Loyalty of Sand

Chapter 3

_____“Ugh! Fluttershy, come on! We’re already late!” A cyan pegasus complained. She had been kept waiting for an extra hour. If there was a party, she had promised Pinkie she would be there.“Sorry, Rainbow, I hate to keep you waiting, but this really can’t wait.” The other pegasus reminded her friend.“That’s what you say every time.” Rainbow Dash groused.“And I mean it every time,” Fluttershy tone was firm and (dare I say?) assertive.“Yeah, I know. I just wish we could hurry this up, we’re already late if you haven’t noticed.” Rainbow Dash was famous for her speed, not her patience.After perhaps ten more minutes of similar conversation the pair finally left, Fluttershy’s saddlebag strapped across her side. “I really am sorry, Dash, but you know how much I hate leaving my cottage when some poor little animal is sick.” Said Fluttershy.Dash sighed. “Yeah, well. Let’s hope there’s some cake left. If we hurry, we can catch Twilight. I’ve been wanting to ask her if I could borrow the next Daring Do book. The author leaves you with these terrible cliff hangers and I’ve been barely getting any sleep I’ve been so nervous.” She accelerated sharply at the thought of the next Daring Do book waiting for her to read it.“Rainbow Dash! Wait up!” Fluttershy cried. “I can’t fly fast like you! Wait!”Strangely enough, Rainbow Dash came to a complete stop, hovering several feet over the ground, her ears pricked forward in attention. “Hang on a sec, Shy. I thought I heard something.”Her friend caught up and stood next to her. She perked her ears and listened expectantly. After a moment she shook her head. “I didn’t hear anything. What did it sound like?”Rainbow Dash considered for a minute. “Like somepony crashing a long ways. It was west, a little less than a mile, over in the White Tail Woods. Come on, let’s go!” She took off without looking back to see if Fluttershy had decided to follow. If she had she would have seen a yellow pegasus pony flying as hard as she could, protesting, “Wait! We don’t even know if you heard it! We’ll miss the party! Pinkie hates it when we’re late, but it drives her crazy if we don’t show up at all!”Rainbow Dash ignored the comment and flew on, the night’s anticipated festivities forgotten. “If you want to go that badly, you can go, but I need to check this out.” She glanced back again. “So are you coming or not?”Fluttershy slowed down for a moment or two, torn between an unknown sound that possibly didn’t exist, and going to Pinkie’s party alone to explain that Rainbow Dash had been chasing phantom noises rather than going to the party. Pinkie would probably understand, but if she didn’t then Fluttershy hated to let her down and break the news. “Wait for me! I’m coming!” She finally said and sped up to try to catch her athletic friend.*~*~*~Amber woke up laying on the ground. She groaned and opened her eyes and blinked. The world was blurred and smeared, like when somepony spilled water on a painting. Everything she saw was in various tones of grey because it was so dark. Luna had raised the moon and stars as she had every night before, but clouds obscured them from sight. Amber idly wondered why the weather pegasi hadn’t cleared them. It cast a gloomy undertone to everything.Her wing ached with a fury. She raised it and gave it an experimental flap. Instantly she regretted it. Sharp pain coursed through the limb and she groaned in spite of herself. Evidently she had broken it. “Everything breaks.” She grumbled. “First my horn and now my wing. Why don’t I just break my neck too?” She glanced around quickly. “I didn’t really mean that!” She added hastily. The pain in her head had lessened to a dull ache, but it was still very strong. She began to assess her overall damage, but then decided that it would be ill-advised. If she counted every injury the pain would be unbearable.Hesitantly she wobbled to her feet and took in her surroundings. She was in a forest, but not one she knew. The trees were tall and noble, but shady and gloomy in the dark. Nothing else for it but to walk and hope I find my way out. She thought. The shadows didn’t spook her so much as what was lurking in the shadows. Normally a Timber Wolf or two wouldn’t have been a problem on her own, but she was used to having a team watch her back in combat. About twenty unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies had accompanied her in her duties as Princess. One of them she had fallen in love with to her own surprise. Camelot. An odd name, and a perhaps even more eccentric pony, but he was her Shining Armor.She plodded forward slowly, trying not to look at the trees. In spite of her best efforts her eyes wandered and the trees were unavoidable. The forest was coated in what would be vivid shades of red, orange, and yellow in the daylight. During Luna’s time they were coated in a blue tint, and the tones were duller, but still beautiful. It was almost time for the annual Running of the Leaves. The moon lit the way with its pale, white light. Spooky to say the least. Beautiful, but spooky.She stumbled a couple of times. The third time she tripped and fell on her face and didn’t bother getting up. The moss was cool, comforting even. It soaked up the blood flowing from a deep cut she hadn’t noticed earlier. Her eyes fluttered shut and she sank into a deep sleep.But her sleep was not a restful one. Even in sleep memories would plague her, but more vividly, and in a far more ghoulish way. And tonight she would relive one of her most hated memories.~*~*~*It was her first village. Complete desolation surrounded her as she took in the damage. Buildings were brought down to the ground, ponies were strewn haphazardly, either dead or dying. One in particular caught her attention.“Small one!” The filly she had addressed looked up. One of her eyes was missing, and she didn’t have much longer to live. Her one eye widened and she cringed as she saw who had spoken to her.“Am I right in believing that I saved you one time? Your name is Flower, is it not?” The filly nodded weakly. Amber smiled sadistically. “May you die knowing that in telling me where you lived and by trusting me you have brought this upon your own weak, foolish kind.” Amber turned her back, not caring if Flower had listened or not.She stumbled over one body, tripping over the next. She landed in a pool of blood, though not her own. She wiped the blood off her eyes with her hoof, simply irritated by the delay. What a sight she must have been, a warrior princess, blood dripping from her lethally sharp horn, iron hoof guards red with rust. Her mane flickered like fire, and her coat was stained red from the blood of the ponies she had once protected. Soon she would make her way to Canterlot and take the throne as her own. She was the eldest, did that not count for anything?~*~*~*“No!” She mumbled. “NO!” She tossed painfully in her induced slumber. The motion worsened her wounds but was still not enough to break the cycle. Every night it was the same thing. She feared sleep and the nightmares that were guaranteed. She rarely slept, only enough that she wouldn’t give the impression that she was weak. The nightmares would never end, not until the day she died._______“Hey Fluttershy, are you sure this will work? That isn’t very many bandages.” Amber slowly opened her eye halfway to see a blurry blue blob with a multicolored top. After blinking a few more times the blob shaped into a pony with a rainbow mane.“Of course it’ll work, Rainbow Dash.” A soft voice replied to the strange question. “I’ve already splinted her wing. It’s a good thing I thought to bring my bag with me. I’m not sure what we’d do.”“DO!” Said Rainbow Dash. “That’s it! In Daring Do and the First Crusader she was in this exact same situation. A prince was hurt and lying on the ground, so she splinted his wing and put bandages on his cuts. Then she made a quick fly over and found the nearest town and flew the prince to the medics.” She clapped her hooves excitedly. “This will totally work! Come on, Fluttershy, you go ahead and tell somepony that we found her while I bring her over!” She trotted over to Amber. “Oh hay, you’re awake. I’m going to fly you over to Ponyville, okay?”Without waiting for a response she began tugging on the pegasus’s forelegs, flapping her wings as hard as she could. Amber winced as the pegasus jarred her wing. The zebra was raised about two feet off the ground before dropping again. Rainbow Dash panted for breath. “That’s okay, maybe the tail works better.” She grabbed Amber’s tail in her jaws and tried again.“Ouch!” Amber glared at her self-proclaimed rescue team.Rainbow Dash’s face fell. “I don’t get it, it worked fine in the book.”“Creative license.” Amber growled. She was lost, in pain, just roused from a nightmare, and wasn’t in any particular mood to deal with a fanfilly. “This is the real world, and-” She stood up. “I can walk.”Fluttershy stood awkwardly to the side, not sure if she should try to join the conversation or not. “Well, I suppose that’s a relief, you know, since we can walk to Ponyville.”“Yeah, I guess I could fly up over the treetops and show you guys how to get there.” Rainbow sighed. “Really slowly.” Of course if you can perform a Sonic Rainboom on command just about any pace seems slow.The group began its slow journey back to Golden Oaks Library. The moon glided through the stars like a lone swan on a silver lake. Amber trudged along the path with Fluttershy while Rainbow Dash flew a feet above the ground. They didn’t say anything but kept their eyes on the sky to see the morning sun as it began its daily ascent. It was about mid-morning by the time they were back in town. Needless to say the welcoming party had quickly turned into a search party in their absence. What they hadn’t expected was Princess Celestia being a member.Celestia did not appear surprised to see Amber walking back, but she didn’t seem especially angry or happy either. “We need to talk.” She turned her back and walked into Twilight’s library. Amber sighed inwardly. Celestia did not seem to be in the mood for a friendly chat. Wordlessly, she followed and shut the door behind her, ignoring the stunned looks from the bystanders. The last time Celestia had said those words and entered the library conditions had not been good for Twilight. Most of them were still in the dark as to exactly what had happened.“Why did you run away?” Celestia cut to the chase. “Twilight was reluctant to make friends, but she didn’t run from her troubles quite so quickly.”Amber looked down at the hardwood floor and began counting the knotholes. She had counted to thirty-five before realizing that Celestia was still waiting for an answer. She didn’t look up. “I was afraid.”Celestia looked surprised, but the corners of her mouth quirked upwards in a smirk. “Amber, the guardian of the Changeling Schism, was afraid? Afraid of what? Making friends?”Amber shook her head. “No, I was scared of all the ponies. I have-” She trailed off and mumbled.“You have what?” Celestia put her head on her hooves in a listening posture. “Do tell.”Amber mumbled again. “Didn’t quite catch that.” She teased.Amber growled. “I have claustrophobia, okay! She growled between her clenched teeth. “I got scared because I felt trapped. I should be used to feeling trapped, but usually somebody has my back and I didn’t know how to deal with it so I jumped through the window and now I have a splitting headache and I can’t close my wing and I think I broke it.” Amber snapped. “Can I go now? I’m not in the mood for a lecture about how I need to face my fears.”Celestia apologised. “I’ll escort you to the hospital.” She offered.“No thanks.” Amber grimaced. “I can walk myself.” She promptly lost consciousness from pain and exhaustion. Celestia smiled, levitated her, and took her to the doctors.