Good work Blank Slate. Your link with the forest has grown strong and it will now guide you to any place within it's borders. Now that we know how to get to Zecora's hut, we need to make all speed there so our zebra pet/love can recover.

BUMP

"Urkh!"

THUD

"Oof!"

CLONK

"Bwuk!"

Well, you could add dragging unconscious zebras home to the list of things you didn't do to well. Between ramming your plot into the door, bumping your head against the doorway, and then knocking Zecora's head against the SAME doorway, you could safely say that if zebra-dragging was a sport you would be eternally benched on the sidelines. Not unlike every time the other foals at school had a buck-ball game... ... buck you hated those kids.

With a bit more force than might have been strictly necessary, you dragged Zecora through the doorway and into the hut, not stopping until your plot bumped against her cauldron. You let go of her tail with a relieved sigh, breathing out heavily, and then dragging your tongue against your upper teeth to get rid of the unique taste of zebra tail caked with mud.

"Ekh! Finally..." You muttered to yourself, glad to be out of the cold and wet of the Everfree. You reached back and pulled the bamboo staff from the loop on Zecora's saddle-baskets, before tossing it down onto the floor with a-

CLACK!

You then slipped the iron loop of the firefly lantern from your neck, placing it down on the floor, then awkwardly and grumpily stepping over to the dining table, loosening and unfastening Zecora's saddle-baskets, before tiredly lugging them onto the table. Then, weighty crap effectively removed from your body, you began shaking yourself off like a cat, going down from your head down to the tip of your tail, sending water flying everywhere, including onto your zebra lover, her baskets, the table, and some onto the cauldron to. The admittedly impolite action helped with the chill, but didn't disperse it, and a shiver went through you as a gust of wind blew in through the open door. After giving the doorway a glare, and muttering something about dumb uncontrolled Everfree weather under your breath, you awkwardly stepped over to the open portal into the Everfree.

And most important of all find the Alicorn Amulet with the help of the trees. You need to show her that even if you wear it, you will take it off for her. Afterall what can that piece of crap do to you, you the superpony?

Huh, we know our way around the Everfree. *double take* WE KNOW OUR WAY AROUND THE EVERFREE! Mr Slate, we are never getting lost again, and considering how much you've been doing exactly that lately, this is arguably the best thing to happen since you got here.

You moved your mouth down to the knob of Zecora's doorway, intending to push it closed with your mouth instead of your forehoof, mainly because you didn't feel like falling flat on your flank when your aching hind-legs gave out. But as you started to push the door closed, said door feeling a little wobbly actually, your eyes turned towards the outside, looking into the dark mess of vegetation coated with liquid that was the Everfree during a storm. Your ears twitched slightly, and your brows furrowed.

You... got the strange notion that it might be a good idea to just go out and grab the Amulet right quick... after all, you could find your way around the Everfree now. You didn't have to worry about getting lost! Which was pretty bucking awesome in and of itself. And Zecora hadn't really been all that far away when she came upon you and you and her had your little... altercation. You could go right out, snatch it, and come back, easy as zebra pie! And wouldn't that be a great way to show Zecora that you DIDN'T care about the amulet? If you were wearing it when she woke up, and took it off right in front of her, or some dramatic shit like that, it would be the perfect proof that you didn't care! Yeah... yeah that's what you were going to do, just slip out for a second, let yourself get guided to the amulet's location and-

KAAABOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

The floor beneath you shuddered as a powerful clap of thunder shook the jars and bottles in the shelves, causing your ears to ring, your teeth to vibrate in your mouth, and shooting your heart into overdrive, thumping away like a jackhammer in your chest.

...

...

Your right eye twitched.

...

SLAM!

You pushed the door shut as hard and fast as you could, before turning around and stepping back awkwardly into the hut, your right eye still twitching.

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope! Buck the amulet! NOT worth going back into that damn storm over! You were home, you were safe, and you wanted to keep it that way damn it!

Now, what are we gonna do once we get back home...home, that's got a very nice ring to it. Once we get home, we need to have Trixie make herself useful by cooking a meal for you and Zecora...make sure she knows how to cook first.

Let Trixie prepare a meal.

Once you're home, regardless of whether you found out what Zecora snorted, get Trixie to make you something to eat... if she can, that is. It'll be a chance to help her make her pretty blue plot useful for once, other than being your ogling and spanking toy. Make a mental note to train her some more later.

Home... that's right, this was your home now... ... You closed your eyes and breathed out slowly, lowering your head with a light smile forming on your lips. You... you'd never had a home before... well, you did when you were a colt, but that barely counted... this place was... nice. ... It was nice to have someplace you could call your own... ... it was nice to have a zebra that you could call your own... ... it was nice to own things for once...

Your stomach growled, snapping you out of your appreciative revelry, and into the here and now. The here and now being that you were bucking starving. Damn it! Hadn't you just eaten before that whole damn crazy adventure? Ughhh... Anyways you weren't even sure what Zecora had to eat around here. Oh you were sure that she had SOMETHING. She probably had a lot of edible herbs and plants and bottles and jars that she put into her meals. But buck if you could tell which ones they were. You might have to go outside and eat the grass again... What DID wet grass taste like? Grass was fine enough when it was dry, but wet would stick to your muzzle. Probably be limp and watery, with terrible texture to.

But wait... there was Trixie wasn't there? She was a mare, right? Yeah. And mares knew about cooking and shit like that. Plus she'd been a wandering performer, so blatant sexism aside she probably would have had to learn how to forage on the road. Or just cook for herself or SOMETHING. Though she was kind of a prissy diva bitch, so would she REALLY stoop as low as to prepare her own meals? ... Yeah, she would, she just wouldn't admit it to anypony after she did so. Anyways, might want to get her lazy plot outta bed and make her make something. Beat having to go out into the storm again to chomp down on wet grass... ... or making the damn food yourself. Besides, she could use the training couldn't she? Yeah. She had to get SOMEWHERE in life, and she wouldn't be able to do that without useful skills! And preparing food was a useful skill, sooooooo...

Yep, no doubt about it, Trixie was going to become your food-slave! With that idea firmly entrenched in your mind you turned and stepped over towards the bedroom doorway. You went ahead and stopped just outside, feeling just a tiny bit paranoid for some reason, and peeked your head around the edge, looking in with furrowed brows. Trixie was right where you left her. Over on the side of the bed closest to the wall, with the covers pulled up over the bottom half of her body, her top half uncovered and facing away from you, right foreleg laying on top of the covers. The thunder rolled low outside, and a chill gust of wind came through the bamboo stick window, carrying some chilling droplets of water with it. Trixie didn't seem to react to the gust.

You frowned, then scooted around the doorway's edge and into the room, still a bit clumsily. You walked, your hooves caked with wet Everfree mud, and a chill still clinging to your bones. You shivered with every touch of wind as it came through the window above the bed, and cursed the bucking magic-depleted state of your horn. You walked up to the bed, standing at the edge, and looked at Trixie with narrowed eyes.

"Hey." No response. You narrowed your eyes further.

"... Hey." You spoke again, a little louder. When Trixie didn't respond this time you growled in annoyance, and then moved your right foreleg up onto the edge of the bed. With a bit of effort, because of the lack of access to your left foreleg and your limbs being pretty bucking sore already, you climbed up onto the bed, kicking your hind legs at the edge, and getting the covers muddy in the process of said climbing and kicking. Properly ascended, you took the couple steps across the bed from the point of your ascension, over to where Trixie lay, and proceeded to direct a fresh glare down at her sleeping form.

You leaned down, and began to pointedly nudge your nose into her right shoulder, poking at her to get up.

"Hey. I'm hungry. Hey. Get up. ... Hey! I'm hungry! HEY!" You shouted, getting progressively louder as your constant poking failed to illicit a response from the unconscious mare. With a growl you pulled yourself up onto your hind legs and raised your right foreleg.

SCHLINK!

"Hey you stupid prissy unicorn bitch I said wake the buck up!" You yelled, eyes blazing as you brought your blade down with a-

THUNK!

And just stood there... with the tip of your blade stuck into the wall, a bit to the left and under the window, your own body limp as your hind-legs had collapsed underneath you from exhaustion, your entire form tilted and hanging diagonal, looking down to the mare that was now beneath you...

... ... Well that was thoroughly unimpressive...

Eugh, too much rage, Spanky-Blank. You need to calm down a bit. Stop and smell the blood-spattered roses, take a few deep breaths. Anger is a good enough fuel for malicious acts for a beginner I would suppose, but it always comes back to bite you in the arse. Angry people aren't logical, angry people make mistakes, angry people do stupid stuff. Angry people get baited, angry people get caught, and perhaps worst of all, angry people feel regret after their anger ebbs away!

You need to learn how to enjoy yourself, sadist style! Learn to be a psychopath during all emotional states! Being angry is a sign of weakness! So keep calm, go home, and psychologically torment the unicorn and the zebra. Not because you're mad, but because it's your entertainment for the evening! Who are they to alter your emotional state!? YOU are God here! Their emotions are YOUR plaything, not the other way around! Have fun! Stop being so growly!

Respectfully yours, Seth Speth of the Death Neth

You breathed in deeply... then huffed out heavily, before closing your eyes.

Okay... there was no point in getting angry like this. It was fairly apparent now that Trixie was not going to wake up to your little tantrum. She could not, in one respect or the other, react to your aggressive demands. To keep going on like this would be stupid, foolish, and unproductive... You needed to get a reign on yourself.

You withdrew your blade back into your hoof, and reasserted pressure into your hind-legs, as you moved your foreleg down to get balanced over Trixie. You took a few moments to calm yourself, breathing in and out steadily, letting the rage pour out through with your breath. You looked down then to the sleeping unicorn, her face expressionless and neutral in her sleep, her breaths soft and quiet as her chest moved and down steadily, blissfully unaware of your presence in her knocked-out state. And you smirked.

It was absurd. This weak and useless creature causing such a powerful rage to resound within you... That wasn't how things should be at all. You were a superpony, who was she to have such control over your emotional well-being? Nopony, that was who! The only pony with power over your emotions should be you, and SHE certainly shouldn't be allowed to have even a scrap of control! Why the very thought of-

Your cold and wet dragging an unconscious zebra with you to your home. Your first priority should be to get the both of you war with a nice fire. You may need to drink some blood first, but who cares?!?! Think of the BEAUTIFUL FLAMES you will create! What does it matter it costs a little bit of blood? Doesn't a nice blood smoothie sound good? Hmmmm Iron.... With your powers you could probably survive solely on blood if you wanted to, maybe if you just have a taste...

-Enjoy your meal! Pyrotechnics the Red

P.S. Don't forget to set something on fire, your FREEZING AFTER ALL!!!!

Oh, right. Unconscious Zebra. Well first things first, get home start a fire under the cauldron to warm the both of you up, you're magic should have recharged enough by then to do that at least. If not wake Trixie to... wait Trixie was drugged wasn't she, Nightmare, ok if you can wake Trixie get her to light the fire, otherwise I suppose you can try to recharge of her blood, just saying.

Another breeze blew through the window and set you to shivering again, clenching your teeth together hard to keep them from chattering as the cold flowed down along your spine.

"B-buck!" You muttered, taking the time to utter your expression of disapproval before clenching your jaw again to prevent chattering. Right, sure, emotional growth and shit, whatever, you were still cold!

Ggggrrrrrroooooowwwwwwwwwlllllllll...

... And hungry. Cold and hungry. Well wasn't this fan-bucking-tastic!? No, no, not back to the rage, you were stronger than that. You had problems, now you just needed to find a solution!

You affirmed this to yourself, before nodding once and looking back down to your hooves and the unconscious showpony right beneath them... ... ... ... Solution found.

After all, hadn't Trixie's blood given you a power-boost before? And wasn't blood all nutritional and shit? With like iron in it? Didn't it technically have everything a pony might need to survive? ... And, uh, it wouldn't really be weird to drink from Trixie would it? No, you'd done it already... and it'd be cool in fact. Like being a vampony! And mares were into vamponies weren't they? Yeah, it was a kink, a turn-on, being sucked on by blood-sucking monsters at night, so really you'd just be living out one of her fantas-

Another chill gust found it's way through the window and to your fur, causing your whole body to shake with the chill once more.

"Okay buck thinking I'm cold!" You audibly exclaimed as you raised your right forehoof and let your blade shoot out, sharp and ready. You brought it down to the upper part of Trixie's foreleg, and as you lay down on the bed you put the black crystalline edge to her skin, and gently slid it back, opening up the skin beneath the fur to the sharp black edge. It was a shallow cut, you wanted to feed from her not bleed her out after all, but it did the job. And as you dismissed your blade a brilliant shade of red pooled up and into her fur, staining it crimson, making it clash with the rest of her coat.

Gulping down a lump in your throat, perhaps residual nerves from what few parts of you still thought this might not be quite the best idea, you leaned forward and touched the tip of your tongue to Trixie's bleeding cut, tasting her fur and the red crimson liquid that was still dying it... Your eyes rolled up in your head, as the familiar flavor assaulted your senses... You'd never quite thought about how... warm blood was... you hadn't really focused on the coppery taste of Trixie's blood before... you... rather liked it...

You grinned, and pressed your tongue fully against the cut, slowly lapping up the red like a dog... and as you did so, taking in more of the precious red liquid, your upper jaw began to ache. You blinked, and then winced, and then furrowed your brows as a kind of grinding, groaning, roughly aching pain started to build up in your upper-jaw. And then it kept on building, just building and building until you started to open your mouth in horror, trying to let some air in to stop the pain and-

SPURT!

MUTATION GAINED: Vampony Fangs: The intake of blood and the lapping up of said blood, combined with desires for power and self-visioning as a vampony, has caused you to grow a set of fangs in your teeth. Also, you may now gain partial sustenance from the intake of blood, and taking in unicorn blood causes a slight replenishing of Unicorn magic type. The fangs are essentially extended sharpened canines and have no significant additional power or thickness beyond what can usually be expected from biting, only with very sharp and lengthened teeth. Also non-retractable, which causes a slight speech impediment that you have to work around.

Two little blood-covered molars fell onto Trixie's shoulder, rolling off and onto the bed in front of her chest. Blood, yours, was dripping from your lips in gooey saliva-filled strands, and your mouth felt... full. You blinked, a pair of pained tears running down your cheeks, and moved your tongue around in your mouth, searching for a foreign presence. You found one. In addition to the taste of blood and copper, your tongue found what felt like tooth. A long tooth, where you didn't normally have one, stretching from your upper set down to your lower. Opening your mouth, you moved your tongue again over foreign object, and found a sharp point at the bottom, poking your tongue. ... A fang. You had bucking fangs.

... ... ... Well... ... that was cool.

"Whell thawas-" You start, about to echo your sentiments to the world at large, before stopping, and blinking.

"Whadya bwuk!?" You started again, then blinked a few more times, and shook your head. You gritted your teeth, the action actually not seeming to cause any problems as your upper jaw was just a little in front of your lower, before closing your eyes, breathing in deep through your nose, huffing out slowly... Then once again opening your mouth.

"Whell... migh'tafta 'blegh' migh'ta... Erg, might-have-to... Gowin, going to have to getch-get uushed, used to it..." You spoke, correcting your language before sighing, and shaking your head. These random mutations... sometimes they were just bucking annoying.

You shrugged it off, then leaned forward, stretched out your tongue, and once again began lapping at Trixie's blood while it still came from the cut. There was less of it this time around as her body had started to stop the bleeding, BUT afterwards your stomach stopped growling. AND you felt your tiny cache of unicorn magic fill back up! A win win! For you! Not for Trixie! But buck it she'd get used to it and it was her kink as you'd already established in your brain!

You lifted your fang-stuffed mouth up off of the unicorn's cut, a content smile on your face, and licked your lips. You'd have to compliment Trixie on how her blood tasted later. If she could keep making it, you could keep drinking it. Definitely your food-slave now. Of course realistically you might need something else to eat to but, eh, buck it, you felt good. With a light smile and a botched attempt at a whistle, you righted yourself once more, and turned to walk off of the bed, leaving Trixie with a healing cut, two of your teeth, and blood in her fur.

You got down from the bed slowly, on three shaky hooves, and then continued to walk towards the open doorway, a good bit of the mud from your hooves now on the bed covers, and made your way back into the main room of Zecora's hut. Zecora was, as you might have expected, still laying on the ground where you left her. Still muddy, still with that powder-paste over her muzzle and nose, and still pretty wet from how the floor was moistened up around her. She shivered slightly, obviously still chilled from her condition. You felt a pang of guilt about that.

You shook it off, none of this was your fault after all you were the good guy, then looked over to the cauldron, and the natural fireplace beneath it. With a smile, you tilted your head down, drew on the magic cache at the base of your horn, annnnnnnnd-

FWOOSH!!!

Purple flames spouted out from your horn to the cauldron, igniting the tinder beneath, creating a nice, warm, and colorful, purple fire. While it might have technically been a cooking fire, it was certainly serving as a heating fire, and you weren't going to stop enjoying it because of a little thing like semantics. You stumbled over to the flames, right up next to Zecora near to the cauldron, and folded your foreleg and hindlegs beneath you, letting your body down to relax on the floor, sighing out contentedly, and lowering your head, as you let the warmth wash over you and wash away the cares of the day...

Last point of buisness, figure out a plan for your future. These new powers keep comin' and training with them is going to be a major hastle, so let's focus on your actual physical health: pushups, sprints, crunches, chin ups, the works.

Nomad

By the way you really should get in shape. So start to exercise your body and your magic. Hay, I will even try to guide your mind through the spells from your subconsciousness. Should be a suprise to your enemies if something from my otherworldly magic technics bleeds over into your casting style.

Aedin the mage

After that we really need away to take control of these mutations you're developing, for a start now that you can hear the Everfree see want you can find out from it, whether the forest will tell you the location of objects or inhabitants/intruders. Definitely intruders, the Everfree seems to have taken a liking to you, if it's willing to offer aid, and it would be incredibly rude, not to mention unappreciative, not to help it out in return.

Archivist.

... ... ... You were REALLY out of bucking shape...

You furrowed your brows and scrunched up your nose at that. The thought seemed to pop up out of nowhere in your otherwise serene mindset. But it was right. You WERE out of shape. In manehatten you'd been highly immobile, stagnant, and your life mainly consisted of moving to one place to wait, then moving to another place to wait. Oversimplified, there was scrounging and begging and other shit like that to, but nopony'd asked you to run any marathons, and you hadn't had the energy for it in any case.

But, in the last few days, you'd had to do some VERY physical things running around the Everfree... you were exhausted, and tired, and frankly if something came from behind the door to kick your flank, which had actually bucking HAPPENED once in recent memory, you'd be screwed. You took a break from that thought line to look up to the caged planimal, that looked like it'd gone back to sleep with a sap-bubble inflating and deflating from it's center-head's right nostril, and glare at it... ... ... Then you shook your head, and returned to your thoughts.

In any case your body was too beaten up, tired, and tapped of energy to really do anything strenuous right at the moment. But instead of getting thrown from wild adventure to wild adventure, you might want to focus on just generally getting your body up to some level of semi-competent fitness. Also, the use of magic maybe... perhaps practicing with your horn would help you figure out how to use it better? Energy conservation or some shit like that?

Yeah, you could do sit-ups, or push ups, or pull-ups, or something like that, or... or even maybe use the Everfree to hunt down opponents and take them on? Like Timberwolves and Chicken-lizard-monster-things, and maybe Diamond Dogs? Yeah, especially Diamond Dogs, those shits were supposed to be in mountainous and dusty regions with elaborate tunnel networks you didn't know what the BUCK they were doing here. Definitely intruders. Should probably wipe them out. Only polite to the Everfree which was nice enough to give you a map rooted into your brain.

Anyways, you didn't exactly have the energy, strength, or death-wish, to pursue any of those thought lines in your current state. But it was definitely something to think about... More than just think about, you needed to move personal fitness up on your priority list! Make it key! Get as fit, toned, and sexy as Zecora someday! ... ... Zecora...

After you put aside some time for that, get some sleep. It's been a long night, and you need rest...and zebra snuggles.

Well done, Blank Slate. But now it's important to prepare for the awakening of your misguided zebra lover. Give Zecora some sedative to keep her asleep. You don't want her to feel the pain of her burnt skin, do you?

Good, Blank Slate! You're growing ever close to your new domain! You'll be a well-known ande beloved hero before long, with the Everfree and all inside of it yours!

That includes your Zebra plaything, by the way. Try to get her home and figure out what that green powder she inhaled was. Can't have her accidentally poison herself, can we? Because what happened was an accident. It wasn't your fault. None of it. You're just trying to look our for your mares and the world.

Zecora is probably in a lot of pain. Perhaps it'd be best to keep her sedated for now? Maybe you'll even need to restrain her, just like you thought already. Take the opportunity to whisper to her again. You were angry before, but you forgive your cute little herdmare... after all, she's going to submit to you, mind, body and soul. She wants to be your herdslave alongside Trixie and whoever else you desire; moreover, a greater herd brings her greater pleasure, as she and her herdslavesisters kneel before you and happily take whatever abuse you give them. You are the master, she will submit, she wants to submit, submitting to you is her idea, she can't not submit to you. Repeat it! Drill it into her mind! You're not going to let her hurt you both by denying what she really wants!

You turned and looked back to Zecora again... ... she still looked pretty horrible. Messy coat? Check. Mud everywhere, just starting to dry? Check. Caked green powder still on her face? Double-check... ... Caked green powder still on her face... ... What the buck WAS that powder?

... ... ... With a sigh, you pushed yourself up to your hooves again. Not jumping up from exhaustion into an exercise regimen was one thing, letting Zecora die because you poisoned her with her own chemicals was another. Luckily you remembered what her last journal of recipes and remedies looked like. You walked over to her recently reorganized bookshelves and grabbed the worn, brown, well-used compendium off of it's new, color-coordinated spot in the shelves. You moved over to the table where you seemed to do everything, and sat on the side that still bore the mark from your little sword-accident. You then proceeded to use your right foreleg to push Zecora's saddle-baskets out of the way, before leaning down and letting the book drop from your mouth to the table with a dull-

Thud.

You opened up the worn tome, again with your right forehoof, and began to flip through the pages, eyes rapidly scanning the text and pictures for clues.

"Nwho, nwhop, nwho, nwuwhu..." You muttered, not paying enough attention to correct your pronunciation. Eventually you set down on something that looked like what Zecora had had on her neck, green-colored, powder-form, formed into a paste-like substance when wet... and you blinked. Apparently this specific powder was not unlike those soap rocks that just kind of... erupted into more soap at water contact. The ones that Zecora'd helped bathe you with. The powder was actually meant to be used on top of a still body of water, a small hoof-full sprinkled in, and it would then spread across the water in a semi-solid foam before hardening into a paste-like surface. The intent of this very specific concoction was to 'repulse the rock water hunters' or some shit like that. Probably meant something important. But if spread across the surface before they surfaced, it was supposed to REALLY disgust them. They'd go to the bottom of the lake or pond or whatever to get away from it. BUT it wasn't poisonous, and supposedly naturally dissolved in three to four hours, so she was probably good.

As you were about to close the book, content in a job well done, you looked back to Zecora, unconscious near to the cauldron fire you'd set, no longer shivering, but very much not amongst the awake... ... You kind of hurt her, back there with the whole lightning thing... and there might be some residual damage, plus some residual zebra rage... and there might be some residual flank-kicking, yours, if she woke up anytime soon. Come to think of it, maaaaaaaaybe it'd be best if you took a few basic precautions...

And with that in mind, you looked through the book again, and found out something rather interesting. Zecora had a LOT of different sedatives. Some for inhalation, some for drinking, some for ponies, some for griffons, and some for... ... giant water serpents? But all of this was secondary to what you found for HER, namely, zebra sedatives. There weren't as many of these as the others, but there was one lighter sedative that looked pretty basic, yellow, drinkable, came in a jar... Yep, basic as basic could get, and comparatively weak strength. It'd put her out, and given that you didn't get crazy and give her more than a sip or so, she'd likely be fine with no negative side-effects.

Your chosen sedative in mind you nodded, to yourself because buck if there was anypony else here, and proceeded to search for the sedative... which took about five minutes. Buck that Rarity cunt was GREAT at organizing... though you'd kind of negated all the work she'd done cleaning with your muddy hooves. Shaking that thought from your head with a sigh, after all the conflict and thus all the mess relating from the conflict was Zecora's fault, you grabbed the jar, a yellow one with white cloth cap and yellow and red swirled liquid inside, and moved it over to Zecora's little preparation table. You united the rope holding the lid with your mouth, then pulled the lid off, then calmly poured some of the liquid into a small wooden bowl. You refastened the lid, with a little effort, then picked up the bowl in your mouth, before moving over to Zecora...

After a few grunts, a near-slip on some mud, and the painfully careful and slow lowering of your body in front of Zecora's, you moved your right forehoof to pull her mouth open, before leaning forward, and tilting the small batch of sedative into her open mouth. There was something strangely romantic about pouring sedative from a bowl you held in your mouth into your zebra lover's mouth. Almost like sharing a kiss... by a crackling purple cauldron fire with a raging storm outside. And there'd be something even more romantic about it when you tied her up so that she wouldn't panic in her sleep or anything, and then proceeded to snuggle up to her! ... ... You might have had a bucked up version of romance.

The sedative delivered, you searched through Zecora's chests for some rope. That took a little longer. Rarity had organized the chests into nice neat rows, but hadn't done much for the insides. Regardless, you found some old rope soon enough, sturdy and stable, though it hadn't seen much use as of recent. It was a bit of a chore to turn that rope into tied-up zebra... you weren't exactly sure how tight you made the knots, and how tight they were actually supposed to be... and it was kind of short so you could only do her forelegs. Sooooo... rope-tying might be ANOTHER skill that would need some working on...

But after doing all of that you were ready to drop on your hooves... So, to prevent the embarrassment of actually dropping on your hooves, you went ahead and got off of them. You laid down next to Zecora, between her and the cauldron fire, letting it's warm heat pass over you... ... Then you breathed in deeply, before sighing out gently, and turning your gaze to Zecora with a smile.

"Hphey thwere..." You spoke... then blinked, sighed, shook your head a bit, then smiled again.

"Hph- 'Erm' uh, hey there..." You managed, then worked your jaw a bit more, before nodding to yourself, and moving over to snuggle up to Zecora, pressing yourself against her caked-mud covered body, and moving your muzzle to hers... You were tempted to kiss her green paste-powder-covered lips, but thought better of it. Both because of the powder, and because you'd just fed her sedative. So instead, you leaned up and over to her left ear, eyes closed, and began to whisper softly.

"I want you to knowh- ehm, know that I'm nwot mad... I was mad, but I'm n-not anymore. I understand that you're having trouble with your bwa- basic desires. Suffering from social constrictions destroying your proper self-image and gwen- gphenw- eh, ergh, GENERALLY just nwo- NOT thinking rationally. You're denying your twr-- egh, true self. And I am here to help coach you back twho- TO who you really are... Now... You want to be mine Zecora... you want to be mine... I will not let you dwen- deny your real self... And furthermore..."

You continued to speak to Zecora, though you had to stop several times and correct yourself whenever you made a slip-up. You kept on talking, telling Zecora what she wanted, just... keeping up the flow of words, soothing, understanding, and claiming ownership. You wanted her to understand that what she wanted was what you wanted for her and nothing else... It would really help her in the long run. And you kept on speaking, your eyes closing, your mouth moving until you were sure what actually came out was unintelligible, as you drifted closer, and closer to sleep, until, you finally fell into the void...

Author's Notes:

The next chapter is going to be another Question and Answer. If you have any last minute questions for the Brothers, then please put them in the previous Question and Answer, #2, at Chapter 22.

Please, as usual, put character demands and commandments here for when he wakes up.