The elk brothers traveled together for as long as they could.
Together they stepped onto the train, ready to go to Ponyville. They had the whole train carriage to themselves, which was good. After everything that happened, they never ran out of things to talk about. Many questions became answered, and many mysteries clarified, as the train zipped through the landscape.
Once they reached Ponyville, Elkia became instantly charmed by the funny little town. He liked everything about it: the cozy little wooden houses, the brightly colored ponies, and the general happiness that flowed through the town like an invisible wind. Yes, Elkia promised himself that whenever he would get the chance, this is where he wanted to live.
Alces, on the other hoof, didn’t like the town at all. To him it seemed crowded, and he couldn’t convince himself that everything was cheerful and happy in Ponyville. Because in Scribblers’ City everything had looked so beautiful and happy too, while in reality the town was built onto the broken and bent backs of slave workers. No, every time Alces watched the colorful ponies, he tried to see through them, and think about what dark secrets lay behind those cheery eyes. Elkia tried to talk him out of it, to try and make him see that not all ponies were bad, and that there were places where you could relax and live your life happily. Unfortunately, Alces couldn’t be convinced, and they left the town as soon as they could.
So they headed to the Everfree Forest together. The forest certainly was a wild place, and they encountered many a strange and foreign animal on their trek. Sweeping through the forest from north till south, the elk brothers, no matter how hard they tried, were unable to spot a single deer in the forest. All sorts of reasons could lie behind that fact. Maybe the deer never got this far south, and only stayed in the north where they could guard the Shimmering Eye with the elks and reindeer. Maybe some force had driven the deer back, an ancient enemy now long gone from the deep dark forest. Maybe the deer didn’t like to live in the Everfree Forest, finding it perhaps too dark or too wild. But speculation didn’t matter much. What mattered was that Alces knew where to go next: on the train to Griffonstone.
It may seem that the elk brothers didn’t find anything in the Everfree Forest, but that was untrue. Elkia found the temperature to be nice, and thought he could easily liven the place up a bit with some flowers in the right spots. Yes, that’s right. Elkia didn’t need to look any further. For him, the location was perfect. He could live quietly by himself in the forest, yet he was also close to Ponyville, and could visit the town whenever he wanted. Elkia decided that here, in the Everfree Forest, was where he wanted to live.
And Alces didn’t stop him. They had talked about this in Dustbowl and on the train to Ponyville, so he was ready to accept it. In the end, there were only two things important for him. Number one was finding the herd and the Shimmering Eye in the Bugbear Territory. Number two—something he reckoned to be even more important than his own quest—was to see Elkia happy. He definitely couldn’t see himself living in solitude in the forest, sitting still and writing books, while also being dangerously close to ponies. But he could see how this kind of life appealed to Elkia, so he let the matter lie.
The goodbye took long, and was hard for the both of them. Elkia cried and hugged, while Alces held back his own tears and instead wished his brother the best. Alces promised to come back to the Everfree Forest as often as his quest allowed him, and pay his brother a visit. Elkia made him promise to be careful and stay safe, and not let his rage get him into things he might later regret. And so, the elks parted.
Alces went back to Ponyville, and took the train to the north. He passed many places on the way to his destination, about which he cared little to nothing at all. His whole mind was focused on finding the herd, way up north in the Bugbear Territory. When he finally got there, he began his search.
He searched far and wide, traversing dangerous terrain as he traveled from one corner of the Bugbear Territory to the other. He spoke with many forest animals, but either they all had gotten a case of amnesia, or the curse was still following Alces. None of them was able to tell him about a great herd of elks, deer, and reindeer guarding the Shimmering Eye. But at least they knew about the Eye. That was the only lead he had, so Alces set about navigating to the heart of the Bugbear Territory and find the magical lake.
There it lay, shimmering and glimmering and shining like a mirror in the valley that Alces once called home. But that was everything. He found no trace of elks, deer, or reindeer. No trace of a recent gathering or snow huts that were left behind or fireplaces that had run cold.
He found nothing, nothing at all.
It enraged him. He screamed and yelled and assaulted some lone pine trees with his newly grown antlers. But nothing he did could make the herd magically appear in front of his muzzle, offering him a new place amongst its members. Alces stayed in the Bugbear Territory, combing it out from north till south till east till west, all through the summer and the autumn that followed. Only when the weather became cold and inhospitable, and the all too common snowstorms and blizzards raged through the Bugbear Territory did Alces admit his defeat. He traveled down south again, seeking warmer forests, at least until winter would pass.
He went back to Elkia, checked on him, talked with him, and helped him to erect a fine little cottage in a clearing in the Everfree Forest. But when summer came back around, Alces once more left Elkia be and braved the Bugbear Territory in search of the lost herd. And so this ritual repeated itself every single year. The quest to find the herd called Alces to the Territory, he searched, found nothing, and returned to Elkia. This went on for years and years and years, and Alces Roameling never found rest. He was always roaming. There was always the search, and the search went on.
Elkia, however, did find his rest. He stayed in his cottage, writing stories which he’d later on publish with the help of a purple alicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle. But he wasn’t a complete hermit. Sometimes he went to Ponyville to buy more writing equipment or some treat for himself. He discovered that many ponies in Ponyville were actually interested in writing stories. That was quite a positive surprise for Elkia. He presented himself as a helpful tutor, ready to aid others in search for their epic stories. This way, he made many friends and received many gifts in return for his writing advice. He found Twilight Sparkle in particular to be fine company, and together they wrote many tales.
Oftentimes, his thoughts did travel towards the events and characters in his past. He thought about Starlight Glimmer and her village, about Night Glider, Sugar Belle, and Party Favor. And sometimes, on very rare occasions, he thought about Strawberry Blonde too, and wondered what she was up to now. It pained him to know he would probably never see his friends again, but then he also thought about what Alces had said. Letting go and accepting what happened, however, was a lot more easily said than done.
However much he wrote stories for himself and others, Elkia never got around to writing about his own adventures. Truth was, he was actually scared to write about them. He was afraid terrible memories would resurface in his mind, or that nightmares would haunt him for many nights to come. But, one cold day in December, Alces Roameling appeared on his doorstep, and urged Elkia to write it nonetheless. As you can read for yourself, dear reader, together they were able to finally put their tale into words. And however difficult it was for both of them to summon up the story and write it down, they knew they were doing a good job. Not because they thought the story was good in particular, or that it would help them in some way or the other. They knew they were doing a good job, because they were doing it together.
As brothers.