"Nice speed, Fleeting Chance!" taunted a pegasus. "Maybe one day you'll be able to outpace a snail!"
"Sshut up!" yelled back the pony of torment, holding back tears. "You're being sstupid jerkss!"
"And maybe one day you'll be able to speak properly!" mocked one of their cronies.
"Sstop it!"
"What're you gonna do?" asked another crony. "Cry on us?"
Finally letting her tear ducts loose, Fleetfoot flew away from the bullies as fast as her slightly-smaller wings could carry her. They laughed as she zipped off of the grounds, and continued towards the ground, as the building was in the air. The roaring water of Neighagra Falls from a short distance away covered the sound of her crying.
She flew over the water without a care of how far she away she was flying, nor of the trouble she was going to be in. All she cared about at the moment was finding a place to cry without anypony laughing at her. Landing in a thicket of trees, Fleetfoot laid down on the ground and broke down crying.
"Wh-why do they have t-to make fun of me?" she sobbed. "I-it'ss not my fault my w-wingss are ssmaller or t-that I have a lissp!"
After having a nice cry, she got up and wiped away the tears on her cheeks. She started heading towards the river to splash some water on her eyes, when she nearly tripped over a large object that had rolled in front of her.
"Huh?"
The object had the texture of a rock or gemstone, though it seemed to be an oddly large egg. It was a glittering purple, with some bits of black on it. Fleetfoot had never seen anything like it before, and gently placed her hoof on it to see if it was indeed an egg.
"It'ss warm!" she said in surprise. "But what kind of egg getss thiss big?"
"Hey!"
She looked up to see an adult griffon come out from woods, and couldn't help but feel intimidated by him. The griffon had brown feathers, dark gray fur, and piercing yellow eyes. He was glaring down at her for a moment, before looking more casual.
"Erm, excuse me." he said rather gruffly. "But that belongs to me."
"O-oh..." Fleetfoot nervously nodded. "Wh-what iss it?"
"None of your business, little filly!" he snapped, causing her to flinch. "Sorry." he grunted. "Just give it over to me, and it won't be a problem."
She cocked her head in confusion. "Why would it be a problem?"
He stamped his talon on the ground angrily. "Do you want a fire-breathing dragon on your talons?!?"
"D-dragon?!?" The pegasus looked at the egg, then back up at the griffon just as he angrily pounced towards her. "Yeek!" She dove out of the way with the egg clutched carefully in her hooves. "Don't hurt the little thing!"
"Give it to me, brat!"
He swiped a claw at her, causing Fleetfoot to quickly take to the air. She was still holding the egg in her hooves, which only infuriated him further. As the griffon spread out his large wings, the young pegasus zipped away from him as fast as possible.
"Go away!" she cried nervously.
The beating of wings behind her caused Fleetfoot to speed up. As she started passing over Neighagra Falls, she dove down towards the roaring water. She knew that griffons where part cat, so they logically wouldn't like water. Hopefully she was right.
As she flew closer to the falls, she could feel the spray of water growing heavier. Until she was so close that the spray was equivalent to a heavy rain. But it was too loud for her to even hear her own wings flapping, let alone those of someone behind her.
"Pleasse don't be there..." whisper Fleetfoot nervously.
She cautiously turned around, to see that the griffon was not chasing behind her. However, she could see that he was just keeping away from the spray of water. Seeing that Fleetfoot had stopped, the griffon started flying towards her, looking even angrier as he got wet.
"Um..." She looked around for a good place to fly to, when an idea came to her. "Hope you can sstand getting a bit more wet..." she whispered to the egg.
As the griffon lunged at her for the second time, Fleetfoot stopped flapping her wings. She started free falling, moving out from the falls as she did. Though she moved away from the falls, the spray became heavier as she neared the bottom. At the last moment, she spread out her wings and skimmed over where the falls met the river.
"Get back here!" snapped the griffon, who was still following her.
Without responding, Fleetfoot continued flying. She could tell that he was gaining on her, and started to panic. Just as she felt talons trying to grab her tail, she flew downward and dove into the water. She was then flying upside-down and backwards in the the opposite direction of the river, before flipping over and coming back out. This had caught the griffon off guard, and now there was a sizable distance between them.
Then she flew back up by the falls, the same way she had come down. Fleetfoot was soaked to the feather by this point, so she flew as close to the water as possible without being knocked down by it. She reached the top faster than she had the bottom, and quickly flew back over to hide in the large grove of trees. She hid up in the highest branches of the tallest tree she could find, and tried to quiet her breathing.
The flapping of thick wings could be heard, and she curled up into the tiniest ball possible. "Come on out, little pegasus!" he sounded very angry. "I just want my property back!" She heard leaves being torn through. "So come out!"
As the sounds became quieter, Fleetfoot cautiously shimmied up the tree until she could see the sky. Flipping onto the back so she hide view of the egg from the ground below, she took to the air. If there was one pony who knew what to do with a dragon egg, they were back at the academy.
In a certain dormitory, there was a bit of commotion.
"Where in Equestria did you find this?!?" cried Misty Fly in surprise.
"Sshhhhh!" warned Fleetfoot, nervously looking out the window as she dried off with a towel. "I wass near Neighagra Fallss when I found it. A griffon wass demanding it back, and he tried to hurt me for it! But I didn't trusst him at all, sso I flew away ass fasst ass I could. And I know that you a lot about dragonss, ssince you're alwayss talking about them!"
"But-" she started, before the other pegasus continued.
"Pleasse, Misst. Just tell me where the nearesst dragon iss sso I can put thiss egg ssomeplace ssafe!"
She sighed. "Fleetfoot, there are no dragons anywhere near here. The only place where dragons are known to be are the Dragon Lands!"
"Where are the Dragon Lands?"
"Hang on a sec, I can go grab a map."
The pegasus flew out of the room and off towards the library. Fleetfoot tapped her hoof nervously against the ground, the egg wrapped in a bundle of blankets beside her. She spied some empty saddlebags, and gently carried the egg over to it. She slipped the egg in one pocket, wrapped in one blanket, and then put the rest in the other pocket.
"Don't worry, little one..." she said softly. "I'm going to get you home ssafely..."
Misty came back in with an atlas in her hooves. She flipped it open to the right page, and then placed in front of Fleetfoot.
"See, we're here," she pointed at the top left corner, "And the dragons are here." She pointed at the bottom right corner.
Fleetfoot's eyes widened in surprise. "That'ss really far from here..."
"Hey, why do you have on my extra saddlebags?" asked Misty, just noticing it.
"Gotta get going, Misst!" She quickly scooped up the atlas, placed in the pocket filled with blankets, and flew out of the room before she could be stopped.
"Fleetfoot!" she cried, chasing after her. "It's too far!"
Soaring out the nearest open window, Fleetfoot started off towards the mountain spire in the distance. She could hear frantic wingbeats behind her, but continued flying on. She knew that Misty wouldn't go too far from the academy in fear of being punished.
"Fleetfoot!" she called out from behind. "Just be careful!"
"Ssure thing!" she called back, a smile on her face. "I'll be back ssoon! I promisse!"
The sky was peaceful as Fleetfoot headed off towards Canterlot. The egg was nice and warm, which she could feel through the blanket and saddlebags. With a warm breeze blowing her forwards, it seemed like the flight would be very uneventful. And indeed, the flight was peaceful for the most part. She was halfway to Canterlot with nothing major happening yet, when she heard an angry roar from behind.
"Get back here, you brat!" yelled the griffon she had thought to have gotten away from. "And give me back my dragon!"
"Not a chance!" yelled back Fleetfoot, increasing her speed.
"Why you little-!" The wind picked up, drowning out whatever he had said.
Though the wind helped both the fliers go faster, Fleetfoot was gaining leeway since she was lighter. As Canterlot came closer, the wind picked up even more. The warm wind was long gone, replaced with a painful chill. The pegasus regretted not grabbing some flight goggles when she had the chance, as the cold wind was stinging her eyes. But the egg was keeping the blood in her wings pumping from the warmth.
"Thankss for helping me out." she whispered to the egg. "I promisse to get you home."
Flying over the mountain top with the griffon still following behind her, Fleetfoot dove down, not towards the city, but the opposite side. There were railroad tracks at the bottom that lead to Fillydelphia and Baltimare, both of which were at the coastline. She was going towards Baltimare, as according to the map it was closer to the Dragon Lands.
"STOP FLYING!" screamed the griffon behind her, falling even farther behind since Fleetfoot could dive faster.
A train whistle from below caught her attention, and a smile formed with a plan. The train came out from in the mountain, and she flew down as fast as possible to catch up with it. She made it down just as the last train car was coming out, and grabbed onto the top of it. The train sped away from the mountain much faster than she could, leaving the griffon in the dust.
"Phew..." She carefully maneuvered back, until sliding down onto the end of the back car. She sat outside the door, prevented from falling off by the railings. "How are you doing, buddy?"
She opened up the pocket, and pulled out the wrapped up egg. It was even warmer than before, but still in perfect condition. She hugged it tightly to herself to warm up, and relaxed. Even if the train was going to Fillydelphia instead, she had plenty of time to rest.
Fleetfoot's eyes flickered open, and quickly sat up in worry. "Oh, I hope I wassn't assleep for too long!" A glance around at her surroundings didn't help her figure out where she was. "Well, I hope we're heading towardss Baltimare..."
Several more minutes of travel later, and the scenery hadn't changed. She pulled out the atlas from the other pocket, and looked to see if there was any way for her to figure out if they were heading towards Filly or Baltimare.
"Let'ss ssee... The Foal Mountainss sshould be to the left if I'm heading towardss Filly, and a river on the right if I'm heading towardss Baltimare." Another glance around showed neither. "Huh?"
The train began to slow down, and she realized that it was because they were arriving. She flew to the top of the train to see where they were, and the tan pavement confirmed that it was Fillydelphia. She frowned, but wasn't too disappointing. After all, if it weren't for the train in the first place, she would of had to fly the entire distance. Fleetfoot slipped off the train before it stopped at the station so she wouldn't be seen, and ran into the city.
"We're even closser to your home!" she whispered to the egg. "But you need to sstay nice and quiet sso nopony sspotss you."
Making sure the pocket was closed tightly, but not too much as to damage the egg, Fleetfoot continued on through the city. There were many ponies walking and flying around, so she took to the air to avoid as much of the hoof-traffic as possible. Few even glanced at her, though she was old enough to be wandering alone. It occurred to her that the sky was significantly darker than when she had left, and wondered how many hours it had been.
"Watch out!"
She snapped out of her thoughts to see a box falling down towards her from above. Moving quickly, she shifted to make sure the egg was out of the way, and caught it in her hooves. It was surprisingly heavy, and she fell down a bit before regaining altitude. A navy blue pegasus flew down from above, a sheepish expression on their face.
"Sorry about that." She pushed her gray mane out of her blue eyes. "I'm a bit klutzy."
"It'ss fine." said Fleetfoot, hoofing the box over to her. "I'm quick to react to sstuff."
"Hey, that's a neat accent."
She blushed awkwardly. "Um, it'ss actually a lissp..."
She cocked her head in confusion. "A what?"
"It'ss like a sspeech impediment and you sslur ssome of the letterss."
"Oooooh. I've never heard somepony with a lisp before. It's cool!"
Her eyes widened in surprise. "It iss? But poniess like to pick on me for it..."
"Aw, you just gotta ignore them. I can tell that you're perfect just the way you are." Fleetfoot smiled. "Just wondering though, I haven't seen you around here before. Where're you from?"
"Well, I jusst came here today from the flight academy near Neighagra Falls, and-"
"Neighagra Falls?!?" She frowned nervously. "But that's so far away! Did you take a train the whole way?"
"I flew to Canterlot and jumped on a train. By the way, thiss iss Fillydelphia, right?"
She nodded. "Yes. But that's such a long way! Why are you going so far?"
"I'm flying to the Drag- Baltimare." Better to be safe than sorry. "Can you tell me how to get there?
"If you head to the coast and go right, you'll make it to Horseshoe Bay. But aren't you tired-"
"Thankss!" Fleetfoot sped off towards the coast before the other pegasus could say another word.
She flew through the thinning crowd as it became darker out. The sky was a brilliant amber with purple above it, shifting more into a midnight blue. As she reached the beach, she saw that there was very few ponies there. But she didn't care, and continued flying along the coast towards Horseshoe Bay.
"Issn't the ocean nice?" she asked the egg. "Ssweet, ssalty air... Cool, calm waterss... Ssoft ssand... Wissh I could sstop to relax, but I want to get you home before that nassty griffon catchess up with uss."
As like the beginning of her flight, the flight along the coast was peaceful. Even more so from the beautiful sunset that she could see, and the soothing sounds of the ocean waves. It was getting a bit chilly, but not too much to matter. Besides, the egg was even warmer than it was before. Or maybe that was because it was colder out.
"Blisss..." she whispered happily.
And indeed it was bliss. There was no yelling from other ponies, no laughing, no arguing. Nopony was teasing her for her slightly smaller wings or lisp. Her wings didn't ache at all. She continued fly along the coast until landing on the end of a peninsula. She pulled out the atlas, and checked to see where she had to go.
"All that'ss left iss to fly acrosss the Celesstial Ssea!" declared Fleetfoot, looking out at the water as it grew darker. A very tiny spire of smoke could be seen way off in the distance. "And that'ss where we're going!"
Taking a few minutes to stretch out, she readied herself for the longest single flight she had ever been on. Unless she came across a small island in the middle, she would just have to fly until reaching the Dragon Lands. After making sure that her wings weren't going to suddenly cramp up, she took to the sky once more, heading towards the smoke in the fading light.
"And we're off!" she declared. "You're almosst home, little dragon!"
The egg grew warmer in the saddlebag pocket as the night grew colder. Her view of the coastline faded away, and it was just open water with the moon and stars to light her way. And it just stayed the same as she flew. Even if the griffon was still trying to follow her, there was no way he could catch up, as well as a very slim chance of them bumping into each other in the middle of the sea.
"My mom ussed to ssing me a lullaby to help me fall assleep." said Fleetfoot to the egg. "I think I can sstill remember the wordss. Let me think for jusst a minute..." She wasn't the greatest singer, but there was nopony else around to hear. "Hussh now, quiet now, it'ss time to lay your ssleepy head. Hussh now, quiet now, it'ss time to go to bed. Hussh now, quiet now, ssettle down your wing. Hussh now, quite now, you'll alwayss be my preciouss king..." It made her feel a bit homesick.
Onward she flew across. Though her hooves and face felt rather numb, her wings were still warm from the heat of the egg. Her eyes stung from the cold air pushing against her face, but she didn't care. She was going to keep flying until she made it, no matter how tired.
"Oh, you little pegasus!" came a familiar voice that made her tense up. "Did you think you could run from me?"
A nervous look behind showed the griffon from before in a sailboat. She flew faster, as she heard wingbeats from behind. Fleetfoot flew faster and faster when she heard the griffon catching up, becoming fearful. She had been so far ahead! How had he caught up?
"Wondering how I caught up with you?" he asked as if having heard her thoughts. "Well, you took the train to Fillydelphia and I took the next one to Baltimare! And unlike you, I actually have enough money to do things!"
The smoke spire in the air grew closer, and the air grew hotter. A tall mountain could be seen through the thick air, and Fleetfoot was relieved. She wasn't a fast flier, and needed to breathe, though the smoky air wasn't helping with that.
"Would you stop flying?!?" he snapped angrily.
The pegasus made it to land, and started flying up the side of the mountain, or, more accurately, the volcano. It wasn't active, but there were still puddles of lava here and there. She made it to the top, and quickly dove over the edge to hide from the griffon. However, she crashed into something thick and leathery, and fell towards the ground from the abrupt stop. She quickly regained flight, and looked up to see a huge dragon with white scales.
"What?" said the dragon in surprise, with a huge booming voice. "Did someone hit me?" He turned around to see Fleetfoot hovering at eye level, and she was shaking fearfully. "A pony! I just love a midnight snack!"
"W-wait!" she cried, quickly yanking out the egg from the saddlebags. "I j-jusst wass bringing th-thiss back!"
The dragon glared at her. "You're a thief!"
"I'm not!" she dropped her saddlebags, but didn't even care. "A griffon sstole it, and I brought it back!"
"You liar!"
" Viserion!" snapped a dragon with red scales, coming over to them. "Onyx's egg was stolen a month ago by a griffon, and you should know that!" She looked over at the egg Fleetfoot was clutching, and gasped in surprise. "And this pony has brought it back!" She gently ushered the pegasus over with her large claw. She will be so pleased to have her egg back! Where did you find it, little one?"
"A-a griffon near N-Neighagra Fallss had it." she stammered nervously. "Sso I t-took it and flew it b-back here."
The dragon smiled. "Thank you. Onyx will be very grateful. Here, you can return it to her personally."
Using her claw to move Fleetfoot along, they headed across the top of the volcano. Viserion glared at the red dragon, but then laid down to go back to sleep. The pegasus was very anxious of all of the dragon lying around, who were all napping. Eventually, they came to a stop in front of a sleeping dragon who had midnight black scales.
"Onyx!" said the red dragon to wake her up. "Your egg has been found!
"My egg?" Onyx sat up sleepily, before noticing the egg in Fleetfoot's hooves. "My egg! I was afraid she was lost forever!"
"This pegasus found it." Fleetfoot nervously flew down to Onyx, and held out the egg to her. And she flew here from Neighagra Falls in one day!"
"Thank you, little pegasus!" said Onyx, taking the egg very gently in her claws, before gasping. "My little one is hatching!"
A crack zipped down the egg, soon joined by more. The pegasus stared in surprise, while the two dragons stared in anticipation. Not a moment later, a piece fell off, before they all were knocked away. A small dragon with deep gray scales and purple wings opened its gray eyes, looking around at its surroundings.
"She's beautiful!" said Onyx happily.
"Flee..." said the baby dragon softly. "Flee?" She looked up at the pegasus, and gave a tiny smile. "Gyau! Flee!" Her tiny wings buzzed.
"She likes you." said Onyx softly, looking over at Fleetfoot. "Would you like to see her?"
A shy nod, and she flew down to the little dragon. Fleetfoot gently patted it with her hoof, and was surprised by how hot her scales were.
"Flee!" The dragon grabbed her hoof, and hugged it tightly.
"What's your name?" asked the red dragon to the pegasus.
"Fleetfoot." she replied, too distracted by the baby to be scared.
"I'll name her Fleeting Tanzanite." said Onyx. "Ponies normally have two names, right?"
"Yess." The baby dragon finally released her hoof, and looked at her sadly. "Sshe'ss sso cute..."
"Flee..." the dragon flicked her tail. "Bai..."
"Oh!" Fleetfoot realized that she still needed to fly back, and the griffon was probably waiting for her. "I need to get back now."
"I can fly you back." said the red dragon. "You must be tired from such a long journey."
"R-really? You'd do that for me?"
"It's the least we can do." said Onyx. "Ruby is a very smooth flier."
Ruby smiled. "Would you like to be flown back to your home?"
Fleetfoot smiled. "That would be wonderful. Thank you."
"Well, night is the best time for dragon's to travel." She spread out her large wings. "Climb on, little one."
The tired pegasus happily flew onto the dragon's back, gripping on to her spines as to not fall off. Ruby took to the sky, and Fleetfoot settled down to sleep.
"Bai, Flee!" called Fleeting Tanzanite to her.
"Goodbye!" she called back, before yawning. "And goodnight!" She curled up in the tiniest possible ball while still holding on to the spines, and closed her eyes. "Goodnight..."
