The Hidden Adventure

“Unngghhh,” Storm mumbled when he awoke. He felt like a chariot had just run him over. He sat up in bed, wait… a bed? Storm looked around him and saw that he was in a small hut. The hut seemed to have been hollowed out of a tree and was furnished with odd masks and other weird objects. On shelves and hanging from the ceiling were potions upon potions of various sorts. In the middle of the hut was a huge black cauldron, bubbling with a mysterious dark green liquid. The hut smelled faintly of herbs and spices. Storm then saw Dusk asleep on a taller bed next to him and realised that he had been sleeping on a straw mat.

The door to the hut opened and the cloaked pony he recalled seeing before blacking out entered with a saddle bag. “Why hello there, I see you have awoken,” The pony said in an accented voice, “How does your wing feel? The one you had broken?”

Storm looked at his right wing and saw that it had been bandaged up nicely. It smelt a spicy but refreshing. He moved it a bit and, to his delight, it did not hurt. “Much better!” He replied happily, “Thanks for saving me and my friend back there… Uh… what was your name again?”

“I go by the name of Zecora,” The pony replied, “And I am a zebra, a native animal of Africa.” She removed her cloak to show him her black and white striped mane and body. She also wore rings on her neck and left front hoof. “Cool…” Storm said, “My name’s Storm Whipper.”

“A delight to meet you Storm,” Zecora said as she trotted over to the cauldron and popped in a plant from her saddle bag, “Do you need a blanket? Or are you too warm?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” Storm replied, yawning. He was about to go back to sleep but remembered Nightmare Moon. He got up and began to look around for his hoof claws. “What’s the matter my winged friend?” Zecora asked, “You look distressed to no end.”

“I gotta stop Nightmare Moon!” Storm said quickly, “Or else, the night over Equestria will never end!”

“The eternal night you speak of is now naught.” Zecora said as she walked over to the door to open it, “It ended an hour after I started making a brew in that pot.” Storm dashed to the door and looked outside, his mouth opened when he saw the sky bright and blue.

“B-B-But how?” He uttered.

“I’m afraid I do not know,” Zecora said to him as he went back inside, “But I do know that your friend is waking, nice and slow.”

Storm saw Dusk crawl out of the bed and stand on the floor. His face showing that he was still in pain. “Dusk!” Storm exclaimed ecstatically, tackling his friend, “You’re alright!”

Dusk coughed and said, “Not after that tackle.”

Storm turned to Zecora and said, “This here’s my best friend Dusk Flamer.” Then turning to Dusk said, “This here’s Zecora, she saved our flanks after we passed out.

Dusk realised that the pain from his wounds was greatly reduced and he felt energised and refreshed. His shoulder felt warm even though the only thing on it was a thin bandage. He turned to Zecora and said, “Hey thanks for looking after us and all but, what sort of medicine did you use to treat us?”

“Ahhh that my friends, is my special ointment; that there brew,” Zecora said, pointing to the cauldron with a hoof, “Would you like to take some with you?”

“Yes please,” Dusk replied.

“Hey! Zecora, wanna hear about our adventures in the war?” Storm asked.

“I had no idea that you entered a war, but I’m interested to hear about your wartime lore.” Zecora replied. The two ponies then removed their bandages and sat down to tell Zecora about their wartime service.
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The two ponies thanked Zecora and left her hut, Dusk carrying a saddle bag of Zecora’s ointment. The sun was high in the beautiful sky and there was not a cloud was in sight. “Who knew a kind zebra like her would be living in the Everfree forest?” Storm said.

“Yeah,” Dusk said, “Why doesn’t she live in Ponyville? It near here and its more populated.”

“Maybe that’s the reason,” Storm thought aloud, “Maybe she’s agoraphobic.”

“Maybe,” Dusk agreed. The duo made it into Ponyville and made their way to the train station. They went up to the ticket booth and asked for two tickets to Canterlot.

“That’ll be three bits each,” The old grey stallion said, leaning his face on his right hoof which rested on the counter. Dusk and Storm looked at each other and blinked. They realised that they had forgotten to bring any bits with them. “Ermmm… wait a moment,” Storm said before dashing off to try to find some spare bits. Dusk awkwardly stood there before the old stallion for a while. The stallion broke the silence by saying, “Are you going to pay or not?” in an annoyed tone. Dusk could not really blame him, though if he did know who he was, he would have respectfully bowed to him and begged him to get on the train. “Ummm… I think I’ll come back later.” Dusk said, trotting away to find Storm.

Dusk found Storm underneath a bench, trying to search for some bits. He facehoofed then said, “Do you have no shame Storm?” Storm hit his head on the underside of the bench.

“Ow… uh hey Dusk,” Storm said sheepishly, crawling out from under the bench, scratching his blue mane.

“So how much did you find?” Dusk asked.

“Umm… I got nothing.” Storm admitted, laughing nervously. Dusk sighed then said, “Come on, we’ve got a long way to walk.”
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When Dusk and Storm reached the royal castle, it was already nightfall. Their manes and fur were dirty, their legs were aching and they were famished and thirsty. They were stopped by the two pegasi guards at the castle gate. “Halt civilian, state your name and your business,” One of them said extending his wing to block the path, the other followed suite.
“Lieutenant Flamer, returning from Ponyville.” Dusk said.

“Pfff don’t make me laugh,” One of the pegasi guards said, “There’s no way Lieutenant Flamer would return looking so raggedy. You can start walking back the way you came foals.”

Storm’s limit broke and he slammed into one of the pegasi, baring his hoof claws and yelling, “Look here mister! Dusk and I just walked here ALL the way from Ponyville! I’m starving, tired and thirsty so kindly just BUCK OFF!” The pegasus looked like he was going to piss himself but the look faded when his friend used his wing to smack Storm off of him.

“Leave him alone!” The pegasus commanded, helping his friend get back on his feet. Before shoving both the ponies backward violently, causing Dusk to fall and injure his ankle again.

“What’s going on?” Asked a majestic voice from above the gates. All four ponies looked up to see none other than Princess Celestia perched atop the gates. “Your highness,” The pegasi guards said, bowing respectfully, “These civilians want to enter the castle, one of them claims to be Lieutenant Flamer while the other viciously attacked us.” Princess Celestia turned to see Storm helping Dusk to his feet. She turned to the two pegasi guards and said, “Well, you’d better step aside because that IS Lieutenant Flamer and his best friend.”

The pegasi guards’ mouths dropped open and the color of their faces quickly faded. They quickly whipped around, parted, bowed and began apologizing profusely to the two ponies. Storm smiled smugly at them and said sadistically, “What should their punishment be? Eh Dusk?”

“I think three days in the dungeon should do the trick,” Dusk replied, his face displaying complete and utter seriousness. Only Princess Celestia, Shining Armor and Storm knew how to tell whether Dusk was joking of not from his facial expressions, and this was one of them. “Very well then,” Princess Celestia said, smiling at Dusk, “Three days it is then.”
“Please no!” The guards said, falling to their knees and begging Dusk, “Please forgive us Lieutenant Flamer, we promise never to show an attitude ever again!”

“Promise?” Dusk said, looking straight into the guards’ eyes.

“Promise!” The guards said.

“Fine then, you will be let off the hook this time,” Dusk said, turning to enter the castle with Princess Celestia and Storm.
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“Dayum! Did you see the look on his face?” Storm said, laughing his flank off, “He looked like he was going to make a mess of himself when you said, ‘Three days in the dungeon’!”

“Indeed it was quite humorous,” Princess Celestia admitted, chuckling. She turned to Dusk and said, “So, where were you? Ashley was so worried about you.” Just then, a White dragon ran through the hallway and tackled Dusk to the ground. “Speak of the devil,” Storm said. He and the princess turned to see Ashley pounding the unicorn beneath her with her tiny fists and saying, “Where were you?! I was worried sick! And now you come back with a random bag of weird stuff?! Do you enjoy seeing me upset?!” Tears began flowing down her cheeks. Then Dusk used his hoof to pull her closer to him and began stroking her scales. “I’m sorry,” Dusk apologized, “I’m sorry but it was too dangerous to bring you and I’m sorry for not coming back earlier.” Ashley began to flat out cry into Dusk’s chest bawling, “I-I w-was s-so w-worried s-something h-happened t-to y-you!”

“Shhh… its ok, I’m here now, don’t worry, don’t worry shhh…” Dusk said repeatedly.

Ashley soon fell asleep and was sleeping peacefully on Dusk’s back. “Hey your highness, what’s there to eat? I’m starved!” Storm asked as his and Dusk’s stomachs growled loudly. Princess Celestia giggled then led them to the royal mess hall for a ‘light’ dinner.