//------------------------------// // Arrival // Story: To be Redeemed // by shattered_sky //------------------------------// A curled up figure blended among the rust colored rocks scattered around the hot dessert landscape. Its back was slowly rising and falling, one would think it was an unusually smooth rock if not for that. The figure groaned and stirred, slowly getting up to its paws. She was a slender feline, coming up a head above the average stallion. Her emerald eyes opened but were closed immediately by the sun’s harsh glare. “Where am I?” She asked herself before laying back down in the warm sand. After a few moments she realized she was in the middle of the dessert. She shot up and looked around wildly. Sand as far as her eyes could see, and few cacti and boulders littered around. She began to hyperventilate but slapped herself to stop the incoming panic attack. “Okay, was I that drunk?” She spied her surroundings and saw a grey luggage bag inches from here. She stared at it dumbly for a few minutes before sitting down and taking shade under one of the larger rocks. “Sweet baby Jesus Dolores, did you drive all the way to Texas or something?” She asked herself. “I don’t even have a car.” Dolores frowned as she realized, she wracked her brain as she tried to remember past events. She came up at a blank. She eyed the suitcase again and decided that looking at the contents could illuminate her on what she did. She ran paw on the plastic surface and froze. Slowly she lifted her paws in front of her eyes and studied them, slowly opening and closing them. She leapt back and stumbled as her claws popped out. She screamed scrambled right into a rock. Her face slowly slid down the boulder and she faceplanted into the sand, her tail twitched with her peach staring right up. She stayed like that for around ten minutes. Rolling onto her back she wiped the blood trailing down her forehead. She then lifted her paws to her face and touched it all over. She let out a sound somewhere between a whine and a whimper. After panicking for a bit her eye twitched and she laughed hysterically. “Oh it makes sense now. This is just some dream.” She laughed again, this time it was the relieved sort. “Must be that boy’s video games, Maybe I drank while I tried them out.” She smiled and shook her head. “He throws quite the hissy fit when I try them out. I hope he’s not too angry at me when I wake up.” With this in mind she was a lot calmer and she decided to go through the contents of the suitcase. A large tome, a pair of ornate pistols, three outfits and in the corner was a dark green mist swirling around. As she touched one of the outfits she was enveloped by a blue light and when it faded she was wearing it. She stood up and looked herself over. It was a little tight for her tastes. The dark grey tights had thin black metal armor protecting her thighs, knees and her lower paws. “It’s really light…” She marveled. She did a twirl, the white cape fluttering and her metal boots rattled softly. She looked at the white vest on her chest to the dark brown leather with metal plates curving downwards her torso. She idly opened and closed the metal gauntlets she now wore. She smiled as she studied the outfit. “Wow… This looks quite nice.” A few dreadlocks fell over her eyes and she brushed it behind her head. She couldn’t help but laugh as she held her head. “Feels like I have a mop for hair.” Her hair was now done in dreadlocks and tied up, most of it hanging behind her. She grabbed one of the pistols – the one which its handle ended in a hook like fashion – and she ran an armored paw along the white barrel accented with dark gold. She held it with two paws and aimed for one of the cacti. She let out a shriek as a bolt of light shot out and burned through one of the cacti. She gaped at it for a while before hooking it on her belt. She grabbed the other one which was simpler on design and pushed it behind her belt. She grabbed the tome and read the title out loud. “Summoner’s Spellbook.” On the first page was two squares lit up. One depicted a figure surrounded by a golden dome. The other showed a figure in two places a short distance between each other. They were labeled Flash and Barrier. There were other greyed out squares labeled with names such as Ignite, Smite and Ghost. She flipped through the pages reading the instructions. “To use Flash visualize yourself disappearing in a flash of light and popping out a short distance away.” She read. Thinking about it she disappeared in a flash and reappeared a few inches from where she was standing. “Huh.” Her stomach ached and she retched. She held her mouth shut and she waited for the queasiness to pass. “I’ll try the others later I suppose.” She sighed as she flipped through the pages. A large cloud of dust could be seen over the dunes and she gulped. She gulped and grabbed the suitcase darting behind the rocks. “I-is it a sandstorm?” Her ears hugged her head as her tail tucked between her legs. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the storm she thought was coming. After a while she heard voices in the distance. Peeking from behind the rocks she saw three boats sailing over the sand. She stared wide-eyed at the scene. Pegasi were beating their wings to sustain a small tornadoes giving wind to the sails. The boats were occupied by few bipedal dogs and various ponies that were covered in bandages and cloaks. She took time processing this, her mind lagging as one of the Dogs lined up a riffle for a shot. The shot went wide, missing her by a mile. She shrieked and scrambled for cover. A dozen questions swirled in her head after the initial panic. Even after the shot she eventually decided to try and reason with them. As they neared she stepped out of the cover, she mentally cursed herself but she thought that she could talk things over. “Don’t shoot!” She yelled, raising her paws in the air. The Dog who squeezed a shot at her aimed for another. She looked in shock as one of the pony companions’ horn glowed yellow and forced the dog’s arms down. The sand boats came to a halt a good distance away from her, one of the Pegasi flew over to her. “Well now. What brings a pretty thing like you ‘round these parts?” The male Pegasus grinned with yellow teeth as he asked. She forced a smile as she glanced at the rotten teeth. “Uh… drifting.” She weakly offered. “Say, which direction is the nearest town?” She asked. The stallion looked at her in disbelief. “Yeah, likely story kitty.” A whiny and nasally voice piped up. Dolores looked at the stallion in confusion, the voice was much different from his raspy one. A small dog walked from behind the Stallion and barred his teeth at her. “A cat, here?” The pug growled. “Well I can’t help but be lost. There’s just sand EVERYWHERE!” She couldn’t help but snap back. “I don’t want any trouble, so just let me go on my way.” She added in a more patient tone. “Duke thinks you work for goldie pony.” The pug accused. “I don’t know Duke she looks like one o’ them adventuring types.” The stallion appraised the weapons on her hips and chuckled. “Those weapons of yours look mighty fine stranger.” She could have sworn she saw a gleam behind those goggles. “Who doesn’t like adventures? Travelling is nice you get to-“ “Ponies talk too much, cats talk too much!” The pug stomped. “You work for goldie pony! Why else cat here!?” He yelled as he pulled out a tiny gun – a Derringer but Dolores was not familiar with guns – and pointed it at her. Dolores took a few steps back. “Whoa, easy there! I’m just a lost lady trying to-“ She paused as he cocked his gun. The Pegasus shook his head and sighed. Dolores held her arms open and stared helplessly at the Pegasus. “I say we take her guns. They look pretty fine, the boss would appreciate them.” He slyly remarked. “Right!” “Excuse me?” And with that Duke, squeezed two shots at her. The first one missed and the second grazed her shoulder. She screamed and let out shots as she dove for cover. Duke pulled the Pegasus in front of him. The Pegasus let out a strangled scream as his chest hissed, a hole burned into it. Dolores imagined the barrier surrounding her and the dome of golden light surrounded her. Lightning and lead rained upon her as she scrambled for cover. The cracked barrier shimmered for a few more seconds before fading completely. She huddled behind the rocks and shook. Then she remembered her rationalization of her situation. “This is just a dream right?” She was filled with courage as she remembered all of the shots that missed. She felt that she was unstoppable and that if she wished easily take out her opposition. “I gave you people a chance!” She snarled, a scowl settled upon her face. Dolores felt mean and nasty. She leapt out of the cover and rapidly let out shots from both guns. Duke fumbled with his gun as he tried to reload, the corpse he hid behind rapidly filling with holes. He was spirited away by the unicorn from earlier and the sand people fired upon her. With a warcy one of the Pegasi flew towards her with a spear. She fired two shots which the stallion avoided. She dashed away from the swipes and let out another two shots, dropping the Pegasus. She danced among the magic bolt and lead, a few shots grazing her. She gritted her teeth and advanced downing them one by one. “KILL HER!” Duke shrieked as he dived behind a large crate. She let out a flurry of shots on his cover. Chunks of wood flew as the metal object inside it was slagged. Then she felt a shot hit her in the thigh. She let out a yelp, being brought to one knee. She raised her pistols to fire off more shots but her guns were shot out of her grasp. Another shot nailed her in her side. She let out a gasp, feeling it burn inside of her. Another shot off a piece of her ear. All she could hear was ringing and everything seemed to blur and slow down. The she felt something was choking her. The unicorn from earlier strode towards her, his horn glowing. She clawed at her chest futilely trying to suck in air. “You’re a feisty one eh? Sweet dreams.” He spoke in a cold voice. As her consciousness slipped away, she felt all of this was very, very real.