To Guide the Wicked

by Allsmiles

Rating: mature
Tags: Sex, Zecora, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Original Character, Trixie, Rarity, Adventure
Length: 236940

The oldest forces of evil in Equestria need to find a somepony new, because their regular go-to baddies keep dropping like flies. And in an act of desperation they turn to a promising new agent of evil... and you.

Everypony knows the Royal Pony Sisters. Nopony knows the Undying Alicorn Brothers. That's how they prefer it as it's one of the main reasons that they've lived so long, and they have been alive for a very, very long time... since long before the Sisters, the brothers were causing floods, spreading plagues, summoning blizzards, and generally being unrepentant mules. No offense.

"None taken."

In any case there are ancient stories and legends centered around them, that fortunately nopony but the most scholarly and antisocial ponies read up on. But those who do know the legends know this... that in the time when Alicorns were considered deities, the Brothers were considered to be the Gods of Evil, darkness, and everything wrong within the hearts of ponies. And it's a good thing that nopony thinks they exist, because if they did they might be laughing at how hard the brothers are failing right now.

They're failing. Losing. Getting their rumps kicked. Celestia's new happy squad of merry Element Bearers is running roughshod over every big bad they can get their hooves on, and for all their strength and power, they can't stop it without revealing themselves to Celestia... and promptly getting their flanks handed to them on a silver platter. With their biggest baddies out of commission, and Celestia's huggle-hardened Bearers of happiness and sunshine trampling over the last bastions of darkness and evil in the world, the Brothers have resorted to desperate means... Mainly they've picked a new pony out of the crowd to gift unbelievable dark powers to.

The new kid comes from a bad background, has very few social ties, and is currently at the bottom of life's barrel. Perfect. He's also something of a whining simpering doormat with all the spine of a dissected jellyfish. Like I said, "desperate". But what he does have in abundance is POTENTIAL... and since ancient laws and survival instincts bar them from directing his efforts personally, they've decided to leave his education up to the next most repulsive, twisted, sick, demented, and all-around psychopathic source of evil that they still have access to. You.

NEEDLESSLY LONG YET INFORMATIVE EXPLANATION

(I had this idea after seeing all the really sick and twisted Ask Pony Tumblrs. I wanted to do something like that, only thing is while I have some marginal skill with words, my drawing skills are less like skills, and more like underdeveloped kindergarten level doodles. So, drawing's out, but there's a lot of cool interactive fictions on this site that show that commentator participation can be loads of fun, so here's my attempt at a commentator driven/aided/participated in story!

Mainly it works like this. At a certain point in the story, and you'll know when, the new bad kid's going to get selected, and then you'll be able to put little ideas into his noggin. The point of the game is to encourage him to badness! And hence the Mature rating, while I don't know how far this is going to go I fully believe in two things, description, and letting evil nutcases be evil nutcases. I'm not saying that he's going to start off dissecting school-foals with a rusty spoon, but if you all push him that way, then you'd better be ready to watch him sharpen a spoon while poor little Applebloom shakes on the table.

Conversely, you can do the opposite, you can get the character to throw off the evil shackles placed upon him and embrace a new life, overcoming the temptations of darkness! ... Yeah, let's just bask in the fantasy that the internet community would go that route for a moment... Mmmm... ... Okay, now that that's done, back to the point. The point is that this is a story that is based around evil but will go how the crowd pushes it, so... Let's see if you've got what it takes to craft Equestria's next biggest villain... And what type he'll be)

Published 2013-08-01 15:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-11 06:43:52 UTC

Question and Answer

Rape ALL the mares:pinkiecrazy:

Pyrus face-hoofed, breathing in deeply, and slowly letting out a plume of smoke from his nose, before gritting his razor sharp teeth, as sparks popped up from his wings, molten cracks once more running up his legs as he growled out from his throat.

“Yes. Thank you so very much for that suggestion! It's not like I'm trapped in a damn ice fortress! It's not like the only other pony here is my brother! It's not like we can't go out to satisfy our urgings without being found by a pair of immortal sisters who raise the sun and moon every bucking day! Really, thank you, I absolutely needed to be reminded that I haven't gotten any in ALMOST A THOUSAND YEARS!!!" Shouted Pyrus, pulling his hoof down from his face as his eyes glowed blood red and his wings set aflame, molten cracks of glowing fire running up his legs to his chest, iron armor once again boiling and molten on his fur.

Cryon brought his front-right hoof up to in front of his mouth and cleared his throat slightly, before putting it back down on the floor, looking to you with a calm expression.

“Your suggestion to us on negative action to increase the turbulence of this realm is noted, and due to the risk associated with it, discarded. Now are there any questions about the Star of Woe and our subject?”

• Give the chosen these items

Give the chosen armour that can only be pierced by the most powerful of attacks.

Give the chosen a sword imbued with an inraged and insane windigo so that the can unleash it in combat.

Give the chosen a third eye so that he can predict the immediate future.

Give the chosen four marks:

The mark of Khorne his will give him a magical resistance and unmatched bloodlust.

The mark of Tzeentch his will give the chosen an unholy barrier if the armour is pierced.

The mark on Nurgle his will make the chosen's body bloated with disease,pestilence and rot but will allow him to feel no pain.

The mark of Slaanesh his will give him speed and finesse unmatched in all things.

Give the chosen a steed of great power so that the chosen can ride it into battle.

Give the chosen a crown that will inbolden your allies and strike terror into the hearts of your enemies.

Six Treasures shall be his Mark. Forged from the Other World, six treasures shall he Possess.

Upon his head the Crown shall see all, and Open Eye will prove woe to mortal kind.

Then shall he ride unto the world. Here will be Two united unto One.

And five shall be the armies of Doom. Then will the world know that the Last War has begun.

With the coming of doom will march a lowly boy. Anger shall be his nourishment and blood his wine.

And from the land tamed will rise a champion. Disease shall be his downfall and savior divine.

A King's son shall be the Chosen. In power will he thrive and glory in his name.

And with the coming of the End of Times, the Old will fall by the Hand of the New.

“… what?” Spoke Pyrus, raising his right eyebrow in confusion, eyes no longer glowing and molten cracks receding, wings turning red and the flames dying down, sparks still jutting up from the feathers. Pyrus turned his confused gaze to Cryon, the frozen colt raising his right-front hoof up and coughing into it slightly, before responding in a calm manner.

“Your enthusiasm is appreciated, as is your religious zealotry servant of Chaos. Unfortunately we are unable to summon forces from other realms. If we could summon such forces we would do so, instead-"

"Instead of putting all our bits on an untried whelp who looks like an anorexic bum." Interjected Pyrus bluntly.

"Precisely." Stated Cryon simply, giving a slight nod.

"As for the question of artifacts to gift to aforementioned bum, the dark relics we were able to seed through the realm have been either locked up, or destroyed, by Celestia and her forces."

"Including the bucking Alicorn Amulet! Do you have any idea how close we came with that one!? That crazy mare imprisoned a whole town over a damn grudge match! An arrogant bitch with all that power and a superiority complex, she was right on her way to being a proper threat and-"

"Ahem." Spoke Cryon, interrupting his brother's rant with a pointed gaze, before looking back to you.

"As my brother states the loss of the Alicorn Amulet was a major blow, and the last legitimate artifact we had in circulation. I assure you however that the Star of Woe is more than capable of turning this "untried whelp" as my brother puts it, into a legitimate threat to all things emotionally positive. He will simply require proper guidance to it's wielding." Spoke Cryon, with a slight nod.

What is the limit on mutations, and what do you mean by mutations? Also, I'd like to see him go stir shit up in las pegasus.

"Finally a bucking question! Thank you otherworldly voice number three!" Spoke Pyrus, as he stepped forward, molten iron hoofguards causing the ice to melt into puddles beneath his hooves...

"I've got this one brother." He responded, Cryon giving a simple nod of ascent and stepping to the side, as Pyrus turned his gaze directly to you with a confident smirk.

"Mutations are physical changes to a pony. But not that cheap unicorn transformation spell bullshit. That feeds off of magic to keep up the change, and lasts about as long as a colt sitting on his bed, dick in hooves, clopping to a poster of Celestia. Or maybe Luna with all the popularity she's gotten... Treacherous bitch... ... Anyways, a mutation doesn't need magic to keep itself going beyond basic biological necessities, and is there FOREVER unless something actively removes it. For example, what I just did with my ears was a mutation." He spoke, wiggling them slightly before continuing.

"I altered their internal design to be able to pick up the quantum vibrations made through interdimensional boundaries when you creepy shits talk. A minor mutation tweaking a few core pieces. Now watch this." He spoke, closing his eyes for a moment, his horn glowing red... For a moment nothing happened... and then bones shot out of his wings, showering the ice with blood as they arched down and the sharp tips of the eight bone appendages struck into the ice. Black molten metal creeped up the bone, encasing the eight legs in iron as Pyrus's knees cracked, and then broke with a-

SNAP!

Each turning up at the knee, iron blades jutting out from them with a-

SCHLICK!

As the black metal surged out of the skin, and Pyrus's body was raised up on eight black metal legs, jutting from his back between the feathers of his wings, his hooves now flexing and bending every-which way with blades jutting out from them. Pyrus's jaw cracked, and grew wider, as he opened his mouth to show another row of razor-sharp teeth, and a long red tongue with a black metal spike at the end, jutting out, flicking up and down and to the sides as he looked up to you, grinning wide with his eyes glowing red... He chuckled with a warped hissing voice, before folding his tongue back into the recesses of his mouth, and speaking with glee.

"And THIS is a major mutation! Hahahahaha! And this nothing, NOTHING, compared to the true horrors I can unleash!!!" Shouted Pyrus, before giggling like a mad-mare, the black metal blades jutting back into his hooves as the legs let him down, jaw cracking back into place as blood pooled out of his mouth, second row of teeth retracting back in as the metal legs receded back into his back, wings reforming and stretching out, as he stood once more as an alicorn, a cocky smirk on his face.

"Mmmm. Haven't had reason to do that in a long time... Forgot how good it felt..." He spoke, chuckling softly before shaking his head, and looking back up to you with a glint in his eye, and flashing a razor-sharp grin.

"Anyways, mutations run the gamut. It can be as simple as puffing up your muscles or as complicated as eliminating your need to eat. But either way they alter a pony's biology, their most intimate and basic structure... And the Star of Woe will let you play with this little shit's genetics like a cat with a yarn ball." Stated Pyrus with a grin as he cocked his head back over his left shoulder towards the unconscious blank flank stallion.

"The Star forces advanced mutations in it's host. These mutations tend to be rapid in the initial stages, and can actually cause a lot of pain to the subject... heheheheh... Fun to watch. Biology will compensate to keep them from killing him though." Continued Pyrus, before snapping to you with a glare.

"Now listen up, this shit's important. The Star of Woe doesn't mutate on simple desires, like 'I wish I had a lizard tail' or, 'if I had a second penis that'd be awesome'. What it does is alter the host's body based on the PERCEPTION of his self and what he thinks is needed. What the host sees himself as, what the host thinks he needs to do to survive, and the path he pursues as his true calling, are all open doors to mutation. And the mutations that develop do so to serve these perceptions. So if he sees himself as a dragon, he'll start shedding fur and growing scales. If he wants more than anything else to burn down the Everfree, he might start breathing fire, and if he thinks he needs to eat pony flesh to survive, he'll probably develop a set of these babies!" Said Pyrus with a laugh, chomping his razor teeth together, showing them off with a glint in his eye, before glowering to you once more.

"Anyway, while there is no hard and fast limit to mutations it takes longer to develop new ones the more mutations he's already gone through. I can develop multiple mutations at once because I AM A BUCKING BOSS. He isn't. And if he stops thinking he needs something, or meets the qualifications of how he sees his true self, then the star will stop pursuing another mutation for him. By the way, it counts minor and major mutations as the same! It doesn't differentiate between beefing up his muscles or growing him a second head. So for the sake of all that is unholy and damned, make your initial mutations COUNT! Convince him that he needs to be scary! That he needs to be bad! That he needs to be evil! And DON'T convince him that he needs an extra couple inches on his dick just because! Got it?!" Shouted Pyrus, before turning and stomping away, muttering under his breath as Cryon moved back in front of you, giving a slight nod as he picked up where his brother left off.

"Indeed. And we would greatly enjoy watching him cause havoc in Las Pegasus. We hope to see him cause terror and misery in all of Equestria. However that is not where we will be sending him." Stated Cryon firmly, as he brought his front-left hoof up and motioned to the unconscious stallion.

"The initial stages of the Star of Woe's influence are very important, and rely on the subject being unstable and unsettled. While a change from Manehatten to Las Pegasus would do that to a degree, both cities belong to Celestia. Nopony will try to kill him in either. The environment change needs to contain extreme threats to the subject's health to induce proper pattern-breaking reactions, and increase influence of outside forces, namely yourselves. Things must be trying to kill him. And unfortunately, only one place remains where we have a 99% probability of a legitimate and active threat to the subject's survival. The Everfree Forest." Spoke Cryon, giving a calm nod of self-affirmation.

"The forest's violent environment will enable darker suggestions to take precedence over pre-formed social patterns. In addition, it will allow for defining mutations that may inhibit attempts at readapting into pony society, furthering alienation and disrupting potential reasons to end negative actions against Equestria. The forest will prepare the subject to cause harm. Once prepared, he may be guided to cause havoc and ruin all over Equestria. We wish you the best of luck in insuring this." Stated Cryon with a nod.

"I accept the assignment, Cryon and Pyrus. It will be in my own interests to help darken Equestria, and I sense you are kindred spirits to myself. It will be my utmost pleasure to aid you.

"However, I have a few clarifying questions to ask. First, I echo Total-Eclipse in wondering how precisely these mutations might work. Secondly, I would like to know if Celestia and Luna might be able to affect us if they notice us. If so, I will need to make... preparations. Finally, I would like some clarification on the technological advances in Equestria at the moment. I know you have coal-powered trains and rudimentary cinema technology at the very least, as the Homebranch of Equestria does. But is this one of those offshoot Equestrias with enhanced technology, and if so, to what extent? Comparable to Halo tech, perhaps? Or perhaps more along the lines of steampunk culture? This will be crucial to knowing how best to guide our young minion. Can't very well have him build a suit of power armor if there is no concept of such in this Equestria.

"In conclusion, I look forward to working with you and assure you that I will do my utmost to keep this young colt firmly within the dark side."

"Huh, a polite one." Spoke Pyrus, raising his eyes slightly with approval then looking over to Cryon.

"This one's all yours bro." He spoke, Cryon giving a slight nod in return then looking back up to you with a calm gaze, bringing his front-right hoof up over his chest and bowing forward slightly.

"Thank you for your acceptance and aid. We are deeply grateful for your assistance." Spoke Cryon calmly, before straightening up once more, bringing his right-hoof down to the ice and speaking.

"As for the problem of the Princesses, they are unlikely to notice your presence. Watchers have observed them and many other ponies over the millennia, and they have not responded to this observation. If somehow they do learn of you, there is very little they can do to you directly..." Stated Cryon before hesitating a moment, and continuing.

"There is however a possibility that they may cut the connection with the host... If that happens, it may be extremely difficult to reestablish. If the Star of Woe is expelled in that time, entirely impossible. While not a great risk, and highly unlikely, it is well within their power if they figure out how. Tread cautiously should the host encounter the Princesses."

"As for the technology level..." Continued Cryon, bringing his front-right hoof up to scratch his chin slightly.

"In my observations of outside realms I have noted that there are drastic differences between our technological progression and those of other realms. Ours lacks uniformity, so it is difficult to describe... Nopony has a television set or internet, messages are sent by mail. Complex computers and scientific equipment exist for research recording purposes, but cannot be used for simple calculations such as would be done with an abacus. Militarily the Equestrian army is medieval-styled with spears and hooves, with a heavy reliance on magic. There are the occasional surprises however as gunpowder based cannons, and more recently steam-powered tanks, can be called into use in extreme situations." Cryon sighed a bit and put his hoof back down onto the ice.

"Technologically speaking, I would suppose that the best way to describe it is that things were developed as needed. Stallions didn't want to pull trains so they created steam engines. Pegasus messengers could deliver letters quickly enough so rapid communication was never required. Ponies are social and productive animals who find their life's objective quickly, so inactive social entertainment such as the T.V. was never required, basic projectors meeting cinema entertainment needs. Medical treatment is very advanced however, and there are surprisingly sophisticated machines that appear from time to time, almost out of place. That is unfortunately the best I am currently able to do in conveying the technological setting. My apologies." Stated Cryon, with a slight nod of his head, before a-

"Uuugggghhhh..." Came from the unconscious stallion, causing both alicorns to turn their gazes to the moaning blank flank shivering on the ground...

"... We need to wrap this up." Stated Pyrus, looking to Cryon with an urgent glare as Cryon turned his unflinching gaze to you as well.

"Quite. We will have to apply the Star before he awakes. Ask any more necessary questions now."

"And make them bucking count! The first twenty-four hours of occupation are vital so you'd better know what you're doing when you get in his noggin!" Snapped Pyrus, leveling a glare at you as he and his brother waited for any last questions.

Author's Note

(Next chapter is where you start playing with the life of the kidnapped pony not important enough for the bad guys to learn his name! And hopefully turn him into a weapon to be wielded against all of Equestria! Good luck... Celestia's been winning every round so far...)

Awakening

Hmm a new challenge,I am already making my plans.Now as a suggestion i think you should send him somwhere along the borders of Equestria try to make it look like Griffins did it that will cause some mischief.

the ever present,

God of the Dragons

"Hey!" Shouted Pyrus, splaying his wings out, the feathers red and sparking as he growled, eyes glowing red.

"I'm the only god the Dragons need around here! You try to muscle in and I'll break you in half!" Shouted Pyrus, razor-teeth clenched together as the ice hissed into steam at his hooves. Cryon sighed, bringing his front-right hoof up cover his face.

"Pyrus, he dwells in a different dimension and cannot physically approach this one. He is not a threat to your quasi-religious significance to the dragons." Spoke Cryon, plainly as Pyrus lowered his wings slightly and turned his head, hmphf-ing out a plume of black smoke with a snort.

"And he'd better remember it..." Muttered the alicorn, the feathers of his wings turning black as they stopped sparking, the ice ceasing to melt around his hooves. Cryon sighed lightly once more, before lowering his hoof from his face and continuing.

"As for location, the thoughts on manipulation of tensions are useful ones. Border conflicts and disagreements have often led to war in times past, wars that cause great amounts of misery and woe in populations. However the griffon-equestrian border is well-patrolled, and the subject is more likely to be taken in and cared for than have his life threatened. Without a life threatening experience the Star of Woe has difficulty rooting into the subject's consciousness. The Everfree Forest is the only place we can send him that will almost certainly result in his life being in danger. Where he goes from there will be the product of Watcher influence." Spoke Cryon, giving another slight nod.

I must admit, I relish the challenge of changing a weakling into a titan of chaos. The Everfree Forest is certainly the right place for this task. I would recommend the Timberwolves as his first challenge. It will lead his body to increase it's speed and endurance, one of the oldest sayings often quotes one who fights but runs away...If the pack is persistent, which it will be, he runs a decent chance of developing fire based abilities to drive them back. One thing that cannot be allowed to happen, he must NOT be driven towards Zecora, she is much to close to Twilight and the others...although it would provide opportunity to steal the Alicorn Amulet back...she still has the thing...I think she is using it as a replacement for the doorstop she loaned Twilight as the fake amulet.

With Respect,

Magus Neon, Equestrian Nomad

Pyrus raised his right eyebrow in confusion as Cryon furrowed his brows. Cryon's eyes began to glow a bright blue as Pyrus responded.

"Zecora? So that was the name of that herbalist zebra bitch who helped the Bearer of Magic trick the amulet's wearer? I remember that, but why would her meet her in-" He started, as a gust of wind rippled over his fur. He blinked, before turning a confused gaze to Cryon watching as the alicorn colt started to shake. Cryon gritted his teeth, his horn and body glowing white as his fur rippled with wind, lashes of cold air spiraling out from around his body, crystalline ice droplets forming in the winds and shattering against the pillars and floor of the room as they gusted about. Pyrus's eyes went wide.

"Oh shit!" He exclaimed, and turned to leap over the still unconscious blank flank stallion, the alicorn covering his body and shielding the unconscious host with his wing's, stallion buried beneath alicorn as Cryon let out a-

"RRRRRRRAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!"

And a blast of freezing cold erupted outward from his body. In an instant the pillars were covered with permafrost, the floor with sharpened ice shards, jutting upward, and the ceiling and chandelier with thick icicles, pointing down... The walls were frozen solid with a thick sheet of ice over them, as were the steel doors into the throne room... Once again, only the steel throne itself with the diamond embedded near it's top remained safe from the outpour of cold.

Pyrus stood up from the covered stallion, who shivered slightly but was otherwise unharmed. Pyrus gritted his teeth, his body covered in a lair of white permafrost, icicles hanging from his black wings... His eyes glowed red, and in a moment the frost and ice had melted, leaving him his normal hot self as he turned to look towards his brother.

"DAMNIT CRYON BE CAREFUL! You coulda killed this fuck with shit like that and we're not going to find another blank flank stallion!" Shouted Pyrus, as Cryon stood breathing heavily on his little legs, before bringing his front-right hoof up over his mouth, coughing into it slightly, then lowering it back down to the ground, hanging his head as he continued to breathe heavily.

"Of course. I apologize for my outburst brother." Stated Cryon, as Pyrus trotted over, smashing an ice shard aside with his front-right hoof on the way, before making his way to his brother's side, closing his eyes, and breathing out slowly... Black smoke poured from his nostrils and rose up into the air, heating things slightly as his coat went black, and his razor-teeth shrunk down to blunt chompers. He opened his eyes and looked down to his brother with some sympathy, before laying himself down on the ice, his right wing stretching out over Cryon's body and wrapping around him, pulling him close, as Pyrus looked down to his sibling.

"Come on Brother... what is it? It takes a lot to piss you off..." Asked Pyrus softly, as Cryon squirmed a bit in the cuddle, a bit self-conscious about the affection...

"We have an audience brother..." He muttered.

"Buck them." Stated Pyrus bluntly, before continuing.

"Now come on. What's the problem?" Asked Pyrus, pulling his squirming sibling a little closer with his wing. Cryon sighed slightly, before letting himself be coddled.

"... The zebra herbalist who aided the Elements has taken up residence in the Everfree Forest." He stated simply, closing his eyes, hiding his orbs as he continued.

"That is where the Bearer of Magic found her. The last bastion of darkness now has a haven of light within it. The taming of the Everfree has already began, with her." Spoke Cryon, before opening his eyes again.

Pyrus was quiet... the alicorn stallion looked down at his brother for a few moments, before pulling him closer in his wing... and looking up to you with a fire in his eyes.

"Kill her." He stated, blunt and succinct, fire in the depths of his reptilian slits.

"No." Responded Cryon simply looking up to you as his brother's gaze snapped to him.

"I thank you for bringing her presence to my attention. It changes very little however. The Everfree is still the only place remaining where the host may be sufficiently challenged. You are completely correct to fear this Zecora's presence. She is a herbal healer with power and intelligence. If she is allowed to examine the host she may well discover the Star of Woe in it's early stages, and has the skill to drive it out. Avoid contact if possible, do not let her examine him if contact is unavoidable." Stated Cryon calmly, giving you a slight nod.

"Buck that." Stated Pyrus, causing Cryon to look to him with a slight eyebrow raised, as Pyrus turned a glare to you.

"This Zecora bitch is a threat but you don't learn shit from running away from threats. Force him to face the Everfree, then have him go after the zebra. If she's living there then she's probably one of the baddest bitches in the forest. Make him face her and take her down! Then take the bucking amulet as a prize!" He spoke, growling low, his coat turning red and his wings starting to spark again, his teeth going razor-sharp once more...

Cryon narrowed his eyes looking up to his brother... Then wiggled out from beneath the wing, Pyrus moving his gaze to meet his brother's, the two alicorns staring at each other for a few moments... Before Cryon spoke.

"My brother and I are in disagreement." He stated simply, before turning his gaze back to you.

"Avoidance or confrontation, the choice will be yours to make. As for the Timberwolves, they are indeed persistent and numerous within the Everfree. While there are many other threats, there is a rather high chance that the host will encounter them, and be forced to adapt." Spoke Cryon simply, giving a nod. As Pyrus got to his feet and stretched his wings, the feathers going black and misting soft shadows up from the feathers.

"Yeah, the main thing to remember though is that how you get him to solve problems in the Everfree is probably how he's going to solve problems later. While fire is BUCKING BOSS, and I would LOVE to see him go crazy pyromaniac and torch anything and everything that comes his way, if all he's got is a hammer then every bucking thing he sees will be a nail. If he winds up a one-trick pony then surprise surprise, he's only going to do one thing, and if it ever lets him down he's screwed. Make sure to think about that when you're playing with his mind, soul, and body." Spoke Pyrus, before turning his gaze back to Cryon.

"Now let's get this show on the road before sleeping ugly here comes to." Stated Pyrus, jerking his head towards the sleeping blank-flank, shivering on the ice floor.

Cryon nodded his ascent as his brother stood and walked over towards the unconscious stallion, then turned his gaze back to you.

"We will deposit him in the center of the Everfree, guide him as you are able. We will bind your vision to the Star of Woe, and your sight will be centered within him. You will be privy to the innermost workings of his mind, his thoughts and feelings. When you attempt to guide him, it will be like his own thoughts manifesting from the back of his mind. He may refuse them though, unbidden that they are. Amount and consistency of such thoughts may overpower reservations. Bear in mind that discordant voices and disagreement may result in indecisiveness, returning to default thought processes, or even mental fracturing. Be wary. We will attempt to convey the results of your actions, however our contact will be occasional at best. Think deeply on what you do with this host." Stated Cryon, simply, before turning and walking over to stand over the unconscious stallion, on the opposite side of his brother, both looking to each other, and giving a slight nod, before closing their eyes...

When the alicorns opened their eyes again their orbs glowed, Pyrus's red and Cryon's white. Both their horns lit up, and threw beams of magic forward, up, until they met above the stallion. The beams struck one another, and then mixed and intertwined, sparking and grating against one another, light mixing as the colors fought for dominance in a swirling ball... and Cryon began to speak.

"By the freezing ice and winter storms, I summon evil uncaring and cruel. Unbiased and absolute. May it take root in his mind, and fill it with the wickedness of the world." Spoke Cryon, as three black crystalline shards materialized in the sphere of light. Smooth as liquid, with what looked like a freezing blizzard, reflected across it's surface... As the crystals materialized and Cryon finished speaking, Pyrus piped up, continuing where his brother left off.

"By the burning fires and volcanic pits, I summon evil raging and vengeful. Malicious and vehement. May it take root in his heart, and fill it with the wickedness of the self." Spoke Pyrus, and three more black crystalline shards appeared, floating separate from the others, each one black and smooth like the ones before, but seeming to reflect the light from fires and flames across their surfaces as they hovered in the sphere...

Both brothers breathed in, then began speaking as one, voice calm.

"By evil bidden, and evil unending, we summon the Star of Woe. May it take root in his body, and turn it into a vessel for wickedness unending." As they finished both sets of three crystals shot towards one another, and melted into each-other, the fires and ice crashing into a ball in the center of the sphere. The ball took form and shape, reshaping itself into a six-pronged star, the surface hardening, becoming thick and solid, the fires and ice disappearing in the solidifying shape.

"And by the fel powers, who breed corruption and destruction, and give unto every world a curse to bear, we commend those of the shifting eye to guide the mind, heart, and body of the Host. May they guide him towards darkness." Spoke the brothers, and another beam of light, grating white and red shot out from the sphere straight towards you. Your vision flashed, and you were pulled into the swirl in a mix and mash of colors, then centering in on the black, looking deeper and deeper into it, a pitch void filling your sight as you drifted deeper into the crystal... And then your sight snuffed out altogether.

Cold... that's the first thing you notice, above all else. Cold throughout your body, through your legs and your heart, forcing you to shake and shiver from the chill as goosebumps cover the skin beneath your fur... You reach out to pull your raggedy covers over your body but your hooves find nothing but air. And that's when the smell hits you. Absent is the stink of the alleyway that you've become so accustomed to, the smell of piss and blood and booze, mixed in with rot and dirt, absolutely unpleasant but very familiar to you. This smell is not familiar. This smell is that of grass, sweet and heavy in your nostrils.

You open your eyes and you see dim, you see night, and tree canopies hiding the night sky from your gaze. There is enough light from the stars and moon however to see the grass... to see the trunks of the trees with jagged, poking branches, and soft grey mists, curling lowly over the ground... As you see the mist you feel the droplets of moisture in your fur, and the smell of wet mixing in with the grasses... You slowly get to your feet, blinking, wondering if you're having a lucid dream of some kind, as your heart starts to beat a little faster in your chest...

And here you stand. In the middle of a dark forest, with dim lighting, cold and wary and uncertain... and you must decide what to do.

Lost Sheep

You're dreaming. That's the only explanation. After all you've heard about lucid dreams before, that ponies occasionally had dreams that looked and felt exactly like real life. So that's got to be it, because there are no forests around Manehatten and you definitely don't remember leaving Manehatten, so this is a dream right? Right. This is a lucid dream, so now there's just the matter of waking up.

You nod your head in affirmation as you close your eyes, take a deep breathe, bring your forehooves up to the sides of your head, and then speak the oldest awakening mantra known to you.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" You peep with your right eye open to see the forest still there, and then close your eye once more to add a-

"Please?" To the end of your mantra... When you open your eyes you find that that didn't work. You're still asleep dreaming about being in a big forest. You sigh slightly, lowering your head as you bring your hooves back down to the ground... before getting a steely glint in your eye, and thumping the ground with your front-right hoof. Well fine, if you're head's going to make things difficult then you're just going to have to get serious!

You squeeze your eyes shut once more, and suck in a deep breathe in anticipation as you lift your right hoof up high above your head and then bring it down with a-

BONK!

"Ow!" You rub your head, letting out a low moan as you rub the poor hurt spot on your noggin, before opening your eyes again with a hopeful slightly pleading expression on your face... Nope. Still dreaming. And still cold... and it's still night, in a scary forest and oh buck this is real isn't it?!

"Gaaaah!" You let out a shout, and then start pacing around quickly in a circle, eyes open wide as your hear starts beating faster in your chest.

Okay, okay, don't panic, no need to panic, HOW DID YOU END UP IN A FOREST!?!? Okay no, no, no panicking, now isn't the time to panic, not now!

Blood lust and rage nothing but blood lust and rage. To kill, to slaughter to sacrifice to Kharneth our glorious and great blood god, and remember he does not care from where the blood flow only that it flows.

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE

Calm yourself friend. Bloodshed and murder are all well and good, but we must build our wards strength before any rampages can occur.

No now is the time to get angry! What the buck is a forest doing here!? When you wake up you expect to do so in an alley! With your raggedy blanket! And an old worn teddy bear thrown out by the mare who lives on thirty-second street! Not in a Tartarus damned forest! You'll rip this place apart for ruining your world expectations!

You seethe, and stamp your hooves into the dirt, growling as you glare angrily at the stupid forest grass for being there! ... And then you close your eyes, and take a deep breathe, bringing your front-right hoof up to rub your temple... No, no, that won't help at all... Now's not the time for anger, but for careful thought and consideration... after all, if you're in a forest, really in a forest then that means you are a long ways away from Manehatten. How you got here you can't even begin to fathom, but since you are here, you need to deal with it... Which only leaves the question as to how?

Food. That needs to be your first priority. This is a forest, I'm sure there's something you can eat safely. And if you happen to find some fool wandering around the forest... well, taking their food by force should suffice to teach them a lesson about wandering around strange forests alone.

GRRRROOOOOWWWWLLLL...

Your stomach is nice enough to outline your priorities for you. You grimace as you bring your forehooves to cross over your sunken stomach, sitting back on your haunches and wincing slightly as the pain echoes through your body... It's a rare day that you get enough to eat, and your stomach never fails to remind you of your failure to provide for it.

You sigh, hanging your head as the pain subsides, at least until the next growl, then open your eyes... and blink as you stare at the forest floor... There are a few things ponies tend to forget, and one of them is that there is something very abundant and widespread that they can eat. Grass. And forests have lots and lots of grass.

You uncurl your hooves from over your stomach and get down flat-bellied on the forest floor, cocking your head to the right slightly as you examine the dark green grass pensively with a wary eye... While some grasses like alfalfa were proven to be good and delicious, others were seriously unhealthy, like junk food. And even moving past that, grass eaten right off the ground was often considered... unsanitary. But after considering that you ask yourself a question. Should either of those things matter to a pony whose expectations of a day were to wake up in an alley, stand in Pegasus-scheduled storm showers to bathe, and wind up with one meal if he was lucky?

... ... ...

CHOMP!

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

You chew on the grass with an almost blissful look to your face, taking mouthful after mouthful of grass, ripping into the most food you've had in you don't even remember how long. A few minutes later you lay on your back in a cleanly picked dirt patch with a satisfied groan patting your stomach with your hooves... You'll probably wind up feeling that tomorrow... No telling what so much food at once will do to your digestion, and grass right off the ground no less... Still, the food problem is has been solved, and for the first time in forever your stomach is content with it's meal. And that just leaves the question of where to go from here?

Bidden as we were, we answer the brother's plea.

Their latest weapon shall be ours, our vessel, our instrument of change. Our conduit to Equestria... we claim him as our own.

Now, little colt- you're no stranger to hardships- surely there's a way out of this forest, and to safety. You only need to find it; find some hint at other, possibly friendly equines nearby. Surely they can help you. And perhaps you could even repay them somehow once they did. You'll think of something when it comes to that. Off you go...

Pony, you have been chosen to be a champion of chaos and hate. I am known as a Watcher. There is a zebra living in these woods, Even she has a cutie mark. You must use your anger and spite to put an end to her. You have developed a disease called the Star of Woe, making you able to develop mutations to help you in something small as finding food, or something big, such as combat. The zebra has a powerful artifact that I believe could more than triple your power. She also has food. Think about it, you can release all of your anger and frustration on her, increase your power, and find food in one fell swoop. But I leave the choice to you.

You lay on your back looking up at a hole in the forest canopy, showing black clouds drifting across the night sky, letting the light from the stars touch down onto you on occasion as they twinkled up in the dark... You've never really noticed the stars before, but now you think that they're kind of important... You're not especially sure why, but they do provide nice light in the night. But you can't just lay here. You're cold in a strange forest at night. There are very few situations where that can end well. So now that you're fed, you've got to think, and you furrow your brows as you do just that.

You may not be sure quite how you got here, but if you could get here then other ponies could to. That means that there's probably a town or a railroad nearby. There may even be ponies in the forest itself. Or zebras. Though you're not sure why zebras would be in an Equestrian forest... You've seen a couple of them down at the Manehatten docks, from a great distance of course, trading goods with important business ponies. You always thought that they looked rather... well, imposing. But a lot of ponies more important than you do, so that wasn't too unusual. Still, they tended to leave after they concluded their business, back to their home, so it was really unlikely that you'd find a zebra living in the forest. Not even sure why you had the thought really.

You shake your head clear of the now rambling lines of thought, then bring your forehooves up and pound your right front-hoof onto your left. Right! First business is first. Get out of the forest, find civilization!

You nod to yourself and roll onto your hooves, standing up and shaking dirt off of your coat. Of course you've got no BUCKING IDEA how to get out of this forest. Hence being lost. The best you can do is keep moving in one direction, to hopefully arrive at the forest edge. Hopefully you'll meet somepony while walking, so that you can rob them.

You blink... ... Ask them for directions... ask them for directions is what you meant. You've never robbed anypony, even at your worst... You don't know why that thought crossed your mind.

Shaking your head, you sigh... Maybe it's the grass. Before looking up and nodding resolutely to yourself, and start walking off in one direction, still shivering slightly from the cold air, looking for a way out...

Listen well my friend. You are in the Everfree Forest, a place of danger, but you must not leave it yet. You have been given a gift known as the Star of Woe. It shall grant you power, but you must work for it. Seek the ruined castle of the Two Pony Sisters, there you will find the last whisps of Nightmare Moon. Call to them, absorb them into your being, and become endowed with the vapor form of the Mare in the Moon.

Listen for my Voice, You may call me Nomad.

We Shall speak again.

Perhaps a journey to the ruined castle first, read my previous post. It would be good to be untouchable when the time comes to confront the Zebra witch.

Ah, yes, what was I thinking? Nomad is right, Pony. To increase your power you must have something to increase first. I even forgot to introduce myself. I am Eclipse. Remember me, for I will be with this journey till the end, lest something urgent arise.

YOU HATE THIS BUCKING FOREST!!!

It's been maybe half an hour and you're already sure that you got turned around at some point! Or got turned east, or west, or north, or south, who can even bucking tell!? Every Tartarus damned tree looks the same, and the fur is standing up on the back of your neck because you're getting the uncomfortable feeling that something is watching you out in the trees! The winds are cold and you can almost swear that there are howls on the winds, or the occasional low growl. It's creeping you out! Goosebumps are forming beneath your fur, and you're getting scratches from the damned sharp branches from the damned scary trees! If that wasn't enough the mist seems to be getting thicker, and you've seen the makings of a storm! Lightning's lit up in front of you and thunder's sounded in your ears. You've tried getting the attention of the pegasi making the storm but you can't seem to find them and there's no response when you shout. Can they not hear you!? It's not like there's anyplace that has storms without pegas-

You stop dead in your tracks. Your eyes go wide and your heart starts pounding your chest again as you suddenly find yourself on the verge of panic. You gulp, and then lick your lips, before grinning an anxious smile and laughing nervously, all alone.

"Ha! Haha! That's, that's ridiculous, right?" You say to yourself, eyes darting about, peaking through the mist at the undergrowth, looking over trees that suddenly seemed much more sinister than before.

"I mean there's no way! No way at all! I mean this can't be the... the..."

Everfree.

BOOOOOOOM!!!

"AAAUUUGGHH!!!" You take off like a shot, your blood pumping, your heart racing, the thunderclap shattering your already frayed nerves. Your hooves pound against the dirt as glowing yellow eyes stare at you from every turn, howling wind fills your ears, and your legs creak out and ache with the stress of your running as you panic. Outright panic! Absolutely panic! You squeeze your eyes shut and start talking to yourself, desperately willing yourself to get a grip and stop running like a madmare.

"No no no, you need to stay calm, calm down, calm down, calm-Ooof!" Your mantra is interrupted by your front-right hoof striking a rock, throwing the rest of your hooves out of synch as you trip, tumbling forward head over rump, rolling across the grass, until you come to a stop, face-first, with your eyes closed and your body aching.

"Ugggghhh..." You moan, then slowly open your eyes... to the sight of a bottomless pit stretching out in front of you.

"Agh!" You shout, quickly scrambling back from the ledge onto your haunches, heart rate skyrocketing once again, breathing quickly as you look, eyes wide, at the yawning chasm in front of you, unfathomably deep...

"H-huh... t-that was... lucky... heheh..." You say with a very soft nervous laugh, glad that you didn't have a full bladder because if you had it would have been emptied by now. As you regain your senses, the near-death experience doing wonders for your focus, you raise your eyes and look to the opposite ledge of the chasm, the mist clearing.

You blink, then squint your eyes as slowly. Was that a... castle? ... No. The ruins of one. Numerous and ancient, stretching up in the dark... They look rather imposing. But then again, this whole forest looks imposing...

BOOOOOOOM!!!

Another thunderclap... and then a pitter-patter of wet droplets against your fur... and then the rain. Full, drenching, pouring, rain, coming right down on top of you, wetting your fur down and chilling you to the bone, which doesn't have much fat on it to protect it from said chill.

You grit your teeth and turn your gaze upward, glaring at the black storm-choked sky.

"Yeah, buck you to forest. BUCK YOU TO!!!" You shout, and then cross your forelegs over your body, shivering as the rain hits you all over, striking your body with freezing droplets... This isn't the first time you've been caught out in the rain, but with these winds, at night... Even if something doesn't rend you limb from limb, you could get very sick caught out like this without shelter. Shelter...

You look at the castle again. It's creepy and dark and scary, but that describes the whole bucking forest and at least that part has walls for the winds and hopefully a roof for the rain! Of course being on the other side of the chasm makes it a bit hard to get to. If you can't find a way across...

You let out a low growl of aggravation, then scan your eyes along the chasm, searching for some way across... And as you look a break in the mist reveals a long rope bridge, stretching between the ledges.

"Huh... well that's convenient." You mutter, before shaking yourself off and getting to your hooves with a huff. You trot over to the bridge, shivering and shaking, and the closer you get the more you realize that you spoke too soon. The bridge looks old, worn, and soaked. There are clearly boards missing from it at some parts. It's almost more frightening than the forest, you wouldn't dare trust your life to this thing.

BOOOOOOOOM!!!

Then again...

You close your eyes and take a deep breathe in, then breathe out slowly as you stretch your front-right hoof forward, and peek as you tentatively place it against the first board of the bridge, testing it's weight. The board creaks beneath your hoof.

"Oh Celestia protect me..." You mutter, then gulp, and slowly bring your front-left leg forward, and place it on the next board... then move your hooves forward again, stepping onto the bridge, bringing your full body weight onto the rickety wooden deathtrap and just waiting for a moment, to see if you fall to your doom. ... When that doesn't happen, you start to walk across.

The journey seems to last for an eternity,. Every step the boards creek, every moment your heart is pounding and as you hear a-

CRACK!

Beneath your hooves, it seems to stop in your chest. But you take a deep breathe, and keep stepping forward, and somehow the bridge manages to hold you as you traverse the entire chasm, all the way across to the opposite ledge... and quickly leap from the bridge onto the earth, getting on your stomach and kissing it multiple times over, finding a sudden appreciation for sweet sweet ground, thanking Celestia that you're still alive!

But the pelting rain quickly sees you get over this grateful phase, and with a quick trot, you move towards the castle, rushing through it's stone door archway, and peering about inside... It's dark. Like the rest of the forest, occasionally lit up by a lightning flash, revealing the old ruins, once grand now little more than fallen stone... There are numerous holes in the roof, letting water and rain through, but there are still places to be covered from the rain, and the walls block most of the cold winds, save for around where ancient stained glass windows had once stood, now broken.

All in all, it looks very interesting, and while not the best shelter you've had worse. But there's still the small matter of you being wet, freezing, in a dark forest, with no sense of direction and no evidence of anypony else being here to help you. So the question becomes, as you sit in a dark dry patch, shivering and shaking, looking around the ancient and terrifying dilapidated ruin, of what the buck are you going to do now?

Author's Note

(To clarify, he hears the words and messages like they're thoughts from his own noggin, he doesn't know he's being guided. But now that you've guided him here, what are you going to do with him?)

Where Nightmares Ruled

Well done. You have found the castle and thus, shelter. When you have rested, seek the throne room. There, you will sense a lingering presence, it will feel like static on your fur. Go to the spot in the room where it feels Strongest and get Angery. Curse Celestia and the sun, call on the night to prtect you...you will not be dissappointed.

Er, ahem. As an alternate viewpoint, you might try cursing the night instead. Ponies don't tend to look kindly on denizens of darkness, but as a lord of light? Who could possibly want you dead as a harbinger of the light? It would be far safer.

Buck. Shit. Buck. Damn. Buck. Shit. Buck.

These words form a mantra in your head as you move through the dark ruins, bumping into walls, slipping on wet stones, and falling over pieces of rubble strewn on the floor. You're covered with bruises you're sure though luckily your coat will probably hide them. Not that you could check, even if you had a mirror, because you CAN'T SEE A BUCKING THING!!! All light from the moon and stars has faded leaving the night pitch black, thanks to the storm clouds no doubt. The only thing you're left with are the flashes of lightning, which are especially aggravating as they hurt your eyes, light up the world for only a split second, and prevent your eyes from properly developing to the dark. Thank you Everfree weather! Really bucking considerate!

Part of this is your fault though, you guess... You could have just waited in the room you walked into and avoided the pain and aggravation of stumbling around ancient dilapidated ruins in pitch black lighting. But you got a sudden urge to look around. Considering that the room you took shelter in was fairly open to the elements itself, you figured that you might as well follow your urges and look for a better spot to hole up in.

You hit a stone corner with your right shoulder as you walk forward, gritting your teeth and stepping back, bringing your front-left hoof up to the shoulder as you wince and suck in air through your teeth. You rub it slowly as you let out your breath slowly, then sigh, as you practically feel the new bruise forming. Well... it's not like you haven't been cold, wet, bruised, and alone before... Could be much worse. So it's probably going to get much worse. If life's taught you anything, it's that things are never satisfied with how bad you've got it... there's always one more bucking thing around the corner to make your life just a little bit worse.

You sigh and continue forward, your hoofsteps sounding loud against the stone, the wailing of the rain onto the walls and roofs around you nearly drowning them out, the low rumbles of the storm sounding in the distance... You stop for some reason though, and furrow your brows. You're not sure why, but... suddenly you feel as though you're in someplace that's... important. Someplace special. You can't shake the feeling that you need to be here... wherever here is.

A flash of lightning helps illuminate that question for you. In a brief moment you see crumbling stone columns, clinging moss and ivy, long-broken windows, and a set of steps leading to a raised platform. That's pretty much all you can see in the brief moments that the lightning shows you the room, and you blink a bit, shaking your head, clearing your eyes, before biting your lip nervously.

This place feels... safer than the rest. Better. More important. You can't put your hoof on it, but there's something definitely... special here. And it has a good roof, with relatively few holes in it, and the open windows aren't bringing in THAT much rain... You shrug slightly with a sigh. You're probably not going to find anyplace better than this to hunker down. You lower your aching body down onto the stone, still cold and still damp, crossing your hooves in front of you with a sigh. You close your eyes and lay your head down on your forelegs, closing your eyes as the storm pours itself out all around the castle you take a few moments to just breathe in, and rest.

Once you claim the power offered to you by the night, your worst memories will flash before your eyes. Every betrayal, every lie ever spoken to you. You will recall the cruelty of the ponies in your life and see thier greed flash before your eyes. Finally you will understand TRUE anger, how dare other ponies experience joy when you have so little! Then, as you realize that "Harmony" is an illusion, you will see shards of stone from around the room fly to you. They will merge into a dagger of black crystal before your eyes. This weapon is the Blade of Despair, and it shall grow in power, and size, as you do. This will be your weapon, and your tool.

Use it well.

Nomad

Listen to Nomad he means well.The nightmare shall help on your path.Let it be known that you shall crush these INFERIOR PONIES.You will crush their skulls beneath your hooves.You shall rain supreme with your alicorn brothers.I am Insanity hear my voice like the howling wind on a winter night.

Much as I hate it, I have nothing new to add. Nomad is right in saying you must embrace the night. Insanity is correct in saying harmony will fall. But, Zecora must FUCKING DIE. Unquestionable. You need that Amulet.

A thought occours to me, Zecora is mortal and thus, corrutable. The Blade of Despair can bring out the inner darkness in a pony...or zebra. She was shunned and scorned, treated as an outcast for years. That resentment and anger is still there. Infect her with the Blade of Despair, and you will gain an ally with an expertise in potion brewing, as well as a base of opperations in the Everfree...that dosen't have hole in the walls/ceiling.

And think... About this forest, about this storm, about your life, and about how little has actually changed for you besides the geography. You're cold, wet, bruised, and tired. There's been many a night in Manehatten where you got all four of those and hungry tacked on. Aside from the break in routine, and the fact that you're in the single most dangerous forest in Equestria, it's actually... an improvement.

There are no ponies here after all... ponies who pretend to give a buck about you. Sure, you get plenty of sympathetic looks, but you get just as many whispers, and giggles behind your back from the Manehattenites. After all you never fit in with them. Your lack of a magical butt-tattoo guaranteed that you'd always be an outcast. Ponies were supposed to find their life's work, their true calling, and have it appear on their flank with the moment of realization. After that they'd throw themselves into it with strength, with gusto, with passion, pursuing their life's work and fulfilling their place in pony society. But a blank-flank had no place in pony society, not when they were groan... A blank flank had nothing to strive for, nothing to master, nothing to add. A blank flank was... useless.

You were reduced to begging of course, groveling at their hooves for spare bits. After all, employment was fulfilled by those who were passionate, those who knew their life's calling. If a mule or a griffon didn't have a Cutie-Mark and wanted to pursue a career then that was fine. They had figured out their calling a different way. But if a blank-flank, who never understood, never found his talent, never became worthwhile tried to pursue a career... Well, a great number of ponies thought you were mentally handicapped anyways. And you played that up sometimes. Trying to garner sympathy... sometimes they tossed a few bits your way, helping out the poor, stupid blank-flank... But most didn't. And you could always hear the derision, the mocking, the off-hoof comments about your smell, your looks, your... condition. Whenever they thought you weren't listening... or sometimes even if they knew you were.

You tried everything of course. Everything. Hoofball, dancing, algebra, crate-packing, cooking, mining, scuba-diving, farming, painting, writing, piano, bowling, croquette, saddle-making, gardening, sky-diving, and everything else... Those were in your younger days. As more and more time passed, and nothing worked you stopped trying, and started resenting ponies more and more... You started to want to take them down a peg from their high and mighty positions. Make THEM feel what it was like to not have anything to strive for! To be unfulfilled, useless, and unloved. You wanted to be better than them! You wanted the greatest Cutie-Mark ever so that you could make them all kiss up to your damn flank! ... But more than that, you just wanted to be good at something... anything... to finally be useful for once.

So you prayed to Celestia, asked her for guidance, hoping that her light would shine upon you and help show you the way to happiness. But all it ever did was show off your damned flank so everypony could see how useless you were. You prayed to Luna, asked her night to comfort and shroud you, to hide and protect you. But all it gave you were freezing winds to chill you as you slept. So what reverence should you have for the Princesses? Why should you give a buck about either of them!? They left you all alone, them, and everypony else, pushed you away and left you by yourself, with nothing but your own damn flank to keep you company... Your own uselessness emblazoned on your side, a constant reminder that you were nothing but a failure...

You don't even realize that you're crying until the hot tears streak down your cheeks. You open your eyes in surprise, and then start to blink them away, bringing your left foreleg up to wipe at your face. You smirk slightly as you rub the tears from your eyes, chuckling softly.

"Heheheh... Huh... haven't cried since I was a colt... that's odd..." You mutter as you finish rubbing away the tears and lower your hoof... and then blink again, this time for a reason that has nothing to do with tears. There, in the dark, about near the top of the pedestal you glimpsed earlier is a soft blue glow of some kind... You're fairly certain it wasn't there before. You lean forward a bit more, eyes focused on the small blue blip in the dark. Getting up to your hooves shakily, wincing from your still bruised and tired legs, you furrow your brows as you stare at the light, wondering when it arrived and what the buck it was doing there.

Trying to examine it from this far away doesn't do you much good. You can't really tell much about it, aside from the fact that it's glowing and small, and has some kind of dark blue mist curling around it, twinkling slightly as though seeded with tiny stars. Come to think of it the outline of the small bright blip looks kind of like a star. It's even casting a pale blue light though not strong enough to reach you, just illuminating the small raised platform and walls around it. You start to step forward to get closer to the strange light when a distinct-

Grrrrrooooowwwwwllll

Fills the room. You blink, and look down to your stomach. Surely you're not hungry again already are you?

Grrrrrrrrr...

No... no you're not.

You turn your head slowly, looking over your right shoulder, searching for the origin of the sound, your eyes moving across the dark towards around the entrance you came in. And as you look to it you are met with the sight of three sets of glowing green eyes watching you from the dark.

Your blood runs cold... your fur stands up on the back of your neck and your heart starts pounding faster in your chest. Something primal, something basic in you knows already what's behind those green eyes. But the Everfree is kind enough to give you another flash of lightning, allowing you to confirm your fears.

The brilliant light illuminates them for a split second, and that's all the time you need to make out their shapes. Low, canine, crouching, and built like wolves or wolf-like things at the least. You saw the expected fang-filled mouths and razor-sharp claws, but also leaves and twigs. You're not sure what to make of that, but you are fairly certain of one thing. These creatures are the ones with the rumbling stomachs... and you're their dinner.

You turn around to face them, looking at the set of green dots in the dark, and slowly start to back up, towards the blue star and the light it's casting. You have no plan, no great idea, just the instinct to start moving as far away from those eyes mixed with fear. The fear makes your legs shake, your movements slow, and your step unsteady. Your unsteady step touches a wet stone.

CRACK!

Your vision swims as pain erupts from the back of your skull, and traces all along your back. More tears roll down your cheeks as you gasp for breathe and grit your teeth, suppressing your yelps of pain as you try to focus. You blink again and again, trying to clear your vision, even as the pain starts to subside and you feel something warm dribbling down the back of your neck. You blink again to get your vision back, and then you see eyes... a brilliant set of green eyes, a foot or two away from you. A low growl and a snarl, a flash of lightning, and you can see your death, leaping through the air with a mouth full of fangs, coming right at you...

Time slowed down. Every leaf, stick of wood, and thorn-tooth in the thing's body was suddenly highlighted for you. Your left foreleg moved forward, of it's own volition, in a desperate attempt to stave off what you know is coming. And why? You don't have any meat on your bones. And they're made out of wood, why would they need to eat meat? You can't help but wonder if this is some kind of revenge for the grass you ate, if they were related. These thoughts pass through your mind in a fraction of a moment, before you realize quite plainly that you're going to die. And then a set of thoughts so fast that they're nearly unintelligible pass through your skull.

It's coming, it's coming, it's coming, you're about to die, it's going to kill you, you're going to die, you're going to die! There's nothing that can save you! You have split-seconds before it gets you, before it eats you, and all you can think of are crystals, black and beautiful crystals, stabbing, cutting, slicing, dicing, crystals! Crystals cut cut CUT!!!

What happens next defies your understanding. Something churns inside of you, mixing and twisting inside of your body, and a shadowy black tendril of mist curls out from the fur of your left foreleg, appearing distinct against the dark. The misty tendril snakes across the room over to the source of the pale blue light, and engulfs it mist and all. It envelopes the star-shaped light it in a pitch black sphere, and then jerks back into your foreleg, carrying it's prey with it, absorbing it in through your skin...

Your hoof feels cold... your entire leg, numb, as blue lightning crackles along the fur. The surface of your hoof is covered in dark blue mist, with twinkling lights. And a foot long black crystal sword is jutting from your hoof.

SCHLICK!!!

The wolf-thing can't stop mid-leap. The sword goes through it's open mouth and out the back of it's head, sending thorn-teeth and splinters flying. Green sap covers the strange weapon jutting from your hoof and drips down the edges, landing in a puddle between your hind-legs on the stone... or at least you think that's sap.

Eyes wide and breathe quick, you jerk your hoof back, practically ripping the sword out from the wolf-thing's head. The head breaks apart into little pieces, scattering wooden bits and sap everywhere, splattering your face and coat with the gooey green substance. You watch, mouth agape, as green ethereal mist pours out of the place where the wooden wolf's head used to be, illuminating it's decapitated body and the chunks of wood around it, as it twists through the air, up to the crystal blade and then funnels into it's surface, pouring itself into the black and then vanishing, dissipating completely...

You blink, and ignore the urge to clonk yourself a second time to make sure that you're not dreaming. You shake your head slightly, and turn your gaze to the weapon jutting out of your hoof, watching the green sap drip down it's edges, and looking past the sap coating and splinters now stuck in it to it's proper body...

It's composed entirely of a pitch-black crystal, reflective and flawless, shaped like a blade with jagged edges, sharp and glinting, ending in a sharp piercing tip at the end. You'd think that it would weigh a great deal, but it doesn't. You can barely tell that it's even jutting from your hoof at all by the weight, it's so light... it reminds you of glass with how it looks and feels... Very sharp lethal black crystalline glass... At it's base, pooling around the surface of your hoof near where the sword juts out is a dark-blue mist, with little twinkling silvery lights inside of it, like stars, curling and shifting around the base of the blade...

You turn your weapon this way, and you turn it that way, staring at the crystal, trying to come to terms with the fact that it not only exists, but that you just used it to slice through a wooden wolf's head.

Grrrroooowwwwlll...

And you are forced to do that very quickly. You look up from the enchanting blade to see two sets of green eyes, still shining in the dark. They've separated, low to the ground and a lightning flash shows them moving several feet away towards opposite sides of you, encircling you to attack from two points at once, cautious from the death of their comrade...

Your heart starts beating quickly again, adrenaline not yet done coursing through your system, and you turn your gaze back to the blade coming out of your hoof... And you gulp. Then you furrow your brows and nod, before springing up to your hooves, careful with your front-left, lifting the blade up high and turning your gaze from one wolf, to the other, panting as you watch the wolves encircling you, waiting... thinking...

MUTATION GAINED: OBSIDIAN BLADE: This is a Legacy Mutation, inspired and accessed by interaction with Nightmare Moon's remnant presence. The Obsidian Blade is a powerful mystic weapon, composed of solid magic, and able to be dissipated, or solidified, at the wielders whim. The blade fuels magical energy by stealing it from deceased foes, and the Star of Woe has repurposed it into increased Mutation recovery time. As a Legacy Mutation, when the Obsidian Blade mutates and improves, aesthetic mutations may accompany it, in memory of Nightmare Moon.

Author's Note

(Took me FOREVER to figure out how to write this. The chapter just didn't want to come together. I'm hoping that it came out alright, and if you have complaints let me know politely please so I can look out for it in the future. Now is a chance to develop further techniques for dealing with enemies, or strengthen already existing ones. I hope you enjoy, however a couple of things I've noticed that I think need to be addressed below.)

1: I tried to tell and separate as best I'm able, however from now on if there's anything you DON'T want to influence the Host, then please use parenthesis or brackets to separate it from normal conversation. Otherwise I'll include it as part of what's effecting him, unless, and here's part two-

2: Please try to keep your advice and influence to one or two posts. Three I can kind of manage though it causes me some trouble. Four and up I'm not going to bother with. This is partly a balance thing and partly a timing thing.

Thunder and Wolves

Best get your back up against a wall. You're outnumbered, so let's at least limit the directions they can come at you. Then wait for them to lunge before you strike. It worked before, it should work again.

You back up quickly, shoving your rump back into the rough stone wall as you pant, eyes darting to either side, watching the wolf-things eyes, glowing in the dark. The occasional flash of lightning illuminates their bodies, crouching low and several feet away, one moving to each side, thorn-claws scraping across the stone, as they walked, growls emitting from their unnatural throats as they stalked you...

You stand with your rump pressed against the wall, panting quickly, holding your blade up, and swinging it from your left to your right, in an effort to discourage your hunters... but you know that that won't last long, and you don't know what else to do. You'd love for them to just go away. Or run at you and impale themselves on your blade again. But the first time was just a fluke. Nopony, yourself included, could have guessed that a freaking sword could have spouted out of your hoof! And by mid-leap the thing couldn't stop itself from the self-impalement. But it's clear that these things aren't stupid, they're circling you, hunting you, not just charging... They're plotting how to take you down, and even with your back cut off to attack, it's only a matter of them being too many for you to handle, moving at once... and you don't know how to counter them.

Your new weapon yearns for battle. Observe the pack, made of wood or not, they are still wolves. Find their Alpha, the one they look to for orders. Challenge him and kill him. Once you slay him, you will gain your first minions in the remnents of the pack. If they won't follow you...kill them. Be sure to save some of their sap, there should be a flask behind the throne. Timberwolf sap/blood is quite toxic when ingested and it's always a good idea to carry a poison with you.

Nomad

You glance to your sword, the pale blue glow of the mist at it's base illuminating it enough for you to see it, at least the bottom half of it, and the green sap oozing down it's jagged blade... You're pretty sure that stuff's toxic. You might want to keep it later to use against other monsters. But that's not what's important right now! No what's important is this freaky blade that popped out of your damn hoof! What the buck!?

Low growls and pair of green eyes in the black reminds you that that's not what's important either. They are. You lower your blade a little and look from one, then to the other, turning your head from left, to right, watching them watch you. They're pack animals, you're sure of that. Like the foals that used to bully you after school, they're relying on each other, working as a group, scared to work alone. That means that they've got some kind of alpha, some big important head honcho goading them on. If they'd cowed or retreated you'd think it was the one that secured it's place in history as the first crystal-impaled wolf-kebab. But they're still working together, still hunting you... Which meant that their leader is probably somewhere else, and still demanding tribute. Buck it.

You breathe in deeply then out again, wincing slightly as you feel a throbbing at the back of your head... The fall from earlier probably hadn't run it's course yet, pain dulled by adrenaline, might have a concussion, but can't worry about that now. You've got a pair of wolves looking at you like your meat, so you've got to watch them and-

As another wolf lunges at you, lightning shall launch from the obsidian blade, shocking the wolf, and unlocking a new power.

With lightning the blade emerged, lightning is still within the blade. Use it as you will.

FLASH!

AWWWOOOO!!!

"SHIT!"

You didn't even see them coming but now they're right bucking there! Illuminated by the lightning, leaping through the air with their mouths open and thorn-fangs glistening, flash-frozen in the moment of your realization! Catch one and the other's left to gnaw on your insides! Unfortunately there's only one thing you can do, and you don't like it because it involves leaping forward then whirling around quickly, and desperately hoping that you do it before they bite into your flank. You really wish you had a better plan than that.

You leap clumsily on your tired bruised limbs, and land in a heap on the stone floor as the wooden paws of the wolves clamber onto the stone behind you. A satisfying-

THUNK

Sound fills the air, followed by growls of pain. You smirk, a wild hope entering your heart. Sounds like they knocked heads together, you might just have a chance! You scramble back up to your legs quickly with that thought in mind, but reality comes back to bite you in the flank. Literally.

"AAAHHH!!!" You shout as your flank lights up with a burning pain, screaming into your brain as something hot and warm runs down your right hind-leg. You whirl around clumsily, throwing your left hoof in an arch and you feel a-

CHIK!

As the tip of your blade catches on something, and then rips through it. A howl and a darting pair of green eyes in the dark gives you a small sense of righteous vindication, and a flash of lightning shows you the pair of wolves together, standing where you'd just been, teeth-bared and growling. The left one has a cut along it's muzzle, green sap leaking out, along with a mouth full of blood red thorn-teeth flesh and fur sticking out from between the fangs, your blood dripping down it's jaw and onto the stone...

You grit your teeth, chemicals in your body working to help you ignore the pain in your head, and your flank, and your limbs. You are getting really, REALLY pissed. That damn wolf just literally bit you in the ass! HE BIT YOU IN THE ASS!!! You couldn't even see it because it's so bucking dark and the only time you can see is when the damned lightning flashes! You need to be able to see the damn wolf-thing so you need the lightning to flash! You need the damn lightning! LIGHTNING DO WHAT YOU WANT!

FLASH!

BOOOOOOM!!!

Once again pain grips your body as a lightning bolt soars through a wide empty window to the left of the wolf-pair, striking your body and knocking you across the room, and into one of the ruined stone pillars, which you then proceed to crumple down in front of.

"Ugggghhh..." You groan as your fur stands on end, little sparks crackling between the hairs, the smell of burnt flesh emanating from you as wisps of black smoke rise from your form. As you shakily push yourself back up to your hooves, scraping the blade across the stone, head spinning, eyes groggy... Then your eyes shoot wide as a sudden pain seizes in your spine, and you arch your back upwards, planting your hooves on the ground and sticking your blade into the stone as you grit your teeth and squeeze your eyes shut, opening your mouth to let out an-

"Auuuggghh!!!" Screaming once again as a wet-

SPLAT!

Sound fills the air, wet red splattering down onto the stone all around you, and onto your hooves and fur that... that you can see... ... You blink, then slowly turn your head up and to the left, over your shoulder, looking to your back... ... And you are completely unable to comprehend exactly what it is you see sticking out of it.

Two steel-grey rods, slender and thin, jutting up out of your back near where Pegasus wings might have stuck from. They stick up high into the air, a foot and six inches to two feet maybe, and at the ends they're curved, like hooks though with dull rounded ends, arching back. But that's not the end of it. Archs of electricity are jumping between them, back and forth, sometimes running up and down a rod all the way to the hook at the end, and then zapping back over to the other side. The electricity is coursing along the two metal poles in your back and as it courses it's lighting up the room in flickering bright light, at least for a few feet around you, letting you see in the dark.

Letting you see the bucking wolf things as they crouch low, startled and surprised, growling at you, watching you with their bright green eyes. You blink, then you narrow your eyes at them, then you growl yourself, and something comes over you inside... You feel along the insides of your back, and find a new muscle, one that feels... right. You give it a twitch, and then push it up in your spine, and a loud-

BUUUUUUZZZZZZ

Comes from the rods on your back, as each of them pulls the electrical energy down the lengths of their rods up to the ends of the hooks, and keeps the energy there. Small balls of lightning caught on the ends, buzzing and humming and lighting up the room steadily as you feel pressure building up in that new muscle, as you feel a strain... Gritting your teeth, you focus your attention on the wolf you struck, the one that bit your flank, and let that strain free.

ZAP!

The twin balls of lightning arch a band of electricity together, before shooting out a bolt from in-between the hooks of the rods, launching through the dark towards your targeted wolf. The bright flash of arching energy curls through the air and hits it square on, throwing it back and into the wall as the energy ignites it's wooden body. The creature bursts into flames even as it shatters against the wall, green sap and wooden pieces splattering everywhere.

You breathe heavily, the rods no longer buzzing, energy no longer coursing up and down the poles... Then you furrow your brows as you see green mist start to rise from the sap and touch to it's wooden pieces, starting to pull them together... You growl, and swing your left-hoof forward again, ripping your blade from it's stone sheathe, scattering rubble as you point it towards the mist. The mist jerks, and stops, and then lets the wooden pieces clatter onto the stonework, twirling through the air towards your black Obsidian Blade, and spiraling into the surface, disappearing and eaten as it feeds the sword...

It is dark again. There is only one pair of green eyes in the dark, watching you. The energy from your rods is expended, and all that is left is the dark and the wolf... and your blade.

BOOOOM!

An arch of lightning crashes through the window once more, weaving through the air and into your steel rods, zapping them, causing your body to shake slightly as the energy courses through you, but it doesn't hurt this time, this time it feels right, it feels good! The room lights up and the wolf runs forward, thorn-claws clattering against the stone as it dashes at you. You twitch the muscle again, let it build up, and let it go. Time slows as your bolt flies through the air in a brilliant flash, striking the stone where the wooden wolf had been running, now illuminating it's flight through the air as it leaps at you, jaws open wide. Just how you like it.

You swing your blade up as it comes at you, and the black jagged edge catches it in the side of the neck. That doesn't stop the wolf's momentum. Even as your blade digs into the wood, and green sap pools out, it's right claw outstretched, and strikes your face. You feel the tearing along the side, feel the digging in of the thorns, and the red, more red from your body, pouring down. But you don't care. You're smiling anyway. Because you know what happens next.

You use your lodged blade to bring the wolf down to the ground, it's legs kicking, it's mouth open and howling as you keep it down. You jerk and twist the blade, biting through the wood, digging it deeper into the thing's neck. Then you bring your front-right hoof down and push it against the top of the wolf's muzzle, holding it's head down as you pull out your blade quickly, turn your hoof, and thrust it back in!

CRACK!

The wolf shudders as the protective roots in it's neck are snapped. You grin with a mad glint in your eye twist your blade sideways, getting it ready, and then-

POP!

You twist your blade down and up, popping off the wolf's head like a cork. Green sap gushes out, covering your blade, and green mist seeps into the black crystalline surface, not having even a chance to try and pull the Wolf back together. And you laugh. You laugh as you look down at the broken frail thing, and chuckle, and chortle, and shake your head as tears roll down your cheeks because your flank is burning up, your cheek is cut, your head is throbbing, and now you have a pair of rods sticking out of your aching back.

Now within your heart young mortal is despair can you feel it there good now let it fester and let it rot and as your heart and soul rot so will your body. Your body will bloat and fester with worm and fly with rot and disease but their is an upside you will no longer become sick and no longer will you feel any pain. Do so and become closer to your destiny as the bringer of the end time.

Your laughter dies down until you're just smiling, and staring blankly out into the dark place in front of you, lighting dim and gone.

"... I really am a freak." You whisper simply, remembering all those years of suffering at the hands of school-fillies as they called you that, tormented you for being a blank flank and now... now you know that they were right. You blink a few more tears from your eyes, rolling down your cheek, mixing in with your blood as you stare at the body for a few more moments... then turn your gaze towards the blade jutting from the end of your hoof, covered with green sap.

You pull it up, close to your face, examining it, the glistening green and the jagged sharp crystal. And for a moment, just for a moment, you consider putting it to your neck... a bit of pressure and a sharp tug, and suddenly there would be nothing left of you... freak gone, all the hurt, the pain, everything, just gone...

But you don't do that. Instead you turn your eyes to the green goop, the sap covering your blade... Poison... Blinking more tears from your eyes, smile still on your face, you lean forward and put your tongue to the base of your blade, on the flat side, and then run it up all the way to the tip, poking your tongue on it as you taste the green sap.

It's horrible. Blood and sap mix in your mouth and you swallow it down, gulping it as you keep on smiling, tears covering your cheeks. And then you collapse. Onto your side, sweat starting to form on your skin and in your coat as your vision goes blurry and you start to shake, cold and hot washing over your body, your mind scrambling, disoriented and unfocused. The lightning flashes, and you think you see a figure, standing a few feet away from you, four hooves on the ground... before you black out.

MUTATION GAINED: Lightning Rod: The Host is now able to process electrical energy and absorb it without damage. Electricity is actively attracted thin steel rods on his back when they are upright. The rods preserve the electrical current for a brief period, though the charge steadily drains from the rods and will eventually dissipate if unused. Otherwise the energy is expended violently in the form of a lightning bolt, cast from the rods. The electrical charge casts a steady light while running through the rods.

"HAHAHAHA!!! That was bucking awesome! Oh did you see his face!?

""Are you not worried brother?"

"Hm? Oh nah. The Star of Woe just needed a catalyst for the next mutation. It's being rushed but it's not about to let him die from his wounds, not this early in the game. Timberwolf blood may be a poison to most living things, but it's also got some major regenerative magic in it. Should be interesting to see what the Star does with that kind of mix..."

"I was referring to his current location brother."

"Hmmm? ... Oh...Hahahaha! That's even better!"

"I fear you and I disagree on this point my dear brother... I hope that our endeavor does not end before it has begun... Hm?"

"Something the matter?"

"I'm not sure I... Ah, I see. The Watchers have been temporarily displaced by the Star. It's altering the host's mind to prevent dreaming and doesn't want interference."

"Why's it doing that? Usually it likes playing with dreams."

"Self-preservation. Taking Nightmare Moon's remnant power did indeed grant the host power, with great development potential. However if the host dreams now, Princess Luna will notice the return of Nightmare Moon's presence, and cure him of it in his sleep, thereby discovering the Star of Woe and the Watchers influence. So it is simply removing that aspect of the Host's life... the Watchers will merely have to content themselves with altering his waking hours."

"Hmph! Those bitches ruin everything... Can you send them back? Don't want them bugging us all night."

"They were displaced, not severed, so the connection is still there. Let's see, it's finished the alteration, so it should accept them back. A bit of quantum manipulation and..."

MUTATION GAINED: Everfree Blood: Absorbed from the Timberwolves, the blood in the Host's body has been altered into a diluted form of the Timberwolf sap. The blood pumps through the internal body and reduces chances of poison or toxin damage in the Host's body. In addition, it aids in regeneration and healing, though comparatively minorly. The Host's blood now acts as a minor poison, when taken orally it can induce internal pain and possible hallucinations. A side-effect of the sap's properties is that the Host cannot move as quickly as before, suffering a minor decrease to body movement and reflexes. Part of the Everfree Forest Legacy.

MUTATION GAINED: Dreamless Sleep: To prevent detection from Princess Luna, the Star of Woe has removed the Host's ability to dream while asleep. Part of the Nightmare Moon Legacy.

You awaken slowly, opening your eyes blearily as you slowly come back into the world of the awake and living. And the first thing you notice is that your bed is SOFT. Like really soft, way better than the alley mattress. Which is good because your body hurts like a mother-bucker, all over, so some comfort is appreciated. You sniff a bit, and notice that there's a strange smell in the air. A mixture of herbs, spices, and plants that you're not familiar with. You're also covered in bandages, which are surprisingly comfortable compared to your usual attire. You start to sit up slowly, wincing through the pain and grunting slightly, as you turn your gaze to take a look around at whatever new place you've found yourself in, and decide what to do about it...

Claiming a Zebra (Explicit)

Very good pony. You are on your way to winning this mares heart. DO NOT BUCK THIS UP!!! Zecora is a true catch. Charming and intelligent, skilled in healing arts which, lets face it, you won't last long without. Now, hold her tight through the night. When you wake, act the gentlecolt and apologize for the uninvited embrace, though I doubt she will mind. Go through the day, a touch of tail to side hear, a congradulation nuzzle there, and kind words and compliments scattered throughout. She will be yours. Remember, once you mate her, you have an Amulet to claim and a Dragon to fight. The corrupting influence of the Alicorn Amulet will aid you in truly claiming Zecora as yours...do not fail us.

While holding her tight, take your time and lick her ear. Just slightly, just once. Make sure she does not wake.

Then, whisper to her how much you like her- but more importantly, whisper to her how much she likes you. How she wants to be yours. Why else did she tell you about her people's "herds"? She wants to be yours at least as much as you want her to be yours, maybe even more! So quietly whisper to her sleeping form how fulfilling her life would be under you, as your... well, that depends on how she conducts herself, eh? Perhaps as your mate, but if she turns out to be truly subservient, slavish even, you need to call her something else, of course.

And do not worry that you're doing anything to her besides holding her and whispering. Princess Luna is the only one who can change ponies in their dreams; you are merely voicing your thoughts. Harmless.

You shift and squirm on the bed, turning this way, turning that way, gritting your teeth, and stopping just shy of letting out grunts of frustration so as to not wake your sleeping bed buddy. What the buck is wrong with you!? You're here in THE most awesome bed you have EVER been in and you can't get a wink of sleep! Is it because you've spent so many nights cold and uncomfortable? Did the abuse of sleeping on hard and dirty mattresses in dank and stinking alleys permanently ruin the wonder of a warm soft bed?! You pray not, not even Celestia would be that cruel! ... Or would she? She certainly never helped you any of the times you called out to her for aid and guidance... bitch.

You shake your head and stifle a frustrated groan before turning over with a quiet sigh, and looking across the bed towards the sleeping zebra. Pale moonlight shines down onto Zecora's still form, her body outlined against the covers, the faint red of the bottle falling just short of her on the blanket. She breathes in and out slowly, steadily, her chest rising and falling softly with each breathe, faint movement from the sheets and blankets in time with her breath.

You smile gently as you look at the zebra's sleeping body. She looks so beautiful with the moonlight on her coat, so... enticing. You watch her for a moment, then furrow your brows a bit in worry. Maybe this is what's keeping you up. Not the comfort which you would have KILLED for if you knew how good it was, but having a partner in bed, sleeping next to you. You've never been in that kind of a situation before, never had anypony to share a bed with. You're not entirely sure what to do with a mare sleeping so close to you... so close...

You bite your lower-lip slightly, and turn your head to look up to the ceiling, almost to make sure nopony is watching, before looking back down to her. You really, really want to hold her... Nothing wrong or weird! You just want to hold her close to you and feel her warmth with you. Hold her tight... Maybe it'll help you get to sleep! There's nothing wrong with that, right!? Nothing wrong with that at all...

You lick your lips nervously, then slowly begin inching your way towards the sleeping mare. It's a short distance from one side of the bed to the other, but between your slow approach and your stopping every time she shifts out of fear of waking her, it takes you what feels like forever to reach her. But finally you do. Her sleeping form is right in front of your eyes, your heart thumping so loud in your chest that you're sure she'll awake. It suddenly seems very hot beneath the covers as sweat starts to form in droplets on your coat, and you have to take a moment to breathe deeply and calm down. However soon, you work up the nerve, and tentatively stretch out your hooves to encircle Zecora's sleeping form...

You stop short as Zecora shift's slightly, right forehoof dug in slightly underneath her body, holding your breathe as you wait for your luck to change and Zecora to wake up and screech at you for daring to touch her nubile form. But she doesn't. Instead, she settles down again, and after a few moments of calming your nerves, you go ahead and push your right forehoof all the way underneath her body and up the other side. You bring your left forehoof around to encircle her, and slowly push yourself up against her, pressing your body to hers even as you hold her in your hooves.

Her body is warm. Her fur is soft. You can feel her breaths echoing through her body into yours as her chest gently rises and falls. Her whole form is pressed up against you and you're pressed up against her and it feels wonderful. Relaxing. You can't remember the last time you've actually held somepony... it feels so good just to hold her. You pull her a little closer, and nuzzle your face into her neck softly, pressing your nose against her fur and breathing in her scent.

It's strong. The smell of her is powerful, filled with whiffs of herbs and spices, a touch of plant and greenery, and a hint of the sweat from the day's toil. It's intoxicating, faintly arousing, and it makes your mouth water. You begin to think of what she was doing to get this unique mixture of smell. Standing over her cauldron, tossing in bags and potions and emitting chants as she cared her cures. Traveling through the Everfree, cloaked and shrouded, plucking plants from the ground and leaves from the trees to make her concoctions. Laying on her back against a wall, hind-legs spread wide, biting her lip and keeping herself quiet as she rubbed herself wet with her hooves, working up a sweat in her coat, thinking of you on top of her...

You bite your bottom lip as a flush comes to your cheeks, and a feeling stirs in your groin. You push it back down, thankful both for the bandages covering your abdomen and the hidden nature of equine penises. The last thing Zecora needs to wake up to is your little friend poking her in the rump. Besides, you know she wasn't really clopping to you... Though why shouldn't she? You're, well, you mean... She took you in didn't she? Treated you? Bathed you? Why would she do any of that if she didn't feel some kind of attraction to you? She wouldn't, she has to like you at least a little bit, right?

You look down at her in your hooves, and lick your lips lightly. She's so enticing, so delicious looking, so beautiful when she's asleep. You want to know her, you want her to know you, and you want to taste her... You bet she taste's delicious. You hesitate for a moment, and then slowly lean down towards her ear. You pause for a moment, as she shifts in your hooves, and then wait for a few moments. As she settles, you slowly stick the tip of your tongue onto the lobe of her ear, and run it up along the edge... She tastes so tangy, so sharp and strong, with a flavor so very foreign to everything you've ever known.

She shifts a bit against your body, grunting softly at the sudden wet sensation, and you stop, withdrawing your ear as she shifts. You wait for her to settle down, smiling softly as she snuggles back into you in her sleep, and slowly run your left forehoof down her belly, rubbing gently, helping her calm down as she sleeps in your embrace... You bite your lip, looking down at her, wanting her to know you and want you and love you... You lick your lips again, lean close to her ear, and with a gentle voice, whisper sweetly into her dreams.

"You're wonderful Zecora... You've been so kind to me, so very sweet and loving. I think you care greatly for me Zecora. I think there's a part of you that knows you're meant to be with me. Why else would you have brought me here, given me a bath, fed me, and treated my wounds? You don't do these things for just anypony, you do them for somepony you love... I think that in your heart, you want me to be happy. I think that you want me, and I know that I want you... I think that you want to be with me and live with me and keep me company and cook me meals and take care of me and, and... I think that you love me Zecora... And I want you to know, that I love you to..." You plant a gentle kiss on her cheek, and are rewarded with a soft curl to the sleeping mare's lips, bringing a gentle smile to her graceful features... You smile softly at the sight, and lean down to whisper gently once more.

"Goodnight Zecora... dream of me tonight. I'll certainly be dreaming of you." You speak gently, and lay your head down on her neck, closing your eyes as you breathe in Zecora's scent again holding her close, letting the warmth of her body wash off onto you. You listen with your eyes closed and your body snuggled up against hers, hearing her every breathe and the steady thump of her heart, playing gently into your ear. You sigh out gently, contentedly, and lay there with Zecora held close, listening to her heartbeat and breathing, letting her warmth fill you, letting her smell entice you, and letting her presence pull you from the waking realm, and send you drifting off to sleep...

(To Pyrus)

(I am guiding the pawn towards the dragon that makes his home in the Everfree. The dragons hoard will aid him in acquiring useful materials, and by/during the killing of the dragon I recommend gaining the ability to consume flame to heal as well as fire breath. :See Dragon Slayer Magic: Since you are the De-facto Deity of the dragons of this realm, I thought you deserved a heads up.)

"Gah. He should be ripping her throat out, not whispering sweet nothings! Makes me want ta bucking puke! All this sappy romance can't be good for the Star!"

"Emotional manipulation is a tried and true form of gaining servants my brother, and the Star would not have increased the Host's manipulative abilities if this was harmful to it. Calm down, the Watchers have surpassed our expectations thus far. Things are going as well as we can hope. Hm, interesting. Brother, there's a message for you."

"Message? What the buck do you mean a message?"

"The Watchers have sent you a message, well one of them is sending and will have sent, their time structure is somewhat confusing."

"Well tell them to piss off! They should be guiding the damn host not socializing!"

"The host is asleep at the moment, why the Star is sparing the time to get this message through. The Host cannot dream so their guidance is completely unnecessary during his sleeping hours and it can spare their presence. In any case it concerns you so it would be intelligent to examine it."

"Buck that I'm busy!"

"Doing what?"

"... Fine! I'll answer the damn question! Bucking social sons of mules..."

"Very good. Now just a moment and..."

Pyrus stood with a grey stone wall covered in a thick sheet of ice behind him, glaring straight at you, with a red coat, black sparking feathers, and what looked like a molten iron helmet on the top of his head with a vicious curved blade sticking out of it. His eyes were a blood red with burning fire behind them, with what looked like black veins stretching out from underneath them and into his cheeks, his teeth sharp and vicious. He looked tired, grumpy, and angry. Bad combination by most accounts.

"What!?" He hissed, and then closed his eyes listening for a moment, before sighing out slowly, a plume of black smoke escaping from his lips, before he looked up to you with a half-lidded gaze.

"Well I can't fault your manners. Listen up Nomad, and you to other Watchers, I know you all see the same thing. First off I don't give a flying feather about the dragon in the Everfree. The reason for this is two-fold. One, Dragons thrive on strength, and tests to their strength are not only expected but necessary! The weak are eradicated and the strong get to make everypony weaker their bitches! That's how things go and that's how Dragons work to. BUT, not that one." Spoke Pyrus, leveling a glare further before he continued.

"THAT dragon is an infantile! One that never matured. Dragons are born with an advanced internal mutation related to the accumulation of wealth and the pace thereof. Why they're all so bucking treasure obsessed. This internal mutation goes into activation near the early stage of their development, before they hit puberty even, while they're still technically infants. Now most of the time, this gets cut off early. Why? Because other Dragons protect their hordes and teach the younger a lesson about nabbing what you can't keep. A harsh bucking lesson. And the youngers start growing the natural way and engage in constant contests with each other until they can fly off and get their own horde. Then, they bring it back to the Migration, and the biggest and baddest Dragon of the bunch gets most of it while they get to keep a significant amount." Spoke Pyrus, before leaning forward slightly and raising his front-left hoof, pointing out of sight, while at the same time revealing it to be covered in black molten iron up to the knees, with black veins running up from the metal underneath Pyrus's fur, along the leg all the way up to the torso.

"THAT THING was born outside of a Migration! So it never got it's greed curbed! The thing sprouted up with the mind of a child and is as selfish and stupid as a newborn mule! There are a few like it around, big dumb brutes with the size, claws, and fire, but none of the predatory cunning. So in short, that thing is a DISGRACE to proper dragons, and I'll be happy to see it's miserable existence snuffed out! " Spoke Pyrus, lowering his left forehoof and leveling another resentful glare towards you.

"Ya know, like how I'd be happy to see a certain Zebra's existence snuffed out, instead of-"

"Brother. Let the Watchers do their job. We shall do ours." Pyrus sighed and brought his left hoof back up to rub his temple slightly as his brother gave his slight admonishment from elsewhere.

"Yeah yeah fine..." He muttered, before looking up to you again, a serious glint in his eyes.

"Listen up though. Peabrain or not that thing has still got the body of a full-grown dragon, complete with flame-breathe and steel-shredding claws. It is NOT to be taken lightly. Right now the host is nowhere near ready for it. SO HOLD OFF ON IT!!! Get the bucker stronger before you throw him into a dragon's maws! I mean for bucks sake look at him! He barely survived a fight with the damn Timberwolves! There are a lot of nasty things in the Everfree but the only thing nastier than that Dragon is the Ursa Major, maybe Minor. So get him stronger! The dragon's a damn good test and I want to see it die, but he ain't ready. Give him time."

"Brother, did you choose not hear what I just said? Not even a minute ago?"

"Aw come on! He was practically asking for my advice on it!" A soft sigh came from elsewhere, before the vision blurred away from Pyrus, and centered on, Cryon tilted down, showing the small colt sitting on his haunches on the ice-sheet floor, looking up with his unblinking blue gaze.

"In any event, thank you Watchers for your continued efforts. This has started very well with sound tactical decisions. Please keep up the good work, and know that you can question us during the Host's sleeping hours. But only his sleeping hours. That you would be able to question or continue to communicate with us at all is an unexpected boon."

"More like a damn annoyance if you ask me."

"In any case-" continued on Cryon despite his brother's interruption.

"The Host is in an excellent starting position. There is some risk to letting him get too comfortable however. Remember that the Star performs mutations quickly with catalysts, such as the Legacies, and panic situations, such as the Timberwolf attack. Steady focus suggestion and use of a particular sense will lead to mutation, but not as quickly. Also, advancements of current mutations are easier to achieve through such means than entirely new mutations. Now farewell, I will return you to your work." Spoke Cryon, lifting up his front-right hoof and waving it at you in a little circle as his eyes glowed a bright blue, and then the vision of him snuffed out of existence.

Sweet. You got her in the same bed. Now, when you wake up, you will notice that your sense of smell has amped up quite a bit. After messing around with the ability a bit, you will find that you can control it. Two scents are clear throughout all others. Brimstone, and the smell of nature itself, pulling you somewhere. Follow the brimstone, and gain the breath and treasures of a dragon (Part of the Dragon Legacy). Follow the pull of nature, and gain the ability to control nature itself, in ways you had never imagined (Part if the Everfree Legacy).

Following further along the Everfree Legacy will slow reaction times and make you an easy target for, say, the Elements of Harmony. Seek the brimstone scent that promises treasure and flame, but only after that zebra you tame. Make her yours, and you shall see, you shall thrive in the Everfree.

You open your eyes slowly, the smell of cooking and spices hitting your nostrils and the absence of warm zebra body clear to your senses. You blink when you realize that you're once again alone in the bed, and feel just a bit worried, but judging by how she let you sleep Zecora probably wasn't too mad about it. You smile at the memory of the contact, then sniff the air again and lick your lips. Whatever she's making it smells delicious. A growl in your stomach agrees with you, and you push back the covers as you move off the bed and bring your hooves down to the floor. For some reason you still feel a bit sluggish, but you shake it off and trot out of the bedroom.

Inside the main room of Zecora's hut you see the cauldron, bubbling once again, and the attractive zebra mare shaking her flanks as she happily hums over said cauldron, standing on her hind legs and stirring with her left front-hoof, the tip just barely touching the liquid. You still wonder how she can't find that too hot, but shake it off and just watch her for a couple of moments, watching her tail swish and flanks move for a few moments of gratuitous pleasure. You lick your lips slowly, thinking of a taste that has nothing to do with the dinner being prepared, before you finally clear your throat and speak in a cheerful tone, attracting the mare's attention.

"Good morning Zecora! Sleep well?"You ask cheerfully, before trotting over to the weird tree table thing as Zecora turns from the cauldron and smiles brightly at you. A glimmer in her eyes and a dance to her grin.

"Oh my rest was just as it seems! Filled with numerous happy dreams!"

Spoke the zebra before giving you a smirk and cocking her right eyebrow.

"Perhaps this was due to guest, who thought that night cuddles would be best."

Stated the mare, bringing a blush to your cheek as you chuckle, a little awkwardly and bring your right forehoof up to the back of your head, rubbing it sheepishly.

"Heh, sorry, I got kind of... clingy in the night."You speak, then grin apologetically as the zebra chuckles.

"I could tell, but it is just as well.

Your company through the night has helped this morning to seem so bright!"

She spoke, before looking back to her cauldron.

"Now sit my friend and do not fret, breakfast shall be ready in a few minutes yet."

Stated Zecora happily, stirring the pot lightly as you plant your flank in front of the table with a relieved sigh. Not in trouble. After a few moments you lift your nose, sniffing slightly. You furrow your brows a bit at the scent in the air. It's... you're not sure why but you think it might be... no, that's impossible right, you don't even know what they smell like! But, well can't hurt to ask can it? ... You lick your lips, and clear your throat before speaking.

"Um, Zecora?" You say, the Zebra letting out a-

"Hm?"

As she continues to stir the brew.

"Um, this may sound strange but is that by any chance... er, dragon stew?" The sharpness at which Zecora snaps her head towards you makes you jerk back, your own eyes wide as you see shock in her eyes, equaled only by the expression of hurt on her face.

"No! Such chagrin! There is no dragon there within!

What hast filled your mind with such lies, that this stew holds dragon you should surmise!?"

She shouts as you quickly bring your forehooves up waving them back and forth quickly in surrender, hoping it will dissipate the strong emotion.

"Nothing! Nothing I just, I was thinking of dragons and I couldn't recognize the spices and- I didn't mean anything by it!" You say, as Zecora looks at you for a few more moments her face becoming unreadable, then turns abruptly and looks to the brew.

The silence that follows can be cut with a knife. Or a fork. Frankly any physical object would due because it's bucking thick and disconcerting. You are FAR more worried right now than you were when you snuggled up to her in the night, and as she finishes stirring and starts to pour the stew, your heart pounds in your chest, worry eating at your gut.

Zecora brings the bowls over after a moment, walking on her hind legs and placing one bowl in front of you then one on her end, and sits down at her end without a word. She just stares down at the bowl for a few moments, expression still a mystery as you look across at her, and bite your lip. What do you do!? You've pissed her off or something! You didn't mean to! Shit! How do you salvage this? ... Ummm... Tell her it smells good? No, shit, that's what started this in the first place! Compliment her mane!? Come on think, think!

Just as you were about to start on how shiny her coat looks today, Zecora broke the silence, speaking in a steady, empty tone.

"Near to the Everfree is a place called Ponyville, where I thought to find ponies to heal.

When in this place I first arrived, the locals found me to be despised.

Rumors and accusations untrue, false lies and whispers were my due.

I became an outcast in exile, and that was how it was for a while.

I was recently accepted and for that I am grateful, but sometimes I think on times past and begin to feel hateful.

I banish these thoughts, with others of a friend, the one who helped my exile end.

Then others who followed, and have become quite dear, from whom spite and hatred I need no longer fear.

But in those old times this rumor was held to be true, that I cook up ponies and serve them in stew.

One of my friends goes by the name Spike, a baby dragon who I rather like.

When you made your query I thought of those times, when all thought I was a witch that committed great crimes.

And if someone had heard that question asked, it would have gone back to times past.

They would have thought of Spike in the pot, and left me alone here to rot.

Alone again, just the very thought, and all my good works would count for naught.

Nopony to care for me... all alone here in the Everfree..."

She stays quiet after that, just sitting with her face looking down towards the stew. A knife twists in your stomach, and you look at her for a few moments... Before speaking gently.

"Everypony told me to go away to... left me all alone..." You whisper, and she looks up into your eyes. Your eyes meet, your pulse quickens, and you see the hint of a blush moving onto her cheeks as one colors yours as well... You both look down awkwardly, biting your lips and staring at your thus far untouched stew. You close your eyes, breathe in deep, then move around the table, over to Zecora to her left.

She tenses up slightly as you move next to her but doesn't move as you bring your left forehoof up, and wrap it around her shoulders, just holding her with your foreleg. Several seconds pass before her body relaxes, and she lowers her head with a soft sigh, to press against your chest. You pull her closer, and lower your head to nuzzle her gently, her mane bending out of the way and tickling your face as you press your cheek to hers and rub gently.

Well-done. She trusts you, she likes you, and you have become far more persuasive. Now, force nothing on her, but should she decide to make a move of any sort on you, embrace it. Or should I say, embrace her? Heh.

Once she's had intercourse with you, she'll fall under your spell. She won't be able to refuse your commands, and you can do as you please with her. Now, the more sex you have with her, the harder it will be for her to break free, so I heartily recommend bucking her a few times to ensure her compliance. And don't worry, she'll retain her conversational abilities; it is more of a redirection of her moral compass. Instead of believing in the abstract concepts of "good" and "evil", she'll believe that whatever you desire is right and whatever would hinder you is wrong. A refreshing change from those who scorned you and felt that all you did was wrong, no? You're simply soliciting reparation for these injustices.

Make your move in the morning, then she shall be yours.

You stay like that for a few moments, and then she pulls her head back and looks up into your eyes. She's been shedding tears. Her eyes sparkle with water, wet trails lining down the fur of her cheeks, and it isn't until you see her eyes that you realize your coat is wet, so soft and quiet were her sobs. But in her tear-filled orbs you see something you're intimately familiar with. Longing. A longing for company, a longing not to be alone in the world, to be needed. And a hint of blush is on her cheeks as she stares up at you. Your breathe stops. Your heart pounds looking down into her eyes, and you watch as she closes them, leaning up slowly towards your face, to plant a soft kiss on your lips...

It's like a fire's spreading through your body. A rush, a tingle, an electric impulse shooting through every nerve and tendon, tracing a line up your spine to your brain, and then plummeting down to your groin. Your best friend shoots up in a salute in hopes of the first action you might have that doesn't involve clopping, and eagerly badgers you to get on with it. Every fiber of your being is screaming at you to rut Zecora. But first thing's first... this sad mare needs more than pure hormones. She needs to know you're there for her.

You push your head forward and kiss her back, deepening the kiss as you close your eyes, letting your lips meet and lock. You move your tongue forward to push into her lips and gently lick over her teeth. She pushes back and opens her mouth, moaning into the kiss and letting her tongue move up to meet yours. Your tongues touch and run over one another, dancing in each other's mouths as you swap saliva, you clumsily pushing your lips against her more experienced pair, though she doesn't seem to care about your inexperience. As you make out with Zecora, swapping spit and playing with tongues, you decide a few things about kissing. It's wet, messy, kind of gross, pretty sloppy, and BUCKING AWESOME.

You keep up the kissing for longer than you can count, before finally pulling back for air. You're panting heavily, your heart beating quick in your chest, the noise pounding into your ears as you feel the heat of your flushed face. You look with a dazed wonder at the wet sticky strand of saliva, running from your tongue to Zecora's. Your eyes move up to her face to see that she's panting, her face flushed, and in her eyes is a heated desire, one that you've never seen in the eyes of any mare looking at you. Ever. How much of a turn on that is just to see that look of need, that look of want, and know that it's meant for you...You would've killed ponies for that look. And now here she was, giving it to you for free... You'd make sure she didn't regret it.

You squirm a bit, and look down from her face to your abdomen. Your best friend has made an appearance, coming out of his sheathe to stretch against the bandages wrapped around your abdomen. You gulp and pull away from Zecora, sitting back onto your haunches and turning your body to face the zebra, giving her a nervous smile, before looking down to the bandages, your stallionhood making a clear and present bulge. You move your hooves down to the restrictive bandages, starting to pull at them as you bite your lip, then growl as you start tugging at them, impatient for them to be off. Zecora's hooves move to yours, stopping you, and you blink and look up to see her with a soft smile and a gentle blush upon her face.

"Let me undo, them for you."

She spoke, making the simple sentence into a rhyme as she lightly pushed your hooves away, and then began to expertly unwrap the bandages from your body. You breathe heavily, face red and sweat collecting on your coat as you watch the bandages fall one by one, biting your lips as she undoes the restraints around your stallionhood. Seconds feel like hours as one after another the bandages fall, until finally your long-neglected friend is revealed. He stands erect in the suddenly cold air, out of his sheathe with his two suppliers hanging in fleshy sacks beneath him, the sacks swinging slightly as he waits hard and ready to rut.

You're actually a bit smaller than average you're pretty sure. Malnutrition likely stunted growth, and since you're a virgin you're pretty sure that it won't take you very long at all to pop. Still, none of that exactly seems to matter as Zecora brings her mouth to the head of your cock and gives you a lick.

Electricity slams up into you and through your spine as the sensation of Zecora's tongue on your cock brings an instant lance of pleasure slamming through your body. You shiver as you feel her hot breathe on your stallionhood, and then let out a choked-

"Grk!" of excitement as Zecora wraps her lips around the head of your cock. At the back of your mind you can't help but think that if it wasn't obvious to her before that you were a virgin it's pretty bucking obvious now. But that also plummets into unimportance as Zecora plays her tongue over your head, holding it in her hot wet mouth, flicking her tongue over the tip and causing you to shudder with delight. Before taking you in another inch and completely shattering your mind.

"Gaah!" You say as you feel her tongue moving along your length, saliva coating your rod as precum drips from your tip onto her tongue, and you feel yourself building up more and more, the pleasure mounting and you know what's going to happen if she doesn't stop. You bring your forehooves forward to her head, taking it at either side, and push back, removing her mouth from your cock with a wet-

POP.

You breathe heavily, panting deeply as Zecora looks up to you with a confused look.

"I-I won't last if you keep working me like that. I want you to feel good to..." You say, to which Zecora blinks, and then smiles softly, blushing a bit more from the sentiment. You take another deep breathe, calming yourself down, then breathe out slowly, and look into Zecora's eyes with a light smile.

"Lay down, and spread your legs." You say, with an authority that surprises you. But Zecora nods, moving away, still facing you, before laying down and rolling onto her back. She spreads her hind-legs wide, and raises her forehooves, showing off her belly, her stomach-titties, and most importantly her slit. Her cunt is moist with arousal, but not yet dripping. You intend to rectify that. With a heated blush still on your face you get down onto your legs and lean forward, bringing your muzzle up to her most intimate of places...

The smell hits you hard as you move between her legs. Her musk powerful, the raging hormones filling your nostrils as you look to her wet slit, slick with desire. You lick your lips once more, nervously wetting them a bit, then tentatively stick out your tongue and run it up along her slit. The taste of her is wetness is strong, juicy, and tangy. Tasty. You run your tongue along her wet hole again, closing your eyes as you taste her succulent flesh.

You've not exactly down this before so you're a bit timid, a bit clumsy. But a soft grunt of pleasure from the zebra suggests that you're doing something right. You swirl your tongue over her slit, before flicking it up to her clit. A gasp and a wiggle of her hindquarters gives you an obvious hint of where she likes to be licked, so you begin to focus your tongue's efforts around her clit. You roll your tongue over it, up and down, side to side, then go back down the length of her slit before bringing your tongue back up to flick her clit again. Her sighs and soft moans of pleasure egg you on and you press your muzzle against her wetness, continuing to work with your tongue, closing your eyes as the smell and taste of her fill your senses, the strength of her pleasure overpowering everything else.

A hoof on your head stops your tonguing, and you lean back to look at Zecora, sitting up and panting with a flushed face, looking to you with droplets of sweat on her coat and desire in her eyes.

"T-that I think is enough of the tease. 'Gasp' Can we get to the r-rutting please?"

She asked, almost whining, as she scooted back and righted herself, before turning her body and lowering herself down to the ground. She then lifted her rump up into the air, her tail flicking up to reveal her dripping slit. You watch as she shakes her rump back and forth, giving the universally understood request of 'Please rut me like I'm a bitch in heat' with her flanks. You feel an icy fear clench your heart as you realize that there's no more stalling, that it's time, that it's time to rut her like there's no tomorrow...

GULP.

You move forward hesitantly walking your forehooves forward down either side of the mare, moving to position your body over hers. You suspend yourself over her, then lean down slowly, lowering your head to lay on her neck, while your hind legs inch forward and press the head of your cock against her wet folds. And then, with one more lick of your lips, and a prayer to whatever's deity covers first time virgin rutting, you thrust into her.

The pleasure is... you... it's hot, wet, and warm, and all-encompassing, you don't know how to describe it it's just good and it's eating you as you dig yourself so deep into her and oh buck you don't know how you can last in there! You don't know how you lasted out of there! It's all you can do to think of starting to move your hips forward, your breathing heavy, sweat and cunt still in your nostrils as you start pounding into the mare. Your mare! You're awkward and clumsy and have no finesse but damn it you're going to mark this female as yours with your cock! You can't think of anything but rutting her! And neither can your hips but that seems to be working out great cause she's neighing and whinnying underneath you, shifting and groaning and moaning and shuddering and drenching your cock with her wetness.

For some reason she actually cums before you. You feel her body shake and shudder, and her cunt juices squirt all over your cock and balls, drowning your malehood inside of her. You're not sure why she came first. It's definitely not your technique. Perhaps it's because it's been a very long time since she got any. But you're not feeling too philosophical about it because one wet slamming later you lose control of your virgin cock and pump her full of your cum. Your dick spasming and sputtering and filling her cunt with your hot seed.

You collapse on top of her, thoroughly spent, panting heavily, your tongue lolling out of your mouth. She's laying beneath you with her legs splayed out, stomach to the floor, breathing heavily. Both of you are stinking, covered with sweat and shared juices. Your meal sits on the tables untouched, the cauldron's still boiling, whatever's left in there is probably burnt, you were awkward and clumsy, the rutting probably lasted less than a minute, and none of that matters because you just lost your virginity!

You grin, and chuckle softly, and then just start laughing out loud, chuckling and guffawing with your lungs already deprived of air. After all these years you finally got laid! Finally lost your virginity! Finally know what the inside of a mare's pussy feels like! Zecora starts chuckling with you, letting your happy laughter infect her as you shakily pull out of her, and collapse down beside her.

She turns to you and wraps her hooves around you pulling you close as you move your forehooves around her, and then still chuckling kiss her deeply. She returns the kiss, your tongues meeting in each other's mouths, sharing the intimate tastes of the others private regions, before your mutual chuckling causes the kiss to break up. Your tongues go back in your mouth as you both keep on laughing for what feels like several minutes, chuckling until tears roll down your cheeks, lying in each other's hooves... Eventually you let your laughter die down to soft chuckles and open your eyes to look to the mare across from you.

You look into Zecora's eyes and she looks into yours, and in her eyes you see a kind of joy and contentment that... well, that you imagine you're echoing right at this moment. You smile, and lean forward, nuzzling your nose against hers, before grinning and speaking in a soft, happy voice.

"Thank you..." You say, then plant a gentle kiss on her nose, and nuzzle her again. She nuzzles back, eyes closed, and you close your eyes as well as you cuddle up to her, holding her body close, feeling her warmth against you, her breathing, her heartbeat, feeling her whole being... And knowing that it's yours.

In many ways, Zecora and the Everfree Forest are one. You want her... maybe you want it as well? It is your home for the time being. Why not learn about it, about its wonders and dangers?

Think about it: nopony besides Zecora lives here, and nopony knows much about it. What if... what if you were the first to truly explore it? You could finally be somepony! No homeless bum anymore, but an esteemed explorer, greater even than Daring Do! You would be famous, rich, loved!

So use your new sense of smell to learn Zecora's craft as well as to understand the Everfree. Remember, you'll be somepony- you'll finally be somepony...

Who knows, maybe you'll even eventually manage a feat as awesome as defeating a full-fledged dragon!

The dragon can wait, seek the power the Everfree whispers of.

Well that was the single most awesome that has ever happened in your life. No question about it. Definitely have to do that again.

After you and Zecora finally let go of each other and actually got up, you and Zecora took a bath. You used the cauldron for this, emptying it of the stew and filling it with water, which took an hour even with Zecora using some strange hoof motion to fill it. Pretty sure that was magical. You bathed together, you cuddled, you occasionally got splashed by water and splashed in return, and you both set to laughing inside of the cauldron. You did of course wisely decline to mention how bathing in a cauldron could help the rumors of cannibalism. Then you got out, dried off, took the rest of the bandages off, and finally got your stew.

Right now you're sitting outside on your haunches in front of Zecora's hut. Though really it's more of a kind of a tree thing, with creepy masks and some bottles and stuff hanging from it... Kinda freaky come to think of it. At the moment you're holding a wooden bowl of the rather tasty stew that Zecora had prepared in your lap, and a fairly sleepy zebra is laying her head against your shoulder, sitting next to you with her own stew in her lap. You're sitting there with Zecora snuggling against you with her eyes closed, a soft smile on her face, and a bowl of cold but good green stew in your lap, looking out into the Everfree, listening to it, examining it, and thinking on it.

This forest has tried to kill you. This forest did freaky shit to you involving metal rods sprouting from your back. This forest also fed you and just got you laid. Suffice to say you've got really mixed feelings about the Everfree right now, this forest is as dangerous as it is enticing... You feel as though you could do great things here. Great things indeed.

You reach your forehooves down to the bowl and bring it up to your lips, sipping gently thoughtfully as you look out into the dark and ominous woods. You've spent most of your life as a nopony, less than dirt little more than a stain on the street as ponies passed by. Now, you have a beautiful Zebra lover from a far away land practically sleeping on your shoulder, a roof over your head, and a couple of battle scars marking your body.

Zecora had remarked that while your wounds had healed and scars had faded, there was still a strange infection where they'd been. She didn't understand it, it wasn't like the normal Timberwolf poison. She was actually quite worried. Probably part of why she's leaning on you even now. Still, there was no reason for the bandages anymore, and she's promised to keep on trying to treat it, to take care of you... And there's nothing you'd rather more than stay in her care. But that still leaves an urge, an inkling that you have to explore, an unfulfilled desire in your heart of hearts that just begs to be explored.

Overall this forest, despite it's best efforts, has been good to you... here you've become more than you ever were before. In Manehatten you were nothing but here, here you've done things, accomplished things. Beaten back opponents and found a lover. Maybe there's still more to discover here, more to accomplish. You could ask Zecora about it! Investigate about the secrets of the Everfree, what she's learned. You could also learn a great deal from her! She's intelligent, strong, and obviously has mystical knowledge that goes beyond just knowing what plants to put where. You're sure there's a great deal she could teach you.

There's a world of opportunity here... A dark and frightening forest with powers untold, a zebra lover with numerous skills, strange weapons in your body, a weird chest that you still feel a draw towards every time you look at it, and a town on the outskirts that you have yet to explore. You feel as though you can take all of this on and more, rise and thrive in the dark! You just have to venture out and conquer it... So all of that brings to mind a single question... what do you do now?

Author's Note

So this is my first time writing Clop. Ever. Erotic literature sometimes but not exactly for widespread viewing, and this is the first pony-porn I have ever done. So if it doesn't quite meet up to your expectations then I am sorry. And he'd probably pop from the blowjob. But this is fiction, and he needed some slack anyways.

In any case, please put comments for the Host in the non-explicit chapter, for my ease of use and out of fairness to the ones who don't want to read clop. Thank you. Also all I have to say about this chapter that doesn't involve sex I'll say there.

Claiming a Zebra

Very good pony. You are on your way to winning this mares heart. DO NOT BUCK THIS UP!!! Zecora is a true catch. Charming and intelligent, skilled in healing arts which, lets face it, you won't last long without. Now, hold her tight through the night. When you wake, act the gentlecolt and apologize for the uninvited embrace, though I doubt she will mind. Go through the day, a touch of tail to side hear, a congradulation nuzzle there, and kind words and compliments scattered throughout. She will be yours. Remember, once you mate her, you have an Amulet to claim and a Dragon to fight. The corrupting influence of the Alicorn Amulet will aid you in truly claiming Zecora as yours...do not fail us.

While holding her tight, take your time and lick her ear. Just slightly, just once. Make sure she does not wake.

Then, whisper to her how much you like her- but more importantly, whisper to her how much she likes you. How she wants to be yours. Why else did she tell you about her people's "herds"? She wants to be yours at least as much as you want her to be yours, maybe even more! So quietly whisper to her sleeping form how fulfilling her life would be under you, as your... well, that depends on how she conducts herself, eh? Perhaps as your mate, but if she turns out to be truly subservient, slavish even, you need to call her something else, of course.

And do not worry that you're doing anything to her besides holding her and whispering. Princess Luna is the only one who can change ponies in their dreams; you are merely voicing your thoughts. Harmless.

You shift and squirm on the bed, turning this way, turning that way, gritting your teeth, and stopping just shy of letting out grunts of frustration so as to not wake your sleeping bed buddy. What the buck is wrong with you!? You're here in THE most awesome bed you have EVER been in and you can't get a wink of sleep! Is it because you've spent so many nights cold and uncomfortable? Did the abuse of sleeping on hard and dirty mattresses in dank and stinking alleys permanently ruin the wonder of a warm soft bed?! You pray not, not even Celestia would be that cruel! ... Or would she? She certainly never helped you any of the times you called out to her for aid and guidance... bitch.

You shake your head and stifle a frustrated groan before turning over with a quiet sigh, and looking across the bed towards the sleeping zebra. Pale moonlight shines down onto Zecora's still form, her body outlined against the covers, the faint red of the bottle falling just short of her on the blanket. She breathes in and out slowly, steadily, her chest rising and falling softly with each breathe, faint movement from the sheets and blankets in time with her breath.

You smile gently as you look at the zebra's sleeping body. She looks so beautiful with the moonlight on her coat, so... enticing. You watch her for a moment, then furrow your brows a bit in worry. Maybe this is what's keeping you up. Not the comfort which you would have KILLED for if you knew how good it was, but having a partner in bed, sleeping next to you. You've never been in that kind of a situation before, never had anypony to share a bed with. You're not entirely sure what to do with a mare sleeping so close to you... so close...

You bite your lower-lip slightly, and turn your head to look up to the ceiling, almost to make sure nopony is watching, before looking back down to her. You really, really want to hold her... Nothing wrong or weird! You just want to hold her close to you and feel her warmth with you. Hold her tight... Maybe it'll help you get to sleep! There's nothing wrong with that, right!? Nothing wrong with that at all...

You lick your lips nervously, then slowly begin inching your way towards the sleeping mare. It's a short distance from one side of the bed to the other, but between your slow approach and your stopping every time she shifts out of fear of waking her, it takes you what feels like forever to reach her. But finally you do. Her sleeping form is right in front of your eyes, your heart thumping so loud in your chest that you're sure she'll awake. It suddenly seems very hot beneath the covers as sweat starts to form in droplets on your coat, and you have to take a moment to breathe deeply and calm down. However soon, you work up the nerve, and tentatively stretch out your hooves to encircle Zecora's sleeping form...

You stop short as Zecora shift's slightly, right forehoof dug in slightly underneath her body, holding your breathe as you wait for your luck to change and Zecora to wake up and screech at you for daring to touch her nubile form. But she doesn't. Instead, she settles down again, and after a few moments of calming your nerves, you go ahead and push your right forehoof all the way underneath her body and up the other side. You bring your left forehoof around to encircle her, and slowly push yourself up against her, pressing your body to hers even as you hold her in your hooves.

Her body is warm. Her fur is soft. You can feel her breaths echoing through her body into yours as her chest gently rises and falls. Her whole form is pressed up against you and you're pressed up against her and it feels wonderful. Relaxing. You can't remember the last time you've actually held somepony... it feels so good just to hold her. You pull her a little closer, and nuzzle your face into her neck softly, pressing your nose against her fur and breathing in her scent.

It's strong. The smell of her is powerful, filled with whiffs of herbs and spices, a touch of plant and greenery, and a hint of the sweat from the day's toil. It's intoxicating, faintly arousing, and it makes your mouth water. You begin to think of what she was doing to get this unique mixture of smell. Standing over her cauldron, tossing in bags and potions and emitting chants as she cared her cures. Traveling through the Everfree, cloaked and shrouded, plucking plants from the ground and leaves from the trees to make her concoctions. Laying on her back against a wall, hind-legs spread wide, biting her lip and keeping herself quiet as she rubbed herself wet with her hooves, working up a sweat in her coat, thinking of you on top of her...

You bite your bottom lip as a flush comes to your cheeks, and a feeling stirs in your groin. You push it back down, thankful both for the bandages covering your abdomen and the hidden nature of equine penises. The last thing Zecora needs to wake up to is your little friend poking her in the rump. Besides, you know she wasn't really clopping to you... Though why shouldn't she? You're, well, you mean... She took you in didn't she? Treated you? Bathed you? Why would she do any of that if she didn't feel some kind of attraction to you? She wouldn't, she has to like you at least a little bit, right?

You look down at her in your hooves, and lick your lips lightly. She's so enticing, so delicious looking, so beautiful when she's asleep. You want to know her, you want her to know you, and you want to taste her... You bet she taste's delicious. You hesitate for a moment, and then slowly lean down towards her ear. You pause for a moment, as she shifts in your hooves, and then wait for a few moments. As she settles, you slowly stick the tip of your tongue onto the lobe of her ear, and run it up along the edge... She tastes so tangy, so sharp and strong, with a flavor so very foreign to everything you've ever known.

She shifts a bit against your body, grunting softly at the sudden wet sensation, and you stop, withdrawing your ear as she shifts. You wait for her to settle down, smiling softly as she snuggles back into you in her sleep, and slowly run your left forehoof down her belly, rubbing gently, helping her calm down as she sleeps in your embrace... You bite your lip, looking down at her, wanting her to know you and want you and love you... You lick your lips again, lean close to her ear, and with a gentle voice, whisper sweetly into her dreams.

"You're wonderful Zecora... You've been so kind to me, so very sweet and loving. I think you care greatly for me Zecora. I think there's a part of you that knows you're meant to be with me. Why else would you have brought me here, given me a bath, fed me, and treated my wounds? You don't do these things for just anypony, you do them for somepony you love... I think that in your heart, you want me to be happy. I think that you want me, and I know that I want you... I think that you want to be with me and live with me and keep me company and cook me meals and take care of me and, and... I think that you love me Zecora... And I want you to know, that I love you to..." You plant a gentle kiss on her cheek, and are rewarded with a soft curl to the sleeping mare's lips, bringing a gentle smile to her graceful features... You smile softly at the sight, and lean down to whisper gently once more.

"Goodnight Zecora... dream of me tonight. I'll certainly be dreaming of you." You speak gently, and lay your head down on her neck, closing your eyes as you breathe in Zecora's scent again holding her close, letting the warmth of her body wash off onto you. You listen with your eyes closed and your body snuggled up against hers, hearing her every breathe and the steady thump of her heart, playing gently into your ear. You sigh out gently, contentedly, and lay there with Zecora held close, listening to her heartbeat and breathing, letting her warmth fill you, letting her smell entice you, and letting her presence pull you from the waking realm, and send you drifting off to sleep...

(To Pyrus)

(I am guiding the pawn towards the dragon that makes his home in the Everfree. The dragons hoard will aid him in acquiring useful materials, and by/during the killing of the dragon I recommend gaining the ability to consume flame to heal as well as fire breath. :See Dragon Slayer Magic: Since you are the De-facto Deity of the dragons of this realm, I thought you deserved a heads up.)

"Gah. He should be ripping her throat out, not whispering sweet nothings! Makes me want ta bucking puke! All this sappy romance can't be good for the Star!"

"Emotional manipulation is a tried and true form of gaining servants my brother, and the Star would not have increased the Host's manipulative abilities if this was harmful to it. Calm down, the Watchers have surpassed our expectations thus far. Things are going as well as we can hope. Hm, interesting. Brother, there's a message for you."

"Message? What the buck do you mean a message?"

"The Watchers have sent you a message, well one of them is sending and will have sent, their time structure is somewhat confusing."

"Well tell them to piss off! They should be guiding the damn host not socializing!"

"The host is asleep at the moment, why the Star is sparing the time to get this message through. The Host cannot dream so their guidance is completely unnecessary during his sleeping hours and it can spare their presence. In any case it concerns you so it would be intelligent to examine it."

"Buck that I'm busy!"

"Doing what?"

"... Fine! I'll answer the damn question! Bucking social sons of mules..."

"Very good. Now just a moment and..."

Pyrus stood with a grey stone wall covered in a thick sheet of ice behind him, glaring straight at you, with a red coat, black sparking feathers, and what looked like a molten iron helmet on the top of his head with a vicious curved blade sticking out of it. His eyes were a blood red with burning fire behind them, with what looked like black veins stretching out from underneath them and into his cheeks, his teeth sharp and vicious. He looked tired, grumpy, and angry. Bad combination by most accounts.

"What!?" He hissed, and then closed his eyes listening for a moment, before sighing out slowly, a plume of black smoke escaping from his lips, before he looked up to you with a half-lidded gaze.

"Well I can't fault your manners. Listen up Nomad, and you to other Watchers, I know you all see the same thing. First off I don't give a flying feather about the dragon in the Everfree. The reason for this is two-fold. One, Dragons thrive on strength, and tests to their strength are not only expected but necessary! The weak are eradicated and the strong get to make everypony weaker their bitches! That's how things go and that's how Dragons work to. BUT, not that one." Spoke Pyrus, leveling a glare further before he continued.

"THAT dragon is an infantile! One that never matured. Dragons are born with an advanced internal mutation related to the accumulation of wealth and the pace thereof. Why they're all so bucking treasure obsessed. This internal mutation goes into activation near the early stage of their development, before they hit puberty even, while they're still technically infants. Now most of the time, this gets cut off early. Why? Because other Dragons protect their hordes and teach the younger a lesson about nabbing what you can't keep. A harsh bucking lesson. And the youngers start growing the natural way and engage in constant contests with each other until they can fly off and get their own horde. Then, they bring it back to the Migration, and the biggest and baddest Dragon of the bunch gets most of it while they get to keep a significant amount." Spoke Pyrus, before leaning forward slightly and raising his front-left hoof, pointing out of sight, while at the same time revealing it to be covered in black molten iron up to the knees, with black veins running up from the metal underneath Pyrus's fur, along the leg all the way up to the torso.

"THAT THING was born outside of a Migration! So it never got it's greed curbed! The thing sprouted up with the mind of a child and is as selfish and stupid as a newborn mule! There are a few like it around, big dumb brutes with the size, claws, and fire, but none of the predatory cunning. So in short, that thing is a DISGRACE to proper dragons, and I'll be happy to see it's miserable existence snuffed out! " Spoke Pyrus, lowering his left forehoof and leveling another resentful glare towards you.

"Ya know, like how I'd be happy to see a certain Zebra's existence snuffed out, instead of-"

"Brother. Let the Watchers do their job. We shall do ours." Pyrus sighed and brought his left hoof back up to rub his temple slightly as his brother gave his slight admonishment from elsewhere.

"Yeah yeah fine..." He muttered, before looking up to you again, a serious glint in his eyes.

"Listen up though. Peabrain or not that thing has still got the body of a full-grown dragon, complete with flame-breathe and steel-shredding claws. It is NOT to be taken lightly. Right now the host is nowhere near ready for it. SO HOLD OFF ON IT!!! Get the bucker stronger before you throw him into a dragon's maws! I mean for bucks sake look at him! He barely survived a fight with the damn Timberwolves! There are a lot of nasty things in the Everfree but the only thing nastier than that Dragon is the Ursa Major, maybe Minor. So get him stronger! The dragon's a damn good test and I want to see it die, but he ain't ready. Give him time."

"Brother, did you choose not hear what I just said? Not even a minute ago?"

"Aw come on! He was practically asking for my advice on it!" A soft sigh came from elsewhere, before the vision blurred away from Pyrus, and centered on, Cryon tilted down, showing the small colt sitting on his haunches on the ice-sheet floor, looking up with his unblinking blue gaze.

"In any event, thank you Watchers for your continued efforts. This has started very well with sound tactical decisions. Please keep up the good work, and know that you can question us during the Host's sleeping hours. But only his sleeping hours. That you would be able to question or continue to communicate with us at all is an unexpected boon."

"More like a damn annoyance if you ask me."

"In any case-" continued on Cryon despite his brother's interruption.

"The Host is in an excellent starting position. There is some risk to letting him get too comfortable however. Remember that the Star performs mutations quickly with catalysts, such as the Legacies, and panic situations, such as the Timberwolf attack. Steady focus suggestion and use of a particular sense will lead to mutation, but not as quickly. Also, advancements of current mutations are easier to achieve through such means than entirely new mutations. Now farewell, I will return you to your work." Spoke Cryon, lifting up his front-right hoof and waving it at you in a little circle as his eyes glowed a bright blue, and then the vision of him snuffed out of existence.

Sweet. You got her in the same bed. Now, when you wake up, you will notice that your sense of smell has amped up quite a bit. After messing around with the ability a bit, you will find that you can control it. Two scents are clear throughout all others. Brimstone, and the smell of nature itself, pulling you somewhere. Follow the brimstone, and gain the breath and treasures of a dragon (Part of the Dragon Legacy). Follow the pull of nature, and gain the ability to control nature itself, in ways you had never imagined (Part if the Everfree Legacy).

Following further along the Everfree Legacy will slow reaction times and make you an easy target for, say, the Elements of Harmony. Seek the brimstone scent that promises treasure and flame, but only after that zebra you tame. Make her yours, and you shall see, you shall thrive in the Everfree.

You open your eyes slowly, the smell of cooking and spices hitting your nostrils and the absence of warm zebra body clear to your senses. You blink when you realize that you're once again alone in the bed, and feel just a bit worried, but judging by how she let you sleep Zecora probably wasn't too mad about it. You smile at the memory of the contact, then sniff the air again and lick your lips. Whatever she's making it smells delicious. A growl in your stomach agrees with you, and you push back the covers as you move off the bed and bring your hooves down to the floor. For some reason you still feel a bit sluggish, but you shake it off and trot out of the bedroom.

Inside the main room of Zecora's hut you see the cauldron, bubbling once again, and the attractive zebra mare shaking her flanks as she happily hums over said cauldron, standing on her hind legs and stirring with her left front-hoof, the tip just barely touching the liquid. You still wonder how she can't find that too hot, but shake it off and just watch her for a couple of moments, watching her tail swish and flanks move for a few moments of gratuitous pleasure. You lick your lips slowly, thinking of a taste that has nothing to do with the dinner being prepared, before you finally clear your throat and speak in a cheerful tone, attracting the mare's attention.

"Good morning Zecora! Sleep well?"You ask cheerfully, before trotting over to the weird tree table thing as Zecora turns from the cauldron and smiles brightly at you. A glimmer in her eyes and a dance to her grin.

"Oh my rest was just as it seems! Filled with numerous happy dreams!"

Spoke the zebra before giving you a smirk and cocking her right eyebrow.

"Perhaps this was due to guest, who thought that night cuddles would be best."

Stated the mare, bringing a blush to your cheek as you chuckle, a little awkwardly and bring your right forehoof up to the back of your head, rubbing it sheepishly.

"Heh, sorry, I got kind of... clingy in the night."You speak, then grin apologetically as the zebra chuckles.

"I could tell, but it is just as well.

Your company through the night has helped this morning to seem so bright!"

She spoke, before looking back to her cauldron.

"Now sit my friend and do not fret, breakfast shall be ready in a few minutes yet."

Stated Zecora happily, stirring the pot lightly as you plant your flank in front of the table with a relieved sigh. Not in trouble. After a few moments you lift your nose, sniffing slightly. You furrow your brows a bit at the scent in the air. It's... you're not sure why but you think it might be... no, that's impossible right, you don't even know what they smell like! But, well can't hurt to ask can it? ... You lick your lips, and clear your throat before speaking.

"Um, Zecora?" You say, the Zebra letting out a-

"Hm?"

As she continues to stir the brew.

"Um, this may sound strange but is that by any chance... er, dragon stew?" The sharpness at which Zecora snaps her head towards you makes you jerk back, your own eyes wide as you see shock in her eyes, equaled only by the expression of hurt on her face.

"No! Such chagrin! There is no dragon there within!

What hast filled your mind with such lies, that this stew holds dragon you should surmise!?"

She shouts as you quickly bring your forehooves up waving them back and forth quickly in surrender, hoping it will dissipate the strong emotion.

"Nothing! Nothing I just, I was thinking of dragons and I couldn't recognize the spices and- I didn't mean anything by it!" You say, as Zecora looks at you for a few more moments her face becoming unreadable, then turns abruptly and looks to the brew.

The silence that follows can be cut with a knife. Or a fork. Frankly any physical object would due because it's bucking thick and disconcerting. You are FAR more worried right now than you were when you snuggled up to her in the night, and as she finishes stirring and starts to pour the stew, your heart pounds in your chest, worry eating at your gut.

Zecora brings the bowls over after a moment, walking on her hind legs and placing one bowl in front of you then one on her end, and sits down at her end without a word. She just stares down at the bowl for a few moments, expression still a mystery as you look across at her, and bite your lip. What do you do!? You've pissed her off or something! You didn't mean to! Shit! How do you salvage this? ... Ummm... Tell her it smells good? No, shit, that's what started this in the first place! Compliment her mane!? Come on think, think!

Just as you were about to start on how shiny her coat looks today, Zecora broke the silence, speaking in a steady, empty tone.

"Near to the Everfree is a place called Ponyville, where I thought to find ponies to heal.

When in this place I first arrived, the locals found me to be despised.

Rumors and accusations untrue, false lies and whispers were my due.

I became an outcast in exile, and that was how it was for a while.

I was recently accepted and for that I am grateful, but sometimes I think on times past and begin to feel hateful.

I banish these thoughts, with others of a friend, the one who helped my exile end.

Then others who followed, and have become quite dear, from whom spite and hatred I need no longer fear.

But in those old times this rumor was held to be true, that I cook up ponies and serve them in stew.

One of my friends goes by the name Spike, a baby dragon who I rather like.

When you made your query I thought of those times, when all thought I was a witch that committed great crimes.

And if someone had heard that question asked, it would have gone back to times past.

They would have thought of Spike in the pot, and left me alone here to rot.

Alone again, just the very thought, and all my good works would count for naught.

Nopony to care for me... all alone here in the Everfree..."

She stays quiet after that, just sitting with her face looking down towards the stew. A knife twists in your stomach, and you look at her for a few moments... Before speaking gently.

"Everypony told me to go away to... left me all alone..." You whisper, and she looks up into your eyes. Your eyes meet, your pulse quickens, and you see the hint of a blush moving onto her cheeks as one colors yours as well... You both look down awkwardly, biting your lips and staring at your thus far untouched stew. You close your eyes, breathe in deep, then move around the table, over to Zecora to her left.

She tenses up slightly as you move next to her but doesn't move as you bring your left forehoof up, and wrap it around her shoulders, just holding her with your foreleg. Several seconds pass before her body relaxes, and she lowers her head with a soft sigh, to press against your chest. You pull her closer, and lower your head to nuzzle her gently, her mane bending out of the way and tickling your face as you press your cheek to hers and rub gently.

Well-done. She trusts you, she likes you, and you have become far more persuasive. Now, force nothing on her, but should she decide to make a move of any sort on you, embrace it. Or should I say, embrace her? Heh.

Once she's had intercourse with you, she'll fall under your spell. She won't be able to refuse your commands, and you can do as you please with her. Now, the more sex you have with her, the harder it will be for her to break free, so I heartily recommend bucking her a few times to ensure her compliance. And don't worry, she'll retain her conversational abilities; it is more of a redirection of her moral compass. Instead of believing in the abstract concepts of "good" and "evil", she'll believe that whatever you desire is right and whatever would hinder you is wrong. A refreshing change from those who scorned you and felt that all you did was wrong, no? You're simply soliciting reparation for these injustices.

Make your move in the morning, then she shall be yours.

You stay like that for a few moments, and then she pulls her head back and looks up into your eyes. She's been shedding tears. Her eyes sparkle with water, wet trails lining down the fur of her cheeks, and it isn't until you see her eyes that you realize your coat is wet, so soft and quiet were her sobs. But in her tear-filled orbs you see something you're intimately familiar with. Longing. A longing for company, a longing not to be alone in the world, to be needed. And a hint of blush is on her cheeks as she stares up at you. Your breathe stops. Your heart pounds looking down into her eyes, and you watch as she closes them, leaning up slowly towards your face, to plant a soft kiss on your lips...

It's like a fire's spreading through your body. A rush, a tingle, an electric impulse shooting through every nerve and tendon, tracing a line up your spine to your brain, and then plummeting down to your groin. Your best friend shoots up in a salute in hopes of the first action you might have that doesn't involve clopping, and eagerly badgers you to get on with it. Every fiber of your being is screaming at you to rut Zecora. But first thing's first... this sad mare needs more than pure hormones. She needs to know you're there for her.

You push your head forward and kiss her back, deepening the kiss as you close your eyes, letting your lips meet and lock. You move your tongue forward to push into her lips and gently lick over her teeth. She pushes back and opens her mouth, moaning into the kiss and letting her tongue move up to meet yours. Your tongues touch and run over one another, dancing in each other's mouths as you swap saliva, you clumsily pushing your lips against her more experienced pair, though she doesn't seem to care about your inexperience. As you make out with Zecora, swapping spit and playing with tongues, you decide a few things about kissing. It's wet, messy, kind of gross, pretty sloppy, and BUCKING AWESOME.

You keep up the kissing for longer than you can count, before finally pulling back for air. You're panting heavily, your heart beating quick in your chest, the noise pounding into your ears as you feel the heat of your flushed face. You look with a dazed wonder at the wet sticky strand of saliva, running from your tongue to Zecora's. Your eyes move up to her face to see that she's panting, her face flushed, and in her eyes is a heated desire, one that you've never seen in the eyes of any mare looking at you. Ever. How much of a turn on that is just to see that look of need, that look of want, and know that it's meant for you...You would've killed ponies for that look. And now here she was, giving it to you for free... You'd make sure she didn't regret it.

You squirm a bit, and look down from her face to your abdomen. Your best friend has made an appearance, coming out of his sheathe to stretch against the bandages wrapped around your abdomen. You gulp and pull away from Zecora, sitting back onto your haunches and turning your body to face the zebra, giving her a nervous smile, before looking down to the bandages, your stallionhood making a clear and present bulge. You move your hooves down to the restrictive bandages, starting to pull at them as you bite your lip, then growl as you start tugging at them, impatient for them to be off. Zecora's hooves move to yours, stopping you, and you blink and look up to see her with a soft smile and a gentle blush upon her face.

"Let me undo, them for you."

She spoke, making the simple sentence into a rhyme as she lightly pushed your hooves away, and then began to expertly unwrap the bandages from your body. You breathe heavily, face red and sweat collecting on your coat as you watch the bandages fall one by one, biting your lips as she undoes the restraints around your stallionhood. Seconds feel like hours as one after another the bandages fall, until finally your long-neglected friend is revealed...

And then you proceeded to lose your virginity...

In many ways, Zecora and the Everfree Forest are one. You want her... maybe you want it as well? It is your home for the time being. Why not learn about it, about its wonders and dangers?

Think about it: nopony besides Zecora lives here, and nopony knows much about it. What if... what if you were the first to truly explore it? You could finally be somepony! No homeless bum anymore, but an esteemed explorer, greater even than Daring Do! You would be famous, rich, loved!

So use your new sense of smell to learn Zecora's craft as well as to understand the Everfree. Remember, you'll be somepony- you'll finally be somepony...

Who knows, maybe you'll even eventually manage a feat as awesome as defeating a full-fledged dragon!

The dragon can wait, seek the power the Everfree whispers of.

Well that was the single most awesome that has ever happened in your life. No question about it. Definitely have to do that again.

After you and Zecora finally let go of each other and actually got up, you and Zecora took a bath. You used the cauldron for this, emptying it of the stew and filling it with water, which took an hour even with Zecora using some strange hoof motion to fill it. Pretty sure that was magical. You bathed together, you cuddled, you occasionally got splashed by water and splashed in return, and you both set to laughing inside of the cauldron. You did of course wisely decline to mention how bathing in a cauldron could help the rumors of cannibalism. Then you got out, dried off, took the rest of the bandages off, and finally got your stew.

Right now you're sitting outside on your haunches in front of Zecora's hut. Though really it's more of a kind of a tree thing, with creepy masks and some bottles and stuff hanging from it... Kinda freaky come to think of it. At the moment you're holding a wooden bowl of the rather tasty stew that Zecora had prepared in your lap, and a fairly sleepy zebra is laying her head against your shoulder, sitting next to you with her own stew in her lap. You're sitting there with Zecora snuggling against you with her eyes closed, a soft smile on her face, and a bowl of cold but good green stew in your lap, looking out into the Everfree, listening to it, examining it, and thinking on it.

This forest has tried to kill you. This forest did freaky shit to you involving metal rods sprouting from your back. This forest also fed you and just got you laid. Suffice to say you've got really mixed feelings about the Everfree right now, this forest is as dangerous as it is enticing... You feel as though you could do great things here. Great things indeed.

You reach your forehooves down to the bowl and bring it up to your lips, sipping gently thoughtfully as you look out into the dark and ominous woods. You've spent most of your life as a nopony, less than dirt little more than a stain on the street as ponies passed by. Now, you have a beautiful Zebra lover from a far away land practically sleeping on your shoulder, a roof over your head, and a couple of battle scars marking your body.

Zecora had remarked that while your wounds had healed and scars had faded, there was still a strange infection where they'd been. She didn't understand it, it wasn't like the normal Timberwolf poison. She was actually quite worried. Probably part of why she's leaning on you even now. Still, there was no reason for the bandages anymore, and she's promised to keep on trying to treat it, to take care of you... And there's nothing you'd rather more than stay in her care. But that still leaves an urge, an inkling that you have to explore, an unfulfilled desire in your heart of hearts that just begs to be explored.

Overall this forest, despite it's best efforts, has been good to you... here you've become more than you ever were before. In Manehatten you were nothing but here, here you've done things, accomplished things. Beaten back opponents and found a lover. Maybe there's still more to discover here, more to accomplish. You could ask Zecora about it! Investigate about the secrets of the Everfree, what she's learned. You could also learn a great deal from her! She's intelligent, strong, and obviously has mystical knowledge that goes beyond just knowing what plants to put where. You're sure there's a great deal she could teach you.

There's a world of opportunity here... A dark and frightening forest with powers untold, a zebra lover with numerous skills, strange weapons in your body, a weird chest that you still feel a draw towards every time you look at it, and a town on the outskirts that you have yet to explore. You feel as though you can take all of this on and more, rise and thrive in the dark! You just have to venture out and conquer it... So all of that brings to mind a single question... what do you do now?

Author's Note

Alright. Now I did the explicit first, and then made a cut to this one, so if it feels like a part was chopped off... It was.

Now on to addressing Zecora's rhyming scheme. I chose to center it because I wanted to show it off, I felt that a normal text-set didn't do it justice. Zecora has a unique form of talking and I wanted to give it a unique form of presentation. But I could be completely wrong and have completely botched it. I'm not perfect, despite my deepest wishes. So if it bugs you please mention so. If the majority agree then I'll change it in future chapters, probably to normal format until I can think of something better.

Pretty Blue Flowers

You walk into the bedroom, your legs shaking, your muscles strained, and sweat forming on your brow. You are struggling just to keep upright and the reason for that struggle is a simple one. There is a zebra on your back. It isn't a particularly heavy zebra. Zecora isn't fat after all. Far from it actually! Very far from it! You've made numerous mental comments to the beauty of her toned and sleek body, so sexy with curves in just the right places, a flank to die for. It's just that you're a pathetic weakling. An entire life of malnutrition did horrors for the figure, and it wasn't as though you ever had the bits for a gym membership.

The reason you were risking what felt like your life and limbs carrying a zebra on your back heavily involved her being asleep. The reason she was asleep... well actually you weren't entirely sure about that one. She'd been snuggling with you outside, her head laying on your shoulder, and you'd just sat together for an hour or so, looking out into the dim and dark of the Everfree. It was an almost surreal sight to you. You were so used to mornings filled with glittering glass and steel in Manehatten, to leave that so suddenly for the choked light of the Everfree Forest was more than a little strange. The way the light played here, snuffed out before it even reached you, was fascinating to just watch. Very peaceful... ironically.

You think Zecora just wanted to be close to you while you watched. You're sure she's seen more than a few mornings in the Everfree, and doubted that they had much significance to her. You'd enjoyed her company though, quiet and soft, her head resting on your shoulder, her body pressed up against you... It was luxurious, the warmth of physical contact. An entirely new experience for you. Not even your own father had... ... Anyways, part of you wondered how lonely she must have really been, out in the dark of the Everfree. But when you turned to ask her about it you found that she was asleep, breathing softly, with her eyes closed and a soft smile on her face as she rested her head on your shoulder.

It was only morning so you're not sure why. But then again, she did get up before you. And then you did have sex. And she did orgasm. Did orgasms tire mares out? Or was it just that it had been so long since her last one? Nah, you're sure she clopped, so that probably wasn't it. Maybe even multiple times a day. You know that you used to clop fairly frequently. Maybe you and her could clop together sometimes, your rubbing her while she-

You shook the blush from your face as your brain moved from the gutter before your best friend made another appearance. You gulped and looked to Zecora, searching for a new solution. Maybe she was just so comfortable sitting there with you that she nodded off. Yeah, that was probably it, not the clopping one. Or the sex one. Or the orgasm th-

IN ANY CASE! Ahem, her falling asleep left you in an awkward position that your gutterball mind was quickly making more awkward. You didn't want to leave her out there in front of her hut to the whims of the Everfree for obvious reasons, not the least of which included certain wooden lupines. Nor did you want to wake her up. Because quite frankly, she was freaking adorable! With that little smile on her lips, tiny hint of a blush, just emanating warmth and contentment as she breathed in and out softly and nuzzled closer to you... You couldn't bring yourself to awaken her from such cuteness.

So, you settled on the only other option you could come up with. You picked her up, with more than a little difficulty as you are, once again, something of a weakling, moved her onto your back, her rump to the right and her head to the left, and proceeded to carry her into the hut to put her to bed.

You turned yourself sideways and side-stepped through the doorway, very careful not to bump her head on the doorframe as you entered.

THUNK

And then bumped your own head in the process. It took all of your willpower to turn a potential "BUCK!" into a biting of your lower lip and deep air intake, whistling between your teeth as your eyes teared up at the edges. Managing not to cuss your Zebra lover awake you made your way into the main room and crossed, sweating, with a pounding head, and weak in the knees, over to the bedroom.

Once there you entered into the bedroom, moving over to the AWESOME bed, that CANNOT have it's awesomeness overstated. All of which brings you to right here and now, where your front right leg buckles under the weight of your load and you stumble forward.

Your eyes go wide as you feel the Zebra start to slip off your back on the left side and you quickly twitch a muscle in your back. Your left back-rod quickly swings out beneath Zecora, catching her body as you fall to your knees. It bends beneath her weight, the muscle straining in your back, but you manage to hold her up, stopping her fall to the floor as you grit your teeth, and shakily push yourself up to your legs, managing to walk those last few steps over to the bed.

You turn and tilt your body to the left, letting Zecora slowly slide from your back and onto the bed. At least half of her. As you pant, pulling your rod back to your side with a twitch of your back muscle, you look to the bed and see that Zecora's upper half and forehooves are on the bed, and her bottom half and hind-legs are touching the floor. Grimacing slightly, you move forward and place your head underneath her hindquarters. You're already pushing your head against her rump when you remember what you were doing last time your head was this close to her lower region. You blush deep red and grin like an idiot, before a pain in your neck reminds you that you're in the middle of something and you shake off the dirty thoughts to keep pushing her up, raising her onto the bed.

You grunt as you finish pushing her up, until her hind legs are over the edge, and then move your head back, roll your neck a little to get rid of the tension, and climb up onto the mattress. You start to push and pull her body as gently as you can manage with your forehooves, and nudge with your head, to get her into a good position. Rump back to the door and head almost pressing against the wood isn't exactly the most elegant of positions to occupy. You pull and prod her to get her vertical, on her side of the bed, and get her head onto her pillow. You finally get her into position, laying more or less normal facing towards the wall away from the door, and bring your hooves down to pull the covers up over her, shifting position awkwardly as you tuck her in, smooth out the covers, and then promptly collapse onto the bed.

You lay on your side, legs splayed, panting heavily, sweat all over your coat. Damn, who knew it'd be so much work to tuck in a Zebra! Buck you're out of shape... You take a few heavy breaths, letting your heart rate go down and your aching muscles rest, before you turn and look over to Zecora.

She's sleeping with a gentle smile on her face and a soft blush still tinging her cheeks. Her breathing is content and gentle, and she shifts slightly in the covers, nuzzling her head into the pillow, letting out gentle sighs in her sleep. You smile a bit as you watch her for a few moments, then lean forward, and plant a soft kiss on her lips. You keep your lips on hers for a few moments, before breaking the kiss with a soft sigh, and a goofy smile on your face. You lean up and move your mouth up to her ear. You run your tongue along the edges of her ear, like you did last night, tasting your zebra lover, then whispering gently.

"I love you Zecora... and you love me. You desire me. You want me. And I want you. You belong with me, and I don't think you've ever felt happier in your life than the time you've spent with me. You're wonderful to me Zecora, and you enjoy being wonderful to me, just like I enjoy being with you... Sleep well Zecora. Dream of me." You speak gently, before you move your lips down to plant one more soft kiss onto hers. Then you lean back, rise shakily onto your legs, and softly step over Zecora, and past her onto the floor of the room, being careful not to touch her with your hooves as you exit the bed, and move out of the bedroom, letting your snugglerific zebra bed-buddy sleep.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,

you will succumb in every battle” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

To know yourself is a high priority, I highly suggest you take the time to figure out how to consciously control your new mutations, experiment with them, and find their limits and usages. After so, your ability to succeed in the Everfree will greatly increase.

-The Lord

You move back into the main room, sighing slightly with a smile on your face. Life is good. Despite your aching legs, heavy breathe, and absolutely ridiculous level of fitness for an Earth Pony, life is good. You raise your eyes and look over the room... It doesn't look so bad when you're used to it. The bottles are bright and colorful, the masks look kinda friendly really, and the cauldron? That just adds class. The boxes are interesting, especially that one that keeps on drawing your eyes for some reason, and the tree-table thing... ... Okay yeah that one's still kinda weird to you, but you've got some cool memories associated with it now! Well, a spot beside it anyway where you-

You blush a bit as you remember your recent sexual exploit, specifically the one that ended your virginity. You can't remember if she washed the floor or not... ... You move over to the OTHER side of the table and sit down on your haunches, putting your hooves down onto the table and leaning forward, resting your head on your hooves and letting your muscles relax.

You feel warm and happy for a few moments, thinking on Zecora, on your lost virginity, on your acquired non-virginity, on her and her snuggly body. Your positive thoughts last for a few moments, before you start to think about less comfortable things. With no distractions and no zebra cuddling, you can now think clearly and precisely on what has happened to you. And it is all bucked up. Seriously, what the buck!? You woke up in the most dangerous part of Equestria, the bucking Everfree forest! Then you found a bunch of creepy stone ruins, started growing shit OUT OF YOUR BODY and nearly got killed by Timberwolves! The fact that you then got with a Zebra and had sexy time is a nice result, but still! There is more than a little freaky shit happening to you and you don't know why!

You sigh out in aggravation, lifting your head to glare at the wall for not having answers as to why your body had suddenly taken to sprouting inanimate objects out of it. And then you blinked, as your eyes turned slowly along the walls of Zecora's hut looking at the shelves filled with potions, bags, boxes, and books. Lots and lots of books.

About thirty seconds later you're pulling books off the shelves while internally cursing your stupidity. Three minutes later you've got three different books on the table and one in your hooves as you flip through it rapidly, eyes searching for answers. Thirty minutes later you're face is buried in an open tome, stacks of books arranged around you haphazardly, and you're using the book on the table to muffle your groan of aggravation.

Nothing! There's bucking nothing in these books about mutating freak appendages out of your body! Of course you could just be missing it, you're not that good at finding the little damn details in printed works either, probably had something to do with those piece of shit foals in school getting onto you every damn second of every bucking school day and-

You take a deep breath, leaning back and bringing your hooves up to rub your face. This is going nowhere fast... You could ask Zecora for help, but she's sleeping, and even if she wasn't you don't want her to know the truth about you. Buck you don't even know the truth about you! You don't want her to think you're a freak, she's the only pony, well zebra, in your life that's shown you any damn kindness! You don't want to buck that up! ... So, no, no asking her.

A fine conquest pony, but your work is not done yet. The town outside of the Everfree, it is not ready for you yet. Remember, the ponies of that place nearly cast out your mate in their superstition and mistrust, something tells me they would give you a smilar welcome. Instead, lets go pick some flowers for your new mate...how about those bright blue ones over there?

You move your hooves beneath your chin again, tapping them together slightly as you rest your chin on your hooves and think. You need to figure out what's happening to you, and how to control it. The town near the forest exiled Zecora for having a damn striped coat! What the buck would they do to you just for having metal rods sticking out your back! Much less sprouting damn swords from your hooves.

You shudder and close your eyes, bringing your front-right hoof up to your forehead and rubbing it slightly in circles as your left moves to close the open book on the table. This is making you anxious. What if you grow something else like that? Or it pops up again? That damn sword that sprouted out of your hoof and disappeared. All black and jagged with some kind of dark blue mist with little silver star-like specks in it and-

SCHLINK!

THUNK!

... You slowly breathe in deeply, then out slowly...

"That better not be what it sounded like." You stated, to the universe at large, before slowly moving your front-right hoof from your face and opening your eyes. Your front-left hoof is on top of the closed book, the one with the dark green cover and the leaf on the front. Dark-blue mist is forming around your hoof, with little sparkling silver lights inside of it, and a blade of jagged black crystal is sticking out of it and through the book. And Zecora's table.

"... ... ... Buck." You state succinctly, looking at the combination ruined book and table. If you'd been rubbing your forehead with your left hoof when that came out... You feel your face go pale as a chill runs through your spine, and you suddenly feel like peeing.

You control your groin and gulp then turn your head to look towards the bedroom, as though expecting fate to make Zecora awake and come to see you with a blade from your hoof stabbing through her book and table... When that fails to happen, because apparently fate had already had it's laughs, you look back to your blade lodged through the reading material and eating surface. Stuck.

You lick your lips, gulp a lump down your throat, and give your foreleg a tug. It doesn't budge. You bring your other foreleg to your left and start pulling with both of them. Still stuck. You grit your teeth, growling slightly in exasperation as you move up onto the table, bringing your hind-legs up onto the edge and pushing with your hind legs, pulling, and tugging with your forelegs, grunting with effort as you pull at the sword. And then toppling back as the sword comes loose, slicing the book apart and sending wooden shards from the table scattering across the floor. You fly head over rump backwards and slam your head onto the wooden floor, knocking aside the stacks of books and sending them flying all over the floor, as scraps of ripped paper slowly drift down from the sky, the knowledge of the green-bound book reduced to confetti.

You groan in pain, slowly sitting up and bringing your front-right hoof up to rub the back of your head... knocked in the head twice in less than an hour. You've got to be getting some major brain damage by now. You turn your gaze back to the bedroom, and stay quiet for a moment listening to see if THAT woke up Zecora... When you don't hear any movement you close your eyes and sigh out in relief. At least you didn't wake the sleeping beauty.

You open your eyes and turn your gaze forward, raising your left hoof again, looking at the blade jutting from it with narrowed eyes. This is all it's fault. Sure it saved your life at the castle, but it just cut open Zecora's book and cut a hole in her table! How the buck are you supposed to function in daily life when this thing can appear at any-

Young pawn go back into the castle ruin you'll find a antechamber underneath the throne within that antechamber is a tome a very old tome now what that tome contains is the secrets to summoning spirits now then ask your slave to go into the nearest village and find a book that shows how to forge weapons. With the knowledge forge a sword and then imbue the sword with an enraged and insane windigo.

The castle... the castle... The bucking castle! Your eyes go wide and your jaw drops as the most obvious realization in the history of realizations hits you. IT WAS THE CASTLE!!! That's the only explanation that makes sense! You started mutating and growing shit in the castle ruins when you fought the Timberwolves! There must be something there, something powerful, something that they were trying to protect! And wasn't there some kind of glowing blue light that disappeared? Yeah! And after that happened THEN you started growing shit out of your body! It all fit together! Oh it's all so bucking obvious! Why didn't you realize this before!?

You leap up to your hooves, and promptly plant your sword into the wood of Zecora's floor, adding that to the list of things you've damaged in your host's home. You close your eyes and breathe in deep. No, you are not going to be angry, you are not going to curse, you've got shit to do. You sigh out slowly, dispersing the worst of the aggravation and glare at the blade.

"Disappear. Now." You mutter through clenched teeth, glaring daggers at the blade... It doesn't. You close your eyes and furrow your brows, gritting your teeth together, and then start to think. How did you get that blade back again in the first place? You were thinking about it, picturing it, so maybe... ... You picture the blade at the end of your hoof, and then you picture it breaking apart, into dark-blue mist, and then spiraling up into your hoof and disappearing, going back inside.

Your hoof tingles, and you open your eyes to see your hoof free of the floor, blade gone. It looks like summoning or dispersing that thing is about picturing it, though you weren't picturing it when it first showed up. Obviously you need to figure out more about it, and to do that you need to get to the castle! You remember that Zecora talked about making maps of the Everfree as she explored it, and she obviously knew how to get there seeing as how she found you and brought you back. You need one of those maps.

You move back over to the shelves, and quickly start looking through them, searching through the shelves as you try to find the maps, opening chests here and there. You feel kind of bad about the mess you just left at the table but that can wait! This shit is important. Life saving even. You need to know what's going on with your body.

Luckily it doesn't take you long to find a set of rolled up scrolls and papers in one of Zecora's chests, a large brown one shoved up against a shelf filled with various bottles and bags. You pull up the bundles of scrolls, piling them underneath your front left foreleg and move back over to the table. The scrolls are old things, worn and ragged, and you're kind of worried about damaging them. But right now need overrides concerns. You dump the scrolls onto the table and start to unroll them one by one examining them rapidly, your eyes darting across the pages. Most of them are written in a language you can't understand with a bunch of pictures all over them, strange glyphs and symbols. You go through incomprehensible scroll after incomprehensible scroll, until you find one that looks like one big picture instead of a bunch of little ones, and stop, looking it over closely.

It's painted on, with various colors, mostly greens, dark greens, and blues, but various others as well. It's very detailed, seeming to depict a large forest, going brown at the edges of the map, probably depicting the forest's end. Upon the picture you see a small painted Zebra, black and white striped in front of a hut. It's pretty close to the southern edge, so it looks like Zecora doesn't live too deep inside of the Everfree. Judging from how expansive this map is however you'd guess she's been through most of it.

A bit to the center right of the map is a painted cave with what looks like flames jutting out of it. A little ways below that is a cave with what looks like stars twinkling inside. A small forest glade is on the map with a pair of green eyes and fangs above it, near the center of the forest, and about center right is what looks like a pile of stones, with a rope bridge beneath them, the stones and bridge just a little over a river with a purple lizard swimming in it. There's many more details, but you stop focusing on them as you find the stones focus.

"Yeah, that looks like it..." You mutter, then furrow your brows and think for a moment... It doesn't look that far away actually. It would have to be pretty close for Zecora to safely drag you back through the Everfree at night. You're pretty sure that you can find your way with the map, and hopefully quickly, before Zecora wakes up. You want to be here to bullshit your way out of the mess, if not necessarily out of trouble. You just don't want her to know what really happened. In any case you need to get moving, there was no telling when her nap was going to end... and you needed to be prepared.

You take Zecora's cloak and pull it over you, bringing the hood up to cover your face. You don't want to get caught out in the rain out there or anything and Zecora won't need it right? Right. You take the map, leaving the other books and scrolls on the table, the ruined one still on the ground, and for a moment you feel guilty. Considering that she took you in, healed you up, fed you, and then let you rut her, this is all pretty mulish of you. You bite your lip as second thoughts enter into your head... and then you shake them off and narrow your brows with conviction. This is important! Whether or not you're a jerk can be later debated, but the need of finding out what the buck is going on with your body can't! It's time to get to the bottom of this shit! And with a firm gait and a map in your teeth you move through the door, and out into the Everfree to find and uncover the mysteries of the castle!

I would avoid those flowers, personally. Plants are only ever bright as a warning: "don't mess with me, or you'll regret it". Why do you think ponies are so colorful as a whole? Dragons and griffons see the colors and, if they have any sense, avoid harming them lest an angry sun goddess incinerate them. The bright blue flowers are probably dangerous.

Still... if they are dangerous, you could use them. Ask Zecora about them. Perhaps you can weaponize them. Just in case you run into something that isn't impressed by your electrical attacks and claw.

Well now, what to explore first? Flowers are harmless, right? This might be the Everfree Forest, but c'mon- it's just some blue flowers, what's the harm in picking a few? And Zecora can help you if things go south anyhow.

You're lost. Standing in the middle of the dark and dim forest, far away from Zecora's hut, looking down at the map stretched between your forehooves with furrowed brows. It looked so bucking close on the painting... And you were pretty sure it was up from Zecora's hut, so you went around and up off the path, got into the trees and... You sigh, and hang your head.

This was a stupid idea. Why couldn't you bucking wait for her to wake up and lead you? You could've made something up, you didn't have to tell her all about the mutating and weirdness, you could have said you were an archaeologist or something. Or a treasure hunter. Anything really, but this was bad. Now not only were you not at the castle, where you got attacked by Timberwolves and almost died, but you were lost in the middle of the Everfree. Again... Right back to square one.

You roll up the map with a growl and tuck it into a loop you found in Zecora's cloak on the left side. Turns out she has multiple pockets and pouches in her cloak for holding things. You move forward with glum eyes, emptily trotting through the forest with an aggravated glare. Well maybe you'll get lucky and she'll find you again... And not be angry about leaving her books a mess, impaling one, running a blade through the table, taking her map, and stealing her cloak... Yeah, yeah, you're sure she'll be totally forgiving of that after she bucking took you in, fed you, healed you up and... you're a terrible pony.

You sigh closing your eyes as you proceed to cuss yourself out and take another step with your eyes closed. And then you promptly start tumbling down a sharp dirt incline, eyes shooting wide open as you roll down the dirt, hooves hitting a root, sending you flying through the trees, head over hooves and-

THUD

"... Ugggghhhh..." You groan, laying in a patch of blue flowers, eyes barely open, as pain shoots up your body through your spine and forelegs, followed quickly by a sort of numbness, and an almost pleasant high... You smile lightly, as you turn your head gently, and look at the pretty blue flower next to your face. It's cool... It's like, blue... Very very blue. Pretty brightly blue. Kinda bulbous, with ends that tickle your nose. Little string things with little bulbs on the end? Kinda funny looking.

"Heheheheh..." You chuckle softly, a bit of pain in your back again. You try to move your hooves, but your forehooves seem really weird as you lay on your back, they've got kind of a strange tingle in them, and a weird cracking sound along with it. You try to bend your head down and look, but for some reason you can't tilt it down. You smile at that, because it's okay and you feel good, and decide to just relax as the pretty blue flower tickles your nose. You keep smiling as you close your eyes, suddenly sleepy and-

(To Cryon)

(I require a moment of your time, and a touch of your power. The flowers I send the pawn towards are Poison Joke, the very flowers that Discord crafted all those years ago. At full health, these Discordian blooms are still magical enough to inconvenience the host. A light touch of frost should weaken them enough so that he will absorb the latent chaos magic in the blooms without ill effect. Seeing as this is CHAOS magic, I'm not quite sure what absorbing it will do...it could be anything from the ability to teleport, to the ability to form clouds of cotton candy to ride/fly on.)

(With Respect,)

(Nomad)

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HE SNAPPED HIS FORELEGS LIKE TWIGS! LIKE DAMN TWIGS! HAHAHAHA!!!"

Cryon sat on his haunches upon a fluffy blue pillow that just happened to be occupying the seat of his cold steel throne. The pillow was rather large, easily big enough for his entire colt body to lay on, and was ringed with cyan tassels all along the edges, little ribbons hanging loose from the plump cushioning. In front of him floated a large steel cup, surrounded by the white aura of his magic, with what looked like a large scoop of vanilla ice-cream inside of it, with some kind of light-blue frozen fudge coating it, and a frost-bitten little red cherry sitting upon the very top, and a steel spoon stuck in the side.

Pyrus was on the floor, waving his legs up in the air laughing in front of his brother's throne, as Cryon calmly looked to his ice-cream. The spoon floated out over to Cryon's lips as he opened them up and accepted the tasty frozen meal into his mullet, chomping down and swallowing, clearing the spoon as it slid back out of his lips, before digging back into the ice cream.

As Pyrus continued to laugh, rolling onto his side and chuckling, the cup of ice cream floated down and out of sight, as a white napkin floated up in a white aura, and dabbed at Cryon's lips, before floating away. Cryon looked up to you, with a calm and unflinching gaze, as he began to speak.

"No." He stated simply, before laying down on the pillow, moving his forehooves to rest in front of his chin as he lowered his head to rest on his hooves.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!! AND HE HIT HIS HEAD THREE TIMES IN A FEW HOURS! THREE!"

"Even if the request was not a little late in the receiving, my brother and I do not influence the world directly. We have not for nearly a thousand years. This rule has kept us alive and will not be broken. If we could safely exert our power onto the world then the Host would not be needed." Stated Cryon simply before closing his eyes.

"OH, HAHAHAHA, IT'S, IT'S TOO MUCH! HAHAHAHA!!!"

"And a point of clarification. Discord did not create the Poison Joke, rather he created the environment that gave birth the plant. All living things were forced to rapidly adapt and change with Discord's rampant use of chaos magic, and the Poison Joke was no exception. A regular blue flower previously, chaos magic seeped into the plants and they mutated to use that magic. They embraced a defense mechanism, by which physical contact with potential predators, namely any animal they come into contact with, would cause a magical change to remove the strongest and most defining trait of that creature. Admittedly however it was Discord's touch that made this natural defensive action on the plant's behalf into something of a... prank. It was already interesting, but he wanted to make it funny, so to speak. The flower's effects would actually wear off after several weeks, but those several weeks would be among the worst of the predator's life, assuming they survived with the lack of their strongest ability, and so creatures learned to stay away from the Poison Joke." Stated Cryon, before yawning cutely, and shifting position a bit.

By this time Pyrus had finally reduced his laughing to occasional spurts, gasping for breath as he laid on his die, laughs shaking his body as hot red tears rolled down his eyes.

"Oh, oh man, I'm so glad we chose this guy! HAHAHA!"

"History lesson aside it is not bad that the Host suffers. Without challenge and failure there is no development, and the Host must develop to become a threat that will engulf all of Equestria. Speaking of which, what is happening to the Host now is not a cause for alarm. The previous mutation gained from the Timberwolf blood will keep the Host alive. Right now the Star is taking the Poison Joke's chaos magic from the plants and reserving it in the host's body. Now this will not result in a mutation at the moment as the Star is not sure what the Host needs the most. The Host is not under attack, the forelegs, while they will scar, will be repaired to functional ability, as will the spine, and the star is not sure if "lost" is enough of a reason to mutate. Whatever the host feels is most needed upon waking will bring about mutation. Large and overriding need more probable to cause said mutation." Stated Cryon simply, before a small blue teddy bear with a white belly and black button eyes floated up in a white aura, over to him and nestled in underneath his left forehoof.

"Oh... okay... woooh... ah... ... hey wait... are you talking to me?"

"No brother, I was speaking with the Watchers, however I am done. I am sleepy and wish to take a nap. Please go get the storybook with pictures in it." Spoke Cryon calmly, as Pyrus took another deep breathe, suppressing a chuckle, and nodded, shakily getting to his hooves.

"S-sure thing bro. Heheheh..." He spoke, shaking his head as he stood, and moved out of sight, still chuckling lightly. Cryon opened his eyes again with a calm gaze.

I will reconnect you to the Host's waking hours, after his body has been repaired to the point of sufficient operation." Spoke Cryon simply, raising his front-right hoof, and swirling it around as his eyes glowed blue and-

GASP!

Your eyes snap open, breathe coming quick, pain all over your body as you groan, and quickly close your eyes again and grit your teeth from the hurt... Your whole body feels sore, and bruised, and just plain bad. There's a tingling all over your body and you can barely think straight your head hurts so much... Buck, you think you're bucked up...

Author's Note

So I thought I knew what I was going to do for this chapter... Then realized that I didn't. And hemmed and hawed over what to do, and finally realized what I wanted to do, then changed my mind about a few things, and wrote them again, and I wound up rewriting almost the whole thing. Still not entirely sure how it came out, but I hope it's okay. Between that indecisiveness and school throwing my sleep schedule out of whack, this took forever. I'm sorry about that. I will have to admit that between school and other projects, my time is less free than it used to be, so these are probably going to take longer. Once again sorry, but that's just how it is.

Oh, and I don't know if this is going to be an issue yet because it's gone fine so far, however covering my bases here, I keep the right to reject questions to Cryon and Pyrus when I can't find a good way to incorporate it. I don't want him clonking out every chapter to chat with the Alicorn Brothers unless it makes sense and doesn't cause damage to the flow of the story. And while the brothers are important to the overall plot and they've certainly got character to explore, the main focus is on the Host. Don't want the spotlight straying too often.

Jokes and Yokes

Your head is pounding in your skull. Your body is screaming at you in rage at the pain that's been inflicted upon it by your own idiocy, especially at the knees of your forelegs. But that's nothing compared to the inferno blazing across spine, raging up your back to your brain, consuming your thoughts with suffering. You can't move for the pain, you can't speak for the pain, you can't even think for the torment you are going through.

You whimper softly, your eyes squeezed tight as hot warm liquid runs down your cheeks, streaking your fur. If you could form comprehensible thought processes you might feel ashamed of how pathetic you are right now. But it hurts so bucking much that you just don't care. You want to die, you want those wooden wolves to find you and rip your bucking throat out because it hurts so much! Somepony just end it!

Great. You've oh-so-cleverly gotten yourself lost in the Everfree, abandoned the only being who cares about you, all for the sake of finding out what's wrong with you. Perhaps you just need to be smarter... to be able to put the pieces together better... if you were smart enough to figure out things like this sooner, maybe you'd have less problems. Intelligence never fails.

Good going, dumbass. You bucked up really badly this time. You need to heal. The latent magic resting in you should be able to speed the healing process by quite a bit. If not, well, pray someone as kind as Fluttershy finds you. Because otherwise your journey's over, your love is gone, and you're fucking dead.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Your eyes snap open as your entire spine lights up at once, twitching and spasming on the ground. You start to foam at the lips as you convulse, every inch of your back consumed with an all-encompassing agony! And then you stop. Your legs fall to your sides, drool dribbles from your lips down the side of your cheek. Sweat is thick in your fur and your breathing is ragged. Tears pour from your wide eyes as you stare up into the dark of the Everfree, even as urine expelled during the fit forms a wet patch between your hind legs.

And you feel... Good.

You feel really good. Like take on the world and eat it alive kinda good. Like buck problems and the ponies who brought them kinda good. You're smiling, you're chuckling, and you're feeling fine! So what that your body aches!? So what that your head's spinning, your throat's hoarse, and you just pissed yourself!? You're not dead and that's okay!

No time for self pity, staying in one place in a forest full of predators is hazardous to your health, so ON YOUR HOOVES PONY!!! Best move back to an area of known safety till you can heal and practice a bit more. Retrace your steps and avoid rustling bushes...I hear a cockatrice lives near Zecora's hut.

But it's not. As good as you feel right now you're not one to deny the obvious and the obvious is that you are of course in a shitty position. You are lost, in the lower-center end of the Everfree. And judging by the considerable increase in dimness a significant amount of time has passed. In fact, you are willing to bet that it is night and if your first night here taught you anything it was that when the clouds rolled over the moon, everything went black. Except for the Timberwolves that can see in the damn dark. In short, if you do not get up and get moving, you are bucked.

"R-right... Let's get 'ahem' up and at'em." You say to yourself, rubbing your throat gingerly with your front-left hoof, before you roll onto your stomach, and try to stand on your hooves. They're shaky and wobbly and aching. Especially the forelegs at the knees. You look down to your forelegs and quickly come to a singular conclusion. They look horrible. Patches of fur are missing from the knees over which white scar tissue has formed with a pale green tinge beneath it. This sight should shock you you suppose, but you take it in stride. After all, logically you can conclude something rather positive from this view. You're a superpony.

There's only one possible way that they could be in their current state. They had been broken. Likely fractured in the fall, with the bone splintering out of the knees hence the furless patches, and then had healed while you were asleep. While it was possible that it had been more than one day since you lost consciousness, normally such severe leg injuries would take months of healing at least. You have not gone months without food. You can tell that because you are not dead. Hungry, but not dead, a good indicator that you have not been sleeping for months. Which means that your legs healed up in a matter of hours to a few days. You have super-healing.

"I'm a superpony!" You verbally reiterate happily before pitching forward slightly and letting out a-

'Cough cough cough!' While bringing your wobbly left foreleg up to cover your mouth... and almost collapsing as your front right buckles. You bring your front left back down hurriedly, and between the two and your hind legs you are able to keep yourself from planting flat on your face, pushing yourself back up to a full stand.

"But not entirely..." You mutter. Obviously the healing process is not complete or perfect. Your legs are firm, shaky, and likely to cause you problems while walking. They may still need professional treatment despite your obvious extra-regenerative abilities. All the more reason to get back to Zecora.

...You got lost? Of all the...nevermind. Seeing as you have found some very pretty flowers lets pick...does something feel...off to you? Probably nothing. Well, this was so far a waste of time. You should really head back to Zecora's place and wait for her to wake up. She knows this forest and can act as a guide to the castle where things started going...weird. While you wait for her to wake up, you might as well practise with the sword that now shoots out of your hoof and the big metal rods in your back. The forest is still a dangerous place, it would be a good idea to train yourself to fight. Also, that box...what is in it? You must know, you have to know, once you finish "training" go find out what it is.

Nomad

You look up to the sky with a thoughtful gaze as you begin to think over the best way to get back... considering that you're lost you wouldn't bet on your odds of finding your way back. What does seem hopeful however is that she'll find you. Hours if not days have passed. She will have awoken from her nap, searched her hut, found a destroyed book and a ruined table, and then found her cloak and map missing. Waking to find her hut in that condition, damage but no valuables taken aside from cloak and map would lead to the logical assumption of either an outside attack, or a theft by yourself.

She has established an emotional connection with you. Whether she thinks you're the culprit or not, and you are technically, she will search for you. Either out of worry for you as a possible victim, or revenge due to feelings of betrayal. And she's absolutely sure to find you, as she knows the Everfree better than anypony.

But then there's also the problem of knowing just enough about you to lead her astray. She found you at the castle, and would have believed you to be heading for it if she thought you were a thief, or even just as a place to start. That you were heading for the castle is irrelevant as you never got there, but because you took the map she'd likely assume you could use it to reach said destination, so the first place she'd search would almost certainly be the castle where she found you. Like you she would assume that you'd be able to read and use the map properly when you left. And of course you couldn't, hence your current position.

"Oops." You say with another light sigh... and then smile lightly.

Ah well. You can deal with her when the time comes. Sweet talk her, rub her mane, rut her brains out, whatever you need to do. But to help stack the odds though...

You look down at the plants at your hooves, and think for a moment before nodding, and getting down on your stomach back in the patch, looking at the plant in front of you. Zecora was always collecting plants. And it stood to reason that if these were deadly you'd be dead already. In fact, they could have healing properties, which might mean that they helped you heal up and you aren't a superpony... Nah you're totally a superpony. But whether they were special or not mares were supposed to like flowers, so...

You raise your left forehoof and close your eyes, picturing the Obsidian Blade. The black jagged crystalline swords juts out of your left hoof, the dark blue mist with the glittering silver specks starting to pool around it at the end of your hoof. You grit your teeth a bit, as the weight while still very light makes your aching muscles fire up in protest. You ignore your muscles and bring the blade down to the base of one of the bulbous plants and saw it at the base, cutting it free from the ground and it's roots. You grasp the plant with your right foreleg, pulling it up as your leg shakes with the effort and slowly move it into your cloak, tucking it into a large pocket at the left side.

Task accomplished you look at the black crystal sword for a minute, turning it back and forth, examining it. You watch it eat the moonlight for a few more moments and then close your eyes. You picture the blade breaking apart, turning into a blue mist and retreating back into your hoof, much like you did last time. When you open your eyes you see it gone from your hoof.

"Well at least one good thing came from this fiasco. 'Cough cough' I know that how to summon and disperse the blade..." You mutter, bringing your right foreleg up to rub your sore throat again. You shake your head, and move all your hooves back onto the ground, pushing yourself up to a stand slowly. You turn your gaze up to the steep dirt face... Even if you couldn't only see it in the rays of the moon and it wasn't dark as the inside of a barrel, you're pretty sure you wouldn't be able to climb it. Which leaves only...

You turn your gaze to the deep dark forest on the other side of you as you sigh... And then smirk a bit.

"Well, not any worse than how I started right? Buck considering I've got a sword and damn lightning rods now I'm better off." You mutter, then turn towards the tree-choked darkness, and with a calm slow gait, your knees still wobbling and your body still aching, you walk into the forest canopy, direction unknown...

Lost- that's not a good thing. Not when you know so little about the forest.

No, best thing would be to return to Zecora's hut. Will she be angry? You hope she won't be, you don't want to lose your precious, exotic little Zebra! You couldn't deal with that at all!

And that's a thought that's gnawing away at you, isn't it? What if you screw up, again, and she throws you out? You'd be all alone again! Now now, don't panic- you just need an outlet for your worries, is all. Something to calm you down, even if it's just a gesture. You're sure to feel better afterwards!

So, next time Zecora's asleep, you go to her and lick her ear again, like you've done before, and maybe even more than once. And then you'll tell her that... that... she won't ever get angry with you. She can't get angry with you, no matter what you do. She wants to please you, like in those stories from her home she told you about; the stories where one stallion had several mares serve him. She wants you to be like that, right? And she wants to be one of the mares serving and loving, right? That's why she told those stories in the first place. And, you'd like for her to dream of being a herdmare serving you...

Much better now, right? You're certain you can be a responsible stallion for your herd, you just need the chance to prove it; and if she breaks things off now, you'd never get that chance. Can't have that.

Also: this "herd" thing won't leave you alone. A group of mares serving a stallion together. It does sound attractive... though you still wonder if all of these "herds" came to be on a consensual basis, like Zecora and you, or if some Zebras use more sinister methods. Something sick like potions, or hexes that break free will, forever. Just thinking about something so evil makes you quiver! Better ask Zecora about that- after another ear-licking, that is- if she knows anything about that. If you're ever going to be a brave explorer or the like, you need to be prepared for everything, after all!

Oh, and you should ask her about any friends or visitors she might know. Probably not many ponies visiting her, but who knows? Though, heh, you're absolutely sure there aren't going to be any travelling magicians about, thank Celestia! The last one you saw - Trixie or something, you think- was an insufferable egomaniac, who kept putting everypony else down. Kinda hot, too, but she was such a jerk that you really wanted to see her put in her place, find out how she likes getting tied up with ropes and getting her butt shocked. Ah well, not like that blue nag would ever set hoof into this forest, right?

... You almost feel sorry about that- watching her bound tight, squirming on the ground, and wiggling her butt really would've been a lot of fun...

As you walk through the dark you furrow your brows in thought, hooves carrying you step after step. They still ache but they're not wobbling so much anymore. Not as infirm. And you can deal with the ache, much easier than the pain you felt earlier. Frankly you're more worried at the moment about the fact that you pissed yourself... You blush a bit. THAT might be hard to explain to Zecora... You shake your head. No, you'd be able to explain everything... You wouldn't lose her. You couldn't stand to lose her. You'd... ... Well, whatever you did it'd keep her. She's yours... She knows that. Right? Of course she does! And you'll just reaffirm it to her when she goes to sleep next. Remind her of it. Make sure she's not mad...

Come to think of it she was giving you all kinds of signs, even before you two... Well, rutted. When she was talking about herds... That sounded pretty cool actually. Multiple mares, all at your beck and call, serving your whim... What kind of stallion DIDN'T have fantasies about something like that? It made you wonder how they came about actually. Most likely it involved pregnancy rates and the need to defend the pregnant when it was first implemented, but you can't imagine it was entirely without opposition. It likely caused some arguments along the way and you wondered what kind of social punishments came from not joining herds. Maybe there were even ways to force zebras into herds? You'd have to ask Zecora about that actually. After rutting.

Hmmm, you seem to be fairly sexed up right now actually. You REALLY want to rut. Like, you get it one time then you just want more of it. Is sex habit forming? Anyways, after you make up with Zecora you'll be able to rut her so you won't have to worry about it. And you will make up. You will... Funnily enough all this sex focus is reminding you of that one showmare that came to Manehatten. It was a while back, and she was dragging a wagon behind her. Foals pelted that wagon with fruits, mostly tomatoes. Foals were little bastards... you knew that from experience. When you tried to offer her your sympathies and help her clean her wagon, she shouted at you for daring to put your "dirty hooves" on her wagon. She stated that she was the "Great and Powerful Trixie" and that she didn't need any help from a stinking bum whose life wasn't worth two bits. Something like that.

She left pretty soon after that and you didn't stop her. You wanted to do some really nasty things to her for a bit, but you got over it. Not as though ponies hadn't done worse to you in the past. Still, it's nice to think of punishing her... In ways that're a little more naughty than you originally thought. Tie her up with her flank sticking up in the air, tail up. Shove some dirty rags in her mouth to keep her from talking, put something on her horn to keep her from using her magic and take a rod, then beat her flanks till their red. Cover them in bruises as she sobs, and gets wet at the same time because deep down she's nothing but a pathetic painslut, and when she's like that you pull the rags from her mouth and get her to admit it... Call herself something debasing. The worthless and talentless Trixie? Something like that. Yeah... you wonder if Zecora would be up for some roleplaying...

RUSTLE...

You stop, blink, and turn your gaze to a nearby bush at your right.

... Did you just hear a rustling coming from that bush?

RUSTLE RUSTLE.

Yes, yes you did. You heard a rustling bush. And the odds of a rustling bush in the Everfree Forest NOT containing some predator ready to pop out and eat you? Not good.

You narrow your eyes, and slowly turn to face towards the rustling bush, starting to back away from it slowly... And then a chicken head pops out of the bush.

And it is a chicken head. It's a simple white feathered chicken head, with a tuft of red rising from the top, and a pair of beady black eyes looking straight at you. And you're looking straight at it.

You stare at the chicken head. The chicken head stares at you. You blink. The chicken head blinks. You raise your right eyebrow. The chicken head raises it's right eyebrow. You tilt your head to the right, and the chicken head mirrors you by tilting it's head to the left.

"... ... the buck?" You state succinctly, as you straighten your head, the chicken doing the same.

"What... the buck is a CHICKEN doing in the Everfree Forest?" You question aloud, crouching down and narrowing your eyes as the chicken head leans forward and lowers it's head down in the bush, meeting your gaze.

... Your confusion is great. The presence of a chicken in the Everfree is something that is not only illogical, but... well... it's a bucking chicken in the Everfree forest! How does that even happen?

Just when you thought you couldn't get more confused, you hear a-

CLUCK!

And a second chicken head pops out of the bush, to the left of the first, looking at you with blinking black eyes. Like the other it has white feathers, and a red plume at the top of it's head. You stare at it... then look at the other, then look back...

"Okay, did I die? ... Or were those plants psychedelic or something? Because that actually makes more sense than what I'm seeing right now." You state plainly wanting the chickens to know that they shouldn't exist right now. And then just to screw with you more the chickens grin.

... Since when did chickens have tiny sharp teeth lining their beaks?

Since never.

Your own eyes immediately go wide as you shoot back up from the crouch. The chickens squeeze their eyes shut and open them again as one. Suddenly in place of their black beady eyes are glowing red ones, and in one motion they burst out of the bushes, side by side with their wings and bodies covered in green scales instead of feathers, lizard tails stretching from their behinds. Aside from the little talons at the ends of their feet, and a fair bit of plumpness, the rest of their bodies did not even vaguely resemble chicken bodies. One darts to the left as it exits the bushes and one to the right. You growl, bringing your left foreleg up and to the side as a-

SCHLINK!

Sounds and your black crystalline blade shoots out, edge sharp and ready to slice. Your foreleg drops down a couple inches almost instantly as you wince... Then you smirk as you bring it back up level. Your muscles twitch in your back, checking your rods beneath Zecora's cloak, and your eyes switch between the lizard-chicken things as they grin confidently. You roll your head to the left, and then to the right, before chuckling slightly, narrowing your eyes as you continue to look at the chicken-lizards.

"Well, I wanted to test out my new abilities anyway..." You mutter, still smirking as your brain races in your skull. You're bigger than them, so you normally would probably have a physical advantage. But scaly skin meant natural armor. Teeth were designed carnivorously to bite and tear. And there was something about their eyes that made you... uneasy. Add all that in with the fact that your muscles still ache and you were recently heavily injured, you could be in some real trouble here.

But buck that. You don't care what these chicken-lizard things throw at you. You can handle it.

So what do you do?

MUTATION GAINED: Poisoned Chemistry: Blue plant-like tendrils have formed up the Host's spine all the way up to the brain, acting as a minor back-brace and also steadily pumping a chemical stimulant into the Host's blood stream. The chemical cocktail designed specifically for the Host's Everfree Blood and causes the Host's blood to act as a drug in addition to a poison. For the Host this stimulant improves the effectiveness of the electrical discharge between nerves resulting in both faster and more efficient thought processes as well as general improvements to internal body functions. An improvement to reflexes counteracts the physical sluggishness of the Everfree Blood, and the constant flow of the stimulant through the body's systems dulls pain. This mutation physically manifests externally as a line of light blue lining the Host's spine neck to flank, beneath the skin and able to be seen through the coat. The Side effect of this mutation is a slight mental imbalance with minor manic symptoms and a slight possibility of entering into Hypomanic episodes due to both mental speed and discordant influences. Part of the Discord Legacy.

Author's Note

Are you grateful for Weekends and days off? I'm grateful for weekends and days off.

Because I don't say this anywhere else I'll say this here. Thank you for your comments and all the thoughts you put into your instructions to the Host. It's fun seeing what you come up, playing with it a bit, and moving it into the story. So thank you for your participation. Also for likes and favorites as I like being liked.

Also, slight chance of Hypomanic episode, and minor manic tendencies. Not complete mental overall... yet.

Look Me in the Eyes

Two chicken-lizards have entered the ring! Both challengers are sporting fabulous white feathers, fashionable green scales, glaring red eyes, funny little red puffs on their heads, and weird red highlights on the ends of their wings and cylindrical nubs along their tails. At a combined weight of probably less than you, and a combined height of definitely less than you, both chicken-lizards are going in as tag-team partners to try and bring the pain against the ring's reigning champion! Who will win?! Who will lose?! Well you'll win and they'll lose why the buck are you asking stupid questions?

Tonight's ring is a patch of dirt in the Everfree Forest. This dirt patch, positioned directly beneath a hole in the tree-canopy lets Luna's moon pour down it's light onto the ring, bringing it's luminescent illumination to light up champion and challengers. The audience that shall bear witness to the Champion's victory? A bunch of plants and stars in the night. A big turnout to see two little chickies get their asses handed to them.

You turn your eyes to look from chicken-lizard to chicken-lizard as they circle around you, skirting the bushes as their scales catch the moonlight. Each is bawking and skittering on their claws, flapping their wings angrily, keeping a few feet away from you the whole time, outside of swipe range.

They're snarling, hissing, and glaring with those creepy red eyes. But not attacking. They're certainly putting up an intimidating front. With those glowing red orbs filled with rage, spitting as they hiss, flapping their wings angrily, growling in their throats. But that's all they're doing. Putting up a front. It seems like they're trying to intimidate you. Odd. You'd think they'd go straight for a double-prong kill from both directions like the Timberwolves. But no, they're hissing and snarling and just making a scene, almost like they're-

A thought occours to me...two cockatrices? They are usually extremely territorial...except during the mating season. This is probably a mated pair that will stay together for the remainder of the season...not the point. When cockatrieces mate, the male will amass as many statues as he can to impress the female. Find the statue garden and you might just find the mare the mirror belongs to...who knows what she'd be willing to do in exchange for her freedom.

... Like they're trying to scare you away. Away from something important. These two chicken-bird things are trying to frighten you away from what matters to them. If you had to guess you'd say that they were a couple, birds mated for life or the like. And if they're coming out, both trying to intimidate you away, then they're going to be willing to fight, and fight hard, for whatever it is they're defending... Maybe you should try to leave.

After all a fight isn't exactly the best idea right now. True you've got a bitchin black crystal sword jutting out of your left hoof, a pair of lightning rods on your back, and are a regenerating Superpony. But it's also true that your muscles are sore as buck, the weight of just lifting your sword is hurting your foreleg, and you don't know how damaged your body actually is. Put that against the fact that both those little chicken-lizards have sharp teeth in their beaks, claws on their feet, and natural scale armor, and you could have a serious problem if this comes to conflict.

And then there are those red markings on their wings and nubs on the tail. While you doubt that they're poison, placement on the wings wouldn't make sense for it and the red nubs on the tail are dull at the top, not conducive to piercing and thus poison delivery, you do know that red is a universal sign of "Danger". And these things live in the Everfree Forest, there's got to be some reason they're still alive here and you might not want to find out what that reason is.

Yes the more you think about it the more you think that you really should-

"BAKAW!!!"

WHACK!

Suddenly a pain shatters your thoughts, along with a ringing in your ears and dizziness in your eyes. You stumble a few steps back blinking, and shaking your head, a weird taste in your mouth as you focus your gaze, and see one of the chicken lizards flapping in front of you, curling it's tail with a smirk.

That... did that damn bird just hit you with it's tail?-

"Bakaw!"

PECK!

"Mother-Bucker!" You shout as you a sudden sharp pain in your left shoulder makes you turn and swing your left foreleg in a wide arch. As you turn your see the other chicken-lizard flapping back out of range, smirking as well, with a green stain on it's beak. You're not sure where that green came from but you think that thing just bucking pecked you! Those damn birds just attacked you during your thoughtful introspective time out! The nerve!

...I see you found the Cockatirces...KILL THEM!!! The blood of a Cockatrice acts as an anti-petrification serum. Taking it into your being will keep your body from being turned to stone by most means. The Elements will be able to imprison you, but the process will be slowed considerably. Lick their blood From your blade and gain there strength. Each enemy you slay will strengthen your powers and change your body in a new way. Also...these changes are becomming quite obvious, I recommend keeping that cloak or mabey getting a trench-coat.

Nomad

One of those chicken/lizard/whatever things you could take fairly easy. Two are a bit more difficult, though. You have to careful to keep them from flanking your flanks- maybe something like a mirror will help? You can use it to keep an eye on the both of these things. And damn, are they ugly little creeps... Heh, maybe they'll run away screaming once they see themselves. That would be really funny! You should try that with one, see the look on its face, hah!

And what's with the red eyes? Are they trying to scare you? Oh HAY NO, not this time! If they think they can stare you down, they've got another thing coming! You're done backing down; time to step up! If one of those things takes a swipe at you you'll swipe right back, and if one thinks it can intimidate you just by looking at you, you'll show it a real glare!

Okay buck it these birds are gonna die.

You turn your head to the lift and spit out onto the grass. Partly to look cool, and partly to get that strange taste out of your mouth. Then you turn your gaze to meet the flapping chicken-lizard in front of you, the one that hit you with it's tail, your right eye twitching slightly your anger. You blink to stop the twitching, then narrow your eyes, matching it's glare as it narrows it's eyes at you... And then opens them wide.

You're hit by the sudden power of it's glare, and suddenly begin to feel a bit more intimidated than when they were just flapping around. You also start to feel strange. You try to move back a bit but for some reason you can't feel your hind legs. Or your rump. You look away from the chicken-lizard to look at your hind-legs and-

OH BUCK! OH BUCK! OH YOUR CELESTIA! OH WHAT THE BUCK!?!?! YOUR RUMP IS STONE MAN!!! YOUR RUMP IS BUCKING STONE!!!

It's true. Your rear and hind legs have been petrified into solid grey stone. And you are freaking the buck out inside but outside all you can seem to manage is a small whimper. You're not gonna lie. You're pretty sure if your wiener wasn't just turned rock hard, slight pun intended, you'd be pissing yourself again. Your heart has just leapt up your throat and is pumping twenty times faster you're sure, and your breathe is coming quick and ragged while sweat is forming all across your coat. Forget all that champion and grandstanding crap you are TERRIFIED. Your lower body is STONE! BUCKING STONE!!!

Breathing quickly, panicking immensely, you quickly turn your head back to the Chicken Lizard. And it is now right in front of you face, flapping it's wings with a smirk, red eyes boring into yours. You want to look away but you can't, that gaze, that all-consuming gaze, it's too much! You can't stop staring even as you feel your body turning, you can feel the stone coming over you, freezing you in place and-

"AHHHHH!" You scream, eyes wide with terror as you thrash forward with your left foreleg and-

SCHLICK!

There are three main ways to defeat a Cockatrice. 1) Stare it down, match wills with it. If you win, they can't turn you to stone. 2) The second method is to use a reflective surface, turn its power against it. 3) The hard way, cut the head off. Any of these methods will be adequete...though you might want to grab that mirror...how did a hoof-mirror get out here? Hey, 1) free mirror and 2) its got a symbol on the back, a wand and some mist...does that seem familiar to you?

You blink. The chicken-lizard blinks. And then it's head pops off of it's shoulders in a spurt of blood and lands on the grass, rolling a little before coming to a stop, eyes black once more and wide open with surprise. Blood spurts from the neck stump again, showering you with red as the chicken lizard's body keeps flapping. The body turns this way and that way, flapping side to side, blood spurting up regularly, the warm red liquid landing all over you and splattering across the grass. Soon the wings falter and the chicken-lizard's body falls to the grass with a-

THUD

The body twitches on the ground, right wing and right leg spasming for several moments, the corpse going through it's death throes before finally it just... stops. And lays there, blood pooling out from the neck into the grass.

You stare at the corpse. Your mouth agape and your eyes wide. Copper on your tongue, the chicken's blood in your mouth, some gone down your throat you're pretty sure. Slowly you turn your gaze over to your black blade, held up in your left hoof. Moonlight is glinting off your blade, both in the black and red. Blood is running down the edges from the middle where it severed the head from the neck. You can see the forest and the body reflected in the blood, and your face, surprised and shocked, reflected in the black. Your obsidian blade thing is reflective... Huh. You didn't notice that before.

You look back to the body. And your eyes open wide as you see a red mist rising out of the neck stump. The red mist rises into the air, curling through over to your blade, and seeping into the black crystal... You feel it moving into your gut, into your blood and... well, honestly you start to feel a bit sick. A bit squeamish. You're not sure if you're sick to your stomach from the blood or just... just... Actually the blood wasn't that bad... kinda yummy even. Maybe you should give it another li-

NO! BUCK NO! WHAT THE BUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU'RE NOT DRINKING BLOOD! WHAT THE BUCK!?

You shake your head thoroughly and let out a low groan of agitation. Recently you're starting to think that there might be something really wrong with you, maybe you need a thera- ... Wait, wasn't there another Chicken-Lizard thing? You blink again, then slowly turn your gaze to the left... The other Chicken Lizard is staring at you, the one with the green on it's beak, beak open in shock and eyes wide. It stares at you. You stare at it.

Suddenly it blinks... then moisture starts to form at the edges of it's eyes as it growls, gritting it's teeth, eyes glowing blood red and it flaps up. It looks you straight in the eyes as it's eyes begin to widen and you feel the power of that stare again. Remembering last time you quickly look away, raising your left forehoof to shield your face as you do so.

THUNK!

... ... ... ... Ummmmmm... ... ... Bakawing? Angry clucking? Pecking? ... No? None of that? ... ... You open your left eye ever-so-slightly, peaking out.

The chicken's down on the ground again. Eyes wide. Mouth agape. Body stone.

You slowly lower your left hoof and as you do so you see your reflection in your black crystal blade again, blood still dripping down the sides. You look to your sword, then to the chicken-lizard again, brows furrowed and mouth opened slightly in disbelief... Did it just... turn itself to stone? ... Wow... That's pretty bucking stupid. What kind of species doesn't develop anti-bodies to it's own attack!? Come on, do snakes get poisoned from biting their damn tongues!? ... ... ... Do they? ... ... You should probably ask Zecora about that...

Thinking of Zecora you bite your lip, and move your front right-hoof to pull some of her cloak around you, looking at the blood splatters on it. You got Zecora's cloak dirty... You ruined her book, cut into her table, and now you've gotten her cloak splattered with blood... Way to repay her kindness.

You sigh, and lower the cloak, hanging your head for a moment. You're the reigning champion... that ruins every bucking thing you touch. Way to go. No!

You look up with blazing eyes. You're better than that! So what you made a few damn mistakes, so what you just killed a couple of chicken-lizards. They tried to turn you into bucking stone! They had it coming, and Zecora will forgive you! She likes you! Damn it you gave her your virginity, you're not going to let this get you down and you know exactly what you need to make it all alright!

I have nothing to add. Nomad's got it all figured out. Also, a trench coat would be fucking BOSS!

A trench coat! A trench coat would be bucking boss! You'd be able to hide yourself and not have to borrow Zecora's cloak, and then you could go into town hiding your extremities. Yeah! A bucking trenchcoat's what you need to-

"Uggggghhhhh...

Your head jerks to the side, ears twitching slightly as you hear a sound. Faint. A voice? Somepony groaning nearby?

You look over to the bushes the chicken-lizards popped up from. You're pretty sure that the voice came from that direction. Could it be somepony that got turned into stone by the birds? Did they have a statue garden of some kind!? Buck! What should you do? You're not exactly the most, ummm... presentable. But you might not want to ignore some other pony lost in the Everfree, after all in your current condition some help might be useful...

MUTATION: Anti-Petri Stomach Growths: The inner lining of your stomach has been altered to sport numerous small growths that release a chemical supplement into the stomach acids, causing an anti-petrification chemical compound to be circled throughout the body with nutrients released into the blood stream. No effect on excretions. The nutrients now saturates the muscles and organs of the body with a long-lasting anti-petrification serum. The serum is very weak, but the cumulative nature allows for heavy resistance to petrification. The more regularly and often meals are eaten the more powerful the resistance, as the serum potency stacks. Degradation of the serum effectiveness occurs at a steady rate, only offshot by reapplication through nutrient distribution. A side-effect of this Mutation is occasional stomach-pains.

Author's Note

Long time for a short chapter I know. Wish I could say that I felt confident on this one, but it kicked my rear all over the curb from start to finish. I hope it came out alright.

On to happier things, I found a very interesting character comparison and analysis on YouTube. Considering that this analysis concerns one character that is already in the story and another character that definitely WILL BE in the story, I figured that I'd include it here. Hope you find it interesting.

A Comparison of Trixie and Zecora

Proud and Annoyingly Loud

Welp, pick up the victim an' get home, whomever it could possibly be that was caught by the chickenz, they'll be needing rest and relaxation.

Meanwhile, you got some 'splaining to do, no doubt Zecora will give you the benefit of the doubt, but be prepared to apologize for kinda breaking a lot of stuff.

A voice, huh? You should probably help. Rewards are present where help is offered. I imagine they'll be very grateful to you. And if they aren't, well, you are alone in the forest. Persuade them.

If there's somepony there, they might need your help. Better go and investigate! You'll probably have to take them to Zecora with you... once you remember just where Zecora's hut is.

Ugh, being lost is so frustrating! But you're not letting that get to you. Nope, everything's going to be all right! Once you get back to Zecora, you can talk to her, maybe make up, maybe more... Just thinking of your cute little Zebra's cute stripey flanks gets a smile to your muzzle. You're getting worked up again, but- who cares? Not like anypony's around to judge you.

Now go help those ponies in need!

You look towards the bushes as you listen for the faint groaning coming from somewhere beyond them. Furrowing your brows you bring up your right forehoof to rub your chin thoughtfully, as you proceed to share these thoughts with anything and everything within earshot.

"Let's see. I'm lost, alone, and responsible for the deaths of a couple of chicken-lizards. And somewhere beyond that bush is somepony who was probably lost, alone, and got completely owned by aforementioned chicken-lizards. That pony, or ponies if these lizards had some kind of statue garden, will probably be scared out of their wits. They might even be in active danger. While this hypothetical danger is a potential risk to myself, being alone in the Everfree Forest could be considered to be a much greater risk, especially given my muscle soreness and unknown levels of body damage. Also there is a very real possibility of reward gained from aid rendered due to a pony's inherent desire to reciprocate when help is received." You speak slowly as you continue to rub your bloody hoof across your chin.

"In addition, helping whoever that pony is might make up for, well let's not mince words, destroying Zecora's book and kinda ruining her table and cloak. While my rather cuddletastic zebra lover seems pretty forgiving and smitten with me I maaaaay want to stack the deck a bit in my favor. Due to her obviously altruistic nature giving aid to other ponies may decrease her frustration and increase the probability of her forgiving me in a timely manner. And then we can go home, have a talk, eat because I am bucking starving, then proceed to snuggle under the covers as I rub my hooves down her nice warm body, rubbing her stomach and nuzzling her neck, before sticking my cock in and rutting her like a mare in heat..." You spoke, a grin coming to your lips... and blood moving to your crotch.

"W-wait! No! No stop that right now! Bad arousal, bad! Settle down! I WILL hit you if I have to... Wait no that might backfire. Just, just settle down alright?!" You speak rapidly and angrily to your crotch, face flushing as you then squeeze your eyes shut and actively attempt to reduce your horniness by thinking unsexy thoughts involving nasal hair. Slowly but surely your best friend settles down grudgingly inside of his sheathe, grumpy and still a bit more sensitive, but not about to pop out.

You bring your front right hoof up to meet your face, breathing out heavily.

"Ugggghhhhhh... what's up with me recently? I didn't think this much about sex in Manehatten..." You mutter, before lowering your hoof back to the ground and straightening up, looking directly ahead towards the bushes.

"In any event the conclusion is clear! Help will be rendered to whatever pony lies beyond those bushes in the hope of a reciprocated reward!" You speak firmly... before blinking.

"Since when did I use such big words?" You ask... then furrow your brows.

"And since when did I start talking to myself?" You mutter, before shaking your head and shrugging it off.

"This place must be getting to me." You state simply before bringing your left forehoof up and turning your eyes to the blade, looking it over, grimacing at the dried blood all over the otherwise pristine weapon.

"Right then. First thing's first, let's put you up." You say to the inanimate and insentient object, before closing your eyes and concentrating. You think of the blade dissipating back into your hoof, picture the silver-light filled blue mist swirling back into your hoof as the blade breaks apart. You finish the image in your head and when you open your eyes your hoof is once again bare... well, except for all the dried blood on it.

You hope you don't scare whoever's groaning over there. Right now you look like you stepped right out of a nightmare. Or went hoof to toe with two Everfree critters!

Oh. Right.

Dammit, if you could get rid of all this blood you wouldn't have a problem! A Unicorn would just, just wave her horn around, and poof it away, you bet! Prissy hornheads... You're not a tribalist, but not having magic just plain sucked sometimes. Probably wouldn't have been treated like dirt by that showmare if you'd been a Unicorn, either. You could tell by the way she looked at you- that she thought you were merely a Dirt Pony! Bucking tribalist... thinks you're worthless, eh? You'll show her...

Great, now you're ruining your good mood again. Okay, first rescue ponies, then deal with what-is-certainly-not magic envy later, at Zecora's. And no more thinking about that prissy blue tribalist, and what you want to do to her prissy blue tribalist butt!

You grimace again as you stare at your bloody hoof. You have to look terrible by now. Covered in your enemy's blood, dried all over your coat and cloak, scarring on your cheek and forelegs and flank, and who knows how many other places that you just haven't noticed yet? You've got to be downright terrifying to behold by now, like a shadow from ancient black pits of old. A pity you're not a unicorn. If you had a horn you could just make all this dried blood vanish with some fancy-schmancy magic and move on no problem! ... Actually unicorns take baths, so it's probably not that easy. Ugh, you're wasting time. You'll just have to risk giving the pony a heart attack.

Resolved to your task you put your hoof back down into the grass and venture forth, moving to the bush. You start walking through and begin to wince as twigs scratch at your legs and pull at your cloak, the underbrush plaguing you as soon as you enter it. You're a bit concerned that the cloak might rip, causing further damage to goods that you've already made less than pristine. Luckily it seems to be made out of a pretty thick material so it actually tugs some of the branches lose as they snag, snapping them off of the bushes. Take that bushes!

You grunt and wince as you pull yourself through more bushes over towards the groaning sound. It isn't that far and you can actually see a small clearing in the moonlight as you approach, but between the tugging of the bushes and your own muscle soreness even this short distance is a struggle to walk through. Bucking bushes. You pull yourself into the clearing and reach around to Zecora's cloak with your front-right hoof, brushing off some of the twigs that got snagged on the material.

"Hmph, bucking forest..." You mutter, before raising your head to look around the tiny patch of clearing behind the bushes.

"Now let's see who-" You say as your eyes move down to the source of the groaning. And your jaw drops open, wide and gaping, just waiting for an opportunistic bug to fly in.

No. Bucking. Way.

There in the patch of clearing beyond the bushes, illuminated by moonlight and groaning on the ground is a young mare. She has a dark blue coat, purple eyes, and a white and pale-blue mixed mane. She's wearing a floppy purple wizard hat crammed with pictures of stars and moons, a purple cape also crammed with star and moon pictures, and wearing a light cyan gem at the front as a clasp for the cape. Her flank is rather nice to look at, not toned like Zecora's and a little slim but with a natural sleekness and subtly suggestive curvature that is really rather attractive. Her cutie mark is that of a wand upon it, a silver wand with a star shape at the top and a wisp of light blue streaking around it's middle.

This mare is not unknown to you. You still remember what she called herself while she was making it clear that your life was worth less than her spit. She calls herself the Great and Powerful Trixie... and as far as you are concerned she is an arrogant waste of space.

You stand with your dropped jaw for several moments, just staring at the softly groaning form of Trixie, slowly waking from her slumber, before you grit your teeth. You slump your shoulders, hang your head, and stare at the grass beneath your blood covered hooves with glaring eyes. Of all the ponies all over Equestria, of all the potential victims who could have been in the Everfree, of any POSSIBLE pony who could have been stoned by these SPECIFIC chicken-lizards, it had to be HER!?!? What the buck life!? WHAT THE BUCK!?!?

Now it wasn't as though you had a big grudge match with her or some sort of long-running rivalry to justify your hatred. You interacted with her for literally less than a minute in Manehatten and never saw her again until now. That was enough. With that tiny little moment of time in your life she managed to make you feel worse than nearly every other pony you had ever encountered, and THAT was a big BUCKING accomplishment! She spoke to you like you were a stain, a piece of dirt, less than nothing! Why the buck should you help her!? Why should you?! ... ... Because despite your extremely negative opinion of her all the previous reasons you came up with remain valid... You're going to help her aren't you? ... Yep. Buck your life.

You look back to the unicorn mare as she slowly lifts herself up, shaking her head, body trembling as she gets up to her hooves. You remember what you just recently thought about doing to her pretty blue flank and you are suddenly very glad that you got blood splattered onto your face. The probability of her seeing you blushing beneath the dried blood is incredibly unlikely.

"I... what... where..." Muttered the unicorn, shaking her head and stumbling shakily, apparently disoriented. You bring your front right hoof up to your mouth, clearing your throat and taking a calming breath. She probably doesn't even remember you, best to try and be polite. You lower your hoof and breathe out slowly, before speaking in a calm voice.

"Hello how are yo-" You start as she looks up.

"AAAIIIIIEEEEEE!!!" She shouts, very loudly, causing you to wince from the pain in your ears. If every predator within a mile needed a hint on where to find their next meal they just got one. The shrieking mare proceeded to promptly hide beneath her hat, cowering down in the grass and bringing her forehooves up to pull her headwear down over her eyes.

"Please please don't hurt me! I'm too great and powerful to die!" She begged, leaving you blinking. Is she... mixing cowardice with arrogance? ... How does somepony even do that?

You sigh, and bring your front left forehoof up to your face, breathing in deep before exhaling slowly and lowering your hoof back to the ground.

"Trixie I'm not going to-"

"You know my name?!" Shouted the mare, peaking out from under her hat with wide and terrified eyes.

"What do you seek from me apparition?! Are you a beast from Tartarus sent to punish the Great and Powerful Trixie for her crimes against ponykind!?" Practically shrieked the mare, her voice filled with mortal fear. Your right eye begins to twitch slightly as you grit your teeth once more. Does this mare have no concept of volume control?

"No Trixie I am a pony. From Manehatten. And crimes against ponykind?" You ask, right eye still twitching. You grunt and shake your head a bit, stopping the twitching as Trixie gulps.

"T-then you are not here for Trixie..." Spoke the showmare slowly, cautiously, before jumping up to her hooves with wide eyes and bringing both her forehooves up, standing on her hind legs as she rapidly waved her forelegs in front of her.

"Uhhhh forget the crimes against ponykind! The Great and Powerful Trixie has committed no crimes of any kind to any ponies! Trixie is as infallible as she is great and above such pettiness!" Spoke the mare before going back down on all fours and straightening up, throwing her head up and to the left and closing her eyes, bringing her right hoof up again to wave through the air in a dismissive gesture. Before proceeding to snap her head towards you, eyes furrowed in a glare as her right hoof shot to point towards you.

"But you look like exactly the sort of IGNORANT brute to commit heinous and unforgivable crimes! You appearance is so horrific! So barbaric! You wear blood upon your fur like an ugly savage!" She accused, loudly, before raising her chin to you as she brought her front-right hoof to her chest with pride, eyes closed as arrogance overtook her expression

"Whilst the Great and Powerful Trixie takes care to keep her incredible and luxurious coat as grand and impressive as Trixie herself!"" Proclaimed the mare still very loudly.

Your right eye starts to twitch again, as you grit your teeth. Did she seriously just go from thinking you were a monster sent to punish her to accusing you of being a degenerate savage?! Does this damn mare have a mute button!? A volume control of any sort!? AND UGLY SAVAGE?!?! WHO THE BUCK DOES SHE THINK SHE- ... Oh right, stupid question.

You close your eyes and breathe in deeply, right eye still twitching... getting angry won't help you right now. As bucking annoying as this mare is there's still a significant tactical advantage to keeping her around. Bait, for example. She'd make great bait for whatever monster you run into next. With that in mind, you start your next sentence with a level voice.

"Trixie I-"

"Wait!" Shouted Trixie, interrupting you AGAIN as her eyes snap open before narrowing a glare at you, bringing her front-right hoof up to point towards you.

"If you're a pony from Manehatten then how do you know Trixie's name!?" Asked Trixie, voice suddenly full of suspicion. Once again before you could answer she seemed to come to her own solution, as she gasped, looking at you wide-eyed with an almost gleeful glint in her eyes, suspicious scowl turning into a broad smile.

"Are you a fan of the Great and Powerful Trixie's show!? Did you come looking to congratulate her!?" Asked Trixie, before assuming that was the answer and straightening up once more, a confident smirk on her face and cocky crook to her eye.

"Well it is only natural! Of course the GREAT and Powerful Trrrrixie!!! Is the most magnificently magical mare to have EVER lived!!!" Shouted the showpony as she got up onto her hind legs and stretched her forelegs up towards the sky as a-

FLASH!

BANG!

CRACK!

Sounded, fireworks appearing all around her, of multiple colors and shades, even one spinning wheel of fireworks appearing out of midair. Your jaw drops as your right eye twitches intensify. What the buck!? Is she TRYING to attract predators!? Is she CRAZY!?!?

"For Celestia's sake be quiet!!!" You shout, Trixie's head snapping to look towards you with surprise in her eyes, right before she staggers and falls back off of her hind legs and onto her rump, the fireworks vanishing.

"B-b-bu-"

"We are in the middle of the Everfree Forest, THE most dangerous place in all of Equestria, and you are making more noise than a damn one-pony marching band! And I'm not a fan! You just shouted your name so loud in Manehatten that I remembered it, alright! That's it!" You shout, the anger in your voice causing Trixie to back up a little in the dirt as she looks to you, a fresh fear in her eyes.

Yes, listen to the others. Whomever this voice belongs to needs help, and should they see fit to reward you, who are you to refuse? likewise, see if they can point you to a landmark on Zecora's map, should help you be slightly less lost.

You close your eyes and breathe in deeply, then breathe out slowly, calming yourself down and finally getting your twitching eye to stop... Then you open your eyes once more, looking to Trixie with a tired half-gaze.

"Look, we're lost in the bucking Everfree forest. Now's not the time to put on a show, now's the time to find our way to safety so just come over here and tell me whether you can read this map or not." You state bluntly, as you reach into your cloak and pull out Zecora's map.

Trixie slowly gets back to her hooves, a bit of nervousness still in her eyes, before she shakes herself off and straightens up, adopting a haughty look, with some resentment mixed in as she glares at you. Nevertheless she starts to approach as you lay the map down on the grass, but then she stops, sniffs the air, and makes a sour face. You look back up to her arching your right eyebrow.

"What?" You ask as Trixie grimaces, bringing her front-right hoof up to cover her nose.

"You stink!" She speaks, slightly nasally as your eyes snap wide open at her pronouncement. She pulls her head up and to the left, hoof still over her nose as she continued in her nasal voice.

"Your unbearable odor offends the Great and Powerful Trixie's nose! And she will not stoop to approaching someone as ODOROUS as they are ignorant!" She proclaims, loudly, to the entire world that luckily just consists of plants and dirt.

You blush hard beneath the blood on your coat, cheeks turning warm, and grit your teeth as your right eye twitching comes back full force.

"Just look at the damn map!" You shout, and Trixie shoots you a glare from the sides of her eyes. She throws her head even further up and to the left while closing her eyes, letting out a-

"Hmph!" Her hoof still covering her nose as her hat lifts up off of her head, encased in a purple glow, revealing her purple glowing horn. The map suddenly glows purple and flies out from in front of you to unfurl before her, as her eyes open to give a critical glare over the parchment.

It's times like this that you can really envy those unicorns. All they have to do is THINK hard enough, and things happen for them...maybe that thing in the box will help you to do something similar.

Nomad

It's times like this that you really envy unicorns. It was such a simple action, levitating the map away from you to unfurl in front of her, so easy and effortless... It kinda pisses you off that she just did it to avoid smelling you.

You straighten up looking to Trixie with a glower as she looks over the map with furrowed brows, and then narrows her eyes further, letting out a growl, and then bringing her front-right hoof down to stamp into the dirt while letting out an exasperated-

"Gaaah! This isn't a map! This is a foal's drawing!" She shouts as she abruptly tosses the map aside with her magic and releases it from her glow, letting it fall into the dirt. You grit your teeth again at her mistreatment of Zecora's property before moving over to it quickly, starting to roll it up once more as Trixie continues.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie cannot be expected to make sense of a foal's drawing! It is impossible!" She proclaimed, holding her chin up with closed eyes as her hat levitated back down onto her head, before the glow faded. You narrow your eyes and let a low exasperated growl pass by unheard, before tucking the map back into Zecora's cloak and speaking harshly.

"Well that's too bad, because if you can't read this then we're lost." You speak plainly, straightening up as Trixie's head snapped to look to you with wide eyes.

"W-what!?" She asked, fear sparking behind her eyes once more.

"Yes. Lost. So we're reduced to wandering around aimlessly until we find some way to Zecora's." You state plainly, as Trixie stares at you with a jaw wide open.

"D-did you say Zecora?" Asked the showmare with wide eyes, prompting you to look back up to her with your right brow raised.

"Yes. Do you know her?" You ask curiously. While you can't imagine Zecora having a friend so... ... well Trixie, she DID say that she had friends in the nearby town now. And it would actually kind of make sense for her to have been looking to visit Zecora when she got stoned. Though you REALLY do not want Zecora to actually be friends with Trixie.

Trixie seems to blanche at your question, face going a bit pale as she responds.

"Uh-no! Not at all! I just heard she was a zebra living in the woods is all! Nothing more to my knowledge than that!" She shouted, a very clear tinge of panic in her voice causing you to raise your eyebrow a bit more... ... Crimes against ponykind related maybe? Something you'd better ask Zecora about...

Trixie breathes in deep for a minute, before shaking her head and drawing herself up once more, gulping down a lump in her throat before looking haughtily to you, regaining her composure.

"W-well! The Great and Powerful Trixie will lead the way then! As you are obviously too incompetent to be trusted with the task of leading if you can't even read a simple map!!!" She spoke, striding forward and brushing past you, holding her breathe you note, as she began to move in a random direction through the bushes. You give up trying to stop your right eye from twitching and instead focus on not grinding your teeth as you turn growling after Trixie. You want to tell her to buck off and you'll lead, but honestly you have no reason to believe that would lead to a better result. You'd be just as lost and clueless as she is. Better for her to be at the front as bait anyways.

So, letting out a deep sigh and gritting your teeth you walk forward, following after the annoying mare who switched from scared and whimpering to above it all and superior, into the dark.

Well done pony, a fine battle. You hear a voice? Go to it, he/she might need your help...and there are rewards for those that lend a helping hoof. Too bad you didn't spot that mirror though. Get the survivor, get back to Zecora's, and get some sleep...you seem to heal faster while you sleep.

"Trixie is 'pant' tired! The Great and Powerful Trixie has been walking forever! She demands 'pant' that we stop for a rest!"

Trixie and you have been walking for hours, wandering aimlessly through the Everfree, and you can't help but note with some smugness that the coat she was bragging about earlier is now nearly as bad as yours. Broken twigs and leaves caught in the fur, scratches from thorns and brambles, beadlets of sweat glistening all over her from hours of movement, and more than a little matted dirt from various trips and falls. Her cape, not made out of the sturdy stuff of Zecora's cloak, has been torn and ripped in some places by various branches, and her mane is a mess with leaves and twigs caught in it. All in all she looks miserable and bedraggled and you love it.

As much as you enjoy watching her like that though you have to admit that you're not much better. Your muscles were sore before and while the pain seems to have nulled they still ache with every step you take. It's tiring and exhausting and you're sure that your muscles haven't gotten this level of a work out in your entire life! And you think the mixture of sweat and dried blood has colored your coat a bit where it splattered... Yeah you really wish you two had found a stream or something. On the plus side you're not hungry anymore. While you would have preferred to have waited to get to Zecora's to eat you decided to chance ill-health once more by chomping down on the Everfree grass. Trixie of course had to make an arrogant proclamation about it which you ignored. But still, overally you're not in good shape either, and pretty exhausted as well. While you hate to agree with her you want to take a break just as much as her.

Luckily, even as she makes her annoyingly loud proclamation (you are AMAZED that she hasn't attracted any predators) you both come into a clearing. The sun is just starting to rise in the distance, casting morning light onto a grassy patch next to a large tree, with five or six dirt patches all over the clearing and a bed of green moss right in front of it, a few white flowers upon the bed.

"Ah! Finally! Cushioning!" Shouted Trixie as she practically dashed forward to the moss bed, throwing herself down into the moss and laying back with a sigh, splaying out her legs as she basked in the feeling. Which of course completely revealed her marehood to you. You quickly tear your eyes from it as a blush comes to your cheeks, and quickly repeat the mantra of- Buck-buck-buck-buck-buck! As you fight the blood flow to your crotch.

"While this bed is not deserving of the Great and Powerful Trixie's presence it shall suffice!" Spoke the showmare, oblivious to your struggle to prevent your stallionhood from coming out in full view. She turned over in the moss bed, lounging about against the cushioning as she brought her left forehoof up and motioned over towards a one of the dirt patches.

"You, Trixie's unworthy assistant, can bed down in the dirt where you belong." She spoke, so casually that it almost took you a second to register exactly what it was she had just said.

Your jaw drops. Your eyes go wide. And you just stand there, for several moments, staring at Trixie as she lounges back on the moss bed, before finally looking back to you. She cocks her right brow as she sees your absolutely flabbergasted expression.

"What? What is it? Does Trixie have something on her face?" Asked the confused showmare, bringing her right hoof up to rub her face a bit, and then looking to it, checking for foreign substances. You ignore this as you start to shake with rage, as it rises up through your body, processes through your mind, and funnels out through your mouth.

"You... you... you BUCKING TRIBALIST!!!" You shout, causing Trixie to jump up, eyes wide with surprise as you step forward menacingly, absolutely enraged as you throw caution to the bucking wind and start to scream out at the mare.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!!! HOW DARE YOU!?!? AFTER I BUCKING SAVED YOUR SORRY FLANK HOW DARE YOU!?!? YOU THINK YOU'RE SO BUCKING SUPERIOR FOR HAVING A DAMN HORN!?!? DO YOU YOU PRISSY BITCH!?!?" You shout, causing Trixie to back up rapidly against the tree, eyes widening as she seems to realize what she just did.

"I-I no! No Trixie did not mean it like that!" She spoke, raising her forehooves and waving them frantically in front of her in an attempt to ward you off.

"THEN HOW THE BUCK DID YOU MEAN IT!?!?" You roar at the cowering showmare.

"Trixie just meant that you were less than her! But not like that! Trixie is better than everypony! It has nothing to do with your, um, class that you're-"

"MY CLASS!?!?"

"Tribe! Species! Orientation! Please don't hurt me!" Shouted Trixie, pulling her hind and forehooves in cowering in the fetal position in front of you as you breathe in and out rapidly, veins bulging, face red beneath the dried blood, throat sore from the yelling... But seeing her cowering against the tree actually takes an edge off your temper... She didn't do it on purpose. She's just a useless and frightened fraud trying to keep herself calm by embracing her arrogant persona. Not worth it.

You breathe in deeply once more, then breathe out slowly, a long calming breathe as you count to ten... And then continue to glare down at the cowering showmare.

"I am going to go sleep over there. Behind the bushes." You say with gritted teeth, pointing over with your left forehoof to a set of bushes near the edge of the clearing. You then lower your forehoof, still glaring at the showmare as she slowly lowers her forehooves to look to you with frightened eyes. You don't think she's going to argue as you continue to speak.

"And you are going to sleep in your damn moss bed. And then when we wake up we are going to keep going, and find our way to Zecora's. Do you understand?" You ask to which Trixie gulps, and nods.

"Good." You state curtly, then turn and walk over to the bush, away from the annoying showmare, and step behind it to lay down with your back towards the blue unicorn. You close your eyes and shift position with a growl, bringing your hooves up to loosen the strings around Zecora's cloak, and pull the dried-blood covered heavy cloth over your form as you lay down. You twitch your back muscles slightly, feeling your steel rods as they move a little, before satisfying yourself that so long without use hasn't made them sore, you shift position again and breathe in and out calmly, trying to go to sleep.

You're not exactly comfortable, but you've had worse and at least Zecora's cloak keeps the wind off of you. The morning light helps to, keeping it fairly warm so you don't have to worry about shivering. And as you lay there trying to fade to black your mind turns to that insufferable, annoying, selfish, cowardly, STUPID CUNT OF A MARE!!! BUCK YOU WANT TO RIP HER INTO LITTLE PIECES!!! BEAT HER UNTIL SHE'S GOT MORE BLACK AND RED THAN BLUE!!! PUNISH THAT BUCKING FLANKS OF HER AND... That... ... Okay, okay... right, calm, calm is good. No more thinking about the stupid bucking bitch. Time to go sleep.

... ... ... Time to go to sleep.

... ... ... Sleepy time.

... ... ... BUCK GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!!!

You growl as you toss and turn... Laying beneath the cloak, moving this way and that way, adjusting position, adjusting position again, and then pawing at the ground slightly before turning again, grunting and growling as you try to will yourself to sleep.

What the buck!? Did a bed ruin you? No! No way. And you're more than tired enough to go to sleep with these damn aching muscles of yours. It must be that you're not bored enough, you're still thinking. Solution! Counting sheep!

One! Two! Three!

An hour later...

Seven hundred. Seven hundred and one. Seven hundred and two.

Another hour and thirty minutes later...

One thousand five hundred and thirty two... One thousand five hundred and thirty three... one... ... zzzzzzzzzz...

(To the Brothers)

(I am concerned with how the Alicorn Amulet will affect a non-unicorn pony. While it is true that the Amulet will increase the power of the Star of Woe, the gain of a horn would be useful. Also, if the survivor is the pony I think it is, we have a magic tutor on standby.)

Cryon breathed in and out softly, eyes closed, holding his blue teddy with a white belly and black eyes close to his body with his left foreleg. A small white blanket was stretched out over him with blue edging around it. And the alicorn himself was laying on a pair of spread black metal wings, belonging to his brother.

Pyrus was prone with his hooves tucked underneath him, black iron all over his body, patches of red fur sticking out and the only places not majorly covered being his neck and face. His mane was covered over with the black iron however and it seemed to spread across his head like a molten helmet, red horn sticking out with black gathered around the base. Pyrus was looking back to his brother with an affectionate and gentle smile... before he caught you out of the corner of his reptilian red eye, and jerked his head to you with a scowl.

"Look my brother's sleeping so you can kindly bu-" He started, then his left ear twitched, causing him to cock his head, listening... He furrowed his brows, thinking for a moment... and then sighed, closing his eyes and lowering his head, shaking it slightly before lifting it back up and opening his eyes again, looking to you with a resigned expression.

"Alright, fine it's a legitimate concern. This is my specialty anyways." He spoke, before shifting position slightly, moving his forehooves forward out from under his body and crossing them in front of him. Rolling his head side to side, before looking at you with a light glare.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie. More like the Weak and Worthless Trixie. She who you were expecting? Bucking cunt. You know how much damn work it took to get the Alicorn Amulet into a shifty enough pony's hooves who'd be willing to sell the damn thing? And then how much work it took to get her to learn about it!? And then to learn where it was!? Bucking Tartarus I was projecting all over the damn continent to get her to that amulet and then what does she do? She trades it in for a DA-" Pyrus starts to shout and then looks back as Cryon moans slightly in his sleep, shifting position. Pyrus bites his bottom lip slightly with a row of black metal fangs, drawing a little blood from the still soft flesh, before looking back to you and bringing his pitch back down.

"For a damn doorstop. Anyway that cunt wasted an opportunity and I'm not about to see you lot do the same, so here's what you need to know. The Alicorn Amulet's effects on a pony aren't based on whether they're a horn-head or not. Common misconception because unicorns are typically seen as the powerful ones that do the freaky shit, like Sombra who took over the whole damn crystal empire, beating out an alicorn to do it I might add. Buck I was proud of that little bastard. That bitch princess had it coming to... nice flank though. Pity I couldn't tap that plot before he rammed a crystal shard through her eye. Even bigger pity that the foals survived..." Muttered Pyrus, furrowing his brows and growling slightly... Before shaking his head again with an aggravated sigh and looking back up to you.

"Anyway a horn is just an implement to focus the inherent magic within a pony and unicorns have got a bit more of it. It's nothing to brag about. Most of them can only manage really basic shit for convenience sake, and spells related to their special talent. Unicorns whose talent is magic, like Sombra's was, are the exception not the rule. They can be truly powerful but there ain't many of them." Spoke Pyrus, bringing his left forhoof up to scratch the side of his head with a sigh, metal grating on metal as he scratched, before lowering the hoof back down.

"What's important to realize is that all the pony races have inherent magic ingrained into their biology. And the Amulet goes for the magic that it finds already in the pony, it doesn't make new magic. It takes the magic present in a pony's genetic structure and warps it, increasing it immensely while at the same time throwing their chemical systems out of wack, leading to insanity and instability. It supplements for vital nourishments with it's own inherent magic that acts pretty much as aggression fuel, increasing cruelty and anger in the wearer. If this goes on long enough the body adjusts for the supplement and becomes reliant on it. That dumb bitch Trixie kept wearing the thing than eventually taking it off would have killed her. If she'd lasted that long then at least she'd have done some real damage before she croaked!" Spoke Pyrus, raising his voice a bit again, and then stopping as Cryon shifted position on his back again. Pyrus lowered his head and sighed, breathing out black smoke as he calmed down... Then looked back up to you.

"So yeah, unicorns are the easiest to see this with but it works just fine with Pegasi and Earth Ponies to. You hang around one of them long enough while they're wearing the amulet and you'll start to see some freaky shit. For example a Pegasus wearing the Alicorn Amulet would gain a mastery of flight and the weather that would be truly bucking awesome to behold! I'm talking tornadoes when they got pissed and sonic shockwaves kinda awesome! While an Earth Pony would get a mastery of the ground beneath their hooves, like plant-growing and shit making whole forests of pony-eating trees and shit like that. It was Nightmare Moon's Earth Pony magic that started the Everfree. Me and my brother just gave it a bit of encouragement after it got going. And also they'd get really really buff! Hit'em with a train and they'd shrug it off kinda buff, pull whole buildings without breaking a sweat! It's pretty bucking awesome." Spoke Pyrus with a smile on his face, before the glower came back and he leveled a glare at you.

"But that's when shit's normal for the pony. Right now shit ain't normal. Me and my brother made the Alicorn Amulet to tempt the souls of mortal ponies back when I had the run of Tartarus and could use the damn forge there. Pounded out from molten obsidian, ruby charged with the souls of raging beasts, a bit of my blood poured into the mold to make sure that it could effect ANY pony that put it on... it's a really bucking scary piece of work. But the Star of Woe's a much older much scarier piece of work, made by something a lot more powerful than my brother and me. When the host puts on the Amulet it and the Star will fight for control. The Star will try to eat the Amulet to use as mutation fuel and the Amulet will try to fight back by latching on to the magic inherent in the host. I'm not entirely sure how it'll play out actually. The Star won't lose, but I'm not sure what'll happen to the Amulet. Should be interesting." Stated Pyrus bluntly, laying his head down on his forelegs, down from a glare to a glower.

"However it plays out the host will get a huge power jump. If you want that to go into making a horn on his head then jealousy and envy of unicorns is a good feeling to encourage. Careful of encouraging that kind of thought when other catalysts happen by though. You could get a really freaky horn depending on how you play it, or yaknow a cool one whatever. If you want him to turn into an Alicorn, like my brother and me or those bitch princesses, then alicorn jealousy'd be a good thing to encourage. I'm not fond of having another one of us out there but hey, desperate bucking times. If you just want to see what happens, and where the power will go undirected, then sit back and watch the show. Whatever you do remember, it's not going to be pretty whatever happens. The Host's body will act as a battleground between two old badass evils, and there's almost definitely going to be some collateral. But it's funny when he screams, so buck it." Spoke Pyrus, before growling slightly and closing his eyes.

"Now I'm going to catch twenty winks, so kindly buck off!" Spoke Pyrus, snapping his eyes open as a vicious red light pours from his orbs and-

... ... ...

"AAAIIIEEEEE!!!" A very familiar screech from an unfortunately familiar mare causes you to jerk out of your sleep and scramble to your hooves. You just stop yourself from standing up fully, and keep yourself hidden behind the bush. You blink a few times, still in the just awoken daze, and then grimace, turning to face towards the bush separating you from the shrieking Trixie. You glare at the bush hoping it gets to her on the other side. She probably just saw a damn spider or something.

"Pretty little pony has a pretty gem! Where did you get the gem pretty pony?" Sounds a high-pitched yet kind of craggly voice from where you just heard the shrieking showmare.

... Or not.

Cautiously you lean up to peak out over the edge of the bush and see Trixie backed up against the tree next to her moss bed, her hat fallen down to her left and her cape crumpled from having been slept on. Her eyes are wide, her body is shaking, and her throat is emitting soft whimpering sounds.

In front of the unfortunate and arrogant showmare, standing tall and ugly, is a strange being unlike anything you've ever seen before. Which, you have to admit, is getting to be kind of a pattern here. It looks kind of like a dog, with dull white fur covered with black spots, a thin white tail, floppy black ears, and a shiny black nose. It's standing on two kinda stumpy legs that end in feet that make you think of a dog's paws. Most of it's body height comes from it's large torso, with two long arms coming down from the shoulders and ending in four-clawed fingers at it's sides.

It's wearing what looks like a black collar around it's neck with diamonds embedded into the collar, and a small grey sleeveless jacket with thin outer pockets on both sides, stuffed with brightly colored gem shards, sharp and jagged, peaking out from the pockets and catching the rays of the afternoon sun. It's coat and jacket looks to be covered in dirt, and near to it you can actually see where one of the dirt patches from before existed, namely the very one that Trixie waved her hoof at. Now it's been replaced with a hole... interesting.

The creature is grinning at the shaking Trixie, with yellow orbs in his sockets and thin vertical pupils, like pointy lines instead of round holes, and a mouth full of sharp yellow canines, drool collecting in his mouth and dripping down his chin as he leans forward grinning, looking down to Trixie as she schlinks back and desperately pushes with her hind-legs, uselessly backing into the tree as the dog reaches forward with it's right clawed hand and extends it's right index finger to slowly rub a claw over Trixie's cyan gem clasp, a faint scratching sound being heard as Trixie whimpered.

"Did pretty pony find the pretty gem? Does the pretty pony have more?" Asked the tall dog-thing grinning wide, running a long blue tongue over his sharp teeth as he looked down to the cowering mare before him...

Okay... You're hidden behind a bush, Trixie is cowering against a tree, and the dog-thing is rubbing his claw against a gem. This situation is, like so many you've encountered recently, completely foreign to you. So what do you do?

Author's Note

Trixie's fun to write for. Zecora's hard but it's rewarding and fun to work with the rhyme scheme. Trixie's fun because she's flamboyant, arrogant, and over-the-top. She takes center-stage in everything and she knows it. But it's all an act so it's almost as fun when it breaks down and she shows how vulnerable she is. Got to watch out for when she uses first instead of third person though. Challenge to know when you're doing it right or not. But all in all I like writing for her... I'd hate to meet her in person, but I like writing for her.

Also this wasn't how I originally planned to end the chapter. But I looked at it for a moment and thought it was too well set-up to pass over. Plus I don't think I'd have gotten many other opportunities to do so. And I wanted to surprise all of you. Did I succeed?

Loud Pays Off

Diamond Dogs? Remember, they were used to dig Manehatten's new subway system a few years back. He seems to want Trixie's gem...you have two stances you can assume. The first involves revealing yourself and either talking him down with your clever tongue or trying to intimidate him into leaving. The other option is to kill it immediately by either sneaking up on it and cutting it's throat, or lunging out of the bushes to stab it with your sword. Either way, it's threatening your...companion? Doll? slave?...Random unicorn with a log up her plot?...I wonder what that collar would look like on Trixie. Regardless, Diamond Dogs have highly sensitive ears, didn't that one bum you used to share the alley with say your whistling could break glass? Let's give that a try if negotiation doesn't work.

Nomad

Well well well. Looks like the prissy unicorn blowhard has gotten herself into a jam. She's shaking like a schoolfilly pinned between a tree and a scary dog-thing... Actually you think you might know what this one is.

About a year or two back when you were pulling a few newspapers over your body for a night in the dumpster, it was cold out and they didn't pick up the trash until Thursday, you noticed the headline from one of the papers and started reading. Apparently some things called "Diamond Dogs" were sentenced to community service in Manehatten for foalnapping. They were arrested outside of some small settlement in Central Equestria. What was it called again? Muleville? Ponytown?

Anyways they were allowed to pay-off their debt to society by working as diggers for the Royal Pan-Equestria Railroad Company. One of the few major companies in Equestria, and operating with heavy oversight from Celestia and her court. The Diamond Dogs were supposedly extremely skilled diggers and subterranean tunnel constructors, so instead of shipping them straight to Tartarus, Celestia decided to give them a chance to redeem themselves and serve Equestria. Specifically, she decided to assign them to the RPERC's Manehatten Sub-Railroad project, supposed to revolutionize public transportation in Manehatten. Come to think of it the project was supposed to be done by next week. Well, um that was what you heard the day before you woke up in a scary forest with numerous creatures trying to kill you... How many days has it been since then?

Well rapid thinking tangents aside, due to the canine nature of this creature, the dug-up dirt patch that paved the way for his arrival as evidenced by the dust on his coat and jacket, and it's focus on Trixie's gem, you can conclude that this thing is a Diamond Dog. Also it looks kinda like the front page picture of the Diamond Dogs that the newspaper had... Yeah... you're not sure why you didn't use that mental evidence first.

However back to the present, The Diamond Dog is harassing Trixie and fondling her gem with a paw. He is also asking if she has others, implying that he believes she may have a stash somewhere and that the Diamond Dog wants to know where it is. Foalnapping may very well be in Trixie's future if the Dog decides to question her about her supposed gem stashes. And since that mare is essentially a useless blowhard, it's up to you to save her flank... Of course maybe she'll surprise you. Maybe there is something to all that bragging and she actually can take care of her-

KILL IT WITH FIRE.!!!!!!!!

"S-stay back you brute! I am no mere pony! I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! T-the greatest unicorn that has ever lived!" Shouted Trixie, shaking against the tree as she gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes. Her horn began to glow purple as she channeled her magic and a black storm cloud just puffed into existence. You find yourself with a slight amount of unicorn envy again as the storm cloud appears, up and behind the Diamond Dog a few feet off the ground. You honestly weren't expecting her to summon a cloud. You are kind of expecting the-

KRAK!

That follows though, sounding through the air as a yellow bolt of lightning shoots down from the cloud and strikes the Diamond Dog right in the butt.

"EEEYYYAAAA!!!" Yelped the Diamond Dog, leaping into the air as both paws went down to clutch at his hind-quarters. He sailed a few feet up into the air, before he fell back down towards the Earth. His body tilted forward on the way back down and he struck the ground flat-bellied. Dust rose up from his coat in a small cloud, shaken loose from the impact as he hit the moss-bed, muzzle up and eyes closed, limbs splayed outward. His bum was burnt black as was his tail, the latter sticking straight up into the air, a small tuft of flame lit upon the end. The Diamond Dog let out a low groan as he lay on the ground before Trixie, eyes squeezed shut and a small trail of black smoke rising from his blackened hinnie and still burning tail.

... Well damn. You guess the prissy showmare does have some punch to back up her boasting. The fire on the end of the Dog's tail is kinda cool to... heh. If she shot that bolt into your rods and you shot them out from your back, would you be able to light the whole dog up like a candle? Fur burning as he bursts into flames? ... Something to think about.

Trixie looked down at the splayed form of the Diamond Dog, breathing quickly. She blinked, and slowly leaned forward, reaching out with her front-right hoof to poke the dog in the muzzle. A low groan was the dog's only response... Trixie closed her eyes, and took a few deep calming breaths. Then she shook her head, opened her eyes, and smirked. She got to her hooves, standing up straight and proud, no hint of the shakes and shivers that plagued her before, a cocky glint in her eye. She raised her front right hoof up in front of her, pointing up and into the distance, striking a stance as she proclaimed-

"Hah! The Great and Powerful Trixie has once again proven that she is without a doubt the-GACK!"

The Diamond Dog's right paw shot up from the ground to Trixie's neck, clenching around it and cutting off her boasting, along with her air. You cringe as Trixie's eyes go wide and she starts gasping for oxygen, another low growl coming from the dog's throat.

"Pony is too noisy..." Muttered the Diamond Dog, before his eyes opened slowly, yellow orbs narrowing as he growled low, his left paw pushing against the ground, bringing him up to his knees. He kept a grip on Trixie's neck, ignoring her gasps as he slowly rose up the rest of the way onto his feet. He took a second to blink, and shake his head as he finished standing on his little paw-feet, then looked back to his tail. It was black and charred as his bum, with the tip still alight with a playful flickering fire. His eyes drooped and his ears pressed close to his head.

He let out a low whimper, and brought his left paw up to his muzzle. He opened his mouth and started to lick his paw, running his long blue tongue over his palm and claws, coating them with saliva as Trixie's forehooves started hitting against his right paw in a futile effort to get him to loosen his grip. He reached back with his saliva-coated paw to his tail and wrapped it around the flaming tip, letting out a whimpering whine as a sizzling noise rose from his rear appendage. Slight moisture formed at the edges of his eyes as he opened his paw, revealing the burnt and blackened tail, black smoke still rising from the now unlit but very crispy tail... It'd hurt to sit down for quite some time.

He looked at his tail with a sort of longing, and whimpered softly once again... And then his eyes narrowed into a glare as he snapped his gaze to Trixie, yellow slit eyes burrowing into her frightened purple orbs. He bared his sharp yellow teeth, a rumbling growl rising from his throat.

The Diamond Dog wrenched Trixie up off of the ground, leaving her hind-legs dangling and kicking as she gasped for air, and pulled her close to his face. He held her in front of him, his eyes boring into her terrified orbs, moisture forming at the edges of her eyes as his hot putrid breathe wafted over her fur, her nose centimeters away from his muzzle as her hind legs scrambled for a support that wasn't there.

"STUPID PONY! THAT HURT!!!" He barked right in her face, opening his mouth to give Trixie a front-row view of his canine chompers, pointed and lethal, able to rip off a little pony's face in a bite. Trixie let out a choked whimper and squeezed her eyes shut, apparently willing the image away as much as she willed her breath to return.

Careful now: that's a Diamond Dog. Unlike some wild Everfree beast, they're intelligent!

Well, somewhat intelligent.

And they usually roam in packs. So, just because you can only see one doesn't mean that there are no others around. You should try and defuse the situation. You had a rough few days; actually fighting could be too hard right now. Plus, killing another thinking creature is... iffy.

Try to reason with it. Get it to leave you alone. If that gem's the only thing it wants, fine- surely Trixie can make that sacrifice if it means she can leave unmolested! Heehee, molested Trixie... Anyhow: if talking doesn't work, try to scare it off.

Be careful. Dogs are pack hunters; odds are, there's more of them in hiding. Ignore Trixie for now, go make sure you're not being surrounded. If you are, you'll have to fight them off. Or frighten them off, whichever. The latter is probably better, you're less likely to get injured again that way. If not, then I recommend just stabbing the dog while it's not looking at you. Should be easy, Trixie will probably be saying stupid things really loudly. The perfect distraction. Maybe you should drag her along with you as a prisoner/slave. You never know when you might need a good distraction.

You have an urge to rush out and attack the Diamond Dog. Slice it up like you've been doing with so many things recently. You may not like Trixie but you don't want her to die. There are a few problems with that strategy however. One is that you've recently gone through a lot of physical trauma, enough that you probably wouldn't have survived if you weren't a superpony. You are NOT in your peak condition and your sore bucking muscles help remind you of this. Another problem is that when that Diamond Dog leaped it wasn't a foot, but three or four feet into the air. Powerful leg muscles. He also just picked up Trixie with one paw and is showing no signs of physical fatigue. Powerful arm muscles. He obviously has you beat when it comes to raw physical strength, and that's not even measuring the chomping he can do with those teeth. And third... He's not alone.

You can tell from a couple of factors, one being the holes in the ground. True those holes could have been made by him alone in theory, multiple times choosing this area and altering location slightly. But it's not likely. While it is feasible that he might possibly for some reason choose to create multiple surface tunnels in one area, it's more likely that multiple surface tunnels were created by multiple dogs, each for their use, rather than a single dog just making a different tunnel each time instead of using one premade for convenience sake. Even if the choice to dig multiple tunnels for one location was a choice consciously made or a part of his psychology, the irrefutable evidence of his being part of a society is the simple fact that he is wearing a collar and a jacket.

Ponies don't wear clothes for the sake of wearing clothes. Ponies wear clothes to look good and impress other ponies, sometimes for reasons of cultural identity. In any case clothes are worn to be seen by others, and thus not by the isolated unless there are significant environmental concerns. That he is wearing clothing that does not protect him from the environment to any significant degree, sleeveless jacket open at the front, makes it safe to assume that he is wearing the jacket because other Diamond Dogs might see him wearing the jacket. In short, he was and likely still is a member of a larger group with a societal structure, and as such he is probably not alone.

True he is using pockets in the outfit to carry gems, however if that was the sole reason for wearing an item he would wear some kind of pack, like pony saddle-bags. So the pockets were likely an afterthought of convenience added to the outfit rather than the purpose of the outfit itself. When all the evidence is examined it is fairly apparent that he is a member of a larger group with potential allies.

However there have been numerous loud sounds and shouting and no support for the Diamond Dog has arrived. Perhaps the rendezvous is time-based, or this one just happens to be alone today? In any event, it is logical to assume that whatever societal aid he might gain is not currently nearby judging by the lack of reaction to his loud yelps and sounds. Of course if you're wrong about that, or if help's coming, then you're going to pay for it. Because they're diggers, and judging by the holes his aid will come up from right beneath your hooves. Damn bad spot to be caught in an ambush.

"STUPID PONY WILL PAY FOR HURTING DOG!!!" Shouted the Diamond Dog, snapping you out of your rapid thought process and bringing you back to the present. The Diamond Dog, already proving the validty of his statement by choking Trixie, decides to drive this point home. The gasping Trixie still dangling from his grip, the Diamond Dog pulls his right arm back, and then rams it forward into the tree, striking Trixie hard into the wood. Trixie gives out a choked gasp and gurgle mix that was probably meant to be a cry of pain as the back of her head hits the tree she'd previously been cowering against. Tears begin streaking down her cheeks, pouring down from her wide orbs as her hooves fall uselessly against to her sides, the strength to fight back gone from them.

Would you look at that, the illusionist needs help. Figures.

Ok, Mr Stabby around Diamond Dog neck and a few whispered threats should fix this.

If not? Well, we did kill those timber wolves.

You grimace at the spectacle and swallow down a lump in your throat. You're going to have to risk him having backup, at this rate Trixie won't survive much longer. So how to approach? Not loudly that's for sure, for all the reasons aforementioned. So quietly. He's distracted, focusing on Trixie, and you possess a rather sharp blade that you can summon at will. Speaking of which, why don't you get that out now...

You close your eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the gasping noises from Trixie as you picture your blade emerging from your left hoof. The weapon juts out even as the Diamond Dog continues to shout.

"PONY IS GOING TO GIVE DOG ALL THE GEMS!!!" Yelled the Diamond Dog, as the a red trickle started to run down the bark behind Trixie's head. As you open your eyes, and begin to move slowly around the bush and into the clearing, you see Trixie's wincing gaze focus on the Diamond Dog, and her horn begin to glow again with her purple magic. You're not the only one who notices though. The Diamond Dog's eyes snap up to her horn, and with a loud angry growl, he reaches up with his left paw and roughly grabs Trixie's horn.

"Ga-ack-gruh-ak!" Comes the pained and choked cries from Trixie as the Diamond Dog begins to tug on her horn, roughty and violently jerking it this way and that, shoving it back and forth on her head, her magic sputtering and dissipating under the assault.

"AND STUPID PONY WON'T NEED THIS TO GIVE THEM!!!" Shouted the dog as you slowly moved forward across the grass and dirt, towards the dog and pony show. You breathe in slowly and steadily, the dog focusing on Trixie as you put one hoof in front of the other. Trixie, her gasps for breathe becoming weak, tears streaking down her cheeks, and blood running down the tree behind her, is in no position to acknowledge you. Her eyes start to roll up in her skull as you keep moving forward, Obsidian Blade up and ready, the dog's attention still on the young showmare.

"DOG WILL RIP OFF STUPID HORN!!! AND CHAIN PONY UP TO CARTS!!! AND MAKE HER PU- 'sniff sniff'." The Diamond Dog halts his tirade to lift his muzzle up and smell the air.

"Ugh! Bad smell! Very bad smell! What is making that smell!?" Shouted the dog, before turning his gaze back over his shoulder, to you...

... ... ... well shit.

Moreso, look at that, Trixie humbled and needing your help—you spin this right, and she might appreciate you a lot more. Otherwise, try to negotiate things out, killing it is no issue, but you're a bit sore, best to try communication first.

Attempt diplomacy, such that Trixie is not required to hand over her gem.

The gem may have sentimental value or her pride may get in the way and cause her to lash out.

Either way, driving off the dog without her giving anything up will cause her to be indebted to you even more.

And she is rather fetching, so why not start your harem now.

If the dog is unable to be reasoned with, allow his insides to become intimately acquainted with Mr.Stabby.

Keep an eye out for other dogs, it is unlikely that he is alone.

If violence is what results, lick blood off blade. Having foreign contaminants and toxins enter your body has worked well so far, why stop now.

Use guile and wit to trick the dog. Then brake Trixie and turn her into your slave.

You look at the Diamond Dog... the Diamond Dog looks at you... You blink and lose the impromptu staring contest. The Diamond Dog narrows his eyes and growls low... You slowly contort your visage into a nervous grin, sweat forming on your brow.

"Ummmm... hi?" You say. Which seems to successfully break the awkward silence and clear the way for unbridled rage.

"GRRRAAAAHHH!!!" Shouted the Diamond Dog, releasing Trixie from his grip and whirling to face you. The choking showmare crumbled to the ground, wheezing and gasping for breath, the back of her white mane stained red, her eyes half-lidded and tears pouring down her cheeks, streaking the fur.

The Diamond Dog bared his teeth as he glared at you, eyes narrowed in rage, paws curling into fists at his sides as he barked out in anger!

"STINKY PONY WAS TRYING TO SNEAK UP ON US!!!" It shouted, paws shaking at it's sides with the pure level of it's aggravation.

Yes.

"No!" You shout out as the Diamond Dog growls in front of you and looks at you with bloody murder in his eyes. Okay okay okay, you've got to think! Come on, intelligent excuse!

"I was just, uh, taking a walk!"

... Really?

"PONY HAS WEAPON!!!" Shouts the Diamond Dog, pointing his left paw angrily and accusingly towards your Obsidian Blade. Well gee, this old thing, I forgot it was even on my OF COURSE HE WAS GOING TO NOTICE THAT!!! Shame on you! A foal could've thought of a better excuse! Quite a few of the ones that threw rocks or rotten fruit at you did, in fact, when their mommies and daddies came around the corner. Skilled little liars those brats... Anyways, back to your life or death situation. Plan B! Let's see if this Dog will be open to negotiation!

"Uh well yes I do, safety in the Everfree, you know how it is!" You speak grinning an entirely false smile, starting to back away as the growling Dog starts to step forward.

"And, uh, I happened to notice you and that pony weren't getting along, so I decided to see what was going on!" You proclaim, still lying your flank off, still backing up as the dog emits a low growl.

"And I noticed that you seem to be interested in her gem! So, uh, why don't you just take that and go away and-"

"ENOUGH!" The dog's roar interrupts your desperate attempt at speech, and your eyes widen as you look into his rage-filled orbs.

"Stupid pony hurt dog! Stinky pony tried to hurt dog! Dog will rip them both apart! YAAARRRGGGHH!!!" He shouted, before hitting the dirt with his paws, lowering down to all fours, and sprinting straight at you.

Moments pass like hours. You start to try to run backwards but a job that would have been difficult with four unoccupied hooves is impossible with three. You fall onto your flank in a dirt patch, staring wide-eyed with sweat on your brow as the Diamond Dog barrels towards you. It's eyes are narrowed with blind rage and it's mouth is open, tongue flopping out and muzzle full of glistening sharp teeth, catching light from the afternoon sun. You breathe fast, sweat breaking out across your coat, and you suddenly wince as your stomach cramps up.

"AGH!" You say, a burning pain flaring up in your stomach at THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME!!! You bend forward with your right foreleg crossing over your stomach, biting your bottom lip, still very much aware that there is a rabid angry killer dog hurtling at you. Your blood pounds in your ears as your body demands movement that is not going to come, and your stomach sends streaking pain through your form because you don't even know the buck why. You squeeze your eyes shut, moisture starting to squeeze out of your eyes partly because of the pain and partly because you're about to die. You blindly throw your left hoof up forward in a wide arch, clumsily trying to keep your impending death at bay as your back muscles start to spasm and twitch from the pain, rods going erect as your hoof flies a bit too far up, and crystal hits metal and-

You ever rub crystal and rock together? What about crystal and metal? That is a sound like hooves on a chalkboard. If a pony hates that high pitch noise, what'll it do to a dog? You've got a crystal sword and a pair of big shiny metal rods in your back, those keen senses that Diamond Dogs possess might just prove to your advantage. If negotiations fail, lets try alittle sonic persuasion.

CLLLLAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!

The sound echoes throughout the clearing. Loud and vibrant, spreading out in a sonic wave from your back. Your ears ring, your head buzzes, and as quickly as it came the pain in your stomach seems to be subsiding. But all of that takes secondary status in your brain as you hear a-

"EEEYYYYAAA!!!" Coming from inches away from you. You raise your head slowly, opening your eyes and blinking away the moisture. The Diamond Dog is crouching in the dirt, paws over his ears, eyes squeezed shut, whimpering from the loud sound... The sound... THE SOUND!!!

You practically jump to your hooves as the realization hits you. Of course! Loud! Dogs have great hearing, sensitive hearing! Hahahaha! You're going to live through this! Because you've got a damn tuning fork on your back! You feel a tingling sensation in your front-left hoof and in your back for a moment upon this realization but are far too elated to care. You grin as you look down to the recovering Diamond Dog as he opens his eyes, still narrowed in a glare. He starts to growl again and lowers his paws to the ground to push himself back up. With an almost gleeful look in your eyes you strike your blade back against the rods once more.

CLLLLAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!

You're not gonna lie. That shit hurts. It feels as though the rods are vibrating into your back. Definitely a new kind of muscle soreness. Also you might have gone deaf. You're fairly certain that was loud because you can't hear a bucking thing. But you can see. Specifically you can see the Diamond Dog rolling in the dirt, clutching his head, paws over his ears, mouth open like he's screaming. As you fight to keep your legs steady, disoriented from the sonic backlash, and your hearing slowly starts to clear up, you realize that that's exactly what he's doing.

You keep on grinning, a triumphant gleam in your eyes as he stops rolling around and groans, getting to his knees in the dirt, paws still clutched over his ears. You think you can see red dribbling down from them, down his coat on either side of his head, streaking his white and black fur. He opens his eyes and looks up at you, whimpering as tears start to roll down his cheeks. With a gleam in your eye, you slowly raise your blade back up in preparation for another strike. The Dog's eyes go wide.

"N-no! No stinky pony please!" Shouted the Dog, raising his front-right paw up towards you, shaking it in a pleading gesture. You can't help but note, with some satisfaction, that the palm of his right paw is stained red.

"STOP CALLING ME STINKY PONY!!!" You shout, causing the Diamond Dog to flinch as he whimpers further, lowering himself and bringing both paws up stretched out towards you, palms out, both covered in crimson from his ears.

"R-right! Not stinky pony! Powerful pony! Great pony! Important pony!" He speaks, excitedly, pleading like a little... well, bitch. You can't help but widen your grin.

"That's better!" You speak superiorly, before affecting a scowl upon your features, and raising your voice in an angry tone.

"Now you! Dog! You've ruined my walk! Ruined my mood! And made slanderous accusations against my person!" Stretching it a little thin there but you're in the zone.

"What do you have to say for yourself!? Why shouldn't I just make the noise again!?" You ask, loudly, as the Dog's eyes go wide and he quickly shakes his paws, waving them back and forth as though to ward off your decision.

"N-no! Please! Dog is sorry! Dog will make it up to pony! Dog will do anything!" Shouted the Diamond Dog, causing you to raise your right eyebrow.

"Anything?"

"Oh yes anything great pony! Anything! Just no more noises!" He spoke, rapidly nodding his head and prostrating himself, arms down on the dirt.

You take the opportunity to think on this generous offer... Anything in the dog's power... You could take his gems! Or his jacket! Maybe his never-ending loyalty! Or-

"Your collar." ... Sometimes you're not entirely sure how your own mind works.

"W-what?" Asked the Diamond Dog, lifting it's gaze to you as you look down towards it with a grin.

"Give me your collar dog! And be quick about it!" You shout, and the Dog whimpers gently once more, bringing his paws up to his neck and loosening the collar, unfastening it, and pulling it off. He stops and looks at it for a moment, ears pressed flat against his head, gazing at the diamonds embedded in it... And then he throws it down at your hooves, falling prostrate in the dirt again.

"There! Now please! No more noises!" He shouts, putting his paws back over his ears as he whines... and you smirk with satisfaction.

"Very good dog. Now go! Back down your hole! And don't let me catch you up here again!" You speak, pointing your blade over towards the dug up hole in the dirt patch.

The Diamond Dog looks over to the hole, then looks back to you. He whimpers pitifully once more, before scrambling over to the hole and ducking down inside of it, scrambling deep into the dark, whining all the way... You wait until you can no longer hear the pathetic noises, before you look down to the collar thrown at your hooves. You reach down with your front-right hoof and pick up the black diamond-studded neck-wear, examining it closely.

It's a dusty thing, covered with dirt and worn at several places from extended contact with a rough environment, almost certainly the tunnels dug by the Diamond Dog. Very expensive for being so carelessly kept. The diamonds look in pretty good condition though. Like they were given special attention even. Extravagance placed on a crude collar like this, seems kind of off-putting, but at the same time has a certain appeal... Like Trixie's gem is needlessly extravagant for a relatively flimsy and gaudy cape, but seems to pull it together well enough... Hmmmm... Maybe THAT'S why you decided on the collar... You want to see what Trixie looks like in it. Get back at her for the way she treated you by making her your bitch? Make her follow you around like a doggie? Now there's an idea...

"Hey Trixie, I've got a present fo-" You start to say as you turn to look at Trixie. And then you stop short.

She's sitting back against the tree. Her entire body is shaking. Red stains her mane near the back of her head, and some blood has trickled down her fur at the front of her face, to the side of her nose and down her cheek just to the right of her mouth, before running down to her chin and dripping slowly onto her right hind-leg. The red trickle on her face looks like it's coming from the base of her horn, purple swelling all around and a red gash near the bottom. Her hindlegs are pulled up to her chest and her forelegs are wrapped around them. Tears are rolling down from her eyes, staining her cheeks and mixing in with the blood at the right. Her eyes themselves are shimmering, wide, and staring forward without focusing... ... If you wanted to see Trixie broken... Then it seems that you've gotten your wish.

As much as you wanted to put Trixie into her place, and fantasized about beating her admittedly sexy behind with a stick, looking at her right now... It's... well... Not what you had in mind. You lick your lips, and clear your throat, before hazarding actual words.

"Ummm... Trixie?" You speak, slowly, looking to the mare as her bottom lip starts to tremble. And then, before your eyes, the Great and Powerful Trixie breaks down.

"WAAAAAAHHHHAAAAHHHHAAAAA!!!!" Comes the sob as she buries her face into her forelegs, her hat left lying the dirt, hoarse sobbing cries leaving her throat as she keeps her face buried in her forelegs. Tears gush from her like a fountain, and you're left standing there, blade jutting from your left hoof, tip in the ground to keep you balanced, and collar hanging around your right hoof. Calling this awkward might be a bit of an understatement.

"Ummm..." You repeat tactfully, trying to think of something to say... When you hear a noise nearby.

"Have a care whoever is there!"

You furrow your brows and twitch your ears. Was... was that? You turn your head to the left as bushes start to rustle, and another sound comes louder this time, but just as familiar as the first.

"Stay where you are help is not far!"

And upon that note an extremely familiar figure bursts out of the foliage and into the clearing, breathing heavily. Zecora stands there, hooves spread and tail flicking, body lowered slightly as in a charge, her entire form prepped and ready for action. She's wearing a very unique set of saddlebags, one that you haven't seen before. They're kind of basket-like, made out of some kind of red material, with green circlets around them right below the curved tops. They're held by a black strap stretching across her back. Also across her back, tied with what looks like a small loop of black to the strap, is a long stick, bamboo you think from some pictures you once saw as a foal.

Zecora's appearance brings about mixed emotions in your being. Relief and joy are among them. But also is fear. When you left her hut it was in a sorry state. You stole her cloak, and her map, destroyed a book, and damaged her table. You can talk about that though. What might be a bit harder to talk about to the sweating zebra, as her eyes dart to Trixie, and then back to you, is why there is a crying mare against a tree, bleeding, with you standing here, coat matted with blood, a kind of mystical looking blade jutting from your left hoof and a collar hanging around your right hoof. THAT is her first sight upon entering the clearing, and as her eyes widen you feel that she may indeed be making some inferences from it. So the first thing that you greet Zecora with is not a friendly hello, or a passionate cry for aid, but rather a very simple phrase that sums up your feelings quite succinctly.

"Well... ... buck."

MUTATION ADVANCEMENT: Obsidian Blade: Final Lullaby The Obsidian Blade has altered it's crystal form in such a manner that the crystal now vibrates when struck, without sacrificing hardness or puncture ability. To do this the Obsidian Blade has grown about an inch in length. The result of this vibration is that sound similar to musical notes sound when the Obsidian Blade is struck against an object, different objects resulting in different sounds, and the force difference causing an effect as well. As a result of this Legacy Advancement, the Host now has a blue streak, going through his mane

MUTATION ADVANCEMENT: Lightning Rods: Tuning Forks The Lightning Rods have altered themselves to amplify impacting noise. From a powerful gust of wind to a physical object striking them, the rods will now vibrate with the energy and transfer it into sound, at a highly amplified volume to whatever struck it. They have slightly widened to accommodate this change.

Author's Note

I love seeing what you all come up with. So many times it's not what I think it will be. And often it's very well thought out, and then you all start discussing it, and frankly that just fills me with warm snuggly feelings inside. Thank you for that it is very much appreciated.

Also, while it would probably be more in spirit with the Tumblr accounts that inspired this fanfic, I'm probably not going to go to direct voices in the head. The reason for this is that it's just plain harder to work with. While the conversations would probably be entertaining, it would limit my story options. Having the interaction with the Star of Woe be an influence instead of a voice just lets me do more.

And as for this chapter... ... ... I stayed up way too late to finish it and am dead tired and may very well have made mistakes. I hope that I didn't, however please be forgiving.

And finally, because apparently I like to push my luck when it comes to social interaction, here's a pony RAP battle that I think was rather well done, and I listen to it sometimes when I'm writing for Zecora.

Zecora Versus Iron Will

Reconciliation

Hmm, this is awkward. First things first, drop the sword and lower the lighting rods. Try to recover at least some dignity, though this, disappearing, and destroying her table will result in an uncomfortable conversation. But come on, you're a HERO! Sure your motive was more "no-one touches my stuff" but still, you save the illusionist, that's gotta be worth something. Right?

OH SHIT! This is... bad. Really bad. Apologize, put the sword away, try to explain. That's all I've got for you. Also, what's that Zecora told you about Changelings? They can change shape? Lucky little buggers, they can fly and do magic as well! that would be so useful!

Time slows down. Seconds pass by like hours as your brain slams into overdrive. Your heartbeat stops, sweat sprouts onto your brow in frozen crystals of salty liquid, your blood turns to ice in your veins, and your every errant twitching muscle stops tense and paralyzed as your mind abandons your body. Your consciousness soars into a full situational pan, and the entire world becomes one small clearing in the Everfree. All of your being becomes devoted to this single solitary moment, the result of a thousand thousand pre-existing seconds, reduced to an isolated frame of time and space, right here and now, suspended like a still frame front of your mind. And it's not really helping.

You mean sure, you can now process every errant bead of perspiration on Zecora's sweaty, toned, luscious striped body while fantasizing about rutting her hard and smacking her flank. And yes you can absolutely examine Trixie's new red mane dye, and indulge in a brief fantasy about whipping her rump until the blood dyes her butt-coat red. And you even have the time to entertain a simultaneous fantasy about the two mares making out on the comfy bed in Zecora's hut. All nice and gentle with lots of stroking, purring, petting, and plenty of tongue, Zecora running her tongue down the fur of Trixie's neck while the young mare shivers and... yeah... Erotic fantasies aside, your considerable brain power appears to be coming up with jack squat on how to deal with the actual problem. Namely that your Zebra lover is seeing you with an injured Trixie, a weapon, and a collar after disappearing from her hut and stealing her map and cloak.

The first thing you decide, after all the brain-based pornography, is that you'd really rather not be here. If you were a unicorn maybe you could have teleported away, and not had to deal with this situation or something. Seeing as how you are here, you next decide that you'd like to be somepony other than you. Actually you've had that desire numerous times throughout your existence. If you were a changeling such life substitution would be possible, after all, everypony had heard how one had replaced Princess Cadence to set up for an invasion. A princess! You could look like anypony that you wanted to if you were a changeling! But you're not a changeling and thus are still stuck as you. Moving on to option number three and-

Aha! Ringa-ding-ding! Number three is a winner! A brilliant winning strategy for getting your marefriend off of your back and back in the sack! But before you can implement it you need to exit battle mode.

Time snaps back into it's proper flow and your brain jams back into your skull, as you twitch the muscles in your spine and your rods slam back down onto your back. You actually wince a bit as their strike is a little hard and the spots where they hit sting just a little. Metal on fur and all. They also seem to vibrate a bit as they impact and you could swear that an audible-

THUD

Sounded when they hit your coat. But you don't have time to wonder about that, you're too busy being brilliant. You quickly picture the blade on your hoof turning into blue mist and dissipating into your hoof. It goes much quicker this time around, and you take a moment to appreciate how much your life and death experiences have paid off in blade control as the sparkling blue mist disappears. You then lower your hoof back to the ground as you internally stallion-up. Time to get serious.

Well, what are you waiting for? Zecora's here with her medicinal and pathing knowledge, Trixie needs to rest and heal, and you're just gonna stand there?

Get things moving, have Zecora diagnose her and apply any treatment she can immediately, then bring her back to the hut. Don't acknowledge the possibility that you might be the one who hurt her, instead focus on her safety, and then off-handishly mention that she was hurt by a diamond dog. After all, you are the hero here. And, of course, make sure you make a good impression on both mares now, time to roll out the old compassion, and considering Trixie's possibly spotty remembrance of the events, you could always make your interference with the diamond dog's little torture session out to be something you tried to stop immediately. Would hate for her to know that you sat around for a few minutes, watching while she got beat up, aye?

Okay, fine, buck your life.

No, you are not going to let your rotten luck ruin this for you! Whatever else you do, don't suddenly act all shifty and evasive. You're only going to look guilty that way, and you have no reason to.

Take a deep breath, concentrate on your voice, and tell your Zebra not to judge the cover of the book. Tell her to go look at Trixie's wounds, since she knows more about injuries than you do. Then, tell her you saved Trixie from a Diamond Dog, and perhaps show her the holes in the ground. Then tell her you all need to leave, quickly, before more dogs show up.

You need to take control of the situation, and that means taking control of your Zebra first. Or the discussion with her, rather.

Now! Time to commence the plan! You take a deep breathe as Zecora starts to open her mouth and quickly blurt out-

"Thank Celestia you're here! We were attacked by Diamond Dogs!" Before the Zebra can speak. You point your right forehoof over to the sobbing Trixie, diamond dog collar dangling in a loop from the hoof, as you continue.

"Look at her quick, she needs help!" Zecora follows your hoof over to Trixie, before turning her eyes back to you for a moment. The wide orbs that were there before have now narrowed and her expression is something... guarded, contained, slightly icy... Probably bad news for you.

But she only keeps that gaze on you for a few moments before looking back to Trixie, and galloping over to the Showmare's side. Yes! Guarded look aside the plan to take command of the conversation is a success! For the moment. You obviously don't have complete control or that look wouldn't have existed. Ah well, you'll just have to come up with more awesome plans to handle events as they come! Now to let Zecora work her magic and interject as needed.

"Hush now my dear, aid is here."

Started the zebra soothingly as she reached Trixie, crouching down in front of the still sobbing mare and smiling kindly as she began to speak.

"Would you please look up at me? So I can see your injury?"

She asked. Gentle, sweet, and soft as she knelt in front of Trixie. The showmare continued to sob with her head buried in her forelegs, and began to blubber something muffled through her legs. Zecora cocked her head to the side, brows furrowed.

"Sorry my dear, I did not hear."

Spoke Zecora worriedly. In response, Trixie lifted her head from her forehooves with tears streaking down her coat and let out an unmuffled version of what she'd just blubbered.

"N-no 'sniff' you'll j-just laugh 'hiccup' at m-m-me!" And then plonked her face back into her forehooves, sobbing all the harder. Zecora, choosing to Ignore that Trixie had just lifted her head up to say that she wasn't going to lift her head, smiled a kind smile once more, and reached forward with her front-right hoof to stroke Trixie's mane. Zecora ran her hoof up and down Trixie's silky strands, gently stroking the showmare's admittedly fabulous mane, not counting the recently red-dyed sections, and began to make a soft kind of cooing sound as she comforted Trixie.

"Shoo shoo... That is not true... Nopony has reason to laugh at you..."

She spoke, a gently chiding tone in her voice as she continued to stroke the showmare's mane. Trixie jerked her head up, wincing and squinting her eyes as even more tears poured out and began to shout.

"Y-yes they do! 'Sniff' I-I'm all b-bloody! 'Sniff' And ugly! 'hiccup' A-and my nose i-is runny!" Responded the still sobbing Trixie, reminding you more and more of a sobbing foal... A bratty bully who has such weak internal strength that she requires constant adoration and attention to validate her existence, and when the going gets tough and the act breaks, she's left with nothing but a whimpering shell of a mare... Pathetic... ... Kind of reminds you of you.

You quickly shake your head free of those thoughts. No! You're a superpony now! Special, important! Not like her at all! Nope, you're awesome and she's not! But she is pretty hot. And has got quite a plot. She was probably sought. By stallions a lot. Before she was taught. To let personality rot.

You grin a bit at your internally rhyming, and once again contemplate the merits of sexual intercourse with prissy blue-butt showmares as Zecora keeps working on getting the patient to cooperate.

"Oh hush now my dear! Do not for your image fear!

You're more beautiful than you know, you're a pretty mare and this is so!"

Spoke Zecora, looking Trixie straight in her puffy water-logged eyes as she spoke, right forehoof continuing to stroke the young mare's mane. Trixie sniffled, and hiccupped, with her lower-lip trembling as she looked up into Zecora's eyes, a glimmer of hope starting to shine in her sorrowful orbs.

"R-really? 'hiccup' I-I'm pretty?" She asked, desperate hope tinging her voice as Zecora smiled kindly, nodding her head lightly.

"Of course you are. With Canterlot models on par!"

Proclaimed the Zebra, giving Trixie a grin. Trixie blinked at the older zebra's confident grin, and then the corners of her trembling mouth to start to turn upward, expression a mixture of soft pride and relief as her sniffling started to wind down and a blush began to form on her cheeks.

"W-well. T-the g-great and powerful T-Trixie is 'sniff' very proud o-of her amaz-'sniff'-ing coat and 'hiccup' mane..." Spoke the showmare with a tentatively proud tingle in her voice, as Zecora leaned forward, looking up to Trixie's horn, examining the bruising around it and the gash below.

"I can tell you take great care with coat and mane, they have acquired softness and luster few attain."

Spoke Zecora calmly, furrowing her brows in an expression of worry as she looked to the gash, then bringing back her kind eyes and smile as she looked down into Trixie's eyes, oblivious to Zecora's secondary thoughts.

"Now not to be untoward, but could you please lean forward?"

Asked the zebra, and the sniffling yet now smiling showmare blinked at the request, then nodded, gulping down a lump in her throat.

"O-okay." She spoke, before hiccupping once more and lowering her head slightly, a soft little smile on her face and blush on her cheeks.

Zecora leaned around to look to the back of Trixie's head, and immediately her eyes narrowed into an angry glare as her eyes locked onto what you presume was Trixie's injury. In that brief moment she showed a level of rage and anger that you don't think you've ever seen on anyponys face ever before... Good thing you went ahead and identified the villain that made that injury. You would NOT want to be on the receiving end of a look like that. And you can only contemplate what Zecora would do to the diamond dog that made the injury if he was still in hoof reach...

You do in fact have some fun contemplating what Zecora would do to the diamond dog if he was still here, the one involving Zecora's bamboo stick and the Diamond Dog's anus quickly rising to the top of your mental charts, as Zecora looks back into Trixie's eyes and smiles kindly.

"Bear with me for a moment please, while I tend to your injuries."

She spoke, moving her front-left hoof back to her saddle-... um... basket? And opening it up, before leaning in and pulling out a small glass jar with her mouth, the glass jar covered with a white cloth, a small strand of rope tied around the neck of the jar to keep the cover on. The jar itself was filled with some kind of green paste that you are Purrr-IT-Tey sure is not for eating... How did you just think-spell pretty sure? What the buck is wrong with you?

Anyways, as you began to question your verbal head skills, Zecora moved her mouth down to the small rope around the neck of the jar and pulled it loose, before whisking the cover off with her teeth and letting it fall to the moss. She then moved her right hoof into the paste, holding it up from underneath with her left hoof, as she began to thoroughly coat her hoof with the green goop.

"For a few moments this will sting, but then relief also bring."

She spoke, still looking down as she rubbed the mix across her hoof, and Trixie gulped a bit, eyeing the green paste apprehensively. Zecora brought her hoof out of the mix, covered with green, and began to apply it to the cut below Trixie's horn, rubbing it into the gash. Zecora's hoof pressed and moved quickly, rubbing all over the cut, coating it with the green. The showmare winced and whimpered softly beneath Zecora's ministrations, shrinking a bit from the touch. Zecora cooed softly once again as she continued to rub the green in.

"Shoo shoo little mare be strong, this will not last for too long."

She gently consoled as she coated Trixie's cut with the paste, until there wasn't even a hint of the cut visible. When Trixie's gash had been thoroughly coated, Zecora pulled her hoof back, a bit of red on it but mostly the paste, and dug her hoof back into the jar. You can't help but raise your right eyebrow as you watch her recoating the hoof she just had blood on... You suppose she doesn't intend to use the jar again after this, judging by her willingness to contaminate the whole thing. Perhaps that was part of the sealing? Exposure to air invalidate long-term use? Might have to ask her about that sometime.

Or she could answer that right now via her actions, as after thoroughly coating her right hoof once more Zecora lets the jar drop into the moss without a second thought. Zecora reached forward with her left forehoof, and stroked Trixie's mane gently once more, before putting a bit of pressure towards the back of Trixie's head to keep her leaned forward. Zecora then got up onto her hind legs and leaned over Trixie to look to the back of her head, bringing her right hoof down to start rubbing the past into her headwound.

"Agh! Ugh, i-it, it 'hiccup' hurts!" Spoke Trixie, the hiccupping and sniffling that had died down with Zecora's gentle praise suddenly making a return appearance.

"Shoo shoo I know, it is just so. Be strong my dear, the end is near."

Zecora didn't take her eyes from her work as she responded, trying to be soft in her words but obviously more focused on making sure Trixie's headwound was completely covered in the green paste. Trixie bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, sniffling more as she bore with the pain. Finally, Zecora finished coating the back of Trixie's head with the green paste, and then stepped back with a sigh, dropping back to all fours on the moss. Her left hoof moved up to Trixie's chin, and tilted the sniffling Showmare's head up so that she could look into her eyes. Zecora smiled down softly to the young mare, a gentle gaze meeting Trixie's orbs.

"You See how strong you can be?

You lasted through the whole ordeal, now your injuries can begin to heal."

She spoke, before giving Trixie a soft smile.

"I... i-it is starting to feel kinda better..." Admitted Trixie, mumbling softly as she bit her bottom lip, and blinked a few more tears away, errant sniffles still making their way through. Zecora's left hoof moved up to stroke Trixie's cheek gently as she responded.

"I am glad. Far too much pain has been had."

Replied the zebra before an-

"Ahem." Interrupted the tender moment between healer and wreck. You stood with your front left foreleg over your mouth as the two mares directed their gazes at you. Having just finished clearing your throat with intentionally distracting loudness, you lower your hoof back down to the grass and speak.

"That's good, now if she's fit to move we should REALLY get going. There's still a Diamond Dog hole here, and I'd rather not be here when more show up." You state, turning your gaze to the zebra to gauge her reaction. Zecora narrows her eyes and once again there's one of those kind of off-putting guarded looks. But she speaks in a calm and steady voice as she replies.

"This you are right to suggest, to make haste is best."

She spoke, before turning to face you, and looking right into your eyes with a stern, kind of hard look, one that you do not like at all...

"But first fetch my cloak and map and do not give me any crap. Know my friend that this is true, I am very angry with you."

She spoke, continuing to give you her narrowed gaze. You gulp. Well... at least she's being straightforward about it.

"Yes maam." Seems the most appropriate response to Zecora's humorless and commanding tone, and you turn to move over quickly to the bush you'd slept behind. It isn't until you're stepping down again that you remember you had a diamond dog collar on your hoof, as your hoof pushes against the leather as it slips over, and the tip of your hoof hits a diamond in the collar on the way down. You wince a bit, the impact not especially painful but kind of annoying, and let out grunt of agitation as you pull your hoof from the collar, lean down, and pick it up in your teeth. You mutter a bit to yourself, already a little aggravated as you move behind the bush and unroll the cloak, letting the collar drop, and then shoving it into one of the wide internal pockets that made this cloak so damn useful.

The map is in the cloak, you double check that, and the flower you picked to maybe be a gift to her, that's there to. You want to make sure you've got everything because you do NOT want to anger Zecora more than you already have. Tartarus hath no fury like a pissed off mare. Though you're pretty sure she'll be pissed anyway when she sees the dirt, wear, tear, and blood on the cloak... You shake your head a bit with a sigh. You'll cross that bridge when you come to it. You pull the cloak around you, hood up because it's more comfortable that way, before straightening up on your hooves, turning, and moving around the bush back into sight of the clearing.

Your eyes go wide and your jaw drops open like a flytrap. Zecora, in addition to her saddle-baskets and bamboo stick, has picked up Trixie. She is carrying the mare on her back, Trixie's cape billowed over the young mare and slightly falling down Zecora's sides. Zecora is even holding Trixie's hat in her mouth. She looks over to you, and with a jerk of her head nods to the direction she just came from, as she turns and begins to walk back into the Everfree. You just remain slackjawed for a few moments at Zecora's obvious physical aptitude... Carrying Trixie like she's nothing plus all her other crap. Then you shake your head, and quickly scamper after her, following her back into the Everfree, eager to be led back home, ready to walk all day if need be just to get back to her hut.

Well...this could be a problem. There only seems to be one way to deal with an angery mare. It's a two step process. 1) Let her vent. If she is upset, you need to let her get the tirade out of her system. Just sit there and listen. 2) Reveal as much of the truth as you know it to her. Explain your absencse due to an uncontrollable urge to go back to the castle. Although she already knows about the rods in your back, she doesn't know about the sword. Tell her how it appeared on yur hoof at the castle and that you were returning there, or trying to, to search for an explanation. Also, the destroyed table and book can be explained as not knowing how to controll the blade at the time.

As for Trixie's presence, the truth is a good idea. You saved her from a pair of cockatirce and, recently, a Diamond Dog. She is obviously injured, and more than a little broken by her ordeal and needs medical help. Get Zecora to focus on that. Once you get back to Zecora's hut, you need to make sure Trixie understands that she owes you now, that her life belongs to you. Once that is over with, be sure to "make up" with Zecora.

Nomad

Thirty minutes. Thirty BUCKING minutes. That's how long it took to get from the clearing to Zecora's hut! You were probably going in circles around the hut this whole bucking time and never even knew it! If you could have just read that damn map then- UGH!!! ... Well... at least you learned something from this whole experience. If you get the urge to go into THE most dangerous part of Equestria and wander around like an idiot, make sure to take a map that you can bucking read!

'Sigh'... At least you're home now. The normally creepy visage of Zecora's hut is, not too surprisingly, incredibly soothing and welcoming after a series of near death experiences. The bottles and charms hanging from the branches, and the still kinda freaky mask over the door, do nothing whatsoever to discourage the relief you feel filling your form as you lay eyes upon your zebra lover's abode. As the promise of rest and shelter rises up before you, every tired ache and groan you've felt since you began this debacle announces itself at once, and you nearly stumble from the sudden wave of exhaustion.

Luckily you right yourself before falling and making even more of a fool of yourself than you've managed already. Shaking your head a bit to clear the blur of fatigue, you suddenly feel way more sluggish and dull, and have to refocus all of your energy on getting to the damn door without keeling over. You watch as Zecora ascends the steps to the door in front of you and pushes it open with her forehead. Once again, you have to admire the fact that she can carry a full-grown mare on her back for thirty minutes with little more than a thin sheen of sweat, breathing not even labored... Damn she's fit.

Unlike Trixie. Trixie has remained groggy, unresponsive, and done little more than groan and mutter on your way to Zecora's hut. Perhaps it's what Zecora put on the cuts, or the head wounds, or just normal exhaustion. But regardless, between Trixie muttering inaudibly, and Zecora having her mouth occupied with Trixie's hat, there hasn't been much conversation on the way back... Hopefully you'll get to talk with Zecora inside. You're sure you'll have plenty of explaining to do.

You continued to admire Zecora's fit body and musculature as the zebra mare tossed Trixie's hat through the doorway, the soft article of headwear fluttering inside. She then reached back over her right shoulder, and gripped her bamboo staff with her teeth. She pulled it out of it's loop, sliding it from underneath Trixie's unresponsive form, and then proceeded to flip her head and chuck it through the doorway. The staff clattered onto the floor inside, which did nothing but illicit a few muttered grunts from Trixie, probably not even related to the actual event.

Zecora then turned and proceeded to move into the doorway sideways, very carefully to avoid knocking the already groggy Trixie's head on the doorway and giving her a secondary concussion to go with her first. The action reminds you of what you did when she fell asleep outside and you carried her in. Only she's not a weakling panting from exhaustion and isn't clumsy enough to hit her own head while making sure Trixie doesn't hit hers. You wince a bit at the memory of your failed mare transport session... That was quite a clonk. But in no time at all Zecora has made it through the doorway with Trixie without knocking either of their heads on wood.

You sigh a little at this, and begin to question your worth as a stallion when a mare so obviously outmuscles you. But this doubt of your self-worth based on pure physical attributes can wait, right now you're just eager to get inside of the hut and out of this dark, oppressive forest. To be warm and safe and-

BUMP

You blink, then your eyes roll down to see Zecora's front-left hoof pressing against your nose, scrunching up your muzzle and stopping you in your tracks. You blink again, then roll your eyes up to look into Zecora's orbs, looking into yours with a firm expression.

"This command abide, wait here outside."

She spoke, no hint of question or negotiation in her voice. You blinked again, took a brief moment to admire her ability to hold Trixie up with only three of her four hooves on the ground, and then stepped back, your brows furrowed in confusion.

"Huh?" Was your extremely thoughtful and high-brow response, before a head shake and a nose wiggle cleared your thoughts for a more elegantly phrased question.

"But why?" Okay, still not exactly fancy-speak but at least it came out as actual words this time. You kept looking to Zecora with a lost expression, your right eyebrow raised in confusion, hoping for some kind of answer to why she would lay this horrible sentence upon you. And you got one.

"The answer you seek, is that you reek."

Stated the zebra clearly and concisely, before bringing her front-right hoof up to the door, and promptly slamming it in your face.

THUD!

... You blinked again, face to face with the door to Zecora's hut. ... Okay yeah that's fair... still it's... not exactly how you pictured things going...

You sigh, slumping your shoulders as you look down to the wood at your hooves, standing on the steps outside of Zecora's hut... Well, it's nothing to be surprised about really. Everypony else has always rejected you sooner or later. Why not her?

Still, you don't have anywhere else to go, and she did say to wait. You turn, still with Zecora's cloak wrapped around you, and sit down on the bottom step of the stairs in front of Zecora's hut. You breathe in deep, then sigh out slowly... And stretch out your left hind hoof to touch the tip into the dirt. You begin to draw two sets of lines, two vertical and two horizontal, the lines intersecting to form a square in the center and eight almost squares around it. You then proceed to do the only thing that you can think to do in a time like this. You start a game of tic-tac-toe with yourself.

... ... ...

About thirty minutes later and twenty-two games in you're still losing. You sigh, and start to draw up the next game when a-

CREAK

Alerts you to the opening of Zecora's door behind you. You look over your left shoulder to see Zecora with her saddle-baskets on and her bamboo staff sitting on her back, Trixie nowhere to be seen. You look up to her with wide, blinking eyes, and she looks down to you with the same guarded expression and narrowed eyes you've been getting from her recently. She starts to walk down the steps, passing you at the left, your gaze following her the whole way, breath caught in your throat. Zecora stopped about a foot in front of you, and looking back over her right shoulder at you, finally addressed you.

"Follow me, and hurry."

Hurry. Hurr-E. That was her only communication to you before she looked back forward and started to walk away, back into the Everfree. You for your part hop up quickly and start galloping after her. You're not entirely sure what's going on but at least she's talking to you, and you're pretty certain she knows the Everfree best of anypony. So not going to get lost again... right? Uh, right, yeah, following her, trusting life to her, ahem. Back to that.

Zecora was silent as you followed her, and you're pretty sure that she was giving you the cold shoulder... Or the cold rump as it were, seeing as how she was walking in front of you, her flank sashaying back and forth with that natural sexy movement of the hips that mares all seem to possess. Her plot was hypnotic and you distracted yourself from your worries about your current relationship with your marefriend and the oppressiveness of the surrounding Everfree by focusing on it. Your eyes moved back and forth, watching the sway of her hips, and you couldn't help smiling a little... ... You totally tapped that.

You might have been a little too focused on her plot, because when she suddenly came to a stop you almost ran right into it. Fortunately however you gained enough sense over your fatigue-addled brain to avoid ramming into the mare's rump, and instead quickly tore your eyes up to meet hers as she looked back over her right shoulder.

"We're here. Now let me be clear. Behave. Get in and bathe."

Spoke the zebra once more as her right foreleg raised to point a hoof forwards. You leaned to the right, looking around Zecora's sexy rump, which you really could go all day about, and saw a river. The water was running at a weak but steady current. The river fairly shallow and clear, with numerous slick and polished stones scattered along the riverbed. The riverbank looked rocky as well, covered with the polished stones, sleek and wet from water sloshing up onto them. A pony would need to be careful walking over rocks like those. Wouldn't want to slip and crack their skull open, spill their brains out across the stones, blood trickling into the river...

Blinking away the suddenly macabre turn of your thoughts, you can't help but pale a bit as you look at the river. It isn't that it looks unappealing... actually the water looks really beautiful. It just also looks cold. And you're not especially fond of the cold. You've spent most of your life trying to avoid it. And y'know the rocks look really slippery and WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? You are a superpony! Superponies don't get scared of cold water! ... And rocks! Yep there are rocks to. Scary rocks. Rawr.

You gulp down a lump in your throat, then shake your head and bring your hooves up to untie Zecora's cloak, pulling it of and draping it over your left foreleg, not wanting to let it drop to the dirt in front of Zecora. You step around Zecora and move over to one of the larger, drier looking sleek rocks, then carefully lay the cloak down, nice and neat. Then you turn to face the water again, breathe in deep and plant your hooves down on the ground. Right! Time to stallion-up!

With that simple message in your mind you step up to the water's edge, with every intention of just plodding right in. But instead of that you suddenly decide that it would be a good idea to stop at the edge and engage in a staring contest with the water. You look down at the river, glaring at it to try to weaken it's resolve... It's not working. Your intimidation tactics failing, you decide to scout out the enemy's defenses. Gulping, again, you gingerly lift your right hoof up, and slowly move it down to touch the tip to the surface of the water, testing it's temperature and-

BUMP

A sudden pressure at your rump sends you stumbling forward and plummeting into the water, a wet splash engulfing your form as you quickly come to a conclusion about the river. The water is cold. The water is COLD. THE WATER IS BUCKING COLD!!!

"'splutter' Yeow! Agh! What the buck Zecora!?" Was all you could think to utter as you surfaced from beneath the freezing liquid, bringing your hooves up to push your wet mane out of your eyes. Zecora was standing at the position you'd previously occupied with a slightly amused tint to her eyes and a humored curve to her mouth.

"Do not whine, you are fine."

Is all you get from the smug zebra as she slips her saddle-baskets down her neck and onto the riverbank, leaning back to pull out her bamboo stick and lay it down next to the baskets on the rocks. She reached down to her left basket and flipped it open with her front-left hoof, the lid gaping open as it hung from the basket. She then reached down into the basket with her left hoof, and pulled out what looked like a yellow sponge. You couldn't help but arch your right eyebrow as you started to shiver, your teeth chattering as you brought your hooves up to rub your forelegs.

Zecora, while you freeze, is taking her sweet time opening the right basket with her right hoof. After flipping the lid, she leans down to move her muzzle into the basket. She emerged after a few moments of rummaging with a small straw-woven basket, gripped in her teeth. It was a small thing and reminded you of those pictures you'd seen of bird's nests in your schoolfoal books. Only, while it was mostly woven from what looked like straw and twigs, there seemed to be the occasional teal, yellow, and light pink ribbons woven in. And then oddly enough there was a purple ribbon on the side of the nest-looking bowl, tied in a bow! Very elegant and classy looking actually.

As for what the bowl actually contained, it was filled with what looked like little lime-green rocks, in rough rectangular shapes, tiny blue spots scattered all over them. Zecora walked over to a large grey rock just on the riverbank's edge, and set down the basket, placing it on the stone. She then moved the sponge up from her hoof to her teeth, gripping it lightly. The zebra reached into the nest-like basket with her left forehoof, and pulled out one of the little stones. She turned, holding it on her hoof, and you watching, calmly chucked it up the river. You watched it go sailing, with a rather confused furrow of the brows, as it hit the water with a-

PLOP

And a few moments later came the bubbles. Light blue bubbles, floating up from a lime-green foam, spreading from the point of impact. The foam spread across the river, upcurrent of you, and began to run down towards you, building quickly and mounting up in a wave of foam taller than you. Your eyes went wide, watching the oncoming tidal wave of soapy bubbly foam and you threw your forehooves up over your face and squeezed your eyes shut. It was a panic reaction more than anything else, you weren't exactly expecting to die or anything, and if you'd been thinking without clearly you would probably have expected what did happen.

WHOOSH

The foam rolled over you without damage. Lathering your fur and mane in soapy lime-green, light blue bubbles popping all around you, and dancing up from your coat. You opened your eyes and blinked, slowly lowering your forehooves to look at them, covered in the soapy lather... Curious you looked down to below the water and clear as day you could see that same lather sticking to your coat underneath the surface of the river, sticking to your fur even as the current ran against it. To say you were curious was... Well, an understatement of sorts. This shit was freaking amazing. And you weren't entirely sure what it was besides some kind weird, herbal soap... maybe?

The sound of a light splash turned your attention back to the riverbank, where you saw Zecora wading into the river calm as could be, not even an errant shiver touching her body. She was carrying the sponge in her mouth, and advancing on you with, once again, an amused look in her eyes. You didn't mind that... better amused than angry.

She got over to you and as she reached you she stood up on her hindlegs, pulling the sponge from her mouth with her left hoof. And then, quite calmly, proceeded to start scrubbing your left side with the sponge. She scrubbed, hard, to the point that it actually hurt a little. Under her thorough and rough attentions the soapy lather started to come off, covered with dirt and flecks of dried blood on the sponge. Zecora brought the sponge down and submerged it into the water, and you watched, admittedly fascinated, as the dirt and muck just detached itself from the sponge, floating down the river on the current... And then the sponge came back up to your sides, and she started scrubbing again, repeating the process.

Through all this she remained silent, and you held your tongue. She was running the show here as far as you were concerned. When she wanted to talk then you two could talk. And you didn't want to slow her down because you were, quite frankly, bucking freezing and she was probably waiting for you to be all clean before chewing you out.

And it is taking plenty of time without interruption... even with her thorough scrubs, the foam seems to take a lot of work to scrub onto the sponge. It's doing it's job efficiently though, as all the muck and grim and blood that was on you is carried down the stream after her scrubbing... Judging by how much is going down after each scrub, you got real filthy real quick. You're almost glad you don't have a hoof mirror. You're not sure you want to know what you looked like.

She scrubbed your left side until it was clean. And then she moved to your right and did the same. You couldn't help but blush when she got to your flank and tail. She scrubbed your tail just as thoroughly as your sides, and your flank. And when she reached down between your hind legs and rubbed over your sheathe... Well, the only thing greater than your blush was the willpower it took to keep your best friend from making an impromptu appearance. You'd have to clean him later yourself of course but now didn't seem the right time to have Zecora handling him, especially when she was being so... rough. Fortunately the one thing the cold was good for besides setting your teeth to bucking chatter-mode was making even your best friend pause for thought on the merits of emerging into the icy water. Between that and your own desperate will you were able to keep him down.

You were more than a little relieved when Zecora finally moved on from your rear and vital parts, but quickly found a new discomfort as she got to your face. You found yourself having to clench your eyes shut and hold your breathe to avoid errant bubbles from finding their way into your nostrils or lather into your eyes. You had to endure her rubbing the sponge hard against your face, then stopping to let the filth downstream, and then bringing the cleaned sponge back up to work on your face again. Luckily that didn't last too long, and you finally breathed a sigh of relief as Zecora pulled your right forehoof up out of the water and started scrubbing it. She rubbed and dunked, and rubbed again, continuing the pattern, and then, when she got up to the knee... she stopped.

After a few moments of nothing happening, save for your making peace with the fact that you were going to be in the cold water forever, you turned your gaze from watching the tail end of lathered filth floating down the stream and looked up to see Zecora gazing at your foreleg with narrowed eyes. Angry eyes. Down at your knee... The scarring.

"This was not there before, this flesh was tore.

Bones had to splinter through skin, and there's only two days for when."

She spoke, and you found the urge to gulp again. Her voice... cold, unreadable... strange.

"Z-zecora-" You start, only for her eyes to snap up to yours, rage filled orbs burrowing into your sockets as she shouted.

"SHUT UP!"

At the top of her lungs. You're not sure what shocked you more. The rage in her voice or the lack of rhyming. She dropped your forehoof, letting it splash into the water, and looked at you with gritted teeth.

"You I cannot believe! What did I do that you should make me grieve!?"

She yelled, loud and uncontrolled, causing you to shiver for reasons that had nothing to do with the cold.

"I took you in and gave you bread! Slept with you in my own bed!

And how do you my charity repay? With my cloak and map you steal away!"

She threw her right hoof down into the water, going down to three legs as she sent up a splash, a jet of cold water shooting up from where she planted her hoof and hitting you in the face. You blinked and spluttered, shaking your head as the zebra continued her rant.

"For justice at first I surmised, to take an attacker as your prize!

That you were in great danger I thought, so I searched for you but all for naught!

Night and day I feared your life, was at risk that you underwent great strife!"

But when I finally hear a noise, to lead me to you, dropping all poise,

to run to you who I had lost, and your attacker properly accost,

What should I see before my eyes? You with sword and lover I surmise!"

Wait, what was that last part? You try to open your mouth on that one but Zecora steams on, not giving you a chance to get in a word edgewise.

"Your intentions became as clear as day! Me a fool for you to play!

She thought what was lost was hidden, and so called you her lover bidden!

In order for my map to take! And steal her prize for her sake!

You lost the path and for your crime you paid! Only for me to come to your aid!

So now my robbers are under my roof, who I have saved with my own hoof!

And the gratitude I can expect is to be treated as a theft prospect!"

Zecora slams her right hoof back down into the water, and another spurt of water shot up from the river, splashing you in the face, causing you to splutter again. You blink your eyes rapidly, brow furrowed as you shake your head. How did she-

"And you are not what you claim to be! You are not a regular pony!

Who are you to have this ability! Who the buck are you to me!?

And what was I to you then?! Just a mark, a conquest, a win?!

Was my cloak a trophy to take!? Answer me for Celestia's sake!"

She shouted, and as you looked at her once more, blinking away the water, you could see the moisture pooling over the lids of her eyes, and making trails down her cheeks, wetting her coat. Crying... Zecora was so angry and upset that she was crying... ... Well now you feel like crap.

There's only one thing for this. You're not going to like it but, it's all you can think to do... You sigh, closing your eyes... Then take a deep breath in before breathing out slowly... And opening your eyes again, raising your gaze to look Zecora straight in the eyes.

"Okay... You deserve the truth. The whole truth." You speak, as Zecora meets your gaze, tears running down her cheeks, but her glare is strong and unyielding as it meets your eyes.

"I didn't get lost on the edge of the Everfree, and these rods aren't part of a back-based medical condition." You start, bringing your right forehoof up to point towards your back, flexing them up, still covered with the lime-green foam, and wiggling them around a bit, before letting them drop back to your back.

"I woke up in the Everfree lost and alone. I went to sleep in Manehatten and when I woke up I was here. In the forest. I didn't know where I was then. I just know that it was dark and it, well, scared the shit out of me. I figured it out when the storm hit though. There's only one place in Equestria where the weather forms on it's own..." You mutter, dropping your gaze for a few moments as you remember that realization... before looking back up into Zecora's orbs.

"I looked for shelter and found those ruins. I went in to escape from the storm and then started looking for a place to hole up inside. It was dark, I could barely see my hoof in front of my face, and then... then this weird light appeared out of bucking nowhere, in the room where you found me. It was a small blue blip of a thing... kind of like a single star twinkling in the dark... Anyway I got curious and started to move towards it when those wolf-things, the Timberwolves, attacked and... well." You mutter, then raise your front-left hoof up out of the water, still covered in foam, and look down to it for a few moments.

"Then the light flew into my hoof and a sword grew out. Sprouted out of bucking nowhere and impaled a leaping Timberwolf... saved my life. I used it to fend off the others but, well they were ganging up on me and I couldn't see so I wasn't doing to well. But then these rods just, jutted out of my back, tore right through my skin, and then a damn bolt of lightning curled through the window to hit them and suddenly I could direct it. I shot another Timberwolf with it, and that left nothing but a charred corpse. Then I killed the other one with the blade and then I... Well, I kind of had a psychotic break brought about by advanced trauma, and licked it's blood from my blade..." You mutter, lowering your head to look down to the water.

PLOP

The scrubbing sponge goes floating past your right leg, down the river. You look back up to Zecora to see her staring at you with wide shock-filled eyes, mouth agape. You close your own eyes and breathe in deeply, a pit forming in your stomach as you continue.

"Yeah, if you're going to hate me that's a good reason to do it for huh?" You ask, then chuckle humorlessly before sighing, eyes still closed, lowering your head once more.

"Anyways I collapsed on the floor and that's when you found me... And then I woke up in your hut and I was clean and in a warm bed and it felt just so... so awesome. So wonderful. And then I met you and we talked and you fed me and... I'd never had anypony care for me like that before. So I didn't tell you about what happened to me at the castle because I didn't want you to think that I was a freak. I didn't want you to abandon me... ... Well, we got to talking, we cuddled up for a night, you were really cute and I got to watch you sleep for a bit, your chest rising and falling in time with your breath and it was... awesome. And then when I woke up we got talking again and, uh, rutted... I didn't exactly have great technique but I think you came so I guess I didn't totally fail at that..." You murmur further, blushing a bit. You keep your eyes closed, not needing to see how she reacts to memories of your sexual escapades.

"After, um, that, you went to sleep, and I tucked you in... And then I started to read up on the Everfree. I wanted to know if there was something, some kind of explanation for what had happened to me, but I didn't want to tell you because, again, I didn't want you to see me as a freak. And then I started thinking on the blade to see if there was any research on it and it just... appeared again. Slicing through the book and your table, and I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that it happened and I can control it now but I couldn't then! And... well, after that I panicked. After everything you'd done for me I'd destroyed your table and the book, and thought back to when it started happening, and I remembered that it'd started at the castle. So I tried to go there, remembering that you'd made maps of the Everfree, so I took one and borrowed your cloak so that I wouldn't freeze. I thought I would zip there and be back before you woke up, but... that didn't work out. I got lost because I couldn't read it..."

"And I had a few falls, um, fell into a patch of weird looking flowers, started to stumble around and I got into a fight with a couple of chicken-lizard things and I, um, well... won. That's where the blood on my coat and your cloak came from..." You mutter, before breathing in deep, and letting out a choked sigh. There are tears running down your cheeks... you hadn't even noticed them earlier. But they're there, mixing with the river water. You gulp down a lump forming in your throat and keep going.

"And that was when I saw Trixie... I'd met her once in Manehatten a few years ago. It was a very brief, and extremely unpleasant meeting. But she was in the middle of a clearing when I saw her, and she was frightened, and I think those chicken lizard things had turned her to stone... No telling how long she was there. I tried to talk to her and after a, uh, rocky start, we started travelling together looking for you because we were lost, and scared... she didn't admit that though, she just kind of blew past me with her head held high, pretty annoying." You muttered, before shaking your head again.

"Anyways we found a clearing and it was getting late so we called it a night. When I woke up it was to her screaming and there was that Diamond Dog and then he had her against a tree so I summoned my blade, and then I found out that it makes a really loud sound when it hits metal. Hurt his ears and he begged for me to stop, offering anything just to stop the sound. I decided to take his collar... I think I was just pissed he attacked us, and then sent him running into the forest. And then you came and I was happy, but then I was sad because you were mad and everything just felt bad and I know you think of me as a cad who stole your cloak and ruined your book and your table and all that you had and I just-"

The tip of a hoof beneath your chin interrupts you, and a gentle pressure tilts your face up. You open your eyes, tears still escaping from them, to see Zecora's looking into your eyes with a soft smile, and tears running down her cheeks. She leans forward and plants a soft kiss on your lips...

You close your eyes, breathing in her scent once more and open your mouth as you feel her tongue slip in past your teeth and touch your own. You run your tongue over hers and they interlock with one another, sharing a mix of flavors old and new, tangy and strong and foreign, unknown and unidentifiable but delicious all the same. The kiss continues for several moments, and then slowly Zecora leans back, tongue retreating from your mouth as you open your eyes, a faint trail of saliva connecting you and her by the tips of your tongues...

Both you and she were panting slightly, a soft blush staining her cheeks, and judging by the heat in your cheeks one on yours as well. Zecora sighed out softly, closing her mouth and bringing her right forehoof up to rub your cheek gently, tilting her head down and closing her eyes... You sheathe your orbs as well as you feel her hoof gently stroking your cheek, letting yourself get lost in the feeling, basking in the physical contact.

"Your lapse in judgment I will forgive... I am just happy that you still live."

She spoke gently, her soft voice caressing your ears.

"I... should not have been so hasty to accuse. I know what it's like to lose...

But this I beg you believe, all fears of abandonment you can relieve.

This curse that has found you here, has not yet run against me my dear.

I will search and find a cure, of that you can be sure."

Spoke Zecora gently, and you opened your eyes as you felt her left hoof on your right cheek, and looked up into her orbs as she held your cheeks in her hooves, gazing into your eyes intently.

"I care for you, deeply you must know. Even when angry, this is so.

So please, from now on, share with me when changes occur. Knowledge will help me find a cure."

She spoke, her voice soft, compassionate, and full of love. You blink, then smile, relieved, and breathe out heavily, more moisture collecting at the edges of your eyes and running down your cheeks.

"Okay... yes, I will... I... thank you..." You speak, your voice soft and choked up, squeezing your eyes shut as more moisture builds up, and for some reason it doesn't stop coming. You try to make some comment about it, but your throat seizes up, and suddenly all you can do is just stand there in the river, half foam-covered, and cry like a little foal. You feel Zecora's forelegs wrap around you, and her right hoof strokes your back gently as her left moves up to your mane stroking it softly through the suds as she softly coos in your ear, shushing you gently, holding you close in the water as you sob your eyes out...

You have the collar, use it to your advantage. Trixie already has her collar so who would the other one be from? Gift it to Zecora, it will make up for the cape and curb her anger.

You need to do something about your smell. Being in a forest with deadly animals, having a strong scent would not be good.

The Chessmaster

Give the collar to Zecora? Well, why not! A beautiful trophy for a beautiful trophy. After you cleaned the thing, of course. And it'll surely look at least as nice on Zecora as on Trixie.

You'll decide later on what Trixie gets, be it a gift, a hug or a spanking, depending on how she treats you from now on. She's still got some bad brownie points to work off, after all...

After you recover from what feels like your umpteenth unstallionly act in the space of about two days, Zecora fetches another sponge from her basket to finish washing you. You actually get up the nerve to ask her about the strange soap basket, figuring the soap itself is a conversation for when you have the mental faculties to process it. It turns out that it actually IS a nest that was so well made she decided to use it as a bowl. One of her Ponyville friends gave it to her during Winter Wrap-Up.

Which you at first don't get because in Manehatten Winter Wrap-Up's a five minute event between unicorn mages and the Weather Team. Apparently though it's a rather big deal in this Ponyville place, done the 'traditional' way and used as a form of community bonding. Zecora apparently decided to help out this last Winter Wrap-Up, as part of the 'Animal' team? And after her help she was given the nest as a thank you gift, and also an apology for earlier treatment. Zecora said that it was a 'very generous act and that's a fact'. Since she said it with an amused twinkle in her eye you can guess that it was some kind of inside joke.

Regardless, you're soon scrubbed free of the foam, though you do notice that Zecora paused when she got to your mane... and stopped longer at your back... But she didn't say anything and frankly you've had enough bad news and emotional drama for today. You want to get in the hut, sit down, breathe in, and bucking relax! If it's important you're sure she'll bring it up.

And every step out of the river is a step closer to relaxation as you walk back onto the riverbank, the scrubbing finally done. Zecora dries you off quickly with a small yellow towel, kept beneath the bird's nest in her right saddle-basket. You can't get dry soon enough. What was cold in the water is freezing out in the chill air. You shake and shiver and occasionally chatter as Zecora runs the towel over you, scrubbing just as thoroughly to dry you off as she did to clean you up. And you do feel clean. Very clean. Zecora's attentions, while a little painful, have scrubbed away the grime and the blood and the stink, and left you with your coat and mane feeling nice, good... a little sexy even. Now you DO wish you had a hoof mirror.

The same can't be said for the cloak though... It's still stained with blood and dirt, rough and tumble, in a state of disarray... You feel more than a little bad about it. When you ask Zecora if you should wash it though, she simply sighs out, sounding as emotionally exhausted as you, and says-

"I shall clean it at a later time, there is a special way to scrub away grime.

Just bring it outside of the hut for now, it is a sturdy thing and will last anyhow."

She spoke, and you nodded, accepting her ruling as you pulled it on. Then furrowed your brows, thinking for a second. You looked back to Zecora, watching her pack up her towel and birds-nest for a moment, then looked back to the cloak now back around your shoulders. Quickly, you started to dig around in it for that flower you found. You can't believe you almost forgot about it, you cut it out just in case she might like it, right? But instead of finding the flower bulb your hooves find the Diamond Dog collar stuffed into it's pocket. You're about to put it back, when you stop, pull it out, and hold it in your hooves, looking it over for a moment... She... she might actually like this more. Diamonds are a mare's best friend right? And they're worth something. And it'll probably cost her something to replace what you destroyed so...

"Um, Zecora..." You say turning with the collar held between your hooves, looking towards the zebra mare, her back still turned as she finishes closing the lids of her baskets.

"I can hear, what is it my dear?"

Asked Zecora, as she bent her neck down and slid the saddle-baskets back up onto her back, then reached over and picked up her bamboo stick in her mouth.

"Uh, I was thinking, since I kind of wrecked your book and your table, maybe... Well, this has diamonds in it and they're worth a bit, well not a bit, they're worth more than a bit! I don't know how much more because I've never had any diamonds but, uhh, you know if you want then you can... have this. For the diamonds and stuff..." You speak, blushing for some reason and looking down at the stones beneath your hooves.

After a moment you hear a muffled chuckle coming from Zecora, then you feel the collar sliding off your hoof as the zebra mare speaks, mouth free of obstruction.

"Thank you for the gift my friend. I will use it to make a meeting of ends."

She stated and you looked up to see her with an amused smile, bamboo staff in it's little loop on her back between the saddle-baskets, her left hoof holding the collar and her right forehoof flipping open her left saddle-basket. She calmly brought her right hoof and left hoof together, and scrunched up the collar, folding it into itself, before depositing it into the basket. Then with a flick of her left hoof she closed the basket, bringing her hooves back down to the ground and looking to you again with a smile.

"Too long in this forest you have had to roam. Now my friend, let's go home."

Once you've returned to your hut, you will all need some rest, probably. Try to apologise for the table. Just try to make up in general. Fighting with your Zebra won't be any fun, and you need a way to take your mind off of things.

Maybe once things have settled down a bit, you can ask Zecora about some of the things that kept creeping around in your head, like this "herds" idea. You've seen some crazy sh*t over the last few days, so it's only natural that you be curious. And really, if the other Zebras are half as wonderful as Zecora is, it's hard to imagine that they would have some kind of evil mojo to enslave others... or perhaps they do. It just won't leave you alone until you know. Come to think of it, why exactly did she leaver her people behind- was there anything like that going on, and she fled?

Also, you need to do something about Trixie. Nothing drastic! At least not until she's back to being unbearable. And boy, is she ever... you know, you should talk with your Zebra about what to do with Trixie. Explain to her how little Trixie has shown herself capable of surviving the Everfree alone, and how utterly mean she's been, despite you saving her. And something about "crimes against ponykind", what's up with that? Anyhow: it's obvious that, as of now, Trixie can't be trusted to make do on her own. She needs some guidance. She definitely needs that, and you don't really know what to do if she doesn't want it. However, Zecora probably does knows how to deal with patients who refuse treatment.

break trixe and turn her into your slave

On the way back you are, once again, treated to a rather nice view of Zecora's rump, sashaying back and forth. You smile a bit, watching it move, but then your brows furrow as you think back to something Zecora said in the water...

"Hey Zecora?"

"Hm?"

She responds, the light throat noise not worth a rhyme as she turned her head over her left shoulder to look back to you.

"You said that your people had a practice of herds, with multiple mares, or sometimes stallions, to one zebra... But you seemed really angry about the thought that Trixie might be my lover. Was that part of why you left your tribe? Was there something... sinister in the herds design? Did zebras do something or...?"

You let your question taper off, and Zecora looked back forward, quiet for a few moments as you continued to walk... You start to worry that you might have offended her, before she finally spoke.

"In ancient times past, before the Sisters over our continent passed,

there were dark times of black magic, where powerful witch-doctors would lead young zebra to ends tragic.

Enthralling into herds was not uncommon then, but those dark times were filled with sin.

The sisters put an end to their blight, and since then our lands have been nothing but bright.

The herd is an institution ancient and respected, where none within are neglected.

No longer by foul practice cursed, no one joins a herd coerced.

But I was not raised by a herd with many zebra to a bed, I was raised by two parents with whom to lay my head.

The practice was dying when I was still there, and for it I did not much care.

And here the herd never existed, with single partners your society was gifted.

I was most comfortable with this, and for me nothing of it was amiss.

So share this trait with your culture I do, and with jealousy I reacted it's true.

But nothing ill has been done for millennia to zebra in herds, and the dark forces that enthralled them have been reduced to just words.

And now my friend most dear, look up from my rump, we are here."

You blush a bit as Zecora figures looks back over her left shoulder to you with a smirk, having figured out your rump-ogling... It probably wasn't too hard to guess at. But regardless of your flank fixation you turn your head away and see that she's right! In no time at all you are, once again, in front of Zecora's hut. You follow her as she pushes open the door and walks in, and DOES NOT shut the door in your face this time.

As you step back into the warm familiar hut interior you breathe in the abode's scent deeply. The sweet sweet smell of herbs and spices, chemicals and flower petals, and still other unidentified substances fill your nostrils. Your eyes take in Zecora's hut with all it's glory, the charms and masks on the walls, the shelves filled with potions, the rows of books in their shelves, the cauldron in the center strangely bereft of water, and the table that still has the large jagged cut from your... accident. The scrolls and books have all been cleaned up and moved to their appropriate chests and shelves, leaving the table bare with evidence of your impropriety, and strangely enough that mysterious chest you kept look at seems to have been moved somewhere out of sight. But you don't care! You're safe again!

You breathe out a sigh of relief and prompty drop down to the floor, planting a kiss on the wood, uncaring of whatever dirt might have been tracked upon it.

"Thank you Celestia..." You mutter. And then, from out of nowhere, a loud rumble shakes your stomach, filling up the room. The sound of a muffled laugh-snort causes you to look up, to see Zecora, her hoof over her mouth, suppressing laughter as she looks at you stretched out on the floor. She clears her throat, and lowers her hoof, still smirking slightly.

"I am glad your heart at rest, but I think tending to your stomach would be best."

She spoke, and a blush colored your cheeks as you grinned sheepishly.

"Hehehe, you, uh, might be onto something there." You speak, before getting to your hooves awkwardly, bringing your front-right hoof up to your mouth and coughing away embarrassment. Zecora smirked, a humored look in her eyes, as she nodded her head over towards the bedroom door.

"Go ask our guest what she would like to eat. And I will start cooking up a treat."

She spoke, before turning, and moving over towards the cauldron. You blink, then look over towards the bedroom... Well that makes sense. Trixie was hurt, most comfortable place in the hut... Guess you don't have to be jealous of that considering she's injured...

You're almost about to walk towards the door, when another thought pops into your head. You stop, blink, and lick your lips slightly, turning to look to Zecora as she pulls her bamboo stick from it's loop, and mounts it up against the wall next to a bookshelf.

"Um, Zecora, should I be... careful around Trixie? Take any kind of precautions? I mean, is it really safe to be around her?" You ask, and Zecora turns to look at you with her left eyebrow raised, a confused look in her eyes.

"Why do you ask if it is a dangerous task?"

She asked simply in reply, and you gulp a bit before continuing.

"Um, well, Trixie said something about crimes against ponykind when we first met, and you mentioned something about her being a thief and about a plot to have me steal things so... is she dangerous or...?" You ask, raising your right eyebrow. Zecora blinked a bit, looking at you for a moment, then lowered her head again, looking away, thinking for a moment... Before responding calmly.

"Trixie has made mistakes. Caused some pain and quite a few aches.

But she was influenced by another when such was done, and that influence is reduced to none.

She is flawed and weak inside, but from her you need not hide.

She needs guidance to good end, more than anything else she needs a friend."

Finished Zecora, before looking back up to you with a smile.

"So no my friend, danger you need not fear. Just please be patient with the poor dear."

Stated Zecora, and you nodded slightly, breathing in deep, then out slowly, fear assuaged.

"Okay, thank you Zecora." You state simply, before turning, and starting to move towards the bedroom doorway.

As you walk towards the bedroom, your head suddenly feels kind of groggy... You stumble a bit and then blink, and shake your head. Huh... must be the exhaustion. You simply acknowledged this obvious fact to yourself, and proceeded to enter into the bedroom, where the showmare had made herself more than home.

Trixie was laid back on the bed with her head resting on the pillow, eyes closed, forehooves up over the covers and blankets, laying at her sides. Zecora seemed to have taken pretty good care of the showmare. The blood from Trixie's coat was gone and it actually looked pretty appealing again. Clean and pretty with an attractive luster to it. Zecora probably bathed her in the cauldron. More comfortable with hot water, never mind the subtle hints of cannibalism. Well actually since Zecora's a zebra and Trixie's a pony, it wouldn't really be cannabilism would it? Just carnivorism... Which probably isn't a word but your brain gets the point!

You'd have liked to mentally comment on Trixie's mane, but the truth is you can't really see it save for a small tuft sticking out. Trixie's head has been bandaged. Heavily. With the bandages wrapping around the gash beneath her horn to the back of her head, and all around her horn as well, going from front to back, the unicorn's genetic legacy sticking out from between the bandages. As if that weren't enough there were even more bandages wrapping up to the back from beneath her chin, as if just to make sure there was enough bandaging going on.

Looking closer though, you were able to see some lumps beneath the bandages, like they were holding something besides just themselves over the gash and bruising around her horn and the cut at the back of her head. And around her neck is a circle of soft white cloths, over the bruises, each of them glistening like they were coated in some kind of liquid.

Trixie, for all the bandaging and medical treatment, seems to be quite at home in another mare's bed. You can't blame her, it's a bucking awesome bed. She's laying back with a content expression on her face. She actually looks asleep, her eyes closed, her breathing steady. You smirk a bit. Maybe she should take hits to the head more often. She actually looks cute like this.

You move forward, over to her bedside, raise your left hoof up, and proceed to poke Trixie's left foreleg with your hoof.

Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Wake up. Hey. Hey. Wake up. Hey." You state in accompaniment with your poking, the showmare grumbling slightly, shifting on the bed, muttering a bit, and then opening her eyes slowly, looking up at you from the bed.

"Ugghh... why do... you disturb the... Great and Powerful Trixie's, great and powerful 'yawn' slumber?" She asked, groggily, grumpily, and not a little frumpily. You smile lightly, and avoid giggling at her expense... you kind of like her like this. She's funny when she's not loud!

"Zecora wants to know, what do you want for dinner?" You ask pleasantly, and the showmare closes her eyes muttering a bit. You cock your right brow and lean forward, unable to hear her request.

"What was that Trixie?"

"'grumble grumble' Peanut butter." ... You take a moment to give her a disbelieving gaze, with a side of arched right eyebrow that she doesn't seem to notice.

"Peanut butter?" You ask, letting the disbelief and doubt at her lone culinary choice color your voice, once again your disapproval going completely over her head.

"Yesh... and crackers..." She further muttered, and you nod slowly, the choice slightly more believable now.

"Peanut butter AND crackers... Well, I'll let Zecora know and she'll see what she can do." You state simply, then turn and start to move away, when Trixie pipes up again with her muttering voice.

"Urgh, yes ... show your gratitude..." She muttered, the sound of her form shifting position in the bed slightly reaching your ears as you stop dead in your tracks.

"Gratitude? For what?" You ask, pleasantness still tinging your voice.

"For... my saving you..." She muttered. And in that instant your blood ran cold.

"You... save... me?" You speak, slowly pronouncing every word as your right eye begins to twitch.

"Well you helped... some..." Muttered the still groggy showmare, oblivious to the deadly ground on which now she now tread.

"Some? I helped SOME?!" You hissed, barely fighting to keep your voice from full-out yelling, before whirling around and galloping back over to the bed, slamming your hooves onto the side.

"I saved your damn flank! You needed me to bail your sorry plot out!" You continue to hiss, as a suddenly very awake Trixie's gaze snaps to yours, wide-eyed.

"T-the Great and Powerful Trixie needs nopony! S-she would have been-"

"DEAD." You interject, glaring into her eyes, your right eye continuing to twitch.

"Deceased, rotted, a feast for worms, six feet under, have kicked the bucket, passed the expiration date, met her terminal end, turned a deeper shade of blue, gone to a higher court, met her maker, died!"

You practically spit, leaning forward with every phrase, the showmare sinking back from you into her pillow, eyes widening with fear.

"Or maybe that Diamond Dog would have taken you under and used you like a two-bit whorse! A bitch with her tail up in the air for some Diamond Dog dong! THAT is what the Great and Powerful Trixie would be, a sloppy and sobbing Diamond Dog cumbucket, if I hadn't been there to bail her sorry flank out! So the least she could do, instead of asserting her Celestia damned delusions as facts and treating me like a bucking servant, is express the tiny bit of gratitude, of a nice and proper thank you!" You hiss, glaring into the Trixie's eyes. The terrified showmare is now hiding beneath her covers, the blankets pulled up to beneath her nose, holding them in her hooves, shaking like a leaf in the bed.

"T-t-t-thank you..." She manages to squeak out, shaking as you glare into her orbs... And just like that you feel better. Your eye stops twitching, you smile, and you lean forward to plant a soft kiss on Trixie's forehead. She looks at you with surprise as you lean back and smile pleasantly.

"You're quite welcome Trixie." You say simply and reach out to give Trixie a light pat on the head with your right hoof.

"Now I'll go let Zecora know that you're in the mood for peanut butter crackers. You rest up! Your little noggin obviously took quite a beating!" You say cheerfully, before turning back and trotting out of the room like nothing had happened, Trixie no doubt watching you with confusion in her eyes.

Well now that's done! It's about evening, you're home, Zecora's cooking, Trixie's resting, and you feel great! What do you do?!

Author's Note

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Finally! It's finally done! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! ... ... Ahem. Right then.

I'm sorry about the delay on this one. I like to get this done on an at least semi-consistent weekly schedule, and I hate having to make you all wait like this. Things took up my time though, mainly schoolwork, and this chapter was one that demanded numerous elements be addressed in multiple situations, multiple things that HAD to happen to tie everything together. My longest yet actually. There's some irony to being the most distracted when I had the most to do.

I had to push the deadline back and I've pretty much run myself ragged trying to get it done by tonight and not make you all wait another week. I only hope that it isn't disappointing after the wait and that the quality didn't suffer too terribly. I won't lie, lost a lot of energy by the end. Editing was a nightmare and I still had other things to do. I was ready to be DONE. So, like I said, hope the quality didn't suffer too much... Please be forgiving.

Now on a completely unrelated note, I have SUCH a love-hate relationship with Zecora's writing. On the one hand it is so wonderfully cool that she's always rhyming, and on the other it turns simple sentences into challenges to find the right word structure. Instead of saying "I have to go to the bathroom." Zecora needs to say something like "Pardon me, but I must pee." Fun yet frustrating.

Oh! And this is on my mind. I'd like to ask everyone to please remember to be courteous to your fellow commentators. This is a game about player suggestions guiding the overall story, and while I love to watch the discussions, debates, and thought patterns that emerge, I would hate for somebody to get discouraged from future suggestions and contributions. Please keep general politeness and positive thought in mind when discussing strategies and debating the best tactics.

Treasure Hunt

Boom! Pow! Kabang! The ideas are ramming into your skull at lightning speed! Brilliant thought after brilliant thought cramming your noggin until you think your head just might explode! It is awesome! But a blown-up head would not be conducive to future performance. You need to organize your awesomeness into a non head-explody format.

To this end you stop your happy trot outside of the bedroom doorway, and furrow your brows in an expression of concentration beginning to organize your brain. You cut here, slice there, restructure over there, and then finally breathe in deep, close your eyes , and let the single most important thought rise to the top of your mental functions.

First though: FOOD.

First things first however. DINNER!

Alright, bullet dodged. Your priorities are as follows

1) Food.

FOOD!!! You are starving! Your stomach is making the rumblies that only food can satisfy! And who's the mare to go to for food? Well the same one you'd go to for nookie of course!

Thoughts prioritized, you nod happily to yourself before turning your gaze over to the cauldron and more importantly the mare standing next to it.

Zecora was standing on her hind legs in front of the cauldron, the tip of her right forehoof touching the edge, tracing it in a large arching circle. To get to the far side of the cauldron she had to lean forward over it, then lean back as her hoof completed the arch back to the part of the edge nearest to her. Forward then back, forward than back. And every single time she leaned forward her pretty little plot raised up into the air, sticking out and wiggling for your viewing pleasure...

Licking your lips, and contemplating the possibility of eating out, you trot up behind the mare and get up onto your hind legs. You wrap your forelegs around Zecora's body, and she tenses up a bit at first, looking back to you with surprise. But then she closes her eyes and relaxes, pausing her administrations on the cauldron to lean back into you. You rest your muzzle on her right shoulder as you hold her in your forelegs, and looking over her shoulder you actually notice that the cauldron, previously empty you're sure, looks to be about half full... Might have to ask Zecora about that hoof thing sometime.

In the meantime you nuzzle your muzzle into your zebra's neck and close your eyes, breathing in deep, filling your nostrils with her scent. The smell of herbs and spices dance together with medicinal concoctions and wild rarities, the delicious aroma of your herbalist filling your senses, moving up your olfactory passages, and wafting into the memory sections of your brain. Your mind fires up with thoughts of your zebra, the taste of her nether-regions, the warmth of her mouth around YOUR nether regions, the feeling of her soft walls gripping around your member, every little dirty moment of your lovemaking...

You blush a little, remind your best friend that it's not the time to come out and play, and then lean up to nibble on Zecora's right earlobe. The zebra closes her eyes at your playful biting, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks as she leans presses back into you, her warm body leaning against yours. You close your eyes and breathe in deep again, savoring the feel, the scent, the flavor of her... and then, softly, gently, you begin to whisper into your zebra's ear...

"Trixie would like peanut butter and crackers." You state playfully, before giving her earlobe a lick and giggling lightly. Zecora blinked, then coughed slightly, and shook her head, an amused smile on her face.

"Ahem, then she will be disappointed tonight I fear, for I do not have any here.

But I'll try to go into town tomorrow, and pick up such items to help end her sorrow."

Spoke the Zebra, before looking back to you with a smirk, and bringing her forelegs up to gently move yours aside, ending the embrace.

[center "And now I must ask you to wait, for while it is far past time that we ate,

There's a half hour to dinner still, at least if you want it prepared with any skill."]Spoke the mare, causing your heart to drop a little and your stomach to groan at the prospect of waiting. You sigh a little, then smile and plant a kiss on the back of her neck, before backing off, somewhat reluctantly, and planting all four hooves on the ground.

"Got it. I'll be a good little colt and wait patiently." You state, with a light smile still, before turning and starting to move away.

"Also my friend most dear, I fear that maybe before you did not hear."

Continued Zecora, causing you to stop and look back to her with your right eyebrow raised. Zecora, with a good-natured smirk on her face, brings her front-left foreleg up to point at you, or rather a little to the left of you. You blink, then turn your head to the side to see a dried blood stain on a cloak... and your face flushes slightly.

"Oh! Right." You say, grinning stupidly at your embarassement as you bring your hooves up and unfasten the cloak, before folding it up and draping it over your back.

"I'll, ah, just put it outside..." You say, then turn with cloak on back and move towards the door. Zecora in the meantime turns back to her cauldron to resume running her hoof along the edge.

You push open the door with your right hoof and step out onto the first step of Zecora's hut, sighing in aggravation as you reach back with your muzzle to take the cloak in your mouth. You frown a bit at the hitns of Everfree dirt and blood in the taste, then shrug it off and place it down to the left of the doorway. Manual labor complete, you look up into the Everfree for a few moments, letting your eyes rake across the dark and foreboding forest... It's actually kind of beautiful in the fading light... at least when you're not getting lost in it like an idiot foal. You close your eyes and take in the Everfree air, the scent of trees mixing with night and hints of moisture filling your nose, as the low rumble of a distant storm reached your ears...

You smile softly, at peace with the world surrounding you, at least for the moment, before you turn your head back to look into the hut and call out.

"Hey! I'm going to wait outside for just a bit. Let me know when the food's done please!" You cry out happily, before reaching back with your left hind-hoof to close the door behind you, and stepping down to the bottom step in front of Zecora's hut.

Great, now your more... expressive side is being shown, we have to work on some "people skills." Having great evil power comes with many evil minions after all! Start to play chess, you have always been good at it, it was good for passing the time. Learn how to manipulate ponies, you did horribly with Zecora, you almost failed.

You are going to need a new cloak. Your rods will cause quite a large attraction. Unwanted attraction. Zecora's cloak was good, but one made out of the Yknewa tree's sacred sightly silk? If you can find it that is. Legend has it that it moves around.

And with that link Zecora has to the Elements.... Hmm... I suppose that the elements are a good target for later, start your training of your golden tongue with Zecora and make some new friends. You have two pawns... we still need to get you your 2 bishops, knights, and rooks. And if your lucky, all that bad luck has to turn around at some point, we might get a queen on our side, my leige. Still, we do need to move our pawns forward and use them and their connections... The young filly... resist your little friends talk of seducing a filly, we do NOT need an angry element, but we can use her. A third pawn. With a link to a fourth and fifth.

The Chessmaster

Sitting outside on the bottom step of Zecora's hut you look up into the gloom and sigh lightly... When you're not in the middle of it, scared, lost, and nearly dying, several times over, this forest is really kind of peaceful. Beautiful even. You never saw anything like this in Manehatten... the closest was the central park where you occasionally slept on the benches in winter, so that the Royal Guards would arrest you. Sacrificing a little freedom was worth it to spend winter nights in cells instead of in the alleyways... you'd learned that early on. Though admittedly the plan sometimes had mixed results. Anyways, the park paled in comparison to the Everfree in all it's brooding, gloomy glory. And here, sitting outside, relaxing, you can take a deep breathe, be calm and at peace with the world around you, listen to the gentle rumbles of the coming storm, and go back into your thought priorities to think on important things...

... Wow you nearly bucked EVERYTHING up. Sad that that's the next priority thought on your list. Sad but true. You stole shit, ran away and shit, nearly got killed and shit, and then made your zebra jealous. And shit. And to top it all off you brought home a prissy unicorn mare with an attitude problem and a superiority complex. All in all, not a good day. That really went poorly.

It's fairly apparent that you need to get better at dealing with ponies though... You lucked out with Zecora, and Trixie is obviously going to tax what social skills you possess... You need to figure out a way to be more charismatic. More charming. More socially awesome.

You sit forward on the step, bringing your right forehoof up to rest beneath your chin as you bring your left foreleg to rest on your knee. You rub your chin thoughtfully, then look down to all the tic-tac-toe games you played with yourself, still etched out in the dirt with tracks from you and Zecora running through the center. You smirk lightly. You always did like games... Your eyes light up with dazzling brilliance.

Aha! You shall turn your relationship into game! A chess-game! You'll take the Pegasus (Knight) and throw them across the board to hit the Unicorn! (Bishop) Before proceeding to move your Guards (Pawns) in a flanking maneuver to surround the enemy Earthshakers (Rooks) before sending your Dragon (Queen) straight at the enemy Princess! (King).

... After some review of this strategy you realize that not only do you not really know how to apply chess to your personal life, you don't actually know how to play chess.

You have tried it before of course. Back when you were a foal and you were trying absolutely EVERYTHING you could get your hooves on to finally find your Cutie-Mark. And like everything else in your life it didn't work out too well. You think you got a Dragon lodged up your nose and had to get surgery, something like that. Anyways you didn't interact with anything chess-related again until you found a catalogue in somepony's trash not too long back. It was a catalogue for 'Chessboards and Lawn Mowers!' some kind of weird shop that thought it was a good idea to sell two completely different items that had no relationship whatsoever to each other. While you pretty much ignored the lawn-mower bits the chessboard part was actually pretty interesting, and you reread it several times through the lonely nights. Learned quite a bit about chessboards.

The most traditional boards were, of course, the Celestial war. The Sun Princess versus the Moon Princess, with the Moon side always going first. The boards were based off the old legends that everypony assumed were just legends until Princess Luna returned and then everypony learned that they were actually history lessons... Not sure what was more surprising, that the legends were true, or none of the bucking historians actually figured out that the legends were true... Kinda embarrassing on their part.

Back to boards, there were other options of course. The second most popular choice for a long time were Griffin pieces. And oddly enough ponies capitalized on the Changeling invasion to make Changeling pieces for the boards! Apparently offering the most tangible threat for Equestria as game-pieces was a smart business move, because they were quite popular for some reason. And also crystal chess boards were on the rise! With the designs being made out of crystal instead of wood or gems started coming from the Crystal Empire. It even had some exotic Saddle Arabian boards, with strange and fascinating pieces, from the nation that introduced Chess to Equestria. Very nice stuff to look at, and want, and not be able to have.

And all this thinking on chess is distracting you from thinking on how to not fail at relationships again... Bad brain. You sigh, lower your head, and then on a whim look up and to your left to the folded cloak beside the door... It looks terrible. And you feel terrible. Zecora has only the one cloak, and that'll probably take major scrubbing to get it clean again... You're going to have to get your own cloak, no more borrowing. You're definitely going to have to get SOMETHING to cover you up! You look freaky! Ooooh! Maybe instead of a cloak you could get a trench-coat! Be all fancy and shit! Yeah you should get a trench coat. You can ask Zecora about it for when she goes into town.

Also, you'll need Zecora to help you deal with ponies. You've never really been good at it. Too much shame, too much anger, too much... well, being unimportant. And you're going to have do SOMETHING about all this sexing up you're! Really you never felt anywhere NEAR this much sexual drive when you were in Manehatten! Maybe it's because you've actually had sex or something, but whatever the reason you need to keep your libido under control. The worst thing you could do right now is confirm Zecora's jealousy by rutting with Trixie, which you totally want to do which is part of the problem! And after all this aggravation, sexy-time might not be smart thing to do with Zecora, at least until she's had some time to cool down.

As you're thinking on how to deal with a stallion's best friend and his increasingly frequent desires to make an appearance, you're interrupted by Zecora opening the door behind you. You look up over your left shoulder to the zebra as she looks to you with a smile.

"Please come in, feasting is set to begin."

She states, and the news is music to your ears. You jump up on the bottom step, grinning ear to ear as you merrily chip out.

"Okey-dokey!" As you trot up to Zecora. She seems to pause at your words, but shakes her head with a smile, before moving back inside as you follow, ready for the gurglies in your tummy to be stopped with nommy zebra stew!

3) Address the need to cover your changes with Zecora, get trench coat.

Well, everything turned out alright in the...

"Cure"

Cure? CURE! Ok, freak or not, remember what you were like before. Dieing of starvation in a Manehattan gutter. No, the Everyfree, that castle, hell even the "curse" itself has treated you quite well comparatively. Why in the everybucking name of Luna would you cure this.

Understand it? Sure, no harm in knowing what's going on and its limits. But cure? Hay no.

2) Training your abilities with Zecora.

2a) Be sure to suggest to Zecora that this might be a blessing instead of a curse.

Uh, you're tired, but there's still so many things to worry about. Like what other critters the Everfree houses. Let's see, timberwolves, lizard-chicken-whatchamacallits, Diamond Dogs... what next, changelings? You did sorta think of changelings earlier today. Weren't they scattered all across Equestria after Princess Cadance's wedding? Heh, maybe there's a few hiding out right next to Zecora's hut, wouldn't that be something? Changelings... they've got some weird mind control love magic, don't they... kinda like that evil mojo Zecora hinted at when you asked her about herds earlier today... uh oh...

Now you really need to ask Zecora about this stuff. Both if it! How do you counter weird mind magic? Other weird mind magic, probably. Knowing how those Zebra magics work might help defend against any changelings you encounter. Maybe take one of them out if push comes to shove. You almost got petrified because you didn't know what you were facing, you're going to be better prepared from now on! Also, catching a changeling does sound like something a superpony might do. Princess Celestia might rewards you herself for handing her over to her! And if not her, then Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor for sure! You can see it now: Fame, glory, a huge bounty for a live capture, Shining Armor himself shaking your hoof, Cadance giving you kiss on the cheek... Zecora and Armor not murdering you...

Now you almost wish there was a changeling nearby. Not before you've got your weapons in order though! So go, ask Zecora, let her teach you! Hop to it!

I've noticed something quite important...you get injured FAR to often. Regardless of the fact that your marefriend is a skilled healer, you need to either get faster or gain some defences, like armor. You were already turned part of the way to stone...maybe your new superpony powers can remember how it works. You already sprout a crystal sword from your hoof and have metal bars on your back, you shouldn't have much trouble getting some stone armor to form to make you less of an injury magnet. Maybe whatever is in the box that Zecora hid can help you fix yourself up some more.

Nomad

You sit at the table, on the side you sliced up because that's only fair, as Zecora finishes stirring her cauldron. She dips a small wooden spoon into the mix with her right forehoof, then brings it up to her lips, and sips it slowly... Before nodding with a smile.

"Just enough sweet, now we can eat."

She stated pleasantly, before laying the spoon on the table nearby, and reaching for her wooden ladle. One by one, she began to fill up her wooden bowls with a bright-orange concoction, little bits of white potatoe stuck in it. You watched with anticipation, tongue practically hanging out of your mouth as you salivated, watching Zecora finish filling the bowls. When she finished filling the third bowl she took it in her right forehoof, and turned to move towards the bedroom, speaking calmly as she went.

"First bowl you may guess, will go first to our guest."

She stated plainly as she moved to the door. You sighed, told your tummy that it could wait a few more moments, then turned back to the table, tapping your hooves against the surface inpatiently.

Muffled words, light noises, a haughty voice, and Zecora comes back bowl-less, her left eye twitching slightly. She quickly shook it off though and gave you a slightly forced smile, before moving over to the table to get the bowls for you and her. Part of you wants to ask what Trixie said, but your growling stomach interrupts that potential conflict, and so you stay seated as Zecora picks up both bowls with her forelegs, and turns, walking on her hindlegs back to the table...

Zecora sets your bowl down in front of you first and you dig right in. Probably not the best table manners but you're starving so buck it. It is, of course, delicious. Zecora can cook! And by the time that your zebra snuggle-bug has sat down to start her own bowl you've almost finished your own.

As you eat and enjoy the scrumptious meal your brain begins to go into the other important bits and bobs, pieces and sections that are floating around in your noggin. One of which is TRENCHCOAT!!! Heehee! Partially explored outside, complete exploration now, you need a trench-coat! A trench-coat for hiding your body from other ponies so that they don't point, and laugh, and stare, and scream, and get torches and pitchforks, and be generally mean to you, all of that!

Hm, that was pretty straightforward actually. Next topic!

Let's see... injury. You need to find a way to stop getting injured. Even with all that Zecora healing and your own regeneration you need to stop being hurt because you seem to get into trouble a LOT. Maybe armor? Like the royal guard ponies wear? No you've already settled on Trench Coat. And even if you hadn't armor is pretty conspicuous, you don't exactly just pass by an armored pony on the street without giving a second look. Ummmmm... Armor underneath? Well that's possible, but then that just covers your chest so... Gah! You'll think on it.

And then there are other things to defend yourself from as well... Changelings... changelings could be anywhere. They could be here! They could have come from here! And the rumors were that they had some kind of strange, mind-manipulation magic behind them, something weird, something venomous! You don't like the idea of that, not at all. You need something to counter it! Something to let you resist their wily ways... And then you could go and find them! Beat them! Capture their Queen and turn her in for a reward! Crystal Empire would be best for that, after all it was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza that she replaced, the beautiful Princess of Love... Mmmmmm... You can just see her rewarding you publicly with a shake off the hoof, a medal of service, and a kiss on the cheek... then rewarding you privately in ways you couldn't talk about in polite conversation... heheheheheheh...

MARRIED! MARRIED MARE! Dear Celestia what is WRONG with you!? Ugh... ... Ahem.

In any event all of that brings you back to one thing... You. Your powers. To be a superpony you kind of need powers. It's practically a rule! And Zecora... Well she's worried, understandable, but what's been happening to you... is it really a curse? Does it really need to be cured? After all it did save your life...

You lick your lips, bowl finished, looking up to Zecora as she calmly sips at hers, half-way done where you're completely finished. You bite your bottom lip, have a brief debate in your mind, side A wins, and then you lick your lips again for extra luck, and speak.

"Um, Zecora?"

"Hm?"

She asked in response, as she set her bowl back down on the table, licking her lips of the delectable substance inside.

"I've been thinking... I don't really want to be cured."

Zecora's head shot up at that blunt confession, eyes wide as she jumped up onto her hind legs and slammed her hooves down onto the table causing both bowls to rattle and the table to shake.

"What do you mean you do not wish to be cured!? You wish your demise to be insured!?

She almost screeched at you, as you quickly winced, leaned back, and brought your forehooves up to wave in front of you in a warding motion.

"No! No not that at all. It's just that I'm not sure they are going to insure my demise! Hear me out." You spoke, moving your forehooves back down and licking your lips before continuing.

"I was going to die in that castle. I'm sure of it. That Timberwolf had me dead to rights, and if I hadn't just sprouted a blade out of my hoof and impaled it on chance then it would have ripped out my throat. Then when I was dogfighting... heh, ahem, dogfighting with them, I grew rods out of my back that let me see in the dark, and shoot lighting." You speak, as Zecora slowly seats herself once more on her side, looking at you intently.

"Then later on, in the Everfree, I fell. Badly. I mean, I should have died where I fell. But instead, I healed up. I healed up enough so that I could walk! My forelegs were broken, I mean you can see that! Plus I feel smarter than I was before, better... I'm not saying that I don't want to know what's going on. I do, badly. It's just... I've never felt so... capable as I do now! Never felt so able to accomplish things, able to really take control of my life! This has saved me several times so... unless it shows itself to be something really bad I'd like to think of it as less of an ailment and more of a... gift. If that's okay." You speak, muttering at the last part and lowering your head.

Zecora was quiet for a few moments, staring at you intently, hooves sitting on the table... Before she closed her eyes for a few moments, thinking... And then spoke.

"Your words do have merit, but I fear what legacy you might inherit.

The place and manner of your transformation worry me, and I fear what this gift might just be.

But it has saved your life, and kept you through great strife.

The identity of this effect I will discover, and then we will decide based on what I uncover."

She stated. Before her eyes snapped open and fixed with a stern look.

"But this know, if you think you will play with this it is not so.

You will share every change with me, and my student you will be.

You must know how to use the talents you gain, and the only way to learn is to train.

I will help you master your gifts newfound, and against this you will not utter a sound."

She stated, the ferocity in her voice causing you to gulp a bit, a little intimidated. But you breathe in, close your eyes, and nod, before looking up to her with a grateful smile.

"I understand. Thank you Zecora, that's all I can ask for."

You speak, and Zecora lets her stern gaze drop as she smiles back at you. Then she closes her eyes and take a deep calming breath in, then slowly lets it out... Before bringing her hooves back down to her bowl and opening her eyes.

"Well then, with that reveal, let's dig back in, and finish our meal."

She stated simply, starting to lift the bowl up to her muzzle.

"Ummmm..." You interject, causing Zecora to pause and look back up to you with a raised right eyebrow as you grin sheepishly.

"Seconds?"

Yes, continue murmuring your sweet desires into Zecora's ear. It's quite clear that she has yet to achieve the level of devotion we desire from her, especially when it comes to the romantic scene. Likewise Trixie must be cowed to our will, but by a different method.

I think you've set a nice precedent so far already. Obviously, Trixie has a serious attitude problem; she's unwilling to level with you and grant you what you deserve. You need to break her of this mind-set, easy at first. Your little show of scaring her should set the basics, be consistent. All you want from her is some common respect and decency, after all. If she can't give you that, well, you might just be have to cow her into submission, just make sure Zecora doesn't notice. That's pretty important.

In terms of planning ahead, that town, Ponyville, it would be a good idea to explore it sometime, establish a bearing, but not yet. Now you need to rest, get home affairs in order, recover your strength, gain knowledge, consolidate the loyalty or obedience, as 'twere, of these two mares.

Putting Trixie in her place really makes one hungry, eh? And the look on her face, priceless! Like some unruly pet that was finally brought to heel. She does seem like an angry puppy at times, doesn't she? Immature, barking at everypony, cowering as soon as somepony stands up to her. She's obviously crying out for discipline. Maybe that's why that Diamond Dog wanted to make her his bitch. Maybe she would've liked it even, in some sick way.

Well, he didn't get her! Zecora and you are taking care of her now, and If she craves to be treated like that, you'll oblige. Tough love and all that. Carrot and stick. If she's nice she gets nice things, like that innocent little kiss. When she's bad, well... you still kind of want to take that stick to her rump.

4) Brainwash/train Trixie into a loyal slave/servant/pet

By the time that dinner's over night has fallen... And a storm has come to pass over the hut. The low rumble of thunder sounds from the distance as rain patters across the roof and you can't help but shiver a bit... remembering your first night in the Everfree.

Zecora took your bowls and piled them up on a table next to the cauldron and then walked into Trixie's bedroom to get hers. You suppress a yawn, exhaustion overtaking your body... It has been a LONG day... And previous night. You are ready to sleep... You smile a bit at the idea, when your ears twitch, as uncharacteristically harsh noises start to come from the bedroom. You turn your gaze towards the bedroom doorway, brows furrowed when a loud-

"BUCK YOU!!!"

Sounds, coming from a voice that is very familiar to a certain showmare's, and a wooden bowl comes hurting out from the doorway. The bowl hit the wall and fell to the floor, landing on it's edge and rolling in a circular loop before falling onto it's top and rocking back and forth, quivering and rattling and then just stopping still as the kinetic force finally died down. Your on your hooves in an instant. You start to move towards the bedroom doorway when Zecora steps out. She looks calm. Solemn, somber, not especially happy, but calm. With a sigh she bends down, and picks up the bowl in her teeth, before turning to look up at you. She meets your eyes, then leans around and places the bowl on her back, before walking calmly forward, balancing the bowl perfectly as you go to meet her.

"What the buck was that!?" You ask, very clear agitation and anger in your voice. Zecora, on the other hand, responds with perfect calmness.

"Trixie was very irate. She is in pain, and it is late."

"She has no right to speak to you like that! She-" Zecora stopped your tirade by placing her front-right hoof up over your lips, halting your angry outburst and giving you a slight, resigned smile.

"You are most valorous to defend my honor from words perverse. But she is my patient and I have heard worse.

She needs sleep and time alone. The morning will see a change of tone."

She spoke, before removing her hoof, leaning up, and giving you a gentle kiss on the lips. You blink, and just keep on blinking as Zecora leans back and turns to walk over to the cauldron table, having disarmed you effectively with a simple peck.

She calmly moved the bowl from her back over to stack with the other two, before turning and walking over to the chests lined up against the wall.

As she does so you break out of your kiss-hypnosis, shake your head, and then glare at the doorway into the bedroom. That little prissy cunt... how dare she talk to Zecora like that! She needs a serious lesson in manners, and more than a little bit of you wants to go in and teach her to respect her betters...

You can see it now... you standing over her, her legs tied with sheets to the four corners of the bed, her flank up in the air, rags stuffed in her mouth to keep that bucking trap of hers shut. And you standing over her, tapping Zecora's bamboo stick against your foreleg, a smirk of victory on your face. You lift up the stick and start wailing on her pretty blue plot, lines of red crisscrossing over her posterior, your stick hitting her again and again until you can see the red glow of her bright buttocks beneath her fur... And smell the glistening moistness of her slit.

You can picture her getting off to it, she's practically begging for it now with her attitude right? You can easily see Trixie moaning like a bitch in heat from being beaten, shaking her plot and begging for that discipline she so richly deserves... Through the gag because you don't really give a buck what she has to say. And then, your best friend comes out to play, and you shove her face down into the pillows as you start to lower yourself over her and-

No, no, no, no! LESS sexual frustration remember? Besides, it wouldn't be to give her pleasure, it would be to punish her for being an arrogant cunt! And when she wasn't one, but was nice, polite, and did as she was told, you'd reward her. And as much as you'd like to punish the bucking bitch you know that Zecora wouldn't approve. She would in fact heartily disapprove. Trixie's still healing up and she's very defensive of her patient it seems. And while the thought of sneaking in some punishing out of sight comes to mind there's really nothing you can do without Zecora noticing, judging by how sound vibrates from the bedroom. Even your hissing and angry tones with Trixie was a pretty big risk.

"Now your patience I do implore, for tonight we'll be sleeping on the floor."

Wait, what?

You break away from your thoughts to turn and look at Zecora, only to see her with her head in one of her chests, a dull brown rectangular square shoved up against the wall, lid open. Zecora pulled her head back out from the chest, and when she did you saw that she had a large folded up brown blanket gripped in her teeth. Almost effortlessly, she flipped it up onto her back, still folded neatly before she leaned back in. After a moment she pulled out another blanket, thinner and a lighter shade of brown, holding it in her mouth as she brought her hooves up to the lid of the trunk and shut it firmly. She turned to walk back across the hut and you furrowed your brows, watching as she walked by you with the blankets.

"So Trixie curses at you, throws a bowl at you, and still gets to sleep in the bed?"

You ask, your tone making it fairly obvious how fair you think this is. You can't imagine what that's teaching the showmare. Zecora finishes fluffing out the thinner blanket onto the floor, off-center towards the door, tugging at the corners. She lifts her head up from the made blanket, and licks her lips before responding.

"Like I said, she is my patient still, and angry or not, she is ill.

A night on the floor could see her condition worsening, so in the bed she shall stay despite her cursing."

Stated the zebra, before reaching back with her head to take the other blanket and unfurling it over the bottom, creating a sheet and cover for the floor. Temporary sleeping space made, she trotted over to the bottomof the blanket set and pulled up the outer blanket, slipping her head in and wiggling her body through the blanket until her head popped out the other side. Then she turned, beneath the blanket, looked up to you with a tired smile.

"Now please come and lay down your head, it is far past time that we went to bed."

She spoke, smiling gently at you as you looked down to her. You blinked... then lowered your head, the anger and fight going out of you as you sighed.

"... Can we cuddle?"

You ask, almost pitifully, as Zecora giggles a little, then nods.

"Yes please do, it's a great pleasure to cuddle with you."

You smiled a bit at that, cast one more glance over to the bedroom doorway... And then walked over to the makeshift bed, slipping in under the top cover set, on top of the smaller covers, pulling and adjusting the blanket with your forehooves as you went. When you were snug as a bug inside of a blanket-made rug, you turned and snuggled up to Zecora, wrapping your forehooves around her as you closed your eyes, breathed in deep, and then out slowly, just snuggling with your zebra as she closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep in your hooves...

Nicely done. You dodged quite the bullet there.

You almost lost Zecora because she was jealous. She also said you wouldn't have to worry about her abandoning you anymore. Things are fine now, right? Well, maybe not. You do want to trust her, really you do, but... she was so, very, jealous. Jealous of Trixie, of all ponies! Absolutely ridiculous! And when Zecora finally did find you, she acted all cold and betrayed towards you. Despite believing Trixie put you up to stealing from her, she acted all nice to her, but not to you.

Zecora didn't trust you. What's to say she won't jump to conclusions again the next time a cute mare crosses you path? What can you do? You don't want to lose your Zebra! You're devoted to her, and she thought you were just using her, it's not fair!

Maybe - maybe next time she sleeps, you'll talk to her again. You sort of planned on doing that anyway, back when you were lost, didn't you? It helped calm your nerves last time. Tell her how devoted she should be to you. She's yours, now and forever... at least that's what you'd like. You keep bucking up, you will probably buck up even more in the future. You want to change that, but you need more time, so tell her to be more lenient. You don't want to fight, and neither does she.

Part of why she was so jealous was her preference for monogamy, right? Your Zebra is basically saying she doesn't want to share you, and that quite flattering! But it got you in trouble hard - plus she said there isn't anything wrong with herds - so maybe, you could plant the herd idea in her head as well? Just so that she doesn't lose her mind next time you talk with a hot mare. It's not like you actually want to fool around with any other girls while you're with Zecora. Well, maybe a little - and you wouldn't mind watching Zecora make out with another mare, as long as both are yours. Er, your friends. Wait, Trixie isn't a friend - you don't even know what Trixie is. Gah, this is confusing! Just tell Zecora she wants to be your herdmare and make out with girls if you tell her to. Something like that.

The lightning flashes... the rain strikes down onto the top of the hut's roof, and Zecora just keeps sleeping. You can't. It's not the noise... You've slept through storms before. And it's nothing like water-drops falling on your muzzle or anything. You're kind of surprised at this but Zecora's tree-hut is really well built. No drafts, no water-droplets leaking through the roof, even the floor's surprisingly soft for a wooden floor. The whole thing's pretty comfy! But for some reason you just... can't seem to get to sleep. Even snuggled up against your darling zebra, every time you close your eyes you just keep having thoughts, moving through your skull... It's bucking annoying! Probably because that damn unicorn got the bed or something! Ugh! Buck her to Tartarus and back!

You sigh, aggravation getting you nowhere and not in the mood to fantasize, and open your eyes in the dark. Your zebra is sleeping peacefully, facing away from you with your forelegs wrapped around her, and your body pressed up to hers. Her form is occasionally lit up by lightning flashes, and you can't help but smile a bit looking at her... And then bite your bottom lip. You had quite a scare today. You nearly lost her. Out of jealousy! Of Trixie! That arrogant snobbish showmare cunt! What would happen if some mare of real value crossed your path... what would she think then?

You gulp. You... you need to know she's with you... that she won't leave you, just because some other mare comes into contact with you... You need to know...

MUTATION ADVANCEMENT: Somniloquy: Your continuous night-talking to Zecora has increased the effectiveness of suggestions and thoughts planted during a listener's sleeping hours. Effect is not an absolute mental override or to the same level of hypnosis, but gives an air of validity to the suggestions during waking hours, and may manifest in the subject's mind as thoughts that they believe they had on their own. There is now a slight twinkling blue star-filled mist around the tongue when talking to Somepony that is asleep.

Your mouth feels a little weird for a moment, but you smack your lips a bit and lick around them, moistening them up, before snuggling up closer to Zecora. You press your muzzle into the back of her neck, before breathing in her scent deeply once more, and then leaning up to her ear. You give it a gentle lick, tracing around the edge, before whispering softly.

"Hey Zecora... You know that I care about you, that I'm devoted to you... You took me in and gave me food and I'm grateful. And you're devoted to me to, so why should it matter if there are other mares in my life?" You speak gently, thinking you see a little bit of blue for a moment but chalking it up to dim lighting. You nibble softly Zecora's ear, before continuing in a gentle voice.

"I mean you love me don't you? I make you feel so good and warm inside, you want to help me and serve me and care for me... So what the buck do other mares have to do with it? I mean, if they're around, what does it matter? Do the herds have any less love for anypony just because there are several of them around? I don't think they do... I think that as long as you're with me, it's fine..." You speak, before licking your lips again, and continuing on in your quiet whisper.

"In fact, don't you think that it's unfair to me for you to be so jealous? I mean, if I'm happy, oh, playing around with another mare, then doesn't that help you to? Doesn't that make you happy to see me happy? The mare's not really important... you know that I'll always be yours. Other mares or not. And if you mess around with other mares, well then I'm fine with that... In fact, I might want to watch that. That would make me happy! And you want to make me happy, don't you? As long as I'm happy, you're happy... As long as you stay with me, I'll stay with you... no matter what..." You mutter, then nuzzle up closer to her, laying your head on her neck with a sigh, eyes closed, a soft smile touching your lips... That was relieving to say... you don't know if any of it will mean anything but... it definitely made you feel better... Maybe you can get to sleep now, now that that's off your chest...

5) Check what is in that box on the shelf. AFTER Zecora falls asleep.

The order past number two is subject to change as situations shift.

Nomad

You still can't sleep. If anything it's worse. You had to separate yourself from Zecora because you started just feeling REALLY fidgety and you didn't want to wake her.

You toss and turn beneath the blanket. You grit your teeth, turn again, and suppress a growl in your throat. You... should... be... BUSY!!! If you can't sleep then you should be doing things! GAAAAH! Being unable to choose between drifting off to lala land and getting up is so UNPRODUCTIVE!!! Your brain is racing around nine-hundred miles per hour and you're obligated to rest your body because if you don't you're going to be exhausted but the storm is pounding and the rain is sounding and you can't fall asleep anyways and-

Hey what does Zecora keep in that box of hers?

You stop at that thought, and furrow your brows. The chest, the small chest with the lock. She had it on the shelf originally and it drew your eyes to it as soon as you saw it. Then when you came back it was moved, gone, no longer within the purview of your sight. It must have been important, must have been what she thought that you and Trixie had come to steal, so she hid it... Interesting... And something to do! You couldn't very well search for it while Zecora was awake could you? Nope, certainly not, and now that she's asleep...

Productive use of your time found, you grin, and turn back to your zebra cuddle-bug. You plant a soft kiss on the back of her neck, gentle and tender, before turning in the blanket and slowly squirming your way out, careful not to disturb the zebra. You get up to your hooves, and carefully walk move through the dark, towards the center of the hut. Now normally you wouldn't be able to see shit, which would prompt your return to the blankets and another attempt, likely fruitless, to enter into dreamland. However lucky you, the lightning flashes are coming frequent enough to illuminate the hut through what windows it has... Just enough to make a general search feasible.

Now it's fairly apparent that Zecora hid the box. Why? She thought that Trixie and you were planning on stealing it. So when she brought Trixie into her home she would have moved it. When? After you came back. Zecora thought you had been attacked and ran after your aggressor up until she saw Trixie and the blade on the end of your hoof. When she saw that she began to suspect an intricate plot and love affair, allowing her jealousy to run rampant. Hopefully you've helped curb that suspicious tendency of hers with sleepy-time whispers, though you're pretty sure that if it was THAT easy everypony would try it. Back to the matter at hoof though, she came back into the hut with Trixie on her back leaving you outside. She was inside for thirty minutes and did not exit during that time-span. In that time she would have had to have hidden the box, likely after she finished bathing Trixie, patched her up, and put her in bed.

Where? In the hut almost certainly. She didn't come out of the hut through the door until she took you down to bathe at the river. The only other exit that she would have been able to take would involve breaking the stick-bars over the window. And she wouldn't have hidden it down at the river, right in front of you. After all she thought you were in on the nonexistent plot, it would have been stupid to hide it where you could possibly see her hiding it... Unless she was going for a double-play or hid it with something else but... No, unlikely, possible but unlikely, and if that was the case then this entire venture would be for naught anyways. It's still most probable that she hid it inside of the hut, somewhere in this room. She put Trixie to bed in her bed, she wouldn't hide it in the same room where Trixie could find it by her lonesome or see her hiding it again... Unless it was another double-play and- BAH! It's probably here next question!

How? Now that was the part where figuring it out would lead to the where and the prize! How would she have hidden the box? With desire to keep it hidden from Trixie, but with the quick span of one who hadn't planned on having to hide it. Thirty minutes, even less than that to bathe Trixie, treat her wounds, and take her out of the main room of the hut. Much less than that, that would have been the majority of the thirty minutes. So in the last ten or five she would have figured out where to hide the box... To do that she would have likely gone over to the box and taken it from the shelf, with the knowledge that it needed to be hidden. Would she have known where to hide it though? Had a special place to put it away for a rainy day? Or would she have just known that it needed to be hidden, and had to figure out where? Either way, it might be smart to look at things from her point of view...

You walk over to stand in front of the shelf that had contained the box, now marked by the absence of such. You then turn and look out across the hut, eyes narrowed. It is, of course, bucking difficult to see anything because it's night in the middle of the Everfree. Fortunately for you though the lightning flashes are coming frequently enough that you're able to see the rest of the hut well enough... With that said you really hope she hid it someplace obvious because if you have to deal with secret doors or shit like that then you're screwed.

Now let's see... She would have examined each item of merit. Granted she would have done so in the sunlight but this is the closest you can get right now. So cauldron? No, in addition to having to revealing it every time she cooked a meal it would be easy to just look in and notice it. Chest or box? Possible but too obvious, first thing that Trixie would check, Zecora would have to trust it to hiding amongst the clutter, and the way it drew the eye that wouldn't go too well. Plus if it was locked Trixie would just pick the lock with her unicorn magic or something. Useful shit magic. Bookshelves? No the chest was fair-sized, it'd be hard to fit in or behind books unless Zecora had a secret container. And that, while possible, is also a game ender for you, so ignoring that possibility.

She wouldn't keep it among the bottles or shelves or knick-knacks, same reason as the boxes too easy for the eye to fall to it. Under a rug? What rug? Beneath the table? Of course not! In a damn bottle? What bottle is that big!? In a secret floorboard compartment? GAME ENDER!!! Buck it where else is there!?

You fight the urge to stomp your hoof in frustration as lightning flashes across the sky again, illuminating the hut. And in that moment of illumination your eyes catch something that makes you stop and think... Zecora has quite a lot of... masks on her walls. Some of them very big... ... Possible? ...

You furrow your brows and wait for the next lightning flash...

KRAK!

FLASH!

Your eyes scan over the masks as the lightning illuminates and by the instant that the flash has faded you've made your guess. Across from this position is the first mask that your eyes fall on, large, big, the sort of thing that somepony'd look at and think to use if they had to hide something quickly, without the time to go out and do it thoroughly... Or at least you hope so. It's on the wall so the question is is there something under it to hold the box or something? Anyways it's hard to tell when you're seeing by lightning, but you think the mask was a dull red, with green triangles running along it's sides pointing inwards, and some green swirling to give it a nose on the front, no mouth though, with slanted eyes looking down at you.

So that little snippet of possibility acknowledged you move forward, walking carefully across the floor, almost directly across from the shelf, over to the large mask. It feels like forever since you're taking your time... don't want to blow your chances at this stage by tripping and knocking into the cauldron or something, but soon enough you reach the mask... You look at it, and it looks at you, and you're pretty sure that it would win in a staring contest. Also, you're not sure what kind of pony would wear this, because it's almost as big as you! But that's beside the point, the point is that it's possible, just POSSIBLE that something could be hidden behind this mask. So you're going to have a looksie.

You stand up, slowly onto your hind legs, and reach with your forehooves to take it from the wall. You just barely stop yourself from stumbling back when you lift it off of whatever was holding it. Buck this thing's heavier than it looks! But it isn't so heavy that you can't right yourself, and turn to slowly lay it down on the floor next to you, before turning back and looking where the mask had hung.

Jackpot. Behind the mask is a groove, grown in the wood in a roughly square shape, with the box inside... Looks like Zecora did have a secret hiding place. And it WASN'T a game ender, go you! You reach with your forehooves, licking your lips as you take the box into your hooves and pull it out, bringing it to your chest, feeling excited, like you just found a new treat at the candy store. Lightning flashes in the sky as you stare down at the box, the brilliant flash outlining your form as your front-right hoof moves down to the lid, and thunder sounding loud as you pull... And can't open it. It's locked.

... Well this is a hollow victory. Of course it was going to be locked! Duh, you even initially noted the lock! So here you are, with your grand hunt complete, box taken in the night, and it's bucking locked!!! ... ... Which leaves the kind of awkward question of what now? Locked box, middle of the night, sleeping zebra... what the buck do you do now?

Author's Note

Thank you all for your kind words and support. Your appreciation feeds me with energy! I am glad to know that you are finding value in the story, and hope that it continues to entertain and impress as time goes on!

And also, I am sleepy. I am going to have a bad day at school today probably. Oh, and here's two cool things that I want to share with you, completely unrelated to any ponies. One is my favorite villain, and the situation described actually kind of reminds me of the situation described at the start of the RP. The other I only saw recently, however he is one of the scariest dudes I have ever seen... You'll know which one.

Joker Declares War

Angel of Death

Hope you gain some enjoyment from these. I was worried about influencing ideas a bit, however considering that everyone already has favorite villain stylings, that they take place in completely different non-pony universes, and that I'm actually writing this thing, I figure I can risk it.

Final note, this chapter doesn't end with the character sleeping, however the sleep-question comment will be recorded and pulled over for use during his next point of rest. Time fluctuations and what have you.

Sleepy Time

Locked box! Oh no!:applecry:

sucked it up you pathetic excuse for a evil mastermind! Even the most powerful gods have to do their own dirty work eventually. Use a hairpin and your blade for a lockpick. You were in the mean city streets without a cutie mark, you had to have tried to be a criminal at some point. Doesn't mean you're good at it, but hell, with all that practice you're better then the common pony.

When you get it open, steal nothing. Its a bad idea in the first place, Zecora could find out, and if you take anything she'll know. This is for knowledge's sake alone.

Here's an idea, since you're awake and moving, might as well go out into the forest and look for shit. Shit's cool. Last shit you found was Trixie. Little fillies who want to find their cutie marks go in their constantly, and with that danger...

The Chessmaster

You grit your teeth and narrow your eyes at the locked box, a flash of resolve coursing through your being. What are you doing!? Letting a little box stand between you and... and whatever the buck is inside of it!? No way! You're a better pony than that! You're a superpony! And you have not come unarmed! You are going to to open this box as evidence of your superpony resolve!

But not by slashing. That'd be pretty rude since you JUST finished breaking Zecora's things. Ummmm... Pick the lock with the tip of your blade maybe?

As the lightning crashes and the thunder rolls you hold the chest up in front of you, resting on your right hoof. You breathe in deep then out slowly, and stretch your left forehoof out to the side, then picture your blade emerging.

SCHLINK!

Out it comes, the sparkling blue mist pooling from your hoof as you bring your blade up to touch the tip to the lock. You lick your lips, staring at the metal barrier as best you can in the dark, and gulp down a lump in your throat. You're fairly nervous about this undertaking. Understandable, considering you've never picked a lock before in your life.

You had many hard days in Manehatten and did a lot of things you weren't especially proud of. Begging was one of them. You'd never been an especially proud stallion, but when you found yourself reduced to begging for the first time you... Well, you cried yourself to sleep later that night in a cardboard box wrapped up in newspaper blankets and hugging all of the twenty bits you made to your shivering body. A-and... and you've rifled through trash, and you've dived into dumpsters, and you've waited out back behind restaurants for leftovers and... and you've had to do things that nopony should have to do.

Something you've NEVER done though was steal from anypony. No mugging, no breaking and entering, nothing that would be considered thievery. And honestly you weren't entirely sure why. Thievery was rare but it did happen, and you were in a position where you easily could have gone into that place and started taking from other ponies... Maybe by not stealing you were attempting to hold onto the last of your dignity, or you knew that you'd screw it up and get caught, or you just didn't think you were worth what other ponies had... But you've never stolen from anypony... At least, until Zecora...

Do you have any idea how much noise picking a lock makes? Especially an old-school strongbox lock? To much, particularly after nearly fucking up everything today. Yesterday? How late is it? Whatever, this is a job for later. Put it back. Tomorrow we have training to do. Learn about everything, youself, the Everfree, the village Zecora mentioned, what the bucking deal is with Miss Great and Delusional, everything.

Most important, learn your way around the forest. This is your home now. And we don't need you getting lost again. M'kay? M'kay.

Agreed. Lockpicking some of the older strongboxes can be VERY noisy. Now that you know where the box is, you can open it later. In the meen time, Trixie needs to be...dealt with. She already fears you, now make her love you. Whispering in Zecora's ear at night seems to work in your favor more often than not, lets see if we can't make the "Great and Powerful" a little "Meek and Humble" ...at least to you and Zecora. Convince her that she owes you both her life. Once that is done, get some rest.

Put the box back. You're already on thin ice with Zecora about taking her stuff, no need to make the situation worse. Trying to force it open will be loud as hay, there's no sense in accidentally waking Zecora. You can ask her about it later anyway, along with the other stuff. Like anti-Changeling-Zebra mojo... eh, you'll find a better name later.

Why is it still so hard to find some rest? You've probably too much on your mind right now. Well, you've worked out some of your fears with some sweet Zecora whispers - it's really surprising how well that calms your mind. But it's still not enough, what else is bothering you?

Oh right. Small Name Big Ego, currently lying in the comfy bed. YOUR comfy bed.

Just how ungrateful can a pony be?! She even yelled at your Zebra! Nopony yells at your Zebra!

Alright, calm down. Deep breaths, in and out. No sense in getting frustrated over her, you've enough on your plate without fantasising about taking Zecora's bamboo stick to Princess Prissy Bitch von Blueplot's backside some more. What, is she jealous of Zecora or something?

... what if she is jealous of Zecora? Didn't she start yelling at her after you and your Zebra kissed and made up? Did she want more out of you? You saved her life twice, maybe now she developed some irrational crush on you that makes itself known by treating your mare like crap? Gah, mares are all crazy!

At this rate it'll never leave you in peace, and you'd rather not spend the rest of Trixie's time here with Trixie's wand-emblazoned flanks bouncing around your skull all the time. Time to work off some of that frustration again, with some self-therapeutic night time whispering!

Make sure Zecora's asleep. Go to Trixie, make sure she's okay. More importantly, make sure she's asleep as well, and that nopony is at the door. If she doesn't wake from an ear-lick, she's probably out. Then, start whispering to her: how it's not right that she's treating both of you like dirt; that she owes you her life, you and Zecora, and that she should never forget that. Really, she should be grateful that she's not in some Diamond Dog Warren, strapped down and passed around like a cheap salt lick, despite your sneaking suspicion that she might actually enjoy that, the pervert. Does she want you? You think she does, but before she gets anything from you, she needs to learn her place. She's already screaming out that she wants to be put in her place as it is, you'll gladly do it for her, but still she should stop acting like a flankhole to her betters. That's you, then Zecora, in that order.

Whew. Good to blow off some steam like that, eh? A little harmless whispering to calm your nerves, and then you can surely sleep. Other ponies might believe you're crazy for talking to yourself, but hay, whatever works, right?

Thunder sounded in the sky and rain danced on the roof of the hut as you turned your gaze over towards the sleeping mare. A well timed flash of lightning illuminated her form as Zecora shifted softly beneath the covers, the storm continuing, the Everfree performing it's violent orchestra in the skies above the zebra's hut...

You continued to watch her for many moments after the flash had passed, barely able to make her out in the dark... You bit your bottom lip, staring at your savior as she slept, oblivious to your desecration of her secreted hiding place... and then you began to feel a twist in your gut.

You flinched, and then your eyes went wide and you doubled over, gritting your teeth hard as a pain flared up in your stomach. You crossed your left forehoof over your middle in the hopes of somehow reducing the pain. The box shook on your hoof but you managed to hold it steady through the suffering. And then as quickly as it came it was gone, in the span of a few seconds. Slowly you righted yourself, breathing heavily, sweat starting to form on your brow, a realization now clear in your mind.

This is wrong. That little stomach cramp was obviously a physical manifestation of your guilt at doing something that you know you shouldn't be doing. You JUST got out of hot water with Zecora. And also you don't know how much noise a lockpicker who's never tried to pick a lock before and is using a sword tip to do the picking makes. Even if it's not a lot, and even if Zecora is able to sleep through an Everfree thunderstorm, do you REALLY want to take the chance that that sound will wake her up? To the image of you, picking her obviously precious locked chest? Almost assuredly confirming previous suspicions and ending your relationship with her forever?

No. No you do not.

You close your eyes and sigh out slowly, giving yourself a few moments, before opening your eyes and looking to your blade. You picture it disappearing and it withdraws into your hoof and dissipates, the mist vanishing behind it. You wait for the illumination of another lightning flash before you slide the locked box back into it's resting place. You nudge and push and wiggle it with your right hoof to make sure it's snug back in it's nook, and then turn to look down to the big kinda creepy mask that had kept it hidden.

You pick up the mask slowly with both forehooves, standing up on your hind legs, wobbling from the weight. You turn, lifting the mask and try to place it back where you found it over the nook... and then your eyes widen and your heart starts sprinting in your chest. You can't get it to latch onto it's hook! Or nail! Or whatever the buck it is Zecora had it hanging from! It's going to fall! It's going to be loud! It's going to wake Zecora! Oh buck, oh buck, oh buck, oh buck!

No, no, calm down, quickly, just relax, that's it, this is... this is no big deal just... just keep at it, the hook or nail or latch or whatever has to be there somewhere...

You take a deep calming breath, still standing on your shaky legs as you fight the urge to panic. You lick your lips, and just keep on moving the mask, pushing and prodding, back and forth, up and down, trying to get it to hook on to whatever held it. You stretch up onto the tips of your hind legs, trembling with a mixture of physical exhertion and fear and then... it catches onto something. You hold your breathe for a few moments, standing on your hind legs with your forelegs around the mask, feeling a lessening of the weight... Slowly, you move your hooves away from the mask... and it stays. You fall back onto your rump and hang your head, letting out a sight of relief as your heart slows back down in your chest. Potential crisis averted.

You shake your head a few times to get the sleepiness out of your eyes. Alright, no more fooling around, time to get some bucking sleep...

You get back up onto your hooves and groggily make your way over towards Zecora, stifling a yawn on the way. Halfway there though you just kind of stop. You blink, and then slowly turn your head towards the bedroom doorway. A flash of lightning illuminates the hut once again, and a loud roll of thunder rumbles through, sending a chill through your spine, as the light vanishes into darkness once more...

... Vaguely ominous. Despite that inexplicably well-timed lightning bolt and the spine-shivering thunder that followed it, the idea that stopped you in your tracks remains present. Why not pay a little visit to Trixie? Nothing untoward of course, just to have a little conversation with her sleeping self... After all you whisper to Zecora in the night to relieve your stress... why not Trixie? Might be good for you, let you get to sleep.

This idea in mind you stand still for a few more moments, pondering, thinking, turning it over in your skull... And then you turn and slowly walk through the dark, over to the doorway. You hesitate at the doorway proper as you reach it, licking your lips nervously... You don't know if she's even asleep after all. Cautiously you lean forward and peek around the edge, looking in...

The lightning flashed, illuminating the mare in her bed... No in YOUR bed. No! In Zecora's bed that she let you sleep in and- The point is it's not HER bed! In any case she's tossing and turning beneath the covers, grumbling something, muttering... you can't hear what from here. She looks asleep, but it's dark, she's speaking, and she's moving... Should you risk her being awake? Or waking up? You stand staring at her for a few moments, just watching, biting your bottom lip... Then you gulp down a lump in your throat, breathe out slowly, and move around the corner, walking in.

You trot slowly up to the bed, and bring your forehooves up onto the edge, standing up onto your hind legs to look down at Trixie. You watch her for a few more moments as she shifts and mutters, and you can now make out some of what she's saying.

"... Mrrrg... Shtupid... Can't trust em... rolling... mggr... who'needs'em..." She spoke, grumbling in her sleep, and you couldn't help but raise your eyebrow... Even sleeping she sound like a vindictive bitch. You shake your head, breathing in deeply, then out slowly... Then you lean over Trixie and start to lower your head down to hers. You start to stretch out your tongue as you lower down, and then stop. She's shifting around so much that you'd probably miss and lick something else. And frankly you're worried enough about her waking up to whispering, much less somepony licking her... So, going to play this one more cautious. Your tongue flicks back into your mouth and you breathe out slowly, quietly... before leaning down and starting to whisper over the mare...

"Hello Trixie. I just want to let you know... you were out of line today. You were a real bitch yelling at Zecora like that. You don't get to yell, you don't get to throw a hissy fit. You owe me your life. You owe Zecora your health. You OWE us Trixie. We're not your inferiors, you're our inferior. We're BETTER than you. And you need to treat us with some damn respect... Don't forget that. Be grateful, be polite, and always remember... you owe us."

Well not exactly a speech for the ages, but it'll have to do for now. You're tired and you want nothing more than to get to bed and finally be done with the day.

You move your forehooves from the bedside and lower yourself back onto all fours. Then you turn and start walking away when another mutter enters your ears.

"Grrrr... buck you... wheels... I'mda... great, an... powerful... ... mrg." You blink for a moment, then turn your head to look back over your right shoulder, your right eyebrow raised.

... ... Wheels? ... ...

You suppress a yawn, then shake your head, blinking rapidly. Buck it. You're tired, it's not worth it. Time to get some sleep.

You groggily walk back through the doorway, and have the sense to wait for a flash of lightning to illuminate the room, reminding you of positions before moving back over towards Zecora and the blankets. You pull the blanket back up on your side and slip in underneath, then snuggle back up to your zebra, wrapping your forehooves around her. You cuddle up to her as she snuggles into you, and press your muzzle to her neck, breathing in her scent deeply once more, letting it fill your nostrils... and then you're out like a light.

... ... ...

Pyrus and Cryon were laid out on their stomachs on the ice-coated floor, Pyrus on top of a large red blanket, and Cryon on top of a big dark-blue pillow with light-blue frills. Between them was a game board large, wooden, and square, with black edging. It consisted of white and black squares in a checker pattern on the top, and horseshoes placed on the board. Pyrus had light-red horseshoes on his side of the game board and Cryon had light-blue on his, and the horseshoes seemed to be diagonal of each other but none side to side or above or below... and Cryon looked to have more of his light-blue on the board than Pyrus had his red. With a small stack of red horseshoes to the left of the board, and a tiny stack of blue horseshoes to the right.

Pyrus's coat was a dark red, with a simple black iron plate over his chest, and black iron guard over his head and neck, looking to have melted over his black mane. He laid with his hooves uncovered and reptilian red eyes in his sockets. His wings had turned into black metal spider-legs, four thick blade-like appendages to each wing, with sharpened piercing tips. Eight in total splayed out around him, digging into the ice as he looked to the game board with furrowed brows.

Cryon was, as always, a small foal alicorn.

In synch, Cryon and Pyrus's ears began to twitch... And then both of them jerked at once, Pyrus gritting his teeth as Cryon squeezing his eyes shut, pain etched onto their faces.

"AGH! WHAT THE BUCK!?!?" Shouted Pyrus, bringing his hooves up to press over his ears.

"There's more than one of them this time, going at once! Hold on, I'm restructuring!" Shouted Cryon, his hooves pressing to his ears as his horn glowed white.

Cryon's horn stopped glowing after a few moments, and Cryon lowered his hooves, breathing out deeply as Pyrus tentatively began to lower his own, before turning a glare towards you.

(To the Brothers)

(PROBLEM!!! Zecora belives that the pawns powers are a curse and will be attempting to "cure" him. I don't know what she can do to the Star of Woe, but the work must not be undone. I humbly seek your counsel on what should be done as Zecora is too valuable a resource to lose. Any advise you could give will be most helpful)

(Your humble servant, Nomad)

Cryon cleared his throat, shook his head slightly, and sighed out, regaining his composure... And then he opened his eyes and looked to the board, shifting position to get comfortable again.

"Ahem. That's better. And that's what I was afraid of. Zecora is a powerful healer and agent of good. If she is attempting to cure him then the threat is a legitimate one." He stated simply, seemingly recovered from the noise problem. He brought his front-left hoof forward to move a piece on the board, leapfrogging his horseshoe over his brother's piece, and then pulling it from play, over to the left of the board, stacked on the other red horseshoes. Pyrus let out a snort.

"Nopony is "too valuable" to lose. Kill the bitch and be done with it." He muttered, eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze back to the board and began to contemplate his move. Cryon looked up with narrowed eyes at his brother.

"It is too late for that and you know it. Give the polite one some actual advice brother." Stated Cryon plainly, to which Pyrus sighed out heavily and rolled his eyes.

"Oh FINE." He muttered, before bringing his forehooves beneath his chin, sulkily, as he contemplated the game in front of him.

"Right now the Star's still in it's early stages, but it has managed to get a firm grip on the host. With each passing mutation it becomes more and more entrenched in his genetic make-up, mixing itself into his biology. This makes it really bucking hard to remove without killing him. Now that zebra bitch has got the mojo to do it, but it's major mojo and takes a lot of prep-work for her. And she has to know exactly what it is she's dealing with, so she needs to figure that shit out first. With a few more decent mutations, it'll probably become impossible for her to remove it completely. So you've got some bucking time. Use it to figure something out... Or just make him mutate more, whatever..." Muttered Pyrus, his horn glowing red as he inched up one of his horseshoes, up and to the left one away from his brother's piece.

(Well, Evil Gods. You must have one smart brain to let us guide the Stallion. Here's an idea, remember all those other evil things you have? When the time comes, release them at an opportune time, and have it kill Zecora. Do it in a way that blames the pony sisters and he will be yours forever. Do it in a way that brings attention to him, we will guide his hand toward subtlety, but with this we can get him close to the elements. Castle the king at a price of a pawn.)

The Chessmaster

Cryon and Pyrus both raised their heads, looking to one another... Pyrus narrowed his eyes.

"Did that bucking bastard just call me stupid?" Asked Pyrus, a growl entering his throat.

"Yes but it is possible that they did not realize it. It is a very roundabout insult." Replied Cryon calmly. Pyrus just growled louder, black smoke coming from his nostrils as his eyes began to glow red and the ice around his blanket started to form water droplets. Cryon sighed, and turned is gaze back to you.

"And no, that will not occur. As a point of clarification, my brother and I have not had direct control of significant forces for a long time. Our minions have been reduced to a hoof-full of starved windigos, and a Dragon Migration if my brother chooses to call it. The windigos are a vital asset and I risk them sparingly, and the only time my brother takes command of dragons is to wage war. And while that war would cause havoc and destruction, it is one that we would ultimately lose, result in our destruction, and the extinction of evil from Equestria." Stated Cryon simply, before looking back to the board.

"So no. If you wish for Zecora to die and the royal pony sisters to be blamed, then find a way to manipulate such a thing into coming to pass." Finished Cryon succinctly, his horn glowing white as one of his pieces moved forward on the board, away from his brother's open piece and the ambush laid out behind it. Pyrus just kept glaring at you, black smoke pouring from his nostrils...

Dear Pyrus and Cryon would our "champion" be able to reach the realm of chaos because if he can he would be able to be possessed by a daemon then the star of woe could use the daemon as mutation fuel.

Pyrus interrupted his glaring to blink, the last whiffs of smoke leaving his nostrils as surprise interrupted his anger. Cryon looked up to you and blinked. Then they both looked at each other. As one they furrowed their brows. Cryon looked up, bringing his left forehoof up to rub his chin, while Pyrus looked down, almost glaring at the floor in front of him as the water froze back into ice. Both of them spent several moments like this, in deep thought, before directing their gazes into each other's eyes again... And then turning their looks towards you.

"We have no idea." Stated Cryon calmly, shifting position on the pillow.

"Nopony has ever tried it before. The only times in our history that the dimensional walls have been broken have been from without, and those were few and far between." Continued the alicorn simply, as his brother looked down again, bringing his front-right hoof up to rub his chin.

"And even if it was possible, the kind of energy it would take to do that would make Celestia's little solar bauble and Luna's star-painting look like amateur shit. Buck, Discrod's chaos magic wouldn't let him tear through. I don't think there's a physical being in this world that can host the kind of mojo it'd take to break through dimensions. Including me!" Pyrus proclaimed, as Cryon gave a slight nod.

"It is as my brother says. Theoretically it should be possible... however it is unknown if it is possible with the power available to us within the confines of this universe and it's restrictions." Stated Cryon calmly, before looking back to the board.

"Now, if that's everything, my brother and I will get back to our game. I wish you luck in dealing with these difficulties. The future of evil in Equestria is riding on you." Spoke Cryon simply, still looking at the board as he raised his front-right hoof, waved it in a circular motion at you and-

... ... ...

You slowly opened your eyes... Yawning loudly, sleep clinging to you and exhaustion permeating your being... The blankets are empty, save for you, and the smell of cooking in a cauldron reaches your nostrils...

What do you do?

Author's Note

Wow. A humungous discussion broke out last chapter about how to best get the Host to evil, and it was awesome! I love seeing how you all think. A question or suspicion arose in the discussion though and later in a private letter that I think it's best if I address this more or less officially.

This story is guided by the will of participants, however it is not controlled by such. The difference being influence within the story versus domination of the story. The primary method of control was meant to be, and hopefully still is, the host's actions upon the rest of the world. Your suggestions, thoughts, and desires, influence me to the rest of the world and actions within, give me ideas of what you want to see, and I respond to them, especially when they make sense. However I don't let them control the story.

The reason for this is the same reason I don't just create a super-powerful artifact out of nothing to give to the Host when people suggest it. Because if he's allowed to run roughshod from the very get go, with drastic changes dependent on what anyone says at any time, absolutely devastating any opponent with a million and one ancient super-powerful artifacts, then there is no game. No challenge, no tactics, no sense of progression. Just a bunch of chaos and weirdness that breaks the world, and that's no fun for anyone except maybe Discord. For everypony else, it's exciting for all of ten seconds before it just gets ridiculous and boring.

So this game isn't about instant gratification. It's about progression and growing and playing for the long-term. It's about seeing the character grow into a top-class villain from humble origins, and guiding him on the path to evil. It's more focused on what he does with the world around him than on the actual world around him. At least that's what I'm aiming for, and what I hope I'm accomplishing.

So, in short, the will of the masses does guide me. Your influence is integral to the story because this isn't just a story. This is a game, and I love to see how you play it. However I'm not going to grant you everything, I'm going to watch for what seems logical and what doesn't, take opportunities to throw in situations that you're not expecting, and hopefully it will flow in such a way that you can see the results of your influence and the actions the Host has taken, from point A to B. Anyways, thank you all for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy!

And as for the amount of time this one took... there's no good reason. Mainly I was just tired and distracted all week and unable to focus. Sorry about that. A little worried about how this came out actually. Hope it's alright.

Damage Control

*Examines horn* That was unexpected. Of course, by this point finding out you're a reincarnation of Discord wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Well, this should give us something new to practice with at least. I wonder what Zecora would... *looks at the Illusionist's bleeding and beaten rear* ...buck. Zecora is not going to be pleased with this. Right first things first, ensure the Showmare's silence. After all, if she tells Zecora what you did, you'd have to tell her why.

Ensure she doesn't tell Zecora about her reprimand.

seconded.

Poke... poke... ... poke poke poke poke.

You poke your new horn with the tip of your right forehoof. Nudging it again and again, not entirely sure if it's real or not. As your hoof keeps touching a bone-like protrusion with a point, causing little spurts of pain to ring through your head with each touch, you're pretty sure it is. Now you're just unsure what to think about it. It's not that you particularly mind having a horn sticking out of your head, but... well... ... but you've got a horn sticking out of your head! That makes you a Unicorn! But you're not a Unicorn, you're an Earth Pony! And you're not an Alicorn because they have wings and a horn! And... Just what the buck are you supposed to call yourself now!? Unipony?! Earthcorn!? Buck!

Oddly enough it's only now that you're starting to worry about defining your racial identity. When all that random shit was popping out of your body you were just like, I'm an Earth Pony with random shit popping out of my body, and now? Now because you've got a horn you're worried that ponies might start seeing you as a Unicorn... ... Huh. Your priorities might be a bit bucked up here. Are you actually a tribalist deep down? If you are then you REALLY need to get your head back on straight.

"O-oh 'sniff' oh dear Celestia 'sob' Make it sto-o-o-oppppp!!!"

Speaking of tribalists... You turn your gaze over to Trixie, the prissy showmare upon whom you have unloaded a well-deserved flank-focused smack-down. And you have to say... she looks pretty pathetic.

The arrogant bitch-whore, pardon your language, is lying on her side with her muzzle pointed towards you, twitching and shaking on the floor where you let her fall. Her legs are pulled up and tucked into her body, forelegs to her chest and hind legs to stomach, as she rocks back and forth on the hard wooden surface, sobbing her eyes out. Her tail is flipped up, revealing her beaten flank, covered in vicious red welts and a pair of shallow cuts which are still leaking out thin trails of blood, dying her fur. Her hindquarters have been ravaged to the point that it causes her pain to let the hairs of her own hair touch her plot. Even without anything but air making contact with the beaten and battered backside, her flank is obviously hurting like Tartarus. The pure burning pain is etched into her face, in the tears trailing down her cheeks and snot streaming out of her nose, and sounded in the gut-wrenching sobs and whimpering pleas that carry to your ears.

The short of it is that she looks pretty terrible. Though considering that you're the pony directly responsible for her current state of unattractive blubbering, it's probably not fair for you to judge. Probably most mares would look less than stellar when reduced to quivering sobbing wrecks on the floor, unable to even lower their tails to hide their plots, and subsequently their cunts either which if taken the wrong way could make it seem like you did this for perverse reasons. You didn't of course, the beating was entirely for her education. And your venting. Okay and maybe you did enjoy it a bit, but the point is it was for her! You were beating her with her best interests at heart.

Looks and moral justification aside, she's obviously not going to be able to go anywhere or do anything like this... And that little realization makes an all too familiar fear bubble up in your gut.

Oh Buck! Zecora would NOT approve if she saw Trixie in this state! Buck it she thought Trixie was trying to steal shit, which apparently she was, and she still treated her like she was a damn princess! The cunt absolutely deserved your harsh treatment, but you can't kid yourself into thinking Zecora would agree... Obviously you're going to need to do some damage control. Get things fixed up, get things hid! You don't want Zecora to worry more after all. But first, before anything else, you're going to have to make sure the red-plotted showmare knows not to go yapping to your zebra...

You get to your hooves on shaky legs, then close your eyes and groan. Head still kind of hurts from the whole, horn popping out of your skull thing. You let out a frustrated sigh, straighten up, steady yourself, open your eyes, and then start to walk over towards the sobbing showmare.

Trixie's so caught up in the pain of her red-hot flank that she doesn't notice your approach until you're practically in front of her. Her head snaps up to you as you come to a stop next to her head, her eyes wide and lips trembling, snot still running down her nose over her bandages. You grimace a bit at that. Between the tears and the snot the bandages are getting rather wet. Is that a problem? ... ... Might need to look into that. Trixie's concerns however have nothing to do with her bandages, as she shivers and shakes on the ground before you, and lets out a choking plea.

"P-p-please don't h-hurt me any m-m-more!" She let out, before resuming her sobs, gasping breaths and hiccups mixed into her painful cries. And that fills you with relief. She certainly seems open to suggestion right now, being afraid of you. And you aren't scum for liking that she's afraid! No, this has all been done for her sake after all, because she earned it and deserved it. She needed to know that there were consequences for her actions! And speaking of...

You bend yourself down slowly, folding your forelegs to rest the knees against the hard wood, leaning down close to Trixie's tear-streaked, snot-covered face. You look down to Trixie's closed wet orbs, tear-stained trails on her cheeks, and begin to speak in a steady voice.

"Trixie, I'm not going to hurt you." You state plainly, causing Trixie to open her eyes, looking up to you with her own tear-filled orbs.

"You're 'sniff' not?" She asks, tentatively, shakily, and you give her a slight nod of affirmation.

"You've already been punished you for your transgression. If you don't do anything else stupid then I won't have to punish you again. And keep in mind that "stupid" Includes worrying Zecora with the specifics of your punishment. I will inform her of your actions, and why you had to be disciplined. If you try to take initiative yourself and ruin her mood with your biased version of events, then I'm going to have to punish you again. And I won't be nearly as NICE about it as I was this time..."

You speak, gritting your teeth and letting your eyes flash with menace. Trixie's own eyes turn to pinpricks on white as she stares up at you, like a filly cowering from a thunderstorm... You're actually kind of surprised she hasn't pissed herself by now.

"Do you understand me Trixie?" You ask, moving on past the whole peeing thought. Trixie opened her mouth, then closed it, then let out a particularly strong hiccup, followed by a loud-

SNORT!

Before letting out a shaky breathe, and a stuttering-

"U-u-u-u-u-u-u-uh-huh."

You raise your eyebrow at the mare's rather pathetic and kind of gross display, before shaking your head free of the expression, and giving the showmare a smile.

"Good." You say sweetly, then stand up with a self-satisfied smirk on your face.

"Now, let's get you fixed up!"

Ok, we can deal with this... we got this. Trixie is scared enough that she won't talk, the fact that you grew a sword out of your arm insured that. Now fix her ass. You broke it, fix that shit. You have magic use it. Desperation should be enough to help. If there is still some damage left, go find some of that healing stuff Zecora has. That will be last though. She will notice if it is missing.

The Chessmaster

seconded

You step around Trixie's shaking form to her backside and lean down, your eyes narrowed and roaming over her beaten and battered flank. You certainly did a number on it. Between the welts, cuts, dying red of the fur from the blood, and irritation of the skin beneath her coat, her rump is an absolute mess. Buck! This little punishment of yours might leave scars if you don't get it fixed up. And considering that you'll get in trouble with Zecora if you don't, you'd best get to doing just that.

With this simple fact acknowledged in your brain you lean back and close your eyes. Your first idea is, of course, to put the bloody horn in your head to use. Unicorn magic is like a fix-all right? You should be able to use it to fix Trixie. Wish away the damage, mend her bum, something like that.

You focus on your horn, and you... feel it. Every boney inch of it, pulsing with energy, responding to your thought. You can also feel something else along with the horn, something you've never felt before... Earth Pony energy, deep inside of you. You've always known your Earth Pony magic was there, waiting to come out and lend aid if you ever cared for plants, and help reinforce your body against the elements. Still you've never actually felt it before, known for absolute certain that the magic was inside of you... It's rather comforting really.

But that's all secondary. Time to put that energy to work. You roll your shoulders, lick your lips, stare at Trixie's plot, and begin to focus your energies... Your Earthborn power begins to drift up, leaking from every other part of your body and funneling into your horn. You can feel it gathering up like sludge at the base of your skull. Then you feel it slowly moving up through the bone, like the horn's sucking it up, spiraling and twisting along like a snake coiling up a pipe. As the power moves along the bone, a dim, flickering green glow begins to encompass your horn, slinking up with the power. And then, you feel it reach the end of it's arch as it starts to touch to the tip of your horn and-

"AGGGGHHH!!!" A searing pain smashes through your skull like a wrecking ball through a brick wall, and you collapse onto the floor with your teeth gritted and your head pounding in your skull, glow snuffed out and the power disseminated back into your body. The-

"Eeeep!"

Let out by Trixie at your sudden cry and subsequent collapse does not help. It does in fact make the renewed migraine slamming in your head even worse, and cause you to curse the damned showmare's bucking voice even more than you already had. Well... chalk one up for bad experiences. Apparently you're not in any condition to use unicorn magic... hope that changes, otherwise you just got one bucking useless head accessory.

You slowly open your eyes back up, blinking away the tears that have gathered at the corners, and shakily get back up onto your hooves, trying to ignore the pain pulsing through your skull.

"Ugh... Buuuuuuuuuuuck..." You groan, as Trixie looks up at you with wide eyes, her sobs brought under tenuous control, but tears still coming free and fresh, eyes red from the constant crying.

"A-are you a-a-alright?" She asks, tentatively, lip trembling lightly as she stutters out her query. You open your eyes and look down at her with aggravation. Her question does nothing but make your head hurt... however, you close your eyes, take a calming breath, and then breathe out slowly... Trixie is asking about your welfare and your health, showing concern for a pony besides herself, namely you. That is right and proper, and should not be punished just because you're in pain at the moment. You take another deep breath in, then out once more, before opening your eyes and looking to Trixie with a calm gaze.

"Yes I'm fine. Thank you for the concern." You state tersely, unable to keep all the aggravation out of your voice, even as the pounding pain begins to fade to a dull ache. You bring your right forehoof up to rub your forehead... and wince as you accidently nudge your horn, sending a searing jolt of pain into your skull anew. You bite your bottom lip to prevent you from crying out, and take another deep breath in. After a moment you let out yet another sigh of aggravation... and then move your hoof to touch your forehead a few inches BELOW the horn, beginning to rub your forehead in slow short circles.

Trixie, wisely, stays quiet as you stand with closed eyes, rubbing your head with your forehoof... After a few moments of letting your head pain subside, you open your mouth.

"Okay..." You mutter, then lower your hoof from your head, back onto the floor. You open your eyes and turn your gaze to the walls of Zecora's hut, running along the lengths of her shelves.

"Let's see if we can't figure something else out..."

Start reading some of the books Zecora has, while waiting for your lover to return.

You have no BUCKING idea what's what in Zecora's hut. All the multicolored bottles and jars are either unlabeled or just have pictures on them, pictures that you presume are probably part of Zecora's language, but you don't know how to read it. The thing about Zecora though is that she's not just a sexy, strong, independent mare with a flank you could bounce a bit off of and a tasty gash you could lick at all day. She's also an intelligent and well-read healer who takes her duties seriously, a scholar and researcher, a studious mind that seeks knowledge and learns for the pleasure of learning, before transferring her knowledge into new healing techniques. And something all scholars, studious researchers, and practitioners of alchemical arts need is notes. Records. Archives of collected knowledge which they are able to use at the drop of a hat. So as your head gets woozy, you are able to come to a simple conclusion.

"Zecora likely has a compendium of her preferred remedies as well as proper methods of application. Written on a scroll? That seems to be her preferred writing form, but it'd fill up pretty fast, not good for large amounts of information, the more she learned the more she'd need and if she lost one it could potentially be damning for her patient. She'd need all that information in one easy to reach place where she could get to it quickly, hence a compendium, so more probably a book..." You mutter as you bring your fright forehoof up to your chin and give it a thoughtful rub.

Trixie watches as you mutter to yourself, her brows furrowed in confusion. She bites her bottom lip, then licks her lips, and opens her mouth, before tentatively asking.

"Umm... A-are... are you talking to m-" She starts to ask, only to be cut off by you, raising your forehoof from your chin and using it to give her a dismissive wave.

"No, no Trixie. No need to worry your pretty little head about this, just keep laying there, I'll be with you shortly." You mutter, having no need or desire for distractions from the incompetent showmare. You lower your hoof back down to the ground, and humming lightly to yourself, trot over to one of the nearby bookshelves, watching your hooves to make sure you don't trip over any of the objects that Trixie so thoughtlessly scattered about. Upon reaching the shelf you narrow your eyes and peer forward, examining carefully as you continue your recent pattern of self-conversation.

"Now if Zecora was going to make a compendium of cures it'd be worn, used often, larger than necessary to accomadate future entries, more like a journal than a professional book, likely no title on the spine, custom labeling if any. Might even be part of a set, Zecora never stops researching, it's very possible she's filled more than one book..." You state as you look over the shelf, then bring your right forehoof up to run along the spines of the books, lips moving as your eyes search.

"Title on spine, title on spine, title on spine, no title on spine but new... maybe? Keep in mind. Title on spine, title on spine, title on spine, pictures on spine... ... The Lusty Zebrican Maid? Hm. Title on spine, title on spine, no title on spine and worn!" You declare, leaning forward and plucking a single book from the shelf with your teeth. It's bound in an aged brown material, and it's pages look fairly old. More importantly it looks worn from use, opened and closed and carried and dropped, edges dulled, likely from aforementioned drops.

As good a choice to start with as any, and possibly better if your logic is correct. You turn, and trot happily over to the dining table, the one where you always eat and where you sliced a mark into the wood that will probably never go away... Dagnabbit. Ignoring that aggravating reminder of your own shortcomings, you plop the book down onto the table, then move your left forehoof up to the cover, opening it up. You start to turn through the pages, peering down curiously at sketches and pictures of various substances, text crammed into spaces next to the pictures, and even-

"Aha! What's this?!" You ask with a grin on your face and a shining light in your eyes.

"She keeps a compendium translated in both Equestrian AND Zebran! ... Or is it Zebrican? I'll have to ask, the point is that it's translated! And useful physical illustrations to... I wonder, how long HAS she been in Equestria? Or are these translations recent, does seem a little crowded..." You mutter, questioning to yourself as you rapidly flip through the pages.

You get to healing salves quickly enough, one of which you recognize from Zecora's little romp in the Everfree and- huh it's scent overwrites natural scents in the area if left open, thereby removing scent trails, what an interesting side-effect. Oh! She used that to stop the Diamond Dogs from being able to trace you all back to the hut when she left the jar! Brilliant! And in any case it looks like there's a variant that's more suited to work on welts and cuts. Let's see... shape, color, composition, proper application...

You turn your gaze back to the mess, narrowing your eyes as you look at a simple search turned into a scavenger hunt... You sigh, shaking your head, and then look at the picture of the jar again. Small squat jar, dark brown ceramic, covered with a white cloth, substance inside is a luminescent green that glows, cleans infected tissue, mends wounds, soothes pain, and also removes blood from fur. Definitely the one you want to use. You give yourself a nod, the bottle's appearance clear in your mind, before turning and starting to trot through the mess. With furrowed brows you lean down and examine the scattered bottles, looking at each one as you walk through the collections of scattered life-saving brews.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no definitely not, no, no, no, no, no, no, aha! This might be it!" You state pleasantly, before picking up the jar in your left forehoof and looking it over. You look over to Trixie who has NOT moved from that spot, from pain or fear of you you're not sure. You take the jar in your teeth, awkwardly getting a grip on it by biting into the cloth, luckily not through. You trot over to Trixie posh little backside, and then get down on all fours at Trixie's flank, setting the jar down on the floor. Trixie proceeded to lean up and look back over her left shoulder towards you, tears mostly dry by now, but an anxious expression clear in her eyes.

"Ummm, i-is... will that help?" Asked Trixie, cautiously eyeing the jar as you leaned over it, and pulled off the cloth top with your teeth, laying it to the side to reveal the luminescent green ointment within.

"Certainly! This will heal Trixie's broken little tush! Hopefully. If I got the right one." You state cheerfully before moving your left forehoof into the goop. It's sticky, kind of cold, almost ticklish. You feel it tingling on your hoof even as you dig a good chunk of it out with your hoof, and push it up against Trixie's posh little rear, right over your first cut.

"EEEP!" Squealed the great and powerful Trixie, eyes going wide. Her legs start to push up, but you bring your right forehoof up and around quickly to her lower back, just past the tail. You don't actually have the strength in your forehoof to push her down, but you manage to stop her ascent as you bark out at the mare.

"Now hold still Trixie!"

"B-but it hurts the Great and-"

"Trixie! This is to help you get better! You do want to get better don't you, make the pain stop hurting?" You ask.

"I- y-yes."

"Then lay down, and let me apply the ointment. Don't be such a foal." You chide, and Trixie, gulping down a lump in her throat and whimpering softly settled down back onto all fours. She turned her eyes back to you, orbs tearing up again, as you dig your hoof back into the ointment.

"That's better." You state plainly, before pulling your hoof back out of the jar, and proceeding to apply it to her sweet little tush once more...

Now you're going to be nice to Trixie: she gets to make up for what she did by putting Zecora's things back, and then telling you what she was looking for. Make it clear to her that she's on thin ice as it is; and that giving her a chance to clean up is, in fact, being nice.

That little CUNT!! She dared to violate Zecora's good will! At least that spanking has set her somewhat striaght. Now then, let's get this mess cleaned up. Making Trixie do it seems like an appropriate punishment for making this mess.

Secondary Objectives:

Make her put Zecora's stuff back.

It didn't take long for you to coat the entirety of Trixie's backside in the salve. And her plot glowed green. Literally. It was shining because of the salve, like a full moon on a clear night... or a luminescent plot on a whiny mare. Whatever.

Trixie's grunts of pain had died down considerably over the course of the treatment, and by the time you were done she was only whimpering on occasion. You sighed as you leaned back, done with the treatment, and lowered your left forehoof down onto the wood, eyeing Trixie's flank to see if you missed a spot... and to leer at her pretty little gash while her tail was still up. After all, you deserved a bit of a reward after all that hard work, didn't you? Sure you did.

Smirking a bit at the view, then shaking your head and resuming your examination, you deduce that you've coated her behind as thoroughly as could reasonably be expected.

"There, how does it feel?" You ask, turning you gaze back up to Trixie's eyes as opposed the infinitely more pleasant parts of her. The mare gulps, coughs a bit, clears her throat, and then speaks with her voice a little hoarse.

"U-um, the g-great and powerful T-Trixie's, 'gulp' flank feels b-better." She spoke, before lowering her head back down to the ground, blushing a bit.

"Good, I'm glad." You stated calmly, and you were. It'd help her keep her composure when Zecora came back. Speaking of... You turned your gaze over the mess all around, the scattered objects, narrowing your eyes.

"And now you can get to work cleaning up the mess you made." You stated simply. Causing Trixie to snap her head up and look to you with wide eyes, her mouth opening slightly.

"W-what! B-but Trixie isn't, s-she doesn't, I-it'll take-"

"No buts little filly!" You bark, sharply, getting up to your hooves.

"You made the mess, you fix it. This little escapade of yours is reason enough to throw you right back onto your plot out into the Everfree! However I am VERY KINDLY giving you this opportunity to fix the damage you've done! This is a chance to make amends for your wrong-doing Trixie! A chance to make up for how you've treated Zecora's hospitality... I suggest you take it." You speak, narrowing your eyes. Trixie flinched back, a flash of fear entering her eyes as she looked into yours, and then lowered her head slowly, looking down to the floor.

"O-okay..." She muttered, not meeting your eyes.

"Good filly. Now don't try to put everything right back where you found it, just try to organize it near to the chests, get things out of the way where nopony will trip on them. Get things semi-presentable."

Trixie was quiet for a few more moments, before slowly, shakily, getting to her hooves. Then sulking, sniffling, and almost limping, Trixie slowly moved over to a nearby long-necked brown bottle with a cork, leaned down, and picked it up in her teeth...

Right, so. Damn, man.

Alright mister King-of-the-Everfree, what are you going to do now? Trixie's bloody, beaten and sore, and you have a conspicuous horn smack dab in the middle of your forehead. Welp, here's what you should do. Make sure that Trixie apologizes and repents for her selfish and childish actions, and then, like the nice guy you are, get her laid down to rest, help her with her wounded tush, and then proceed to clean up what you can of blood and the like. Don't try to place things back where they were, you don't know where they're supposed to be, and the mess is a good explanation for why you felt the need to give her a proper spanking. Make sure you do this before Zecora comes back. Trixie is to be back in bed by then, unwilling to tell Zecora that you went crazy on her ass. As for the horn, well, none of the changes your body's gone through lately have made sense. Why should this one? Just remember, all you did was teach Trixie a lesson because she did this to Zecora—malignantly, I might add—and needed to be set straight. Any nick of the blade causing her to bleed was an accident. Aye? Aye.

Confine her to your room. (Buck it, now your giving her the room with the bed!)

The mare is TERRIBLE at cleaning. Granted she's already exhausted from your wounding of her tush and you weren't expecting much from a mare who spent her life on the road, moving town to town for the purpose of bragging about how great she is. But still... you expect at least SOME level of basic competence. She moves slow, picks things up slower, often drops them, has put things into piles multiple times only for the piles to collapse, stops to break every five minutes, and is constantly fussing with her bandages. To be fair, the bandages got wet from her tears and snot, so they are probably a bit uncomfortable.

In any case, by the time Trixie managed to get the mess sorted into some semblance of order, you'd already skimmed through most of Zecora's compendium, acquiring basic knowledge of most of the medicinal objects in Zecora's hut. Considering the size of the compendium, that was well over an hour... Somepony's going to have to teach Trixie how to bucking organize...

But at least she does finish. And after she's stacked the last bottle in a semi-stable pile against the wall, she turns, panting, head hanging low, and slowly trots over towards you.

"There! 'Pant' the Great and Powerful Trixie has 'urgh' finished cleaning!" She spoke, more than a little aggravation in her voice. You lift your eyes from the book and raise your right eyebrow. You consider giving her a wallop for her tone, but you JUST got finished treating her tush. Besides, technically she's right, and it does look as though she's finally gotten things semi-neat. You give a nod.

"Alright. Now hold still for a moment." You state simply, rising up to all fours and stepping over to the showmare. Trixie blinks, and tenses up as you approach. It doesn't help her nerves as you lean forward, and as you grasp one of her bandages in your teeth, you can hear her breathe pick up, her breathing starting to come rapid.

"W-what are you doing!?" She asked, slightly panicked, but not backing up you note. Guess tone or not she knows better than to defy your orders. Good. You tug at the bandage, loosening it up, and then pulling it away, unraveling it from Trixie's head in a longs strand. You look into Trixie's eyes and let the bandage fall out of your mouth with a grimace. The taste of Trixie's tears and snot are not a pleasant combination, but unlike prissy unicorns, Earth Ponies have to do a lot with their mouths. And you had to stomach worse tastes than most Earth Ponies. Compared to some of the things you've eaten, these musty bandages were nothing.

"Your bandages are dirty. When they're wet from your tears and snot is not a time to keep them on, could cause health hazards. Besides, from what I saw in the book it looks like Zecora was leaving them on for extended time for caution's sake anyway." You explain calmly, before leaning forward, and using the loose bandage to start to unwrap the rest of the bandages.

Trixie gulped and fidgeted, obviously unsure of your diagnosis, but stayed put. Remaining tense and rigid as you began to unravel bandage after bandage, the little white cotton patches falling to as you pull the wrapping lose from the showmare's head. Finally they were all off, and you saw her face without any obstruction... and it was terrible. Snot, tear stains, etcetera. Once again, your fault. Though you grimace anyway because your fault or not she wasn't a pleasant sight. Definitely couldn't let her stay like that...

"Wait a moment." You say, as you trot around the prissy showmare, and walk over to the table next to the cauldron.

"W-what now?" Asks the showmare, tentatively from behind you, as you look over the objects on the table, luckily untouched by Trixie's mess-making.

"Your face is a mess. Need to clean it." You state simply, before your eyes fall on a fortuitous object.

"Ah, here we go." You say with a smile, then lean down and pick up a wooden bowl in your teeth, the bowl filled with cold water, and a white wash-rag half inside of it. You trot back over to in front of Trixie, and lay the bowl down on the floor. Trixie looks at you with a raised right eyebrow, her face showing a mixture of weirded out and displeasure, as you move your right forehoof down to grasp the wet rag.

"I-is this really necessary?" Asked Trixie, still tense and a bit tentative, as you raise the rag.

"Yes." You state plainly, and the proceed to shove the rag in Trixie's face. She scrunches up said face as you rub it with the cloth, scrubbing the tear stains and snot from her fur. You stop only to dip the rag back into the water and then bring it back up to start anew, scrubbing her features clean of the signs of her misery. Then, you let the rag fall back into the water.

"There, much better." You state pleasantly, your cheerful demeanor at odds with Trixie's own expression, namely a sullen glare mixed with wet face.

"Can Trixie go now?" She asked, aggravation clear in her tone. You smiled lightly at the showmare, then turned and trotted back over to the table and the book, starting to flip through it again.

"Yes, Trixie can go. Back to bed. I'll bring you something to help you sleep in a moment." You state cheerfully, looking through the pages for a potion you came across earlier.

Trixie blinked at this news, eyes widening with panic. Her lips twitched, and a grin of desperation moved onto her face.

"Oh, uh, the Great and Powerful Trixie appreciates the offer, but she was hoping that perhaps she might just wait for-"

"Trixie. Go get your flank in bed before I have to beat it again." You state, with an ice-cold tone and calm expression, sparing only the slightest glance towards the showmare. Trixie's expression paled, eyes widening at your words, and an audible-

GULP

Sounded as she swallowed hard...

"W-well... Trixie will just be going back to bed then..." She spoke, shakily, before slowly moving over towards the bedroom, green plot quivering as she retreated like a whipped bitch. You looked up from the book to watch the satisfying visual... before burrowing your nose back into the book.

You actually have to worry about something else before bringing Trixie her medicine. Trixie's blood. It seemed unnecessarily cruel to have her clean that up herself, so you decided to take care of it. Luckily it didn't stain the wood, and the water and rag that had cleaned Trixie's flank were fully capable of cleaning her plot-blood off the floor. After a bit of scrubbing the mess was cleaned. Aside from a reddish tinge in the water of the bowl, there was no evidence it'd ever been there at all.

With that chore out of the way you were able to focus on finding the potion you'd skimmed over earlier in Zecora's compendium. A medicinal draught that helped heal and mend flesh, that also encouraged sleep in the drinker. You think Zecora may have given Trixie one of these when she first brought her back. Actually finding the potion, with things newly organized, wasn't too difficult, and soon enough you were pouring out a red sticky liquid from a slim-necked brown bottle into an empty wooden bowl. It filled the bowl to about half-way, and you put the empty bottle on the table next to the cauldron, to differentiate it from the other filled potions.

Medicine acquired, you picked up the bowl in your teeth, and with a light sigh, and a tired look in your eyes, trotted over to the bedroom to deliver it to Trixie.

On that, what was Trix looking for? I mean the box obviously. But "Where would she put it‽" implies prior knowledge. She's looking for something specific. And if The Rude and Abrasive wants it, it would be a good idea to find out what it is, so she never gets it. Particularly when "she never gets it" seems to be your Zebra's plan as well.

So priority of work:

Primary Objectives:

Interrogate the Illusionist.

Trixie was on the bed when you entered the bedroom. Crying. Laying on top of the bed at the far side away from the door, her shining flank facing up towards the ceiling and her face buried into the second pillow. She was letting out muffled sobs into the pillow, shoulders shaking as she poured her tears into the soft fluffy headrest. You raised your right eyebrow. ... Well that was one face-wiping done a bit prematurely.

You'd treated Trixie's wounds and fixed her tush... it probably still hurt a bit but not that much. So this latest batch of crying was likely emotionally based. Why? What about being beaten and humiliated and threatened and dominated over could POSSIBLY cause a mare to be overcome with grief and misery? Boggles the mind. Your internal sarcasm, not the crying.

With another big sigh you trot into the room, Trixie not seeming to notice you due to her face being buried in a pillow while she sobs her eyes out. You trot over to the bed, and climb up onto it, before setting the bowl down on the pillow opposite of Trixie's. You lower yourself down to your knees and lay down on the bed facing towards the showmare. You reach forward with your front right forehoof to stroke Trixie's mane, and only then does she jerk up, turning her gaze to you, fresh tears staining her cheeks.

"Don't worry. I'm not angry." You state simply, and continue to stroke her mane lightly with your right forehoof, running it through the strands of her hair. Trixie seems to be nervous, and anxious about the touching, stressed and tense. But she lets it happen, and slowly lowers her head back down to the pillow, still sniffling and crying softly, as you continue to stroke her mane... ... ... And you just let this happen for a while, just content to stroke her mane while she gets her grief out.

You continue to run your hoof through her hairs for several more minutes, Trixie slowly getting more relaxed, the crying fading into soft sniffles... Then, after a little more time stroking her mane, you ask her a question, calm and soft.

"Trixie. What were you looking for ?"

Trixie's eyes snap open at that. She looks at you, with fear briefly, then clears her throat, and manages a fake smile.

"Uh, the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't know what you're talking about!"

"Trixie." You state, not loudly, but sternly, leaning forward and narrowing your eyes, looking into her orbs.

"Don't lie to me. I know you were looking for something special, something that you were trying to steal from Zecora. I heard you say as much. Now what is it?" You ask. Trixie just meets your eyes for a few more moments, orbs wide... and then she tears up slightly again, and averts her eyes, looking down to the bed. She bites her lower lip... then coughs slightly, clears her throat, and starts to speak.

"I... Trixie was... Trixie..." She started, and then had to close her eyes and take a deep shuddering breath. You waited patiently as she let out an equally shaky breathe, then cleared her throat, and spoke again.

"Trixie was looking for the Alicorn Amulet..." Spoke the Showmare quietly. So quietly that you had to strain a bit to hear her.

"Alicorn Amulet?" You asked, brow lifted in curiosity as you looked down towards the Showmare. Trixie nodded slightly, before opening her eyes, and looking up to you with a tired, sad, and just generally exhausted expression.

"Yes. The Alicorn Amulet, a powerful artifact from ancient pony times, o-or so Trixie heard. Trixie bought it in a shop with every bit she'd earned. Scrimped and saved so that she could afford to purchase it, or something like it, and use it to get revenge on Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight Sparkle? THE PRINCESS?!?! Your eyes widened a bit at that revelation. Fortunately Trixie's eyes closed as she let out another deep sigh, and she seemed not to notice as she continued on with her story.

"Trixie became a laughing stock because of her... she wanted to prove she was better than Twilight, make her feel isolated and alone like Trixie had been. But the Amulet made Trixie a little unhinged and she... overdid things..." Spoke the showmare, biting her lower lip as she muttered out that last part, opening her eyes to gaze at the bed, expression one of shame and misery. Probably related to those crimes against ponykind...

"Twilight Sparkle came back and beat Trixie, of COURSE. Then she gave the amulet to Zecora to hide away. Trixie came looking for Zecora... because... because... BECAUSE TRIXIE NEEDED THE BITS!!!" Shouted the showmare, causing you to flinch at the sudden volume change. Suddenly Trixie's forehooves were up and covering her eyes, fresh tears pouring down her cheeks again.

"Trixie had nothing left! She lost her bits, lost her cart, all she had was her cloak and her hat and her second rate magic! And she'd hurt so many ponies, everypony hated her! And she couldn't stomach the thought of asking Twilight for help! The only pony Trixie could think of that could help her was the zebra that had her amulet, Zecora! So Trixie came to the Everfree, to try to convince Zecora to give her back the amulet so she could pawn it off somewhere, so she could try to salvage SOMETHING of her life back! And then she got turned to stone by a cockatrice, assaulted by a Diamond Dog, and then her flank beaten to a bloody pulp by YOU!!!" She shouted, and then she curled her forelegs over her face and tucked her hind-legs back into her stomach, and began to sob anew...

You finally punished the tribalist bitch. Good! The bloodletting was a bit much, though. Might be difficult to explain that one. Best would be to go with mostly the truth when Zecora asks--apart from you cutting the girl deliberately, that is.

After she cleans up, reward her. Soothe her wounds; you're not hurting her because it's fun, after all. Well, maybe a little, but still! You're trying to help her become a better pony. Maybe Zecora even has something to help Trixie sleep--if you find it, offer it to the mare. When she's no longer hurting so much, tuck her in the bed. Be gentle and loving. Stroke her mane until she relaxes, maybe give her another kiss and pat. She's probably going to be terribly confused, and perhaps she''ll cry again. That's normal, it just means that Trixie is dealing with a lot of contradicting feelings.

You've got a lot to work out too, so if Trixie falls asleep, take the time for another whispering session. Does she wake from an ear lick? Maybe if you nibble on it a bit... Tell her you're just doing this out of love. She might not deserve it, but you really want her to get better. She should respect you, she owes you everything, if anything you deserve her love. She's scared--that's alright. Finally being put in her place like she wanted is scary, but you'll be there to help her all the way. You'll be her guide. And maybe you sort of owe her now, too; she gave you the horn. In a way, she's part of you now. You're connected, which is a good thing. You're good for her, you'll always be good for her. Sometimes you'll hurt her, just like she needs, and you'll always keep her safe.

I second every word of this plan. Just remember, those cuts were an accident.

Nomad

You blink a bit at this emotional outpouring from Trixie... and default to stroking her mane with your right forehoof as you think on what exactly to do about this... You furrow your brows, contemplating her words and emotional state... and then you slowly lean forward, until your lips are just above Trixie's ear, and you begin to whisper gently...

"Trixie... I know you're hurt right now. I know you're angry. I know you're scared, and tired, and desperate. And I just want you to know this... I'm here for you." You speak gently.

"It might not seem like it, but I care about you. I know I get angry, I know I can scare you sometimes, but I'm not doing it for the sake of being mean. I'm doing it for you. BECAUSE I want you to have your life back." That statement gets Trixie to lower her forelegs and blink, opening her eyes slightly and raising her right eyebrow, doubt mixing in with the general misery and anger at life. You lean back as she raises her head and look into her eyes, meeting her doubtful gaze head on as you continue to speak softly.

"You're a flawed pony Trixie. Every decision you've made has been a train wreck. From lying about your achievements, to challenging your, um, fairly evident superior and becoming a laughing stock for it, to spending every last bit on an amulet that you then proceeded to lose, to going into the Everfree to get it back, to getting turned to stone, to picking a sleeping place where Diamond Dogs would pop up, and even to searching through Zecora's things. Trixie, you are TERRIBLE at making decisions for yourself." You speak, causing Trixie to gasp in deeply, outrage on her face.

The showmare draws herself up and away from you, standing tall on all fours, towering over you as she takes a haughty stance. She glares down at you, anger and indignation in her eyes, as she fearlessly proclaims-

"That is a lie! The Great and Powerful Trixie does not need anypony! She has made perfectly good decisions on her own!" She almost shouts, forgetting her fear of you in her pride. You look back up into her eyes, perfectly calm, and staring straight into your orbs you give a simple challenge.

"Name one."

Trixie smirked at your challenge and raising her right foreleg up into the air opened her mouth... And then blinked. She looked down, brow furrowing, then snapped her head back up, a triumphant look on her face as she opened her mouth again... And then closed it, blinking a few times, and then furrowing her brows in frustration.

You watched silently as the showmare brought her right forehoof back down to rub her chin, brows furrowing in deep thought. She opened her mouth again for a moment, then closed it... ... And then slowly lowered her right forehoof back down onto the bed. She looked back to you with an expression of confusion on her face... And then one of dawning horror, mixed with comprehension. Her eyes widened for a reason that had nothing to do with your punishment, and her mouth dropped open, and all the strength went out of her legs. The Great and Powerful Trixie fell onto all fours on the bed, mouth open, eyes wide, and all she could do was stare at the bed in front of her. And finally, when she spoke, she only uttered three words.

"Oh my Celestia..."

You sighed gently, then brought your right forehoof up to her mane again, stroking it gently as you looked to the deflated mare across from you. You continue to run your forehoof through the strands of her hair as you gently speak once more.

"I know the realization's hard... But there it is. The fact is Trixie, you need a strong hoof to guide you. You need somepony like me to point you in the right direction, to teach you how to act and what to do. How to be a good little pony, somepony that can salvage her life from the bad decisions she's made. And sometimes you won't like it, sometimes it'll hurt, but you'll be a better pony for it." You speak, then lean forward and plant a soft kiss on Trixie's head, below her horn... Then lean back with a light smile.

"Now here. I brought you something to help you sleep." You state simply, lowering your right forehoof and leaning over to the bowl on the pillow, taking it in your teeth. You move it in front of Trixie, who is currently blushing, whether from shame, embarrassment, or the intimate contact of the kiss, you can't tell.

"I, um, I... thank you." Muttered Trixie, keeping her eyes averted as she leaned down, and began to drink the sticky red potion. She scrunched up her face when she was done, smacking her lips and running her tongue along them, then scrunching up her face more.

"Ugh... it's sour..." She muttered, and you actually chuckled lightly at the showmare's statement.

"Not surprising. Of the many things medicine's known for, being pleasant to taste buds is not among them." You state simply, before getting up to your hooves.

"Now lie down, I'll tuck you in." You command calmly, and you're only slightly surprised when Trixie actually does as you say without comment, laying back down with her head on the pillow, eyes closed. You move the bowl back onto the other pillow with your teeth, then pull down the covers around Trixie, and then slowly pull them over her. She doesn't move to help or hinder, which is fine with you. Now that she's laying down and not talking she looks EXHAUSTED. She doesn't even flinch when the covers touch her bum... either the salve, or the medicine, or both, did it's job.

You finish tucking her in, then get back down onto all fours, looking down to her for a moment. She looks like she might have conked out already... So peaceful. You smile a little, and then move your front right hoof to stroke her mane gently. Looking down at her now... as she's sleeping, and when she's not arrogant, or talking, or crying, or covered in snot and tears... she really is a very pretty mare. You lean down, and plant another soft kiss on her brow... then lean up to her ear, and give it a gentle nibble. You lick around the edge of her ear slowly... then softly, you whisper.

"Remember Trixie... you need me. You OWE me. I'm the only pony who can help you, and you need to be grateful for that. You need somepony to keep you in line, and I'm that pony. I'm here for you Trixie, and I'll help you be a better pony... Now sleep well... Have sweet dreams."

You inform tenderly, and the only response from Trixie is a muttered grumble, and a shifting of position. You smile gently, and then lean down and grab the medicine bowl in your teeth. You get up to your hooves, turn and hop off of the bed onto the floor. You trot out of the bedroom, feeling actually pretty good about yourself, leaving the sleeping mare to her dream-realm...

On another note, if Marshmallow Pony drops by, a white, gorgeous case, make sure that you play off the "Starved and dying" angle in case she asks about any signs of malnutrition. Who knows, she might decide to get, say, generous for such a poor individual such as you. And, well, that's your right, isn't it? You've suffered so much shit at the hands of ponies that it's about time somebody give you what you deserve. Either that, or you should take it. You deserve hot food, nice clothes and a warm bed in the night, don't you? After all, nobody's dealt with as much shit as you have. Take for example the nearby village. Small. Idyllic. Ponyville. The kind of name given by blissful, ignorant country bumpkins. They've never had to suffer through the shit you have. They've never had to starve, freeze and beg for their lives. They probably live wondrously, with food and friends and warm homes and comfy beds. Those things should be yours. You should have these comforts, even if you have to beat the original owners into the ground to get them. After all, you deserve them, don't you?

Rarity is coming and you have a fairly conspicuous body right now. She is going to want to measure you. Here is what you have got to do, Lie. You were found in the Everfree, there was a mad scientist, you both got attacked by timberwolves but you lived. That explains the lack of a cutie mark, and all the other stuff abnormal about you. It also will invoke sympathy, empathy, pity, and a desire to bring you to her friend Twilight Sparkle to help you. You don't really want to get rid of it, but you do want to meet Twilight. She has to be sexy if she is a friend of Rarity!

The Chessmaster

Think of a non-Illusionist-blood related excuse for growing a horn.

Agreed. If Zecora brings along her fashionista friend, make sure she has a positive impression of you. You want your Zebra's friends to like you. Yet you also need to make sure not to fire up Zecora's jealousy too much; even if this new mare is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, with a white and pristine coat that makes for a beautiful contrast to your Zebra snugglepillow's striped one. Damn, now you'd just need a solid black mare and you could arrange them in Equestria's finest non-colour plotline...

Wait, no, no sexy thoughts about Zecora's friends! You have your Zebra and your blue Unicorn to play with, that's enough! No need to get greedy!

THUD!

You plop your bum onto the floor and rest your forelegs on the table with a sigh. You slump down and lay your head on the surface, closing your eyes, feeling more than a little drained, emotionally, physically, mentally... You didn't expect this to be your morning. And now you're worried again about what Zecora's going to think... and what her friend's going to think to for that matter.

Alright, first off, the friend... If Zecora brings her friend by, then you can play up your abused state a bit. Bring attention to your thinness and your scars, mares dig scars right? Whatever, this Ponyville place sounds like it's full of ignorant ponies ready to look after their own but shun outsiders. Soooo... try to say you were abused or something? Mad science-pony experiment? And then attacked by Timberwolves? Yeah, and that you got the horn from that same mad scientist! Which she might buy but Zecora wouldn't because Zecora knows better. Buck.

You lift your head, then bring it down onto the table again with a-

THUMP

You lay there a few more minutes, eyes closed, before sighing out heavily. Buck it... You'll make something else up to tell Zecora, maybe close to the truth maybe not. Not even mention anything about Trixie to the friend if she comes. You'll just focus on playing the sympathy angle. After all it sounds like Ponyville's got it good. And haven't you earned some damn sympathy? Some relaxation, some bucking goodwill? Yeah, yeah you have. And if you play up sympathy, this mare friend of Zecora's might be more inclined to... be generous...

You grin. Wouldn't it be bucking awesome if Zecora's friend was a hottie? With a nice flank and a sexy gait, she might be so moved by your story that she felt deep sympathy for you, and then felt the need to comfort you after all that you've been through... And then she could wrap her hooves around your cock and-

You blink, then growl as you-

THUMP!

Your head against the table again.

No, no, no, no, no! You've already had enough trouble with Zecora as it is and might be in more! You do NOT want to give your zebra legitimate reasons to feel jealous!

So goes your mind. But your best buddy in the whole wide world seems to disagree with you, as he starts to harden in your sheathe. You blink again, then lift your head up from the table, and turn it down to look between your hind-legs.

"Et tu penaey?" You ask, looking down to your best friend as he struggles to slip out of his sheathe and get to rutting. You sigh, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and breath out slowly... ... Stupid male need to rut everything and anything with a slit. Or, a hole of any kind really...

A thought dear Blank. If pegasus magic flows through their wings, and your rods are positioned right where those wings would be, does it stand to reason that you could channel magic through your rods? Think about it, no need for thunderstorms or electrical attacks to utilize your rods. Also, wasn't part of Trixie's Manehatten performance conjuring a Storm cloud? Sounds like a good back up to me.

As a side thought, it's a good thing that we included a fedora in our request. The hat will hide the fact you have a horn and leave your magic, once you learn it, as an unexpected surprise.

Nomad

With a sigh you cross your forelegs on the table and bring your muzzle to lay across them, staring out into space as you fight back the naughty thoughts and urge to mate, getting your penis back in line. Idly, you change your thoughts to your upcoming trenchcoat and fedora... Turns out it's a good thing you included the fedora in there. With that on nopony will see your horn and mistake you for a unicorn... ... and, uh, it'll be a surprise ability in case of attack! That to.

You furrow your brows. Thinking of magic, how the buck do those rods in your back work? You can't feel any energy in them, but you know that they can channel it, what with the electricity and shit running through them. Maybe you could try to direct power through them? ... Yeah, cause that worked SO well with the bucking horn that's SUPPOSED to channel magic... Ugh... damn useless headpiece... ... Still, it's got potential. Your rods are a mystery after all, you don't have any bucking idea how they work... ... Speaking of not knowing about how shit works...

Tertiary Objectives:

Make a musical instrument out of the sword. Ok so it has no practical use, but what's the point of superpowers if you can't do something useless with them once in a while.

Archivist

You lift your right foreleg off the table and summon your blade, watching it jut out of your hoof, the dark-blue mist with shiny dots in it forming all across your right forehoof. You turn the sword this way and that way, examining the length slowly as you contemplate it's black crystalline surface, and admire it's beautiful jagged edges. Your eyes drink in the mystical, beautiful, slightly reflective blade, and you can't help but wonder... What the buck is up with this thing?

One moment this overly fancy lethal slicer was just hacking things up and looking good while doing so, and then the next it was vibrating and making weird musical noises to the sound of slapping Trixie's prissy blue bum. This thing was a glittery death cutter, and now it's singing like a prima-donna at the opera whenever it touches thing. What the buck is up with that!? What POSSIBLE use could that... ... ...

You slowly lift your head up towards the bedroom... ... You gave Trixie something to help her sleep... So, if there were loud noises... You turn your gaze back to the blade in front of you, just as slowly. You lick your lips, and raise your left forehoof. Then slowly lower your blade down to touch against the wood of the table, flat resting upon it. With your blade on the table you use your left hoof to experimentally give the flat of your sword a-

TAP

thuuuuunnnnkkk...

The blade's vibration is mostly absorbed by the wood, making a comparatively muffled sound, very low. You look back up to Trixie's current sleeping quarters, just to see if you were wrong about her sleeping aids keeping her asleep... You weren't. You're awesome like that. You look back to the blade, and lick your lips again. You lift it up off the table, letting it stay free in the air, and like before, give it a light-

TAP

Tiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggggggg!

The sound reverberates around the hut, and while a good deal of the noise escapes through the cracks in the door and the hole with sticks that serves as a window, the sound is still... pleasant. A light ringing in the air, making you think of a bell's chime drawn out. You smile a little more, and then give the blade a harder-

TAP!

TIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!

Tink!

Tink!

Tink!

Not only is the sound louder, sharper, echoing through the air with more power, but the sound seems to vibrate off the little colored potion bottles that Zecora has hanging in her hut. They seem to catch the sound and echo it back playfully at a reduced volume. It's rather... interesting. Entertaining. Bucking awesome even!

You grin. This could entertain you for hours! Oooooh! You can test frequencies, try tapping your blade against different surfaces and seeing how the application of force and the change in surface bring forth different sounds! You can become a sound-maestro! Commanding the sound to your whim! And then you can try to figure out why that sound's coming in the first place. It has to do with the crystal right? Hm, perhaps Zecora has books on the Crystal Empi-

KNOCK

KNOCK

You're jolted from your thoughts by a pair of loud knocks delivered unto the door. Your eyes widen. Zecora! She must be back already! Odd, true some time had passed, but you hadn't thought that much time. Oh well! She's back anyway! As in here! And you just have to remember which lies and truths you decided to tell! HAHAHAHAHA! EASY PEASY!!!!

Use your gilded tongue to lie to both the zebra about the horn and Trixie, and the element of harmony about your appearance.

When Zecora gets back, inform her that Trixie was searching through her things, that you already gave her a good spanking as punishment, something her parents OBVIOUSLY neglected. Your story must include the explanation of how you gained a unicorn horn. Make sure she understands that you licking the blood off your blade ( Trixie got " nicked" during her spanking) is more of a compulsion than a conscious thought process. After that is done, make sure to find out what Trixie was looking for from Zecora.

Secondary thoughts, if Rarity/the fashionista accompanies Zecora back to her hut for measurements, we need a cover story Chessmaster has a good idea on what to do. We need to gain her sympathies, stay close as possible to the truth so as not to turn Zecora against you. Any question she asks that you aren't comfortable answering, simply state that you don't know or can't remember.

Nomad

Alright! No need to panic, fight down those butterflies in your gut! You know what you're going to do. You are going to tell Zecora and her friend that Trixie was searching through her things and that's why they're so disorganized! And you'll also have to tell Zecora about the blood, maybe, because you licked it and grew a horn. Maybe tell her it was a compulsion? Or lie? No you need to stay close to the truth! And work to get sympathies from the mare that Zecora brings. Right! Sympathy, sympathy, sympathy, and just keep your story simple and close to the truth, and if you're not comfortable answering a question, just say that you don't remember! Right, you're good to go!

Your right eye twitching, despite your PERFECT CALM!!! AND TOTAL LACK OF ANXIETY THAT THIS MIGHT ALL BLOW UP IN YOUR FACE!!! You trot to the door. You close your eyes, gulp down a lump in your throat, and let out a shuddering breath. Right, time to pony-up, you can do this... You know what to say and who to say it to, so just smile, be yourself, and make a new friend.

You take a deep breathe in, open your eyes, let a grin break out onto your face, reach forward with your left forehoof, and throw open the door... ... and then blink. The smile fades from your face. You furrow your brows in confusion, and open your mouth as though you're about to speak, but nothing comes out. You close your mouth, let it rest a couple seconds, then try again. And this time, what comes out is a very clear, very certain-

"... ... ... Huh?"

In the doorway, on the top step, is the strangest thing you have ever seen in your entire life. Considering what you've seen recently that's a good accomplishment. If you're honest with yourself though, if this is what you're seeing a couple days in, then there's probably a LOT of things left in the Everfree to give this weirdness a run for it's money. Anyways, whatever's in front of you, you have no bucking clue what to call it right now except for THING... that just happens to be growing out of Zecora's cloak.

Zecora's cloak is indeed on the top step. With about six thick plant-like tendrils growing out of it. Each of the tendrils is cylindrical in shape, and striped in a horizontal white, black, blue, white, black, blue pattern. At the top of each of the tendrils, stretching at least a foot above you, is a large blue flower, opened wide, and facing down towards you. Out of each of the flowers sticks out a long yellow beak, with white pollen surrounding it back in the flower. As you continue to stare at the plant, each of the beaks grin, rows of sharp pointy teeth showing. Then, in the depths of the flower, above the beaks in the white pollen, slanted red eyes open up, six pairs glaring and malevolent, as the beaks grin, all six flowers looking right at you.

Now that you've had time to take in this creature's appearance, and evaluate it's presence as a plant growth emerging from Zecora's cloak, you feel more able to engage your verbal prowess once more, and attempt to communicate with the strange creature in front of you.

"... ... ... Huh?"

... ... Right, well, verbal fencing aside, you've still got a plant sitting on the front step of the hut. A plant that is NOT a sexy zebra and her mare-friend, which while relieving, is also disappointing. And you may not have a right to be relieved depending on how this plant does things. What do you do?

Author's Note

DONE! Done, done, done, done, done, done, done! Hahahahahahaha! FREE! FINALLY FREE!!! ... Ahem.

My exuberance may be not entirely called for I admit. This was delayed several weeks I am aware. And I hate that. Delays ruin flow, take away from the action, erode memory, and generally make things more difficult for me. You know what though? They're going to happen. Have happened before, just happened now, will probably happen again. So I'm not going to gripe or moan about this aggravating set of delays any more than I already have, and instead will just ask you this question.

The next time I've got a significant delay, do you want me to post something up to say that I'm going to be delayed, or would you rather I just keep working on it and not give an update that's not a post?

And now with that question asked, time to address stuff relating to the chapter.

First off, I imagine there might be some confusion about one of my writing choices. Namely, why is there a gigantic plant monster instead of, oh say, the sexy unicorn and zebra that apparently EVERYPONY was expecting to see this chapter? Well there are a few answers, with one of them being in the chapters "Pretty Blue Flowers" and "Jokes and Yokes", chapters 11 and 12 respectively.

In chapter 11, ponies mentioned harvesting Poison Joke. In chapter 12, Poison Joke was harvested. And then nopony mentioned it ever again. No precautions, no gifts, no just tossing it out... If you decide something's not needed anymore then that's fine, but just leaving Poison Joke in there? Just leaving a mutagenic plant with the capability of altering biological structures for the purpose of it's own amusement? Done on skin-contact, alone, without doing anything with it? How exactly can I, as a game master, NOT put consequences to that?

Here's why I can't not put consequences to that. Because this is a game. This is a game centering around a VILLAIN. And villains can get tripped up by ANYTHING. Nightmare Moon's ignorance of the true nature of the Elements of Harmony led to her getting banished. Discord's ignorance of the element's power and not doing anything to stop it led to his getting a nice stone suit. Queen Chrysalis, turning around and ignoring the most important ponies in Equestria, including the one she was DRAINING, and letting them do as they please while she watches her invasion taking off. And Sombra... actually did pretty well, yeah he didn't really make any major mistakes, the other group was just better.

The point is, that what a villain doesn't see coming tends to be what puts them down. And leaving a dangerous plant to it's own devices for eight chapters? Sloppy. Forgetful. The exact kind of opening a hero could exploit. So this is my way of saying yes, just forgetting about things and leaving them alone WILL have consequences. And with that said, if somepony points out that this was not done and that I am in fact wrong, I will be very embarrassed and probably scream. But you won't hear it, so feel free.

On to chapter quality. I'm not sure about it. I had to chop things up, slice and dice, put them all over the place to put things into a reasonable flow. I'm hoping it turned out alright, however this chapter has given me so many problems that I am not confident in it at all. Hope it entertains nonetheless.

And finally, onto happy news. Season 4! Woohoo! It had a good start. Possible SPOILERS in this paragraph by the by. While I feel sorry for people writing fics for Nightmare Moon's rebellion, as they might have to work around now to find a good space to have a century spanning war, for the most part I thought it was very well done, very enticing, intriguing, and a game changer. And it introduced the C-ROCK-adile, which despite his short amount of combat time I think is a very interesting beastie with potential.

Now, how I'm going to implement Season 4? I'm going to take it as lore, and treat it as past, for as long as I can. Trying to sync time with it will give me a bit to worry about, and I may have to eventually just stop at the timeline. But so far, nothing's been introduced that I can't just say has already happened previously, and until it is, I'll try to implement Season 4 lore without it messing with the story. And that's that, I hope this came out alright and hope you enjoy. Sorry for the wait.

A Garden-Variety Problem

...Well, not really sure why the cloak is doing that...let's review our options.

Option 1: Slam the door on it's beaks and pretend it isn't there.

When you've finished shitting yourself, metaphorically speaking, you might want to get around to shutting the door. Just tossing that out there.

A few moments passed by with no noise whatsoever. Moments where you and this strange creature just stared at one another, just you and a plant monster hybrid growing out of a cloak on the front door of your zebra lovebug's hut, face to... faces. And then the six mouths of the plant monster opened wide, showing blue tongues and deep throats, with green sticky saliva dripping down from the roofs of their mouths.

"SKKKKRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

The force of the roar unleashed by the six simultaneous mouths echoed throughout the hut. The gooey green spittle flew from every mouth into your fur, blue tongues wiggling in the air as your mane blew back and you closed your eyes, scrunching up your face as the saliva sprayed across your face.

The plant monster stopped roaring, and you slowly opened your eyes... The vicious red eyes of the plant thing continued to look at you, the beaks grinning, looks of smug satisfaction upon all six faces. You blinked, then slowly brought your right forehoof up to rub across your face. You rubbed it left, then you rubbed it right, then left, then right again, wiping away the slimy green saliva, before lowering your hoof back down to the floor. You blinked, face cleared of sappy spittle, and you once again stared right into the creature's eyes.

"... ... ... Huh." Came your intelligent, rational response to the events of the last twenty or some-odd seconds. And then your brain started working again.

SLAM!

The door slammed shut, courtesy of your hoof, and by the time it had closed you'd risen to your hind legs, whirled around, and thrown yourself back against the door with a-

BANG!

You'd then thrown your forelegs out to either side of the doorway, holding yourself firmly in place and pushing against the floor with your hind legs, putting every ounce of pressure you could muster into keeping the wooden barrier between you and... and whatever the buck was out there, closed and barred!

As your heart thudded like a runaway jackhammer, a layer of sweat built up upon your brow, and deep rapid panting breaths filled your lungs, chest pumping up and down in time with the inhalations, one singular all-consuming question rose to the top of your mind.

What the BUCK was that thing?! No, no WHAT THE BUCK!?!? SERIOUSLY!?!? A damn plant monster grew OUT OF HER CLOAK!?!? With chicken beaks!?!? REALLY EVERFREE?! REALLY!?!?

BANG!

Your heart skipped a beat in your chest as a chill went up your spine. Okay, the thing was ramming the door now. No need to panic. Nope, this was manageable, you could handle this.

BANG!

The second impact almost threw you off of the door, the wood slamming into your back hard enough to bruise. With wide eyes you slammed yourself back against the door as your hind legs scrambled to find a perch against the floor again.

OKAY! THIS WASN'T MANAGEABLE! DEFINITELY A NEED TO PANIC!!! No, no do NOT panic! This is just one more thing, like all the other things, you can deal with this thing! Think brain, think! How can you handle this!?

You gritted your teeth as your wide eyes began to rapidly dart around the room, looking for something to use.

I'd take a fourth option. Distract the creature by throwing Trixie at it, and run away screaming like a little girl while it messily devours her.

Remember; her screams of agony mean the plan is working!

Ah, it feels good to do good, doesn't it? After the stick, the carrot! You're sure Trixie will be grateful once she truly understands you are the guiding hoof she desperately needs. You can help her be as pretty inside as she is outside. And she is quite pretty, isn't she? Also, she was blushing back there—maybe she does feel something for you...

Yeah, don't trust Twilight Sparkle. Like, not even by an inch. If you ever have to meet her then act friendly, nice, but wish dearly that you'll get a chance to stab her in private. I think that's pretty much just my point, here. Don't trust Sparkle. Don't like Sparkle. I mean, just look at what she did to your Pet! Beggared and starved, just like you. Hell, I bet Twilight's just as bad as Celestia, that stuck up bitch. Never cares to look around and see the suffering, fix it, despite all her power. Ignorance is their creed, obviously. Anyway, we'll be having this spiel again when you meet her in person. Just don't trust the lackeys of Celestia.

Your searching eyes settled on the doorway to the bedroom, where Trixie was no doubt still slumbering... and lingered... ... ... Maybe you could throw Trixie at it? Use her as bait? Yeah, she was loud and distracting, you could probably escape out the window while the plant monster was chomping down on-

NO! No. Bad you, BAD. You do NOT feed ponies to crazy mixed-up plant monster things! And she's already suffered enough! What with her being beaten and bested by Twilight Sparkle! The Princess's pet student who got FIRST HAND teaching in magic straight from Celestia! How is THAT a fair match-up!? ... Wow... Twilight Sparkle would have definitely known that before taking on Trixie... maybe she's a bit of a bitch? And also, Trixie was blushing a little, so she might actually feel something for you, and she does have a pretty plot and-

OKAY! Yes penis this is acknowledged! Back to the life or death situation please!

You shook your head then furrowed your brows as you refocused on the matter at hoof, trying to think of a less reprehensible and terrible way of solving the probl-

SLAM!

"GAH!"

The latest blow from the insistent, unnatural, and uninvited guest pounded through the door AND through your meager attempts to barricade it with your body. You were sent tumbling into the hut from the force of the breech, door slamming wide open as you went head over hooves, spiraling across the floor until you hit the eating table with a-

THUD!

Your eyes rolled dizzy in your sockets as your forelegs lay splayed out at either side of your head, flank propped up against the table, your plot and hind legs sticking up in the air. As result of your... awkward positioning, your long unkempt tail fell back across your chest, the tip reaching all the way down to your nose. A few subconscious shifts of your flank, and the hair started to tickle your nostrils, leading to one simple reaction.

"A-a-achoo!" You sneezed, the force knocking the tail away and to the left of your nose. You shook your head, blinked a bit to clear your eyes... and then instantly wished that you hadn't.

An upside-down plant monster was coming at you across the ceiling! And the door was on the ceiling now! ... Oh, right, no, you were upside down. But still! IT WAS COMING!!!

And creepily to. The cloak was shuffling across the floor, blue tendrils creeping out from under the dirty unwashed brown, wiggling like worms and digging into the wood, pulling the cloak forward and the plant mass along with it. Red eyes on tendrils with grinning sharp-toothed beaks... death riding on Zecora's dirty blood-splattered cloth.

I'm not sure if it's WEARING Zecora's cloak, so much as it is GROWING out from it...not sure if it has to die though. If our friend is right, we might just have a case of imprinting on our hands...though the malicious grins are a bit of a red flag.

Nomad

So, if this thing just grew out of the cloak, and it's part Cockatrice, that would make it a "hatchling" for lack of a better term. And what do we know about hatchlings? They imprint. So, CONGRATULATIONS BLANK SLATE! You are now the proud father of a Poijockrath (POIson JOke-coCKatrice-chimeRA-THing)! Try to talk to it, control it. If that fails, beat it with a rolled-up newspaper (aka Mr Stabby). Try not to kill it, even if it does need some discipline, but even so a violent dog that cannot be brought to heel is put down. So don't get to upset if it dies.

Archivist

Oh, gods, that's creepy. But sort of cool, maybe? Who knows, maybe it could even be cute, if it turns out to be loving.

What? Oh, right, plant-monster-thing. Well, you might not quite realize it, but you're part poison Joke yourself, maybe you can bond with it? Either way, if it's hostile, kill the fuck out of it, otherwise try to tread the waters, check if it's benevolent or malignant. If the mares drop by, well, you know what to do. Also, can't believe we forget a fucking poison joke flower in the cloak. Also, I can't fucking believe those things can turn into plant monsters. Freaky. Nevertheless, onwards we go. So, let me just start telling you a few base facts right here, start the indoctrination early, y'know?

Shit, we never did do anything with that poison joke did we? Well, how about you try and befriend it. Everyone treated you as a monster, so you want to be nice to it. Or use it. Poison joke is a very random thing, so keep your sword ready to swing. Keep it hidden away so it doesn't see, but you do have to think of your own safety.

The Chessmaster

Option 2: Try and reason with it, who knows it might listen.

Huh. Composite plant monster on your doorstep. This is quite a day, eh?

Alright, you're already kind of drained today, and fighting is tiring, so you should first try to find out of it's intelligent. Remember, it knocked on the door, waited until you opened, and didn't ambush you right away. Aside from your zebra cuddle pillow, that's pretty much the nicest anything has reacted to you in the Everfreak Forest, including the Rudely Antagonistic Trixie! Plus, it does look kinda familiar, doesn't it? Reminds you of several other things you know. Maybe you attracted it with the music from your legblade? Maybe it reacts to it... Oooh! You could give it a name if you adopt it! How about "Amalgam"?

Nomad

Your hooves began to kick and shake in the air frantically as the smiling plant creature twitched and wriggled across the floor. Your rump shook in the air, and soon you fell onto your right side with a-

BUMP

"Ugh!"

You let out a grunt as you hit the floor and then scrambled up to your hooves. Fortunately, while the natural abomination was able to move because of those creepy worm-like digits wriggling out from under the cloak, it didn't necessarily move quickly. It tugged and jerked itself across the floor rather than gliding steady, so you had time to bring your right forehoof up and-

SCHLINK!

Summon your blade upon the end of your hoof. You stretched your blade forward, pointing it towards the plant monster, holding it between you and the creature... and it stopped moving. The heads of the plant monster turned their gazes towards the sword, eyeing it almost curiously. The two center heads turned from looking at you to each other, each with their right eyebrows raised. Then they started to chuckle.

As one, the six heads began to shake with a low hissing laughter, as their tendrils waved this way and that above the cloak, rubbing against each other and intertwining, like they were leaning on one another for support as they laughed at your expense. You blinked at the display, then audibly gulped down a lump in your throat.

Okkkkkkkaaaaaayyyyy... Well it's showing some form of thought... Granted that form of thought seems to be mainly centered around mocking you... But maybe it can be reasoned with! It looks like it grew out of Zecora's cloak, so maybe you did something to make it grow. Maybe it'll see you as it's Daddy! ... Maybe you'll sprout wings out your butt and get crowned Princess of hot flanks. Still, you really do NOT want to fight this... thing, whatever it is. So you licked your lips, cleared your throat, shifted nervously, and then tentatively began to speak.

"Um, hello?" You started, bringing all six gazes back to you, the plant heads still letting out errant hissing chuckles.

"Uh, hi. So, it looks like you can understand me, and the fact of the matter is, I'm pretty tired. I mean, I practically JUST got back from a harrowing adventure in which I nearly got killed several times over, and my forelegs are REALLY tired today from doing... things." You spoke, smiling a bit as you thought back on the exact "things" that you'd been doing, mainly revolving around Trixie's flank. Getting back on track, you shook your head, and looked back to the monster, clearing your throat again.

" 'Ahem' So, uh, anyways, I was wondering if we could maybe NOT fight, and possibly just, you know, try to talk or something? Communicate? Solve any potential issues diplomatically as opposed to with violence?" You asked, trying your best to put on a sympathy-inducing pretty-please don't kill me half-grimace.

The two heads in the center looked to each other again. The other heads turned to look to one another. Every head met eyes and nodded, then looked to other nearby heads and nodded to them as well. It was a bouncing jamboree of nodding heads on the ends of tendrils sprouting from your zebra's cloak, each seeming to come to an agreement. And for a moment, you started to feel some hope welling up in your heart, before each of them turned to look to you again and-

"SKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

... Did that. Loudly. You winced as green sticky spittle once again flew into your face. So much for a peaceful arrangement... You did not have time to mope however, as the right-most head out of the set immediately lunged forward after completing it's part in the roar, beak opened wide.

"Agh!"

CHINK!

Came the sound of teeth chomping on black crystal as you desperately raised your blade to intercept the attack. The plant head chomped and drooled on the sword, advance stopped by your instrument of blocking as it growled in frustration and glared at you over the blade with malicious red eyes. You didn't have time to celebrate your martial prowess however, as the closet tendril to your left swung it's head down and around into your side.

WHACK!

CRASH!

The blade was ripped from the first head's mouth, cutting it's teeth to pieces as you went flying through the air and straight into one of Zecora's shelves. Bottles, jars, sacks, and flasks fell around you, along with one particularly big bright red bottle that fell straight down onto your head with a-

CLONK!

You winced, both from the pain pounding in your left side, and from the impact of the bottle on your head. As your head groaned over yet ANOTHER concussion dealt to it in your brief time dwelling within the Everfree, a part of you contemplated the possibility that perhaps Zecora had too many damn bottles in her hut!

Your brain, realizing that you had more pressing matters to worry about than whether or not your zebra love-bug was a hoarder, kicked your adrenaline into high gear. Your eyes snapped wide, and you scrambled to your hooves, turning quickly to look at the plant monster.

Also, brush your teeth, lest they become sapient and detach from your mouth before going on a killing spree. Teeth are evil, like clowns and rapists.

The plant monster's heads were arguing with one another. Apparently, head A didn't take kindly to head B knocking you away while your blade was still in it's mouth, and to the large loss of teeth that came with that. The heads were now hissing angrily at one another, as the other plant heads watched with interest, snickering and hissing with one another.

Fragments of the first head's teeth were lying on the ground nearby, splatters of green saliva sap surrounding them. And then, the teeth began to wiggle, roll, and jump on the ground. You blinked, and furrowed your brows... And then pulled back in alarm as little blue tendrils BURST out of the sharp white chompers! Like writhing worms the tendrils spasmed and twitched, popping out all over the teeth, making them dance and jump on the floor, little-

'click, click, click'

-sounds accompanying them as the teeth hopped and bounced around the floor, tossed about by the tendrils. As you watched this display your right eye began to twitch. This was easily the single creepiest bucking thing you've ever seen in your entire life. And it has had a LOT of competition as of recent... You suddenly have an urge to brush your teeth... and visit the dentist... and then get your molars pulled out and resign yourself to a liquid diet for the rest of your life.

Also, a thought for later. You have been drinking a lot of blood lately. It seems that each time you do so you get more powerful. Doesn't that sound sort of like those creatures you heard some people talking about when you lived behind a book store for a while? What were they called again? I think they started with a "v". Oh yeah! Vamponies! As you said earlier, none of these changes have been bad. All of them have helped you in some way. If drinking blood gets you more powers, wouldn't it be nice if you had fangs like the vamponies had so that you could drink the blood of your enemies easier? But fangs would be rather obvious to "everypony", especially because you wouldn't be able to hide them. Also, ponies are herbivores, so a pony with sharp teeth would scare a lot of ponies. Maybe if they were retractable...

Or get them replaced with fangs. After all, you've been licking up a lot of blood lately, just like a vampony! One of those sparkly bastards from those weird Duskfall books that mares seemed to get all worked up about. Those abstinent buckers who refused to actually drink the blood of ponies, like that Ward Culling vampony who stared at that Bell mare every night as she slept. And for some reason that was supposed to be romantic as opposed to bucking creepy? Yeah... yeah you've never really understood the fascination with that series.

Anyways, fangs might be nice if you're going to go to all the trouble of changing your teeth. They'd need to be retractable though so you wouldn't scare anypony and WHY THE BUCK ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THIS NOW!?!? PLANT MONSTER! TRYING TO KILL YOU!!!

You shook your head free of distracting thoughts, and refocused on the arguing plant monsters. Apparently their disagreement had escalated, with both the toothless and the side-whacking heads full on 'Skreee'ing at each other. As you watched, taking the time to steady yourself and deep breathe, the head that struck your side turned it's gaze to you and narrowed it's red eyes into a rage filled glare... You gulped down a lump in your throat.

Whirling it's head back to it's toothless accuser, the accused head lunged forward and down, patience at an end, gripping the tendril of it's fellow head with it's teeth at the middle of the tendril. It bit hard, and as it's prey let out a choked scream, the biter wrenched it up out of the cloak, ripping the toothless's tendril from the cloth. Oozy blue gunk spurted up from the newly formed hole in Zecora's cloak, as tiny blue tendrils writhed in the spot, now absent of the plant tendril they'd clung to, green sap spilling out around them and soaking the cloak.

The impatient ripper head, held the end of it's brother tendril in it's mouth, the rest of the head's shrinking away from it, wide-eyed. With an aggravated grunt the now Alpha head turned it's head, and threw the tendril against Zecora's wall, sending it slamming into the wood where it slumped down against the wall, the toothless head with an eternally surprised expression on it's face, as the glow of it's red eyes faded into the dull dim of oblivion...

You watched the display with wide eyes... ... ... Well... ... that was one way to settle an argument. You blinked away your surprise and looked back up to the plant monster, as it 'Skreee'd at the other heads, baring it's teeth and growling, before jerking it's head towards you. As one, the other four heads remaining turned to look at you, eyes narrowing into hate-filled glares... ... Right, no more time to get lost in thought... time for action. Time to do something impressive, incredible, something that will absolutely see you through to victory!

In the spirit of agreeing with Nomad, kill the buck out of it. You are sitting in the middle of an evil forest, and something wearing your LOVER's cloak is on your doorstep. That warrants death.

Option 3: Chop it up with you newly musical sword.

"YAAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!" You cried as you charged forward with wild abandon, swinging your blade in the air as you half-galloped towards the plant monster with three of your four hooves pounding the wood.

CHINK!

One of the five remaining heads to your right grabbed the sword with it's teeth, stopping it mid-flail. It held your blade in it's pretty white chompers, grinning over the blade at you. You blinked, and looked into it's red eyes... And then it's eyes flashed bright.

You felt a familiar numbness on your back legs for a moment, a numbness that you last felt when staring into the eyes of a chicken-lizard... just like the red eyes on the chicken-like face of this monster. You began to panic, your blood running cold in your veins, as you wrenched your eyes away from the creature's and looked back to your flank with trepidation. To your surprise though nothing had happened. Your hinny was still flesh, and the numbness had already faded away. You blinked, happy that you hadn't started turning to stone again, then looked back to the monster and-

CHOMP!

"AAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!"

You began to scream like a little schoolfilly as sharp teeth dug into your left shoulder, another head latched on, blood pooling up and out of your shoulder... Green blood, with tinges of blue, mixing in with it's saliva sap. You did not have time to ponder the oddity, or the implications, of your blood being green. You were too busy screaming in pain as your shoulder burned sharp from the bite. The head of the opportunistic plant latched onto your shoulder grinned at you, with your life blood leaking out around it's lips, red eyes glinting with pleasure.

And then it's eyes widened. It rapidly opened it's mouth and lifted up it's head, before beginning to spit out your green blood onto the floor. It didn't stop spitting though, long after your blood was out it continued to spit and soon it began puking up green saliva, and the same gooey blue substance that had spilled when the toothless head's tendril was pulled from the cloak, the strange plant sap and goop mixing with your blood as it retched. It didn't take long before it appeared to have puked up all of it's internal fluids, and then it just started dry heaving. Finally it wheezed, gasped, SPRUNG up and stood stiff in the air... and then fell limp onto the floor, eyes going dull and tendril wilting, shriveling up and drying out as blue goo dripped from the head's dead mouth...

The strangeness of a plant-chicken-head-thing dying because it bit your shoulder, along with the wonderment as to WHY such a thing would occur were both lost on you. Mainly, because your shoulder BUCKING HURT!!! OW OW OW OW OW!!!

The pain was immense, sharp, hot, and wet. And focusing. Very focusing. Adrenaline was slamming into your veins like a steam-powered train, as opposed to the slower stallion-pulled ones, and the pain began to dull as the entire rest of your world moved into clarity. You'd have to think on that when you were done BUCKING THIS DAMN PLANT UP!!!

Fortunately, the heads had all turned to watch their comrade die, eyes wide, distracted by it's death throes. Including the one holding your blade. It's grip was now loose and holding up at the top third. In one quick motion, you wrenched your blade out from the distracted monster's weak bite and-

SLICE!

DDDUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN...

The head of the tendril that had been holding your sword popped off as you cut through it with your crystal blade, your eyes wide and heart pounding quick in your chest, and the sound vibrating through the air.

You know, it occurs to me that I may have been to hasty in dismissing a musical sword as no practical value. Cockatrice are part snake, so you could try musical charming as well.

Archivist

The sound of lopping the head rang through the hut, and as you pulled back to chop again, you paused, furrowing your brows in confusion. The heads were waving back and forth through the air on the ends of their tendrils, a glazed look in the plants eyes, and goofy smiles on their faces... You blinked a few times, having some trouble comprehending what you were seeing... And then the Alpha head seemed to shake it off, and look to you with a growl.

It lunged forward as the others still waved back and forth in a daze and grabbed your outstretched blade in it's teeth. You barely had time to blink in surprise as it lifted you in the air by your sword, whirled you around, and then threw you over Zecora's cauldron, and into the stacks that Trixie had practically JUST finished cleaning up.

Books, bags, bowls, and a couple of pillows, collapsed onto you as you hit the pile, legs splayed out as the miscellaneous items collapsed on top of you, the top half of the pile bending forward and falling apart, pelting you with objects that Zecora had accrued.

Hmm, I wonder. While I'm playing with my new pet death monster that spawned out of COMPLETELY NOWHERE, maybe you will have to give it a little tough love so that it will obey, like Trixie. If so,and you happen to make a small cut on it, I wonder what would happen if you drank some of what it has for blood. You have already consumed all of its components too some degree, but would something different happen if you drank the blood of this creature, a being made of the remnants of multiple other creatures fused together by chaos magic.

Think carefully if you want any more obvious transformations today. Remember, you've barely dispelled Zecora's concerns regarding your sudden changes. The new horn will be difficult enough to explain; overdo it and she might decide it's not safe to leave you be. She's a doctor (or something like that), they tend to go over their patient's heads if they believe they're being a danger to themselves.

On that note, make sure Plant Thing doesn't get anywhere close to the bowl with Trixie's blood, if you didn't get rid of that yet.

Option 4: Run inside and grab those soap pods and water. It might die if you clean it.

Whatever you decide to do, this needs to be taken care of before Zecora gets home.

You lay beneath a small stack of miscellaneous objects from the collapsed pile, breathing heavily, sweat starting to form on your brow... Your eyes came up angry, looking at the plant monster, the Alpha biting and nibbling at the other heads, trying to rouse them. You coughed out painfully, and lifted your eyes to the blue and green sap and goop combination on your blade... You'd been gaining power from the consumption of various substances, from the blood of your enemies. Vampony... ... maybe... just maybe...

Slowly, your tongue began to extend past your lips, as you began pulling your right forehoof back across the wood with your blade, eyes focused on the goop as you leaned forward and-

THUMP!

Your shift in position caused the items in the pile on your back to shift as well. A pair of books fell, a pillow toppled, and a small straw-woven basket hit you on the head, in the same place that bottle had just clonked you moments before. It ricocheted off of your head, spiraling in the process, and spilling out the strange lime-green soap rocks with scattered blue spots that Zecora had used to bathe you, before ending top-down on the wood.

You blinked slowly, your eyes shifting up from the bloody blue goop on your blade, to the scattered rocks in front of you, to the bowl of semi-bloody water you'd used to clean Trixie's flank-blood, very near... Your eyes flickered back down to the blue goop on your blade... Then you flicked your tongue back into your mouth, gritted your teeth, and got up to your hooves, shrugging off the rest of the accumulated junk.

You weren't particularly sure WHERE the thought came from... Perhaps it was because you now saw the plant-monster as the lowest of filth to be purged with the might of your blade! But it was a damn lot better than ingesting any internal fluids you happened to come across! No, instead of consuming your enemy, you were going to bathe him! And while you had some reservations about using the water that had had Trixie's blood within it, it was the closest source of water to you at the moment you could reasonably use, and Zecora's soap would probably scrub away the traces of Trixie's blood in the water. It was your best chance!

Still running on adrenaline, you reached forward with the tip of your blade and impaled one of the small soapy rocks with the tip of your sword. Sweat formed on your brow, your eyes swam, and quickly you tossed it off of the tip of your blade and over towards the bowl of Trixie's flank-water!... And missed. The soap rock hit next to the bowl, and skipped across the floor, until it bounced against the side of the cauldron with a light-

TING

And remained stationary, away from it's objective.

You gritted your teeth and let out a cry of aggravation, before turning your eyes back towards the plant monster. The Alpha head was using it's weight to hit the other three, snapping them out of their trance, causing them to refocus as it 'Skreee'd and barked at them, getting them back into shape. You gulped down a lump in your throat, and your left leg collapsed beneath you for a moment, before you managed to straighten it out. You were starting to feel tired, woozy, unfocused. It wasn't a good feeling.

With a flash of anger and desperation you speared another soap rock. You hefted it up, stood on your hind legs, took several unsteady steps over, and then fell back down to the floor, stabbing your sword into the bowl as you did so. Your melee attempt worked far better than your ranged efforts earlier, and the soap began to foam up in the midst of the water. As the massive lime green foam began to arise and spill out over the edges of the bowl, you pulled your sword out of it, and then slipped it down beneath the bowl, lifting it up on an unsteady hoof. Light blue soap bubbles rose up from the mounting foam as you, in one motion, turned and threw it towards the plant monster.

The foam bellowed forth, growing far larger as it spilled out with the water, and poured over the plant monster, coating the heads, tendrils, and Zecora's cloak, in the lime-green concoction. And the plant monster before you did not appear immune...

"SKKKKRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"

As it spasmed and fell, twitching and writhing back onto the cloak, all four heads shrieking in pain. You smirked, victory on your face. You staggered up against the cauldron, bringing your left foreleg up to wrap over the edge as you began to feel weaker. However nothing could rip the smile from your face as you watched the plant tendrils writhe, and shrink... and shrink... and shrink... Until...

You blinked. The planimal tendrils were now no taller than a foot. They had seemed to shrink on the cloak, which aside from being covered in soap and generally a mess from combat was unaffected, and were now small little flower-sized beasts. It would have been cute, if they hadn't been trying to kill you only moments prior. Now, the four tiny heads were arguing, yapping, and each angrily proclaiming in tiny little 'Skreee's. A kind of fascination overtaking you, you just watched as the three lesser heads turned on their Alpha, apparently blaming the head for their current situation, and lunged inwards to rip it to pieces. The Alpha head's tendril was severed and ripped into bits by the munching heads, snapping the pieces of the Alpha and tossing them every which way, scattering the tiny remains...

Ok, weird Plant-Cockatrice Chimera growing out of Zecora's cloak. You know what? That's down-right normal for this place. Yes a bucking... Animant? Planimal? Go with Planimal. A bucking planimal growing out of an abandoned cloak is your new normal. That's pretty hard-core actually. Well, come on Mr Slate, if you're going to be living here can't be trying to kill everything you come across. Well, ok, you can but it gets tedious, and exhausting, and you could use a pet. No not the Illusionist, a pet pet.

You shook your head, then gritted your teeth, glaring down at the tiny tendrils. Show was over. Time to finish this! You approached the now weak and tiny enemy, leaning against the cauldron for support, slowly moving with sweat on your brow and your breath heavy in your lungs. The heads were still ripping at the remains of their former leader when you got close enough to reach them. You jerked your right forehoof up with your blade, to deliver the final blow! However as you jerked it up unfocused and disoriented, your blade banged against the side of the cauldron, and a loud-

RRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG

Echoed throughout the hut... With a grunt, you shook your head and raised the blade once more... then stopped, blinking, as you saw the heads. Once again they all had a dazed look in their eyes, waving back and forth on the tendrils slowly, happily, goofy grins on their faces, pieces of their former leader still in their mouths... ... Slowly, you lowered your right forehoof, eyes furrowed.

The Everfree was a dangerous place. You'd been in constant danger since arriving and still were... It was safe to assume that there would be more dangers coming your way, at one point or another. Maybe, you could tame this plant creature somehow using your musical prowess... It might pay to have a creature that could adapt itself to the environment, born of the Everfree, to give you support...

"For this trouble I apologize most sincere!

However my friend does public attention fear."

Your ears twitched, and your head shot up sharply to look out the open door, eyes wide. No! Not now! No way she was back this quickly!

"Oh no trouble at all darling! I may be a lady, however I am not above a certain degree of manual labor when the situation calls for it! And really, taking measurements is hardly what I'd call a challenging procedure, even in such... unusual circumstances."

Your pupils became pinpricks as the sound reached your ears, and a pair of blurs appeared down the path. She was! Zecora had come back with her friend to take your measurements! Your eyes immediately shot down to the little soap-covered plant heads, still chewing on their former leader. Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

Quick, residual magic in you from experiential medical healing malfunction that can change you. You were kidnapped by a mad scientist who you don't remember hearing his name, but only called him Doctor. He poured spell after spell into you but it never got the desire he wanted. When timberwolves attacked it was only what he did to you that saved you, so you would like to keep it. You don't want to remember your past experiences in life you you decided on a new name. One that describes what the world is to you. A Blank Slate. Blank Slate.

The Chessmaster

Blank, why are you trying to think of a cover story at THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT!?!? We need to focus on the plant/cockatrice/cloak chimera...try saying that five times fast...that is currently looking at you like dinner. If you find this an appropriate time to flash back to your school days when the other foals used to call you "Blank Slate" as a cruel twist on your family name, that is your perogative. Blank Slate...an unmarked tablet, still full of potential with endless possibilities. It was a cruel nickname once, but it does feel appropriate now. Doesn't it?

Nomad

BUCK! They're on their way! Alibi! Excuse! Cover story! Uh, you were kidnapped by a mad pony! You got lost in the Everfree! You were tortured and spelled! And also you were called BLANK! BLANK SLATE!!! And you were, and you were...

You were feeling kind of... tired. Your eyes rolled around in your head, your grip on the cauldron loosened, and you fell onto your side on the wooden floor... Your vision started to fade, and as you felt yourself drifting off into the black, the last thing you heard was-

"Oh my! Zecora, is your door usually left opened like that?"

Before everything became darkness.

Author's Note

Ugggh... ... ... I... have been unproductive. As you may have noticed... I hesitate to put this into Hiatus, because I actually am working on it... just, aggravatingly slowly... ... ugh... I am not satisfied with this chapter. It gave me trouble throughout and I still don't know how it turned out. However, it's waited long enough, so... here it is now.

Also, coloring for Rarity. Confusing? Alright? Perfect? I'm going to have to change the coloring of the Host's speech due to the format changes, for my own ease of use, and I'm playing with the idea of using unique colorization for each of the Elements. Good idea? Bad idea? Indifferent idea?

Also, the host is going to lullaby land. The previously recorded and stored questions for the brothers will be addressed next chapter, and new posts will be addressed to them.

Also, happier and better, coming from the same pony who compared Trixie and Zecora is an interesting hypothesis about Celestia and her treatment of Twilight as her student. I'm not sure how much I'll take for truth from it, however I thought it was a very thought-provoking and interesting train of thought, definitely worth considering and thinking over.

An Interesting Idea about Celestia and her faith in Twilight

Question and Answer #2 (Also, please don't panic.)

Grey. That was the first color that popped into view. The grey steel of a small metal cauldron, with smooth curves, four legs, and a wide open top. A white mist was pouring out from the cauldron's top, pooling up over the sides and running down the sleek curves, pouring down onto the floor and bathing it in a thick layer of white freezing cloud. The icy white room was filled with the freezing white mist, and the air was obscured with a heavy fog, wisps of white curling around pillars of pure ice, stretching from ceiling to floor... In the cauldron proper, an icy blue liquid sloshed and churned lightly, leaking out the mist that pooled over the edges and filled the room, the substance far colder than water could be while remaining liquid.

In this cauldron of freezing liquid rested a familiar colt. Cryon, devoid of cloak, was sitting in the middle of the freezing liquid bath, his small body submerged in the down to just below his shoulders, sitting on his hind quarters in a cauldron that he treated like a tub. His eyes were closed, and his head was bowed, as a steel-grey ladle dipped into the liquid at his left...

Pyrus, his fur was black once more, and his eyes back to reptilian red, was holding the end of the steel-grey ladle in sharp fanged teeth. The ladle, like the cauldron, was not icing over, despite practically everything else in the room doing so. The black alicorn was bundled up in a heavy red cloak with a black fur lining, clasped beneath his chin with a crude black iron circle. It obscured most of his form, hiding everything but his face and the black iron ends of his hooves from view.

Pyrus shifted a bit underneath the cloak, shivering a little, then lifted the ladle out of the blue mix, bringing it over above Cryon, and gently tilting it so that the blue liquid poured over the alicorn colt's head... Cryon let the sides of his mouth curl up as the substance poured over his mane and fur, wetting his small body thoroughly, and he let out a small sigh of contentment as white mist rose up from him for a few moments, before dissipating in the air... And then, as one, the ears of both brothers twitched.

Pyrus snapped his eyes up to you, narrowing them viciously.

"Seriouphly!? Im de midle of my bwother's bwath!?" He asked loudly, lips moving around the ladle as Cryon sighed out heavily, relaxing smile gone.

"It is fine. They have no control over when they connect to us in this timeline. Let them make their inquiries." Stated Cryon simply, before opening his eyes again and looking up to you.

(Hello again brothers. I apologize for "calling you stupid" I did, in fact, not intend that in any way shape or form. I was stating how well thought it was to create an object, while still in power I might add, with the ability to use the combined knowledge of one of the most evil, chaotic and manipulative species. With that said I must ask you a question about the extent of the power of the star. For one, if He archives physical contact with a pony with little to no knowledge about you or your power, would we have the ability to influence them as well?)

The Chessmaster

Cryon let the right side of his mouth curl up for a moment, as Pyrus let out an audible "Humph!" and turned his head down and to the left, resolutely looking away from you. Cryon spoke up, with a calm voice that had a very slight hint of amusement edging around it.

"Do not fear Chessmaster. My brother is quick to take offense at the slightest hint of a slight, intended or otherwise. It is his nature. Now, a matter of clarification. We did not create the Star of Woe. We simply... distributed it."

Pyrus snorted as his brother finished, then looked back to you with aggravated eyes.

"Amd" He started, before his eyes moved down to the ladle in his mouth. He growled lowly in annoyance, before spitting out the ladle, onto the icy floor nearby, and looking back up to you.

"And you're mistaking sources. WE tied you into the Star of Woe to influence the Host. To get you to "influence" another pony would require for US to connect you with them, regardless of whether or not the Star or any part of it spread to them! As for whether or not it can..." Pyrus turned his gaze to the lower left for a moment, narrowing his eyes.

"The Star is an infectious entity in and of itself. An affliction of ancient power. For the Host to develop a mutation that would allow it to spread is... very feasible." Spoke Pyrus, before shooting you a look.

"But don't get bucking greedy! It took a LOT of damn energy to infect one limp-dick pony with it. Inflicting the Star on somepony's no trot in the park, and even if you do aim for that, don't neglect the bucking host! Dividing attention's a good way to miss the important details and lose hold of the original!"

Cryon sighed lightly, bringing his right forehoof up out of the blue to his face, rubbing it in slight vexation as the liquid dripped down his fur.

"Brother, you're giving them too much instruction again." Spoke Cryon simply, and Pyrus lowered his head grumpily, before letting out a muttered-

"Sorry..."

Dear Lord Pyrus,

I ask out of curiosity, do you have a throne as well? We know that your brother does, yet we have heard nothing about yours.

*SEASON 4 SPOILERS*

Through our scrying, we have discovered recently that the mortals that Celestia gave the Elements of Harmony have given, or are soon to give, the Elements back to the Tree of Harmony, which grows within the Everfree Forest. I'm not sure which, peering across space can sometimes have the side effect of peering across time as well. I also learned that this very tree keeps the Everfree at bay so that it doesn't expand. Would it be safe to try and disrupt the trees magic? Or would getting too near the tree disrupt the powers of the Star of Woe? Your advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

-/XX/\

Pyrus's head snapped up to glare at you, as Cryon lowered his hoof and opened his eyes again, looking up to you with his right eyebrow raised in interest. Pyrus growled low, then closed his eyes, took a deep breath in... And opened them again, his normal glare replaced with a more subdued glower.

"I HAD a throne. HAD. In Tartarus... I had to abandon it when the royal cunt-sisters laid siege to the place. Couldn't even stand and fight with my Legion... Killed my inner circle to keep my identity secret and let the rest of the Legion fight to their deaths. The single most ferocious army this world has ever seen, my baby, my pride, my whole damn Kingdom, gone in a flash... ... Only the Dragons had been kept back in reserve, for a counter-attack that I could never mount... The Hatcheries were in Tartarus though... So the Dragons had to start their Migration... and the sisters got every damn egg that was in there..." Spoke Pyrus, lowering his head as he finished, breathing out a long exhalation of black smoke in a heavy sigh...

Cryon turned is gaze to Pyrus for a moment, and he looked... sad. Sympathetic... And then he looked back to you, and his eyes were calm and cold as he began to speak in a steady tone.

"We have lost much to the Princesses. However this... Tree of Harmony? Is unknown to us. I will... examine the situation with a closer eye. If it is in the Everfree, then I should be able to find it and determine it's true nature. In the meantime, I do not recommend you act on this information until I know what it is and what effect it may have on the Host. If you are unsure of the timeline, I suggest you err on the side of caution and assume that the Elements still have their bearers. I will inform you of my findings during our next messaging session."

(To Pyrus)

(You once mentioned the forges in Tartarus. Would it be possible to guide Blank to them? Being able to access the forges from which the darkest of weapons have been spawned over the ages is a tempting prospect indeed.)

(On an un-related note, I recently stumbled across a minor tear in reality. It seems to emerge somewhere near Appleoosa, if the pie eating Bison are any indication. I have in my possession a particularly fine aged mead that I wish to send to you as thanks for listening to, and answering, my questions.)

Nomad

Pyrus gritted his teeth together and started grinding them, flames starting to lick out of his mouth.

"Tartarus, Tartarus, Tartarus. Why the buck is everypony talking about Tartarus!? Do they WANT to remind me of my failures!?" He shouted, gritting his teeth hard as he brought a fiery glare up to look to you, molten black iron collecting at the edges of his eyes, and starting to roll down his fur...

"Brother..." Cryon's voice was gentle, soothing, and as he looked at his brother with a concerned expression on his face, Pyrus met Cryon's eyes, and blinked... Pyrus closed his eyes and sighed out heavily once more, letting another outpouring of acrid smoke escape his mouth, floating up and dissipating in the colder white mist... Then he raised his head and looked up to you with a dull, drained expression, before speaking.

"Is it possible yeah, easy, buck no. Tartarus was my Kingdom of the Damned once, but now it's a bucking prison, where Celestia and Luna shoved all the incurably evil refuse of Equestria, servants of darkness and bloody terror, locking them away cuz she didn't have the guts to off em. It's guarded over by ancient protectors, like that bucking Cerberus mutt, and a branch military regiment of the Royal Guard. The 'Wardens' they're called or some shit like that. Assuming you can SOMEHOW get that pansy-ass impotent Host to fight through the Princesses cage keepers, you'd still have to 'rekindle' the forge. That involves gears, and gas, and fire... lots and lots of bucking fire. But if you could do that, you'd have the best damn forges of darkness that ever spat out weapons of bloody murder to work with. And while normally I'd cut your hooves off for even thinking of touching my forges, given the circumstances, I'd allow it. But that's a long way off still, if ever..."

"And what was that about-" Started Cryon, before a

POP!

Sound filled the air, and two cider mugs appeared, filled with a frothy brimming golden-brown liquid. The mugs began to fall, and Pyrus, eyes wide, lit up his horn with red. The mugs stopped in the air, caught in a red aura, and slowly floated down to the brothers. Pyrus blinked, floated one over to his lips, leaned forward, and slowly stuck out a long red tongue to like the foam... He moved his eyes up and to the left, smacked his lips together... And then looked to Cryon.

"It ain't poisoned." He stated simply, and then levitated the unlicked one over to his brother. Cryon's horn lit up and took possession of the mug, covering it in his aura as Pyrus kept the mead near his own lips, and sipped it lightly, tentatively. Cryon levitated the mug, rather big for him at his current size, down half-way into the liquid. Almost instantly the mug frosted over and the liquid inside froze. Cryon brought both his little hooves to the sides of the mug, holding it up as he leaned forward, and licked the ice mead top of the mug. Then, he looked back up to you, and smiled lightly.

"Thank you very much for the gift Nomad." Stated Cryon simply, before looking over to Pyrus with a nod and a meaningful gaze. Pyrus met his brother's gaze... then sighed, nodding his head.

"Yeah, thanks, it's nice..." He muttered, then sipped his again, still caught in his aura and not freezing like the other.

To the Brothers... This is going to have a few questions, feel free to give a snarky response then give me an actual one. Snark amuses me.

Question A) Can you control any actions of the Host?

Question B) Do you want everything dead, or an evil empire?

Question C) If empire, how long do you want it to last?

Question D) If, throughout the quest, we provide you evil things to use, could you manipulate them to help us?

Question E) Is Discord on our side? He is very chaotic and i don't want any variables.

Question F) How is the mead?

Question G) Can the Star become infectious?

Question H) Can someone "cleanse" the Star of it's evil properties?

Question I) If we become sufficiently powerful, both the Host and whatever we have to do in this plane, can we give him things? More importantly, can he summon things?

Question J) What is the most recent, important event regarding Twilight Sparkle and her friends?

Question K) If necessary, can we directly communicate with the Host? Without him talking back of course, his opinion doesn't matter, but the pure value of a incorporeal being talking to him, telling him all these fascinating things... The things we could make him do are almost infinite. Also, could we show up for other ponies? For example Trixie, where as we could say "He is going to be great! He shall have all the power in existence! Follow him." (Note: Not saying that.)

Pyrus and Cryon both looked up as the questions rolled on, and as one blinked. Pyrus's right eye twitched, and his eyes began to glow red again, a bit of fire escaping his nostrils, as Cryon sighed... Cryon shook his head, let the right sides of his mouth curl up into an accepting smile, before letting his lips fall to a calm neutral once more. He and Pyrus turned their gazes to one another, meeting each other's eyes, before Cryon spoke calmly.

"One at a time. I'll start."

Cryon looked back up to you with a simple expression, holding the mug in his ears as he met you with a calm steady gaze.

"No, we cannot control the host. The Host's actions are the product of the Star's influence and yours. Under normal circumstances we would be connected with the Host, however I replaced my brother and I's connection with the one you are using. To attempt to link to him now would cause his head to explode. We will not be attempting the link." Stated the colt simply, before leaning forward, and licking the top of his meadcicle again.

Pyrus rolled his eyes at the next question, and huffed out a tiny fireball.

"Ugh! If everypony is DEAD, then there is no such thing as EVIL, because the concept of EVIL, exists only in the mind of PONIES! And cows, and mules, and other sentient beings, whatever, the bucking point is that this is about preserving evil in Equestria! At least some ponies have got to be alive for that!" Stated Pyrus irritably, before floating the mug forward to take another sip, and continue.

"And an empire is fine. But don't mistake purposes. That's just a means to an end. Our goal is to preserve evil in Equestria, stop it from dying out! Do whatever the buck it takes to make bad ponies stay around, to threaten the world, to make ponies hurt, to make ponies go astray, to rip good from their lives and replace it with ash and terror! THAT'S the goal, don't forget it!" Pyrus proclaimed, and then sipped the mead once more.

"Buck. This shit kicks stronger than hard cider!"

"Ahem." Cryon interrupted, clearing his throat and then looking up to you again.

"As long as it needs to. Celestia's reign of Harmony has lasted for long over 1,000 years. Even the Nightmare Moon Rebellions, while somewhat misleadingly named, did not adequately interrupt the peaceful and harmonious state of affairs. This is not about an everlasting darkness, but about making sure evil rises in a harmonious land. In truth, a long-lasting empire of wickedness is not required. What is required, is that evil take grip and last... Or do enough damage for significant pockets of evil to form. Evil must survive. Whatever form it takes."

Pyrus's lowered his mug from his lips and his ears twitched slightly, as though listening for the question again, and then he growled, levying another glare up at you.

"Depends on the bucking things. Look, don't rely on us for any kind of direct intervention, all right? My brother and I didn't last this long by being stupid. As much of a cockblock as it is, the only way we can keep shit straight right now is by hiding away in this damn freezing locker and directing what we can when we can. So any help we give you is going to be pretty damn indirect. With that said, Cryon's got his Windigos and he MIGHT send them to help the Host out of a tricky spot if it doesn't look like he's going to get out on his own. And if the Host gets a real army of darkness going who knows, I just MIGHT ask the Dragon Migration to change direction and take a scenic route over Canterlot. But those are damn big MIGHTs. In most any circumstance, the help we give besides pleasant conversation and good advice is going to be in desperate times or way down the line. Don't bucking rely on it."

Cryon took another lick of his frozen mead, and then looked up and seemed to listen for a few moments, before closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"No. Discord is on his own side. Selfishness is one of the most fundamental motivators of evil, so his self focus has never before been a problem. However, he has recently come to see himself as benefitting from 'Friendship' which causes him to perform actions that further this friendship, acting comparatively 'good' as opposed to his earlier violent and chaotic behavior. So now his selfishness has begun to lead to service to another, which may lead him down the path to good. He is currently an opponent, and an extremely dangerous one. However, he is a fickle creature, still only beginning to consider bringing aid to others. He will never be on our side, however he may be convinced yet to aid it. It is highly unlikely he will ever be anything but chaotic, however."

Cryon looked down to his meadcicle, and gave it another lick.

"And it is very good, thank you for asking." He stated calmly, as Pyrus rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah, it's bucking delicious. Got a good kick anyway, bet it'd light up great, make a nice fireball... Anyways, what's this next one... Oh, pft, a repeat. Look, the star already IS infectious. It's infected the Host and is trying to cement it's presence with the mutations, as I think I JUST covered. But yeah, it CAN infect other ponies. It can infect plants, animals, rocks, and the dirt beneath your hooves to. Whether or not it WILL depends partly on how you help it mutate. And whether it'll share shit with you is, also, it's own damn prerogative. Once again, probably need us to connect you to shit and I ain't sure if we can be bothered." Stated the alicorn sorely, before lifting the mug up for another sip.

Cryon looked up as his brother sipped, and gave a simple nod.

"Yes. Currently both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna possess the power to do so. Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Cadence as well. Powerful unicorns who are aware of the infliction, and wise Zebras who are intimately aware of the healing arts, and know what to cure. In it's current stage, the Star's grip on the Host is still weak. There is actually a very great danger of it being removed if it is discovered. Only time and further mutations will help the Star protect itself from potential removal."

Pyrus sighed out deeply, and lowered the mug, leveling a half-lidded gaze up at you.

"That depends on the Star. IF it starts to really listen to you, it MIGHT extend it's power to influence the plane of existence to allow for dimensional warping that lets you do more than just talk in the back of the Host's head. Does that shit take a lot of power? Yes it does. Is it possible you'll be able to make some freaky shit happen? Yeah it is. Does the Star have the power to let you leave your pathetic meat-shells and rip into the dimension to play like school foals? Buck no. As I think I've stated, breaching dimensional walls would take more damn energy than this universe possesses. You may be able to bend shit, but you'll never be able to break it, if that makes any kind of sense. And if it doesn't, buck off, advanced dimensional physics and multi-world theory ain't exactly normal bath-time conversation..." He muttered, taking a more aggressive sip of the mead.

Cryon sighed, and gave his meadcicle a few more licks, before smiling a little... And then shaking his head, and looking back up to you.

"I am not certain. Timelines flux and dimensions change with regard to our communication with you. And our vision is not constant, many times we avoid watching areas that are potentially dangerous. However, after the earlier suggestion I will be... taking a closer look at the situation. I will report suitable event and pattern changes at our next communication session." He stated calmly, before taking another lick of his frozen mead, and suppressing a giggle.

"I doubt it. ... Maybe, but probably not. Star works best subtle, doubt it'll decide direct voices are a better option." Stated Pyrus plainly, before chugging back the mead, and licking his lips, levitating an empty mug away.

( to brothers you do know Pinkie Pie can and has broken the wall on mutipule times right so does that mean she has more power than the princesses)

"No." Spoke the icy alicorn colt, leveling his eyes at you.

"Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie is not more powerful than the Princesses. She possesses a different kind of power, related to a fundamental understanding of the harmonic structure of the universe which manifests itself in her physical attributes as well as certain unusual abilities. These are representative of a certain level of connection with the universe that few possess, a rare mutation in her biology. They do have benefits and abilities, and as an Element Bearer she was not chosen randomly, but has true potential for threat. On her own however she is nowhere near the threat the Princesses are. With the other Bearers, on the other hoof..."

The following is to the Brothers)

My lords, I have a question. Out of curiosity, what is your favorite and least favorite of the Seven Cardinal Sins (Them being Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Greed, Wrath, Lust, or Pride)? How about which "Horseman of the Apocalypse", as we refer to them as, would be a greatest servant, Conquest, War, Famine, or Death (another depiction of them that I have seen being Destruction, Plague, Famine, or Death)?

"Ah Tartarus! I'm a fan of all several!" Proclaimed Pyrus, breaking out into a sharp toothed grin. Cryon rolled his eyes.

"Sin is irrelevant. Simply flaws that lead to evil, not evil in and of themselves."

"Pft! Come on brother! Just pick one for the buckers!" Spoke Pyrus with a laugh, kneeing the side of the cauldron with his right foreleg, and giving Cryon a wink. Cryon sighed, and rolled is eyes once more.

"Very well. Wrath. It's cumulative nature encourages an ever-increasing negative environment that promises further damage that very nearly insures the creation of evil."

"Hah, that's the spirit! And if I had to pick just one, it'd be pride. Every sin'll eat a pony up inside and bring the great to their knees, but pride'll make sure they never see it happening! Hahahahahaha! A tricky bucker that keeps em blind until they're over the damn cliff! And let's see... Your War would be the bastard I'd get behind. Conquest has got a goal and you can get it without killing ponies, but War? War's all about destruction, blood, and suffering! Brutality and viciousness reach their peak, and when you're waging true war NOTHING survives! And nopony is spared either! As you destroy, you to are destroyed! Hahahahahaha! IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!"

Shouted Pyrus, eyes gleaming red as fire poured from his mouth, and black smoke escaped his nostrils in his excitement. Cryon arched his right eyebrow, looking at his brother, before looking back to you.

"And I would choose Famine. The simple desperation brought about by the inability to gain sustenance is a perfect breeding ground for the justifications that lead to evil. It is the simplest, most basic and fundamental of needs stripped away. Nopony is more vulnerable to the allure of evil than the hungry."

Actually, one more question for the Brothers... Who is you're favorite "voice" out of all of us?

The Chessmaster

"Pffft. You kidding? I hate you all!" Stated Pyrus cheerfully, apparently in a good mood after talking about sin and War.

"Brother, attempt to be polite." Stated Cryon pointedly, half-lidding his eyes at his brother.

"Oh alright! I like the fiery one that talks about killing ponies for the sake of killing bucking ponies. He's fun. Buck the rest of you."

"Brother..." Spoke Cryon wearily, as Pyrus looked up and brought his right foreleg up from under the cloak, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Then again one of you bastards sent me that mead shit... Okay, yeah, that one's my favorite, buck the fire guy."

"As for myself..."

Spoke Cryon, turning his gaze back to you.

"I have difficulty differentiating from effect and personality. I judge your worth on the effects that have been had on the Host, and such effects have been made with multiple voices acting as a group. I value the group and to pick one above all others would not only be counter to my nature, however folly to the very endeavor we are undertaking. As such, I believe voicing an opinion on which of you is "Best" would be destructive on my part. Group interaction has been the medium by which the Host has developed. Group interaction is best for such development to continue."

(Pyrus your anger and hate is supreme also dragons are boss nice job on them. So in short even though I like our brother more because he is more what I like in a villain great job you are BOSS.)

"Buck what I said before, whoever that one is that's my new favorite. The rest of you buck off!"

"IN ANY CASE." Interjected Cryon, a bit louder than was strictly necessary.

"Your continued support and aid in this endeavor is appreciated. Regardless of my brother playing favorites based upon whims, we value all of your efforts to bring true evil back to Equestria, and mold the Host into an agent of darkness. So on behalf of my brother and I, I thank you. Now, I'm going to reconnect you, so that I may finish my bath, and my mead." Stated Cryon calmly, before leaning down, and licking the frozen mead once more. He raised his front right forehoof out of the blue liquid as he licked again, gave it a little wave, and your vision cut to black.

Author's Note

(Hello! Now don't panic please, I know I've been away for a while, but I didn't forget your instructions to the Host. I'm trying to reorganize this to make my tracking of the Host's progress and the information that's been shared by the Brothers easier. Part of this is because I noticed that there was a request for a Mutation list in the comments. And you know what, that seems like EXACTLY the sort of thing that would be useful for people to have handy. And also, a general sheet of choices made, ponies met, places been, and appearance changes, seems like it might be in order as well.

Now I have a secret page where I keep track of things, however I figure that I both need a refresher, considering how long even this little part has taken me, and it just plain couldn't hurt to see what was involved and where. So, part of my goals now, is that after I get the next chapter, back to the actual Host and his actions, I put together a character sheet for easy reference. Hopefully that'll go well.

Now for THIS one, I'm going to be doing the question and answer sessions as entirely separate chapters from now on. SO, I ask that you put any further questions to the Brothers in THIS chapter, and that way they'll all be in one easy place for me to pull from for the next sleep session. Please forgive me for how long this is all taking, and I hope this provides at least some entertainment. Be well please!

First Impressions

Warmth was the first thing to fill your senses as you began to stir from the sleeping world. The warmth of a soft fur body, with the gentle thump of a steady heartbeat sounding through flesh and into your ears, relaxing your body, freeing you from the cares of the world and just letting you drift in the half-asleep realm for a few moments more... Next came the smell, caressing your nostrils and drifting in down through your passages on their path to the memory sections of your brain. The smell was one of nature, strong yet pleasant, filled with herbs and spice, plants and trees. A scent of mystery and concoction, exploration and experimentation, all mixed into one delicious and comfortingly familiar aroma... A VERY familiar aroma come to think of it, which was odd because you couldn't think of a single place in Manehatten you could find this smell of wild wonderment, only the scents of cheap perfume, watered down cider, puke resulting from watered down cider, and trash... ... wait a minute...

You fainted? Fainted. What kind of failed excuse for an Uber-pony... oh, forget it. WAKE UP!

Your eyes snapped wide as the comfortable bliss of awakening was shattered by the far less pleasant state of actually being awake. You shot upright into a seating position only to wince as a sharp pain flared up in your left side. You began to move your left forehoof down to rub the offending spot only to find your hoof tugging against cloth. A quick look down revealed that your left foreleg was now held in a white cloth sling, wrapping around your shoulder which had itself been wrapped in several lairs of bandaging. All in all, your left foreleg was out of commission, your left side hurt, and your heart was now quickly pounding with the fear of one who felt he'd gone to sleep with entirely too much left undone. Not the best wake up you've ever had... then again, not nearly as bad as some OTHER recent wake-ups you've undergone.

"Calm my friend, you must relax.

Lest in your panic your wounds tax."

Zecora's familiar rhyming pattern brought you out of your anxious musing, while her forehooves, as they wrapped around you and pulled you back to rest your head on her chest, helped bring you back into the feeling of comfortable warmth... your hearbeat slowed as you once again listened to her steady thump, letting yourself relax while she let you use her body like a pillow... You took a few moments to breathe in deeply, moving your right forehoof down over her forelegs, encouraging them to stay wrapped around your chest where they were most comfortable to you, before you finally felt calm enough to look up into her face and confirm that it was, indeed, your zebra lovebug currently holding you.

It was. Zecora was looking down to you with a gentle smile on her face and a gaze of calm relief, her eyes meeting yours and encouraging you to forsake the panic that had so recently claimed you. She continued to smile at you, as she brought her right forehoof up to your mane, and began to stroke it gently...

"I have many worries for you my dear.

Getting injured has become your habit I fear."

She stated softly as you blinked again. Furrowing your brows a bit, you tried to remember exactly how you'd gotten injured this-

Alright, what have we acomplished today. Let's review.

1) You discaplined a tribalist unicorn.

2) you fought, and killed, the planimal cloak....by washing it!

3) You dug up memories of what the foals used to call you.

4) And last, but not least, you managed to pass out JUST as Zecora and her very hot sounding friend we're coming in.

...all in all, not the worst way to end a day.

Oh. Right. ... ... ... Buck...

You lowered your eyes from Zecora's face to look around the hut... it was a mess. Bottles were scattered everywhere, patches of plant monster goop were stuck to the floor, and there was a stain in the wood that looked to be some sort of lighter green version of the goop, though what that was you weren't really sure. The severed planimal heads were still lying around, and the teeth that had been wiggling earlier were still lying on the floor, their tiny tendrils dead and lying withered all around the quickly browning planimal teeth... ewww. The whole place looked like a battle-zone, which it had been. All of Trixie's hard cleaning work gone to waste... and you had something to do with that.

You closed your eyes and took a deep shaky breath. You felt kind of guilty about this. For making Zecora worry, for contributing to the shambled state of things, as though they were somehow your fault... But that wasn't the case of course. Trixie'd had it coming. The plant-animal-cloak-monster-thing was a complete surprise that you'd handled as best you could, and even an Uberpony like you would be expected to faint after so much blood loss. Even if fainting period was kind of wimpy, wussy, and pansyriffic... As for the recovered memories, they were... still kinda blurry for some reason...

The point though was that this situation wasn't really your fault, you'd done better than a lot of ponies might have with the same challenges to face... but you still felt the need to apologize, for things going the way they did if nothing else. So you lifted your head up, and looked back into Zecora's eyes, before sighing softly and licking your lips.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you worry... Didn't really expect any of this to happen... And that's the stuff before this to, all sorts of things happened that I just wasn't prepared for and... ... Apparently I'm quite a hoof-full..." You spoke sincerely, with a hint of humor in your voice, giving Zecora an awkward and apologetic smile. The zebra smiled back at you, and for just a moment you thought you could see a bit of a glistening in her eyes. Zecora leaned down over you, lowered her lips to your forehead, and planted a gentle kiss upon your brow...

"You are hoof-full as you say.

But I love you anyway."

Spoke the zebra softly... And for just a moment, something caught in your eye and made it start to moisten up. It had to be something in it. Stallion's didn't cry, especially not uberponies. So you blinked it away and shook your head, sniffling slightly, before an-

"Awwwwwww..." Sounded from the doorway.

Your head snapped up at the sound of the unknown intrusion, and you quickly turned your wide eyes to see just what pony had been witness to this intimate moment.

3) Introduce yourself to Rarity...DON'T STARE AT HER FLANK!

Now make sure that Zecora's friend doesn't think bad of you! She sounds like a real class act, so try to be on your best behaviour. Don't stare too much, even if she's pretty and would make a wonderful companion piece to your other girls. Girl. Whatever! Get coat, make good impression, assuage Zebra jealousy, fantasise about the mares in your life later when you're alone. Like whether any of them would like a good spanking after playing with each other for your amusement.

Anywho, you appear to have passed out like a pansy. But don't panic! Because panicking is for pansies as well and you are already scoring pretty high on the pansy-o-meter. So, this prissy tailor pony is coming to make you a trench coat. This is good; trench coats can hide all kinds of fun stuff, so you probably shouldn't piss her off until you get the trench coat. Once you do have the trench coat, you should probably start plotting to murder her, because her voice annoys you and she has a stupid face. Or, you know, just because. No motivation is best motivation.

She was beautiful. Gorgeous. Stunning. Marvelous. Bucking hot! Her coat was bright white, immaculately groomed and kept, even after having presumably walked through the Everfree. Her mane was long with elegant curls at just the right places to give it a bit of a bounce, with a luxurious shine that was the result of who knew how many beauty products. Her hooves were perfectly kept, so well so that you could've sworn they were absent of even flecks of dirt, while her eyes were a beautiful deep blue, framed well with long eyelashes. Her attire, if one could really call it that, was fairly simple. Pale pink saddle-bags with blue diamond emblems upon both sides, but as simple as they the fact that she was wearing them made them seem to look... well... good. You couldn't see her flank as it was, unfortunately, outside the doorway at the moment. But you could reasonably infer from the evidence presented that she was probably a hot piece of flank, and that you would totally like to tap it.

You could also reasonably infer that she was bucking annoying... You, weren't entirely sure why... Maybe it was because she was obviously as much the product of beauty products as her own natural beauty, like those dumb bimbo sluts in Manehatten who pranced and preened and got all tacked up, just to swoon around wealthy stallions, hoping to dig and hit a pot of gold. Maybe it was because she had a horn growing out of her head, and while you typically hadn't had many problems with unicorns before, recent personal identity crises mixed with Trixie involvement had made you sensitive to the difference. Maybe it had to do with her trot-in commentary on your moment with Zecora. Or maybe it was just because she was a pretty mare, and recent events involving zebras excluded, you've never gotten along too well with pretty mares ... Yeah, maybe that's it.

Your internal musings were interrupted by the interloper piping up once more.

"Oh forgive me for eavesdropping darlings, but you just looked sooooooo cute together!" She practically cooed, her eyes bright and wide with an excited smile on her face. You, on the other hoof, raised your right eyebrow. ... Cute? ... ... Last you checked you had random shit growing out of your body, had recently been bandaged up, had gotten scarred as buck, and were also a damn stallion. How exactly did your match up to any definition of cute?

If she noticed your doubt as to the validity of her statement, she didn't let on, instead prancing into the hut through the open door with a light and cheery step. You turned your gaze to look to her flank as it trotted up into view, and as you had surmised, it was pretty bucking hot. Refined and smooth, curvy and soft, the sort you just wanted a mare to lift up and wiggle in the air for your pleasure while she smacked lips with another mare... Or, something like that... ... It was mostly hidden by her tail though, long and elegantly styled, curled and tastefully covering her flank, obscuring most of it from your view.

Which was kind of a let dow- GOOD! Which was kind of a good thing because you certainly weren't going to watch another mare's flank in front of Zecora! No sir, heheheheheh, nope, do NOT need another spat... And it would also be wrong or... would it? Actually be wrong? Zecora did mention herds after all, so polygamy wasn't exactly a universally taboo pract-

ANYWAYS, you licked your lips, and looked up to see if Zecora had noticed your wandering... errrrrr, appreciating? OBSERVING! Observing eyes, because that was what you were doing and that was ALL you were doing. But Zecora's own orbs were focused on the unicorn mare and not upon you. Whew!

You, grateful that a completely innocent examination of another mare's posterior wasn't going to turn into another argument, turned your attention back to the strange unicorn who had pranced up to the table, pointedly stepping far away from patches of goop, and as she reached the wooden surface her horn began to glow.

"Now I did as you asked Zecora darling!" Continued the newcomer unicorn, as a blue aura surrounded her saddle-bags, and they unstrapped themselves and levitated off of her back up onto the scarred table.

"And I- Whatever happened to your table?"

Well, that brought back the ol guilt. Along with some embarrassment. Your face flushed a little, warmth growing in your cheeks, and you gulped down a small lump in your throat before tentatively looking up at Zecora. Unlike you she didn't seem to have any noticeable physical response to the event, continuing to regard Rarity with a light smile.

"An accident, not worth lingering upon.

Now my friend, please do go on."

Spoke Zecora calmly, causing Rarity to blink, shake her head quickly, and look away from the offending spot to your saddle bag. Honestly you were kind of surprised she hadn't commented on all the plant goop... Well... she'd been awake longer than you... Maybe she'd already gotten all the shock at the mess out of her system, and just hadn't noticed the table thing until now?

"Oh yes! Of course, ahem, well!" Started the mare, reaching forward with her teeth and pulling back the flap of her right saddle-bag on the table before she continued.

"I'm afraid your cloak wasn't entirely, errrrr, salvageable... I'll have to make you a new one! No charge of course, it'll be my pleasure!" Spoke the unicorn, raising her front right forehoof up and waving off complaints as Zecora just started to open her mouth, pre-emptively destroying argument against such a generous action. Zecora closed said mouth again with a knowing smirk, no doubt coming to the conclusion that to even attempt argument at this point would be fruitless, as the unicorn mare continued.

"But the flowers were EXACTLY where you said they'd be and they worked like a charm!" She stated happily, before leaning down, mouth moving inside of the open flap of her bag, and pulling something out.

Also: What happened to plant thing? It turned against its dominant head after your fight... didn't it? What is that thing? It reacted to your sound blade, so maybe, once your have the time, try if you can communicate with the thing one way or another. And don't you feel, well, connected to it somehow? There's something about it, and you need to know more...

burn it in unholy fire. Until there's a pile of ash.

Well well well now! You actually seriously contemplated feeding Trixie to that thing! You didn't actually do it, which is disappointing, but progress! Well I'm new to this little show, and the other voices are constantly going on and on about smart things and manipulations and moral ambiguity and what not. Folly, I say! I shall be the voice of mostly pointless maliciousness! Everything I suggest will somehow correlate to the misery of those around you! Why? Because some ponies just want to watch the world burn. You should be one of those ponies! Why? Because fire is fun to watch! Speaking of fire, you should start some. Preferably within somepony's house. While they sleep.

Also, after you wake up and deal with the whole situation that you got caught in, you should practice using your musical instrument of death on your new miniature planimal test subject. Try to teach it commands using different pitches. Maybe, if your lucky and have enough practice, you can get good enough with it to pull off a pied-piper sort of thing. Play your sword on the ground as you walk and the Everfree creatures will follow you.

Your face paled beneath your fur. Your eyes grew wide as you saw the mare pull out a small cage, rectangular with a triangle-shaped wooden top and a square wooden base, with what looked like bamboo cylinders holding top to bottom and forming a cage, the unicorn holding it by a small wooden loop coming from the top with her teeth. Inside the cage was a small lump of compact dirt, and the planimal-monster-thing sitting with small blue-green roots and tiny blue tendrils buried in said dirt. It looked like it was sleeping, all three of its remaining heads drooping with closed eyes, one with a small green sap bubble blowing up and deflating at the end of it's right nostril in time with what sounded like tiny snores.

Your right eye twitched as you saw the unicorn set the plant monster thing right there on the table. You weren't sure what disturbed you the most. The fact that Zecora and her unicorn friend had let a dangerous plant monster live after it tried to kill you, that Zecora apparently had a cage made the right size for tiny planimal monsters, that neither of them seemed to be especially freaked out about it, or maybe even that it had the audacity to SLEEP after ATTACKING YOU. Whatever the cause of your aggravation, you had a distinct and pointed desire to BURN THE BUCKING THING TO ASH!!! MAKE THAT LITTLE PLANT SQUEAL AS FLAMES LICKED OVER IT'S BODY!!! MAKE THE BUCKER HURT AND SCREAM FOR IT'S LIFE BEFORE IT DIED!!!

It wasn't until Zecora's grip around you tightened that you realized you'd started to rise up. You also only then noticed your increased heart rate, the blood rushing to your face, the rapid pace of your breathing, and the increased intensity of your death glare towards the caged monster... You also noted that your horn had felt a little weird, for just a moment. Sure it was probably nothing...

"Do not fret my dear, you have no need to fear.

While once this creature was larger, I surmise, it growing once more would be a surprise.

It is a cocktail creature fed by other powers, keeping it away from them shall make sure it never towers.

And a special herb I had my dear friend pluck, so that we would not have to rely upon luck.

Able to place any creature into a slumber deep, to make watch on this thing much easier to keep."

You began to breathe easier as she spoke... and thanked Cel- ... thanked a vague notion of a higher power, that she mistook your mounting rage for simple fear. You continued to take calming breaths as you examined the plant monster yet again, remembering... remembering that you'd been able to pacify it with your music, kind of. You'd been able to communicate with it... And use your music to affect it. That was just one tune, played by accident and then in the heat of the moment desiring survival. If you could perhaps master further tones, learn different tunes, practice with your sword and create actual music from your blade, who knew WHAT kind of effects you could have on that plant. And it had turned on itself at one point, followed a dominant will. There was no need to burn it if YOU could be that dominant will... And you had always wanted a pet. Well, you'd kinda wanted a cat, maybe a dog, occasionally entertained thought of a turtle. Plant-animal-monster-hybrid was admittedly a bit new, but what the buck, why not?

"Oh! My goodness, darling do forgive my manners! I just realized, I've been chatting away all this time and I haven't even properly introduced myself yet!" Spoke the white-coated mare, causing you to blink and turn your attention from the plant monster to the unicorn. You watched as she trotted over to you, friendly smile on her face, and offered you her right forehoof.

"Good afternoon dear sir, I am Miss Rarity! Or just Rarity if you prefer. Proprietor of Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique!" She spoke brightly with clear pride in her voice, before looking to you with a flutter of her lashes that made your cheeks start flushing again.

"May I ask who do I have the very SINCERE pleasure of addressing?" She asked with a coy, almost seductive turn of the lips... ... You had to remind your best friend NOT to jump up at this apparent interest. She'd only just met you, this was probably something she did with everypony, or at least every stallion. And Zecora was RIGHT THERE... Did NOT need to show evidence of arousal in front of your zebra. You gulped down the newest lump in your throat, and extended your right forehoof to take hers.

Her coat was so SOFT! It was impossible to get that soft on it's own! You felt almost dirty for touching such a soft and well cared for hoof with your own scraggly excuse for a limb! But you fought back those feelings, reminding yourself that you were a super-pony, and shook her hoof politely, trying not to embarrass yourself and make a good first impression.

"I'm-"You started to say, before you suddenly blinked and furrowed your brows. You... you couldn't remember your name... Was that... was that normal? Did you have a concussion at some point or- wait... wait, no something was coming back, it was... was that right? You guessed so. Was that your actual name or a nickname? Well you didn't have time to contemplate, you needed a name and this one was here, so... You shook your head and cleared your throat, before looking back up to Rarity.

"Ah, sorry about that, ahem. I'm Blank. Blank Slate." You stated as calmly as you could, the beautiful mare before you smiling a little wider as you shook her hoof.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Mister Slate!" Stated the mare, enthusiastically yet graciously, before pulling her foreleg from yours.

"Now Mister Slate, if you don't mind, might I ask exactly what happened here?"

Oh buck.

There is one word for you right now. You. Are. SREWED!

Plan: explain plant animal thing fight, trixie going though things, and a good story to tell unicorn why you look like a expirement gone wrong with horn, to zecora, and get the boss coat measurements. Also try to make the unicorn fall for you it could be useful seeing as she is a element bearer for bucks sack.

Well, hello there. So, let's balance all that fire and hatred business with some rationality, shall we?

You just fainted. That's cool, but you'll probably wake up with both Rarity and Zecora there, and with a few questions to boot.

Right, you're going to have questions to answer but remember, you don't know what Zecora already told Rarity. So when asked, answer, but otherwise keep your trap shut.

Most likely questions (not in exact wording obviously) and their answers:

Q. What happened here? (Probably in Zecora's adorable rhyming pattern, but I'm not going to attempt that)

A. (While Generosity is here) Long story, it's probably better if I explain it latter. (After Rare leaves) Trixie.

Q. What happened to you?

A. (Ok, if Rare is asking this it most likely means Zecora didn't tell her anything, of course you don't have much of an idea yourself, so you've really got two choices) 1. I have no idea. (or) 2. I'm working on it.

Q. What is that? (Referring to the Planimal)

A. It just appeared growing out of your cloak. Can I keep it?

R1. No.

A. Pleeeeasssse

R2. Yes.

A Yipee!

Another thing I'd suggest, keep the backstory as close to truth as possible. No reason not to, after all, right? Zecora's got you well in hand, there's no reason to get anybody else involved or anything. And if they do, well, the aforementioned Flame will support your dirty deed, just remember to temper it with pragmatism. Try to be charismatic without being suspicious, please, I'd hate for this to all go sour

4) Tell Zecora about Trixie's punishment, only mention the spanking and the "accidental cuts."

Now, let's talk priorities. Once you wake up, five things need to occur...in roughly this order.

1) Explain to Zecora exactly why her house is a mess.

2) Inform Zecora that her "guest/patient" was digging through her things.

Here's a thing. You can blame Trixie's injuries on the Mini-Abomination at your feet. Wonderful, isn't it? Just wash away all that guilt and stuff, home scot free, I say. That doesn't mean that Trixie is forgiven for trying to steal from Zecora, mind you, you still have to mention that. But you don't have to take responsibilities for her injuries, and you can take responsibility for her healing. And that's fucking magical, man.

Okay, play it cool. Just tell her the bare bones of what you know, which isn't much, and tell her about yourself if she asks, and don't if she doesn't, and just stay calm and explain how it wasn't your fault and-

"The answer is a shameful one,

I did not wash my cloak when it should have been done.

Seeds that collected took root and grew,

I'd not have waited if I knew."

You blinked. Did... Zecora just lie for you?

Well, no, no she didn't actually. She HAD neglected to wash her cloak when it was obviously in need of a washing. BUT she admitted to that in such a way that attention was deflected off of you, AKA the reason that the picked plant and said seeds were in the cloak in the first place. In short, she wasn't exactly lying but she was being somewhat dishonest for your sake... For you...

You started to blush slightly, lowering your head and biting your lip. You weren't sure if you should feel moved, honored, relieved, or kind of annoyed that all that worry and planning was unnecessary. But your pondering of your zebra's deception and what that meant to you was interrupted by the unicorn, who did seem to be rather fond of doing that.

"Oh, well I understand darling, accident's happen." Stated the unicorn, "Rarity", sympathetically... Come to think of it that named seemed familiar from somewhere... But that pondering was also interrupted by the mare, as she turned and surveyed the interior of the hut, her lips curled up in an expression of disgust.

"However it's left your abode in a state of ABSOLUTE disarray! With all this, egh, mess about..." She spoke, lifting her right forehoof up daintily and waving it limply towards the bits of plant goop and tendril left over from the fight. The unicorn shook her head quite firmly then, and stomped her hoof back onto the ground.

"No, no, no!" She spoke, a fire alighting in her eyes.

"This simply shall not do! Zecora darling, where do you keep your cleaning supplies, brooms, mops, disinfectants, dusters, detergents and the like?" She asked calmly, turning her gaze back to Zecora, who shifted slightly beneath you.

"Well, it's been a while since I've had to clean,

though give me a moment and their locations I may gleam."

Came her voice, a bit tentative, as though a little surprised at the direction this conversation had taken.

"Oh? Well don't you worry Zecora dear, if we have to search them out anyways then I'll just organize the whole thing!" Spoke the unicorn with gusto, eyes snapping to Zecora's shelves, running rapidly over the labels and shapes and items of various natures and sizes.

"That's very kind to offer such, but to ask that would ask of you to mu-"

"Nonsense darling! It would be my pleasure." Responded the beautiful unicorn mare, and without another word her horn lit up light blue and-

And for gods' sakes get a better horn. Which reminds me, if you got a horn from drinking Trixie's blood... do you think you can strengthen it by drinking... the blood of other unicorns? Twilight Sparkle's a unicorn, you know. So is Rarity. Certainly they would be happy to provide you with what you need to get a better life, am I right? Food for thought, my friend, food for thought.

Ah sleep, one of the inevitable things all mortals succumb to. However, this is one sleep that you don't have time to enjoy. As time goes on you are getting more and more problems. Would it not be nice to have more time to think on your choises? Maybe you could find a way to avoid it. More free time, more things to do, and when you become a super-pony you won't have any chances to sleep anyway. You can train at night, sneak around and sleep whisper to others, and stay up to make sure that you can protect your Zebra at night. Or stay up and state at Trixie's flank, that works too.

So did every other BUCKING thing in the hut. Her magic wrapped around every damn miscellaneous item and herbalist concoction that Zecora had gathered. The trunks opened up, the bottles flew from their shelves, the bits of tendril and plant levitated up off the floor, and began to slam together into a mid-air pile. Papers and cloth and bottles floated up into the air, Rarity looking over everything with a discerning eye.

"Zecora darling are any of these useful for cleaning hard wooden surfaces?"

"Oh, ah, certainly my friend. I think that one there, on the end."

Stated Zecora, lifting her right forehoof to point towards a large green bottle with a cork in the top.

"Ah! Thank you dear!" Spoke Rarity, before quite happily popping the cork off the bottle with her magic, and levitating a cloth over to the bottleneck. She poured part of the liquid from the bottle into the cloth, and then flew it down to one of the goop patches, watching with satisfaction as it began to scrub away.

Even as she did that, a broom floated up from you didn't bucking know where, to sweep out dust. Other bottles began reorganizing themselves on the shelves, a raggedy cloth turned into an impromptu trash bag as she floated the airborne tendril mass into it and the rotted tendril teeth from the floor and into it was all so... so bucking annoying! Buck! Trixie'd struggled to do shit without her horn, and then you got a horn, and now this unicorn was fixing every damn problem in the whole hut with her horn! Buck! Why the buck didn't your horn do shit like that! It made you so angry, so angry, that you wanted to drink her blood to increase your power and further mutate your horn thereby increasing your magical powers!

... ... ... What?

You furrowed your brows, blinking slightly. What... what did you just think? ... Horn, and blood? What was that about blood? ... ...And now for some reason you were thinking about vamponies... they had fangs... you didn't have fangs... Yet. Frankly with all the shit you'd been doing and the changes you'd been undergoing, it was only a matter of time before you developed a set of chompers. You wondered if they'd be retractable? That would be more useful in the long run, even with all those mares who went gaga over vamponies now because of some shitty book series... And actually... there would be certain advantages to being a vampony, wouldn't there? Immortality, flight, invulnerability... and you'd never need to sleep.

True, there were legends that they slept during the day and went out to hunt at night, but frankly, modern literature had them doing shit during the day, during the night, during dusk and dawn and anytime they damn well pleased. They might as well never sleep for all the times they're actually shown sleeping, and if you didn't sleep... if you didn't sleep you could get a LOT of shit done! A lot of time to practice your musical blade and combat skills... a lot of time to read up and study... a lot of time to sneak into mare's rooms and stare at them while they were sleeping... The practical applications were endless!

Yeah... yeah if it wasn't for the horrible literature surrounding them, you might really like to be a vampon-

"Aha! Good as new!"

The proclamation took you off guard. You raised your eyes to look to the hut and-

HOLY BUCKINGSHITBALLS!!! The place was SPARKLING! The bottles were organized, the mess was gone, the shelves were organized and dusted, the trunks were packed neatly, the goop was all gone, there was no evidence of muss anywhere! What did this mare DO all day!? Was this her talent!? Were those three diamonds a metaphor for sparkling cleaner skills because BUCK she could clean!

"Well that wasn't nearly so hard as I thought it'd be!" Spoke the unicorn cheerily, before turning to look to you with a soft smile.

"And Now, Mister Slate." Spoke the mare with a grin, her horn glowing once more. Her left saddle-bag flap opened and a measuring tape and pair of fancy red-rimmed spectacles flew out, the spectacles alighting onto the bridge of her nose and the tape unrolling in the air and then stretching with a-

SNAP

Over the unicorn's head as she looked down to you, an almost predatory glint in her eyes.

"I do believe you are in dire need of a good measuring!"

5) get measured for a trench coat.

Right after that you've got to get measured for you new outfit. Stand still, keep your friend under control, and if you must stare at a plot, make sure it Zecora's. We don't need another domestic.

The Archivist

A few moments later you were standing in the now sparkling hut, with your bandaged left leg resting on the marked table, a unicorn humming cheerfully nearby, looking at you with a pair of red-rimmed spectacles on her nose, and a glowing measuring tape, stretching out across your body, taking measurements. Zecora, while you were undergoing this process of measurement, was rediscovering her possessions. With mouth agape, she looked along her shelves, along the bottles and trinkets aplenty that, apparently, consisted of new bottles and trinkets that had been lost to time. She reached up with her right forehoof to a small, slim brown vial that

"I had thought this lost for years on end, this potion I made to broken bones mend."

She spoke with legitimate surprise in her voice, before looking up to another bottle on her shelf, a newly cleaned and sparkly purple bottle that looked almost crystalline.

"And that elixir's loss brought tears to my eyes, that it was so near I could not surmise."

She continued with a hint of wonder at her voice, for the return of the bottle, or Rarity's cleaning skills, you weren't entirely sure. But there was one thing that you were very sure of now. Your intelligent, beautiful, potion-mistress zebra lovebug was something of a hoarder...

... And that the presence of a measuring tape running along your crotch could be added to the list of sensations that made your best friend eager to arise...

You gulped, blushed beneath your fur, and kindly reminded your friend to 'stay the buck in, stay the buck in, stay the buck in, stay the buck in'-

"So Mister Slate!"

"Ah! Ah, ahem, yes?" You responded to the calm, eloquent, yet somewhat cheery voice of the unicorn, turning your gaze to the unicorn who was, at the moment, very studiously examining the measuring tape running along the inside your back right leg, uncomfortably close to your eager friend. You gulped again as she slid the tape a little, rubbing close to your cover, seemingly unaware of your discomfort.

"Have you given any thought to possibly paying our little town of Ponyville a visit?"

You blinked at that. Ponyville? The town that gave Zecora such a hard time for just having stripes? And you, with steel rods and a horn and scars and a sword... Was it REALLY a good idea for you to go ANYWHERE public?

"Well..." You responded intelligently.

"Oh after your ensemble's completed of course! Zecora's been dear enough to let me know that you're somewhat... errr, sensitive about your condition. But after it's complete and you're able to move about without anypony noticing your extremities, you might want to stop by for a visit! Ponyville has a FABULOUS spa! And there's a VERY special friend of mine who I KNOW would be interested in you, and be able to help you with your condition. And there are some WONDERFUL spots that an eligible stallion might wish to escort a special mare to..." Spoke Rarity with a knowing smile on her lips, and a spark in her eyes...

That's a short term goal. Long term I would agree with all the other squares in your head talking about making Zecora your little puppet. Not because you like her, no, that would be disastrous. Having a submissive zebra with enough chemistry knowledge to write her own anarchist cookbook willing to do anything you say, however, is perfect. Think of the possibilities! Like how she would know the least noticeable but most powerful poison to put in Ponyville's water supply, or how she would know how to make fun flammable materials that make starting fires easier! By the way, you should start a fire. Preferably with a big explosion. In a crowded area. Like a playground on Saturday.

Also you need to get out more often, try going with Zecora into town as her colt friend, don't lie to mean you are. It will serve as a way to gain trust, minons from the town, and information.

host the herd most grow, grow it for evil to grow you must have heirs to spread it. Trixie's can be used as a breeding slave.

host you are swred right now, and lets face it females are unknow to you so let your marefriend help you because she can help you, on a side note if you fail i will use your soul to become a demon to replace you welp.

Lord Scoro Demon of the warp

Ponyville... well, there really would be no reason NOT to go to Ponyville would there? Rarity was right, with the trenchcoat you could hide your more alarming features and nopony would be the wiser. And Zecora was welcomed, so if you were with her you'd be welcome to! Treating her to a date, as Rarity was unsubtly suggesting, might be a great way to help pay her back for all the trouble you've caused her. Though, wait, that took bits... ... ummmmm... ... Well, you'd think of something.

And you'd be able to maybe mingle with the populace, learn things that might help you, learn a bit about the town and where their most crowded locations are for... ... some reason. And Trixie... that mare's probably only good for being bedded and bred... or, um, something more charitable that just isn't coming to mind at the moment. ... Maybe take her to? At some point? For some reason? Maybe... You couldn't exactly trust her here could you? Not with that hidden box that Zecora had and- Didn't Rarity just clean the whole place? Did she find it? Did she already know it was here? Did she MOVE it?! ... That might cause trouble... You miiiiigggggghhhhhttttt want to check on that...

"So what do you think Mister Slate, will you consider visiting our beloved Ponyville?" Asked the mare, giving you a quizzical look with a friendly smile. You bit your lip and lowered your head a little... ... you were always a little nervous around pretty mares.

"I'll... I'll talk it over with Zecora... and if I'm comfortable..." You muttered.

"Why of course darling, the invitation is open and anytime you feel!" Spoke the dress-maker, raising her left hoof to rub you sympathetically on your neck, which suddenly sprang to the list of things that make your best friend want to spring up, before she brightly exclaimed.

"Ah! And we're done!"

She stated her horn glowing and glasses flying off of her nose and back into her saddle bags, along with her measuring tape.

"It's a simple order, black trench coat with black fedora, simpler than I'm used to really I wish you'd let me jazz it up a bit but I suppose one must have a functional and simple bit of wear for one to appreciate the more elaborate designs. In any case, I should have it done tomorrow, and I'll bring it by, oh say, early afternoon? And don't worry Zecora, I'll have a new cloak for you in no time at all! I've already got the PERFECT material in mind! Oh it shall be glorious! Tata darlings, off to CREATE!" Spoke the unicorn, and like that, she was out the door, slamming it behind her with a glimmer of blue.

6)...profit?

Hmm, don't really know what else to add. Well then, I bid the ado, my little soon to be sadist! Remember; you like to emotionally and psychologically destroy ponies because their reactions give you an alive feeling inside yourself that makes all other forms of happiness seem insignificant to you! Also remember to start fires!

Signed, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

And like that Rarity was gone... out the door, and to another world... a world of mystery, excitement, and dresses... Mainly dresses actually, you were pretty sure. How exciting could one dress maker's life be after all?

You were left alone with Zecora once again... which, after everything, was kind of a relief. You turned to look to Zecora, and breathed out heavily, before giving her a smile. She returned that smile, and as you opened your mouth to comment on Rarity's generous yet somewhat overbearing personality, the sound of hooves hitting wood caught your ears.

You and Zecora both turned your gaze to the small passage leading towards the door into Zecora's bed chamber. Standing there, with slumped shoulders, a bedraggled mane, and red-rimmed eyes, was Trixie. She looked up to you and Zecora, catching you both with the same simmering glower of one who has had a thoroughly unfortunate series of events govern their life and saw no reason for such to end. She grunted, cleared her throat, lowered her head, coughed slightly, then let out a heavy shaking sigh... before looking back up to you and Zecora, speaking with a hoarse voice.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie... would like some food..."

Author's Note

Okay, I didn't expressly state it in the previous chapter and for that I blame me, however I would like to make this clear. From now on, please do not post any Host actions in Question and Answer chapters. I would like to keep comments there for the SOLE purpose of logging questions for the Brothers. Now as I realize I did not clarify that that chapter shouldn't be used for Host suggestions, I've used Host commands from the chapter. However this is the last time as I've stated my intent now, and will likely restate at next question and answer.

Now, as you may have noticed, this chapter gave me some trouble. Lots of trouble. So if there's a quality drop I am sorry... however I think we can agree that it is long past overdue. Now I'd like to say that other chapters won't be overdue, but if I said that it would be a lie. My life is getting more complicated, not less, and the only thing I can guarantee is that even during long periods of silence, I am working on this and trying to get it done. And I do hope you enjoy this chapter, at least a little bit. Had to alter organization a bit for it with the change in writing formats, and colors... hoping the colors work. If they weird you out, let me know.

Now, on to advancement and development. As I've stated, I would like a summary/character tracker chapter to be put up and available for ponies to see. Right now, I'm thinking that the best way to handle such a chapter, would be to put it at the end, and update it and move it to the end after every chapter. Thoughts on that?

Of Mares and Males

Well, she did ask, kinda. You should feed her. But you should also make certain she understands that Zecora - and by extension, you - is in charge here, and should be treated as such. After all, without you, Trixie would be nothing more than a tacky lawn ornament by now! She owes you her life, and then some! If she keeps up this kind of attitude, you might just have to collect...

Well, so much for that moment. You know Zecora well enough that, regardless of anything else, she's going to feed The Broken and Useless Trixie. Still, that means dinner, when was the last time you ate? Breakfast? The Everfree is spoiling you, one missed meal in a day and you're complaining.

If Trix is up and around, however, they is no reason she needs to keep your bed, and she can sit at the table to eat. It'll be like a family dinner (do those still happen?). If you're around you can cover for any mistakes Trixie makes.

There was a moment of silence following Trixie's announcement of her desire to be fed. A moment of silence, and eye-twitching, with your right eyelid doing said twitching. You stared, glowered, glared, and twitched, at this insolent mare, who had had the gal to interrupt a potentially tender moment between you and your zebra lover. If looks could kill, then Trixie would be six feet under right now with you plowing Zecora's shapely zebra plot on top of her grave!

... ... ... Ahem. But that wasn't the best way to view this current situation. After all, Trixie hadn't eaten for a while now. It only made sense that she would be hungry. And Zecora had, by now, turned her full attention to Trixie, and if there was anything you knew your zebra would do it was-

"Of course my dear,

just sit down over here."

Yep. There it was. Zebra hospitality at it's finest. Zecora smiled gently at Trixie as she spoke, and raised her right forehoof to gesture over towards the table where all apparently eating took place, where she would no doubt bring food to feed the prissy unicorn. Trixie was lucky that Zecora, your zebra, was in charge of this situation. You doubt you'd be quite so kind as to take in somepony so utterly useless. Still... there was no reason to be overtly hostile at the moment. After all, if she was coming over to eat, that meant she was healthy enough to get out of the bed, so you could argue for it later tonight. And you were kind of hungry... though you'd gone longer without eating before. And anyways, it wasn't a good idea to get gruff and glaring around Zecora. She'd had enough stress as of recent due to your antics, and you didn't want to unnecessarily aggravate her.

Trixie nodded mutely in response to Zecora's hospitality, before swinging her eyes despondently over to the table and slowly walking towards it, putting one limp hoof in front of another. You got your eye twitching in control, and cleared away the scowl that had taken over your face, before looking to Zecora just in time to see a shadow of worry cross her face. She watched Trixie for a moment, her eyes furrowing, the concern becoming more noticeable, before looking away from Trixie back to you. She met your gaze with her own, then blinked, and rearranged her features into a smile, pushing her concern back to give you an apologetic bend of her lips, as you in turn turned your lips into a thin, accepting smile.

Zecora's lips turned up a little more, her smile increasing with your acceptance, before she turned around, towards the wall beyond the cauldron, and began to move towards her trunks and chests. As she trotted over, she called out over her shoulder.

"Give me some time, as you may have realized,

My entire home has just been reorganized."

You lowered looked away from Zecora as she began her journey to rediscover her kitchen supplies, lowering your head and sighing deeply, closing your eyes... You hoped that Trixie appreciated Zecora's mercy in this. You hoped that she appreciated that if it wasn't for Zecora, and you for that matter, she'd be a statue in the Everfree, or some Diamond Dog's bitch... You felt that she didn't give those facts quite the credit that they deserved. Didn't give you and Zecora the RESPECT, that was very much your due. But... but you were going to be magnanimous right now... She needed food, and you needed to chill the buck out. You only just finished getting beaten up by a planimal monster thing for buck's sake! You could afford to take a few deep breaths and lay off the anger for a bit.

You breathed out heavily, then opened your eyes and lifted your head up to look over to the prissy unicorn tribalist, just in time to see her slowly lowering her rump onto the floor in front of the table, gingerly touching her butt to the wood. Trixie bit her bottom lip and shivered as her flank met ground, a low whimper escaping from her throat. You looked back to your zebra for a moment, watching her open a big, old, but completely dustless, wooden chest, before muttering under her breath and leaning in, searching for some unknown object. You watched her for a few moments more, licked your lips, reminded yourself to be calm, then looked back to the still shivering Trixie and began to walk over.

Okay, we may or may not have a problem here. It all depends on several factors, those factors being...

1) How fast does the medicine you put on Trixie work on that level of injury

2) If she is healed, is there any scabs/scars left?

3) Is there any way to tell that said medicine was used on her?

If the answers are "very fast, no, no", in that order, you're golden. Trixie knows better than to be a snitch. If one or more of the answers are different, you are in deep shit. You have to explain to Zecora why Trixie is in whatever condition that she is in. Which means that you would have to explain why you whipped Trixie, which would likely bring back her assumptions that you and Trixie are either lovers or "friends with benefits", in addition to the fact that you will be believed to have a fetish for whipping others, and that would NOT look good.

Trixie is awake? This could be a bit of a problem. While I am reasonably sure that she is too terrified of you to cause trouble, fear will not hold her back forever. You need to start reinforcing the ideas you planted in her mind before the planimal cloak attacked; that she is a walking mistake without you to guide her. Since you already broke her psyche, you need to put the pieces back in an order YOU desire. As for any lingering injuries on Trixie, keep to the standby: tell Zecora the truth...or as close as you can get without sounding like a monster.

Nomad

Trixie needs some food! Well, let's handle this amicably! I'm sure that she won't mention her little spanking if you don't mention her little attempted theft. Make sure to look her in the eyes, and check to see if she looks down or away. If she does, give her a little positive attention. Keep in mind that Trixie might need something to help her rest. It's been a hectic day after all. If Zecora asks what happened or gives you a look, subtly explain to her through body language or speech that you'll talk to her later about it, but not while Trixie is in the room. Zecora is very perceptive about subtle language about that.

You trotted up to Trixie, doing your best to look innocent and move with an overly casual strut... And failing because your left foreleg was in a bucking sling, and it was hard enough to move casual with all four of your damn legs on the ground! Not that it mattered much. Zecora was searching for her cookery, and Trixie was too busy biting her lower-lip, making muffled whimpers, and tearing up at the corners of her eyes, to even notice your awkward approach. She must have been in a good deal of pain.

The salve you'd applied was supposed to mend wounds, clean blood from fur, and soothe aforementioned pain. But you'd applied it hours ago and it'd likely worn off by now. Also, it hadn't said anything about treating sensitive skin, so Trixie's rump was probably bright red beneath her fur. Zecora was a healer, and if she saw even the slightest sign of damage on Trixie's prissy pony posterior she'd want to know why it was there. And she would investigate the matter with an aggression that would in all probability lead to another spat. You'd much rather avoid confrontation with your zebra, and to do that you needed to make sure there were no wounds left behind from you and Trixie's little... altercation.

As you reached Trixie, still unnoticed, you saddled up to her, just over her left shoulder, and stretched out your right forehoof to touch the nape of her neck. And immediately regretted the move as you started to waddle on your back two legs. You quickly lowered your right forehoof back down to the ground, silently cursing your left forehoof's presence in a sling... didn't even hurt that much buck, probably wasn't even broken, it was your shoulder that got bit. Buck it all. Internally sighing, and disregarding your frustrations, you settled for a nuzzle, leaning in to touch your nose to the back of Trixie's neck gently.

Immediately you felt her tense up beneath you as a shiver ran through her body. Not exactly the most flattering reaction to your affections. You thought of glaring at her, berating her, whispering sinisterly, threatening unspeakable things to her, or any number of unpleasant actions that would totally justify the fear she was feeling right now.

But you didn't want to be mean right now. You wanted to be amicable and understanding. After all, you'd covered with Trixie how she was a useless wreck of a mare already. Her mistakes weren't really her fault, but the fault of her own useless nature. That didn't mean she wouldn't need a disciplinary hoof now and then, but it did mean that you didn't have to keep driving the point home. She was behaving right now, so there was no problem with showing a bit of gentle loving care. After all, the stick could only teach half the lesson! There needed to be a carrot from time to time...

So, deciding to be magnanimous and understanding of poor Trixie's disabilities, you continued to nuzzle the back of her neck gently, trying to get the dear whiny little cunt to relax. She was still tense as a board, but her shivers calmed down somewhat as you kept up the nuzzling, before finally you stopped with the gentle application of your nose to her fur, and leaned forward over her shoulder, turning your gaze to her face. Her eyes were closed, and she was still biting her bottom lip. From pain or fear you couldn't be sure. But the hut's impromptu reorg would only slow your zebra for so long, so you didn't really have time to guess.

"Hey there Trixie, how are you feeling?" You asked gently, and Trixie, eyes still closed, gulped down a lump in her throat, before responding in a soft and quiet voice.

"T-Trixie is hungry... and her bottom hurts..." She spoke, her voice soft and whimpering, kind of pathetic really, absent of the haughtiness that had made you hate her tribalist guts.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that Trixie. I really am. It was unfortunately very necessary." You spoke somberly, not really sure whether you actually meant the 'sorry' part, before turning your gaze away from Trixie to see where Zecora's attentions lay. Your zebra lovebug had moved from one chest, left wide open you noted, to another chest right to the left of the old. Just as old, just as wooden, and just as immaculately dusted. She'd opened it up and was now searching inside, flank in the air as she searched with her head buried in the chest. You narrowed your eyes, taking only a few spare moments to appreciate the view, before turning back to Trixie. Better get this done while Zecora was still distracted.

"But your continuing pain is not so necessary, and should be stopped. I'm going to need you to lift your flank up so I can see how you've healed up." That got Trixie's attention, head snapping towards you with eyes wide as saucers.

"W-what? Right now? B-but couldn't Zecora mayb-"

"Trixie, Zecora is busy. Now don't be a foal, lift up your flank and keep it up so I can evaluate it." You ordered, trying to mix commanding in with paternal. The mare whimpered again, but slowly pushed her forehooves against the table, lifting her rump a couple inches off the floor.

"Higher Trixie. Lean forward on the table and lift it up." You spoke, with the patience of a mule, before Trixie gulped, and lifted herself up more leaning forward so that you could finally get a good view of her flank. With closed eyes and a deep breath, you stood up on your hind-legs, and moved your right forehoof to Trixie's tail to pull it up, exposing her backside to you in all it's glory. Including the showmare's pretty little marehood.

An audible 'Eeep!' noise came from the mare as she blushed bright red, biting her bottom lip this time from embarrassment instead of pain, and shifting position uncomfortably under your gaze, inadvertently giving her flank a little wiggle. You smirked at the prissy unicorn's discomfort, and allowed your eyes to roam up and down her flank, appreciating her soft curvy flank while assessing the damage. That was unfortunately very much present.

Her butt was as bright as her face. The skin beneath her fur was agitated and red, practically pulsing with irritation from the damage you'd dealt. No wonder she was whimpering so much. You'd really gone to town... It wasn't as bad as it could have been though. Zecora's medicines had worked wonders on the cuts, and you couldn't even see scar tissue to mark where they'd been. But it was now fairly obvious that all the salve had done for the skin was hide the pain, or maybe you'd pummeled her so hard that even the salve's healing couldn't repair all the damage. Regardless, it was fairly apparent that this went beyond uncomfortable into the realm of legitimate medical concern, and there was no way your zebra wouldn't notice this if she looked. There was very little for it. You'd have to tell Zecora.

With a sigh, you moved your forehoof back and let Trixie's tail drop, the hairs hitting her rump again and causing her to twitch slightly with the pain, cheeks still flushing red. You lowered yourself back down to the floor, and cleared your throat, ignoring a subtle ache that was manifesting in your hind legs from the standing stint.

"Good filly Trixie. Now I'd stay there with your rump in the air. Your flank looks rather irritated and it will be pretty painful if you sit down on it. You don't want to hurt yourself more do you?"

"W-well I-"

"No, of course you don't." You interrupted, rolling your eyes at Trixie's inability to tell a rhetorical question from a real one, then turning your gaze back to Zecora, who now seemed to be poking around in a third trunk that bore remarkable similarities to the others.

"Now I'm going to go talk to Zecora for a moment. You be a good little filly and just stay put looking pretty. And remember Trixie... She doesn't need your version of events confusing her."

"Y-you... you think I'm pretty?"

A pause... That... wasn't quite the reaction you were expecting. You turned your gaze back to Trixie, your right eyebrow raised, to see her eyes looking to yours with a hint of... hope in them? Possibly? ... ... Well, you had decided to be magnanimous today...

"Yes Trixie, you're a pretty filly. Now stay here and be quiet until I get back." You spoke curtly, some agitation returning, before turning and trotting over to Zecora.

Later, sit down with Zecora to have a little chat. Sigh, and explain to her that you found Trixie rummaging around in her hut. You were furious, and you ended up giving her a little spanking. Convince her that it was necessary and effective. Go grab the suspicious box and tell her that you found her with this. Ask her what it is, but tell her that she doesn't need to tell you if she doesn't want to.

Now tell her that her box probably won't be safe in her hut anymore. Tell her that you're worried about her safety and remind her how much you love her. It'd probably be a good idea to hide it further in the Everfree. The she should go out tommorrow and find a good hiding place for it. Some place in the Everfree would be a natural choice.

Hmm, your eyes.. They do seem to be a bit different don't they? Not... unusual for a pony, but something about them seems to be somewhat irresitable or interesting... Like how someone could look into your eyes, and feel like they're searching for something.. And end up only hearing your voice and seeing your eyes.

You find yourself considering how you can best help Zecora and Trixie realize what they need. You can do better than this my blooming superpony. You think to yourself about how you could do so much better if you thought more about what they needed and wanted, and helped them realize how to acheive what they already knew they wanted.. If they end up realizing that you can help them with what they want and need, and they end up loving you for it... Why, that would only be natural wouldn't it?

You find yourself curious about all those little mannerisms and body language that you've been picking up from Trixie and Zecora. You think back to your past, and how things would have gone so much easier if you'd been able to see into another pony's heart. Oh, how many situations you would have been able to avoid if you could have just picked up on those signals.... If you'd known what a pony was thinking and feeling before they did, then it would have saved you so much trouble. And how can you help the ponies that you care about, if you don't understand them?

Perhaps if you had some way to investigate their connections to other ponies and the things they need or desire... You feel confident with time that you'll be able to do this. It will be like you can literally see those connections as if they were colored strings of light between ponies, other ponies they like or hate and their objects of desire or aversion! The more time you spend around other ponies; the more this desire manifests in you... As your anxiety increases about how your new 'strangeness' will be perceived, you find yourself desperately needing to understand how other ponies feel about you to protect yourself, and needing to know how ponies feel about other ponies so they don't betray you... And you find yourself needing to know what they desire, so that you can help them as any good superpony should. And of course you need to know what they are averse to, so that you know what to save them from!

Listen to these words! They sound absolutely true. Remember when Zecora thought you'd betrayed her, played her for a foal, strung her along and thrown her away? Remember how desperately Trixie hides just how much she longs for somepony strong to take her on a leash and lead her like a good puppy? If you could better read other ponies, you could've avoided a lot of emotional pain.

More importanly, you could've spared them much emotional turmoil. You've gotten better at it, sure—you understand that Trixie is a screw-up who needs somepony else to take control of her, for example—but it's still very, very hard. You want to get better at reading ponies! You want to be the best stallion possible for your mares!

Hmm, maybe if you could erase others memories you would be fine. Or you could control other people. Remember those times you snuck into those movie theaters? The first time you saw an old vampire movie, and in the movie vampires could control people by looking them in the eye. Then, that other time you saw a little bit of the movie MIB (Mares In Black) and they had that weird light thing that made people forget things. Maybe you could use one of those?

You approached the zebra as she pulled her saddle-baskets out from the third trunk, apparently stored in Rarity's cleaning spree. She was muttering something with the strap between them in her teeth, something that sounded kind of like agitated grumbling, before she set them down in front of the trunk. You cleared your thoughts, worked out what you were going to say, and opened your mouth to speak. But then you stopped, blinked, and closed your mouth, suddenly struck with fear and nervousness because... you didn't know how Zecora was going to react to this.

Zecora had shown herself to be not entirely... trusting of you in times past. Easily triggered by jealous fantasies and wild assumptions that you were rutting Trixie behind her back. Not that Trixie didn't have a sweet little cunt just fit for a good dicking. But still! You weren't. And even if that fantastical imagining didn't set her off, there was the part where she was a healer who seemed to be rather protective of Trixie, DESPITE this jealousy... ... were they marefriends in some time past or something? Split up over the whole crimes against ponykind thing? Not that that was wrong or anything, two mares doing it was totally hot, and sometimes you felt like committing crimes against ponykind yourself, what with all that ponykind had done for you in the past, but that could explain quite a bit... If you could, maybe, somehow see their relationship? Or read their mood towards one another better? Or just predict their reactions to things? Or buck, just wipe their minds or some shit like that, that would solve a LOT of potential problems!

Or mind control? Mind control would be good. But the point of this particular internal rambling was that this shit would be a lot easier if you could somehow predict Zecora's response and read her movements. Because right now, all you knew was that you were going to have to tread carefully. Because the whole 'wrecking her hut via planimal' thing was still very fresh in her memory, AND she was agitated about the recent reorganization, and she was looking right at you.

Indeed, in the time you'd taken to worry Zecora had put her saddle-baskets down, backed up, nudged the right basket open with her nose, then looked up, noticed you, and turned her surprised gaze towards you.

"Blank my dear, why are you near?

A meal sublime takes proper time.

For your hunger to sate you still must wait."

Right... maybe you spent a little long on these internal ramblings of yours? Maybe you should focus a little less on the angsty ponderings of your brain and more on the shit that actually happens around you? Just for a change of pace? But whatever the faults of your internal thinking structure, it didn't change the fact that Zecora was very much focusing on you now. And now, you needed to focus on her, be a stallion, and address this. Because knowing her reaction probabilities and relationship status or no, she was going to notice Trixie's bum, and it was better that she hear it from you than see it herself. So, after taking a deep breath you looked into her eyes. Eye contact was important after all. Eyes were important. Your eyes were important. You weren't sure why, but they were, and you needed to keep them focused on hers for important reasons that you didn't have to time to wonder about.

"Zecora, I'm going to need you to listen and not interrupt until I'm done." You spoke, your voice taking a serious tone. Zecora arched her right eyebrow, but turned from her saddle-baskets to face you full-on, meeting your eyes with her own. You took another deep breath in through your nostrils, released the air slowly out through your mouth, and then continued.

"Earlier today, before the plant monster came, Trixie found the box that you hid after we came back. The one you moved from the shelf and then accused me of working with her to steal." You lied. You had thought about lying about the plant monster to, making it the cause of Trixie's injuries, but you doubted Zecora would buy that. Now on with the mostly truth, with embarrassing details omitted and edited. Huh, maybe being able to tell when a pony was lying to you would be useful to. Anyways...

"I found her with it, and remembered that you'd said something about it being dangerous, and I... panicked. I took it from her, after a brief tussle, we got into an argument, there was screaming of obscenities, I lost my temper, and I kind of... spanked her. Hard. With the flat of my blade." Okay, maybe mostly edited and omitted details with a light sprinkling of truth, who the buck was keeping track anyways?

"Afterwards I looked through your books and found a salve, dulled the pain, and I gave her some medicine to help her sleep. However she's awake now and her flank's hurting. You should probably check to make sure that it's not too serious, and give it the right treatment if it is... And I put the box back where you hid it, but Trixie knows where it is now. So if you're going to have to hide it someplace else, probably outside the hut if that was your only hiding place... And that's the situation. If you're angry... well, I understand." You spoke, having kept eye-contact the entire time... And you had no idea what the buck Zecora was feeling.

Her visage was a mask. Her eyebrow had dropped, her face had turned stoic, and then stayed that way throughout the entire spiel regarding your recent adventures with Trixie's bum. And now it was still that way... And that was bad. That was very bad. Not knowing was bad... You were starting to sweat, beneath your fur, droplets of sweat appearing on your forehead as you kept eye contact with eyes that showed absolutely nothing! If you could read emotions you wouldn't HAVE this problem! Or control minds, or wipe minds, or some possible combination of those! Something! One of those things could help you! You needed to- ... wait, weren't those bad things? The wipe and control mind things? Why were you thinking of that so casually? You didn't want to do that to Zecora of all ponies! And why consider that so stron-

"Dinner will take a little time to prepare,

Then I will give Trixie's flank some care."

Stated Zecora, her tone calm and straightforward, with no hint of any irregular emotions in her voice. She turned back to her saddle bags, and then calmly continued.

"Please go sit and wait for your food,

To stand over the cook is very rude."

She stated, just as calm as before, causing you to blink, kind of surprised at this reaction, before shaking your head and licking your lips a little nervously.

"O-okay... I'll just go and wait then." You spoke, turning, and starting to trot away, turning to look back over your shoulder towards Zecora with a raised eyebrow as she reached in to pull out jar of peanut butter with her right forehoof from her saddle-bag. You kind of internally shrugged, still a bit confused to her reaction but accepting that she hadn't yelled or lost her temper, then looked back towards Trixie and the table, trotting back calmly.

Newspapers used to serve as your blankets in Manehatten. Her name was on page 3 of the Royal Wedding edition listed as the designer of Princess Cadence's dress. That's why her name is familiar. Newspapers have given you information before, ask Zecora if the local library has a newspaper archive. The Canterlot Times and The Manehatten Gazette usually have the most information.

Nomad

Trixie wasn't looking at you as you awkwardly returned to the place of coming consumption. She was looking up over the table, up to the wall, with wide eyes that didn't seem to feel a need to deviate from one singular location on said wall. You raised your right eyebrow, somewhat curious as to the reason that she was just staring up at the same spot. Without blinking even.

"What... is that?" She asked, her voice not afraid, not even curious, but just so completely befuddled that it didn't even know what tone to take. You turned your gaze up to where she was looking... And saw the planimal, sleeping in it's cage, heads still snoozing without a care in the world. You hadn't thought to look for where Rarity moved it after her cleaning spree, but apparently she'd decided to hang it from the wall on a little strand or rope wrapped around a nail, not unlike one of Zecora's masks ... That was probably pretty bucking important... should've noticed that before Trixie of all ponies pointed it out...

You sighed, and closed your eyes, already dealing with enough shit as it was without starting to harangue yourself over missing the planimal movement. And, partly because you were feeling magnanimous today, partly to allay your own nerves, and partly to just not be a dick, you decided to answer Trixie's question.

"I'm not entirely sure. Think it's mostly plant, some cockatrice, a bit of some weird blue flower thing, maybe a pinch of zebra fur..." You muttered, shaking your head, then falling onto your rump in front of the table, taking a seat with your back to Zecora and the cauldron and a clear sight of the door. Trixie was, naturally, sitting where you would usually be sitting, having taken your seat when she emerged from her slumber. And right now you were too anxious and out of it to give a flying feather about the damn seating arrangements.

You moved your right foreleg up to rest on the table and leaned forward to rest your bandaged left foreleg on said table as well. Gulping down a lump in your throat, then turning your gaze back to Trixie, who was still staring at the caged planimal. You licked your lips again, cleared your throat, and then, for no real reason besides venting your nervousness, continued to talk to her.

"Zecora's cooking. It'll take a bit longer because she has to find everything again. It all got reorganized after the plant-monster-animal creature attacked."

"What? That tiny abomination? You can't be serious." Replied Trixie, finally breaking her gaze with the planimal thing to look to you, her right eyebrow raised, and a slight smirk arriving on her face.

"What could that little thing possibly do? Gnaw on your leg or someth-"

Trixie stopped mid-sentence and blinked, looking down at your foreleg and the cloth around her shoulder, her eyes going wide as she appeared to notice your injury for the first time. You stared back at her with a half-lidded gaze, watching her expression go from it's previous arrogance to surprised realization, then jumping forward to fear as she looked up into your eyes. Trixie gulped audibly then, before the ends of her lips twitched up into an apologetic smile.

"I-I see it is more dangerous than it appears, then... heheheh..." She laughed, weakly, that fear still in her orbs... You closed your eyes and sighed, raising your right forehoof up to bury your face in. Well, at least you could read Trixie like she was an open bucking book... no problems telling what she was thinking. Still, you were being magnanimous today, time to set her at ease.

"It was bigger when we fought Trixie. Much bigger. And had three more heads. Soap shrunk it... Not entirely sure how that worked but buck if I'm going to question it. So yeah, it was a threat, and it wrecked the place. And no, as it is right now it probably won't be very dangerous... But, don't get near it or anything... just in case." You muttered as you finished up, sighing out heavily and lowering your forehoof back down to the table as you looked back into Trixie's eyes. Clear and obvious relief passed through them, as you showed yourself to be absent of your usual rage.

"Y-yes! Of course! Trixie shall wholly avoid the caged abomination!" She stated quickly, before blinking, furrowing her brows, and turning her head to look around the hut.

"B-but, this place does not look as though it has been wrecked. Trixie is rather familiar with the appearance of wrecked homes, and this hut is far from being a wrecked home! Err, Trixie thinks. It, um, looks better than when Trixie saw it last, in fact." Stated Trixie with confusion in her voice, proving that the eyes in her head were working properly and that she hadn't gone blind in the last few seconds. You grunted in slight annoyance and shrugged, as best as you were able with one shoulder slung up.

"Yeah, Zecora came back with a unicorn called Rarity and she-"

"Rarity?" Trixie's head snapped back to you, eyes narrowing instantly.

"White coat and purple mane? Unicorn? Has three diamonds as a Cutie Mark?"

"Um... yes." You replied slowly, raising your right eyebrow. Trixie, instead of stopping then, at confirmation, pushed both her forehooves into the table, and raised herself up, eyes narrowing further, and a glint of anger showing up in her orbs.

"Fashion designer? Friends with Twilight Sparkle? Arrogant showpony who dared to try and upstage Trixie? THAT Rarity?"

"I think still yes..." You said slowly, watching Trixie as she leaned forward, an intent look in her eyes.

"Did she say anything about Trixie?! Because whatever she said are lies! All lies! And Trixie has excellent taste in capes!" She almost shouted, her gaze practically going feral with what looked like some mix of righteous fury and panic.

"No. She said nothing about you. She didn't even know you were here." You stated calmly, as Trixie backed down slowly... then turned her head away to the right, lowering her face and hiding her expression.

"Good... Trixie was just worried she might have come here spreading slander is all..." She muttered, almost under her breath.

"Well, no, she didn't come here to spread slander. She, as a fashion designer, came here in pursuits related to fashion. Specifically she was measuring me for a trenchcoat and... wait a minute... fashion designer... Rarity... I've seen those words together in the same sentence..." You muttered, furrowing your brows once more and raising your right forehoof up to your chin, starting to remember.

"Now that I recall, I think she was in one of fashion magazines I... um, read. Yeah... yeah she won like some big competition in Manehatten, AND designed ensembles for the Canterlot wedding, and for Sapphire Shores! Bucking Sapphire Shores, the Pony of Pop! Buck!" You exclaim, laughing as a realization hits you.

"I'm getting a trenchcoat made by the same mare who makes wardrobes for Princesses and superstars! Well rut me!" Trixie, who hadn't reacted to your spiel beforehand, suddenly snapped her gaze towards you, her eyes going wide.

"W-what!? Now? Here!? B-but-" You facehoofed.

"Trixie, it's an expression. Relax."

"Oh. Ahem, yes, well, of course the Great and Powerful Trixie had realized that, of course..." Muttered the unicorn, a rather brazen blush coloring her cheeks...

"Yeah, sure. Hmmm... Miss Rarity, celebrity fashion designer, from some out of the way town I've never heard of... Don't think it was mentioned in the magazine either. Might be worth looking more into her... Wonder if she's made previous headlines... Might be worth checking to see if the town library has some kind of newspaper record vault, or something..." You muttered to yourself, getting lost in your thoughts, as Trixie lowered her forehooves back down on the table and looked away, a blush staining her cheeks.

Trixie, Trixie, Trixie... I don't think that a threatening gaze would do to calm her, but try it anyway. Trixie doesnt know that Zecora is different than you. Intimidate her into silence. Most importantly, after you get her food, before she says anything, politely but firmly ask her to teach you how to use magic.

The Chessmaster

I forgot say the horn on your empty skull is new and most important say you have no clue why you have it and make certain that Trixie says nothing, it will work because come on weird shit has been coming out of you like Discord on a sugar rush

That sequence of events went far better than expected, though they were uneventful. What a pity.

Well since the appearance of Trixie was the most eye-catching item for this duration of time, let's discuss her.

Trixie is a unicorn with nothing. Nothing except one thing; pride. You've pretty thoroughly stripped her of that, so good job. So she is a unicorn with no friends, no loved ones, no self-confidence, and by this point I bet, no will to live. She is vulnerable; her armor is cracked. Time to seep in, my little soon-to-be-sadist. She's desperate for connections, even if she doesn't realize it. After all, ponies are social creatures. You become her sole connection. You become her sole 'friend' so she will trust you above all others. You will be the light of her world. After you've claimed place as the sole being to truly 'care' about her, she will put you on a pedestal. She will listen to you; stand by you and be loyal in the storm, for she will be more terrified of losing you than anything else.

As she would be so desperate for keeping her connection with you, the odds are that she would follow you and your descent into sadism. A partner-in-crime for playground explosions is always useful, and being able to easily play with her emotions during your down time is always a plus. In the end, she is also a scapegoat. Get caught for nefarious deeds? Blame it on her. She has a track record for that kind of thing.

Use this to your advantage. She'll be your slave and she won't even know it. Gain an ever-faithful servant for your needs and the perfect target to shift the blame to when things get moving. Also; have her teach you how to start fires with magic.

Regards, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

Well my little mine on it's time to play ball. Tell you love the truth about that little annoyance and how you actions were for the best. If that fails then just SET EVERYTHING ON FIRE!!!!

With love!

-The Red Pyro

You found your Rarity related thoughts quickly taking a turn for the perverse, which in turn prompted you to end them lest you awaken your best friend who, though you were very attached to him, could be quite a dick. With your thoughts being beaten into silence, and Trixie being oddly quiet, you found yourself just waiting for Zecora to start a meal... a little longer than usual for her... actually a fair amount of bucking time. It was understandable really, having your entire home reorganized would probably add a bit of prep time to anypony's kitchen routine, not to mention every other damn thing they had to do around the home. Not that you would know of course... ... Buck you hated Manehatten.

In any case Trixie, for some reason, looked as though she was deep in thought. Still leaning up on the table, but with her forelegs crossed in front of her on the table. She was resting her head on said forelegs, and without the constant pain of the floor contacting her butt, wasn't shivering or whimpering nearly as much. It probably still hurt like buck, but regardless she seemed to have gotten used to it. Looks like some advice you gave actually did help her out. Just went further to prove your point that she was a useless cunt on her own. She needed someone like you around to tell her what to do. It was only natural.

Regardless of your correctness, magnanimity, and general super-awesomeness, you still found yourself waiting, with a stomach feeling empty, and all you could really do with the time was try and think in ways that didn't make a stallion's best friend jump to attention... That wound up being, at least partly, thinking on how spoiled you've gotten here in the Everfree. Oh you're hungry? Well boo-bucking-hoo! Sheesh, not as though you deserve any of Zecora's cooking after all the stress you've put her through... ... But... but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the current situation, right? That's not why she's taking so long!? BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID AND- No, no, no calm down, calm the buck down! Focus on other things, other things like, like fires... pretty red fires that burned hot like unicorn plots and- No! Not that either! ... Wait... wait a second... ... unicorns...

"Hey Trixie."

"Ah!" Shouted Trixie, startled out of her own thoughts, gaze snapping to you, before she quickly shut her eyes, shook her head, and cleared her throat.

"Ah. Ahem. Yes?" She asked, opening her eyes again with a fairly calm, and even mildly curious expression.

"Explain magic to me."

"What?" Responded the showmare, raising her right eyebrow. You forced yourself not to roll your eyes at her display of intelligence.

"Magic. Explain it to me." You stated, before bringing your right forehoof up to point towards the tip of your horn.

"This nubby little thing popped out of nowhere. But I have NO idea how to use it. When I tried to use it, it caused me a great deal of pain and got nothing done. Why?"

"Well, there could be a few reasons..." Muttered the showmare, furrowing her brows and thinking hard.

"One's simple damage. Usually when a unicorn's horn hurts it's because it's been damaged in some way. That interferes with the transmission of magic and prevents it from functioning properly..." Trixie's eyes rolled up to look to her own horn at that, still on the mend. She gritted her teeth, eyes lingering on her horn for a few moments, before shaking her head, and looking back to you.

"Ahem. Another possibility is that your innate Earth Pony magic is rejecting the horn."

You raised your right eyebrow.

"Explain."

Trixie sighed, and tried to straighten up a bit, using the knees of her forehooves to support herself on the table, before looking back to you with surprisingly calm and focused eyes.

"Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies all have innate magical abilities. None so glorious or impressive as Trixie's of course, but there. While the innate magic runs through every part of a pony, it is usually centralized into a few key locations. For Earth Ponies it's usually the hooves, legs, and sometimes even the tail. For Pegasi, it's the spine and wings. And the magic for unicorns is focused in the head, usually around the horn and behind the eyes." Spoke Trixie, bringing her front right forehoof up to her own head, and pointing right underneath her mending horn.

"Trixie's major focal point is clustered right here, beneath the horn." She stated, before lowering her forehoof back down and continuing.

"Magic in ponies, whatever it's location, will typically adapt itself to fit that pony's needs. Usually it's just trying to follow along with their Cutie Marks, what supposedly makes them special. BUT there are roots in the magic that stay regardless of a pony's Cutie Mark and, let's be honest, probably have more to do with a pony's 'special' talent than anything else." Spoke Trixie with a smirk, moving her hooves just high up enough off the table to make the little quotation sign with her hooves, before lowering them again and getting back to the lecture.

"Earth Pony magic is typically geared towards culinary arts, farming, food-growing, mining, caring for plants, etcetera. Pegasus magic is centered around weather control, wind manipulation, and flight. Then there's unicorn magic which is the least rooted and most adaptable of all the innate magics of ponykind. Mainly because while Earth Pony and Pegasus magic is focused on altering itself inside of a pony to further aid them and their abilities, Unicorn magic is designed to be expended through the horn, and focuses on changing the world around the unicorn as opposed to aiding the unicorn from the inside. The horn is little more than a tool for focusing that magic, and without it, the magic does nothing but stagnate. The thing is you're an Earth Pony. Ummm, were an Earth Pony... ... ... right?" She muttered, raising her right eyebrow. You suppressed the desire to become annoyed and simply nodded, to which Trixie continued.

"Ahem, yes. And as an Earth Pony, your magic is designed to be internalized and spread through your body, to aid in your personal efforts, not expended. So when you called it up with the horn, it probably rejected the call and refused to be expelled. I'm... not sure what effect your apparent medical condition has on your magical flow, however Trixie thinks that's the source of the problem. Your body is just not designed to get rid of it's magic like a unicorn's is. And, it's probably very dangerous to try, though that's just Trixie's conjecture since she's never seen anypony like you before... Even, remotely similar... Ever..." She spoke, licking her lips slightly, and shivering, a bit nervous. You brought your right forehoof up beneath your chin, rubbing it thoughtfully, furrowing your brow.

"... So... to be able to use this horn, I'll probably need some kind of unicorn magic, replacing or in addition to my own... is that the gist of what you're telling me?"

"Um, Trixie believes so..." Muttered the showmare, shifting position and suddenly looking much more uncomfortable... no doubt remembering the last time you'd decided you'd needed something of a Unicorn's...

"Hmmm..." You muttered, narrowing your brows further, thinking...

CLACK!

A wooden bowl hit the table in front of you, filled with a steaming orange stew-like liquid, startling you out of your thoughts. Trixie was not immune to the surprise, stiffening up with wide eyes, then looking up over your shoulder to Zecora, following her movement as she came out from behind you and into your view, walking calmly towards Trixie. Zecora was balancing a wooden tray upon her back, without anything holding it to her you noted, and upon that tray were two wooden bowls filled with the same orange substance. She moved calmly, tray and bowls on her back completely stable.

"Sorry for the wait.

It is long past time we ate."

Stated Zecora calmly, reaching back with her left forehoof to one of the bowl's, sliding it up onto her hoof, then bringing it down and placing it in front of Trixie. She then calmly trotted around to her usual spot at the table, and slid the last bowl off of the tray on her back and onto the wood. She then calmly turned her head, leaned back, and took the tray in her teeth, before turning forward again to trot over to recently reorganized shelves. She placed the tray down in front of a shelf, then reached up with her right forehoof to grab a medium-sized brown jar with a white cloth tied with thin ropes as a lid, and take it down from the shelf.

"Go ahead and begin to eat,

And Trixie, your flank I will treat."

You find yourself considering how tense all these situations have made Trixie and Zecora. They should get along and stop making things so complicated! A herd would be the most natural way for everyone to be happy, and it'd be the right thing to do. You just have to help Trixie and Zecora realize it!

You've thought about this before, but you know that you can do better!

Wouldn't it be nice if you could do something to help them relax? It seems like such a the right thing for you to do, after all you already seem to be able to help ponies by making suggestions to them while they sleep. To help them sleep with a nice soothing lullaby, your soulful eyes or perhaps your rhythmic, enticing body language...

You then find yourself thinking about what soothing advice you will enlighten Trixie with tonight. Perhaps, you'll sing her a lullaby. While you sing, you could let your eyes naturally mesmerize her into sleep.

You think of what you might say...

"It's been so hard, hasn't it Trixie? You've been under so much stress for so long, and you're so very tired. You deserve to get a little rest, and you need to get a little rest.. Just relax and let yourself feel soothed by my voice filling your mind, becoming your mind.

Let me tell you a story Trixie. It's a wonderful story, Trixie. And it's a story just for you, and it's make believe so you can feel free to just enjoy your imagination... A lovely dream that you will have over and over again, and which you will enjoy more every time you have it. A dream to cherish and experience every night and day of your life.

In this story, you have a friend. A wonderful friend that you can trust with anything and everything. He fills that need for attention and validation so perfectly that he's all you need in the entire world, and you finally feel at peace. You can't quite see his face, but you can feel him smiling at you and giving the attention that you crave.

Can you feel it, Trixie? Can you feel how wonderful it feels?

...

You're doing so very well Trixie.

You don't need to worry about impressing anyone else. You feel so wonderful being able to focus on your friend. You can bask in your trust for him, and everything becomes so soothing and simple. His strength becomes your strength. His confidence is your confidence. Your connection is so deep with him that it is natural, so natural to call him Master. Everything becomes so simple, and you don't have to worry about any of the guilt or confusion every again, because your Master will shoulder the burden for you. His praise makes your heart sing, and makes you can feel your heart glowing more brightly and vibrantly than ever before. Even his punishment feels wonderful, because you can feel his deep caring and he only does it to help you understand.

It's only natural that such a deep connection breeds love and arousal. His slightest touch makes you thrill with submissive arousal, and the more delightful it feels the more you crave it... And the more you crave it, the more delightful it feels.

Tell me how it feels Trixie.

....

You're doing very well Trixie. You're doing so very well.

You can feel a deep sense of personal satisfaction, basking in his glory, your master's glory and desire... Basking in his potential! Sharing in his successes as if they were your own! Oh, it is so delightful, and you have never felt such a connection before in your life. You feel -oh- so complete. You can feel all the attention and validation you need, finally, finally, in the praise and care of your master. The more you think about it; the more aroused you become... But you can't quite reach your climax... But even then, it is such a delightful feeling... To crave your Master more and more...

How much do your crave your master, Trixie?

...

Good Trixie, very good. You're a wonderful mare.

Slowly, the veil starts coming off your Master's face.

You can see it now. You can -feel- it now. It's -my- face. Cementing in your mind, you realize that I was your Master all along and all those wonderful feelings were coming from me, like a puzzle piece naturally falling into place. And it feels so good! So freeing! So enlightening, like life now makes sense, and you know what's truly important in life. You have finally found the purpose of your journey, and for the first time in your life.. You are truly happy.

Now sleep and dream Trixie; sleep and dream of your Master, and feel your heart be healed."

You would give her such wonderful dreams for a lifetime! That's so kind and wonderful of you!

Naturally, the next thing to do would be to help Zecora in the same way! After all, the best thing for Zecora would be a herd as well! How arousing it would be for her to be in a herd; how much happier if she dreamt about it every night. Zecora just doesn't realize what she needs and wants, but you'll help her with that my little superpony. Tell her a story about how she can help herself by creating a herd as well! Then once Trixie has naturally redeemed herself through her realizing that you are her Master... Trixie would naturally beg, and Zecora feign reluctance, but in the end Zecora would naturally agree because deep down Zecora would remember her dreams and feel her desires... After all, doesn't it mean that her stallion is even more attractive if he is wanted by more mares.. A deep part of Zecora would even begin to feel that the more mares that her stallion has, the more attracted she feels to him! It's only natural; you just have to help her realize it...

A herd is the only way to keep them everyone happy. It's the most unselfish thing for you and them to do! It just wouldn't be fair to let one mare be lonely, when you could fulfill their needs... But, asking them directly would be boorish! It's so much more considerate to have them come to the decision on their own. You just need to help them realize what they want themselves. In fact, you should really politely decline at first... But because of your magnanimity, you will allow them when they naturally push for what they want and need... You.

And Zecora is such a clever mare... You know that deep down she wants to expand your herd and maximize your -evolution-... Yes, that's what the mutations are.. Evolution, your evolution, a blessed gift of fate for all your hardships.

Oh how you crave new evolution! It thrills you every time it happens. Such a gift, such a wonderful gift.

Your Friendly Trustworthy Incubus,

Rod

Your mares... that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But you guess it's true. Zecora is your Zebra snuggletoy, and Trixie might as well have brought you her leash in her mouth with how she's been looking for tough love from you. They're both part of your life, it wouldn't be fair to shut one out. After all, they both want to be yours; you'd be doing them a favour, making their wish come true even if they didn't yet say it out loud.

But, for this to work... you''ll need to adjust to this arrangement as well. You'll need to accept your own position in it; this herd. Because that's what it comes down to, isn't it? Ha ha, Zecora really did plant the seeds to this early, didn't she? Sneaky little Zebra minx! Well, your own position needs to be at the head of the herd. You'll be lead stallion for your mares, it's the least you can do for them. You'll be their master, just as they want you to. When they finally find the courage to ask you to be their stallion and master, you'll gladly accept.

Until then, you will sleep-whisper to them and give them little sign of your affection, like ear licking and nibbling, to bring out their hidden desires. This therapy has helped you temendously, and it will help them too! You will help Trixie understand her need to submit to you and you how much she craves your companionship, your love, and even your punishments feeding her masochistic streak. And you will help Zecora understand how much she craves to see her herdsisters submit to you alongside herself.

The thought is quite appealing, isn't it? Zecora and Trixie as smiling, happy hersisters, sharing kisses while wiggling their rumps in front of their master—you—and silently begging for some swats? Or both being hogtied so they can enjoy the feeling of submission and helplessness while servicing your best friend at the same time? It's a wonderful picture! So wonderful that you're sure Zecora will, at some point, ask for her white unicorn friend to join the herd!

Oh, you are so very, very grateful that Zecora and Trixie thought of this! You'll be the bestest, most dominant master you can be! You owe it to them!

Zecora removed the cloth from the jar's lid, scooped inside with her left forehoof, lifted up Trixie's tail with the other, and applied some sort of goop to her rump. You weren't exactly sure what it was. Some kind of blueish-green pasty stuff with flecks of purple in it, that she smeared all over Trixie's backside. Of course, if you had known what it was, you might've used it in the first place, and saved yourself this aggravation. It made you think of the last time you'd taken a bath actually, and the soap you'd used to shrink the planimal thing. And that made you wonder, how long had it last been since Trixie bathed? Might need to give her a bath to, before you try and lick her tasty gash- WHICH YOU WILL NOT DO!!! ... or... You might, maybe... If you can get Zecora to go along with it perhaps...

Not that that seemed particularly likely at this point. Zecora still seemed to be rather quiet, removed, not really acknowledging you. She didn't even look at you when she sat back down in her spot in front of her bowl. Part of you thought that she might be really angry, but you didn't know! You had no evidence of your zebra's emotions one way or another, besides the infuriating cold shoulder!

A cold shoulder that lasted all throughout the dining. No matter how you wished it to change, dinner tonight was quiet. Nervously quiet. Anxiously quiet. You awkwardly sipped at your orange stew thing, which tasted faintly of peanut butter, oranges, and even what you could have sworn was a bit of apple. You had no idea how all those things managed to mix together but it was delicious anyhow. Trixie seamed to have a similar opinion, because all pretenses of manners had vanished as soon as she started tasting the contents of the bowl, and she had almost immediately lifted the bowl up in her forehooves and pushed it to her muzzle, slurping noisily as she dug into the nourishing orange mix with gusto, proving that her desire for nourishment was not a casual one.

Zecora on the other hoof sat calmly and sipped her stew, thoughtful and refined as usual and quiet... But not as usual. This was a different kind of silence than her usual calm accepting silence. It had a different flavor to it, a brooding one. It was unsettling... Of course, it didn't help your nerves that you couldn't pick up your own bucking bowl. With your hoof in the sling, you were having to lean forward and sip out from it, as opposed to pulling it up to you, hence the awkwardness. Not that that was the worst thing you'd had to do to get food, but still! A part of your brain, whispering in the back, wondered if Zecora had done this because she was secretly angry at you, instead of just because she always put things in bowls. If only you knew for certain! Ugh!

You finished your meal, and Trixie was already done, licking her lips and muzzle clean of the orange nectar with an almost blissful look upon her face. Zecora had finished her own meal and not once had her expression changed throughout the entirety of the eating. You were beginning to get worried... You licked your lips, trying to think of some way to start conversing and break the ice that had apparently gathered, when-

Boooooooooommm...

Your ears perked up as the sound of low-rolling thunder reached them. Zecora looked up and sniffed the air, before her eyes narrowed.

"A storm is coming with a freezing chill,

there is a true risk of becoming ill."

She spoke, before turning her eyes back down to you and Trixie, a sternness to her gaze that you weren't used to seeing.

"Trixie, Blank, you need your rest.

And for tonight it is best,

That you both sleep in the bed,

And there I too shall rest my head.

We will bundle together for the night,

And stay warm till morning's light.

You both go ahead while I stay,

Somepony has to clean this mess away."

Trixie blinked as Zecora delivered her instructions. And so did you. Frankly you were surprised it was her suggesting this... you'd totally planned to be the one to jockey for the bed, and instead it was Zecora who wound up suggesting it. You kind of wondered if you should ask her anything, but... The way Zecora looked right now, the hard glint in her eyes, made you think that it was best not to question her at the moment... And you were feeling kind of tired. You blinked a bit, eyes starting to feel heavy, and had to fight back a yawn. Trixie had apparently gotten a similar idea, because she actually did yawn, before blinking her eyes several times and shaking her head, fighting to stay awake.

"Trixie thinks you are 'yawn' right. Trixie shall retire to her chambers..." She spoke, eyes half-drooping as she pushed herself from the table, turned, and began to trot back to the room. You slowly rose to your hooves your eyes too tired to twitch in annoyance at Trixie's referring to the room as hers.

"Okay... See you in a bit Zecora." You said, then let out the yawn you'd been trying to hold in... Zecora didn't respond, merely keeping her calm gaze on you as you turned. You walked slowly after Trixie, brows furrowed, biting your bottom lip... You were nervous again. Anxious. Worried... was she angry with you? That had to be it, didn't it... There weren't many other explanations for a cold-shoulder, were there? Your worry over that simple lack of response completely overshadowed all the joy you might've felt at the part where Zecora basically just ordered you to go to bed with Trixie and her at the same time. Not quite in the flank-shaking fantasy way that you'd been thinking of, but hey, progress was progress. But was it progress tonight? Gah! Stupid bucking emotions!

Your nerves consumed you. They consumed you as Trixie wiggled into bed ahead of you. They consumed you as you tried to get into bed with one bucking leg in a sling. They consumed you as you grumbled and scooted back into Trixie, prompting her close to the wall. And they consumed you as you huffed and tried to settle in, closing your eyes, as Trixie shuffled behind you, apparently turning away to face the wall. And then, tiredness consumed you instead, nerves taking a back seat to a fairly sudden exhaustion, seeping into your muscles and driving you to sleep... Or try to, at any rate.

Things were quiet as you lay with closed eyes beneath the bed, mare flesh next to you... Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet... quiet but not peaceful. The tempest that was your brain was still anxious, still concerned, still aggravated, still just... unable to feel at ease. You waited for the feeling to go away, to be consumed by the tiredness that sapped your muscles. But it didn't. You waited as Trixie stopped her shuffling and began to breathe the slow steady breaths of sleep that you were so used to hearing. You waited for the anxiousness to go, for you to join Trixie in slumber, but that just didn't happen. It was like a switch had turned on your brain, making more and more nervousness pile up and up until you could barely stand it!

In aggravation, you turned over in the bed, and wrapped your good forehoof around Trixie. It was more of an agitated movement than an attempt at affection. Just something to vent the steam, try to relax. But it did kind of help... And as you opened your eyes in the dark, and looked at her sleeping back, you felt kind of... drawn to her. It wasn't something that you could really explain, but the aggravation and tiredness and thoughts rambling around in your brain all kind of seemed to... fade into the back of your brain. You leaned up over her, up to her ear, and licked your lips... then slowly licked around her ear. You weren't sure why, it was just something that you did wasn't it? Done it several times by now, habit really, and then, as was also your habit, you began to whisper softly...

"It's been so hard, hasn't it Trixie?" And then you whispered more words... and more, and more... and you didn't even know what you were saying. But you just kept speaking, in a low and soothing tone, and it helped you feel better... It probably helped her feel better as well, because she began to sigh gently in her sleep, as you kept on speaking, kept on soothing... And you just didn't stop doing that. You didn't stop, until finally, the last words left your lips and you were just... out. And you couldn't remember a bucking thing that you'd just said.

It was like it wasn't really you saying the words, just a steady stream of constructed noises leaving your mouth without thought or conscious effort... But you do feel better... And wide awake. The tiredness, and a lot of the tension have gone out of you. And as you looked down at Trixie's sleeping face, you found yourself smiling slightly... There was some kind of affection for her, taking place in you that you weren't really... sure of. It felt new, or reawakened, or even just a temporary manifestation of emotion, but... on a whim without apparent source, you moved your right forehoof to her cheek, and then turned her head up towards you. And then you leaned down, and kissed her on the lips.

It was a surprisingly gentle kiss for you. Soft, and unaggressive, yet also insistent. Your tongue moved into her mouth, and tasted her... Tasted the weird peanut-butter-orange-apple like concoction on her tongue, tasted the saliva of the arrogant showmare, and felt an almost electric tingle as your tongue met hers... ... And then you pulled back, smiling softly, a thin trail of saliva stretching from her lips to yours... And then you yawned, the tiredness back all of a sudden. You blinked your eyes, and then shook your head as it started to droop... And then your eyes shot open again as the tiredness faded from you, as sudden and unexplainable as before.

Shrugging off the bout of exhaustion, you refocused your attentions on Trixie, from a slightly more awake and more self-reflective point of view. You weren't entirely sure what possessed you to kiss her actually... Sure, it was enjoyable, but it could have woken her up. And Zecora would have been PISSED if she'd seen that, even though you would maybe make some suggestions about how group play could be nice for her and- ... Zecora... Zecora still wasn't in bed.

You turned over in the bed, looking back to the doorway, the hut now dark and devoid of light, furrowing your brows in confusion. How long did it take to clean up some wooden dishes? Awkwardly, because of your bucking left foreleg, you pulled yourself out from under the covers and onto the floor, trotting towards the doorway, to check and see what was taking your zebra lovebug so long.

Now, it's your pleasure to be helpful... And you can help Zecora tonight with a couple of suggestions! You're rather kind, letting her take the credit for those excellent hiding places for the box in the morning, but that's just how you are. You enjoy helping your mare help herself -- and you. You can think of a couple of places you would have easy access to, but would be out of the way... If you have some trouble, think of a way to find out in time without raising alarm.

Once the box has been moved, you can wait until the incident has left the attention of both Zecora and Trixie to investigate it. Make sure to find a way to clandestinely get Zecora to tell you about any traps or tricks she sets up! Maybe you could help her to talk about in her sleep.

If Zecora leads you to believe that the alicorn amulet is in that box, you need that amulet! You need strength and magic to protect yourself and protect your mares! There are two ways to go about this.

You could find a time when Zecora would trust you enough and think it necessary to let you use it.. Yes, that would be a good situation to set up. Yes indeed.. It's not like you can run around with evidence of betrayal around your chest! Besides, you'd feel terrible hurting Zecora's feelings like that. She's so very -valuable- to you and you're so fond of her. It's no fun thrusting your happy stick into a magical amulet. But why have one when you can have both? She just needs a little preparatory convincing and the right situation... It's really a bad idea to directly hide anything from her or outright lie to her. You just have to tell her the story in the right way at the right time -- and make sure that you prepared her heart and mind for the right course of action the night before!

On the other hand, what if you could simply eat the thing or hide it somehow?

Hmm, but still it just wouldn't do to wear some sketchy artifact around all the time would it... If only you could just simply eat the thing... Well, stranger things have happened to your recently. See what happens when you touch it... See what impulses you feel when you have time to investigate it..

You -need- to hide its integration into you somehow... If you can't find a way to do that yourself, perhaps you can get Zecora to figure out a way when the right situation arises.. She might even have a plausible way for you to use it without becoming 'corrupted' by it... Well, you want her to feel better about the whole thing, even if you know in your heart of hearts that you'll be fine.

Slate, you need bits and those bits are not in the forest. Go into town, get a job, play with the kids, meet some new ponies, add to your harem, take over the world, you know, the usual plan. Start with that one cottage nearby, it's close to the forest and you think that the mare seems nice so talk to her.

The Chessmaster

Wait...what was that? A scream in the woods? Zecora must have heard that. No time for rest! From the sound of it, there's a young filly in trouble out there! Get to steppin!

BOOOOOOM!

A crash of thunder, stronger than the last, and an accompaniment of lightning, illuminated the hut for you. The hut notably absent of any zebras. You walked in slowly, watching your pacing, when you heard a small-

"Skreeee!" Sound. You snapped your head sharply over to the cage, to see the planimal abomination, still in it's hanging prison on the wall, awakened by the thunder or just no longer sedated. Two of it's three heads were snapping and biting on the bamboo, without much progress you were pleased to note, while the center one looked at you with narrowed eyes and let out another-

"Skreeee!" of anger.

You narrowed your eyes at the little monster heads. You'd deal with that thing LATER. Right now your zebra was missing. You turned your eyes to look across the hut, narrowing them in a futile attempt to see in the dark, absent of lighting. Fortunately, the encroaching storm thought to provide. Another crack of thunder, and a flash of lightning illuminated the hut, and the mask lying down on the floor in front of the empty hidden slot where Zecora had placed the box for safe-keeping... A chill gust passed over your body, sending a shiver through your form and setting your teeth to chattering. You shook off the chill, and turned your gaze to the doorway, wide open, leading out into the dark of the Everfree...

Of course. Zecora had gone to hide the box so that Trixie wouldn't find it. Part of you was kind of miffed at that... she had just promised that she'd come to bed, and you could have given her some suggestions. Not like Trixie could move to steal it with you right there anyways. And now Zecora was out while a storm was coming! Out there somewhere in the dark...

You gritted your teeth together furrowing your brows as you glared at the door, then sighed, and lowered your head. Well, it couldn't be helped... she obviously didn't want to include you in this for whatever reason. And she knew the Everfree better than anypony. Better than you did certainly. The only thing you could reasonably do was just go back to bed. Trust Zecora to handle her shit, and just... try and deal with her tomorrow as best you could. Hopefully by then the cold shoulder will have thawed and you could both talk like civilized adult equines.

With a sigh you turned, and started to trot back to the bedroom when your ears perked up. You stopped, furrowed your brows, and listened... Something was coming through the air, something unsettling... was that the howling wind? No... It was a SCREAM!

Your eyes went wide and you quickly turned back to the doorway, almost falling as you hobbled in your haste. You were sure of it! You heard a scream out there! Your zebra was in trouble!

Breathing quickly and eyes wide, you moved as quickly as you could on three legs. And without nearly enough hesitation, or preparation, or common bucking sense, with one leg bandaged up still on the mend from your injuries, you hobbled out into the Everfree, the single most dangerous place left in Equestria, in search of your zebra...

Also some fortune cookie advice that seems relevant/vague enough

"Mend the first break, kill the first snake, and conquer everything you undertake."

-Pyro the Red.

Yes. It is time for you to start tightening your ties to your mares dear Blank. Zecora seems to be gaining confidence that you will never leave her, that needs to be tempered with the understanding of her place: below you (both literally and metaphorically). Trixie has already recieved a thorough taste of the stick (or sword flat in this case), so now for the carrot. Seduce her slowly and show her the "benefits" of being a submissive little pet.

Who screaming or not was almost certainly doing better than YOU. Once again you were in the Everfree, lost, with a bandaged foreleg, in the cold winds, with lightning and thunder overhead, and rain sure to be on the way. In sum, you were a BUCKING IDIOT!!!

You growled at yourself as you hobbled up against a tree, a tree that looked like every other damn tree in the dark, and stopped to catch your breath. You'd have thought you'd have learned by now. Wandering into the Everfree without any kind of compass, or map, or way to get back, equaled bad. What exactly was difficult for you to grasp about that concept?!

Rhetorical question aside, you were in a bad spot. You were cold, unable to see when lightning didn't crack across the sky, and currently lacking the use of your left forehoof. It was not a good night to be you. You shivered violently as yet another cold gust blew through your coat and bones... reminded you too much of your time in Manehatten, quaking underneath raggedy newspapers everytime the Pegasus Ponies schedules a storm, or during the winter months where everypony else had winter fashions and warm shelters to keep them from the cold's icy grip. Buck! You were freezing! If only you had some kind of fire or shit, something to keep warm, and prevent you from freezing to your death! Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck it you were cold!

"I'm bucking cold!" You shouted, to everyone and everything in earshot. A freezing gust answered your proclamation.

"RRRAAAUUUGGGHHH!!!" You roared, at the situation ,at the wind, at the storm and the sky, and at everything in general, and as you did so, your horn burst into flames.

You blinked. And then you fell over. Hitting the ground on your side with an-

"Oof!"

Wind leaving your lungs as your head swam. You blinked again, rapidly, your eyes suddenly moist and strange-feeling. You slowly pushed yourself back up to your hooves, righting yourself, then blinking a few more times before rolling your eyes up to look to your horn. It was burning purple. With purple fire around it. A warm, steady, pumping sensation on your skull, feeding into your horn, and creating this circle of purple flame. Warming you up, and casting purple-tinted light around you, letting you see and keeping you warm from the chill, stopping you from freezing to death.

"... Huh..." Was your calm, and rational response, as your horn remained alight with unicorn fire.

MUTATION GAINED: Unicorn Magic: Pyromancy Focus: You have gained a small amount of unicorn-based magical energy centered near your horn. The power charge is small and cannot draw on Unicorn physiology for rapid replenishment, you will be able to use magic in brief spurts but will not able to make continuous attempts like most unicorns. The magic is focused towards the generation of fire, and will run out of energy faster when attempting other types of magic, to the point of great difficulty with even minor tasks. Your eyes have turned purple as a result of the magic, and the energy generated by your horn when using this magical energy will be purple.

"... Huh?" You repeated, your language skills once more proving that there was no situation that they couldn't tackle. But although your horn suddenly catching fire wasn't exactly normal, it wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to you as of recent either. Buck, yesterday you didn't even have a horn. And this fire was keeping you warm and letting you see, WITHOUT burning you. All in all, you weren't going to look this gift horse in the mouth and question it.

But you WERE going to look at the suddenly encroaching light, AND question it, if for no reason besides it being there. The corner of your right eye caught an approaching orange glow, and you turned your head to look as it approached from the trees. You breathed in deep and gritted your teeth, tension moving back into your muscles... But as it got closer, and closer, you were able to see it's source... and you sighed out heavily, in relief, lowering your head and relaxing your muscles, as Zecora approached, a lamp swinging from her lips.

Zecora held a firefly lamp, glass center with wooden body and iron handle, as she walked in your direction, then stopped, several feet away still by one of the many trees of the Everfree, and set the lamp down by the tree. She raised her head then and stood there, with her saddle-baskets on, and her bamboo staff laid across her back, with a single loop in her saddle-basket band keeping it in place. Oddly enough, she also had what looked like a small cloth bag hanging from her neck and resting in front of her chest, attached to a rope that was tied around the base of the neck, just beneath the last of her golden neck loops.

You lifted your eyes back up to look into hers, and as you did so, the relief faded from your face... She looked at you with hard and stern eyes, with a thin line to her mouth and a stern-stanced, immovable body. What she didn't look was happy to see you. Freezing gusts ruffled her mane and coat, and she didn't even flinch. She met your eyes and didn't break contact... And then she spoke, her voice hard, stern, and almost as cold as the storm...

"Another mutation has claimed you I see.

And wonder how out in this cold you came to be."

You licked your lips lightly, nervously, furrowing your brows as she spoke, loud and strong, with a tone laced with disapproval. You thought of explaining it to her, but she didn't seem to be done, so you held your tongue. And sure enough, she continued.

"I had thought that the sedative would have been enough,

To keep you in bed and out from under skies so rough.

But I see now it was folly to think your affliction would leave you to your rest,

And let me do what is best."

What was Zecora talking about? What affliction? Did she mean the mutations? Those weren't an affliction, those were a blessing! Evolution at it's finest and- Wait, did she say sedative?

"I know that this is something you cannot see,

But this disease has come to be,

A dark pollution corrupting your mind,

As evidenced by your treatment of Trixie's behind.

And by much more than that, though I did not wish to believe it was so,

But seeing you here now I certainly know..."

Zecora, closed her eyes with a pained look etched upon her face, a distressed, angry, and horrible look, one you did not want to see... But it was there anyway, and you just knew as she spoke that you were the cause.

"This has never been about you and me,

Or even about Trixie.

But a trap to claim the amulet hidden in my care.

And I fell right into the snare..."

Suddenly her eyes shot open again, glaring with a stern and desperate gleam to them, staring into your soul.

"I cannot ignore this any longer, or let you have your way.

The affliction that claims you must not be allowed to stay.

It has reached far within you, claiming you for it's own,

And around it distress and woe has been sewn.

Let me remove it from you, and banish it once and for all.

Or I swear to you, it will be your downfall."

She spoke, every word bearing an urgency to it, bordering on panic. Every word making you feel more and more distressed. She couldn't be right about this could she? Of course she couldn't! These mutations had been nothing but good for you! Granted, you can't remember how you got to the Everfree in the first place, but they kept you alive once you were there! And yes maybe you'd used them to do things like pummel Trixie's flank, but you'd also used them to save her life! That had to count for something, didn't it? And so what that under their care you might've accidently given creation to an unholy planimal monster growing out of Zecora's cloak, but that was an honest mistake! It could've happened to anypony. No, Zecora was definitely overreacting! Right? ... ... Right?

B-but... overreacting or not... This was dangerous. It looked like she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Maybe you could calm her down? Convince her that this really wasn't an imperative bad, but an imperative good? Or... and a disturbing part of you was attracted to this, perhaps it was time to take a little more... control, of your zebra? After all, the carrot and the stick were both crucial in a relationship. You'd given Trixie a good helping of stick and a taste of carrot, but all Zecora had gotten was the carrot... maybe, it was time to introduce her to a little stick?

Whatever you thought, whatever you decided, you needed to cess it out quickly. A storm was coming with freezing winds, and a panicking zebra was standing in front of you, in the middle of the Everfree at night... One way or another, you needed to resolve this... fast.

Author's Note

This chapter gave me trouble. Lots of trouble. I had difficulty figuring out what to do, how to interpret the host messages, and how to organize it. I also forgot a major component to the chapter and had to rewrite and correct for it. And honestly, I'm still not sure I remembered to get every little detail, caught every mistake, or even interpreted the instructions in a proper way. I've been working at this for a while and I'm still not confident in it. But it's been over a month now, and my brain is screaming at me to get this done. So I'm getting it done... and hoping that I haven't made absolutely horrific mistakes. Or alienated my reading audience with the natural result of the interpretations of host instructions.

Done is done though. Mistakes or not. And speaking of mistakes, I'm thinking of starting to go back to my old chapters and re-editing them. Looking for mistakes and just trying to clean them up a bit. The idea has some attraction, though like most things I'm not sure of it.

And now, the Character Tracker. I'm going to unpublish it and then start editing it, with suggestions made past and things I look through and notice. After I finish that, I'll put it back up. I don't intend for the process to take long, but I'm loathe to put a hard and fast time on anything since I know me by now. So anyways, if it's not there when you read this don't worry, I'll have it back up.

A Minor Misunderstanding

This is bad. This is VERY bad. Well dear Blank, we have a problem. Zecora seeks to take away your powers. This is unacceptable and must be prevented...at any cost. She is scared, and will be hard to convice but it must be done.

No way in hay are you going to let Zecora take away your powers. For as long as you can remember, you finally were somepony! A superpony! This isn't a curse, it's a gift! Other ponies get Cutie Marks and there's celebration all around, you grow powers to help other ponies and you should just let it all go? Buck that. If you hadn't gotten those, Trixie would still stand out there in the forest, a monument to her own arrogance and stupidity.

Okay, now we have a problem... Zecora wants to take our powers! Not only that, but she thinks we want to steal some amulet of some sort from her, and she believes that we're possessed by some evil thing, and she's threatening to kill you! After all of the good things that we have done with our powers, including saving people's lives, one bad thing automatically means we're possessed by some beings of some sort from across an interdimensional barrier who is telling us what to do... I mean daemons. She thinks we are possessed by daemons. I think that she doesn't actually love us, so she came up with some story that only an insane person would truly believe. Well, she must be insane, because she obviously believes it, and she is willing to murder us. She never loved us. No one has ever loved you, why would some one like Zecora? I bet she just wants to take our powers away with her freaky voodoo magics and keep them for herself! We need to defend ourselves from that treacherous witch! But we aren't monsters like she is, killing her would only make us just as bad as her AND prove her correct at the same time.

Lightning flashed. The wind howled. Thunder pounded through the sky. And you just stood there. Chilling gusts thrashed against your body and shuddered through your bones. But you didn't feel a thing. You stood numb, empty, on three good legs with one in a sling, and your eyes glued to the mare in front of you. Focused upon, staring at, and thoroughly taking in, the zebra that had just promised to be your death.

Zecora, the mare who had taken you in, saved your life, bandaged, banged, and fed you, was now trying to take away the single most important piece of you. The thing that had kept you alive in the Everfree. The ONLY thing that made you special, made you important, made you finally worth something! And also, coincidentally, the same thing that had saved Trixie from being a stuck stone statue for the remainder of her measly existence. She was trying to take away the only piece of yourself that was... precious to you...

Why? Why would she do something like this? Threatening your abilities wasn't just threatening them it was threatening you, it was threatening your life, it was threatening the possibility of your continuation as an existing creature upon this world! It was killing your future, your identity, and your ability to be somepony all in one! To take it away would be tantamount to murder! And that was what Zecora was considering... Your beloved zebra, that had taken you in when nopony else would have, was threatening to murder you...

Had all those signs of love and longing been fake? Had Zecora never really loved you in the first place? You'd known she was too good for you from the get-go. Had she just used you to serve her pleasures without really caring for your heart? Just the idea of that tore you up inside... But you couldn't tell for certain. And whether she really cared about you or not, her threat was real. She had lost her mind, perhaps from the jealous paranoia you'd seen earlier, and was now presenting a clear and present threat to your well-being. You needed to do something, anything, to stop her, and keep yourself alive.

Of course, if you could just mind control her, we would be avoiding all this. 'Though that could cost us her highly useful intellect, so we need something subtle. Emotional manipulation maybe? It would certainly help in all these emotionally intense situations you've been finding youself in lately. (Wow, being ostracised by other ponies is really biting you in the arse now.)

Pary something extremely weird happens and she forgets

Scoro the demon

PS don't pray to me or guys who like to kill

Look her in the eyes and show her your true potential. The eyes are a true window to the soul and your soul is a beautiful inferno, mesmerizing all who dare opposed it. Just as any fire will drive off the weak your soul shall drive off her ill intentions and leave only the strong, her undying love and obedience to you.

If she continues to block your way, search within yourself for the core of your powers, visualize it as an ever shifting orb of energy. Call to it. Have it reach into Zecora and show her that you mean no harm.

You saved Trixie, you tried to repay Zecora's kindness, you even admitted you punished Trixie in a way that might've been a bit over the top, you put back the 'amulet' Trixie tried to steal, and Zecora still—still—doesn't trust you. She bucking drugged you! That hurts.... but you don't have the time right now. Look her in the eye, draw upon every bit of persuasion you can muster. Tell her Trixie would be dead without you. Does she want Trixie dead? No? Then kindly get out of the way! Remember, what they really want is to be your herd, and you the stallion master.

You felt like praying. Begging. Calling upon some great unseen power to get yourself out of this crazy nonsensical mess! But you couldn't think of anypony to pray to. Celestia? Buck her. Luna? Buck her to. Discord? Oh sweet syrupy pony-feathers no! You were pretty much out of potential deities to call upon in this your time of need. Which meant that you were just going to have to rely on yourself... and that was extremely reassuring because you had made sooooooooooooo many smart decisions lately. Not to be sarcastic or anything. But buck it, you really didn't have anypony else to depend on right now, you were on your own. It was time to pony-up, be a stallion, and look Zecora in the eyes! Reach deep into yourself, find your hidden power, and release it into an eloquent flow of energetic words and pure will observable in your gaze! ... And hope that some magical shit happened because otherwise you were kinda screwed.

You gulped down a lump in your throat, narrowed your gaze, and moved your eyes to glare into Zecora's own imploring pair. The glare wasn't one of anger but rather of passion! You need to show her the fire inside of you, the power, the strength, and the unwillingness to back down and let yourself be burned away! No fear, no hesitation of mind or purpose could be allowed! You needed to reach out to her and show her that you were a strong and powerful stallion, someone who she could trust to take control when she lost her control! Because that's what this was wasn't it? Why else would she drug you and betray you like this? It hurt, it hurt a lot, but it was obvious that this irrationality wasn't Zecora's fault, but the fault of an inaccurate mind, paranoid and jealous, clinging to harmful fantasies and delusions, resulting from her denial of her true self and her desire to belong to you, and be shared with others by you... ummm... or something like that...

The point was that Zecora was no longer properly responsible for her own mind. So you had to take responsibility! You had to convince her that she was wrong, summon your innate pony magic and pure force of will and unleash it into a convincing argument of convincingness! ... Which, um, you hadn't actually thought of yet, but you would! Of course you wouldn't need to if you could just fix Zecora's mind from here, take control and lead it to the places that it needed to go. It would be rather nice to not have to worry about finding just the right words, and be able to just make your zebra's mind work right. But you couldn't, you didn't have that power. So, remembering to keep steady eye-contact, you swallowed down another lump in your throat, kept up your powerful gaze, opened your mouth, and spoke...

True, you've known where the box was since it was hidden. You could have taken it and left and she would not have been able to stop you. Tell her of this point. In fact, you didn't even know what was in the box until recently, nor do you know what the buck an Alicorn Amulet is!

Oh, there's one more thing shooting holes in Zecora's paranoid little fantasy.

She says it's a trap to get you to claim some amulet, which you presume is inside the box. Newsflash: You could've just taken the box whenever you wanted. You already had it in your hoofs, and you put it back. That's a fact. You put it back when you didn't have to. Don't you deserve a little more trust after that?

IF THE HIVE MIND HAD NEEDED THAT CRAPPY TRINKET WE WOULD HAVE TAKEN IT!!!

"Zecora... that is total bucking horseshit." Okay, not your most elegant turn of phrase but you felt as though it was appropriate to the situation. Zecora blinked in surprise, then furrowed her brows in response, probably not enjoying her thoughts being called horseshit. But buck it if somepony didn't need to call her on this!

"What do you-"

"No, no I'm going to have to stop you right there, adorable rhyming scheme or not that is complete, bucking, horseshit. And for the single most obvious reason that if I wanted that amulet I could have taken it at any time." Your speech was far more assertive, far more aggressive, than you actually felt. In truth your legs felt like jelly and butterflies were dancing in your stomach. You weren't sure if it was more likely that your legs were going to give out in the middle of the argument or that you were just going to throw up. But to outward appearances you were keeping strong. You needed to be utterly convincing and absolutely unmoving on this if you were going to sway Zecora.

"Zecora, I noticed that lockbox DAY ONE. And there were numerous points where you were asleep and I was still awake because I've had trouble sleeping for a while now." The zebra narrowed her eyes further at that, and her tone went lower, became more aggressive, a subtle accusation in her response.

"The box would have been opened with difficulty,

it was locked with a hidden key."

"I can grow a BLADE out of my bucking hoof! I could have CUT it open if I wanted it. And I noticed that you hid it after Trixie came back, but I let that go!" No you didn't actually but that hardly needed to be brought up at the moment.

"And when she found it I saw exactly where you were hiding it and could have taken it then!" Okay, mostly lying right now.

"Zecora, I have had NUMEROUS opportunities to take that box! So, so many times, and take this damn... amulet whatever inside of it! If I wanted it I would have taken it! Buck it Zecora, I saved Trixie, TWICE, from the cockatrice and Diamond Dogs! I fought off that damn plant monster and we've rutted for buck's sake! Don't you think by now I've earned SOME of your bucking trust?!" Now that was true. And as you made this argument, you saw Zecora hesitate, flinch before the strength of your conviction... before gathering back her own, and answering back.

"If you were not following the amulet's trail,

why come out now when darkness prevails?"

But that is beside the point; if that scream wasn't Zecora, that means there is somepony in danger out there that you need to find and save!

No, buck this. You are not having this argument in the middle of the Everfree during a storm. Incidently, it clearly wasn't Zecora's scream you heard so you may want to go check that out. If nothing else pulling a Big Damn Hero will give you some ammunition in the coming spat. Even if, based on prior experience, this blows up in your face.

More importantly, you don't have time for this crap! You heard a scream, somepony's in trouble—does Zecora want to let whoever that is frikkin' die or something? Isn't she supposed to be some kind of healer? She should be better than this. If there wasn't somepony out there who needs your help, you should have a longer discussion about that:

Try to convince Zecora you'll talk about this later, after you save whoever's been screaming out here.

You were given these powers for a reason, and right now that reason is to save the life of the young mare screaming for help. Perhaps heaping another good deed onto what your powers help you to accomplish will convince your Zebra.

Look her in the eyes and tell her that you came out here because you heard a scream, someone is in trouble.

You took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself a little, before responding.

"I heard a scream."

"A-"

"Yes, a scream! I heard a scream coming from the Everfree and I was worried that you might have been hurt, so I came and checked!" You shouted, completely destroying what little accumulated calm you had gained and probably coming off as an ass, but buck it you were aggravated! For Cel- ... for some as-yet-to-be-determined higher power's sake, there was a bucking storm on the way! And you were being accused, essentially, of being evil, and then being threatened with your death because of said evil! You were rather pissed off at the moment!

Zecora however blinked at that, and frowned... Slowly, thoughtfully, she spoke, keeping steady contact with your eyes.

"... For some time I have been out here,

But never once did a scream I hear."

You blinked at that, a little surprised... Then shook your head.

"Well maybe it was the damn wind picked, or I mistook the sound, or it was somepony else who needs help and you were too far away, or too busy to notice, but I swear that I wasn't following you over any damn amulet! I certainly wasn't going to try to track it down, in the Everfree, at night, during a storm, with one leg bandaged up, after I JUST got finished being tossed around like a bucking ragdoll, by a big damn plant-animal-hybrid monster, that is now sitting in a bamboo cage, up on the bucking wall!" You screamed before stopping to take some deep, heavy breaths, very nearly panting... You... you were really angry right now. Buck, you were almost LIVID! This was so unfair! All of this was so damn unfair! It made you want to scream! And shout, and rage, and just, just, just GGGRRRAAAAHHH!!!

I think it would be best to use some electricity from this lovely storm we're having and give her just enough of a shock to paralyze her and make her hair stand on end. Then, we could keep her around while we find a way to make her forget this little debacle ever happened...

If Zecora isn't going to help you save her, then it's time to put her on the ground with some lightning and go! You can get her apology (and apologize for the shock) later!

If necessary, try to overpower her without hurting her... too much.

First off; you're an idiot when it comes to understanding social situations and generally speaking to others. I was hoping to have a more manipulative antagonistic bastard, but clearly this isn't going to work on the more intelligent victims. A shame; emotional manipulation tends to hurt much more than any physical torture you can inflict on people.

With this in mind, lets break down the current situation. Zecora is onto you due to your aforementioned idiocy. Normally I would suggest to use a silver tongue to convince her that your intentions are pure, but your tongue is less silver and more rusty iron, mutated purple or no. The way I see it, we have two options. You spontaneously gain mental manipulation abilities to either erase your idiocy from her mind or bend her will to yours, or you kill her. The former is a lot less likely than the latter, so let's discuss the latter.

Pros and Cons

Cons:

You lose a wonderfully informed explosives/poisons savant.

You lose an outlet for your annoyingly prevalent sexual habits.

You probably won't find the Alicorn Amulet.

Finding your way back to the hut may be a bit tricky, but not impossible.

Those certainly aren't good. Let's discuss what would be a plus.

Pros:

You end a sapient life for the first time. They say the first time is the most memorable.

You're curious about the reactions of a dying person, such as the look of pain and shock on their face. Sounds invigorating!

You will feel like a god with complete control over someone's life and death. That power is fun to think about!

You would finally have a significant influence on something after being a loser your whole life.

The betrayal and hurt in her eyes whilst you do the deed will cause a twinge in your heart; not a good twinge or a bad twinge, but a fascinating one you will probably want to feel again because it makes you feel alive.

You're in the Everfree. It's not like her dying here would be far-fetched. No suspicion for you!

Free reign with Trixie and a free forest hut!

You can tell Trixie that she died while hiding the Alicorn Amulet from her, destroying her with the guilt of having been directly responsible for someone's death, especially someone who took her in. Bonus points if she commits suicide from the psychological torment!

If Trixie doesn't kill herself, then she'll be even more vulnerable and you will be the only one in her life that 'cares' about her and 'forgives' her for all of her sins. She will worship you.

As you can see, killing the stripey one is the best option. Method of death? Slit her throat so she can't scream for help, and set her on fire with your new fire abilities while she bleeds out for extra suffering on her part and removal of evidence (if the suffering isn't enough reason, you pansy). Purple fire is pretty, especially whilst charring a writhing zebra.

With love, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

Killing Zecora is definitely a last resort. Until that becomes necessary, if you can't convince her with words, convince her by force.

Your breathing was heavy and rapid. Moisture was building up in the corners of your eyes. Sweat was starting to appear on your brow as you ground your teeth together and glared ahead at the zebra in front of you. A rage was building up in you, a rage that was eating away at your insides. And you had no trouble giving it voice.

"I mean what the buck Zecora!? I've been beaten, bludgeoned, battered, and bruised! I woke up cold and alone in this damn forest and ever since I've been attacked by everything from Timberwolves to Cockatrices, to big bucking plant animal monster things that grew out of a damn cloak!" You shouted, the wind picking up and gusting through your mane.

"And now THIS!?!? You, of all ponies, YOU turning on me!? Do you have any idea how important these changes are to me!? Do you have any idea what I WAS?! How hard, how BUCKING hard it is, just to live, being me, without a damn Cutie Mark, for so many years, so, many, BUCKING years!? Why!? Why did you have to do this to me!?" You shouted, losing all semblance of cool and order as very unstalliony tears began to roll down your cheeks, and all the hurt and pain just seemed to scream out from you.

Zecora's eyes widened at this, and she actually started to step back slowly.

"I have done noth-"

But characteristic of you as of recent you interrupted her words with your continued rage.

"WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LET ME BE SOMEPONY!?!?" You roared, and as you did so something strange happened. Your rods snapped up on your back. You didn't remember twitching the muscles, but up they came, and as they did so lightning flashed... and struck your rods. The electricity began dancing back and forth, energy coursing through your body. It was a pleasant feeling. A powerful feeling! And between the power and the rage, you... lost control. The muscles of your back twitched, the lightning bolt shot forward, and in time with the-

BOOOOOM!

Of the thunder-storm, struck Zecora.

Zecora had started to back up further when the lightning struck your rods, but that didn't help. The lighting zapped through the air, arching in a bright golden lance towards the now frightened zebra, and struck Zecora's chest, just below the golden rings of her neck. It hit the small sack that she had hung from her neck, and in an instant it exploded. BOOM. In a flash of green powder, billowing out into a thick cloud, like a smoke bomb, as Zecora's body flew back straight-first into the tree behind her with a-

THUD!

The zebra slumped down onto her haunches, her head hanging low, eyes closed, the fur below the rings smoking lightly, the entire front of her chest and her face coated with a green powder.

You blinked... ... ... and just... stood there for several moments. Having some... trouble comprehending exactly what it was that had just happened. Another flash of lightning, and a thunderous boom seemed to snap you out of your daze though, and you shook your head before slowly folding your rods back down to your back.

"... Z-... Zecora?" You muttered, softly... ... and of course got no response from the still mare. You gulped down the third lump in your throat, and slowly staggered forward towards the motionless mare, dreading every step. You didn't... you didn't really MEAN to do that, did you? Of course you needed her out of the way, but... but wasn't that a bit much? What if she was dead? She couldn't be dead!? Could she?! No, no, no she was just sleeping, just sleeping, and when you got to her, you'd see that. Yeah, you'd, you'd check, and she'd be fine, and you wouldn't be a murderous buck. Although... wouldn't that have a certain... erotic appeal? A kind of sensual enjoyment? A delicious sense of... POWER...

NO! BUCK NO! You, you didn't want Zecora dead! She was too valuable! Far too valuable for you! And you cared about her! And other shit! Buck it she'd better be alive!

You shook your head free of the aggravating thoughts, and finished your approach to her still body. It was still coated with green powder from the bag explosion, and the rope that had been holding it was now lying on the grass by her side, edges frayed and blackened... You were actually kind of surprised that the lightning hadn't gone up to Zecora's golden loops and run through them. Lightning was attracted to metal after all, or the tallest object. To hit just there was a little... strange. But you were glad that it had. You didn't see any scaring on your zebra, and it looked like the bag had taken the brunt of the force. Still, you were nervous... Holding your breath, you leaned down slowly, turned your head, and placed your right ear to Zecora's chest, not even daring to twitch as you listened... and heard Zecora breath, and felt her chest rise with the breath.

You exhaled out heavily, relief washing over you as you confirmed that your zebra was still alive... You leaned back with a relieved smile, looking to her form illuminated in the firefly lamplight, allowing yourself just a moment of calm and relief in what was turning out to be a very hectic night.

Plip.

You blinked, as a wet drop struck your nose.

Plip plip.

Another on your head, and a second in the middle of your back. Slowly, with a feeling akin to trepidation, you looked upwards...

Yes! Good minion you have fire, this makes me very happy. But as much as I enjoy the delicious taste of roasted zebra the mere IDEA of losing an explosives specialist is unthinkable! Just THINK of all that DELICIOUS NAPALM gone to waist before we even SEE an orphanage! Tell her we have Ponies to BURN! I mean SAVE! But if her soul proves to be nothing but a chilling torrent of water and she won't listen to reason then NEITHER SHALL WE!!! BURN HER AND THIS PYRO DAMNED FOREST TO THE GROUND!!! MAY YOUR FURY BE EVERLASTING!!!

-PYRO THE RED

OH! Almost forgot! In the event that the forest is improved exponentially by my previous and wonderfully fiery advice go get Your dog and planimal (Who will soon be a loyal fire breathing minion if I have any say about it) and escape. At the very least the dog can be a scapegoat and at most a HUGE and possibly FIERY asset. FIREWORKS MAY NOT BE NAPALM BUT THEY ARE SOMETHING DAMN IT!!!

-With Hugs and Ashes

PYRO THE RED

BOOOM!

Another crash of thunder, another lightning bolt in the sky... And the storm broke loose. Rain began pouring from the skies above down onto you and the unconscious zebra, wetting your mane and fur, making it stick to your flesh. You felt the cold again, rattling in your bones, broken from whatever fear and rage induced trance had allowed you to ignore the elements before. You shivered, a chill running up your spine, your teeth set to chattering without your permission. Cold, cold, too bucking cold! You needed heat, you needed fire! And luckily... luckily you had just recently been granted a ready supply...

Closing your eyes you breathed in deep, and focused for a moment. You felt the magic in your body, the energy, and focused on a small patch beneath the horn. You pulled it up, separating it from the rest of the energy in your body, focused it into your horn, pulling it up with a bit of effort and...

FWOOSH!

Purple fire flared up around your horn, once again illuminating the forest around you with purple flame, discoloring the light from the firefly lantern and, more importantly, generating heat to drive the chill from your bones. The purple flames grew out of your horn and circled around it, casting a light and warming you up. You sighed out in relief, feeling the heat wash over you even as the rain continued to fall, chasing away the cold and letting your body warm up... But you could feel the strain already. You weren't used to magic, and this was taking some effort to keep up. You couldn't stay out here in these conditions, it was only a matter of time before you lost your fire and caught your death from cold... And not just you...

She's still your Zebra snuggletoy. Even if she's been awfully arrogant and unfair to you. But! You'll forgive her. She's just confused right now, confused and irritated. She probably needs some help, too. Later on, you can talk things through; maybe after Zecora got some sleep herself. Maybe you'll even help her with getting some—she drugged you, right? Alright, you'll drug her back. After a nice, restful sleep, everything will be much better! You'll speak to her sleeping form, you will; tell her that you'll forgive your Zebra for being arrogant, and mean, and paranoid; all things she doesn't need to be when you're around. She wants to be your little herd plaything along with Trixie, and you'll remind her. Maybe you'll even need to punish Zecora a bit... for her sake. She obviously wants it as bad as Trixie now. You'll oblige.

If things went south with Zecora to such an extent that she wouldn't trust anything you give her, make Trixie do it instead. Trixie is on the right path already, so she gets to help Zecora realise her potential. If Zecora is unlikely to take drugged food/drinks from you, Trixie will give it to her instead. They both want to be yours, you'll be damned before you let them wiggle out of what they so obviously desire!

And if, Stars forbid, things really went south, you might need to restrain Zecora. If Trixie wasn't horn-indisposed right now, she could help with that. You remember she had some rather interesting rope tricks... probably practiced them on herself whenever she could, little masochist she is. Anyhow: If necessary, you may need to tie up Zecora so you can give her the sleep-inducing drugs. Ah, she'll probably like it, once she's admitted to herself that she wants to be your herdmare. Just tell her that while she sleeps, too. She'll forgive you.

You looked back to Zecora, slumped against the tree, her breathing steady but soft, the rain water mixing into the green powder on her face and chest turning it into a kind of pasty mush sticking to her fur... ... You couldn't just leave her like this. Yes she might have been unfair to you, yes she might have been... confused. But she was still your zebra lovebug. She was still important, valuable to you, and while her actions might require some... less than entirely gentle responses on your part later on, you couldn't just abandon her here to the storm, and that made things more... difficult.

Scream or not you had NO IDEA where the screamer's origins were now. If it wasn't Zecora then it was either some kind of noise that just sounded like screaming or somepony else, and if Zecora didn't hear it then said pony probably wasn't anywhere near the direction she'd just come from, which was the direction were more or less going, meaning that even if it was a pony in danger you were probably already way off. And on top of that you were cold, in the middle of the Everfree at night, during a storm, with one leg bandaged up, and an unconscious zebra. Finding your way back to the hut, which you probably weren't too far from given your reduced movement speed, would be a difficult enough chore. And you couldn't just leave Zecora here, so you'd need to take her back, make sure she was safe and... handle things as they came up. After all, you could give her some medicine to keep her sleeping while you spoke to her, or even tie her up if you really needed to, but you and she both needed to be at the actual HUT for that to happen.

So, you needed to get her and yourself back to the hut and handle things from there... Which only left the rather annoying question as to how to go about it...

Author's Note

Heya. I don't feel as though this is my best chapter ever, however it is highly overdue. I've been in a slump as of recent, and am only now starting to get energy to get back to my projects and do things that I care about again. Sooooo... hope this is okay. Thank you for your patience, and I hope that this didn't get botched.

Now, I'd like to go ahead and please remind everyone participating in this, that... I don't pick and choose what suggestions I use. I do my best to take all of them, and really hope I don't miss any of them at final cut because I do a lot of reorganizing typically, and turn them into something that has a piece of what the ponies want to see, or at least show that the suggestion was taken into account. Do I worry about how well I do this and if anyone feels left out? Yes, a lot, however that is what I try to do. The reason for this isn't just because I value your contributions. I greatly enjoy your participation, and I absolutely LOVE when you lot break out into debates and logical arguments, scheming and plotting in the comments. That sort of thing makes my day. However the reason I try to make sure that I include all of the Host advice, even the parts that I, quite honestly, think are extremely idiotic, is because the day that I start distinguishing between your advice, and what I THINK your advice SHOULD be is the day that this game dies. As much cutting as I have to do get the chapters into readable format, I try to make sure that you can see the contribution you have, because this is BUILT on reader contribution, and without it it's just no fun. Reader contribution is the lifeblood of this fic, and when that stops, so does the fic, and my deciding what is appropriate or not in the contribution sections, is a good way to get the contribution to stop.

So please, please, please remember... this is a group effort. Even if you disagree, please be polite to one another. I'm starting to see a bit of... cattiness? In the discussions, and I would just like to remind everyone... Just because we're making a villain, doesn't mean we have to be jerks to one another. Please, even when you disagree, remain respectful of one another and don't discourage contribution between members. Because I NEED contribution to keep this going, and I don't want to miss out on impressive thoughts and plans and plots because people got angry with each other and stopped discussing things to just outright reject them... So that's my plea, and if it sounds aggressive I apologize, however I felt that it needed to be said... Thank you for reading and considering.

One Rainy Night

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain... life-giving, coat-drenching, chill-inducing, sniffle-inciting, unwanted, unwelcome, BUCKING NIGHTMARE-DAMNED RAIN!!! ... And you couldn't even blame it on the pegasi... bucking Everfree...

The rain continued its relentless and completely unsympathetic downpour upon you as you struggled through the forest. And that was the only word for it, not walking, or trotting, or even trudging, but struggling, struggling every damn inch of the way! Because your left foreleg was in a sling, your zebra was unconscious, and you were loaded down with her CRAP! You'd slung her firefly lantern around your neck so that the loop was resting against the base of said neck and the actual light-casting lantern was hanging in front of your chest. It provided light in the dark of the night, so it wasn't a complete bucking annoyance, but the flame-cone thing on your horn was also lighting your way, albeit in a purple tint, so really the lantern wasn't doing shit for you. You'd also had to pick up her saddle-bags, complete with bamboo staff, and fasten them on your back. Then, because there wasn't another good place to grab onto her, and you could barely carry her on your back when ALL your legs were in commission, you'd had to chomp down on her tail and start pulling. And no, zebra tail did NOT taste good. Mainly sweat, hair, and hints of dirt. Not appetizing.

And that was where you were right now. Moving butt-first through the most dangerous forest in Equestria, dragging a zebra by her tail through the quickly muddying dirt, a leg out of commission, your body loaded down with junk, you having to stop every few moments to look over your shoulder just to see where you were going, and you didn't even know if this was the RIGHT BUCKING DIRECTION OR NOT! Your muscles were aching, your sweat was mixing freely with the rain, and your mood was rapidly plummeting to new rage-filled lows.

If there was anything, ANYTHING, that you could be thankful for it was that at LEAST the purple fire cone hugging your horn was keeping the chill from your bones, and sending a steady stream of steam up from the spots where the rain droplets impacted the flame... ... though that was, uh, kinda more of a symbolic revenge against the rain than anything particularly practical... still felt smugly satisfying... BUT maintaining the flame was drying up your horn-based magic reserves AND taxing your stamina, not unlike dragging an unconscious equine through the mud in the deadliest forest in Equestria at night during a storm using only three legs... ... You'd ask yourself what you'd done to deserve this shit but the universe had made it pretty clear that you were to be the world's kicking bag from colthood, so buck it.

your horn and magic don't mix. So blood=magic so more blood from Trixe will give you more workable magic. and hopefully the two will mix and you will be able to use your own hybrid magic.

Your hooves dug into the mud as you grunted and pulled the zebra along, constantly twisting your neck to look back over your shoulders, a painful crick already developing from the movement. You were sore, aggravated, impatient, tugging on zebra tail, and having a decidedly bad night. You didn't even care that there was probably some sexual innuendo you could make about tugging on zebra tail. You were just THAT pissed.

You stopped for a few moments to rest, snorted out heavily, teeth still clenched down on Zecora's tail, then breathed in deep through your nose, started pulling again and-

"HNGH!"

Your eyes went wide and your right foreleg immediately shot to your stomach as it was suddenly gripped in a sharp, ferocious pain. Your left foreleg pulled against it's cloth constraints to try to get to your belly, and your mouth flew open, letting go of Zecora's tail-hair as you shot up onto your back-legs, more out of reflexive muscle movement than practical reasoning. You stumbled backwards, gasping for breath as moisture built up in your eyes, your left back hoof sliding forward in the mud out from under you and-

SLIP!

PLOP!

Your plot hit the mud, coating your flank in the cold, wet, dirt, sending a sudden and focusing chill up your spine. Between the sudden shot of stomach pain and the sudden shock of cold, your concentration was thrown off and-

pft.

The fire-cone around your horn snuffed out, with an unimpressive noise reminiscent of passing wind and not a single ounce of regard for your well-being. As the fire bid it's impromptu and undesired farewell with a 'buck-you' to your health thrown in for good measure, the pain in your gut subsided with it's cruel goal achieved and the damage done. The protective warmth gone, your teeth began to chatter in response to the immense chill spreading out through your body. Between the rain, the wind, and the mud caking your bum, there was no shortage of shiver inducing cold-sources, and you began desperately reaching back into the small foreign magic-cluster below your horn to get your fire-cone started again so you could continue your daily appointed schedule of not freezing to death!

Your grasping internal tendrils of magic-sucking expanded from your horn, and ventured back into the small patch of energy just below it. You almost began to panic when you found it seriously depleted. The duration of the fire-cone's life had been short but expensive. Already the power cache felt close to empty, eaten up in creating the flame. There was still some there though, and while it probably wouldn't last long, and would be a mother-rutter to utilize, it was still worth the cost to stave off this bucking cold, even for a few seconds! You bit your lower lip and squeezed your eyes shut, working hard to pull the dregs of sweet unicorn energy up from their tiny magic cache and into your horn. Slowly, but surely, you felt the slivers move into the bone-like protrusion, starting to pool, inch their way up towards the tip and-

BOOOOOOOOM!

A brilliant burst of lightning flashed accompanied by a particularly loud roar of thunder. The sudden close-sounding crack and bellow of the storm caused your eyes to snap wide, your heart to ramp up a few beats per minute, and your focus to COMPLETELY shatter in response. You lost your hold on the magic as it reached the tip, the purple energy sparking away from your horn uselessly into the mud before you, all that effort wasted in the bat of an eyelash.

"OH BUCK YOU TO!!!" You shouted up at the sky. Only to catch some rainwater in your mouth and eyes, the Everfree showing you what it thought of your attitude. You shook your head, spitting out the water for the sake of spite, letting a growl roll low in your throat as you blinked your eyes a few times to clear away the unwelcome liquid, then held them shut tight, trying to concentrate again on drawing magic into your horn... Only to find the tap run dry.

It was empty. Finished. Kaput. The last dregs of energy had been expended and what was left in the tiny magic cache beneath your horn wasn't enough to light a damn candle. You could feel some more energy gathering in the cache, but nowhere near quickly enough. Your body wasn't suited to the production of this magic, not like Trixie's was... Trixie... ... It was after you took her blood that you first gained your horn... ... perhaps, if you'd taken some more of it, then you would have had more magic to work with... Maybe, hypothetically, in a purely imaginary setting, Trixie's blood could act as a buffer to your own abilities, make you stronger... Perhaps you should devote some thought to the future pursuit of Trixie blood? A few red liquid donations from the local showmare could allow you to test this purely fanciful and imaginary theory...

Perhaps you should find shelter nearby minion for you and your Zebra. Maybe even start a fire (preferably very large) to stop you from freezing to death in this Damon storm you got yourself lost in. Preferably there will be a cave or something nearby for you to shelter in. After all you and I both know how shit you are with directions.

But that was an experiment for another purely hypothetical time, right now you had other shit to worry about. You were cold, tired, angry, and in the middle of the Everfree while there was a bucking storm going on. Plus, because you were absolute shit with directions, it was likely that even if Zecora's hut was over the next DAMN incline, or just around the next BUCKING tree, you wouldn't be able to find it if it became sentient, grew legs and a mouth, got up, chased after you, and bit you in the flank! And considering the kind of shit that went on in this forest that wasn't even an unlikely a scenario.

All in all it was a bad BUCKING situation to be in and you were stuck smack dab in the middle of it. You needed some kind of shelter, someplace to hide, like a cave or some shit like that. You probably weren't going to find a cave though, not in the middle of a bucking forest. And as tall as these trees were their canopies didn't exactly seem to be eager to block out the rain. Then there was the whole problem of lightning being attracted to tall trees... ... ... and you. You hugged your rods down to your back a little tighter, just for reassurance.

You looked around, gritting your teeth together, the firefly lantern swinging from your neck, casting the light about the trees and making shadows flicker. You weren't exactly sure what you were looking for. Well, yeah you were, you were looking for shelter, but buck if you were going to find any. After all, it wasn't like some suitable shelter was just going to pop up into your sight because you happened to be looking for it! That sort of shit never happened in real-

You stopped your thoughts and your eye movement as the light illuminated something... or rather the absence of something. You blinked, then furrowed your brows, peering closer at the offending spot in the dark as you tried to identify it and after a few moments came to a simple conclusion... it was a hole.

You turned, leaving Zecora alone in the mud for the moment, and approached the hole with inquisitive eyes, lamp swinging in front of you. As you got closer, more details became clear. It was wide, dug out in front of a nearby tree with an equally wide tunnel angled back towards aforementioned tree. It looked about the size of a Diamond Dog, like the one you saw when you rescued Trixie for the second time. But it didn't look nearly as deep as the hole that Diamond Dog had climbed out of. It looked more like the entrance to some sort of burrow, despite it's size.

But buck it if solving the mystery of the odd-sized hole mattered to you right now. While it wasn't exactly ideal, or non-conspicuous, it WAS a way to get you out of this cold mother-rutting ass-licking piss-drinking buck-hungry rain, and big enough for you to reasonably be able to drag Zecora back out when you wanted to leave. Even if it did have a Diamond Dog inside, or something weirder, you could just utilize your sound rods like last time. Or cut it up with your blade... Buck, it might actually be better if there was something to cut up. Get some bucking stress relief...

In any case, caution be damned, you were taking this hole. You turned back to Zecora and, with the kind of urgency that only shattering chills and pouring rain could bring about, moved your flank over to the unconscious mare. With a grunt and a few mumbled curses, you clamped your mouth around her tail again, which had been laying in the mud and was now oh sooooooo much tastier because of it, and tugged her back over to the wide mouth of the short tunnel. You stopped and let go of the tail, stumbled around to Zecora's front, then shivering, impatient, and lacking in ceremony, you began to shove Zecora down into the hole with your head. It took a few tries but the zebra budged easily enough, and with one more push you nudged her over the edge of the hole and into the dark, sending her tumbling down with her legs flailing... it wasn't very far, so you weren't particularly worried about the drop hurting her. No more than getting dragged around through the Everfree by her tail anyways.

You then leaned back to grasp the bamboo stick in your teeth and slide it out of it's loop, before chucking it down the hole after the zebra. You considered chucking down the saddle-bags to, but you were pretty sure you could fit in the hole even with them on, and didn't want to risk them spilling out... whatever the buck was in them.

As the stick slid down after the zebra, you ducked low and went in face-forward, moving down through the short span of the tunnel, and coming out into a small dirt-cave arrangement with roots descending from the ceiling. Long, curly, thick roots actually, that you bumped your head against forcing you to hunch down after a quick grumble. Aside from that, the dirt-cave burrow was fairly spacious. You weren't going to move a pool-table down here and make it a game room, but you could stretch out fairly easily if you wanted to. You looked down to see Zecora AND Zecora's favorite stick lying on the dry dark dirt beneath you, and out of the goodness of your heart, pushed, prodded, tugged, and pulled them both away from the tunnel mouth, fully out of the rain and cold, to the center of the burrow.

The shelter wasn't perfect. Big shocker. Though it was mostly dry some drops of water still found their way through the soil-comprised ceiling and down to the dirt around you, and there was still a noticeable chill, even out of the wind. But it was nowhere near as bad as being out in the middle of the storm and was as good a place as any to lay your head until the torrent passed. You sighed, lowering said head and slipping the firefly lantern from your neck to sit in the room, letting it cast it's light about, flickering on the walls... You unfastened the saddle bags as well, shrugging them off and onto the dirt next to the lantern, before collapsing, almost literally, onto your side in the thankfully dry dirt. You closed your eyes and breathed in deep, then out slowly, keeping up a pattern of steady rhythmic breathing as you let exhaustion take you... ... ... ... you'd had a rough night.

And now she's unconcious. Right, lightning stirkes are known to scrable thoughts, so buck knows what Zecora will remember when she comes to. So we need to deal with that. Talking to sleeping ponies has worked ok for you so far, and even better they don't talk back and piss you off. Also we need to have this dealt with before Marshmallow shows up with your new clothes. You do not want Harmony investigating you.

After that go about reprogramming your property while it's down,and I'm not talking about suggestions while she sleeps, no these WILL BE ORDERS AND FACTS above ALL ELSE! OUR WORD IS THE LAW! AND SHE IS THE POWERLESS SERVANT OF IT! When she is away you will have her follow your word above all others, and if this should work you shall repeat the treatment to your dog trixie and your planimal soon to be minion. Should you face any unforseen problems from the wild life well, YOU DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THEIR CRAP BURN THEM INTO OBLIVION!!!

Hugs and kisses! -Pyro the Red

Goodness gracious, Blankey-Blank. You really are not good at this whole 'evil' thing, are you? Doing something like murder only half-way never amounts to anything good. She is now alive to tell the tale of how you struck her with lightning. That's not a tale you want being told right now. But for the sake of my softhearted companions, I suppose letting her live is alright... depending on the circumstances. See if you can use your rusty iron tongue to talk your way out of this one once she wakes up. If you can't get her to keep her damned gob shut, and if you can't get her to agree with your sentiments, then finish the job and make sure she's dead afterwards. Remember; if you kill her, eye contact is key!

Try to have this conversation about you before you return to the hut, if you can. This way, if it goes south and you need to kill her, you can still pile guilt onto Trixie by telling her she's the reason Zecora died!

Sincerely, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

On another note, though, we simply must discuss your zebra. I mean, what is this? She turns on you, accuses you, tries to weaken you and take away what make you yourself? I mean, what if these transformations are what you get instead of a cutie mark, eh? Maybe they're your destiny? How dare she turn on you like that, betraying your trust?! Your love?!

Killing her outright isn't the best option, no, but you need to convince her that you know best. More importantly, though, you need to tell her how she hurt you. Think of all those near-starvation nights in Manehattan! Think of the cold winter months, where you would risk death and disease! Think of all the people who rejected you, allowed you to suffer so because you had no cutie mark! Zecora was the first person to ever accept you, or so you thought, the first to care for you and give you love! But now?! She tries to take away your birthright, accuses you of trying to betray her, and threatens you with death! How could she do this to you? How? All your life you've been spit on and beaten by your surroundings, and when you finally meet somebody who loves you and cares for you, she betrays you! You want her to know what she's done to you! How she's hurt you! Make sure she regrets everything she's done to hurt you, make her grovel and beg for forgiveness! And if she refuses to see reason, well, there are other options open to us.

You lay there with your eyes closed for a few moments, just breathing in and out, slowly, regularly, just letting the exhaustion wash over you and your aching muscles... ... After a couple minutes of this, you sighed heavily, then opened your eyes and looked over to Zecora, laying in the dirt across from you, past the firefly lantern with it's light playing across her coat... ... she looked pretty terrible. The green powder from before had been turned into a thick, paste-like substance, spread across her face, mouth, and front of her chest, sticking to her fur. Then, her legs, back, sides, and hooves, had all become dirty, streaked with mud and with twigs and leaves stuck to them, your rough pulling thoroughly messing up her coat. And also muddying her golden rings while you were at it.

"... ... You look terrible." You spoke, honestly, before smirking slightly, finding a kind of strangely soft humor in that tiny truth. You remembered when you first saw her, how beautiful she looked... that beauty was still there, but now it was buried underneath the filth you'd dragged her through... Kind of made you feel a bit guilty. Not that much though. She did betray you...

You slowly, laboriously rolled over onto your back, laying your head back down on the dirt, eyes towards the ceiling, just staring at the curled thick roots, descending through the dirt from the tree above. You listened to the sound of the rain and thunder outside, and watched as a little droplet of water rolled squeezed it's way out from the dirt above and onto one of the roots, following it's curved body down to the tip, then slowly forming into a tiny water balloon... and dripping straight down onto your nose with a tiny-

plop

As it landed smack dab on the tip... ... And then you smiled. A closed-lipped smile that once again found a soft humor in your environment, and then you chuckled softly, closing your eyes as you let the stress from your body pour out, having dealt with way too much shit today to be worried about a water droplet... ... You opened your eyes and turned to look at Zecora again for just a moment, still smiling softly... before looking back to the dirt ceiling, and finally speaking again.

"It's not as bad as Manehatten you know... The storm I mean. Well, the storm itself is actually worse I guess, the rain falls fast, the wind blows hard, the cold eats through to your bones... It's wilder, more violent here. Deadlier even than the winters in Manehatten, where I was shivering next to burning barrels and fighting the wind gusting through my bones, but even that was kept in check... ... You see, in Manehatten the rains, the storms, the weather, is all controlled and regulated. Storm schedules are put in the paper and posted up for everypony to see. Everypony knows they're going to happen and plans accordingly... or gets so caught up in things that they don't plan and, well, get wet. But the thing about those storms is that... they didn't inspire panic. They weren't terrible or horrible or violent. They were professionally planned affairs, regularly administered for established lengths of time. And because of that they weren't something to run from... they were just something to sit through." You sighed, and closed your eyes, a resigned smile on your face.

"Other ponies were busy you see. Everypony in Manehatten was busy. When they were inside, taking shelter from the rain, they were doing something else to. Cleaning, or cooking, or writing, or rutting. Whatever they wanted to. And the ponies out in the rain, they were busy, otherwise they wouldn't be out in the rain in the first place. They were rushing somewhere to do something important, or back from somewhere where they had just done something important... here and there, moving constantly, so caught up in the importance of their own lives that they barely even looked around or noticed the rain... As for me... well, I was usually in a cardboard box, or underneath a blanket. Found an abandoned camping tent once... that lasted me a while..." You sighed again, then opened your eyes and turned to look to Zecora once more, continuing on conversationally.

"I had no place to go, is the point I guess. Nothing to do. Everypony else had somewhere to be, and something to do. Something to occupy their time, to keep busy, to keep mobile, to keep DOING something... But when the rain came, I had nothing to do. It didn't inspire terror, or movement. It was unpleasant but not so terrible that I'd die if I didn't escape from it, but it was unpleasant enough to stop me from scrounging, or begging, because there was nopony else on the street and because even if I did find good things, they'd get wet and ruined by the rain if I tried to get them at the time. Or at least that's how it all felt, so I was just... immobile. Stagnant. Doing nothing, with no goals, no purpose, and no motivation... All the rains in Manehatten were to me was a stopwatch freezing my life in place... and reminding me of how truly useless I was..." You kept smiling, even as the edges of your eyes began to tear up and your vision blurred, you kept the resigned smile towards the unconscious mare.

"So this? This terrifying rain that you have to run from, that you have to actively seek a way to avoid, is so much better... because it makes me move, instead of just staying still and waiting for one more day of uselessness... It makes me fight to stay alive... and so it makes me feel alive..." You closed your eyes and looked back up to the ceiling, trying to ignore the hot sensation building up behind your eyes.

"My whole life I've been stagnant, unwanted, unneeded, and unused... Nothing to do and nowhere to go, no reason to apply myself to anything because I'd already applied myself to everything and been found unnecessary. Oh sure I was ridiculed, bullied, looked down on in school. The foals there were as cruel as you might expect. But by the time I'd grown up that had stopped. As a stallion I was just ignored. Avoided, shooed away, excluded, and passed by without a second thought and... and I think I kind of preferred the bullying, to just not mattering anymore. Being the subject of ridicule, to just being something nopony wanted to see..." You gulped down a lump in your throat, you blinked your eyes a few times, tiny rain drops just happening to emerge from them as you did so and rolling down your cheeks, a little hotter than normal, but certainly just rain drops and not something infinitely less stallion-like.

"And then... then I woke up in the Everfree forest. And I didn't know what was happening or why. I was confused, I was lost, and then the thunder came, promising a storm. And just by the power of that thunder I knew it wasn't going to be one of the storms I was used to. Deep down in my gut, I knew that it was different... And I ran from it. I looked for shelter, sought it out actively, I was so afraid. Of everything by then, not just the storm, but it was that storm that really drove me forward and into the castle that night, that storm that forced me to move into a place that was strange, dangerous, and new, that storm that... that got me to meet you... And also fight some bucking Timberwolves, get a sword, and grow back rods, but that's not bucking important! That's where you found me, remember?! I don't really because I was unconscious by then, but it was all because of that wild, uncontrollable storm, and my fear, and all the running and..." You stopped before your voice got choked up, then moved your right foreleg up over your eyes. You rubbed it back, and forth, removing the excess of water that had gathered there. You took a deep shuddering breath, then exhaled slowly... Before lowering your right forehoof back down to the ground next to you, and opening your eyes.

"And here in the Everfree, here in the last few bucking days, I've been more alive than I've been since colthood. No... no even more than then, because I felt like I had you to help me along. Do you understand what it means to be talentless Zecora? To be useless!? To be unappreciated and know deep in your gut that there's nothing to appreciate!? And then to suddenly be appreciated by somepony, anypony, much less a beautiful zebra! So exotic, so erotic, so rare and special and brilliant, and yet you still had to go crazy and betray me!!!" This new outburst was accompanied by a well timed-

BOOOOOOM!

Sounding from the storm beyond the hole, though you were a bit tense to appreciate it at the moment. You flung yourself onto your side, opening still wet eyes and glaring over to the still unconscious zebra.

"Do you have any idea how bucking MUCH THAT HURTS!?!? Building me up like that, giving me your support, only to rip it away! I thought you were different damn it! I THOUGHT YOU CARED!!! But no, you had to get jealous, had to get suspicious, had to get paranoid! Why the buck would you do that?! What BUCKING reason would you have for ruining my happiness like that!?!? DAMN IT ZECORA!!!" You closed your eyes again, took a deep breath, and then breathed out slowly again... Then opened your eyes with a sullen glare, looking over to her.

"... ... I still love you Zecora. I still care about you. But I'm not going to let you dictate me anymore. This has got to change. I've been passive for too long, passive when I should have been active, taking it when I should have been dishing it, and that's led us to our current situation... You paranoid, betraying me, and us having to hide in a hole in the mud from an Everfree storm. ... From now on I'm not going to ask you for your love Zecora. I'm not going to ask you to care, or ask you to help. I'm going to DEMAND it... And you're going to obey. Because deep down, you know that that's what you really want..." You muttered, before sighing and looking back up to the ceiling.

"... Buck I wish you were awake for this conversation... ... Though considering I hit you with lightning, maybe it's better that you're asleep... ... Will you even remember that? Does lightning scramble memories? Shit I hope so... could be pretty awkward trying to pick my trenchcoat up from Rarity without Zecora there..." You muttered, brows furrowed as you gazed up at the descending roots and the dirt ceiling.

Well my dear Blank, time to get moving. Now would be a really good time for you to figure out how unicorns levitate things. Now which way back to the hut again?...Wait, what was that sound...the scream again? Out here in the forest, something is...off about the scream. It's coming from everywhere, why couldn't Zecora hear it? What's so diff er...those timberwolves, they did something to you, it's not somepony that was trying to get your attention...maybe it was the forest itself, trying to warn you about Zecora? Put your good hoof on a tree, it probabley has something to show you.

Gaining such a grand amount of knowledge of the forest would be deeply beneficial to us. It simply must be done!

More importantly you are once again in the middle of the Everfree, at night, during a thunderstorm. Nightmare damn it. You really need to start getting the forest to work for you if your going to keep doing that. Start paying attention to it, you've got the blood of the Timberwolf in your veins son, listen to >> MagusNeon and >> TheLordSiffer. Try to connect with the Everfree, you will need it's resources for... things.

You continued to look up to the roots... ... and then blinked. Your ears twitched, and you furrowed your brows... ... ... Something was off. Now that you weren't emotionally pouring your heart out, or running from the lightning, or wallowing in misery and despair, you could hear something... something from the roots like a... like a soft crying? A soft yelling? A soft-

Your eyes went wide. It was the screaming! From earlier! The screams that drew you out into the Everfree! Albeit at a lesser pitch, but it was there! You shot up to your hooves, the three available to you anyways, and looked up to the roots of the tree in wonderment. Well that explained the sound... But then it wasn't a filly in trouble, but the tree? No, the forest itself probably... Giving off not a cry for help but a cry for attention. It wanted something from you and wanted you to have something from it. It wanted to get in your veins... Like the Timberwolf blood... that had to be it, right? That must have been it... because you'd licked up that Timberwolf blood all that time back, now the Timberwolf part of you was calling out to the Everfree, that in turn was calling out to you! And it wanted... in you...

You looked up at the curved thick root closest to your head, eyes still wide, and almost on instinct, stood up on your back legs, lifted your right forehoof and-

SCHINK!

Your blade jutted out, then in one smooth motion you swung your hoof through the air, the blade singing softly and letting out a reverberating-

Thunkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

As it sliced off the tip off of the root. Immediately, green liquid began to ooze out from the tip and you moved your mouth to it. You wrapped your lips around the opened root and suckled on it like a newborn foal would his mommy's teats. You took in the thick, gooey, acrid tasting substance, letting it move into your mouth, coat your tongue, and slink down your throat... And then you fell back, dispelling the blade back into your hoof and coughing as the sap burned down your throat, running your tongue against the teeth of your upper-jaw, dragging it along to get some of the taste off.

Why did you keep DOING that!? ... Maybe you really were a vampony... Born to suck the life juices out of anything... But that soon went to the back of your mind, as whispers moved into your ears, and they began to twitch. You started to hear the world around you in a strange new way... a way that felt like it was creeping into your brain with grasping tendrils... and then-

"AHHHH!!!" A sudden pain in your ears, warmth spreading out behind them, dripping down your fur, and additional red pooling out from inside them. You gritted your teeth together and squeezed your eyes shut, the pain thick and hot and burning, a wiggling sensation accompanying it and then, just as quick as it started, it stopped... and suddenly... you could hear the Everfree's cries clearly...

MUTATION GAINED: Everfree Whispers: In forested areas of the Everfree or near to Everfree trees, the Host may 'listen' to said trees, and gain directional aid. The trees will guide him, through a mixture of feelings, fringe-thoughts, and sounds, to the destination that he is attempting to reach. If the destination is not in the Everfree, the Everfree trees won't be able to help. As a result of this mutation, there is a vein of small green vines, digging into the lower-back of his ears, rising from the base behind his ear, breaking the skin at both points. Mutation is part of the Everfree Legacy.

You could... hear, the way. It wiggled in your ears, signals, vibrations from things you didn't know to a place that you did know... the forest wasn't speaking to you exactly, but you could hear it guiding you, helping you, like a twitch on the edge of consciousness... And suddenly you knew... you knew EXACTLY WHERE ZECORA'S HUT WAS!!!

Almost giddily you shot back up to your hooves, and quickly got Zecora's saddle-bags back onto your back, moved the firefly lantern back around your neck, and then slipping the bamboo staff back through the loop again. It was so close by! You didn't have to wait, you could hear how close it was, hear what direction you needed to go in to get to it! And on the fringes of your hearing, you could hear the abandoned castle you'd been in to, and the spot where you'd first awoken. The patch of blue flowers you'd rolled down into, and where you killed the cockatrice. The glade that you'd slept in near Trixie, and the spot where you'd just fought Zecora, and then several more that were suggestions of places you had yet to see, all of it was yours! You could hear that there was a path to everywhere and anywhere and the Everfree would guide you! BUT right now, only one mattered... the path back to Zecora's hut.

With a grin you chomped down on Zecora's tail and started pulling. Storm or not, now that you knew where you were going, it wouldn't take you more than ten minutes. You could get back to the warm safe! With the stupid blue unicorn and the freaking weird planimal monster thing! That you'd have to deal with! BUCK!!!

No, no, no, that was NOT going to ruin your good mood! Something was finally going right tonight, and Trixie was likely still asleep from having been drugged, and who cared about the bucking planimal?! You'd get in and figure things out from there, but right now, you were going home!

So, filled with excitement and more than a little anticipation, you backed up through the hole again, hooves digging in and pushing you up, dragging Zecora along, moving out of the hole to get back to the hut... your home.

Author's Note

Hello, I want to share this with you. Because I both enjoy this review series, and something he brought up during said review reminded me of the premise of this fanfiction, and how to possible utilize that premise in ways I had not before considered... Something to think about at least for me, I'll leave it to you to develop what opinions you will from the review, and hopefully enjoy it.

FOB Equestria: Bats

Also, I feel good tonight. ... I like feeling good. Hope this chapter helps make you feel good. And I've decided that I'm really going to have to watch until the end of the Season to put this on a proper timeline. There's a good deal from Season 4 I'd like to include or acknowledge, however without knowing how it ends I'm not sure where to put this in Season 4. So, still seeing how that comes along. Also, will be taking down and reposting the Character Tracker as usual, however not sure if I'll actually get to it tonight. Will see, however please don't panic if you don't see it there.

Home Again

Good work Blank Slate. Your link with the forest has grown strong and it will now guide you to any place within it's borders. Now that we know how to get to Zecora's hut, we need to make all speed there so our zebra pet/love can recover.

BUMP

"Urkh!"

THUD

"Oof!"

CLONK

"Bwuk!"

Well, you could add dragging unconscious zebras home to the list of things you didn't do to well. Between ramming your plot into the door, bumping your head against the doorway, and then knocking Zecora's head against the SAME doorway, you could safely say that if zebra-dragging was a sport you would be eternally benched on the sidelines. Not unlike every time the other foals at school had a buck-ball game... ... buck you hated those kids.

With a bit more force than might have been strictly necessary, you dragged Zecora through the doorway and into the hut, not stopping until your plot bumped against her cauldron. You let go of her tail with a relieved sigh, breathing out heavily, and then dragging your tongue against your upper teeth to get rid of the unique taste of zebra tail caked with mud.

"Ekh! Finally..." You muttered to yourself, glad to be out of the cold and wet of the Everfree. You reached back and pulled the bamboo staff from the loop on Zecora's saddle-baskets, before tossing it down onto the floor with a-

CLACK!

You then slipped the iron loop of the firefly lantern from your neck, placing it down on the floor, then awkwardly and grumpily stepping over to the dining table, loosening and unfastening Zecora's saddle-baskets, before tiredly lugging them onto the table. Then, weighty crap effectively removed from your body, you began shaking yourself off like a cat, going down from your head down to the tip of your tail, sending water flying everywhere, including onto your zebra lover, her baskets, the table, and some onto the cauldron to. The admittedly impolite action helped with the chill, but didn't disperse it, and a shiver went through you as a gust of wind blew in through the open door. After giving the doorway a glare, and muttering something about dumb uncontrolled Everfree weather under your breath, you awkwardly stepped over to the open portal into the Everfree.

And most important of all find the Alicorn Amulet with the help of the trees. You need to show her that even if you wear it, you will take it off for her. Afterall what can that piece of crap do to you, you the superpony?

Huh, we know our way around the Everfree. *double take* WE KNOW OUR WAY AROUND THE EVERFREE! Mr Slate, we are never getting lost again, and considering how much you've been doing exactly that lately, this is arguably the best thing to happen since you got here.

You moved your mouth down to the knob of Zecora's doorway, intending to push it closed with your mouth instead of your forehoof, mainly because you didn't feel like falling flat on your flank when your aching hind-legs gave out. But as you started to push the door closed, said door feeling a little wobbly actually, your eyes turned towards the outside, looking into the dark mess of vegetation coated with liquid that was the Everfree during a storm. Your ears twitched slightly, and your brows furrowed.

You... got the strange notion that it might be a good idea to just go out and grab the Amulet right quick... after all, you could find your way around the Everfree now. You didn't have to worry about getting lost! Which was pretty bucking awesome in and of itself. And Zecora hadn't really been all that far away when she came upon you and you and her had your little... altercation. You could go right out, snatch it, and come back, easy as zebra pie! And wouldn't that be a great way to show Zecora that you DIDN'T care about the amulet? If you were wearing it when she woke up, and took it off right in front of her, or some dramatic shit like that, it would be the perfect proof that you didn't care! Yeah... yeah that's what you were going to do, just slip out for a second, let yourself get guided to the amulet's location and-

KAAABOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

The floor beneath you shuddered as a powerful clap of thunder shook the jars and bottles in the shelves, causing your ears to ring, your teeth to vibrate in your mouth, and shooting your heart into overdrive, thumping away like a jackhammer in your chest.

...

...

Your right eye twitched.

...

SLAM!

You pushed the door shut as hard and fast as you could, before turning around and stepping back awkwardly into the hut, your right eye still twitching.

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope! Buck the amulet! NOT worth going back into that damn storm over! You were home, you were safe, and you wanted to keep it that way damn it!

Now, what are we gonna do once we get back home...home, that's got a very nice ring to it. Once we get home, we need to have Trixie make herself useful by cooking a meal for you and Zecora...make sure she knows how to cook first.

Let Trixie prepare a meal.

Once you're home, regardless of whether you found out what Zecora snorted, get Trixie to make you something to eat... if she can, that is. It'll be a chance to help her make her pretty blue plot useful for once, other than being your ogling and spanking toy. Make a mental note to train her some more later.

Home... that's right, this was your home now... ... You closed your eyes and breathed out slowly, lowering your head with a light smile forming on your lips. You... you'd never had a home before... well, you did when you were a colt, but that barely counted... this place was... nice. ... It was nice to have someplace you could call your own... ... it was nice to have a zebra that you could call your own... ... it was nice to own things for once...

Your stomach growled, snapping you out of your appreciative revelry, and into the here and now. The here and now being that you were bucking starving. Damn it! Hadn't you just eaten before that whole damn crazy adventure? Ughhh... Anyways you weren't even sure what Zecora had to eat around here. Oh you were sure that she had SOMETHING. She probably had a lot of edible herbs and plants and bottles and jars that she put into her meals. But buck if you could tell which ones they were. You might have to go outside and eat the grass again... What DID wet grass taste like? Grass was fine enough when it was dry, but wet would stick to your muzzle. Probably be limp and watery, with terrible texture to.

But wait... there was Trixie wasn't there? She was a mare, right? Yeah. And mares knew about cooking and shit like that. Plus she'd been a wandering performer, so blatant sexism aside she probably would have had to learn how to forage on the road. Or just cook for herself or SOMETHING. Though she was kind of a prissy diva bitch, so would she REALLY stoop as low as to prepare her own meals? ... Yeah, she would, she just wouldn't admit it to anypony after she did so. Anyways, might want to get her lazy plot outta bed and make her make something. Beat having to go out into the storm again to chomp down on wet grass... ... or making the damn food yourself. Besides, she could use the training couldn't she? Yeah. She had to get SOMEWHERE in life, and she wouldn't be able to do that without useful skills! And preparing food was a useful skill, sooooooo...

Yep, no doubt about it, Trixie was going to become your food-slave! With that idea firmly entrenched in your mind you turned and stepped over towards the bedroom doorway. You went ahead and stopped just outside, feeling just a tiny bit paranoid for some reason, and peeked your head around the edge, looking in with furrowed brows. Trixie was right where you left her. Over on the side of the bed closest to the wall, with the covers pulled up over the bottom half of her body, her top half uncovered and facing away from you, right foreleg laying on top of the covers. The thunder rolled low outside, and a chill gust of wind came through the bamboo stick window, carrying some chilling droplets of water with it. Trixie didn't seem to react to the gust.

You frowned, then scooted around the doorway's edge and into the room, still a bit clumsily. You walked, your hooves caked with wet Everfree mud, and a chill still clinging to your bones. You shivered with every touch of wind as it came through the window above the bed, and cursed the bucking magic-depleted state of your horn. You walked up to the bed, standing at the edge, and looked at Trixie with narrowed eyes.

"Hey." No response. You narrowed your eyes further.

"... Hey." You spoke again, a little louder. When Trixie didn't respond this time you growled in annoyance, and then moved your right foreleg up onto the edge of the bed. With a bit of effort, because of the lack of access to your left foreleg and your limbs being pretty bucking sore already, you climbed up onto the bed, kicking your hind legs at the edge, and getting the covers muddy in the process of said climbing and kicking. Properly ascended, you took the couple steps across the bed from the point of your ascension, over to where Trixie lay, and proceeded to direct a fresh glare down at her sleeping form.

You leaned down, and began to pointedly nudge your nose into her right shoulder, poking at her to get up.

"Hey. I'm hungry. Hey. Get up. ... Hey! I'm hungry! HEY!" You shouted, getting progressively louder as your constant poking failed to illicit a response from the unconscious mare. With a growl you pulled yourself up onto your hind legs and raised your right foreleg.

SCHLINK!

"Hey you stupid prissy unicorn bitch I said wake the buck up!" You yelled, eyes blazing as you brought your blade down with a-

THUNK!

And just stood there... with the tip of your blade stuck into the wall, a bit to the left and under the window, your own body limp as your hind-legs had collapsed underneath you from exhaustion, your entire form tilted and hanging diagonal, looking down to the mare that was now beneath you...

... ... Well that was thoroughly unimpressive...

Eugh, too much rage, Spanky-Blank. You need to calm down a bit. Stop and smell the blood-spattered roses, take a few deep breaths. Anger is a good enough fuel for malicious acts for a beginner I would suppose, but it always comes back to bite you in the arse. Angry people aren't logical, angry people make mistakes, angry people do stupid stuff. Angry people get baited, angry people get caught, and perhaps worst of all, angry people feel regret after their anger ebbs away!

You need to learn how to enjoy yourself, sadist style! Learn to be a psychopath during all emotional states! Being angry is a sign of weakness! So keep calm, go home, and psychologically torment the unicorn and the zebra. Not because you're mad, but because it's your entertainment for the evening! Who are they to alter your emotional state!? YOU are God here! Their emotions are YOUR plaything, not the other way around! Have fun! Stop being so growly!

Respectfully yours, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

You breathed in deeply... then huffed out heavily, before closing your eyes.

Okay... there was no point in getting angry like this. It was fairly apparent now that Trixie was not going to wake up to your little tantrum. She could not, in one respect or the other, react to your aggressive demands. To keep going on like this would be stupid, foolish, and unproductive... You needed to get a reign on yourself.

You withdrew your blade back into your hoof, and reasserted pressure into your hind-legs, as you moved your foreleg down to get balanced over Trixie. You took a few moments to calm yourself, breathing in and out steadily, letting the rage pour out through with your breath. You looked down then to the sleeping unicorn, her face expressionless and neutral in her sleep, her breaths soft and quiet as her chest moved and down steadily, blissfully unaware of your presence in her knocked-out state. And you smirked.

It was absurd. This weak and useless creature causing such a powerful rage to resound within you... That wasn't how things should be at all. You were a superpony, who was she to have such control over your emotional well-being? Nopony, that was who! The only pony with power over your emotions should be you, and SHE certainly shouldn't be allowed to have even a scrap of control! Why the very thought of-

Your cold and wet dragging an unconscious zebra with you to your home. Your first priority should be to get the both of you war with a nice fire. You may need to drink some blood first, but who cares?!?! Think of the BEAUTIFUL FLAMES you will create! What does it matter it costs a little bit of blood? Doesn't a nice blood smoothie sound good? Hmmmm Iron.... With your powers you could probably survive solely on blood if you wanted to, maybe if you just have a taste...

-Enjoy your meal! Pyrotechnics the Red

P.S. Don't forget to set something on fire, your FREEZING AFTER ALL!!!!

Oh, right. Unconscious Zebra. Well first things first, get home start a fire under the cauldron to warm the both of you up, you're magic should have recharged enough by then to do that at least. If not wake Trixie to... wait Trixie was drugged wasn't she, Nightmare, ok if you can wake Trixie get her to light the fire, otherwise I suppose you can try to recharge of her blood, just saying.

Another breeze blew through the window and set you to shivering again, clenching your teeth together hard to keep them from chattering as the cold flowed down along your spine.

"B-buck!" You muttered, taking the time to utter your expression of disapproval before clenching your jaw again to prevent chattering. Right, sure, emotional growth and shit, whatever, you were still cold!

Ggggrrrrrroooooowwwwwwwwwlllllllll...

... And hungry. Cold and hungry. Well wasn't this fan-bucking-tastic!? No, no, not back to the rage, you were stronger than that. You had problems, now you just needed to find a solution!

You affirmed this to yourself, before nodding once and looking back down to your hooves and the unconscious showpony right beneath them... ... ... ... Solution found.

After all, hadn't Trixie's blood given you a power-boost before? And wasn't blood all nutritional and shit? With like iron in it? Didn't it technically have everything a pony might need to survive? ... And, uh, it wouldn't really be weird to drink from Trixie would it? No, you'd done it already... and it'd be cool in fact. Like being a vampony! And mares were into vamponies weren't they? Yeah, it was a kink, a turn-on, being sucked on by blood-sucking monsters at night, so really you'd just be living out one of her fantas-

Another chill gust found it's way through the window and to your fur, causing your whole body to shake with the chill once more.

"Okay buck thinking I'm cold!" You audibly exclaimed as you raised your right forehoof and let your blade shoot out, sharp and ready. You brought it down to the upper part of Trixie's foreleg, and as you lay down on the bed you put the black crystalline edge to her skin, and gently slid it back, opening up the skin beneath the fur to the sharp black edge. It was a shallow cut, you wanted to feed from her not bleed her out after all, but it did the job. And as you dismissed your blade a brilliant shade of red pooled up and into her fur, staining it crimson, making it clash with the rest of her coat.

Gulping down a lump in your throat, perhaps residual nerves from what few parts of you still thought this might not be quite the best idea, you leaned forward and touched the tip of your tongue to Trixie's bleeding cut, tasting her fur and the red crimson liquid that was still dying it... Your eyes rolled up in your head, as the familiar flavor assaulted your senses... You'd never quite thought about how... warm blood was... you hadn't really focused on the coppery taste of Trixie's blood before... you... rather liked it...

You grinned, and pressed your tongue fully against the cut, slowly lapping up the red like a dog... and as you did so, taking in more of the precious red liquid, your upper jaw began to ache. You blinked, and then winced, and then furrowed your brows as a kind of grinding, groaning, roughly aching pain started to build up in your upper-jaw. And then it kept on building, just building and building until you started to open your mouth in horror, trying to let some air in to stop the pain and-

SPURT!

MUTATION GAINED: Vampony Fangs: The intake of blood and the lapping up of said blood, combined with desires for power and self-visioning as a vampony, has caused you to grow a set of fangs in your teeth. Also, you may now gain partial sustenance from the intake of blood, and taking in unicorn blood causes a slight replenishing of Unicorn magic type. The fangs are essentially extended sharpened canines and have no significant additional power or thickness beyond what can usually be expected from biting, only with very sharp and lengthened teeth. Also non-retractable, which causes a slight speech impediment that you have to work around.

Two little blood-covered molars fell onto Trixie's shoulder, rolling off and onto the bed in front of her chest. Blood, yours, was dripping from your lips in gooey saliva-filled strands, and your mouth felt... full. You blinked, a pair of pained tears running down your cheeks, and moved your tongue around in your mouth, searching for a foreign presence. You found one. In addition to the taste of blood and copper, your tongue found what felt like tooth. A long tooth, where you didn't normally have one, stretching from your upper set down to your lower. Opening your mouth, you moved your tongue again over foreign object, and found a sharp point at the bottom, poking your tongue. ... A fang. You had bucking fangs.

... ... ... Well... ... that was cool.

"Whell thawas-" You start, about to echo your sentiments to the world at large, before stopping, and blinking.

"Whadya bwuk!?" You started again, then blinked a few more times, and shook your head. You gritted your teeth, the action actually not seeming to cause any problems as your upper jaw was just a little in front of your lower, before closing your eyes, breathing in deep through your nose, huffing out slowly... Then once again opening your mouth.

"Whell... migh'tafta 'blegh' migh'ta... Erg, might-have-to... Gowin, going to have to getch-get uushed, used to it..." You spoke, correcting your language before sighing, and shaking your head. These random mutations... sometimes they were just bucking annoying.

You shrugged it off, then leaned forward, stretched out your tongue, and once again began lapping at Trixie's blood while it still came from the cut. There was less of it this time around as her body had started to stop the bleeding, BUT afterwards your stomach stopped growling. AND you felt your tiny cache of unicorn magic fill back up! A win win! For you! Not for Trixie! But buck it she'd get used to it and it was her kink as you'd already established in your brain!

You lifted your fang-stuffed mouth up off of the unicorn's cut, a content smile on your face, and licked your lips. You'd have to compliment Trixie on how her blood tasted later. If she could keep making it, you could keep drinking it. Definitely your food-slave now. Of course realistically you might need something else to eat to but, eh, buck it, you felt good. With a light smile and a botched attempt at a whistle, you righted yourself once more, and turned to walk off of the bed, leaving Trixie with a healing cut, two of your teeth, and blood in her fur.

You got down from the bed slowly, on three shaky hooves, and then continued to walk towards the open doorway, a good bit of the mud from your hooves now on the bed covers, and made your way back into the main room of Zecora's hut. Zecora was, as you might have expected, still laying on the ground where you left her. Still muddy, still with that powder-paste over her muzzle and nose, and still pretty wet from how the floor was moistened up around her. She shivered slightly, obviously still chilled from her condition. You felt a pang of guilt about that.

You shook it off, none of this was your fault after all you were the good guy, then looked over to the cauldron, and the natural fireplace beneath it. With a smile, you tilted your head down, drew on the magic cache at the base of your horn, annnnnnnnd-

FWOOSH!!!

Purple flames spouted out from your horn to the cauldron, igniting the tinder beneath, creating a nice, warm, and colorful, purple fire. While it might have technically been a cooking fire, it was certainly serving as a heating fire, and you weren't going to stop enjoying it because of a little thing like semantics. You stumbled over to the flames, right up next to Zecora near to the cauldron, and folded your foreleg and hindlegs beneath you, letting your body down to relax on the floor, sighing out contentedly, and lowering your head, as you let the warmth wash over you and wash away the cares of the day...

Last point of buisness, figure out a plan for your future. These new powers keep comin' and training with them is going to be a major hastle, so let's focus on your actual physical health: pushups, sprints, crunches, chin ups, the works.

Nomad

By the way you really should get in shape. So start to exercise your body and your magic. Hay, I will even try to guide your mind through the spells from your subconsciousness. Should be a suprise to your enemies if something from my otherworldly magic technics bleeds over into your casting style.

Aedin the mage

After that we really need away to take control of these mutations you're developing, for a start now that you can hear the Everfree see want you can find out from it, whether the forest will tell you the location of objects or inhabitants/intruders. Definitely intruders, the Everfree seems to have taken a liking to you, if it's willing to offer aid, and it would be incredibly rude, not to mention unappreciative, not to help it out in return.

Archivist.

... ... ... You were REALLY out of bucking shape...

You furrowed your brows and scrunched up your nose at that. The thought seemed to pop up out of nowhere in your otherwise serene mindset. But it was right. You WERE out of shape. In manehatten you'd been highly immobile, stagnant, and your life mainly consisted of moving to one place to wait, then moving to another place to wait. Oversimplified, there was scrounging and begging and other shit like that to, but nopony'd asked you to run any marathons, and you hadn't had the energy for it in any case.

But, in the last few days, you'd had to do some VERY physical things running around the Everfree... you were exhausted, and tired, and frankly if something came from behind the door to kick your flank, which had actually bucking HAPPENED once in recent memory, you'd be screwed. You took a break from that thought line to look up to the caged planimal, that looked like it'd gone back to sleep with a sap-bubble inflating and deflating from it's center-head's right nostril, and glare at it... ... ... Then you shook your head, and returned to your thoughts.

In any case your body was too beaten up, tired, and tapped of energy to really do anything strenuous right at the moment. But instead of getting thrown from wild adventure to wild adventure, you might want to focus on just generally getting your body up to some level of semi-competent fitness. Also, the use of magic maybe... perhaps practicing with your horn would help you figure out how to use it better? Energy conservation or some shit like that?

Yeah, you could do sit-ups, or push ups, or pull-ups, or something like that, or... or even maybe use the Everfree to hunt down opponents and take them on? Like Timberwolves and Chicken-lizard-monster-things, and maybe Diamond Dogs? Yeah, especially Diamond Dogs, those shits were supposed to be in mountainous and dusty regions with elaborate tunnel networks you didn't know what the BUCK they were doing here. Definitely intruders. Should probably wipe them out. Only polite to the Everfree which was nice enough to give you a map rooted into your brain.

Anyways, you didn't exactly have the energy, strength, or death-wish, to pursue any of those thought lines in your current state. But it was definitely something to think about... More than just think about, you needed to move personal fitness up on your priority list! Make it key! Get as fit, toned, and sexy as Zecora someday! ... ... Zecora...

After you put aside some time for that, get some sleep. It's been a long night, and you need rest...and zebra snuggles.

Well done, Blank Slate. But now it's important to prepare for the awakening of your misguided zebra lover. Give Zecora some sedative to keep her asleep. You don't want her to feel the pain of her burnt skin, do you?

Good, Blank Slate! You're growing ever close to your new domain! You'll be a well-known ande beloved hero before long, with the Everfree and all inside of it yours!

That includes your Zebra plaything, by the way. Try to get her home and figure out what that green powder she inhaled was. Can't have her accidentally poison herself, can we? Because what happened was an accident. It wasn't your fault. None of it. You're just trying to look our for your mares and the world.

Zecora is probably in a lot of pain. Perhaps it'd be best to keep her sedated for now? Maybe you'll even need to restrain her, just like you thought already. Take the opportunity to whisper to her again. You were angry before, but you forgive your cute little herdmare... after all, she's going to submit to you, mind, body and soul. She wants to be your herdslave alongside Trixie and whoever else you desire; moreover, a greater herd brings her greater pleasure, as she and her herdslavesisters kneel before you and happily take whatever abuse you give them. You are the master, she will submit, she wants to submit, submitting to you is her idea, she can't not submit to you. Repeat it! Drill it into her mind! You're not going to let her hurt you both by denying what she really wants!

You turned and looked back to Zecora again... ... she still looked pretty horrible. Messy coat? Check. Mud everywhere, just starting to dry? Check. Caked green powder still on her face? Double-check... ... Caked green powder still on her face... ... What the buck WAS that powder?

... ... ... With a sigh, you pushed yourself up to your hooves again. Not jumping up from exhaustion into an exercise regimen was one thing, letting Zecora die because you poisoned her with her own chemicals was another. Luckily you remembered what her last journal of recipes and remedies looked like. You walked over to her recently reorganized bookshelves and grabbed the worn, brown, well-used compendium off of it's new, color-coordinated spot in the shelves. You moved over to the table where you seemed to do everything, and sat on the side that still bore the mark from your little sword-accident. You then proceeded to use your right foreleg to push Zecora's saddle-baskets out of the way, before leaning down and letting the book drop from your mouth to the table with a dull-

Thud.

You opened up the worn tome, again with your right forehoof, and began to flip through the pages, eyes rapidly scanning the text and pictures for clues.

"Nwho, nwhop, nwho, nwuwhu..." You muttered, not paying enough attention to correct your pronunciation. Eventually you set down on something that looked like what Zecora had had on her neck, green-colored, powder-form, formed into a paste-like substance when wet... and you blinked. Apparently this specific powder was not unlike those soap rocks that just kind of... erupted into more soap at water contact. The ones that Zecora'd helped bathe you with. The powder was actually meant to be used on top of a still body of water, a small hoof-full sprinkled in, and it would then spread across the water in a semi-solid foam before hardening into a paste-like surface. The intent of this very specific concoction was to 'repulse the rock water hunters' or some shit like that. Probably meant something important. But if spread across the surface before they surfaced, it was supposed to REALLY disgust them. They'd go to the bottom of the lake or pond or whatever to get away from it. BUT it wasn't poisonous, and supposedly naturally dissolved in three to four hours, so she was probably good.

As you were about to close the book, content in a job well done, you looked back to Zecora, unconscious near to the cauldron fire you'd set, no longer shivering, but very much not amongst the awake... ... You kind of hurt her, back there with the whole lightning thing... and there might be some residual damage, plus some residual zebra rage... and there might be some residual flank-kicking, yours, if she woke up anytime soon. Come to think of it, maaaaaaaaybe it'd be best if you took a few basic precautions...

And with that in mind, you looked through the book again, and found out something rather interesting. Zecora had a LOT of different sedatives. Some for inhalation, some for drinking, some for ponies, some for griffons, and some for... ... giant water serpents? But all of this was secondary to what you found for HER, namely, zebra sedatives. There weren't as many of these as the others, but there was one lighter sedative that looked pretty basic, yellow, drinkable, came in a jar... Yep, basic as basic could get, and comparatively weak strength. It'd put her out, and given that you didn't get crazy and give her more than a sip or so, she'd likely be fine with no negative side-effects.

Your chosen sedative in mind you nodded, to yourself because buck if there was anypony else here, and proceeded to search for the sedative... which took about five minutes. Buck that Rarity cunt was GREAT at organizing... though you'd kind of negated all the work she'd done cleaning with your muddy hooves. Shaking that thought from your head with a sigh, after all the conflict and thus all the mess relating from the conflict was Zecora's fault, you grabbed the jar, a yellow one with white cloth cap and yellow and red swirled liquid inside, and moved it over to Zecora's little preparation table. You united the rope holding the lid with your mouth, then pulled the lid off, then calmly poured some of the liquid into a small wooden bowl. You refastened the lid, with a little effort, then picked up the bowl in your mouth, before moving over to Zecora...

After a few grunts, a near-slip on some mud, and the painfully careful and slow lowering of your body in front of Zecora's, you moved your right forehoof to pull her mouth open, before leaning forward, and tilting the small batch of sedative into her open mouth. There was something strangely romantic about pouring sedative from a bowl you held in your mouth into your zebra lover's mouth. Almost like sharing a kiss... by a crackling purple cauldron fire with a raging storm outside. And there'd be something even more romantic about it when you tied her up so that she wouldn't panic in her sleep or anything, and then proceeded to snuggle up to her! ... ... You might have had a bucked up version of romance.

The sedative delivered, you searched through Zecora's chests for some rope. That took a little longer. Rarity had organized the chests into nice neat rows, but hadn't done much for the insides. Regardless, you found some old rope soon enough, sturdy and stable, though it hadn't seen much use as of recent. It was a bit of a chore to turn that rope into tied-up zebra... you weren't exactly sure how tight you made the knots, and how tight they were actually supposed to be... and it was kind of short so you could only do her forelegs. Sooooo... rope-tying might be ANOTHER skill that would need some working on...

But after doing all of that you were ready to drop on your hooves... So, to prevent the embarrassment of actually dropping on your hooves, you went ahead and got off of them. You laid down next to Zecora, between her and the cauldron fire, letting it's warm heat pass over you... ... Then you breathed in deeply, before sighing out gently, and turning your gaze to Zecora with a smile.

"Hphey thwere..." You spoke... then blinked, sighed, shook your head a bit, then smiled again.

"Hph- 'Erm' uh, hey there..." You managed, then worked your jaw a bit more, before nodding to yourself, and moving over to snuggle up to Zecora, pressing yourself against her caked-mud covered body, and moving your muzzle to hers... You were tempted to kiss her green paste-powder-covered lips, but thought better of it. Both because of the powder, and because you'd just fed her sedative. So instead, you leaned up and over to her left ear, eyes closed, and began to whisper softly.

"I want you to knowh- ehm, know that I'm nwot mad... I was mad, but I'm n-not anymore. I understand that you're having trouble with your bwa- basic desires. Suffering from social constrictions destroying your proper self-image and gwen- gphenw- eh, ergh, GENERALLY just nwo- NOT thinking rationally. You're denying your twr-- egh, true self. And I am here to help coach you back twho- TO who you really are... Now... You want to be mine Zecora... you want to be mine... I will not let you dwen- deny your real self... And furthermore..."

You continued to speak to Zecora, though you had to stop several times and correct yourself whenever you made a slip-up. You kept on talking, telling Zecora what she wanted, just... keeping up the flow of words, soothing, understanding, and claiming ownership. You wanted her to understand that what she wanted was what you wanted for her and nothing else... It would really help her in the long run. And you kept on speaking, your eyes closing, your mouth moving until you were sure what actually came out was unintelligible, as you drifted closer, and closer to sleep, until, you finally fell into the void...

Author's Note

The next chapter is going to be another Question and Answer. If you have any last minute questions for the Brothers, then please put them in the previous Question and Answer, #2, at Chapter 22.

Please, as usual, put character demands and commandments here for when he wakes up.

Question and Answer #3

"AAACCCHHHOOO!!!" Cryon sneezed. Hard. Like somepony that had caught a particularly vicious cold. Now the problem with this theory was mainly centered around the part where Cryon, the Immortal Alicorn Brother in charge of freezing tundras, winter storms, and generally making shit as icy as the Ninth Circle of an extra-dimensional Hell, was not the type of pony who should be capable of getting a cold. And yet, he appeared to have acquired one.

Your view settled on the sneezing alicorn colt as he sat on a large plushy dark blue pillow with light blue frills at the edges, bundled up in a large white and blue diamond-patterned blanket with cyan frills. And he was, quite frankly, not looking too good. His coat had paled, his eyes had stopped white misting and acquired a sort of glassy look, and he looked a little... smaller. All of that, added to occasional sniffling, and he really didn't seem to be in too good of a shape.

He let out another loud-

"AAACCCHHHHOOOO!!!" Sneezing heavily again, then sniffling, and letting out a low groan... before shaking his head, and looking up to you with blinking eyes.

"Ah, hello 'sniff' watchers." He greeted simply, pulling the blanket closer around him.

"I apologize that you must see me in my current state, however between recent events and the Star's 'cough cough', ahem, timing it is unavoidable. In any case, I can say with 'sniff' empirical certainty that the Tree of Harmony is dangerous to interact with for the Host. Please avoid having the a-a-ACHHHOOO!!! 'sniff' Host approach it. In his current state he'd have no hope of resisting it's purifying effects. As for the 'cough cough' ahem, timeline, I have placed it at approximately three weeks after Tirek's attempted coup and magical draining of 'cough cough' Equestria. I say attempted because, as you may have noticed, he failed miserably. I hope that gives you suitable information to-to ACCCHHHOOO!!! 'Sniff' make your decisions." Muttered Cryon, before coughing again, and letting out a miserable sigh.

"Ugggghhh..."

"Okay! Here it comes! Big brother's fix-me soup! Guaranteed to melt the insides of lesser ponies and fix the insides of greater ones!" Came the cheerful voice of Pyrus, as a large black iron bowl, filled with a bubbling red soup with heat-waves pouring up out of it and distorting the air, floated into view surrounded by a magical red aura, black iron spoon resting in the super-heated mixture. Cryon sighed, closing his eyes as his brother stepped into view right after the bowl, his fur red and all the molten iron gathered around his legs with a sliver covering his chest.

He tucked his legs underneath himself as he sat down, folding his wings against his back, and looking to Cryon with a grin as his red aura moved to the black spoon in the bowl, and began to stir it.

"Brother please, we have company." Muttered Cryon as he scooched back a bit on his pillow, drawing the blanket further around him.

"Buck'em." Replied Pyrus calmly, not even sparing you a glance as he levitated the spoon out and guided it towards Cryon's mouth.

"Now come on, open up!" He spoke, overly cheerful, as Cryon petulantly kept his mouth closed, glaring at the offending liquid gathered on the spoon.

"No." Muttered Cryon plainly, moving his head to avoid the spoon. Pyrus sighed as he kept the spoon moving with his brother's head, staying close to the lips.

"Now little brother you know-"

Through Our scrying into the past, We have come across a promising Evil which escaped a while ago. In the timeline that We are observing. What can you tell Us about he who is named Tirek and his brother. What about the rest of their species?

Pyrus's ears twitched, as Cryon turned his gaze back up to you.

"Focus on the que- a a-a-ACHHHOOOOO!!!" Cryon's words were interrupted by a sneeze, the Pyrus calmly levitated the spoon out of the way of, before taking the opportunity to jab the spoon right in to the open mouth.

"GMPH!" Exclaimed Cryon as the unpleasant mix entered onto his tongue, and traveled down his throat. The spoon popped out, with Cryon sticking out his tongue and making a disgusted face at the taste, apparently the super-heated liquid causing no actual pain but tasting pretty bad.

"Heh, I know I know, it's no fine cuisine. Still, it's good for you! Burn that magical affliction right out!" Spoke Pyrus with a grin, before levitating the spoon back into the bowl.

"And Tirek ain't one of ours." spoke Pyrus bluntly, apparently addressing you, as he began stirring the liquid mix once more.

"Agh, hmmm, brother... further explanation..." Cryon muttered, giving him a slightly chiding tone. Pyrus sighed, then turned his gaze up to you, giving you his attention.

"Alright, you want to know about Tirek? I'll tell you about Tirek. He's an overdominant thug who consumes all energy and power he can to make himself stronger. He's a manipulative and selfish backstabbing buck, and he got that way with no intervention on our part. I mean none, not even the subtle shit we usually do to guide ponies on the road to darkness. Didn't even know the bucker existed till he tried to move here." Spoke Pyrus plainly, before looking back down into the bowl of red-hot lava soup, stirring it thoughtfully, and sighing audibly.

"He also broke out without our help. We don't put our chips on him and we don't want him in the game. Why? Because as evil as he is, he isn't part of Equestria. If he got his way, broke out, drained the magic, blah blah blah, he'd stay for... what? Maybe a year? Probably not that long, before moving on to the next magic-buffet. He's a parasite that sucks his host dry and looks for a new one. He'd leave Equestria with nothing, instead of acting as an evil tyrant and properly oppressing it's inhabitants." Pyrus brought another spoonful up, contemplating it for a few moments.

"And without that oppression they'd... recover isn't the right word, but deal. They'd get used to the lack of magic powering them, rebuild, reform, and manage. It's not a recipe for evil, it's a recipe for duller and less interesting. And does that have some potential for lasting misery, would it be better than the shit we have to deal with now? Yeah. But Tirek's more of a last resort than the Host is, and the Host is a pretty last-mile down to the wire bucking resort! Both because of all the shit I just said, AND because he'd be a personal danger to us to, what with his magic-draining shtick. Oh, and Scorpan's his brother... and apparently a pansy who sold him out and went home or something. But whatever." Spoke Pyrus, shrugging as he levitated the spoon towards Cryon's mouth.

"And- GULP uuggggghhhhhh..." Cryon visibly shivered as the spoon entered, before shaking his head, and looking back to you.

"And his homeland is a barren waste separated by many oceans from Equestria. He sucked it dry before embarking on his attempt to drain the next most magically empowered land. Before Tirek's actions, his home HAD been the most magically rich area in the world, as far as I could determine. He was actually far more imposing immediately after draining the magic there than when he acquired the magic from all ponies. Left to his own, I believe Tirek would likely devour all magic in the world, and then eventually whither into nothing. The magic he takes does actually deteriorate over time."

Brothers, I know this may seem like an odd question, but does the star spell check our messages before they are relayed to the host? I point it out because one incorrectly changed word may alter the meanings of our infuence. But mainly I point it out because IT AUTO CORRECTED MY BLOODY NAME!!! I AM NOT PYROTECHNIC THE RED! I AM PYRO THE RED! SCORGE OF THE ETHERAL!! GUARDIAN OF THE FIRST FLAME!!! CAKE DECORATOR EXTRAORDINAR!!! Can you make THE STAR ACTUALLY CHECK WHAT ITS CHANGING BEFORE IT MOCKS ME AGAIN!?

-with kisses PYRO THE RED!!!

Pyrus blinked. Cryon blinked. The brothers looked each other in the eyes for a few moments, then both looked back up to you.

"No." They stated in unison, before Pyrus added on.

"We can't make it do shit. Check what you're telling it I guess." Spoke Pyrus, shrugging, as the spoon levitated back down into the bowl.

( Hey Pyrus! Know any good Napalm recipes I might be able to get the host to use? And if he can't use them can I? I have an uprising of humanoid plant creatures hear blabbering about equality and freedom. It's quite annoying since they seem to be developing a resistance to my fire breath. Not total mind you it's just that they make a lot of noise when they're on fire and my migraine prefers it when they just disintegrate like they used to.

From one fire demon to another.

Pyro the Red.)

"The Host can't handle my recipes. And I don't really give a buck about your problems." Stated Pyrus bluntly, as the spoon stirred in the bowl, before coming back up with the red liquid bubbling on the end.

"Brother please, have som-so-a-a-ACHHOOOOOOO!!! 'Sniff' Uggghhh... some manners..." Muttered Cryon miserably, earning a sympathetic look with a tinge of worry from the larger alicorn, before he sighed out slowly.

"Fine." He muttered as he levitated the spoon into Cryon's mouth, who had stopped resisting despite the taste, and accepted his brother's superheated medicine.

"I know a million recipes for a million fiery substances of varying kinds. Also a lot of shit about metallurgy and forge-work." Spoke Pyrus thoughtfully, moving the spoon back down into the bowl and stirring as he spoke.

"Most of the mixes I've created in my own body, using myself as a crucible. But stuff like this little heal-all fire-mix is made mainly from a mixture of sulfur diluted in Chimera blood, sprinkled ash from a Dragon's corpse, magma from pretty much anywhere you can find it, and then a few Phoenix feathers and a piece of eggshell from both a Phoenix egg AND a Dragon egg. For alicorns like us, it's medicine. For any and everypony else, it's bucking magma burning through their stomach. So, just make a huge cauldron of that and pour it on them I guess, or, y'know, get a damn weed whacker. If flames stop working use something else. Or even just go combustible, feed them a lot of fertilizer then ignite the area."

(We are once again honored by your responding to us from across the rift. We shall continue in our given task, and ensure evil returns to Equestria once more. Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the mead...I didn't think yours would freeze though Cryon. I will keep an eye out for any further dimensional tears...it's funny, no matter how many times I tell people I can't drink alcohal, they continue to send me more of it to fill the wine celler, it might as well have some use beyond cooking.)

(On an unrelated note. Scrying has revealed a stable portal linking two dimensions in the Crystal Empire, would it be possible to repurpose it into a "shortcut" into Tartarus?)

With Respect

Nomad

"AAACCCCHHOOOO!!! Um, ahem, you are quite welcome Nomad. Thank you for your continued support and- 'Cough cough' ahem, and it is quite alright. I do tend to have a rather chilling effect on those around me..." Spoke Cryon with a light smirk, a glint of pride in his eyes. Pyrus chuckled lightly and moved another spoonful to his brother's mouth, Cryon taking it in and grimacing as he swallowed once more.

"Ugh... Ah yes, the portal. We do know about it's existence."

"Brother's tapped in with the wavelengths of the universe, he notices when shit like that pops up." Spoke Pyrus with a smirk, going back to the bowl stirring.

"And in theory it is possible to repurpose it. In practice however the energy it takes to create a portal between dimensions in the first place is immense. There is 'cough cough' no telling what might happen if you attempt to alter the stable link. While it may, potentially, be converted into a more general and useful teleporter for your uses allowing backdoors into places like Tartarus or other locations of importance, it could also potentially shatter the universes it has been attached to if not handled with care. And it would require equally immense amounts of energy as created the portal in the first place to test this theory. It is a novel idea, however the danger is not something to be overlooked. Approach with caution."

(brothers can lets say let the host find a dark dragon or more likly an egg dragons are powerful in a rights granted at times they are very stupid and prideful, or a demon that escaped the hell pit before it was desicrated with the holy works of mortals.)

( Pyrus even if it takes millions of lives and years the tarlutas will be freed of the the holy sluts of good evil most have back its true home and army o hate.)

host you are swred right now, and lets face it females are unknow to you so let your marefriend help you because she can help you, on a side note if you fail i will use your soul to become a demon to replace you welp.

Lord Scoro Demon of the warp

Pyrus raised his right eyebrow.

"... ... Thanks for the attitude, but I'm not waiting a million years to get a throne again. A million lives is fine. As for the rest of that, yes it's possible to find dragons and dragon eggs, all infernal creatures are locked up in Tartarus, and I aint' gonna address that last part."

(To the Brothers Malefic,

I am unsure what the mutation rate of the Star normally is, however thirteen mutations in a week [well, six days], seems to me rather rapid. Not that it's per se a bad thing but I'm curious as to whether the Star could "lose control" as it were. That is if a sufficiently potent fuel were added could the Star just start throwing out random mutations and turn our pawn into, well, this, basically.

Archivist)

Pyrus and Cryon both furrowed their brows.

"This? What is THIS?" Asked Pyrus incredulously as he lifted the spoon out of the bowl once again. Cryon furrowed his brows.

"Wait... Ah, I see. Alter your eyes brother, fringe-wavelength setting." Stated Cryon calmly. Pyrus gave a slight nod, and closed his eyes for a moment as the spoon moved into Cryon's mouth... then Pyrus opened his eyes again, brilliant red again, though this time they seemed to be almost vibrating in his sockets as he stared up at you.

"Whoa... ... ... that thing is bucking awesome." Stated the alicorn appreciatively, giving a little nod.

"Chaos spawn? Warhammer 40K... I'd better start looking this shit up." He muttered, before looking back to Cryon.

"I'll field this one bro." Stated Pyrus simply, before looking back up to you, leaving the spoon in the annoyed smaller alicorn's mouth.

"The initial mutation stage is supposed to be rapid, so don't worry about it from a pure amount perspective. In fact, you want to get a good number of mutations going early on. It's not going to be long before he hits the next stage and when he does it'll get harder to make new mutations in him. The fuel thing's interesting though... The first Star didn't need fuel to affect mutations, it just did it whenever it bucking felt like it. This time around though, looks like the Star's mutated itself to need fuels to affect further mutations. Not sure why honestly, kind of intrigued to see what it's end game is." Spoke Pyrus, a slight smirk appearing on his face along with a glint in his eyes.

"Anyways, don't worry about it. From a pacing perspective. From a what-do-you-do-to-this-shit-head perspective yeah... worry about it. That creature you showed us, which is a bucking beast by the way I want one, is a very possible result of screwing with the Host too much. You lot can play with his genetics like a cat with a ball of yarn. You can drive him absolutely bat-shit bucking insane, and also make him into a bucking freak! If you go overboard, you can make him into a bucking mutant monster nutjob! With that said, and I kind of hate to admit this but credit where it's due, you haven't been developing the Host like that. So far he's an idiot, but an idiot with social manipulation abilities around a lot of other idiots. His combat skill's got a lot to be desired... even in the Everfree, he hasn't gotten anywhere near enough practice with his shit. But he's got a pretty good base with several options, so he's actually got some good potential for bucking ponies up. In short, you've got a manipulative buck who'll probably be able to kill ponies well. So... you haven't screwed up yet. Way to go." Spoke Pyrus, giving you a grudging nod.

(Also here's a thought. If we have the star infect just one other would it be possible for you two to influence that subject while we keep a hold of slate? This would allow our organization to have two game changers while not having to divide our attention between slate and who ever he infects. Just a thought.... :pinkiecrazy:

Your fiery friend

-Pyro the Red.

Pyrus blinked.

"... ... ... I actually have no bucking idea. Bro?" He spoke, turning to Cryon and levitating the spoon out of his mouth with a-

POP!

As Cryon licked his lips with a sour expression, then shot Pyrus a sullen glare... Before looking back up to you and clearing his throat.

"Hm 'sniff' ... ... Quite possibly yes." Stated Cryon after a bit of thought.

"If the Star split itself into another pony with an open wavelength, then it is very possible that I or my brother might be able to act as influence. Of course, one of the reasons that we assigned the Host to you in the first place is that we could distance ourselves from the Star and avoid detection. You are beyond the scope of this veil, the denizens within cannot reach out to harm you. We are within, and very much within the reach of Equestria's defenders despite our precautions. If we take control, we also open ourselves to risk... Despite this, it is an... enticing idea." Muttered Cryon, brows furrowed. Then he blinked.

"A-a-AAACCCCHHHHOOOOO!!!! ... Ugggghhh... 'sniff'."

(To the Brothers)

(My lords, I bring to you a question of some importance to an upcoming goal. I am aware that the Everfree is, in a sense, alive. My question is this; just how conscious is the forest, scale of 1-10?)

(On an unrelated, but familiar, note. Another rip in space/time showed up today, and this one is semi-stable. I do not mean to be presumptious Lord Pyrus, but since your throne is...out of reach, I've sent you a temp. It's forged of Stygian Iron, has blood red velvet cushions[fireproof], a cup holder, and it reclines. For Lord Cryon, I apologize for the mead freezing, though I am glad you still enjoyed it. The chalice I am sending you is enchanted to keep any liquid inside it at a fixed temperature, which can be adjusted with the red and blue jewels on either side of the cup. To top this off, a barrel of my finest wine for you to split.)

(Nomad)

KAPLUNK!!!

The sound came from out of view, causing Pyrus to blink, then turn his eyes away, wide, looking out to his right.

"... ... ... Well buck..." He muttered, moving the spoon back down into the bowl, and getting up to his hooves, before walking out of sight towards his right. Cryon blinked, looking in the same direction.

"... Interesting..." He muttered, before coughing slightly, shaking his head, and looking back to you.

"And to answer your question-"

"THIS THING HAS A CUPHOLDER! WHY THE BUCK DIDN'T I MAKE MY OLD THRONE WITH A CUPHOLDER!?!?" Came Pyrus's shout as Cryon's right eye twitched.

"The Everfree forest is as alive as any other forest. The trees are independent living creatures, as are the plants and animals. They are not connected by any kind of hive mind, but do share a sense of place."

"THE CHALICE FITS IN THE CUPHOLDER! BUCK YEAH!"

"The creatures within vary in sentience. Some are extremely intelligent trees, and some are extremely stupid mammals. But there is no one standard for it. There are however stronger elements that exert control over others. In a way, it's the same as anywhere else in the world. Of course, far more savage and to my likei-"

"IT RECLINES! CRYON IT BUCKING RECLINES!!!"

"Yes I do believe that was mentioned. In ANY case... I apologize for not being able to give a more definitive answer, however the truth of the matter is that one does not exist. Some parts of the Everfree are more intelligent and conscious than others, and while many parts are controlled it is not all united. But it is all alive."

"YEAH! LET'S BREAK THIS BARREL OPEN AND GET AS CLOSE TO DRUNK AS IS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE BRO!!!"

"'Sigh'"

Greetings My Lords,

Recent, for me, dimmensional dissruptions have closed the rift I found. As such, the gifts sent will most likely by the last from me for some time. I am unsure at this point if our scrying has anything more of note, but we recently observed the unlocking of new powers for Twilight and the now former Element Bearers, as well as the forming of a new castle near Ponyville. My collegues have already brought the issue of Tirek and his brother Scorpan to your attention, so I will refrain from repeatin it.

As for questions, I have two:

Lord Cryon, it is hard not to notice that your physical form is that of a young colt. Is this done by your choice, or is it a result of deminished power?

If it is the latter, is there a way to restore your strength that we can effect through dear Blank?

Your Servant across the veil,

Nomad

"HEY!!!" This shout was of anger as Pyrus billowed back into view, his mane literally alight with flame, wings spread wide and sparks shooting up from them, and his eyes glowing a blood red.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE A GREAT GIFT GIVER, MY BROTHER DOESN'T HAVE TO TELL YOU SHIT ABOU-" Pyrus stopped as he felt a little hoof on his back-left leg. Pyrus looked back to see his brother, dismounted from the pillow though still shrouded in the blanket, touching his leg with his front right hoof and looking up at him with a calm expression.

"It's alright." Stated Cryon simply, and Pyrus's mane stopped burning, his eyes ending their glow.

"B-but, he can't- ... you don't have to-"

"I'm fine brother. Don't worry about me. Please, be happy about your presents. We may not get any more for some time, and everything here was made for me. It's nice that you have something for you again." Spoke Cryon before leaning over and nuzzling Pyrus's back-left leg, then leaning back again to give his brother a light smile.

"Please, open the cask and fill the chalice... Let's have a drink together... I find myself desiring something to wash away the taste of your medicine." Cryon smirked at the end... and so did Pyrus... sighing out heavily, black smoke coming from his mouth as he turned, got down on the floor, and leaned forward to nuzzle his brother, touching noses.

"Okay bro..." He spoke, fur going black. He stood up then, turned back towards the right, and started walking as he called over his shoulder.

"I won't be two shakes of an asses tail!"

Cryon smirked slightly as he watched his brother leave... Then turned back to look up to you, with a calm expression on his face.

"My brother is a raging furnace. His mutagenic body constantly produces energy that he needs to release, through various ways. He does this partially through regular mutation and body alteration, usually with small changes both external and internal. He also does this in less controlled manners when he loses his temper. But he never runs out of energy, his body keeps filling him to the brim with power, and he must expend it one way or another." Cryon closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"... I am different." He opened his eyes again, a calm yet slightly morose look upon his face.

"I am a freezing maelstrom. Whereas he draws power from within, I draw it from without. My body must be sustained by energy pulled from the world around me. In... let's call them 'normal' times, this is perfectly manageable and provides me with a steady source of energy. In times of great chaos or war, it makes me nigh unstoppable. The negative flows through me, surrounding and centering itself around me, and I become, as I said, a freezing maelstrom of power. The heart of a winter storm. Just being in my presence ensures your death, and none can stand before me. But Celestia's reign is not only absent of great misfortune and chaos, it is highly peaceful, highly positive, highly optimistic and... a-a-AAACCCCHHHOOOOOO!!!!" Cryon actually growled a little after his sneeze, and sniffed.

"Agh! Damn that tree! ... Ahem, my apologies..." Muttered the colt, sighing away the stress.

"As I was saying, 'sniff' Celestia's reign is highly optimistic. Highly positive. Filled with love, light, and good. It is not just 'not negative' energy. It is actively positive energy. And it is everywhere. Despite the threats we've sent, despite the strings we've pulled after Nightmare Moon's failure to get every significant evil possible to show up and cause problems, despite all our efforts, good reigns supreme in Equestria... Nothing's worked. Nothing's lasted. Nothing's created a negative atmosphere long enough to really have an effect. And even more than that, every time they've failed, another positive influence was added to Equestria, more positive energy saturating the air." Cryon closed his eyes, seeming to think for a minute, before opening them and continuing.

"I suppose the simplest way to say it is that my food is being poisoned. I have to take in energy to survive and the energy that I'm taking in is harmful to me. The positive energy in Equestria is quite literally killing me." Cryon looked down to the ground at that... and moved his right forehoof up to pull the blanket a little more, tugging it closer for comfort, before resuming his speech.

"My brother helped me change my form to a Colt's to minimize the energy intake, weaken the effect of the poisoning. I started larger than I am now though, when I was first changed, so my physical body has been affected by the lack of energy. I am difficult to kill of course but it can done, even without knowing I exist apparently. Fortunately between my natural defenses, my brother's aid, and certain precautions we took early on, I have managed to keep my condition more or less under control. I am always starved for energy these days, but the hardship is not agonizing. It is something I can deal with easily enough. But as much as we have managed to slow the poison it is still entering my system and still damaging my body and my personal energies... There is no way of sugarcoating it. I am dying." A slight pause... ... before Cryon looked up at you again.

"We were twins, Pyrus and I. I was the older by sixteen minutes. His calling me little brother was a joke on his part. Now I am dying in the body of a foal... and my brother is taking it hard. Pyrus was never nice. He was never polite, and he was always a temperamental, selfish, and wrathful. He has also always looked up to me as a pony who was none of these things, but always thoughtful, analytical, and in control. ... This is a hard time for him. He is cooped up, watching his brother die, and powerless to stop it. I ask that you understand that when interacting with him. And thank you, for the gifts you've sent to him... He has always liked getting new toys." Cryon smiled at that, a reminiscent smile, thoughtful and introspective, before continuing.

"As for helping me, the only way to do that is to accomplish the ultimate objective. Restore evil to Equestria... end the glut of positive energy. And then I will be able to recover, and once again bring the winter storms..." Spoke Cryon softly, a glint in his eye and an upturning of the lips... before his nose twitched, he frowned and-

"AAAAAACCCCCHHHOOOOO!!!! ... ... Ugggghhhhh..."

"Hey brother! Sorry that took more than two shakes, I couldn't figure out what temperature to set it to." Muttered Pyrus as he stepped back into sight, levitating the golden chalice and setting it down I front of Cryon, filled with wine, the blue and red gems turned several times, and finally settled on one of the warmer temperatures.

"Figured since you're sick and all..." Muttered Pyrus, shrugging, and Cryon smiled, sitting down on his haunches and hugging the chalice to him with his forelegs.

"It is fine. Thank you brother." He spoke, before leaning forward and sipping the wine lightly.

"Mmmm... Very good. Thank you for the gifts as always Nomad." Spoke Cryon, giving a respectful nod to you.

"Oh, and Pyrus, I saved the first part for you." He stated, Pyrus furrowing his brows. Pyrus's ears twitched, then he nodded.

"Hm, okay. Yeah, they've got more accessible powers now. Think they'll be able to call on them anytime, even when separate from each other, but get a major power-boost when they're all grouped up together. Be careful. And the tree-castle thing is bucking ugly. Burn it down. BURN IT." Spoke Pyrus, his eyes blazing as Cryon sighed, sipping at the wine again.

"Mmmmm..."

[[ To The Brothers]]

[[

Pyrus and Cryon.. It is too bad you can't visit. Why, there are so many lonely lovely shapeshifting succubi here who are just -dying- for a little attention. They would love to have any and every excuse to satisfy any needs you might have. Male, female... both.. They can be anything and everything you desire, and they are quite inexhaustable. Immortal bodies with loosely coupled souls can be quite useful in the erotic arts.

It's really too bad that you can't do anything about that pesky dimensional barrier. We do so love evil here, and we consider it our highest moral duty to spread it around.. And we're -all- about morality.

We love visting new and exotic locations.

But this is not the first time we've had to work through mortal agents. Really, it's a common thing, and I do appreciate the opportunity to work my craft.

Hmm, let's see.. Frustration? I have a favor to call in from Asmodeus... Just a moment.... Ah hah!

*Pop*

Here, have a selection of some of @#$@#$'s finest complimentary sex sleeves. I sent you three flavors and sizes: vanilla, chocolate, and tabasco flavors in tight, agonizing, and super succubus sizes. Do work your way up first; the tabasco can be quite aggressive.

Don't worry; they're self lubricating! And if you need more for a particularly lively session, you could always use blood in a pinch. I know I do.

Oh, and the tabasco goes great on sandwiches. Just hold it over your favorite trifecta of bread, some dead animal, and some living animal and let her drip!

Just Another Incubus Enjoying A Steamy Paradise,

Rod

]]

Cryon looked up from his drink, raising his right eyebrow.

"Sex sleeves? ... Does he mean onaholes? Why would those have food flavoring? ... Ponies don't lick onaholes do they? Seems unsanitary." Spoke Cryon, legitimately confused as he continued to try and puzzle it out. Pyrus, on the other hoof, was staring at you with wide eyes and a slightly gaping mouth. That quickly turned to focused eyes and a grin when a faint-

CLATTER!

Sound was heard from nearby. Cryon blinked, then furrowed his brows.

"I didn't call back any wind-" He started, but Pyrus interrupted, putting his right forehoof down on Cryon's mane and rubbing in a slightly relaxing manner.

"Don't worry brother, I think I just, uh, left something unbalanced in my room. I'll go check on that, you just stay here and enjoy your drink!" He spoke, before moving at a fairly quick trot out of view, leaving Cryon to blink, looking after his brother while holding the chalice. Cryon shrugged slightly, and looked back to the chalice, leaning down for another sip, then looking back up to you with a light smile.

"In any event, the gifts are appreciated, and your progress with the Host is promising. Please keep up the wicked work. Now, just one moment..." Muttered Cryon, lifting his left forehoof up towards you, shaking it slightly as his eyes began to glow white, and your vision went black...

Author's Note

(I wound up completely redoing this chapter several times. Just couldn't decide how to handle it... hopefully this one works out well enough. And this will be the new ask chapter! From now on, any asks you have for the brothers for next time go here!)

Mud

You came to slowly... the sleep fading from your body like water draining out of a tub. With an annoying glugging sound and entirely too much speed. The aforementioned sound came from your mouth in this case, on the tail end of what might have been a snore. You couldn't exactly be sure, but there was drool running down your chin and an annoying wet noise emanating from your voice-hole, so the odds were good that you'd been snoring in your sleep... As if there wasn't enough wrong with you already.

You sighed out heavily, eyes still closed. You didn't want to wake up today. You were tired. TIRED. Your muscles were SORE. Maybe you healed wounds like a Superpony, but right now you just felt like a sack of wet potatoes. Why were the potatoes wet? Buck if you knew, but all you wanted to do was drop everything and sleep in... But with the sleep already drained from your body, and your recent inclinations towards insomnia, it was highly unlikely that that was going to happen. So with a heavy drool-laced sigh you resigned yourself to the world of the awake and opened up your eyes.

Alright Slate. Lets take a look at how you left things before going to sleep. Mud and dirt literally everywhere in the hut. On the floor you're currently sleeping on. All over your tied up zebra. In your really really comfy bed. In the chests from looking for the rope. Even on the countertops from searching for that sedative.

Then that little purple fire you started before going to sleep. Not sure if anything will come of that, but it sure would be a shame, and quite alarming, if found itself somewhere you didn't put it. especially if that Joke found its way out of the cage and wandered to close.

Finally, the conditions your soon-to-be-slaves will wake up to. Zecora, finding herself caked in dried mud and bound. An empty sedative bottle that you may or may not have completely forgotten about after using it. A nice bump on her head when she hit the door coming in, along with whatever other aches she has from being dragged through the Everfree. And then of course the lightning burns. She's certainly not going to be waking up in a good mood. Expect a rude awakening.

Only to have the image of your dirty, powder-caked, rope-bound zebra fill your sight, her raggedy mud-plastered face inches from your own. Your eyes shot wide, all thoughts of sleep vanishing from your mind as you instantly and unpleasantly recalled the events of the past night that had reduced your zebra to this state, and your rather direct hoof in them.

Your other senses snapped their flanks into motion with this remembrance and, after a brief consultation with the rest of your body, went ahead and let you know that things were worse than they looked. And no offense to Zecora, but they looked pretty bucking terrible right now. You, your zebra, and the entire hut, stunk of mud and soil. You were stiff and even more sore than you'd thought from sleeping on the floor. Your entire back felt lightly sunburned beneath your fur, and birds were chirping like it was morning, with morning light coming through the windows of the hut.

And Rarity was coming today.

You bolted straight up to your hooves, ignoring everything else your senses had just told you as your eyes went even wider and your jaw dropped open. Rarity was coming! THE BUCKING UNICORN WAS COMING! BUCK!!! You snapped your head to look about the hut, your eyes zipping all around, taking in every flawed detail of the interior.

Muddy chests, muddy floor, muddy table, muddy shelves, muddy fur, muddy zebra, muddy rope on a tied up zebra who looked like Tartarus had come out and kicked her in the bucking chest! Buck, buck, double-buck! There was even mud in the bucking bed! And on Trixie! Oh, and a bucking cut on her bucking leg! Buck! ... ... You needed a better curse word than buck because at some point it just stopped capturing the level of how bucking SCREWED you were.

A pair of thoughts entered sideways in the middle of your mud and zebra-based panic, causing you to snap your gaze up to the planimal. It was awake. And glaring. At you... ... You glared back. The little three-headed abomination was still tiny and still trapped, but judging by the teeth-marks on it's bamboo bars, it had very evidently been gnawing on it's cage at some point during the night, trying to escape. It didn't look like it'd made much progress, but still... that was a bit of a red flag. And that it was just silently glaring at you instead of screeching like usual. That might have been a warning sign to. A warning sign that it wanted you to NOT notice it, so that it could secretly escape and chomp your throat in your sleep! The last thing you needed was that... THING loose. You'd have to keep an eye on it, think of some way to keep it imprisoned without having to worry about it.

Unfortunately at the moment you did have that, and more, to worry about. And on the subject of more things to worry about, things that could potentially get loose and out from under your control... You slowly turned your gaze to the cauldron, focusing your eyes on the- ... The burnt and charred remains of the kindling beneath it where the purple flame used to be. While it had apparently lasted long enough to lightly cook your back while you slept, it hadn't stayed forever, and died like any other fire. That was a HUGE relief to you... thank the bucking stars that you didn't have to worry about an undying freaky purple flame along with everything else.

But you did have to worry about everything else, and a very real very urgent PANIC that was gripping your chest! There was just so much shit to deal with! Mud, and unicorns, and zebras, and planimal abominations! How the buck were you going to get out of this mess!? No, no, no panicking, you could fix this! You could! Granted, the situation was... difficult... And when Rarity walked in on it she was more likely to go running for the royal guard than stop and calmly talk things over, but, uhmm... Afternoon! Rarity was coming in the afternoon instead of the morning! Right?! Maybe!? Anyways she wasn't here yet! And Zecora was still asleep, Trixie to, judging by the lack of screaming. You had time! ... But time to do WHAT!? You'd just, everything was just... ... SHE HAD JUST CLEANED THE BUCKING PLACE!!!!

Then there's also how you left Trixie. Lying in a now dirty bed with a fresh wound that definitely wasn't there last night. She's certainly going to notice the state you left the rest of the hut, and Zecora in as well. Expect some questions from her, and have a few answers ready.

You're "definitely" sorry for what you've done to Trixie last night. But you were panicking. Your marefriend that you love so strongly and deeply was freezing to the point of convulsions! You had to get warmth going as quickly as possible, and that was the only way you could think of. If it weren't for these powers, you fear that you would have lost her last night. You'd do anything to keep her safe, and these powers are the only way to do that.

For Trixie, that means continuing to show her proper guidance. You are going to treat your property a little better from now on—and whatever you do, don't openly say she or Zecora are your property, even though they totally are. It would be impolite to do so. Wait until they are ready to breach that subject from their end, and keep nurturing these feelings when they sleep. Sweet dreams are made of this...

Before that, we really should clean the blood, spit, and teeth off of our illusionist...that's it for now.

Nomad

Before you do anything else, clean up the Illusionist. She's still covered in blood, which if you remember, was what made Zercora want to take your superpowers away in the first place. What neither of them know, can't hurt you.

TRIXIE!!! You could start with Trixie! After all you'd given her a wound last night! Mud could be explained away, maybe, but blood on fur was much harder to dismiss. And you'd left your bloody teeth near her to! ... You'd... left your bloody teeth... next to the mare... on the comfy bed... where you would spend your future nights... ... ... uuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhh... ... ... After taking a moment to fight back the sudden wave of revulsion that came with that uncomforting realization, you shook your head, and took a deep calming breath.

Right, one thing at a time. Start cleaning with Trixie. Every project started somewhere and this one would start with a prissy unicorn bi- ... No. No, you weren't going to do that. You'd put Trixie through a lot recently. Like cutting her and drinking her blood for a quick power-fix, for example. Whatever venom her bad attitude had earned her early on, you'd paid that back way over by now.

And, while you were being all magnanimous towards the mare, if it wasn't for your powers, most notably the direction sense and fire lighting, then Zecora might very well have died last night. Unconscious in the Everfree at night during a storm? What were the odds a pony could survive THAT without succumbing to the cold and wet of nature's unbridled fury? If you hadn't gotten charged from Trixie then you wouldn't have been able to use your powers. Well, the fire-lighting part of the powers at least. In a way, Trixie was at least partially responsible for saving Zecora's life... so, you'd try to treat her a little better from now on. After all, she was your unicorn, and there was nothing wrong with treating your things well... ... And that started with getting her cleaned up.

You nodded to yourself, firm in your conviction, and a little less firm in something a bit more crucial. How? You'd need to scrub and wash her and you were pretty sure that there wasn't any more water in the hut. Zecora seemed to... well, make the water or something, summon it maybe. You weren't sure, you had no bucking idea how zebra magic worked. There was the river where Zecora had taken you to bathe at early on though... It was close by, and you'd be able to find your way to it easily enough. Now granted you wouldn't be able to get MUCH water from it. Zecora had bowls not buckets. It'd be just enough to clean off the blood from Trixie's cut but it wouldn't be enough to clean...well... ... everything else.

You shook your head. One potentially life-ruining problem at a time. You looked up to Zecora's little side-cauldron table, scanned it with your eyes, and picked out one of her wooden bowls. You started to move over to it on your three sore legs, while sincerely wishing that you could use your fourth. How long were you supposed to keep the bandages on anyways? Well you didn't know because you couldn't ask the damn healer because she was unconscious and you'd fed her a sedative to keep her that way! ... So, really, you didn't have much right to complain in this case as this was kind of your buck-up. Uggghhhh... You were so tired of screwing shit up...

But anyways, bowl, river, water, Trixie! To be addressed in that order!

You reached the table easily enough and leaned down to take one of the wooden bowls in your teeth, having to grip it at a slightly awkward angle to avoid shoving your fangs into it, using your lower jaw for most of the support. You gave it a quick glance-over to make sure it didn't have mud or anything else on it. Satisfied with the absence of ooziness and mud you lifted it up, turned, and moved towards the door out of Zecora's hut, eyeing the planimal beast as you moved past it's cage, the little monster watching you with it's beady red eyes... Buck you hated that thing...

It wound up being a hassle to actually open the damn door. You couldn't use your teeth and your muscles were too sore to stand on your hind-legs without fear of collapse. You had to sit down on your flank right in front of the door, reach up with your right foreleg to the knob, turn it awkwardly, and push the door open. Then you had to slowly, laboriously, get back up to your aching three legs, and step forward out of the hut. A mouthful of steps to accomplish one task. Sometimes you wondered how anypony got shit done without magic.

You did not, of course, remember that you had a horn and magic-cache to go with it until AFTER you got out the doorway. The internal groan you unleashed would have made a moaning ghost proud. But you had things to do other than wallow in self-pity, and those things involved getting down to a river to get water to clean the blood off a unicorn! And that was, apparently, going to be a bucking chore.

The ground was still wet from last night's storm. You could smell it in the air, the sweet strong smell of grass after rain, and see it in the glistening remnants of water where the light caught the green blades. The dirt beneath was sure to muddy your hooves all over again, and between having only three legs to work with and the soreness in your muscles, you were almost certain to slip and muddy your whole body. As if you weren't already mud-caked enough... ... Still, couldn't be helped. You needed to wash a unicorn and for that you needed water from a river and to get that you needed to get your hooves dirty. Literally. So with another resigned sigh, you stepped down the stairs from Zecora's hut, let your right forehoof touch the ground, and sink into the mud... And then you just kept on trucking forward.

You almost had another panic attack when you realized that you didn't recognize any of the forest, or the path to the river from last time. But fortunately a soft whispering in your ears quickly dispelled that worry. You cocked your head to the left, bowl still in your mouth, and listened to the air... no, not to the air, to the trees. The trees of the Everfree. The sound of whispers just on the verge of hearing, mixed with suggestions just at the edge of being thoughts, and you found your gaze drifting to a singular shadowed spot between the trunks of the ancient vegetation... Without hesitation, and absolute certainty that you weren't going to get lost on your way, you faced towards that small gap in the trees, and walked forward.

And shit did NOT go to Tartarus in a saddlebag. The Everfree led you straight down to the river and despite your muddied hooves you DID NOT slip on the rocks by the riverbank and crack your skull open. Which was something you were quite frankly expecting, considering the numerous environmental factors plus your general level of luck. You approached the water the stream seeming a bit wider, a bit deeper, and a bit faster, then when Zecora had taken you to bathe in it. You supposed that it had drunk it's fill of the rainwater and was now flaunting it's new-gained girth. Perhaps it was just as well you weren't there to wash the stink off your body today. So, leaning down, you dipped the bowl along with your nose into the river and just held it there for a second, keeping it in your teeth against the pressure of the stream. It was actually pretty awkward the way you were holding it, and you got a bit of the water in your mouth, seeping in through the sides. Still, it didn't last long, and you lifted the bowl out open-side up, excess water sloshing over the brim on both sides and your nose twitching slightly from the cold.

Quick. Easy. Clean... Unlike just about everything else in your life as of recent... And ever. You were about to turn and move back up to Zecora's hut when a glint on the water caught your eye, coming from upstream. You felt a familiar dread building up in your gut as an unfamiliar object, catching light from Celestia's rays, bobbed down the stream and into your sight. But as you focused on this foreign intruder in the stream's current you were surprised to see that it wasn't a monster, or some new threat of the Everfree ready to jump out and chew your face off. Instead it was what appeared to be a big purple scale. Shiny, reflective, glinting brightly and almost cheerfully as it floated down the river, seemingly without a care in the world... You blinked... ... Then shook your head and turned to go back to the hut. Nope. That wasn't the weirdest thing you'd seen in this forest by a MILE and you had shit to do. Pretty shining scales could wait.

You made your way back up to Zecora's hut on three sore legs with a bowl full of water in your mouth. Naturally, some of it sloshed out on the way, causing you to let out muffled curses and exclamations around the bowl. But to your immense gratitude and surprise MOST of it stayed inside. And you didn't collapse and spill it all out even ONCE! Also when you got back to the hut this time you remembered that you had a damn horn. While it was still difficult and kind of made your head hurt, you had enough juice in you to engulf the door knob in your shiny purple telekinesis, turn it, and push it open, with minimal fuss and hassle... ... MAGIC WAS BUCKING AWESOME!!!

Grinning around the bowl, basking in what felt like one of the only legitimate accomplishments you'd had as of recent, you made your way into the interior of the hut, tracking in more mud, fresh and wet, to go with the dried and caked mud already scattered throughout the rest of the abode. You trudged over to the eating table and set the bowl down carefully, gently, as though it was a bucking glass vase, trying to make damn sure that you didn't spill out any of the precious water within. The task accomplished, you let out a HUGE sigh of relief, before raising your gaze back up from the bowl and looking about the hut, trying to ignore the mess and creepy bucking Planimal monster, as you scanned your surroundings for a wash cloth.

You spotted a white and black striped towel, small enough to do the job, folded up neatly on the table by the cauldron. Taking only a moment to wonder if you'd ever actually seen that one before you trotted over as quickly as you could manage and grabbed it by your teeth, being careful to not let the fangs pierce through. You brought it back over to the bowl and dipped it into the water, draping it over the side of the bowl and letting half of it soak while the other half kept dry. Washcloth acquired, you scanned the room again for the other necessary part of operation "Pull Your Flank Out of the Fire", Zecora's little soap rocks, and found them in a small woven basket on one of the shelves. Actually, the one that you'd first seen Zecora use, that kind of looked like a pretty bird's nest. Luckily, it hadn't gotten muddy in your earlier escapades.

You went over to the pretty little basket and once again looked down upon the little rough lime-green rectangles with the tiny blue spots. You couldn't help but find them amazing... If you hadn't seen it yourself, you wouldn't have believed that one of these things could burst up into a huge clingy-foam-wave thing just from touching water... or some less weird way of saying that. Of course, you also wouldn't have believed that you could start growing shit out of your body, wake up in the Everfree forest with no idea how you got there, rut a zebra, or start casting unicorn magic from a horn in your noggin... Life was full of surprises. You shook your head, then reached down, and lightly plucked a single soap rock from the basket. Then you turned around, calmly walked back to the water bowl, and plopped it in.

You needed to carry the whole thing over after all, and the way Zecora's soap worked made the whole thing bubble with soap on the top, removal by scrubbing with the water beneath. Perfect to scrub away the muck on Trixie's coat. With the washing apparatus prepared, you lowered your mouth to the bowl and gripped it by the rim, being careful as you couldn't prevent your newfound fangs from digging into the wood a bit. You got some foam in your mouth from that, bubbling up against your tongue. It tasted like what mares washed colt's mouths out with. You grimaced, but dealt with it, and lifted up the bowl before turning, and moving towards the bedroom doorway, blinking and stopping occasionally to look over the foam as it gathered.

You got to the doorway and tried to see Trixie over the rising foam. That didn't work well. With an internal huff you leaned down and placed the bowl down on the floor in front of you, before looking back up to see Trixie on the bed, bathed in streams of golden light as they flitted through the window above, the morning's rays casting themselves down across her sleeping form... ... She looked pretty terrible. Her coat was covered in mud from the prodding you'd done last night, and there was a deep red stain around the upper part of her right foreleg where you'd made the cut. There was also a little blood on the sheets, as apparently she'd moved around a bit during the night. She was now on top of the covers completely, most of them kicked off, her body curled into itself slightly, facing away from the doorway.

You were pretty sure she was still asleep. You couldn't imagine her waking up to find herself in that kind of state and keeping quiet about it. Hopefully Zecora's sedative from last night would still be in effect and keep her from waking up while you scrubbed her clean of blood. You might be able to get the mud off her to, you probably had enough water and soap for that, though probably not given that you were on a deadline. With another sigh, you leaned down and picked up the foaming bowl in your teeth, resuming your careful walk up to the bed, peering barely over the foam again. When you reached the bed you set down the bowl, gently, as far inwards on the bed as you could manage by stretching your neck. Then you, once again slowly, mounted the bed, carefully climbing up with your three unbound legs and getting up on top before looking back down to the unconscious unicorn mare.

As you looked upon her you felt a twinge of... pity? Remorse? For how you'd treated her... All she'd done is go to bed after all, and you'd messed her up rather thoroughly... she'd had a tough time of it recently as well hadn't she? ... Some more kindness from you was probably in order... ... Shaking your head free from thoughts not useful to the immediate situation, you bent down to the bowl and got to business. The water was cold, and the foam was soapy, but you dealt with it and gripped the cloth carefully in your teeth, still avoiding the use of your oversized canines, before bringing it up to Trixie's foreleg and pushing it to her bloodied fur. She shivered at contact with the water and you froze, wondering if she was going to wake up... fortunately for you she didn't and after a few moments of tense waiting you pushed the cloth more firmly into her fur and started to scrub.

Goodness, Slate. You're creepy. I can already tell that you're going to have a rape dungeon the moment things get moving. That's fine. Be rapey. Rape is a great way to psychologically break people for giggles. Just take care not to make it a central aspect of yourself... much like with rage, lust has a way of making people exceptionally stupid. Believe me Blankey, you're stupid enough as it is. The last thing we need is your supercharged hormones amplifying the stupidity you already exhibit.

A thought, Dear Blank. You have fangs, you drink blood, and everytime you ingest something wierd, you grow more powerful....you are a freakin' vampony. What do we know of vamponies? Let's see: they feed on blood, blood from various species carry traces of their power, those the bite...aren't they supposed to fall into the control of the biter? This could prove useful in gaining a herd...you didn't actually Bite Trixie, you just drank from her cut. We should test this theory out on our slave in training, Trixie. If it works, we might just have what we need to better...influence our zebra.

Nomad

Now, lets see, fangs? Check. Compelling voice? Check. Preternatural connection with the Haunted Woods(tm) that form your demesne? Check. Command of the wild animals that inhabit the Haunted Wood(tm)? Well... we'll work on that. Hmm, a trenchcoat and fedora, while awesome and perfectly suited for slumming it in town, don't really have the flair or glamour for the future Vampony-Prince of the Everfree, so when Rarity shows up later with you clothes, stay on her good side, because as soon as you have the funds for it, we need to get something more suited to our station.

Which leads to, how to get said funds? We know that there are Diamond Dogs running (well tunnelling) around, and their not called "Diamond" Dogs for nothing, so that implies there are gemstones under the forest. The old castle would likely have some valubles left in it as well. Of course, you may want to leave that more-or-less intact so you can do it up later.

Archivist

You scrubbed away the blood easily enough. Zecora's special soap-mix thing stuck to the fur around the cut and foamed up, and you took the towel, suds and all, and proceeded to wipe at the spot. Red blood stains disappeared from blue fur with a bit of scrubbing. And as they did so your heart was slamming in your chest. Trixie was making little grunts and groans with every rub, and you couldn't help but think that at any moment she might wake up. You were tempted to go slower, or stop altogether, but the thought that you needed to get this done before Rarity arrived filled your mind and kept up your tempo.

As you kept thinking of Rarity you actually paused in your ministrations for a moment, a certain train of thought entering into your mind. A trench coat was good and all for hiding yourself from the puny pony townsfolk but it wasn't exactly the most... regal of outfits. Not really fitting for wear in the Everfree, around your territory. And it was that wasn't it? Your territory. After all it now spoke to you, guided you, accepted you as it's lord and master! ... Maybe. The trees were being cooperative but the actual life within was... less so. Perhaps you could work on that...

In any event you needed something a little fancier in your wardrobe besides just a trench coat. Maybe a cape! Yes, capes were what vamponies wore and, well, you did rather like vamponies didn't you? Of course you did, they were bucking awesome! And maybe some kind of silk, something fancy and old-styled... Old Canterlot nobility fashion perhaps? Classic and impressive? Or maybe just some regular formal wear, suit and hat perhaps. How much did a good suit cost though? You really wouldn't know considering you'd never had enough bits to find out, but you couldn't imagine it being any less than exactly 'more than you've got'.

That was before though. In your previous life. Now you were living your new one, in the Everfree, the Everfree where there were Diamond Dogs and Diamond Dog tunnels, and where Diamond Dog tunnels appeared there were gems and mines for said gems, which meant that the riches of the Earth ran beneath the Everfree... And you could find them. With the Everfree guiding you, you could find the tunnels and gems and dogs and all. And closer to home there was the collar you'd taken from that dog you met, the one you'd given to Zecora. She probably still had it around the hut somewhere... And actually, come to think of it, there was still the old ruined castle you'd taken shelter in the first night you were here. Something so ancient probably had valuables of some kind, maybe you could go back and-

Trixie shifted underneath you, moaning lightly. You looked back to her, cursed yourself under your breath, and resumed scrubbing quickly. Right, cleaning the mare, trying to fix your mess, trying to not di-

Trixie shifted again, this time turning over onto her back and throwing her hind legs open, almost knocking over the foamed-up water-bowl in the process. Quickly you shoved the bowl aside with your right forehoof, sloshing some of it out onto the bed but stopping the whole thing from getting knocked over by the mare's leg. You breathed a sigh of relief, counting one wet spot instead of a full-spill as a lucky break, and then looked back to the sleeping mare and- ... ... Your blood ran cold in your veins as you gazed not upon the face of the sleeping mare, but upon the pretty little slit that she'd revealed by rolling onto her back and kicking her hind-legs open, the small passage in a mare's groin that ruled the hearts and minds of stallions, well most stallions and some mares, her precious marehood, fully in your sight...

You gulped, staring at the little slit. Trixie was asleep... Possibly sedated... it wouldn't be too hard, not very hard at all to just... stick it in. She'd never be the wiser. Even if she was a virgin you'd be able to clean up any blood or cum with the soap rag. BUT THAT WOULD BE WRONG! That was rape wasn't it?! And that was one of the worst possible crimes a pony could commit! That was crossing the damn line! ... Wasn't it?

To be honest you had committed some forms of violation already. Taking her blood when she was sleeping for one, hadn't exactly asked her permission there had you? You'd also tied up a zebra, shot her with lightning, whispered into and licked at ponies ears during their sleep with the hope of influencing their waking thoughts... you weren't exactly mister innocent. So would it really be so much worse to take advantage now? And you didn't need to just stick it in right away. A touch here, a lick there, maybe just burry your muzzle into her cunt and start lapping until her pretty pussy lips were wet enough and then... ... Your best friend began to rise at the idea...

NO! No you were not going to lose control damnit! Your body was yours! Not your cock's, not your brain's, and not some strange malevolent entities from beyond this temporal plane! You were in control and damnit you had things to do! Yes, yes that was it, you had things to do! You needed to get the blood off and try to fix things before Rarity got here! That was what needed to happen. Panic beat out lust anyday! So, focusing on that desperate need to fix things and stave off your coming destruction, you resumed scrubbing, quick and hard, getting the blood off as fast as you could.

And really so what if you drank blood, and did things in the night, and cursed Celestia's sun, and grew fangs, that didn't mean you had to go and rape ponies! Those things didn't really make you a bad pony they... they kind of made you a night-owl with fangs that drank blood... or a night bat... they made you a night bat with fangs that drank blood and that was just another way of saying vampony... ... They made you a vampony... ... ... YOU WERE A BUCKING VAMPONY!!!!

You stopped mid-scrub, eyes going wide and jaw dropping open. Holy buck that explained everything! The nighttime activities, the advanced regeneration, the blood-drinking, the fangs! Even the crazy mutations were just a manifestation of vampony power. All of this started at the ruined castle the night you woke up in the Everfree... it must have turned you into a vampony! Or maybe a vampony bit you and dumped you in the Everfree!? However it happened there was no doubting it, you were a creepy trenchcoat-stalker, sleep-molester, unkillable, super-powerful, blood-drinking creepy as buck vampony! Wow... that... ... that was actually kind of reassuring...

It was still freaky! Of that there was no mistake but... it felt good to finally have an explanation. A real explanation beyond just 'it's a illness of some kind'. Sure not everything was completely explained by the Vampony theory, the metal lightning/tuning fork things on your back being one example, but that theory had the most pieces matching up to it and even the changes that didn't really fit in with the template didn't exactly deny it either. You had yet to develop photosynthesis and shoot sunbeams out of your flank, for example. And it was also... identifying? Yes, yes that was the word for it. You'd never had a Cutie Mark, never had the 'this is what you're meant to be' emblazoned on your flank for all to see like other ponies. And then you'd grown a bucking horn in the Everfree, taking away even the 'I'm an Earth Pony' identity that you'd at least been able to hold onto. To have the identity now of Vampony, something you could hold on to despite these changes was... comforting. And kind of hot.

You looked again to Trixie's pretty pony cunt, a sort of calm falling over you. Vamponies drank straight from the source, didn't they? Dug their fangs right in to take the blood of ponies? Chomped and drained, until they were either dry or enslaved? Mesmerism, dark power, binding rites, mental manipulation, and blood mixing... Enslavement of ponies, binding of service... ... It seemed so... tempting... What would it be like, to dig your fangs right into that pretty pony cunt, and suck until Trixie was yours and yours alone? ... Your tongue ran along the edge of your lips...

RARITY WAS COMING!!! GET SOME BUCKING CONTROL YOU DAMN BUCKING CUNT!!!

You blinked, and then jerked back sharply, heart slamming in your chest. Buck! With your identity establishment you'd almost forgotten! You didn't have time for this shit you had to hurry! You leaned forward over Trixie, her pretty gash ignored, and picked up your bloodied teeth with your right forehoof from the bed... It was disgusting, having to pick them up, and sent waves of revulsion through you. But you couldn't leave those... THINGS in your bed... As it stood you might already have to wash the sheets.

Fighting a shudder you dropped the teeth into the foamy bowl before grabbing the rag and plopping it back in. Not daring to take the time to even think about cleaning off the mud you gripped the edge of the bowl with your still-present teeth and lifted it up. You flinched slightly as your fangs dug slightly into the wood, forgetting caution in your panic, before adjusting your grip again to keep your fangs safe and turning, awkwardly, to get off the bed and leave before you did anything mind-blowingly stupid.

I wish to give you a gift a book the Liber Chaotica a book of great power, the power of the Chaos. Allow yourself to be possessed.

And for Everfree's sake, practice your speech! Vamponies might be cool, but you don't want ponies to laugh at you when you open your mouth and sound like a skill-less third-rate understudy auditioning for lead role in Horseferatu.

Even with all the things happening you mustn't forget the training regime you wanted to start, Blank Slate. Trixie will certainly be pleased that she can help you with magic. Ultimately she is a walking failure and needs to be given purpose by you. Tell her this and compliment her from time to time to show her how good she can be if she is given guidance.

Make sure to get a good grasp at illusion magic to hide your mutations. And considering that we don't have the time you would need to become proficient enough with magic we need to cheat a little.

You trotted back into the main room, breathing heavily, trying to put the thought of... an opportunity not taken, behind you. You shook your head, the fleeting images of Trixie's prissy pony cunt filling your mind, and fought back your rising stallionhood, your best friend's presence most certainly NOT required at the moment. Putting the bowl down on the table you shook your head again, harder this time to help with the thought clearing, and breathed in and out heavily, deeply, fear and nervousness bringing new and far more useful thoughts racing into your skull.

Alright... alright Trixie was cleaned of blood... but there was still mud everywhere... You'd... you'd need to be able to explain that.

"And whight now ayemth not twalking two gwood..." You spoke aloud, confirming your fears of your own lack of vocalization ability. With a sigh you worked your jaw, right and left, back and forth, before speaking again.

"I'll nw-need... to practice how to spw-speak... So that I can s-sound proper when Rwa- Rarity... arrives." You spoke, slowly and carefully, moving your tongue around your fangs and vocalizing properly. You could work on that but... but would that be enough? ... Yeah, sure, just tell her that the tied up zebra and mud is kinky roleplay, she'll definitely buy that and just go on her merry way and OF COURSE THAT WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH!!! Buck! If only you knew how to do illusion magic so you could just hide everything for the meddling bitch!

... If only...

You blinked and furrowed your brows. Well, you did have a horn now, though it mainly seemed concerned with lighting things on fire... And Trixie was a showmare if ever there was one. If anypony knew how to cast illusions to obscure and mystify it would be her! But... there was the small matter of her currently being both asleep AND sedated. Kind of difficult to ask an unconscious mare for magic lessons.

There was Zecora though... Or rather her library. Zecora was wise, mystical, and well-read. There was every chance that one of her books might have a crash-course on illusion magic! Heck, they might even teach you so much so quickly that you'd be able to cast an illusion to hide all of this and make everything look normal before Rarity arrived! ... Not really, if it was that easy than no unicorn would get caught doing anything. But buck it, fruitless searching was better than doing nothing!

So with an action to distract you from your impending doom selected, you moved over to the bookshelves while going-

"She swells- she sells seashwell-seashells by dwe-the seashore. Shw-she sells seashells by dw-the seashore. She-" Again and again, muttering it constantly to practice speaking around your fangs while you searched for illusions, hit two birds with one stone so to speak. The fact that you must have looked and sounded absolutely and completely bucking ridiculous while doing it, was quite frankly irrelevant.

You ran your eyes over the books looking for titles that stood out, something that suggested illusion or mind-spells. Preferably illusion AND mind spells. Something you could use at any rate. Your eyes scanned rapidly, finding many books in Zebrican that could contain all the illusion spells in the world for all you knew and still wouldn't be any use since you couldn't read bucking Zebrican. Most of the books in Equestrian seemed to be either medically related or involving pony culture and history. You supposed that was to be expected, given that Zecora wasn't exactly native. She would have read up on ponies as much as she could to be prepared for the culture differences.

So the search was, for the most part, completely fruitless. One title however caught your eyes... Liber something-or-other, a brown leather-bound book on the shelf. And you weren't sure why but something about it just kind of... drew you to it. With a curious look, and still doing tongue-twisters for speech practice, you trotted over to the bookshelf, standing up shakily on your hind legs and reaching up towards the book to take it from the shelf.

We are in agreement! Blank, you will show your herd you are sorry for what happened. It's not your fault, though, none of this is your fault. You are only trying to protect those dear to you, but your mares don't need to be burdened with that truth. You will act in a way to regain their good graces. For Zecora, that means acting a little more like when you met. Assuage her fears. You will manage! Tying her up? Well, she was hit by lightning, you were scared she would suddenly spasm and injure herself! It wasn't because you enjoy seeing other ponies, mares especially, helpless. You do enjoy it, but that wasn't why you did it!

Now then, here's an idea Blankey-spank. Instead of waking up and yelling at her with righteous indignation, how about you instead rub some dust in your eyes to simulate tears and beg for her forgiveness? Throwing a tantrum at her after striking her with lighting is a surefire way of telling her all she needs to know about you. If she wakes up, sees you dirty and tearfully sobbing, and sees that she's been taken back to her home and cared for, you could guilt trip her into believing that she made you do it and it's tearing you apart. Say a bunch of stuff about how she's the only one who's ever cared about you and how you love her and you regret everything so much, etcetera etcetera. Tug at her heartstrings; make her feel bad for you. Make her feel crappy about what went down, and she'll be wrapped around your fing- I mean hoof.

If that doesn't work, you could always tug her heartstrings. As in literally tug the heartstrings out of her body.

XOXO, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

Now that is a good plan Slate my friend. Show your pet that you're "sorry" with some tears of the crocodile variety.

There is a silver lining though. A good chance with all this damage that she doesn't remember the little confrontation of last night correctly. Perhaps you can "help" her remember the details better.

Perhaps some of those answers help Zecora remember the events of last night better.

Perhaps when you went out to search for whoever screamed, you came across Zecora after she was hit with some freak stray lighting. Perhaps when you got back, she started to have convulsions from the cold and trauma of being hit with a lightning bolt. So of course you had to tie her up and give her a sedative so she wouldn't hurt herself. And well, you had to get a fire going quickly, or she might have gotten Hypothermia. And the quickest way you could have gotten one going was to get more magic from Trixie.

And stopped in your bucking tracks as you heard a groan coming from the tied up form of your zebra. You slowly turned your eyes to the mare watching as she shifted against the ropes and muttered something under her breath, shifting position... She was WAKING UP!!! BUCK!!! What the buck did you do wrong!? Didn't you give her a damn sedative!? Was it the wrong type, was it not enough!? Well it didn't matter now because she was going to wake up and be bucking pissed!

Okay! Okay you could get out of this! Somehow! You just had to think of a way to deal with things before she woke up! And think you did. You thought quickly. Rapidly. Fast as bucking lightning. Lightning! You were protecting her from the lightning! By tying her up. She could have spasmed and hurt herself, so of course you tied her up like that, you had no choice, that was sound reasoning right?! And the lightning hit her without your help! And the strike would probably have scrambled her brain, just a little, so she probably wouldn't remember the part where you directed the lightning. The lightning hit her without you helping it while you and her were arguing!

And, um, remorse, sadness, sympathy, tears, you needed tears, you needed to cry! She had a kind heart so if you were sobbing she'd probably not get as angry. Oh! And say how much you loved her! And say how sorry you were! And do it in a way that doesn't sound horrible because you still hadn't gotten your speech right and- BUCK!!! How were you going to cry!? Only like, actor ponies could just cry on command, how could you just start bawling unless you were in pain or there was something in your eye?! ... Something in your eye, that was it! But what?! You didn't know what shit Zecora had in her bottles, you didn't want to risk rubbing something unknown into your ocular orbs and you didn't exactly have time to search out which ones were safe! You needed something fast and there wasn't anything around except for all this mud! ... ... Which was just dirt when it was dry...

Scrambling, panicking, breathing faster than you knew you possibly could, you grabbed some of the caked mud from the floor in your hoof, wrenching it off the floor, cracked pieces falling and shattering into dirt. Still too large though! You stumbled over to the eating table and shoved the dried caked mud against the edge, rubbing it hard to break it down into dirt against your hoof. Good clumps of dirt acquired, you brought your hoof up to your face and kept your lids open wide as you shoved the brown glob straight into your right eye.

You teared up immediately, a biting pain stinging through your eyeball, eliciting the response of- ouch, ouch, ouch, bucking ouch! In your brain and keeping it going for what felt like millennia to your poor little sensitive seeing-orb. Yeah, yeah that would get you to bucking cry! Irritate the buck out of your eyeballs to! But you didn't have time to complain or be a little bitch about this, you could already hear movement coming from your zebra as she stirred. You quickly rubbed another batch of caked mud into a clump of dirt and shoved it into your left eye, gritting your teeth and almost inadvertently puncturing your inner-lip in an effort not to yell out as the dirt dug in deep into the sensitive tissue.

You closed both eyes, letting the dirt sink in as you lifted your right foreleg up to wipe away the specks around your eyes, hopefully helping to prevent Zecora from seeing the real source of your tears. Your eyes were stinging, definitely irritated, probably even red. Tears were pooling out from beneath your lids and running down your cheeks, the water mixing in with the dirt as you heard a groan and a voice start to speak-

"Wh-wha-"

"OH ZECORAH!" You shouted as soon as the rough, ragged voice of a mare who has had a VERY rough night started to sound out. You whirled around to face towards her, or what you hoped was towards her as you couldn't bucking SEE at the moment because of the dirt in your eyes. Regardless of whether you actually got the right direction or not you felt a full show of repentance was in order, so you threw yourself upon the ground, dropping to your hind legs then falling forward instead of full-on throwing as you weren't a bucking idiot, and proceeded to blubber.

"I wash so worried! You've been ashleep fhor so long!" You were having a bit of trouble with the fangs, big surprise. You couldn't keep your speech perfect and keep up a rapid groveling pace, and right now groveling was more important than sounding nice. Hopefully it would just add to the pathetic tone you were trying to set, what with the sobbing and crying and your generally unkempt appearance instead of making it impossible for Zecora to understand a word you were saying... one could only hope...

"We were arguwing in the forest, and you where mad and callwing me a monster, and the lightning was stowming, and it came down and hit you, and you were thrawshing so I had to tie you up so you wouldn't hwurt yourself and dwen I had two get you back here! And it was dwark and raining and I didn't know what two do! And I was so scared of losing you! I'm still scared of losing you! I'm just so scared now!" And that wasn't even actually a lie... the scared part at least. You were terrified. Your eyes were hurting, your heart was slamming away in your chest, and you could swear that perspiration was forming on your flesh and coat. You were on the edge of losing everything, and for the first time in your pathetic excuse for a life you actually had something to lose... you'd have to be crazy not to be scared at this point. And you were most definitely not crazy! ... Just a little desperate from time to time.

"You were the only pony who was evwer nice to me and then you started yelling at me and saying those mwean things about me, and then the lightning and the dragging through the dark night, and I didn't know how to get you in safe and I didn't know if you'd be okay and I didn't know if I'd be okay and it was all just so horrible! And everything go messed up and Trixie wouldn't wake up and I'm just so sorry! Whatever I did I'm sow-ow-wheeee!" Repentance and remorse... Sorrow and heartache. You hoped you were selling those things... Partly because despite how logical this flow of thought had been, you were feeling them. Mainly you were sorry... sorry that things went so far, even if it wasn't really your fault. Sorry that you'd lost your cool and struck her with lightning... Sorry that you hadn't been able to talk her down. It was your job to take care of your mares, and by hitting her with lightning you'd kind of done the opposite of that... And you were sorry. And right now, you were showing it.

Mainly with sobbing. Letting out unstallionly, pathetic, and outright embarrassing sobs to broadcast how you felt. Granted the source of these sobs was the pain in your eyes, but once you got started you threw your full gusto into them, crying hard to make sure she saw your apology written on your face. Though you couldn't see her because of the dirt and tears in your eyes, making it far too blurry for you to be able to see anything clearly. And you couldn't hear any reaction from Zecora right now... it was more than possible that she was still in shock, or remembering what happened. You could however hear the sound of knocking at the door, followed by a bright and cheerful-

"Yoohoo darlings!" From a very specific, very possibly life-destroying unicorn. And you couldn't even see if your sobbing ploy had worked. You honestly felt like panicking again. Like maybe bolting up and out the window, or feinting, or playing dead, or-

So listen to the whispering in the corners of your mind and let yourself be guided by us.

After all, you will never be alone again, Blank Slate. You don't need to be a hero, you don't need to be a genius or powerful. We are ... No, I am here and so I will let you sense what I feel for you. Caring, genuine and pure. Let it flush away your insecurities and doubts.

Aedin the mage

No... no this would work. Even as you cried a calm centered in your chest and stomach. You were cared for, you were watched, you were protected, and you were secure. You had something here, Zecora cared about you, she was there for you, she was yours, this was your place, and you didn't need to fear here. This would work. You would get back your zebra. You would get your trenchcoat. You would keep this home and you gain importance and power in the world. You would...

Author's Note

Well, after innumerable delays, headaches, rewrites, corrections, moments of complete writer's block, and the occasional desires to violently murder the chapter for not doing what I wanted it to, the chapter is here! And I'm still not satisfied with it! Dagnabbit! ... Well, better late than never is a phrase for a reason... and something that was said by an unnamed extra in Ghost Buster's 2, I think it was, when the ghost titanic showed up... For some reason that's one of my favorite little moments in the movie.

Anyways, satisfied or not, this is way overdue, and I am exhausted with it. I hope it brings you all some pleasure. And on a lighter note, because I'm aware I can be a downer unfortunately, here's a direct response to something awesome that one of the awesome participants in this story posted. A reference I got, and thought was cool. Couldn't find a good video version, but I hope you'll like it anyways even if you don't know what this is from. Enjoy...

Oh! And if the Character Sheet is above the post, I haven't edited it yet, so it'll be a little behind. There's a personality trait that I figured that the character should have/have had already and I need to put there, in addition to the general editing I usually do. However I'm tired right now, so won't be editing immediately... Anyways, be well, thank you for reading.

If It's Not One Thing...

Quite a pickle. Let's assess;

Rarity is here. You know, the one with the annoying voice you should be plotting to eventually murder? Anyway, you look very different than you did the last time she saw you. Hope you either have a good excuse or a good plan to dispose of her very quickly! Also Zecora has woken up and you don't know if she forgives you. Maybe she does and she sympathizes. Maybe she doesn't and it's time to see how sharp that horn of yours is. If she does forgive you, maybe she can come up with an excuse for your differing appearance for you. Oh, and let's not forget the state of the hut. Messy, to say the least.

So, there are several options here. They basically boil down to two overarching options; one being jump through hoops you probably can't possibly jump through and hope your awful luck consents to smile, or you find a way to quickly and efficiently murder every witness and hide their bodies. You're not good at murdering. You're not good at lying and charming. You're not good at being lucky. You're not... well, you're not good at anything. Really, the voices in your soft little noggin are probably the only reason your worthless life has been preserved thus far.

With this in mind, allow me to relay a message from all of us here at Voices In Your Head Incorporated.

DON'T SCREW THIS UP.

I'd much prefer you learn from your incompetence, not get killed or imprisoned because of it. The show must go on, and you are not about to ruin my entertainment.

Frustrated regards, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

Should you prove yourself incompetent you should already know what to do. BURN THEM ALL ALIVE!!! SCOURCH THEM FROM THIS PLAIN WITH YOUR CLEANSING FLAME!!! SHOW THEM NO MERCY!!! THAT IS ALL YOU MISERABLE WELP!!!

Rarity was at the door. Rarity was at the bucking door. You couldn't look up. You couldn't move. You couldn't do anything but shake and cry because of the bucking dirt in your eyes and the damn fact that the damn unicorn was right outside of the damn bucking door! This was it! You were out of time! You were dead now, DEAD!

You could barely breath. Your head was swimming. You wanted to cry and puke and laugh at the same time. You had the crying part down but the laughter just wasn't coming out. You thanked what little slivers of your dignity remained that the puking part wasn't either.

Your breath was coming quick. You could hear your heart pounding in your chest, sweat was breaking out on your skin and your brain was shattering in your skull! Your thoughts began to go wild, began to dash and race! You felt crazy! You felt insane! Because obviously the only solution now was to kill them all! Yes, yes you had Zecora tied up, you could ram her through the heart with your horn and make the blood pump out! Thump-da-thump-da-thump! Squirt-da-squirt-da-squirt! Hahahaha! Then you'd do the same to Rarity, and, and then you'd drag her body in, and slice Trixie's throat for good measure! Then light the place on fire! Burn the whole bucking place down! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Then, then you'd be okay right!? YOU'D BE OKAY!!! YOU'D BE-

"You would..." not, bucking, panic, again. Every time you let you emotions make short term decisions you screw shit up. This is not to say emotions are an eo ipso bad thing. They define your goals, what you adulate or abhor, but after you know what you want you method of acquisition needs to be driven by cool pragmatism. Speaking of which, once you have a moment to think you really need to sit down a determine your long term objectives.

Still, small crisis to resolve.

Situation: Tied-up and dirt covered zebra mare, Marshmallow Pone at the door, pissed-off Planimal trying to escape, Showmare cleaned-up and still unconscious. Still ignorant of Zecora's current attitude toward us, and last night's misadventure. Rarity ignorant of, well, pretty much everything.

Mission: Primary objectives: 1) Keep control of the situation (this should be you goal above all else). 2) Keep Rare ignorant of what transpired. 3) Keep you two Mares.

Secondary objectives: 1) Regain Zecora's approval (listed as secondary because if we keep control, approval can be a work in progress). 2) Enslave Marshmallow.

Tertiary objectives: 1) Keep Trixie ignorant of what transpired (as a general rule, if you can keep ponies in the dark about something, do so).

Execution: First, tell Rare wait you be there shortly. Then untie Zecora, see if you can distill remorse into a facial expression (yes I know you pony-skills suck diamond-dog gonads, work with me). Let Marshmallow in and ask her to make herself comfortable while you a Zecora get cleaned-up. Go do that. While getting clean, talk to Zecora, no tears, no rage, no bucking panic. The impression you're going for is deep regret. Try to make her think you blame yourself for this (clearly you don't, but she doesn't need that information confusing her) and don't know how you can make it up to her. Go back to Rare, fresh and clean, and receive new trench coat. Ensure to tell Rarity that you'll look her up the next time you need clothes.

Actions-On: Zecora opens her mouth before you go have a bath: Pay attention to what she's saying. What she says to Rare should tell you what she thinks she remembers from last night. Regardless be prepared to jump in if it looks like she's going to say something foolish.

Marshmallow asks what happened: Sigh, apologise that it's an incredibly long story and could it wait until after your wash.

You come back from getting clean and Rare has seen Trix: Settle in for a long story. Probably after breaking up a fight. (I'd suggest watching the fight for a while first, but a certain black and white mare is probably pissed-off enough already)

Rare's cleaned up in your absence: This is basically a given, thank her profusely and insist she didn't have to do that.

General Notes: Be polite, courteous, and above all, look for ways to worm your desires into Rare's head. You'll have to be subtle about it. Zecora will be standing right next to you after all. But there's no harm in having manners, or suggesting that you should drop by and see her when you get the chance.

do as he says it is as I said have long term plans.

Demon snake Lord Scoro

Well...this could be better. Let's try something basic, we need to get a straight story. It should follow this pattern...let Zecora out first and stall for time so you two can talk.

Rarity: my goodness, what happened here?

You: (look left, look right) zecora and had a fight...it was mostly outdoors last night....it got a LOT of mud inside

After that...play off of Zecora...if she forgives you. If not, time to test that slave bite theory on Rarity.

Nomad

Listen to what this voice said, Blank. Rein in your emotions. Let them work for you, not the other way round. You're not doing anypony any favours with panicking, least of all yourself. As you already worked out, you can do this. You'll win all the things you want: Your home, your power, your importance, your herd. If you play your cards right, this herd will include the magnificent piece of plot currently waiting at the door.

In order to do that, you need to keep her trust. So, as was suggested, tell her to wait just a bit longer while you clear the situation with your striped, probably injured, possibly angry Zebra. You'll have to gauge her reaction and see what she remembers. You don't want Rarity to think you're dangerous—other than "dangerous lover" perhaps—so make sure she doesn't. You would rather not have to hurt her, too. Hurting Zecora hasn't been all that useful up until now, and probably won't help with Rarity at this moment either. A vivacious sexpot like Rares must have dozens of acquaintances, you'd rather not have them inclined to hate you!

Rarity herself looks like the old-fashioned type. She likes polite, courteous, confident, noble behaviour. Try to be that! If you're going to be Vampony Count of the Everfree one day, you could use the practice when claiming your demesne openly! Rarara is very likely also inclined to be a bit submissive when faced with a proper gentlecolt, judging from her ladylike bearings. That indeed makes her even more attractive, doesn't it? Think about it:

No, no, no, no, deep breaths, keep the calm, embrace the calm, BE the calm. Panic reactions have never worked out for you before and they weren't going to start now, so don't give in to them. Just become the calm... and instead of going with knee-jerk responses to events beyond your control try and cess out what you really want. Because nopony but you could give you a rudder with which to navigate the tides of chaos... you had to be the one to master yourself if you wanted to get everything you ever dreamed of.

Your heartbeat slowed down. Your breath steadied. And as you began to get yourself back under control, you heard the mare's voice coming from beyond the door again.

"Zecora? Mister Slate? Are you home?" Came the slightly concerned sounding query of the unicorn's outside, followed by a sound coming from the door, the hinges starting to squeak as she began to push from the other side and-

"Y-yes, Rarity we are here,

though we are in the middle of something my friend dear,

If you could please wait for a few moments there,

We could use a little time to prepare."

"Oh! Well certainly darlings, I'll just, um, wait a moment, until you're ready!" Came the voice, slightly uncertain, but mostly gracious, and the tiny sliver of the door that had opened up closed again, hoof no longer pressing against it from behind.

You gathered the courage to lift up your head and look to Zecora... and couldn't see a bucking thing because of the dirt and tears in your eyes. You brought your right foreleg up to wipe at your eyes as you sniffled, doing your best to get the dust out, before blinking a few times more and looking to Zecora again. Your vision was once again clear enough to make her out and aside from matted and dirty she just looked... tired. Very tired. Her eyes were heavy and her expression was... ... well, kind of depressed actually.

"... Please make these ropes begone,

before we move on."

Spoke Zecora simply, lifting up her forelegs towards you. Blinking slightly you sniffled a bit more, nodded, and stood up wobbly on your legs to stagger over to the zebra. Awkwardly, you moved your right foorehoof over to the ropes and began to tug and pull, loosening them until they came undone and fell from Zecora's hooves into a small heap on the floor.

Zecora massaged her forehooves, grimacing slightly as she did so... maybe you'd made the ropes a little tighter than you'd intended? You hoped not. Zecora had gone through a lot recently, due to circumstances that were totally not your fault, and sore forehooves would be just another straw on the striped mammal's back so to speak. You offered your right forehoof to Zecora, heart beating fast in your chest once more, looking down to her with the fear still inside you that you'd lost her and everything else despite her stalling tactic with Rarity. She looked up to you, meeting your eyes with her own exhausted gaze... and calmly took your hoof as she finished rubbing hers. Letting you help pull her up onto her legs.

Zecora looked you in the eyes as she came up, and then spoke, her voice calm and level.

"Tell me,

Where is Trixie?"

You blinked, a little surprised at the question, before shaking your head slightly.

"Um, still asleep I'm pw-pretty sure." You spoke, gulping down again. It looked like Zecora was moving from emotional issues straight to ordering and fixing things. And one of those things seemed to include your left shoulder as Zecora turned her gaze to it. Zecora lifted her right forehoof up, stretched it forward, and calmly poked you in said left shoulder. You blinked... ... That was pretty much the only reaction. It didn't hurt at all. You were fairly sure the damage had healed up some time ago. Zecora seemed to come to a similar conclusion, as she grasped a bandage with her forehoof, lifted it up, and twirled her hoof clockwise with your bandages on the end of it.

The bandages didn't come off so much as dance off of your leg and shoulder, twirling up into the air and falling into the floor in spiral patterns, releasing your leg from it's constraints. It was fine... well, of course your leg was fine as that had never been what was damaged in the first place. The shoulder was good too though, scar-marks from the Planimal's teeth set remaining on the skin and preventing the growth of new coat, a few more scars to add to your consistently growing collection of bodily mutilations acquired over all of, what, three-four days? ... ... You were pretty sure that if you didn't heal wounds like a super-pony, you'd be dead twenty times over by now.

Zecora leaned forward and looked your shoulder over as you stood there, leg returned to your service, once again touching the floor... and reminding you how good it felt to be able to disperse all your weight across your legs. Not that you'd ever had much weight... but you'd also never had much leg-strength so overall it worked out. Zecora poked your shoulder again slightly, before nodding to herself.

"Your body has healed the damage,

Far quicker than I alone could manage.

Now Trixie I shall try and awaken,

The sedative from her system should be shaken.

As for you please invite Rarity in.

She should not be unsheltered, despite how our night has been."

Spoke Zecora, before turning, and calmly moving down towards the bedroom. Your gut was in knots as she did so. Would she notice the cut? Probably. Would she be mad? Probably. Would that cause a whole new set of problems? Probably. But did you have time to worry about that? Not really. You had a unicorn to allow into the mud stained house that she had just cleaned the last time she was here... oh joy.

Taking a deep breath you turned, and moved over towards the door, closing your eyes, breathing in, slowly counting up from one... and then reaching with your right forehoof to the door and pulling it open.

"Um, cwu-come on in, Mu-Miss Rarity." Spoke, offering your fanged smile...

The unicorn was, as might be expected, waiting outside the door. She was wearing her pale pink saddle-bags with the blue diamond emblems. The right saddle-bag seemed to be a little more... full than last time. And this time she was not without attire of her own. A woven wide-brimmed straw hat with a pink bow tied at the right side was situated on her head, and purple rimmed glasses with dark glass tints and what looked like tiny glittering diamonds embedded into the frames were on her nose. The hat was fastened to her head by a pink cloth, coming from underneath the hat and wrapping around to below her chin, keeping it steady on her head. You weren't entirely sure why she needed such a get-up, hat to block the sun's rays, tinted glasses... perhaps it was an especially bright day in Ponyville. The Everfree forest was usually shaded so it'd be hard to tell.

Rarity was actually looking off to the left, appearing a little anxious, a little awkward at being kept waiting at the door. She looked back to you when you spoke though, all polite-like, and proceeded to gasp. Her eyes widened as her horn glistened and levitated the tinted glasses off of her nose in her blue aura, folding them in the air and revealing her widening eyes as her right forehoof moved up to hover in front of her mouth, covering it for a moment as a shocked expression overtook her face.

"Oh my goodness! Mister Slate, whatever happened to you!?" She asked, her expression absolutely aghast.

"Uhm-"

"You look positively dreadful! Your coat! Your mane! And- are those fangs!?" Asked the flabbergasted unicorn, her shock only increasing as she examined your open mouth, before she closed her eyes and shook her head a bit, apparently trying to clear her thoughts.

"Well I suppose that part's understandable given your condition and all." Before snapping her eyes open again, her orbs filled with a passionate fire that... well, kind of scared you to be honest. You slunk back a bit as she continued on.

"But still your APPEARANCE darling!? However did you let yourself get so... so... Agh! My dear Mister Slate I cannot even formulate a WORD for how distressful your appearance has become! It is a crime against not only fashion, but all of Fabulosity! You cannot put on your brand new trenchcoat looking like THIS!" Spoke the mare, flailing around her left forehoof for emphasis. Under normal circumstances, you might have felt a bit offended by all these theatrics. But in this particular case, she probably had a point. And she was also kind of scary at the moment, so it was probably best to not even try and fight back on this.

"No no no, you CANNOT be allowed to remain in such a state!" Spoke the unicorn, apparently requiring no further contribution from you as she began to trot forward, right past you through the door.

"We must get you presentable right away! Does Zecora have... a... brush..." Rarity's voice trailed off as she walked in to see the hut... ... Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and she dropped back onto her plot, as she gaped like a gulping fish.

"I-wha-bwuh-huh!?" Came her voice as she looked to the left, then to the right, then up, then down, eyes snapping to the shelves, to the floor, to the cauldron, to the table, even to the planimal!

"Uwhuh-guh-suh... huh!?" The mare was rendered speechless. Apparently. You got the impression that that was not an easy feat to accomplish, but you had nonetheless managed to make happen. You awkwardly cleared your throat, turning towards the mare and moving over to her as she sat with her jaw agape. As you reached her you moved your right forehoof around her left, and tugged her up gently.

That she even let you touch her was a testament to exactly how far-gone she was as of this moment.

"As you can sw-see Miss Rarity things are uh-a little... disorganized right nwow. Come on, let's gwe-get you over to the table." You spoke, starting to guide Rarity over towards the eating table. That she even allowed you to touch her in your current state, and also that her only response was-

"Gwuh?"

Showed just how much the sight of the entire hut reduced to such a state rocked her. You couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her... though you did feel that she might be overplaying things a bit... In any event, you helped the slack-jawed mare over towards the table, guiding her to a sitting position while Zecora saw to Trixie.

Blank your life is over unless you can in slave Raity she looks like the type who sees vamponies as god. Oh who am I bucking kidding you need to use all your powers to solve this so use your brain for once and get a plan and make it a long term felixible one because all the ones so far are short terms that always fail. Life is unfair so add that in for once.

The snake demon scoro

I agree make rarity into a fledgling and make trixie into a addicted blood doll

Boy on the problem of the tailor whore in slave her.

Blank you are going to listen to the advice of my fellow interlopers. You are going to do everything in your power to NOT FUCK THIS UP!!! WE NEED THESE INCOMPETENT PUPPETS AS FUEL FOR OUR PLANS!!! Like any fuel they will help our plans more rapidly grow into A BLAZING GOLDEN EMPIRE FOR YOU TO RAIN!!!

One exotic Zebra lover, who introduced you to the herd idea so that she can serve you alongside her friends; a poor, lost soul who's desperate for a strict master to give her life meaning; and perhaps, just perhaps, an elegant lady who wants nothing more than to sit at the hooves of her Lord like the Unicorn noblemares of old. What a wonderful picture..! You should thank Zecora for her idea of including Rarity in your herd next time she sleeps. Kinky little Zebra minx!

PS: Don't you wonder what would happen if you drank all of a unicorn's blood? Has me quite curious. If only there was a prissy, high-class unicorn nearby whose death you would benefit more from than if she were left alive. Ah, well.

You backed up from Rarity after you got her seated, looking at her as she continued to stare at the world around her, speechless and with her jaw hanging open in a very unladylike fashion. It was worth noting that even when she was COMPLETELY flabbergasted, she was still beautiful. One only had to contemplate the elegant curvature of her flank to come to that conclusion. Examine her curved elegant posh-pony rump, with the beautiful curled tail... You couldn't help but wonder what her marehood was like beneath that tail, what it looked like, what it smelled like, what it tasted like... Probably something fancy... maybe flavored with perfume... In any case, there was one thing you couldn't deny about Rarity, even if you had wanted to. She was one hot piece of flank.

Zecora was beautiful to of course, and tasted foreign, smelled exotic. And Trixie was 'pretty', didn't know how she tasted as you hadn't gotten to find out yet. However this fashionista unicorn had a just... just perfectly structured, prepared, and maintained attractiveness to her, actively preserved and embraced. She wasn't just beautiful because of her physical characteristics, she practically exuded beauty from her being. She made beauty her effort, her passion, her drive! While you couldn't quite shake the comparison to the dumb bimbos in Manehatten, you could put it aside easy enough. She didn't act anything like them after all. But you had always wondered what it would be like to plow one of those fancy mares that snubbed you and didn't even toss two bits your way on the street...

She WAS a fancy one after all. All ladylike with that 'darling' accent. Likely romantically focused, probably the type to get all into those vampony novels that presented them as super-creepy stalker-like blood abstainers... which... made them hot? Or something? ... You'd never really gotten that. Whatever speculation you might perform on her personality though there was no denying her physical attributes.

And for some reason, that led you to another thoughtline. How would this Rarity pony taste? No not her gash this time. Her blood. After all you had fangs and could get to the red stuff inside. And you'd been noticing more and more... liquid-based cravings in yourself as of recent. And taking unicorn blood had a tendency to empower you... what could you do if you took some from her? What could you do with HER if you drank from her in this state? After all, weren't vamponies supposed to be hypnotists of some sort? Weren't the bites supposed to be mystical, dominating things and all that shit? Just the thought of having this posh piece of pony meat in your harem, to do as you pleased... Your tongue ran over your fangs as you eyed the back of the stunned mare's neck, starting to feel a little... hungry...

Get the Everfree as your demesne. Any good vampony count has one. Try to empty your head and channel your earthpony magic through your horn. Use it to rip out the lifeforce of the plants around you, force your will on it and send it back into the plants around you. If it doesn't work that only means you must try something else.

Aedin the mage

Ps. SAVE THE PLANIMAL YOU TWIT!!! SHOULD YOU FLEE YOU WILL NEED THAT CREATURE TO CREATE YOUR NEW MINIONS!!!

Pss. Don't you want that foul Planimal to bow before you and bend to your will? If it obeyed you it would no longer be a threat AND would be a useful tool in conquering.. I mean impressing ponies.

As allways, your fiery fiend

PYRO THE RED

"Skreeeeeeee!!!"

Your head snapped up to the planimal in it's cage as one of it's heads started unleashing the 'Skree'. Apparently, another one of the heads was biting on it, and the third was trying to bap them both, maybe to get them calmed down, or maybe to get them to back off. You weren't sure exactly why it had started this internal war between the heads, but then again you didn't really care. The thing just pissed you off either way.

You narrowed your eyes at the plant. You REALLY needed to figure out some way to take control of that thing... Maybe you could try to force it to bend to your will? Mix your Earthpony magic with your Unicorn magic some way? Not that that had worked out particularly well with the bringing your Earthpony magic to your horn last time... But you had confidence it'd be better if you had practice. Did a little training. And the trees of the Everfree seemed to be generally responsive to you as of recent. They allowed guided you through the Everfree now, acknowledging you as their lord and master. Perhaps you could do something with them? Or find a way to overpower rebellious plants? Because you were bucking tired of having to look at that thing and be worried about it. It'd be much better if you could tame it, or control it, or just use it somehow like you'd originally been planning to do.

My fellow voice already said everything of immediate importance.

So I can only advise you on things that you can do in your free time.

Remember to ask Trixie if she would teach you illusion magic. Mainly glamours to hide your appearance and illusionary voices to imitate other ponies.

ALSO TRAIN! TRAIN! TRAIN! NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS WITH THOSE PETTY KINDLING, TRAIN YOUR POWERS!!! I WANT YOU BREATHING FIRE BY TOMORROW AND BURNING VILAGES ATOP YOUR NEWLY TRAINED GIANT FIRE BREATHING PLANIMAL MONSTROSITY BY THE END OF THE WEEK!!!

Your Molten Master

PYRO THE RED

Boy keep that book the Liber Chaotica safe. It holds the means to become greater than ever before and can answer your questions.

Your attention distracted from Rarity for a moment, you let it wander again away from the distasteful plant... and fall onto the book from before, the one that was 'Liber' something or other, that you started to focus on before you got all distracted. You felt like it was supposed to be really important for some reason. Really useful for your training. You turned towards it, narrowing your eyes.

Well, while Zecora was fetching Trixie, whose own magical knowledge could potentially be put to use aiding you what with her being a showmare and knowing how to summon illusions and all, you could go ahead and grab that book. Start reading and see why you kept thinking that it was so important. You started moving towards the bookshelf, nearly there when you heard a-

"Huh?"

Come from Rarity. She'd made more than a few random noises as of recent, a couple gurgles, a few mumbles, and so you'd kind of ignored her. But this one seemed a bit more 'surprise' than anything else. You started to turn back towards her to find out what had brought on her commentary, and as you did so-

FLASH!!!

A brilliant purple light appeared in front of you, searing your eyes. You staggered back in surprise, blinded, hitting the bookshelf as Rarity sounded out a-

"Ah!" And a few moments later a-

ZAP!!!

Filled your ears, accompanied by the feeling of electricity hitting your body and coursing through. It didn't hurt. Your body had been altered to take this sort of thing without actual damage. Or at least, that's what you had thought. But after a few seconds of the electricity not hurting with your eyes still blinded, your head started to ache. And then it burst into pain! A full on migraine consumed your senses as you let out a-

"Gah!" And fell down forward onto your knees, forehooves moving up to your head and clutching it as you gritted your teeth, eyes closed, electricity humming through your bones as sound became distorted, and your head ached and ached and ached, the pain increasing until you couldn't take it anymore and-

... Blackness...

Author's Note

Okey dokey! The next chapter is very important for... everything. So read that first before making decisions here please! And this is still the place where you make decisions for The Host, go ahead and put his next actions here! And to be clear, Blank Slate is going to be out for about five minutes. This isn't a full-on unconscious go to brother-zone situation, however a bit of time will pass between this post and the next.

Also! A reminder. Brother questions now go in Chapter 28, Question and Answer #3. Anywhere else, they're not going to get counted. Host choices go in these action chapters! If they're anywhere else, I can't promise that they'll get counted! And the next chapter will be for it's own thing! Which you will see. Okay, be well!

CHOOSE

The air was stale. The wind was cold. The clouds were black and choking the sky, thundering low and shaking the air. Bolts of green lightning flashed from the thick angry clouds, lighting up the sky with brilliant lime-green, then disappearing as suddenly as they came. The storm was constant but with no rain falling from it, and the ground below was grey, dead,and robbed of life.

Across this land vast, strange forests stretched forth from the lifeless soil. Forests of dead trees, black and thin, shriveled to the point where they could barely qualify as trees, little more than sharp elongated sticks with branching edges, brittle and stiff, sticking up with jagged points to the sky. Why they did not blow down with every errant gust was a mystery. And what was more of a mystery was how they grew forth at all.

But in this forest of dead trees there were two that were large, strong, and very much alive. Though considering their trunks were made out of metal it was honestly a little hard to tell. These two trees stood across from each other, separated by only three or four yards, easily within one another's sight, if trees had eyes to see at least.

The first of these two trees was made of iron. Black and cracked, with lines of red appearing between the cracks, glowing out with heat. The branches that spread from it were sharp and jagged, and leaves of red flame clung to them, composed entirely of vicious raging fire. In the center of the tree, breaking through the black iron bark and bleeding out hot, flaming red sap onto the trunk was a red, burning six-pronged star, emblazoned against the tree, permanently alight with raging red fire.

The other seem to have grown of cold grey steel, frosted over in a thick sheet of ice. It's branches were long and just as sharp, with icicles hanging down, sharp and pointed. On the ends of the branches dark blue leaves grew out, seeming to be made of crystalline ice, bristling with sharp ice crystals, ready to puncture any who touched. And in the center of the trunk was a gash in the shape of a six-pronged star, filled in entirely with blue ice and leaking out a heavy white mist, pooling around the base of the tree and frosting the dead soil.

They were strange sights in any forest. But what might have been stranger was that in this forest, in this dead forest of dead trees with a storm raging overhead but not a drop of moisture in the ground, was a tiny sapling. Just barely poking out of the ground. A sapling with a little green stalk, and three tiny green leaves stretching out of it's top, the same color as the lightning. In any other setting, it could have been an innocuous and innocent little tree... but it wasn't. And here, it wouldn't be able to hide that.

The faint sound of hooves hitting against dirt filled the air, and a figure moved between the stick-thin trees... four hooves, hitting against the dirt. Attached to thick bones with scraps of rotten flesh and strips of decaying grey fur sticking to them. These leg bones went up to a torso that was also mostly bone, thick white skeletal pelvis and spine and rib-cage, with scraps of rotten flesh hanging from them, in thin strips, little patches of grey fur sticking. Despite it's lack of skin it was not entirely bereft of innards. A pair of black lungs, inflating and deflating with regularity were held by equally black muscle tissue in it's rib-cage, and above them was the heart, also large and black, held by muscle, and steadily pumping blood through fleshy black tubes into what little remained of the creature's internal organs.

At least one of the heart tubes extended up towards the neck, and through it, into a larger tube of black flesh that clung to the neck-bone, going up along the spine into the skeletal head of the... unknown thing that walked through the forest. The tube of flesh fed up into it's skull, very much equine shaped and skeletal, bone-white, and with a fully developed tongue and gums in it's mouth, both black. It's skull was devoid of any scraps of fur or flesh, but a thick, heavy length of black mane went from it's head and down the back of it's neck to just above the torso, very long luxurious black hairs falling from it's skeletal form down to the ground, stopping just a few inches above it's own hooves. It's eye-sockets were empty of eyes, but from both, a powerful green glow emitted, shining like light emitted from a jack-o'-lantern, high-beams of lime-green cutting through the dim.

Besides it's head, it had a pair of large bat-wings, stretching out from it's spine, thin but fully skinned unlike the rest of it's body, sheathed in a leathery dark-dark-grey covering, with pricking black talons at the ends of both ends on each wing. And finally it's tail, unlike anypony of equestrian, was made entirely of bone, without the sticking flesh and fur scraps of the other bones, stretching out far behind it, sharp and snake-like, serpentine, curling like a whip ready to lash out.

This strange creature continued it's walk through the dead forest, unhurried, unrushed, tail behind, and high-beam eyes forward... until it came to the plant. The green one. The young one. Growing in the lifeless dirt. It's high-beam eyes focused onto it, and gazed upon the amateur sapling for several seconds... And then it lifted it's vision up, up from the plant, and straight to you. It's mouth moved, it's jaw clacked and creaked, and it's tongue began to spasm in it's mouth, before a powerful, hollow, echoing voice sounded out from it.

"CHOOSE. SIX. ELEVEN MUTATIONS, THREE ADVANCEMENTS, FOURTEEN CHOICES. CHOOSE SIX OF THE FOURTEEN. TO EMPOWER. TO STRENGTHEN. TO FEED. CHOOSE."

It spoke, tongue rolling over it's teeth and lashing against it's mouth, in complete disassociation with the erratic movement of it's jaws and the actual words coming out, eyes never ceasing to glare into you...

Author's Note

You heard the eldritch abomination! The Star is finally ready to move on to it's second stage, and this nice abomination's going to help you direct it a bit more!

The gist of it is this. Six of the fourteen mutation pieces, full and upgrade, will be selected to automatically increase in time for the next Host Action chapter. What gets chosen here, will be applicable in the next chapter. Because of this, I may wait to update the character sheet until after this looks like it's done.

In practicality, you may discuss which to choose wherever you like. However here, put your top Six choices in the comments. And please be as CLEAR AS POSSIBLE about your selections. This will go more or less as straight up voting, though discussion and popular opinions may effect the exact natures of the upgrades somewhat. Ultimately though this will come down to numbers. And where there are ties in the votes, I will look to the character's major focuses to determine which one gets selected. If neither apply to that area, I'll just roll dice or something.

Three advancements, eleven mutations. Pick your favorites and watch the Star grow!

... Did I miss something?

On to more serious matters, there aren't any outstandingly world ending situations in progress. Mainly just continue to manipulate the girls into becoming your harem and train you abilities as much as you can. Some of them are about to become noticeably more powerful now that the Star has finally bloomed into its second stage. Try to suck more blood, perhaps in more discrete places, like the upper or back parts of the neck, or if you're feeling more intimate, underneath the base of the tail so the victims hair will hide the marks.

Also you need to take some time off to re-centre yourself. You've been careening from crisis to new mutation and back to crisis since you got here. Find somewhere quite, think about what you want to do with your powers, and maybe open your mind to the Everfree, see if it has an opinion. It had to have started talking to you for a reason, right?

The Archivist.

Well the enlightenment that you need to overthrow Celestia must have suddenly hit you.

It's so clear now. You're a vampony, she's the goddess of the sun. She banished Nightmare Moon, who is, at least in the stories, the mother of vamponies.

And Nightmare Moon was destroyed in the very same castle in the Everfree in which you gained your first powers.

I think you have a longterm goal now.

Don't forget to ask Trixie if she would teach you illusion magic.

And if you need to recharge your magic just feast on in the Everfree lost ponies.

Aedin the mage

You felt... calm... peaceful even. Also, kind of unconscious. You weren't entirely sure how you could 'feel' unconscious, but you did. You were sort of... floating in the blackness of your own thoughts. Not dreaming, yet not awake either, just occupying a space in-between the realms of consciousness, both 'Am-conscious' and 'Un-conscious' evading you.

Whatever the buck it was though it wasn't anywhere near the strangest thing that you'd experienced in your life as of recent, so you were more than happy to say 'screw it' and just stay there for awhile... a while that felt like ages and ages, months passing in moments... It was easy to stay there in that comfortable in-between with the feeling of so much time passing, and you found yourself appreciating it greatly. Not only because it was really pretty bucking relaxing, but also because it gave you something that you really hadn't had as of recent. Time to think.

Indeed, with the hectic state of your life now on a temporary pause you had thinking time to actually consider said life. And during this thinking time a thought occurred to you, a firm one, a strong one, one that you felt was irrevocably and undeniably correct when analyzing your existence... ... you had gone through a LOT of shit recently. Getting batted around by Planimal monster things, getting gnawed on by Timberwolves, battling it out with a pair of cocka-whatevers, causing permanent hearing-loss to a Diamond Dog... frankly you weren't even sure you'd gotten to it all in your thinking time you'd gone through so much crazy shit in... what, three days? Maybe four? Whatever the amount there was more threats to your life packed into those few days than in pretty much every other year you'd been alive, which was really bucking crazy when you thought about it.

And you'd met some interesting ponies and a zebra... reconnected with the prissy bitch from your past who you... kinda sorta feel some sort of sympathy towards now? ... Kinda? Whatever. A zebra, who would be absolutely perfect if she wasn't so bucking paranoid... Seriously, saved your life, hot flank, great body, really smart, but bucking paranoid and jealous as all get out... ... really needed to think of a way to deal with that. You'd met Rarity, who you simultaneously wanted to bone and like, but also didn't like and thought was annoying, and you really were having a difficult time actually figuring out how you felt about her. Once again, whatever.

The point was that between the fights, and social shit, any pony would have more than enough on their plate. But in addition to all that, you got to deal with possibly the weirdest bucking thing that had ever happened to anypony. Random crap growing out of your body. Seriously! You thought getting your Cutie Mark was a big change? Oh no. Puberty? Bitch please. The real hard changes all came when you took a trot in the Everfree at the piss-poor point of your life, apparently, via a mysterious disease infection bless cure thing that turned you into a BUCKING VAMPONY!!! ... ... A vampony, of all the bucking monsters to pick from, the ones who were in those bucking Dusklight novels? Really?

Of course WERE you a vampony? Some of the shit that'd happened recently didn't exactly match up with the classical definition of vampony transformation. Like you growing a horn, yeah vamponies drank blood but you never heard of them getting the powers of the ponies they drained that shit was new. And the Everfree bucking whispering in your ears and telling you where to find shit? Useful as a mare's gash sure, but what the BUCK did that actually have to do with night-wandering immortal blood-suckers who liked to stalk and seduce young mares with hypno-eyes and weird bucking accents? And how the buck did mares get off on fangs entering their neck? Really? Who ACTUALLY thought that being pierced through one of the most vital parts of your body would be an enjoyable experience?

Wait... night-wandering blood-suckers... ... NIGHT-wandering... ... That... that could be it actually... ... There were some legends, stories, old ones of course, that had Nightmare Moon as the... 'mother' of vamponies, for lack of a better word. Some shit about having her personal bodyguards, the Night Terrors, who secretly knew that Princess Luna had become Nightmare Moon before her big reveal during her confrontation with Celestia, drink of her blood during the rebellion to enhance their power or some crap like that. And you were pretty certain by now that the Everfree Castle had been the castle of the Two Royal Pony Sisters in ancient times. And you'd been hit by a creepy glow thingy in there before all this shit started... ... Oh it was so bucking OBVIOUS!!!

Yes you were a vampony, but not just any vampony. You were a VAMPONY PRINCE!!! Selected by the remnants of Nightmare Moon's spirit, gifted with her body mutation powers and befriended by the Everfree that still bore her dark touch within it's forests, chosen and gifted with great power so that you might overcome Celestia and plunge the world into eternal night! ... It was so obvious in retrospect.

But this overcoming Celestia thing... did that have to be about killing her, or could you maybe, oh... seduce her and maker her your harem slave? That was an option right, as long as she wasn't, like, a ruler anymore? Because frankly that seemed to be the kind of rout your powers were taking recently here, and the Night Terrors were known to be real smooth talkers, despite the whole fangs and drinking blood thing. The hypno-eyes probably helped.

In any case it was something to think about. Something that you were kind of glad you actually had time to think about in this in-between zone. After all, while you were awake you'd been thrown like a ragdoll from one disaster to another without any real time to relax... When you achieved consciousness, you should probably try to do that. Relax. Relax and train your vampony powers to gain the strength to proceed on your unholy mission! ... ... Or get laid.

Seriously, you hadn't really plowed your zebra much at all with all the shit that had been going on. Just that first time pretty much and since then you hadn't really gotten to have any sexy times with her. You were still walking on eggshells with Trixie... you'd made progress but you hadn't really tried to get her in the sack yet, and then there was Rarity who you'd just met and had aims for, but really weren't in any position to use her for sexy times.

You could try to build your harem of mares up, become a sexy vampire prince... use your magical vampony love powers to seduce all the hot pieces of flank that wandered into the Everfree, and try to be discrete about it... or kinky. Kinkiness was a proper substitute for discretion right? Yeah, yeah it totally was. And then you could just sit back and enjoy what you'd already gotten, instead of running forward on some huge quest to bring about eternal darkness to Equestria... then again, there was something attractive about the idea of making Princess Celestia YOURS... ... it was something to think about... Possibly with your best friend out and enjoying the company of both your hooves...

So, you passed out like a pussy in front of that hot flank Rarity. Not going to be so easy to impress her now that she knows how much you suck.

But at the moment you should concentrate on getting out of the awkward situation of fainting in front of Rarity.

Tell her that the stress of last night must have caught up with you.

Okay, you fainted. Again. Just as Marshmallow showed up. AGAIN. Seriously, you need to stop doing that. It doesn't help. Well, assuming the world hasn't ended between now and you regaining conciousness ('though knowing your luck it just might) you may want to ask what you missed, and how long you were out.

But not now though, because you were apparently exiting out of the between realm into full consciousness, evidenced by your eyes fluttering open... to reveal the still muddied and dirtied floor. With multiple little books and baskets scattered on it, around you and on you by the feel of things. That was... not optimal. Bit more of a mess than there already was... Not exactly an improvement in the situation to say the least.

Oh and also you'd passed out... passed out right in front of Rarity. Again... ... Well BUCK. That was just BUCKING perfect. How the BUCK were you going to be a BUCKING tough guy if you kept BUCKING fainting in front of BUCKING hot mares? ... BUCK it.

You sighed out audibly, closing your eyes once more. Okay. Okay, you could salvage this. Just... Just say you were REALLY freaking tired. Yeah, you weren't fainting you were just dropping off to sleep, because you were so tired, and stressed, and you'd woken up early and been through a lot of shit. Yeah, that was it. Just say that. It was way less pathetic to fall asleep on your hooves from exhaustion than it was to faint in front of a mare. Totally different things.

And then there's Zecora coming out and finding you like this. She's definitely not going to be happy that you're spontaneously taking power naps. But perhaps you can play it off as being stress catching up to you from last night. You did say you haven't slept at all since then, right? I mean, you did wake up before everypony else for once.

Right then, there is really not a whole lot that can be said that wasn't last time. Rare would have called Zecora as her first reaction to your collapse, so you'll probably come too with your Zebra in full-on doctor mode. Which, while potentially hot, has been incredibly inconvienient to us in the past. So we need to assure her that we're hale, whole, hearty, and other, homely-sounding, terms for "healthy".

As an afterthought it might be good to inconspicuously inform Trixie that Zecora is paranoid and that she should watch your back in case she decides to sedate you again. This time she could seriously hurt you or Trixie in her paranoia.

Regardless, you're manes a mess, your hooves caked in dirt, and your coat probably smells. Maybe Rarity's right. You do need a bath. Perhaps she'd be willing to help you get cleaned up by the river. Her soft coat rubbing against your back. Her wet hair hanging down, draping lewdly over your shoulder while she nibbles on your ear. Her hooves massaging soap into your coat. Lower and lower...

Until your finally clean and you toss her away further into the river.

Because there's more important things to worry about. Like your new trench coat. You're going to look so bad ass in that thing all the mares are going to be lifting their tails at the mere sight of you. Probably some explosions in the background and a pair of shades that you pull from one of the pockets. Because that's how awesome you'll be.

Slightly self-reassured you opened your eyes again and caught a glance of your right forehoof laying on top of a book... and then proceeded to grimace. Ugh... still filthy. Coated in mud... you probably smelled bad to. Rarity wouldn't like that... maybe she'd help you bathe... or Zecora, she was more than eager to help with that herself... Though was that just when she was mad? It'd be nice to think she could do it when she was feeling nice to. Or frisky. But yeah, maybe Rarity? Use her cleanliness obsession to help with the excuse, could be an opportunity to get close to her. And then, she could get closer to see the sexiness she was going to put in a trench-coat... a trench coat that would make you a mare-seducing MACHINE, getting their slits wet with pure unrestrained sexy awesomeness and- ... Why didn't you ask for sunglasses? ... Should you get sunglasses? Did sunglasses go with trench coat and a fedora?

Well all that aside and whatever half-cocked bullshit story you came up with, you'd probably still get an earful of worry and aggravation from Zecora. She tended to overreact to little things like you fainting, or having an unidentifiable disease that caused you to sprout seemingly random mutations, which turned out to just be the possession of Nightmare Moon's spirit guiding you to bringing about eternal night and overthrowing Celestia's rule. Yeah, she could be a bit of worrywart if you were going to be honest. And you were still not entirely sure where you actually stood with her since the whole zapping her with a lightning bolt thing, you really hadn't had time to just sit down and talk with her and... ... ...

Wait a moment... ... Zecora was overly concerned for your health to the point of being paranoid, and Rarity was a neat freak that had been rendered literally speechless by the filthy state of the hut interior... why were you still laying in a pile of books and nick-knacks from Zecora's shelf? Surely one of them would have picked you up and either cleaned you off or moved you to the bed, or at least some cushioning on the floor? And hadn't something hit you before you fainted? ... Yeah... yeah something hit you and bodily threw you against the bookshelf so-

"Mmphf?"

... What was that noise? You cocked your head up a bit and let out an audible grunt of confusion, which seemed to get an almost immediate response.

"Hmph! Mwfter ate, idwat ue?!"

It was kind of loud, sort of aggravating, and annoyed you for some reason and... wait, was that Rarity? Why wasn't she speaking properly? You asked of yourself, as you blinked your eyes and turned your gaze over towards where the noise was originating from and... ... ... ... And saw Rarity, on her back, on the dirty floor a few feet from the lunch table, with her hooves all pointed up in the air, tied together with a coiled length of rope, what looked like a perfect rope bow made in the center.

Her mouth was covered by what looked like the pink cloth she'd used to hold her hat to her head earlier, tied back behind her head as an over-the-mouth gag. Though it was a little hard to tell as her hat had been placed over her mouth and face, brim blocking her vision and the bowl part of it resting over her muzzle. The ribbon that had been on it earlier was missing, you also noticed, and her saddle-bags were nowhere to be seen.

The mare wiggled a bit against her bindings, struggling a little and shaking her head a bit, probably trying to dislodge the hat and strangely failing. But in the process of doing so more noises, that were actually words spoken through an ultimately inefficient gag, came from her, and reached your ears.

"Mwfter ate! Elp! Quiffly! Ixie wook Zekorah!" She spoke out from behind her hat and the gag, eyes unseen and body twitching and... and this would probably be erotic if you weren't now trying to translate what she'd actually said... ... Something about ate? Slate maybe? And elp? Help? Ixie was obviously Trixie and... ... You blinked. ... ... 'Mister Slate! Help! Quickly! Trixie took Zecora!' ... ... ... ... Well buck... ... ... there went the calm. How exactly were you going to handle THIS?

Author's Note

Okay, I've been hiatus. I did not MEAN to go on hiatus, however looking back it's fairly obvious that that's what I was doing. You probably figured that out independently of my telling you. In any case I'm sorry for not actually telling you that that was what was happening. I apologize for that lack of information.

However I'm here now! And this is a post so hopefully it will kind of sort of make up for my absence maybe... Anyways I hope that it's enjoyed, and gives people stuffs to work with. Also, this is not a random decision, I figured that with the events that the Host has been through and performing this would happen, back before I went silent for too long, and depending on further choices you can find out why... or just solve it without curiosity... up to you really.

Domestic Troubles

So, the hut is still a mess, Rarity is tied up next to you. Trixie kidnapped Zecora. And most importantly, the saddlebags that held your trench coat is missing! This is the worst possible thing that could happen.

Well, well, well. Finally conscious again are we? Good, now to the matter at hoof, your slave (Trixie) has up and left with your mate, leaving you unconscious next to a tied up fashionista...this is highly sub-optimal.

Well, now, that's an unexpected turn of events, isn't it? Your Trixie made of with your Zecora, among some of your other possessions. That won't do at all. Are you annoyed? Definitely! Angry? Well, a little. But you'll manage this.

Well, only one thing to do...ON YOUR HOOVES BLANK SLATE!!!!

Well... sounds like Trixie kidnapped Zecora. ... ... ... TRIXIE KIDNAPPED ZECORA?!?!

You shot to your hooves, books, various bottles, and some kind of basket of red flowers falling off of you as you did so. Even so, it wasn't until you staggered to your hooves, eyes wide, and breath quick, that the realization of what Rarity had actually said fully made impact with you.

TRIXIE KIDNAPPED ZECORA!!! TRIXIE!? WHAT THE BUCK!?!?

You quickly snapped your eyes shut and started to calm your breathing to avoid panicking. If your recent near death experiences had taught you anything it was that panicking tended not to go especially well for you. So you breathed in deep, then out, then in, then out, slowly calming yourself as you began to logically assess the situation.

Okay... Trixie had kidnapped Zecora... AND she had taken the saddle-bags that had your trench coat in them. She had also, during these events, tied up Rarity. Which meant that she was surprisingly kinky and probably a freak in bed- BUT THAT WASN'T WHERE YOUR MIND NEEDED TO BE AT THE MOMENT!!! Your mare had just run off with your zebra! Right after things were JUST starting to calm down! And that kind of pissed you the buck off!

But you couldn't let that break your calm any more than panic. You needed to keep a cool head to address this situation. After all, it wasn't like this was even the most annoying thing to happen to you while you were in the Everfree. And you WERE a vampony prince with dark powers received from Nightmare Moon's legacy! You could manage this, you could keep your cool, keep calm, and fix this situation in a mature, thoughtful, and pragmatic fashion...

But seriously, Trixie of all ponies? Last time you spoke she was terrified of you, borderline dependant, a psychological wreck from the realisation that she's incapable of making good decisions (Exhibit A: Kidnapping the Mare-friend of the pony who is quite possibly the re-incarnation of Nightmare) and getting nervous when you called her "pretty", so... *groan* she's gone full Yandere hasn't she? NIGHTMARE CONSIGN IT TO TARTARUS! Must every mare around you be bat-shit crazy‽ Ok, calm, let us think about this rationally. Trixie is crazy, obsessed with you, and willing to kidnap Zecora over it. Zecora is paranoid, wants to take away your embryonic divinity, and is currently in the clutches of a mad-mare who, unless bad anime has lied to me, is probably monologuing about how "You'll never have him," and "Once he sees the deeps of my love, he'll have to love me." Ok, so not the best situation.

Also, you did whisper to Trixie about the herd thing Zecora cooked up, didn't you..? If not, do it! A dream-like idea like that should be introduced to her in her dreams. You're sure Trixie will come to love the feeling of being your herd-slave along with Zecora... and maybe Rarity, if she agrees...

... ... BUT SERIOUSLY!!! TRIXIE!?!? THE PRISSY UNICORN BITCH MARE!?!?! REALLY!?!

Your calm went out the window for a moment as the second wave of emotional impact hit, and you brought your right forehoof up to your forehead, starting to rub it in little circles as you closed your eyes and gritted your teeth.

What, what, just what could have POSSIBLY possessed that mare to DO this!? Hadn't you been whispering in her ear how she basically needed you to do anything right? Hadn't you worked to make sure she knew how useless she was?! Hadn't you explained in intricate detail how you were her only hope, her only salvation, and her only way of actually being worth a damn bucking thing!?!? And now she goes and kidnaps your lover! How the buck does that even-

... ... Wait... wait wait wait... ... she wasn't jealous of Zecora was she? After all you'd met her first, moved in with her, it was her hut you were living in, and while you'd worked Trixie up to be focused upon you hadn't claimed her. In fact the only mare you'd claimed, through the entirely appropriate method of a good rutting, was Ze-

...

Buck. Buck that was it wasn't it? She'd become so obsessed with you that she didn't want to share you, and become jealous of Zecora's connection with you. She must have wanted you to love her and only her or something like that... ... Well, things could go rrreeeaaaaaalllllyyyyy bad for your plans if you didn't try and nip THAT in the bud. After all, love should be free right? For you, and revolving around you. And yours. Love should totally be yours and you should be free to love multiple mares up their various orifices without fear of retribution multiple times over in complicated positions with-

DOWN BOY! NO! NOT THE TIME!

'Sigh' ... Ahem, so, anyways, jealousy was DEFINITELY something you could NOT allow... If your sleep whispering thus far hadn't done the job properly and created the right kind of dependence then you REALLY needed to get on that, do a LOT of talking in her ear to make sure she absolutely understood that she was yours, and there was no reason to feel jealous of all the other mares that were yours to! They couldn't live in harmony unless they were all devoted to you completely and existing for your sexual pleasure, it was what they really wanted deep down, and the best thing for all of them!

"Mwfter ate? Awue der?!"

...Speaking of such...

And I guess you could maybe untie Rarity (and cop a feel), but that's optional.

This is... inconvenient. Well not totally, Rarity kind of looks good tied up actually, no BAD peenie! Down, play dead! Ok, untie Rare ask her how long you were out.

You should probably start by ungagging Rarity (heh) and ask where they went. The saddlebags, I mean. Not the mares. Because Zecora's with Trixie and she's a kind of accomplished mage, so they're probably safe. Probably. And it wouldn't do to go searching for a pair of beautiful mares in some dark, scary woods without looking the part of course.

At least some good came of this: You can now say, without a shade of doubt, that this Rarity chick looks absolutely perfect in restraints. Something to take note of.

That will give you an idea of how far they've gotten. With luck (yeah, 'cause you've had so much of that lately) they'll still be within your domain. If so, the Forest will be able to tell you exactly where they are.

Rarity looked REALLY good trussed up like that. She could totally be a model in one of those 'Tacked Up Mares' magazines. She could even make her own bit and saddle. Seriously though, the way her little flank wiggled while she was trying to get free was just adorable! And you especially appreciated how her tail moved during her struggles, giving an occasional glimpse of her ga-

NO! NO! NO! ALREADY SAID THIS WAS NOT THE TIME! KNOCK IT OFF!!!

You closed your eyes and gritted your teeth as you, once again, made your best friend in the whole world shut the buck up with it's opinions on the situation and tried to listen to the opinions of your occasional acquaintance, Mister Brain.

Rarity had been conscious during Trixie's little psychotic break with reality, and you had not. Of the two of you, the one more likely to have seen which way they went, and if Trixie took the very very important trench coat containing saddle-bags, was her. And while you probably COULD coax it out of her while she was still tied and gagged, it would rather difficult to explain doing so and not taking the opportunity to untie and ungag her, probably making things awkward in the future. So, Mister Brain concluded, you needed to untie her and ungag her, to figure out which way the mare and the zebra went. Your best friend hated Mister Brain.

So, taking another deep breath to preserve your cool, you calmly trotted over towards Rarity.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here, hold on a second, let me get you out of that." You spoke and... huh, your fangs weren't getting in the way. What was up with that? Were they still there? Yeah, yeah you thought so, you could kinda feel them, though they felt a bit weird, so what- Oh buck it you had enough problems right now, you'd worry about it later!

"Ohw, tank'ue mwfter ate!" Spoke Rarity, shifting position again, her tail moving to uncover a key bit of territory on her person, much to your friend's pleasure and Mister Brain's annoyance. You briefly entertained the notion of making a little touch against her pretty pink valley... But there weren't actually any ropes crossing down there, so it'd be pretty much impossible to excuse it away. With an internal sigh, you stopped letting yourself get distracted by the equestrian form and started to work.

You figured you'd start with the hat covering her face and the gag that was most definitely beneath it. You knew just enough about gags from your salvaged and scraped together kink reading, to know that 'Over the Mouth' gags working without something stuffed in to the mouth beneath was the product of poorly written adventure novels and half-formed fantasies from lewd and deviant artists of pen and parchment. There would be another gag under the hat, probably 'OTM' but only there to hold in another more substantial gag in the actual mouth, likely wadded cloth or the like. So, with that knowledge you leaned down to take the brim of the hat with your teeth, your experiences with telekinesis not filling you with confidence in trying that approach, and grabbed onto it, clenching your teeth down and then starting to tug it up off of her muzzle.

Or rather, trying to. To your surprise the hat resisted your attempts to remove it. You furrowed your brows, very much in aggravation, and pulled again. It still wouldn't budge. You growled slightly and gritted your teeth hard, glaring at the hat that was giving you so much trouble. In frustration, you gripped hard and pulled hard, trying to tug it up off of her.

"Uw, Mwfter ate, dwat's abet wuf-" Rarity started to say, apparently a little nervous at the effort you were placing into removing the hat. But her protest was interrupted as a-

RRRRRIIIIIIIIPPPPPPP

Sounded from your tugging, and the hat came almost flying off of her face, only your teeth's' hold on it preventing it from behind tossed up into the air. Two little strips of pink-cloth dangled from the hat, and the rest of it fell open from her mouth where it had apparently been, revealing a little pink bow stuffed in, having been held by the cloth. You blinked, and furrowed your brows, taking the hat in your forehooves and turning it over to see a pair of safety pins in the material, holding the cloth to it.

... Okay. Okay, Trixie had used the bow and ribbon from the hat to gag Rarity, then placed the hat over and pinned it to the cloth to keep her from shaking it off, making a functional blindfold... That was actually pretty inventive. Creative use of materials and all that, making a gag and functional blindfold out of one hat and pins... You hated to admit it but maybe you could learn some binding techniques from Trixie later on because that kinky mare kinda had a talent for this sort of-

"Pff!" Interrupted Rarity, spitting out the bow that had been stuffed into her mouth in what was probably a very unladylike fashion. She blinked again and looked up to her hat, the pair of safety pins jammed through it and the ripped pink cloth now hanging from it, with what looked like a stunned expression.

"Oh... oh my chapeau..." Spoke Rarity, her voice soft, and filled with a soft-spoken sorrow for the destruction of her beloved headwear. ... It occurred to you that it would probably be best not to bring any attention whatsoever to how dirty the floor she was laying on right now was, if she had that kind of reaction to what was functionally just a torn ribbon on her hat she'd probably react far less charitably towards a dirtied coat and mussed up mane. You shook your head, and dropped the hat from your mouth, looking down to her bindings and still very much focused on the task at hoof.

"Um, yeah, sorry." You muttered, looking over the knots.

"Think the hat's fine, just the ribbon got torn, so you can, like, add accessories or something..." You muttered, not exactly versed in the ways of fashion, or comforting mares, or talking to tied up ponies... There was a lot of new ground here for you to cover. That could wait though, you had shit to do. Furrowing your brows you examined Trixie's knots. They were pretty impressive, well-tied and neat. Trixie was... really good at trussing up ponies. Again, you entertained the idea that you actually might be able to learn things from her... But you didn't exactly have time to admire, Trixie'd already gotten Nightmare knew how much of a head start.

"Now let's see what I can do about those ropes..." You muttered leaning down towards the bindings...

P.S. start turning Rarity into one of those loyal harem slaves.

Okay let's get a step by step plan going that can change a the yo

Use powers on Rarity to plant loltay to you

Indeed she'd look wonderful with your other two girls as well... you bet the prim and proper lady has a hidden kinky streak a mile wide. Having her in your herd would be great. If, once, you do have the herd Zecora's working for so eagerly. Oh, but you don't want to spoil the surprise! Maybe you can drop a hint or two, though. You could tell her that you don't mind her company like this; in fact, you rather enjoy it. But don't overdo it, don't be creepy about it. Try to hit a romantic damsel-in-distress cord within her. She probably likes feeling helpless on some level, Unicorn mares like her apparently often do for some strange reason. Just look at that masochist Trixie. You can build on that later on.

Apparently not much. Shit was tight...ly tied. You tugged, and nudged, grunted, and pulled, and while you were making some progress, the knot-work was aggravatingly difficult to undo. You thought about just summoning your blade and slicing through the buckers! See how useful those complicated ties were then! But you didn't really want to let Rarity know that your 'condition' included the ability to summon a deadly weapon at any time of your choosing. That sort of thing might disturb her, might make her scared of you, and you didn't want that... You wanted a beautiful mare like Rarity to love you, to adore you, to devote herself to you... Come to think of it, you wanted every mare to devote themselves to you... And there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

So you struggled with the knots while Rarity coughed, somewhat anxiously, and cleared her throat.

"Ah, AH, ah, ahem, heheh. So, um, I am rather sorry about this current, ah, state of affairs darling. While I had expected that I might become tied up for a bit in the process of delivering your new coat and making sure it fit to your satisfaction, I had not expected the tying to be quite so, um, literal." She spoke. Obviously nervous, obviously trying to dispense some of the tension with small-talk. You smiled, and chuckled a little.

"It's quite alright Miss Rarity. Lots of things that I don't expect happen to me all the time. So, so, sooooo many things." You spoke, sighing out some tension of your own as you looked over the knots. For once you weren't lying, being crafty, ungenuine, or pursuing a hidden agenda with the statement. This was very literally exactly how you felt on the matter. Shit happened to you. A LOT... Frankly, you could relate.

"Thwough 'Ugh' I hawf to awsk," You continued, grabbing another strand of rope and giving it a tug with narrowed eyes, then pulling it until it, thank Nightmare, unraveled the knot, and undid Trixie's hoofwork just a bit more, letting Rarity start to work her forehooves to try and get the rest off.

"Is there a reason you haven't just used your magic to undo these?" You asked, after spitting out the strand from your mouth, and turning your gaze down to look for the rest of the knots.

At that question, Rarity actually blushed a little and shifted position awkwardly.

"'Ahem', yes, well, I did try that at first darling, however Trixie cast a spell on me before I was tied and, uh, ahem, I haven't exactly been able to... Use my magic... At all, really..." She muttered, before lowering her head slightly and looking away, embarrassed blush still on her face.

"Oh, oh dear, there is a lot of dirt on the floor isn't there? Hah-hah, ah, um, how unsettling..." She muttered before lowering her gaze even further as you worked on her knots.

"I, um... I must not seem very ladylike, just at the moment." She continued, her response to the tension and anxiety of her situation apparently to turn into something of a chatter box. You weren't sure if that was adorable or annoying, you'd have to decide on that later. For the moment, you just looked up at her from the newest knot in the binds, one near her hind legs as she looked like she was making some progress loosening up her forehooves, and smirked a bit.

"Are you kidding? Every proper Lady gets to be a damsel in distress at some point." You spoke, causing her to look up at you and blink a bit in surprise.

"I mean think about it. How many times have the Princesses been captured? They're some of the most powerful ponies in the realm, the most high-born, posh, royal, 'ladies' in all of Equestria. But they get captured regularly and need to be rescued. Classic damsel in distress!" You spoke cheerily, reaching down to one of the knots and grabbing it with your teeth.

"Fwankly, 'umf', wit 'ow offen et appens, et mwight jwust stwart'oo be'a trend!" you spoke with your mouth full of rope, impolite but necessary given the situation, giving the stubborn chord a few good tugs as you did so. You succeeded in loosening it up a bit, though the knot remained intact, so you let the chord go before leaning back and looking for another weak spot in the knot.

"After all, high society emulates the rulers, and if the rulers are always being kidnapped, then it'll become just plain fashionable for the noble class to get nabbed to! All the high society ladies will be setting up kidnap parties and hosting celebrity abductions! Heck, might even start a fashion trend, 'Damsel-Wear' look good when you're getting grabbed!" You spoke cheerfully, before leaning down and furrowing your brows, looking for the weak-point in this knot at the hind-hooves.

"I... I hadn't quite thought of it like that, Mister Slate." Spoke Rarity softly, her eyes starting to scrunch slightly as the wheels began turning in her head... Then she shook said head and looked back down to her tied forehooves, refocusing on the task at hoof. With a scrunched face she resumed tugging at them, trying to loosen them up and get her forehooves free while you continued to focus on her hind-legs.

"Though you know darling, as... interesting as that viewpoint is, their royal highnesses are not actually TRYING to get captured when such unpleasantness occurs. It just sort of, um, happens." Muttered Rarity as she looked down to the ropes, then gave a strong pull and the chords went loose.

"Ah!" She exclaimed cheerfully, the ropes finally falling from her forehooves, letting her pull them out of the binds and start to rub each, said hooves likely a bit sore from the constriction and position.

"Yweah, I knwow-" You spoke, before giving another chord another tug and VOILA! Knot undone, only one left before the fashionistas hind legs were free. You grinned at your accomplishment, before spitting the chord from your mouth, and turning your gaze to the last knot, furrowing your brows as you started looking it over for weak spots.

"It's because the Royal Guard keeps letting them get taken, and for some reason THEY'RE not strong enough to stop it either... But the Royal Guard has had a pretty terrible track record with the Princesses. There was that Nightmare Moon thing, okay, Nightmare Moon was very very powerful, overpowered Celestia easy, I can understand their having some trouble." You stated matter-of-factly, before looking up to Rarity.

"Um, could you wriggle your hind legs a bit, try and loosen the ropes a little more?" You asked politely, Rarity blinking in response.

"O-oh yes, of course!" She spoke, before starting to shift her hind legs, her forehooves to either side of her helping keep her sitting up as you looked back to the remaining knot. Yes there was a mare wiggling her hips but it was on the ground and this bucking knot was where you needed your focus. You wanted to KILL. IT. DEAD... And also discuss the Royal Guard's numerous flaws as you felt like going on a roll.

"Thank you, and then we've got the changelings. Their queen kidnaps and REPLACES a Princess, the Royal Guard does NOT notice. Shining Armor, their Captain and her groom, is mind-controlled by aforementioned queen, completely invalidating the shield barrier defense. And then, when the shield barrier breaks and the changeling invasion starts the Guard gets COMPLETELY overrun. Even though they had a very strong presence in Canterlot at the time and were on alert, they folded like paper when the fighting started." You muttered, before tentatively reaching forward and tugging at a strand for a moment... before shaking your head, and letting it out of your teeth.

"Could you kick your legs to either side please?"

"Um, pardon?" Asked Rarity, blinking a bit.

"Your hind legs, could you kick them to either side, loosen the knot a bit more?" You asked again, voice still calm.

"Oh, um, very well." Muttered Rarity, before she KICKED her hind-legs wide, tugging on the rope, letting you see where the knot tensed and stretched, and giving a little glimpse of her groin all in the same motion... You smirked, then continued on with your criticism of the Royal Guard.

"And then during that whole night and day thing, when the sun and moon were both in the sky at the same time? The Royal Guard couldn't even FIND the Princesses. They got kidnapped, from their castle, IN CANTERLOT, by freaking vines from the EVERFREE, and the Royal Guard didn't even know they were missing until, what, the next day? AND they didn't mobilize to stop the whole Everfree invading Ponyville thing! And then during the Tirek assault, once again, completely powerless to stop either Discord or that Tirek nut from doing as they damned well pleased, and getting to the Princesses." You continued, before sighing.

"Well, credit where it's due, they're really disciplined and look great in their armor, also pretty loyal... but if we're going to be honest here, the officers of the Royal Guard really SUCK at their jobs..." You muttered narrowing your eyes as you glared at the last knot.

"It's kind of depressing really... AHA! There you are!" You exclaimed aggressively, target strand found, before leaning forward and grabbing the piece in your teeth, starting to tug on the newly discovered weak point.

"I-I fear that you may in fact have a point, darling..." Muttered Rarity, looking somewhat discomforted and furrowing her brows.

"There was that ugliness at the Crystal Empire after all..." She continued, under her breath.

"Hmph?" You asked, mouth-full of rope as you kept on tugging.

"A-ah!" Spoke Rarity, blushing just a little, apparently embarrassed that you'd picked up on her low muttering. Or maybe just that she'd muttered it in the first place. Either way, she cleared her throat quickly and began explaining.

"Ahem, hm, well, far be it from a lady to spread idle gossip, o-or besmirch the brave stallions and mares who defend Equestria! Mostly stallions who look positively dashing in their lovely polished armor... ... 'mm, ah' H-however... during the Princess gathering at the Crystal Empire, a good while before the... unpleasantness that was Tirek's attempted usurpation of Equestria, her majesty PRINCESS Twilight's crown was stolen from her. S-she eventually got it back! The one she's wearing now is one HUNDRED percent genuine don't worry about that! But during the theft the pilferer completely evaded the guard patrols and then they didn't really, um, show up when we were chasing her down to get the crown back... They were pretty much absent throughout the whole event..." She spoke, causing you to blink, and look over to her.

"... Whow... 'at's... pwety twerible." You spoke, before shaking your head, and tugging again at the knot.

"Hwow mwany utter times'did dey buck'up dat we'jus don't know'bout?" You muttered, before pulling hard once more... and unrvalleing the final knot.

"Aha!" You shouted in triumph, before looking over to Rarity with a grin.

"You have been freed m'lady!" You spoke, offering your right forehoof towards Rarity, still smirking wide at your success. The unicorn blushed a bit, and cleared her throat as she reached with her own right forehoof to yours, and allowed you to help pull her up to her hooves.

"Oh, um, thank you very much, dear Mister Slate." She spoke, her voice pleasant, and that little blush still on her cheeks...

On the non-"small-domestic-crisis" side of things. "Dusklight" really? REALY‽ Dusklight is the first thing you think of when bringing up Vamponies? Strigoi Mort? The Striges? That one count that acquired the nick-name "Son-of-Dragons" for being a murderous arsehole? Nothing? Hopeless philistine.

Rarity then blinked, furrowing her brows and leaning in closer, looking at your mouth with a slightly confused expression, before her eyes widened with realization.

"Oh! Mister Slate, your fangs have shrunk!" She spoke, surprise evident in her voice. You blinked at her proclamation, and then licked your tongue around your teeth, moving the soft squishy feeler to the sharp points, feeling them scratch lightly against your tongue.

"Huh, yeah, I guess they have." You spoke simply, before moving your tongue back into the bottom of your mouth.

"Don't know why really, but then again, I don't know why a lot of the shit that happens to me happens to me, sooo..." You shrugged. Rarity 'winced' a little at the choice of cuss-word, but recovered and smiled politely before speaking.

"Well, I think it makes you look far more elegant Mister Slate! Or at least will when you have, ahem, had a wash or two 'cough'. B-but after you have they will make you look QUITE sophisticated! Like one of those older vamponies, the ones who had poise and grace! And, um, also a tendency to feast on the blood of mares and wage war on all light, but still! They were very fine dressers, and very well mannered." Spoke Rarity, nodding sagely.

"Hmmm... were they now?" You asked, your right eyebrow raised. Suddenly you felt... ashamed, for some reason. Ashamed for only being able to think of the Dusklight novels, and some general mythos, when it came to the Vamponies. You felt as though there might have been some real gems that you had missed. You turned your gaze over to Zecora's bookshelves, the ones you HADN'T messed up with your impact, with your right eyebrow raised. Zecora was very smart and well-read, well-journeyed... she'd probably know all about Vamponies, even the obscure stuff... Maybe when she got back-

"Gah!" You shouted, straightening up quickly and eyes snapping back to Rarity.

"Zecora! Trixie! Kidnapping! Trench Coat! Find!" You spoke, in a quick succession of rapid words that could only under the most charitable of circumstances be considered actual communication. But it got the point across as Rarity's own eyes widened with horrified remembrance.

"Oh my Celestia of course! Mister Slate, we MUST rescue Zecora from Trixie! And-wait, did you say trench coat?" Asked Rarity, blinking and raising her right eyebrow as you, breathed in and out quickly, your forehooves prancing against the ground your own nerves started getting to you.

"Yes! Zecora, Trixie, Kidnapping, Trench Coat, that is exactly what I said, we have to get them all back!" You spoke, before blinking, and stopping your prancing for a moment as you looked into Rarity's eyes.

"Um, Trixie did take your saddle-bags with the trench coat in them, right?" You asked, causing Rarity to blink again.

"Yyyyeeessssss, she did steal my saddle-bags while kidnapping Zec-"

"Then like I said! Zecora, Trixie, Kidnapping, Trench Coat! Did you see which way they went!?" You asked, as your mind raced away entirely from vampires and back to the task at hoof, of retrieving your trench coat and lover.

Depending on how long you've been out cold, and whether or not Zecora went willingly, they are probably still in the Everfree. This place is your realm, your domain, there is nothing within this forest that you cannot find! Now how to reach them before they leave the forest...unicorns can teleport to anyplace they know well, and the Everfree Forest is now as familiar to you as the back of your own hoof, that might do the trick. Now GET MOVING!!

Nomad

Blank Slate, you have the power of the unicorns at your beck and call, and the voice of the everfree to guide you, why not use those powers together, teleportation through the unicorn magic while using the Forest to guide your landing point, surely you could do that at least,

"N-no darling, I'm afraid I didn't see much of anything after Trixie, um, blinded me with my own chapeau, and gagged me with the ribbon completely RUINING the design in the process! That mare has no respect for a properly put together ensemble..." Muttered Rarity, obvious bitterness creeping into her voice as she narrowed her eyes... before they suddenly widened with realization and remembrance.

"Oh! But I do recall Trixie saying something to Zecora before they departed! Something about needing her to 'guide Trixie to the hiding spot'! She did actually say refer to herself in third person when saying it, a terrible habit darling. B-but if she needs Zecora to find her way then she's probably still somewhere in the Everfree!"

That bit of news caused you to grin with a spark in your eye. You could find anypony ANYWHERE in the Everfree, of that you were most certain. Granted you weren't entirely certain why you were certain, but you were certain! And with that certainty came the confidence that if Trixie was dragging Zecora around the Everfree, then it was only a matter of time before you got to them both...

"So if we rush back to Ponyville and get my friends, then we can start searching the Everfree for-"

"No." You replied, immediately, stopping that thought in it's tracks before you actually thought of how to explain it... The knee-jerk reaction was one of obvious importance though. Trixie was witness to some of your more... questionable activities. And matters with Zecora might not be fully settled as of yet. Risking outsiders coming into the situation was not something you wanted to do, you needed to take care of this yourself, without drawing any real attention. And fortunately, you were able to come up with a good excuse as to why that needed to be.

"No Miss Rarity, every moment we waste is another where somepony could get hurt. There's no time to wait for back-up." You spoke, your voice firm. Rarity blinked.

"But Mister Sla-"

"Trust me Miss Rarity, I know the Everfree by now. I can get to them much faster without having to worry about anypony else getting lost or hurt." You spoke, turning your gaze to her eyes, then giving her a grin.

"Besides, I'm already a mess. What's one more jaunt through the most dangerous forest in Equestria before bath-time?" You asked, light-heartedly, Rarity grimacing somewhat in response and raising her right forehoof up daintily in front of her mouth, coughing politely.

"I... that DID occur to me darling, 'ahem'." She spoke, before lowering her forehoof back down to the ground, sighing out lightly.

"You're... you're quite right Mister Slate. Time IS of the essence... But are you sure you don't need any help? I wouldn't want you rushing alone into danger..." She spoke, her voice slightly concerned before you shook your head calmly in response.

"I can handle whatever the Everfree has to throw at me. And I don't know what's going through Trixie's mind, but I want to find Zecora and her before whatever it is has made her do something truly foolish... Personally I think she's having a mental breakdown or something, and I don't want a big audience to be privy to it. Especially if I can talk her back down to Earth, and I'm fairly sure I can." You muttered, before shaking your head for a moment, before blinking, and furrowing your brows.

"Although..." You muttered, before looking back up to Rarity with furrowed brows. Unicorns could... teleport right? Yeah, yeah you'd heard that some unicorns could do that. And maybe you could teleport to right to Trixie and Zecora! ... No not with your own magic. You nearly fainted trying to heal Trixie's bum, were still trying to get your head around simple levitation, and pyromancy was bucking exhausting. You were fairly sure that if you tried to teleport yourself to an unknown location you'd just get a bucking migraine, or wind up like half inside a tree-trunk or something. But if Rarity could teleport you to someplace you were thinking about...

"Miss Rarity..."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think you can possibly... teleport me? To someplace I'm thinking of?" You asked, causing Rarity to blink, then quickly shake her head.

"Oh no-no-no-no-no! Mister Slate, teleporting YOURSELF is a sign of advanced magical power in a unicorn! Teleporting somepony else to someplace THEY'RE thinking of? That would take a tremendous amount of effort darling! I'm afraid that my talents are primarily geared towards the arts of fabulosity and the gem-hunting necessary to facilitate it! And even if I was capable of such feats Mister Slate, Trixie has sealed or 'locked' my magic away somehow, so that I cannot access it. Regrettably I can be of very little help to you..." She spoke, her voice soft and lowering lightly as she confessed her lack of power.

You sighed... ... Whelp, that was a dry well. Time to stop dawdling and get this show on the road! Get out there into the Everfree and bring back Zecora from the clutches of Trixie! ... And then figure out what the buck Trixie was hoping to accomplish taking Zecora into her clutches in the first place.

Also, we can't forget about the Plantimal. Now that we can hear the Everfree, perhaps it might have some role to play in this current predicament as well? It's part of the Everfree so it's not to much of a stretch, right? Maybe taking it out of it's cage will prove useful in your search.

Use plantanimal to find them with ever free powers

Find a rescue mate and punish slave

"Skkrreeeeeeee!!!"

The skreeeeing of the planimal caught your attention, small as it was, and you turned your head to look back over towards the unruly abomination. It's remaining three heads were gnawing on the bars of it's cage again, glaring red-eyed venom towards you as it bit and chomped at the bamboo bars, some marking done by it's teeth but not, fortunately, enough to get through them.

You narrowed your eyes a bit more.

"Hmmm..." You muttered to yourself. ... ... You hated the planimal. You REALLY did. Aside from trying to kill you, like most everything else in the Everfree, it was just a loud, annoying abomination of all that right and proper in the universe. But... you had this feeling in your gut that it might be somehow be useful out in the Everfree... it was, after all, a part of it. AND the Everfree had made it more and more apparent over the last few days that it intended for you to learn it's secrets... perhaps this Planimal was a part of that? Perhaps through some method that you had yet to see, it could aid you in the recovery of your zebra and unicorn? Maybe, just possibly? You breathed in and out slowly, with narrowed eyes leveled at the thing... then turned and started walking over towards the Planimal.

"Mister Slate?" Sounded Rarity curiously, as you walked up below the cage, looking up at it from where it hung with furrowed brows. You continued to look at it for a moment, before turning your head to look over your left shoulder, back to Rarity.

"I'm getting the feeling that this... THING might be useful." You spoke simply, causing Rarity to blink in surprise, and then raise her right eyebrow.

"Really Mister Slate? You think that that, errr... creature, can help? Are you sure?" She asked, obviously perplexed. You shook your head.

"No, but I tend to follow my gut instincts... right down a path of extremely mixed and often painful results..." You muttered, before shaking your head and looking back up to the Planimal. You closed your eyes, and your horn began to glow blue. Immediately sweat began to form on your skin, getting into your coat and mixing with the mud, as a blue aura engulfed the cage and the planimal in it.

"Urgh!" You sounded, wincing a bit as you extended just enough magic to pull the cage up off of it's hook... and then released it, letting it fall down with a 'Thunk' onto the floor and it's side as the Planimal let out another "Skrrrreeeeee!!!" of agitation, and flailed it's remaining tendril-heads against the bars. You breathed a bit heavily for a few moments from the effort of even that simple telekinesis spell... then sighed, leaned down, and glared at the planimal.

"Hey." You spoke, and the planimal continued to thrash.

"HEY!" You shouted, and the planimal stopped thrashing long enough to glare up at you, 'HISS'-ing slightly from all three heads.

"Look. I don't like you, and you don't like me. But you're not getting out of that cage anytime soon, and I don't want to kill you... what's left of you... for some reason that I'm sure would make sense to the psychologist I don't have but probably need." You muttered, before shaking your head.

"Anyways, here's the deal... I'm going to take you out into the Everfree." You spoke, all three of the Planimal's heads blinking at that.

"I'm going to take you out into the forest, and if you BEHAVE and don't cause TROUBLE for me... I don't know, maybe I'll get you some nice dirt or something, or a rabbit, whatever it is you eat!" You spoke, a bit irritably, before shaking your head.

"Ugh, or maybe I'll play you some music." Strangely, that one seemed to get a straightening up reaction, as though suddenly the Planimal was somewhat interested. You blinked.

"... Yeah... yeah we'll go with that. I'll play you music if you work with me here, deal?" You asked, and the Planimal didn't 'skree' or hiss, or growl... just glowered with six red eyes...

"I'll take that as a yes." You spoke bluntly, before leaning down and gripping the top of the Planima's cage in your teeth, lifting it up.

"Rwight, led's get-dis done." You muttered, before turning with the planimal cage swinging from your mouth over towards the door, before stopping in front of it, putting down the planimal, and looking back to Rarity.

"Don't worry about a thing Miss Rarity. I'll be back as soon as I can, with Zecora, Trixie, AND the Trenchcoat!" You spoke, giving her yet one more nod. Rarity for her turn gave a slightly nervous smile, and nodded to you in return.

"Good luck Mister Slate! Please hurry! I'll be waiting here for your triumphant return!" She spoke, probably trying to match your confidence. You gave her a grin in return.

"That's the spirit Miss Rarity! Now..." You spoke, looking back forward and pushing the door open with your left forehoof.

"Let's go grab a mare and trench coat combo..." You muttered, before leaning down, plucking the planimal back up to an annoyed "Skrrrreeeeee!!!" and stepping outside, letting the door close behind you...

Turn Trixie into a fully loyal harem slave, by first finding her and then talking her down, then brainwash her.

Oh, and when you find them, ask Trix what exactly she planned to achieve from all this. Don't yell at her, unless you can get her in a position where she can't harm Zecora. The Illusionist appears to be in a delicate emotional state at the moment, and if possible you want both mares alive.

Welcome to the land of the conscious.

Trixie seems to have made another bad decision in her life.

So it falls to you to find her and explain to her why its bad.

What did she want to do? Did she want to use the amulet for power again? The "good" decision that made her unhinged the last time?

Or did she want to pawn off the amulet? And then what? Her reputation is ruined and she would be wanted for theft and battery. So she wouldn't be able to get back into the show business. That plan only functions until the money runs out again.

And she only would have to ask and Zecora surely would have given her a job to earn money.

You even wanted to ask her if she would be your magic teacher.

Instead she disappoints you and makes another shortsighted, foalish decision.

Just reaffirming that she needs to be guided like the irresponsible filly she seems to be.

On that note, you need to find Trixie and Zecora! You didn't get your herd yet. Whatever Trixie's idea is about all of this, it's probably dumb like all her other ideas. Once you find them, find out what she's planning, do damage control, bring them back home. She probably needs another paddlin'! That's something to do when Zecora agrees to it, so make it a point to include it in your sleep-therapy to tell your Zebra as well as your Unicorn. That being Trixie, Rarity is a conquest for another day. Hum, Zecora might need some more... direct... discipline as well, so if she does ask for it, indulge her.

once you have caught up to Trixie, approach her calmly, she is a very unstable pony at this current point and if not handled correctly, could break and do things you hope will never happen, thankfully your voice is smooth and hopefully you have enough wit to think about your words correctly, if you can, try and have her understand that she is loyal to you and that what she just did is something she should never have done, but like i said before, do these things carefully.

Blaze

As you stepped out of the hut, the planimal cage hanging from your teeth, you closed your eyes. You breathed in deep, then out slowly, and tilted your head to the side, listening... 'whispers' began to fill your ears, heading straight through your ears and into your mind. They were... noticeable. Not loud but strong, stronger than last time certainly. They practically walked straight into your consciousness, pulling you, beckoning you, telling you where you wanted to go... You opened your eyes with a smirk.

"Awight. I gwot-dem, dey wen'dis way." You muttered, your teeth around the planimal's cage as you trotted down Zecora's steps, then turned and started moving towards the trees. You'd find them. Of that you were ABSOLUTELY certain. And when you got to them, you'd be able to fix everything, and get it back to normal!

... ... ...

ONE HOUR LATER...

"Skrrrreeeeee!!!"

"Shwudup."

"Skrrrreeeeee!!!"

"Shwudup."

"Skrrrreeeeee!!!"

"Fwo buwk's 'ake shwudup!"

You were not in a good mood. How bucking far into the Everfree did Trixie GO!? You'd been walking for an HOUR now, and the stupid bucking planimal buck-face kept making bucking noise! What was it hungry? Annoyed? Tired of a long journey? WELL SO WERE YOU!!! Buck... buck you hadn't had breakfast you were pretty damn sure. You couldn't REMEMBER the last time you'd eaten buck it and now you were marching through the Everfree with a damn planimal monster THING hanging from between your teeth! Buck it's complaining!

You breathed in deep, and HUFFED out through your nose, eyes narrowed as you continued to trot through the Everfree. You needed to be calm by the time you got to Trixie. She was going to be in an emotional state, YOU needed to have a handle on your temper by then. Two emotional ponies would just make more bad decisions, and she'd made more than enough for the both of you.

You went over, AGAIN, how you were going to handle this in your mind. You were going to approach her and talk with her, just ask her what she was doing and let her rant. Then, as she ranted, or after it, you'd explain why she was wrong and identify all the faulty bits of her logic that she'd shown. You would teach her, AGAIN, that her own decision making process was flawed, and that she needed somepony else, somepony WISER, to make decisions for her. Then, once Trixie and Zecora were back at the hut, you could apply sleep-whispers as needed to both of them, make sure that neither of your mares showed jealousy or denied their true desires again.

It was a simple plan but you were fairly certain that it would work. You were absolutely certain that you'd be able to talk Trixie out of her agitated state. But you needed to be CALM about it, rational, and without strong emotion. Be the voice of reason. The silky smooth voice of reason who could talk the mare's into lifting their tails and presenting their flanks! ... Um, hopefully, eventually... FOCUS DAMN IT!

You shook your head irritably, and started to try to calm yourself again. Especially as the whispers seemed to be getting more... intense? Perhaps? It was feeling as though you were getting closer for some reason. You weren't entirely sure how but you were. So you took a few more additional deep breaths, ignored the planimal's incessant 'skree'-ing, and just tried to calm down. Present a semi-kind, partially gentle face for the mare when you got to her.

With another deep breath, you walked past a tree, ducked down a short path, and walked into a small clearing, with what looked like a... pond of bubbling green water? ... What? You blinked, then shook your head and looked again to make sure you were getting this right. ... Yep. It was a pond of green water, with some bubbles rising to the surface and 'bursting' on occasion, heavy and thick looking. The pond itself seemed out of place, like it had been PLONKED right in the middle of the clearing. There were some bushes here and there nearby, some actually stretching and dipping into the water at the sides. Maybe that was where the green came from? But whatever the reason for that water it was giving you a WEIRD vibe. You did NOT like the look of it.

You shook your head, and turned your gaze to look over the clearing with narrowed eyes. You weren't here for water you were here for Trixie, Zecora, and your trenchcoat. And as luck would have it, you found two out of the three pretty much right away. Against a tree on the opposite side of the clearing was a VERY agitated looking Zecora. Her eyes were narrowed, her teeth were gritted, her mane and coat were just as dirtied as they had been before, and she was actively squirming against her bindings.

Her bindings looked to be, in this case, her own yellow spotted bed-sheets. Like Trixie had levitated them off and wrapped Zecora's body very thoroughly in them, making knots at the back to hold Zecora in place with all her legs bound. It was fairly evident by now that Trixie's horn had been fully healed, which meant that if things came to a fight, it would be an actual fight and not just a quick spanking or two. But, on a positive note, right next to Zecora leaning against the very same tree were Rarity's saddle-bags, the pink with the blue diamonds clear as day! You didn't see Trixie anywhere however, which was odd because the whispers were still telling you that she was here. ... Was she invisible? Did she have that kind of spell?

Regardless, Zecora and your saddle-bags were there to secure, so without further ado you started galloping forward to them.

"Zwcowa!" You spoke out around the planimal cage handle in your teeth, causing her to look up to you, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Mister Slate!

You must not wait!"

She spoke, an urgency sounding in her voice as you moved over towards her and promptly set the planimal down on the side of Zecora that WASN'T with the saddle-bags, before looking back to her.

"Yeah I'll get you untied in just a second!" You spoke, now planimal cage free, starting to lean over her to get towards the knots at her back.

"No, not me!

You must help Trixie!"

That gave you pause. You leaned back with your right eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Come again?" You asked intelligently, as Zecora turned her gaze over to the left and nodded towards the pond.

"I led her here under a spell of truthful speech,

but I did many times her retreat beseech!"

Spoke the zebra, as you looked where she'd looked. Trixie's hat and cloak were there, next to the bubbling green water, hastily discarded it seemed like, and she herself was nowhere to be seen.

"But she was foolhardy see!?

She entered in beneath the green sea!"

Well it wasn't exactly a SEA per se... more of a lake really... or a pond... Yeah, sea was kind of an exaggeration but, well, you're sure it made sense translated into Zebrican rhyming language... or whatever she actual-

"Acting out of desire and anger,

she has put her life in danger!"

Right, important words, listening while the mare's speaking.

"A beast dwells deep within the water,

And Trixie has dived straight to her slaughter!"

You blinked at that, and looked back to Zecora.

"Beast? What kind of bea-"

You started, but didn't really get to finish as Trixie came GASPING up out of the water. You looked to her as she arose, about a foot away from where she'd left her hat and cape, her mane wet, her wounds healed pretty much completely by the looks of it, and her eyes wide with mortal terror. She quickly began to CRAWL onto the grass, moving across rapidly as she tore at the grass with her hooves, pulling herself on her stomach in her desperate bid to get away from the water, completely ignoring her cloak and hat... not exactly like her.

You were about to open your mouth and comment on such, when a set of jagged rocks appeared in the water. Then you blinked when those rocks rose up out of the water... on the back of thick green scales. Hard as the rocks that rose up with them. A pair of yellow-orange eyes with black slits, triangular near the top and going down half-way through the eye, glowered out from them... it was a dark, baleful look. It showed a murderous intent, seemingly born out of agitation and simple killer instinct. As it rose further from the green water, it's light-grey, thick rock-like sharpened teeth could be seen sticking out, all along the line of it's mouth, down it's snout on either side.

It's four short, squat legs stepped into the grass, after Trixie who had finally gotten up to scramble, starting to run forward before stopping in her tracks, seeing you with wide eyes.

"You..." She spoke, her eyes still wide with terror, and you weren't sure if any of that was for you, or all of it was still for the... thing getting up out of the water. But as it continued to come up, it's tail SWISHED out, thick squat rocks glowing close to the heavy appendage, and Trixie turned, breathing fast, as a low growl came from the creature, mostly emerged, the end of it's tail FLICKING into the water, eyes leveled on Trixie...

Now I would normally say you should try to train.

But I don't think you will have the time for that.

Aedin the mage

Learn your bucking powers and train in them

On another note try to get your hooves on the amulet.

As an vampony prince you should be immune to its corrupting influence.

Take over ever free forest

Update as going along

So 5 step so far that must happen good.

Lord Scoro the demon lord

You blinked, looking at the creature as it opened it's mouth and let out a 'GGGRRROOOOOOKKKKKK' a low rumbling sound that could very well have been a roar from the thing. But as it did so you noticed something. Something, that you actually kind of wished you hadn't noticed. A box. A small wooden one, wet and partially splintered but sturdy enough to have survived whatever pressure it'd been put under. A box that Zecora had taken to hide, a box that contained a certain amulet Trixie had wanted to steal, a box... that was somehow lodged RIGHT beneath the big rocky crocodile-like creature's TONGUE... The freaking, TONGUE... ... The tasteful appendage lowered over the box once again, and then the mouth SNAPPED closed, as the creature glowered at Trixie again, then raised it's baleful look up to you, meeting your eyes.

... ... ... Well... ssssshhhhiiiiiiiiittttttttt... ...

Author's Note

So I'm NOT dead... I know, I know... a big surprise. I've been in hiatus, without bothering to mark it on the story, so I'm sorry about that. I didn't exactly expect to go into hiatus I kind of... just lost all my energy, drive, and pretty much every ounce of personal work ethic... It's been an interesting last half a year or so.

Regardless, if you're seeing this chapter then that means I'm back. Now I don't know how many of you guys have stuck around, I know inactivity is something of a mood killer. However know that I do appreciate you, whether or not you're still interested in what's going on. And I'm going to try and get this back on track, regular and steady... And that's all I really have to say at the moment. I can't make promises because... well, I don't make promises I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep. But I'm going to try... I hope that this chapter brings you enjoyment.

And just in case there is any confusion, yes. Yes that IS a Cragadile.

Crocodile Rock

Blank, looks like we might have issues...though now we know why Zecora had that powder on her last time, it was supposed to be spread on the water to keep that...rock-gator? Boulder-dile?...Name aside, you could sure use some of that right about now. Lets focus on what we remember from "Creature Feature" magazine we used to..ahem...borrow from that busted vender when we were bored...or in need of a pillow.

Alligators/Crocodiles prefer to hunt in water, but are surprisingly swift on land. Their jaws have the crushing force to get through Royal Guard armor, and they often consume anything that disturbs their territory.

Quick assessment time!

So, you find yourself facing yet another monster of the Everfree that you've no idea the abilities of. While it appears to be just some overgrown crocodile with rocky protrusions, this IS the Everfree we're talking about, so there's no way it's that simple. Everything here has some kind of strange ability that you would never think of, like the cockatrice and it's stone gaze, or even the plantimal you left caged next to Zecora, and it's unnatural existence that should never have been. This crocodile-like creature before clearly has some hidden ability that you need to be wary of, if your past experiences in the Everfree are anything to go by.

Now, that covered, let's see what we can do here. Perhaps the first thing that needs to be considered is the reason it happened in the first place. That being the amulet currently under the monster's tongue. In order to obtain it, we're going to probably have to deal with this monster, because another opportunity to regain control of this powerful artifact may not present itself to you. And worse yet, it may come back to haunt you if you don't obtain it now. That sort of thing happens all the time to Vampony Lords right? some silly pony using items from your past to try and overthrow your rule. Well, you can't let that happen with this item, no sir! You'll just have to defeat this monster, or at least, regain control over it again.

You have come across another creature of the Everfree. This is obviously a test by the Everfree so you can prove your worth as its master.

"...your occasional acquaintance, Mister Brain." Well, well. We DO have one of those. Perhaps you should have tried using it BEFORE now, hmm? Actually, you know what? Giant stone-crocodile rising out of polluted mire, probably wants to eat you. Now would be a GREAT time to get more acquainted with Mister Brain.

Just to re-enforce the echo chamber, the cROCKodile must die. You've already been given plenty of options on that, so I'll focus more on the aftermath.

The rock-crocodile thing glowered.

You stared.

The rock-crocodile thing growled out with a low grinding 'grrroookkkk' sound.

You gulped.

Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Double-bucking, mother-rutting, Nightmare-damning, bloody-bitch-burning SHIT!!!

What the buck? What in the ACTUAL BUCK was that thing!? Seriously Everfree? Seriously!? Did making damn chicken-lizard things with red glowing eyes and regenerating wood-wolves with poison sap for blood get boring!? Did it really need to make a crocodile MADE OUT OF ROCK!?!? REALLY!?

And that wasn't it, oh no, there was no way you were that bucking lucky, this was the bucking Everfree that enjoyed BUCKING with you every damn chance it got! This thing wouldn't JUST be a predator capable of chomping through metal like it was tissue-paper and gobbling you up like a damn pony-sized-hayburger! It'd have some kind of freaky powers, like shooting rocks out of it's mouth, turning invisible, growing nine times it's size, or shooting bucking LASER BEAMS FROM IT'S EYES!!! Buck it you didn't know, this was the Nightmare-bucking Everfree! BUCK!!!

You realized that perhaps freaking out wasn't the best thing you could do, that this might be the time to step up, use your brain, and overcome what was clearly an obstacle put in place by the Everfree against which you needed to prove your worth. But buck that. You never asked to become a Vampony Prince and if this was what the Everfree asked for then buck it you were DONE, you'd pull back and move to a nice place in Saddle Arabia, or The Crystal Empire, or somewhere, someplace where there was no vegetation, far from the Everfree, just so that you'd never have to see this Nightmare-damned monstrosity AGAIN!!!

There's also Zecora bound next to the tree and the Plantimal you left caged next to her, probably screeching it's heads of right about now. But more importantly, your trench coat is next to them as well, We need to do everything in our power to make sure it's not ruined. Blood is so hard to get out of... umm... whatever fabric is used in awesome vampony trench coats.

Of course that just leaves how to defeat this monster now. The easiest option might be to cut Zecora free. She clearly knew about the monster and probably knows a thing or two about handling it. but if we cut her free immediately, she would certainly take exception to your intention of possessing the Amulet. Come to think of it, Trixie probably would two, but her decision making is so glaringly flawed that it's nearly killed her several times, now being one of them! You're confident that swaying her from wanting the Amulet for herself will be an easier task then convincing Zecora to let you keep it.

Of course, Trixie may be able to help in that regard with her magic. But it's still a giant crocodile with freaking BOULDERS that would quickly turn you into paste from one wrong move.

Quick blank, we must slay this beast and save your mares. And trench coat.

Anyway. Quick analysis of current situation. Zecora, shaman supreme who has been near demanding you breed with her, out of action for at least the next 30 seconds. Trixie, insanely jealous, bit wet for you, recovering next 30 seconds. Cragodile, able to reach and consume you in the next 30 seconds, heavily armoured externally with electrical, thermal and mechanical insulation.

"Skkrrreeeeee!"

The noise, as faint as it was, drew your attention from the crocodile rock thing over towards the planimal. And next to said planimal, Zecora, who was still struggling with gritted teeth against the bindings that Trixie had put her in. Namely her own blankets... that had to be really annoying. She was probably more than a little pissed, plus desperate to get loose and deal with the currently dire situation. You could cut her free you supposed... Considering the circumstances she'd probably forgive you for the destruction of her blankies. And she might be able to help you against this crazy crocodile rock-monster thing... Well, actually, she'd just take you away from it probably. And then she'd make sure Trixie was secured, and then she'd get all of you out and away from the crocodile rock monster thing. And you weren't exactly opposed to that, but would she stop for valuables? ... No... No she'd probably leave them behind, the amulet, Rarity's saddlebags, your Trenchcoat! Why, you couldn't even THINK of departing without two out of three of those items!

And focusing on her now while you had a crocodile rock thing to fight would just get her drawn into the danger, and you didn't want that! After all the shit that'd already happened, the last thing you wanted was to inconvenience your zebra more! It was for the best that she be completely incapable of actually moving and defending herself while there was a life-threatening monster on the lose!

"O-oh Celestia, oh sweet Celestia, why, why do these things always happen to Trixie!?" Came the sounds of a very familiar mare who was most CERTAINLY going to get a stern talking to later. But for the moment, she was, quite rightly, consumed with fear for her life, and thus didn't need you rubbing it in... yet. You looked back to Trixie, still on the ground in front of you laying on her back, shaking and trembling, staring at the crocodile rock monster thing with wide tear-filled eyes, and green-tinged water all over her fur and mane, dirt mixing in all along her back and some loose leaves stuck to her coat. She was... pathetic, really. As usual, as she stared at her imminent doom, heart in the grip of a logical and entirely rational fear...

Above all, STAY CALM. Panic is the enemy more than any dangerous creature. Panic leads to rushed judgement, rushed judgement to mistakes, mistakes to injury, and injury to...you get where I'm going.

Good luck,

Nomad

You looked back up to the crocodile rock monster a thoughtful look to your eyes this time, as the wheels turned in your head and you began to actually think on the situation. Your emotions stepped back for a moment and your logical engines and friend Mister Brain started to take the helm. And while they did so, began to extrapolate upon a simple truth... that cowardice had a cost. If you ran, if you turned tail, then you'd lose it all... your mares who you had spent so much time whispering to and guiding, the trenchcoat you'd waited so long for, the amulet which you needed to keep out of the hooves of those who would misuse it... everything. This was a conflict you HAD to fight out if you wanted to keep what was yours. You needed to meet the Everfree's challenge, and battle this creature, defeat it, DESTROY it. And to do so, you needed to be calm, collected, and cool.

You took a deep breath in, then breathed out slowly, keeping your eyes trained on the cROCKodile's, meeting it's glare with a calm gaze of your own. You slowly stretched your neck, to the right, then to the left, then down, then up... Then you met the crocodile-rock monster thing's eyes again as you rolled your shoulders back, then forwards, getting thoroughly calmed and limbered with the movements... The crocodile rock monster made another low menacing 'Gggrrroooookkkkkk' sound.

You looked down to Trixie.

"Trixie." You spoke, your voice strong and authoritative, which was a little surprising to you because you totally hadn't felt that way just a few moments ago. Trixie snapped her teary wide-eyed gaze back to you, confusion, fear, and desperation all mixed into her orbs in one massive batch of inadequacy.

"Over there. Now." You spoke, jerking your head towards the tree with Zecora still struggling against her bindings, your planimal, and the saddle bags with the trenchcoat. Trixie simply nodded mutely, for once apparently having nothing to say, all grand proclamations or indignant protestations eaten up by her fear. She sprung up to her hooves and BOLTED for the tree, leaving her cloak and hat behind on the bank as you looked to the crocodile rock monster. The crocodile rock monster thing looked after Trixie for a moment, watching her with it's eyes, before looking back to you, meeting your eyes with its own glare once more.

Calmly you brought your right forehoof up into the air and-

SCHLINK!-ink-ink-ink...

Your blade SHOT out, making it's own echo as it did so. The sword was black and sharp and long... longer than it had been previously, actually. Blue mist was pooling around it as you held it up, more than there usually was, and seemed to even pour off your hoof and down your right foreleg, wrapping your fur in dark blue mists. You raised your right eyebrow as you glanced at your own blade. Your sword seemed to have gone through some upgrades while you were unconscious, kind of like your fangs. Frankly it was kind of creepy how much shit seemed to happen while you were asleep. But you ignored the general unease at your nocturnal developments for a moment and looked back to the crocodile rock monster, as your rods SWUNG up from your back to stand erect, humming slightly as they did so. You rolled your head to the right, then back to the left again, then looked the crocodile in the eyes.

It glowered.

You smirked.

It slowly opened it's mouth, just enough to run it's grey stone tongue over it's lips and teeth.

You nodded.

"Well... thank you for waiting. Now let's get to it, shall we?" you asked, feeling fairly polite actually as the monster, as terrifying as it was, HAD been polite enough to give you time to mentally prep yourself. Very sporting really. But that time was at an end, and with your query finished the crocodile rock creature let out a loud roaring 'GGGRRROOOOKKKKK' sound, and charged.

Well, this could be a problem. I can only think of a few options that could work.

If there's any leftover charge from the storm, lightning might work.

I suggest you zapp the water and go for the enviro-kill. It should at least stun it then go for the guts, destroy the weak belly to ensure victory.

Reptiles are sensitive to vibration, try hitting your rods with youre sword.

Try to attack a "soft spot" with your sword, such as the underbelly or inside of the mouth.

Of course you could do what you've always done in this situation. Just charge in and flail your sword around and make lots of noise. That seemed to have worked well all of your other "fights".

Light it on Fire, make it burn and scream until it can no longer. Then let it die but not a second before it stops. It will be in agony for the rest of its time on this planet.

A giant flying bean, who enslaved his world.

In the likely event that that massive beast trys to eat you, nothing quite says bad touch to a fleshbeast like a flamethrower down the throat, and unlike it's stony outside I'm sure it's inside isn't quite as fireproof. *evil laugh*

In the event you are about to be swallowed whole use your sword to stop its jaws from crushing you and repeat step one, and while your there grab the amulet and get more power.

You weren't prepared for how FAST it was. Yes you already knew that crocodiles actually moved fairly fast on land due to some 'ahem' liberated reading material. But DAMN. It was practically on you before you even considered your first move. As it came upon you, you also noted that there was a sort of... 'screaming' in your ears that wasn't screaming, a spike of warning that seemed to just move straight into your brain. It was really weird, and a little LATE as you didn't have time to really use it before the crocodile rock monster RAMMED right into you.

The blow from the cROCKodile's fortunately closed snout sent you tumbling back a couple feet through the dirt and hurt like a bitch, but served as a great call to BUCKING FOCUS. You snapped your eyes to the creature as you got quickly to your feet, fortunately nothing seeming to have actually broke from the ram, and watched as it started rapidly moving towards you again, glowering eyes ready for a kill. More reacting than thinking, you twitched the muscle in your back that made your rods shoot out any built up electricity they happened to possess.

Nothing. Whatever juice your wings had had from the storm last night was now long used up. No zappy zappy of any kind, unless a storm just started out of the blue, and did you really think you were going to be that lucky? But your rods had another use, one that you'd wielded to great effect before, and would probably be even more useful to you now with your sword apparently more echoey than it had previously been. Your rods already up and your sword out, it was easy enough to throw your sword back as the cROCKodile made it's way quickly towards you and-

CCCCCLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

BUCK THAT WAS LOUD!!! LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD!!! You winced yourself, your ears ringing from the noise. You'd known it would be louder than before but... BUCK... And shit if that didn't still make your back muscles ache, again, maybe worse than before... Buck... you were pretty sure you were deaf now, for the moment at least. The good new was though that the cROCKodile didn't seem to have taken it too well either. It stood still for a moment, blinking rapidly... Then it shook. Actually shook, vibrated, with little pebbles popping off of it's back as it did so, visibly shaking for several moments, before rapidly throwing it's head side to side, and refocusing upon you with narrowed eyes, making a snarling face. It seemed to growl at you more, though you couldn't actually, um, hear anymore, so you weren't exactly sure. But it was definitely giving off a 'I'm going to bucking eat you alive you cocky little shit' vibe as it stared at you with eyes filled with predatory rage. Buck... buck it looked like it had recovered faster than you... And you'd DEFINITELY pissed it off. And much sooner than you would have rathered, it SPED towards you again, going for what looked like the same ramming technique as before.

You had no intention of being caught by the same attack twice, so you jumped to the right as quick as you could. That seemed to work as the crocodile rock monster stopped dead in it's tracks right where you'd been, but then seemed to SPIN it's body and-

WHAM!

"Ooof!"

... and you met the business end of a whirling solid rock tail attached to a solid rock reptile. Once again you found yourself flying multiple feet across the dirt, your rods closing back down impulsively as you went tumbling, before coming to a stop, breathing hard with a heavy ache in your side and dirt and grass all over your coat.

"Agh buck, buck that's annoying 'cough'." You said, feeling the need to audibly declare your discomfort, before shakily getting back to your hooves again. And again, the sharp 'WARNING', burrowed through your ears and into your brain, causing you to snap your gaze to the cROCKodile as it charged forward towards you, already on the move, this time with it's jaw wide... You could see a lot of things when that monster opened it's mouth. A grey craggy tongue, numerous teeth all sharp and carnivorous, the box containing the amulet underneath aforementioned tongue, your rapidly approaching death... a lot of things.

But, you figured that instead of sight-seeing, your talents would probably be best spent in finding a way to remove that rapidly approaching death maw as a threat. So, admittedly somewhat panicked at the creature barreling straight towards you, ringing still in your ears and kind of making you dizzy, you quickly dug your hooves into the grass, brought your right forehoof up and-

SHICK-ick-ick-ick! ... That echo was probably going to get annoying. But the effect of the blade cutting through the cROCKodile's tongue and upper jaw most certainly wasn't. And with that cutting you had managed to 'catch' the reptilian monster's upper-snout with your blade, the tip piercing up through the soft... well, soft-er roof of the creature's opened maw. The monstrous rock-reptile's eyes widened, then narrowed in a choked 'g-grok!' that seemed to spit out some green water around it's tongue and onto your fur, as well as your face and blade. Not at all gross of course, you were just FINE with an abomination of nature puking it's green-water blood up on you. And on an unrelated note, you got goose bumps and shivered in revulsion with your blade jabbing up through it's mouth, your face curled up into an expression of disgust. However in the process of this weird liquid spitting, and your unrelated body responses, it also managed to dislodge the box from underneath it's tongue, a coating of green water carrying it out and 'PLOP'-ing it onto the grass between you and the rock reptile, down on it's lid.

You lifted your right eyebrow as the box came out, then looked back up to the wide gaping maw. As you did so, you wondered if this creature was all rock, or if inside, it might have had some squishy parts? Like, did it have actual organs instead of just rock? After all it needed to like, eat, shit, and maybe even rut right? Couldn't do that with rocky bits... probably. Or maybe it didn't need to do any of that shit. Maybe it was just a freaky construct thing like the Timberwolf things. But if there WAS some way to damage it, it probably would be on the inside. Too bad you didn't have some sort of way to take advantage of this open mouth to directly attack it's... insides... right down it's wide open gullet... ...

You blinked. A light bulb went on over your head. And your mouth stretched into a wide grin, as your eyes glinted with pyromaniacal genius. You had just had the BEST. BUCKING. IDEA. EVER... And you were understandably quite giddy about it, as your speech would reveal.

"Yeah, I know, my orthodontia techniques aren't quite as refined as you'd like." You spoke, feeling strangely playful and joking, chuckling a bit before shaking your head and looking back down the cROCKodile's maw.

"Well, let's see how you feel about my cleaning and hygiene policies!" You stated brightly, not entirely sure where this particular dental theme was coming from, but it didn't bucking matter because you had awesome flamey things to do! You lowered your head down horn-first towards the monster's open mouth, adjusted slightly to point to the left of your own blade and-

FWWWOOOSSSHHH!!!

Flame. Glorious blue flame SHOT out of your horn and straight into the crocodile monster's maw in a glorious spiraling tunnel of fiery death! You... weren't entirely sure WHY the flame was blue, but buck it, it was glorious and burning and another 'G-grok!' of pain and discomfort came from the cROCKodile as you shot your magic straight into its insides, bucking up whatever was in there.

The cROCKodile did NOT look to be enjoying itself much to your delight. In fact, between the sword lodged up into it's mouth and the fire spouting into it's gullet, and the rocky reptile's very evident pain and discomfort to both, you were now very confident in your abilities to actually HURT this bucking thing! But there was something in it's eyes as you torched it's gullet. A glint of cunning, a predatory gleam that made you somewhat nervous. You began to be worried just as that WARNING sound/feeling-thing struck into your brain and-

CRUNCH

Your blade jutted up even further through the top of the cROCKodile's snout. But it seemed to be okay with that as it lunged forward and CHOMPED down on your foreleg in it's mouth, teeth and jaw crushing muscle and bone even as your flames wrapped around it's snout and burned your own foreleg, singeing the stone but obviously causing no real issues for the monster while it bit at your flesh.

"AAAAGGGHHHH!!!!" You screamed, and in no way was ashamed of doing said screaming. With your right foreleg caught between it's pincer jaws, you could FEEL the bones breaking, the muscles ripping, the flesh tearing, and the blood spilling. It felt like it was going to rip your foreleg clean off! But...

Last resort, deliberately injure yourself and get your blood into it's mouth, remeber what happened to the Planimal head.

But your blood was spilling... and while you weren't in the mind to consider the tactical reality of such, the cROCKodile apparently was...

'GRACK!' The monster sounded, coughing out hard as it's eyes went wide with pain and surprise. It's mouth fell open, and you quickly pulled your right foreleg back scraping it over the teeth and leaving bits of your flesh and more of your blood in it's jaws. Your right foreleg was COMPLETELY mangled, burnt around the knee, bit and ripped and torn down from that, the bottom half of your foreleg being comparatively untouched but hanging limp from the damage to the rest of the limb. Needless to say, it hurt like a mother-bucking bitch.

"AH! AH BUCK! BUCKING DAMN IT! BUCK!" You shouted as you staggered back, not really buying into the 'needless to say' thing and very much wishing to share your pain with the entirety of the audibly aware world.

The crocodile monster for it's part staggered back as well, coughing hard with brutal 'GRACK!' noises, spitting out green liquid, puking up your blood it looked like. But your damn Nightmare-bucking head was spinning and you were dizzy and queasy and wanted to puke yourself. The pain was horrific, worse than the Timberwolves claws, worse than the Planimal bite to, or the fall you took when you first discovered the poison joke. Buck, this might have been the worst yet, you couldn't even try to set your right forehoof down without searing pain going through your whole damn body. Not exactly the most impressive state you'd ever been in.

Cringing from the pain with your eyes tearing up, you dismissed your sword from the forehoof in a burst of blue mist, unable to even LIFT the damn thing much less fight with it with your leg in such a wreck. As bad as this bucking was though, you were still something of a lucky son of a bitch-whore. Your healing was kicking in and you could already see your hoof starting to pull itself back together, the flesh knitting, bone resetting, tendons reconnecting... Still, it wouldn't be fast enough to get you back into a fight with the crocodile monster, and your maneuverability, the only damn thing you had over it, was completely shot. You were in a bad bucking way.

Next is your surroundings. The most obvious thing here is the lake, polluted by some unknown substance you suspect is from the strange shrubs growing out around the lake, turning it green. Clearly it isn't acidic in nature or harmful as Trixie has just emerged from said lake, and seems to be fine, at least physically, but that doesn't mean it isn't effecting her. The fearful look in her eyes when she spotted and spoke to you may be a hint as to one of it's effects, but that could also just be because of the imminent danger present. However, it still struck you as something odd that you couldn't immediately place.

But lets not forget about the tiny, caged plantimal. You brought it here for some reason and Clearly as it is now, it'd be of no use. But maybe there's some way to change that? Perhaps the lake water? What if the monster used to just be a normal crocodile before making this clearing it's home? It may explain it's size today, and looking more closely at the shrubs growing around the lake, maybe they aren't really what's causing the coloration of the water. You remember reading something about how plants grow towards sunlight in dark places to help their survivability, hell, you've seen a similar thing to that underneath the dumpsters in the alleyways sometimes. Perhaps that's what's happening here? The shrubs grow towards the pond to increase their survivability? If that's the case, maybe if you toss the Plantimal into the water it'll have some kind of effect on it? It clearly affected both the plants around the clearing and the creature before you. You've also decided the Plantimal can be described as both these things, It's its name for crying out loud! So maybe the water will have a double effect on it and distract the monster long enough for you to find a way to procure the amulet from the monster's mouth.

Also make use of the Planimal you brought it along for a reason.

Use the planimal, you can control him with music! Release your animal minion into the water. If it can boost the side of the crocodile then it can certainly boost the size of the planimal.

Planimal, minaturised due to Zecoras potions, narked and ready to go in an easily thrown into mineral rich feeding water within the next 5 seconds.

Throw Planimal into water, as close past Cragodile as possible, drag Trixie and Zecora round the tree the opposite side of saddlebags.

You looked to the cROCKodile again, and saw it hacking and coughing still, eyes wide and green liquid starting to leak from them. Perhaps you wouldn't need to keep this fight going. Perhaps whatever was in your blood would finish this thing off... and perhaps it wouldn't. This was the bucking Everfree, all bets were off. You couldn't afford to try and wager on the damn thing choking up on your bucking blood!

Panting hard, sweat emerging on your coat, more from the pain than from exertion, you found your eyes moving back to the water the creature had emerged from, all green and creepy... It was probably an Everfree power-well or some shit like that, where the Everfree fed it's strength in to bless it's creatures or the like. Or some kind of polluted toxic Everfree mutation thing. Seemed as logical as any other bucking thing that happened/existed/ or was generally present in these damn woods. It'd probably taken a normal crocodile and normal rocks and amped them up, making something freaky and new and combined, like the Planimal had been between that damn flower and those weird chicken-lizard things... ... the Planimal...

You turned your gaze over towards that particular abomination, gnawing at the bars of it's cage. Trixie was cowering near it, Zecora was giving Trixie an extremely agitated look while shouting something at her that, with your ears still kind of ringing, you couldn't hear. You looked back to the planimal in it's bamboo cage, then back to the water, then back to the planimal, then back to the water. And you had a thought. A crazy thought. An utterly strange, positively bonkers, and possibly delusional thought... but buck it. Your leg was bust, you had no lightning, your magic was out from your flame-in-gullet stunt, and there was no bucking way you'd manage to flip that thing over so that you could stab to it's belly in your current state. Not actually sure you could've managed it in your previous state either for that matter. You had very few options available for you to use... so buck it, why not go with the crazy one?

"Trixie!" You shouted. Or at least you thought you shouted. Honestly you could barely hear yourself shout, and you knew that you'd probably not be able to hear anything Trixie said in return. But she looked up, actually wincing a bit as you shouted, so it probably was a shout. Maybe even a louder one than you'd been trying for. But whatever, the important thing was that she could hear you.

"Throw the planimal monster in the water!" You continued shouting, and you could SWEAR, even from this distance, that she just furrowed her brows, let her jaw drop a little, and stared at you in confusion.

"Toss the planimal in the bucking water Trixie!" You shouted, moving your left forehoof up to point towards it, as though she wasn't already aware what creature you were referring to, then over towards the bubbling green water.

"NOW!!!"

That seemed to get her to, if not snap to it, at least convince her to do as told. Trixie seemed to gulp, then look to the Planimal and focus on it as her horn glowed purple. The cage was contained within her purple telekinesis spell, and arose up from the dirt. The planimal started screaming, probably skreeeing in discontent though you couldn't hear it if it was, as it levitated in the air, held aloft by the powers of an emotionally unstable and unpredictable unicorn... ... yeah, yeah you'd probably complain to in it's position. Trixie, turning her eyes to the pond, then promptly just sent it flying over via telekinesis and let it 'PLOP' into the water, the cage sinking with the Planimal inside of it, green water bubbling all around as it made it's descent, before the bubbling slowly stopped, leaving nothing but a few ripples on the surface... ... ... ... ... ... ... And that was it. Nothing happened.

You blinked... Trixie looked to you with her right eyebrow raised... and you shrugged your left shoulder. Well... nopony could kick a hundred.

You looked back to the cROCKodile that looked as though it had finally stopped wretching, though slick green liquid was all over it's face. It looked to you with hatred in it's eyes and let out a 'GGGGRRROOOKKKKK' of great and carnivorous anger.

You gulped.

Well... shi-

'Pop'

Both you and the cROCKodile blinked, then looked over to the water from which the 'pop' sound had emerged. Apparently the crocodile rock monster was as surprised as you, though you were mainly surprised because you could hear again, thank Nightmare's left-tit.

'Pop' sounded again, as a bubble rose to the surface of the water and then let itself die in a burst of air.

'Pop' 'Pop' 'Popopopopopop'

More bubbles, more popping, and pieces of a bamboo cage, floating to the surface.

You only had time to raise your eyebrows slightly before-

SPLASH!

SPLASH!

SPLASH!

'SSSSKKKKKRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!'

... ... ... Well... buck you. It actually worked.

The planimal, that you hated and DESPISED was now a towering three-headed behemoth emerging from the pool, it's heads swaying in the sky, with glaring red eyes, and a malicious grin on each of it's ugly abnormal faces, looking down to you and the cROCKodile with obvious glee apparent in their burning red orbs.

Then eat the croc to buff your defense, we sure need that with our luck.

'Gggrrroookkk...' The growl this time was more one of disbelief, as the cROCKodile looked to the towering planimal with wide eyes. Frankly, you were kind of with the cROCKodile there. What made this bucking thing grow or shrink was really pretty damn weird. But that wasn't exactly something either of you had time to think about. Because an instant later the Planimal had LUNGED down, all three heads descending on the cROCKodile, and PLUCKED it up off of the ground between all three.

Each of their teeth CRUNCHED into the rock, actually breaking through it. Then, in front of your eyes, the Planimal with a series of sickening CRACKS 'ripped' the cROCKodile three ways, tearing it apart. The tail, the snout, and various pieces of rubble, PLOPPED down into the water, as the Planimal lifted up its heads, and then proceeded to 'GULP' the different pieces down, swallowing the rocky hide and innards of the crocodile reptile thing in a few choice bites. And like that, it was gone...

... You couldn't help but get the nagging feeling that you missed some kind of opportunity... you weren't particularly sure what. You were fairly sure your fangs couldn't chop through rock and your stomach couldn't digest it if they could... ... could they? Could IT? And what about the eyes, were those as hard as the rest of the monster's rock body? These were things to consider. AFTER running for your bucking life from the planimal monster that, with it's heads swaying up out of the water, was now turning it's triple-red-eyed gaze onto you, with that familiar malicious grin and ill-intent plastered all over it's smug faces.

Don't forget the box, don't want some enemy to get that.

Point the Second: The amulet itself. As though it wasn't obvious before hand, Trixie has once again proven she cannot be trusted to make decisions (and you should make this fact eminently clear to her). Four thousand bits says the amulet has no corrupting properties what-so-ever and the Illusionist was just deflecting blame. Again.

After you have taken care of the creature you will need to secure the Alicorn Amulet and make sure Trixie is back under your control.

They wanted to eat you. You could see it in their eyes. You could see it in their grins. In the little bits of pebble, dust, and green water in their teeth. And as big as they were right now, they could just lean down, grab you up, and munch you into pony mulch. If fighting the cROCKodile had been hard fighting THIS would be impossible. You gulped. DEEPLY. Then your eyes flickered over to your left.

Laying in the dirt nearby, surprisingly not yet broken, was the box that Zecora had decidedly to tactfully hide beneath a crocodile rock monster's tongue. You looked back to the Planimal. It's three heads licked it's lips. You looked over to Trixie and Zecora, and to your slightly surprise saw that Trixie's horn was glowing. She was now using her magic to undo and untie the blankies that she'd used to wrap Zecora up. You looked back to the box, then to your left forehoof, then back to the planimal. You had a plan. A crazy plan. Like most of your plans seemed to be these days. But it JUST, MIGHT, WORK. Or fail horribly. You'd be able to tell if it did that second one by your violent and painful death.

You breathed in deep, sighed, then gave the planimal a goofy, nervous grin. A-

"Skree-skree-skree-skree" came from the Planimal heads, like a chuckle in response, each of them seeming to want to SAVOR your imminent demise, saliva drooling down from their mouths...

SCHLINK!-ink-ink-ink.

Your left forehoof SHOT out your blade, before you raised it up, and then LUNGED towards the box, SLAMMING the flat of your blade onto the top in a-

THUD!!!-THUD!-Thud-thud-thud-thud

It wasn't exactly your most impressive noise yet. The thud against wood wasn't nearly as impressive as many of the metallic 'Clangs' you'd managed with your sword. But it echoed loud and far and in their typical pattern the heads all seemed to blink, then get these goofy grins on their faces for a moment, waving back and forth in the air, enjoying the noise. That was the only sign you needed.

"Trixie, Zecora, grab the saddle-bags and let's get the buck out of here!" You shouted, Trixie seeming to have already gotten Zecora loose, the blanket now just hanging over Zecora's shoulders. Trixie, in an additional move of responsiveness, used her telekinesis to grab hold of the saddle-bags and lift them up out of the dirt, bringing them levitating up into the air and onto her back as she turned and ran. Interestingly, she seemed to have the presence of mind to levitate her cloak and hat from the bank of the pond and send them floating after her.

You, for your part, dispersed your blade in a 'POOF' of blue smoke, then leaned down and with your teeth, awkwardly picked up the box that was indirectly the cause of all this trouble. You winced a bit as you scraped your teeth against the wood, holding it loosely from it's dirt-covered bottom as you began to limp after Trixie and Zecora. For a moment you wished you'd kept your magic reserves empty for telekinesis... but that fire burst had been bucking awesome. Totally worth the agonizing pain that, honestly, you'd have probably gotten to experience one way or another.

You looked back, frequently, as you moved, to see if the Planimal was shaking off the effects of your audible therapy. But it looked as though it was still under the effects of your... well, calling it music would be giving it too much justice, but whatever you wanted to call it, the planimal was still goofy from your blade's sonic qualities, thank the bucking night. And by the time it started to look as though it was getting aggressive again, you were out, along with Zecora and Trixie, and it couldn't follow, stuck in the pond as it was...

It wasn't until a fair distance later, when you heard a 'SSSSKKKKKRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!' of frustration, now slightly faint, that you pushed yourself up against a tree, back behind the two mares, let the box drop into the dirt, and fell onto your haunches with your back against the tree, eyes closed, breathing hard.

"Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck." You stated, now gritting your teeth as the pain in your right forehoof made itself apparent.

"And triple-bucking buck buck." You continued, just to make sure your point came across.

Once you've dealt with the monster situation, You're going to have to run some damage control on the two mares. Fixing whatever you can and swaying them to your side again. And later sleep talking to them and fixing this whole jealousy thing that's sprung up to avoid this fiasco from happening again. Manipulation can be so tedious sometimes.

Point the First: WHAT THE BUCK DOES TRIXIE THINK SHE IS DOING‽ She kidnapped Zecora, almost got all three of you killed (what, did she not realise you'd come after her as soon as you regained consciousness?), all to get back that stupid amulet she has ALREADY proved incapable of handling.

Point the Fifth: Zecora. This is going to be difficult. First, you need to play-up the fact that it was the mutations that she wanted to get rid of that just saved your collective plots. However, you can't come across as desperate or she'll assume you're being influenced by an external force, which CLEARLY isn't happening. Second, we really need some way to apologise for the crap we've been putting her through. For a hermit, she has a surprising number of friends, and being pissed-off at us will lead to complications in the long one.

After you slay the beast reclaim what is yours, get a hold of your minions and sort your mistakes out.

-PYRO THE RED

Eyes closed you didn't see or hear Zecora so much as feel her. A gentle touch on your right forehoof was the evidence of her presence as you opened up your eyes, and saw the Zebra sitting on her haunches next to you, and gingerly lifting the messed up leg as her eyes moved over it. This caused you to wince a bit, but you didn't say anything as she gently examined the injury. You were sure she could see what you could feel, the flesh knitting, the muscles healing, the bone reconnecting. The leg might be healed by the time you got back to her hut if it kept this pace up.

She continued to look it over for a few moments, before bringing her gaze over to you, and looking into her eyes with a calm gaze.

"You are very lucky that you heal as you do,

But this still must be painful for you."

She stated softly, some concern for you apparent in the voice. You blinked, then smirked, giving a nod with a soft chuckle.

"Heheheh, It is yeah, ow... but it'll heal, and that's better than most buckers'd get in my situation... Agh, yeah though, it does hurt like a bitch, bucking ow..." You muttered, before breathing in deep, then out slowly, trying to deal with the pain. After doing that a bit more, you opened your eyes, narrowed them, and turned your decidedly disapproving gaze upon a very nervous Trixie. You look at her, perhaps even glared at her, watching as she stood with Rarity's saddlebags on her back, cloak folded over the strap with her hat plucked on top. The anxious mare shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, looking down to the dirt between them, not meeting your eyes.

"Trixie..." You spoke, still laying back against the tree. Trixie gulped, seeming to shrink beneath the force of your glare.

"Would you like to explain what in the ACTUAL BUCK you were thinking?"

"T-Trixie was... s-she just-" She started to mutter, looking down.

"The Cragadile nearly had you for main course,

you are lucky Blank came to reinforce."

Spoke Zecora pointedly, looking over her right shoulder to level a glare of her own at Trixie. The whole 'kidnapping' thing probably making her feel a little less charitable than usual.

"To ignore my warnings was the choice of a fool,

I TOLD you there was a monster in the pool!"

Zecora actually shouted this time... Yeah. Yeah getting dragging into deadly danger would make one a little testy. You sighed and closed your eyes again. Your hoof bucking hurt damnit, though you did enjoy the soft touch of Zecora's own hoof upon it. That physical contact was nice, really pleasant. Made you think of breeding her like a mare in heat. Because of course it did. But anyways, back to the current situation that DIDN'T involve your constant battles against your best friend in the world...

"She's right, ugh buck it, let's not even cover the OBVIOUS danger you put Zecora in, and Rarity, and ME, you did all of that well enough that I'm pretty sure you don't give a buck about how many different ponies you HURT." You spoke, a very acidic tone to your voice as you kind of vented at the mare-

"But what you did would have gotten you killed if I hadn't been there! Like with the cockatrice, or the Diamond Dog! What is this, the THIRD BUCKING TIME I've saved your life!? And buck it if I didn't happen to be a superpony freakazoid then nopony would have been able to help you! Do you get that?! You'd be DEAD!!!" You shouted, clear aggravation in your voice before you winced hard, your hoof throbbing in pain, and took a deep breath in, then breathed out slowly, calming yourself down.

You opened your eyes again after that, blinking a bit, then turning your gaze over to Trixie who was looking down between her hooves. Shaking. Trembling. Coat still wet and partially covered with dirt, and little spots of moisture emerging from her downcast eyes to hit the dirt below.

"I... Trixie... I just..." She didn't finish her thought. Instead, a 'Sniff' interrupted her speech, and a few more drops fell down from her eyes onto the dirt below. Zecora was still looking back to Trixie, her gaze stern, though no longer fierce or apparently angry. Zecora had a HECK of a lot of control over her own emotions, you noted.

"Trixie, you wanted the amulet I know.

But why did you to these lengths go?

When you took me, the whole way here,

I could see that your quest was ruled by fear."

You blinked at that, looking to Zecora as she spoke, then looking back to Trixie with your right eyebrow raised. That... stoked your curiosity actually. Zecora, when not irrationally and unreasonably jealous, seemed to have a handle on other ponies emotions. You'd been partially assuming that Trixie was drawn here out of a jealous desire to be your only mare and give you the amulet as proof of her worth, or something. But if she was drawn here by fear... then what was she afraid of? You?

"I... Trixie... Trixie just w-wanted to be 'sniff' somepony..." This declaration only made you raise your right eyebrow further, as Trixie crossed her right foreleg over her left nervously, still looking down, still shaking, still with little droplets of water coming down from her eyes and hitting the dirt below.

"T-Trixie's l-lost... s-so many times... and 'sniff' Trixie's supposed to be great and p-powerful. S-special 'sniff'." She spoke, before taking a shaky gulp, and letting out an equally shaky sigh.

"W-with the amulet Trixie was s-somepony. Somepony 'sniff' powerful, somepony great. Somepony scary but 'sniff' somepony still. A-and now, without it Trixie's just... Trixie's j-just..." Trixie didn't seem to be able to finish the thought. Instead she sniffled more, then her bottom lip quivered and then she just let out a-

"WWWAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAA!!!!" As she broke down sobbing like a little filly. You blinked as she physically collapsed onto the ground and just started bawling her eyes out, just COMPLETELY undone, it looked like.

You... you couldn't really find yourself staying angry at Trixie. Annoyed, oh buck yes, but not angry. Why? Well this example of pathetic wallowing that you were seeing right now was exactly what you expected of her. She really was a rash, foolish little filly when it came down to it. And she needed proper guidance... when she accepted that she'd be happy. And you did want your Trixie to be happy... despite all the agitation you felt, you wanted all of your mares to be happy.

Zecora sighed in tired aggravation, before taking a deep breath in, then out slowly, and moving over towards Trixie.

"Come Trixie, no need to scream and shout,

you'll never find what you seek if you search without."

She spoke calmly, moving up to Trixie and wrapping her forelegs around the mare's shoulders, pulling her close as Trixie, for her part, hugged Zecora back and buried her head in Zecora's shoulder, sobbing into the zebra's fur. Zecora then moved her right forehoof around to stroke Trixie's mane gently, holding the sobbing mare close as she continued to cry.

"Your pain and worries cry away,

shed all taken from these last few days."

Spoke Zecora simply, continuing to hold the mare close.

You blinked a bit at that, then smirked. You really didn't understand Zecora sometimes. She was much gentler than you'd be in her situation. Perhaps that was one of the things you liked about her, how very gentle she could be. Oh, and that killer plot. DAMN you'd love to tap that again.

Point the Sixth: Ponyville. Ok, so at SOME point, we're going to go to Ponyville. You still don't have full control of your powers, and your powers have not fully developed yet, so try not to draw to much attention to yourself. One more thing, once you step foot in that town SHE will know. SHE is both the greatest potential threat, and the greatest potential asset. Whatever else you may do, be wary around the cotton-candy Avatar of Madness.

Point the Seventh and Final: Long-Term Projects. Stay alive, keep your mares alive, conquer the Everfree, rebuild and move into the old castle, train, all the other stuff that gets perennially mentioned.

The Archivist.

I was walking on the moon one day, in the merry, merry month of December,

when I looked down, and to my suprise, I saw before my eyes,

Oh, for gogs sake. Talk about letting the situation get away from you. what has it been, Three days and a years worth of physiomorphological and neuromagical screwups? Im suprised Discord hasnt dropped by with popcorn and support banner.

If you manage to actually get back to Zecoras hut intact and with all appendages, Ill then suggest looking through her potions on Fertility, Virility, Desire, and other such income generating compounds, which can be blended with the Planimal and your own Everfree blood sap to boost your pheromone and hormone production to affect subtly, progressively, insinuatingly, and at range. Also, by association.

If you really want evil, try crossing Syphylis with Fertility.

If you really want Evil, consider Fluttershy and The giant Spider. :yay:

Now, if you excuse me, I have a special order of ten tons of flour for a Pirate Griffin outpost. Thermobaric flour.:moustache:

While Zecora seemed to be comforting Trixie, you could just sit back and wallow in pain as your bones knitted and flesh repaired itself, occasionally making creepy little crackling sounds. Still, pretty slow going, at least from the perspective of it'd be a couple hours yet before you were back to optimal condition. And while you were sitting here, in pain, you had time to think about things OTHER than the pain.

For example, the now GIANT BUCKING PLANIMAL MONSTER!!! No way THAT wasn't going to develop into a problem at some later date. A definite obstacle in your path to dominate and control the Everfree at any rate. At least it wasn't anywhere near the old castle where you found Nightmare's legacy and were chosen to become a vampony Prince. Saving grace that. It might be worth trying to get that castle as a place of your own. After all, what cool Vampony Prince didn't have a cool vampony castle?

But speaking of living spaces, your mind turned to your hutmate Zecora and then to her potions and brews. You found yourself curiosly contemplating what she might actually have available. You'd looked through some of her books it was true, but you hadn't really checked to see the full spectrum of concoctions she was able to create. Weird, considering that your body seemed to be partially mutagenic depending on what you ate. Zecora probably had something to help with 'natural stallion enhancement' or something, that'd be doubly effective when used on you! Buck, perfume and a Planimal leaf or something could probably be turned into lust pheromone releasing glands inside of your skin or something. And also spider venom... could do... something... ... related to flies? ... Whatever, the point was, it'd probably be smart to look over Zecora's potions at some point.

And also, think about taking a trip to Ponyville sometime. There'd probably be a WHOLE lot of untapped pussy in that town. Mares with slick gashes just WAITING for a good rutting. Not that you were entirely sure why THAT was the first thing you thought of, but buck it, if you hadn't figured out that you were a pervert by now, you just weren't paying attention to yourself. And there was also... something IMPORTANT in Ponyville, you felt. Some mare? ... Was the ultimate rut of your life waiting in that town or something? How the buck would you know you were a virgin till a couple days ago. Pervert.

Oh my god, I forgot the most important thing, You've finally gotten your trench coat! And it's beautiful. A tear comes to your eye at such majesty. This bit of fabric is going to get you laid, guaranteed, no doubt about it. No mare will be able to resist you with this on. Just imagine, standing in some shadow, wearing this trench coat. And aura of mystery hangs about you as your piercing gaze moves around, attracting every mare in the vicinity. You flash, as Rarity put it, a sophisticated fanged smile their way, causing them to immediately swoon and practically throw themselves at you with lifted tails half lidded eyes full of lust. It will be glorious.

Then finally you can don your trench coat.

Point the Third: The Tailor. Well, well, well... "QUITE sophisticated", "poise and grace", "fine dressers... well mannered". Seems Rare has a thing for old-school nobility. That would be REAL nobility. BLOOD nobility. I DO so love a mare with taste. But if you start speaking with an Uberwald accent I swear you will you will WISH you had just died.

Point the Forth: The Ensemble. [Mr Burn]EXCELLENT[/Mr Burns]. Trench-coat, fedora, (should have gotten sunglasses), magic sword. Hmm, there is a stereotype we're embracing here. For future trench-coats remember, Black - badarse, Brown - detective, Grey - investigative journo, White - evil sorcerer, Mustard Yellow - thing ponykind was not meant to know. ((Llamas for the voice that gets that reference.))

And speaking of mares, rutting, Ponyville, and all of that... MOTHERBUCKING TRENCHCOAT BUCKING EVERFREE BITCHES!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YES! YES AFTER ALL THAT BUCKING AROUND YOU FINALLY HAD THE SADDLEBAGS, THE TRENCHCOAT THAT YOU'D BEEN FIGHTING FOR!!! BUCK YES!!!

You grinned wide. Wild internal exclamations aside, you FINALLY had the trenchcoat that you had been desiring for SUCH a long time now. Felt like years or some shit.

You looked over towards the saddle-bags that were still on the sobbing Trixie's body and grinned a little wider. The trenchcoat was in there, you knew it, and you wanted to look at it SOOOOOOOOO bad! You wanted to SEE the glory of the Trenchcoat for which you had fought for so long and put it on! But you reigned in that desire. Mainly because... well, you were still covered in dried mud, and now a good deal of blood and burnt fur, your hoof hurt like a mother-bucker and... well, you were a bucking mess. You needed to get cleaned up before you even THOUGHT of putting on that trenchcoat. After all, the lady Rarity would have an absolute FIT if you put her creation on as messy as you were. And you kind of wanted to put it on in front of her... might score once she saw the irresistible sexiness of you in a trenchcoat.

Wait, what was this MIGHT? With that trenchcoat on your body, the mares'd be practically lining up to lift their tails and give you their plots!

All that internal revelry aside however... you needed to decide how to move on from your current situation. There were multiple things to consider. Potential problems, potential opportunities, potential rewards to reap, and the box laying nearby in the dirt, as of yet still unopened, Zecora and Trixie both distracted while it lay nearby... Now was the time to sit, think, and make a few important decisions... and hope that they didn't come back to bite you in the balls.

Author's Note

Okay... I hope this chapter is a good one. I'm kind of exhausted at the moment, and it's the first one I've done whole since the hiatus broke, the last one I had a good bit to work off of from my sporadic attempts over the months. So I'm hoping that this one is enjoyable and of good quality... and as I'm tired, I'll likely not update the character Progress Tracker until a good deal later. I fully intend to just relax after I publish this. Anyways... hope this chapter entertains and brings smiles! Please be well everyone, hope I didn't miss anyone.

Pandora's Box (Some Potentially Naughty Description)

That was quite the painful ordeal but things could have gone worse. Let's review quickly what has developed starting with the bad.

Save the Planimal for at least tomorrow, and just hope it enjoys its pond so much, with intelligence, that its waiting for you to come back to it, so it doesnt have to bother chasing you down. This also gives you a chance to work with Zecora and Trixie on powders, potions, illusion spells and anything else that you can think of to get near without detection, add to the water, and start its preferably slow transformation into a loyal servant, Planimal Hydra, with saps, seeds, pollens, venoms, and extremely agile tendrils. Dont forget, all the good litle harem minions love a pet tentacle monster. Escpecially one that can breed and seed, letting you spread your loyal planimal forest far away from Equestria and the Pricesses.

Hmmm...giant planimal. We're going to have to deal with that at some point, aren't we? Oh well, an issue for another time. Back to current events.

You need as much power as you can get blank. You need to solidify your rule over the everfree. First order of businesses is to handle the Planimal monster. Ignoring it is what lead to this problem in the first place and that pony town isn't going anywhere. By the end of the day you will be the undisputed RULER OF THE EVERFREE!

While you may dislike the creature, you do respect its tenacity and strength. While it would be a simple matter for you brilliance to destroy the beast with Holy light of fire, it would be far more benificial to control it. To control that beast is to have more power, more power means that your harem is safe, that you are safe, that the everfree itself is safe from those who wish to take it from you. Now the Planimal beast reacted to the sound of your blade, almost as if in a trance, just like how your mares when you sleepwalk to them. What's to say you can't control the beast when it's like this? Implant the idea of serving you into it, of how only through letting you live and obeying you can it hear your glorious sounds. If it works invest in a violin, it should be a more refined way of controlling the beast and as a bonus nothing says sexy to mares quite like a prince of the night playing a song for them.

Well, the tiny plant monster is now a GIANT plant monster. C'est la vie, I suppose. That'll probably come back to bite you in the ass at some point- hopefully metaphorically, but with your luck, who knows.

That said, if you can finagle some way to tame the damn thing, you've got yourself one hell of a guard dog for your eventual badass castle.

The plantimal has evolved into Plantimonster. There is a silver lining in this however. You've already had some experience against it already, and you know it hates you. This allows you to prepare for the inevitable confrontation with him. Zecora may have some ideas on this, however, shrinking it again probably wont be an option.

So let us see, on the positive side, we have our mares, threads, and the amulet. On the negative, the Planimal is now larger than it was in the first place. On the neutral side, you know were it will be if you ever have to deal with it again. We'll call this a moderate victory. Now onto matters at hoof.

So. Giant Planimal... Yep. That just happened. That was a thing now. Giant Planimonsters were a thing... ... ... if you woke up in an alley and realized that this had all been a really long, really weird dream, you honestly wouldn't be surprised. At all.

You fought the urge to sigh out in aggravation as you trotted through the Everfree. There was only so much of this weird shit you could take. At the moment things were more or less calm though. Trixie was a bit to the right and in front of you, and Zecora a fair distance in front of her, leading the group on a simple trot back home. Since she was the experienced Everfree hermit who could find her way through the forest with ease she was, of course, the one who got the lead the way back to her hut.

Now while it was true that you could find your way to, you figured that you should just let her take the front for the moment. For several reasons really. One, enough had happened to her without her Everfree pathfinding abilities being challenged today. Two, you weren't sure if you wanted to let her know that you could now find your way anywhere and everywhere in the forest yet. Three, your right foreleg was regenerating quickly but not THAT quickly, and it still hurt to put any pressure on it. As a result you were walking on three of your legs instead of four, necessitating a slower pace. And finally, if she was at the front, and you were at the back, then you could see her plot. All in all, a perfect set of reasons to hang at the back of the pack.

You'd wound up carrying very nearly the whole load for the trek back. Trixie's cloak draped across your back with Rarity's trenchcoat containing saddle-bags fastened over the draped cloak, mainly to prevent them from getting dirty on your coat, and then Trixie's hat on the top of your back, balanced over saddle-bags and cloak both. The only thing you hadn't wound up carrying was the box with the Alicorn Amulet inside, Zecora opting to carry that on HER back, a sign of some suspicion perhaps, or just basic caution. Regardless you hadn't contested that. Zecora had actually wanted to carry everything, what with your leg in it's current state, but you'd nixxed that idea and decided to take on the rest of the luggage by yourself. Why? Because Zecora'd been through enough shit today, you could handle this light load even with just three legs, and Trixie? Well... she wasn't exactly... ... okay she looked like bucking Tartarus. She was walking at a slow pace with her head hanging, eyes puffy and red, a despondent look to her, and still sniffling on occasion. Not exactly in a state where you'd trust the weight of your trenchcoat to her.

Seeing her like that, it occurred to you that you'd have to pay a great amount of care and attention to both Zecora and Trixie when you got home. But for the moment your mind was more focused on something recent. Like the fact that the Planimal evolved into the Planimonster. And that was bucking terrifying.

It was big, it was angry, and it hated your bucking guts. That alone was enough to send a chill up your spine. You were also PRETTY sure that Zecora's soap wouldn't work on it again, what with it seeming to grow out of some Everfree power-pool instead of normal water. A cause for major concern if ever there was one. Now, ignoring that sort of thing and just pretending that the scary monster that wanted you dead didn't exist was probably going to come back and bite you in the flank... but on the other hoof, you had had enough of this shit for one day. And it wasn't going to go anywhere. If the planimonster was capable of breaking out and following, it would have done that already, so it was at least tied to one place for the moment.

And a part of you, either the stupid or optimistic part you weren't entirely sure which, felt like this might actually turn out to be a good thing... You could still use your sound-rod-things on the monster, it obviously liked the noise and your banging made it go all loopy. And since it was held up in one place, you could potentially just play music for it until it came around to your way of thinking and became your pet and did your will and was your giant bucking guard dog! Yeah, that could happen. Maybe. Sorta... ... Well buck it weirder shit had gone down in this forest so why not!?

And also, maybe Zecora could whip up something, something from her books maybe... Something to make you invisible so you could approach it and hack parts off? Shit, whatever it was now that Planimal monster thing had to have some useful pieces inside of it. Even if you couldn't convince it to join you through musical manipulation, you could perhaps harvest something from it? And again, maybe Zecora could put something together to make it more pliable, who knew really?

But all of that would wait until later. As long as the Planimal was in one place, it wasn't an immediate problem and you had EARNED some bucking R and R. You'd deal with shit closer to home and relax before dealing with the problem of the Planimal.

You NEED to get all three of your mares under control. Use your love and your lust to control them, so you don't get problems like this.

Trixie has lost it, her psyche is reduced to a thousand broken shards of pain. Well done. It's not quite Tabula Rasa, but it's as close as you're going to get. So now you can rebuild her, you have the magics. Just remember there is a difference between dependence and indebtedness.

Zecora, doesn't seem pissed at you anymore, score one for team Vampony Prince. Once you're home she's going to want to look at your leg, grin and bear it, that isn't a fight worth having. The fight worth having is her wanting to remove your powers after they just saved your collective lives. Again.

Trixie has finally bourn fruit. You've worn her to the point you want her to be. This is when she'll be the most susceptible to your manipulations, so now it the time to truly guide her into becoming one of your mares. However, Zecora was also privy to this event, so you're going to have to be a little sneaky going about it around her as to not raise suspicions.

Speaking of which, you've gotten some traction in convincing Zecora in seeing the sense of you keeping your abilities. She's probably still has some objection to their existence still, so you've got to remain vigilant on this front and convince her further. This is just your hoof in the door, now you've got to ease it open, bit by bit.

Trixie, it seems, has finally broken psychologically. With her mind in pieces, it's time to get to work. You need to reinforce upon her the idea that you are one of the few ponies that gives a flying buck what happens to her, you wouldn't have risked life and limb if you didn't care. Steer away from the concept that she owes you, keep that in reserve for difficult situations, instead project yourself as her companion/protector that acts for her benefit. Once she accepts your will, we will have a docile and willing servant in the days to come.

Zecora requires a...more subtle approach. The speech should go along these lines,"Zecora, I know that my abilities worry you, that you believe they are warping my mind, but look at what I've done with them. I defeated a mutated plant monster, drove off Diamond Dogs, cut down Cokatrices, and just recently killed a cragadile. On their own, these might not look the best examples of pony nature, but each time I have used my abilities has been in defense of myself and of others. I have saved lives with these powers Zecora, and I refuse to see them as a bad thing. My temper is not from gaining these powers, it comes from a lifetime of being seen as nothing, years of trying to be somepony and failing, countless attempts to aid others with what little I could only to be met with rejection. I might not be WISE Zecora, that's your specialty, but I possess years of experience of just how cruel life can be...is it wrong for me to be upset? *point at Trixie* She was digging through your things searching for this box, this Amulet, and rather than let her steal from you, I stopped her, punished her, and patched her back up. Yet when I inform you of this, with no prodding from anypony, I am met with suspicion and mistrust. I love you Zecora, but if what we have is going to work, I need you to trust me."

With all that dealt with, your future plans are quite straight forward now. Get the mares back home and placate whatever issues they have.

By Gog, Meghan, and Bigus Dickus, I believe our boy has survived another hour.

Back to Zecoras home, where one of the Elements eagerly awaits your arrival so you can demonstrate your Nosferatuness, while leading her further down the dark path she is already walking, of serving her noble bity vampire master in Everyway she can.

Finally to finish off, you're defininitly going to have to sleep talk the mares tonight. Lay the ground work for Trixie and prepare Zecora for the changes Trixie is sure to begin showing soon. Also, make sure they aren't going to be jealous of any mares you show "attention" too. While that wasn't the cause of this happening, it's still a problem you overlooked before. So you may still may have time to remedy it before it becomes one.

We must also make sure trixie knows that all she needs to be someone is to stay by our side as an obedient little pone.

And the shit closer to home was Zecora and Trixie. Both of them now needed further coaching from you, along with a bit of sleep-whispering to seal the deal, of that you were fairly certain. However, as much as a cluster-rut as this whole bucking thing had been, you got the general feeling that all this craziness might have worked out for the best... After all, it had kind of interrupted whatever heavy talk you were going to have with Zecora before all of this, the one after you shot her with lightning and tied her up. Whatever conversation you had now with her was probably going to go MUCH better for you. As for Trixie, well... she'd lost. Everything. Her will, her strength, her infuriatingly self-centered personality... You weren't sure how much of her was actually left in there, but whatever was left was malleable you were certain. If there was any time to bring her around to your way of thinking it was now.

And you could use the events of recent as a selling point to get Zecora off your back as well! After all, you'd just used your powers to SAVE the both of them. From a rock monster reptile thing, AND a giant Planimonster thing. A pretty good argument for keeping certain slightly disconcerting, but ultimately rather cool abilities. But the point was, that while you still had a good deal of work to do with your mares, things had progressed rather well. With yourself in position to get lauded with heroics. Possibly also get laid for said heroics. However now that you were in a good position you needed to be a bit subtle about it, a bit cautious, take things slowly and-

"AGH!"

AND REMEMBER TO STAY OFF YOUR RIGHT BUCKING FORELEG!!! BUCK! You winced, lifting your right foreleg back up from the ground, cringing painfully as you kept up with your remaining three legs.

"A-are you alright?" Came the query from, interestingly enough, Trixie instead of Zecora. Asking quietly, very quietly, and looking to you with her sulky, droopy, red-rimmed eyes.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, just guess walking with three legs and a load on my back is a little harder than I anticipated. Forgot about my right fore for a minute and tried to step with it." You spoke, wincing a bit as you kept moving. You weren't actually lying here, you'd never had the best physique and your stubborn decision to carry pretty much everything but a box with three of four legs WAS starting to take a bit of a toll on your muscles.... Trixie bit her bottom lip, and after a moment's hesitation, moved closer to you.

"H-here." She spoke quietly, and helped move your still healing foreleg to rest over her back. You winced a bit at the pain from the movement, after all as you had just recently been reminded your foreleg was still very much damaged. But mostly, you appreciated the now sudden proximity to the mare, even if she did smell a bit like wet pony mixed with sweat, and the move did allow you to put your weight on her and share the load. Really helped take the weight off of the rest.

You gave her a smile and a small nod of thanks, before looking forward to Zecora again, and noticing that she'd actually looked back with a bit of a smile herself. She kept that smile up, meeting your eyes with almost a sly look, before giving you a nod and turning her gaze back forward to focus on leading the way through the Everfree. Huh, so she actually kind of liked that Trixie helped you out, didn't mind that the mare got close to you... That was nice to note. Maybe her extreme jealousy wasn't quite as extreme as you thought? Maybe. Things were still very much up in the air on that. Still though, it was a good sign. And now you had a mare pressed right up against you, fur to fur, her warmth into yours. And you didn't really MIND having a somewhat sweaty formerly Everfree juices soaked body pressed up against you... true, you would have preferred it be a little less reminiscent of your recent near-death experience, and under more 'dick in vagina' related circumstances, but the physical contact was welcome regardless.

You looked over to Trixie, now so close that you could smell her mane. It didn't have much of a scent actually besides the already aforementioned sweat and Everfree water-mix, which was kind of funky and heavy and made you a bit hungry for grass... you guessed she hadn't exactly had time to shampoo it here recently, even before the dip in the Everfree. You guessed that YOU hadn't had the time to shampoo recently, or bathe, or do anything really hygienic period. You hated to think what your mane, fur, and entire being smelled like by now, what with all the sweat and blood and dirt... ugh.

After successfully suppressing a shudder, you looked back to Trixie's mane, then down to her neck, and pursed your lips. After discarding a thought about vampony nibbling as that might cause rather more harm than it was worth, a more pleasant idea flitted into your mind. You calmly leaned down to plant a light 'peck' on her neck, kissing her fur sweetly. That caused Trixie to tense just a bit and look up to you with slightly widened eyes. You gave her a grin in return.

"Just a little thank you." You spoke simply. Trixie blinked, looking into your eyes, before looking down with a soft but depressed expression.

"Trixie does not deserve to be thanked..." She spoke, her voice low and muttering.

"You do if I say you do." You retorted calmly, leaning down to give her neck a little nuzzle. Trixie blinked again and whimpered a bit, before looking back up to you and opening her mouth to start again-

"B-but-"

"Hush." You interrupted calmly, causing Trixie to lower her head again quickly, ears pressed to her skull... You smirked a bit before continuing.

"It's alright Trixie. You've made mistakes and been selfish, and you are going to need to make up for that sometime. But right now you're doing exactly what you're supposed to do. Helping me. And that shows that you're trying to be a good pony. So you get a kiss and a thank you. And also pleasant physical contact and probably snuggles at some point." You spoke, before leaning down again, and planting a light kiss on Trixie's forehead, just above her horn. She blushed a bit at that, causing you to grin a little more. She hung her head down even further and muttered something unintelligible as she kept blushing, before you looked up to Zecora again, watching her swinging plot with a smile as she led the way for the both of you. Yeah... yeah it was the little things that made life worth living.

That covers most of it, I leave what to do with Rarity to the other voices in your head.

Nomad

Maybe Rarity is wet, because she has assisted other friends with reaching Zecoras through the very dangerous Everfree, and so knows exactly what it most often means for a stallion to be in Zecoras hut.?

Poor Trixie, its been over a day since you spanked her into submission? She must be aching so much, needing your painful approval to acknowledge her existance. I wonder if Rarity would enjoy the show?

Rarity is such a gossip, maybe with enough intercourse, social or otherwise, she will mention that Pinkie loves to try all sorts of new things, and can stretch, swell, and inflate to the most amazing proportions, and that even Applejack has been known to inflate with enough effort. Maybe she will even mention about Fluttershys extremely powerful mothering instincts and animal training abilities, to see if she can help with the Planimal.

Also highly likely you will meet the princesses clean up crew the elements of harmony due to rarity is one also rainbow will get in a fight with you you need fluttershy also look out for applejack see can spot a lair a mile away.

Now on to the good.

And finally, you've gotten the Trench coat, but you've already done the appropriate reaction towards acquiring it. All that's left to do is put it on, after a nice bath of course... You know, the mares probbably need a bath as well after this whole event, and you've always considered yourself a good pony. Why not invite them to join you? Help them get the grime and dirt out of their coat and...tails. I mean, those things can't be easy to clean, being so hard to reach.

Flaunt your "heroics" to Rarity. You did bring back both mares, the trench coat, and Zecora's bedding completely unharmed. Sacrificing life and limb as apparent by the leg injury. This is sure to impress her and provide a good start in your plans to bedding her.

It didn't take very long to get back to the hut with Zecora leading the party. Thank bucking goodness. You'd had ENOUGH damn adventures in the Everfree for one day. Or for one week. Or for forever, you weren't exactly feeling charitable towards adventures at the moment. Zecora, you, and Trixie moved up towards the door, Trixie still supporting you as you climbed the few steps up to the door, Zecora already pushing it open as you walked inside and finally came to the end of the long, highly annoying, incredibly vexing, utterly agitating journey.

And the shine from inside vexed and agitated your eyes, practically glistening as you arrived. You actually had to raise your left forehoof over your eyes to shield them from the brilliant shine inside of the hut. As you blinked and adjusted your eyes slightly to the light, you saw that you weren't the only one. Zecora had pulled her left foreleg up to cover her eyes, much like you, and Trixie had just squeezed hers shut and turned her head off to the right. However after you blinked, and squinted, and generally just kept adjusting your eyes to a point of functionality, you could finally make out the figure of Rarity... With a dark blue cloth in her right forehoof, scrubbing the scarred table where you had your meals hard with her eyes narrowed and her fur glistening with sweat, intense focus present in her gaze.

You blinked. ... Okay... ... how was Rarity's Cutie Mark not for cleaning? You'd never seen things shine this impressively in bucking Manehatten, much less a wooden hut in the Everfree! You could see your damn FACE in these floors! And it wasn't just the floors and walls either, she'd picked up the shit that'd gotten knocked down when you hit the shelves and put it back, all organized and neat like it'd never fallen. Buck... and she did it all without her magic to. Which actually kind of showed, what with how messy her mane had gotten and all the sweat on her coat now. Not that you minded. Sweaty mares were good mares... though for a different reason that easily popped into your mind and made your best friend tingle in his sheath...

BUT! You knew well enough not to let your best friend do your thinking by now. And as Rarity turned towards you all, your thoughts moved instead to the impending conversations that were about to be had. Thankfully Rarity started things off, dropping the cloth onto the table, with her eyes going wide and sparkling with delight.

"Zecora! Mister Slate! Oh thank Celestia you're both safe!" Spoke Rarity happily, quickly trotting over towards Zecora and THROWING her forelegs around Zecora in a hug. You and Zecora both blinked at that, and you suddenly felt as though you might have gotten a little of Zecora's jealousy inside of you... not that she'd hugged Zecora, just that she hadn't hugged you first. Not that she had any reason to... at all. Because of how bucking bad you looked... Anyways, you watched as Zecora lifted her right forehoof up to gently pat Rarity on the back for a moment, before Rarity stepped back still with a light smile, and then turned her gaze over towards Trixie.

Her eyes narrowed immediately. Trixie gulped. The light blue unicorn mare started to open her mouth, but the formerly pristine and fabulous unicorn who had been forced to discover her bondage fetish by less than pleasant means, trotted up to Trixie before she could say anything. Rarity brought her right forehoof forward and POKED Trixie's chest, narrowed eyes glaring into Trixie's.

"Magic. Horn. Fix. NOW." She spoke, poking Trixie's chest with every word, her teeth gritted together, a scowl upon her face, and eyes flashing with rage and promises of pain. Trixie did more gulping.

"Y-yes maam!" She squeaked with wide eyes, her horn glowing purple, and a purple aura appearing around Rarity's own horn. Then, the purple aura seemed to 'streak' down her horn, and then down the front of her face to right between her eyes. The purple glowed through her fur, and then formed into a little circle. After a moment a kind of 'cracking' noise was heard and a visible crack seeming to appear on the glowing circle as well. Then, it shattered. The circle cracking all over and breaking apart, with a noise like glass fragments tinkling onto the floor. And then Trixie's horn stopped glowing, and the broken circle disappeared.

Almost immediately, Rarity's horn glowed blue, and the cloth she'd been using to polish the table SHOT up from it in a blue aura, and came to float in front of her face, slightly to the left. Rarity sighed out heavily, closing her eyes and smiling a relieved smile.

"Oh thank Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and yes Twilight! Thank ALL the Princesses, that was driving me crazy!" She spoke before breathing out heavily again, before affixing a calm and measured expression, stoic even, and opening her eyes again to give Trixie a half-lidded look.

"Well. I suppose it would only be ladylike to thank you for reversing your SABOTAGE of my magic..." She spoke, with an icy edge to her tone, as though it was only bare manners that required her to speak to Trixie. Trixie whimpered a bit and looked down, and it was at that point that you felt as though interjecting.

"Trixie, I believe you have something you'd like to say to Miss Rarity." You spoke, causing Trixie to look up at you, blinking a bit, before you nodded your head over towards Rarity, mouthing the words 'I'm sorry' as you did so. Trixie blinked a few times before her eyes widened a bit with understanding. Then she looked back to Rarity, licked her lips, and lowered her head again.

"I... T-Trixie is sorry for sealing your magic Miss Rarity... and tying you up..." She spoke before you, with a thought, leaned down and whispered in her ear. Trixie blinked again, before nodding a bit, and continuing on.

"And ruining your hat... Trixie apologizes." Finished Trixie, lowering her head a little more.

"... And also all that stuff I did in Ponyville, like turning your mane green, and making you sew Trixie's banners." She muttered, causing YOU to blink this time. ... sew Trixie's banners? ... That... sounded kind of cool actually. Banners were cool. You'd like banners. Vampony Princes got banners you were pretty sure.

Rarity actually blinked a bit at Trixie's apology, probably not expecting Trixie to go the extra mile. After a moment she closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, then breathed out slowly... before opening her eyes again, and looking to Trixie with her a still calm, but no longer half-lidded gaze.

"Do you promise to refrain from kidnapping my friends anymore and running off with them into the woods? Or from going on megalomaniacal conquests? And also from EVER messing with my mane, magic, or horn again?" She asked, surprisingly level-voiced for that kind of intense query..

"Y-yes. Trixie... I, promise." Spoke Trixie, nodding her head slightly. Rarity gave a little nod in return, then smiled ever-so-slightly, her eyes gaining a little warmth as she did so.

"Very well then. I accept your apology Miss Trixie." Spoke Rarity simply, then smiling a little more and looking over towards you with a glint in her eyes.

"And now that that's done with, you should really take a bath so you can get into your ne-" she started to go on, before blinking, GASPING with wide eyes, and practically RUSHING around to Trixie's side and leaning down to stare at your right forehoof.

"MISTER SLATE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LEG!?!?" She asked loudly, eyes wide with fear. You blinked at that then grinned sheepishly, blushing a bit because... well, a pretty mare was worried about you. Who knew?

"Oh, um, rock-crocodile, monster, thing got my leg in it's mouth... big tail, snapping jaws, made of stone... kind of munched down on it." You muttered, shaking your head a bit. Rarity looked to you with her eyes wide and her jaw open, absolutely flabbergasted.

"YOU MEAN A CRAGADILE MUNCHED ON YOUR LEG!?!?" She asked. Loudly. Making you and Trixie BOTH wince a bit before you replied.

"That... that sounds right. Is that what it's called?" You asked again.

"Indeed, the former reptilian now a rock pile, was undoubtedly as cragadile."

Interjected Zecora simply, a bit aways from the group no longer carrying the box, looking through her shelves for something while you, Trixie, and Rarity all huddled near the door. Well, whatever she was looking for it probably wasn't your business. With the matter of the creature's name settled you nodded, and looked back to Rarity with a light smile.

"Okay yeah, that thing. Anyways don't worry about my leg too much, it hurts like a b- um, it hurts. But my 'condition's' healing me up. It was much worse than this at first. In a few hours, there'll be nothing but scar tissue." You spoke, nodding calmly as Rarity looked back down to your forehoof with a blink and a gulp, an entirely sympathetic grimace evident on her face.

"W-well, thank Celestia for that then. My word Mister Slate, that must have been..." Spoke Rarity softly, before shaking her head and stepping back, walking back around to in front of you and Trixie before bringing her left foreleg up over her mouth as she cleared her throat. Throat cleared, she placed it back down onto the ground before looking back up to your face.

"'Ahem'. Yes, well, right. Now, Mister Slate, I am aware that you have had a very trying time of things recently but I must insist that you-"

"Oh yeah, I need a bath. Before I try on my trenchcoat DEFINITELY." You interrupted calmly, having already come to that conclusion very easily on your own. Rarity blinked at your blunt and quick declaration before nodding a bit shakily.

"Y-yes that was what I was going to say. Now this may be a little awkward however judging from their appearance and mine I'd say that Zecora, Trixie and I need-"

"You all need a bath to. Everypony here needs a bath today." You continued, nodding calmly, looking to each of the mares in question. Zecora of which seemed to agree completely as she'd just pulled her basket of soap-rocks down from a shelf and placed it on her back. Trixie for her part just kept looking at the floor, and Rarity blinked, then frowned just a little.

"Well yes, yes that was what I was going to say Mister Slate, now on the matter of properly going about the task of bathing, I propose that we-"

"We should all bathe together. Get it done in one go." You interrupted again, nodding thoughtfully. Rartiy immediately gasped, took a few steps back, and brought her right forehoof over her chest, an absolutely appalled expression on her face.

"MISTER SLATE! That is NOT what I was going to suggest at all! You cannot seriously be proposing that we all bathe TOGETHER!?" She asked, aghast. ... You raised your right eyebrow.

"... Yes, yes that is what I was suggesting... what's wrong with that?"

"What is WRONG with it, Mister Slate, it is absolutely UNSEEMLY!!!" She replied, moving her right forehoof down to STOMP onto the ground.

"... Why?"

"Because you are a STALLION mister slate and WE are mares!!!" She continued, her voice inflection making it sound like not only was she offended, but that you obviously should have been aware of why she was offended.

"Yes... Yes I am aware of that. Very acutely aware of that actually. Now, WHY does that mean we can't bathe together?"

"You'll see us naked while bathing!" That one gave you pause. You blinked, raised your right eyebrow... and decided that she WASN'T playing a prank on you, before continuing.

"... ... Miss Rarity... I see you naked right now... You see me naked right now... I see Trixie, and Zecora, both naked, right now. We are all very naked, right at this moment... I fail to see the source of your reluctance on this."

"W-well, yes, admittedly my reasoning may seem a bit strange on the surface, but the rules of decency clearly call fo-"

"Oh Rarity my friend please let it be, I am eager to no longer be smelly."

Spoke Zecora plainly, having acquired another basket, one with several sponges inside, while moving about her shelves. She was now walking back towards you all, though stopping on the way to pick up a wooden bamboo staff, and put it onto her back to balance as well, before walking forward once again.

"The sooner we all get to the river I think, the sooner we shall all cease to stink.
So do not fuss or complain, let us go bathe and I will help with your mane."

She continued on, rather bluntly really just walking straight towards the door and stepping past you, Rarity, and Trixie, on the way out, headed for the river that she used to bathe. You blinked a bit, then looked back to Rarity, who was staring after Zecora wide-eyed, and shrugged a bit.

"You heard the mare." You stated simply, then calmly separated from Trixie for a moment and shrugged down your load, moving the cloak, saddle-bags, and hat off your shoulders to the left of the door, arranging them nice and neat, paying special care to Rarity's saddle-bags because... well, trenchcoat, and Rarity was right there to see how you treated them. Then, you looked back to Trixie and brought your right foreleg around her body again, resting it over her back. You were pleased to note that Trixie did NOT tense up at that, but simply accepted your foreleg. You looked down to Trixie as you once again enjoyed the benefits of being close to her, and spoke pleasantly.

"Come on Trixie, let's go get clean!" You proclaimed, Trixie nodding softly at that.

"O-okay." She stated quietly, before turning with you, and moving to trot out the door. Rarity stood still, her mouth opening and closing for a moment, before she blinked, hung her head, and sighed... then started to trot out the door.

"Oh very well. I suppose I shall just have to trust you to act as a gentlecolt Mister Slate." She muttered as she trotted out after you and Trixie, closing the door behind her as you all followed Zecora, down to get a much needed, highly required bath.

... ... ...

And that was that really... with Zecora's approval, Rarity's protests dried up. Mostly. When you all actually got to the river, she insisted that she, Zecora, and Trixie, bathe in a seperate spot from you. You were a bit too tired to complain, and wound up bathing down-river from them. It was fine, because... well, Zecora's soap-wall covered you all anyways when it came crashing with the waves, and you were the messiest of them all by FAR. There was way less unpleasant bits that could come from them towards you than you to them. Better to keep your mares clear of your dried blood, just as one example.

Zecora, true to her word, was helping Rarity wash her mane, seemingly making the water in it clear out the soap with her hoof instead of using a sponge, and seemed to be explaining how the soap-rocks worked. Rarity had seemed honestly quite flabbergasted that all that Zecora needed to do to get a full body-scrub worth of soap was toss a rock into water. She was likely the sort of mare to have a veritable army of beauty products, shampoos, soaps, lotions, and cleansing goods for her available whenever she took a bath. That such an efficient cleaning tool existed was likely a challenge to everything she'd ever heard of or read in advertisements.

Trixie for her part seemed rather lackluster, and so Rarity and Zecora were also helping her, in addition to trying to bathe themselves. At the moment, that meant Rarity mainly working on Trixie's back while Zecora worked on her own mane. Trixie was half-heartedly scrubbing her front while the other mares kept it up. You had to say, you were interested in Rarity's generosity towards Trixie. That mare had tied her up, locked her magic away, kidnapped one of her friends, and apparently done other things before. And now, Rarity was helping her clean up after an accepted apology. Hard to fathom... perhaps she saw the weakness of Trixie like you did and simply could not remain angry at her. Perhaps...

In any case, you were left to bathe yourself, somewhat to your disappointment. You would have LOVED to both bathe, and be bathed by the mares. And also, it was just a bit difficult to do this whole bathing thing with one of your forelegs out of commission for the moment, the running water still making it hurt a little. However, it was mostly fine. You just used your left, scrubbed HARD where you saw the blood and dirt, and tried to treat your actual hoof a little more gently. And luckily, while you weren't all bathing together, you were all pretty close, and you listened in on the conversation between Rarity as she spoke with Zecora. There were various topics concerned but one segment in particular caught your attention, when they began to discuss their mutual friends...

"Oh Fluttershy was quite worried about the poor dear, but that otter's back and swimming again just like new! Honestly, the poor dear was so relieved, she LOVES taking care of those darling animals of hers after all! She's like a mother to the sweet little dears!" Spoke Rarity conversationally, you pursing your lips as you listened. So this 'Fluttershy' liked taking care of animals and nurturing them? That was interesting you supposed... for some reason... maybe?

"It is good to hear that she is well, and how is Applejack pray tell?"

Asked Zecora simply, as she continued to clean soap from Rarity's mane, the foam now almost entirely gone and the hair looking shiny and luxurious.

"Oh she's doing quite well actually! Apparently this next harvest is going to be the largest ever, and after she's done with her apple-bucking, she's expecting to sell enough to make a HUGE profit when cider season comes around. Might even be able to convince her to take a vacation, the poor dear, she does work so hard out in those fields, I am rather impressed with her stamina! Not to mention her fitness, oh I am envious sometimes of how very in-shape she is." Spoke Rarity, sounding almost wistful for a moment as you raised your right eyebrow. So this Applejack was some sort of farm-pony? And in excellent shape with good stamina? Might be a pretty good rut. Probably better than you to be fair.

"Oh! Dear me, with everything happening I COMPLETELY forgot! Zecora, Pinkie Pie's planning one of her 'Make Everypony Happy In A Twenty Mile Radius' parties. She was wondering if you could get her a batch of the 'special secret wink wink nudge-nudge' potions. Her exact words darling, and I'm not sure what she needs them for but says that you're also invited, in addition to the potion request." Spoke Rarity happily, continuing to focus on Trixie's back and thus COMPLETELY missing a slow blush that formed on Zecora's cheeks. You raised your right eyebrow a bit at that. Pinkie Pie... was she asking for some kind of sex potions from Zecora? Something for body-alteration or stamina or something? You couldn't think of many other reasons that Zecora would blush at that... or that it'd be asked for in that way... ... were there sex freaks in Ponyville? Could you FIND them?

"I-I will see my friend, if I can deliver the potions for Pinkie. Now tell me, how is your sister filly?"

Asked Zecora, perhaps trying to change the conversation. Rarity actually sighed at that, and bowed her head forward a little.

"Oh Sweetie Belle is well enough, but mother and father are spending less and less time with either of us as of recent. I've had to practically become a second mother to her and most of the time she's living at the boutique. Oh, and recently she came home with a note from Cheerilee, apparently she had gotten the GHASTLY idea to push Diamond Tiara into the mud and rub it into her mane... I understand that Sweetie Belle and her friends have problems with the little Diamond Tiara, but that was still wholly inappropriate! I don't know why she thought otherwise, or where such rowdy behavior came from... I was forced to paddle Sweetie Belle and make her apologize. Fortunately Filthy Rich was quite understanding of the whole thing, and said that he would discuss Diamond Tiara's 'conversation choices' with her." Spoke Rarity simply, sighing out again... before Trixie spoke quietly.

"I've been spanked once." She stated simply causing Rarity to blink... and Zecora to blink... and you to blink... and silence to descend down the entire river as the bathing experience stopped for a moment... Then Rarity blinked, and shook her head, and formed a somewhat forced smile on her face.

"Ah, mm, ah yes, dear, most foals have been spanked at one point or another, myself included. Let's just, ah, get this spot out of your coat shall we? Heh, yes, mm, ahum." She spoke, mixing throat-clearing with somewhat hasty words, before resuming the washing. Zecora, for her part, resumed cleaning Rarity's mane quietly, not revealing the details of said spanking. Trixie, for her part, simply nodded mutely and continued her half-hearted self bathing. You, in the meantime, felt your heart start pumping again, and the breath that you hadn't realized you were holding move out through your mouth in a relieved sigh. Satisfied that that wouldn't go any further, you quit eavesdropping for a bit and thought to yourself while slowly making thick streaks in your fur with the sponge...

Ponyville. It sounded like it was a very interesting place. With very interesting mares. And by that, you meant ruttable. But also probably interesting for other reasons... reasons that didn't involve a dick entering into a slit. A cock making it's way to the henhouse. A snake slithering into the hole. A shaft being put through a chasm. A rod getting put in the honeypot. A hay-sausage sliding in the bun. A-

PS. MAKE A NOTE TO YOURSELF TO STOP BEING SUCH A BUCKING PERVERT! LAST THING YOU NEED IS THE GUARD THROWING YOUR SORRY FLANK IN A CELL BECAUSE YOU COULDNT KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS! BESIDES YOU HAVE BIGGER SHIT TO WORRY ABOUT THAN GETTING TAIL.

-PYRO THE RED

A best friend popping out of your sheathe into the cold water of the river along with your balls as you thought about rutting and DIDN'T notice your increasing arousal.

"GAH!" You hissed, then quickly turned around in the water away from the bathing mares.

"What was that my friend, is everything fine on your end?"

Came a query from Zecora. You looked back and saw that Zecora, Trixie, and Rarity, all looked at you with expressions of basic concern at your outburst. You gave them what you hoped was a comforting grin... and hoped they didn't see the desperate panic in your eyes.

"Ah, yeah, yeah everything's fine, just rubbed my wound a bit harder than I should've!" You spoke out, a little louder than was strictly necessary, before looking back down to your cock.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" You muttered to yourself as you glared at your best friend in the world. BUCK! Buck you had to calm this guy down and get it back in it's sheathe! But you could already tell that you couldn't do that in the river. The stream wafting by felt too good and was kind of working you up. You needed to finish bathing and get out. FAST.

With renewed determination you began to scrub. HARD. QUICK. And THOROUGH. You needed to get clean with MINIMUM SUSPICION if you wanted to preserve your image. You didn't want three mares knowing that you had gotten so caught up in thinking about rutting that you'd let your dick get out! Nudity in public was one thing, everypony did that and buck, most of the time they actually did wear something it didn't cover the flank. But a MODICUM of control was expected, and letting your stallionhood get out in public was CROSSING THE DAMN LINE!!! If this shit happened in Ponyville, you'd probably get jailed, arrested, and tried! ... Not in that order BUT THE POINT WAS CLEAR!!! BUCK!!!

You glared at your junk, eyes narrowed as you scrubbed the foam away with your left forehoof and glowered at your perfectly average equine penis through the water. That damn idiot friend of yours caused you so many problems! And yes helped you have a good time once, but still! Some bucking restraint was necessary! Buck it you needed to keep this sort of shit under control... Damn bucker was twitching. Like it was laughing at you. Bucking bastard.

With your rapid scrubbing brought upon by the massive panic, and the three mares mixing in conversation with their bathing, mainly Zecora and Rarity... okay, mainly Rarity while Zecora asked questions to be polite, you finished up much faster than them. You were a little worried that you might have missed something but with how hard you'd scrubbed, you were pretty sure that you were clean of filth now. And actually, you felt it. It felt like an entire LAYER had left your coat and the skin beneath, like your mane and tail were fresh for once, that you actually felt... clean. And now that you felt clean, you needed to feel not bucking awkward and get out of the water before the gentle caresses of the water made you spurt right into it!

Quickly, yourself cleaned, you started getting out of the water.

"Oh, Mister Slate, you're all done?" Came Rarity's voice, and you looked back to see the three mares looking at you. And YOU, making sure your right hind leg was back and your tail was down and body turned away from them, looked back to them with flushed cheeks. You could FEEL it on your face BUCK you wish you could make it go away.

"Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and head back. Don't worry, I know the way, see you all back there!" You spoke, before turning and continuing on, quickly, before questions could be asked and your dick's emergence could be revealed. Buck you hated that things sometimes, BUCK IT!!!

Well good to see you survived all thanks too our (my) advice. Doesn't feel great when a plan comes together and you get to set some shit on fire? Feels great now don't it? Well now that we've established how much you like plans let's make a plan!

You have already seen and used some of Zecoras potions, such as the one used to subdue her. But, how could she possibly use that on herself, as her healing potions work far better for the time. Maybe she uses it when Big Mac comes round for his fertility tratments, so she cant flail round and strike him when he reacts with usual excessivness to the first temporary side effect of the treatment, maybe that of loosing control to Mr Nutz and breed mare now.

just what would Zecora do, with enough gilded tongue, to get hold of dragon eggs, an unlimited Trixie supply maybe, so she can have access to all those rare and difficult to get ingredients, and further loyal members? Maybe that Everfree dragon, mentally young, but bodily mature, can instead of being fought, be teased, manipulated, corrupted, lost in the bliss of breeding instead of consuming offerings?

Conflicts are because minions are trying to do their best, induvidually, for you, claiming the right to call themself better than the others. This is what evil might use against the hero, with difficulty, but its also what the heros frends use with extreme ease against evil. If you want to be truely evil, you have to take the heros own abilities, and corrupt them, preferably subtly, to your side. Far better to have loyal minions who will throw themselves in the way of a blade, than minions who not only let the blade through because they are arguing as to who should tke it, but are just as likely to grab the blade as it misses, then help it to its origional target. Carrot and Stick. If they please you, they get the carrot vibrator. If they dont please you, then they get to sit in the corner, looking at the stick, and bemoaning that you are not flogging them to orgasm with it.

Then we have to read zecoras books on potions. We could fined something's that could improve us or make it easier to controls are mares.

All that aside, you're now left with a few things to decide upon and where to go from here.

Also train your bucking abilities you bucking moron. Famous saying to know thy self and enemy you will win almost every battle.

On the way back you calmed down. In BOTH meanings of the word. Without the water constantly running against your junk it started to relax, and without a bunch of mares nearby to possibly see, you started to get less worried about it. Soon enough your cock and balls moved back in between your sheathe, and you were fine... if feeling a little frustrated. Sighing, you lowered your head and kept the trot up through the forest back towards Zecora's hut... and now isolated, alone, and walking, you started to think on things.

Things like dicks, virility potions, and what had seemed to be suggested with Pinkie Pie's order... Did Zecora MAKE sex potions? Well, she could... it was perfectly legitimate after all, wasn't it? Some stallions had performance problems or just needed a little boost sometimes... and you were sure that there was a whole bunch of biological shit with mares that you just didn't understand. Probably stuff to make them go into heat or snap them out of it. Sex was fun after all even when everypony wasn't in heat, but you did know that it was a problem for mares sometimes. After all, the decency of the age required a modicum of decorum... there were potions to keep the need to breed under control, and Zecora probably made some.

Which kind of made you wonder, were there potions that increased the feeling of sensation? Like, pain. If pain got you horny normally, then were there potions to make them even MORE horny. How about potions that just plain made you want to rut in the first place? Or love potions that made you obsessed with somepony and absolutely devoted to them, to the point of putting their life on the line and doing everything possibly to serve them? And then there was all that stuff from before about invisibility, harvesting, etc...

The more you thought about it, the more you thought you could learn some REALLY useful shit from Zecora. After all, you'd been thrown from one emergency to another without getting the time to practice really with your abilities. Maybe it was time to sit down and read a bit, learn some things, look over her books and journals and figure shit out? You could mix that with practice and like, sword-fighting or something. You bet that Zecora was really good with that stick of hers, she was certainly athletic and sexy enough to be a martial artist, and she could help you practice! Yeah, really, the first thing that you needed to do when you got back to the hut was crack open a book, start reading, figure shit out, all that jazz.

After all, you wanted to figure your mares out. Know what they wanted. Know what they needed. And how to get what you wanted through them. Zecora's books would have most of the answers you felt... enough answers to get things started at least.

I have noticed you are poor young blank, due to your past so you need money because moutching is not a good thing there are three things that can get you money

Good way: help ponies in the everfree as a guide due to it tells you things and you have the firepower to defend yourself and/or scavenge the everfree for valuables from the places of less lucky folks and who knows you might get brownie points if you return it or a missing loved on(closure)/(if you can find no use sell it some where else or return it to owner's friends

Neutral: "convince" diamond dogs to give you a few gems or metal to sell, pawn, or gift to your mares and pay your minions or at least get interest and become independent money wise.

Evil: steal from poor fools in the everfree and kill them to cover your tracks

I say go neutral then good then evil in order. Try to avoid evil path for the time unless some poor moron goes in here. Try to use good and neutral path combined but don't let people know about dimonad dogs at all they are your secret income say you go dig for them people do it all the time and there could be untapped veins in the everfree that dragons have not touched yet.

Which was fortunate for you, because it didn't take you too long to get back to the hut. You were now clean, dried from the walk, and pretty much kissable you were fairly sure. You felt good, though you still had to keep your right foreleg up from the ground for the most part. You walked up the steps with a smile and a thoughtful gaze as you looked to the hut. Home sweet home... ... well, no actually, not your home. The place you were mooching off of.

That thought kind of downed you a bit, making your lower your head for a moment, standing on the steps in thought. You... didn't want to live off of Zecora's kindness forever. She shouldn't have to support you. And you shouldn't have to steal shit or anything to pay her back... like, from ponies. Stealing shit from Diamond Dogs was fine though! In fact, you'd already given her that Diamond Dog collar hadn't you, the one with the diamonds in it? Yeah, yeah you were pretty sure you had. Come to think of it, those Diamond Dogs probably had a lot more useful shit like that. If you could find out where they lived, like, in a bestiary or something, you might be able to extort them for bits and gems! Make them give over the bounties of the Earth and pay like that.

The thought also crossed your mind that you could be a guide in the Everfree with your newfound abilities, but... well, ponies that came in here were most likely to be lost and without bits anyways. It didn't seem like many came to the Everfree Forest in general, though apparently they were willing to visit Zecora's hut. But anyways, that'd probably be a side-gig at best, and everypony who was likely to come in probably already knew the path to Zecora's hut. Yeah... yeah robbing Diamond Dogs was probably the best way. You thought, nodding yourself before stepping up the rest of the steps, and pushing open the door with your left forehoof, half-stumbling in but catching yourself as you entered the shining hut.

seriously get Zecora to give Trixie something that Amulet has a deep hold on her your the master not that infernal amulet.

You nearly die out there because you weren't powerful enough, those you care for nearly die because you weren't powerful enough, Zecora nearly die because you weren't powerful enough. If only you had enough power to destroy that beast that attacked you, you could of used your GLORIOUS FIRE to BURN that beast from the inside out and you'd never have to worry about the animal that's now loose in the evergreen. Your weakness is why it's on the loose. Well enough is enough. It is time for you to be strong. It is time for the everfree to know it's master it is time to open the box and seize its power.

DOESN'T THAT POWER FEEL AMAZING!?!

While your subjects may complain once you absorb the power of the necklace pay them no mind. Let them know that it was because you were weak that they all most died. That you all most died. You need that power to save the world from its evil. To watch over and control the world,to protect it from evil. To rule it and crush all resistance to your rule witch will bring about a golden age! Ahem! Sorry getting ahead of myself here. Anyway don't mention the world domination bit to them, they aren't ready for it yet.

So go forth blank, seize the power you need of the box and the Planimal monster. If you followed our (MY) advice you should be well on your way to ruling this tiny rock, and as all ways if all else fails SET WHATEVER IS VEXING YOU ON FIRE! UNLESS ITS THE PLANIMAL! YOU WANT TO CONTROL THAT REMEMBER!

Hugs and kisses,

PYRO THE RED

Agreed...sort of. Most of your misfortune has come from a mix of simle lack of experience and a lack of pure power. The Amulet, from what you can gather, is a source of incredible power. Once your mares are asleep, it's time to gain an extra excessory. From what we have gathered, the Amulet will try to corrupt your mind...hah, that's nothing. You have kept your head and sense of self no matter what life has thrown at you, AND WE'LL BE DAMNED BEFORE WE LET SOME PIECE OF JEWLERY TELL US WHAT TO DO!!!

The first thing that requires attention is the Amulet. You nearly sacrificed a leg for this thing and still need to come to a decision on what to do with it. You can't keep it on your person or close by, as that risks Trixie attempting to steal it away, and Zecora will surely raise some objections as well. You can't just give it to Zecora again either, as that risks this whole fiasco happening again. Nor can you give it to Trixie, as it would corrupt her towards it's own goals and make your own manipulations upon her for naught. The best option would be to hide it away yourself. Someplace you'll be able to retrieve it later if the situation calls, or as a distant contingency plan.

Now that your safe, we must use the power of the amulet to strengthen our self so we can Handel anything.

You totally intended to go straight for the bestiaries to find the Diamond Dogs in whatever compendiums Zecora possessed. Or the potion books to look into all those freaky sex-based potion ideas you'd had while trotting up here. Or even something that explained more about your powers or abilities, probably none like that but you had a more specific research-venue now that you could run with. You planned on going straight up to the newly reorganized shelves, and pulling down books until you found shit that could help you. You TOTALLY intended to do that. Until you saw the box.

Perhaps it was the relief of just getting back home. Perhaps it was the absent-mindedness and distraction as she got ready to bathe. Perhaps it was tiredness, or thoughtlessness, or even some kind of test. Perhaps a lot of things. But for whatever reason Zecora had left the box out in the open, right on the shining table. It was an ugly and battered thing now, standing clear against the table so shiny that it looked new, sans a scar your actions had left. And as you looked at the box, something became apparent, something as clear as the very table it sat on. The lock was broken.

You weren't sure how she didn't notice that. And you weren't entirely sure when it happened. There were numerous times it could have you supposed. But the steel grey lock had split from the left side all the way up to the slot for the key, and opened wide enough that you were fairly sure it was no longer locking anything. You just stood there for a moment, looking at the box, your eyes on the hunk of wood that you'd nearly lost a leg over... ... The Alicorn Amulet was supposed to be in there... the amulet that was supposed to have driven Trixie to madness with immense and raging power, power that was great, power that was impressive, power that was all-consuming. Power to enforce will and dominion, power to perform acts beyond the skills of any other, power to dominate, power to control, power to RULE, THAT KIND OF POWER!!! ... And it was resting inside that box... and the lock on that box was broken.

You bit your bottom lip, staring at that box for several moments... before shuffling in, and slowly closing the door behind you... If the lock was broken, then there was no telling what had happened to the amulet inside... It could have fallen out, anywhere really. Would anypony have noticed in all the commotion? No, of course they wouldn't have. It... it was something that you needed to check on, wasn't it? Of course! After all that trouble, you had to make sure that Zecora hadn't just come back with an empty box. You had to make sure that YOU hadn't come back with an empty box. It wasn't about the power, the delicious, all-consuming, RAGING power that was supposed to be inside of it, of course not! It was just you, being a conscientious and thoughtful guest in Zecora's home, a good lover, a good friend... yeah...

With a gulp, you slowly moved forward over towards the table on three of your legs. You tentatively laid your right foreleg on the table, the thing still hurting though it had obviously improved, even more from last time... and then you leaned forward over the table, and 'nudged' the lid open with your nose. The lid fell back and 'clunk'-ed lightly against the wood of the table, the lock not even noticing the movement, thoroughly deprived of purpose... And there it was, nestled in the bottom of the box. A grey metal triangle pointed down, with a sharpened outcropping up at the center. A dark metal alicorn head with horn, and PIERCING red eyes locked in an eternal glare. A pair of black wings spreading out, with the inner edges coated a deep ruby red. And a red diamond-shaped gem, glistening and powerful, wondrous and enticing, glinting in the light...

This... this thing, this Alicorn Amulet, was BEAUTIFUL... The red gem in it's center shined in that box, shined like fire... like TARTAREAN FIRE!!! A FIRE IN YOUR SKIN! A burning, desire... that was turning you to STEAL... And it wasn't your fault. You weren't to blame. It was the amulet, the jewel that set this flame! It wasn't your fault! If in their plan, the crafter'd made this jewel so much stronger than a stallion!

You blinked... You felt as though those thoughts should have been set to music for some reason... and better written. Maybe rhyme a bit, some proper tones and musical numbers? It was Equestria it could happen easy enough, ponies broke out into song and dance all the time. But, well, you didn't want to steal the amulet from Zecora, she'd be mad... unless... unless you proved that the amulet was nothing! Nothing special at all. It was probably just Trixie using it as an excuse when she took over an entire town! Yes, that's it, it was an excuse! It probably didn't corrupt anypony at all. And it was your solemn duty as a friend to prove that...

With a smile, and a spark in your eyes that you would have been absolutely terrified to see in the mirror, you reached down with your left forehoof to grasp the amulet. Slowly you lifted it out, noticing for the first time a pair of dark, practically black metal bands hanging from below it that would let it clasp about your neck. Slowly, you moved it up to your neck, and bringing your chin down to hold it in place, used your left forehoof to clasp the metal bits behind your neck, holding the amulet there, said amulet fitting perfectly... like it was made for you.

You breathed in deep, then out slowly, feeling the cold of the amulet against your coat. See? Nothing at al-

"AAAGGGHHH!!!" The pain came. The pain came HARD and FAST and without mercy. It was burning and raging in you and it CONSUMED your mind and body and soul, ripping through you like a thousand hot prongs! The amulet crackled, glistening red, and red filled your mind and your eyes and you couldn't see anything but the burning.

WHUMP...

You fell onto the floor, twitching with your eyes rolling back into your head, and then you saw nothing, as you slipped into the depths of darkness... and as your mind slipped into the black, you swore you could hear somepony, some slightly effeminate sounding stallion, laughing.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Ooohhh... oooooohhhhh... this is gonna be FUN!"

Author's Note

I would just like to say thank you to everyone for your kind words and support. I don't talk in the comments section due to both a degree of social anxiety, and more firmly my belief that it should be a place for your suggestions and discussion with minimum influence from myself. I'm writing the actual story, so that's a good amount of power already, and I also am already aware of what I think and I love as cool things. This story has developed in such an interesting way because of all of you, and I would nigh change that for a hundred likes... though if I wind up with a hundred likes anyways I'm super-awesome with that.

However, my point is, that although I don't do direct speaking in most cases I do appreciate your support, thanks, positive commentary, and of course your participation. It fills my heart with joy to see positive reception, and to see you talking with one another and plotting and scheming, and coming up with ever more intricate ideas for the Host. I'm very grateful for you all, and would just like to make that clear. Thank you.

Also, the next question is going to be a Question and Answer. As a reminder, questions for the Brothers are to be put in Question and Answer #3, know that it's been a while but that's where they go please.

And now, just because I feel like it, here's one of my favorite villain songs.

Question and Answer #4

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! YES!!! LOOK UPON ME MORTALS AND DESPAIR!!!"

The throne was made of black stygian iron, large with a glowering dragon head forged from the metal up at the top of the tall back of the throne. The dragon's head had violent, even seemingly burning red rubies in it's eyes, with sharpened red ruby teeth as well. Enchanted red cushioning was upon the Throne's seat and up most of it's back, with forms of dragons, wings spread and flying, lining up on either side of the cushioning towards the top. There was red velvet cushioning down from the seat as well, down the throne's base for when it entered it's reclining state, a few visible lines in the cushions, to show where it would split when the reclining option was selected.

The throne had two 'arm-rests' coming out from either side as well, unusual in alicorn thrones but not unheard of. On both of these the black stygian iron had enchanted red velvet on top, for when Pyrus wished to rest his forelegs, and at the ends of both arms were dragon heads, with open mouths, roaring dragons with flaming red ruby eyes and opened maws filled with red ruby teeth... and possibly flamethrowers inside of the mouths, it was hard to tell what actually lay down the gaping maws. But it was clear what lay to the sides of the throne. On the left side was a circular stygian cup-holder, built into the stygian iron, with a golden chalice fit into it, the chalice being large, with a red gem on the back side, a blue gem on the front, and a deep red wine filling it. On the right side of the throne's base was a lever, tall with a snarling dragon head at the end, all stygian iron with no rubies this time, built for pulling so that the throne would start it's recline. It was Pyrus's gift throne... and as might have been evidence from his currently sitting on it, human-style with his hind-legs over the base and his forelegs on the arm-rests, he was enjoying himself.

Pyrus was currently sporting an almost entirely black coat, with only the ends of his fore and hind legs showing a deep bloody red. His teeth were sharpened though, and black metal, along with his wings which now had feathers entirely of black iron. He gazed out across an imaginary audience with fiery red eyes, and continued to shout with a tongue that was ALSO made out of black iron, and a mouth that occasionally spouted fire.

"SEE MY GLORY!!! WITNESS ME UPON MY THRONE, AND KNOW THAT IN DOING SO YOU WITNESS YOUR DOOM!!!" He shouted out as the tiny Cryon sat in his brother's lap with a little dark-blue blanket around his body, and what looked like a heavy black leather-bound tome in front of him, faded pages with blood red writing and gruesome drawn pictures in front of him. The alicorn colt calmly sat in his brother's lap as the happy former ruler of Tartarus addressed his imaginary victims.

"KNOW THAT YOUR STALLIONS SHALL BE SLAUGHTERED, YOUR MARES RAPED, YOUR FOALS ENSLAVED!!! KNOW THAT YOUR DECIMATION COMES AT THE ENDS OF MY HOOVES AND THE TIPS OF MY WINGS!!! KNOW THAT-"

Lord Pyrus,

Ok, "the souls of raging beasts" you said. Why didn't you mention they were SAPIENT raging beasts? (Shits and Giggles is a legitimate answer.) Also, guestimates on how long it and the star will be duking it out for? Because Pinocchio's strings are kind of cut until he regains consciousness.

Also, if whatever will inhabited the amulet survives, will it be able to hear us? Because it will be in Slate's head.

"AH BUCKING DAMN IT!!!" Shouted Pyrus, leaning back in his throne and growling heavily as his ears twitched and Cryon looked up from the highly graphic picture of a unicorn stallion getting decapitated, eviscerated, and gelded at the same time by a six legged skeleton pony with sharp-bladed appendages.

"Ah, hello again watchers. As you can see, we are making use of your gracious gifts." Spoke Cryon simply, nodding forward politely, before furrowing his brows in contemplation.

"WHY DO YOU PRICKS ALWAYS INTERRUPT WHEN WE'RE RELAXING!? WHY CAN'T YOU BUCK AROUND WITH US WHEN... When..." Muttered Pyrus, before narrowing his eyes as his ears twitched.

"... What the buck do you mean 'why didn't I tell you they were sapient'? What, are you lot so bucking stupid that you need me to spell out every damn little thing? Should I mention that most ponies have internal organs, or that when a mommy and daddy pony feel horny the daddy's prick gets long the mommy's gash get's wet and they start to rut!? I mean buck! What kind of dumbplot simpletons are you lo-"

"Brother!" Spoke Cryon, a bit sharply. Pyrus turned his gaze down to the little colt in his lap, his eyes still anrrowed.

"WHAT!? This is the most bucking ridiculous one ye-" He started, before Cryon calmly shrugged off his blanket, flapped his wings, and started 'buzz'-ing up to his brother's head. Cryon then calmly flew over to his brother's right ear, wings still beating rapidly, and started whispering something.

"Huh, okay... Uh-huh... uhhhh-huh... HUH?! Shit, really?! You're bucking with me right!? No? ... Well damn..." Muttered Pyrus before shaking his head and blinking as Cryon calmly 'buzzed' back down to his brother's lap, and started to pull his blanket around him again.

"Okay, so apparently you shits live mostly in worlds where you're the only creatures capable of sentient thought. No wonder you're all a bunch of plotholes. But I guess that means we've had a bit of a miscommunication thing here, which my brother says is bad, so whatever. The point is, time to clue you in, almost EVERY DAMN ANIMAL on this planet is sapient! Most of them aren't quite as smart as the ponies, but many are capable of language and discussion, almost all of them of actually understanding what ponies are saying, analyzing situations and grasping the basic concepts behind them... Some are even capable of deep philosophical pondering on the nature of life, the universe, and existence. Pretty much every animal that isn't a fish is sapient. Not fish though, buck fish. Pretty sure. Haven't seen a smart fish yet... Anyways, when I said 'raging beasts' I meant intelligent raging beasts, monsters, demons, and other such creatures. Thought that would be obvious. Sorry for the confusion, I guess." Spoke Pyrus, shrugging slightly.

Cryon, in the meantime had finished re-adjusting his blanket and snuggling into Pyrus's lap. He then calmly looked back up to you with a thoughtful gaze, and began to speak.

"As for the other matter, the Star and the Amulet will already have started their conflict, "duking it out", as it were. However, interestingly, the Amulet has... delayed things. Through a possession maneuver it is... well, not hiding, but piggybacking into the Host's magic so that it's far more difficult to get rid of. Such is only delaying the inevitable and has cost it it's main physical form and anchor, so I am not entirely sure what it is trying to achieve. Also that will not actually keep the host asleep, I estimate that when you return, only about twenty or thirty seconds will have passed in the Host's time. However, the 'spirit' of the Amulet will likely be able to hear you, or at least interpret your effect on the Host's mind. What interactions it will have with the host proper... it is still too early to speculate on."

"Actually it's probably gonna try to rut him. That freak was REALLY bucking nuts." Spoke Pyrus, actually quite casually, causing Cryon to look up and blink slightly.

"... Do you know something I don't brother?" Asked the tiny alicorn with his right eyebrow raised. Pyrus looked down to him with a light smirk.

"You remember how we went about the binding and what the purpose of putting all those souls in actually was, right?" He asked, to which Cryon nodded.

"Of course. A 'Closed Pot' spirit technique, or perhaps 'Demon Pot' in this particular case. Bind one-thousand spirits of various raging monsters and beasts into a closed container with the only source of sustenance being each other. In this case, the source of sustenance was soul energy and the container was the gem in the center of the alicorn amulet. Entrapped as they were, they were forced to hunt each other down inside of the amulet and consume the others energy until there was only one left. This was both to insure a spirit powerful enough to dominate the mental structure of whoever was to wear the amulet, and also give them experience with soul consumption for when they did so to whoever wore the amulet. Why?" Asked Cryon, his right eyebrow raised. Pyrus smirked a bit more.

"Do you remember who the last beast standing was?"

"... ... ..."

"... ... ..."

Cryon blew up his cheeks with a 'huff' and folded his little forelegs across his chest, blanket riding back a bit as he looked down and grumbled.

"Shut up..." He muttered, turning his eyes and all his attention to the opened book in front of him.

Pyrus chuckled lightly, and looked back up to you with a smirk.

"Heheheh, anyways, the bucker who won the right to live bound to a bucking amulet was Incubit the Alluring, an old-school Tartarean Demon. He's a shapeshifter, smooth talker, and horny bastard. Doubt that his time in the gem's changed any of that... except that he doesn't really have a physical body anymore, so..." Pyrus shrugged.

"Anyways, keep that in mind. Or whatever. He's probably not going to be around long before the Star eats him, so buck it, trivia I guess."

Brothers, can that pitiful little amulet hear us? Because If in its foolishness it were able to hear us and inform Blank, or worse, one of SunBun's minions our whole operation could be at risk. Celestial has a record for stoning anything she considers a risk and I'd rather not have to worry about her trying to strike at us through the rift if this all goes south. I want to plan my contingencies accordingly in the event of our discovery.

May your flames burn forever bright,

-PYRO THE RED

I must echo the concerns of my fellow voices, Lords Cryon and Pyrus. A sentient will within the Amulet eas not spmething that was planned or prepared for. If the spirit of the Amulet can hear us, it could have unexpected consequences for our plans.

Cryon sighed, and unfolded his forehooves, reaching down to flip a page in his book as he nodded slightly, trying to end his sulking.

"As said the amulet's spirit, 'Incubit' apparently, will almost certainly able to hear you when you talk to the Host and will have already identified your tampering with it's mind. However, while it informing the Host of your presence is... possible, it is unlikely to be a danger. You are in the Host's head after all, you can convince him to disregard the idea that he's being manipulated rather easily. And there is no danger of it speaking with Princess Celestia or it's servants. It is a device of evil as much as we are, though significantly weaker. It does NOT want her attention. Even if it's annihilation is certain, that is preferable to the focus of the Princesses." Spoke Cryon calmly, giving a nod as he focused on the new page, which showed a lovely bloated Earth Pony corpse, formerly a mare, with worms wiggling out of her stomach.

My little gift to the Ice Alicorn that book I've sent has weakened the walls of realities enough to a warp rift. Fiery Alicorn put your brother in, it shall close but your brother should be back in no time at it's most primal the warp is made up of despairing souls who thought that the afterlife is idyllic. But if the Icy one is ambitious as I thought then he would go Grandfather Nurgle's kingdom is made of entirely concentrated despair. He will return either way stronger for the experience.

"NO!"

Shouted Pyrus immediately, bringing both forelegs around to WRAP around his brother and pull him up and close to his chest, Cryon blinking in surprise, book left in Pyrus's lap.

"Um, brother don't-"

"I ain't sending my brother to that bloody dimension! I've been looking up on it and it's cool and junk but do you really think we're going to even TRY to go to a place with stronger, even crazier forces of evil than us!? Buck that noise!"

"Now wait, we should-"

"NO! This is not up for debate, next question!"

"Brother I just-"

"NEXT QUESTION!!!"

Lord Cryon,

I am glad your brother recieved, and enjoys, the gifts I sent him. Your health is quite a concern, it gives us even more incentive to push dear Blank to start the ball rolling. As already stated by your brother, your idea of medicine would slay any of me or mine and as such, our mdeicine would do little to nothing for your condition....but a thought does occur to me. The mirror in the Crystal Empire connects with an alternate version of the world I, and several of my fellow voices, inhabit. There is much hatred here...if we can alter the mirror slightly, perhaps we can begin siphoning a portion of this world's darkness into Equestria and, therefor, into you.

Just a Suggestion,

Nomad

"No visiting other dimensions!" Pyrus barked, still holding Cryon protectively.

"Brother please! Quit panicking for a moment, drink some wine, RELAX." Spoke Cryon, squirming a bit in Pyrus's grasp, blanket shifting as he did so. Pyrus took a deep breath in, then out slowly, eyes still narrowed... Then he muttered something unintelligible under his breath, and his horn glowed red. The chalice of wine lifted up out of it's cupholder and to his muzzle, the fiery alicorn looking away and to the left as he floated the chalice over and sipped from it, still holding Cryon tight to his chest. The little alicorn sighed in his bigger brother's grasp, and then looked back up to you with a calm expression.

"Ahem. Now... thank you for the thought, and for bearing my health in mind. And it is... a novel idea. I believe we have already spoken on the difficulty of making dimensional passages and alterations of any significance in this world, but the idea of funneling negative energy from another world into this one... I admit, I find it intriguing. I'm not entirely sure HOW it would be done, exactly, but it is very much within the realm of theoretical possibility..." Spoke Cryon, squirming a bit more and kicking his hindlegs out a bit, uselessly. He sighed and rolled his eyes, before clearing his throat and continuing.

"Now, ability to alter or not put aside... I am not certain that the mirror is still in the Crystal Empire. Examining the temporal waves puts a recent use in the castle that Princess Twilight has acquired in Ponyville. It may still be there, or remain there indefinitely. It's exact movements may be something that you wish to have the Host ascertain, if you intend to find a use for it." Spoke Cryon simply, nodding calmly as Pyrus continued to pointedly sip from the chalice. Cryon turned his head up and to the left for a moment, looking at his brother. And then calmly brought his left foreleg back in a light hit against Pyrus's chest. The hit didn't appear to do anything, but Pyrus grimaced slightly and moved the chalice down from his lips before looking back to you.

"And thank you for the wine, and the throne, and the chalice and shit... Also one of you sent me bucking demon whores. Thanks for that to. They were delicious." Spoke Pyrus. Cryon blinked.

"Wait, what did you do wit-"

My Lords Cryon and Pyrus,

Despite my earlier thoughs on the ineffectiveness of human medicine, I have maintained a search for options regarding Lord Cryon's condition...and I believe I have discovered a method to further slow the input of positive energy. A team I put together has put together a working Soul Engine, a device that mixes the concepts of magic and technology to artificially produce negative energy via a process that passes positive energy through a "filter" of imprisoned evil/corrupted souls (stored in a central gem).

We tested the prototype on a captured Siren, and the results are promising...there is a small problem though. The souls caught in the gem will eventually purify, and thus become ineffective at producing further negative energy. At maximum filtration, the Soul Engine could supplant the influx opf positive energy completely....but it would last a month at best. I would recommend setting the Engine to it's 50% setting, it will produce enough enough negative energy to effectively neutralize the energy in your immediate consumption range and last for approximately two years.

The dimensional disruptions are still in occurance at the time of this missive, but I hope to send you a working model as soon as the rift stabalises enough to support solid matter transfer.

Best Wishes,

Nomad

"Oooooooh which one!?" Asked Pyrus eagerly, suddenly excited as he leaned forward with a grin.

"Was it that Adagio bitch? How about Aria or Sonata? Have you got them chained up in dark cells waiting their turn to have their souls RIPPED from their bodies!? Or are you torturing them in the meantime, running experiments, maybe giving them to the guards to let off some steam or even taking them your-"

"Brother please! My book is still in your lap, I would rather you not get... excited while it's still there. Or while I'm in the room for that matter." Spoke Cryon with a slight grimace, causing Pyrus to blink, and then blush a hot red for a bit, lowering his head.

"Heheheh, sorry..." He muttered, before Cryon sighed and leaned his head back against his bigger brother's chest, looking to you again with a calm gaze.

"Now, as always, your concerns for my health are much appreciated. As to the device itself, it sounds fascinating. The concept is simple enough though I must admit it never did occur to me. Likely because as interesting as it is it is still delaying the inevitable, and a permanent solution is needed. However that is what you and your compatriots are working towards with the Host, and this device sounds as though it would provide a delightful reprieve. I would also be interested in examining it's workings, my brother as well I imagine." Spoke Cryon, looking back up to Pyrus, who smirked and gave a nod.

"Buck yeah, I love good craftsmanship. Get that shit through here and start curing my brother! Also, you say you put together a team? Just what kind of weight are you pulling back where you're from anyways?" Asked Pyrus with his right eyebrow raised, as the chalice floated down from his muzzle, and stopped in front of Cryon. Cryon calmly reached out with his forehooves and took the Chalice in them, before tilting it back, leaning forward, and starting to sip, still held in his brother's forelegs as he drank the wine.

All your speaking and screeching and weeping of amulet and star....the foal may not be safe and sound right now, but that was never the intention, hm? Every conflict, challenge or trial will make him stronger and even with all his shortcomings, he seems to have proven, that he has a certain...knack for survival. No, his current situation is satisfactory, if a little bit boring. But the good part is surely coming, so that is not my concern.

Frankly, my interest ist of different nature. Namely you, Lords of Blaze and Blizzard. How did this all began? Now, I don´t ask of your origin, or so. Such things will not benefit me, or the others. No, what I desire to know is, when all this....trouble....with Celestia began. Surely you did not duked it out since the beginning of all...

When did she intervene? Was she more direct than today? For all I saw through the cracks and rifts...nowadays she seems more like a manipulator, a elusive mind in the second row....he he....much like you, even if a little less subtle.

This information could be as interesting, as it would be valuable. Celestia has shown weaknesses over the last years. Her loss to chrysalis, Tireks attack. Without the princess of Dusk and Dawn Twilight Sparkle, she would have lost already. Could it be that her power is fading? It could be that the battle with the nightmare left a greater mark on her, than thought. If yes.....well, lets just say, that our point of interest should be the young little princess instead of the old matron...

Oh, and do not misunderstand me. I followed this whole ordeal for a while now and I decided to get in on the fun. But there is no fun in utter domination. Pure dark is as boring as shining white. Conflict, chaos, tragedy. That what I thrive for. I play along, for now. If only because equestria has proven to be too peaceful for my taste.

But its not like you have any choice concerning your...advisors...hm?

May we have a good.....partnership, while it lasts.

Grim, Hund des Konflikts (Hound of Conflict)

Pyrus narrowed his eyes... Cryon pushed the wine chalice down a bit, then licked his lips and looked up to his brother. Pyrus looked back down into Cryon's eyes.

"You're going to tell them, aren't you?" He asked, growling slightly. Cryon half-lidded his eyes.

"... I'm going to have to help, aren't I?"

A little nod from Cryon, and the colt was back to the chalice, licking and savoring the wine still within as Pyrus sighed, leaning back against his red velvet cushioning, and looked to you with narrowed eyes that, despite their typical aggression, seemed to be filled with a tiredness as well.

"Look... Celestia and Luna are a sore point, alright? They're... our greatest failure." Spoke Pyrus, before sighing out heavily and turning his gaze off and to the right, grimacing heavily.

"Good arises to fight evil. It's only natural. We're bucking used to it. And it's usually alicorns that do the arising and such. My brother and I have been manipulating things from behind the scenes WAAAAAAAY before Celestia and Luna crawled out of their mommy's cunt and started gracing the world with their dainty little hoofsteps. And when they got older, got their shit together, and started fighting against darkness, conquering territory, making paradise... it wasn't anything new. We were prepared for that shit. We knew EXACTLY how far to let them get before we knocked them back onto their haunches... Or we thought we did." Spoke Pyrus, growling low, and appropriately lowering his head slightly with the growl.

Cryon pushed the Chalice away from his mouth and sighed, licked his lips for a moment and looked down... before nodding slightly to himself, and looking back up to you with a calm expression.

"It was when they dealt with King Sombra that they 'crossed the line' as it were, and it was time for them to be defeated. We cast a curse to hide the Crystal Empire, made it look like Sombra's magic, and started our plan. We drew Discord's attention to Equestria, and his selfish nature did the rest. " Spoke Cryon calmly.

"The Princess bitches were ousted, just as we'd planned. Discord introduced chaos to turn all their order to insanity, misery followed. Evil ruled there, and with Equestria in chaos the rest of the world would collapse on it's own accord, like usual. Until somepony EVENTUALLY arose to defeat Discord and start bringing harmony and balance to the world again." Muttered Pyrus, still with his eyes narrowed.

"But then those Princesses did something. Something that every other two-bit heroic cunt hadn't ever managed to do... the Princesses came back. Not some student trained to fight evil, or some bucking orphan adopted and taught the ideals of good or that usual shit... THEM. Them loaded with a bunch of shiny gems that they called 'The Elements of Harmony'. And then they blasted Discord's plot back to stone, ended chaos, restored order, returned harmony, and broke the bucking cycle." Growled Pyrus, gritting his teeth hard. Cryon sighed.

"It was only much later, due to your intervention, that we learned where the Elements actually came from. But they provided a super-weapon that we couldn't confront properly. Our main ploy, then, was to attack Luna's soul and create Nightmare Moon. It was simple enough to play on her feelings of jealousy and lack of attention. Our hope was that with one of the Royal Sisters corrupted, the Elements of Harmony would be unable to be used. It was disappointing when Celestia was able to use them herself, however in banishing her sister to the moon she became unable to utilize the elements. We thought that we had a winning hoof then, and prepared to unleash chaos a little more... directly, as it were. Sending the Legions of Tartarus to engage Celestia's forces while they were weakened."

"That turned out WONDERFULLY!" Spat Pyrus, eyes narrowing further.

"Indeed." Stated Cryon with a narrowed gaze, waving his hoof a bit, 'clonk'-ing it against the Chalice slightly. Pyrus nodded, and levitated the Chalice back into the cupholder as Cryon cleared his throat, and spoke again.

"Celestia learned how to delegate during that war, and we underestimated the pure abilities of some amongst her inner circle... While her rank and file were not able to match my brother's, she herself participated in numerous combat actions, and used small elite groups to strike vital targets in my brother's command hierarchy. My Brother couldn't deploy himself to counter Celestia due to the necessity of keeping our existence a secret, and I myself couldn't lend aid without revealing my own base of operations. In the end, Pyrus had to abandon Tartarus, kill his inner circle, and leave a scapegoat in his place. Celestia has since turned Tartarus into her own prison, and it has been held by her for quite some time."

Finished Cryon, before looking nuzzling his head back into his brother's coat.

"That was... a painful, even humbling day. For both of us... However we were not without our resources. Nightmare Moon's return was assured, and there were numerous wild creatures and monsters that escaped and spread across Equestria after Tartarus's fall. Most were locked back up by Celestia and her Wardens. But even then... the guards are not always watching. And Cerberus is a puppy at heart... easy enough to fool." Cryon, actually grinned then, with an icy glint in his eye... before his face became calm once more, and he continued.

"In any event, when Nightmare Moon returned we were extremely hopeful. We fed her additional energy while she was imprisoned, slowly, carefully, and discreetly, so that when she broke out she might be able to banish her sister instantly, and assume control. We believed she would plunge Equestria into a new age of despair and evil. The problems of crops being unable to grow with no sunlight, and also unhealthy ponies, did not actually extend to numerous plants in the Everfree, which are of a far more durable or adaptive stock. Ponykind would survive, but evil would reign. And eventually be overthrown by good." Cryon stated simply, nodding his head in self-affirmation.

"Unfortunately, turns out Celestia had bucking PLANNED for that, and had her student ready to get a farmer, a dressmaker, a party animal, a tomcolt, and an extreme introvert together to save the BUCKING day... Who the BUCK knew?" Muttered Pyrus, still glaring into the distance. Cryon sighed at that, and looked back to you.

"We had not been idle during the thousand or so years of waiting. We prepared contingencies. Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra's return... All of them were by our design. And as you will have noticed, every one of them failed. Breaking Discord out early led only to his reimprisonment and culminated in his being reformed. Chrysalis, one of our earliest and best successes, was lured to Equestria and we fed her additional alicorn magic so that she might be able to defeat Celestia. She nevertheless allowed arrogance to cloud her judgment and was soundly defeated by a magical love-wave. Sombra was our trump card, a highly intelligent, ruthless conqueror with access to magic that could spread over the world and deliver darkness. If he had successfully retaken his capital, then his position in the Crystal Empire would have been EXTREMELY difficult to defeat, and unlike many others he learned from his mistakes. There is reason to believe that he would have waged a very effective war against the Princesses."

"And then a damned bucking shit-eating baby dragon raised by bucking PONIES, way away from any migration or proper dragonhood, saves the whole bucking place with a mixture of luck and timing... Damn it." Muttered Pyrus, hanging his head this time, now glowering down-right to the floor.

"Indeed... I suppose that the trouble with Celestia started then with her desperation. Most specifically, with the acquiring of the Elements of Harmony in order to combat Discord or risk losing all that she and her sister had worked for. That is when she became a threat to the entire cycle of good and evil, instead of simply one more proponent of good to strike down at the right time. And it is with a similar desperation to hers that we have summoned the Star of Woe. With the application of the Star into the Host and the utilization of you as guiding voices, we have acted truly desperately. A desperation that has become utterly essential." Spoke Cryon, breathing in deeply, then out slowly.

"A point of notice. Even though the Elements are no longer an active part in the equation, their effects are felt wide and far, the ripples of their use having led to entirely too many happy, healthy, wholesome ponies for real desolation and evil to be bred. And now the former bearers have achieved a kind of 'power-up' form that's nature is still difficult to ascertain. And Princess Twilight Sparkle IS powerful, perhaps even more so than Celestia. But you should mistake the Solar Princess's apparent ease of defeat for personal softness, though she is not as strong as when she and my brother warred. We have simply done everything in our power to stack the deck against her with the opponents we've sent her way... although it hardly matters because each and every one of them failed. A hard truth, but there it is." Spoke Cryon, before closing his eyes and yawning slightly.

"Now, Pyrus, if you're going to keep me here, then let us recline and cuddle properly. I am feeling sleepy" Finished Cryon bluntly. Pyrus finally looked back front and down to his brother, blinking at that, then smiling lightly.

"Alright... all this depressing shit's made me tired to... probably best we take a nap." He spoke simply, his horn glowing again and red aura grasping the lever at the right side of the chair, before pulling it back. The throne instantly reclined back, it's base moving out and unfolding forward into a legrest that Pyrus's hind-legs stretched out on, Cryon's book on top. Cryon himself turned and snuggled into against his brother's chest, still wrapped up in his blanket, sighing lightly.

"Mmm... now as always, thank you Watchers for your continued contributions to evil. I wish you good fortune leading the Host to deal with Incubit. As stated, I do not believe it will be that long between his unconsciousness, and his reawakening. However we shall see. Good journeys to you." Spoke Cryon simply, lifting his right forehoof off of his brother's chest, waving it in the air in a little circle and-

POOF... ... Blackness once more...

Author's Note

(Okay, so I'm starting an intensive Summer Intersession next week. I don't know what kind of effect that that'll have on my scheduling, but I can't imagine it will be good. A head's up then, while I'm thinking of it.)

Character Progress Tracker: EXTRA

Name: Blank Slate
Gender: Stallion
Age: Young Adult (Early twenties equivalent)
Cutie Mark: Nonexistent
Species: Earth Pony (But with Unicorn Horn)

CURRENT PERSONALITY:

A pervert. Has anger issues and occasionally suffers from brief episodes of Hypomania. Is intelligent, however has difficulty handling basic relationships with other ponies. That difficulty in handling basic relationships is currently causing anxiety and nervousness, capable of reaching severe levels if not soothed. Is sexually charged with a high libido, and possesses a fundamental feeling of entitlement, and that he has a right to perform actions that might not be socially acceptable. Is possessive of others and what he considers 'his'. Bears a resentment and general bitterness towards Manehattenites, as well as the Princesses, for a perceived lack of aid and care given in his time of need. Has shown signs of possible sadistic tendencies, and occupies both a grandiose and unflattering opinion of himself. Is currently using grandiose and exaggerated positive appraisals to combat a more fundamental negative self-image. Has a fluent vocabulary of cuss words that he puts to frequent use. Also has an aversion to teeth when they're separated from the mouth of a pony or other creature.

MUTATIONS:

STAGE TWO MUTATION: NIGHTMARE SWORD: The Nightmare Sword continues from the Obsidian Blade, and now whenever it strikes down an enemy it will steal the enemy's magic to recharge the Host's own magical cache located beneath the horn. In addition, it is capable of 'cutting' through magical energy, including shields and spells. It's length and sharpness has also increased, as well as the blue mist that it emits. In addition, all those struck by it who survive the blow will experience terrible nightmares every time they sleep until the wound has been healed. As a result of the increased Nightmare influence, the Host's eyes are now blue, as well as his magic.

MUTATION ADVANCEMENT: Final Lullaby: The Nightmare Sword has altered it's crystal form in such a manner that the crystal now vibrates when struck, without sacrificing hardness or puncture ability. To do this the Nightmare Sword grew about an inch in length. The result of this vibration is that sound similar to musical notes sound when the Nightmare Sword is struck against an object, different objects resulting in different sounds, and the force difference causing an effect as well. As a result of this Legacy Advancement, the Host now has a blue streak, going through his mane

BASE MUTATION: (From which the Nightmare Sword Emerged): OBSIDIAN BLADE: This is a Legacy Mutation, inspired and accessed by interaction with Nightmare Moon's remnant presence. The Obsidian Blade is a powerful mystic weapon, composed of solid magic, and able to be dissipated, or solidified, at the wielders whim. The blade fuels magical energy by stealing it from deceased foes, and the Star of Woe has repurposed it into increased Mutation recovery time. As a Legacy Mutation, when the Obsidian Blade mutates and improves, aesthetic mutations may accompany it, in memory of Nightmare Moon.

STAGE TWO MUTATION: DREAMVOID: Dreamvoid continues from Dreamless Sleep. As an additional protection method, the Host's dreamlessness now extends to anypony nearby to him while they are sleeping. He and the ponies dreaming near to him will simply not show up on Princess Luna's dream radar when she searches for those who need guidance in the night. Thus any dreams containing him or influenced by him will not be detected.

BASE MUTATION: (From which Dreamvoid Emerged): Dreamless Sleep: To prevent detection from Princess Luna, the Star of Woe has removed the Host's ability to dream while asleep. Part of the Nightmare Moon Legacy.

STAGE TWO MUTATION: EVERFREE NECTAR: Everfree Nectar continues from Everfree Blood. The blood in the Host's veins becomes greener and more easily able to be seen where the Host has nothing but bare skin, making his scars now a pale greenish-white. And also considerably more toxic to ingest for other ponies who aren't the Host. Feeding a pony the Host's blood will cause massive hallucinations, some damage to internal organs, and possibly some damage to their mental faculties, increasing the likelihood of insanity. It's both a poison and a drug, taking too much will kill the imbiber, however it has addictive properties as well despite this. The Host is now immune to poisons and toxins with an increased chance of resisting diseases and infections, and suffers no hampering to reflexes, increasing overall speed. Health regeneration and healing of wounds occurs far more quickly, making the Host considerably harder to kill.

BASE MUTATION: (From which Everfree Nectar Emerged): Everfree Blood: Absorbed from the Timberwolves, the blood in the Host's body has been altered into a diluted form of the Timberwolf sap. The blood pumps through the internal body and reduces chances of poison or toxin damage in the Host's body. In addition, it aids in regeneration and healing, though comparatively minorly. The Host's blood now acts as a minor poison, when taken orally it can induce internal pain and possible hallucinations. A side-effect of the sap's properties is that the Host cannot move as quickly as before, suffering a minor decrease to body movement and reflexes. Part of the Everfree Forest Legacy.

STAGE TWO MUTATION: EVERFREE GUIDE: Everfree Guide continues from Everfree Whispers. In addition to directing the Host to his requested destinations, the Everfree will now warn the Host of danger in his immediate area, as well as objects or creatures of importance, trying to impart knowledge that may serve useful to him. To do this, green tendrils now extend from the host's ears to beneath his skin, creating a small number of green vine bulges beneath the skin, back behind the ears.

BASE MUTATION: (From which Everfree Guide Emerged): Everfree Whispers: In forested areas of the Everfree or near to Everfree trees, the Host may 'listen' to said trees, and gain directional aid. The trees will guide him, through a mixture of feelings, fringe-thoughts, and sounds, to the destination that he is attempting to reach. If the destination is not in the Everfree, the Everfree trees won't be able to help. As a result of this mutation, there is a vein of small green vines, digging into the lower-back of his ears, rising from the base behind his ear, breaking the skin at both points. Mutation is part of the Everfree Legacy.

MUTATION GAINED: Lightning Rod: The Host is now able to process electrical energy and absorb it without damage. Electricity is actively attracted to thin steel rods on his back when they are upright. The rods preserve the electrical current for a brief period, though the charge steadily drains from the rods and will eventually dissipate if unused. Otherwise the energy is expended violently in the form of a lightning bolt, cast from the rods. The electrical charge casts a steady light while running through the rods.

MUTATION ADVANCEMENT: Tuning Forks: The Lightning Rods have altered themselves to amplify impacting noise. From a powerful gust of wind to a physical object striking them, the rods will now vibrate with the energy and transfer it into sound, at a highly amplified volume to whatever struck it. They have slightly widened to accommodate this change.

STAGE TWO MUTATION: DEVILISH TONGUE: Devilish Tongue continues from Charming Tongue. The Host's tongue and vocal structure have been empowered to emit an increased subsonic vocal resonance as he speaks. This resonance makes him appear more trustworthy, attractive, and honest. Ponies are more likely to believe what he says as he speaks, and the magic from his tongue also moves to eliminate and dull doubts as they appear in ponies brains. It also attempts to instill a crush on those who listen, making them feel charmed and in love with the Host, to a small degree. That effect accumulates and gains strength the longer they spend listening to the Host, though it does slowly start to fade away when they're no longer able to hear the Host's voice, over a period of days. The Host's tongue will still be, of course, purple as a purple murple.

MUTATION ADVANCEMENT: Somniloquy: Your continuous night-talking to Zecora has increased the effectiveness of suggestions and thoughts planted during a listener's sleeping hours. Effect is not an absolute mental override or to the same level of hypnosis, but gives an air of validity to the suggestions during waking hours, and may manifest in the subject's mind as thoughts that they believe they had on their own.

BASE MUTATION: (From which Devilish Tongue Emerged): Charming Tongue: Residual magic has been collected to alter the Host's tongue to slightly resonate with perception and mental magic that has an effect on vocal emissions, increasing the attractiveness of the host's voice to listeners, giving a slight increase to the importance of the Host's vocally emitted mood, as well as increasing the validity of the host's statements. Also, the Host's tongue is now purple.

MUTATION GAINED: Poisoned Chemistry: Blue plant-like tendrils have formed up the Host's spine all the way up to the brain, acting as a minor back-brace and also steadily pumping a chemical stimulant into the Host's blood stream. The chemical cocktail designed specifically for the Host's Everfree Blood and causes the Host's blood to act as a drug in addition to a poison. For the Host this stimulant improves the effectiveness of the electrical discharge between nerves resulting in both faster and more efficient thought processes as well as general improvements to internal body functions. An improvement to reflexes counteracts the physical sluggishness of the Everfree Blood, and the constant flow of the stimulant through the body's systems dulls pain. This mutation physically manifests externally as a line of light blue lining the Host's spine neck to flank, beneath the skin and able to be seen through the coat. The Side effect of this mutation is a slight mental imbalance with minor manic symptoms and a slight possibility of entering into Hypomanic episodes due to both mental speed and discordant influences. Part of the Discord Legacy.

MUTATION: Anti-Petri Stomach Growths: The inner lining of your stomach has been altered to sport numerous small growths that release a chemical supplement into the stomach acids, causing an anti-petrification chemical compound to be circled throughout the body with nutrients released into the blood stream. No effect on excretions. The nutrients now saturates the muscles and organs of the body with a long-lasting anti-petrification serum. The serum is very weak, but the cumulative nature allows for heavy resistance to petrification. The more regularly and often meals are eaten the more powerful the resistance, as the serum potency stacks. Degradation of the serum effectiveness occurs at a steady rate, only offshot by reapplication through nutrient distribution. A side-effect of this Mutation is occasional stomach-pains.

MUTATION GAINED: Unicorn Horn: The host has now acquired a Unicorn Horn. This horn is capable of channeling internal magic into external manifestations, as well as allowing internal magic to connect with and influence the external world. It manifests physically as a unicorn horn, a light blue in color, smaller than the average unicorn horn size. The application of magic through the horn is at odds with the host's Earth Pony biology, and the process of using this horn will be painful and difficult for the Host, as well as extremely taxing to his stamina. Part of the Unicorn (Trixie) Legacy.

MUTATION GAINED: Unicorn Magic: Pyromancy Focus: You have gained a small amount of unicorn-based magical energy centered near your horn. The power charge is small and cannot draw on Unicorn physiology for rapid replenishment, you will be able to use magic in brief spurts but will not able to make continuous attempts like most unicorns. The magic is focused towards the generation of fire, and will run out of energy faster when attempting other types of magic, to the point of great difficulty with even minor tasks. Your eyes have turned purple as a result of the magic, and the energy generated by your horn when using this magical energy will be purple. Part of the Unicorn (Trixie) Legacy.

STAGE TWO MUTATION: BLOOD PRINCE'S FANGS: Blood Prince's Fangs continues from Vampony Fangs. The Blood Prince's Fangs are, unlike the Vampony Fangs, able to be retracted to the point of regular sized canines, albeit a little sharper than normal. So while the sharpness may still be off-putting they are not so obvious, and no longer interfere with the Host's speech. In addition, draining blood from unicorns more quickly replenishes the Host's magic, and now a slight intoxicant stored in the fangs is released during feeding, that causes the pony to feel a sense of elation and become a bit 'drugged up' and lessen the pain from the bite, essentially pain medication in fang form. While the fangs are not especially tougher than normal pony teeth, if broken they will regrow. Also, the medication in them takes about a day to refill, meaning that feedings after it's been used the first time will be significantly more painful for the pony being fed upon, and also disperse what medication there is.

BASE MUTATION: (From which Blood Prince's Fangs emerged): Vampony Fangs: The intake of blood and the lapping up of said blood, combined with desires for power and self-visioning as a vampony, has caused you to grow a set of fangs in your teeth. Also, you may now gain partial sustenance from the intake of blood, and taking in unicorn blood causes a slight replenishing of Unicorn magic type. The fangs are essentially extended sharpened canines and have no significant additional power or thickness beyond what can usually be expected from biting, only with very sharp and lengthened teeth. Also non-retractable, which causes a slight speech impediment that you have to work around.

CURRENT MUTATION FOCUSES: (Through use, speech, and thought, the Star is currently trying to focus on and find fuel for these mutations. Still needs triggers and fuel for it, but this shows what it's current preferences are.)

Vampirism: Major Support: Numerous mental control thoughts, night-references, an event with blood drinking, and just kind of a coolness factor from the Host, have convinced the Star to consider mutations that make the Host more like a vampony.

Mentalism: Major Support: From the amount of use it's already had, the Star is more open to mutations that make it easier to affect the minds of other ponies.

Pyromania: Major Support: The constant references to fire make it feel like doing more fire-related things.

Everfree Legacy: Moderate Support: A feeling of attachement to and ownership of the Everfree makes the Star more prone to strengthening Everfree binds. Interest is more a reemergence than much else.

Nightmare Legacy: Moderate Support: Between recent belief advancements in the Host and mutation focus, the Star is more receptive to mutations involving or revolving around Nightmare Moon.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

(Note that the host is currently filthy and covered with mud.)

Coat: Grey, with a blue line, glowing but dull, running down his back.

Eyes: Blue.

Mane: Black with a blue streak going through it at the left side. Shabby and uncut.

Tail: Black, shabby and uncut.

Body: Thin and weak with a slightly emaciated looking form. There is a large pale greenish-white bite-scar on left flank, and metal rods, curved at the top, rising up out from the back with blue-green tinging at the bases where they enter said back. There is a bite-scar on his left shoulder, pale greenish-white.

Legs: Thin and weak. Pale greenish-white scarring on the forelegs. The right fore-leg is seriously injured and mangled and while it will heal will almost certainly scar heavily.

Face: Average appearance, with light-blue unicorn horn jutting from the head, and a dark purple tongue in the mouth. Sharp canines in his upper jaw. Left cheek has pale greenish-white scarring from a claw-mark upon it. There are small slim bright-green vines going from the base-back of the ears to lower-back of the ears on both his ears, with the vines digging into the flesh and beneath his skin, going a few inches through the skin beneath it, forming slight bulges against the skin.

Other: Pony's blood is dark green with a slight blue tinge.

CURRENT ITEMS:

Summonable Nightmare Sword.

V.I.P PONIES MET:

Zecora: Current Relationship: Lover that you are currently living with, saved your life and the mare that you gave your virginity to. Also, the mare you shot with a lightning bolt, have yelled at in her sleep, tied up at her hut, and introduced to the view of you sobbing. Results of domestic squabble still uncertain, BUT she has apparently mostly gotten over earlier events, at least judging by the recent lack of drama.

Trixie: Current Relationship: Reluctant hut mate that you happened to save. You have attempted to convince her that she is fundamentally useless and needs a guiding hoof. Also physically assaulted her posterior. Relationship is tricky to say the least, but she has shown herself to be needy and receptive to your authority. A possible sycophant in the making. Also, you've drunk blood from her on numerous occasions, so you feel a kind of bond there. After she kidnapped Zecora and nearly died due to her foolishness, she had a massive breakdown, and now you're fairly confident that she'll be far more pliable than ever before. Is very reserved and lacks her normal abrasiveness at the moment.

Rarity: Dress maker. Has made you a trench coat. A hot piece of flank and friendly, but you've had little real interaction with her. You find her annoying for some reason though you don't know why and those feelings haven't surfaced recently. You did seem to be able to talk to her well enough though, and you think you've left a fairly positive impression overall. Also saved her from her bondage and spoke to her like a gentlestallion. Good possibilities for future interaction! She also seems like a good 'in' to Ponyville, great way to get more connected to civilization.

LOCATIONS IN EQUESTRIA VISITED:

Manehatten: Place of Birth. You have little other than bad memories of this place.

The Everfree Forest: Current Location. Where you're living with Zecora. This place has tried to kill you many times over, but in it you have developed and grown far more than you ever thought you could. Currently you've got a kind of love-hate thing going on with it, and since you can now find your way through it, you're starting to get kind of attached to the place. You've even started thinking of it as your domain.

The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters: Or, the only castle in the Everfree forest. You're thinking that this is where you got your powers from, and it's as logical a conclusion to draw as any. You haven't been back here, but it's been in your thoughts as of recent.

CHARACTER PLOTS IN MOTION: (His interests/intrigues that he knows about, not ones discussed in the comment sections that he hasn't yet gotten to in the world.)

Alicorn Amulet: You put it on and now you've got another voice in your head and just went unconscious... Right now, very up in the air what's actually going on with this thing.

Polygamy/Harem: The plot to get multiple mares in the sack, instead of just one. Current Progress: A lot of sleep whispers in Zecora's ear, and a rather long sleep-whisper in Trixie's ear. Trixie seems very insecure and malleable, especially after the failed kidnapping and plot to get the Alicorn Amulet. Zecora is harder to figure out. Rarity meanwhile has a generally positive impression of you you think, but things haven't gone any further, and she seems to value privacy or something.

Train Planimal Monster: The plot to train a planimal monster thing as a pet. Current Progress: Knows it reacts to musical tunes. It is also now a gigantic monster capable of chomping through rock with three huge tendril heads of immense scariness. So... not much there really.

Gain Trenchcoat: The plot to be able to not look like a freak in public via application of trench coat. Current Progress: YOU HAVE IT!!! And you're also unconscious but after you deal with that and whatever's in your head now, you'll probably be able to slip it right on.

Visit Ponyville: The plot to visit the town of Ponyville for the sake of exploration and horizon expansion. Current Progress: Trenchcoat acquired. Very feasible.

Ability Training: The plot to train with your acquired abilities. Current Progress: Iffy. From being thrown to one situation to another, and rapidly acquiring new abilities, you haven't really had much time to get good with the ones you possess. It's almost as though some unseen force is constantly creating problems for you to deal with instead of letting you relax. HOWEVER, these dangerous situations are kind of a training in themselves, soooo... not a total loss possibly.

Trixie Servitude: The plot to make use of Trixie as a servant and aid to other plots. Current Progress: Difficult to tell. Trixie seems pretty much broken right now, but you haven't actually asked her to do anything serious for you yet so you're not actually sure how servile she is. You're confident you can make her servile from her broken state though, if she's not already.

Zecora Situation: The plot to deal with the sudden threat of Zecora's pulled support, and attempt at removing mutation. Current Progress: Not entirely known, but you're hopeful. You did save her and Trixie from a rocky reptile monstrosity, so that's given you ammo to use in any upcoming discussions about your... condition.

STAR OF WOE CORRUPTION:

Very Promising: The Host has successfully reached Level Two Seeding with the Star of Woe, granting the Star a firm hold on the Host. The Host has been convinced to perform less than savory acts in the names of temper, self-justification, and some selfish desire. While the Host has not been led to do anything truly heinous, a willingness to cause other ponies pain for his own satisfaction has been established, in addition to a desire to rule and control. And also he shot a zebra with lightning. A good start overall, and with a firm hold destabilization is unlikely from less powerful sources.

STATE OF EQUESTRIA:

Beautiful, Stable, And Pure: As of yet the Host has not performed any accomplishments that have affected Equestria in any notable way. The nation remains free of taint, stable, and has it's full compliment of protectors, ready to serve and defend the nation.

Author's Note

A general overview of the path so far! As you find things that you think should be noted for the character progression, or things you think I missed, or things you think are just wrong, let me know. I might not agree with you, or I might think you're absolutely right, and alter accordingly.

Now, please do not put any Host actions in here, and any questions for the Brothers in the last Question and Answer chapter. Feel free to plot and scheme and connive and debate to your heart's content, however if Host actions or questions show up in this I'll ignore them. This is going to be a highly edited, highly mobile chapter, if things go according to plan. Having to account for Host actions and questions in it will cause me undue grief and structuring trouble, so I would rather just avoid that please.

But again, feel free to plot to your heart's content here! And of course plot anywhere else you feel like as well, doing it here will just organize it more. Thank you, that is all!

Problems Addressed

“No.”

The word was a simple one, spoke in a calm and cold tone, with a surprisingly squeaky voice, and yet it managed to carry a powerful punch behind its simple declaration.

It echoed across the cavernous frozen throne room, once grey stone pillars now iced over with permafrost, a pale white, ice and snow coating the stone floors and walls. Icicles hung down from the steel chandeliers that hung on heavy chains, iced over, and casting pale blue lights from glowing blue crystals where candles would normally be. At one end of the throne room was a pair of heavy steel metal doors, massive and reinforced with steel knockers, frozen shut in a thick layer of ice. Upon the floor, covered in snow and cracking ice, a dark blue carpet ran from the heavy doors, to up a small set of stone steps to a slight elevation at the other end of the room, and to the feet of the steel throne that sat at the opposite end…

It was huge. It’s back towered up halfway up the wall with spikes jutting all along the edges, sticking out like thick cylindrical icicles. Near to the top of the throne was a large, pale blue crystal embedded into the steel in a diamond shape white mist slowly leaking out from its edges, rolling down the sides of the throne and across the floor, curling around the seat and covering the floor in a fine layer of white mist. The Throne itself was the only object in the room that remained unfrozen, with thick and heavy arm-rests, and a wide seat with a soft fluffy blue cushion upon it, upon which sat a tiny colt who didn’t even take up the width of the seat, sitting with his cute little butt on the cushion.

The colt was… unusual to say the least. He was a small thing with a pale-blue coat, short messy white mane, and a little tuft of a tail. He had a tiny horn sticking up out of his head, as well as a tiny set of wings, sticking out of his back… His Cutie Mark was strange, small on his flank but intricate, looking as like a six-pronged star made out of grey steel, encased in ice, with icicles hanging from the bottom. More interesting than his Cutie Mark however were his eyes, eyes that held no irises, no whites, and had only one overarching color, that of a deep dark blue… the slightly reflective orbs glowed softly in his sockets, white mist pooling around them, occasional wisps leaving his eyes and disappearing into the air…

Despite the grandness of his throne and comfy cushion, all the colt wore upon his body was a small black cape, tied at the neck with simple black strings, a tiny black hood pulled up to frame his face. He sat calm and proper on hid haunches absolutely dwarfed by the throne, and once again uttered words, freezing and cold, squeaky and young, packing power behind each one.

“It is out of the question.”

“We have no other options left brother!” Came the impassioned response, a burning voice at odds with the calm and cold, slightly distorted, eldritch and raging, the strange voice matching its bearer who stood on the dark-blue carpet, a foot away from the steps of the throne, looking up to the small colt with a passionate glare and bared teeth.

The stallion was large, as large as Celestia, with a blood red coat and thick black mane, falling about his shoulders. Black wings jutted from his back, in contrast with the red of his coat, and a vicious black horn curved up from beneath his mane. His eyes were a burning red and slit like a reptiles, his mouth was filled with sharp fangs, and upon his flank was an image as intricate as the one upon the colt’s. His Cutie Mark was a six pronged star made of black iron, with what looked like barbed wire wrapped around it, the whole thing consumed in burning flames…

His hooves were covered with black metal hoofguards, and his chest was covered by a black metal plate. Stark, crude, and jagged, with a diamond-shaped ruby seemingly rammed into the center with the metal later molded around it, some errant streams of black iron crossing over it. Then at his tail, long and braided with strips of black leather, hanging from the end was a vicious steel hook, made to catch, pierce, and tear instead of cut, a weapon of torture instead of war…

This stallion stood with his black wings spread, his body drawn up, his entire form aggressive, and as he looked to the small figure on the throne his eyes blazed with an internal fire, and black mist rose from the feathers of his wings, razor-teeth bared as he looked to the colt, before speaking once more, flames spurting out of his mouth as he raged.

“We have no one left! None remain still to us who may challenge Equestria!” He spoke, desperation clear in his words.

“A natural threat will arise. It is inevitable.” Responded the colt calmly with his cold squeaky voice, unflinching at his brother’s screaming.

“THREAT?! Have you seen the quality of our THREATS lately brother?! Shall we run down the list!?” Shouted the red-coated pony as he began to pace back and forth across the throne, stomping his hooves and cracking the ice as he strode, eyes blazing.

“Nightmare Moon, had a thousand years to plan vengeance and then got her flank kicked by a farmer, dress-maker, cowardly pegasus, arrogant tomcolt, insane party-animal, and an introverted bookend!”

Steam began to rise as the ice began to turn into puddles where his hooves hit, his eyes beginning to glow a deep and vicious red…

“Discord? Got out for less than twenty-four hours before getting put back in a concrete suit, and then he was RELEASED, REFORMED, and REDUCED to a giggling prankster at Celestia’s beck and heel!”

Shouted the stallion as cracks began to form in his coat just above the hoof-guards, spreading up his legs as a fiery orange-red blaze shined from the cracks, his wings beginning to turn from black to dark red on his body.

“Chrysalis? She, of all of them SHE underestimated the power of love, after all her planning and guile and gloating! She had the elements, her changelings overran the streets, so she turned her back on the PRINCESSES, and the ELEMENTS OF HARMONY, let miss and mister perfect have a snuggle moment, and got her entire invasion blasted back by SAPPY ROMANCE!”

Fire burst out along the cracks in his legs, embers began to spark up from his wings, as fire poured from his mouth with every word, and the heat around his body melted his pacing path into the ice.

“Sombra? DISINTIGRATED! Buck it he may have had the personality of a wet clam but he was ambitious, ruthless, and tactically minded! He was our best chess piece brother, our only one left, and now he’s gone to! BEATEN AND BESTED, JUST LIKE THE REST!!!”

Shouted the stallion, before stopping his pacing and whirling around to face the colt fire bursting from his wings, flames pouring out from his fur, embers and sparks jumping from his body across the room, iron metal sizzling, popping and bubbling against his chest and hooves.

“But that’s not the worst part! A thousand battles a thousand pawns, let them fall like flies! BUT LET THEM LAST MORE THAN A DAMNED DAY!!! IT WAS QUICK!!! ALL OF THEM GONE IN MOMENTS!!! OUR BEST PLAYERS OUR MOST ANCIENT THREAT’S GONE!!!!!” He boomed.

And in that booming his mane burst into flame and the entire room glowed red beneath his rage, flames shooting all across the room, melting the ice in a flash, turning the icicles and permafrost walls to boring grey stone, flashing the ice into water, that sizzled and steamed around the stallion, up to his knees now on the floor.

The water level bobbed just beneath the top steps of the throne, sloshing softly… The Colt continued to sit on the throne, both himself and the throne untouched by his brother’s flame, and looked down calmly to his brother with cold non-expressive eyes… simply glinting slightly as they reflected the light from the pony’s flames…

“…”

The raging red pony blinked, and then lowered his head, closing his eyes. His wings snuffed out in an instant, turning back to black. His mane fell back down to his head in a black mess, and the cracks upon his legs disappeared. His fur faded from red to black, and he breathed in deeply, before breathing out slowly, a plume of smoke pouring from his lips as he sighed out the anger, the black and acrid poison rising up from his figure as he raised his head again, opening his eyes to look to his brother…

His eyes remained unchanged during this transformation, as did his Cutie-Mark. The black iron metal had bubbled and boiled but not shifted position. The surfaces of the hoofguards and chest piece had changed pattern, but not function. A few new metal strands in a few new places crossed over the red ruby, old once moved and melted, the armor itself still black, jagged, and crude…

The now black alicorn stallion stood with a new-found calm, black mist curling off of the feathers of his wings, as he looked up to his brother on the throne, and looked up to his brother with a no longer angry but frustrated gaze, speaking with a voice no longer distorted and a mouth no longer filled with razor-sharp monstrosities, but the herbivore teeth one might expect from anypony.

“Brother I know why you are wary, I know how it appears. It has always been our lot to fail. But never this quickly. Our oldest most powerful threats, Nightmare Moon, Sombra, and even Discord, fell. Pathetically fell, in short order, before they could truly act as a threat. Don’t you see my brother? Celestia has changed the game. By giving those mortals the Elements of Harmony she has created a truly terrifying force for peace! Far beyond its own knowledge! One of the mortals has even ascended, and leads the others! It is a weapon that we have nothing left to defend against!”

“...”

“Please… Cryon, my Brother…” Spoke the now black-coated stallion, bowing his head and letting his wings drop by his side as he continued.

“She has taken so much from us… I understand but there is not an ounce she has not bested or controlled… How long until she turns her sight to the Everfree my brother? What then? How long until she takes the last bastion of violence and chaos in this world?! If she takes that then… then…” Spoke the pony, his voice trailing off as he squeezed his eyes tight, red bloody droplets pouring down from them, streaking down the black fur of his cheeks as he took a shuddering breathe in, then breathed out slowly… Before the moisture sizzled away from his cheeks, turning into red mist as he opened his eyes, a determined look to his orbs as he brought his gaze up to meet his brother’s.

“There must always be a threat my brother. Always. And we cannot wait for another to arise. If we do not act now then we may never get the chance to do so. And then this will have all been for nothing.” He spoke, looking straight up to the colt, Cryon, as he stood, tall and strong, breathing steadily with a coat of pitch-black, waiting for a response.

The small colt, Cryon, continued to look down at his brother for a few moments… And then stood up from his haunches onto his tiny legs.

“Pyrus… You are right.” He spoke in his calm squeaky voice, as his horn glowed white, and he raised up his front-right hoof. With a wave of his hoof the gigantic steel doors swung open at the end of the hallway, and a burst of freezing wind soared into the room, flash-freezing it within the second, every ounce of water frozen once again into solid ice, so thick upon the floor that it could easily have been a skating ring.

The black-coated stallion looked down to his hooves now stuck in the frozen wasteland, and narrowed his eyes, growling slightly in annoyance as his coat turned from black to red, and his teeth elongated and sharpened once more, giving him a razor mouth… He looked up with a slight glare to the creatures responsible for his current semi-frozen state, as they hovered in front of his brother’s throne…

The Windigos had been defeated long ago, and it was a defeat they had never recovered from. The three winter spirits had been reduced from their stallion forms to the forms of colts, much like the one they served, crafted from wind and ice with glowing eyes of carved cold, they stood on an invisible field of air before their master, small, gaunt, starved, with their forms brittle and weak… but nonetheless dangerous wielders of frost and cold…

Cryon looked at them for a moment, and this horn glowed white, his eyes lit up with a powerful deep blue glow, and in a-

FLASH!

The Windigos were gone, howling through the air and night, the steel doors slamming shut behind them as they exited, shattering the ice that had formed around the doors and cracking much of the ice throughout the room with its force.

The now once again red-coated stallion shivered as they passed him by, and growled deeper, cracks starting to form in his frozen legs once more as embers began to dance on the ends of his wings and-

POOF-

Pyrus blinked, and turned his head back from the now shut doors to look down in front of him, only to see Cryon, the little colt, staring up to him. Cryon spoke, with no change in inflection or tone.

“The evidence cannot be denied. As dangerous as your proposal is, it is indeed the only valid option left to us. I am sorry I was being stubborn.” Spoke Cryon, perfectly calm, before standing up on his hind-legs, and stretching up his front-hooves towards Pyrus.

Pyrus blinked again, and then smiled softly down to his brother. His wings stopped sparking, black mist once again rising from them as the cracks in his legs faded away, and his coat turned from red to black once more… He lowered his head down to Cryon, closing his eyes as the teeth in his mouth shrunk from their razor-state to their chewing form… Cryon hugged his brother’s head, as Pyrus softly nuzzled his very literally little brother… … The two stayed that was for a few more moments… Before Cryon unwrapped his hooves and stepped back, looking up to Pyrus as the stallion raised his head back up, opening his reptilian eyes.

“Very well. Let us search for a subject.” Spoke Cryon simply, and Pyrus nodded his ascent. Cryon turned and trotted across the ice calmly, his horn glowing white and engulfing the double-doors, opening the steel behemoths once more, as Pyrus with a-

CRACK!

Pulled his front legs out of the ice, then used them to help heft his back legs out calmly, shattering the ice into deep pockets where he’d been frozen. He then turned, and calmly followed his little trotting brother to the doors stepping out a few steps behind Cryon… as the steel doors were enveloped in white once more, and slammed shut behind the pair…

Author's Note

(Was this what you were expecting? Yes, no, maybe? Anyways, the focal point of our story has not yet made the scene, and shall indeed be making the scene when he hops up onto the scene, which is the next time. In the meantime, feel free to either send me hate comments which will depress my mood and make me want to end your existence, or love comments, which will make me happy and drive me to do a better job. I may be biased on which I'd prefer. In any event, be well, hope this was worth the read at least.)

Solution Found

The Windigos soared on freezing winds through the Equestrian night, passing past travelers on a chilling breeze, searching every nook and cranny of the pony diarchy… They soared into Trottingham, gusting over tall houses and clock towers, drifting down slipping in underneath windowsills and through the cracks of doors, drifting through the houses on a cold breeze, wrapping their tendrils around ponies huddled in their beds, causing foals to shiver and pull the blankets over their heads, and parents to snuggle together for warmth. But Trottingham did not have what they needed, so they glided on.

They burst through the windows of upscale houses in Canterlot on angry gusts, soaring through the halls of the wealthy and the noble, seeping in beneath the floorboards, into servants quarters and basements, seeking out dirty little secrets… And they found many. But nopony within was what was needed, so they continued.

They passed on a breeze over Appleloosa, finding naught a pony there miserable enough to qualify, curling into the homes of the settler ponies, sending their shutters to slamming and their doors to hanging open, breezing over the frontier dwellers, ruffling their fur with chill winds and setting their teeth to chattering in their beds… But none among them were needed.

On aggravated impatient winds the Windigos soared the freezing gusts of the Crystal Empire, soaring through the crystal structures and encircling the crystal spires, passing harmlessly over the Crystal Ponies and their protective coats, before leaving in a huff of anger, not a single one of the long abused race fit to their needs.

Only for thoroughness sake did they stop over Ponyville, and soar down through the open doors and windows of the beautiful small-town houses, avoiding the dwellings of the Element Bearers. Touching across the mares in their beds and rustling the mane’s of the stallions on their impatient search. Though they found more darkness than expected it was still sickeningly sweet and bright, and they left in an increasingly desperate wind, rustling and howling in the night, the powerful gusts crashing against the trees of branches, waking more than a few ponies up as the Windigos left.

On these strong gusts they came to Manehatten, battering windows and running across the glass, frost spreading over the towering spires as they filled the air with their cold wrath, rushing over empty streets and gusting through alleys, throwing trash and papers up into the winds, slamming against the sides of buildings and then creeping into air vents, passing through countless apartments as they disturbed the rests of the pony-folk and left them awake and shivering with cold in their beds.

The Windigos were about to leave once again in a roaring gust, when an errant chilled breeze caught a pony’s coat, and the Windigos stopped their raging… Circling, they brought their chilled winds to their bodies, and formed an invisible breeze above this newly found pony, gazing down to his form, alone on the street, walking through the night… And slowly they descended running their chilling breezes along his body as he walked through the night, examining him, searching over every part of his body and soul…

Their quarry shivered under their searching winds, and tried to pull his shabby dark-grey coat closer to his body, as he continued down the street, trying to hurry through the dark as the Windigos began to gust about him excitedly, delightedly, rejoicing as they searched deeper and deeper into him, and found exactly what they craved! The pony stopped moving forward as chills overtook his body, rooting him to place, unable to put one hoof in front of the other for his shivering.

The Windigos swirled around him with glee, faster and faster, their eyes starting to glow a brilliant blue as the pony finally started to panic, far too late as his hooves were lifted off of the ground, dangling in the air as his coat was torn from his body by the violent wind, and sent flying across the night, the Windigos swirling faster and faster around their prey, becoming a swirl of blue and white, racing and racing until-

FLASH!

The pony disappeared in a brilliant blue light and the Windigos scattered apart, vanishing into the breeze, their prey captured, their gift sent, their dark purpose fulfilled…

… … …

“You’re kidding me.”

Pyrus’s coat was once again a deep blood red, and his teeth razors in his mouth. His slit eyes narrowed in anger as he stood with his black wings stretched out wide, Cryon to his right, standing with his head cocked curiously to the right, both of them with their eyes glued onto what had been deposited onto the frozen ice floor of Cryon’s throne room. Namely the single most unimpressive stallion they had ever seen.

The Earth Pony stallion lying unconscious on their floor was young. Just barely past the veil of adult-hood. He had a shabby grey coat, and a messy uncut black mane upon his head, dirty, with his tail not faring much better, messy, long, and tangled. His eyes were closed so his dark green eyes were hidden, but his malnourished form was easy to see, his body smaller than most stallion’s with ribs poking out against the fur. His rough and ragged hooves twitched slightly in his sleep, as he shivered from the cold…

“You’ve got to be bucking kidding me! This is our new great threat!? This dilapidated whelp!? RRRAAAUUUGGHH!!!” Shouted Pyrus, his eyes shining red, embers sparking up from his wings, feathers beginning to turn red.

“I’LL RIP THOSE USELESS WINDIGOS INTO PIECES!!! I’LL-” A hoof on his leg caused Pyrus to stop mid-rant and look down to his brother. Cryon stood calmly with his front-left leg reaching out to Pyrus’s front right, still looking at the unconscious stallion, before speaking in a calm voice.

“Calm yourself brother… Look.” He stated moving his hoof from his brother’s leg to point towards the mystery stallion’s flank.

“So?! He doesn’t have a Cutie Mark! What of- … it… … ah.” Spoke Pyrus, his wings quitting their sparking as they went back to black, and his fur quickly turning from red to black, his teeth blunting in his mouth as he looked to the stallion’s flank, as blank as any foal’s.

“Ah indeed.” Replied Cryon, looking at the spot with his calm unchanging gaze.

“In a society dedicated to finding one’s true self and fulfilling their natural role, one who does not do so is considered an outcast.”

“More than that, he’s a freak, an abomination, abnormal and utterly unfulfilled. An entire life without knowing who he is or what he was meant to do in life, an entire life of failure after failure, having to hide his shame… Hahahahaha! He’ll be easy for us to manipulate!” Spoke Pyrus, grinning wide, licking his lips slowly with a glint in his eye.

“No.” Stated Cryon calmly, causing Pyrus to blink in surprise and turn to look at his brother with an arched brow.

“No?”

“No. Not us. Them.” Replied Cryon, turning to face you… And raising his front-right hoof to point directly at you, cold-blue eyes staring at you calmly as Pyrus followed his gaze up and looked to you, before his eyes dilated, followed rapidly by narrowing his brows into an angry glare, coat turning red.

“THEM!?” He hissed, his teeth growing sharp once more.

“Them.” Replied Cryon simply, lowering his hoof.

“Brother please! We’re more than capable of-”

“No.” Spoke Cryon, looking over his shoulder to Pyrus.

“If we engage directly in the pony’s we risk being revealed as his mentors. If Celestia is able to track him back to us then we will fall. He must never set eyes on us, and nopony must ever know the influence we had on him.”

“B-but… THEM!?” Asked Pyrus, aghast and disgusted as he looked up to you with obvious hatred in his eyes.

“Yes. We have none left of our own stock fit for the job. They are the only source capable of proper manipulation available.” Stated Cryon, before looking back to you.

“They don’t even know what’s going on!” Shouted Pyrus, clenching his teeth and stomping his hooves against the ice, causing it to crack beneath his frustrated blows.

“So we will tell them.” Responded Cryon simply still looking at you with an unflinching gaze.

“Alter yourself to hear them.” He continued, and Pyrus blinked, before stammering with a-

“B-but-” He started, before Cryon turned to look back to Pyrus… … … Pyrus met his brother’s eyes for a few moments… and then lowered his head, muttering a low-

“Fine…” As his horn glowed red. The Alicorn’s entire body was enveloped in a red aura for a moment, a slight shimmer appearing around the ears, before the aura faded away. Pyrus wiggled his ears experimentally, then looked back up to his brother and nodded. Cryon then turned his gaze back to you, before bringing his front-right hoof up across his chest, and bowing forward slightly, bobbing his body forward.

“Hello Watchers. I am Cryon.” He stated simply, before lifting himself up and motioning with his hoof back towards Pyrus.

“This is my brother Pyrus. We will be able to hear you, and respond to any queries.” Stated Cryon placing his front-right hoof back on the ice as his left raised up and pointed towards the unconscious stallion.

“This pony is to be the next threat to Equestria. While not the most desirable subject we do not have a better option available to us.” Stated Cryon simply as he brought his hoof back down to the ice.

“To make him a viable threat we are going to gift him with a unique… condition. For lack of better terminology. We are going to infect him with the “Star of Woe” an ancient affliction that will amplify the darkest impulses in his mind and increase the potential for corruption of spirit, as well as allow for vast physical mutations. It is however far from absolute, and can be expelled if the subject becomes too… good.” Continued Cryon, still staring at you with his expressionless eyes.

“He will require proper guidance to the dark path. You are currently the only influence capable of acting as an appropriate guide. As you are outside Celestia’s rule you have been exposed to worlds filled with malice and darkness. All potentials within this world are removed from play, and we cannot enter the field. A threat is needed, and this-”

“Pathetic pile of discarded filth.”

“-… stallion, and you, are our best chances to create such a threat. Do you understand and accept the assignment?” Asked Cryon, his voice perfectly calm as he continued to levy his unblinking gaze straight at you.

Author's Note

Next part, you can talk to the brothers and ask them questions, address concerns and what-not.

I'm going to post up important characters as they become important characters instead of assuming they will be. You might choose to have the fledgling villain go cause trouble in Zebrica instead of go after the Mane Six, for example. So slight change to the character bar, hope this is entertaining enough.

Everfree Goddess

You're in a small room inside of a strange wooden hut. You say strange cause the wood doesn't look like it was cut, but rather like it's part of the insides of a tree, growing a room... weird. Light is coming through a small round window above the bed, pretty much just a round hole in the wall with a few crossed sticks in it. The light is dim, because even during the day the Everfree's canopy is thick and enshrouding. Still, you can actually see now so you're not exactly complaining.

You look down to where you were laid to sleep and see that you are indeed in a bed. An actual bed! You haven't slept in one of these for... well, you're not sure what you had as a colt would qualify. The sheets are white and the blanket is an interesting kind of dark yellow with dark grey spots covering it in an erratic pattern. There is a fluffy pillow that was just beneath your head, and really, the whole thing is bucking luxurious. You turn your gaze away from the glorious epitome of comfort to look to your own body see how it has faired since the last night... the results of the investigation make you blink in surprise.

It's really nowhere near as bad as you were expecting. You remember the fight and you feel like crap. But apparently there weren't too many wounds on you, and somepony treated the wounds you had. Bandages have been applied around your lower-body, covering your flank. You wince as you see the visual evidence that a wolf made out of sticks and twigs bit you in the plot. Not your finest moment.

There're a few bandages around your chest and back to... mainly for the thin steel rods that jutted out of you in the middle of a fight with wooden twig wolves, before proceeding to zap one of them into oblivion with lightning. The absurdity of that thought is only beaten by the fact that it was one hundred percent accurate. You shake your head a bit before going back to examining your body.

The bandages are holding the rods down to your back, the muscles in your back noticing it but not uncomfortable, like it was a natural position for the rods to assume. You hardly even feel them on your fur, they're not cold like you'd expect metal to be but kind of warm, pleasant even. And they're not even poking your flank, the hooks with the blunt ends kind of just running along your curves... well flanks, you're pretty sure you don't have enough meat on your flanks to justify even the thought that you have curves.

Moving on from that pleasant thought you reach up with your front-left hoof to touch the back of your head, and grimace a bit as you feel the bandages. You remember that you cracked your head on the stone before the fight with the wolves even really started. You're really lucky THAT didn't kill you and save the wolves the trouble. Speaking of the wooden lupines... You bring your front-left hoof back up to touch your cheek, feeling a soft yet thick white cloth pressed up against it, though you're not sure what it's held there by. The cloth runs along your cheek from just barely touching your lips all the way to slightly beneath your ear. You close your eyes... That's probably not going to go away. Of the many unpleasant things you thought you'd have to live with, battle-scars were not among them.

You open your eyes again with a sigh, and examine your coat. You find that it's actually... clean. You couldn't afford a living place much less bath materials, so the best you could do was stand underneath a Pegasus storm-cloud during scheduled storms and scrub yourself with a sponge and some soap, if you had them. It didn't rain often in Manehatten. Most of the city was stone, steel, and glass. There weren't exactly a lot of plants to feed. You've never been clean, and last night you were covered in sap, and blood, and sweat, and dirt, in addition to the several days worth of filth accumulation that had been there before. And yet now here you were, clean, bandaged, and in a bed that you were sure was made from Pegasus clouds. Whoever lived here had cleaned you up, treated your wounds, and put you to bed... ... ...

Moisture begins to collect at the edges of your eyes. And you close them and try to hold back because stallions aren't supposed to cry. But you do anyway. You put your hooves to your eyes and start bawling like a little foal that just scraped his knee, bending over in the bed as your body is wracked with sobs. And you stay like that for several minutes, making tear-stains in your coat and water droplets on the blankets of the bed as you cry into your hooves...

After a while though you sniff, and wipe at your eyes, taking shuddering breaths as you pull the covers up a bit more on your body, taking a few more breaths as you slowly calm down... a few last sniffles and deep shudders shake your body, before you bring your hooves up to wipe your eyes again.

"Right, right... calm down, be a stallion... right..." You mutter, before you exhale deeply, and roll your shoulders a bit, cocking your head side to side, shaking the nerves out of your body. You look over to the wooden archway into the next room then furrow your brows. You've been bathed, mended, and housed. But you're still in the Everfree. And even with a runny nose earned through unstallion-like behavior, you can smell some pretty strong spices and chemicals in the air. As much as you'd love to just lay back and bask in the softness of the bed, you can't afford to let your guard down. At least, not without taking a look around. Life is cruel after all... when it suddenly starts being nice you need to watch out.

You grunt as you slowly pull yourself out of the bed putting your hooves one by one onto the floor your muscles aching. The blade's gone from your hoof you notice, though for some reason you feel sure it'll come back if you need it. And for some reason you feel kinda sluggish... you shake it off and chalk it up to the soreness. Moving slowly across the floor you go over to the wooden archway, and exercising caution peek around the edge of the doorway.

You are able to immediately reach a single conclusion.This place is bucking creepy. Granted, everything that you've experienced since the last time you woke up has been weird, but this is the strangest shit you've ever seen. First off there all these freaky masks hanging on the walls, multi-colored long things with weird kinda menacing expressions, all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Then are shelves and tables, covered with strange bottles, bags, and bowls of with various substances from boiling liquids to ground flower petals. The only surface that doesn't have anything on it looks like a small round table, that has grown out from a tiny tree with brown bark, held up by leafless branches. Weird.

Small charms and trinkets hang from rope and strings, and weird books with strange markings on their spines line the walls. A long stick made out of some kind of weird wood, looking pretty hollow and kind of thin leans up against the wall to the right of the door to the outside. There's even a bucking cauldron in the middle of the room, big and ominous with a fire beneath it and some kind of bubbling liquid inside of it, green steam rising up from the ominous brew. If the owner of this place was going for a bewitching witchcraft feel, they were certainly doing a good job of it!

Listen well pony, a source of great power rests in this hut. It is an amulet with a red jewel at its center and stylized to resemble an Alicorn. You will soon see a zebra, observe her subtle beauty, hunger for her. You will seduce her and claim her. The Star will use her lust to taint her mind, and bind her to you. Once she is yours, have her fetch the power you feel nearby, it is the Alicorn Amulet and it will enhance your powers and the Star of Woe will prevent the Amulet from corrupting your mind, it will even enhance your mental barriers. Use this place as a refuge...for the moment. You will feel restless, return into the Everfree and follow the scent of brimstone, the dragon at the end is your next challenge, and its fire breath and hoard shall be your reward.

Nomad

As your eyes travel over the trinket and shelf covered wooden walls of the hut, your eyes stop on a small wooden chest located on one of the shelves. You furrow your brows, peering closer at the comparatively mundane object. It's a box, treasure-chest shaped with a steel grey lock, occupying the middle of the shelf between a small raggedy patchwork pony doll and a big green book with a leaf on the binding.

The chest isn't that out of place with everything else you've seen around the hut. Frankly it could have easily blended in with the rest of the trinkets, it wasn't even the only chest in there. But for some reason it's more noticeable than anything else on the shelves. More noticeable than the big bubbling cauldron even. You feel almost... drawn to the chest. Like it's important. Like it's special. Like if you were going to rob this pony that would be the thing you'd rob them of.

You blink and shake your head at that. No! You're not a thief, bad personal thoughts... Still, the chest does look interesting. You wonder what could be inside it? You're feeling a really strong urge to just, go over and try to open i-

CREEEEEAAAAAAKKKK

Your eyes snap to the door as it opens up wide, and you quickly duck back behind the archway as a set of hoofsteps sound from the main room. You close your eyes for a moment, take a deep breath, and then slowly peek around the edge of the doorway, looking into the room...

Hmm, this zebra is a pretty one. Pretty but dangerous. Do not let your guard down, do not play your hoof too soon. She could be a potent ally, or a dangerous foe. Whatever you choose to do, do not give her cause to suspect you of being dangerous until it is too late for her to stop you.

The figure is the most terrifying thing you have ever seen in your life. It stands in front of the bubbling cauldron, shrouded in a dark brown cloak, hood up, glowing yellow eyes looking out from beneath the shadows of the hood. The eyes make you think a little too much of the wooden wolves and their glowing green orbs... You shake of the shiver that threatens your form to watch the shrouded figure. The mystery figure lifts a front-right foreleg out from beneath the cloak, striped with five golden bands forming a bracelet on the leg, holding a small brown bag on the end of the hoof. The figure tips the bag over into the bubbling cauldron, red petals sprinkling down into the mysterious concoction, a plume of green smoke bursting up from the cauldron as they make contact, and then dissipating into the air...

The figure trots over to a nearby shelf, placing the bag down between a red and purple bottle, before turning back to the cauldron. The shrouded figure begins to walk around it, circling it, and speaks in a slow mystical chant, yellow eyes staring into the brew. You can't understand the words, but it's actually pretty rhythmic and somewhat musical, and the movement of the legs combined with the eyes makes it somewhat... Well, almost dance-like the way the figure's stepping in time.

You shake slightly, licking your lips nervously as you continue to watch. Well at least you know what your host is... she's a Zebra. You didn't see many down at the docks, and always from a distance, but you did see enough to get a good idea of how they looked. This one's a mare judging by the voice, which means that the witch view of this hut was probably very accurate. Great. The one to find you was a mystic witch living in the Everfree. Probably just healed you up to boil you in the cauldron! Those flower petals were probably part of a recipe!

As you tremble and allow your paranoia to run rampant, the zebra finishes her chant stopping with her back to you, and moves her front-right hoof down into the cauldron, stirring the brew with the tip of her hoof. You're somewhat surprised by that, considering that the liquid should have been boiling, but she doesn't show any signs of pain. She merely pulls her hoof back out and flicks the droplets from her hoof onto the floor, letting the hot liquid dissipate slowly into the wood. Then her hooves came up, and you watched with a fascinated and curious gaze as she undid her cloak, and let it fall to the floor.

... ... ...

DAMN LOOK AT THAT FLANK!!!

She is the sexiest thing you have ever seen. The zebras you've seen in the past have always been from a distance. This is the first one that you've ever seen this close, and she is just so... hot! You can't even begin to express how alluring her form is. Your mouth is hanging open with drool dripping from your lip as you stare at the zebra mare's fit and sleek body, inspiring mane-cut, exotic striped coat, and her perfect toned flank. You could bounce a bit off that plot! And her jewelry just accents her beauty, five golden bands covering her neck and golden loops in her ears.

More than any of this though is the way she carries herself. Her stance is so confident, yet strangely open, someone so sure of her own strength that she doesn't need to put up blocks and guards. It's not that she doesn't expect trouble, she just knows she's ready to take it on if it comes knocking.

You blink, blush, and look away. Normally you're not so insightful... Or this close to an exotic Zebra hottie witch. You haven't exactly had the opportunity to approach beautiful mares... something about being an unemployed dirty bum who lives in an alleyway tended to keep them away from you. But you're not dirty right now. And you just finished kicking the flanks of three sets of wooden wolf... things. You can talk to a mare, right? Yeah, should be easy... should be easy... Right, okay, you'll say hello. You'll tell her hello in three, two-

"Oh! Hello!"

"Gaaaaah!"

You shout, as you fall back onto your flank looking up into the eyes of a surprised zebra, standing in the archway that you had just been peaking around, looking at you with worry.

"I see my guest has awaken! Though it appears I have left you quite shaken."

She says with concern as she stretches her front-right hoof to you, and speaks in a strangely rhythmic voice.

"I apologize for giving fright, pray tell my friend, are you alright?"

"Uh, guh, uhguh."

You look up at this foreign goddess, this piece of equine perfection, with her toned body and enchanting voice, and you have absolutely no idea what to say. You don't know how to talk to regular mares much less this exotic beauty! You've never had sex, you've never kissed, you've never even been on a date! You can't even fathom how to speak to her! What the heck do you do!? Damn it she's right in front of you expecting an answer and you can't even talk!

Now within your heart young mortal is lust can you feel it there good. Now let it merge with the star and in doing so you we able the talk your way out of anything, seduce anyone and if they give themselves mind body and soul you can take their souls and they will become your undying slave and it will allow a hell screech a screech so powerful it will rupture organs and turn bone to dust. Do this and become closer to your destiny as the bringer of the end time.

You feel a strange tingle in your left forehoof, that runs along your insides to your spine, traces along it's length before spreading out through your entire body. Then it collects itself back up into your brain, and finally stops down at your tongue. Your tongue seems to buzz for just a moment, before it stops. And you're note entirely sure where that came from...

You blink your eyes, shake your head a bit, and swirl your tongue in your mouth. Then look up to the zebra mare, still offering her hoof and looking at you with more worry and concern in her eyes. You gulp a bit, then smile nervously, heart pounding in your chest as you lift up your right forehoof to take hers, letting her help you to your hooves.

"Ah, yes, ahem, yes, I'm fine, just a little startled is all." You say as pleasantly as you can, nerves still a bit rattled, before you breath out a sigh of relief at finally forming a coherent sentence. The zebra looks relieved that you've finally stood and spoken, and speaks herself with a gentle voice.

"It was not my intent to startle you, surprising guests just will not do.

Especially ones who have bled, and really should be in bed."

She rhymes, before she reaching a hoof up to your forehead, feeling it with her left forehoof and speaking with worry in her voice.

"Upon that note how do you feel? I was sure you would need more time to heal.

You blink a bit, and blush at the physical contact. Her legs are so sleek and elegant, yet fit and athletic. She probably has to be careful with them, when she slides them down between her hind-legs and-

"Ahem!" You clear your throat awkwardly as you back up quickly, breaking contact with the hoof as you bring your front-left leg up to cough into your hoof.

"Um, yes, well thank you for asking. Um, I've got a bit of a headache I think, considering I banged it pretty hard. The cuts kind of ache and my muscles are feeling really sore. Feeling a bit sluggish to actually, kinda weird, but considering that I was almost killed, I'd say I'm doing rather well really." You speak with a light smile, flush still on your face as you paw at the floor with your front-right hoof, and look down a bit, having trouble meeting her eyes.

"May I ask though how did I get here... And who is my lovely host?" You ask, looking up with a shy smile as the Zebra blinks, then chuckles a bit, and smiling warmly, bows forward with her front-right leg stretching across her chest.

"Forgive my manners lacking, this deep in the woods they appear to be slacking.

My name is Zecora, and this is my home, here in the Everfree where you now roam.

An attack by Timberwolves left you near dead, so I brought you here and put you to bed.

You cock your right brow just a bit as she speaks. The first couple of times might have been coincidence, but you're pretty sure she's rhyming everything she says. A strange habit, but let's face it, you were expecting witch boiling you in pot type strange. You're not complaining. It's even kind of sexy in a way. As she finishes speaking you give her a wry smile and bring your front-left hoof up to point to your cheek.

"You did a lot more than that. Thank you kindly for cleaning and treating my wounds Zecora. Without your attentions I would probably have died." You speak with a soft smile as you move your front-right hoof to take her front-left leg, raising it up and planting a soft kiss on her hoof, all gentlecolt like. The action sees the zebra's eyes go wide with surprise, followed by a blink, and a blush as she turns her gaze aside.

"I-it was my pleasure to do, to clean and bind those wounds for you.

Bandages are replaceable you see, and we must all stick together in Everfree."

She spoke, before taking her hoof from yours and looking back to you with a small smile and still a slight blush.

"Now charming stallion there is a stew in the pot, I'll be happy to share if you'll plant your plot."

She spoke with an amused smirk, blush starting to leave her cheeks as she gestured with her front-left hoof to a table. Specifically the weird one that looked like it grew from a tree ... You shake your head, deciding to deal with it, before you look back to her with a soft smile.

"That sounds wonderful, thank you." You state simply, before moving over towards the table, lowering your head to hide a blush. She called you charming! You stifle a schoolfilly type giggle and plant your haunches on the floor in front of the table, looking up to the zebra as she reaches for a ladle and starts stirring the pot with it, getting a bowl with and bringing up the ladle to pour the stew in. Watching as she stands on her hind legs to dip the ladle, tail swishing back and forth in front of her perfectly toned plot, showing off her gorgeous hind-quarters, her sleek and mountable flank absolutely begging for a good rutt-

You snap your vision down with a vicious blush to the table in front of you. Shit! Don't DO that! You chastise your brain as you feel a stirring in your groin. You do NOT want your best friend to make an appearance! Stallions were made with hidden penises for a reason and that was because they made things really bucking awkward when they showed themselves! No more naughty thoughts! No!

You make a point of examining the table in front of you as you control your breathing willing your groin to settle, and without more stimulus it does, reluctantly. You sigh out in relief, then blink as you see a wooden bowl filled with stew placed in front of you. The stew is green. Green... And bubbling slightly. With faint green vapors rising from it.

You look up from the stew to the chef, looking at her as she beams down to you, holding her own bowl in her hooves as she speaks.

"Please partake my friend I implore, this brew will relax your muscles sore."

She states merrily, as she moves over to the other side of the table and sits on her haunches, placing the bowl down in front of her, and without hesitation starts to drink the stew from it. You blink, then look back down to the green bubbling stuff in front of you. Stuff prepared by the nubile goddess from a foreign land you have only just encountered. And recalling what you've had in the past, can this be much worse? Is avoiding the risk worth dashing any hopes you had of scoring with her?

...

You grab the bowl and lift it up to your muzzle, tilting it back as you drink deeply. It's hot, and you almost burn your tongue, but to your surprise you find that it's something else. GOOD. Now mind you it's one of the strangest things you've tasted, with weird spices and unidentifiable flavors mixed within it. But your idea of a gourmet meal is a half piece of bread that's not moldy. So who the buck cares how weird it is, it tastes AWESOME! You down the whole thing in moments, licking your lips as Zecora lowers her own bowl from her lips, her bowl only a quarter drained. She blinks in surprise as she sees your empty bowl, then smiles wide.

"Ah, I see you were hungry for stew! A great compliment paid to my brew!"

"An even greater compliment to the beautiful chef." You say with a smile and give her a wink, with confidence that surprises even you. Zecora's eyes widen a bit, and a light blush graces her cheeks at your compliment, before you push your bowl across the table towards her.

"More please?" You ask, to which Zecora blinks, shakes her head, and then smiles a bit demurely, looking down from your eyes to the bowl

"Oh quite, it would be my delight."

She almost mutters as she reaches for the bowl with her left foreleg, standing up and going over to the cauldron to get a refill. This time you watch her flank as she refills the bowl, watch her swishing tail and toned plot as she gets a meal for you... You lick your lips, and smile softly to yourself. There was something about this that was very... satisfying. You turn your gaze from her as she starts to finish, chuckling softly to yourself as you wait for her to return, and think on how to get closer to this magnificent mare...

Aye. Get to know her better, learn from her, learn about her. You're rightly curious, after all, and she's been nice so far. Be nice back- hide some of the... unsual things that happened to you, you wouldn't want to worry her, eh? And if you find a way to make her even nicer to you, take it. You're just giving her nudge, after all- no harm in that.

Slave is such an ugly word; yet you wonder whether Zebra society has something like that. Do they enslave each other? Do they use magic, or potions, or something else entirely? Would it work on her? Again, there's no harm in sating your curiosity.

Zecora comes back with your refill and you go slower this time. You sit down and eat and actually have a conversation with the zebra across from you. And this conversation illustrates a point very clearly for you. Zecora is an absolutely fascinating conversationalist! Once you get used to the rhyming she's a joy to listen to. In addition to being sexy as all get out she's pretty damn smart. Considering that she lived in probably the single most dangerous place in Equestria she'd have to be.

You find that you're mainly the one asking questions though you don't mind that. There's not exactly much about your life that you'd like to share. You asked her about herself, her rhyming, her people, her home, the things that attacked you, and she was more than happy to oblige. While it's a little difficult interpreting her due to the aforementioned rhyming, you're able to piece things together pretty well.

The things that attacked you, pretty much the first things on your mind for obvious reasons, were called Timberwolves. They were an extremely dangerous natural life-form unique to the Everfree forest, that were held together by advanced regenerative magic, and would actually regenerate from death after some time passed. They were known for their venomous thorn teeth and claws, and Zecora's first concern in treating you was cleaning the wounds to prevent infection. Made you shiver to think what would have happened if she hadn't come along... Then the conversation turned towards the fascinating mare in front of you, and you began to learn about Zecora and Zebra culture.

She was born in a small tribal village on the plains of Zebrica, in the northern half of the continent, where she grew up with her parents and brother. Her mother took care of the home and did everything from cooking to sewing, while her father was a trader, gone for sometimes weeks at a time making trades with the other tribes and bringing back profits and gifts for his family. Most of the masks around the hut were gifts from Zecora's father, and apparently the stick beside her door is made from a really rare wood from the far away lands of the graceful deer. Her brother was following in his father's footsteps, and she was set to follow in her mother's, until she learned that she had an affinity for plant life and potion combinations. After her discovery her family took her before the tribal shaman for evaluation, and she became one of the shaman's apprentices, before she eventually left the tribe. She kind of skimmed over that part actually.

Apparently there were numerous Zebra tribes all over Zebrica, each with a separate political and cultural identity. The Zebra tribes did however work together in something called the Circle of Guardians, a ruling political body that consisted of a respected representative of each tribe. The Circle is officially responsible for negotiation between other countries and the tribes of Zebrica, but has become as much an organization for political and diplomatic discourse between the tribes, bringing them closer together and settling most potential arguments before they become problems.

You're surprised to learn that the individual Zebra tribes tend to have two leaders, one Chieftain and one Shaman. The Chieftains apparently are charged with keeping the village filled with funds and food, and responding in times of crisis, whereas the Shamans are most often the ones who deal with other tribes, and are charged with the health, both spiritual and physical, of their tribe. Traditionally Chieftains have been stallions and Shamans have been mares, but there are no hard and fast rules requiring such, and there have been plenty of exceptions.

Asking about her jewelry, and the gold and gems you've seen other Zebras trade down at the Manehatten docks, you learn that Zebrica is actually very rich in gold. Many of the tribes mine the valuable ore for trade purposes, and of course it is used in decoration. The Zebra people are actually extremely rich due to this abundance of precious metal, and prominent tribe members wear bright and ornate clothing to show their status. Doesn't sound that different from the Manehattenites actually... What does sound different though is the Zebras tendency to polygamy. You're amazed to learn that Zebra tribes often have "Herds" around prominent or useful tribe members. Where multiple mares serve a stallion, or multiple stallions serve a mare who has proven themselves responsible and trustworthy, and has the financial ability to care for that many lovers. You find that a bit strange, but more than a little erotic.

When she got to the rhyming, explaining it in rhyme of course, you were fascinated to learn that it was because that actually fit closest to how her people's native language was structured. The rhyming structure in common Equestrian matched up to the rhythm and form of their native tongue, so for her it was just much easier to talk your language if she did it in rhyme. She doesn't necessarily have to, but it's awkward, difficult, and breaks up the flow for her when she doesn't.

By the time you finish talking the bowls are long empty, the cauldron is out, and hours have flown by. And you are feeling incredible. This is the first time in forever that you have had an actual conversation with somepony. Some social interaction that lasted longer than a kick to your flank, or the five seconds it takes to toss a few bits your way. It's... well, it's wonderful. Right now, you can't think of a more perfect moment.

Zecora sighs contentedly, before giving you a smile.

"A good meal with a friend, too bad it must end. It is so very rare, that I have company to share."

She speaks with a light sigh, echoing your feelings exactly as she collects her bowl and then yours standing up on her hind legs and moving over to one of her cluttered tables. She's actually got really impressive balance you notice as she moves on her hind-legs and puts the bowls down in the clutter, before returning to all fours and taking another bowl from the crowded table, raising it up in her front-left hoof.

"Now my friend, I must ask you to stay still. For though you are better you're still quite ill."

She stated simply as she brought her front-right hoof to run around the rim of the bowl, prompting a curious arching of your right eyebrow. She finishes running her hoof along the rim and then turns and brings the water towards you. As she approaches you see that the bowl has hot water in it, steam rising lightly from the bowl. Huh, you wonder how you missed that when she first picked it up.

"I must clean your wounds and your bandages change, a necessary thing though it may feel strange."

You blink, then blush a bit as you realize that she's essentially saying she's about to strip you, before looking away and nodding slightly. You take a shuddering breathe and straighten up lightly as the zebra healer places the bowl of hot water down upon the table in front of you. She moves over to a nearby shelf and plucks a roll of bandages from it with her mouth, and a soft white cloth with her right hoof. When she comes back she puts the bandages onto the table next to the bowl, and the folded white cloth on top of it.

The Zebra healer sits down on her haunches beside you, to your left. Her proximity does nothing to lessen your blush, and you can feel her hot breathe on the fur of your left foreleg as she leans forward and moves her hooves to unwrap your bandages.

You wince slightly as she pulls the bandages, one by one, from your body and lets them crumple down onto the floor as she undresses you. She slowly removes the cloth from your cheek as well, stripping you fully of your medicinal garb before leaning in and looking to your wounds first at your cheek, then at your flank, before finally looking up to you with a furrowed brow and a grave expression.

"This sight fills me with woe, as it seems your wounds have festered with the oldest foe.

Though the cuts healed more rapidly than thought, the healing your body has done is for naught.

Infection it seems has claimed these, to bring unto your body rampant disease.

My cleaning may this affliction may slow, but more is needed to stop this woe.

Powerful concoctions will be required, or by the end of this week you shall have expired."

Spoke the healer, deadly seriousness in her every word and look, to the point that you have paled and are now shaking slightly in fear. You risk a tentative look at your flank and proceed to get rather paler... It's a mess. Fur is missing in patches, showing hints of greenish-grey skin around deep cuts that have been healed over with scar tissue, but clearly have dark green veins of some unknown affliction beneath them. You fight the urge to vomit from the sight of your own flank and turn away, gulping deeply. You close your eyes and deep breathe a few times, before you feel Zecora's hoof coming up to your back, rubbing softly in a circle, helping you calm down. Your heart slows and your breathing calms, and you turn to look to Zecora and give her a shaky smile. She returns with a gentle and sympathetic smile of her own, before her gaze once again becomes serious as she moves her front-right hoof down on your back to point to the rods that grew out from it, still down and pressed against your fur though no longer covered by the bandages.

"Now my friend I do not wish to pry, but as your healer I have to know why,

Are rods in your back that can move and swerve, and what purpose do they serve?"

She asks, to which you have only one appropriate mental response. Crap.

You guess you should have expected this though. Luckily the blade disappeared and maybe she didn't see it in the dark, and you're happy that she's not asking how you won against the Timberwolf things as she calls them. But it wasn't as though you could retract the rods into your back, and she'd obviously seen them since she bucking bandaged them. Well, the only thing to do now is think of a bullshit answer to give her. You don't want to tell her the truth. Oh these? They just grew out of my back and started shooting lightning. Buck no! That would definitely make her cautious around you, not something you want her to be, especially since you've FINALLY found someone you can talk to! So, bullshit, bullshit, what's the best bullshit? Ummm...

"These? They're part of some experimental treatment for my bones. I've had brittle bones since I was a foal and these are supposed to help prevent fractures and strengthen my skeletal structure. Not really sure how they work, but I've had them for a while now, pretty much necessary for me to live." ... Really? That was the best you could come up with?

"That is unfortunate then that I cannot remove, around them has gathered a light green ooze."

Spoke Zecora simply, poking your back near where the wings sprouted out, the grim look still on her face. At least she bought the bullshit, but now your heart is starting accelerate again as you enter into panic mode.

"A strange thing most alarming, around every skin break infection is harming.

This affliction I must cure, otherwise your life is unsure."

Any time she wanted to let up would be great. Any time now. No? Well okay then.

You breathe in deep, trying to keep your panic in control as Zecora dips her front-left hoof into the bowl of hot water, stirs it lightly, and then brings her hoof forward to wipe over the wounds on your flank. It's hot and you flinch a bit, and feel something a little... weird. You risk a look, and it seems as though the water's moving almost... independently of her hoof. Still connected, but sinking in deep into the scars, trying to clean them out and then just... disappearing. Huh.

You shake your head and look away, deciding that you need a distraction, you lick your lips and speak in a fairly shaky voice.

"So, um, why did you leave? Your tribe I mean. How did you wind up here?" You asked, and you hear a sigh come from her lips, as she dips her hoof into the water bowl again, and brings it up to your cheek this time, washing the scars. You wince as she applies her hoof, and after a few moments of silence you're worried you offended her, before she finally speaks.

"For a long time I called the plains of my tribe home, but my spirit was always set to roam.

My talent was for healing concoctions, and the plains only had so many options.

The plants of the plains were wondrous and grand, but the same potions again and again were very bland.

I had to find new plants to pluck, and in my search trust to luck.

To do this I traveled far and wide, and fortune was not always on my side.

I searched the jungles first for plants rare, and found many that when treated with great care,

Could craft marvelous remedies, but soon I began to search overseas."

She says softly, as she finally lowers her hooves from cleaning your wounds. She then calmly reaches over for the clean bandages, taking them into her hooves and starting to wrap them over your wounds, tying them tightly as she continues to speak.

"In the tundras of the north I froze my plot, and Saddle Arabia was much to hot.

I found no great cures in these places, but in both I met many good faces.

Then I came to the pony lands, a far cry from Saddle Arabia's sands.

At first there seemed to be nothing for me, but then I heard of Everfree.

It's strange that here I found what I needed, venturing into dark with warnings unheeded.

But here though there are dangers great, and beasts with vicious hunger to sate.

I found so many wonders and plants of such might, in this place with so little light.

So I have stayed and harvested the bounties of the wood, for with such I can do much good."

She finished up with applying the new and fresh white cloth to your cheek, running her left hoof along it's edges as she presses it up. You feel a light tingle along the edges, and as she removes her hooves you find that the cloth sticking to your cheek once more. You blink a bit as Zecora gives you a smile, and then stands up on all fours.

"And now know that it is for the best, that I insist you get your rest."

She spoke, gently but firmly lifting you up from your haunches with her left foreleg, your eyes widening slightly as you feel the strength in her leg. Then she almost shoves you back towards the bedroom and quite calmly gives your behind a-

SMACK!

With her left foreleg. You jump, blushing deeply from the contact and wincing a bit from the encouragement as you look back to her, the zebra looking at you with a light and amused smirk.

"I'll bring you medicine time to time, now go my friend, my bed is thine."

She speaks, and you wonder if you should argue or make a comment on that butt-smack.

Agreed. You must win her, but feel free to take your time. Make her fall for you whether it takes a day, a week, or a month. Learn potions from her and gain her trust.

No. She's being a kind host, has your life in her hooves, is hot as Tartarus, and you're feeling a bit tired anyway... You nod slightly, still blushing deeply and mutter.

"Yes maam." Before moving forward. A thought stops you however and you stay still for a moment before turning your gaze back to the zebra.

"Thank you Zecora. I owe you my life." You speak, to which she blinks and smiles gently, a tiny blush moving onto her cheeks.

"You are truly welcome my friend. Now go, rest, sleep and mend."

You nod your obedience and move towards the bedroom, then to the bed, and then get in underneath the luxurious covers, pulling them over your body and snuggling into the mattress, closing your eyes and taking in a deep blissful breathe, before breathing out slowly, practically melting into the mattress...

Remember how you thought you could help the ponies (or other creatures) who help you? Here's your chance. If the owner is as friendly as he/she seems, you can try to befriend them in return. Perhaps even more. You've lived in an overcrowded city far too long, you long for something... exotic... to eventually claim as your own. If you feel yourself connect to the other equine in a strange, unusual way, don't fight it. It'll be alright, for you and for her; if she eventually comes to act exactly as you tell her to, who are you to deny such a gift? It's not like you did anything evil, you are merely connecting to her...

Once you have bound the zebra to you, have her be you slave and companion.

For some reason the luxury of the bed doesn't carry you off to dreamland. It might have been disconcerting, but you're able to reach a half-state that feels like you imagine being high should feel, so you're fine. Throughout the rest of the day you remain more or less in the wondrous invention, save for the occasional call of nature that needs answering. Even then it's a struggle to leave the bed, because you do not think it's possible to overstate how BUCKING AWESOME this bed is. You do in fact at some point ask Zecora where she got it from, and she says something about a mattress and quill store... though you probably heard that wrong because that makes no sense. But still! Awesome bed.

Zecora comes in to check on you fairly often, bringing bottles and bowls of medicine. These don't taste nearly as good as the stew, but you do tend to feel better after them. There's a bit of panic after she looks into your mouth and proceeds to declare that your tongue may have been infected as well... but she spreads an edible paste inside of your mouth that's meant to take care of that, and after a light tingle you're fairly sure it worked. Throughout the day your soreness and pain steadily decrease, until you barely notice them at all. She's constantly checking your temperature, fluffing up your pillow, checking your covers, bringing you water, and you can't help but think... this must be what having a mother feels like.

Well maybe not a mother... that would be creepy because you totally want to rut Zecora. A maid! That's better. A sexy maid with one of those little costumes, showing off her gorgeous flanks whenever she bends over. A maid that brings you wine on a tray on her back. stockings on her legs, laying back on the bed with her hind-legs open and a blush on her face, ready and willing to serve but still nervous and demure, and softly moaning as you run your tongue up alon-

DAMNIT!

You shake your head violently, a flush on your face as your groin starts acting up again. No, no, no! You're not going to clop in her bed! That would be just wrong! And bucking rude! No, bad penis, stay down! Gaaah!

... Still, penis tamed and perversion aside, it would be really nice to have somepony devoted to your every want and need... really really nice... Somepony who was yours and only yours, nopony elses... and it would be really nice if that pony was Zecora...

Zecora visits once more as the night falls, bringing you a small red bottle of some kind of weird yellow-purplish liquid, that despite it's taste is probably very good for you. After you finish downing the substance, Zecora puts a hoof to your head checking your temperature, and smiles encouragingly.

"Good, you are making progress for sure. By the morrow you may even be cured."

Spoke Zecora with a light smile as she placed the bottle right at the window, letting the moonlight hit the red surface, casting a pale milky red pattern down onto the bed. You watch the light, fascinated as Zecora turns and moves towards the doorway.

"I'll check on you upon morning's light, and now my friend I bid thee good night."

Spoke the zebra, prompting you to tear your way from the impromptu light show and furrow your brows, looking after Zecora.

"Wait, do you have another bed?" You ask, curious, as Zecora stops and looks back to you with a soft smile.

"Do not worry I implore, I am quite fine upon the floor."

She stated, waving her front-right hoof like it was no big deal. Your jaw dropped and your mouth went wide as you looked at her in shock.

"On the floor?!" You ask, awestruck not at the idea of sleeping on a floor, but rather at this beautiful exotic creature from a far away realm not getting to use her own damn bed because you happened to be in it. It was a disgrace!

"Really, it's f-"

"No it is not fine!" You interrupt the toned zebra, pushing off the covers and pulling your still rather sluggish body out of the bed, getting down onto the floor as Zecora turns to you with surprise.

"The night is cold, the floor is hard, and there is a perfectly good bed here! I will not see you forced down onto the floor for my sake!"

"B-"

"No buts!" You say, waving your front-right hoof in an emphatic dismissal of refusal.

"This is your bed and you're going to sleep in it! I will not push you out of your own bed in your own home!" You say, before smiling at the wide-eyed zebra, and speaking more gently.

"Besides, I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing I was putting you out for the night." You say, to which Zecora blinks, bites her lip for a moment, and lowers her head a bit. You swear you can see a faint blush on her cheeks as she responds.

"I... very well, we'll bunk for the night, if that is what you feel is right."

She spoke, before giving you a bit of an awkward smile and bringing her front-right hoof up to her mouth to cough into slightly.

"Ahem, ah let me order my home with utmost care, and then for tonight this bed w-we shall share."

She stated, a bit nervously you thought before turning and moving away from you, out of the archway, leaving you standing there in the room, thinking a few things.

'YES!' Was one of them. 'Where the buck did that come from?!' Was another. And then 'Oh Celestia's tits I'm going to be in the same bed as her!' Was the third. You shook off thoughts one through three to take deep calming breaths, your face flushed, and turn to almost gallop back to the bed. You get in quickly and shove yourself against the wall on the far side of the bed, giving her plenty of room so as to not appear remotely threatening.

The moments turn to millennia as you wait, covers pulled up over your body, heart pounding, and sweat starting to form in droplets on your coat. The red light from the bottle fades as a black cloud covers the moon ending your only legitimate distraction, and time marches on at a snail's pace that makes you crave and fear every second, as the one that might be the moment where she comes to bed... And almost jump as the lights are extinguished in the rest of the hut. The moon shines light once more, and you see the form of Zecora entering into the doorway.

The beautiful Zebra holds a spare pillow in her mouth, and seems to be hesitating in the doorway. For a few brief moments your heart pounds in panic, that she will or won't come to bed you're not sure. But then she trots forward, over to the bed, and tossed the pillow onto the side opposite of you. She reaches down and pulls up the covers, once again with pale milky red light dancing across them, and slides into her bed. You stay perfectly still as she shifts position, getting comfortable her movements vibrating through the mattress so that you can feel them, before she settles, facing away from you and pulling the covers up to cover her body. Zecora waits like that for a few moments before speaking in a soft voice.

"Sweet dreams be to thee... and welcome to the Everfree."

Her voice caresses your ears as you stare at her figure in the moonlight, before gulping, and closing your eyes.

"Thank you Zecora... goodnight, sweet dreams."

You say softly, and then breathe in deeply out slowly, willing yourself to calm down, be cool, and get some sleep... Get some sleep... go to bucking sleep...

You furrow your brows a bit as sleep seems to have trouble coming, and shift your position a little, letting tiredness move throughout your limbs, and try to sink into slumber, opposite of Zecora in her bed... and as after more than a few counted sheep that seems fruitless you sigh, and open your eyes, looking up into the dark, thinking on your situation, on your life, and on the mare right next to you.

MUTATION GAINED: Charming Tongue: Residual magic has been collected to alter the Host's tongue to slightly resonate with perception and mental magic that has an effect on vocal emissions, increasing the attractiveness of the host's voice to listeners, giving a slight increase to the importance of the Host's vocally emitted mood, as well as increasing the validity of the host's statements. Also, the Host's tongue is now purple.

Author's Note

Heya. Okay... Zecora is hard to write for. And the number of times I had to write and rewrite this to make it work right... Still not sure I actually succeeded. So if you have any complaints about Zecora's rhyming scheme... don't. Please just don't.

Anyways, I am sorry that this chapter took longer than the others. However this actually might become a pattern. School's coming up and despite all evidence to the contrary I do have a life. I'm probably not going to be able to keep up the previous pace. Still, I'll try not to drag my heels on things.

Now as for explicit content. I rated this story Mature with a sex tag for the sole purpose of being prepared if things went sexual. I do realize that some people might not want outright pornography shoved into their face so right now I'm planning to simply make two chapters when/if things get explicit. One with the explicit pornographic content and the other skimming over it with suggestion it happened. Will see how that works and how feasible it is over time.

Flanking Manuever

"What do you do?"

Why, you go get breakfast of course! Or, lie in bed and watch Zecora's plot as she makes it. That's good too.

First, the most important meal of the day, breakfast. Make sure to watch the loveliness that is Zebra plot in motion while she works.

You're still exhausted, even after sleeping like a rock. Good thing Zecora is apparently making breakfast; maybe she'll give you a little show like last time? It's so sexy when your Zebra works her toned body and you sit there and watch. Doubly so when she's working on something for you, makes you feel big and important! It's not like you're lazy, you just couldn't sleep well yesterday.

You close your eyes and breathe in the sweet scent of the boiling concoction, saturating the air. The smell is powerful, spice-filled, comprised of foreign ingredients and chemicals plucked from the unknown depths of the Everfree. The popping and hissing of the bubbling brew fills your ears as it boils, along with the faint hum of the mare who has brought the cauldron to such a great heat. You don't need to look to know who's making the aromatic brew, but you turn to gaze from beneath the covers anyway, and your eyes immediately thank you for your gracious action...

Swish. Swish. Swish-Swish-Swish.

Zecora is shaking her plot, in time with an unfamiliar but hypnotic tune, a faint hum coming from her mouth as she shakes her toned flank to the music in her head. Her tail swishes back and forth as she stands on her hind legs, waving her hips and leaning over the cauldron, stirring it with the bamboo stick tucked between her forehooves. The way she's leaning pushes her plot out towards you for your viewing pleasure, giving you a very clear view of her sexy zebra butt as she shakes. And as the icing on the cake, with her tail moving back and forth with the beat in her head, you catch regular peeks at her marehood... foreign zebra pussy. Nice, soft, and tight, as you know from experience...

You lick your lips. Right now breakfast has a SIGNIFICANT challenger for your attention.

It's a real enticement to just lay there beneath the covers and watch your zebra shake her flank, screw breakfast... Or make a move and have her for breakfast... But a loud growl from your stomach decides between dinner and a show for you, much to your chagrin. Zecora stopped partying with her plot, and turned to look over her right shoulder towards you, blinking slightly with surprise, and then smiling warmly.

"Ah you're awake my dear!

Go ahead and be seated, breakfast is near."

She states cheerfully. You suppress a sigh of disappointment at the cessation of the show, then smirk and look to her with a raised eyebrow, meeting her eyes with an amused gaze.

"Awww, and here I was hoping I'd get to keep watching you boogey like it's your birthday." You say with a grin, causing Zecora to blink once more, then blush, a tinge of red staining her cheeks as she turned her gaze to look back to the cauldron in front of her, before stammering out-

"I-I woke up quite cheerful this day. And felt the need to, uh, par-tay."

She spoke, blushing a deeper shade of red and lowering her head. You chuckle softly, then get up to your hooves stretching your legs and arching your back. Your groan with the pleasure of limbering up your sore muscles, before you shake your head, and shrug the covers off of your body and onto the floor. You reach back with your right forehoof and rub your neck, rolling your head side to side, trying to get the stiffness out, before lowering your hoof back down to the floor and walking up to the blushing zebra.

You step up to her left, and straighten up a bit, wrapping your left forehoof around her shoulders. You lean in close to the pretty zebra, and whisper into her ear with a playful grin.

"Never has a lovelier mare been more deserving of a par-tay. Or looked better doing it..." You speak gently, then nibble on Zecora's ear playfully, taking the tip gently in your teeth and applying pressure softly. Zecora closes her eyes and shivers from the intimate contact, blushing all the deeper, from flattery or mounting desire you're not sure. For a moment you think she's going to forget the brew and get to some real cooking... then your stomach cockblocks you again with another ill-timed growl.

You look down to your stomach as Zecora turns her gaze to your gut... Then you simultaneously look up into each other's eyes. And she cracks up. She starts to chortle, trying to suppress the laughter with her right forehoof coming up to her mouth. Seeing her crack up causes you to break out into a smile, and then start to chuckle. As you chuckle, she moves her hoof and lets the suppressed chortling become full on laughter. Her laughter infects you and you start to laugh along, and before you know it you're both just leaning on each other, laughing your guts out, and you're not even really sure why! You're just with her, and happy, and it feels good to laugh! ... How long has it been since you last got to laugh...?

The ridiculous but joyful giggling lasts for only a few minutes before you and Zecora manage to get control of yourselves. The errant chuckle still passes through your bodies as you both pant, catching your breaths. You breathe in deep, then chuckle softly once more, shaking your head with a soft sigh, and rubbing Zecora's shoulders lightly with your left forehoof.

"W-well. Heheh... Guess I should sit and wait for breakfast huh?" You ask, a warm smile on your face as you look back up to Zecroa, and giggle just a little more from the rhetorical question. With a smirk, your zebra snuggle bug replies.

"That you should lover mine, and try to behave yourself this time."

She spoke, playfully nuzzling your neck, then turning her attention back towards the cauldron and the brew that, hopefully, hasn't gotten burned during your giggle-fit. You unwrap your forehoof from her shoulders with a smirk.

"Eh, behaving's overrated." You tease playfully, but turn and move over to the table, obeying the chef's wishes for an unfortunate lack of kisses. You sit down at the table, once again on the side that bears the cut from your little... episode. Zecora's assertion of the nearness of dinner turns out to be true, and soon enough she's pouring the still steaming liquid from a ladle into a wooden bowl. She fills one, then sets it down on the table next to the cauldron, before filling a second one in a similar manner, and then finally a third.

After she poured the third bowl, she slid it onto her back, balancing it perfectly as she laid the ladle aside, and turned to give you a warm smile.

"Hold for a moment if that is fine, I must help Trixie to dine."

She stated simply, before turning and walking towards the bedroom doorway.

You frowned as you watched her leave, the image of her moving plot not really cheering you up this time. You're not entirely sure that it was fine... Trixie was such a lazy cunt, and Zecora was incredible. Zecora shouldn't have to serve Trixie... And, not that this was a major thing, but... it would have been nice if she'd put your bowl down first... You mean, it wouldn't be so hard to do that and then go to Trixie, would it? But no it's fine. It is fine. Zecora is going to come back, sit down, and you two are going to eat together. And that will be that.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, after some muffled conversation Zecora walked back out of the doorway. She had a smile on her face but her right eye seemed to be twitching slightly... It seemed that the conversation with Trixie was trying, as any interaction would be with the bitch. You resisted the urge to question Zecora as to Trixie's actions as she moved straight to the table next to the cauldron, obviously eager to get away from the unpleasantness of Trixie and to the enjoyment of a meal. She picked up the bowls of steaming liquid and slid them onto her back. She breathed in deep, then sighed out slowly... before turning to look to you with a warm smile on her face, steaming bowls on her back, and walking towards you, speaking pleasantly.

"And now my friend so sweet, let us with this meal the morning greet."

ANYHOW! You still need to work on that anti-Changeling-Zebra mojo. Zecora might be hesitant to tell you much though, despite you deserving her trust. On the other hoof, you can show her that you're smart! Ask her whether there's some possible connection, or if they work similarly and could counter each other, maybe even fight off an attacking Changeling. Superponies need to be prepared! You really do want to learn what you can! If she clams up, well, then you need to bring this up at a later time;

The meal was placed before you first, you noted with a strange feeling of satisfaction, and was of course delicious. Zecora's cooking never failed to disappoint. This time around it was a kind of bright orange concoction, a little thick, with pieces of an unknown yellow substance floating within. You did not, of course, have even the faintest idea of what was inside the brew. But certain aspects of the taste reminded you of oranges, and it was sweet, like candy. In what was becoming a pattern you finished half of your bowl while Zecora had barely started hers. The difference seemed to be in your methods. While you tipped the bowl back heavily, Zecora sipped from hers demurely. It occurred you that you might, in fact, be defying table manners, going so emphatically after the deliciousness that was Zecora's cooking. But you were hungry, so buck it.

As you continued to eat, you began to ponder your existence, mainly, what you still needed to do within it.

You still needed to train... Now Zecora was going into town today, so not this morning it seemed like. Maybe sometime after she got back? Maybe. But you can't really wait that long, you're eager to get your superpony shit together! You'll get some training in after she leaves and then train again with her later if she wants.

What else... Ah, clothing. You'll ask Zecora to pick you up something on her way out. Another robe? Nah, trench coat. Definitely trench coat. Trench coats are bucking boss. Oooh! Pegasus style, because of your rods, you'll have to remember that to.

And you still haven't really covered how to fight Changelings with Zecora yet. Anti-mind magic and all that. It seems like a necessary topic to cover. After all this is the Everfree! And nopony knows where the Changelings came from in the first place. It's best to be prepared. And why not ask her now? Why she's nice and amiable and enjoying a good meal. Seems like a good time to broach a potentially sensitive topic.

With that thought shining in your noggin, you clear your throat and look up to the zebra.

"Hey, Zecora?" AKA Lovebug, sweet-rump, snuggle-boo, and a million other nicknames that you AREN'T verbalizing for her.

"Hm?"

She asked in response, looking up from her stew to your eyes.

"You know the changeling attack on Canterlot?" You asked simply, and Zecora, after a moments pause, nodded her head slowly, arching her right eyebrow at this unusual query.

"Well do you have any ways to stop thought-magic and mind-spells like the ones they used? I remember that they did something weird to that stallion... whats-his-name? The one that married Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" You ask, your right eyebrow raised as you question the zebra. Zecora seemed to smirk slightly for a moment, finding something funny, before speaking.

"Shining Armor is his name, who to the Princess laid a claim."

Stated Zecora simply, before looking back down to her stew, and then furrowing her brows in thought.

"There are counters to foul enchantments that lay siege to the mind, in the training I'll share with you I think you'll find.

And also other techniques and spells and charms, that may prevent your mind coming to harm.

While these I do not think are needed, perhaps it is best caution be heeded.

If you are curious I'll help you look, when I return we will crack open a book."

She stated simply, before going back to sipping her stew. You nodded with a light smile.

"Thank you Zecora."

You stated simply, one item off your check-list and out of your mind for concerns, as you looked back down to your stew, and realized that it was empty...

"Ummmm..." You stated again, causing Zecora to look up to you, raising her right eyebrow once more.

"... Seconds?"

After breakfast, well, Zecora mentioned she'd try to go into town today, you're clearly in no... shape... to follow her. Ask her to get a trench-coat for you while out. Of course if you get a trench-coat you need a bad-arse hat to go with it. You can't have a trench-coat without a hat.

I agree with Archivist, make sure to talk with Zecora about a trench coat...and hat, the next time she goes into town.

Listen up pony, you have an issue that needs to be addressed. You're a superpony now, what do all the comics you read as a foal have in common about superponies? Thats right, a secret identity and a disguise. The trench coat will be a good start, but no one can know who you are.

Nomad

The meal passed by quickly, with Zecora finishing after you of course. You took the opportunity to just sit back on your haunches, patting your belly with your forehooves for a bit, a smile on your face. With a warm feeling in your gut and a cheerful outlook, you conclude that bliss is a full stomach. And mares. And superpony abilities. And bits probably wouldn't hurt. And-Bliss is a lot of things buck it!

Zecora cleaned up as you basked in the feeling, placing the wooden bowls on top of each other on the table beside the cauldron. By the time you looked back down from the ceiling in your full bliss and to the zebra, she was pulling on her saddle-baskets. Your eyes widened.

Buck, she's leaving right now?! Gah, got to go ahead and address item two on your mental slot section before she goes! Fashion is a must!

You shook your brain, your head just happening to go along with it, before looking back to the mare as she tightened the strap around her mid-section, before speaking in a calm but busy tone.

"And now I hope you can boredom stave, and at the same time behave.

I'll be back before the night falls, make sure to answer Trixie if she calls."

She stated, as she went over to take her bamboo staff into her teeth.

"Um, sure." You spoke, frowning a bit at that Trixie part as Zecora slipped the bamboo through the loop on her back. Then you licked your lips, cleared your throat, and made a move to get to your hooves.

"Hey, Zecora, while you're out could you pick something up for me?" You asked, as Zecora finished slipping the bamboo through the slot and turned her gaze back to you, a helpful smile on her face.

"Your request I am happy to heed, tell me my friend, what do you need?"

She asked, as you finally managed to get up onto your hooves, wobbling a little, the full feeling of your stomach throwing off your balance. You shook your head once more, and looked back up to the mare with a smile of your own.

"Well I was just thinking. I don't exactly look normal. I doubt I could go into town without causing some kind of panic, I mean, just look at me! I'm freaky as buck! So I need something to help me be a little less, conspicuous... and what is absolutely perfect for that is a trench coat!" You spoke brightly, cheerfully, proud of your obviously intelligent decision.

... Zecora blinked.

"Oh! And a fedora." You added, before nodding sagely.

"Can't have a trenchcoat without a fedora. And the trench coat needs to be black, and the fedora needs to be the same color as the trenchcoat. Oh! And the trenchcoat also needs to be pegasus style because, well, you know, rods, in the back, and such, need to have room for them to expand. So yeah, just pick that up for me on your way out, kay?"

You requested pleasantly. Zecora, in response, bit her bottom lip, and looked down and to the left for a few moments... Before looking back up to you, licking her lips, and speaking slowly, choosing her words carefully.

"That task may be a difficult one to do... there is only one pony in town who could make a trench coat for you.

She would insist on measurements made directly, she does not craft clothing if it is not done correctly...

And while she may be convinced to make the trip, it may be harder to convince her not to, er, gossip..."

Spoke Zecora slowly, lowering her gaze once more, a bit nervous.

As a secondary thought, if Zecora happens to return with a purple maned white unicorn, proceed as follows:

Don't stare at her plot

Hold still while she measures you

Make sure the coat is in pegasus style so the rods can extend without ripping it.

Nomad

Staring at that plot is BAD. BAAAAD. Now little one... make a new friend.

Chessmaster

You furrowed your brows... She was reluctant to introduce you to her friend? A mare friend? Because she was worried she'd talk? ... Perhaps Zecora was more worried that introducing you to such a friend would cause you to be sexually interested in her. Perhaps she was still feeling a little jealous, or didn't trust you, and that was why she was so reluctant to bring her to you to take measurements. Well you couldn't exactly prove her wrong unless she brought her friend here could she? In which case you'd be a gentepony and not stare at her plot, assuming it was a good one of course. Well, Zecora was probably over-stating the potential danger... But then again she knew her friend best, so...

You smiled, and brought your left forehoof up to Zecora's chin, lifting it up so that you could gaze into her eyes.

"It's okay, I trust you. Do what you think is best..." You spoke gently, moving your forehoof from her chin to stroke her cheek gently.

"I won't be able to go into town though without that trenchcoat... I'm going to need it Zecora. I can't travel amongst pony-kind without it..." You spoke, before leaning forward and planting a gentle kiss on Zecora's lips... She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath as your lips met, interlocking for several moments... Before you leaned back, smiling lightly, as Zecora let out a shivering sigh, and opened her eyes once again to look into yours.

"I will see what I can do... But I will try to find a way for you."

She spoke, before giving you a soft smile.

"And now my friend I have chores to run. I shall return before the setting sun."

She stated simply, and then she turned, breaking contact and swishing her tail as she walked over to the door, pushed it open, and walked out to do her chores, stopping only to push the door closed back behind her, leaving you alone in the hut with the her books, her potions, her masks, that weird chest... and the showmare.

Once that is done, it's time for you to train. Every Superpony needs to have a full understanding of his abilities and limits.

Afterwards start experimenting with you abilities, err, outside the house. We don't want anything more broken. Outside the bedroom window maybe? I'm certain Miss Third Person could use a demonstration out what could happen if she really bucked you off.

Archivist

instead train your abilities. They really are a blessing, no matter what your Zebra thinks. They got you to meet the most important thing in your life: Zecora.

"HIYA! WAH! HAH! HOOPA!"

Outside, you go through what you call training. Other ponies might call it flailing around wildly with a sword sticking out from your forehoof in an attempt to hit the air. Buck other ponies.

It was fairly obvious that you needed to practice with your abilities. Superponies weren't just born super after all, they did all sorts of shit to get better, usually because they got their flanks handed to them on a silver platter early on by the first baddie they meet, who then typically becomes secondary or a minor part to a bigger baddy later. Which, um, wasn't entirely relevant to this decision so-

ANYWAYS! You decided to head out into the front and start practicing. You briefly thought about walking around to the back to perform your feats of superpony supremacy in front of the bedroom window, just to interrupt Trixie's sleep and make her see how her talent pales in comparison to yours. But then you remembered the time you got lost in the Everfree and while it might not be entirely rational, you're now terrified of losing your way again, to the point that you're afraid just walking around to the back of the hut will get you lost in the deep dark of the Everfree...

The first time was terrifying! Buck it, it might be irrational but... Well, you chose to practice out front, in familiar territory. Even if the smell was a little weird. Zecora's cloak was still laying out front by the door, folded up and dirty and bloody. In the course of the night it had been rained on. Far from cleaning it, it seemed to just make it damp. And kinda weird smelling, musky, like a mixture of dirt, blood, fungus, and cloth. You weren't really sure what all the smells were. But you decided to steer clear all the same and just get to practicing in the front. Of course, you realized when you started that you actually had a rather humungous problem... You only had one bucking thing to practice with. The sword. Everything else was off the damn table.

Without storm clouds you couldn't do anything with your rods. You held them up for a bit, hoping that they'd catch like residual energy in the sky from the storm last night or something. But they didn't. Without lightning they were pretty much just pegasus envy personified on your back. Though you did notice that they seemed to make a fairly loud thud when you slammed them back onto your back in frustration... And stung. Should probably remember that they're metal and you're flesh next time.

And then every other ability seemed to just kind of happen on it's own. You could maybe test out your regeneration by throwing yourself into a tree, or cutting yourself with your sword or some shit like that. But most experts agreed that intentionally injuring yourself was a bucking bad idea. And of all the stupid ways to die, testing your regeneration limits and just happening to go past that limit, like cutting off your own damn head to find out that you don't regenerate your body, seemed like a REALLY stupid way to die.

And all that left was the blade, which you already knew how to summon and dismiss, so not much to do there. Though you did make a discovery. You summoned and unsummoned it for a few minutes at first, just to make sure you'd gotten the hang of it. You had as you thought. You could make it appear and dissolve pretty damn quick, not much room for improvement. But then you thought on how you always used your left hoof, and had never actually tried to make it pop out anywhere else... You dissolved it, and this time pictured the blade coming out of your right... And it did. It was harder this time, you had to concentrate, and it was slower, but the blade appeared on your right hoof instead of your left. Multi-hoof blade proficiency for the win!

So, in summary, you were now practicing with the blade weight. Getting your hooves used to the physical exertion of movement while manifesting the blade, something you think you can at least do, alternating between your right and left hooves every fifteen or so minutes. And also exercising in the process. You hadn't really had much opportunity for physical exertion back in Manehatten, and your time in the Everfree forest has seen you running around, tripping, fighting, and generally engaging in more physical exertion than you've done in years... maybe ever. It's only because you're a superpony that you haven't fainted several times over, or yah know, died.

And for the most part that's that. You spend about an hour flailing around like an idiot. Near to the end you're exhausted, with sweat coating your coat, and your mane. Your breathe comes heavily, and you can hear your heart thumping away in your chest... You're considering calling it a day for practice, but then decide to give one more try to the flailing with the blade sprouting from your right hoof. This time you're tired though, and during one of your flails you stumble, spin as you loose your hoofing, and manage to strike your blade against a tree and-

THHHHHUUUUUUNNNNKKKKK!!!!

The sword vibrated inside of the tree that it pierced, continuing the sound of blade hitting wood well past the initial contact, until finally it stopped the vibration, becoming still once more... You blink. ... ... That is... ... new.

With a confused arch of your brows, you pull on your blade, and after a bit of effort tug it out of the wood, only for it to-

HUUUUuuuuuummmmm...

In the air as it vibrated from being pulled out of the tree.

... Interesting... Ummmmm... Something to look into... kinda? Maybe?

You shake your head. You're too tired for this shit. You've sweated and worked out enough for now you're pretty sure. Your aching muscles agree with you. You unsummon the blade, letting it dissipate back into your hoof before turning and walking back towards Zecora's hut.

... Did you really just trip over a rabbit?

Chessmaster

WHUMP!

You plant face-forward into the wood of the steps in front of Zecora's hut, and immediately shoot up, face hurting and eyes looking about wildly.

WHAT HAPPENED?!?! DID YOU TRIP OVER A RABBIT!?

You shout in your mind... Then blink, furrowing your brows, looking down to your hooves.

Uh no, you tripped over the bottom step of the stairs... why did you think it was a rabbit? You furrow your brows for a moment, then shrug it off, and let your haunches fall with a-

THUMP

Back onto the steps as you sigh, sitting down. If you're so tired that you trip over the first step of the stairs, then you're obviously too tired to walk up the full set without incident. Better to just sit and wait for a moment, catch your breath, let your muscles rest.

It's a nice morning, isn't it? Your beloved zebra is making breakfast, you didn't sleep uncomfortably, no rain, no cold, just you snuggled up to the mare of your dreams. All things taken into consideration, things really have become better ever since you got this "curse", haven't they? In fact, you've become a super-pony since then. Life is looking up.

But that really makes you think, doesn't it? You're stuck in the Everfree Forest, the most dangerous place in Equestria, your body has been changed and mutated extensively, and yet you're still better off than you were in Manehattan. Why is this? Because you were born without a cutie mark? Just think of how they shunned you because you didn't fit into their idea of "order", of how they wouldn't give you any chances. Isn't it true that you were cursed since birth, in all actuality? Cursed to live without a cutie mark, cursed to live as an outcast. But that's different now. Zecora's taken you in, shown common decency and morality. Unlike to Manehattan ponies. Zecora really is incredibly compassionate. Far more compassionate than, say Celestia. Just think about it, my friend! All those years you lived on the streets, starving, cold and sick! And yet at the same time sat this so-called "Benevolent Princess", wearing expensive jewelry, sleeping in huge, comfy beds and eating cake every day! She never helped you! All she did was help herself! You were left to rot while she lived the high life! But Zecora's not like that. Zecora's far better than those tyrants called the princesses. Hell, I bet you could become a far better ruler, especially with Zecora as your sexy, sexy consort. I'd say it's pretty clear that neither the princesses nor their followers have ever done you any favors. Why should you even consider them your rulers? None of them deserve your respect, your loyalty, or your obeisance!

It's a nice morning. The Everfree, when it's not trying to kill you, is quite beautiful, the lighting just bright enough to illuminate through the thick canopies of the forest, without being overly harsh to the eyes. Mornings in Manehatten were beautiful to, though you couldn't appreciate them for long. The bright reflections on the glass were fascinating to look at, but it got pretty bright and wound up hurting your eyes. Maybe if you'd found some shades you could have appreciated the light shows better.

Manehatten... Literally every second of your life except for a couple days ago had been spent in Manehatten. You'd think you'd feel at least a little homesick, but that's just not the case. It's not that you don't have good memories. Well, you can remember good things about it anyways, mostly related to the architecture and light-play, as well as certain fascinating magazines found in your dumpster diving exploits. But you don't miss it. At all. Maybe it was because most of your life spent there was bucking miserable. That seems like it'd do it. And now here you are, in the Everfree forest, and in the last couple of days, with dangerous things trying to kill you every bucking day, you've accomplished more and felt more alive than you ever did in Manehatten... ... ... What the buck?

No, seriously, what the buck!? What in the name of Celestia is going on here!? You've been through life-threatening situation after life-threatening situation, attacked, nearly killed multiple times, and you're happier here than you've ever been in Manehatten! You've mutated and become a freak of nature! You have damn metal rods jutting out of your body and can summon a blade at whim out of your hoof! That shit's not normal! And yet here, in the wild, in the most dangerous place on the entire bucking planet, you are happier than you ever were in the cosmopolitan city of Manehatten... ... It's crazy.

And you know what else is crazy? Continuing to swear by Celestia. Buck it she never heard you when you asked her for help all those times, on your knees in the cold, praying to her... and if she did she's a royal cunt. But most probably she didn't hear you. Not a goddess, just an old ruler with lots of power who happens to lift the sun every day and pour light down onto Equestria. But what of it? The society she made chewed you up and spat you out. And here in the dark and gloomy Everfree you're happier than you ever were in the shining Manehatten, glinting with it's glass and steel. So buck her.

That's right, buck Celestia! What's she ever done for you anyways!? Did she come down from her high and mighty Canterlot castle to help you? Show you your purpose in life, help you overcome all the hatred and bigotry that haunted your every damn moment since you were a foal!? Buck no! So buck her, buck Equestria, and buck everything else! The Everfree's your home now! Outside of her dominion, and outside of her law! You'll make your own law, and everypony else can go to Tartarus! ... Except Zecora. Zecora's awesome.

You sigh, bringing your front right hoof up to rub your forehead, taking deep breaths, calming down ... Well... so much for appreciating the sublime beauty of the Everfree in the morning. Ugh, might as well get back inside... do something productive. Maybe read.

You nod slightly to yourself, then shake your head, and grit your teeth a bit as you raise yourself up on your hooves, the ache in your muscles still fresh. You turn towards the door and walk up the rest of the steps, shrugging off the tiredness from your limbs, and pushing open the door...

Once that is done, make sure to put that arrogant showmare FIRMLY in her place. Wait until Zecora heads into town for supplies, then proceed to lay down the law. Ponies like Trixie need a firm hoof to guide them, or else they wind up getting into trouble.

And one of the reasons why is blue, bitchy, and angling to have you put more stripes on her butt than the butt you already sleep next to. Ugh. Let's hope Trixie is more reasonable this morning, or you really will have to put a muzzle on her. And a leash. And some cuffs, just to make sure. They would look good on her coat. And then watch Zecora teach the Small and Helpless Trixie some "tricks", that'd be fun...

What's not good, is you're not actually in your bed at this time. Bucking Illusionist, she'd better apologise for her behaviour yesterday or... well, you'll think of something that causes the appropriate lack evidence.

During that time you can also make sure that The Great and Narcissistic is intimately aware of just how displeased you are with her behaviour.

You stood outside, with the door open...looking... then blinking. And then trying to comprehend what you were seeing.

There are books scattered around the floor from the bookshelves. Bottles and potions just tossed about. Ancient scrolls are lying in a cluttered pile on the floor alongside bed sheets and pillows, just tossed around. And the culprit, is a very particular mare who was rummaging through Zecora's chests. Trixie, one who would claim to be great and powerful, was half-way buried in a large square trunk against the wall, plot sticking out as she tossed empty flasks and bottles out of the chest and onto the floor, digging through it.

"Where is it!? Where would she put it!?" Could be heard, coming from her head deep in the chest as she continued to toss things out.

It was not hard to grasp what is before your eyes. It wasn't difficult to understand the mixture of images and sounds that were moving into your senses. It was just difficult for you to really get that somepony could be so incredibly selfish, stupid, and ungrateful, as the pony that was before you.

You weren't actually sure how to proceed... At first you thought you felt rage, but the disbelief was making it difficult to tell. So you began to organize your thoughts to logical actions. And the first step was, of course, to walk in and close the door behind you.

WHAM!

That was more of a slam than a close you supposed, but the objective was completed.

"AAAH!" Trixie let out a cry of surprise, tinged with fear and quickly shot up out of the trunk, whirling around to look towards you. Her head still bandaged, though the bandages looked fresher, like they'd been changed recently. Trixie looked wide eyed for a moment, then as she saw you she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, it's YOU." She spoke, distaste clear in her voice... Apparently your sleep-whispering didn't take. The amount of disrespect she showed for both you and Zecora is immense. Too immense. You're pretty sure you were enraged by now, but for some reason you couldn't bring it to your voice. What came out was very calm, very even, and very cold.

"What do you think you're doing?" You asked, already knowing the answer.

"Hmph! The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie, does not have to answer that question!" Was the arrogant mare's response, lifting her bandaged head up and to the left, nose-up at you, putting on a façade over the nervousness. You ignored that and moved on, still talking with a perfectly calm and level tone.

"Well that's alright because I can see what you're doing. You, arrogant spoiled cunt that you are, are rifling through the possessions of the zebra that saved your life, and scattering them about on the floor like they were nothing. You ungrateful whorse."

You stated plainly, causing Trixie's mouth to open, and her eyes to go wide with shock and anger, flabbergasted at you. She struggled for a few moments to find the words, then shook her head and fixed you with a legitimately angry glare as she finally spoke.

"Y-you have no right to talk to Trixie like-"

"RIGHT!?!? RIGHT!?!?! I HAVE EVERY BUCKING RIGHT!!!" Ah, there's the rage. Even more than you expected actually, as you shouted and then rushed forward towards the insolent mare. She backed up as you practically galloped towards her, tripping back into the case she'd just been rifling through, eyes wide.

Reaching her, you gripped her with your forehooves, and in one motion pulled her out and threw her bodily onto the ground.

"Oof!"

She sounded, winded from the impact, then turning onto her back on the floor, gritting her teeth and glaring bloody murder at you.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-"

She started to rage, but didn't really get a chance to finish as your blade shot out shot out of your right forehoof. Trixie's tongue suddenly stopped wagging and her eyes turned to pinpricks. You brought the blade forward, and touched the tip of it to her neck, just hard enough to barely prick the skin, a small droplet of blood forming beneath the tip on her fur. She began to shake violently, eyes beginning to tear up and a weak whimper coming from her throat. You half-expected her to urinate herself. Then you spoke, once again, the cold calm back in your voice.

"You seem to be under some serious delusions as to who has what right. I'm going to help teach you the meaning of respect. And if you offer one word of complaint, or refuse my instructions, then I'm going to cut some pretty little scars into your body. Understood?"

You ask, to which Trixie visibly gulps, and manages to weakly nod.

"Good. Now turn over, raise your flank up in the air, and lift your tail. Remember Trixie. Not a word."

You lifted the blade away from Trixie's neck, watching the little red drop spill out into a small streak in her fur, and stepped back, holding it up as you watched the mare slowly turn onto her side, still shaking, and then fall onto her front. She seemed to hesitate for a moment then, but looked back to your blade, and then gulped. She let out a soft whimper, and raised her plot up in the air, and then finally, after another whimper, squeezing her wet eyes shut, lifted up her tail, revealing her pretty little plot. Not toned like Zecora's but still nice and well-curved.

You smiled lightly, running your eyes over her flank and exposed marehood, taking a moment to appreciate. There was a strange feeling in your head as you brought your blade back down to touch to her flank, pressing the cold crystalline blade against her fur.

"W-what are you-"

SCHLICK!

"AAAHHH!" Trixie screamed, as you pulled your blade across the surface of her flanks, opening a slim shallow cut, blood running down her plot, and a thin line coating the edge of your blade.

"Apparently you're too stupid to follow basic instructions. I'll say it again. Do. Not. Speak." You chided, annoyed, then slowly brought your blade up, holding it high.

"And now I'm going to do what your mother apparently neglected to do when you were a filly." You spoke calmly, before bringing down the flat of the blade, hard against her plot.

WHAP!

Whap!

whap.

whap.

The echo was beautiful, vibrating from the blade and off the walls of the hut, making a cacophony of noise from just that simple strike. But as beautiful as that is, it didn't excite you quite like the mare's scream.

"AAAAGGHHH!!!" Trixie cried out at the strike, pain etched through her voice. Normally you would think she was overselling it, but with a cut already in her flank, red cascading down and streaking her fur, you think that the cry was just about right for the pain. You grinned. This was going to be more effective than you thought.

WHAP!

Whap!

whap.

whap.

"AAAGGGGGHHHH!!!"

WHAP!

Whap!

whap.

whap.

"YEEEAAAGGGHHH!!!"

WHAP!

Whap!

whap.

whap.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!!! 'Sob' HAAAHAAA!!"

Trixie's tears came like a river, streaking the fur of her cheeks. The strikes from the flat of your blade were obviously hurting, while you can't judge by color because of the blood coating her fur, you were fairly certain that your strikes were leaving welts on the skin beneath her fur... Good.

WHAP!

Whap!

whap.

whap.

"YEEAAAHH!!! 'Sob' Agh, s-stop!"

SCHLICK

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! 'sob' HUUHUUHAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Another cut on her flank. More blood on your blade, and you didn't even respond. You just lifted the flat of your blade up once more, and brought it down again. And again. And again... and the mare sobbed in front of you and you felt... good.

Grow a unicorn horn to achieve that goal drink the blood of the resident unicorn not all but a pint should be enough. Magic is an valuable asset and useful.

Several strikes later, and Trixie was laying on the floor, no longer able to keep her flank up in the air, sobbing into the wood, whimpering and crying with blood coating her flank... and your blade. The ruby red was dripping down, coating the sides, nice and pretty. You examined the red rubies on your blue crystal, and smiled lightly... It was beautiful. Then, on a whim, you leaned forward, and you licked. You ran your tongue along the flat of the blade, up and over, collecting the red, tasting it's sweet coppery flavor. You closed your eyes and breathed in the scent of Trixie's blood, savored the taste... And you couldn't help but think... how nice it would be to be a unicorn...

Suddenly a pain shot into your skull, and you collapsed onto your knees, breathing heavily, squeezing your eyes shut, and letting out a-

"AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!" From your throat, a pained cry of your own, as something burst out of your skull...

MUTATION GAINED: Unicorn Horn: The host has now acquired a Unicorn Horn. This horn is capable of channeling internal magic into external manifestations, as well as allowing internal magic to connect with and influence the external world. It manifests physically as a unicorn horn, a light blue in color, smaller than the average unicorn horn size. The application of magic through the horn is at odds with the host's Earth Pony biology, and the process of using this horn will be painful and difficult for the Host, as well as extremely taxing to his stamina.

Something warm and wet rolled down your face, creeping over your fur as you opened your eyes to see Trixie staring at you with a look of horror etched upon her face, her mouth hanging open, the fur of her cheeks streaked with tears... And you knew... somehow, you just knew what it was that popped from your skull ... and you grinned, before chuckling softly, pain pounding in your head, as you spoke with a sick humor in your voice.

"Heheheheheh... Well Trixie ... Who's great and powerful now?"

Author's Note

Blegh. Tired, asleep, will keep this short.

Had some trouble mentally organizing this one. Had to physically reorganize it to get the order right, lots of cutting and pasting, hope it didn't come out too choppy.

Moved the brother question into a hidden space for next sleep session. I'm going to be doing that from now on I think so that I don't have to have him conk out too often.

CHOSEN

"YOU HAVE CHOSEN. THE STAR WILL RESPOND." Spoke the voice of the skeletal pony-abomination thing... Before turning it's green jack-o'-lantern glare back down to the three-leafed green sapling, while raising it's right forehoof up off of the ground, the hoof powdered with the dead dry dirt.

SHCLICK!

Suddenly, a small sharp bone spike shot out from his right forehoof, breaking through the bone and sending fragments of his bone flying from the hoof into the dirt, all around. He did not stop there with the self harm, bringing the spike up to his beating black heart and JAB-ing into it, the expression on his skeletal face unchanging as black blood leaked from the hole in the heart... He let the spike stay in his heart for a few moments, before YANK-ing it out, black blood splattering over his bones and into the dirt, his spike now stained a pure liquid black. After contemplating it for only a moment, he held his right forehoof up over the green sapling, a black drop forming at the tip of his stained bone-spike and-

Drip-drip-drip...

His black blood dripped from the tip of the bone spike down onto the sapling, even as the blood congealed in his heart and the black mass of his flesh began closing back over the wound, the blood on his spike remained fluid, draining up from the base to the tip as it continued to drip down onto the sapling. And as the spike turned from black back to it's original white, the sapling turned from it's original green to deepest black. With every drop of blood the color seemed to leak down through the sapling, changing it like coloring fluids mixed into milk, it dispersed itself through the plant until there was no blood on his spike... and no hint of green in the sapling.

It was only after the black blood had infested it down to it's roots that the aspirant to treehood began to grow, stretching out of the soil and up towards the storming sky, the three leaves morphing and twisting into black tendrils, curling up like branches from the growing sapling and then splitting at the ends. Two prongs emerged from each of the three tendrils, poking out sharp like thorns as the sapling stopped it's growth, several inches taller than it had been. Still young, still a sapling, still weak. But stronger, closer to it's goal, and as dark as dark could get.

From each of the splits in the three tendril branches, another leaf popped out. Two blue from the same tendril, then two green, one a darker shade than the other from another tendril. And then one red, and one purple, from the third tendril, each and every leaf seeming to only barely hold on to the branch, limping sickly from it's prong.

The eldritch creature, after observing it's hoofwork for a few moments, pulled the bone spike back into it's hoof with another-

SCHLICK!

The bone spike disappearing into the hole it had created on it's way out, before the abomination set it's hoof back down into the dirt. It's jaw clacked and tongue spasming as sound once more emanated from it's mouth.

"YOU HAVE CHOSEN. NOW REAP WHAT YOU HAVE SEWN." Spoke the abomination before turning and slowly away from the black sapling, serpentine bone tail weaving through the dirt, leaving the darkened sapling with it's six colored leaves to thrive...

STAGE TWO MUTATIONS GAINED:

DEVILISH TONGUE: Devilish Tongue continues from Charming Tongue. The Host's tongue and vocal structure have been empowered to emit an increased subsonic vocal resonance as he speaks. This resonance makes him appear more trustworthy, attractive, and honest. Ponies are more likely to believe what he says as he speaks, and the magic from his tongue also moves to eliminate and dull doubts as they appear in ponies brains. It also attempts to instill a crush on those who listen, making them feel charmed and in love with the Host, to a small degree. That effect accumulates and gains strength the longer they spend listening to the Host, though it does slowly start to fade away when they're no longer able to hear the Host's voice, over a period of days. The Host's tongue will still be, of course, purple as a purple murple.

BLOOD PRINCE'S FANGS: Blood Prince's Fangs continues from Vampony Fangs. The Blood Prince's Fangs are, unlike the Vampony Fangs, able to be retracted to the point of regular sized canines, albeit a little sharper than normal. So while the sharpness may still be off-putting they are not so obvious, and no longer interfere with the Host's speech. In addition, draining blood from unicorns more quickly replenishes the Host's magic, and now a slight intoxicant stored in the fangs is released during feeding, that causes the pony to feel a sense of elation and become a bit 'drugged up' and lessen the pain from the bite, essentially pain medication in fang form. While the fangs are not especially tougher than normal pony teeth, if broken they will regrow. Also, the medication in them takes about a day to refill, meaning that feedings after it's been used the first time will be significantly more painful for the pony being fed upon, and also disperse what medication there is.

DREAMVOID: Dreamvoid continues from Dreamless Sleep. As an additional protection method, the Host's dreamlessness now extends to anypony nearby to him while they are sleeping. He and the ponies dreaming near to him will simply not show up on Princess Luna's dream radar when she searches for those who need guidance in the night. Thus any dreams containing him or influenced by him will not be detected.

EVERFREE GUIDE: Everfree Guide continues from Everfree Whispers. In addition to directing the Host to his requested destinations, the Everfree will now warn the Host of danger in his immediate area, as well as objects or creatures of importance, trying to impart knowledge that may serve useful to him. To do this, green tendrils now extend from the host's ears to beneath his skin, creating a small number of green vine bulges beneath the skin, back behind the ears.

NIGHTMARE SWORD: The Nightmare Sword continues from the Obsidian Blade, and now whenever it strikes down an enemy it will steal the enemy's magic to recharge the Host's own magical cache located beneath the horn. In addition, it is capable of 'cutting' through magical energy, including shields and spells. It's length and sharpness has also increased, as well as the blue mist that it emits. In addition, all those struck by it who survive the blow will experience terrible nightmares every time they sleep until the wound has been healed. As a result of the increased Nightmare influence, the Host's eyes are now blue, as well as his magic.

EVERFREE NECTAR: Everfree Nectar continues from Everfree Blood. The blood in the Host's veins becomes greener and more easily able to be seen where the Host has nothing but bare skin, making his scars now a pale greenish-white. And also considerably more toxic to ingest for other ponies who aren't the Host. Feeding a pony the Host's blood will cause massive hallucinations, some damage to internal organs, and possibly some damage to their mental faculties, increasing the likelihood of insanity. It's both a poison and a drug, taking too much will kill the imbiber, however it has addictive properties as well despite this. The Host is now immune to poisons and toxins with an increased chance of resisting diseases and infections, and suffers no hampering to reflexes, increasing overall speed. Health regeneration and healing of wounds occurs far more quickly, making the Host considerably harder to kill.

Author's Note

(Okay, here's the votes as they were tallied! Hopefully I got this right and didn't make any mistakes. the first five I used because they got the most votes. The last one, was decided by a dice roll between the three options left.)

CHARMING TONGUE: Eight Votes.

VAMPONY FANGS: Seven Votes.

EVERFREE WHISPERS: Six Votes.

DREAMLESS SLEEP: Four Votes.

OBSIDIAN BLADE: Four Votes.

EVERFREE BLOOD: Three Votes.

UNICORN HORN: Three Votes.

SOMNILOQUY: Three Votes.

POISONED CHEMISTRY: Two Votes.

UNICORN MAGIC PYROMANCY FOCUS: Two Votes.

LIGHTNING ROD: Two votes.

ANTI-PETRI STOMACH GROWTHS: One Vote.

TUNING FORKS: One Vote.

(NOW! These mutations are going to show up for the next Host chapter. I'm still not sure if I'll alter the Character Progress Tracker before, or after I make that chapter. For the moment however, I hope you enjoy admiring your new toys. Now, I'm about to share this below for two reasons. One, it kind of reminds me of what we're doing with the Host. And two, at this point, I need absolutely no excuses to spread the word of this game existing. I hope you like, and if you don't I am sorry that you do not like however I still like. Also, as usual, Host actions are to Host chapters, and brother Questions are to Brother chapters. There's actually nothing but commentary that goes in this one. Anyways, be well!)