Chapters The Tribe of the Everfree Forest
Deep in the Everfree forest, smoke was rising from a pot that held that night's dinner. The pony stirring it sniffed and sneezed with a big ‘harrumph’. A black stallion walked up to the pony who was stirring and whispered, “Might wanna be careful, this is tonight’s dinner after all, and it took me hours to track down that bear.”
“Don’t worry, Night Star, I didn’t sneeze into the cauldron. How is your wife?”
“Not well. She has been in labor since I left to get dinner. Will she be ok? Will the filly or colt be ok?”
“I cannot be sure, but let me check on her. Keep stirring this, will you?”
“Sure.”
I must tell you that these ponies are speaking a different tongue then the ponies in all of Equestria speak, so I am translating for you.
“AHH!”
There was a terrible screech coming from one of the dens. Night Star rushed away from his brew and into the cave. The healer pony was standing above her, chanting words to try and ease the pain. A dark green mare, her belly swollen, beads of sweat running down her head, messing up her yellow mane, was lying on the floor. “Honey dearest!” Night put his hoof through her mane. She smiled up at him, but screamed again as another wave of pain shot through her.
“I’m trying my best,” said the healer. “But I don’t think…” There was a small ‘plop’ as a little filly fell out of the exhausted mother. The baby started crying almost as soon as she was out. The baby was black with a dark green mane with neon green streaks. Joy zoomed through both mother and father as they saw their new filly for the first time.
“She’s… beautiful…” the mother whispered, using her tail to get the filly closer to her so she could nurse.
“Yeah… and she’s a pegasus, just like you…”
“And just like me, she shall never learn to fly, as always with our tribe…”
Mother and father snuggled up close to their new filly, their breath warming the child. "Your name is Neon Zap, after your mane," the parents whispered in unison.
The night lingered on for a long time. Crickets were chirping as the filly opened her eyes for the first time. Her mother gasped. They were brilliant green. “Honey, she’s opened her eyes!” Night rushed over from another den to see. “They’re green… that’s odd. I thought they would be gray, like mine…”
“Or gold like mine…” The father backed away, his necklace clinking against his chest. “Are you sure she’s…. normal? I mean, ponies in our tribe almost never have green eyes!”
“Oh, honey, don’t get your cutie mark in a knot. Just because she has green eyes doesn’t mean she’s Nightmare Moon, or anything like that. She’s just a little different, that’s all…” The mother, whose name was Fern, pushed her little one closer to her belly so she could nurse again. Little did Fern or Night Star know, their filly, Neon Zap, had an urge. An urge… to fly.
The Tribe of the Everfree Forest
Neon Zap sneaked around her den and out of camp. The black pony had grown to about the age of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but there was something different… she didn’t know how to fly. Her parents had kept their word and they had not taught her to fly, as was the tribe custom. Neon didn’t see why; she was a pegasus, shouldn’t she know how to use what she was given at birth? She knew other ponies in her tribe who were pegasus and unicorns that couldn’t use magic or fly, but did that mean that she also needed to not fly? Hooves quietly stepping on the fallen leaves, she trotted away, and then when she was far enough, she took off, heading toward her special place.
Raggedy mane flew into her face as she bolted toward her cliff. ‘Her’ cliff was on the eastern edge of the Everfree forest, over-viewing a town. It was called something, Horseshoe, or Horsecrab, something like that. Soon enough, she made it to the cliff and looked over the town. It was a nice town, with lots and lots of buildings. Neon sighed. I wish I lived there. Hey… maybe I can! She looked back at her small wings, flapping them. “I bet I can fly! I know I can!”
She edged back, getting a head start. Neon bolted, wings flapping, toward the cliff, wind brushing her eyes, making her blink. “Neon!!!” Neon turned her head to see the tribe leader, Snow Frost, standing behind her.
“Snow FroSSTTT….!” Neon had fallen off the edge of the cliff when she had turned her head. Neon fell, hitting her head against the rock, and hitting her right ear on the edge. Her ear burned like it was on fire. Neon yelled and shook, trying to stop her fall. She hit the ground like a rock, right ear bleeding, bruises developing on her flank. The last thing Neon saw was Snow Frost running down a path as fast as he could. Then she saw darkness.
Neon Zap stirred, awoken by the voices coming from outside of her den. Her ear still hurt, but she felt leaves wrapped around it to stop the bleeding. “Are you kidding!? She could have died! I think we should….” Neon couldn’t hear the rest, for it was being whispered.
“Mommy..?” Neon asked, her eyes darting around the den. Her mother came in.
“Neon Zap! I am very disappointed in you, young filly! You went jumping off a cliff! What were you thinking!?” Neon shrunk away from the scolding mother, ashamed of herself.
“I j-just wanted to try out my wings, Mommy…”
“Wings?” Fern raged. “Wings?! I have told you many, many times never to try out your wings because of the tribe customs, and look what you did! You shame our family, and hurt yourself in the process!” Neon felt her ear with her hoof. Taking off the leaves, she felt that there was a nick in her ear from where the rock had hit her.
“I’m sorry, Mommy!!” Neon started to cry.
“We have delayed your acceptance ritual until next week. I hope that’s enough to knock some sense into you.” Fern walked out of the den, steaming. Neon continued to cry. Her acceptance ritual: delayed! Acceptance rituals were something done to fillies who have stayed with the tribe and obeyed their rules for a certain amount of time. They would also give her the markings of a true tribesman, designs to be written onto one’s skin. And it was delayed. Neon Zap: shunned.
The Tribe of the Everfree Forest
Being shunned is one of the worst punishments to get in the tribe. You aren’t given your food from the hunters; you have to hunt for it yourself. You couldn’t talk to anyone who wasn’t shunned, and you would have a bad reputation. Getting your acceptance ritual delayed also counts as being shunned, though not for as long as normal shunning goes.
Neon Zap felt awful; she was hiding in a cave on the outskirts of the camp, her green eyes glinting with tears. “Why did I have to be curious? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” She banged on her forehead with one of her hooves. She put another hoof up to her scarred ear. Tears started to fall again, wetting the surface of the cave floor. Her crying echoed through the cave and it reached the camp. Night Star pricked his ears up.
“Is that pony crying again?” Night sighed. She had been crying for over an hour, and, because of the rules, he wasn’t allowed to comfort her, or to talk to her in general. Snow Frost trotted up to Night.
“Night Star? Are you ok? It must be hard to have your daughter shunned at such an early age.”
“I’m not ok… it’s only been three days, and she hasn’t stopped crying. But there’s one other thing bothering me.”
“Oh? What would that be, Night Star?” Night looked at his flank, where his glistening cutie mark of the Milky Way showed.
“She hasn’t gotten her cutie mark yet, and she is a bit old to not have it… Could she be one of the Flanks? Like Fern?”
“There’s no way to tell if she will never get her cutie mark like the Flanks, but we should keep an eye on her, eh?” Night nodded slowly as Snow quietly walked away to his den.
The Flanks were a group of ponies from all of the tribes with no cutie marks. Because of the tribe’s rules, somepony’s talent may be magic, or kicking clouds, but they can never find out. Fern is part of the Flanks.
Night looked at his cutie mark again, this time from just outside of the camp entrance. He was very, very worried that Neon might be a Flank. Flanks had less privileges then normal ponies, like not being able to lead if the leader died, among others. “Hmmm…” Night whispered. He had been staring at his cutie mark for so long that it looked like it was starting to swirl in the middle. Wait a minute… it was swirling. Night whinnied and ran into camp, all other thoughts forgotten, to the healer pony.
“Is there anyway you can save him?” Fern worriedly asked. Night Star had gotten a case of Cutie Swirl. Cutie Swirl is a rare disease caught when you stare at your cutie mark for way too long. The cutie mark itself wants to disappear to get away from your gaze, and it starts to swirl, disappearing into your skin, but the thing is… it’s lethal. If somepony gets their cutie mark, and disappears, they die. No-pony knows exactly why they die, but they do.
“I’m afraid not,”
“How long do you give him to live?”
“A week,”
Fern slowly walked to her mate, tears streaming down her face. She hugged him, and he licked her response. “C-can you say if he will live to see Neon’s acceptance ritual?”
“Probably, though we need to tell Neon that.”
Fern looked at Snow Frost, who was watching silently near the entrance of the den, expressionless. “Snow F-Frost… can you please tell Neon about Night…?” Tears were still falling down into Nights fur.
“Of course, Fern,” Snow trotted out, leaving Fern, Night, and the healer alone to talk. Snow kept walking, thinking about how unfortunate this family was. The cave stood wide open, and he walked in, hooves echoing in the dark. “Neon Zap?”
“Snow Frost? What are you doing here? Am I getting out early?” it was very dark in the cave, and they couldn’t see each other.
“Come out, I need to tell you something about your father.” Neon followed the noise of Snow’s hooves clopping on the stone, and then out into the sun.
“So? How is my father?” Snow sighed. “C’mon, tell me, I want to know!”
“Your father has… Cutie Swirl,” Neon gasped, and stood up, her wings splayed out in shock. “He has a week to live, and he will be able to see your acceptance ritual.” Neon’s eyes once again glistened with tears. She ran past her leader and into the healers den.
“DAD!” Neon shouted. “DADDD!” She jumped on her father, knocking the breath out of him.
“Neon…” He coughed, making sparkles from his cutie mark come out. “Be a good girl, ok?”
“I will, I will!” Neon nodded vigorously.
“Good…”