The Hag, the heroes, and a few other things

by Amaranthine Thought


Finding Happiness 6

            We walked through the forest we had arrived in for nearly two weeks.  Rose’s bags had been lost during our trip in my spell and we didn’t have her supplies for camping.  Or warmth, which began to matter when it snowed on the fourth day.  The air got colder with each passing day and we huddled for warmth during the night so none of us would die of exposure.

            Honest had food in his bags but very little of it, having not anticipated our sudden excursion.  We rationed it carefully, all of us suffering from hunger and thirst as we continued aimlessly.

            I alone walked without the need for support, and suffering the least.  I had grown up in those conditions, and the temperatures were milder than back home.  I was frustrated by my inability to ease it however; the forests hold no power over the cold and no spirit was there to ask. What little I could gather was a tiny bit of strength, to help keep everypony moving in the cold, a tiny bit of life freely shared from the forest we were within.

            But both Rose and Honest had grown where the weather was warm and the winter was not deadly, and suffered badly in those conditions.  Rose was terrified for me, my age giving her nightmares about finding me dead and frozen one night, or that I would just fall over from hunger.  She pushed herself hard, and tried to give me everything that she could to keep me warm and fed.  I told her not to worry, but that only caused her to fear that I was sacrificing myself for them.

            Honest was… less than happy about our situation.  He did not fully recall the spell, and only knew that I was responsible.  Neither he nor Rose remembered the circumstances we had left in (I breathed a sigh of relief at that) but he was mad that he was out in the woods, lost, because of me.  Rose and Pinkie had told him that I must have had my reasons which got him to at least begin tolerating our situation instead of whining about it. Neither actually asked me to give any reason, which... I'm not totally sure why they didn't.

            He was right though; I had dragged him and Rose and Pinkie without asking them.  If Pinkie hadn’t been Pinkie, all four of us would have been smears against some tree, food for the animals.  The pain of hunger and cold was my fault, but I kept that inside, not wanting to drag the group down with my own guilt.

            Pinkie alone kept herself upbeat and kept Rose and Honest from just giving up as the days trailed on and our supplies dwindled.  Her bouncing, energetic nature made them smile even during our plight.  I suffered more because of it.

            Would the mare never quiet?  She was an endless fount of words and sounds and action and it grated on my nerves.  I never showed this though.  Rose was entertained and bolstered by the pink menace and I would not deny her that.  At least not while we were lost and freezing and starving in the woods.

 


            That day, it was snowing hard.  A blizzard blocked our sight and froze even my bones, Pinkie unable to keep bouncing (she normally bounced instead of walking like the mad mare which I suspected she was) in the chill.  That day was worse for the fact that we had finally exhausted our food, and one meal of my herbs and regents had caused everypony to decide that we would eat the frozen plants rather than brave those plants again.

            It was still snowing as the sun began setting and I feared that we would be buried during the night.  As the temperature began falling even further we walked pressed together, me and Rose in the middle despite my objections.  Our group came to a sudden stop when we all heard a howl very close.  The ponies with me were terrified; I couldn’t have been happier.

            “Wh, wh, wh, why are you smiling Hag?” Rose asked me, teeth chattering.

            “Where there are wolves there is shelter, and we could do with some shelter.  Follow me.”

            I hurried forward, Pinkie following me without a care, Rose trying to catch up so she could stop me and Honest following Rose in a terrified manner.  I soon caught sight of the pack, timberwolves clustered together as they hunted prey.  I stepped into their clearing.

            “Hag!” Rose shouted, following after me in an attempt to save me, trying to get her frozen limbs to cooperate with her.

            “Come!” I yelled, Rose stopping next to me as the timberwolves approached.  “Sit!”

            They did so.  My companions were stunned and I looked back at them and smiled.

            “Home!  Slowly!” I said.

            Several began leaving and I looked back.  “Come on already!  We’ll lose them otherwise!”

            I hurried on, only taking the time to make sure that the others followed me before continuing.

            The timberwolves led us to their den, a cavern in a rock wall.  I entered into the cave, the inside slightly warmer than the air outside.  The others followed me, fear evident on their faces, though Pinkie was growing curious.

            The cavern was quite large, and held more than enough space for us to stay, even with the pack.  A fairly flat floor and a high ceiling would help us be comfortable here.  I planned on staying for some time.

            “Hag, what are we doing here?” Rose hissed, watching the wolves who were resting nearby fearfully.

            “The girls told you Rose.  I can control these beasts with ease.  We can benefit from them in several ways and we get somewhere where we aren’t being snowed on.”

            “Benefits?” Pinkie asked me, totally at ease after my explanation.

            “For a start, their warmth.  Second, food.”

            “We can’t eat timberwolves!” Honest said, lost, hungry, afraid, and confused.

            “We aren’t eating them, and we aren’t even eating with them.  We eat off of them.”

            They gave me puzzled looks so I decided to demonstrate.  I called a wolf over.

            “See here?” I asked, tapping at its belly and back.  “See the plants growing on it in spots and the moss on its belly?”

            They nodded and then I bent and nibbled a plant from its back.

            I chewed and swallowed as Rose looked slightly ill.  “All of it is edible, not that bad, and the wolves are capable of acting like gardens for some of my plants.  We can make a good home here, at least until this weather dies down.”

            So we did, Rose trying to make the far corner of the den cozy with moss for beds, Honest helping her.  Pinkie assisted me with seeding the wolves with herbs and flowers, the seeds taking root fast.  Faster than normal when Pinkie planted them. I wondered about that.

            During my time in the Everfree, I had discovered that the timberwolves could grow any plant on themselves, even if the plant didn’t receive water or sunlight.  The plant lived off of the wolf, somehow, and so long as the wolf was alive the plant grew.  Plant covered timberwolves seemed stronger and faster than their brethren too, larger and tougher than a normal timberwolf.

            It took a few days before Rose would stop screaming whenever a timberwolf approached her, but she soon grew tolerant of their presence.  They were not nice to lie against due to their woody skin, but when the air grew even colder we suffered to gain the little warmth they gave off.  I wasn’t going to start a fire in there; we would all have died of the smoke.

            A few days of Rose and Honest starving because they would not graze from the wolves’ natural bounty before my plants could be harvested.  It wasn’t good food, but it was food and we ate it.

            After a week it was almost like home.  Rose was humming once more to my delight and Pinkie was a wizard at getting barren rock to seem warm and friendly.  I spent the time carefully sewing my dragon scales together, telling my companions that it was for a surprise.  Honest offered his aid whenever and wherever he could, the romance between him and Rose slowly rising to the forefront once more as we grew comfortable.

            I had needed to ‘Pinkie promise’ with Pinkie to prevent her from interfering in that.  I didn’t know why she insisted on her silly rhyme, but she kept her word.  It wouldn’t do to have her randomness added to Rose’s life more so than it already was.


            The five bearers stood back on the hill overlooking Manehatten, both Celestia and Luna in attendance as they erected a small gravestone.  Pinkie’s funeral had been held just a few days ago, and they were placing her stone where she had left their lives two weeks past.

            Twilight was sobbing again as Rarity retold the eulogy, adding some personal bits that didn’t make it into the public version.  As the sun set they finished, leaving a modest headstone covered in flowers and party supplies.

            Some had said their goodbyes to it, tearfully bidding Pinkie farewell.  Rainbow, and Applejack only watched the headstone with far away eyes before leaving it.  Twilight was unable to get a coherent word out at first, and they stayed for a time after, all unwilling to leave until Twilight managed to find her own words.

            The hurt still pained several of the ponies there.  Twilight had been unable to stop crying nearly every time she was reminded of Pinkie, which was often.  Rarity and Fluttershy had recovered, but Rainbow and Applejack were unwilling to share their pain with other ponies.  They kept it inside, where the loss continued to hurt them.

            “She was the best of ponies.” Rarity said, looking skyward.  “Always smiling and wanting to see other ponies smile too.”  Then she sighed.

            She went to Twilight who was sniffling.  “You simply must pull yourself together darling, it does not do for the princess of friendship to be so distraught.”

            Twilight nodded, but did not respond, even as Rarity hugged her.

            A small way off Celestia looked to her sister who seemed… guilty.

            “Is something bothering you sister?” she whispered.

            “I might have saved her.” Luna said.  “If I had been stronger, if I had tried harder, the element of laughter might still be with her friends.”

            “You did your best my sister.  Do not blame yourself.  The cost was… high, but now Hag is gone.  The threat is over and we can mourn her passing in peace.”

            “But what if Hag yet lives?  Remember Tia, Twilight said that she seemed capable of great feats and both Rarity and Applejack threw doubts on her being a pony… Perhaps she could survive what may kill anypony else.”

            Celestia frowned, her sister’s words ringing true.  A grain of doubt settled in her mind, but Twilight would not recover if she thought Pinkie had died and I yet lived.  At least for Twilight she must believe that I had died and Pinkie had sacrificed herself to stop me.  Even if Pinkie hadn’t needed to.

            “Twilight will be unable to bear this if you mention such to her Luna.” she told her sister.  “We shall speak of this later, when we might not be overheard.”

            With Rarity and Fluttershy supporting her Twilight went to the gravestone to say her goodbyes at last.  She looked at the writing: ‘Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter, and the greatest of friends’ with teary eyes.

            “I’m going to miss you Pinkie.” she said, talking to the gravesite, “You were a true friend.”

            “You were the first pony I met in Ponyville.  The first pony outside of my family to throw me a surprise party.  Even if you didn’t know me you gave me the greatest welcome a mare could hope for.”  She sighed and sniffled a little, remembering.

            “I’m going to miss your ‘Pinkie sense’.  And your parties.  I found your plans for a few of them and I’m going to make them just like you would want them.”

            “But… why did you do it Pinkie?  Why did you run after her?  If you just hadn’t wanted to get to her then you might still be here, smiling and joking and living…”

            “And… and I hope you can… forgive me.”  Twilight began crying, but her voice was still strong, her head hanging down, “I could have saved you if I had been a little faster.  If I had just studied harder so I could understand Hag’s spell. I watched you in there.  Sensed your travel and saw you… leave the spell.  And I could have stopped it!  I could have!  If I only did something!  But I was too STUPID!  I couldn’t understand in time!  I still don’t, even with two weeks to study!  Just too STUPID!”  Tears fell freely as Twilight screamed her doubts and pains.

            She calmed after a few moments, the others watching with concerned expressions, even Celestia.  Twilight had not told them about that, about her feeling of failure until just then.  Her tears fell as she looked back up to the gravestone.

            “You were a true friend Pinkie Pie.”  With great care Twilight levitated a lock of curly pink hair from her pouch, the hair enchanted to last the rest of eternity, and carefully pinned it just next to Pinkie’s name.

            She stared at it for a time until Rarity and Fluttershy led her away, her friends around her.  At least until Twilight broke free of them and had tackled the stone, holding onto it and screaming that she wasn’t going to abandon Pinkie twice.

            Her throat was raw and her voice was gone long before they could pry her off of it, Twilight weakly struggling against them, begging them to put her back with soundless screams.

  


     

I was awoken by screaming.  I jolted awake, whipping my head around to see Pinkie and Rose clutching each other with expressions of horror directed toward the pack.

            I looked.  They were eating a dead griffon and Pinkie and Rose were upset for some reason.  I had been confused.  It was rather gory, but they were animals, so why were Pinkie and Rose so terrified of…

            And then I recalled; ponies didn’t see a lot of death or blood in their lives.  I had forgotten.

            I sighed and stepped in front of them, blocking their view.

            “It’s perfectly natural, they are predators and need to eat too.” I said in a calm voice.

            “But… they… blood.” stuttered Rose as Pinkie babbled something nigh incomprehensible.

            I led them both behind the rock wall Pinkie had erected so they couldn’t see it anymore, Rose traumatized and Pinkie upset, still babbling.

            I pushed Rose over onto her moss bed with no difficulty and looked to Pinkie with an annoyed look.

            “I can’t understand you if you babble.” I said, “Take a breath and try speaking slowly so I can understand.”

            She inhaled far deeper than I anticipated, inflating slightly before exhaling and giving me a serious look.

            “Griffons. Are. Ponies.” she said with all seriousness.

            I blinked.  “No they’re not.  Griffons have feathers and claws and beaks.”

            “Not like that, they are ponies!”

            “Make sense Pinkie!”

            “Griffons think and feel and talk!  Just.  Like.  Ponies!”

            That’s what she was upset about.  Griffons were real animals where I had come from, but in Equestria they were intelligent.  Of course Pinkie and Rose were so upset; the wolves had slain and were eating a person, even if that person looked nothing like them.

            “Go and save him!” Pinkie insisted.

            I looked at her face and decided that I was not going to convince her that the griffon was very dead.  I sighed and went to the pack, leaving the pair behind.

            “Move.” I told them, the wolves scattering to allow me access to the corpse.

            I heard a gasp and a thud.  I looked back to see Pinkie collapsed on the ground, fainted from the sight of the creature.  I shook my head and resumed my observation.

            The griffon was exactly the same as from my land.  An eagle’s head on a lion’s body with two massive wings on its back.  Its front legs were the claws of a bird, its back the paws of a lion with a tail that led behind it.  That reminded me of Discord a little and I frowned remembering how I had left him.

            Not that that griffon was very whole.  The tail was being played with by the pups and one wing hung by a thread.  The other, as well as two legs, were already gone, massive wounds all along the form, staining brown fur red.

            I noticed that it had a pouch tied around its middle and I pulled the blood-stained bag free from the creature.  I looked inside, finding several letters, somehow not touched by the blood.  Had this griffon been some kind of carrier pigeon?  Carrying letters from… I assumed that they were griffons.

            I nearly went back to Rose so that she could read them with us when I stopped.  Pinkie had said that the griffons were like ponies, and I did not like leaving one to the timberwolves.  Even if it was dead I could give it a good sendoff.

            The wolves had fortunately had their fill and only mildly complained when I dragged the corpse outside and set fire to it.  I watched it burn, uncertain what I should say or do.  Should I give it a sendoff?  I decided to try; everypony deserved to be spoken to before, or after, their death and I supposed griffons were no different.

            “Well, Pinkie says that you might’ve understood me if you still lived.” I said, thinking.  “She’s the pink mare that screamed at the sight of you earlier, you remember.”

            “I haven’t met a griffon that could talk.  Maybe we could’ve gotten along?  You carried mail, I got your sack, says... Droprock on it I think” I held it up and then felt uncomfortable, “I’m… not about to try to deliver them, I don’t know who these… griffons probably, are.”

            The head seemed to nod as the body burned.  “Nice to see you agreeing with me.  Don’t know what god you go to, but I do hope that it’s a nice one.”

            “So have a good rest whoever you were.  I’ll try to find out who you were someday, if you’d like, unless you’re Droprock.  Not that you can tell me if you do want me to now of course, so I’ll try anyway.”

            I looked about, trying to think of more.  I’d never needed to speak with random corpses before.  “If you don’t mind I’d like your skull, maybe?” I asked it, feeling self-conscious.  It was a very strange question to ask, even to a corpse. 

            “I never got a griffon skull before, and I promise that I would take good care of it.  Maybe you could even come back now and then and look out of it, I don’t mind.”

            As though my request had been heard and granted the head tipped free, rolling to a stop near me.  I would swear that the empty sockets were looking at me, the bone bunt free of flesh and feathers.

            I looked down at it.  “Suppose you don’t mind then.” I muttered.  It was sooty, but I picked it up anyway, getting my mouth filled with the taste of ashes.

            I watched him burn down to nearly nothing and then walked back into the cave.  Pinkie was still lying unconscious and I walked past her only to hear another scream and thud.

            I had forgotten that Rose was there.  Now she was unconscious too, having seen the skull.  I deposited the skull within my own pouch and dragged Pinkie to her bed.  They would recover sooner or later.

            It was then that I noticed that Honest was missing.  Where was he?

            I looked about, noting that his bag was missing and his bed was slept in.  I tried to think about where he might have gone.  I couldn’t ask Rose or Pinkie; even when they woke they were not going to be sensible.

            I went to the wolves instead and soon received my answer.  He had followed them for some reason and when they had killed the griffon he had not followed them back.  He was probably lying somewhere in the woods, just like Rose and Pinkie.

            I got one of the wolves to lead me back and soon found him, half-frozen and barely breathing.  I got him on top of me and began heading back, the entire time wondering why he had to be an idiot.  Going out there alone and following the pack like a real stallion and he had fainted when they killed like some small child.  I didn’t think he could have a good reason to be out there.

            I came back, Pinkie recovered and Rose lying down with a green look to her.  Pinkie looked up and moved to assist me with Honest, helping me to get him onto his own bed.

            Pinkie laid next to him, trying to warm him and I went to Rose.

            “Rose?” I asked.

            “Is… is this normal for you Hag?”

            I wondered at that, so I laid down next to her, wondering.  “Is what normal for me?”

            “The… the blood. And death.  You were carrying that poor thing’s…” she trailed off, looking ill again and I sighed.

            “Rose.” I began, moving closer to her, “When I was five my father decided I needed to know how to… deal with death and everything that comes with it.  So he taught me how to clean a rabbit, a live rabbit that he made me kill with my own ha… hooves.”

            She looked to me with pity and I shook my head.  “No Rose, his lessons were very important.  Back in my land death was always next to me.  Hags need to deal with the death of many, and I saw a great many deaths over my life, natural or otherwise.”

            “But how can you Hag?  How do you stand such… things?”

            I shrugged.  “That’s just me I guess.  Some ponies can, some can’t. I never found out why.”

            “And the… skull of that poor creature?”

            “… That will take some explaining Rose.  Can you move?”

            “Why do I have to?” she asked, looking more normal now.

            “Because Honest got himself frozen because he was a fool and followed the pack and fainted when they…”

            She got up before I could finish and zipped to Honest, lying next to him and leaning against him.  She really cared for him.

            I followed after her and settled nearby, the four of us in a tight cluster.

            “You can tell me now Hag.” Rose said, watching me from the corner of her vision.

            Pinkie hopped her front half over Honest and smiled.  “Me too!  I want to know!”

            “You don’t even know what you want to know!” I told her, frowning at her.

            “Can I know anyway?” she asked me, tilting her head slightly.

            “Fine.  As Rose knows, I do not come from Equestria originally.”

            “Where did you come from?” Pinkie asked, leaning closer.  She was reminding me of the children that could never have their fill of stories and I smiled at her.

            “My land is called Iscantol in my first language.  ‘The land of ice’.”

            Pinkie oohed and Rose smiled as I began retelling the tale.

            “Peo… ponies are very different there, and they live in a land that hates them.  The creatures of the woods attack them and the winds can freeze them in moments.”

            “It is a hard life and a harsh land.  After a time they came up with a tradition, one that would comfort the living and give peace to the dead.”

            “We burn the bodies of dead ponies…”

            “Like Pegasi!” interrupted Pinkie.

            “And sometimes," I continued, ignoring her outburst, "if that person had expressed a desire to live longer, or if the family grieves too much at their loss, the skull is collected, shined and put in a place of honor in the house.”

            “But why Hag?  It seems rather morbid.”

            “It’s not morbid Rose.  The dead can come back to their skulls, and we keep them close to us so that our ancestors can keep an eye on us.  I got the griffon’s skull because he had nopony, or at least nopony I know of, to be at his passing.”

            “He might have even returned as some malevolent ghost, angered that he died alone and forgotten.  So I gave him a sendoff and got his skull, so that he might live on, and if I ever find them, so that he can see his family one last time before he stops coming back.”

            Rose sighed.  “That is a very… strange tradition Hag.  But it does sound nice, even if it is creepy.”

            “So you can meet him?” I asked with a wicked smile, reaching into my bag.

            “No!  I mean, just!” Rose closed her eyes and looked ill again as I pointed the blackened skull at her.  Pinkie seemed curious.

            “Is he in there?” she asked.

            “Might be.  I would need to enchant it so that we could tell, but he could be looking at you and Rose right now.”

            Rose was distressed by the thought, but Pinkie hooked onto the idea with eagerness.

            “Hi!” she said, waving to the skull, “I’m Pinkie Pie!  And this is Rose, he’s Honest and the pony holding you is Hag!”  She got a worried look.

            “I hope it didn’t hurt too badly, it would be awful if it hurt.  I’d give you a cupcake,” she produced one from her mane, “but you can’t eat it like that.”

            “Pinkie!” I yelled, drawing Rose’s attention, “Where did you?!”

            “Get the cupcake?  I just do.” She said, popping the entire thing into her mouth.

            My mouth was open in shock.  We had starved for a week and Pinkie could summon food out of the air.  Why had she not done so before?!

            I asked her as much and got the response that cupcakes came on their own time.  I was still trying to get her to make sense, maybe shaking her a little, the both of us having moved a short ways away, when Honest woke up groaning.

            “Honest!” Rose said, speaking over my yelling at Pinkie and Pinkie’s nonsensical responses.  “Are you O.K?”

            “Why are they arguing?” he groaned.

            “Hag is upset because Pinkie can apparently pull anything out of her mane.”

            Honest looked over to Rose with a blank expression.

            “But first, could you tell me what you were doing out in the cold?  Hag had to go and find you before you froze out there and you were really cold when she brought you back.”

            He blushed.  “I was looking for something.”  His horn lit up and he levitated a blue rose from his pouch, giving it to Rose who stared at it in growing wonder.

            “I followed the pack because I would have gotten lost otherwise when I was looking for this.  I must have fainted when they… it doesn’t matter.  I want you to have it Rose.”

            She gingerly took the Rose in her hoof, holding it like it might shatter.  “You found a frost Rose… for me?” she asked, not looking at him.

            “I thought you would like it…” he murmured.

            Rose looked up to him, her eyes sparkling and his gaze was caught by them.  She placed the bloom in her mane and smiled at him, striking him dumb with her appearance.

            “Does it look nice?” she asked him, leaning closer.

            “It… it's perfect.” He said, whispering the words as the two leaned toward each other, eyes closing.

            I watched the pair kiss, the sight warming my heart.  I had stopped yelling at Pinkie and we watched the pair have their moment.

            “We’ve got to get them married” hissed Pinkie, whispering to me.

            I looked to her, slightly puzzled.  “They get married when they decide.  Why do we have to do anything?” I whispered back.

            “So it can be special!  They should get married with a big party with lots of ponies, not in a cave!”

            “Special.”  I looked back to the couple, “Special.”

            I watched the couple giggle with each other for a moment before looking back to Pinkie.

            “More than special.” I said, “Rose is going to have the happiest day of her life, and I want you to help me.  Think you can manage Pinkie?”

            She nodded vigorously, eager already.  Now the only problem was finding civilization so that we could get them a perfect setting.  I hesitated for a moment though.  They had not proposed to one another yet, and I wasn’t sure that they would before we found the perfect spot.

            Then Rose squealed before clapping her hooves over her mouth, causing us to jump, looking over.  Pinkie got the largest smile I ever saw on her face, and my own mouth was stretched to the point of pain.  Rose looked to us and then blushed like a tomato, Honest smiling proudly and not hiding his face like Rose was.

            They had just proposed.  My heart soared at the thought and the sight and I swore that they would have the greatest wedding there ever was.