The stars glided over the desert day, shimmering sparks in sunlight.
Normally, there would be... well, one or two. The elder gazed out, noting the paths of the group with a tilt of the head. Had he had a face, he might have raised an eyebrow; as it was, his mask showed the same gentle expression of regret that it had shown since it was forged.
What was odder than the number was the color. One of the stars was white as usual, but... the other six, each, had their own shade. He glanced toward the sun.
No. Best not to interfere. Not yet. Let them reach the first marker and then... then he would see.
*******
Twilight shook her head as she rose, coughing out sand and blinking. Her first thought was to look around, trying to figure out where she was.
Dunes. Everywhere. That was helpful.
She wiped sand out of her mane, turning around to see if there was anything familiar at all. Some distance from her was another small pockmark, formerly occupied by the pink pony now shaking herself clean like a dog. A smile appeared on the unicorn’s face as she trotted quickly over the sand; her expression, however, rapidly turned to fear when she went sliding down the dunes.
“Pinkie! Help me!”
The pink pony snapped her head about, catching sight of her friend flailing in a desperate attempt to stop herself. She skied down the slope, hooves never leaving the surface of the sand as she swerved closer to the unicorn. “Twilight, grab my tail!” Obediently, the scholar clamped her teeth and hooves around the magenta appendage.
Moments later, they skidded to a stop.
Twilight coughed, releasing the tail from her mouth and feeling her eyes tear up in an attempt to get the grime out of her eyes. “Thanks, Pinkie. I don’t know what happened... Ugh, all this sand.”
“Silly filly, the sand’s looser than a bag of sugar spilled on the floor!” The baker gently bopped her friend on the head. “You have to dig your hooves in past the surface, otherwise you’ll go slip sliding everywhere.” She demonstrated with a rear leg, before looking around the desert curiously. “Where are we anyway?”
“I don’t know.” Twilight cautiously rose, keeping Pinkie’s advice in mind as she managed to blink away the last of the sand. “But if the others are here we should find them. Do you even know how we got here?”
“Well, there was--”
--A bright light, as though from the sun itself, wreathed itself around her--
“--and then there was a lot of wind and then WHOOSH I was here!” Pinkie shrugged.
“Huh... now that you mention it, I can remember that too...”
“So... what do we do now? Ooo! You can teleport us back to Ponyville, right?”
Twilight grinned. “Of course!” Her horn lit up, as she prepared a spell--
Images. Stylized, blocky. Her and Pinkie, in the desert. A flash of light shone from her horn, and they disintegrated; moments later, they were beneath the sand, two stones above them.
With a gasp, the unicorn let go of her spell. “I... did you see that?”
“See what?” Her friend tilted her head. “What did you see?”
“A vision... or something. Pinkie, I don’t think I should teleport.” She sighed. “It could be bad. Very bad.”
The disappointment on the pink pony’s face quickly faded to curiosity. “Well fooey. What else are we going to do?”
“We find somewhere to start looking for home.” The unicorn looked around, hoping to find some point of reference. In the distance, she thought she could see a pair of flags. “Pinkie, can you see that?”
“Huh? Yeah!” Pinkie peered at it. “What do you think that those are?”
“Whatever they are, they’re something. If we head that way we might be able to get our bearings.” She raised a hoof, then glanced at the sand warily. “Um... Pinkie, this is going to sound weird, but... can I ride you?”
“Sure!” Without warning, her friend jammed her head under her tail and flipped her onto her back. “Welcome aboard the Pinkemina Diane Pie Express! Your pilot today will be Miss Pie herself, and she wants you all to know that cupcakes are indisputably the best pastry ever!”
The two of them set off bounding across the sands.
*******
Rainbow shuddered the sand out of her wings, flapping to clear herself from the dunes. What the hay had happened? What was that bright light? Where in Equestria was she?
With a shake of her mane, she took to the skies, looking for something familiar. Nothing struck her at first, except to note that the place was really sandy. The pegasus sighed, landing, and noted some sort of purple flower a few feet away from her.
“Huh, life. Wouldn’t have expected that.” She chuckled to herself. “Hey, that almost looks like Rarity’s... tail...”
Her eyes widened.
Without thinking, she grabbed the appendage and tugged, wings beating with all her might. The dune, slowly, began to give, sand rolling away form ever more visible flanks of the unicorn, until with a final swish the two of them went flying end over end to the ground below. Rainbow was immediately on her hooves, rolling the unconscious fashionista onto her back. “Come on Rares, wake up!”
The unicorn did not comply.
Rainbow Dash racked her brains desperately for an answer, before remembering she knew some first aid. Opening Rarity’s mouth and wincing at the sand-coated tongue, the pegasus pumped air from her own lungs into her friend’s. Her hooves pounded on her chest, once, twice thrice, then again she gave the unicorn a breath of her own. “Come on, COME ON!” Down came the hooves again, once, twice, thri--
Grains of sand cascaded from Rarity’s mouth as she snapped awake, hacking and coughing as she pushed the pegasus away and rolled over. Eventually the sounds gave way to a desperate gasp for air, followed by heavy breathing. Rainbow gently patted the fashionista’s back, letting her know she was there if she needed anything.
“...Where...?” Rarity paused, the scratchy sound of her voice disquieting her.
“I don’t know where we are. I found you stuck in a dune, had to perform CPR.”
“CPR?” The unicorn coughed a bit more. “As in... as in mouth to mouth?”
“Yeah.”
“...You. Mouth to mouth. With me.”
The pegasus rolled her eyes. “Your tongue was covered in sand. I don’t think you need to worry where mine has been.”
“...Well. Thank you for saving my life.” Rarity tried and failed to hold back another coughing fit. “With what this sand is doing to my throat, I don’t dare ponder how my mane is faring.” She glanced toward the horizon. “Civilization should be... somewhere. Right?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, I didn’t see anypony around here.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Looks like we’re stuck with each other for now...”
The fashionista smiled. “Maybe I can get us a direction, at--” Another coughing fit interrupted her words, and she attempted to glare at her own throat. “First thing when we get somewhere, I am going to get a drink.”
The pegasus raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “You think you can get us somewhere?”
In reply, the unicorn tapped her horn. “Where there’s gems, there’s gem collectors.”
A spell began to build round the spirals, Rarity turning her head slowly as she tried to pinpoint the source of a very faint tug. After a few minutes, she pointed. “That way. Gems. Somewhere between a day and three day’s walk...” She rose, attempting to stand, but only managed to slip down the dunes even further.
“Screw that, we’re flying.” Rainbow Dash wrapped her hooves around her friend and took off. “Tell me if you see anything. Or anypony.”
*******
Applejack glared at the desert sands, walking along the dunes in an attempt to get... anywhere. The only thing she’d seen so far was sand, sky, and sandstorms... which aggravated her to no end. Even in deserts there had to be some form of life, right?
Coming up over the crest of another dune, she glanced down and almost gasped. “Fluttershy!” The pegasus pony was buried in the sand, her wings trapped by the weight of the grains. “Hang on sugarcube, Ah’m a’coming!
Fluttershy turned to look at her as she galloped down the hill. “Oh Applejack, be careful! There could be ditches in that sand, you might turn a hoof...”
“Nothing doing sister.” The earth pony skidded to a halt next to her, leaning down to examine the sand. “Whooee. Hold on...” She tried to dig her friend out, but only managed to create channels for more sand to pour in. “Huh. Fluttershy, Ah’m gonna have to pull you out.”
“Okay... do you need me to do anything?”
“Just grab mah tail.” Apple Jack took a ready pose in front of the pegasus. “And don’t worry bout hurting me, Ah’m a big mare and Ah can take it.”
“Oh...” Cautiously, Fluttershy wrapped her mouth around the proffered bunch of hair.
“...Tighter, sugarcube.”
Shutting her eyes, the pegasus clamped down.
With barely a wince, Applejack started moving forward. Her muscles strained against the grip of the desert, but in the end the desert was no match for her sheer strength. Sand flowed off Fluttershy like water, filling the very pit she used to occupy; in half a minute, there was no evidence that anything had ever been there.
“...Thank you Applejack.” The pegasus smiled at the other mare.
“Hey, anything fer a friend. Ya’ll have any idea where we are?”
The pegasus’s expression darkened. “No. All I remember is a light, and then this whooshing noise...” She let her eyes wander. “But... well, I don’t know...”
“Speak up, sugarcube. Anything could help us right about now.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Well, from the way I... landed, I think I came from that direction.” She pointed gently. “Maybe, um, there’s something over there?”
“Well, it’s better than wandering around with nowhere in mind.” With a shrug of her shoulders, Applejack set off in the direction her friend had pointed out. Maybe they’d find whoever had done this...
“Um, Applejack?” Fluttershy hovered next to her, glancing around nervously. “Does anything seem wrong about this place...?”
“There ain’t no critters. Not even a cactus.”
“Yes... and the wind’s strange too.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “How do ya figger?”
“Well, um, it’s blowing on its own...” The pegasus screwed up her courage. “And... and it, um, it seems to be... well, pushing us.”
“...what.”
“I know it sounds weird, but if I try to go too far in the wrong direction I get this...” She waved a yellow hoof. “This breeze, and I just know if I go much further it’ll be a sandstorm. It’s a pegasus thing, I guess...”
“...Well, that’s a mite strange.” Applejack looked behind her suspiciously. “Maybe we’ll get answers where we’re getting, though.”
“Oh, I hope so...”
*******
Standing.
It had been an interesting sensation, to suddenly be. The journeyer had looked round the desert sands. Everything was so... still. He could have stayed here forever...
But, no. He stood.
His glowing eyes fell upon the tablets. Two with ribbons... He walked up the dune, sharp feet piercing down to stable ground as his red cloak fluttered behind him. There was something, something in those ribbons he found familiar.
He stopped on the crest of the dune. His gaze wandered from the ribbons to the horizon. A mountain, peak cloven in two, dominated his view.
The journeyer knew that something was there.
But between him and the mountain were the stones. His eyes wandered downward. The grey objects were a veritable forest in the sand, each a silent watcher. There were different heights, some only reaching his ankle while others rose past his head, but always the same shape; a simple monument, topped by a single hole.
He slid down the dune, wandering between the monoliths quietly. There was a structure, ruined, on the other side of the field. From the looks of it the majority of the building was under the sand. There was something flying over it, wisps of ribbon flying around a symbol of light; the journeyer clambered up the broken remnants of the roof to investigate.
The light spiraled out, wreathing around him. He glanced back, feeling something... a scarf was forming behind his neck.
He chirped in amazement.
The ribbons heard him, spinning round and lifting him into the air. The glow of their own was passed to his scarf as they brushed past; he felt the energy flowing through his cloak, down to its golden trim. With a brief expenditure, he propelled himself through the air, landing in another field of stones.
That had been... invigorating.
He jumped, trying to fly again, but found himself constrained once more by gravity. Bowing his head in disappointment, the journeyer grasped the truth; only with the light could he take to the air. Still, it had brought him here. His eyes once more searched the dunes... yes. A short distance from him, another small group of ribbons rested near a broken wall barely emerging from the ground. He ran eagerly toward them, and felt his energy replenished as they rubbed against him brightly.
The journeyer looked out, zig zagging from shattered wall to shattered wall, running through the fields of stones in his eagerness to find the ribbons. Something strange caught his eyes; a building, caved in, but above the sand. He wandered through the gap in the wall. There was a blank tablet in front of him, surrounded by four posts; he jumped back and chirped in surprise when one lit up.
The chirp seemed to wake them all, and the tablet suddenly shifted with a golden light. The image it bore was monochromatic and strange; forms, like his own, lying at the base of monoliths like those he had encountered. He sat down, pondering the image before him. Were there others sleeping beneath the sands?
Something told him that wasn’t right. This was a sad image. He didn’t understand why, but he knew it was a sad image. He would have heard them, wouldn’t he?
After a while, the journeyer stood, his heart weighing a little heavier. He wandered out of the building, noticing for the first time the massive formation in a nearby pit. Without any other direction, he skied down the sands, coming to rest in what could have been a plaza. Around him were massive buildings with gates wrought of iron surrounding a central gazebo. His eyes were attracted by a flutter of movement; more ribbons were trapped in a small cylinder of iron, rustling under another glowing symbol.
He ran toward them, examining their prison, but found no way to open it. The light joined his scarf, lengthening it, but he didn’t care, he just wanted to free these things! Being in one place... It seemed wrong. No solutions presented itself, however, so the journeyer turned away in grief.
The gazebo in the center of the plaza was a squat structure of some sort, taller then he was but not insurmountable. He climbed up to its lower ring, finding another glowing symbol; again his scarf lengthened, shimmering with the power he no longer wanted to use. If the ribbons could not be freed, why should he fly?
His curiosity, however, brought him up to the top of the tower, where he saw four flags reaching for the sky. As he brushed past one of them, it glimmered; he could feel his power waking it, but it seemed to slumber once he backed off. Remembering the posts, he chirped loudly; the flags all grew bright red, shining for a moment before suddenly disintegrating.
A gate in the floor opened, releasing a virtual plethora of ribbons. The journeyer chirped in amazed joy, and the ribbons heard him; they carried him across a gap to the other side of a broken bridge. There was a marker in front of him, six posts leading up to it. The ribbons left him to his fate.
The journeyer stood in front of the marker. It was... oddly familiar. Now that he thought about it, a broken marker had been behind the first symbol. He chirped loudly, lighting the posts...
*******
“Twilight! Pinkie!”
Unicorn and earth pony looked up in the sky at the sound of the voice. The scholar smiled in relief as a familiar pegasus soared into view. “Dash! And Rarity, oh wow. It’s good to see you two!” She glanced at the flags, now only a few dunes away. “We were heading over there. How did you find us?”
“Gem spell,” Rarity croaked, before spurting into a coughing fit. Dash lowered her to the sand, careful not to remove her hooves entirely.
“Wow, Rarity, what happened to you? You sound like you got sand in your throat!” Pinkie shrugged Twilight off her shoulders and walked over to the fashionista with concern, placing an ear against her neck. “Oh wow, you DO have sand in your throat! But you’re breathing so you’ll be okay, I guess, Twilight is she going to be okay?”
With caution, the purple pony stepped up to her friend. “I... I would think so. If she’s alive now, she’ll get better in time, but... it’s not going to be easy for her.” She winced in sympathy as Rarity gave a particularly loud hack. “Maybe I could cast a spell to help get it out of your system--”
“No.” Rarity breathed in. “No, Twilight, as much as I respect you, I don’t want you to do anything medical to me without a degree.” She shook her head, standing and feeling the ground carefully. “The sand seems firmer here...”
“Hey, is this a private party or can us two hop in?”
The ponies turned to see Applejack sliding down a dune, Fluttershy gliding close behind her. Pinkie bounced over happily, wrapping the cowpony in a warm hug. “Ohmygosh you’re here! We’re all here! Now we can figure out how to get home together!”
“Hey, Twilight, why don’t you just teleport us home?” Rainbow Dash landed next to the scholar with a smile. “You’re great with magic!”
“I...” The unicorn sighed. “I’ve tried. But... I got this vision and... Well, I’m scared to try again.”
The other ponies stared at her.
“A vision.” Applejack rose an eyebrow.
“Yes, I know how it sounds. But I’m pretty sure if I teleported us anywhere, we’d die.”
“Oh my.” Fluttershy landed, flicking her wings nervously. “Let’s not do that then.”
Rarity let her eyes wander up to the flags. “So, you said you were headed for those things before we found you?”
“Huh?” Twilight blinked, following her gaze. “Oh yeah! It was the only thing Pinkie and I saw out here, so... yeah.” She shrugged. “You guys ready to get going?”
Everypony nodded briefly, and soon they were off. It took them only a short amount of time to crest the summit, and they stared down into a field of....
“Gravestones,” Applejack stated plainly.
Fluttershy gulped. Rarity nearly fainted, but was interrupted by another coughing fit.
“...Well, um, gravestones means gravediggers, and gravediggers means ponies, right?” Twilight tried to smile encouragingly; it was obvious her heart wasn’t in it.
“Yeah, that’s not likely.” Dash pointed past the gravestones to a small ruin. “Looks like this place has been abandoned for years.”
“Better than nothing!” Pinkie stated brightly. With a wild grin, she jumped down the dune whooping and whistling. “Come on guys, the dead won’t mind if we wander around them!”
“Sometimes I wonder about that filly,” Rarity muttered as she walked forward. Somehow she managed to slide gracefully, joining the bouncing pony. After a moment, the others followed in their hoofsteps, trekking up to the small ruin with trepidation. Twilight climbed to the top, trying to determine what culture made it.
After a moment, though, she looked over the edge of the ruin. “Rarity! I need your tailor skills!”
“What?”
“Just get up here!”
With a sigh, the fashionista clambered up to the ruined roof. “Twilight, we’re in the middle of a desert and as glamorous as I am even I know this isn’t a time for fashion.”
“Nonono.” The other unicorn pointed. “Look at those!”
Rarity followed her gaze and her own eyes widened. There, flying about in idle circles, were a few scraps of red cloth, maintained impossibly well in the sand and wind.
“How long ago could those have been left here?”
The ivory unicorn shook her head. “Well, it varies of course, depending on the materials, the dye...”
She reached out with her magic to grab one, but was shocked with the thing pulled away.
“Hey!” Pinkie shouted from below. “What’s going on up there?”
“Rarity, what was that?”
“I don’t know, it just pulled away!” Rarity walked up to the ribbons, poking one with her hoof; runes shimmered onto it briefly before it slid off with a swish.
“Are ya’ll okay?” Applejack began to climb up the ruins.
“They’re playing with some sort of fabric!” reported Rainbow Dash.
“We’re not playing! We’re trying to see if the fabric was left here recently, it could mean somepony’s out here!” Twilight stamped a hoof.
Rarity reached out with her magic again, brushing the ribbon gently. Briefly, the runes returned, but just as suddenly they faded away.
“...I think I have an idea.”
Twilight looked at her, askance. “What are you talking about?”
The other unicorn didn’t reply, instead gathering her magic into her horn. She released it not a spell, but as a single note. In an instant, the fluttering cloth froze, runes bright on their surface; then, they gathered around her, lifting her into the air. She flew for the briefest moment...
...before they fluttered away and gravity retook her.
“GOTCHA!” Dash managed to snag her seconds before she landed muzzle first in the dunes. “Don’t EVER do something like that again, Rares!”
“Look!” The unicorn pointed. “A--” Another coughing fit suddenly took hold.
“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, is she all right?” The yellow pegasus glided over quickly. “You did catch her, right Rainbow?”
“Yeah, I did Shy. Why did she jump like that?”
“There’s--” Rarity managed, before descending into another coughing fit.
Applejack walked up and looked Rarity in the eye. “Listen here, thar’s no reason ta go worrying everypony like that! Yer already unwell, what with tha whole sand in yer throat thing--”
“It wasn’t her fault!” Twilight pushed Applejack away. “I saw it with my own eyes! She triggers some sort of spell, and the cloth lifted her up--I’m pretty sure it could lift anypony up really--”
“Hey look!” Pinkie pointed. “There’s a city over there!”
The ponies all stopped to look at Pinkie’s discovery. Indeed, a small set of massive buildings were visible, sunken into a pit in the dunes.
Rairty managed to stop coughing. “That’s... what I was trying to tell you. I saw that while I was in the air.”
“...Huh.” Dash stared. “How did we miss that?”
“Alright everypony! Time to head on down!” Twilight took the lead, walking confidently forward and almost immediately started falling head over hooves down the steep sand.
“...Rainbow, why don’t you carry everypony else down one at a time?” Rarity suggested.
*******
Soon enough everypony was down in the pit, looking around the city. Iron gates locked every path off to them, and a strange gazebo rested in the center of what looked to be a plaza. Twilight, despite now having a golden hide from her little tumble, was bouncing about in excitement. “This looks like a main gateway! If we can get one of these gates open then we can get into the real city!”
“And how do we do that?” Pinkie asked eagerly, bouncing up and down alongside her.
“I...” Twilight sighed, settling down on her hooves. “I have no idea.”
“Hey! There’s more of that freaky cloth up here!” Rainbow Dash peered down from the top of the gazebo. “Twilight, why don’t you try whatever it is Rarity did?”
“I’m coming, but you need to be ready to catch me!” The unicorn walked up the ruined structure, thankful that it was broken in an almost stairlike pattern.
It would not occur to her, until much later, to be suspicious of this fact.
Twilight’s magic burst flowed out from her horn. Almost instantly, the flags shimmered and then, surprisingly, disintegrated; the unicorn only just managed to jump out of the way as a grate in the floor released a veritable swarm of ribbons into the air.
“Well... that was different.”
“Maybe different cloth thingys are enchanted to do different things!” Pinkie suggested, bouncing up and down next to her.
“GAH! Ah, um. How did you get up here?”
“I climbed. Oh look! That looks like a bridge!”
Twilight followed her friend’s hoof. Indeed, a short bridge seemed to connect the gazebo and one of the gates, though the middle was unfortunately missing. Rainbow was already flying over, examining the posts on the other side; Twilight noted that they seemed to glow with magic as she passed over them.
When the last post lit up, the marker in front of the gate began to shine. Runes poured out from the posts, forming a circle of light on the ground.
“Whoa!” Rainbow backed off in surprise. “What’s that thing?”
“Well, if I had to guess, it’s some sort of gate guardian.” Rarity had managed to clamber up to the top of the gazebo with Applejack’s help and was looking at the phenomena in fascination. “I know I wouldn’t want any ruffians getting into my home.”
Fluttershy flew closer to the marker, tapping it gently. “Um, hello there. We don’t mean any harm, we’re just looking for a way out of the desert...”
The marker, for its part, was silent.
“...Sugarcube, Ah don’t think that’s going to work.” The cowpony glanced at the glowing circle. “Ah think if somepony stood there, they’d get a once-over and then tha gates would open.”
“Well only one way to find out!” Rainbow landed in the glowing circle. The marker shimmered, but nothing happened. “Well, that was a bust.”
“Hey, maybe we all have to stand in the light!” Pinkie ran for the bridge, clearing the gap with a single jump and joining the pegasus. “Come on everypony, let’s earn an achievement!”
Twilight approached the gap and looked down. “Well how are we going to get across?”
Rarity looked at the ribbon swarm around her with a mischievous grin. “All right. On my cue, everypony lean forward.” She gathered her magic into her horn--
“Rarity, wait--”
--and released it in a single note.
The ribbons swirled around the unicorns and cowpony, lifting them into the air briefly. But that short time was enough for them to glide across, landing on the broken bridge with barely a thud. The fashionista strode forward with a small smile, sitting next to Pinkie.
Twilight and Applejack joined them, Applejack shooting her a pointed glare. “Really?”
“What can I say?”
“Well, that was pretty neat,” Twilight admitted. She glanced around, then waved at Fluttershy. “Come on!”
The yellow pegasus landed quietly, shuffling forward. “Alright, if you think that it’ll work... I just hope nothing bad ha--”
As her hoof hit the circle, the world went white.
*******
A strange, massive silhouette. A note. And then, images...
There was a mountain, its peak cloven in two. At the base of the hole was a glow, which suddenly exploded into the sky. Stars shimmered into being, each an individual symbol. Some fell to the ground, becoming the songs of birds, forming the seeds of grain, souls of strange robed beings. For a time there was peace.
And then, from the sand, came the ribbon. And the robed ones were drawn to it...
*******
The six of them snapped their eyes up. With a sudden grate, the gates in front of them began to open.
“What was THAT?” Applejack exclaimed, shaking her head.
“It was like my vision,” Twilight said slowly. “But... different. The thing that sang the note, that wasn’t in my vision.”
“Maybe it was a message from the gate guardian?” Rarity offered.
“Heck of a message,” Rainbow muttered. “A volcano made everything? And what was that part with the ribbon?”
Fluttershy shook her head, her gaze on the floor. “It could be that, um, they believe that. Whoever made this city. And, um, they want everypony to know they’re descendants of the volcano?”
Pinkie shrugged. “I’m pretty sure we’ll figure it out eventually. Oh hey! The gate’s open! Let’s go let’s go!”
“Okay, okay.” Twilight rolled her eyes as the pink pony bounded off. “Looks like some sort of gatehouse anyway... I hope we’re welcome here. Wherever here is.”
The six of them trotted into the long hall.
*******
The elder noted the song with interest.
Why the fates had chosen to make these six companions to a journeyer, he could not say. He knew they were not of this world, that much was obvious just by looking at them. But somehow he suspected they were... of greater import than he imagined. The journeyer too, a first time.
His gaze wandered down to the tiled floor, a map with small lights shimmering wherever one of his kind was. Interesting indeed. He would have to keep track of this one.
