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My Little Pony: Where Griffons Go to Die

Epilogue: One Earth, One Sky

"Oh tell me the story again! Please please please!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Oh please…?"

Brave Thunderhooves snorted in frustration. There was no dealing with Little Strongheart. If three "pleases" didn't get her what she wanted, why did she think uttering "please" five-

"Please?"

…scratch that, six times would make a difference?

"Come on chief, just once more? For me?"

Thunderhooves snorted again, even as he continued sharpening his horns. No-one said buffalo weren't persistent. Certainly not the coyotes that were encroaching upon their lands. But he hoped that Little Strongheart would devote her persistence to keeping herself alive, now that the one who had helped them years ago had moved on. The one who had learnt and imparted so much in the ways of healing. The one who the young buffalo beside him wanted to hear about. Again.

"Chief? You even listening to me?"

Thunderhooves grunted in response.

He was tired of this. Tired of fending off coyote attacks with the knowledge that if any buffalo became wounded, they didn't have the Kind Wanderer to help them. Tired of Strongheart's badgering, and her insistence of calling him "chief," maintaining that he would become the next leader of the Teton Tribe once Chief Hardhorn met his ancestors.

"Come on Thundy, you can do it."

The buffalo snorted. No, he couldn't. He couldn't sing the story. He could run, he could fight, he could stampede from one side of the San Palomino Desert to the other, but by the ancestors, he couldn't sing.

"Please…?"

Unless Little Strongheart did the "stare" on him.

The brave sighed and turned to face the youngling before him. Someday she wouldn't be little, but for now, she seemed quite content to get everything out of her age that she could. Apparently Quagga and Teton cultures were similar in this regard, only names in the Teton were as eternal as the land of Mother Earth.

"Alright," Thunderhooves said. "I'll tell…sing…the story. As best as I can remember."

"Yay!"

And just like that, Little Strongheart plopped down. Ready to hear the story of the Kind Wanderer. The one who had helped the Teton when he was little older than Strongheart was today. The one who had moved even further north, seeing what the so-called Everfree Forest had to offer. Letting out a snort before clearing his throat, Thunderhooves began to sing.

Oh let me tell you a story,

Of a land under cloudless sky.

A land that's far south of this desert,

A land where a griffon did die.

…

For long I awaited my sun mark,

To receive the sun goddess's gaze.

But now truth I know, the sun up above,

Is simply the giver of rays.

…

It couldn't last, and so I searched,

When I saw a stranger fly by.

A griffon of being, Vultur his name,

He had come to Uhuru to die.

…

The mountain I climbed, the griffon I found,

With my staff I was ready to strike.

But my blows came to nothing, the griffon awoke,

But we managed to avoid a fight.

…

Oh so long we talked, I rambled he squawked,

Until I learnt to speak in rhyme.

But it couldn't last due to affliction,

My new friend was so short on time.

…

Vultur did die, but my purpose revived,

And my sun mark I received.

To help who I could, to do what I should,

Traveling north with the breeze.

…

Once my name was Oromo, the one that was little,

Zecora, my name it is now.

Kind Wander one, under sky and sun,

How I came to you, well you know how.

…

But now I must leave, I hear call of the breeze,

Everfree Forest, my next stop.

There are new herbs to find, I hear that ponies are kind,

In the forest I will set up shop.

…

I've seen so much of the world, its beauty unfurled,

Under sun, cloud, sky and rain.

And I owe it all to a griffon, my friend,

And I will never forget my friend's name.

"And she won't forget us, right?" the young buffalo asked Thunderhooves.

"I do not think so," the brave answered, more glad that his story was over and he could get back to making his own. "The Kind Wanderer once said that while elephants…whatever they are…never forget, that zebras aren't too far down the line."

"And we'll see her again, right?" Little Strongheart asked. "We will, right?"

Thunderhooves remained silent.

He wanted to reassure the young buffalo. Wanted to tell her that their healer and friend would return to the tribe, bringing new medicine, tales, and rhymes that the shaman could utter far better than himself. But he doubted it. He'd suspected from the start that she couldn't stay with them forever. Even as she lingered. Even as she aged, as her voice became deeper, and her mane thinner. And sooner or later, she'd move away from the forest she wanted to explore. No doubt she would make new friends that would last a lifetime, but distance would again turn out to be a factor.

"Thundy?"

"I'm sure we'll see her again," the brave lied, snorting affectionately at the girl. "After all…" He pointed up to the sky with one of his hooves, while scraping in the dirt with another. "It is one earth. One sky. Remember that, and we will never be far apart."

It seemed to placate Strongheart.

And looking at the sun set to the west, Thunderhooves found that the thought brought comfort to himself as well.

The End

A/N

This was meant to go up ages ago, but work hours and the like made me miss two updates. Anyway, finally finished the story. For what it's worth, my original conception was for the epilogue to involve Zecora relating her story in Equestria via rhyme/song form before moving on to Ponyville, but it didn't feel right. Partly because I needed to factor in some prejudice in this setting, partly because it seemed a bit big-headed for her. Hence changed the context and setting.

Don't have any more stories in this setting to write right now I'm afraid. Currently writing a Prometheus story titled The New Black Gold for what it's worth.

Update (18/07/14): Made some writing corrections.