To Be Brave (Closed: Zealot)

[Tymiko]

Lycoris wandered about the edge of the Everfree Forest as he grumbled quietly to himself and foraged for berries. He hated hiding here alone, but what could he do? He didn't feel he belonged with zebras, nor other ponies. Most ponies he didn't trust, though he felt he could relate to their kind more than zebras with their weird talk in riddles and rhymes.

 

Though living on the edge of the forest gave him his solitude, he wished he could trust others enough to make friends. His existence was lonely, and though there were plenty of creatures living in the Everfree Forest itself, they terrified him even more than other ponies. If only he could be brave! Surely he wouldn't be so miserable and lonely. His cutie mark had suggested he could take care of others, but how could that be when he could hardly take care of himself?

 

[Zealot]

With a final triumphant battle cry, Clandestine charged the last of the Timberwolves. "Yaaaaa. Die you wooden craven." Her lance pointed forward, gleaming with light in the darkened glen of the edges of the Everfree she charged. The thunder of her armoured hooves was a stark comparison to her earlier approach. 

 

The soldier wandered the Everfree forest quite often, skirmishing with the Timberwolves and other nasties of the forest. It kept her skills sharp, and alleviated boredom. She'd tracked this pack of Timberwolves all the way from edge to edge, and she'd ambushed them quite successfully. The fight had been harder than usual though, and she'd taken a beating herself. Still, the Timberwolves laid on the ground as piles of sticks and branches. The incorporeal spirits she couldn't kill, but at least she could destroy their physical forms. Her hit and run tactics usually served her well against the beasts, though she had taken several scratches to her side and one of the wolves had dented her front armour. She was pretty sure there was some kind of wound under the mashed metal. 

 

The poor beast cowered at Clandestine's mighty cry and was smashed into a million pieces as the lance struck home. The mare panted for a few seconds and took off her helmet to let her messy mane run free. She glanced around to make sure there were no more enemies and stood heroically amidst the pile of rubble. It would be a while before the Timberwolves would inevitably reform, though at least they'd think twice before threatening a pony next time. "Ha, and that's how we do that," she declared and brushed herself off. 

 

Unfortunately, that was when the adrenaline started to wear off and the mare started to feel the stab of pain from her scratches. Her chest felt heavy as the dented plate brushed against something aching. She needed some sort of medical attention before it became infected. 

 

Fortunately, she was only on the edges of the Everfree forest. It seemed as if the Timberwolves were getting bolder. Perhaps something was causing them to range further afield, or perhaps this was just a particularly aggressive group. She didn't know. What she did know was that she needed some help. The unicorn picked up her helmet and strapped it back onto her head then started to wander back to town with a slight limp. Another pain was emanating from her right forehoof. Clearly she'd scraped that in the fight and hadn't noticed until now. With luck, she could get to the hospital. Though a thought occurred, maybe somepony was in the area who could help her stumble to the hospital? "Medic," she shouted as she limped closer to Ponyville. "Somepony out there? I need a little help."

[Tymiko]

Cocking his head as he swerved an ear, Lyco paused to listen. What was that? Living at the border of the forest made him particularly alert due to the multitude of things a sound could be caused by. He was immensely relieved to find out it was a voice and not some feral growl or roar, but then he remembered it could have been some kind of trick. Creatures that could talk didn't necessarily make them allies. About to continue with his business, he thought a little more. What if it really was someone who needed help, though? What if they were lost like that little filly he'd helped out of the woods that one time? With a resolved sigh, Lycoris picked up his basket and set off to investigate.

 

He moved cautiously while making as little noise as possible. The stallion had heard stories of beings called Changelings who could take on the form of anypony they liked and who fed on the love and lifeforce of others. The very thought of them made him shudder, but he pressed on regardless. He'd never met one, so far as he knew, so who was to say they were real? Even if they were, it wasn't like they could obtain his 'love' so easily, he was sure. Being cynical and suspicious of everyone and everything had that advantage, even if it made him paranoid.

 

There - was that them? He thought it was a stallion with that armor and helmet at first, but then he realized it was a mare's voice calling for help. Upon closer inspection he saw from her face that she was, indeed, a lady. Furthermore, her cutie mark was a shield. That was interesting. It was similar to his. Abandoning his caution due to his intense curiosity, Lycoris stepped out of the shelter of the trees and approached with a greeting.

 

"Hey there," he said with a sheepish smile, realizing at once that he must have seemed like a creeper spying on her from the shadows. "Um...I heard you calling for help. Is there anything I can do?" Eyeing her armor, he realized there was a dent in it that looked pretty bad. She must have been wounded after all.

[Zealot]

Clandestine hobbled along, heading back to Ponyville to get some help. Sure, she'd called medic but she didn't exactly expect anypony to turn up. Still, she wasn't too far from Ponyville and it was the edge of the forest. Maybe she'd get lucky. Her pained chest gave way to a dull ache and her scratches wore at her. Maybe she should stop and cauterise them with a quick fire spell and her lance? No, if she did that then it would lock in the bacteria, and who knew what was on those Timberwolves' claws. 

 

Her ears flicked as she heard a slight rustle in the undergrowth, and it wasn't the wind. Her eyes shifted from bush to bush, trying to figure out if it was just a false alarm, or she was being stalked. The soldier stretched her legs and tried to look calm, hopefully not alerting her follower that she'd noticed them.

 

Still, soon enough, he revealed himself. A blackish pony with blue stripes on his fur. That couldn't be right... ponies didn't come with stripes, that was a zebra wasn't it. She'd thought zebras were black and white though, no, this was something new. Clandestine twitched at his appearance, and his smile. Her soldier's instincts kicked in and she couched her lance and readied herself to attack. Wounded as she was, an armoured mare with a lance was a deadly opponent. Especially one of her skill. No doubt that would look intimidating and her stern expression wouldn't help matters. 

 

She relaxed a little, but didn't raise her lance. There was still a few things she needed to clear up. He claimed he was here to help, but how much of that was true? "Yeah, I'm wounded. I can still fight though," she declared. Still, he seemed genuinely worried about her. Either way, he didn't seem like he might hurt her. His cutie mark was a shield, like hers. That was slightly odd, but if it meant something similar to hers then she figured she could trust this zebra. For the moment at least. "Look, I need to get back to Ponyville to get myself patched up. I just had a skirmish with a lot of Timberwolves. Unless you've got some sort of medical kit on you, I would appreciate the assistance."

[Tymiko]

Noticing her twitch upon seeing him, Lyco ignored the blush rising to his cheeks from embarrassment. This was one reason he disliked showing himself to other ponies - he never knew how they would react to him. They already seemed pretty wary of zebras. This wasn't their biggest problem right now, though. Despite his instinctual fear at her sudden stance to attack, he forced himself to keep calm and hold his ground. It was all he could do to keep his voice steady when he cleared his throat and swallowed to wet his dry mouth.

 

"I-I'm sure you can," he began, attempting to meet her gaze. "But Ponyville is still some ways away and with all that heavy armor, you might just make your wound worse putting strain on your body to get there. Um...I have a hut that's a lot closer," he continued, glancing in the direction of the path to his place. "There's a bunch of herbal remedies and plants I have there to help. If...if you think you can trust me, that is." He bowed his head in respect. "I'm Lycoris. It's an honor to meet a pony brave enough to take on a pack of Timberwolves on her own. Er, if you are alone." She seemed to be, anyway, and if she wasn't, why would she have called for help like she had?

[Zealot]

Well, that wasn't what she expected. He seemed nervous, and was struggling to meet her harsh gaze even. Still, she figured that was nothing new. It wasn't like ponies wanted to hang around her anyway. It figured that she would be the first mare in history to intimidate the helpful stallion away in favour of helping herself. Well as long as he hadn't ran away, that was good. Clandestine reasoned this meant he probably wasn't a threat, or was bluffing. Either way, if it was a bluff it was a good bluff and if he wasn't a threat... well she probably needed the help anyway. The mare bit her lip in irritation. She'd dragged herself out of lots of battlefields and been wounded too many times to count. 

 

Still, ultimately Clandestine knew he was right. If she tried to get to the hospital in the state she was in then she might make something worse. They were already a bit annoyed with her with the amount of times she came in wounded anyway. Maybe it would be best to seek medical care from elsewhere. 

 

The soldier lowered her lance and set it back in it's cradle on the side of her armour and nodded as a sign of good faith. That dull ache in her chest was really getting quite painful now, so perhaps it would be best if she let the zebra help her. Clandestine gave a weak smile when he said that it was an honour to meet her. For taking down the Timberwolves no less. She didn't know much about zebra culture, maybe they had some sort of code of honour she'd just distinguished herself in. Prestige. She'd always found such ideals a little distasteful. There was no glory in war, there was just winning and losing.

 

"Clandestine, LT," she responded with a light sigh. She glanced at the tree-line and continued, "Yeah. I'm alone. Still, I'll take that offer if it's genuine. I do need patching up. Afraid I might have sprained an ankle as well, you mind taking a bit of my weight on my right side?" 

 

Despite her touch phobia, she was willing to let herself lean on him for a bit of support. After all, her brain told her this was different. Clandestine would be fine with Lycoris holding her up a little while she made her way to his hut.

[Tymiko]

((Sorry I took so long and sorry it's so short. XP))

 

"Nice to meet you, Clandestine LT. Er...does that stand for 'lieutenant'?" he asked, looking somewhat perplexed and relieved as she lowered her lance. "Alright, then; I'll do my best." Moving to her right side, he felt a bit better and more confident now that his help had been accepted and he wasn't second-guessing himself for having offered his assistance. It seemed even wimpy coward pony-zebra hybrids like him could be useful now and then.

 

Standing taller and doing his best to shoulder as much of her weight as she would allow, Lycoris glanced around for signs of the trail to his hut. Once he found his bearings, he attempted to lead his new companion in that direction. "I'm sorry; I know I'm probably not the kind of pony you were expecting to come at your call," he apologized with a sheepish smile of his own. "I'd like to think it was better for me to answer it than some hungry manticore or chimera, though."

 

His gaze drifted to her flank. "Um...if you don't mind me asking...what does your cutie mark represent, exactly? What is it you do?" He hated to sound nosy, but aside from his own personal, curiosity, he figured talking would keep Clandestine's mind off the pain of her injury for the time being.

[Zealot]

Clandestine looked her rescuer up and down once more before nodding at him. "Yeah, I'm Ex-Military. When I got out I'd reached the rank of Lieutenant." She looked down at the floor, slightly embarrassed. "I'm still getting used to being civilian, so it's just Clandestine. Or Clan for short," she shrugged and let the zebra approach. He seemed like a decent sort, more or less. If he was willing to help that was a bonus. Besides, if he got her out of the woods quicker she would be grateful. Patching her up would be pretty nice too. Clandestine didn't quite know what to make of it, maybe he thought there would be some sort of reward. Either way, she was just glad for the assistance.

 

As he presented her a shoulder to lean on, Clandestine transferred some of her weight to him. She didn't lean on him too much, but just enough to help her with her limp. After all, she was in armour. She didn't want to topple him, he didn't look terribly strong. Nonetheless, she was greatful for his support, even if her phobia made her twitch at the touch. She forced herself to keep repeating to herself that he was a medic, it was ok. He was here to help, though that didn't make matters any more comfortable for her. 

 

Still, she chuckled slightly at his apology, and took a sideways glance at him. "Hey, anypony is better than nopony. Besides, if you know how to make a healing poultice then I couldn't ask for a better pony right? To be honest, I didn't think anypony was around. I just hoped there was one. As for a manticore, well, we're not in deep enough for one of those monsters. A chimera maybe, though they usually like it hotter than a forest." 

 

Clandestine frowned as she saw his gaze wonder to her flank then realised he was just looking at her cutie mark. She grunted slightly as they moved forwards and he asked about it. "What does it represent?" she repeated. That was a tough question, she didn't really know herself anymore. Clandestine was a soldier, one of the best their was. What had made her go down that career though was more chance and circumstance that choice. She had never really liked being a soldier, though the job had it's perks. Protecting ponies sure had it's thrill, though she had lost her enthusiasm for that a while ago. You just can't save them all.

 

The mare looked forward and seemed a bit distant as she sighed and responded. "Well, I. I don't really know anymore. I think it used to symbolise my love of protecting ponies, my ability to defend them. Though I guess it's just marked me as a soldier for life." She shook her head to clear it of that depressing line of thought. "At the moment though I work as a bodyguard, tracker, just about anything violent that pays I guess. What about you? I noticed our marks are quite similar, but I don't think you're military. You in law enforcement?" she asked, slightly curious. After all, the idea of having such a mark and not being in her kind of work was dubious at best. "Or are you a doctor or something?" she asked, since she supposed that the two talents might overlap.