Songs of Innocence

Chapter 7: Fear in the Unknown

Sun slowly opened her eyes as she regained consciousness. She muttered to herself in frustration, "Oh, buck me... What now...?" She looked around the room she found herself in, and if it was heaven... her expectations of it were way off. It looked to be a house, with shelves full of oddly-shaped bottles. She didn't know what to expect as to what would happen next. Was the orthros who attacked her more intelligent than she thought?

"There is no need for profanity. Try to ease your mind, so that you don't lose your sanity." a feminine, accented voice assured her. 

It didn't seem threatening, but Sun was cautious nonetheless. She looked around, and found an odd-looking pony. She had a whitish body with grey markings all over her body, even on her mohawk. She held a tear-shaped bottle in her mouth, and wore several golden rings on her neck, and left leg. Sun's face lit up upon putting two and two together. 

"Are you Zecora?" she said, putting aside all her fear. 

Zecora smiled at her, and replied, "I am her, but who are you? I've not seen your face before, so I believe your face is one that is new."  Sun looked at the bed which she woke on, and then back at the pony... At least, she thought it was a pony.

"Oh... My name's Innocent Sun. D-did you save me from that orthros?" Sun asked.

Zecora put down the mysterious bottle on a nearby stand. "I did. Those creatures were not very bright..." she paused, and looked back at the unicorn with a questioning look. "...Are you... perhaps, a friend of Twilight?" 

Sun nodded eagerly, "Yeah. She sent me here to get a recipe for, like, a magic potion or somethin' for a thing that's goin' on with my dreams. I don't really know how you'd do it, but I can only hope you know which one she wants–" 

"She sent you into the Everfree on your own? No other pony accompanied you into the unknown?!" Zecora asked with concern, her expression being one of disbelief mixed with puzzlement.

 Sun rubbed her neck with her hoof, and tried to defend the princess. "Well, she's gotta do some important stuff, and I don't wanna bother her..." 

"What a foolish decision! Just what was Twilight's vision? If it weren't for my rescue, you'd currently be a pile of gnawed-on bones. Why would she send you unaccompanied into these unknowns?"

Sun didn't know how to answer. She attempted to stand up, but her legs suddenly became frail, and she nearly fell face-first on the ground... That is, if Zecora didn't rush over to her and grab her. 

"You must rest until your legs are stable. Do not what you are unable." she said to the unicorn.

"Th-thanks." 

Zecora helped Sun back onto the bed she had been laying on, and she assured her, "There is no need to be such a fretter. I can guide you out of this forest, but only once you are better." Sun looked at her, grateful for Zecora's sense of hospitality. 

"Thanks... Hey, uhm... While I'm here, can you... do something for me?" 

Zecora raised an eyebrow. "Whatever could it be, my little pony™?" 

Sun smirked mischievously, and chuckled, "Say a sentence with 'orange' in it." 

Zecora chuckled back, "Do you think no one has tried this on my before? You think that there is nothing I can rhyme with, but you will find out the truth if you just look at a door."

"...Oh, a door hinge?"

Zecora nodded, and decided to move the conversation back a bit. "Didn't you say you needed some kind of potion?" she asked. Sun explained her situation, and I don't think I need to write out everything she said, since you've obviously read and heard it before. Zecora wasn't really sure what she could do to help. Out of the myriad of potions and concoctions in her hut, she had nothing that could solve Sun's rather unique problem. 

"I do have something... A dreamcatcher, made from wood and string." The zebra presented a dreamcatcher to her, but even Zecora herself thought it was unlikely to fix her problem. 

"That might work..." Sun replied with barely-hidden insincerity. She stood up again, and even though her stance still wasn't the most stable, she'd regained enough strength that she didn't have to worry about falling over. But that didn't mean she'd regained all of her strength - she still found herself wobbling back and forth, and so, Zecora helped her to keep her balance again.

"Do you really think you're okay to go? We can both agree that your body's balance is flimsy at best, no?" she asked with concern. She obviously didn't know Sun too well, but the zebra could gather that the dangers of the Everfree Forest hadn't quite left an impact on her. Wandering through the forest trying to get out of it would be foolish, and she should know that from both of her previous experiences with it, but apparently she needed another reminder.

"I will be by your side to guide you out. I, of all equines, should remember the exit route." Zecora declared. Sun meekly thanked her for her kindness, and blushed a little. She felt she was starting to take a liking to Zecora, and she didn't really know how to react to how nice she was being treated by the accented equine. 

Sun also began to wonder about how much Zecora knew about mystic or magic-related things, since the contents of her home (such as the potions and odd-looking books that populated her shelves) painted an image of an evil enchantress. 

"Hey, do you know about these things - I don't know if you've heard about them, but Twilight told me about them - called the Elements of Harmony?" Sun asked, as Zecora briefly left her side to prepare to leave her hut.

"I know little about them, besides the fact that they are symbols of the magic of friendship. Perhaps I should ask to hear more about them from Twilight's lip."

"Oh, for some reason, I thought you had one of the Elements. Like... the Element of Temperance, or something-- I don't know."

"Temperance is what I pursue, but I feel that tolerance is even more of a teaching that I value." 

Zecora helped Sun up again, and the two left to leave the Everfree Forest.