The Kings of the Everfree

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.”