It had been nearly two months since James had felt solid ground under her hooves. When they finally landed, she practically fell off Dust's back, spreading her hooves and embracing the ground like an old friend. Lightning Dust rolled her eyes, muttering something James couldn't quite hear. It took her several repetitions before James finally looked up.
"Since you can't fly, we need to kapti trajnon. Dodge Junction is close, malmulta distanco if we hurry. I don't know if the ponies who came for you were the real thing or not... I lose track of kiu princino donas aŭtoritaton. But we'll need to get far away from here. How do you feel about the Crystal Empire?"
What James wanted to do was beg her to take them both back to the probe. It wasn’t what her mission called for—living among the ponies would make learning their language far easier than just keeping the company of one. But knowing the authorities might be looking for her, knowing she’d just attacked someone, it took James more than a little willpower not to beg to be taken to safety.
She swallowed that inclination, with some difficulty. "You have empires?" James rose from the ground, brushing dirt from her armor. "I thought Equestria was a monarchy."
Lightning ignored the question. "You need to take off that armor. The ponies in Dodge City are tradicia, ili reagos tre strange if you wear something like that. Old earth ponies like that sometimes get ofendata if you wear anything at your age, but hopefully we can eviti ilin." She reached back, lifting the hard-plastic box down off her back and setting it on the dusty ground in front of James. "It came in here, right?"
"Yeah." James undid the latches on the empty box, before unclipping the saddlebags from her back and proceeding to undress. The armor was in three main sections, and each one could be removed independently. Even this accommodation wasn't quite enough to make the task as easy as it would've been with hands.
"What is that made of?" Dust asked, staring down at her as she undressed.
"Things you don't have names for," James answered. "They're really strong. They won't be cut, they'll stop bullets..." She stepped out of the boots, before pressing down on the button that would cause them to retract. The various servos and motors whirred and clunked for a few seconds, and the suit withdrew into its original compact shape. She lifted it with her teeth, setting it down in the box before doing the same to the transmitter and the stun-pistol, before finally shutting it again. She left the saddlebags outside the box, wedging her head inside and pulling on the straps with her teeth to tighten. The saddlebags had been made to be worn even without the armor, though no consideration had been made for her wings and even after a few seconds they were starting to irritate.
"I've seen unicorns do magic like you," Dust said, scooping up the box and returning it to her saddlebags. She managed to strap it back down without ever turning all the way around, using a combination of her mouth and her wings. "But I've never seen a pegasus ĵeti tian impresan sorĉon. It felt a little like weather magic, were you using lightning?"
"Kinda," James admitted, walking over to stand beside Dust. "I don't like the word magic, though. It's a machine. Like a lever, or a pulley, or... any other kinda machines you ponies have. I don't know much about how you live, but... point is, it's not supernatural. You could make machines just like it if you knew how."
"Not me," Dust rolled her eyes. "I'm no egghead. But I guess I see what you mean. The... ponies who sent you... they've done for unicorn magic kiel kion ni faris kun vetero. A unicorn charged your... weapon... and once they did, anypony can use it. Right?"
"Uh... close, I guess." James shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not an 'egghead' about machines either. I'm only good with languages. I don't know astronomy, or biology, or even math very much. Only the basics they make everybody learn. I guess I'm glad that included how to shoot..." Though not well. She probably would've missed with every shot if it wasn't for the suit assisting her aim.
As they walked, James was conscious of the rapid transition from undeveloped desert to something more civilized. She could see orchards in the distance, the green of their trees incongruous against the brown and tan of other desert life. Sweat was already dripping down her mane, sliding down her legs, and she found herself wishing she hadn't removed her suit.
Hiking hundreds of kilometers was no problem while wearing armor, but take that off and even a short distance in this heat became difficult. I wonder if the other species are better adapted to life on the ground. She still hadn't met any individuals from the "earth pony" tribe. Her one example of a unicorn had seemed even thinner and leaner than the pegasus ponies were.
She found her mind drifting as they walked, relieved that, if nothing else, Lightning Dust was giving her a chance to think. Someone wants to take me away from Lightning Dust. Someone who knows more about humans than any other ponies. Not quite enough to understand the difference between a stun pistol and something more lethal, but enough to at least recognize a firearm when he saw one. The ponies with him were dressed like Solar Guards. Exactly like the pictures of them she'd seen in her book, in fact. How much did the natives actually know about her?
He seemed to think that my involvement was a mistake. That probably means they don't know about sleeving. James looked up, clearing her throat. "E-excuse me, Lightning Dust..." She couldn't help but sound a little out of breath. She was thirsty, but not thirsty enough to stop and fight to get her saddlebags open and get at her water pouches.
The mare looked down, her eyes a bit glazed from the heat. The weight probably wasn't helping either—Dust's saddlebags had already been full before she tied a huge plastic crate to the outside. The suit and all James's gear had to weigh twenty kilograms, if not more. "Yeah, Lucky? We're almost there, if that's what you're asking. Tiuj ĉerizarboj are where the urbo komenciĝas."
"Not that." She hesitated for a few more seconds, wondering if she might be making a mistake. She kept going anyway. "The ones looking for me... they seem to know things. Have you ever heard of, uh... creatures... visiting Equestria before? Maybe in the last five years or so?"
Lightning Dust stopped walking, so abruptly she almost ran into her back legs. She swerved at the last second, and managed to stop herself from falling over too.
"Yeah," Dust said, staring forward at the town in the distance. "They supposedly visited Dodge Junction. Something..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "Something really bad happened here, apparently. That unicorn who visited you in the hospital, she told me that the, uh... the things like what you brought, they could hurt ponies. Make them sick. Some even died. Was she telling the truth?"
"No!" James exclaimed, before taking the time to think about the answer. "Well, uh... they're not supposed to. Some of our technology is powered by... dangerous fuel. It's safe so long as the cases are closed. But if they open, they can make you really sick."
"That's... a little like what she said," Dust said, her face darkening. "She said that ponies were getting sick, and nobody knew how to make them better. We won't get sick, will we, Lucky?"
James shook her head again. "No, we won't. That's why I had to get new gear. I dropped my old communicator off the clouds while you were gone so it couldn't make us sick."
"Oh, good." Dust relaxed. "I don't trust the princesses the way I used to, but I don't want to help monstroj invadi. That isn't what you're here to do, right?" She turned then, leaning down and resting one hoof on James's shoulder. Holding her in place. "Tell me the truth, Lucky."
Again, there was no need to hesitate, nor any trace of dishonesty from her. "No, of course not!" Not that James exactly knew what Dust was talking about. But she could tell from her tone it must be bad.
"We came here because we wanted to be friends with you, that's all. We want to learn how ponies live, maybe share some of our ways so you don't have to figure them out the hard way, like we did. Honestly, it's... incredible to me how much we have in common. Most of the theories I studied on what alien life would be like suggested you would probably depend on whole suites of senses that we don't have. You might've been so different we didn't even recognize you were alive, or vice-versa. But here you are, using a language with nouns and verbs and adjectives, building..." She stopped walking then, staring forward. "Honest-to-God Old West boomtowns... and setting up governments that are familiar enough to recognize."
"I don't understand." Dust sounded a little relieved, but not much. "Isn't making friends more of a pony thing? You said your type weren't ponies. I've met dragons and griffons and minotaurs before, and they're not nearly as crazy about the idea as we are."
That took another few seconds for James to digest. She kept staring off at the buildings she could see between the trees—two stories, all made of familiar wood, with fences and signs and all the other accoutrements she would expect from a western boomtown. There were shouting voices, pounding metal, and the smell of food. Real food too, not just differently cooked hay.
"We're not... obsessed with making friends," she said. "But it's nice to do." She gestured up to the sky with one wing. "We've been looking for a long time, Dust. Wondering if, maybe, we were the only ones out there. Maybe the conditions to create life were so rare that it would never happen again."
Dust pulled her close with one hoof, embracing her with a wing. "You lost me again, squirt. You're a liar if you don't think you're an egghead... maybe ponies just have different standards for being smart where you're from. All I need to know is that you didn't come to hurt anypony. La aŭtoritatoj estas wrong, as usual. You just wanted to make friends, and they goofed up. A hundred bits says they got so scared they attacked and it’s their propra stulta kulpo that poneoj malsaniĝis." She released James, and together they started walking again. "We'll see when the next train is passing through. Hopefully you don't mind a little weather—we'll have to catch it even if it's portanta kargon aŭ poŝto. Maybe I can find you some smart ponies your own age up in the Crystal Empire. Homeschool estas mojosa kaj ĉiu, but... I bet you'd learn quicker if you had a whole library, instead of one book with ĉiuj paĝoj falantaj eksteren."
"Yeah." James winced, thinking about the ratty old textbook stashed in her saddlebags. Most of its pages had swollen from moisture now, and some of the ink was smearing. The binding was coming apart from many, many readings, and she'd marked it up so badly in places that she couldn't see the original words. "I probably would." They were close enough now that she could see a handful of ponies watching them. The cherry trees offered refreshing shade, making it easier to breathe. Not that Dust's answers had made her feel much better.
As flattering an illusion as it might be, James didn't imagine for a second that she was this probe's first attempt. It would've started with whole crews, would've started with capable humans of mixed disciplines and probably military backgrounds. What had they done in Equestria before she arrived? More disturbing, what had the probe realistically hoped to accomplish by sending a team of only one member across sixty kilometers in the body of a child?
When she found a private moment, it would be easy to ask, but she wasn't sure how likely she would understand the answer she received. A Forerunner was not a person, nor could it be said to be meaningfully sapient. It could only follow its core directives and respond to stimuli. What stimuli made it want to make me?
* * *
Lightning Dust could always tell when something was wrong. It was a talent she'd relied on even more heavily than her special talent, ever since her disgrace. Ponies in groups always acted in the same predictable ways, just like clouds. And just like clouds, she could tell when the lightning was about to start.
Dust led the way into Dodge Junction with square shoulders and a friendly expression, ready to meet anypony who wanted to talk with her usual mask of politeness. Only as they walked around the fence out of the cherry orchard and into the town proper, she could see ponies were staring. Ponies passing in the street stopped, mouths hanging agape. A few children squealed and galloped off as fast as they could go, their cries mingling together and stretching beyond what Dust could properly understand. A few ponies hurried away with exaggerated nonchalance, turning to glance back at them whenever they thought she wasn't looking.
No, not both. The ponies of Dodge Junction hardly seemed to see Dust. Every single one of them had eyes only for Lucky.
"W-what's going on?" Lucky whispered, even more shyly than normal. "Why is everyone so scared?"
Dust only pulled her a little closer with one wing. "I'll handle it," she said. "I'll figure this out. We'll be getting out of the city quick enough, anyway." They were already halfway to the rail station. She could see the ticket booth already, and the large sign of routes and schedules posted above it. She couldn't quite make them out yet, though.
"Excuse me, ma'am," a male voice said, his voice a slow methodical drawl. Though to be fair, almost everypony sounded like they were talking slow when Dust listened to them. She stopped, turning slightly so she could see the speaker. A thickly-built earth pony with a sheriff's star as a cutie mark, taller than she was and wearing a rope on his belt and a wide-brimmed hat. "Name's Long Arm. I don't mean to trouble you, but... who is this you're traveling with?"
"This is Lucky Break," she answered, smiling as though she didn't notice the entire city staring at them. "My little sister. Why?"
A small crowd of the locals was forming around them. Not close enough to stop them from running, not a mob... but close enough that Dust began to feel nervous. If things go bad, at least I can fly away. Might have to drop that box to have the strength to carry Lucky... So much for choosing a fortuitous name. If things kept going like they were today, the both of them would probably be banished to Tartarus before the week was over.
"Oh, well... it's just...” He turned from her, looking down at Lucky. His expression seemed to soften a little as he spoke. "Morning Dew, is that you? I don't... I buried you myself, how... how are you so young?"
Lucky backed up, shaking her head. "I don't know who that is. My name is Ja-..." She stopped, collecting herself. "I mean, my name is Lucky Break, just like my sister said. I don't know a Morning Dew."
Dust cleared her throat, nudging Lucky to start walking. She did, with Dust flanking her side like a guard. "Excuse us, but we have a train to catch."
Long Arm followed close behind. Most of the crowd started to disperse, but a few trailed behind as well, close enough to listen. "She looks just like her," he said, a little awed. "Forgive us if ponies seem a little... flustered. Your sister looks exactly like... a friend we've recently lost. She grew up here in town, so... Celestia, she looks exactly like Dew did, when she was small. There's not a water droplet hiding under those saddlebags, is there?"
"No," Lightning said, leaning back to lift them away from Lucky's flank with one wing. "She doesn't have her cutie mark yet. It must just be a coincidence. Yellow and blue aren't rare colors for ponies. Like you said, this... Morning Dew wasn't a filly. This is a different pony."
"If you say so..." Long Arm said, retreating a few steps, getting out of their way. As he did, the most persistent of the crowd got out of the way as well, though plenty of them were still following. The poor filly stared around at everything, shaking slightly in fear and generally acting afraid of everything and everypony.
They made it to the train station with only a dozen or so ponies trailing them, many of which had found other things to keep them busy. Lightning Dust walked up to the ticket booth, and lost track of Lucky for a moment as she argued with the attendant about getting them booked onto the next train headed north. It wasn't a passenger train, and most ponies who sold tickets didn't seem to realize just how eager the rail industry was to take her bits. By the time she'd waited for the manager and explained again what she wanted, Dust realized the filly was completely gone.
Equestrian cities were the safest in the world, and being on the ground meant the foal wouldn't be able to find anywhere to fall. But the ponies of Dodge Junction were acting so strange...
Her worry was in vain. Lucky had only gone a few paces away, to the public notice board hanging by the train station. She was staring up at something written there as intently as she looked at her Eoch textbook.
Lightning Dust wasn't a strong reader, but even she could make out the simple words printed on the banner pinned to the very center of the board. The notice was plain black ink on white paper, as stark and ugly as possible as to catch the eyes of passing ponies.
Ponies of Dodge Junction are warned by order of Her Majesty's Solar Guard that dangerous creatures have been spotted passing through your town. If you see animals like these, please report them immediately to the nearest public figure. If you see something, say something.
Dust rested one wing gently on Lucky's shoulder, causing her to twitch and jerk upright, startled. "Woah, whoa, take it easy kid. I just wanted to let you know I got our tickets. Train should be passing through in another ten minutes. We'll have to get on while they're unloading mail deliveries."
Lucky acted like she couldn't even hear her. "W-what... what's that say, Lightning Dust? I can't read some of those words..."
Dust read, doing her best not to give away just how difficult it was for her. "Monster Sighting in Dodge Junction. Ponies of Dodge Junction are warned by order of her majesty's Solar Guard that dangerous creatures have been spotted passing through your town. If you see animals like these, please report them immediately to the nearest public figure. If you see something, say something. Don't be another victim." She looked up. "Why? That thing doesn't look like much of a monster. No claws, no fangs..."
"I'm glad you think so," Lucky said, very quietly. "I just wish I knew how ponies know about them."
"Because they killed you." The voice came so quietly that at first Dust couldn't even tell anypony was speaking. Until she looked down, and she saw the tiny figure standing just behind a pillar, looking straight into Lucky's face.
The pony looked so like her that Dust had to do a double-take, staring down at a pair of ponies with nearly identically colored coats. But the second pony had a violet mane instead of blue, and a few seconds later she smelled him. A colt, not a filly, with a cutie mark of three water drops with heart patterns on them.
"I-I don't know..." Lucky squeaked, tears clearly streaming down her face. "I'm not w-who you... th-think I am."
The colt ignored her, advancing another few steps. His eyes were different too, green instead of violet. He was still a pegasus, though he had the slightly heavier build that was common to foals of earth ponies and pegasi.
They look like family, Lightning Dust thought. Too close to be a coincidence. But why would Lucky lie? Not only that, but the hospital hadn't been able to find any record of a filly matching her description anywhere. If one had gone missing from Dodge Junction, surely Dust would’ve heard about it. The authorities could be negligent, but never so willfully incompetent.
"You even smell like her," the little colt said, walking right up to Lucky and pressing himself to her with all the innocence of a child. "What happened to you, Mom?"
"I'm not your mom!" Lucky squeaked, tears in her eyes as she retreated, trying to edge herself behind Lightning Dust.
Dust happily cooperated, shielding the filly. What in Celestia's name is going on?
"It's not his fault." Long Arm approached, his heavy hooffalls echoing off the wood beneath them. Dust abruptly recognized the color of the colt's mane—it was the same as Long Arm's. He seemed to have a similar eye color, too. "He's just seeing what I did. Hoping you might have more of an explanation. Rather like I am." He nodded up at the poster. "Monsters got his mother, stranger. 'Bout six months ago, before winter ended.
Dust looked away from him, down at the filly she was shielding, lowering her voice to a quiet murmur. "Do you have any idea what's going on, Lucky?"
The filly looked up, her eyes still wide with fear. At least she wasn't crying. "M-maybe," she squeaked. "But i-it wouldn't make sense. I don't know if... you even have words for th-the concepts."
Dust's eyes narrowed. "Are you the pony they're talking about? Have you been lying to me all this time?"
"No!" she proclaimed, no hesitation, no looking away. "Everything I told you was true! I left out some details, but..."
Dust looked up again, away from Lucky. "I'm really sorry," she said. "It sounds like there was a real tragedy here. But Lucky Break didn't have anything to do with it. She isn't your missing family member." She lowered her head to the colt. "I'm sorry kid. I lost my mom when I was about your age. I wish I could give you yours back, but that isn't how things work." She lifted up her wing, returning it to her side so that Lucky was fully uncovered. The filly shivered, but Dust didn't let her hide again. Instead she raised her voice, so all the staring ponies would be forced to see. "We're just passing through. We're sorry we had to revive such painful memories on our way."
The colt returned to his father, and together they stared. Some of the townsfolk were still watching, their eyes never lingering from Lucky. This train can't come soon enough.
"Safe ride. But mind the sign, strangers." He pointed one last time back in the direction of the poster. "We lost a pony mighty close to us to those monsters. Wouldn't want somepony else's family to suffer like we did," Long Arm said, staring for a few more seconds at Lucky, before turning and ushering the stallion away.
A few minutes later, and the mail train finally pulled into the station. Dust hurried up to speak to the conductor, taking Lucky along this time. She didn't even have to say anything to make sure the filly followed close to her.
The conductor was far more amenable to the idea of carrying a few low-fare passengers in the back of one of his empty cars than the ticket ponies had been to sell them passage, and soon enough they were tucked away in an empty hallway between rows and rows of identical boxes. Lucky hid out of sight of any of the windows, but Dust waited by the entrance, staring out at the town as two measly cargo containers were unloaded and the train received new stock of water and fuel.
The train rumbled and whistled beneath them, starting to chug forward. Dust watched the town fade into the background, conscious of many eyes staring after them as they finally stretched out of sight.