Chapter 423: We Can Go Anywhere We Want

Mavis’s silver-white hair was slightly disheveled, with a smudge of charcoal across her cheek, and she was still wearing her weathered leather blacksmith’s apron over her blouse.

She had clearly come straight from her workshop, drawn by the commotion.

But despite her being barely half the height of the centaurs around her, she carried herself with the unmistakable authority of someone who knew she was the smartest person in any room she entered.

"Mavis!" One of the centaurs brightened. "You finally came out! We thought you were going to stay in that workshop forever!"

"We thought you might still be upset about yesterday."

"Are you alright? You’re not still—"

Mavis’s expression darkened.

"If anyone brings up what happened yesterday, I’ll make sure to leave a few dents in their swords the next time they need repairs."

The centaurs who had been about to tease her promptly shut their mouths. Several of them took a step backward.

Mavis nodded, satisfied. It was good to see that her authority remained intact.

And the fact that she was already threatening people again meant she was back to her usual self, which was a relief to everyone who had witnessed her uncharacteristic vulnerability yesterday.

"Mavis! MASTER MAVIS!"

Nella and the other little ponies came galloping toward her and they surrounded her in a tide of eager, fluffy adoration.

"You’re here! You’re finally here!"

"We’ve been waiting forever!"

"Did you hear about the surprise?! The Evil Hero is doing something big!"

"No one will tell us what it is! Not even the elders!"

"Do you know, Master? You know everything!"

Mavis gave a genuine, fond smile that was reserved almost exclusively for her little disciples.

She reached down and ruffled Nella’s hair, then did the same for the other ponies who crowded close.

It was an amusing sight: Mavis herself looked rather like a pony, just a slightly larger one, and here she was petting ponies as if they were her own miniature reflections.

"I appreciate the faith, little ones. But even I don’t know everything in the world. If you want someone to predict the future, you’d be better off asking the Queen of the Lamia Clan."

She paused, then glanced around the crowd with an expression that was carefully casual.

"Speaking of which...is my sister here?"

Nella shook her head. "Commander Sigrid is with the Hero right now. She hasn’t come out yet."

Mavis’s shoulders relaxed. She hadn’t exactly been dreading seeing Sigrid, the two of them would have to talk eventually, she knew that.

But she wasn’t quite ready for that confrontation yet.

Not after the things she had said, the things Sigrid had said, and the way everything had ended so badly between them.

"Mavis!"

Poppy’s voice cut through the crowd, and the little unicorn queen came over on Thea’s back.

"Mavis, do you know what’s going on? The elders wouldn’t tell me anything!"

"They kept saying it was a surprise and I had to wait and then the Hero shooed me! Actually shooed me, like I was a common barn animal and I still have no idea what’s happening!"

Mavis opened her mouth to respond with something witty, when Thea suddenly stiffened.

Her ears swiveled forward, and her entire body went taut with alertness.

"You all hear that?"

"Hear what, Thea?" Poppy asked. "I don’t hear anything."

"No." Thea’s voice was quiet but certain. "I definitely hear something." She turned, pointing toward the distant rolling highlands that surrounded the village. "Coming from that direction."

The crowd fell silent. One by one, centaurs turned their heads and strained their ears.

And then they heard it.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The unmistakable sound of hooves striking earth.

"Someone’s coming." A centaur murmured. "Running. At full speed."

"But who could it possibly be?" Mavis frowned, her sharp mind already working through the possibilities.

"Everyone’s gathered here. All the young warriors, all the able-bodied centaurs. There’s no one left who could run at that speed except—"

An instant wave of dread washed over the younger centaurs.

"Is it...Is it the males?!"

"Are the male centaurs coming back?!"

"The day of the trial hasn’t even arrived yet! Why are they here now?!"

"Are they attacking us?! Are they trying to threaten us?!"

Several centaurs reached for weapons that weren’t there, their earlier casual demeanor replaced by tension.

But Thea quickly calmed them. "It’s not the males. The rhythm is wrong, there are too many hoofsteps. This is someone else."

The tension shifted to confusion.

"Then who could it possibly be?"

They all stared toward the horizon, waiting with bated breath.

The sound grew closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Until finally—

Over the crest of the nearest hill, silhouetted against the amber light of the setting sun, they appeared.

The elders...

...Running!!!

For a moment, the entire square went absolutely silent. It was the silence of a hundred minds simultaneously refusing to process what their eyes were seeing.

Because what they were seeing was impossible.

These were the same elders who had limped and shuffled and leaned on their grandchildren.

The same elders who hadn’t run in years—in decades, some of them.

And yet there they were. Galloping across the highlands with the speed and grace of centaurs half their age.

Their manes streaming behind them. Their tails lashing with the joy of motion. And their faces split into grins so wide they almost looked young again!

"I’m dreaming." Someone whispered. "I have to be dreaming."

"I just helped my grandmother into the hall this morning. She couldn’t walk without leaning on me. how is she running?!"

"Me too! I applied ointment to my mother’s leg three hours ago. She said it was aching. She said she might never walk properly again!"

"This...This is an illusion. A mass hallucination. Someone put something in the water!"

But they knew it wasn’t an illusion. The ground literally trembled beneath their hooves as the elders thundered toward the village, their laughter and shouts of joy carrying on the wind.

When they finally arrived, the scene descended into beautiful chaos.

Families rushed toward each other, tears streaming down faces, voices breaking with emotion.

"GRANDMOTHER!"

A young centaur burst forward, catching Filda in her arms as she slowed to a halt.

"How—how is this possible?! I was just helping you into the bathroom and hour ago! You couldn’t even stand without me!"

Filda laughed in a jubilant manner.

"Look at me now, child! Look!" She stepped back and did a small, triumphant circle, her legs moving with fluid grace. "No pain! No stiffness! I feel like I’m forty years younger!"

"But HOW?!"

"The Hero! The Hero brought us something—some kind of device—I don’t understand how it works, but I don’t CARE how it works! I can WALK again! I can RUN!"

Another elder was showing off to her stunned family, lifting each leg in turn to demonstrate the sleek prosthetics strapped to them.

"See? See?! They fit perfectly! It’s like they were made for me—well, they were made for me—and I barely even feel them! Watch this!" She broke into a short gallop, then a jump, then a playful spin that made her grandchildren shriek with delight.

"Grandma, you’re going to hurt yourself!"

"I’ve spent nine years being careful! I’m done being careful!"

All around the square, similar scenes were playing out.

Families clustered together, weeping and laughing and embracing.

Daughters who had spent years watching their mothers deteriorate were now watching them dance.

Grandchildren who had only ever known their grandmothers as frail, housebound figures were now being chased by them in games of tag.

It was beautiful, emotional, overwhelming chaos!

And at the center of it all, Agnes stood before her own family.

Riley was frozen. Her green eyes were wide, her hands clamped over her mouth. Beside her, Nella was trembling, her small body practically vibrating with barely contained emotion.

"Well?" Agnes said, her voice light, almost teasing. "No words for your old mother? I seem to recall you boasting, Riley, that you could beat me in a race. Something about how I was ’past my prime’ and ’couldn’t keep up with the younger generation.’"

She arched an eyebrow. "Care to test that theory now?"

Riley’s eyes glistened. She had grown up watching her powerful, magnificent mother command the Galloping Brigade with the strength and grace of a warrior born.

And then she had watched that same mother struggle to walk, to stand, to simply move without pain.

It had broken something in her that she had never quite managed to repair.

But now—

Agnes looked down at Nella, who was standing a few steps away.

The little pony’s lip was trembling. Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. She looked, for the first time in a while, like the child she actually was, rather than the miniature adult she tried so desperately to be.

"Nella." Agnes said, as she lowered herself down to the little pony’s level with a grace that would have been impossible for her just an hour ago.

"Sweetheart. What’s wrong?"

"You...You can walk." Nella whispered.

"I can."

"And...run."

"I can do that too."

"And jump." Nella’s voice trembled. "Y-You can jump. I saw you."

"I can do all of those things now, little one."

Nella stared at her grandmother for a long moment. And then, in a voice so small it was barely audible:

"Does that mean...does that mean we can go to the Spectral Gardens now? Together? Like you always promised?"

Agnes felt her heart crack open.

The Spectral Gardens.

Nella had been asking to go for years, ever since she was old enough to understand that there was a place beyond the village where bioluminescent flowers bloomed in the darkness and the air itself shimmered with ancient magic.

It was a cherished memory for many centaurs: grandmothers taking their granddaughters to see the gardens for the first time, passing down stories as they walked among the glowing blooms.

But Agnes had never been able to take her.

Her legs wouldn’t allow it. The journey was too far, the terrain too rough.

Every time Nella asked, Agnes had to make another excuse and watch her granddaughter’s hopeful expression crumble into disappointment.

Until now.

"Yes." Agnes said, and her voice broke on the word. "Yes, Nella. We can go to the Spectral Gardens."

"Wherever you want to go, wherever it is, your grandmother can take you! I can take you anywhere now!"

That was it. That was the moment Nella’s carefully constructed walls came crashing down.

"GRANDMA!"

She launched herself into Agnes’s arms, sobbing openly. "

"Grandma!" She sobbed. "Grandma, you’re back! You’re really back! I can’t believe it! I was so scared you’d never—and I thought—and I didn’t want to say anything because I knew it made you sad, but I wanted to go so badly, and now—"

"Nella." Agnes wrapped her arms around her granddaughter and held her tight. "Nella, sweetheart. I’m sorry it took so long. I’m so sorry."

"Don’t be sorry! Don’t EVER be sorry! You can walk now! That’s all that matters!"

Riley joined the embrace, and the grandmother, daughter, granddaughter trio stood there crying and laughing and holding each other as the world around them blurred into insignificance.