Bonfire

Chapter II:Mad Rhyming Herb Hunter

Lyra ran as fast as her legs could take her to the edge of the Everfree forest. If I’m late I’ll never hear the end of it from her she thought as the edge of the forest came into view. Oh, how did I let Pinkie Pie stop me and talk me into making cupcakes with her.

“I see you are late for an important date.”

Lyra skidded to a Halt as Zecora appeared from the fog in her peripheral vision, along the edge of the forest. "Umm hello Zecora, I’m really sorry. You see-”

“You run very hardy but you are still tardy, save your excuse and move that caboose.” Zecora motioned Lyra to follow her down a path into a set of weeping willows.

“So umm Zecora, nice day to be out picking eh?” Lyra asked as they walked down the forest path.

“Give me a list, so I may get a gist. While we are in motion I will learn of your potion.”

It took a minute or two for Zecora’s strange poem to register in Lyra's mind as a request for a ingredient list. She dug around in her saddle bags and pulled out the clipboard with her teeth and handed it to Zecora. A few moments of silence passed and Zecora went over each ingredient humming to herself.

“Can we find all of those in the Everfree Forest Zecora?”

Zecora looked up to Lyra and said “easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” Zecora looked down the list one more time and something made her head jump back. “Mixing estrus root and heart desire will set one's loins on fire. I had no idea we were in motion to make a love potion.”

“Oh no it’s hard candy, It’s already been tested safe by Bonbon. That list is accurate even if some of the ingredients are a bit odd.”

Zecora stared at Lyra like she didn’t know what she was talking about. “We need not run about in a rut, I have most of these at my hut.”

“Oh, well I don’t have much money on me you see.”

“For my time I require not a dime but before we retire we must gather heart’s desire.”

“Zecora can’t you try and speak normal? The rhyming is really hard for me to translate.”

“What do you mean, is my accent obscene? Is it a crime to rhyme every time?”

Lyra hit her face with her hoof and just continued to follow Zecora to her tree home, trying not to speak lest she trigger another rhyme-a-thon from the odd Zebra. As they arrived Lyra got the chills, no matter how many times she has been here the strange masks and lighting always creeped her the buck out.

“Wait here a dandy moment while I get your candy components.”

Lyra looked at the Zebra as if she was speaking an unknown language. “Umm, do you mean just wait right here?”

“Stand here with zest while I get what you request. I would invite you in if my mess wasn’t a sin.”

Zecora opened her door and went inside leaving a puzzled Lyra outside to decipher Zecora’s strange language. Did she just say her home was a mess? Or that she’s been..eww. The very thought of Imagining Zecora clopping made Lyra shudder. She suddenly wished she had brought Bonbons mind soap candy with her.

After a few minutes of waiting Zecora opened her door, a basket full of herbs in her teeth. She trotted over to Lyra and opened her saddlebags, dumping the contents of the basket in.

“I got a gist of what was on your list, here’s what you require except the hearts desire.”

“Wow even the dragon scale? You are amazing Zecora.” Lyra suddenly felt a surge of respect for Zecora, some of the ingredients on her list were either rare, expensive or both, yet this Zebra that lives in the middle of the most dangerous area in Equestria had all of them.

Zecora blushed and motioned for Lyra to follow her. Lyra followed Zecora to the edge of a large cave with smoke billowing occasionally from the top. “You must brave the cave to get what you desire, avoid the fire and grab the hearts desire.”

Did she seriously just rhyme desire with desire? Who does she think she is? That young goat Kid Rock?

Zecora pointed to her mouth and made a zipping motion and tiptoed gingerly into the cave. Lyra clamped her mouth shut and followed suit.

Entering the cave Lyra found out why. Sleeping around the pools of lava were massive basilisks. Each one with rows of jagged teeth, sharp spines down their backs and bone crushing tails with fins made of fire on the tip. Zecora whispered back to Lyra “If they awake do not shake, make yourself like stone and they will leave you alone. If one looks your way close your sight with all of your might, do not delay or you will become flambe.”

Lyra didn't need to be told twice. The bone of less fortunate creatures;including a unicorn, littered the cave floor. If I remember correctly most kinds basilisks hunt by movement.

Suddenly one of the behemoths moved dragging his body lazily towards a lava pool. Both ponies froze in place immediately as the white eyed behemoth made his way between them to the pool. It stopped just behind Lyra's flank and smelled the ground around her legs. The creatures eyes glowed bright yellow and Lyra could see the glow on the rocks in front of her. She swiftly closed her eyes as the lizard rounded around to her face, still smelling to see if she was edible. Please don't eat me, please don't eat me. After a few tense moments the creatures eyes went blanks white again. With a quick twist of its body, it made way towards the pool, settling in the center to nap.

“Open your eye, you will not die” Zecora whispered. Lyra slowly opened one eye and noticed the basilisk had walked off into the lava and was soundly sleeping in it. Zecora pointed to a smoke stack above the pool on a ledge with a dozen or so heart's desire herbs surrounding it.

“Can I use Magic to pick them?”

Zecora gave a shrug “Use your magic to try and take but drop them quickly if they awake” she whispered back.

Reaching out with her magic Lyra grabbed at the base of the plants but quickly let go when half the Basilisk in the room sat up quickly and started to walk towards her sniffing the air. After a few tense moments of basilisks slowly smelling her over and going yellow eyed to detect if this is indeed prey they started to slowly walk away, settling themselves back into their previous napping spots.

“Zecora, I have an idea.” Lyra slowly tiptoed toward the cave entrance when Zecora’s eyes went wide, her mouth agape in astonishment.

“Have you gone mad!” she whispered in a barely contained yell.

Lyra pawed the ground with her hooves, checking her traction, positioned her body low like a sprinter would and then lit up her horn with all the magic she could muster, dashing off with every bit of speed her legs could muster. The entire cave shook violently with the awakening of dozens upon dozens of angry, hungry basilisk, all of them zeroing in on Lyra's horn.

Lyra closed her eyes tight and ran out the cave as fast as she could, dozens of basilisk close behind. As the last one funneled out of the cave looking for a free Lyra happy meal, Zecora got to work picking as many heart’s desire as she could fit in her mouth. After grabbing twenty or so plants in her hooves and mouth, she slowly walked out of the cave and perched herself above its entrance.

A few minutes later a dozens of clearly angry basilisk funneled back into the cave while Lyra waved from a tree top. Zecora hopped down from her perch and walked under the tree as Lyra climbed her way down.

“I am glad that you have not gone completely mad.”

“When you need action, use a distraction” Lyra realized what she just said and face hoofed herself. Sonava donkey! now she’s got me doing it!

Zecora gave a little giggle as she opened Lyra's saddle bags to drop a few hearts desire into them. “So Zecora, what are you gonna do with all the other ones you have?”

Zecora looked at Lyra like she was silly “I am sure to deduce many a use.” The duo walked back to Zecora’s hut but as they reached it Lyra had a idea.

“Zecora, I’ll make a wager If you can rhyme the one word I select then I will talk like you the rest of the week, but if you cannot you must talk like a regular pony for a week.”

“A bet I see, take a shot at me. I will win this time and continue to rhyme. You will lose and a prize I choose.”

Lyra took a minute to figure out what Zecora said. “I see if you win you get to pick the prize, well then I accept and my word to rhyme is...”

Zecora was licking her lips in anticipation, there was only one word she couldn't manage to rhyme. The prize would be hers, she could feel it in her bones.

“Orange, the word to rhyme with is Orange.”

Zecora sat there scratching her chin with her hoof as she went through her entire vocabulary in her head but could not seem to settle on a word that wasn’t made up that she could win with. A few more moments passed and she bowed her head in defeat muttering “ponyfeathers.”

Lyra started hopping away towards home yelling back “I’ll see you in a couple days Zecora for more herb collecting. Hope you are used to talking normal by then.”

Zecora just kicked the ground somberly muttering “would door hinge work? Lozenge maybe?”
Zecora shook her head and yelled to Lyra who was quickly disappearing over the horizon. “I want to try that candy when it’s done, I have a feeling its effects will be...amusing.”

Lyra yelled back waving “drop by this afternoon, we will have the prototype ready by then.”

Zecora walked back into her tree home and a smile spread across her face.

“I wonder if they are really prepared for THAT much fun”