The Golden Trail

The sky over Sweet Apple Acres was thick with clouds, the normally cheery orchard wrapped in a gloomy haze. A sky blue Pegasus mare flew just over the canopy, her rainbow colored mane and tail pulled back by the chilly air. Her magenta eyes where narrowed, scanning the ground beneath her with a hawk's intensity. A cloud with a prismatic lightning bolt shooting out the bottom of it decorated her flanks.

Three days had passed since Twilight went to Canterlot and in that time, a string of rumors had started to drift through Ponyville. It were these rumors that brought the mare to the farm and their correlation to the Timberwolves that now guarded its grounds.

Come on! Where is she?

Aside from browning tops of trees and the occasional Timberwolf, she couldn't find what she was looking for. With an irate groan, she banked and made her way towards the farm house. At the same time, Arbor watched her from the shadow of one of the trees. Narrowing his eyes, he tailed her towards the house as silently as his large form would allow. Oblivious to her stalker, the mare touched down in front of the front door and loudly banged her hoof on it. The he-wolf crouched low in his hiding place, ready to pounce as soon as the mare gave him a reason to.

When Applejack opened the door and happily greeted the mare he let himself relax a bit. When she let the mare in, he waited until she closed the door behind her before he came out of cover. Still alert, he crept towards the kitchen window and laid down under it. As he laid his head down and closed his eyes, he kept an ear aimed right at the window.

At the same time, Applejack and the mare happily wandered into the kitchen and took seats at the table.

"Gettin' kind'a chilly out there, eh?" Applejack chuckled.

"Eh, it's not so bad," the mare shrugged, leaning back in her seat. "Falls around the corner, so the Weather Team's been getting things ready."

"Ah bet," the farmer smirked. "We'll have to get the pumpkins and the corn maze ready. Nightmare Night's not that far away, after all."

"Right," the mare frowned, worry creeping past her nonchalance.

Catching it, Applejack's good mood took a slight dip.

"What's wrong Rainbow," she asked.

The mare, Rainbow, sighed and nervously asked, "Has anything...weird happened lately?"

"Like what?" Applejack asked.

"Like, things moving by themselves or strange things hanging around the trees?" she asked, nervously.

"No, why?" the farm pony asked, raising a brow.

Rainbow fidgeted in place, nervously scratching the back of her neck and casting quick glances around the room.

"There are some...rumors running around town and I wanted to make sure everything was alright around here."

"Rumors?" Applejack blinked, a thin string of nervous ice running down her spine. "What kind of rumors?"

"That a spirit from the Everfree Forest... is haunting the orchard," she frowned, still casting nervous glances around the kitchen.

Applejack blinked, then burst out laughing at that, pounding a hoof on the table. Rainbow gawked at her, taken aback by her friend's reaction. Shaking off her shock, Rainbow slammed her own hoof onto the table to get her friend's attention, a tightlipped frown marring her face like a scar. The sight brought an abrupt end to her friend's mirth, a concerned frown forming on her muzzle.

"It's not just rumors. Ponies from the Weather Team have reported seeing somepony walking into the orchard from the forest. They started coming in around the time the Timberwolves showed up."

A cold sweat ran down Applejack's neck.

She knew that she couldn't hide her cousin forever, that it was only a matter of time before word about her started to get spread around. At the same time, she hoped that the main reveal would've been on Gold's terms. Especially now that she had agreed to meet with Fluttershy to tend to her damaged psyche. To be accused of being some kind of Everfree Spirit on top of all the other things the mare had to contend with was a rather unfair pill to be forced to swallow.

Gathering her thoughts, she took a deep breath, forced a smile, and asked, "You sure they didn't just see thin's? Ah'd think Ah'd know if some spirit was wanderin' around my trees, Dash."

Rainbow's eyes narrowed at that.

"But what about the Tim-"

"A cousin of mine came by and tamed those," Applejack cut in, waving off her friend's unfinished question. "Said she did it to bump up the farm's security."

Rainbow gawked at her again while Applejack silently thanked The Maker her brittle pokerface hadn't cracked. While everything she said was technically true, it was so close to a lie that it almost triggered a tell. It wasn't that Applejack couldn't lie, it was that she couldn't tell a convincing one. On top of leaving a bad taste in her mouth, she always had a hard time keeping a straight face when she lied. If the need arose, she had to resort to half-truths to keep anything hidden and even that made her feel dirty at times.

It was even worse when she had to do it to her friends or family.

The Pegasus visibly relaxed a bit at that, but she still had some doubts.

"And the mare seen coming out of the forest?" she pressed.

"My cousin likes to walk Applebloom to Zecora's," the farmer shrugged, more than happy to tell a full truth. "Says it makes her worry less."

Rainbow nodded at that.

She knew that the forest still had its fair share of dangers, even with all of the precautions the Zebra shaman put in place on their behalf. Anypony outside of her circle of friends would have every reason to worry about a filly wandering into the forest alone. She would be lying if she didn't feel a bit of worry herself every now and then for the youngest Apple.

"And you're sure this cousin of yours isn't some kind of Everfree monster in disguise?"

"Absolutely," Applejack nodded.

"And you're sure there are no ghosts floating around?" Rainbow asked, again casting a nervous look around the room.

"Positive," Applejack nodded again, a small smile forming on her muzzle.

Rainbow met her gaze for a long moment, then let out a relieved sigh and leaned back in her seat.

"Good."

"You okay?" Applejack asked aiming a concerned frown at her friend. "It don't usually take a few cooky rumors to get you this worked up."

Rainbow shrugged and said, "I can't help it. Something's been putting me on edge these last couple of days."

"What do you mean?" she asked, raising a brow.

"I don't know. It just feels like something big is going to happen soon and I don't think its going to be good."

"You mean somthin' like Tirek or Chrysalis?"

"I hope not," Rainbow chuckled. "But yeah, I think we should keep an eye out for anything weird for the next couple of days. You know, just in case."

"Yeah," Applejack nodded."Maybe you should let Twi know about this feelin' you've been havin' when she gets back."

"Good idea," Rainbow smiled, then chuckled as she added, "Can't believe I let a few stupid rumors get to me like that. Ghost? Seriously?"

"Ah know!" Applejack laughed. "Seriously, the thin's this town comes up with!"

A loud flushing echoed down the hall, lightly pulling the mares attention towards the kitchen door. All of Applejack's good cheer died a miserable death when a full pony skeleton walked into view. Dead silence filled the room, Skully turning her head slightly back and forth between the two living mares. Gulping, and with her ears pinned down, Applejack slowly turned to face her friend. Rainbow's whole body was shaking like a leaf in a winter storm, but was otherwise frozen completely in place. Her face was as pale as a sheet, and her eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

"Rainbow," Applejack cautiously gulped. "Ah promise that there's a reasonable explanation for this."

***

When Gold had agreed to see Fluttershy for therapy, she was sure that the experience would be an interesting one. How such a kind and gentle mare could be associated with a being as spastic as The Lord of Chaos was a mystery she was sure she would never find the answer to. However, that fact about the mare took a small backseat when she finally made it to the mare's home.

Fluttershy lived a good distance away from the town, right on the border between Ponyville and The Everfree Forest. A single glance at the Pegasus' cottage explained why such an arrangement was made. The two-story home looked like a shrub that had been enchanted into a house. Lush green leaves made up its thatched roof and covered the external walls, only a few windows, a door, and a chimney showed that it was a functional home. A brook flowed ten feet in front of the structure with a small bridge crossing over it and connecting to the winding path leading to the front door. Tall trees covered with birdhouses as well as a few rabbit holes surrounded the cottage, almost to an obsessive degree as far as the former was concerned. In spite of that, the house gave off an air of peace, like a sacred sanctuary willing to take in all who needed it.

Gold felt some of her worry fall away as she approached the odd building, but not enough to keep her from fretting over how she presented herself. As if a switch had been flipped in her mind, she began to fall back to her old way of thinking in regards to etiquette, programing that became impossible to ignore when she found herself standing in front of the cottage's front door. After a few seconds of nervously hoofing her mane into some semblance of order, she knocked on the door. She stood at attention, nervously gnawing on her lower lip as she waited for a response. Her ears twitched when the faint sound of hooves on hard wood came from behind the door, along with what sounded like dozens of small paws. Gold was given only a second to ponder that before the door opened and revealed the sound's source. Or more accurately, the sound's sources.

In addition to a surprised Fluttershy, a few dozen animals greeted her at the door. Several colorful birds peered at her from perches fixed to the walls just short of the ceiling while roughly the same number of squirrels, rabbits, and mice stood around Fluttershy's hooves. Towering behind her was a full grown brown bear, the beast taking curious sniffs in her general direction.

Gold blinked, not entirely sure how she was supposed to react to such a sight.

Her first thought was to flee, especially when she and the bear locked eyes, but something told her that that was not necessary. She tried to relax, to approach this new oddity like she did with her new distant cousin. Embrace the madness and try to hold onto what little sanity she had left along the way.

A brief moment of silence settled between the two mares, Gold trying to find her words while Fluttershy patently waited. At the same time, the animals continued to give her odd stares. When Gold eventually broke the silence, some of the rodents surrounding Fluttershy started to give her the same kind of sniffs that the bear had.

"H-Hello, Fluttershy," she stammered, trying very hard to keep eye contact with the Pegasus and not the bear standing behind her.

"Hello Gold," Fluttershy softly smiled. "It's nice to see you again."

"L-Likewise," she gulped. "Th-Though, perhaps I should have come at a later date, as you seem to have...guests at the moment."

Before the Pegasus could respond, all of the animals surged past her out of the house towards Gold. The mare let out a startled squawk when the bear picked her up and brought her into the cottage, the great beast lumbering into the building with her over its shoulder like a bag of grain. Everything was happening faster than Gold could make sense of, only rushing colors, a soft voice full of panic, and animal noises registered to her. Then, just as suddenly, she found herself sitting on a dark-wood couch with green cushions and pillows in the middle of a very clean and homey living room. A coffee table made of the same wood sat in front of her with a near identical couch to the one she was occupying on the side opposite of her. She watched blankly as some squirrels placed a small bowl full of grapes onto her side of the table while some mice did the same with a plate of daisies. She jumped when a large hawk landed on one of the armrests of her seat, then stared dumbfounded at it as it spread one of its wings open to lightly fan her. When the bear from before served her a cup of tea, she aimed a confused glance at an equally flummoxed Fluttershy still standing by the door.

When a similar arrangement had been set up on the opposite side of the table, sans the hawk, Fluttershy took the seat in front of the new place setting.

An awkward silence filled the room, one that even the animals refused to break, as the two mares struggled to comprehend what had just happened.

Clearing her throat behind a hoof, Gold gave the mare a stiff smile and said, "Well... that was a...surprise."

Fluttershy nodded, a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she stared down into her untouched tea.

"Tell me, do they treat all of your guests like this?" Gold nervously chuckled, clumsily plucking a grape out of her bowl with her hooves and rolling it into her mouth.

"No," Fluttershy frowned, staring confusedly at each of her animal friends in turn. "They've never acted like this before."

"I see," she stated, giving the surrounding animals a raised brow. "Quite odd."

Taking a deep, steadying breath, the golden mare picked up her cup and saucer and took a small sip. A small smile graced her muzzle as jasmine mixed with a small hint of honey graced her tongue. She cared deeply for her new family, but she could not deny that The Apples were rank amateurs when it came to brewing tea. When she mentioned a fondness to the drink in passing, she was pleasantly surprised when they brewed her up a cup. It had the same rustic flavor she had come to love in their cooking, but it just didn't fit quite as well when brewed into tea. Whether it was the bear or the result of whatever training Fluttershy put the bear through, the simple offering put before her more than met her standards.

When she let out a happy hum, the bear let out a pleased grumble, earning a small giggle from Fluttershy. Riding her good mood, Gold cleared her throat and set her drink back down onto the table. She was here for a reason and sadly, it was not to be pampered by animals.

"I thank you for your hospitality, but I am afraid that this is not a social meeting."

"Oh," Fluttershy sighed, sitting up straighter in her seat and giving Gold her full attention.

Staring down at her lap, Gold fidgeted with her hooves.

"Recently, I told my family about my past. It...was...an ordeal to say the least. They still want a mon-... they still want me in their lives and have talked me into seeking help."

"Oh! That's good," Fluttershy cheered, taking a sip from her cup.

"That is why I am here. To seek help."

"Oh," the Pegasus blinked, a small smile marring her face. "I...um...don't know if I can do that. I'm not a doctor or a therapist."

"I...I see," Gold gulped, trembling in her seat. "Th-Then I suppose this has been a waste of time for both of us. My apologies."

As she said that, she shakily tried to rise from her seat, only to pause when she was met by a soft "Wait" from her host.

"I...I didn't say I wouldn't help you," Fluttershy patently smiled.

The golden mare froze at that, then settled back into her seat.

"Thank you," she shyly smiled, the shadow of her silver bangs hiding her eyes. "So, how shall we start?"

"From where ever you want," Fluttershy nodded, taking a sip of her tea. "You have nothing to fear. It's just you and me."

"Not exactly," Gold chuckled, giving the surrounding animals a passing glance.

The butter yellow Pegasus lightly giggled at that, but otherwise, remained silent. Gold's smile fell away with a weary sigh, already having made up her mind as to where she wanted to start this conversation. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her posture and met Fluttershy's patient gaze.

"The last time we met, I told you a little bit about my previous life. I fear for us to make any further progress, I will need to paint you a more detailed picture."

The Pegasus' wings ruffled at bit, but was the picture of patience. With an encouraging nod, Fluttershy met the resolve in Gold's eyes with her own as she waited for the mare to elaborate. Gold took a deep breath to steady herself, then retold the tale of her old life, her crimes, and the fall that brought her to where she stood today.

***

The air was rich with the smell of booze and smoke, the bar filled with Unicorns cheering the end of a long day's hard work. In one dark corner of the room, a mare in a deep red hooded cloak lurked, her silver-coated hoof clutching her tankard. Her red eyes stared blankly into the swill, seemingly trying to divine some kind of great truth from its murky depths.

Her eyes widened as desperate cries slithered into her mind, the faces of foals locked in pure terror flashing before her eyes. She forced her mouth open and chugged the vile brew, hoping for the peace only a drunken stupor could give. The world started to blur, the cold memories fading away right along with it when she finally came up for air.

She slammed the tankard onto the bar and slurred, "Another."

"I think you've had enough," the stallion manning the bar stated.

The mare's eyes met his and an arctic chill shot down his spine.

A voice just short of a guttural growl crawled out of the mare's muzzle.

"I. Said. Another."

With a stiff nod, the stallion grabbed her tankard with his magic and ran off to refill it. The mare watched him work, her previous malice replaced by exhaustion. Her mind wandered aimlessly, desperate for any kind of distraction she could get. The noise of ponies chatting, the clattering of glasses, anything if it could help her forget what she had done.

Her cloak rippled, moving more like a lightly disturbed liquid then fabric as she numbly pushed her ratty golden locks aside and rubbed a hoof against her horn. Cracks sealed close by dark red crystal ran through the appendage, numb to the touch, but cold to the mare's twisted soul. Burning rage ran though her and mixed with the rare sense of guilt as her victims' faces ran to the front of her mind.

"I cannot believe you made me do that," she whispered, venom dripping from every letter of every word.

"It could not be avoided," a voice hissed, its tone as soft as silk, but as twisted as a spiral. "I was hungry and you needed power."

"This was not what we agreed upon," she whispered with a snarl.

An audible smile crept into the voice's tone as it said, "Is it not? You wanted my power. Did you think such a thing would not come at a cost? My dear summoner, you have much to learn about how beings like I operate."

The mare grit her teeth, ready to give a rebuttal only for a passing question from a nearby table to knock the wind right out of her sails.

"Hey, did you hear about what happened at the orphanage a few blocks down?" a stallion asked.

"Yeah, those poor kids," a mare at the same table whimpered. "I heard The Deathless Mare was responsible. Did you hear if there were any survivors?"

The hooded mare shifted her attention away from the conversation, a sickening stone settling deep in her gut. She took her refilled tankard and tried to down as much of the rancid brew as she could. In the back of her mind, she knew it was a pointless gesture. The pain would be numbed, the guilt weakened, but the answer to that retched question would never change.