Fear churned inside me as I knelt on the soft soil. My tired wings hung limply beside me after days of flying. My blue coat was dirty and I hadn’t washed in days. My mane, usually a darker version of my coat with lighter streaks, was now brown. The familiar raspy voice rebounded off cave walls as the Master spoke.
“Bring me SkyBlue little Pegasus.” Surprise must have shone through my mud, as Master repeated his request. I looked at myself. I had turned from a magnificent blue pony to a dull grey and brown Pegasus. Through the dirt and grime I looked into the darkness my Master lived in and recited in a tired voice.
“Sky stars, sky lights, blue sky, sky blue” I lifted myself off the ground and stared directly into the darkness.
“I am SkyBlue, Master” with the last word I ducked my head slightly, as was custom. A low and terrifying chuckle echoed off the walls of the cave.
“I have known you for your whole life, longer than I have known the other Pegasus, and still you manage to surprise me.”
“Surprising you is my job Master.”
“A job you are very good at, SkyBlue.” Even as the Master seemed playful, and in a good mood, I knew his temper can change in less time than one could register. In a shaky voice I replied,
“Well I need to be, or else I wouldn’t have gotten your trinket.” There was a gleam of red in the darkness and a quiet chuckle.
“Don’t you ever take a break girl? Have some fun, go to a party!” while he talked I retrieved the golden heart from my bags and rolled it into the darkness. Master let out a sigh of appreciation that showed that he had received the gleaming gold, but when he spoke again, his tone was cold.
“Well done. Now go.” I scrambled out of the cave and into the air. I let out a sigh of relief to be out in the cold air rather than the Master’s hot stuffy cave. I looked around the sky, searching for good clouds I could sleep on. In no time at all, I saw a white fluffy heaven floating about two yards away. Without a thought of danger, I sped right towards it. I was almost there. The cloud was even more inviting than I had thought. I closed my eyes, I could almost taste the cloud, feel it on my hoofs! A scream was torn from my lips. I was spiralling down towards the ground, a black ash mark spread along my back.
A bird scraped at my coat in the shape of an X. I opened my eyes and looked at it. It gave a squawk of surprise, and took to the air, digging its claws into my fur as it did. My heavy head thumped against soft earth and I joined the unconscious world.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my! What do I do?” The white bunny at her hoofs gave her a mighty kick.
“Of course, Angel Bunny! Right away!” The bunny kicked her again.
“Oh sorry, what do we do?” The snow bunny scowled at her slow working out, but didn’t kick her again. FlutterShy picked up a straw basket with the sparrow that told her the news.
There was soft knocking at the door.
“Will you get that Spike?” The purple and green dragon grumbled his consent.
“Oh, hi FlutterShy! What are you doing here?” Twilight looked with surprise at FlutterShy and Spike where they were talking.
“Is one of your animals sick? Do you need a spell?” Twilight trotted to the door. Spike looked at twilight with concern.
“FlutterShy says that birdie says that there is a brown Pegasus deep in the everfreeforest!” Spike said. Twilight gasped
“That’s terrible! FlutterShy, you find RainbowDash, we may need help with the lifting, and is it okay if they stay in your house?”
“Of course it is Twilight!”
“Good. I think I could find a spell…” Twilight to turned around and galloped into the depths of her library.
“And what do I do? Twilight? Where did you… I’ll just sit here then” Spike sat down with a thump.
“Umm, excuse me? RainbowDash are you... home?”
“What?” Came a grouchy voice from inside.
“Birdie found a Pegasus in the everfreeforest, and we need your help to find it and bring it home.” Cyan blue and rainbow burst through the cloud door, announcing,
“You had me at Pegasus! Let’s go!” colours streaked through the air as Dash sped away, leaving FlutterShy spinning in the air. Dash, realising that FlutterShy was still at her cloud-home, turned around and raced back to FlutterShy.
“Come on then!” grabbing the yellow Pegasus’s hoof, they sped off again, thus time together.
As they neared a corner with a café at the edge, dash snatched a burger from an unsuspecting pony, while shouting at a green Pegasus with a red and white mane
“Eight hundred and four ponies!!” The cyan Pegasus called to a nearby pony as they passed a café. The pony nodded his thanks and carried on eating
“Eight hundred and four what?” Asked FlutterShy.
“Eight hundred and four years ago there was a cyclone that almost killed a town of eight hundred and four ponies. Luckily the WonderBolts were there and stopped it. Ash back there wanted to know the population so he asked me; he wanted to know the population because he wanted to write a book about it.” By the time Dash had said the very last word, they had arrived at the edge of the everfreeforest. Waiting for them was Twilight, her saddlebags full of books.
“Ready to go everyone?” Twilight asked.
“Yep-a-dokie!” out of nowhere the pink party pony bounced into view.
“Pinkie? How did you, when did you…” they all sighed, “right, pinkie sense.” Said Dash, Twilight and 'Shy chorused
“Anyway, let’s go!” Dash took to the air, to scout ahead.
“I still don’t know why Birdie couldn’t have done this!” Dash muttered as she took off. The rest took on hoof, FlutterShy staying close to Twilight, and Pinkie bouncing along and talking about random things with no relevance what-so-ever.
“Urrr…” I prised my eyes open and squinted around, taking in my surroundings. I swallowed, and a scream tore from my lips as I experienced the world’s worst sore throat, but half-way through the scream, my voice ran out. Uh oh. I mouthed.
A half-scream echoed through the forest.
“This way!” called Dash from above the ponies on the ground picked up the pace, galloping hard out to save a pony they didn’t know.
“Did anypony else notice that the scream didn’t finish?” asked FlutterShy, who was flying to keep up. The remark was met with worried faces and fearful eyes.
“We’re almost there!” Called Rainbow, a definite tone of relief could be heard in her voice, and the sighs from the others revealed that they too could not go on much further, except, naturally, Pinkie who had bounced the whole way there.
Thundering echoed through the forest. So this is it. I thought, laying my heavy head on the soft undergrowth.