//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The Meaning of Courage // Story: One Thousand Years Ago, Book 2 // by Scroll //------------------------------// Despite the shade caused by the giant balloon above, emerging from the shadows of the second deck causes Cozy Glow to wince in irritation. She shields her eyes behind her left pink pegasus wing to help compensate. She peeks under the wing as she scans across the deck for any sign of Rumble, but she does not find him here.     “Look'en fer somepony, wee lass?” and older pony asks Cozy from somewhere nearby. When she looks, she sees it is the legendary Pillar of Strength, Rockhoof.     “Ah . . . yes,” Cozy answers honestly. “Have you seen Rumble?”     Rockhoof scratches his head as he thinks about it. As he does so, Cozy finally notices that a sailor's hat is on his head which completes his sailor ensemble. Cozy feels certain he wasn't wearing that ridiculous outfit yesterday. In fact, she had never seen him wear it.     “Nah, ah ha-vent, sweet lass,” Rockoof reports after a moment of thought. “Naught recently, by my account.” Rockhoof focuses on Cozy fully. “The lad is probably working in the lower decks, ah wager.”     “Cute outfit,” Cozy comments. “Doesn't seem your style, though. I can't imagine this was standard for the Mighty Helms.”     Rockhoof roars out with mighty laughter which Cozy can feel from her short distance. When he recovers, he says, “Aye. 'tis naught that standard outfit of me mates back in thah day.” He looks across his outfit. “Mostly um wearing this tah fit in wit dee crew. I know First Officer Desora likes it, and Captain Tidus respects it.” He grins. “From evah'wee pony else, though, ah mostly get amused laughs, indifference, or e-van a wee bit o' disgust, ah must confess.”     “I think I fall into the amusement category,” Cozy says with a slight giggle. “There is something strange about an outfit that dorky worn by a pony who otherwise cuts an imposing figure.”     Rockhoof shrugs. “Well, it lets evah'wee pony know that I proudly work as part of thah crew.”     Cozy looks over her shoulder down the direction she came from as she says, “Well, I didn't see Rumble along my way up here, but I suppose I could go down to take a closer look.”     “If ya is hoping to bugger thah lad fo' flying lessons, let him stick to his duties for dah moment instead,” Rockhoof advises. “But, I promise ya lass that, the next time ah see 'em, ah'll tell 'em ya was look'en for 'im.”     “How did you know that I wanted flying lessons from him?” Cozy asks Rockhoof in surprise and minor alarm.     “He told me last night when we was trading stories,” Rockhoof explains.     “Really?” Cozy asks as she slowly lowers her left wing since her eyes are starting to adjust to the morning light. “How did a subject like me come up in the first place between you two?”     “You're an interesting pony,” Rockhoof says. “He knows it, and ah know it. One does not simply ignore the likes of Cozy Glow aboard this ship.” He gives Cozy a mischievous grin as he adds, “Seems only fair, aye? He tells me that you are interested in 'im as well.”     Cozy thinks about what Rockhoof says for a moment, then she asks him, “Tell me, I'm curious; do you hate me or are afraid of me for what I've done?”     “Hate ya?” Rockhoof looks taken aback. “Let me tell ya something, lass, ah don't dispense grudges lightly. Aye, there were a few who earned it in thah past, but what they've done is ten times more personal than ennah slight ya caused me.     “As for fear, well . . . ya may have noticed ah 'ave a wee bit o' a style when it comes to me fears. It usually ends wit o' smack by dah end o' me trusty shovel. Bury ya six feet deep, it would.”     “Why don't you hate me? I thought most ponies do.”     “Well,” Rockhoof tilts his head slightly, “ya may 'ave inconvenienced me o' couple o' times. Both times drained me magic, but to be fair, that was mostly Tirek thah second time. Scrawny as a wee lad, it made me.” He shakes his head. “But hate ya? Nah, me lass. I 'ave higher standards when it comes to scum and villainy. Used to be ah be trashing a monster o' week. 'appened too many times to take each one too personally in most cases.” His look grows much darker as he says, “But thah ones oo 'urt me commrades and mate, or me family . . . aye. Dey are thah ones ah remem'bah. Ah ain't nev'ah be forgetting those faces . . . or forgive.”     “Your strength and size is still a byproduct of magical augmentation?” Cozy asks curiously. “Personally, I thought this was your true form now. Legends say you used to be small and scrawny, but when that changed, I thought the magic changed your true form permanently.”     Rockhoof looks to be in a much brighter mood as he looks back at her and says, “Nay, me lass. Great magic burns wit'in me still. If it's drained, I'm scrawny enough to be blown like a leaf on thah wind. Aye.”     “How did this happen to you?” Cozy feels compelled to ask. “The only explanation I previously got was, 'something magical happened', but I'm not satisfied with that. I demand a better explanation.”     Rockhoof rubs the back of his neck as he confesses, “Well, me lass, ah didn't 'ave much time to contemplate these things when ah was busy digging a trench to divert lava wit’ me shovel, but ah remem'bah mah shovel cracked in'toe somethin' as ah was digging. Ah looked and ah saw that me shovel shattered in'toe some crystal buried in thah earth. From it did magic pour into me. Next thing ah knew, I was big and strong, but ah didn't 'ave much time to relish my fancy augments. Ah 'ad o' village to save. Me own village, ah might add. So I just kept on digging an digging till me shovel broke out o' thah side cliff and ah lept out o' dah ravine in time to dodge thah lava.”     “It sounds like he got augmented by the magic stored within an ancient meteorite which was once known as Starlight Dust,” Sombra mentally explains to Cozy. “Those crystals are the source of all magic on this world. The one he encountered sounds like a shard that didn't completely burn up in the atmosphere. When his shovel bit into it, the magic stored within the crystal seeped out and enchanted the nearest living being. Since he is an earth pony, the magic augmented the most basic quality about him.”     “Let me get one thing straight wit’ ya, me lass,” Rockhoof proclaims, inadvertently interrupting the one hidden within her. “Wit’ you, ah don't feel hatred or fear. Instead, what ah feel inside is hope wit’ a wee dash o' excitement. Ya see, ah trust ya mother's judgment wit’ you. She believed that ya could be saved . . . that there be some good in ya. Aye, an ah believe in second chances. If ah always did, maybe we would 'ave nev'ah had o' wee bit o' conflict as we did wit’ me old comrade, Stygian. Ah learned me lesson, as did thah rest o' me ol' mates. Strength doesn't just come from our legs, me lass,” Rockhoof proclaims as he flexes a foreleg, “but it also comes from thah heart.” The same leg he used to flex a moment earlier instead pounds his chest over his heart area. “Thah willingness to forgive an'ah see thah best in anypony . . . that’s true strength, an ah be knowin’ a thing or two about strength, me bonnie lass. Aye. Strength, compassion, courage, and hope. If we treat other ponies like they be a monster, then they be a monster. Treat ‘em like a friend, then they be a friend.     “Ah'm a hero, me lass. As such, I always follow me heart in such things. I always 'ave thah courage to stand up for what's right, regardless how difficult it is. That is what makes a hero, me lass. Strength of thah heart, not just me legs.”     Cozy frowns a bit as she slowly looks down before admitting, “You make it seem so easy, but personally . . . I'm scared to be here. I know what's right, at least sometimes, but I still fear it.”     “Ah, lassie,” he steps forward and puts a large hoof on her shoulder but he does not press down too hard. “That is why ye 'ave loads of courage. Ye are holding ya ground even when it is hard, an ya doing it for thah right reasons.”     She looks up at him with a hopeful, “You really think so?” kind of look.     “Aye. 'tis true,” Rockhoof confirms as he puts the hoof on her shoulder back to the deck of the ship. “Courage is not thah absence of fear but thah willingness to do what is right despite thah presence o' fear. Those who are truly fearless are 'artless, ignorant, or possibly even dead, but those wit’ courage recognize thah danger an chose to face it anyway.     “Ah promise ya this, me lass, ya won't be ah face'in these dangers alone. We stood on opposite sides once, me lass, but ah be look'en forward tah fight'en by ya side this time! Ya may be a wee lass, but ya courage be crumbling mountains. Ye inspire me, and it makes me all thah more determined tah fight by ya side even harder.     “Leave thah heavy lifting to ya ol' comrade Rockhoof while ye plan strategy wit’ good ol' Stygian. Ah be thah brawn, ye be thah brains. Together, we be unstoppable!     “In me old age, ah not be as strong as ah once was, but ah still 'ave enough strength in me to resist a dozen stallions in their prime.”     “Wow! If you're serious, then your strength is still outrageously incredible!”     “Aye, lass!” Rockhoof brags proudly. “Still some adventures left in me ol' bones before full retirement. One last ride.” He looks off the ship with intense excitement and conviction. “One last adventure for me an me ol' trusty shovel. Aye.”