Your head is pounding in your skull. Your body is screaming at you in rage at the pain that's been inflicted upon it by your own idiocy, especially at the knees of your forelegs. But that's nothing compared to the inferno blazing across spine, raging up your back to your brain, consuming your thoughts with suffering. You can't move for the pain, you can't speak for the pain, you can't even think for the torment you are going through.

You whimper softly, your eyes squeezed tight as hot warm liquid runs down your cheeks, streaking your fur. If you could form comprehensible thought processes you might feel ashamed of how pathetic you are right now. But it hurts so bucking much that you just don't care. You want to die, you want those wooden wolves to find you and rip your bucking throat out because it hurts so much! Somepony just end it!

Great. You've oh-so-cleverly gotten yourself lost in the Everfree, abandoned the only being who cares about you, all for the sake of finding out what's wrong with you. Perhaps you just need to be smarter... to be able to put the pieces together better... if you were smart enough to figure out things like this sooner, maybe you'd have less problems. Intelligence never fails.

Good going, dumbass. You bucked up really badly this time. You need to heal. The latent magic resting in you should be able to speed the healing process by quite a bit. If not, well, pray someone as kind as Fluttershy finds you. Because otherwise your journey's over, your love is gone, and you're fucking dead.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Your eyes snap open as your entire spine lights up at once, twitching and spasming on the ground. You start to foam at the lips as you convulse, every inch of your back consumed with an all-encompassing agony! And then you stop. Your legs fall to your sides, drool dribbles from your lips down the side of your cheek. Sweat is thick in your fur and your breathing is ragged. Tears pour from your wide eyes as you stare up into the dark of the Everfree, even as urine expelled during the fit forms a wet patch between your hind legs.

And you feel... Good.

You feel really good. Like take on the world and eat it alive kinda good. Like buck problems and the ponies who brought them kinda good. You're smiling, you're chuckling, and you're feeling fine! So what that your body aches!? So what that your head's spinning, your throat's hoarse, and you just pissed yourself!? You're not dead and that's okay!

No time for self pity, staying in one place in a forest full of predators is hazardous to your health, so ON YOUR HOOVES PONY!!! Best move back to an area of known safety till you can heal and practice a bit more. Retrace your steps and avoid rustling bushes...I hear a cockatrice lives near Zecora's hut.

But it's not. As good as you feel right now you're not one to deny the obvious and the obvious is that you are of course in a shitty position. You are lost, in the lower-center end of the Everfree. And judging by the considerable increase in dimness a significant amount of time has passed. In fact, you are willing to bet that it is night and if your first night here taught you anything it was that when the clouds rolled over the moon, everything went black. Except for the Timberwolves that can see in the damn dark. In short, if you do not get up and get moving, you are bucked.

"R-right... Let's get 'ahem' up and at'em." You say to yourself, rubbing your throat gingerly with your front-left hoof, before you roll onto your stomach, and try to stand on your hooves. They're shaky and wobbly and aching. Especially the forelegs at the knees. You look down to your forelegs and quickly come to a singular conclusion. They look horrible. Patches of fur are missing from the knees over which white scar tissue has formed with a pale green tinge beneath it. This sight should shock you you suppose, but you take it in stride. After all, logically you can conclude something rather positive from this view. You're a superpony.

There's only one possible way that they could be in their current state. They had been broken. Likely fractured in the fall, with the bone splintering out of the knees hence the furless patches, and then had healed while you were asleep. While it was possible that it had been more than one day since you lost consciousness, normally such severe leg injuries would take months of healing at least. You have not gone months without food. You can tell that because you are not dead. Hungry, but not dead, a good indicator that you have not been sleeping for months. Which means that your legs healed up in a matter of hours to a few days. You have super-healing.

"I'm a superpony!" You verbally reiterate happily before pitching forward slightly and letting out a-

'Cough cough cough!' While bringing your wobbly left foreleg up to cover your mouth... and almost collapsing as your front right buckles. You bring your front left back down hurriedly, and between the two and your hind legs you are able to keep yourself from planting flat on your face, pushing yourself back up to a full stand.

"But not entirely..." You mutter. Obviously the healing process is not complete or perfect. Your legs are firm, shaky, and likely to cause you problems while walking. They may still need professional treatment despite your obvious extra-regenerative abilities. All the more reason to get back to Zecora.

...You got lost? Of all the...nevermind. Seeing as you have found some very pretty flowers lets pick...does something feel...off to you? Probably nothing. Well, this was so far a waste of time. You should really head back to Zecora's place and wait for her to wake up. She knows this forest and can act as a guide to the castle where things started going...weird. While you wait for her to wake up, you might as well practise with the sword that now shoots out of your hoof and the big metal rods in your back. The forest is still a dangerous place, it would be a good idea to train yourself to fight. Also, that box...what is in it? You must know, you have to know, once you finish "training" go find out what it is.

Nomad

You look up to the sky with a thoughtful gaze as you begin to think over the best way to get back... considering that you're lost you wouldn't bet on your odds of finding your way back. What does seem hopeful however is that she'll find you. Hours if not days have passed. She will have awoken from her nap, searched her hut, found a destroyed book and a ruined table, and then found her cloak and map missing. Waking to find her hut in that condition, damage but no valuables taken aside from cloak and map would lead to the logical assumption of either an outside attack, or a theft by yourself.

She has established an emotional connection with you. Whether she thinks you're the culprit or not, and you are technically, she will search for you. Either out of worry for you as a possible victim, or revenge due to feelings of betrayal. And she's absolutely sure to find you, as she knows the Everfree better than anypony.

But then there's also the problem of knowing just enough about you to lead her astray. She found you at the castle, and would have believed you to be heading for it if she thought you were a thief, or even just as a place to start. That you were heading for the castle is irrelevant as you never got there, but because you took the map she'd likely assume you could use it to reach said destination, so the first place she'd search would almost certainly be the castle where she found you. Like you she would assume that you'd be able to read and use the map properly when you left. And of course you couldn't, hence your current position.

"Oops." You say with another light sigh... and then smile lightly.

Ah well. You can deal with her when the time comes. Sweet talk her, rub her mane, rut her brains out, whatever you need to do. But to help stack the odds though...

You look down at the plants at your hooves, and think for a moment before nodding, and getting down on your stomach back in the patch, looking at the plant in front of you. Zecora was always collecting plants. And it stood to reason that if these were deadly you'd be dead already. In fact, they could have healing properties, which might mean that they helped you heal up and you aren't a superpony... Nah you're totally a superpony. But whether they were special or not mares were supposed to like flowers, so...

You raise your left forehoof and close your eyes, picturing the Obsidian Blade. The black jagged crystalline swords juts out of your left hoof, the dark blue mist with the glittering silver specks starting to pool around it at the end of your hoof. You grit your teeth a bit, as the weight while still very light makes your aching muscles fire up in protest. You ignore your muscles and bring the blade down to the base of one of the bulbous plants and saw it at the base, cutting it free from the ground and it's roots. You grasp the plant with your right foreleg, pulling it up as your leg shakes with the effort and slowly move it into your cloak, tucking it into a large pocket at the left side.

Task accomplished you look at the black crystal sword for a minute, turning it back and forth, examining it. You watch it eat the moonlight for a few more moments and then close your eyes. You picture the blade breaking apart, turning into a blue mist and retreating back into your hoof, much like you did last time. When you open your eyes you see it gone from your hoof.

"Well at least one good thing came from this fiasco. 'Cough cough' I know that how to summon and disperse the blade..." You mutter, bringing your right foreleg up to rub your sore throat again. You shake your head, and move all your hooves back onto the ground, pushing yourself up to a stand slowly. You turn your gaze up to the steep dirt face... Even if you couldn't only see it in the rays of the moon and it wasn't dark as the inside of a barrel, you're pretty sure you wouldn't be able to climb it. Which leaves only...

You turn your gaze to the deep dark forest on the other side of you as you sigh... And then smirk a bit.

"Well, not any worse than how I started right? Buck considering I've got a sword and damn lightning rods now I'm better off." You mutter, then turn towards the tree-choked darkness, and with a calm slow gait, your knees still wobbling and your body still aching, you walk into the forest canopy, direction unknown...

Lost- that's not a good thing. Not when you know so little about the forest.

No, best thing would be to return to Zecora's hut. Will she be angry? You hope she won't be, you don't want to lose your precious, exotic little Zebra! You couldn't deal with that at all!

And that's a thought that's gnawing away at you, isn't it? What if you screw up, again, and she throws you out? You'd be all alone again! Now now, don't panic- you just need an outlet for your worries, is all. Something to calm you down, even if it's just a gesture. You're sure to feel better afterwards!

So, next time Zecora's asleep, you go to her and lick her ear again, like you've done before, and maybe even more than once. And then you'll tell her that... that... she won't ever get angry with you. She can't get angry with you, no matter what you do. She wants to please you, like in those stories from her home she told you about; the stories where one stallion had several mares serve him. She wants you to be like that, right? And she wants to be one of the mares serving and loving, right? That's why she told those stories in the first place. And, you'd like for her to dream of being a herdmare serving you...

Much better now, right? You're certain you can be a responsible stallion for your herd, you just need the chance to prove it; and if she breaks things off now, you'd never get that chance. Can't have that.

Also: this "herd" thing won't leave you alone. A group of mares serving a stallion together. It does sound attractive... though you still wonder if all of these "herds" came to be on a consensual basis, like Zecora and you, or if some Zebras use more sinister methods. Something sick like potions, or hexes that break free will, forever. Just thinking about something so evil makes you quiver! Better ask Zecora about that- after another ear-licking, that is- if she knows anything about that. If you're ever going to be a brave explorer or the like, you need to be prepared for everything, after all!

Oh, and you should ask her about any friends or visitors she might know. Probably not many ponies visiting her, but who knows? Though, heh, you're absolutely sure there aren't going to be any travelling magicians about, thank Celestia! The last one you saw - Trixie or something, you think- was an insufferable egomaniac, who kept putting everypony else down. Kinda hot, too, but she was such a jerk that you really wanted to see her put in her place, find out how she likes getting tied up with ropes and getting her butt shocked. Ah well, not like that blue nag would ever set hoof into this forest, right?

... You almost feel sorry about that- watching her bound tight, squirming on the ground, and wiggling her butt really would've been a lot of fun...

As you walk through the dark you furrow your brows in thought, hooves carrying you step after step. They still ache but they're not wobbling so much anymore. Not as infirm. And you can deal with the ache, much easier than the pain you felt earlier. Frankly you're more worried at the moment about the fact that you pissed yourself... You blush a bit. THAT might be hard to explain to Zecora... You shake your head. No, you'd be able to explain everything... You wouldn't lose her. You couldn't stand to lose her. You'd... ... Well, whatever you did it'd keep her. She's yours... She knows that. Right? Of course she does! And you'll just reaffirm it to her when she goes to sleep next. Remind her of it. Make sure she's not mad...

Come to think of it she was giving you all kinds of signs, even before you two... Well, rutted. When she was talking about herds... That sounded pretty cool actually. Multiple mares, all at your beck and call, serving your whim... What kind of stallion DIDN'T have fantasies about something like that? It made you wonder how they came about actually. Most likely it involved pregnancy rates and the need to defend the pregnant when it was first implemented, but you can't imagine it was entirely without opposition. It likely caused some arguments along the way and you wondered what kind of social punishments came from not joining herds. Maybe there were even ways to force zebras into herds? You'd have to ask Zecora about that actually. After rutting.

Hmmm, you seem to be fairly sexed up right now actually. You REALLY want to rut. Like, you get it one time then you just want more of it. Is sex habit forming? Anyways, after you make up with Zecora you'll be able to rut her so you won't have to worry about it. And you will make up. You will... Funnily enough all this sex focus is reminding you of that one showmare that came to Manehatten. It was a while back, and she was dragging a wagon behind her. Foals pelted that wagon with fruits, mostly tomatoes. Foals were little bastards... you knew that from experience. When you tried to offer her your sympathies and help her clean her wagon, she shouted at you for daring to put your "dirty hooves" on her wagon. She stated that she was the "Great and Powerful Trixie" and that she didn't need any help from a stinking bum whose life wasn't worth two bits. Something like that.

She left pretty soon after that and you didn't stop her. You wanted to do some really nasty things to her for a bit, but you got over it. Not as though ponies hadn't done worse to you in the past. Still, it's nice to think of punishing her... In ways that're a little more naughty than you originally thought. Tie her up with her flank sticking up in the air, tail up. Shove some dirty rags in her mouth to keep her from talking, put something on her horn to keep her from using her magic and take a rod, then beat her flanks till their red. Cover them in bruises as she sobs, and gets wet at the same time because deep down she's nothing but a pathetic painslut, and when she's like that you pull the rags from her mouth and get her to admit it... Call herself something debasing. The worthless and talentless Trixie? Something like that. Yeah... you wonder if Zecora would be up for some roleplaying...

RUSTLE...

You stop, blink, and turn your gaze to a nearby bush at your right.

... Did you just hear a rustling coming from that bush?

RUSTLE RUSTLE.

Yes, yes you did. You heard a rustling bush. And the odds of a rustling bush in the Everfree Forest NOT containing some predator ready to pop out and eat you? Not good.

You narrow your eyes, and slowly turn to face towards the rustling bush, starting to back away from it slowly... And then a chicken head pops out of the bush.

And it is a chicken head. It's a simple white feathered chicken head, with a tuft of red rising from the top, and a pair of beady black eyes looking straight at you. And you're looking straight at it.

You stare at the chicken head. The chicken head stares at you. You blink. The chicken head blinks. You raise your right eyebrow. The chicken head raises it's right eyebrow. You tilt your head to the right, and the chicken head mirrors you by tilting it's head to the left.

"... ... the buck?" You state succinctly, as you straighten your head, the chicken doing the same.

"What... the buck is a CHICKEN doing in the Everfree Forest?" You question aloud, crouching down and narrowing your eyes as the chicken head leans forward and lowers it's head down in the bush, meeting your gaze.

... Your confusion is great. The presence of a chicken in the Everfree is something that is not only illogical, but... well... it's a bucking chicken in the Everfree forest! How does that even happen?

Just when you thought you couldn't get more confused, you hear a-

CLUCK!

And a second chicken head pops out of the bush, to the left of the first, looking at you with blinking black eyes. Like the other it has white feathers, and a red plume at the top of it's head. You stare at it... then look at the other, then look back...

"Okay, did I die? ... Or were those plants psychedelic or something? Because that actually makes more sense than what I'm seeing right now." You state plainly wanting the chickens to know that they shouldn't exist right now. And then just to screw with you more the chickens grin.

... Since when did chickens have tiny sharp teeth lining their beaks?

Since never.

Your own eyes immediately go wide as you shoot back up from the crouch. The chickens squeeze their eyes shut and open them again as one. Suddenly in place of their black beady eyes are glowing red ones, and in one motion they burst out of the bushes, side by side with their wings and bodies covered in green scales instead of feathers, lizard tails stretching from their behinds. Aside from the little talons at the ends of their feet, and a fair bit of plumpness, the rest of their bodies did not even vaguely resemble chicken bodies. One darts to the left as it exits the bushes and one to the right. You growl, bringing your left foreleg up and to the side as a-

SCHLINK!

Sounds and your black crystalline blade shoots out, edge sharp and ready to slice. Your foreleg drops down a couple inches almost instantly as you wince... Then you smirk as you bring it back up level. Your muscles twitch in your back, checking your rods beneath Zecora's cloak, and your eyes switch between the lizard-chicken things as they grin confidently. You roll your head to the left, and then to the right, before chuckling slightly, narrowing your eyes as you continue to look at the chicken-lizards.

"Well, I wanted to test out my new abilities anyway..." You mutter, still smirking as your brain races in your skull. You're bigger than them, so you normally would probably have a physical advantage. But scaly skin meant natural armor. Teeth were designed carnivorously to bite and tear. And there was something about their eyes that made you... uneasy. Add all that in with the fact that your muscles still ache and you were recently heavily injured, you could be in some real trouble here.

But buck that. You don't care what these chicken-lizard things throw at you. You can handle it.

So what do you do?

MUTATION GAINED: Poisoned Chemistry: Blue plant-like tendrils have formed up the Host's spine all the way up to the brain, acting as a minor back-brace and also steadily pumping a chemical stimulant into the Host's blood stream. The chemical cocktail designed specifically for the Host's Everfree Blood and causes the Host's blood to act as a drug in addition to a poison. For the Host this stimulant improves the effectiveness of the electrical discharge between nerves resulting in both faster and more efficient thought processes as well as general improvements to internal body functions. An improvement to reflexes counteracts the physical sluggishness of the Everfree Blood, and the constant flow of the stimulant through the body's systems dulls pain. This mutation physically manifests externally as a line of light blue lining the Host's spine neck to flank, beneath the skin and able to be seen through the coat. The Side effect of this mutation is a slight mental imbalance with minor manic symptoms and a slight possibility of entering into Hypomanic episodes due to both mental speed and discordant influences. Part of the Discord Legacy.

Author's Notes:

Are you grateful for Weekends and days off? I'm grateful for weekends and days off.

Because I don't say this anywhere else I'll say this here. Thank you for your comments and all the thoughts you put into your instructions to the Host. It's fun seeing what you come up, playing with it a bit, and moving it into the story. So thank you for your participation. Also for likes and favorites as I like being liked.

Also, slight chance of Hypomanic episode, and minor manic tendencies. Not complete mental overall... yet.