An Equestrian Journey

by Aslfrasle

The Broken Bridge

Purple had been wandering through the tunnel for what seemed like ages. There were small piles of sand strewn about around the inside of the tunnel, blown in by the winds from either side of this long passage.

She had not noticed it while she was walking through the desert though now that she was walking through the shaded tunnel, with nothing to think about other than herself and her journey, she easily noticed that she was feeling very tired and exhausted. She had been walking through a desert and had engaged in strenuous physical activity for what seemed like more than a day so she was not surprised. Her robe was a lighter purple and was very lightweight, plus it had the added benefit of helping keep her body cool and dry, yet it was not perfect. Her body apparently still felt the effect of the sun’s rays even if she had not. She decided that it would be unhealthy to keep going and ignoring her body’s obvious signal, and laid down against one of the walls of the tunnel. The fatigue hit her in full force once she was leaning against the wall, and she could not believe that she had been walking with this. Feeling the fatigue wash over her she began to notice her eyes slowly closing of their own volition as she slowly slipped into sleep.

---

As Purple awoke she looked around through half-lidded eyes and took in her surroundings. As she saw the interior of the tunnel she suddenly remembered her situation. She remembered waking up in the desert, she remembered the glyphs and the story walls, she remembered the dreams, and most importantly she remembered her task, reaching the light at the summit of the mountain.

As she got back to her feet, she began making her way through the rest of the tunnel. Walking seemed easier, and the weather even seemed less brutal now that she was rested. She hadn’t got a the kind of rest she could have if she had a bed though this was good enough for her trek.

Purple had finally reached the other side of the passage, and gazed upon the new landscape that was to be the next leg of her journey. She was looking at a small canyon sized desert, with a large plateau ahead of her that seemed to encircle the mountain. There were also small ridges to her left and right cutting off entry to those areas, which looked suspiciously like the area she was currently in. As she looked down at the small stretch of desert, she spotted what looked like a bridge that led from the sandy ground up the plateau. She guessed that this would be the only way she would get closer to the mountain, though when she took a closer look she saw that the bridge was broken and in ruins. The only parts of the bridge that were still standing were the supports, the pieces of bridge that used to connect them however were lying in piles of rubble in the sands below.

Knowing she would not get anywhere by staying up here, Purple leaped of the platform into the small canyon. She was afraid she would injure herself when she hit the sands, though was able to prevent this by tucking in her body and rolling them moment she hit the sands. The impact caused her to spin out into a small dune, her back hooves sticking out of the sands with her robes lying in front of her. She used her back hooves to pull herself out of the dune and fix her robes before looking around the canyon from a new point of view. While she was searching she noticed that there was another 2 of the glyphs to the Northeast and Northwest. She was about to go and collect them when she heard a strange sound behind her, and when she turned she saw a small sand waterfall cascading down so her Southeast; relatively unimportant; yet through a small crevice in the wall it was in front of, she could see a small cavern behind the waterfall. When she went to investigate it, she saw another story wall in the cavern, hidden away from all but the most prying eyes. As she approached the wall she summoned her powers and created another wave of energy, which on contact lit up the wall with images like the others. This wall depicted images of her kind fighting each other over the cloth and scarves, tearing them to pieces in an attempt to steal them from others. She wondered what could have led to this kind of behavior, as their civilization seemed entirely peaceful and pleasant in the dream she had of the great white creature.

Now finished learning the story of this wall, she made her way back through the sand waterfall and headed towards the 2 glyphs she had seen earlier. As she collected each of them, she felt the power within her grow larger and stronger as her runic scarf became one rune longer. It was already slightly longer than her body was after collecting the 2 new glyphs.

Turning her attention towards the difficult task of getting up the crumbling, ruined bridge she began surveying the area looking for something that could help her get up to the top. She saw what looked like the scarves she had used in the hub area. She trekked through the dunes to the nearest group of scarves , which were poking out of a strange piece of rubble. She took a couple of seconds to climb the rocky rubble it was resting upon and used her powers to renew the scarf as she had done with the others. Once the scarf was brand new, it dissipated and receded into the strange ruined machine. Once the scarf was inside, the machine made the same whirring noises as the other one had done earlier though when this one finished, a small door in the machine opened and a large swarm of scarf pieces flew out. Purple was about to try and get them to carry her like the others, with the idea of floating up to the bridge, yet before she could they flew up towards the bridge on their own and began creating a large cloth path between two of the bridge supports. Purple finally realized this was how she would get up to the top, and began making her way to the other scarves in the area yet before she could, something blue jumped into her vision and was blocking her path.

When she got a good look at the creature, she noticed it look like her, though it had a blue robe as opposed to Purple’s violet robe. She also had cyan wings poking out of her back unlike Purple’s horn. Her scarf was the same kind of blue as her robe though the runes were rainbow colored. What was interesting was that Blue’s scarf was slightly shorter than her own, just reaching the end of her body. Purple noticed a small amount of hair sticking out from the creature’s hood, what was strange though was that it was rainbow colored, similar to the tail that was poking out of the back of her robe. Naming the creature the same way she named herself, she decided the creatures name would be Blue.

No sooner had she finished examining Blue, before she saw a small noise coming from the Blue’s direction. She wondered what the Blue was doing, though after a few more chirps, she realized that Blue must be trying to communicate with her. Blue’s eyes magenta eyes were visible from underneath her hood and combined with the noises she was making Purple interpreted the noises as some form of asking her something.

How did you do that!? Purple assumed this was what Blue was asking.

Purple simply pointed at the scarves, then showed Blue the energy wave she made, then pointed to the new bridge path.

Blue then smiled; or at least what looked like a smile; and embraced Purple with her front hooves. Purple concluded that Blue had been here for a longer time than she had and had been trying unsuccessfully to solve this problem. Purple was happy to help and made her own chirp in response.

Would you like to come with me to the mountain? I’m sure we could help each get their faster. She hoped her face and bodily motions along with her chirp conveyed this. Purple assumed Blue had understood her, as Blue began following her around as she made her way to the next cluster of scarves.

After Purple had finished renewing all the scarf clusters she could find in the desert canyon, she looked up at the bridge which should be completed and traversable. What she saw instead was a bridge that was entirely traversable except for the beginning. The first two bridge supports had no cloth pathway between them. It was not that high up to the second bridge support, though it was far too high for Purple to get to on her own. She began frantically looking for another scarf cluster that she must have missed and began panicking when she couldn’t find any left.

Strangely Blue was as calm as can be as she began walking over to the edge of the first bridge support. Purple had no idea what she was trying to do, she had no way of getting up without the bridge pathway there. Blue seemed to think there was a way up, and chirped to beckon Purple over to the edge. Purple walked over and began thinking of how to explain how it was impossible to cross without the pathway when suddenly, Blue simply place her front hooves underneath Purple arms, and began to flap her wings heavily. The pair began to float upwards in the air towards the second bridge support. Purple was amazed at this display of power from Blue and was wondering how she could fly when Purple could not. Her answer came in the form of a peek at Blue’s scarf while they were floating, much like Purple’s scarf when she used her magic wave, the runes were slowly disappearing. With this new information, Purple concluded that the scarves were able to channel the runic energy in different ways depending on who the user was. In Purple who had a horn it manifested as magical energy, yet in Blue who had wings it manifested as flight.

After another look at the scarf for a more thorough examination...Purple realized that the runes were almost gone! She called to Blue trying to ask her to hurry before they fell. Blue seemed annoyed by the frantic calls, though she understood why they were there when she began to fall. She was still a few feet from the next bridge support, though through a mix of flapping her wings furiously and trying to swim through the air, she somehow got her and Purple to the other side, though they were hanging from the edge. Blue managed to pull herself up and then help Purple get onto the platform as well. Realizing they almost didn’t make it, they both heaved a sigh of relief as they relaxed on the floor of the bridge support. Once they had calmed down, they both got to their feet again and began traveling across the pathways to the altar at the end. As soon as they touched the cloth pathways, the runes on their scarves were fully restored, and they began lightly floating, and when the leaned forward they began moving in the same direction. They floated across each cloth scarf and finally arrived at the altar.

It was similar to the first one Purple had seen, though there were more small stone monuments this time. Purple lit up the monuments on one side, while Blue handled the other. Once all the monuments were lit, another small pool of light formed in the middle as before. Purple cantered over and sat in the circle, and seeing her Blue did the same. As the light filled them up they once again saw everything go white as the were sent into the dream again.

Purple and Blue awoke in the dream realm and saw the same great white creature that Purple had seen the first time. Blue seemed ready to attack, as if she thought it was dangerous, though Purple chirped to her, the look on her face saying that it was not hostile. As before, White, as Purple had decided to call her merely walked up to the pair, and craned her head to the side indicating another lesson on the history of their kind…

The great wall she had seen the first time now depicted a civilization of the robed creature who had created a thriving city based on the energy they had found in the scarves. The scarves had been incorporated into every machine and device in the city and powered everything they had. The people became dependent on the scarves power for all the activities of their lives. Everyone had them to power their machines, and those that didn’t had nothing...

Then the vision ceased and they were back in the dream world. Noticing that the pair had finished learning the new lesson, White simply nodded at the two of them, and pointed the head at the space behind her...and then, she turned and began walking off again. As she walked off, the pair vision began to fill with white again as they woke up from their dream. When they were fully awake the two noticed that the great sand waterfall in front of them had parted revealing a secret passage behind it.

Purple got to her hooves and called to Blue to follow her, as they made their way towards the mountain. A few of Purple’s questions had been answered yet she still did not know what happened to them and why they always walked to the mountain on their pilgrimages. At least now she had a friend to share this adventure with who could help her with the problems she could not solve alone...

Author's Note:

I have decide to use the songs from the game where I think it fits (using the level music for each level). Other than that I'm sorry this took so long...

I hope you enjoy!

Comments

[Aslfrasle]

2253300 Funny thing, the story you're thinking of was submitted mere hours after this one was.
And technically since I'm trying to make this as close to Journey as possible, the characters are more implied to be the mane 6, though in the story they are never referred to by their names. 'Purple'(Twilight) just gives herself and the different creatures and objects names based on what they look like.

hope you enjoy(ed) the story!

[Rainy_Daze]

Awesome chapter.

No sooner had she finished examining Blue, before she saw a small noise coming from the Blue’s direction.

Saw... Purple can see noice.
Can't wait for the next chapter.

[Aslfrasle]

2255155 In Journey whenever you or someone else makes noise, it makes a little sphere of sound around them...

[Rainy_Daze]

2255266
Ah.

[Polygrammar]

I like it. I never played Journey but I have heard about it. I would love to if not for the fact its exclusive to the PS3. And seeing as how theres no other real reason to buy one, I guess I'll just have to satiate my mild curiousity by watching a playthrough video. Onwards to the next chapter!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Follow.

[Black_lightening]

2255266
: It's too dark, I can't see what you say!
: What?