The Hero's Journey

by Gabriel LaVedier

Introduction/Prologue

“We have heard a rumour, of a legend, of a tale...” Those were the words spoken by Princess Luna to the taciturn red stallion before her. He had not said anything to her after he had strolled into her chamber as part of the line of suit-bringers. He had had only a scroll with him, sealed with the mark of Twilight Sparkle. He had only given it over and stood there, silent, as it was read. He had originally been bound for Princess Celestia, but his identity had pushed him to the front of Luna's line. “Of a being, old as the land, existing elsewhere, in a land beyond the ken of mortal pony. But we must hear, of thine own will, what thou wishest.”

Big Macintosh did not even hesitate. He reached into his horse collar and pulled out the limp, well-loved doll named Smarty-Pants. “Ah wants her alive. Not livin' and dyin' day after day. Ah wants her alive and by mah side, fer as long as ah live. Ah wants mah Smarty-Pants, t'have an' t'hold. And fer her to be able t'say, she wants me back.”

Luna was silent, a long while, her coldly-neutral look breaking, just slightly and for only a moment. Something in Big Macintosh moved her sympathy. Her horn glowed lightly, a scroll popping into being and floating slowly over to the red stallion. “We may offer thee naught, saving this. 'Tis all thou shalt need, if thou be true to thy lover and thy heart be unspotted pure.”

The scroll turned out to be nothing more than a nearly-blank piece of paper, with a small drawing of Ponyville, and an arrow that pointed off into the distance. If the scale was right it was a long, long trek across land he knew was mostly blank and bare. “Ah thank you kindly, yer majesty. Ah'd best get ta hikin'. Miss Smarty-Pants needs ta get ta life. Ah miss her so much...” He hugged the doll tightly to his chest, then gingerly tucked her down into the horse collar again.

“Stay!” Luna called out in the Royal Canterlot Voice, almost making Big Macintosh wobble on his hooves. “Stay thy hooves. Thou hast seen the scrawl. Thy heart be sure. Shall we aide thee in thy first, trembling steps. See my maid, the fair Lime Sherbert, and give her this.” Another scroll popped into being before Big Macintosh. “Fare thee well, Big Macintosh Apple. Fair roads and strong hooves to thee.”

The grasslands stretched on, as far as the eye could see, in all directions. The going was slower than it had been for the first leg of the journey. The second scroll had been a requisition order, swiftly carried out through the quick, decisive actions of the green-colored maid. He had been issued a Lunar guard corp rucksack, filled with nutritious compressed rations and fresh water. He had been provided with a single piece of enchanted parchment, to be used to arrange a return rendezvous. And lastly, he had been placed aboard a small, light, quick airship, with all navigation provided by him.

There were no landmarks on the map, only Ponyville and the arrow pointing off into the distance. The airship captain, with some of the fancy mathematics and using the locations of Canterlot and Ponyville, had figured out a way to intercept the line and follow it.

The scenery flew past beneath the airship, chasing along through the fields and mountains until they reached a sudden expanse of grassland. The captain flew deep into the expanse of tall grass, then lowered the vessel. Big Macintosh was allowed off of the deck of the ship, and pointed in the same direction as the arrow had pointed. With the job done, the airship pulled up from the waving sea of grass and sped off, back towards familiar lands.

Big Macintosh had been walking since then, the sun mild and dropping slowly in the sky. He tried not to think about the eerie silence of the place. Aside from the occasional rustle of the tall grass no birds sang and no animals made a sound. Even for a quiet stallion like Big Mac, the all-consuming silence was disconcerting. And there was also the scenery. There essentially was none. The grass seemed to go on forever, down to every point on the horizon, with no trees to break the expanse; his own trail was swallowed up by the springing grass, making it seem like he occupied a single, static point.

But even despite that, he trotted on, set as rigidly as he could manage, in the direction that he had been pointed. It was a strange situation. The sun provided a point of reference, allowing him to have at least a base idea that he wasn't just going in circles. But that hardly helped him get over the growing sense of futility as the grass continued unabated in all directions.

Big Mac pulled Smarty-Pants from his collar and hugged her against his chest. “Don't you worry none, Miss Smarty-Pants. Ah ain't gonna give up. Ah'm gonna bring you back ta life and keep ya there. Ah promise.” He kissed the limp doll and placed her back in his collar, pressing on boldly. Almost like magic, he saw a new feature out in in the distance. Just the slightest break in the surroundings. The very top of a distant tree.

He broke out into a rapid gallop, focused on that tree like it was a sign from Celestia herself. His pounding legs beat down the grass wildly as he careened forward. The tree rose up, higher and higher. It looked gnarled but alive, thickly-leafed and twisted all about. He couldn't identify the particular type; it almost didn't matter. It was the first anomaly he had found all day. And that was significant.

He reached the tree with a skid and a slight stumble. The twisted trunk reached up for the sky, while the canopy provided a bit of shade, further changing the character of the formerly-monotonous grassland. He trotted around the base of the tree, seeking out any sign at all. The ancient tree bore the signs of prior passing, the bark of the trunk marked up all over with names and initials, most of them contained in hearts. Some of the names and initials were scratched out or picked away, though there was no pattern to the erasures.

He considered it for a moment, tentatively reaching out to touch the weathered trunk. A sudden bolt of magic ran through him, seeming to seal his hoof to the bark. A magical bolt leaped out and struck inside his collar, Smarty-Pants drawn out by the magic and one of her arms reaching out to touch the tree beside the hoof. There was a sudden flash of light, which threw Big Mac and Smarty-Pants back. Even as he was thrown the red stallion was able to reach out and grab the flying doll before she hit the ground.

The tree was glowing with an inner light, concentrated most strongly on the spot the two had just touched. Letters glowed upon the tree trunk, BMA + S-P. Smarty-Pants was settled back into the collar, Big mac slowly standing up and approaching the tree. “Well... what now, magical thing? What do ah gotta do?”

The answer came in the form of a loud buzzing from the very height of the tree. In the magical glow Big Mac could finally see that high in the tree was a beehive. And the bees were apparently awake, and pretty angry. He didn't have Granny Smith's skill with the critters. All he had was his legs, and he used them.

The bees buzzed almost angrily behind him, and occasionally from the side, making him turn this way or that. At some point, in the back of his head, he thought that the bees almost seemed to be directing him in some fashion. But he could not think on it too long. He could only run, his ears pricked by the faint sound of running water. That became his new focus, his hooves pointed towards the faint rush.

A ribbon of flowing blue met his gaze, as did a strange, hooded figure. Big Mac could only see a dark brown cloak and hood, the rest lost to the grass on the other side of the river. The figure rose and lifted up a hoof to the front of the cloak, a puff of breath casting forward a golden-green cloud that passed over Big Mac and the swarm of bees. Immediately, the bees calmed greatly, and actually turned and flew away.

Big Mac stood by the water's edge, panting heavily, gulping in great lungfuls of air and letting his heart return to a level that no longer resembled the kind of thumping after a session of applebucking. He finally looked up to the mysterious figure and nodded his huge head. “Th-thank ya kindly. Ah don't know what got into them critters. Mah Granny handles them types better.”

The figure was silent at first, slowly moving out of the grass and crossing the shallow portion of the stream. Golden bracelets jangled on his right front leg and both rear legs. On his front left leg was a single large gold ring that looked for all the world like an Equestrian wedding band. Up those legs were black stripes, the rest lost behind the cloak. The figure was carrying a staff against itself, using it to occasionally support its walking. It slipped the hood back, to reveal the face of an ancient zebra. He had a thick, curling beard, several gold earrings, and a very stern but wise visage. “So, young one. You seek the one that bridges the gaps between hearts. But how strange you come alone. No... not quite alone. I feel not another breath, but I feel the envelope of mana that tells of a mind locked away. May I see?”

Big Mac reached into the collar and took out Smarty-Pants. He looked curiously at the ancient zebra. “Ah ain't never seen many zebras, 'ceptin' mah lil sister's fiancee. Errr, the littler sister. An' they ain't so much engaged as... gonna be engaged. Still, she talks all purty-like, and she rhymes all the time. Ah thought that's how the zebra folk talked.”

The old stallion cracked a very slight smile, and nodded his head grandly. “Some do not and some do rhyme,/ But not all do it all the time.” He leaned on the staff and motioned with his head. “Come with me, young lovers. Come across the river and begin your journey.”

“Bu-but... wait a minute. Uhh, sir.” Big Macintosh followed haltingly but stopped before the river's water. Thought the old zebra crossed it easily, he felt some trepidations deep within.

“Youngster... come along. You showed yourself worthy to come here. Were the signs wrong about the love you supposedly hold?”

“Ah jes... what's yer name? Ah need ta know the name of the stallion ah'm gonna follow.”

The zebra was silent for a time, then walked on. “The journey is long to reach the granter of desires. There will come time enough to talk on such. If you love her so greatly, you will follow along and trust that you can conquer what might come of the unknown.”

Though still uncertain, Big Mac looked to Smarty-Pants, glancing into her mismatched button eyes. He placed her back into his collar and boldly stepped into the cool water of the stream.

Comments

[Kagitaar]

Speak of the Devil, I was just thinking that I was going to have to find time to put my meager writing skills to use if I ever wanted to see Mac and Smarty together. You have done a considerably better job of it so far, I can't wait for the rest. It's good to see Luna helping her hopefully eventual nephew and new zebras are fun.

This reminds me, I tried to read the Inferno, but found it alternately boring and douchey.

[Gabriel LaVedier]

970893

Thank you. Big Mac is one of the few Apples Luna will ever even acknowlege (The others being AJ, AB, Brae and LSH, who IS indeed an Apple.)

Heh. "The Divine Comedy" is not an easy read. But I've been reading and rereading it since I was a young teen. But you should enjoy this.

[Kagitaar]

971102

Well of course LSH is an Apple, just like Zecora will be eventually.

Yeah, I can't even use The Divine Comedy to describe what I haven't read, I get stuck too early in the Inferno to justify that.

[Aluminaughty]

Wow this is very well written so far compared to my Big Mac and Smarty Pants Fic.
Fantastic job

[Gabriel LaVedier]

973969

It was never my intention to try and outshine you. I've actually had this planned out. I literally have a sheet that lays out all of the plot points and equivalents. Now that I have some extra time I can work on it.

[alexanderhunt88]

Let's start this fic