Chapters The Golden Oaks Library was not one of the commonly-visited place in Ponyville, especially when one took in the fact that Amethyst never really had friends to invite over until recently. But today there were seven ponies in the library, all just finishing up some extensive research.
Flitter was lying on her back atop the pony sculpture in the center of the library, holding a book up above her head. Fleetfoot was perched up on a window sill, a stack of books beside her. Lotus was lying on the stairs, flipping through a book on the floor. Limestone and Amethyst were both just lying on the ground, each with a book in front of them.
"Lunch is ready!" chirped Saffron gleefully, walking in with a platter of sandwiches. "I made grass sandwiches marinated in a mustard Dijon dressing, a curried oat cake, and spicy flat-noodle soup."
"You made all of that in an hour?" asked Flitter, leaning back and snagging a sandwich in her wing. "It looks so yummy! No wonder you own a restaurant!"
"Hey, sspeaking of, sshouldn't you be working?" asked Fleetfoot, jumping down from the window sill.
"Father is busy with interviews for new employees," replied Saffron, placing the platter down gently. "And we're only open at night on Tuesdays, since these are the quietest days."
"I got the loaf of bread!" said Twirly, slowly gliding in with a platter barely supported above her head.
"Curried oat cake," corrected Saffron gently, taking it in her magic. "I'll go get the soup."
She hurried back into the kitchen, and came out moments later with a pot of delicious-looking soup as well as various plates, bowls, and silverware. She placed everything down, holding a ladle in her magic to spoon out the soup.
"Smells deliciouz," said Lotus, picking up one of the bowls and holding it out to be served.
"My father came up with the recipe," replied Saffron cheerfully. "I changed up the spices to make it even more flavorful. That was when I had my manifest."
"Sounds far more peaceful than my manifest," remarked Limestone. "I had to save my sister from being crushed by a massive boulder. Just remembered what my dad had taught me, and slammed my hooves right into it."
Flitter gave a low whistle. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."
Twirly tilted her head in confusion. "What's a manifest?"
"Ze moment vhen your cutie mark appears," answered Lotus.
"Ussually in a moment of realization," added on Fleetfoot. "Could be at almosst any time. It'ss never dependent on age."
Limestone nodded in agreement. "I was really late. Got mine after even my younger sister."
"How old were you?" asked Flitter.
"Fourteen." Everypony looked over at her in surprise. "What? I said that I was late."
"How old are you?" asked Saffron questioningly.
"Twenty seven."
Flitter's mouth dropped open in shock. "You're twenty seven ?! I'm only eighteen!"
"Earth poniez age rather... oddly," said Lotus as clarification. "After all, I'm twenty four."
"Anypony else want to completely and utterly shock me?"
Fleetfoot chimed in. "If it helpss, I'm twenty one."
"And I'm twenty," added Saffron.
"Amy, how old am I?" called Twirly to her unicorn friend, who was still flipping through a book.
"Seventeen," answered Amethyst, finally getting up from her spot on the floor and closing the book she had been reading. "Sjutton. " Translated to Breezan since Twirly still had trouble with numbers in Magican.
"You know that off the top of your head?" asked Flitter.
"Well, do you know how old your sister is?"
"Point taken."
Amethyst grabbed a sandwich in her magic, smiled at Saffron, and levitated over a roll of parchment and quill to the middle of the group. "Here's what I've gotten so far. You guys should add any new ones that you found."
Limestone took the parchment and quill, writing down her findings. She then passed it to Flitter, who passed it to Saffron, who passed it to Lotus, who passed it to Fleetfoot, who returned it back to Amethyst.
Limestone peeked over at the extended list, and rolled her eyes. "Flitter, you misspelled 'Somnambula'."
"How would you know?" asked Flitter.
"Because the town is south-west of my parent's rock farm.
"But the book said that somma-nomma-bell was a pony!"
"Somnambula is who they named the town after."
"Ohhhhhhhhhh..."
"Anyways..." Amethyst took a bite of her sandwich. "Which one do we want to look for first?"
"We sshould probably do the one that'ss farthest away first," said Fleetfoot. "You know, to get it over with."
"Or vun zat could possibly help us to obtain ze others," suggested Lotus.
"How about the pearl of transsformation? From the name it ssounds pretty usseful if it'ss real, and it'ss ssouth of Equestria! That'ss pretty far away."
Amethyst tilted her head in confusion. "South of Equestria, or southern Equestria?"
"Of."
"I wasn't expecting something that far away..." She grabbed one of her book in her light blue aura, and flipped it open to a map. "This doesn't even show beyond the Equestrian boarders! The farthest south it goes is to the Badlands!"
"Maybe there's a larger map in town hall!" suggested Flitter. "I mean, you go there all the time, right?"
Amethyst tilted her head in confusion. "Why would you think that?"
Flitter snagged another sandwich. "Aren't you kinda like Mayor Mare's part-time assistant?"
"No, I just like organizing events around town. Makes me feel like I'm helping to keep things in better control." She paused for a moment. "Actually, I think the last time I was in town hall was for adoption papers..."
"The hay did you need adoption papers for?" asked Limestone.
"Twirly." The breezie smiled proudly. "Since she's not an adult yet, I'm her legal guardian. Therefore I had to go through the proper process to ensure that nopony could use such against me in any way, shape, or form."
"It's not like sshe was from an orphanage or anything, though, right?" asked Fleetfoot. "My parentss had to fill out a million formss for me, but that wass because I was already a part of the system. That'ss how it works, right?"
"Do you realize how many ponies would just love to have a live breezie specimen to study?" Amethyst scowled. "I couldn't even get out of Canterlot without somepony asking if she was for sale."
Twirly's eyes widened in horror. "Jat's what he asked? No wonder you didn't tell me..."
"For sale !?" Lotus looked sickened. "Zat's just awful!"
Amethyst nodded in agreement. "I was just about ready to break his jaw at that point. Lucky for him, I only-"
There were four sharp raps at the door, and a cheerful voice called out. "Special delivery!"
Her anger faded. "Oh, that just be Ditzy." She placed down the sandwich she had been eating and walked over to the door. Opening it with her magic, a cardboard box with golden tape was thrust in her face.
"From Canterlot!" chirped Ditzy happily. "Have a nice day!"
"You too, Ditz." Amethyst gently took the box in her magic, and closed the door. She walked right back to where she had been standing, and placed it down.
"Did you order something?" asked Twirly.
"No..." She looked at the return address. "It says it comes from the Royal Guard. Oh, that must mean it's from Twilight!" She pulled off the tape and opened it up, taking out something wrapped in many layers of protective wrapping. "Wonder what it is..."
"Maybe it's a sword! If it's a sword, can I use it?"
"I can tell you right now that it isn't a sword." She took off the last layer, revealing a note attached to something pale blue and shiny, that was in the shape of a rounded triangle. Amethyst looked at the note, and arched an eyebrow in confusion. "This is from Captain Blue Moon. Dear Elemental Amethyst, as a result of what occurred during the Orichalcum Incursion, I choose to send you this in hopes of allowing you to help train you in your magical prowess. We own a very limited number of- " Her voice broke off for a moment. "w-wyvern sc-scales ?!"
Fleetfoot frowned nervously. "Are you oka-"
Amethyst dropped the scale in an instant, and backed away from it as far as she could. Her eyes showed nothing but fear, and she was breathing heavily. "Keep it away!"
Twirly reacted faster than anypony else. In an instant she was by Amethyst's side, and gently placed her hoof on her cheek. "Jag är här."
Her breathing began to slow once more. By that point, the others had also come over to comfort her, with Limestone picking up the scale and tucking it out of sight.
"There's nothing to be afraid of," cooed Lotus comfortingly. "You can tell us what you need."
Therapy, most likely... Amethyst bit her lip. "S-sorry. I just... I just can't be so close to that after what happened..."
Saffron cautiously asked the question they were all thinking. "After what happened?"
Her fear melted away into sadness. "I'm from Manehattan."
That one statement filled in the answer for everypony except for Twirly, who knew that it was a bad time to be asking for more details.
"They... They come from up north, right?" Amethyst directed the question towards Flitter and Fleetfoot.
"Yess," affirmed Fleetfoot.
She gave a shaky smile. "Then I guess... We should go look for the pearl of transformation, huh? The upcoming weather is a storm anyways, so no better time, huh?"
Limestone frowned in worry.
Chapter Two: Preparations
Limestone Pie was one who knew greatly of the benefits of trust. After all, she was the Bearer of the Honesty Element for a reason. She never embellished upon her abilities, always gave her true opinion, and was dead blunt about her wares.
Trust was a rather picky thing, with there being many different ways as to trust. To put trust in another was most commonly what the word was associated with, yet there was a secondary trust that was often forgotten: trust in oneself.
To trust oneself was far different. It implied that you believed in yourself and your abilities, something that her sister greatly lacked. Yet Pinkie trusted her, and therefore it was something she did not speak of. It was Pinkie's choice as to if she wished to tell others.
So what is it that you can't trust yourself with, Sparkler? she pondered as she packed her ash black saddlebags with supplies. Something involving the storm in Manehattan, and from how to speak about Twirly, it sounds like it involves your family... She sighed. This isn't something for me to ask. If you want to tell us what happened, go right ahead. If you still don't, I can't say that I blame you.
"Ssay hello to The Aerial Wonder !" declared Fleetfoot proudly. "The first ever airsship that can land on cloudss!"
Amethyst and her friends stared at the ship in awe, none of them having seen something like it before. The ship was large enough to fit about ten ponies comfortably, and had a lower deck for storage. The deck was made of white cedar, and the sides were painted light blue with clouds. The sails were a deeper blue, with bright yellow lightning bolts across them. The flag at the very top was the Equestrian national flag, showing Celestia and Luna flying around the sun and moon.
"We get to be pirates!" cheered Flitter in excitement.
"If we were going to be pirates, that would mean that we were going to do illegal things," commented Limestone.
She grinned mischievously. "Oh, really? Then maybe..."
With a complete deadpan stare, "No."
Fleetfoot zipped over to her saddlebags, and pulled out a glass bottle with a dark liquid inside. "We can't keep alcohol on basse, so I thought that grape ssoda would work well enough for a ssend-off."
Lotus couldn't help but giggle. "Zat's quite clever."
"Yeah, but Ssurprise might be a bit annoyed that I took her drink..." She shrugged. "I'm ssure sshe'll be fine with it once I tell her why."
"Send-off?" questioned Saffron. "So this is the ship's first flight?"
"Yep!" Fleetfoot grinned broadly. "Has anypony ever captained a boat?" She held out a blue book in her other hoof. "I've got the manual!"
Amethyst took the manual in her magic. "Well, I haven't steered a boat by myself, but my father showed me how to when I was a filly."
"Well, that'ss more experience than I have! Let's board!"
Twirly eagerly took the manual from Amethyst as the unicorn went to help bring their supplies onto The Aerial . There was a neat pile of their saddlebags (in light blue, ash black, bright pink, ice white, shiny gold, and pale yellow) beside a few plain brown barrels, a crate with a blue stripe across the top, several bundles of rope, and, much to Amethyst's distain, a crate of apples.
As they tucked nearly everything below deck, a crowd began to form around the ship in interest. Twirly flipped through the manual while perched on the side of the ship, and Rainbow Dash chose to fly right over to the breezie.
"Hey, Twirly! What're you guys up to here?"
Twirly glanced up at Rainbow. "Big adventure." She looked back down. "I'm learning how to fly the ship."
Rainbow scoffed. "You don't need to read a book like some sort of egghead! Just grab the wheel and set off!"
She scowled in response. "Easy for you to say. I probably can't even turn the stupid wheel, let alone steer."
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Eheh..." She glanced around to make sure nopony was listening in, and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Listen kiddo, I know that you're just a breezie, but don't you let something like biology of all things get in the way of who you want to be. I mean, considering how the whole world works off of magic, there's got to be someway for you to really fly. Eos wouldn't have made somepony with the sole intent of them being weak, after all."
Twirly looked at Rainbow in surprise, and recieved a wink before the pegasus zipped off into the air. She glanced back at her wings, and her eyes narrowed in anger. "Then why can't you let me try?" she sniped in Breezan.
Amethyst climbed out onto the upper deck, and quickly scampered up a ladder on the middle mast. She held a rather large yellow gemstone between her teeth, making Twirly wonder why she wasn't using her magic, and placed it a pouch that seemed to designed for that exact purpose. She slid back down, went beneath deck, and came back up with a large turquoise gemstone.
"Amy, what are you doing? questioned Twirly as the unicorn climbed up the back-most mast.
"Putting the power-sources in place," she replied as she climbed down. "The flight magic is infused into gemstones. So far I've put up a citrine and a turquoise."
"What's with the specifi-ci-ci-ty?"
"Specificity," she corrected quickly. "They're gemstones that can best react with spells revolving around air." She went below deck once more, and came back up with a purple gemstone in her hoof. "This one is the more reactive out of all of them, so it goes up by the sail in the front."
Twirly stared at the gemstone for a few seconds, in which Amethyst walked over to the front-most most and quickly climbed up. "Isn't jat... an amethyst?" she muttered softly.
Amethyst turned on the ladder, holding on with only two hooves. "You say something, Twirl-" One of the screws on the piece of wood that her forehoof was holding onto suddenly came loose, and she completely lost her grip. "Crosswinds!"
Her horn instantly flared up, and she whipped her head to the side. Not particularly thinking through what she was doing, Amethyst launched off a sunbeam as a tactical response, it just barely missing the ship and instead slamming into the ground.
"Wrong spell!" yelped Amethyst, just as she was launched backwards through the air from the force of her sunbeam.
Due to her panicking and not having done any significant acts of magic for most of the day, Amethyst had put far too much power into her sunbeam. She tumbled through the air, having gone high enough to even burst through a cloud, and manged to get a glimpse of evergreen before painfully crashing headlong through a large thicken of trees. Since she had fallen at an angle, she rolled and skidded across the plant-infested ground before finally crashing into another tree as to stop. She crumpled to the ground covered in various scratches, barely even aware that she was in the Everfree Forest, and simply shaking out the blue petals that had gotten stuck in her tail.
"My dear friend, are you alright? You crashed down so suddenly, it gave me a fright!"
Amethyst was dizzily helped to her hooves, and she winced in pain from the various scratches she and acquired. "I'm good... enough. Thanks, Zecora."
The zebra pulled out a twig that had gotten caught in Amethyst hair. "My mere presence shouldn't be what you thank, but instead your impressive ability to tank. Sparkler, were you practicing magic once again? For you know it is best to only do so now and then."
"No, I fell." She looked down at the ground. "And launched off a sunbeam."
"You say that as if you should be ashamed, yet it only seems as if your powers must be tamed."
"You know I'm not strong." Amethyst's jaw tightened. "I'll never be as strong as Twilight."
Zecora placed her hoof on her shoulder. "To compare yourself to another does not say who you are. There is a barrier that keeps on moving, you can go very far." Her grip tightened. "But you keep holding on as if it were a scar..."
She shoved Zecora's hoof away. "Because it is!" She roughly wiped away tears that had started to pour down. "I can never, ever let that go! It's my fault! " Her voice cracked at the end. "And there's nothing I can ever do to make up for it !"
The two were silent for a moment, while Amethyst turned her back on Zecora, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "I have plenty of potions that can heal you up." Zecora didn't touch her shoulder this time. "Would you like me to pour you a cup?"
"My friends will be worried if I don't come back out soon." She wiped at her tears even harder, and winced at rubbing the scratches. "I should go." A pause. "I shouldn't get mad at you. I know you're only trying to help." You lie to protect what you hide. The voice of the Honesty Element echoed in her mind.
"Remember to do what you think is best." Zecora plucked a nearby blossom off one of the trees, and gently tucked in behind Amethyst's ear. "It is up to you to fufill the rest."
She nodded, and walked off towards Ponyville, twirling the flower around with her breeze charm.
Zecora sighed, and spoke softly. "And please remember, life is not a test."
Fleetfoot furiously beat her wings in a struggle to get her back hoof free from Limestone's iron grip, while the others paced around nervously.
"Limesstone, let go!" Fleetfoot flailed her forehooves. "I won't take that long to find her!"
"If I let go now, you'll crash headlong into a tree." Limestone pressed her back hooves deeper into the ground. "She didn't fall that far in. Sparkler isn't a fool, she'll be out any second now."
"And Zecora's in there!" added Flitter. "She's probably helping out Amy right no-"
A loud roar echoed out from the forest, followed by a bright burst of light. Fleetfoot's wingbeats slowed, only for Limestone to release her hooves and give her a sharp push.
"No time to stare in shock!" snapped Limestone, sprinting into the forest. "Let's move!"
The six ponies bolted after her, with Twirly holding onto Flitter's bow. Despite it being the middle of the day, the forest was still quite dark. Saffron's horn lit up dark purple to provide light, and Twirly's antennae glowed softly. Though Limestone had ran in first, it was Lotus who was directing them as Fleetfoot flew beside her. Nopony questioned why. It wasn't important at the moment.
The sounds of magic hissing and sparking became louder, until the glow of Amethyst's horn finally came into sight. Another roar, from the same creature as before, shrieked in their ears, followed by another flash of light.
"Stay DOWN!" yelled a distorted voice in fury. "I don't know what charm you're casting, but you'd better STOP IT!"
"Clearly," Amethyst was breathing heavily, "You don't know how magic works in the Everfree Forest." Fleetfoot and Lotus looked at each other, both nodded, and split to the sides. "It makes no sense. "
Limestone finally got sight of Amethyst, and gritted her teeth tightly. Her friend was being forcibly held down on the ground by another pony, easily identified as a unicorn by a silver glow coming off their horn. They had on an evergreen cloak and matching coverings on their legs. Their horn, the color difficult to identify with it glowing, was pressed up against Amethyst's, the two auras sparking from the contact.
It took a moment for her to notice the massive manticore standing near the two unicorns, frozen in an attacking position. The entire of the manticore appeared to be tinged with a silver color, implying that the mystery unicorn had cast some sort of spell on it. Not even its eyes were moving, making it almost seem as if it were a statue.
"Hey!" yelled Limestone angrily. "You leave her alone!"
Amethyst visibly relaxed at hearing her voice, and quickly acted as the mystery unicorn looked up in surprise. She didn't even bother with any kind of spell, and just landed a solid kick that pushed them away. Fleetfoot zipped in and punched the the mystery unicorn's horn midair, forcing their aura to snap. Lotus, with a flower between her teeth, quietly slipped over to the manticore. Saffron quickly pulled Amethyst to her hooves, with Flitter and Limestone standing as shields between her and the mystery unicorn.
"You're a real pest, Starshine," spat out the unicorn. "The one time you wander off somewhere alone, you have other ponies helping you out in mere seconds!"
Amethyst's eyes narrowed. "You're with Thunderwing, aren't you?" The name she had given to the pegasus that had the orchicalcum knife.
"Interesting name choice." They pulled out a ring of orchicalcum. "Though I suppose it means that I don't need to hide this anymore."
Limestone took a threatening step forward. "And what do you expect to do? It's seven on one."
They gave a snort. "Stupid little Earth pony. There's only six of you." Their horn lit up dangerously. "And if you think you have some special 'Earth pony magic' that will do anything then-" Their aura suddenly flickered, rapidly changing from silver to orange. "Hey!"
Twirly slipped out from the corner of the mystery unicorn's cloak, holding something silver in her hooves. "Hah! You're so oblivious!"
Limestone reared up on her back hooves, having been waiting for Twirly, and slammed her forehooves firmly into the ground. A crack spiked through the ground, stopping right beneath the mystery unicorn and causing the entire area they were standing on to cave in. They whinnied and jumped back, before sprinting away deeper into the forest.
Limestone scowled at the retreating figure, as Twirly presented the silver object to Amethyst. She took in carefully in her hoof, and her eyes widened. "It's an apple."
Saffron frowned. "Wasn't a Silver Apple on the list of magical artifacts?"
She nodded. "But... We're the only ones who have looked at the list. And Twilight was the one who sent me the book that it was in..." There was the sudden thump of a tree branch falling to the ground, and Amethyst's horn lit up as she turned and used her signature. "It's the unicorn!" She quickly sprinted after them. "Come on! They're heading towards Ponyville!"
"I vote that we call them Forestglow!" added Flitter, before quickly following after her friend.
The now-named mystery unicorn, Forestglow, sprinted through the forest without hesitation. Their horn remained unlit, but Amethyst could still see them thanks to her signature. Her friends, being unable to see Forestglow, had fallen behind. Twirly had grabbed the Silver Apple when she had started to run.
Amethyst didn't know what Forestglow was trying to accomplish, but the fact that they had the Silver Apple meant something important. The two ran out of the forest back into the bright sunlight, neither dropping their pace. Forestglow stood out far more heavily than they had in the forest, as their evergreen cloak was easy to pick out in the light.
The few ponies strolling about jumped out of the way as the two unicorns continued on their chase. Forestglow made a beeline for Aerial , easily pushing through the crowd. Amethyst continued after her, but came to quickly regret as Forestglow whipped around with her horn ablaze with an orange aura, and smashed her horn into Amethyst's, causing her to be knocked down to the ground.
"Amethyst!" Fluttershy flew over to her in an instant. "Oh my Celestia, are you alright?"
Forestglow turned back around to continue on what they were doing, only to encounter Applejack right in front of them. "Ah suggest that ya either surrender now, or run away with yer tail between yer legs." She pulled her hat down to shade her eyes. "Don't 'cha think that yer the first ruffian to meddle 'round in Ponyville."
Forestglow sneered. "And who do you think you are?"
Rainbow flew down and landed on Forestglow's side. "Just some ponies who are ready to kick your flank." She smirked. "Can't run now."
Amethyst's horn lit up, and she grabbed Forestglow's hood in her magic, but she winced as her aura suddenly snapped. "Orchicalcum beads," answered Forestglow smugly. "Can't make things easy for you, Sta-"
They were suddenly slammed down against the ground by Amethyst, fury in her eyes. "Don't you call me that!" Rainbow and Applejack cautiously stepped back as her horn sparked dangerously.
"Funny, I could have sworn that I called you that earlier." Amethyst's horn glowed even brighter. "Oh, please. You don't know any combat spells."
Amethyst growled in frustration. "Try me."
Forestglow smirked. "If you say so."
As Amethyst had done to them only minutes ago, Forestglow smashed their back hooves into Amethyst's stomach, though far harder, knocking her back. Rainbow's wings sprang open as to fly at Forestglow, but they quickly snatched her left wing and painfully twisted it back to near breakage.
Rainbow yelped in pain, her tough-as-nails attitude falling away in an instant. Forestglow quickly got to their hooves, only to have to dodge out of the way as Applejack attempted to kick their horn. Fluttershy helped up Amethyst once again, and then hurried over to Rainbow to check on her.
Amethyst sprinted at Forestglow, and then jumped at them. She grabbed their neck, and the two tumbled across the ground with their horns glowing brightly. While Forestglow's hood stubbornly remained over their head, whatever sort of mask that had been muffling their voice simply just broke off, revealing a lilac muzzle.
But Amethyst had focused on the characteristic for just a few milliseconds too long, and Forestglow struck her muzzle with their horn still ablaze. She swiped her hoof across her muzzle to check for any blood, feeling none with relief, and then rolled to the side to dodge out of the way of Forestglow seemingly trying to break her ribs with a sharp stomp.
Amethyst began preparing a sunbeam, only to be interrupted by Forestglow chucking the orchicalcum ring they had at her horn. As one of the few who hadn't been hit with orchicalcum at the Hearth's Warming Celebration, the feeling was new for her. And she was extremely grateful that it was, as even the minimal contact against her horn caused the energy she had been building up to break, and hit her with a painful amount of backlash.
Forestglow sneered at Amethyst, and the aura around their horn flared up. There was a flash of light, and they vanished just as Fleetfoot zipped over to kick their horn. This instead resulted in the pegasus doing a flip, and landing on the ground with a frown.
"-dissappear..." muttered Fleetfoot, as if finishing off a thought.
Amethyst slumped down, not bothering to try and get up, and groaned. "So close to catching one of them..." She picked up the ring Forestglow had thrown at her. "At least we got something..."
"Amy! Twirly zipped over to her, still holding the Silver Apple. "Are you okay?!"
She eyes the apple, and allowed the hint of a smile to form. "Two things... Twirly, grab me some paper. I need to write a letter to Twilight."
"Why me?" asked Rainbow, hovering above Amethyst in the air.
"Because you know where Twilight would be!" snapped Amethyst, her patience wearing thin. "I know that you visit her every week to work on blocking neuromancy!" Rainbow stared blankly at her. "Mind-control resistance, Rainbow!"
"Oh, right. I knew that."
She exhaled sharply, and shoved a small box held in her magic at Rainbow. "Then just go and bring this stuff to Twilight. She needs to know about the unicorn, and the apple needs to be put someplace safe! And I swear to Celestia if you manage to lose anything in there-"
"Yeesh, I'll be careful!" Rainbow grabbed the box. "Lighten up, Sparky!" She quickly flew off before she could be reprimanded for the nickname.
"Impetuous..." Amethyst turned away from the rainbow blur in irritation, and grabbed onto the wheel of the ship. "Fleetfoot, Flitter, get those gemstones at the right angle!"
"Are you sure you still want to go now?" asked Saffron from the deck.
"Yes," she replied bluntly. "If the Silver Apple is real, then everything else on the list could be too. We need to make sure that it ends up in the right hooves."
There was a sharp trill from below deck, followed by Limestone calling up to Amethyst. "Engine's on!"
Lotus pulled at the ropes for the sails, opening them up to fly. Fleetfoot zipped over to the amethyst that Amethyst had attached to the front sail, and flicked a bit of her smoky contrail into it. A small wind began to blow out of the gemstone, soon followed by the same happening with the citrine and turquoise.
Aerial began to lift up off the ground, followed by excited chatter from the crowd. Saffron walked over to the front of the ship with the grape soda in her magic, and smashed it open on the hull with an excited grin. Twirly pushed down with all of her strength on a pedal beneath the steering wheel, and Aerial rapidly gained altitude.
The crowd below cheered with excitement, a sentiment that Twirly shared. "Time for adventure!"
Pegasi created and controlled the weather, a fact known from back before the founding of Equestria. It was always a source of pride, dating back to Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy, that they could create and control such powers. Rain, snow, clouds, rainbows.
Their control was not absolute. Clouds could shift out of their position. Busted ones could conglomerate with others to create new clouds. Storms could grow out of control. Rainbows could be spilled.
Yet the glory of the sky endured. A view that Amethyst agreed with wholeheartedly. The open air to allow the greatest of freedoms, a grandiose light always shining down from above, a pallet of colors to fill your vision and shape your perspective. How slight the dampness was in the wind, but she could feel it returning moisture to her drying eyes. Today was so lovely. If she could just lie down on a fluffy cloud to relax, and think of-
Everything that's gone.
Her conscious tore through the beauty and threw it into the fire. Amethyst opened her eyes, no longer hearing the chanting allure of the wind. She was not free of the ground, dancing through the heavens. She was holding the wheel of the ship, her back hooves planted firmly on the wooden decking.
She may have had Pegasian blood , but she was still a unicorn.
At least, unlike poor Limestone, she had some pegasus spirit in her. The Earth pony laid her head on the guard rails, looking to be far paper than usual. She was not accustomed to being so far off of the ground for such a long period of time.
Flitter, who had taken off her bow and retied it as an eyepatch, quickly approached her friend. "You okay?"
"No," replied Limestone bluntly, her voice as gruff as ever. "There are no rocks up here. My magic's in a panic."
The young pegasus blinked (well, it looked like she rapidly winked) in confusion. "What?"
She waved her hoof in dismissal. "It's an Earth pony and unicorn thing. Doesn't really happen to pegasi."
"Earth ponies and pegasi have magic?"
Needless to say, Flitter's statement had everypony look over at her in confusion. "Well, of coursse!" responded Fleetfoot. "How do you think we can fly?"
This only confused her further. "Uh, with wings, right?"
A sharp burst of laughter nearly caused her to jump, being that it was unexpectedly from Amethyst. "You're not a bird, Flitter! Pegasus wings are too small to induce actual flight, so that's where the magic comes in."
"Really?" She stretched out her left wing and turned to look at it. "Are you sure?"
"My dad's a medical scientist. It's a part of his job to know accurate anatomy. Although, he did only ever teach me pegasus and Earth pony antomy. Always said to 'figure yourself out'."
"Your dad sounds really nice. Did you ever have something you did reguarly with him? Me, Cloudy, and my mom always went to Sugarcube Corner on Saturdays after soccer."
Amethyst's eyes glimmered with joy. "Well, not a regular basis, but when I was younger we would go to the park and fly around."
Fleetfoot looked up and her in surprise. "Your dad was a pegasus?"
"Yep! That's why my magic is sky blue!"
This part peaked Twirly's interest. "Really?
"I'm kidding! Nopony knows why auras come in certain colors, but that's what my dad always told me!"
At this point, Lotus, who had gone over to Limestone and pressed her hoof firmly up against her back, joined into the conversation. "Doesn't ze color either match your eyez or mark?"
Amethyst opened her mouth to respond, but paused as she went over several unicorns she knew. Saffron, Cinnamon, Rarity, and even Princess Luna all had auras that matched their eye color. Twilight, Rarity again, Princess Celestia, and she herself all had auras that matched their marks. "I... guess it does. I don't think I've ever noticed that before."
"Can you change the color?" asked Flitter, excitedly zipping over to her. "That would be super cool!"
She shrugged. "Maybe some unicorns can, but not me. I would likely take several months of training and concentration to be able to change the aura color."
"What's an aura?"
"The glow," answered Twirly, her attenae softly glowing. "Mine doesn't have a color."
Her attention immediately shifted to the breezie. "I didn't know you could do that!"
The light faded away. "It gives me a headache if I do it for too long. Besides, Amy can just light up her horn and jat gives more light."
Limestone's left twitched two times consecutively. "That shouldn't happen."
Amethyst switched her gaze back over to the Earth pony. "What do you mean?"
"Basic magic shouldn't case immediate fatigue. You don't get a headache if your horn glows, right? So it should be the same for Twirly."
"But jat's how it works for all breezies. How it's always worked." The pitch of Twirly's voice was slightly off. "The glow is only supposed to be used on Blomma, anyways." A beat. "Jat's what the pollen is for."
Lotus frowned slightly. "Blomma? I've never heard of zat kind of flower."
"Well, it is only one of its kind. At least, jat's what everypony said. I think..."
Limestone spoke before Lotus could. "What does it do?"
Twirly bounced a little. "Protect breezies."
Now Amethyst spoke before Limestone. "How?"
Silence. "I have literally no idea."
Pegasus magic activates your magic. It protects the pollen. The pollen goes to the flower. It either does something relating to breezie magic or pegasus magic. But why would something like that protect them? She wordlessly activated her signature. If I push enough energy into this then maybe... Her horn sparked slightly as she absorbed energy from the sun. I can just see-
A burst of green light hit her eyes, causing Amethyst to flinch and cover her eyes as they started to water. "Ow!" Her aura faded away.
"Whoa!" Fleetfoot voice came nearer. "You okay?"
Her eyes readjusted to the light. "Yeah, just got blinded for a moment..." The green light had been the same color as Limestone's cutie mark. Had that been the Earth pony's magic that she had seen for just a second? "...Where's Saffron?"
