The Enchantress moved through the desert as she always had, one hoof at a time wherever the road of life would take her.
…That wasn’t quite true. There had been a time where she hadn’t been wandering the endless expanse of sand. A time where water flowed and cities flourished.
That had been so long ago it felt like another lifetime. Even though she had a poor grasp on how many years she’d been out here, she was almost certain she had spent more time wandering the desert than all other parts of her life combined. Had she been a normal pony, she would have been a crippled old mare by now, if not dead.
For better or for worse, she was still alive and could expect to live for significantly longer unless the desert took her life from her too. Once, she had been surprised and filled with hope at her continued survival against impossible odds. Now it just felt like existence was cruel.
Even the road she was on right now seemed to bring with it a duality – how fortunate was she that the wind would blow the right way to uncover an ancient road? But how unfortunate it was to be walking along a reminder of the expansive empires that once filled the land, now replaced with nothing but sand as far as the eye could see.
She had never seen an ocean in her life, but she had seen illustrations of them in books. The rippling, rolling dunes of the endless desert reminded her of those illustrations. Naturally, some part of her knew the waves of the ocean would move quickly rather than over the course of several weeks, but she had no real memories to back that up with. The biggest body of water she’d ever seen was an underground river. And that had dried up ages ago.
Idly, she wondered if even the distant oceans had survived the desertification of the world. Perhaps if she traveled far enough, she would find what remained of the vast bodies of water. It was not a new thought, but she wasn’t the sort of mare to have thoughts only once. She would have run out of things to think about long ago if she had taken that idea to heart.
The road under her hooves had done a remarkable job of surviving the oppressing heat. The pavement was still mostly smooth and level, though it was cracked in a few places. Were it not for the loose grains of sand upon the path it would have been comfortable to walk upon. As it was, the occasional slipping hoof was leagues better than the exhausting effort it took to drudge through the sand dunes.
Not that she wasn’t known to walk through stretches of nothing but sand for a day. Though, just because she could didn’t mean she should. She tried never to use more energy than she had to.
Because of this, she was dressed for oppressive travel even though she technically didn’t need to be given her special situation. From her hooves to the tip of her ears she was covered in tattered, brown rags designed to keep the sand away from her thin fur. Many ponies would have coverings for their tail as well, but she had cut hers off years ago for efficiency’s sake. She still had her mane though – peeking out from under the tatters on her head, covering her forehead with curled purple locks that provided some shade for her face. Her eyes and the white fur surrounding them were the only part of her actual body visible from the outside, though they were protected by a truly ancient pair of goggles with a crack down one lens. She gazed upon the world with brilliant blue eyes lined with wrinkles not of age, but of emotional exhaustion.
These eyes rarely looked anywhere but directly forward, towards a goal even she didn’t know.
The sky had lit up.
She frowned under the folds of her coverings. That thought had been persistent. She understood why – when five orbs of color appeared around the sun and vanished shortly thereafter, naturally one was to wonder what would cause such a thing. But the Enchantress had quickly come to the conclusion that not only was there nothing she could do about those lights, but she also had no idea where to even go if she wanted to learn more. It was pointless to dwell on it, dwelling on things like that gave her hope. She was the last hope of the world, and thusly didn’t allow herself to have unfounded amounts of it. Couldn’t afford to. Not anymore.
The sky lighting up should be pressed back into the deep recesses of her mind and only brought out if it became pertinent to a situation at hoof. Which, currently, it was not. Virtually nothing was pertinent to relatively aimless desert wandering.
Soon, however, her mindless walking was replaced with very focused walking. In the distance, barely visible through the eternal mirage of the sands, was a black structure. Had it been any other color, she would not have paid it much attention – just another ruin uncovered by the wind.
However, the black was telling. Very little retained that dark color for long in the oppressive heat, unless it was charred.
The Enchantress made a point to leave the road to check out the black structure at some point. She didn’t allow herself to anticipate arriving – why would she? She had seen hundreds of these in her life; few of them had been particularly helpful. Ignoring them would be foolish, however, for one never knew what they might find nearby.
As she approached, the structure passed the minimum mirage distance and solidified into a pointed spire jutting out of the sand, perfectly upright. A spike daring the world to turn it to dust as it had done with so much else.
She took her time getting there, for she was in no hurry. About an hour passed with no sound but her hooves against the road and the occasional gust of wind. The spire itself didn’t offer any surprises as she approached it. As expected, when she was only a few minutes away from it, she was able to make out the soft amber glow of the Runes lining every surface of the structure. Closer still, and she could make out the cracks and imperfections in the structure, reminding her that even the ageless Runes were not immune to the slow death of the world. Their magic would fall just like everything else.
The Enchantress briefly wondered if she or the Runes would fall first. As usual, no answer presented itself.
Luckily for her, the spire was right next to the road, so she had no need to deviate from the path until she was only a few yards away. When she was close enough to touch it, she did so, laying a hoof upon the black stone. The amber Runes adorning every surface of the spire flashed a soft white color before returning to their default state.
At least that hasn’t changed.
She circled the spire. It did not take her long to find a large symbol – five circles surrounding a central, larger circle; each circle connected by a line to those adjacent, creating a star within a pentagon. The Enchantress didn’t even dwell on it, for she had seen it many, many times before. No use fixating on it now.
Around the side of the structure that has been hidden from her view, the Enchantress found an entrance to a single, hollow room. It wasn’t dark inside – for the amber Runes coated even the interior – but it wasn’t as oppressive as the roasting beams of the sun.
The Enchantress wasn’t exactly surprised, per se, to find a pony inside the structure. As one of the few reliable sources of shade in the world, naturally anypony smart would take shelter within one whenever possible.
She was surprised that the pony looked like she was ready for a war. The Enchantress had not seen armor of such fine craftsmanship since she’d begun her wanderings, and seeing a pony wearing full untarnished plate armor missing only the helmet was more than a little shocking. Furthermore, there was a truly absurd amount of weapons affixed to the armor – it was easy to make out swords, knives, a bow, a scythe, a hammer, and a few things the Enchantress couldn’t even recognize. Somehow the armor managed to hold all of this while still allowing the pony’s wings space to fold up without getting prodded by a loose blade.
Pegasi weren’t exactly unheard of, but the Enchantress had not seen one for a few years. And this one… this one looked far too clean. Her buttery yellow coat and feathers had hardly any sand in them and her pink flowing mane looked like it had been recently washed. And the mare’s eyes… teal, and strong. Who could have a gaze that strong in a dying world like this?
“Hi!” the pegasus said, softly, and with a welcoming smile. “I… appear to be lost.”
“…Everyone is lost in the eternal sand,” the Enchantress said, her own voice far quieter than she remembered, though she still spoke every word with careful precision.
“Oh.” There was only mild disappointment in the mare’s features. “I’m Fluttershy, weaponsmith of Musk.”
That explains the weapons, but not much else. “I have never heard of Musk. I am…” For a moment, she considered lying about her name. She quickly pushed that idea out of her mind, deciding a lie wasn’t worth it since so few ponies remembered the Enchantress’ name these days. “Rarity. My name is Rarity.”
“Nice to meet you!” Fluttershy said, giving Rarity a genuine smile. “Do you know where the closest town is?”
“The road may lead to a town, it may not. I can tell you there is nothing in the direction I came.”
“Surely there must be a town you came from?”
Rarity shook her head. “I have been traveling the road for several days, before that it was covered in sand. I was wandering aimlessly prior, I would not be able to find my way back from whence I came. Nor would I want to.”
Fluttershy nodded. “…What is this desert called?”
Rarity blinked, startled by the question. “Th… the Crystal Sea.”
“Never heard of it…” Fluttershy said, furrowing her brow. “Do I perhaps know it by a different name? Genir Desert? The Niren Wastes?”
Rarity stared at her, impassive. “I have never heard either of those names.”
“It has to be one of them…” Fluttershy said, rubbing her temple with the tip of her wing. “Those are the only two large enough, and we can’t be in monster territory…”
“…There is only one desert.”
“That’s impossible.”
“So is your cleanliness. Nopony gets this far into the sands without getting sand all over their everything, and you…”
Fluttershy giggled. “I did have a lot of sand everywhere when I first arrived, spent some time cleaning myself up in here while I waited for night to fall. …Though, you are right, I have not been here long. I arrived just a few hours ago.”
Rarity cocked her head. “Arrived?”
“I was at my shop, there was a bright flash of light, and then I was legs-up in the sand.” She laughed. “I felt a little silly at first. Then I wished I had my helmet. Then I wondered if I had enough food and shelter to survive in the desert. Clearly, my mind has its priorities straight.”
Rarity had just identified genuine laughter, sarcastic humor, and a moment of legitimate self-reflection in Fluttershy’s words. She clearly wasn’t from this desert. Which was impossible. Right?
Unless…
“Do you come from the ocean?”
“…There is an ocean near where I live, yes,” Fluttershy admitted.
Rarity frowned, not that Fluttershy could see it beneath her fabric. “If that is true, you really are far from home. I have been wandering for decades and I have never come across an ocean.”
“Hmm…” Fluttershy said, furrowing her brow. “Let me guess: you have no idea what could have brought me here?”
“Magic like that has not existed in the land since before I was born. Which would make a tale such as yours hard to believe if you didn’t look so out of place.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Wait… if magic like that hasn’t been around for a while, and you think there’s only one desert…” She stood bolt upright. “What if I was sent to the future!?”
“What?”
“Think about it!” Fluttershy said, conflicted emotions of excitement and fear fighting over her face. “What if there was magic strong enough in the past, and it just tossed me here?”
“I know of no such thing or legend that could do that.”
“…Neither do I, admittedly, but it should be an option. This could be the future, or just a part of the world I didn’t know existed. …Maybe there is a tremendous desert in the heart of the monster lands that even they fear to tread in… It’s not like we would know about anything that deep into their territory.”
“You keep using the word monsters. I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Monsters? Creatures that exist only to murder and kill? Red eyes with black fire? We devote our lives to keeping ponies safe from them?”
“Never seen such a thing.”
“Well, if this really is the future, the good news is we finally killed them all.” The thought brought a proud smile to Fluttershy’s face.
“I have read the histories. There is no mention of a plague of monsters.”
Fluttershy furrowed her brow. “How could you not know of monsters?”
“How could you not know of the desert?”
“Touche.” Fluttershy walked up to Rarity and extended a hoof. “Clearly, neither of us have any idea what is going on. Why don’t we try to find out together?”
Rarity looked at the pegasus’ outstretched hoof. Dare she take on another companion? All the others had…
No, denying this curious mare would be foolishness. There was a potential – however slim – that she might be the key to everything. Fluttershy was so outside what Rarity usually found in the desert that her very existence gave a glimmer of hope. She had been brought here by strong magic. Rarity could not, would not, ignore that, no matter how many tragedies she had experienced in the past.
She grabbed Fluttershy’s hoof in her own and shook it. “Together.”
“I hope you have water and food,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t have any.”
“I have my ways,” Rarity said. Not that I’ll tell you how. “You will not perish in the Crystal Sea if I have anything to say about it.”
“Thanks!” Fluttershy smiled so purely that it was infectious, pulling the rare smirk out of Rarity’s stern jaw.
And then Fluttershy spread her wings and flew out of the spire. “Come on, we should follow the road as long as we can! Who knows when the wind will cover it again?”
Had Rarity’s expression been visible through her wrappings, Fluttershy would no doubt have noticed her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide in shock. As it was, Rarity was able to keep her surprise a secret.
She’s flying. How does she… I would have remembered her for sure!
“Yes, we should move,” Rarity agreed, getting over her surprise. “Assuming you are up for the heat?”
“The sun will set in a couple of hours and I am no stranger to a long journey in the middle of summer. I’m fine. I can even scout ahead, if you want.”
Rarity looked up at the pegasus who really should not have been able to fly. Even if she was supposed to, that armor should have been way too heavy…
Another mystery that tugged at Rarity’s mind, trying to give her hope. She shot it down.
“Scouting is an excellent idea.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Gotcha! I’ll be back in a minute or two.” She flapped her wings and rose higher into the sky, getting a bird’s eye view of the desert… soon little more than a speck in the sky to Rarity’s eyes.
Rarity decided she might as well keep walking. No use waiting for her. Fluttershy could come down wherever she wanted whenever.