Chapter 2
Dual woke gasping, sweat dripping down his body. His hoof was clutching the shoulder that had been ripped open years ago. Looking around the room, he realized where he was. He let his body go limp, falling back onto his cloud pillow. He folded his wings over himself in an effort to hold in the bad memories. There was no need to relive those days, they were safe now.
After a few minutes, he decided that it was time to face the world. Placing his hooves on the soft, yet slightly spongy, clouds that made up their house, he started his day.
He walked over to the balcony that he had added to his room. He stepped out and breathed in the fresh air and drank in the view.
They had created their house in the valley that was formed by four mountains. His balcony faced east, and every morning, the sun would rise between two of the mountains, staining his room shades of pink, yellow, and orange. That thought brought him to a crashing halt.
Orange. He should have been here to see this. Blue had told Dual, and only him, about the black Pegasus. How it had orange eyes. But they couldn’t have been orange. It just wasn’t possible. They had seen him die. Seen his eyes, one that had been full of life and spirit, close for the last time. He had died in his cage, right next to Dual, shaking away his life as his very DNA unraveled before their eyes.....
“NO!” he yelled, throwing himself into the air. He unfurled his four, powerful wings, which carried him into the morning air. He flew around the house as fast as was possible, his fury slowly ebbing as he did. Finally, after about ten minutes, he perched on one of the mountain tops, observing his home down below.
From the outside it looked like any other cloud floating in the sky. But on the inside, there were walls, bedrooms, even a play room for Yellow and Red. When they had first found this place, deep in the Coltorado mountains, they had spent days trying to make it look as Innocent as possible. Evidently they had done a good job. It had been two years since their escape, and they had not been found yet.
His eyes picked up something moving in the house. Someone, probably Blue was already up. He flexed his wings and dived back down towards the house. He hovered above the kitchen, then dropped himself through the clouds, landing right next to Blue, who didn’t even jump. She had become accustomed to Dual’s tricks.
“Hey,” she said when he dropped in. “Breakfast will be ready soon, why don’t you get the others.” Dual looked over her shoulder. She was cutting up wildflowers and bits of barley from the field a few miles away. It wasn’t much, but it was what they needed to survive. Without a word, he walked out of the kitchen and down towards the bedrooms. He stopped off at each room, waking up whoever was in there. Soon all of the Gens, as they had started to call themselves, were awake. He walked back into his room to see the sunrise. It was something that he did everyday. It was his ritual, what he did to remain same. As he watched, a small yellow glow appeared on the horizon, then slowly grew until the sun burst from the mountains. His room glowed and changed colors, dazzling him with with it’s brilliance and its warmth.
He turned away, but something caught his over-sensitive eyes. A small, dark shape had flown from one mountain to then next, directly across the sun. It landed on the the opposite mountain and disappeared. He stared at the space between the mountains, waiting for it to fly again, but it didn’t. He shook his head and turned away. It was probably just a Condor or eagle, nothing to worry about. He pushed it to the back of his mind.
He walked down the hallway again, this time stopping at Blue’s door. He pushed it open to take a look inside. Excluding his room, this was his favorite. It faced the opposite direction of his, west. Her room was granted with a view of the sunset, which was her favorite time of day. She would disappear into her room, just to watch it. Dual assumed it was for the same reason that he watched the sunrise, to keep sane. Everything looked normal, but he took a second look. Something new adorned her room.
Standing next to her bed was a small tablet made of cloud. It was about four hands tall by two hands wide. Colors swirled and mixed on it’s surface. Purples and deep reds. Yellows and oranges. It took him a minute to realize that it was a sunset. Perfectly captured in cloud and color. How long had she been working on this? He started to walk towards it when he heard a sound behind him. Turning he saw Blue standing in the door, leaning on the frame.
Busted, he thought. Blue didn’t like to have others in her room. Now he knew why. “Umm.. I was...” he started, stumbling over his words. This just caused Blue to laugh.
“It’s no big deal. Come on, breakfast is ready and your the last as usual.” she left the doorway, Dual close behind her. They reached the kitchen, the other three were already eating. Dual sat down and began eating, but Blue didn’t. She was busy preparing the rest of the food for the day. Ever since their escape, she had taken on the position of ‘Mom’ in the group. Feeding them, taking care of the younger ones. When Dual saw how hard she was working, he felt ashamed. He was the eldest, he should be doing the work. But he saw how well the others responded to her, almost as if she was their real Mom. Dual just didn’t have it in him to do that.
When they were all finished eating, Dual stood up. “You guys know what day it is.” A collective groan grew from the Gens. “Yeah that’s right, it’s training day. I want you all up on the south mountain in a few minutes.
Green put her back hooves up on the table. “Do we really have to do this? We already know how to fly.” Blue walked over and knocked her hooves off the table.
“Yes, we do.” Dual replied. “And I don’t want to hear any complaining. South mountain. Five minutes.” he got up and left the table, walking back to his room. He could hear someone following him.
“Blue, I don’t want to hear it.” he said without turning around.
“I just think that--” Blue started. Dual turned oh his hooves and walked up to her, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
“You know why we have to train. You and I both saw what that black Pegasus was capable of. It was faster and stronger than any of us, even me. That is why we have to train.”
“But why all of them? Yellow is only ten..”
“And she is smart enough to realize why we need to do this. She just doesn’t want to realize it.” he took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “What if, one day, we were attacked? What if we were not prepared? You know what would happen then.”
He saw her eyes take her someplace far away. Back to the lab, back to the pain, the suffering, the fear. A couple seconds later, she was brought back to reality. She bowed her head. “I guess you’re right. I will be there in a few minutes.” she walked down the hall and into her room, shutting the door behind her.
Dual walked back into his room and threw himself off of the balcony. He waiting until he was as close to the ground as possible, then unfurled his wings. They filled with air and he started flying. He soared up and out of the canyon. He looped a couple times, then landed on the summit of the southern mountain. He waiting for the others.
After a couple minutes, they arrived. Some were still half asleep. When they were all settled, the training started.
It began with simple loops around the house as a warm up. Afterwards, the hard stuff began. Dives and swoops, loops, evasive maneuvers. They were spectacular, even little Yellow, who’s wings were them smallest out of the group. A couple hours past, then he called them in. They landed in front of him, breathing heavily.
“OK, I want to try something new.” he put them into pairs. Red with Yellow, Blue with Green. “I want you guys to see how long you can carry your partner. When you can’t carry them anymore, drop them and both of you come back here, got that?” The four nodded. Blue grabbed Green under her fore-legs, and Red did the same with Yellow.
They took of flying around. Dual knew it would take a long time for one of them to tire. This was his version of one of the ‘Endurance tests’ the scientists used to make them do. He hated to take ideas from the disgusting, evil ponies that had made them suffer so much.
Blue watched Dual as she carried Green around. He seemed to be in the middle of some sort of fight. His expression changed from happy one moment, to dark and angry the next. What was causing him to do that, she wondered. They had been flying for about thirty minutes, when Red dropped Yellow. She caught herself, then flew over to sit by Dual, who smiled at her.
Blue had gotten bored and started to look around at the scenery. When she reached it, she took a look at the eastern mountain. It looked like a flock of migratory Condors had stopped there as a pit stop. Their black feathers ruffled in the wind.
It was another thirty minutes before she even got tired. But just to end the boredom, she dropped Green, then flew back to Dual. He looked at her, like he knew she had faked loosing her grip. She just smiled innocently at him.
He cleared his throat. “Well that was good. I think we can end it here today. Just take another couple loops around the house, then let’s eat.” The sun was starting to sink in the western sky. He jumped off the mountain, spreading his powerful wings, and taking off towards the house. The others jumped off just as he did, and soon they were flying in a V-formation around the clouds.
As they passed, Blue could see more and more Condors landing on the mountain. But then she noticed something. She focused her vision on the birds. She saw wings, definitely, but Condors don’t normally have hair. And they certainly don’t have hooves.
She panicked, her voice caught in her throat. She struggled, but was finally able to scream a sentence.
“DUUUAAALLL!!” she yelled over the sound of the wind. “Dual there back! They found us!!”
Dual stopped in his tracks, his expression filled with fear and disbelief. He looked where she was pointing, his eyes widened. He turned as fast as possible, heading towards the house, screaming, “Everyone inside! NOW!!”
They rushed towards the house, panicked and afraid. Blue looked over her shoulder as she flew. He wing would block her view for a second as it beat up and down, causing the scene behind her to skip frames.
As one, the black Pegasi rose into the air, a solid mass of fur and feathers that obscured the sky behind them. Blue couldn’t count them, but she had to guess there was at least sixty. She raced towards the house. Her life depended on weather or not she made it.
Celestia must have not been smiling on them, because the Pegasi reached them first. Screaming and spitting they attacked, biting, hitting, and grabbing at them. But Dual hadn’t just trained them to fly. No, he had trained them to fight.
As the first Pegasi reached them, Blue sent a kick that smashed into the muzzle of one of the attackers. With a sound that was a mix between a squeal and a growl, it back off, blood falling from its nose. She lashed out with her front hoof, nailing it in the side of the head. Unconscious, it fell towards the ground. Off to her right, she could see Dual in a fight of his own. He had yellow clinging to his back, her small eyes filled with tears and fright. He lashed out with all he had, punching and kicking the attackers away. He landed a kick right on one’s back, causing him to drop like a stone.
She was distracted so much, that she took a hoof directly to the side of the head. With a cry of pain, she was sent spiraling away. When she righted herself, she felt blood running down the side of her head. She sailed back into the fight, the familiar felling of fury returning from all those years ago.
She flew back in, landing punches and kicks to their backs before anyone even tried to stop her. She could see Green up above, dodging the black Pegasi’s blows, trying to get behind them. She did, and then she punched as hard as sh could, hitting it right in the spot that it’s wings met its back. With a cry of pain, it plummeted towards the ground.
All Pegasi had a week spot on their backs. Snap a kick, land a punch, anything, and their wing bones will break away from their spines, injuring them for life. However, up here, ‘life’ was about ten seconds before the ground met you.
Red was fighting well for someone his age. Using his size as an advantage, he could easily dodge punches and kicks, getting behind them to land a fatal blow.
Dual had taught them all to protect their backs. If they got surrounded, like now, they would form a circle. They just hoped that the enemy would not be smart enough to know about that spot.
They formed the circle now, fighting to keep themselves floating, and alive. Together, they had fought off about twenty, and it showed. They all had some sort of wound. Dual’s wounds were the worst. A gash had opened over his eye, another was under his first left wing, and it was possible that his nose was broken. The one eye was shut tight against the flow of blood.
“What should we do?” asked Blue, as she kicked a Pegasi in the chest.
Dual looked like he was in the middle of internal debate. He didn’t know what to do. They could fight, but that might lead to them getting overwhelmed. The only realistic option was.
“Run.” He said it so quietly that Blue wasn’t sure that she heard him right. She fought off another Pegasi, then turned back to him.
“What?!”
He looked at her, determination and fear blanketing his face. “RUN!!” he shouted. Yellow still clinging to his back, he launched himself upwards, punching and kicking to make a path for the others. He reached the top of the wave of attackers, then shot off to the north, the rest of the Gens in pursuit. They poured on the speed, flying as fast as was physically possible. Soon, the black Pegasi were far away. They must have not had orders to pursue, only to attack. With their prey gone, they turned their attention to the cloud house.
Blue gasped as they fell on the house, ripping the clouds apart. Tears welled in her eyes as she saw her bedroom wall bucked out, her painting flying away and evaporating. Dual watched, his face solemn. But his eyes gave away his emotions. Hate, pain, grief, and, most frightening of all, unbundled fury.
His breath was ragged, his wing beating so fast, they were almost a blur. “BASTARDS!!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “YOU SONS OF MARES!! WE WONT FORGET THIS! YOU WONT GET AWAY WITH THIS!!” Blue, for the first time, was afraid of her brother. She didn’t know what to say, she just let silent tears fall down her muzzle, and drop onto empty space.
Dual, still breathing hard, turned his back to the scene, and flew away. Blue, staying behind once again, watched the whole thing. Her eyes picked out a spot floating above the eastern mountain. She focused, using all of her natural, and unnatural, vision. The spot turned into a black Pegasus. She watched as the Pegasus turned towards her, its bright orange eyes glinting in the dusk. He saluted Blue, with a terrible smile on his face.
“Dual!!” she screamed. He screeched to a halt rushed over to her.
“What? What is is?” She was unable to get the words out, so she just pointed. He followed the direction of her hoof. When he saw who was floating there, his jaw dropped.
“Tha..that’s..thats not possible.” he stuttered. “We saw him die. We watched him die, from the inside out. How can he be here? He can’t be here...” he looked at Blue for help, unable to comprehend.
“I don’t know either.” she sniffed. “But we need to get out of here.” Dual nodded.
“You’re right.” he pointed at the mountains to the west. “Maybe there is a city there. At least we may be able to hide somewhere.” he turned and flew away. Blue had a feeling that he would not turn around again, and followed him. They took up a V-formation again. Soon, the canyon was a speck in the distance. They flew over forests, canyons, rivers, and lakes. Such beauty that had been ruined by the events of that day. Green was still crying, tears matting her fur. Red’s head was hung, following Green only by her tail hitting his hoof. Yellow wasn’t crying, but she had her head pressed against Dual’s back, her head bobbing with the movements of his wing muscles.
Dual looked straight ahead. His eyes never wondered from the horizon in front of him. Blue didn’t know what he was looking for, but she guess she would be able to tell when they found it.
By the next morning, Dual had guessed they they had travelled at least two hundred miles. Below them sprawled a city, lights still twinkling in the morning dawn. It covered the entire side of the landmass, with a dark orange bridge spanning the ocean in between. Rolling hills were covered with houses and buildings. More houses floated in the sky, as if taunting them. Blue looked at dual, who nodded. Together, the five of them swooped down and landed in the outskirts of the city. They walked along a road for a few minutes, then came to a sign, brightly colored with a painting of the bay and bridge on it.
“Welcome to San Foalsisco!”