I am on my back, happy and content, stretched out, body and wings alike. The sun blazes high overhead, and its heat warms me and feels so very wonderful on me.
I bask for a time before rolling over, and opening my eyes.
I see a field around me, green grass and flowers stretching away in a land of rolling hills. The sky is blue, and the day is beautiful.
I spot the girls nearby, running in the grass, and smile as I stand. I walk to them, seeing other ponies nearby in the field.
They spot me, and the three of them grin, and dart off.
I smile in return, and run after them. Just like I once chased my Mirage, I chase them. It is a game I enjoy.
They scatter, other ponies join in, and I am momentarily hard pressed to choose who to chase before I spot Mirage running away. I leap after her, already smiling more.
Oh, the fun it will be when I finally catch her…
I am faster than her, but even as I leap to catch her, she turns suddenly, and darts another way. I land and rip at the grass as I turn and chase once more. A few more turns like that, and I am grinning broadly.
She is making this challenging. But I am enjoying this game greatly.
Again, and again, I miss her, and I do so on purpose, drawing it out. Then the time comes.
I leap at her, and my paws reach out to grab her between them, making her yell in surprise. I slide a little on the grass, due to her being in my front paws. We stop, and I laugh, lifting her up, and then I toss her into my mouth.
I sharp chill shoots through me in realization as I bite down, but it is muffled underneath the taste of pony…
No! No, not this!
With all my will, I stop myself, and clamp my jaws shut, trying not to bite again. It is hard, it is so hard not to give in.
I shake from the effort, the urge screaming at me, Mirage’s taste tempting me. I… I can’t open my mouth, for fear of biting again…
I won’t… eat her… open! Let her… go!
I… I can’t hold this forever… it pounds at me, screaming at me, battling with me over control.
I… I can’t….
I hear her scream as I bite.
And underneath my pain, there is a deep satisfaction. It mixes and sooths even as I scream from it. A pulsing, voiceless voice that whispers to me.
And I know its name.
It is my instinct. It is my being, it is my flesh and body. It lives in my blood and burns in my heart. It is more than my control, and before it I am helpless.
Even for her, I could not stop.
I have killed Mirage.
“Kitty!”
…Mirage…?
“Kitty, wake up!”
What… I can hear her still…?
“Kitty, don’t do this to me again!”
I open my eyes, and see Mirage, fluttering before me. I see stone, the little den I dug.
“Finally,” she says, before I grab her, and hold her close.
She is alive. I didn’t kill her, she is alive!
It was only another dream! It was just a dream!
“Kitty, Kitty, what, what’s wrong?” I hear her ask me, wiggling in my hug.
“Nothing.” I tell her softly, my heart hurting in happiness. “Nothing is wrong.” I let her go, and see her step a bit away, staring at me in confusion and mild concern.
The sight of her is so, so good. She’s safe.
“…What were you dreaming?” she asks me, concern slowly replacing confusion, stepping closer to me.
“A nightmare.” I tell her, standing up, and taking a deep breath. “Just a nightmare.” It was so vivid, so powerful. I had truly believed that I had…
But I haven’t.
And I never will.
“Are… are you alright, Kitty?” Mirage asks me, flitting up to hover near my head.
I nod and smile at her. “It was only a dream, Mirage. I am fine.”
She nods, and smiles, and a brief glance around me notes the absence of the fillies. “Where are the fillies, Mirage?” I ask her.
“Outside, waiting for you to wake up.” she tells me. “The sun’s been up for a little while already Kitty.”
I head that way, and spot the trio soon. They are simply milling nearby, but when I exit, they head over.
“Mornin Kitty!” Applebloom greets. “Finally awake?”
“I am.” I say, stretching my wings out in the sunlight. It is a warm day; not hot, like in my dreams, but warm. I can smell scents many and varied, carried upon a gentle wind that caresses my feathers. I can see quite far, the land green and filled with flowers.
I have a desire to go and explore, to know what is there. To learn about the land I will be calling our home.
“Can we go explore?” Scootaloo asks me, echoing my own faint desires, the other two perking up at her suggestion, eager looks appearing on their faces.
“We shall be.” I say, earning a small cheer, before I add, “Together, though. I do not want you to discover dangers by yourselves; we shall go together, and find what is and is not here.”
They nod happily, and clamber atop my back. Mirage lands upon my head, and says, “Everypony stay atop Kitty, alright?”
“Yes.” they chorus, followed by three different failures at attempting to say ‘Mirage’.
I chuckle as I hear Mirage’s faint sigh at that, and set off.
We walk the land for a few hours, seeing the fields stretch and roll around us, a gentle and silent breeze shaking the tall grasses and flowers that bloom by the thousands in spots. A few small trees break the grass from time to time, the tiniest of groves that grow in low spots.
If not for the small hill that is ‘Fluttershy’s house’, none of us could see the spot where Ponyville would one day stand. It is no different from any other location nearby, save a small detail:
Many rabbits run in the tall grasses there. Lots of small prey for me to eat.
It is seeing them that makes me pause, and then decide that I want breakfast.
“Everypony off.” I say, lying down to allow them to do so with ease.
“Why?” Mirage asks me as the girls hop off and I stand once more.
“I want breakfast.” I say, and then roar.
They all yell in surprise, but the fillies are soon caught, held in their startled positions. Mirage, however, keeps yelling for as long as I roar.
“What was that for!?” she demands of me once I stop.
I ignore her. She will find it great fun, just like her long ancestor once did.
“…What… what is going on?” I hear her ask as I pluck a rabbit up and eat it. “Everything’s… girls? Are… are you alright?”
I glance back in mild confusion, seeing Mirage looking nervous for some reason, glancing around often and looking almost worried. Then she looks to me with an almost helpless expression, and flies to me.
“Kitty, what’s happening?” she asks me, and I hear her fear.
“…It is only my roar.” I tell her, watching her in return, wondering why she is responding like this. “You heard it before, in Canterlot.” I remind her.
“Yeah, but… but the girls aren’t moving and the grass is all weird and the wind stopped…”
…Maybe she somehow didn’t notice the first time? Perhaps. She was rather confused when she woke later on, and she could have been focusing on me, rather than her surroundings, during our escape from the city.
“My roar stops everything near me for a short time, Mirage.” I tell her. “Everything that you touch here moves, but does not react; like the grass. It bends, but does not bend back, because it cannot.”
She nods slowly, still seeming nervous before asking me, “Why are the girls stopped then?”
I shrug, starting to hunt rabbits again. “I have no command over what does and does not stop, if that is what you ask. But you, as your great ancestor once was, are immune to my roar.”
“What? My great ancestor?” Mirage asks me, flying to land atop my head.
“Mirage the first.” I clarify. “Your great ancestor, and the start of your lineage.”
“She could…” Mirage trails off as I snatch a rabbit and eat it, before starting again, “She could move when you roared too?”
“She did.” I tell her. “But for now, I need to focus; these rabbits are hard to spot in this grass. I can tell you of her later, when we have the time to speak of such things.”
Mirage stayed atop my head for the duration of my hunt. It went quite well; rabbits abounded in the area for some reason, and I managed to find and eat a full six before my roar faded. And that wasn't even finding a den of them.
I feel Mirage startle a little at the sudden return of sound. I almost smile before I remember:
I forgot the fillies.
I turn, trying to spot them, hoping to hear them, but neither works. Just as Mirage starts, “Kitty,” I push myself up on my hind legs, lifting myself up to see farther, my wings flaring out to help my balance.
…There they are. Distant, but their bright colors help me see them despite the distance.
I drop back down, and hurry that way. They must be worried and confused.
Even as I see them, they spot me, and hurry over. Soon enough, I can hear them.
“Kitty, what jus,”
“How’d you,”
“You vanished!”
I reach them, and they mill in front of me, asking questions and expressing confusion and more, all talking over top one another.
“I can explain.” I tell them, “Just listen for a moment, and be silent.”
They stop talking, and after a moment, are lined up in front of me, staring up.
“Do you remember hearing the end of my roar?” I ask them.
“No.” Applebloom says as the others shake their heads. “Ya jus roared an then you an… an her,” she indicates Mirage, “were gone all o a sudden.”
“What happened?” Sweetie asks.
“My roar stops everything near me.” I explain. “And you are no different than anything else.”
“…You can stop time too?” Scootaloo asks, perhaps more wondering aloud, more than asking me a question.
“I do not know if that is true.” I tell them. “But it might be. I apologize if I frightened you.”
“You didn’t!” Scootaloo says suddenly.
“Ya jus surprised us.” Applebloom adds. “But maybe th next time, kin ya maybe be a bit closer, so ya don’t jus seem ta disappear?”
Sweetie nods firmly in agreement.
“I will do my best.” I promise them. “Climb back atop me. I have had my fill of prey for now, and we still have far to go.”
I had intended to walk through all the fields and tall grasses, wanting to be certain that nothing may be hiding within them. But, after a few hours of doing so, I have had enough.
The tall grasses itch and poke at my paws, and they are not enjoyable sensations. So, after failing to find anything more fearsome than a hawk, I headed toward the places where the grass was not so tall.
That led me to the small brook, which in turn, led back to ‘Fluttershy’s house’, which was a small landmark in the landscape. We ended up having to drink from the brook, which had not been an enjoyable task for me or them, instead of using the pond, like I had intended.
Froggy Bottom Pond, as Applebloom had called it, is filled with plants and the still water is home to many, many things. Like the frogs that hide amongst the reeds and stared at us from underneath a covering of algae. None of us wished to drink that water.
However, it was as we were there that my eye caught motion, and I spotted a fish appear, snapping at something before vanishing back into the water.
I haven’t seen a fish before, only heard of them. Many, many a tale included them; They showed up often in any story that spoke of ‘faraway places’ or ‘exotic foods’. I believe that ponies can even eat them, though each description of their taste was different from every other.
The glittering glimpse of it I had gotten was enough to remind me, and that enough to convince me I wished to try to eat it.
So, I shooed the fillies off of me, and leaned down, over the water, peering into the pond and trying to spot it. I am still doing so, watching the dark shadow it is move unpredictably in the still water, one paw reached out, waiting.
…There!
My paw strikes, and causes a huge splash of water.
That the fish was missed is the least of my problems. My paw is wet, and water has splashed at me, little glittering droplets flying up to splatter on me.
And I hate it! It is cold and horrible and itches and I just wiped my face with the same damp paw and now my face is wet!
My displeasure is only worsened by the fillys’ laughter at my mildly urgent attempts to dry myself off, licking at my paw and using the other to wipe at my face.
“He is just like Opal!” Sweetie laughs, and I frown at the three, no, four of them. Mirage is hiding her giggle, but I see it.
I groan, and glare back at the pond.
And right then, the fish flips into the air, flicking yet more droplets at me as if it wanted to. I jump back, startling the others as I land a bit away, glaring.
Then the fillies all just burst into laughter and nearly fall over and I am left glowering at them.
“This isn’t funny.” I mutter, licking at my poor paw again. It even has something green on it now. I had heard that water was supposed to be fun and relaxing.
This is neither.
“Girls, come on.” Mirage says, seeing my reaction and finally taking this as seriously as it should be. “We’re upsetting Kitty.”
That seems to calm them down, and after a moment or two to breath, they chorus, “Sorry Kitty.”
“We kin get ya that fish if ya want it.” Applebloom then adds, her offer enticing.
I have barely nodded before, with little cries of joy, they rush and leap into the pond whole heartedly. With the splash they make, I am happy to have already moved back. Mirage is not so lucky, though she uses one wing to protect herself from most of it.
She chuckles as she shakes the wing off, the water still rippling. “They get way too excited over things like this.” she says.
“…They seem to enjoy the water.” I mention as the trio float back to the surface, looking like they’re having much fun. I don’t understand it. It has to be a pony thing.
Mirage nods. “You were asleep most of the time,” she says, turning to me, “but the girls are always eager like this. Give them something to do, and they make a game out of it. I didn’t know you hated water though, Kitty.”
“…I didn’t either.” I mutter, before asking her, “Why do you not go and help them?”
“Oh, they have this.” Mirage says, evasive. “Let them play around for a bit; burn off some energy. Growing fillies need that you know.”
…
“…You hate water too?” I ask her.
“No, no.” she says quickly. “But look at it, Kitty. It’s full of plants and sticky things and frogs live in that pond. I’d get disgusting.”
“I will be cleaning them after, and would do the same for,”
“And that’s why I am not going.” she says firmly, nodding.
I don’t have time to ask her what she means by that when, with another splash, the girls reemerge, carrying a fish out of the water. It flops and glints in the sunlight, Applebloom proudly holding its tail in her mouth.
All three fillies are wet and soggy and have green things on them too. Yet still, they look quite happy with themselves as they bring the fish to me.
“We got it!” Scootaloo tells me happily.
“Ab it!” Applebloom tries, and I relive her of the fish, which ceases to flop once it is carefully pinched between two claws. It is about the same size as a rabbit, but I can feel its scales. They are slick, and I have a faint feeling of having it about to slip away from me, should I try to hold it harder.
I smile at it, and then at them. “Thank you, girls.” I say, feeling happy. Maybe they upset me earlier, but they caught me the fish.
They beam, and I lift it to my mouth.
For it to suddenly jerk, slipping from my claws.
Scootaloo dives toward it as it hits the ground, and it somehow flails under her, to dodge Applebloom’s tackle a second later, both fillies tumbling into one another and trying to get back up. Sweetie gasps as it throws itself at her and ducks it, having it fly over her.
“Catch it!” Applebloom yells, she and Scootaloo racing after the fish, which is somehow rushing back to the lake, towards Mirage, who is staring, wide eyed.
Then she holds her ground, wings spread out, ready for it. “I have it!” she yells, as the fish leaps at her, flashing forward in flops and bounds.
It nears her, and then she pounces at it, grabbing it with both front legs and holding it firmly. Then, its tail flaps wildly, slapping her until she yells and lets it go, the fish slipping out from underneath her. She just manages to turn to see it flick itself over the water, seemingly pose there as if mocking us all, and slip right back where it came from with barely a ripple of water.
The girls groan, drooping, heavily disappointed as Mirage simply stares at the pond.
“It,” I begin, wanting to comfort them, feeling no less disappointed in its escape, when Mirage yells, “You’re going to pay for that!” in some anger.
Then, as we all startle and look at her, she turns and runs to the water to leap into it bodily, causing a huge splash. The girls hesitate for all of a second before they cry out and charge to join her.
I am left blinking on the land as the pond ripples. After a moment of silence, they resurface, and Mirage is yelling for them to ‘catch that horrible fish’, and the girls are yelling with her, possibly happier than they were originally, their voices overlapping and mixing together in a sort of happy cacophony.
I take a few steps back, considering how much they are throwing water around, and sit, waiting for them.
I do not understand how they can stand being in the water. But their happiness, though Mirage seems more than a little mad at the fish, shines bright. Seeing them splash and yell and try to catch the fish is a sight that makes me smile.
It takes a little bit for it to finally be caught.
And to hear Sweetie’s triumphant yell of ‘I got it’! was heartwarming. Seeing her looking so proud as she held it in the shallows made my smile grow. Seeing them all dragging it back ashore, all of them attempting to make certain it didn’t escape again, was a sight I will treasure.
They were all wet and dripping and partly green, but they all beamed and laughed in ways I haven’t seen since the days with my Mirage.
Then, they tossed the fish, and I snatched it from the air, and tasted it.
I did not enjoy it, as it was cold and wet. There was a strange, new flavor underneath that. Enough of one to tell me that fish were nothing like what I normally ate, but the cold and wet part was more than enough to make me dislike it.
“Did you like it?” Sweetie asked me eagerly, watching me swallow it; the more I chewed it, the more its scales seemed to shed off, and I wasn’t enjoying that either.
“…It was new.” I tell them, smiling at them. They tried hard for me. It doesn’t much matter if it was bad, I don’t want to make their sacrifice worthless. “Let’s try and clean you off before we continue.”
Cleaning them was a bit more difficult than normal. I didn’t really want to touch them, so I had to rely on them standing still and moving to allow me to try and dry them off and clean whatever that thin layer of green was away. Far from the worst of tastes, but it seemed to stain or something, and even repeated licks left behind small bits of it.
I suspect more might do the job, but Applebloom, the only one of which hadn’t had difficulty holding still for me, whined that she wasn't enjoying the sensation, so I stopped.
“Try and dry off in the sunlight.” I tell them, and then look for Mirage, spotting her nearby, using her hooves to try and clean herself off. I am almost tempted to just let her do so; she will fight me, just like last time.
But she sacrificed for me. I can do the same for her.
Mirage shrieks when I grab hold of her, and as I anticipated, she does struggle, and I do not enjoy the damp she gets onto my fur. By the end of it, it was less of a cleaning and more of a game: Either I cleaned her first, or she would get me dirty.
I half-win, I think, as I finally let her go, and idly lick at the worst spots she got on me.
“Kitty!” she whines, fluttering fairly high overhead. “I thought I told you not to do that again!”
“He’s jus cleanin you!” Applebloom yells up at her.
“You would never become clean with just your hoof, Mirage.” I tell her, staring up. “Already, you look better; do you not feel better?”
She mutters unintelligibly up above, and the girls climb back atop me. They are still a bit damp and cold yet, but nothing I cannot endure. I can hear them still speaking about their ‘fish catching’ something or other. They are still happy with it, and Mirage slowly descends to land on my mane once more.
There, at least, I do not feel the dampness on her, nor the chill.
“Did you see Miriage?” Sweetie says as I being walking once more. “I caught the fish!”
“…I saw, Sweetie.”
“Hey, we helped!”
“I know that! But I caught it!”
“Girls, don’t fight! You all did a great job, together.”
“An we had fun too. Right?”
I hear the other two respond ‘yes’, but Mirage is silent. I wonder if, perhaps, that fish upset her more than I thought it might have. Or that, perhaps, she did not enjoy this nearly as much as I, or they, have.
…It dampens my enjoyment of the event, to think that she found no cause for happiness. I understand why however; should I have been attacked by the fish and gotten wet and disgusting in the pond after, I too, would be unhappy even with the fish’s catch.
“Miriage?”
Perhaps Mirage shares my dislike of water? Or perhaps it was something else I might have missed.
“Yeah girls?”
“You had fun too, right?”
“…”
Was it maybe my cleaning her? Her objections to it are rather vocal, but I… Perhaps I should stop. If it does upset her so…
I hear the girls fall silent as well, and I walk onwards, thinking.
I continue to follow the short grass from Froggy Bottom, which leads to a forest, or so I thought it was, at least. Just beyond the edge of trees, the ground turns muddy and wet, and the trees brown and different. Droopy.
A swamp in the wood, apparently. Wetlands, places where the ground turns soft and liquid. I pause at the edge of it, not intending to set paw into it. I have had my fill of water today, and that brown slurry looks even less appealing than the water did.
A hiss makes us pause, and I spot a lizard head, glaring from the water. Far smaller than the one I had seen, but obviously of the same kind. I growl back, and it retreats into the mud.
“Kitty, we should go.” Mirage worriedly tells me.
I barely nod before I spot another. A lizard with five heads, quite far, but obviously big, its two massive feet thudding into the mud as it walks.
I leave, as I can feel my passengers gripping me tightly in fear, but I will remember this place. If those big lizards frequent this swamp, then they will offer me a meal far more than the rabbits. Something that big can even be eaten off of for days, and the lizards pose me little threat. There is the mud, however… maybe this might not be the best hunting ground, even if the lizards are big prey.
I exit the swamp and travel along the wood’s edge for a while before entering within. It is thick, but not as thick as the wood I have gone into before. Should I go certain ways, the trees tower over even me, and little sunlight comes through the dark treetops.
I hesitate, seeing scratches on a few of them, and pause there, wondering.
“…What are these?” I ask, hoping that maybe one of them might know, reaching out to touch at the scratches. They seem to vary in age, with some being very recent, while others are barely impressions in the bark.
“…It’s either a bear or a manticore carvin up that tree.” Applebloom supplies worriedly.
“Manticore?” I ask, looking back to see them huddled together on my back, looking around often.
“It’s a monster.” Scootaloo tells me.
“It’s a lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail.” Mirage says, and I know them now. This place might be an even better hunting ground for me. No mud.
“We shouldn’t stay here.” Sweetie nearly whimpers, and I pause.
I am growing hungry, and large prey can be found here. Yes, my passengers are afraid of such creatures, as they were the many-headed lizards, but perhaps it can be worth it to,
A roar that silences all sound shakes the woods suddenly, long and drawn out, far longer than I can roar, far, far louder, and deeper. I can barely hear the girls and Mirage screaming atop me, it is so loud, and I feel it reverberating through the earth under my paws.
That sounded huge, and angry. And far, far too close for me to feel comfortable, even slightly. The roar sounded like it hadn’t been very far away at all…
And whatever could make a roar like that might even be big enough to see me as prey.
I do not need to hear Mirage’s yell of “Kitty!”, to begin rushing away, firmly intent on creating as much distance as possible between us and whatever made that roar. It is only when we are free of the trees that I finally relax slightly, looking back and listening, just in case. I hear no sound, nothing disturbs the trees, and I relax a little more. It has not chased us.
“…What was,” I begin to ask.
“Dragon.” Mirage tells me, a touch breathless. I feel her, and the girls, shaking atop me.
Dragon. The gargantuan, armored, fire breathing, flying monstrosity of many tales. I think they are supposed to grow to a size of hundreds of feet long. With a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, wicked claws that can pierce even enchanted steel, their breath enough to burn most things to ashes.
They were even intelligent, if the tales are true, cruel and cunning and greedy.
Forget the woods. I can live with mud. Those lizards don’t taste that bad. I can hunt rabbits if I can’t stand the mud.
“None of you are ever to go anywhere so much as near these,”
“We weren’t going to!” Scootaloo yells.
“Kitty, just keep going!” Mirage tells me, her voice fearful yet, and I listen.
Perhaps a small comfort is that those monsters are supposed to never leave their own dens, and can spend centuries or longer simply sitting atop the piles of gold and treasure they accumulate over time. I can remain mostly secure in the knowledge that it will not come hunting for us some day; it will likely remain within its lair for many years to come.
And worst comes to worst, we can hide in the den until it leaves.
We found another river, this one larger than the other, though farther from the den. More fish swim in it, though they are too small to bother with trying to catch, even if I enjoyed fish. It flows from the west, vanishing into the Everfree and upstream it seems to point toward distant peaks.
Another forest is present as well, northwest of the Everfree, as the girls have named the one where we heard the dragon’s roar. The trees there are smaller, brighter, and spaced apart. It is inviting, as compared to the Everfree, and we found nothing within that frightened my passengers. The land there is rough, with many cliffs and ridges hidden underneath the treetops, making it somewhat difficult to get around at times, but berries of all kinds grow in abundance in the shadows of the cliffs. My passengers had a very pleasant dinner there, while I had the fortune of finding a bear mulling about nearby those same berries. Big and satisfying.
A large lake is to the north of the mountain, quite large and very clear, as compared to Froggy Bottom. Another forest is beyond its water as well.
The rest of the land seems to be nothing more than more plains, though only the land near the mountain holds flowers. The rest are just tall grasses.
As the sun begins to set, I return to the mountain, and walk around its base, learning its sides and seeing if I could spot anything I saw elsewhere from it. The Everfree is obvious, and the great lake is a line of white on the horizon, the other mountains small and harder to spot, but still there.
“Kitty?” I hear Sweetie ask as I return to the den, the setting sun casting an orange light across the land. “Can we climb the mountain?”
I pause, before looking up. High above, I know there is a large cliff. And her suggestion is tempting.
“…If I can, we shall.” I answer, heading to the rocks. I test, and find that, though my claws slice rock easily, I can grip the wall without much difficulty. It doesn’t feel as if I will have difficulty in scaling the peak.
“…Girls, come to my mane and hold tightly as I climb.” I tell them. “Mirage, please try to ensure that none of them fall.”
As soon as they announce they are ready, I ascend, finding it easy to. My paws catch the stone and hold firmly, and the effort to pull myself up is made far easier with careful flaps to push me higher.
It is also easier as I ascend slowly, to try and ensure that the girls do not fall. Mirage may be flying nearby, just in case, but I’d just as soon not have to test her ability to catch them.
We reach the cliff without trouble, and I relax as I climb up. It is large, and mostly flat; almost oddly so, as if something cleaved a bit of the mountain’s top off.
I walk away from the edge before allowing the girls to let go of me, and then we turn toward the edge.
The setting sun casts the land in its fading light. The fields below us a speckled field of green, the two rivers a sparkling line weaving through them. The Everfree is a bumpy, darker green that stretches quite far, a brown smudge the swamp we discovered, a rocky peak of some kind just barely visible, rising just a bit through the treetops. The woods seem to suddenly end at a certain point, and far, far beyond it, I see the ocean, glittering as if something has spilled gems before the falling sun.
I see the whole of the land we explored all the day, and it seems so small. As if we have explored almost none of what this place has to offer us, even though I made certain to try and see and much as I could.
The sight is capturing, enrapturing, and I smile.
This land is beautiful. It is only now, that I see it in all its glory, that I notice that.
It is warm, and filled with flowers and life. There is no cold here, and even though it has threats, those same threats make it special, in a way. Its dangers only add to it, and they are kept in select spots.
Perhaps this is why ponies chose to build their capital here. So they could look out and see the land they chose as their home in all its beauty.
My enjoyment, however, is slightly dulled by the knowledge that the same sight was denied to me, during my time of stone.
I dismiss those thoughts, and continue to stare and enjoy the sights it offers as the sun sets and a blanket of shadows is slowly set over the land. The stars emerge, and the moon shines in the sun’s place, the land below cast in shades of the darkest of blues and blacks. It is still beautiful, and the Everfree in the darkness has gained small lights all across the woods, making them as if a reflection of the starry sky. I wonder what those lights are as the night grows darker.
I feel Mirage lean against me, and turn to see her. I cannot see her expression.
I look to the girls, and see them already starting to sleep, Sweetie and Scootaloo leaning on Applebloom, all three with their eyes barely open, little smiles on their faces.
I nod, and carefully stand once again, drawing their attentions, and I walk away from the edge and curl on the rock. I glance in their direction, and a slight lifting of my wing has the fillies move to my side, curling up happily there as I place my wing over them.
Mirage comes to my head instead, smiling at me. She lifts herself up and embraces what she can of my head.
I purr gently at her action, and she smiles at me.
“…Do you know, Kitty, that when we first came here, I hated this place?” Mirage softly tells me.
I do not answer, and simply allow her to continue speaking.
“You were asleep, and I was left alone with the girls. Trying to care for them and having to listen to them, because they knew what to do and I didn’t. I hated this place so badly. I hated sleeping on the grass, and I hated having to eat raw things, and I hated how I kept hearing sounds I didn’t know about. But now?”
“I don’t hate it now.” she says, climbing atop my head and curling in my mane once more. “And you know what?”
“I did have fun with that fish. I loved sitting atop you as you went and looked around. I loved how I could stay atop you and feel safe even with the hydras and the Everfree. I was scared of them, but you were there, and I just knew it was going to be alright.”
“It’s like you woke up, and suddenly, everything’s good.” I hear her yawn faintly as she continues, “All of a sudden, I’m not afraid of everything, and I’m not terrified for the girls, and I’m not trying to sleep at night and waking up in terror every time some stupid cricket chirps.”
“And it’s all because of you.” she tells me, her voice filled with affection. I feel her hoof softly rub at my head. “Because you’re there for me, and for them, I’m not afraid anymore. I can finally see this place as something not horrible. Because you’re here.”
A few moments of silence pass before she continues, her voice growing more tired and softer as she speaks, “I really loved today, Kitty, and I want you to know that. Even your bath. I know I yell and I don’t really like it, but… You care so much that you’re willing to do that for me, and that’s just...”
A moment passes before Mirage whispers, “Nopony ever cared that much for me before. Even mom barely cared if I got dirty, and it was always up to me to make sure I was mostly clean. Nopony cared to make me clean, or to help. And now, here you are, willing to lick me clean. You… You matter so, so much to me Kitty. You always did, but now, now it… you mean so much more.”
“…There. Together. Forever.” she murmurs softly, and I feel her hug at my neck. “I love you, Kitty. Goodnight.”
…
“I love you as well, Mirage.” I whisper, smiling.
I am happy. For the first time in a millennium and more, I am happy once again.
I drift to sleep, and for the first time, I know contentment.