//------------------------------// // 1 // Story: Olowpri // by Karibela //------------------------------// This is a desert. There are many like it. But not as many that are quite as lovely desert as this one. From what you can see, there's also a very pretty tent down there. You bet the sky is pretty too, but you don't think you'll ever know since, well, all you've been given is an aerial shot. Speaking of which, how did you get up here? Are you a bird? I didn't think you had it in you... Oh, wait, you're not a bird. You're a pony. This sleepy pony, to be exact. Sleeping on the job is quite normal in your line of work. After all, you're so far away from everyone else, that nobody in their right mind would come out just to punish you. Being in total and utter isolation is so... liberating, isn't it? That said, there does come a time when laying asleep just doesn't cut it. You're thirsty, and from what you remember last time you drank, you have just enough water to make it another day. Time to fill up! That ear-twitch is really starting to get annoying. You hazard a guess that it's probably a temporary thing, so it'll probably go away in a couple days. Nothing to see a doctor about. If you had access to one. Which you don't. Don't worry about it, though. Really, don't. Your inner psyche affirms to you that, after several times in life being told not to worry about teeny tiny medical issues, you should regard this one as a 'non-issue'. Listen and learn, sayeth the psyche. You look over your gear. You certainly packed quite lightly. Part of the reason was to keep your back from breaking. Aside from the scarf and the shako (Quite standard uniform for the desert, sand tastes horrible and sunburn is mighty distracting), there's a gun (You wish you had a better one), a few pouches (one of which holds the rest of your water), the bedroll (Interesting fact: The bag is standard issue, but you lost the bedroll of a cliff. The second-hoof rug you have now just so happens to fit the bag), and the clothes you wore to bed. Savage, some would say! You slept in the clothes you wear? Well, actually, nobody's going to say that. You're still totally isolated. Besides, that sounds like a stupid rule anyway. You feel super prepped for harsh and not-very-tasty desert sand not getting into your mouth. It's time to go outside! I mean, you're pretty much outside anyway. More than half the floor of your tent is sand. But it's nice to have a distinct scene-change. A long time ago, you read one of the dusty tomes in the local library. It was an old fairy tale, and the scene changes in it were always marked with terrifying thunder, or depressing rain, or... something that expressed emotion. The weather hasn't changed for like, at least as long as you've been out here. You're pretty sure the story wasn't set in the desert, either. Hey look, there's the sky! Turns out, it's kind of light blue. You've probably experienced artists who would differ their opinion, but this time, you're like, totally sure that's some kind of light blue. There's also some smoke in the air. It wasn't there when you went to sleep. You can't hear anything, so it must be far away. The dunes make enough of an incline that the least you could do is take a peek. If there's anything over there, you'd probably not be spotted. You noticed it when you came out, but it is especially hot today. You'll probably get through the water in that tent pretty quick. As you walk closer, you can just overhear a murmur. Sounds like... maybe two, three ponies talking behind this dune? You can't tell what they're saying. You could just stay here and wait until they move away. What if they're not friendly? You don't have a clue about who lives here. The only ponies who told you anything about the desert were a couple veterans in training, and they pretty much told you that it would be rare to find anybody in the middle of the desert you're going to. But... what did they say about if you did find some other ponies? Yeah, that's right. What do you think they'd tell you to do, run away scared back into your tent? Besides, curiosity was getting the best of you anyway. With a laid-back determination dousing your deepest set fears, you scale the rest of the dune, and peek over the top. Oh. Uh... weren't these supposed to be ponies? You're pretty sure these were meant to be ponies. But they're not ponies at all. In fact, you're pretty sure they're both naked too, which is extra weird. They also have weapons. Plan B time. . .. There was a plan B, right? If there was, it would be really helpful if it came up right now...! In waiting for magical B to appear vividly into your mind, you try to trace back and think on what the veterans said all that week ago. What do you even do when you see a griffon, or a zebra, for that matter? You haven't ever met either before. If you remembered correctly, there was a lecture once where a pony you didn't recognise started talking about zebras having stripes, and that being important for some reason or whatever. Nobody really cared, and if you remember correctly, the class had a debate afterwards on whether they were black with white stripes, or the other way around. Since you'd never seen one before, you didn't really feel like you had credence to speak, but you're pretty sure the white with blacks stripes took the lead. Also, that doesn't help in this situation whatsoever. The other thing you remember is that there were a couple news articles which talked about a war that happened much further in the desert, and how the zebra country or whatever was really brutal in their apparent attempt to destroy an entire race of ancient creatures, as well as there being countless articles in local newspapers about griffon pirates constantly harassing sea traders to the northeast of Equestria, stealing booty, ships, and kidnapping ponies and other terrifying mean and nasty things. You hope this doesn't help your situation either. You hope these are the 1% of friendly griffons and zebras that will totally not do any of that stuff to ponies who camp out in the middle of deserts.