Tarnish awoke to giggling. He lifted his head, emerging from beneath the blanket he was wrapped in. Maud was nowhere to be seen. He blinked, yawned, and wondered where Maud was. He suspected that she might be down by the river. The dawn was humid and birds were chirping.
Wrapped in a spare blanket, Rowanne and Garnet were giggling together. Tarnish wondered what was so funny. He stretched out his bad leg; it ached a little, but didn’t feel too bad. He flexed his fetlock, yawned, and then rolled out from beneath the blanket so he could stand.
Turning, he saw Maud coming up the path from the river. She was carrying a bucket full of water. Feeling a bit of worry, Tarnish looked down at his amulet. It was still blue, but it was a somewhat darker shade of blue. Nothing to freak out over, but it was cause for concern. He had cold tea ready, but wanted a hot cup of tea. He decided that he could wait just a bit.
Maud set the steel bucket down at the edge of the fire. Using her teeth and her hoof, she poured some of the water into a large cast iron pot that was sitting on the coals of the fire. The water, poured into a hot cast iron pot, hissed and sizzled, coming to a boil right away, but then the boil died as more water was added. A plume of steam rose from the pot.
“What’s for breakfast?” Garnet asked.
“Oatmeal and dehydrated fruit,” Maud replied.
“Oooh, yummy.” Garnet popped out of the blanket and stood beside the fire. “Thank you for everything, by the way.”
“Excuse me,” Tarnish said as he headed off for some bushes on the edge of the camp.
Maud watched him go. The area was safe enough. After Tarnish was some distance away, she turned to look at the filly standing near the fire. “You know, my sister left home at an early age to find her way in the world. She roamed the roads for a while, not sure what it was that she wanted. The roads are a dangerous place.”
“They can be. Rowanne keeps me safe.” Garnet looked at the griffon, who happened to be crawling out from the blanket as she spoke. “But sometimes, we run into nice ponies, like you and Tarnish.”
“Well, I have a plan to have you meet some very nice ponies. My sister, Pinkie Pie, she lives in Ponyville. You can reach Ponyville if you follow the highway. If you and Rowanne want to stay together and not be separated, you need to be able to take care of yourselves.”
“How?” Garnet asked, her ears pitching forwards.
“You are going to go to Ponyville and you are going to ask Pinkie Pie to help you. She can help you get an apprenticeship with somepony. You’ll learn a trade… a job skill. Apprentices have to be given housing and food… there are laws in place for this. The Cakes were very good ponies and they took in my sister. I am positive that some nice ponies will be more than happy to take you in and give you work.” Maud watched as Rowanne headed off to the river. The fish were jumping and the griffon would have an easy time of catching breakfast, or so Maud believed. She didn’t know a thing about catching fish.
“And Pinkie Pie would help me?” Garnet peered up at Maud, her face a mixture of curiousness and cautiousness.
Maud nodded. “She can be found at Sugarcube Corner. If you ask around, somepony will help you find it.” Maud planned to have Tarnish send word ahead with his magic mirror and she made a mental note to ask him to do so later. “I plan to send you on your way with a little food to help you out. You’ve survived this long, so I’m thinking it is a safe bet that you can make it to Ponyville on your own.”
“You’ve been awfully nice… thank you. I don’t know why you would help me…” Garnet sniffled a bit and then gave Maud a brilliant, beaming smile.
“Well,” Maud replied as she sat down beside the fire. “I’ve found that helping strangers has its own rewards.” She looked over at Tarnish, who was returning to the camp. “Doing good deeds for others can be a life changing experience.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Garnet said as she sat down beside Maud.
“You be careful,” Tarnish said as he checked over the blanketed bundle strapped to Garnet’s back. Rowanne had done a pretty good job of lashing everything down. A spare blanket, some easy to prepare food that didn’t need to be cooked, and some of Tarnish’s own supply of snacks, treats, and sweets, all bundled up in the blanket. “Just stay on the road and follow it into Ponyville. If you see trouble, you run, okay?”
“Okay.” Garnet nodded and then grunted as Rowanne grabbed a section of rope and gave it a good yank to test it. The earth pony filly wheezed and her eyes bulged, until at last, the griffon let go of the rope and allowed Garnet to breathe again. “Thank you!”
“Good luck,” Maud said as she began to harness herself to the wagon.
Lifting his head high, Tarnish watched as Garnet and Rowanne took off, heading up the campsite road to meet with the main road, where they would head west, the same direction that he and Maud were going, for a while. Garnet and Rowanne however, were not slowed down by a heavy wagon, and would blaze ahead while he and Maud moved along at a slow, but steady pace.
Maud turned and looked at Tarnish. “Ready to go?”
Nodding, Tarnish hit the four wheel brake lever, unlocking it. “Did we refill our water supply?” He turned to look at Maud and saw her nod. “Well then, we are ready to go.”
“Twilight Sparkle?” Tarnish peered into his mirror, waiting for some kind of reply. It sometimes took Twilight a while to respond. He held the mirror in his telekinesis with ease now, and did so without fear. He had good grip now. His telekinesis was not fine tuned; he had trouble just popping off a bottle top and needed a bottle opener. However, he had some small degree of telekinetic strength. He could lift Maud or several large rocks with relative ease. Following the magical primer he had, his magic was getting better, albeit at a slow pace.
“Hello?”
“Twilight?” Tarnish thought that Twilight sounded a little sleepy and he worried that perhaps he had contacted her a bit too early in the day. “Twilight, I won’t keep you, but there is an adorable earth pony filly and a little griffon headed for Ponyville. I do believe they are escaped orphans. Maud and I sent them to Pinkie Pie. They need help. Some kind of apprenticeship so they can stay together. They’re sisters, you see.”
“Oh dear,” Twilight replied. “I’ll have the weather team keep an eye on the eastern roads and I’ll see that they are helped. Thanks for letting me know.”
“We gave them a little food and sent them on their way. They’re moving too… we’re on the same road and we can’t even see them anymore they’re so far ahead.” Tarnish squinted, peering off into the distance, and sure enough, the pair were gone. “Maud and I are on our way to Ghastly Gorge to see the Crack of Doom.”
“Normally, I’d tell ponies to stay away from there, but I think that you and Maud will be okay. Just be careful, that really is a dangerous place.”
“Well, that’s where we’re honeymooning… sounds like a lovely place,” Tarnish said and then started to chuckle.
“Spike, why is there so much smoke?” There was a long pause. “I’m sorry Tarnish, I gotta go! Spike has some kind of head cold or something and things keep bursting into flames when he sneezes!”
“Oh dear,” Tarnish replied. He realised that the connection was broken. “Poor Spike.”
Still holding his mirror, Tarnish thought about some other pony that he could call. He took a deep breath, felt a moment of worry for Twilight, and then said, “Pinny Lane…”
Maud stopped at a fork in the road. To the right was Saddle Lake and then Ponyville. To the left was Rambling Rock Ridge, the place where Maud had shown Tarnish her cave. The day was becoming hot to the point of being unbearable. After a moment, Maud resumed her movement, taking the left fork.
Tarnish, walking beside her, began to wonder if they should travel at night. It worked for Longhaul. All of a sudden, Tarnish found that he was hungry for walnuts. He sighed; there were none to be had. Such was life.
“Left in the sun, watching seasons come and go. Civilisations grow and then crumble. A silent witness sees all, bearing mute testimony as the eons roll on. Given enough time, a creek becomes a canyon. Through it all, rocks endure in stony silence.”
“That’s pretty,” Tarnish said.
“You really think so?” Maud asked.
“Yeah I do… you gonna write that one down?” Tarnish replied.
“I dunno. I feel that it needs fleshing out somehow. I’ve been going over it inside my head for a while now. It’s missing something.” Maud turned to look at Tarnish. “You like my poetry. I am still having trouble believing that.”
“Well, Maud, I have a secret.”
“And that is?”
“I like you. And your poetry is a part of you.”
“Sweet talker.”
Tarnish chuckled as he walked beside Maud and he gave serious thought to soaking his pith helmet. The sun, as it approached noon, was searing. It was like being back out on the alkaline flats once more, or one of his parcel runs in the areas around Dodge City Junction.
“Maud, I think we should find a shady spot to rest for a while. It’s got to be over a hundred degrees out here right now. You should probably drink as much water as you can without making yourself sick.”
“Ahead are some trees. It isn’t much, but it will be better than nothing.” Maud huffed and puffed a bit and picked up her pace, now in a hurry to reach the shade. “It’s too hot to wear my smock…”