Chapter 7
Without the light of day, Green could not tell how many days they had been down here. They slept and they walked, with Stone and two dogs who did his bidding and never spoke.
No talon marks scored the walls of the tunnels she walked down, and every so often the glint of a gem would catch her eye and send two burly snarling guard dogs digging at the ground. The rock wasn’t smooth, cracks and pits making her stumble and knick her hooves. No breeze blew from the entrances, where gryphons would land with a rush of chill air that had made her bones shake in winter. The stone was gray in the light of her horn, not reddish pale limestone.
But the tunnels reminded Green of the aeries anyway.
“Keep quiet, Green.” Her mother’s voice wound through her memories, as it usually did. “Never look a carnivore in the eye. Simply obey. It is for the best.”
The gryphon her mother had served had been named Talisk. He had been like Stone, more stupid than cruel, with talons too long for his body and a beak wrenched crooked. He would squawk at her whenever she looked at it, so she hadn’t, obeying her mother’s advice. She remembered the floors and walls of the stone aeries better than most.
Only at night, when Talisk was asleep and her father was home from the mines smelling of rock dust and sweat, would her mother speak of other things.
“Ponies have a long history, Green, and we unicorns are a part of it. Magic can be used for many things, not just finding gems and lifting objects. We could do anything, once. Even raise the sun and moon. Ancient unicorns had that power.”
Green had just listened, eyes big and heart pounding. She had never known if any of it was true, and she knew she never would. But she rehearsed her mother’s stories in her mind, every night.
It was all she had left.
“Keep going, Greenie.” Amber’s voice cut through her memories, the brown earth pony nodding down at her. Her new symbol, the cutie mark, seemed to glow in Green’s dim light. Amber had walked differently in the time since it had appeared, her strides longer and her head held high. Despite being hitched to the cart that Stone was steadily filling with the gems his guards dug up, she would stare down any dog who looked at her for too long, and it made Green’s insides twist.
She had never seen a pony do that. Not even the Red who had gotten his raindrop cutie mark had walked like that, and it hadn’t been long before they had taken him away. He hadn’t fought, just put his head down like the rest of them.
Green didn’t want to remember that. But she did want to remember her parents. Her mother’s soft voice at night, her father’s quiet strength…to remember them, she had to remember the gryphons.
And she had to remember Rikarr. The last day flashed through her mind again, her stomach and chest going hollow as the scene replayed. Flashing talons, her mother’s power…Why hadn’t her father just done his job? Why had her mother fought? None of it made sense.
Her mother always told her to be careful, and then she was gone, just like that. Why hadn’t she listened?!
Green wrenched her mind away from those memories. They didn’t matter, shouldn’t matter. This was her life now. Walking through tunnels, slowly heading uphill, heading toward a place called Equestria.
***
“See!” The dog pointed with an outstretched paw. “We make it!”
Green let her light die, peering ahead. Natural light illuminated the hewn rock of the cavern. Water dripped from a stalactite, sending iridescent colors down the tunnel and making the gems sparkle.
“That’s it,” Amber said, shrugging her shoulders and letting the makeshift yoke fall to the ground. She stepped away from the cart, giving it a strong kick that sent it jolting back. “You kept your deal. Here’s your gems.”
“Wait,” Dusk said as Stone leapt for the cart, his claws grasped around the largest gem. The two dogs with him began hooking themselves to the traces. Stone looked over his shoulder, ears back. “Tell us exactly where we are,” Dusk said. “What can we expect on the other side?”
“On other side of mountain.” Stone narrowed his eyes, his black nose twitching. “Thunderhooves live here. Then forest.”
Green’s heart jolted. “Thunderhooves?” Dusk pressed. “What are Thunderhooves?”
The dog drew his ears back further, and Green took a step toward Amber. “Nasty things. Crush dogs. Feed gems to dragons!” He ended the phrase with a snarl. “I no come!”
Dusk and Amber exchanged glances. “Fine,” Amber said. Before she could say any more, Stone barked a command, and the two burly dogs with him began heading down the tunnel at fast clip, the sound of the wheels fading into a dull echoing roar.
“We should have questioned him more,” Dusk said. “I don’t like the sound of these ‘Thunderhooves.’”
“They can’t be worse than the gryphons,” Amber said. “And I, for one, relish the idea of getting out of these caves and onto some proper soil.”
“We have to be careful,” Dusk said, but Amber had already begun trotting ahead, her hooves loud against the stone. Green followed, staying close to Dusk, who walked with quiet steps and his wings folded tightly against his back.
The light grew from a colorless glow to a warm yellow shine, and Amber’s hooves scuffed more quietly against stone that steadily turned into dirt, and finally grass. They emerged into a sunny day, the sky a sapphire blue with no cloud to be seen.
“Wow,” Amber said, a breeze catching her voice.
Green blinked in the bright light. Gold-green grass rolled ahead of them in undulating waves into the horizon. It was dizzying to look upon.
Amber reared, her mane blowing back. “Now this looks wonderful! Room to run and all the food you can eat!” Green felt her body tense in preparation to run, and some innate part of her longed to feel the wind in her mane and the ground underhoof.
“Hold on!” Dusk shouted from the cave entrance, and Amber landed, her front hooves raising puffs of dust. “It’s also wide open. If Rikarr is still hunting us, or if those thunderhooves decide to hunt us, we’re dead if we’re exposed out there.”
Amber’s ears fell, and the longing inside Green vanished. He was right.
“What would you have us do? There’s nowhere else to go,” Amber said.
“We travel at night. We have to find the star anyway, to follow it, and at night predators will have trouble seeing us.”
“If he’s even still hunting us,” Amber said with a snort, but there was no fire in her words. She trotted back toward the cave mouth, head hung low. Green followed, watching the clear blue sky.
They were free, but she still didn’t feel safe. At least at home, she had known how to avoid danger.
“Try to sleep, Green,” Dusk said, nudging her further into the darkness of the caverns. “We’re still safe here in the caves. Get rest while you can.”
“Come nightfall, Green,” Amber said. “Then we can really run.”
Green curled up between two stone pillars, closing her eyes. In her mind, as she did every night, she remembered her mother’s stories, and her mother’s voice.
***
Sleep didn’t come before the sky dimmed to purple and then to black. She was aware when Dusk headed to the mouth of the cave, staring at the sky. She got up too, looking to the sky, but she couldn’t find the star they were following.
“Ready, Green?” Dusk asked. She nodded. “No light, okay? I wish the moon were less full, but it can’t be helped.”
“We go as far and as fast we can, I take it?” Amber said, tossing her head and stretching her legs.
“Yes.”
“You going to fly?” Amber nudged him. “It’s been awhile since you stretched those wings.”
Dusk unfurled his wings, then folded them once more and shook his head. “I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway.”
“Suit yourself.” Amber tensed her shoulders. “Let’s go!”
She charged ahead. Dusk nudged Green. “Go. I’ll keep the rear.”
Green took a quick jolting breath, and headed out after Amber.
The night air filled her with energy like a jolt, and that coupled with anxiety sped her to run faster than she ever had before. The grass beneath her hooves was springy and soft, propelling each step, and she ducked her head low and dug her hooves into the earth. Her mane and tail streamed, long grasses whipping her snout. Amber’s hoof falls echoed in her ears, and her heart beat double in her head.
No screeching filled the air. There was no sound at all save for the rustle of grass they passed and the pounding of their hooves.
“Look up, Green!” Amber called.
The sky overhead was filled with stars, sometimes so many clustered together that they made parts of the sky glow brighter. A path of them arced across her vision, and above it all the moon shone. No matter how fast they ran, the stars stayed the same.
Some of her fear began to ebb.
“Look ahead, Green, see?” Dusk had caught up to her, his dark form matching her speed. “That’s the star. The one straight ahead. It’s brighter than the others.”
It was off the glowing path, and Green pointed her snout at it. For a moment, in her mind, she ran across a river of stars.
“There were ponies once, unicorns like me and you, who raised stars. They played with stars like toys, and made them sparkle and shine.”
As Green ran, and watched the stars ahead of her while her mother's voice echoed, the fear vanished for a short time.
***
They took shelter in a plume of tall grasses when the sky began to lighten, the long stalks hiding them only when they crouched down. Green collapsed into a small ball, and even Amber puffed. Dusk stretched out his legs.
“More of the same tomorrow night," he said. The sea of grass still stretched ahead of them, unchanged. “I’ll keep watch first.”
Green nodded, letting her head drop. She was too tired to even remember a story.
***
“Hey.”
Green’s eyes flew open. She had fallen asleep at the pink of dawn, and now the sun soared overhead. Her heart raced like it had last night, and she lifted her head. Dusk snored across from her, and Amber was nowhere to be seen.
“Over here!” Green leaped to her feet. “Ssh!” Someone giggled.
“Hi!” Green leaped backward when another creature jumped out of the patch of grass she had been laying next to. It was taller than her, with a slight hump in its back and long legs that ended with hooves that were cloven in two. Its fur was brown and curly, and it flopped its ears as it tilted its head. “I’m Dusthoof. What’s your name? I’ve never seen something like you before.”
Green stared, her flanks heaving with her quick breaths. Her gaze flicked from the strange Dusthoof to the sleeping form of Dusk and back.
“C’mon, your dad’s asleep and your mom’s not looking.” Dusthoof reared up and then did a strange sort of jig around Green, then ended it with a flip and a kick of her hooves. “Let’s play!”
She could yell, and Dusk would wake up. Nothing in her mother’s stories, or what she had seen on her travels, explained this.
But it didn’t feel dangerous.
“What are you?” Green finally asked.
Dusthoof snorted a laugh. “That’s what I said!” She puffed out her chest. “I’m a buffalo, of the Grass Song tribe!”
“I’m…a pony. Of…nowhere.” Eaglesburg had never been her home. “My name is Green.”
“That’s a weird name.”
Green didn’t know what to say to that. “You can call me Greenie?”
Dusthoof tilted her head. “That’s still kinda weird.” When Green didn’t respond, she reared up again. “But that’s okay! C’mon, let’s play!”
I—”
“Dusthoof!” a voice bellowed, so loud that Green’s ears rattled. Dusk was on his feet in a second. “Where are you?!”
Dusk looked over to Green, and his eyes went wide at the sight of the buffalo. He flared his wings, tensing his shoulders and narrowing his eyes, and for a moment Green thought he might attack.
“Dusk!” Amber called, her hooves pummeling the ground as she ran into their small nesting spot. She broke into a smile when she saw Dusthoof. “And you must be Dusthoof. Your father is looking for you.”
Dusthoof wilted. “Sorry, Greenie,” she said, and bounded away over the grass.
“Amber, what—”
“It’s okay!” Amber grinned, and Dusk went silent. “I have something to show you!”
Dusk relaxed, though his wings were still spread and he looked ready to take flight at any moment. He and Green followed Amber out of the tall, swaying grass.
Green’s eyes went wide. The empty field was now filled with furry brown shapes, each one several times bigger than Amber. One swiveled its head to look at her, then went back to munching the long grass.
“This is the Grass Song tribe,” Amber said. “And they’re friendly.” She laughed. “I think we’ve found the Thunderhooves.”
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An update? Finally!
Yay an update!
And cool, we get to meet buffalo!
OOOOhhhhh... YES YES YES YES YES... they're nearly there!!!!
Awesome update and nice use of the name 'Thunderhooves"
An interim chapter, to be sure. But written well nonetheless; great update once more, and it's nice to see them meet something friendly for once.
This is a pretty interesting premise you have going on here, and it was certainly fun catching up with it. I like the characterization you have going for the main trio, and watching them escape and ultimately explore all the freedoms they had been denied while captive opens grounds for all sorts of interesting interactions and happenings. If this story is still alive, I can't wait to see what happens next, and what ultimately goes down once they reach Equestria - that should be all sorts of interesting. Not to mention the potential political implications this opens up - if they get the word to the princesses (and if they stumble upon the right people, that might happen pretty quick), that would be plenty ground for the diarchy to take steps in order to ensure the enslaved ponies are returned to their lands. Here's hoping there is more to follow.
Wow, I can't believe I've missed this incredible story. I wish I could give you all the likes and favs, but alas I only have one of each. I will eagerly await updates in the future.
Congratulations for your feature Aldrigold. You deserve it
. keep it up! and I cannot wait for the next chapter.
very very nice. Now these "Thunderhooves" friend or foe? Who knows?
Interesting, and definitely worth a read. Fairly long delays between chapters though, given how short they are. Any plans for a faster update timetable now that it's made it to EQD?
Awesome. Keep Writing.
2661728 I'll second this.
I can see them reaching Equestria early to midway through the story, simply because of all that can be done with them being in Equestria, especially with the eventual return. I'd also love to see Greenie getting her cutie mark (and name) before Dusk and having his struggles with discovering his talent (plus being an adult without a cutie mark) being part of the plot. I can see this being a really long and involved story, or having a sequel, what with the multitude of options before you. It's quite well written too, flowing nicely. I generally notice when a story is poorly done, but nothing has reared it's ugly head, which is wonderfully refreshing.
Loving the story! I can't wait to see where it goes.
-Silver
Awesome! I can't wait to learn more about the thunderhooves!
This story is awesome but I wasn't aware that ponies have feet