Chapters Eight days under the Zebrican sun
A few weeks later Swift Glaze was ecstatic. He had been chosen as one of the 300 volunteer pilots to Zebrica. Though he was only given this notice 12 hours ago, along with a departure time now only 5 hours away, he still was excited. He feverishly packed his sea bag for the journey when he remembered something
"Well, if I were you, I'd bring extra snacks"
Snacks! Swift Glaze quickly finished packing his sea bag and hurried over to the exchange. He couldn't figure out what to get. Eventually, he was able to decide. A big bottle of water and a bag of tree nuts.
After taking his stuff to the checkout the cashier looked at him and said "If you're going over sea, they won't let you take food or drink items with you."
"Is there any way to sneak stuff through?" Swift glaze asked
"Yeah, just put it in your garment bag. They never check them" the cashier responded
finally the cashier added up the items in his head and said "That'll be 7 bits"
handing over the bits, Swift Glaze grabbed his goods and left. Before leaving he looked back and said
"Thanks for the advice!"
After leaving the exchange. Swift Glaze looked down at his hoof watch.
"It's been two hours?" he said exasperated. He had spent way too long looking for food and now he only had three hours to get checked in. Rushing back to his barracks he tossed the food and water he bought, into his garment bag and quickly grabbed his bags. After rushing to the airport, he went to the check-in. Then he realized 15 minutes later that he had forgotten his required paperwork. Rushing back with all of his gear he frantically looked for his documents he felt a hoof being tapped on his shoulder.
"It's right there" a familiar Pegasus said. Grabbing the documents he turned to leave when the Pegasus said "By the way, my name's" Swift Glaze quickly interrupted saying "No time for introductions! I've gotta go!"
After this Swift Glaze rushed out of the barracks to the airport. Finally, after two hours of waiting for check-in, he was able to turn in his paperwork with only 10 minutes to spare. Though he was one of the last Ponies to make it. He sighed and sat down. Looking up he noticed the last pony checking in was the Pegasus that helped him in the barracks. He trotted over and said to Swift Glaze "By the way, my name is Concord Wings, And you?"
"My name is Swift Glaze. I didn't know you were going on the expedition." he said, slightly surprised
Concord Wings laughed a little bit, but before he could respond, an officer announced "Grab your bags, we're about to take off"
Grabbing his stuff Concord Wings trotted off. Soon Swift Glaze followed.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
The flight had been long, but they were finally landing somewhere in Hippogriffia. After they had landed and unloaded they had been escorted to their temporary barracks. An officer walked in and said
"Don't get too comfortable. You all will be flying for Zebrica proper in a few days once the planes arrive."
"Only a few days?" Swift Glaze repeated in his head. The officer continued
"You will be briefed at 0800 tomorrow." Various groans were heard as the officer left the barracks.
After making his bed and locking his stuff in one of the many lockers Swift Glaze decided to take a nap. It was only 1700 and there was plenty of time left in the day.
The next morning Swift Glaze woke up at 0300. Not being able to leave his rack due to the watch, Swift Glaze lay there in silence for the next three hours. Though if he were back in Equestria this might've been a bad thing, as the boredom would've driven him crazy normally. But ever since he landed in Hippogriffia Swift Glaze had no time to think as he was always moving. But finally, while laying in his rack at 0300 in the morning, Swift glaze thought to himself "What have I gotten myself into?"
Finally, reveille was sounded at 0600 and Swift Glaze pulls himself out of bed.
After a few minutes, Swift Glaze managed to pull on his uniform and goes for breakfast. Usually, the Equestrian military wasn't known for their food. Serving canned foods as "fresh". But this was Hippogriffia and many of the locals volunteered to help cook, and some even donated food.
This all ended up with Swift Glaze grabbing some fresh carrot soup, along with some toast with jam on it. After breakfast, he headed to a gymnasium that was attached to the main complex of the base. The Equestrian air forces were using it as a briefing room due to the large number of airponies. When Swift Glaze arrived he took a seat on one of many fold-up chairs in the gym. He sat nearer to the front. Those seats were still available since he arrived about 45 minutes early.
Finally, after some time, all of the seats were filled and officers started moving to the front
Though it was about time for the brief, everypony was excitedly chatting about future air battles. Swift Glaze, however, was getting more nervous by the minute. He had just been allowed to fly a plane alone and now, before he could even get a feel for the new airplanes he was headed off to war. What was he thinking? Shoving these thoughts down into his mind, he started to look around. Many ponies had volunteered for this mission. Some, like him, were nervously looking down. While others were starting competitions to see who could take out the most airships.
All of a sudden, breaking Swift Glaze out of his pondering was a loud whistle coming from the Commanding Officer. (CO)
"Good morning everypony" the CO said, loudly.
"Good morning sir!" responded the airponies. Some even shouted
"Today you will learn where and what you are fighting. You all will be divided up into groups of 6. Each of these groups will have a flight lieutenant. I will now let first lieutenant Crashing Mobility speak."
A well-dressed, yet nervous lieutenant stepped up and started his brief. When he started several enlisted airmen let out long sighs, for which they were glared at by the officers.
A few hours later the brief was almost over. Swift Glaze, who originally was nervous had settled down. These airships were very vulnerable to attack due to their lack of mobility. Though their firepower was unmatched by anything in the Equestrian military. Swift Glaze, however, hadn't listened to the second part of the brief, preferring to twiddle away with a ball of paper in his hooves. Soon enough the Lieutenant was giving ending remarks when something caught Swift Glaze's ear
"Since you are flying over the Eastern deserts of Zebrica, you all will be given survival packs in case of emergency. However, you will go over those in your assigned groups." Lieutenant Mobility remarked.
Finally, the CO came back up and dismissed all of the Airponies for lunch.
Swift Glaze, along with pretty much everypony else went to see who they were assigned with.
Swift Glaze found out he was in Squadron 27. "What a boring name," he thought, before seeing who he was assigned with.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 4-Squadron Fluffy Mittens
After lunch, Swift Glaze headed back to the Gymnasium, where most ponies had already gathered themselves together. After a while of searching Swift Glaze finally made it to Squadron 27.
"Oh, finally." one of the airponies remarked. The Squadron leader shot a glare at the air pony and introduced himself
"Hello, My name is Scalding Controls. I will be the Squadron lieutenant." Pointing to another pony, Scalding controls introduced everypony else. "His name is Black Condolence, but we just call him Black Cat." pointing to the pony that had insulted Scalding controls said "Just call him Burning Mittens, fits hits personality" Pointing to another pony "She is Waning Mechalany. She might be a bit quiet, but when she opens up she is a sweetheart. We usually just call her fluffy" When he said her nickname, she huffed in annoyance. Seeing his cue, Swift Glaze introduced himself "My name is Swift Glaze" But before he could fully introduce himself, a first-class lieutenant came by and put down a package.
The package was wrapped in brown paper with large stamped letters on it saying "FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY"
The lieutenant finally spoke "This is your survival pack. It contains 4 quarts of water, two days of rations, a knife, some firestarter, a blanket, a compass, a map of the area you will be in, some pens, and a flair gun with three flairs. If not obvious already, this is NOT your snack pack, This is NOT your chair. And if any of you even unwrap the package without an emergency, there will be hell to pay. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" everypony in Squadron 27 responded
taking apart the package the lieutenant showed them how it worked and what to do if they crash
"If you crash in the desert, do not leave your airplane. Instead, shoot a flair, and if your radio still works, then you must call in as a "Charlie Mike" understood?"
Again everypony said "Yes Sir" This continued with various scenarios for another half hour before they finally got to look at the airplanes. "They are fitted with extra fuel, so you can stay in the sky longer. The extra tanks are here, and here" the Lieutenant explained while pointing in between the biplane wings. The Lieutenant showed them the cockpit, which was cramped and jammed full of electronics.
Eventually, the lieutenant was finished and Squadron 27 was dismissed while walking to the barracks Black Cat spoke
"Whatdya think about the brief?" asked Black Cat with a slight tone of boredom
"Usual bland safety crap. I doubt more than 12 bad airponies will ever use any of that safety crap in the briefs." Burning Mittens responded.
"I was thinking, our Squadron doesn't have a name. At lunch, I heard that Squadron 45 already has the name 'Flying Rats" We need a name for our squadron before all the good ones are taken!" Fluffy said.
"What about the Burning Vipers," Swift Glaze said
Scalding controls, who was walking in front looked back and said "We'd be more like… Fluffy Mittens. You all are too weak to be something that aggressive"
"That's it! Fluffy Mittens! I will sew us some patches" Fluffy excitedly responded.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
A few days had passed, all of them had gotten used to their planes, and now was the day. Their job was to eliminate an airship convoy over the Eastern Deserts of Zebrica. This convoy had been found to contain valuable supplies for the storm king's army, which was occupying Colthage.
At around 0200 everypony was woken by an alarm. The convoy would be in place in the next 5 hours.
Lieutenant Control quickly gathered his airponies. As usual, Swift Glaze was the last to make it. This tardiness had gotten him the nickname "Lacky" though, he didn't like it. Eventually, he sat down in his cockpit with his tree nuts and liter-sized water bottle. He started the engine and, with a wave of adrenaline, took off. However, after this wave of adrenaline, there wasn't much to do.
A few hours later…
Eventually, Fluffy Mitten Squadron made it to the desert. Even before they made it to battle though, they could hear the roar of cannons firing and the patters of machine guns.
"You ready Fluffy?" Squadron Lieutenant Control asked
"Yes Sir!" Fluffy replied proudly. She had just barely been able to make the Fluffy Mittens airpony patch for everypony in the squadron. She had distributed them to everypony in the squadron, except Swift Glaze, since he was late.
One by one the Control asked if everypony was ready, saving "Lacky" for last
"Lacky, you ready?" Control finally asked Swift Glaze
"Yes, though I wish you would stop calling me that" replied Swift Glaze
"And I wished you wouldn't be last to everything, but here we are" squadron lieutenant Control mockingly replied
"Alright, time to cut the chatter. We have been assigned to attack their deck to eliminate their cannons." Said Squadron Lieutenant Controls only a moment later.
As they all approached, Controls commanded them to get in a line formation, so they could devastate the deck. However when they had gone to fire the enemy cannons erupted.
A few minutes passed while Fluffy Mittens Squadron flailed, trying to dodge explosions.
Swift Glaze was panicking, this caused him to be less effective at dodging. Soon enough shrapnel from the cannons hit his wing
"If I go down, I'll take them with me!" Swift Glaze yelled, pointing his damaged airplane at the airship and dropping his extra fuel.
"What the hell are you doing?" Squadron Lieutenant Controls demanded
but before Swift Glaze could reply, the airship shot an explosive at his right wing. Knocking Swift Glaze out
"Lacky! Are you there Lacky??" Yelled Squadron Lieutenant Controls. Swift Glaze woke up to his plane quickly spiraling to the ground. He immediately yanked the controls to the left, trying to regain some influence over the machine.
"I can't regain any control," Swift Glaze said
"Alright, listen to me. Use your parachute and bail out. I will get HQ to send a rescue mission, Understood?"
"Yes sir" Swift Glaze responded, while taking out his parachute from the plane's emergency hatch.
"Should I take the EB??” (Emergency Box) asked Swift Glaze
"No" responded Squadron Lieutenant Controls
Swift Glaze bailed out of the plane at around 11000 feet. He watched as his plane spiraled quickly to the desert floor. The left wing touched the ground first and caused the plane to flip upside down
Swift Glaze, after watching his plane crash, decided not to ponder on the repercussions of his actions and instead looked up toward the battle. It was magnificent, some 13 airships were fighting at least 200 aircraft. All of a sudden one of the airships deck exploded in flames. It seems they had hit the ammunition. Soon enough the airship was headed toward the sand. A huge bang filled the air once the airship crashed as it erupted into flames (they used hydrogen gas) as soon as it hit the scorching sand. All of a sudden Swift Glaze realized that he was almost at the level of the airship and he looked down.
CRASH… Swift Glaze was so preoccupied with watching the battle that he had forgotten he was falling in the first place.
The hot sand burnt his fur as he desperately tried to unhook his parachute from him. Eventually after a few minutes of struggling he managed to get it off. The next issue was the heat. He looked around trying to find a place to hide when he remembered his aircraft. He quickly galloped to where he thought it lay, and found it on the side of a sand mound, with the left wing anchoring it so it wouldn't fall. Swift Glaze quickly ran to the little shade it provided and looked for supplies. Fortunately, the Emergency Package was only slightly dented. The issue, however, came when he saw his radio. It was destroyed. Some shrapnel had ruptured his radio when the plane crashed. Now the radio was pretty much useless.
Unwrapping the EB he pulled out his flairs and shot one. As the flair went up into the air Swift Glaze realized he had brought food and drink. Looking at where he put it (under the seat) he saw that, the water bottle had ruptured and was incapable of holding water, which soiled his seat. But the tree nuts had held up well and were only slightly wet. Swift Glaze thought to himself
"If I get stuck out here for a long time, I need every drop of water I can get. I need to get all of the water out of this seat cushion" Soon enough, he was wringing dirty seat water into a canteen that every Airpony was required to bring, After he had done this he grabbed the blanket and put it on the sand to cool his hooves. After this, he laid down on the blanket to rest.
About an hour later the battle was ending. A few more Equestrian Aircraft had been shot down. However, these went down in balls of flame and fire because their fuel tanks exploded. Swift Glaze was lucky, he had dropped his extra fuel tanks when he had tried to be a hero, saving his life. Ten more airships had been shot down at this point and the last two were almost out of sight.
Swift Glaze wondered "How long is it going to take for somepony to rescue me? I'll give it until tomorrow morning before I leave." he thought, before promptly falling asleep.
Swift Glaze woke up in darkness. He was very cold. "It is the desert after all," he thought to himself. The blanket he had used to cover the sand he now slipped under. The sand was very uncomfortable, but he couldn't do anything about it. He wondered when they would rescue him.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 6-The Broiling Sun of Zebrica
Swift Glaze got up early the next morning. He remembered in one of the movies his parents had shown him when he was a foal how desert bandits covered their heads to protect themselves from the sun. He decided to rip a quarter of his blanket off with his knife to make a turban on his head. If not for survival, for the style. He looked at his map and his compass. "I need to go west to reach the nearest town. Wait… That's 200 miles away!" he exclaimed out loud.
When he stepped out into the sand he instantly realized the sand was too hot to walk on. Cutting up some moist cushion padding, and stuffing some cushion stuffing into the padding, he made rudimentary shoes.
"This will do for now," he thought to himself
Grabbing the EB and stepping out onto the sand he climbed a dune to get a better look at the area. For miles around there was nothing but endless sand. The only thing notable in sight was a smoldering airship.
Pushing back his curiosity, he pulled out his compass from the EB.
Pulling it up to his face he looked at the directions. He realized he was facing north. Turning himself West he saw nothing but sand. Looking back down at his compass he noticed a string on it. Putting it around his next he continued west.
Every dune was the same, the heat was unbearable another thing was that the EB kept falling off his neck, it was too big. His shoes kept getting sand in them whenever he would descend a dune, which irritated his hooves. Adding on to this the compass's rope was extremely irritating. "This rope must've been meant for a bucking giant!" Swift Glaze thought.
The rope was too big for the compass. Perhaps too big. Swift Glaze realized something. He looked at the EB and noticed it had a division. Stopping at the bottom of a dune he took his knife and cut the box in half. Untying the knot on the compass's rope he tried to figure out how he could run it through each half box. Eventually, he found a hole on each side. Running the rope through he made an improvised saddle bag.
"What the hay? Why didn't they tell me about this during the brief?" exclaimed Swift Glaze in great annoyance.
Putting on these improvised saddle bags, he continued West.
By midday the heat made Swift glaze feel like he was being cooked, outside in. Taking a drink of his dirty cushion water in his canteen (He was drinking it first, so he would have clean water later on)
He noticed something. Tightening his canteen cap, he looked closer. He saw another pony, laying in the sand. Was that? It was! He ran over to Concord Wings. But when he almost made it, the apparition of Concord wings vanished. In vain did Swift glaze continue to search for him. Finally, after an hour of searching, Swift Glaze gave up his search for Concord. Taking a large swig from his canteen, he felt only drops. Setting his saddle bag down on the top of a dune he pulled out his precious water supply.
Being as careful as he could, he untwisted a cap on the side and proceeded to pour more water into his canteen. However, since he was exhausted from the heat, he accidentally spilled some water onto the sand.
Within a few seconds, he was attempting to lick the sand of any water he could. However, he had done this without closing the jug of water, and soon his canteen overflowed, spilling more desperately needed water onto the sand.
Cursing his luck, Swift Glaze closed the jug, before proceeding to lick the wet sand once more. This was to no avail. He ended up only licking up hot, moist sand. Swift Glaze proceeded to swallow some of this sand, with great regret as it cut the inside of his throat.
The sun seemed to never let up. Swift Glaze continued onward, while the heat slowly sapped his strength. Though, eventually, Celestia finally set her sun. Right when it was about to set, Swift Glaze decided to make obscene gestures, as to insult the star. However, the star sleepily fell, and night approached.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 8-The Day of Burning Rest
Swift Glaze had been walking through the entire night. He was extremely cold. However, the sun began to rise as a soft orange enveloped the desert.
"Celestia's deadly day!" as he had come to call it. Looking behind himself he saw the moon
"Goodbye, Luna's cruel night," He said. He had thought of the names while he was traversing the dunes at night. Though they weren't good, it gave him some joy by saying them.
As he continued, he found a suitable place to rest. It was in a more flat area between some dunes.
Digging a deep hole, Swift Glaze prepared himself for rest. Untying his saddle bags he put each bag on a side of the blanket. This wasn't quite enough since he needed four weights to fully hold down his improvised ceiling. Taking out the two jugs of water (one half as empty as the other) he placed them on each side of the blanket. Slipping into the blanket via a hole (Which was almost large enough to hold him. He just had to lift the blanket a tiny bit before entering) he fell asleep.
However, sleep did not come easy. Instead, he was tormented by nightmares. He saw his Squadron lieutenant, controls walk up to him along with his other comrades.
"Don't bother sending rescue. He's just a waste." said Burning Mittens
"He deserves this, doesn't he? He was the one to disobey orders and try to be a hero" added Fluffy
Finally, Controls spoke up "You are right, he should burn in the desert for his foolishness"
After this they mocked him. Then his Father came up with his Mother.
"Why couldn't you have been like your brother?" his Father asked
Then his brother, Baked Glaze came up. His Father looked at him "At least I have one good son" he said.
Soon he had nightmares about Celestia making the sun beam hotter upon the desert because he had disobeyed her. Over time the nightmares became more and more hectic as the heat of the afternoon approached. Near the end of his nightmares, Swift Glaze was assaulted by strange creatures. Then he woke up, thirsty. Swift Glaze quickly took out his canteen and drank from it. It was almost empty again and he soon would have to get more. Swift Glaze looked around his foxhole, it was very humid. However, the holes in the blanket provided some relief from the humidity, instead replacing it with heat. He then wept. Not only had his Father denied him, but Celestia wanted him punished. "I deserve this, don't I?" he said, with tears in his eyes.
"Why couldn't I be like my brother?" he repeated his father's words from his dream. His brother was a successful baker and had been able to buy a shop for himself right before Swift Glaze joined the Equestrian Air core. His parents had tried to dissuade him by offering him free tuition. He had denied it, and against his Father's wishes, he joined the Equestrian Air Core.
Pushing back his emotions, he wanted to prove all of them wrong. He wouldn't die here in this cursed desert! He'd prove to them he was stronger than they thought.
Taking another drink from his canteen, it finally dried out. Swift Glaze realized that he only had a day or two of water remaining. Swift Glaze made a decision
"I need to move during the day and night, so I can escape this desert," he thought to himself. Packing up his things into his saddle bags, he promptly refilled his canteen before heading west once again.
It seemed to Swift Glaze that every day it got hotter. He still felt alright. His water was hot, though he still had water. His food was dry and tasteless. But he still had food.
Every hour or so he stopped to eat a little bit of food, along with some water. He also shook out his makeshift shoes of any sand that had collected in them.
However, eventually, after many miles, Swift Glaze was worn out from walking. He climbed over another dune before finding a suitable place to rest his tired hooves for the day. As usual, he dug a small hole and covered it with the blanket. Taking off his turban before entering, he felt the sun on his head for the first time. It was burning. The turban had helped keep away heat from his head, and suddenly Swift Glaze was thankful for his parents showing him that old, and boring movie.
Slipping into his foxhole, he rested from the afternoon, when the heat was unbearable, till evening.
When Celestia's sun finally set, and Luna's moon rose, he swiftly packed his items, and started once more, west.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 9-The Last Drop of Water
Another day passed about the same. However the next day Swift Glaze realized that if he didn't ration his food and water, he would run out of both within that very day.
Skipping breakfast and lunch, he continued. The dunes started to get hard to climb up, and his stomach wouldn't give him any reprieve from its insensate pangs of hunger. Finally climbing the dune, he started down it. However, due to his exhaustion, he tripped. Tumbling down the dune he finally reached the bottom. His saddle bags had scattered, and his last jug of water had opened. By the time Swift Glaze had closed the cap, most of his remaining half-quart water in the jug had drained out
"Cursed are you Celestia!" he cried out in pain. Pulling himself together he dug himself a shallow hole. Drinking his remaining water and eating the last quarter of nutrient bread, he only had some dried fruits and nuts left.
Accepting fate, he laid down weakly for sleep. Not even bothering to put the blanket over his hole, since it was so shallow. He instead slept in the small amount of shade the dune gave.
His sleep was even worse than before. Nightmares of his family renouncing him as their son, Celestia wishing him death, and many more awful things came to him. All of these felt so real he started to weep. Eventually, Nightmare Moon appeared to kill the weeping pony. However, before this dream could end, a bright light appeared and Nightmare Moon vanished. In her place, Luna, one of the royal sisters had appeared.
"What troubles you so?" Luna asked, inquisitively.
Very surprised, and thinking she was a part of his dream he said"I am trapped in this horrid desert, and no pony is coming to rescue me! I know I did wrong, I know I disobeyed Celestia, but why am I tormented every night by her presence?" he pondered
"What dost thou mean?" Questioned Luna After a few minutes, Swift Glaze explained his situation and feelings to Luna.
"Dost thou require rescue?" She finally asked after a minute or two of pondering what He said.
"Aren't you in my dreams, destined to vanish when I wake up?" He said, confused
"No, I am very much real. I patrol ponies' dreams and I found yours particularly disturbing" She said
"Yes, I do need help! Please, be quick…" He said, first loud, then more quietly
"If thou canst make it to the Nile, there thou wilt find rescue," She said
"But isn't the Nile controlled by the storm king?" He asked
"No, the storm king is…" She said, but before she could finish Swift Glaze woke up, he was battered and close to collapse. But now that somepony knew where he was. They were going to send rescue!
Then he felt his mouth. It was course, and dry. His lips were chapped and he was near death. He pulled out his canteen and drank his very last drop of water.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 10-Fading Body, Failing will
Swift Glaze continued west during the night. He went almost as quickly as he had gone just a few days ago when he still had water. To preserve the last of the water in his body, he collected his Urine in one of the jugs. No matter how unpleasant it was to drink it, it was still water. Dune after dune, hour after hour he trudged through the night. He didn't stop until it was noon when it was too hot to continue forwards. He quickly dug a hole and laid down, with his usual blanket above him.
A few hours later he woke up near dusk. Taking a drink from his canteen, he frowned. It was disgusting. Eating some nuts and dried fruit he packed up. Another night, another dune. He had gotten used to the heat. Well, as used to the heat as a dehydrated pony could. His hooves were sticky with sweat and he was panting more than ever to expel heat. Swift Glaze didn't notice, but the dunes were getting smaller and smaller. Eventually, the dunes had shrunk to half their original size. At this point, Swift Glaze finally noticed the change and rejoiced at the thought of leaving the desert. However, as he continued on he soon realized he had not left the desert but simply entered a more smooth part of it. Swift Glaze regrettably continued. his hooves were blistered and burnt. He had been sleeping on the sand this entire time. The sand did cool down after it was covered by the blanket. However, it took too long for Swift Glaze to simply wait for it to cool. It also never cooled enough to be comfortable. Instead, he had to sleep on hot sand, which was just bearable. His eyes were red and full of goop. The sand constantly beat across them, and he probably had gotten an infection, or he had heavily damaged them at the least. His lips were cracked. His blood had thickened due to the lack of water, causing the ends of his body to purple, including his lips. Swift Glaze was also having stomach cramps constantly. Most likely from eating sand, either on purpose or on accident. Finally, his snout was a wreck, but that was the least of his concerns. All in all Swift Glaze should've died by now. However, his will to prove wrong, those who had, in his dreams had mocked and insulted him had kept him going. Though he wasn't sure at this point what a dream was compared to reality.
He saw, in the distance an oasis. Not knowing if it were a mirage, or if it were real. With blurry vision, Swift Glaze trotted slowly forward. He had stopped looking at his compass earlier that night. Now the day was soon to arrive, however, he stumbled. Falling onto the ground, tripped by his own legs he fell. Once he hit the ground almost all of his will vanished.
"I can't go on," he thought to himself. Looking up for a miracle he saw none. Giving up, at least for now, he fell fast asleep.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Nopony knows truly how long Swift Glaze lay, asleep. However, he awoke to a group of Zebra looking over him.
Talking among themselves they concluded. They grabbed a stick and poked him in the shoulder. Mustering up all of his remaining strength and tried to lift his hoof, but to no avail. Instead, he barely managed a groan. However, the group of zebras took this well, and picked him up, setting him on a wagon with a cloth covering, which one of the zebras was towing behind themselves. After putting him in the wagon they continued on.
Before he could fully gain his bearings in the cart, another zebra pulled him up, so he could drink water without choking.
The mare that pulled him up said something he couldn't understand before giving him some strange liquid to drink. Swift glaze, being unable to resist, drank.
He drank for some time until he signaled by groaning that he had enough. Unfortunately, this groan caused the liquid to spew out of his mouth
The mare quickly stopped giving him the drink in the jug and promptly laid him back down before she attached herself to the cart and continued forward.
Swift Glaze was left looking up at the cloth in the wagon. How lucky he was to have been found by these… Zebra? He had never really seen a zebra before. He had heard people talking at lunch that they were a warring bunch, with everyzebra against one another. But here he was with a group of them, being helped by them. "I will surely correct everypony back home," he thought to himself, just before falling asleep.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 12-A -The Long Journey
Crumbling Post was on yet another journey to sell wares made by her tribe. She had been sent with a few other zebra as guards. "You could never know what you might encounter in the deserts," she thought to herself. They were traveling near the deserts on a path her tribe had been using for decades, until Zakra Ulm, a younger tribal zebra had seen something. The rest of the guards quickly went to see what it was, until they called Crumbling Post over. She pulled her cart off the path and reached what the guards were now talking about. Laying on the ground was a… Zebra? His coat wasn't black and white though. Instead, it was a warm orange all around.
"Is he… it, dead?" one of the zebra questioned, looking at the supposed Zebra whose eyes were open and bright red.
Zakra Ulm responded "If I've seen death, then this is it. We should bury the body in respect for the traveler"
A slender zebra joined the conversation "But what if they were a robber? If that were the case then we should burn the body" he added
Finally, a stout, but very strong zebra called Shekam Al-Afta interrupted "We don't know if he is dead or alive. If he responds to us prodding with a reed then we should take him. If not we should bury him" The rest of the zebras nodded in agreement.
Grabbing a reed they had in their cart, they prodded his foreleg. However, much to Shekam's dismay the zebra did not respond. After about a minute, the slender zebra said "Okay, he is obviously dead. Can we bury him now?" But then, a quiet, but still audible groan escaped the mouth of the zebra laying on the desert floor.
Triumphantly Shekam said "He is alive! Grab him and put him into the cart."
He looked over to Crumbling Post and said "We need the medicine"
Crumbling Post proceeded to go to her cart. Grabbing a jug of medicine she was going to sell at the market as dehydration medicine. Instead, she had to use the expensive medicine on a stranger. Though she did not mind. After all, if she were collapsed in the desert, would she not want help?
After finding the jug, she heard a thud as Shekam accidentally let go of the zebra, who hit the deck of the cart hard. He didn't make much noise, however, she could see his short breaths and knew he had some life in him.
Taking the jug over to him, she pulled out the cork "Drink up, you need it" she said in a caring voice, before putting the jug onto his mouth so he could drink.
She always knew that one of the most important things in medicine was care. If there was no love involved in caring for the patient, he or she would stay ill for much longer. She learned this when her mother taught her medicine. There was one man she hated and the other she loved as her brother. The ladder got better within weeks of his illness, while the other was sick for months until her mother suspected the truth and started caring for him herself.
All of a sudden, breaking her out of her train of thought, he coughed up some liquid. She had totally forgotten about him. Pulling back the jug, she re-corked it before putting it away.
Mumbling to herself so the traveler wouldn't hear "I cannot believe I forgot he was there" she said, criticizing herself.
Trotting onward toward the nearest market, her group continued to care for the mysterious orange zebra. After the day of traveling the zebra was able to sit up, but still wasn't able to talk. While the guards rested during the day, she would care for the traveler, whom they had come to call Zachariah.
After traveling throughout the night, she decided to feed Zachariah something. Taking out various herbs and spices known for soothing the stomach, she ground them up. After making a vegetable soup for her and the guards, she took a bowl and scooped out some broth. Mixing the herbs with the hot broth, she made a bitter, yet soothing medicine. Taking it over to Zachariah, she had him eat small spoon fulls until the large bowl of medicine was gone. She laid him back down and rested herself.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 13-The Market, and the Guards
Finally, after another day of travel, the group arrived at the marketplace. It was situated in a small town, close to the river. They were planning on staying in the town for a few days before leaving back to the tribe. Crumbling Path along with Zakra Ulm went to the inn to purchase a room for all of them for the days they would be there. They also needed to let the traveler rest on something softer than wood. While they went to the inn Shekam and the other two guards went to the market to find a space for themselves. When they arrived at the marketplace, they found themselves a suitable place for them to sell medicine, salt, and spices they had been collecting for the past few weeks. Though they were self-sufficient in most things, they had to go to the town for tools. They could make some tools, but they were of a very poor quality, and usually made out of soft rocks. Instead, they went to town to barter and trade tools for spices and salt. However, when Shekam went to browse the wares, he was approached by a zebra
"Have you seen this zebra?" he questioned him, as he pulled out a poster with the zebra in question.
The bottom of the poster read "Wanted alive for 40 Lbs of salt, 20 Lbs of various high-quality spices."
The zebra in question was Zachariah. He looked healthy.
Shekam decided to ask the zebra "Who is this Stallion and what did he do for such a high bounty?" he questioned
The zebra replied "He is an Equestrian airpony. They found out about him only yesterday. They are very demanding. They said if he was not found in a few days, they would embargo us until we did" he said, in an ever so slightly humorous voice
Shekam quizzically asked, "Who's they?"
The Zebra replied with a shrug "Some zebra from a place called Equestria, though they did have the salt and spices"
Shekam replied "I know who you are looking for, follow me"
Collecting some guards, the Zebra followed along with him until they reached the inn. The zebra with the poster stayed outside with another guard while four guards and Shekam entered his caravan's room in the inn. Seeing him he said "Is this the zebra you are looking for?" he asked.
"Yes," the guards replied before leading him out of the room.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
The caravan said its goodbyes to Swift Glaze. He was immensely thankful for their help. When he shook their hooves goodbye, he especially shook the mare's hoof and smiled with gratitude.
She took this with great joy. She tried to give him spices, however, the doctors prohibited her from doing so.
After these quick goodbyes, he was put onto the medical aircraft. Once the plane smoothed out in the air, the doctor immediately inserted an IV into his foreleg. Along with this, the doctor took a swab to check his snout. It came out with much sand and blood. The doctor immediately started clearing out his nose, which started bleeding. However, the doctor took a swab that had a strange end on it. With it, he closed the cuts in his snout and the doctor started working on Swift Glaze's bloodshot eyes.
"This is going to hurt," the doctor said, just before taking a sanitized cloth and wiping out all of the sand. It, indeed hurt. Swift Glaze had experienced worse in the past few days and was able to bear this.
Finally, the doctor finished wiping his eyes, then he dropped a few eye drops into his eyes, before putting the bottle away.
The doctor hectically worked on every part of Swift Glaze's body. However, Eventually, Swift Glaze arrived in Hippogriffia after around two hours of flight. Before he was allowed off the plane, he was required to wear bandages around his eyes to protect them from any more damage.
He stayed at the rudimentary hospital for the night, before being put on a plane in the morning. Swift's glaze wondered to himself at the beginning of the flight "Why do I hear them being so busy? I thought I was getting better" he thought, just before they sedated him with medication. He was flown back to Equestria over many hours, while a team of three new doctors worked on keeping him stable.
When he got back to Equestria, they immediately brought him into the emergency room for surgery. Swift Glaze was still asleep from the flight, all they did was give him more sedation medication before they got ready for surgery. During the surgery, many spells were cast along with mundane medical practices.
He woke up to his Mother's voice. He couldn't see anything since he still had bandages on his eyes.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"He's awake!" his mother said, with joy, but also with sorrow mixed along with it.
His Father and Brother walked up to him. His Brother, Baked Glaze, with tears in his eyes tried to say something, but nothing materialized. His Mother, Sweet Glaze, tried next to tell their son, but she could only stammer out a few words. Finally, his Father, Orange Glaze, managed to speak
"Son, after surgery they told us that you wouldn't be able to see again. They tried casting a spell, but they didn't fully clear out all of the sand in your eyes. So when the spell was cast, the sand was ingrained into your eyes and destroyed them." he then added on to this "You won't able to speak either. We didn't understand what they told us, but from what I know, your vocal cords were too severely damaged to be repaired" he finished. They let it sink in for Swift Glaze, before he opened his mouth, as of gesturing for any more bad news
"There's so much," he said. Chocking up he finished "I don't know if you're going to make it. The doctors are hesitant to tell us, but with all that's happened to you, I think we all know the answer." he said quietly, choking up on his words as he spoke. For a while there was silence. Then the doctor came in and said "Alright, say your goodbyes for today. We don't want to overburden him." Just before they walked out of the room, Orange Glaze looked at his son, lying on the hospital bed. "Just remember, I love you, buddy," he said as he walked out.
Swift Glaze's heart fluttered on the Patient monitor when his Father said that.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
On the last day Swift Glaze remained, his Mother, Sweet Glaze along with Swift Glaze's friend, Concord Wings watched him decay. ( His Father and Brother couldn't stay due to work) At the beginning of the day, he was transferred to the intensive care wing. Concord Wings was writing down notes about Swift Glaze, while his Mother sat by his side. Normally patients were supposed to be separate from their families, the hospital staff didn't have the heart to tear away a mother from her child. However, later in the day, they escorted Concord Wings out of the unit. He saw the end.
Around halfway through the day, Swift Glaze's Mother grabbed his hoof
"Let go, please" she begged. It was hard for her to say this, but it had to be done. Swift Glaze refused to die. The doctors gave him at most 3 days, but instead, he had held out for 5, refusing to give in.
But when his Mother said these words, his heart skipped a beat. It resumed once again, but it was very weak. Soon the beeps from the Patient monitor got less rhythmic. Doctors hurried around and were about to cast a spell to put his heart back in rhythm. However, Sweet Glaze stopped them. Instead, she only asked for a moment. The doctors accepted her request and left Swift Glaze to his demise. Holding his hoof, she finally said "I was angry with you. You know, when you signed up for the Equestrian Air core. Now I have realized all you wanted to do was to see the world." With tears in her eyes, she finished off "Your Father and I forgive you"
After this, the beeps became continuous. Holding her son's hoof for the last time, she said "goodbye".
She wept. The weeping of mothers cannot be silenced for a long time, nor can comfort be granted to them. For the loss of a son is equal to the loss of themselves.
I hope this book may make his, and many other's memory eternal.
Signed -Concord Wings
THE END
Author's Note
This is my first time writing, hopefully it is okay. Though any criticism is 100% welcome.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Swift Glaze, an aspiring earth pony, was trotting down the barracks hallway when he saw something on the bulletin board which caught his eye. A new opportunity hidden in between a bunch of junk. Walking closer he saw a rather bland form with the header "VOLUNTEER FOR THE ZEBRICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE". He'd never seen real combat. Equestria was always at peace and he was always edging to do something. Grabbing the paper, he had a thought "What if they only took experienced pilots?" he wondered. But, fortunately for him, he saw nothing of the sort. "Hey rookie, what do you have there?" a more experienced Pegasus said, peering at what Swift Glaze was reading. "You wanna go on the Zebrican expeditionary force?" he pondered. "Yeah, I trained for 5 months to be a pilot, and I am not going to waste it sitting in a barracks doing test flights." swift glaze quickly responded. "Well, if I were you I'd recommend taking extra snacks. The flight is pretty long from Equestria to Zebrica." Swift Glaze smirked a little and said "You know that they're putting the planes on boats, right?" The Pegasus blushed and quickly stammered out " Of course, I uh, just thought you might get hungry on the way" after this the Pegasus trotted off quickly. Swift Glaze returned to the form and started answering all of the questions on the form. Around half an hour later he trotted over to an officer and said "Ma'am, I would like to request to be a part of the Zebrican Expeditionary Forces" She sighed and responded, "Did you fill out the form required?"
"Yes Ma'am" Swift Glaze responded, handing over the form he had spent some time working on
The officer quietly looked over the form for a few minutes
"You'll be registered as a volunteer. Just don't get excited. You're inexperienced and unlikely to be chosen to go. We've got more experienced pilots as volunteers already." She said, getting harsher as she spoke.
Not wanting to arouse the anger of the officers he quietly replied "Yes ma'am" and quickly left the officer to herself.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 7-The Frozen Moonlight of Zebrica
Once the sun had set, Swift Glaze quickly laid out his torn-up blanket onto the sand. Out of nowhere, for the first time since he had crashed, a wind set in. This heavy wind caused the ripped blanket to fly away. Swift Glaze galloped to try to catch it. Only after much effort was he able to grab his blanket.
Taking the blanket back to where he laid the saddle bags, Swift Glaze thought about how to proceed.
"I have to make a hole to protect myself from the wind," he thought. However before he could continue his train of thought, he noticed two things.
The first thing was the cold. He knew it was cold, but now that he was far away from his crashed aircraft, the cold set into his bones.
The second thing that was starting to bother him was the sand. Ever since the wind picked up, small amounts of sand would blow into his eyes. He tried to figure out a way to block the sand from going into his eyes. But, without glasses of any kind, his choice was to either completely block up his eyes, or keep them exposed.
Sighing to himself, he settled down at the bottom of a dune, making a small hole in the ground, large enough for him to slip into. But it was neither deep enough nor wide enough for Swift Glaze to have any comfort.
As though it was taunting him, Luna's moon gave out a weak light. However, this light did not give any heat and instead seemed to only further dampen Swift Glaze's spirits.
As the night progressed, so did the cold. Shivering in his blankets, Swift Glaze decided that it was too cold to sleep. Standing up and collecting his things, Swift Glaze wrapped the blanket around him to provide some warmth as he trotted west.
He trotted quickly through the frozen dunes in Zebrica. However, as he trotted his stomach slowly grumbled and moaned. Swift Glaze tried to continue. But his hunger was too strong for him to continue much longer. Digging a small hole to protect him from the wind, Swift Glaze pulled out his emergency rations.
"Crap" he realized "I haven't eaten since I crashed" All of the excitement from the crash, then the heat, and finally the night had worn off. Swift Glaze pulled out of his saddlebags some emergency rations along with the tree nuts. Though the nuts were stale, and the rations barely edible. Consisting of a "Nutrient bread" and some other dry nuts and fruit. However, due to his ravenous hunger, Swift Glaze had managed to ignore this. He would drink a gulp of water from his canteen whenever he took a bite to eat. Mostly because the nutrient bread was so dry it could be dirt. And it was so tasteless, it practically tasted like dirt too! Finishing half the nutrient bread, Swift Glaze continued through the frozen night. At least he was fulfilled in his stomach.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Concord Wings had arrived back in Equestria only two days after the battle had finished. Some ponies who excelled were to continue to help Zebrican forces overthrow the Storm King's remaining forces, although the storm king himself had perished. Concord Wings hadn't done well in battle. He had fled halfway through after he saw the first few casualties of the battle. After having been demoted to Airpony 3rd class for his cowardice, he had considered himself lucky to have not been dishonorably discharged from the Equestrian Air Core. Luckily for him, he was only one of around 50 aircraft that had fled. Since the Princesses didn't want to have national backlash due to the cowardice of their pilots, they simply demoted those who fled.
Concord Wings had waited for the return of Swift Glaze, whom he thought would surely return.
He had gotten around a dozen or so Airponies that knew Swift glaze together for a "Veteran" return party. However as the days went by, Swift Glaze did not return. Instead, he received two letters. One from Squadron Fluffy Mittens, and one from the Equestrian Air core.
He had been one of the few ponies to request the casualty list once it was available to the public. However, the arrival of it along with a letter from the Squadron Swift Glaze was in made him nervous.
Opening up the letter from Fluffy Mitten Squadron his heart sank.
"Dear Concord Wings. My name is Scalding Controls. I have been assigned the regrettable task to inform all of Swift Glaze's family and friends that Airpony 1st class Swift Gliding Glaze has been MIA since he participated in Operation Milkshake. He was shot down near the beginning of the battle, and due to conditions in the Eastern desert, located in Zebrica, all rescue missions have been denied by the Ministry of Defense. All of us in Squadron 27 "Fluffy Mitten" are greatly grieved by this loss. I want to offer the Parents of Swift Glaze my great condolences for their loss. Signed -Scalding Controls" he read to himself,
At the bottom of the letter was a patch, along with another note "We are giving the original squadron patch with his nickname on it to Swift Glaze's parents since it wasn't able to be delivered in time to him before the battle. Instead, I sewed every friend of Swift Glaze a patch with the Squadron insignia. I know this cannot replace Swift Glaze, however, may his memory be eternal through this patch" On the bottom of the note he read - Waning Mechalany
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 13-A-Rest and Recovery
Swift Glaze had been in a daze ever since he was rescued by the zebra. After about a day he was finally able to sit up, however since his throat was cut up from eating sand, he was unable to speak for the time being. Eating whatever the mare gave him, no matter how bitter and or gross. He slowly regained his strength. His hooves were wrapped by bandages with a soothing ointment and the inflammation in his eyes was slowly receding. The zebra would talk a lot, however, he never understood them. He was still frustrated, however. They wouldn't give him any real food! All they gave him was broth with some herbs in it
"Why won't they just give me a sandwich" he grumpily thought to himself.
However, he did feel bad when he saw that they ate almost exactly what he ate. The only difference was that they ate vegetables in their soup, while he ate herbs in his. Only when they arrived in town, did the mare give him any solid food. Though, he wasn't sure that day-long boiled vegetable mush was considered "solids". After he was fed, he tried once more to speak. He barely let out a painful groan. He decided to wait a few days before trying again.
The mare and her companions left him to rest for the day, while he recovered. But later in the afternoon, the stout stallion from before came into the room with some guards. The guards said some words to the stallion before he was escorted somewhere else, leaving only two guards behind.
One walked up to him and said something he understood. The first thing he understood in a few days was from a zebra who seemed to only know some Equestrian
"You Swift glaze?" he asked.
Swift Glaze nodded. The guards smiled and said "You wait here, some doctors come soon"
Another hour or so passed when a doctor arrived. He was very many concerned for Swift Glaze.
Eventually, the doctor warned one of the guards in Equestrian "If we do not get him to a hospital in Equestria soon, he will lose his voice at best, at worst his lungs will get an infection."
The guards and the doctor left Swift Glaze alone on the mat. Swift Glaze could hear a radio clicking on and the doctor chatting with other ponies.
Soon enough the doctor came back into the room with a warm smile "An aircraft from Hippogriffia will arrive early tomorrow morning." he said.
Eight days under the Zebrican sun
Chapter 15-The Incomplete Squadron
Out of all of Squadron Fluffy mittens, only Controls walked in.
The rest of the squadron either was on duty or in Fluffy's case, too broken up to see him.
Controls walked up to Swift Glaze. He was bandaged from hoof to snout. Many parts of his skin were infected with various ailments. He was nearly bald, with only a little bit of hair in spots on his head.
"Your father wanted me to give this to you. He said it wouldn't be right if anypony except Fluffy Mitten Squadron gave it to you". He said, while setting the patch onto Swift Glaze’s bed. Controls was exhausted. He had partially blamed himself for Swift Glaze not being rescued. However, he decided to give Swift Glaze a gift, as some sort of recompense.
Putting on a table near Swift Glaze, he put a big button, with a piece of paper above it.
"If you move your right foreleg over here, you can type in Morse code," he said, helping him get used to it.
"Thank you for your service," he said, before leaving with tears in his eyes.
The next few days Swift Glaze only got sicker.
In those days family and various friends visited him. One day, Concord Wings finally made his visit. He had with himself a bunch of paper.
"I don't want to stress you out, and the doctors told me not to ask you to do this but, can you tell me about the desert?" he asked, in an apologetic voice.
Swift Glaze hesitated for a moment, before opening his mouth as a yes. Slowly typing away he wrote out nearly everything he did in the desert. Eventually, near the end of the day, Swift Glaze wrote, extremely slowly to end off his tale "Go Zebrica, tribe helped me there" Concord Wings, collecting up his notes and the words Swift Glaze wrote, immediately stood up and parted.
