> Zecora and the Parasite > by Faedelaide > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: Arm-Worm > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sammakött could still feel a throbbing pain travelling through his body in thick waves. His arm had stopped bleeding days ago, but it was far from healed. He felt the wound with his remaining hand. Darkness still shrouded his vision, and his eye was still warm with fresh pain. It was only two weeks since his escape from the ice, but he was still blind, missing a limb, and lacking an army of any kind. The soft crunch of soil and frost under his hooves, accompanied by the creaking wind told him that he was still in a forest, but where he was exactly was a mystery. It would help if he could remember where he had originally set his enchantment to take him, but wandering around was out of the question. In a world so densely populated by the enemy, and with no reinforcements to help him, anywhere he went was likely to be dangerous. It was a guarantee that Twilight had already told the other princesses about his release, and they were likely to tell everyone else. Fifteen thousand years of planning, only to end up back at square one. Sammakött sat still. Slowly, the throbbing subsided, and he focused on listening to the forest around him. The quiet, aged creaking of the trees around him masked the sound of sleeping animals. Snoring squirrels, snoozing birds, even the slowed heartbeat of hibernating animals. There was a bear sleeping away in a cave not too far away. Its breathing was incredibly slow. It was unlikely to wake up if he entered its cave and ate it. Sam was missing many things at this moment, but he still had food, which was good. If there was one thing he was thankful for, it was the fact that, for the time being at least, he wouldn't have to resort to eating ponies. They always tasted awful. As he listened to the rhythm of the forest, Sam's breathing began to slow, over time beginning to stay in beat with the swaying of the trees. It was night time, as was evident by the quiet breathing of the animals around him. Perhaps it was best to rest, and let the cold envelop him. As the wind calmed, and Sam began to fade away into peaceless slumber, a faint whistling disturbed the quiet tranquility of the forest. It was a warbling whistle, like the scream of a dying animal. It shook and vibrated in the air, until it finally reach Sam's ears. His eye reflexively snapped open, then quickly shut as he flinched in pain. Heaving himself up from his bed of snow, he looked up into the black sky. The whistling grew closer, and with it, so did an old accomplice. Sam could feel the rush of wind on his nape, followed swiftly by the flapping of two great, feathered wings. A familiar hiss nestled in Sam's ears, and he turned to the direction of the noise. "Well... If it isn't Isidora. I suspected you'd be the first to find me," Sam gurgled, a small smile splitting his face. "Of course, Alma. My loyalty to you is as undying as your brutality, my lord," the puechen spoke in a sugary sweet voice. Sam could never really tell if her constant whistling came from her feathers, or if she just spoke that way. "Well I'm glad to hear from you, Isidora. I might have lost my men, but it's good to see my most loyal follower has found me." Isidora took a sharp breath through her teeth as Sam stared in her direction. "What in Boiuna happened to you, mi rey? You look like you picked a fight with Lady Madness." Sam grunted. "I'll ignore the fact that you think Markinockyonazae could do this much to me." "What, are you going to tell me that the ponies did that much to you? They didn't seem all that dangerous on the way here." "Their princesses are adept in magic, one of them in Aether magic." Isidora gasped. "You don't think they're a descendant of Ma Vie, do you?" "No. I nearly killed the new crystal princess, but that... Twilight... Sparkle... stopped me," Sam spat. "Wow. Would you like me to drink her blood and steal her heart for you, Alma?" "No, that won't be necessary. She's much too dangerous anyway, especially now that the whole kingdom knows of our existence." "and the griffons too. They'd have to be pretty stupid not to." the serpent added. Sam growled, feeling the ooze in his throat bubble and froth as he did. "Thank you, Isidora, for the reminder." "S-sorry," He could hear the puechen slither along the branches, her serpentine body flowing through the arms of the forest like water. "So what do we do then? I get the feeling that more than just your eye is dysfunctional." Sam sighed, mindlessly clawing at the dirt. He reveled in the ease in which his talons carved through the soil. If only it were flesh, and not snow. "Well," he spoke up, "currently, we're fugitives in a kingdom rife with the very things that want us dead. We have no reinforcements, no magic and, for me at least, no vision." "Yeah... How long until that eye heals back up?" "A week at most, but that's more than enough time for some unsuspecting pony to stumble upon us and report our location to the princesses. Speaking of, Isidora, dearest, where are we?" "Oh, let me do another check around. Be right back, my lord." Sam listened as she shot up into the air, trailing that same whistling behind her as she flew. He continued to hear her whistling as she soared in a wide circle around him. After a minute, the whistling stopped, and again, Sammakött felt the rushing of wind and the flapping of wings as Isidora landed. "Well, I got some good news and bad news." "Don't give me crumbs, Dora. Just tell me where we are," Sam growled "Judging by the odd pattern of the nearby trees and the ramshackle building that's about a mile off from here, we appear to be on the edge of some sort of orchard. The building sported an apple symbol, so if I were to guess, it's an apple orchard, and a pretty big one at that." Sam sat upright, his muscular hide rippling in tense waves. "Were there any ponies?" "There was one big one doing something, but lights were on in his house, so it's possible there are more. I doubt there are more than four however, the building wasn't that big." "Any unicorns? Pegasi?" "The big one didn't have wings or a horn as far as I saw. I did have to keep my distance, however. Thank goodness it's night, otherwise he might've actually seen me. I believe the only thing he caught onto was my whistling." Isidora flapped her wings in annoyance. They whistled as she did so, seemingly out of spite. If he weren't upset, Sam might've chuckled. At least that was one question answered. He grunted. Ripping his hand from the dirt, he pointed in the direction of Isidora. "Then what's the good news in all this, that we're only on the edge of the pony kingdom?" Sam heard more slithering as Isidora moved herself in front of him. "No. I don't know if I'm right about this, it has been a while." "What is it?" "Well, I remember you telling some of us about the 'last resort' when you concepted the enchantment. You told us that if we were lost, we could find you at your old home." Sam's eye nearly opened again in surprise. "You mean we're..." "Yup, we're smack in the middle of Narok... or what was Narok. How insulting, turning it into some boring old fruit field." Sam was quiet for a moment. Isidora slithered restlessly in the trees above, waiting for her master to say something. After some time, Sam collected his thoughts. "How far do you think you could fly, Isidora?" "For you, Alma? I'd fly to the moon and back." "Good. I need you to find Lambton. Comb every shoreline, search every cave. Do not stop until you have found him." "Lambton?" Isidora questioned, the fear in her voice apparent. "You mean like the sarcomancer Lambton? The 'massacre of the grey temple' Lambton?" "Yes. We can't afford to loaf around here when my army is running amok all across the kingdom and I'm missing an arm and an eye. It'll take me months until my arm is fully regenerated, and that's an amount of time we can't afford to waste. We need Lambton." "...Whatever you say, my lord. I can't guarantee he'll listen to me, but I'll try." "If you find him, and he is belligerent, tell him I have an offer for him that he'd regret rejecting." "Ah, earning your army back with negotiation. Ever the talented and capable ruler, Alma." "yes, alright, thank you. Now go! Find Lambton!" Sam shook his hand at the serpent, shooing her into the sky. "Yes, my lord! I'll be back, I promise! I won't disappoint you." "You never have," Sam gurgled. With a flap of her wings, Isidora flew up into the air. Sammakött listened as her telltale whistling faded away into the night. Left in peaceful silence once again, he laid his head down upon the soft pillow of snow, and slowly, he was swept off into the serene cloud of sleep. > 1: Out of the Ice, Into the Blizzard > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first thing Reek heard was the sloshing of the waves and the howling of wind as he plummeted into the shimmering blue water. It was startling, and not just because it was the first sound he'd heard in who knew how long. The water itself wasn't much issue to him, though it was cold enough to make him want to curl up into a ball. The biggest problem was his neighbors. In the few seconds that passed between Reek being freed from the ice and falling into the ocean, hundreds if not thousands of creatures from all twelve kingdoms spewed forth from the misty corpse of the once great iceberg that imprisoned all of them. Wyverns from Morvelek's brood, puechens and atatoli from Queztocoatl's kingdom, and even a few other worms and slugs from Reek's own home city. As far as he was concerned, though, they could all get eaten by a bregdi. Reek's first instinct was to run, run far away from the rest of those beasts, but every time he broke the sea's surface, he would be swarmed by flying creatures of all shapes and sizes. The water wasn't any better either. Bregdi the size of galleons cruised through the water, while hundreds of brittle stars, moha-moha and other watery creatures swam in every direction. The water surrounding the ice was soon tinted red with the viscera of countless casualties and half eaten bodies, and Reek's odds of survival were dwindling by the minute, so he swam, and kept swimming until he finally reached dry land. That was a week ago. Now, bathed in the weak warmth that the winter sun provided, he stirred awake. His stomach grumbling, Reek stretched, squeezing himself out of the thin crack that was his hiding place. One of the advantages of having very few bones, finding somewhere to hide wasn't too difficult. But he wasn't entirely boneless, and oftentimes, Reek wished he could spit out all his teeth and leave them behind. Sure, it'd be hard to chew anything, but at least then he'd be able to stuff himself in a cave and just eat lichen or something for the rest of his life. Any opportunity to stay away from the rest of Leudnan Righrean was an opportunity that Reek would gladly take. They were all savages, not a single neuron amongst them. Waiting for the sun to reach its zenith, Reek chewed on a frozen bush. His teeth made easy work of it, but evergreens were always gross. Not a bit of flavor in them, and the snow just tasted cold. Oh well, anything to be rid of company. As he ate, Reek poked an eyestalk upwards, scanning as much of the forest as he could. Evidently, there was not a lot of food left. Anything the cold hadn't taken for itself was already stripped bare by him or some other animal. He was going to have to move again, which of course ran the risk of running into... undesirables. The sun was still rising, but seeing as he didn't have much else planned to do except eat, Reek made his way along. As the day crawled on, he found that the land he slithered on had progressively become flatter, and the forest darker. In a way, it kind of reminded him of home, the swamps of Natslyk. A wave of nostalgia creeped over Reek in that moment. It crawled through his skin like a great centipede, causing him to shiver uncomfortably. Home, ugh. At least it seemed like no one else got here before him, which was kind of surprising. Rather than feeling relief, however, Reek only felt foreboding crawl down his non-existent spine. If nobody was here yet, they would be soon. As if on cue, a quiet whistling rang out from somewhere behind Reek. He heard it immediately, and his squishy hide tensed up until developed the consistency of stone. Curling himself into a ball, he tried his best to look like an unassuming boulder as a harmony of whistles zoomed past him. Reek focused on keeping form and not panicking as he heard the troupe of puechens soar by. They didn't stop for a moment, but Reek refused to uncurl himself until their whistling had left for a good while. It was always better to play it safe when everything was willing to eat you. Reek only unfurled himself from his protective cocoon when an especially cold breeze slid along his back, nearly freezing the layer of mucus that covered his skin. Of course, in this flatland, there wasn't any rocks or crevices he could squeeze himself into. He needed somewhere safe to hide, and fast. He quickened his slithering, keeping one watchful eye out for any noticeable holes or dens that would make for good shelter and another on the sky in case the puechens came back. The more he looked, the more paranoia bubbled in his stomach... or maybe it was something he ate. Come to think of it, the more Reek looked around, the more he realized that the flora looked... off. Did bushes always look like that? Did the trees back in Natslyk always smell this... foreign? Reek's stomach grumbled more. He could feel his gut turning and twisting inside of him, which made it incredibly hard to focus on the sky and the forest at the same time. He lurched forward. Whatever he ate had hit him hard and fast. He felt like passing out. No, he couldn't. That was a death sentence. He couldn't let Leudnan Righrean get him now, he wouldn't. He struggled to keep his vision from blurring. Panic began to set in almost like an instinct. Was that a snake? No... just a twig. The same trees that once granted protection from the horrors of the old world now loomed over him as grand, disfigured horrors. Branches and boughs became bands of slithery, thin hydras hanging from the sky itself. Did hydras still exist? Who knew what abhorrent native abominations called this dung heap their home. Sure, hydras were little, but what if they were poisonous now? What if they spat acid? what if they bled acid? Did everything in this Boiuna forsaken land bleed acid!? He sure didn't know! A small, insignificant light snuck faintly between the gaps of the dense growth of the forest. Every fiber of Reek's body told him it was a bad idea, but then again, passing out now was about as good idea as fashioning a dinner bell and thrashing it as hard as he could. With no other options, and with countless unknown things swaying about in the haze of the forest's shadow, Reek slithered his way towards the light as fast as he could. He could feel many wooden hand claw at his flesh. Hundreds of greedy, selfish monsters licked their lips, each of them declaring dominion over their own portion of his soon-to-be lifeless body. As hard as he tried, Reek couldn't move any faster. The forest floor seemed to ebb and flow, dragging him back every time he attempted to move forward. As if stood upon the back of a titanic worm, the world itself writhed and shook, knocking Reek off balance and causing him to tumble down to the cold earth beneath him. Under the cover of hungry giants, and with innumerable frozen spears digging into his soft skin, Reek could only blink as darkness enshrouded everything around him. His body refused to move, despite his best efforts. As his eyelids became too heavy to hold, and shadowy black hands obscured his vision, the last thing he was able to see was stripes. > 2: All Just Shades of Black > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reek awoke when he felt something poking his face. His eyestalks rose sluggishly, and it took a moment for him to focus on his surroundings. But before he could gather his bearings, something poked him in his eye. "Ow! What is doing that?" "ah, so you are finally awake! I was not sure how long it would take," A melodic voice answered back. Reek's eye sunk back into his head to recover. The remaining stalk focused on the blurry shape before him. It was various shades of grey, but seemed to be crowned by stripes of white. Odd, blurry blobs of gold decorated its edges, and above all, it was rather small. The blob poked him again in his side. "Hey! Would you knock that off!?" "Oh, you'll have to forgive me, but of Gusty's Grace you'll soon be free." Reek eyed the blob in confusion. As his vision cleared, the unformed figure began to sharpen, until it finally took the shape of a zebra, clad in golden neck and hoof rings. The zebra stared up at him a look of apathetic curiosity. Though Reek could've sworn he'd seen a flash of something else cross her gaze. Reek raised himself to his full height, and clonked his head on the ceiling in the process. he looked around him. The zebra's home was rather small, which made sense, considering only one creature lived here. All along the walls, shelves held potions, masks, and jars of miscellaneous ingredients. A large cauldron bubbled in the house's center, filled with a boiling purple fluid. Welp, this definitely was it. This was how he died. However, instead of goring him on a wooden spike or tossing whatever was in her cauldron at his face, the zebra turned away and walked nonchalantly over to one of her many shelves. From it, she grabbed a tall glass bottle that was stuffed to the brim with dried, yellow petals. She, along with the cabin, seemed to shake and shimmer, as if the whole building were a mirage, and Reek was having a difficult time figuring out how close she was until he accidently bumped into the wall next. "It seems that Grace has yet to leave. But I still have some tricks up my sleeve." The zebra popped open the jar, and a powerful scent of herbal spices and dried grass wafted in the air. Just breathing it made Reek's body relax. The zebra scooped up a hoofful of the yellow leaves and held it out towards him. Reek recoiled, disgusted and paranoid by its fragrance. "What, you think I'm gonna eat that?" "To be rid of the Grace that gives you strife, then eat these Begonias, the petals of life," She spoke briskly. She continued to hold out the petals for Reek, but he was as still as a statue, a look of utter bewilderment attached to his face. "What are you talking about!? Gusty's Grace, petals of life, are you insane? Am I stuck in the house of a maniac?" The zebra pulled back as Reek shouted. That same curiostiy lingered in her eyes, but she looked away, allowing Reek the chance to scan for any and all possible escape routes. The zebra huffed slightly, deep in thought. "If you truly believe me mad, then perhaps I should explain a tad." "Yeah, maybe that'd be a good idea," Reek fumed. "Fine, if it must be so, but eat these petals if you wish to know." Reek hesitated. The petals did smell good, but he had experienced too many near death encounters to naïvely take petals from a stranger's hand... or hoof in this instance. Reek leaned back, making as much distance between him and the petals as possible. The zebra's face began to fall as moment after silent moment passed by. Her eyes, once full of interest, were now dulling in tandem with the thinning of her patience. "If you do not want the remedy I provide, Then perhaps I'll let you go outside." Reek laughed. "What, you're just letting me go because I won't eat your stupid magic petals? Alright then. That was easier than I thought it'd be." Chuckling to himself, Reek slid away from the zebra and her probably poisonous petals and headed towards the door. "Welp, it was awful to meet you. I hope I never see you again!" He clenched the doorknob with his teeth and twisted open the door. As soon as the door creaked open, Reek was shoved back by a powerful, violent wind. Snow flew in from the open doorway, covering his face in a layer of frost. The wind screamed at him, roaring with all the might of a raging dragon. Reek tried to worm away from the door, but the cold quickly numbed his muscles, and all he could see, feel and hear was the cold. It felt like he was back in the glacier. He couldn't go back there. Please, he hoped he'd never go there again. Anywhere but there. The door slammed closed, and with it, the howling storm receded back into the great outdoors. Reek shook away the flakes of snow covering his face to see the zebra standing in front of him with an unamused expression. "If you wish to stay, and not freeze in the snow, then you'll be sure to eat my Begonias, no?" "W...w-where in Tartarus did that storm come from?" Reek stammered. "Oh, the Lunar Solstice's winter storm. It seems to have taken quite a monstrous form." "Lunar Solstice? What is-you know what, I know I'm not going to get an answer. I'm just going to go curl into a ball and die if that's ok with you." "I will tell you all that I know but it would be best if we-" "Yes I know, I get it! You want me to eat those stupid Begonias! Fine, I'll eat them! Is that what you were gonna say!?" The zebra giggled. "-Take it slow." "Oh." "I must say its pleasing to see that you are willing to listen to me," the zebra remarked, a sarcastic expression smeared across her face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Reek grumbled. "So what's the deal with this storm then? How long is it gonna last?" The zebra didn't respond. Instead, she yet again held out her hoof, holding another small batch of yellow petals. "If it is truth you'd like me to reveal, then first you must eat your meal." "What are you, my mother?" Reek joked. He chuckled to himself for a moment, but after looking at the thoroughly unamused look on the zebra's face, Reek quickly took the leaves into his mouth and ate. His teeth swirled and waved in his mouth, shredding the dried leaves in a matter of seconds. Reek sighed as he chewed. He was gonna be stuck here with an insane zebra for a good while, and he would have to eat weird petals just to keep himself from starving to death. At this rate, starving seemed like a pretty good option. As soon as he swallowed the insgnificant portion, Reek began to cough violently. Despite their pleasant aroma, the petals were just about the worst thing he had ever eaten. They tasted like the white hot embers spewed from a charred corpse that had been left in the sun for months, was eaten by a wandering onniont, was promptly spat back out, and finally left to decompose in a poisonous bog. Whatever plant he'd eaten yesterday that caused him to pass out was by far a more pleasant dish than whatever this was. "Wh-hack-what is th-hack-at stuff?" Reek wheezed. "Begonias that I usually grow for sport, but they also cure toxins and others of that sort," the zebra smiled innocently. "what... I mean-but y-..." Reek tried his best to get the words out, but the unholy taste of the petals, mixed with his insurmountable confusion at the recent course of events allowed him only the most fragmented of sentences. After a moment of collection, and gagging, Reek looked the zebra in the eye. She remained calm, even as his eyestalks quivered with rage. "Am I missing something? Was there some grand event that occurred that would explain all of this madness? Because if there isn't, then what in Boiuna's name is a zebra of all creatures doing living here in the middle of the forest, growing and farming pharmaceutical plants and acting like none of it is weird? Who do you think you are to act so above all of this, like your some sort of messiah or savior just because you dragged me out of the snow and in to your itty bitty little murder hut? Is this just something you do everyday, huh? Do you just take in lost and wounded creatures, give them some poison under the guise of 'healing herbs' and then use their bodies as catalysts for your potions? Is that it? Reek's body inflated and deflated as he took heavy, enraged breaths. The zebra stood still, her face having returned to that annoying look of curiosity again. Reek waited for an answer, but it seemed he would not be provided one. After a bout of silence that lasted far too long, Reek shouted again. "Well, is it!?" The zebra remained quiet for a minute, but opened her mouth once Reek began to calm down. "I can understand why you would be annoyed, but you teeter the edge of paranoid." Reek tried to steady his breathing, but was so enveloped in his rage that it came out as more of an aggravated hiss. "That doesn't answer... my question. Who... are you?" "I'm afraid I do not understand your commotion. I am only Zecora, a maker of potions." > 3: Sluggish, Slithering Stories > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zecora pulled out a small wooden table from one of the neighboring rooms. Without a word, she sat down on its far end, and motioned for Reek to sit opposite to her. The slug curled himself into a tight ball as he sat at the table's edge, his eyestalks two thin, grey towers on a mound of blackness. "So... you gonna tell me what's going on now?" he growled. The zebra blinked. "I'm not sure what you want me to say, But feel free to ask away." "Well for one, how long has it been since... uhm... Reek paused for a minute. He hadn't considered just how much time had passed since he had last seen the sun. He knew it was a long time mostly due to the first thousand years being filled with Sammakött's constant counting. But once the ice had robbed that monster of his telepathy spell... who knew how long Reek had been in there? "How... long... have we been gone?" "If by 'we' you mean the beasts that roam the land of which they once called home, I have not heard in all I've read of this old place from which you fled." Reek unrolled himself a slight amount, only to let out a dramatic sigh. "Can you stop speaking in rhymes please? You're not a sphinx or something, are you?" "A sphinx, I am certainly not, but I'm sorry for the stress I've wrought." "Yeah whatever," Reek rolled his eyes, "So I guess I'd better list off names. Back in my day, my king was Melo Milo. Big snail, lots of tentacles, last of the Carcolh. Ever heard of him?" Zecora clacked her hooves together, closing her eyes and focusing entirely on scanning every inch of her memory for any trace of such a name. "I will admit, I know of your kind, but that name holds no place in my mind." That caught Reek's attention. The slug unfurled himself fully from his comfortable ball, reaching his full height and nearly scraping the ceiling of Zecora's hut. He leaned in towards the zebra, though she remained placid and unmoving. "You know my people? What do you mean you 'know my kind'?" "Though you are quite the giant brute, the Mulilo Slugs back home are cute." Though Zecora spoke as if what she had said was the most casual thing in the world, her statement hit Reek like a blizzard wind that froze his skin solid and petrified him on the spot. "Wh-where's your old home?" "A far savannah across the sea, A place you might not like to see. If I took you to see your kind, you might not like just what you'd find." Reek slammed his thick tail onto the table, causing it to flip into the air and crash into a far wall. Several potions and ingredient bottles clattered to the floor, releasing various brightly colored clouds. "Enough with the riddles, wretched creature! I have never known a zebra in all my days, so either you tell me what you are and how you know me, or I tear you to ribbons and chew on your bones!" Deep inside his mouth, Reek's serrated teeth began to revolve, spinning and whirling like a grinder in his rage. But somehow, despite his threats, Zecora only smirked. "Would you still eat me alive, if I said you wouldn't survive?" Reek snarled. The zebra's words were quickly going from nuisance to torture. "You think you can stand against me?" "A Mulilo Slug would eat me quick, but my poison blood might do the trick." Reek spat a laugh out, splattering half eaten specs of Begonias all across the floor. "You don't have poison blood." "But of that can you guarantee, for you know nothing about me. It's been some time since you were last aware Some things might've changed, here and there." As Reek thought it over, the rage flowing through his body began to subside. Slowly, he shrank back down to a modest size, and his eyestalks straightened as he calculated the risk. After some minutes, he looked back at Zecora, squinting at her in disbelieving suspicion. "If you really are poisonous, then prove it." "If you wish to know if I am untrue, then there's only one thing that you can do." Zecora held out her hoof to Reek, taunting him to try and bite. "Take a bite, if you wish. I hope you enjoy your final dish." Reek gulped. It had been quite a long time after all, maybe ponies did have poisonous blood now. He didn't know, but the idea of Sammakött choking and dying on ponies of all things made him chuckle slightly. Deciding against it, Reek slinked back into his ball, grumbling all the while. Zecora smiled, pulling her hoof back and sitting up straight with pride. "We've reached, it seems, quite the impasse, let's just hope this storm doesn't last." "Yeah... let's..." For a while after that, no one moved an inch. Reek initially spent his time glaring at Zecora, but boredom eventually overcame him, and so he stared at the various bottles and miscellaneous knick-knacks that covered every wall of Zecora's home and even the floor to some degree. Eventually, he slithered over to the window and watched as the snow continued to build around the zebra's hut. "Ugh, when will this Boiuna forsaken storm ever end!" "I do not know, I thought you would, though." Reek sighed again and rolled his eyestalks. "You know, considering you live here, I thought you'd be more knowledgeable about the present." "And you knew your past, but now it's sheared. And all of that history's disappeared." "Disappeared? It's all over the place! I've had to avoid three puechens, a bregdi and several hungry kor just to end up getting poisoned of all things." "Puechens? How great! Oh, please elaborate." "What, you know about puechens? Do you poison them on the regular too?" Zecora laughed, and as she leaned back, Reek barely restrained himself from going straight for her neck. "Of course not, I'm no crook. But I've read of them in storybooks." Reek turned away from the window to sit back down in front of Zecora. He wasn't particularly interested in telling her about his old enemies, but looking at the slowly raising snow made him paranoid and claustrophobic. "What did the books say about them?" he asked in a bout of skeptical curiosity. "That they were pretty and thin, With teeth like pins. It said they were snakes, that they lived in lakes, And that the flap of their wings Would cause shivers and quakes." "Heh, well that's not totally inaccurate," Reek grabbed a shard of glass from one of the dozen broken bottles and started to carve out the rough shape of a snake onto the floor. "They are snakes, sort of. As far as I remember, they're distant cousins of the wyverns. You still have those here?" "Not this close to town, But I know they're around." Reek grunted in affirmation. "Well, it's not that important anyway," after finishing the body, he moved on to the puechen's head. " They usually travel in packs, and each of them have got these rows of serrated teeth filled with enough venom to drop a chimera in one bite. Back in my day, if you were smart, you'd run and hide the second you heard their screaming." "The puechens sound rather ghoulish, To fight against them would be foolish." "Yeah. That was what most of the other kingdoms thought at the time. In flesh, they were children of the mighty amphithere, Quetzalcoatl. But in spirit, they followed only the will of Sammakött. They were the first to join his army, and when they did, Quetzal's only options were to join his children, or face their fangs." Zecora's face turned a paler shade of grey as Reek continued. "That sounds bad." "Yeah, just a bit." "This Quetzal, was he mad?" "Oh he was furious," Reek paused his carving for a minute to gesticulate during his speech, waving the shard of glass in all directions. "Only one kingdom ever defied Narok, but Quetzal came close to being the second. It was said that in his ire, he cursed all the puechens so that their wingbeats would mimic his screams of rage forever. It would remain a permanent reminder of their betrayal, but the puechens saw it as proof of Sammakött's infinite power, having defeated a lord so easily." "So that's why they scream... This Sammakött is more then he seems." "Much more, my monochromatic abductor. There's a reason he's called 'the King of the Dead'... And also why there aren't any Leudnan Righrean graves." Reek huffed. He looked back down at the crudely carved puechen, and it started up at him with vacant, soulless eyes. Of all the things that survived the ice, the puechens were already the most acclimated. Reek would've bet that, had he stuck around the glacier's corpse for a little longer, he would have seen them diving for any cadaver big enough to fit in their mouths. He knew all to well what they were capable of. He dropped the shard of glass, where it shattered on the hardwood floor. He didn't move, only staring at the little wooden monster before him. Zecora stood up in an attempt to reach Reek's eye level. While she had failed quite spectacularly, she softly placed a hoof on Reek's side. Instinctively, he slithered away from her, and she made no further move towards him. "I sense that these monsters of old, Have committed many horrors untold. I know you're scared it's you they'll find," She leaned closer to him, and he watched her movements with an intently scrutinous eye. "But I could help... if you'd be inclined." The slug leaned towards Zecora, his fangs rippling as he grumbled paranoid, skeptical remarks to himself. "Help? How do you plan to help me, exactly?" The zebra responded first with a small, knowing smile before speaking another infuriating verse. "If you are nice, and you put some work in, I'll make a potion, and you won't be noticed again." > 4: Lost in Frost > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Though the sun had risen a few hours ago, the mountains of snow that surrounded every side of Zecora's hut remained completely intact. Finally, after two days of non-stop snowing, the storm had ceased. Now, Zecora was ready to go. The front door creaked open a slight crack, but was quickly caught by the wall of frost. Zecora tried again to shove open the door, but it refused to move. She placed both her hooves upon the wooden frame and pushed with all her might, but all she had managed to do was get the door lodged into the thick snow. She sighed in frustration. "well, at least the storm is through, but we still have some digging to do." "Easy enough for me," Reek scoffed. With undoubtable ease, Reek bored his way through the thick layer of frost. It took only a moment for him to breach the surface, but once he turned back to see the cabin in its entirety, he took in just how swamped they were. Reek found his eyestalks scraping against the top of the canopy, and there wasn't a single unburied plant in sight. The tips of tree branches jutted from the pearly floor like thorns, the dull brown clashing harshly with the opalescent, sparkling snowbanks. Only the top half of Zecora's hut poked out from beneath the snow, and as far as Reek could see, there was no easy way they were going to find what they needed to make his potion. Behind him, Zecora huffed and grunted. A grey hoof emerged from Reek's snow tunnel, and then another, and then a mohawk of black and white rose from beneath the snow. She huffed and panted, exhausted from climbing up the slippery funnel of ice. "I'm on my hooves and knees, Some help, if you'd please!" Reek hadn't noticed her pleas for help until a thick hunk of ice hit him square in the back. He spun around with a snarl, ready to tear apart his attacker, until he finally noticed the small, struggling zebra. He rolled his eyes, but wrapped his tail around Zecora and hoisted her up to stand next to him. She took a moment to catch her breath before speaking again. "Thank you friend, that would've been my end." "Oh don't be such a crybaby," Reek chided. He turned back to look at her hut. Above them, the sky was surprisingly clear. The sun shone brightly above them, but the ice had no intention of melting. Reek entertained the idea that maybe the ice was lingering out of pure spite specifically towards him, and that if he walked more than twenty feet in any direction, the snow would disappear. He groaned. "So whaddya think, doc? What do we do now?" Zecora thought for a while. As she did, she wandered aimlessly around the frozen wasteland, looking for any way to reach the dirt below. She inspected her house, all five feet of it that hadn't been buried in snow, and walked along the treetops, snaking between the piercing, wooden spears scattered around the place. She tapped her hoof on her chin contemplatively. "This is a grim turn of events, I do not know where the snow ends." "Well I could've told you that. Ugh!" Reek groaned. This was fantastic. Not only was he stuck with the single most annoying creature in Leudnan Righrean, but now he was going to have to starve to death. He was just on the verge of curling himself back into a depressed, enclosed ball when an idea struck him. Zecora stared distractedly at some distant, snow covered mountains. She wasn't paying any attention to him as he whined, and she continued not to notice him as he stalked behind her. In his mouth, his rows of serrated teeth twisted and shifted in anticipation. He was getting closer. He had to hold back a growl and kept himself from drooling. A gust of wind blew past them, and with it, he could smell her clear as day. His vision focused. The form of Zecora was crystal sharp in front of him. His first taste of meat in Boiuna knew how long, and it was practically served to Reek on a silver platter. His mouth opened wide, splitting his body vertically down the middle. Rows and rows of teeth whirled excitedly. And then, Zecora shouted, and Reek toppled over, startled. "I know, we'll go to the nearby lake. I know there's plenty there to take." "The lake?" Reek grunted, "Wouldn't it be frozen over?" "Frozen over? Likely so, but perhaps it's not as covered with snow." Reek took one last look around him, then sighed. "I guess we don't have any better options, do we?" "No we do not," Zecora beamed, much more eager to explore than Reek was. "Come on, let us trot!" The zebra practically bounced along the pristinely smooth snow. Of course, she was mindful not to jump around too recklessly, lest she punch a hole in the thin layer of ice and plummet down into ten feet of snow. "I admit, I'm taken aback," She blurted out after a long stretch of silence, "I've seen snow so highly stacked. Surely you know more than me What might have caused this blizzard to be." "Yeah, I know a bit," Reek responded, stifling a sarcastic, biting tone, "but how much do you know exactly?" "I suppose an answer is due, After all you've given more than a few." She cleared her throat, preparing her voice for the unnecessary dramatics that Reek was sure were about to transpire. "About... perhaps a week ago, a glacier arose from down below. It held some monsters deep within, And yet the cage began to thin. Its explosion touched the very stars, Spreading chaos near and far. And now the princesses are doomed, Because there's simply not enough room. Do I have it all correct, Or did wrongly recollect?" Reek took a moment to decipher Zecora's poem before he answered. "Yeah I'd say that's pretty close. Big glacier with a bunch of ancient horrors shows up, explodes, and all the monsters in it start wreaking havoc. You forgot to mention old king Sammakött, though." "Quite the grisly name, To what does he owe his fame?" "Ohhh... Y'know..." Reek tried to put the words together, but just the thought of Sammakött, of what he had done, made Reek want to curl into a ball again. "You know, it's ok. If you'd rather not say-" "No!" Reek interrupted. "It's fine, he's just... A horse of many achievements." "A horse? he was a pony?" Zecora blurted out, shocked at the thought. Reek laughed, though this chuckle was notably less venomous than usual, whether that be from Zecora or the thoughts of Sammakött weighing on his mind. "No, no... Well, if he was, no one alive has ever seen what he looked like before he turned." "So he is a phony?" " No it's," Reek sighed, his frustration leaning more towards the complexity of Sammakött's history than anything Zecora had said. "It's just complicated. You had to be there for it." Zecora nodded, taking the hint. The two continued on quietly until both of them noticed an odd dip in the snow bank. Reek squinted to get a better view, and Zecora quickened her pace. "I believe we've arrived. Let's see what has survived." Reek followed closely behind her. All the while they had walked, he had kept a very close eye on the sky and the horizon. He was intent not to get himself caught out in the open, despite Zecora's lack of any worry whatsoever. But now, he was following her into, given the height of the snow, a frozen bowl of death as deep as a castle was tall. And he didn't like it one bit. Reek's teeth chittered anxiously, but Zecora carried on. Upon reaching the bottom of the pit, Zecora stared out at the crystal blue lake. It's surface was frozen over into a thick slab of solid, cerulean ice. It glistened and shined under the glow of the early morning sun, and all across it's surface, scrapes and cuts were scattered throughout. The small imperfections upon the lake's surface told a story of the storm's ferocity. Near the center of the lake, a wide tree branch curved over and under the ice like an eel before disappearing into the murk of the icy blue. Reek held his breath out of reflex. "Not that I don't trust your ability to find... things, but can we find what we're looking for and go, please? I really would not like to be here any longer than we need to be." "Of course, I swear, we're almost there," Zecora waved her hoof reassuringly backwards towards Reek. He recoiled, a slight hiss escaping his maw in protest to Zecora's gesture. He nearly roared out of fright when that same hiss returned back to him. "Ugh, I guess sound travels well down here, huh?" "Mhm, Ensure your words are quietly spoke, or an avalanche you might invoke," Zecora stated with all the nonchalance of someone who had dealt with a situation like this many times before. As she talked to Reek, her eyes scanned the edge of the lake and the surrounding area, looking for something Reek could neither see not understand. "You seem pretty casual about all this, considering how dangerous it is. How do you know something isn't going to jump out and attack us?" "It's simple, nothing much to fret, there's just one thing you never forget." "Uh huh, and what's that? 'Always look up'? 'Pick your battle'? Zecora giggled again, and Reek's teeth chittered in response. "Those rules are all very nice, but I always remember to-" Both Zecora and Reek jumped at the loud crack that echoed all across the pit. It bounced around the far edges of the ice, then dissipated as it flew away with the wind. Zecora glared back at Reek. "Oh don't you dare look at me! I am way too squishy to break that ice. I'm all the way over here!" Another louder CRACK broke the tense silence that followed. Both heads snapped towards the noise's origin, only to face the center of the lake. Where the winding branch had once been, there was now a wide, dark hole where the ice had been pulverized, leaving only dark blue water to fill the space. Reek leaned over to whisper to Zecora. "What... was that last survival tip of yours again?" "Always watch the ice." Another CRACK Split the lake in two. A wide perforation split the ice right down the middle, pointed directly towards the two wanderers. After the first deafening CRACK, several other pops and crackles continued on in the next few moments. From the large, center crack, other smaller cracks split and branched off, separating the lake into dozens of small, thick pieces of ice that floated harmlessly on the frigid water. Then, from the depths of the lake came a low, deep rumbling. To Reek, it sounded like the growls of a gator, but they never grew that big, did they? Far off from the shore, several chunks of ice began to sway and bob haphazardly as a very large creature made its way towards the two of them with an increasing speed. Reek stood frozen, unable to move. He tried his best to run, to curl into a ball, to do anything, but all he could do was look over to Zecora, or rather, where Zecora had been. Zecora had left her position next to Reek to sprint towards a far off tree, hidden well amongst the various snow covered foliage. Reek tried to follow her, but he remained rooted to the spot. He turned back towards the lake, only to see the once frozen branch standing high above him. It bent and weaved like the body of a snake. The water around the thin, serpentine head swirled and frothed as the great creature rose from the water, and two great, yellow eyes stared back at him. Reek was almost relieved that the creature didn't seem particularly dangerous despite its size, but then, four other serpentine heads joined alongside the first. Reek gulped, although it couldn't be heard over the monster's ravenous growling. So that was what hydras looked like now.