Ambrosia and the Mystery Mark

Secluded in Everfree Forest

Ambrosia galloped away as fast as she could, keeping her head down so that no one would be able to see the pain on her face. She ran and ran, heedless of direction, ignoring everypony she passed. She ran as she had in her dream, just as alone and afraid, and just as hopeless of finding answers.

Soon, there were less and less ponies around her, and the grass beneath her hooves had become longer and more unkept. Confused, she soon slowed to a stop, and found herself at the mouth of Everfree Forest.

The forest stood before her, huge and untamed. She knew, within, nothing was predictable. It sat on the edge of the little pony's world, like the frayed, torn edge of a cloth. To go inside was to flirt with all different sorts of danger.

Ambrosia was tired after having run for so long, though, and she felt as though she wanted to be alone here, not wanting to burden anypony else with her new, bizarre problem. She sat on a nearby tree stump to collect herself.

Twilight Sparkle's question still plagued her mind, here on the forest's edge. She was good at painting, yes, and she enjoyed it, certainly, but... one more thing about it still remained, and the way to say it was simply not possible. She could feel why her Cutie Mark had not been a brush or a paint pot or a palette, and yet she did not know why. This made as little sense as anything else, and still she sat, alone and ever-confused.

It was a small consolation to her, at least, that on the edge of Everfree Forest, on the edge of ponykind, there were at least no other ponies. Her burden of confusion was now only her own, and did not need to be laid upon anypony else.

This relief was short-lived, however, when over the faint sounds of wind and the various chittering animals from the forest, a louder, closer noise sounded out from just above her; a sort of sharp, whooshing sound, like the sound of thrusting wings.

Glancing upwards curiously, Ambrosia saw another pegasus pony, gliding around slowly, as if she was looking for something. She flew about more purposefully than Rainbow Dash, slow and unremarkable. Ambrosia looked up at. the airborne pony, hypnotized slightly by her slow weavings. She was a pale gold colour, and had a long, pink mane and tail.

The pegasus seemed to be looking around the ground for something, so it wasn't long until she noticed Ambrosia. Curiously, she began to descend, until with a last quick fluttering of her, wings, she stood next to Ambrosia. The winged pony's expression looked concerned and distracted, and for a moment, no one knew what to say to each other.

"Um... hello," Ambrosia said to her, hoping that would break the ice.

"Hi," she replied, timidly. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"I don't know, I... just kind of ended up here," she answered, much to the other pony's bafflement.

"I see," she murmured, glancing around awkwardly. "And who are you?"

"My name's Ambrosia," she answered. "What about you?"

"Um... Fluttershy," she said quickly, as if her own name made her shy.

"...What about you?" Ambrosia asked, after a few moments. "What are you doing out here?"

"Oh! Um, I saw a deer or something outside the forest," she explained, becoming considerably more animated, "it looked like it hurt its foot, but when I tried to help him, he got scared and jumped into the forest. I don't think he's gone far, though, so I'm trying to find him."

"How awful!" exclaimed Ambrosia, "a deer with a sprained foot! He wouldn't last long in the forest with an injury like that, would he?"

"Probably not..." answered Fluttershy. "It's very strange, I've never seen a deer around here. They're very rare."