North Wind: Earning your Cutie Mark

by BlackBonitaCherry

Chapter 9- Fillies in the Desert

Author’s Note: I do not own MLP, just North Wind
Las Pegasus was the center of entertainment throughout Equestria, from casinos to night shows, from wild rides going through hotels to conventions and concerts held at the biggest hotels throughout the land. Sure, Manehatten had Bridleway, but most of those shows end up in this party city anyways.
Of course travelers, most of whom were ponies, lost their entire fortunes and were forced to work to earn enough bits to get home, but that didn’t stop others from trying to make their own fortunes.

It was also where a certain stallion was stated to visit rather frequently, so covers were paramount when one wanted to visit the city.
Fluttershy wished for such a cover as she watched the crowd heading towards the Las Pegasus Convention Center, gulping as her resolve started to waver.
She couldn’t go in there! All those ponies looked tough and that one had a shark tooth necklace! Why did she think she could be a Ranger? She was getting scared of just a crowd, and she wanted to get in a profession that interacted with strangers everytime?

She was wasting everyone’s time- a passing pony accidentally bumped into her and she apologized at his angry mutter about holding up the path. Then she realized something got knocked loose on the vest North got for her and paused as she caught sight of the whistle that her friends had made for her. North had carved it while Lyra put in the holes and Pinkie Pie painted it to give it a cheerful look. It was supposed to imitate different animals based on what holes she covered, and it resembled a penguin rather than the hawk North tried going for. Something that bugged the filly but Fluttershy loved it all the same.
She stared at it for a few seconds before putting it back in her vest and resuming the trek into the hotel. She wasn’t going to let her friends down, not after everything they did to help her, and she did not want that Wind Scar meany to ruin things either.

A Ranger is what she got her Cutie Mark for, and a Ranger she is going to be.

Her pace quickened and she took one step into the hotel, seeing the larger crowd but not even pausing as she headed towards the exhibition hall, the tag on her vest visible and letting her in without any trouble.
Across the street, two ponies watched from the cart, the cover and drapes falling from it covering their forms.
“See, told you she wouldn’t let her fears get the best of her,” Lyra rolled her eyes at North’s statement.

“Yeah, but I still think we should’ve walked in there with her, give some more support?” the younger (in body not mind) gave her a look.
“But then she wouldn’t be able to go in there on her own, and I can’t meet up with her yet, remember? And your going to be late for your own appointment, Agape Flare” Lyra twitched, staring down at her chili red fur and the now pink and red colors of her mane.

She hated this part of the plan.

“Your lucky this is only temporary,” she hissed at the golden furred filly who had her own long, green mane in several braids, instead of cutting it like she made Lyra do.
Golden Lotus raised an eyebrow, pointing at the vest covering her body, and the invisible binding on her wings, which gave ‘Agape’ pause.
Right, part of the plan was Golden pretending to be an Earth filly, which meant she had to wear a binding the whole time (thankfully a cosmetic and not an actual one.) The filly went so far as to design ‘Cutie Marks’ for both covers, just in case. Agape Flare had fire swirling through and around a heart-shaped ocarina (her protest about a fake Cutie Mark died down when North reminded her that she did, indeed, know how to use an ocarina.)
Golden Lotus herself had a golden lotus embedded onto what looked like a fancy carriage, having to do with her talent in carpentry and gold embellishments. Plus the fact it was a carriage would make sure no one would question how she could pull it.
Sometimes her friend’s plans scared Lyra on a different level, but this one kind of took the cake.

“So when are you going in? Orientation starts in two hours,” Golden showed her a permit that wouldn’t let her go through the bigger doors (the cart wouldn’t fit through the front) till thirty minutes before the orientation began.
“They’re doing a security check and everything, so before then,” she nodded to Lyra who sighed.

“I’ll take the special cargo with me on a tour of Las Pegasus,” which was stupid consideri- but then again, this was meant to throw anyone off their path, wasn’t it?
Muddy the trail and make it difficult in case anyone suspected them of the theft. North- sorry Golden, even packed a ton of trivial things that were going to throw anyone off.

At least, that’s what she declared to the rest of their quartet when they asked why she was packing a certain trunk into the cart.
After an hour, Golden started pulling the cart towards the back of the exhibition hall and as she passed a bush, the fountain at a different hotel erupted, looking more than a geyser and turning into different colors. While everyone was looking, Golden ‘as well’, no one noticed the red furred filly jumping out of the cart and disappearing into the hedge along the sidewalk. Golden peered at the fountain before shrugging and resuming her trot to the designated area.
Might as well be close to the loading area when they’re allowed in. Too bad there wasn’t an earlier time, she was really interested in seeing the exhibitions of the Search and Rescue convention.
It would have been really interesting.

---

Fluttershy accepted the free brochure with a soft thanks and added it to her saddlebag, which was already filled with a bunch of other free giveaways from the other booths. So far it had been fun, she got to see what the different options were for those interested in Rescue, got free food samples (that trail mix looked especially good), and thanks to some advice from North, avoided the ‘timeshare’ booths.

She also avoided the Royal Guard booth, though made sure it wasn’t obvious, she recognized one of the stallions from Hearth’s Warming and did not want to risk getting recognized. There were those at the booths who saw her tag declaring her as a potential trainee in the Ranger program and did not bother her as much, seeing as she was already in one of the programs. Then she came to a booth where there was a St. Bernard with a first aid kit around his neck and had a nice conversation about what he did.
Then his owner joined in.

“You can understand him?” Fluttershy jumped and stared at the Earth pony with wide eyes. His white coat and brown mane nearly blended in with his own booth and she felt embarrassed at not greeting him first.
“Um, yes,” she tapped the floor, feeling her shyness kick in and he raised a hoof.
“Didn’t mean to startle you, it’s just rare to run into somepony of your talents,” he saw her tag and smiled.
“Ranger program huh? Wish that existed when I was younger, but I’m quite happy at my occupation,” she looked at his booth, the snow theme and pictures giving her an idea.
“Snow Rescue?” he smiled, and she felt herself relaxing a bit at the calm aura he was emitting.

“Yeah, been rescuing stragglers and unfortunate souls from avalanches, their own accidents, and Comet here is my partner. I’m also the sheriff of my town, but its small enough that I can do both jobs. I believe its one of the stops in this twelve month training session, hope to see you there,” she thanked him, petted Comet with his permission, and went on her way. She found a few more booths where animals were used in in rescue operations, a mare offered her information about training animals in rescue operations once she found out Fluttershy’s talent.

“Would be good if the animals actually knew what we were training them for instead of making them guessing all the time with treats,” Fluttershy giggled as the monkey on her head leant over, staring into her eyes and asked if she had any bananas or peanut butter, and if she could tell the mare that the stallion at the other booth had a rare bug that it wanted to eat and if she could get it for him.

“Sorry, I don’t,” she turned to the mare and whispered about what the monkey told her. The mare shot a glance at the booth with a frown, thanked her, and when Fluttershy disappeared to a different booth, she caught sight of the mare confronting the stallion and her monkey lifting a box with a bug that had several other vendors charge the sweating stallion.
“Oh dear,” she didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

“Huh, and here I expected Agape to make a big scene,” the voice had her twitching at the unfamiliarity of it, but when she turned to the speaker, she blinked at them.
“Miss Fluttershy I presume,” knowing that was a quote somehow, she gave Golden Lotus an unamused look, the filly giving her a cheeky grin, “I got the cart like Trade Star wanted, do you want me to get anything here before orientation? There’s a surplus store down there,” Fluttershy thought about it. She had gotten everything on the list, but found her options limited for some ‘suggestions’ that the program had.

“Well, a few more iodine pills wouldn’t hurt, and since the first stop is a desert I was thinking of some sunglasses and maybe one of those mini-fans you put around your neck?” she trailed off, wondering if it was silly, but Golden saluted to her and went to the booth, no one batting an eye at the Earth filly pulling what looks like a heavy cart.

Then again, if the filly’s wings were visible, there would actually be reactions. Fluttershy tried not to think about how her friend changed her voice as well and went into the orientation hall, taking a seat near the back and swallowing at the others that were there. Some looked like they were a decade older than her and others looked like they finished high school first before coming here.
Was she the only twelve-year-old?

“Um, hi, is this seat taken?” the stripes on the colt were a surprise, and his Cutie Mark looked like a circle with a line through it and two dots on the top and bottom facing each from each other.
“N-no,” Golden would probably not detach from the cart, so Fluttershy felt that she wouldn’t mind.
“That’s good, I wasn’t sure if any of the others would let me join them,” he sighed with relief as he took the seat, “I’m Bao Kilima,” Fluttershy blinked before giving her own name and they sat for a moment watching the rest of the trainees arrive.

“Got what you needed Miss Fluttershy,” Golden appeared, handing her a pair of sunglasses with a cord that she could hang around her neck, before looking at Bao, “Oh a Zebra, hi I’m Golden Lotus, Miss Fluttershy’s assistant,” he gave a shy smile.
“Bao Kilima, not many know I’m a Zebra at first sight,” he rubbed the back of his head, Golden shrugged.
“I read a lot, though,” she tilted her head, “I thought Zebras spoke in rhyme,” Bao winced.
“When I was small I did, but let’s just say I had reason to learn how to speak without it,” Golden accepted that explanation, glancing towards the front and taking out a notepad which she started writing in.

“Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s a Zebra?” Fluttershy whispered to him, he didn’t mind and told her about his homeland, or at least his grandfather’s, he actually hailed from the Badlands at a small village and was looking to get experience and become a Ranger in order to gain more opportunities for himself and his kin.

“There’s not many out there, planting out there is a nightmare but we’re still persevering, I’m hoping to perfect my potion abilities a-” a bell interrupted him and they turned to the front where twelve ponies were seated, all of them looking at one pony who was standing at the podium. His wings were slightly open and his Cutie Mark was a shield with a cross in the middle.
“Greetings, my name is Cross Shield and I welcome you all to the first ever Ranger Training Year-Long Seminar. My fellows and I would like to thank you as well for giving this program a chance to turn you-” he gave them an overview of the program, the same information on the pamphlet.
The twelve trainers that were mentioned on the flyer were each introduced, representing different environments that they specialized in along with their apprentices who were there to help manage all the trainees, which turned out to be fifty. The whittling down part was unsettling, if a trainee was seen to have little potential in the field, they would kindly but firmly be dropped from the program to try again another time or find a different career.

“I don’t want to ruin someone's chances,” Fluttershy looked devastated as they went to the first training area on the schedule, the San Palomino Desert which wasn’t all that far from Las Pegasus. Bao had looked scared as well, but given her a brief good luck before going to get some last minute supplies.
Agape Flare would meet up with Golden in two weeks once she was done with her own errands, and Fluttershy was a bit concerned, she did not want to leave Golden by herself. Some of the trainees had their own assistants, but it did not stop them from eyeing the cart Golden was pulling.

At some point along the trail the entire group separated, each one going to an assigned area where one of the trainers would meet with them. To Fluttershy’s dismay that meant Bao and her weren’t in the same group, and she could only watch as the colt went off with a not so nice looking group. Each trainer had four trainees to look after, in some cases they had five, and while Fluttershy was disappointed that Bao wasn’t with her, she tried to console herself on the fact she was in a group of four.

While Golden set up camp, Fluttershy gathered her courage and tried to make conversation with the three others in her group.
It didn’t go well. One of them, a white coated earth colt a couple years older, gave her and Golden a frosty glare before turning away. Wilting, Fluttershy next went to the sole unicorn of the group, but was met with similar derision as the pink unicorn dismissed her as a weakling. The fourth member was a pegasus who had a similar mindset to the unicorn, and knew Fluttershy from tales at flight camp.

“Great, well at least I don’t have to worry about Cluttershy being a threat,” there was the crash of cooking implements and Fluttershy fought off the despair to go restrain Golden Lotus who had a pan in her hooves and was eyeing the stallion with a dark promise in her eyes that actually made im take a step back before he remembered himself and sneered at her.

“Golden, you can’t,” Fluttershy whispered to her urgently, “Please?” Golden calmed down, but it didn’t stop her from glaring at the colt.

“The first snake you come across, ask if it wants to wrap around your neck, and make sure its poisonous,” the yellow pegasus sighed, but couldn’t help the smile on her lips.
“Alright,” it’s not like she was afraid of snakes, so it was a simple request, and if it made No- Golden feel better she would do it.

They were there for two hours, Fluttershy settled down to read books on the desert, when the assigned trainer met them, an Earth pony with a shawl wrapped around her head and green eyes eyeing them.
“I am Amethyst Storm, you four come with me, but the assistant stays here,” Fluttershy gulped and waved to Golden before following after her group, keeping some distance from them and trying to tell herself it would get better.

---

Despite the fact there was no one for miles, North didn’t relax and kept the disguise up. She mapped everything within a two-mile radius during the first two weeks, where certain plants and animals were, and keeping track of the weather patterns. At one point she had found some cacti that weren’t poisonous and marked them as emergency food and water supply before returning to her spot.
During the third week, Agape Flare finally joined her and together they found the ocean, spending several nights exploring along the shore line, finding different sea caves that they hadn’t been too before, collecting all the seashells they could find. Golden set up different fishing traps (not wanting to eat all their food) and whatever she caught was grilled or set out in the sun to dry. The meals were simple as Golden’s talent when it came to cooking only came to meat dishes and preparation, for some reason she couldn’t make simple dishes.

The fourth week was spent relaxing, with Golden telling Agape different stories she could remember from her old world and Agape telling her what happened to her in Las Pegasus at the different concerts and performances. She even regaled her of diving through a mosh pit and grabbing the drumstick one of the band members had thrown. The manic look in her eye had Golden eyeing her in worry, but she calmed down in time to help with dinner.

The day Fluttershy returned, Agape was recovering from an ill-gotten attempt at cactus (Golden had warned her to look for the blue marked cacti and stay away from the green ones, but she had forgotten which was which.) Golden was going over all of her notes and arranging the pictures she had printed (Agape’s reaction to her turning the cart into a dark room ended with her chasing Golden into the ocean.)

“You two were out here the whole time?” Amethyst blinked at them, a bit surprised at their healthy state, though having been informed of Agape’s presence (cover of which she was Golden’s sister that was watching her) she didn’t bat an eyelid at the unicorn. The trainees were in similar states of surprise, though Fluttershy wasn’t, the snake around her neck uncoiled and slithered to one of the fish that Golden Harvest placed in a small dish, hissing thanks to her before opening its mouth and swallowing the fish whole.

Golden smiled and poured some water for it to drink as well before turning to Amethyst,
“Yep, took a bit to adjust,” the trainer took a moment to think about the bizarre scene of the filly being unafraid of a rattlesnake and chuckled.
“Huh, glad to know your friends are adaptable as you are, though your gift with animals was a sight to behold when you had to rescue these other trainees,” with that parting shot she left, the others following behind her, not looking as confident as they had a month before, leaving Fluttershy to be questioned by her friends on what the mare had meant.