Spike, what have you done...

Foreword: It's finally done! Again sorry for the delay, got caught up in life. Also, I've been reading some really good stories on this site. Originally put them in this FW before I deleted the previous one. Two good fics are listed below, and I highly recommend reading them.

And just so you don't have to search for them, Oh to be Old Again and The Dragon that Would be Pony. Enjoy!

Also, be warned that this chapter goes off on a completely different path than what I had originally intended. I sat down and started to right this chapter, and some random idea popped into my head. Almost one week later, and BOOM! new chapter with a completely different ending than what I had in mind to begin with.

Scorch waited for all of five minutes before Applejack came back outside with Big Mac following.

"All right sugarcube, give us a minute to grab the cart, and we'll be right with ya."

They trotted over to the big red barn that Scorch had passed on the way in, and disappeared inside. They soon came out with a wagon the size of a small pickup truck, and Scorch was amazed they had carts that size. He figured that he could easily fit all the lumber he needed in that cart, and maybe then some. He walked up to Applejack and Big Mac, still marvelling at how big the cart was.

"You just gonna stare at the cart, or should we head to the everfree forest?"

Scorch snapped out of his mental reverie and turned to face Applejack. "Yea, that sounds like a good idea. The sooner we get to the forst, the sooner we can get back."

The three ponies made their way to the Everfree forest in absolute silence. I wish I could say something interesting happened, but nothing did. They walked, they didn't talk, and they made it to the entrance to the Everfree forest in about thirty minutes.

"Ahlright Big Mac, Scorch and I'll head inside and we'll call ya when you're needed. That okay?"

"Eeyup."

Scorch and Applejack walked into the Everfree forest in akward silence, neither one wanting to say something for fear of making the moment even more akward than it already was. Considering the fact that they had just met yesterday, it was a small miracle that he had actually managed to talk Applejack into accompanying him.

After about ten minutes of walking through the forest, they reached a clearing with a large amount of very big, and very tall trees. Scorch shifted back into a dragon and set to work cutting down all the trees he could. He managed to cut down at least 30 trees before he decided that was enough and changed back to a pony.

He turned to Applejack and stated, "Hey Applejack, why don't you go get Big Mac to bring the cart in while I roll the logs into a pile over there." As he pointed his hoof towards the center of the clearing. He then started to move over to a rather large log and started to roll it towards the center of the clearing.

"Ya sure you're gonna be alright Scorch? This forest's mighty dangerous, even during the day."

Scorch shot Applejack a reproachful glance before turning back to continue his task.

"Applejack, I thought we'd been over this. What in here could possibly harm me? It's not like I'm some defenseless child."

"All right, but I'm gonna hold ya to that."

As Applejack goes off to retrieve her big brother, and Scorch continues to roll the next log onto the pile, he hears a small rustling coming from the bushes off to his right. He stares at the bushes for a minute, and when nothing else happens, he returns back to the task at hand.

No sooner had Scorch turned back to work, then five wolves jumped out of the very bushes he had just been staring at. All of them bared their fangs at him and let out a low predatory growl.

Scorch looked at the wolves but something seemed off about them.

'Huh, are wolves normally that large? And for that matter, what is their fur made of? Wait a minute, is that wood? Holy shit, it's a bunch of wolves made out of wood! If that's the case, guess I'm going to have to call them timber wolves.'

Before Scorch could snap out of his thoughts, the lead timber wolf, presumably the alpha of the pack as it was taller and bulkier than the other ones, leapt at Scorch. Still caught in his thoughts, Scorch was snapped out of them immediately by a very intense pain in his right front forehoof. He looked down to realise that the alpha wolf had just bitten him.

Suddenly, Scorch felt very weak. he staggered a little, but managed to stay standing.

'Oh no, is this the end? Not even one full day into this wierd new world, and I'm going to end up as some wolf's dinner. This is just great! But why am I feeling this weak? Surely one bite shouldn't be able to do this to me.'

The rest of the pack began to slowly make their way closer to him, but before they could leap at him, the smallest one was suddenly lifted into the air. Scorch looked at this wonder and noticed that it was surrounded by a wierd glow. Unless he was seeing things, then that glow was black. As in darker than the night sky black.

The small timber wolf was then rammed into a tree before being slammed against the ground and then into another tree. This process was repeated until the timber wolf was thrown high into the air before landing with a sickening crunch.

The next timber wolf stumbled around, running into trees and the other timber wolves before it ran off yelping at the top of it's lungs. It was as if it was seeing things that nothing else around it could see, but it was clearly scared out of its mind. Scorch also noticed that its eyes were covered in a black aura just like the previous one had been surrounded by. A black puddle started to form at the feet of the other two timber wolves, and they started to run away in fear of what it meant. No sooner had they made it five meters away from the puddle, then black claw like appendages shot out fo the puddle and grabbed onto the ankles of the fleeing timber wolves. As the two wolves were slowly dragged back towards the puddle, more and more claws started to appear and latch onto various parts of the timber wolves' bodies. They were soon dragged howling and yelping in terror through the black puddle, before it disappeared, leaving no trace of any timber wolves having been there.

The alpha looked around and noticed that it was the only one left, then looked straight at Scorch. It must have deduced that the pony on the ground was the cause of death for his packmates, as it shot straight towards him, mouth wide open in an attempt to bite his head off. As the alpha timber wolf approached Scorch's face, it was stopped just short by the same black aura as before. The alpha timber wolf was then dragged backwards about 10 meters before it suddenly stopped. Scorch watched as the timber wolf started to suddenly shake very violently. The shaking went on for all of ten seconds before the timber wolf's head exploded in a shower of wood and saliva.

Scorch watched all this happen, completely silent. After the leader's head exploded, he heard more rustling coming from the opposite side of the clearing. His vision started to go blurry, and his legs gave out beneath him. As he slowly slipped into unconciousness, the only thing he could see was a black shape coming closer to him. He could've swore that he heard it mutter something about poison before he finally blacks out.

A couple hours later, Scorch bolted upright and looked around him. The last thing he remembered was those timber wolves and that black shape saying something about poison. He looked around the room and saw a number of tribal looking masks on the walls, with various liquids and items littering the shelves underneath the masks. He looks down at himself and realises he's still a pony.

'Good thing too. No idea what lives in this house, but it's probably for the best if I appear friendly.'

Scorch continues to look around the room before he notices something in the very center that had somehow eluded his sight when he first looked around. He sees a black and white striped pony, 'No wait, black and white stripes? Ah, I get it, it's a zebra.' mixing ingredients into a giant black cauldron.

The zebra then turned around and saw Scorch looking at it, before speaking up.

"Hello stranger, and welcome to my home. You are quite the lucky pony that you are still able to roam."

Scorch looked at her for a second before replying, "Uh, thank you? Mind if I ask who you are and where I am?"

"My name is Zecora, expert on all things fauna and flora. As for where you are, the answer to that is easiest by far. You are in my house in the Everfree, where creatures thrive, and ponies flee. My nephew is the one that brought you here. You were bitten and poisoned by a timber wolf I fear."

"Okay, at least I know who you are and where I am. But I have one more question for you."

Zecora nods her head.

"Why are you speaking in rhymes?"

"Rhyming makes my diction crisp and clear. Not to mention it's very pleasing to the ear."

Scorch didn't have a chance to reply, as the door to the hut opened and what looked like a unicorn walked in.

The unicorn in question was an odd one. It did have a horn just like every other unicorn, but that was where the similarities ended. This one had a coat as black as night with brilliant red stripes adorning its body. If that wasn't enough, it had even wierder eyes. It had regular looking sky blue eyes at first glance, but if you looked closer, you would notice that the pupils were slits. Its mane and tail followed the same color scheme as its body, black and red striped, and were both pretty disheveled.

The unicorn levitated its saddlebag over to Zecora and turns to head into another adjacent room.

"Ah, thank you my dear nephew. With these ingredients, I should be able to finish this healing brew."

Scorch hadn't noticed until after Zecora said the words 'healing brew' that he couldn't feel his right forehoof. He looked down to see it was entirely green and hanging limply at his side.

'How the hell?! How couldn't I have noticed that I have control over one of my own appendages?!'

Zecora noticed Scorch looking at his limp forehoof and set the saddlebag that her newphew had given her down next to the cauldron before turning back to Scorch and speaking up. "I see you have discovered your leg is green. The bite of a timber wolf tends to be quite mean. It amazes me though, that you haven't succumbed. By now your body should have been completely numbed."

Scorch just continues to stare at his green forehoof for a minute, before he looked away and towards Zecora.

"Is there any way to fix it? I don't really feel like going the rest of my life with a useless limb."

"My dear nephew brought me the ingredients for a healing brew. Within the hour, I should have it ready for you. But for now I suggest that you rest. This medicine will cause pain, of that I do not jest."

After that, Zecora left to continue mixing ingredients in her cauldron, and Scorch laid back down. If what Zecora said is true, then he wanted to be asleep when the medicine was administered.

A few hours later, Scorch woke up to the same surroundings. Same tribal masks, same liquids and ingredients on the shelves, and the same black and white zebra standing over the cauldron in the center of the room. He looked down at his right forehoof and found out it was back to normal. He silently applauded Zecora for the job well done and he set about to test wether or not it was the same as before. He sat up and slowly put his hoof on the floor. When no pain or any indications of the hoof failing, he started to put more weight on it. After five minutes of slowly putting more weight on the hoof, he was standing on all fours.

Scorch walked over to Zecora and got within ten feet of her before he spoke up.

"Hey Zecora, I just wanted to thank you for healing me. It would've been really annoying to go through life with only three hooves."

Zecora turned around and smiled before replying, "I just did what anypony would do, but it is not I who deserves thanking. Your gratitude is rightfully my nephew's for the taking."

"Oh yeah, you said he was the one who brought me here. Do you know where he is?"

"My nephew said he would be back in a flash. Though I doubt he will be back as a certain Rainbow Dash."

"Okay, that last rhyme sounded really sloppy."

"Do not blame me if my sentences sound choppy."

Just then Scorch realised that Zecora had just rhymed off of his last sentence. 'Damn that was clever. How does she just make that up on the spot?'

Just then, the same dark unicorn from before walked into the hut with a bulging saddlebag.

Zecora turns her attention to him and says, "I was wondering what was causing you to lag. Would you mind telling me what is in that bag?"

The unicorn just turns to the saddlebag and opens it, taking out what looks like a serpent's tail, three fangs as big as Scorch's body, and two bat-like wings.

Zecora's eyes scanned over each of the items the unicorn had brought in before speaking up. "Is that a cockatrice tail and manticore wings I see? Even hydra fangs, not one but three."

The unicorn nods to Zecora and heads out of the hut again. Scorch realises this is probably the best time to thank the unicorn personally, and dashes after him. "Hey Zecora, thanks again for healing me, but I gotta run."

Scorch gallops out the door and after the unicorn already at least 30 meters away. He gallops even faster and shouts, "Hey! Wait up!" causing the dark unicorn to stop and look back at him.

After Scorch caught up with the unicorn, he skidded to a halt and started talking, "Hey, I never did get to thank you for saving me from those timber wolves. It was much appreciated man."

The dark unicorn just stares at him for a fraction of a second before replying, "I was just passing by when I saw you get bitten. I've seen what those bites can do, so count yourself lucky I happened to stumble across that clearing where you were attacked."

"Well thanks anyways. My name's Scorch, what's yours?" Scorch held out his hoof, expecting the dark unicorn would want to shake hooves if they were introducing themselves.

"I don't do names. Makes it easier on me whenever somepony turns their back on me. Makes it less personal."

Scorch looked at him with a facial expression that could be interpreted as only one thing, even by the most novice of face readers. Shock.

"Why would anybo- anypony do that? And what motivation would I have to betray you? You saved my life after all."

"The same reason as anypony else. Because I'm different, a freak."

"So what if you're different? What does that matter? I happen to know that not everypony judges just by looks. Well, thats not entirely true, I do know one pony who would judge on appearance, but I think her heart's in the right place at least. Besides, I happen to know about being different myself."

"Oh yeah, what could you possibly know about being different?"

"If I show you, will you at least tell me your name?"

"I'll consider it."

"Well, that's a start. Now I must ask you not to scream or anything okay?"

"Why would I scream?"

"Oh, no reason."

After that last remark, Scorch engulfs himself in a dark cocoon of chaos magic again and changes back into a dragon. The dark unicorn manages to restrain himself from gawking, but it is clear he is definitely surprised.

"So, now that I've shown you, will you tell me your name?"

The dark unicorn just nods slowly.

"Arcanus, it's Arcanus."

"Arcanus huh? Neat name, kinda suits you. So, now that we know each other's name and you know my secret... Wanna come back to town with me? Maybe I can introduce you to a few of my new friends."

"I don't know. Give me a second to think about it."

Arcanus turns around and begins to mumble to himself. He stays in the same spot, clearly conflicted, for a while before he turns around. "All right, I guess we can go. Just understand that I'm not going to be the best company on the way back."

"Eh, not a problem. I spent the entire walk over to the Everfree in absolute silence. I doubt a walk out of the everfree could be much worse."

Arcanus turns to leave the forest before he realises Scorch isn't going with him. When he turns around to ask why he isn't coming, he finds Scorch is a pony once again.

"Don't the ponies in town know you're a dragon?"

"Only a couple know, and I'm not a dragon. At least not a full dragon anyways. Don't ask me to explain it, 'cause I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. For that, you would have to ask either Twilight or Lyra."

"All right, so should we go?"

"Sure."

The two slowly made their way out of the everfree, not having to worry about dangerous creatures, which Scorch found wierd. At one point in time he could've sworn he saw some more timber wolves, but they ran away too fast he couldn't really tell if they were timber wolves or not.

"Soooo, wanna tell me why you live out in the middle of the everfree forest?"

"Personal issues. Don't trust ponies all that much."

"Mind explaining?"

"Maybe some other time, but not now."

The rest of the trip passed by in relative silence, with the occasional probing question thrown out by Scorch in an effort to find out more about Arcanus. The result was always the same though, a quick shake of his head with a possible "Not now, some other time."

They finally made their way out of the forest, but as soon as they cleared the treeline and started to walk towards the small field between the forest and PonyVille, they both heard a loud "SCORCH!"

Scorch looked over towards the source of the noise and spotted a cyan streak followed by an orange one, speeding towards them at unprecedented speed.

"Oh shit."

Arcanus looks from him to the two colored blurs before asking, "Something I should be worried about?"

"No, but let's just say you're lucky to not be me right now. I have a very bad feeling about this."

AN: Alright, I finally managed to put chapter 5 up. I feel really good right now. Anyways, sorry for the long wait. I've been writing this chapter for just under a week, and I probably would've had this finished a couple days ago if not for one thing... Zecora's lines. If I can say only one thing about them, it would be this: They are a BITCH to write. Hopefully I won't have to make up more rhymes for a decent amount of time, but I wouldn't count that possibility out. If I find myself in this situation where one option is to bring her back in, I will not shy away. If bringing her back in is the best course, I will grit my teeth and suck it up. Also, sorry if some of the rhymes sound crappy. Some my friend helped with, others I made up on the spot. I personally think my friend was the only one giving me good rhymes.

Anyways, one last thing to say. The last few sentences, I think you all know who yelled Scorch, it was pretty damn obvious. Anyways, I need an opinion before I can get a good grip of what my next chapter will include. I will say right not I will try my best with some shipping, even though I have no experience in it, but I can say one thing: Scorch and Rainbow Dash. Now here is where my question comes in. Should I have RD start out pissed at him for being "reckless" or happy to see he is safe?

*SPOILER ALERT*

And for Twilight fans out there, don't even think about suggesting I ship Scorch or anyone else with her. That honor belongs to Arcanus.