friend of a friend. Went missing in the woods. She's a little white cat. Very fluffy, and kind of a bitch.” Angel told him. He eyed one of the manticores who'd been watching the fight, and was now shifting around suspiciously. “You know something?” he asked, glaring at the manticore.
“Th-that's Edward. He's still nervous since that mistake he made, when you first came here. Still having a little trouble talking.” Angel thought for a moment about what Mikhail told him.
“Ah, Edward. I'm sorry you made me put you in your place,” Angel told him, “But nobody in this forest has any reason to be afraid of us, long as they give us the proper respect. You read me?”
“Lowdan cleer.” He slurred, at least one puncture in his tongue still in the process of healing over.
Gummy looked around. “None of you know anything? Little white cat. Collar with some jewels on it.” Some eyes lit up at this last bit. “I miss something?” Mikhail spoke again.
“W-well, your highness..es...A dragon came here. It's not uncommon, they do that a lot, move in and out of the caves...But...Well, a jewel is going to catch a dragon's eye.”
Before they could even register this, they received their confirmation. “Dragon got her,” came a shout from behind. Angel and Gummy turned to see Jimmy, with a young Cockatrice beside him. “Cerise saw it! She saw him coming home to his cave with a cat!”
“Alright, kid, you're leading us to the dragon.” Angel told her. She shook her downy head in fear, eyes wide.
“I...I can't let her do that.” Jimmy stepped forward, shaking in fear. “She's my sister's kid, and...a dragon...I mean, I know what you guys can do, but we burn, just like anything else. Please, don't take her.” Angel and Gummy exchanged a meaningful glance.
“Alright, Jimmy. Fair enough. Family does come first.” Gummy told him. Angel stepped forward, the child trembling before him.
“She's cute. Must not take after her uncle.” He patted her head. “Can you tell us where the dragon lives?” She nodded and pointed. “Thanks kid. You did good. You too, Jimmy. But I still don't like you.” Angel climbed back onto Gummy.
“...I think you're alright, Jimmy. I'm not sure if I like you or not.” Gummy told him in a tone that could almost be considered reassuring.
It was almost an hour before they saw the mouth of the cave, but they knew that the kid was raised here. Any creature born in the Everfree Forest would know its way around. Even if it had taken all day, if they kept the course, they were sure they'd find the cave.
“Want to make a plan?” Gummy asked, a little serious, a little sarcastic.
“Since when do we need plans?” Angel responded, smiling, as he climbed down. Together they stepped into the cave to find a massive horde of treasure, an even more massive sleeping dragon, and in the corner, a cage with a trembling white cat, stripped of her jeweled collar. “Sup, bitch.” Angel called to her. The dragon awoke at this and reared up. “Sup, bitch.” Angel repeated to the dragon. He began hopping over to the cage.
“What's this? Little morsels have come into my home of their own accord?” The dragon asked, laughing. Gummy was watching Angel, who was staring at Opal, who was busy trying to figure out why Fluttershy and Pinkie's pets were in a dragon's cave. “...YOU DARE IGNORE ME?”
“Your pony's in my cottage, crying her eyes out. I get you back, she leaves. So come on.” The dragon let out a roar of frustration at this indignity. He began sucking in air, preparing to loose a torrent of fire on the bunny and cat both. The moment he began to inhale, Angel kicked up a piece of treasure at the edge of the pile, and kicked it again in mid air, right into the dragon's windpipe. It began choking, unable to breathe, unable to speak, unable to even cough.
“Gummy, that moron went and got himself choked. Don't worry too much about saving him, but if you can, go ahead and do it.” Angel said, looking at the cage.
“W...What's going on?! Why would you come to the Everfree forest? Even if Rarity was at your home...”
“...We run this joint.” Gummy told her, walking up to the dragon's neck. He faced away just below the bulge of the obstruction and slammed his tail down powerfully, sending the gem stone rocketing out. “And if our guest the dragon wants to stay here, he'd best remember it.” The dragon coughed blood, the gem having cut small channels into its throat as it shot out to his mouth.
Angel removed the lock from the cage with a well placed kick, and went toward the entrance, willing to leave the dragon coughing and crumpled in his cave. They stopped, however, as something dawned on Angel.
“The lady's jewelry. Where is it?” He demanded, not even bothering to turn back to face the dragon.
The dragon's eyes went wide, filled with anger. These insolent creatures came into his home, choked him with his own treasure, caused his throat to carved on the interior, and stole his snack, and now they demanded jewels of him. He was fairly certain that the kick sending the stone down his throat had been nothing but luck. On the other hand, he was already weakened. He couldn't breathe fire with his throat torn like it was, and there was no way he'd be as fast as these small creatures. Besides, what if it wasn't a lucky shot? The dragon, after a moment of silent contemplation, gave in. He couldn't risk it. He tossed her collar forward, and Gummy caught it in his mouth. The three of them journeyed back out of the Everfree Forest to Ponyville, stopping on the way to call off the search, their quarry found.
Angel wasn't sure if Opal's uncharacteristic silence was because of the shock of seeing them in action, or because she was traumatized by the ordeal, but he didn't care. He was just glad she wasn't talking. Angel handed Gummy his shades and draped his jacket over the alligator's back. No reason not to let Pinkie take care of them.
Opal jumped, shocked, as Angel took her collar from Gummy, and put it on her, proceeding to slap some twigs and brush out of her fur.
“Why...Why did you save me? You hate me.” She asked, incredulous.
“Yes.” He answered at first, then frowned. Hatred not withstanding, she'd asked a genuine question and seemed genuinely confused. “Because,” Angel picked some burrs out of her fur. “I can't allow that kind of misbehavior in my forest. But more importantly, your pony won't get the hell off my couch.” He began walking toward his cottage, but she didn't move. “...Well?”
“And why did you stop to get me back my collar?”
“Because it belongs to you. He was stealing from, and planning to eat, someone who should have our protection, even if she doesn't have our blessing to enter the forest. We enforce that place's rules. Rules we enacted. Now can we PLEASE get your crazy pony out of my house?”
Opal moved up beside him, staring at him a bit, and kissed him on the cheek. The perpetual scowl melted from Angel Bunny's face as he slowly turned to meet her eyes. “Opal?”
“Yes?” She purred.
“You do realize,” His scowl began to slowly fall back into place, “The only reason you got away with that, the reason I am not HURTING YOU right now is that you'd be at my house that much longer, as a patient of Fluttershy's?”
“I do. But I still felt I owed you my thanks. I just wish I had thought to give it to Gummy before he left.” She began toward the cottage, smirking.
This was why Angel hated that cat. Absolutely no respect. They soon reached Angel's home, and he smiled as karma took the form of Rarity nearly squeezing the life out of the cat. Fluttershy gave Opalescence a quick check over, and she was given a clean bill of health. Rarity took the insufferable feline home, and Angel took back his couch, stretching out on the cushions. He heard the soft clink of a dish against the floor, and looked over to see Fluttershy standing over a salad and smiling at him.
“That was very nice of you, Angel Bunny.” She told him sweetly.
“I didn't do it to be nice.” He muttered, glancing over the edge of the couch at the food.
“You still helped. And I'm proud of you.” She kissed the top of his head, and he smiled at her, hopping down and gorging himself on the meal he'd been provided. Mid way through the meal, he paused and hugged her leg.
Deeper inside Ponyville, Gummy was climbing the stairs in Sugar Cube Corner, but didn't make it all the way up the stairs before a pink blur swept him up and into his home. Pinkie paused to take the jackets and sunglasses from him, then picked him up in her hooves, flopped onto her back, and held him aloft, staring into his big purple eyes.
“Tell me about Jimmy's niece! OH! No, tell me about the dragon!!!” she squealed excitedly.
“...The scary part is, I know you haven't been following us.” Gummy told her, still not sure if Pinkie could understand him.
The sun streamed gently through the canopy of the Everfree Forest. Birds were chirping, bugs were buzzing, and a gentle breeze threaded through the trees. Zecora couldn't remember a single more serene day in all the time she'd lived in the forest. She calmly sipped her tea, sitting on her lawn, leaning against her home. She was stirred from her thoughts by a most peculiar sight.
“...The pet of sweet, kind Fluttershy, astride the pet of Pinkie Pie?” She thought aloud, catching their gaze. “Adorned in both jacket and shade, traversing through my humble glade?” They approached her silently, glaring at her through their sunglasses. She stared back, feeling awkward, but slowly raising her cup to her lips, having another sip while not breaking eye contact.
“Go away. Run and play.” She told them, smiling kindly. They didn't seem to think there was much here to smile about, however. Angel slid backward onto Gummy's tail, and the gator flung the bunny at the zebra's face. Zecora threw out a powder in front of herself, and stepped aside as her would-be attacker flew through the cloud. Angel tumbled to the ground, coughing violently, eyes watering, and vision blurred. She calmly walked to her door and headed inside, locking it behind herself. Gummy swept up Angel and turned around.
“Where the hell are you going?” Angel demanded, trying to turn the gator's head back toward the zebra's home.
“She can't understand us,” Gummy began, but was interrupted.
“Everybody understands violence.” Angel told him between coughs, furious about how easily she'd humiliated him.
“That all we are? Violent thugs?”
“...You're right. We're as violent as we need to be. But we're also kings. So what do you say we delegate?...Make a stop at a creek or something, I gotta clear my eyes out. And drink something. Damn, my throat's on fire...”
Once Angel recovered, they began wandering the forest as they contemplated how to force Zecora to show them the respect that their kingly status required.
“Make her a lawn ornament?” Angel suggested, smirking.
“Isn't she friends with Fluttershy? At any rate, I know she's friends with Pinkie, and that makes her off limits for petrification, poison, and dismemberment.”
“...Alright, so, probably no killing her. But she's living in our forest. That means she's got to learn her damn place."
“We could make her NOT live in our forest.” Gummy said, giving a toothless grin.
“Gummy, you're a genius.”
Zecora was stirred from her meditation by a loud scraping sound. Then another. Then dozens more, from all around her tree. She looked out the window, confused, to find an entire pride of manticores sharpening their claws on her home. In her years in the forest, this had never happened before, but for someone living here, knowing how to handle a manticore was a necessity. She ran up stairs, emerging in her tree's canopy, holding a few jars, and hoping she had enough. One by one, she unscrewed the lids, and began dumping their powdery contents on the beasts below. At first, there was no reaction. Then one of them smelled it. They all began rolling happily in the powder, purring loudly, and looking a little twitchy.
Angel and Gummy stared as their manticore subjects were rendered helpless by whatever Zecora had unleashed upon them. Angel darted forward, cautiously dabbing his paw in a small pile of the powder and giving it a sniff. Then a lick.
“Oh, for--” He turned to the nearest manticore and kicked him in the nose. “Catnip? Really? That's honestly all she had to do?” He threw his head back in frustration. Zecora watched curiously as Gummy began pulling the manticores away from the tree.
“Angel is no longer ill, but manticores would bend to his will? Amazing, the sort of things you see, living in the Everfree...”
She followed stealthily, watching them. Once they'd gotten the manticores away from her home, they seemed to be almost yelling at the beasts, though, even if a manticore or bunny or gator were capable of speech, they wouldn't be getting much of a coherent response from the drug-addled monstrosities. Still, she couldn't help feel curious to see exactly why anyone would seem to follow these adorable pets. Once the sun began to set, Angel and Gummy seemed even more annoyed, Zecora remained hidden as she followed them to the edge as they left the forest. She sat there, still wondering about what they'd been doing there, why Angel attacked her, and why her house had been clawed by dozens of manticores.
She sighed and returned to her home, mixed up a potion, and poured it around the roots of her tree, watching as the scratches fade away. She headed inside, had some dinner, and went to bed.
In the morning, she awoke to find herself tied up on the floor, face to face with Gummy, with Angel sitting on her. She sighed in annoyance. “If only we could communicate, I might understand your apparent hate.” Carefully and systematically flexing her muscles, she wriggled out of the ropes and threw Angel off of her. She approached the bunny, who was now upside down, leaning against a wall, glaring into his eyes. He smiled at her. Zecora fell hard on her side as Gummy's tail swept her back hooves out from under her. She quickly got back up, grabbed both of the pets, and threw them out of her house.
As they tumbled across the ground and into a massive shadow, her eyes widened. Her neck slowly craned up as she took in the hulking form behind them. Surely, she'd just thrown them to their deaths! Surely, they'd be devoured by—Why was the dragon helping them up!? And why did it look like it had been recently pummeled?!
“Now?” The dragon asked them, sounding impatient. Angel turned toward him angrily, and he put up his hands defensively. “Easy, easy. I'm here, I'm doing what you say. You're the one who said I didn't have to like it, I just had to do it, right?” Gummy approached him as well. “Right. Well, let me know when.” He sat back on his haunches, as Gummy and Angel turned toward Zecora. They gave her friendly smiles, and motioned for her to approach. She quickly slammed the door shut and locked it tightly. Whatever they had planned involved a dragon and her being outside of her house. Since there was little she could do about a dragon besides trying to stay out of its way, she'd have to focus on foiling the other part of their plan. As she paced nervously, she came to a realization. She had not been taking them anywhere near seriously enough.
She darted around in a panic, checking her supplies, trying to think of what potions and mixtures could possibly help her in the face of a dragon. As she tried to figure out the problem of surviving extreme temperatures even if she weren't flammable, an idea hit her. The dragon didn't want to be here. If she could just get rid of its reason to be here...
Angel looked up as the door opened slowly. “If you do not leave me be, I will tell your owners of your deeds.” Zecora called. Angel and Gummy seemed to be discussing this, and they turned to the dragon.
“I've been told to inform you that they are now willing to enter peace talks, and that I have to be the translator.” The dragon told her, looking annoyed.
“First thing's first: It seems quite funny for a dragon to obey a gator and bunny...”
“Lady, I don't know what kind of immunity you've got, but you'll never meet anything more dangerous than these two.”
“That is quite the surprise, strength hidden by such tiny size... Why is it my home they attack? For what reason must I protect my shack?”
“...Okay, first, can you stop rhyming?” Zecora shook her head at the dragon. “...Why not?” She shrugged, and the dragon sighed, his face in his claw. He looked up, resolving to just get this over with as soon as he could. “Alright, they say that you didn't show them the proper respect.”
“And what respect would be proper toward a gator and a hopper?”
“...So annoying.” He waited as Gummy gave him a message to convey. “Lady, you live in their forest. They run this place. The timberwolves, the manticores, the cockatrices, the dragons...Everybody here knows you bow when the Kings of the Everfree pass. They're in charge here, and if you live in their wood and you don't follow the rules, they'll evict you. Which...They'd break anybody else. What's so special about you?"
She ignored this question, and stared at Angel and Gummy. She bowed deeply. “I offer a humble apology. I did not recognize royalty.” She stood back up. “There. Square?” Angel nodded at her, and the dragon lifted off, leaving the three of them there.
Angel climbed onto Gummy and shot a look at Zecora, who quickly bowed again. The bunny thought for a while as he rode his friend.
“I like her. She's got guts.”
