Within the forest, they made slow progress through the dense foliage in the hot and oppressive tropical air. Their sweat clung to them and rolled down their hides only to be brushed off by contact with innumerable, irritating plants.

“Do we even know where we're going?” Rainbow Dash nearly had to shout to be heard over the incessant drone of insects and chirping birds.

“We have to head towards the center.” Twilight scrunched up her face as she shifted leaves and branches and vines out the way with her magic. “There's supposed to be something there.”

“Something? You don't know what?” Rarity asked.

Twilight paused to wipe the sweat off her brow and pulled a vine-wrapped tome out of her saddlebags. She passed it to Rarity who caught it in her magic. “No, I don't. The Snakefog Compendium has very little real detail in it. You can see for yourself.”

Rarity opened it and flipped through some of the pages. “What is all this gibberish?”

“Eponia's notes. She was an adventurer who explored this place some time ago. Unfortunately, she was paranoid and didn't trust anypony so most of her notes were written in code. If we had a lot more time, I'd take a shot at decoding them, but we don't. All we have to go on are the parts that were written in common Equestrian along with the folklore of ponies who've lived in nearby areas.”

Rarity frowned and passed the book back.

They continued trailblazing in silence, and Fluttershy inspected the local fauna. Most creatures were driven away by the noise they made, but she did see numerous birds and several snakes up in the trees. There was even a combination of the two: a rare diamondback jadefeatherd quetzalcoatl wrapped its serpentine body around a tree branch far above them and spread its wings as a warning against encroaching on its territory. At least, that's what she thought it meant. Fluttershy couldn't know for certain unless she asked and, well, her heart hurt just thinking about it.

She felt so empty inside. Any one of those little creatures should have sent her heart pattering with curiosity, but... she didn't really feel anything. Without her special talent to bring her closer to the animals, they ignored her, and she was ignoring them in turn.

It should have been a real treat to watch the gliding squirrels roam. She should have been fascinated by the songs of the macaws. The boundless industry of the leaf-cutter ants should have left her mystified. Watching Rainbow Dash swish her tail to ward flies off her sweaty flanks was more interesting. Even the great hunstsman, a giant crab-like spider the size of a cat, was little more than an idle curiosity for her (though, to be fair, everypony else freaked out).

Fluttershy hoped she could pull through when she really needed to. Linky had targeted her talent specifically for the purpose of coming through these woods. But would her stolen magic be more useful than the real Fluttershy? She hoped not. No no, she knew it wouldn't be. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth. She resolved to prove to the world that the symbol of her flank was not better than the real thing.

“Hold up, everypony.” Twilight's words were unnecessary. The air chilled several degrees and all of them stared up at a wall of white.

“What is that?” Rarity asked.

Fluttershy felt a tingling under her fur. It reminded her of how she felt high in the sky while walking on clouds. Perhaps since her special talent was gone, she'd become more attuned to her racial pegasus magic? Regardless, she knew exactly what that was. “It's a fog bank.”

Twilight sighed. “Well, we were bound to run into one of these eventually. This is the Snakefog Forest, after all.”

“Should we walk through it?” Applejack asked.

Twilight shook her head. “No. I don't think that's a good idea. It's too thick to see past your own muzzle and we don't want to get separated or fall down a hole or something.”

“Can we go around it?” Fluttershy asked. There was something odd about this cloud. She had an uneasy feeling about it.

“I don't think that's a good idea either. The fog is supposed to shift continuously. There's no telling where we'd wind up if we tried that.”

“Perhaps we should wait for it to go away?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Hmm...” Twilight tapped her chin. “That could work.”

“Or the fog could shift on top of us and we'd be in big trouble.” Rainbow Dash flew up and pointed a hoof at the fog. “Look, it's just a cloud, right? You don't have to worry about such things when I'm around. Watch me clear it out in ten seconds flat.”

Rainbow Dash dove down and walloped the fog bank like a cyan missile. Wind howled and the fog rose off the ground. “Heh. Six seconds flat. That's a new record.”

The hot, muggy air returned and the forest went eerily silent. “I don't like the sound of that,” Fluttershy said.

Shuffling in the trees drew their attention. The sound came from everywhere at once, and was accompanied by clicking and clacking. Numerous narrow eyes lined the canopy. The creatures remained hidden behind fronds and leaves but the tips of spears poking out divulged their hostile intent. The mares huddled together in fear.

One of the beasts flew out and landed before them. At first glance, it looked like a giant praying mantis, almost twice their size, but it had several equine traits as well. His head (it seemed masculine) was almost completely pony-like, but he had antennae instead of ears and there were short finger-like mandibles at the corners of his mouth. His wings were feathered, and he had a short, wind-streaked brown and tan speckled mane. He had a total of six limbs. Four were insectoid legs, but rather than having feet at the ends he had hooves that were split apart like partially-cut firewood. Two arms came out of his thorax, an additional body segment that replaced the neck. The arms ended in giant, serrated claws with sharp bladed edges. One claw held a spear. His dark green carapace in general had many sharp serrated edges and he was wearing crude armor made from bark and wood. Around his thorax he had a necklace of sticks that had been carved into points to resemble giant thorns.

“What is that thing?” Dash asked. She was shushed by Twilight.

The creature's eyes narrowed dangerously. He seemed to be spitting with rage. He thumped the hilt of his spear on the ground. “Tr'ath k'ness ik cluu og'pot!”

“Pony mantis!” Fluttershy ran up and hugged him.

His eyes widened in surprise and his expression softened. With his free claw, he reached down and spread one of Fluttershy's wings.

“Don't you dare hurt her!” Rainbow Dash flew up. Applejack bit her tail and pulled her back to the ground.

“Let her handle this,” Twilight said. “Fluttershy, this is your chance. Try to let them know why we're here and that we're sorry for whatever it is we did that upset them.”

“O-okay.” Fluttershy gulped. She had to resist twitching her wing while it was being examined. “Look, Mr. Mantis, we're terribly sorry that we upset you and we promise that we won't ever do it again.”

The mantid dropped Fluttershy's wing, who folded it back against her side, and gently pushed her away so he could address her properly. “Pok ik chith q'tan to'pit ik pod?”

Fluttershy had no idea what he'd said. His language sounded like pure gibberish to her. She took a guess and replied, “Um, no, we don't know exactly what it was that we did wrong, but we'll try really, really, hard not to do it again!”

The mantid clawed at his chin. “Utis ik jaunt tok?”

“Um, well, we're here because we're chasing after another pony who goes by the name of Linky...” Fluttershy tried her best to explain the situation. She pantomimed as much as possible, and hoped that even if he couldn't understand her that he'd at least be swayed by her pleading tone and wide non-threatening eyes. When she finished with her tirade, she looked up at him hopefully.

He flew off and barked some orders at the others in the canopy. They lowered their spears.

“I think you did it, Fluttershy,” Twilight said. She smiled.

Four mantid guards landed around them. They were smaller than the first one and wore no armor, but still carried spears and had wary looks in their eyes. They motioned for the ponies to follow them.

“Um, I think we should do what they want,” Fluttershy said. Twilight nodded in agreement.

The mantid guards led them through the underbrush onto a trail. It was much easier walking, but it twisted and turned so many times that they lost all sense of direction.

“Where do you think they're taking us?” Pinkie asked.

“No idea.” Twilight shook her head. “But I doubt its to a party.”

“Aww.”

Eventually, they came to a clearing and the mantid guards stepped aside to let the ponies past.

“What is this place?” Twilight asked. She looked around in confusion when she didn't see any obvious landmarks. Taking another step, she looked down in shock when she felt hard-packed dirt under her hoof. It was the road. They were right back where they started. “They led us out of the forest!”

Fluttershy's heart lurched. “No!” she wailed. She stared at the mantid guards.

They each raised a claw to wave it in front of their neck-joint in a smooth, cutting motion. “K-k-k-k-k-k,” they said. With that, they went back in the forest and pulled the underbrush shut behind them.

“I don't think we're welcome in there anymore,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No, no, no!” Fluttershy ran back towards the opening.

“Wait, stop!” Twilight yelled and ran after her.

Applejack caught up first and grabbed Fluttershy's tail. The others piled on top of her. Well, except for Rainbow Dash.

“Actually, I'm kind of with Fluttershy on this one.” Dash narrowed her eyes and ground her hooves together. “I really want to go back in there and kick some heads.”

Twilight shook her head. “You saw how many of them there were. We can't take them all.”

Fluttershy ceased struggling and broke down sobbing. Twilight and the others got off of her.

Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth. “And what if we don't have to? What if they surrender after we've beaten half of them? Huh? Did you think of that!?”

Twilight magically grabbed Dash's bangs and pulled her down to look her square in the eyes. “Look, I'll try to make this as plain as I can, but going back in there right now is not a good idea. Those mantids were well armed and armored and I got the impression that they're not very friendly. Canterlot was just attacked by one group of bug-like creatures and do you really want to stir these guys up to do the same? There's no telling what might set them off. Do you really want to start a war, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash deflated and settled down on the ground. “Uh, well... no.” Twilight canceled her magic, and Dash walked over to place a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. “Look, Fluttershy, I'm sorry–”

“This is all my fault!” Fluttershy wailed. “I couldn't understand them at all. I-if I just tried harder–”

“What? No. This isn't your fault,” Twilight said. “If–”

“Y-yes i-it is! I—I wanted to prove that I was better than my magic, b-but I couldn't d-do i-it.” Fluttershy's voice cracked and she started sobbing again.

“What is she talking about?” Applejack asked. Rarity shrugged.

“If anypony messed up here, it was me,” Twilight said. “I didn't do enough research. I led us all here without a plan. It's my fault that we didn't get anywhere. And because of me, Fluttershy i-is...”

“Twilight, it's not your fault either.” Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof on the ground. “Not all the answers are going to be in books and I'd hate to be stuck indoors looking at dusty tomes forever while Linky roams free. Maybe I'm the one who messed up.”

“Are we really going to do this? Taking turns were everypony blames herself?” Rarity pulled out a tissue so that Fluttershy could have something nice and soft to cry on. “There there, dear. Everything will be alright.”

“What? No, everything won't be alright.” Pinkie Pie walked over. “Fluttershy doesn't have her cutie mark; Linky's running free in the forest; we blew our last chance at getting it back, and she's going to be stuck as a blank-flank for-ever.”

Fluttershy's wailing increased dramatically. She practically spouted fountains of tears from her eyes.

“Pinkie, what was that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I thought you were supposed to be more sensitive.”

“I don't like it either, Dashie, but sometimes you just have to face the truth. If you hide from it, it'll eat away at you and you can never be happy again.”

“The truth!?” Applejack snorted. “Ah refuse to believe that we've lost all hope of recovering Fluttershy's cutie mark! We may have blown our chance at getting it back quickly, and, uh, we don't know where Linky will go once she's left the forest... if she's even going to come back to Ponyville... if we'll ever be able to catch her...” The longer Applejack spoke the less certain she sounded. Her voice trailed off and her head hung low.

“It burns me up that we got kicked out of the forest while she's still in there,” Rainbow Dash said. She flexed her wings in annoyance.

“Wait a minute, that's it!” Twilight perked up. “We may have come up against a hopeless roadblock, but that doesn't mean we have to give up hope.”

“I... don't think you said quite what you meant to. Could you rephrase that, dear?” Rarity asked.

“Uh, what I mean is that while it might be the end of the trail for us, other ponies aren't banned from the forest. We've done as much as we can. I'll explain the situation in a letter and I'm sure that Celestia will be willing to lend some guard ponies to pick up the chase.”

“Well, that's better than nothing, I guess.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fluttershy, what do you think?”

Fluttershy was still lying flat on the ground sobbing. She barely lifted her head from the grass to speak. “Why does life have to be s-so hard? A-all I want is my cutie mark back. I-is that too much to ask?” She flopped back down in tears.

The others frowned in silence. Fluttershy's wailing ate at their hearts. They slowly gathered around her and gave her a group hug to show their support.