• Published 13th May 2018
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The Desert Prince - Sparky Brony



New to a strange land, a strange culture. A single pony is lost, no memory of how he got there, what he was before. He has no understanding of the powers, of the prophecies around him and concerning him.

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Chapter 26.

Reaching the edge of the water, Greenbeard slowly scanned the area. “Finally, looks clear, what do you think?” Met with a slight nod she turns and lights her horn, a moment later she fires 3 blasts into the air, flying up a few hundred feet they explode into colorful bright orbs of light which start to slowly fall and fade… “Red, red, green.”

I blink, “Naval flare signals.” I shake my head, some of those old memories surfacing from time to time.

Greenbeard glances sideways to me, “Um, yes, something I came up with…” She repeats the light show and after a moment, she nods as she can see activity on the deck of the ship. “Okay.” She looks back at me. “Prince, let us get you all home.”

I collapse into the sand, plenty of walking through the last several days has me exhausted, being aboard ship is a good idea in my head. “Thank God,” I murmur softly. Ghaliya knickers softly before nuzzling my cheek, though she groans a bit as she lowers herself onto the ground.

Dawn bounces up to us. “Oh, come on, you can’t be tired.”

“Speak for yourself.”

Ghaliya’s chiming laughter has my heart soaring. I watch as the unicorn scampers up and down the beach, sand flying as she skids through a turn to come back towards us. She heads back the other way, galloping and even leaping into the air a few times.

“It’s like she’s gotten a new lease on life.” Guerina says as she lowers her body to lay next to me.

“New lease is one thing,” I say with a chuckle, “She’s acting like she’s a foal again, like she’s been let out of school, into the playground after being cooped up for days.” Shaking my head “Ah the energy of youth.”

Guerina pulls her ruck over to her and roots around in it, pulling out some dried meat. “And now you’re sounding like an old fogey, I need some food after that march.” She looks at Greenbeard. “You kept up a serious pace, Captain.”

Backburn looks back at her from his place next to his captain. “We’ve been away from the water nearly a month, griff,. I’m ready to be on deck.” He looks at the kirin. “Can we just teleport?”

Greenbeard shakes her head. “Oh, not necessary. Ki and I are both still pretty weak after his feat.” She glances at the unicorn pony continuing her zooming up and down the beach. “Dawn probably could, but I don’t think she should overextend herself again. A little patience my scaly friend.”

“As you wish, Captain.”

We rest, while Dawn finally winds down from zooming around as the crew lowers the launch, and two horses work hard to row the launch up to the beach. It’s not very long until we are loading up onto the launch and it’s rowed back to the ship.

“Alright, you’ve had a good month to lollygag. Let’s see if you remember how to get this tub moving.” Backburn calls out as he heads towards the wheel. The horses leap to work and the anchors are slowly hauled up. I move to help, but Greenbeard blocks my way.

“Prince. Normally I’d be pleased at your desire to help. But you are still weak from healing Dawn. Let’s get you below decks and get some rest. I’ll send you my surgeon.”

I shake my head. “Nonsense, I’m healthy as a horse.” I pound my barrel with a wing, puffing out my chest.

She smirks at me. “Captain’s orders: let my surgeon look you over. She looks me up and down. “I’ll admit, you are an alicorn, but I guarantee you are feeling the strain right now.”

I look at her for a long moment. Then another voice interrupts. “Ki here is trying to put a happy face on how he feels.” Ghaliya says gently. She comes up to me. “Love. I know you want to feel useful, and we all know that you are. But a few more days of rest are a good idea.”

I frown. “But I want to help, I know I can help.”

“No doubt that you can, love, but the horses of the crew have had plenty of time resting. Let them earn their pay,” Ghaliya says softly as I turn and look at the horses as they work hoisting the sails into position.

“Go ahead, Ki. We can weave the winds later. As of now, the winds are favorable for us to head east. But we should be able to make good time back home.” Greenbeard grins. “And as you probably know, once again, our larders are low. I know just the place to resupply.”

I turn to look at the kirin. “Oh?”

“Baltimare.”

Ghaliya flinches. “No,” she growls, “not anywhere in Equestria.”

Greenbeard grimaces. “Mistress, I know your objections.” She takes a hesitant step forward, getting close to Ghaliya. “And I agree with your reasoning, your highness. We don’t know whether or not Celestia killed her sister. Or if it was the Nightmare. The issue is, there are only three options for ports for resupply and repairs from where we are.”

“First is the Griffon kingdom, but that crosses the edge of dragon territory as well, and they only maintain a small fishing village, so supplies are limited.” Tapping the map with her hoof, “The village here has a population of about a hundred or so griffins, fish is cheap, but wood, cloth, and such, is very expensive.”

“Option two is mount Aris, that would add weeks to our trip, and the trade winds would be against us. But a quick purchasing trip to Baltimare would get us in and out of port quickly, buy provisions and supplies, and make repairs while underway. Ponies love to haggle, no price is fixed. But if some things are in season, we will be able to get plenty of food at good prices. Remember, Earth ponies can grow food like Nopony.” She glances at me for a moment, “well besides Ki.” Shaking her head she focuses back on Ghaliya. “If you wish, Ki can be kept below decks.” She glares at me as I move to object. “And you can come with me for the purchasing.”

Ghaliya looks thoughtful for a long moment, glancing back at me. “I wouldn’t want to confine Ki against his will.” She narrows her eyes, thinking, before focusing on the kirin. “Ki is too tall to be a pony unicorn like Dawn.” She raises a hoof to her chin, thinking. “But, he can dress with his robes, and if they notice his horn, they could assume he’s a unicorn horse rather than a pony. Most ponies have no idea what it’s like in Saddle Arabia.” She tilts her head, looking at me. “Can you adopt an accent?”

My eyes widen in surprise. Greenbeard laughs, and to my surprise, Ghaliya laughs with her. Ghaliya reaches over and nuzzles my cheek quickly. “Don’t worry, Ki. I think it better that you remain quiet.”

“Stallions should be seen and not heard,” Greenbeard says, the humor in her voice evident. My baleful glare rolling off her scaled back.

I roll my eyes. “Oh, har de har har.” I snark back, to both mare’s delighted laughter. I turn tail and start heading below decks, my beloved moving to walk next to me. It’s not long before she enters her own room, and I crawl into my bunk. All I’ve been doing the last week or more was walk. I shouldn’t be this tired. My mind starts to go fuzzy.

“So, Greenbeard let us know we are going to visit Baltimare.” Guerina says as she closes the door behind her. I grunt. She comes up closer to my bed. “You know I’m not fully in agreement with Ghaliya’s opinions of Princess Celestia, but I tend to avoid ponies in general. I guarantee you’ll be caught up in a song and dance with them. They love singing way too much.” She grumbles a bit.

“Bad experience?”

She looks at me. “Yeah. But I don’t feel like going into it.”

I nod thoughtfully. “No worries. But what is Baltimare like?”

“I’ve only been a few times, when I’ve had to deliver mail or packages there. But the ponies are decent, in general. Greenbeard is right, haggling over prices is the norm for the ponies. You can get a lot of food, even in a big city like Baltimare. They have some of the best open markets you’ve ever seen. And probably plenty of things you have never seen in The City of Gardens. While I’m not one to partake, I’ve heard a lot about shows and everything you can do in Baltimare. If we were going to be there for a few days, I’d encourage you to check out everything they have. But we are just going to purchase food and get underway with the tide. So, you’ll see the docks and the market. But they’ve got buildings that seem to reach for the sky. Ponies pull cabs so you don’t have to walk everywhere. While the culture there isn’t as huge as it is in Manehattan, it’s still chock full of interesting places to go and things to do. It’s a pretty decent place to visit.”

I lay my head down. “Okay, I just don’t know. I saw Celestia. We were so close to her. She didn’t seem like somepony who would kill her sister for power.” I shudder. I could feel how powerful she was. Dawn and Ghaliya have been talking about how strong I was for a pony being an alicorn. But I’m pretty sure Celestia would handle me like I were a foal. Yet, I don’t know. The genuine affection she had for her staff, for her security. While I always try to treat the royal guard in the City decent and friendly. Even I don’t look at them like that. As though they are a member of my extended family. Could she be that cold and heartless to kill her own sister? I really don’t see that based on looking at her. But Ghaliya has made a pretty good argument. And power can be quite addictive, from what I’ve learned. Could the pony princess be trusted? I don’t know.

Guerina clicks her beak. “Whether she did or not. I don’t know. No creature but her is alive to know exactly what happened. Either way, the ponies themselves are not all that bad. Just enjoy the trip.” She hops into her bed, and after a few moments arranging her bed comfortably, her breathing slows to the easy breathing of sleep. Though, it’s not long before Dawn silently enters our room. Without a word, she crawls into bed when I make room for her. And with her warmth against me. I fall asleep myself.


I looked at the gruel options, if you could call them that. The cook was trying his best with limited resources but the choices given were less than appetizing, to say the least. The first option was some kind of weak fish broth with some kind of noodles. The other choice, was some kind of wheat based soup with what looked like fermented milk in it. Closing my eyes, I can feel my stomach doing flips. At least we don’t have to worry about fresh water. I sigh as I scoop up a bit and take a bite. Thin is right. It’s more water than anything else. After a few tries, I growl softly and pick up the entire bowl. Ghaliya covers a smile as I swallow the entire bowl in one big gulp. I set the bowl down.

That was not filling. Greenbeard stirs her own gruel for a moment with a spoon. “I want fish,” she sighs.

"Can't longline?" I say with a sigh laying my muzzle on the table.

"Whats that?" Greenbeard asks raising an eyebrow.

"It's fishing with long lines...trailing behind the boat at speed." I mumble eyes half closed. "Usually done commercially with big winches."

"Okay that would be a no then, we don't have the deck space for something like big fishing gear.”

"Psha", Guerina perks up, stretching her neck and wings. “Fishin's easy, I could go out and pick up a few fish quick enough.”

Greenbeard brightens. She looks around at the other horses and us. “Well, could you get a small school? A couple of dozen?”

"Oh come on, I've only got two claws," Guerina frowns clacking her beak softly then she brightens and looks at me. "Of course, if you lend me Ki, I could catch, he could carry."

I blink as the griffin looks at me with a predatory smile, my eyes widen as I gulp “Wait, me, fish?”

Greenbeard laughs. “I know horses typically eat plants. And you more than most, Ki, much prefer grains and vegetables, but you can eat meat, probably. There have been quite a few times our crew has subsisted on what we’ve been able to catch, but not while running flat out the way we are now. We could add a couple of days to our journey, and slow down to fish. Or you and Guerina could head out and use your wings to feed the crew.”

Guerina laughs, "Don't worry, I’ll catch, you hold.”

I feel my stomach roiling. “But…meat?”

"Don't worry," Ghaliy says laughing, "I'm not a fan of the stuff either, but it's better then bugs. Try living for a week on grasshoppers."

Greenbeard sticks her tongue out, "Nope, fish is fine. Besides, my cook is great, he could make even eels taste good, though I have no idea what the hammering is about.”

I frown. “But…it’s fish.”

"Come on, you big baby, all you need to do is carry the saddle bags, don't even need to touch them."

Ghaliya rolls her eyes. “Listen, we aren’t going to starve to death in the little bit of time we’ve got left. But the crew definitely doesn’t like empty holds and empty bellies. They’ll eat.” She glances at Greenbeard. “And I’ll eat.” She walks over to me. “Will you?”

I look down. “I’ll help you catch them, the horses need to eat. But I wish I could use some of the seeds from what we had…”

Greenbeard tilts her head. “Make them grow? To harvestable size in a day? In what? With what? Where would you get the soil?”

“I could…”

“We need fish.”

I chuckle. “Of course, you are drooling at the thought of having fish for lunch.”

“Of course I am. I love fish.” She glances at Guerina. “But in deference to you. I’ll make sure your fish is cooked.”

“I’m good.”

Guerina pokes me in the shoulder. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I know it bothers you that something is killed for you to eat. But you’ve got to remember, out in nature, predators eat prey all the time. And even what is normally a prey animal will happily eat meat if they can get a hold of it.”

I shake my head. “Well, it doesn’t sound very appetizing.”

Guerina laughs. “I had my last bit of smoked chicken last night. I was thinking of fishing anyway. With your help, we can get plenty to help the entire crew.”

“Fine.”

I shake my head and nicker softly as Greenbeard comes on deck, a large pair of basketed saddle bags held in her magic, "This should do," She drops the bag on my back before sinching the straps. “Keep track of where we are. Even somewhat close to land like this, the ocean doesn’t care one whit whether you live or die. We are making good time, and I’ll keep up with Weaving the Winds. You’ll be able to feel my magic for miles.”

Guerina strikes a quick pose, "Fear not, ye scallywags, dinner’s on me and Ki!" With a laugh she launches herself into the air.

Shaking my head, I spread my wings and follow her, but rather than staying low to the water she keeps climbing up over a hundred meters. "Where are you going?"

"High enough to see the shadows under the water." She says, slowing and starting to circle, "Here fish, fish, fish."

I fly in a lazy circle pattern with her as she drifts back and forth for what seems like forever.

Tilting her head to one side she blinks, "There, just what I'm looking for a school right there."

"A school?" I say trying to follow her gaze.

"Well yeah, where else are you gonna find classy fish?" Guerina says and turns, flying in a wide circle till she's behind the school, following it. "Here I go."

A moment later the griffin arks into a dive, picking up speed, I can see the shadow of the school in front of her, then, she drops her hind legs kicking the water, at the same time she flaps hard to gain altitude, the impact creates a big splash behind the school. Within seconds fish are jumping out of the water and gliding, looking around the griffin zips through the jumping fish, grabbing the largest in her claws and beak, before flying back to me with three fish.

She motions to one of the bags, "ofem ip"

Blinking I shake my head and open the bag so she can drop her catch in, "Just three?"

"Can only carry three at once, that’s what you are here for." She says and dives back down to startle the school again. Making short jumps the school tries to escape some unseen predator in the water, and again she zips among the fish, picking out the biggest ones she can find, coming back with another two.

I cringe as my side gets smacked and look down to see the basket moving a bit, the fish inside squirming and flapping. Shivering, I open the baskets again as the next batch is dropped off. "ARGH! Need to be quicker!" I yell out, then light my horn.

Guerina slows to a hover blinking, looking around. The entire school of fish is held motionless in the air, glowing. "Oh, come on Ki, that's cheating!"

"Just pick the ones you want and let’s get back!" I say, gliding down to be in the middle of the school and grit my teeth. Feeling them fight against my magic is just making my insides squirm as much as they are.

Nodding, the griffin darts around, selecting the best and grabbing them. "Okay Ki, drop the rest and lets go back, I think we got about sixty of them, should be good for a day or two."

Nodding slowly I let the magic drop before turning my head to lock onto Greenbeard’s magical aura and head off in pursuit of the ship. Landing on deck to the cheers of the crew, Greenbeard trots up and grabs my hoof, shaking it. "Thanks for doing that, how did it go?"

"Fine, fine."

Guerina pipes up cheerful, "Got about sixty, two pounders, so about a hundred twenty pounds of fish. Should give us plenty of meat for a couple of days.”

"Please..." I say softly, "Get this bag off me. I can feel them squirming, moving, thumping against my sides..."

"Ooops," Greenbeard smiles and unhitches the bags lifting them off of me, "I'll get this down to the chef."

As soon as I'm free of the bag I full body shiver goes that goes down my spine and wings, closing my eyes I shake myself out and feel all my fur and feather fluff out, "Ewwwwwwww. Yuck."

Greenbeard stops and blinks, "Did he just..."

"Yes he did, I even heard the sound," Guerina says, "Ghaliya!"

"You're back, " Stepping out onto deck the Ghaliya smiles then blinks too, "He Floofed!"

"I know, he even made that foof sound when he did," Guerina says, before starting to laugh, "He really didn't like carrying live fish."

“Thank you.” I say as Guerina lands heavily on the deck.

“Should have just sent you out.” She growls.

I offer a lopsided smile. “Sorry.”

She turns away to head below. “Alicorns, “she huffs. But as she gets to the gangway, she turns and looks back at me with a smile before vanishing below.

Ghaliya steps up close to me. “It’s alright love. She has a lot of pride. You are just…you. When you try to help, you tend to take things over and leave others with nothing to do.”

“I’m not trying to…” A hoof gently stops my mouth from moving.

Ghaliya is laughing as she speaks. “Oh, love. Don’t ever stop being you.”

A few hours later, I am sitting down to a plate being placed with a flourish in front of me with a smile from the cook. He sets a plate in front of Greenbeard next. “Here ya go, Cap’n. I’ll make sure the crew gets good and fed. Found a few taters n len’ls to round everything out, too.” He turns tail and leaves as I inspect the plate before me.

“Well, at least they aren’t fish shaped anymore,” I say, looking at the battered and fried hunks of flesh before me.

Guerina yelps. Trying to juggle a morsel in her mouth. “Hawt…hawt.” She gripes.

Ghaliya giggles. “Piggies get burned.” She looks at her own plate. The potatoes had been sliced thinly and deep fried as well. “Nothing more than to try them.” She says, stabbing a potato slice with her fork. She eats that and smiles brightly. “Well, the potatoes are good at least.” She swallows and stabs a piece of fish. She sniffs it, thinking, before she places it in her mouth. Apparently it has cooled enough. She winces as she bites down and starts to chew. Her face gets a more thoughtful expression as she chews and finally swallows. “Well, it’s not horrible.”

“Are you kidding? It’s delicious!” Greenbeard crows. Taking another bite. She chews noisily. “You really need to try this.”

I have stabbed a piece of fish, and I’m floating it in front of my face, inspecting it. I glance at Ghaliya. Well, she didn’t seem to dislike it at all. I haven’t tried any meat since coming to Saddle Arabia. This was the flesh of a living creature. A life that my actions directly ended. I want to be sick, but my roiling stomach is demanding sustenance. I finally place the bite in my mouth, unconsciously mimicking Ghaliya on trying her first bite. After a few moments, I finally bite down. And I go from tasting the cornmeal breading to tasting the actual morsel of fish. My eyes roll back as I chew. “Mmmmmmmmmmm.”

“There we go.” Greenbeard says. “I’ll make a carnivore of you yet.”

I stab a second piece of fish. “Fat chance of that. But this is good.”

“Okay, we’ll have to get some chicken into you then, though. Maybe lamb. But you’ll find your alicorn nature, and the fact you are a flier and need more energy than most plants can provide as well as being a magic user, will have you eating a more varied diet than most horses or even ponies.”

I finish chewing my second bite. “I don’t know about that. But…I don’t mind fish all that much.” I look at Guerina, who is scooping the fish into her beak as fast as she can. “Thank you.”

She mumbles a response as I focus again on eating.


Baltimare is beautiful! It’s a city, and not like the City of Gardens. It’s definitely a different design. Tall, straight buildings abound, lots of brick construction and so many of them. I look around as the gangplank is lowered to the deck. A unicorn pony is standing at the end of the gangway as Greenbeard is the first to walk down to land on the quay.

“Welcome to the port of Baltimare. Do you have anything to declare?”

Greenbeard stands straighter. “Merchant vessel, Waveslasher. Captain Greenbeard in command. Here for resupply.” She floats up a bag. “Saddle Arabian crowns good here?”

“If they are gold, they work, but they’ll need to be assayed and certified.”

Greenbeard nods. The unicorn’s horn lights and a small scale is brought from her pack. “Docking fees for your size ship, three masts.” She consults a small book. “Three hundred bits.”

“Okay.” Greenbeard floats out a stack of coins. The unicorn takes one and places it on the scale before putting another coin on the other side. She adds a second, then inspects the results. “Looks like about two point seven bits to a crown.” Her eyes dart back and forth. “Okay, that’ll be a hair over one hundred eleven crowns, I’ve got silver to make change.”

“No need.” Greenbeard floats a stack of coins to the pony who takes them in her magic and smiles before turning tail and scampering off.

The kirin looks back at Backburn. “Tell the crew shore leave is approved, but no overnighting.”

“That is fine, Captain. I’ll stay with the ship.”

“Fine, but don’t forget yourself when it comes to rest.”

“Bah, Captain, I was away from the ship for too long. I’m happy to stay aboard.” The dragon turns tail and runs back up the gangway. It’s not long until we’ve exited the docks and are moving among the streets.

“So…many.” I murmur to Ghaliya walking next to me. There are so many ponies, all moving around and living their lives in this great city. The streets belong to ponies pulling carts and wagons, everything needed for a large commerce section to keep busy. One street has massive wagons with five ponies harnessed to them at a time pulling them. Others are taxis, with a single pony pulling several inside the cab. The hustle and bustle of the city is almost overwhelming to me after the long time at sea. It’s even busier than the City of Gardens. No wonder the ponies are so populous. I hunker down, ensuring my robes are covering me, including my head dress is tied correctly. I walk with Ghaliya as we make our way to the market district. Though I can see the ponies have noticed us. Quite a few are watching Greenbeard as she walks sedately. But Ghaliya and I also seem to garner attention from the ponies as well.

We make our way into the market, and the reaction of the shopkeepers is nearly universal, Greenbeard marches up to them, they stop what they are doing and stare before a gentle prod from the kirin has them starting to offer their wares. A few hours pass as we purchase various things, from food to wood, to pitch and even heavy canvas to repair our sails.

As we finish with another shop, Greenbeard stops and looks back at me. “You look kinda overwhelmed there, Ki.”

I blink, glancing around. “Huh? Oh, yeah, it’s just a bit more than Madina Al-Haqida, I’ve never been anywhere this big before.”

Greenbeard glances at Ghaliya and then focuses on me. “Why don’t you head back to the ship. Get some rest, being among this many ponies is tough. We will be a few more hours.”

“Ummmmm.”

Ghaliya leans closer to me. “Love, I don’t need protection here, and if I did, Greenbeard would certainly be plenty to protect me here. The ponies themselves are peaceful if Celestia is not to be trusted. You don’t need to be here if you don’t want to, love.”

I stop. “Thank you, I’ll head back to the ship.” I look at Ghaliya. “Was it that obvious?”

“That you were overwhelmed? Of course, love.” She smiles. “Get some rest. I know you are recovered from healing Dawn. But sometimes getting out of stress like this is good for you.”

Turning away I nod once before heading back. The mental map of the city I was building as we walked is helpful as i retrace my steps back to the docks. Walking up the gangway, I look at the door and hatchway leading down and sigh. It just feels wrong to go below deck when we are in port, to miss out on all these sights and sounds. Instead, I move over and sit by the edge of the ship, forehooves hanging over the railing. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, ears twitching as I look out across the bay.

The massive bay is almost horseshoe shaped with huge stone cliffs rising out of the water. The salt covered granite shining almost white in places reminds me of somewhere, but I just can't put my hoof on it but it's big, its true. The grass and beyond trees stretched for miles. I could make out farmlands and even orchards on some rises just beyond the cliffs, and it looked as if there was a path or road that followed the edge of the bay, heading right for the tip of the horseshoe.

I blink and lean forward narrowing my eyes looking towards the last rise before the edge "What's that?" Looking around I float a spyglass over to me and look again, "Well that's not good." I put the spyglass down and look around, what harm could one small thing like this do? Standing up I charge my horn before teleporting.