//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15--The Limestone Forest 
// Story: The Forgotten Sisters 
// by Flaming Pulsar 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 15--The Limestone Forest


The evening after defeating Rida, the group stayed in an inn in Aneto. While there, they planned the journey to Trottingham.
“I believe the quickest path to Trottingham is to go straight through Prance,” River suggested.
“That seems to be the case,” Clover confirmed.
“Can we stop at the Limestone Forest? It is said to be one of the most beautiful natural regions of Prance,” Floriana requested.
“I suppose that can be arranged, it is essentially on the way,” River said. “And that would be a good camping place as it would be about nightfall tomorrow when we get there.”
“Sounds like a plan. And we can plan the rest of the journey when we get there,” Clover said.
“And so we go,” Animia chimed in.

Using Old Oakie as a cart and taking turns pulling it, the group travelled to the forest. The journey went rather uneventfully but upon their arrival to what was said to be the most beautiful natural region of Prance, the group was shocked to see the current state of the landmark. Floriana, perhaps, was the most upset at seeing that the forest had been almost completely destroyed by a wildfire.
“I can’t believe this,” she said, observing the scene.
“It is quite the shame,” River said. “I’m sure that it was quite beautiful before it was burned, but we mustn’t dwell on this now. Let us set up camp so we may rest for the night. We continue our journey at first light.”
“Why must you be so stoic? Can’t you show a little care for all the plants that died a most gruesome death?”
“You think I don’t care? Some of my best allies are forest nymphs. Many had lived in this area as well. Believe me, I care deeply about what has transpired here but we have a mission. It is only a matter of time before Tirek shows his ugly face and we need to find the remaining Stones of Power in order to defeat him. This means that we cannot waste our time mourning the loss of a forest to what I can only assume was a naturally caused fire.”
“I understand this but can we not at the least put some effort into helping this forest regrow? My fytomancy can help the forest grow.”
“Actually,” Clover said, “That’s not necessarily true. Your magic is a control magic. While you are able to make Old Oakie grow at will, it is a manipulation of the genetic code accelerating its natural growing rate. If there were already plant life here, then you would be able to accelerate the growth rate of the existing plant life but you cannot create new plant life from nothing. Such a power is known only by forest nymphs and the most powerful of magic users. I doubt even Starswirl could do such a thing.”
“What Clover says is true in most respects,” River said. “However, there is a way around this. Forest Nymphs create plants by imbuing the soil with their natural magic causing plants to grow. The only other known way to create plant life is by manipulating a single seed and accelerating it growth rate while simultaneously duplicating it. I have a separate theory that I believe may work. If we could comprehend the complex chemical makeup of each plant, it is conceivable that we could manipulate the surrounding chemical compounds to create plants.”
“So you’re saying that we would need to stitch together plants from the ashes that remain by breaking the ash up into individual atoms and then recombining them in a way that would be recognized as a plant?”
“Precisely. But to do such a thing, we would need to know exactly what chemical compounds are necessary to create a plant as well as different varieties of plant as no forest is a single type of plant.”
“This is true. Unfortunately, I am a bit rusty on my biological chemistry.”
“Well,” Floriana chimed in, “Lucky for you, I know all about the chemical compounds of plants. It was a part of my magical studies.”
“Well, that will certainly help,” River said, “but your magic is a control magic, not a creation magic.”
“Would general magic work?” Clover asked.
“Perhaps, but your magic is not strong enough for such a complex spell.”
“What if we helped?” Ambios asked, referring to himself and Dream.
“That may work. I would need to assess your magical capabilities to be sure though.”
“What do you mean by that?” Dream asked.
“It means, I would need to touch your horn. Doing so would allow me to see the power and nature of your magic. I would then be able to tell whether your combined magics would be enough to create life.”
“I’m not so sure about this.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt a bit.”
“Very well, proceed.”
River morphed her shape into that of a human and grabbed Dream’s horn in her hand. She closed her eyes and focused for a minute, assessing his power. “I can see that you are quite powerful but I am unable to read the true nature of your power. Nonetheless, I do believe it will be sufficient in helping matters here.”
“My turn,” Ambios said.
River walked over to Ambios and put her hand on his horn. Focusing like before, she said “You also have quite some power within you. The nature of your power seems to be leaning more toward control magic though I also sense a possibility of creation magic. I believe that you could also be of some help in this process. Between the three of you, I do believe that there is enough power for the task.”
“So we could regrow the forest?” Floriana asked hopefully.
“Theoretically, yes. And since you all seem so insistent in doing so, we shall make this our task tomorrow. I still think we should be doing all we can to get to Trottingham as quickly as possible but if you all want to waste a day regrowing a forest then who am I to try stopping you.”
“So it’s a plan then,” Clover said, somewhat ignoring River’s comment. “Let’s set up camp then and start regrowing this forest first thing in the morning.”

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, the group got to work regrowing the forest. With Floriana’s knowledge of the chemical formulas necessary, Clover, Ambios, and Dream got started creating new trees and shrubbery to populate the forest. After several plants were formed, Floriana began accelerating their growth. River provided water for the forest while Animia sent Albus to gather some woodland critters to bring to the forest. Meanwhile, Flagra, not being of any use to this project, decided to contact the Doctor to inform him of their progress in collecting the Stones.
“We have collected the Stone of Honesty from Herensuge. We are currently on our way to Trottingham through Prance,” she said into her wristband.
“Splendid. Where are you now?” the Doctor’s voice asked through the communicator.
“We are in what was once the Limestone Forest. The others are working on regrowing the forest after it burned down in a wildfire.”
“How can that be? Clover’s magic isn’t nearly powerful enough to create life.”
“We picked up a couple of ponies in Aneto, they’re magic is enough to provide enough power to create life.”
“New party members? Did you check them for any potential danger?”
“Of course, I’m not inept. Dream Klitrio and Ambios Marking, they both check out. I checked every possible anagram I could think of.”
“And how was their magic assessed?”
“River. She’s a water elemental that we picked up. She was captaining a pirate ship and we were unlucky enough to be captured. A couple months at sea and I discovered I was pregnant. We asked kindly to be released which was returned with equal kindness. We were taken to Valencia and then to Aneto. This is where we met Herensuge who sent us to ‘disband’ a certain anti-dragon group in town. Upon doing so, he gave us the Stone and sent us on our way with River joining the party. Although, now that I think about it, she was a major help in ‘disbanding’ that group so I suppose we were actually lucky that she kidnapped us.”
“Yes, perhaps. Be careful around her. The last thing you want is to be drawn into the constant fights between elementals. But while you’re in the Limestone Forest, there’s someone I want you to talk to. She calls herself the Lusitano Mistress. She should be living in a cave nearby. Word is, she might know something about the Stones.”
“A cavepony? Are you sure about this?”
“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, your distant ancestors lived in caves, too.”
“I suppose so. Fine, we’ll finish this regrowing and then we’ll go searching for this Lusitano Mistress.”
“Very well. Keep me updated.”
“Will do.” She deactivated the communicator and stood by ironically playing with her fire magic while the others finished the regrowing of the forest. Once they were done, nearly nightfall, she addressed them about the next task. “I was talking to the Doctor while you guys were growing a forest, nice job by the way. Anyways, he said that there’s someone called the Lusitano Mistress who lives in a cave nearby. He wants us to find her and talk to her. Supposedly she might know something about the Stones of Power.”
“Indeed I do,” a voice said. An older-looking red mare with faded yellow and orange hair walked out from behind a newly grown tree. She wore a maroon fez, a long black cape which covered most of her body including her cutiemark, and a very long scarf with many stripes of different colors. On her front leg was a communicator like the one Flagra had in the same navy blue color though the new mare’s seemed much older. She also had sunglasses on which seemed to suggest that she was blind. But perhaps the most interesting feature about this old mare was that she was sporting a broken unicorn horn atop her head. “You should see the looks on your faces,” she laughed. “Priceless.”
“You can see us?” Clover asked, surprised.
“You assumed I can’t?”
“Well, it’s just that the sunglasses--”
“Save your speech. No, I can’t see you, not in the traditional sense anyways. Been blind for, what’s it been now? 500 years? Turns out that when your horn break, it kinda repairs any disabilities you have though, as I said, not in the traditional sense. The ‘seeing’ that I use is more magical than literal. I’ve tapped into the magical field that surrounds all beings and it allows me to ‘see.’ The sunglasses are more of an aesthetic than anything. I appreciate what you’ve done for this forest, such an act was very kind, especially considering the consequences of the fire.”
“You know how the forest burned?”
“Yes. It was a fire elemental.”
“A fire?” River said. “Did you get a name?”
“As if I could ignore it. She was running around screaming it. Hell, she even came right up to me and told me to ‘Let it be known that this forest was burned by Flare, the fire elemental.’”
“Flare.”
“You know her?” Clover asked.
“Yeah, she’s my sister.”
“Sister?”
“It’s complicated. Elementals don’t exactly have blood so we can’t have blood relatives but we do call each other sisters because we came to be at the same time and place. We were...raised...together. The main difference is that she is crazier than a platypus crossed with a jackalope. She’s been running amuck for the past few centuries starting fires all over the continent. I’ve been trying to track her down all this time but she’s always one step ahead of me. I even went undercover as a pirate for a few decades so I’d have more mobility but I still couldn’t catch her.”
“That would explain why you wanted us to search for places recently hit by fires for plundering.”
“Exactly, I was trying to track her down. How long ago was the forest burned?”
“About a week ago,” the old mare said.
“Damn. She could be anywhere by now.”
“Which is why we should get back to the task at hand. I’m not getting any younger after all.”
“Of course,” Clover said. “You’re the Lusitano Mistress, am I right?”
“Ha. Is that what the Doctor told you? He likes to call me that, not sure why, though. Call me F.”
“F?”
“Yep. I’m afraid I can’t tell you my full name. Information can be dangerous as you may know. Come with me to my cave. We can talk there.”
The group followed F to a nearby cave where she welcomed them gracefully with some drinks.
“So, the Doctor says you know about the Stones of Power,” Clover said.
“Those damn Stones have been in my life since before I was born,” F said. “Yeah, I know ‘em.”
“So, what can you tell us?”
“Well, for starters, I have one of them. And since you all were so kind to restore my forest to its former glory, I will gladly give it to you.” She walked over to a nearby safe and opened it with magic. She then levitated out a Stone of Power and gave it to the group.
“How did you do that? Your horn is broken.”
“When you get to be as old as me, you learn how to work around that. I believe you heard about natural magic from Herensuge.”
“You know Herensuge?” River asked.
“I do. The other keepers of the Stones as well. The Doctor has one, as you know. So does the self-proclaimed ‘Great and Comical’ Trixter in Pie Town. And finally Cheval in Mareis. The five of us are the elite of the Cult of Random Shady Nachos I, myself as the head. We have come together in an effort to kill Discord.”
“Kill Discord? But he can’t be killed.”
“That’s what we thought, too. Until we came upon some ancient texts telling of the Stones of Power and how they were made to defeat the evilest of evils. The Doctor then tells me that you all are set on collecting them all to defeat Tirek. We believe they could also be used against Discord.”
“So why give them to us then? If you have them all, why not just use them?”
“Well, for starters, we have no idea where Discord is. And besides, there’s a sixth Stone.”
“A sixth?”
“Yeah, and no one knows where it is. Trust me, we asked literally everyone in the world. And, to no surprise, most people don’t even know what the Stones are, let alone that there’s a sixth. Luckily, I caught wind that when the five Stones are brought together, the sixth will be presented to the bearers. Unfortunately, we also learned that we are unable to do so. It seems that only natural born alicorns are able to summon the sixth Stone. That is why we have been giving them to you. Though it seems that some of the others may have a sort of test for you to pass in order to get the Stone that they hold. I can tell you this much, killing a terrorist group was probably the hardest one you’ll have to go through.”
“Well, thank you for all your help. And for all that you’ve told us. With any luck, we will defeat both Tirek and Discord.”
“Indeed. Well, if you want, you can stay here for the night. I have offshoot caves where you can sleep.” She pointed them in the direction of the ‘rooms’ and they all went to bed. Once she was sure that they were out of earshot, she activated her communicator. “It’s done,” she told the Doctor. “But I must say that I’m not too happy working with the enemy so close.”
“I know how you feel about them,” the Doctor said. “And I know that you’ve dealt with them more than your fair share of times. But, I also know that all of this must transpire. You of all people should know to not meddle with the course of history.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I’m glad that my role in all this is finally almost over.”
“One last trip for you if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yep. I gotta stick around here for a while longer, though; I have to leave at the right time to cause the necessary interference.”
“Do you know when you’ll end up?”
“Not a clue, but with any luck, I can control it enough to land me in the right year at least.”
“Well, lucky for you, you get to die a peaceful death after all this. For all I know, I got another regeneration coming up at the end of all this.”
“How many you got left?”
“What, trips or regenerations?”
“Both.”
“Until this is done, I got at least three more jumps.”
“And regenerations?”
“Well, by my count, I only have two left but it seems that every time I near the end, something happens and I regenerate again. It’s almost like the universe is keeping me alive for something.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Anyways, make sure they get on their way in the morning. I should be seeing them within the week, if I’m not mistaken.”
“That seems about right. I’ll be sure to send them to Pie Town first thing in the morning. Will I see you again?”
“Definitely in my future but I can’t be so sure about yours, what little of it you have left that is.”
“That’s fair. Well, if I don’t see you again, you better take care of yourself.”
“Don’t talk like that, you know I hate goodbyes.”
“Hate them or not they have to happen. So, as I said, take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, you too.”
F turned of her communicator and went to bed with thoughts of the future lulling her to sleep.