Follow the Sun

Arcus let out a long sigh as he watched the sun moving across the sky. It was past noon and he hadn’t seen more than the Partlynon. He flew from home to find adventure and a cutie mark but only ended up finding a pony who was just plain lost. A little helpless filly who was now his responsibility.

“Thanks again for this sandwich Arcy it’s the best ever!” the content ball of white feathers and pink hair said as she chewed happily with her eyes closed. Strawberry was her favorite.

A little filly who, once fed, seemed to radiate happiness and energy like she was made of it. Ten minutes after meeting her and she had already taken to calling him the same nickname his mother used for him. Arcus rolled his eyes once again and cursed his fortune. His one chance of finding his special talent and all he does is find some pony that was lost. He would have to change his plans completely to account for the filly with no sense of direction.

“Sundrop, I need you to tell me why you are here. Why were you crying in the Partlynon by yourself? How did—”

“The what?” Arcus paused as he realized he was just interrupted by the little filly as she clutched what remained of her PB and J and looked up at him with her light magenta eyes and pouted in confusion.

Arcus cringed at how cute she was when she wasn’t crying. “The, the Partlynon? This building? It’s the most important landmark in Zephyns! Do you even kn—”

“Zephyns?” Sundrop giggled as a look of disbelief rolled across the colt’s face.

Arcus let out an explosive sigh and held a foreleg over his eyes as he looked to the sky. He prayed to Celestia for strength as he realized this sad and lonely filly was now turning into a giddy and playful filly. Two things he definitely did not want to be right now.

“I need you to be serious, Sundrop! What are you doing out here?”

Sundrop chewed slowly, taking slower and slower bites as she squinted and looked about in deep thought.

Arcus waited patiently for an answer as he held his breath in anticipation. Sundrop paused to swallow a large mouthful of sandwich and then took in a deep breath. The white filly paused for a short moment with her mouth held open comically wide before releasing in a quick exhale all at once, “I’ll tell you after I eat my sandwich.”

Arcus felt his jaw practically unhinge and fall to the ground as he saw the filly close her tiny mouth over a giant bite of the sandwich. His blood pressure was rising and he didn’t have the patience to put up with this, not right now. His hoof moved with lightning fast agility and snatched what remained of the sandwich from the little fillies tiny hooves attached to her lanky legs. He threw it over the edge of the cloud with a mighty roar and then stomped his forehooves back down in front of her. “Hah! No more sandwich, now you are going to answer my questions so I can just...” He trailed off as he saw the lower lip trembling on the alabaster visage of the filly. Her pink mane began to vibrate as her body began to shake with sobs and tears welled in her eyes.

It was all too much for Arcus. “No. Sundrop I’m sorry I didn’t—”

“I h-haven’t had any f-food in almost a whole day... and y-you j-just take it away and... and throw it off the edge like that!” Sundrop was choking on sobs as she finished the sentence. It broke Arcus’ big dumb heart. He was a total sucker for a sad girl.

“I’m sorry Sundrop, I just need to know if y—” He was interrupted once more as he tried to reach a hoof to dry her eyes and bring a wing around to embrace her again. The skinny filly needed food just as much as she needed comfort he realized.

“Meanie!” She turned her back on him and extended her little wings like a privacy screen as she continued to cry into her forehooves and hide her face.

Arcus moved slowly to her side so he could look her in the eye as he apologized but she kept shuffling on her dock and turning away from him. He moved left and she turned right, he moved right and she turned left. He desperately wanted to embrace the little filly and tell her he was sorry but she kept turning away and hiding her face with her long pink mane.

“Sundrop, really, I’m sorry. Please just look at me. I’ll do anything. Just please stop crying.”

Sundrop paused as the colt continued to walk around her and let him stand in front of her. Her voice was practically a whisper as she spoke. “Anything?”

Arcus sighed in relief, he was making progress. “Yes, Sundrop, whatever you want.”

“M-maybe... maybe another PBJ?”

“Sure, I’ll make it right now.”

“With extra strawberry jam.”

“Of course, Sundrop, any way you like it.”

“And could you. Um. Tear off the crusts.”

Arcus rolled his eyes and groaned. But was immediately halted as whimpers began to leave Sundrop’s little muzzle and her wings began to flutter in agitation as her eyes squinted.

“OK! OK! No crusts.”

Sundrop simply smiled and leaped to her hind hooves to wrap her skinny forelegs around Arcus’ withers in an embrace.

“Oh Thank you Arcy!”

Arcus felt his heart bursting at the cuteness of the little filly and cursed his weakness once again. He could never leave a pony in need of help, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

~~~

Two sandwiches for a little filly later and short trip down the cloud stairs from the Partlynon to the main plaza of Zephyra and Arcus found himself finally exploring the ruins of the legendary birthplace of the Pegasus tribe.

Two hours passed as the happy flightless filly and the curious colt moved as a duo through the ruins. He told her of all the history of every building. Of the champions and legendary heroes that lived there. The great politicians and military leaders, the poets and architects, the scholars and philosophers. So much history left to drift away beyond the reaches of Equestria, so much mystery left to be rediscovered.

Arcus walked down every street and through every building still standing or intact. He flew from ledge to ledge with Sundrop as she giggled and pointed and cheered him on. Arcus was having more fun than he thought he possibly could. He assumed this must be what it’s like to have a sister.

The day was just as he had imagined it would be that morning when he took wing from his house in Ponyville, almost. The pale grey colt felt more burdened now then he thought he would be. He expected that being on his own and seeking adventure would be more liberating and carry a lightweight sense of freedom. The filly on his back probably had something to do with what was weighing him down.

“Sundrop, are you ready to tell me why you are out here alone yet?”

The white ball of fur and downy feathers raised a muzzle out of her pink mane that was draped all over the colts back and merged with his maroon mane. She had been enjoying her piggy back ride a little too much it seemed. “Mmm, my tummy still hurts too much.”

Arcus wished once again that he had a bit for every revolution his eyes made after talking to the strange filly. He had known her for less than a day and already she was treating him like he was her big brother. “Lunch was almost three hours ago! That’s why you asked me to carry you all the way down the stairs on my back from the Parrtlynon. And all through the rest of the city! Your tum-stomach should be fine by now.”

Sundrop raised her head to look down at the colt and crossed her forehooves over his withers. She turned her chin up and closed her eyes, looking off to the left as his head was turned around his right shoulder to look at her with a frown.

“Princess Sundrop decrees that knight Arcus will continue to carry her until she has regained her strength!” She gestured with a forehoof at nothing as if signing an official decree or that by gesticulating made the statement any more official.

Arcus just huffed and continued to walk and look straight ahead. He reminisced over all the time he had done something nice to someone and simply had them take advantage of him because of it. His frustration came out in a muttered sentence, “It’s not like I forced you to eat those three sandwiches.”

“Two and a half.”

“Whatever.”

“A princess needs her strength my noble knight! Being stranded on a cloud by monsters is not good for her complexion.”

Arcus paused and looked to his passenger once more, “Monsters?”

“Well... Yes! Monsters of course, big scary ones, with claws, and fire breath, and spikes! Lots of spikes!” Her little white forehooves spread apart and she smiled wide to show all her pearly whites. Her gesture was meant to indicate that the monster was terrifying or large, perhaps both, but it only warmed Arcus’ heart as he watched the little filly smile. She nearly lost her balance before wrapping her legs once more around his barrel and nuzzling into his withers with a giggle.

Arcus was worried. Not because of some imaginary fire-breathing spike-monster but because the filly wouldn’t be honest with him. “Sundrop. I need you to tell me the truth, where are your parents.”

Sundrop remained quiet as she looked to the horizon over his shoulder he wasn’t turned to look over. “Let’s go over there, Arcus. Let’s go on an adventure, far away from here, over there, anywhere but here. Just you and m-me...”

Arcus dropped to his knees and elbows once more in the grand plaza of Zephyns and rolled the filly off his back with a gentle nudge from his wing. She was crying once again.

“Sundrop. What happened.”

“No! I won’t tell you, you can’t make me. It’s not like you have to tell me why you are here, why should I have to!” She met his eyes with an angry glare as she nuzzled further under his wings. Her skinny and bony frame still trembling against his barrel.

Arcus couldn’t deny the logic of that statement. This small filly needed someone to open up to her before she could open up to him. He took the first step. He decided to be honest and extend the olive branch first.

“I flew away. I came here because I’m a blank flank, I was looking for an adventure to get my cutie mark.”

“Flew away? From what?”

“Well... My life I suppose. My friends, what few I had. My school, I didn’t like it anyway, It’s not like I had any plans after I graduate in a year. All that happens to me is I get teased at school for being a blank flank.”

“What about your family? Won’t they miss you?” Sundrop looked at Arcus with genuine hope in her eyes.

“Family, heh, I hardly have one. I never even met my father, no brothers or sisters, and my mom is just a flightless pegasus living in a little earth pony farming village. It’s not the life I want, I had to get away. I just had to. I wasn’t going to get a cutie mark bucking apples or baking cupcakes. I was made for something more.”

“Just you and your mom?” The filly looked to the colt in concern.

“Well, I mean, yeah. Now I know what you’re thinking OK. I love my Mom but I had to get away, she would understand. I mean it wouldn’t be forever, just until I got my cutie mark and then I would be right back. She was just holding me back, I had to—”

“Your mommy loved you and you just flew away?”

Arcus was quiet. He looked to the sun in shame, it was just slowly drifting past the edges of the ruined buildings now.

“Sundrop. You wouldn’t understand. It’s so difficult being a pegasus who doesn’t live in a cloud house. I couldn’t go to flight school until I was two years older than every other colt and filly in the class. I was just so... different. It didn’t matter that my mom loved me. Love can’t make her wings work, love can’t give me a dad, love can’t give me a cutie mark and stop the bullying at school. Nobody understood what I wanted.”

Sundrop was quiet and still for a moment as she looked at his eyes. Her gaze swept from one eye to the next, focusing on each intently with her wide open magenta eyes, her irises so bright and caring.

“You know what I always wanted Arcus. A family who loved me.”

Arcus felt the guilt wash over him now. He knew he had gone too far, this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have, not with this filly. He looked away from the filly in shame even as she nuzzled closer into his neck and pawed at his face to make him look back at her again.

“How could you say no to that? Your mommy loved you and you flew away from her?”

“It’s not like that Sundrop, not exactly.”

“My step dad woke me up early yesterday, before the sun rose. He said we were going on an adventure. I was sleepy still so he carried me on his back while I slept and he flew, just me on his back flying high in the early morning. Then he dropped me off here and said he would be right back.” Sundrop paused to bury her muzzle into the neck of the colt. “Yesterday, Arcy. That’s when he said he would be right back. Yesterday.”

Sundrop was deathly serious as she quivered with not sorrow but anger.

Arcus was speechless.

“My papa, my only family, left me.”

“Sundrop, I know it hurts but it’s going to be OK. I found you and we can go back to your home.”

“Back? I don’t want to go back! I hate my home, I hate my dad!”

Arcus hugged the angry little filly close as tears filled her eyes once again. The playful and happy filly exterior crumbled into sad anger before his very eyes. He was silent as he felt tears forming in his own eyes. He held her close and looked up to the sky as the sun began to cast shadows from the stunted cloud columns into the courtyard to cover the unlikely duo. Two young ponies away from home for two very different reasons.

“Sundrop, you have me. I won’t leave you.”

“Arcy.”

“Yes, Sunny, what is it.”

“Let’s go away from here. Far away, just you and me. The princess and her knight, we can have an adventure and make our own kingdom. We can live in the clouds forever and you can teach me to fly and we can get our cutie marks together. We don’t need anypony else.”

Arcus saw the road opening up before him. On one path he could stay with the filly and talk to her and figure out where she was from and then fight to bring her back where she belonged, or at least to a better family. Or he could take her with him, away from her past and sadness. They could be best friends and a family of their own. They could take on the world, just the two of them. No responsibilities, no family, no bullies. Just them against it all.

But Arcus was a realist, he always had been. As romantic the idea must have sounded to the little filly, he knew it was impossible. He had to admit to himself that even though he flew from home to find his special talent he knew he would have to come home at some point. The colt, nearly a stallion, couldn’t view the world through the literally rose colored eyes of the little filly huddled up next to him. She was so weak and dependent. Arcus was strong and independent. He knew what his choice had to be. They were both alone but they didn’t have to be.

“Sundrop. We can’t do that.” Arcus sighed.

“What? What do you mean? It’s easy! We just keep flying Arcy, you and me, chasing the sunset for as far as it goes and we never stop, not for anything or anyone!” Sundrop was pleading as he held her closer under a wing. She was his responsibility now.

“No. Sundrop I’m taking you back, we’re both going back. We don’t belong out here. We belong in Equestria.”

“No, I won’t let you take me back to that stallion. I won’t go back to my father!”

“Sundrop, please listen, I’m not going to let him hurt you, I can protect you. You’re like a sister to me, I know it sounds crazy but I won’t let you go. I’ll bring you to my mom, she’ll know what to do.” Arcus took a breath and collected his thoughts as he tightly held to the little filly next to him. The sun was lowering and the twilight hours were beginning. The tiny white wings fluttered in protest.

“Arcy it won’t work! I’m just a useless little filly with nobody who loves her!”

“No, Sundrop that’s not true. I love you!”

Sundrop stopped all protests and relaxed into his grip.

“You, love me?”

“Yes, Sundrop, I won’t leave you. I’ll always be at your side, we can fly together and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches together and go on adventures just like you want. The Princess and her royal knight, now and forever. Just please let me take you back home, where you belong, where it’s safe.”

“But what about your cutie mark?”

“Sundrop, some things are more important.”

“Oh Arcy, thank you. I love you too.”

They hugged as tightly as they could. A small little princess and her big strong knight.

The sun reached the horizon and prepared to begin its descent.