Through Desert Sand and Forest Storm

Six hours had passed since the bell had chimed, and in those six hours I learned one very important lesson. I'd underestimated Sky Lily. I'd underestimated her a lot, and the current situation was pretty damn close to mentally tearing me apart.

You see, in those six hours, she'd done one of the most terrifying, mind bending things possible to do to someone. She'd done nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Imagine a visit to the doctor, where you know beforehand you're going to get a shot. You anticipate how much it's going to hurt, how freaking horrible the pain of that needle sliding into your arm will be. But then, when you get that shot, it's really not as bad as you imagined it to be. It still sucks, sure, but, first off, now it's over with, and second off, the anticipation was a hell of a lot worse than the shot itself.

Now, focus on that anticipation. Imagine what it would feel like to just sit there, knowing you're about to get that shot, for six hours.

Oh, and instead of a shot, either you or one of your friends is about to die.

Psychologically speaking, I think that officially classifies as torture.

Using either magic, hidden doors, or something along those lines, Sky had trapped me on the top floor of the main building of her manor. I couldn't find a way down, and both the floor and the walls seemed too strong for me to dig through. I'd decided to check out the entire building, starting from the bottom and working my way up, to see if I could find anything useful in it. The answer had been a resounding no, and I'd ended up stuck up here.

I could still sense the others in the compound, but there was no way for me to reach them. The top floor pretty much consisted of four hallways set in a square. There were a few “windows,” but they were really just slits in the wall to let in some air.

Currently, I was resting in a corner. I had a good view down both corridors, so if anyone approached me I'd be able to see them coming, but I didn't think anyone would. Didn't seem like Sky's style.

Resting may have seemed like a bad idea, but lets see you run on adrenaline for six hours and just shrug it off. It takes a toll on your body, and I got the feeling that me wearing myself out would only help Sky. Not that I wasn't worn out, but I wasn't about to pass out from exhaustion. Yet. Goddamn, today had been tiring.

I lay on my side, soaking up the heat radiating from the walls. For a pony or a human, the heat would have been stifling, sapping their strength as much as the constant running. For me, it was just pleasant. One of the benefits of this new body.

As I lay, I thought. There had to be a way out of here. If it was illusion magic of some sort, then I'd probably already lost. Not much I can do against someone who can change what I'm seeing at any moment. So, I'd have to hope for a trap door, one disguised by more mundane means than magic.

Problem was, I had no idea how to look for something like that. I'd been a normal guy back home, and I'd only been here about a week. Experienced adventurer, I wasn't.

I closed my eyes. Maybe a nap would help. I was sure I'd wake up if anyone came up here, light sleeper that I am. Maybe I'd even dream up a good idea. As tired as I was, and as warm as it was, it didn't take me very long to fall asleep.

~o0O0o~

I was standing in a hallway of glass and light. Each stone in the floor and every brick in the wall were connected, not just by touching, but by glowing strands, forming a spiderweb of starlight running through the hall.

A figure walked towards me. I couldn't tell who he was, but he was tall, much taller than me. He took my hand(paw?) and pulled me towards the wall. Using my claws(fingers?) he cut the web, moving my hand through the glass stones of the wall. When all the strands in a small area of the wall were cut, he let go of my paw(hand?)

“Remember,” he said, turning away, “it was your h p a a n w d that cut the wall, not mine.” He began walking, fading out of my sight before too long. I watched him go for a few moments before looking back at the now severed wall.

It suddenly seemed so much more fragile than the rest of the walls. Like I could just reach out and break it with a single push. . .

~o0O0o~

The sound of bricks crumbling woke me. I'd somehow gotten up, moved to a wall, and. . . broken it? Holy shit.

I looked at the hole a bit more. It was in the same shape as the severed bricks in my dream. But how did that make sense? I was a sandgator, we didn't have any magic. Well, none that I was aware of, but I was pretty sure Sky would've prepared for it, or Sunny would have mentioned it, or something.

But that would have to wait. I finally had an exit from up here, even if it was a five story drop. With nothing but sand and bricks at the bottom. And I had no idea whether this body could survive that. That said, there was no other way out of here, unless I wanted to wait for Sky to send someone up to investigate. Not happening.

I took a few steps back, then launched myself out the hole, trying to land past the bricks. I hit the ground rolling, trying to make it hurt less. The landing still hurt like hell, but a quick check showed that I hadn't actually damaged anything.

Now, however, I was in the open. Very bad place to be if you wanted to hide, which I did. She'd expect a gator to dig, probably, which meant the best hiding spot would be somewhere high. Out of the Nine buildings nearby, I could only sense life in five of them. I went to the nearest one that didn't have anybody inside, a small, three story stone building, and cautiously opened the door.

The room inside was full of ponies, all of whom seemed to be on the same drugs the gators had been on. They simply lay all over the room. I didn't take time to count how may were in there, but I'd guess more than two dozen. More than enough for me to want to find another way in, or hide in another building altogether.

I closed the door and walked around the building. No other obvious entrances, but there were ways around that. The slightly taller building near it, for instance. I could sense a few people in it, but not very many, so I figured I shouldn't be too hard to get to the roof, where it was only a short jump to the other building, where I could hide. Of course, that's assuming that I didn't find any hiding spots in the larger building, which was a possibility.

I just walked into the second building. I doubted Sky would put drugged up ponies with regular ones, so if I couldn't sense anyone that probably meant that someone wasn't there. And, this time at least, my guess proved right. The door opened into a large but currently empty living room, with several couches and chairs placed kinda randomly throughout. There were two other doors, one on either side of the room. Neither had anyone hiding behind them, so I picked the one on the left and started moving.

The building turned out to be housing for the servants. There were, at the moment, only fifteen in the building, although I overheard one of them mentioning how crowded it got at night when everyone returned. It made me a bit more worried about sneaking around, because I couldn't sense very many people in the Manor, which meant that either they were immune to my senses, or they were elsewhere in the compound. I hoped for the latter option, but had to admit that the first was just as likely.

I eventually made my way onto the roof, and from there it was only a short jump onto the smaller building. I entered the building, and found myself in some sort of large office. One wall was completely covered with shelves full of books, loose papers, and scrolls, a large desk was placed near the wall next to that one. Opposite the desk was an ornate door that I assumed led into the hallway, and the last wall had a few paintings and a second door. Most of the pictures were of landscapes, with a few of a unicorn family that I could only assume was Sky Lily's. One of them, however, was a painting of a massive sandgator with ruddy, greenish-brown scales instead of the bright orange-red most of us had. He also had fire pouring out of his eye sockets, and a horribly malevolent grin on his face.

And with that cheery image staring at me, I began to search for a hiding spot. The second door in the room led to a bedroom, with a small bathroom off of it. The door in the office seemed to be the only door to the hallway, which was both good and bad. Unless, of course Sky had a secret door in here. That it was Sky's room was obvious, the office looked like one that would belong to the head of the house, and I doubted anyone else would fill their room with flowers.

I decided to check out some of the other rooms in the building, but before I opened the door into the hallway, I tried sensing if there was anything in the hallway. I hadn't been able to sense the other sandgators till I was pretty damn close to them, so if there were any guards in the hall, I might not have sensed them when I was just scanning, but now I could if I was looking. And, as it turned out, I was right. There were several somethings in the hall, placed pretty evenly as far as I could sense them, which wasn't very far. Still, it meant that I couldn't use the front door to get out. The roof it was.

But first, someone was coming. I'd felt them enter the building earlier, but they'd stayed on the first floor, so I hadn't thought much of it. They'd come up the steps when I was focused on what was just outside the door, so I only just noticed they were on the third floor. And headed this way.

I went to hide in the bathroom. I didn't want to hide on the roof, too open, and in close quarters like that I could use my jaws pretty damn effectively, especially if I got the jump on them.

The person came into the office room, and stayed there for a while. They moved around, probably grabbing papers off the shelves and rearranging them. It was probably Sky, but I decided to stay hidden. Fighting the crazy-ass unicorn in her own home? Not the smartest plan I'd ever thought up.

Eventually, she left. Heading down and out of the building. After she was gone, I left my hiding spot and went back into the office. It appeared unchanged, except that now there was a paper on the desk that hadn't been there before. Wondering if it was somehow important, I walked over to read it.

It said, in a flowery script, “Hiding in the bathroom? How silly.”

Behind me, I heard the door open.

~o0O0o~

Two unicorns stood in a room. One was seated at a desk, the other standing in front of him. Both were motionless, lost in their own private thoughts.

“Do we have a deal?” the first said, breaking the long silence.

The second waited before responding. “We do. I'll be damned for it, but we do.”

“This whole blasted city is damned. If you're only joining us now, your whole reputation is a lie,” the first chuckled darkly.

“How long will I need to wait?” the second asked.

“We won't be able to move until next week. Have to give a customer some time to get comfortable, to drop their guard, before we show up. Only waiting a week is pushing it, really.”

“Why do it so early then?”

“Because, despite what your kind tend to think of us, we aren't really heartless.” The first stood, walking to the only window in the room. He pulled aside the drapes, revealing the twilight sky. “I bound and gagged him, and threw him straight into the 'gators den. Quite literally, in this case. I don't want to see him die, and I certainly don't want to see him end up one of hers.”

“Then why send him in the first place?”

“Because he can beat her.” The second merely raised an eyebrow at this statement, and the first conceded. “Okay, maybe not beat her, but he won't lose to her. Not in a week, if for no other reason than that he's different, that he's new. You know how she is around things she hasn't seen before.”

“You have a point there,” the first said, “but a whole week? I don't think she has that long of an attention span when she isn't dealing with another big player.”

“If anyone could do it, it'd be him. Hell, I'd even give him a chance of escaping. Not a big one, not at all, but he might.”

“Escaping? Her?” the second couldn't believe what he'd just heard. No one got away from her. She was inescapable and untouchable. “If it was possible to beat her, I would've already. You of all people should know that.”

“I'm perfectly aware of the. . . confrontations. . . between the two of you. That said, no one is unbeatable. You just need the right pieces. I told you his name, did I not?'

“. . .yes. And that he accepted it without missing a beat. I still think it would just make her more likely to grab him.”

“And maybe you're right. If so, I've lost quite a bit. But if not, if she decides to wait and see how well he measures up against her hero, then I may have the opening I need. Or, better yet, the opening you need.”

The second only sighed. “I'll be back in a week, you crazy bastard. And don't blame when this whole thing falls apart around your head. She's getting closer to the royals every day, and even your so-called legacy might not protect you for much longer.” With that, he turned and left, leaving the first alone.

“I'm perfectly aware of that, you old moron. Why do you think I'm gambling like this in the first place?” he sat back down at his desk and cradled his head in his hooves. “I'm out of time, I'm out of options, and I won't be able to protect anything. Not from her.”

Sunny looked out the window again, his thoughts on his last gamble. “Bring her down, SJ. Bring her down because no one else in this god forsaken desert can.”