//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Whatever Way the Wind Takes You // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// From the journal of Gloomy August— I still don’t know how to talk to Silver Lining about her mother. It will have to happen someday, but I dread that day. I still have her mother’s spear, it is kept cleaned, oiled, and sharpened. Wormwood taught me how to care for it. One day, it will be Silver Lining’s spear. I can hardly remember that trip north. Maybe I don’t want to remember it, because of all of the blood and horror. The only thing I remember with any sort of clarity was that I kept telling myself that the egg I carried with me was my silver lining. I kept repeating it over and over. Twilight told me that I was trying to find meaning in suffering because I hadn’t really experienced it before, I was too sheltered. And maybe she’s right. She probably is. Twilight is smart. The silver lining in the situation became my Silver Lining. By the time I reached the Crystal Empire, the name had stuck. I must have said it a hundred times or more, over and over again, I kept saying it. It has been almost a year now since my trip and I have not yet fully recovered. I still have nightmares about that day. The bad dreams bother me. In the dream, I can’t do what must be done, and I had to do something pretty awful, but I can’t do what must be done so I leave the egg behind and I just fly away. Sometimes I wake up screaming, other times I wake up crying. Silver Lining will be having her birthday soon, her first. One year of life. A life that I gave her. It’s funny, thinking about it, but I birthed that fuzzball. Twilight seems to think so as well. I had to endure a major trauma to bring her into the world and now, like any mother, I get to reap the rewards. I can’t imagine life without her, or my friends for that matter. And then there is Wormwood. She calls him ‘Dada’ and Wormy gets all squirmy. Just four more years and life will be perfect. I will have everything my heart wants. I think Princess Cadance and Shining Armor might try to make it to Silver Lining’s one year birthday party. I hope they do. I miss them. I also miss Picklesworth and Gleamgood. I need to return to the Crystal Empire. I haven’t heard from Hachikō in a while. He’s always going into danger. I hope he’s okay. Gloomy’s wing joints burned with fatigue. She was in desperate need of rest, but she didn’t dare stop. She wasn’t sure how long she had flown, or how far, but she had flown a long ways. It was night now and she had trouble seeing anything. She was a pegasus and she was used to flying during the day. Clouds obscured the moon and stars, leaving it dark, so very dark. When she saw the light flying towards her, Gloomy almost panicked at first, but then very nearly cried with relief when she saw the gleaming glow of a crystal pegasus. He had a lantern mounted on his helmet and two more mounted on his armor. He flew right towards her, somehow knowing where she was in the dark, and she couldn’t remember ever being happier or more relieved to see one of her fellow ponies. A second light appeared in the sky and drew nearer. She watched, wondering what was up, and then, she saw the most amazing sight. The Crystal Empire appeared upon the horizon, gleaming like a jewel in the midday sun. The whole city blazed with light, pushing back the darkness. So taken with the sight of the city, Gloomy began to cry with relief. Sobbing, she found the last of her strength failing her. She flapped with everything she had left, but began to lose altitude. The second crystal pegasus joined the first and the two of them flew on either side of her. They dove below her, and then rose together. Gloomy found herself in a net which hung between the two guards like a hammock. Wings aching, eyes now too full of tears to see, she collapsed into the net and her body lay limp. Her wings continued to twitch and convulse, she couldn’t make them stop. Each movement sent a spike of pain through her spine and up her neck. The guards said nothing as they carried her to the crystal city. Gloomy looked around the small room she had been left in. She had been told to wait, and then the guards had left. The room was comfortable, even if it was a little small. It seemed that space within the crystal spire was at a premium. She had been brought in through the large window, which was now closed to keep the night’s chill out. She was sweaty, stinky, dirty, and very much a mess. She hadn’t followed her plan very well. She had done nothing to clean up the blood on her or the egg. Her mane clung to her neck in clumped tendrils. Her tail was lodged in various nooks and crevices, but especially in her crevice. She was too tired to even try to kick and squat to make a dedicated effort towards tail extraction. So filthy was she and so disgusting that she was afraid to even touch anything, as everything around her was clean and perfect. Her mind, dulled with fatigue, thought back to her plan to bathe in the river. She hadn’t. Why? She couldn’t recall. She honestly couldn’t recall. Had she been worried about something attacking her? Worried about the egg getting too cold? She couldn’t remember. Her brain balked at her efforts to recollect everything that had just happened. Hearing hooves, Gloomy turned her head towards the door and waited. The door opened and a tall, slender pink alicorn stood in the doorway. Not knowing what else to do, she bowed her head and kept quiet, as she didn’t know what to say. She closed her eyes as she cowered, feeling gross and icky. Much to her shock and surprise, she felt herself being embraced by the much larger alicorn. Gloomy’s eyes opened as Princess Cadance’s wings wrapped around her in a sincere, loving hug. She looked up into the princess’ eyes, her own eyes still blurry with tears. Her wings were still convulsing at her sides. “I don’t know what has happened, but it looks as though you need a safe place, my little pony.” Princess Cadance looked down into Gloomy’s eyes. “When you drew near the city, I felt your broken heart. I sent my guards to help you. Now, let’s get you cleaned up, sorted out, and then you can tell me what has happened.” As the princess pulled away, Gloomy struggled with the blankets tied around her neck. She had strapped the egg in to keep it secure, safe, and warm. She fought with the knots she had made, made no progress, and frustrated, she slipped the spear from the makeshift sheath she had beneath her wing. Just as she was about to cut the blankets, she saw bright pink magic undo the knots. The spear slipped out of her filthy, crusted over fetlocks and fell to the floor with a clatter as the blanketed bundle fell open, revealing a bloody, scabby egg. Panicked, worried, Gloomy bent her neck and pressed her cheek against the egg. It was warm, so very warm, and she felt her barrel begin hitching as she started to sob with relief. The pink alicorn stared down at the bloodied heap upon the floor, with her eyes focused upon the egg. Gloomy looked up, her body shaking with sobs and her wings still twitching, still trying to fly her north. “Oh my,” Princess Cadance gasped. “Well, let’s stick with the plan. I’m going to help you get cleaned up, and your egg too, and you’re going to tell me what happened. I’m certain that there is quite a story to be told.” Weeping, Gloomy was unable to reply as she was scooped up in the princess’ magic. She wrapped her forelegs around the egg, closed her eyes, and she could no longer contain the grief that her broken heart felt. Her tears came out in torrents as Princess Cadance carried her out the door and into the hallway. “Well,” Princess Cadance said in a low whisper, “that’s quite a story, my little pony.” Gloomy drank a little water, but worried because it felt as though she might hiccup and choke. She was clean again, the hot bath with exotic oils had done wonders for her fatigued, achy body, and her egg was now spotless. The egg itself sat in a makeshift nest made of blankets upon Gloomy’s bed. “What happens now?” Gloomy asked in a strained, scratchy voice as she set her glass down upon a small tray table set beside the bed. “What happens to the egg? What can be done? I’ve come so far, I need to know.” Clucking her tongue, Princess Cadance pursed her lips. She stood there, one ear twitching, trying to think of how to respond. After a short period of time spent in contemplation, she replied, “Griffonstone continues into its decline. It is unlikely that the egg will find caretakers there. As it is, they are overrun with orphans. Too many beaks to feed and not enough caring, gentle souls willing to look after those who cannot care for themselves.” Gloomy sucked in a deep breath, and without realising she was doing it, she held it. “No doubt, the griffons would advise leaving the egg out somewhere and allowing nature to take its course—” “NO!” Gloomy blurted out as she snatched up the egg and its nest of blankets in her forelegs. Her eyes narrowed and a fierce expression overtook her fatigued, exhausted face. Princess Cadance let out a polite cough. “As for here in Equestria, I suppose we could put the egg into an incubator, but I don’t know who might care for it. Little griffons take a lot of hard work. You have to feed them a lot of bugs and most ponies are turned off by that sort of thing. Our own orphanariums are full and I’m not sure that a little griffon would get the attention they need, because they are very, very helpless when they hatch.” “Can nothing be done?” Gloomy asked in a pleading voice as she cradled the precious egg. One of Princess Cadance’s eyebrows arched and her nostrils flared. “I am very sorry, my little pony, but I do not see a good outcome. I don’t see this ending well. Perhaps we should observe the wisdom of the griffons and—” “No…” Gloomy whined and shook her head. “It is a matter of resources, my little pony,” Princess Cadance said in a soft, soothing voice. “It is very unlikely that we will be able to find a family that will adopt the egg. Even if we put it into an incubator and allow it to hatch, it would be cruel to do so, as it would never get the attention, love, and care it would need. Little griffons really are quite needy.” Upon hearing the princess’ words, Gloomy let out a wordless whine. “Right now, it isn’t a griffon. Not yet. It is a shell and some yolk. No different than a chicken’s egg. Letting it go would be a kindness—” “No.” Gloomy shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut as more tears welled up. “No, not after what I went through. This is my one silver lining… you don’t know what it was like… I had to take that spear and I had to… I had to…” The pegasus choked and was unable to keep speaking. Bowing her head, she pressed her cheek against the top of the egg. Turning her head, Princess Cadance looked over at the spear, which now stood in a corner. A look of sorrow was seen upon her face for but a moment, then it vanished. Her eyes flashed with cunning as her brows furrowed with determination. “Honestly, Gloomy, sometimes it is best to just let go—” “Never!” Gloomy snapped, all traces of her usual cheerful, happy-go-lucky self now gone. “I’ll do it myself if nopony else will!” She wrapped her body around the egg wrapped in blankets, as though she would somehow protect it from the world at large. “Oh, Gloomy, I don’t know about this, there is a lot of work to be done.” “I don’t care.” Gloomy wrapped her sore, aching wings around her body and the egg. She glared at Cadance with fierce, defiant, beady eyes. “Gloomy, it will mean sitting on the egg for twenty one to twenty eight days—” “Don’t care.” “And what will you do once it hatches?” Princess Cadance asked. “You’re a pony. That’s going to be a griffon.” “Don’t care.” Gloomy’s eyes narrowed. “It eats meat.” Princess Cadance’s voice had a matter-of-fact tone to it as she spoke. “Don’t care.” “A lot of ponies don’t deal with carnivores very well—” “Well, I’d better to learn to deal with it, because Wormy is kinda handsome.” “Wormy?” Taken aback, Princess Cadance stood blinking, looking very confused. “Wormwood. Big fella. Kinda handsome. Night pegasus. He had a tree branch skewer him through the neck. Can you believe that?” “Oh.” The pink alicorn took a step backwards. “Oh...” The corners of Princess Cadance’s mouth curled upwards for but a moment and then her cunning smile vanished as though it had never happened. Her wings flapped once against her sides and her eyes narrowed. Unable to hold it in, Gloomy yawned. She was now clean, had a full belly, she was warm, and was in a comfortable bed. Her body screamed for sleep and another yawn happened right after the first one ended. “Well, Gloomy, consider yourself my guest.” Princess Cadance eyed the yawning pegasus with a compassionate expression upon her face. “If you are going to do all of the work to hatch the egg, the least I can do is keep you as my guest. Once it hatches, we shall figure out what to do next. For now, you should get some sleep, my little pony.” “Okay.” Gloomy curled up around the egg. Beside the bed, Princess Cadance pulled a spare blanket out of a wardrobe, unfurled it and spread it over Gloomy. “We shall talk more in the morning, little Gloomy. Rest and recover, you have endured a trying ordeal. If you need anything, call out, and somepony will come, I promise.” Stepping away from the bed, Princess Cadance realised that Gloomy was already asleep.