Chapters 1. A Fish in a Sea of Sand
Raven stood atop the mighty dune. He twisted his hooves around in the soft, cool sand, absentmindedly carving incomprehensible figures and beasts into the malleable soil.
All across the infinite horizon, dunes exactly like the one upon which he stood sailed forever onward, like a frozen ocean of dull yellow. The sky was a dusky yellow, choked by a thick sheet of dark, smokey clouds that roiled and twisted in the wind. Out towards the edge of the world, where the rolling dunes slowly turned into tiny bumps, the sun rose sluggishly up from behind the miniscule hills and decapitated mountains, punching a pale white hole through the dim grey clouds.
Raven sighed. He was anxious, incredibly so. As much as he believed that there was something out there, among the wastes, he had a hard time proving it to himself. The wastes stretched on for who knew how long, and it would be impossible to know whether the trip would be for nothing until it was too late. Furthermore, he had a hard time believing that he and Branch would be able to make the journey on nothing but skullberries and ashfruit, even if Branch had bought up nearly every bit of stock in the marketplace in preparation for their journey. And speaking of...
Raven turned back around toward the feeble little town he called home. By all means it was just as listless as the wide, sandy hills that surrounded it, holding the small collection of derelict huts in a protective bowl. The only thing that stood out about the small village was the impressive marble tower that pierced through the ground, a titanic spear that was just as close to falling apart as the rest of the town, if not closer.
He scanned the small buildings made from ashtree leaves and bones, watching their distant denizens walk drearily among roads of ashtree wood and and sandstone, seeing if he could spot Branch from his vantage. It shouldn't have been as hard as it was, he was the only insecticorn in town, and Raven could safely say no one else in town looked quite like him.
Among the streets, shaghorns, scalemanes, crystalhoofs and featherbacks trudged along with their heads held low, and there still wasn't an insecticorn in sight. With each passing second, Raven only grew more anxious. Branch wouldn't have changed his mind all of a sudden, and he certainly wouldn't have done it without telling him... right? What if Skull decided to stop them from leaving after all?
In his worried thinking, Raven neglected to notice the faint buzzing as a dark grey figure struggled to climb up the mountain of shifting sand.
"Urgh... Raven... Raven! I saw you up there, can you get down here, please?"
Raven turned to look down at the figure below him. He let out a chuckle as he realized who it was.
"There you are, Branch! Thank goodness you're here, you were taking so long I thought something bad might've happened."
"Well it's... ack... funny you say that. Skull wants to... uhf... wants to talk to us."
Raven slid down the dune carefully so as not to hit the poor struggling pony. He came to a delicate stop beside Branch, holding out his hoof for him to grab onto. The insecticorn happily obliged. He slowly grasped Raven's extended hoof, being very careful not to accidentally scratch him with his hooves.
"Thanks, hun. I swear it's these stupid hoof holes, I take one step and they just sink right in," Branch joked.
"Hmm, well then maybe we should buy you some boots before we leave. C'mon, let's go see what Skull wants from us."
Branch nodded, still holding tightly to Raven's hoof. With every step the two took back to town, the jet black pony struggled to stay balanced. The howling wind was soon drowned out by the panicked buzzing of his wings as they tried in vain to keep him upright, and every once in a while, one of his hooves would sink deep into the soft sand, nearly causing him and Raven to fall over on several occasions.
"Do I need to carry you?" Raven asked as Branch struggled to get back upright.
"As much as I like the idea, I don't wanna tire you out by having you carry me and all of our supplies on our trip." Branch responded. He slowly began to regain his footing as the soft, shifting sand of the wastes slowly transitioned into a much more solid sandstone, formed by the pressure of hundreds of hoof steps over the years.
"That is true. Say, where are our bags anyway?" Raven wondered.
"Oh, I left them back at Skull's hut. He wanted to give us something before we left anyway, so I thought we'd grab them on the way out."
Raven's face scrunched slightly, an expression that was not missed by his coltfriend.
"I know how you feel about Skull, but we should at least hear him out. At least do it for me, please?" Branch leaned closer to Raven, his bright blue eyes full of pleading.
"Oh don't give me that look, I was gonna say yes anyway." Raven nuzzled the bug pony's nose affectionately. "Besides, all of our stuff's there anyway, so I don't really have a choice."
"Well If we make it quick, we can be out of here before noon. Just the two of us, out on an adventure to save our village!"
Raven scoffed. "Pfft, sure. 'Save the the village', like they want to be saved in the first place. All everyone cares about is that we're the first ponies to leave the village in who knows how long. I guarantee you Skull's gonna be like 'Hurr, my name's skull, I don't agree with your decision but It's not my choice to make, hurr."
Branch held his hoof over his mouth in order to hold in his laughter. "That's a pretty good impression. I think I've heard him go 'hurr' before."
"Well yeah, the guy breathes like a firewinder. It'd be hard for him not to," Raven joked.
"Haha, yeah he does."
The two continued on past the ramshackle huts and large marble ruins that dotted the edge of the village. As they approached the center of town, the shadow of the large tower hung over the both of them. Raven edged close to his coltfriend. As much as he'd never admit it, standing in the tower's shadow creeped him out. He always felt as if there might be something more to it, as if the whole world were made of marble hidden under layers of dust, and a spire like this was just the tip of the iceberg.
He didn't much care for the sign either. Hung from two flimsy, heavily torn ropes was a slab of marble that had been excavated from the nearby dunes a while ago. It was just as muted and grey as the tower, although it held traces of dusty yellow from the sand that had embedded itself into its crevices. Small embellishments of gold were neatly fitted into it, though several pieces had fallen out, leaving only compacted sand in its stead. The fracture along its right side indicated that it was only a piece of something greater, the found half of an ancient mural, something that only furthered his anxieties. It was only worsened by the remaining letters that remained engraved within the pale white stone. Broad gold letters were carved into the thick marble. They had hung over Raven's head for his entire life like a suffocating cloud of smoke and dust, for upon the faded gold inscription was one word.
Cant.
Raven tried not to look up as he and Branch approached the tower. It didn't surprise Raven that Skull had decided to live within the marble pillar. Skull always said it allowed him to see further into the horizon, Though Raven wasn't sure what he would be more likely to see from being a couple stories up, because as far as Raven was concerned, if something was big enough to be seen that far in the distance, he would have seen it already. The world couldn't be that big.
The antechamber, which was ironically bigger than Skull's actual sermon room, was speckled with images and paintings that had either faded away or were scratched into unrecognizability. He and Branch's hoofsteps echoed throughout the wide hall, and not a moment later, Skull exited from his room to approach the two.
"Ah, boys. I see you've accepted my invitation to speak before your... journey," he wheezed.
the majority of his coat was a dark teal, a stark contrast to the bleached white of his face. His head didn't move as the two came closer to him, it didn't need to. The wide strip of exposed bone that encompassed his eyes, scalp and upper snout always caught Raven off guard no matter how many times he saw it. Fortunately, the two blackened holes that were once Skull's eyes prevented him from seeing Raven as he averted his gaze towards Branch, who he could see had an equal amount of discomfort.
The two stopped a few feet in front of Skull, causing his ears to twitch in anticipation. When the two ponies refused to make any further noise, Skull took a deep, strained inhale.
"I should have seen this day coming. I would have to be a fool to believe that everyone would be content to live in such deprived conditions, despite my continuous attempts to provide."
"We appreciate all that you've done for us, Skull. We don't want anyone thinking we're deserters just because we're leaving town," Branch interjected.
Skull turned to face Branch's direction. "Of course, Branch. I would hope that our neighbors do not think of you as such. I, for one, understand the importance this trip holds for you two."
Raven exhaled quietly, trying to mask his annoyance. Skull did not miss a beat however, and turned to him.
"Ah, apologies. You two must be in quite the hurry to begin your journey. After all, ashberries have quite the notoriously short shelf life. But before you go, I wish to give you something."
Raven rolled his eyes, thankful that Skull wouldn't notice, but Branch nudged him sharply in his shoulder. Within the span of a moment, Skull trotted into his room, grabbed a small box, and turned back around to the two ponies.
Raven stared at the box enviously, but it wasn't the box itself that he had fixed his gaze upon. Instead, Raven could only pay attention to the pale green aura that surrounded it, as well as Skull's horn. Skull never explained why he was given the blessing of magic when no one else was, but Raven assumed it was because he didn't know himself. That didn't stop him from resenting Skull's blessed talent. What did Skull do to deserve such power? He held the power to make plants grow even in the driest turf, and move entire huts in a flash, and yet there wasn't a speck of magic to share with anypony else?
Branch seemed equally as entranced by the box. Raven could see his eyes widen in excitement as Skull drew closer.
"I don't suppose I told you two about how this village came to be?"
Branch shook his head, then facehoofed upon realizing his mistake, causing Raven to giggle a little. "No, Skull, I don't think so, at least you never mentioned it in your sermons."
"Then allow me to share you a synopsis before you leave. I promise not to take up much more of your time."
Raven had to stop himself from objecting when he looked over at the two bright, pleading spotlights that shone next to him. He chuckled slightly and shook his head. "Sure, we aren't in any hurry," he grumbled, earning a hug from Branch, who then clacked his hooves upon the marble floor excitedly as he took a seat on the floor.
"Heheh, well I'll be sure to make it short," Skull huffed.
Raven took a seat next to Branch, who nestled closer to him to listen to Skull's story.
Skull cleared his throat, the box swaying as his magic wavered ever so slightly.
"It all started maybe forty years ago..."
3. A Step Towards an Unknown Fate
Raven cocked his head skeptically. "Was all of that true, Skull?"
"True as my bones are white. What good would it do me to lie to you?" Skull breathed.
"I dunno, but there's no way the Strandbeast actually exists. It's a myth... that you told us!"
Skull frowned. Out of the corner of his eye, Raven could see Branch leering at him.
"I believe in the Strandbeast, Skull," Branch tried to reassure the old stallion.
"Do not worry, Branch. I'm not upset by Raven's words, but rather at myself. The Strandbeast gave me another chance at life, and I repay the favor by making her just as revered as the marble that lies at our feet. It's nothing but stories, relics from the past... that's all I've let the Strandbeast amount to. How inconsiderate.
Skull sighed, in a different world altogether. "...Perhaps I should finish my story."
"Of course, Skull. Take all the time you need," Branch snapped his head towards Raven as he spoke. Raven, not wanting to anger his partner any further, said nothing.
Skull nodded at the silence, and took in a deep breath. "After I gazed upon the magnificence that was the Strandbeast, I returned to the black world that was my home. When I woke my men, as well as the lone insecticorn, had escorted me far across the vast desert. I asked them what became of the firewinder, but all they could tell me was that it had disappeared into a puff of sand. They continued to drag my weakened body across those dunes, until we arrived here after weeks of tired walking."
"Was anyone else here when you found this place?" Branch leaned forward, obviously more captivated with Skull's story than Raven was.
"Of course. Back then, they were uncoordinated, feasting on the slightest of scraps. Of course I wanted to help them, to give them the paradise they deserved, but little did I know just how much I had to offer them. On the day I witnessed the Strandbeast, she offered me three gifts. One, the most obvious, was the gift of life. Second was the gift of magic, a rarity more valuable than I realize even now.
Skull floated the box towards the couple. It wobbled and shook as it drifted closer. As far as Raven could tell, Skull's magic was about as powerful as he was young. Either way, the fact that it still worked was a miracle. The box floated in place in front of Raven until he grabbed it with his hoof. At that moment, the magic released its grip from the box, and Raven heard the subtle clink of something fragile bouncing within.
"The third gift," Skull continued, "was the most mysterious of them all. To this day, I still don't understand its importance. What I do know, though, is that if the Strandbeast had held onto it herself before gifting it to me, then surely it must serve some greater purpose. Perhaps it is one beyond my capabilities, and thus why I gift it to you just as she gifted it to me."
Raven opened the box carefully. Laying comfortably on a small cushion within the box was a small crystal. It reflected the lanternlight of the antechamber and covered the box's interior with various shades of violet. It was cut roughly, but obviously took the unique shape of a six pointed star.
Branch leaned over to look into the box. The reflected light of the crystal caught his bright blue eyes beautifully. "It's pretty pretty, but uh... what do we do with it?"
"That is for you to decide now," Skull responded. "I may not agree with your decision, but at the end of the day, it is not mine to make."
Raven gave his partner a sarcastic smile. The insecticorn rolled his eyes in response, and quickly snapped the box shut.
"Alright, well thank you for the story and the crystal, Skull. We should get going now, we got a lot of walking to do."
"Of course. Safe travels, and may the Strandbeast guide your way."
Branch gave the elder a warm smile, disregarding his condition. Holding the box carefully in his elytra, he scooped up the bags of skullberries in his hooves. Raven took the remaining bags, and after a moment of awkwardly trying to position the bags just right on their backs, they left the marble tower.
Raven sighed in relief. "Man, I was worried he was gonna talk the day away, it's nearly noon by now."
"You didn't have to be that rude to him, you know," Branch muttered.
"What, do you believe his story?"
Branch eyed the unicorn. "I do, even if you don't."
Raven wanted to say something, but the look in Branch's eyes told him it was best to just drop the conversation altogether. There was no point in starting their journey at each others throats. Resolving to keep his thoughts to himself for now, he stared mindlessly at the sandstone cobbles as the tower's shadow was left behind them.
Raven looked up for a second, making sure he was headed the right way. His head dipped back down almost immediately when he noticed where he was. To get back out to the dunes, they'd have to go through the marketplace, or more accurately, Vulture Square.
The town market was as barren as the rest of Cant. Throughout the entire sector, only three stores ever sold anything, and two of them were rarely ever open. The only shop that had any kind of consistency was Vulture's General Bazaar. Vulture usually only sold ashfruit, as it was one of the only things that didn't require Skull's magic to grow. And sure, any pony could just plant an ashtree seed and be done with it, but Vulture was lucky enough to have a whole pasture's worth of trees to harvest. This came with its set of drawbacks though. Since vulture had essentially cornered the market on ashfruit, he was able to sell them at exorbitant prices, to the point where the other shops would only open their doors when he closed his. Not to mention he was a jerk who wouldn't know manners if it bonked him on the head.
Fortunately, it seemed like Vulture wasn't around. Raven turned towards Branch. "Wanna split while the shaghead isn't here?"
"Absolutely, it was already bad enough trying to buy a bushel of ashberries. If I ever saw him again it'd be-"
"I hope you're gonna say ' a joy to my eyes and ears', bug boy," the sarcastic ooze of Vulture's voice slithered out from behind one of the store's windows. It took only a second for his body to follow behind it.
The shaghorn poked his head out of the window, mindful of his two large, broad horns. His face, as well as the rest of his body, was covered in a thick layer of wiry fleece that had a consistency not to different from steel wool. If he had let his hair down, it would have certainly covered his eyes, but at the moment it was held back with an intricately carved marble hair band. Though, even if he had covered his face, the aura of patronization that practically exploded off of him was more than enough to get a picture of his personality.
"Where are you two short stacks headed, huh?" he grinned.
Branch kept his gaze forward, deciding not to indulge the large creature. Raven decided otherwise. "What's it to you? We already gave you enough business, now you wanna chat our ear off too?"
Vulture gasped in mock surprise. "Hey, c'mon. Is it too much to ask that two friends have a friendly conversation with each other?"
Raven huffed and sped up his walking to catch up with Branch. The edge of town was in sight, it would only take another couple minutes before he could leave this town behind.
"Hey, we all know what's up," Vulture shouted from out of his window. "We know what you're going out there to find!
Raven and branch both stopped in their tracks. Slowly, they turned in his direction, and Vulture responded with an uncharacteristically reserved face.
The shaghorn spoke up again, in a quieter, more somber tone. "We all know who you're looking for. Skull told us. There's not much you're gonna find out there."
"How would you know?" Branch growled.
"You think I grew from the sand like a plant? I had a hometown of my own, y'know. And I can tell you right now, it was a hell of a lot nicer than this place."
"...What happened?" Raven asked.
"Same thing that happened to skull, to the featherbacks," Vulture pointed a thick, muscular hoof towards Branch, "even to your own mother. We all just ran out of time. Lakes went dry, fruits went sour, solid houses turned into crappy little shacks. One by one, all the other shaghorns turned tail and ran... until it was only me. I only left when I realised they weren't ever coming back."
"Oh... Vulture I'm-"
"Don't be sorry," Vulture interrupted, "It'll happen here too, and It'll keep happening till the firewinders are munching on our sun bleached bones. I mean, look at this place and tell me that it'll still be standing in twenty years time."
Vulture swept his hoof outwards towards the rest of the town. Raven couldn't help but agree with him at that moment. The huts that surrounded the great marble tower were built of leaves and bone. Every year, more ponies' homes crumbled, and then they would rush to Skull, begging him to fix everything. But in that moment, Raven truly understood that, no matter what Skull did, no matter how hard he worked to achieve his goal, everyone in Cant was doomed. It was only a matter of time before they figured it out.
"I know that you think the same, Raven," Vulture called out to him, "which is why I don't plan to stop you. But you'd better find something out there. I'm tired of running away. We all are."
Branch stepped closer to the shaghorn. "I promise we'll find the Strandbeast, Vulture, and we'll save everyone. We'll find the paradise Skull always spoke of."
"I bet," Vulture spoke simply. He ducked his head back into the store without another sound, and the two ponies turned back towards the desert to start their journey. After a moment of walking, the same sarcastic voice echoed behind them again.
"Hey, hold up a second, would ya?" the ground shook slightly as the heavy thrifter galloped to catch up with the duo. Hung from one of his locks of thick hair was a set of black leather shoes. As he tried to catch his breath, he unhooked the shoes from his coat and handed it over to Raven.
Raven stared at the shoes with skeptical surprise. "What's this for?"
"They're sandboots... made from firewinder leather...whew... for the bug boy."
Branch's eyes widened in shock. "You're giving this to us... for free ?"
"Absolutely not. I expect them back in mint condition once you get back," Vulture leaned in close, his voice now a quiet mumble. "And I expect you to come back, yeah?"
the two ponies blinked, each taking in a moment to absorb Vulture's uncharacteristically kind gesture.
"Well... thanks Vulture. I'll try and bring these back as intact as possible," Branch uttered.
"Yeah you will. Do you know how hard it was to get firewinder leather? I risked my good looks for those boots."
Raven rolled his eyes. "Uh huh, good looks, sure."
"Hey, I can take my boots back if you think that sass will keep the sand out of your coltfriend's hooves."
"Alright, sorry. Thank you for the boots, Vulture."
"Yeah yeah, bring 'em back or i'll make boots out of the both of you next," with that, Vulture stomped his way back to his store. As he left, the two ponies sighed.
"Well, there's that tender moment gone."
Raven chuckled. "If that's your definition of a tender moment, I feel bad for you."
"Well maybe we should hang out more then," Branch leaned in closer to Raven.
"Let's get walking for a little while first, ok?"
Branch nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."
Branch trotted off towards the town's edge, but Raven stayed back for a moment. He looked back at the dilapidated hut that was Vulture's store and huffed. How much time did he have left? How much time did any of them have left. How much longer until their houses and stores ended up like the great marble towers, nothing more than the hollow memory of a forgotten age?
Closing his eyes for a moment, Raven turned to catch up with his coltfriend. The sun was already lowering in the sky. A light wind blew through the ramshackle huts of Cant. The only thing left for Raven now was Branch... and the wastes.
4. A land of Painful Memories
"How are the boots serving ya?"
Branch stomped at the dune below him in response, and nearly lost his footing in the process. "Definitely better than nothing, I'd say."
"They do look very cute on you."
"Well that's all that really matters then," Branch smiled widely. He took another step, and began to slide down the tall hill as the sand gave out beneath him.
Raven hopped down the dune and grabbed Branch's hoof. The insecticorn squirmed around as he tried to balance himself on the still shifting sand hill. After a moment, the rolling hills calmed, and the wastes were still once again. As the dune stilled, Branch leaned onto Raven's side in an attempt to keep himself upright, and to prevent himself from tumbling back down to the bottom.
"I guess I'm still not used to walking on sand though," Branch chuckled abashedly.
"Yeah, it's a lot softer out here. I doubt anyone's crossed these dunes in a hundred thousand years."
"Geez, do you really think it was that long ago?"
"Well why not? Those towers are older than Skull even knows. They're probably older than the firewinders."
"You think they're-" Branch cut himself off.
"What, were you gonna say 'older than the Strandbeast?' I mean yeah, probably."
Branch lowered his head. He pushed his hoof into the sand, carving smooth divets into its surface. "Yeah, probably."
Raven sighed, and leaned his head against his coltfriend. "I'm not, like, upset that you believe in the Strandbeast or anything. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, of course, but..."
"But?"
"What makes you think the Strandbeast isn't real? Just look at the firewinders. They're pretty fantastical. I mean, giant lizards with the power to breathe fire and swim through the dunes like water? That seems pretty far fetched."
"I get what you're saying, but if the village really does need our help, I don't want to save them with myths that we haven't ever seen before."
Branch squinted at Raven skeptically. "Well Skull saw it, and I trust him... And I thought you didn't even care about Cant."
"Look Branch, the only thing I care about is you. I trust you, so if you believe in the Strandbeast, I'm willing to give Skull the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe the Strandbeast really does exist, but until I see proof of it, I'll reserve my opinion."
"So you don't think I'm crazy for believing in the Strandbeast?"
"Of course not, my love. If anyone could convince me the Strandbeast exists exists, it'd be you."
"Thanks hun." Branch planted a small kiss on Raven's cheek, then continued to stumble his way to the dune's peak.
"Besides," Raven continued, "for one reason or another, it's because of the Strandbeast that we're out here anyway."
"That is a good point. Maybe it's the wiiiiill of the Strandbeeeeeeeaaaaaast, ooooooooh!" Branch giggled at his own joke, and Raven joined along.
"Who knows, the Strandbeast works in... mysterious... uh, Branch?"
The insecticorn turned to his partner. His eyes, two brilliant sapphires among the dull yellow sky, were now complimented by the slightest of purple glows. "What's up, hun?"
"Your bag," Raven pointed toward one of Branch's saddlebags, which was wrapped in a bright, lavender veil, "it's glowing."
"It is? Oh, it is! What do I do?"
"It must have something to do with the crystal Skull gave us. Quick, pull out the case."
Branch did as he was told. Blurred purple energy spewed out of the small box in thick, unbreakable waves. It's brightness was painful to look at, but Branch blindly opened the box. The second he did, the crystal shot up into the sky, trailing its purple aura behind it in addition to a piercing, high pitched whistling. It continued to climb higher in the sky, a single purple star among a rolling sea of dull grey clouds and barely visible rays of faded sunlight. Raven wondered for a moment if the star would ever stop rising, but before it could pierce the thick veil of fog that hung above, it stopped and stayed. The whistling, initially quieted by the star's distance, was now clearly audible, as was the blinding light that the crystal emitted. Raven looked down to avoid frying his eyes, and for the first time in his whole life, his shadow was perfectly visible, and incredibly sharp.
Raven hobbled towards Branch, the whistling getting louder by the second. He shouted as loud as he could, and only then did he earn Branch's attention.
"What do we do!?" he screamed.
"I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before!"
The two huddled close together, shielding their ears against the crystal's incessant wailing. Raven pressed his hooves to his head as hard as he could. He felt as if he was going to crush his own head, and still the whistling was as clear as could be. He could see Branch grimacing in pain, his wings buzzing in response to the sensory overload.
The whistling went on for another moment, then peace finally returned to the wastes. It was only once the Crystal's screaming had stopped that Raven could truly appreciate the peaceful ambiance of the wind's hollow, lifeless howling.
Branch peeked an eye open. His wings cautiously tucked themselves back into their elytra, and slowly, he began to take his hooves off his ears. "Is... is that it? Is it over?"
Raven too removed his hooves from his temples. He looked at Branch, in in the next second, the crystal star crashed back into the sand, tossing a small cloud of dust upwards, and imbedding itself into the soft, cushioned dune. The bright glow had all but faded from it, and its arms, once cacophonous, were now deathly silent.
"I guess so," Raven deadpanned.
Branch nudged it slightly, as if expecting it to set off again. Nervously, he scooped the crystal back into its case and placed it back into his bag. "Was that supposed to... do something?"
"I don't know," Raven stared up at the clouds where the crystal had once been and recoiled in surprise. Where the crystal had been afloat, a large purple star now took its place. From within its bright, plum center, a thin string of magic slithered out. It continued on in a perfectly straight, linear path throughout the sky, until it crossed the horizon, nestling itself neatly between two steep mountains in the far distance.
"Branch, look!" Raven pointed, and his partner gasped.
"That's gotta be where the Strandbeast is!" Branch exclaimed. "And where there's the Strandbeast..."
"There's paradise!" Raven finished the insect's sentence. "That's got to be where the crystal land that Skull talked about is. If we go there and bring back something as proof, Skull and the other villagers will have to follow us!"
"Well then what are we waiting for? Come on!" Branch quickened his pace up the side of the hill. Though he nearly fell over himself multiple times, he eventually made it to the dune's peak.
Raven followed behind him, dashing to his side whenever it looked as if he was going to stumble over. But, after a small, wobbly walk, the two stood at the top of the hill, and stared ahead at the wastes that stretched far off into the horizon.
"Let's go, Raven! The faster we walk, the faster we get there," Branch began to attempt his way down the hill and into the heart of the wastes, occasionally glancing up to redirect himself towards the star's path.
Raven began to follow him, but something in the distance caught his eye. Some of the more distant dunes were oddly shaped. Their peaks were less neat than usual, and their sides were scored by several long, winding scars. Throughout the dusty plains, these scars occupied every available space. Some overlapped over each other, while others appeared to run in coordination with their neighbors, giving the appearance of the clawmarks of some titanic beast. Every once in a while, these scars would lead to a chaotic, interwoven bundle of trails. There, some of the scars would stop, but others seemed to exit, where they would then continue on through the wastes before they disappeared at the foot of a dune.
Raven looked at the odd looking battlefield of long, string like indents in the sand. He again attempted to catch up with Branch, but something new caught his eye. In the center of many of the bundles, a pale blue-white patch was embedded firmly into the sand. Raven squinted to try and see what it could be, but it was too distant to distinguish. He turned to his partner, and saw a similar, if smaller bundle that was placed right at the foot of the dune he and Branch stood on. Again, he leaned to get a better look at the odd pit. As the stringy arena's pale center shone faintly in the barely existent sunlight, Raven suddenly understood what it was.
Within the center of the winding mass of scratches and thin trails were wide, scattered pieces of glass.
"Branch. Branch, wait. Branch!" Raven called out for his partner, but the insecticorn didn't pay him any mind. He was too busy staring up at the glowing trail above to notice Raven, or the piece of glass that stuck out from the dune's side.
Quick as a flash, Raven jumped in front of Branch, just as he tripped over the small glass pustule. Raven grabbed his partner by the waist, and by reflex, Branch's wings snapped open, whacking Raven in the face with his thick, heavy elytra. He and Branch tried to keep their footing, but Branch had nothing to support himself on. Slowly, the force of gravity took him, and Raven along with him. Despite Raven's desperate attempts to keep his hooves on the ground, the two started rolling down the hill. Fortunately, Raven's intervention prevented Branch from gaining any speed, and so their roll started off rather slow. This gave Raven enough time to lodge his hoof on the small piece of glass. Still holding on to Branch with one hoof, and holding onto the glass with the other, Raven could barely hear anything over the beating of his own heart. From their commotion, wide waves of sand rolled calmly down the hill.
"Raven, what was that for? What are you doing?" Branch demanded.
"Look at the sand, Branch," Raven heaved.
Branch turned to look at the dune's bottom. The sand that had been loosed by their scuffle continued on down the hill, disturbing more sand as it did so. Slowly, the small wave of sand turned into a rolling wall that covered a sizeable portion of the dune.
The sand continued on until it reached the dune's bottom. As the rolling mass of dust passed the bottom of the hill, the countless grains scraped against an odd object. The rolling sand slowly began to uncover something that had obviously been buried for some time now.
The most obvious thing was the object's eye catching color. It was a beautiful turquoise that managed to shine brilliantly despite the lack of true sunlight. Branch and Raven watched, the latter with bated breath, as more and more of the object uncovered itself.
The next thing to be revealed were two shrimpy, almost vestigial wing nubs that had long since lost their majesty. After that was a single row of white spikes, now discolored from the sand. Then came two sets of claws, a long, spear like snout lined with teeth like sharpened needles. Finally, removed from the cover of the dune, a single lifeless, orange eye appeared, staring up at nothing in particular.
Branch was now deathly still, trying his best not to disturb any more sand. "It's... it's..."
"A firewinder," Raven finished. He heaved himself upright, and helped Branch to do the same. "You gotta be more careful, love. We're in firewinder country now."
Branch turned to him, his face disfigured by uncompromising fear. "We... we have to go through there? Through f-firewinder country?"
"If we want to make it to the crystal paradise, yeah."
The insecticorn looked all around him, uttering a quiet, exasperated "awh" whenever he noticed another firewinder pit. Once he faced Raven again, his face was two shades whiter than it had been before.
Raven pulled Branch in close, leaning his head against his partner's. "It's gonna be alright. We can see where the firewinders are most concentrated. See, like over there. So long as we take the path less travelled, we'll be less likely to bump into one of them.
"Besides," he gestured to the pit that lay before them, as well as the dead firewinder. "This pit hasn't been used in a good while. That means the firewinders probably all left a while ago. We're going to be fine, ok?"
Branch nodded slightly. "Ok. But can... can you lead the way please?"
"Of course, love," Raven nuzzled his partner, and carefully slid himself down the hill, trying his best to set a pace that Branch could keep up with.
This was it. There wasn't any turning back now, and they had a long journey ahead of them. Raven sighed as he made a path down for his coltfriend. As he watched Branch slowly and deliberately make his way down the dune, he desperately hoped that the things he'd said were true.
5. A Story to Inspire the Hopeless
Though the sky was hidden away by its thick, woolen blanket, it was apparent to Raven that the day was reaching its end. He stared again at their destination. The magic trail from before had vanished hours ago, but he knew where he was going, so it wasn't that big of a deal. What was a big deal was how far away the mountains were. After their encounter with the firewinder, the rest of their walk had been as uneventful as it was tiring. Raven's legs wobbled as he walked, and he could feel his hooves ache in protest to every step he took.
Behind him, it seemed seemed Branch wasn't doing much better. He was trying his best to keep his energy up, but even he was beginning to feel the effects of their journey. It didn't help that both of them were carrying heavy bags, nor did the fact that they both had their heads on a constant axis. Every slight shift of sand, every strong gust of wind, even the slightest raise in temperature was enough to put them supremely on edge. Raven certainly didn't need to be reminded where he was, and at this point, neither did Branch.
Raven let out a long yawn, leaning back and sighing in relief as a small pop in his neck relieved him of some of his pain.
"You about ready to pass out up there?" Branch joked, his voice just as tired as Raven's was.
"I wish, but we've barely made any progress towards the mountains. We've gotta keep going for a little longer."
"Raven, please. I'm barely holding on as it is. Can't we just take a short break?"
Raven didn't turn around. He stopped in place, and in one smooth motion, unhooked the bags from his back and began scaling the closest dune.
"Raven, where are you going?"
"Hold on!" he called back. He heaved himself to the dune's peak, and scanned the immediate location around them. It was generally all the same: dunes, sand, firewinder trails. But, speckled throughout the wastes like lone, charred weeds, ashtrees sprouted from the sand and stood tall. Their thin, jagged branches reached upwards towards the sun like great obsidian claws, intent on ripping pieces off of the sky and feasting upon its remains.
One of the ashtrees was only a few hundred feet away. It was barely big enough to be called full grown, but it would have to do for now. Raven slid down the hill, using his remaining momentum to hop his way over to Branch.
"Alright, I found somewhere we can take shelter."
Branch squinted his eyes. "What is it?"
"I saw an ashtree over on the other side of this hill. It's really close by, just a five minute walk, and then we'll set up for the night."
"And what about the firewinder tracks?"
"It was pretty barren when I looked. Besides, we haven't seen a firewinder pit in hours, which probably means the firewinders haven't been here in a long while."
"Or that they just haven't fought here in a while. What if a whole family of firewinders is sleeping right under that tree? W-what if we wake them up by accident? What if-"
Raven grabbed Branch by the shoulders, staring intently into his worried eyes. "My dear, sweet Branch, I will make sure that doesn't happen. We'll be ok. We have each other, ok?"
"...Ok," Branch whispered.
"Do you trust me?"
"Of course, with my life!"
"Then let's go lay down and have a bite to eat. You deserve it."
Branch nodded, and Raven smiled. He walked back over to his bags, tossing them back onto his back and securing them in place. With his belongings secure, and his coltfriend assured, he led the way to the ashtree, Branch in tow.
However, Raven had to admit that Branch's fears had gotten to him, even if it was only slightly. Sure, the tracks were probably decades old, but what if he was right? He didn't have any way to prove that there wasn't a whole family of firewinders sleeping peacefully under that tree, waiting patiently for two foolish morsels to walk right into their waiting mouths.
He gulped, and hoped that Branch hadn't heard it. Fortunately, the flat field that surrounded the single, small tree remained motionless as Raven and Branch began to unpack their things. Raven unlatched his bags, and pulled out a single sleeping bag, fastened together with Skullberry leaves.
Branch pulled out a sleeping bag of his own and unrolled it next to his partner. He took a moment to smooth out its wrinkles, and then flopped onto the bag with a satisfied sigh. Sand puffed out from under the bag as Branch made himself comfortable.
Raven joined his companion, leaning into him with a contented breath of his own. The two sat together, quietly enjoying the other's company as the sun began to fall behind the rolling horizon.
After a long, peaceful moment of silence, Branch began to stir. Raven lifted his head to allow his partner to move, and Branch stood up from his bed and walked towards the tree.
"What are you looking at, love?"
"I dunno, I guess I'm just curious about this tree. I've never seen an ashtree up close."
"Yeah, well, Vulture can get pretty territorial. You know how he is."
"Yeah. But, I mean, have you ever taken the time to look at them?"
"I... guess I haven't," Raven slowly raised himself from his sleeping bag to stand next to Branch. All along the tree's thick trunk, small, greenish thorns portruded randomly from its bark. Its branches touched the sky like frozen lightning, their jagged edges frozen in perpetuity forever.
Branch touched the tree. The thin, dry bark crunched under his hoof, and some of the thorns fell of into the sand, never to be found again. "Sometimes I wonder, how did these things manage to survive? Why did they choose to live out here, instead of the Crystal Paradise?"
"Well, my mom used to tell me that the ashtrees grew from the sand itself. They liked being out in the desert more than paradise."
"But why? What's out here in the desert that's better than the crystal lands?"
"I don't know Branch," Raven stared up at the tree's lone canopy. From it's sharp branches, large, flat leaves grew outwards, giving the appearance of many spiked umbrellas. "Maybe the trees know something we don't. Or maybe they just like the quiet."
"Well I can definitely relate to that last part," Branch ambled back over to his bed.
"Yeah, I know how annoying I can be," Raven said, a sarcastic smile covering his face.
"Oh please, like I could ever get tired of listening to you. Speaking of..."
"What?"
"You think you could tell me a story?"
Raven chuckled as he laid down next to Branch. "What do I look like, Skull?"
"Well you once told me your parents were adventurers, that was why they didn't stay in town for that long."
Raven's warm smile faded. He took a deep breath. "My parents might've been adventurers, they probably called themselves that. But, if I'm being honest, they were probably just drifters. They'd find a village, take all that they could, and then walk until they found another."
"Oh," Branch mumbled, "I'm sorry, Raven."
"It gets worse too. I don't think they intended to have me. I remember being there on their journeys a long time ago. Then one day, they arrive at Cant, buy all they can, but this time, they leave something behind too.
Raven poked at the soft sand, swirling his hoof in a circle until a small hole formed in the ground. "When I was little, I liked to think they'd come back once they found paradise."
Branch nestled closer to him, trying to comfort his partner. "Do you think you'll find them out there?"
"Maybe, I hope not though. I'm not out here so I can end up like them, only trying to satisfy my own personal desires. I want to help Cant, I want everyone to have a chance at a better life."
"Even Vulture?"
Raven chuckled. "Especially Vulture. Because as far as I know, ashtrees probably don't grow that well on crystal."
The once quiet hills were awoken by the sound of Branch's laughter. Raven laughed quietly along with him, but kept his eyes locked firmly on the nearby dunes. He truly hoped that sand was a good insulator.
"Ohh, that'd be hilarious," Branch continued to laugh to himself for another moment. Then the hills returned to silent slumber once again.
Branch leaned against his partner, and Raven responded by laying his head next to his. Though it was odd at first, Raven had gotten accustomed to Branch's smooth, chitinous skin some time ago. The only thing he had to watch out for now was his jagged horn.
"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know my parents that well either, or at all really."
"Yeah... I remember you telling me that," Raven blinked. For a while, neither of them said a word. The couple stared outwards at nothing, blending in perfectly with the silence of the wastes.
"But hey," Branch suddenly cut in, "We had each other, didn't we?"
"Very true. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have a funny, smart, adorable insecticorm to stay by my side."
"You definitely would've gotten in a ton more trouble. How many times did I have to bail you out when you tried stealing an ashseed necklace from Vulture's shop?"
"Well, Skull always had a soft spot for you anyway."
"That's just cause he knew my mom."
"Y'know, I think he had a crush on her. Imagine, if things were different, Skull might've been your dad!"
Branch rolled his eyes. "I don't think that's as bad a punishment as you think it is."
"I know I know. I don't mind Skull, I think we just... think differently."
"Yeah. Guess it's good we're all stuck together though."
Raven turned and looked at Branch. He was staring wistfully at his hoof. "Whaddya mean, Branch?"
"I guess I mean that it's good that so many different creatures have to live with one another. I always heard crystalhoofs arguing with the shaghorns, shaghorns with the featherbacks, and so on. So many different minds, and all of them clashing against each other. But none of them ever keep that anger, they can't afford to. There's barely enough to go around already. No one's actually gonna start a fight, or they really might die."
Raven cocked an eyebrow as Branch spoke. "What, you think everyone might fight if we take them to paradise?"
"I think that they would've a long time ago, and that they probably did. Those marble towers had to come from somewhere, and we only need to look at them to see what happens if we don't stick together."
"Well we don't know what happened back then. Maybe it was a... meteor or something."
"hmm... maybe. But I'm trying to say that everyone's staying together because they'll die if they're alone. Everyone knows what'll happen if we fight each other over scraps. Maybe, when we finally reach paradise, we'll learn to work together, and maybe then we can start to fix our world. We'll do what those before us did, but this time, we'll know what happens if we stray."
"Are you... are you alright, Branch?"
"Yeah... I just don't want us to end up back in these wastes. I want us to be happy.
The howling of the wind was deafening. Raven sat quietly, trying his best to think of something reassuring to say. In the end, nothing came to him, so he stayed still, trying to comfort his partner with his company.
Suddenly, Branch stood up. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Do you want me to get you some skullberries, hun?"
"Uh yeah, sure," Raven responded inattentively. He stared out at the smooth, rounded dunes, the faraway mountains, marked with deep scars, wide bored holes and decapitated summits. He turned back to look at his coltfriend. Even though the tree had yet to be fully grown, it towered over Branch, as did the surrounding dunes that entrapped them both.
Raven could feel a sharp pang of despair in his heart. Nothing made you feel small like the wastes did.
6. A Voice Like Screaming Flame
A gust of wind nudged Raven awake. His eyes creaked open, and he struggled to focus his vision in his grogginess. It was definitely morning, as the sky was a bored orange as opposed to a soft, lightless blue. The clouds were thick today, which was good, since that meant it would be chillier than usual. Maybe that would be better for them, a little chill to keep them moving. Why then was it so warm?
Another gust of wind sharpened Raven's vision and mind much faster. His heart beat rapidly in his chest, and his first priority was finding Branch. Fortunately, it seemed the little bug had rolled over in his sleep, but was still within hoof's reach. He had yet to wake up, and Raven debated on waking him, lest he make any noise.
Branch breathed soft and even as he slept, so Raven turned back to the glistening white mass that lie less than a hundred feet away from him. A lone firewinder stood motionless, it's body half buried in the sand. A single arm rested upon the soil, slowly running through the sand as one would brush their mane. It's pearly white scales were covered in indents and scars, and it's eyes were cloudy and grey. They stared outwards at nothing, they were unfocused, inattentive. If Raven didn't know any better, he'd have suspected the firewinder had lost its reason for living before it could reach them. However, the creature was evidently still alive. Every few moments, it let out a large breath that swept the nearby hills in a definite but controlled heat. Then, once it had emptied its lungs, it took a long, agonizing moment to refill them.
Raven sat still for a long while. But, as the sun slowly began to roost in the sky above, marking the emergence of mid day, he decided to test the waters. He moved his head to the side, leaning closer to Branch, but made sure to do so as quietly as possible. The firewinder continued to stay still, silently scraping away at the sand as Raven waved his hooves, rocked back and forth on his sleeping bag, then stood upright.
The next few minutes passed by at an agonizingly slow pace. First, Raven tiptoed his way over to the ashtree where his and Branch's bags lay. He clicked the bags to his back, then dragged the remaining luggage over to Branch, taking careful measures not to have it scrape against the sand and alert the firewinder. It did not move. Raven proceeded to quietly roll up his bed and latch it to his bag, he did the same for Branch's. Still no movement. Now came the hardest part.
Raven crouched down next to Branch and whispered as quietly as he could. "Branch, honey, you need to get up."
The insecticorn responded by trapping Raven in his embrace. "mmmf... but It's so early. Stay with me a little longer."
The firewinder's head rose ever so slightly. It's scratching becoming just slightly more rapid. Raven spoke again, his voice dire, but still as quiet as he could make it. "Branch, you need to get up right now. Now is not the time for this!"
Branch's eyes flipped open sluggishly. His smile was warm but strained from tiredness. "What's got you so grumpy? Did I not drown you in enough love and admiration yesterday, my liege?"
The firewinder breathed out again, bathing both of them in a wave of heat. This time, however, it drew in a sharp breath, raising its long, thin snout and smelling the air. Raven didn't try to hold in his panic at this point. "Branch, I need you to be silent. Please, I'm begging you, get up but stay silent !"
Finally, Branch caught wind of the situation, either from the firewinder's breath or the look on Raven's face. Slowly, he began to rise. "What's going on Raven? Is something wrong?"
A deep inhalation from the firewinder turned both their heads. Raven saw the mounting panic in Branch's eyes. "That's a firewinder. There's a firewinder right next to-!"
Raven quickly Put a hoof over Branch's mouth. In the same moment, the white serpent began to unearth itself from the sand. It's two stubby wings flapped uselessly on its back, and it's claws dug deep into the soil as it pushed itself up. It's thin snout swung in all directions, and it breathed long, wheezing breaths from the self imposed strain.
"Branch," Raven whispered, "I need you to grab your bags and, on my mark, we'll run as far away from it as possible."
"H... hhhh... hhhe..." The lizard huffed. It's glassy eyes were focused intently on the sky.
Branch nodded, and Raven released his hoof. The two silently donned the rest of their equipment, and began backing away slowly. Step by step, they carefully maneuvered away from the beast, even as it began to trudge through the sand. It's eyes remained unfocused, and it's mindless walking was slow and strained.
The two passed the trunk of the ashtree, now a good distance away from the beast. Their hoofsteps slowly lost their cautiousness, and they began to hear the faint crunch of sand beneath their hooves as they headed towards the mountains. Their eyes stayed firmly locked on the creature, even as they turned their path towards their destination.
Until the crunch of ashtree bark clashed through the wastes like a deafening bell.
Branch jumped back in surprise, raising his hoof from the crumpled piece of wood and accidentally letting out a startled yelp. Adrenaline began to rush through Raven's veins, and his vision blurred in panic. He had prayed that they were far away enough that the firewinder might not notice, but it raised its snout upwards. It's mouth raised to the sky like a spear, it took in a deep breath through its nose.
The lizard's maw opened slightly. It's needle like teeth, once interlocked, were now exposed to the open air like thorns. "Whhh... Whhuh... Whhwh..." It heaved a withered sigh, and several small globs of molten fire dripped down its chin and fell onto the sand. With a previously unseen energy, the firewinder dragged itself towards the two ponies.
"Branch! Run, now!" Raven shouted.
The two took off immediately towards the mountains. Branch's vestigial wings flapped wildly as he ran, and the straps on his luggage threatened to snap. Raven's heart pounded in his chest. He could barely feel the sand below him as he sprinted. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was flying, and of course it was while he was running for his life.
Raven's ears were ringing, but he could still hear the roar of the firewinder behind him. In time, its roaring quieted, until it fell into obscurity behind the howling wind. Raven nearly tripped as he tried to slow down, and Branch skidded to a stop in his attempt to stop, kicking up a large cloud of sand.
"I think we're... safe now," Raven panted.
Branch took a moment to collect himself before he spoke. "I... told you... so."
"Well... it was just one..."
"One firewinder is still a firewinder, Raven."
"I know, you're right, but we're not going to find many safe places out here anymore."
"We're lucky to have gotten out of there with our lives. What was that one's deal anyway?"
"I think it was blind, or something like that. Didn't know we were there until I tried to wake you up."
"Huh," Branch paced back and forth while Raven took in their surroundings. "I guess we'd better get back to walking then, in case the firewinder comes back."
"Hold on a second, Branch," Raven started climbing the dunes again. "There might be a safer path nearby."
"Well be careful, dear. If you see a firewinder, get back down here quick."
"I will," Branch called back as he reached the dune's peak. As usual, most of the surrounding area was frozen in place, or covered by the rolling waves of sand that carpeted the entire horizon. Behind him, he could just barely make out a single, thin ribbon of smoke. It was probably the firewinder, but it was far enough away that it brought him little concern. He and branch would be able to outpace it, so long as they kept a consistent speed.
But, as he turned back around to face towards the sun, as well as the mountains, he noticed another smoke trail on the edge of his vision. As he focused on it, he realized it was a sand cloud. It was being kicked up by something, but he couldn't see what. Not any more than a hundred feet away from the sand cloud, an odd scar split the wastes in two. It was deeper and darker than any firewinder trail. In fact, it almost looked like...
"Branch!" Raven yelled excitedly, practically skipping down the dune. "Good news!"
"Shhh, what if the firewinder's still around?" Branch scolded him. "Tell me quietly... please."
"I think there's a ravine just a little bit east of here!" Raven cheered.
"Wait, a ravine? Like the kind with rocks on the sides?"
"And a nice, chilly floor, yeah!"
"Well what are we waiting for? Show me where it is!"
With their hopes restored, the two ponies bounded their way over to the ravine. Upon reaching it, however, they realised just how deep it went. The ravine was easily a hundred feet deep. It's sides were scratchy and rugged, but oddly enough, its bottom was pristinely smooth, as were the lower edges of its walls.
"well... should we just follow the edge, see if there's a way down somewhere?" Branch suggested.
Raven sighed. "Yeah, probably."
And so, for the next few minutes, the two ponies dejectedly followed the ravine's edge. To Raven's surprise, the sand cloud remained. Branch noticed its presence as well.
"What is that?"
"I... don't know. It hasn't moved at all since I first saw it."
"You didn't mention it at all?"
"It was far enough away, I thought I didn't need to. But it couldn't be a firewinder, right? It would have to be walking in circles to keep that cloud so stationary."
"well, we're headed this direction anyway. Let's just see what it is. Maybe it'll be another pony."
"Can't argue with optimism like that."
Branch giggled. Quietly, the two snuck up to the source of the cloud, hiding safely behind a dune just a few hundred feet away.
Raven watched the cloud intently, looking for any sign of an individual. Unfortunately, whatever was creating the cloud was moving very erratically, causing only more sand to kick up. Branch worriedly poked his head over the dune.
"See anything?"
"No... there's too much going on over there, can't get a clear image."
"Wait," Branch pointed, "Look at that hill, over to the right, there."
"What about it?" Raven squinted at the hill, which was occasionally hidden by the thick cloud. For a moment, Raven didn't notice anything, but the more he looked at it, the more he noticed odd movement within it's center. The entire dune seemed to squirm and shift, like a rotted fruit full of hungry maggots. His face scrunched up reflexively.
Raven's continued to watch as the mountain slowly collapsed in on itself. In a matter of minutes, the only thing left was a sad, disheveled bump in the sand. Whatever was hidden in the mountain then made its way over to the sand cloud, and in a burst of dust, a spectrum of gleaming colors revealed themselves.
Raven's face paled as every color of the rainbow flashed and shimmered in the mediocre sunlight. As the dust cloud finally dissipated, Branch again poked his head over the dune. Raven didn't have to explain to him, the gleaming emerald tail that quickly darted into the depths of the ravine was more than enough explanation for him.
"That cloud... th-that hill, the ravine, everything! It was all..?"
"Firewinders," Raven blurted, frozen in confusion and shock. Using all of his effort, he turned to the insecticorn. "That was why there weren't any firewinders before. They were all here."
"But why are so many of them in one place at one time?"
"They're migrating... maybe."
"But where do they plan to migrate to?"
Raven gulped as he traced the ravine's path with his eyes. "To the mountain."
7. A Regret for Mistakes Unmade
The sound of the migration marching onwards towards their destination drilled into Raven's brain thoroughly and entirely. The scratching of claws against stone, the frustrated roars of firewinders packed tightly together and the crunch of packed sand all blended together until it became mere white noise, flowing through the air as easily as smoke. He peeked over the edge of the ravine, and saw a disturbed, roiling ocean of glimmering jewels and bloodstained thorns.
"Raven, I really don't think we should be following these things. What if one notices us?" Branch worried.
"Even if they noticed us, there's nothing they could do about it now. I doubt any of them would be able to scale the sides of the ravine, and even if they use their fire breath, we can just duck out of the way."
"Ok, but why are we following them instead of going as far away from them as physically possible?"
"Well, because they're headed in the same direction we are. Imagine if we had run ahead of them and got to the paradise, only to realize that white one tailed us and led the rest of them to us. It'd be a disaster."
"And this is any better?" Branch solicited.
"Well, at the very least, if they take a turn, we'll know it, and then we can go the other way. It's better to know where they all are than to just guess and hope, right?"
Branch huffed, but didn't argue any further. Either way, they had to keep going towards the mountains. They only had a limited amount of supplies, and each hour spent not going towards the mountains was an hour wasted.
The couple continued following the marching wave of scales and claws, all of them following the sun as it grew closer and closer to the horizon. Eventually, the mountains firmly held the star in their embrace, and the sky began to darken.
Raven stared back down at the ravine's bottom. The writhing mass of shapes and bodies had begun to slow as the day faded. The firewinders were beginning to prepare for sleep, and Raven knew it would be smart for he and Branch to do the same.
"You want to get some rest now, dear?" he spoke quietly. With the firewinders beginning to settle in for sleep, the risk of one of them hearing him was much greater.
"Yeah, alright," The bug pony unrolled his sleeping bag, and Raven did the same with his own. Branch's bright blue eyes stared towards the mountains, which had become noticeably taller than they had yesterday. "How long until you think we finally reach the mountains?"
"At the pace we're going, I'd say a week at most."
"And at the least?"
Raven shrugged, taking a small hooffull of berries and popping them into his mouth one by one. "Three days, and that's being generous."
"Three days? You really think so?"
"The firewinders are pretty fast for how stubby their legs are. It all depends on how fast they go, and if they continue to follow us to the mountains."
"hmm," Branch lowered his head, staring at the winding ravine with waning patience. "Well... how are you holding up, love?"
"Me? as fresh and green as a newly grown skullberry bush," he popped another berry into his mouth, "you?"
"I guess I'm feeling a little... scared?"
"What, of the firewinders? I told you hun, it's perfectly-"
"No no, I know it's safe. I think I'm more worried about paradise itself."
Raven leaned forward. His face quickly turned serious. "What about paradise makes you afraid?"
"Well... what if... if..." Branch rubbed his hooves together anxiously. His mouth twitched for a few moments, and after a short span of silence, he managed to squeeze out a sentence. "What if the paradise doesn't... exist?"
"How could that be? The star has been guiding us towards something . Surely it must mean there's something out there."
"Of course, but Skull said it himself. That crystal star is older than any of us even realize. What if the destination it's guiding us towards ends up just like all the other marble pillars. Or what if our destination was turned to dust thousands of years ago, and it's just another dune by now? What do we do then?"
"I'm... not sure..." Raven sat for a moment and deliberated. "I guess we'd just keep walking until we found something."
"But is that... is that really what you want, Raven?"
"Is that what you want, Branch? I know this trip has been... a lot. I wouldn't hate you if you wanted to go back home to the village, love."
"Oh please. The only thing I had in that village that was worth keeping was you. Wherever you go, whatever you do, I'll be there to support you as best as I can."
Raven smiled warmly, touched by Branch's declaration. However, the bug pony wasn't done yet. "And of course I'll follow you on the journey to paradise, partly because I want to see it for myself, but I can't help but have doubts about whether or not it exists. After all, in all these thousands of years, not a single pony has found paradise and come back to tell us."
"Well I believe it's out there, somewhere. I have hope that we'll find it someday soon."
For a moment, the only sounds Raven could hear were Branch's calm breathing, the whistling wind, and the distant scratching of firewinder claws. Then, Branch spoke up again. "Raven, dear, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course, my love. Ask me anything you wish."
"Before we left, you told me you didn't really care about the people of Cant. You didn't care about the Strandbeast, and you thought Skull's story was crazy. So, if not for the town, or for Skull, or even for the Strandbeast, why did you go out on this quest in the first place? It couldn't have been just for my sake."
"Well, I do want to help Cant, but you are right in some respects. This journey wasn't for your sake or mine, in fact, you were one of the things that made me debate staying in Cant, if only to prevent you from coming to harm."
Branch leaned in closer, placing a hoof on Raven's. "So why did you decide to leave Cant?"
Raven let out a long, storied sigh. "Do you remember the story I told you the day before? The one about my parents leaving me in Cant and never coming back?"
"Of course, it still hurts me to hear."
"That's not necessary. I outgrew that pain a long while ago. But it led me to a realization: It didn't matter what happened to them. They could've found paradise, or the Strandbeast. Perhaps they simply kept walking, drifting from town to town until old age would finally take them. Or maybe, they simply got snapped up by a firewinder, and were never seen again. Any way, they were never going to come back."
"Hmph, some parents they are. I would've come back for you."
"And that's just it Branch. I'm not doing this for all the sadsacks who'd rather rot away in these wastes than actually work to earn their place in paradise. I'm doing this because I want to believe that we deserve paradise, Branch. I want to believe that paradise is a place for those who work to attain it, rather than those who simply crave it."
"I don't think I get what you mean, Raven," Branch mumbled.
"Think about it, Branch. Some group of ponies before us has a kingdom as great and expansive as the marble towers would have us believe, and somehow they just go extinct? They were supremely powerful if the legend of the Strandbeast is any indication, and yet there's not a trace of any of them, except their broken, dusty towers. They had to have done it to themselves, with greed and anger and hatred.
Raven stood up in his excitement. "You said it yourself, we all argue with each other even when we barely have the materials to do so. Think what might happen if we let everyone into paradise, only for them to argue over its resplendence."
"I... I believe that we'd know better by now."
"Well if people like Vulture exist, maybe not."
Branch stood up as well to confront Raven "Vulture's just scared, hun. He's scared for his future, for his life, just like we are."
"But I don't want to find paradise, only for everyone to tear it apart at the seams. Even if he is scared, what will people like him become if left to their own devices? We can't let them destroy something that we've worked thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of years to achieve."
"And they won't, not if we guide them," Branch rested a hoof delicately on Raven's cheek. His eyes glistened with passion and hope, though the moon was nearly invisible in the sky. "We could be what your parents never were. We could bring them to paradise, and we could teach them to cherish its beauty. We could be its vanguard, its students, and its teachers."
"Do you think they would listen?" Raven whispered, his face inches from Branch's.
"Honey, we'd be the ponies who brought them paradise, the paradise. Of course they'd listen to us. Who would choose to live in the despair and chaos of the wastes when they could live as one harmonic community, safe in paradise's embrace?"
"I know you're right, but what if they don't listen?"
"Then we teach them. We hold fast and show them our resolve. We shouldn't bestow them cruelty for their misdeeds, otherwise, how are we any better than our predecessors?"
Raven chuckled, leaning his head against Branch's own. "I think this is why I decided to have you with me."
"Why is that?"
"You always knew what was best. Anything I ever learned from you was taught with kindness and love. Maybe that's what everyone else has been missing all along."
"It couldn't hurt to try it on the rest of them. They do tend to argue a lot."
"Heh, tell me about it. I've had Termite's early morning ramblings as my alarm clock for the pas ten years."
Branch squeaked a laugh, but quickly quieted himself. "I love you."
"I love you too. Now, let's get some sleep. We don't want to get woken up by the migration too early."
"I'm gonna eat some berries before I do. You don't mind, do you?" Branch reached into his pack, pulling out a cluster of skullberries.
"Of course not, love."
"Thanks," Branch stuffed the cluster of berries into his mouth, spitting out the stems a moment later. "Y'know, It's funny how we've been having these talks while we're on our way to an unknown destination, and I don't remember us ever getting this thoughtful back at home."
"Maybe the wastes brings something out in us. It is quite the romantic area."
"Oh my goodness, if you had asked me out here, I would have rejected you on the spot."
"What, you don't like bones and sand during a first date?" Raven smirked.
"Having Vulture shout at us nonstop for two hours would be better than being out here."
"Eh, I can't argue with you there. His voice does make for some pleasant white noise."
"I bet," Branch stuffed another cluster of berries into his mouth, and spat out the remains, "If we really tried, we could get him to be part of a choir."
"Vulture, part of the paradise choir? Now that's something I'd like to see."
Branch giggled. "I mean, he has the voice for it... sort of."
"I think your expectations are too low, love."
"Well, we don't really have any better options now do we?" Swallowing his last bit of berries, Branch shoved his bag out of the way, and laid down next to Raven. "Anyway, goodnight dear."
"Goodnight my love," Raven whispered, placing a kiss on Branch's chitinous forehead. He yawned, and eventually, they drifted peacefully off to sleep together.
8. An Army For a Bastard Commander
A loud roar seared through the silent hills and jolted Branch and Raven awake. They quickly discovered, to their relief, that the call wasn't meant for them, as when Raven swirled his head around him in panic, there wasn't a single firewinder in sight.
The duo quickly donned their bags and rolled up their beds. Raven hopped forward with renewed energy, while Branch quietly stalked behind him, his head never stationary for more than a moment.
"C'mon Branch, we gotta see what's going on with the migration. Maybe one of the firewinders went wild or something."
"Is that supposed to convince me to stick my head down there? Because if so, you're doing a terrible job."
"They're not gonna kill us, Branch. They don't even know we're here."
Branch sighed loudly. "It's too early for this... Fine."
Cautiously, Branch joined Raven in looking down at the herd of firewinders. The dozens of lizards were wound within and around each other, but few of them moved with any urgency. Occasionally, a claw or tail would surface from amidst the tightly knit blanket of firewinders, but for the most part, the herd was still in the slow, agonizing process of waking up.
All except for one.
Another roar shook sand from the ravine's peak, causing some of the firewinders to become bathed in it. Raven covered his ears in pain. As the echo of the creature's roar began to fade, the sound of dozens of firewinders struggling to wake up slowly floated from the ravine's floor. Snouts opened wide as the great beasts yawned and growled in consternation.
Branch and Raven looked farther down the ravine. Seperated from the great sheet of scales, a single firewinder slithered back and forth. It's hide was a spectrum of grays, occasionally broken by a glittering scarlet scale that shone like a blood red gem amongst a rolling hill of ash and coal. It's neck glowed in stipes of brilliant orange from the fire that seemed to constantly linger in its throat, ready to loose at a second's notice.
However, these were trivial details compared to the dragon's two most noticeable features. The first were its eyes. They were red, almost too red, so red that it was painful to look at them directly. Those red eyes watched the lazy mass of lizards with an anger that almost felt aware. It huffed a great flower of smoke from its thin nose, and its wings stretched in annoyance. It flapped them indignantly, and great clouds of sand were flown into the weary eyes and gaping mouths of its scaly brethren.
Its wings, speckled with stars of bright crimson and fashioned with brilliant black and white scales, filled the entire ravine.
"Woah," Branch gaped, "Is that a firewinder? That thing's not like any firewinder I've ever seen before."
"I don't know if that thing's even a firewinder to begin with. I mean, look at that thing."
The great beast turned its head, and Branch quickly ducked out of view. The monster made no move, keeping its attention wholly focused on the rest of the migration. At this point, many of the other firewinders were wide awake and ready to keep moving. A few of them hacked loudly as they tried to rid their mouths of sand while others scratched at their irritated eyes. The winged firewinder's throat glowed brighter for a moment, and Raven couldn't discern if it stemmed from its annoyance
It didn't matter, as after a moment passed, the winged lizard, clad in its shining metal hide, tucked its wings to its sides, loosed one last blossom of smoke, and slithered its way down the ravine. The other firewinders took the hint, as did the ponies, and they continued their trek towards the mountains.
"Wow, I mean... wow," Raven doted, "Did you see that thing? Never in all my life did I ever expect to see something like that!"
"It concerns me how infatuated you are with that thing. That's the one firewinder that can reach us up here, and if we're not carefuly, probably will."
"Oh absolutely, we'll definitely need to be more careful."
"Then I really think we should just stay away from the ravine now, Raven."
"Y-... yeah, alright."
"Oh thank goodness," Branch breathed a sigh of relief. "I was not prepared to fight over this."
"Yeah. That thing's definitely too dangerous to hang around, especially when we're out in the open with nowhere to run."
"Exactly."
Branch wrapped Raven in a strong but brief hug. The bug pony stared towards the mountains, looking for a path that would hide them from the ravine, and subsequently, the winged firewinder's gaze. With an acceptant "ah", he marched towards a particularly large dune that was several hundred feet from the ravine's edge.
Raven followed behind, watching the ravine become smaller and smaller behind him. They were just beginning to climb the dune when Raven noticed something odd. Many firewinders had gathered from all across the wastes to participate in the migration. As such, countless lines had been formed all across the dunes from their travelling. They travelled north, east, south west, wound in circles and zigzags. They were isolated or came in groups, but all of them eventually led to the ravine's entrance. One trail came from the opposite direction of the ravine, like many others, but this trail didn't follow its peers. Instead, the trail stopped only a couple meters away from the couple.
Raven stopped walking for a moment and stared at the anomalous trail. Another detail that seperated this firewinder track from its kin was the sharpness of its edges. The sand that had been disturbed by the trail's creation was clumpy and rough. This opposed the other firewinder trails, which had rounded out from countless days of windblown erosion.
Raven kept his eye on the trail, but resumed following branch up the dune. As he reached the dune's peak, the trail hadn't moved one bit. He chuckled to himself. Maybe the dunes really were driving him craz-
The subtle sound of shifting sound rang in Raven's ears with unmatched clarity. He snapped his head back towards the trail. It was now halfway up the dune.
Raven's heart beat like a frantic drum in his chest. His breathing shallowed in depth and quickened in pace as adrenaline flowed through his blood. His eyes stung from the wind, and he blinked for the first time in a long moment. The trail hadn't moved any further, so Raven tried his hardest to keep his pace slow and even. He prayed that the firewinder couldn't feel his shaking hooves in the sand.
Branch slid down the hill with a simple grace. He was getting the hang of navigating the wastes. That was good. Raven wouldn't have to worry about him keeping up when they were going to have to run for their lives.
Branch, unconcerned with the death machine that stalked just a hundred feet from then, turned to his partner with the cutest smile. "I'm getting the hang of this sliding... thing... Raven, are you alright hun?"
"Branch," Raven muttered through gritted teeth, "I need you to be calm, and not to panic."
"I'm not panicking, why would I be-" The insecticorn stiffened as he caught on. "Where is it?"
"On the other side of the hill, under the sand. I don't think it knows I've seen it, but it knows we're here."
Branch walked over to Raven, his hoofsteps slow and deliberate. "Ok, what should we do?"
"We need to make distance somehow."
"How do we do that? There's nowhere we can go-"
The sound of shifting sand returned, louder this time. From the top of the hill, small strings of sand rolled their way down and landed at the ponies' hooves. The two stared up at the hill's peak, and it now sported a large depression. A low rumbling began to surface from somewhere within the hill's innards. It shook sand loose and made Raven feel as if his heart might seize. The rumbling caused his legs to wobble more, and against his best efforts, he collapsed onto the sand.
Branch quickly rushed to his aid. "Raven! Are you alright?"
He was barely able to finish his sentence before they were both enveloped in a thick cloud of dust. Raven tumbled further down the dune as the force of the explosion threw him and Branch away from each other. Raven quickly closed his eyes and tried to cover his mouth. He could hear Branch coughing, and tried to pinpoint its direction. Getting up was difficult, and his hooves still wobbled, but he had to. He had to keep Branch safe, but his partner was silent. With no other options, Raven lightly opened his eyes, keeping his gaze as nothing more than a squint. He could see patches of shadow from within the sand, all varying shades of yellow and orange. Flapping curtains of dull color surrounded his vision, only confusing him more.
From somewhere in the cloud, Branch shouted. "Raven! Raven! Where are you?"
"Branch," Raven's shout was muffled behind his hoof, and he desperately hoped that Branch could hear it. "Stay where you are, I'll come to you!"
The cloud slowly began to clear, and with its dissipation, Raven could see a shadow standing still amongst the windswept sands. Two small, sapphire gems glowed from within the dusty depths, and Raven dashed towards them. He ran for a short moment, but only made it a couple feet before he crashed into something and fell hard onto the sand. His head spun, and he tried to rub the sand out of his eyes, to little avail.
Finally, with enough effort, Raven was able to open his eyes again. The cloud had dissipated significantly, but Branch was nowhere to be seen. Raven hoisted himself upright, and looked to where he had seen the glow of Branch's eyes. But instead of two soft blue orbs, there were lines of bright orange lights organized into several thin rows. Another low growl shook the ground around him, and before he knew it, he was surrounded on all sides by a wall of pearly white scales marked with countless scars. Raven was clouded in shadow as a long, pointed snout engulfed the sun. The warm glow of the firewinder's scales was soon complimented by a newer, dull grey sun who's cloudy white center focused on nothing in particular.
Raven's heart thrashed wildly in his chest, and his eyes began to blur. His hooves were locked firmly in place, rooted to the sand below him even as a single snowy claw reached out towards him and entrapped him in its grasp. He could feel the wind rush past his face as he was hoisted high up into the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Branch trying in vain to fight against the lizard's titanium grip.
Thin strings of lava poured from the creature's gaping mouth like drool. It's chest expanded as it heaved a mighty breath, and its fiery stripes glowed brighter from the fresh supply of oxygen. The beast's eyes turned towards Raven's direction, and after what felt like years, it roared a strained, aged roar that, despite the lizard's obvious age, was still painfully loud, and shook Raven's very core.
Raven tried to scream, but the second he did, a titanic thumb covered his face, muting him immediately. The dragon inhaled again, its breath a thunderous whirlwind unlike anything Raven had ever seen before. With its dead, glassy eyes pointed at him, and its lungs full of fresh air, the beast heaved again. But this time, Raven noticed something odd about its breath. It thinned, focused, warbled and shook. It was almost as if it was... talking.
The firewinder's voice flowed with all the clarity brackish water. "Huhhhh.... huhhh... Hussssshhhhhhh... Li... luh... leh... tul..."
Raven's jaw dropped. Branch quit his thrashing, and from behind the cover of the firewinder's hand, Raven heard him gasp.
"Husssshhhh... Lit... tull... puh... puh... pohhh... niessss... I'm hh... hhherrrrre... to hhhhhhelllllp..."
9. A Friend During Dire Circumstances
Raven squirmed in the lizard's grasp, but the firewinder's metallic scales refused to budge. For a second, the beast's claws loosened, but Raven quickly realised it was only to readjust its grip.
"I... Cuh... cuh... can't let... yuh... you... go..."
Raven squirmed, his shouting muffled by the firewinder's thick scales. In its other claw, Branch's wings buzzed frantically.
"Puh... leeze... stuh... stah... stop... squirming! I... cuh... I... explain."
The lizard's request fell on uncaring ears. It sighed in exasperation as the two ponies continued their ceaseless struggle. Branch scratched and pulled at the firewinder's scales with his pockmarked hooves. Unfortunately, many of the thick plates that covered the firewinder's skin were as large as Branch's head, and equally as heavy. All Branch could manage to do was nudge the lizard's scales slightly, and Raven wasn't any better off. Still, Raven tried with all his might to escape the firewinder's grasp, holding firmly onto the hope that he and Branch could still escape.
Again, the firewinder sighed. Glowing embers floated in the air like falling petals of brilliant orange. Clearly at the end of its patience, the lizard held out the two ponies in front of it, turning its head to the side and staring both of them down with one greyed eye.
"Muh... muh... Mother... sent me... Shuh... she tuh...told me to... fuh... find you..." The reptile's sightless gaze turned towards Branch. Almost as if guided by an unseen force, the lizard stared at Branch's bag, where Skull's crystal star was kept. "I suh... saw the luh... ligh... light that you cuh... cuh... c-cast! The cruh... cr... crystal... yes?"
Branch stopped almost immediately. Raven, though still trying to wrestle out of the lizard's grip, stared at its sightless eyes with unsettled curiosity.
The firewinder smiled as the ponies' attention finally turned in his direction. "Ah... so you nuh... nuh... know abou... about Mother? Has she spuh... sp... spo... ken to you... too?
For a moment, the firewinder waited for a response from either of them. The two ponies remained motionless, their full attention on the great beast. Raven rolled his eyes as the lizard continued to wait, and pointed to the large, pearly finger that covered his snout.
"Aha, yes... I fuh... forguh... forgot. But puh... lease... don't Scuh... don't scuh... don't... scream, please."
Raven nodded, then pointed again to his snout.
"Can I tuh... trust you... not to scuh... scream? Will you puh... romise me th... that?"
Raven nodded again, more fervently. Branch nodded as well.
"Okay. Reh... remem...ber... Ruin muh... might hear... you. His ears are shuh... sharp as his... claws."
The firewinder released its grip ever so slightly. Raven gasped for air and tried to nudge away from the lizard's finger. For another moment, Raven and Branch adjusted themselves, squirming slightly in the beast's grip. However, they stayed silent, and kept their eyes firmly locked onto the firewinder. Time refused to pass as the ponies waited for the lizard to eat them,and the lizard waited for them to speak.
The firewinder broke the silence with a pained laugh. "I'm suh... prised you didn't sc... ream."
"You told us not to," Branch cocked an eyebrow at the lizard. "Were you expecting us to anyway?"
"I was... Ponies scream a lot... is what we learned. You want to... eat a pony but don't wuh... want to bother with catching it? Sc... scare them first... Screams are easy t... to follow... Scared ponies are easy to suh... catch by surprise."
Branch blinked. "That is... W-why would you ever drop that into a conversation? We're ponies."
"I know... you're puh... ponies. You... asked," the firewinder defended.
"But why would you-actually nevermind," Branch rubbed his forehead in frustration. "So you said you know something about a crystal? What do you know about it?"
The firewinder huffed, accidentally shrouding Branch in a cloud of warm smoke. "What's with the... cuh... cryptic words? I know you hhh... have the crystal. Every living... thing this suh... side of the... valley saw that... explo... sion."
"Including that winged firewinder?" Raven butted in.
"You mean Ruin? He almost certain... ly... saw it... I think migra... tion's more important... though."
Raven gulped. Had Ruin known they were following him the whole time? Well it didn't seem to matter now. "Yeah, about that. What's even going on with that migration anyway? I've never seen something like that before."
"Then you are vuh... very far from hhh... home. It happens every year... when the sun is... warmest. We walk through th... those cliffs," the firewinder pointed in the general direction of the mountains that Branch and Raven had been walking towards, "then we cross the ssss... sea of buh... buh... bones... towards the great fire moun... tain."
"What's over there?" Branch questioned.
The firewinder, in his blindness, turned towards the ravine. Raven could sense that, despite the herd's distance, the pearly lizard could still feel the vibrations of their movement. It let out a sigh that was more depressed than its usual labored breathing, and Raven could swear he saw some slight hint of despair shimmer in its eyes.
The firewinder responded simply. "Our home."
"Oh," Branch's voice quieted and, to Raven's surprise, his eyes shone with empathy. "I'm sorry if you can't go home... uh..."
"Blur... you c... can call me Blur. And as much as I would... love to return to my... home, some of us hhh... have much work to... do."
"Well that's very commendable... Blur," Branch tried to assure the titanic, fiery monster. "So who told you about the crystal?"
"Why M... Mother of c... course."
Raven and Branch stared at the lizard with througouhly confused expressions. "And who is this Mother?" Branch wondered aloud.
"Mother of... t... t... time. Queen of the ehh... eternal ssss... storm."
Raven saw Branch's eyes shimmer with wonder. "Do you mean the strandbeast? Were you really brought here by the Strandbeast?"
"Strandbeast... not a name I know... But if your Strandbeast, and my... Mother of time are th... the same creature... then yes."
Raven sighed incredulously "Don't tell me that the firewinders believe in the Strandbeast too."
"Mostly... thuh... though they sss... see her as a... monster... a duh... dangerous preh... dator," Blur chuckled dryly, as if imagining the Strandbeast as anything other than a wholly divine being was hilarious. "They even hahhh... have a name for her... Kralkeer. Truly an honor... to bear a... a nuh... name not spoken in puh... ponytongue."
The lizard, now confident that the two wouldn't run away, gently placed the ponies on the soft sand.
For a second, Raven debated making a run for it, but his curiosity kept him in place. "So you've actually seen the Strandbeast?"
"Well... no. No one has... I believe."
"So then where did you get this 'mission from Mother'?"
"Mother buh... bestowed it to me... in a dream."
The sound of Raven's hoof clacking against his forehead could be heard far throughout the dunes. "Oh brother, another false prophet with dreams of some thing?"
"Raven, have some respect for the giant, firebreathing lizard, would you?" Branch gave his partner a passing glare before looking back at Blur with undiminished excitement. "What did you see in your dream, Blur?"
"It wasn't what I sss... saw, it was what I huhh... heard. I only ruh... remember seeing sand... flying in th... the wind. But a voice spoke to me... It spuh... spoke like the sweetest of duh... delicacies, a ravenous feast for the ears. I nuh... knew I had to listen then, and thuh... that was when she told me my mm... mmm... mission!"
"Wow..." Branch beamed, and Raven feared if his smile got any bigger it'd split his face in two. "You're just like the chief back at our village, breathing problems and all!"
"Well... uh... thank you? Now, if you wuh... wouldn't mind... we must buh... be on our wuh... way."
Raven brushed the sand off of his bag and tossed it onto his back. "With all respect, you don't really expect us to go back to the terrifying, winged, firebreathing nightmare, do you?"
"Of course nuh... not. If Ruin eeh... even thinks we might be tuh... tailing him, we're all as guh... good as d... dead."
"Right... so how are we gonna beat Ruin to the mountains when he's leagues faster than us and we're way behind?"
"That's easy," Blur growled with a plainness that surprised Raven. "My kin are not ones to vuh... veer from the path most truh... trodden. Every year, they travel uh... aluh... along the rockfire ravine and toward the... sea of bones. Never in all muh... my years has that ever ch... changed."
Raven stood impatiently as the lizard spoke, waiting for a conclusion to his rambling. "Alright, so what's your point?"
"If every fuh... firewuh... firewinder this side of the marble towers is... in that ravine... they're not out huh... here in the desert, or in their dens."
"Which means?"
"Which means... I have a shuh... shortcut we can take... if you'll trust me to take you."
The expression on Raven's face gave the firewinder an answer with an immediacy that no words could hope to imitate. However, a gentle tap on his shoulder melted away his toxic leer in a second. Raven turned towards the insecticorn, his face kind but serious.
Branch spoke quietly, in more of an attempt to keep the conversation from escalating than to hide anything from the firewinder. "Raven, I think we should go with him."
"What? Are you serious?" Raven hissed. "You're going to listen to that lava spewing death machine just because it has the same religion as you?"
"Raven, what other options do we have? We can follow Ruin and the rest of the herd and end up charred by tomorrow morning, wait for them to get ahead of us and hope we don't starve before we get there ourselves," Branch motioned towards Blur, who sat patiently behind them, "or we can follow the firewinder who's clearly stated that he not only won't kill us, but also knows the way to our destination and knows a shortcut."
In any other circumstance, the look on Branch's face would've been more than enough to make Raven reconsider his stance, but one quick glance at Blur gnawing on a dented scale, still drooling lava from between his needle-like teeth kept Raven's stance firm.
He looked at the firewinder again and huffed. "Are you sure there's nothing else we can do?"
"I know you're scared hun," Branch cooed, "but this might be our only chance to get to paradise now. You heard Blur, those firewinders, Ruin, all of them are going where we're going. We don't have the luxury of waiting anymore. We have to beat them there."
"I... Well... Alright," Raven lowered his head. The last thing he expected to do on this journey was team up with a senile old firewinder, but this trip was proving much more eventful than he wished. He sighed and turned back to the great, pearly serpent. "Alright Blur, where's this shortcut you were talking about?"
"Ah, fff... fantastic!" The lizard sluggishly clapped his claws together, and his short, stubby wings flapped joyously on his back. "We'll nnuh... need to go through the tunnels fff... first, but I guarantee it'll be wuh... worth your time."
Raven stopped. "I'm sorry, the tunnels?"
The firewinder gently laid himself onto the cushy sand as he prepared to take off. "Yes, we fff... firewinders have homes of our own beneath the sand, and there's something ihhh... important there.
Blur dragged himself closer to the two ponies. "Now, hop on and hhh... hold tight."
"I'm not sure this is a good idea..." Raven worried.
Branch patted him on the shoulder as the bug pony carefully leapt his way onto Blur's back. "Don't worry dear, I'm here for you if you fall or accidentally inhale some sand."
"Oh yes," Blur blurted out, as if he had forgotten something, "you're going to want to hhhhh... hold your breath. The tunnels can ssss... sometimes be puh... pretty far down."
Raven gulped. He gripped tightly onto one of Blur's wings, and Branch did the same with the other. With a deep, raspy inhale, the lizard bored himself into the sand. An explosion of dust shot up in the ponies' faces, stinging Raven's eyes, but there was nothing he could do now except hold on. It was only a few seconds until the dust settled, and all that was left after Blur's digging was a small, almost unnoticeable divot in the sand.
In the distance, a pillar of smoke slithered like a viper up to reach the clouds.
10. A Machine to Remember the Dead
Raven expected the trip to the firewinder dens to be much more demanding. Sure, he had enough sand in his eyes to fill his saddlebag, and he constantly felt inches away from slipping off of Blur's wing and trapping himself deep in the dirt, but altogether it wasn't that bad. Despite Blur warning Raven to hold his breath, he had just barely begun to feel breathless by the time they breached the first tunnel.
"Wuh... well, we're hhh... here, now puh... please stop tugging on my... wings."
"Sorry," Raven muttered. leaping off of the lizard's back, Raven's legs buckled as he landed on the rough, compacted dirt. He groaned, and the echoes carried far into the depths of the tunnel.
Branch walked up to the tunnel's edge, poking at one of the many vines that hung from the ceiling "Woah. This place is impressive... in a terrifying sort of way."
"generations of firewinder guh... grit are to thank for... for that. Even I don't know how old suh... some of these tunnels are."
Blur took a deep breath. All around him, dozens of thick vines swayed gently from the ceiling, each of them bearing an odd orb at the tip that filled the winding tunnel with a comforting, orange glow. Though Blur was significantly larger than both Raven and Branch, the wide dirt passageways made him look quite small. Raven tilted his head. Was this to make room for lizards like Ruin, with their impressive wings? But Ruin was an exception, an outlier... wasn't he?
Blur slithered up to a shriveled, dim orb that hung just above his face. "Hmm, we're in thuh... the older tunnels. I don't know exactly where... we are, but this path should lead to thuh... the central den eventually."
Branch skipped to catch up with Blur. "So how far do these tunnels reach anyway?"
"Possibly... throughout the whole desert."
"Wait, there's an end to the desert?" Raven blurted.
"The duh... desert is only cut short by water. Our home is one of the few things that the suh... sands never reached."
Branch's pace quickened to match his mounting excitement. "Is your home nice?"
"It's nothing but meh... melted stone and charred bones... As much as I'd like to sss... see my family again, that place is a... a nightmare upkept only by... tradition and a lack of other ah... options."
"Geez."
"Yes... not even our own tuh... tunnels are safe."
Raven's eyes widened. What creature could possibly bring danger to a firewinder?
"What do you mean, Blur?" Branch questioned.
"Well, when I sss...said our tunnels spanned the whole desert, that wasn't cuh... completely accurate. There are some small sectors, yoo... usually underneath the ashtrees... where the swarmlings live."
Branch's walking faltered for a second. "Uhh... what are swarmlings?"
Blur snorted, and a ruby red blossom of flame burst forth from between his teeth. "Vile little creatures. Old children's stuh... stories said that they used to fff... feed on souls, but now the only thing they care about is ah... ashtree roots."
"How come we've never heard of these things before?"
"You mentioned yuh... you used to live in Cant? That must be... in the marble fields above gruh... ground. Swarmlings don't breach th...the surface. I think the light would... blind them."
Raven scoffed. "What, you mean the light from the barely visible sun that's hidden behind clouds twenty four seven? How blind are these things?"
"Quite the contrary my ehh... equine companion. They can find you in the darkest tunnels where even the brr... bravest firewinders dare not venture. They can sense the pulse of your blood, the druh... drawing of your breath," Blur leaned in close to Raven, his warm breath causing the pony to start sweating almost immediately. "And if they find you... they won't waste time or resources. You get caught... and nothing gets left behind."
"Geez, these things sound freaky," Branch shivered, "Have you ever run into one before, Blur?"
"Yes, and believe mm... me when I say that you never run into just one swarmling. It was mmm... many years ago, and I was part of the excavation class, intended to expand the tunnels and increase ah... our territory. Well me and some younger sport... were digging, and then all of a sss... sudden, the whole wall collapses. Turns out, a huhhh... whole swarmling hive was on the other side. I reacted in time but thuh... the kid didn't make it. Poor kid... they went for the throat first, set the whole tuh... tunnel ablaze in the process. It took us a month to get rrr... rid of them all, and by then we'd luh... lost a quarter of our numbers."
"Oh... I'm so sorry, Blur," Branch placed a hoof on the dragon's emaciated arm.
"Bah, nothing tuh... to be done about it now. Kid's dead, swarmlings are gone. It's buh... best to just learn from it and move on. It's nuh... not like the other firewinders cared anyway."
"Well why not? Don't they care about their families?" Raven barked.
Blur's answer travelled rapidly and deeply through the tunnels, its bluntness almost denting the walls. "Never have."
For a long while after, the only sound that could be heard was the clopping of quiet, depressed hooves. After a long time, the vine globes increased in density. The once dim glow of the tunnels slowly transformed into a bright, consistent shine, as if the entire tunnel's ceiling was decorated with gleaming golden lanterns. The more Raven looked at it, the more the lights looked intentionally placed. How advanced were these firewinders?
"Hey Blur, did the firewinders make these lamp vine things?" Raven asked aloud, squinting at the bright lights.
"Yes, the sss... smaller firewinders are in charge of mmmm... menial construction. The vines are a gift from our hhhuh... homeland. They're windervines. Fireproof, live fff... for hundreds of years, and are edible in case of ehhh... emergency."\
"Huh..." Raven squinted harder at the numerous gelatinous orbs that were each carefully tied to a single vine. "Are these bulb things on the end part of the vine? they look weird."
"Hmm? Oh, no no... they're something else. Ah, wuh... we're here!"
Branch's wings buzzed ecstatically. "Ooh! We're here? I wanna see!"
"I feel like I should be concerned by your excitement about being inside the firewinders' headquarters, but I've got to admit... this is pretty impressive."
The central chamber was massive. Dozens of holes of varying size and depth marked the chamber walls, and several rows of wide dirt platforms made the room look like the interior of some incredibly complex tower. windervines poked through the rough dirt walls, weighed down by the fleshy globes that hung from their ends. However, most impressive of all was the grand chandelier that hung from the room's center. It was beautifully constructed, but gave Raven an unwavering feeling of foreboding. He could almost immediately point out a couple shaghorn skulls as well as the skulls of scalemanes with their peculiar forked horns and the distinctive skulls, elytra, and pockmarked hoof bones of several insecticorns.
Raven gulped. Dozens upon dozens of featherback skulls were organized in neat circles, and he even noticed several odd antler-esque horns here and there. However, what was most impressive was the skull that dangled from the bottom of the chandelier. It was a skull that looked vaguely like a firewinder, but it was much larger, and looked as if it's once spear-like snout had been smooshed against a flat wall, turning it flat and stout.
Blur took in a deep breath through his nose. "ahhh, smells like ssss... soot. What we need should be just up there, in rrr... Ruin's chamber."
Raven tore his eyes away from the macabre centerpiece to look at Blur. "Should we be going up there? Is it safe?"
"Come on rrr... rrayyy... Raven, Ruin's not even hhh... here. What's the worst that could hhaaa... happen?"
"I don't know, what if those swarmlings you talked about are up there?"
Blur chuckled. "Oh don't wuh... worry. Swarmlings won't attack us if we keep our distance, and rrr... Ruin's charred any swarmling that even tries to ssss... sneak in. They know better than to attack our hhh... home by now."
"If you say so, but I'm putting my trust in you, scaley," Raven scrambled on to Blur's back.
The pearly white lizard turned to look at Branch, who's eyes were filled with wonder. "Are you cuh... coming, kid?"
"Uhh... is it alright if I just look around while you two grab that thing you need? This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I can't afford to let this moment go to waste!"
"If Blur says it's safe, then I don't see any problem with it. Just don't wander too far off, hun," Raven gave his partner a warm smile. Blur attempted to do the same, but could only manage a toothy grimace.
"Thanks, hun! You two be safe now!" Branch waved to Raven as he and Blur climbed up the rows of holes towards the top of the central chamber.
With his isolation assured, Branch dashed from room to room. His wings buzzed in excited glee as he drank in the vast culture that seeped from every wall. He poked his head in one room to see its walls completely lined with firewinder skulls. Each of them had names carved into their foreheads, and they were in various sizes, shapes, and states of petrification. Another similar room held what must have been hundreds of featherback skulls. In addition to the hauntingly vast collection of bones, there were also several leather bags full of large, grey feathers. It was terrifying to see this much death, sure, but it was all so fascinating. Firewinders really were conscious beings. That meant they could be reasoned with, maybe even convinced to join Raven and him on their path to a peaceful paradise. Somehow, that distant dream didn't seem so distant anymore.
Branch felt like he was going to explode. This was fantastic. His wings buzzed loud enough to echo out of the room and throughout the main chamber. He dashed out of the featherback room and nearly threw himself off of the platform as he continued to sprint from room to room. He was just about to enter a room that seemed to organize the colors of shed scales when he heard a distant buzzing. Branch looked behind him, but his wings were neatly tucked into his elytra.
Again the buzz could be heard. Branch stepped away from the scale room, and towards a brightly lit hallway. He poked his head out, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. The hallway's entrance was brightly lit, but Branch could easily see it was barely lit at all only a hundred feet past. Barely functioning bulbs hung pitifully from the ceiling, their shriveled and dried up husks threatening to turn to dust at any moment.
However, as empty as the hall seemed, Branch could sense something. Before he knew it, the buzzing sounded again, but this time, he looked back to see it was his own wings that had done it. They frantically flapped as if on reflex, and the low thrum of Branch's wingbeats carried easily throughout the silent halls of the firewinder den.
After a brief moment, the buzz returned, but it was no echo. From the dim light of the vine bulbs, Branch could see something moving. It crawled out from behind the shadows, scampered on the wall, and finally landed in front of Branch with a quiet thud.
Branch gasped. The creature's wings were a brilliant sheen, almost like a rainbow. It's exoskeleton was black, but seemed to glisten, as if coated in yellow wax.
The creature inched forward, and Branch had no choice but to move back, too shocked to do anything else. His heart pounded in his chest, and his wings buzzed in panic.
The other insecticorn tilted its head in confusion. Then, after a brief, awkward moment, it straightened up again and buzzed its wings in response.
Somehow, by some miracle that even he couldn't understand, Branch could hear words as clear as day through the humming of the insecticorn's wings.
"Hello friend. "
11. A Mistake That Killed the World
Raven gulped as he stared at the charred skulls that hung from the ceiling of Ruin's room. "What are... uh... what are all these?"
"Trophies... Puh... powerful creatures he's slain during his years as drrr... dragonlord."
"What's dragonlord?"
"Our leader. Ruin's cuh... command is our purpose, our duty and our luh... life. That is the way of all dragonlords; we must serve them to our duh... dying breath."
"That seems a bit much. What if Ruin tells you to do something you don't want to?"
"I'm not sure, but you could always ask the hhh... half-gnawed skulls of the poor souls puh... put on digging duty."
Raven shuddered at the thought. "Ok yeah, I see your point."
Blur chuckled and in the process nearly choked on a cloud of smoke. "Alright, enough questions. Come and hhh... help me find this rrr... ruby."
"Ruby?"
"Indeed. Ruin calls it hhhh... his 'righteous scarlet.' I since you two know sss... so much about old magic, I figured yuh... you'd understand Ruin's treasure... as well."
"Uhh Blur, I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't know anything about old magic."
"Well th... that's fine. Either way, it's better in your hooves than rrr... Ruin's claws."
"I guess that's true," Raven gently nudged aside leather bags full of various things that he desperately hoped weren't pony parts. "So what are we looking for exactly?"
"It's hhh... hard to miss. It's a bright red-" Blur suddenly stopped in his tracks. Scrolls fell from their shelves as his claw froze. His eyes didn't move, his chest was still. Raven was just beginning to wonder if he had died when a faint sound echoed into the chamber.
It was a faint, almost imperceptible humming, but it was a noise familiar enough to Raven that he discerned it immediately. It seemed simple enough, Branch was excited about something he found. Knowing Branch, almost anything in these caves could've fit that bill, so why was Blur acting so odd?
The only response Raven was given was a plume of smoke in his face before he was suddenly snatched up into Blur's claws. The pearly white lizard leapt out of Ruin's chamber, landing on one of the lower platforms. The lower sections on the main chamber, unlike the higher rooms, seemed freshly dug, and still had the occasional pile of dirt strewn here or there. The walls were roughly scratched, and many of the chambers were barely a couple meters deep. However, some of the tunnels dug deep into the dirt, illuminated by many glowing orbs.
Blur snapped towards one of the tunnels, his face pulled taut with fear. Raven stared at him as he slithered down one of the tunnels with an energy previously unseen. Raven stifled a chuckle. Where was this energy when Blur was chasing Branch and him earlier? Raven didn't expect to see something like Blur get this worried over anything. Was it Ruin's righteous scarlet? No, that couldn't be it, the only thing Raven could think of that would make Blur this worried was...
Oh no.
Blur suddenly skidded to a stop. Branch nearly threw out his neck from the whiplash. It took a second for the pony to recover, and he was thankful that Blur was having another freezing spell.
Raven waved his hooves at the lizard, aware of its ineffectiveness. "Blur, what's going on?"
Blur took several deep breaths, sniffing the air. "Quiet. Swarmlings."
"Really? Where's Branch? What do we-"
"Quiet!" Blur hissed. slowly, he lowered his jaw to the ground. Splaying his claws out and exhaling slowly, Blur once again fell motionless.
Raven tiptoed forward. The tunnel Blur had dragged him down made a sharp turn to the left. As Raven got closer to the wall's edge, he realized that the dirt had slowly become a slick, black substance. He ran a hoof across it and gasped at how cool it was. It wasn't chill like the dirt around him, it was devoid of warmth altogether, as if it were a thawing corpse.
Down the tunnel, the substance continued to flourish until it consumed everything around it. The only part of the tunnel that wasn't covered in this ooze was the ceiling and the fleshy lights that hung from it. The ooze collected in puddles on the ground, where it shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow.
Raven looked further down the tunnel. Hidden in the shadow that lingered between the glow of the bulbs, an insecticorn buzzed its wings.
"Branch? Is that you, love?" Raven quickened his pace. He walked, then ran to his partner. Behind him, he could hear Blur whisper something, but Raven was already too far away. Besides, it was only Branch. What did Blur have to worry about.
Raven quickly approached the bug pony, but before he could catch a full glimpse of it, a second head poked out from behind it. Raven stumbled to a stop as two bright blue eyes stared back at him.
Branch stepped around the insecticorn, which turned its head to face Raven. "Ah, Raven! Did you guys find what you were looking for?"
"N-no... who uh... who's this?"
"Oh, right," Branch facehooved. "Raven, meet Buzz. Buzz, this is Raven, my heart."
The insecticorn's wings flapped wildly. Surprisingly, the buzzing that it made was louder and much clearer than Branch's, as if it had practiced buzzing its wings for years.
Branch smiled once the insecticorn finished its song. "He says he's glad to meet you. He says he's never seen a pony in such a dangerous place before."
Raven blinked, taken aback. "You can... understand it-uh... him?"
The insecticorn buzzed, and Branch was quick to translate. "Yeah. Buzz says it's a natural instinct in all insecticorns. I guess I just never knew."
"Huh. Well maybe this guy can help us out," Raven looked towards Buzz. "We're trying to make it to the sea of bones, but we've been getting a bit sidetracked on the way here," Raven stared at Branch, who smiled abashedly. "Is there a way we might be able to get out?"
The insecticorn buzzed its wings again, and again Branch translated. "He knows a way, and he understands your pain. The annual firewinder migration is happening after all. It would take an army just to get rid of their evil... leader... Ruin... much less all of them."
Awkward silence reigned for one painful moment. Then, Buzz flapped his wings again.
Branch's face scrunched slightly, but he translated for Raven's sake. "Buzz wants to know how we know about the sea of bones."
Raven gulped. Could Blur hear all of this? "Uhh... I don't think it's all that important."
A small crack appeared on the insecticorn's head. A roiling orange substance throbbed just underneath the surface of the insecticorn's skin. Again it's wings buzzed, and Branch's brow creased in worry.
"Buzz, what's got you so worked up?" Branch glanced at Raven. Beads of sweat rolled down the pony's brow, and in a moment, Branch came to the same horrifying realization that Raven had come to moments before. "Do you think someone else is here?
The insecticorn buzzed again, but the crack in its head shrank away until its head returned to normal. Raven looked at Branch. He looked at the insecticorn, then back at Raven and translated. "Buzz says he thinks there might be a firewinder here."
Raven cleared his throat anxiously. "But I thought they were all on migration. What would a firewinder be doing here?"
The insecticorn sneered at them. Until this point, Raven had assumed that the insecticorn's eyes were as dark as its skin, but as the light of the tunnel reflected off of the creases of its face, Raven realized that the insecticorn didn't have eyes at all. Instead, it bore a smooth patch of chitin that ran from the crack on its forehead down to the top of its snout. Again, the crack glowed a bright, magmatic orange.
Suddenly, the insecticorn pushed Raven aside and stared down towards the end of the tunnel that led back to the main hall, or more immediately, back to Blur.
It walked forward a few feet, stared in disgust at some of the low hanging bulbs. Then, after one agonizingly tense moment, a subtle cracking travelled through the wide dirt passage. The cracking, like the crunch of dried bark or the breaking of small bones, reverberated back to the couple. Raven readied himself to run.
There was a haunting crack, and two jet black horns sprouted from the top of the insecticorn's head. With a startlingly loud fwoomph , a wide, winglike membrane, colored in vibrant orange and decorated with veins of blinding yellow loosed itself from between the insecticorn's horns. It thrummed with life, shaking and shivering, scanning for something. Neither Branch nor Raven knew what it was scanning for.
The insecticorn turned its head right, then straight down the tunnel, and then right. It only needed to turn ever so slightly before the insect's head stopped and focused on a point somewhere beyond what Branch and Raven could see. Raven's heartbeat quickened. The insecticorn seemed to almost be looking through the wall. And if it was, Raven was sure that the insecticorn was looking at Blur.
Its wings buzzed again. Branch gasped, and Raven turned to look at him. Branch's face was as pale as Raven had ever seen it when his partner spoke in a shaky whisper. "H-he... he s-senses magic. We've gotta warn Blur."
"How?"
"I don't know! Think of something, anything!"
"Ok, ok!" Raven dashed forward to catch up with the insecticorn. He continued on, then turned back around to face the creature. The bug walked slowly, but its eyeless face brimmed with purpose. As Raven stood against it, the membrane on its head thrummed again, and the insect's face wrinkled in anger.
"Buzz, let's just slow down and talk things out."
The insecticorn's wings buzzed again. Blur snuck quietly behind it. Raven gave him a passing Glance, and the expression on his partner's face easily described the danger he was in.
The insecticorn spoke in a voice that bubbled and sputtered. "Move... Now..."
"I don't think I can do tha-" In a blur of motion and color, the insecticorn swung its horns at Raven. He could feel himself being lifted off the ground and crashing into the slimy dirt wall. His eyes swirled with sharp colors, and a consistent, high pitched ringing filled his ears. After a moment, Raven staggered, forcing himself upright. As his vision cleared, he could see Branch and Buzz circling each other. Wings spread to their sides, both of them looked like predators ready to pounce. They snarled and growled, their faces contorted into expressions of animalistic hate. It almost shocked Raven to see Branch bearing such an expression. Then, in an instant, they were upon each other. Their wings buzzed, their hooves flailed wildly, and their horns scratched against tough, chitinous hide until Buzz finally gained the upper hand.
The wild insecticorn thrust its hind hooves into Branch's chest, separating the two insects from each other and catapulting Branch into the ceiling. Branch hit the dirt with a loud slam , knocking down heaps of soil and sand. Several bulbs popped free of their restraints and fell onto the dirt floor, bursting open and spilling small pools of orange sludge onto the ground. It was only a second later when Branch crashed down, the force of his fall causing several more bulbs to fall to the ground, as well as making the contents of his bag spill out all over.
Raven bolted over to his partner. Branch was limp, and his eyes refused to open more than a crack. Raven's eyes scanned the ground as he tried to help Branch upright, assessing what had been dropped in the chaos. Most of it was ashfruit or skullberries, but right near where Branch's head had been, a small box laid wide open, and just a couple feet away was the bright purple crystal. Raven quickly scooped the crystal in his hooves and stuffed it into his bag, but it was already far too late. He looked up, and Buzz stared back at him. Its face full of shock, its membranous horns began to hum louder and louder.
Not wasting any more time, Raven heaved Branch onto his back and bolted down the tunnel towards Blur. As he ran, Raven could hear a raspy whistle through the buzz of the insecticorn's horns. He looked back for just one second, and had to restrain a yell.
The insecticorn's head was split in two. from in between two wide, black plates, bright yellow flesh oozed and pulsed, and bright, dandelion mandibles swung and grasped at the air. From the center of the creature's head, a hole that could have only been its mouth was lined with dozens of tiny, spiked digits and filled with countless rows of pointed, scissor-like teeth.
Raven continued running. He never wanted to look back. Turning onto the tunnel, he ran straight into blur. Wordlessly, the lizard grabbed the two of them and the trio retreated back towards the main hall. As they ran, the whistling scream of the swarmling faded away, though a ringing persisted in Raven's' ears. None of them noticed that Buzz didn't follow them. None of them noticed as the walls, slick with swarmling wax, began to bend and break, collapsing from the force of hundreds of hungry hooves.
12. A Decision That is Never Easy
"So do you want tuh...to explain to me whuh... why your husband struck up a cuh... conversation with a swarmling?"
"Charred if I know! I just found him there talking with that maniac! Do you want to explain why you did nothing to help?"
"Well, as it turns out, in the weeh... week or two since we began the muh... migration, the swarmlings thought it'd be a good idea to ehhh... expand their territory."
Behind them, Raven could hear a low, dangerous buzzing growing louder. "All of them?"
"Likely just the sss... soldiers, but thah... that still numbers them in the hundreds."
"Then why don't we just dig up? You said they don't like sunlight, right?"
Blur sighed. The buzzing grew louder by the second. "Unless y... you can somehow keep hold of Branch aahh... and your bags and still manage to hold on tuh... tight enough that neither of you will fall off, weeh... we've got to find a pre dug tunnel."
"Can't you hold some of it?" Raven shouted.
"I only have tuh... two digging claws, Raven!"
Blur turned a corner, bounding back into the main chamber. Above them, the bone chandelier swayed lightly, and behind them, the rumbling of the swarmlings continued to grow in volume.
"Ravenous little kuh... cockroaches! Decided they'd take our home while we were ahh... away."
"There's nothing we can do about it now, Blur. How do we get out of here?"
"I'm wuh... working on it," Blur's head snapped around in all directions. Carefully, he eyed each pathway, seemingly trying to remember which one could possibly lead to the surface.
"How do you not know which tunnel leads to the surface?"
"We never use them when we can just buh... buh... burrow up on our own. We only use it wuh... when migrating, and you could probably guess how long it's been since my last muh... migration!"
Towards the end of the tunnel, Raven noticed a small speck of orange glittered among the hanging bulbs. A second later, twenty more joined alongside it. The humming was now a deep, auditory wave that shook sand from the ceiling and threatened to crash the bone chandelier right on top of them.
Suddenly, an idea flittered through Raven's overwhelmed mind.
"Blur, I've got an idea."
"Tell me kwuh... quickly please!"
"I'll keep the swarmlings busy, you get up there and try and dislodge that chandelier."
"Ruin won't like it if his huh... home is destroyed."
"Yeah, you're right," Raven snided, "I'm sure he'd rather leave it full of firewinder eating parasites! Just do it!"
"Alright, ok," Blur slithered up the wall with a quickness nearly but not quite matching the voracious pace of the swarmling herd, which now seemed to have numbered in the hundreds.
Raven took Branch's bag into his hoof. Praying that the swarm would leave his coltfriend alone, Raven climbed up to a higher ledge and waited.
He watched anxiously as Blur gnawed on the chandelier. The lizard's old, blunted teeth barely made any impression in the thick bone, and his claws were just as ineffective. Raven gulped. This plan was going poorly already.
But it was too late to turn back now. The volume of the swarm's rumbling had reached a deafening climax, and not a second later, hundreds of small, insectoid ponies burst forth from the dirt passageway. Like the smoke above a great fire, the blob of swarmlings pulsed with hues of red, orange and yellow. Their bright orange faces snapped in all directions, mandibles flailing. To raven, it almost looked like how he imagined the sun to look, freed from the cover of the clouds.
Then the swarmlings, in all their brilliant golden rage, turned to the first thing their detector organs could spot: a lone, unconscious Insecticorn. In a great, writhing wave, the insecticorns synchronized. They began to move as one, creeping towards Branch's motionless body.
Raven dove into his saddlebag. He had only a few seconds at most until the swarm devoured Branch, and both Raven and Blur were devoid of any ideas. Though, he knew he had one thing that might draw the swarm's attention. It had a very negative effect on Buzz, so why wouldn't it work on the others?
Raven could feel the cold wood of the small box on his hooves. He wasn't sure if it would be enough to distract all of them. After all, there was no way that just one little crystal could feed hundreds of swarmlings, all of them so desperately hungry that they'd be willing to eat someone like Branch. The desert was truly an awful place.
As Raven ripped the box out from under the clumps of skullberries, he took a passing glance at Blur. the pale serpent was clawing and scraping at the thick bone as hard as he could, his neck glowing a bright, angry orange. He had barely even gotten halfway through. Everything was up to Raven now.
Another vibrant, orange pulse coursed through the rippling mass. A few of the swarmlings' mandibles scratched at Branch's skin. Their glowing orange membranes rattled in excitement. Then, another pulse ran through the hive, a different pulse. All at once, every single swarmling's horns turned towards Raven. He had to keep himself from collapsing out of fear as hundreds of glowing orange faces pointed in his direction, or rather, the direction of the crystal star. The crystal glowed brightly in Raven's hoof, but he knew the swarmlings would have seen it no matter how dim it shined. The pulses increased in tempo. The rythm was slow at first, but then quickened until the swarm was like a rapid waterfall of alternating black, yellow and orange.
"You hungry? Go get it!"
With a shout, Raven hurled the star towards the farthest wall. For a brief moment, he could only hear the quiet clinking of the crystal as it fell onto the rough ground at the cave's floor. In the next second, the entire cave was filled with the sound of hundreds of vigorous wingbeats. The swarm, with a blinding pulse of yellow and orange, pounced upon the crystal in an instant, as if they had waited for a feast like this for a thousand years.
Taking this as his chance, Raven took his saddlebags and sprinted towards Branch. He tried to lift his coltfriend onto his back, but the weight of everything on him was much more than he was able to handle. He looked up at the chandelier again. Blur was still gnawing away at the bone, and yet there was still so much left. it seemed Raven was going to have to slowly, painfully find a way back to the surface all on his own.
Raven scanned the menagerie of hallways that lined the cave walls. A nearby tunnel seemed to incline towards the surface, and seeing as he had no better options, he bolted for the hall. The less time he spent pondering the better; he had no idea how long the crystal would distract the swarm.
Raven had barely reached the tunnel when, as if on cue, the deafening clap of thunder boomed behind him. He turned to look, but couldn't quite make out the details. The once dense swarm was now widely dispersed. None of the swarmlings stared at him. Instead, they were transfixed on the black, ashy patch that was scorched into the dirt. The crystal star shined a bright purple in the epicenter of the blast, and what appeared to be several charred, hollow exoskeletons were scattered about. A swarmling corpse still held the crystal in its now thoroughly burnt jaws.
The swarmlings didn't move, taken aback by what had just happened. Raven told himself to run, but he found himself just as glued to the scene as the swarmlings were. He knew the crystal was powerful, but to think he and Branch had been holding on to something that dangerous, and hadn't known it...
A light snap jolted Raven from his thinking. Some of the swarmlings looked up towards the ceiling, and he did as well.
Blur was nowhere to be seen. Aside from the bite and claw marks, a single black bolt had carved it's way along the underside of the chandelier and up to the ceiling, where small cracks were now forming. Flecks of dirt floated down. It tickled the swarmlings' faces, and some sneezed in irritation. Then it all came crashing down at once.
Some swarmlings just barely dodged the initial cave-in, zipping out of the way in time to avoid the titanic centerpiece. The bones of the chandelier clattered and snapped, creating a deadly spread of shrapnel that punctured wings and dragged several unlucky swarmlings to their death. But as the chandelier began to settle, and both Raven and the swarmlings took in what had just happened, the rest of the ceiling collapsed as well. It tumbled down in titanic hunks that crushed hallways and flattened any poor soul in its wake.
Finally getting into gear, Raven kicked up clouds of dirt as he sprinted down the hall, the small plumes mere microcosms of the titanic, destructive quake that rattled the whole cave. Adrenaline began to flow through his veins as if some nozzle in his brain had suddenly switched on. All of a sudden, Branch wasn't so heavy anymore. Raven's saddlebags were light as feathers, and for that matter, so was Raven. He looked down in his haze to see himself almost flying down the dirt hallway. Bulb after bulb splatted unceremoniously onto the ground. The tunnel darkened with each passing moment, and behind him, Raven could distinctly hear the frenzied buzzing of enraged swarmlings. Rocks continued to tumble down the collapsing dirt walls. Raven was barely able to maneuver out of the way, feeling just the slightest scrape along his leg as a boulder bounced down a nearby wall. He heard a faint but unmistakable crunch behind him, and dared not to turn around and look.
He didn't know how long it took, but eventually, both the buzzing of the swarmlings and the rumbling of the cave stopped. The rush of panic in Raven's veins began to subside, and he, after taking careful consideration to set his partner down safely, promptly melted onto the cool dirt floor. For a moment, he debated falling asleep right then, but before he could deliberate much further, again he felt the rumbling of loose earth. His head jolted upright, but as he listened to the minute, increasingly intense vibrations, he noticed that they seemed timed, almost synchronized. He stood upright and watched the tunnel's exit, waiting for for the swarmlings to come blasting through any second now.
But there was only one swarmling, and it was far from a threat. It was enclosed tightly in a giant, pearly white claw, where it thrashed and bit at its scales in an attempt to free itself. Blur humored the bug for a moment more as he trudged over to join Raven, but he was quickly losing interest in the little creature. Having had enough of its presence, he crushed it within his claw. The swarmling cracked, popped, and then went limp in his hand. Having now deduced that the swarmling was surely dead, Blur tossed it into his mouth and swallowed it whole, letting out a quiet belch as he finished his meal.
"Thuh... that was something, huh?"
"Yeah... and so was eating a swarmling like a snack."
"Hey, a luh... lizard's got to eat. Besides, they wuh... would've done the same. You know that."
"Yeah, I guess. I'm glad Branch didn't see that, though."
"Yeah. Sss... speaking of," Blur craned his head towards Branch. With his thin, pinpoint snout, he gently nudged the pony's shoulder. There was no response. "How's the wuh... whelp?"
"He hasn't moved since the bug attacked him," Raven spat, "I don't know if we should wait for him to wake up or... or what."
Blur stared at the motionless figure for a second, then turned back towards the cave-in. "Well, I'd sss... say the worst is behind us. We only got one way to go now. I cuh... can't dig, but I can carry the little guh... guy until he comes to."
Blur began to scoop Branch into his arms and onto his back, but Raven huffed. "what's the point? We lost the star, the firewinders are gonna beat us to the crystal paradise, and now my coltfriend is unconscious."
"Well yes, we did lose a... a lot of daylight, and now everything fruh... from my home is destroyed, but I wouldn't say it was a total loss."
Raven turned to sneer at the drake. "Oh yeah, how?"
"Well fff... for one, I think we taught those roaches a valuable lesson..."
Blur held out his hand to Raven. Raven gasped as he looked closely at the dragon's claw. From between his scaly fingers, a faint purple light escaped in thin rows, lightly illuminating his face with a soft, lavender glow.
"They'll think twuh... twice before attacking us again."
Raven held the small crystal star in his hooves with unabated awe. "Blur, I think you might just be on to something."
2. A Tyrant From a Kingdom Forgotten
For so long had Stalactite's son stared up at the starless, craggy ceiling of his cave home. For too long had he waited for his chance to make a name for himself, literally. It was only a week until his naming ceremony, when he would be bestowed his title and find his place among the other members of his settlement.
But what had he done that would be deserving of a name? His father, Stalactite, had discovered the grand underground lake that the settlement now relied upon, using only a stalactite to dig open the tunnel that led to it. His mother, Lichen, was one of the few ponies who had mastered the art of underground agriculture, it was because of Lichen and her assistants that everyone in their town had food to spare.
And then there was Lichen's son, given the nickname Junior by his father. Though it was almost certainly meant to be a term of endearment, Junior could only feel further pressured into greatness. After all, both of his parents were nobles among the settlement. He had alot to live up to, and every night, Junior stared up at the glistening calcite above him, terrified of what he might become. Would he amount to nothing more than a maintenance boy? What if he never found his calling after all? His parents were demanding, and Junior wouldn't have put it past them to disown him if he didn't live up to their expectations.
All the while, Junior tired of seeing the same ceiling, the same buildings and the same ponies. Why did he even need to worry about the naming ceremony? As far as he knew, no one would miss him if he left, especially not if he ended up some lowly miner. Why did he have to feel fear for his future when it would only force him to look at the walls that nigh imprisoned them day after day after day.
Junior hated that idea. He wished to choose his own life, and so he did. Throughout the week leading to his naming ceremony, nopony saw hide nor hair of him. His parents grew concerned that he was hiding from his naming, and his friends wondered if he had left altogether. But, despite what others might have thought of him, Junior was nobility, and if he was going to go out, he was going out with a bang.
The day of the naming ceremony, Junior strutted out the door of his parents' furbished estate right away. When Charcoal, the village historian, stood upon the carved stone stage that faced the courtyard in the center of town, he beamed. Today was the day that the child of the Legendary Stalactite and much loved Lichen would be given his name.
But when Junior stood above the rows of his fellow cave dwellers, he looked upon them with pity and fear. He pitied they who knew nothing else, and wanted nothing more, and he feared that if he stayed any longer, he might join them. In that moment, Junior had never been more sure of himself.
Standing with pride, Junior began to orate a grand speech to his friends and family, a speech which he had spent a week developing. His words ached with a vitriol towards mediocrity, and oozed hope towards a future above ground, where the sun shone upon glassy trees and crystalline grass. He spoke of the idea that he would venture to the surface and find the great beyond. An infinite field full of blossoming roses and trees weighed down by their many fruits. A place where ponies needn't feed off of fungi and glow worms, where everypony was free to live the life they wanted.
When he finished, he clacked his hoof upon the stage. It's echo resounded throughout the dimly lit walls of their settlement, but when it reached his ears, it's volume and clarity had increased tenfold. He looked down at those who had patiently listened to his sermon, only to find that he was not alone in his sentiment. Throughout the small crowd, faces colored with dissatisfaction, discontentment and fervent zeal to find a new name for themselves glowed brightly back at him. Unexpected by him, Junior had amassed an army of followers as devoted to his words as they were to their own family. Even his own father, Stalactite himself, held an expression of acceptance and pride, albeit hiding colors of sorrow and despair. As much as Junior had made a new family, he was about to leave his parents, his village, his people all far behind him.
The next day, Junior and his band of followers journeyed out to find the surface. One final kiss from his parents, and a small declaration of love from his father was the only thing that Junior had to bring with him. He felt the stone below him roughen progressively as the troupe ventured further through the tunnels that dug deep into the earth. It was the oddest feeling to Junior when he saw sunlight for the first time. It was slow at first, a mild glow that was hardly noticeable. But years of living in dim light had attuned all of them to subtle changes in illumination, and it didn't take long after first contact for the group to reach the surface. Junior couldn't help but smile as his heart was pierced with a singular spear of pain. All those years of living in fear of what he might become, all those sleepless nights spent looking at the stale grey ceiling of his room, when such unfettered freedom was this close the whole time.
But when they reached the surface, when the group looked upon the resplendent beyond, they saw not glittering grasses and overburdened crops. Instead, the small group of helpless, ignorant ponies saw fire, and smoke, and brimstone. The ground was not a beautiful crystalline haven, but instead a harsh, grainy crust. Creatures with skin like obsidian and the wings of roaches fled in all directions, screaming and stumbling over themselves as they ran from some unseen force. Junior and his followers stood back and watched. Some of them were mortified by what they saw, while others slowly backed away into the caves, seemingly regretting the choice they had made. They hadn't until now realized that their freedom was something to be earned rather than given. That was something Junior understood well, but it still surprised him when he saw some of his "loyal followers" run back into the cave with their tails between their legs.
Though Junior stood resolute. He had a lot to lose, so he thought, and when a lone insect pony tumbled down from the glass speckled dune in front of his hooves, he was quick to come to her aid. The followers that remained stood behind their leader, but some made their way over the dune to help the bug ponies, and find out what could have caused such an unholy upheaval.
But they needn't wonder for long, as the culprit showed itself before the small collection of ponies with a plume of fire that blazed the two poor souls too curious to stay back. Their charred, blackened bodies weren't even allowed to hit the soft sand below them before the grand maw of the fiery beast snapped them up in it's long, spear-like snout. It leaped over the great sandy dune, it's brilliant sapphire scales illuminated by the blazing topaz fire. It's intimidating presence lent it a rather apropos name, for it was all that Junior could think of when he gazed upon it's figure.
Firewinder.
The bug pony screamed at its approach, and scrambled behind Junior and his ranks of miners, carpenters and lichen harvesters. None of them could stand a chance against such a monstrous beast, and if they lead it back to his home, Junior could only imagine the carnage that would ensue as the beast ate as it pleased. Their frightened deliberation did nothing to halt the firewinder as it lurched closer to them, it's long, serpentine body being supported by four short but powerful limbs.
With no other choice, Junior took the only option that offered itself to him. He charged forward, screaming at the top of his lungs. He would rather die, finally free from the pressures of his past life, then let he and his men die a pitiful death at the cursed monster that stole their paradise from them. The firewinder, seemingly surprised at the small pony's sudden gusto, roared in return. It's bellow was a deafening one, one that caused the dunes to melt from its force and caused the rest of Junior's troupe to cower and clutch their ears at it's volume. Junior didn't waver nor cower as he charged the monster, even when it's throat practically blinded him from its luminosity. He could feel his head make contact with the creature's hide, and fell back in pain as his skull bounced off of the creature's thick scales. Before he could right himself, he looked up at the firewinder, only to be met with the incredible light of it's flames.
The pain was as agonizing as it was immediate. If he had screamed, he couldn't hear it. He couldn't feel the sand below his hooves, nor did he hear the distressed wails and shocked gasps of his party. There was only pain, there was only ever pain. He tried to open his eyes, but he felt nothing, he saw nothing. A black, silent void surrounded him on all sides, and it terrified him to no end. Was this the end, was this where he was meant to be? All he amounted to was just a meal for a flame breathing beast?
"No, of course not, dear," a serene voice responded to him. He couldn't remember speaking, was this the gods that the village elders spoke of?
"I don't believe I'm a god. If I am, I certainly wouldn't like to be referred as such."
The pain began to fade away, and that only terrified Junior more.
"W-who's there?" he stammered, unsure of what to make of the situation.
The voice only giggled in response. Its timbre was a calming wave that swept over Junior and made him forget about the horrors that had just transpired. "I'm here. I saw the extent to which you would fight for what you believed in. Your sacrifice was inspiring, even to me, who has seen all there is, was, and will ever be."
"Do you... do you have a name?" Junior asked.
The voice took a moment to respond. "Names are for those who desire to be distinguished from those around them. I can understand how your want to distinguish yourself from your kin has left you desperate, but I can assure you, my self requires no such distinction. I am me, there is only me, and I am the only one of me that there ever will be."
Junior struggled to follow the voice's winding, twisted words. "Then how should I address you?"
The voice hummed lightly. "...I might not enjoy owning a moniker of my own, but why don't you bestow one upon me? We are friends after all."
Suddenly, Junior's eyes brimmed with glassy clarity. His vision was restored like new, and with this newfound sight, he gazed at the figure in front of him. Surrounded by the edges of an unrelenting sandstorm, held comfortably and safely within the eye of a titanic dust devil, Junior gazed upon the massive, unimaginable pony.
Junior gazed upon the majesty of the Strandbeast, the queen of the eternal storm, the mother of time, and suddenly everything lost its meaning.
