Something To Remember

so...
What constitutes as an "Alien?"
Something from outerspace? Or something simply not from around here...

Well I suppose in this case a human would be considered an Alien...especially since they aren't even from an easily accessible portal, that's for sure.

The Teen was surrounded in a...almost suffocating darkness, this darkness always greeted him at the worst of times...
It's almost funny sometimes...he was names the very thing he hated most...
Some say it's a fairly juvenile fear, to be scared of the darkness, but oh he loathed it, not scared but rather having a fairly intimate relationship with it.
One would assume when you were given the name that quite literally translates to Darkness...

But as the Teen looked into the inky abyss, he felt everything again...
A sharp pain wrapped around him like a vice, fatigue, burning eyes, and a sore throat, the taste of copper still on his tongue as they attempted to take in a deep breath of fresh air.
Instead suddenly finding water quickly filling their throat as they gagged.
Okay, this is new...
Now how to get out of this situation?

"It is nearly complete, finally, now I can finally overthrow those daft ponies once and for all!" Said a pretty determined robed figure, two large black horns pointing straight upwards as they stirred their enchanted broom into the concoction.
In a large bowl formed from the roots of a great tree, there was a swirling green liquid that just spelled evil, they cackled just as evil like as they stood back to sing out their incantation.

"Wicked Brew of the Grove, glow, brine, and shine! Heed my Call and follow my Demand and I shall Pay any Price!
Mice and Lamb, Pony or Fairy!
I Beg Thee to Summon Rangor the Terrible! And help I! Malok the Warlock in my Crusade!"

They kicked in their sacrifice, an innocent little bunny, it squeaked in fear as it was submerged into the wicked liquid...
Green flames erupted as the Warlock cackled "yes! YES! rise Rangor the Terrible! Our one true...true...um..."

The flames evaporated as followed, but instead of there being an all powerful demon lord, it was instead...some creature coughing up the original mixture out of their system.

"H-holy-" they choked out before wretching the rest out of himself, they stumbled onto their...hooves? No those aren't hooves...damn, what did they call them in school? Never really paid attention...

"Y-you are not Rangor the Mighty and Terrible!" The Warlock choked out themselves, days of planning wasted as they have summoned the wrong...creature...seriously what was that thing, was it a demon?
Possibly-

"Well my name sure as heck ain't Rangor, also did whatever sewer water you filled this place with have to taste so rancid?" The thing... talked
Whatever it was, was sentient, but not powerful...two legged pony?...
Don't be ridiculous, now is not the time for idiotic thoughts.

"Blast thee! You have ruined everything for coming here! You must've taken the gateway first before our lord could arrive! Damn, now I gotta reconfigure everything, have to get another innocent soul, have to find another cursed tree- UGH- I will literally-" the cultish like warlock was absolutely brimming with hatred towards the creature, though chances are if they weren't full of hate, they'd be full of confusion and probably fear as the thing stood up and spat out the last of the gunk.

"...you done?" The asked, grunting in pain as they said that, their throat still sore as the green eyes of the warlock glowed with outrage.

"...you will pay for your actions" said Malok said grimly as the thing waved its...not claw, thing dismissively "well ... I don't got money, but do you know...where I am?"

"..." the Warlock turned around and trotted off, a thick green energy around them, they had no time dealing with such an ignorant buffoon, they had to make another batch of their Wicked Brew...dont you just hate it when your eldritch summoning backfires and now a hairless monkey is in your lords place?

...
When the Teen came to he coughed out the wretched Elixir, letting his brain and body go into auto pilot beforehand before regaining control...
The toll of whatever has happened to him was hard, making him stumble and nearly collapse from exhaustion .

"hoh- okay...jeez, ow, this really friggin hurts" he muttered as he sat down on the dry and dead roots around him, just letting everything catch up at the moment...
He looked around...seems to be one huge forest he's in, the comforting sounds of the wilderness greets his ears as a serenade of bug life and rustling leaves greet him...well it was comforting to him.

"Alright, forest isn't dead silent, so atleast nothing too supernatural is out there...just gonna...lay back..." they do as such, nearly passing out as they felt way to comfortable laying against the dead wood.
They weakly raised their scarred hand and brushed through their warm black birds nest of hair, tucking some tufts behind their ear as they got up lethargically after probably a few moments of rest, it was time to figure out where they were...

The Teen knew he was going to have a bad time considering he had trouble getting out a bowl, a- fairly large bowl made from the roots of a giant tree but still a bowl, they retake the breath of fresh air they were robbed of before and sighed happily when he was not suddenly violated with water in his lungs.

After a short warm up, he started walking, now looking for a way out from the woods...hopefully it won't take... too long...

...
The Teen stood corrected.
It was night.
Freezing cold as he shivered
"I-I-I am freezing m-my n-nuts OFF!" He said, being disconnected from the body has it's downsides as he trudged through the sticks and bushes.
He was cold, hungry, thirsty, and miserable...but whining isn't going to help him in this situation.
He looked around, now scrounging through the bushes, he was most certainly not going to be touching any mushrooms...
And he saw some odd looking berries...

That's cute! They're all orange and have little black stripes on them like tigers!
Finding that quite humerous he decided to snatch one...well his hand wasn't burning so he couldn't be allergic to it.
It pretty plump and squeezing it doesn't make it wrinkle or deflate...
Guess it's okay to taste...
It was pretty sweet too, huh.
The teen decided to grab a handful and start trudging along, the plump and juicy "tiger berries" being a good way to quench his thirst and hunger...

Approximately five minutes later, it was doing...the opposite.
The Teen was in a cold sweat, eyes dilating as their breathing quickened "oooooooh- oh no- oh jeez- something ain't right" the Teen said as suddenly his vision warped

...
Ooooooh no.
I think those berries were poisoned with something cause he is seeing some things "oh lord- it can't be good for...and I do not feel great- ack!" They tripped on some branches, tumbling down a small hill and laying on their back, the trees warping around him as the stars...ooooh~ stars are looking really...really pretty...t-too pretty....oh gods I'm gonna be sick!
The stars started multiply, warping and becoming a weird strobe light show as the teen shook...

And welcome to the vomi-tron 9000

...
"Uuugh...my nuts hurt" The Teen was a little... shaken but alright...for the most part.
Running around in the forest, dehydrated, high, and in the dark is not a good way to start the day...
But now they were in a...place, he didn't know how to describe it, it was like a single room...house...that looked to be made out of tree? Weird stuff...well wouldn't be the first weird thing...

He scans the area, seeing lots of colorful bottles with small designs on them, reminding him very much of his pottery classes...
He looked down, seeing a blanket over him, handmade looked like.
He sat up, hearing his bones creaked he grunted in pain as they popped back into place, he looked about, he didn't know where he was but so far seemed familiar to him...

Well, he thought until a short zebra came in, wearing gold rings and had big eyes carrying a sack full of plants and herbs into the place before looking right at him "ah, the beast is awake, I thought I had to wait, luckily I was not too late, otherwise you would have been timber wolf bait"
...

Wat?
The Teen blinked, processing what had just happened, blindsided by the sudden greeting of what is usually supposed to be an animal, speaking to him, in a sort of rhyme, while carrying a bag that looked to be very uncomfortable while trying to mimic what humans usually do...

It took him a hot minute before he constructed a sentence finally "first of all...bars- second, who are you and where am i" he said as she made a soft snort

"the creature speaks, that bodes well, I am Zecora, user of the Everfree's flora, I found you and took you to my hut, what a rut, you ate Tiger Berries and your mind was corrupt, you slept as your body digested the poison, so I went out and grabbed ingredients for a potion that you need immediate" the zebra said in a sort of freeform rhyme as they dumped the ingredients of the bag into a pot one by one, stirring it as the Teen hummed "dang, am I like- gonna die or something?"

"No, but something quite uncomfortable, you will squirm and cry as gas will pass, and there will be no victorious sigh"

"...berries gave me dysentery" he deciphered, suddenly on que he could feel the contractions "uh- could you please hurry? I feel impending doom" the human said as Zecora huffed, stirring still slowly and methodically as the mixture fizzed and popped

"open wide, dont cry as the taste is foul, but not as terrible as your soon to be howls" she said, dunking an orange bottle into the mixture and pulled it back out, now trotting over and handing it to the Teen.

Without hesitation they took the bottle and drank it quickly like cough syrup...yep- tasted like anguish, just like back at home.
They gagged, coughed and covered their mouth, giving the bottle back to Zecora as she stepped back to let the odd creature recover from the taste "HOLY- JEeez, that's one hell of a way to wake someone up"

Zecora's tail flicked as she snorted "it is not known for taste, but it is good when you are in a haste" she said smugly before turning away and trotting back to the cauldron "what is your name? I forgot to ask which is a shame"

"Oh uh...its Umbra, Umbra's my name..."

"Umbra...Darkness? Why such a name?"

"To be honest, I didn't choose it, someone just gave it to me and I've grown an identity with it"

"Hmm...I see, not a name you usually see, neither dream nor does it gleam, but it is what you make of it does it truly stick" Zecora said as Umbra huffed at the not so rhyming, more like- pushing words together that sound somewhat similar but he didn't speak much about it.

"Okay- where am I exactly?"

"You are in the everfree, where plants grow and nature thrives, all who dismiss it will surely...nigh, now is not the time" Zecora trotted and turned towards Umbra, her eyes scanning his face...seeing something she seemingly wanted her expression changed as she got a softer, kinder expression and not her...neutral and incredulous look before

"I know best not to judge a book by its cover...but you most certainly are not like any other
Umbra...where did you come from brotha"

"...I'm guessing this ain't Terra then huh"