//------------------------------// // Holding On // Story: Stay // by Wintergreen Diaries //------------------------------// Chai was beginning to worry. Not only had Merry not met up at their designated sandstorm shelter, but nobody that she asked had seen him. Her heart sank as she stepped out of the saloon after having learned that the proprietor hadn’t laid eyes on him at all that day. Despite her every effort to remain calm, the claws of panic were steadily increasing their hold over the mare with every passerby that hadn’t heard or seen anything of her brother since just before the storm blew in. “Excuse me, but have you seen Merry at all today?” Chai asked a passing stallion, unable the mask the desperation bleeding into her voice. “Sorry, miss, ain’t laid eyes on the lad since y’all served me this mornin’” he replied, shaking his head. “Ah thought fer sure he’d be with you. Ah’ll keep mah eyes out, though, an’ tell him he’d best hightail it back t’ his sister if’n he knows what’s good fer ‘im.” “Thank you, I appreciate it,” she said, forcing a smile before turning away and continuing on her way. As she continued to ask around, she heard various accounts of him tearing through town around the time of the storm, but no word on why he was rushing about or what had come of his antics. Every conversation bred further disappointment and dread, but she was wrong in thinking that she had reached her limit, or that she couldn’t be made to feel worse. “Have either of you seen Merry?” The couple in question shook their heads. “Yeah, I seen ‘im!” Chai snapped to attention as the gruff voice sounded behind her. The stallion wore a sullen scowl and didn’t look all the pleased with the mare as she cantered over, but she couldn’t have cared less what anypony thought of her at that moment. “You have? Please, sir, where is he?” “Dang fool’s probably dead by now, that’s where.” There was a collective gasp from the onlookers at the statement. “H-how could you say something like that?” Chai cried, simultaneously horrified and outraged. She was sore tempted to take a crack at shattering the sneering stallion’s jaw, but she didn’t need charges of assault being added to her list of things to fret about. “Tell me what you saw. Now.” “Alright, alright, easy!” he exclaimed, catching the glint in the mare’s eye. “It was just a few moments before the storm hit that I see ‘im. Came tearin’ through the center o’ town like a bat outta Tartarus. I was just walkin’ along, mindin’ me own business when that thievin’ brat up an’ nicked my bandana right off my head! Naturally, I wasn’t about t’ let ‘im off easy, so I gave chase. Led me all the way towards the edge of town, and that’s when I saw him do the darndest, most idiotic thing a pony could do.” “And that was?” Chai asked quietly, swallowing hard. “Why, he jumped straight into the front of the storm!” Another gasp arose from the onlookers that crowded around. Chai sat down hard as the pony continued. “I always knew that he was a mite off in the head, but to go around stealin’ stuff just t’ jump into a storm? That pony ain’t just daft, he’s plumb mad! Foolhardy! Crazy in the-” “Would you kindly be quiet?!” Chai snarled, scrambling to her hooves and towering over the cowering stallion. “If you say one more word about Merry, I’ll make you wish it had been you in the sandstorm.” Turning away from the muttering mess of stubborn obstinance, she turned back to the ponies that had crowded around with sympathy in their eyes. “Please, I know that you all have things to attend to and repairs that need your attention, but please… please help me find my brother.” “Somepony get the mayor!” someone shouted from the crowd. “Call for a search!” another voice chimed in. “Gather at the general store, we’re gonna need torches!” a third called. With a flurry, the ponies dispersed, calling out orders and spreading the word. Chai watched with misty eyes as the whole town rose up with one accord, galvanized to action at the thought of her brother being in trouble. Within minutes, they had assembled in the town center where the mayor was speaking, and Chai arrived just in time to catch the tail end of it. “...and I don’t need to remind y’all of what Merry has done fer this town,” the mayor continued with conviction. “When we’ve been down, he’s brought us back up. When one of us had reason to be sad, he’d meet us where we were at and turn our frown right around!” A rousing cheer rose from the crowd. “He’s done only right by us since the day he moved here with his sister. He may be a bit odd, and I know I’m not the only pony ‘round here that’s wondered who in blazes was sniffin’ at my mane.” A mixture of laughter and cheers followed the statement. “He might be a mite strange, an’ he might not march to the same beat as any of us, but he’s been there for us, and now it’s time for us to be there fer him! Get out there, and bring that stallion home!” So great was the thunderous stamping applause that ripples raced through the sand, shaking even the foundations of the city. Tears streamed down Chai’s face in the wake of the mayor’s speech, and she could only nod her thanks as she was laden with words of comfort and encouragement by the ponies passing by. Her smile grew yet wider as she saw the bothersome coffee lover from earlier that morning among the crowd, and it was with gratitude that she turned to find the mayor with his hoof resting gently on her shoulder. “Dry yer eyes, Miss Chai,” he said, his words carrying with them a genuine warmth. He was a rugged looking stallion, sporting a neatly kept moustache and well built even by earth pony standards. He wasn’t the sort to sit back and delegate when he could lend a hoof, and he had the town’s respect for it. “This town will shift every grain of sand if we have to t’ get yer brother home. Yer both a beloved part of this community, now. Merry has taught us all a thing or two over the years, and I know that these folk won’t rest until he’s home safe and sound. Here, take this.” Chai gratefully accepted the handkerchief and did what she could to make herself presentable. “Thank you. Your kindness towards Merry means more than I can say.” “Think nothing of it, miss,” he chuckled, helping her to her hooves. “It’s clear that he means the world to you, and that means a world to us. Why don’t ye swing by the saloon and take a load off? Just tell ‘em the mayor said to put it on ‘is tab.” “I appreciate the offer, but I think right now I’d rather just have some tea,” she said, smiling weakly. “Alcohol has never really sat well with me.” “As you wish, miss,” he said, tipping his hat. “Get some rest and try not to worry. We’ll let you know the moment we find ‘im.” Thanking him one last time, Chai turned and made her way back to the center of the square. All manner of things had been tossed around, but after some searching she found her cart in about the condition that one would expect after a storm of that magnitude. A few nearby ponies helped her stand the thing upright, but she wasn’t sure if the thing would even be salvageable. The axles were completely shot, much of her brewing equipment had been dented, dinged, or warped beyond use, and she was sure most of her product had been spoiled. There were a hoofful of sealed jars that had survived, though even those she had to dig out of cupboards filled to the brim with sand. “How are we ever going to pay to replace all this?” she wondered, sinking down behind the counter of the cart and holding her head in her hooves. Her insistence on growing her own herbs meant that they were limited to selling only what they could produce, and while business had grown in recent years, there were still months where they struggled to make ends meet. “If something has happened to Minty, I don’t think that I could go on. I’d have nothing left…” Her head drooped lower as she began to weep softly at the thought. “Luna, Celestia, anypony, please… You can take anything else, just… bring my brother home.” Igneous looked less than thrilled as his daughters arrived in a disheveled mess, and a whole hour late no less. They were coated in more dust than should ever be accrued from the path between their farm and Dodge City, Marble looked like she had come face to face with the thing under the bed, Pinkamena seemed to have a terrible case of the shivers, and all three of them were haggard and out of breath. It was one of those moments when, as a parent, he was torn between giving them a stern dressing down for making him worry, or holding them in his arms because the worry was over. He did both. “Where in Equestria have you girls been?” he asked, sweeping over and enfolding them in his tight embrace. “How many times have I told you not to stay out late? Don’t you know your father would worry?” “We’re sorry, Pa, we didn’t mean to,” Limestone piped up as he pulled away. “Didn’t mean to doesn’t make it alright, Limestone,” Igneous chided her, shaking his head. “You know that the rockfields are dangerous to traverse at night, and it’s already gettin’ dark out.” His tone softened as he heaved a sigh. “I’m just trying to keep you three safe.” “We know, Pa, but it really wasn’t our fault,” Marble quietly explained. “A really big sandstorm hit Dodge while we were at the market.” “A sandstorm?” Igneous exclaimed as a lump of solid parental worry fell with a splash into his stomach. It explained the unusually high number of dust devils that had swept through the fields earlier in the afternoon. “We had to take shelter in the saloon,” Pinkie explained, stepping forward. “We barely had any warning before it hit the city. The warning bells didn’t go off until it was five minutes out, maybe less.” She dropped her gaze, remembering all the times she spent goofing around past curfew. “We’re really sorry for worrying you, father. We got home as soon as we could.” “Don’t you worry about that, there’s nothing you could have done about the storm,” he murmured gently, hugging each one in turn. “I’m just glad to hear you’re alright. You three look like you’ve had a rough time of it, so why don’t you go upstairs and get cleaned up? Supper should be ready by the time you girls are finished.” “Thanks, daddy,” Pinkie murmured, flashing a thankful smile before heading upstairs. She was elected to have first use of the shower, and she gratefully closed the door behind her, fumbled with the knobs, and listened as the ancient pipes creaked and groaned before a gentle downpour sprayed from the nozzle. For the first few minutes, she just stood there, letting the water coax the dust from her coat while her mind wandered. Pinkie had always preferred baths over showers on account of the inclusion of toys, and also the company of her pet alligator. “That’s right, I left Gummi behind when I ran away…” She dipped her mane into the stream, staring down at the drain as the grime fell away, spiraling around her hooves before disappearing. “I miss him. The way he’d nibble on my mane, the cute way that he lets loose when he dances…” It brought a smile to her face, even though it hurt to remember what she had left behind. “I wonder if there’s some way I could sneak back into Sugarcube Corner to get him? Heh, probably not. The twins would catch me for sure. I miss them, too.” Glancing out from beyond the veil of her mane, she realized that there wasn’t any of her shampoo around. “Just another thing I left behind…” There wasn’t much of a reason for her to linger in the shower. After making sure that she had gotten as much of the sand from her mane and tail as she was able, she switched off the flow, toweled off, and made straight for her room. A few passes with a brush set her mane in as much order as she cared to maintain, after which she curled up on her bed and set about staring out of the window, her head resting on the sill. Her mind was thinking way more than she wanted it to, but neither did she exert much of an effort to make it stop. She just felt drained, and it was with great eagerness that she regarded the distraction that she spied out the window. “I wonder what that could be?” she muttered to herself, peering into the darkened fields. Making its way through the darkness was a little light that bobbed up and down as it moved. It was still a good ways off, but it became evident that it was getting closer to the house. Her curiosity roused, she hopped down from her bed, shuffled down the stairs, and made her way out to the porch. Her father, ever the protective sort, followed her out and stood beside her, and together they watched as a pony from Dodge meandered into view, her torch held loosely in her wing. “Can we help you?” Igneous asked in a neutral tone. “I sure hope so,” she said, obviously worried. Her mane was windswept and coated in dust, and she looked like she’d been flying for hours. “There was a sandstorm that swept through Dodge this afternoon, a real nasty one, too. We thought that everyone was accounted for, but we found out after the storm subsided that one pony didn’t make inside…” “Oh my goodness!” Igneous looked over at his daughter who sat stricken by the announcement. “We’ve been searching since dusk, but haven’t found anything. Have you seen any ponies wander through your fields?” “No, I’m afraid I haven’t,” he explained, shaking his head ruefully. “Been out in the fields most of the day, but I didn’t lay eyes on nopony.” “I see…” Disappointment caused the mare’s wings to droop along with her ears. “Of all the ponies that could get stuck in a sandstorm… it shouldn’t have been him,” she muttered, stomping a hoof before remembering her audience. “I know that it’s not your problem, but if you could lend any aid in finding him, the town of Dodge would be very grateful.” “I’m sorry, but-” “We’ll help!” Igneous turned towards his daughter with a disapproving frown. “Don’t I have any say in this?” “Whoever got lost out there is probably all alone!” Pinkie pressed. Though she couldn’t say why exactly it was that she felt so strongly about joining the search, what she did know is that her heart was being loud and clear. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to wake up, all covered in sand, with nopony there to help you home or even where to go… we can’t just do nothing! Please, daddy?” “Alright, alright,” he sighed, capitulating to his daughter’s plea. It was the first time that Pinkie has shown some signs of life since she had returned, and that was motivation enough. “We’ll help out with the search, but only after my girls have been fed. I’m not sending them out there without a good meal to keep them going. Is that clear, Pinkamena?” “Of course, daddy. Thank you…” The relief in her voice washed away whatever remained of Igneous’ misgivings about the whole thing. Waving the pegasus off and ushering Pinkie back inside, Igneous took a seat at the table while Pinkie Pie trotted circles around the room, unable to sit still. It wasn’t long before her sister’s came downstairs for supper, and Pinkie immediately relayed that they too would be taking part in the search. They didn’t mind particularly, and seeing Pinkie energized about something was gladdening to see, but the extent of Pinkie’s drive confounded them. They scarfed down their food in a hurry before trailing after Pinkie, who bolted to the shed the moment her sisters had finished. “Alright, here’s your lanterns,” Igneous explained, passing out a kerosene lamp to each of the three. “These only have enough fuel for three hours of light, so make sure you get back home before then. That clear?” “Yessir, thanks!” Pinkie blurted out, hurriedly snatching the lantern and taking off down the road. “Keep an eye on her, please,” he said with a sigh, looking to his other two daughters. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her, and chances are nothing I say would change her mind. Keep each other safe, and please… try not to worry your parents, alright?” “We’ll try, Pa,” Limestone attested. “Come on, Marble, we gotta catch up!” Taking hold of their lanterns, they dashed off into the night. The amount of destruction that the sandstorm had brought was more immense than Chai had first imagined. Her cottage was far enough away from Dodge and close enough to the forest that the few sandstorms they had each year didn’t typically affect their home. Her somber expression turned crestfallen as she stumbled to a stop before her desecrated garden. Every frond was coated with dust, every stem mangled, snapped, and blasted flat by the gale force winds. She sank to the dust as her gaze swept over the loss, and she couldn’t keep herself from wondering how they would possibly recover. She couldn’t say how long she sat there, but the evening cool had begun to beat back the heat of the day by the time she wearily dragged herself up the cobblestone walk. Fatigued by the thought of doing anything other than passing out, she passed by the shower and flopped herself into bed, though rest was far from her. Even with the assurance that she would be notified the moment anything was known of her brother and his wellness, all she could think about was how frightened and frail she felt. It was moments like those that reminded her just how dependant upon his company she had become. “Tea, I need… tea,” she thought, dreading the concept of movement but knowing that she wasn’t going to get to sleep anytime soon. Plodding into the kitchen, she set about mixing a specific blend that she had learned from her mother to promote rest and calm frayed nerves. Being a calm pony by nature, it wasn’t often that she found cause to partake of the family remedy, but just the scent of her old favorite helped to soothe the racing of her mind. With a groan, she lowered herself onto the couch and lay sipping her tea, listening to the clock as it measured each passing second. Her mind began to wander back to the days her youth, of the days when they were young and carefree. She smiled in spite of herself as she recalled their playful bickering, but the smile faded as she remembered something of which both of them rarely spoke, and the fallout that followed. From there, she began to put two and two together, and suddenly, her brother diving headlong into a sandstorm didn’t seem quite so crazy. “It was your Minty sense, wasn’t it,” she realized, watching the steam rise from her mug. He had mentioned it that morning, but she hadn’t expected that it would come on so strong. She also knew that there was nopony, not even her, that would have been able to keep him from following the call. “Especially not after…” Chai cut herself off, sinking deeper into the cushions and taking a deep draft of tea. Her thoughts were beginning to blend together, and she knew that the potent brew was beginning to take effect, though one escaped intact as she drifted off to sleep. “You’d do anything for her, wouldn’t you… You always will.” It had taken a while, but Pinkie eventually slowed to a more manageable pace at her sisters’ behest. Despite the light of the stars and the cloudless skies, their progress was slow, as the rocks strewn about the fields mandated a measure of caution with every step and the haze leftover from the storm made everything seem much darker than it usually would be. They searched dutifully, but after more than two hours of scouring the barrens, their fuel had begun to dwindle, and their time was running out. “We should probably be heading back.” “We can’t head back yet! We haven’t found the missing pony yet!” Pinkie argued, shooting Limestone a pleading look. “We can’t just leave him out here, Blinkie. C’mon, he’s gotta be around here somewhere!” Limestone heaved a sigh as she watched Pinkie leap onto a sizable boulder to get a better vantage point. She had been running them all ragged over the issue, and Blinkie’s patience was beginning to thin. “Pinkie, we tried our best,” she reasoned, glancing over at Marble who had hunkered down and lay shivering from the cold. “It’s getting late, Marble is gonna catch cold, and we’re all going to get scolded if we don’t hightail it back to the house!” Pinkie didn’t budge, but instead kept scanning the horizons. “We’ve already worried father once, Pinkie. We don’t need to do it again. Come on! We’re going home.” “Wait!” Pinkie cried, scrambling over and barring the way. “Can’t we search just a few more minutes?” “No, Pinkie, we can’t!” Limestone snapped back, raising her voice. “We came out, we tried our best, and there’s nothing more we can do!” “We can keep searching!” “Why the hay is this so important to you?!” “Because I don’t want him feeling abandoned like I do!” The words tore from Pinkie’s throat before she had the chance to worry about whether or not it was alright for her to open up. “There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re all alone,” she went on, struggling to restrain her frustration and bitterness from creeping into her words. “It’s why I left Ponyville, it’s why I dragged us out here, and why we have to keep looking! I mean,” she faltered, her voice trembling as her emotions yet again began to knot. “What if he has a family? He’s all alone out there, and if something happens to him, then they would be all alone, and… and…” “And we won’t be able to find anything if we run out of light,” Limestone explained quietly, taking a glance at their sputtering lantern. “We’ve already stayed out later than we should. Father won’t be happy if we come stumbling back in the dark. C’mon, Pinkie,” she urged her sister gently, drawing up beside her and resting a hoof on her shoulder. “There’re plenty of ponies out looking for the missing pony, and we need to be heading back.” There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Pinkie finally nodded. She knew that her sisters were right, but the thought of being in that other pony’s position tore her apart. There was nothing that she hated more than the feeling of being alone. It was exactly the reason she left Ponyville, and it was why she could barely find it in her to walk as the started back home. By the time they stepped onto the porch, Pinkie was in no condition to do much else save crawl into bed, and while she would have forced herself to keep going, her father’s stern gaze made it clear that she wasn’t going anywhere. “It’s too dark to go back out there tonight,” Igneous stated clearly. “For all we know, the missing pony might have already be found. Either way, we’ll find out tomorrow, but for now, I want all of you to get some rest. There’s work to be done in the morning. Go on, now,” he said motioning them inside, “get yourselves to bed.” “...Okay.” It was the most hopeless affirmation that Igneous had heard, and his heart sank as he watched Pinkie slink inside. The worry she knew she was causing her family only weighed more heavily on her head. Her sheets offered little warmth and her bed little comfort as she curled under the covers and pulled a pillow over her head, wishing with all her strength that whoever it was that was lost could somehow find it in their heart to forgive her. Being miserable was something that she had plenty of experience with, and she would have willing taken on more if it meant that she could be sure whoever it was that was lost was safe. “Owwie...” Merry couldn’t even manage to groan as he slowly regain consciousness. His tongue had glued itself to the roof of his mouth and didn’t seem to have any intention of moving, though when set alongside the body wide aches that wracked his being in agonizing pain, it wasn’t that much of an issue. He couldn’t hear anything at all, and were it not for the fact that his everything was calling him all sorts of dirty names that he didn’t dare repeat, he would have assumed himself to be asleep. His first attempted movement resulted in a dull throb racing down his spine and a whole lot of not moving. “Ouch. Heavy. Ouch and heavy.” Everything, from his hooves to his ears, felt incredibly heavy, which was confusing because he was typically light on his hooves. Cracking open his eyes was a mistake, as they immediately filled with sand, though it turned out to be an oddly motivating annoyance. Groaning softly as he struggled to move a foreleg, he finally managed to get a hoof over to paw at his eyes amidst much protest. Blinking away the grit, he grimaced as he craned his neck to get a good look at himself. “Oh, no wonder it’s heavy. I’m a sand pony.” A sand pony, and one that was half buried at that. He couldn’t see anything past the base of his neck on account of the rest being under a sizable mound of sand. Actually, even the limb that he had freed felt inordinately weighty, and he couldn’t help but take mild amusement at how much effort it took him to move his hoof over to the pile of sand. Closing his eyes as a gentle breeze threatened to deposit further funds into the bank of ocular aggravation, he lay still and listened, figuratively speaking, to the many pings of pain. “Hoof: pain. Ear: pain. Hind leg: really pain,” he noted to himself, cataloging the grievances as they sounded one by one. “...Ouch, even my hoohoo hurts.” Of the waking experiences he had encountered, waking to a sand-blasted hoohoo was pretty high on the list of things he could do without. As he continued to rest, listening to his body bemoan its sorry state of affairs, he frowned under the bandana still wrapped around his muzzle; The tingling sensation in his cutie mark hadn’t left, and was even now calling him towards some unknown destination. “Haven’t I done enough?” he thought, feeling a tinge of resentment. “I’m tired, I hurt all over, and I’m thirsty. Isn’t that good enough?” A heavy sigh caused his bandana to balloon as his mark gave a faint pulse. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I just need to trust you a little bit longer.” Reaching over, he removed the bandana from around his muzzle and forced his heavy-lidded eyes open once more, really taking stock of his situation. Before anything else could be done, he had to get himself unburied, and this he started on with all the energy he could muster. Fortunately, the storm had ended not long after he had passed out, so the actual amount of sand to shift was fairly minimal. Having uncovered most of his lower body, he gave a tentative tug and popped free, rolling onto his side. “Freedom!” Merry cheered internally, shuddering as his back gave a victory spasm. He couldn’t imagine what standing up was going to feel like, so instead he decided to skip the whole imagining bit and give it a shot. This proved ineffective, however, as his left foreleg seemed irrevocably glued to his chest. “Is this… it is!” he exclaimed to himself, peering down at the parcel still held his grasp. It brought him a strange sensation of comfort, seeing that the package was safe. He still had no idea why it was important enough for him to risk his life, but that wasn’t his concern. Standing, however, was. “Nnnngh… alright, up and at ‘em!” He barely made it halfway up before his legs wobbled and set him down hard, bringing with all sorts of new information, detailing how many muscles he had probably pulled and, judging by the swollen shape of his right hind leg, bones he had possibly fractured. “Come on, now, we can- oof! We… can… do… this!” Were it not for his parched throat, he would have cried out alongside his shrieking limbs as he forced himself to stand. The pain was threatening to knock him out, and he closed his eyes as his vision began to cloud. “...You can’t ask me to go if you won’t give me what I need to get there.” Merry stood rooted, panting softly for air and trying not to cry out. He knew what he needed to do, or at least what he wanted to do, but he had taken tally, and the odds were stacked against him. And yet, despite everything barring his path, a grin came unbidden to his lips as his mark flared, sending a soothing tingle rippling through his limbs, quieting the ache just enough that he could walk. To where, he couldn’t say, but he picked a direction that felt right and took his first step forward. And then another… and another. Merry Mint had never had any misgivings about being an earth pony, but for just that evening he really wish he could have been anything else. Shifting the parcel to his mouth, he freed up another leg and hobbled along, not paying much attention to where he was trotting or how far he had come. The landscape around him began to shift, and found himself stumbling over the many rocks that were strewn all over. Onward he continued until his injured hoof caught on a rock, and with a raspy squeak Merry tumbled to the ground, unable to rise. He lay panting for breath, in complete acknowledgement of how little sense his behavior made. “I wonder if I made the right choice…” He shuddered as his confidence faltered. If he didn’t find somepony soon, then it was entirely possible that he wouldn’t make it back to town alive, not in his present condition. “I don’t want to give up, not yet.” He grimaced, pushing with all his might to try and rise, to no avail. Peering through blurry eyes, he could see a little light wavering in the distance. Straining to get his eyes to focus, he could just barely make out the silhouette of a house. “Is that where I need to go?” His mark pulsed. “...Alright.” Straining with all his might and gasping from the pain, the stallion forced himself into a standing position. “I trust you. I’ll take care of the walking if you can take care of the rest.” One hoof in front of the other, Merry staggered on. He hadn’t the strength to keep his destination in his sights, the strain of keeping his head raised too much to bear, but he kept moving. He didn’t realize he had made it to the the farmhouse until he tripped on the steps, falling with a painful and resounding thud. “I’m sorry… that’s all I have,” he whispered in his heart. His limbs were completely unresponsive, and for the second time that day, he felt his consciousness slipping away. He couldn’t hear the door as it cracked open or the startled cries of the pony rushing to his side. All he knew is that he had given his all, and even that hadn’t been enough. He felt one last pulse from his flank before everything went quiet. “By Celestia, son, what’ve you done to yourself…” Even with the allowance of darkness and the lack of light, Igneous could tell that the pony passed out on his porch was in dire shape. His hind ankle had swollen to nearly double its size, the poor stallion’s coat had been whipped raw, and even at close quarters, Igneous couldn’t tell what color his mane or coat once was. Igneous was certain that this was the pony that the town had been searching for, and he grit his teeth as his indifferent and selfish words brought with them the taste of disgust in his mouth. “This is someone’s son, for crying out loud, and I wouldn’t have-” He slammed his hoof down, splintering a few boards. “Intentions be damned. Pinkie had it right all along, and now it’s time to do my part. Cloudy!” he bellowed, “Get me a lantern!” Knowing better than to argue or ask questions, she quickly filled a lantern with kerosene and rushed it out, stopping in her tracks as she saw her husband lifting the stallion onto his back. “Igneous, is that…” “It must be,” he nodded, slinging the stallion across his shoulders. “He’s taken more of a beating than any poor kid should have to endure. Wind whipped his hide raw, and it looks like he may have broken an ankle.” “What could possibly be worth going out into a sandstorm?” she wondered, her heart going out for the colt as she neared. “That’s not for you or I to say, but if I had to take a guess, he’s holdin’ it.” It wasn’t until her husband had said something that she realized the stallion was holding tightly to some kind of parcel. “Kid has some kind of death grip on it. Whatever it is, it must be important to him.” “Dad? Wh-what’s going on?” The parents both turned to find Marble standing in the doorway with Limestone hot on her heels. They had hoped to spare the girls having to see, but that didn’t look to be an option. “Is that the pony that got lost?” Limestone asked, her eyes glued to his battered frame. “It sure looks to be,” Igneous confirmed, looking at the fear in his daughter’s eyes. “I know it looks bad, but I’m gonna make sure that he gets to Dodge safely, so I don’t want none of you fretting over this, you hear?” “O-okay,” Limestone nodded, instantly moving to Marbles side. “There’s a good girl. Now, go on back inside and tell Pinkamena that she doesn’t have to worry anymore. This stallion is gonna be just fine.” Igneous watched them reluctantly head back inside before turning away and making haste towards their cart. Gently, he slid the stallion from his back into the bed of the cart and hurriedly fixed the harness around his neck, though he paused as his wife shuffled over and place a calming hoof on his cheek. “This isn’t your fault, Igneous,” Cloudy assured him gently. “...I just want to see my girls smile again,” he whispered. “Pinkie hasn’t been herself since she came home, and I feel like my hooves are tied, like I can’t do anything to help.” Helplessness filled the rugged parents with tears as he stamped a hoof. “I’d do anything to see them laughing like they used to. I don’t know why finding this pony is so important to Pinkie, and I don’t much care. I’ve got to see him safe, and I will.” “And I’ll be waiting for you when you get back,” she said warmly, giving him a quick kiss. “Now go, Igneous. There’s not a moment to lose.” There wasn’t, and he didn’t. Igneous wasn’t as young as he once was, but he could still kick up dust, and with the lantern lighting his way, he tore off down the road for Dodge City.