"I was walking down the street when out' the corner of my eye... She said I never seen a man who looks so all alone..."
Dent took a swig from his metallic canteen, looking out on the vast desert stretching out around them for miles. It somehow managed to strike a perfect blend of barren and rich, with colorful plants of every imaginable shape and size managing to thrive on hot sands all other life had long died on. Hues of green, yellow, purple, red, and everything in between painted on a canvas of dull tans, reaching out around them with the only taintings being the distant pillars of stones, stretching skyward, identical to the one he currently sat atop, and a smaller circle of stone imprinted into the desert between them.
"If you pay the right price, your evening will be nice... I said you're such a sweet young thing, why would you do this to yourself..."
And the ever-present singing of the mare beside him. That was also a taint on natural beauty. He glanced over at her grumpily.
"Can you cut the singing? You haven't stopped since we found this place."
"I... I..." Disrupted from her singing, she seemed hesitant to talk, but slowly returned to a normal pace.
"I... Apologize. I'm trying to keep a clear head."
Her eyes flickered behind her goggles, and she pulled her facemask down just enough to mouth a few syllables to herself while still keeping sand out alongside her long cloak.
"You okay? You've been acting like this is your first time speaking practically since we met."
"It... May as well be." She clarified, pulling her facewear back on. "But let's stay focused. Our ride is almost over, friendo."
She stood up from the rock she had been sitting on and began pacing around, coming dangerously close to the edges of the monolith in a perfect circle around them. One of her saddlebags fell to the stone, and she began rifling through it, speaking as she did.
"I believe this is the one."
"Mind telling me what we're doing now?" He inquired, annoyed.
She stood up, knocking over her saddlebags and spilling the contents; her own canteen, a small paperback book (Childhood's End), a white hand-painted long-barreled gun with Hyperion emblazoned on the side, and a map she picked up and carefully inspected. After a moment of agonizing silence, she spoke up.
"These deserts have been empty for a long time. But something most certainly lived here. They built these pillars, ancient monuments, and much more."
As she spoke, the stone they sat on high above the thankless sands below began to rumble.
"The pillars mark a path towards something they called a Garden. I take it you like treasure?"
"Not many other reasons to come out here."
"You'll get what you want. And I'll get what I need. And we'll part ways."
"Well, what do you need?"
The stone pillar lurched suddenly, carving a path across the desert, slowly rising up. The circle of outcropping stone and identical pillar came with it, coming higher and higher, until the circle rounded into a sphere, and then revealed a set of eyes, carved into a hoof-made face. More and more came into view, becoming an entire body, with pillars sitting on it's shoulders like a terrifying suit of armour. Arms, a chest, and legs rose up, creating a terrifying golem hundreds of miles tall, with a terrified Dent sitting atop it, a speck of sand among millions others staying on the golem.
"I'm looking for someone." The mare pulled off her facemask and goggles, revealing a sleek black head with narrowed eyes.
---*---
"Are you here with me... There's a plastic tree..."
Dent took a swig from his wooden mug, looking out on the dark forest stretching out around them for miles. It somehow managed to strike a perfect blend of alive and dead, with towering trees in a perfect circle around the clearing they hid in. Life came to a stop here, becoming the taint of a bizarre campground surrounding a stone entrance into a long tunnel bending and twisting out of view.
"Just looking out on the day...Of another dream..."
As well as the other natural tainting. He glared at her,
"Could you cut the singing? You're going to give our position away!"
She blinked, losing her voice for a second. "Didn't.... Meant... I Apologize. Just trying to calm my dread."
Her eyes flickered behind her obstructive face paint, and she tugged at her cloak's strings.
"Are you okay- Nevermind. It doesn't matter. We need to get inside there, correct?"
"I'm glad we can finally agree. I'm glad you're focused. We're almost at the last leg, friendo."
The two broke into an army crawl, pulling themselves across grass and dirt towards the winding entrance, baiting breath with each inch. Finally, they dived inside, peering down the corridors and waiting to see if they had been heard.
"This temple may appear old and filled with grime, but there are certainly others living in here. They claim this monument was built for them by their gods, by account of their own lore."
"So... what's in here?"
"Something referred to as The Arden. Doors, gateways, and of course, treasure. You may take what you want, but I came here to leave."
"Leave?" He turned to her, curious in spite of his fear.
"Leave, this place where I have been trapped for many days, so I can return home and find someone."
"You're not really making it any clearer."
The mare began treading down the steps, pulling off her cloak to reveal a sleek white furred head as she did so.
"Unfortunately, my helpful explanations come with some... restrictions."
---*---
"I apologize deeply for my inability in exposition." The black furred woman explained. "But I cannot speak as eloquently as I once could."
The two traversed the catacombs of the monument best they could, avoiding skeletons and fighting off horrible parodies of nature along the way. Dent quickly learned of her apparent impediment as they traveled.
"Zebras are binary creatures in nature; some claim we are naturally born with two souls. At a young age, we have to find our own ways of overcoming our natures and learning to exist... Bisected in our own bodies.
"I have.... recently become split. A single soul in a single body, each existing on planes far from home, but still somehow existing simultaneously in worlds existing on top of our old ones. I can feel her now, standing right here, on a different material plane; Singing and speaking keep me tied to her, keep us entwined across barriers we cannot understand."
She stood firmly in place, spreading her legs wide in a power stance to demonstrate.
---*---
She stood firmly in place, spreading her legs wide in a power stance to demonstrate.
"Which is why I need to get back to her. The Arden should be up ahead, alongside the door I need most; the door to the Green Room"
"Which is...?"
"A room existing between planes, storing monsters, spells, pure unfiltered magic.... and eventually us. But that is for later; we must tread quietly now."
She slowed down, and Dent silently fell behind her. An octagonal room sat through the archway, with a veiled pony at each side, chanting.
"*Panis et butyrum, dicere incantationibus suis, marination, naeniam...*"
The mare waved him to the other side of the arch. Gulping, he obeyed, dashing across. One hooded member looked up, but quickly returned to his concentration. The mare made several confusing gestures, before reaching into their saddlebags.
---*---
The Hyperion was pulled out, reflecting light from ominously glowing crystals hanging from the walls off of it's white painted surface. Cocking it once, probably uselessly, the mare deftly moved it into place, aiming directly for the furthest masked cult member in the room.
---*---
Fire flooded out of the potion, lighting the room and instantly disrupting the ritual. Dent leaped in, drawing a bow and firing true through the chest of the nearest cult member in the room.
---*---
Crystals around the room began lighting up as the first shot was fired, spilling red over the marked floors. Dent was immediately face to face with the emblazoned mask of a Garden cultist, and bucked out without thought. His partner leaped into the center of the room, taking out as many as she could in a second as the ritual began to work it's magic, with a new dark furred target in the center. A smile began spreading across her face as the gun she held clattered to the floor.
---*---
Torches flared blue, and the room lit up. Neon green lightning crackled, ensnaring the two new entries, and reality peeled apart around them, revealing a white void. Colors ran like a painting as Dent's vision began fading.
---*---
When Dent awoke, he initially thought he had never left; cultists sat around them, lying on the cold stone floor. His partner stood up beside him, looking around the room, seemingly more informed than he was.
"It worked." She seemed incredulous, showing the most emotion he had ever seen from her. "It... worked. All I need to do is find her, and... I can go home." She laughed out loud, standing up on her milky white hooves and picking up the Hyperion, helping him stand.
"She has to be here somewhere. All we need to do is start looking."
He had almost thought his partner incapable of lapses in judgement. It humbled him to find she was still only equine after all.