I opened my eyes to darkness, and the feeling of grass underneath me. ‘I’m home? What happened to the celebration?’
As I made to get up from my grass made bed, I overheard whispering from the other side of the door.
“Mother you do not mean that. Tell me you are kidding with me.”
That sounded a lot like Xanther, but why is he pleading with mother to not do that. And what is that? Were some of the questions now plagued my mind.
“Xanther, you know that we must do whatever it takes to rid this empire of the dark one. You know the saying, fight fire with fire.”
A sinking feeling hit me as I heard those words. ‘Fight fire with fire?’ I continued listening as I grabbed hold of the fire crystal now hanging around my neck. The frozen fire in the crystal started glowing a light blue.
“But mother, sending him away, isn’t that harsh. Just because he got the fire stone doesn’t mean he is going to be strong enough to handle the dark one. You’d be sending him into a slaughter. Not to mention that he didn’t even receive any training for fire. Who’s going to train him, all the fire wielders died when the dark one came to power?”
“I’ll have to take him to the Chimera’s. Trust me I don’t want to do this either, But think of it this way; the dark one killed his real mother, don’t you think he’s going to want revenge?”
‘Real Mother?’ I felt a sharp pain in my chest, as if my heart were nearly ripped out. I felt a cold chill in my body. It was very cold, as if being frozen in a block of ice.
The whispers died away from me as I resorted to lying on my grass bed staring at the ceiling. The night circle dimly shown through the small holes in the rocky roof. I was brought back to reality by the sounds of hooves coming to the door. I quickly closed my eyes, and pretended to snore to look as if I were asleep. I heard the hooved enter my room regardless. A few seconds later the door closed again. A slight pressure pushed upon my grass bed and someone lye down next to me. The head nestled itself into my mane.
’what the heck?’ I was about to move when I heard the stranger speak.
“I won’t… can’t let her do this to you brother.”
The now identified Xanther said, but it sounded strange. It sounded as if his nose was runny and his voice was raspy. ’Was he crying? He never cries.’ I decided to stay in bed to comfort my brother until he fell asleep. I fell asleep as a familiar, yet strange sleep story cast its spell over me.
I was in a field of dandelions as the bright circle shone brightly overhead. A few white sky puffies, hung here and there amongst the otherwise clear blue sky. As I was running the pollen flew off and into the air. A gentle breeze blew against my fur, and caused the pollen to dance amongst its invisible waves. As the wind blew I felt as if a part of me wanted to join the floating pollen. I closed my eyes as the wind blew and imagined myself soaring high above the ground. As the wind died down, the sensation I was feeling had died down.
I continued playing with the flowers. As I tried to make a turn, my hoof got caught on a stump, and I tripped. I came crashing down upon a dead spot full of rocks and dirt. The sharp rocks cut deep into my front right leg, as I let out a piercing scream of agony.
In the distance, a soft thumping of hooves upon grass met my sobbing ears. Over the hill came the same “pony” from the other sleep story. I hold my hooves up, as she approached.
’Why the heck am I doing this, is this a sleep story? Why can’t I control myself?’
She observed my injury and planted a kiss upon my leg. For some reason the pain had dissipated. She wiped away the remaining tears sliding down my check with her hoof. She then wrapped me up in her fore hooves and gave me a hug.
‘Why is this not freaking me out? Who the hay is this “pony”.’
I woke with a start to realize that I was no longer in my room. In my surroundings there was orange fog, and it was harder to breathe than normal. The trees nearby appeared to be dead. The ground was barren of any grass. I was lying on the floor of a wooden carriage. The one pulling the carriage looked like the captain of the guard, Night Fury.
Night fury was the strongest and most witty stallion in mother’s army. He was a tough stallion sooner beat your face in with a shield, than pick you up. With him it’s either keep moving, or give up, and giving up was never an option. His coat was darker than dark. If it were the middle of the night, you’d never be able to see him. His mane was black, with just a hint of silver, showing his age. If it weren’t for the silver in his mane, you would never be able to tell he was near sixty-seven years old.
“Hey Night Fury, where are we?”
“Ah Young Ackyacha, you’re awake.” Night said glancing back at me. “We are in the fields of fire. Your mother told me to bring you here for training. You are to be trained by the only resident of this fiery place.”
“Who…i” I was interrupted by a blast of fire flow into the sky.
The blast had caused me to jump back and huddle into myself as the blast lasted. It caused the surrounding area to get a lot hotter than before. I could feel beads of sweat start to run down my muzzle.
“Where is Xanther?” I nearly cried.
“He had to train the troops today, otherwise he would likely be here with us.”
We stopped in an open area clear of any blasts. In the distance was a shadowy figure walking towards us.
“Who goes there?” said a male’s voice that emanated from the creature.
“It is I, Night Fury and Ackyacha, from the Horse clan of Forestry. We have come to ask for your assistance in training Young Ackayacha in the power of fire.” answered
“What’s in it for us.” Said the shadow.
“In return for your assistance we offer you hunting rights in the forests near our home.”
“Very well, Night Fury, return for the foal in two months.”
“Wait two, two months without seeing my family?” I cried out.
“This is for your own good.” Is all Night Fury said, as he turned and left.
The shadow has moved into view to reveal a three headed beast. Its first was that of a Tiger, which mended into the body of a goat. The second was the goat head with wickedly cool looking horns. Attached to its butt was the head of a snake. It looked as big as Xanther and looked menacing. Little did I know it, but I was going to be in hell for two months.