The entire camp packed up over the next day and began hiking deeper into the desert. Their guests were kept towards the interior as the rest of the band surrounded and attempted to protect them. What they were being protected from became clear before the first day had passed.
As promised, the forces of the desert had awoken, and when great beetles weren't rising to greet them, creatures made of fire would emerge from the air itself, battering against their lines. Though told to stay back from the fighting, watching the soldiers fight for them didn't sit well with most of them.
Fast fought alongside them, joined swiftly by Paul in bringing heavy metal to help end the battles and save the lives of those same soldiers.
Joining their medical staff, Tree Hugger became a well-known agent of mercy and care, soothing the pains of those brought to her, while Bright became the agent of her fury, swooping down into battle with a seeming lack of fear. Even when battered out of the sky, he could rise again, glowing the same green as his master's magic, and be ready to rejoin the soldiers in their struggle.
Maud seemed to feel no urge to rush ahead, instead she stayed close to Tree Hugger, which seemed a waste of her talents, but she would not be dissuaded from her task.
Tabitha reported to Rome and made a salute as she'd seen other soldiers do. "Reporting for duty! How can I help?"
Rome looked her over. "Don't salute. A civilian doing that to a soldier is just rude. Now, you tell me, what can you do?"
"I can... understand things, and hypnotize things, and throw ice balls at people?" She sounded unsure of her talents even as she said them, swaying a little in place and starting to look around and not at Rome.
Rome raised a brow. "Are we talking large ice balls that can kill a pony?"
Tabitha colored. "Not... exactly, but I want to help! Oh! I can make lights! Maybe I can send messages?"
Rome clopped his hooves. "Now you're talking, at least during the evening hours. Go speak to Evening Watch. He'll show you the signals and you'll work with him to keep things running smoothly."
She bowed and ran off to do just that, even as she swore to learn more practical and flashy magic. "I have to get better than this if they're ever going to trust me to do anything."
Her talents as a light messenger weren't called on very often, and she spent the time instead practicing the spells she had, or trying to get in touch with 'the pony inside'. She drew the most odd looks when she was caught on all fours in an awkward stance that humans have when trying to stand that way that proved they were bipeds, not quadrupeds, like their pony neighbors.
One stallion, bored or adventurous or some combination, wandered towards her as she ambled about. His eyes rested on her and her upraised backside. "Are you offering, ma'am?"
It took a moment for her to grasp exactly what he had suggested and it sent her scrambling to her booted hooves, upright and glaring at the stallion. "I should think not!"
After that, her exercises on all fours diminished considerably, but her attempts to improve herself did not.
She was not one of Rome's soldiers, so when the desert flung terrible beasts at them, she inched forward close to the battle and let loose bright bolts of energy. They would not turn the tide of any conflict, but it was practice, and surely better than nothing at all, or so she decided.
"Goliath!" The soldier's cry echoed out only moments before the sand before the band parted to reveal the huge form of some massive desert beetle. Its eyes settled on them swiftly with a mindless hunger and it advanced on them with quick skittering and gnashing mandibles. Every step made the sand shudder with its weight as it bore down on them with all the intensity and size of an enraged elephant.
It crashed into the soldiers and plowed through them like a wave crashing over the sands and seemingly just as unable to be stopped by the first few grains that would dare to oppose it, leaving trampled ponies behind it in its wake.
Rome emerged from the crowd, sword clutched in his mouth. "To arms! We'll not be beaten by this damnable place!"
His wings spread, Rome launched into the air, which became thick with other pegasus soldiers, ready and willing to battle the huge creature. Their bravery was not enough to dissuade it. With great swings of its massive horn, it knocked soldiers from the air, and it never stopped moving, making getting behind it difficult.
Fast rushed in from the left, and Paul from the right, trying to catch it between and keep it still for a moment. Though their weapons scored well, it returned the violence eagerly. Its great mandibles caught Paul and bit down on a leg as he tried to dance away, cruelly yanked him from his footing even as it tried to liberate him of the limb he clearly didn't require.
"Let him go!" Tabitha thrust her hands forward, energy blasting out between them in a small beam that struck the creature across the face.
It roared at the insult and abandoned Paul, wheeling on Tabitha and charging across the sand. She squealed in horror, turning to run, but it was bearing down on her too quickly.
Coming in like a grey bullet, Maud met the creature head on, smashing her face into its own with a sound that could be heard easily. "Leave her alone."
She would not have the glory that day, though she distracted the beast long enough for Tabitha to retreat. Even Maud could not prevent it from running wildly after the surprise ran out. Despite its tremendous bulk and strength, the constant jabs of flying soldiers, to say nothing of Fast's assaults and Maud's pummeling slowly drained the fight from it, until it collapsed in the sand, unmoving.
Tree settled beside Paul quietly and set a hoof on his chest. "It'll be alright."
Paul smiled at her. "With you here? I don't doubt it. Damn thing got me, can you put me back on me feet?"
Tree gently explored his front with a hoof as she sang her song of nature, calling to the trees, no matter how distant they were in the desert. The green force collected in Paul, but she had many more patients. "You'll be okay with time, but I have to keep going. Be strong, man."
Fast tracked down Tabitha with a light frown. "That was very brave, and stupid. What did you think would happen?"
Tabitha shrunk from the stern words. "I'm trying to help, to be a part of this team. I don't want to be a helpless princess."
Fast reached out, placing a hoof on Tabitha's shoulder. "It's not about charging into fights. Strike where you can make a difference, and don't leave yourself open like that. If it'd gotten you, you probably wouldn't be here to listen to me yell at you." She perked her ears up. "You know I care about you, right? I wouldn't care if you were just some human I knew nothing of."
"Yeah..."
"So, chin up. You are a part of this team." She patted Tabitha once and lowered that hoof down. "Tomorrow, we begin sparring. If you're so eager to be in the thick of things, you need to learn what that means, and how to handle it. Bring some pain tolerance and a readiness to learn. It'll be a long day." She turned away and trotted off, leaving Tabitha to wonder just what she had gained for herself.
Maud walked up shortly thereafter. "You look different."
Tabitha blinked at that. "Foolish?"
"No, different." Maud waved a hoof at her slowly. "You smell..." She leaned in, sniffing softly. "Like rocks. I like it."
Tabitha peered at Maud. "Like rocks? Are you sure it isn't like sand?" She waved around. "We have plenty of that to roll around in."
"No, definitely rock." Maud nodded once. "A solid granite."
Tabitha thanked Maud for her curious compliment and went off to consider it. She fetched a mirror to look over herself and thought she looked much the same, until she began to turn her gaze away from her face and reconsidering her entire form. She was a little different. A little.. rugged. She felt fit and strong. Not strong like Paul, more like...
"Granite."
She smiled a little and went off to track Maud down, finding her beside the medical tent. "Maud, do I really smell like stone?"
Maud nodded at her. "I wouldn't lie."
"Of course not." Tabitha waved it off quickly. "I'm just making sure. I think I feel it, the stone. Do you think it could be tied to the magic?"
Maud tilted her head slowly. "Could be. I don't know."
That was good enough for Tabitha. She hurried off and began considering rocks and stones, trying to reconcile them with princesses. A jewel was a stone, cut to a razor edge and made to shine. She could be like a jewel, could she not? Sharp and deadly to those that deserve it, but wonderful to behold to those of kinder nature. She reached into the sand, letting it fall through her fingers, feeling the individual grains and trying to find her new balance. She was sure it was there, waiting to be found.
Fast nodded to Maud, moving past her into the tent. "Tree? How are things in here?"
Tree turned to Fast with a little smile. "Hello Fast. Everyone's alright in here. If they made it to me, I made sure they were comfortable. Give them all a day or two and they'll be running around like they want to." She turned towards one particular light-furred stallion. "But not until then, dig it man?"
The stallion grunted softly with obvious annoyance, but didn't argue it further.
Fast nodded. "You have a good handle on things in here. What about Paul?"
Tree pointed off to where Paul lay napping. "Considering he was a farmer so shortly ago, he did super well." She nodded softly. "It's beyond radical if you think about it."
Fast allowed a little smile. "I have the dubious fortune of being surrounded by very brave souls willing to leap from the pan into the fire on command." She looked to Tree with renewed focus. "Keep doing what you're doing. I feel safer with you back a little."
Tree frowned faintly. "I'm here because I'm needed, sister. If there weren't so many hurt ponies, I'd be helping just like Paul did."
Fast sighed, though her smile widened. "And getting bit just like him as well?"
"If that's what it takes, man." Tree nodded slightly. "I don't want to just watch ponies get hurt. Has Bright been good?"
Fast raised a rear leg, nudging the flap open. "Why not ask him yourself?"
Bright flew in as if invited and landed on Tree's head lightly. She looked up at him with a gentle smile. "Hey there, what's the good word, friend?"
"Good. Possibly."
Bright nodded slowly. "You're getting better. Such a clever bird. You'll learn how to lay down the words better than the rest of us before long."
Fast left Bright and Tree to catch up, running into Rome a few tents down. "Ah, Fast. Thanks for the assist on the bug." He rubbed behind his head with a hoof. "It seems we're just as good for each other. I doubt you'd want to have faced that alone."
"Surely not." Fast nodded. "Though it seems no one is protecting anyone out here. We're either fighting together, or dying together."
Rome nodded in kind. "My ponies are ready to do that, if need be. What of your friends? They all look... inexperienced, perhaps Maud aside, but I can't get a good read on her."
Fast snorted a bit of laughter. "If you could, you'd be better than most. They're willing to fight for the rest of us. I have confidence in their will, just fear for their ability. Is it alright to borrow some gear for sparring tomorrow? The human woman, Tabitha, needs to be run through the paces."
A brow raised. "I'll want to see that."