Sand in the Wind

Sand in the Wind

Chapter Two: Traveler in Time

By: Jace Arveduin

The newly ponified Blade Knight walked into Broken Bit with the setting sun. He roamed the few streets before coming to a conclusion; he’d forgotten exactly where Emerald Dawn lived. Laughing at himself, he started looking for a smithy instead. Unlike Emerald’s house, Steel’s probably had his forge near it. After wandering for a while longer, he finally came across a house that looked like it just might be the place. So he walked up and rapped on the door, almost falling over in the process due to not being used to the whole quadruped thing.

“Hello?” Asked a voice from some of his oldest memories. “Is there any way I can help you young stallion?

“Indeed there is, my name’s Blade Knight, and do you happen to know of a place a traveler of sorts could catch some sleep? I’ve been wandering and can’t seem to find an inn.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Steel Crescent,” the old stallion replied as he thought. “ Well, I'm afraid we don't have an inn currently. However, I’ve a cot near the forge from back in my younger days. You can sleep there, all I ask is that you don’t touch my tools.”

“Thank you Mr. Crescent, I think I can manage that.“

Steel nodded as he led Blade to his forge and showed him the cot, and telling him good night before heading back inside to catch some sleep himself. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, but that pony sounded familiar.

Blade, on the other hoof,  was settling into the cot and was smiling as he fell asleep. It’d be fun to see how long he could keep them in the dark about his true identity.

**********************************************************************************************************

The next morning, Blade finally awoke to the sound of the smith at work. Hearing all the clanging and dinging consciously, he wondered how he slept through it all. Getting up, he leaned against the wall until the smith paused from his work.

“Thank you for the bed, I think I’ll be wandering off though, I'm curious as to what the town's like in the daylight. Is there any way I can repay you?”

“Your welcome, and there's nothing for now, but if you're still in town in the next few days, you could come back and ask again. However, don't let me keep you waiting, while the town is small, the surrounding land is beautiful, go on!” Steel said as he went back to work.

Blade walked out of the town, deciding to try and figure out how these wings worked. It almost felt like a second pair of arms, and at times he had to catch himself from moving the wrong appendage. Coming to a clear spot out of sight of the city, he gave his wings a few experimental flaps, and felt some weight come off of his hooves. Grinning, he gave a few stronger flaps, sending himself up into the air. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite sure how to steer while in the air, and after tilting his wings wrong, he face-planted back into the earth.

“You know, for a grown pegasus, you’re really bad at flying,” Came a voice from above. Blade looked up and saw a frosty-white mare with a flaming mane, it would take way longer than forty years to forget that particular pony.

“Oh? And I suppose you’re the best of the best?” Blade retorted.

“Nope, but I’m better than you.”

“Well then why don’t you give me a few pointers to refresh my memory?”

“Sure, why not, you look like you need all the help you can get.” Blade snorts at this, but she ignored him. “First off, unless you want to turn, keep your wings level and beating together.”

He shrugged and concentrated, and slowly became level with her. “Like so?”

“Yeah. Now, if you want to go forward, tilt the front sides of both wings slightly forward.” He gave it a try, and started to move forward slowly. “See? Not hard at all, I still don’t know how you got that rusty, but if you tilt the front side of one wing down further than the other, you’ll turn over. You can combine turning over and tilting your wings back to make a turn, though it’s not the only way.”

“Thanks for that.” Blade told her as he started making lazy circles. “Say, I don’t think I caught your name. Oh, I’m Blade Knight, before I forget my manners.”

“Frostfire, and for some reason, you sound familiar... Where did you come from Blade?”

“No one place in particular, I’m just sort of a vagabond, travelling here and there taking odd jobs for food and a place to sleep.”

“Really? You’ve probably seen some great places then.”

“Eyup, I’ve seen a few.”

“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime.”

“I think I can manage that.” was his chuckled response, to which Frostfire just look exasperated.

“Why are you so familiar! It’s on the tip of  my tongue...”

“I’ve no idea, but I doubt this stallion would forget such a meeting.”

She glared at him for a few seconds, before asking. “And what makes you say that?”

“Simple, you seem to have a vibrant personality. That, and you’re white with a flaming red mane, not exactly the most forgettable color scheme.”

“If you say so...”

“I just did.” He retorted with a cheeky smile.

“Oh you cheeky...” Was as far as she got before she stopped herself. “Oh, now I know exactly who you remind me of. I haven’t seen him in years though.”

“Him eh? Tell me more about him. I think it could be interesting.”

“Ha! You wish. I’ll just tell you he was banished.”

“Banished? I don’t recall hearing about that.” He said while his eyebrow started climbing.

“That’s because it’s none of your business!”

“Well that’s no fun. So, you happen to know a place for some food? I’m feeling a bit... Famished.”

“Are you asking me out for lunch?”

“Nope, I’m asking myself out for lunch, I am just asking you for directions.”

“You’re such a charmer...” She replied sarcastically.

“I know right!? It amazes me that I don’t have all the mares in the towns I pass through clinging to me!”

Frostfire snorted, barely containing her laughter, “Well then, you should probably put a cloak on so you don’t woo the entire town on the way to the cafe. Come on, you dolt, follow me to the food.” And with that, she took off flying, though keeping it at a pace she thinks he can keep up with.

“Huzzah!” He cried as he flew after her at astonishing speeds. Astonishingly to snails, anyway.

**********************************************************************************************************

They eventually made it to the cafe she mentioned and took a seat near the edges. A waitress walked up and asked what they wanted shortly after.

“I’ll just take some hay fries,” Frostfire told her before looking at Blade. “So what do you want?”

“More money, I’m broke.” Blade replied with a shrug.

“Make that two orders of fries please.” The waitress nodded and went on her way. “I’ll cover this one, I’ll just have to think of a way for you to make it up.”

“That should be interesting.”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll make you paint my house or something.”

“Don’t you live in a house made of clouds?”

“Yeah, I didn’t say I’d find you something easy to do.”

“Oh yeah, this should be really interesting,” Blade said with a laugh as the waitress brought back their food. “So got any realistic jobs? Or would you like to wager some housing on a friendly game of wits?”

“Depends on the game, what do you have in mind?”

“You’re paying the fees, so I figured you could choose the game. All I ask is it not involve us racing.”

“Let’s see.... How about... You know how to play Pool?”

“Pool as in knock the balls into the holes? Eyup.”

“Well then follow me, there’s an old table around back! If you win, I’ll give you a couch and a meal later. But if I win, you’ve got to do a favor for me!”

“Unambiguous favor? I’m sorry, but that’s a steep wager you’re setting.”

“Oh don’t worry, I promise it won’t be painful, or too embarrassing.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Blade assured her as they walked to the back where an old pool table and a pair of pool sticks were laying. He racked the balls up before giving her a sweeping bow, “Ladies first.”

“Ha! Aren’t you just a gentlecolt?” She replied as she lined up her shot.

She shot and hit the outer edge the of triangle, scattering the balls across the table. The 2 ball slowly slid towards a corner pocket, almost stopping before rolling into it. With a grin, she took another shot, this time causing the 7 ball to bounce off the edge near a center pocket. “Darn it.”

Blade smiled as he looked at the table and saw the 15 ball right in front of a pocket. Frostfire had used her wings, but he decided to just use his forelimbs. It just felt natural. He tapped the cue ball, sinking the 15 ball with ease. He took another look at the table, and saw that he just might be able to bounce off the edge to knock the 11 ball into a corner pocket. After a quick adjustment, he hit the cue ball. The cue ball, surprisingly, bounced exactly how he’d imagined, sinking the 11 ball into the pocket. He kept the surprise from his face, however, when he realized that gaining his “cutie-mark” might have affected his skills. A quick shrug to cover up his moment’s thought, he made a quick shot which knocked some of the balls around, but didn’t pocket any.

They continued their back and forth game, until it was just the 8 ball left. Frostfire called it going into the back corner and shot. The 8 ball hit the side of the pocket and bounced out, much to her chagrin. Blade walked up to the table and saw an easy shot waiting for him, but he was now kind of curious as to what she’d want out of him. So he lined up a shot that would cause him to scratch and took it. “Well that’s no fun, I guess you win.”

“Oh yeah! Good game, it was close.”

“Yeah, too bad close only counts in... Darn it, I hate when my mind blanks like that.” He said to cover up the fact he wasn’t sure if it was called horse shoes in Equestria, or if they even had that game at all. Though he was quite sure they didn’t have hand grenades.

“No wonder you drift around, you probably can’t even remember the way home!”

“Oh haha, very funny.”

“Now, to more serious business: what shall I make you do in exchange for some food and a roof over your head for the night...”

“Read you a story before you go to sleep?”

“Na, how about... Actually, yes, tell me about some of your adventures.”

“I think I can manage that. Mind if those wait until later though?”

“Sure, I’m not in any rush. So what do you want to do?”

“I was actually wanting to check out the library... I like to see if I can find anything different when I drop into new places.”

“Sounds boring, I think I’ll stick around and see if I can get a few more games.” She said, eyeing the ponies littered around the cafe, seeing if any looked like they'd want a game.

“Alright, see you soon!” he told her before leaving the place and heading towards where he recalled seeing the library the day before.

**********************************************************************************************************

A quick walk later, he found the library and entered, trying to not let the door slam behind him. As he looked up at the front desk, he saw an elderly unicorn stallion with a tan coat and mane and tail that was salt and pepper from age. His cutie-mark looked like a quill laying across a book, and the plate on the desk read ‘Jenkins Hoovesworth.’ “Evenin Mr. Hoovesworth, looks like you have a fine library here.”

“Thank you sir, I do my best, though it doesn’t see too many ponies.”

“Just call me Blade, if you don’t mind.” He noticed a particular shelf off to the side that only had four books on it, but was behind a locked glass. The titles were all too familiar to him, seeing as they were ‘The Hobbit,’ ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,’ 'The Two Towers,' and ‘The Return of the King.’ Deciding it was best to play dumb, he asked the librarian about them. “Is there any reason these books are off to the side and behind a lock?”

“The books have a lot of very mature themes, such as death and war. I’m still not quite sure where Ms. Dawn got them, but they are great works of art and they don’t appear to be written by a pony, or any of the races known to Equestria. I keep them locked away because they really aren’t suitable reading for most ponies around here, and it gives me a chance to warn them before they start.”

“Intriguing... Well Mr. Hoovesworth, is there any chance I could check one of them out?”

“You seem mature, I’ll let you check out the prequel of the series, it’s much more tame than the trilogy it precedes, so you'll know if it is a story you would like to read,' the librarian told him as he pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the shelf. After gently floating the book to the younger stallion and slipping a piece of paper with the due date on it in the front of the book, he locked the case again. “Do you have any permanent residence that I may put down?”

“Sorry, I’ve been drifting for quite a while. If you know Ms. Frostfire, she should be able to track me down.”

“I guess that will have to work, and please take care of that book. I’ve made copies of it, but I’d hate for something to happen to the original.”

“Don’t worry, I hate when books get damaged, it just puts me in a foul mood.” Blade assured him as he started to leave.

“Have a good day then.”

“Thanks, you too.”

**********************************************************************************************************

Making his way back to where he’d left Frostfire,  he was hoping she’d still be there. After arriving, he saw her in a match against an older mare, so he stood off to the side and started reading the book he’d borrowed. Frostfire finished a few minutes later and came over when she noticed him.

“So what did you find at the library?”

“Some book written by a ‘J. R. R. Tolkien’ about this thing called a ‘hobbit.' And apparently it has at least one wizard, which means it’ll probably be awesome.”

“Sounds... Interesting. Anyway, it’s starting to get late, so I was going to head on home, and since you’ve no idea where I live, I’m dragging you along with me. Unless you’ve found a place to stay.”

“Nope, sounds fine to me. Lead the way, mi'lady,” he told her with a deep bow. Rolling her eyes, she led the way back to her house.

**********************************************************************************************************

After their arrival, Blade settled on a chair as the mare started digging through her fridge.

“Hey, want something to eat?”

“Na, I’m fine. Unless you don’t want me rummaging for something later.”

“So long as you keep your ‘rummaging’ in the kitchen.”

“I’d never dream of doing otherwise.” The stallion told her with a goofy grin

After she glared at him for a full minute, just to make sure she showed how unamused with the idea of him going through her stuff, she continued through the bite she'd just taken from her sandwich. “So, tell me about one of those adventures you’ve had...”

“Well, it all started when I awoke in a place I didn’t recall being. Looking around, I saw this green mare, the poor thing was almost in tears, and she explained how it was her fault I was here...” Blade Knight started, recalling a familiar tale, but changing a few facts to keep Frostfire in the dark for a while longer.

Blade eventually finished his tale, it’d been rough in spots due to his memory being sketchy, but he made things up quickly enough so that there was no harmdone.

“Quite a nice tale you had there, definitely worth a bite to eat and a place on the couch." With a huge yawn, she added, "Good night Blade, I think I’m going to go get some sleep.”

“Sounds like a great idea, good night and thanks for the couch.” He responded as her door shut. He curled up on the couch and wrapped himself up in a blanket, falling asleep almost instantly.