Bronze Brave, formerly the normal human known as Anthon Robinson, really slept in for a long time after his first actual giant party. He slept in his old room, in his old house, in his original world as he usually did, but being so much taller and having horns made that a challenge. His feet dangled off the end of his queen-size bed, and his horns made most sleeping positions uncomfortable.

He'd already slept an extra 3 hours when. *knock, knock, knock.* “Mr. Brave? You're late reporting in for your commissions. I know you've had a trying time, but the hydras need to be warded off by that repellent.” Mayor's voice stated through his bedroom door. She'd already knocked at his front door with no response.

“Mph...go 'way....” At his mumbled response to the knock on his bedroom door, the door opened up to reveal Mayor wearing a smart gray pantsuit. Her naturally shapely form was conservatively and professionally concealed by her choice in clothing, figuring that it'd change upon coming through with proper intent as Miss Sparkle had theorized.

“Now mister...oh my....” Mayor blushed at looking at the humanized balrog wearing nothing but boxer briefs that clung to his newly toned rear, which was quite plain to see as he'd buried his face into his pillows, his blankets up against the wall. Normally, the reserved mare-turned-woman wasn't one to shamelessly appreciate the opposite sex, but for some reason; the human shape was an oddly sensuous one, what with it being furless and thus exposing all the finer detail. She cleared her throat however, and managed to regain herself. “Mister Brave, I know you've had a hard trial that led to an extremely important moment of self-discovery, as well as all that nasty business, but nopony else in town can complete the task without voiding your pay, and I'm not one to needlessly ignore a potentially valuable employee.”

“Ugh...fine...I'm up.” Bronze pushed himself off the bed and stood on his feet at the foot of said bed in one motion, the woman appreciating his apparent grace and knowledge of his surroundings, as the odd equipment on the corner of his bed remained completely untouched by his movements. “So, what exactly are the details? You said I'd be briefed when...my eyes are up here ma'am.”

Mayor was wide-eyed and had been looking at his crotch for an obvious reason, as the briefs had a very large bulge to the front. “Y-yes, well...um...please put on more than briefs and I'll debrief-I mean-brief you, on the exact task you'll be undertaking. Yes...please put some pants on.” Mayor left the room in a hurried and embarrassed fashion, and Bronze sighed.

“Why did my balrog transformation have to do this to me? I think I miss being fat, at least then women looked me in the eyes.”

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After getting dressed in his usual style of pants, which had oddly changed size to fit when he went to put them on, baffling, Bronze was told what his exact job was, as the flier only outlined the dangerous aspects of it.

Mayor informed him that he would need to take the pellets of dissolving pheromone tablets being held at Fluttershy's, dissolve them in barrels of water, and then spread the tainted water along the edge of the Everfree in the area of Froggy Bottom Bog. It was long, tedious, and heavy work, which was why so few would volunteer to do it even with pay, as there was also always the risk of the creatures in the Everfree deciding to chance on prey in the open.

However, Bronze had to ask why Mayor herself bothered to come and inform him when she could've sent her secretary or something, and Mayor said that they were still keeping his Doorways a secret as they were going to try and ease the populace into knowing of it rather than have a full-blown announcement, let ponies adjust gradually rather than have it thrown in their faces.

“So, that is all. I have heard you'd slain a manticore while under Nightmare Moon's influence, so you can feel free to fetch that first if you wish and put off the hydras until tomorrow, but no later than tomorrow as Miss Fluttershy has reported seeing one of the towering creatures lumbering about in the early morning. It won't likely leave the forest as of yet, but we don't want to risk it any more than we have to.” Mayor finished as she stood from the couch.

“Alright then, I'll get that manticore first. We don't want it rotting and ruining the venom samples, or some carrion eaters taking the bits we need.” Bronze then picked up the hunting knife that was still sitting on the couch next to him, strapping the holster to his belt loops and then doing the same with his kukri, both on the left side, knife on the side and kukri to the forward left.

“Good day to you Mr. Brave. I wish you safety.” Mayor then approached the front Doorway, opened into the library, and left, closing the door behind her like a polite pony. Best door manners he'd seen in a while.

Bronze went upstairs and left through the door to Shy's place, his pets all happily running out it at the chance to visit the wonderful mare and play with her other animal friends. He laughed as his dogs all promptly charged a much larger dog, who Shy had assured him was a complete softy with smaller animals, while his cats all ran to the creek for clean water, and to play with the fish swimming through it.

“Oh, hello Anthon.” Shy was outside, feeding the birds and refilling the numerous birdhouses' seed troughs.

“Shy it's Bronze Brave now. I've read enough of that book to know that minotaurs, and I guess balrogs, forsake their birth names after discovering their defining trait. Only my lover or parents are supposed to call me by my birth name now, and in private unless they're scolding or codling me.” Bronze didn't really know it, but Equestria was changing him in more than body. His mind was becoming more and more tauren than human.

“Oh, sorry.” Shy blushed at the connotations. “Well, anyhow, I heard you were the one who took the job for spreading the hydra repellent, are you here for that?”

“Not yet Shy. Remember the manticore I...brutally....” Bronze reminded, and Shy sniffled before she nodded.

“I know. It had to be done anyway to get the venom. At lease the way you killed it was quick. Know this Bronze; I don't condone killing any living creature unless it is to help another or in self-defense. I better not hear about you killing anything for sport.” Shy's eyes narrowed, and Bronze felt his very spirit waver, but it also sparked an instinctive surge of adrenaline in him, and he smirked.

“Hey, so long as they don't hurt me or someone doesn't need something from their corpse, I won't ever hunt something just to hunt it. Life is precious, it should never be wasted.” 'Actually...the task was only for the venom...what could I do with the rest of the corpse? It'd be disrespectful not to use as much of it as possible.' Bronze waved goodbye to the pegasus and entered the Everfree beyond her home.

It wasn't a very long trek to be honest, between her cottage and the cliff he was told he'd collapsed, and thus from there, not far to find the manticore corpse. Thing reeked already, the head having been pulverized was already starting to rot as the forest moved to already begin processing it, some vines having creeped from the nearest tree and clearly having pulled the thing a few feet overnight. That's a lot of alreadys.

'Creepy...but then again, this place sustains itself.' It was easy for Bronze to use his enlarged kukri to lop off the vines very slowly dragging the body towards the tree, the things being as tight as ship rigging from the slow, sure force they were exerting made them whip from the release of force. He could've sworn he heard deep groans of discontent from the tree itself, and Bronze hurried to free his prey and hoist it on his shoulders, dragging it out of the forest as quickly as possible.

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Doctor Hoarse gawked at the giant dead body laying in the grass out of the side entrance to Ponyville General. “You dragged the whole thing through town?! You only needed the tail!” The caramel yellow unicorn stallion with tamed short caramel brown hair wearing a doctor's white lab coat shouted in surprise as he pushed his half-lens glasses back up his snout. “Why'd you work so much harder than necessary?”

“Well...actually I was wondering if there was anything like a hunting society around to help me harvest the useful bits from the beast. It'd be disrespectful to just leave the rest to rot.” Bronze stated, getting a sigh out of the stallion.

“Well Mr. Brave, I'm afraid not. Ponies rarely ever participate in hunting, we only do it on occasion to secure our safety, and even then it's usually left to the Guard. I don't know what they do with them, but there isn't really anypony I can think of who might know aside from the Apples or Miss Fluttershy, and I know for fact that Miss Shy isn't about to help you eviscerate an animal for it's “useful” bits.” Doctor Hoarse then cleared his throat. “I can, however, surgically remove the venom sacs from the cadaver for harvesting and synthesizing antidote. If you would sir, I'd like some privacy. I'm told my autopsy spells are rather...unnerving to the average person.”

“Bleh, I'm not average, but yeah, I'll just go over here.” Bronze walked to the front of the hospital, and leaned against the wall. Even from here, he could hear the disturbing squelching noises and cracking of chitin. He hoped harvesting the rest for useful bits wouldn't be too much of a problem.

“I'm finished!” Doctor Hoarse called out, getting Bronze to turn around the corner and approach, finding the tip of the manticore's stinger had been removed, and the blood dripping from it told him that was where the green membranous sac the doctor now levitated came from. “Removing a sac or gland without damaging it is a very careful process. Thank you for your help Bronze. I'll inform the Mayor that your task is finished.”

“You're welcome doctor. Make good use of that venom.” Bronze moved to hoist up the corpse again, and the doctor laughed darkly.

“You should be hoping I never have to.”

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“Beg yer pardon?” AJ asked with her eyebrows raised, pointedly trying not to look at the caved-in head or surgically opened tail tip of the corpse off to the side, well away from any of her precious trees.

“Ugh...okay, I get you ponies are vegetarian and pro-pacifist, but can you seriously mean to tell me not even the local farmers know how to make use of animal corpses?” Bronze was getting tired of this. Seriously, he'd never hunted before, he doesn't know a thing about not letting the creature go to waste. Sure, he practices butchery, but the meat is already mostly separated from most of the grisly mess of a fresh corpse in modern practices in his world, and he doesn't want to know how slaughterhouses work.

“Who gave ya that idea? We just...bleh, thinkin' 'bout it makes me sick...in the rare case a wild critter from the Everfree attacks the farm, we just chase it off or put it down. Then, in that rare second case, we bury it on unplanted land to fertilize the soil some.” AJ informed a suddenly saddened Bronze, who then growled to himself.

“Of course...sorry to bug ya AJ. I'll just have to see what I can do. Good thing my yard back home is practically invisible to my neighbors with them not having windows facing it, and the walls and whatnot.” Bronze went to heft up the body, but AJ stopped him with an understanding expression.

“Sugarcube, Ah know what yer goin' through. Ya just want to pay respects to the critter don't ya?” AJ asked, and Bronze sighed as he nodded. “We could bury him on the farm for ya if ya want. Ah don't mind, and Granny would have a spot for him.”

“That's nice of you to offer AJ, but it has to be ME that pays respect. I can't just bury him and leave him forgotten. It's not right.” Bronze looked at the mutilated body, feeling the remorse flood back into him. “He's the first living, thinking creature I've ever snuffed out...it would be wrong to just hide the memory. I need to make something of his remains, so that I always have that reminder that he was the first, and while I regret it, I did it out of both necessity, and while I was not myself. Consider it an...odd form of apology.”

AJ smiled softly, and to Bronze's surprise, nuzzled his hip comfortingly. “Hey, now. Don't be hard on yerself. You're a good person Bronze. Never doubt that. The fact yer goin' to such lengths to do this is proof of that. Ya could've just left him to rot in the Everfree after getting his tail, but ya didn't. Ah don't know anypony else who would do what you're tryin' to do.”

Bronze smiled down at the orange mare, and knelt down to gently embrace her, getting a surprised blush out of the mare who quickly smiled and hugged him back as best she could. “Thanks AJ. You're a real friend.”

“Ain't that the truth?” AJ asked smartly with a grin before they broke the embrace. “Now you go on and do what ya gotta do. Ah've got work to get back to.” Bronze nodded and hefted the body back onto his shoulders before heading towards the library, AJ watching him leave with a smile on her face. “Now that, is a real bull.”

“Darn tootin'!” AJ jumped at the sound of her granny, who was sitting on the porch of the house nearby. “That one there's a catch! Yer doin' good sweetie.”

AJ blushed scarlet and stammered. “I-it ain't like that! He's mah friend!”

“Oh Applejack, the best lovers start out as friends. You'll see.” Granny said knowingly, AJ grumbling in embarrassment as she trotted off into the orchard for more work. “Hmph, still a filly, so naïve.”

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Getting the manticore through the library was...interesting.

Apparently, Twilight and Spike had moved into the library permanently per Celestia's permission. Twilight said it was so she could stay here, with her friends, which included him. Made him feel special. But then she said she would not condone dragging a corpse through the place, especially since it was way too big anyhow to even fit through the front door, which Bronze realized far too late with sheepish embarrassment.

Hearing his reasoning however, Twilight ranted for a moment about “hunter-gatherer societies and their impulsiveness and twisted senses of honor”, before relenting and using her magic to shrink the thing down to the size of a cat, warning him the spell would only last a day or so, sooner depending on varying unknowns such as the effects of his Doorways or his dimension in general.

On the other side of the Doorway, things were even stranger if simpler, as the cat-sized corpse seemed to turn into a deformed plush doll for some reason. No mess, and he supposed he could keep it as long as needed now, but why? Why a plush doll? His house confounded him, it was getting stranger by the day.

First the Doorways, then the transformations to living things and items that pass through, the magically reattaching doors which he finally noticed, the pants that actively grew to size for him that morning, and now this. In what sense, does a damn corpse turn into a plush doll? Fuck it. Chuck it. Doll meet couch, enough of this bullshit, Bronze needs some calming tea.

In his frustration, Bronze hadn't noticed something as he turned left instead of right, and entered his kitchen...to find it clean. No, that wasn't the right word, more like...immaculate, unblemished, spotless it was so clean. It was NEVER this clean! The horrid aftermath of Pinkie's short reign of terror was completely replaced by not only the mess being gone, but the cabinets seemed to have a fresh glossy stain on them, the floor had the new tan/brown tiles perfectly added, and the clutter was all excessively neat and orderly.

Not willing to process the new extreme improbability, Bronze turned around to head to his room and froze. Intruder.

In the hall to his room stood a dark-skinned woman with white stripe-like tattoos throughout her body, her extremely luscious, curvy, and toned body was only preserved in modesty by a simple burlap robe meant for protection from the elements that covered her fully, yet did nothing to hide her shape. Her hood was up, and her deep blue, near green eyes looked at him calculatingly with experience and wariness. “Who are you, which door did you come in through, would you like something to eat or drink?” Bronze asked with exasperation, causing the sharp-featured woman to raise a white left eyebrow that contrasted with her right black eyebrow.

“From your statement I can deduce, that it would be easy to call a truce.” She visibly calmed down, her apparently tensed form softening into a more relaxed stance. Bronze loved the sound of her voice, it was deep, silky, and had an air of wisdom and mystery.

“Yeah, having dimensional doorways leading everywhere sort of makes my home easy to be invaded. I've gotten used to the concept sadly.” Bronze replied with a shrug, and gestured to his couches have a seat, I'll get us some tea.” He returned to the depressingly unfamiliar kitchen, and quickly got some ice in two plastic tumblers, and used his three-gallon tea dispenser to fill the two large cups. He ignored that the fluid level in the dispenser didn't lower at all, and tried to put his changing house out of his mind as he entered the living room to see the woman had made herself comfortable on the seat nearest the exit, and handed her a cup. “Sorry if it isn't to your taste.”

She sniffed it, and took a sip, smiling. “Mm...it tastes like my personal recipe, how did you know about me?” She asked, clearly referencing him knowing her tastes, and he blinked before sipping it, and his eyes widened. It tasted nothing like his mix of green teas, it tasted like the best sweet tea he thought he would never have again, because the place he first got it was from a family restaurant in Florida, across the country, where said restaurant went under from the economy.

“Um...I didn't. My tea dispenser is apparently magic now. Like everything else.” Bronze groused as he rolled his eyes. “My rapidly changing life aside...I am Bronze Brave, formerly Anthon Robinson. This is my home, in a parallel dimension to the realm Equestria inhabits, and you have had the pleasure of walking through one of my Doorways. Welcome.”

“How odd a turn, I had just tried to enter my home for incense to burn.” The woman stated, finally getting Bronze to realize she spoke in rhyming couplets.

“Why the rhyming? I have nothing against rhyming, but why rhyme all the time?” Bronze asked, getting a grin out of her, and he sighed. “Yes, I rhymed, nothing special about it unless you're a master.”

“It is just a jest, usually to entertain a guest. But now the tables are turned, and my efforts should be spurned. However, I want to drag it on, my pastime not bygone.” She responded, getting Bronze to groan. “If it displeases you, I shall stop. I am simply used to my image of the mysterious mare in the woods.”

“Thank you. Now then, what is your name? It is not often I speak with such a beautiful woman without knowing her name first.” Bronze blinked, wondering where that came from. “Sorry for the flirt, I didn't catch myself.”

“It is no problem. I am often considered quite exotic by the males that have the courage to speak with me. My mother always told me I would be a heart breaker.” The woman giggled, her sensuous voice surprisingly turning such a cute laugh sexy. “I am Zecora, normally a zebra. I was entering my home in Everfree from the rear, only to find myself here.” Zecora then gestured with her free hand to the former pet pantry. “I came through that Doorway there, to say I was surprised would be fair.”

“The forest door? So it leads to Everfree, good to know. So where were you to only notice the anomaly now?” Bronze asked as he drained his cup, he'd barely noticed drinking it since it was so familiar.

“I was hunting a beast most foul, my only protection from petrification my cowl. For my latest brew I needed cockatrice eyes, and freedom is bought for stone when said beast dies.” Zecora informed him as she continued to sip, having caught Bronze's attention.

“You know how to hunt, and harvest from slain creatures?” Bronze asked seriously, getting a bewildered nod from her, and he knelt before her, holding her free hand to her surprise. “Please help me!”

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'Ew...ew...EWWWWWWWWWW~!'

“You are doing quite well with your steady hand, why you needed my help I do not understand.” Zecora, now a zebra, stated from next to him as she guided his hands with her hooves, him already having ideas of what she was guiding him for as his blood-soaked fingers worked a small knife on the arteries of the beast's heart.

“I, mmph...have no prior experience with...ugh...this....” Bronze was fighting his gag reflex as Zecora guided him through harvesting the now normal manticore corpse. It was good he tossed the doll through the Everfree Doorway as the beast cadaver returned to normal the instant it left the Doorway's border. She agreed to help him if she could have the beast's fangs and one of the paw bones. Something about a ward charm, he didn't really get it.

“You surprise me then, I'd have thought you from Hunter's Glen.” Zecora joked, getting a grunt out of Bronze as he finished surgically severing the heart, and carefully removed it from the measured and opened ribcage. “A beast's heart has meany uses, aside from stews for carnivores and omnivores, it is also a potent reagent for more taboo curses.”

“Want it? I don't feel like having heart stew or a curse put on somepony.” At the offer, Zecora eagerly opened her game bag, which held pretty much all the other organs he'd harvested with her guidance. Gross, but it was educational. “Alright, that's the heart, lungs, liver, and gallbladder. Anything else useful?”

“Aside from food or as fertilizer? No, the rest of the beast's innards are best returned to nature. Now comes the most valuable part; the skin. I shall teach you how to carefully and quickly strip the flesh from a body, then tan it for use.” Then came the even more grisly task of continuing to slice a line straight up and down the beast's torso, splitting it up the front. Then Zecora showed him how to carefully peel the dead flesh from the meat, and by the time it was done, he had a massive lion pelt sans tail and face.

She then helped him clean the insides of the pelt, and asked if he wanted the pelt's fur intact, or if he wanted to just outright make leather. Deciding to keep it decorative, he wanted the outside preserved if possible. She then showed him how to harvest tannin from oak trees, and then use said tannin on the inside of the pelt to “tan” it, killing and removing the deteriorating stuff and preserving the hide as a whole. She then showed him how to stretch it out on a rack easily made of wood branches and vines to dry. “Well...that looks like a...really, really big coat.”

He was right too. Since Zecora helped him keep the limbs intact, he could actually use it as a one-piece, but that'd look ridiculous. He was already planning to do some cutting, make pants from the hind legs, leave the rest intact but he'd need to do some sewing for buttons, and the majority of the head that was intact along with the mane worked out with his horns for a hood, the forelegs of it could be sleeves, but he'd have to bunch them to measure. “Indeed. A fine trophy of your first kill. Now this beast may never be forgotten.”

“Thank you so much Zecora. Is there anything else I can do to thank you?” Bronze asked, only to get an amicable laugh of her sultry voice.

“I believe you have given me enough. With those organs and the bones, I shall ensure no beast will roam too close. Also I will have good bloodmeal and bonemeal for my herb garden for a while now. Helping you with your prize was more benefit to me than you think.” Zecora was all too happy at this happenstance, her only grievance was that her back door was now a closet from the inside, and a door to his house from outside. “It was a pleasure, shall I see you again at leisure?”

“Yes. Not only are we neighbors now, you helped me with something important to me with little prompting after we'd only just met. I would gladly call you friend Zecora.” Bronze held out his hand for a shake, and she politely did so. “I'll return for my pelt come morning. Goodnight my fair witchdoctor.” He winked at her, getting her to grin at him acknowledging her profession before he turned, and casually entered the white-washed door clashing with the back of her weeping-willow hut.

“That is a real bull, one who's life is meant to be whole.” Zecora stated, humming as she trotted towards her front door to put away the organs she'd obtained from her new friend and get other tools to finish hacking apart the skeleton and gristle, idly thinking of the stallions back home, and sighing wistfully. “If only the males back home were so polite and charming.”

Author's Notes:

There we go, I wanted to have Bronze and Zecora meet before canon events, to both complicate and simplify matters, planned that from the get-go.