Forever Is a Long Time

by Hoosier Brony


Chapter 13: Reconnection

“I’m going to be late,” Rapid Quill thought, as he sprinted through the town square, dodging in between ponies as they went about their early morning business. “Why did I ever think that a camp out before this morning was a good idea? Fresh air, BAH!”

As he ran through the town, Rapid Quill couldn’t help but admire some of the ponies milling around. He galloped past Sweet Apple Acres, smiling as he saw Granny Smith berating Big Mac (who wore an ashamed pout), waved as he passed the Cakes as they were opening SugarCube Corner, and was bemused to see Vinyl Scratch sleepily putting her equipment away after a long night’s gig. Suddenly, a sight caught his eye that caused his gallop to slow to a trot.

“Rarity? What in the name of Celestia are you wearing?” he asked, baffled at the latest fashion adorning the pony.

“Why, whatever do you mean? I think it’s smashing!” Rarity replied, swishing her pink, purple, orange, and yellow highlighted cape. “And it goes lovely with my new hat! I’m very pleased with it, though I am a bit late. I stayed up all night working on it so it would be ready for this morning.”

“This morning? Where are you headed, a garden party?” Quill said, suddenly remembering that he needed to go before he himself was late. He had a very important guest that was coming extra early just for him.

“No darling, the girls and I are watching the Great Dragon Migration today. I was told to wear a camouflaged outfit and I think this is just to die for. I love a good challenge.” She beamed while she mistook Rapid Quill’s shock for a compliment. “Don’t you think I look fabulous?”

“You sure…uh, you…well, I think…you sure make a statement,” Quill said, trying his hardest to contain his shock. Honestly, he worried about her safety, being that flashy near the dragons.

“Thank you!” Rarity said, running off as she was already late. Quill stood, upset that he hadn’t been a little more forthcoming, especially where he honestly worried about her safety, before remembering his appointment and broke back into a dead run. As he approached his bookstore, he saw the two armored guards lined up outside.

“Oh no, I’m already so late,” he mumbled, slowing down as he approached and gathering his breath. The store was already open, as he had begun trusting the ponies in Ponyville to either pay for their books or wait for him to arrive, and he saw the alicorn within, quietly looking through the shelves. “I just hope she isn’t upset.”

As he approached, he was confronted by the royal guards outside and, after verifying his identity and ensuring his bags carried only writing material, he was allowed entrance to his own store. Once inside, he saw the princess turn and smile at her tardy host.

“I’m terribly sorry…” Quill began, cut off by Princess Celestia.

“I was beginning to worry about whether I had the wrong day. Is everything alright? Do you have the scrolls?” Princess Celestia asked.

“Yes, I have everything right here,” Rapid Quill said, putting his saddlebags down on the table. “I just want to say it is an honor to have you here today. I can’t even begin to express my gratitude.”

Princess Celestia smiled kindly and said, “When Twilight Sparkle insisted that I come and read this story you were writing, I couldn’t say no. She has quite an eye for a good read and I value her recommendation highly. Do you mind if I start from the beginning? I can just find a comfortable spot in the corner.” With that, Princess Celestia levitated the numbered scrolls and retreated to the reading corner, gloriously lounging upon some pillows.

Rapid Quill, attending to her every need, began running the store as usual, making sure to check on her from time to time. As the guards were being rather picky about who was allowed access to his store (“Guess I’m not making many bits today,” Quill sighed), Rapid Quill decided to take the opportunity given to him to continue working on his story:

Dusting himself off, having spent an entire day lying beside the road he had collapsed upon, Beaming Justice continued his long trek, never quite knowing where his hooves would take him. If there is nowhere for me to return to, then I’ll just have to keep moving forward, he reasoned with himself, attempting to ignore the derisive comments coming from the voice within his head. After many days, the weary pegasus began his life anew in yet another small village, removed from the ones he frequented with Chase near Willowhill.

Life became a monotonous chore for Beaming Justice at this time. He moved from town to town in intervals of five to ten years, making sure to make an exit when it was becoming obvious to those ponies within that the isolated pony they saw from time to time never seemed to change in appearance. When Justice began to see that the ponies he first saw upon entering a town or village were beginning to show signs of aging, he knew it was time to pack up and quit the area yet again.

Justice took what odd jobs and chance work he could find, often becoming just another laborer in a town or village full of them. He kept his mouth shut, not intent on explaining his history or troubles with anypony, and was rewarded with an air of indifference from most all his employers. See, many ponies that stroll into a town from nowhere and explicitly look for low wage jobs tend to have shady backgrounds, backgrounds most ponies wouldn’t want to get mixed up in anyways.

In this manner, Justice helped build houses and roads, he dug trenches and worked a few farms, even delivering mail in one small town, but instantly saw his error as that occupation made him a familiar face with the ponies of the town. In some villages, he would just rent a small house in the outskirts of town and live alone, tending to his own needs and not permitting solicitors.

The one saving grace, at least in Beaming Justice’s mind, was that this life of constant travel and secrecy did not allow him to make new friends. After experiencing a horrible monster that took over and effectively destroyed the only love he had ever known, watching as his best friends died tragic deaths at the hooves of Nightmare Moon, and then being personally attacked by the only other two ponies he believed to be his friends in Willowhill, Justice decided he would never allow another pony to become dear to him, for fear of further pain and suffering.

Everything seemed to be figured out, even if “living” was torture for Justice. Decades passed as his life continued in this anti-social way, until a chance meeting brought his past back to light. It had happened when Justice was walking down a dirt road, his most recent life in Baltimare a thing of the past. As he trudged along, carrying what little possessions he felt were necessary, he was passed by an ornate stage coach. Hearing it approaching, he kindly stepped off the road and awaited its passing before continuing. Suddenly the coach came to a screeching halt, the loud grumbles from within the cabin plainly heard from outside, and a sobbing cry was heard from the driver’s seat.

“I can’t believe my eyes! It cannot be true!” came the excited shout of a voice from the past. Slowly climbing down from the driver’s seat, completely ignoring the irate protestations from the fare within, came a lightly brown colored stallion, full grown into adulthood, with a light graying mane with signs of yellow. “Is it really you? Justice?!?”

Justice just winced, recognizing the voice of one of his closest friends, a ghost from the past, dragged up through the years of isolation. He looked up and recognized the same excited face he used to know, even if the young colt was now a full grown, and aging, stallion. “I…Chase?” Justice muttered before a small tear trailed down his cheek.

“Sweet Celestia, it is you! Just like I remembered. Wow, it really was true,” Chase said, slowly approaching the pegasus. After all the time the two had been apart, Justice was shocked by how old his friend appeared, while Chase was amazed at how little he had changed. The two cried out in joy and hugged each other.

“I am appalled at your unprofessionalism, good sir!” shouted the finely dressed pony stepping from within the stage coach. He wore a sleek black tuxedo, top hat, and carried an ornate cane. “Please explain yourself at once! Why have we stopped? Why must you communicate with this haggard old nopony? I demand answers!”

“Haggard? I admit he looks well traveled, sir,” Dream Chaser said, slowly turning towards his fare. “But I would have you know that this “old nopony” you are referring to not only was the Chief Lieutenant of Princess Luna’s personal royal guard, but the hero of the Griffon uprising. Please show some respect, you stuffy old smooth mouth!” Chase added a small snort, nodding viciously and turning back to his old friend.

“Chief Lieutenant?...Hero of the Griffon? PSHAW. And I’m the Archduke of Hosstria… OH WAIT, I AM, and I DEMAND that you return to your duty immediately or expect to be fired on the spot!” the enraged stallion stamped. A smug grin spread across his features as he assumed he had won the argument.

“I didn’t realize that they bred them so haughty in Hosstria,” Chase said, his back still turned to the Archduke. He shrugged off the uncomfortable outfit he was required to wear for this trip and slowly walked towards Justice.

As the stage coach was re-boarded, and the second driver was insisted, in very colorful language, to not make the same mistakes as his predecessor, Justice watched as the very upset dignitary tore off towards his original location. “What did you do?” he asked.

“Who cares?!? I can’t believe I finally found you!” Chase said, pulling his old friend into a big hug. “It’s a miracle. I’ve been looking for years. Come on, the next town isn’t too far, we can make it by dusk if we hurry.”

With that, Justice and Chase began walking down the road, catching up as two friends tend to do when they have been apart. Justice’s sense of resentment towards the young stallion, who had once wounded him deeper than any fight he had fought before, was completely forgotten once he saw him on the stage coach.

Chase explained to Justice that shortly after he had left, Blowing Storm had fallen into a depression. He felt absolutely terrible about the argument the two had had after the incident with the Manticore. At the mention of the beast, Justice noticed the limp that continued to accompany his friend, not without alerting Chase to his thoughts.

“Yeah, I still have the bite marks from that night. The leg has healed mostly, but it never fully returned to what it once was.” He said the final remark with an extra twinge of sorrow. Chase explained “After you left, we just couldn’t keep up with what the farm required. Dad’s depression sapped his energy and my leg took a long time to get back to a decent level. We were forced to sell the farm, after the losses started piling up. We got lucky though! The fellows that bought it agreed to let us live there, so long as we helped.”

“Does that mean you two still live there?” Justice asked, feeling guilt at the troubles that he had caused his adoptive family all that time ago. You ran away. You ran instead of trying to work it out with them, and in the end, you cost them everything they had. How does that make you feel? The voice had never left, seeming to get stronger whenever Justice attempted to ignore it.

“No… They were nice enough to let us stay for a while, but after training some hired workers, we were deemed expendable and forced out. Dad ended up in that tiny shack you used to own. He mostly takes care of himself. I, on the other hoof, headed out. I tried to get a position with the guard ponies, but they disqualified me because of the leg. Something about being more of a detriment that an asset.” Chase sighed heavily. Justice knew that Chase had wanted to help protect ponies, especially after his experience with the griffons.

“Being told that must’ve hurt. I’m so sorry that things didn’t work out,” Justice said, authentically saddened for what would always be the little colt he knew.

“Didn’t work out? Are you kidding?!? Look at us! I found you after all these years!” Chase said, reaching a hoof around Justice’s shoulders once again, just for verification that he wasn’t dreaming. “I took up the job as a coach driver just so that I could travel and find you. I told Dad that I would bring you back one day, and everything would be alright.”

Justice was shocked. After his whole life was diverted by an injury, after losing his home and only thing he knew, Dream Chaser had spent the last forty years crisscrossing the map to find the one pony that was the cause of all his troubles. Forty years of never quitting, of waking up each day believing that that day would be when he would finally find his old friend. Justice felt himself welling up with tears yet again, but for the first time in a very long time, the tears were of happiness and not of sorrow.

“Well, you made a promise and I insist that you fulfill it. Your father raised you to be an honorable pony, and I will not allow that to fall to the wayside,” Justice said, pointing at the road ahead. “Lead on, my friend. Take me home.” With that, Justice choked up a little and the tears flowed out, littering the path they walked, soon joined by a trail beside his.

After a short walk, the two reached town and hired a coach of their own. Word had gotten back about how Chase had acted with a very important pony, and he was berated on the spot. Chase was almost sure they wouldn’t be able to get a coach of their own until Justice pulled out twice the amount to be charged and insisted they needed to leave immediately. As the two rode along, heading back to Willowhill and a life Justice had thought to be over, they discussed Justice’s travels and tribulations, talking until the early morning hours.

As the skyline of Willowhill appeared, Justice couldn’t help but gasp. What had once been a small village, barely to be found on a map of Equestria, had grown with time as well. The bustling town was littered with ponies and vendors, not unlike when he had first arrived, but a lot more crowded. The coach dropped them off in the village square and Justice was surprised by how many older ponies he thought he remembered.

But do any of them remember me? he wondered. His suspicions were soon proven true as one pony walked up and mentioned how similar he looked to a pegasus that used to live within the town. Chase insisted this new pegasus was the son of Beaming Justice. “Your father was a hero and savior to us all, young stallion, and you are his spitting image,” the pony replied with a smile before going on her way.

Justice was amazed at just how good everything felt. His return to the town, the familiar sights and sounds, and, most of all, the fact he was remembered for his good deeds; all these feelings brought a tearful smile to his face. As he was soaking it all in, he was anxiously pulled to the side and hurried along by Chase. Not wanting to be rude, Justice smiled and waved to ponies as he passed by, the younger ones thinking he fit the description of some long ago hero the older ponies would talk about in town celebrations and the older ones shocked at old memories beginning to stir again.

With no fanfare, Chase brought Justice to the outskirts of town, and a familiar looking shack. Justice felt his knees grown weak. What should I do? What can I even say? A shout of excitement escaped Chase’s mouth as he called out for his dad, waiting for him to exit and see his surprise.

Slowly the door opened, and an elderly white pegasus hobbled out. He held his hoof to his brow, trying to block out the glaring sun that had caused him some discomfort. His son had returned though, and that was enough to bring a smile to his face. Blowing Storm slowly regained his eyesight, after leaving the dark cabin, and opened his mouth reply with a welcome. Suddenly, he noticed the second visitor and a lifetime of sorrow poured out of his mouth.

Justice worried, taking a step forward to help the groaning stallion, afraid he was injured. His fears of what this meeting would turn into were forgotten as he approached, offering a hoof for balance.

The older pony took the hoof, seemingly shocked at its presence, sure he had been hallucinating. “Is it true? Can it be?” he asked, staring into a face he hadn’t seen for over four decades.

“Hello, my friend,” Justice said, his voice quivering. Suddenly he found himself in a hug, the sobbing, aged figure of his past life draped over him, crying out in excitement.

“Oh how I longed to meet with you again. Look at you! You haven’t changed at all,” Storm said, pulling Justice towards the shack. “Please, you must come in and tell me all about yourself. What have you been doing?”

The three ponies spent the entire day talking, laughing, and crying, amazed at how the years had passed, but the friendship remained. Storm and Chase apologized to Justice for all they had said, though Justice insisted the fault was his own. He took responsibility for the trouble that befell Chase, his pathetic escape from the town, and all that had happened to the two since. When he attempted to apologize for not being there when his friends needed him most, he was assured that “you are here now and that is all that matters.”

Storm insisted that Justice stay, not wanting to lose his long-lost friend a second time, but Justice motioned around him at the cramped surroundings. “Please, I beg of you, let me rent us a bigger room in town. I’ve saved up my earnings, we can live in more comfort,” he demanded. With that, the three ponies headed off to Willowhill, side by side once again, just like old times.

“Ahem,” a soft voice interjected over Rapid Quill’s shoulder. Jumping a little, the pony turned to see Princess Celestia standing, all twelve scrolls neatly piled nearby. She had finished the last chapter a little while earlier and had been reading over Rapid Quill’s shoulder, amused that he was too engrossed to realize it. “I would like to commend you on a very well written story. Twilight said this was one to watch for and I couldn’t agree more.”

Quill felt himself sigh in relief. “I’m very grateful to hear that, your highness. I was extremely worried about your reaction, especially in how you and your sister had been cast.” With this, Rapid Quill shut his mouth sharply and winced. Have I just upset her? What if she isn’t alright with how she’s been portrayed?

Princess Celestia chuckled lightly, resting a hoof on the author’s back, trying to calm him down. “As for the scenes leading up to and including Nightmare Moon’s appearance, you were spot on. It isn’t always easy being a sibling, let alone sharing the responsibilities of ruling a kingdom with one. I’ll admit that the fall of my sister was a shock to me and to all of Equestria. I believe you captured the spirit of Nightmare Moon very well, and unfortunately, the troublesome decisions that had to be made. Punishing my sister was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

“As for the descriptions of how my character carried herself with her subordinates and in the time of the griffon war,” she continued, a stern edge to her voice. Rapid Quill shrunk down, afraid of what was coming next. “Well, let’s just say being a ruler isn’t always nice. Sometimes you have to make decisions that not everypony will agree with.” With that, she smiled and turned to head for the door. “Please do not stop your story; I am excited to see how it ends.”

As she stepped out the door, turning with her guards and walking towards Twilight’s library, Rapid Quill couldn’t help but feel emboldened. If the princess likes my story, he thought, then who am I to deny her more reading material?

With a fresh scroll and inkwell at his command, Rapid Quill continued writing, staying up late into the night.