The world was getting colder. She'd started noticing the leaves changing colors. Her hoof came unbidden to her oat gourd on more than one occasion. It wouldn't be much longer before winter was upon them. Already, summer was coming to a close.

It was always hard to imagine, but pretty soon food would be scarce. With their herd as large as it was ponies would be arguing over food before long, and they'd need to find a place to settle for the winter.

Right now they were travelling through plains. Large, wide open spaces and grass that reached her shoulders. Ponies were keeping their foals close to avoid losing them. Those ponies who came from the Other herd were constantly checking the horizon and the skies and even the ground below for threats. Most of them carried spears.

There was a lot of grass here. If they stayed here through the winter they'd be able to dig for the grass for most of the season.

But there weren't any good sources of water here. There'd been a pond covered entirely by algea. Only one pony had been brave enough to drink from it. He was recovering now, but it had taken almost all the spare water gourds Light had. The less she thought of the mess, the better.

A river, or even a creek, would make this place perfect. They'd been travelling in this direction for eighteen days now.

Well, mostly this direction. True Blue often spoke in depth with Hope, and took them in long, curving paths to avoid certain things. Most ponies couldn't navigate by starlight and so hadn't noticed the odd pattern. They just followed the Lead wherever she led.

It seemed True Blue had a destination in mind. Thistle yearned to ask, and she truly believed she might get an answer, but that yearning hadn't tipped her forward yet. Her days were busy enough with lessons and tending to the wounded.

She couldn't think of a use for that knowledge either. It wouldn't be any place she'd been to before. The only thing she should concern herself with is that the place had food and water to last through winter.

The storms were getting more frequent. She shot a suspicious look to the sky. Clouds were starting to gather. She gave it another two hours before they were all drenched. Did she have a large enough store of yarrow bark? She should check Morning's sledge again.

She hopped onto it and began checking the baskets. These ones were woven from grass, not reeds. They weren't as sturdy but they could be woven tighter. Pink had thrown herself into basket weaving lately. Said she wanted to find a way to weave baskets tight enough to hold water.

"Healer Burr," Thistle looked up from her supplies. A young colt, around twelve or so, was now walking beside the sledge. "The Lead Mare wants to see you."

Message delivered, he trotted off to return to his group. Thistle watched him go for a moment. She sighed and replaced the supplies before she jumped off the sledge. She exchanged nods with Light before racing off to see what True Blue needed.

They were travelling near the middle of the herd, but on the outskirts. She had to pass a lot of ponies before reaching True Blue. The Lead Mare was, of course, carrying her filly. Thistle thought her name was Bluebell or something similar.

"Lead Mare?" She cleared her throat.

"Thistle Burr," True nodded, then gestured for the two of them to walk a little further ahead. They settled into a pace that gave them some privacy from everypony else. "I wished to speak to you about our destination."

"For our wintering grounds?" She recalled that the Lead Mare had often asked her dam for advice on where to take them.

"Our destination," True Blue hummed thoughtfully. "Thistle Burr, what do you think of our habits? Travelling for days, staying a few weeks in pleasant areas before moving on?"

She had to put thought into this. It felt like a question Enduring might ask. This felt like a lesson.

"...Some ponies can't keep up." That was the biggest issue. The pace was unforgiving to those weaker than their herdmates. The ill, the wounded, the old and young, all those could fall behind and be lost all too easily.

Her thoughts turned to the Other ponies. They weren't Other anymore, but their experiences had scarred them.

Sometimes she wondered if there might be scars around their very hearts as well as on their flesh.

"And there's always the risk that whatever area we venture to is dangerous." She continued numbly.

"Hope Springs has told me about a fertile valley." True told her. "With a lake, fruit trees, open spaces, few predators. They used it as a foaling ground last year."

"Will we winter there?" It did sound like a nice place.

"Mmm," True didn't answer. "Thistle Burr, what if I said I wish to stay there? If I wished for my herd to stay in a safe place, rather than roaming over hill and dale?"

Stay in one place? It sounded...well, part of her thought it was crazy but another part of her thought it sounded wonderful. The clouds thundered overhead, reminding her about Light's suggestion of better shelters. If they stayed in one place, they could build shelters, couldn't they?

What would the rest of the herd think? Ponies were always talking about how wonderful this or that place was, but no pony had ever suggested staying there. She knew more than a few might enjoy not having to carry their foals around for most of the day. The Other ponies would probably enjoy the stability too.

What about food and water? 18 plus 43 equaled 61. There were 61 ponies in the herd at this very moment. If the lake was large enough they probably wouldn't have to worry about water, but what about food? Plants took time to grow, but 61 ponies needed to be fed every day. Just getting through winter without anypony starving would be difficult to accomplish.

But Thistle didn't think this was insurmountable. Difficult, sure, but not impossible. She looked over her shoulder, eyes searching for the ponies with baskets and sledges. Most of the herd had one of the two by now.

"We'll need to store food, and we'll need to start now." Food to get them through winter and the earliest parts of spring. After that?

She looked down at the grass they were walking through. Dried grass would keep for a long time.

Enduring told her that some herds made a habit of leaving seeds in the places they liked best, so when they traveled that way again more of those plants would have grown. Fields of flowers, oats, and wheat left to mark old foaling or wintering grounds.

What if they did that but then, just didn't leave? What if they just cleared a big spot for oats or flowers? Or even this tall grass!

"Lead Mare, I think I've got a few ideas." She grinned ear to ear.

The rain started an hour later, while the two of them were still deep in conversation. True Blue excused her to rejoin her group, and reminded her to get started with drying grass first thing tomorrow.

When the Sun dawned hot and bright, the Lead Mare made an announcement. Everypony was to cut as much long grass as they could, and carry it on their sledges to let it dry in the Sun as they walked. She explained that this would be an extra food source for the Winter.

Thistle was as enthusiastic as anypony else in piling grass on Morning's sledge. She explained the full details to her family, listened to their misgivings and ideas. Pink and Pucker stopped by and heard the abbreviated version. The version she hoped the rest of the herd would like and support.

A place to raise their foals in safety. A place with food in abundance. That sounded good, didn't it?

Part of her worry was that she couldn't plan much on the move. She'd never seen this valley they were going to. She didn't know what creatures called it home. All she could do was pile grass onto Morning's sledge and run around to check on the injured and sick. There were 61 ponies on this march and she wanted there to be 61 when they arrived.

Thistle forced herself to breathe deeply. It would be a while yet before they reached the valley. They were going around a marsh that Hope claimed held glowing creatures that led ponies astray and drowned them. Supposedly that was the last obstacle between the herd and the valley. With luck and good weather, they should reach their destination in ten days.

For a moment the Sun was blotted out. A huge shadow, large enough to cover most of the herd at once, passed over them.

By the time Thistle looked up, whatever had cast the shadow was gone.

________________________________________________________________________________

They left the plains with their sledges piled with dried grass. It looked like a wealthy store of food. Ponies happily added to the piles, eyes shining with pride. Thistle was the only one who looked at the piles and frowned.

"You wanna share, Thistle? You look like somepony kicked dirt at ya." Mountain asked with concern.

"I'm just thinking." Adding and subtracting. She'd found a use for Enduring's number lessons. This much grass, subtract what 61 ponies eat in a day. Take that amount, subtract again.

At most, they had enough to feed the whole herd for six days. It looked like a lot now, when everypony was eating the long grass and only adding what they didn't eat to the sledges. Once they were forced to turn to the sledges for food that would change. Their little store would run out fast.

There were seventeen sledges in the herd now. Each sledge could hold enough food for about five ponies. Assuming every pony got an equal share of the grass, less than half the herd would be able to eat the next day.

There just wasn't enough grass to feed all of them through winter.

What else would keep over the winter months? Roots and bark mainly. Watercress, if they could find it, and cranberries.
Ponies were looking forward to a winter of ease, but that just wasn't going to happen. They'd still be digging through the snow. If they weren't careful, ponies were going to starve. Just like every winter.

She didn't want to lose a single pony. She wanted True Blue's idea, her dream, to work! A permanant place where they could live. It would only work so long as there was food to live on!

So much would depend on the valley itself. What grew there? More importantly, what grew there during winter? Had Hope's herd only visited during the spring?

"Burr, yew look like some fool stallion done kicked a hornet's nest at ya." Enduring commented, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"I'm thinking about winter food." She looked away from the sledge and the grass. Enduring licked her lips and hummed for a moment.

"Der's food a'plenty in da winter, if'n ya know where ta find it." She gave Thistle a positively mischievous look. "Most o' da edible mushrooms I know of grow in winter."

"Yuck," She shuddered. Those yucky, chewy things!

"Der's plenty o' roots and barks good in winter too. Takes some digging ta get to'em. Cattail roots are good, n' sometimes yew can get da new shoots in da later months." She sighed. "Course, yew got yer juniper berries, an' yer birch bark."

"Cursed Shadows, sounds like there's plenty of stuff to eat in winter." Mountain grumbled, re-settling Camellia. The little filly yawned and continued sleeping on her back.

"Der is, just most ponies only eat dem in winter cuz' most of'em taste bitter." Enduring shrugged. "Dey won't eat it a'tall if'n der's any oder option."

"I wonder how much of that grows where we're going." Thistle muttered.

"We could ask Hope Springs." Light suggested. "She's been there before."

"I know, it's just," She tucked her ears back. Talking to Hope Springs hadn't gotten any easier. Bright Finish was downright enthusiastic and the rest were settling in nicely, but Hope Springs kept apart from everypony else. The only ponies she talked to were True Blue and Thistle.

"Some ponies go cold like dat when bad dings happen." Enduring softly sighed. "Dink dat if dey don't love anypony, den dey can't be hurt by anypony. But dey wrong. Dey keep hurtin' and da pain never goes away."

"She hates monsters." Thistle thought most of the Others did, but Hope Springs was different. Hope Springs was active in her hatred. She was loud and proud of it. The kind of hate that drove a pony to fight, even when it cost them more than they could gain.

"Is there anything that helps with that?" She turned towards Enduring. Enduring had seen more than any pony alive.

"Time, an' friends n' family." Enduring snorted. "Dose kinds o' ponies dink dey can avoid da hurt by avoidin' da ponies, but dey wrong. Being alone only makes da hurt worse."

There wasn't much Thistle could do then, unless Hope started letting her help. More than just letting her check her injuries. Hope didn't appear to have any living family left, and the only pony who might've claimed to be her friend was Bright Finish, who seemed to be avoiding her as much as she avoided him.

"I'm going to talk to her." She decided. If she didn't she'd just keep worrying about the food. Even if it resulted in another graphic description of a pony being ripped in two, she still had to try.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Somepony had found a patch of wheat. It was fully ripened and looked unbearably tempting. It was the first patch of 'good stuff' since the oats Thistle and Enduring had found.

Back then, Thistle and Enduring had gotten some oats because they'd been the ones to find it. This time, Thistle was ushered to the front of the herd because she was part of the Lead's in-crowd. She came away with two gourds of the stuff. One went around her neck, the other was shared with her family.

"Savin' dat fer winter, Burr?" Enduring smiled knowingly at her fourth gourd.

"Nope!" She answered cheerfully, to their confusion.

"What are you saving it for then?" Light asked.

"Planting." She tapped the gourd.

"Planting, Healer Burr?" Holly's eyes widened.

"Where we're going, we'll be staying for a long time, even after winter ends." She reminded them. "Well, I think having some oats and wheat growing to eat next year will make everypony pretty happy. And if we grow enough, then some can be stored for next winter."

"That's..." Marsh cocked her head to the side. "Food all year round."

"Good food all year round!" Her daughter, Summer Showers, corrected her. Showers had never had wheat before. Thistle hadn't had the heart to deny sharing with her followers. The whole family stopped, staring at the spot where the pile had been set. Only a few stray kernels remained.

"So, what you're saying is, we probably should've saved all that." Mountain remarked, poking one of the remaining kernels.

"I brought the second gourd to share with all of you." She shook her head. "What's the point of having food for later if we don't treat ourselves occasionally?"

"Heh," Enduring chuckled. "A'fore long hunger's gonna be a ding o' da past if yew keep dis up."

"That's the idea." She nodded. It wouldn't be the Endless Plains exactly, but it would be a lot closer than where they were now.

"How much longer til we get to this valley?" Morning asked, already hitching herself back to the sledge. They still had plenty of sunlight left and the herd was starting to move.

"A few more days." Thistle answered. "Just a few more days."

Author's Note

We're almost to the site of the first settlement! It only took ten chapters! School starts next week so after Sunday I won't be updating daily anymore. I'm hoping to manage weekly. We'll see what my work load looks like.