Author's Note: This a partial rewrite of chapter one. I found that I had hurried the ending a bit, so I decided to split it up in two parts.
Then, I jumped.
I heard screams of terror as I grabbed one of the roots from the tree which had exited the ground and pulled myself up. Using my good eyesight, I looked for other roots that were farther away from the edge. I saw a big one and I jumped across, only barely managing to reach it with one talon. Climbing on to that root, I used my good wing to shield as much of the lighter parts of my body I could. Now I had to wait for it to become night, which wouldn’t take long. And indeed, because of all the commotion beneath Luna’s window, it seemed Princess Celestia had sped up the sunset and Princess Luna had sped up the rise of the moon, to check out what all the commotion was about.
When all the commotion had died down, I let myself fall to the ground. When I had gained enough speed, I opened my wing and let myself float downwards. Because I had only one wing, I had to focus all my attention in keeping myself balanced, so I didn’t notice that I was flying in circles. I panicked when I came face to face with the cliffside. I let myself dive down with a sharp turn, causing me to speed up. I noticed that the ground was closing in fast, and I realised I wouldn’t have the time to balance myself for a comfortable landing. I crashed into an open meadow. It had rained not too long ago, and the ground was still wet, which softened my landing immensely.
I knew there was a river flowing under Canterlot, because I had studied some maps before coming to Equestria. I knew it flowed through Ponyville and straight into the Everfree forest which would be a safe place to be. That was the only thing that mattered for now, being safe. The only problem was that I was on the other side of the castle from the river. There would be patrols looking for either me or my body, so I needed to get out of the open. I saw a small forest away from the cliff, so I made my way over.
I had been on that root for hours, not moving a muscle. I was completely exhausted, and there was no way that I would be getting to the river this night. Besides, the sun was bound to come up soon, and so there was no way for me to make it to the river unnoticed during the day. I also knew that this forest would likely be searched during the day, but I had nowhere else to go, for the small forest was surrounded by open fields on one side, and mountains on the other.
So, I had no choice to find shelter for the day. I slowly walked through the forest, hoping to find some kind of shelter. What surprised me was that I hadn’t seen a single animal while I was there. I was starting to get really hungry now, and I had hoped to maybe catch a rabbit or even a squirrel, but there was nothing at all.
The sun was real close to rising now, and I still hadn’t found a place to hide and sleep. If anypony found me, I was dead. I came close to the mountainside and noticed a cave, so I went straight for it. I hated caves, they scared the hell outta me, but it was the best chance I had. There’s something about caves that made me feel like I was trapped inside. But this was not the time to have a panic attack, so I calmed myself and went in.
After a couple of minutes of walking in the cave, I felt a crunch underneath my talons. I looked down and saw that the ground was covered in bones. They were only animal bones, but there were a lot of them. It explained why there were no animals in the forest. I started to have my doubts about this cave, thinking just what kind of creature lived here. It was too small for a dragon, but it could easily belong to something huge, and apparently it ate meat. I felt trapped again, and started to make my way back to the entrance, when I heard something... Hoofsteps, or rather, echoes of them.
Blast! I’m trapped, either go to the ponies and die, or explore the cave further and hope that whatever it was that killed all these animals, doesn’t live here any more. Guess I really don’t have a choice.
I kept going further in the caves, avoiding to step on bones, because the echo could maybe wake the creature living here, or alert the ponies to my presence. I heard a shout behind me, and then a yell “Only animal bones!” They were catching up to me, so I needed somewhere to hide, and fast. I hurried along and stopped when a vile stench reached my nostrils. I kept walking on, trying to take small breath to not be overwhelmed by the stench, which was getting stronger every step I took.
The cave became wider and wider and I felt more relaxed. I wasn’t really claustrophobic, but from what I had heard, griffons always had a hard time staying calm in tight areas. They were aerial creatures after all, where everything was open. I took in a deep breath to calm myself and then I retched. The smell was so strong now, and I recognized it immediately. It was death.
I looked around to see a mass in the middle of this widened chamber. closing in on it, I saw that it was some sort of animal since it had a fur. It was about five times my size and when I reached it I saw that it was a bear. A huge bear, the likes of which I had never seen before. Looking even more closely, I noticed two little cubs lying next to her. All three had been dead for some time now, it seemed.
I glanced back to see a light coming from the entrance of the chamber. I had hoped to be able to hide myself in the dark using my dark plumage, but if they brought a light, that wouldn’t work. So, seeing no other option, I lifted the bear’s skin and lied under it, holding my breath for as long as possible. It had probably died of starvation after all the animals in the forest were gone, so the stench could have been way worse. It was, however, still very unpleasant.
I heard hoofsteps and held my breath. “Ugh, what’s that smell?” One pony said. “Ugh, a dead bear. Really? Private, check the chamber for the griffon. I’ll be waiting outside of this stinkhole.”
“Sir, if I remember correctly, griffons have an inherent phobia of caves. It will be unlikely that the griffon will be here.” The other pony said.
“And why didn’t you say that in the first place? We’ve been going in the cave for minutes and you only decide to say this now? Don’t waste any more of my time, you idiot. Let’s go.” They both walked off. I squeezed myself from under the bear and made my way out of the main chamber.
I was famished, exhausted and hurt. I had a look at my wing. It was swollen at the base, but through a lot of pain and effort, I could still move it. It wasn’t actually broken, probably, but rather cracked, which hurts just as much, but it is only minor. It would be best to keep it bandaged. Wishing I had my saddlepack with me, I walked through the cave. I found a small passageway which lead into a minor chamber, where I fell asleep.
I woke up with a throbbing pain in my wing. It turned out that my wing was in worse shape than I had previously thought, yet I couldn’t treat it myself without having access to my supplies. Hospitals were completely out of the question, of course. I made my way to entrance of the cave to see that night had fallen. I had no idea how long it had been night, but tonight was going to be my only chance of escape. I didn’t know if I’d be able to hide for another day with this hunger and my medical condition.
I was going to be easy to spot though. Griffons don’t walk, they fly. The guards knew that I had a broken wing, so they know I won’t be flying. And that was another matter. At my walking pace, there is no way I’d reach Ponyville before sunrise, especially if I had to follow the river. But maybe if the current was fast enough, I could swim. Every griffon who had served in the army had learned how to swim. I wasn’t a great swimmer, but I could manage. The only problem with swimming was that you couldn’t fly with wet feathers, but I wasn’t going to fly any time soon anyway.
But I did have dark feathers and a dark fur, so hiding in the darkness would be pretty easy. I snuck back to my landing place and ran all the way to the cliff on which Canterlot was built. Even in the complete darkness and from way down below, I could see how beautiful it was. It was an architectural masterpiece, and had no doubt taken ages to build. But I didn’t have to time sightsee, and then it hit me that I probably never would.
I was an outlaw from the nobles. That meant that any noble which I encountered had the duty of reporting me to the authorities. And every noble would do that, because it meant they would increase in standing. And that was all nobles ever cared about, standing and of course, money.
Luck was on my side for once, for it seemed that the Royal Army wasn’t involved in this yet. They served the Princesses and not the nobles, so that had no duty of capturing and imprisoning me. Some might be swayed by promises of becoming nobles themselves, but most were loyal to the Princesses.
I reached the river without any problem. I assumed everypony thought I had died, which meant there were no patrols anywhere. The walking had tired me out, but I didn’t have time to rest up. I immediately jumped into the water and let the current take me for a couple of minutes. When I had rested up, I started swimming, when I got tired, I let myself float for a while. This way I made it into Ponyville faster than I normally would.
It was getting morning by the time I passed through Ponyville. Luckily, nopony was out on the streets yet. Nonetheless, I dove under for as long as possible so I could keep myself completely out of sight for as long as possible. The swim had drained me though, I wasn’t able to stay under for long, but that short time sufficed for me to make it to the Everfree Forest.
I managed to reach the spot where my saddlebags were. I saw the now completely black fish that was still suspended over the now extinguished fire, which gave me a chuckle. Grabbing a bandage roll out from my bags, I started bandaging my wing to keep it locked against my body. I looked around for some wood, rekindled the fire and went to lie down next to it, hoping that it would last for a while and that there were no wild animals nearby I was tired and needed rest.
Just as I was falling asleep, I felt a drop on my face. “Are you serious!” I shouted out. I really needed to get dry, else I could be getting a cold or worse. I tried to get up, but I immediately collapsed. I was just too tired after the swimming. So, I just laid down as I saw the increasing amount of raindrops slowly but surely extinguish the fire.
So, this is it huh? After getting banished from my clan, escaping my own execution for stuff I didn’t do by hanging on a root for hours on end, after gliding down two miles and landing in a river, as well as swimming I don’t know how many miles, I’m going to die by not being able to get out of the rain. Life sucks. I blacked out not long after.