The sound of running water caused Twilight's ear to flick slightly in her sleep. Her eyelids lazily opened, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with a yawn. It was still dark out, and she had to blink a few times to adjust to the dim light of the room. She glanced about, finding that Blueblood was nowhere to be found. The door to the bathroom swung open, a small cloud of steam exiting the room ahead of the Equestrian Prince, who had just finished drying himself with a towel. He gingerly replaced the soft cloth on its rack, before grabbing his thaub from its neatly folded place on a nearby chair.
"What time is it?" Twilight mumbled, still trying to rub the residual sleepiness out of her eyes.
"4 o'clock." Blueblood replied bluntly as he adjusted the white robes around his shoulder. "We're going to be leaving in an hour to meet with Shihab and Husam. Then we'll be departing."
Twilight kicked her hooves over the side of the bed, arching her spine and giving her back a satisfying crack as she sat up. She touched her hooves to the plush red carpet, letting out one last yawn as she slumped into a standing position.
"How long have you been up?" Twilight asked as she began to gather a few toiletries for a shower.
"I dunno." Blueblood shrugged in response. "I don't really remember sleeping. One minute I'm staring out the window at Ten o'clock, and the next thing I know, my watch is beeping telling me its three in the morning."
"Blueblood, did it really take you an hour to get ready?" Twilight paused at the bathroom door with a slight chuckle.
"Well, in harsh and arid weather one's skin can quickly dry out, and moisturizing and exfoliating is not a quick process." The Prince stated these facts as though everypony ought to know them. "I've left the products on the counter in case you wanted to make use of them."
"Thanks, I guess..." Twilight said as she slowly closed the door and stepped into the shower. She noticed that, true to his word, Blueblood had in fact left his moisturizers and other lotions and oils on the counter for her. All twelve of them in fact. Twilight had never been much for the finer details of personal grooming, and chose to pass these up. Some shampoo, conditioner, and a good body wash was all she needed to be content. She started up the shower, letting the hot water fall on her coat, and the steam to help clear her mind. She began to lather up her mane as she scrubbed, letting her thoughts drift back to a much simpler time.
Twilight's thoughts slowly floated to just prior to the point where she was thrust into a strange new world of cults and ancient horrors and cities beyond reality. She remembered her meeting with Princess Celestia that very morning, and the topic of their discussion at breakfast.
"Blueblood? Really?" She had said as she nearly spat out her orange juice. "But he's... he's so-"
"Spoiled? Perhaps. My nephew has always been a bit of a handful, and I understand he is not an easy stallion to deal with."
"So why me?"
"Because you are the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle." She recalled the sound of deep concern in Celestia's voice. "He needs somepony to be a friend to him. A real friend. For I fear that even at this age, he may not have any. Who better to show him the magic of friendship than the princess herself?"
How could she have known that trying to befriend the Prince would wind her up in all of this madness? She had signed up to become friends with a royal pain in the flank, not to travel cross country to recover mysterious tomes of ancient lore. It seemed like it had been ages since that time, and yet, when she counted it out mentally, it had been only a few days. Or rather it had been only a few days for the two of them. To the rest of Equestria, this tale was months in the making. She couldn't help but think back to her original mission in all of this, making Blueblood her friend. Had she even really succeeded in that goal?
Thinking back over the past several days she had spent with Blueblood, Twilight couldn't help but realize that perhaps she was making some sort of impact on him. Sure, he was still snarky, cocky, and a bit self absorbed, but he seemed to be coming around. After all, here he was making sure she woke up early enough for a shower. If he had wanted to get rid of her, he could always have just let her sleep in, then left with the camels on his own. After all, he was familiar with the customs and language. He could have made this entire leg of the journey by himself, assuming he hadn't been imprisoned. Yet she still recalled their original plans to travel to Saddle Arabia. His plan had always included her in it.
Twilight let the water run through her sudsy mane, rinsing it off and starting to work on washing her body. Perhaps, if nothing else had been a success lately, she had at least gotten Blueblood to open up to her, even if it was ever so slightly. She would much rather have made this journey with Rainbow Dash, or Pinkie Pie, or Applejack, but having Prince Blueblood alongside her was better than going it alone. As Twilight finished washing her coat, she glanced over to the counter where the Prince had left his wide variety of skin creams and moisturizers. A small smile crossed her lips as she picked one up, a lavender scented coat shiner. Perhaps just a small application wouldn't hurt...
Meanwhile, just outside, Blueblood was beginning to pack up his belongings into a small rucksack. Several blank books, quills, inkwells, and a four days supply of food rations were among the things he tossed in, pulling the bag shut and sealing it. He assumed Twilight would pack her own bags once she got out of the shower. He was doing a quick scan of the room to make sure he hadn't missed anything, when he noticed something gleaming in the dark beside the bed. It was a sword, one with a long, tapered blade and an ornately decorated hilt. He drew it from its sheath, examining it in the pale early morning light of the room. He didn't recognize the sword itself, but he certainly recognized its make. This was a Canterlot blade, a sword that likely belonged to a Duke or some other minor noble. He gave the blade a little flourish smiling as he did so. It felt solid, well balanced.
It had been quite a long time since he had been required to carry a sword. He had once worn a blade with pride when he walked the halls of the Griffon Lord's courts, where custom dictated that even the visiting diplomats went armed. He had even spent several hard months during his youth in the Kingdom of Himmelfang training with the sword. Perhaps with all the events that he had seen unfold within the past several days, he ought to start making a sword a part of his daily attire. With a bit of effort, he found a place where the sword would latch firmly to his robe without obstructing his movement. This was a strange world indeed, with princes carrying swords as though they were soldiers. It frightened Blueblood that this was the most average of the strange things that he had been roped into.
The bathroom door swung open, and Twilight trotted back into the room, quickly toweling off her mane and tossing the slightly soggy towel on a nearby chair. Blueblood could have sworn he detected the scent of lavender on her as she returned, smiling faintly.
"Ready to go then?" He said as he slung his saddlebags over his shoulder.
Twilight nodded, opening the door with a quiet creak. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Twilight and Blueblood strode through the dimly lit streets of Sutaf at dawn. The sun was just barely beginning to peek over the horizon, lighting up the whole town in a pale golden glow. To any other ponies, it would have been a lovely sight. However, both of them couldn't help but feel a slight foreboding from the morning light. It just seemed so dismally sardonic that the first day of their journey would be shrouded in yellow. The bustling markets and stiflingly crowded alleys were replaced with an emptiness that only served to exacerbate their worry. Every so often, they would pass by a yawning shopkeeper unfurling an awning or restocking his goods, but other than that, the town felt utterly deserted. Perhaps it was because morning prayers began with the ringing of bells in the palace at six, or perhaps it was mere coincidence. Neither prince nor princess spoke, in part of lack of sleep, and in part for fear of disturbing the supreme silence that hung over the whole eerie scene.
They were glad when they saw a small cluster of camels and horses standing by on the outskirts of the town. They appeared to be just finishing their preparations for the desert journey, Twilight noticed several bags of food, along with collapsed tents, waterskins, and chests of treasure being loaded onto the backs of the camels, none of whom seemed to mind the weight at all. A few of them were also tending to small flocks of goats, whose soft bleating served to further break the silence. Shihab, clearly the leader of the camel caravan, was barking out orders in harsh sounding (and to Blueblood's ears, slightly imperfect) Sarabic to the small band of soldiers enlisted to guard them. Husam was frantically replying to him, as though trying to reassure the aged leader of something. Their conversation abruptly halted as they noticed their two charges joining them, and Husam stepped forward to greet them.
"Kol tov my friends." He said as he knelt before the two of them. "I must apologize for the current state of our caravan. It would seem that adon Shihab is... upset with my decision to embark with a few of my soldiers."
"Upset is putting it very lightly." Shihab replied as he assisted a fellow camel with their bags.
"You must understand, we are traveling with quite a bit of gold, not to mention other valuables. Without my comrades to stand guard, we would be easy prey for any number of things. Bandits, Jackals, or..."
"No, you must understand." The much larger camel's voice boomed, resonating about the empty expanse. "This is not a silly vacation, or a mere trek to unload goods. We are journeying to the resting place of the Kitab Al-Azif have you any idea the sorts of things that could happen if that book were to fall into the hooves of some incompetent soldier? Much less if it found its way to someone who could understand the horrors within it? We're leaving, and if you refuse to leave Sutaf without your lackeys, then you can remain behind with them for all I care!"
Twilight stepped forward, putting herself between their two feuding guides.
"That won't be necessary!" She said, doing her best to sound calm and reassuring to both parties. "Perhaps we can reach some sort of compromise?"
There was a moment of silence as both the horse and camel considered the situation. Finally, Husam spoke up, his voice having lost its pleading quality.
"Perhaps my 'lackeys' as you call them, could serve as a rear guard." The captain suggested. "We would remain far enough behind you that we would not interfere with your journey, but that in the event of a raid we could reach you at a moment's notice."
"Only under the condition that when we reach our destination, you and your horses do not come anywhere near the book." Shihab snorted as he turned to face the desert. "On that note, my caravan and I are leaving. If you intend to follow, I suggest you keep up."
True to his word, Shihab began to walk off through the magnificent white marble city gates and into the endless sea of dunes that stretched before them. The nearby camels all began to silently follow suit, the only noise they made the jingling and clanking of their heavy packs as they strode. A few of the camels lead flocks of goats alongside them, occasionally circling about them to keep their flocks in line. Blueblood and Twilight fell into step just behind the camels, each of them receiving a full water skin from one of their new traveling companions. The two ponies slung these bags over their shoulders, gazing out over the ancient, golden sands of the Great Sarabian Desert. After they had gained some distance away from Sutaf, Twilight glanced over her shoulder and saw the guards mobilizing. They were perhaps a mile and a half back from the main group, and try as she might, Twilight couldn't help but feel they ought to be closer.
Minutes turned into hours as the band of camels, ponies, and horses trekked across the scorching sands. The sun was beating down upon their backs with an intensity that Twilight had never before experienced. She had seen some hot days in Ponyville and Canterlot of course, but never anything as dry and as searing as this. She could feel the sweat starting to bead upon her brow as she walked, taking long gulps from her water skin to soothe her parched tongue. She noticed that Blueblood had barely touched his water, and the few times he did, she saw him only taking small sips from it. The camels meanwhile, she could have sworn hadn't sipped a drop the whole trip!
"How do you do it Blueblood?" Twilight said, glancing over at him as she took another swig from her water skin. "You've had one, maybe two sips this whole trip. Your mouth has got to feel like sandpaper by now!"
"This isn't my first time in Saddle Arabia, Twilight." Blueblood stated matter-of-factly. "Its not my first time traveling with a camel caravan either."
"You've done this before?"
"A few times actually. In fact, it was my first diplomatic assignment outside Equestria. I had to make a deal with one of the tribes for better prices on some of the rugs they sell. They're absolutely exquisite, and all the rage with the Canterlot elite. So, in order to earn their trust, I traveled with them for the better part of a month. It was hard going, I wont lie to you. Water was scarce, and food was... Well, not up to par with what I'm accustomed to."
"Oh, now this I've gotta hear." Twilight said with a chuckle in her voice. "What did they serve the esteemed Prince Blueblood on his first night out?"
"A delicacy known as miswak. Its a bush, common to the region, that many camels prefer to use in lieu of a toothbrush. Its bristly and fibrous, and before you can even brush your teeth with it, you have to chew off a layer of bark. Not exactly an appetizing meal." Blueblood cringed slightly at the memory.
"And you ate it?" Twilight's eyes were wide. "The pony who once turned his nose up at filhay mingon ate a toothbrush branch?"
"Well, I suppose I did. One of the camels noticed I wasn't eating, and stuffed the branch into my mouth. They kept on shouting, 'Too thin!' whenever I refused to eat. Even that wasn't the worst of the meals I endured. The worst was when our food supply had nearly run out, and we were forced to make do on some rock hard bread loaves and bits of extremely gone off dates. The dates were so shriveled they broke apart in your mouth like little bits of plastic. The taste was so bitter I can't even begin to describe it. Think something like black coffee with sour milk as your cream." Blueblood shuddered. "Again, I didn't want that stuff near me, but hunger can do some very strange things to a pony, believe me."
"I'll... Take your word for it." Twilight said with a little twitch of her own, just from imagining such a meal, or worse, thinking of how desperate Blueblood must have been to eat something as sickening as that. She silently hoped that their own expedition wouldn't run out of supplies, realizing now just how desolate the desert around her was. Not even a tuft of grass or a clump of weeds for miles around.
"But oh, the feasts we had!" Blueblood said, his eyes looking a bit wistful as he spoke. "It was on my last night with the caravan they threw me a party to celebrate the treaty we had signed. They served us all coffee of course, and we drank to our hearts content. Then they boiled a massive pot of rice, nearly as large as I was, filled to the brim. Then they started mixing in all sorts of ingredients: onions, dates, mustard seeds, daisies, and all sorts of herbs and spices. Then after a quick blessing of the meal by the tribal leader, we all dug in, quite literally I might add. We pulled out rice with our hooves, mashing it into balls or pancakes before eating. I'd dare the snootiest of all Canterlot ponies to turn down a meal so delicious."
"Well, I sure hope we get a meal like that on our trip." Twilight mused, licking her slightly parched lips and nearly drooling at the description of such a delectable dinner. After all, all that they had to eat for now on the trip were a few loaves of very hard, crusty bread that the camels had offered to share with them.
At the front of the caravan Shihab came to a halt. He surveyed the land around, noticing a small plateau overlooking an old, dry riverbed. Riverbeds tended to be dangerous places to pitch camp, as the threat of a flash flood was a very real one, despite the overall dryness of the area. The plateau however, seemed to be solid and sturdy enough, and after ascending the slightly sloped ridge for himself, he could feel that it would hold weight well enough. He gave it a few taps with his two toed hooves, feeling a layer of solid stone below. The sun's position in the sky was just beginning to dip down below the horizon, so that their shadows grew long in the afternoon glow.
"We'll pitch camp here!" Shihab shouted over his shoulder to the line of camels behind him. He slid off his bags, immediately beginning to unpack them, grabbing a sturdy wooden mallet, several rusted iron spikes, twine, and a thick matted tarp made from woven goat hair. The other camels sprinted to catch up to their leader, and soon they had switched from a slow and lumbering caravan crew to a swift assembly line. Their hooves worked furiously to pound in the stakes and tie up the massive flaps of woven fur which comprised their shelter for the night. As Blueblood and Twilight approached the scene, they were greeted with a frenzy of both Equine and Sarabic voices, with each camel seeming to have a different task in mind for them to accomplish. Blueblood was handed a dangling rope, with a camel shouting in Sarabic for him to grab hold of it. The Prince wrapped the cord around his hooves, nearly being lifted off the ground as another camel pulled it low on the opposite side of the tent. He managed to get his footing however, and with a bit of a strain, he was able to tug the rope down to the ground. Twilight meanwhile was tossed a hefty iron sledge, and she nearly crumpled to the sand when she caught it. She staggered a bit with it in her hooves, before letting it fall to the ground with a thud. She noticed the other camels were pounding in the stakes for the tent, and noticed one of the metallic spikes laying at her hooves. Using her magic rather than her hooves, she positioned the stake perfectly parallel to the others, before giving it a sudden telekinetic push and driving it downward. She felt it strike the rock below, and after giving it a quick jiggle with her hooves, determined that it was tightly embedded. Blueblood tugged hard on his rope, tying it off on the stake Twilight had just planted.
Within moments, the plateau had gone from a barren, sandy plain into a small city of tents, each of them large and shady, with open sides that allowed the desert breeze to carry through them. Twilight plopped down on the sand, letting out s soft sigh as she looked out over the desert surrounding them. The sun was just beginning to fall, making shadows dance about on the dunes. Everything was cast in a golden hue, with oranges and reds slowly starting to paint the landscape. Blueblood took a seat beside her, wiping his brow and taking a sip from his water skin.
"Its beautiful, isn't it?" He said, his voice just barely audible above the hustle and bustle of the caravan around them. "You'll never see a view quite like that in Equestria."
"Yeah." Twilight looked around, smiling slightly as she took in the scenery. "Its like a dream. It all just feels so... surreal."
"What I wouldn't give for this all to be a dream." Blueblood mused. "To wake up back in my bed in Canterlot and find that there was no King, no Carcosa, and no sign."
"Believe me, I know the feeling." Twilight replied, idly tracing a hoof across the sand. "I keep expecting to snap out of this, and suddenly be back home."
At the mention of home Twilight let out a long sigh.
"Do you think they miss us, Blueblood? The ponies back home? Like Rainbow Dash, or Pinkie Pie, or Applejack, or... erm... any of your friends?"
"I'd imagine there are a few who miss you. Having the Princess of Friendship vanish in the middle of the night likely caused quite a stir. Celestia is probably ready to tear out her mane looking for you, and your friends from Ponyville and that little dragon of yours are probably worried sick."
"What about you? There's gotta be somepony who misses you, right?"
Blueblood was quiet for a moment, the sounds of workers driving stakes and the strained grunts of the tent raisers taking the place of his speech. After a long pause, the Prince shook his head.
"Perhaps there is, though I doubt it. After all, most of my contacts were purely business. Besides, like I said before, I've pissed off everypony in Canterlot at least once." He let out a dry sounding chuckle, swallowing hard. "I imagine many of them are glad to hear of my disappearance."
At this Blueblood rose to his hooves once more, calling in Sarabic to one of the nearby camels who was setting up a small fire pit. Twilight didn't get back up. Her hooves were sore, and her throat felt dry. She couldn't help be recall Blueblood's voice from just a few moments ago. Until now, he had mostly been in one of two moods; callously sarcastic and self confident, or snarky but serious. But just now she had seen an entirely different side of him. For the first time, Blueblood had seemed vulnerable. Not scared or shocked, she had seen both of those emotions before, but vulnerable. Perhaps even a bit hurt. She had started this adventure with the intention of becoming friends with Blueblood, and now her suspicions were confirmed.
Prince Blueblood had traveled all across the globe, and had only one friend to show for it.
That friend was Twilight Sparkle.