//------------------------------// // Chow // Story: Into That Wild Blue Yonder // by CptBrony //------------------------------// The trio walked down the street as if it were nothing. Griffons all around stopped to look at the princess and her unusual guards as they passed, some bowing and others simply moving out of the way. Nikita was obviously uncomfortable with the amount of attention she was getting. “Relax, princess, it’ll be just fine,” Colm said reassuringly. “We’ll get further from the city and no one will bother us.” “Further?” Nikita said. Colm nodded. “Is that safe?” “It’s fine,” the young man said. “It’s not like there’s any assassins out to get you now, right?” the young man asked. “Right?” “Given how many were at my table last night, I would assume no,” Nikita replied. “But what about bandits?” “Miss Princess, don’t you worry your pretty little head,” Colm said. “With us around, everything will be just hunky dory.” “I bring in the hunky part,” the young man said. Colm chuckled. “Hunky Dory?” Nikita said. “Who even says that any more?” “Colm, evidently,” the young man said. “Right I do,” Colm said proudly. “I worked hard ta build my vocabulary growing up.” “It’s called reading,” Nikita said. “It isn’t hard.” “When ya have ta teach yerself, it can be pretty hard,” Colm said. “Hold up,” the young man said. “You taught yourself to read? How?” “I memorized the stories mah foster families would tell me, then get the book that they said matched,” Colm explained. “I asked them if the words matched, and they said yes. By matching the words to what Ah saw, I matched the letters with the sounds. Took time, with all the weird rules n’ stuff, but Ah got it.” “That explains your bizarre way of speaking,” Nikita said. “I work wonders with mah tongue,” Colm said. “So I’m told.” “Colm, we both know there’s not a being on the planet that can honestly tell you that,” the young man said. “What makes ya say that?” Colm asked. “The very fact that you said it,” the young man said. Nikita giggled at the whole exchange. With a sigh of defeat, Colm conceded the battle to the young man and the trio went onward to the edge of the city. On the way, Nikita had them stop at a few stores to get food. No sense in going out if you wouldn’t have a picnic, right? She grabbed fresh cod for her and the young man, and a pan to cook it in, and the fixings for a proper pony salad for Colm. Assuming he knew how to make his own. She had also grabbed several fire starters and gave one to each Colm and the young man. Colm was confused by the gift, while the young man was immediately fascinated with his newfound ability to create fire. “I have one for the picnic, but save yours in case we need a signal fire or anything,” Nikita said. “Sure thing,” the young man said, flipping the flint in his hands. Given how it wasn’t princessly to carry her own stuff, Nikita had her guards carry everything. The young man took the meat on his right side and stuck to the right of the princess to spare Colm from the smell. Colm took Nikita’s left side for proper security. When the trio reached the edge of the city, Nikita stepped forward to decide on a direction to go. She knew there was a river not far from the city going perpendicularly outward, so she simply had them continue forward. The river would be a nice place to cool off where they could likely eat in peace. They had to travel through some dense brush, through which the young man took the lead and pulled the brush aside so the others could travel through. It took way too long without a machete; the young man wished he had his knife, but the armorer hadn’t made it yet. It was a wicked blade, so he was happy to wait. Finally, they made it all the way through the brush and found the river. It wasn’t that wide, maybe about twenty feet, and the only point where the bottom wasn’t visible was in the very center. Possibly the best relaxation river ever to grace the land. “Now this is what I call a picnic spot,” the young man said. “Let’s set up next to the water,” Colm said. “If we’re gonna cook things, it’s better to be close to a source of water.” “Sounds good,” the young man said. He and Colm walked over to a spot next to the water and dropped all their things there, and then the young man went off to wood for a small fire. Nikita set up some of the cooking utensils and put river stones in a circle to keep the flame in a small space. She stumbled with one of the stones, drawing Colm’s attention. Her talon seemed to be just slightly shaky, like she was nervous, and when he leaned down to look up at her eyes, he saw them darting to and fro. Gently, he set his hoof on her talon, a gesture which startled her, and she looked indignantly at him. “You can calm down, little lady,” Colm said. “You’re perfectly safe with us.” “You mean you,” Nikita said. “The man isn’t with us.” “Sure, whatever,” Colm said. “But he’s just a short call away. And I can protect you myself; remember, he didn’t take all those thugs on his own.” “I suppose,” Nikita said. She looked down at the hoof on her arm. “I just feel like I don’t have any guards around me right now.” “What?” Colm said incredulously. “We’re your guards, nothing to fear!” “No, I mean, my guards have always been stoic and not very talkative,” Nikita said. “You’re not exactly the kinds of guards I was expecting.” Colm blinked. “Oh,” he said. “I suppose not. That would just make us really, really protective friends, then.” Colm laughed when he finished talking and took his hoof back. He didn’t catch it, but Nikita’s arm followed for a split moment before retracting back quickly. “So, I know your story is simple,” Nikita said, hoping not to offend. “You came out of a small village you lived in your whole life. What about him?” Nikita said, pointing generically where she thought the young man went. “Him?” Colm asked. “He’s got quite a story, even if it’s short.” “Care to share?” Nikita asked. “I think it’d be better to wait until he gets back,” Colm said. “If I get something wrong, he’ll be able to correct it.” Nikita harrumphed. “Fine.” “In the meantime, why not tell more of your story?” Colm said. “I’m sure it’s fascinating.” “Ha!” Nikita said. “Not exactly. I was raised to not affiliate with anyone of lower class, the griffons of my class are always just trying to advance their own place.” “How did you come out so different, if I may ask?” Colm said. “You don’t seem like them.” “I was born into the top, and let me tell you, it’s not that great,” Nikita said. “If griffons actually cared, maybe it wouldn’t be so horrible…” “What about your mother?” Colm asked. Nikita looked away sadly. “Sorry, I didn’t know.” “It’s okay,” Nikita said. “I feel like you understand.” Colm smiled gently at her, and Nikita returned a similar smile to him. “So…” Colm said. “HEY!” the young man said, running back with all manner of sticks. “What sorts of lovey-dovey talks am I missing out on?” Both Nikita and Colm blushed furiously, leaning away from each other instantly. The young man hopped up and dropped the sticks on the ground in the rock circle, then plopped himself down like the third wheel he was trying to hard to be. “If you MUST know, we were having a pleasant conversation until you screeched in and threw us off,” Nikita said. “Yeah, man,” Colm said. “Well, I do apologize for such an inconvenient return,” the young man said. “But I’m hungry, and I bet you two are too, so let’s get to it!” Nikita rolled her eyes and started the fire, then used the pan to start cooking the cod. Colm leaned away to avoid the smell. The young man switched places with him so he would be upwind of the pot and wouldn’t have to deal with it. “So, I asked Colm while you were gone, but he didn’t want to say yet. What is your story?” Nikita asked of the young man. “My story?” the young man said. “It’s not long. I was driving my car across a bridge back to the city I attended school in when some jerkhat broadsided me and slammed my car into the railing. The railing tore through my door and injured me, but the worst part came when the car came free.” “Came free?” Nikita asked. “Fell, over a hundred feet to the water,” the young man said. Nikita gasped. “When I woke up; I went out just as I hit; I was being dragged out of the water onto grass. When I went out again and woke up later, I was in a bed surrounded by small equines, and then my story goes on from there.” “I have a few questions,” Nikita asked. “Seemed simple enough, but I suppose not,” the young man said. “What’s on your mind?” “What’s a car?” Nikita asked. “And this bridge, and city? Your schooling, these things you didn’t explain.” “Oh,” the young man said. “Okay. A car is a metal box with lots of mechanisms that lets you travel faster and farther on land. My city was New York, and I was attending University, studying engineering with a minor in Religious Studies. When I said broadsided, I mean another car slammed into mine from the side. Picture a T-bone.” “Yikes,” Nikita said. “How fast was he?” “I don’t know, but that didn’t matter,” the young man said. “What mattered was how I slammed into the railing of the bridge at something like forty-five miles an hour.” “Whoa!” Colm said. “You never mentioned going that fast! How did you survive?” “That’s the question whose answer, despite being nice to find, I do not care for,” the young man said. “I want to know how I got here so I can find out how to get home.” “No other human has returned to your world from here,” Nikita said. “So I’m told,” the young man said. “How many have tried?” “I know of three, two of whom failed and the third was killed in his journey,” Nikita said. “I guess they looked in the wrong places, then,” the young man said. “Optimism at its finest,” Colm said. “I have people to return to, people who are about me,” the young man said. “I have friends, studies, a career to strive for. I have a life back there, and a good one, and I’m not about to just let it die on me.” “Despite the fact that you already died on it,” Colm muttered. The young man didn’t catch it. “Noble enough, I suppose,” Nikita said. “I’ll travel as far as I have to for this,” the young man said. “Hence why I’m going to this Princess Celestia character for help.” “Even if she isn’t able to help, she’ll point you in the right direction,” Nikita said. “She’s a very kind and just ruler.” “Here’s hoping that it goes over well,” Colm said. Nikita finished cooking up the cod and gave the pan to Colm to clean in the river so he could cook his veggies for his own food. When he returned, he made up his food and the trio went on with random topics of conversation, from the young man’s home world to the fascinating magics of this new one. What they didn’t talk about were their respective worlds’ troubles, and this new one had a few that would be coming in hard in the near future.