The cliff was tall and steep and the wind was strong and hot. Three mares and a stallion stood at the edge and looked down at the winding dirt path. It twisted and turned until it was swallowed up by a field of thipis. Smoke could be seen rising from fires and forms could be seen moving placidly between the cloth walls and tending to various unidentifiable chores.
Braeburn pulled his hat tighter around his ears. "Well, ain't gonna find anything out sittin' here watchin' em. Let's get down there and introduce ya'll." He turned and jerked his head. "It's no short walk."
The three mares followed with nods of approval. They followed with even paced steps and little conversation. The orange Unicorn who called herself Sunfire stopped to wipe sweat from her brow and then sped up to request a drink from Braeburn's canteen.
Purple Haze watched them with a tilted head and blinked. It didn't feel that hot out to her.
Oh well. Whatever. she shrugged her wings and let the wind carry under them for a moment, just barely pulling her off the ground. Grown wings are really nice. I don't have to flap as often, just catch the wind. So nice... She jerked her head and angled herself back towards the ground and back into step with her friends.
Well, mostly just Sunfire and Braeburn. Half Way was humming quietly and walking in an odd rhythm with her eyes closed and head bobbing. The Pegasus raised her eyebrow. Maybe Aestrak's "gift" was making her friends act weird. I feel normal anyway. Huh. She sighed a little and looked back towards the lead where Sunfire was still talking with Braeburn about something, canteen still held in her aura and moving back and forth as she spoke.
She nudged the pink mare with a wing and broke her trance. "Hey, whatcha humming?"
Half Way stuttered. "Uhhh, nothing, really. I just got a tune in my head. It was...interesting. I don't really have a name for it. It's mostly just a beat, anyway, not really anything. It just...felt good." She blushed and looked at the dirt as she walked.
The Pegasus sighed and looked up. "You seemed really into it. I'm just bored being here on the ground when I could be up there in the sky. I just wanna stretch my wings, so badly. Oh, sorry. But it's hard to explain. Maybe it's like the music in your head?"
"That makes sense, I suppose." The Earth Pony looked back up and smiled, but nothing more was said. The only sounds were the whisper of the wind and wilds and the occasional snippet from Sunfire's tirade that trailed back towards them.
"...and then my mother says..."
Half Way was tapping her hooves again.
"...you would not believe how ridiculous the entry test was, only one student ever passed outright, but that's another story..."
She was humming again. Short, powerful beats in varying pitch. It was pretty, in a foreign way.
"...I had no idea there were that many kinds of apples..."
In fact, the way her hoofbeats punctuated the tune was quite infectious. Purple Haze had to hold herself back from joining in. Her singing voice was terrible.
"...I uh don't have much experience cooking. I tried once. Just once."
The sun began to set, turning the sky a brilliant orange and casting a golden glow along the landscape. The thipis glowed like cones of amber and the Buffalo walking among them beads carved out of a dark wood. The Pegasus whistled - art was not her field, but even her untrained eye knew that this was the work of a master.
Not for the first time on this trip she regretted not having a camera.
She stumbled and backpedaled, having walked right into the butt of her Unicorn friend. Purple Haze yelped and flailed as she collected herself. She looked back up and saw many two-horned heads looking up at them. She heard the crackle of fires she couldn't quite see. Sound traveled well over the flat terrain.
Braeburn waved and walked up to a smaller, lady Buffalo who was running out to greet them, feathers on a band across her head. The other Buffalo nodded to him as he passed, but returned their stares to the trio of mares. Sunfire and Purple Haze shifted uncomfortably. Half Way continued tapping her hooves and humming, bobbing her head and almost dancing in place.
Some of the Buffalo turned to each other, their whispers barely audible but still unintelligible. The Pegasus and Unicorn shared a glance before turning their attention to the Earth Pony beside them caught in a perpetual swaying motion.
"Shhhh, knock it off, they're staring." Purple Haze stepped between her friend and the nomads, flaring her wings to shield her from their observation.
"I think you're offending them somehow." Sunfire leaned her head sideways and hissed out the side of her mouth, shooting smiles and waves at the Buffalo, who continued to stare and whisper despite their efforts.
Half Way shook her head and blushed.
"Sorry. It's just caught in my head, and it's really hard to ignore." She tried to shake the jitterbugs out of herself, but continued her little dance.
Sunfire turned her head and glared at her. She cowed. "I guess I can contain myself." The pink pony locked her knees and stopped humming. Her hoof kept tapping, though.
Braeburn walked back, trailing the little Buffalo from earlier. "Ladies, this is Little Strongheart. She says you'll be welcome to stay a while and talk to them, but, well..."
Little Strongheart picked up where Braeburn trailed off. "But our rituals are sacred. Even our own children do not take part in all of them until they have proven themselves ready. We will tell you all we can and you are welcome to stay as long as you like, but I cannot guarantee that you will learn what you wish with us." She had a unique rhythm to her speech, her words each enunciated cleanly and precisely.
Sunfire nodded and waved a hoof. "Oh, that's perfectly fine. We'll take whatever we can get, thank you for your hospitality and everything that comes with it. And thank you, Braeburn," she turned her head and bowed. "For vouching for us. It was very kind of you."
Braeburn shrugged it off. "Aww, it was nothin'. I'm gonna head home, though, got lots of work in the mornin'. Think you ladies'll be alright headin back on your own?"
Purple Haze spoke faster than Sunfire this time. "Oh, we got this far by ourselves. I'm sure we'll be okay - besides, if there ends up being any thing to worry about I think the Buffalo would be nice enough to help us back."
Braeburn nodded and tipped his hat to Little Strongheart. "Give Cheif my regards. G'night, ladies." And he turned and trotted back up the path. Sunfire shot her a look.
"What? What did I do?"
"...Nothing. Nevermind."
The wind had stopped. A Buffalo coughed. Half Way started humming again.
Little Strongheart broke the silence. "...Well, we are almost done preparing the food for the evening. You're welcome to join us and I'm sure we have room for you to sleep."
They were led to the center of the camp, where a few ornately painted thipis were arranged facing a large central fire. Four large, male Buffalo were stationed with drums in a ring around the fire. They began asking questions of Strongheart in a language the ponies did not recognize. They started up their own conversation in turn - or rather Purple Haze and Sunfire did. Half Way was tapping her hoof and humming, looking up at the darkening sky.
"Why are you still pouting? I can't apologize if I don't know what I did."
"I am not pouting. You did nothing wrong."
"Suuure you're not. All I did was tell Braeburn he could go home. Did you want him to stay here the whole night? Out here with us?"
The Unicorn bit her lip and turned away. The Pegasus blinked once, twice, then started giggling.
"Oh well shoot. You had a crush on him didn't you?"
"I did not!" She spun around, her face redder than her mane. "He was...he was just really nice and I thought it'd be nice to have him around to help if we needed it..."
"I bet you thought he was cute. You thought he was cute didn't you?"
"I did not! He's gotta be like ten years older than me anyway, that'd just be gross."
"Nopony else knows that."
"Tornado - Purple Haze - shut up."
"Firelock and Braeburn, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G..." The Pegasus merrily clapped her hooves as she sung. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then commmfppffMMMF? -" The orange Unicorn had clapped a hoof to her mouth.
"Seriously. Shut up. The Buffalo are staring at us."
She lowered her hoof and her friend looked up to see an ocean of brown eyes staring at them and a susurrus of the strange Bison language. Purple Haze closed her wings out of embarrassment.
"Oh buck I bet they all speak Equestrian." She clapped her hooves to her face. "Sorry."
A large, powerful-looking Buffalo adorned with an ornate feathered headdress parted the crowd and approached them, an equally tall but thinner Buffalo adorned with a headdress of bones and turquoise followed to the side and slightly behind. The larger of the two spoke in a deep, resonant voice.
"Equestrian is the prominent language of this land. There are few creatures that roam this land who do not speak it, many more savage and uncivilized than us. But while what you said was...intriguing, that was not what got our attention. It was your friend, here." And he gestured with his horns to Half Way, who was drumming on her thighs and humming that same little tune she'd had stuck in her head the whole day, eyes closed and head bobbing with the music inside it, oblivious to the attention she was receiving.
The Unicorn blushed and started waving her hooves defensively. "I am so sorry she's been doing that all day I'm sure she doesn't mean anything bad by it she just has a song stuck in her head - " The thinner Buffalo raised a hoof that clattered with bone jewelry and Sunfire shut up immediately. She spoke in a voice that was strong but rasped like the crunching of leaves.
"What she does does not offend us, Star-Pony. We are simply curious as to how."
Half Way continued her musical endeavor. Purple Haze was the one to respond.
"How...how what?"
The skinny Buffalo chuckled. "How she came to know that song. The same song our drummers were to sing tonight. How does this Earth Pony who comes here to learn of Spirits already know our Spirit Song?"