Author's Notes: So I've decided to make the chapters shorter so that I'll have an easier time forcing myself to edit (yes this is a piece edited, go to my other stories if you want to face the horror of a quick edit by me). The next few chapters will be split into parts, so they might feel a bit weird not being together, but I tried to divide them up in away that made sense. That said, I have not abandoned this piece, yet, your review really helped!
Chapter Five
Part One: The Ponies of Everfree Forest
The three fillies spent the rest of the day desperately trying to find their way out of the Everfree Forest the rest of the day without resting or eating. Scootaloo hadn't thought to steal some food from her friends when she had run away, and Sweetie Belle had been woken in such a rush that she had forgotten her saddlebags. Now they had no food and no way of finding out what new plants they knew they could eat. Because of that, they ended up setting up camp and going to bed starving. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom fought over if they should let Scootaloo take a shift that night or not Scootaloo tried not to be hurt, it made sense her friends would be wary of letting her take a shift when last time she had run away. In the end they decided it would be too much for just two fillies to take such long shifts. Plus, the day had been littered with random animals suddenly showing up and almost catching or finding them, and all three fillies were mentally and physically exhausted from spending the day on high alert. They'd even run into a dragon while trying to hide from a herd of imps. It was a miracle that they had lasted so long and no night creatures had snuck up on them and chased them away.
There was only one problem. Scootaloo fell asleep before her shift was over, and Apple Bloom never woke up in time for hers. When the three friends finally did wake up, the sun was high in the sky and the ground was covered in red. Apple Bloom blinked her eyes open in sleepy confusion and then slowly started to look around, trying to get a look at what was all around and covering her and making the world look on fire. Something stirred on her back and then took wing toward the sky. Apple Bloom watched it in wonderment.
"A field of butterflies," said Apple Bloom in a whisper as if afraid her voice would break the magic of the moment.
"Shh," a voice of somepony practically shouted. Apple Bloom's wide eyes glanced over to see a pale pink unicorn with bright blue eyes and the picture of three leaves on his flank. Her friends started to wake up and look around them too. "All of you keep still."
Scootaloo glared at the colt. He was shifting from hoof to hoof, his eyes glancing from the fillies to the small meadow of red butterflies.
"Is there a village nearby?" asked Sweetie Belle standing up and sending up a flurry of red butterflies into the air. The insects shimmered for a moment, their wings now streaked yellow with touches of blue. They were beautiful, even the air around them seemed to simmer.
"Don't move," shouted the colt. He sounded breathless and scared. Sweetie Belle blushed and started pawing at the ground. Scootaloo glared harder at the colt, though she didn't try and stand.
"Hey, don't be mean to her. What's your problem anyway?" the orange filly demanded.
"You fillies are definitely not from around here," huffed the unicorn, giving them all an odd look. "Listen, those are fire butterflies. Or at least, that's what the mares call them. They're beautiful but deadly."
There was a reverent look as he glanced briefly at the fire butterflies. Scootaloo watched him, and Apple Bloom smiled.
"I bet you're mare brings them to you as gifts," she said. The colt blushed and pawed at the ground, as he ducked his head.
"She says my paintings are the best in the village," he muttered. "Says they have a magic of their own even before I put on the finishing touches."
"Can we see them when we're out of here?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yeah, but let me get the mares first. Don't move. I don't want you to get burned," he said and then cantered off into the trees.
"We're saved," said Sweetie Belle bending at the knees like she was about to jump for joy.
"No!" shouted the other two fillies before Sweetie Belle could start moving. Sweetie Belle froze and Scootaloo huffed in annoyance and relief.
"But this means that either we're close or at least found a group that can lead us back to civilization," Sweetie Belle said, her ears dipping. "What's so dangerous about butterflies anyway?"
"He called them fire butterflies," Scootaloo said with a huff and a roll of her eyes. "That probably means if we scare them, they light whatever they're touching on fire."
Sweetie Belle blushed and then glared at Apple Bloom.
"Why didn't you tell us we were being surrounded by these things?" the white filly demanded. Apple Bloom blushed and then glared at Scootaloo.
"Don't blame me. I never was woken up for my shift. Someone else fell asleep on her shift," snapped Apple Bloom glaring as if she trying to make Scootaloo spontaneously combust.
"Well, I hardly got any sleep the night before and staying up in shifts is stupid anyway," said Scootaloo, quickly averting her eyes so she was talking angrily at the ground.
"Oh yeah. Getting covered in fire butterflies, that wasn't something we'd have wanted to avoid," said Apple Bloom sarcastically.
"I bet you would have let one land on you even if you'd been awake," muttered Scootaloo.
"Yeah, but obviously upsetting one isn't the same thing as upsetting a field of them," yelled Apple Bloom. "We would have been burned to a crisp if that nice colt hadn't shown up and warned us."
"Girls, come on, let's not fight," said Sweetie Belle, looking down at the shimmering butterflies nervously. Was it just her or was it starting to feel a little hot?
"No, first she tries to leave us, now she's not being responsible. What's next Scootaloo, are you going to lead us into a pack of nukelavee?" Apple Bloom shouted, looking seconds away from stomping her hooves. Scootaloo tensed, almost forgetting about the butterflies she wanted to retaliate physically so badly.
"I already said I'm sorry," Scootaloo shouted, little tears gathering at the side of her eyes. "But you're the ones who are useless."
"What do you mean useless?" demanded Sweetie Belle, not even realizing the comment wasn't aimed at her since Scootaloo was looking at the ground, and she'd been half distracted from the fight by the butterflies.
"Apple Bloom can't find anything but trouble, and you forgot your pack that had the book and food in it. We're now down to only one blanket and two canteens," snapped Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle blushed and shifted nervously from hoof to hoof, her eyes constantly snapping down to look at the butterflies whose wings slowly drifted down and then up while others held completely still.
"That's not fair," muttered Sweetie Belle.
"We were scared by something that led us to you. If we hadn't come along, you would have been crushed. If it's anyone's fault we left the saddlebags behind, it's yours," Apple Bloom snapped back.
"Fillies!" a female mare shouted, the three friends quickly shut up and looked over in the direction of the voice. Six mares stood at the edge of the field of butterflies. A big mare with a turquoise coat, black mane, and a net cutie mark stood at the front of the group with her, chest puffed out proudly as she surveyed the fillies caught under the fire butterflies. "Do not argue, that's almost as bad as moving. In fact, don't talk at all."
The three friends blushed and now all three stared at the ground, as if they found the fire butterflies that covered it fascinating. The turquoise mare scanned the clearing carefully and then nodded her head.
"Alright fan out, usual positions should be fine. But be careful, we're lucky all that fighting didn't seem to overly agitate the fire butterflies, but one wrong move might mean life or death for these fillies," said the big mare, obviously the leader. All the other mares fanned out, making a wide circle around the clearing just outside the tree line. Apple Bloom was able to see then that the colt had also come with the group. He smiled nervously at her and bowed his head to say hello. Apple Bloom just smiled at him.
The mares then started to chant. Apple Bloom looked around her, interested in what sort of mares went willingly into the Everfree Forest. It wasn't long until she realized they were all unicorns, made obvious since their horns were glowing. Slowly, different color magics leaked forward, cautiously weaving in and out in lines under the butterflies. The holes in the magic shrunk until they were too small for a butterfly to fall through. Sweetie Belle wondered how long the group had practiced this spell so they worked seemingly together. As the lines of magic from the different unicorns met, the magics crossed one another, mixing up to finally create one big, colorful net.
The chanting of the unicorns then grew a little louder, and Apple Bloom could see that a couple of the mares were sweating and their faces were screwed up into intense concentration. The net slowly started to rise. A couple of butterflies started flapping their wings faster and a dozen or so actually took off. Apple Bloom felt her breath catch in her throat for a second, sure she could feel the angry heat coming off from butterflies on her back, but the insects didn't catch fire and soon the butterflies were a good four feet from the ground. The air shimmered and waved around them, but the butterflies were far enough away that they couldn't burn the three friends anymore.
"Girls. Girls," whispered the colt furiously. All three of them looked at him. He made a weird head movement and all three cocked their head to the side. He huffed, "Come over here."
After only a moment, all three of them cantered with all their might over to the colt. As soon as they reached him, he started to check them over, butting them with his head and muttering under his breath. The three blushed and tried to avoid getting stabbed by his horn. The turquoise mare glanced over at them, but then shook her head and continued her spell. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked up and watched as the unicorns continued to lift the net a little higher and then, as a group, they slowly allowed the spell to dissolve into nothing. Sweetie Belle was sure she saw one or two butterflies catch fire before flying off. Though it was interesting to see that a couple of butterflies just floated back down to land on the field.
"Well, I think that was our best group spell yet," said the turquoise mare happily. She had a very deep, pleasing voice, and she smiled widely at the mare unicorn next to her. "That was a perfect spell, Flutter. We'll make a field researcher out of you yet." The light pink unicorn with a cutie mark of three butterfly wings on her flank crossed her legs bashfully at the comment. The mare looked young compared to the rest. The rest smiled at her. as they walked over to the turquoise mare Three of the other mares had a variation of butterfly cutie marks on their flanks, but one mare had what looked like three pins on her flank. She met Apple Bloom's eyes and smiled sweetly before her smile faded and her eyes went wide.
"Oh my," said the unicorn with the pins cutie mark, taking a step back before shaking her head and trotting to stand by the fillies, putting herself between them and the colt. "You two aren't unicorns."
All six mares perked up this and came closer to inspect the three fillies. The turquoise raised an eyebrow and made some sort of noise that had the others backing a respectable distance away from the friends. The rest of the group kept on staring at them.
"My, what interesting friends you've made Shade. I do believe these ponies represent all three pony races. All we're missing is an alicorn, and, well, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the only ones of those that I know of," rambled Flutter nervously.
"You three must be from Philidelphia," said the turquoise mare with a smile. "I've heard they've made it so all three races can live together comfortably there. Why are you so far away from home?"
"Um," Apple Bloom tried to think fast and then let her ears drop in anxiety. Her friends quickly copied her posture and demeanor.
Sweetie Belle, the best on the spot liar, was even able to make a couple of tears enter her eyes. "We got lost from our teacher. We were supposed to be learning more about cutie marks."
Apple Bloom smiled shyly at the turquoise mare. The mare lifted an eyebrow, but the other mares seemed excited by her lie. They were talking together in quick whispers, their voice too soft for the fillies to hear what they were saying.
"Do you know when you lost your teacher?" asked the lead mare.
"Ah, we had settled down for the night just inside the forest. We woke up to sounds, and she went into the fog to find it. When she didn't come back..." Sweetie Belle's voice trembled and a couple of tears actually fell down onto the ground. Apple Bloom made an effort to look equally as pathetic, and Scootaloo stared sullenly downward.
"Oh, you poor dear," said the mare with pins for a cutie mark coming over to comfort Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom tried not to roll her eyes. Was Sweetie Belle really that much better at acting?
"Pinup, why don't you take this young unicorn to see Shade's paintings?" said the turquoise mare with a smile. Pinup seemed shocked and then smiled and started to lead Sweetie Belle toward Shade. Sweetie Belle looked over her shoulder nervously at her friends. Apple Bloom just smiled and made a shooing motion with her hoof. These ponies seemed okay. They were a bit weird since they lived in the Everfree Forest, but that just meant they were tough. Weird, but tough. Like Zecora.
"Alright. You mindif we take you straight to see Marks. She's been studying cutie marks all her life, thinks she's on the verge of a breakthrough. She was probably the one your teacher was taking you to see and the best one equipped to deal with any needs you might have," said the turquoise mare.
"What about our teacher?" asked Scootaloo. Apple Bloom looked at her but immediately tried to even out her expression to something that might be fear or concern. Scootaloo seemed to realize that she just asked about an imaginary teacher and blushed, pawing at the ground irritably. The turquoise mare smiled.
"Ah yes, you're a Pegasus. I never met one of you who sit still very long," said the unicorn with a laugh. "I was planning on asking Iris if we could form a search party for her. If you like, you can join us. We could do with someone who can give us a good aerial view of the forest."
Scootaloo blushed and muttered, "I'm not a good flier."
"Really. Do you have weak wings, or you have you not been practicing enough?" asked the turquoise unicorn. Scootaloo blushed even harder and then tried to fly, her wings buzzing loudly and her body only lifting about a foot into the air. There was a huff of laughter from the group, but the turquoise mare frowned and shot them a disapproving look. "That's not good. You should go see Wings. Maybe she'll be able to help."
"You really think so?" asked Scootaloo excitedly. The unicorn smiled.
"I think there's a really good reason that you were sent here," said the unicorn evasively. "Well, come on fillies; let's get you to your caretakers for the day. I'm sure your teacher won't mind you taking the day off since she disappeared."
The two friends shared a look. This was odd, though not in a bad way. These ponies almost seemed too friendly and buy into their lie too easily, but that was probably just guilt on their part making them paranoid. Plus, the turquoise mare said they were going meet someone who specialized in cutie marks. Maybe she would be able to give Apple Bloom some insight into the right way of finding their cutie marks and help them understand why they didn't have theirs yet. Plus, they couldn't be bad; they had offered to help Scootaloo with her weak wings. Maybe they'd know a spell that allowed Scoot to rebuild strength in her wings, or whatever Scootaloo was missing in order to fly.
Still, there was something very odd about these unicorns. As they came into the village, Apple Bloom realized what it was. It wasn't just that the group that had saved them were all unicorns, the entire village was comprised of only unicorns. Apple Bloom had grown up in a village that was considered one of the least integrated villages outside of Cloudsdale. Most of the ponies were earth ponies. They still called using magic or wings 'cheating' in competitions, where anywhere else in Equestria saying something like that would seem racist. Yet, here, no pony was flying and everypony had a horn. If they were a village of unicorn ponies it would explain why they seemed shocked to see Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.
As they continued through the village, Apple Bloom realized that it was a little creepy. Apple Bloom knew there were some places that were still very segregated or was only settled by one race of ponies, but she had thought Ponyville was one of the worst offenders, or Appaloosa since it had only been settled recently. This village was also set up differently then Ponyville. Everything that could be made out of stone was and everything appeared shiny and clean. Local precious gems were scattered here and there as decoration, and instead of an emphasis of stores that sold essentials like food and tools, the venders and most signs advertised selling magic channeling precious stones, accessories, books, and journals. These were all things her sister would call useless. Things only namby pamby ponies needed because they didn't know how to really work. Not that Apple Bloom would tell her rescuers that.
"Here we are," said the turquoise unicorn, startling Apple Bloom out of her thoughts. "Don't worry, Mark loves talking about cutie marks, especially if it's about anything remotely connected to her current area of study. Just ask her any questions about cutie marks, and she'll talk your ear mark. Go on in dear."
Apple Bloom smiled and walked into the house, she glanced behind her briefly to see Scootaloo also looking back as the pegasus was led away. Apple Bloom took a deep breath in. So, all of these ponies were unicorns. That was okay, a little backwards, but some places just made it harder to integrate other types of ponies. Apple Bloom didn't blame the peagasus for having a place in the sky that no other kind of pony could go to. It was in the pegasus' nature to live in the clouds, and it wasn't their fault no other ponies could walk on the clouds. These unicorns lived in Everfree Forest. All their defenses were probably magical and where earth ponies' might disturb their studies with their control over growth and local cultivation.
"Come in." Apple Bloom cautiously opened a door from the hallway into what looked like a study. At one end of the room a yellow unicorn with a purple mane was furiously looking at papers strewn across her table with a quill furiously writing out her notes on the paper floating near her head. The unicorn had a cutie mark with two black rimmed hearts and a quill lying across them as if finishing off the black outline. "If you're here about the donation, it's in the desk. I'm much too busy to bring it over. It's the usual amount."
Apple Bloom coughed. "Um."
The unicorn looked up from the book she was reading, a quill falling to the floor from the other side of the room. Mark's eyes narrowed and she stood and quickly trotted over to Apple Bloom and then circled her.
"Well, an earth pony, this is new. Young, but around the age you should be finding a master. A little hard without a cutie mark. Hmmm," Mark muttered under her breath. A paper and quill appeared behind her and started to write furiously. "Interesting. A good few months late. Girl do you have any friends or family members with three repeating images as a cutie mark?"
"Ah, yes, my sister, and most of her friends. I think Twilight and Rainbow Dash have only one image," said Apple Bloom nervously.
"Would you say that that most people you know have three or one repeating images?" asked Mark. The unicorn had stopped circling Apple Bloom and trotted back to her table. Apple Bloom followed her slowly, looking down at all the papers that were strewn across the floor. Pictures and stretches of cutie marks all roughly done and the papers wrinkled. Each sketch had next to it tiny writing that covered the rest of the page. Twilight would have had a fit if she saw this. Apple Bloom could just see her freaking out over all her hard work treated so do respectfully, getting cluttered and stepped on. Obviously this unicorn wasn't so manic about organization.
"In my family, one. In general, three," said Apple Bloom, looking around the room. The pony nodded and started jotting something down.
"Do you know any ponies with two, or four, or even greater numbers of repeating symbols in their cutie marks?" she asked. Apple Bloom shook her head, trying to remember the cutie marks she's seen or sketched. The unicorn started to write that down furiously. "Do you know anyone with what you think might be a unique cutie mark, one that breaks the mold, so to speak?"
"No, well, sorta," Apple Bloom said, biting her lip.
"Here, you draw it, and I'll analyze it," said Mark. Apple Bloom trotted over and took the quill carefully in her mouth, hoping she wouldn't snap it in half. She quickly sketched Twilight's cutie mark. She paused, while she didn't hang out much around the odd unicorn, Twilight did have a distinct cutie mark, and Apple Bloom was pretty sure she knew how it looked. Apple Bloom had even attempted to draw it a couple of times before. She did that with a few ponies' cutie marks through the years, usually for ones that confused her. A couple of times she drew them because she was trying to figure out how two ponies could have cutie marks that looked almost identical but had almost completely different meanings.
"Well, that is an interesting cutie mark. One of a kind. If I didn't know better..." Mark trailed off, and Apple Bloom stepped out of her way as the unicorn took a closer look at the drawing. Apple Bloom then started a second picture. Twilight had the most interesting cutie mark of the ponies Apple Bloom knew, but the earth pony did know a couple of ponies with a cutie mark that only had an image repeat twice now that she had time to remember. "I would say this belonged to a wielder of the Harmonies."
"How did you figure that out?" asked Apple Bloom, pen scraping against the paper and then falling to the floor with a loud click.
"Really?"
"Um, yeah, I mean she only wields one of them," said Apple Bloom with a small shrug.
"Magic. Friendship I should say. She must be a powerful unicorn.
"And how I knew, well, I'm an old hand at translating cutie marks. It's my special talent," said Mark.
"There's an old cutie mark theorist with a similar name to you. I think her name was Mark Almanac," said Apple Bloom. She had begged her sister to buy the old scholar's books. It had taken some time. Applejack had nothing against books, but she didn't see them as important. In fact, Applejack saw them more as a hindrance, especially when it kept her sister from doing her chores. According to Applejack, there were just too many things that needed to get done and reading was just a waste of precious time. They were fine for the winter, but a pony shouldn't waste time on them when the apples and the business had to take priority.
"That is my name," said Mark, looking over at Apple Bloom and smiling. "And really, I'm not that old."
Apple Bloom blushed. "Sorry. The book we got was secondhand and looked really old. But I'm a huge fan, even if I don't always understand what you're saying."
"You'll get a hang of it the more books you read," said mark, sounding impressed. "Have you always been interested in cutie marks? I can't think of any other reason you would read my book," said Mark. Apple Bloom smiled and nodded.
"I've always liked knowing what cutie marks mean, even before I became obsessed with figuring out what my special talent is," said Apple Bloom, practically prancing. She couldn't believe she was meeting her favorite author.
"Well, well, to think the next great cutie mark scholar might be an earth pony," said Mark with a chuckle. "Not to be rude or anything. It's just that earth ponies usually aren't very scholarly."
Apple Bloom just shrugged. Mark bit her lip and then smiled and looked back at the picture of the cutie mark, that Apple Bloom had done glancing over again at Apple Bloom before nodding for the earth pony to come over and look at the picture with her. Apple Bloom trotted to stand next to Mark.
"Now look, there are twelve points to the star, which is then split into two categories of six different kinds of points. The bold pink and the shadowed white. As symbols, stars often represent…" she trailed off and looked at Apple Bloom expectantly.
"Magic, and the six points are the six elements of harmony," said Apple Bloom. Mark smiled at her.
"Right, but it's more than that. Look at the five stars that circle the around major star. Two representations. Both show that she is the sixth wielder, partly shown by the absence of a sixth small star. Really, I could write my next book just analyzing the intricacy of this cutie mark and perhaps working with Dio on the nuances and light it sheds on the complexities of the Harmonies. Actually, this cutie mark doesn't just reveal that owner is a wielder of the sixth element. Can you guess what it also represents?" asked Mark. Apple Bloom stared at the cutie mark, opened her mouth a few times and then guessed.
"Well, Twilight always said her special talent was magic."
"Exactly, do you remember what we call a cutie mark with two meanings?" asked Mark, prancing from foot to foot excitedly.
"A dual cutie mark," said Apple Bloom. "A cutie mark that has two meanings. It can mean a special talent that is more in-depth or generalized. Like a person who is good at growing flowers but has a special touch growing roses."
"Very good, that's what this is. Twilight's special talent is magic, but she will be best with magic that deals with the Elements of Harmony, especially the one she represents," said Mark with a laugh.
"Actually, it's dual because, at least in the elements of harmony, magic is the equivalent of friendship," Apple Bloom pointed out.
"Well, well, you're one surprise after another. You even sound like a scholar. Well then, dear, what else can you call this cutie mark?" said Mark.
"It's partly prophetic since if somepony had correctly identified it when she was a filly they would have realized the Elements of Harmony would have been important again in some way," said Apple Bloom. Mark positively beamed.
"Very good. Actually, I'm shouldn't be so surprised someone who specializes in the Elements of Harmony has shown up. Princess Celestia did just discover them. There must be a reason for them. Are the other harmonies also identified? What are their cutie marks?" asked Mark. Apple Bloom giggled.
"I'm surprised you haven't heard of them. Though I guess I'm a little bias on their popularity, my sister is one of them," said Apple Bloom with a blush.
"I live in the middle of nowhere. You're lucky that I've heard of the Elements of Harmony at all. I swear, if it wasn't for the fact I loved my son, I wouldn't even be here," said the unicorn with a roll of her eyes.
"Um."
"He's one of the top researchers here. Not that any of the mares take him seriously. They're still stuck thinking a colt needs a mare to be worth anything, but he's so sure that no pony will listen to him if he gets married," ranted the mare and then blushed when she saw Apple Bloom staring at her. "I'm sorry. It's just-it's been so long since I've had someone to talk about cutie marks seriously. I would love to just take you back to Canterlot and make you my apprentice, but I can't just leave my son here. Not alone, could you imagine what they say or what they could do?"
"It's alright, it sounds like you have to get it off your chest," said Apple Bloom. Mark smiled at her before shaking her mane.
"I just wish he'd settle down with a nice mare and have a family. I mean, I'm so proud of him, and he needs to be courted by a mare who will support his passion, but I just feel he'd be more complete with a family. That and then he'd have a wife who could chase him around and take care of him," said Mark. "Anyway, enough about me. What about you? Are you from Canterlot?"
"No, Twilight is, but we're, um, well, see," Apple Bloom blushed, but there was no reason hiding where they were from anymore. If any ponies here knew about the Elements of Harmony it wouldn't be that hard for them to find out they were from Ponyville. "It's just, my friends and I are a unicorn, peagasus, and earth pony so the turquoise mare thought that we were from Fillydelphia. Truth is, we're from Ponyville."
"I've never heard of that town before," said Mark.
"It's right outside the Everfree Forest," said Apple Bloom.
"From where?" asked Mark. Apple Bloom shrugged.
"We got lost after our teacher disappeared into the fog," said Mark.
"Well, I'll pass on the information to Scale. She'll probably know the town. That's her job," said Mark with a shrug. "And don't worry about the other unicorns, their just a bit old fashioned and they don't really care about politics. All they care about is whatever they're researching. Now, about those cutie marks…"
"Right," said Apple Bloom. She wished she could ask a little more about the town, but she decided that learning more about cutie marks was more important and interesting. Who knew that your special talent could be studying cutie marks? Apple Bloom knew that it had to be her special talent, and she got to earn her cutie mark studying with one of her favorite authors who was a lot less old and dead than she had originally assumed.