Chapter XXVI: Generosity
Days with a never-setting Sun make the desert an unkind place. In the sky above was the Moon at its quarter phase. The Sun had made ten circles around the sky and was now to the North and nearing the halfway point to the Moon. Even with the Sun far from its peak height, it's constant bombardment of sunlight on the Earth had made the Great Northern Desert reach unprecedented temperatures.
Starswirl the Bearded, Derpy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie trekked through the hot wilderness, with only a single cloud held by the two pegasi keeping the team protected from the merciless rays, and the cloud was shrinking, submitting to the heat and, little by little, dispersing the water it held. Even with the cloud's protection, the ponies suffered from the heat. The sands burned their feet, and the hot air forced them to sweat out what water they had in their bodies. The ponies had never encountered such miserable discomfort before. They came to an enormous sand dune and walked on its shaded side. It was a welcome relief for everypony to touch somewhat cooler sand. Everypony relaxed their steps for the time being, but then Pinkie Pie made a poorly placed step and disturbed the sand that was delicately held up by the dune. The sand below the ponies gave way and slid down, bringing the walking ponies down with it. Rainbow Dash and Derpy followed the others down the dune, bringing the cloud with them.
"Oops..." Pinkie said, "Sorry about that."
"Can we rest now please?" Rarity asked, "I can't take any more for today. I need to get this disgusting sweat off of me... again."
Rainbow Dash replied, "Rarity, we've only been going for an hour since our last break."
"Really? I lasted an hour?"
"Yeah. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm real impressed," Rainbow said as she flew down to give Rarity a pat on her sweaty back. "I never thought you'd even go five minutes!"
"Thank you, Rainbow, for your confidence in my endurance," Rarity sarcastically responded. Rainbow giggled and returned to the cloud. As she tidied herself up and tried to get the sand out of her mane and coat, Rarity looked to her left, and something caught her eye. "Wait, look over there! A tree!"
The other's looked to where Rarity was pointing and indeed saw what seemed to be a tree. "Where there's a tree, there's water!" Derpy shouted, "And maybe muffins!" Everypony mustered what energy they could and galloped and flew towards the tree. They ignored the pain from galloping over scorching hot sand, as they expected the reward of cool water and soothing shade. The closer they were to the tree, the clearer its image became. When they finally reached their goal, what awaited them was a terrible disappointment. The tree turned out to be nothing more than a rock. It was an oddly shaped rock, with a wide top, but a narrow base and center. It looked more like a mushroom than it did a tree. Out of a crevice in the upper portion of the rock, a vulture's head popped out and cawed at the ponies.
"A rock?!" Rarity yelled, "We came all this way for a rock!?"
"Save thy breath, Rarity," Starswirl said, "'Tis the desert playing tricks upon us. Let us return to our course. There be nothing to gain hither." But then he noticed something that concerned him gravely. "Where is our cloud?"
Everypony turned and looked at Rainbow Dash and Derpy, who looked back at the direction they came from. Rainbow saw their cloud being scattered and blown away by the desert winds and mumbled, "Oh, horse-apples..."
"Rainbow Dash! How could you lose the cloud?!" Rarity yelled some more.
"Sorry! I just forgot. I was so excited about the tree that I forgot about the cloud."
"Oh no, this really bad. This bad, bad, bad! Should we start panicking?" Pinkie began to lose her calm.
Starswirl then scolded Rainbow Dash, "Thou hast doomed us all, ye fool!"
"Don't blame her!" Derpy interrupted, "Uhh, blame me. It was my fault. I'm the one who can see two ways. and, you know, that means I... I should've been watching the cloud while flying to the rock!"
The others realized they had gotten out of hand and reacted inappropriately. Rarity then made the apology, "Sorry, Rainbow. That was harsh of me. Nobody is to blame for this mishap. After all, it was I who pointed out this rock and made us go off course. Dumb rock!" Rarity redirected her frustration at the rock and bucked it.
Starswirl, in the meantime was reluctant to admit to his fault, but decided to make an indirect apology, "Our time in the desert hath made me forget mine manners. 'Twas rude of me to raise mine voice. 'Tis only the royalty who may speak with such volume."
"So, I'm guessing we aren't supposed to panic then?" Pinkie asked.
"Neigh, Pinkie Pie. 'Twould be odiously detrimental to our efforts," Starswirl answered.
Pinkie then turned to the rock and looked at it intently, cocking her head from side to side and then making a full three-hundred sixty degree twist of her neck before letting her head snap back in place. She asked, "So why's this rock all funny-shaped like that?"
"Oh, oh, oh! I know this one!" Derpy excitedly responded and landed next to Pinkie. She then felt the burning pain of the sand and decided to return to flying. She continued, "The Doctor told me about how this rock happens! The sand eats it when there's a storm!"
"The sand eats it?" Rarity asked.
"Ooh! Is it like rock candy or something?" Pinkie joined.
"I guess so," Derpy said, "It's got to be if the sand can eat so much of it."
Pinkie then zipped to the rock and licked it, but the scorching hot surface of the rock burned her tongue and Pinkie jumped in pain and gallop around yelling, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Hot! Ow!" Starswirl then used his magic to pull Pinkie by the tail and stop her.
"We must not dawdle like such, dear mares!" Starswirl said, "We shall most briefly examine our provisions and move on."
Pinkie and Rainbow Dash gathered everypony's saddlebags and looked through the food and water supplies. What they found was not good news. "Ummm... we only have one bag of granola and half a bag of hay left," Pinkie reported, "and we're down to our last thing of water." Everypony gasped. The remaining supplies could not last them more than a day.
"This food was supposed to last us ten days! How did we run out so soon!?" Rarity asked.
Derpy then answered, "Oh, that was me. I used them to cover our tracks while we were napping so that nopony could follow us!" Everypony facehoofed.
Starswirl then tried to calm everypony before tensions rose again. "Oh, it matters not. Surely, the gods shall provide for us at the time of our greatest need. Now, we must continue forth with our journey. Now, upon where is the Sun..." Starswirl reached into his saddlebag and took out the Doctor's clock. He examined it closely, trying to remember the Doctor's instructions on how to use the contraption. "Uhhhh..." Starswirl was lost and wished he had devised a spell to point the way North. He instead tried to improvise, "This arrow pointeth to the number eight, therefore, eight hours hath passed... and therefore... uh... The Sun hath circled around the sky eight times and as such, the North is in yonder direction." Starswirl pointed to what actually was the Southwest. Starswirl wiped the sweat on his face with his cape and began walking. Not knowing what else they could do, the others followed his lead.
An hour and three minutes later, the constant walking and lack of shade made Rarity finally collapse and fall on the sand, though she immediately got back up upon feeling the searing heat on her side. She wanted to just stop and cry. The hardship was too much to bear. Everypony else felt this way also. Pinkie looked behind and shielded her eyes as she faced East, where the Sun now was. She observed their tracks which farther back became indiscernible as the heat haze distorted her view. She then came to see what appeared to be two figures walking towards them. She said, "Hey, what's that back there?"
The others turned and saw the two figures, but Rainbow Dash dismissed the sight, saying, "It's probably just another rock. Come on, we don't want to do what we did last time."
"But this time it looks like they're moving," Pinkie replied.
"She's right," Rarity joined, "They look like they're walking our way."
"Prithee, ignore it." Starswirl said, " 'Tis naught but another deception of this accursed wasteland."
Rarity, still observing the two figures, then saw the smaller of the two fall over on its side and the larger stopping and going down to tend to the fallen figure. "We have to turn around. They look like they could use some help."
"Rarity, we cannot alloweth further diversions. We must continue."
"But they need us!"
"'Tis but another trick. Be not fooled again!"
"I don't care! I'm going to help them." Rarity turned and painfully galloped to the two figures. Rainbow called for her to return, but to no avail. She then flew off to follow Rarity. Pinkie and Derpy shortly went as well. Reluctantly, Starswirl turned and followed.
Rarity came to the two figures: a mother and son pair of gazelle. The son, a little white gazelle, was collapsed on the ground, unconscious. The mother, a grey gazelle with yellow eyes and long magnificent horns, knelt beside her son with her head weeping on his shoulder. Both were severely starved and dehydrated. They're bodies were decrepit and reduced to little more than skin and bones. Their ribs were clearly visible on their sides. Their breathing was very laborious, yet still faint. The mother wept but had no water left in her to make tears. Her eyes were reddened by lack of sleep and exposure to the Sun, while her teeth were yellowed. The mother's hooves were misshapen and cracked from the endless walking. The only thing that seemed unaffected by the desert was the golden locket that the mother wore around her neck.
Rarity approached the two and said, "Um, hello?"
The mother turned and quickly shielded her son with her own body. "Please! Please don't hurt him! I beg of you, don't hurt my son. I know we're Hoofricans and all you want to do is kill us, but please, for the love of the gods, spare my son! You can kill me, but please let him go!"
"It's okay. It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to help."
"Help?"
"Yes. Look, I have nothing to do with this war. I'm not out to hurt anypony."
"Are... are you from Utopia?"
"From what?"
"Utopia. The city the camels talk about."
"Umm... no. Sorry."
Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Derpy then arrived and gasped upon seeing the two pitiful gazelle. "Oh my gosh, are you two okay?" Rainbow asked.
"Don't be silly. Of course they're not okay," Pinkie said, "They're starving they must've not eaten for days!"
"Weeks," the mother said.
"I mean, weeks!" Pinkie corrected herself.
Starswirl then came along and saw the two gazelle. He scoffed and said, "Thou hast brought us off course to help a pair of worthless Hoofricans? Rarity, this is the last I shall let your distractions take hold of us! Leave them be. Let them die." Starswirl turned and began to walk away, but the others ignored him.
Rarity then said, "Pinkie, give me the water."
"The what?!" Pinkie reacted.
"The water."
"Wait, this is the last of our water!" Rainbow said, "We can't give any of it up!"
"Would you rather they die?" Rarity retorted. Pinkie and Rainbow had no response. They could not sentence the two gazelle to death by denying them water, but they also could not bring themselves to give up the last of their water. Rarity then went to Pinkie and levitated the last flask of water. Nopony stopped her. She went to the gazelle and offered her the water.
"No, no... I-I can't accept this," the mother said, "If I take this then you'll die."
"The gods will provide for us in the time of our greatest need," Rarity replied, "Now take it, please. I insist. I won't take no for an answer."
Meanwhile, Starswirl turned to see if anypony was following his lead and saw Rarity offering water to the gazelle. "Rarity! Ye fool, what art thou doing?!" He teleported himself between Rarity and the gazelle and took a hold of the flask with his magic. The two faced each other and glared at each other in the eye.
"Starswirl! Let go of the water and get out of my way. I will help these gazelle!"
"I shan't allow thee to threaten our lives for the sake of the enemy's!"
"They are a pair of poor helpless creatures! And you want them to die?!"
"'Tis what they rightfully deserve!"
"I beg to differ! They deserve to live!"
"They art Hoofricans! The Hoofricans are responsible for the deaths of thousands of our ponies. Thus 'tis just that every Hoofrican pay for their kingdom's crimes."
"These two have probably never hurt a single pony in their entire lives. They're innocent and there's no justification for letting the innocent die. Would your gods be pleased to see that you failed to give help to those who needed it? Or would they be ashamed to see somepony so selfish?"
Starswirl was silenced. He kept his eyes locked on Rarity's for a few moments longer before submitting and breaking eye contact. He looked down and watched his sweat drip down onto the sand and evaporate upon contact. He released his magic grip on the flask and stepped aside. Rarity proceeded forward and gently said, "Thank you."
Rarity gave the flask to the mother gazelle, who gratefully accepted and first poured water into her son's mouth before taking a drink for herself. A little bit of water remained and the gazelle offered it back to Rarity, but Rarity responded, "Keep it."
"You're too generous," the gazelle said, "I'm in your debt."
"So, why don't you tell us who you are? That's how most ponies begin when meeting strangers."
"Well... my name is Cottontail. My son's name is Mango. We're of the Mrasharasha family of the city of Gazellandria. We are directly descended from the great sage, Hewa. I am the daughter and heiress of Chief Midnight Sprint, and wife of Dr. Indigo."
"Tell us how you came to be here, if you don't mind, that is."
"Not at all. Almost a year ago, dragons attacked the countryside surrounding Gazellandria, and my family's farms were destroyed. So all the profits we would have gained from that year's harvest was lost. The disaster coincided terribly with the banks demanding payment on our loans for a project to build a new estate and loans for the tuitions for my two little brothers who went to Haki University. We fell deep into debt and extended the deadlines as far as we could..."
While Cottontail and Rarity conversed, Starswirl watched confusedly, as he heard Rarity speaking in Equinese while Cottontail spoke in Zwahiri and they somehow understood each other perfectly. He whispered to the others, "How doth they understand each other? They speaketh different tongues."
"What are you talking about? They're both speaking Equinese," Rainbow said.
Derpy, having faced the situation before, gave Starswirl the answer that the Doctor instructed her to give whenever any sorcerers asked about "wibbly-wobbly technology things." She said, "It's the Doctor's secret magic. I can't tell you anything about it. Sorry."
Meanwhile, Cottontail coughed and cleared her throat as she reached the tragic part of her story and Rarity, sensing that telling the story was saddening her, tried to comfort her by placing a hoof on her shoulder. As Cottontail continued, she stood up, picked up her son and carried him on her back. "Three months ago, we still couldn't raise enough money and the banks refused to give us any more extensions. The punishment for a failure to pay debts was indentured servitude and foreclosure. My father and mother were taken and our land was seized. My husband and I, we tried to take charge of what remained of our family and we took in my brothers. My brothers, though, were completely incompetent and just relied on our income. Still, as the eldest, I had a duty to support them. Then my youngest brother..." Cottontail began to choke up as she reached the point she had hoped to never remember.
"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to," Rarity said.
"No, no," Cottontail replied, "I have to face the truth of what happened. I have to be honest with myself. My brother... he... he sold us. He was at the tavern drinking the night away when he met with a camel who offered him a deal. So he sold us - me, my brother, my husband and my son - he sold us as slaves to the camel. With the contract sealed, my brother tricked us into going to the outskirts of the city and a gang of camels captured us and dragged us into the desert. The camels sold us to a dragon called Thorn. My other brother, he died. Thorn killed him for being a useless slave who only made life harder. A few weeks into slavery though, Indigo came up with an escape plan, but it would only work with two gazelle. So he let me and Mango escape while he stayed behind. And so, Mango and I wandered the desert with a little bit of food and water stolen from Thorn. But, by the grace of the gods, we ran into a zebra in the middle of the desert and she gave us a compass. Using that we found the Southwest and have been traveling that way ever since."
Everypony was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend just how tragic her life had become. "That's..." Pinkie began, "That's one of the saddest- Wait, hold on! If you're traveling Southwest, why are you going this way?"
"Because this is the way we're supposed to go..." Cottontail said.
"But we're supposed to be heading North, not Southwest," Rainbow replied.
"Well, I'm sorry to say, you've been going the wrong way," Everypony turned and glared at Starswirl the Bearded, who in shame hid his face behind the rim of his hat.
"Hm, now that you've pointed out our mistake," Rarity said, "I guess that means we are now the ones in debt to you."
At that moment, Mango coughed from his mother's back and slowly began to open his eyes. Weakly, he said, "Mom, are we home yet?"
Cottontail turned her head and kissed her son's forehead. "Almost, sweetie. You go back to sleep now." Mango then closed his eyes again and slept.
Rarity smiled to see Mango recovering. She went to Pinkie's saddlebag again and took out the last bag of granola. She levitated it to Cottontail, who said, "Oh, no. Please, miss, I can't take away any more of your things." Rarity gave her a look, and Cottontail understood that she would not take no for an answer, so she gratefully accepted the granola. However, she was agonized that she had not given the unicorn anything in return. Then she realized she had one last valuable in her possession. She took off her locket and gave it to Rarity. "Please, take this. As a token of my gratitude. I won't take no for an answer."
Rarity took the locket and admired it. "Oh my, this gorgeous. Look at those intricate patterns. Ooooh, and the carving is simply exquisite. And the gold must be twenty-four karat. This one's a keeper, most definitely."
Cottontail then smiled and said, "What's most valuable is what's inside." Rarity opened the locket and saw a tiny seed. Cottontail continued, "It's a seed of the Tree of Light. The four great sages who founded Hoofrica kept the seeds of the Tree of Light and passed it down from generation to generation. Sadly, many of the seeds were lost through the years. So far, the only known seed left is this one. Please, don't lose it."
Rarity closed the locket and put it around her neck. "I will protect this seed with my life, Cottontail."
Rainbow then interrupted the two, saying, "This is all very touching, and stuff, but we're still getting baked here. Maybe we should get going. So, which way is North?"
Cottontail took out her compass, showed it to the others and said, "I don't know if you ponies know how a compass works. It's a Hoofrican invention. Anyway, North is where the arrow is pointing. And actually, why don't you keep the compass? I can actually somewhat see the Nyekundu Mountains from here, which means home isn't much farther. You all seem like you have much longer to go, though, so you'll need this compass more than I do."
"Thank you so much, Cottontail," Rarity said.
"No, my dear... um... oh my goodness, how rude of me," Cottontail replied, "I never asked for your name."
"Rarity."
"Rarity... what a beautiful name. Well then, thank you ever so much, Rarity the Generous."
Cottontail, carrying her son, then walked past the five ponies and continued on her journey Southwest. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Derpy, Rainbow Dash and Starswirl the Bearded then turned and followed the compass North.
"Thou hast sealed our fate, Rarity," Starswirl scolded, "Now we hath almost no food and no water. How art we to last?"
"Wasn't it you, Starswirl, who said that the gods will provide for us at the time of our greatest need?" Rarity replied.
Starswirl gasped at the clever response, scoffed and remained silent. Rarity, confident in herself, led the ponies. This time, she lasted an hour and a half before surrendering to the heat. She lowered her head and stared at the sand around her hooves. She then noticed that the grains were drifting to her left. She wondered what was causing it and looked to her right. From the East was coming an enormous cloud of sand. "Oh my..."
The others turned and looked the way Rarity was looking. Starswirl then yelled, "Sandstorm! Gallop!" Everypony turned West and ran away from the oncoming storm. But the great cloud of sand soon caught up with them and the powerful winds lifted them off of the ground. The five ponies were carried away by the storm.