Wretched Hive 2: The Drooling Oasis

The pale yellow unicorn hopped off the wagon to assess the situation. He had no supplies, no weapons, and a horribly destructible shelter. Looking around, there was nothing but sand as far as his eyes could see. A few rocks and a tall spire, eclipsing the moon in the distance, were all the landmarks the desert could afford. The unicorn looked up at the stars, and soon remembered he had no idea how to navigate by them.

The door to the carriage swung open. The unicorn quickly turned to the cart with a flashlight spell as defense. He blinded a green pegasus.

"Hey!" the stranger yelled. "Who is this and where are the guards?!"

The unicorn's spell relaxed. The pegasus squinted at him.

"There are no guards," the unicorn explained. "It was a trap. I don't know what wants us but it sounds like we need to get back to Appleloosa quick!"

"Wait..." the pegasus said, taking a step back. "Aren't you that troublemaker that's been terrorizing our town?!"

"We are in the middle of the desert!" the unicorn yelled. "There are giant bugs, vampires that can take the form of guards, mirages that aren't mirages, and that spire over there could easily be a fucking dragon roost!" He scoffed. "But sure, be upset that I'm the guy who has to steal shit to survive!"

"What's going on out there?" a lighter voice asked. A sky blue mare appeared at the door to the carriage. "Everything alright, Cloud?"

The pegasus turned back to her. "Not really, hon... I think we've been tricked!" He trotted up to the unicorn. "I don't know what you pulled to get us into this mess but take us home now!"

"You think I want to be out here in this wasteland?!" The unicorn resisted every urge to punch him. "I was kidnapped just like you guys!"

"So you're saying you have no idea how to go back home?"

The unicorn shrugged. "Not unless you can navigate by stars."

The pegasus sighed. "Alright. What's your name, son?"

The unicorn shrugged.

"You don't have a name?"

He shrugged again. "You gotta have parents who love you to get a name, and I didn't. So... No."

The pegasus exhaled. "Well, my name is Cloud. My wife and child are on that wagon, along with a couple other earth ponies."

"Maybe one of them knows how to get home?" Nameless asked.

"We can certainly hope so."

The ponies trotted back to the wagon and helped everypony outside. They tossed the earplugs into the dust and looked at one another.

"So," the brown, male earth pony said. "How exactly did we get out here? We should have been in the northern towns by now..."

Nameless's eyes widened. "If you all say that you took a nap on the ride here, and no one knows what directions they took... I might just start crying." He looked from one pony to the next, but only one could look him in the eye.

"Even if one of us stayed awake all night," the blue mare explained. "The carriage windows were impossible to see out of at night..."

Nameless let out a loud sigh. "Surely one of you knows where the nearest desert is to Appleloosa?"

"Well," the tan, female earth pony said. "Appleloosa is in the middle of one, so assumin' we didn't stop anywhere we're either North of town or South of it."

"And which is it? We could be trotting the exact opposite direction we need to go!"

"Everypony calm down!" Cloud said before tensions rose. "Everything will be just fine once we get our bearings. But first, we really need some proper introductions." He put a hoof on his green chest. "I'm Mr. Cloud." He pointed a hoof at the blue mare and the green pegasus that was two thirds their size, a foot shorter than Nameless. "This is Mrs. Cloud and Cloud Jr."

"Semi-anonymous, huh?" The brown stallion chuckled. "I can get behind that. You can call me Ranch. This is my wife, Starch."

They turned to Nameless. He shrugged.

"If you don't say something, I'll start calling you whatever I feel like," Ranch warned.

Nameless shrugged again.

Ranch thought for a moment. "Yep. I got nothing."

"How about a plan for getting back to town," the unicorn asked.

"We've got the wagon," Starch pointed out. "We adults can take shifts pulling it."

"But where do we even go?" Cloud asked. He looked around the wasteland. "We have no way of knowing where town is."

"Actually, I never felt the wagon turn," Mrs. Cloud pointed out. "It may very well be that way!" She gestured to the direction opposite of the front of the wagon.

"That's North!" Ranch said excitedly. He pointed up to the moon. "You can tell by the stars! Let's get out of here!"

"I'm afraid you're a bit late for that," a deep and crackly voice spoke from behind him.

Sitting on the driver's seat of the wagon was Foresight. It smiled and put its hoof to its mouth. It blew through the holes again, playing the same song. Everypony but Cloud Jr. was too stunned to react. Cloud Jr. simply bobbed his head back and forth, the words popping up in his head with each note:

"Rain rain go away...
Come again another day!" repeated over and over in the colt's head.

"Who the hell plays a song like that in the middle of the desert?!" Starch yelled at the intruder.

The song stopped. "Someone who knows what the hell is going on around here," Foresight answered. "Look around you! This is no desert. A desert has life built to stand tall in the heat! This is a wasteland. A desolate place where all forms of life struggle to maintain all levels of health." It smiled. "Water is not a blessing here. By the time rain fills these river beds and fertilizes these soils, all life that could populate them will have perished."

"So when the water comes, we die?" Nameless asked the bug.

Foresight chuckled and shook its head. "No... When the water comes, you have already died." It stamped the wagon with its hoof. "This bulky, wooden thing will not shield from fire or water. Best to hoof it, as they say." It half-shrugged. "Or not. You could all just climb inside and hug each other. All of you die at once and no one struggles." It shook its head. "No one grieves."

"And what should we do to survive?" Cloud asked.

The bug held its head back in laughter. The smile disappeared from its face when its eyes came back down to the serious pegasus. "That's easy. Just don't die!"

"And how do we do that?"

"You seemed like the optimistic type before you asked that," the bug said, devoid of emotion. "I wonder what happened. But a better question is... What are you willing to let happen?" A dark smirk creased the bug's snout.

Its wings lifted it into the air, and its hoof lifted to its mouth. The music resumed, but soon faded away as the changeling flew away.

"Those guards told Foresight to fuck off before they disappeared," Nameless said. "I kinda wish I had too..."

"That thing has a name?" Ranch asked aghast.

Nameless shrugged. "Apparently they're what live around here. Why wouldn't it have a name?"

Ranch scoffed, then smiled. "Same reason you don't would be my guess."

"Ha ha ha ha," Nameless laughed sarcastically. "Help me take apart the wagon, would ya?" He trotted up to the carriage.

"Now, your cutie mark is a palm tree?" the brown stallion noticed. "Wonder what kind of name would fit you?"

"Stop staring at my ass and take the wheels off, will ya?" Nameless growled, barely able to hold back a punch.

"Fine." He turned to his wife as he trotted toward the side of the carriage. "Starch, look around and see if you can find food or water. These bug things gotta be eating something..."

"Hey, what's that over there!" Mrs. Cloud said, gesturing to a dune that seemed to have water flowing around it.

"It's just a mirage!" Nameless called out.

"You're just a mirage!" Starch called back. "That there's gotta be some water!"

"Good comeback!" the unicorn yelled sarcastically to the mare as she galloped out toward the waves in the distance.

"Help your father, Junior," Mrs. Cloud told her son. She turned and galloped after Starch. "Hey, wait up! I'm thirsty too!"

The mares galloped together over the sand until the small pond was in sight. Its waters shined a lighter blue than Mrs. Cloud's coat, and the moon's reflection was so intense they couldn't see the bottom of the oasis.

"Think it's safe to drink?" Mrs. Cloud asked.

"Honey, ain't no thing as bad water. Whatcha gotta look out for is the bad things in the water!"

Starch reached into the pond and scooped up the water in her hooves. She passed it from one hoof to the other; it flowed without any hindering from rocks or debris. She sniffed it; there was no sign of stagnation. She took a reluctant sip. She licked her lips and turned toward Mrs. Cloud.

"This is some grade A spring water, Miss C!"

"Oh good, I am so thirsty." The pony bent down and drank from the pool. The cool, refreshing water rushed down her overheated and tired throat. She drank deep, enjoying every chill flow into her stomach. She finally stopped glugging the stuff down to take a breath. She exhaled in pure satisfaction.

Starch brought her head up from the pool too. "Geez, you sure drank a lot..." She looked down at the pool. "Ha. I'd expected this oasis to be a bit more shallow after all our drinkin'!" She looked closer at the edge of the pool. "Now that's really weird."

"What's up?"

"This sand here at the edge of the pond is bone dry..." She dipped her hoof back into the water. "Nope, that's definitely cold, real water." She shrugged it off. "Nature, right?"

"Mommy?" Junior called meekly from behind the mares.

"Junior, I thought I told you to help your father!"

"I was... I was thirsty..."

The blue mare rolled her eyes. "Oh, alright. Come here and have some of this fresh spring water!"

The little, green pegasus pranced happily up to the dry shore and took a gulp of water.

"Taste good?" she asked her son. He nodded excitedly. "Good. Go tell your dad it's here." She turned to Starch as the foal galloped off. "I think we could all use a water break."

Upon hearing the news, Ranch and Mr. Cloud trotted up for a refreshing sip. Nameless stayed back, taking the planks off the wagon and hoping he could create some form of weapon before Foresight could give him any more "advice."