My Brave Pony: The Heart of the World

by Scipio Smith

On Their Way

On Their Way

“Okay,” Twilight murmured to herself as she held up her checklist, levitating the expansive roll of parchment in the grip of her lavender-tinted telekinsesis as she ticked off items that she already completed. “Saddlebags packed?” A quick glance behind her confirmed that they were still there, secured across her back right where she’d left them. “Check. Blanket roll? Check.” She had seen that there too when she had checked on the saddlebags.

“Still doing the checklists, huh?” Ace asked from where she sat just outside the library, scratching her ear with one of her hind legs like a dog.

Twilight lowered the checklist just long enough that she could give Ace a Look. “Yes. After all, without the checklist, how could I be sure that I hadn’t forgotten anything?”

Ace shrugged. “If it was that forgettable you could probably do without it.”

“Or it was something that you forgot about and only realised that you needed when it was far too late to do anything about it,” Twilight countered. “Speaking of which, rope. Rope, rope, rope.” She opened up her saddlebags and levitated a bundle of rope inside the left pannier. “Check.”

Ace shook her head.

Twilight could not restrain a snort. “I notice that you haven’t packed anything at all.”

“Twily, please,” Ace said, with a degree of affront in her voice. “I am a trained royal guard. I can sleep rough under any conditions, live off the land, and survive for six weeks with nothing but a fruit knife.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “A fruit knife?”

“A fruit knife,” Ace repeated.

Twilight stared at her for a moment. “Do you have a fruit knife?”

Ace opened her mouth, but no words emerged. She flapped her wings back and forth twice, literally ruffling her feathers as she glanced away from Twilight. “Could I borrow yours?”

“As a matter of fact you can,” Twilight said. “It’s safe in my saddlebag if you need it. And I know that’s where it is because I ticked it off the checklist earlier.”

“Nopony likes the mare who says I told you so, Twily,” Ace declared genially. “What else is on that list, anyway?”

Twilight scanned down the list. “Well, most of the packing items are completed,” she murmured. “Ooh, I almost forgot. Cover up the golem.” She put the list down for a moment, to grab instead the purple sheet lying on the floor, and use it to cover up the golem sitting silent and unobtrusive in the corner of the library. “Check.”

“What was that thing, anyway?” Ace asked, getting up off the ground and walking a little closer towards the open library entrance. “It looked like a statue.”

“It is a statue,” Twilight replied. “Just a little magical research project that I started awhile ago. I never got around to finishing it, taking the final step, you know?”

“Not really, no,” Ace said.

Twilight sighed. “Theoretically, if I cast the right spells, I could make it come alive,” she explained. “But… I don’t think I really want to.”

“No?”

“No,” Twilight acknowledged. “It would feel a little… I’m not ready to bring life into the world like that is the short version of it.”

“Then why did you make it at all?” Ace asked.

“To see if I could take it that far,” Twilight replied. “Just because I’m curious doesn’t mean I have to see every project through to the end. Only… only the really important ones.” She cleared her throat as she retrieved her checklist. “Anyway, as I was saying, most of the practicalities on this list are done, except for locking up the library, so if you’d just excuse me.”

Ace made way for her, as Twilight walked out of the library and shut the doors behind her. A quick couple of spells locked said doors, to remain locked until she should return at the end of a successful journey.

At the end of a journey, at least.

Twilight took a step away from the library, and then another, her gaze travelling upwards to the broad boughs of the tree that spread out, reaching towards the rest of Ponyville.

This was her home now. She could not imagine going back to Canterlot, leaving Ponyville and her friends and all the merry folk who dwelt here. She could not imagine calling anywhere home other than Ponyville and this library. This was the place where she belonged and yet she was leaving it behind: the library, Ponyville, all of it. She was leaving it behind and… she could not say when she would return.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting homesick right outside your door,” Ace said, a grin playing across her face.

Twilight snorted. “No. I mean, not really. I just… it’s only when the journey is about to start that you realise how long it’s going to be, you know?”

“Not especially,” Ace said.

“Then it doesn’t bother you?” Twilight said. “At all? The fact that you’re likely to be away from Canterlot and everything you know for quite some time?”

Ace was silent for a moment, and a look of seeming melancholy crossed her face. “There are worse things than a change of scenery,” she said, her voice suddenly turned rather gruff. “Especially when there wasn’t much for you back home to begin with.”

Twilight frowned. “Is this… is this about Shining Armor?”

“No,” Ace said quickly, a little too quickly for Twilight’s liking. “What did I tell you, Twilight? I’m not the moping kind of mare.”

“Are you the ‘travel to the other side of the world to get away’ kind of mare?” Twilight asked.

“I’m the ‘follows Princess Celestia’s orders’ kind of mare,” Ace said tersely.

“Princess Celestia would only have asked you to accompany me, she would never have made you go if you didn’t want to.”

Ace scowled. “Yeah, well… so, what about that list, huh? What else is on there?”

“Not ‘lock up the library’ any more,” Twilight replied, allowing Ace to change the subject to spare the other mare any further discomfort. “Check that off. What’s left now is-“

“Hey guys!”

“Rainbow Dash: check,” Twilight murmured as Rainbow Dash dropped out of the sky, a fluffy cloud parting before her as she dispersed it with her swift descent before slowing down with an equally incredible speed to make a perfect landing on the ground. “You’re the first one to arrive.”

“Obviously,” Rainbow said with all the modesty that Twilight had come to expect from a friend most loyal but not always the most humble. It was only after she had said that that she noticed – or appeared to notice – Ace standing next to her. “Well,” Rainbow said. “Looks like I’m not the first first to arrive.”

“Rainbow Dash, this is Sunshine Ray of the Royal Guard, whom Princess Celestia has ordered to come with us on our journey,” Twilight explained. “Ace, this is my friend Rainbow Dash.”

“Ace?” Rainbow said curiously.

“It’s what everypony calls me.”

“Why?”

“Because… because I am,” Ace replied defensively.

Rainbow smirked. “You can’t just give yourself a cooler name than the one you have just so you can sound cooler.”

“Is that so, Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash?” Twilight asked in a deceptively sweet voice.

“Hey!” Rainbow squawked. “Danger is my actual middle name. It’s on my birth certificate, and I can prove it!”

“Really?”

“Well… it’s not like I have it with me right now, my parents are holding on to it for me in Cloudsdale-“

“Sure they are, Danger,” Ace said, with a very smug look on her face.

Rainbow growled wordlessly. “Traitor,” she muttered to Twilight, as she fluttered a couple of feet off the ground, high enough that she could cross her forelegs in order to indicate her mood of displeasure.

Twilight covered her mouth with one forehoof as she chuckled. “Are you all ready?”

“Yep,” Rainbow said, her mood of a moment earlier seeming to dissipate as she patted her saddlebag with one hoof. “Got everything I need right here, and all of the most important stuff in here.” She patted her chest above her heart.

Twilight nodded. “I… I really appreciate this,” she said softly. “I know that this isn’t something you particularly want to do or agree with… so it means a lot to me that you’re here.”

Rainbow grinned. “Just promise me that the next time I want to go running off to the end of the world you’ll have my back the same way.”

Twilight giggled. “I guarantee it.”

“Hey there, everypony!” Pinkie cried as she bounced along the grass towards them, and the weight of her bulging saddlebags – and Twilight assumed that they must weigh something considerable because of the way that they looked filled to overflowing – impeded her not at all as she skipped with that springy sound as though her legs where metal coils propelling her upwards. “I’m not late am I?”

“Not at all, Pinkie, you’re even a little early,” Twilight said, as she ticked ‘Pinkie Pie’ off her checklist. “Pinkie, this is Sunshine Ray-“

“Nice to meet you, Ace,” Pinkie said enthusiastically. So enthusiastically that she started pumping Ace’s forehoof with her own. “My name’s Pinkie Pie and ordinarily I’d throw you a welcome to Ponyville party right now – because I’ve never seen you before which means that you must be new here – except that I can’t because we’re about leave on a mission to help Twilight find her true love-“

“Pinkie, it’s not quite-“

“But maybe when we get back-“

“Pinkie,” Twilight interrupted. “Ace is going to be coming with us.”

“And how did you know I was called Ace?” Ace asked, looking slightly askance at the pink pony.

“You’ve got one of those faces,” Pinkie explained, without explaining anything. “If you’re coming with us then that’s great because I’m sure there’ll be time for a party or two along the way.” She gasped in horror. “But I didn’t pack any snacks for you! I’m so sorry, I’ll try and make it up to you it’s just that-“

“That’s, uh, that’s fine,” Ace murmured. “It’s, um, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said softly. “What do you have in those saddle bags?”

“Snacks,” Pinkie said. “And ingredients and gear to make more snacks once the old snacks run out.”

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Twilight asked. “You don’t even have a blanket.”

“What do I need a blanket for?” Pinkie replied. “I have a tent in here too!”

Twilight blinked. “You have… a tent?”

“Yep yep yep,” Pinkie said. “With room for all of us.”

Twilight’s mouth hung open for a moment. A soft laugh escaped out of her throat. “Of course you do,” she said. “Never change, Pinkie.”

Pinkie made a squeaking sound as she smiled enthusiastically. “Oh, hey, Fluttershy!”

Twilight turned around to see that Fluttershy had crept up behind her while she wasn’t looking. Well, ‘crept up’ implied some malicious intent of which Fluttershy was wholly incapable, but at the same time she had approached so stealthily that Twilight, Rainbow and Ace, distracted as they were, had been completely ignorant of her coming.

“Hello, Pinkie,” Fluttershy replied. “Twilight, Rainbow Dash. Are we just waiting for Applejack, Rarity and Spike now?”

“And Zecora,” Twilight said. “Who has agreed to come along with us and be our guide in the Zebra territories.”

“That’ll be nice,” Fluttershy said. “And very helpful. I get so nervous talking to strangers, it’ll be good to have a friend along who knows the part of the world we’re going to.”

“I thought so too,” Twilight replied. “The customs and even some of the creatures who live around our destination.” Provided that we don’t end up getting her in trouble. “Although… for Zecora’s sake it would be best if we didn’t cause too much of a fuss in Quaggai or Grevyia once we get there.”

“For Zecora’s sake?” Rainbow repeated. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not entirely sure myself, but I think that she left home under a cloud,” Twilight replied. “So it would be for the best – for her certainly, and maybe for us too – if we didn’t draw the kind of attention that would alert anyone that Zecora’s back.”

“If she’s going to cause trouble then perhaps her services as a guide aren’t worth it?” Ace suggested.

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy murmured. “But I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

“Ace, this is my friend Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “Fluttershy, this is Sunshine Ray – call her Ace – of the Royal Guard; Princess Celestia has ordered her to come with us for our protection.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Because the Royal Guard are so great at keeping everypony safe,” Rainbow muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ace demanded.

“It means that the only pony here who hasn’t saved the world is the one wearing the armour,” Rainbow said with a smirk on her face.

“You two are going to get along like a house on fire, aren’t you?” Twilight groaned.

“Rainbow Dash, you ain’t causing trouble, I hope,” Applejack called as she made her way up the road towards them. Zecora followed just a step or two behind her, her body swathed in her old burlap cloak but with the hood thrown back to reveal her face.

“I wasn’t causing trouble,” Rainbow declared. “I was just pointing out that we don’t need a royal guard to take care of us, we can look out for one another.”

“I daresay we can,” Applejack agreed, as she came abreast of Twilight and stopped. “And I daresay we could if we had to, but speaking for myself I’m glad for the extra pair of eyelids. Howdy, partner, my name’s Applejack.”

“Ace.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Applejack said, tipping her hat. “Don’t worry about Rainbow Dash, there’s a good heart underneath all that hot air.”

Rainbow sighed, and rolled her eyes a little.

Applejack looked around the other ponies. “Morning, y’all; I see we ain’t the last ones to get here.”

“No, we’re still waiting on Rarity and Spike,” Twilight said. “Nice to see you, too, Zecora.”

“I met Applejack upon the road,” Zecora explained. “Headed the same way down which I strode.”

“Once more thank you, for agreeing to come with us,” Twilight said. “I won’t ever forget it.”

“We all appreciate it,” Fluttershy added.

“I really hope I have treats that everyone likes,” Pinkie said.

“Zecora, Applejack, this is Sunshine ‘Ace’ Ray of the Royal Guard,” Twilight said. “Ace, these are my friends Applejack and Zecora.”

Ace nodded. “A pleasure.”

“I mean no insult, noble steed, to say that of your skills I hope there is no need,” Zecora said.

Ace chuckled very lightly. “Me too,” she agreed. “And I’m sure that Princess Celestia would agree as well.”

“We’re all agreed, I think, in hoping that your presence is not necessary,” Twilight declared. “Even those of us who aren’t here right now, where’s… oh, wait, there they are.”

Spike and Rarity were visible at a considerable distance as they came into view. Or rather the towering pile of Rarity’s luggage that was currently hiding Spike – all but his little legs – from view was visible for a considerable distance as it rose in a high, swaying tower into the air, looking at any moment as though that unsteady pile of multi-coloured boxes might collapse and clatter to the ground. Rarity herself walked beside it, dressed in a well-tailored safari blouse of tan colour, accessorised with a bright pink scarf tied around her neck and a pair of very large sunglasses covering her eyes.

“Oh dear, are we the last to arrive?” Rarity said, as she strode up. “I do apologise, darlings, but there’s so much that I just couldn’t bear to leave behind.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “We can see that.”

“Rarity,” Twilight said delicately. “Do you really need all of this stuff?”

“Well of course I do, Twilight,” Rarity declared. “You can’t possibly expect me to appear before an ancient cosmic entity wearing something that I’d worn already without the chance to launder? No, I couldn’t do it, I must be properly dressed for a proper occasion.” She lowed her sunglasses long enough to wink at Twilight. “And I’ve got a few things for you to wear in case we run into Prince Lightning again.”

“Uh, thanks,” Twilight said, in a rather unenthusiastic tone. “Um, Spike? Do you need a little help with that?”

“Nope,” Spike said, albeit with a tremor of great effort in his voice. “I’m good.”

“Okay,” Twilight replied uncertainly. “Just let me know if you change your mind.” She looked around. “Now that we’re all here, and ready,” she said. “Does anypony-“

“Twilight,” Applejack said. “Ain’t nopony backing out now.”

Twilight smiled, and looked down at the ground for a moment. “Bless you,” she said. “Bless you all. Then, I guess… what are we waiting for?”

“Let’s go!” Pinkie cried. “Heart of the World here we come!”

The first part of their journey lay by rail, as far south as El Alamane, as far south as the rails would bear them. That part of the journey, across the length of Equestria, should pass swiftly and in reasonable comfort. It was only what came after that was unknown and the possibility of real hardship. But that lay a little way off just yet, while the train lay before them, and so they headed off in the direction of the train station, sauntering in a cluster down the street with time to spare before their train arrived.

“Rainbow Dash,” Ace murmured. “You’re the sonic rainboom mare, right?”

Rainbow blinked. “You… you heard about that?”

“I may be a royal guard, but I’m still a pegasus,” Ace said, sounding a touch irked at the implication, although Twilight couldn’t help but think that she was being a little too touchy about that. “Of course I’ve heard about that.”

“You say that, but nopony else seems to recognise me,” Rainbow muttered.

“They probably just don’t want you gettin’ a swelled head,” Applejack replied.

“That’s not likely with your girls around, is it?” Rainbow said, in a tone that was both affectionate and a little bit sharp at the same time.

Twilight sighed. “Rainbow, for the last time, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, we just-“

“Wanted to take me down a peg or two,” Rainbow said. “Yeah, I get it.”

“What’s this?” Ace asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Rainbow said quickly. “Nothing at all. We just… it’s nothing.”

Ace’s eyes narrowed. “Is it something that I should be worried about?”

“No!” Twilight and Rainbow Dash said at once.

“We may not always get along, but it doesn’t mean that we’re not friends,” Twilight declared. “Isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. She smirked. “Just because you can’t bear the thought of me having a moment to shine-“

“Rainbow Dash, you know that ain’t why we did it!” Applejack said sharply. “We did it because you were getting so darn full of yourself it was gettin’ gosh darned unbearable!”

“So what did you do?” Ace asked.

“We put on a costume and between us we did all the things that everypony was praising Rainbow Dash for,” Pinkie said. “Like saving people, stopping accidents, that kind of thing.”

“So people were helped?” Ace said. “That’s what really counts, in the end.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow grumbled. “It’s just… you know, you really are the first pony to bring up the sonic rainboom. I’m the first pony to do that in so long most ponies had forgotten that it was real, but… I don’t know how the rest of you girls do it, sometimes.”

“Do what?” Fluttershy asked.

“Accept that nopony cares that we’ve saved Equestria twice and done so many amazing things!” Rainbow cried.

“I’m glad that nopony recognises me,” Fluttershy replied. “I’m not sure I could handle the attention.”

“Speaking for myself,” Rarity said. “I am, as you know, somewhat covetous of recognition, but I would rather be recognised within my chosen field, not for… well, saving Equestria may be all very well, but it’s not how I’d choose to spend my time if I had a choice. When I have boutiques in Canterlot and Manehatten and can still walk down the street without being recognised, then I may start to gripe a little. Until then, it continues to motivate me to try harder.”

“And that’s fine, I suppose,” Rainbow said. “You want to succeed at what you want to do with your life. But this is what I want to do with my life, and still nopony knows who I am. I performed a sonic rainboom and nopony cares.”

“I care,” Ace said. “That was impressive stuff.”

“Did you see it?” Rainbow asked.

“Not up close, but you could see it from Canterlot,” Ace replied. “And hear it, too. It was one heck of a thing.”

“Maybe you could write and tell the Wonderbolts that.”

“You want to join the Wonderbolts?”

“Uh, yeah!” Rainbow cried. “Who doesn’t?”

“I thought about it,” Ace said. “But I decided I liked a scrap more than I liked performing for crowds.”

“Really?” Rainbow demanded incredulously. “I thought the Royal Guard just stood around in the palace.”

“That’s… some of it,” Ace admitted. “But there’s other stuff as well.”

“Like what?” Rainbow asked.

“Like the time I had to police an island of guano off Manehatten,” Ace declared.

“Please don’t tell the story,” Twilight groaned.

“An island of guano?” Rainbow repeated, sounding disgusted and intrigued at the same time.

“Uh-huh,” Ace said. “You see, there were all these seabirds, whole flocks of them, and they were all-“

“Please don’t tell this story,” Twilight begged.

“I’d like to hear all about the seabirds,” Fluttershy murmured.

“No, Fluttershy, not in this case, you really don’t,” Twilight said. She paused, thinking about it some more. Fluttershy was surely aware of the less savoury habits of the creatures that she cared for. “Okay, maybe you do, but I would rather not.”

“If this is going where I think it’s going, I’m forced to agree,” said Rarity.

“Don’t be so prissy, the pair of you,” Applejack told them. “You can get some darn good fertiliser out of that stuff.”

“That’s what everypony was fighting about,” Ace explained. “That’s why Princess Celestia sent the guard in. By the time that we arrived there were more than twenty boats-“

Twilight moaned wordlessly.

“Okay, Twily, I get the message,” Ace conceded. “I’ll tell you girls about it later.”

And so they managed to reach the train station without any more discussion of islands of guano, and soon their train arrived, puffing up to the station with smoke billowing from the smokestack, whistle shrieking and the rails screaming as the train slowed to a halt.

The doors opened. They climbed aboard, all of them, and Spike deposited his heavy load as they all found seats.

The doors closed behind them.

“All aboard!” the conductor cried, blowing his shrill whistle upon the platform.

Slowly at first, with huffing and puffing, with heaving effort, the train pulled away. It crawled at first, it dragged the heavy bulk of the carriages along behind, it moved like somepony who had just risen out of bed and was stumbling, bleary-eyed towards the bathroom. Then it began to walk, then to run, and then it began to fly, green acres and trees and fertile fields rushing past in a great blur as they were on their way.

And so they set off, on the start of their journey. Their destination was uncertain, as was what might happen between then and now. But for now, at this moment, they were all together. And they were on their way.