Chapters Aspects of Life
I Dune
Dune had never felt so alive. He was finally free, at least from his preexisting cage known as his home town. He didn't hate Inivo Vicus, he loved the place, but his mother was a cautious pony and didn't take danger lightly, and neither did the kingdom of Saddle Arabia . Sure he had to go back to his house with his mom later in the day, but he didn't plan on going back until the sun had just passed behind the mountains in the distance. “This is great,” Dune thought to himself, “Now I don’t have to worry about getting caught by the patrol guards.”
As if on cue, a small patrol team stopped Dune in the middle of his first taste of freedom. “Ha, I knew I would catch you one of these days kid,” the first guard said with confidence, “Now you’ll in trouble and I won’t look like a fool this time.” He smiled wickedly with his robes covering him from head to hoof to keep the heat off of him and his black sunglasses gleamed as he looked Dune in the eye, trying his best to stare him down. Dune started to chuckle. The guard’s smile faded and his eyebrow rose. “What’s so funny?” he asked, “You should be begging me to let you off the hook.” Dune immediately stopped chuckling and his expression hardened. He hated how these guards expected him to kneel in submission as if they were Amira and Haakim themselves. Always full of themselves and looking down on the common pony. “Well if you actually did your homework, then you would know that I’m sixteen as of today. Therefore, I’m allowed out of the territory’s walls and free will to fly wherever I want.” He retorted. “Go ahead and check it on your, whatever you call them.” He said in a stern voice. The ponies who were higher in the ranks always got the goods. Become a part of the military, one of the patrol guards, or a castle guard, and they set you up for life. You get good pay, nice houses, and above all others, you get access to the technology that the middle class and lower don’t get. The guard rolled up his robes from around his ankle to reveal a rectangular device that was active on voice command. “Info for Saddle Arabian citizen Dune, the guard said aloud. The device made some noises then shot out a hologram with all of Dune’s recorded history. Birth date, criminal record, parents, you name it, it could get whatever information available you wanted it too. The guard gritted his teeth in irritation. “Sorry for the inconvenience Dune, we’ll be on our way,” He said. Just as fast they had stopped Dune, he was already gone, weaving in and out of the abnormally large cacti that inhabited the desert floor.
“Ah, this looks like a good spot,” he said to himself. He landed in an area that was open. Dune never understood why nothing grew there, probably because he and other Saddle Arabians like himself came here to sun bathe. He landed on the desert floor and sprawled out taking up every bit of warmth from the sun he could. He loved flying nonstop, but the next best thing is wasting away a lazy afternoon by absorbing the sun’s warmth. He circled around a few times until there was a groove in the soft sand. He was getting comfortable when a spot of sand next to him started to Dune saw the shaggy brown mane start to shake back and forth, but it was too late. He was covered in sand and now lost the urge to lay down until he saw who it was. One of his only true friends, sure he was well known for being a good pony and treating everyone as they should, (Though he didn't get the same in return)but there was a select few who he actually called his friends. “ Wasn't expecting to see you here Eflore,” he said smoothly. Eflore was now completely visible. “Aww how’d you know it was me? She said in a pouting tone. “Well,” he began, “You’re the only pony I know who completely covers themselves in sand to keep warm.” He started to laugh. “Yeah well you aren't exactly perfect either,” she said. “How so?” Dune asked. “You break kingdom regulations so you could come out here and fly and hang out with me.” She said triumphantly, “Ha beat that.” She started to jump up and down with glee. Dune shrugged. “Eh, I got nothing, but it was totally worth,” he said, “But now I don’t have to worry about that anymore.” He finished with a big smile. “That’s RIGHT, you’re sixteen today!” She exclaimed even happier than before. Before he could do anything, Eflore leaned over and gave him a hug. “Happy Birthday Dune.” She said squeezing him tight. Dune blushed a little bit, got over himself and gave a hug back.
The sun was starting to set over the desert sky, and Dune knew he had to be going or he would lose his privileges he just earned. Eflore had already gone due to a curfew of her own. Dune sat in silence, nothing bothered the still desert, until he heard a seemingly load crack of thunder to his left. He looked over and saw the Altus mountains sitting in the distance. The mountain range was completely surrounded by storm clouds. “Figures,” Dune said to himself, “We never usually get rain. Silly of me to even get my hopes up.” He got up and started to trot in the direction of his village, but there was a nagging feeling that hung with Dune, as if the storm was calling him to the mountains. “Maybe tomorrow I have other places to be right now.” He whispered and flew back home at an even speed. Not too fast, but not too slow.
After a couple of laps around the town, Dune finally came to a stop at his house, or his shack as everyone called it. Dune admits it, he was poor, one of the peasant families. Fortunately, his mother made enough money to keep food on the table. Dune wasn't helping her by using so much energy and burning so many calories. He entered the house to find his mother preparing dinner, she looked over her shoulder and gave him a smile. “Well you’re home on time for your first day out,” she continued, “So how was it? Being able to go outside the town’s walls? Not like you haven’t done it before.” She raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Well this time I didn't have to worry about getting in trouble with the patrols, and you didn't have to cover for me while I was out messing around.” He said happily. His mom just laughed and said, “Yeah now you don’t have to worry about getting in trouble.” Dune thought to himself about what it would be like to have another mom, because he would absolutely hate it. His mom, Star Nova, was the nicest pony in the world. She wasn't uptight about everything, and as long Dune didn't get caught, or didn't steal anything, Star was pretty much o.k. with it. Her golden eyes sparkled as if they were actually made of real gold. She was a Pegasus like him and her coat was a velvet red color nothing like his own. And her sandy mane made her beautiful. “Don’t know why Dad would have even left her in the first place,” he thought to himself. He immediately pushed that thought aside, he resented his dad, but he didn't want to think about him at all after he left mysteriously never to be heard from again. He asked around for answers when Dune was younger, but everyone acted like he had never existed.
After dinner was finished Dune acted as if he was walking to his room. He yawned, “Oh man, I am tiiiiiired, I’m gunna get some shut eye.” “Alright whatever you say,” she called back. He immediately went to the room next to his, and crawled out the window. He flew to the rooftop, landing gently so he wouldn't alert his mother. Dune got into a comfortable position and gazed upward. The cool desert air made the hair on his neck stand up. The night was still and it was completely dark. “Perfect,” he thought, “this was how star gazing was meant to be.”
Author's Note
Let me know what you guys think, and what i can elaborate in the next chapter.
II Dune
The sun hadn't even come over the horizon, it was still the black of night, and Dune was already gone. Dune knew he couldn't trick his mom into thinking he was still in bed with pillows under the bed, so he didn't even bother. He flew over the wall almost waking the night shift guard who was of course asleep on duty. There wasn't enough recruits in the kingdom to where they could fire them at will, they simply punished them. Dune wondered why they didn't just quit themselves. Probably because they were too lazy to get a job that required skill or they just don’t have another job to go to. He thought to himself. The economy in the kingdom of Saddle Arabia wasn’t doing too hot. More middle class workers were becoming peasants. Though the nobles, and the lords weren’t bothered as much, everyone else was taking the hit. He was lucky, he couldn’t get a job himself, but Star worked as a chef in the castle, and the residents in the castle don’t want to be going hungry.
Dune was about 10 miles out when the first sign of dawn came over the horizon. The patrols would be out soon looking for violators of curfew. A brown pony flying in the sunrise covered sky would be seen quite easily. He decided to go on hoof from there on out. The Altus mountains were about twenty-three miles away from where he was standing. “Dammit,” he said aloud, “It’ll take forever now to get all the way over there, I didn't leave early enough.” Dune let out a long sigh and trudged on.
Dune estimated he had traveled roughly four miles until his stomach grumbled. Luck must have been feeling generous today. Lying in front of him was a barrel cactus of fair size. Looking up he said, “Oh thank you, this is better than I could have hoped for.” He found a nearby stick and swung it to knock the cactus over. Dune wondered why they were so delicate, yet so deadly when he came into contact with it. He remembered when was just a filly and he saw one. He had taken a survival class in case the kingdom, the town, or his mom wouldn't be there to take care of himself on his own. His teacher taught him basic stuff, like how to make or find shelter, find water, and what you could eat in the desert. Now there wasn't much to eat in the desert, but there were some bugs, a few bushes here and there, and of course cacti. Dune’s teacher explained how they were a package deal. “If you can pluck the needles, then you can break it open, and get the meat, which is juicy so you also get hydrated from it.” He had said. Dune decided he was going to be smart and asked, “Why can’t we just kick them from the start.” After his questioned he preceded to a demonstration, where Dune kicked the cactus with his hind legs. Though he knocked it over, the pain from the needle seared through his body and left his feet bloody as his teacher had to carry him back to the town. Dune promised himself he would never do anything like that again. He continued to pluck the needles until the cactus was bare.
After his somewhat satisfying meal, he proceeded on. There was nothing between him and the mountains besides about seventeen miles of desert and two miles of forest that surrounded the mountains. Dune still had no idea what he was looking for, or even why he had decided to do this in the first place. He continued for he doesn’t know how long. Dune stopped. He felt like there was something wrong. It’s quiet, he thought, there’s usually always wind blowing through the desert, but there’s not even a lick of wind. He continued on cautiously. The desert here was nothing like the one where Inivo Vicus was. That desert was all barren hardly a living thing, but here there was actually life. There were a few bushes scattered, a tree was visible,(And there was usually never a tree within the limit of travel), and lizards lay in the sun and some were eating a bush. Dune had honestly never seen so many living plants in one area. He found a few more cacti and decided to feed himself.
The sun was high in the sky and the closer he got to the mountains, more life appeared. Dune was amazed, he never thought that so many living things could ever live in the same place at one time. The sand was turning into dirt, and more, taller trees stared to appear, Dune assumed that he was either getting close or he was already in the forest surrounding the mountains. The farther Dune traveled the thicker the trees became. Strange noises filled Dune’s ears as he continued. Though he would be in the air, the storm clouds and fog didn’t make it easy to see his way around. He didn’t even know where he was going, least of all where he was flying.
Dune was starting to become a little frantic. He couldn’t walk through the forest for a minute without hearing a growl behind him, he was starting to worry. He started to contemplate what could be following; though, he had no knowledge of creatures outside his barren region. All these thoughts ran through his head and he heard a snap of a branch in the same direction where the growls had come from. Dune slowly turned to find nothing. “Hello?” he called out, “Anypony there?” Dune was afraid there would be no response, and he was right. He sat in the eerie silence as a breeze rustled the trees, which was strange because his entire time in the forest there wasn’t even a breeze. Dune just stood there, not knowing what to do. Part of him wanted him to run out of fear, the other half wanted to investigate out of curiosity. His indecisiveness was his mistake. Without having any time to react, two vicos jumped out of the bushes. Vicos were wolf like creatures but much larger, not to mention they were capable of standing on two legs as well as four. They both smiled wickedly at Dune, barring their razor sharp teeth. Their claws have got to be at least a foot long, he thought to himself. The vicos began circling around him laughing. “A stranger in these protected woods I see,” the first one said. His voice was deep and smooth. Dune might have taken him for something else if his voice spoke to him in the dark. Dune asked questioningly, “What do you mean protected woods? I thought this land wasn’t ruled over.” The vico’s smile was intimidating Dune admitted, but the large build and huge claws weren’t helping. “You are correct, these lands aren’t ruled by anyone. But our patron has instructed us to keep anyone or anything out of this forest. Whether we kill or chase, it doesn’t matter, that’s up to us.” Before Dune could even lift off the ground, the other vico came from behind and pinned him down. Dune struggled to release himself, but the size difference was playing a crucial role.
Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. The vicos laughed and had their fun with Dune, whether it was pile driving him, kicking him or beating him up, Dune wasn’t having fun. One eventually took his claw and dug it into Dunes face leaving a trail of blood flowing down his face. He was about to do the same thing to his leg. “If you’re lucky, then you’ll survive this and we can have some more fun,” he said. “Yea *panting* that sounds great,” Dune replied. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this. Wait, he thought, they haven’t touched my wings at all. The other vico got bored of torturing Dune a while ago, he was off snoozing in the shade of the trees. The vico’s claw had punctured Dune’s leg, he used his other leg to kick him square in the jaw. The vico stumbled back and when he looked back there were only a few leaves falling back to the forest floor.
Dune was lucky the vicos hadn’t paid any attention to his wings or he would’ve never gotten out of there. But he knew he was bleeding out, whether or not the main artery was hit remained a mystery. Dune was too far away from his town to make it back in time. Plus the blood would raise some questions. How did you get all that blood over you? A guard would ask, Oh you know, got attacked by some cacti. He would reply. Dune thought that cold would slow the bleeding, then he might have a little more time left. “No, you’re not dying here.” The wind was even stronger in the mountains than down in the forest. Flying was getting difficult, and Dune was becoming woozy. Landing on the ground, Dune kept off his left hind leg. The bleeding had slowed but without bandages, the wound was prone to infection. Dune collapsed into the snow, Strange, he thought, It reminds me of the sand back home. The cold wind continued to blow and to Dune, it was getting colder. No this can’t be it. He sat there for what seemed like an eternity until he saw a silhouette in the distance. The figure just sat there watching Dune with what seemed like great interest. Something was flapping around in the wind, which Dune assumed was some sort of clothing. He attempted to call out, but there was only enough energy left to breath. His vision was becoming fuzzy. Dune’s eyelids were struggling to keep themselves open. The last thing he remembered was something hovering over him mumbling, “How the hell did you get up here….” After those words, Dune blacked out.
III Eiro
Eiro played back his entire day until the moment he saw the brown Pegasus bleeding in the snow. The storm the previous day and night had not allowed him to go and scavenge for food, nor did it allow him to do much of anything else, including sleep peacefully. The continuous sound of thunder had kept him awake all night, leaving him restless.
Setting out for food, Eiro noticed Fang and Thresh were a little more than active today. He had asked them to guard the forest from anyone or anything trying to get to the mountain and don’t harm those who are just passing through. Of course they didn’t listen, but he didn’t care, he was just listening to what his mom had told him. “Find a way to keep the mountain from being intruded upon,” she had said, “I know you’ll find a way.” He hasn’t seen her since that day and misses her dearly. He had come across the vicos in the forest one day and had managed to overpower them. Apparently they were outcasts in their clan and were wandering aimlessly looking for food, shelter, and other basic necessities. Eiro decided to strike a deal. “What are your names?” The biggest of the two stood up and introduced himself. “My name is Fang,” he said and gestured toward the other, “And this is my comrade, but we’ve been through enough for me to call him my brother, I digress, his name is Thresh.” “Do what you will pony,” he continued, “We have nothing else in this world except for each other.” Fang sighed and kneeled in and honorable pose as if Eiro was going to strike them down. “I’ll let you two live on one condition.” Fang and Thresh looked up in curiosity. “All you have to do is keep this forest clear of wanderers.”
Now after Eiro had first met the vicos, he thought he had seen everything, but he wasn’t prepared for what he saw later that afternoon. Though it had been a day of gathering and nothing else it was still just another day to him. He was walking through the snow when he noticed something red in it. He looked down to find a trail of blood leading off into the distance. “Great, I guess I get to get rid of the pony since he’s up here.” The trail continued for a surprisingly long time. “How could anypony survive this long in the snow while losing blood?” The trail continued for roughly another two hundred meters. When he saw the pegasus lying in the snow bleeding out. “Yup, they interrogated him alright.” The blood dripped from his leg and pooled right below him, melting the snow with its warmth. Eiro stood there not knowing whether he was dead or not. As the thought came to his head the body’s head moved “So he’s still not dead.” He walked over as casually as one could. Now hovering over the body he examined Fang’s “handy work”. “How the hell did you get up here?” Immediately after the words came out of his mouth the brown pegasus’ head collapsed in the snow. “You won’t last long out here with an attitude like that.”
Eiro had managed to get the pony on his back so he could carry him. The storm clouds were rolling back in. “We gotta get inside now, or we’ll both die.” Still he couldn’t figure out how or why the pony was up here in the first place.
The cave welcomed Eiro back with warmth. The fire from that morning still had red hot coals sleeping in the ashes; he wouldn’t know what to do if it wasn’t for this cave, for it was at the perfect angle to where the wind didn’t come in at all, leaving the place warm pretty much 24/7. He put the stranger in his bed, which was a bale of hay, and wrapped the wounded leg with a piece of torn cloth lying around the cave. After tending to the wound, he propped his back up against the wall and watched over his unexpected guest. His breathing had steadied, and he seemed to be surviving the trauma. “Two nights in a row without sleep,” he said, “Wonderful.” He spent the rest off his night doing anything to keep his mind preoccupied. For most of the night he was wandering around the cave finding things he hadn’t laid eyes on in years.
That night was the longest night Eiro had ever gone through. Sure he stayed up the night before that, but he was trying to sleep not watch over a wounded pony. A growling sound came out of nowhere; it wasn’t until a few moments later he realized he had gone the whole night without a single thing to eat. He decided to get himself some food, and made a simple breakfast of roots and an apple. The cave was silent except for the heavy breathing of the unknown stranger. He wasn’t wearing anything so there was no way for him to know his name or where he was from. His first guess was from the desert; he knew most of the ponies in that area where brown if not another color. But it was too soon to tell, there were plenty of other places he was sure that were filled with other ponies. After all, he and the desert area couldn’t be the only places with ponies in this entire world, right? He pondered the thought some more when a headache came to be. Eiro quickly stopped thinking about the chance of others out there somewhere. Maybe even some those were his own kind. Sounds came from the bed; he looked over to see the pony rustling around as if in a bad dream. “Huh.” That’s all he could say at the moment. He reexamined the wound and found it was scabbing over. There was no sign of puss or infection. He let out a sigh and let his guest rest.
Eiro spent the rest of his time staying inside, which he hated, He preferred to be outside doing something, anything was better than sitting around the place all day. But he had to keep watch over the guest.
It was a few hours after noon, and he finally got what he was hoping for. The brown pegasus sprang from the bed and started to panic. Making Eiro jump himself. He was in a cold sweat, and as soon as he landed, he collapsed from the pain in his leg. “Who are you? What do you want? And why am I in a cave?” he asked all these questions in a frightened tone as if his life was about to end. Eiro stood where he was kneeling and walked over to where the pegasus lay and slapped him across the face with no hesitation. “Wha…..what was that for?” he asked rubbing his face and noticed the gash on his face had scabbed over but was now broken to where blood was coming out again. “I almost died didn’t I?” He seemed to have calmed down. “I’m not going to kill you if that’s what you’re wondering.”
Author's Note
Update: Star Dust's (Dune's mom) name has been changed to Star Nova. I found someone else using Star Dust as an OC name.
IV Eiro
Eiro and Dune both walked out into the snow. Though it didn’t snow that night, the snow looked nearly undisturbed besides the tracks and the trail of blood leading into the cave. Eiro stretched his wings, as he did every morning. Dune looked at him with jealousy and then his wing which was still bandaged. Eiro walked down the mountain path encouraging Dune to push on. “C’mon,” he called, “If we get going now then we might make it there late tonight.” Dune limped over, passing Eiro, “Well then let’s gets a move on, wouldn’t want to wasting any more of your time than I already am.” Eiro looked at Dune questioningly, “ I don’t get it, why don’t you want to waste any more of my time?”
Traveling through the forest seemed to prove more of a challenge on Dune’s part. Eiro would jump and fly over and in between fallen trees and thickets of brush with immense agility. He watched Dune from a tree branch, snickering at Dune trying to do everything with ease. Eiro caught Dune throwing a glare toward his way, but it wasn’t a glare of annoyance, he decided to ignore it for now. This was the first pony he’d seen since his mom, and he was going to make the best of it. Yet, for some reason, he felt bad for laughing at Dune. He flew to the ground next to Dune. “Hey sorry for laughing at you those few times.” Dune simply chuckled, “It’s ok, I don’t blame you, I’d probably be doing the same thing. Let’s keep moving.”
Eiro was walking next to Dune now. Not knowing what to do with the awkward silence he decided to make small talk. “Sooooooo, what’s your village like? Friends? Family?” Dune gave him a curious look. “What?”
It was barely the mid of day and they had made better progress than Eiro had hoped. “About how much farther do you think?” Dune squinted at the horizon, “I’d guess we’re maybe between seven to twelve miles away.” Eiro was impressed at this pony’s navigation skills considering he couldn’t fly and get a bird’s eye view of everything. “Alright, well lets take a break, we’ve made more ground than I thought we would have. Also, I need to change your bandage, the sand isn’t making it any cleaner.”
Eiro rewrapped the leg, which was thankfully not infected, and adjusted the splint for Dune’s wing. “You’re in good shape for now. The wound isn’t infected and you’re wing is looking good as well, but we still need to get you to a real doctor.” He sat down and started to munch on a root. Dune looked at Eiro, “so what’s your family like? Friends, Village, Kingdom, anything like that?” Eiro immediately stopped chewing and swallowed hard. He felt as if he was all alone again, all by himself with no pony. “Er…well I have a mom; we’re part of a town in the mountains.” Dune pulled another question, “Wait, then where was your mom when I was in the cave?”
The rest of the afternoon was full of questions from Dune. “So how do you do that?” “For the ninth time, I don’t know.” It went on for hours, there was probably fifteen minutes of silence when Dune wanted to eat again. The sand was burning under Eiro’s feet, he wasn’t used to this heat, he preferred snow, nice cold snow. He felt a nudge and looked up. “We’re here Eiro,” Dune said happily, “We should probably hurry though, the night brings dust storms and those aren’t fun.” “Well lead the way then, you know where you’re going.” Dune nodded and proceeded to the main gate. “Halt!”came a voice from the top of the wall. A head stuck over the edge with complete surprise in his expression. “Open the gate NOW!” He hollered. Not a second later did the gate begin to open. “Well I guess this is goodbye, I’ll see you next time.” Eiro began to turn away. “Wait, are you going back to the mountains? C’mon why don’t you stay for a while, some company might do you some good.” Eiro pondered the question, “Well sure, if you’re offering.” They both smiled and turned to walk into the village. “Man, you’re going to love my mom, she likes everypony and treats everybody with kindness, I’m sure she won’t mind having you for a few days.” “Well I don’t want to be a bother.” Their happiness was short lived. Without even expecting it, the guards were completely surrounding both of them. “What’s this about? What did we do wrong?” Dune asked. One of the guards stepped forward and laughed, “Well let’s see, you Dune, broke curfew, and as for THIS one,” he pointed at Eiro, “Is considered and enemy of the state. BIND HIM!” A few of the guards cuffed Eiro’s wings with something heavy. “And THIS is what I get for returning this guy to his home,” he thought. The guard talking walked in front of his face, “Take him away to diamond cage.” The guards followed their orders. Eiro couldn’t move or use his ice. He was defenseless. He watched as Dune’s image grew farther away, “I’ll fix this, you’re innocent, I know you are!” He called. “I hope you’re right,” Eiro thought.