Chapter 1: A Fated Meeting

Chapter 1
A Fated Meeting

"Hey guys!! Let's get going, we have a long trip and your lazy flanks aren't gonna help." The yellow earth pony stallion yelled into the horizon.

"Whatcha say?" A voice called out in response.

"I said get your flanks moving fillies!" Crescent shouted back.

Four other ponies materialized from the shadows all very differential from each other.

The biggest of the four was a large unicorn stallion with a light brown coat; his mane is shaggy and long covering both his eyes and a dark brown in color. Years of not trimming it seemed. His bulkiness was rather impressive since it had been of pure muscle. The tank of the group. It wasn't difficult to picture him wearing megaton armor going berserk and charging through a sea of enemies. His use of reinforcing magic and with his own strength, his resistance seemed unmatchable. He usually healed anyone who would get hurt and if he wasn't able to fight, he'd give everyone else a magic enhancement.

Hazel didn't mind his company at all, she was more than happy to have him at their side. She felt safe under his guidance and protection, a side effect of his guardian-like appearance. Although he was quiet most of the time, he would tend to crack some jokes now and again with everyone else. When there would be arguing among them, he would be the one to bring everyone at peace again.

An agile and thin unicorn mare stood at his right side. Iris' short dark red mane complimented the lighter shade of red her coat bore. Her expressions wore a sign of deadly and assassin all over it. You could easily imagine her in a black tight suit dodging traps easily, taking down the hard to reach foes. Her strong use in both arcane and stealth magic made her a powerful member. Although she required time to cast for the more powerful spells, an invisibility or obstruction of a foe spell would work just fine as she took her time while everyone else would distract long enough.

Aside from being the only other mare besides herself, she was very kind and above all generous. Back when she had joined she shared all the supplies she had with them even if it was just little enough to sustain her own self. Despite her appearance, Iris has a lighter side. She enjoys and appreciates every moment she has with them. It's the last thing any pony has and that is each other. She also was keen in improving everyone else's mood with the help of an obnoxious yet funny stallion, Ziggy.

The tall, sharp Pegasus stallion that looked less of a tank and more of a street fighter flew on top of them. His neon green mane stood him well apart from everyone and even himself as his coat was silvery-grey. He usually placed everypony in a fit of frustration and annoyance with his stupid remarks and rude attitude. Although he was insufferable at times, he was still a precious asset to the emotional part of the group. Without him, there would be no smiles or laughs. Ziggy surely brought out both the best and the worst of every pony. No need to imagine him, he came with the getup. Wearing only a red sash and belt, he really did look like a street fighter.

His physical abilities could not be compared. He didn't need a weapon to create as much havoc and damage as he could, armed with only his hoofs, Ziggy could cause fissures if so desired. Although his body had been built for pure strength and as an effect slowed him down, as a Pegasus, he was still capable of getting up close and out faster than most of his foes. His strength matched his attitude, both were wild and untamed. With issued orders, he was a much better fighter when he needed to be.

Then there was Eiffel, a dark blue earth pony with a black mane who trailed several feet behind every pony, his face held a noticeable scar that ran down at the very end of his eye. He hardly talked at all; in fact, the only time he would really talk it would be only to point out battle strategies and suggestions that never seized to amaze every pony. Other times it would only be to respond to orders with "Okay" or "Yeah" and other than that, he stood silent even when the party would joke.

To Hazel, there was no telling what his intentions are, and no pony dared question him. The things he would suggest were dark but efficient and effective and no one really dared question him. No pony really liked being around him but they made due as he was the most important asset to the party. He'd save them more than seemed comfortable. Now if only he had a black leather gun coat and dark shades then it would fit him well.

Hazel didn't particularly disliked him, he was the first pony she had met, and with his help, they managed to find the others and form a party to survive. She was although afraid of his abilities. He was unnatural on all levels of the word. He was like a hybrid of everyone. With sheer force, stealth, and resistance, it stood him as the most powerful and mysterious one of them all and the main reason they have survived for so long. Throughout all that time, she could never figure him out, mostly since she was afraid to.

These ponies all looked tough, and they were. Tougher than tough. It was expected though; a weak pony wouldn't have survived the drought.

Hazel looked down at her hoofs that were deep into the ash snow that covered the ground as far as the eye could reach. She wasn't anything special though, she hardly fitted in with the group at all. She was rather delicate and scrawny and not a very good fighter. Her determination and ability to lead made well up for that and with the help of her group, she didn't have to fight. Most of the time she would be the one to make a strategy and issue them out to everyone. She was fast however; no one could match her speed, which contributed to her survival. Determination was what she believed the only thing she really had in strength.

Crescent... Hazel didn't understand anything of him. She knew that he was kind and caring; she could never picture Crescent to be aggressive at all. Wasn't very fast and could hardly even think smart, probably even scrawnier than her. His survivability seemed even slimmer than that of an aristocratic mare with more etiquette and pampering than a princess.

Hazel sought him as even more mysterious than Eiffel by far. He had told her many things about himself but the way he had said them... it gave Hazel great doubt and confusion... Yes, the yellow earth pony with a dark robust brown mane surely was one mysterious pony. Hazel did enjoy his company more than any pony else, and even though he often brought her a confusion she despised, she was glad that he was around. At moments she didn't care to show that she appreciated his presence by giving him a hug, but she hid any deep abiding emotions concerning other aspects other than friendship from both Crescent and herself. Confusion that Hazel despised so very much.

"Yo, who made you leader Crescent? Your mom?" Ziggy taunted.

"No, that would be yours." Crescent jokingly said back which provoked Ziggy into raising his hoof to strike him but stopped as Mocking stood before them, Ziggy controlled by Mocking's hoof on his shoulder. Mocking was about the only one that could do such a thing.

"Seriously, we have to get a move on. Isn't that right Hazel?"

She simply nodded at everyone and turned to look into the distance, still deep in thought, and began to walk forward opposite of the sunset leaving every pony behind to consult her own thoughts.

"What's with her?" Iris asked Crescent as soon as she was out of hearing distance.

"Oh that's true... you don't know do you...?" Crescent rubbed the side of his foreleg nervously. "You see... this was her home town..." he began.

"It's okay. She'll tell us when she wants to. Let's just follow before we get left behind." Mocking cut him off trying to avoid the seriousness that began to befall everyone. Everyone else was glad; they didn't like to stand in that kind of mood. They needed to conserve as much sanity as they possibly could and feeling pity would not help at all. Every pony but Eiffel who stood silent as usual looked uncomfortable by even mentioning it.

Eiffel's eyes turned towards the solitary picture frame on the ground. He had been the only one to notice it. Crescent was glad he hadn't pointed it out and no one even looked at him to see where his eyes were seeing. The conversation would have surely been unavoidable if they had asked.

Everyone kept walking forward, still plenty of paces behind Hazel, making small chat as they cleared through the mountainous valley of ash.

"I hope she doesn't lasts like this for too long. I hate seeing her so serious." Iris sighed.

"She'll be A-O-K! She always does, you remember that time we nearly lost McGee over there?" Ziggy pointed towards Crescent who was looking deeply into Mocking's coat as if it were some sort of extravagant tapestry with its many patterns and shapes.

"I thought we said to never speak of that again." Crescent said annoyed by Ziggy's lack of consideration.

"Pfft, you probably wet yourself when you fell twenty feet into that giant pit that was caused by fissures the Garmalon creatures made. You screamed like a little girl that's for sure." Ziggy snorted laughter of content.

"Why you little... weasel."

"Ah ah ah, watch those harsh words missy. Who saved you anyways?" Ziggy held his mischievous grin as a trophy on his face.

Crescent looked away embarrassed by the truth and mumbled too low to be heard.

"What was that?"

"You did..."

"Exactly, so next time you want to command me, remember that little favor I did for you."

"Oh is that so? Compared to all the other times I've made dinner and practically every meal for you. Maybe my hoofs will be too sore for a few weeks and we'll have to let Iris cook." He countered.

Ziggy's eyes shrunk into tiny marbles and turned to stare at the mare who was contently listening to their argument enjoying the bonding between them both. As an added effect, she gave Ziggy a hazardously evil and cheerful smile contemplating that she would willingly abide to make her horrendous food that made Ziggy sick for weeks at end with every sort of bowl sickness you could possibly think of. Her cooking was no laughing matter. It could literally kill a deity with one full table spoon of her special soup. Ziggy had no doubts in his mind that it was the most powerful weapon known to pony kind. He lowered his head in defeat towards Crescent which earned him hysterical laughter from the yellow earth pony.

"Anyways uh... back to the point." Ziggy said, trying to cross any thought that Crescent had of even suggesting to let Iris cook. "She'll pull through. I couldn't fly fast enough to avoid the Garmalon centipedes back then and I lost you. When they got you she like... lost the will to live or something. How the hell did you make it out of the stomach of that enormous monstrosity anyways?"

"You don't want to know..." He said disgustingly which made Ziggy not even question him to spare every pony the details. Crescent looked down, deep in thought. He hadn't known that... this was the first time he learned about this. She had..." He shook his head; there was no way she could think of him that way... just... as family right...? He sighed. He was weak, not the greatest in the herd, at least Hazel could fly like lightning. As for him, he was clumsy, weak, and slow. He felt like a complete idiot when he fell off the edge of the ridge. It had been unintentional but he wished he could've saved himself instead of putting Ziggy in danger when the Garmalon centipedes attacked.

Ever since the drought, monsters like these began to become more frequent. Anywhere they traveled were dangerous lands. Those creatures hunted for anything they could eat and Crescent really couldn't blame them for being that way.

From what he knew and remembered, the Mana Fountain was the basis of all life for the world. The water was considered holy and blessed by unknown deities. The pony race followed blindly towards it as it predicted the shifts of life. When the fountain had very little water, the years passed harshly, heavy winters, scorching summers, and a high mortality rate. When the fountain was near to being full, life was prosperous for the ponies. Plentiful and perfect crops grew, little to no deaths at all that year. It never failed to be wrong.

Hazel spoke to him once of the events to what happened to the world. He hadn't known of the drought, but from what she had told him, only some parts he could remember on his own.

When the birth of a small unicorn filly took place, the Mana Fountain was at its peak. It was a prosperous time indeed, everyone was happy for the birth of the filly whose father was the king of the most powerful kingdom who reigned over the location of the fountain as well, the king of the holy city of Isodral. They considered her a blessing from the deity. No one had seen a greater time in pony history. A grand festival was held for her at the start of every New Year. They were grand festivals. The night sky was lighted like the broad daylight. Thousands of party goers came and went content with such festivities. It had stayed this way until the 4th annual festival.

Not all things were bright and cheerful however... On the night of the last festival, the king and queen were assassinated within their own chambers, what many believed to be the work of neighboring countries. The small filly that was eight years old at the time vanished; she had never been seen again. Great confusion arose in the once peaceful nation; this was truly a cause of concern. The lack of knowledge was the lack of truth.

The Mana Fountain was purely empty after that day. Many began to call it the Drought of the Mana Fountain, or in other words, the end of the world.

In an outrage, the grand kingdom began to gather armies and attack neighboring lands in confusion of who could have assassinated the king and queen and kidnap the princess. Slowly, pony kind destroyed itself. Many towns and kingdoms were burned down to the ground. The ashes remained as a reminder the horrible past, children weren't spared... Those who still lived suffered the punishment of the world.

As many animals began to die of the lack of vegetation since great droughts and sheer winters destroyed all plant life, the bigger creatures who hunted for the herbivores were left with no food as they all died off with the plants. The creatures began to hunt anything they could eat, many of the remaining ponies died from either the lack of food, or their low survivability.

Even the strong fell, brutal force was nothing without strategic approaches and no one could survive alone. Bronze without brain wasn't effective in this world.

The group were one of the few remaining ponies in the face of the earth. Hazel showed her unique talent to command and lead, her speed served as a distraction, and with the help of everypony, they managed to fend off the monsters by working together. Their variety and organization was a major factor to their survival.

Crescent on the other hand was useless in combat. The only thing he was useful at was cooking; they never went hungry after they had let him join. He could literally cook up even dried up twigs to taste delicious. That was his talent.

Still, this fact made Crescent felt horrible of his own skills. He never spoke of deep or emotional parts of his life and everybody suspected that he had nothing to hide either, they all thought he led a peaceful life and somehow, that he luckily managed to survive. In true honesty, even Crescent didn't know of his past. He suffered of long term memory loss and he couldn't remember any important part of his life. Small details that held no meaning or purpose which usually was a good point in his life would pop up then and again and he never failed to share it with every pony but other than that, nothing of importance.

Sanity was also a key factor in surviving in the cruel, harsh, and grotesque world which held dangers in every corner and could drive a pony mad. Thankfully they balanced each other out, staying sane by entrusting each other to have their backs. With time, they learned to take the light side of things and enjoy what time they had with each other. There hadn't been a creature or a monster that they haven't been able to overcome.

There is a saying. "To be able to succeed, you need a reason worth fighting for." No one really spoke of their personal lives. They didn't need to, whatever they wanted to do or whoever they wanted to save, that dream was probably dead... alongside everything else. They fought a blind battle, with no reason or purpose other than to survive. The only one who had any real purpose was Hazel, but she never spoke of it. She was leading them somewhere... but they didn't know where. They just kept going without stop following her lead. It was just like Crescent said before; they loved life too much to let it go so they followed Hazel without question or motive. Their chance of survival was heightened with each other. Even still... there was no real way of knowing if they would succeed. Their hearts held no purpose...

Crescent sighed again. There was so much to think about and it just left him with mental fatigue. The last thing he wanted was to be tired. He always fell behind and being tired in anyway really wouldn't contribute to his efforts in improvement. It was inedible though, a new thought was fresh in his mind.

It consisted of a particular Pegasus mare with beautiful blue eyes, a yellow mane with complementing bangs to hide one of her eyes when she looked away from him, and a shimmering pale white coat. Her signature white and sky blue stripped scarf wrapped cozily around her neck half burrowing her chin. She looked much more delicate when she giggled and it really did look like she had dug her chin into the wrapped scarf, her subtle expressions adding to the effect she had on him.

He loved making her smile and laugh, but it wasn't because he was trying to be nice, he felt greedy as he looked into her content and cheerful eyes because he loved that so very much. He suddenly took notice of what exactly these thoughts were and slammed his face into the ground. Indeed he understood these emotions, and he did well to hide them. He didn't want to be separated from Hazel in the very least, even if he could only sit by the sidelines and watch her live her life, he was contempt with being able to at least see her smile.

"Uh... are you okay...?" Ziggy said as he heard the loud thump and turned to face the yellow pony that had his face a foot into the ground.

"Y-yes yes... everything fine here." He said with his face still enjoying the feel of ash and his nostrils suffocating. He lifted his hoof up and pointed it towards his head, signifying that his brain was a place as he was so idiotic at times that he suspected his head was hollow and could serve for an actual location. These thoughts made him feel like an idiot. Like if he was obtaining some false hope, it made him feel pathetic for those "Illusions". He laughed it off and quietly walked with everyone in silence, glad that Ziggy wasn't going to step the question further.

Crescent looked over at the Pegasus mare well ahead of them, walking slowly, trying to seem strong. Hazel had shared many things with Crescent, things that not even the others know. That made him very happy. He felt special in a way yet he was unsure if it was a sign or just a misleading action. So instead of doing something about it, he stood quiet and listened to many of the things she had to say, and perhaps tell her something about himself that he could remember. He knew she wasn't strong, at least not emotionally. No one else knew that, she had cried to him about many things. Usually it only was about how she didn't know whether they would survive or not. Sometimes... she hinted out what her real purpose was. Oh he didn't regret at all being able to meet her even if circumstance called the worst for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two years back in what Crescent believed to be a fated encounter, he came across them from a sort of lucky chance. He had awoken midst a desert with no idea on how he could have ended there. He had suffered huge memory loss; he didn't even know his name. Crescent walked for miles through the vast desert trying to find anything, any reason to his own existence, to find some pony... nothing.

The sun was extremely harsh; it singed the air and the sand to make the world a burning inferno. The black sun, or so they called it. In truth, the sun is a solar eclipse; the moon positioned itself in front of it to create a black sun. This world was deprived of time, the alignment of the astral bodies never moved. The sun was always in the bloody red sky, it always shown bright heating up the world intensely hot. This truly was the end of the world. No vegetation could live under such conditions.

When Crescent felt himself fall to the intensity of the heat, he had lost all incredulity of finding salvation and accepted his demise.

He awoke shortly after to a few hard nudges on his shoulder as he lied down on the sand. He focused on the creature before him. An enormous scorpion-like monster was clawing at the side of his shoulder which now dripped red with blood. In fear, he pulled back dragging himself away from the monstrosity. Crescent was probably the size of its gaping mouth, good enough for a mouth full.

It clamped its pincers shut before him, seemingly joyful that its food was not yet spoiled by being dead. It squealed a horrible sound from its dripping jaws, its black, rough, and hairy carcass shuttering as it scraped against each other, the thunderous booms of the pincers slamming shut. It sent its enormous tail swopping and picking up the ground beside him as it collided with the sand which made Crescent nearly wet himself of terror as he screamed. It did it again to his other side. It squealed again as it enjoyed his horrified shrieks. At least one of them was having fun.

It targeted him directly and right before it was able to strike him dead for good, it gave another squeal different from its previous as if it was in pain. Crescent opened his eyes to see a fireball explode into the side of the monster's head. Confused, he shifted his head towards the direction of the fireball and so did the scorpion.

A thin, slender, and red mare had shot another molten ball of flames which could be felt even at Crescent's distance as it exploded into the side of the monster an it squealed in pain and annoyance. She shot another only for the scorpion to bat it away with the back of its enormous pincers. As it rose its tail to strike her, her horn began to glow and quickly turned invisible as it struck empty sand.

A white Pegasus followed it up by flying so incredibly fast in front of its face and up the sky which distracted the scorpion to try and attack her which she avoided with her speed. After many misses, it stood up within two pairs of its legs to use every limb to try and take the Pegasus down; even with her speed she wouldn't be able to avoid it.

Suddenly a massive looking unicorn charged right into its legs, knocking off its concentration and attack. The scorpion turned to the massive pony that stood his ground before him. It shot its pincer out to him whom he countered with the same brute force, fending it off by holding his ground and using magic to boost his resistance.

The red unicorn suddenly materialized in a red light atop the creature's back. She held in her mouth a small stiletto dagger which she ran across certain points of the giant hard carcass of the monster's skin seemingly piercing some of the heavy skin. She jumped out in front of it to join the massive pony that was doing its best to resist the scorpion's force and used her own magic to restrain the pincer

A strange silver Pegasus with a neon zig-zagging green mane dashed down with an incredible force onto its back. It kicked the parts of the carcass that had been pierced striking them with pure force incredibly hard, making huge cracking noises as furiously kicked the lines left by the unicorn mare. The carcass began to break. Suddenly, the scorpion took notice and used its tail to strike off the offender. The Pegasus manages to avoid it and the stinger ran right down to its own back and broke off a big part of the already shattered skin. It shrieked in a horrible painful noise.

A dark blue earth pony jumped onto its back as it trashed, unaffected by the harsh movements as it ran masterfully towards the giant cracked surface, carrying in his mouth a large sword. He dug it deep into the cracks, piercing through the sensitive skin that lay underneath the hardened skin and tilted his head upwards to slice a huge arch right through the middle as it opened a fresh wound onto its back. He ran quickly to the front of its head and with sheer massive terrifying force he dug the blade right through the unbroken hard as steel carcass.

The massive beast stopped squealing in horror as it dropped dead. The terrifying dark pony landed with ease as he jumped off the beast's body.

"Destroy them." His dark voice commanded.

Without delay, the Pegasus mare took hold of the red unicorn and stood her up above the monsters back as the unicorn began to concentrate magical power.

She unleashed a powerful flame that scorched the fresh wound, the heat waves clearly visible as it the flames seemed to flow down it and disappear half way to the ground. Thousands of small shrills and horrible cries that came from within the wound stood in the silence that followed afterwards. Smaller but still very large versions of the scorpion that had no carcass were set ablaze as they began trying to escape from the wound that was being sealed by the never ending flames that kept pouring.

In a matter of seconds it had happened. The sound of cracking flames followed afterwards as it was finally over.

The Pegasus mare landed majestically in front of him. Like an angel, Hazel stood before him and the sun, radiantly shining. Her face was grim with both relief and confusion.

"Are you okay?" Her gentle voice called out to him, holding a grasp of seriousness, the mark of a benevolent leader.

Like if in a trance, he broke from his mindless state. "Too cool..." He stood up to sit on his flank.

"How... no... why are you here in the middle of nowhere?" She had asked him.

"I-I... I don't know..."

"Surely you must know. How did you even get here?"

"I told you... I don't know... I don't even know my name, how the hell would I know why I'm here?"

"Wait... what?" Her face showed that she sought this new pony as mad.

"I don't know my name."

"You don't know who you are?"

Crescent shook his head in response. "I don't know much about anything, and really I don't wish to... Please let me join! I want to serve of some use." He looked down into the sand, wishing he actually could. His voice had startled the white mare. Crescent was serious about this, he didn't yet understand it... that extreme necessity to undergo the rest of his life under this new pony before him was strong within his heart. He'd always thought back then it was just to survive and feel important to someone. He'd never guess it would have gone farther as to her being the greatest part to it all.

The group of ponies stood before him, staring at the pathetic excuse for a survivor.

"Well are you good at anything?" She turned back to him, surprising him by the sudden response.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean are you good at fighting?"

Crescent thought for a while and then shook his head. "No..."

"He'll just drag us down! He's useless, leave him here, we can't be babysitting." The Pegasus stallion pointed out quickly.

"Hate to say it but its true you know. We can't survive with a weight on our backs." The red unicorn mare followed up.

Crescent didn't deny it, he felt potentially useless.

"No... we can't just leave him here even if he IS just a weight... I'm sure he is of some use." The white Pegasus said, trying to defend him.

"She is correct." The deep voice of the dark blue earth pony said from a distance as he turned from the giant scorpion back to the arguing group.

"Hmm? Ugh... whatever...do what you want." The silver Pegasus said, a hint of fear in his voice as he tried to calmly agree with the earth pony.

The dark blue pony turned to face Crescent. "Can you cook?" He said seriously.

"Oh that would be lovely. I wouldn't mind at all bringing you along if you know how to cook." The Pegasus stallion suddenly retorted, shaking away his fear in hope that it was true.

"Wait huh?! You don't like my cooking?!" The red unicorn said, annoyed by the Pegasus' comment.

"Hell no, I rather fight that Frocklord Scorpio any day of the week then eat your disgusting cooking."

"But I thought you loved my cooking!" Her voice shrilled up to imitate whining.

"Gurl, you crazy mare. You a very crazy mare. What made you think that?"

"Don't speak to me, you never even loved me."

The Pegasus placed his hoof onto the red unicorn's shoulder, looked into her eyes, and took her chin gently with his hoof to turn her to meet his gaze.

"You know..." He hesitated a bit. "You know I'll always love you no matter how much your cooking sucks."

"Oh Ziggy." The red unicorn placed her head into the side of his neck. "I love you too." Suddenly she used the back of her head to hit his jaw very hard which made him knock over with his flank up in the air. "But next time you say my cooking sucks I'll remove those precious little wings of yours." She said as she made a "Hmpf" sound and walked away.

"Just how I like it..." The beaten up Pegasus sighed.

The white Pegasus mare giggled to herself from that scene as so did that massive unicorn who just smiled silently laughing to himself. "Ugh... anyways... don't mind them they are just crazy like that. I'm Hazel by the way."

"Yo, I'm Ziggy." The other Pegasus said with his flank still high in the air.

"I'm Iris, very nice to meet you." She said as she hugged him in a welcome.

Crescent wasn't used to it; he blushed lightly from the feel of a hug. It felt nice.

"I would be Mocking." The massive pony called out.

Eiffel stood quiet as he turned to stare into yonder.

"Uh... he would be Eiffel. Hmm... How bout we give you a name!"

"How about sand. You know, cuz we met him in a desert." Ziggy said.

"Honey, you're not always the best comedian." Iris said as she placed her hoof onto his shoulder.

"The joke was bad and you should feel bad!" Mocking continued.

"Crescent." Eiffel suddenly said before anyone could suggest anything else. No one dared say no to him.

"I... actually like that." Crescent said, still weary from such a spectacular scene from before.

"Crescent it is I suppose." Hazel placed out her hoof to him. "Welcome aboard Crescent."

"Uh... thank you... really I am grateful." Crescent said as he accepted her welcoming hoof.

Hazel looked at him strangely. "So I knew it..." she got closer to him, her eyes beaming brightly and beautifully, her lips just inches away from his.

Crescent couldn't speak, he was captivated by her beauty as she stood so close to him.

"I was right...." she paused to look more closely. "You are seriously hurt."

A streak of blood ran down his forehead and in the middle of his eyes just as she said that.

~~~

Crescent smiled to himself. He was more than happy to still remember that. It was easy living. For most part of it. The world itself was a desert. In both terms of the word. All that remained was the roofs of towns either torn down or drowned in a coat of dirt. Lakes and rivers ran dry, and the only plant life were dying grasses and weeds.

After being in silence for quite a while, he finally decided to break free of it. He went up towards the still gloomy Hazel who kept walking.

"Hey."

"Oh... hey." she responded back.

"You can talk to me about it if you want." He said gently, noticing her lack of enthusiasm.

She sighed and looked at him, her eyes still with sadness in them, but also a glad that told him she was happy that he took the time to find out what was wrong with her. "I know." She said as she looked over to him with a small but warm smile. "Thanks Crescent..."

"Should we tell the others?" He asked her, sensing what she was about to say next.

She nodded in reply. "It should be time. I can't keep dragging you all forever with me without telling you why..."

"Yes you can. At least to me." He said with a bright smile. He caught a quick glint of her increasing blush as she turned her face away from him and her hair giving no sight of it. He wasn't the smartest of ponies, so he didn't well notice it much. She was good at hiding things like this from him, maybe because of his lack of wits. Well, maybe his lack of wits was waking up in the middle of the desert for who knows how long and being near to death dehydrated. Maybe his brain was messed with a little because of that. Still, he wasn't quick witted. It would take him time to actually think of anything smart to say, but by that time, the conversation would be over.

"Let's go tell them..."

"Alright then." He said still with the same bright smile.

The two approached every pony else and they stopped in front of them as they waited for them to arrive in position.

"We need to talk."

"What is it honey?" Iris asked.

"I think it's time that you guys should know..."

"Know about?"

"The truth of the drought of the Mana Fountain."