Two

             “Did they come from the Everfree forest?” asked Muse while she hunched over, letting Ivory pick glass out of her sides. Ivory hesitated, biting her lip as she worked a piece of glass out. The pegasus squeaked, and cringed a bit. The piece made an innocent tinkle as it was tossed in a dark corner of the cave they had found shelter in. It turns out, running blindly though the desert had been a terrible idea. Once the adrenaline faded, the exertion made their injuries even worse. After realizing they were in the middle of a desert without aid, The mares found, and squirmed into a narrow cave opening, and there, they tried to regroup.

“Not likely.” Ivory replied. “The Princesses wouldn’t let those things exist in Equestria.”

“Tartarus  then?” returned Muse. The unicorn’s ears flicked, uncertainly. She gave Muse a once over, and nudged her, signaling that the last of the glass was removed.

“How would Tartarus get opened though? The Princesses wouldn’t let that happen…Especially Princess Twilight.” Ivory bit her lip again after finishing her thought. Silence fell between them. Nothing about this evening seemed like something the Princesses would allow if they were able to do anything about it.

“This is really bad then.” Muse stated, sitting up a little. Her back leg that was attacked by the tentacles stung, but there wasn’t much to do about it. It looked like she was going to be exercising her wings for awhile.

“Maybe a dark mage opened Tartarus.” Ivory whimpered. “Wide enough to let those things out. I bet the Princesses are working it out now. By morning, everything will be okay. Those things will be back in Tartarus.”

“But what about the stars?” The pegasus looked towards the crack of a cave opening where they could see a sliver of the empty sky.

“M-Maybe the Night Princess is redecorating the sky.” The mare’s voice wavered, struggling to find a mental footing.

“Luna can’t move the stars. The Maker made them for navigation.” She rolled her eyes at the unicorn irritably. Little pegasi learned that tale before they could fly. Ivory stamped her hoof.

“I suppose you know everything about the Princess. You’re best friends, right?” The unicorn snorted, nerves fraying.

Muse shut her mouth, holding back the wave of petty retorts. The other mare was close to a breakdown. The pegasus stayed quiet, waiting for her indignation to simmer down.

“What do we do, then?” She asked. Ivory glanced at her from the corner she had retreated to. The pony looked at the dirt silently.

“We wait here. The Princesses will work it out. They always do.”

The two ponies curled up as silence settled between them. Muse stared out at the black night. Wait for the Princesses. She had to admit, it was reasonable. It’s what everyone did, really. It had been well over sixty years since the ascension of Princess Twilight, and the return of the Night Princess. Together, Princesses Celestia, Luna and Twilight vanquished nearly every evil thing to creep into Equestria. They were incredibly powerful, astonishingly good and devoted to the ponies they ruled. And until the past few decades, the Heroes of Equestria, five mares who adventured and fought with Princess Twilight, helped protect the kingdom. That was well in the past though. Muse remembered when she was a little filly, all the pegasi in the land wept at the funeral of one of the Heroes; 'The greatest pegasus to live-' Muse’s father had muttered, switching off the broadcast. ‘A world without rainbows’ the newspapers had cried. It had been a long time before the weather pegasi let rainbows appear. Except on the anniversary of her death. As a quiet reminder of the race’s love for their hero.

Equestria today was low on heroes.

Muse thought that maybe, one of the original Heroes still lived, somewhere. She couldn’t remember who, off the top of her head. And really, did it matter? A creaky, old pony wouldn’t stand a chance against those tentacles.

The pegasus sighed and rolled onto her back, staring at the cave’s ceiling absently. She had never slept in a cave before. Normally, the opportunity would be met with a sense of excitement and adventure. Magpie loved collecting experiences. Surely experience in a cave would vitalize something in her storytelling. Add some fresh detail. Sniffing the air, Muse closed her eyes as she took in the stagnant, moist air. There was an earthy musk of lichen and mold, and mud, an underneath that, the scent of sulfur. She could hear the lonely drip-drops of water from stalactites hitting the cave floor. The pony curled up tighter, her honey colored eyes looking back into the darkness of the cave. For awhile, she was silent.

“Ivory?” She called. Silence. Muse’s nerves rattled in distress. She got up and took a few steps towards Ivory’s corner, calling louder. “Ivory!”

“What.” The tired growl made Muse smile. The pegasus folded her wings.

“I was worried something got you.” She whispered apologetically. There was silence again in Ivory’s corner. Had she fallen asleep? Or was the unicorn disgruntled by Muse’s concern?

“Well.” Ivory’s voice started hesitantly. “I’m fine.”

              The two settled back down, trying to find the spots they had already warmed with their bodies. After a moment, Ivory called out, quietly. “What did you want, anyway?”

Muse stretched, looking around the cave again. “I was wondering if you reckoned we might be in a Diamond Dog cave.” She replied, resting her head on her folded forelegs. “I don’t know the difference, if there is one.”

A green light filled the cave, emanating from the unicorn’s horn. Ivory stood and looked around unsteadily, checking for lurking Diamond Dogs waiting to gobble up the tired ponies. Or worse, Magpie added darkly, the image of the destroyed train stuck in her mind. Screams kept echoing in her ears. Nervously, Ivory crept over towards Muse.

“Maybe. Maybe we should stick close.” The unicorn said, trying to sound matter-of-fact as she settled down beside Muse. “Just in case.”

The presence of another body at Muse’s back comforted the pony with its added warmth. Blearily, she turned her head to watch the cave entrance.  Her eyelids grew heavy with every blink, and in a moment, she slipped away from the world.

Light, piercing the darkness of Muse’s dreams, was the thing that finally roused her from a dead-pony’s sleep. She grimaced, moving her head from the blinking light. The next thing she noticed was the dry sandpaper-y feeling in her mouth. She smacked her lips around, trying to wet them, but all that came of it was the uncomfortable feeling that they would need to leave the cave sooner than Ivory thought. Water, the pony thought mournfully.

Sitting up, she stretched her wings, blinking in the light. Then she finally noticed the ponies weren’t alone.

“Luna’s tits.” With a few flaps Muse hovered in the air, staring at the floor in horror. Only patches of the cave floor peeked through the wriggling carpet of slithering horrors. Terror squeezed her heart. Those things from the train. They had found the ponies. The two silly, foolish ponies who thought they could run and hide from such terrible monsters. Any minute now she expected to feel those long barbs pierce her skin like hungry needles, dragging her down to the floor where the mass of scarlet arms would slowly crawly over her, ripping her skin, her muscle, tearing into her bones. Muse’s breath hitched, and even in the dry heat, she trembled, seeing the stallion’s body ripped apart again. She had to go, she had to escape. The pony darted towards the cave entrance, beginning to scramble out of it. Behind her, Ivory screamed. Muse felt a brief pang of guilt. Leaving a pony to die like that… The stallion screamed again in Muse's ears and her nostrils remembered the smell of blood and waste spilling from the body. But it was too late to save the Unicorn now. Muse was pulling herself out of the narrow opening of the cave when Ivory squealed:

“I HATE snakes.” Muse felt Ivory’s bony body slam into her back end. “Let me out, let me OUT!”

The unicorn shoved and the pair tumbled down the hill, landing sprawled out on the sand. Ivory shivered, getting up and shaking herself off.

“Hhhhhhruagh.” She shivered in disgust. “Snakes.”

Muse sat up slowly, avoiding looking at the unicorn. Snakes. Her ear rotated towards the cave, where she heard some vaguely confused and annoyed hissing. Of course it was snakes. Hiding from the desert sun. Her hoof made little circles in the sand. She was just going to abandon Ivory. The pony she saved from the train. The pony who had saved her from the tentacle. How quickly ponies became monsters, Muse berated herself, miserably.

“Muse,” The unicorn started, her rose eyes wide in concern. “Look at the sky.”

Muse looked up, lips parting in surprise. Where there should be a bright blue sky, to see birds singing in, and puffy white clouds drifting it; there was something new. The sky was muted, and had a dull, dirty tint to it. The sun still shone, but its divine brightness appeared to be stifled by something. The air felt still and stagnant. Looking around, the desert had the same muted wash over it. It was absurd, surreal. The world just didn’t change colors. A lump lodged itself in Muse’s throat, and her wings tensed restlessly; wanting to escape. She wanted to fly to run, to find a place safe from the drained looking Equestria. She was afraid, wildly so. The nightmares from last night resurfaced, twisting her stomach into intricate knots.

“You think this is still something from Tartarus?” Muse asked, wrapping her wings tight around her.

“Maybe it’s a spell Princess Twilight cast. She casts a lot of spells.” Ivory whispered, unconvinced by her own suggestion. Muse stood, looking at the ground to avoid staring at the strange sky.

“A spell…yeah, maybe.” She said, doubtfully. They needed to get out of the desert. They needed to find somepony to tell them that the Princesses were on top of it. That Equestria was safe. Muse’s ears flattened to her skull: Equestria was always safe. Always. Yet, now, she felt like a little filly stuck on a wayward cloud by herself, with no ponies or parents in sight.

The pegasus, lifted her head and looked up at the unicorn, wincing at the sight. The pony was streaked with ash, blood and sweat. Her bun had come undone and now her mane fell down in limp, lifeless purple and mint locks that halfheartedly curled at the ends. Half of her forehead was crusted over with blood, and her body was covered in scratches and gouges from the glass. The pegasus must look just as gross. Muse noticed that the unicorn's glasses were still there, though cracked and looking far worse for the wear.

“Can you see okay?” Muse asked in concern. Ivory sighed, removing her glasses.

The unicorn bit her lip, clearly worried. “Things up close are fine. The horizon is one big fog though.”

“I won’t go too far, then.” Muse promised. And she meant it. The pegasus felt responsible for the unicorn, in part for last night, and in part for Muse’s instinctive reaction to leave the unicorn behind. There would be no more of that, she resolved.

“So, what now?” Ivory asked, looking around at the hazy sand-filled wasteland. It seemed to stretch on for miles. Muse tested the pressure on her two bad hooves, whimpering softly at the pain. She’d be flying today. As for where to fly to, Muse ran her dry tongue over the roof of her mouth.

“We need to find water.” She decided. The pegasus looked around, trying to get her bearings. Ivory clued in and also began looking around, carefully.

“There’s a few little clouds up there.” Ivory pointed out. “Why don’t you go fly up there and squeeze some water out.”

Her wings snapped to Muse’s sides in trepidation. Both ponies looked at the sky, considering the idea. Muse didn’t trust it. She felt sure that if she flew up there, the dull sky would strike her down, or burn her; like the old ponytail of a unicorn who tried to touch the sun with gossamer wings.

“I don’t think there are enough clouds to get anything decent.” The pegasus replied hesitantly. It was true, she told herself. Wispy little clouds held little water. Ivory nodded, accepting the answer, and the smaller pony sighed in relief, letting go of the mounting defense she had begun to build in her head. The unicorn squinted, judging the desert quietly.

“We came from that direction.” The unicorn said. She thought a bit longer. Sitting down, Ivory lifted a rock with her magic and made an ugly, rough map of Equestria. “We’re here, in the San Palamino desert”

Ivory added a few lines crossing the map.

“These are the main railroads in Equestria. Now, before we started crossing the desert, we stopped here, in Appleloosa.” She circled a vague area where the city should be. Muse snorted, shaking her head.

“It would take all day to reach Appleloosa. At least.” The pegasus protested. She doubted they’d make it a day in this heat without a drink. Ivory looked up and gave Magpie a very irritated look that was unsettlingly similar to the look teachers reserved for Muse as a filly.

“There’s a river that intersects with Appleloosa, and goes off in this direction…” Ivory gestured. “If we head…that way, you should be able to spot it from the air eventually.”

“Oh.” The pegasus blinked. That was much more reasonable. Ivory nodded to Muse and headed off. With a few flaps, Muse coasted after the unicorn.

“How’d you know all that stuff?” Magpie asked, curiously. “I thought you were a glorified librarian.”

“Last summer I helped archive maps of Equestrian history, at the Trottingham Historical Society.” Ivory answered, beaming a bit. “I guess staring at townships and maps of railroad expansion for hours on end stuck some tidbits in my head.”

“Impressive.” Muse admitted. “I can barely navigate my way out of a paper bag.”

“Some pegasus you are.” Ivory smiled. Magpie harrumphed, ducking her head in annoyance.

                “I’m going to fly higher.” She said, though not too high, she added to herself. “Start looking for your river.”

                The pegasus paused for a moment, poised to rise into the sky. Hooves dropping to the ground, Muse tipped her head at Ivory. “I wasn’t lying,” She said, uncomfortably. Ivory stared at the pegasus blankly, not comprehending why Muse seemed so nervous and hesitant.

                  Muse pushed further, “The clouds. I wasn’t lying about them. You know that, right?”

                  Ivory’s face crinkled into a confused smile.

“Of course?” She replied, eyebrows quirking. Muse sighed, and nodded, then leapt into the air.

The sun beat down on the earth with dry, lip cracking blasts of heat, with an intensity Muse had never really experienced before. The occasional gusts of wind did little to ease the pain. Instead, the wind trickled her salty sweat into the scabs, which stung angrily. Sand blew in her face, coating her sweaty fur with sand, which then dried, and itched. Her hooves be damned, Muse found herself making frequent stops to trot beside Ivory. The pegasus lied and made an excuse about checking on the unicorn, but really, the dehydration was beginning to make it hard to keep going. She wondered if maybe finding in a cave and curling up to die there wouldn’t have been a better choice. Distantly, Muse recollected last night’s cave. It was so cool there, cool and damp. What she would give to be back there, relaxing in the cool mud and-

Muse dropped out of the air.

“Our cave had water in it. I remember hearing it!” Muse exclaimed in a cracking shout. “How stupid-“

“There were snakes all over that cave,” Ivory dismissed airily. “How would we have dealt with them? All for what could have been a couple of gross puddles.”

“It would have been something-“

“Well, the river will be something.”

If we FIND the river, Muse sullenly growled in her mind. If we don’t die here first. Anger fueled her liftoff, which blew sand into Ivory’s eyes. Looking down, Muse glimpsed the unicorn coughing and rubbing at her eyes. The petty act made Muse feel better about their situation. Cheered up, the pony coasted through the air, soaring higher to stare at the horizon. How could Ivory be so airy and quick to dismiss what might have been their only chance of survival? The unicorn’s refusal to acknowledge their dire situation was beginning to dig its way beneath Muse’s skin. Ivory had fallen apart in fear and panic last night, at the fire and the blood and those…things. She only got out because Muse kept it together. Muse shoved the unicorn out the window, kept Ivory running until they were safe. But then as soon as the cave enveloped them, the unicorn started spouting off airy optimisms.

‘Oh the Princesses will save us.’

‘Everything will be fine.’

‘We don’t need the only water we have found in this blistering desert; SNAKES are there.’

What happens if something attacks them? What if monsters return? How was Muse supposed to protect somepony so stupidly blind to why they should be afraid? The pegasus was scared that Ivory’s dismissal of the threats surrounding the two would get the pony killed. Then Muse would be alone, with absolutely nopony else in this desert but flesh-eating monsters that destroy trains. Or worse, what if Ivory snapped to reality when danger was rearing its head, and then she lost it again?

The pony lost herself in quiet frets and fears, running over scenario after scenario. She saw herself in those tentacles being ripped apart in the night again and again, while Ivory cowered in the dirt. She saw them finding salvation at the end of the desert, and then saw the mares dying in the desert, never to be found again. Eventually the morbid imaginings began to unsettle the grey and blue pony, and she looked around the eerie, dim landscape.  Find the river, she told herself. Her previous thoughts darkened her mind again with pessimism. Her stomach felt like lead as she scanned the world, preparing for defeat.

Instead, Muse’s jaw dropped.

There it was. Glittering in the distance, a winding streak of blue cutting through the endless sand, the river beckoned Muse to its bosom. All the relief and joy of the sight was snipped short by Muse’s initial reaction. Ivory was right. Airy, frustratingly calm Ivory Spire the librarian was right about the river.

“Celestia’s plot.” The pegasus flapped her wings, reluctant to announce the sight, to reward Ivory’s close-minded actions. She was tempted to not tell, being petty just a little longer. Muse looked down, checking on Ivory. The unicorn trudged forward, her head hanging down. Every once in awhile, she paused, looking around like a nervous rabbit wary of wolves. Ivory might have been able to guess what direction would be the best choice, but without glasses distant things were scary blurs. The mare watched as Ivory squinted up at the sky, looking for her companion. The unicorn’s hope was on Muse. Guilt nibbled at Muse again, and she swooped down. .

“Ivory! The river’s just up ahead.” She exclaimed, as Ivory’s head perked up. “You were right.”

“Really? It’s not a mirage?” The unicorn asked hesitantly.  Muse grinned, shaking her head. Ivory returned the smile, a crack of relief ad exhaustion showing on her face.  “Thank Celestia. I was starting to worry. I’m so tired…”

“Well, get a move on then, or I'll drink the whole thing before you get a shot.” Muse nudged the pony. Together they trotted the final stretch of angry heat and sand. They smelled the water first. The fresh scent of water and reeds wafted though the air. The sand became mud under their shaky hooves. Muse plunged straight into the water, face first.  The water felt better than a healer pony’s magic. The pegasus broke the surface of the water and let out a sigh, swimming along the surface.

Ivory had gotten knee-deep into the water and then collapsed. The unicorn stayed there, soaking in the water with her eyes shut. A couple of relieved tears slipped down the milky pony’s cheeks. Maybe all that optimism was just an attempt to be brave, to keep Ivory from fraying away at the nerves. Except for the snake thing, Muse thought as she prickled, that was just the unicorn being a fussy mare. Muse felt compelled to do something, to try to cheer the unicorn up. To do something normal and not driven by fear of death. Or maybe to simply relax both Ivory and herself.  Feeling inspired by the cool water, Magpie drifted towards the unicorn mischievously.

“Don’t.” Ivory opened an eye to watch the approaching mare. Muse flashed a toothy grin, paddling closer. Wet cerulean locks fell in the mare’s face as she glanced at Ivory slyly.

“Don’t what?” Muse asked innocently. The unicorn tipped her head to one side as she regarded Muse.

“Whatever you’re thinking of, featherbrain.”

Grinning, Muse replied. “I’m just makin’ sure my buddy Milky Spire is alright.”

Ivory bristled. “Milky?”

“I mean, we survived the desert, and a cave of eeeevil snakes,“ Muse rolled her eyes, stifling a smile.

“Are you being funny? I’m not laughing.” The haughty unicorn sniffed. Muse gestured at Ivory.

“Mare, you’re such an stiff little egghead. Know what I think?”

Both of Ivory’s ruby eyes were fixated on the pegasus.

“What?”

Muse leaned closer to Ivory. “To cool off.”

“Yeah?” Ivory’s eyes narrowed into a steely. Muse gave an affirmative nod.

“Yup.”

The two mares acted simultaneously. Muse spread her wings and sent a mighty splash of water towards the unicorn who ducked with a squeal and lit up her horn, magically splashing the pegasus. Muse laughed and chased after the unicorn, beating her wings to drench the unicorn. Ivory spluttered, looking even bonier after getting hit by Muse’s wave of water. She glared up at Muse who fluttered in the air. After a moment, a childish grin cracked over Ivory’s face. The next moment her magic splashed water at the pegasus who fell to the river bank and sprinted away from the unicorn.

The pair continued taunting and splashing each other, their shouts and laughter the only sound for miles. For a few moments, the river washed away the nightmares of monsters, and legless stallions, and screams in a burning night. For a few moments, they were just two mares, who found life in the desert, and just wanted to laugh.