The Tale of Aethyll

by Damiascus

Bloody Beginnings

“Please… please come off…” She mumbled to herself, clenching her strained, white teeth. Her eyes, covered only by her long, teal hair, swelled immensely with tears as they came running down her soft, delicate cheeks. Tired, sweating, and weak, Aethyll sat in solitude at the dim edge of the Everfree Forest, far away from any other pony, with one hoof aggressively rubbing against her flank. Looking down, eyes widened, she began whimpering with fear and disbelief, her white fur becoming ragged and torn from her desperate act. She scrubbed and scrubbed relentlessly, but one fact remained. Because no matter how much she cried about it, and no matter how much she tried to remove it, her cutie mark was still there.

Earlier that morning.

Aethyll was lying down peacefully in her cozy bed. Turning to her side, she began opening her tired, light blue eyes, a hint of gracefulness shining through them, giving her sight of the majestic sun rising through the window. A small, weary smile arose from her lips as sunshine filled the room.

“What a beautiful day,” She whispered to herself while lowering the comfortable blankets from her body.

After stretching her four legs on the wooden floor of her home, she made her silky sheets and placed a satchel around her. The unicorn squinted and pouted at the mirror, looking slightly displeased with her messy appearance; glancing up at her hair, she huffed once, letting her bangs fall neatly in place. Smiling, she then brushed it through twice, which seemed to be just enough. The satisfied Aethyll then took a small whiff of the oak smell that resonated within her spacious home and then opened the door. A bright and busy Ponyville greeted her.

She trotted along the town’s roads, quickly greeting the ponies that she had become slightly familiar with. Considering her brevity in Ponyville, a feeling of acceptance and welcome was a surprising, but pleasant one for the bright, white mare. A plethora of greetings met her sharp ears as she passed both Sugar Cube Corner and Twilight Sparkle’s Library. Twilight, in particular, was a pony that she greatly admired; however, she was also one that Aethyll had not yet had the pleasure of meeting. Instead, her destination was one that was much further away from her own house than the fabled library as well as much more open: Sweet Apple Acres. That place was cluttered with apple trees as much as the Library was cluttered with books. She continued on down the road, and as soon as she got a glimpse of the trees shining against the rising sun, her horn glistened, a small notebook and quill levitating out of her carrying bag soon after. Using her magic, she flipped through the several noted pages, not paying attention to where she was walking, until reaching a checklist at the end of it with only one unchecked item; it was the promise Aethyll made to Applejack, and the very reason for her early visit.

“Help AJ gather-“ she read aloud, interrupting herself by her bumping into one of three broad looking stallions, one of them noticeably larger and with a stronger stance than the other two.

“Oh, my apologies. I-I didn’t noti-“

“Just who do you think you are, huh?!” The largest one rudely replied, cutting her off.

“Well… as I was saying, I am very so-“

“Oh I know who this is!” He cut her off yet again, turning his long head towards one of his companions, laughing. The two joined him in his condescending laughter, and the other ponies looked on with concern, but they clearly did not have enough of it to intervene. “You’re that new pony in town, right? Aryelle or something like that.”

His voice was stern and low; the demeaning comments he made began to anger Aethyll, and she started to glare at him with detestation. The other gossiping ponies looked to each other, amazed at her adamant stance with her hooves practically glued to the road. She began her reply with a voice just as strong and stubborn.

“Actually, my name is Aeth-“

“Yea, I don’t care. The only thing I need to know is that you know who I am,” the pompous stallion continued as his friends smiled and nodded in agreement. In the next split second, the gap between the stallion and the unicorn was halved, his face intruding her space. But she held her stance just the same as he went on explaining. “My name is Steele, but you can refer to me as The Steele Stallion, like every other pony does around here. And you better watch where you’re going. You wouldn’t want to get your cute, wittle mane all dirty, would ya? ”

Smirking with disgusting narcissism, Steele locked his eyes with hers, continuing his threat. He could sense the anger steaming in Aethyll and decided to push it further.

“You look upset. What are you going to do about it? Oh, right. You can’t do anything. You’re just a sad, talentless blank flank!” The haunting words sank deep into her skin, and her muscles tensed up. No one has called her that since she was a filly, which made the words hurt that much more. Her eyes began well up, but her anger remained. Just before Aethyll could say anything back to him, she heard her name from afar.

“Aethyll!”

Her eyes slowly shifted from his obnoxious, gray face to the orange pony far behind him who was waving one hoof in her direction. It was Applejack. As soon as the earth pony noticed that she had received the unicorn’s attention, she began to nod her head left and right, the expression on her face illustrating her extreme worry for the poor pony. Aethyll softened her glare. She remained silent.

“Heh, that’s what I thought. No pony can go toe to toe with The Steele Stallion.”

He shoved her off to the side, his friends mimicking him; she stumbled and winced but kept on all fours. Scoffing, the unicorn went on walking towards her friend, her graceful expression slowly returning to her face. A small smile appeared.

“Hey AJ, it’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Thyll,” AJ replied, the small smile on Aethyll’s face widening at the sound of the nickname Applejack had dubbed for the teal-haired mare. She went on. “I’m really, really sorry ‘bout that. You see, that there is St-“

“Steele…or The Steele Stallion!” Aethyll mocked, mimicking his voice playfully. They both laughed at his obviously repulsive attitude as she sniffled away her unnoticeable tears. Sighing, she turned to see him walking away with pride and arrogance. In a softer tone, she went on. “Yea, we met. What’s his deal, anyway?”

“He’s in charge of makin’ weapons for Princess Celestia’s guards. Didja see his cutie mark?”

“No, I didn’t. It was kinda hard to see past that big head of his,” they chuckled.

“Ya got that right! Well, it’s a big ugly sword. The two “henchmen” he always walks around with have similar ones. No one dares insult them. The last one who did ended up paying for it real bad…What did he say to you anyway? You look a might upset,” she asked, still slightly concerned.

The white mare glanced quickly behind to look at her flank, shining in all of its blankness. “It’s nothing, really.” Her words said one thing but her face said another.

“Aww, don’t be lookin’ all sad now, sugarcube. C’mon, I have just the thing to cheer you up!” AJ insisted, and she headed off towards the apple tree farm, gesturing Aethyll to follow. She did so.

As they were walking, Aethyll noticed the sun still rising in the distance, just above the treetops. “The day’s just started,” she reassured herself. “It’ll get better.” Their hooves made less noise as they stepped off the cobblestone pathways outlining Ponyville and onto the dirt roads that cut through the trees towards the barn. Sounds of ponies conversing, carts rolling, and hooves stomping started fading from their ears; sounds of the calm wind blowing, chickens clucking, and cows mooing soon entered them. Aethyll took a deep breath in and exhaled a relaxing sigh. As they walked, Applejack noticed and turned her head, smiling.

“Peaceful, ain’t it?”

“Yes, very. It must be great living out here.”

“Haha, sure is! You should see Fluttershy’s place though. If you want peaceful, why, her place just screams serenity! Or, in her case, whispers it,” laughing, they starting getting closer and closer to the barn.

Applejack opened the gate while her filly sister, Applebloom, was out playing in the yard with Sweetie Belle. Shrieking with glee, the two little ponies galloped towards AJ and Aethyll. With happiness glowing through her cheeks, Aethyll bent down to greet them both, petting their cute, tiny heads with her hooves.

“Hi, Aethyll!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, her mouth opened wide in the form of a great, big smile.

“We’re so glad you’re here! We have so much to tell you about the Cutie Mark Crusaders! You’re…still a part of it ain’t ya, Thyll?” Applebloom said, following after her filly friend.

“Of course I am! I want a cutie mark just as much as you guys do. But…where’s Scootaloo?”

“She’s out getting us volunteer positions at the hospital, and we wanted to ask if you wanted to join us!” Sweetie Belle asked enthusiastically, practically jumping up and down at the thought of the C.M.C. working together at the hospital.

“Oh, I’d love to, but I have to help out Applejack; I came with her to help her gather the…uh…” she turned to Applejack, smiling embarrassingly, forgetting what it was that she was supposed to collect.

“We’re collecting the Fire Lilies today,” AJ said, finishing Aethyll’s thought, then giving her a friendly wink. The two fillies’ eyes glowed with wonder.

“Really? I heard so much about them; I can’t wait to see what it tastes like!” AJ’s little sister replied.

“Yep, and I need a unicorn in order to gather them. Unfortunately, Rarity and Twilight were busy today, but I was lucky enough that Aethyll here was so willing to help. I really appreciate it,” she said in a soft manner, kind eyes looking towards the generous unicorn.

“I’m happy to help!” Aethyll responded, smiling to her. She then turned to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. “I’ll see you girls later, I promise.”

“Do ya Pinkie Promise?” a smiling Applebloom asked, Aethyll looking slightly confused.

“What’s a Pinkie Promise?”

“HI THERE!”

“AHH!!!!” the unicorn yelled out, falling on her back in a fright as Pinkie Pie, coming out of nowhere, hovered over her.

“Do you promise that you’ll see these girls later?” Pinkie asked, pointing at her with her hoof. Aethyll’s eye started twitching out of shock.

“Y-…yea?”

“Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?!” the pink pony interrogated, gesturing her hoof to the eye that was open wider than the other.

“Y-…yea?”

“She’s good to go, girls!” she winked, zipping off into the distance soon after. The two satisfied fillies started walking away from the paralyzed Aethyll, mouth agape, eyes still twitching.

“Okay, we’ll see you later then, Aethyll!”

“Y-…yea,” she replied quietly to herself. Applejack went down to help her up as Aethyll slowly regained her senses.

“That’s, uh, Pinkie Pie. She does that sometimes.”

“Oh, does she?” the white mare replied, now on all fours, but still looking unsettled. Applejack chuckled.

“Yea, she does. You shoulda seen her down at Dodge Junction.”

“What happened at Dodge Junction?” the curious Aethyll asked.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you some other time; right now, we got some lilies to pick!” Aethyll’s smile returned as she nodded, and she walked along with Applejack after she picked up some tools from the barn.

The sun shone overhead as they trotted along the dirt path towards where they were heading. The trees moved back and forth against the wind, and Aethyll could hear the clattering of tools in the bag she brought. It was nice for her to get out of the town every once in a while. Though it was not nearly as busy as Manehattan, Sweet Apple Acres had gentle breezes and beautiful scenery; both were things she was not necessarily accustomed to experiencing back in the heart of the town. Another quality it had, one she especially enjoyed, was solitude. It was not that she did not like being around her friends. No, that was not it at all. It was more so the fact that she enjoyed the quietness; it was a chance for her to think to herself, something she does not often get to do. Even with Applejack beside her on the road, her mind still wandered into random thoughts. That soon ended.

“We’re here!” Applejack boomed, and just in front of them was a small tree covered in lilies stained by the colors red, yellow, and orange. In the presence of the mid-day sun, the flowers appeared to burn, much to the delight of Aethyll, whose eyes reflected the lilies’ light.

“They’re amazing,” Aethyll said to Applejack, who proceeded to lean her hooves against the tree. It was quite thin and easy to move, so lowering it was no arduous task for the earth pony.

“Sure is!” she grunted as she spoke, bringing the lilies down to Aethyll’s level. “And it’ll be even more amazing to eat after we harvest them. Here’s where you kick in. You see, only unicorn magic can pick ‘em off safely. Otherwise…well…they’re called Fire Lilies; I think you get the idea.”

“Got it,” Aethyll chuckled.

With the help of her magic, she started to gently pull at the fiery flowers one by one, carefully placing each individual lily inside the basket AJ put beside her. This required all of her concentration, and as time went on, her mind began to strain; Applejack was suffering as well; holding the tree down, no matter how small it was, began draining her strength, her legs getting weaker by the minute. Sweating, Aethyll looked towards Applejack, noticing that she, too, was getting tired.

“Hey, AJ, think we should rest?”

“Yea, that sounds like a good idea to me,” she responded, gradually letting the tree return to its normal state. They both laid down on the soothing grass, resting. The basket next to them was nearly full, but they talked for a short while, laughing at each other’s jokes, and gossiping about other ponies, as did most of the ponies from Ponyville.

“And then, there was this one time when Twilight spent the whole day obsessing over the fact that she forgot to send one teeny-tiny letter to Princess Celestia. Can you believe that?” Applejack and Aethyll laughed at the thought, enjoying their time with each other, but they were soon interrupted. Emerging from the dirt road were Steele and his two companions.

“Well, well, look what we have here,” Steele said, observing the two lone ponies. “Hey, look, Rock; they even gathered all the lilies for us!”

“They sure did!” Rock agreed, Applejack and Aethyll now rising to their hooves.

“What do you mean we gathered them for you? You ain’t gettin’ one petal from us! And how did y’all know about this place anyways?” Steele smirked at her response, tossing a small notebook at them.

“Your smart friend, the blank flank, dropped that when she rudely bumped into me. Lucky for us, it actually had some information worth having. Now, give us the lilies and we’ll be on our way.”

“Never! And what would you want with our lilies anyway?” AJ questioned, her eyes squinting at the stallion. Aethyll stayed quiet, not knowing how to handle the situation.

“What any other pony would want them for, of course! The money,” an evil smile appeared on his face as the weak Applejack placed herself in front of the basket. “Well, I wasn’t expected to have this much fun, but I’m not complaining!”

The stallion huffed through his nostrils and then dashed towards Applejack at full speed. The poor orange pony realized that she was not safe when it was already too late. Steele rammed against Applejack’s side hard, flinging her backwards and away from the basket as the shocked Aethyll stood and watched. Applejack laid on the ground, unconscious and badly bruised. He then turned to the unicorn.

“You wanna go against me too, blank flank?”

Aethyll took a moment to soak in what had just happened right before her eyes. She looked at her injured friend then back into the eyes of the culprit responsible.

“You…hurt my friend,” the expression on Aethyll’s face shifting from shock to hatred as she spoke.

“Yea. I did,” he replied. He then picked up the basket and turned to leave.

Time had slowed for Aethyll at that very instant. Everything had gone quiet. She could no longer hear the trees rustling in the wind, the chickens clucking, or the cows mooing. She could not think about anything besides what had just happened. She could not feel the pain her mind faced from using her magic beforehand. And she could not see the stallion walking away. She would not see it. Because he could not walk away from her. Her horn illuminated brightly, brighter than ever before. One tear escaped her eyes as the white mare charged towards him, letting out a loud cry. The light from her horn grew stronger and stronger as she neared him. Her horn flashed once on impact then immediately died out, the Fire Lilies bursting into flames in the air just as she hit him. Steele was on the ground the second after, and his two friends looked at her, both speechless.

As if she were in a trance, Aethyll shook her head and looked down to see the product of her actions. Small fires from the Fire Lilies dimly lit the area as the sun began to set. Her eyes moved back and forth, trying to comprehend what she just did. She did not accept it at first, but the evidence was clear. Steele was dead.

Just then, Applejack began to wake from her injury, the fires glowing around her. With her vision still blurred, she could only slightly make out Aethyll’s appearance.

“A-Aethyll?”

Before Applejack could say anything else, Aethyll turned away and ran, too ashamed to be near her. She ran all the way towards the Everfree Forest and when she finally stopped, instead of catching her breath, she cried.

“I-I didn’t mean to…to kill him! I’m so…so sorry…” she apologized with no one there to listen, but she felt that it needed to be said.

“I didn’t mean to, I really…” she continued, finding it harder to speak the more she bawled. Looking down at herself, she noticed a stain on her flank in the shape of a drop.

“Oh, no. His blood is on me…”

Placing one hoof on her flank, she began to wipe at the drop of blood, but it was not going away. Her eyes widened and she continued to rub harder and harder, but it remained. She started to enter a state of denial.

“N-No…this can’t be…” she thought silently to herself.

“Is this…my…cutie mark?”