The sun had risen and so had Ei Rikr, Sophia, and Andrea. The horsefly had already made a meal for Sophia and Andrea to eat for breakfast. It was a benefit of being an inorganic flame to be able to serve ones friends and family at all times. Plus, learning how to cook helped Ei Rikr cope with not being able to provide the comfort of a warm fur to sleep against like Andrea.
Once the organics had their fill of sauteed wild pears and onions, had their saddlebags packed, and dawned their shawls, the group set out from the cave. The trek to Ponyville was long and Andrea would need to return to the forest to deal with predators and the refugees, so they had left early. This did not mean that Sophia could not read while they traveled, and Andrea decided she would take her 27-string guitar with her.
Ei Rikr had carefully placed the voucher over the vial of poison joke cure. Ze could have cured zir blindness with the cure already, but ze could not bring zirself to do that until ze cured Sophia first. I will cure her when I am sure Equestria is a safe place for her.
"What are you reading, Sophia?" Ever asked.
"I am looking up what this Twilight princess has to say about ponies, especially the breeds."
"Oh, I am curious about that to. Could you read it for me?"
"I will have to translate, so some of the meaning will be lost. 'Section 4: On Ponies and Their Breeds:
"'While each pony has a unique talent, those talents are related to the pony's breed. There are three main pony breeds. The most numerous breed is the earth pony, and they are the farmers, bakers, millers, cobblers, smiths, entertainers, and merchants. Their Cutie Marks orient them towards the earth, so they live in the valleys at the base of mountains. A focus on the body and its appetites characterizes this breed. Earth ponies have the strong bodies for the honest-hard work of farming and other forms of productive labor. While they grow and prepare the food for all the breeds, earth ponies must consume the most food, and sometimes a pony from another breed would come to one of the earth ponies' numerous celebrations, parties, and family reunions and be overwhelmed by the food provided. Earth ponies also are the breed most concerned with the exchange and accumulation of bits, the currency of Equestria.
"'The second most numerous are the pegasi, who have wings, and they are the weatherponies, care-givers, and soldiers. Their Cutie Marks orient them towards the sky. Even the pegasi who live on the land will have Cutie Marks referring to something flying or weather-related. Pegasi mostly live in sky cities. The winged breed seeks to improve the self both in body and virtue for the sake of serving others. One of the most important jobs of the pegasi is creating and managing the weather. While the weather was created in their sky cities, the management of weather was a service provided to all of Equestria through the deployment of local servant pegasi. They also have the athletic bodies and virtues of courage and honor to be auxiliary soldiers, which is why most of the Royal Guard are pegasi. This winged breed has many competitions where they display their excellence in maintaining the weather or in sheer athleticism, and pegasi often bring ponies even from the other breeds into their competitions. Most often this is earth ponies as they have the strongest bodies.
"'Next is the unicorns, who have horns, use magic to maintain Harmony in Equestria. They are the artists, writers, law makers, soldiers, librarians, historians, and scientists. Each has a Cutie Mark directing them to a manifestation of Harmony like Beauty or Justice. They usually live in mountain castles above the clouds and valleys of the two more common breeds, though some have come to live in the lower parts of Equestria. This breed is characterized by propriety and intellectualism. Their propriety manifests itself in a sensitiveness to order in things making them good at organizing, identifying, and combining materials to create harmony. This propriety helps not only in the create beauty but maintain law between ponies. Their intellectualism is fostered in specialized education in unicorn-only schools. This intellectualism develops because of that education into an obsession with all aspects of the form of magic that their Cutie Mark directs them. They will seek out all its manifestations, bring them under their understanding, and use them into the advancement of their craft. Because of their focus on the form of magic called order, many of them are soldiers as well, making up the rest of the Royal Guard next to the pegasi. Other pony breeds become involved with the horned breed when there is deviance from harmony that a unicorn must restore to the Good. For instance, if a unicorn has the focus of Beauty, they not only create and rise the standard of beauty in Equestria but make beautiful that which has become ugly.
"'The other breeds include bat ponies, crystal ponies, and alicorns. Alicorns are the rarest of those breeds. They are rare because unlike the other breeds, they are not born but chosen....'"
Andrea had to interrupt at this point. "If I were those earth ponies, I would just leave the other breeds behind. There is no reason why they should just accept this drivel that they have to rely on those unicorns for culture and governance. THey are basically told that in exchange for letting the unicorns dictate what they do they have to give those unproductive unicorns foods. As for the pegasi, the rest of the world has been able to prosper fine without weather control."
Ever had heard enough about revolutionary talk from Locke, so zetold SOphia to look up Sweet Apple Acres, which was where they were headed. Sophia searched the large tome for the requested information. Having found it, she began again.
"'Section: Ponies and Places, Subsection S: Sweet Apple Acres:
"'It is princess-verified that the best apples in Equestria come from Sweet Apple Acres, a small family-own farm on the outskirts of Ponyville bordered by the Everfree Forest. On this farm lives four honest, hard-working earth ponies. The oldest is Granny Smith, who was one of Ponyville's original settlers eighty years ago. Under Granny Smith is her grandson, Big Mac, whose immense strength itself is legendary. After him is the most dependable of ponies, Applejack, who's the Element of Honesty. Finally but not least is a small filly name Apple Bloom who biggest concern upon the writing of this guide was finding her Cutie Mark. They also had a border collie name Winona. Together they are but a small part of a much larger Apple Family that spanned the totality of Equestria.'"
"Sophia is there anything on the Apple Family?" Ever inquired.
"Yes, right here. Section: Ponies and Places, Sub-section A: The Apple Family:
"'The Apple Family is the largest and third oldest earth pony family in Equestria, and they are like the lifeblood of Equestria circulating nutrients all across Equestria. They can trace their history back to 700 Before Alicorns B.A. The best account of the Apple Family History is in their own oral histories. Unlike my Canterlot colleagues, I believe that oral histories, not just written ones, have value in historical research. It is to be noted that the Apple Family is not unanimous in its account of what happened during certain parts of their history, but when controversial points are reached, I will point them out.
"'The important contribution in the Apple family, agreed by both earth ponies and unicorn scholars alike, is the apple trees that now line our most major roads. Most scholars do not know the significance these trees have in the Apple Family because they have never asked.
"'According to the elders in the Apple Family, most notably Ponyville's Granny Smith, while settling the valleys across of Equestria, the family planted apple trees along their paths. This is already well known. What is not known is that the descendents of these apple trees still mark the path of the Apple family Ancestors. A pony could literally use these trees to discover when and where the Apple Family came from.
"'To this day, the Apple family performs pilgrimages every summer along the path from the oldest surviving settlements to the youngest like the roots bring nutrients to the highest branches. Conscious of this metaphor, the oldest Apple family settlement is referred as the trunk and the younger ones as the branches. These branches have levels, and while these levels are sometimes used for superiority, their primary purpose is to help Apples draw their ancestry back to the lower branches.
"'This last two years, the Apple family followed the trees to the Ponyville branch which is only eighty years old, but technically youngest settlement is the Appaloosa one, which is three years old, but the trees to their settlement has not fully yet grown. The fully grown trees at Appaloosa are donations from each of the older settlements, including the Ponyville branch. The family waits for the trees to fully grow to a settlement because if the settlement survives until then, they have truly become independent enough from the whole family to be their own branch with the strength to hold the family reunion.'"
Before Sophia could read any further, Andrea made a hushing sound. "Listen," she commanded. The group became very still and quiet. They could hear the sound of several creatures slithering and making occasional bawking noises.
Sophia closed Twilight's book and readied to use it as a bludgeon. Ei Rikr got behind Andrea, unsure what was waiting for them.
The forest sudden got incredibility quiet as those hiding realized they had been found out. Andrea scanned the area around her, and when one bush rustled slightly, she threw her spear into it.
A female adolescent cockatrice jumped out of the bush, trying to avoid the spear, but her long tail still got pierced. Without contact with the spear, Andrea could not activate it, but the cockatrices didn't know that.
"Get it out of my tail! Get it out of my tail!" the teenager shouted. Her young comrades sprung out of the bushes less interested in their prey than the fate of their friend. Together they pulled the spear out of the female cockatrice's tail. The spear flew through the air just to be caught by Andrea who had been prepared for it.
"You kids are not going to win, so get," Andrea shouted.
The cockatrices looked scared, except for one who was their leader. "No, we will defeat you and be hailed as the strongest in the forest," he shouted back. The leader then spoke to his comrades. "Are we chickens or are we cockatrices?" he asked them.
They swallowed their fear and put their full attention at the buffalo in order to petrify her quickly. Unfortunately for them, Sophia blocked their line of sight with her book. While they were shocked, Sophia simply whacked them unconscious.
Ei Rikr disliked the violence, but ze was glad this didn't end in death.
"Okay, we cannot read anymore. There might be more attacks," Andrea said while whisking off the blood on her spear and then hiding it again.
------------------------------------------
They eventually reached the outskirts of Ponyville. The change in the air was immediately apparent. Thanks to the map inside Twilight's book, they knew they had to work their way around the village until they reached Sweet Apple Acres. The group kept themselves close to the forest.
Off in the distance, Andrea could see the pink pony from yesterday and some white pony they had never seen. As they approached, they could hear that the white one was crying while the pink one was trying to make her smile.
"Just giggle at the mean words," Pinkie Pie advised.
Ei Rikr walked up to the two ponies while zir comrades stayed back. "What is wrong?" ze asked.
The ponies turned their attention to the horsefly. The pink one reacted by pointing and spouting off some gibberish before running away. When Ei Rikr thought Pinkie Pie was gone, she came back suddenly with a cupcake. "Iamsorry,gottago!" she said before rushing away suddenly.
Ei Rikr turned back to the remaining mare. She had a mane of both pink and blue and an off-white coat. "Hello, my name is Ei Rikr, but you can call me Ever Ruler or Ever for short."
The mare was too scared to speak. Sensing this, the horsefly decided turning a bright color might help, so ze took on a bright shade of yellow. "I am sorry I scared you, is this better?"
"Oh that is really neat! How you do that?" the mare said. Her complete switch in attitude disturbed Ei Rikr.
"It is a species-related talent. Nothing special," the horsefly said while ironically taking a big bow. "What is your name, miss?"
The mare blushed at the politeness. "My name is Bon Bon. You can call me Bon Bon for short, all my friends do." Her voice was deep and lacked any musicality common to the other ponies. The horsefly didn't mind.
Ei Rikr buzzed zir wings in mirth. "I bet they do." The horsefly then became serious. "I couldn't help but notice that you were crying. Is there something wrong?"
Bon Bon looked sad again and nodded her head. Ei Rikr could easily guess that she nodded.
"Do you have some place to be right now?"
Bon Bon made a scrunchy face. The two memory wipes from yesterday had had severe consequences to her mind. "I don't remember," the mare said.
"Well, if and until you remember that you have to be someplace, why not come with us? Would you like that?"
Bon Bon nodded again. Ei Rikr motioned for the other two to join them again.
"What is that pony doing with us?" Andrea asked in forest language.
"Her name is Bon Bon. She has some kind of problem and I let her walk with us if she wanted to."
The buffalo examined the pony. Without Machiavelli or Hobbes pessimistic understanding of people, she could only see a harmless equine before her, so she relaxed her guard.
Switching back to ancient, Ei Rikr continued to talk to Bon Bon. "Bon Bon, why were you crying?"
The mare looked down at her hooves. "A stallion called me idiot. He is right. I am idiot."
"What did you do that cause this stallion to call you an idiot?"
"I went to store, and there were quills on store counter. I thought place sells sofas, so quills must be gifts for ponies. I thought perhaps if I help, nice stallion there will hire me for job, so I hoof quills out to ponies. When nice stallion found me, he was not nice. He started calling me idiot. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong, and he called me idiot again. He is right. Bon Bon am idiot."
"Are you sure you are an idiot?" Ever asked.
Bon Bon stared at the horsefly. "How could I not be? Smart ponies tell me only stupid ponies make my mistakes. Smart ponies do not lie. They know better than me. When smart ponies try explain what Bon Bon do wrong, Bon Bon get confused."
"Perhaps you are just as intelligent as these other ponies."
The off-white mare tilted her head. "I am confused. Smart ponies know everything. They do not lie. You say they lie."
"Bon Bon, they are not lying. I am suggesting perhaps that it is not your intelligence, your 'smartness,' that is at fault. That they may be mistaken about you."
"Explain, please," Bon Bon requested. Ever since her memory had become fuzzy, she had developed a powerful urge to compensate for what was lost with curiosity, hence her constant gossiping.
"I am going to tell you something a past friend once explained to me. Okay, now if I told you that the song was in B minor or that minor keys are darker in tone, would you know what I meant?" Ei Rikr asked the earth pony. She replied in the negative.
Ei Rikr turned to address Andrea. "You brought your guitar, Andrea?" She replied in the affirmative. "Could you play us a song?" The buffalo just took out and played the same song she had last night, for it was the only one she knew how to play on a twenty-seven string guitar.
"I want you to listen to the music," Ei Rikr told her.
She listened to it but quickly found it unsettling.
"How did that make you feel?" the horsefly asked.
"Scared," she replied.
"I understand why. I heard the song too. We have the same experience because we both paid attention to the same song. I don't know what other ponies are like, but do you think you would understand why other ponies, these 'smart ponies', might also find this song scary."
Bon Bon thought about this. It took awhile because there were so many words to process, but she finally got it. "I think so."
Bon Bon shook her head. It was a leading question, so Ei Rikr could guess that.
Ei Rikr had Andrea play the B minor scale a few times. Bon Bon eyes opened wide. "That sounds like the song."
"You might not know it but you just demonstrated that you know what B minor is and why it sounds menacing."
Bon Bon tilted her head. "I did."
"Yep, the B minor was what you heard when you heard the similarity between the two songs, and when you said you could understand why other ponies would be scared by this song, you were noticing how the minor key was scary."
Bon Bon had to process this for a bit but didn't understand what Ei Rikr meant.
"Bon Bon, you can understand the song just as well as anyone else. You are as smart as anyone else."
The mare beamed at this. "I do understand song. I understand song like smart ponies."
Ei Rikr shook zir head. "No, you don't understand the song like smart ponies. You understand the song in your own way. Not in B minor or other big words, but in your own words, your own experience."
Bon Bon tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
Ei Rikr stopped trying to help Bon Bon figure out what ze meant by zir words. I could never do Rancid Air justice. He rejects explication as the way we should teach, but I cannot help but try to explicate when asked a question like this.
"Perhaps I don't even know," the horsefly replied.
"But you are smart," Bon Bon gasped.
"I am glad you think so, but I cannot be so certain of some things," ze said.
At this point, they had reached the apple orchard. There were five fillies playing around by a tree house. Bon Bon mentioned them, alerting Ei Rikr to their presence. "Hey, Sophia, why don't you go play with those ponies over there."
Sophia squinted her eyes, studying the ponies before she agreed. "There is a unicorn with them and a pegasus. I have questions about those two breeds of ponies."
Andrea felt she had gone far enough now they were this far into pony territory and said her goodbyes. "Sophia, best of luck on making friends. Remember to play some games with them and not only ask them questions about their breed's history or anatomy." Sophia accepted the buffalo's wisdom and nodded. With that, Andrea and Sophia left the party.
"Bon Bon, are you going to stick with me?" Ei Rikr asked. She nodded again. "Would you tell me please yes or no?"
"Yes. I want to go with you. You are nicer than ponies in town. I want to do more understanding with you."
The two continued until they came upon the doorstep of the farm's main household. Ei Rikr took out zir voucher, hoping to find this Granny Smith. Luckily, she was sitting on the front porch watching from a distance her family work the apple orchard and her non-equine workers doing everything else.