> A Mothers Mark
>  by DerpyStarlet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Elation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Juniper Jewel sits in her cottage contentedly, she's relaxing after a hard days work. She has a mug of coffee on the table next to her, made from beans she grew in her garden. Nearly everything she eats comes from her garden, she hasn't found the means of growing certain things. She's great at growing things, and her garden is immense. Dozens upon dozens of herbs and vegetables, spanning across a giant clearing in front of her cottage. Behind the cottage is the Everfree forest, the unnatural terror of this land. All manner of beasts, monsters, and creatures dwell in the mysterious forest.

This forest, though deadly, is also the main source of new herbs for Juniper. As such, she ventures out frequently. She knows how to handle herself in sticky situations, and how to avoid sticky situations. She's also learned to navigate the forest, that way she can't get lost. She's also an expert herbalist, making solutions for near anything. It's her special talent, mixing and making various remedies. It's a necessary skill for a pony such as her, cut off from all civilization.

There are no ponies for hundreds of miles in any direction, she survives by herself. She used to live with her parents a long time ago, but they died when she was young. Not without teaching her necessary skills to survive. She was around eleven when they died, and she didn't even have her cutie mark. One day they just entered the forest, and they never came back. She waited and waited, hoping they would come back. They never did, and Juniper just continued living her life without them.

She kept up the same routine she remembered from her parents to survive, but the pain from the loss of her parents stayed. To not only lose your parents, but the only ponies in your life, the pain was immense. She longed for ponies to interact with, but there were no ponies she could talk to.

Everything she knows was either taught to her by her parents, or she taught it to herself from the hundreds of books in the cottage. Arithmetic, Science, Language, Engineering, and Art. All self taught, because who else would teach her? From her parents she only learned how to read the weather in the Everfree, avoid animals, defend against animals, navigate, and garden. Along with a few more trivial pieces of knowledge, all of it has helped her in some way or another. But she couldn't stand just knowing enough to get by, she sought higher knowledge. Thus, the subjects she taught herself.

And that's all she spends her free time doing, learning. Always doing some project or another, always learning new things and recording what she learns. She learned how to make paper to record her notes after the parchment left in the cottage ran out. Her father was a unicorn, and her mother was a pegasus, but Juniper is an earth pony. They had notes on unicorn and pegasi things, but Juniper doesn't bother with them. She wishes she could study magic or flying, but that requires first hand experience. So the notes sit in the storage shed underneath all Junipers notes, collecting dust.

Juniper is just resting now, taking a moment for herself. It's getting late, but Juniper usually doesn't sleep until it's later. Juniper is just sitting in her chair calmly when she notices a slight buzzing, she opens her eyes and looks around. The buzzing picks up it's pace, getting louder and faster. Juniper looks around in concern, the buzz doesn't feel right. As the buzz picks up Juniper heads outside, looking for the source. She finds it hanging over the everfree, an immense sphere of pure magical energy.

Juniper looks on in awe as the sphere expands above the forest, it expands more and more. Eventually, it stops. Juniper looks at the sphere in surprise, she takes a step towards it. The sphere contracts and pulls in on itself, it implodes quickly. The energy beams down into the forest, not that far from Juniper, she takes a step back in shock. Once the energy is gone, everything goes quiet. Juniper looks into the forest indecisively, should she go in?

While the forest is dangerous, she can avoid danger. That energy had to have done something, the question is what? Curiosity overrides her sense of danger and she runs inside to grab her saddlebags, she tightens them and dashes towards the spot where the energy touched down. She makes sure to stay hidden well, while also hurrying. She comes to what is obviously the impact zone.

There is a large indentation in the ground, like a crater. The ground is charred and black, and there is a giant hole in the trees overhead. In the center of the new clearing is a surprising sight, two foals. One an ivory white with a pink mane, the other a navy blue with a lighter blue mane. Juniper rushes over to them in fear, she checks to make sure they're okay. She sees the slight raising in their chests and she lets out a sigh of relief, she looks around for any reason they would be there. Then it occurs to her, the energy. They must have come from the energy.

Juniper looks at the foals in surprise, they're obviously not regular foals. They don't have just a horn or wings, they both have a horn and wings. Juniper snaps out of her stupor and looks around nervously, it's not safe in the forest. Juniper gingerly places the foals in her large saddlebag, they don't wake up. Juniper sneaks out of the forest as quietly as possible and without making too much noise, she makes it out without incident.

Juniper gets in her house and sighs exasperatedly, she moves upstairs into her room. She carries the two foals out of her bags and lays them down on her bed, she tucks them into the blankets. They snuggle into eachother, but otherwise don't make any sudden movements. Juniper looks at their adorable little forms, they look so peaceful in their bed. Juniper leaves the room and heads back downstairs, she sits back down in her seat.

"Oh, Juniper... what have you got yourself into?" She asks herself, sighing deeply. She thinks on the two foals, they aren't natural. They were in the Everfree, and they aren't like any other pony. At least, as far as she knows. Juniper had been taught that there were only three types of ponies: unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. She's never heard of a combination of any of them, it just didn't seem possible. Yet, here were two impossibilities laying in her bed.

Then there's the fact that they're foals, they need to be cared for. Juniper has never cared for anypony other than herself, she's never even had a pet. She's doubting her ability to care for foals, she doesn't think she can care for them. Then a thought occurs to her, `if I don't care for them, who will?` Juniper looks at the stairs, she assures herself that she can do it.

"Can't be that hard, right? Caring for foals?" Juniper assures herself, she starts to think about how she would care for a foal. As she thinks more and more, a growing sense of pride wells in her stomach. Joy at the prospect of children, she smiles widely. "I'm going to be a mother," Juniper announces.

~~~~~~~

Juniper awakens to crying upstairs, she hadn't even noticed that she fell asleep. She had been thinking through all the babies needs, it was pretty simple. Food, water, shelter. Thats all a pony needs, it should be easy enough. At least, that's what she thought.

Juniper rushes up the stairs to soothe the foals. The bed is a mess, blankets and pillows thrown haphazardly across the room. Juniper hustles over to the bed to find the two foals crying, she tiptoes in panic. How does one comfort two foals? Juniper raises her hooves to stoke the two foals manes gently, they stop their crying momentarily to look at her. Juniper smiles nervously at them.

The two foals continue crying and Juniper looks at them worriedly, she crawls in between them on the bed. She pulls them close to her and they stop crying, they look at her in curiosity. She smiles at them once more and they snuggle into her, she sighs exasperatedly.

"See, not so hard," Juniper assures herself, looking at the two foals. "Well now, you two are going to need names..." Juniper looks at the two foals in turn. First, she looks at the blue filly. Her eyes are sparkling like the stars in the bright sky, and their as wide as the moon. Juniper recalls the perfect name, "Luna," Juniper says. She turns to the other filly and finds her coat is glowing in the light of the sun, she has such a bright disposition. A name Juniper always thought was beautiful comes to mind, "Celestia," Juniper pulls the two foals closer to her.

"So then, Celestia, Luna," she turns to each in turn, "I imagine you're pretty hungry," Juniper says. The two foals brighten up, clearly familiar with the idea of food. Juniper chuckles and lifts herself from the bed, setting the two foals on her back. She carries them carefully down the stairs and into the kitchen, she sets them down on separate chairs. Their heads barely reach the table top.

"Hmm..." Juniper looks at them, trying to figure something out. Her eyes wander over a block of wood, she snatches it. She lifts the foals and places a block of wood under each, giving them the proper height to reach the table. She nods at the success of her idea and turns to one of the many vegetable bins her father enchanted to keep plants fresh. She gets to work making a salad, nothing too fancy.

Juniper sets the salad in front of the two foals, they look at it in confusion. They don't even touch it, Juniper looks at them in confusion. Luna's stomach growls and Luna starts to cry, but neither of them eat it. Juniper looks at the two in shock, why won't they eat if they're hungry? Juniper sighs in defeat and rests her head on the table, trying to think of an answer. Her eyes land on a bird nest outside her cottage, a mother bird is feeding her babies. The mother bird chews up the worms for the babies, Juniper looks on in fascination. Then it hits her, that's the problem.

"You two are too young for solid food, aren't you?" Juniper says, they don't answer her. Juniper grabs the bowls of salad and looks at it curiously, "now how do I make a liquid salad?" She questions to herself. She could try juicing it, but that still leaves a lot of nutrients out. She could cut it up real small, but can she cut it small enough to seem like a liquid? She can cut it small, but not that small. Juniper paces around the room in thought, there has to be an answer there. Juniper looks at the greens and another enchanted box, this one filled with milk and eggs. The milk from a cow friend that grazes near her cottage and eggs from some chickens she owns.

"Maybe I don't need it to be a liquid, just in a liquid..." Juniper takes the salad and puts milk in it, she lets it soak. After the salad has soaked for a while she pours the milk into a separate container, then she squishes the leaves up. The salad has now turned into a nice mush, the perfect consistency for foals. She sets the mush in front of each foal and they look at it curiously, they don't do more than look at it though.

"It's okay to eat now, why won't you eat it?" Juniper asks, the babies just look at her. Both of their stomachs growl and they both start crying, Juniper looks on in despair. Then a thought comes to her, one she hadn't even considered possible. Do they not know how? It seems illogical, but completely reasonable given the circumstances. Juniper moves to a box full of utensils and grabs two spoons, one for each foal. She takes the spoons back and places them in the bowls.

Juniper takes turns feeding the foals, they gladly devour the mush. Soon, theres no more left and the foals are sitting contentedly. Juniper looks with pride at her success, she's been improving in leaps and bounds. The foals yawn tiredly and Juniper moves them back upstairs, she lays them back down in the bed. They curl up in the blankets and Juniper tucks them in once more, making sure they're comfortable in the process.

Juniper sighs, not even that much time has passed since they woke up and they're already asleep again. They must be really exhausted. Possibly from that entrance.

Now that she's finally got some time, Juniper can actually think about the situation at hand.

There are other ponies here. Baby ponies. But ponies nonetheless.

This fact is so amazing and unbelievable, Juniper punches herself to make sure she isn't dreaming. Juniper reels in her excitement with another, more sobering, fact. Like it or not, she's a mother.