Chapter 14
They began walking at noon. They found a northern bearing easily, and loaded Fluttershy onto Ditzy’s back, whilst Rainbow carried the saddlebags and the food bag across her back and around her neck. Ditzy had loudly wondered why they were walking instead of simply flying.
Rainbow had snapped at her, pointing out the possibility that Ditzy’s wing may strain with sustained flight, and arguing that Fluttershy should be kept stable if possible. Ditzy had no response to this, and silenced her complaint.
They walked on. The sun glowed above them. Fluttershy spent most of the journey admiring the local plant life, occasionally asking for the others to stop so she could inspect a piece of greenery they had passed. Most of these exotic plants had ended up either in the saddlebags or wound into Ditzy’s mane. As they walked on, Fluttershy busied herself with threading new plants in until she was satisfied.
It took a great strength of will for Ditzy to resist pulling them out. She had tried asking if the plants were a necessary addition to her mane, which received the quiet answer:
“Oh, I’m sorry, I was trying to make you look pretty... not that you’re not pretty already...”
Ditzy rolled her eyes, each moving a different direction, and waved a let out a small sigh.
“Go on then” she said. Fluttershy smiled and gently began her work on a new flowery addition, a small purple item that soon hung just below her right ear.
For three days they walked on, stopping only for food, rest and toilet breaks. All the time they walked in the same formation, Rainbow took the lead with the supplies, checking the map to makes sure they were going the right way, whilst Ditzy carried Fluttershy. Occasionally, Ditzy would ask if Rainbow wanted to swap the supplies for Fluttershy, just for the sake of variety. But every time Rainbow would decline, muttering about trust and weight.
After three days they reached a cliff.
“It’s so...dry”
Fluttershy’s statement was the only sound that came to the lips of the three ponies. They stood at the rocky tip of an outcrop. Below them the land stretched away into the distance, punctuated by mountains and rocks. The clouded over sky took on an orange glow in the afternoon light, as if the sand had taken to the air and formed the clouds in its own image. Behind them, the trees stopped abruptly, like a battle line against the barren wastes ahead of them, and the cliff face was No Pony’s Land. Under their hooves, the last traces of fading grass crunched and crackled in the whips of the wind. Far off in the distance, the horizon waved in the heat, twisting the view into a distant blur.
“Long way down” Rainbow muttered, leaning over the edge. At the foot of the cliff was nothing but rocks sand.
“We... have to go through that?” Fluttershy asked.
“Good thing we packed a lot” Ditzy noted.
“We didn’t pack it, the zebras did” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Good thing they packed a lot for us” Ditzy quickly said.
Fluttershy sighed and glanced along the cliff edge. It stretched away to either side, curving forwards slightly in a miles long crescent. The edge was somewhat jagged, with the rocky outcrops worn all but smooth by years of wind and sand.
“Well, we’re not walking round.” Rainbow said, following Fluttershy’s gaze “You feel like going for a glide?”
“Whatever happened to wingstrain?” Ditzy asked, but was cut off by Rainbow Dash.
“Try not to crash!” Rainbow yelled, and leapt off the cliff.
“Rainbow!” Fluttershy squeaked. Ditzy started forwards, but held herself back when she saw the blur of colour sliding across the landscape in front of her. She screwed up her face. The voice of reason in her head told her that doing something like that with Fluttershy on her back was practically suicide, but it also looked incredibly fun. “Take off first please” Fluttershy requested, as if sensing Ditzy’s desire to dive.
With an exaggerated pout, Ditzy spread her wings and flapped into the air. Fluttershy muttered about needing to preen Ditzy’s wings sometime, which nearly caused her to drop to the ground. After regaining her stability, Ditzy glided forwards, slowly descending down the cliff face in a wide, clockwise spiral. After several minutes of comfortable gliding, the wind tossing at the pony’s manes, blowing Fluttershy’s long pink mess into her eyes, Ditzy’s hooves slid into the sand, feeling its rough texture against her skin. She padded at it for a moment, turning in a circle. The sand was deep, much deeper than she could push her hoof into it.
“Heh, it’s soft and hard at the same time!” Ditzy grinned with foalish amusement. “You should try it!” she suggested, turning her head to Fluttershy.
“Oh I have a sandpit back at the cottage, remember?...” Fluttershy said, looking down at the end of her sentence. Her voice drifted a bit and her eyes became distant. But before Ditzy could fully register the change she snapped back to a smile and said. “But thank you anyway”
“It’s okay!” Ditzy chirped. “Come on, let’s find Dashie!” At that she began to trot away from the cliff, towards the silhouette that stood waiting halfway to the horizon. “Dashie, Dashie we’re coming to you. Dashie, Dashie away you flew!” Ditzy sang. Fluttershy recognised the tune as a foals song, used during games. Ditzy had changed the lyrics and spouted new verses every few steps. It took almost fifteen minutes to walk all the way to where Rainbow was waiting, muttering to herself with her head against a rock.
“Oh dear” Fluttershy said quietly “Is she alright?”
Ditzy shrugged.
“Hey Dashie! Come on, let’s go!” Ditzy called.
Rainbow’s body stiffened, her head lifted slightly in a sudden jerk. Her ears swivelled, shortly followed by her eyes, towards Ditzy. After a moment of tense silence, she relaxed, pulling up her head and smiling weakly.
“Took your time” Rainbow growled through her half smile. “This way”
Ditzy and Fluttershy exchanged looks.
“Are you going to say she’s letting this get to her or should I?” Ditzy asked the mare on her back, who gulped loudly, keeping an eye on the cyan pony walking slowly away from them.
After a few more hours of walking, the sun set. The three lay down by a rock three times as tall as they were. Around it, a small ring of grey wood stood. Trees long dead and ashen from the endless heat. A few branches had been pulled down and used in an attempt to light a fire, but to no avail. The wood was burnt and useless, and the stones they crashed together in the hopes of a spark brought forth nothing. Having tucked Fluttershy up against the rock, Rainbow and Ditzy came to the agreement of building a miniature hut. Over an hour they pushed the sand into a small wall and placed large branches into it, forming a rudimentary hut. The branches fitted together badly and there was little space inside, but it was a warm bastion against the unbearably cold desert outside, and that was all they cared for. The trio huddled together, Fluttershy in the middle, with Rainbow and Ditzy pressed between her and the flimsy walls of their hut. Ditzy snored loudly in the night, with Fluttershy’s head tucked underneath her chin and her hooves wrapped around Ditzy’s body.
Rainbow Dash stayed awake, listening to the echoing snores and gentle breaths of her companions. She shifted uncomfortably, her hooves pressed against her chest. Through the gaps in the branches she could see the sky, wrapped in a smothering cloud, far above her.
‘Wait a minute...’ she thought. Moving carefully, Rainbow extracted herself from the hut, and entered the cold. She stared up at the sky and hummed thoughtfully. ‘That’s just wrong...’
In her head, the voice told her nature could do what it wanted.
“No, no, no, it can’t do that” Rainbow said aloud, stepping away from the hut. “We’re in a desert, this place is dry and yet that sky looks like it’s about to pour with rain”
The voice asked why it should not.
“Because this place is always dry. It always has been! It’s the badlands, it hasn’t rained out here since it got scorched in the first place!”
The voice paused for a moment, and then asked what happened to the area.
“I don’t know. Something to do with the dragons I think. Ask Twilght, she probably knows”
The voice agreed to ask her. And then it turned Rainbow’s attention to the cracked and burned ground beneath her hooves, dusted with sand.
“You’re right” Rainbow muttered “It shouldn’t be like this. You’ve been hurt.” Rainbow’s voice cracked a little. She bowed her head. “It’s not fair.”
The voice reassured her, told her it everything was alright, and told her things would be fixed soon enough, with a little help from her.
“I’ll do anything” Rainbow muttered “This is wrong”
The voice soothed her. Held her in its loving embrace.
“Why don’t you hate us?” Rainbow asked “I... we all hurt you”
The voice told her she was helping.
“I’m helping” Rainbow repeated. “I’m helping”
The voice repeated it too.
“I’m helping, I’m helping”
The voice told her to get some rest, as they had a long walk home.
“Yeah...yeah I do... how far is it?”
The voice told her she would reach Fluttershy’s cottage within a fortnight.
“How do you know her name?” Rainbow said, curious.
The voice did not answer.
“Hey, you there?” Rainbow said, turning away from the ground and looking into the rolling clouds above her. “Hello? You there?”
The voice told her to go back to the hut.
Rainbow lowered her head and turned away. She trudged slowly back to her companions, but stopped short when she looked into the hut.
Fluttershy was awake, and staring directly at her.
“Who were you talking to?” Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind her mane.
“N... nopony” Rainbow said. “I was talking to nopony”
Fluttershy gulped.
“What?” Rainbow said.
“I heard voices” Fluttershy insisted. “Well. I heard your voice...and...”
“You didn’t hear the other one” Rainbow finished “It was just in your head, right?”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened.
“It’s speaking to you as well?” she whispered, giving a glance towards Ditzy, checking she was still asleep.
“What is it, Fluttershy?” Rainbow said, a threatening tone creeping into her voice.
“I don’t know, I only get it faintly” Fluttershy squealed, covering her head with her hooves.
“Fluttershy, it’s okay” Rainbow whispered, moving closer and placing a reassuring foreleg around the yellow mare’s shoulders. “It’s not going to hurt you. We’re helping it.”
“W...we are?” Fluttershy said, peeking up at Rainbows smiling face.
“Of course we are,” Rainbow told her through her unfaltering grin “and I know you’ll never pass up a chance to help a bunny when it’s been hurt, so why not this?”
“It’s hurt?” Fluttershy said, raising her head. “Oh no... what does it need?”
“It needs us to get home” Rainbow said, her grin spreading wider. “Then it can finish its healing”
Fluttershy cocked her head.
“What’s the matter?” Rainbow asked “Don’t you trust me?”
“No...I trust you Rainbow... I just...” Fluttershy trailed off, turning her head to look at Ditzy.
Rainbow followed her gaze, affixing her eyes on the sleeping mare. Ditzy lay oblivious to the conversation right beside her, one of her hooves trailed over to Fluttershy’s leg.
“She doesn’t have it?” Rainbow said.
Fluttershy shook her head.
“You asked her about it?”
“No... but she would have said if she did” Fluttershy admitted.
“Okay” Rainbow said, guiding Fluttershy’s gaze back to her “Let’s keep her out of this for now. It’ll be our secret, 'kay?”
“Are you sure? I...”
“Okay?” Rainbow said forcefully.
“Yes” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Great” Rainbow said, squeezing into place beside Fluttershy “Now let’s get some sleep. We’ve got far to go”
The sun rose over the desolate plains. A lizard scuttled over the rock that sheltered the three ponies as they slept in their fragile hut. The lizard looked down at the poorly made shelter, and then wandered off to find a meal.
It would starve to death before it found anything.
Inside the hut, Fluttershy awoke. Glancing to the ponies either side of her, she recalled the conversation last night. The memory seemed strange, with a dreamlike quality to it. Fluttershy pushed it from her mind, preferring not to think of it, and reached for the saddlebags. She quietly opened the flap and reached inside, searching for her breakfast. She found several wrapped sandwiches, but quickly replaced them.
‘It’d be rude to eat without them’ she thought. And so she sat between the mare she loved and the mare she shared a secret with. And she thought about home.
Ditzy awoke to find her face damp with tears.