A Wish That Could Be

by Faithful Brony

Village of the Sands

"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all."

-George Washington

The sea rocked back and forth, gently knocking at the boat and making it do the same. All was calm as the boat continued to drift in a slow moving fashion. everything was peaceful and it allowed Russel a respite in which he used to get some sleep. He was feeling more tired than he usually was and this did not sit right with him. He had been tired before but not like this, no this was different. Russel crawled into the captains bunk and laid there quietly. Listening to the waves crash and his own heartbeat, it didn't take long before Russel fell asleep.
A couple of hours past then an unexpectedly strong wave tossed Russel out of his bunk. Rubbing his eyes and cursing at nothing in particular, he got up and headed to the door. The light of the sun was barely a sliver in size as it began its slow rise. Soon enough a beautiful reddish-orange hue was visible on the horizon. It was almost surreal the way the light illuminated the ocean, like a perfect picture.

"Wow, you just never see sunrises like this," Russel said as he proceeded to each rope unfastening it so the boat could get going. Sailing was pretty fun but he would reach land within a short amount of time. He knew it wouldn't get him where he needed to go so he would sell the boat for money as soon as he found a dock. The boat had plenty of weapons and armor but he would need supplies on his quest. It wasn't helping however that he had to resort to guessing which direction to go. His knowledge of how boats worked were extensive but his navigational skills left something to be desired. Russel added another week on to the few weeks he had been afloat as he spotted a possible destination.
Slowing down as he looked for a port, he spotted a small shanty dock that looked hastily put together but usable. Russel came to a drifting speed and eventually docked. Flipping his hood over his head, he set up the docking ramp and came down to tie the ropes to shore. Proceeding slowly to the dock master, he signed in and paid the fee with some bits he found in the captains cabin.

"Thank you youngster, is there anything I can help you with today," the dock master said as proper procedure mandated.

"Yes, which continent am I on and can you give me directions to a guide," Russel asked monotonically.

"Oh yes, your on the Continental Territories of Zebrica and if you want to get a guide a shaman is your best bet. There is one who lives not to far from here but its dangerous. The war lord who controls that territory is not kind to outsiders," the dockmaster said warning Russel of the dangers.

"Thank you sir, I must take my leave and I bid the a good day," The human said as he bowed and then proceeded to the coordinates he was given. The air was hot and the land was arid but he would have to manage. There was somewhat of a road but it looked rarely used. The road led on for several hours before a village came into view. It was a bunch of shanty shacks with a giant stone building in the epicenter. The place was pretty worn and old and it showed its age. It looked like there was little sign of repair and tons of damage on several sections. When he finally got into the town, most of it was empty save for a few passing zebra's staring at him with confusion and suspicion. They mostly just looked at him but some actually followed, Probably to see what he was doing here. Finally reaching the stone building, he walked up to the front gate which had a few guards outside. They immediately noticed the extra presence.

"Who or what dares come to our village without permission," the burly guard said stepping in front of the shrouded human.

"I desire to speak with the village leader, I seek his permission to get directions from his shaman, Russel said as he stood there.

"Ha, you dare ask an audience with his lordship. we shall see if you are worthy," the zebra in the middle said as they all drew their weapons. This was an unexpected turn of events and he did not feel even close to full strength. This was a real fight and he was handicapped but he adopted a karate stance none the less. The target on the left came at him with a spear which he narrowly dodged. Coming up under him, Russel launched his fist into the zebras jaw knocking him over.
The other two soldiers came at him immediately with scimitars slashing at him relentlessly. Russel stepped back and jump to the side dodging their attack. regaining his balance, he jumped at them knocking the trio over. Getting back up, Russel picked up an old plank of wood next to the building and smacked it across one of the recovering zebras breaking it. The other two got up and responded by slashing furiously from both sides. Russel dodged one but the other was able to slice at his arm, cutting a large gash into it. The pain was intense but he got back up and jumped at the zebra pikeman.
Russel punched the warrior multiple time finishing with an uppercut that knocked him out. His focus on one target however made him lose focus on the other allowing the enemy to come up behind and stab Russel in the leg with a dagger. Screaming in agony, he quickly elbowed the other zebra warrior and jumped back falling down as he landed. He pulled it out and felt white hot searing pain, the attack left him near defenseless.

"I'm not going to be able to last much longer. I've got to find a way to end this quickly or I may die, Russel quietly stated to himself. Whatever he was going to do, he had to do it now or risk losing to much energy and not having enough left to fight. Adrenaline once again coursing through his veins, Russel ignored his pain as much as he could and ran up to the warrior duo punching at there faces. They were to slow and his fists connected with their faces, knocking out a teeth or two. Russel jumped at the left one and started wailing on him. After a few seconds he rolled back and pivoted, launching his leg at the other and connected with the zebras side. The force of the blow knocked him back a few feet but it cause Russel to land on his bad leg. That attack did the lone human in, wasting to much energy and now was finished. The zebras got back up, shaking off their pain and got back into fight mode.

"Give up, this fight is over creature and you have no strength left in you. Leave now before we kill you for interrupting or lords peaceful town," the zebras called as they mocked his weakened state. They turned to walk back to their posts laughing as they did. Russel slowly got up then ran at them dropkicking one into the other in a last ditch attack. Landing on them, he starting pound the closest one in the face trying to resist his fatigued. The second zebra retaliated from behind Russel and punched him sending him flying forward a few feet.
Russel tried getting to his feet but fell back to his knees, knowing He was finished. He had no strength left to fight with as the two zebras came at him, he would be unable to dodge this one.

"STOP," a loud voice called out. This got the soldiers to stop and turn to the mysterious owner of the voice.

"Little Ms. Ramble, your not suppose to be out here. You know your father doesn't want you out here when we need to deal with outsiders," the lead zebra lectured to a shaded figure.

"Don't lecture me about what father wants and I'm not little, Zanzibar," the figure yelled as it came out into the light. It was a young female zebra, wearing a white dress and some sort of desert flower in her ear.

"I'm sorry Ms. Ramble, but we need you to go back inside so we can finish our business with this punk." Zanzibar was hushed up by a hoof held in front of his face.

"I do not want to hear this crap, I want to know why it is that you are about to kill this defenseless creature," Ms. Rumble asked with a less than pleased tone.

"He's an outsider, if outsiders wish to see the lord then they must go through us," one of the other zebras pined in stating what they had said so many times before.

"I don't care, a blind man could see that the entire time he had been fighting you with a cripple. I swear, you may call yourselves warriors but you are clueless when it comes to your eyes," the young royal zebra said while her eyes were fixated on the hooded thing in front of her. Russel tried to get up one more time but his body failed and he fell face first into the sand. They all ran over to him to see what happened. Ms. Rumble turned him over and put her ear to his chest and listened, finding a weak heartbeat.

"Is he dead," one of the warriors asked confused since they had never seen anything like him before.

"He is weak, something's killing him. We need to bring him to the shaman or he will die," Ms. Rumble said as she tried to lift the human but found it difficult. She glared at her warriors and they got the hint picking him up and following the royal inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Russel was floating in darkness for what seemed like hours before he could finally feel consciousness take hold. When he woke he didn't even open his eyes, they burned to much. His whole body ached of pain and he almost wanted to scream. He could hear hoofsteps nearby and remained on edge. When he was finally able to open his eyes, Russel could make out shapes and colors. His vision was blurry at best but he did manage to turn his head. He could see a shape moving around singing something but it sounded only like a warble in Russel's ears. After a few minutes he attempted to sit up, but as soon as he did he felt a very intense burning sensation. The pain was like nothing he had ever experienced before. his nerves were on fire but his skin was ice cold. His muscles tensed up to the point where it took a lot of energy to stay upright. He sat there for a few more minutes giving his body time to relax. He was soon able to make out more then just shapes and he could feel he was on a bed of some sort. Russel tried his luck at standing but his legs immediately gave out from under him and he fell over letting out a pained scream. Whoever it was that was in the room immediately noticed and galloped over trying to lift him up with its neck. Russel did not reject this because he knew he couldn't do it on his own. He finally got back up in the bed being more sore than when he woke up. He was eventually able to see enough to make out who was helping him. It was an older female zebra, maybe in her forties with more white in her mane than zebra should have. she wore an assortment of gold neck bangles and gold loop earrings.

"You must refrain from leaving, you don't have the energy to be moving," the zebra said in a rhyming fashion.

"Where am I," Russel asked coming out in rasps from his dry throat.

"My name is Shaman Arishazi and you are in my grove. This is a room inside our temple building, who are you I must know," Arishazi asked looking for answers. Russel sat their for a moment thinking. He could not use his own name. he would reveal nothing other than where he wanted to go but he needed to give them a name to call him.

"My name is Shojima, I came here to speak to you actually. When I docked at a port station near here, the dock master told me I had to go see you about how I'm suppose to the great nations north of here. When I arrived I knew I was going to have to speak with the lord of this land since he would know where you are. However I arrived at the gate only to be stopped by those warriors and told that if I wanted to see his lordship that I would have to beat them in combat. As you can see I failed," Russel said a little bit disappointed about that.

"Don't blame yourself for your loss, you were not at your best that why the battle was tossed. I have never seen anything like you, please tell me, what are you," Arishazi asked with a bit of interest.

"I'm human if that makes any sense to you, what happened that made me lose. I know I've been experiencing a bit of grogginess and weakening in my limbs but stuff like that has happened to me before," Russel asked more confused than ever.

"It is easy to feel a weakening when you got poison coursing through your veins. A slow acting one, probably timberwolf paralytic saliva is what made your physical abilities wane. I will introduce you to my lord husband Ronktif the great, but you need to have something to negotiate," Arishazi explained using her wicked rhyming skills.

"Don't worry, I have several things that may be worth the trade," Russel said not too worried about it. Russel felt a breeze on his back and he finally noticed something unusual. "WHAT, WHY DO I HAVE NO ClOTHES ON," Russel yelled completely embarrassed at the thought of someone undressing his unconscious body.

"Oh, your things are over there in that corner, we had to take your clothes off to treat your wounds and to cure you of the poison," Arishazi said trying to calm the human down.

"W-wait we, uuumm, w-who's we," Russel asked slightly stuttering a deep blush now visable on his face.

"Why Ms. Rumble of course, the warlords daughter was the one that saved your life. She was actually very eager to help heal your wounds and purge the poison from you last night," Arishazi said as she remembered the events. Russel was now feeling a heavy amounts of butterflies in his stomach and his face turned completely red.

"Did you say last night, how long was I out," Russel said the blush still very visable.

"I can see you are embarrassed but don't worry, she didn't seem to mind when she was helping me fix your body. you were out for six hours at least, you were touch and go there until we managed to kill the beast,: Arishazi said while going over to the corner to grab his things. She handed them to Russel then went towards her brewing station. Russel quickly got dressed and reequipped himself then walked over to the door.

"So may I meet the lord of this land now," Russel asked waiting for an answer. The Shaman didn't responded other than with a follow me motion of her hoof. She proceeded out the door and headed down the hallway towards a big room. There were many candles and lamps hanging everywhere as they brightly illuminated the room together. Many zebras moved about the temple doing there normal routinely things as she led him through the area. When they got towards the middle, other zebras started to take notice of the newcomer and all began to follow and gather in the middle. There was a big chair carved into the side of a giant stone and sitting right next to it was the zebra he recognized as Ms. Rumble. On the chair however was a large looking zebra probably bigger than most with an armored cuirass made of bones. He had a headdress that looked ceremonial and a bunch of jewelry on his ears and neck.

"May I present my lord husband and ruler of this village, Lord Ronktif. Now you and him may speak," the Shaman said as she sat down right next to her mate.

"What is your name and state your business here in my kingdom," Ronktif bellowed in a loud voice.

"I seek your Shamans help to find a way across the desert alive. I must get to the lands far north of here," Russel said emphasizing it with finger pointed north.

"Well that does sound like a predicament but If you want something from me than you must pay me. If you don't have any money then get out before I have you killed just for wasting my time," the zebra Lord barked with a fair amount of roughness in his voice.

"I may not have money but I do have something to trade for it," Russel stated getting the attention of everyone there.

"Go on then, what is it you have to trade for my wife's help," Ronktif said now showing interest in the conversation.

"I have a warboat full of armor, weaponry, and other things that you could use for your own benefit," Russel said with enthusiasm added to it.

"Sound like an interesting deal to me, I will except your proposal and will even give you some food and water for your journey. Now, what say you stay while my shaman draws you up a map, we shall feast to celebrate this deal," the zebra lord said now excited at the prospect of what he could do with the boat and everything on it. Zebras started bringing out foods that Russel recognized and others he didn't. He was given a seat next to Ronktif and as soon as he sat down the food started getting distributed by female zebra dancers. It was odd for Russel because he was not use to being served, he usually did everything himself. When he looked up from the table, he saw Ms. Rumble sitting across from him. She was staring at him with a captivated eye causing a light blush to appear on his face for the second time today.

"so, what do we call you, do you have a name," Ms. Rumble asked now having the attention of the table on Russel?

"My name is Shojima, greeting," Russel said monotonically. It was going to take him a little while to get use to using that name.

"That's an odd name, so where do you come from," she asked interested in learning everything about their new guest.

"I come from a really far away place that I'm never going back to," he said hoping this would at least get her off the topic.

"How come, do you not have family or something," lady Rumble asked pushing the topic further.

"I don't feel like talking about it honestly, my future is ahead of me not in the past," Russel stated preferring to look at the food as it was finished being served.

"Oh come on, you can tell us. At least tells me what's the name-" Lord Ronktif waved his hoof in the air gaining silence from his daughter.

"Please honey, he is tense, he obviously doesn't want to talk about it so just leave it at that. I'm sorry, she loves learning about places beyond or village as she doesn't travel." The zebra Lord stood up on his back hoofs holding a chalice up to everyone at the table. "To the all mother, may her spirit guide us on the path. Also, I would like to give thanks to our new friend, may our lives be more fruitful because of this partnership. If you ever need help don't hesitate to asked us for advice," Lord Ronktif said as they all bellowed together in agreement.

"Thanks for your hospitality and thank you for all your help. I share the same sentiments, may you have better days ahead." The dinner was long, lasting most of the night. Filled with many tales of their tribes history. When it finally ended, it was midnight and many had left to go back to their respective huts. The zebra lord kindly offered Russel a room to stay in, informing him that the deserts were to dangerous to travel in at night.
Many hostile monsters were far more active at this time. Russel thanked him for the offer and kindly took it as he was tired and sapped of energy anyway. The hut was rather small but the bed worked just fine. Russel flopped onto the bed and relaxed into it when thoughts of his friends surfaced in his mind. He wondered what they were doing and how their own progress was in Ponyville. It pained him that they had to depart the way they did but Russel knew it was for the best.
He could not complete his mission with "The Princesses" in his shadow. He looked forward to the day when he would see his friends again. Russel pushed those thoughts aside and was eventually able to fall asleep.

Author's Note:

sorry everypony for the long wait, I had technically difficulties accessing Fimfiction for a while but its fixed now. so everypony, tell me what you think of the Zebras, did I do good portraying them the way I did. I thought that maybe I would stick the rhyming to the shamans only as kind of like a tradition or way of life in their culture. The zebras are definitely the most difficult to portray because of the rhyming but I think it fits better the way I did it.

also, I'm not going to run the idea unless you guys want to read it but, Ms Rumble obviously has some affections towards Russel. so tell me what you ponies think.
should I
A- put in a unrated chapter just for some good old stuff to go on between the two, or
B- should I jut leave it as is.
let it be known that if you do want stuff to happen, its going to be a Special side chapter and will in no way take place as part of the actual storyline at all. basically, it would be just an extra special feature type of thing. If you don't, then I will just keep on writing the story as is, tell me in the comments below what you ponies want and I will count up the votes. I just thought that maybe id let the readers decide on something.

Comments

[Liaf112]

I would like it to happen.

[nove300]

Totally go for it I thank it would be fun to see how it would change the store

I loving the store so far I hope u keep with it im looking forward to see where u take it

have 5 hearts on me

[Faithful Brony]

5539968 thanks, I like adding new challenges to my work so that I can improve my writing skills. however I did state that it would be a completely separate chapter that would in no way affect the story, its just something I want to write for fun. I already have something else going on in the works that im going to write for the character.