//------------------------------//
// Truths 
// Story: "I'm always here for you." 
// by Penroseamber 
//------------------------------//

"Button Mash, darling, are you sure?" Rarity asked, craning her head to gaze at the young teen.

"Yes, Miss Rarity. I.... I want to see where my mom..."

"Darling, you could hurt yourself! Absolutely not!"

Yet, seeing Button Mash's determined look, she knew there was no stopping him.

"Oh..If you insist, darling. But... ooh, oh, take Sweetie Belle with you. The Everfree forest is ever so dangerous. And I want you two back by eleven, you hear?





"It feels nice to get out of there. Um... what exactly are you looking for?" 

The two teenagers were side by side, looking at the dreary forest. Vines hung from the trees like dead snakes. The branches seemed to be reaching out, grasping at them. Everything was quiet... too quiet to be natural.

Button Mash bit his lip. "I... I don't really know. Maybe where it... happened. A sign. I don't know, SOMETHING!" 

He kicked the ground in frustration. 

Something hissed from beneath the leaves under Button's hoof, and a three-metre long forest cobra slithered out.

The very thing that had killed his mother.

It was ebony black, with stripes of yellow on its underbelly. It was white-lipped, and venom dripped from its fangs.

Sweetie Belle screamed and took a step back. The cobra reacted to it with agression, snapping its head back and forth as it hissed in warning.

"It- it's a mother!" 

Button Mash could see, now, past the leaves, in the hollow of a tree's roots, a nest, filled with eleven luminescent, pearl-like eggs.

But near the nest... stains of blood. Was... it?

This was the very cobra that had killed his mother.

But it had been a mother. It was just defending its eggs.

Emotion crashed onto the teenager like a wave. His vision blurred. His limbs grew weak, like jelly. He was distinctly aware of Sweetie Belle calling out his name.

Before his world turned black and he passed out.





Sweetie Belle fixed her eye on the cobra, never averting her gaze. Oh, she hoped those snake charmer lessons would pay off now. At least she was prepared.

Her horn shimmered green, and her old snake flute appeared in her hooves.

Satisfied, she brushed the flute off before levitating it to her lips and blowing experimentally.

A single croaky note.

She launched into a simple song, pouring out her heart in the expert movement of her hooves. All the time keeping eye contact on the snake.

When she was sure she'd captured the snake's attention, she started to sway her head, keeping to the rhythm of the song.

One, two, one, two...

The cobra looked dizzy; with a final, soft hiss, it fell to the ground, limp.

Sweetie Belle congratulated herself with success, making the mistake of turning her back as she went to levitate Button Mash, the flute now stored in her saddlebags.

With another hiss, the snake flared its hood and launched at its target.

It struck true.