She had four legs, a horn, and wings. Tornado had been right about that.
She could have almost been an Alicorn, but only almost. Iridescent green, her legs were long and thin, almost like those of an insect, and while they ended in hooves they were cloven so high they could have passed for talons. Her barrel was mostly pony-like, but longer and more fluid than made sense for something with a spine and ribs. Her mane was a golden yellow, shimmering with white and pink and luminescent like only Celestias had ever been, but it flowed around her face and down her neck and over her shoulders like the mane of a lion, and her tail was just as leonine. Her horn came out of her forehead, same as a Unicorns, but it was brown and marbled with golden veins and it forked off to either side as it splayed out near its peak, forming something like a shovel.
And her wings...well, they almost looked like Pegasus wings, but what should have been feathers were gossamer like the wings of dragonflies, catching and breaking the up the light like the leaves of the tree had.
But her eyes were a solid, deep, nearly-black brown, and the fillies were still reeling when she spoke again, voice ringing like a thousand bells across every octave.
"You shouldn't be here. You aren't made for this place."
Firelock swallowed and tried to speak - "S-Sorry, ma'am, we-" but she stopped speaking the moment those umber eyes turned their attention to her.
The three stared at the one as the giant tree loomed in the diffuse sky. It was impossible to track the not-Alicorns gaze, as she stood stock still and stared at them, only the newfound breeze and sparkling lights giving any motion.
Half Note ventured second attempt "...Are you the Young Mother?"
"Yes." She didn't move.
Half Note tried again. "...Can we...talk?"
The Young Mother stared on, and said nothing.
Another attempt. "Do you...do you have a name?"
"Many."
Half Note tightened her jaw. "...can you tell us one, so we can use it?"
"I can."
Silence. With a grimace "Would you do so, uh, now?"
She finally blinked. "...Ponies called me Eostre, once, more often than any other name. You may use that one."
Half Note felt Firelock and Tornado relax at her sides. Emboldened, she continued, "Eostre, we ended up here because we were trying to learn about Earth Pony magic and -"
"How?"
"...How...? How what?"
"Did you get here?"
"Um, well, Laccarentia, he -"
"Oh. Oh, no."
Half Note almost chuckled "Yeah, I get it, but -"
Eostre finally moved, pacing from side to side. "You don't understand. If you didn't understand Earth Pony magic, how could you understand what Laccarentia was...no, no, no..."
Tornado perked up. "Why? What, we figured out he's a massive butt, if that's what you're getting at."
Eostre stopped and turned her gaze on the Pegasus. "You don't understand what we are. What he is. What you are not. He is quiet, silence, cold, stillness, the emptiness before and after life and this is a place where things are not." The big brown eyes blinked. "I don't know if you can."
Firelock cleared her throat. "Could you...try explaining? Um, anything at all? I mean, um, like anything you can explain, because uh, we kind of some understand, we've been guessing for a while and trying to figure it out on our own andwekindofcamehereforyourhelpspecificallysorry"
Eostre blinked, and nodded. "I can try. I can't promise, but I can always try."
Firelock and Tornado turned to Half Note, and Eostre followed their gaze. The Earth Pony swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. Here it was. How...what was she asking, even? What did she want to know, exactly?
"Ummm...Sorry, but we dont...we don't understand what Earth Pony magic is. It doesn't- It doesn't feel like it's much of anything. Just...just growing plants good, or being stronger or tougher and...it doesn't feel right that -" she stumbled. "-That Pegasi fly and mold the clouds and Unicorns can cast all kinds of spells and all Earth Ponies get is...what everypony else gets, but just...just that we do it better." She sniffled - her eyes were watering. "It's not...it doesn't feel fair. There has to be more to it than that. There has to be. Can you...can you tell me in a way that makes sense? What makes Earth Pony magic magic instead of just...what everything else already is."
Eostre closed her eyes, and a gentle hum filled the air. Half Note waited, and her friends leaned against her.
When The Young Mother opened her eyes, she spoke. "I will try. First, there is a word you know, and it covers nearly every facet of your magic. It suffuses your world, surrounds you, and so you do not notice it until it is gone. It is foundational to everything you know, but you do not realize the value until you're left reeling by it's absence. You see the brilliant flowers and vibrant leaves and don't consider that the wood and the roots are what makes them possible."
She turned her head around and gave the gargantuan tree a long, quiet stare, before turning back around, eyes closed.
"Earth Pony magic is the magic of life. The magic that separates a static stone from a living seed, from lifeless dust to vibrant soil. To yearn, to try, to want, to live - every breath ever taken is a result of the magic that Earth Ponies mold." Her eyes opened. "Do you understand?"
Half Note was shaking. "I...I dont...I don't think I do. What does that mean, how is that different than what I said earlier, about how any Pony can grow things, or be strong? How is the magic of life different than just...being alive?"
Eostre blinked twice, paused, and continued. "When you arrived, this place was...inert. Lifeless, but for your own lives. You could move through it, but not mold it. You were alive, moving through a world that was not alive, and could not support life. But from the lifeless dust, you found a stone, and through your want, that stone grew as a seed. Your friends were alive alongside you, but you alone could bridge the chasm between what is not living and what is. All of you benefit from the tree of life, and so all benefit from the magic, but unlike Pegasi or Unicorns, Earth Ponies wield it."
Half Note stayed silent, brow furrowed in thought, and Eostre continued. "You struggle to understand what your magic could do, because it's power and abundance surround your lives, and so you can't see it as the miracle that it has worked long before your birth. You see the feats of the Pegasi and Unicorns held high, and do not think of all the distance that had to be climbed before they could even try." She snorted, a distinctly course sound when compared to her voice.
"To be...practical, most Ponies do not delve into their magic. They use a little, what comes easily to them. Pegasi can fly. Unicorns can levitate. And Earth Ponies live a little better. But when they apply their magic, they can do more. Control the weather. Cast spells. Grow a tree overnight. And when they go truly deep, push the boundaries...Gifted Unicorns can Teleport. Pegasi break the sky into light and sound. And an Earth Pony could get blood from a stone - or the reverse." She shuddered.
"Now do you understand?"
Half Note trembled. The words echoed in her bones and she knew what they meant and they stirred her guts and she could feel their weight but her mind refused to put them all together.
Was this what I wanted to hear? What does this mean?
She tried to say something, but all she got were stammers. Eostre stood, and a wind unfelt by the Ponies caught her mane and feathers, and the light that cascaded made her looks though she were catching fire. She closed her eyes and spread her wings and her voice was a thousand bells of every pitch and tone at once as she unfolded -
"The magic you wield as an Earth Pony is the magic that defines the border between all things, anything, and nothing at all. I don't know if you will ever fully understand, if you are one of the souls that can, if any soul ever will - but that magic is everything. It is the core, the root, the heart of all that is. If you cannot appreciate its breadth, it's depth, it's potential and it's power, then you must at least understand its importance. All magic flows from the same well, and while the Pegasi turn the water into clouds and rainbows, and the Unicorns channel the droplets into rivers and oceans and make grand waves, Earth Ponies are at the Spring where it bubbles forth from the ground."
Eostre stood, shimmering in brilliant metalic tones for a moment longer, before the unseen wind let her go and she returned to what she had been.
"Those are all the words I can find for you. If they are not enough, no words will be." She seemed to sigh. "...Do you understand?"