The Storm [PM for invite]

[Dunes]

Crystal flattened her ears against her head as the little filly raced around calling for water. She felt guilty about the pepper. Before, she’d just thought the little one was obnoxious, but after hearing all that life story, she was starting to feel rather sorry for the girl. Plus, not everyone had impervious tastebuds like she did, after all. Habaneros really only felt like eating a hot summer day to her, rather than feeling like someone had set a tongue-fire in her mouth.

Crystal reached into a bag, grabbing some of the tiny, pasteurized half-and-half packets she put in her coffee. (And she’d been accused of packing too much, hah!) Pulling off the lids, she offered several to Arrow. “This’ll work a bit better than water. Water’ll just spread the spice around; this will actually get it off your tongue.”

Looking up at Telki, she thought through her inventory. “I’ve got, uh, matches? But I didn’t actually pack anything to burn. I was told the cabin had a little stock of firewood already there. Apparently they meant the cabin itself.” She made a face, stewing for a moment. Stupid house. Stupid fire. She had just been incredibly lucky that help happened by when it did.

Snapping out of it, she rustled through her bag again. “I do have a little bit of food, too. Dried fruit, mostly. If anyone wants some.” She avoided looking at Arrow. “It’s not spicy, I promise.”

“I’d planned on dropping off my stuff at my new home and going back to Appleloosa for supplies, but, well… Heck of a day.” She sighed. “How are we gonna get outta here safely when the storm's gone? I apparently have no idea how deserts work, so...”

[lordbrony]

"Well that's the drama over" thought Telki, watching as Arrow was fussed over by both Crystal and Milky

Her mind drifted a bit, for she had been so focused on the events that had happened and finally when the adrenalin wore off, all that was left was nothing but a wave of fatigue that left her with no stronger desire than to grab a quick supper and then wrap herself up and go to sleep.

Looking up at Telki, she thought through her inventory. “I’ve got, uh, matches? But I didn’t actually pack anything to burn. I was told the cabin had a little stock of firewood already there. Apparently they meant the cabin itself.” She made a face, stewing for a moment. Stupid house. Stupid fire. She had just been incredibly lucky that help happened by when it did.

Snapping out of it, she rustled through her bag again. “I do have a little bit of food, too. Dried fruit, mostly. If anyone wants some.” She avoided looking at Arrow. “It’s not spicy, I promise.”

Hearing Crystal snapped Telki's tired mind back to the present, and despite her tired expression, her mind was all business

"I got matches, but I left them in my saddlebags at the cave's entrance. Some fresh fruit too if it helps, but its going to be uhh laced with sand I bet" she declared.

"I'll go get them" she mumbled, almost absent minded-ly as she trudged back the way she came

[Hippo]

Arrow began pouring the water from the skins down her throat. The skins themselves were practically in her mouth as she strained to get comfort from the heat of the peppers. Right as she was doing this, she had heard Crystal explain that water might not be the best way, and that it would spread in her mouth. She was right. What started as a sharp slice of heat on her tongue became a kindled fire in her throat. She couldn't stand it. She rushed over to Crystal and swished the half & half in her mouth. The smooth cream dissipated the heat, not completely, but enough for her to gain comfort. Once she was reasonably satisfied, she ran to the side of Crystal to show her appreciation. However, she looked back at Milky with angled eyes and stuck her tongue out at her. She was no help at all.

[Davroth]

Milky was taken aback by the yellow filly's gesture. How was she supposed to know that water wouldn't help? After all, she had never eaten chili peppers before. She blushed furiously, barely able to conceal her anger.

"Oh, you are welcome. I /love/ sharing my supplies with strangers, but..." She tapped one hoof against her forehead.

"Now that I think of it, I don't think I have any firewood stored her. But don't worry, Pegasi are naturally resistant to the cold.." She gave the yellow filly a cruel smile.

"Oh, looks like the sun is setting, too late to collect new wood."

The white pegasus landed on a ledge nearby, looking down at them.

[Dunes]

Crystal smiled at Arrow when the filly ran over, relieved that her cruel little joke’s effects had worn off without ill effect. She supposed that the desert really wasn’t the place for things like that. She’d never been much of a prankster; she always ended up feeling guilty. It seemed the little one wasn’t holding a grudge, at least.

She perked up at Telki’s offer. Fresh fruit? Full of water and everything? Her mouth watered at the thought of it; she couldn’t hide her expression of filly-like glee. “That would be awesome, Telki!”

She’d been looking away when Arrow stuck her tongue out at Milky, and missed the rude little gesture entirely. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head at Milky, who had angrily flown up to the ledge. “What’s with you?”

[lordbrony]

Seemingly carried by muscle memory, Telki trudged to the main entrance of the cave where she had hidden her saddlebags under a pile of rocks.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't the first one to uncover it. Stumbling in the darkness with only light illumination, her tired mind missed the telltale sounds of rustling and movement to the point where not only did she not hear the sounds of coyotes rummaging through her saddlebags, but she didn't actually see them till she ran into one.

Thankfully, nature came to her rescue once again, and the natural fight or flight response snapped Telki's mind back to the present. Just in time too, for bumping into one coyote caused it to turn to face her by extension that included the rest of the pack.

Now by this time another pony not named Telki would have seriously considered fleeing, but Telki had made it a habit never to take any crap from anypony, besides, those saddlebags pretty much contained her worldly possessions, as well as her supplies.

"HEY! THAT'S MINE!! SHOOO YOU!!!" she yelled, almost purely driven by instinct. Hoping both that the coyotes would be scared off by her false bravado and that if they were not, that she had the strength left to defend herself

[Hippo]

Arrow, who was still latched onto Crystal's leg for comfort, heard the yipes and hollers from Telki's direction. "Someone's attacking her!" Arrow jumped up and started running towards Telki, but in the darkness, she could hear the slight aggressive growls coming from the coyotes. Arrow Plain knew that they were coyotes, just by the sound of their growl, and halted her momentum and started retreating immediately. She couldn't take on a wild animal. Despite her being raised in the wilderness by Buffalo for part of her early foalhood, she had no protection experience. She had to rely on the natives to protect her. Who was going to mess with a herd of buffalo anyway? "Coyotes! Telki's being attacked by coyotes!"

[Davroth]

The white pegasus was already in mid flight when she heard the second growls. She had leaped off her ledge when Telki had called out, a particularly long piece of firewood in her muzzle, speeding along the dark cavern to the entrance, a path she already knew all too well. This was one of her preferred refuges after all.

Moments later, Milky landed next to Telki with a heavy thud, whirling around with the stick in her muzzle menacingly, trying to keep the coyotes away. If only they had already made fire. Those coyotes wouldn't even come near if they had a fire going.

(sorry for the short reply, I didn't want to halt this any longer)

[lordbrony]

Mind whirring into overdrive for the 2nd time in an hour, Telki stood resolutely facing the snarling pack of coyotes.

By then doubt had began to creep into her psyche; there're were so many coyotes and only one her, and to boot, no matter how intimidating she could try to make herself look; this would definately be one of those times where her small stature would be a bane. Making it worse would be that now that she had the coyoytes' attention and had challenged them, running would only send them chasing after her.

The only thing left would be to fight

Eyes fixed in front, Telki sent out 2 telekinetic bolts and managed to grab 2 melon sized rocks. She then carefully, almost casually held them suspended above her head, as if daring the coyotes to approach on the pain of having a rock shoved in their faces. Hoping that those, combined with the red glow from her eyes in the dark backdrop of the cave would make the coyotes think twice.

The thud behind her and the rustle of sticks along with the sound of beating wings told her that odds are that that white pegasus had arrived.

"Defending herself with sticks...." Telki thought "if I can only reach my saddle....WAIT! STICKS! FIRE!!"

"Hey hey!!!" Telki hissed, hoping the pegasus heard her. "I've got matches! Get ready to catch!"

[Dunes]

The piercing yips of the coyotes froze Crystal in place. They were close. The pepper spray wouldn't work in here, she knew, which left...

Which... left...

Nothing. She'd had one pretty good idea about how to protect herself out here, and it wasn't going to work in the cave.

She felt Arrow let go of her leg and yell something. Crystal felt compelled to move to defend the filly, but she was completely unable to move. She stared, wide-eyed into the dark for the shapes she wouldn't be able to see. A little voice in the back of her head piped up. I would be dead now if not for other ponies. I would be dead twice if not for other ponies. She swallowed and flattened her ears. How useless was she?

A thud jolted her out of her melancholy. She would try to be... not completely useless. Weren't sounds supposed to scare off coyotes? What kind of sound would scare off a coyote?

She closed her eyes, imagining herself in Manehattan again, yelling at crazy cab drivers. She took a deep breath, and belted with all of her might...

“E-QUES-TRIA GIRLS, WE'RE PONY-FABULOUS,

FAST, FINE, FIERCE, WE TROT 'TILL WE DROP!

CUTIE MARKS REPRESENT -

NOW PUT YOUR HOOVES UP -

AO-AO-AH OH, AO-AO-AO-A-OH!”

'Singing' would have been an overly generous term for what came out of her mouth. 'Banshee shriek' was closer to the mark. She had no idea if it would scare off wild animals, but there was no way they'd want to come any closer, either.

[Hippo]

Arrow Plain ran back to Crystal finding her busting out in rhymes, and a song, she guessed. Although at first it was hard to tell, with the belting of her voice, and the screaming of the other ponies and herself, and all of it echoing through the cave. Arrow realized it was the song she was taught during her last year of girl scouts in Appleloosa. She hated it. "ponyfabulous", "coats so cute", "bikinis on top"? Yeah, no. Arrow did not like it one bit, way too girly for her. Arrow was more interested in things that had more chest-hair and grind to it. Besides, she didn't much enjoy a song that complimented pony cutie marks when she didn't even have one at the time that she first heard it. Nope.

However, Arrow thought that Crystal, being a fully aware filly herself, must be able to identify with that too. Such a horrid song should have a use of driving away. So she sang it out loud to scare away the coyotes. Made sense to Arrow. So she joined her.

"YOU COULD TRAVEL THE WO-ORLD

BUT NO ONE CAN GROOVE LIKE THE GIRLS WITH THE HOO-OOVES

ONCE YOU PARTY WITH PO-NIES

YOU'LL BE SEEING RAINBOOMS

oo OO-oo-OO-oo"

[Davroth]

The white pegasus was more then a little confused at this point. Telki seemed to have the right idea, and Milky had taken a moment to give her a quick nod before whirling around, fending off the coyotes. Fire would do wonders against the wild animals. Not to mention the cold. She kind of regretted not giving in earlier now, but that filly had pushed all the wrong buttons in her. "No use crying over spilled mushroom stew" she thought.

But then, something weird happened. Out of the cave, the sound of singing could be heard. First only one voice, then with a second one joining in. Milky knew song. Her family used to sing in the their home caves, mimicking the sound of wind flowing through the many holes of the rock massive. And while living around Appleoosa, she had heard the other ponies sing strange songs about the desert and drinking and such. This was something entirely different, and she tried her best to ignore it. She feared the other two had lost their mind due to fear.

But to her even bigger surprise, it seemed to influence the coyotes. They were so disoriented by it that she accidentally hit one of them over the head, which caused it to yelp up and back off. The others seem to get more and more reluctant to attack at all.

[Dunes]

Crystal panted in between verses, still tired after the day's events. Being a Manehattan native had trained her to belt out long strings of obscenities, and this song was almost the same thing, but this was the desert. The desert lacked vendor ponies offering bottles of water and snacks.

So far, the desert kind of sucked.

She was glad of the little filly joining in. It was a song that was hard to escape, and she saw that it was clearly true even out in these parts. Even so, she'd forgotten the next verse.

"Uh... EQ-UES-TRIA GIRLS...

P-P-P-PONY FACE, P-PONY FACE...

I'M... pony and I know it?"

Crystal looked at Arrow and shrugged. "I'm out." She yelled in Milky's direction, her shrill city accent coming out in full. "HEY! Are they gone? I dunno any more songs, but I can insult their mothers for ya! Do you think coyotes speak Equestrian?"

"HEY COYOTES. YO MAMA'S SO HAIRY, SHE LOOKS LIKE A CHIA PET WITH A SWEATER ON." For the first time today, she felt some remnants of her confidence coming back. Deserts, she didn't know so well. Yelling? Yelling, she knew. Yelling, she was good at. Stupid desert. Stupid fire. Stupid coyotes! All that anger boiled up inside of her, settling in a place well-known to all children of Manehattan. She stomped toward the mouth of the cave.

"YO MAMA'S SOOOOO UGLY, WE PUT HER IN THE KENNEL WHEN WE LEAVE TOWN. Wait, that one makes sense. HEY! YO MAMA'S SO FAT, I RAN AROUND HER TWICE AND GOT LOST."

[lordbrony]

Telki's mind had been so focused on what was in front of her that not even the loud (and frankly not very good) singing could phase her.

That did not apply to the sensitive ears of the coyotes however; they had started to wince slightly with every word and had generally started to lose their pack coordination. The more sensitive of the lot had seemed to lost the plot completely, sinking down to the ground and trying to cover their ears with their paws.

Now, Telki had her chance

She dropped down low and sent a beam lancing straight between the legs of the coyotes. The target was the matches in her saddlebags. Then with a quick 'flick' and a loud yell of "CATCH!" sent it flying in an arc towards the white pegasus.

Seeing their prize stolen had the side effect of snapping a few of the coyotes back to reality, and one of the bolder ones had dared to take a leap at Telki; only to be met stomach first by a floating rock.

The sight of their comrade lying on the ground whining unfortunately snapped the coyotes back to reality, one by one they shook off the effects of the singing and got back into formation.

"I sure do hope she knows that to do with those" Telki muttered

[Hippo]

"E-QUEST-RIA GIRLS, WE'RE KINDA MAGICAL

BOOTS ON HOOVES, BIKINIS ON TOP

FURRY COATS SO CUTE, WE'LL BLOW YOUR MI-IND

AH-ah-AH-ah-AH ah AH-ah-AH-ah-AH-ah"

Arrow could tell that Crystal wasn't fallowing along correctly, and she slowed her singing speed as she realized the mare didn't know the words.

"EQ-QUESTR-RIA Girls... Yeah, I hate that song anyway." Arrow stepped close to Crystal, who seemed to try something else. She was lavishing insults, and jokes to the creatures. What in the world? As Arrow listened, she thought it was strange to be trying to scare away coyotes this way, and as she listened, she realized how mean some of these actually were. Arrow had always thought she was a mean pony. Her school schedule usually consisted of a daily appointment with the teacher in detention. But these words she heard almost sounded like a visit to Sheriff Silverstar's office would suffice. Arrow decided to try her own insult, one she often used at school, to make fun of all the pegasi. And instead of shouting it to the coyotes, she lost track of the purpose and decided to just aim it at Milky. "There's only two kinds of 6-limbed creatures in Equestria and that's insects and dummies. And I don't see any feelers, so that kind of narrows it down!" It didn't make sense to shout it now. And it didn't have to. All that mattered was that Arrow felt good about it. Arrow gave a smart-flank smug after shouting, waiting for some sort of an award.

[Davroth]

The white pegasus took Telki's direction in stride. She took a flying leap, catching the the matches in mid air. She landed on the ground with a heavy thud, keeping an eye on the coyotes while she fumbled around with the matches with the tips of her wings, a rather big piece of wood still firmly lodged in her muzzle.

It had been a while. She hadn't have used many matches in her lifetime, but this seemed to be one of those moments when they were preferable to hitting stones together until you can strike a spark. If she just kept on trying... One of the matches flicked ineffectually in vague direction of the wild animals, and Milky had to pause her efforts to swing the log in a wide arc, keeping them at a distance.

Finally, a batch of matches caught fire, illuminating the area around them. Taking slow steps back, she very carefully ignited the far end of her wooden weapon, setting the dry timber in flame instantly. The light was such a stark contrast to the setting light of day that it burned slightly in the eyes. Her last line of defense burning brightly, Milky stepped in front of the coyotes confidently.

"There's only two kinds of 6-limbed creatures in Equestria and that's insects and dummies. And I don't see any feelers, so that kind of narrows it down!"

It was then that Arrow's words reached Milky's ears. She stopped dead in her tracks, taking a moment to process the insult, and even though her understanding of insects was limited at best, she understood enough. She turned, her body tensing to jump into the dark, towards the source of the voices.

Completely forgetting about the danger at hand, the still burning log landed on the ground behind her with a thud.

[Dunes]

Crystal struggled to come up with more insults. It was late and she was tired, which was the sort of thing that could either result in insult greatness, or...

“YOUR MOM... Uh. IS A POOP HEAD. TOTAL POOP.” She scowled, aware of how lame she sounded. But if Manehattan teaches a pony anything, it's to really mean every insult. “THE POOPIEST.”

Every insult, even the really bad ones.

Crystal squinted into the darkness. She saw the unicorn get in a pretty good kick at one of the coyotes. Kicking! Maybe I should try that, she thought. It might be marginally more useful than shouting at them.

The coyotes were rallying. They did not sound happy. Crystal decided against kicking coyotes for future reference. She backed up as things happened around her; it was a little too dark and a little too fast for her to really be able to tell what was going on. But they ended with Milky brandishing a fiery log. This could only mean good things; Milky knew what she was doing. Milky had a good head on her shoulders in a dangerous situation.

"There's only two kinds of 6-limbed creatures in Equestria and that's insects and dummies. And I don't see any feelers, so that kind of narrows it down!"

Thud. The log lay burning on the ground. Milky was stomping off. “Uh.”

The coyotes edged forward, sensing an opening but still cautious of the flames. “Uh. Milky?” The kicked one limped towards her, a little faster and a lot angrier than the others. “Milky?!” Crystal was failing to keep the despnation out of her voice.

The coyotes were far too close for comfort. No time to think. Crystal grabbed the burning log with her mouth and swung it in an arc, singing the fur on the right side of her face. “GAH,” she shouted, wincing in pain. She dropped the log, rubbing her face with a front leg. Her face throbbed with the heat. But coyotes probably hurt a lot more.

Face full of the scent of burnt fur, she grabbed the log again and ran in a furious, wobbly circle. She was half trying to scare coyotes, and half trying to avoid the flame herself.

Maybe if she tried to set one on fire, the rest would get the message

She ran straight for the limping coyote. “EERHE COYROH'EES,” she shouted, voice muffled by the log. “EEEERHE PFUPPFY PFUPPFY.”

[lordbrony]

"Come on, where's my fire....?" Telki's impatience was growing with the minute, along with the sense of impending doom as the coyotes took menacing steps towards her.

Her last and final rock was also proving to be of no assistance, a coyote on her right flank that was too close to comfort could be threatened to retreat by having said rock shoved in its face, but then a coyote on the left would have already approached within scratching distance, and when the rock was redeployed there. Well lets say the cycle repeated it self with one constant; the pack was slowly closing around Telki.

Sounds of scratching, along with a sensation of heat and illumination told her that Milky had did what was expected of her. The corresponding the dull thud, sound of beating wings and the shadows adjusting themselves as if the light source had moved closer to the ground, brought Telki's spirits crashing with it.

"This can't be how it ends" Telki thought as her life started flashing slowly before her eyes. "It simply can't end here! Not in a cave in the middle of nowhere......"

[Flashback]

The doors to the school gym creaked, Telki had been looking foward to helping with the decorations and getting a spot on the commitee despite her junior status had been the highlight of her week

[Flashback #2]

"It's not fair!! Tomorrow is the event and I got tricked! she wailed to an empty gym. All of them are going to put the blame on me! I just know it!

[Flashback #3]

"Nopony, nopony will ever pull such a trick on on me again. NOPO-"

[back to the Present]

"-NY!!!!!" yelled Telki to nopony in particular, rearing up on her hind legs

Her resolve strengthened, she sent a magical beam straight towards where she had remembered the fire branch had dropped. However, in her fury she did not notice that the fire log had been moved by Crystal, nor did she notice that what she had assumed to be the log was in actuality, Crystal's leg.

"LEAVE. US. ALONE!" she yelled straight at the coyotes, swinging the log (actually Crystal) in a counterclockwise arc in front of her.

Whether it was the sight of the enraged Telki, the fierce glow of her eyes, the sharp yell, or the sight of a glowing red shape with flames spewing out of its mouth, that finally broke the coyote pack's resolve is unknown, but ultimate outcome was they broke and ran.

Slowing the velocity of the log, throught the anger induced haze, Telki saw them break and run, and felt as if something had lifted from her shoulders, perhaps a little too much.

"Hey everypony, I did it, I chas-" she muttered as her legs gave way and everything went black

[Hippo]

Arrow continue to show a smug face. Until, of course, she saw Milky stomping towards her. Arrow jumped and hid behind a rock. "Oh, so the dummy wants to play, huh?" Arrow was so out of line. She had no reason to hold this grudge, other than for the reasons she couldn't fly. She wasn't a pegasus. And Milky was. There was no other detail that needed mentioning. Arrow entertained it, not because she loved to push buttons, but because she felt that the more she antagonized the flying ponies, the more she would understand about flying. So far, she hadn't come to any understanding.

Pumped by the adrenaline and thoughts of Milky stopping over to her, Arrow looked over the rock to see ho close she was. She looked right passed the white pegasus to notice Telki blower her own fuse. Milky didn't really scare Arrow, but Telki sure did. Arrow exclaimed, "Holy tumbleweeds! She's crazy!" Arrow hid behind the rock, experiencing all the noise that had occurred. It sounded violent and merciless. But then the sounds stopped, and the rolling of small rocks rested at the bottom of their declines.

Arrow looked over the rock. "Is... is anypony there?"

[Davroth]

The white pegasus stopped dead in her tracks as she heard Telki's eruption, she looked back, her eyes thankfully shielded by the shade of her goggles. She landed with a soft thudding noise, and her ears went down. Eyes wide, maw half open, she stood there, still as a statue.

Milky wasn't afraid of fire, or unicorns for that matter. She hadn't run into many of the latter, but none of them had posed a serious threat. Seeing them in combination, though, triggered something inside of her, a primal kind of fear that couldn't properly be put into words. Her only movement was her tail, which twitched nervously every now and then.

When thinking back, she thought she'd remembered hearing screams, but muffled, like from a long distance away, and she would never be sure if it had just been her imagination.

Luckily, though, it worked! The coyotes fled, and as the firey log hit the ground, she finally snapped out of it. She turned back, looking for the yellow unicorn filly. Her rage had be squelched for now, but something about that little brat really rubbed her the wrong way. She sighed, trotting back in direction of the cave entrance. Maybe she could help cleaning up this mess.

[Dunes]

Crystal wasn’t entirely sure what happened. There was a yell, then something grabbed her leg, and she was lifted off the ground. There had been a moment of panic. Then the world started spinning and things got hazy.

Had her brain been used to being flung around like a rag doll, it might have occurred to her that she was being used as a bludgeon. As it was, however, all she could process was that the ground looked like a blur and she smelled of burnt fur.

When the grip on her leg released, she fell a couple of feet to the ground and staggered. She dropped the burning stick and blinked hard. The ground appeared to be perpetually lifting up from the right, yet somehow staying at the same level.

She felt the dried fruit from earlier shift uneasily in her stomach.

The world stopped moving quite so much, and she turned to see an unconscious Telki. Frantically, she looked around for coyotes. There were none. She felt safe to panic about the passed-out unicorn in front of her now.

“Hey. Hey! Are you okay?” She shook Telki’s shoulders. “Did they get you? Guys, did they get her? Does she have rabies?” She leaned in to listen for breathing, but the pounding in her hears was too loud to hear any. “I don’t know if she’s breathing! Should I give her mouth-to-mouth?! Wait, if I do that will I get rabies? Oh Celestia, but that's selfish. There's shots for that, right? Better than a dead unicorn!" She scrunched up her face, fully no idea of what she was doing, and leaned in.

[Hippo]

[colour=#0066ff]Arrow was relieved that the thing that was after her was no long approaching. She wasn't sure she was about to get hurt or something. She was foolishly fearful of the things that were dangerous. Luckily though, whatever was approaching had gone the other way. Stupid Coyotes. Also, Milky had retreated, which was a relief.

The yellow unicorn filly shuffled over to Telki, who lay on the ground near the entrance. [/colour][colour=#009900] "Is she dead?" [/colour][colour=#0066ff] Arrow grabbed a nearby stick and poked Telki's body in the side a couple times. If she was dead, it never bothered Arrow much to see a lifeless corpse. The desert had many unfortunate victims that it swallowed in it's dryness. No ponies ever suffered this, to Arrow's recent memory, but she figured it was just like anything else.[/colour]

[Davroth]

The white Pegasus landed next to the unmoving Telki. She could only sigh when she saw the others just stand around contemplating what to do. She leaned forward, until her ear almost touched the unconscious mare's chest and listened. She was still breathing, so she was very much alive. [colour=#ffa500]"She's just sleeping"[/colour] Milky said resignedly. Actually, her anger had ebbed down by now. It was probably a good idea to get a fire going so they could get some sleep.

[colour=#ffa500]"Stay here, with Telki."[/colour] She continues [colour=#ffa500]"I'll go get my blankets and water. Try to get a real fire going while I'm gone"[/colour]

She flew off, towards the nearby ledges, where he had safely stashed away her emergency supplies. She had taken a while to get all if it together, but thankfully, blankets could be reused. And it wouldn't take her too long to refill her freshwater supplies, even if it was a little tedious. She still wasn't too keen to share with that little pest Arrow, but she was willing to make an exception. Otherwise they'd never sleep.

[lordbrony]

"Sigh, I suppose you're right Daddy, but I though they were my friends Daddy, how could they just lea-"

"If they could bring themselves to do that to you Tela, they are not your friends after all, surely you understand that"

"Yes I do Daddy. But how do I trust any pony ever again? I can't Daddy, not after th-"

"Hush dear, you've learnt from this right? Don't worry, one day you'll find real friends, friends you can count on, who won't let you down. Speaking of friends, I heard Uncle Jazz is coming back from tour next week."

"He is? That's great news Daddy!"

"Now Tela, when you find the right friends, remember nothing is more powerful than the magic of friendship..friendship, friendship..."

Tela's internal dialogue would have carried on of course, but while the unconscious mind is always happy to play your memories back at you, it also usually keeps one eye out for what is happening to the sleeper, say a stick poking said sleeper's ribs.

Cue exit of unconscious mind. Cue entrance of conscious mind.

Telki's eyes fluttered open slowly, and through the haze that always follows one in transition between the world of sleep and the waking world. She saw something looming over her, and it was getting closer!!!

Thankfully for Crystal, Telki doesn't have the 'muscle memory' of lashing out with her magic in reflex, that does not however, prevent her from letting out a loud "[colour=#FF8C00]Yeeeeaaarrrgggg!!!!![/colour]" of surprise upon awakening

[Dunes]

Crystal was leaning in, fully prepared to do what it took to save Telki. But she stopped to look at Milky as the pegasus put her ear to the unconscious unicorn's chest, rightly thinking that Milky probably had some idea of what she was doing.

[colour=#ff8c00]

“She's just sleeping.”

[/colour]

Crystal squinted at Telki, still dizzy from being flung. “[colour=#800080]Are you sure?[/colour]” She leaned in again, just staring this time, looking for any signs of life. A flutter of an eyelid, a wisp of air – anything.

She wasn't particularly cognizant of the fact that Telki could be showing all of these signs and she wouldn't be able to focus on any of them. It had been a long day.

Then there was the scream. Crystal was a connoisseur of screams, being from the city. She gave this one a solid 8.5/10, with good reverb and an appropriately high pitch to convey panic, yet lacking that certain horror-movie spark that would knock it to a full ten.

She considered this in her surreal calm shock, as she waited for the world to stop ringing.

“[colour=#4b0082]Telki! You're awake![/colour]” She couldn't actually hear anything she was saying, but could feel it vibrating her head. “[colour=#4b0082]I am glad you're not dead! I hope you don't have rabies![/colour]”

“[colour=#4b0082]I think Milky said something about starting a fire. I wasn't too successful at starting a coyote-fire, so maybe we should stick with just wood.[/colour]”

She gathered some sticks in her mouth and dropped them on the still-smoldering wood. She stared at it, her dazed, chipper state fading fast. “[colour=#4b0082]Sweet Celestia, I am useless.[/colour]” She let out a defeated sigh. “[colour=#4b0082]I'm getting on the next train to Manehattan when we get back.[/colour]”