Princess Luna was having a bad day. She had gotten into a argument with her dear old sister Celestia over some political dispute and how they should handle it in the kingdom. So she had to let off some steam. She went to the only place that could help her calm down. The everfree forest. She knew that she was being irresponsible for a princess, a ruler of the kingdom, but right now she was just pissed. She wanted to be alone. And hardly anyone ever came to the everfree. It was far too dangerous. Witch meant that it was a better place to be alone, especially when it was so close to Canterlot and ponyville.
She landed gracefully and began her walk in the dark woods, underneath the canopy, with the tree roots trying to trip her and drag her down, under the watchful eyes of creatures that no one dared to name. She came apoun a clearing in the forest-well, as clear as a clearing can get in the everfree- and sat down on a large rock in a sliver of sun. Then she noticed the blood.
It was smeared across the rocks. As if someone had fallen from a great height and then fell on the rocks and slid down. Luna jumped up, immediately on her guard. She jumped down from the rocks and crept around it, following the blood around the large pile of mossy boulders. As she did this, she wondered what could have happened. Did a inquisitive pegasus crash? Was there a battle and the loser was just left there to rot? Had a timberwolf come along and decided to maul a innocent traveler, unfamiliar with the region? As Luna kept thinking of scenarios and what she could do in counter to them, she hardly noticed as she tripped over a body.
She jumped and looked down. There was a mangled body of a pony, if you could call it that. It was alive, although its bony chest hardly moved, as if each breath was painful. It probably was. Its body was one of a pony, but its horns were rams and red as blood. It had bat wings, obviously wrenched from their sockets, with holes seemingly stabbed through them. It had a barbed tail, and it twitched weakly. Its eyes were a purple, and dull and unfocused. They flitted to Luna, and filled with fear before dropping back down again to the muddy forest floor. Its body was covered in open wounds and scars, and around its front hooves were bloody manacles that cut into its flesh.
Luna shuddered, and cautiously stepped forward to see its reaction. It inched backward and whimpered. Luna sighed. Something terrible had happened to this thing. She lowered her horn down to its head, now rippling with her dark blue magic, and told it to sleep. The thing complied almost immediately, and fell into a dreamless sleep, where no nightmares would haunt it. She looked around the clearing for anything to help with the gashes and wrenched wings. There was nothing to help the gashes, but she reckoned that she could put the wings back into their place.
She gathered up some sticks, and a few vines, and with her magic, quickly shoved both wings at once back into their proper places. The thing groaned in pain. She folded the wings gently and made sure they weren't broken, and then tied the wings to its body. She didn't want it to escape until she could ask it questions. As it wiggled, trying to get out of the restraints, until luna eased it back into a comfortable sleep that she would not wake from unless she wanted it to. And this thing, whatever it was, clearly needed rest, as evidenced by its eye bags.
She decided to get a look at its cutie mark, if it had one, to see what sort of thing this thing did. What talents and parts of it made it unique. What she saw horrified her.
There was no cutie mark. It had been gouged out of its flesh, with only a few splashes of color remaining. The wound was deep, and quite recent. It around it was many scars, as if this was not the first time that the cutie mark had been attempted to removed. There were claw marks, bite marks, jagged scars, and burns. It was as if someone was desperately trying to get rid of it, and only just succeeded. Princess Luna looked at what was left. There was only a few colors: blue, red, and green. Se wondered what the cutie mark was, and what had happened to it. Removing a cutie mark was a a terrible crime. It was to remove one persons personality, to remove what made them them. This was a serious crime, and Princess Luna of Equestria vowed to find whoever did this. But first, she needed help.
Help from a certain princess of magic.
Author's Note
ok, i wrote this once, and i forgot to save, so heres the rewrite. this is my first story here, and i would love some constructive critisisim. thanks!
chapter 2: twilight.
On the other hand, Twilight was having a wonderful day. She was studying about the supposed afterlife that many reported seeing with books from the royal library. It was actually quite intresting. and then, Princess Luna burst into the room.
"PRINCESS TWILIGHT!" Luna shouted in her royal Canterlot voice. Twilight jumped up, startled out of her trance.
"What? What? Wheres the fire?" She jumped up and ran over to Luna, dropping her book on the floor. Luna laughed.
"Don't worry, there isn't a fire. But there is something that I need your advice on." Luna said, her mood quickly turning serious.
"This better not be about those timberwolves in the castle. Just tell the guards to wave torches-" Twilight was cut off.
"We got rid of the timberwolves. This is about something more serious." Luna said with a faraway look in her eyes.
"What?" Twilight said. Luna sighed.
"Today I went into everfree for a bit of a walk. In the everfree, I found a pony. Not anyone we know, but a...monster, I think you could say about it. It's covered in wounds, and has rams horns. And the worst thing is" Lunas voice dropped to a whisper "It has no cutie mark. It looks as if it is supposed to have one, but it has been removed from its flesh." Twilight gasped. Taking someones cutie mark was a serious crime. It was a evil thing, and there were only a few cases.
"Can you bring it in here?" Twilight asked cautiously. Luna nodded. She brought in the thing and Twilight got a firsthand look at the pony. The wounds seemed to come from several different things, not just one. She examined the horns and wings, hesitant to look at the cutie mark, or what was left of it. The blood red horns seemed natraul, but the wings were obviously not. They seemed to be sown on. This made Twilight shudder.
She went to look at the cutie mark and gasped quitley. It was horrifying. All cutie mark removals were, but this was especially brutal. She doubted this pony would ever be able to walk on this leg properly. Luna looked on, sadly.
"I came to ask if you have any information about this, and if you would allow it to be treated here." Luna said sadly.
"Of course!" Twilight said, astonished that Luna thought she needed to ask permission.
"I have a few books on this sort of thing that might help. And if i don't I can always ask for help from the royal library. Now, could you take her down to the hospital wing? ill be there shortly with info." Twilight said matter-of-factly. Luna nodded and headed out the door with the strange pony.
Twilight looked on her bookshelves for books about different equestrian species, cutie marks, and manuals on cutie mark care, and crimes involving cutie marks. This was a horrible thing. There were only five documented cases of complete cutie mark removal. And this would be the sixth. This was something horrible and psychotic. Twilight considered contacting Celestia about this, but realized that she already had too much on her plate, and Luna had probably already talked to her about this. Twilight took the books that looked promising, and floated them down to the hospital wing with her magic. Luna was waiting for her in front of one of the rooms. The pony was nowhere in sight.
"It's in there." Luna gestured to the door with one hoof, and opened it. Twilight followed Luna through it, and saw the pony.
"I forgot to mention that when I found her, it's wings were dislocated. I put them back in their sockets, but she wont be able to fly without pain for a few months." Luna said, a troubled look on her face.
"She wont do anything without pain for a couple of months." Twilight said quietly. They fell into the a silence as Twilight pressed her lips together and Luna furrowed her brow. A strange pony appearing in the middle of everfree with horns and no cutie mark. Today was quite a strange day.
