Chapter 83 - Chronicles: Shy
Unlike most pegasii I wasn't raised in the cloudlands of Pegasopolis, and I wasn't always surrounded by my loving animal friends. From the beginning, I lived alone in the Everfree Forest. It was dark and scary. I was often cold and hungry. I could only survive on leftover nuts, fruits and grass left over from the animals, but they always drove me away if I tried to sleep in their dens or if I passed by. The small animals pelted me with rocks. The big animals tried to trample me to death. The ones with sharp teeth and huge claws wanted to eat me.
One day when I was foraging, I smelled the scent of burning wood, gunpowder, and blood. The thundercrack of a shotgun frightened all the animals who had been watching me from the night before, and I ran knowing that hunters were nearby.
Even as a filly, the forest was too dense for me to gallop through, and I had yet to learn how to fly. I tripped, fell, and splashed onto so many mud pools that I lost count. Still I ran. The hunter ponies were still on my tail, shooting away their guns, and their ravenous hunting dogs were closing in. I thought I lost them when the noises died down, but then I came upon a horrible sight.
I reached a clearing frequented by the animals due to water pools created by previous rains. It was deathly quiet there, but I knew why. All around, bunnies, birds, raccoons, squirrels, and many others lay dead not from bullets, but from poisoned pools. Many of them screamed and threw rocks at me not too long ago, and yet I broke down crying. These poor animals already had a hard life preying on and competing with each other, and many of them had families to take care of. Even if they hated me, I still saw these animals as the only companions that I could relate to.
But there was one survivor, and it was a lone, adorable baby bunny trying to get his mother to move with his tiny body and his tiny paws. I had no way to tell him that his mother was dead, and I reached my hoof over to hug him. He bit me instead, but I allowed him to do so to vent out his tearful anger. I could understand him. He hated ponies, and I hated myself for being one.
Suddenly, I heard a loud bang. A hunter pony fired a huge net towards the baby bunny and me. I wrapped my body around him as the big and nasty hunter ponies swarmed in with their hunting dogs barking angrily. The hunters then dragged the baby bunny and me away, and they gave little care what hard rocks or sharp twigs they dragged us over. I may not have understood the hunter ponies' words, but I know they weren't going to take us anywhere good.
They threw the baby bunny and me into a cage that they then loaded onto an airship along with many other caged animals. Most of these animals were big carnivores such as cougars, bears, and manticores that snarled and beat their claws on the steel bars. They were scary, but I wasn't afraid of them. Nothing could compare to the fear I felt when the airship suddenly started rising. I continued to hold on to the little white angel even as he bit on my hoof and leg. I looked outside the portholes and saw the clouds. Then I looked into the baby bunny's eyes, and he immediately stopped biting me. He understood that we were doomed, and so he curled up on my chest to quietly weep.
Just as we lost all hope, I saw a blast of rainbow radiating through the portholes. A big boom rocked the airship, causing my cage to be knocked off its base. Fortunately, it landed in a way that broke the lock that set the baby bunny free and me free. I crawled out and made my way towards the exit. Then I looked back and saw the sad faces on the scary-looking animals. I stood still, hesitating if I should escape the airship or not.
No. I had to free all of them. I clutched the baby bunny in one hoof, and used my other to free the animals with a crowbar I found on the floor. I barely broke one lock for a caged bear before I tired out, but the bunny had escaped my hoof and to my amazement picked all the locks to free all the other animals using the sticks that were stuck in my mane. Thank heavens they did not try to eat me when they were set free, but I can see from their smiles that I did the right thing. Or at least tried to. It was the thought that counted.
As expected, the hunters became aware of the escape and they burst into the holding bay with their guns and their dogs. This time, the animals were prepared, and they battled it out. I was frightened that the bunny and I would get struck in the crossfire. So I grabbed the little white angel and shuffled back to the corner with my eyes turned away from the violence. Sure, the large animals were scary, but the way the hunters and their dogs fought, they were scarier.
Even with my eyes closed, I could hear the screams of the hurt ponies and animals. My teeth gnashed as my heart began to feel their pain, I visualized in my mind bullets piercing bodies or claws and teeth slicing through flesh. I could no longer stand the violent fighting, and so I screamed out with a loud whinny. My stare shot out towards both the animals and the hunter ponies, and froze them dead in their tracks. The surviving animals cleared the way with their heads bowed in fright, but the hunters and their dogs opened the hatch and started leaping out one by one. I did not see where they landed or if they survived. The airship moved too fast for me to be sure.
With the help of the animals, we threw out the remaining hunters and their dogs, and then took control of the airship. None of us had any skills flying it, but we managed to fly it long enough to crash land into the depths of the Everfree Forest. We all survived, but with minor injuries. I dragged myself out with the baby bunny and found myself in a clearing surrounded by the animals who weren't poisoned. All of them, including the meat-eaters, bowed before me. I didn't know how I should've acted back then, and frankly I felt embarrassed at this strange reception.
It was not over yet. Another hunter airship was seen in the air, and animals began to cry out in fear. I whinnied softly to calm them down, and they did. Even with all the bruises and cuts, I realized that I still need to protect the animals of the forest. I lived amongst them. I understood them. And I empathized with them.
"After that, I discovered that I received my 'mark'," Fluttershy concluded.
Oh dear. Fluttershy knew her story was boring, but she didn't expect the girls to cry as they sat amongst a flock of pink flamingoes in "Secret Love Nest #5", which was accented with pink hearts, several lit candles, and a small heart-shaped rug. It must have been so boring that they cried out of Fluttershy's pity.
"That's such a sad story!" Sweetie Belle cried. "You became Angel bunny's mother after his real one died!"
"I'm so sorry," said Fluttershy. "I didn't mean to make you all sad. Knowing this makes me want to cry."
"I'm not sad!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she wiped her tears. "I'm just tearing up because of all the flamingoes in here. They must've brought in some ragweed pollen or something."
"I guess Rainbow Dash's story would be more uplifting, but I don't know where she went. Oh, now I remember. She mentioned that she was getting here new cape fitted at Coco's sewing workshop. I have to go there anyway to assist her. Shall I take you there?"
"Yes, please!"
When they arrived, they did not find Rainbow Dash. Or Coco. Yet they did find the Diamond Princess Rarity making herself home and transforming the plain workshop into something colorful and fabulous with blue and purple hues. Even the white cat she brought onboard made herself home and snuggled in a velvet bed inside a straw carry-basket.
They also found themselves acting stand-in dress-forms as the white unicorn draped complementary fabric colors upon Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Rarity. They were told to stand still. They were told to be quiet, even as Rarity accidentally pricked Scootaloo a sewing needle. The pegasus filly could not suppress her girlish yelp.
"Sorry about that," said Rarity. "Now, what were you dear darlings asking about?"
"We're trying to find Rainbow Dash," replied Fluttershy. "The girls here wanted to find out how she got her… What do you call them again?"
"Pretty Marks!" Sweetie Belle cried.
"Awesome Marks!" Scootaloo corrected.
"It's another name for your Destiny Glyph," said Fluttershy said.
"I'll admit, the term 'Destiny Glyph' is starting to lose its style," said Rarity. "Makes the unicorns sound pretentious, and I mean that in a fashionably bad way. Anyway, you just missed her. I think she went to the dining hall to check with the pre-race festivities."
"Ugh, we lost her again," said Scootaloo. "Rarity, can we go now?"
"Of course not! If you move you'll ruin the form and I'll have to start from scratch again. I am designing your dresses after all."
"Why?"
"Why not? Coco had just returned with the most stupendous fabric I have ever seen and felt, and she has generously allowed me to use it."
"Is this going to take a while?"
"It will."
"In that case," said Sweetie Belle. "Maybe you can tell us how you get your, um, 'mark'."
"Are you sure? It does involve you in some way."
"It did?"
"It's not a story I'd like to tell, but perhaps this is a good time to tell you how I received my mark and the day you were born."