Building Ponies

Hornet shifted his weight from side to side while he waited for Morning to be satisfied with the harness. Rather than rough branches, this new contrivance had been constructed with the help of Brown Branch and her group. The bark had been shaved away and the wood smoothed, notches and holes had been cut into parts so they could fit together without rope holding them. Now instead of a rope harness that would chafe and might snap under pressure, there was a wooden harness with a part he could bite into and pull the cart behind him.

He looked over his shoulder. The cart had sides about a foot tall. The back wall could be latched in place the same way some ponies had learned to latch their doors. It all rested on the two wheels on the bottom.

When a pony wasn’t hitched to the front, the balance of the cart tipped it so the harness touched the ground. That kept the cart from rolling away when it wasn’t in use. Morning had fussed and tinkered with smaller versions of wheels and slats of wood for days when it rained until she’d finally figured out how to make it work.

“Alright, Hornet, trot around a bit and let’s see how it does.” Morning nodded when she was sure everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. Hornet nodded and bit the mouth-grip.

It wasn’t difficult to pull. In fact, it was so easy that he nearly overcompensated. He was used to far more drag than this. Even an empty sledge provided more resistance when it first started moving.

He started at a walk, going around their home. It didn’t do sharp turns well, but it performed better than the sledge. The only problem he could feel was that one wheel was slightly smaller than the other. He could feel it list to the side a little.

“Okay, little ponies, all aboard!” Mountain opened up the back wall so the foals could climb in the back. It would be easy to tell if the cart could handle the extra weight and the foals treated it like a game.

It was a little harder to get moving, but not by much. He started an easy trot, nothing spectacular but enough to make Busy and Brook whoop and cheer. Cam held her little sister firmly and kept a close eye on Busy.

“It works! It works!” Morning pranced in place as he circled around again. Her light blue braids nearly came flying loose as she celebrated.

After another few trips around the house, the foals were left with Mountain while Hornet and Morning went to show their progress to Pink. She was working on the wall again with the unicorn stallion and her other volunteers. He noticed their rock pile was almost completely gone. Morning had finished her cart just in time.

“Morning, Hornet, is that…?” Pink blinked, cocking her head to the side to inspect the cart. “The thing you were working on?”

“A cart! It can handle heavy loads much easier than a sledge! And its easier to pull too!” Morning informed her gleefully.

“Wow!” Pink looked between Hornet and the rock pile. “Say, Hornet? You wouldn’t mind a demonstration, would you?” She clasped her hooves together to plead. “Just one little trip up the mountain? Please?”

“Of course, Pink,” He had to spit out the mouth-grip to answer. “One load of rocks, coming right up.”

“Yes!” She laughed victoriously. “Alright everypony, you heard him! We’ll be back with some rocks soon! Oak Leaf, you’re in charge until I get back!”

“What am I to do until we get more rocks?” The unicorn stallion asked, stepping forward with his eyes glued to the cart.

“Rest up that horn of yours.” Pink told him firmly. “This is the rainy season, so we’ve got to get as much work done when we can. If you need something to keep you busy, run around the village and make sure all the markers are still in place.”

“Yes, Pink Peach,” He sighed, turning away.

“He seems alright.” Morning commented once he was out of earshot. “What do you think, Hornet?”

“I’m not sure.” He admitted.

“He’s fine, just sorta quiet and a little…uh,” Pink rolled her hoof thinking of the right word. “Condescending, I guess. ‘Specially towards mares unless they’re directly above him in the food chain.”

“Now c’mon,” She snorted. “We’re wasting valuable daylight here!”

Hornet was astounded by how much easier it all was with the cart. Going uphill was no struggle at all and soon he was able to unhitch and they began loading rocks inside. Hornet even found a few small gems to take home and he put them in his baskets when Morning wasn’t looking.

“Alright, moment of truth,” Pink rubbed her chin. “Let’s see how it does going downhill.”

“Oh boy,” Hornet licked his lips before hitching himself up. There were a lot of rocks. Big ones. Tentatively, he began to pull.

It was definitely harder now, but he’d pulled a loaded sledge before and this was many times easier. Still the real test was yet to come. Pulling it over level ground was doable, and he felt he could pull the fully loaded cart for some hours if he had to, but downhill?

He took it slow. The last thing he wanted was to be trampled by a cart loaded to the brim with rocks. Pink and Morning walked on either side of him, ready in case the cart tried to run him over. The wooden harness proved its worth here, though it nearly yanked itself from his mouth with the pressure and he had to brake with his hooves in the really steep parts.

“You’re doing good, Hornet!” Morning encouraged him. “Looks like everything’s holding together.”

“Morning, this thing is amazing!” Pink gushed. “Sun and Moon, can you imagine how much easier this is going to make things!”

“I’ll have to make more.” Morning said, sighing. “It took two days for Brown Branch and I to make this. We’ll have to chop down some more trees. Cursed Shadows, I would’ve had it sooner if it hadn’t taken me so long to figure out the axle-and-frame.”

“What matters is you did figure it out, and we’re almost to the bottom of the mountain already!” She reassured her. Hornet checked ahead and saw the ground level out below them. He was a little tired but not bad. He felt he could do another load after this. Maybe even two.

The only bad thing about this new cart was that he couldn’t talk while he was pulling it. He glared down at his snout. Morning was one of his mares and Pink was family through Thistle, he didn’t feel shy around them anymore.

“Hornet, are you okay?” Morning must’ve seen his glare. He smiled around the bit in his mouth and tried to nod. It didn’t really work well.

“Do you want to stop and take a break?” She asked.

“Enn-nuh,” He tried to shake his head. They were almost at the bottom, he’d stop once they were on flat ground again.

“Phew!” He gratefully let go and stretched out his jaw muscles. His jaw was maybe a little sore but he felt good. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually missed being able to talk.”

“Does your jaw hurt?” Morning gently ran her hoof over his jawline.

“Just a little sore, Morning.” He smiled around it. “I guess I’m just not used to using those muscles yet. But that cart’s so easy to pull I think I could do another load as soon as we finish with this one.”

“Really now? You don’t say?” Pink’s eyes lit up.

“Well, we still have to finish this load, you mustang.” Morning rolled her eyes and snorted.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Morning decided to stay with the Wall ponies. Hornet and Oak Leaf went up the mountain and Pink began leading everypony back to building. Morning found herself drafted as well but that was about what she’d expected. She hoped Mountain was having fun with the foals.

“Your name is Morning Dew, isn’t it?” She looked over her shoulder to see the unicorn stallion. His horn was aglow and a line of sunny gold was connecting it to a rock.

“And you’re Onyx, settling in alright?” She asked politely. The Wall for the section closest to the lake was just over a body length high. Onyx was the only pony not having any trouble lifting his stone into place.

“Fairly well. My mares and I do enjoy our new…home.” He paused on the word like it was still strange.

Morning had watched it all grow up around her. She’d been part of it. It made her feel good inside to see a stranger from another herd admire her home.

“I was told you invented the sledges, and now you’ve built the cart.” He told her.

“Mountain broke her legs a couple weeks after the Light-That-Wasn’t,” She explained, happy to tell the story. “We were really worried about what would happen when the herd moved on, if I’d be able to carry her or not, and then I just got the idea for the sledge!”

“And you gained your magic mark that way?” He asked as they walked back to the pile for more rocks.

“Yep!” She looked back at her flank. It was a little funny to see the crude little sledge there. The first sledge she’d made had been rough, kept getting caught on roots and rocks, and had fallen apart after crossing a river. It still filled her with pride to see how far she’d come.

“You know, among unicorns you’d have considerable status for such an accomplishment.” He didn’t meet her eyes as they started back towards the Wall, another rock in his glowing grip.

“Does your herd have anything like the stuff we do?” She asked him curiously.

“Spears,” He shrugged, looking down at his hooves briefly. “And a mare from another herd joined us and made baskets. She was allowed her pick of stallions for that.”

“Huh, really? Just for teaching you how to make baskets?” Her eyes widened. Did her pick of stallions include the Lead stallion? Burning Sun, she’d heard the unicorns did things differently but that was something else.

“No, she didn’t teach us,” He corrected her, lifting his rock up high and setting it in place. He was even kind enough to lift hers too. “If a pony wanted a basket, they gave her food or perhaps a gem in trade.”

“Wait, so there’s only one pony in your whole herd who knows how to make baskets?” She checked. “But…But…What if something happens to her? She gets sick or dies and your herd would have no new baskets. Does she at least teach her foals?”

“Her only foal was just a newborn when we left.” He shrugged. “And, I suppose, if she dies then the herd will treasure what baskets they have until they find somepony else who knows how to make them. I’m more surprised that you are surprised. Doesn’t only one pony make pots and mats and now carts?”

“Yeah, right now.” Morning waved her hoof at the other ponies at work. “But Clay is already teaching his sister to make things out of clay, and I’ve seen Starlight sitting with Summer Showers to learn how to make mats. And Mountain and Hornet know how to make carts, and they’ll help me build the next ones.” She looked around and checked the path but Hornet wasn’t back yet.

“But it’s like…it’s like…” Suddenly an idea flashed through her head. “It’s like Water Lily!”

“Water Lily?” Onyx repeated, flummoxed.

“Water Lily was Thistle’s Dam, she died just a few days before the Light-That-Wasn’t came!” She explained excitedly. “And among the herd, she was our water finder! She was the only pony who knew how to find water wherever we went. So when she died…” She prompted.

“It…put the whole herd at risk.” He followed. “I see.” He frowned, considering.

Morning watched him for a moment. She imagined what life might’ve been like if Earth ponies were more like unicorns. Would they have to give Thistle food before she gave them any medicine?

She couldn’t imagine Thistle ever doing something like that though. She wasn’t shy about sharing the healing knowledge she had, and Light knew almost as much. Besides, if ponies tried trading food for treatment then Thistle’s whole hut would be filled to bursting with just food!

She focused back on Onyx. He looked like he was still thinking over what she told him. Slowly, his eyes came back up to meet hers.

“Hey, uh, if it doesn’t bother you too much, what made the three of you leave your herd?” She asked.

“I believe…you are the first pony to outright ask that.” He sighed. “It’s a rather long story though.”

“We can talk and work at the same time.” Morning got back on her hooves, unsure when she’d sat down. “Besides, if it’s a story then Light is gonna want to hear it someday. That young filly loves stories more than anypony I’ve ever met.”

“It starts about a year ago, when my brother and I were old enough to take mares of our own and be proper stallions.” He began. “Coal and I are half-brothers through our mother, and we both fought a chimera just before we were full stallions. Do you know what a chimera is?”

“I know what it is, but I’ve never seen one.” Morning shuddered. “There’s a pony I know who lost her eye to one. And Cam sometimes has nightmares about it.”

“I delivered the final blow and killed it and we carried the tail as a trophy. Then the Lead Mare summoned us forward and said we’d proven ourselves as worthy stallions. Since I killed the chimera, she told me I could have her younger daughter, Sapphire, as my first mare.”

“Wait, she just gave you her filly?” Morning pulled her head back in shock.

“Sapphire could’ve refused if she truly found me wanting.” He defended himself. “I know you Earth ponies do things differently, but it was a great honor to both myself and Sapphire for her mother to give us her blessing.”

“Okay, okay,” Morning waved him down. “What happened next?”

“Well,” He took a deep breath. “Coal’s a year older than me, but he hadn’t really proven himself against a predator yet. I think he was jealous that I was the one who delivered the final blow to the chimera. He kept the tail as his trophy, but I was the one who got one of the Lead Mare’s daughters.”

“We’d never really gotten along before then, always rivaling each other, but it got worse after that. I did my best to ignore him and even asked Emerald’s mother for her to join me. Then we found out Sapphire was pregnant.” He got a small, brief smile at that. It quickly faded as he continued.

“Her older sister, and our future Lead Mare, was Lapis Lazuli, and our current Lead, Rainbow Quartz, hadn’t chosen a stallion for her yet. But then Rainbow Quartz grew sick and died.” He explained, “And there can’t be a Lead Mare without a Lead Stallion. The Herd Laws here are different, I know, among the unicorns the Lead Stallion is the sire of the next Lead Mare, and since Sapphire was pregnant and Lapis was not, there was…conflict.”

“Oh,” Morning gulped. She couldn’t even imagine that. True Blue had been the Lead Mare for Morning’s whole life and everypony looked forward to the day Thistle succeeded her. The idea of a herd being torn apart because they couldn’t agree on who the new Lead was? She shivered.

“Lapis Lazuli declared that she was taking my brother as her stallion and, to preserve peace, she banished Sapphire and myself from the herd.” He went on. “Emerald didn’t want to come with us, I know, but she was already my mare by that point and no other stallion would’ve had her so she had to come with us. The rest, you already know.”

“That must’ve been hard on all of you.” She winced in sympathy. He nodded sadly.

“Now, Lapis Lazuli is the Lead Mare and Coal is her Lead Stallion, but somehow I think we got the better end of the deal.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Because while they are still running over the mountains, we are here, prospering with your herd.”

“Your herd too, you know.” She elbowed him. “You, Sapphire, Emerald, and the foal on the way, you’re all part of True Village now.”

“And someday soon the Burr Village?” He smirked.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Morning shrugged, blowing her mane out of her eyes. “I think we’ll probably keep the name in honor of the Lead who settled us here. So we’ll still be the True Village even when Thistle is leading us.”

“This is by far the strangest herd I have ever met.” Onyx decided.

He probably would’ve felt better if Morning hadn’t started laughing.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pink finished recounting what Morning had passed to her. The council sat around Lead True’s fire as they processed this. She stretched out her back, sore from the day’s work, and waited for somepony to say something.

“That’s better than what we were thinking.” Thistle eventually pointed out.

“I don’t much like the way the unicorns do things.” Woodpecker frowned, looking so much like their dam that she unconsciously straightened her spine.

“Makes you wonder what the Pegasus ponies will be like.” Shiny pursed her lips.

“I think we can put our concerns about the unicorns aside for the time being.” Lead True decided. “How goes progress on the Wall, Pink?”

“Things are going to be picking up thanks to that cart!” Pink beamed. Ten loads between two stallions, all in one afternoon. That might almost be enough for the rest of the foundation! “If we continue at this new pace I’m thinking we’ll have most of it done before harvest. If winter is mild this year we might finish the whole thing before spring!”

“There are some moons still before the Pegasus herd arrives.” Lead True sighed. “Rockslide, when they arrive I’d like if you could put two ponies on the storage house, day and night if possible.”

“I don’t think I could sell that right now.” He frowned deeply. “But when the Pegasus arrive? Yeah, I could talk a few into working nights and maybe convince’em to double up.”

“How much food are we willing to share, exactly?” Shiny cut in. “Because some of that is needed for seed if we’re to have a harvest next year and our herd is only growing. And our own ponies eat a great deal already.”

“No more than a quarter, I believe.” Lead True stated. “Would that be acceptable, Shiny?”

“Holding back the quarter for seed, that leaves just half for our ponies to eat and we don’t know how big this Pegasus herd is.” Shiny mouthed a few words that were probably facts and figures. Pink was glad being a Confidante didn’t automatically mean she’d someday be in charge of the food stores. She could calculate how much rock and horse power was needed to build a wall but keeping track of all that food and who had so much of it was definitely beyond her.

The scary thing to consider was that someday they’d have to find a replacement for Shiny.

“Thistle Burr, I’m afraid I’m not so familiar with the local grazing anymore,” Shiny turned regrettably towards Thistle. “Is there wild food enough in the valley to feed another herd?”

“Not for a whole season.” Thistle answered quickly. “A few weeks, maybe a moon, but no more than that. And there’s a thought that just occurred to me,” She looked around at all of them.

“We’ve been assuming the Pegasus will fly over us, see us, and perhaps stay through most of fall before going on their way again, minus whatever number of them we convince to join us.” She said.

“What if they decide to winter here?” She asked them.

If Pink was a wolf her hackles would’ve gone up. Herds stopped moving in winter, at least for the most part. And winter came soon after harvest. But to have these strangers alight upon their fields, eat their crops, and demand to stay for the whole winter?

“We don’t have enough food for that.” Was Shiny’s immediate, panic-stricken, response. “At a certain point we’d have to stop giving them food or starve ourselves.”

“Thistle, you said yourself the valley can’t support two herds for that long.” Woodpecker’s brows nearly met in the middle.

“No, it can’t, but do you think the Pegasus know that?” She worried at her lip.

“If they think we have enough food,” And they would, Pink’s thoughts sought to remind her, once they started feeding them. “Then they might think to stay for the winter. And keep being fed.”

“Calm down, everypony.” Lead True stamped her hoof to get their attention. “Thistle Burr, thank you for sharing your concerns with us, this is a potential problem we’ll have to consider carefully.”

And they did consider it. The rest of the meeting passed in near silence, broken only when one of them produced a thought worth sharing and the whole council spent a few moments going over it until the thought collapsed. Pink couldn’t think of anything except denying the Pegasus their homes unless some of them joined the herd. Maybe they won’t want to stay if they don’t have warm shelters to keep the winter cold out.

After they gave up the meeting for the time being, everypony went their separate ways. Woodpecker didn’t even take the opportunity to flirt with Thistle before turning for home. Thistle herself looked to be in a daze.

Just outside her home, Pink leaned against a tree and breathed a deep sigh. She’d built this village from the ground up with her own four hooves. Everypony had, everypony contributed.

In the night air there was just a hint of coolness and it made her think of winter. The first winter had been hard, at least until fire was tamed by Mountain, but they’d had enough to eat. The second winter had been merry, joyful, ponies had seen winter coming and laughed because they were so well off.

Pink shook off the depressing thoughts and went inside to her mate. She was past fifteen now. Maybe it was time to start thinking of a foal of her own.