//------------------------------// // Chapter 94 - A Tale of Snow and Sand // Story: A Pony Displaced: Homeward // by NoLongerSober //------------------------------// The skies covering Vanhoover were various shades of gray as Winter Gem and Belmont Apple pushed a steel plow. While both were straining to push the metal slab through the thick snow, Gem could easily see that the strain was much greater for her bat pony cousin. “I swear to Faust, if I find out who’s the featherbrained flankhole that decided to drop over a foot of snow on us overnight, somepony’s gonna lose some teeth,” Belmont grumbled between bouts of shoving. “At least we’re almost done,” Gem chipped in, starting to regret the fact she’d decided to wear two layers of jackets and pants instead of just one. “Think we could take a break? We’re well overdue for lunch.” “Sounds like a plan,” Belmont responded before letting his wings droop to his sides as he started to head towards the house. “So, what would you like? I could cook up some hash browns or some sandwiches or something.” “I’m thinking… sandwiches. Maybe hay bacon, honey mustard and…” Gem trailed off as a sound she’d been long trained to recognize reached her ears. It was the sound of approaching wingbeats and it was both headed directly towards them and actively accelerating. “Get down!” Gem exclaimed before jumping onto Belmont’s back and tackling him to the ground just as a blur flew over their heads and skidded against the snow in front of them, hiding their attacker from view. Winter Gem quickly stepped in front of Belmont and took up a defensive posture when a voice came from the snow screen. “Heh. Senses sharp as ever, Stock Girl,” the voice said as the snow began to clear, revealing who’d nearly struck them. It was a pegasus mare with a cream-colored coat and a short, pale-brown mane and tail. Her colors brought to mind a sandy desert, the perception aided by the image of a cactus with a pink flower upon her flank. Recognizing the mare with a cocky smirk, Gem rushed up to the mare, nearly knocking her off her hooves before pulling her into a hug. “Sandy!” Gem shouted as the pegasus started to weakly return the hug, both of their tails excitedly wagging. “Uh, Gem?” Belmont was utterly baffled by what was going on in front of him. What had begun as a sneak attack that had missed, had quickly turned into a pair of mares now happily hugging each other. “Mind telling me what’s going on?” “Oh, right.” Gem quickly untangled herself from the mare before facing Belmont and slinging her foreleg over her shoulder. “Belmont, this is my old friend from back when I lived at the family trading post as well as a fellow former guard, Sandstorm. Sandstorm, this is my cousin, Belmont Apple.” “Nice to meet you,” Sandstorm said as she held out a foreleg to the stallion who, rather excited to meet another veteran of the Crystal Empire, quickly started shaking it. “This is quite the nice little place you’ve got here.” “Thanks. My family works hard for this place,” Belmont replied before Sandstorm took her hoof back and was pulled into another hug by Gem. “I’m so glad to see you, Sandy! I didn’t expect you to be dropping by. Last letter you sent said you had just gotten out of the hospital,” Gem said before releasing her crushing grip on her.  “Yeah, letters still take a while to go anywhere, but at least it’s a heck of a lot faster than it used to be,” Sandy said before stretching her wings. “Frankly, I needed to get out of Canterlot. I never wanna see that hospital room again and the buildings are just too tall and close together for my liking. There’s a lot more airspace out here.” “Well, there is plenty of space out here.” Gem confirmed before slinging a foreleg over the pegasus shoulder. “If you want, I could give you a tour after I finish my work today.” “Thanks, Gem, but there’s something else you should know,” Sandy glumly said before sighing and looking Gem in the eye. “While I really wanted to see you again, the main reason why I’m here is because of Storm Cloud.” “Oh…” Gem recalled the mare her friend named. She was a fellow guard from a cadet squad that was stuck with them in the empire. Storm Cloud was a lightning sniper who’d helped with many of their supply runs, trying to sneak around Sombra as they tried to get whatever scraps they could while dodging the undead. Storm Cloud sadly was one of the ponies who was injured far worse than many of the other survivors. Even in the winter breeze, she could still feel a chill run down her spine as she recalled a magic volley striking the pegasus down, sending her tumbling to the ground with a foreleg messily shot off. “Somepony named Dr. High Gear is supposed to make some sort of prosthetic for her,” Sandy’s words snapped Gem from her gruesome recollection. “My squad, her’s and even her father will be there. I need to book some hotel rooms for them.” “Well, in that case, how about you give your friend a hoof, Gem?” Belmont piped up as he started to head towards the house. “I figure this snow’s not going anywhere, so you two can take off early and look once you’ve got some lunch.” “Thanks, Belmont,” Gem said as she started to guide her friend to the North Grove’s home. “Maybe during lunch, you can tell him some stories from way back when?” Sandstorm chuckled before she looked at Gem with a sinister grin. “You mean like when you sent an end table flying into my face when Tex and you fu—” “NOT LIKE THAT!!!” Gem screeched burying her face with her forehooves. “Fuck me…” “Nah, you were most enthusiastic when you said that to Tex.” Sandy’s remark forced Belmont to muffle his muzzle with his wing, trying desperately to keep from laughing. *** Darkness was beginning to fall as Winter Gem and Sandstorm looked out at the sea from the pier. The setting sun was shining off the water as Sandstorm took in the sight. “It’s… I’m not really sure how to describe it, Gem,” Sandy said as she continued to look out in awe. “I’m used to seeing huge expanses of sand, rock and sky, but this much water… It’s just… I don’t know.” “I had a similar reaction when I first saw this,” Gem replied before chuckling. “We even had a dolphin jump up and splash us.” “Yeah, it’s somethin—” Sandstorm froze as she spotted something approaching from up the street. It was a griffin hen with a crimson coat, carrying a pair of paper bags in her forelegs as she flew towards them.  “Hey, Gem,” the griffin said as she stopped to hover a few feet from them. “I was going through the mall earlier and saw that Bounds of Books had the new Detective Mike Roscope volume in.” “Thanks, Erica.” Gem’s casual reply to her made Sandstorm’s jaw drop. “Say, got anything planned with those groceries?” “Nothing really that special,” Erica shrugged as she continued to hover. “Just some fruit for smoothies, some croutons, bacon, potatoes, and a bottle of merlot for this pork recipe I saw in a manga. I figure I might as well give it a shot.” “Well, hope it goes well,” Gem said before pointing to the pegasus by her side. “By the way, this is an old guard buddy of mine, Sandstorm.” “Nice to meet you, Sandstorm. I’d shake your hoof, but my talons are way too full,” Erica said, offering her a smile. “Nice… nice to meet you too. Sorry, just…” Sandstorm swallowed and her hindlegs uncomfortably fidgeted.  “I know, bad history with griffins way back when,” Erica interjected. “Not a problem. I hope you have a good time in Vanhoover.” “I… Thank you,” Sandstorm’s reply was seemingly drenched in awkwardness before the hen began to pull away. “Not a problem. Wish I could stay longer, but I’ve got dinner to make,” Erica slowly started to rise past the roofs of the nearby buildings. “See ya later!” With the hen out of sight, Sandstorm let out a sigh of relief. “I know that we’ve been at peace with the griffins for centuries, but it’s still weird seeing you being so… friendly with one.” “Yeah, I will admit, it was quite something to get used to,” Gem said before looking back towards the sea. “Still, Erica’s Verdant’s girlfriend and she’s pretty nice.” “Huh. That’s a bit of a surprise,” Sandstorm shrugged before stretching out her wings. “If it were one of my teammates, I'd be worried they’d end up inside her… NOT LIKE THAT!” The pegasus quickly exclaimed as Gem started to open her mouth. “Killjoy,” Gem replied with a pout before stepping away from the pier. “Well, how about we get you a pizza to try? This city’s got quite a few.” “Sounds good.” Sandstorm took to the air beside her ground-bound compatriot. “It’d probably be good to get the smell of salt water out of my nose.” “Yeah, that was something that took a while to get used to too,” Gem stated casually as she trotted along. “Which sounds better? The Four D’s or Jungle Karma?” “Dunno, don’t care. Honestly, I don’t even know what this “pete-zah” stuff is.” Sandy shrugged her shoulders as she glided by one of the street lamps.  “Oh, you poor dear,” Gem replied with a light chuckle. “You’ve been in modern Equestria for months and you don’t even know what pizza is. I’ll need to rectify this immediately.” “I doubt this’ll be as good as you make it out to be,” Sandy dismissively said as flew by a lamp, knocking some snow off of it with the tip of her wing. *** In the lavish room that was one of the units in the Delta Hotel, a large belch echoed throughout the third floor before Sandstorm flopped back on her bed.  “Okay. That’s some good stuff,” Sandstorm said as she stretched out on the mattress. “Be glad I made sure you didn’t eat so much you got a stomach ache,” Gem said before she hopped onto the bed beside her and licked some marinara off of her lips. “Gotta say...” Sandstorm forced herself up into a sitting position before rubbing her swollen belly. “This city’s pretty nice. I’m liking it more than New Canterlot.” “The feeling’s mutual,” Gem replied as she stretched out on the sheet before looking up to her friend. “So, how long do you think you’ll be here?” “To be honest, I don’t really know,” Sandy replied before rubbing the back of her head. “Storm’s likely gonna be receiving a fair amount of therapy to get used to this new leg of hers.” “Gotta admit, it's a little surprising to see you doing this for her, Sandy.” Gem started to lift herself up to look the pegasus in the eye. “You two were more rival-y back in training.” “Yeah, well… the empire really changed things for us,” Sandy said as she wrapped her wings around her barrel like a blanket. “Sure, we always tried to one-up each other, but I did respect her… and then I saw her get her leg shot off right as I was sent spiraling through a window.” Brushing her left foreleg with her right, the movement of her fur revealed several scars the glass shards had left behind. “Did you know that our three squads are the only ones that have all their members still alive?” “Wait, really?” Gem was taken aback by what her old friend had said. “But… but what about 984? I thought all of their members survived.” “Sadly, Spring Song died in transit to Canterlot, despite the doctor’s best efforts.” Sandstorm sighed before Gem comfortingly patted her on the back. “Of her squad, Flowerburst took it the hardest.” “That’s just awful…” Gem glumly responded before rubbing her chin. “Y’know, I just thought of something that could help your squads if Storm needs to be here for a while.” “What? Like buy a house or something?” Sandy looked up with a quirked brow. “Gem, it’d have to be a pretty big house for me and the rest of the girls. I don’t think I could stand being too far away from them.” “And Barrier once told me how there was another house that was an option when he was house hunting.” A grin slowly started to form on Gem’s muzzle. “He was looking for a house that fit my squad, him, Fleetfeather, and her kid. Even then, we still have a guest room to spare. I figure that we could easily get you guys a place to stay.” “But what about 964?” Sandy asked with a nervous croak in her voice. “I mean, none of us would want to be separated. Plus I’m pretty sure Captain Javelin wouldn’t want to be too far from Storm.” “I figure we could find something. I mean, Barrier found a place for nine ponies, we should be able to get you all places that suit you.” A silence held in the room for a moment before Gem scratched the back of her head. “I mean, unless you don’t want to or have jobs or something.” “Honestly, none of us do,” Sandy said before slumping down on the bed. “Most of us only got out of the hospital recently and have either been staying in hotels or cloud houses… but it’s getting pricey over time.” “I’m pretty sure you all got a lot of back pay, but it would probably be good to get a place to stay instead of constantly paying for pricey hotels.” A hum of acknowledgement came from Sandstorm’s throat as she laid on the bed and thought. After a while, she rolled onto her back and looked back up at Gem. “I’ll run it by the others and see what they think… Though I will say that despite it being cold enough to freeze my nips off, I would like to be able to stay in the same city as you.” Gem chuckled before leaning down and giving Sandstorm a quick hug. “Trust me, the feeling’s more than mutual.” Pushing herself back into a sitting position, Gem looked Sandstorm in the eyes as she rose to meet her. “I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to help you all out.”