Wisdom Wit Wings (ATTN: TessQ85>Zecora)

[KaityKat]

 

Compass Rose panted as she slowed down. "There's got to be a better way to map this forest." she complained. She'd only just narrowly escaped the jaws of a timberwolf after she scratched her wing badly on a thorny vine trying to fly away. She ended up having to run. Which she wasn't very accustomed to.

 

Well. At least, she reasoned, she couldn't be lost. Her innate sense of direction would make sure of that. She checked her saddlebag to be sure none of her maps had gotten lost in her scurry. Not that she couldn't draw them again from memory, but she just hated losing maps.

Good. All there.

 

Mapping from above was easy enough, but even with her excellent Aerion sight, there was only so much detail she could gather from above. She cursed herself for her infernal idea to commit to this map as she took a moment to examine her wound. Great. It was already getting infected. That vine must've been poisonous. "Next time" she noted to herself "I ought to bring bandages." she flexed her wing and winced. There was no way she'd be flying again for at least a week.... if she can even stop the infection. She knew absolutely nothing about herbology. Maybe her new friend Hawthorne could help. In any case, she'd need to tread carefully if she was to get out of here. She looked around. This was a new part of the forest she hadn't seen before.

She looked up. Yes, the canopy covered this area quite well. She wouldn't have been able to see this. At least she knew which direction to go.

 

She began to walk, paying close attention to her surroundings, lest any more creatures of the Everfree decide she'd make a nice snack.

[TessQ85]

Having had a very long day, gathering herbs, spices, root, leaf, flower and an amount of lichen, moss and bark in her daily walk through the bountiful forest, Zecora had begun to brew her nightly tea of chamomile with willow bark skin and dried sap shards ground fine. As the evening grew even more late, she could hear a loud crash not far from her humble hut's homely hearth. She gathered a few herbs and her favorite satchel of tasty treats for the trip, as she was fairly hungry, trotting out her front door to find what foul fall the noise might have been, she retrieves and nibbles on a salted pressed biscuit. Knowing full well, there is a good chance whomever it was might want nothing to do with a bag wielding pony, she asks to none in particular, yet maybe her neighborly trees, "What kind of trouble do I get myself in? I'm sure they are lost, in confusion's spin. One can hurt their pride most of all, especially with the sound of that fall. Turned around, is the least troublesome thing, wandering these wood can often bring." Ready, with having sounded their concern and reason for trying to help out loud, she crosses the threshold and shuts the door.

 

Shuffling a little as she checks the door is firmly shut, she begins in the direction she noticed the terrible sound, so late late at night. She can hear some muttering and frantic hoof beats as the creature turns and shifts a distance yet off, maybe checking the damage they wrought upon themselves so deep in the forest. Hearing such fervent movement at least can mean that the injuries aren't all too bad. She brings out a glass bottle with twine tied long around it's tappered and fluted neck. Inside are twigs and leaves with brightly colored lichen mixed in also. She sets it on the stump near the back of her hut. Pulling out the cork with a small hole in it, only a minute passes and a few bugs fly near to enter the bottle and feast on the contents. Once happy with their choice to enter, she puts the cork back. They flap their wings and their thoraces glow somewhat brightly. She puts the bottle's string over her neck and begins toward the crash and noises.

 

Cresting over a familiar rise well behind her arbored home, she can see a dark silhouette coming into view. Faintly seeing what seems to be a pony looking around and examining themselves. Clearing her throat, loudly, so she doesn't immediately startle the concerned looking creature as she tries to approach. Calling out, deliberate, methodical, slowly, in hopes to calm the wild eyes she sees, she says, "I am here to help, you seem perplexed. Follow my voice, I'll show what's next. I heard your fall, you seem mostly unharmed. I've herb and food, don't be alarmed." Waiting, still and calmly, she stands at the top of the hill from which she found good sight of the scene.

Edited November 28, 2020 by TessQ85
Grammar and spelling

[KaityKat]

Rose heard a sound, and started. Thinking it might be another creature, she readied herself to run again, but stopped when the voice spoke. She sighed in relief. It was only a pony. Could it be Hawthorne? She knew nopony else who'd be foolish enough to venture this far into the forest. Well, aside from herself, she guessed. Then again, she didn't really know anypony else here, anyway. but no. This pony sounded like a mare, and... was she speaking in rhyme?

She looked and saw a black and white earth pony standing on the hill. with what looked to be a jar of fireflies around her neck. Tho she'd never seen a pony with a striped coat before, she figured it might be rude to point it out.

"Oh, thank Celestia." she sighed in relief "I thought, for a minute, you were another one of those Timberwolf things." she chuckled as she scratched the back of her head.

She walked toward the pony, letting her guard down a little. This pony seemed to know what she was doing, so she figured she could at least trust her to not blunder them into danger.

"I suppose 'mostly' is the key word, there." she said as she approached the mare, stretching her wing which had been deeply scratched on the underside from fore to aft, tearing clean through for a few inches near the end. She winced audibly before putting her wing back down. "Ouch."  she whispered.

[TessQ85]

Watching as the thin fleshy wing unfurled to display a deep gash and tear, she recognized the creature that spoke to her, at least not in name, but in species, possibly. She thought it rude to talk about race at a time like this, more important matters were at hoof. "Your keen eyes can see fairly well, this late, so, might I ask what caused your fate? As you think on your response to me, follow and I'll offer warm tea. My home is close, I ask, 'stay near', there is more than timber with teeth to fear." She turns to walk and beacons her charge to follow, knowing well that the faint glow is more than enough to grant clear sight to do just that. Starting slow, until she's sure to be close behind, she stays at a steady pace, hoping the calm rhythmic trot keeps their voices calm, as the responding pony might feel reassured through talking as they travel. 

Edited November 23, 2020 by TessQ85
Grammar and flow

[KaityKat]

She lived in this forest!? Rose almost couldn't believe her ears. Rose thought she herself was a bit nuts for living next to the forest, but this pony.... no, no. She mustn't judge like that. But she had to wonder how she could possibly have missed a house in the middle of the forest, even from the sky. Tho, she could tell, thinking back on the directions and distances she'd run, that she hadn't flown directly over this portion of the forest, yet.

She laughed slightly at the question "Well, I was a little preoccupied with the wooden teeth behind me. I didn't think, too much, about my path. Clipped my wing on some kind of vine thing." She looked at the wing in question, remembering that she'd also decided- "Also,I think it might've been poisonous.... I might need to get back to Ponyville, soon, to treat it." she wondered if Hawthorne would be awake, this time at night. She'd hate to disturb him, but this might actually be urgent.

[TessQ85]

Feeling quite glad that she wasn't that far from her home, Zecora quickened her step gradually as they continued to retrace her most recent path, the faint glow of her hollowed tree hut soon fades into view. Knowing that any poison this unfortunate pony might have in it's wound could mean it will have terrible trouble healing, she wants to get a clear look at it as soon as possible. Slowing as the glow of the hut appears I grow, she offers the winged patient a little comfort. She spoke in calming and somewhat brightly animated tone, hoping to bring up the drooping mood of her new guest, trying give as much calm as she could to the one that fell so hard from fear for safety. She said, "You needn't worry, we're soon safe inside, from sharp toothed timber, we, there, can well hide. My hut is here, inside this tree, you can sit and have cupped warm tea. There is nothing that will encroach, nor steal safety, happiness not poached. I'd hope my words help you feel more calm, indoors with tea, you'll have numbing balm. Now come inside, don't be afraid,  we'll share a chamomile I'll soon make."

 

Thinking to herself that she doesn't often speak that much at any given time, only to recall why she may have done so. Long ago, when she first came to the forest, she was beset by timber wolves and other creatures, only to have none to come to her aid, like she could now. The following friend's recounting of her source of fear brought it all fresh to mind and may have caused her to be concerned that the antagonists were circling such a small pray after it's fall, like they had to this older zebra so many years ago. Realizing she may be projecting her pasts experiences onto this smaller creature, she pauses and ask simply, "How do you feel, having had such a night? I know, for me, t'would cause quite a fright." Now walking at an even and slow, almost somber, pace beside her hut, from behind it.

Edited November 23, 2020 by TessQ85
grammer and such

[KaityKat]

Rose was beginning to become accustomed to the interesting mare's rhythmic cadence. Her words felt like they were well thought out and spoken with care. She figured this must be a result of the rhyming, and decided that was one less thing she need ask about. Not that she didn't have her fair share of those.

 

When she laid eyes on the tree hut, she gasped. So this is what that large tree in the distance had been. It kind of made her wish she would have come this way to check it out sooner. Also this is why she never saw any sign of a house. She'd never seen a home built into a tree before. Well.... outside of a crazy old Aerion friend of her dad's. But that guy hardly counted. She smiled. This only added to her already growing pile of questions for the mare. but she figured she'd better be polite and start with answering hers.

 

"Well, I don't usually scare that easy." she started "But you know.... Those timberwolves are.... well, they're really something." she chuckled. It didn't help that she wasn't used to flying through such an unfriendly forest, and she didn't know the first thing about the plants and animals here. She continued "But I'm fine, now." she looked at her wing "relatively speaking..." 

 

She thought a cup of chamomile sounded lovely. Tho, she'd hate to impose. "I would love a cup of tea.... if, you know, it's not too much trouble." 

[TessQ85]

Soon arriving at the threshold of her house, she quickly realizes that the following friend was not very afraid of what had happened to them. They had come across a greatly feared foe, hastily fled, got injured...yet doesn't seem to be fresh with fright. This is a clear symptom of either trauma numbness or simply said, shock. The worst thing to do would be to make them see the truth of the shock they are in, best simply care for their injury and give them a safe place to rest from the difficulties they just endured. "I have a place to sit for some tea, snacks and food if hungry you might be. Rest, have a chat, I'll care for your wing. You've likely many a question to bring." Hoping that the possibility of certain poisonous vines aren't at fault for the injury to the wing in question.

 

Walking into her home, she shows her guest where to sit, an area with plenty of access, so she can check on the injury later on. Walking into the kitchen area, she checks on the water that was boiling earlier for tea, removing it to the tray, adding the mix she prepared earlier. Taking a dried and candied purple flower, soaked in sap and dried to a meltable crisp star, adding it to each cup. This flower will offer a numbing agent, but she didn't want to alarm the newcomer by only adding it to their cup. Pushing her simple tea caddy into the sitting area, leaving to grab her packaged selection of "feel good snacks".

 

Offering her guest a cup, she waits till they see the flower then pours the tea, sweetened with willow sap, salted with bark skin and made pleasant yet bitter by chamomile. Showing the collection of snacks, dried plums, apricots, dried apples, pressed cakes, a recently fresh batch of apple strudels that Applejack brought early that day and a few other fun things she had in the kitchen, she takes and eats a dried plum from the tray. "Let me know when you're filled and steady, I'll look at your wing when you're ready." Pouring another cup and taking a sip of her tea and taking an apple strudel before sitting down to start a chat with whom she hoped was a new friend.

Edited November 23, 2020 by TessQ85
Grammar and flow

[KaityKat]

Rose was happy to have somepony who seemed all too eager to make her comfortable. Until she noted that she had felt it was indeed all too eager. she tried to relax, but the tight kept nagging her. She silently cursed her parents for instilling her innate distrust of ponies. Something she too often had to consciously fight. Especially when she could so easily reason it. She smiled at the star-shaped tree sap in her tea and nodded in acceptance of the beverage.

 

When the mare brought out the snacks, that thought nagged at her again, and she once again stuffed it down and smiled at the pony's generosity. She picked an apple strudel from the cart and began to snack with her new friend.

 

As soon as she'd gotten comfortable, she turned her wing, wincing as she remembered the injury, and carefully continued to turn it to reach the claw-like bend in her wing // sorry i couldn't think of a good way to describe it. I mean this // into her saddlebag to retrieve a quill and parchment. She lay the parchment down and began drawing with her mouth. As she drew, she took small breaks to speak before picking the quill back up and resuming.

 

"My mane's Compass Rose" she offered "But you can call me Rose." she finished with the quill in her mouth. She seemed to be drawing a plant. She drew what looked like a very technical drawing of a vine-like plant with thorns that sprouted flowers on parts. The detail was excruciating. When she finished, she spat the quill onto the table "That's the bugger." she said, pointing, as she resumed consuming her refreshments. "Oh, my. these apple things are wonderful. Did you make them?"

[TessQ85]

Watching her guest struggle to retrieve her tools, she too winced at the action. Seeing the plant she asked a, hopefully, simple question, "Did you note color, these flowers with thorn? Some might be trouble, but don't be forlorn. We'll mend your wound and it will likely heal soon. I'd rather sip tea, you'll need a stir spoon." Taking a sip, herself, she offers a spoon that was sitting with the tea set, hoping the numbing effects would help with Rose's pain. 

 

Realizing she had received an introduction, she knew she should return in kind. "I am Zecora, herbalist mare, a zebra, by birth, I see your stare." Smiling at her comment a little, "It's not often most see one of my kind, I'll help you gladly, when your in a bind. True friends are rare, I will not pass this by, it's why I offered Applejack's small pie." Pointing to a picture of the six ponies many in town know very well, Applejack's cutie mark, a telling sign of who might have "apple" in there name, clearly visible. It didn't hurt that she had an actual apple pie in her hooves in the picture. It looked like a camping trip by a colorful waterfall.

[KaityKat]

Rose couldn't help but be relaxed by the other's rhyming. She seemed insistent on the relaxing thing. Rose took a deep breath. "You're right." she sighed "I guess it all really did affect me more than I like to admit." she smiled at the othe-, apparently a zebra, the zebra's introduction. This added a number of questions to Rose's growing pile. She laughed to herself as she reaslised this must be how others feel upon meeting her. She decided that she'd choose a limited number of her questions. She knew what it was like to be inundated with racial questions like some kind of roadside attraction.

She suddenly realized she hadn't taken a single sip of the tea she'd been offered. Not wanting to be rude, she sipped. It had a nice pleasant taste. and it seemed to relax her. She'd had chamomile tea with her pegasus friend, a few times, but this was much more powerful. She figured it must be that sap star. Then she noted "Hey, you're an herbalist! My other friend I met in this forest was also an herbalist! Although, he lives in Ponyville proper." she looked about at the decor of Zecora's hut seeing all the interesting masks and various ingredients and even a cauldron in the middle of the room that she wondered how she missed until now. She figured she must still be a bit frazzled. "So I guess you're also a kind of apothecary?" she asked, nodding at the cauldron.

Then, realizing Zecora had asked her a question she'd still yet to answer, she added "Oh, yellow. Sorry. Yellow with little black speckles. The flowers."

 

Her attention was directed at the picture of 6 very well-known ponies. Oh, of course. That apple orchard she'd mapped in Ponyville must belong to Applejack. "Well," she offered "In any case, the apple things are fantastic. and so is this tea." she raised her tea cup "So you're friends with Princess Twilight and her friends?" she wouldn't have guessed that from the apple treats alone, but the picture she kept made her think so.

[TessQ85]

Glad that the pony patient sitting before her could recognize the flower's color so well at night with those sharp eyes. She recognized the description as a mildly poisonous plants. Her muscles will tighten a bit, healing will be slow but, with care, she should feel better much more quickly. Keeping a composed demeanor, Zecora, drank her tea, hoping the newcomer might mimic, for they would need the numbing herb if the wing was to be handled and manipulated for the needed care.

 

Hoping to relay all the information she needed to address, she finished her apple strudel and began to addressed the pony in front of her with a sense of purpose in her voice, not harsh, but firm, not loud but strong, an aire of authority and experience without being overbearing, much like when she first met the six ponies in the framed picture shown to her guest earlier, but a little more softly. She said, "In an effort to help your pained wing, I gave a flower that would full the sting. After you've finished your sweet, warm tea, you can leave the herbal care to me. I'll wrap your wound with strong honeyed moss, I thank you for trusting me, kind Rose."

 

Thinking to herself, I've never talked this much to anypony, it must be this inquisitive pony I've met. I hope she can tell my intentions are toward her best care. Sipping more of her own tea, the aches of her long day subsiding with the willow bark and sap, the numbing didn't hurt that any either. 🦓🦇 She finished her tea and went for another few plumbs to nibble on while she waited on the response to her, hopefully, informative statement.

[KaityKat]

Rose sipped more of her tea, the ingredients relaxing her more with each drink. She closed her eyes as she enjoyed the taste. Her friend from Canterlot makes chamomile all the time, but not like this. She'd have to get the recipe, Stellar Drift would love this. She opened her eyes again,  having all but forgotten the pain in her wing and the scare from earlier. She now turned her attention to the room and the mare it belonged to. She recognized the style of the masks and things displayed on the walls. Her dad's crazy Aerion friend, who she'd noted earlier also lived in a tree, had some of these displayed in his own home. He'd told Rose that he got them in the Savanna Zebra Lands. Rose thoroughly believed the hot sun of that savanna had driven him mad. She stifled a laugh as she remembered what he'd said some of the masks meant. She'd be interested to learn their real meanings.

"I had a friend, once," she started sipping more tea, hoping she was safe to talk about the subject "who said he'd been to what he called 'The Savanna Zebra Lands' where he got some of his decor that looked a lot like yours." she smiled thinking about the friend's wild-eyed rants about the place "Although, I don't really take much stock in anything he said about it. I don't think the sun did him any favors, if you know what I mean." she pointed at her head and laughed. She looked at her tea cup and realized she'd finished the tea without even noticing. She put it down on the table. She thought for a long moment before she said "He eventually succumbed to the damage the sun did to him.... I kind of miss him, to be honest." she smiled a bit, realizing she'd just told somepony this thing she's never talked to anypony about ever before. Even her parents didn't know she'd visited crazy Moonbeam. She figured it must be the tea that had relaxed her.

[TessQ85]

Raising an eyebrow as she listens to what her guest has to say, Zecora simply nods. When the get subject of home came up, she simply nodded, then got up from her chair, noted the empty tea cup, and said, "You've finished your tea, would you like some more? Starting wing care's what that flower was for." Offering the tea pot to fill the cup again, not putting the flower in the cup and it wasn't needed again. She offered, instead, was a confection star made by Pinky Pie to sweeten the tea, I'm the absence of the candied flower. "I'll be swift as I can, keep a good pace, to help fix your wing, I might need to race. There is much to do, I'm sure I'll soon start. You'll feel better, Rose, before you depart." Walking to the shelves near the Calderon to retrieve a few herbs before beginning.

[KaityKat]

Rose noticed that her nostalgia for the stories she'd heard about the Zebra Lands didn't go over quite as she'd hoped. It seemed this Zecora wasn't too eager to talk about home. She could certainly understand that. She had her own things about her family she'd rather not discuss. She decided it would be best to change the subject. "So, I've been here for weeks, mostly mapping out the forest. I have a hard time, as you can tell," she chuckled looking at her wing "getting through the forest floor. Honestly, I probably never should've tried flying away in the dense trees to begin with." she sipped at her tea before she continued "Anyway, I was wondering if you had any advice to help me not be.... such an easy target." she chuckled nervously. "You seem to know your way around here, and you live here, for ponies' sake." she sipped again. It wasn't every day she found herself asking others for pointers. But then again it wasn't every day she was chased by a hunk of wood and saved by tree-dwelling herbalist either.

[TessQ85]

Bringing over a large banana leaf and lots of what looks like rough green string. She begins by placing the leaves down on the floor near the injured wing. Bringing out a large flat bowl, she places a large, flat, thick, somewhat spiky green gel filled cactus like 'leaf' between her hooves and squeezes out a milky clear jelly into the bowl, dumping in two cucumbers and some of the chamomile tea she had in the kitchen. She then brings out a large pot of honey and begins to warm it by the hearth. She begins to stomp into the bowl, mixing up the selected ingredients.

 

After a couple minutes, she retrieves the same star shaped, candied flower from earlier and places it in the recently emptied cup for tea and pushes that and the tea pot toward her guest as she gets to work. She nudges the honey toward the bowl and tips it in, pouring out the translucent honey, in which you can see globs of bees wax, indicating a very raw source. She then heads outside only to return with a bunch of wheat grass. Folding the honey and wheat grass into the mixture she looks to the pony she is hoping to aid, and says, "I hope you like the tea, you now need more, my hooves are busy, else, I'd gladly pour. I'll place this" motioning to the mixture "on  your wings, in just a bit. That sweet flower will numb you as you sit." Beginning to pile the mixture on the large leaves beside her new friend. Leaving a bit in the bowl to work with later.

Edited November 30, 2020 by TessQ85
Grammar and flow

[TessQ85]

...boop...

[TessQ85]

Having readied the mixture to help her new friend begin to heal, Zecora now looks expectantly at her guest, asking, simply, "I simply need you to finish your tea, this will be fast, careful and swift I'll be. Let me know when you're ready, I'll start then. It should not hurt at all..." Realizing her guest might have a unique tolerance to the numbing power of the sugary additive to the tea, she added, with a shrug, "... Some, if any." Now standing next to the injured wing, double checking the wounded area in final preparations.