Helping Ponies

Morning was pulling the foals. Flood Plain carried Mountain on her back. Given Flood was the largest mare in the herd, and quite possibly the cheeriest, this wasn't a bad arrangement.

Morning was also tasked with building more sledges at the next place they stopped.

Thistle wasn't riding the sledge, but she was barely keeping pace with it. Most of the foals were already asleep. Those who were too old for the sledge either rode on their dam's back or stumbled as she did.

Thistle would've preferred for Light to ride somepony, but her mother had cast her out and there was no pony they could ask. Enduring was too old, Morning was pulling a lot of weight already, and Shiny Rock had a new foal to take care of.

As it was, she had some rope with a noose around Light's neck, to keep the filly following her. Thistle wished she was big enough to carry Light, but she wasn't and she had to accept that. She just had to ignore how tired she was. Just keep putting one hoof in front of the other.

The wolves weren't gone. They were following at a distance. With all the foals in the middle of the herd, instead of scattered with their dams, there weren't any stragglers to pick off. But the ponies weren't moving fast and they had to sleep sometime.

Thistle knew she wouldn't be able to stay awake for another night. She'd fall asleep and have to trust that the herd would keep her safe. And she did trust the herd, really. Especially with those new spears Pucker had created.

But there were wolves in this forest. And just the thought of that made her want to gallop.

Not that she'd get more than twenty body lengths before collapsing. She could barely keep walking.

"I'm tired." Light sighed, so quietly Thistle wasn't sure she'd meant to be heard. The filly's head was drooping so low it was a wonder she didn't trip on her own mane.

Her headache was back, and there was an ache in her neck to accompany it. Still, she tried to stretch and wake herself more. The Lead Mare wouldn't keep them going long. Nopony was prepared to keep going long. They'd find someplace good enough before sundown.

How long would the wolves follow them?

She tried to spot any glowing eyes or gray fur through the trees, but came up with nothing. Some stallions kept sounding off whenever they happened to notice a wolf though, so she knew the herd was still being followed.

She wondered what would happen if they were still in the forest come sundown. The trees were packed so tightly it was hard just to find a path the sledge could use. They wouldn't be able to bunch up as they did at the river.

Maybe the Lead Mare had come to the same realization. All of a sudden the pace started to pick up. A trot instead of the slow walk from before. Thistle forgot for a moment that Light was tied to her and ended up choking her friend by mistake.

"Been dis way before," Enduring told them. "Bout two hours out der's a big hill, one side's got a river windin' around it. I reckon it feeds into da same river we just left."

"We cross da river by dat hill, da wolves won't be able to follow us." She finished her explanation, teasing a relieved smile from both fillies.

"Thank Sun and Moon." Thistle sighed with relief. Two hours at a trot? She could do this.

_________________________________________________________________________________

She couldn't do this.

She'd pictured a river like the one they just left. An easy-going current with a gentle incline.

This river was a monster. It roared. It ran fast enough for her to track a stray branch caught in its stream flow out of sight in a few minutes. It wasn't as wide across as the last one, but it was fiercer. This was the kind of river that ate ponies.

"Hmm," Even Enduring looked uncertain, ears pricked forward. "Forgot how strong it was."

"Oh geez, I'm a terrible swimmer." Morning whimpered.

"At least you have all four legs to work with." Mountain gulped, still laying on Flood's back. "Great Mother Earth, we're going to drown."

"Thistle?" Light nudged her. "Any ideas?"

"Uh," Ponies were milling about, a lot of dams were hovering near the sledge still carrying their sleeping foals.

Wood floated. Everypony knew that. The real question was, if they kept the foals on the sledge would it still float or begin to sink?

"Everypony, grab a foal, bite tails!" The Lead Mare shouted over the roar of the rapids. "Stronger swimmers up front!"

Ponies began moving. Only the stallions with spears remained on guard against the wolves. Ponies found vines and tied their foals to themselves, then turned and bit the tail of their neighbor.

Morning lashed Mountain to Flood's body, then picked up Light to ride her back. Thistle bit Enduring's tail, while Enduring bit Morning's. The sledge was temporarily hitched to Flood, since the larger mare had a better chance of getting it across the water.

In several long chains, the herd began to tread water.

This water was colder, sharper. It bit and stole air from her lungs. Her small body wasn't able to fight the current, and only her grip on Enduring's tail kept her from drifting away. She did her best to kick at the water and keep her nose up. Mostly she just tried not to let go.

Her legs were going numb. Her jaw ached. She couldn't see how much further they had to go and she couldn't hear anything over the roar of the rapids. The only good thing about the cold was that it kept her wide awake.

Something struck her side. It felt like a rock. She whinnied and redoubled her grip on Enduring's tail. Thistle pushed off the rock, gaining a bit more height and a brief glimpse of the other shore.

Soon. Nearly there. Any second now Flood Plain would find dirt beneath her hooves.

From the corner of her eye she saw another pony, lost from their chain. She lashed out with her tail, and nearly screamed as the pony latched on and nearly ripped it out. They hit the same rock she'd found a moment ago and used it to steady themselves.

Everything was numb and burning by time they reached shore. For a minute Thistle wondered if she'd ever be able to open her jaw, before it popped open. She rubbed at her sore cheeks until her legs gave out under her.

The pony who'd nabbed her tail had likewise collapsed, moaning softly to themselves with their hindlegs still in the water.

"Everypony, away from the water! We will huddle together and rest now!" The Lead Mare declared, to a rousing cheer.

Thistle decided her spot was good enough. She didn't even have the energy to curl up. Somepony clamped their teeth over her crest and carried her to a pony pile. Thistle recognized Dim Light and pulled her close so they could shiver together.

It was ravenous hunger that roused her next morning. She curled tighter with Light and tried to ignore it. Her body ached. Surely her stomach could wait a few more hours?

Light wriggled out of her hooves, leaving Thistle fighting the betrayal. Now she didn't have anypony to curl up with and she was cold as well as hungry. She moaned and rolled over, hoping that would help.

Light held a hoofful of grass over her nose. Thistle ate it without thinking.

"Grr!" She grumbled, reluctantly opening her eyes. Light stood over her with a smug grin, waving another hoofful of grass just out of easy reach.

"Sun will be up soon." She informed Thistle.

"Sun's not up yet. Neither am I." She did want that grass though. She reluctantly pushed herself up so she could snatch it. Light gave it up way too easily. She already had what she wanted, which was Thistle, awake and unhappy about it.
Her stomach cramped, drawing a startled groan from her lips. She'd already had two big mouthfuls, why did her stomach act like she was still denying it?

There was no way she'd be able to sleep through that.

She probably left a few bruises on the other ponies in the pile. Her limbs felt like somepony had filled them up with rocks. By the time they stumbled out of the pile they were both eager to fall upon the first clear patch of grass. Only once their hunger had been mostly sated did they look up.

There was the river, still roaring and still hungering for the lives of ponies. There was the herd, all scrunched together to sleep away their exhaustion. More than a few had been woken by their bellies and were eating whatever was closest.

Thistle found the sledge, and through it Morning and Mountain. The sledge had lost some sticks and rope. Somepony was going to have to fix that before they got moving again.

She reached back to take some rope from her baskets and her hoof felt nothing but air.

"Where'd my baskets go?" Had they fallen off while she slept?

A thought occured to her. A terrible, heart-breaking, rage-inducing thought.

"You can have mine, if you'd like. Since I was riding Morning they didn't fall off." Light offered kindly.

"All that medicine," She groaned, covering her face with her hooves. "Gone to waste."

"We can make more baskets and, uhm, find some way to tie them on better?" Light suggested.

"Uuuuggghhhh!" She was too tired to even think of gathering those plants again. Unfortunately, she was now too awake to fall back asleep.

She made herself get up. The memory of that pony nearly being swept away drove her to look over the herd. She wasn't sure how many ponies were in the herd, she'd never had the chance to really count before, but she wondered if she'd recognize an empty space where somepony used to be.

The ones she recognized in the pre-dawn light, she was grateful for. The ones she didn't recognize, but were still present, she was relieved by. Numbers kept adding up inside her head.

All told, there were 43 ponies in the herd. For some reason she thought the numbers should be higher. Had they lost ponies? She couldn't tell. She couldn't tell and she was too afraid to ask.

"Thistle, what's wrong?" Light nuzzled her.

"Nothing, Light." She sighed, nuzzling back. There was Pink Peach curled up with her dam. There was Enduring, near Morning and Mountain. Flood Plains was snoring. Over there was Pucker, already awake and grazing. Oak Leaf still had hold of his spear and was talking with the Lead Stallion. The Lead Mare was nursing her filly, deep in conversation with Shiny Rock who was likewise feeding her filly.

The light got better, letting her make out more and more familiar faces. There was Bird Song and her three foals. Racer was getting a drink from the river. Blueberry and Blackberry were laying side by side.

She didn't know everypony's names, but she knew most.

With the Sun coming up other ponies would wake up. Thistle heaved another sigh and began inspecting the surrounding area. She needed to make a new basket and start re-gathering medicine. She should probably try getting more rope and branches for the sledge too.

"Light, want to help me find some reeds?"

__________________________________________________________________________________

A week later, Thistle watches a mare run at a tree and jab it with a spear. She does this over and over, from different angles and at different speeds, until the spear is ruined. Being made of pointed sticks, this isn't really an issue. The mare will just go to Pucker and ask for a new one.

And the spears make ponies feel better, knowing there's wolves and bears out there. Despite not actually using the spears against any living creatures yet, most ponies are pretty confident with them. The same with sledges, now that five are in existence. Morning's still working on number six.

Reminded of this, Thistle turns towards the mare in question. Beside her is Mountain, listlessly stacking rocks. Thistle looks at Mountain's splints and wonders how long it takes bones to heal. How long has it been?

Almost two moons. Mountain hadn't needed any loco-roots in a while. Had they healed? Was there a way to check without risk of making it worse?

There probably wasn't. She hoped two moons was enough.

"Mountain, I think it's time to look at your legs again." She announced, walking up to the pair.

"Oh, thank merciful Moon!" The mare groaned. "I'm going to go absolutely insane if I can't stand on my own four hooves!"

"Take it slow!" Thistle warned her. "No pony has ever healed broken legs before. They might be weaker than they used to be so you have to be careful."

"Yes, okay, I get it!" Mountain wiggled her good legs. "Just please say I can take off these itchy ropes!"

Thistle undid the first knots carefully. She probed and prodded the old wound, testing for soreness. It was a little thinner than it's counterpart, but hopefully it would be strong enough to hold her. The second leg was much the same, though that one was a little more achy.

"Okay, try standing." Mountain did so, happily. Morning hovered at her side, nearly bouncing in place. Thistle probed and prodded both legs again.

Mountain had no issue walking. She claimed her back knee felt 'funny' but it didn't hurt. Just felt weak. A light trot and canter were both taken easily. The gallop didn't go as well as the first three tests.

She could run, but after about twenty body lengths her back leg would give out. Thistle's heart had leapt into her throat and she spent several minutes making sure the leg wasn't broken.

"I think," She swallowed nervously and tried again. "I think it's okay, it's probably just weak because you haven't used your legs in a while."

"Who cares?" Mountain reared. "I can walk again!"

"Never dought eh'd see da day when a pony would survive broken legs." Enduring commented.

"I'm glad I was able to help." Thistle sighed with relief. "Time for more lessons?"

"Always time fer more lessons, Burr." Enduring chuckled. "C'mon now, I heard ponies talk about some mushrooms dey found and eh ain't had da opportunity ta teach yew about mushrooms yet."

"Alright! Some ponies say mushrooms are good to eat but others say they're poison." She beamed.

"Der's different kinds. Let's go see what kinds dees ones are." Enduring led them to the patch given a wide berth by the rest of the herd.

"Most mushrooms smell real similar, so dat's no good. Got to pay real close attention to what dey look like." She cautioned the young filly. "Now, describe dees ones."

"Uhm, short, round and white. White all around." She leaned in close to see if there was any detail she'd missed.

"Ah, I always call dose ones White Ball mushrooms. Dey're good fer eatin'." Enduring demonstrated by taking a large bite. "Da texture takes some gettin' used to."

Thistle took a bite and grimaced. The taste was fine, just sort of bland, but the texture was weird. Like chewing tree sap. Only it wasn't sticky really. She had to force herself to swallow.

"Yuck." She took a bite of grass to wash out the taste. "I don't think I like mushrooms."

"Most ponies don't, but mushrooms are good ta have around. Dey like dark, damp places so ya know it either rains often here or der's water close by." Enduring told her.

"I think we've had enough water for a while, Enduring." Thistle wiped away a stray grass stem.

A sound caught their attention. Their ears turned back, trying to understand what they were hearing. They weren't that far from the main body of the herd.

"What's going on?" Thistle turned, trying to catch the sound better. It sounded like everypony had just gotten really excited all of a sudden. Had a wolf been sighted?

"Dunno. Better head back." Enduring snorted, already leading the way. Thistle swiped a few mushrooms for her basket before following the old nag.

The garbled sound became clearer as they returned to the herd. Ponies were racing back and forth between friends and grinning from ear to ear. It took a moment for her to concentrate on one voice long enough to figure out what was happening.

"Another herd's been spotted!" She gasped. The last herd they'd met was two years ago. This really was something to be excited about! Enduring caught her grin and matched it before they both raced back to their group.

"Elder, Thistle, have you two heard?" Morning pranced in place.

"There's another herd nearby?" Thistle wanted confirmed. "How far away?"

"Somepony found signs of their passing," Morning gave a side long look to Mountain, who only looked pleased with herself.

"Yeah, those 'signs'" Mountain rolled her eyes. "Were definitely fresh. They aren't more than a couple hours ahead of us. The Lead Mare will probably get us moving soon."

Indeed, Thistle and Light barely had time to greet Pucker and Pink before the Lead Mare began to move them. Thistle barely stopped herself from racing ahead. Beyond the excitement shared with the rest of the herd was a question she very much wanted answered.

Had these ponies seen the Light-That-Wasn't too?