Chapters As the last roll of cloth hovered into place, Rarity sighed with relief. “Thank you, girls. I don’t normally get this disorganized, but when customers make such big orders on short notice…”
Applejack smiled. “Hey, we’re always happy to help out. Between Twilight’s organization and Pinkie’s energy, it took no time at all.”
The white unicorn responded with a weary chuckle. “Well, I don’t know about anypony else, but I need a treat after all that. Sugercube Corner, anyone?”
Twilight Sparkle smiled. “I wouldn’t say no to that.”
“Ooh, great idea!” chirped out Pinkie Pie. “The Cakes have just finished their new ice cream selection. I’ve been looking forward to trying them out!”
Rarity smiled. “That sounds wonderful. Let’s go.”
The four made their way out of Carousel Boutique, Pinkie Pie bounding in front with her distinctive hopping motion as the other three walked behind her. Moving much faster than her fellows, Pinkie turned around to hurry them along. Instead, something else caught her eye: a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus nudging a dark cloud between the boutique and a nearby tree.
“Oh hey, Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow Dash snickered for a moment before turning to face her. “Oh. Hi, Pinkie Pie.”
As the other three looked up at her, Rarity opened her mouth, her tone filled with curiosity and a hint of veiled worry. “Uh, Rainbow Dash? Why are you pushing a storm cloud next to my boutique?”
Her friend snickered in response. “Oh, this is for a prank. Don’t worry, not you… there’s a certain somepony I plan on spooking later today.”
“Yes, but… why is it next to my boutique?”
“Because nopony would ever think to look for a storm cloud here.”
Rarity readied herself to respond, but reluctantly withdrew her complaint. “Can’t argue with that, I suppose. Just make sure nothing goes awry with it, okay?”
Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively. “Eh, that won’t happen. It has just enough charge for a flash and a bang. No real jolt’s coming out of this one.”
“Well, as long as you’re sur-“
“Enough chit-chat!” yelped Pinkie Pie. “Time is ice cream!”
Upon reaching Sugarcube Corner, Applejack heard an enthusiastic “ooh” come from Pinkie. She initially assumed it was to the aforementioned ice cream, but when the pink pony zipped forward, she noticed that it was less about the sweets and more the ponies next to them. Two unfamiliar unicorns in Ponyville – a colt, looking slightly older than Apple Bloom, with green fur, purple eyes, a short, dark grey mane with a silvery sheen, and no Cutie Mark, and a strangely familiar looking mare, presumably the colt’s mother, with purple fur, a longer golden mane, golden eyes, and a Cutie Mark of three gold ingots arranged into a pyramid.
Unsurprisingly, Pinkie was immediately into greeting mode. “I haven’t seen you two in Ponyville before! *gasp* You need a Welcome Party! Time to break out the Party Canno-”
“Please, no parties,” the mare said, cutting Pinkie off and raising her hoof in a negatory fashion. Pinkie stopped, but didn’t start backing off until she glanced at the colt. Applejack squinted to get a closer look. Was he… glaring at her? Whatever it was, he really didn’t seem to like the idea.
“Oh. Well, can I at least know your names?”
The mare smiled slightly. “My name is Gold Lining and this is my son, Silver Lining. We’re visiting from Canterlot for a small…” she frowned for a second, “break.”
Silver Lining, still scowling, shoved past Pinkie and circled around the others, heading for the door. “I’m going for a walk.”
Pinkie frowned with concern. “Really? You haven’t had any ice cream yet.”
Silver said nothing, magically slamming the door behind him.
Before any of the friends could respond, Gold Lining spoke up. “Please don’t mind him. We didn’t leave under the best circumstances.”
With tension thick enough to cut it with a knife, Applejack aimed for an unrelated ice breaker. “So… you seem kinda familiar. My name’s Applejack… ring any bells?”
Gold smiled slightly. “Applejack? Yes, I saw you competing with my sister Black Corinth at the last Equestrian Rodeo. Maybe you saw me in the crowd at some point.”
“Black Corinth of the Califilly Raisins?”
“Yes, I’m from the Raisin family. Though, as you might be able to tell,” she said, nodding to her Cutie Mark, “my calling wasn’t with the family business. Stopped going by Gold Raisin after I married Fine Lining, and now I live in Canterlot making gold jewellery.”
“You’re that Gold Lining?” Rarity chimed in enthusiastically. “I heard about you when I was last in Canterlot. Oh, since you’re in town, we really ought to do some collaborative work together.”
The mare smiled. “Sounds lovely.”
Twilight stepped forth. “You mentioned your husband, Fine Lining. Is he in town as well?”
“No, he’s still back in Canterlot, working as an instructor at the academy for talented unicorns.” Gold frowned. “Actually, that’s… kind of why we’re here.”
“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.
“Silver… really wanted to be like his father. Wanted to enroll in the academy and become a teacher himself. But, when it came to the entrance exam…” she trailed off.
“He didn’t make it.”
Gold nodded. “Silver didn’t take it well, so we took a trip to Ponyville to help him… cool off.”
Twilight frowned. “I see.”
Following Applejack’s example before, Rarity tried to break the tension. “So… what sorts of jewellery do you liking making?”
As the two started talking, Applejack leaned over to Pinkie. “Hey, uh, Pinkie? Maybe we should go collect Silver Lining now.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, I noticed that he doesn’t have a Cutie Mark yet. I don’t want the CMC bothering him, or worse, the bullies that pick on them…”
Silver Lining gradually slowed his storming around. He had no idea where he was, especially since he’d only just arrived in Ponyville, though he didn’t particularly care that this point. He just wanted to be alone right now. In his efforts to avoid people, he seemed to wander into an area that was more or less empty, right next to a closed shop.
With nobody in sight, he stopped walking and did what he hadn’t really done since he took the exam: think. Sure, he had fumed and grumbled in the interim, but he hadn’t really mused over the implications of what happened. What now? He wasn’t skilled enough in magic to become an instructor in the future; if he recalled correctly, one of the judges said that verbatim. He hadn’t really had any aspirations beyond being like his father, so he didn’t have any idea what to move on to. Speaking of his father, he hadn’t spoken to him since the day before the exam. Mother had, but he had no idea what was said beyond “some time away from Canterlot might help calm him down.” What did he really think?
Silver’s thoughts were cut off when, seemingly out of nowhere, came the mocking, synchronized voices of two fillies: “Blank flank!”
Turning around, he saw them. One had pink fur, blue eyes, a purple mane and tail with a white streak through them, and a tiara Cutie Mark that matched the one on her head. The other had grey fur, a lighter grey mane, purple eyes, a silver spoon Cutie Mark, and spectacles.
The pink one stepped forth. “Aren’t you a little old to not have a Cutie Mark? Or are you just devoid of any talent?”
The two fillies started giggling together. Silver started to glare, but then his gaze darted away. He didn’t want to make eye contact with bullies.
“Maybe he should hang out with those Cutie Mark losers,” the grey one said mockingly.
Silver didn’t know what she meant by that, but his attention was diverted. As he looked away, he noticed what looked like a small, dark cloud hidden away next to a nearby shop. What was something like that doing in a place like this?
The pink filly spoke again. “Of course. No-talent losers should stick together.”
As they started giggling again, Silver Lining glowered. Whatever the reason, his was a superior cause for the time being. His horn glowed in a silvery light as he telekinetically pulled the cloud behind the two fillies. He might not have had the best repertoire of spells, but he had moving objects down pat.
“What’s the matter?” asked the pink one. “So talentless that you can’t get a spell off?”
With an arcane twitch, Silver Lining jostled the unseen cloud, emitting a loud bang. The two fillies shrieked and immediately started to run away. He smirked as they fled.
“Yeah, you better run, you stupid… mules!”
Wasn’t the best insult, he admitted to himself, but it served its purpose.
“Ahem,” said a stern voice from behind. Silver immediately regretted his choice of words as a very grumpy looking mule with a large yellow hairdo stared down at him.
“Uh, heh. Um, no offense?”
The mule’s expression didn’t change. “No offence, huh? That why you said it as a parting shot?”
Silver looked down shamefully. “…Sorry.”
“Hrmph,” the mule grunted. He started to walk past him, but then paused for a moment. “By the way, I think you got your… something mark, or whatever.”
Silver’s eyes widened and darted towards his flank. Indeed, his Cutie Mark had appeared… a dark grey cloud outlined in silver. His expression steadily transformed into one of horror, and he sped away from the mule, heading for the nearest exit out of town…
After he felt he had run far enough, Silver Lining curled up next to a bush. While he was upset and alone, he was still trying to not burst into tears. Instead, he managed a steady pace of sniffling as we sorted out his thoughts.
Once again, he had no idea where he was. As soon as he left the town’s limits, he headed straight for a wooded area where it would be difficult for somebody to find…
His assumptions were short-lived as a strange white and grey striped pony dressed in gold jewellery came from behind a tree and approached him. He vaguely identified her as a zebra before she started speaking to him.
“Little foal, please tell me why you’ve come into these woods to cry,” she asked in an accented rhyme.
He sniffed. “Who… who are you?”
“Zecora is my name. Please tell me the same.”
He turned his head away for a moment. “S-Silver. Silver Lining.”
“Silver, how’d you come to be upset in wild Everfree?”
Silver looked up at her. “This is the Everfree Forest?”
Zecora nodded in response. Silver figured that rhyming out a “yes” would’ve be too wordy.
He turned his head away again. “Just as well. I belong out here with the monsters.”
Zecora frowned in confusion before a distant rumble drew her attention, glancing deeper into the forest. “I do not think we should speak here; a thunderstorm is drawing near. I do not know your troubles, but… perhaps some shelter in my hut?”
After a brief pause, Silver solemnly nodded. “Okay.”
Pinkie Pie groaned in annoyance. “How could nobody have seen him? Green unicorn colt with a dark grey mane! That’s not exactly hard to notice!”
Applejack frowned. “He did want to be alone. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was avoiding people.”
“Yeah, but were would he be th-” Pinkie’s train of thought was cut off when she noticed a familiar-looking mule walking by. “Hi, Cranky!” she said, waving hello.
Cranky Doodle stopped walking and turned to face her. “Oh. Hello, Pinkie. What’s new?”
“A colt, actually. Green with a dark grey mane. Seen one of those around?”
Cranky nodded affirmatively. “Yeah, saw him not long ago by Carousel Boutique. He got his Cutie Mark, I pointed it out to him, and then he started running… that-a-way,” he said, pointing his hoof in the general direction. In relation to the Boutique, mind you.”
“Thanks for telling us,” Applejack responded, heading towards the Boutique.
Pinkie followed suit with her signature hopping. “Catch you later, Cranky.”
As they approached Carousel Boutique, they heard a loud “Oh come on!” It was Rainbow Dash, messing about with a now silent, white cloud.
“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow Dash poked the cloud once again. “Somebody messed with the cloud I hid away. Took all the bang out of it. Now it’s a dud.” In her frustration, she gave it a swift buck that dissipated it.
“Have you seen a green colt around here?” Pinkie asked.
“Why?” Rainbow asked. “Is he the responsible for this?”
Pinkie thought for a moment. “Well, Cranky did say that he just got his Cutie Mark, so… maybe?”
“In any case, we need to figure out where he disappeared to,” said Applejack.
“Cranky said he ran that-a-way,” Pinkie said, pointing her hoof in the proportionate direction he had indicated. She then turned to look where she was pointing. “And that-a-way leads to…” She paused, realizing she was looking towards the Everfree Forest. “Oh, fudgebubbles.”
Applejack looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was still hovering in the air. “Rainbow Dash, get Fluttershy and search the forest from the air. We’ll get the others and search from the ground.”
“On it!” Rainbow said, darting towards Fluttershy’s house.
Pinkie Pie frowned. “Why would he take off after getting his Cutie Mark?”
Zecora listened quietly to the young colt’s tale. His story seemed basic enough, though the implications he delved from it seemed ludicrous to her. She didn’t tell him that, however. He was upset enough without somebody “making fun” of him. Besides, given what she told him, maybe…
“You make… potions, right? Is it possible to… purify me?”
As she thought. Zecora smiled. “I will see what I can do. Let me prepare a brew.” A harmless placebo might help to settle his fears.
Suddenly, the door to her hut burst open, Twilight Sparkle’s head popping in shortly thereafter. “Zecora, there’s a young colt missing in the forest. Could you help us look…” her statement cut off as she noticed Silver sitting in the corner. “Oh. That was easy. He’s in here, everyone.”
Zecora was surprised when not only Twilight entered, but also Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and a unicorn mare she did not recognize. “Your search, it seems, was quite intense… and now my hut is rather dense,” she dryly muttered as the group squeezed inside.
The unfamiliar unicorn nudged her way to the front. “Silver? Silver, what’s wrong?” she asked in a worried tone.
The young colt withdrew slightly and looked away from the group. “S-stay back! I’m evil!”
Everyone but Zecora made a collective exclamation of confusion. The unicorn, who Zecora figured was Silver’s mother, started to raise her roof comfortingly, but withdrew when he twitched back. “What are you talking about? What makes you think that?”
“Because of… this,” the young colt said as he turned his head towards his Cutie Mark.
“How does a Cutie Mark make you evil? It’s something to celebrate!” Pinkie said with a little too much enthusiasm.
Silver slunk back even more after she said that.
Applejack stepped forth. “What Pinkie means is that finding out your talent is a good thing. I have a little sister, Apple Bloom. She and her friends have been obsessed with getting their Cutie Marks for a long time now. It’s something to be proud of, not ashamed.”
“You don’t understand!” Silver Lining snapped. “I got it by scaring some fillies with a cloud! From being a bully! My talent is being evil! I’m a foal, so I started out small, but clearly my destiny is to become some horrible villain the Princesses have to lock away!”
“Oh, come now,” Rarity calmly stated. “Aren’t you dramatizing this a bit?”
Silver just glared at her, and the rest of the group collectively provided disproving stares.
“What? It’s true.”
Twilight shook her head and turned back to Silver. “Look, just because your talent manifested in a bad way doesn’t mean you’re evil. I speak from experience. When I got my Cutie Mark, my magic went completely out of control. Turned my parents into plants and everything. It was only through the intervention of Princess Celestia that I managed to get it under control.”
“Not helping!” Silver Lining exclaimed in a skyward shout, his frustrated tone somewhere between annoyance and distress.
“My point is that a bad start doesn’t mean you’re going to get banished to the moon or locked into Tartarus or whatever bad scenario you’re imag-”
“Shut up!” Silver barked. “All of you! Shut up! Just leave me alone!”
As he said the final word, his horn glowed in a silvery light that engulfed him in a flash. When the light dissipated, he was gone, having teleported away.
Silver’s mother looked around frantically. “Silver? Silver, where are you? Silver Lining!”
She ran out the door and bolted off, clearly hoping that she went in the right direction. The rest of the group trailed behind her.
As Twilight Sparkle followed after them, Zecora shouted out one last warning. “Beware of more than just your mouth; a storm approaches from the south!”
“You go that way, and I’ll go this way,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing left and right respectively. “We’ll meet back in front of the forest in an hour if we don’t see anything. If you need help, just yelp.”
Fluttershy nodded. “G-got it. Green unicorn colt with grey mane, right?”
“Right. See you in a while.” With that, both pegasi took to the air.
Normally, Rainbow Dash would be zipping around at top speed to cover as much ground as fast as possible, but the colt’s colour scheme sounded like it would blend very easy into the foliage below. She couldn’t risk a faster speed if that meant she’d pass right by him.
It wasn’t long until she found him, though. The bright, silvery flash of a teleportation spell was very easy to notice from the air. As she flew closer, she saw the young colt trotting along, heading deeper into the woods. She swooped down next to him.
“There you are. Everyone’s been looking for you.”
“So I noticed!” he snapped back. “Now leave me alone!”
He tried to storm past her, but Rainbow Dash zipped in front of him, barring his way. “Woah! Hold up, kid! What’s going on?”
The green colt scowled. “First, the name is Silver Lining! Second, I’m tired of explaining myself to people! Just look at my Cutie Mark if you want an answer!”
Rainbow Dash landed and did as he said. “A cloud… neat! Seen plenty of those on pegasi, but never seen on a unicorn before.”
“It means I’m evil! I got it by scaring some fillies with a thundercloud!”
“Ah,” Dash squinted quizzically, “So you are the one who messed with that cloud.”
Silver cocked his head. “Was that yours or something?” He groaned in frustration. “Great, now I’m a thief on top of everything else! The evidence just keeps piling up!”
Rainbow Dash relaxed, her tone following suit. “Okay, what are the concrete facts? You moved a cloud and you made it flash. That sound about right?”
“And scared those fillies, yes!”
“Forget the fillies for a moment,” Rainbow said. “You moved a cloud and made it flash.”
Silver Lining nodded. “Yes.”
The pegasus smiled. “Kid, I do that all the time. I’m a weather manager. That’s what I do for a living. I can assure you that that manipulating clouds does not make you evil.” She turned to the side, showing off her flank. “On top of that, I also have a cloud Cutie Mark. With a lightning bolt, too.”
“Yeah. A white cloud and a bolt that matches your mane,” Silver snarked.
“And your cloud matches your own mane. What’s your point?”
Silver paused and averted his eyes. He didn’t have an answer for that one.
“Thing is, my Cutie Mark doesn’t have anything to do with my job.”
He looked back at her, more confused this time. “Huh?”
“My talent is the Sonic Rainboom. If I go fast enough, I create one that speeds me up even more. That’s what it symbolizes. It doesn’t have any bearing on what I do in day-to-day life, and there are long periods where I never end up using it. All a Cutie Mark symbolizes is your foremost skill. You shouldn’t read any more into it beyond that.”
Silver lowered his eyes, processing what she just told him. He didn’t have long, however. A moment later, a bright golden bolt of magic shot into the air further into the forest, disappearing as it impacted with the massive storm cloud in its way.
“Was that… Mom’s magic?” the colt asked worriedly.
From that direction, somewhat muffled by a thunderclap, came a not-so-faint shout of “Help!” Fluttershy then shot up from where the bolt had launched from, seemingly signalling downward.
Rainbow Dash took to the air again, carrying Silver Lining with her. She flew over to the site just as the rest of the group arrived by foot. Amid a deluge of rain was evidence of a large mudslide into a short ravine. Evidently the rains caused one side of the ravine to collapse, taking several trees with it. As Rainbow Dash lowered Silver down, it became clear that under one of the fallen trees was…
“Mom!”
As Rainbow set Silver down, Fluttershy landed and Twilight sparkle stepped forth. “What’s happening here?”
Fluttershy’s eyes darted with worry. “I-I was flying overhead when I saw her run next to the ravine, shouting something. She was looking into it when a lightning bolt struck a nearby tree and cause the mudslide. With the way how everything fell, the tree got wedged and she can’t get loose. She then shot a magic bolt to get our attention.”
Applejack leaned over the edge to investigate things. “And it looks like the ravine is filling up with rain fast! We better hurry!”
Silver’s eyes watered. “It’s all my fault! If she wasn’t looking for me…”
Twilight straightened up, her eyes determined. “Pinkie, Rarity. Go to opposite sides of the ravine; see if you can find some way to drain the current water. Dash, Fluttershy. You two try to mitigate the incoming rainfall and slow the flooding. Applejack and I will try to get Gold Lining free.”
“Right!” said all as they went to their respective tasks.
Rainbow Dash flew up to the massive storm cloud, then suddenly stopped. How the heck was she to deal with this thing? It was too big to push out of the way, even with Fluttershy’s help, and she couldn’t risk blowing it away without causing a hurricane that would aggravate the situation.
“Wait!” called Silver, staring up at the cloud. “That cloud’s mine!”
Rainbow Dash zipped down and pulled him into magic range. “Think you can pull this off?”
“I have to try!”
Silver’s horn glowed in silvery light, which started to encompass the large cloud. Then it stopped encompassing said cloud. The colt grunted and tried to expand it, but all it did was shift the existing magic field around.
“Come on! Come on!”
“How much can you do with what you have?” Dash asked.
Silver let forth another groan as he nudged his head forward. “It’s too heavy to push! Maybe…”
As he jerked his head back, a chunk of cloud ripped free of the larger entity.
“Yes!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “That I can work with! Fluttershy, swap!” She passed Silver over to Fluttershy, then flew over to the smaller cloud and swiftly shoved it away from the ravine. “Keep ripping off smaller pieces, okay?”
Silver nodded. “On it!”
After a minute or two of this, Rainbow Dash called down to Twilight Sparkle. “How are things going down there?”
“We’re making progress on freeing her, but the water is still filling up too fast!” the purple unicorn called up. “Rarity! Pinkie Pie! Any luck on your ends?”
“Not a bit!” Rarity responded the distance.
“Me either!” agreed Pinkie.
“Never mind, then! Fall back and help Applejack and me!” Twilight looked back up and Rainbow Dash. “We’re running out of time! Try to hurry!”
Silver’s eyes started watering again. “I’m going as fast as I…” He cut himself off. “Wait. Rainbow Dash, can clouds absorb water into them?”
The pegasus’ eyes flashed. “Ah! Great idea!” Rainbow Dash grabbed one of the pieces of cloud she had already moved and flew down to the ravine, shoving the cloud into the rising water. It immediately drew water and the water lowered slightly.
“Yes!” Fluttershy said excitedly. “The clouds are acting as sponges!”
As Rainbow Dash kept moving the existing chunks of cloud into the water, Silver kept ripping new pieces off. The ravine steadily lost water, and the rest of the ponies made quick work of dislodging the tree.
“Heave… ho!” the four exclaimed at once, finally rolling the tree off Gold Lining. The group helped her out of the ravine, and the pesagi lowered Silver Lining down.
The young colt immediately nuzzled next to his mother, tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry! It’s my fault that you got stuck! If I hadn’t…”
“Shh,” Gold hushed comfortingly. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
Her son sniffed. “I’m the one who should say that…”
The rest of the group just stood back and smiled.
“A cloud-walking spell?” Silver Lining asked.
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Twilight Sparkle used it to help my friends visit Cloudsdale and watch me compete. That’s that spell she was casting a moment ago. My idea.”
“Your idea?” Silver’s eyes widened. “Wait, are you suggesting…?”
Twilight Sparkle looked up at the two with a smile, then looked back down at the quill and letter she had been writing:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I have learned that discovering one’s talents is not the end of the journey. Simply knowing what the talent is and understanding what that talent allows is something else entirely. With a little creativity, one ability can awaken potential we would otherwise never know.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle
“Are you ready?” Rainbow asked.
Silver nodded, and she lowered him onto the low-hanging cloud. True to what she said, he stood on top of it as firm as the ground.
The pegasus smiled. “Now let’s see if you can pull it off.”
Silver Lining’s horn glowed, engulfing the cloud in a silvery light. With a slight nudge, he moved himself forward. Then left. Right. Up and down. Diagonally upward, forward, and slightly to the left. The young colt laughed. He was a unicorn, and he was able to fly.
