A dark green hoof hung from the pony sized bed in the middle of the dark room. The pony inside the bed slept soundly unaware that he would be rudely awoken from one zebra mare. Zecora crept silently through the dark and recently inhabited halls of the old royal castle. A bucket's handle held firmly in between her teeth as a mischievous grin etched its way onto her face as she got closer to the owner's sleeping area. As Zecora crept along, she observed the changes to the castle. The once crumbling and moss covered walls were now clean of moss and had been shakily rebuilt, the paintings had been removed, vines used to hang from the ceiling but were cut down and destroyed at the source.
Zecora grinned as she came across a certain door. To check that she was at her destination, she lightly pressed open the door and heard a soft snoring from within. Grinning even wider, Zecora carefully placed the bucket down, trying not to make noise as she did so. She carefully opened the door, wincing as the yet to be oiled hinges squeaked in protest. Zecora froze as the figure inside the bed shuffled slightly. Before continuing, she took a chance to observe the dark room as best she could. The room itself was packed with instruments that were familiar to her. A table that had sets of vials and jars along with a Bunsen burner, a mortar and pestle along with several plants, and items that were unidentifiable in the dark lighting. The beautiful dark red curtains were drawn; preventing the suns light from waking the lone occupant of the room. She sighed quietly in relief that the pony that was asleep hadn't woken for the sound of the door.
Zecora once again reached down and clamped her teeth around the handle of the bucket. A sloshing sound emanated from the bucket as a single droplet of liquid dropped onto Zecora's hoof, causing her to shiver slightly at how cold it was. Ever so slowly, she crept closer to the sleeping figure. When she finally reaching the side of the bed, she threw the bucket of ice cold water over the lone occupant!
She heard a startled yelp from under the blankets as the pony beneath struggled to get untangled from the accursed bed sheets. Unable to contain it any longer, Zecora burst out laughing as she watched the struggling figure.
Finally, a dark green hoof shot up and out of the covers and began pulling them away from the body trapped within. After a full minute of the sheets being moved, they revealed a pegasus stallion with a dark green coat a mane with a striped light blue and a dark blue mane. His dark blue slitted eyes glared at the laughing Zebra mare as he sat on the wooden floor of his room. The stallion suddenly smirked as he quickly grabbed the drenched sheets with his fore hooves and threw them at the laughing mare! He continued smirking as he heard a muffled "Off!" when the sheets collided with Zecora before he himself began chuckling. Zecora threw the sheets off herself and glared at the stallion before she laughed quietly to herself.
"Now now Zephyr star, that wasn't very nice.", Zecora said
"You started it Zecora and besides, I thought you only spoke in rhyme. Also I told you, just call me Zephyr!", the now
named stallion said.
"I only speak in rhyme to those I don't trust or to help guide them if the time comes for me to help." Zecora stated.
Zephyr only sighed in response. He would never understand that mare and her habits. He smiled lightly as he remembered when he first met Zecora and decided to live in the abandoned castle inside the Everfree.
Flashback
Zephyr was walking through the forest. He had just been on a trip to gather ingredients for brewing up his potions. He was wearing his saddle bags along with a set of wing blades. They were 'just in case'. This was the Everfree forest after all.
Zephyr sighed, he was sure he was lost. For one, he didn't recognize any of his surroundings. The forest seemed to have been getting darker and he wasn't sure but, he thought he could also see a strange canine like shadow moving around him. Finally after 30 more minutes of walking, he came to a clearing.
Zephyr decided that he would set up camp in the clearing. But as he was about to set up camp, he heard a growling sound coming from behind him. He froze in fear, thinking it might be a Manticore or some other highly dangerous beast. Then he heard two other growls. Signifying, that it was a trio of timber wolves. He had to remember, while they weren't as dangerous as a Manticore or a full pack of timber wolves, they were still deadly.Zephyr slowly turned around and saw the three wolf-like creatures. He smirked as he flared his wings and narrowed his eyes. He glared at the wolves and uttered two words.
"Bring it."
It had been ten minutes since the fight started and he had only severely injured one while covering the other wolves in a multitude of small to medium sized cuts. He was also starting to get tired from the fighting. Zephyr quickly ducked under as one lunged at him. He swung his wing straight up and cut deeply into the the side of the wolf. He huffed slightly and heard the sound of the wolf smash into the tree behind him and shatter from the impact. He was victorious with that last swing of his wing but he was completely spent. Zephyr sighed.
"Well, it was inevitable. I guess this is where my story ends." he muttered to himself, only to hear the sound of a hoof meeting wood and a yelp from one of the wolves. Zephyr looked up to see a pony wearing a worn dark brown hooded cloak. The pony was facing the timber wolves before she spoke.
"Beware hounds of wood, run now or die for good!"
He didn't know why, but the hounds whimpered in fear and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction. The cloaked figure then turned to Zephyr and pulled the hood back, revealing a Zebra mare.
"My name is Zecora." she stated and walked away. Almost instantly, he began to follow.
Flashback End
He looked at Zecora after reviewing that memory.
"Hey Zecora?" he asked in response. Zecora looked up and nodded for the stallion to continue. "That day we met and you told me your name. You didn't rhyme why?"
"I couldn't think of one." she stated before walking out of the room leaving the stallion staring at her dumbfounded. Much like that day they met.
