Chapter 1: The Bizarre Mare
Out from the shadows a four legged creature stumbled out of an abandoned house and out into the burning October sun. Stumbling in the sand, it tripped over one of its hooves and fell into the scorching sediment. The creature grumbled beneath its breath, presumably something vile. It quickly pushed itself back onto its feet and glanced back towards the the house. A loud roar startled the being into a hasty run back toward the direction of the setting sun. Uttering curses with each huff of breath, it let off a loud yelp when a banging crash echoed out into the wastes.
A large ugly monster had thrown itself through one of the few remaining walls of the house. It was a beast that used to resemble what may have been a bear. Its disgusting pink skin was blotched with patches of brown and black fur. Its small eyes were pink and puffy, teeth angled, claws sharp as knives. The bear-like creature stood on its hind legs, head snapping from left to right as it looked for the small clothed creature that had stumbled into its home.
Its head turned once more towards the sun, a small black silhouette at the bottom of the dune caught its eye. The monster snarled as both of its eyes narrowed in on its target. Releasing one more roar, it dropped onto all fours and bolted towards the smaller intruder.
The lesser creature glanced over its shoulder and released a girlish shriek and sped up its pace. Its hooves stomped down into the sand, kicking up gusts of dust behind it. Stealing another glance over its shoulder, the creature accidentally lost its step and stumbled over its forehooves. Crying out the four hoofed being flew heels over head down the sandy dune before rolling down to the base. Its back made contact first with the sand below. A rock, having been buried beneath, jabbed it in the back and caused it to yelp in pain.
The bear monster snarled with delight at the sight of the injured creature and proceeded to push itself further down the hill. The smaller being whimpered with fear as the larger predator closed in on it, reaching down with its paws. The terrified creature desperately searched the pockets of its tattered clothing for a weapon, but it was hopeless. The desert bear was only a few yards away from making the poor thing its lunch. The bear’s prey raised its forehooves to its face, shielding itself from the gory mess the bear was going to make.
But the bloody mess never came... at least not in the way the little creature thought it would.
“Hey!” The nervous shout from an unknown mare reached the lesser creature’s damaged ears. The bear monster dug its paws into the sand and slid to a stop just feet from the cowering creature. It looked over towards the distant mountains in the east. Silhouetted by the mountain backdrop was the shape of a tall, slim creature similar to the one cowering before the bear’s sharpened paws.
The bear grit its teeth and snarled as it turned away from its cowering prey so that it faced its new foe. The creature below the bear pulled its hooves away from its hazel eyes and watched in awe as the pink skinned behemoth moved towards the mare on the right.
As the bear slowly made its way towards its new foe, the silhouetted mare took on a shaky stance; her legs wobbled like jello, tail stiff, she stared the desert bear right in the eyes. The colossus of a beast licked its chops and gave her a smile that revealed its gnarly fangs. Scraping a paw against the sand, the beast charged the mare.
The ragged, cowering creature sat up straight when it saw that the silhouetted mare wasn’t moving out of the way of the charging bear. “Get out of the way!” The creature cried, its voice feminine if not slightly butch. Suddenly, a bright, but brief, flash of light blinded the ragged creature and the bear howled in pain. The beast stumbled back, its vision filled with colors and stars, a burning pain from what use to be its mandible surged into its brain. Warm, red liquid gushed out of the new hole beneath its maxilla, its tongue dangled helplessly due to there being nothing to lay on. The bear threw itself up onto its hind legs and tossed its head back, flinging blood onto the yellow sand, causing it to turn black. Its cry of pain was nothing but a choking, gurgling howl, as it fell onto the sand kicking its legs madly, trying to push itself away from the horrifying mare.
The hazel eyed creature watched in utter fear as the mare stepped towards the whimpering desert bear. Stopping just above the bear, the mare’s features were presented in the evening light: her coat was as white as the northern snow, her mane was cut short and as blue as the afternoon sky, but what stood out the most though were her eyes, which were a beautiful ocean green. She looked to be wearing some form of black, coat tight jumpsuit. The suit stopped before her hindlegs and its sleeves stopped just before her hooves in some kind of grey band. The suit’s color was also the same color of light grey, and on her back was an insignia that represented three overlapping ovals that pointed out in separate directions.
The jawless bear gazed up at the white mare, its eyes twinkling with fresh tears of pain. The behemoth gurgled a whine and tried to crawl away, the mare above it grimaced and shook her head. She muttered something under her breath before her horn gave off a bright flash of white light, a loud wet squish met her ears when the bear’s head suddenly exploded, covering the surrounding area with blood and brains. Levitating just inches from her body the mare had stopped most of the blood, brains, and bone from hitting her white fur. The light that surrounded her horn disappeared, causing the remains of the beast to splatter on the sand below her.
The mare’s cheeks were green, she looked as if she was going to throw up. Taking her eyes away from the deceased bear, she looked towards the hazel eyed creature. The ragged bystander squeaked with fear and quickly shot to its hooves. “Please don’t kill me!” she begged.
The white mare tilted her head. “Why would I kill you after I just saved you?”
The hazel eyed creature tilted her head. “What do you... what?!” She straightened herself out.
“I just saved you from that...” The mare glanced down at the decapitated beast, her stomach churned and she forced herself to look back at the ragged pony at the bottom of the dune. “I don’t even know what this is...”
The ragged pony gasped and shook her head. “It’s a desert bear—lady are you okay?”
The white mare opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the butch filly, “Y’know what, don’t answer that...” she paused for a moment. “Thank you.”
The white pony smiled and began to trot towards the ragged pony. “You’re welcome!”
“Whoa now!” The ragged pony jumped back and pulled the sleeve of her ragged coat up her right foreleg, revealing a mounted crossbow that was poorly taped to her leg. “Don’t you go moving anymore!”
The white mare’s eyes fell on the dirited mare’s weapon. Her eyes widened. “What the—I just saved you!”
“I’m not stupid, believe me, when I ain’t lookin’ yer gonna use that freaky zebra shit on me!” She raised her hoof and pulled the string back with her teeth.
The horned mare stepped back. “What in the––I’m not going to hurt you, please you have to understand...” her ears fell back. “You’re the first pony I’ve seen in what felt like a week.”
The ragged mare lowered her leg and crossbow, though her eyes were still narrowed on the horned pony. Her lower lip started to quiver and she broke eye contact after a few hard seconds. “Alright, fine, you convinced me...” she took a deep breath. “If ya’ll don’t mind me askin’, who are you?”
The mare’s ears perked up and her eyes lit up like a Hearth's Warming tree. “Oh my name?” She clears her throat and holds a hoof out towards the ragged pony. “My name is A.L.-173.”
“A.L.-17—what?”
A.L.-173 stepped back, an offended look crossed her face. “What? That’s my name, got a problem with it?”
The hazel eyed pony shook her head. “N-no... I just never heard one like that before. Uh...” She began to cough into her hoof, she then shook her head and pulled the cloth off her snout, revealing her pretty, sharp face. Her coat color was a nice red-ish brown, visibly worn down from years spent within the wasteland. “The name’s Sandy Dusk.” She stuck out her own hoof.
A.L.-173 took a few steps towards Sandy and pressed her hoof against the mare’s. “Nice to meet you, Sandy.”
“A pleasure to meet you too, A.L.-13–ya’know what?” Sandy shook her head and stepped back from the mare, she raised her crossbow hoof to her chin. “How about I just call you... hmm...” Sandy thought back to a list of names that started with the letter A, but oddly enough none seemed to really fit this bizarre mare in front of her.
A.L.-173 tilted her head. “You want to call me something else?”
Well back then Sandy’s mom mentioned that she wanted to name her Aerial once because she hoped that Sandy would grow up to be an excellent flier like her older sibling. “That’s it!” Sandy stomped her hoof in the sand. “How about Aerial Light?”
“Aerial? But I can’t fly.”
Sandy nearly face hooved. “That’s not the point, it’s a name I can easily remember.”
Aerial tapped her chin with a hoof. She nodded her head. “O-okay, I-I like that. Aerial, it’s a lot faster then A.L.-173.”
Sandy nodded her head. “Well thank you, Aerial, now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go finish my job.” Sandy turned and began to climb back up the dune towards the abandoned house.
“Before you go!” Aerial called out.
Sandy stopped and looked back at the mare. “What is it?” she almost snarled.
“I need help with something,” Aerial said.
“Don’t we all?”
“Please, listen to me, this is very important.” Aerial pleaded, her voice sounded very desperate.
Sandy rolled her eyes. “What do you need, hun?”
“My stable... Our water extractor had been sabotaged and we’ve run out of parts to fix it,” Aerial explained. Her voice was quiet and she sounded very nervous. By the way her eyes shifted to the sand, Sandy could tell whatever was happening was bothering her greatly.
Sandy blinked and shook her head. “I’m sorry, what? What do you mean ‘table?’ or ‘water extractonater’?”
Aerial bit her lower lip and raised an eyebrow. “Wait... no... it’s a ‘Stable’. You know, the underground shelters built during the Arcane War?” Sandy shook her head. “Our ‘water extractor’ was sabotaged, it’s the machine that brings us our water from deep within the planet.”
Sandy tilted her head. “A machine that gives you water?” The scavenger snorted a laugh. “You’re kidding right? If there was ever such a thing y’know how much nicer the wasteland would be?”
“Well don’t you have wells?”
“Hardly, most of our water comes from the great lakes up near Green Land. So if you’re ever thirsty, that’s where you want to go.” As if on cue Sandy reached back with her head and snatched her satchel, she pulled out a canteen and awkwardly tried to open it with her mouth.
“Oh, let me help you with that,” Aerial said. Her horn lit up and the canteen levitated away from Sandy. The red mare yelped and fell back onto her haunches, her eyes locked onto the canteen as it magically opened itself up. Aerial passed the canteen back over to the mare. “Here you go.”
Sandy hesitantly took the canteen out of the air, her eyes never leaving the horned pony. She took a few sips of her water and capped it. “H-h-how di-did you do that?”
Aerial looked at the mare as if she was stupid. “Magic, silly. I’m a unicorn.” She pointed to her horn with a hoof.
“Uni-what?”
“Unicorn, you know the three races? Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies?” Aerial started to walk up the hill towards the abandoned house, the sun had finally dipped behind the mountains, causing large black shadows to cast themselves over the valley.
“We better get inside,” Sandy said, her voice wavering slightly. “I hope you brought something warm to wear.” She climbed onto her hooves and started to follow Aerial towards the abandoned house.
“What do you mean?”
“Just follow me!” Sandy bolted past the unicorn and galloped up the side of the dune. Aerial glanced around confused, checking to see if anypony was trailing them.
“What’s going on?” She asked nervously as she trotted behind the scavenger.
“The dark season is upon us.” Sandy finally answered when the two of them reached the abandoned home. At first glance, it looked to be an old farm house. However, a large portion of it was buried in sand and the wood looked dry and decayed. “And from what I’m hearin’...” Sandy shook her head. “I have a feelin’ you have no clue on what that means.”
“Nope... what’s wrong with the night?”
Sandy led Aerial along the side of the house towards an old cellar that was buried partially by sand. “A lot of things are wrong with the night. C’mon...” Sandy grumbled as she tried to unbury the cellar.
Aerial lit her horn and hoisted nearly all of the sand off of the cellar door. “Did that help?”
Sandy pursed her lips and watched as the sand was dumped off to the side. “Ye-yeah... th-thanks!” She shook her head and quickly pulled an old key out of her bag which she used to open the cellar door, she then took a lantern out of her bag. Flicking a switch with her tongue, the gas powered device came to life and she led the two of them down inside. “Don’t forget to close the door, lock it too.” Aerial turned around and pulled the door closed before twisting the lock.
“Now I’ll ask this again...” Sandy placed the lantern on an old decayed dresser on the far end of the room. Aerial came down the steps and looked the cellar over, it was old and stuffy. The walls were covered in mildew and the air was warm and stale. Sand dirtied the floor and on one wall was what looked like a makeshift map. In one corner was a pile of bags, in the center was a table with dirty plates and a bag full of corn. “Do you have anything warm to wear?”
“N-no... they told me that I would have enough time before the sun sets to find the pistons.” Aerial said her voice wavering a little. “Are we going to die?”
Sandy looked at Aerial. “Well not me...” She fell silent for a moment, the look on Aerial’s face told her she probably shouldn't leave it at that. “Well... as long as you don’t go outside you should be fine. Not until you get something warm, then you’ll be good.”
“How long is the night?” Aerial shivered, the temperature was already dropping.
Sandy opened a drawer and grabbed a bowl and what looked like a bottle of water. “Four thousand, three hundred and eighty hours...” She poured the water into the bowl and set it on the table, she then unslung her saddle bag. She reached in with her hooves and pulled out a few sticks and rocks, she created a circle with the rocks and piled the sticks in the middle.
Without warning Aerial’s horn flickered and the sticks suddenly caught fire. Sandy shrieked and kicked herself away from the fire. “Sweet, Stone, what was that?!”
“I-I w-was helping you l-light the fire.” She gulped. “Sorry for scaring you...”
Sandy sat up on her haunches. “Okay... I’m going to set some ground rules... No zebra shit, okay?”
“Zebra?”
“Yeah... none of that dark stuff.” Sandy pushed herself up and retrieved her bowl of water along with the corn.
Aerial quickly did the math, her eyes widened. “So the night is six months long?” Aerial's stomach rumbled when she saw Sandy scrape it off the stalk into the bowl.
“What do you mean, is it really six months? It’s always been that way.” Sandy glanced back at the mare and then the bowl, deciding if she should share. She did have enough supplies to get her through the season even with two mares, though that wouldn’t have been the case if she hadn’t found that old crown in the castle. Then again, if she didn’t share and kept the food for herself, she’d be set for the whole day. “Buck it...” she mumbled and grabbed a second stalk of corn, she started to add it to the bowl. “Okay... here’s the case: For helping me with that desert bear, I’ll let you stay for seventy two hours.”
“So three days?”
Sandy spun around. “Are you crazy?! NO! I’d kill you if that was the case.” She shook her head. “Seventy two hours, no more no less.”
Aerial leapt back when Sandy shouted at her. She gulped, time on the surface is a lot different then when she was in the stable. “Ah... okay...”
“I have a spare blanket in the closet over there, use it to sleep on the floor.” Sandy gently pulled the bowl out of the fire with some tongs. “You can have one spoonful,” She said.
Aerial glanced towards the closet, there she saw another bowl. She levitated it over to the table where she spooned some boiled corn soup into her bowl. She walked over to Sandy and sat down next to her, there she started to eat her food slowly by using her magic to cool it.
“Gah, buck!” Aerial looked over to see Sandy shaking her head with her tongue hanging out. A large red spot on the tip of it showed her that the mare had burned herself by eating her food too quickly.
Aerial smiled and wrapped the mares bowl with her magic. “What the hay are you do—?”
“Take mine, it’s cool.” Aerial said and placed her old bowl in front of Sandy.
Sandy blinked. “Why?”
“Hmm?” Aerial hummed as she cooled her new bowl. “You burned your mouth that’s wh––”
Sandy shook her head. “Why are you so nice?” She looked at Aerial.
“What do you mean?” Aerial shoveled some corn into her mouth.
“I never met a pony like you before... you saved me, and didn’t even ask for a reward, you unburied my home, and now you’re trading me food.”
Aerial shrugged. “Just how I was raised.”
“Is that what your... kind is like?”
Aerial looked at Sandy, she placed her bowl on the ground. “Earlier when I mentioned I was a unicorn, you looked confused. Have you never seen one before?”
“I have no idea what a unicorn is, dear... but you also look like a regular pony too.”
“That’s because I am a pony,” Aerial said.
Sandy scooped the last of her corn down her gullet and gulped. She looked at Aerial with a frown. “No pony can do the tricks I’ve seen you do... only creatures I know that can do anything remotely like that are them damned Zebras and Changelings. How about I ask you this, what was that name you gave me earlier?”
“A.L.-173?”
“Yeah, what in Tartarus was that? Are all you ‘unicorns’ named like that?”
Aerial tapped her chin and levitated her corn backup. “Well not really, my best friend is P.T.-112, and my ex-coltfriend was called N.M.-12. He was the Overmare’s son.”
Sandy rolled her eyes. “So yer all numbered... dunno if that’s messed up or efficient. Maybe both.” She sat her bowl down and stood up. “Whelp, I have to get to bed... er... actually.” Sandy pulled out some rope and turned back toward Aerial. “I think I’m going to have to restrain you.”
“HUH?!” Aerial shot up.
“Believe me, hun, I don’t know if I fully trust you yet... especially if I’m going to bed.”
Aerial shook her head. “Believe me if I was going to kill you, I would have done it when you were stunned after that bear attacked you.” She took a deep breath then added, “And even if you tied me up, I could just magic them off.” Aerial flattened her ears and looked up at the mare with wide eyes.
Sandy bit her lip and blew hot air out her nose. “Alright fine!” She dropped the rope. “But if I notice anything gone, you’re out of here!” She walked over to an old cot in the corner, shrugging all of her gear off her back she climbed onto the cot and curled up.
Aerial took a deep breath and looked at the fireplace. Such a bizarre mare this Sandy.
Aerial Light, formerly known as A.L.-173, woke up a shivering mess in an environment she wasn’t use to. Her head shot up from the dusty blanket it rested on. Her eyes wide, she glanced around the dark room. Behind her, on top of a dresser, was a single, dim lamp which cast a low glow on the room. She opened her mouth to say something, but before anything came out, it all came rushing back to her. The painful walk through the desert wasteland, her painfully killing the wild bear, and Sandy Dusk. The mare that invited her to say for three days––well, “Seventy-two hours” is how she put it.
Aerial bit her lip, speaking of time, how long had she been asleep. From where she lain, she could not see Sandy in her cot The lamp seemed to be running low on fuel, and outside all she could hear is the howling of the wind. She took a deep breath and slowly pushed herself up onto her hooves and quietly walked over to the cot. Sure enough, the mare wasn’t in it.
“Where did she go?” Aerial turned away from the cot and looked over at the dresser with the dying lamp. Resting on top just beside the fading light source were a collection of dusty, burned, books. From what the unicorn could make out it seemed as if most of them had made it through whatever hell they had experienced. Curious, she lit her horn and gently pulled one of the books off the dresser and levitated it towards her. Half way down, she opened the book and levitated it in front of her face as she turned away from the dresser, allowing the light from behind her to strike its surface.
“Since the iteration of magic and technology, ponykind’s advancement in science increased far more in these recent three years than it has in the past six-thousand.” The first line in the book read. Aerial pursed her lips and closed the book so that she could look at the cover. On it were three ponies silhouetted by what looked to be a shadow of a cog wheel that had a shining purple star behind it. The colors on the book were faded and bits an pieces were peeling off. Looking up at the cover, Aerial raised an eyebrow at the title. “Genesis: When Magic and Machine Meet” below that “Written by Twilight Sparkle... Published by Colt-Tech.”
“Interesting.” Aerial glanced up at the cellar entrance before turning around and sliding the book back where it belonged. “Maybe I can ask Sandy if I can bo—”
KRAKA-BOOM!
The cellar door swung open, allowing for the freezing air to blow in due to the screaming wind. “GAH! Dammit!” Sandy hollered from above.
Aerial’s heart was racing, her hooves were bolted to the ground though her legs jiggled as if she was going to fall any moment. She had never heard such a noise like that—
KRAKA-BOOM!
The unicorn shrieked and dropped onto her belly, her hooves covered her ears. “I could use a some of that zebra shit you got!” Sandy screamed over the howling wind.
Aerial pulled her hooves away from her ears and looked up to see the clothed, red mare glaring down at her from the cellar’s staircase. “Would ya stop cowering, it’s just thunder! Now help me get this door closed before the wind tears it off!” The mare pulled what looked to be goggles over her eyes and ran back up the stairs.
Aerial gulped and stood back up, her legs shaking more than ever. “S-so that’s what th-thunder sounds l-like...” She gulped, “The books always made it not sound so bad.” She trotted over to the stairs but jolted back the second she placed one hoof in the path to the entrance. The gusting wind made the air colder than ice, so it seemed. Aerial felt that if she stood there any longer then a few second she’d surely freeze to death.
“C’mon, it’s splintering!” Sandy lunged at the flapping door and latched onto it with her hooves, freezing sand pelted her goggles and clothes. Even now she could feel the microscopic sediment slice through her clothing. A nasty crack from the door alerted her that it was only moments away from the ripping off and flying out in the wasteland. Letting go of it, the mare stumbled around in the sand as she tried to fight the wind from blowing her over. Biting her lip, she moved around to the direction the door was blowing in; she could hardly see anything. The sun had finally settled behind the mountains and there was almost little to no light aside from a streak of lighting every now again.
KRAKA-BOOM!
Streak of lighting could be seen striking the earth in the distance and Thunder roared. It was rather disappointing, Sandy thought, here she was fighting to save her door, which was the one thing that kept her from freezing at night. The mare would have rather wished she was fighting off a flood of freezing rain instead of this bullshit.
“Aerial, where are you?!”
“I’m ri-ri-ri-ght he-here!” The unicorn shivered out as she reached the top of the staircase, her horn flared to life and a white aura wrapped itself around the door. “Quickly, get inside!” She bit her lip, the action nearly drawing blood.
Sandy blinked and ran back around before stumbling past the mare and running down into the cellar. The skin beneath Aerial’s coat felt as if it was blistering. Sure enough, she had a feeling somewhere was going to be frostbitten. Before she could lose feeling in any part of her body the mare swung her head back and yanked the cellar closed in one go.
“Don’t forget to lock it!” Sandy called up.
Aerial grit her teeth and did as she was told. Locking the cellar, she clumsily stumbled down the stairwell before stopping in the middle of the room. Over by the dresser and table on her right side, Aerial saw Sandy desperately trying to light a fire. Not wanting to wait on her, Aerial’s horn flashed briefly and the pit ignited just like it did hours ago. Just like before, Sandy shrieked and kicked herself away from the pit. “For, Stone’s sake, please warn me before doing that!”
Aerial shrugged. “Sorry, I’m just as cold as you are.” The mare moved over to Sandy and pushed a few chairs out of the way before plopping down alongside the fire. She cooed happily as the warm flames burned away the chillness on her skin. Moments later she turned her head around to look at Sandy, who had gotten up and moved over to her cot. “So, what were you doing out there?”
Sandy stood just beside her cot and bent over. With her teeth, she grabbed onto a knot on the side of her clothing and pulled it loose. Suddenly, every single piece of clothing fell off of her body and formed a pile beneath her. Aerial raised an eyebrow at the mare’s body. Despite the muck and grime that covered her coat, her overall physique was beautifully constructed. Every corner of her body was nicely curved and slim. Despite living in such a harsh environment, her overall weight seemed to be healthy and well toned. Not only that, on either side of her body was a set of well groomed wings.
Aerial blinked. “So you’re a pegasus?”
Sandy nodded, “Sure am...” She extended both of her wings out and sighed with relief when both of the base joints cracked. “Oh that feels good,” the mare sighed, she then rolled her neck and rewarded herself with a few satisfying pops.
“You still haven’t answered my question,” Aerial said.
Sandy looked over and cocked an eyebrow. “What question?”
Aerial gave a low, irritated sigh. “What were you doing outside? I thought you said it’d be too cold.”
The red pegasus bit her lower lip and sat back on her cot. “I made a mistake...”
Aerial frowned, mistakes were never good, that was something she had to learn quickly after leaving the stable. “What happened?”
Sandy sighed. “I allowed you to come in here that’s what,” she said a little coldly.
Aerial recoiled back. “Whoa, what did I do?!”
“It’s not what you did, it’s what’s going to happen. While you were asleep I checked my stockpile thinking you might’ve took something.” Aerial’s frown deepened. “Well I noticed something troubling, we have plenty of food but our—my water situation isn’t great.”
Aerial sighed, this wasn’t the first time she heard this story. “Great, it just seems that everyone’s running out of water.”
Sandy chuckled nervously. “Believe it or not, that usually tends to happen a lot more during the night season than the day.”
“So I take it I won’t be able to stay for the three da–I mean seventy two hours?”
The pegasus quickly shook her head. “No, you can stay... there’s no way I could throw you out there now.” Her eyes wandered towards the crackling flame. “Right now we just need to think of some kind of action...”
“So why were you outside?” Aerial asked for a third time.
Sandy rolled her eyes. “I thought I could make it to Traders Keep.”
Aerial left her place by the fire and moved over to Sandy. “Is that some kind of town?”
The mare frowned and stared Aerial in the eyes. “You really have no idea where you are, do you?”
Aerial shrugged. “All I know is that we’re in the basement of some old farmhouse in the middle of a desert wasteland. I was born and raised in an underground shelter that was built during the war, this is the first time I’ve ever been to the surface.”
Sandy continued to look Aerial in the eye. For what felt like a minute, the two seemed to be having some form of silent staring contest. Finally Sandy shattered the silence with a shit eating grin and laughter. “Wh-what a-are you talking about?”
Aerial leaned back. “What do you mean?”
Sandy rolled onto her bed giggling, she sat up and looked at the white unicorn. “That’s like the third time you mentioned some, ‘Great War’, what war?”
“The war that sold the world!” Aerial exclaimed. “Were you ever taught this in school?” That seemed to set Sandy off again and she wailed with laughter. Aerial rolled her eyes and turned away from the pegasus. “Alright, change the subject, let's go back to the situation at hoof,” she faced Sandy again. “We’re gonna be running out of water soon, how far is Traders Keep?”
Sandy hiccuped and felt silent, she sat up and looked at Aerial. “Wai—what?”
“How far is the settlement?” She asked.
Sandy got onto her hooves and shook her head. “Whoa now, if I send you out there you’re gonna freeze to death with a few minutes.”
Aerial bit her lip. “Don’t worry... I was trained in some basic shield spells.” She had no idea if they truly worked for what she was about to say, “I won’t be able change the temperature of the shield but I would be able to hold off the chilling wind.”
“Wait a second.” The pegasus’s eyes widened. “You're tellin’ me you can create shelter just by a stomp of a hoof?”
The unicorn giggled at Sandy’s reaction, for some reason seeing a pony so amazed by her basic abilities felt oddly lifting. “It’s not really a shelter but more or less a shield. Like what you’d use to block an arrow?”
“Okay, I get it now... so you can just zap a barrier out of thin air...” Sandy leaned forward. “You’re still going to need something warm to wear.”
Aerial glanced about, seeing if she could spot anything to throw on. “Well... I already have my jumpsuit.” She motioned to the black, coat tight suit she was wearing. “It provides some protection.”
Sandy gave her a look of disbelief. “It doesn’t even cover your flank, dear.” She took a deep breath and picked up the poor excuse of clothing she had on earlier off the floor. “Chy deez un...” She said with a mouth full of cloth, she spat them out on the floor in front of her. “You and I seem to be about the same size, so they should fit just fine.”
Aerial levitated the ragged clothes off the floor and raised an eyebrow at them. The cloth was brown and tan, she even noticed a few red spots that look almost like blood. Aerial didn't want to ask if it was Sandy’s or not. “Y’know, I wish I could pick things up without putting them in my mouth...” Sandy went over to the fireplace, sat down, sprawled her hind legs out, and propped herself up with her forelegs. “You won’t believe how long it’s been since I washed those clothes.”
Aerial gazed at the clothes with utter disgust. Shaking her head, she knew it’d be best to just not think about it and put them on. It took a bit to figure out how to put them on. Aerial decided to wear the new scavenger gear over her stable suit, however, unlike her stable jumpsuit, the worn wear Sandy gave her covered every inch of her body. It was also weighted. Whatever the material was made of weighed at least a pound or two more then her jumpsuit, and that's saying a lot because the jumpsuit practically has no weight. It smelled too; like a mare who hasn’t bathed in weeks. It was horrid.
Though the clothing did have its perks. For instance, it actually looked cool. Aerial was able to steal a glance off a nearby glass bottle and couldn’t help but smile. She reminded herself of those old images of the ponies in the ancient country of... what was it called? Saddle Arabia, yeah, that was it! She reminded herself of a stallion in one of the pictures she’d seen. Funny though that she reminded herself of a stallion when looking herself over. The picture, if she could recall correctly, was of two stallions dressed in similar, yet cleaner, rags. Their faces and bodies were wrapped, almost like a mum—
“You done checking yourself out?” Aerial almost leapt out of her clothes, her head shot towards Sandy who still had her hind legs sprawled out in front of the fire, though her head was looking back at her. “Like, I know you look adorable in my clothes, but seriously, we have an issue.” She pulled her legs back in close and rolled onto her knees, she then pushed herself onto her hooves.
“I understand that,” Aerial said, “just trying to get used to the new clothes is all.”
“Well you can do that while we’re walking to Traders Keep,” Sandy poked Aerial with a wing and picked the blanket she had used earlier and swung it over her shoulders.
“What do you mean ‘we’re’, I thought I was the only one going?” Aerial watched as Sandy awkwardly tied a knot with her teeth at the base of her neck.
“Well, I already gave you my clothes, so I dunno if I can trust you fully with them. Not only that, I still haven’t told you the directions to Traders Keep yet.” Sandy looked at her with soft eyes. “Don’t want you getting lost now, do we? Oh yeah, can’t forget about the water, either. We’re gonna need a lot. So we’re gonna need these.” Sandy scooped up a brown bag full of unknown items.
“What are those?” Aerial watched as Sandy dropped the bag of items into her saddle bag, which she then slid off the ground and dropped on her back.
“Well, we won’t be getting the water for free.” Sandy stretched her back. “So I’m bringing some scrap. C’mon let's get going.”
“Aren’t you worried about the cold?”
Sandy rolled her eyes. “Damn you never stop with the questions, do you? Anyways, with your shield thingy you say you can do, I shouldn’t need a coat. Besides, I’m a pegasus. I’m naturally used to the cold.” Sandy stopped by the cellar door, the wind outside had died greatly, but there were still a few gusts. She started to unlock the door.
“Shouldn’t we eat something?”
Sandy buzzed her lips out of irritation. “No. It should only take a couple hours, that is if we don’t run into trouble.”
“Oh okay...” Aerial’s stomach grumbled.
Sandy smiled when she heard the lock come undone. “Alright, get that shield ready!” She pushed the door open and was immediately blasted by northern like wind, however, the feeling was quickly sated by Aerial’s faint, white shield. “Whoa!” Sandy beamed. “You really do have a shield!”
“Huh...” Aerial smiled too. “I didn’t actually think it could block air.”
The two of them stepped out onto the sand, Sandy smiled happily as she turned and closed the cellar. Locking it, she looked at Aerial. “You truly are interesting.” Before Aerial could ask her what she meant by that, the pegasus motioned with her head to follow her. “Traders Keep is just a few dozen dunes thataway.”
:[-]:
The walk to Traders Keep was rather uninteresting. When walking in the wasteland there wasn’t really much to look at, especially during the dark season. Usually during the night ponies had the sky to look at and appreciate, traders normally used the stars to guide them. Others used them for pure entertainment so that they could tell stories. However, on nights such as the one Sandy and Aerial were experiencing, every inch of it was covered in clouds.
With Sandy’s irritation growing with every question Aerial asked, the unicorn learned that it’d be best if she just closed her mouth and kept on walking. No need to piss off her guide now. Yet being the hypocrite she was, Sandy looked over her shoulder and asked: “So any cute colts or mares where you from?”
Aerial’s head pulled back a bit at the question. “Eh, well... yeah.” She nodded. “Yeah there was a hoof full... why mares though?”
Sandy shrugged. “I’ve had my way with both sides here and there, even a gryphon once, too.” The pegasus grinned as they clambered over another dune and began to descend into it. In the distance, Aerial could see lights bouncing off the top of the next hill. They must be very close now.
“Uh... okay...” Aerial blushed a bit. “Why are you telling me this?”
Sandy looked back at Aerial with a disappointed face. “Still at the age in which you’re embarrassed to talk about sex?”
“I’m only twenty!” Aerial exclaimed. “I’ve only had two colt friends, I don’t have anything to talk about.”
Sandy lets off a boisterous laugh. “No need to get your mane tangled, dear... just thought we could learn about each other, that’s all.”
Aerial giggled. “Sorry, just wasn’t expecting that topic to come flying out of nowhere... well, if you want to get to know each other.” Aerial thought for a moment. “How old are you?”
“Oh jumping the gun now are we?” Sandy’s smile widened to the point her nasty, yellow teeth were showing. “I’m twenty-one.” Aerial nodded but Sandy continued on, “So you mentioned there were some pretty colts and mares. Anyone in particular you were fond of?”
Aerial giggled a bit and shifted her hooves while they started their trek up what she thought was the final hill. “Well there was one colt, yes... his name was H.K.-47.” Aerial smiled as the mental image of such gorgeous stallion came to mine. Though for a stallion, H.K. was very feminine in appearance, but his personality was one of a full blooded stallion, and for some reason her heart would race every time she saw him... though this part she kept secret from everypony if word got out that she actually would have fantasies about him and her. She’d probably die.
“Huh...” Sandy curled her lips. “That’s a very attractive nam—”
BLAM!
Both ponies jolted and their eyes widened at the sight of red sizzling flare zip upwards into the sky before exploding into a bright, shining beacon. “What in the world?!” Sandy gasped and her pupils shrunk, her eyes darted back down to Aerial who seemed oblivious as to what the flare meant. “Come on we have to leave now!”
“What do you mean we ha—” A bright flash of light followed by an explosion and screams echoed back into the mare’s ears. Sounds of panicked ponies and crying children came spilling over the hill like a tsunami washing up on shore. Shortly after more explosions filled the scene along with the sound of shouting stallions and mares.
“We can come back here in a few hours,” Sandy’s voice was filled with panic, her eyes were shifting quickly from left to right. “But right now isn’t the best time!”
Aerial wasn’t listening to Sandy, as of now all she could hear was the sounds of screaming ponies and what appeared to be a conflict of some sort. She had to get to the bottom of whatever was happening. She looked at Sandy. “I’m going up there to see what’s happening.”
Sandy’s eyes narrowed her eyebrows curved downwards. “Like Tartarus you are!”
“I just need to see what’s going on, Sandy, trust me.”
“I ain’t lettin’ you go in there with my clothes, though!” The mare was obviously scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Aerial rolled her eyes, with a flash of her horn the clothes, save for her stable suit, disappeared and reappeared on the pegasus’ back. “Put those on and head back to the cellar if you can. I have a decent memory, so don’t worry about me forgetting.”
“Heck no! I ain’t lettin’ you get yourself killed!”
“Why do you care, we just met?!”
Sandy’s ears shifted downwards and she bit her lip. Why did she care? Then again... this bizarre mare did save her, was that why she cared so much? She gulped. “Because ya saved my life, that’s why.”
Aerial bit her lip. That seemed like a believable point, but...
Suddenly a faint whistle could be heard from above, looking upwards a dim sparkle caught Aerial’s eyes. Her heart hitched in her throat and she concentrated all her magic into the shield—
KA-BOOM!
Both of them could hardly hear a thing, a faint ringing sound plagued both of their minds. Any second now it felt as if blood was going to start dripping from their ears. Ever so slowly, both of their hearing began to come back. This time, the battle on the other side of the hill seemed to increase with intensity.
Aerial’s shield was gone and she could feel the freezing draft drifting aimlessly over her coat. Luckily the majority of the wind storm had died, but the temperature still felt way below zero. She was on the ground, back in the sand, eyes gazing at the sky. The clouds looked to have drifted away, and up above she could see a beautiful green and blue nebula. “Aerial! Oh, Stone, Aerial are you okay?!”
The unicorn sat upwards. “Ye-yeah... I-I’m fine...”
“Mother of Stone, Aerial, you just stopped a mortar from killing us!”
Her head was wracked with a migraine, despite regaining her hearing, she still found it hard to concentrate on things. “Ye-yeah I guess I did...”
“C’mon, fuck the raiders, or whoever they are... we need to go now...”
Aerial couldn’t argue anymore, that single blast drained her of everything. She simply nodded her head. “Ye-yeah... I think that’s best...”
