Macintosh of Arabia

by Crisis_Vyper

'It'

Somewhere in Eastern Equestria...............

The night is peaceful in this region of Saddle Arabia, as this region is not engulfed in the insurrection that is now spreading throughout Saddle Arabia. The rocky canyons crisscrossed the land, revealing many rivers which provided the only means of entering into this region. However, above the night skies a single greenish shooting star could be seen crossing the sky, or to be exact descending down into the most treacherous area of eastern Saddle Arabia.

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Meanwhile, in the orb descending down towards Eastern Saddle Arabia.......

"HOW DO WE STOP THIS THINNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!" Vinyl screamed out loud as the orb plummets downwards into the canyon.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WITH THE MAGIC KNOW-HOW YOU DUMB MARE!!!!!!" Redheart shouted back at the blue-maned mare. Amanar could only act stoically at this moment, as a Janissary in his line of work expects death from every quarter. Death from the skies is not one of them, but there is always a first time for everything. Fatimah is fortunate that she had passes out from the shock she experienced earlier, and thus is not aware of their plunging conundrum. As the two mare bickered on while panicking, Big Macintosh could only pull down his keffiyeh and sighed.

"Eeeyup, we are bucked."

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A rather dull thud could be heard in Eastern Saddle Arabia. It is common knowledge for the inhabitants to realize that the mystical beasts of their region are prone to many bizarre behaviors, and the dull thud could mean many things, and thus most of the inhabitants of this part of Saddle Arabia did not even bother to think about it.

All but one.

---

The loud tremor in the dwelling of 'it ' rudely awaken 'it' from its slumber and thus 'it' decided to look out to see what is going on. To its surprise, at the bottom of its dwelling, a single large green orb could be seen. It appears that there are several 'things' in it, and as 'it' wondered what it going on, the orb suddenly disappeared, only to reveal its content. Several equines could be seen, and immediately after the orb freed them, the group immediately walked out in a rather dazed form. One of the equines checked everyone while a camel carried what appears to be a little filly behind its back. As they conversed with each other, 'it' is surprised at the group. It is an unusually small but surprisingly close group based upon the observation that 'it' could make regarding their conversation with each other.

Before long the 'caravan' proceed to walk away from their landing site. This weird incident had piqued its interest, and for that 'it will follow them to see this most peculiar of groups.....

---

The next day................

Everyone is silent as they walked on, not even having the energy to talk about how they have pursued this course of action. Their crash-landing is not kind to them as they have many bruises on their bodies due to the tumbling within the orb. However it did protect them from splattering within the orb itself as it crashes into the canyon and for that they are grateful. After Nurse Redheart ascertained that everyone is alright, they all decided that staying near the site would be unwise and they must head out immediately to the closest settlement. The group have been walking along the river for several hours now, the canyons shielding them from the worst of the heat and rays of the sun.

Amanar could see that the Equestrians are indeed fatigued to the bone, and surprisingly for equines they are rather calm about it. But his experience with equines tells him that this silence is due to shock and soon enough a nerve will break. With the little filly resting on his shoulders, he is worried that the little one will be the catalyst. He prepares himself mentally for that time, and also brandishes his jezzail for the unknown dangers within the canyons. There are too many spots where a raider would be able to hide and ambush them. And then, there is the other dangers that are greater than that of a raider.....

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'It' could see that several equines are walking in a straight line parallel to the river. These equines are smaller than the equines that 'it' used to see, with the one taking the lead being a red stallion with a rather orange hay-like mane with a weird thing around its shoulders. Behind the stallion are two mares, the one directly behind the stallion having a pink mane, while the one behind the pink-maned mare is a weird equine with a long spike protruding out from its forehead and a weird alternating mane color. Behind all of them is a camel with a long weird stick and the camel is carrying a filly on its shoulder. These beings are rather interesting to "it", as this is perhaps the weirdest caravan that passed this area.

Usually 'it' will not bother to follow or do anything to any caravan, for they tend to not take 'it' kindly. But for some odd reason, 'it' wants to observe this group of misfits even more. It looks like 'it' will be going on a trip, to continue on observing this group and see where they will end up.

---

"We need to stop for a while." The nurse's voice catches everyone's attention and everyone stopped to listen.
"We don't really have the time to stop, we need..." Before Big Macintosh could finish his line, the pink-maned mare continued on speaking.
"Everyone is tired and if we continue on, we would be collapsing. As the medic of this group I say we take our rest and regain our strength again. We would also need to find some food supplies as well, as we do not know when we will be able to meet civilization. Also it is getting dark, and travelling in this place during the night is not the wisest of decisions. We need to find some firewood. "
"Healer right. We stop now, bad stuff night time." Amanar said in his broken Equestrian to support the mare's decision. Big Macintosh wanted to protest, but as he observe the whole group, he realize that the mare is right. Everyone is fatigued to the bone, just like how his sister Applejack was when she decided to harvest all the apples by herself. Her judgment were all messed up and she finally collapsed from the fatigue just because she is too stubborn to take any help from her friends. As an Apple, stubbornness is part of his nature but he is not stupid to ignore common sense either. All of them need to rest.

"Alright, we're resting here tonight. Ah will find the firewood, Amanar you can help in finding food, as you are our best bet in finding something edible here. Y'all mares decide among yerself about what to do." Big Macintosh walks away stoically to find firewood for the night, his back facing them. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Big Macintosh is gritting his teeth, controlling his emotions from overwhelming him.

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'It' could see that the group have decided to stop for the night, and 'it' would like to observe this group while it is resting. Suddenly, the camel turns around and started looking at the direction where 'it' is hiding, staring intently at 'it'. Did the camel found out about 'it'? What will the group do when they spot 'it'? Will they hurt 'it'? The camel then turned away from 'it and puts the little filly down on the ground. The camel talked to the two mares before splitting up from the group. 'it' is relieved that the camel appears to not spot 'it' and from the way the camel converse with the others, it appears that no one was alerted to 'its' presence. For that 'it' is relieved.

---

It appears that Amanar managed to find some edible mushrooms while Big Macintosh managed to find what appears to be some dried grass and some bark lying around to make a fire. With a simple spark from Vinyl's horn, the flame is alight and everyone gathered around the fireplace. The filly is still resting beside the flame. Amanar have tried to wake her up, but she is still unconscious and after Nurse Redheart checking on the filly and seeing that she is fine, they decided to leave the filly alone.

"Must be the shock." Nurse Redheart said.
"Sorry?" Amanar asked the nurse, unsure about what is she talking about. It was then that Vinyl started talking.
"That's bucked up.....seeing your pops going out like that....no filly should experience that kinda stuff."
"Yeah, Ah know how that feels like." Everyone turns their attention to the farmpony after he finishes his line.
"You do?" Vinyl asked, utterly clueless and perhaps a little tad insensitive to the situation. Nurse Redheart tried to stop the deejay from further probing the issue, but then Big Macintosh gives a rather weak smile.
"Eeyup. But Ah don't wanna talk 'bout it, for those kinds of wounds are the hardest to heal." An awkward silence soon followed the conversation and the only thing breaking the silence is the cracking sounds of the bark burning.
"Sorry." Vinyl apologized.
"it's fine. We should rest for the night. Ah will take first watch."

As the night passes on almost everyone is asleep but as the first watchpony of the night, Big Macintosh stares intently at the flame, remembering many things. The flames slowly reminds him of a happier time, a time where his parents were still alive. He could remember their voice, their touch, and their warmth. But the memory of that fateful night took them away from him and his siblings, and he could not help but to feel a sharp tinge in his heart. He puts his hoof on his chest, realizing that the pain from the loss is still there after all this years. He smiled bitterly before realizing that more bark is needed for the fire.

While the red pony puts more bark into the flame, Big Macintosh is blissfully unaware of the the mysterious figure that is watching them from the darkness of the canyon.....

---

Two days have passed since their landing in this forsaken canyon, and there is not a single settlement in sight. Fatimah shows some sign of consciousness, but she is not fully awake yet based upon Nurse Redheart's assessment. Amanar could only hope for the filly's recovery, but even then he knows that if she wakes up, all the pain from the loss will come at her at once. In addition to that concern, he had been feeling another emotion that he is not fond of.

"Hey, does anyone feel like someone is watching us?" Vinyl said to everyone.
"Yes, in fact I do. I feel it since first day. What made you feel that?" Amanar said to the unicorn. Sometimes Amanar wonders if the mare is obfuscating stupidity or that she is really just dumb as a brick. But that saying, nothing is certain about Equestrian mares.
"Well, for one I love being in the spotlight, and two there's somethin about my horn. Not sure what exactly, but it does do stuff from time to time when something is up." Vinyl rubs her horn, as if trying to soothe an itch.
"What do you mean by something Vinyl?" Nurse Redheart asked with a little bit of annoyance but also curiosity in her voice.
"I dunno.... something. It is never specific. It could be the cops about to raid my stash of salt, or it could just be that I forgot to buy some cake. I really don't know." Vinyl shrugs, and wonder if it is just a damn unicorn thing to have an itch on their horns when something is up.
"Well whatever it is, Ah believe that we still ought to be careful. Saddle Arabia is like the Everfree Forest without the forest." Big Macintosh said as he looked around the canyon. Familiar with the ways of the enchanted forests that borders Sweet Apple Acres, he can not help but to feel that sometimes for a non-magical land, Saddle Arabia has too much magical stuff going on in its borders.

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'It' notices the conversation between the members of this weird group, and their surprising vigilance after that conversation. The camel is always the one 'it' is careful of as the camel is always a little cautious, but this time the equine with the horn is also looking around while scratching her horn. Suddenly the horned equine sneezed and an energy bolt came out from her horn, blasting some of the rocks off the canyon walls. 'It' is terrified by the sudden magical outburst from the horned one. Equines that can shoot things out of its horn? That is new to 'it'.

Whatever 'it' is going to do, never go near the one with the horn. Suddenly 'it' could see that 'it is not the only thing following them. 'It' recognizes what their other pursuers are and 'it' will have to warn the group somehow when 'they' strike.

---

"Big Mac, you are up....see ya in the morning." Vinyl yawned as Big Macintosh wakes up. It is now Big Macintosh's turn to take watch for the rest of the night. Big Macintosh could only wonder how long they will last as it has been five days since they started walking in the canyon, and they have not spotted a settlement in sight. Big Macintosh could only sigh althought he wonder if they are indeed in the middle of nowhere. To take his mind off the depressing thought, he decides to put more bark into the flame.

As he bends over to put more bark into the flame, a pebble suddenly hits his right cheek hard. Caught by sudden impact of the pebble on his cheek, Big Macintosh immediately turns his head around to the direction where the pebble came from. However his left peripheral vision immediately picks up something moving past him swiftly and a whistling sound could be heard. To Big Macintosh's horror, an arrow is now sticking right out from the ground. If it were not for the pebble, his head would have been impaled by the arrow.

"AMBUSH!" Big Macintosh cried out, and the rest of the group woke up violently to hear the sound of what appears to be a war cry. To their combined horror, they could see several figures coming down towards them, howling as they wield their brutal weapons which reflected the light of the fire. Some of their assailants came out from the ground, catching everyone by surprise.Their attackers all have rather brutish and canid-like features, with some of their attackers are wearing ragged jackets and diamond-studded collars, while the rest wear metal armor and carry lances. Their attackers alternate between walking on their hind legs and all fours, their elongated forelegs giving them a gorilla-like appearance. They also have short and stubby spiked tails. Their guttural speak and mannerism immediately betrayed their identities to the Equestrians, even though their language is almost unintelligible.

"Diamond Dogs?!?!?!" The Equestrians said at once.
"I surprise you know theKalb ." Amanar said to the Equestrians as he fired his first shot at the Diamond Dog archer with his jezzail. One of the Diamond Dogs swings its cleaver-like weapon towards Big Macintosh, but Big Macintosh takes a sidestep before bucking it with his hindlegs. The unfortunate victim flew directly into a group of charging Diamond Dogs, stopping their charge. Vinyl went ahead and cast her magic to blast one of them point-blank in the face, causing the attacker to cover its eyes and how in pain.

Nurse Redheart could only rush towards the little filly and picks the little filly in her arms.The filly is still in a daze, or to be exact in shock, though it is because of the ambush or the lingering shock of her father's death is unknown to the pink-maned mare. As Nurse Redheart tries to figure out what to do in the ensuing melee, she could suddenly hear a chuckle from behind her and as she turns around to see a rather large and brutish Diamond Dog with a large club, smiling wickedly at her. She tried to run away, but her hooves were frozen on the spot in fear. As the large Diamond Dog swings its weapon towards the mare and the filly, Nurse Redheart could only close her eyes and expect the inevitable.

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'It' realize that the battle is not going in the way of the caravan, for they are outnumbered and also slowly being weakened by the sheer numbers of those 'things'. It will have to do something quickly to save them from this gruesome fate. 'It' looked at the walls around him and realized that 'it' could only do one thing......

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She was expecting some sort of pain when the blow came, but she is not feeling anything else other than a great tremor vibrating throughout her body. Even more surprisingly, the sound of the chaotic melee are no longer echoing in her ear. Wondering if she is already dead, she tries to open her eyes. To her surprise, the large Diamond with the club is still in front of her, but its attention is now elsewhere. It was then that she also noticed that the raiders are looking at the same direction where the large Diamond Dog is looking at. She turned around to see what have stopped the melee and soon figured out what stopped the blow.

"Holy Equestrian Princesses....." Nurse Redheart said as the rockfall descends upon where they are. One of the large boulders landed right in front of Nurse Redheart, instantly crushing her would-be murderer in a single blow. She managed to turn the filly's attention away from the gruesome death seconds before the impact. Nurse Redheart immediately realize that she will have to get of of this rockfall quickly less she suffers the same fate as her attacker.
"What....the....buck......" Big Macintosh could not help but to utter the words that best describe his thoughts at the moment.
"RUN!!!!!" Amanar shouted. With the adrenaline still in their body, they started to sprint away from the raining boulders. Dodging every large boulder raining down on them, the group tries to get out of this sticky situation the best way they could.
"SERIOUSLY YOU AND YOUR DAMN WORDS FARMPONY!!!!!!! SADDLE ARABIA IS THE EVERFREE FOREST WITHOUT THE FOREST!!!!!!!" Vinyl screamed out as she runs for her life.

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'It' is glad that the rockfall managed to thin down the attackers significantly as the caravan is outnumbered twenty to one. Nonetheless, 'it' did not expect that there would be so many boulders falling down on the attackers, endangering those 'it' want to protect. For that, 'it' is unhappy. Nonetheless, 'it' could see the group zigzagging across the rockfall without much difficulty, and it is glad that the whole caravan is able to get themselves out of it.

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Vinyl managed to jump out form the last rock falling down in the nick of time, and as the boulder crashes behind her she drops down on the ground and skids a little before stopping. She could already feel the pain from skidding on the ground, but that is a small price to pay as compared to the alternative condition; death . As she look around her, she is glad that Big Macintosh, Nurse Redheart, Amanar and Fatimah were able to get out from the rockfall intact and breathing. Unfortunately for the raiders, it seems that none of them managed to get out alive.

"Seriously....this is so much horseshit." Nurse Redheart cursed out loud.
"Hey on the bright side, two negatives added together equals to a positive." Vinyl said to the nurse. The nurse replied with a stare sharp enough to pierce Vinyl on a stake.
"We need move fast. Could more coming." Amanar said stoically, and amazingly without even panting after that sprint.
"Eeyup." Before long the entire group started to move with haste away from the area in order to lose any potential Diamond Dog pursuers.

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'It' is managed to locate the group, and for that it is relieved. Luckily the group has a very peculiar scent which allows for 'it' to track them down. 'It' will have to be a little more careful now, as 'it' does not want to hurt its new interest......

Comments

[MC BR0N3]

Is "It" some sort of Golem? Or a Djinn?
I'm kinda hoping it's a friendly Djinn.

[Crisis_Vyper]

2656741

This is explained in the next chapter.