The Desert Does not Forget
Bucksiris, Maregypt, 1049
So let's go!
Straight into the future
Yeah let's go!
We're ready to roll
Come let's go
We're ready to start now
Every stallion, every mare, every foal!
The synth hit was blaring from the small radio as the tourist bus - an overloaded green vehicle with Maregypt Grand Tour etched on the side - rolled through the streets of Bucksiris at high speed. Dozens of voices inside of it joined in, creating a cacophony that drowned out the bus as it rolled up to the hotel that awaited them. The mood was on top, even if Silver Rose couldn't wait to get out of the cramped vehicle. 'Undiscovered Pearl of the Green Bay', yeah right. This pearl was plenty discovered if the other Equestrians around her were any indication.
Half tumbling out of the vehicle and making sure to grab both Blueberry Bloom and her saddlebags, Silver Rose took quick stock of her surroundings with a grin. Actually, she started to get what they were going on about. This place just oozed that REAL Zebrican style instead of just copying Equestria.
"Uuuuugh, did he really have to go that fast?" Blueberry Bloom groaned as she tried to calm her stomach as Quick Leap got off as well.
"Oh come on." Silver Rose rubbed her friend's back to help her calm down. "We're in Zebrica, y'know? Gotta like, get with the local way of doing things."
"I'll get with it, just please make the world stop spinniiiiiiing..." Blueberry Bloom whined as she was helped into the shade and Silver Rose gave her a bottle of water to drink as they took a minute to let her get back in the fight. Thankfully, their journey didn't hold any more wild bus rides for now at least, and Quick Leap had already spotted their hotel. It was a large four story building painted white and blue, with lattice windows and decorated doors. To Silver Rose, it looked almost like a palace of some maregyptian noble, and she quickly waved away the ideas of torrid desert romance that flashed through her head to instead focus on getting checked in to focus on where they were
After getting a room for them to share and installing themselves, they got themselves installed and seated on the balcony with a large pitcher of sweet mint tea to enjoy the view.
"This place is great." Silver Rose gushed as she looked around. "I mean look at it, it looks like a palace! Why don't we have stuff like this back home? All it's missing is, like, a sultan or something."
"Hoping for some dashing desert prince to sweep you away?" Quick Leap asked, Blueberry Bloom meanwhile being more interested in savouring the tea. Silver Rose shrugged with a grin.
"I dunno, is he out there somewhere?" She looked out over the balcony down at the bustle of the street below. The street was packed with all sorts of things much like Somnambula; street vendors hawking their goods, transport carts and vehicles moving about, ponies everywhere living their lives. Though... there was something new. "Hey girls, look at this!" she called out to her friends, pointing at the group of zebras further up the street. They were all dressed in robes, much like the ponies around them, but they looked distinctly different all the same. Even from here, Silver Rose could tell that several of them were decked out in gold and silver, while others were carrying weapons openly. As they walked, several locals were getting out of their way. "Wow, who are those?"
"I think... those are Imazeeb, yeah?" Quick Leap said as she too leaned over the railing to take a look. Blueberry Bloom joined in, still sipping her tea.
"The desert nomads? Wow..." Silver Rose watched the zebras with eager glee in her eyes as they passed by beneath the window. They were so cool! They looked like they had stepped out of the pages of history - hard bitten desert warriors to whom the Zebhara was home. She bet if she talked to them they'd have all sorts of amazing adventures to tell her about. "Oh I hope they're here to trade or something. Look at those swords!!"
One of the zebras turned his head, looking up at them, and the three mares instinctively ducked out of the way like naughty school fillies. A couple seconds later though, Silver Rose peered up over the railing down at the group, and her eyes met the zebra's where he stood, looking up at her.
He was a tall zebra with sharp features and piercing, sky-blue eyes. His robes were white, excepting the dark green headwrap, and he carried a sword at his side. Also, Silver Rose realised in awe, his face was decorated with golden tattoos. Their silly jokes about a "desert prince" came back to her full force, and she felt her heart skip a beat as they looked at each other. For a second he was still, studying her, before a small smirk crossed his face. He nodded slowly towards them before turning around and catching up with the rest of the zebras. Silver Rose was left standing there, gawking after him.
"Uhm... Rose... you're like... deep red?" Blueberry Bloom asked after a few seconds.
"Shaddap."
—xxxx—
With a good night's rest behind them, the young mares went out to hit the market. Like in Somnambula, it was a cavalcade of foreign experiences and flavours, beautiful crafts of all stripes, new sounds and experiences, but somehow even more so. Unlike in Somnambula, where it at times felt like you were in Equestria, Silver Bloom relished being in the minority here. The vast majority of those moving here were maregyptians or zebras, and the genuineness of it all thrilled her to the core. Between the intricate jewellery - of which Silver Rose bought a hoofful right off - the beautiful clothing and the foodstuff of all kinds, she could have walked here for hours and not get bored.
It was towards the edge of the market, at a fabric store though, that she spotted something. Asking her friends to give her a second, she stepped into the small building towards the back. Giving the proprietor, an old mare, a quick smile and nod in greeting, she walked to where rows of fabrics were hanging. They looked like flags almost, and one of them looked eerily familiar.
The flag was orange, worn with age and frayed along the edges. It had a rhombus in the middle, with rectangles going out diagonally from it and triangles with holes in them on the straight angles. It all formed part of a greater diamond, and to Silver Rose it was like a lightning bolt had struck.
"Excuse me! What is this pattern? Does it mean anything?" she asked the proprietor. The old mare shuffled up to the racks and studied the flag.
"Yes, yes... an Imazeeb symbol. They flew this flag many years ago. A great and powerful queen, Mekiouzza, conquered much of the coast. This was her flag. It is a strong flag, a warrior flag. You have a good eye for flags, ma'am. For you, only fifty bits."
"Deal!" Normally, Silver Rose loved haggling, had loved it since she landed in Zebrica, but right now she didn't care. As she came out, holding the tattered old flag in one hoof, her friends stared at her.
"Did you just pay fifty bits for that?" Quick Leap asked with a tone of incredulity in her voice
"Yeah!" Silver Rose couldn't stop smiling as she looked down at the pattern. She was still reeling, and her mind was racing at a million miles per hour. "Remember when we were skiing in Yakyakistan, the scarf I used back then? It was red and white and orange and had all these zigzags on it. You remember? Like, it's in my bag at the hotel. It had this symbol on it!" She held up the flag for them to see. "And like... I got it from grandpa when I was a filly! I found it in his attic! He said he got it when doing business in other countries when mom was a filly, but he couldn't remember where he got it! It's an Imazeeb symbol! I could find out where it came from!"
The words came tumbling out of her. Her entire life, her grandfather had been her idol. He had built up their family's fortune travelling the world, and his home had been a treasure trove of amazing things from across the world. When she was a filly and her parents were away, she'd spent hours listening to his stories and rummaging through his attic. The idea that she could actually unravel the mystery of this scarf was enough to make her giddy.
"We're not going into the desert, are we?" Blueberry Bloom asked with a pained grimace.
"Nah, I've got a better idea."
—xxxx—
"You really think walking up to some random zebra and asking questions like this is going to work?" Quick Leap asked as the three mares peered out from behind the corner at the zebra further down the road. He was standing by a stand, discussing something with the vendor, and Silver Rose muttered to herself to try to psych herself up for what she was even going to say.
"No it'll work great, just gotta figure out what to say." The zebra's friend had left a minute ago, and she was starting to get a bit stressed out.
"I don't like this, it feels like we're creeping on him." Blueberry Bloom muttered, trying to remain hidden behind the two others. Silver Rose was about to answer when suddenly...
"BOOH!" The voice came from behind, making the three mares shriek and tumble forward. Crashing into the ground in a confused pile, they were left trying to scramble to their hooves as they saw another zebra having appeared behind them, currently laughing his flank off at them.
"Why are you hiding and staring at us?" he asked, still laughing at them as passersby had stopped to witness the spectacle. To make it even worse, Silver Rose saw that it was the Zebra who had seen her yesterday. "Are you thieves? If you are then you are the worst thieves ever. Come, get up." He held out a hoof to help Silver Rose up and she accepted it with a face that rapidly was turning beet red again. "Why are you peeping at us?" He asked as he helped her friends get up as well.
"Uhm I-like-I didn't-like I was gonna-you know-I got here-the thing..." she babbled like a complete lunatic, staring down at the zebra's hooves as she wanted to sink through the ground and disappear.
"Is... she sun-sick?" The zebra asked her friends and Silver Rose heard the uncertainty in his voice. She felt like she could have hurled herself into the Green Bay and made the entire thing evaporate from how burning hot her face was.
"No, she's just an idiot," Quick Leap groused as she gave Silver Rose a shove. "Hey, ask him about the flag."
"Ah, yeah, sorry!" Silver Rose fumbled in her saddlebags and got out the flag. "I-I bought this. They said it was an Imazeeb symbol. I just wanted to like, ask if you knew anything about it or... yeah." The zebra looked down at the flag, brow furrowing as he took it from her to study it, and Silver Rose made sure to shut up and not dig herself any deeper. She was being SUCH a weirdo right now...
"Why do you ask?" the zebra asked her after a moment. The look on his face was strange, and it set off alarm bells for Silver Rose. Please don't let her have stepped in it right now...
"Well... my grandfather gave me a scarf when I was a filly. It had the same symbol on it, and he didn't know where he came from. I just wanted to know if it meant something special."
"Zudad!" the zebra called out to his friend, who came up to him, and the two looked down at the symbol as they murmured between each other. "What is your name?"
"S-Silver Rose." Silver Rose started to feel worried now.
"I am Tahelwidt Ataghan. You say your grandfather had... what was it? A gift that carried this symbol?"
"That's the thing, I don't know where it's from. A gift, something he bought, I don't know."
"This is more than an Imazeeb symbol." Tahelwidt told her severely. "This is the mark of Zarantia. This flag..." he studied its edges, tracing the patterns. "Yes, this is a real flag. It is made like the mother would have." He murmured as he spoke, looking up at it with a deeper furrow in his brow. "You should not buy this like a trinket at the market."
"Oh... I'm really sorry, I didn't know." Silver Rose felt how her stomach dropped. Had she just done something really disrespectful? "Please, I can give it to you if that's better. I only wanted to know where my grandpa could have gotten that scarf, nothing else."
"I cannot tell you how your grandfather got this... but maybe..." he glanced at Zudad and the two seemed to silently agree on something as they both nodded. "Tonight, come with us to the bay. Our elder was there when Zarantia lived. Bring the scarf, and I will introduce you to her. There is no greater storyteller among our people, and if she does not know, no zebra will know."
"R-really? That's great, thank you so much. I-hey!" Silver Rose was cut off as Quick Leap dragged her back to her friends and into a quick huddle.
"Hey, are you sure about this?" Quick Step hissed under her breath. "We don't know these zebras. Should we really be running off into the desert just like this?"
"Come on!" Silver Rose could barely contain herself. "Listen to them! We can get a meeting with an elder! What, are we just going to drop this chance?"
"They look scary." Blueberry Bloom whispered. "I don't know... what if we're kidnapped or something?"
"We can hear you." The three mares all startled as Tahelwidt spoke up. Looking back at the two zebras, they saw both of them looking anything but amused. "When a guest comes to us, we will fight an army to protect them if that is what it takes. Hospitality is sacred, and the Ataghan do not violate it. You do not understand the insult you just gave us."
"I am SO sorry." Silver Rose said hurriedly. "They don't mean anything by it." Were they just racking up insult after insult here? She turned back to her friends to cut them off before they said something more stupid. "Look, if you don't want to, then don't come, but I'm going. I need to know." She turned back to the two zebras again, bowing her head. "Again, I'm sorry. I feel like we're just making foals of ourselves, but please, I would be honoured to be your guest."
"I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to call you kidnappers. I'm sure you don't kidnap much at all, ah, I mean..." Blueberry Bloom stumbled over herself, trying to apologise, and Quick Leap facehoofed in exasperation. Thankfully, if the zebras took offence they didn't respond by walking off, but rather by bursting into laughter again. Silver Rose meanwhile couldn't stop blushing from embarrassment. Why were she and her friends so stupiiiiiiid?
—xxxx—
The pickup truck came to a skidding halt just outside the large encampment, and Silver Rose began to slowly try to peel herself off the vehicle. She was hyperventilating, feeling like she must have imagined the trip. Either that, or these lunatics had - among other things - driven their pickups up what had looked like a three hundred foot wall of sand, roaring up it at a forty-five degree angle!
"Do you not drive fast in Equestria?" Tahelwidt asked as he dismounted and came up to her. Around him, the other nomads were dismounting and unloading. Silver Rose and her friends, meanwhile, took more time.
"Yes, but we drive on roads!" Silver Rose shakily dismounted only to have to be caught by Tahelwidt. "T-thanks."
"You'll be fine, come on. The elder awaits." Tahelwidt let her go to stand on her own legs and It was first now that Silver Rose could take stock of the camp she had arrived at.
It was a camp of several dozen tents clustering near the shore, all of them white, and around them dozens if not hundreds of figures moved like little black dots against the pale brown desert sand. A row of vehicles stood lined up outside the camp, and the entire settlement seemed fixed around one larger tent in the middle of it all. It just hit her that this was real. They really lived like this. Nomads weren't just a romantic storybook thing, they were real!
Their presence drew attention, quite a lot, and especially the foals of the village. They were anything but shy about their curiosity as well, and surrounded them in a chattering flock. Unlike Tahelwidt, however, they didn't seem to speak more than a few words of Equestrian. Though Silver Rose did her level best to greet them, the language barrier meant that all she could really do was to show off the various things she carried which they pointed at. It all became a bit much, especially when one of them began prodding at her cutie mark and making her yelp in surprise. Thankfully, Tahelwidt yelled something, making the foals back off a bit.
"Thank you..." She felt flustered. It was like Hearthswarming Eve at grandpa's house, only without knowing how to tell the foals to knock it off. As they were ushered into the larger tent and out of the foals' reach, she couldn't help but be a bit relieved; a sensation that quickly was swapped for awe.
She had expected a camping tent, but the tent they entered looked more luxurious than even their hotel room. The ground was covered by carpets and pillows, with furniture designed for it. The faint smell of incense hung in the air, and a kerosene lamp softly illuminated the entire tent. In the far end of it, leaning over a small stove with a teapot on it, stood someone she just knew had to be the elder. She was a small mare, hunched over and white-haired from age, with deep green and blue robes and a necklace of golden discs around her neck. Much like Tahelwidt, she had golden tattoos and pale blue eyes, and she rose up straight as she saw them.
"Now who are these you've brought home with you, child?" She spoke Equestrian almost without an accent, picking up a cane and hobbling up to them. A kindly smile had already spread over her face.
"Equestrian tourists, mother," Tahelwidt looked at them, waving a hoof to tell them to properly introduce themselves. Silver Rose rapidly obliged, feeling like she was meeting the princess or something.
"My name is Silver Rose, ma'am." She bowed, and even managed to get through the introduction without stuttering, and her friends followed suit. "It's a p-pleasure to meet you."
"Umalez Ataghan, mother of your guide here, and elder of this little gathering." The old mare returned the bow with a small nod. "Please, come sit down for some tea. Where did you pick these mares up, dear?" She asked Tahelwidt. Silver Rose wasn't sure what she had expected, but between the weirdness of how all this had happened and the long journey out here, she'd expected someone more imposing. The mare in front of her seemed more like a sweet old grandma.
"We met them in the town today." Tahelwidt put his sword by the tent flap and stepped in as well. As the mares sat down, he collected a small tray of cups and brought it up to them, pouring some tea in each cup. "At first, I thought they were spies, they stood by a corner and stared at us. I went up behind them to surprise them. It turned out they had questions they wanted to ask. I said that you were the one who would know what to answer."
"I see... thank you dear." Umalez took a cup from him and sipped it. "I hope you will forgive an old nag, but among the Imazeeb, we do not start with business. It is our custom to speak of other things first so that we can get a better understanding of each other."
"Oh yes, of course, I'm just glad to be here. It's okay if we wait." Silver Rose lied through her teeth, and she got a feeling that Umalez understood that if the amused twinkle in her eye was any indication..
"Thank you for your patience. But tell me, who are you? You seem quite young to be travelling the world. What has brought you to Maregypt?"
While she was impatient enough to almost bounce where she sat, the young mare told Umalez of what they were doing, with Quick Leap filling in here and there. They explained the gap year trip they were doing before starting university, and all the things they wanted to see. Having first gone skiing in Yakyakistan, they had gone to enjoy the beaches of Les Merediennes. Fresh from there, they had come to Maregypt to see the real Zebrica after which they'd be heading for Kiria, and after that back to Equestria after a week of partying in Sicaemon.
Umalez, meanwhile, seemed enthralled with what they were telling them, peppering them with questions. Skiing especially became a point of interest for her, and Blueberry Bloom ended up having to create a small image with magic to demonstrate how it was meant to work. How did they have money for such a grand trip? Was that really something that people could just do these days? Did all Equestrians make such grand journeys? Did they really go to the islands to lie on the beach and jump around in the water all day? Why were they going to those destinations specifically?
In the end, it was Silver Rose's rumbling stomach that snapped her out of the conversation and made her realise they'd been sitting and talking for over an hour. The tea was long gone, and outside the skies were starting to darken.
"Aah that does not sound good." Umalez definitely had noticed the rumbling. "We should do something about that. Ask your questions, and then I would be happy to have you accompany us for dinner." Silver Rose realised she'd almost completely forgotten about her question.
"Oh, yeah!" She opened her saddlebags to take it out, almost wishing their conversation didn't have to end. Still, she had to know. "I was at the market, and I saw a flag in one of the stalls there which I bought. Your son told me it was important, and that I shouldn't buy it. It was a Zarantian flag. I didn't know though, all I knew was that my grandfather gave me this when I was a filly." She found the scarf and took it out, holding it out and giving it over to Umalez. "Tahelwidt told me this symbol matters a lot, so I don't think grandpa would have just bought it at a market. Do you know anything about where it could have come from?"
She looked at Umalez with bated breath and a racing heart. If she could actually figure this out, it'd be such a gift for her grandfather. She could return from her gap year trip full of stories, and sit her grandpa down and tell her 'This is a Zarantian scarf! Were you ever in Zarantia? That's where it is from, it's a sacred symbol!' Maybe she could even bring him here to meet Umalez? She felt her eagerness grow and grow, yet then it was suddenly punctured.
Umalez' reaction wasn't what she had expected at all. The old zebra had taken the scarf, looking down at it with an unreadable expression at first. Then she closed her eyes, and a slow, shivering breath escaped from her. In the dim light of the tent, Silver Rose could see tears running down her face.
"Tahelwidt, please step outside." She told her son, who hesitated. He looked between Silver Rose and his mother for a moment before getting up and stepping outside. Silver Rose meanwhile felt a lump forming in her throat. Oh Twilight, what had happened? "Your grandfather's name... is it Pea Shooter?" Silver Rose found herself at a loss for words. How?! How had she known that?! As she didn't reply, Umalez kept talking. "Tell me, do you love and honour your grandfather? Has he been a good patriarch for your family? Do you trust his judgement?" For every question Silver Rose, who until now never had considered anything else, found herself giving a hesitant yes. Umalez nodded slowly, stroking the scarf as she did so.
"Then all I will tell you is that your grandfather was a stallion of great determination. He knew what he wanted, and he got it. However." The last word was delivered softly, but it cut Silver Rose off and made it impossible for her to object. "If you wish to know more I will tell you, but not here. You will come with us of your own volition as we head northeast, to Shizra. I will tell you what you need to know as we travel, and when we get there, you will learn the full truth. Afterwards, you can take a train to Tobuck and continue your journeys. Otherwise, consider this scarf a trifle from your grandfather's attic, the history of which is lost to time, and continue living your life. I am sorry for putting you in this position, little one, but this is how it must be." She held out the scarf to Silver Rose, who stared down at it in disbelief.
—xxxxxx—
"Hey mom and dad! It's little miss worldwide! I'm in Bucksiris right now, everything's great, and we're taking a little detour to this place called Shizra before going to Tobuck. We met a bunch of nomads that will let us come along with them across the border. We'll be in Tobuck in four days, I'll call you when I get there! Love you!"
Pea Shooter stared out into the void as he listened to the message for the twentieth time. His daughter had called him yesterday, besides herself and rambling about how Silver Rose had gone off into the desert. Having rushed over to speak with her in person, he had thought it was just some harebrained idea until he had heard the message - whereupon he had almost had a heart attack. Rewinding the tape and listening to it again, he felt his mind race at a million miles per hour trying to understand.
Of all the places and all the peoples... Why was she going there? Staring at the map he had gotten out, he tried to figure out any explanation that wasn't a disaster. Four days? Her boat to Tobuck was meant to have left Bucksiris today, and she'd be two days late for her flight to Kiria making this detour. Also, 'everything's great'? That couldn't have sounded more forced if she had tried. His assistant had been calling the NZF Department of Tribal Affairs and tried to get some answers, only to be told by a snippy bureaucrat that they didn't launch investigations into every foreigner that entered tribal lands just because their relatives got jumpy.
He silently begged that he was just paranoid as he began making calls himself. He'd have to find a private investigator in the area to look into the whole matter. That, and possibly a mercenary group or two. He had thought himself done with that part of the world, but it didn't seem to be quite done with him. Just please don't let it be that his granddaughter got swept up in something here.
—xxxx—
Yesterday had been a blur for Silver Rose. Having stayed the night in the Ataghan encampment, she had awoken to confusion and uncertainty. What she had hoped was a fun mystery about her grandfather's past had turned out to be something way bigger and probably way darker than she had imagined, and she had considered taking the offer of just dropping it all and moving on with her life.
Yet, she'd always been too curious for her own good, and she'd been told that wanting to know the truth and not settling for what was convenient was a good thing. Her friends had seen it in her eyes and Quick Leap had sarcastically asked if her answer was 'yes' or 'of course!'. At least the Imazeeb had seemed thrilled by her coming along, and had quickly begun chattering among each other about the things that they had to show their 'guests' when they got there. Tahelwidt had barely had time to translate one idea before another came up.
Hurrying back to Bucksiris to cancel their room and try to get a refund for her part of the room, leaving messages for her parents and assuring them they'd get in touch once they reached Tobuck as well as gearing up for the trip, she'd been all over the place. Blueberry Bloom and Quick Leap had promised to take her things and meet up with her in Tobuck in four days' time; The former's stomach would never agree with the desert trip if the ride to the encampment had been any indication, and Quick Leap wasn't going to let Blueberry Bloom try to take a boat on her own. It was a strange goodbye, but four days would pass in a blur they promised each other.
The journey, in contrast, was at once tedious and enthralling. The landscape was mainly one desert dune after another, but sitting next to Umalez in the truck as it rolled north, Silver Rose found herself wishing it'd never end. The Ataghan elder was a storyteller unlike any that Silver Rose had met, and she listened rapturously to the tales the old zebra spun.
Umalez told her the legends of the Imazeeb; of their gods and their beliefs. The Celestial Gods who wove the world, the little gods of Hearth, Home and Hope, the devouring Worm Queen who ended all things, tales of flying cities and tatzlwurms large enough to devour entire tribes, myths of what was and what would come. All of it was told with a soft, almost hypnotic, lilting voice.
By the time they reached the river that demarcated the Maregyptian/NZF border and settled in to wait for a boat to help them across, Silver Rose was enthralled. She felt almost like she could just throw away her earthly belongings and join them in the desert. As hot as it was, Umalez' stories made it all feel right somehow, like this place was not simply a scorched wasteland, but a true home.
"Has my mother's stories spellbound you yet?" Tahelwidt asked as they stood up on a large, watching the other side of the river where the ferry could be seen.
"Well, you know, maybe a little?" Silver Rose tried to make an innocent face. "You were right though, she really is an amazing storyteller. It's like... why is she living out on the road like this? She should be making performances in the big cities, she'd pack theatres in moments!" Her eagerness died off a little when Tahelwidt's smile vanished. "...did I say something stupid? I'm sorry if I did..."
"No, no... you are right," Tahelwidt shook his head. "But stories are powerful, and sometimes, they are dangerous. Mother knows that. Listen to her, you'll understand."
And as they crossed, the stories continued. Umalez told of ancient eras, when the Imazeeb did not exist as a unified term. All that existed were hundreds of different tribes with their own thoughts and wills, and it was only in other countries that the word arose. Mercenaries serving at the behest of foreign rulers found that those from other tribes had customs more familiar than their employers. Caravans hired to bring goods through the zebhara saw the many different ways of life around zebrica and understood the commonalities they shared. Thoughts and ideas flowed from one tribe to another, and tribes grew over time. Hundreds became dozens, and soon the term 'Imazeeb' arose to describe them along with another word: Amsisi.
Amsisi was kinship, it was an agreement. It was to look at a stranger and foreigner, shake his hoof and agree that you both wanted the same thing. It was to answer 'are you with us or against us' with 'what is the matter at hoof?'. It was fluid like the seasons, but no less strong for it. Though friends could become enemies, enemies could become friends as well. Such was Amsisi. Such was the role of Aguellid - the great leader who could unite all the tribes in times of need. Such was the tool picked up by Mekiouzza Ataghan. She spoke the name with reverence, and yet she did so just as the truck came to a stop so that they could make camp for the night.
Silver Rose was near frothing, and it took all her strength to not grab Tahelwidt and shake him furiously, demanding that they kept on going. Yet, they made camp, the sight of the night sky above almost made the delay worth it. The sky above them was full of stars, more than she had ever seen before. With no background light pollution, she suddenly understood why they called it a 'sea of stars'. She ended up sitting with them, watching the sky and telling stories of it. It was like nothing existed here beyond this great family and the stars above, and Silver Rose wished it'd never end.
As they set off the next day, the stories took on a more concrete form. No longer tales of centuries and tribes, this story started a hundred years ago, with the ascendancy of Umalez' mother, Mekiouzza. A young and ambitious chieftess born to the then great Ataghan Clan, Mekiouzza had risen to fame when Tobuck, back then a part of the Kingdom of Warzena, had rebelled against their overlords. Seeking Imazeeb mercenaries to help them, Mekiouzza had managed to gather not just aid, but an army, for the city. Sweeping in from the desert, they had crushed the Warzenan army and freed Tobuck from their masters. Yet that was not the end of it, and Mekiouzza had turned the tables on the merchants who hoped to just pay off and dismiss the Imazeeb. Instead she had found allies both in Tobuck and among the tribes to create something more; Zarantia.
Taking Amsisi to its logical conclusion, Mekiouzza saw no Ataghan or Amsarmud or Talat. All she saw was Imazeeb and a world that was leaving them behind. In an era of rifles, what did swords mean? In an era of steel vessels and combustion engines, what did swift legs and determination meant? Modern nation states could leverage forces that divided tribes never could meet, and if the Imazeeb were to survive and thrive, they needed to change. Tobuck, the city who only wanted freedom, was given it along with the protection of the Imazeeb. It did not need to be starved or bled, it was allowed to flourish and grow, with Mekiouzza seeking to let the Imazeeb learn from it.
For decades she laboured, again and again weaving the thread of Amsisi through the Imazeeb people. Where tribes rose up, she subverted them and found accord, where challengers rose, she made them her allies. In the end, her ideas were starting to gain purchase, and her people were starting to believe, only for three great disasters to sweep down upon them.
First came the Storm King, a mad conqueror from the south seeking only plunder and destruction. Though the Imazeeb were willing to fight, they could not fight an armada of airships. The Imazeeb bent like the reed rather than breaking like the tree, and fled. Correctly anticipating that the mad conqueror would move on, Mekiouzza waited, even as the tribes began to doubt.
Then came the foreign criminals. A host of thugs and gangsters landed in Tobuck in the wake of the Storm King's death. quickly seizing control of the city, bribing or intimidating the locals and finding allies wherever they could, they brought with them hundreds of hard-bitten mercenaries, enough to fend off the Imazeeb and make a mockery of Mekiouzza's work. The already doubting tribes were hesitant to march to war, Mekiouzza was forced to settle for extracting a promise from the leader of these criminals that they'd retreat within a year.
He lied, fled the city after a year, and left his mercenaries behind. Tobuck descended into anarchy from which a warlord rose that clamped down on the city even harder. Mekiouzza was forced to muster the tribes, gathering them to return and bring them down. With countless battle-hardened veterans from across the region on her side, she stood poised to crush them when the last disaster struck.
The Chiropterrans: fanatical moon cultists, tyrants and enslavers who delighted in spreading misery in service of their dark goddess. They came roaring out of the west, sweeping aside Tobuck's defenses and meeting the Imazeeb with a fury never before seen. The Imazeeb fought, by all the gods they fought. Every step to the gates of Agzhat, every dune and every valley of the desert; the chiropterrans paid a terrible price for every step forward. Yet for all their valour, the industrial power and modern arms Tobuck offered and which would have given the Imazeeb the edge needed were denied them. In the battle of spirit against steel, steel had won. Mekiouzza died in an air raid, the exhausted Imazeeb faltered and Zarantia was broken.
Silver Rose had first felt admiration for the great mare she was told of, an admiration that had turned to dismay and lastly horror, as Umalez told her of Zarantia's fall. The narration turned slow, as Umalez tearfully recounted those bleak years as she was captured by the Chiropterrans and told to serve or die. Knowing full well how the Chiropterrans wiped out all traditions and all cultures that did not align with their malignant moon cult, Umalez degraded herself to try to save something, anything, of her people's ways.
And yet as she did, the sands shifted under her again. She tried to undermine her enslavers, she even organised warbands to go abroad and fight for their enemies, but it all was for naught; petty acts of defiance that achieved little. When the Chiropterran empire fell, it was to a hundred small rebellions that exploded across it, gathering and gaining strength enough to drown their legions.
And thus Zarantia, sacrificed on the Chiropterran altar, never rose again. History turned on Mekiouzza and crushed her life's work along with most of her tribe. Her daughter was degraded and distrusted - the 'collaborator Aguellid' - and other voices arose. The North Zebrican Federation was born, and to this new nation, the memory of Zarantia was inconvenient and divisive. All but exiled from the people she had tried to save, Umalez took up the nomad's life with what was left of the Ataghan. Never again would they soar so high, never again would they dream so big. Blow after blow had laid them low, and they were now a vestigial people on the outskirts of this foreign-born land.
Barring the monotonous rumbling of the engine, the truck was deathly silent when Umalez finished. Silver Rose could only stare at her with tears running down her face.
"It's... it's not fair..." was all she could say, and Umalez smiled sadly at her, holding out a hoofkerchief for her to use.
"No, it is not. Yet what can we do? We must live all the same, even when the world turns on us. But I have my brave son, I have a family and its children whom I care for. I do not starve, and I have shelter. That is not a bad life. I have simply dreamed the dream that was Zarantia for too long. Do not weep for an old mare's faded dream.”
—xxxx—
That night, she didn't feel very cheery at all, stepping away from camp to be alone with her thoughts. She almost didn't notice as Tahelwidt came to sit down beside her, looking up at the stars.
"Oh... hi..."
"Remember how I told you her stories are dangerous?" Tahelwidt asked quietly. Silver Rose nodded. "If she told them to the world, she would have awoken the hearts of countless Imazeeb. She could have gathered an army around herself, resurrected Zarantia by force if she truly wanted to. There is such power in her stories. But she has lost enough, and she does not want more suffering. Many Imazeeb are content in the federation, and that must be enough."
"Did you want to fight?" she asked after a while. It sounded so cold. Silver Rose could only think of her homeland Equestria, the harmony of the tribes, theHearthwarming miracle and the magic of friendship. Princess Twilight Sparkle and her predecessors Luna and Celestia To imagine it just falling apart, the ponies turning away from all that they had done and turning to something else felt... wrong. It was not right.
"Yes..." Tahelwidt sighed ."When I first heard the stories, I could not stop hating. I wanted to find the people who were part of this and who still live, and take vengeance. Some of the criminals that took Tobuck away from us escaped, and they are still out there somewhere. I've dreamed of hunting them down and making them pay, listening to them as they beg for mercy before I cut out their tongues. I'd burn down their homes, I'd..." A shiver went through Silver Rose as she heard his voice. Until now he had sounded so cheery, and the cold hatred in his voice didn't sound right. He fell silent though, and sighed deeply. "That is why she forbids it. She has told me a thousand times that the best thing I can do for her is to build something new. I should trade or build, find a mare to marry, give her grandfoals. She should live in a palace, and I can't give her that, but I can make her tent full of happiness at least."
Silver Rose felt dirty all of a sudden. Here she was, granddaddy's little filly, travelling the world to party and enjoy herself in every way possible, and yet here this poor old mare sat, rejected by her people after having lost everything, even though all she had wanted to do was to help them. This trip wasn't fun any more, it felt shameful, and she just wanted to go home.
"You are like a river," Tahelwidt's words made her blink and look at him. "When you are eager the words flow from you like a torrent, when you are flustered your apologies do. Now your tears do the same. You must be a blessing to your family."
"Are... are you trying to seduce me or something?" Rattled out of her sorrow at Umalez' fate, she couldn't help but chuckle at the comment and wipe her tears. That was the one of the nicest things anypony had ever said to her.
"Do you consider the truth to be seduction?" Tahelwidt leaned his head to the side, looking at her with a small smile. "I am telling you what I see, nothing else. You should go to sleep though. We will reach Shizra tomorrow, and much will happen there."
"Can... can we stay here a little first?" Silver Rose looked up at the stars. Things felt peaceful here, and she felt afraid of tomorrow. Did she even want to find out the truth behind that scarf? With how dark the stories had been today, what would she find out about him? Tahelwidt mutely shifted a little where he sat, moving to sit by her side.The evening passed in silence for them as Silver Rose wrestled with how she was meant to process all she had been told.
—xxxx—
The private jet touched down in the early morning, and Pea Shooter stepped off the plane in a city he had been all too happy to never see again. At least enough of the old corrupt city was left that arranging an anonymous hotel suite and chauffeur had been a trivial matter, but he nevertheless kept his sunglasses on as the car drove through the city with his cell phone stuck to his ear.
"Payment won't be an issue. Fax me the details, and I will pay as soon as I have them. I am willing to add a 50% gratuity if you are on your way to Shizra within three hours. I want the extraction to happen as subtly as possible, with a minimum of violence." Normally, he'd refuse to accept these kinds of terms, but at this short notice, he was without options. "Keep me informed, and keep it subtle!" Hanging up, he muttered to himself as he called another number to get hold of his assistant.
Making things even worse, the Imazeeb apparently had some cultural event in Shizra going on, meaning that the streets would be packed, and what more the average Imazeeb was armed. If things turned sour, he could only imagine hundreds of armed tribals out in the streets, firing in every direction.
Looking out the window, he couldn't help but remember. Here and there, familiar buildings still stood even with the evident construction boom going on. He remembered the letter sent him by the Imazeeb chieftess when she accepted his offer of leaving him alone for a year while he sold off the Storm King arsenal they had seized; a letter that was all honey and sweetness. 'Tobuck is a kind city, whose ponies have much to offer those who would greet them as friends' she had told him.
To Tartarus with this place, and to Tartarus with those damn desert savages, but right now he'd do anything if it just ensured that his grandchild was safe.
—xxxx—
The streets of Shizra were packed with Imazeeb, and Silver Rose gawked openly where she walked. The robes she had been lent didn't do much to make her not stand out, and she smiled awkwardly at the many zebras who gave her quizzical looks. Yet, as much as she drew attention, Umalez did even more so.
Zebras greeted her in the streets like a beloved grandmother, elders came to embrace her, foals climbed up on roofs, sang rhymes in their languages and stomped their hooves to the beat. In the end the crowds outright parted, and the Imazeeb cheered as she walked down the road, and their road down to the large mud brick building was more like that of a rockstar entering the stage than anything else.
The building in question was almost like a castle in construction even if not size, with a one story brick wall going around a courtyard with several attached buildings which, while outwardly looking quite plain, turned out to look basically like modern apartments inside. A flurry of activity followed as Silver Rose was ushered first to what turned out to be a bathhouse, where a large communal bath was being prepared for them. Tahelwidt and the other stallions were summarily ejected from the building, leaving the mares to be the first to clean up after the journey.
It all meant that as Silver Rose sank down into the water, she felt really confused. None of this matched up with Umalez' tales of exile and shame, but as she looked to the elder where she sat, she had NO idea how to broach the topic without sounding like a horseapple.
"Uhm... ma'am-Umalez..." she began hesitantly, Umalez chuckling.
"Let me guess again; how can the mare who claimed she was a disgraced exile and the last one to dream her dreams be welcomed so warmly?" Silver Rose sank down to her muzzle in the water, feeling her face turn red. "I did not lie to you; I was not welcome here for a long time. What you see is the result of decades of work. I lost my mother and my birthright, but I sang of the old ways and of our people's legends. I kept silent about Zarantia, and never again flew its flag. My people have found a different road, and I followed them on it. My life burned to ashes, but I rebuilt." she raised a hoof, letting the droplets trickle down from it and splash against the water surface. -"I could have told you that I once was meant to become Aguellid but that foreign conquerors destroyed my nation, and that I now make my living as a storyteller, but that would not be the same. Any filly can recite facts, but to feel something deep in your being, and to truly grasp it, that is something different."
"And it all comes back to grandpa, doesn't it?" Silver Rose was afraid, deathly afraid. She felt like she was standing before a door behind which something rested that would break something forever. But if she didn't open it, it'd remain in her head like a splinter driving her insane.
"He was an audacious pony, who achieved all he set out to do, and his family now prospers because of it." Umalez spoke tenderly. "If you wish that to be enough, it is all entirely true. If not, then you must ask me."
"I... I don't..." Silver Rose felt like she couldn't breathe. "I'm sorry!" She got out of the bath, grabbed the robe provided while her clothes were being washed, and stormed outside. She needed air!
Stumbling out of the building and taking a side door out of the compound into a side alley, she sank down against the wall and clutched her head in her hooves. What was she going to do!? Everything felt like a blur, and she was ready to puke. Her grandfather was the kindest pony she knew, and he'd always been there for his family! She couldn't destroy that, she'd break her entire family!
She was just about to try to get herself inside again when she was suddenly grabbed and pulled up to her hooves, and a hoof pushed against her mouth. She gave up a choked noise as she saw them. A group of armed zebras were clustering around her, the leader whispering to her, speaking in short clipped sentences.
"Nod or shake your head. Are you Silver Rose?" In fear, she could only obey, and nodded. "We are here to extract you. Your grandfather sent us. I'll remove my hoof, be quiet and come with us." He looked back to the others and nodded towards the far end of the alley. "Let's roll. Sooner we leave this shithole the better."
'Shithole'. The word flipped a switch in Silver Rose's head. Having listened to Umalez' stories during the last days, listened and understood what the Imazeeb were, and what a place like this meant for them, she felt the insult down to her bones. When the leg was removed, she already knew what to do.
"HEEELP-"
Everything happened at once. The hoof was shoved back over her mouth, shouting came from inside the compound, and then Tahelwidt came.
Bursting out of the door to the left, he came out with his sword drawn. He leapt forwards, holding the sabre close to his body as he slammed into the nearest of the five zebras. Silver Rose wasn't even close to being able to follow what happened, all she registered was the zebra letting her go, screaming all around, the sound of scraping steel, and then two rapid gunshots before Tahelwidt landed heavily on the ground in front of her. She screamed.
More screaming, zebras came pouring out, a body was slammed against the wall next to her, and when she could register what was going on, the alley was packed with noise and zebras.
The five zebras had been captured, and were being pressed into the sandy alley by armed Imazeeb. Two other Imazeeb came to her side, helping her to her hooves and quickly ushering her into the compound again, past the bench where Tahelwidt sat, clutching his bleeding stomach and being tended to by one of his tribesmates, and into the main building out of harm's way.
As the door closed, the despairing wails of Umalez as she saw her son's fate filled the air.
—xxxx—
Not Tahelwidt, not him. Not her little colt. Not the light of her life and the joy of her existence. Umalez sat by her son's side where he lay, watching as he battled the wounds he had acquired trying to defend Silver Rose.
Even now, after all this time, the world was insistent on taking from her, and she would cry if she had not run out of tears to shed. Her grief had to find another purchase, and the alternative was close at hoof. Hatred, rage, the old ways of vengeance and justice being the same. Her desire to give Silver Rose a chance seemed so quaint, so meaningless now, as all she found herself wanting to do was to make the stallion responsible scream.
A noise from the doorway made her look up, and she saw Silver Rose there, eyes bloodshot from crying and hesitating if she should step in or not, and in that moment Umalez made her call.
—xxxx—
As the helicopter roared over the zebhara, Pea Shooter was numb. How had everything gone so wrong? A week ago, he had read his granddaughter's postcard from Somnambula, and yet now... he stared down at the note he had been sent. Two sentences, yet they had left him unable to do anything but call the airport and charter a helicopter.
Your thugs failed. Arrive in Shizra alone and unarmed within two days, or the next letter will include your granddaughter's eyes.
Umalez Ataghan
He normally could have found some way, worked out an angle somehow, but not after this... He had nothing, not if he wanted to ensure her safety. His assistant was aware of the situation, he had gotten in touch with his lawyer to ensure his will was in order, and he had written a letter that would go back to Equestria and his wife, explaining as best as he could.
Shizra started to appear on the horizon, and Pea Shooter felt the numbness falter in the face of his desperate hope. He had built up a tremendous fortune, enough to be one of the richest ponies in Equestria, but all that mattered right now was getting Silver Rose out of there.
As the helicopter sat down outside Shizra, a welcoming committee stood ready for him. His hoof trembled slightly as he opened the helicopter door, but he ignored it. Like that night where he had left Tobuck and gone out to deal with the last loose end - poor, loyal Bean Counter - it was too late for weak nerves...
The roar of the helicopter died down slowly, and the gusts of sand and dust faded, letting him see them properly. A dozen Imazeeb, all of them armed, and in the middle a small, hunched over mare.
"Umalez Ataghan, I presume?" he asked over the fading noise of the helicopter. Mekiouzza's daughter... The mare sneered.
"Pea Shooter," she spat. "I had almost put my desire for vengeance to rest, but fate spat you out in front of me again."
"Please, I'm here for my granddaughter, nothing else. Name your price. Gold? Weapons? Investments? You will have it, just say it." Umalez gave him a wry smile, one that sent chills down his spine.
"I don't keep guests against their will. Return her!" She told one of the other zebras, who held up a heavy canvas bag with something in it before hurling it towards him. It landed with a heavy thud in front of him, and Pea Shooter felt his world crumble.
"N-no...no... nononono..." he felt his legs weaken and he stumbled forward, reaching out towards it even as something in the back of his head screamed at him to not do it. The bag's contents were heavy, oblong shaped, about the weight of...
He pulled it out of the bag, revealing a carved gourd. His mind ground to a halt as he stared down at it, at first not understanding what he was looking at. Looking up to Umalez in disbelief and budding anger, he was met with an iron cane straight to the face. He was thrown to the ground, his sunglasses shattering and blood filling his mouth.
"A moment of despair at the unthinkable nearly coming true," Umalez pushed the cane down on his neck. "My son nearly died to your thugs, and fortune alone let him survive! Now we're even. As for Silver Rose, why don't you ask her?" She stepped back, and one of the onlookers pulled down their veil to reveal Silver Rose. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she stared at him with a look of anger and disgust on her face as Pea Shooter tried to get up, even as his head was swimming.
"I know everything," his granddaughter yelled unsteadily. "I know how you made your money. Gun smuggling? Mercenaries? Taking over Tobuck and leaving it to become a warlord state? And you... you lectured uncle about honest business?!"
"Please... just let me take her with me. I'll leave, you'll never see me again. Don't involve her in this..." Pea Shooter mumbled as blood dripped from his mouth down on the sands.
"I involved myself!" Silver Rose screamed. "I found the Zarantian flag! It had the same marks as that scarf you gave me. I imagined that I'd find out something amazing, not that you single-hoofedly destroyed their nation!"
"Please... I didn't... let me explain..." Pea Shooter stumbled forward and reached out towards her. He had to explain, he had to make it make sense for her. She didn't understand... It wasn't his fault!
"Don't touch me!" she screamed, backing away and making Pea Shooter collapse to the ground again. "I thought you were a hero, but our family's money comes from destroying other countries! I... I don't know who you are, and I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm staying here."
"Our guest has spoken, and we protect our guests," Umalez walked up beside the collapsed Pea Shooter. "By all the customs of our people, I should bury you in the desert for Ijirmed to devour, but I want my son and my peace, and your death gives me neither." She dropped something in front of him, a binder that spilled open to reveal photocopies of pages upon pages of old Chiropeterran intelligence, identifying him and his role in Tobuck. "Silver Rose wanted her family to be spared the knowledge of what you are, she loves them too much to make them suffer knowing your true nature. If you ever come close to me or mine again though, all of Equestria will know. But for now... Congratulations, rat. You escaped justice again." She walked past him, joining Silver Rose and the others and walking back to Shizra. Behind them they left Pea Shooter, one of the wealthiest ponies of Equestria, and in this moment the most wretched and broken stallion the desert had ever seen.
