Desert Spice

by Bugsydor


Chapter 3: Horizon's Scope

Horizon

After checking Amber Spice’s and Carlyle’s vitals, I fly up to find out how and why in the sunscorched desert those healers knocked out their patient and a passerby.

“What do you mean, ‘just following my orders’?! Balmy, what part of my orders involved losing patients and clobbering camels?”

Meddy Vac always did have a bit of a temper.

Soothing Balm shrugs her shoulders, her face neutral. “It’s not so much you ordered me to drop her on a dromedary, as it is a direct result of following your orders.”

Soothing Balm always gives off an aura of calm under pressure. It’s a great asset for her job, but it’s also a bit eerie when you see the whole world falling down around her ears and she fails to bat an eye. I can see how ponies might think she doesn’t take anything seriously, but you can find the signs she cares about something once you’ve known her long enough.

After looking like she’s about to explode for a couple seconds, Meddy audibly and visibly deflates.

“Okay. Explain to me how telling you to follow standard pony procedure for heat exhaustion led to the current situation.”

“Standard procedure for ponies in heat exhaustion,” she replies, “is to get them some water and then move them to a cooler place for continued treatment. Usually, that place is a high altitude cumulus shaded by another cloud.

She shrugs again. “This pony was apparently nonstandard and thus incompatible with standard pony procedure.”

I facehoof and groan at this, but Meddy’s reaction is more… animated.

“Nonstandard? Nonstandard?!” she shouts, her volume rising as her gestures grow wilder and her face darkens from pink to blood red. “What was your first clue she was ‘nonstandard?’ Was it the bony spike jutting from her forehead? Was it the fact that she weighs more than a pregnant camel? Or might it have been her complete and utter lack of wings!”

“It does look more obvious in hindsight that a pony without wings wouldn’t have much use for cloudwalking,” Soothing Balm stated, “but who ever heard of a pony falling through clouds?”

Huh. Weird. Well, that’s all I needed to know.

“Soothing Balm does have a point, Meddy,” I butt in. “I brought you a strange creature that looked like a pony and talked like a pony, and I told you to treat her just like any other pony. Soothing Balm did so, and that’s what lead to the current mess.

“Really, I’m the one who’s at fault here for not being more clear. I should have warned you that she was probably too heavy to cloudwalk,” I say with my hoof to my face. “That said, would either of you two care to explain to me why you’re up here bickering while your patient is down there?” I ask, tiredly, as I point a hoof at the pony-camel pileup below.

Meddy, her face going from blood red to a pale pink, promptly remembers her duty and drops from the sky with impressive speed before I can continue speaking.

Satisfied with Meddy’s swift response, I turn to Soothing Balm.

“Both she and Carlyle seem fine by the way,” I say to her in a more professional tone, “relatively speaking. I’m no healer, though, so they may still need some looking at.”

“‘Need some looking at’ is putting it mildly,” she says, scanning the scene below. “From the looks of it, Carlyle is going to be holding down a bed in the infirmary for a few days at least. More, if he can milk some sympathy from the healers. Less, if his puns backfire.

“Speaking of looking at,” she continues, “I got a good look at the pony you brought in. I can definitely say she’s a pony mare of some description. Aside from her lack of wings, her horn, her unusual weight, her voluminous coat, and her apparent inability to cloudwalk, she has all the right parts in all the right places. No matter what Meddy says, this mare is no camel. I also sincerely doubt that she’s some kind of siren or leprecorn.”

“I didn’t see any rainbows near where I picked her up, so you may be right.”

“That said,” she says, fixing me with a piercing gaze, “I’ve never seen anything quite like her. Judging by the looks you two were getting as you flew in, I doubt anyone else has either.

“Where did you find such an unusual mare?”

Despite the earlier mishap, Amber Spice is in capable hooves, and I need to get back out to my post. Wouldn’t want some nugget to get hurt covering for me, after all, so I turn in the air to leave. Not before answering her question, though.

“Where did I find her? Among the cracked earth and golden sands of this Terra-forsaken desert, naturally!” I shout over my shoulder as I fly off, feeling puckish.

Puckish.

I haven’t felt that way in a while.

I crack a grin as I gain speed and altitude. Looks like that mare I found is making life more interesting already.

“Hey Rize!” a stallion hails me from below. Pretty close in front, too, so I can’t just pretend I was too far away to hear him. Oh well. Maybe he has something to say that’s worth hearing. Doesn’t happen often, but it does seem to be a blue moon kind of day.

I slow my flight a bit, but I keep going at a good pace.

“What is it, Idle Wings?” I bark. “I’m trying to get back to my post so some nugget doesn’t get greased in my place.”

“Well if it isn’t everypony’s favorite vanguard!” he says, oozing false sweetness. “Looks like you’ve been having an interesting day, and I know some ponies who would just love to hear all about it.”

I guess Idle Wings doing anything not inane was a long shot.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, Idle. I was just coming back for some chow. I was, uh, hungrier than expected.”

“Oh ho ho! Rize actually eating? Now that would be some juicy news. Why, nopony’s seen you do that with the sun up since Terry Sails flew off. And please, call me ‘Wings’. All my friends do.

“Fairy Tails,” I correct him. “And she didn’t ‘fly off’.”

“Right. So what could have gotten stoic, world-weary Rize eating again?” He scratches his goatee, flying belly-up. “Might it have something to do with that strange creature he was seen flying in with? Now I didn’t see the creature myself, but from what my sources say, it sounds fascinating.”

I roll so I’m looking into the sky instead of at him. “Not that interesting. I found a pony passed-out in the open desert, so I brought her back to the healers to recover.”

He does half a barrel-roll to re-enter my view. “And then went for an early lunch. Right.

“Now I don’t know about what you consider unusual, Rize, what with all the amazing things you never tell me about from your adventures vanguarding, but I’d never heard of a pony without wings before. And you say it’s a mare? Interesting…”

Aw, camel crap. So much for boring him away.

“Okay,” I say, “so she doesn’t have wings. Don’t think she’d have much use for them if she did, with how heavy she is—”

“Is it true she’s as big as a camel? Sandy said she was big as two camels put together, but I don’t think you could airlift that much dead weight.”

I speed my flight a bit. If he wants to waste my time gathering gossip, he’s going to have to work for it.

“No. She’s a pony-sized pony with a horn and no wings. Can you buzz off now? I’ve got someplace to be.”

“Now that’s just rude, Rize. Sometimes I wonder what Merry Trails saw in a stallion like you. I’m willing to overlook that sort of behavior for now, though, because I value our relationship.”

“It’s ‘Fairy Tails’.”

“Right. So did I hear you right when you said she had a horn? What could it mean?! Is she a djinn? A wizard? Can she grant wishes? Can she read minds? Does she have a hidden pot of gold and jewels? Is that why you rescued her?”

“I doubt she grants wishes, as I’m still here talking to you.” I flip back over and start to pour on more speed.

He darts down into my flight path, forcing me to slow down or crash into him. I choose to slow down, though the alternative is tempting. “Or was it a ‘rescue’ at all? –” *Gasp* “– Rize! You didn’t kidnap her, did you? What would Scary Nails think!”

Fairy Tails would think I’d be perfectly justified in bucking your head so hard it lands at the next oasis for even suggesting that.” Well, she might have been upset that I’d reduced the storyteller population by one, but she wouldn’t have complained about the week of forced leave I’d probably get for justifiable equicide.

Dear Terra, I miss her.

I take a deep breath, slowing to a near-hover. “Idle, go gather stories elsewhere. I need to get back to my post before somepony dies.

“Now I’m going to start flying back there, and if you cut me off again, I have two heavy steel horseshoes that say I’m not stopping. Understand?”

“Eh, alright.” He shrugs, feathers utterly unruffled. “Catch up with you later! Hope you finish getting over Dairy Pails soon!”

*Sigh*

How in Tartarus is that idiot still alive? I don’t know how somepony like Sweep was ever friends with him.

Maybe now I can get back to work in relative peace.

HORIZON!” a booming voice blares from above.

Maybe a distant relative of peace, then. Like peace’s third cousin. Sorry, nugget, looks like you’ll have to hold out a while longer. At least you’ll probably fare better than my ears; at this rate, they’ll be dead before sundown.

The owner of the voice – an armored, azure mare with a grayish sky blue mane – plummets directly into my path. She’s got a look on her face that says that I’d better halt rather than dodge around her if I value my status as a living, breathing stallion.

Okay, Rize. Just smile and keep cool.

“Hello, Blue Aegis,” I say, keeping a cordial tone in my voice and everything else out of it. “What seems to be the problem?”

She looks at me as if I’d just sprouted a second head and that new head had just insulted her mother. “Wh-what s-s-seems to be the p-p-problem?!” she sputters. “You brought a xenos, an alien, a perfect stranger into our midst. You don’t even have a clue what it could be capable of. What were you thinking?!”

I let the forced smile slide off my face. “You’re right: I don’t know exactly what she could do. I do know, though, that she was perfectly capable of dying if I didn’t help her. Before I’d found her, she’d already fainted from severe heat exhaustion. She didn’t even have any water packed with her. I get the feeling she never really meant to be here, and yet here she is. As a vanguard, I have sufficient authority to accept refugees I find into the caravan.”

“That thing isn’t a refugee, it’s a liability. Do you remember any of the old stories? Some idiots hang around some pony-like creature they don’t recognize, and then bam!” She slams her hooves together. “Everyone gets devoured in the night like in Homing’s Odyssey, or all of their clouds get burned away like in Plover’s Touch Not the Sun, or it enthralls everyone and makes them its slaves like in Little Lost Siren, or it kidnaps all of the foals, or—or any of a million other horrible things!”

“Or it turns out to be a friendly djinn and rewards its rescuer with three wishes as thanks for the hospitality, like in Saladdin,” I reply.

“You don’t honestly believe Terra would be so kind as to reward us for such stupidity, do you?” she snaps back.

“And do you really think Terra so cruel as to do any of the things you mentioned?” I coolly retort.

“Terra is cruelty, Horizon. Just look around you,” she says as she whirls around. “Is this the kind of place a kind maker would send us to live? Among the coarse sands and cracked earth of the garden she forgot to water? Would a kind creator let her little ponies kill each other over a few clouds, while they scurry between oases so they don’t drink them dry?

“Would a kind goddess take my little sister Fairy Tails away from me by the hooves of kidnappers?!” she shouts, real pain in her voice.

That takes the wind out from under my wings. If there’s one pony in the world who was hurt more by my fiancé’s kidnapping than I was, it was her big sister Blue Aegis. All she wanted was for Fairy Tails and Dust Devil to be happy and safe, and she could have been happy in life. She blames me for failing to protect her sister, and frankly I can’t say she’s in the wrong.

We hover in silence for a minute while she calms down and I digest her words.

“I’m sorry, Horizon,” she says, eyes downcast. “I should treat her memory better than using it as an emotional club.”

I remain silent, and she looks back up at me before continuing.

“I still mean every word I said before that, though. I still think you should have left that creature where you found it, and I have half a mind to fly it out to the middle of nowhere myself—”

“Aegis,” I butt in, “that creature is a pony like you or me. Well, mostly like you or me. I have the professional opinion of two healers backing me up on this, and I’m not about to let you or anyone else harm a helpless mare if I can help it.”

“—but I’ll respect your authority as a vanguard to bring her into the caravan under your protection,” she continues her statement as if she hadn’t been interrupted just now.

I blink blankly a couple times. Not quite the reaction I expected—

“Know this, though: I will be watching that creature like a hawk, day and night. If it does anything suspicious, I will not hesitate to do what is necessary to defend this caravan. I swear upon my honor as a guard, and on my lost sister’s memory.”

—but I really shouldn’t have expected any less. She always had her heart in the right place, at least.

“I appreciate your coming to me with your concerns rather than taking matters into your own hooves right away, and I can definitely appreciate how much you care for the safety of every pegasus and camel in this caravan,” I say, gravely, when suddenly an idea sparks to life.

“You know that really old story, The Commander and the Sheikh? When those two met, the pegasi were tired from fleeing the Great Freeze, and the camels… Well, they helped the pegasi when they didn’t have to, even though they didn’t know each other at all and…”

Aegis quirks an eyebrow.

“What I’m meaning to say is, just try to give her the benefit of the doubt,” I continue, deflating a little. “It could be a good break from the routine.”

“Horizon? I still don’t trust it, and you already have my word that I won’t do anything to harm the creature until it does something to confirm my suspicions. That’s about as much doubt as I’m willing to let a xenos benefit from,” she replies in a level tone as we continue to hover over the outskirts of the caravan. “You never really did answer my question, though. What were you thinking when you decided to bring that strange creature back to us?”

“I was thinking –” I pause for a bit, reflecting. “– that it might be nice lifting a pony from the sands instead of shooting them down into them, for once.”

Her face grows thoughtful for a moment. “I… think I can see where you’re coming from,” she says in a slightly softer tone, before her face hardens in resolve. “If she does prove to be trouble, though, I won’t let you or anybody else come between me and protecting the caravan. I’m not about to let anyone else lose a family member due to your reckless helpfulness.”

And with that, Blue Aegis flies back up to her post to watch over her little ponies and camels down below. That mare looks after the whole caravan like a mother gryphon guards her chicks, or so the stories of gryphons go.

I resume my own journey at a faster pace, even if I’m in a more somber mood. Reckless helpfulness? I don’t want anyone else to get hurt, either. That’s why I’ve stuck with the vanguard thing through all of the soul-grinding boredom and bloodshed. Nopony should have to spend all their time worrying about bandits coming to run them through and steal their stuff, so I figure I should be on the front lines facing unknown dangers instead of them.

So why did I save a mare I knew nothing about? To change up the routine? Because it was a fun idea? Maybe Blue Aegis was right. It’s not just my own life I’m taking into my hooves when I take a gamble…

After a few more minutes of flight I finally spy Aerial Sweep and the nugget. The nugget is one I recognize. A younger, blazing red stallion with a harsh sunlight-yellow mane. Spot Check, I think his name is.

“See anything interesting while I was gone, Spot?” I shout his way.

“No, sir! Nothing interesting, sir! Just the way I like it, sir!” he shouts back once I’m well within speaking range.

“Well,” I say with a mild roll of my eyes, “glad to see you’re still in one piece. The nugget do okay, Sweep?”

“Well,” Sweep says with a shrug, “he did a pretty great job of observing nothing, that’s for sure.”

“A vital skill for any guard to have,” I reply as I nod sagely before turning back to Spot Check. “Congratulations, nugget, you’re dismissed.”

At that, Spot beams, salutes, and bounces along through the air back towards the training group and the caravan.

“Now that…” I sigh and shake my head. “That is a pony who knows exactly what he wants to do in life.”

“I kinda admire his enthusiasm, really,” he replies through half a smile, before it starts to fade.

He continues in a softer voice, “Kinda wish you were still that enthusiastic about anything. Something’s eating you, Rize.”

I open my mouth to brush him off, but he’s faster.

“Something beyond the usual. Your tail’s sagging a little, your wings look like they’re flying through agave nectar, and you haven’t quite looked me in the eyes since you’ve gotten back.”

I glance back at my wings and tail and then look back in Sweep’s general direction. Am I really broadcasting that many tells? Sun above, he’s observant!

“Rize, we’re friends. You’ve helped me through some hard times, and I’ve tried to help you through some of yours as well. Even if you don’t think I can help you, at least let me share the load.”

I turn around to search the skyline, but I keep my ears locked on Sweep’s position.

“Tell me, Sweep,” I say, “what would you have done if the two of you actually saw something while I was gone?”

“I’d have told the nugget to hold back while I dealt with it. No sense in sending in a half-trained spotter to swat bogeys.”

“Or a fully trained one,” I shoot back. “What were they thinking, sending a nugget spotter to cover for a striker? Somepony could have been hurt.”

“It’s hardly the first time command’s made a decision like this, and everypony is clearly still fine. I know this, you know this, and you know I know you know this. That’s clearly not what’s getting down in your mouth. At least, not directly. What’s the real issue here, Rize?” he probes.

“I guess that’s not quite it, then.” I let out an annoyed chuff.

I start flying forward again to take my place in the network of vanguards protecting the caravan, and turn my head to see Sweep fall into formation above me and to the side.

Flying. Just flying forward at the caravan’s pace, scanning the sky above and the ground below; it’s relaxing, really, when I’m in the mood to appreciate it. It helps that I know Sweep has my back, too. He’d catch sight of anything dangerous and let me know about it long before I’d have a chance to see and recognize it on my own. He’s a better wingpony than I could reasonably ask for, and a good friend besides.

Speaking of which, I guess I better answer his question.

“You’re probably right, Sweep,” I say with a sigh. “I don’t think I’m really that worried whether command knows less about what they’re doing than usual. Like you said, we’re still here and so are our clouds.

“I think… I think I’m just worried that I don’t know what I’m doing. I abandon my post so I can scoop some mare – hay, I think she’s some kind of pony – and take her to some healers who don't really know what to do with her either.

“I don’t know, Sweep,” I say as I cast him a worried glance. “What if she’s dangerous? I don’t think she’s a succubus or anything silly like that, but what if she’s a spy for another caravan? Or maybe she’s some great and powerful wizard, waiting to recover and get her power back before enslaving us all? It would make the hat make more sense, at least.”

Aerial Sweep does an aileron roll to reflect his rolling eyes before he replies. “Have you been talking to Blue Aegis again? Because you’re starting to sound like her. That mother gryphon could put a damper on anything.”

“Yeah, she did pin me down and give me some things to think about,” I admit. “She asked me what I was thinking bringing a xenos into the middle of the caravan, and that got me wondering the same thing.”

Sweep does a couple slow, thoughtful barrel rolls around me before he continues. “Way I remember it, Rize, you saved some strange mare’s life. There she was, drying out like a date in the noonday sun, when whoosh!” He dives down before popping back up to keep talking. “You swoop in to save her from becoming pony jerky and take her back to the safety of the caravan to receive the finest medical care you’ll find in this desert.”

“If by finest medical care you mean Meddy Vac and Soothing Balm,” I snark, nearly cracking a grin.

Finest medical care you’ll find in this desert,” he confirms while nodding mock-sagely. “And if you fail to mention any of these heroics to her, you can bet your wings I’ll find a way to exaggerate them to her,” he says, a devilish grin spreading on his face.

“Urgh. And here I was, hoping to finally get some peace and quiet,” I grumble.

“Relax, Rize. Just trying to lighten the mood a little. Well, mostly,” he says with a wink before continuing.

“Anyway, I saw the two of you talking on your way back to the caravan. Heard some of it, too. Yeesh, that girl has a pair of lungs!” He does a quick loop. “Tell me, did she seem like some spy or a great and powerful wizard to you? Because from what I heard and saw, she seemed a lot more like a scared and confused mare who was out of her element.”

I start a lazy barrel roll as I mull that over for a bit. ‘What did I see? A pony who was better outfitted for a party than she was for desert travel, for one thing. Not exactly the most threatening thing I’ve encountered in these wastes. She was terrified of everything, too, especially me,’ I think with a grimace. ‘Definitely not the attitude of a conqueror.

“Thanks, Sweep. You always know just what to say to put a pony’s mind at ease.”

“No problem, Rize. Now let’s just put that behind us for now and keep flying until they relieve us for chow” he says, punctuating his couplet with a quick loop.

I nod in agreement as I continue to scan the skyline for friends or foes.

Something about the horizon has always drawn me to it. To peer over it and see what’s out there. I look back at the other horizon behind me, where the caravan is. Where that strange mare is. I get the feeling that the strangeness with her is just beginning.