I awoke with a start. Elusive was standing over me, his armor covered on splotches of mud.
"What's going on?" I tried to stand up, but fell right back down, wincing in pain.
"Try not to move too much. Stay down, and stay quiet. There is a patrol of son kind moving through."
"Where are we?" I looked around the cave I woke up in. In a bed.
"A hideout of mine, about 50 miles from ponyville."He told me, shielding the doorway with a concealment spell.
"Why would a honorable royal guard need a hideout? You could simply ask for assistance and housing, and it would needless be provided." He turned towards me, scowled, and went an latex down on the other bed that cluttered the small room. If you could call a furnished, concealed cave, a room.
"Sleep. You are injured. We will speak later." I was too tired to complain, and was quickly asleep.
Hours passed in a painful and restless sleep. Wisps of dreams floated in my head, much like the shadows not a full day ago. I gasped awake, suddenly aware of the oppressing silence surrounding me. I shuddered in both pain, and chills. It was cold. Winter was approaching. I peered in the semi darkness, finding the dark shape of Elusive. He was snoring lightly in the other bed, just a few steps from my own. At the foot of the beds were the saddlebags in which I sought a salve, that I bought before we left the sea town. Groaning in pain, I got out of the bed an limped around, stretching tight muscles, attempting to limber back up and determine how hurt I really was. My right wing was in a wrap, so I first undid that. Slowly extending my wing, gasping in pain as I felt it pop in three places. It was all I could do not to scream in pain when the bones in my wing grinded back an forth as I exerted myself. The salve, I knew wouldn't be enough to mend the breaks. Cuts and sprains would be gone within the hour, but a break? It would take atleast a week with care, and a lot of bed rest.
I continued to inspect my body in the darkness, finding my left foreleg was also suffering a much more minor break. A combination of cuts and bruses peppered my body, blood matting my fur in multiple places. I used as much of the magical salve as I felt necessary, then packed it back in the bag. I bound the breaks as day broke, we had been hiding here for just over a day, including the time I was unconscious. Elusive was just beginning to stir as I prepped breakfast for us. Nothing special, just some travel bars and spring water from a small stream inside the cave. A suprised look graced the former guards face seeing that I was up and about, especially after the crash. We ate the meager meal in silence, the only noises t be heard was the stream flowing quietly behind us.
"Back there.. What happened?" I spoke, stretching my good wing, emphasizing my question.
"Sigh, I guess there is no reason to conceal the truth from you any longer. You, no, we are being hunted by a most fearful of enemies. When you took Luna's crown, you released a hunter of sorts. Along time ago, before the princess was banished to the moon, I assisted her, with the help of court mages, in separating a piece of her soul energy to bind to the crown. The soul piece was only a shadow of Luna's might and power. But at the same time, it was more than that. It was fear, and anger. All of the emotions that the princess had no need for. Those emotions, that shadow that was bound to the crown, eventually manifested physically into a mare we shall never forget." He paused, standing up and moving to his bed, mentioning for me to follow suit. He continued as I sat,"nightmare moon. The physical manifestation of the shadow spirit. Since it was a part of Luna, it fed off her emotions, mainly her anger and struggle with her position compared to celestia. You know how twilight sparkle freed Luna from her shadow spirit last year, but what you don't know", he leaned forward speaking in a more hushed tone,"what you don't know is how nightmare moon was Luna's prison for those 1000 years. The moon was Nightmare Moon's prison. After Luna was freed, her shadow was more properly bound to the crown, and also the crown room in Luna's tower. When you removed the crown from the room, you released Luna's shadow spirit. That is what is hunting us. " finished, he leaned back and waited for my imminent questions.
"I can understand it hunting me, but it's gotten you too this last time. "
"Yes. It understands that I am a threat too. It knows I was there when it was released, and its attempting to fulfill its just duty to destroy those who pose a threat to Luna and the crown."
Hours passed with me asking, and him answering questions. Day came and went like this. We slept that night, completely uneventful.It wasn't long before we left the cave hideout. We stayed just long enough for my wing to heal enough to travel. Not enough to fly. "Its time." "For what? We are safe here. Why should we leave so soon? Besides, I'm not able to fly with a broken wing, don't even start to think that I can carry you." He looked at me with a most pitiful look, and walked over to the doorway. A small burst of light from his horn and the concealment spell was gone; light started streaming in from the outside, all of the sounds, the smells, they all came streaming in like a spring flood.
"A nice change of pace, eh?"
"Mmhm", it truly was. The cave, for after all the work to make it more hospitable, was still a cave. Stuffy, wet, and not all that comfortable. We walked out, squinting in the bright sunlight streaming through the clouds. How I wish I could really stretch my wings and flit back and forth throughout the clouds. I can't anymore. The realization hit me suddenly. What if my wing never heals properly? But no. We set it right. Even with the constant pain, I can still look to the sky, where I will soon join the birds soaring on the warm upstarts, gaining altitude as I look down upon the beautiful landscape. Soon.
"Are you alright?" Elusive's question brought me back down to the ground, out of my daydream.
"Sure. I'm great." A lie. How could he understand my pain?
"Your not. I can see it in your eyes Nyt. I can understand how hard it must be for you to not be able to fly right now. But that break is too complex for my magic, but we will soon have you back up in the sky. Once we get to manehattan, we can get you help." We set out then, walking north over the gently sloping plains land,him leading, me following a few yards behind, favoring my injured leg brutally. We stopped for a light lunch and break upon a grassy knoll. From there we could see miles and miles in all directions; from where we came we could barely see the edges of the everfree forest, in all its untamed might. On our right was the mountain that housed the capital city of canterlot high upon its slopes. We were going in the right direction at least.
"We need to get going.." elusive looked at me with surprise. We stopped for me to rest my broken leg, as the pain was getting to me. He nodded and we set back off. Even hurt, we were making good time. We didn't stop again until dusk, at that time we set up camp under a clump of trees.
"No fire." Elusive spoke, as I gathered materials for bedding.
"W-why not?"
"We could be seen by passersby. What happens if they tell someone that two travelers were spotted, one injured, the other in some type of armor? We would be dead before the morrow was over. " He let that sink in.
"No fire", I agreed, laying down on the makeshift bed. "I'll take first watch." Elusive looked at me with awe.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. You need the rest more than I. Don't think I didn't notice your spell. It takes a lot to conceal two full size stallions on the move like that. " Nodding, Elusive spoke,
"yes, I suppose you are right. Wake me in a few hours." I had no plans to wake him. I could handle it on my own. Night came, and went. Twice I thought I heard something, but upon light investigation I found nothing but Elusive snoring lightly under his chosen tree. I watched the sunrise from atop the tallest tree in the grove. It was hard to climb it, once I almost fell. But it was worth it. It had been a long time since I'd seen such colors in one, usually other lights would interfere with my views. But this time, there was nothing obstructing my perfect view. The bright ball slowly rose up into the low sky, illuminating the path in front of us. Sighing, I decided to climb down. Elusive needed to be awoken, and we needed to move. From my perch I could see where the plains ended and the outskirts of the city started. Elusive was waiting for me at the bottom, glaring at me.
"What we're you doing? And why did you not ever wake me?"
"Errr... well... I was trying to judge how much farther we had to go." It wasn't a lie, not completely. That was the reason I climbed in the first place, but I stayed to watch the sunrise, and I do not regret it. "And uh, well you needed sleep... and I was fine staying up and it was all fine. Nothing happened."
"No it's not okay, what would have happened if we were found?" "But we weren't. " He didn't reply, just stared me down for a minute, making me really nervous. Turning around, he commanded me to follow. Something was wrong with him... We made good time then, only stopping twice when I stumbled or collapsed from the pain of my leg and wing. I knew the break in my leg wasn't bad, but constantly walking on it was taking its toll on me, and the concealment spell twice that on Elusive, apparently. By nightfall we were approaching the outskirts of manehattan. "No reason to stop now. We will rest inside there." He motions to a new high rise building being constructed. We went in and camped on the third floor, even with the rooftops of some of closer buildings. We had made it, but we were not done yet.