Sunlight, Moonlight, Love, and Friendship

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?