A/N: Crossover between G1 and MLP:FIM (G4?). The G1 ponies are loosely based on the original US cartoons and UK comics. Mostly their magics and personalities come from the games my sib and I used to play as kids. Quarterback or Quarter Back was nicknamed Score in the MLP episode 'Sonabula', somehow though his nickname became QB to my sib and me. Both nicknames are used interchangeably and Score refers little more than to a touchdown - so no dirty thoughts.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except a percentage of the 2,000 strong pony collection that is in our storage unit. ^.^
Quarter Back sighed long and slow from the lake shore where he rested against a large boulder in the early morning. Today, like all days, had started beautiful. The sunrise was brilliant, the sky slowly brightening, altering and changing like some of the sea ponies who played by the hot springs, their delicate scales shimmering from pink to blue or orange to green as they shifted from cool to warm waters. It was, like everything in Pony Land, beautiful. With another sigh QB wondered if there was something wrong with him. Why would any little pony long for their beloved home to change? Majesty ruled from Dream Palace and Queen Rosebud ruled the Flutter Ponies of Flutter Valley, both rulers were wise and just. Life was good.
Several years had passed peacefully since the attack of Tyrek, since the Smooze had nearly overrun Dream Valley and since Somnambula had gathered so many of the little ponies to drain their youth to sustain her own. QB looked into the lake's still waters and studied his blue face and lavender eyes reflecting back at him from the watery depths. He was not lonely, he did not begrudge Slugger his budding crush on Buttons, or Tex his on Fizzy. They were each well suited for each other. Tex, Wigwam, Slugger, Salty and Chief still played their games, running off on adventure after adventure. QB couldn't stand their silly, pointless games any more. Why should he play football when more often than not he seemed to play alone? The others, off with their own games, sometimes together, but more often alone.
"Seashell for your thoughts?" a soft voice asked gently from behind him. QB rose to his hooves, turning to look at the pony that had just pulled him from his thoughts.
"Hey Sugarberry," QB looked away, his eyes traveling over beyond the Rainbow to the distant mountains hidden beyond the haze of the forest.
"Are you alright Quarter Back? You've been moping for weeks, and the other Big Brothers are getting worried." Sugarberry looker her friend over, her blue eyes worried from her white face.
"I don't know, Sugar, I guess I'm just bored. I watch the sunrise and sunset every day. I see everyone having fun. I watch the baby ponies grow and I see the other Brothers off on their games, but I feel so empty. What is so important about our races and games? I just feel - kind of lost." QB kept his gaze off to the distant mountains, his eyes staring hungrily across the distance towards something only his heart knew the name of.
"So go," Sugarberry said with a shrug.
"Huh?" QB pulled his gaze from the distance, focusing on the strawberry symbol on his companion's muzzle.
"QB, you've been staring at those mountains since I got here. Just pack some gear and go. Take someone with you, enjoy, find whatever is over that mountain and find your smile again." Sugarberry smiled wryly at him with kindness filling her eyes. "I think that despite his bravado Tex is going stir crazy as well. Besides, Wind Whistler and North Star have wanted to go map out those mountains and Majesty refuses to grant them permission until they have someone to go with. You and Tex could be their guards, you know how distracted they get on an adventure." QB smiled as the idea sunk in causing Sugarberry to smile widely, crinkling her strawberry symbol on her nose.
"I think I need to seek an audience with the Queen." QB replied with his long lost smile shining from his eyes. Sugarberry cheered and followed, then raced off to join the other little ponies that played along the stream, laughing and splashing with the Sea Ponies.
Tex sighed, long and low, he loved Fizzy, sure she was crazy and annoying at times, but here lately he just couldn't take her games. He used to laugh at her magic-made bubbles that she used to lift him into the air, giving him flight for a while. Now though, he could only shake his head, unable to even appreciate the sight of Ponyland from the air.
"Tex?" He stiffened slightly, hoping Fizzy wouldn't notice from where she sat nearby.
"Yeah?" He asked weakly, his heart empty despite her closeness, or because of it. He wasn't sure anymore.
"You haven't smiled in weeks, and you always seem so distant. Are – are you alright?" Fizzy's jewel eyes sparkled brilliantly in the sun, purple prisms refracting and reflecting the sunlight making rainbows appear all about her face.
"I don't rightly know, Fizzy. I guess I'm just bored – maybe bored outta my mind." Tex shifted his hat to better shade his eyes, glancing as Sugarberry raced off to join a game with the Sea Ponies. Fizzy smiled and shook her mane turning to Tex and faced him seriously for the first time ever.
"Why don't you go find Quaterback? He's been sulking for even longer than you. Maybe he'll think of something to do." Fizzy prodded, taking a different tack other than attempting to cajole Tex into playing a game to get his smile back. Tex blinked, almost stupidly unable to process Fizzy's suggestion.
"Ya mean, ya don't want me around no more?" he asked, suddenly nervous that his despondency had affected Fizzy more than he thought.
"No, silly!" Fizzy laughed brilliantly, "I want your smile back, Tex, and if it takes you going around the world again and again, then go, and find the smile you left behind somewhere." Tex smiled, his first real smile in recent memory and hugged Fizzy tightly with his neck. "Thanks, Fizz." He spun on his back hoof and raced off, looking for the one pony in the land who might just have something interesting to do.
"Majesty, please! We've been asking for weeks to go through Sisters' Mountains to map them fully. We have all the equipment we need, ponies to cover our duties while we are gone and a safety procedure to follow. Why will you not let us go?" North Star asked exasperatedly of their monarch.
"Again, North Star, I must emphasize that two little ponies cannot go into those mountains alone. You two have duties to explore and map those mountains, but no one to protect you while your attention is elsewhere. Please, understand it from my perspective. You are asking me to send out two of our most brilliant, and least experienced ponies into the mountains the witches came from. They originated from somewhere outside of Pony Land, and came through the very trek you wish to follow.
"You could discover the land from which they came and you could be seriously hurt." Majesty looked over the sulking pegasai with a sigh. North Star was their astronomer and navigator. Any journeys undertaken by other little ponies always included her. She either went with or provided maps for them to find their way. Wind Whistler was their most knowledgeable pony. She knew everything from her many years perusing the libraries of Ponly Land. Unfortunately, it never gave her much time to go beyond the buildings her cherished books resided in.
"Beggin' your pardon, Majesty, I think I have a solution." Tex bowed as he spoke, falling to one front bended knee with QB following right behind him.
"I would like to hear this Tex, Quarter Back," Majesty nodded her regal head, shimmering white horn tilting in their directions.
Tex nodded his yellow head, taking off the ever present cowboy hat he wore. "Majesty, Score and I, well, we need an adventure, but racing around the world to see who gets back home first has gotten old. We need something new to pursue and escortin' these fine mares through the dangerous Sisters' Mountains seems like a fine way to get us out of our funks."
QB nodded behind him, looking to Majesty with an old pain lighting his eyes. Majesty just closed her eyes and sighed, refusing to think about the events that put such anguish and darkness into the brother pony's eyes, or her part in it. "Very well, Wind Whistler, North Star, your journey has been approved. You may leave when ready."
Tex hated secrets, hated knowing that a secret was being kept from him more than knowing he kept a secret from others. He watched QB as they left the white unicorn's audience chamber, debating on how to find out what secret QB kept.
"Do you remember when Majesty sent me to the Southern Island?" QB asked softly, eyes glued to the ground, head low.
"Yeah, we all went. Each brother pony was to guard one of the princesses, and you were assigned to Princess Tiffany. Whoo, boy, I can tell you we all were pretty jealous. You got the snow white, silver symbol bedecked pegasus that shimmered like morning dew in sunshine. She sure was a beauty." Tex replied thinking back on their days in the Royal Paradise known as the Southern Island.
QB sighed, "Majesty let me guard her as a favor. It wasn't the first time we met." He kept his head down, but Tex could read the guilt the other stallion carried. "I ran into her on our last race around the world – literally, bowled her over. It wasn't love at first sight, I don't know what it was."
"You don't mean it it, do you?" Tex asked wide eyed, gaping stunned and flabbergasted at the one pony he thought was the pillar of being a good stallion.
"Yes," QB somehow seemed to shrink. "It happened again while I was guarding her. That night she begged to leave the celebrations early from illness – that was nothing of the sort."
"You – you bedded down with Princess Tiffany!" Tex exclaimed in a horrified whisper. "How are you not in Majesty's dungeons?"
"She – Majesty found out after the first time, but kept quiet. Tiffany wanted to just live with her sister princesses, and I was still thirsty for adventure. It was never anything more than sharing those few moments."
Tex studied QB, "So what are you not telling me? Your last race around the world was nearly nine years ago, and our princess guard duty ended just three. You've been moping for months."
"Tiffany sent me a letter this spring." QB rasped, finally looking up at Tex with such broken despair it took the yellow brother pony's breath away. "We had two daughters together. She told me in the letter, told me to stay away, never come back. Her little fillies had been lost to the sea. I wish Tiffany had never told me we had had baby ponies. I wish I didn't think constantly about how they must have sounded when they laughed, or how they might have been just as beautiful as Tiffany. I wish I couldn't see them in my mind, two little fillies some mixture of Tiffany's pure white and my blue, playing tag and wrapping me around their little hooves getting everything they desired just with those big baby eyes of theirs."
"QB," Tex spoke softly uncertain what to say. "I – I'm so sorry."
"That's just it," QB chuckled hollowly, "Majesty knew the whole time. Majesty is – was their grand-mare."
"What!" Tex stared at his fried in surprise, "Majesty was – is Tiffany's mother?" QB nodded softly. "Then who's Tiffany's father?"
"I don't know," He smirked self depreciatingly; "We didn't talk that much. When I found out Majesty must have gotten a letter too. She just showed up and said she was sorry. I never thought much about having a family, but finding out I had one and never knew. It just – I just wish I knew the color of their eyes."
"Have you told anyone? Wig Wam or Chief? Slugger? Salty?" QB shook his head softly with each name, "You mean you've just silently pinned for two little fillies you never knew you had and never spoke to anyone? How are you not going mad?"
"I think I already have." QB sighed once they reached a empty sunlit, grassy knoll. "I have pretended the last few months that since I never knew about them, then I could just shrug it off. One of those situations where someone's pet passes on when you didn't even know they had one. Just say, 'so sorry to hear that,' and move on. I can't though. I was fine living without Tiffany, but if I had any inkling that she had a little filly –"
"White," Tex broke in, silencing QB, "You're eldest daughter was white with Tiffany's blue eyes. She was an alacorn."
"What?" QB swallowed thickly, breath almost gasping. "How do you know that?"
"I never thought it strange, I mean lots of little ponies raise their baby ponies without the fathers around. We brother ponies have to travel a lot to find work, sometimes we're gone for months or even years, but our fillies are always waiting for us. There was a pure white baby alacorn on that island. Princess Misty, I was guarding her, was watching over the little one. She had that tiny nub of a horn, itty-bitty wings you'd never think would be able to fly and these giant, ridiculously huge, glue eyes. She was adorable – and, don't tell Fizzy I ever said that word – and, she was lonely. You could see it in those sweet, baby eyes. She was on this beautiful island with beautiful princesses and no single other baby pony around. It was all I could do to keep her from braiding my hair." Tex raised his hoof, shaking the fluffy hair over his hooves all big brother ponies had.
QB smiled, "She must have been a handful."
"Nope, she was an angel. I don't know her real name, but Misty always called her 'Tia'." The pair fell silent, eyes focusing on the distant clusters of little ponies playing their silly games. Tex glanced at QB once more, finally realizing the sorrow and anguish the stallion had been holding in all this time. Quarter Back's actions were not right. He was, by all accounts, a very bad little pony. Somehow though, Tex figured getting that note telling him of daughters he never knew he had, realizing that he had lost out on knowing his own fillies; that was punishment enough. Maybe Majesty felt the same way too.
"We're ready!" Wind Whistler called out from over head, her cultured voice ringing in the morning sunlight. With her words QB changed completely, his lavender eyes sparkled and his head was suddenly held high. His mane, the same shade of blue as his hide, flowed in the wind with the single white stripe shimmering like a bright cloud in a brilliant blue sky. Shifting his pack onto his back and cinching the girth QB suddenly seemed to have reverted to the carefree big brother pony from nearly ten years ago, ready for the next adventure and always willing to take up the next challenge.
Tex knew it was a mask, knew QB would never let anyone else know. QB must have been avoiding Majesty this entire time to break his silence to Tex, the cowboy brother pony mused, and otherwise no one would have ever known. It was a chilling thought. No pony should ever live alone, or carry such a terrible secret on their own.
"Why is this chain of mountains called the Sisters' Mountains?" QB asked brightly looking up at Wind Whistler from where he walked on the rocky mountain path below. Beside him Tex just resolutely marched forward, attempting to ignore their banter. Two weeks of travel, and QB never slipped. The blue brother could have been the happiest pony alive for all the pegasai knew, and Tex somewhat hated his friend for that.
"These mountains are so named for the Sister Ponies who reportedly dwell here. The Sisters are the most slender of our people, normally beautiful and always possessing unicorn-like powers. The last known record of interaction between the Sisters occurred nearly three generations ago. Several of the Brothers of that time had decided to leave Pony Land, which at the time had seen an overabundance of Brothers born." Wind Whistler looked to the horizon, conferring softly with North Star before returning to her explanation.
"It is written, that long ago some Earth Ponies held powers that rivaled those of the unicorns, and to a one, they were all Sisters. Each of them bore a flower growing from their ear, like an earring, but it bloomed continuously as part of them, withering only when they passed to join Rainbow."
"Ya mean they have a magic parasitic flower just growin' outta their ears?" Tex asked, finally breaking out of his funk.
"In not so blunt a description – no. These flowers are not parasites at all. They are truly part of each Sister and bestows on her magic gifts that, if the histories are correct, rival Twilight's power." Wind Whistler spoke gravely, her words sending terrifying chills down Tex and Quarter Back's spines.
"But Twilight is the most powerful unicorn in a mare's age!" Tex gasped, and trembled. Fizzy was not an overly powerful unicorn. Sure she could make nearly unbreakable bubbles, and summon silly toys in her bubbles like teddy bears and rattles for the baby ponies. However, there was a lot she could not do and still, if she ever had a hankering to hurt another, she could do so very easily. It only took one bubble bursting high overhead and letting a little Earth Pony fall. For Sister Ponies, all Earth-type ponies, to be capable of even greater powers, it terrified Tex.
"If we find them, will we have trouble?" QB asked, his voice suddenly grave.
Tex was suddenly reminded why QB so often acted as their supply master, and trading expert on the Brothers' adventures. QB tended to cut off his emotions, act like nothing bothered him and function as the level head of their journeys. Most the other Brother Ponies, Tex included himself as the poster-pony, tended to haul off and holler, scream or throw tantrums that included breaking things and hitting each other. Yet QB never did. He was, Tex suddenly realized, always controlled and rather scary.
Like now.
Windwhistler, blithely ignorant of Tex's dire thoughts, considered QB's question before answering, "We might. Little was known of the Sisters in the records. Only descriptions of those with magical abilities, their physical attributes – oh, yes, there was one mention of a trade-route that used to cross Pony Land the Sisters frequented. However, something, the histories do not state what, stopped the trade route.
"We used to have whole cities of little ponies scattered across our world. Yet now we only have Flutter Valley and Pony Land with Paradise Estate on the outskirts of our territory. Despite appearing to be the lone pony civilization we have seen wandering musicians, knights, and a few travelers come through Pony Land." Wind Whistler finished and rose in the air.
"So, if they come to Pony Land where did they come from? And, where did they go?" North Star finally asked, her serious blue eyes looking down on the Brothers. "We have no answers to this, and even your adventures have shown no pony civilizations across the known world. You have taken jobs for the Grundles, several dragons, trolls, witches, humans of all descriptions, Mr. Moochick, the rock men of the north and several others."
Tex nodded, thinking back over their years of travel and work. They had herded cattle, built dockyards along distant shores, constructed massive ships, worked dark mines and smithed tools and weapons of dizzying description, all to earn gold or other currency for purchasing the goods Pony Land needed to survive.
"That is what Majesty gets out of this then?" QB asked calmly, "She gets traders back into Pony Land and keeps the Brother Ponies from leaving the other ponies unprotected."
Tex gaped, "How could you think that – !"
Wind Whistler cut him off, "That is precisely what she hopes to obtain. This is the first generation where all the stallions have had to leave Pony Land repeatedly for work. Your adventures serve as roaming advertisements that all of you are strong, smart and capable of amazing feats. However it also makes you lot seem like a package deal. Hire one brother pony, hire all six. Plus there are only six stallions this generation! The last few baby ponies are almost grown, and they have some foals, but too many fillies. We need more stallions or we will die out."
Tex felt like he had just been smacked with a pole. He had never thought about their numbers, but there were dozens of mares and nearly grown fillies back home, but only six brother ponies and two were already taken. He huffed, then glanced at QB and saw the first crack in the blue brother's happy mask.
QB hung his head down, eyes dark and distant, a lone tear trickling from his eyes. "W-we don't want that to happen." QB huffed a great sigh, shook himself fiercely and nuzzled his knee against his eyes to wipe away the tears. "So, we might find other ponies out here, maybe some with the opposite issue. What then? How do we convince strange stallions to follow us to Pony Land? How do we keep our ponies safe from them when they do? And, how do we keep our ponies from following the stallions to their homes when our provincial life becomes monotonous?"
Wind Whistler and North Star exchanged glances in the air before landing gently. "That, right there, is why Tiffany chose you, and why Majesty decided to choose her heir from one of your children." North Star spoke evenly.
"My sister and I never knew our father, our mother seemed like just another pony, until we were taken to the palace to meet our grandfather, Eminence. He had ruled as Pony Land's king for so long, no one could remember him as a foal. I fear Majesty will face the same lofty solitude. We had hoped, when the second filly was born, that the two could rule together, and never be alone.
"Their loss, and Tiffany's refusal to have anything to do with you anymore has effectively destroyed those plans. This is forcing us to locate the descendents of Eminence's brother, Wildfire. One of the children of Wildfire's line will have to be chosen as Majesty's heir."
QB stared at North Star, lively violet eyes a dark, dangerous amethyst that seemed to glow with his rage. "I was chosen? My bowling Princess Tiffany over, those encounters were all planned? How could you all plot this, use me, keep me in the dark then dump the little ones' deaths on me and expect me to just soldier on?"
Tex scurried away from Score's side, remembering the other reason Quarter Back had earned that nickname. The blue brother never missed when he was truly angry, and despite knowing there were two mares facing Score's fury Tex didn't feel the slightest twinge of concern since they were pegasai. In fact he rather hated them now. They, at least, could fly away. Tex's only option was to run.
"Yes, that is precisely what was expected of you, and that is what you are doing now. You have acted as a leader to the brother ponies, organized the others into work crews, selected routes that served your combined skills the best and you call on the right brother at precisely the right time when his specific skills are needed. In short, you are the perfect pony for a co-ruler, but power is never shared between mates. There is too much temptation to misuse one's power to please or control his or her partner." North Star stood calmly before QB, completely at ease despite the waves of anger that radiated from the furious pony.
Wind Whistler, and Tex, remained where they had fled to, hiding behind a nearby boulder that would give Tex a head start in fleeing for his life and Wind Whistler a launch point to get into the air.
QB stalked up to North Star, thrusting his muzzle into the pink pegasus' face and making her flinch from his intensity. "What were their names."
"I never knew. It was a failsafe, only Princess Tiffany and Majesty knew the fillies' names. I was only told 'Tia and Light. When they were old enough they were to have been brought to Pony Land and you were to mentor them."
"Pony-feathers," Score glared as he stared down North Star. "They would have been the only fillies their age in Pony Land."
"True, but no one would have known who their sire was, or their grandam. That was the secret. If neither they nor you knew each other, then they could not have been mislead by you when they took the throne. The heir has always been selected from the descendents of the current king or queen, but never from among the royal children, and never from those living near the palace."
QB blinked, freezing as North Star's words began to make sense. "We used to be warriors."
"What?" North Star looked from QB to Wind Whistler in confusion.
"Hiding the heirs from everyone, raising them in isolation until they are old enough to fend for themselves, ensuring they are not influenced by anyone not of the royal lineage – its all tactics." QB pointed out then turned to Wind Whistler, "So when was our last battle?"
"Uh – that's – that's not common knowledge." Wind Whistler unconsciously stammered, her pink eyes huge against her shaggy blue coat.
"Wind Whistler," QB warned voice low. Tex nudged the scholarly pony, silently telling her he was there.
"Eminence won our last battle when he first took the throne – nearly three hundred years ago. Back then the brother ponies acted as highly sought after caravan guards and mercenaries. Over the years our lands developed, we turned to peace and warriors became laborers." Wind Whistler replied, nervously. "There was a legend left by the brothers, the last of the warriors, they claimed that a brother would come built for war when the need was great."
She looked to QB, meeting his eyes gravely, "I believe you came for that purpose."
"I'm not –" QB stammered looking wide eyed from the pegasai to Tex and back.
"Yes you are," Tex interrupted, tilting his hat back with one knee. "Score, you always keep us brothers goin' in the right direction. You keep us fed, keep us from getting lost and ya've supported Slugger an' me in findin' our perfect fillies. If that ain't the sign of a great leader, I don't know what is."
"Tex," QB sighed, "Wig Wam navigated for us on those trips. Steamer got our rations, and Slugger never asked for permission to court Buttons."
"You asked Wigs for directions, told Steamer to get the rations. Score, you've been guiding us since we were all little colts runnin' round our mommas' hooves and drivin' them ta distraction."
QB looked up to the sky, noting the incoming clouds and cool breeze coming down from the looming mountains nearby. "Right now I wish we had WigWam with us. Those clouds are coming in too fast." He glanced at North Star, "Has this area been mapped?"
"No, we are the first to come in this direction in generations, and no maps of the old trade routes still exist." She flapped her long wings experimentally in a gust and shook her head. "It's too dangerous for us to fly."
"Wind Whistler, think that ridge could have caves?" Tex asked, grinning at QB who only nodded.
"Actually, given the geography of the region limestone caves are possible although they will be small and very uncomfortable." Wind Whistler leapt into the sky hovering above the others for a few moments before landing heavily back on her hooves. "Ugh, the wind is far too strong for us. However, there are recesses in the cliff ahead we should be able to find some sort of shelter."
"Good 'nough fer me." Tex hollered and galloped for the cliffs, QB and the pegasai hot on his fetlocks. "Whew doggie, that wind is cold enough to pluck your feathers out."
"Says the pony without the wings." Windwhistler panted with a dry chuckle. The four ponies curled around each other, the brothers grateful their travel partners had their shaggy coats to bury their noses in as heads laid on backs and wings folded over withers. Together they shared their warmth as the storm raged on in the darkness slumbering until the bright morning light finally brightened the cave.
North Star cracked an eye open looking to the thin strip of light coming in through the cave mouth. Dawn was cold, her breath misting in the thin light. Somehow through the following day they had climbed in elevation, reaching the point where summer came late and winter lingered insidiously throughout the year.
"Wasn't it spring when we left Ponyland?" Tex asked with his teeth chattering.
"Yes indeed it was, Tex. However we have risen dramatically in elevation and at these altitudes it is barely past winter." Wind Whistler replied brightly, floofing her thick fur to poof out and provide more warmth for the summer loving brother pony.
"Come on," QB stood up shaking off the thin crusting of icy dew from his coat, "If we move we'll warm up."
Tex looked up at Score sharply, noting the somber tone to his friend's voice. Somehow through the night Score's infallible mask of normalcy had shattered, leaving the once vibrant violet eyes dark and jaded.
In silence, the four traveled on, pausing as North Star traced their routes and Wind Whistler flew ever higher taking in the terrain and looking for signs of life. The mountains rose as sharp, jagged blades cutting into the blindingly bright blue sky. The highest peaks were dark, exposed rocks some tipped in patches of lingering snow. Lower, below the path the ponies were forced to take, where the land was jagged and hazardous, grew thick brambles and massive, dark forests. No birds sang, no insects chirred, only the howling wind accompanied them in their now lethally silent journey.
Throughout the day and into the next ten thereafter QB remained silent. His eyes glared at the pegasai and Tex could only guess at Score's anger with the mares for knowing this whole time of his loss. North Star had known about the fillies, Wind Whistler had known as well as the archivist she was in the secret loop Majesty kept between her daughters. Tex paused for a moment, that thought striking him like a boulder to the face. There were no Brother Ponies of Majesty's age, and he could not remember any from his youth.
"Hold up there, Wind Whistler." Tex called, blue eyes glaring as some of Score's ire and his long silence began to infect him. "Princess Tiffany and North Star aren't that much older than Score and me, but I have no memory of any Brother Ponies in Ponyland when we were little."
"You wouldn't," North Star sighed, "Majesty took two stallions to sire Tiffany and me. Neither of us ever knew our fathers, and only the royal archives note who we are related to. Which means the last archivist, Polaris, knew but Wind Whistler has never been allowed to open the old archives.
"Majesty notified Tiffany that you were an acceptable match, she must have access to the archives, but only the next Queen will be allowed access after Majesty." North Star sagged as she spoke, looking as if the secrets she had kept over the years were finally wearing her down.
"Was Majesty always her name?" Tex demanded, beginning to feel as if he had lived a lie his entire life.
"I don't know."
That statement made the others stare in shock at the pink pegasus. Majesty's own daughter might have never known her own dam's name. There were dark secrets in Ponyland and the Brothers were beginning to realize that their many travels had only aided in the fillies keeping their secrets.
"What's that?" Wind Whistler asked, breaking the tension of the group as she jutted her muzzle to a distant hazy peak.
"Pony Feathers!" North Star cried, eyes wide as her jaw dropped, "That's Misty Mountain! It's supposed to be a myth."
"How come I've never heard of it?" Wind Whistler asked, looking at her friend worriedly as if the Brothers' disbelief was rubbing off on her.
North Star sighed, rubbing her eyes wearily with her foreleg. "It was rumored when I was little that my sire came from Misty Mountain, but Majesty adamantly said it was pure fable."
"Then she lied to you," QB said lowly, "Let's move out. We need to reach that mountain."
"Hold up there, Score." Tex called after a few paces, "I thought these were called the Sisters' Mountains for those purdy Sister Ponies." He looked pointed at the pegasai then to QB and back, "So where are they?"
QB looked the rolling forests fare below them over and shook his mane in a massive shudder, "That story was from generations ago, they may have all died out." Without another look QB turned from the others and resumed his trek to the Misty Mountain.
"I don't think he's forgiven ya'll for knowin' about his little fillies before he did." Tex murmured to the pegasai and moved to follow his friend. Behind him the two mares followed, neither one taking wing in the dire atmosphere that had risen between them and the Brother Ponies.
The path they wandered took them slowly down into the treeline where, after days of plodding in the brilliant sunlight they finally found shade beneath massive trees that were untouched by pony kind. The leaves whispered and shuddered, and here, finally birds sand and insets called. Twigs and branches snapped and creaked as animals passed in the underbrush. Here and there a sleepy owl hooted while hawks and eagles soared overhead. For the first time in days they finally felt like their lives had returned to normal.
QB felt his muscles along his shoulders and withers loosen for the first time since discovering that the pegasai knew of his loss before he did. He had been furious at them, at Majesty and especially at Tiffany. The mares in his life had all lied to him, kept secrets from him that never should have been kept. The Princess Ponies could have just invited him to meet little 'Tia and Light, introduced them as someone else's fillies and he wold have believed them willingly.
It was too late now. He had their names, knew that one was white, the other purple and that they were alone, the only little fillies on an island of mares. That last thought made his anger rise again. 'Tia had been nearly eight years old. It was cruel to keep a baby pony away from other baby ponies just because her dam was a princess.
QB huffed his ire, letting it pass as much as he could. It was pointless to blame North Star and Wind Whistler. The pegasai knew little more than he did. He could blame Majesty and Tiffany, probably would for the rest of his life. Still, he found himself wondering what their voices had sounded like. Nostalgia and a longing in his gut made him realize that he wanted to be a daddy to someone, and for a while he had been without even knowing.
Lost in his thoughts of what could have been he trudged on, ignoring the beautiful riot of spring wild flowers growing beneath the trees and the brilliantly plumed birds flitting around. He missed the growing mass of vines snaking through the trees as if lining the path they trod. Instead his world seemed bleak and gray, a hollow existence of a life he could have had.
"Watch out!" Wind Whistler's cry echoed in his ears as he was ripped from the ground with a scream. The world spun around him, heaving and swaying with the net he was trapped in.
"Score!" Tex cried, a snare trapping his hoof and slinging him into the air to dangle discontentedly from the towering trees around them. A muted thunder of wing beats told the brothers that the little ponies had taken to the skies and let them wait in thunderous silence for their captors to appear.
"First Base was warned. You have trespassed for the last time, Adventure Boys." A smooth, sinister female voice spoke from the ground, pulling Tex and QB's eyes to look at her. She was a vision, her coat a dusky lavender, her eyes the electric blue of the dawn highlighted by bright yellow eye shadow. Her mane was a rich hue that matched her coat and from her left ear bloomed a single yellow flower scented of night-blooming jasmine and honeysuckle.
"Ma'am, beggin' yer pardon, but we don't know any 'First Base'." Tex drawled and tipped his head gentle-pony like with his hoof clapped down on his hat to keep it in place.
The slender mare smirked, beautiful and terrible and riveting as she turned to look him head on. "I sincerely doubt that."
"Bull piss," QB cursed crudely borrowing from the northern Ogre's crude language. "We're from the south, from Ponyland. Get us down, NOW."
The mare looked to QB, her eyes widening as he stared her down, unaffected by her entrancing gaze that had held Tex mute. "Prove your words, Adventure Boy."
"North Star!" QB bellowed, summoning the pegasai to the ground. Behind the mare the pegasai landed in hear silence, armed with the short daggers they had hidden in their packs before they left Ponyland.
"Release them, or else." North Star demanded with a shaky voice, eyes wide with fear and trembling but she would not stand down. Beside her Wind Whistler shook visibly and nodded, refusing to back down from her friends' captor.
"I – have never seen any pony so – furry." The strange female blinked, her head cocked curiously. "Where do you hale from?"
"Ponyland." The pegasia responded in unison, their innocent eyes scared and guileless.
The lavender mare nodded her head and bent her regal neck, somehow releasing the Brothers from their traps. Immediately QB and Tex crashed to the ground in a heap.
"Score, next time somepony has us trussed like a steer for auction, ask them ta set us down gently."
QB sighed, "I'll keep that in mind." He stood, shaking himself off then turned to the mare – who was blithely walking away from them. His eyes flashed and he pinned his ears back in rage. "Get back here mare."
She whirled, her bright blue eyes flashing in fury, "Say that again, stallion. I am no one's mare."
"You captured us. We didn't even know this forest was inhabited." Score growled, his violet eyes flashing dangerously.
"Wait, what?" She blinked stupifiedly, "How can you not know?" She paused, eyes losing focus for an instant as her earring glowed with shinning specs of yellow light before dimming just as swiftly. She stared hard at Tex and QB before her, brilliant blue eyes unreadable, "You have been summoned, follow me – all of you, " she glanced at the two pegasai beckoning them as she once more turned – and the others were pulled by an invisible force behind her.
Tex tried to protest, but found himself muzzled. He looked to the others noting their consternation at being forced into silence. Beside him Score's amethyst eyes glowed dark with fury, their depths shining in the forest shadows. As if feeling the burning hate scorching along the back of her neck the mare turned her elegant, long muzzle over her shoulder. Eyes slitted she took in the Brothers' eyes filled with nerves and fury and the two pegasai's filled with fear. Unfazed she turned back, leading them through the verdant forest and the happy calls of birds overhead.
It felt like forever, the sun's light shifting through the trees as the tempertature climbed rapidly from late winter cold to early summer warmth. In the shade of the trees the humidity was swealtering, making sweat soak their coats and salt to form along their necks and flanks. The pegasai were flagging swiftly, their thick fur and heavy wings wearing them down until QB and Tex sidled beside them, taking a wings across their backs to help support the flyers on the path.
Slowly, the forest thickened, shading the bath in deeper darkness and trapping in the coolness from earlier in the day. The trees changed, showing flowering vines climbing up massive trunks liberally coated with hairy moss and flowers growing from crooks in brances. It was beautiful, like a paradise in that hellish forest. A spring trickled along the path, growing into a stream then a river as they continued down the path.
Finally, as the sky speckled through the canopy overhead began to darken towards dusk they found themselves approaching a cobblestone road. Massive trees rose above them, held high in there branches were houses sitting like stones trapped in old growth. Wood and rope causeways lined the trees making roads and pathways before the houses. On the ground open markets and bustling stalls held rich fabrics, strange fruits of all descriptions. Apples colored a rainbow hue and strange fruits that looked more like pastries.
All around them the myriad ponies - all earth ponies, save one or two pegasai - stared as they passed. Once in the village two other Sisters approached. One was pink with sparkling purlple stars shimmering along her entire body, down her legs and even a few small ones twinkling on her cheek. She was a Sister version of a sparkly Twice-As-Fancy pony like Sugarberry. The other Sister was lavender with pink hair simmering with purple streaks that flashed like raw metal in the sunlight. She too was covered in sparkly symbols, only hers were dark purple ribbon bows and little dots.
With the other Sisters arrival QB felt the invisible muzzle fall away. Still he remained quiet, his companions following suit. As they walked along, they noticed something – weird – about this village. There were only fillies, or so Tex thought.
"What are they?" Tex whispered to QB in a nervous murmur.
"I think they're stallions." the blue brother replied hesitantly.
"But they look like bulky little ponies!" Wind Whistler wailed in a whisper.
"We can hear you, strange ponies." the pink sister spoke, her voice rough like tanned leather. "And, you are speaking of our stallions. We do not need your bulging muscles, Adventure Boy."
"Just what in tarnation is an adventure boy?" Tex demanded exasperatedly, "We're Big Brother Ponies."
"Uh huh," The lavender sister snorted elegantly, "That's why First Base keeps sending his scouts to steal away our fillies."
"That would be pointless," QB snorted, "We've got a whole valley full of fillies with only six stallions and a dearth of colts. We need stallions badly."
The first Sister stopped suddenly looking sharly over her shouler. Her arched neck curving sinuously in a near perfect half circle to stare at them. "First Base should have tried that the first time. We might have believed him then."
"For the last time!" QB snarled, "There is no First Base in Ponly Land! We've got a Slugger, not a First Base."
"Springsong!" A regal voice resounded through the village. Before the voice could fade as it echoed amongst the trees every pony fell to their front knee, all save the four captives. Before them, standing like a regal vision was a pure blue Sister without an earring. "They speak the truth. Look closely, sisters, these are the battle stallions of legend, the Sons of Blood Plain."
To be continued ...