Stellar

by RainbowFreakingPony

Chapter 4

While the herd was off preparing for an adventure to find their cutie marks, Buford and Stacey had to go on their own adventure to find Stella's parents. Buford had brought up their newest family member in so many conversations, ponies started to believe that Stella was his actual daughter. Nopony had a clue about the whereabouts of these mysterious parents. The mane salon got a lot of ponies coming through, but still not enough to know about lost fillies in villages down the way. Stacey talked to her boss, and had an interesting conversation to say the least. Her boss did not know of any fillies being lost, and never heard of this blue and purple eyed silver filly. But what she did know was that in the area they have picnics was not a perfectly normal place either. Its significance was more surreal than they previously thought. Instead of being a peaceful calm place, this area was actually a concentration where more mythical beings were found. Apparently, it's completely safe at day. But at night is when the monsters seem to materialize and start roaming that part of the forest. All of this information that Stacey got just confused her more about how this filly could survive a night in a place like that. Of course these were just rumors, but its location near the Everfree Forest was convincing enough.

"Any luck?" Stacey asked her husband after their shifts. Her husband simply shook his head and relayed what small bits of information he picked up. Nothing helpful, so Stacey told him about her strange conversation. A worried brow settled across Buford's eyes.

"Our only real choice at this point is to keep her safe in the time being." Buford pondered on their situation, "Its really not all that bad. Our daughter and Stella already get along so well, they're already going on adventures to find their cutie marks. We can have a big and happy family, and nopony would question us."

Stacey couldn't argue with that. And she agreed that it would be nice to have Stella in their family, for as long as her parents are a mystery.

"And then I said, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!" Everypony laughed at Chim's joke. Stella was a bit more reserved, but smiled nonetheless. She looked at her friend's bubblegum hair and wondered how it was so springy if she never brushed it. Maybe it tasted like bubblegum too. She will test that theory later. But for now, it was almost time to set off for their big adventure. Twilight went though the checklist - again, of course. Seeing that nothing was missing, the ponies started walking down the path to the Everfree Forest. It loomed closer and closer until Stella couldn't look at the clouds. Trees passed overhead, and the foliage got thicker and thicker.

"How do you know if we are going the right way?" Scootaloo asked out-loud into the air.

Twilight heard and said, "We are following this compass and this paper map." The map lifted up from a random burst of wind and blew away. Twilight caught it with her magic again. She made irritated sounds and snapped some twigs out of her way with that purple sparkly mist she uses. Stella stared at the magic and saw tiny universes in it. Twilight caught her staring, and learned another thing about the mare yet again. Full of surprises, Twilight thought to herself. She notices much more, because everypony is already used to the things they see all the time. Her fascination was not lost on the Princess, and Twilight felt a little of that fascination herself. Twilight stumbled over a haphazard rock because she was staring at her own magic. She blushed a little but most of the group was intrigued by the surroundings, keeping an eye out. Stella's eyes looked at Twilight, and like always, they seemed to be full of questions. Twilight saw the innocence apparent in her look and smiled back at Stella. Twilight's smile had a motherly effect on Stella, and her trepidation about the adventure eased off her back for a while.

"Are we there yet?" Chimera lost the initial silence from new surroundings, and the high energy started coming back. Her step started gaining on a bounce, and she came to the front of the group next to Twilight.

Twilight spoke patiently to the jumping foal, "We have quiet a bit to go." She gestured to the map, "We are... Here. And we need to go... Here."

"Oh!" Chimera exclaimed, "We are only a couple of inches away!" Twilight corrected her by saying how the inches are actually representing miles. Chim didn't seem affected by it, considering how long she has to walk to get to school everyday. A little firefly caught some of the ponies' attention. Then it disappeared, and reappeared somewhere else. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Chimera followed the sparkly lights. Twilight noticed a little too late, and saw the bubblegum mane disappear with the others. She smartly stayed on the trail and called for them to come back. The sparkles led them into a clearing, and Chimera then knew what it was.

"These are will-o-the-wisp." She stated.

"What does that mean?" Scootaloo asked.

"Will-o-the-wisp are beings that like to play tag with ponies, but you can never catch them." Chimera's explanation was simple and made her point. They turned around and headed out of the clearing. Once reunited with the group, Twilight assuredly scolded them good. Firm, but loving still. She thanked Chimera for having some sense about her and told the rest of the ponies to keep a watch out for any other ethereal beings.

"But don't go off chasing them." She said. Everypony kept an eye out because they never knew what could approach them. The Everfree Forest was full of those ethereal beings, so it wasn't long until they had a sprite of some sort pulling ponies' tails. More gathered, and all the ponies were trying to evade them or shake them off as if they were flies. Chimera had an idea, and took out some items from the bag. She gave one of them a toothbrush, and their unintelligible voice tinkled as a thanks. As that one left, Twilight noticed.

"Why did you give that sprite a toothbrush?" Twilight questioningly at Chimera all the while trying to get rid of her own annoyances.

"She looked like she was having a bad hair day." Chimera replied. Chimera began taking out odd trinkets that they packed and gave them to the sprites. After each one seemed satisfied and gave their thanks, they swiftly departed.

"You can see them?" Twilight asked.

"You can't? They just wanted our help, and were trying to get our attention for the longest time. I was waiting to see what you wanted us to do, since you scolded me on the last encounter." Chimera looked befuddled that Twilight couldn't see the beings. Twilight looked sorry for being too harsh, even though she was just looking out for their safety. Nopony else seemed to be able to see the beings either. The ponies continued, and they were lucky none of their encounters so far were life-threatening. The Everfree Forest could be a dangerous place. The ponies passed scary looking trees, purple trees, pitch black trees, it all became a blur. All the ponies knew was that they were getting closer from the map Twilight held in her magic. Stella looked up, but the foliage blocked her view. She saw snippets, and it looked like morning was just passed. They headed off early so they had enough time to get to the caves and back. They came onto this thick hedge, and only had one entrance. The path lead to it, and they knew there was no way around. Coming up to the passageway, there seemed to be a door.

"What do we have here?" A voice reverberated from almost everywhere. "You are lucky! I just woke up from my mid-morning nap." The ponies looked at each other in shock, but Chimera thought to herself, who takes a mid-morning nap? A body dropped off of the top of the hedge and landed on all fours. They peered into the face of a Sphinx. This large cat, lion to be precise, had a strange face.

"May we pass? We are just coming through." Twilight spoke for the group.

"Just coming through? Kakaka..." The cat had a strange hacking laugh. "What makes you think that you, ponies" She practically spat the word out, "can pass through here just like that?"

Surprisingly, Chimera spoke up first, "We will answer your riddle, and if we get it right, you will let us pass." Twilight thought, what riddle? But her question was soon answered.

"Oh, very good. I like this one." The cat purred, "But you do know, if you get it wrong... You all will die." She flexed her claws out of her paws for emphasis. She grinned a toothy smile at the ponies. Chimera was well aware of the stakes that this riddle was riding on.

"With a coat of the hardest metal,

And the fight of a thousand strong,

I hold hostage what you hold at home.

Who am I?"

All the ponies looked to Twilight, because she was the smartest. She studied a lot of things, but she was coming up with blanks. She twiddled her hooves in the dirt, saying the lines over and over to herself. She would linger over one, but still no ideas were formed. Her breath started getting faster. She had to look confident for these ponies. She couldn't believe that she didn't know this. What was it from? The lioness started to look impatient. She was being very professional about the riddle and allowing them their sweet last moments of life, completely stumped by her riddle. Her grin widened, and her internal fuse was burning very close to the quick. Right as she was going to gloat and got ready to pounce, a voice stopped her.

"The Nemean lion." Chimera's voice rang out with strength and confidence. The Sphinx's eyes widened in surprise, as she had got the answer right. The cat's face became very sour; she respected her rules and slinked off. The ponies could hear her mutter to herself about her missed opportunity to get an early lunch. After the ponies sat stunned for awhile that they lived, they cheered and group hugged Chimera.

"You did it!! That was so good!" As they hugged Chim, a bright light emanated. After her flank stopped glowing, the group of ponies stared at Chimera's new cutie mark.

"YAY!" She yelled without thinking. Then she glanced up at the Sphinx's lair.

"We better get a move on..." The ponies hustled through the entrance and onto their quest.

Author's Note:

First photo created along with 90sigma's Background: Everfree Forest Clearing and that lovely General Zoi's Pony Creator
Second photo created along with RainbowRage12's Everfree Forest Path and General Zoi's Pony Creator and a wonderful cutie mark from TheSharp0ne's Scroll - Vector