Follow the Sun

Arcus and Sundrop stood to their hooves and shared a nuzzle like a brother and sister would. It had only been an afternoon and yet they depended on each other for so much more than food and comfort. They had shared their dreams and aspirations. Their frustrations and flaws. They were tired of discussing the small things that were so important to young ponies like them. Cutie marks and adventure held little importance to them. Now their thoughts were turned on the return trip. The journey home.

“Arcy, are we going now?” Sundrop was once again upon the colts back and wrapping her forelegs as far as they would go around his neck. Her muzzle against his maroon mane and her bright pink eyes glowing in excitement as they both watched the sun approach the horizon slowly but surely.

“Yes, Sundrop, we’re going home. Back to where we belong.” Arcus smiled a genuine smile. He was hopeful again, he was doing something good. He was saving a filly.

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“Saving the princess of course, it’s what a knight is supposed to do you know.” Sundrop giggled as she smiled and wiggled against his coat.

“Really? All knights? Is that all they do?” Arcus giggled at the simplicity of her logic.

Sundrop seemed shocked by the colt’s comment. “Of course! What else would they do?”

It was always sunshine and rainbows in the mind of little fillies. No wars to fight, no freedom to defend, just mean step-father’s, fierce dragons and sleeping beauties. Arcus wished that life could be as perfect for everyone. No fear, no danger. Just the knights who saved the princesses and nothing else. “I guess you’re right, princess. I’m just glad I could be your knight today.”

“Always and forever, Arcy!”

“Always and forever, Sundrop.”

Arcus flapped his wings and took the skies, he rose a few meters before adjusting his angle of attack and pushing himself forward and falling over the edge. Sundrop squealed in delight as the ancient city state rose up behind them as they fell down away from it. The cloud walls and streets, the columns and buildings left to float in peace and crumble with the passage of time. Their loneliness and silence having served their purpose. The lonely island bringing lost souls closer once again.
~~~

The crepuscular rays of a fading sun were glowing deep red behind them. The city of Zephyns had long since faded past the horizon. Arcus estimated that they must be halfway home by now. The border of Equestria was somewhere in the mountains below them and receding far behind them as Arcus rode the Zephyra jet stream. The western wind blowing them from the ancient pegasus Capitol city beyond the San Palomino Desert was complemented by the favorful Sirocco southern wind blowing from Zebrica guiding them easily and gently towards Ponyville. Arcus could barely make out the river to the east of them flowing just by the Macintosh Hills. He knew he would just have to follow it north to the Ghastly Gorge it had carved out and from there over the falls of Froggy Botton Bogg and finally the Everfree Forest. Beyond that was home, their home.

The colt’s flight was relaxed and gentle. The wind and updrafts were so favorable he hadn’t had to flap his wings in nearly a hundred kilometers to rise over the mountains. The coming night time was greeting him with a few bright stars peeking over the eastern horizon as the moon prepared to make its ascent for the night. On his back was the now welcome and comforting weight of a tiny napping filly. Her skinny legs holding onto him as she mumbled in her sleep and snored gently.

Arcus couldn’t believe how fortunate he was. He left his home feeling more alone, helpless and angry than he ever thought he could be. But he returned happier than ever before with hope, a dream, a purpose and a new friend. His princess, his little lost filly who needed a protector. He could be that protector. He would fly any distance to save her, to bring her home.

Sundrop was startled awake as a brief flash reached her eyes. She looked behind her to the saddlebags of the colt carrying her with a smile. Then she looked beyond them to the western horizon and the sunset.

“I love sunsets, don’t you Arcy?” Sundrop yawned and smiled again as her magenta irises reflected the deep red glow of the fading day through half-closed eyes.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you Sundrop?” Arcus sent a brief glance back at his passenger.

“No, I just thought I should be awake for this.” Sundrop smiled back at him.

“For what?” Arcus asked with concern.

“Our arrival back home, well your home, but my new home.” Sundrop smiled and closed her eyes to nuzzle into the withers of her new best friend.

Arcus smiled and turned to look back to the distant lights of Canterlot, his beacon guiding him home. The lights in the mountain at the center of Equestria were like a lighthouse, he had always dreamed of going on adventures to distant lands and flying back to that majestic place. The center of the world and a heart of a nation. Canterlot was a light in the darkness for him as he stared out of his second floor bedroom window. He wished he could be up there instead of down on the ground, his mother could be there and he could be close to the clouds. It would be perfect.

Arcus was startled from his thoughts as he noticed a bright flash in the night sky to the north, just above the gorge. Another flash, this time closer and what sounded like voices shouting. Arcus kept his pace constant and kept his sharp eyes scanning the half light beyond him. A third and final flash and then he was certain he heard voices now. And then he began to see the shapes resolving. A team of nearly six ponies gleamed in the dim purple radiance of the sun now completely beyond the horizon. They were divided into teams of two and each was carrying a chariot. One was large and golden, one was sleek and black and the third was wooden.

There was a pop and a flash and Arcus had the strange sensation of a weight being lifted off of his back. He turned around frantically and looked about him in shock and utter terror.

“Sundrop! Sundrop, where are you!” He zipped down and spiralled to see if she had fallen in her drowsiness. He had been so careful to fly straight and still as he carried her, he couldn’t believe she would fall now, when they were so close. Arcus chased down out of the jet stream and flapped his wings in agitation as he zipped every direction searching for the small white shape plummeting into the gorge but found nothing.

A cough and a greeting broke him from his thoughts as he hovered with his hooves ruffling his mane in frustration and emotional agony. Arcus thought he had lost her.

“Arcus, I presume?” Spoke a feminine voice, soft but strong.

The colt looked to the source of the voice and saw a deep blue alicorn princess speaking to him from a sleek black chariot. It was being pulled by two royal guards ponies. Next to her, arriving second was a wooden chariot being pulled by a similar duo, but its occupant was far more familiar and less regal.

“ARCY!” The orange pegasus mare was practically leaning over the edge of the wooden chariot as she shouted for her son. Her little runaway colt had finally come home.

“Mom?” Arcy could hardly believe his eyes, he was being confronted by royal guards, a princess and now his mother. It was too much for him.

“Mommy, I’m... I-I’m sorry mom, I don’t know what I was—” He flew into her grasp as swiftly as he could. Her warm coat and rapidly beating heart greeted his own like the warmest autumn night or the gentlest summer breeze. Her maroon mane mixed with his as they nuzzled and rub noses as a mother and son would. They opened their eyes to find that they both contained tears, the magenta eyes of the young colt meeting the magenta eyes of his dam. His strong and powerful grey wings wrapping around her body, brushing against her small and flightless orange ones.

“Oh, Arcy. It’s going to be OK, I love you, I love you so much. It’s all going to be OK.”

The reunion was broken by a realization of the colt.

“Mom! There was a filly, I went to Zephyns and found a little filly and she—”

A slight giggle from the Princess of the Night interrupted the colt from his flustered and emotional explanation. But it was followed by a more polite cough from the newcomer.

Arriving on her own golden chariot, Princess Celestia, Bringer of the Dawn, arrived and addressed the group.

“I believe that I can explain, Arcy.”

Arcus was awestruck. He had only ever seen the princess from a distance, but up close she was breathtaking. Even in the barest fading light of day she was radiant. Her spectral mane practically capturing the tiny threads of light and amplifying them to glow against the night sky. While her sisters mane seemed to wrap the night around her like a shroud, The Princess of the Day seemed to stand apart and float above the night as if it were oil on water. Arcus was awestruck.

“Scootaloo, I would like a minute with your son, if you don’t mind.” Celestia spoke to the mother mare who was overcome with tears of joy in her wooden chariot.

“Of course, mo-your highness.” Scootaloo choken back a sob of happiness as she hugged her little colt once more and nuzzled him. Before giving him a gentle shove with a forehoof and wiping her eyes again with the other.

Celestia rose from her chariot on her large graceful wings. Powerful with each thrust but gentle enough as she rose from the chariot and moved away from the group, gesturing for the colt to follow. Arcus rose from the wooden chariot behind her and followed her. He left his saddlebags with his mother in the wooden chariot and he felt her hoof keeping contact with him as he slowly pulled out of her reach. Her tears slowed as he moved away from her.

“Arcus, why did you return home.” The Regal elder alicorn asked the young pegasus.

“I-I wanted to return to my mother, your highness.” Arcus was at a loss for words. Her large form hovering in the air with him, dwarfing him with her size. Her regalia, the heavy golden royal peytral and tiara with their star amethyst gems seemed to amplify the power of her magenta irises. Her serious and strong gaze penetrated him behind over her thin muzzle and black lined eyes.

A mirthful smirk appeared on Celestia’s visage as she continued to look at the colt. “Is that all, Arcy? Is there no other reason that you would come home for?”

Arcus paled at the use of his familiar nickname coming from a being of such power and fame. “U-umm. I guess there was a filly and I was supposed to be rescuing her and she umm. I don’t know what happened she. Just disappeared.” Arcus couldn’t believe it. He must have been hallucinating, it was all a dream, something was wrong, it didn’t add up.

“Arcy. That little filly will be with you for as long as you will be with her. You made that promise to her did you not?” Celestia smiled once more as she looked at the colt who seemed to be on the brink of epiphany.

“A-Always and f-forever, my Princess.”

“Always and forever, my knight.”

Arcus gasped and cried in joy as he lunged forward and wrapped his hooves around the princess of the dawns long slender neck. Her once skinny and tiny frame was now much larger but still just as slender and fragile as it was only moments before when he carried her on his back. Her coat was just as soft now as it was when he nuzzled and comforted her and protected her. Her smile just as genuine now as when he sat and laughed with her and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. His princess had never really gone.

“S-Sundrop?”

“Yes, Arcy, it’s me. I knew you would come home if you had a purpose. That purpose is to use your kind heart and strength to protect those who are in need. Those who are lost and need to be found. You can go so far and achieve so much, as long as you have a goal, a purpose.” Celestia smiled down at the little colt who she had just recently looked up to as a big colt. A colt she showed vulnerability to who didn’t take advantage of her, lie to her or abandon her. He had saved her, protected her and loved her as a best friend.

Arcus couldn’t believe that Sundrop was this same princess. The mare who ruled his country, who lived in the royal palace, who was worshipped above all else. She was his best friend then, could she be his best friend now? “Princess, what do I do now? How can I be your knight now? How can we go on adventures now?”

Celestia smiled and looked to her favorite pegasus filly in all of Equestria. Scootaloo looked back to her favorite mare in all of Equestria and simply nodded back in understanding.

“I think I have the perfect home for you, Arcy. But first, there’s something you should see.”

Celestia gestured to Arcus’ flank and as the colt turned to see for himself he couldn’t believe his eyes. He had a cutie mark.

The image of a pristine white cloud was shielded by a protective embrace of a pair of large grey half-extended wings.

As Arcus shouted for joy and began to fly in circles he hugged Celestia and his mother who was all but blinded by tears. Then he proceeded to hug Princess Luna, much to her surprise, and every royal guard present, much to their surprise. But they let a small smile of pride sneak through for their newest member.