//------------------------------// // 12 - Can't Bury the Past // Story: In Duty's Name // by Cloudhammer //------------------------------// Chapter 12 – Can’t Bury the Past As Twilight looked over the settlement, she felt her mouth hanging open and quickly closed it before anypony noticed. Given Zecora’s reactions toward talking about her homeland, and the impressions she had gotten from meeting Okoro and the other guards, she had expected some form of military camp or otherwise strictly ordered society. Instead, she saw a haphazard sprawl of tents and larger structures made from branches and grass, cooking fires dotting the open spaces. The atmosphere the settlement gave off made her almost feel like she was back home. Squeals of laughter broke her train of thought, as a few zebra foals darted from behind the closest tent. They playfully chased each other through the legs of the ponies and zebra guards, one of whom bore an actual, honest smile as he scooped one up and pretended it was flying before setting back on the ground. With a few admonishing words from Okoro, the foals’ expressions became downcast for a second before they chased each other off in another direction. As the others pressed in next to Twilight, they too were surprised by the chaotic, almost happy state of the settlement compared with the outright hostility they had been met with. Pinkie Pie in particular beamed at one of the foals who had looked back, a little colt who waved shyly before taking off after his friends. “He seemed nice, I wonder if zebras enjoy parties as much as ponies do?” Pinkie’s musings were interrupted as Okoro moved past them, the male zebras who had escorted them heading off in their own directions. “You all come with me. We move out at first light.” Okoro led the group to a large tent set up to the side of the settlement. It had clearly seen better days, with faded patches competing with holes for space. The interior was no better, the floor just the dirt with some battered grass mats piled carelessly in the corner. Rarity’s pupils shrank to small dots as she recoiled in horror at the mess of the tent. She opened her mouth to protest, but Applejack quickly clapped a hoof over her mouth and shook her head, shooting a glance at Okoro, who snorted and left the tent. Pushing Applejack’s hoof out of the way, Rarity’s eyes narrowed as she turned to face the farm pony. “Applejack, what in Equestria was the meaning of that!” “Sorry Rarity, but Ah don’t get a good vibe off that Okoro, if’n you catch my drift. Ah figured givin her more reason to be upset was a bad idea.” “I agree.” Cloudhammer said as he swept his gaze around the tent, “Alright, let’s get settled. We may be inside a tent for the night, but we’ll still keep a watch. I’ll take the first watch, Fluttershy, if you’d be so kind as to take the second watch, and Rarity will have the third.” His eyes locked with Rarity’s as he spoke, the protest dying in her throat. “Now, I want to have a talk with you Zecora, if you’d come over here please.” He indicated the furthest corner of the tent with a hoof and started walking that way. He stopped as a barely audible voice spoke up. “Wait.” Turning, he could see Fluttershy somehow managing to stand her ground yet still look timid. Her friends soon joined her, the mares and dragon forming a line between him and Zecora. Sighing, Cloudhammer’s muzzle twisted into a resigned half-smile. “I take it you’re not going to let me talk with her unless all of you are present?” “Heck yeah we won’t!” Rainbow said firmly, her magenta eyes flickering with traces of smoldering anger. A chorus of agreement came from the others as Cloudhammer’s expression steadily soured. Tossing his head in irritation, he finally sighed in resignation. “Fine, we’ll do this your way. Zecora, I want you to explain what Okoro meant when she called you a fedja.” Zecora, who had smiled a little at the support of the mares and dragon, frowned sadly. “Fedja means disgrace in my people’s tongue, an outcast all other zebras must shun. It is used for those who abandon their tribe, the penalty for which is too harsh to describe.” Cloudhammer pondered this information, and opened his mouth to speak when Fluttershy cut him off. “But why would you abandon your tribe?” Zecora sighed and looked back at her flank. “Unlike a pony who receives a cutie mark, a young zebra instead gets a spirit brand which tells their art. For a zebra with a spiral brand, their task is to act as a guardian of our land. But when my brand appeared I was dismayed, for instead of a shaman’s helix this spiral was displayed. So in a panic I made my choice to flee, the destination did not matter to me. After many days and with much effort, I was able to make my way across the desert. I soon found myself near a town called Ponyville, and hoped to avail them of their goodwill. However, my strange appearance gave them a fright, and in no time I was not a welcome sight.” Twilight pondered this new information. She was curious on what zebra society punished runaways with, but the finality in Zecora’s tone gave her a very bad feeling about what it was. Cloudhammer’s expression had steadily grown harder as Zecora had told her tale. When she finished, he turned and trotted to the opposite side of the tent and lay down, staring at the dirt as if to ask it for answers. Everypony else looked confusedly at each other, before Pinkie Pie lit up, dug around in her saddlebags and produced a cupcake. Ignoring the bewildered looks that begged her to explain how she kept the treat in perfect condition, she carried it on her nose to Zecora and set it on the ground in front of her. “Here you go! It’s one of my special Feel-Better-No-Matter-What cupcakes.” Zecora looked at the sugared snack sitting in front of her before giving Pinkie a small smile. “My friend you are too kind, I am sure this shall bring peace to my mind.” Pinkie beamed in happiness and then bounced across the tent, somehow producing another of the treats as she did so without stopping at her saddlebags. She set the pastry down in front of Cloudhammer, who looked at it blankly before grunting his thanks and resuming his interrogation of the dirt under his hooves. “Well, I guess we should try and get some sleep girls, it seems like we’ll be walking yet again tomorrow, and I for one am exhausted.” Twilight said as she wearily levitated her mat out of her bag and collapsed onto it, pulling a book out as she did so. The others rolled their eyes at her predictable behavior, but decided that she was right and set about finding their own comfy spots on the floor. Cloudhammer continued to stare at the dirt for a time, until he was certain everypony else was asleep. Looking up to the roof of the tent, his eyes closed, letting his mind strip away the obstruction of the sky. He imagined the moon speeding its slow journey across the sky, slipping below the horizon until the sun stood tall in its place. Unbidden, his mouth mirrored the thoughts that scudded across that mental day like clouds, “Celestia, please let my wife and son be safe. Keep watch over Flare, the other Guards and everypony else, as you have done for so many centuries before. Fire within, Fire above.” Finishing the small prayer, Cloudhammer lowered his head and sighed heavily, rolling his shoulders to ease the weight of the armor. His thoughts continued to swirl darkly around his head as the night dragged on. … Star Dancer collapsed onto his cloud bed, not even bothering to pull the cirrus layer he used as a blanket over himself. Every muscle in his body ached from yet another day of nonstop work. Cloudsdale, as the chief citadel of the pegasi and home of the biggest weather factory in Equestria, needed to continue weather production as normal for the sake of everypony who made their living on the ground. But the addition of those accursed fields made the cloud city a particularly dangerous place to live. They’d had one of the things appear in a residential district, and if that patrolling Guard pegasus Firesong hadn’t been nearby to raise the alarm, the families caught in the fields would have fallen to their deaths. He shuddered, remembering pushing his aching wings to their limit, a crying foal directly in front of him, the filly unable to even work her wings to level out. His frown briefly lifted as he remembered catching her in his hooves, pulling out of the suicidal dive a mere hundred feet from the ground. They’d had to take the affected to Hoofington, the fields negated the abilities of the pegasi to walk on clouds or lighten their bodies enough to allow true flight. Star shuddered again at the thought, flexing his wings despite the burn to reassure himself they were still there. After that incident, the City Council had decided that in the interest of public safety, they had to evacuate anypony not involved with the production of the weather. Hoofington and Trottingham had graciously opened their homes to those who couldn’t fly and their skies to temporarily hold the residential districts. It’d taken nearly three days with every pegasi able helping, but they’d managed to maneuver the houses from normal drift altitude to a comfortable fifty feet over the ground. Looking up as his temporary roommate trotted in, closing the door wearily behind him, Star was reminded forcibly of how the crisis had superseded nearly all other aspects of life in Equestria. “Take it your day didn’t go any easier than mine?” “You can take a guess. We had to dash over to Fillydelphia to help their weather team out; it figures they’d pick us to do it.” Soarin’ groused as he rummaged in the small refrigerator. “Is there any of that pie left?” Star shook his head, “No, you ate the last of it for breakfast, remember? And besides, if anypony could get to Filly and back in record time, it’d be the Wonderbolts.” “Yea, I guess… too bad that doesn’t make sore muscles hurt less. How’d your day go?” Soarin’ trotted to his cloud cot and slumped onto it. “We finally finished detaching the residential districts, so now we just have the Weather Factory buildings to take care of, thank Celestia. It’s too bad we had to abandon the Cloudiseum, though the higher ups think we should be able to find it again without too much trouble. The Flight Camp’s a total loss though, we’ll have to build it from scratch once this is all said and done.” “That stinks, I had some good times at that Cloudiseum…” Soarin’s eyes fell on a letter sitting on the end table. “Dude, I’m gonna be honest with you, that letter needs to be put away. You keep agonizing over it, it’s gonna eat into your work...” “I CAN’T HELP IT ALRIGHT!” Star shouted angrily, though his eyes bore more worry than anger. “I mean, D… Cloudhammer’s tough and all, but he’s nearly seventy! At this rate he’s going to get himself killed!” Pushing himself off his bed with a grunt, Soarin’ walked over, took the letter gently in his teeth, and carried it into the kitchen where he placed it in the box that was enchanted to hold solid objects on the clouds. “Well, it’s obvious to me that you’re worrying about a lot of nothing kid. I mean, if your dad’s half as tough as you say he is, then he’s got nothin to worry about. On top of that, your mom said the Bearers of the Elements went with him, and if I remember right, that rainbow pegasus from the last Young Flyers Competition is one of them. What was her name again? Rainbow something or other… Dash, that’s it! Rainbow Dash, and I’ll tell you what, been a long while since I’ve seen a pegasus who can fly as well as her. Myself and the rest of the team excluded of course.” He chuckled lightly, and then the serious expression returned. “On top of all of that, the rest of the Bearers aren’t slouches either, if the stories about them are true. So your old sire’s got a lot of power to back him up if he needs it. Just keep your head in the game kid.” “Quit calling me kid, I’m only a few years younger than you.” Star replied, though a wry grin broke his depressed look. “That’s more like it! Now, I’m tired as can be, I’m gonna pass out. See you in the morning. And if that nightmare or whatever comes back, don’t wake up shouting again. I want to actually get a full night’s sleep tonight.” Soarin’ dropped back onto the bed and twisted about to find a comfortable position. “Yea yea, I hear ya… and if you start talking about that mare you’ve got your eye on in your sleep again; I’m putting you on the porch this time.” Star snorted as he rolled over. He closed his eyes, hoping that tonight at least would be peaceful. He had been having weird dreams the past few nights, of flying through the skies over Canterlot, only for there to be a blinding flash of light and the smell of salt in the air before he woke up. … Cloudhammer stretched and opened his eyes, seeing the tent much as it had been before he went to sleep, the only difference being Rarity occupying the same spot Fluttershy had. Flexing his wings, he got to his hooves, tossing his shoulder to loosen a sore spot that had cropped up during the night. “Anything happen last night?” “Of course not, though I at least was able to spend the time productively and clean all this filthy dust from my coat, it gets absolutely everywhere.” Rarity complained as she trotted over to her bags and started fussing with a set of combs that began brushing themselves through her mane. Cloudhammer sighed and turned away, not in the mood to listen to her complain yet again. Seeing the others were starting to stir, he decided to take a quick look outside and trotted to the flap of woven grass that covered the entrance. Nosing it aside, he found himself facing down a pair of zebra guards, who flanked either side of the entrance. Their eyes narrowed and their ears flicked back and forth irritably as they made sure he was plenty aware of their foreleg blades. He snorted dismissively at them, and began to walk away when one of them hissed a string of the zebra tongue and moved in front of him, pointing towards the tent with a hoof. Cloudhammer stood his ground and glared at the zebra, the two stallions both unwilling to back down. The zebra shook his head and flexed his blade arm, while Cloudhammer simply fluttered his wings slightly and narrowed his eyes. The standoff was broken by Okoro, who laughed harshly as she walked up. “I suggest you avoid making a fight with this one, he is old but still fierce.” The zebra snorted derisively but backed down. “So, are your little ponies too afraid to face the savannah again?” Cloudhammer snorted as well, folding his wings against his side sharply. “I doubt it, though my opinion could be swayed by your mare-ish guards. They lack discipline, my stallions back home could thrash them with their wings tied.” Okoro only laughed harder. “If you say so shiny pony, if you say so. However, time for jokes is over, we must leave soon if we are to reach a safe haven by nightfall. Savannah not safe to travel at night.” “Zecora did mention the native predators…” Cloudhammer trailed off as Okoro shook her head. “The fedja knows nothing. The true threat is much worse than a few simple animals. Now, gather your little ones, we leave before the sun finishes stepping over the horizon.” Okoro turned and trotted away, whistling once as she turned the corner. Cloudhammer shook his head and re-entered the tent to get the others moving. … Once again, Twilight found herself trudging along under an oppressively hot sun, her coat streaked with dirt and sweat. It didn’t help that Spike insisted on riding on her back, but she could hardly fault the baby dragon. The menacing looks the zebras kept giving them weren’t helping at all. Nopony else was doing any better, Rarity least of all, her shawl which had worked so well in the desert had ended up hanging limply from her body by the end of the first hour. She’d ended up having to wring it out and put it back into her saddlebag in disgust, and simply kept her head pointed fixatedly forward. Pinkie Pie was for once walking instead of her usual bounce, which had concerned her friends until they realized that she was simply tired and not at risk of becoming depressed. Her normally poofy pink mane hang in ragged, sweat-soaked clumps, and her usual wide grin was reduced to just a normal smile. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy oddly enough, seemed to be doing fine despite the heat. Twilight envied the farmpony’s Stetson at times like these, before remembering that she still had Rarity’s hat in her bag. Lighting her horn to pull it out, she winced suddenly, sucking air through her teeth in annoyance. Cloudhammer looked back. “Something the matter Twilight?” “Nice to see you lightening up, Captain. And I don’t know; just feel a little fuzzy for some reason.” Twilight muttered, not noticing Okoro stiffening. “Are you feeling well my dear?” Rarity asked, her horn lighting up as well before she suddenly winced as well, her horn going dark as she clapped a hoof to her forehead. Cloudhammer stopped abruptly, causing everypony else to come to a confused halt as well. The zebras started muttering amongst themselves before Okoro snapped off a string of words and they fell silent, slowly moving inward toward the group of ponies. For a few seconds there was silence, everypony looking nervously around, the tall grass waving gently in the breeze. Leaning in toward Okoro, Cloudhammer whispered quietly, “What’s going on?” Okoro leaned back to reply when her eyes suddenly flicked to the left, where a zebra head could be seen vanishing beneath the grass. A brief thrash of motion could be seen, then nothing. Okoro barked out a short string of commands, the four zebras on the right side quickly moving in to surround the mares. The three remaining on the left moved towards where the fourth had been, but the grass exploded upward as three dark forms burst from the ground, followed by a fourth, much larger form. Time seemed to slow as Twilight stared, too shocked to feel anything. The creatures shared a similar body shape to the Diamond Dogs they had encountered near Ponyville some time ago, but these creatures had significant differences. For one, their appearance was significantly more bestial, their fur ragged and eyes burning with hate. They wore a form of primitive armor made from what she realized was the same texture as the creature that had attacked Rainbow at the river, and their paws were tipped in talons like Spike’s. Then time abruptly seemed to rush back into its normal flow as the zebras leaped in to attack, and she felt Cloudhammer’s hoof smack across her chest as he shoved himself between her and their attackers. The three smaller creatures lunged at the closet zebra, their combined weight carrying him to the ground out of sight, their arms lifting up and falling with a dreadful finality. Cloudhammer felt his wings flutter as the urge to join the brawl made itself known. However, his attention was brought back to the larger creature, easily a good three hooves taller than he was, and heavily muscled. It grinned savagely as a zebra charged it, backhanding it with such force that the zebra flew sideways before hitting the ground. Shooting a quick glance to Okoro, who nodded as well, the two immediately charged in, taking advantage of the brute’s distraction as it lifted another zebra one-handed. Okoro slashed at its arm with her blade, causing the creature to drop the zebra it had been choking and take a step back. Cloudhammer in the meantime, had darted in under its other arm and spun, bucking with both back legs directly at the center of the things chest. With a hard grunt of exhaled air and a whimper as it tried to inhale, the brute toppled over with a loud thud. The three smaller ones, seeing their comrade fall, immediately abandoned the fight against the other zebras and tunneled straight down into the ground. Cloudhammer snorted derisively at the others and turned to face Okoro, breathing hard yet feeling better than he had in days. Okoro grinned back at him, before her smile vanished and she started to shout. Whatever she said was lost as Cloudhammer felt a paw grab his back leg and fling him backwards, over the creature he’d thought was unconscious. Flailing his legs and wings, he managed to get himself mostly upright, in time to see the ground racing to meet his muzzle. In a tumbling series of impacts, he came to a rest on his side, and opened his eyes to see a massive form barreling towards him. Struggling to get to his hooves, he could tell that he wouldn’t make it, and so lowered his head, intending to try and at least gut the thing with his helmet blade. However, the beast instead leaped over him, so close he could have reached out and touched it, before diving into the hole it had dug to launch its attack. Cloudhammer tried to roll over and winced as his hind leg protested the action. Looking down, he couldn’t see anything of course, but there was definitely a bruise forming where the thing had grabbed him. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself over and staggered to his hooves, flexing his wings before wincing yet again. Looking at his right wing, he could see half the feathers were completely out of place, and when he tried to extend it, the muscles practically sang in agony. Tossing his head angrily, he turned to make his way back to the group, passing Okoro as she grinned snidely. “Does the old one need to take a rest?” She asked, laughing as his glower turned even darker and he ignored her. She kept laughing as she joined her men, who were tending to the badly wounded zebra on the ground, and digging out the one that had been pulled into the ground. Joining the others, Cloudhammer sat down heavily, hissing as his armor jarred his swelling bruise. He could hear the mares crowding around him, but chose to simply stare at the dirt until he felt somepony taking his right wing and extending it. Grunting, he looked over angrily to see his wing enveloped in a purple glow, while Fluttershy had some of his feathers gently held in her mouth. Upon seeing his expression, she squeaked and let go, darting out of sight behind Twilight, who sighed. “Ugh, fine, guess I’ll have to do it if you’re just going to glare at everypony.” Rainbow muttered as she walked over and continued to preen his feathers. “How does your leg feel?” Twilight asked, concern written across her features. “It’s fine.” Cloudhammer replied, his expression still dark. “Are you sure? I know a little healing magic, I could take a look at it if you want…” Twilight trailed off as Cloudhammer glared at her. “I said it’s fine.” He twitched as Rainbow pulled hard on a feather, then released it and returned the glare. “There, I fixed your wing. Now lighten up.” Rainbow’s magenta eyes were as hard as Cloudhammer’s blue, the two staring at each other before Cloudhammer’s eyes drifted slightly to the side. “Thank you for the assistance Rainbow. However, I don’t want anything done to the leg. It’ll serve as a good reminder.” Cloudhammer folded the wing gingerly back against his side and walked over to Okoro, limping slightly despite his best effort to hide it. “I swear, that pony’s as stubborn as you can be AJ.” Twilight groused. “Ah wouldn’t argue that with ya Twi, but Ah don’t think the leg or wing’s what’s botherin’ ‘im.” Applejack watched as Cloudhammer spoke with Okoro. “Well w-what do you think it is?” Fluttershy asked, still a little nervous from Cloudhammer’s outburst. Rarity’s eyes half-closed as the unicorn’s thoughts swirled madly inside her skull. “Girls, I think I have an idea of both what’s bothering the dear Captain, and how we can fix it, now gather round, I’ll explain everything…” The other mares crowded in, while Spike hopped off Twilight’s back to stand in the middle. “So what were those things? They can certainly hold their own.” Cloudhammer idly flexed his hindleg, wincing again as the bruise scraped against the armor. “They are called diamond dogs. They raid our biashara’s caravans, hoping to steal our weapons and supplies. They used to only attack at night, but now they strike at any time.” Okoro replied, tying a bandage to the side of the zebra who had been tackled by the three small ones. His hide had been crisscrossed by their claws, though he kept an impassive expression despite the obvious pain. “I see… How long until we reach Teneca?” Cloudhammer’s expression at Okoro’s information had briefly darkened, though he forced it to the usual stare when she turned to face him. “It won’t be long. Two or three turns of the sun at most, if you ponies can keep the pace.” Okoro thumped the zebra she’d been bandaging on the side and spoke to the others, who picked themselves back up, each one in turn cuffing the one who’d been buried on the back of the head. “I assure you we will.” Looking back over his shoulder, he could see the mares clustered together whispering furtively. “Are you all finished, or do you want some tea while you gossip about the weather?” he said irritably “Oh no, we’re alright, ready to leave when you are.” Rarity turned, her eyes locking with his as the others all nodded assent and got back into their assigned places. “Alright then, let’s keep moving.” Cloudhammer moved back to his place and started walking, gritting his teeth as every step with his hindleg caused a flare of pain where the armor jostled it. … The next two days passed without incident, though Cloudhammer’s mood grew steadily darker as the trail dragged on. He even stopped having them take turns with the watch, though Twilight suspected that he was doing it on his own anyway. She eventually gave up on trying to figure it out, deciding to trust in Rarity’s plan for now. Instead, she started spending time with Okoro, working to improve her knowledge of the Equestrian language. Surprisingly, Okoro turned out to be an excellent learner, and after the first full day had improved her basic grammar and vocabulary, though some of the advanced concepts and words still eluded her. Twilight had mentally admonished herself for being surprised at this, as she knew a thirst for knowledge could exist in anypony, regardless of where they came from. It was as the sun was setting on the second day that Okoro asked about Equestria for the first time. “So what is life like in Equestria?” Twilight looked up from the scroll that she was writing in. “Well, I’ll admit it’s a lot different than life is here. We live in towns and cities like you do, but we have made a lot more advancements in architecture than you seem too. We’ve also made great strides in the sciences and literary fields, and generally, I’d say we pretty much live in peace and harmony with each other and the land.” “That doesn’t sound much different at all from the way we live here.” Okoro observed. “Well, I suppose you’re right. Though we don’t have the problem of predators living in the same places we do. They generally stay in the Everfree Forest and keep to themselves.” “I see… So if life in Equestria is so peaceful, why do you have ponies like him?” Twilight looked over at Cloudhammer, who was again sitting by himself. “Well, there are times when the creatures in the Everfree Forest come out for some reason or another, and the rest of the time the Royal Guard serve in various roles like… like…” Twilight trailed off as she realized that she didn’t really know what the Guard did when they weren’t needed to defend Equestria. “I suppose that’s why there’s so few of them left compared to the old records.” Twilight concluded sheepishly, neither of them noticing Cloudhammer’s ear swivel back down, nor him rolling onto his side to face away from them all. … As the sun rose on the third day, everypony could feel the excitement coming from Okoro and the others, and hurried themselves to avoid slowing them down. Even Cloudhammer seemed to be in a slightly better mood and actually let the scowl that had occupied his face for the past two days fade. Twilight could see a tall ridge in front of them, the first real change in elevation she’d seen since they arrived in the savannah. She picked up her pace, looking forward to the chance to get above the rest of the terrain and maybe catch a cooling breeze. Her friends followed her lead while Cloudhammer simply kept walking, the thousand hoof stare the Guard were famous for etched onto his muzzle. They reached the top of the ridge and closed their eyes in relief, the weather deciding to cooperate and give them a blast of cool wind. Fluttershy could hear the steady hoofsteps of Cloudhammer and the zebras as they crested the ridge as well, and shied away behind Applejack when she heard Okoro’s barking laughter. “You think the wind is something, open your eyes, Teneca lies before us.” Opening her right eye just a little, Fluttershy gasped in tandem with her friends as they beheld the massive sprawl before them. It looked to be even bigger than Fillydelphia or Manehatten in ground covered, but none of the buildings were taller than a single level, save for a large structure in the center. Even at this distance a wall could be seen that encircled the entire city, and if she squinted, Fluttershy could see tiny dots moving about which she realized must be zebras. It was then that the true scale of the city struck her, and she sank to her hindquarters with a muffled squeak. “Land sakes, Ah don’t think Ah’ve ever seen a town this big, and Ah’ve been ta Manehatten before.” Applejack was just as dumbstruck as Fluttershy. “Let’s see… given the angle of the sun and the rough height of this hill…” Twilight muttered, her horn lit as a piece of parchment and a quill sketched out angles and numbers. “I admit it is impressive… if somewhat primitive. No offense intended of course.” Rarity smiled apologetically at Okoro. “Do you think they have any gemstones? I’m starving!” Spike’s stomach grumbled in agreement. “Well what are we waiting for, let’s go already!” Rainbow took off and circled lazily over the group. “I wonder how big a party here would get?” Pinkie’s eyes narrowed as she contemplated trying to throw every zebra there her trademark Get-To-Know-You-Party. Cloudhammer and Zecora both, on the other hand, looked down at the city silently, one wondering if the city would be the last thing they saw, and the other hoping that what they sought was here. “Well, what are you ponies waiting for? Time is wasting.” Okoro pushed her way past the group and started to make her way down the ridge, followed by the other zebras and the ponies.