Holly Berry had been keeping a special eye out ever since the word had gone out. Healer Burr and Woodpecker had conceived a foal. The future of the herd was assured.

It took time for any changes to be visible. Healer Burr was an active mare and still growing a little. It was much too soon for there to be any visible weight gain. But there were other, less obvious, changes. One change, Holly saw on a bright mid-summer day when Healer Burr had to be called to tend to a young colt who’d injured himself in rough play.

Healer Burr had pulled out a gourd and began cleaning the skinned knee with green liquid when her face had scrunched up, her nostrils shutting and her head leaning as far back as she could get.

Then her face went nearly as green as the potion.

“Ah, forgive me,” She stood and moved rapidly for an unoccupied spot to be sick upon.

“Ooh,” Holly winced before approaching. “Healer, are you ill?”

“Not ill,” She coughed and spat. “Merely dealing with some uncomfortable morning sickness. The smell of the potion got to me a little.”

“Oh dear,” She rubbed her back. A healer made sick by the scent of her own medicines, poor dear. “Would you like me to finish cleaning it? I’m sure Elm wouldn’t mind.”

“If-If you would?” Healer Burr nodded gratefully, pointing back to the gourd and waiting colt. The poor foal looked even more upset than when he’d fallen down.

“Nothing to worry about, my little ponies!” Holly presented a bright smile. “Healer Burr is fine, she just needs a moment. I’ll finish cleaning out your wound for her, Elm. Be a dear and hold still now.”

“Why’d the healer throw up?” Elm demanded.

“Because she’s pregnant and sometimes pregnant mares get sick.” She explained. “It’s perfectly normal and nothing to be worried about. Let’s all give her a moment to catch her breath and wash her mouth out, alright?” Holly saw Light moving beside her sister, offering a shoulder to lean on. A good girl, that one.

With the ease of long practice, Holly looked over the crowd of foals. Thistle Weed and Thistle Patch, two young fillies who were among the first Healer Burr had ever delivered, but who were not related. Peace and Mercy were playing with them, kicking a ball of hemp back and forth. Little Flower Fields was making a chain of flowers with some of the older fillies. Water Lily was napping with Morning Mist in the shade. Carrot Top was playing with his cousin, Sapling.

She always checked on the youngest foals first. They were the ones more likely to wander off and be eaten. Or fall in water and drown. Or get lost and never be found. Or…

She always checked on the youngest foals first.

The older fillies and colts were next. Any older than nine were likely with their dams or sires, learning the things they needed to know to be mares and stallions. Six, seven, eight? They were content normally to play chasing games of Ponies and Wolves or to listen to Light’s stories.

Holly was the herd’s collective foalsitter and she took such responsibility seriously. The dams of the herd were relying on her to keep their foals safe while they worked the fields or patrolled the valley or built the Wall. Her day wasn’t over until every last foal had been safely returned to their dam.

Once Elm’s scrape was thoroughly cleaned and given a kiss (which tasted foul enough she could completely understand how it made the healer sick) he was sent off to play again. A scrape probably didn’t call for the healer’s personal attention, per se, but Holly didn’t like to take chances. If she could call for Healer Burr, why not?

Speaking of Healer Burr. Holly turned her head to check on her again.

She already seemed much better. She was standing straight, head tilted up to the sunlight and taking deep breaths. Light pulled a gourd from Healer Burr’s baskets and Holly watched Healer Burr take a long draught and then spit it out, rinsing out the foul taste.

“Feeling better, Healer?” She asked respectfully.

“Yes, thank you.” She accepted her medicine gourd back. “I am sorry about that. I’d take some nausea medicine but some of it reacts badly with pregnant mares.”

“No need to apologize, Healer. Truly!” Holly reassured brightly. “You just take care of yourself now. Focus on the coming foal and in training your student.”

“Where is Cam anyway?” Light questioned.

“Watching her brother and sister today. Morning’s helping Pink with the tower and Hornet and Mountain are both on patrol.” She explained. “I was planning to stop by and make sure everything’s alright. Busy’s been a bit of a hooffull lately.”

“We won’t keep you then.” Light gave her a quick nuzzle. “Remember to drink plenty of water.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Healer Burr rolled her eyes. “Nag, nag, nag,”

“An’ don’t yew go dinkin’ dat yer own health aint as important, Burr.” Light squinted her eyes, smiling as she took on the affected accent.

Holly smiled sadly as she watched them joke about before saying their goodbyes. She hadn’t gotten to know Elder Enduring as well as she could have and Holly regretted that now. Elder Enduring had been a truly kind soul to take in two young fillies left all alone. Thistle Burr to her dam’s death and Light from her dam’s abandonment.

“Light, Light, can we get a story?” Some foals raced up as soon as Healer Burr had vanished from sight.

“One about the Healer!” A filly piped up.

“Yeah, the Healer! Tell us about the Healer!” The crowd chanted.

“Okay, okay!” Light laughed. “I have a new story about Thistle Burr, if anypony is interested?”

Holly kept an ear turned her way, even as she went around the clearing counting the foals.

“Alright, this story starts in the early morning, when the Sun hadn’t yet fully risen above the horizon.” Light began steadily. “Our Healer, Thistle Burr stood waiting by the great weeping willow by the lake for her stallion to arrive. Woodpecker came to her, carrying spear and baskets both and as good friends they went to the forest together.”

Oh, this one. Holly shuddered. Healer Burr often walked the forest without a weapon. Indeed, she seemed to have no fear of the monsters that dwelt within. To think the herd had come so close to losing their Magic-Blessed Healer.

The Wall couldn’t be built fast enough, in her opinion. Sure, right now the timberwolves didn’t leave the forest but who was to say they were the only monsters around? There was that fire bird from the first winter for starters! And all the monsters she’d seen right after the Light-That-Wasn’t.

Holly would sleep easier at night with thick stone walls between her foals and everything that went bump in the night.

She shook the thought away. There was no point dwelling and there was a Wall being built. She just had to be patient. The really important thing to focus on right now was Healer Burr’s impending motherhood.

She looked up and saw the Blueberry and Blackberry returning from the fields. It was about that time, wasn’t it? She beamed, trotting over to share the gossip of the day with them. They’d certainly appreciate the confirmation that Healer Burr really was pregnant!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“They want to what?” Shiny managed to keep from scowling through sheer willpower, but it was a close thing.

She had to have heard wrong.

“The herd wishes to celebrate Thistle Burr’s pregnancy.” True repeated, looking rather bemused herself. “With a feast.”

“With a what?” Her tone came out a little harsher than she intended but Shadows, Curse It! It was hard keeping track of the food and how much the herd had and how much they needed! And with the Pegasus on the way?

Shiny shook her head numbly. The amount of recalculating that would require. The Bead Plan was still in the beginning stages. She’d only just starting spreading rumors that beads would be traded for labor! And a feast? A feast!?

In the old days a feast was a celebration for when a herd found a new foaling or wintering ground. A new place that nopony had ever been before, with food aplenty to sustain them for weeks.

“I understand them being pleased with the news,” Woodpecker looked fairly confused himself. “But a celebration?”

“It’s not that bad an idea actually.” Pink remarked thoughtfully. Shiny whirled on her immediately.

“Explain.” She demanded. Because if her student thought it was a good idea to just give away heaps of food when they were scant weeks from harvest and invasion then, then,

Ooohhh, Pink Peach would be in for such a kicking. Shiny hadn’t spent three years tutoring the rambunctious young mare for her to dump all her brains out now.

Pink flinched back, which Shiny found slightly satisfying. It actually took a moment for the usually unflappable mare to respond.

“Well, I mean, ponies have been complaining about working since we settled here.” She pointed out. “Before, the most they had to do was canter for a few hours and raise their foals, maybe fight off some wolves or bears and that was it. Now? We’ve got the fields, patrols, construction, the orchard, there’s always more to do.”

“And ponies aren’t happy about it, but they do it, because they know it’s better for the herd and everypony needs to contribute in some way.” She continued. “That’s why I think a celebration is a good idea. Not necessarily for your pregnancy, Thistle,” She added with a wry smile.

“But as sort of a…” She licked her lips. “reward for working hard all year? Like, having one day where nopony has to work. It doesn’t have to just be a feast either,” She added directly to Shiny.

“It doesn’t?” Thistle cocked her head to the side.

“No, see? The problem is all the work, right? So we can dedicate this one day to play!” Pink raised her hooves. “Like, maybe we could have a set of practice fights for all the patrol ponies? Like the stallion fights, but for everypony. Or races or jumping contests. Games for the foals too.”

“Hmm,” Woodpecker’s brows furrowed in thought.

“Your thoughts?” True prodded him.

“Well, Lead Mare, it occurs to me that my sister may be on to something.” Shiny had to resist the urge to scoff. The insanity was catching.

“And this day doesn’t have to be unproductive either,” He smirked, catching their full attention.

“How so?” Thistle frowned.

“There are still a number of ponies who have not settled on any one job or skill, aren’t there? What if we had, say, a few ponies openly demonstrating their skills and abilities to hopefully entice these younger ponies to find their path and convince older ponies to take on students.”

Oh, now that…Shiny forced herself to not think about the waste of food. It was true that there were ponies who flitted between jobs or only worked one day out of ten, and even more true that there were foals who were waiting still to find their talents.

“And yes, Dear Thistle, this means we can turn the attention away from your baby bump.” Woodpecker added for his partner’s benefit.

“Clever,” Rockslide huffed. “And if we get the craft ponies to go along with it we can even speed up the Bead Plan. Convince’em to trade beads for better quality goods. I know a few ponies who’d like to trade their sledge in for a cart.”

“Oh,” Thistle’s eyes went wide. “And if we hold off a little on the celebration, put it off until a little before harvest maybe, then they’ll all have some beads to trade with. Especially if we let slip they can be used for that, right?”

Thistle hadn’t seemed so enthused by the Bead Plan before, but she was even less enthused by the idea of a celebration centered around her stomach.

Shiny huffed, seeing the opinions of the room begin to change. If a vote was cast now she’d be outvoted. And, she had to admit, it wasn’t a bad idea.

She sighed and closed her eyes, already feeling the incoming migraine. There would be a lot of counting and recounting in her future. A few things could be harvested earlier than others but that still left very little room for error.

Making sure the whole herd was fed was infinitely harder than simply keeping track of them all. With their numbers and the rate of expansion it was only going to get harder. Two of the mares in the room were currently pregnant and she and True weren’t exactly past foal bearing years either. It was entirely likely one or both of them would catch on their next heat unless they took steps against it.

“Shiny?” True asked in concern. Fair was fair, if True ever showed such turmoil she’d be worried too.

“I think I can no longer deny it, Lead Mare.” She kept her turn of phrase formal. “I must find my own student; A pony who can help keep track of our food stores.”

“Real glad that’s not gonna be me.” Pink sighed with apparent relief. “Keeping construction moving forward is more than enough for me.”

“Who would you pick though? You’d likely want to start right away if you wanted them competent enough to aid you during the celebration.” Woodpecker raised one brow.

Bird Song was her immediate answer. Bird was good at numbers and keeping track of them. The only real problem with that was that Bird was of the same generation as them and had four foals to mind.

Shiny discarded Bird Song with a shake of the head. No, Bird was too busy already.

Starlight was similarly rejected. She wouldn’t be a popular choice, having turned out Dim Light and she was one of the lazy ponies who only worked when they had to. That kind of behavior shouldn’t be rewarded.

Bright Finish? The foals he’d adopted were mostly grown now and didn’t require his constant care anymore. He hadn’t chosen any new mares though. That wasn’t a big issue but she didn’t deal with him directly very often. Was he good with numbers? Would he be susceptible to sob stories? How was his memory?

“Tch,” She clicked her tongue and forced her eyes open upon the room. “This will take some thought.”

It would be better to pick somepony younger. Somepony who’d still be around after Shiny moved on to the Endless Pastures.

If Thistle Burr hadn’t taken Camellia as her student Shiny would have considered her. She was young, clever, not afraid of hard work, well-bred. She would have been a good choice for training. Who else did she know in that general age bracket?

It had to be a pony who didn’t already have their path in life decided. So preferably somepony without a magic mark.

Maybe it was because she’d just been thinking of Bright Finish, but the name Soft Touch came to mind.

Now there was an idea.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

By the end of the meeting they’d decided on a name for the celebration. Something they could refer to easily. Since it took place at almost the same time they’d decided on calling it the Founding Festival.

And by naming it they’d basically guaranteed that this would be a regular, maybe yearly, thing.

Thistle flicked her head, changing the side her braid hung on. The action made the beads click against each other. She was starting to get used to them, though rolling on them in her sleep tended to be painful.

She was thinking of taking out the ones in her mane and putting them in her tail. She was less likely to roll on that and she might be able to use them to better separate some of the poisonous herbs.

“I’m home!” She called as she entered their hut.

“Welcome back, Thistle.” Light smiled. “How was the meeting?”

“Interesting,” She sighed softly. “There’s going to be a celebration just before harvest. We’re calling it the Founding Festival in honor of our settling here.”

“Truly?” Her ears flicked in interest.

“There will be games for the foals, contests for the grown ponies, some ponies will be showing off their talents in hopes of enticing more students to their cause.” Which left Pink muttering furiously trying to think of how she could attract more construction workers.

“The Founding Festival, huh.” Light repeated, pursing her lips in thought. “This ought to be intriguing.”

“Shiny isn’t too happy about it. It’s a large expenditure of food just before harvest.” She reported. “She’s also now looking for a student of her own.”

“I thought Pink was her student?” She frowned uncertainly.

“In regards to being my confidante and keeping track of the herd, yes. But apparently Pink is too busy to help with keeping track of our food stores on top of everything else.” Thistle explained tiredly. “She seemed thoughtful when the meeting ended so hopefully she’s thought of somepony. I only hope whoever she chooses is able to learn fast enough to be of help for this festival.”

“Hmm,” Light nodded, then passed out their dinner bowls. “I wonder how the herd will react. And there’s not that much time before harvest, really. A moon and a half perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” She should really ought to find time to see Marsh Steps soon. See how well things were progressing. She’d take Cam that way tomorrow.

So many things to do. How long had it been since she had taken a day to do nothing without being stormed in?

She’d have to watch herself. It would be easy to overwork and cause a miscarriage. Hadn’t that been what killed her dam so long ago? Or had it been something else? The memories were so vague.

So distracted by her thoughts, Thistle almost didn’t notice Light standing up and walking over. Her sister laid down leaning against her side and sighed in contentment.

“Comfortable?” She huffed a laugh, though she didn’t move.

“Very.” She couldn’t see Light’s smirk, but she could hear it. “Thistle, I know you are often busy but I wondered if I might ask a favor?”

“Name it, sister.” Thistle nuzzled her. Whatever Light wanted that was in her power to give.

“On this festival, I assume ponies will not be working on that day?” She continued without waiting for an answer. “Then might we spend the day together? I don’t mind being around other ponies, but it feels like a long time since we’ve enjoyed each other’s company in anything except our meals.”

“Of course, Light. I’d be happy to spend the festival with you.” Thistle promised easily.

Author's Note

I LIIIIIIIVVEEEEEE! My laptop died, completely kaput, so I had to wait for taxes to come in to buy a new one. And it is HERE! BEHOLD! Regular updates will resume starting next wednesday but I didn't want to wait another week before posting this! I'm so glad to have a laptop again!