Faster Than You Know

Though it was often mistaken for a mark of healing, or care giving, the truth was that White Heart’s cutie mark had been earned through what the pegasus mare looked back upon as sheer idiocy. The mark, a simple blue heart wrapped in a pink ribbon and bordered by two short blue wings had shown itself upon her flank the same day she’d nearly made a decision so stupid she put all of Equestria in danger. Or, at least that’s how the other members of the Council of the Moon described it.

In reality, all White Heart had done was sneak one of the gryphon supply boats a few extra bags of grain. Okay maybe a few dozen extra. The amount didn’t matter, what did was that she stared her elders dead in the eye and asked why they were willing to let another species starve because of a war a thousand years behind them. They’d all shuffled their hooves, startled that the normally shy pegasus filly was raising her voice at them, was collectively accusing them of centuries of slow and painful genocide. The gryphons could no longer grow food on their land, not after the magic used during the war had stripped it bare, soil turned to stone and trees to ash. Although she knew that keeping rations small kept the gryphons submissive, making it nearly impossible to rebuild, she wasn’t having any of it.

“A thousand years is more than long enough to pay for war crimes, don’t you think, Princess?” she’d asked when her father and the mayor of her foalhood town escorted her right up to the golden throne themselves. She had been angry, at her father for not listening to her, at her town for believing her gift to be treason, at the Princess for turning a blind eye to the plights across the eastern sea. Enough was enough. “Give them a chance,” she’d demanded of the cool eyed Princess. “Give them the same opportunity you were once given to prove that change is not only possible, but powerful. No one deserves to starve, Princess, no one should have to die like that, whether they be pony or gryphon.”

At first Luna had said nothing to her, only made a motion with her wing to a few of the royal guards, who stepped forward to escort her father and the mayor out of the throne room. It was only once they were alone that Luna spoke. “Do you realize what sort of statement you’ve made with your actions, young filly?” she asked coolly. “Do you understand the consequences could have befallen you had you not been brought directly to me. Arrogant though your father and his fellows might be, they saved your life by not doling out a punishment themselves. Were it not for that, you would have no doubt given your life for those extra bags of grain. Tell me, is that worth the price?”

White Heart didn’t even blink before she replied. “Yes. If my actions can save the lives of a hundred, and all it costs is myself, then that’s fine. My life is not worth more than any other life. Let alone a hundred lives.”

Luna had smiled then, the expression startling White Heart a little with the sincerity of it. “You are aptly named,” Luna said softly, “and now on top of that, aptly marked. I could use the advice of some pony like you, White Heart. There has not been a soul so steadfast and strong willed as your amidst by council for hundreds of moons.”

There wasn’t much else to say after that, Luna had taken her under both physical and metaphorical wing, and when White Heart came of age she took a seat in the Council of the Moon she’d been promised. The only pony in the lot who had not been elected in. While that might have given her an extra edge in court meetings, the status of being the Princess’s chosen allowing her more initial leeway than she’d expected, Canterlot’s citizens were not so easily silenced.

Honestly, she wasn’t surprised by any of it. Not the growing animosity the council held towards her for being chosen, nor the public’s complaints about the too-liberal pegasus making rash decisions they didn’t approve of, let alone vote for. At first she’d been a little sullen about it, but as time went on and the more times she faced the Council’s greed and hostility, the less she started to care of what other ponies thought. It’s not as if the Council were anything but the elected voice of the citizens given a chance to be heard. They did not make the final decisions on any matter, that was a duty held by Princess Luna alone. Or perhaps more recently, Princess Luna and her faithful student working in tandem.

White Heart made plans, grand designs and maps and equations she spread across the Princess’s bedroom floor for approval. The acquisition and maintenance of more farmland, the job creation project for the east coast towns that were more likely to harbor visiting gryphons and their ships, the methodical assembly line that stretched halfway across the nation to provide a stock of grain and other rations grown solely for the gryphon kingdom. Over and over, White Heart repeated to the Council the same thing she’d said to Luna on her first day in Canterlot. “Our lives are not worth more than anyone else’s.” Her voice always lowered over “anyone,” drawing attention to her use of the word over anypony. If they were allowed to prosper, to rebuild after the war, the gryphons should be given the same chance.

She had been in the middle of planning out the reconstruction of the train line between Equestria and Griffonstone when the other council members began scheduling guest speakers from Canterlot College. White Heart knew full well none of them actually gave a bale of hay over what the fresh-minded, well scholarred young ponies had to say, their gazes dull and listless through every dissertation, debate, and speech brought forth to the podium. They were stalling, buying time to undermine her efforts to restore the railroad before the project could get approved. She had half a mind to complain to the Princess directly, but scowled at the thought of what the rest of the Council would say if she did.

Brown nosier, tyrant, the divine hand they seemed to think puppeteered their goddess Princess. No, she would not go to Luna, not unless she had no other choice. She had taken her seat in the council with plans to change the shape and face of modern Equestria, and she could not do that if she hid behind the Princess’s wings whenever the rest of the Council turned against her.

So it was that she found herself stamping letters of approval to the college graduates one afternoon, shafted with the task by councilmare Zealous Belle to keep her out from underhoof for the day. Unlike her fellows, White Heart carefully read over each proposal before approving or dismissing them. She realized very quickly that all the ponies that had spoken previously were all unicorns when she discovered that the pile of letters given to her were submitted months ago when the meetings began. It was no wonder she’d only thought a small hoof full of the speeches thus far were decent, the Council wasn’t even reading any of the projects sent by pegasi or earth ponies.

Though she did not remember stamping Chance’s paper for approval, she knew she’d made the right choice the second he’d turned accusing eyes to the Council to scold them on how long it took him to even stand on the floor beneath them just by because he was an earth pony. Though she took part in questioning him, perhaps asking the only worthwhile inquiries about his proposal, when the doors shut behind him White Heart had flung herself airborne and zipped off to find the Princess as fast as she could, ignoring the rest of the Council’s annoyed nickering in her wake.

“Do you remember,” she said when she hovered over Luna’s desk, the alicorn looking up at her over the rim of her reading glasses, “how you said I was unique? That my strong will towards my convictions was a sight unseen in this day and age?”

“A statement that still rings true,” Luna nodded.

“Well, there’s a pony outside the Council room right now who might be even more stubborn than I am.” She clapped her forehooves together, “Earth stallion, history major,” she began listing, “special focus on the history of the Elements and pre Great Gryphon War Equestria.” Luna’s eyes widened a little, and White Heart fluffed her wings out giddily. “He wants approval to open the Castle of Friendship. He thinks he can find the Lost Princess. I’ve never seen a more determined pony in my life.” She grinned, “And he also sassed Zealous Belle.”

Luna smiled, “Any pony so daring as to challenge Zealous Belle is certainly worth meeting. Take me to him.”

So it had been that White Heart pushed Chance forward in motion under the noses of the ever discontent Council, and the name of the Lost Princess began to be whispered through the ranks as it had not in over a hundred names. Even those opposed to the project, such as Zealous and some of her fellow unicorn councilmares couldn’t help but speak of it too. How could they not? Twilight Sparkle, a face and name few remembered directly, and little spoken of outside of storybooks.

She’d been on the Princess’s balcony when the Castle of Friendship lit up in the valley below the capitol, the light so bright even in its brief moment that half of the nation probably saw it. In its wake, Canterlot settled into stunned silence, and for a moment White Heart could swear not even the wind dared to move.

Princess Luna had not seen the site herself, but she felt it. Chance had not been wrong when he said the magic of Harmony was powerful enough to be felt even at great distances by skilled magic users. She let it wash over her with a shiver, a familiar spark of a buried emotion glaring up in her chest. Loyalty. She’d suspected as much, which meant that now was the time to set the rest of the pieces on motion.

White Heart was still on the balcony, spellbound by the distant sight of the Castle of Friendship’s reawakening long after it had faded. So enraptured was she that the pegasus mare didn’t notice Luna’s approach until the Princess spoke. As usual when caught off guard, White Heart’s feathers fluffed up a bit, a habit that in the presence of the Princess she tried to cover for by folding her wings tightly at her sides. “Did you hear what I said?” Luna asked her as her student smoothed a hoof over her unsettled wings.

Blinking sheepishly, White Heart whispered an affirmative “No.” She fixed her gaze on the Princess after the confession, ears angled forward to confirm that she was paying attention properly now. Luna only smiled, her own gaze flickering past the stars and out towards the distant lights of Ponyville below.

“Chance will be returning soon with his findings I suspect,” she repeated patiently. “I’d like you to take the first train out tomorrow and collect Amber Bright from the Crystal Empire for me.”

White Heart made a face, “What? Seriously? Why? Amber is the most antisocial pony alive, and I highly doubt Princess Flurry Heart will be willing to so easily let her out of her sight. I’ve read about the standstill war you two had going on when Amber’s great grandfather, Radiant Glory left the Empire to stay in Ponyville. The Princess was absolutely livid.” White Heart raised a hoof to gesture vaguely over the railing of the balcony. “Princess, even I know that’s a fool’s task. Flurry Heart would sooner spell me to Tartarus and back before allowing Amber Bright outside the borders of the Empire.”

Luna glanced down towards Ponyville once more, “And you do not think her mentality will shift after feeling the wave of magic that was born anew tonight?”

“Perhaps,” White Heart admitted, “But I don’t see why we have to risk her patience and good will by asking for Amber Bright. That might be pushing it to far.” She fluffed her wings a bit, then let them droop to brush against the stone floor with a sullen, “I mean, we could always just do the traditional apprentice exchange-”

“You are needed here just as much as Amber is,” Luna interrupted. “And if Flurry Heart has learned any sense in the past thousand years, she will recognize that immediately.”

White Heart sighed and nudged a forehoof against the railing. “I suppose. Just be aware that I’m going to haunt you if I get shot full of crystals.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Ghosts aren’t real. Believe me, I of all ponies would know if they were.” She dipped her head, nuzzling her muzzle into White Heart’s pink mane and dislodging the bow from her tightly winded bun. White Heart huffed as her long hair unraveled and fell around her shoulders, but didn’t protest. “I know you will find a way to do what needs to be done, dear student,” Luna murmured. “But it can only be through your will that Flurry Heart allows Amber Bright to leave the Empire.”

“Sure,” White Heart deadpanned. “Leave it all up to me, the shining solution of fine diplomacy in the country where two-thirds of the population thinks I’ve blackmailed my way to the top. What do we need Amber Bright for anyways?”

“Chance seemed to possess an extraordinary range of knowledge for a stallion his age, especially in his focus of Twilight’s reign. The only other pony who has any equal knowledge and never walked beside the Princess of Friendship themselves is Amber Bright.”

“Her nose is always in a book when we have meetings,” White Heart said.

“For Chance to continue to move forward, he will need to gain an even deeper understanding of the end of Twilight’s Kingdom, and we both know where all the most detailed records of that have been kept.” It was a statement that while disappointed, White Heart noted also didn’t sound the least bit bitter. “As she has every right to,” Luna continued without pause. “Flurry Heart has kept the beacon lit for nearly a thousand years. If she wants the complete collection of Twilight’s writings in her own library, that’s for her to decide. As for Amber Bright,” she paced once, twice across the small balcony, “Like every one of her ancestors, she’s diligent with keeping records of her present as well as reading up on her past. If Chance truly wishes to find Princess Twilight, he’ll need her help more than that of anypony else.

White Heart bit her lip and tried not to seem to annoyed by the insinuation that Amber was better suited for helping Chance restore the Elements than her. “And me?” she asked, unable to help herself. “Where do I fall on this equation.”

Luna only smiled when met with her student’s glaring frown. “There are so many ways to describe how you will come to play your part,” she said fondly. “Selfless, priceless, open hooved and hearted White Heart. Perhaps when you find a way to convince Amber Bright to come to Canterlot, and convince Flurry Heart to let her, you will begin to understand your own role in this grand design.”