The Crusaders Prelude #3

Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any of the ideas or characters related to it. I do not own Marvel or any of its ideas or characters. I make no money from this writing.


My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

The Crusaders Prelude: Finding Oneself

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     My name is Lir, and the heat is killing me. The endless cloudless days of walking through barren desert, subsiding only on the water I carried and my own immense magical reserves, are taking their toll on me. I'm a shriveled up shadow of the pony/diamond dog freak that stepped off the cargo ship onto the sun-baked continent. Immediately I purchased what supplies I could, and then set off for the inside of the continent.

     This is a good place for me. The majority of the population now sticks to the coasts, in trading industries. I heard there are only a few wandering zebra tribes out here in the desert now. Their old customs are dying. I shouldn't have any problem avoiding them until it's time.

     I ran out of water two days ago. The golden sand burns with each step, loose enough to make each step a possible stumble. I can feel the dehydration settling in. My bones creak with every step. My tongue feels ready to crumble to dust. Joints ache. Veins becoming noticeable through my thinning coat. My medical training's allowing me to clearly observe my slow death in this heat. It is a better end than I deserve.

     LET ME OUT.

     My two hooves take me up this sand dune. This one last sand dune. I don't know why. I feel like I could just drop over dead with every step. Not long now. This is a tall dune.

     Memories slither into my fracturing mind. I remember Auntie Pinkie Pie reading me bedtime stories, and Auntie Twilight helping teach me to use magic with mother, and Auntie Applejack giving me my first apple. I'd tried telling her I'd had some before, but she saw right through my lie and taught me honesty.

     This dune is so tall. I remember Rainbow Dash, now their coach, getting me a free ticket to a Wonderbolts show. I remember my first crush was on Sweetie Belle. She's still a beautiful mare, even after altering her looks so much. I-

     LET ME OUT. I WON'T DIE IN A PLACE LIKE THIS.

     I ignore the voice and crest the sand dune, hope rising this will be the end.

     Down on the desert plain below, I see a dozen or so tents the color of the sand. Many or covered in scorch marks, others lay in tatters. Zebras litter the ground, groaning, weeping, screaming, black and white coats ruined by splashes of red.

     Dragon attack. I can feel the residual magic of dragonfire. I got here too late to die with most of this tribe.

     GET DOWN THERE AND HELP THEM, DOCTOR. OR ELSE I'LL FORCE MY WAY OUT AND HELP THEM.

     I don't question the sudden altruism. This isn't the first time. I don't say anything, my tongue too swollen in my mouth to be able to. I just slide down the dune to the nearest of the injured zebras, cast off my robe, and get to work.

     The moans of the dying are all around me, but inside my head there is only quiet, and calm. Helping, it seems, is where I belong.


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Lir will return this September in
THE CRUSADERS