/Reset in Harmony/New Friends/
A new day is about to begin; the Sun begins to rise while the Moon slowly descends, leaving a light essence of magic transmitted to all the ponies and creatures of all Equestria as a sign that it will always be there.
As dawn breaks, Zecora heads to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and then start cooking lunch for the trip, which is scheduled to take her into the depths of the Everfree Forest; however, while the Everfree Forest may not be considered a suitable place to live or travel as a hobby by many, Zecora has enough experience for such dangerous conflicts that may unexpectedly present themselves.
For a brief moment, Zecora noticed the wind blowing harder than usual, turning into frantic gusts instantly, the wind blew harder hitting the kitchen window and abruptly opening it; as Zecora holds the window handle tightly, immediately the door is also abruptly opened by another gust of wind; instinctively, Zecora quickly closed the window and door in the blink of an eye.
Amidst the confusion, the gusts of wind that appeared out of nowhere disappeared as they came; in a brief moment, the sky had transformed into a dark, grey hue, clearly showing signs of a possible rainstorm. In a moment of concern, Zecora glanced out the window, noticing the sky that clearly wasn't a very good idea to go out into the forest given how the day looked, however she didn't want to postpone the day, she needed to go out into the forest to look for materials and some tea plants that can only be extracted near the streams, and if the storm falls they could flood the flowers, then, without thinking twice she turns around and quickly walks to her room to gather her things and equip herself, once finished, she quickly left her house, leaving her breakfast half finished.
An hour had already passed, and during the walk, Zecora was successfully writing down and crossing off everything she collected, be it plants for medical treatment, seeds, fruits, among other things. Meanwhile, between the search and worrying about the weather, Zecora tried to concentrate on finding the Fire Ring Flower, a very rare Flower that can only be found in the deepest part of the forest, but the chances were getting lower and lower due to the weather, which seemed to be getting worse and worse.
At that moment, the ground shook after a lightning bolt struck not far from where Zecora was standing.
“Gosh, the storm is getting worse and worse, I won't be able to do it... So much effort and I couldn't get it.” He said in a low voice while looking at his notebook.
Disappointed, she turns around and looks at the sky one last time before returning to her humble home; at that very moment, all of her fur began to rise little by little and her breathing slowly became filled with fear as she looked at the true leaden face of the sky. As she raised her head and looked at the sky once again, everything was clear, there was a super crack in the sky, tearing apart as the lightning became more hostile, falling and destroying most of the forest.
Zecora didn't think twice, and started running as fast as possible from the place, avoiding the lightning bolts that fell constantly and destructively around her; she quickly climbed onto a giant rock that gave her easier access to the other side of the stream that had flooded; the crack began to open more and more, releasing an immense amount of portals in the sky; immediately Zecora jumped to the other side of the stream and the rock suddenly exploded, Zecora when she got up noticed that it was destroyed by lightning, which almost hit her too.
On the other hand, Ponyville entered a state of maximum alert, all the pegasi joined with all their forces to control the chaotic weather; the mayor along with Princess Twilight Sparkle, began to evacuate all the inhabitants of Ponyville, earth ponies and unicorns; the situation was getting worse and worse, the super crack began to release more portals in its path until it reached Ponyville.
Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi had surrounded as much of the clouds as possible, trying to keep away the storm and the rain of portals that kept appearing, but the falling lightning made the scene extremely dangerous. Among the scene, Twilight raised her wings and flew towards Rainbow and ordered her to withdraw all the pegasi, including her. Although she refused at first, the Wonderbolts, along with their commander Spitfire, had arrived just in time and they directly ordered Rainbow Dash to officially retreat.
“But if we let the storm surround all of Ponyville, the entire town and all of these ponies' homes will be lost forever,” Rainbow Dash answered Spitfire indicating the situation, immediately Spitfire stares at her.
“That's an order!” Spitfire shouted. Rainbow Dash looked at her commander Spitfire, then turned her gaze down where the ponies were, fleeing as far as possible out of Ponyville, because deep down she knows that her leader Spitfire is right, no pony will stay no matter how brave or determined they are, Spitfire will not risk losing any of his companions or companions by trying to be a hero, including Rainbow Dash.
“O-Okay, understood ma'am!” Rainbow raised her paw towards her head obeying the order of her commander, then Spitfire turned to the pegasi to give all the pegasi the next order.
“Very well this is what we will do, you will form groups of five, group one two and three descend and evacuate all the ponies and direct them to the train station, group four and five, help me create clouds thick enough to cover the entire area, so we will give you more time to evacuate all of Ponyville, do you understand?, I said.... Do you understand!?”
“Yes ma'am!” everyone shouted.
From one moment to the next, Zecora finally arrived at her home, going straight into the living room to gather only what was important to get out of there; almost the entire forest was destroyed and engulfed in flames, due to the out of control lightning coming out of the portals, and given the stress and panic that was slowly eating away at Zecora, she suddenly turned her head when she heard a scream outside her house, as she approached the window quickly the scream came back again but this time it sounded familiar, as she noticed through the window, a tree was struck by lightning and collapsed on top of someone.
“Zecora, help!!” someone shouted.
“Oh no, Apple Bloom!” Zecora quickly went to the door but it wouldn't open, it was stuck on the other side; uniting all her strength with her hind legs she kicked hard, breaking the window with her hooves, she moved through the window and finally went out to rescue Apple Bloom.
Looking closely at the silhouette approaching her, Apple Bloom almost bursts with happiness upon seeing Zecora, who hugs her. “There's no time to waste! We have to get you out of here. Where did you get stuck?” Zecora asked her.
“There, my hind leg... I'm glad you're here Zecora, I thought it was the end of me.” Apple Bloom replied, with a relieved tone.
Zecora grabbed the vines that had the little filly trapped in her mouth, and with a strong bite she pulled out each and every one of them with a single pull. Once cut she goes back to Apple Bloom.
“There is no time to get away little one, the storm surrounded the entire forest and we have no communication with any other pony, the only option we have is to take refuge inside my home in the basement” Zecora clarified while she picked up little Apple Bloom.
The noises were getting louder, the lightning and the wind increased in speed, making the whole area noisy.
Both of them ran straight to the door, and Zecora gathered more strength and with a single blow, she knocked down the door brutally, once inside, Zecora moves aside the carpet that covered the basement door and opens it, Apple Bloom noticed that Zecora did not use the basement much since it was dirty.
A strong lightning bolt suddenly struck, destroying the thick branches of Zecora's tree.
“Hurry up Apple Bloom! Come in! I know it's not very clean, but we'll be here until the storm passes.”
“Are you sure we'll be okay down there Zecora?, I'm afraid of the dark,” Apple Bloom said as she looked fearfully at the basement.
“Calm down little one, look at me. We'll be together until the storm passes, everything will be fine, just hold my hoof, okay?,” Zecora stretched out her paw towards the little filly, Apple Bloom's eyes looked back at the basement once more, but this time with less fear, then she turned her gaze towards Zecora with more confidence.
“Okay, let's do this.” She grabbed Zecora's leg and they quickly went downstairs together; everything was dark and they could barely see a table full of dusty plates, Apple Bloom pointed out some unused candles on the table which they could use in the dark without problems, Zecora took some matches out of her bag and lit two candles on the table, both of them took shelter behind the table to wait. Apple Bloom clung to Zecora's helmet and Zecora responded by hugging her.
“We'll be okay little one, everything will be okay” he whispered to her.
Everything was silent; Zecora and Apple Bloom had fallen asleep, they had no idea how much time had passed, the candles had gone out, but they knew that the worst was over, the door that pointed outwards emitted a small ray of light, thus allowing the two creatures to see in the darkness; Zecora stood up and approached the door but she felt very weak when walking, her hooves hurt a lot with each step she took, possibly some piece of glass went through the bottom of her hoof after breaking the window a while ago, the blood on her hoof was dry, but it was not that serious.
“Zecora... are you feeling okay? You were walking a little unevenly” Apple Bloom asked, looking at her injured paw.
“Calm down, dear Apple Bloom, it's nothing serious, I'm just a little weak that's all,” Zecora answered in a low and weak tone of voice. She was clearly a little dizzy, but that wasn't going to stop her; she opened the door and a flash of light invaded her entire face.
“Tell me... How does everything look outside?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Boy, my home... It put up quite a fight against the storm, but I never thought my breakfast thought it was still standing” she laughed.
Once outside, Apple Bloom looks at all the rubble and the little that was left of Zecora's home, automatically Apple Bloom felt a little sad for Zecora, it was the only home she had and she felt the need to do something to help her; Zecora noticed her look towards her of sadness, and concern.
“Don't feel bad Apple Bloom, these things usually happen, you shouldn't worry about me, there is always a solution,” Zecora said, but that didn't prevent her from seeing her home in ruins and feeling sad too. As she walked around, Zecora observed some of the vines scattered around that had trapped Apple Bloom, remembering how she ended up there in the first place.
“Oh my, I almost forgot, dear Apple Bloom, how did you end up trapped in there?, I suppose you came to see me so I could teach you some plant lessons?” Zecora asked, quite curious and confused.
“Ah, hehe i-it's a long story... Oh no! Apple Jack, Grandma and Big Mac must be worried, oh no oh no, Apple Jack will punish me this time and Grandma won't let me out anymore, and B-Big Mac will be disappointed in me” said Apple Bloom, making a dramatic scene. Zecora smiled and approached her.
“The important thing here is that you are safe dear Apple Bloom, and I know that your brothers will be happy that nothing bad happened to you and that is enough. So... How do you feel? Are you better?” With some discomfort, Zecora asked.
“A little better I guess, just that... I don't think Apple Jack will forgive me yet for what I did, I don't know.” Apple Bloom falls down a little when she says those words, Zecora confused by those words sits next to her.
“And why would Apple Jack be upset with you? Did you do something wrong?” Zecora asked once more. Apple Bloom looked at Zecora, but she didn't give any answer, she just showed an embarrassed face. Then she looked at her again.
“I don't want to talk about it, it's something I'm very embarrassed to say, and... I'm sorry Zecora,” expressed Apple Bloom with a tear coming out of her eyes. Zecora confused, decides not to insist on it.
“Don't worry Apple Bloom... Now, we need to get out of here, but anyway Apple Bloom, I have to take you home so you can be where you should be, with your family” clarified Zecora. Apple Bloom listened, and looked at the sky.
“Yes, you're right... Where will we go then?”
“As I told you Apple Bloom, I'm going to take you home, and that place is Sweet Apple Acres.... Obviously; but we'll have to go to Ponyville first, we still don't know if your siblings went there to look for you, so we'll go there then, okay?” Zecora clarified as she went to pick up some bottles on top of a container, and carefully put them in her bag.
“Okay, I just hope the storm hasn't reached Ponyville,” Apple Bloom whispered with some discontent.
On the way to Ponyville, Apple Bloom looks around as she walks and hums a song that Zecora didn't know. The little filly began to slow down her steps, observing the number of trees that were destroyed by the storm, then she noticed several trees that were not affected, they were intact without any scratches, and most notably, their leaves were not wet, as if they had never been exposed to the storm. As they walked, Zecora noticed a piece of structure blocking the way, but the object looked strange to both of them, it was shaped like a metal block, with four wheels and quite fortified apparently; Apple Bloom is a little curious, and gets a little closer, noticing at first glance that it had front seats.
“Ah, have you ever seen something like this Zecora? Because I think no other pony has seen something like... This,” Confused asked Apple Bloom. Zecora looked closely at the object and began to touch it with her right paw.
“To be honest, I've never seen anything like this before, I even dare to think that it doesn't even belong here... I think I have an idea of where something like this could have come from” Zecora replied.
Zecora moved away from the mysterious object a little and pointed with her same hoof in front of her, and further ahead of the object, they saw more debris scattered everywhere, similar to the metal machine with wheels, both creatures stood paralyzed with their eyes wide open, seeing everything that was left of the forest. The trees had all their branches destroyed, and some had caught fire from the fire that came from the bottom of the forest; both began to walk around and at that moment, Apple Bloom stopped, seeing a strange machine with several limbs on the front, she laughs and points to Zecora a limb that the machine had on the front, as she approached, she noticed that the metal artifact had controls in the cabin.
“Apple Bloom!” The filly turned her head in response to Zecora. “It would be better not to get too close, that thing looks quite unstable and I notice with my eyes that the limb it has, is about to separate and fall right where you are standing” Zecora mentioned. But her words were completely ignored.
The little filly entered the machine and began to interact with the controls it had, but it didn't seem to work; while Zecora watched her a little angry, for a brief moment, she suffered a dizzy spell that unbalanced her until she almost lost her balance, and before falling to the ground she held on for a moment on one of the structures that were scattered around there, then she noticed a rock that was behind her not far from where she was, with the little strength she had left she walked little by little, holding on to some rubble buried in the ground, which formed a kind of smooth wall up to the rock; the rock was soft and warm, allowing her to sit down and rest a little. It was obvious, she was clearly weak and with her vision a little blurry, thus affecting her concentration on the little girl, and for a second she looked away from Apple Bloom. A loud noise suddenly rang in Zecora's ears, waking her up again.
“Zecora! Hurry! you have to see this!” Apple Bloom screamed scared. Zecora immediately reacted to Apple Bloom's scream, stood up and went to her quickly; seeing that Apple Bloom was fine, Zecora looked around somewhat confused.
“Wow... What happened? Are you okay Apple Bloom?” Zecora asks.
Apple Bloom pointed at something behind the machine; Zecora looked at Apple Bloom scared and nervous, and as she got closer, she saw that it was a creature, it had an anthropomorphic shape, similar to dragons but it had no tail or horns, nor claws, the body was upside down; with her two legs and the little strength she had left, Zecora got closer and turned the body face up; there were no words, Zecora saw that it was not a creature that belonged to Equestria, it was from another place, something from beyond, which even Zecora does not have the slightest knowledge, except for a word she heard Princess Twilight Sparkle say once.
“A human?... This is definitely the strangest thing I've seen today dear Apple Bloom.”
