Journey to Equestria

by Aldrigold

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Blue pumped his wings, making another pass over the rain-spattered fields where Brown was pulling carrots out of the ground, Green almost invisible in the grass next to her. Only the unicorn’s red mane stood out.

Tonight. They had to escape tonight. Before the gryphons fixed the fence, and before Rikarr could get to Green. There was no other way.

They had to leave. He had to believe in Equestria. It was that or give up.

“Pay attention, Blue!” Despite the presence of a light-blue pegasus about twenty yards to his left, Blue knew the overseer was referring to him. He flapped his aching wings harder to spin the clouds in a circle, moving them away from the gryphon’s aeries. It was slow going and had been all day, and after the third day of flying in a row, every muscle hurt.

It was only after hours of fruitless cloud herding, soaked to the bone from rain and heart beating hard from exertion and watching out for the errant lightning bolt, that the overseer let him land. Clouds still covered the pony’s living areas—only the gryphons would have any relief from the rain. Blue headed immediately toward Brown.

As the day wore on, the earth pony had been given the stomach-turning task of de-feathering the gryphon’s kills—chickens, with wings that looked far too similar to Blue’s own. They looked even more similar to the gryphons wings, of course, but the brutes didn’t care.

“Blue,” Brown looked up, spitting out a mouthful of feathers with the words. Green lay in a quiet ball on the ground, staring at the forest. “What have we done?”

“It’s—”

“He’s going to kill her!” Brown said, lowering her voice. “Dehorning…at least she would have been alive! There would be hope!”

Blue narrowed his eyes. “He’s not killing her, or dehorning her,” he said, raising his voice just enough so that Green could hear. “We’re leaving.” Green actually looked up at him, her eyes huge and still full of fear.

Brown’s eyes widened, and she looked around her. “Blue, that’s…crazy.”

It was. Especially considering his grandfather was the one who had told him about Equestria, and he was probably crazy too. But it was their only chance.

“I’m not crazy. The fence is broken. They can’t fix it before tonight, and gryphons don’t see well in the dark. We can leave!” Brown opened her mouth to say something, and he raised a hoof to silence her. “We’re going to a safe place. To the north. A place called Equestria.”

“Blue…” Brown looked to the filly, and then at the dead chickens that littered the ground at her feet. “They’ll kill us.”

“They’re going to kill her anyway,” Blue said, and he felt heartless when the filly flinched again, just like she had when Rikarr had spoken this morning. “They’re killing all of us. This isn’t….this isn’t how ponies are supposed to live!” The stories his grandfather had told of Equestria went through his mind. He had to make her understand. “Brown, Equestria is a place where ponies live freely—pegasi fly as fast as any gryphon, and earth ponies grow food—food of their own, not plucking dead meat for carnivores.” He kicked a dead chicken. “And they have cutie marks—symbols of their talents, on their flanks. It’s like magic!”

“That sounds crazy, Blue,” Brown said.

“I’ve seen a flank symbol before,” Green said suddenly, and both Blue and Brown froze.

The filly spoke quietly, not quite looking at them, her gaze still trained to the forest beyond the fence. “A Red inside the aerie got one. It was a picture of a raindrop.”

“What happened to him?” Brown asked. “Was that his talent?”

“I don’t know,” Green answered. “The gryphons took him away. I never saw him again.”

Blue turned to Brown. “You see?” he said quietly.

“Is it safe there?” Brown said. “If we actually got away…”

“It is. It’s real.” Blue wished he were surer of that. “We have to leave. To save Green.”

Brown sighed. Then she froze when a gryphon approached. “Hurry up with my dinner!” he called. "And stop talking!"

“Think it over,” Blue said. “I’ll be…” he thought frantically as the gryphon grew closer. “Under that tree, tonight. High Moon. You too, Green. You want to get out of here, don’t you?”

Green blinked, looking once to the gryphon and then back to Blue. She nodded.

Brown nodded once, or it may have been a dip of the head to pull more feathers off the chicken. Blue lowered his head in respect to the gryphon and hurried back to his tent.

He had questions to ask and plans to make.

***

Blue and his grandfather sat outside in the light drizzle after their dinner. Food, water, and a blanket, as well as the old banner, lay in a small, discreet bag on his back.

His stomach twisted in increasingly intricate knots as the moon rose higher. He hadn’t told his plans to anyone other than Brown and Green. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't take his parents—the larger the party, the greater the chance of getting caught. If he even spoke of it, it would only put them in danger.

And his grandfather was far too old. At least the gryphons wouldn’t trust a thing he said. His age would save him.

“So, Grandfather,” Blue began.

“Wha?” His grandfather lifted his head, his eyes dull. “You want a marble?”

“No. Grandfather, you said…um, if I wanted to go north, which way would I go?”

His grandfather snorted, tossing his head. “North? Why, up, of course!” He looked straight up, rain falling in his eyes. He blinked.

“No, Grandfather. North, not up. You know…if I wanted to walk.”

The old pegasus stayed silent for a few moments, still staring at the sky. Blue was about to give up and ask his parents when his grandfather finally spoke. “That star.”

Blue walked over, staring up also. “What star?”

His grandfather snorted again. “You little colts don’t know anything.” Blue rolled his eyes, but this wasn’t the first time his grandfather had called him, a nearly full grown pony, a colt. “That one! The one in the middle of the two spoons. See?” He traced his hoof, and slowly Blue made out the “spoons.”

“That bright one?” he asked.

“That’s the one!” His grandfather stood and pranced in a circle, never looking away from the star. “The North Star. It never moves—you can follow it to the end of the earth! Until you end up back where you started, of course.”

Blue stared at it for a while. The North Star. His beacon to Equestria.

“Thank you, Grandfather,” he said, and the old pony met his eyes. “Thank you very much.”

His grandfather’s eyes narrowed, a light kindling there for a moment. Then it was gone, and Blue turned away, heading toward the center of the fields.

And then, to Equestria.

***

Lighting flashed across the night sky as he approached the tree. Two shapes huddled underneath it.

“Blue.” Brown met his eyes in the dark. “You realize this is crazy. I’m only doing this for her.”

“I know.” Blue regarded the filly, who got to her feet. He hoped she had something to eat earlier.

“So, Blue. What’s the plan?”

Blue took a deep breath. He had never led anyone before. All his life, he had listened to the gryphons, obeying commands without thinking.

Now that would change.

“Alright. We need to get out of the compound through the hole in the fence.” The filly just blinked at him. “Once we’re out, we run. Gryphons see amazingly well during the day, but their night vision is bad. We need to get as far into the forest as we can and then hide once the sun is up. We’re going to be traveling at night from here on out.”

“How do we get through the fence?” Green whispered, her voice barely audible. “They have guards on every post.”

“I know. That’s where I come in.” Blue stretched his wings, the muscles protesting. “I’m going to make a low pass to get a ground fog. Then we head right for the hole. As soon as I touch down, we go.”

“Blue…” Brown met his eyes. “This is too risky. What if you get caught?”

“If I get caught…you go, while they’re distracted. Go north. You see that star?” He pointed, the same way his grandfather had. “Follow that one.”

The two other ponies stared at the sky. “It’s brighter than the others,” Brown said. Then she shook her head. “No. You’d better not mess up, Blue. We’re all going together.”

Blue sighed. “Just trust me. If I don’t make it, go on. For her.”

Brown just nodded. “ Hold this,” Blue said, giving her the bag. Brown stared, then finally nodded again and took it.

“How will we know when we get there?” Green asked.

Blue paused. “You’ll know,” he said. Then he flapped his wings and took off.

Only adrenaline kept his hooves off the ground. Flying this low was dangerous on a good day—one mistake, one unfortunate gust of wind, and he’d be tumbling head over hoof. But he had to do it. He couldn’t waste this chance.

That hole in the fence wouldn’t go unrepaired forever, and Green had no time as it was.

Blue zipped along the ground, collecting small wisps of cloud fluff—barely more than dew. He circled the earth pony tents near the fence, listening to the soft snores from inside as he arced around them. Cold air whisked around his body, and he brought up the fog everywhere he went, spreading it around the compound, condensing it in spots so that it would seep everywhere once left on its own. Above him, the dark shapes of the gryphon’s aeries loomed.

His heart began to pound, and the muscles in his wings burned, but he pushed on. There would be no flying for days after this. He just had to get through it.

The fog grew, billowing across the fields—and across the fence.

He turned in a wide circle, heading toward the tree. His wings folded painfully across his back as his low glide turned into a trot. “Now!” he hissed between rapid breaths.

Brown and the filly overtook him immediately, and he pushed his aching body to follow. A full gallop through thick fog, heading toward the hole in the fence. Toward freedom. His hooves churned the ground, wet from rain, and a stitch formed in his side, his heart leaping in his chest. The fence grew closer, looming through the fog.

They would make it!

“Hey!” An eagle screech sent a spear through his heart. “What was that?”

The filly froze in mid gallop and fell, sliding on her side through the mud. Brown stopped and bumped into her, nudging her to get to her feet. Blue struggled to catch up. If they stopped, they were dead.

A heavy shape passed over them in the fog, circling, and Blue’s gut churned.

They might already be dead. If not, it was broken wings for him, like his mother, and for Brown, it would be shackled hooves for the rest of her life. And Green…

“I thought I heard something, down there!”

Blue froze as he caught up to the other two, Green barely stumbling to her feet. This was it. He had failed. The gryphons would find them, and find the banner in his bag. Then no one would ever hear of Equestria again.

Blue shut his eyes and waited for the gryphon’s talons.

“Hey! I can fly!”

What? Blue turned, trying to peer through the fog, his mind a jumble. That was grandfather’s voice.

“Hey you gryphons! I can fly! Right over the south side of the fence, over here! Here I goooo!”

“Stop!” the shadow overhead bellowed, his voice deafeningly loud. Then it disappeared, arcing toward the south side of the compound.

Toward Grandfather.

No.

Blue turned to go back for him, aching wings spreading to take flight once again. “Can’t catch me!” Grandfather shouted, his voice full of laughter and startlingly free of the confusion that usually plagued it. Just like when he had spoken of Equestria.

“Blue!” He stopped at Brown’s voice, looking over his shoulder toward her and Green. “This is our chance,” she said.

“But…”

“Blue.” Brown stepped closer, staring at Blue. She was taller than he was, he realized. “Don’t. They’ll catch you too.”

“They’ll take his wings!” Blue hissed, looking forward, listening for his grandfather. He only heard the angry shrieks of the gryphons. He tried to take off, but Brown reached out with her foreleg and held him down by the shoulder.

“You can’t stop it,” she said, her eyes sad. “If you go back…” she shook her head. “You need to use this opening he gave you to escape with us.”

“But—”

“He did this for you,” Brown said, her voice low. “I’m sorry.”

“Blue.” This time it was Green who spoke. “Are we going?”

Blue stomped the ground with one hoof, not looking at the others. Grandfather. That stupid, crazy pony. Blue hadn’t even known the old pony could still fly.

He would come back for him. After he made it to Equestria and learned to outfly any gryphon, he would come back for all of them.

“Alright,” he said to Brown and Green. The unicorn had gotten to her feet. “Alright. Let’s go.”

The small group of ponies charged through the hole in the fence, and this time no gryphon stopped them.

Comments

[sierra_seven_]

I want to give this another thumb. So very badly. Keep up the amazing work

[BBkat]

This is looking really good Raneth, I can't wait to read more.