Applejack’s prediction of difficulties turned out to be true though Aegis Flare stepped up to the challenge. The filly’s fear nearly evaporated when she set her eyes on her new sister and a new sense of protectiveness replaced it on seeing her frail form. The thought of such a tiny thing being a threat was just so ridiculous and she did everything she could to help out with raising her.
It had been a couple years and Scootaloo had grown to a more healthy size even though her wings were still a bit stunted. Doctor’s said there was nothing wrong with them other than that they were growing at a slower rate than the rest of her body. She still was able to buzz them rapidly as her sister tickled her belly though they provided no lift.
Bella watched the two playing with a smile on her face as she was mixing some things for sale later. Her husband was taking a nap after having returned from his trip into the Everfree Forest to collect the ingredients for her potions in a chair in the corner. She enjoyed times like this and hoped that they would last for the years to come.
She was about to go back to her mixing when a cloud of golden sparkling smoke started to float in through the window causing her to groan. In moments the smoke gathered in front of her to coalesce into the form of a message scroll bearing a black ribbon marked with the royal seal. “Oh please not now, I was hoping to never see one of these again.”
Sighing as she unrolled the scroll she prodded at her husband with magic while her daughters looked at her curiously. Doing a quick read of the scroll she sighs in relief as it isn’t quite what she was expecting and she passes it to Vanator. “It’s not as bad as I was expecting, but the princess still wants to meet with us about something important. There will be a chariot here to pick us up in the morning tomorrow so we’ll be getting our outfits ready tonight.”
She looks over when she hears her daughter groaning and sees her flopping on the ground while her younger sister climbs all over her. “Does that mean I have to wear a dress? I hate wearing those.”
The elder mare chuckles as she watches her daughter pout on the ground while ignoring her sister. “Yes you do, it’s not like wearing a dress is going to kill you. Besides you look so cute in it.”
Aegis Flare just huffs in annoyance as her parents laugh at her antics as she vows to try and find a way out of it. Unfortunately there is no chance of doing so as her parents work on getting everything ready for tomorrow.
The next day when the chariot arrives, the family is dressed in their fanciest outfits as they leave their house. While the mare and fillies are wearing dresses, the stallion is wearing a variant of a ceremonial guard parade outfit. The elder filly looks miserable though in her pink dress that is trimmed with yellow topaz gems. Even the bows added to her mane and tail do nothing to hide her misery from sight. Not even the flight from Ponyville to Canterlot is enough to distract her from her from her funk at being forced to where the outfit.
Once they landed in Canterlot they were quickly escorted to the throne room where they come face to face with the ruler of Equestria. The two adults walk forward and bow to the monarch, while their youngest dozes in her carry pouch on the mare’s side and the elder filly looks around the throne room. She saw that the guards were clearing out of the room for some reason leaving just them in the room.
Looking back towards the princess the filly notices that there were two others in the room next to the princess. She noticed one of them looked really odd, and it took a few moments for her to realize that it wasn’t a pony at all but some kind of purple and green scaled creature. Digging through her memories of what her father taught her she can’t think of anything that would fit it except for dragons though it was rather small for one.
Next to the dragon was another filly around her age, but not wearing a horrible dress, who had her nose deep in a book. Aegis Flare thought the other filly was completely blocking out the rest of the world except for the fact that she occasionally levitated a gem over to the dragon. She watched curiously as the dragon ran each gem under his nose before crunching down upon it.
With her interest taken up by the two she leaves the side of her parents and wanders over to the two. Glancing at the book she has to assume that it is some kind of magic book as she can’t read it so she focuses more on the other two. Looking over the book she sees that the filly is a unicorn like her but of a purple color much like the dragon, while her mane was a dark blue with a pink stripe in it.
She tries to wave at the filly over the book but she continues to ignore everything around her. She starts a bit when the dragon taps on her shoulder causing her to leap a small bit away as the dragon giggles at her. “You won’t get her attention like that when she’s reading. Not even Celestia can pull her away from them when she is like that. I’m Spike, and who are you?”
The orange filly looks at his extended claws for a moment before setting her hoof in it letting him shake it. “I’m Aegis Flare. My parents forced me to come here with them and stuck me in this horrible dress as well. What about you? What is a small dragon like you doing around here?”
Spike looks over the overly pink dress with a hint of discuss on his face, though his eyes hesitate when he sees the gems. Shaking his head he tears his gaze away from them before answering as he waves to the bookish filly. “Well Twilight there hatched my egg a few years ago and I’ve been living with her ever since. She’s the princess’ student so I’ve been around here all the time.”
Noticing that the dragon’s gaze kept drifting back to her dress she rolls her eyes and pulls off a loose one that is out of sight and offers it to him. “Hey thanks, I’ve never tried this kind before.” Taking it in his claws he sniffs at it a couple times before tossing it whole into his mouth. As it hits his tongue his eyes widen as his mouth starts to pucker up. “Ack, sour!”
Aegis Flare starts laughing as he dances around trying to get the gem out of his mouth as the flavor is too intense for him. Looking around she spots the pile of gems that Twilight was slowly giving him and sneaks on over to him so he can try and get the taste out of his mouth. Once he settles down they get to talking about other things as he pulls out one of the games he had nearby while the adults talked.
While all this was happening Princess Celestia was keeping an eye on them and had to suppress a chuckle at some of the antics. When the orange filly walked over she had hoped that she would draw her student away from her book but wasn’t surprised when it didn’t happen. Still, Spike getting somepony to talk to was at least a decent accomplishment, as he was starved for attention lately.
Seeing as the two were getting settled in for a game she turned her attention back to the two adult ponies in the room. “Now, on to why I asked you two to join me here today.” The princess levitated a few stacks of papers over to the two as she continued. “As you can see there the Black Guard has been having some trouble out east recently and I have had to do some reorganizing. Things are not bad enough yet that I need to call you back in again but things could change if things continue like this.”
She sighs as she regrets how many of her ponies she lost in the operations. “The area you are watching over will probably be extended though as there are not enough to ponies to take over now. It should not affect your time with your family but you should know that things could change if things get any worse. You have earned the right to your family and I am doing what I can so you can stay together but things are getting bad.”
The two sigh as they read through everything while listening to the princess. “Your highness, something seems wrong with these reports. Some of these dates and locations don’t match up right and I know that this one event is impossible as the operative has no family. She lost them all when her magic flared up as a child.” The princess looks up in shock as she looks through her own copies to verify the claim.
Finding that what Bella said was true she rubs her head with a hoof as she sighs. “This makes things even worse than I thought and now I cannot send you two out until I find out what is going on. I am glad that I called you in still or else this problem might not have been noticed.”
Looking over the reports again and making a note to examine everything closer she gave the two a sad smile. “When you two head back to Ponyville make sure to take precautions until we find out what is wrong with our intel. I will contact you again in the usual way if I need you and any important orders will be done directly so they can’t be intercepted.”
Seeing as she had reserved another hour for this meeting she spent the rest of the time catching up with the two and what had been going on with them in Ponyville. She called for the chefs to bring in a small meal while they spoke and even some treats for the young ones. Eventually the reserved time ended and they had to part ways once again with the family returning home on yet another chariot.
<><><><><><><>
Aegis Flare trotted through Ponyville as school ended for yet another day. Things had been getting livelier in town recently, especially when a pink earth pony had moved in with the family that owned the town’s bakery. Not much was known about where she came from, but the place was thrown into chaos as she threw party after party for the ponies around town. There was a lot of cleanup after each one but ponies were starting to get used to her antics after a couple months.
The town needed her more than they thought as ponies had been distraught over the loss of two of its more upstanding citizens. Applejack’s parents had been lost in a rockslide during a delivery and it had devastated the family. Applejack herself was forced to drop out of school to help the rest of her family on the farm.
Her parents had been called away recently so she had been left to take care of her sister for the last week. It helped that Rarity also had a sister so the two were able to keep each other company during the time when they were occupied. Arriving to pick up her sister she felt an impact in her side and looked down to see Scootaloo latched onto her side. “There you are sis, are you ready to head home?”
The younger filly nodded in excitement as her wings buzzed behind her. “Are mom and dad going to be back today? It feels like forever since I saw them.” Aegis Flare ruffles the filly’s mane as she smiles at her.
“They should be, but don’t be disappointed if they aren’t. They do important work for the princess so they might have to go see her first.” Scootaloo looked a bit downcast, but a quick tickling to her side had her smiling again quickly enough. The elder sister crouched so the younger could climb up on her back before heading off towards their home.
As they walked Aegis Flare’s mind was focused on the whereabouts of their parents as they hadn’t said where they were going when they got the message from the princess. She never did know what they did for a job beyond being part of something called the Black Guard. They never talked much about it but from the few rumors she heard it sounded to be a pretty dangerous occupation.
When another week had passed without any word she started to get worried and Scootaloo had troubles sleeping with her own worry. “Why aren’t mom and dad back yet? They should have been home a long time ago.” The unicorn sibling sighed as she pulls her sister into a hug trying to comfort her as they lay in bed for the night. She was scared that they might not ever be home again but kept from breaking down as she tried to be strong for her sister.
“I don’t know Scoots, but if we don’t hear from them soon then we might have a problem. There aren’t that many bits left in the house and I don’t think the bank will let us touch what they have saved there. I might have to leave school so I have time to make some myself. Whatever happens though I will never leave you.” Scootaloo teared up as she clung to her sister before eventually falling asleep.
The next morning, after dropping her sister off with Rarity’s sister Sweetie Belle, she decided to put her plans into motion as she walked to school with Rarity to notify the teacher. “Rarity, I don’t think I’m going to be able to come to school now. My parents should have come home a week ago yet we haven’t heard anything from them. I’m planning to start working so that I can keep taking care of my sister.”
The white unicorn’s eyes widen at this news before she reaches over to pat her on the shoulder. “I’m sure that everything is fine, but just know if something did happen that you can always come to me, darling. We may not do much together but I always have thought of you as a friend, even if you won’t let me make a dress for you.”
She rolls her eyes as Rarity once again tries to get her into a horrid dress again. Yet she can’t deny that there aren’t many in town that she would label as a friend and Rarity is one of the few that she would call that. In fact other than her she hasn’t interacted too much with anypony else other than Applejack and the party pony Pinkie Pie, who somehow made friends with everypony. “It’s good to hear that Rarity, but I just hope that it doesn’t come to that and I’m overreacting.”
The teacher was out sick for the day but her new assistant, Cheerilee, was happy to let her know about Aegis Flare’s predicament and hoped that everything turned out all right. Leaving the school she pondered what to do and her mind kept going back to the lessons she had from her parents about the Everfree Forest. “Nopony ever seems to go in there, yet there are supposed to be many plants and foods in there that are hard to get here. I bet the hospital would love to have somepony local providing them with ingredients as well.”
Remembering the most important lessons she made her way back home to prepare what she needed. Luckily the goggles were right where she last saw them though everything else took a bit more time to gather. Soon she found herself at the entrance to the Everfree as she tried to gather her nerves. “Everything is going to be fine, it’s been seven years since that happened and I’ve improved a lot since then. The timberwolves won’t be able to touch me now that I know how to deal with them.”
Even with her saying this, her legs were still shaking in fear as she looked into the darkness of the forest. Her nervousness was so great that when she felt something tap her on the flank she rocketed into the air and grabbed onto an overhanging branch. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Catching her breath after being startled so badly the unicorn looked down to see a pink maned butter yellow pegasus cowering below. Using her magic to create a barrier below as a step to jump down on she bounded down to in front of the pegasus. “It’s all right, I’m just nervous about going into there for the first time. I know what to expect and to avoid but I had a bad experience years ago before finding my parents.”
The pegasus’ eyes widen as she hears this and she shrinks back in fright. “Oh dear, you’re actually going to go in there? Are you sure that you should be doing that at your age?” The shy pony’s words are extremely quiet, but with her enhanced hearing Aegis Flare easily understands her.
She shakes her head in reply to the pegasus’ worries as she explains. “I really don’t have a choice. My parents have gone missing and I have to take care of my sister. My parents taught me a lot about the forest so I know a lot about what to expect from the place and my fire magic can drive off any problems that I expect to meet.”
The shy pegasus lets out an ‘eep’ as she shrinks away when the unicorn sends a gout of flame from her horn to illustrate the point. “Well if you’re sure that you’ll be fine, but please be careful.”
Aegis Flare actually feels a little better at hearing the concern in her voice and nods to her. “I plan to be and I should be back out before night falls if you want to keep an eye out for me to be sure. I probably should have let somepony else know that I was going in as a precaution.” Waving to the pegasus she slowly makes her way into the forest not seeing the wide eyes keeping track of her as she enters.
As she enters the forest she pulls the goggles over her eyes and is glad to see everything brighten up as the enchantment on them takes effect. She isn’t sure where to look first, but she follows the obvious path for now until she knows the forest better. At first nothing of use is obvious, but eventually she spots some familiar looking plants on the edge of the path.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anypony selling these in town before. Even if I can’t sell them they would still make a decent meal.” She harvests the small patch of wild carrots and puts them in her saddlebags. She even finds some ripe ground cherries which she knows will sell well considering the prices for normal ones in town.
Eventually she reaches a river cutting through the forest and she gazes into the river before spotting some arrowhead tubers on the edge. Deciding that this is enough for a first day of exploring she decides to head for home but finds her path blocked by a manticore. “Oh why couldn’t this have turned out to be a simple trip in and out?”
She flinches as the beast roars at her and starts prowling towards her slowly. Looking around she gets and idea and scoops out a large quantity of water with a shield and lifts it over her head. The manticore watches this warily, and it starts flailing as a hole opens in the side of it and starts rapidly shrinking, spraying the beast with water. It flails its forelimbs as it tries to ward of the spray of water as well as the objects caught up with it.
As the creature tried to catch its breath from the deluge, Aegis Flare took the chance to sneak away from it. After she passed the manticore she noticed that she had caught a few decent sized fish which were now sitting in front of the creature. Luckily when it had recovered it also noticed them and, with an indignant growl, started feasting on the nearest one.
Looking at the creature and spying its tail hanging limply over it the unicorn gets and idea and pulls a jar from her saddlebags and floats it over to the tail within a shield. Carefully maneuvering it into place she then uses another barrier to manipulate the tail to milk it of the venom it held. She froze when the beasts head spun around to look at what was going on before its gaze turned to her, but she was relieved when it just snorted in agitation before going back to its meal.
Moments later she sighed in relief as she secured the jar after sealing it and slowly made her way back towards town. No other creatures crossed her path but she did find a couple things to check on again during her next trip. Exiting the forest she was surprised to see the buttery pegasus still waiting for her at the entrance of the Everfree.
“There you are; I’m so glad that you are safe I was so worried.” Aegis Flare was surprised to see her again so soon, as most ponies would have gone home by now. She actually felt a bit ashamed at making her worry so much so didn’t struggle when the pegasus came to check her over for injuries.
“Not that I mind the attention, but I didn’t get hurt and the only problem I ran into was a manticore. I was able to distract it with some fish so there were no troubles there.” The pegasus tenses up when hearing about the manticore but visibly relaxes when she hears that the issue was resolved safely.
“Oh I’m so glad nopony was hurt but you should take care to be more cautious out there. Manticores are extremely territorial and are hard to calm down if you anger them.” The unicorn raises an eyebrow at this bit of knowledge as there aren’t many that learn about the habits of Everfree creatures.
“My parents taught me much about the Everfree, but you’re the first pony other than them that has had any knowledge of the forest. Where did you learn something like that from and do you know anything else about the Everfree? Also I don’t think I mentioned it before, but I’m Aegis Flare, but you can just call me Flare.” The pegasus cringes back again and tries to hide behind her mane when she notices how close she is to the unicorn.
“Oh, my name is Fluttershy, and my animal friends told me about the things they see in there. I’d be too scared to go in there myself.” Aegis Flare is glad for her more thestral-like ears as she would have trouble hearing the shy pegasus otherwise. Even so she was starting to understand why she hadn’t heard anything about her before as she tries to avoid others.
Seeing that her presence is making the pegasus uncomfortable she decides to end the conversation. “Well thank you for watching out for me Fluttershy, but I really have to go and check up on my sister. She’s with a friend right now but should be expecting me soon.”
Fluttershy waves but says nothing as she walks off to collect her sister and store the things she picked up. She didn’t know where to go or what needed to be done to sell everything, but she knew where she could get the help for it. She just hoped that Applejack was working the stand tomorrow since she knew which ponies would deal with each item the best.
<><><><><><><>
That day was the start of her new career gathering various things from the Everfree Forest. The manticore venom was a good start but she found that it wasn’t something to rely on as the amount she harvested was a couple years’ worth for the hospital. She quickly learned what was worth grabbing and what wasn’t and, while not making her wealthy, was enough to at least support her and her sister relatively well. She wasn’t prefect though as she would often come back with scrapes and bruises as well as some other embarrassing outcomes.
She was truthful with Scootaloo about everything she did and made sure that she always let her know when she would be away. While her sister spent much of her spare time with her friend Sweetie Belle she also started watching a new weather pony that had shown up recently. While she couldn’t fly yet she did spend a bit extra on her latest birthday present to get her a decent scooter. She took to it extremely well, so much so that Aegis Flare had suspicions of what her future would be like and was a bit worried about how much she was taking after the mare she was coming to idolize.
She rarely stayed out for more than a full day, but she occasionally had to go out further for special requests, especially for the alchemist she met that was living out in the forest. On those days she allowed her sister to stay overnight with Sweetie Belle, though she tried to choose days where she wasn’t staying with Rarity to let her have peace so she could do her own job.
She was just getting back from one such trip that lasted a couple days and was just dropping off her saddlebags when she noticed a scroll waiting for her on the table. What caught her eye about it though was the fact that it had the royal seal on it and from what she knew there was no reason for the princess to contact her. Her curiosity got the better of her and she set only took a moment to store her saddlebags before unrolling the scroll.
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting but after being up all night in the Everfree it was something she wasn’t looking forward to. “Why is the princess for requesting me to look after some noble as the check up on the Summer Sun celebration anyways? I’m sure that the mayor would do a better job of it and she should be checking up on the celebration herself anyways.” She shakes her head as she checks when the pony would be arriving and, after seeing she has an hour to go, starts up a pot of coffee while she washes up quickly.