//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: The Music of the Winds // Story: Sun & Moon Act II: A Crown Divided // by cursedchords //------------------------------// “It’s hardly a coincidence that the Pegasi and Earth Ponies share so much of their musical tradition. Once upon a time, they would have practically lived together.” - “Pre-Equestrian Lore”, by Twilight Sparkle For Wind, the weeks after his race with Sycamore seemed to fly by, even if by the time night fell each day he was only able to crawl exhausted into his bed. Sycamore had held him to his promise to help with the pigs, and it seemed like once Fern realized he wasn’t a total incompetent suddenly there was all kinds of work for him to do. Once the roof was finished, there was a checklist a mile long to get ready for the upcoming harvest. Wishful thinking for the most part, as Sycamore had morosely admitted, but it certainly helped the family to be doing something with their hooves instead of waiting idly for time to go by. And anything that Wind could do to coax a grin out of them was his number one priority. He and Sycamore spent more than a few evenings down by the pond, too, talking more about Cloudsdale, even though Wind had to dig deep to satisfy Sycamore’s curiosity about the place. When he got better, he would simply have to bring Tin down here for an evening, so that all of Southoofton could get a crash course on pegasus agriculture. Speaking of which, each day that went by Wind knew that his wing was healing up. By the first dawn of the fourth week after his accident, the doctor came around again to have a look at his progress. “Should be getting close to airworthy by now,” he said as he carefully unwound the layers of bandages on the wing. “That’s going to be really stiff,” he cautioned as he undid the last one, “but give it a flex and the feeling should go away quickly.” Lying on the bed, Wind well remembered the pain of having it broken, and for a second he hesitated, bracing for that rush to hit him. However, as he flexed the muscles, and gathered his feathers back into his side once more, he felt nothing, save the general aches that he knew would come from his stiff muscles. He tested it out a few more times, and then breathed a sigh of relief. “Looks like you fixed him up great, doc!” Fern exclaimed from where he stood by the bedside, and he gave the doctor a firm hoofshake. The whole of the family was gathered around, having just finished their usual lunch. “Well, stretching it out is one thing,” Sycamore said, a note of caution in her tone. “How long until he’ll be able to fly?” The doctor hemmed for a second. “It should support his weight by now, enough for a gentle hover or a light cruise. No acrobatics though!” He gave Wind a pointed glare with that last admonition. “Thanks, doc,” he replied, offering the stallion a gentle grin. “I’ll take it easy, don’t worry. My days of flying in storms started and ended a month ago. But you know that I can’t wait to fly again, so, if you wouldn’t mind?” He swung his legs down onto the floor, and Fern was even kind enough to get the door for him. Outside, the afternoon was bright and clear, with but a hint of a gentle breeze coming from the fields. The wind carried a bite of dust on it, and not a hint of moisture, but even so it felt calming for Wind. Stepping off of the porch, he warily extended his wings and gave them a few experimental flaps. There was still no sign of any discomfort, so with a grin Wind leaped up and caught the breeze. He took it easy just like the doctor had said, but the feel of the air against his feathers made it hard. He may have been happy on the ground with his newfound family, but the sky was really where every pegasus belonged. He wanted to turn a few joyous loops in celebration, but that could wait for now. Just being in the air again was enough. Swinging into a lazy u-turn over the old pond, Wind saw Sycamore and the rest of her family out on the back porch watching him. The doctor gave Sycamore’s old Pa one last word about something, and then trotted off on his own back into town. From up here, he could even see what was left of Southoofton out on the horizon. Somehow the place seemed even smaller from the air, barely the size of a neighbourhood square from Cloudsdale. If he had been out flying before the storm, he probably wouldn’t have even seen this place. Maybe that was why his parents had missed it in their search. The thought of his parents brought with it its own realization. At least he wouldn’t have to say good-bye to Sycamore and Southoofton just yet. But soon. And as much as he missed Cloudsdale, it also didn’t feel right to just suddenly be done with his time down on the ground. He’d have to find some way to express his thanks before he left. Wind took a lot of care with his landing, not even kicking up a single puff of dust as he settled down into the backyard. Sycamore and Pa had put a lot of work into landscaping the ground into something presentable, such that there wasn’t even the barest trace of the furrow that he had ploughed up on that night a month ago. Fern got to him first, offering a hearty slap on the back. “Well, I guess you can fly,” he said dryly, walking on past right away to get back to his chores. “Just as good as I’d expect from any other pegasus,” Sycamore said, right behind her brother, though with more enthusiasm. “Maybe we both agree that nopony mentions that past mistake to anypony else, huh?” He chuckled. “Well, we all make mistakes. I assume I’ll catch enough heck from my parents as it stands already.” Sycamore’s chuckle was a little more muted, and after a moment her eyes came down. “Your parents, right.” For a second she seemed unsure of how to continue, instead just idly scratching at the dirt with a free hoof. “I suppose that you’ll be headed back to Cloudsdale soon, then.” He nodded and gave her a reassuring grin. “Soon, but not right away. You heard the doc. It’s a long flight back up there, and I wouldn’t want to try it until we’re sure that I’m one hundred percent ready. Besides,” he took a look over his shoulder to see Fern and Pa organizing sacks for holding the harvested grain. “I’m not so sure that your brother would want me to leave now that I’ve proven so useful.” Her eyes came up again, full of their confidence once more. “Of course. Just… don’t think that you owe us anything, okay? Any earth ponies would have done the same that we did, and when it’s time to go, you can head right out on your way.” Wind considered asking her where she had learned how to read minds so clearly, but thought better of it. She was right after all, but even so, now that their time together was drawing up, he knew that they had to make the most of what was left. “Well, here’s an idea. How about the two of us go survey the outer fields this afternoon? See how things are coming along? Maybe take a little snack for the trip?” She cocked her head to the side, digesting the words. Then a frown materialized on her face. “A picnic. During such a busy time of the year, you want to take me out for a picnic?” He drew back from that glare. Why was it that his brain always seemed to stop working whenever he was alone with her? Well, he was going to need it to get himself out of the pot now. “Not just lazing about, there would be some work to do!” A quick glance revealed that she hadn’t eased up on him yet. “Or maybe we can just forget that I asked and we’ll get on with the rest of our day?” “Wind,” Sycamore said softly, stepping forward so that her face was just in front of his own. Strangely, now her lips were curled into a warm smile. “That sounds like a lovely idea. In fact, I think that we both could use the break. I’ll see what we have in the kitchen and then we’ll go.” And with just a little giggle she turned around and trotted up the steps and into the farmhouse, leaving him to only scratch his mane in bewilderment. Well, they were going to have their afternoon off at least, by the sound of it. Beyond the old pond, the family had a few more small patches of land, each one divided up into segments by earthen embankments that meandered subtly across the landscape. They looked straight enough when viewed from the ground, but now that Wind was able to get a sight of them from the sky, it was clear that no professional had marked off the boundaries in the first place. Of course, the fields out here were just as dry and barren as the ones close to the farmhouse, with not a drop of water even in the low spots. If he and Sycamore had actually been coming out here just to inspect the potential yields, they could have been back in a matter of minutes. As good as it felt to be back in the air, the bird’s-eye view of the Southoofton farmland was enough to put a damper on Wind’s spirits again. The dusty brown of Sycamore’s land carried on to the horizon as far as he could see in every direction, only falling away under the occasional dark cloud on the horizon. Wind had first thought that they might have been distant rain clouds, but it didn’t take him long to see that they were instead raging dust storms, just like the one that he had flown into. No reason to hope then. Reason to tie down everything and barricade the doors, hoping with all your will that they would pass. At least the storms didn’t look like they were heading this way. The afternoon air around them was hot as an oven, and even the wind that flowed around him as he flew did little to help the feeling. Thankfully, Sycamore had brought along three canteens of water between them, and beneath him he could see that she was setting up a makeshift tent out of some stakes and old tarps. He had offered to help her with that, but Sycamore had only shook her head. Well, he would have to make sure that she got to drink most of the water if she was going to do all of the work. Being alone up in the sky did bring another memory back to him, though. The sky was quiet here, save the thin whisper of the day’s tiny breeze, but he well-remembered the melody that he had heard in the storm. Something in that beat was what had allowed him to escape in the first place, and now that he was able to fly again, Wind wanted to feel it again, in a safer place now. The four winds had always sung their song to him whenever he had taken a moment to listen; today, Wind wanted to try singing back, in his own way. The whisper of the breeze gave him somewhere to start. Flying slowly along with it, feeling the gentle push of the tailwind on the back edge of his wings, Wind tried to summon up the memories of that night a month ago. Naturally, most of it had been chaos and disorientation, his thoughts a whirlwind of emotion and desperation as he tried in vain to judge a way out of the maelstrom. But then, right in his mind, he had heard the pattern of the storm, and fitted himself to it. Almost without his bidding, on a barely conscious level, his wings now took a piece of that beat and injected it into the breeze. A dip down, a climb here and there, and then a little cut to the left and a little cut to the right. A light twirl on the spot where the song called for a trill, a dive to the left where a crescendo was needed, and then a long sweeping curve back to start the second verse over. The music was a part of him. Somehow, deep in his heart he knew exactly what he needed to do in order to add another layer to it, even if his mind could only figure it out a second later. He could have flown this cycle with his eyes closed, so sure was he of every necessary twist and turn. Maybe he was flying with his eyes closed; Wind didn’t actually know. His whole world was the song of the wind, layer upon layer added into a sweet melody. The wind was coming harder in at him now, colder, whipping his mane against his scalp, but Wind barely noticed it. All he knew was that it needed a little twist, and another beat down the middle to bring it properly into line. A droplet of water hit him in the eye, blurring his vision and sending the whispers of the music flying from his mind. And in that instant, Wind realized that he was actually quite cold, even in spite of the warm sunlight that was bathing the backs of his wings. His mane was even drooping a little closer to his skin, damp in the cool breeze. Had he done that? Or was it just a random gust of moist air coming in from the distant mountains in the east? Down on the ground, Sycamore had their tent set up by now, and Wind figured that he might as well join her. They hadn’t come out all this way just so that he could experiment with his wings, after all. When he touched down, Sycamore pulled aside one of the tarps and stuck her head out. “Wind, did you feel a breeze pass over just now?” she asked contemplatively. “It was actually quite pleasant.” “Yeah, I did,” he replied, looking back up at the sky. Down on the ground again, the oppressive heat of the Sun was back with a seeming vengeance, and the dusty ground under his hooves was a reminder that the moisture he had felt in the air was sorely needed. “Did you see any clouds coming our way?” Sycamore demanded. “A breeze like that might easily be a harbinger of some coming rain.” Wind shook his head. “No, it was all clear as far as I could see. Just a random comforting draught, I guess.” Sycamore sighed and retreated from the opening, beckoning him to follow. In the shade inside the glare of the Sun was at least gone, even if things were still plenty warm. Sycamore was lying on a towel that she’d spread out over the ground, and there was another one right beside her for him. “Sure would’ve been nice,” she said, leaning back and looking at the roof of the tent. “For all the good that it would do us to get it now. But if we did get a shower I imagine that ponies would be dancing in the streets.” Wind stretched out on his towel, and tipped one of the canteens back for a sip. “I’d appreciate that, you know.” “The rain?” “The dance.” She gave him a sidelong look, which he returned with a wink. “I think that it’d be a great note to leave on.” She sighed and settled her chin down onto her front hooves, and Wind berated himself again. He had hoped that maybe coming out here would allow them to forget for a moment that he was going to be leaving soon. But at least Sycamore didn’t look irritated that he had brought it up again. So instead he simply followed her lead, relaxing on the ground for a moment. There was at least a hint of a breeze coming through gaps in the tarpaulins, and in the shade the wind felt a lot more comforting than it did out in the sunlight. When Wind’s chin met the front of his hooves he let his eyes close, and time slipped away from him. Sycamore’s voice jolted him awake, and he wondered how long he had been asleep, if at all even. The sunlight outside was still bright. “Wind, do you think that you’ll ever come back?” He sat up. “Well… I guess that I could. I hadn’t really given it much thought.” What would his parents think of something like that? That he had found a friend in his time down on the surface, and wanted to take off to spend time with her every second week or so? His father wouldn’t like it, that he knew. Snow had a reputation to uphold, and so he needed a nice, normal family, a son holding down a regular job in a respectable trade, not making any waves. But that wasn’t the life that he wanted to lead, now was it? “I could make time for it.” Sycamore rolled over onto her side, her head propped up on a hoof as she regarded the dirt between them somberly. “If we’re even still living here a month from now, that is. Otherwise, how would you ever find us again?” “I’d find a way,” he said, a sense of confidence returning. “Ask around town after you, or follow the trail to wherever you had ended up. Canterlot, probably, the way that everypony else has gone.” He tried catching her eyes, but they stayed down. “Besides, that’s still a big if, isn’t it? Something tells me that Southoofton will vanish off of the map before you and Fern decide to leave.” “Maybe,” Sycamore admitted, knocking her other hoof on the ground to punctuate the word. “But I keep thinking about Amber, more and more. I never thought that I’d still be around to see her go, but, well, here we are.” She finally looked him in the eyes, and Wind could see a lot of thoughts deep within them. “Amber was the rock of Southoofton, the most stubborn pony I’d ever met, and all of a month ago even she knew that it was time to move on. Maybe I’m just fooling myself, thinking that there’s any future for us still in this soil.” He shuffled himself a little closer to her, till her free hoof was within his reach, though he didn’t reach out for it yet. “I don’t think so,” he said, offering her a stout nod. “This place is all that you’ve got, you and Fern, and your Pa too. I know that us pegasi don’t have the connections that earth ponies do, but even so, I’ve got a few things I appreciate enough to know that in the end, I’d fight for them. Even in the face of impossible odds, I’d be there for them.” Wind willed some of that fire that he knew so well to come back into her eyes, but it was slow going. “You really think so?” she replied, searching him as if convinced that he was joking and the punch line was just over the horizon. “We’ve fought for years now, and things haven’t gotten any better.” Now he grabbed ahold of her hoof, holding it firmly. “Your brain will tell you that, Sycamore. But I think that you know your heart is saying something else. I know that mine is. That’s why I’m sure that come next year, or whenever I find the time to get away from Cloudsdale next, I’ll know right where to find you.” They looked into each other’s faces for a while, Wind desperately serious for both of their sakes, until finally the tension broke, and Sycamore gave him a thin smile. “I guess that you’ll get your dance after all, then.” “Huh?” She giggled naughtily. “The next time that a storm comes around, I’ll just put out a basket filled with cushions on the back lawn. It’ll be a lot easier to dance with you if you don’t have a broken wing.” Wind drew up indignantly. “Hey! I thought that maybe by now you’d seen that that was one day’s bad decision—” “So is this.” And without waiting she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. He managed to put aside his surprise pretty quickly, but even so he clearly hadn’t recovered completely by the time that Sycamore was finished with him, since she burst out laughing with one look at his face. “Maybe a little warning next time?” he said wryly as she recovered herself. Sycamore took a long gulp from one of the canteens. “I did give you a warning. But anyway, time really has passed. I doubt that anyone thought we really were just going out to inspect the crops, but even so, we should be heading back in soon, or else somepony is going to get worried.” “Sure,” he managed, and he slowly stood up to help her roll up the towels and get everything else packed away. But of course his mind was still all a blur. Had she really just out of the blue kissed him? Or maybe it hadn’t been out of the blue at all? He spared another glance behind him as Sycamore got to work on the tarpaulins, and she was all business again, not even giving him another look. But she had kissed him. They would need to have another talk along those lines as they made their way back to the farmhouse. A rapid clip-clop of hooves approaching from outside the tent pushed those thoughts out of his mind, though. That beat sounded familiar, and indeed Wind wasn’t the least bit surprised when Cattail stuck his head through the opening, only to have Sycamore take down that tarpaulin and reveal the rest of him. Once again, the earth pony looked exhausted. “Good to find you, Sycamore,” he said, his voice half an octave higher in excitement. “There’s something big going on in town that you’re going to want to see.” Sycamore rolled her eyes, somehow managing to have it not come off as offensive. “Who’s leaving now? Don’t tell me it’s your old man?” Cattail quickly shook his head. “No, it’s nothing like that this time. Like I said, you’re definitely going to want to see it though.” Wind and Sycamore shared a surprised look. What could be this important besides someone else pulling up stakes and taking off? Wind caught just a hint of wildness in Cattail’s eyes. Fear? That was ridiculous. But even so, as he followed Sycamore out of the tent and fell into step on the way back to town, Wind had the distinct impression that whatever was going on was definitely not good.