The clatter of metal on metal and the clatter of hooves fills the air as royal guards rush in following the Padishah’s pronouncement, forming a wide circle. Lances and guns in hoof, they stand ready. I face a wall of steel and gunmetal. Once in position, all sound fades away as they stand watching me, seeming to not even breathe. They watch my every move, my every breath.
I swallow hard, I did not expect this reaction. I know his justice is swift, it will be only a matter of minutes before I’m tied down to the same flagstones that other horse was, awaiting the drop of the sword on my neck. I try to take a step back, but the guards, the same guards that I’ve sat with and eaten with. The same guards that I’ve joked around with, are holding me firmly. Almost by instinct I assume the void, trying to pull on my magic.
I’m greeted with a coldness that shocks me to my core. I can feel the warmth of the magic, I can sense the gentle yet overwhelming power beyond. But when I reach towards it, I touch some sort of barrier, like the smoothest of glass. What is this? Is this the effect of the suppression ring on my horn?
This is their gift, their trust? You can break this. It is nothing to you.
My ears flick in response to the voice, my eyes widen and dart around as everything seems to move in slow motion, who or what is that?
You have the power, you have the essence of life in your hooves. If you let them they will take everything from you.
My mind is now scrabbling along this barrier, my magic is right there, it’s just out of reach, I need to reach for it. I need to touch it, let the magic fill me, let my horn focus…
Take the power! It’s right there, push through this, if you don’t they will take everything. As the moon brings nightmares and the sun breaks the day, you need the power! Without it you can’t protect yourself, break this, break them, you are the World Breaker. You give life, you can take it, now before they strike!
I shake my can feel my body reacting, my heart is racing, my breathing is nearly to the point of hyperventilation. “No.” I whisper.
Padishah Kaspar stands from his throne and takes a few steps forward. “I am truly sorry about this, Ki. But you cannot be consort to one of the royal family. You are a pony, not of us. While my errant niece has been resistant to Sargon’s advances. I had hoped she would settle down and take her place in our society. She doesn’t have to marry him. She has agreed to pay back the dowry for her, so she is free to choose another horse for her to marry. Or she can choose not to marry.” He sighs. “Though your words and actions have impressed me, I truly did not think you were an agent for Celestia. I had hoped that you would be a friend to my kingdom, an ally, an asset. But to have you wrangle your way into her affections, I must conclude your intentions to not be honorable, that you are nothing but a pawn in Celestia’s game with the other kingdoms. You have broken my trust, and for that, you will pay the price.”
A loud stamp of hooves behind me gets me to flinch. “Uncle, you cannot kill him!”
He looks over at Ghaliya, an eyebrow rising. “Are you certain about that, my young niece? From where I stand, it looks like I easily can have him killed.”
He seeks to destroy you, you must protect yourself! End him!
“I won’t let you!” Ghaliya cries out in anger.
He chuckles. “Umm al-Hurairah, Ghaliya dear, did you not learn to never go against family? You, the sumudiyya, should act better by your names."
My wings feel almost leathery for a moment against my sides before I give my head a powerful shake. Flexing my pinion feathers, I gulp hard, looking up at the Padishah.
She looks back at me, a grim smile on her face. I think she’s trying to reassure me, before turning back to face her uncle. “I made it quite clear that I was not happy when Sargon was allowed to contend for my hoof in marriage. I’ve been working hard, building my business up from nothing, with no help from you. I have made my own way in your kingdom. I have not just survived, but I have prospered. I am able to choose who I want in my life. Not my father, not you!” She stamps a hoof.
I’m trying to keep my breathing under control. Surprisingly, it’s not the prospect of a sword meeting my neck rather violently that has me panicking, but the fact I cannot touch my magic. I could force it, I could break the barrier, I could…
Yes, do it, free yourself. No mere item can contain you.
Ghaliya growls. “Uncle. I am free, as you said, to choose my mate for life. I choose Ki. He has no knowledge of Celestia. He holds no loyalty except to me and until now, to you. I will not let you take his life without consequence. If you want to take his head for the desire to marry me. You must take my head for wanting to marry him. And the head of a griefstruck father.”
“Padishah,” one of the advisors calls out, “You need to free him.”
Padishah Kaspar focuses on Ghaliya and takes a step forward. “You stand in rebellion to my word?”
I jerk in the horse’s grasp. My panic is rising. I can feel myself reaching towards the magic, the warmth is there, I just have to…
Yes, save yourself from these ungrateful heathens.
“Yes, if your word means the death of the one I love.”
Silence reigns throughout the throne room. One of the Padishah’s advisors moves closer and whispers in his ear. It’s the Grand Vizier, though he darts fearful glances towards me as he talks quietly to Kaspar. As he finishes, the Padishah looks at me sharply. He glances towards Bijan then back at me before clearing his throat.
“Release him.” He says sharply.
“Ghaliya,” The Grand Vizier says gently, “comfort Ki, let him know you are there and it’s safe.”
As the horses let me go, I reach up my hooves, for a moment, the restraint resists my efforts to dislodge it. One of the guards comes over and helps me, as the hated thing lands on the floor, I light my horn and channel Fire into it, leaving it a melted mess, sparking and crackling on the floor. My eyes burning as I look up before I feel Ghaliya’s hoof touch me.
“Ki?” She says with a gentle voice, “It’s okay, you’re free. I’m here. I’m with you, always.”
Padishah Kaspar clears his throat. “Your words have not fallen on deaf ears.” He takes a few deep breaths, looking at the slag of the restraint on the floor. “But what I said must hold, you cannot be admitted to the royal family as consort to my niece. So, Sadayina Ghaliya, you are hereby severed from my family. I am no longer your uncle, you will have no access to the palace, I strip you of any hold to the family gold. You are no longer welcome in my palace. And as for you.” His eyes turn towards me. “I don’t want to see you in my palace ever again. I will fall short of exile from the City of Gardens. But you will have no access to any of the resources of the palace or of the royal family. You will be leaving this palace immediately. And I hope to never see you again.”
He turns his back as the line of horses slowly advance upon myself and Ghaliya, lowering their lances. Ghaliya stands before me, her tail flagging. “Uncle…”
He whirls around. “Don’t call me that! You have abandoned your family! You have abandoned your responsibilities for this pony! You no longer have the right to call me Uncle. You no longer have the right to call me family.” He ends with a hard stamp of a hoof.
“Let’s go.” I say quietly to her and she nods curtly before we both flee. The guards don’t pursue us, but she gets up into a gallop, her long legs eating the distance through the palace to the point where I have to take to the air to keep up with her. Together we flee the palace as fast as we can.
***
Two statues stand guard at the entrance to the throne room. A pair of dragons, their mouths agape mid roar, wings spread wide as they stand perched on pedestals. They guard doors that had not been open since before the castle was buried. Doors that remained sealed since before the great desert had overtaken the lands. Doors that had remained closed since before the great ice.
The sound of hoof steps echo through the corridors as light encroaches on the forever dark of the halls. Torches, one by one, springing to life as the steps grow closer, casting shadows and illuminating the dust floating in the air. As the light reaches the statues, a great cracking sound can be heard. The statues begin to glow in response to the light, cracks of brown and gold and white showing through the cracks in brilliant light.
The cracks run together across the statues. Growing and deepening, they spread across the entirety of both statues until the stone explodes outwards, exposing a pair of dragons. Gasping for air, both bellow fire in powerful roars up towards the ceiling. Their wings flap away the last of the dust and rocks from centuries of imprisonment. Tails slashing through the air, stirring up debris and clouds as their foreclaws dig into the marble pedestals they stand on.
Stepping down with a snarl, the first, a deep crimson red with gold counter scales down her neck and belly, she has horns that are the color of steel, but far sharper than any mere blade or spear. With a look to the side, the second dragon nods, this one black, with dark blue counter scales and white horns. They shake themselves out before they look towards the figure.
“Good morning Bellona, Enyo.”
The female dragon snarls, “How long have we slept for?”
“Too long. Far too long.” The figure says, walking past the two as the doors open to magical command.
Looking into the throne room, the two dragons shake their heads. With a huff, the male dragon grumbles, “What a mess.”
While the magic remained, it could not hold back all the effects of time. Banners which once hung proudly now litter the floor with dust. Flowers, bushes, even small trees, long dead and decayed, some petrified, while others simply were nothing, a mere memory accented by the pots they once occupied. The raised dais dominates the far end of the room, its two thrones sitting unused. Behind the great doors that lead out to a balcony, now buried under sand.
“This is unbecoming. Enyo, Bellona, time to earn your keep, clean this place up.”
Bowing their heads, the pair responds in stereo, “Yes, honored one.”
***
“What was that all about?” I murmur softly.
Ghaliya reclines in her office, several papers before her. She’s sipping tea as she works. She looks up at me quizzically. It’s only been a few hours since we’ve been so rudely ejected from the royal palace. “That was about me getting disowned, BUT getting my way. It could have gone a lot worse. It almost did,” she says, tilting her head to the side with a smile so big and bright she has to close her eyes.
“No, I meant with Bijan and your uncle,” I huff, then I shake my own head and smile back at Ghaliya. Her way of showing happiness in this situation is just infectious. “His attitude changed so much when Bijan talked to him. Did you hear what he said?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t think the restraint was very effective.”
That gets me to turn and look at her in shock. “Not very effective? I was terrified! I couldn’t touch my magic!” I assume the void and pull the magic into me, my horn lighting. “It was the most horrifying experience in my life!”
She snorts and pokes me with the tip of her hoof. “Yeah, in the what? Few months you can remember?” She stops and shakes her head. “Ki, those are supposed to be enchanted with extremely powerful magic. You are not supposed to be able to burn one to a cinder the way you did. I think part of the reason Bijan talked to him was because given enough time, and when you got panicked enough, you would have broken it. What would you have done then?”
“I would have…” I stop. “I mean I would…” I gulp, remembering that voice whispering in my mind, death, revenge, power? It seemed to be lusting for that. She nods as though she could hear the words inside my head. I flop to the floor. “I’m so sorry, Ghaliya.”
She looks at me over her tea, her eyebrows rising. “Why?”
“I caused you to be banished from your family.”
“You caused nothing,” she says, slamming her teacup down, the dark liquid splashing all over her hoof. She takes a moment to extract her hoof from the handle and shakes it daintily. “You didn’t cause this, Ki. I knew my uncle was upset with my decision regarding Sargon. I knew it was going to escalate. I didn’t expect this exact reaction, I knew he was wary of you. His reaction to me bringing an alicorn home was surprising, but he showed us why he reacted that way.”
I narrow my eyes, thinking. “The cisterns under the city. That statue.”
She nods. “We already know alicorns are long lived, apparently he thinks that you would assert your claim to this land. Take what we have built away from him, away from the horses.”
That gets a short whinny from me. “Seriously? I don’t know any of that! I wouldn’t try to take land like that. I have no desire…”
I stumble to a stop at the look on Ghaliya’s face. “Of course I know that, Ki. You know that. And he likely knows that. But having an alicorn show up after over a thousand years of absence, he has to consider that possibility.” She sighs heavily. “I can’t really blame him for his decision.” She looks at me. “But I don’t care. I have sent Dawn with a message to my father. Though he’s likely already heard about developments from his brother. He has no say in who I will be marrying. I’ve paid back my dowry, I’ve paid what you owe to the Padishah.”
I snort in surprise. “What I owe?”
She nods. “You think living in the palace is just guest right? Maybe for a short time, but you were accruing debt to the crown with every night that you stayed there, and I’m certain that was intentional. The more you owe to the crown, the less you can…” She shrugs. “Don’t worry Ki.” She gets to her hooves and moves over and lies down next to me, her body up against mine. On reflex I fold a wing around her. She snuggles closer to me. “I will take care of you. No matter what.” She leans her head under my chin, I can feel her voice resonating in my throat. “No matter what.” She murmurs softly.
“D'awwww, how so adorable.”
I glance over. Dawn is standing there, heavy saddlebags hanging on each side of her. She smiles as she shrugs out of the bags. “I did what you wanted, Ghaliya. I delivered the message to your father, and boy was he not happy. But I don’t think he’s happy with his brother either. I went to the palace and got your stuff also, Ki.”
“We are banned from the palace,” I say before I see the smirk on her face.
“Well, we are banned from the palace, afterall.” I say before I see the smirk on her face. “Slaves and common ponies can sometimes get where freehorses cannot.” Ghaliya murmurs softly.
Dawn nods. “I got your stuff from your rooms, Ki. Extra robes, some gold, a few things of yours.” She indicates the bags on the floor, getting a smile from me.
“Thank you, Dawn.”
“All part of the service. So, what are you going to do now?”
I sigh, looking at Ghaliya. “I don’t know. I guess work on training, go out with the caravan, just continue living my life. I don’t know what happened before.” I stop, trying to remember, only flashes of an explosion surfacing. I shake my head. “But I know what I have now, and I will be enjoying my life with a certain somehorse.”
Ghaliya shifts closer to me. “Yeah,” she murmurs softly.
Dawn looks at the two of us for a long moment. “Well, after what happened, I’d say the rest of the day is a free day for you, Ki. Maybe give you a couple of days to recover. We can't spare you any longer, not now we're on our own." She trots from the room.
“Ki.” Ghaliya says softly.
“Yes?” I gulp, watching Dawn go before looking back at Ghaliya.
“What happened? You seemed to scare Bijan.”
I frown, remembering having that suppressor on my horn. “I don’t know I heard some voice, I felt a presence, inside me. Like a part of me, pushing for me to break it, to tap into my power.”
“I looked back at you, if I didn’t know you, I would have been afraid. I could see the panic on your face. I saw the anger, the frustration. It was scary. You know, he would not have followed through on that threat.”
My eyes widen. “What are you talking about? With that other horse, there was almost no delay.”
She rubs her muzzle along my neck, I fight my wings, which want to extend. “Ki, there is a reason my uncle.” She tsks. “The Padishah, I must remember to refer to him that way.” She sighs. “He has advisors for a reason. He made his proclamation in the heat of anger. Before anything happened, cooler heads would have prevailed. He would not declare war against Celestia without knowing he could win.”
I narrow my eyes. “But I don’t have any connection to her.”
“It doesn’t matter. Killing an alicorn, that’s assuming you can be killed, would be an act of war on Equestria. At the very least, it would make future peaceful relations with Celestia and her kingdom difficult if not impossible if it became known that he had an alicorn unknown to her killed for such a reason, no pony would ever deal with our kingdom again. If you had stood in open rebellion of him, I could see him justifying such an execution, but wanting to marry a mare…” She shakes her head. “I don’t see that being justifiable with Celestia.”
I turn my head away. “I don’t want to see Celestia. She scares me.”
“She scares me, too, love. She scares me, too.”
A throat clearing gets both of our attention. I notice the horse who is waiting respectfully outside the door. I start to move away from Ghaliya, only to have her use her head to hold me in place. I suppress the urge to make noise as Ghaliya calls out for the horse to enter. Ducking through the curtains, I find my eyes widening. “Farris!?”
He bows briefly, though seeing Ghaliya snuggled up next to me puts a distasteful frown on his face. “Mistress. And new master. Forgive me my priordiscourtesies, you have proven your honor and intentions. No more shall I slight you.”
“You no longer have to call me that.” She says abruptly, her voice all business. “I’m guessing you are getting reassigned?”
He shakes his head, tossing his mane. “I was presented with orders back to the royal palace. Along with the other guards of my contingent. I refused them and resigned from the Fedayeen”
That gets Ghaliya to stand up, for a moment, I feel the ache of her being away from me, but she looks back at me with a smile before moving up to Farris. “This is not a small thing, Farris. The Padishah…”
Farris stops her with a sharp gesture of his hoof. “Is wrong. His highness is wrong. Master Ki has been with us, not just with the Djinn. But he has shown his loyalty to you. I could do no less. Not a single Mujahid has followed the orders, we offer our contract to you, to continue protecting you and the caravan for as long as you’ll have us.”
Ghaliya looks back at me, then at Farris. “Very well, I will accept your contracts.” She stops for a moment, then tosses her mane to the side. “And, you have my thanks, Farris. The Padishah and my father wanted you to protect me while on the march. I’m glad to see you will be continuing with me in this time.”
He bows again. “I could do nothing less. Both of you have earned my respect. What Master Ki went through when you were taken from us. I knew he would do absolutely anything to rescue you. Just as I would.”
“Thank you, Farris.” I say softly, getting a bow in my direction. He salutes Ghaliya and I before turning tail and exiting the office.
Ghaliya turns around. “Okay, when do you want to get married?”
My eyes widen. “We just got thrown out of the palace, you just got disowned by your family. And you want to plan our wedding?”
She giggles. “Well, have you thought about where you are sleeping tonight? I have my own home, and I’m just fine with breaking many of the rules. But having an unattached mare sleeping under the same roof as an unattached stallion, you aren’t my brother, thank the stars. But, no, that’s not going to work at all. We don't have the excuse of travel anymore.”
My eyes widen, I hadn’t given a single thought to that. She giggles. “Maybe Farris has room at his place. It’s a small room, but better than nothing.”
I frown, Farris? I shake my head. Getting a louder giggle from her. “Oh, Ki. I wouldn’t do that to you.” She looks around. “In a few weeks, we will be wed, and you will join me in our bed. Under our roof together.” She comes over and nuzzles my cheek. “But until that time. You can sleep here, I’ve done so many times, the back office has a comfortable place for you to rest. I’ll ensure you have enough gold to pay for food. There’s no shortage of horses making food all over the city. You’ve been spoiled by living in the palace, where you can get any amount of food at any time simply by asking. You are going to have to work for it now. You are our caravan’s magic user. You are still being trained in that. The guards will still train you in bladed weapons and in firearms. You have nothing to worry about there.”
I snort, “Well, I do have the abilities of a pegasus pony or a griffon. I could sleep on a cloud.”
“Good luck finding a cloud this time of year. There aren’t all that many available.”
I lay my head down. “Not fair.”
She walks towards the door. “I need to be getting home, Hadi will be wondering where I am, if the news from the palace has reached him.”
I nod as she moves off, that flick of her tail capturing my attention, occupying my thoughts for way too long after she left. I notice but don’t really react as Dawn comes into the office and moves quickly to the back room. I’ve been helping Ghaliya with the record keeping when she’s been in town between trips. Hours pass as I finish up writing the numbers into the large ledger book. Finally I stretch, Dawn had apparently lit a couple of lamps while I had been working. The window shows me that it’s night out. I stretch a bit before moving into the back room, using my magic to snuff the flames from the lamps as I move. The low bed seems to have been fluffed out and made up for me to crash into it. I crawl in and pull the covers up. Night here can get quite cold, even in the city. After only a few moments, another body crawls into the bed and snuggles up with me.
“Ghaliya?” I murmur softly. Did she just go against what she told me earlier?
“Nope.”
I open an eye, Dawn is now snuggled tightly against my chest, her forelegs around my barrel. She looks up at me. “I am following orders here -- mandatory and fun -- the best kind. You’ve had a very rough day. You need comforting. I’m not going to pressure you into anything here, but you need somepony to be close to you tonight.”
I fold my wing over the unicorn mare and snuggle closer to her. “Thank you, Dawn.” I murmur softly, sleep rolling over me. “I don’t know what I would do without your support.”
“All part of the service.” She says quietly as sleep finally catches up with me.
***
“Miss, miss. Please wait! I need your help!”
The plaintive voice pulls me from my slumber. It’s only been a few days since I’ve left the palace. Making a temporary home in Ghaliya’s office has been nice, but still I’d prefer an actual home, preferably with Ghaliya by my side. Though during the day, I am lucky to even see her. We are just too busy as we prepare for her next caravan outing without delay. There's a frantic energy to it, like we're wondering when the match is going to touch the powder. This voice, sounding like an older mare, has grabbed my attention. I take a moment to pull on my robes before nosing through the curtain into the main office area.
Ghaliya is standing there, before an older mare. Sitting on the floor between them is a bag, if it has gold in it, it’s not very much, the large bag is obviously nearly depleted. The mare sighs. “I need to hire a caravan, our village is suffering. We are a small settlement near the Great Sea. A plague has caused our crops to fail, us horses have very little to eat. I was sent here with what gold we could scrounge together and I’ve purchased what goods I could. But everything here is so expensive! I don’t have much left for the fees for a caravan to transport everything back home.” She glances at me, then back to Ghaliya. “An old mare in the marketplace said for me to seek you out. Please, you are my only hope.”
I move around where I can see Ghaliya’s face. She’s quite torn obviously. I know the amount of income from a typical caravan, looking at that sack, I doubt there’s enough gold in there to cover our costs, even with everything already purchased. I move over and sit next to Ghaliya, who sidles a bit closer to me, wanting me close to her.
“We don’t really do that sort of thing. Usually we take on much bigger…” Ghaliya starts.
“But I have nowhere else to turn! I have several wagons, and a few others from our village to pull them, but we have no security, we have no protection. No other caravan company is willing to take the job. Please, I beg of you! Horses will starve if I don’t get everything back. We could try to strike out on our own. But we will have to pass through some wild territory.”
“I’ll do it,” I say softly.
Ghaliya snorts, “Ki, careful, I can’t afford to send more than a half dozen guards with you. Most of them are needed for the run we are preparing for right now, with the angry old stallion...” She runs her cheek next to mine. “And I really wanted you with me for this one.”
That gets a smile from me. “Just keep Dawn with you. She has some of those focusing crystals. She’s taught me their use. I can spend time with you every evening when you stop for the night, then pop back to them in the morning and travel with them during the day.”
Ghaliya pulls the sack closer, she looks inside. “This could be an initial payment, but we will have to make arrangements for more later.” She looks up at the mare. “I can perhaps take a percentage of your crops as payment once you get your fields sorted out.” She looks at me, then at the older mare. “Can you agree to those terms?”
The mare nods. “Oh, yes. Normally we are quite productive. Our scholar has been working night and day to try to fix the problems. We’ve thought of appealing to the Padishah for magical help to fix the fields. But Nisran is quite learned, he will fix things pretty quickly. We have faith in him.”
Ghaliya smiles at me. Then she leans closer. “I expect you with me at sundown every night, Ki. Can you do that?”
I nod. She picks up the sack and indicates for the mare to follow her. In only a matter of hours we are heading from the city. The older mare nearly prancing in delight as we walk. I keep looking around. Then I see something that gets me to stop in my tracks. In the bazaar, a mare is standing there. She’s dark blue, almost navy blue. Though she looks quite aged, her coat is graying. But her mane, it’s three toned gray and silver. I know I’ve seen her before. She nods at the mare that hired us with a small smile and the mare nods back. I take a hesitant step, looking back at her. Despite her obviously advanced age, her eyes are captivating. Wisdom and experience, yet a youthful exuberance I’ve only seen in the young horses around here. With a flick of her tail, she disappears into the crowd as we make our way through the city walls out into the desert. Eight days of walking are ahead of us. Though the paltry dozen wagons following me are quite small for a caravan, I sincerely doubt that any bandits along our route would consider us worth the risk, though the guards, all volunteers, are arrayed around the small group would be enough deterrence in my estimation as we make our way southeast. The horses from the village are all skinny, though they seem to have a lot of heart as they pull their wagons down the hard packed road. Ghaliya’s caravan is going to leave the following morning.
As the sun touches the western horizon, I focus my magic and pull a small staff out of my own pack. Remembering the spell that Dawn drilled into me, it is only seconds before it takes on a glow of its own. With my magic attuned to it, I can teleport back to it at any time. Then I cast my magic out and only a few moments I feel my destination, feel the crystal. I pulse a bit of magic at it, knowing it’s starting to glow where Dawn had planted it in the ground. A few moments later I can feel the magical response. They’re ready for me. It’s exactly where I expect it to be. A surge of magic and I pop out of existence, to appear next to the short staff driven into the ground. Dawn is standing there, a big smile on her face. “You are picking up your lessons quite well, Ki.”
“I’ve had a good teacher.”
Dawns shy smile and blush get a smile from me. I don’t love her, not the way I feel for Ghaliya, but I do have a lot of affection for the blue unicorn. I reach down and nuzzle the cheek of the shorter mare in affection before I turn and see Ghaliya standing there, a happy smile on her face.
“So, how far did you get?”
I shrug my wings. “About twenty miles before sundown. The guards are set up for the night and you and I can have a nice supper before I head back.”
She smiles brightly. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Ki!!!” Comes a young voice before the small horse barrels into me. I hug the colt tightly. “Ghaliya said you would be here, yet I saw you leave with that small caravan.”
I nod. “The wonders of magic.”
Ghaliya moves over. Our meal is prepared, getting a happy smile from me.
Popping back into my tent a few hours later, I crawl into my blankets for a peaceful sleep. I can handle this, as long as I see Ghaliya every day.
This ritual goes on through the trip before we crest a dune and find a large valley, leading down to the ocean. The breeze from the large body of water keeps everything cool, very nice after days of dealing with the hot sun. But what surprises me is the amount of tilled land, and yet, nothing is growing. There is an orchard also, and the trees are wizened and sickly looking. What is going on here?
The horses of the small caravan can see their home and are speeding up a bit eager to get home, to see their own family and friends. I smile at their eagerness, as I have to chastise them a bit to keep a steady pace so as not to get over tired. I haven’t just been learning from Dawn and the guard. Ghaliya has taught me a lot about her business and the care of her employees and slaves as well. I glance up at the sun, we have hours left of daylight. As we approach, more and more horses, almost all of them painfully thin, apparently only a few tubers along with what little the trees are producing have been their only food supply. First one, then more and more of the horses starts calling out to the small caravan, those working in the fields watching as we get on the road into the town. Thin, tired bodies smiling brightly for what seems to be the first time in a long time. Malnourished foals bouncing around in front of us, and as we finally pull into the town, the food is being quickly unloaded and taken to the individual homes.
The mare who hired us is quite profuse with her thanks as another horse in robes much like mine comes out. Perched on his face is a pair of eye glasses, and he’s got a similar star on his forehead much like how Irfan has on his own. I nod in response to the mare before heading over to him. “Nisran?”
He looks up from a book, then he does a double take. “A pony?”
I look up, cross eyed at my horn, then I nod. “Yeah, but I’m not from Equestria.” He nods. I glance at the book, it seems to be something about magical diseases on crops. “No luck?”
I light my horn. “Mind if I try?”
His eyes widen. “By all means! If you can fix this, we will be forever in your debt, pony. We shall call you Al-Kareem, the generous.”
“Just Ki,” I say absently as I move into the field. I know how to feel the life around me. I can feel the seeds, the little bundles of life just waiting to emerge. I feel the ground all around me, tilled and taken care of carefully by the horses here over the centuries. There doesn’t seem to be… I surge magic into my horn, something is wrong here. The life should easily take hold, this land is fertile, an ideal place for growing food. But something is inhibiting that. I look around. I can feel the wrongness. “There is something different here,” I say softly. “It’s not intelligent, not the way we are, but there is some intelligence here. Magical strength.”
Nisran snorts. “I know that, but I haven’t…”
I look around. Something is tickling the back of my mind. Why do I know this? Why is a memory surfacing, some book I’ve read. I can see the pages, but it’s not held on any stand, but I can see…claws? Some appendages holding this book. But the information comes through. “Stymphalian,” I say softly.