Sunlight, Moonlight, Love, and Friendship

Chapters

%1% A Mark of Destiny
2: A Train
3: Stories Still Told
Hearts Beat as One
A Great Run
Ponies Past and Present
Entering Negotiations

%1% A Mark of Destiny

Chapter 1: A Mark of Destiny.

She had one. They’d gone by a different name ages and ages ago, a Cutie Mark, but times and names changed. Now they were called Marks of Destiny, even if it didn’t roll off the tongue quite the same. Either way the basic principle still held, the symbolized a thing a pony was good at, something they could do better than anypony else.

Big Heart had one now, an amazing thing really. She’d been starting to wonder if she was ever going to get one, she was almost twelve years old. Surely that was old enough to know what one was going to do with the rest of their life.

Big Heart yawned and checked the bundle next to her for the umpteenth time. Still sleeping with his head against her flank with his matted cobalt mane coming out in chunks and way too thin to be healthy. He was six, maybe seven if she stretched it a little. No Destiny Mark, and his sable fur was patchy. She hoped he wasn’t diseased, she hoped it was just a lack of food that was making his fur fall out. Sun and Moon knew he’d missed more than his fair share of meals, judging from the little ribs poking out of his sides whenever he breathed.

As for herself, she wasn’t exactly plump either but she knew some things about finding food that probably came from having parents for a little while. You learned things while watching your folks try to raise food. She knew plenty of things just from watching them.

She knew this colt was an earth pony, though it was the first time she’d seen one in a year. She knew she was a unicorn but she didn’t know a lot of magic. Her parents—who now that she thought about it hadn’t actually been her parents at all, just kind ponies—had been pegasi. That was the word for two or more Pegasus.

And she knew tons of ways to find food and water and hiding places, not to mention reading and writing which was a little bit useless except for keeping foals occupied during long Nights. She liked to read though, and those books had taught her even more things. She knew more than the average pony, that was for sure.

Big Heart strained her ears for anything, the footsteps of strange creatures or the roar of monsters. Nothing, outside was blazing hot because they were in the middle of the Sun season, so it stood in the center of the sky. It made it hard to sleep, not that the colt was having any problems.

Big Heart blew a few sunset red hairs out of her eyes and peeked out of their makeshift shelter. It was a standard lean-to, nothing fancy but it didn’t take a lot of work or materials and was good enough if she kept her guard up.

She was almost twelve years old but a bit bigger than that, nearly the size of a small adult pony. Her first mother had been right to name her Big. She had sunset red hair and burnt orange fur. Sunset colors, the best colors in her opinion. On her flank was her brand new Destiny Mark, an iron shield with a pink heart on it.

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“Do we have any more food?” Big Heart sighed and checked him over with a well practiced eye. He’d probably be able to handle it without getting sick, so she passed him some more of hers.

It was the only thing he’d said since she’d found him holed up in the ruin of what was probably an old shed. Or chicken coop. She wasn’t sure. Anyway, he’d only asked about food, eaten, and then slept for the past two days since she’d gotten her Destiny Mark. She didn’t even know his name.

He was looking a little stronger today though, a little less sleepy. Maybe he’d be able to tell her.

“Hey, what’s your name? Mine’s Big Heart.” He didn’t even pause, still swallowing some lettuce she’d been saving and using his right forehoof to shield the two carrots he still had, as if he thought she might take them back. She didn’t even like carrots.

“Trotter.” He answered around a mouthful of lettuce. Big Heart rolled her eyes at him and finished her own meal. She needed to find more food, fast, and since Trotter wasn’t up to much besides eating and sleeping they were probably going to stay at that old farm for a while so she should probably build a better lasting shelter. The wind last night had almost knocked the lean-to over.

“I’m going to find more food. Wait here.” She got up and began hoofing it, tying her saddle bags on tight around her middle and taking a second to make sure the lean-to wouldn’t actually fall over while she was gone.

“Wait!” She soon found a patchy colt wrapping his hooves around her in a hug that was more like a stranglehold. “Don’t leave me, please! I can help carry food!”

“Whoa, whoa there Trotter!” She neighed, nearly rearing up in surprise. He should really know better than to startle ponies bigger than he was. As frail as he was right now she could’ve seriously hurt him.

“I told you I’m just going to get more food. I’m not taking off without you!” She disentangled him from her neck and set him down at the entrance of the lean-to. He had the biggest, wettest blue eyes she’d ever seen.

“You will! You will!” He protested, breathless with panic. Big Heart shifted on her hooves, very uncomfortable now. He spoke like a pony with experience.

But he was too weak to follow her right now. He’d make himself sick trying. She didn’t have any medicine to help if he did get sick. There was nothing for it.

She nudged him back into the lean-to, following close behind to keep him from fighting her. She took the blanket they’d been sharing and wrapped it warmly about the distressed colt. She nuzzled him softly and kept whispering assurances that she’d never leave him behind. He didn’t have to worry anymore because Big Heart was going to be watching out for him from now on and she couldn’t do that halfway across Equestria, could she?

He fell into an exhausted sleep soon after that. She made sure he was comfortable and had some food in case he woke up, and then she left the lean-to.

The area had been pretty picked clean and the grass growing here wasn’t the kind that was good to eat. It would fill them up but wouldn’t actually give any energy. Trotter had probably been eating a lot of that grass, keeping himself alive.

But there was food if you knew where to look. Nuts that were half buried, and a few stalks of oats that had started growing wild. She even found some wildflowers when she went into the forest, though they were kind of small. She wanted to get as much as possible so she wouldn’t have to leave Trotter alone again.

Saddle bags only half full she finally returned to the lean-to. Big Heart hesitated as she came closer. If Trotter was awake he wasn’t going to be happy with her, though food might distract him.

She shook herself briskly and walked in. She’d take her lumps like a grown mare.

Trotter threw himself at her as soon as she stepped hoof inside. He was sobbing and making a mess of her fur but she simply rubbed his bag until his wailing started to sound like words.

“I thought you weren’t coming back!” She scoffed at that thought and sat herself down deliberately on the floor.

“I told you I was just getting food, geeze!” He would not be consoled though. Big Heart rolled her eyes at him again and laid them both down to sleep after he’d exhausted himself.

This happened every couple of days with Trotter more often than not trying to follow her but unable to do it as weak as he was. He got a little stronger every day and it seemed her continuous returning earned a bit of trust with him. He would be less and less panicked every time she left until soon he was merely glumly resigned to it.

She found less and less food every day, and had to go farther and farther to find it. When all she had to show for an entire Wake Cycle was half a bag of dandelions she knew they’d picked this place well and truly clean. There was nothing else for it. It was time to move on.

“Where are we going?” Big Heart thought about that for a minute, casting a discerning eye over the little colt beside her. He’d filled out a little in the past two weeks, but he was still very thin and easily tired. She’d probably have to carry him at least part of the way.

Decided, she levitated her most prized possession out of her bag.

It was a map, worn and faded but with the hints that it must’ve been as colorful as a rainbow at one point. It showed all of Equestria from before the fall of the princesses.

“We’re around here, at this region called Unicorn Range, the mountainy side of it.” She explained. “I think we should head towards White Tail Woods, here.”

“How come?” Trotter asked.

“Forests have lots of food.” And where there was food there was living things, maybe even ponies.

So they turned south, which was difficult to do as the Sun hadn’t moved very far in the past two weeks. It still sat mostly in the center of the sky and she had no way of knowing if they were going in the right direction except that she knew they were supposed to go over a couple of mountains to get there. She hoped mountains had food on them.

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It turned out that mountains did have food on them, just not a whole lot of it. Big Heart spent more time looking for food than she did actually covering ground. Trotter was a little trooper, never complaining even when she could hear the growls of his angry belly and she could see his limping stride. Sometimes it came down to arguing about carrying him, which more often than not she won by silently plopping him onto her back while ignoring his protests. It was a win in her book.

“Really, I can walk, I swear!” Trotter tried to convince her. “You’re probably tired of carrying me, right?”

“Nope.” She could do this all day. He didn’t weigh much.

Trotter groaned theatrically and slumped further on her back. Big Heart paused a moment, each shift in weight forced her to stop lest she loose her balance on treacherous terrain, and noticed some flowers growing on a cliff overhead. With a satisfied nod she wrenched them from their roost with her magic and placed them inside her saddle bags. Every little bit helped.

“Hey, Big Heart?” She gave a noncommittal grunt.

“How come you’re taking me with you?” His voice grew steadily softer until she had to swivel her ears to catch the last two words.

“Because I want to help you, duh.” She rolled her eyes. It didn’t get any more complicated than that. He was just a little colt, she was a big mare, it was her job to look after him because she was bigger than he was.

“…My parents said they were going to find food, but they took the blankets and other supplies with them and never came back.” Big Heart tested the ground in front of her. Although she wanted to stamp her hooves she knew the ground wasn’t stable enough to handle it.

“My parents died.” She informed him after a moment of silence. “They were Earth ponies, but I can’t remember their names or Destiny marks because I was so little. Two pegasi found me a couple days later and raised me until they died a year ago.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Trotter murmured, shifting again and causing yet another delay on their journey. Maybe it was time to let him walk again?

“Don’t be.” She shook it off. She could barely remember her first parents, but the loss of the second pair had been…traumatic. Yeah, that was a good word for it. They hadn’t had much to begin with, but they hadn’t hesitated to take a little filly in when they found her.

Once, she could remember looking at her reflection in a still pond. The water was dirty and had several poisonous plants floating in it, but she could still see her reflection. Back then, she’d been smaller, just a foal.

They’d found her there looking at the water, and Quick Silver had dived down as fast as he could to prevent the filly from drinking the contaminated water. She hadn’t been planning on drinking it, but he did not know that. She’d just been staring at her reflection.

Even then, three or four years old, she’d known that a pony was born with either a horn or wings or neither and that didn’t change no matter what. That was what mama and papa told her when she asked and they’d never lie to their precious filly.

“Hey now little one, where’d you come from?” He asked, balancing himself on his three remaining legs. The back right one had been taken by a manticore when he’d saved the mare who would become his wife.

“There.” She pointed roughly towards a hoof-made cave, made by the strong backs of an earth pony couple out of boulders and the trunk of an ancient tree.

Drizzle flew towards the cave and peered inside. Inside lay two bodies of diseased ponies, the filly’s parents, she’d wager. They’d obviously partaken of something deadly, their bodies had distended stomachs and foam had stained their coats.

She shook her head to her husband and they shared a look. The little unicorn filly was alone, she’d die if they left her here.

A look, and the sure knowledge of the consequences, decided it for them.

“My name’s Drizzle, this old stallion is my husband Quick Silver.” The mare knelt down so she could look the filly in the eye. She had beautiful colors, sunset colors that were dull and matted but some patient grooming would fix that.

“I’m Big Heart!” The filly smiled, sweet and carefree and not entirely sure why her parents never woke up.

“Well Big Heart, how would you like to come with us?” The filly looked uncertainly at the cave, then back at the dirty pond.

“But…My mama and papa…” She whimpered, torn.

“Your mama and papa can’t take care of you anymore.” Quick Silver sighed, drawing the filly close enough to nuzzle her. “Don’t worry though, we’re going to take care of you. That’s our job.”

“Job?” Big Heart had repeated, sniffling. Drizzle gave her a sad smile and nodded.

“We’re big ponies, you see? And big ponies have to look after little ponies.” She explained.

Big Heart was quickly placed on Drizzle’s back and given an apple to eat while they flew, with strict instructions not to move too much or else she might fall.

And as Big Heart finished the apple down to the core she wondered how it was that an earth pony filly could grow a unicorn horn.

Big Heart shook away her earliest memory. Letting her mind wander like that was a quick way to end up with a broken neck at the foot of the mountain. Trotter was counting on her now, she needed to pay attention. There were all sorts of creatures that called these mountains home.

The sun pounded mercilessly down on them, driving them to rest in the shade far more often than Big Heart would like. Trotter was content to roll in the dust to cool off and search nooks and crannies for snacks. She watched him at work and noticed that his system was at least as good as hers, just very unpracticed.

Quick Silver and Drizzle had flown from place to place, searching for food from on high. They always kept one pair of wings in the air while another gathered the food, at least until Big Heart grew too big to carry for long distances. Then it became her job to look for food, a job she found she had a remarkable talent in, compared to her parents.

She’d used to believe that food gathering would be her greatest talent, that her ability to read the ground and find water or food no matter where it grew was a manifestation of the mark she’d someday have. Now she wondered if it was just an earth pony thing, something even a mixed up mare like herself could do.

Trotter didn’t just look at places where food seemed likely, he watched the earth beneath his hooves. He stamped the ground to see the dust cloud that rose up and from that knew if they were moving towards or away from a water source. He could look at rock formations and find places that didn’t get direct sunlight every cycle, and find the plants that often grew in those places.

It was the same thing Big Heart was always doing. She knew just from the way the erosion was pointing which way she had to go to find food. She could tell by the sounds of wildlife what sort of creatures prowled this area, and from that she could discern what grew here and what didn’t based on their eating habits.

“I found some gems!” Trotter’s excited cry came from around the next bend. Tiredly, with a fond sigh, Big Heart rose to her hooves and trotted over to where he was digging in the dirt around some sapphires.

“Those won’t do us much good unless we find a herd of unicorns.” She informed him. Unicorns could use the gems for their magic, or some of them might use them as decoration, she didn’t see the appeal.

Of course, gems might save their lives if they stumbled across a dragon.

One errant breeze away from bolting wildly, Big Heart fought to stand her ground against the rush of memory and emotion that thoughts of dragons invoked.

Trotter thankfully did not notice her sudden fright. He was pleased as punch though when she levitated the gems into a side pouch in her bag. He loved contributing to their supplies.

They made camp in behind a natural buttress that blocked the wind. A small stream trickled nearby, probably from a mountain spring somewhere above them. They refilled the two canteens they had and rested and dozing in the shade.

Trotter always took this time to indulge in a bit of play. He’d stack rocks and toss them one by one over the cliff just to hear them drop. He pretended a passing eagle’s shadow was a griffin and he’d use a stick as a sword. All normal foal things to do when they had free time. It was kind of fun watching him even if she was too tired from walking and foraging to play along.

But sooner or later Trotter got tired, and like any foal he fought sleep’s sweet embrace. That’s when Big Heart knew it was time to do her job as a big pony and get him to sleep, so she called him over for stories.

“Once in the history of this land, there were four princesses who ruled over Equestria.” She began the routine. In no time Trotter was laying against her side, cuddled up as close as he could get without actually being on top of her.

“Two of them were sisters, Celestia and Luna, and as all sisters did they sometimes fought but always forgave each other in the end for a sister is your very first friend.” She saw Trotter squeeze his eyes shut, probably trying to imagine a pony with wings and a horn, but as big and strong as an earth pony too.

“Celestia was the Princess of Sunlight and Luna was princess of Moonlight, and together they made the sun and moon revolve around the earth.” She described. “Not at all like now, the sun and moon moved in hours, not cycles.”

“Don’t princesses live forever? How come they’re gone now?” Trotter asked. She wondered if his parents had ever told him before. It had taken years before Big Heart’s own parents had thought her mature enough to handle the full version.

“Princesses are immortal because they never age, but they can be killed if someone stabs them or something.” She considered this. “Of course, alicorns were said to have nigh infinite power but its possible they over taxed themselves and caused their horns to shatter. That’d kill most unicorns so it probably would’ve killed them too.”

He stared at her horn in horror, as though it could explode at any time and leave her as a headless corpse.

“Don’t worry, I don’t know any big spells so there’s no way I can overload myself.” She reassured him before continuing the story.

“There were two more princesses, the first one was Princess Cadence. Some ponies say she still rules the Crystal Empire, or what’s left of it anyway, but back then she was the Princess of Love. She taught ponies that they couldn’t give up on finding love, and when she married a mortal stallion she taught them that even though the relationship might be short, it’s still important.”

“What happened to the mortal stallion?” Trotter asked.

“No pony knows. He and all the crystal ponies just up and vanished, seemingly.” She answered. “But of the four princesses, the youngest was the one the normal ponies knew best. No pony can agree if Princess Twilight Sparkle was the Princess of Friendship or the Princess of Magic, but she was an element bearer.”

She’d told the story of the elements last cycle, so he knew a little about the things princess Twilight had done.

“Together, Sunlight, Moonlight, Love, and Friendship spread across Equestria. No pony went hungry, and there were huge glimmering cities that every pony lived in together.” She’d seen the ruins of a few towns but she’d always secretly dreamed of finding one of those amazing cities.

“What happened to the princesses?” She sighed, annoyed by yet another interruption.

“I’m getting to that!” She mock glared at him, making the colt giggle. “Nearly a hundred years ago, a threat rose against Equestria. This threat was unlike the god of Chaos, Discord, or the demon Tirek, this threat came in the form of two armies poised to tear Equestria asunder.” She saw his confused look.

“Asunder means to destroy.” He nodded in understanding.

“The Boarans of the south and the Zebricans of the far west attacked, fiercely and without warning. The boars believed that ponies were infringing upon their land while the zebras desired more land to expand into.” War had swallowed whole towns and cities and the army could only do so much.

“The six elements of Harmony, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, were sent to the front lines to hold the Boarans back while Princess Celestia and Princess Luna went to the Zebras, there were even rumors at the time that they were preparing to enter peace negotiations with the Boars when…” She paused, watching the glow of anticipation in the colt’s eyes.

“Word came of an assassination. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, along with their entire guard, were slain.” The wind around them howled against the rocks, making both ponies shiver.

“They say Princess Twilight’s rage knew no bounds.” Stories of entire armies turning to stone and left to crumble, of water sources drying up and crops burning in their fields. A princess’ revenge was swift and merciless.

“Equestria entered a period of great mourning and Princess Twlight vanished, none know now where she is or even if she’s still alive. But her rage woke something in the Frozen North, something ancient, and cruel.” Spring never came in the lands north of the ruins of Canterlot.

“This time Princess Cadence rose to defend all ponies, the Crystal Empire fought against the Yetis, creatures of ice and fur that longed for the frozen corpses of any living creature. The ponies of Equestria and even our allies, the Griffins and Saddle Arabia, fought bravely.” How the earth must have trembled then.

“The Yetis were forced back to wherever they came from, but by then the Crystal Empire was as good as gone, with only a few survivors, among them Princess Cadance.” Big Heart continued.

“Isn’t there a happy ending?” She blinked down at the foal. She’d almost forgotten that this was supposed to be a bed time story. His eyes were as big around as saucer plates and his nostrils were flaring in fear.

Instantly she was angry at herself. She’d meant to explain in the nicest way possible why there weren’t any princesses left, not scare him out of sleep forever! She wracked her brain for a way to fix this, a way to give the story a happily ever after like all the others.

“Sunlight and Moonlight are gone, nothing can change that, but the ponies of Equestria have endured that. We’re still here. Even though our enemies attacked us one by one, wearing us down, we’re still here. Somewhere out there I believe Love and Friendship still exist, despite every force in the world trying to destroy them.” She began hesitantly, but gained power as she continued.

“It was Friendship that stopped the armies in their tracks and it was Love that defended us from the northern threat. So long as every pony remembers the lessons they taught us I believe that we will be able to endure and build Equestria anew someday.” Trotter smiled at the thought, the dream. “We’re still here, after all! That’s all the happy ending a pony needs, the chance to wake up tomorrow and try again.”

“I can’t wait for that day, Big Heart.” Trotter yawned. “I want to see Equestria get better as soon as possible.”

He didn’t say anything more. He didn’t have to. He’d given Big Heart enough to think about for a life time.

2: A Train

Chapter 2: A Train.

Big Heart walked with the map levitating in front of her. They’d left the mountains behind yesterday and should be coming across the old rail lines sometime today or tomorrow. Not for the first time Big Heart wished her map wasn’t so old and faded, it made it hard to read.

She looked up for a moment to check on her charge; Trotter was walking by scuffing his hooves to make little clouds of dust rise up. They did need to find water soon but the issue wasn’t urgent, not yet anyway. The lack of food was more worrying, as the mountains had run out two days ago and the pickings had been slim beforehand.

Now might actually be a good time to do some foraging. The Sun was entering the Setting portion of the sky and if her internal clock was right it was past noon. They needed to find food and water before they both starved.

“Trotter, stay where I can see you. It’s time to forage.” She announced, putting away the map. He beamed and scurried to the trees nearby, searching for any fruit bearing ones or any edible grass. Most of what was there had been sunburned, but at least it was filling. Big Heart filled her bag with the edible grass and the few posies growing in the shade, anything for a little flavor. Trotter was a lot less picky about his food when he thought there was plenty of it.

He was a good colt though, always making sure to stay in sight and not wandering off like she’d heard foals were apt to do. She didn’t have much experience with foals before him though, so she didn’t know if that was a true generalization or just an old mare’s tail. The only foals she’d ever interacted with before belonged to the herds her parents sometimes came across. Not many ponies kept a nomadic life style once they had a foal, most settled down until their foal was big enough to go with them, or else they left the foals in the care of a Herd Master.

Big Heart hummed in thought. She’d been travelling on her own since her parents died because she knew that once she joined a herd they’d expect her to follow their rules, and she hadn’t been keen on being constrained in where she could go and when.

'But Herds usually have more food, and they can fight together against predators. Trotter would be safe.' She had no intention of abandoning him to a herd either, so she’d have to make the commitment to stay too. Depending on what sort of herd they landed in they might not be allowed to leave again until they were both grown ups.

Big Heart could probably fudge her age, she was big for her age and still growing, but Trotter was practically still a foal. It’d be years before she could travel again.

She’d have to think long and hard about it. Previously she’d only stayed with a herd for a night or two with her parents, and not all herds were created equal. It was very possible to wind up in a herd with a bad herd master.

Herds were relatively lax though, at least compared to Stables.

She’d never stayed in a stable though, not even over night. Quick Silver had described Stables as places where ponies were sometimes held against their will. Like prisons from the old days except the ponies inside had done nothing to warrant such punishment. The ponies were forced to work for as long as there was light to work by, and with the aid of magic that was a long time indeed.

Diamond Dogs had established the Stables as safe havens for ponies who wanted protection from the predators of the outside world. They slaved away underground, but they had stone fortresses on the surface where any unwary pony, or any pony sick of the danger, could be captured and brought inside.

No, she didn’t care how dangerous the surface world was she was never going to force Trotter to work underground for the rest of his life! She’d sooner become a Herd Maker than that!

Big Heart shook away the unpleasant thoughts, sought out her charge again to find him carrying over several pears, and decided to think more objectively about the herds later, at story time. It was amazing how teaching Trotter ended up teaching her a lot more.

The pears were a delicious treat and Big Heart wrapped up some seeds, just in case. Bellies and saddle bags full, she cleared her throat for the start of another story.

“After the Fall of the Princesses, Equestria became a much more dangerous place. Predators swamped the settled areas, infestations of strange creatures devastated crops, it was a dark time for Equestria.” She began solemnly.

“But there was hope. One Mare stood up and decreed that since the old way had failed us, perhaps it was time for ponies to give an old solution a try.” Big Heart did not know that pony’s name. It might be that such a pony had never existed except for the purposes of the story, but she wasn’t going to let something like that stop her. “She suggested a return to the Herds of the Pre-Tribe era.”

“I’ve heard of them but I’ve never seen one.” Trotter informed her.

“Well, a Herd works on a simple hierarchy. The Herd Master is at the top and a new master is voted for when the old one either dies or retires.” She explained. “Herds travel slowly across the land, occasionally meeting up for trading.”

“The Herd Master decides where they’re going to go, how to defend against predators, and who gets to join the herd. The next step on the hierarchy are the Herd Makers.” She paused and stared at him quizzically. Was he too young for this? But he’d have to know if they decided to go to a herd. She pressed on.

“Herd Makers are responsible for adding more herd members by having foals. There’s usually five or six of them in any herd.” If he understood the implications of such a thing he did not say a word.

“Below them are the Guards ponies, who guard against the predators and bandits that might attack. Finally there’s the Foraging ponies, the ones who gather food and water for the whole herd.” She took a deep breath and surveyed their surroundings, the peaceful sounds of nature’s music assured her that all was well.

“None of them are really treated as if they’re better or worse than any other pony, but some of them have strict rules and things and all of them pay close attention to bloodlines.” Kind of like the nobles she used to read about.

“The Herds are a good idea for the most part, they keep ponies safe and fed.” She snorted as she considered how they did that. Part of the reason they were so short on food was because a herd had passed this way a year or more ago and the land hadn’t recovered yet.

“Someone looked at the model for herds and decided to take it one step farther by building something called a Stable. The one who created the idea was a Diamond Dog and the idea is that the ponies would be protected by the diamond dogs underground in exchange for digging up jewels.” She remembered the sapphires in her bag and knew they would never be enough if found by diamond dogs.

“I’ve never been to one but my father told me that they’re dark places filled with disease, the ponies are worked until they collapse, treated like slaves.” She felt Trotter shudder against her side and gently nuzzled him.

“They sound scary, why would anypony go there?” He asked.

“Sometimes they’re more afraid of the things on the surface than what they’ll find underground, but sometimes the diamond dogs will come up and snatch a pony away to add them to the mines. That’s one of the reasons I always want you where I can see you.” She warned him. He nodded eagerly, picturing mongrels made of teeth and slobber that howled.

“I know sometimes what I tell you sounds scary,” She said softly. “But I want you to know that I will do everything I can to keep you safe, no matter what.”

“Because that’s what big ponies do.” He smiled, repeating her credo.

“That’s right!” She nodded in satisfaction. “Big ponies look after the little ponies, someday when you’re big you might have to take care of a little pony and the things I’m trying to teach you will help you do that.”

“Stories?” He frowned.

“I read somewhere that all stories have a bit of truth in them.” She considered this and some mare’s tales she’d read as a foal. “The good ones do anyway.”

“They teach foals lessons like the importance of harmony and the history of the world. If we didn’t know our history then it would happen all over again someday to some other pony.” She explained.

“Oh.” He frowned and thought about that, furrowing his brows and sticking his tongue out adorably. “How’d you learn so much, Big Heart?”

“I read stories in the old books. My parents taught me and all the ruined towns I’ve been to have a library somewhere.” She told him. “Next time we hit a town I’ll teach you how to read and write too.”

“Okay.” He agreed easily. “Can we play now?”

Big Heart groaned and shoved the colt off her. She’d been trying to have a super serious conversation with him and he goes and ruins it by wanting to play.

Trotter just laughed and took off at a gallop, already knowing that Big Heart was only a hoofbeat behind him.

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They find the train tracks during their run and follow them southward. The tracks are covered in grass and debris from years of neglect and when both were tired and just looking for a good spot to bed down they stumbled across an actual train, frozen in time.

“It looks scary.” Trotter shivered, hunched down beside her. It did look kind of scary, Big Heart reasoned. Encroaching vines had entangled it and it looked like it was rusted into place. She wasn’t too shy to admit that she didn’t like the idea of staying inside it for any length of time.

Ba-boom! CRASH!

Unfortunately, she liked the idea of being rained on even less.

“It’s this or getting sick.” She decided out loud. Together they trudged towards the train, forcing open one of the doors to get inside.

Somepony had been there before them. The seats were well worn and hoofprints had been left in the dust. Big Heart studied the prints but couldn’t tell how old they were. Besides it didn’t matter, she and Trotter would just stay in this end car and get a little sleep.

Trotter was worn out from running and playing but though she felt exhausted Big Heart couldn’t bring herself to sleep. She huddled close to Trotter, keeping him between her and the back of the seat where it was warmest and safest. It was probably all those stories she’d read that made her think the train was haunted.

It wasn’t. That was silly. Ghosts don’t exist. She told herself that over and over again. She was a big pony and she wasn’t going to stay up forever shaking in her hooves because of an old mare’s tale!

She wished they had a bit more water. She was thirsty but couldn’t justify drinking their supply until she could get it refilled from the rain. That was going to take a while because they didn’t have a bucket or even a bowl for the water to drip into, only their canteens. She could walk outside and stand with her mouth open, of course.

But that would mean leaving Trotter in a possibly haunted train car all by himself.

‘Oh, this is silly!’ She snorted. She was absolutely not afraid of ghosts because ghosts don’t exist and even if they did she wouldn’t be afraid of them! She was a big pony and big ponies could walk outside to get a drink!

Filled with courage she carefully stood up, making sure Trotter would not wake up and notice her absence right away. Just to make him feel better in case he did wake up while she was gone, she left all their supplies right next to him so he wouldn’t think she’d abandoned him.

‘I’m only getting a drink.’ She reassured herself as she stepped out into the downpour. It felt surprisingly good on her coat. Big Heart hummed and tried to remember the last time she’d bathed. She knew it had been a while though because she could see mud dripping off her flanks from the dirt and dust that was being washed away.

Irrationally irritated by the dirt on her Big Heart groomed her fur. The downpour was strong enough to get the surface dirt off and Big Heart was adept enough at grooming to remove the deeper layers with her teeth. By the time the water dripped clear she felt much better, and coincidentally was no longer thirsty.

‘There. Nothing bad happened.’ She thought with satisfaction as she turned around to get back on board the train.

‘…Is it…Moving?’ She stared in wonder. It was slowly and the whole thing was groaning in protest, but it was movement and even as she thought those words she could see it was picking up momentum. ‘The train is moving…Huh…Imagine that.’

“TROTTER!” She screamed, emotion finally catching up with cool logic. She took off at a gallop following the train as it picked up speed. “Trotter, wake up!”

She heard his confused little scream before glass crashed and she realized he’d bucked a window. She was so proud of him but he was a foal and those windows were magically enchanted to be near unbreakable. Only age and neglect had weakened the spells enough for him to do any damage at all.

He poked his head out and found her pounding after the train.

“The door’s shut!” He yelled in panic and she could see the whites of his eyes even from here! Oh this is not good!

“Don’t worry! I’m coming!” She panted, adding an extra burst of speed.

“AAAAAHHHH!” She saw Trotter’s head get pulled back through the window.

“Trotter! I’m coming!” She screamed helplessly as the distance grew greater! “Hold on!”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Coming….I’m coming.” She wheezed. The train wasn’t in sight but she could still see the smoke coming out of it. She knew that would soon fade, knew she had to, she just had to, pick up the pace or she’d lose him!

Big Heart coughed, harsh and dry. The rain had passed an hour ago and she was dearly wishing she’d spent more time drinking and less time cleaning. Actually she wished she’d never gotten off the train at all.

“Trotter.” She whimpered. He must be scared. She hoped he didn’t think she’d left him on purpose. She’d only meant to be gone for a few minutes!

Big Heart tripped and sprawled across the tracks. These ones were cleared of debris, a sure sign that the train had passed through here. At least that much was going for her when everything else was going to Tartarus.

‘Have to get up.’ She knew it. She took a deep breath and tried to stand. Every part of her was screaming in pain though and her sides were lathered with sweat. She still hadn’t caught her breath and Big Heart had always prized herself on her physical endurance.

She couldn’t see the smoke trail anymore. Trotter could’ve been miles away.

And worse, she’d left him at the mercy of ghost ponies. What would they do to a helpless foal? She couldn’t remember at the moment what ghosts did to their victims but she bet it wasn’t anything good.

“Get. The buck. Up!” She ordered her body. It obeyed, shaky as a newborn foal. Slowly she forced her hooves to plod after the ghostly foalnappers, dreams of vengeance her only fuel.

She ate the grass that grew between the tracks and took water from puddles, keeping a solid but slow pace. There was an intersection that popped up some hours into the chase but she could tell by the condition of the tracks that the foalnappers had gone southwest instead of continuing east. Big Heart allowed herself one brief moment of fatigue before forcing herself to march on.

Eventually she reached a place where the exhaustion was a dull ache somewhere inside, probably in the stomach. Big Heart was afraid that if she stopped for even a moment she wouldn’t be able to get back up again. She’d just lay on the tracks until the next ghost train came through and ran her over. Unwilling to let her mortal coils rest she forged onward.

She was a big pony. She was a big pony who was supposed to be taking care of a little pony. Big ponies take care of little ponies!

Every time she thought of stopping, of giving up, she thought that. She thought about her parents, about her dad who’d faced a manticore all alone for a filly he didn’t know. About the mom that once carried both Big Heart and Quick Silver when deadly fever had them and only unicorns could help. She thought of brave acts in story books where the heroes were dead tired and hurt but they never stopped because stopping meant abandoning a fellow pony.

One cycle, then two, she kept walking. The water in the puddles dried up and the grass grew sparser as the tracks turned south. Where were they taking him? Had Trotter run out of food or water yet? Did they let him have bathroom breaks or give him time to play and just be a foal for a little while? Did they hurt him? Was he scared? Did he think she wasn’t coming, that she wasn’t doing everything in her power to find those responsible for their separation and make them pay?

Big ponies look after little ponies.

Finally there comes a time when even sheer bullheaded stubbornness must give way. Big Heart fell and found herself unable to rise, unable even to recall why she was putting her body through such torment. If she’d been in her right mind and not completely swamped with panic and pain she might have noticed the fever sweeping through her body or the weight that fell from her bones like water, but she did not notice.

She did not notice anything at all for she was blissfully asleep.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When she awoke again it was to pain and thirst like no other. The pain was bad, yes, but the thirst nearly startled her into crying. Not true tears, she was far too dehydrated for that, but dry sobs that would have wracked her body and stolen the last vestiges of strength she had.

Dizzy and thirsty she stumbled to her hooves and cast about for water. Her hooves and some bone deep earth pony sense said to walk forward so she did and eventually came to water. It was a river that ran swift and cool. Big Heart drank weakly, too exhausted for the guzzling she so craved but it was mercifully easy on her stomach.

She slept again, only waking briefly to drink some more or to move her wings so they shielded her sensitive eyes from the harsh glares of the sun.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Somewhere on the tracks just south of White Tail Woods there was a peculiar young mare laying prone by the riverbed. Her fur was a dull, unappealing orange streaked by sweat and dust so one could hardly tell its true color. Her mane and tail, both bright and unforgiving red, were hopelessly knotted. She had a Destiny Mark on her flank, an iron shield with a pink heart that no dust or sweat could hide.

She had thick, muscled legs, well developed for endurance and strength. Earth pony legs, some called them. She had a horn spiraling from her forehead, though in her restless sleep it never truly sparked. A unicorn’s horn, anypony would say. She had two wings, each the same orange as her body and covered in downy feathers. Pegasus wings, though sadly with crooked feathers.

This pony had suffered a terrible fever but it had passed. She had suffered a similar fever when she was just a foal, though she did not recall it she did recall a bitter taste on her tongue and stomach cramps she thought would kill her. In truth she’d had another fever at ten, but she was hardly the same small foal and at that time she’d been whisked away for treatment. So this was only the second life-threatening illness she’d caught.

Not that any of this truly mattered. What mattered was that the young mare was awake now.

‘How long was I asleep?’ She wondered. It felt like years. Every bone and muscle in her body felt stiff and cramped.

‘Hmm. Can’t hear Trotter.’ Was her next though, along with some idle musings that he was either still asleep or he’d disobeyed her and finally wandered off. Big Heart wasn’t too worried. He was a responsible colt.

‘These tracks are uncomfortable.’ She grimaced, wriggling to find a more comfortable position. Something about the tracks tickled at the back of her mind. They were, what? Rusted? Oh yes, she knew they were rusted without even opening her eyes. They were something else? Hmm, well, they were clear she knew that much. Kind of weird that nature hadn’t stolen them back yet.

‘Wait…Clear, tracks? Can’t hear Trotter.’ Big Heart forced crusted eyes open. She was alone on the tracks next to a river.

“Trotter!” She cried, memories flooding back. Oh Celestia, how long had she been lying there? Who knew how far away the foalnappers were now! She had to find him and save him and then tie him to her side with a length of rope so this never happened again!

Ready and determined to resume the chase, Big Heart reared back to prepare a charge.

And promptly overbalanced and landed on her back, pinning the wings she hadn’t noticed to the ground beneath her.

Her first memory had the shine old memories always did. It skipped little details and made Quick Silver and Drizzle seem bigger than life and she couldn’t remember if she actually had eaten an apple on Drizzle’s back or if her mind had only added that part later. She’d always been half-certain that she’d been an earth pony at birth, but half of her had been certain that was just a dream. Ponies just didn’t grow horns randomly.

They didn’t grow wings either. Which meant the memory was less dream than she’d thought.

Alicorn, her mind supplied. A pony with traits from all three tribes, the strength of an earth pony, the wings of a Pegasus, and the horn of a unicorn, that was an alicorn.

Alicorns are immortal. Alicorns are powerful. Alicorns are princesses.

Big Heart wasn’t sure when exactly her life had become one of her stories (She suspected it started when she grew the horn though) but it didn’t matter. Wings mattered, because that meant she could theoretically fly, but nothing else did. Trotter was still missing and getting further by the minute.

‘So…flying…How do I do that?’ She looked at the wings hanging onto her sides. They were a weight she was unaccustomed to. If she reared onto her hind legs they flared out without her consent, it was like having an extra pair of shoulders.

Tentatively, she flapped them, trying to angle them as she’d seen Quick Silver and Drizzle do a million times before. You didn’t watch two ponies do it for most of your life without picking up a few things by osmosis.

Like the fact most of her feathers were horribly out of alignment and trying to fly like that would mean crashing more than distance-making. She grumbled at the forced delay and set about grooming them as she’d once groomed her father’s wings. He had a hard time getting to them himself since he couldn’t balance with both hind legs so either Drizzle or Big Heart would do it for him.

It was a bit harder to do when she was the one craning her neck around and she could now understand why he’d had such a hard time with only three legs. She managed though, and this time when she flapped her wings they didn’t feel like the feathers were poking her.

Beating them as one was surprisingly tricky. They were separate appendages after all, and she’d never had to coordinate her limbs like this before. She was used to alternating her legs to run and walk, moving them in synchronization would only make her waddle everywhere at best.

She didn’t have time for practice though. She had a foal to rescue and ghosts to exorcise and darn it she should’ve looked up spells to get rid of ghosts! She hadn’t actually believed they’d existed but there were spells for turning a bird into an orange, there was probably a ghost-bucking spell somewhere out there!

She’d just have to make one up on the way. Big Heart took a deep breath and lunged into the sky.

Flying was surprisingly similar to swimming. She felt weightless, and at the same time supported. It made no sense but she pushed it aside. Physical sensations did not matter. Trotter mattered.

She dipped and dived and swerved without any true intention of doing any of those things, just barely keeping on path with the tracks. She really could make a lot more distance in the air than walking, she realized. She’d had to land and walk for a while twice during the five hour flight, but she could recognize some landmarks now that put her near the ruins of Las Pegasus.

Normally she’d have given anything to visit a cloud city. Today she flew past it as though the whole thing was worth less than the most bruised apple. Big Heart flew, following the tracks to the San Palamino Desert.

Luckily she found the train before she were more than a mile into the desert. It was still a distance she would’ve needed at least two full cycles to traverse on foot. Still feeling refreshed from her rest she put on a new burst of speed and although it nearly caused her to trip into a spiral she fought through it and landed on the ground beside the train. She had a foal to save.

A foal that was not in the train. It was curiously devoid of ghosts as well but she knew it was the right train, her supplies were still inside. She gathered those up and flew back outside.

Ghosts apparently left hoofprints. That was information she had not previously known. She also figured out that they were not pony hooves either, it was a different equine race. Since they were in the desert she guessed they were ghost bison.

That was unexpected.

Or not ghosts at all. She felt better now that she knew she was probably dealing with living creatures, even creatures so much bigger than she was. She’d found no sign of Trotter yet so she could only hope he was still with them.

She wouldn’t be able to follow the prints from the sky, an observation she was grateful for. Her wing muscles were very undeveloped and though she was a big pony Big Heart didn’t think she was too big to show how much it was hurting. She gingerly folded them in close to her sides and took off at an easy trot.

The Sun felt much hotter in the desert. She had only been moving for a few scant hours before she’d turned frustrated eyes on it and wished she had a little cloud cover. At least by now it was entering the Setting portion of the sky. In a few weeks the moon would peek over the horizon and a sort of twilight would overtake Equestria.

But that was weeks away and she had no intention of waiting that long. Big Heart snorted angrily and ignored the various aches and pains of her body. None of it mattered because she’d made a promise and only oath-breakers broke their promises and nopony dealt with oath-breakers! They couldn’t be trusted!

She was a big pony who’d made a promise to always look after a little pony. Standing in the middle of the desert with frustrated tears leaking from her eyes wasn’t going to help. Action helped. Once she found Trotter that annoying tightness in her chest would go away and she’d be able to breathe again.

Comforted—because she was not an oath-breaker and never would be—Big Heart trudged onwards, praying that with each new dune she’d finally see something to tell her that her precious little brother was somewhere nearby.

She did find the signs of a campsite by the time she was ready to collapse. There were even signs of normal pony hoofprints, little ones that might belong to Trotter. They were probably carrying him to move faster, she reasoned.

The sheer relief of knowing he’s okay, he’s alright, I’m going to find him nearly knocked her out. Stopping might have proven to be a mistake as it allowed her exhaustion to finally catch up. Big Heart whimpered and shook on her hooves. She didn’t want to sleep yet, but after being sick for who knew how long one more day probably wouldn’t make a difference.

‘Just for a little while.’ She thought, laying down too tired to even make a fire. ‘I’ll find him tomorrow.’

‘I won’t stop until I do.’ She promised.

3: Stories Still Told

Chapter 3: Stories Still Told.

She woke after a few hours with a mouth that tasted like dust and wondering what had possessed her to ever think wings were a good idea. They were achy and she’d nearly started crying when she’d given them an experimental flap. Nope, wings were horrible things. Her saddlebags pressed them too tight against her sides, the muscles were sore, and the feathers were a pain to groom.

Big Heart took all that pain and weariness and bucked it to the farthest corner of her mind. She had things to do and foals to save.

The tracks continued for a good while. Those Bison—Or Buffalo, she wasn’t sure which one was correct, she’d heard of them being called both—were definitely tough customers if they kept up such a good pace. It wasn’t a pace she would’ve struggled with at the start of the chase, but exhausted as she was it proved challenging. They wouldn’t have gotten so far if they hadn’t hijacked that darn ghost train.

‘Need a plan.’ She acknowledged as more and more often she came across the remains of campsites. Holes in the ground where teepee poles stood, a few scattered feathers and beads, this was obviously a well frequented area.

'Preferably before I get caught.’ She acknowledged again. She sighed and swept her gaze all around, swiveling her ears to match. No signs of life anywhere, just the wind moving dust around and why would anyone want to live in this awful place!? She shook off the exasperation she felt at the desert. The trail led almost exactly eastward, so they were getting closer to more arable land but there was still too much sun and sand for her to like the area.

She couldn’t fight an entire tribe. She hoped they were not aggressive. She hoped they were not the kind to sell a foal to a Stable for some extra food or bits. She hoped she caught up to them soon because she was never going to get all the sand out of her hooves as is and it felt awful.

She couldn’t fight a whole tribe and she had nothing to trade, as evident by the fact they’d left all her gear in the train but taken the foal.

Struck by an idea she looked quizzically at her wings. They felt better for the long hours of rest by her side. Wings and a horn and good, strong legs that had never let her down before. She was a princess and everyone knew what happened when you made a princess angry.

‘Except I don’t know how to turn an army to stone. And I don’t have an army. Tricky.’ She groaned. In fact, she hardly knew any spells at all. She knew a few for providing light, a few laser blasts against enemies, but that was it. They’d never stayed with a unicorn herd long enough for her to learn more. Big Heart never thought she’d need it.

‘As soon as I’ve got Trotter we’re finding a herd.’ She decided. No more hemming and hawing over her wanderlust. She’d take those forcibly restricted years and love them if they taught her any suitably useful magic at all.

‘Right sooo…Be a princess. I can do that.’ Princesses are strong and wise, surely even the Buffalo herds would respect that?

She continued her mission, following the traces and growing progressively stealthier as she sensed a trembling in the earth. The barely-there shaking of thunderous hooves.

‘Now.’ She knew, opening her wings. She knew they were close. She could just about hear them if the wind turned just right. She had to make an entrance they’d remember now.

She burst into the sky, leaving a slowly dimming red ribbon behind.

Once in the air she could see them. She knew they saw her too, because they stopped and began pointing and speaking in their tongue. She wished she knew what they were saying.

But she could see Trotter and he could see her. That was enough for her.

The one carrying him had the most feathers, the chief possibly? She landed before the…What were female buffalo called? Certainly not Mare?

“You have somepony of mine on your back.” That was a terrible way to open negotiations! Why hadn’t she rehearsed? She’d had plenty of time during this horrible, no-good chase!

They obviously hadn’t liked her tone but most of them hung back. Big Heart thought she knew why. She’d expected to be dwarfed next to a full grown buffalo, and she was.

Just not nearly as much as expected.

The orange buffalo stood before her and snorted. The two were almost nose to nose and it made Big Heart wish she’d chosen to confront them from a bit of a distance. This pose was a little too confrontational for her purposes but it was too late now, backing off would be an admission of weakness. She stood and looked up at the buffalo but at most she looked up an inch, maybe two. The hunchback made the buffalo seem even taller, but with her wings flared out Big Heart nearly matched it.

“Some time it has been since a princess graced us with her presence.” The chief buffalo finally spoke. It seemed enough to break the spell of silence.

“Big Heart!” Ah, hooves full of happy-colt, all was right with the world. Big Heart lost the stern look she’d pasted on her face, preferring to flap her wings to keep her balance as Trotter leapt from the back of the chief into her waiting hooves.

“Ahem.” Big Heart started and felt herself blush. She’d gotten a little distracted with checking Trotter for injuries and clucking at his grimy fur that she’d almost forgotten the herd of buffalo staring at her.

Now that she looked up though she could swear they looked amused, kind of friendly actually. The tension had drained from them just as it had drained from her.

“So you are the famous Big Heart.” The chief buffalo chuckled. “For many days we have heard tales of the bravery and wisdom of the pony this foal loves and how she would track us down. I must admit, I doubted his words. So few ponies brave the desert sands, fewer still can match our pace, and yet you manage instead to outrun us.”

“Big ponies look after little ponies.” She shrugged, finally placing Trotter on the ground but still close enough to touch.

“Please, I am Strong Heart, chief of this herd.” They exchanged small bows. “Run with us to our camping grounds, so we may share our stories.”

The run was another long one. Big Heart thought it was incredibly unfair to ask her to continue this harsh pace when she’d nearly killed herself matching it but she did not complain, what’s more she carried Trotter on her back the whole way. Luckily it seemed everyone else was as exhausted as she was because as soon as they reached an impressive orchard of apple trees the running stopped and everyone settled down in teepees for a good nap.

Big Heart had no complaints except for the fact that no one had any rope and she was loathed to fall asleep right after “rescuing” Trotter. She had to scold herself pretty harshly to make herself curl up in the shade of a truly old looking tree. Juicy apples had never tasted so sweet and she dreamed of an orange pony in a Stetson reading a story.

Big Heart woke up with a yawn, feeling better than she had in days. Her chest didn’t ache in some nameless way anymore, her belly was full and though she hadn’t yet groomed herself she felt refreshed. She haphazardly flicked her mane out of her eyes and looked around.

Buffalo were sleeping or talking amongst each other everywhere she turned. Their own children, and she really wished she knew the terminology, were playing with Trotter in some sort of chasing game. It looked exhausting. She never wanted to run anywhere ever again.

She stood up and stretched every muscle in her body. She’d pushed her wings far and her legs even farther and it showed. She was lucky she hadn’t torn anything. She was lucky she hadn’t died on those tracks. She was lucky the Buffalo were friendly.

Actually, Big Heart was just plain lucky all around.

She’d slept long enough. She was bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to take on anything the world threw at her. It was time to talk to some Buffalo.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They gathered around a campfire, though it was warm enough not to need one and the moon had not yet peeked over the horizon. It was probably tradition and she didn’t mind. Big Heart privately thought it was a very authentic touch.

Strong Heart, and how strange was it to share a name with a Buffalo chief, stood and began the story telling. She told a story Big Heart had never heard before. She told of six ponies and a small dragon that helped prevent a war between the herd and the settlers who’d once lived here. She told of a purple dragon who was kind, and loved turquoise. She told of a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane, who was forgiving and swift. She told of a pink mare who did her best to make both sides happy. She told of an orange pony with good, strong legs. She told of a white pony with a purple mane who was as beautiful as gemstones. She told of a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, who was kind to all who approached her. Finally she told a princess who was not a princess, not yet, who was smarter than all others.

It was strange to hear of them as they’d been. Like normal ponies, she felt like saying.

“It has been a very long time since ponies ran with our herd.” The aged chief sighed, sounding sad and regretful. “When we found Trotter we knew we had made a terrible mistake, but not one we could fix without being late for the harvest. So we brought him and intended to give him to a pony herd as soon as we met with one.”

“I tried to run away, but they caught me.” The colt informed her. She laughed and ruffled his mane. She was glad they had.

“We know Trotter’s story is one of pain and loss and still great joy.” Strong Heart spoke strong for being so old. “Now we would ask for yours.”

Oh, she thought, and wondered why she was surprised. She’d never thought to tell anyone her own story before. It had always seemed too much like bragging. She didn’t want to seem rude though, so she began.

“Once, there was a filly born to two earth ponies in a cave they’d made with care.” She told them, drawing on her story telling skills and entrancing them with anecdotes from her past that she thought would give them what they wanted. They were a good audience, gasping in shock and laughing with mirth wherever appropriate. Their open reactions drew more emotion from her, enough so she nearly choked on tears when she told them how her parents died and she wandered alone, not sure what to do in a world already collapsed.

She told them how she found Trotter, skinny and alone, and she told them of their journey together through the mountains. She told them of the train and how she’d left for only a moment and seen it pull away with her whole world inside. She told them of the chase, the frantic pace that drove her to fever and ascension. She told them of flying and falling and every tear soaked gasp for air as she tried to find her brother.

Trotter had gone very still when she’d said that, solid as a rock. It lasted a moment, maybe two, before he’d hidden his face in her side and just breathed. She’d talk to him, later. When her throat was less parched.

“I flew down in front of you, when really what I wanted to do was swoop down and pluck him off your back, and the rest is history.” She finished, her voice cracking like old, dry twigs. She needed to get some water soon, or maybe another apple.

“Now there is a story for the ages.” Strong Heart chuckled. “So Equestria has a new princess.”

“Um, I don’t even know how it happened.” Big Heart reminded her. “Not to mention I have no idea what to do about it.” Though she did have something in mind it was far too big an idea to fit in her head all at once. Better to take things one step at a time.

“I am afraid we cannot help you with this endeavor.” The chief regrettably informed her. “We are even less knowledgeable about Equestria’s Fall than you are. We do not know what caused the decline of Sun and Moon or where Friendship and Love have hidden themselves away.”

“Love! That’s it!” Trotter exclaimed.

“What’s it?” Big Heart frowned.

“Who better to ask about being a princess than another princess?” He smiled. “You said it yourself, the Princess of Love still dwells in the Crystal Empire’s ruins! We just need to talk to her!”

“We have heard of the Crystal Empire.” Another buffalo snorted, making himself comfortable by the fire. “They say it is colder than a desert night and there everything shines. They even say you can still come across the frozen corpses of the ponies that died in its defense.”

“If your destiny is to lead Equestria to a new age, then you will have to find guidance.” Strong Heart spoke softly, as if she could see the conflict in Big Heart’s eyes.

“But you are still young, and the colt even younger. Stay with us for a time, run beside us on our trails until you are ready to continue your journey.” She requested.

“Thank you…” Big Heart shuddered, wondering why she felt cold right next to a fire. “I think we’ll do that.”

Trotter was happy enough to stay with the new friends he was making. Big Heart felt inordinately relieved by that. For the first time that she could remember she felt content to follow another pony’s lead on where to go and how long to stay. She wasn’t chomping at the bit or longing for greener pastures. She had too much on her mind to feel her usual wanderlust.

This whole princess thing had thrown her off balance. The first time she landed on a cloud she’d nearly started to cry, caught in memories of her longing to walk on them as her parents had. If that was the worst of the changes she experienced Big Heart would’ve counted herself lucky, but the emotional rollercoaster wasn’t even the beginning.

Honestly, the physical changes were the easiest to deal with. Big Heart liked pushing her body, she’d climbed cliffs, scaled mountains, swam rivers, and most recently had traveled a little under four hundred miles in eight cycles, two of those spent collapsed by a river. Once she had recovered from her marathon she found the daily run the buffalo’s underwent to be invigorating, even with the weight of her bags and Trotter weighing her down.

Teaching herself how to fly was a whole new challenge, one she relished too because it made her feel closer than ever before to her lost family. Even though they were a pain to groom, or preen, as it were. She got better at it every day and couldn’t wait until her wings were strong enough to support herself and Trotter so she could show him what the world looked like from a bird’s eye view!

Even the fact that she’d somehow lost all her excess body weight and grown three inches overnight was easy to deal with, though she’d had a brief panic attack thinking she might have picked up some sort of parasite. She didn’t know if growing wings just took up lots of energy that ate away her fat or if the run had taken it from her but Big Heart looked even less like a filly than before. She wasn’t even thirteen yet and already looked like a full grown mare!

It was the new weight of responsibility that was weighing her down. Although the rulers of Equestria historically didn’t have much power over the Buffalo tribes they still treated her very respectfully, like a visiting chief or something. If this was how creatures she didn’t even technically rule treated her she was a little nervous about finding a pony herd. Strong Heart was right, whether she liked it or not Big Heart was probably going to start some kind of “new age” in Equestria.

And at the moment nothing scared her more.

If she thought about it too much she’d break into a full gallop, racing to be at the head of the long line of buffalo as they ran their trail around the apple orchard to make the fruit fall. Trotter wasn’t riding her right now, the very young and the very old were trailing behind to pick up the fruit. That was the only reason she didn’t take to her wings and fly as far away from any destiny speaking buffalo as she could.

At the same time, she couldn’t see herself continuing her anonymous travels with Trotter. Whether she liked it or not, whether she asked for it or not, she was an alicorn. She had a duty to ponies everywhere to try to make things better. She had to find some way to reunite Equestria because if she didn’t even try she’d never be able to forgive herself.

‘Princess Cadance and princess Twilight could go into hiding.’ She thought bitterly. Back when she’d told the story to Trotter, just two weeks ago now, she’d thought she understood. Just because they lived forever didn’t make their losses any less than before. Now, saddled with a responsibility that should have been theirs she felt bitter and afraid and so terribly alone.

Big Heart realized she’d pulled ahead of the buffalo herd and paused. The trails were long and winding and it was very possible for her to get lost.

Suddenly realizing how silly that worry was, Big Heart flew into the air to see how far behind the herd had fallen. How could she get lost when all she had to do was fly above the tree tops and look for the huge cloud of dust they stirred up?

Except there wasn’t a cloud marking their position. Big Heart frowned and quickly landed again. There was no way she’d somehow gotten that far ahead of them, the orchard wasn’t big enough to lose all sight of them!

She concentrated on what she felt through her hooves and frowned even harder. It wasn’t near time to stop and rest, but she couldn’t feel the tremor of hundreds of hooves stomping on the ground.

“Now that’s just weird.” She stomped, very uncomfortable. Big Heart flew into the air again and headed back the way she’d came. A whole herd of buffalo didn’t just vanish. They must have stopped somewhere on the trail, though Big Heart could not see a reason why.

It didn’t take long to find them. Big Heart sighed in relief and looked for a clear place to land. From so high she couldn’t see why they’d all stopped but she was sure it wasn’t anything major. No one was running around in a panic and there weren’t any raised voices, maybe they had just pulled too far ahead of the harvesters and were waiting for them to catch up?

Just as she’d thought that the herd took off, putting on a burst of speed she’d never known such bulky forms could pull off. They didn’t care if young trees stood in their path either, they ignored the well trodden dirt path in favor of a straight line, back towards the harvesters.

‘Back towards Trotter!’ Without any hesitation she landed, knowing instinctively that she was still faster short term on her hooves than her wings. She needed to know what had spooked everyone before she ran recklessly towards Trotter, no matter how much her wings ached for flight.

‘The old Bulls and Cows will protect Trotter and the calves.’ She told herself to keep her wings from flaring out and taking her away. She’d almost caught up to Strong Heart.

“Strong Heart, what’s wrong?!” She shouted over the thundering hooves, neck and neck with the buffalo chief. She’d never seen such a fierce face on the matriarch.

“An attack by Chief Long Run’s herd!” Strong Heart told her. “We just got news from a messenger. The old ones cannot hold out for long!”

“I’ll fly ahead!” Big Heart told her. She knew that face on the old cow, knew it as well as she knew her own. Those buffalo back there were Strong Heart’s responsibility as assuredly as Trotter was hers.

Strong Heart did not waste breath on words, and Big Heart finally unfurled her wings and took to the sky.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chief Long Run was easy to spot. Huge feather headdresses were apparently common apparel for buffalo chiefs. He was almond brown and far younger than Strong Heart. He ran with his other warriors, hemming the defensive circle of Strong Heart’s harvesters closer and closer. The old cows and bulls on the outside of the circle swung their heads, occasionally grazing any foolish young warrior with their horns. On the inside of the circle was the food they had gathered and the herd’s calves, most of them wailing in fear and confusion for they were too young to know why anyone would do such a thing.

Big Heart mentally remarked on how easy it was to understand the full situation from high up. She could also see that Strong Heart’s main herd was still pretty far away, even with this fresh new pace it would take fifteen minutes for them to arrive.

Watching a matronly old cow stumble and fall out of the circle, Big Heart knew they wouldn’t last fifteen minutes.

“GET AWAY FROM THEM!” She roared, charging down on a sharp incline for the hump of Long Run’s back. He didn’t even have time to move, taking three hundred and seventy pounds of mare going at one hundred miles per hour. He brayed in pain and Big Heart bounded off, at once worried she’d hurt him and glad she had.

The warriors, seeing their leader injured, abandoned the defensive circle to charge the intruder. Big Heart saw them coming and banished the worry she felt. It had no place here. She banished it with the fear and the nausea she felt, for they were no good here. This was just like trying to escape a hydra when she’d wandered in the Hayseed Swamps, except she wasn’t trying to escape, she was trying to let somepony else escape.

She flared her horn as a final warning before tearing a tree out by its roots and tossing it at the first line of attackers. They were knocked head over hoof and she flew up, taking herself out of the reach of the second line.

The tree she’d used had splintered into several sharp pieces. She grabbed those with her aura and shot them like arrows at Long Run’s herd. The scent of blood reached her nose. She banished it. She could be ashamed and guilty later, if she survived!

She flew back, towards Strong Heart’s herd and away from the defensive circle. The warriors, caught in their bloodlust and with their chief the forerunner, followed her. Big Heart did everything she could to keep them on her. She pelted their faces with rocks and tossed trees at them, she harried them from the air and dived amongst them in turns so they ran into each other.

After the third tree she made the mistake of getting a little too close to the ground. She wasn’t good enough yet at flying to make it instinctive, focusing her power on ripping trees out by the roots meant she fell closer to the ground. One young bull must have realized this. He struck just as she’d prepared to toss it at the next group of attackers.

“OOF!” She grunted as a solid wall slammed into her side. Big Heart could have sworn something snapped. In pain and afraid she swung her head and ended up swinging a large apple tree with it. Her adversary was knocked off his feet, sailing in an arc into the sky.

Now she felt the rumble of furious hooves and pulled two more trees out. She held them horizontal in front of her as a shield against the army bearing down on her stilled form. Some part of her inside was amazed that she could lift so many, before her ascension she wouldn’t have been able to lift one tree, never mind three of them! That part of her was deep though, and was no distraction for the pain in her side.

Now she was on the defensive. Her trees were being shattered under their mighty blows. Big Heart fought to stand up and hold her trees at the same time but it was a useless exercise. The pain made it hard enough to concentrate.

‘Help! Hurry, please! Somepony!’ She winced and closed her eyes as the last tree exploded in a fountain of splinters. The furious eyes of Long Run met hers. His back was bleeding heavily and she could see it hurt him to walk, there was a visible dent in his hump from where her front hooves had slammed into it. He’d never walk without pain again.

The thought made her a little glad, but the conch shell announcing the arrival of Strong Heart and her herd made her positively giddy.

‘Or maybe that’s the pain.’ She thought blearily as she attempted to move her wings. Her wings weren’t broken, she’d had them fully extended in preparation for her next take off, so her side had taken the full brunt of that attack.

“Big Heart hurt.” She opened her eyes, not sure when they’d closed, and met the concerned eyes of a large cow. The buffalo snorted in satisfaction when Big Heart met her eyes before turning herself to more important tasks, like making sure no more enemy buffalo could hurt the foreigner worse.

Big Heart didn’t mind the dismissal. This buffalo only knew a handful of Equine words and she didn’t feel like talking anyway. She focused instead on trying to move every limb because she was pretty sure something in her back had twisted when she fell.

“Big Heart walk?” She looked up and saw her guard again. The fight was winding down now with Long Run and his friends fleeing the scene.

Big Heart bit her lip and slowly climbed to her hooves. It hurt. If she didn’t have a broken bone somewhere she was going to change her name to Dumb Luck.

She found the broken bone in her right leg. It was broken just below the shoulder, an awkward position to say the least. She found a few torn muscles when she’d tried flying to see if she could move that way. Finally she had to admit defeat and turned towards her guard.

“No walk.” She forced her voice to sound steady, if not very strong. The cow nodded in understanding and lowered herself, allowing the injured alicorn to ride her as they rejoined the rest of the herd.

“Big Heart!” She privately swore never to tell anyone about the stark naked terror she’d felt at that moment, thinking Trotter was going to give his usual tackle hug. That was a secret that would be following her to the grave.

“Whoa there, Trotter!” Strong Heart stopped the colt before he could do more harm. Big Heart shot the chief a grateful look and chose to ignore the wetness in her eyes. “You are injured?”

“Broke my right leg and tore a few muscles.” And she was lucky it wasn’t worse. She was lucky he’d never managed to land his hooves on her to trample her to death. There were nicer ways to die.

Strong Heart and nodded and said some words Big Heart couldn’t understand to her guard. The guard said something back and nodded before walking away from the battlefield, in the same direction as other buffalo who were helping the wounded.

Big Heart saw Trotter being unwillingly escorted to a different area with the rest of the calves and sighed in relief. She loved him, she really did, but now was not a good time for hugs.

A few nurses or doctors or whatever the buffalo called them were going around to the wounded. Big Heart noticed that she was getting VIP treatment when no less than three bulls came to help her get off her guard. She let them, mostly because they didn’t understand a word of Equine. Her guard didn’t leave though, she settled herself nearby, looking out over the orchard as though worried Long Run might return for revenge.

Realizing this was a very likely scenario, Big Heart left her to it and focused on getting it through to the doctors that her right leg was broken please oh please make it stop hurting!

Big Heart bit down on a strap of her saddlebag to keep from crying out as they set the bone. They were well versed in caring for wounds without magic, producing a green poultice to spread over the injuries she had before wrapping her in soft cotton bandages. They did have a little trouble with her wing, trying to find a way to pin it still to heal until she’d forced herself to hold it so they could wrap the bandage over it. Over all they didn’t do a bad job for a race that never had to deal with wings.

Once the poultice helped ease the pain she figured that the worst part about all this was that now she couldn’t walk, let alone run, maybe not for months. She didn’t know any healing magic and wasn’t willing to experiment.

“Big Heart.” She looked up and saw her guard had wandered back over now that her injuries had been tended to.

“Yes?” She asked curiously.

“Name, Flint Arrow.” She said, pointing at herself. Tentatively, Big Heart repeated the words and gestured towards her guard. At the buffalo’s nod she understood that Flint Arrow was her name.

“Flint Arrow bring Big Heart Chief Strong Heart.” Most of that sentence had names in it. She made a guess though that Flint Arrow was supposed to take her to Strong Heart once she was tended to.

That led to another painful climb onto Flint Arrow’s back as they walked towards the teepees. Big Heart fidgeted nervously as she noticed every buffalo they passed would turn their head and watch with dark, flinty eyes.

“Why are they looking at me like that?” She wondered if she was somehow in trouble. Maybe for ripping up all those trees?

Flint Arrow was quiet for a minute, long enough to make Big Heart think she hadn’t understood, before she spoke.

“Big Heart hero.” She said before resolutely continuing their trek.

“Oh.” Big Heart shuddered.

Hearts Beat as One

Chapter 4: Hearts Beat as One.

The elders of the herd, the cows and bulls she’d helped save, were flanking Strong Heart on either side as they approached. Big Heart gulped and wished she could walk. Being carried like this made her feel like she was just a spectator on the sidelines.

None of them looked mad though. They looked stern and serious, like the desert dunes and rocky crags they were unyielding, but there was a softness there, a feeling she could barely describe. During their stay Big Heart and Trotter had been treated as honored guests, most of the buffalo had looked on from a distance, both due to the language barrier and the species difference. They had not been unwelcome, but they were temporary things.

That feeling of dissociation was gone now. It was replaced by a feeling of something that felt a little like pride and a bit like family, like Big Heart wasn’t just a guest anymore. She was a member of the herd.

Strong Heart’s voice rang out in a language she didn’t know, speaking to the buffalo that had gathered there. Big Heart tried to look for some sort of clue what they were talking about but the gestures were vague. She heard her own name somewhere in the speech, and Trotter’s too, just once.

After a few minutes other buffalos rang out and now she had a pretty good idea about the topic of conversation. She recognized an exaggerated push that was probably a representation of her tossing a tree at something, a yanking motion to pull up another weapon, a swing with a horned head mimicked a swing at a nearby enemy. They were talking about the fight and her part in it.

“Big Heart.” The young mare nearly jumped, not expecting to be addressed after the slew of Bovine words. Strong Heart approached her and Flint Arrow sank to her knees to allow the pony to stand on her three hooves. Big Heart stood perfectly still, trying not to upset the balancing act she was doing in keeping her right front leg off the ground.

“I apologize, I know you are not well versed in Bovine so I know you didn’t understand all that was said.” She began. “So now I shall translate.”

“Never before in the history of our herd has there been a time when an outsider pony fought so hard for us. You fought for our elderly, for our calves, and for the fruit we live on against overwhelming odds and alone. We can never thank you enough for flying to their aid.” She spoke in a rhythmic tone and Big Heart recognized it! She’d had the same up and down slur to her words that made them sound like the lowing of cattle as she did when she spoke in Bovine. It was perhaps a testament to the emotions that overflowed in Strong Heart that the accent Big Heart had never noticed now came on so strong.

“And yet we must try.” She said seriously. “We must try to thank you for what you have done. So I tell you now, as my ancestors told similar outsider buffalo who proved themselves worthy, you will always have a friend among us.”

“Your name is Big Heart, and this is a trait that shines true within you. I believe that fate conspired to have us meet.” Strong Heart said. “Big Heart, I would add you to our stories. I would call you sister, for we share a name, and I would tell you that however far away your travels take you that among us you and any you called friend would have a home.”

“Would you allow me to say these things and make them true?” She asked.

How could she say anything but yes?

The Buffalo herd began to rhythmically stomp their feet, throwing their heads back and celebrating in the wild way they always had. Big Heart reared back, mindful of her leg and pinned wings, and added her whinnies to the stream of noise.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“The tribe will eat well this season.” Big Heart forced her tongue to make the unusual sounds that made the Bovine language.

“Chief Strong Heart says we’re meeting a pony tribe just before the Sunset. It will be a good time for trading.” Trotter said almost fluently. She snorted, a habit she’d picked up from the buffalo, and rolled her eyes. Trotter was picking up the language much faster than she was and he liked to prove it.

She concentrated on translating his words to Equine before humming in understanding. Sunset was getting closer and closer now, if she flew into the air above the rocks she would have seen that the sun was already touching the horizon.

Twilight was much more forgiving to the ponies unused to the southern heat, but without warm fur like the buffalo or good blankets they would suffer when Night took full hold of the land.

“There’s an outpost that the running trail runs right past, we’ll be staying there for the first week of Night! It is a festival!” Trotter continued happily.

“Slow down, please?” Big Heart groaned. She roughly shook her head, transplanting her braided mane from the left to the right. A few of her orange feathers were braided into it and she had numerous little braids decorated with beads. She knew the beads somehow signaled her status in the tribe as Strong Heart’s sister, but at the moment she couldn’t be bothered to recall how.

“What is…outpost?” She asked curiously as she went over what he’d said.

“A town, a real one where ponies actually live.” He answered mercifully in Equine.

Big Heart hummed again and pulled out her map. The running trail had gone right by the ruins of an old town called Appleloosa, a pony town the buffalo used to be friends with before everypony in it signed up to join the army or sent their foals away during the war. They had left their extensive orchard in the care of Strong Heart’s tribe, then under the leadership of Chief Thunder Hooves, and nopony had ever come back.

That was the story all across Equestria. Small towns had been swallowed into the war effort and now ponies ran wild across this great land of theirs with little regard to the cities they had once roamed.

There were small settlements dotting the landscape, but they were rare and mostly made of the very old and the very young. The big cities had all been abandoned because nopony was growing the food they needed to survive. An outpost, a real town where trade happened, was like finding a scholar among Diamond Dogs.

It would be the first time she’d met with ponies since her parents’ deaths, and the first time ever as a princess. What if they didn’t want a return of the monarchy? What if they didn’t like her? Didn’t think she was good enough?

But she’d spent long enough with the buffalo, although she loved them dearly now she knew she couldn’t stay forever. For some reason Fate or Destiny or whatever had decided to make her a princess. She was probably meant to do things.

Still, the fear was there. Big Heart hadn’t lived to be almost thirteen all on her own by ignoring it.

She sent Trotter to play with his friends, Swift Course and Smooth Stone, and watched them gallop about with some envy. Her leg was still on the mend but at least her wings were almost back to normal. She’d lost most of the muscle definition on them and was still working on getting it back up to where it was before she was injured.

Big Heart glared down at her leg, wishing it would either spontaneously heal or fall off already. She could live with being a cripple now that she had wings but just dragging the leg around like now was driving her crazy. It kept getting in the way and banging into things. It was really inconsiderate.

“Something troubles you, little sister?” She nearly fell off her hooves in fright. Not that she was scared of Strong Heart’s mysterious ability to be as silent as the grave, no siree. She was just a little surprised is all.

“No. I want to…” She couldn’t remember the word for it and switched to Equine. “I’m afraid to meet other ponies.”

“Afraid?” Strong Heart graced her with her native tongue.

“I’m the first princess Equestria has had since the Fall!” She whined. “And I don’t even know why I became a princess in the first place! I-I just—!” Needed to be more than what I was, she silently added. That desperation had pushed her to extremes she’d never imagined possible before.

“Fear does not make the warrior’s horns dull.” Big Heart stared blankly. That sounded like something an old mare would say, it didn’t make a lick of sense.

“By that I mean, fear should not hold you back.” The chief advised, sitting down with a small grunt. Big Heart wondered how old Strong Heart really was. The chief wasn’t the oldest in the tribe, but she wasn’t far off. It was a testament to her great strength and will power that she still ran forward with the tribe but old age spared no one and Strong Heart would be passing on the torch with the next Sunrise. Her son, an onyx black buffalo named Silent Watcher, would become the new chief.

“You are afraid of that the ponies will see you, and find you wanting.” Big Heart nodded wordlessly. “From one chief to another I will tell you this, someone will always find you wanting.”

“The ponies will see you and you will not be what they desire, you can not be what they desire.” She stressed. “You, Big Heart, must be the princess those ponies need. If they are unhappy with your choices, lay your reasons before them. If they threaten to turn away from you, tell them that you love them still. You cannot force them to run behind you, but if you follow the virtues your people know best then they will run beside you.”

“Honesty, loyalty, kindness, generosity, laughter, and friendship.” She listed. Those were the things pony society was built on.

“Yes. You embody them well already.” Strong Heart nodded.

“Really? All of them?” Big Heart questioned. Honesty and loyalty, oh those she had in spades. Kindness and friendship she could see in herself too.

“Trotter told us of a young mare who came and gave him what she had when he was hungry, though the mare could scarcely afford it.” Strong Heart raised a furry brow, as if to say you want to say that wasn’t generous?

“He’s a little pony! I’m a big pony! That’s what I’m supposed to do.” She argued.

“I did not know this was a law among your kind.” Strong Heart smirked knowingly. And well, no, it wasn’t. She knew that. She’d met ponies before who never cared about anypony but themselves. She’d just lived as though it was for as long as she could remember.

“And when you tell silly stories to the foal and listening calves, just to hear them laugh after a tiring run?” Strong Heart pressed.

“They were tired and grouchy, not very good for falling asleep.” Big Heart wasn’t even sure why she was arguing. These were compliments, she should accept them with grace not argue with her elders!

“Okay, I get it!” She gave in. “I’m awesome. That doesn’t make me any less scared though.”

“That is good. Fear does not make a warrior’s horns dull.” Strong Heart repeated.

“I still don’t know what that means.” She sighed.

“It means that because you are afraid, you will be watchful. You will not assume anything when you go amongst the ponies and so you will be ready when things go wrong.” Buffalo were of the opinion that things always went wrong sooner or later and pretending otherwise was the sort of foolishness left to the calves.

“Big Heart! Big Heart! We found some flowers that you’d like!” She turned to see Trotter running up with his friends, between them was a woven grass basket filled with colorful blooms.

“Smooth Stone was walking around to see if any apples had been missed and he found these and we thought, since you can’t run around right now that you’d like them!” He said excitedly. Strong Heart laughed beside her at his rapid fire Bovine and Big Heart felt herself start to blush. It wasn’t her fault she was still bad at it!

“Thank you, Smooth Stone and Swift Course and Trotter. I love flowers.” She grudgingly said in broken Bovine. She could tell the calves were amused, giggling to each other about her atrocious accent. Why couldn’t all the buffalo speak Equine as well as Strong Heart and Silent Watcher did?

“Come, little sister. Let us search out Flint Arrow that she might guard you when we resume the run.” Strong Heart teased.

“Don’t worry,” Trotter’s whisper was not as quiet as he imagined it was. “You’ll get the hang of it soon!”

Big Heart broke into nervous giggles and nuzzled him close to heart. She had a feeling she already knew what his special talent was and when he figured it out too she was going to make him pay for embarrassing her like this.

Big Heart flapped her wings and took flight.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The outpost was called Dodge Junction, and wonder of wonders, it was on the map. A few farms kept the town alive but mostly they traded with passing herds and buffalo tribes, taking the buffalo’s apples to make into apple related food, some of which was given to the buffalo as payment while the rest would be traded with other pony herds.

This she knew without ever setting hoof in the town. Sunset was upon them and they were drawing closer. Big Heart soared through the skies, keeping to cloud cover to avoid being seen.

The tribe was getting closer, she could see that the town had everything all set up already. It really did look like a festival. She’d never seen one before. There were bright lights and music drifted on the breeze and the smell of food, honest to Sun and Moon cooked food! She’d cooked things over an open fire before but she’d never tasted anything that came from a real oven. From the way the buffalo talked it tasted something like finding The Endless Plains.

She and Strong Heart had discussed what they were going to do when introducing Big Heart to the townsponies. The idea was to arrive side by side with Strong Heart, and for the first time in weeks she had finally removed the bandages around her leg to do just that. Walking was a bit of a pain, and she didn’t want to even consider running, so flying it would be. Better to keep her weight off that hoof as long as possible anyway.

They’d arrive side by side and meet the Mayor, a grizzled old stallion named Lucky Day. Big Heart would introduce herself, the festivities would begin, and hopefully no pony would mind too much if she snuck away to get some of that food before they started actually talking.

It wasn’t so much a plan as an optimistic guideline, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately it still left lots of room for Big Heart to worry and fret over what she was going to actually say.

‘Hello, I am Big Heart. I have, due to the weirdest whim of Destiny ever, become a princess. I need to travel to the frozen north and talk to the Princess of Love.’ That sounded stupid even in her head!

‘Greetings, I am Princess Big Heart and I am going on a quest to seek the princess of Love! I shall find some way to restore Equestria to its former glory!’ No.

‘Hi, yeah, I’m a princess but don’t let it freak you out. I won’t be staying long. I just need to get some supplies before I head north with Trotter to find and get some bucking advice from the Princess of Love, who hopefully is in fact still alive in the Crystal Empire.’ At this point Big Heart decided to just wing it. There was no possible combination of words that could be worse than what she’d just thought.

She shivered in the cool air and flew straight back to the tribe.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So far everything was going according to plan. This did not mean much though, because she was still coming up to the town next to Strong Heart. But for all intents and purposes things were going well.

Trotter was only a few steps behind her, excited as a foal and proud as a mother cat, as if he was the one to thank for Equestria getting a new princess. Which, technically he was but Big Heart wasn’t going to tell him that. He was insufferable enough when he kept switching between Equine and Bovine without so much as a “by your leave”.

Big Heart forced her thoughts forward and just barely kept from pulling ahead of Strong Heart as they stopped at the edge of the town.

Big Heart stood as tall and still as possible, letting the murmurs of the ponies wash over her. Now that she was actually here she felt much less afraid than before. Funny how facing the dragon was much less intimidating than dreaming about the dragon.

“Lucky Day, it is a pleasure to see you again, old friend.” Strong Heart spoke, bringing her attention to a green stallion with a five’o’clock shadow and orange mane. On his flank was a four leaf clover.

“Allow me to introduce a friend of my tribe, a brave mare I am sure you would like to meet.” Big Heart took a deep breath and stepped lightly forward.

“I am Big Heart. It’s an honor to be here for this annual celebration.” She smiled, inclining her head out of respect.

“No, Princess,” He gaped, slack-jawed. “It is our honor to host you!”

As one, the ponies present for the occasion knelt on bended knee and Big Heart could not contain her shudder. They looked at her and did not see a pony who was barely out of fillyhood. Big Heart didn’t know what they saw—a hope, a prayer, a miracle?—but it made her feel a little lonely.

And a little sad.

From that point the cycle passed in a blur as the three leaders, Strong Heart, Lucky Day, and Big Heart, were herded to the center of town. They placed her in the middle and provided her with the best the town had to offer in food and drinks as ponies one by one came up to meet her.

Some of them wanted to hear her say a few words, some wanted her to say a blessing over their foals, some wanted just to shake hooves with a princess and tell her how awed they were to meet her. Some of the foals asked her what she was the princess of and Big Heart nearly panicked. She didn’t know, she told them honestly, and promptly wished she hadn’t.

Because the ponies who heard her started trying to figure it out and by the time the third course came around she’d heard herself referred to as the Princess of Hope, of Bravery, of Strength, and a hundred others.

The ones that hurt the most were the ones who asked her if she could move the Sun and Moon.

How could she tell them that no, she didn’t know how to do that, didn’t even know where to begin! She wanted to give them better lives but she had no idea how to do that! She wanted to prove that she was worthy of the wings and horn that graced her body but she had no idea how and only the most tentative of ideas how to find out.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t thought of trying. Hadn’t Princess Celestia moved Sun and Moon on her own for a thousand years before Luna’s Return? But Big Heart didn’t know how she’d done it. If it was a feat of mere telekinesis surely any suitably powerful unicorn would have been able to do it? Anything in eye’s sight was movable if one was powerful enough. It was something only an alicorn could do, and Big Heart could barely fly in a straight line, she didn’t know how to be an alicorn.

Needless to say, the festivities weren’t as fun as she was hoping. But at least the food was good.

She and Trotter wound up in mayor Lucky Day’s home for their stay, on his insistence. Big Heart sent Trotter up to bed and tucked him in, silently glad he was too tired for a story because she didn’t have the time. She had to race back downstairs to talk to Strong Heart and Lucky Day.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Once again, let me tell you what an honor it is that you’re here, Princess Big Heart.” Lucky Day bowed as she entered the room.

“I’m u-uh, glad you’re so happy.” She gulped nervously.

“How could we not be?” Lucky Day’s wife, a beautiful mare thick with foal asked. She had a blonde mane and bright yellow fur with a metal star destiny mark. “This is a sign of great change in Equestria.”

“What are your plans, Princess?” Lucky Day asked, bringing them to the main topic of the evening. “Anything we can help you with?”

Big Heart took a deep breath, ordering everything in her mind while keeping one ear cocked towards the stairs. Trotter had been sleeping when she’d left but curious colts were prone to eavesdropping. Not that she wouldn’t tell him about the meeting later, but he was tired and would be grouchy if he didn’t get any sleep. It would be hard enough getting him up in a few hours, constant Night was hard on ponies.

“The first thing I need to do is get in touch with the Princess of Love at the Crystal Empire. As far as I know she still lives there, and if anypony would know anything about being a princess, it’ll be another princess.” She explained.

“Oh me, oh my.” Quick Draw fanned herself, gently easing herself onto the couch. Big Heart idly wondered when she was due. “Going that far north? It’s mighty cold up there, not fit for good ponies.”

“Still, all the stories agree that’s where Princess Cadance lives.” Lucky Day considered with a hoof on his chin. “No idea why she’d want to stay up there all on her lonesome, but I don’t pretend to know the minds of a princess.”

“My friend will require supplies for a long journey.” Strong Heart informed them.

“You’re right about that, Chief Strong Heart.” Lucky Day whistled. “Food, water won’t be much of an issue since the best route’s on the river, but she’ll need warm cloaks, a good map, Sun and Moon knows what else.”

“Can we spare any ponies for such an expedition, Lucky?” Quick Draw asked worriedly. “She may be a princess but she’s still just a young filly.”

“I’m used to traveling on my own, and I’ll be taking Trotter with me. You don’t need to send anypony you can’t spare with me.” She reassured them.

“Nope, I won’t hear a word about it.” Lucky stomped his hoof. “Trade’s been real good this past year, I’m sure there’s a young stallion or two looking to go on an adventure. Just need to speak a word in their ears about proper behavior towards a princess first.”

“How soon do you reckon you’ll need to mosey along, Princess Big Heart?” He questioned.

“Not until the end of the festival, at least.” She decided. “I want to say goodbye to Strong Heart and her tribe.” She sent a look over at the old buffalo.

“We will be saddened by your leave, but we will await your victorious return.” The old cow sighed.

“Why not wait at least till Sun-up before going?” Quick Draw asked. “I don’t know all that much about the northern lands, but I know they’re worse at Night. Cold enough without dragging yourselves through that mess.”

“This Sunrise there will be the Dragon Migration.” She reminded them. By the serious looks the couple shared they knew how dangerous it would be to travel then. In years past the Dragons flew over Equestria with only a few short stops to let their young ones rest, in recent times it could make the whole season a fire hazard waiting to happen. Luckily Migrations only happened every five years.

“The Princess is right dear, if she’s going sometime this year it should be now while the Moon’s up.” Lucky Day sighed, pacing back and forth. He stopped suddenly and retrieved a pencil and some paper.

“Well, I insist you at least wait a week or two.” Quick Draw shook her head at her husband’s mumbling. He’d have a list of supplies drawn up in a few minutes and more than half of it would have to be taken off to save time and effort. “We’d love to put you and sweet young Trotter up while you’re here. Won’t hear a word against it.”

“That’s very kind of you. We wouldn’t want to be a bother though.” Big Heart shifted uneasily. Her leg had begun aching at some point and she was tired enough not to want to argue.

“No bother at all!” Quick Draw assured them. “Just wait till you try my world famous Haycakes for breakfast tomorrow!”

“The hour grows late, I must be returning to my tribe.” Strong Heart stood. “We will see you tomorrow, little sister.”

“Be seeing you.” Big Heart waved softly as the buffalo left the building.

“What’s that? Chief Strong Heart leave already?” Lucky Day suddenly looked up from the extensive list he’d written. Big Heart had to wonder what possible use Sunscreen would be while traveling at Night.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of the useless brick brack while he ain’t looking.” Quick Draw stage whispered to her.

“I heard that!” Big Heart laughed and allowed herself to be led upstairs. She gently eased Trotter to one side of the bed to make room for her. She was asleep before she finished pulling the blanket up to her chin.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next cycle was more of the same, except somehow worse. Before she’d even finished the haycakes, which really were as good as advertised, everypony in town had heard of the quest she was undertaking. The line of volunteers stretched all the way to the Buffalo camp.

Lucky Day was having a field day trying to thin the numbers out enough, talking down the old and young and only looking for those that could be spared. They had to understand it might be dangerous and they’d be expected to behave themselves as they were guarding the princess!

Big Heart snuck off at that. She didn’t particularly want bodyguards but she wasn’t going to argue. She was having a hard enough time arguing down the many young mothers who kept coming up to offer to watch Trotter until her return. She must’ve explained that she had no intention of leaving him behind a hundred times before she finally made good her escape to the Buffalo grounds.

“Has a scorpion stung your tail?” Flint Arrow asked as soon as Big Heart dived into her teepee. The young mare took a second to translate that before replying.

“Worse. Mothers keep offering to watch my brother.” The cow guffawed at her words. Big Heart ran her mind over them with a fine comb but couldn’t figure out what she’d said wrong.

“He is young but no calf. Let him run beside you if he can keep up. His heart will be broken if he is left behind.” She advised.

“I understand.” Big Heart snorted roughly. “Trotter and I will go north. The Mothers do not understand.”

“Besides, how will you master our tongue without him to chatter like a bird in your ear?” Flint Arrow chuckled. Big Heart frowned deeply at her. Somehow she just knew that was a crack at her language skills.

“….I will go.” Big Heart sighed and opened the tent flap. “Must find Lucky Day. Must find food and water and things for long run.”

“Keep practicing.” That, Big Heart understood.

She stepped outside and walked into an ambush of eager and well-meaning mothers. With a curse in Bovine, she took to wing and finally lost the last of her followers. Now, where was Lucky Day and his long list of volunteers?

“Ah, Princess Big Heart!” The mayor beamed proudly as she landed in front of him in front of the Salt Lick. Big Heart had to admit, she was kind of curious about what went on inside a Salt Lick. What was being salty or drunk like?

“So glad you’re here. Allow me to introduce the two ponies I picked to join you.” He waved over a mare and stallion. The mare was an earth pony with white fur and a teal mane and eyes. The stallion was a unicorn who was bright blue with a silvery mane. The mare’s destiny mark was a blacksmith’s hammer while the stallion had a compass on his flank.

“This is my niece, Quick Fix, and her beau Tight Ship.” He introduced.

“Howdy do?” Quick Fix and Tight Ship both knelt. “Me and Ship here have a trading vessel north of here to carry us upriver. We’ll get ya to the Crystal Empire, you can count on us, Princess!”

“What she said.” Tight Ship nodded.

“I reckon these two will be enough for the trip, any more than that might slow you down.” Lucky Day decided.

“See, there’s this road here goes up north towards Lickity Split bridge.” Quick Fix showed her on a map.

It was a brand new map. With the names of different places on it and not smudged or worn at all. Big Heart wanted one.

“River goes up to Neighagra Falls before it gets frozen over, from there we’re on the trot.” The new map clearly indicated where the Forever Winter began. “It’ll be against the current most of the way but our boat’s got a good crew to it, they’ll get us up at least that far before they’ll turn around and head back to Horse Shoe Bay.”

“Based on previous conditions, I’d say the trip to Neighagra Falls will take three to four weeks.” Tight Ship guessed. “Haven’t got a clue how long it’ll be from there to the Crystal Empire though.”

“What about coming back?” Big Heart blinked. “Won’t you two be needed here sooner or later? It could take until Sunrise to get back if we have to walk the whole way.”

“We’ve thought of that, don’t you worry your pretty, little head, princess.” Quick Fix reassured her. “See, the Mare’s Revenge, that’s our boat, she’ll be coming up north again for trade in two months. We’ll just have to be at Neighagra Falls again by then to catch a ride home.”

“If it takes longer than that the crew will wait two weeks before going on without us.” Tight Ship reminded his fiancée. “We’ll have to meet up with a caravan or herd then.”

“We know it’ll be dangerous.” Quick Draw came in from the kitchen. “And we’ll worry if you’re late coming back, but we’ll understand and be ready to welcome you home whenever you manage it.”

“I don’t know if Trotter and me will come all the way back to Dodge Junction.” Big Heart frowned, catching every pony’s attention. “Depending on what we learn from princess Cadance we might have some other task to do.”

“I think, regardless of what happens while we’re there, Quick Fix and Tight Ship should both make their way back here.” She said seriously. “With or without Trotter and me.”

“We can’t go and leave you all alone.” Quick Fix argued.

“I won’t be alone, I’ll have Trotter. And your family will need you here before the Dragon Migration.” She pointed out.

“It’s not like we’ll never come back to visit, but nopony knows exactly what it’s going to take to bring Equestria back together again. It might be necessary for Trotter and I to continue in another direction and if that’s the case,” She paused to take a breath. “I want to know that the good ponies here will have every hoof available for the Migration.”

“Well, with arguments like that I can tell you’ll be a right fine princess.” Quick Draw smiled shakily, visibly relieved to know her brother’s daughter would be coming back as soon as possible.

“Right then,” Lucky Day sighed and stomped his hoof with finality. “We’ve got the crew and the route mapped out, time to see about those supplies!”

“Auntie, did you have time to amend that list?” Quick Fix shot her aunt a worried look.

“I did my best, sweetpea.” Quick Draw shook her head at her husband’s retreating back.

A Great Run

Chapter 5: A Great Run.

With everything moving so fast Big Heart felt like things were spiraling more out of control than ever before. If this constant rush—trying to dodge well-wishers and well-meaning mothers and strange-followers was tiring work—was a sign of things to come then she’d dearly regret ever ascending. If somepony called her “Princess” one more time she was going to explode!

At least the local unicorns were eager to teach her everything they knew about magic. She could now cast a bigger shield than any pony else in town. The pegasi were equally eager to teach her how to fly faster and how to manipulate the weather for her own purposes. The last time Trotter had teased her about her accent Big Heart had caused a small rainstorm to follow him around all day.

The Buffalo tribe was making their own preparations to continue their run. Big Heart carefully placed each hoof-carved bead into a small pouch so she’d never lose them. Strong Heart even told her how the beads represented her to the tribe, though with some cheerful ribbing about Trotter being more of an expert on buffalo customs than a full grown mare. Big Heart did not dispute it.

Finally the weeklong festival came to an end and Big Heart and Trotter prepared to say their goodbyes.

“Long will you be in our stories, little sister.” Strong Heart said kindly, embracing the filly briefly.

“Our hearts run with you.” She’d stayed up later than usual last cycle just to make sure she’d memorized that line correctly.

“We’re really going to miss all of you. I hope we get to run together again very soon.” Trotter sniffed.

“As do I, little brother.” Strong Heart turned her head to look over at her tribe. They all stood stoically as they waited for their chief’s last goodbyes to be said. “May the ground you run on be flat and fertile.”

“May the ground you run on be flat and fertile.” Both ponies repeated, Big Heart only half-sure what she was saying.

And with a roar of thundering hooves the buffalo took off. Calves ran at their parents’ sides, Strong Heart ran at the head of the herd, and the sound of echoing bellows rang for miles around.

Big Heart had to firmly resist the urge to fly up to watch the dust cloud. She’d be up there for ages before the last traces of them left her sight and she still needed to keep her hooves on the ground and do the princess thing by socializing with other ponies. She had a magic lesson to get to.

“We will see them again, won’t we Big Heart?” Trotter asked uncertainly.

“Of course.” Big Heart answered without hesitation. “It might take a while but we’ll definitely run with the buffalo again.”

“Princess, your magic lesson starts in just a few minutes.” She sighed and nodded her thanks to a nearby pony. He was silvery-gray and wore a fine blue vest, he was also one of her staunchest strange-followers. He’d tried twice already to follow her into Lucky Day’s house but thankfully the stallion had a poor opinion of ponies wasting their time by bothering other ponies.

In other news, there was now a list on the town bulletin board with the Dos and Don’ts around Princesses. Big Heart liked the No Following Her Everywhere rule but could do without the Don’t Sit In Her Presence Unless She Asks You To rule.

“Trotter, I’ve got to get to my magic lesson. Will you be okay by yourself for a bit?” She asked.

“Sure!” He answered a tad too quickly. She couldn’t tell if it was because he resented not getting to spend time with her or because he still didn’t like it when she went somewhere without him. To be fair she didn’t like it any better than he did. Right now she was learning from an old unicorn mare that had very set ideas on how a young mare should behave. At this point the lessons were more about etiquette than actual magic.

“Just be careful and stay near town. We’ll be leaving in just two days.” She nuzzled him.

“It’s taking forever.” He pouted. She didn’t think he liked playing with the local foals as much as he liked playing with Swift Course and Smooth Stone. The foals here were a little too stuck on him being a prince to really play with him.

Big Heart stumbled across an idea and lit up. She had the perfect plan to cheer him up and allow them to spend more time together!

“Trotter, come find me after my magic lesson. I’ll have a surprise for you!” She told him excitedly, trotting off before he could ask her what it was. She heard his childish whines as she moved out of earshot and beamed. The first order of business would be to find Lucky Day before going to Madam Pinch Twist for her lesson, that stallion was always carrying around paper and pencils!

“Non! Non! Non! Non!” Each word was emphasized by the crack of a ruler. Big Heart pinned her ears back and winced.

“A young lady does not slouch in her seat, especially not a princess!” Big Heart fought the urge to ask Madam Pinch Twist how many princesses she’d tutored. The old unicorn mare was of the firm opinion that somehow better posture would improve her spell casting abilities or something. Madam Pinch Twist hadn’t actually given an explanation per se, so Big Heart was just guessing.

She was also guessing that not many unicorns had to deal with the extra strain of two wings on their back.

“My apologies, Madam Pinch Twist.” She tried to smile pleasantly and was afraid it came out more as a grimace. Madam Pinch Twist approved but Big Heart didn’t think that was the best expression she could show her subjects.

“Now then, try again to bring the broom to life. Remember it is not true life but rather a seeming of it.” The mare sniffed as if the cozy kitchen this lesson was taking place in somehow offended her. Big Heart discretely sniffed but was unable to detect any foul odor. The room still smelled liked haycakes.

Big Heart did try to bring the broom to life. She tried hard enough to feel the grainy aura of her magic form around her horn. This spell didn’t take up much power but power was not the issue. The issue was finesse, which Big Heart was sorely lacking in ever since ascension. Once upon a time she could have gently unrooted one flower in a field without disturbing the rest of the ecosystem, now she had enough power to uproot a tree by accident.

The last four times she’d tried this spell the broom had come to life alright. It had gone crazy in trying to sweep both mares out of the room and knocked several things off the walls. Thankfully all the breakable objects had been moved for the purpose of this exercise.

It was actually a little embarrassing how little magic she knew, considering she’d lived as a unicorn for most of her life. Most of the ponies her own age were well past this point, capable of shields that were stronger than hers, if not as large in diameter, and they had so many small spells that she’d need weeks of intensive practice to pull off!

She’d tried to focus on the practical ones, like mending spells, cooking spells, finder spells, and light and fire spells. Those were the kinds of things she’d probably need immediately for her journey. Not that a spell to change colors wasn’t interesting but unless she adapted it for camouflage she didn’t think it was going to come in handy. And unless Princess Cadance was living under a foot of dust she doubted this spell would be any more useful.

The lesson thankfully ground to a halt after she successfully got the broom to dust a circle around them. By this point she was already deeply regretting the fact that nopony had taught her any repair spells yet. Quick Draw said that she expected any young mare learning magic to get a little out of control and she didn’t mind the mess, but it made Big Heart feel guilty all the same.

Heaven forbid Big Heart stoop to cleaning though. Everypony in town was treating her like some sort of rare and fragile piece of artwork, something to be admired and protected, not something that got its own hooves dirty. With Strong Heart and the buffalo gone, only Trotter treated her like a normal pony anymore.

Which was why she was taking the rest of the day to teach him how to read. She had promised to do so in the next town they stopped in after all. This town didn’t have a library, as such, but Lucky Day and Quick Draw had an interesting collection of books. A few were even foal books.

She wasn’t very adept at horn writing yet but she did it anyway, since that was what Madam Pinch Twist had told her to do. She’d never improve otherwise. She wrote out the Equestrian Alphabet and then rewrote it, because her horn writing was too shaky to be clear the first time.

And then she wrote it again, this time using her mouth. Finally, it was legible.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“That looks hard.” He stared at the long list of letters.

“It’s easy once you get the hang of it, mister bovine master.” She teased good-naturedly. “See, this is the letter A, it has an upper and a lower case symbol but they both mean A. You use the upper case form for somepony’s name or when you’re starting a new sentence.”

“Buffalo don’t have a written history, how come?” He asked after they’d progressed to small words. Just as he’d picked up the spoken word, so did he pick up the written.

“They have an oral history, they’re stories are always true ones that happened some time in the past.” She explained. “To become Chief, Silent Watcher has to prove he has one thousand stories memorized.”

“How many do you know?” Trotter asked curiously.

“I’ve never counted them, but I think it’s definitely less than a hundred.” Unless she counted the buffalo ones she’d learned. They’d told stories for hours and hours during the run and during their stops. Big Heart only wished she had a better memory for them because already many of the smaller details were lost to her.

“Big Heart, why did you become a princess?” She blinked and realized she’d allowed her mind to wander. Trotter reached out one hoof and gently ran it over her wing.

“I don’t know, Trotter.” She answered honestly. “I didn’t actually choose to become a princess, it just happened.”

“But then how come it took so long for a new princess to get made? Why hasn’t anypony else become a princess?” He couldn’t accept that answer.

“I wish I knew.” She sighed. “I’m not going to lie, Trotter, I don’t know why destiny chose me and not somepony else. And figuring out the why of it all wouldn’t change anything, I’d still have two wings and a horn.”

“I think,” She paused for a minute, organizing her thoughts. “I think it doesn’t really matters why I was chosen, I can’t take it back so I’ve got to deal with it. I’ve got a responsibility now.”

“…I don’t like it.” She looked over at the sable furred colt. “You’re really busy all the time now so we don’t get to play together as much and everypony keeps talking about how you’re supposed to save Equestria.”

“I want Equestria to get better, I do!” He reassured her. “I just wish it was somepony else.”

“…I’m sorry I haven’t played with you as much.” She apologized, throwing a wing over his flanks. “I’m sorry things changed like this, but I can’t change it back, nopony can.”

“We’re just going to have to learn to deal with it.” She could tell he wasn’t comforted by her words.

“Listen, I know things are kind of crazy right now but I made you a promise, remember?” She smiled down at him. “Big Ponies look after little ponies, that’s always going to be true. I’ll always be watching out for you, even if I’m really busy. We’re always going to be together, okay?”

“Okay.” He finally smiled back. She nuzzled him briefly before instructing him to return to the letters.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Farewell feast was a boisterous affair. Big Heart had been in awe of the weeklong festival to honor the arrival of the buffalo, but she was blown away by the fanfare to honor her departure. Despite being only one cycle long it felt like it was trying to give that weeklong festival a run for its money.

Big Heart was saddled with some new saddle bags, bigger ones with plenty of food, paper, ink, rope, a map (brand new), and a few other odds and ends. Her pack was relatively light compared to what Quick Fix and Tight Ship would be carrying, them claiming that a princess shouldn’t carry too much weight. Even Trotter was doing his part, his little saddle bags were filled to bursting with his own supplies and he looked very proud to be carrying it.

“Be safe now.” Quick Draw chastised her niece, pulling her in for one last hug. Quick Draw looked ready to burst any day now and Big Heart was marginally disappointed that she couldn’t be here to watch a foal being born.

“You worry too much auntie, just focus on the little one on the way.” The bashful mare chuckled.

“Princess Big Heart, on behalf of Dodge Junction I’d like to express my gratitude.” Lucky Day stepped forward, sweeping his hat off his head in respect.

“We here, we’ve been living a long time now believing the age of Equestria was over and there wasn’t nothing anypony could do about it. Having you here, even for such a short little while, really helped us get back on our hooves so to speak.” He blushed.

“We’re going to be making lots of preparations for the Dragon Migration this year, don’t you worry. And we’ve got more than that planned besides!” He said excitedly. “When you’re ready to hop onto your throne you send word to us and we’ll be the first behind ya!”

This was met by a rousing cheer from the gathered townsponies. Big Heart felt her heart hammering in her chest at the stomping applause. Something inside, a voice she’d never known was there, urged her to speak.

“Thank you, everypony.” She began, forcing her voice to be steady and loud enough for all to hear. “This is a time of great change for all of us. For a long time Equestria has been without hope, and if you take that hope from me, well, then I am glad to be of service to you. I’m greatly looking forward to the day when Equestria again stands united.”

The roaring applause was even greater this time. Big Heart hoped they’d feel this way even when word of her future mistakes reached this place.

“That there was a mighty fine speech, your highness.” Quick Fix complimented her as they finally began the long trot to Lickity Split bridge.

“Thanks.” She sighed, relief flooding her mind. Whatever insane urge that had gripped her was at least a helpful one. She’d just like a bit of a warning next time.

“We’re really going to bring Equestria together!” Trotter babbled excitedly. It felt good to be on the move again. To trot as fast or as slow as she wanted down the well-trodden road for places unknown. She’d never considered going far north before but now was as good a time as any to dream about it. With a childishness she never would have shown the townsponies she pranced like a foal, teasing Trotter into a chase and somehow enticing Quick Fix and Tight Ship to run with them.

The boat was…Big Heart had nothing to compare it too. It was big, but not as big as the train, and there were ponies and even a few donkeys on board. It was steam-and-magic powered, and it had goods from all over Equestria waiting to be traded at port or with other roving herds.

The ponies on board were all very respectful, if prone to that strange-following thing she’d almost gotten used to. She could’ve done without the staring, especially when she was trying to spend time with Trotter. None of them were very good for conversation either, only Trotter, Quick, and Ship would give her more than a few stuttered words and praises.

She hadn’t expected the journey to be so short, in just a week they were nearing the great Neighagra Falls. After that it was an icy road straight to the Crystal Empire, or what was left of it at any rate.

Over all there wasn’t much she could say about the boat ride. Neither she nor Trotter had been stricken with the dreaded sea sickness she’d read about, and there was an awful lot of sitting around to do nothing at all. She couldn’t even fly very much because it made everypony nervous when she was out of sight, so most of the time she was sitting uselessly on deck or in the captain’s cabin, which Quick Fix had insisted on giving to her for the voyage.

The length and breadth of it was that she was not sorry to disembark at the end of the week.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“It’s cold.” Trotter shivered beside her. She used her magic to wrap a scarf around his head, layering it to keep as much heat in as possible. Big Heart was bundled up thickly enough to keep all but the stiffest of breezes at bay. She probably wouldn’t be moving very fast like this, but at least she was warm.

“Not many ponies come up this far north, I’ll tell you that.” Quick Fix finished lacing up her boots. “Reckon it’ll be warmer at the Empire? I heard they got a fancy spell to keep the city warm or some such.”

“I don’t know.” Big Heart admitted, against the teachings of Madam Pinch Twist. Princesses should never admit they didn’t know something. But that was stupid. How were the princesses supposed to learn anything if they didn’t tell ponies what they didn’t know?

They were actually standing on the frozen surface of the river. Big Heart marveled at that. The ice was thick enough to support all their weight without even groaning.

At the same time it was a frightening thing. At any moment the ice might crack and send them all to a watery grace. Big Heart could not swim and her wings were pinned down beneath her coat. With everything weighing them down they’d all sink like stones.

Caught up in wondering which would kill them first, drowning or the cold, she missed the exact moment when Trotter decided to leave her side. She relocated him quickly enough, he was making snow ponies on the river bed. It looked like fun. Big Heart wished she wasn’t so encumbered so she could join him.

“We’d best get moving.” Tight Ship told them, drawing Trotter away from the snow with a reluctant sigh. The four ponies began the long trek that would hopefully lead them to the Crystal Empire and the princess who dwelled within.

Camp that night was a cold affair. They camped on the river bed huddled together in one tent, listening to the wind howl. Quick Fix and Tight Ship had evidently decided titles were meaningless in the face of keeping warm, and so joined the huddle without any remarks about princesses or other nonsense.

“Okay, I’m tired of the snow now.” Trotter pouted. He wasn’t really tall enough to wade through it. Big Heart had once again taken the responsibility of carrying him, just like in their early days together. Trotter hadn’t been too happy, but as before Big Heart didn’t mind the extra weight. She privately thought he was still too skinny.

“We’re going to have to go through a whole lot more of it.” Big Heart reminded him.

“I know.” He grumbled, pouting any harder. “Why would the Princess of Love want to stay up here all alone though?”

“No pony knows.” She answered honestly. “Some say she’s still guarding the rest of Equestria from the Yetis, others think she’s so heartbroken from her loss that she wanted to stay in solitude.”

“I reckon that if I ever got the urge to be thousands of miles away from anypony else, I’d pick a warmer spot.” Quick Fix grumbled. The weather had quickly lost its sheen to her, resulting in a rise of temper. Big Heart was making a concentrated effort not to draw her ire. She hated it when ponies were mad at her.

Tight Ship seemed to handle her moods well. He knew exactly when to cuddle a little closer or when to give her space. Big Heart was half convinced he was using some sort of spell to read Quick’s mind. Even when the mare had snapped at him earlier for not having a variety of warming spells at his disposal the stallion never raised his voice. He had the calmest temperament of anypony she’d ever met.

A variety of warming spells would have been nice though. Too bad she couldn’t use something like that. Until Quick Fix mentioned them she hadn’t even known any existed. Apparently they were hard to master and weren’t very practical in the long run though. Something about quickly overheating the horn and causing health issues.

“Big Heart, tell us a story?” Big Heart nuzzled her little brother, trying to ignore the ice still clinging to his mane. By Sun and Moon, she wished it was warmer.

“Alright,” She searched her mind for one she hadn’t told yet. Perhaps, ah yes. “Far to the east there is a land where the Griffons dwell, it is called Griffonstone.”

“What do griffons look like?” Trotter interrupted her to ask.

“Something like a lion with the winds and head of an eagle.” She answered without breaking stride. She was always a little proud that he loved learning so much. “Once it was a land ruled by greed and hostility, every griffon for herself. Friendships were broken and enemies made with each passing day.”

“Until the arrival of a griffon named Grover.” She didn’t know the story too well, only what she’d been able to make out in the old history book, but she could embellish a little for the sake of the story.

“He rallied the Griffons together, using a centerpiece of the purest magical gold crafted into an idol. It was called the Idol of Boreas and was the only known decoration of purely magical gold in the whole world.” It was very difficult to get gold to hold onto an enchantment, so magic gold was at least three times as valuable as ordinary gold.

“Whatever secrets were used in its forging have long since been lost, but at the time it was the single greatest treasure that Griffonstone could lay claim to.” She noticed that both Quick Fix and Tight Ship were listening attentively.

“With the Idol of Boreas he was able to convince many griffons to come to his side, enough so he was even granted the title of King. He didn’t use the idol solely to gain power though, his intention was actually one of war.” She paused to let words take full effect.

“A-Against who?” Trotter stuttered.

“Against Equestria.” There were gasps all around. “For back then our nations were not allies, but bitter enemies. And up until that point Equestria had been the victor of every confrontation thanks to our harmony with each other.”

“But with the griffons gathered under a single banner the tides of war suddenly changed. This took place a hundred years before the Banishment of Nightmare Moon, a time of turmoil in our lands as the ponies began to separate between the Solar Federation and the Lunar Forces. It was a war on two fronts against the Griffons and our fellow ponies.” She closed her eyes and tried to imagine it. The confusion of the battlefield when some ponies favored Celestia and some favored Luna before her full Descent into the Nightmare.

“Suddenly, with the ponies distracted by problems at home, the griffons began to come out on top in their battles.” They huddled closer around the fire as she told her tale.

“The cause of the war has been forgotten, but not the end.” She said seriously. “The griffons took the entire east coast as their own, forcing the ponies there to either flee or slave away for them. This threat against their nation was finally enough to quell the fighting between the Solar and Lunar armies, and the two princesses arranged to meet King Grover to negotiate peace if possible.”

“The talks dragged on for hours. Although they provided a united front against the outsiders, the princesses were not in agreement on how to approach the concession talks.” Trotter interrupted her.

“What’s concession mean?” She had to focus to rein in her thoughts before answering.

“A concession is when you give something up in order to gain something else. In this case, because the Griffons were technically winning the war at this point the princesses were trying to see what they could give up in order to regain the freedom of their citizens.” She explained, and noted by the ‘oh’ sounds that neither Quick Fix nor Tight Ship had known the meaning of the word either.

“Anyway, Celestia and Luna couldn’t agree on their tactics. Celestia was of a mind to let the Griffons keep the east coast and perhaps the Hayseed Swamps in exchange for the safety of the citizens. Princess Luna on the other hoof, was furious over the invasion and wanted to exchange some of the gold in the royal treasury to convince the griffons to return the land and ponies both.”

“King Grover was very wise though, and knew neither of these options, though tempting, were for the best for his flock.” She wondered what it must’ve been like, standing in the presence of his enemies who were more interested in degrading the other than in him.

“King Grover did something totally unexpected then,” She hesitated, watching her audience lean forward in anticipation. “He sued for peace.”

“He did what now?” Quick Fix actually gawked.

“King Grover and his flock weren’t really interested in expansion or slaves, they didn’t have the numbers for the expansion and the slaves were too unruly to be very profitable, not to mention that the griffons were very proud. They didn’t like letting somepony else do their jobs for them.” She smirked at the three expressions of disbelief.

“The long years of war had wreaked havoc on a population that was already dwindling, for you see there was a disease that ran rampant among Griffons at the time. It was a disease that caused the unborn female griffons to self-destruct in the womb, causing a male majority that nearly eclipsed the number of females.” She explained it as the exact opposite of Equestrian population norms. It was different for ponies though, it wasn’t a blood borne disease but rather a natural inclination towards the female genome. Most foals were born female, that was just the way of things for them.

“King Grover gave the princesses a third option, help discover a cure or preventative measure for the disease and he and his flock would leave Equestria in peace.” Worked like a charm too. She couldn’t remember now the name of the unicorn that had finally isolated the cause, only that as soon as King Grover’s first female heir was born alive and healthy the war had completely stopped and Equestria and Griffonstone became life long allies.

“Woooowww.” Trotter sighed.

“You sure know a lot of history, don’t ya, princess?” Quick Fix whistled appreciatively. “I don’t know how you keep it all straight in your head.”

“I just read a lot and I like stories.” She shrugged, burrowing deeper into the blankets. Tonight everypony was too tired for more stories. Big Heart placed a shield spell around the fire to keep it from possibly spreading and cuddled up closer to Trotter to sleep.

She fell asleep with visions of griffons flying overhead.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next waking cycle was met with much moaning and complaining. No pony in the group felt an awful lot like trekking through the snow anymore. Big Heart was the only one who held her tongue. She was the only reason they were anywhere this far north, she had no right to complain no matter how much she wanted to.

“I used to like snow.” Trotter sighed, somehow managing to sound like an old nag that had seen it all. “Now it’s just boring.” Back to being a young colt again.

“I never liked it.” Quick Fix sniffed, kicking it disdainfully. They were up in snow chest deep. Trotter was currenly resting on Tight Ship’s back. Big Heart felt mildly miffed about this. She honestly didn’t mind carrying him.

“It’s cold, wet, makes it so nothing can grow, freezes the ground, melts into puddles if you drag some inside.” Quick Fix had an extensive list of reasons to dislike snow.

“There is literally nothing good about it!” The earth pony mare finally decreed. It was such a derisive statement that Big Heart felt obliged to object.

“Without winter, nothing would grow anyway. The earth needs time to rest between growing seasons.” She spoke up. “In fact, winter used to be the prime season for holidays in Equestria, such as Hearth’s Warming and the Harmony Feast.”

Of course, that just opened the door for stories about those holidays. Starting with the little known Winter Appreciation Day that used to mark the start of the season, put in place by a filly named Snowdrop two centuries before the Banishment of Nightmare Moon. It took all day to tell all the stories she knew.

That night she told the story of King Gentle, the second king of Griffonstone. She was a powerful griffon and the first of her kind hatched without carrying the fatal gene that usually meant the death of so many females of her kind.

She had to take a few minutes aside to convince everypony that yes, King Gentle was a girl! The Griffons call all their rulers King regardless of gender. And no, she didn’t actually know the reason for that. Griffons were a patriarchal society and they were weird. Why couldn’t they be satisfied with that?

Ponies Past and Present

Chapter 6: Ponies Past and Present.

The long walk wore on them. There was nothing they could do to make the trip go by faster, nothing they could do to shorten it. Half the time Big Heart wasn’t even sure they were going in the right direction. Only Tight Ship’s navigation spells kept them on course. Every day the stories she told grew fewer and fewer, until finally she began to repeat the ones Trotter had heard at the start of their journey. Without that small bit of entertainment the morale of the group just kept falling.

And yes, there were signs of battle. The snow drifted like sands on the dunes, revealing old weapons and even the frozen bodies of the fighters, perfectly preserved. Big Heart hated not knowing if she was walking through an ancient battlefield.

Just when Big Heart was starting to lose track of the cycles they came across a real, honest to goodness sign they were heading in the right direction. Train tracks, frozen over and useless now but they pointed the way there. Big Heart felt she could grow to love trains.

“How much farther is it?” Trotter shouted over the wailing wind. The wind here sounded like voices, and never stopped blowing. Big Heart had tried everything short of using magic to plug her ears but nothing made the noise stop.

“We’re almost there!” She shouted over her shoulder. He was hunched on her back, trying to siphon some warmth through her thick clothes. She felt every shiver that crossed his skin.

She didn’t really believe they were almost there, she said it just to make him feel better. So imagine her surprise when the constant storm died down and she saw the breathtaking form of the Crystal Capital for the first time.

‘Gloomier than I imagined.’ She decided, closing her mouth to avoid eating a flurry of snow. She led the way into the city, followed closely by Quick Fix and Tight Ship.

“Endless Pastures protect me.” The earth pony mare breathed as they crossed an invisible line. On one side it was a harsh and monotonous winter, on the other it was a warm summer’s day.

“I never knew it was so beautiful.” Tight Ship added his own two bits. It was beautiful, no pony could deny that, but it was lonesome too. The streets were empty, the glass windows had layers of dust caked on, no voices of clopping hoof-steps gave life to this city.

“It’s hooot!” Trotter moaned, rolling off Big Heart’s back in his haste to remove his heavy winter coat. Soon their clothes were packed away, where she’d never ever have to wear them again, she hoped.

“This place is huge!” The colt admired the city as they trotted towards the palace at its center. “How many ponies lived here?”

“Maybe a thousand.” Big Heart guessed. She’d never seen that many ponies in one place, maybe even in all her life, so she didn’t know that the city had once held tens of thousands.

“Whooeee, I can’t imagine living all cooped up like this. It’s freezing so hard outside I’ve got icicles hanging from my nose.” Quick Fix sniffed. “Why would anypony wanna live where their backyard cuts off into endless tundra?”

“Beats me, love.” Ship whistled as he looked around.

“For now, let’s just focus on finding Princess Cadence.” Big Heart suggested, though she dearly wanted to find this city’s library. It must have had some amazing stories.

“Big Heart, what’s that crystal floating there?” Trotter pointed towards the base of the castle. On a gleaming pedestal was a crystal heart, floating in space and gently spinning. As they watched it flashed in colors and images none of them understood, but being near it was like being held by her mom. A feeling of love that stayed with you even when the one you loved was gone.

“That’s…the crystal heart.” She sighed in breath-taken wonder. Little foals, trains, flying, buffalo herds, towns, ships, and frozen wasteland, and now the crystal heart on top of it all. Had her life ever been filled with so many wondrous things before?

“It protects the empire, and lets all who dwell within know that they are loved.” She explained.

“Indeed it so does.” With a gasp they whirled around, and as one dropped to their knees.

She was glorious. Pink fur, a tri-colored mane that shimmered and sparkled, two wings and a horn standing head and shoulders above them all. Such a soft, gentle voice, like listening to a mother whisper softly to her foal. Her horn was dimly shining, a beautiful blue aura, thin but strong.

It was love at first sight, you might say. The initial sense that had overwhelmed them soon faded, but forever they would keep the impression.

Big Heart felt tears leap to her eyes. This was a pony that understood. She would know why Big Heart was chosen, surely! She’d fix this mistake, she’d tell Big Heart exactly what she needed to do and then everything would be better!

'But she didn’t do that for herself.’ She inwardly winced. Her fur was clean, but it was thin. Her eyes drooped in fatigue and she had bags under them. She looked like she hadn’t slept in months.

‘If she knew how to fix things she would’ve done it already.’ She tried to smother that voice into silence, but it only grew louder. ‘She’s lost someone she loved.’

She knew the feeling. After her parents had died she’d wandered aimlessly for weeks, not sure what to do and grieving hopelessly. Eventually Big Heart had found some peace and recovered, but something told her that Cadence was still grieving.

“Princess Cadence, my name is Big Heart, I’ve come to seek your advice.” She raised her head a few inches out of the bow.

She read the indecision and anxiety in the princess of love’s eyes, but finally the mare nodded. Her whole body seemed to shake as she led them into the castle and up to the throne room before she commenced pacing in a well worn spot on the ground.

“T-There’s nothing I can do.” The mare argued with herself. “I have my hooves full keeping the barrier up!”

Big Heart shared an uncertain look with her companions and stepped forward. Princess Cadence seemed to have forgotten them, and was now endlessly arguing herself over what she should do. It was unsettling.

“Princess Cadence, what barrier are you talking about?” She stepped in front of the mare when it looked like she’d continue without hearing her.

“The barrier all across the northern border, it keeps the Yetis out.” She tapped the tip of her horn. Big Heart watched in petrified bewilderment as it sparked faintly. That did not look like a healthy horn. This close, Big Heart could feel the heat bleeding off it.

“The Yetis?” She repeated dumbly. She wasn’t sure if they were mortal creatures or magic monsters, but she’d heard enough terrifying tales about them to last a life time.

“It takes three hundred years for Yetis to be lulled back to sleep after they’ve been woken up.” Cadence told them. “Did you know that? Three hundred years. It’s only been….I’m not sure how long it’s been.”

Big Heart scrunched up her nose and tried to do the math. It had been 87 years since the fall, how long had the war against the Yetis lasted? Two-three years?

“It’s been 85 years since the end of the Yeti War, your highness.” She finally answered.

“Eighty five years, I still have to hold the barrier for 215 years before the Yetis will be calm and the ponies safe.” She paused in her renewed pacing to stare out a large window. “No ponies in the Crystal Empire anymore, how far south have the Winter Winds moved? Must be two hundred miles.”

She bit her lip nervously and fidgeted in place before resuming her march. Big Heart watched her with sad eyes. She didn’t fully understand what the loss and years of solitude had done to her, but it was clearly an awful thing, like watching a granddam forget the names of her foals.

“The Winter Winds, do you mean the snow?” She asked. Spring never came to the lands north of Canterlot Mountain.

“Yes!” The mare flinched. “I tried to keep it from spreading but by the time word got to me it was already traveling too fast to catch. I couldn’t turn it back, only stop it.” She froze, wide-eyed.

“It hasn’t gotten past Neighagra Falls, has it?” She asked desperately. “I thought that spell would last a life time! Oh, if only Twilight could tell me a better one. She probably knew one that could turn the snows back!” She fretted.

“PRINCESS!” Cadence looked at her askance, wide-eyed and blinking.

“Princess,” She coughed, trying to recover from suddenly raising her voice. “The snows haven’t gotten past Neighagra Falls, I promise. And they never will.”

“Please, we came here because I ascended and I don’t know what to do as a princess of Equestria.” She continued, making sure she kept the mare’s eyes on her.

“I don’t know much magic, I don’t know exactly what happened back then to Celestia or Luna, I don’t know how to help other ponies. I need your help to figure out how to do all that.” She finished.

Princess Cadence was holding an impenetrable barrier across the northern border to keep the Yetis out. Well, that explained why she’d never tried to take over Equestria. Big Heart couldn’t keep a spell going for more than an hour, she’d kept up the same one for 85 years.

“I-I-I—!” The mare shuddered and shrunk back, ashamed. “I don’t know. I don’t know what the right thing to do is. I never have!”

“Princess!” Big Heart snapped to get the mare’s attention back on her. “It’s alright if you don’t know. I’ll figure it out myself, step by step if I have to.”

“But I would like your help.” She tried not to beg.

“You have it, for what it’s worth.” Cadence assured her.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rooms with dust covered furniture. Big Heart couldn’t believe bringing a broom to life had actually come in handy. She owed an apology to Madam Pinch Twist. Quick Fix and Tight Ship hadn’t wanted to be separated after watching them earlier, and Trotter was with her, as always.

“Big Heart, what’s wrong with her?” Trotter asked as she was sweeping a small mountain of dust away.

“She’s heartbroken, I guess.” She began hesitantly, not sure she’d understood everything that had happened in that throne room. “She lost everypony she loved.” That must’ve been hard for the princess of love.

The years alone, dwelling on the past, couldn’t have helped.

“She lost them and convinced herself that it was all her fault.” She finished lamely. That didn’t feel like it was enough to fully explain what had happened, but Big Heart didn’t know what else she could say.

She lied awake for a long time, thinking about what it took to break the back of such a strong mare.

‘Will I grow that big someday?’ She thought before surrendering to sleep.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The days had a different pattern from the one in Dodge Junction. At the start of the waking cycle Big Heart would wake up and fly out her window for practice. She’d come back to have breakfast with everyone and then Tight Ship and Quick Fix would go off somewhere with Trotter while she talked to the princess. The “lessons” she gave weren’t organized but Big Heart tried hard to remember them anyway. Most of it was about Equestria and life before the war, the big exports, the alliances and non-aggression treaties and the trade agreements.

Sometimes Cadence would get distracted and her mind wander off on a tangent involving ponies back then, mostly Shining Armor, the mortal stallion she’d loved. Their wedding would make for an interesting story when she got some alone time with Trotter.

At around lunch time they’d meet up again, and afterwards she’d go to the library with Trotter. Or to the park. Or just exploring. It didn’t matter, that was their alone time.

After that, she’d take him flying. She was always careful when she did so, she made him hold on and she never went too fast, but she showed him the world from a bird’s eye view.

They’d meet for dinner again, and gosh Cadence could cook, and they’d have more lessons. This time Trotter and the others would stay and listen in. That was when they would discuss the plans for the future.

It was difficult to get Cadence to commit to a firm answer about any of the proposed plans. Not only had she been isolated from the rest of the world for decades but she was too afraid of saying the wrong thing that she found it easier to just say nothing at all.

‘So really, I should’ve expected her to take a stand sooner or later.’ Big Heart reflected. They’d been discussing the herds today. Which ones had the most power? Which ones had the most influence? Who led them? How could they convince them to follow her?

“The Cake Herd is the most influential herd in all Equestria.” Cadence had said, unexpectedly.

“I’ve heard of that herd, but they don’t travel like one, do they? They’ve never come to Dodge Junction, at any rate.” Quick Fix hummed thoughtfully. She and Tight Ship had been invaluable with their knowledge of the herds and their traveling habits.

“No.” Cadence shivered, sides heaving as a nameless terror gripped her. Was there a name for the fear of making decisions? Big Heart didn’t know if there was, but Cadence definitely had it.

“They don’t move much, but they’re the most influential?” Big Heart studied the board. It was a huge map of Equestria with little mountains and valleys in it, it was marvelous. She wanted one.

“The largest.” Cadence swallowed and said. “If you want the herds to follow you, then first you must go to them.”

The Cake Herd was located at the base of Canterlot Mountain. There was a small town there called Ponyville, but nothing else for miles if this map was accurate. Ponyville wasn’t even on Tight Ship’s map!

Besides the Cake Herd there were also little figures for the Noble Herd, the Mixed Herd, and the Discordian Herd that no one really wanted anything to do with. Those four were the herds with the greatest numbers and power, she’d need at least two of them on her side to have any hope of reuniting Equestria.

She’d heard of them all, but the Cake Herd was the one she’d heard the most of. (The Discordian Herd had the more interesting stories though.) The Cake Herd was one of the first ones, right next to the Noble Herd. They’d been founded by a pegasus and a unicorn, brother and sister, she recalled. There had also been an Apple Herd some time ago, but the two had been joined in marriage and the Cakes had overtaken the Apples. Ponies said that the Elements of Harmony had been involved with that herd, in family members perhaps.

Herds followed bloodlines. Marriages, adoptions, those were mapped out and alluded to all the time. If two herds wanted to form an alliance they’d do one or the other, creating a blood tie to bind that herd to them.

The Noble Herd only did marriages, and then only if you were a unicorn and both your parents were unicorns too. They were snobs, but they had a wealth of magical knowledge to trade and plenty of numbers.

The Mixed Herd preferred adoptions, they never turned away a child, whether they be pony or not. Their current Herd Leader was a griffin, she thought.

No one knew for sure what the Discordian Herd’s deal was. Sometimes word came that they’d stolen food from another herd, or that they’d been seen performing odd rituals somewhere. Ponies said they were insane and followed Discord’s will.

‘Of course, ponies also say the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, travels with them so I can’t be sure how much of that is true.’ Big Heart would reserve her judgement until she met a representative of the herd.

The Cake Herd did marriages and adoptions, they didn’t have any stringent entry rules either. It was well known that if you wanted to walk with them all you had to do was claim one as a friend.

If it came to adoption, Big Heart would volunteer herself. She’d never give Trotter away to somepony else.

If it came to marriage, Big Heart would volunteer herself. She’d never dreamed of having a special somepony before, but if making an alliance with them involved marriage then there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t just think of herself, she had to think of all of Equestria too.

But maybe they would follow a princess. She could hope her wings and horn and good, strong legs would be enough to convince them.

She didn’t believe it, but she could hope.

_____________________________________________________

“Big Heart?” They were walking between the aisles of books in the Crystal Empire’s Main Library. More books than she could ever read. Big Heart was in heaven.

“Yes, Trotter?” She hummed happily, browsing the spine titles.

“What happened to all the ponies here?” She stopped browsing to look at her little brother. He wasn’t looking at the books, he was looking at the tables and chairs left for readers to sit in. Ten tables, nearly fifty chairs, it was the biggest library she’d ever been in.

“…When war comes to a city, the first thing anypony does is send the foals somewhere else to be safe.” She began. “Their families send them to other family members or friends out in the country or to other cities.”

“I read some of the travel records once,” She paused, remembering a long winter Night. The constant blizzards kept them inside the townhall building for weeks before they could move for warmer pastures. Desperate for anything to do, a little filly named Big Heart had read the travel records from before the railroad town had been abandoned.

“In this city’s case, they packed their foals onto the trains and sent them south to Canterlot.” She tried to remember the exact numbers but they were faded in her mind. All she knew was that the mayor of that town said that the trail of orphans stretched for miles.

“As for the big ponies, most of them would’ve enlisted in the army.” Not just as soldiers, but as medics, nurses, suppliers, cooks, any job that needed doing.

In times of crisis there was never a shortage of willing and able-bodied ponies ready to fight. It might seem strange than an herbivorous and peaceful race would be so ready to go to war, but their enemies sometimes forgot that ponies are a herd race. Ponies were not well suited to being the aggressors in a war, not like the minotaurs or the gryphons, but when pressed against a wall with their friends and foals behind them anypony could rear up and strike out.

Equestria had never been successfully defeated by any of their enemies.

“After the war,” She stopped again to think about what she should say. She wasn’t even sure what she was saying was the absolute truth. Only Cadence could know for sure what had happened to the survivors, but Big Heart was loathe to remind her about her empire’s fall.

“After the war,” She tried again. “There would have been a long period of grieving, and lots of ponies probably left because this city no longer had their loved ones in it. So they went to find new homes where they could raise their foals without being reminded of the past.”

“And they left Princess Cadence all alone.” Trotter frowned.

“We can’t blame them, Trotter.” Big Heart shook her head. “Neither of us really understands what real war is like.” ‘And I hope we never do.’

“Wise words.” They both jumped. Princess Cadence had come up behind them and listened in on their conversation. Now she looked sadly at the both of them before taking a deep breath to speak.

“Big Heart, may I have a word?” She asked nervously.

“Of course.” They both stepped forward.

“Privately.” Big Heart hesitated. It wasn’t time for a private lesson, this was supposed to be quality time with Trotter. She looked down at him and saw him shrinking back in disappointment.

Cadence never initiated any talks. She never bothered them when she thought they were doing something else. She’d certainly never interrupted their quality time before.

‘It must be important.’ She bit her lip. Trotter looked up to see what she’d say. If possible he shrank back even further, ears pinned to his head.

“I-I’ll just, go back to our room for a while.” He sniffed and galloped off.

“Trotter!” Big Heart called after him, half a mind to fly after him.

“Big Heart, please,” Cadence’s voice stopped her. “I-I need to tell you something.”

She waited a moment more, then led the way to a couple of chairs.

“What is it?” She tried her hardest to sound patient and understanding, a tone that invited other ponies to confide in her. Trotter had already been chased away, she didn’t want to spook Cadence into silence. That would’ve ruined her afternoon for nothing!

“There is a reason the Cake Herd never roams far.” The pink mare began haltingly. “An important, perhaps the most important reason of all.”

“Can you tell me?” Big Heart questioned.

“No!” Cadence shuddered. “I can’t! O-Only an official member of the herd can tell you the whole story.”

“B-But that reason, it’s the most important thing of all.” She repeated herself. “W-When you get there, when they see what you are it won’t matter to them.”

“Because—Because they already follow the will of a princess.” She finished.

“A princess?” ‘But not you.’ Big Heart realized.

The reason the Cake Herd never moved was because they were guarding the lost Princess of Friendship!

There was another princess she could’ve gone to, one much nearer to Dodge Junction than Cadence had been. A princess with great influence over one of the Big Four Herds!

‘Wait, why does she need somepony to guard her?’ She wondered. Princess Twilight was said to be greatly gifted with magic, the most powerful unicorn since Starswirl the Bearded even before her ascendancy! She’d turned whole armies to stone!

And why never reveal herself? Equestria never would have fallen apart if at least one princess had stood tall. Cadence had soon been busy here in the Crystal Empire, but Twilight’s war had been finished.

“I don’t understand.” She whined. “This is too much for me! I’m just one pony that ended up becoming a princess completely by accident! I’m trying to do the right thing for Equestria but I don’t understand herds or intrigue except in stories!”

“I’m sorry.” Cadence wept. “I’m so sorry. I-I’ll take the reins on this. Maybe—Maybe if you help from the shadows we can figure this out!”

Big Heart watched the mare grow steadily more panicked. Big Heart had always been nervous talking to groups of ponies, and she wasn’t used to being in charge, but Cadence had done enough, hadn’t she?

‘I don’t know where the line is, but I think Cadence crossed it a long time ago.’ Equestria had taken more than the Princess of Love had been willing to give.

No gentle reassurances would do here. She wouldn’t hear anything from Big Heart now except for a sharp order.

‘If I do this, there’s no going back.’ She knew. ‘I won’t be able to stay here any longer in hiding. I’ll have to be Equestria’s princess.’

She took a deep breath, the last one as a filly just entering her thirteenth year.

“Cadence!” She barked. The mare reared a bit but she stopped hyperventilating.

“Cadence,” She continued in a gentler tone once she realized she had the princess’ attention. ‘Don’t be the princess they want, be the princess they need.’

“How far away from the barrier can you be before your magic won’t reach it anymore?” She asked suddenly. The last thing they needed was a Yeti uprising.

“I can hold it from anywhere in the world.” The mare straightened up at the sound of her tone.

“I won’t ask you to tell me anymore than you’re allowed to.” She decided. “You’re considered an honorary member of the Cake Herd, aren’t you?” A shaky nod was her answer.

“Alright, when we leave this place you’ll lead Trotter and myself to Ponyville so we can meet with them.” ‘And with Twilight.’ She added silently.

“I-I can do that.” Cadence nodded.

“Is there anything else you can tell us without getting in trouble?” She asked.

“Rainbow Dash is there, at least, the last I heard she was. I haven’t seen her in ten years but she’s the Element of Loyalty.” Meaning she was likely still there.

“I-I think Fluttershy comes and goes, she travels with the Discordian Herd sometimes.” Cadence informed her.

‘The Element of Kindness travels with the Herd of Chaos.’ Nope, not thinking about that.

“That’s all I can say.” She clearly wanted to say more but she wasn’t sure the information was dangerous. Big Heart would have to accept that for now, and hope that the mysterious Twilight Sparkle would let her in on the secret.

“Thank you.” She said with all honesty. “This is going to be a great help!”

She couldn’t take anymore. No more mysteries or secrets or empty libraries. Big Heart took to wing and flew through the front doors, racing for the palace where she hoped to find her brother. She wanted nothing more than to pretend to be normal for a couple more hours.

Trotter had proven to be tricky to find. He wasn’t in their room like he’d said he’d be. Confused and a little worried, Big Heart had gone to Quick Fix and Tight Ship. Neither of them had seen him either. He wasn’t in the kitchen, or the throne room, or in the fields getting flowers.

‘Oh duh, why did I bother learning those Finder spells?’ She nearly slapped her horn with her hoof. A Finder spell couldn’t be used on a living thing, but she didn’t need to search for Trotter himself. Ever since she’d learned that spell she’d had him carry her buffalo beads with him, just as a precaution.

He was on top of her.

Now completely bewildered, Big Heart looked up. She’d ascended herself on accident, it was possible Trotter had somehow changed into an alicorn too and was flying above her now.

No, nothing but empty skies. Not even a fluffy cloud to sit on. She charged the spell again, thinking she might have made a mistake.

He was on top of her, still.

‘Okay, that’s weird.’ She looked up, trying to figure out why the stupid spell wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. She’d practiced for two days to get that spell and had been able to find Trotter in Dodge Junction no matter where he hid himself!

He was on top of her.

Where? She wanted to ask the spell. She flapped her wings, traveling through the air trying to figure it out. Up, the spell said, up, up, up.

A little to the right.

Big Heart hovered and recharged the spell. On the right, it pulled her.

‘Well, don’t I feel silly as a foal.’ Somehow or another Trotter had found a way to the top of the castle. He was sitting in the center of it, looking out over the landscape. He hadn’t noticed her.

‘Don’t know how he got up there, but at least I’ve finally found him.’ She sighed in relief and came in for a landing.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you!” She smiled as she cantered up. “I got really confused when my Finder spell pulled me upwards.”

“One who doubts what their senses tell them does not run long.” She paused mid-step. That was Bovine, she knew it was. What did it mean?

“Trotter, I’m sorry I blew you off like that.” What was the closest thing in Bovine she knew? “My alone heart sorrows when you run far.”

He snorted, unable to contain a grin at her massacre of the Bovine language.

“I’m sorry too.” He said in Sun and Moon blessed Equine. He finally lifted his head to meet her eyes.

“I know you’re busy and it’s only going to get worse, I know!” He tried to reassure her.

“Talk to me,” Big Heart laid down next to him. “I don’t know how to help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“…What if someday you decide you don’t want me anymore? Like my parents did.” His voice shook with emotion.

“Trotter,” Without another word she placed a wing over him to hold the colt close. “That’s never going to happen. You’re my little brother now, I’ll never be able to leave you behind or give you away or anything!”

“Big ponies look after little ponies.” He gave a tearful smile.

“You got it!” She nodded, satisfied. “It doesn’t matter how busy I get being a princess, I’ll always make time for you whenever you need me. I promise.”

“I love you, Big Heart.” He nuzzled into her side.

“Love you too, Trotter.” She nuzzled him back.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They still had most of a month before Quick Fix and Tight Ship were expected back at the Falls, so the time was used for preparations. And stories, Big Heart had learned a dozen new ones in the library.

“Princess Heart,” Big Heart looked up from her latest book to see Quick Fix and Tight Ship sauntering in. Lately they’d been referring to her by her title and second name. Fix did it for the sake of efficiency, she just wanted to shorten it a bit but wasn’t willing to leave off the title. Ship followed her lead.

“What do you want us to do once we get back to Dodge Junction?” She asked.

“Huh?” She tilted her head quizzically.

“What Fix means is, after the Migration’s over do you want some of us to come up to Ponyville?” Ship explained. “You’re going to need a loyal guard, and messengers, and who knows what else while you’re trying to pull the nation together.”

That was maybe the most she’d ever heard him say.

“Ship’s right,” Quick Fix nodded. “You don’t know yet if you’ll get the loyalty of the Cake Herd or any other herd yet. You’ll need every helping hoof you can get!”

“We’re traders mostly, but we can spread word of ya all around! And I’ve got plenty of kin folk who’d be willing to come stand by you!” She grinned. “After all, ya can’t fix Equestria unless everypony knows about ya!”

“That’s a good point.” She admitted. “If you do that for me then only send the ponies you can spare or who volunteer, and wait until you’re absolutely sure the Migration is over with.”

“Don’t you worry none, Princess Heart!” Fix beamed. “We’ll be as careful as a couple of a mice sneaking past a cat!”

“Be careful on your way back, both of you.” She commanded. And bring me word about Quick Draw’s foal, she didn’t add.

Entering Negotiations

Ideally, they would leave just shortly after Midnight, halfway through the winter season and after all the worse storms had already passed.

Naturally they got caught in a blizzard two days into the journey.

“Weather teams are going to be a pain to organize.” Big Heart muttered as she listened to the rasping din outside the igloo they’d constructed. Igloos were a lot more comfortable than tents were, she was glad Cadence knew about them and how to make one with magic. Big Heart wished that Tight Ship had more talent in a wider variety of magic so he could’ve learned it too, but other than small survival spells he just couldn’t wrap his horn around anything that wasn’t navigation based.

By her counting Tight Ship and Quick Fix should have reached Neighagra Falls by then and were either aboard their ship or still awaiting pick up. She hoped they were alright.

But yes, weather teams were going to be complicated. Big Heart barely understood cloud sculpting, let alone fine weather management. Getting a storm cloud to follow her brother around was half unicorn magic, not something she could do for a long period of time or large scale. They’d need pegasi who were actually trained in weather management, and who knew how many of those there were.

Weather management, agriculture, trade, infrastructure, settlement, so many issues standing between Big Heart and Equestria’s Restoration. She didn’t even know where to start! And ponies from all those aspects were going to be arguing about which ones were more important than the others.

Not to mention law keeping, mail relays, a military or at least militia in case other countries weren’t keen on Equestria getting back on her hooves!

In the interest of distracting herself before she panicked and went galloping into the blizzard, Big Heart looked at her travelling companions.

Cadence, she really needed to get back into the habit of calling her princess before they met other ponies and offended somepony, was sleeping fitfully. She called out in her sleep depressingly often, normally for Shining Armor. Big Heart didn’t know how to help with that, other than using her magic to wrap the blanket tighter around her withers and whisper words of comfort.

Trotter was leaning against her side, sleeping much more peacefully. Thank Sun for small favors. If he’d been awake and seen her momentary panic he would have tried comforting her, and she was unfortunately fully aware that there was really nothing he could say that would make the fear less.

They were almost out of the Winter Region at least, they were almost beneath Cloudsdale, if the map was accurate. Big Heart allowed herself a selfish moment in which she wished Trotter had wings so they could all visit it, but the moment soon passed.

Someday, she promised herself, she would visit the cloud city.

The blizzard finally ended late the next day, and they wasted little time in trotting further south. With the thick sheet of clouds gone, Big Heart was able to see Cloudsdale in all its ancient glory above.

There were no rainbow waterfalls anymore, which made it pretty disappointing. She’d never seen a rainbow in real life before but she’d heard they were beautiful to see. The colors on the picture books sure seemed to think so at any rate.

Nopony lived in Cloudsdale, but it was a common resting spot for pegasi. Food didn’t grow there and no pony liked making regular trips back to the earth for every little thing, so the city was mostly abandoned.

But only mostly.

“Did you see that?” Trotter gasped and gestured a warmly padded hoof up at the clouds.

“I did.” Big Heart didn’t move her eyes away from that spot, hoping the blur would pass by again. In a few seconds it did so, a white pegasus moving beyond cloud cover just long enough for them to be sure that’s what it really was.

Two pegasi, actually. Both of them were solid white, though perhaps their mane and tails were a softer shade of gray, and they appeared to be playing a chasing game. She’d never seen any pegasi move that fast before!

This brought up an interesting dilemma. Did they approach the two pegasi? Did they walk past and pretend they didn’t see them? What was the right move to make here?

Both Cadence and Trotter were looking to her, expecting Big Heart to tell them what to do. Just once, she wished one of them would come up with a suggestion instead.

The pegasi were going lower, abandoning the clouds completely as they settled for a simple race, but it didn’t appear as though her group had been noticed yet. That would change in a moment though.

It looked like her decision had been made for her.

“Excuse me!” She cried, trying to get their attention as they zoomed overhead.

It must’ve taken a moment for what she said to register, because a few seconds later both mares braked in the middle of the sky and looked around in confusion.

“Trotter, Cadence, you two stay here for a minute.” Big Heart ordered them, taking wing.

“Hello there!” She called again, causing both mares to turn.

“Hiya!” Said Mare one.

“Howdy!” Said Mare two.

And then they both saw the horn on her head.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” They squealed together and began circling her in a whirlwind of feathers. “A princess!”

This was a new reaction, but so far she liked it better than bowing and scraping. Big Heart smiled nervously and, with a burst of her wings, led both mares in a steep dive back to earth where she landed easily next to her companions.

“Another princess!” Mare one, or maybe two, she’d lost track when they were circling her, gasped.

Cadence, predictably, attempted to make herself smaller and only succeeded in drawing more attention her way. At least Trotter seemed amused.

“Whoa, this is, like,” Said Mare one.

“A head rush, right?” Mare two continued.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s weird, isn’t it?” Mare one spoke again.

“Like, nopony expects to meet two princesses!” Mare two finished.

“Expected or not,” Big Heart cut in, afraid this might continue forever if she didn’t nip it in the bud now. “You see we stand before you, real as day.” Or Night, really, but that was just semantics.

“I am Big Heart, this is my brother Trotter and my friend, Princess Cadence.” She introduced them all.

“Oh, right, intro!” Mare one giggled. “I’m White Streak.”

“Yeah, and I’m her twin, White Blur!” Mare two guffawed. “This is so awesome, your highness!”

“Isn’t it, like, highnesses?” White Streak frowned in confusion.

“Do I look like a dictionary to you?” White Blur shrugged. “But who cares? They’re princesses!”

Big Heart could see this getting very annoying, very quickly.

“White Streak, White Blur,” She called to get their attention. Was there any way to tell them apart? She subtly tried to look at their destiny marks.

Streak had a horizontal lightning bolt, Blur had a vertical lightning bolt.

“Are you two travelling alone or with a group?” She asked, curious to know if there was a herd of pegasi nearby. It’d probably be a good idea to practice her negotiating technique with a smaller herd before she met with the Cake herd.

“Just us, we don’t hook up much with others.” Streak answered.

“Just like, every other week or so.” Blur contradicted with an exaggerated eye roll. “We get on each other’s nerves if it’s just the two of us too long.”

“Yeah, right!” Streak snorted. “You just can’t handle how much better I am than you!”

“Puh-lease!” Blur openly laughed. “I was leading that race the whole time and you knew it!”

“Streak, Blur!” Big Heart snapped, drawing two pairs of identical pink eyes her way. “You’re both very remarkable athletes, I’ve never seen anypony else fly like you two, can we please move on?”

“Aw, shucks!” Blur blushed. “You’re a pretty high flier yourself, Princess!”

“Yeah, that dive of yours was timed perfectly!” Streak agreed.

“Thank you for the compliment.” She accepted gracefully.

Well, now what?

Here were two ponies who now knew she existed, what now? They weren’t part of a larger group, so she was pretty much at a loss on what to do now.

Thankfully, Streak and Blur soon took it out of her hooves in their usual one-mind-two-bodies sort of way.

“Say, you’re on some sorta secret mission, aren’t ya?” Streak gasped in delight.

“Oooh, I’ll bet it’s really dangerous!” Blur babbled excitedly.

“Can we come?” They asked at once.

Big Heart blinked and turned to look at her companions. Trotter was rolling on the grass laughing, it was pretty obvious that he wanted them to come along. Cadence was impossible to read, she’d probably go along with whatever Big Heart suggested.

Five ponies was better than three, right?

“If you two are sure you want to.” She sighed. “This is a pretty important mission though.” She made sure they were paying attention.

“We are travelling to the location of the Cake herd in order to negotiate with them for the betterment and eventual restoration of Equestria.” She informed them, thrusting her chest out and trying to stand as tall as she physically could.

“Nice.” Both mares nodded appreciatively. “We’re in!”

Two more travelling companions acquired, the group continued their march, turning their bearings towards the distant Ponyville.

The week that followed, while blessedly warmer, proved to be an exercise in patience for all of them. Streak and Blur were unaccustomed to travelling slower than a brisk flight, while Big Heart and the rest had to learn how to more or less tune out the twins’ constant verbal back and forth.

But overall the group got along well together. Streak and Blur, though a bit abrasive, had their hearts in the right place. They enjoyed playing with Trotter, listened earnestly to Big Heart’s stories, and thankfully seemed to sense that Cadence was best dealt with gently.

They also had a game where they would chase each other’s tails in a tight circle until they became one white ring, before breaking apart suddenly and challenging the rest of the group to guess which mare was Streak and which was Blur.

Big Heart had the highest score so far.

But the most irritating part of the journey definitely had to be when Trotter convinced Streak and Blur that she apparently needed bodyguards, and they took to the idea like fish to water.

She really wanted to know how he’d done it, because she hadn’t been able to replicate it to convince them to leave her alone. She’d tried pointing out that she was an alicorn and alicorns could turn armies to stone (Theoretically) but they’d retorted that even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had royal guards at all times. She’d tried saying that there was nothing really dangerous out here but they started talking about stables of all things, almost word for word what she’d told Trotter so long ago. She’d even tried racing them to see if they were fast enough to keep up, just because she’d never seen a pegasus move at those speeds didn’t mean she couldn’t, but they’d kept up.

Everywhere she went, she had bodyguards. Cadence thought it was funny and Trotter just looked smug, teasing her in bovine whenever she got too aggravated by it.

Big Heart had to concede defeat after day four, she honestly couldn’t think of a way to make them stooooop!

For now she was working under the hope that Streak and Blur would get bored of bodyguard detail and move back to trying to outdo each other in aerial stunts.

The moon was moving steadily towards the western horizon, though still weeks from dawn, when they arrived at the border of Ponyville.

There was a clearly marked border to get their attention, a helpfully erected signpost that said You are now entering Cake Herd territory, please wait for a representative at the next Rest Station.

“Rest station?” Trotter quirked his head.

Big Heart looked up, following the helpful arrows leading to a small gazebo by the side of the road. It looked like a very nice, picturesque place.

“We don’t want to offend anypony, so we may as well sit down for a while.” She led them to the gazebo and built up a fire in the fire pit to provide a bit more warmth. The nights were warmer here, but still too chilly for her liking, and it felt good to set down her saddlebags and just rest.

“How long do you reckon it’ll take before somepony checks this place?” Streak asked her sister.

“Who knows? Could be hours!” Blur seemed genuinely distressed by the idea.

“Maybe we could, you know, fly ahead a bit? Just to see if they’re coming?” Streak suggested.

“No!” Two heads snapped around to look at her.

“I know waiting patiently isn’t easy,” She carefully ignored how comfortable Cadence had already made herself. “But we really don’t want to offend anypony. This is an important meeting and we want to make a good impression.”

“Ugh, fine!” Blur groaned. “But they’d better not take too long!”

“Yeah, there’s no food here!” Trotter butted in, having inspected the entire structure for some kind of food stash.

“Our rations are still holding.” Big Heart reminded him. “We have enough for another few cycles and we’ll forage a bit tomorrow if nopony comes to see us by then.”

“But I’m tired of rations!” The colt grumbled. He was a lot less picky about his food when he thought there was plenty of it, she remembered.

“I’m sure it won’t take them long.” Cadence tried to reassure him.

Big Heart wondered why, with all the previously helpful signs, there wasn’t one that stated how often patrols went through here. It would’ve been extremely useful.

“For now, everypony should try to get some sleep.” She urged them. “We’ll want to be well-rested for tomorrow.”

Big Heart swore she’d only closed her eyes for a few minutes when a scout group found them. The shocked gasps and questions were what woke her, and she hoped none of them would hold it against her that her first instinct was to flap her wings so hard she broke through the roof of the gazebo in her haste to reach open sky, younger brother held in a magical grip.

So, in a situation where she has been discovered by noisy strangers her first instinct is to grab her brother and gain altitude, it was always good to know which way a pony would jump when threatened.

Probably not fair to her other companions, but Cadence was an alicorn princess and Streak and Blur were in the air only half a second after her, so she figured they could take care of themselves.

“Highness, please forgive us for startling you.” One of the strange ponies, the leader of the scout group she guessed, bowed and apologized. “We weren’t expecting to see two princesses here!”

Big Heart blinked away the last of the sleep from her eyes before settling down on the ground and putting Trotter down next to her. There were five ponies in the scout group. Two earth ponies, two pegasi, and a unicorn. The leader was a pegasus, seafoam green with a midnight blue mane streaked with black and a destiny mark depicting a falling star encircled by a strange spiral.

Streak and Blur took positions on either side of her and Princess Cadence came up from behind. The five companions now faced the five newcomers.

“I understand it must’ve been surprising.” She smiled nervously. “I’m sorry about the way I reacted, I—“ She paused before offering to fix it. She’d never used a repair spell on something so big and wasn’t confident that she could do a good job.

“No, think nothing of it.” The pegasus leader shook his head quickly. “We should have announced ourselves better.”

“Okay, are we done apologizing to each other now? Can we move on to the fun part, please?” The other pegasus, bold white except for her exuberant yellow mane and tail. Her destiny mark looked like a colorful explosion of some kind, a demolitions expert?

“Surprise, when we agreed to let you come with us you Pinkie Promised to behave in a suitable manner as a representative of the Cake Herd.” The leader facehoofed.

“I am!” The mare, Surprise, frowned in confusion. “I’m representing that the Cake Herd is the most funnest and friendliest Herd in all of Equestria!”

The other ponies in the herd all facehoofed, but none of them continued trying to scold her.

As amusing as this was, Big Heart figured she should probably do or say something before Streak or Blur got impatient and tried instigating something.

“Excuse me, sir pegasus,” She paused until his attention was back on her. “Allow me to introduce myself and my friends,”

“I am Big Heart, this is my brother Trotter, my friend and mentor Princess Cadence, and my—“ She inwardly grumbled but pushed through, “Bodyguards, White Streak and White Blur.”

“We’ve come a long way, hoping to receive an audience with the herd leader of the Cake Herd.” She finished and tried to keep her wings from fidgeting so much.

“Princess Big Heart,” The pegasus stallion bowed again. “It is an honor and a privilege.”

“I am Steady Wings, this is Surprise,” He gestured towards the other pegasus. “The unicorn is Crystal Cake, the earth pony stallion is Rum Cake, and the mare is Apple Toffee.”

“We’re one of the scout groups that regularly patrols this area, and if you’ll follow us, we’ll lead you to Ponyville.” He offered.

“Thank you, we really appreciate how helpful you all are.” She smiled a little more sincerely this time.

“Crystal and Rum, you two sit tight here, we’ll send a few more your way to complete the patrol.” He ordered his subordinates. The unicorn and earth pony nodded and sat on the steps of the gazebo.

“Your Highnesses, right this way.” Steady Wings began trotting down the path.

“Whoa, this is all so,” Streak grinned to her sister.

“Wicked, I know! Like, we’re traveling with a bunch of VIPs or some such!” Blur agreed. Big Heart had yet to see them really disagree on anything, except when they were arguing about who was better at this or that trick.

“They always like this?” Steady Wings asked subtly.

“You get used to it.” She lied through her teeth.

“Ah,” She thought he might’ve been able to see past the (flimsy) lie. “I see.”

“This is so exciting!” If not for the slightly higher pitch she would have mistaken the voice for one of the twins, but Surprise’s eager bouncing (Literal bouncing) told her the truth. “I mean, we hardly ever get new ponies in town, except when foals are born but you have to be so responsible with them, it can’t just be playtime all the time because you have to feed them, change them, make sure they take naps, don’t let them put stuff that isn’t food in their mouths,” She continued extoling on the rigors of foal-sitting.

“Surprise,” One word from her superior made the torrent cease.

“Losing battle, Steady.” Apple Toffee, a reddish-brown all over, save for the caramel mane and tail, shook her head. “Ah love my cousin, ah do, but she’d drive a saint to drink. If ya make her stop it up it’ll just come pouring out in a huge explosion later on, best to just get it outta the way now.”

“She wanted to be a patrol pony, she’s going to act like a patrol pony.” He ground his teeth together.

“I don’t want to be a patrol pony.” Surprise’s honestly perplexed expression called them all to a halt. “I just wanted to come with you today.”

“Why?” The stallion demanded, looking as though this was a personal betrayal. As if his loving mother and father had forsaken him for a few spare bits and a length of twine.

“Pinkie Sense!” She beamed brightly. “My Pinkie Sense told me that a doozy would happen today so I was so excited and I wanted to see it! And boy is it a doozy, two princesses, I mean that’s just amazing!”

“What is a Pinkie Sense?” Trotter asked. Toffee and Steady acted more like he'd asked them where foals came from instead of a perfectly understandable query.

“Well, little colt,” Big Heart blinked. Suddenly her brother was riding on the back of the white pegasus, looking as confused as she was, as the energetic mare spoke with an uncharacteristic seriousness.

“A Pinkie Sense dates back to the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie, who’s also my great-granddam!” She smiled proudly. “It was a special gift she had that told her about stuff before it would actually happen, like stuff falling from the sky or something else unexpected!”

“She was the first pony to have it, but then my granddam got it too, then my mom, and now I have it! And it told me you were coming today!” She frowned for a second. “Well, actually my barrel trembled, my withers shook, and my hooves itched, which told me that there would be a doozy today, but that’s pretty much the same thing!”

“I don’t get it.” Trotter looked helplessly at her. Big Heart had no reassurances to give. None of the stories she knew about the elements mentioned a Pinkie Sense.

"So, what’s a Pinkie Promise?” She asked, carefully reclaiming her brother and placing him on her own back. She didn’t like the way Surprise kept jumping around with Trotter on her back.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Surprisingly, this nonsensical rhyme came from the previously so sensible stallion Steady Wings, though he did say it with a long-suffering groan.

“It is the greatest oath anypony can give,” He explained. “Some sort of magic ritual created by Pinkie Pie, I don’t pretend to understand it. All I know is, I’ve seen three ponies who ever dared break it, and they regretted that mistake for the rest of their very short lives.”

At this point, Big Heart was sure they were playing some kind of trick on her.

“Breaking a promise is the fastest way to lose a friend forever.” Cadence nodded knowingly, making the betrayal complete.

“Foreveeerrrrr….”

“What the hay was that?” Streak reared up, scanning the horizon back-to-back with her sister in search of the source of the echo.

“That’s just the echo of Great-Granddam Pinkie Pie!” Surprise informed them cheerfully.

The Element of Laughter was some sort of witch, that was the only explanation. Strangely, the thought calmed her. She’d always been a little confused by the stories about Pinkie Pie and at least now she knew why.

“You guys are weird.” Trotter denounced them all.

Ponyville was bigger than Dodge Junction, a lot bigger. Big Heart thought there had to be more ponies here than in the Strong Heart’s tribe and Dodge Junction twice over, and she was only just entering the town limits.

Ponies gasped and muttered to each other as they walked past, falling to their knees in their haste to bow and staring with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Big Heart wasn’t able to keep a smile on her face, as such, but she at least tried not to look too intimidating.

Word had spread by the time they reached the center of town, the Herd Leader and another pony were standing in a position of authority before the steps of a huge crystal palace.

She’d heard stories of this place, but it had always been referred to as the Tree of Knowledge. She hadn’t known it was made of crystal.

“It is an honor to act as hosts,” Now that she looked closer she realized the leadership was divided by two ponies, a stallion and a mare, both earth ponies. “To Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Love, and her friends.”

This was going about like they’d thought it would. Big Heart was an unknown, but Cadence was famous, a legend, ponies were going to look to her for leadership, at least at first.

“Thank you for your warm welcome,” Cadence stepped lightly forward, matched step for step by Big Heart. “But I am not the leader of this band of friends, I came here at the behest of my friend and fellow princess, Big Heart.”

Big Heart took one more step forward, paused for a brief moment, and bowed her head to the leaders of the Cake herd.

“Please,” She took a deep breath and prayed. “I am Big Heart, Friend of the Apple Buffalos, and I am here to try,”

Sun and Moon, there were more ponies here than she’d ever dreamed existed.

“To try to gain your hoof in friendship, to help ponies who do not have anyone to help them, to re-establish Equestria as the nation it once was!” She spoke clearly, enunciating each word. She spoke not to the leaders, she spoke to them all.

“Since the Fall of Sun and Moon ponies have splintered in all directions, the bonds of friendship torn and frayed.” She forced her wings to be flare out wide, when they wanted to cramp at her sides and make herself small.

“I have seen this!” She told them empathically. “I have seen ponies dying of thirst and famine. I have seen ponies abandoning their foals. I have seen our fellow equines and bovines turning on one another for food. I have seen the great cost this anarchy demands we pay,”

“And I say we need no longer pay it!” She took a breath.

“I’ve come here with my friends beside me to ask for an alliance, the first step of many to reunite Equestria and provide a better life for all ponies, donkeys, buffalo, and other sentient beings who dwell within her borders.”

“I will not demand your loyalty, nor your friendship.” She continued, softer. “I ask for it, I plead for it, but in the end the decision is yours. Ponyville is a stable community, a rich one, I don’t see any signs of hunger or coldness here.”

That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? The Cake Herd didn’t need them like Dodge Junction, perpetually on the verge of starvation or destruction, did. They didn’t need the hope an alicorn could provide. She was the one who needed them, and she let them know it.

Was that the way a princess should have acted? Maybe, or maybe not, but she didn’t have a lot of good role models.

“I never thought I’d see the day.” The stallion leader stepped down from the steps, followed closely by his female cohort, they stopped right in front of her.

“Princess Heart, we trust in your words.” The female leader said. “And your friendship would honor us.”

For a moment, Big Heart thought she was at the center of a stampede. The thunderous applause made the earth shake, and she felt it deep in her bones as every mare, stallion, and foal whinnied and stamped their hooves in celebration.

Big Heart folded her wings and followed the leaders inside.