Arrived at Dusk

by aliengirlguy

Deliverer and Mediator

Chapter 13: Deliverer and Mediator.

Dusk had to say that if anyone were around to ask him, he would say that the most beautiful place to either watch the sunrise, sunset, or stargaze in between would have to be the San Palomino Desert, an area of Equestria that was a two day train ride to Ghastly Gorge and then another few days leisurely hike South West. It was land that was an intermittent conglomeration between desert and grasslands with the occasional rocky outcropping or mountains to variety it up.

These lands were also, and firstly, recognized as the Buffalo Territories.

The Buffalo are a nomadic tribe that lived solely and completely off whatever the land had to offer. They were an amazingly knowledgeable group. It was also the Buffalo that was the reason that Dusk made sure to set aside time for one month out of the year.

Dusk was making his way to visit the Thunderhooves tribe, having stopped a few train stops back to first go on his usual trail of ingredient hunting.

Sagebrush and Cactus juice were excellent tea ingredients, especially in teas for chronic dehydration and fevers and he had run out of his last supplies a long time ago.

He sighed happily as he looked upwards at the stunning blanket of stars that could only be fully appreciated in a wide open place, with little to no cities like this.

"The nights are even more magnificent since Princess Luna's return," he sighed contentedly to himself. He may be wary around royalty, but he could still appreciate their work.

Not too long later, his saddle bags fit to bursting with his latest cache of supplies and camping gear strapped to his back, he was more than grateful to see the flickering campfires and tall tents of the Thunderhooves clan a good brief trot in front of him.

"It'll be nice to enjoy some peace with the tribe," he sighed contentedly; as much as he loved Ponyville and Canterlot, the part of him that had had spent days, even weeks, locked in his cupboard or hiding in shadowy corners as a child liked to return to that quiet once in a while.

As he approached the camp, the scouts came to alert, but when they saw it was Dusk, they relaxed and gestured him on through greeting him amicably.

He found Chief Thunderhooves soon enough, who was sitting in a circle with the majority of the tribe.

By their demeanor though, rather agitated ones, something was up.

Out of the huge hairy backs came a delighted squeal.

"Dusk!"

Dusk was bowled over by a small golden brown streak.

Ooo ooo ooo

Rainbow Dash had been mad a lot that day.

First, she had been rudely awoken, and thus grumpy by some buffalo stampede that turned into a tree-knapping, unintentional dragon-knapping robbery.

Then some buffalo foal with a surprisingly good grasp of gymnastics tricked her and sent her into a cross sign, which definitely made Rainbow Dash even more crossed then her cranium had been.

Then Pinky had shown up out of nowhere, scaring the daylights out of her, and got the both of them discovered by said buffalo.

And then the little gymnastics twerp had shown up after they had been invited back to the tribe's camp, fortunately, the dragon-knapping had been a bit of a misunderstanding and Spike vouched for them, and then she saw the cartwheeling wonder herself againwhich just made her even more annoyed at the reminder of being bested.

To give her credit, the Buffalo foal did apologize for the incident, and after explaining a few things, took them to see the chief, who was awesome by the way, if a little boring of a speaker in the beginning, and now she was mad again on behalf of the Buffalo at the Appleloosians for being so inconsiderate as to plant trees, without asking! All over the Buffalo's sacred stampeding grounds.

She was all set taking the Appleoosians to task, but Spike managed to deflate her gumption somewhat by pointing out that it was the middle of the night and that they should wait until morning before heading out.

Just as they were about to break up the gathering, Little Strong Heart, who had been sitting beside the chief suddenly perked up and with a happy cry of "Duuuusk!" zipped away in a blur.

The others parted and revealed a familiar unicorn to both Rainbow Dash, Pinky Pie and Spike who was being hugged excitedly by the young buffalo.

Rainbow Dash and Spike's mouths dropped open while Pinky perked up and hopped over to the unicorn.

"Ahh….Deliverer!" the Chief greeted, and for such a solemn guy, he surprised Rainbow Dash by trotting over and pulling the smaller pony into a crushing hug, and was passed along the warriors who greeted him jubilantly until he finally was let down in front of his fellow ponies, looking a little ruffled from the experience but otherwise fine.

The others re-gathered into a circle, looking excited.

"Rainbow Dash? Pinky? Spike?" the pony asked in surprise as he casually through a hoof over Little Strong Heart, holding her close as he settled down beside the chief, the others getting comfortable, "what are you three doing here? Are you all alright?"

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here?!" Dash gaped, having recovered some from the shock of the unexpected visitor.

Rainbow Dash noticed that not only did the Buffalo appear to greet him like some long lost relative, rather enthusiastically, but he also wore a feather in his mane, which was actually flowing free for once, including his tail, in an uncharacteristic display of abandon.

The others laughed, to Rainbow's annoyance, Dusk chuckling along before the Chief chose to explain.

"Deliverer has been a part of our tribe for the past 4 years. He returns to us once a month each year to renew his ties with us, gather his medicines, and spend time with his daughter."

"Daughter?!" the three guests gasped.

Dusk chuckled again at their expressions. He wished he had a camera to capture the moment.

"The term for ponies is Celestial Daughter," he told the chief, while the others relaxed at that.

"How did that happen?" Spike asked curiously, "I thought you were from Canterlot like Twilight and me?"

Dusk nodded, "I am, but a year after I became an Apprentice, my master took me with him on one of his ingredient hunts, though one of the milder ones since I was still so young. It was during that visit that I became part of the tribe."

"Ooo! Ooo!" Pinky bounced, waving a hoof in the air, "can you tell us what happened? Pleeeease?" giving Dusk what Rainbow recognized was the patented Pinky Puppy Dog Eyes.

"Oh! Can I tell the story this time Deliverer?" Little Strong Heart pleaded with a similar look.

Dusk gave the youth an indulgent smile and nodded, though he looked a little embarrassed to.

"Well, it's like he said, his teacher brought him to our lands to gather medicines. One day, while his teacher was away, negotiating with our chief for harvesting rights, one of our own warriors, brave and strong, had been out gathering supplies for dinner when she was bitten by a viper," the calf hissed realistically, "she was overwhelmed by the poison and became confused and wandered further and further away from the camp until she stumbled upon another, Dusk's camp."

"The lands had been having a problem with vipers for the past few seasons and several warriors had already lost their lives, including my sire, earlier."

Here, her ears drooped in sadness for the loss and several others did the same.

"My mother was the strongest Buffalo in the land, she fought the venom long enough to help guide Dusk, who had been left behind in his teacher's camp, in helping her to give birth."

Rainbow and the others gasped, Strong Heart nodded seriously, "the venom induced an early birth. Dusk did all he could to help her, but in the end even she could not fight the venom any longer and she died just as he pulled me out of her body."

There was a moment of silence as heads bowed respectively for the fallen warrior before the calf continued her story.

"Dusk knew that he could not leave me alone to get help, just as he couldn't leave mother alone when she stumbled into his camp. I was too vulnerable and back then he hadn't learned enough magic yet to help mother and to protect me after, so Dusk wrapped me in his shawl and took both me and my mother's body back to the tribe."

Then the chief took up the rest of the tale.

"The tribe was camped about a day's journey on hoof from the medicine pony's camp-

"Medicine Pony?" Rainbow Dash interrupted confusedly, "I thought his mentor made tea?"

"It's the same thing among the tribe, a sort of cross between a spiritual adviser, healer, and herbologiest," Dusk explained patiently.

"Oh."

"-anyway as I was saying," he chief continued, "the camp was no small distance, especially for one so young. Being barely out of calf-hood himself. But he made the journey and when he stumbled into camp, dragging our honored dead behind him with his horn and holding a calf strung to his chest, we knew that he was both special and worthy to be one of us. He risked a lot in doing what he did."

Rainbow noticed that Dusk shifted nervously.

"In honor of his selfless act, we gifted him an honorary membership as a tribe member and since he had been the one to bring the calf into the world, and with both her parents gone, as is tradition the one who assists in the birth takes on the title as father or mother, or as you ponies call it, Celestial Father or Mother. We also gave him the tribe name of Deliverer, since he delivered the dead back to be honored, and delivered the newly born into the world.

He was too young to raise a calf though, and it is common among our tribe for the collective whole to look after calves so I took her in while Deliverer comes to see her when he can, though we understand that he can't very often. Medicine work is a sacred practice and we respect the paths he must follow. But he did leave a part of him behind," he gestured to said calf who stuck out her chest proudly, "he named her Strong Heart, after the mother that fought for so long to live to save her calf."

"Wow," Spike said finally, awed, "that's amazing! I had no idea!"

The other ponies nodded in agreement.

"So," Dusk said, much more seriously, turning attention away from his past, "What has happened to bring you lot here, and why is the tribe so agitated?"

Ooo ooo ooo

One long explanation later…

Dusk rubbed his forehead with a hoof as he groaned.

In a year, his peaceful loving retreat had turned into some sort of land war between the tribe and some recently settled pioneer ponies.

"Let me get this straight," he finally said, pacing in the center of the circle, "these Appleoosians built their town and planted an orchard on your land, without even asking for permission, even though they are aware that this is your territory?"

The Buffalo nodded.

"Alright…and from the sounds of it, there has been incidences of Buffalo and Appleoosians having fricative encounters that mainly consisted of making life harder for everyone?"

Again more nods.

"Did anyone think to actually go to Appleosia and explain the situation?"

There was a stunned then awkward silence and slowly heads were shaken.

"I see," Dusk sighed, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle.

"We were planning on going to the Appleoosians tomorrow," Strong Heart supplied quickly, "your pony friends offered to escort me on behalf of the tribe to tell them to take down their apple trees."

Dusk sighed then turned a glare on the buffalo that shifted nervously.

"Let me say this once so that it is clear in your minds before I proceed to tell you what I think about this situation."

He began to pace, "What the Appleoosians have done is a grave matter and they have clear fault in starting this issue by not respecting your property rights, and believe me, when I accompany the other ponies and Strong Heart tomorrow, I will let them know exactly what I think of them. However," he held up a hoof before Rainbow Dash and the others could get riled up, "now that you are aware that I consider them in just as much fault, for starting this in the first place, I can now say that I am…deeply disappointed in you all as well."

The Buffalo sank on their hooves, even the chief at the unicorn's severe tone.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dash butted in angrily, "what do they have to be ashamed of? It's those Appleoosians fault!"

"I'm not denying that, I just finished saying that actually," Dusk snapped back, though in a calmer tone, "my problem is that instead of trying to educate the Appleoosians on why they are at fault, and explaining the important cultural and livelihood importance of the Sacred Stampeding Grounds, they have instead just demanded they move their likely vital crops and raided and fought with them. Do you remember the incident with Zecora?" Dusk reminded Rainbow, "remember how Ponyville, including yourself, reacted to her all because you didn't understand or know what a Zebra was? This is just the same thing, except the Buffalo are Zecora and the settler ponies are Ponyville."

Rainbow Dash sagged as well, the wind out of her pinfeathers as she nodded in understanding.

"I never thought about it that way before," Spike mused.

"That's because ponies fear or ignore what they don't understand," Pinky chirped up as she pulled another bowl of Buffalo chow out of nowhere and dived right in after delivering that little enlightenment, not the least bit bummed by the conversation.

Dusk nodded, and briefly told the Zecora story to the Buffalo to explain what he was talking about.

When he was done, he turned to present matters once again.

"Not that it excuses them from their fault in the matter, but explaining the problem, calmly and rationally, might have at least helped in resolving the situation and if they still refused to see reason, then extreme measures could have been implemented," Dusk shot the chief a look, "It has also been my experience as one of the tribe that while warriors, you're for the most part peaceful folk, but after I just heard that not only have you been picking fights with the settler ponies but actually attacking a train!" he took a few calming breaths. Strong Heart sank to her stomach, tail between her legs, "the settlers are one thing, but attacking a train, a train full of innocent ponies that have nothing to do with the situation, that could have been hurt, and were hurt!" he gestured to Rainbow Dash, pausing long enough to toss a jar of ointment her way for the bump on her head.

"All of that, for a single tree that would make no difference either way and just rile up the Appleoosians further against you! You even accidentally took a baby dragon! Something this tribe worships! Did any of you even think to check the compartment?"

Dusk took several breaths and continued ranting long into the night. When he was done, it was a subdued and contrite buffalo tribe that finally slunk away to bed, while Dusk huffed and took Strong Heart with him to the tent that they shared during his visits.

"Wow," Rainbow said quietly, even Pinky looked suitably cowed, if for a moment at least, "I didn't do anything wrong and I still feel like I owe him an apology."

"He would make a great school disciplinarian," Pinky agreed, "let's go to bed, I'm tired."

"Yeah, we have an early start tomorrow," Spike agreed, and when they snuggled in under the stars in there sleeping bags that had been thoughtfully lent to them, Spike made a mental note to write Celestia a letter of his own about the entire trip, it certainly was proving to be a doozy of a vacation.

Ooo ooo ooo

Meanwhile in Appleoosa…

The next morning, Applejack was raring to go.

Braeburn, one of her numerous cousins, had offered to guide them deeper into Buffalo country so that they could rescue their friends from the Buffalo. Her cousin was, understandably, not too keen on seeing them, but he was willing to get one over on the varmints that were trying to keep them from their vital livelihoods, so she was not inclined to think of them charitably at the moment.

As they were about to leave the Yawn Stable Inn, right beside the Sheriff's office where they had booked some rooms for the night, the rest of the mane six (2 short) with saddle packs ready to go and Braeburn waiting for them outside, everyponies' determined trot was halted by the sudden sight of a another pony coming up over a hill in the distance, strolling into town with the rising sun at his back.

This figure was followed by 4 others and the odd procession caused every pony out and about to halt what they were doing and watch the spectacle.

4 of the 5 figures were instantly recognizable to the Ponyville ponies plus one dragon, and they galloped up to them, the girls gathering around Rainbow Dash, Pinky Pie, and a dozing Spike on her back who instantly awoke at the commotion, and the surprising presence of a rather irritable and silent Dusk who stood slightly a ways, the leader for the procession with a calf by his side.

Everyone began talking at once.

"What happened?" Fluttershy asked, "Are you all alright?"

"How did you all escape? And what is Dusk doin' here? Did he save ya all?"

And so it went until Dusk himself cleared his throat and the rest of the ponies quieted instantly.

Applejack took advantage of the quiet to ask.

"What in tarnation is going on? And who is that?" She gestured to the little fella that was standing boldly by Dusk's side, little chest sticking out bravely.

"This is my daughter," Dusk introduced, ignoring the shocked exclamations, "her name is Strong Heart, she is here to represent the interests of the Thunderhooves tribe, and indirectly the interests of all the Buffalo herds in general."

He ignored the spluttering and even more confused questions, the silver and black pony's eyes zeroing in on Applejack's cousin.

"You," he demanded, "who's the one in charge around here?"

Her cousin stared gobsmacked at the unicorn, who, Applejack had to admit, was quite a sight with his free flowing mane, and authoritative air.

"Uh, that would be the Sheriff Sir, I'll just go fetch him then," the normally vociferous pony skedaddled quickly to the jailhouse.

"Dusk?" Applejack asked.

"There has been a lot of idiocy in play and apparently I am the one that is going to set things in order when I should be spending time with my daughter, but no! I have to spend the time I should be spending with her fixing up this mess so she doesn't end up either starving or in the middle of a war zone."

The others gasped, but not more questions were answered, just a brusque command to wait.

The Sheriff strode forward and soon enough more and more townsponies were gathering in the center of town to see what was going down.

At the Sheriff's direction, seats were provided for everyone, after all, Appleoosians were not known for leaving a pony standing in the streets during serious discussions, which the Sheriff was smart enough to figure out was going on, and finally invited everyone into the town hall that could fit.

"Well, where to start?" Dusk said finally, as he paced in front of the gathered ponies, "first off, I would like to say that I understand that you all have families to feed and that you have all worked hard to set up a good life for them, and I don't blame you for wanting to protect it, however-"

"Oh no!" Spike whispered to Twilight, whom he had been returned to, in to her ear, "brace yourselves."

And thus the rant of a century was spilled forth upon the majority of Appleoosa, a rant that in the end had many ponies shaking in their seats, fillies an colts crying and otherwise heads hung low in shame.

Finally Braeburn stood up and approached the silent Strong Heart, he bowed low, his hat in his teeth, and said: "we had no idea, we truly...dear sweet Celestia none of us thought that asking was even necessary! We had no idea that our orchards were cutting you all off from your stampeding migration. We shouldn't have just claimed some bit of land without thinking how we would affect some other pony's way of life."

"I agree," the Sheriff said finally as Braeburn retook his seat beside Applejack, who looked just as guilty and horrified as the rest of her kin.

"But the fact of the matter is that we need those orchards to feed our families, if we remove them now then we run the risk of starving to."

There were murmurs of agreement at that.

Strong Heart looked dismayed. It appeared that both parties had stranded themselves into a real tight corner.

"Excuse me," Twilight said, standing up and striding to the front at a nod from Dusk who appeared to be acting as mediator, though his methods of refereeing by calling both sides as collective idiots left much to be desired in her opinion, but seemed to be effective nonetheless, "Braeburn took us to see the orchards yesterday and I couldn't help noticing that there was still plenty of space, couldn't we just move the trees, and open up a path through them?"

"But how?" the Sheriff asked, "it would take too long to dig them all up and move them in time for the buffalo to migrate and we still have to harvest them as well, we would need both all the harvesters as harvesters and as tree movers, and the moving will also likely cause many of the apples to loose from the branches as well. We don't want to lose vital crop either."

"Well, we don't know anything about apple trees, but if you show us what to do, I bet with our help we can help you harvest and move the trees in time for all our needs." Strong Heart piped up.

While some were uncertain, there were still more thoughtful mutters among the ponies that gave the plan some hope then Dusk pitched in with an added suggestion.

"Don't forget that we have 3 unicorns in this town as well, and 2 pegusi," Dusk suggested, "Twilight, Rarity and I can levitate trees into new spots as well, which will cut down on moving time, Rainbow Dash can fly messages back and forward between all the work crews to make sure that the right trees are being moved and planted correctly as well, with Fluttershy's help keeping an eye out for loosened crop and any local animals that might be disturbed by what we are doing and being relocated. Rainbow Dash can even fix the weather to help the harvest along."

There was greater approval at that, especially when the Ponyvillians readily agreed.

At a vote, the rest of the Appleoosians agreed and Rainbow Dash was sent to inform the tribe with Strong Heart delivering the plan to the Chief, and she returned with his agreement to the compromise, and thus everything was a go.

For the next week, the trees were moved aside, animals relocated, crop harvested, and a peace treaty worked out between the two sides, especially when the Chief got his first taste of apple pie and found he rather liked apples indeed.

When the girls finally had to go, Dusk was seeing them off at the train station.

"It's mighty good of you to stick around to help iron things out between my kin folk and your tribe folk," Applejack said, as the other mane 6 nodded.

Dusk waved the thanks of, "I don't mind, I was planning on staying for a bit anyway, and I wanted to make sure my little girl and Flighty Hoof, an elder Buffalo who will also be staying, will be fine, they are staying behind this migration to encourage mutual understanding through cultural exchange."

"I still can't believe Braeburn was the one the town decided to send off to stay with the Buffalo during migration," Twilight commented, "he seemed so gung-ho about Appleloosa, I didn't think he would want to leave home."

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow Dash replied, "Who would pass up an adventure like that? If I didn't have responsibilities back in Ponyville, I might have offered to go myself."

"I've been aching to say this darling," Rarity said, "but you look absolutely gorgeous with your mane and tail down. It's horrendously messy and slightly improper, but you pull it off spectacularly! And I love that feather you're wearing! Why it looks the same shade as your pelt! How lovely!"

"Yes, well…" Dusk coughed and quickly changed the subject and levitated a bunch of letters towards Applejack, " I was wondering if you could do me a favor and mail these for me? Some are for my family back in Canterlot, and a pegasus friend of mine, but some are for Derpy and Big Macintosh."

"Sure sugar cube," Applejack reassured, placing them into her saddlebag.

Finally the train whistle blew and the ladies departed waving goodbye to Dusk.

Comments

[Texus]

I know tht won´t happen, but now i want Strong Heart, to live with Dusk, or at least visit him.

[KittyrinnAiko]

Seems to me the buffalo would know that Dusk is an alicorn.