//------------------------------// // 5) Is That A Bird? Is That An Airship? No, It’s… An Alicorn? // Story: ”Wait, I’ve Slept For How Long?” // by Mornings Dew //------------------------------// Darkness, Sorrow The wind brushed against his wings as the King soared higher and higher, following the rope that tugged him so far away. Up in the skies, he can laugh, sing, scream, yell, cry, disappear into the endless cobalt blue horizon or sleep on white fluffy clouds; Clouds are always better than beds, that is fact. His chest expanded as he took in a large breath, huffing the few new alien scents and feeling the ’fabric’ of this new magic he first felt back in the cave, when it was a cave. Craig closed his eyes as thoughts he had pushed to the side the last week resurface. The cocoa-colored Alicorn chucked as he recalled the surprised faces of the Elder and the clan leader, Rain Shine, when they caught word that he was leaving their little community. As well as the faces of the young young Kirin he made friends with. The younglings of the bunch were certainly the highlight of his stay, right under the food he ate. They were so, so tiny! They reminded him of how small his fillies are… or rather, were. He guessed he was asleep for about two decades, as usual. That is plenty of time for his little fillies to… grow, without him. Craig never slept during his stay. He didn’t really need to and felt plenty rested after his nap. Strangely, he felt completely rested, unlike his previous naps. He figured he really let himself go and fell into a deep sleep. Especially since he has been forgetting things and its been hard to remember a few details from before he slept. Which is strange. Ah, he keeps on rambling. Anyway, in the mornings, on his traditional hour of grumpiness, the younglings would often climb and jump on his body whenever he laid on the ground as… er, this ’fun’, as they called it. It was rather exhilarating if he was truthful, and he would love to engage in those social activities once more with them. They were so charming, those tiny foals. The Alicorn gave another mighty flap of his wings. He admired the fleeting ground below him as his mortal passengers loudly argued with one another, one squabbling above him and the one laughing below him encircled in his long forelegs. He frowned as he remembered the tests. Oh, the tests. It was so… unnerving! He would say that they were terrifying, even, but he has too much pride to admit it. Craig, the King of Equestria, had the right to. They put their cloven hooves all over his fur, and he just had to sit there to rile them up. That got a laugh out of him. The faces of the Kirin that first saw him. The first day there, the day of the Brunch, had been relatively astounding. He meet so many new faces and ate so much delicious food. ’Twas truly amazing. He will visit again, soon. Mostly for the food. ”Heheheehaaaahaha! Yeah!” ”How can your laugh be so annoying?!” Craig was pulled out of his memories of old thoughts by some rather annoying laughter, only for it and another audible voice to blur into static as a sudden waterfall of unfamiliar memories gushed into his unready psyche. It was dark. So, so dark. So lonely. Dark and lonely for so long. Craig didn’t know for how long. It felt like an eternity of darkness and loneliness and longing and sorrow crushed into a single, infinitesimal millisecond. It was so dark. It was so lonely. It… hurt? What was this? Where is he—? Craig’s world rung. It was so loud. It was so unbearably loud. Screaming. Somehow, in the crushing weight that gorged on his vulnerability, dragged him through the disarray, ripped his head apart, he heard a terrifying scream. A howl from the very mouth of agony that pushed, jabbed and brought havoc to ravish his flattened ears. Now, the ringing was pale in comparison to the scream that emerged from the violent, nauseating static. It was a hellish cadence. ’Twas a horror, an abomination, from the deepest trenches of Tartarus. Craig, frightened and uncertain of what was happening, kept his eyes glued shut. He never realized when he did close them. He attempted to cover his face with his wings. Only, he couldn’t. Alarmed, his eyes that he wanted closed slammed open in hopes to search for his seemingly missing wings. That was his first mistake. There was only darkness. It was everywhere. There was only it, and if felt like it was pulling his eyeballs from his sockets. They enlarged when he discovered he couldn’t close them. He had no clues to know if a single moment, minute, or hour had passed when he acknowledged the pounding of his heart was absent in his panic. Was he just… a floating head? No, no. He can fell his chest compact and expand as he took his precious, ragged breaths. He can feel his fur mat from his sweat. He can feel the shaky joints of his large wings. He can hear a voice cry out as he felt his sharp ears flatten harshly against his scalp. His ears sunk into his mane as it spilled over his wide, scared eyes. He just could not see them. The darkness was never-ending. Then he realized, he is hearing a voice. It was so faint as it called out. ”… ere… can… be… nly… … p… ess…!” In front of his wide eyes, a pillar made of stone formed abruptly in his sights. Half a second had not passed when a navy-purplish beam of condensed dark magic cut it in half and crumbled in his direction. He started up at the falling, stone cylinder with his unblinking, teary eyes. His mane chose that moment to mercilessly fall on those horrified pink orbs and blocked his vision in the last second as the tumbling pillar threatened to harm his petrified body. As it tumbled upon his person, a surprised gasp rang within the room that the pillar once held up as Craig took his turn to cry out. Then, simultaneously, it stopped. Everything. The suffocating darkness, the nightmare he nearly drowned within, fled unexpectedly and evaporated once he calmly blinked. ”How can your laugh be so annoying?!” What? It was gone. Craig took a breath, very confused. As he gazed back down at the forest he was flying over, he noticed he was flying above the same trees he had flown over moments before. Or, before the… the, ah… darkness. But he felt completely fine, like it never happened in the first place. How absolutely terrifying. ”Hey, look!” Dazed, the fatigued King glanced at Stone, still wrapped in the large Aicorn’s forelegs, and flapped his massive wings to stay aloft within the calm draft that carried him. ”What has't thee found, young Stone?” Stone excitedly pointed a cleft hoof southward, to the left of them. ”Over there! My grandpa always told me that the mountains from Peaks of Peril go wwaaaaaaayy up!” River, turning away from the map she was inspecting, leaned over Craig’s shoulder. ”You mean ’way up’ as in up north, right?” she inquired sharply, smothering her urge to correct the ”illiterate idiot.” ”Uhh, yeah. That.” Stone chuckled sheepishly. Craig slightly moved his long neck under the peeking Kirin. ”Please, youngling,” he urged, ”you might fall.” Concern laced his voice, something the Kirin he was warning caught. She shimmied back between the King’s wings, apologizing as she shifted back. She glanced at her map, then toward where Stone pointed excitedly. ”Oh, did we pass the Lost Lagoon already? I was looking forward to seeing it.” she sighed somberly. Stone hardly heard her through the wind rushing in his ears. Craig however, was the contrary. ”What wast that? The what?” ”Oh! The Lost Lagoon. A large waterfall that is said to lead to large islands of coral reefs.” she happily elaborated from the King. River frowned suddenly. ”Say, are you alright? You don’t look very… er, less lively than usual.” The King laughed loudly. ”We never look the part, as some say.” River laughed along with him, albeit less jubilant. “Well, you certainly don’t look like a king. More like an old hermit grouch.” Craig blinked heavily, not by the rushing wind, but the brutally honest comment. ”Thy honesty is refreshing. Thanketh thee.” ”Er, you’re welcome? I didn't insult you, did I?” Craig shook his heavy head as a smile graced his lips. ”No, child.” he replied, looking ahead of them as the sun began to set. ”What is the next settlement, River?” The Kirin in question got started by the use of her name. ”You… called me by my name.” she whispered breathlessly. The King just nearly caught it. Throughout the week, River realized that the old stallion never called anykin by name. And neither did he with her. Well, most of the time. There was maybe only three times he actually did call her by name and it was when she was hardly paying any attention to him. It was very annoying, and she had asked several times on numerous occasions to address her properly. Needless to say, it never worked. And yet, now, once she heard him speak her name, she wondered if there is a reason why. She’ll ask later. Craig grunted. ”River? The next settlement.” Her repeated himself, a bit harsher this time. ”O-oh, right. Sorry.” Scanning the map granted to her by her community’s cartographer, she announced, ”The next settlement we’ll cross with is Hoofington, which is next to Wagongong.” The King nearly fell from the sky by the absurd names. Hoofing-what? ”Gagon whatsits?” Incredulously spoke Stone from under the baffled Alicorn. ”Never heard of Gagonknob.” He stated, having a bit of trouble pronouncing the last word. River nearly growled as she virtually crumbled the map in her cleft hooves. ”Arggh, Wagongong, you moron! It is called Wagongong!” Stone’s eyes lit up, but his other two friends didn’t notice. ”Oooh! I get it—!” ”There is nothing to get, Stone. It’s just a name you stupidly said incorrectly.” River cut him off. Craig grumbled silently to himself. Malapert. Stone continued speaking, as if he hadn't heard his fellow Kirin. ”I bet it has a lot of wagons. Heheeha!” he laughed. ”Get it?!” Stone screamed louder for his friends to hear when Craig flapped his wings and accelerated surprisingly quickly. The wind blew harshly passed them and River suddenly had trouble keeping her map in her cloven hooves. ”H-hey! Slow down!” River panicked as she yelled over the rushing wind, fearing she might loss her map to the strong drafts. Stone wasn’t fairing too well either as he gripped the larger male’s forelegs in slight fear and surprise. ”Yeah! What she said.” Normally, he would be very excited and enjoy the rushing wind, but it had been a few hours they were soaring in the skies, and that rush of exhilaration blew over about an hour ago. ”Apologies, children.” Craig loudly asked forgiveness as he angled his wings downward toward the roofs of a few houses peeking over the horizon. ” The travelling lamp is setting. T’is nearly twilight, and ye senses wilt rest.” It was irritating, yes, but mortals need their rest if they want to continue to be alive. Craig tried not to mind. He wasn’t upset at the two as he watched them trot away, the twilight having given way to night. The moon hung in the sky, and as usual it tugged on his magic. He was impatient. He could be using this wasted time to travel to his daughters as his youngest subconsciously called for him desperately. They were strangely far away, but he wouldn’t let that get to him. He will not impede his travels unless necessary, which leads him back to the present. They arrived at this ’Hoofington’ earlier. The name irked him greatly. He landed in the middle of the little town and his forelegs got a little rest from being curled for so long. During that time, his presence got the attention of whoever was out at that hour. Something else that irked greatly was the stares of absolute marvel he got. He knew he was gone for a long while and that they were privileged to be near a king, but their gaping astonishment was not necessary. He didn’t like being stared at too much. He shuttered as he remembered the shock that dulled the townsponies’ eyes as he landed onto the soft ground and let his passengers get off of him. They herded at a little café and whispered among themselves and just… stared at him. ‘Twas very uncanny, and he didn’t like it. ”You sure you want to stay out here, my Lord?” Craig blinked and turned to look at Stone, who had stopped to repeat his question. River didn’t stop trotting to the direction of the local inn and craned her neck to yell at Stone impatiently. ”He already answered you the first time, Stone!” She glared at the King after Stone looked away innocently, whistling a strange tune. ”Don’t think I forgot about you, mister! Tomorrow at sunrise I’ll be getting all that knowledge in that head of yours!” The cocoa-colored Alicorn chucked quietly. ”Thee can tryeth. Seeth thee tom'rrow.” River huffed as she continued to trot away. Stone, after a moment of staring at his newest friend, smiled. ”Goodnight.” He followed River to the inn. Craig simply nodded in response with a warm smile on his lips. The King turned his gaze upward to the beautiful night sky. He watched in amazement as luminous white stars moved in the empty space of darkness, only illuminated by the soft glow of the moon. They created different patterns and shapes in various forms, as if the creator was debating on what to leave on their canvas. Finally, after a few minutes, the creator of the art in the night sky left, not any shapes or patterns, but two words. The homes of the ponies had their lights turned off, with the exception of a few bright lights that shined through a couple of windows scattered across the line of houses. His best guess was that a few studious ponies were having a late night read with a pleasant novel in bed. As he sat right in the middle, for the first time since he had awoken, his horn softly lit with his magic. A weak shine twinkled as the magic he summoned encircled his long and sharp horn, as so not disturb the ponies asleep. In a single sweep, the world around the Alicorn blurred and shifted as he closed his eyes, keeping the two words in his mind. ’I’m sorry’ For some odd reason, he thought it was funny. Who is she apologizing to with her own beautiful night sky?