30 Minute Delay

Timber Treaters

16 legs, twelve small and stubby, four long and striped, ended up in a tangle. Two eyes scanned the area with a frown.

“You made me lose my prize! It has vanished from before my eyes!” She felt a shifting beneath her as the three fillies struggled to get free.

“Ow! Zecora, please get off!”

“You’re heavy!”

“Ah’m stuck!”

Easing herself to her feet, the zebra herbalist allowed the Cutie Mark Crusaders to get up.

“The Everfree at dusk is not for you. You should head home, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.” The three immediately began protesting.

“Oh come on.”

“You spend loads of time here!”

“It ain’t bedtime yet.”

A rustle drew Zecora’s attention away from the complaining children. Looking around, she shushed the girls before making her way ever-so-carefully towards the trees. As the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched, she nosed around the roots for a moment before standing up and wiping a leaf against the bark. When she looked at what she’d lifted from the trunk, Zecora grimaced.

“What’cha got there, Zecora?” Applebloom tried to peek around her. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle crowded in too, soon all three were shoving and pushing for a better view. Zecora turned on them sharply.

“You three must be quiet, I have seen more peace at a riot!” Chastised by the zebra’s unusual sternness, they stopped immediately.

“We’re sorry, Zecora.”

“Yeah, we just wanted to see.”

“Didn’t mean to disturb you none. Jus’ wanted to know what you’re holdin’.”

Sighing, she turned to the three.

“I am sorry that I had to snap, I just became worried on finding this sap.” Apprehensive looks emerged on the girls’ faces.

“Did you say sap?” Sweetie Belle began to step backwards.

“Uh….we’ll just stay out of your way then.” Scootaloo joined her.

“We’ve……had some bad experiences with tree sap.” Applebloom didn’t seem inclined to come closer either. The three shared a look and spoke as one:

“Well it’s getting late, we should head back.” As they turned to leave, Zecora, who’d been examining the gooey leaf, raised her head suddenly.

“I cannot let you go alone! There are worse things than sap that call this forest home.” The Crusaders froze, looking back fearfully,

“It is too dangerous with this dark sky, you will stay with me until I see my target with my eye.” Applebloom and her friends gulped loudly.

“Stay here…”

“…in the forest…

“…in the dark?” Zecora nodded apologetically.

“If you stay with me there is danger still, but go alone and you won’t reach Ponyville.” No sooner had she finished than the three girls were pressing against her.

“We’ve uh….we’ve decided to stay with you until you find what you’re looking for.” Scootaloo grinned uncertainly.

Zecora nodded and indicated for them to move on.

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“Zecora,” Sweetie Belle hissed,

“Look!” The zebra followed the Unicorn’s gaze and saw their target, luckily still moving.

“It is good fortune that we are not too late, but now we cannot afford to wait. She is weak but still will resist. Applebloom and Scootaloo, I require an assist.”

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Back at Zecora’s cottage, the four gathered round to evaluate their quarry.

“She’s so little!” Sweetie Belle was crouching low so as not to tower over her.

“It’s kinda cute.” Remarked Scootaloo, trying to avoid blocking the light.

“Is she okay, Zecora? You seemed mighty concerned with findin’ her.” Applebloom was helping the zebra to put her things away.

“She has become separated from her kin, I knew she would need help so I took her in.”

The centre of the attention, lying close-but-not-too-close to the fire, was a tiny little Timber Wolf puppy. The sap Zecora had found was akin to blood from her wounds. After they brought her home, Zecora had applied a natural poultice and now she was sleeping, her breathing even. They had barricaded a section of Zecora’s cottage as a habitat, to keep both her and themselves safe.

As the puppy slept, Zecora turned to the Crusaders.

“She is out of harm’s way, I’ll take you three home in what little remains of today.”

“Aww!”

“Cain’t we stay awhile and help look after ‘er?”

“She’s so little!”

Zecora, however, was adamant:

“Your families would worry. Return here tomorrow, there is no hurry.”

Still protesting, the three fillies were led back to Ponyville.

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The next day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders burst through the door in their excitement, startling both Zecora and the puppy, which she’d been in the process of feeding.

“Howdy Zecora! We’re back!”

“Is the puppy okay?”

“Have you named her yet?”

Zecora lowered the bundle she’d been holding and glanced back at the puppy, which had shrank back against the wall, back arched.

“Perhaps your two friends are exempt but from you I thought better, Applebloom. You should be aware that strangers will scare a beast if they enter the room.”

“Sorry!” The three chorused, already across the room at the puppy’s pen. Zecora sighed and joined them. Scootaloo looked at the bundle she was slipping over her hoof.

“What’s that, Zecora?” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom soon took notice.

“Looks kinda…twiggy.”

“Ooh ooh, ah know. It’s a feedin’ glove, ain’t it, Zecora?” When the zebra nodded, Applebloom explained to her confused friends.

“See, critters like this one who don’t have a momma to feed offa should be fed with something made up to look like their momma, y’know? This one’s all twiggy to fool the little ‘un into thinkin’ it’s a Timber Wolf momma so it’ll suckle.”

“Ohhh, I get it.”

“That’s so sweet.” All smiles, the three turned back to Zecora, who’d been trying to coax the pup back to the feeder.

“What are you feeding her, Zecora?” Drawing her hoof back, Zecora hesitated before answering.

“It is milk and herbs to……..make her grow. However, even disguised as her mother, she seems to know.”

“Well, maybe it’s because you’re so big, Zecora. Maybe we should try?”

“……I suppose that is worth a try. Wait a moment while I fetch my supply.” She moved to the counter as the three girls exchanged confused looks.

“Supply of what?” Zecora returned with a smile on her face.

“We must mask your scent, Sweetie Belle, with a cover know you quite well.” She indicated her ear, from which a viscous substance dripped occasionally. The Crusaders instantly recognised it. When Zecora held up a hoof covered in sap, they groaned in unison.

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“Look look, she’s doing it! She’s feeding!” Scootaloo was all smiles at finally having managed to get the puppy to drink from the glove.

“Aww.” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom gushed at the sight. Zecora smiled as well, then she handed Sweetie Belle a ball.

“While hurt she should avoid strain, however some play time should cause her no pain.”

Delighted, Sweetie Belle held up the ball, shaking it occasionally, until the puppy focused on it. Once she had it in her sights the little Wolf refused to blink, following the ball wherever Sweetie Belle directed it. Letting it gently roll off her hoof, the ball had barely hit the floor before the pup was on it, gnawing away. Her attempts sent it skittering back and forth. Whenever it got close enough, one of the girls would scoop the ball up and send it back in. The puppy soon caught on, sprinting the ball back herself so it could be thrown again, yapping happily whenever a Crusader did so.

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The next day, against Zecora’s warning and while her back was turned, Applebloom had held her hoof inside the pen, trying to pet the Wolf. She’d been ready to whip her arm back when the puppy ran over, but it just too a few sniffs and, satisfied, rubbed up against it. With gasps of delight, all three Crusaders were soon getting sniffed and rubbed.

Zecora watched with a smile, but inside it was tearing her apart. They’d find out soon enough…

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“C’mon, Sappy, get the ball.” The pup, lovingly named Sappy by committee decision from Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, went jogging after the ball, thrown by the latter. Upon retrieving the ball, Sappy headed straight for the nearest pony, Scootaloo, who picked her up and nuzzled her, drawing a barrage of licks from the Timber Wolf’s mossy tongue.

“Heeheehee, that tickles, Sappy!” Applebloom approached with the feeder glove.

“Toss the ball this way, Scoots, Ah gotta get her fed.”

Once the puppy had latched onto the false teat, Applebloom turned to Zecora.

“How big is she gonna get, Zecora? If we keep feeding her this good stuff and take real good care o’ her?”

The zebra felt a harsh twinge, deep inside, but kept it from her face and shrugged.

“Unfortunately, little ponies, only time will tell. The best we can do is treat her well.”

“Well that ain’t gonna be a problem, will it, Sappy?” Applebloom and her friends crowded round the Timber Wolf, piling on the affection.

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“Sappy, feeding time! Here, girl.” Sappy got up from her prone position and walked over to Sweetie Belle, who settled down with the pup on the soft rug to feed her.

“Ah think she’s a li’l tired today.”

“Yeah, she’s hardly played with her ball.”

Zecora was looking away, unwilling to face the girls.

“Little ones,” she managed at last,

“tomorrow I can’t host you. I fear I have far too much to do.”

“Aww!”

“We can’t come play with Sappy?”

“Well can she stay with one of us?” Zecora shook her head.

“She is still young and weak, moving her won’t help her reach her peak.”

A while later, still grumbling, the three fillies left for the day, leaving Zecora with the puppy, who rested its head on her stomach. A single tear slipped from the zebra’s eye.

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The next morning, the cottage door banged open to reveal three beaming little ponies.

“Good morning, Zecora!” They chirped. Wide-eyed, she rushed to the door.

“No no no! Girls you cannot be here, you must go!” They didn’t obey here, instead trying to squirm past her.

“We know, we won’t be a sec. Just wanna wish Sappy a good morning then we’ll be out of your hair.” They succeeded in working their way past her and dashed further into the cottage as she followed in horror.

“Sappy! Good morning, sweetheart!”

“Jus’ wanted to wish you a good morning, girl.”

“………Sappy?”

“She’s not looking at us.” Scootaloo looked to Applebloom for help, who in turn looked at Zecora.

“Did you feed her today, Zecora?” Sweetie Belle, who was closest and leaning over the prone pup, suddenly gasped and shot backwards. Zecora could only watch helplessly.

“What’s wrong, Sweetie Belle?”

“S-S-Sappy! She’s…” Worried now, Applebloom and Scootaloo rushed over to the Timber Wolf, poking and pleading. Tears in their eyes, all three turned to the zebra.

“Zecora, do something!”

“She’s so little!”

“The-the formula! Give her some, you said it’d make her better, that she’d grow big and strong!” Hanging her head, the zebra came clean.

“The mix was not to help her grow, it was to help her……..’go’.”

“W-what?”

“When we found her in the forest, the end was plain, the milk and herbs were to ease her strain.”

“So she’s….she’s….”

At the zebra’s nod, they cried, loudly and openly. For an incalculable time the forest rang with the sound of their sorrow.

Eventually, they ran out of tears to shed, though no one, pony or zebra, said a word for the longest time.

“Why?” Only Zecora raised her head at Scootaloo’s question, the other fillies remained still as their friend continued,

“Why did you let us stay? Why, Zecora? If you knew from the start then why did you let us love her?” Now the other two looked up, their grief morphing into anger.

“I……should not have asked it of you, but truth be told I knew not what else to do.” Sweetie Belle jumped up and faced her.

“You and your stupid rhymes! You always know what to say, don’t you? Go ahead, recite your poem about what kind of a monster you are!”

“I did not want to burden you with Sappy. Yes, it was cruel of me…”

The three exploded at this. They shouted horrible, hurtful, justified insults at her, though somehow her voice got through,

“…but she was happy.”

Shocked, the fell silent, their anger evaporating as a fresh, crushing wave of grief engulfed them. Crying now too, Zecora pushed through.

“You gave her warmth and brought her joy. You hugged her, fed her, played with her and her toy.”

She reached out to them but they shied away from her touch, for such little ponies it was simply too much,

“I agree I’m a monster that even I despise, but Sappy thanks you, girls, and I apologise,”

Zecora’s arms engulfed Sweetie Belle and Scoots, both grieving right down to their roots,

“It hurts you to be here after all the love that you’ve shown, but because of you three, dear girls, she didn’t die scared, or alone.”

The hug reached Applebloom, eyes shut so tight, who didn’t resist as she cried with all her might.

The four stayed this way until there were no more tears to shed, Sappy lying loved, missed, so little in her bed.

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Dear Celestia, Princess of this land,

You receive letters from subjects, I’m given to understand. I’ve done a terrible thing for a supposed ‘good cause’, but my heartless actions would give a devil pause. I lied to and used three most innocent souls, I trapped them in the most awful of roles. I seek forgiveness, theirs, from others and from you,

Tell me, kind Princess, what should I do?

‘Your faithful subject’ is not a title I’ve earned, and I would not argue if this letter were spurned, yet I wish to make amends and change my dark aura, please help me, Celestia,

(vile, wicked) Zecora.

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