“It is an awe-inspiring sight,” said Rockhoof. He and Applejack stood below the bridge that served as the only land-bound entrance to Canterlot, away from the ponies bustling in and out. Applejack was farther back than Rockhoof from the edge of the waterfall. She reached up to touch her hat, where she kept her trusty lasso.
“Eyup. You can see it just fine from back here, ya know,” she hinted. Rockhoof's head was practically suspended over the cliff side. If he lost his balance and fell, he'd certainly be the heaviest pony she'd saved from falling from a dangerous height, although not the first.
Rockhoof glanced over his shoulder at her. “Looking out for me, are you, lass?” He stepped back a pace to a more stable position. “I see your point. Flash and Somnambula are not here to catch me if I were to lose my footing.”
Applejack nodded with relief. “It's an awful long drop. Why, we're so high up you can see the curve o' the earth.”
“Ja. Star Swirl says that when the sun is raised and the moon is lowered on our side of the world, it is the opposite on the other side.” He swept out his muscular foreleg to encompass the land. “Have you ever wondered what it must be like halfway around the world?”
She blinked. “No, I never really thought about it before. You mean there could be folks on the other side o' the world that got no idea why the sun and moon rise and set?” For a split second, AJ glimpsed the sun, which Celestia had begun to lower toward the rounded horizon.
“Maybe. Of course, there could be just an ocean on the other side, for all I know. In my time, ponies had not explored east of the Dragonlands, nor west of the Smoky Mountains.”
“That's still true today. And the way I hear it, nopony goes south of Abyssinia and comes back to tell about it.” She peered at the dark Macintosh hills which marked the border to the Mysterious South. “We did get as far north as Yakyakistan, though. Maybe someday we'll make it all the way to the North Pole.”
“You know, Applejack, in some ways, not much has changed. I would have thought that after more than a thousand years the ponies would have circumnavigated the world. I would love to be the first to do it.” The Pillar of Strength held his head high. “To sail the high seas again, discovering new lands with my friends by my side. It would be quite an adventure!”
“Sure would.” Applejack felt significantly less enthusiastic than Rockhoof sounded.
“Would you like to join me, lass?” He angled his head down toward her.
Her ears twitched. “Circumnavigate the world?” She would have stumbled over the word if she had not spent an hour in the library with Twilight and Star Swirl earlier in the day. “Wouldn't that take a mighty long time?”
He nodded. “I would expect the journey to take at least a few moons. It will take far longer if we encounter a land mass.”
Applejack brought her front hoof to her cheek. “Leave my family for moons?”
“Well . . .” Rockhoof looked out toward the silver thread of the river far below. “Your brother and sister could come too. They might enjoy exploring. I suppose such a long venture would be a bit much for your grandmare, but it sounds like you have other kin who could stay with her while you are away, neigh?”
Her ears lay flat. “Do you know how I got my cutie mark?”
He snorted. “We used to call them destiny marks. But go on.”
And so Applejack told Rockhoof how she'd stayed with her aunt and uncle in Manehattan, how the whole time she felt like she didn't belong, but she didn't know what to do until she caught sight of the rainbow pointing straight to Ponyville.
“In a nutshell, I decided to head back home the next day. It felt like my land was callin' to me.” She looked down at the rolling hills. “And Big Mac and Granny Smith were practically callin' to me too. They'd been watchin' for me all mornin' and ran out to meet me at edge of our property. And that's when I got my mark.”
“So you take that to mean that you are destined to stay at your farm for the rest of your life?” he asked. “Perhaps it only means that you should not be confined to high society in the big city.”
She pointed at her flank. “They're apples, ain't they? And I love workin' on Sweet Apple Acres! I like bein' outside in the sun and fresh air, plantin' seeds, makin' 'em grow and mature, makin' the trees vibrate so they drop their apples to land just where I want 'em to . . .” She filled her lungs and continued, “I wouldn't wanna trade it for anything.”
“I spent my youth farming cold weather crops, rotating turnips, carrots, and cabbages. It is productive, honest work that binds us to the earth.” He firmly planted his hooves in the grass. “The give and take make us grow strong and resilient. Yet I did not wish to stay on my family's farm forever. There is plenty of fresh air and sunshine to be found at sea, sailing to faraway lands!” He eyed her. “Have you ever felt that way, lass?”
“Not that much since I got my mark,” she answered. “I'll go on trips that take a few days if my friends want me to, but stayin' away from Sweet Apple Acres for moons would be a tall order. And as for sailin', the last time I tried it was in Vanhoover this past spring. It was embarrassin', to tell you the truth. I don't even like talkin' about it.”
Rockhoof grinned and lowered his head to her level. “Well, now you have to tell me.”
She gave him a deadpan stare.
“Come now,” he needled. “If you cannot tell old Rockhoof, whom can you tell?”
She sighed. “Fine, but only so you'll get why I probably shouldn't go on a long sailin' voyage. It started when Rarity and Pinkie Pie and I each decided to plan a fun activity that would get each other out of our element, only none of us made sure that the other gals understood what we were plannin'. Rarity brought cucumber sandwiches on board to make it like a fancy cruise, and Pinkie brought a pinata – paper animal filled with candy that you hit with a stick to break open,” she explained when she noticed Rockhoof's quizzical expression. “You're s'posed to play the game blindfolded, so before I knew what was happenin', Pinkie put a blindfold over my eyes and spun me round.”
“So she had a blindfold long before she went to Somnambula's town,” Rockhoof interjected, holding out his foreleg toward her. “It is quite fitting.”
“Yeah, I reckon so, Rockhoof.” AJ's lips tugged into a smile. “Now that you mention it, I could see Pinkie usin' Somnambula's blindfold for a pinata game. Anyhow, at the time, I had no idea that a blindfold would be so important to Pinkie. I was just twirlin' round, and I accidentally knocked the tray o' cucumber sandwiches into the water.”
“Did you see a bunyip, then?”
“Yeah – well no, not at first, but we did see bubbles, and then a gigantic wave rose up and capsized the boat. Didn't even make it outta the shallows.” Frowning, she spotted a hoof-sized rock and felt the urge to flick it over the cliff, as if she were six years old. But a stone that size could be fatal if it landed on somepony far below, so she opted to flick it sideways into the waterfall.
“Bunyips can be quite mischievous, but they are easy to avoid if you know the signs to look for. You just need a little experience and a good crew to work with.” His eyes twinkled.
“Rockhoof . . .” She wanted to glance away again, but she forced herself to hold eye contact. He deserved to have her look him in the eye for what she was about to say. “I think I know what you're tryin' to do. Flash Magnus was tellin' anypony who would listen about rebuildin' the military, and it seems like you wanna do somethin' like that with the Mighty Helm.”
As he gazed at her, tears began to form in his eyes. “It is true. Hearing Flash's ideas about reforming the military made me wish to recreate the Mighty Helm.” He picked up his shovel in his forelegs and stared down at it. “I have lost everything except my shovel and the other Pillars. A new Mighty Helm will not bring back the old one, but it will fill the void that they left, in some small way.”
“I know, Rockhoof. Not exactly, but I sorta felt that way when I met Grand Pear, my mother's father. He didn't replace my ma, but . . .” She held her hoof over her heart. “. . . It felt like I was gettin' back a little part of her that I never knew was there before.”
She fell silent, listening to the white noise of the cascading water and the wind blowing.
After a moment, Rockhoof spoke up, his voice deep and steady despite his watery eyes. “Do you know how I got my mark?”
“No. Our ma read plenty of old legends to my brother and me, but that wasn't in any of 'em.” She sat down, settling in to hear a new story.
“For me it was simple. When I turned ten, my father's brother gave me his old battle helmet to play with. Of course, he treated it as a joke – he did not think that I would ever need it. But I took that old helmet and hammered out the dents in the wings, and buffed out the scratches and polished it until it was like new. And that's when my mark appeared.” He stared over his shoulder at the three interlocking triangles. “The Valknut has many meanings, and one of them is rebirth. It seems to be the story my life: finding a new purpose as a Pillar, helping to plant the Tree of Harmony from a seed, disappearing from the world as if I never existed, and coming back more than a thousand years later. Now the next cycle of renewal is beginning, and I need a new purpose. I can think of no better one than to revive the Mighty Helm. And there is nopony that I would rather have help me with that goal than you, Applejack.”
She tugged down the brim of her hat, feeling her face heat up. “How 'bout a compromise, Rockhoof. We make plans to go sailin' together for a few days. If all goes well, I'll think about takin' longer voyages and findin' a crew for ya. Deal?” She held up her hoof toward him.
He smiled at her, his hoof dwarfing hers as he bumped it. “You have a deal.”