Those Thirty Days

  "Day Eighteen of Project Solitaire, We have lost five more ponies during the night, each fully agreeing and willing to lose their memories of the previous days, a truly admirable, yet foolish, action. The pony in our care continues to be silent, the only sign that he's alive being the missing food from the plates we teleport out of the cell. Twelve days remain before we end this project and are aloud to return to our families, and not just sleep in the barracks. I'll be honest, I hate lying to my family, saying I'm off to do special research in a joint project with the Griffin Kingdom as an explanation of why I'm gone for thirty days on a single project, though I, along with the others, realize it is for the best. We plan on giving the pony a little something special to eat some time soon as a sort of encouragement to keep hanging on. His data says that his favorite food is a certain pasta dish served at a restaurant two blocks from his office. Maybe we could ask the higher ups to order it so we can give him something a bit more special than just a sandwich with fries. I'll make a note to just that effect, and this is a point on which I'll insist, even if I have not done so on any other point thus far in the project. End of morning researcher's notes, switching to in room audio."

  Risk stood up, looking around at his empty as ever room, the white burning into his eyes. Turning to the sink, he let his eyes relax slightly with staring at the blue and red rings surrounded by silver. He had lost count of how many dinner, lunches, or breakfasts he had had in this place, not that it mattered anymore. As all things tend to do, his hope had long withered and died, and now he was just going through the motions of living with little of anything behind his movements. The food that once was rich in flavor now tasted like cardboard, and the reflection the water gave him made it all the more obvious that he was loosing color, as his inner magic gave into the despair and sapped his very essence with it. Though there was still color in the world, it all seemed a shade of gray, all colors, that was, except the burning white that surrounded him that caused him literal physical pain. As he stared at the metal, the shimmering sound of his food arriving caused him to pry his eyes away from their safe bastion, entering the realm of pain of scanning the floor for the next oasis of different colors that his plate harbored. He slowly walked up to the plate, lowering his head to eat it, more of going through the motions without any heart, the same way he did everything else.

  Keen stowed the tape player in her bags, not feeling up to listening to the next tape. Looking up, she saw the false sun bearing down on her, scorching her very real hide. She grumbled to herself as she moved on, tracing the same grid pattern she had been working on for the last twenty minutes, hoping to find the spot of sand she knew would eventually come, showing her the way to the boiler room. Even if the steam engines were still broken, the room might be better than this, no, it WOULD be better than this. It would have water in the air, something Keen needed desperately.

  "You looking for something down there?" A voice asked from above. Keen stopped dead in her tracks, looking up towards it to see a pegasus floating midair while giving her a questioning glance. "I mean, I don't know what you're like. Maybe you like getting your hide burned off while listening to some of the worst audio drama this side of the desert." Keen blinked a few times at the stallion, groaning as she continued her grid pattern search of the sands. "I don't know where you're from, but usually it is customary, polite even, to provide a response to a pony that is talking to you, or at least acknowledge them." Keen grunted in response, only to stop dead in her tracks.

  "Alright, can you tell me where the nearest unicorn is?" Keen asked. The pegasus just looked at Keen, his expression betraying nothing of what he thought, assuming he was thinking. "Are you going to leave me hanging?"

  "Sorry, wasn't sure if it was a custom from where you are from to let a pony stew for a few moments before giving conversation." The stallion said with a smirk. "As to your question, you should head west if you are looking for a unicorn. I also suggest not walking back and forth since that expends more energy than its worth."

  "West? What's in the west?" Keen asked.

  "Saddle Arabia's capitol... among other things." The pegasus replied. "There are unicorns that live their if you are really looking for one." He continued. "Look, how about before you go you stop by my shack and get some water, not to mention some ointment for your coat. You're near aimless meandering through this desert couldn't have been good for you."

  "Wait... how long have you been watching me?" Keen asked, looking at the stallion suspiciously.

  "Ever since the unicorn on the other end teleported you in here. I'm guessing that is why you need a unicorn, so that you can teleport back." The pegasus said.

  "Wait... teleported? What are you talking about?" Keen said, her mind trying to wrap around this new revelation, a revelation that shook her world.

  "Yeah, must've been a doozy too. It blinded me for almost three seconds, kind of scary when you think about it, not to mention the arcane bands that were still fading as I was actually able to lay eyes on anything." the pegasus replied. "Wait, you mean you didn't know you got teleported? How do you even do that?" Keen just looked at the pegasus in confusion as she tried to piece the whole situation. It might make sense that the chamber had a sub-spell that would teleport the ponies inside to a designated location when it was in critical conditions, and the spell matrix that had been her captor would have most likely been designed to ensure that if she could escape, that it wot least try and send her as far as possible so that she wouldn't make it back in any decent amount of time. Shaking herself, she looked back to the stallion who floated patiently above her.

  "Thank you for the help, and sorry if I seem out of it. It's been... stressful lately. I guess you can understand that." Keen said finally, giving the pony a smile. The stallion simply shrugged in response.

  "I guess; but still, it's weird that you just up and poof in the middle of the desert and then for no reason begin pacing back and forth... okay, well, then again, I guess that for a grounded pony, walking back and forth until you know where you are might actually be the better of all options, but you know what I mean." The pony said in response.

  "Yeah, I guess that would be weird. Either way, thanks for the directions." She finished before giving a wave and moving off towards what she guessed was west by the sun's position.

  "Hey, maybe you'd like to stop by my cottage first." The pony offered. "You probably need some water since you got shot out here with... well, what I can only guess is no prior warning. I mean it isn't far and I bet you could use it." The stallion offered. Keen looked back towards him, debating her options. On one hoof, she didn't know this pony, but on the other hoof, she did need some water, or anything to keep her hydrated for that matter.

  "Thanks, I'll take you up on that offer." Keen replied, returning the smile the stallion gave her. "But for the sake of time, this needs to be quick, I rather not be out in this heat for too long." The stallion nodded quickly.

  "Yeah, no pony in their right mind would want to be in the desert at night without supplies. Come on, it's this way, just follow me." The stallion said before turning in a seemingly random direction and flying off. Keen quickly began to follow him, trying her hardest to keep him in sight, and with him flying in the windless air above, and her trudging through the shifting sands, it was a rather hard task.

  Eventually the pair reached a rather beaten up stone shack, that didn't exactly resemble much of would Keen labeled as a cottage, though since it wasn't her's to deem what she would, she'd leave the categorization of living places up to the pony, or otherwise, who lived in said place. The stallion landed in front of the locked wooden door, producing a key from the small pouch that was looped around his neck, clicking the lock open. Dropping the key into the pouch again, he turned back to Keen with an awkward smile.

  "Eh, would you mind staying out here while I go in and get the stuff? I wasn't expecting company, and, well... I never know what my brother gets into when I'm not around to knock some sense into his brain from time to time. Both a negative and a positive really, but either way, would you please just wait out here for a few moments?" the stallion said. Keen shrugged, not really caring either way, and saying as much to the stallion. "Okay, great, I'll be back in a few seconds.. eh, moments with the stuff." Keen nodded, watching as the stallion returned the same before slipping inside. The clang and clatter of things inside the bunkeresque building could be heard as the pony moved about the inside, returning shortly with saddlebags on his back and a large canteen of water dangling from the strap held in his mouth. Keen took the canteen, taking of the lid before taking several greedy gulps, not caring as some of the water rolled around her lips and dribbled down her chin. Smacking her lips as she drew the canteen back, she gave a sigh of relief before drinking more, until the canteen was empty. She gave the canteen back to the stallion who shrugged with a smile as he took the canteen and ungracefully tossed it back inside of the house.

  "About what I expected really." He said as he closed and locked the door. "Good thing I got extras for the trip on over." Keen cocked her head questioningly at the stallion. "What, did you expect me to just give you a pat on the back and a shove in the right direction? No, I'm going with you. It wouldn't be right to just leave a pony to her own devices out here in the desert."

  "As wonderful of a gesture that might be," Keen began sternly, "I am quite capable of taking care of myself, and you need not bother yourself with me any further." The stallion chuckled lightly.

  "I'm sure you are quite capable of taking care of yourself, but out here in the desert, things aren't quite so straight forward as in the forest or tundra, much less the city. You might be one of the best survivalists when it comes to making it out in a forest, mountains, or any other area you can think of, but the desert is completely different from anything you know, which makes it all the more dangerous unless you, like me, have taken extensive training in desert survival and lived over a year in a place like this, which I doubt severely, no offense intended if you ACTUALLY did all that, but I just find it hard to believe." Keen blinked a few times, before sighing once again.

  "Fine, but you really don't have to. I'd imagine that you have other, more important thing that you could, and probably be doing." Keen relented finally, though the hope the stallion wouldn't actually come along was still there, though the understanding that his company would be an advantage over this wilderness she shouldn't pass up on.

  "Not really. Besides, I got stuff I needed to do in town anyway, so this is just another excuse to head on that way. So, let's get going." The pony said, spreading his wings and taking to the air. "After noon in might be the best time to travel, but we only got about six hours before the sun starts to dip behind the horizon, which will make it impossible and impractical to travel. As hot as it is now, it will go farther in the opposite direction on the thermostat once night falls." Keen nodded slowly, remembering having heard how the temperatures in the desert varied so widely somewhere before, though she couldn't place exactly that was. "Any way, as I said, let's get a move on." Keen nodded once move, falling in behind the stallion, positioning herself so that his shadow fell on her, providing some shade in the blistering heat.

  The two ponies had been traveling for nearly five hours when the stallion had decided that it was time to start setting up camp. He produced sticks, twigs, and other assorted fire starting utensils from his bag, quickly setting about producing a fire that was sustainable in the shifting sands. He built a small raised cloth fence thing around them, though it had no roof on it, something Keen quickly asked about.

  "Well, we got a fire going, so if we closed the top of the tent we'd have a hot air balloon on our hooves. The main reason, however, that I even set this thing up is because of the infamous Sandstorms of the Darood Desert. They aren't as big as the sandstorms whipped up further north, much less the ones you can get in the eastern part of Zebrica, but they can come without a warning and snuff out a fire in seconds, not to mention cut into you in you stand out in them for long enough." The pony explained. By the expression he bore, Keen guessed that he had either experienced or watched somepony get 'cut into' by the sandstorms.

  "So... what do you have to do in town that makes it reasonable to travel with me?" Keen asked, hoping to steer the stallion away from whatever painful memory he might be dredging up at the moment. The pony gave a small smile, tilting his head back to look at the stars that were already beginning to appear.

  "To be honest, I don't have much to do in town except buy a train ticket." The pony replied. "I'm trying to finally leave this place. I've never been a fan, never will be." He stated flatly. "But not only that, I couldn't exactly leave you out in the desert in your condition, it wouldn't be right." He finished, changing his focus to Keen.

  "Thank you for that, I don't think I would've made it out of here without you coming along to help me." Keen replied, swallowing a bit of humble pie. "So," She said, redirecting the conversation once more, "How much longer until we get to the city?"

  "Hmm," the pony hummed in thought, his hoof waving about as if he were calculating something, "I'd say roughly two days, though we will be out of the desert by tomorrow evening if we keep up a good pace." He replied. "The supplies I brought along should last us until we actually get to a point were we can resupply, though if it doesn't, there are plenty of cacti that grow the further west you go." Keen nodded slowly in acknowledgement, allowing the silence of the desert take over the small camp, only broken by the crackling and occasional pops from the fire. "Oh, just remembered; Lodestone." He said, presenting a hoof to Keen, though there wasn't anything on his hoof that Keen could see.

  "What now?" Keen asked, looking at the stallion with a raised eyebrow.

  "My name, I just remembered I never told you it, and it's Lodestone." He explained. "And your name is?" Keen's eyes widened as she comprehended the situation, taking the hoof and giving it a shake in greeting as they truly met each other.

  "I'm Keen Eye. I guess neither of us thought that names really were important when survival out here kind of depended on what we took time to do and say." Keen chuckled.

  "It's a good habit to have out here... I mean being thrifty with time. Being rude isn't a good habit to have anywhere." Lodestone amended, scratching the back of his neck. "Anyway, I, uh, didn't actually bring bedding materials, so, um, I guess we just find a particularly comfortable patch of sand and call it a night. We'll need to be well rested for tomorrow if we want to make good time to the less arid areas of the country." Keen nodded in agreement, moving around to the other side of the campfire, bedding down in the sand, closing her eyes, resigning to sleep in the warmth of the fire.

  Keen woke up, the campfire in front of her long extinguished and the fence thing stowed away, Lodestone in the process of placing the rolled up bundle in his pack. Keen stood up, stretching, noticing with a bit of surprise that a plate of food sat just out of her hooves reach. Moving up to it, she quickly munched down on the rather delicious food, pleasant memories of camping with family coming back to her with each bite.

  "Morning, Keen, I was about to wake you up, but I guess that's one less thing to deal with this morning." The pegasus stallion said as he closed his bags.

  "You make it sound as if you had a lot to deal with so far this morning." Keen commented. "Did I sleep through something?" She asked, looking around for anything that'd give her a sign.

  "Nothing that couldn't be expected. To put it simply, even though the stuff that builds up around your eyes is called sand, it feels nothing like the real thing when introduced to the ocular structures." Lodestone grumbled in annoyance as he hefted the bags onto his back. Keen flinched back, the though of waking up with sand in her eyes causing her a small measure of pain as her mirror neurons gave her a small imaginary taste of what had been described. "Anyway, let's get moving, we got a long day ahead of us, and fewer hours of daylight than ponies further north to do what we got to do it in." Keen nodded, taking out the rest of her breakfast as quickly as possible before stowing the plate in her bags out of reflex.

  "So, do we walk or do we trot?" Keen asked, ready for either option.

  "My first instinct is to say fly, but you don't have that luxury. Trotting is a no go really. Even though it gets you places faster, it heats you up faster, meaning you'll have to rest several times more than if you walk, which more than makes up for the extra distance you cover in the same time. So we're walking." Lodestone replied, quickly moving out away from the rising sun.

  Keen and Lodestone had been walking all the morning, into the first few hours after noon, only stopping for lunch as the first cacti came into view. The food consisted of bread, a bit of cactus water, and peeled cactus core, the last element of said meal being a pleasant surprise in terms of flavor to Keen, not to mention how much good the moisture it contained did her. After lunch, they continued moving through the cacti, the sparse grouping slowly becoming a tall forest of green trunked trees, which did provide a certain measure of shade from the sun's assault on Keen's hide. As the sun began to dip beyond the horizon, the pair once again set up camp, though this time Lodestone refrained from setting up the fence structure, stating the cacti in the area did a rather good job of both keeping the sand in its place, and sheltering them from the brunt of the storm, though the possibility of minor damages was still there.

  "So, Lodestone, what were you doing out here in the first place if you hate it so much?" Keen asked as she watched their food cook over the fire. Lodestone remained quiet for a few moments, his eyes fixed on the fire. His silence almost made Keen believe he hadn't heard her question, though just as she was about to ask the question once more, he looked up at her with sad eyes.

  "You," He replied simply, garnering a questioning look from Keen before he pressed on and explained what he meant, "The thing I called my home was anything but a home." Looking at Keen with a look that almost seemed as if it wee the first time he actually looked at her. "I am, or rather was, part of something called 'Project: Cat and Mouse' by the Fillydelphia Research Institute." Ken's eyes went wide as he began to reveal his secret. "I was sent to check up on the spell matrices that were creating the reality you had been trapped in, but as I tried to provide the 'Mechanisma' spell with some power to keep the thing running, the emergency magical energy supply ran out and the spell's final phase switched on. The fail safe of the thing was to teleport everypony inside of the chamber and its adjoining areas to a designated area, in this case the middle of this desert. I was caught in it, and so, sent here with you."

  "Y-you're one of them?" Keen stammered in surprise. "You... you ponies are monsters!" Keen raged, standing up as she glared daggers at the stallion she had begun to trust slightly. "You trap ponies just to test some theory and them act as if they're insane when they press charges and have you investigated!"

  "I agree, the F.R.I are monsters." Lodestone concurred with a nod, catching Keen off guard. "I'm only an intern and I've already seen some messed up stuff. I was brought on to train the ponies in the team should hey be on the receiving end of the spell, and it just so happens that I know some minimal spell maintenance, which qualified me for being the quicky repair pony. If I had known what those ponies were using that spell matrix for before trying to fix it, I would've shut them down myself. I didn't have time to identify them before the teleportation sub-spell was set off, but I did recognize some high level deception spells though, which pretty much gave away the whole thing to me."

  "Wait... you didn't know why they wanted you to train them in desert survival? Why would you take the job then? Don't you check up information about your employers?" Keen asked, stunned at this pony's perceived incompetence, but just as she was about to continue her tyrade on him, he shook his head, dismissing Keen's disbelief as he explained.

  "I looked up info on them, but really, it's as you say, they make anypony with claims against them look crazy, so there was no way for me to think of it as anything but that, and plus they were paying me a large sum to train even a single pony when their teams consisted of more than a dozen. In my current situation, I'm in no position to decline a good offer for work. If I had known what they did, I'd would've never accepted, no matter how many bits they offered me in exchange." The stallion huffed.

  "So how do you know what they do? A spell matrix that contains deception magic is suspicious, but isn't exactly grounds on which to think a pony in vile. A bit to secretive and recluse, yes, attempting to paint themselves as another pony for their own benefit, maybe, but it doesn't paint them in monster and deplorable territory." Keen questioned.

  "The recordings you were listening to. The morning researcher is the same for that project as Project: Cat and Mouse. Plus, she is one of the highest ranking ponies in the Institute, and the only one that isn't from Filly, or is at least extremely good at hiding it." Lodestar explained easily. "Not to mention some faint whispers I heard that now make more sense with this bit of information." Keen nodded slowly finding the reasoning acceptable for the most part.

  "So we are currently attempting to get back to where we started."Keen summarized. "Do you think we should call the police up on this one? It might not do too much good since they are well trained discreditors by now."

  "It probably wouldn't be in our best interests, no," Lodestone admitted, "But there is one thing we can do, and that is listen to the rest of those recordings you got there so we can get a firmer sense of the true operations of the F.R.I., or at least now what they are truly capable of." Lodestone said, motioning to Keen's bags. Keen nodded, setting the tape player out, quickly changing the tape, having foregone that action previously. Pressing down the play button, the two ponies, surrounded by nothing but cacti, began to listen to the nineteenth day's recording.