Chapter 1: Flash of Bad Luck

Edited by: Mischievous Blue, FlashDrake and EverfreePony

Chapter 1: Flash of Bad Luck

Opening my eyes, I looked around at the blank plaster wall of my room. The soft scent of something cooking wafted its way under my door.

Pancakes, syrup… and burning? Oh dear Celestia, please don't tell me he is ‘cooking’ again.

Snapping fully awake with that thought, I climbed out of bed, feeling the painful throb in my left wing; must have been sleeping on it again. Unconsciously, I stretched it out, flapping a couple times to get the blood flowing. Slowly I walked to my door yawning all the way, opening it and looking into the visibly tinted air laced with smoke. Letting out a small sigh, I gave a quick shake to straighten out my feathers before eyeing the table.

“Morning Akilina, how is my little Wildcat today?” the blueish-gray unicorn with a matching graying blue mane asked. A smile crossed my face as I blushed a little at the nickname he often used for me, even though it was technically incorrect in almost every anatomical aspect of a griffon. Nevertheless, the name couldn't help but stick after he used it for the first time.

“Morning, Professor.” I stopped to yawn again before continuing casually, “What's the occasion?” I crossed the room, sliding into a seat at the table.

“Occasion? What are you talking about?” he asked, feigning ignorance as a small smile worked its way onto his face.

“C’mon, the only times you ever attempt to cook is for special occasions, so what is it this time?” I stated matter-of-factly. Looking to the unicorn still working away in the kitchen, I thought about what event could be happening. Drawing a blank, I resigned myself to just play along until he told me.

“So, you are saying there has to be an occasion for me to cook breakfast for my favorite griffon assistant in all of Canterlot?” he replied, overly exaggerating each word.

“Since when did I become your assistant?” I questioned. When he didn't show any sign of answering, I continued, “And even if I was, that is not saying much considering the fact that you only know two griffons.”

“Alright, alright. You got me.” The pony started as he levitated a large stack of pancakes over to the table. Taking his seat across from me, he continued, “You are right, today is a special occasion. But first.” He reached under the table with his magic and levitated out a small velvet box, which he placed in front of me.

Confused, I slowly reached out with my talon picking up the box and easing the lid open; I let out a gasp when I saw what was inside. Carefully I reached into the case, pulling out a small pendant to admire it in full view. The ornately carved pendant was shaped like a pair of spread wings, decorated with an impossibly intricate and detailed design, all brought together with the silver brilliance of its material, glistening as it swayed back and forth at the end of a matching chain.

"P-Professor! Wh-what is this?" I could hardly keep myself from stuttering as I stared at the beautiful piece of jewelry.

"It’s something I made for you," the Professor stated kindly as he smiled in a fatherly way. “It's been six years since I took you in, and who would have thought that in that time you would have become so close as family to me?” As he finished I felt a tear come to the corner of my eye. My life before coming to Equestria was… well, let's just say complicated. But that was all behind me, now I lived at the Canterlot University with the Professor. I dropped in on classes and helped teaching when I could. I had a new life, new friends, and a new family.

“Where did you get the bits for something like this?” I asked, still a little shaken up by the strong emotions running rampant through my mind.

"Don't worry about the bits. Don't you remember I said I made it? I didn't need to spend anything. It was all funded by the school's Developmental Magical Enchantments grant." Seeing my face of shock and disbelief change to one more consisting of confusion, the Professor rolled his eyes before elaborating, "Akilina, ever since you came into my life, I became extremely interested with how magic affects griffons when compared to ponies. Us ponies are naturally gifted with magic, some of us use it to help connect with the land, others use it to fly, and—"

"I know how magic works with ponies, Professor. You don't need to explain that to me," I interjected.

The Professor looked up, momentarily disoriented from the broken flow of his lesson. He had worked at the university for twenty-five years now, teaching classes from Magic 101, to the denaturing of alicorn artifacts. After he took me in, it wasn't long before my craving for knowledge drove me to start sitting in on his classes. Since then I had become quite well-versed in the Equestria Education System, and often helped out teaching. Because of this, despite me only being twenty-two years old, I had already bumped heads with many of the most brilliant minds in Canterlot.

"Err, yes, of course. Apologies, I got carried away," the Professor chuckled. Clearing his throat, he continued, "So since ponies are naturally gifted with magic, I wondered how, or if, is a griffon able to utilise magic as well. After many uncountable hours of studying and research, I finally came to conclusion that..." I sighed humorously at the Professor, gesturing for him to skip all the technical stuff. "Hehe, forgive me. I'm just so excited to be able to give this to you!" He definitely seemed excited, but how could this necklace have anything to do with magic, or griffons for that matter? Unconsciously, I took a sideways glance of curiosity down at the beautiful pendant I held. "Essentially," the Professor began for the third time, "this necklace is imbued with several enchantments that access and enhance your natural abilities as a griffon.” I looked up at him again, not even trying to keep the confusion off my face.

“You see, griffons do in fact have some level of natural magic within them. However, it is connected to and flows through their entire bodies. It is not centralized in any one area, like pegasus' wings or a unicorn's horn. Instead, to access a griffon's magic in one area, is to access its entire body's magic! For instance, if I were to put a curse on you that limited your flying ability, your body's magic would naturally work to counteract it by using strength from the rest of you. Because of this, griffons are very resistant to these kinds of magics as you cannot just weaken one area. This is partially why the griffons were so successful during the Griffon-Equestrian conflict over seven hundred years ago.” I rolled my eyes, expecting a history lesson to follow. Thankfully, it never did. But still what the Professor was saying was unlike anything I had heard, or read about in any books.

"Negative unicorn magic or any negative magic really, doesn't affect griffons as much as it does other creatures because it cannot have a targeted effect. However on the flip side, your body knows the difference between good and bad magic. So, magic made to specifically enhance your wings would augment all of you, and not just any one part. Good magic is incredibly helpful when done on a griffon, because its effects are always greatly enhanced, beyond the caster's intent. Effectively, any beneficial magic done to a specific area of a griffon is also done to all of you.” The Professor stopped for a breath and to regather his thoughts. “Now what would happen, if you had a charm that not only passively amplified your natural magic, but also allowed you to focus more magic into specific areas of your body, heightening them to their maximal potential? That... is what I've hoped to accomplishe with this charm.” The Professor raised his hoof, gesturing towards the pendant I held as he beamed down at me with pride.

“I…” I began to stutter out. Then not able to think of any words, I dove forward across the table and embraced the unicorn as tightly as I could manage.

"Oof! Okay, Akilina, okay!" The Professor managed to choke out before returning the embrace as best as he could. I finally let him go and slid back down to my chair, then a little sheepishly picked up a cup I had knocked over, allowing the Professor a few seconds to catch his breath and jokingly check if any of his ribs were broken. With a chuckle he continued, “So, I take it you like your gift?”

Without hesitation I unclasped the chain and looped the pendant around my neck before beaming the biggest smile I could manage back at him. “I love it!”

“Glad to hear it. Oh, and before I forget, can you keep your schedule open for Monday, next week?" Again, confusion crossed my face and I stared blankly at him. Thankfully the Professor, taking the hint continued, "I need to show my creation to the board so I can prove their bits have been well-funded. After that, it’s yours to keep.”

“Of course I’ll be there. Besides, I would have probably shown up even if you hadn't given me this,” I replied, gesturing to the pendant snaking through the feathers around my neck. Finally taking the time to snatch a couple pancakes off the top of the stack, I absently started separating the burnt parts from the still edible-looking ones.

“I am sure you would have, and you are always welcome, too. Speaking of which, I am teaching a class on the problem with enchanting magical null objects at ten AM, are you planning to join me?” the Professor asked as he too began partaking in the rapidly cooling food.

Oh shit shit shit shit, I completely forgot! I need to go!

Quickly glancing to the clock as it approached 8:50 I stood up from the table. “No sorry, I had plans to go to the market with Gray at nine. I need to get going! Sorry I have to leave in a rush like this. Do you need me to pick you up anything?” I asked, picking up the speed at which I was funneling the pancakes into my beak.

“It's alright. I don't think I need anything. But before you go, one last thing about the pendant. Please be careful with it. True, it is made from very strong materials and fortified with magic, so it won't break, unless you do something really stupid with it. But its effects are still only in theory… and it may take some time before your body correctly attunes, so just watch out and if you feel anything out of the ordinary, take it off,” as he said this I had already finished eating and was working my way over to the bathroom to clean myself up a little.

“Got it, I’ll be careful. It’s not like I plan to go hit it with a rock or something,” I called back to him, muttering that last part. Standing in front of the mirror, I looked myself over. The flamboyant coloration of orange and red feathers, with my yellow and white underbelly greeted me. Turning around I looked at my redder highlights that ran down from my crest feathers to my tail. The motion of turning made my whole body look like shifting flames in a fireplace.

The thing with ponies is that they naturally come in all colors of the rainbow. Griffons on the other paw are completely different. Our coloration is decided solely on what our parents looked like. If your mother is gray, and your father is white, you are light gray. It is as simple as that. Because of this, families are distinguishable at a glance, and there is rarely confusion on the validity of one's claims to a group. However, this caused problems for me as I could never know if someone would recognize me because of my parents’ coloration. So I always tried to avoid griffon travelers that passed through the city.

I grabbed the comb off the counter and got to straightening the majority of my feathers. Making them at least partially presentable, taking one last glance in the mirror at my silvery blue eyes, I walked out and headed to the door. Stopping and turning, I ran up to the Professor and embraced him in a gentle hug. “Thanks again. Love you,” I said sweetly, before a second later I was out the door, with the Professor smiling after me with all his fatherly pride.

Flying over the market, it was not long before I spotted the familiar figure of a griffon leaning against a wall. He looked up at me with a warm smile as I banked hard, coming in for my descent. When I was close enough to the ground, I tucked in my wings and dropped the last several feet. Landing, I ran a couple steps up to the aptly named griffon, Gray. His whole body was mostly... well, gray with the only real variation being lighter gray areas around his crest feathers, neck, underbelly, and tip of his tail, and darker gray on his wings.

I had met him almost four years ago during one of the Professor’s lectures. After several semi-awkward and slightly embarrassing events transpired, I got to know him rather well. He was born in Equestria and raised by ponies, never knowing his real parents. Because of this despite being a griffon, he was not very good at acting like one, unlike me, who had lived amongst griffons for most of my youth years. Because of this, I knew very well how to act, talk, and strike like a griffon. Gray, on the other paw, knew little to nothing about being a griffon, or griffon culture, aside from what he had read in books, and well… from watching me.

Thankfully, from Equestrian ignorants of our culture, he has yet to find anything in his study of griffons that might lead back to me, or more specifically the old me. I know one day he, or the Professor will find out... but I decided to cross that bridge when the day comes, and until then I'll continue to live my life the way I want. Anyway back to Gray, despite his lack of knowledge he doesn't refuse any opportunity to learn something new in order to impress me with how ‘griffon-like’ he thinks he is. But to be honest, and I'd never admit it to anyone outloud, it was actually rather cute. Then again it may just be my mind reaching to the only other of my kind I had seen in six years. It certainly didn't help when one day he thought he would try wearing a ‘ceremonial griffon outfit’ for one of our outings. A benefit of being primarily orange and red is, I don't think he saw how much I was blushing when he landed in full wedding attire. After getting him to take it off, I ended up spending the rest of the day explaining to him why most griffons foregone wearing clothing even at events, because of their ‘suggestive’ nature.

“You're late? That's not like you,” Gray started jokingly as he stepped away from the wall he had been leaning against, coming up beside me. I matched his gait as we started our walk down Market Street.

“Yeah, sorry about making you wait, I got caught up talking to the Professor about… well some stuff,” I replied as Gray nodded his head understandingly. With that we walked down the street talking and occasionally stopping to see some things that were up for sale.

The ponies paid us little mind, as most were used to us stopping by from time to time. But the occasional tourist or pony that didn't get out too often stopped to stare as we passed. Griffons in Equestria, specifically Canterlot, was not an unheard of thing, but it was still an oddity to say the least. Because of this, the ponies were always a little slow in warming up to us being around. However, Gray and I tried to never really let a thing like that bother us. Mostly because we could understand the uneasiness of an omnivore in a herbivore society. True, I did miss eating meat, but to be able to live in Equestria was well worth the sacrifice. Gray didn't eat meat for a different reason, growing up with ponies his whole life made him share many of the same ideals. Because of this, he never thought he wanted to try ‘Eating another living thing’ as he put it, even though he was perfectly capable of doing so.

“Hey, I am getting kind of hungry, want to stop off for a quick lunch?” I asked, gesturing to a restaurant with a big ‘GRAND OPENING’ sign out front.

“Sure, just so long as it's not too busy. Don’t want to have to wait long,” he replied, moving to open the door and motioning me in.

“U-um... welcome, for two?” the pony greeter asked, stumbling at first but soon regaining her composure.

“Please, and do you mind if we get a seat near the window?” I replied pleasantly as Gray came up to stand beside me.

“Of course, right this way.” We followed the olive colored earth pony to the table and took our places on opposite sides as the waitress passed out menus. “Can I interest you two with a bottle of wine, or maybe a couple’s dish?” she said with a smile.

Gray and myself both went red, or in my case, redder. We looked to each other, then back to the waitress, and blurted out at the same time, “Oh, no no no, we are not like together or anything. We are just friends.” We looked to each other, then to the pony, then back at each other, and finally to the ground, embarrassed as the waitress just stood there, smiling.

After getting that sorted out, and the strange looks from the couple other ponies in the restaurant went away, we placed our orders, then waited for our food. As we talked it wasn't long before our conversation shifted from ‘Hey, how have you been’ to Gray trying to ‘impress’ me with his knowledge of griffons… again.

“Okay, okay, here's one I bet you didn't know. The current ruler of the Griffon Kingdom inherited his position when he was only sixteen years old after the previous king passed away from illness,” Gray stated confidently, smirking my way. I thought about what he had said as I gazed out of the window at the ponies passing. Almost immediately my brain started replying before I had really worked out my answer.

“That's not true. He inherited the throne when he was fourteen, because his father was poisoned by an adviser, who then tried to frame it on the king's son, believing he would be the one to inherit the throne. However like an idiot, when he tried to plant the night-lock seeds in the son’s room, he made the mistake of not checking if the room was vacant. By the time the guards had opened the door, the young lord had already beat him into admission of his crimes, before breaking his wing and throwing him out of the window he had used to sneak in. The throne was then to be passed on to the young lord. However he was not publicly crowned until he was sixteen because of some bureaucratic age of maturity nonsense. During those two years the original king's death was kept a secret from the public under the pretence that he was ‘sick’ and bedridden. This was to keep the public...” it was then I realized everything I had said and abruptly stopped talking.

“... Right and you know this how?” Gray asked, noticing my uneasiness about the whole situation. He was never one to press an issue but he was also not one to let something go easily.

“It doesn't really matter, besides you know I don't like talking about my past... Let’s just say I've bumped into the royal family. And picked up some information when I did.” I finished with a slight uneasy chuckle.

“Wait, you actually got to meet the Griffon Kingdom's royal family!?! You have to tell me all about it!” he said zealously, almost knocking over the vase of flowers from on the table when his wings shot out in excitement.

“Calm down, you are making a scene,” I shushed him. This was the exact topic I preferred to avoid talking about… “Besides, it was a long time ago, I was young and don't remember much,” I replied quickly, trying to avoid and move the conversation.

“Oh come on, don’t give me that again. You never tell me anything about when you were younger.” I shot him a glare, and he let out a deep long sigh before continuing, “Fine, I’ll stop asking. So, what do you want to talk about then?”

“Well… Have any luck finding work? I remember you said something about job hunting last week?” His face almost immediately dropped to a grimace.

“It's not going well. Plenty of places are hiring, just none are willing to give me a chance. Maybe getting an astronomy degree was not the best idea,” he said, clearly a little depressed at the whole situation.

“Come on; don't be like that. I am sure you will find work somewhere. It just takes time to see where you fit in,” I replied, trying my best to cheer him up, with limited results.

“Yeah, you are probably right, still some days I wish I had a cutie mark just so that I would know what I am supposed to do with my life.” Just as he finished, the unicorn waiter walked out, levitating two plates of food.

Our conversation slowed and moved to the topic of ‘how's the food’ and ‘you have got to try this’. When we had both eaten our fill, we paid and headed back out into the now thinning crowd of ponies on the street.

“I have been meaning to ask, when did you get the new necklace?” Gray asked as we rounded the corner, heading off the street, and down an alleyway.

“Oh this?” I said, looking down at the pendant that bounced against my chest with each step. “The Professor gave it to me. Today is my six year anniversary of coming to Eque-Oof.” I stumbled back as I rounded another corner and crashed right into someone. “Oh, I am so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going...” I trailed off as I looked to see who I ran into. In front of me was standing a tall griffon, flanked by two others. I locked eyes with the lead one who I had bumped into, my mind immediately placing the face. A look of comprehension dawned on him as well, and silently I saw his beak form my name.

“Akilina?” the griffon repeated, this time audibly.

I stood still, just taking in the situation. Not saying anything, doing anything, just thinking. This griffon recognised me... someone from my past, the past I had run from since coming to Equestria, the past I was not going back to. Briefly I looked to the other two griffons beside him. I did not know either of them but the distinct sigil of the Griffon guard emblazoned across both of their sword sheaths was meaningful enough.

I needed to think, no I needed to move. My life as I knew it was done if I did nothing. I couldn't keep standing here. I needed to take charge of the situation. I needed to make the first move, even if it was just to buy me some more time to think.

“Gray, run!” I shouted, turning and grabbing him. After a second of being dragged, he soon complied with the new action of running next to me.

“Who are they?” he asked as we worked our way back down the alleyway, darting around corners, trying to lose the other three griffons that were now hot on our tails.

“Someone I hoped I would never have to see again,” I called back to him. Turning another corner we ran a couple steps, then stopped as a wall now stood in our path. We turned around just in time for the pursuing griffons to block us in.

Damn, that was short lived. I need to think of a way out of this. Sky is open, can always fly away… no, that wouldn't work; Gray is not fast enough at flying, they would catch him in an instant. I can't leave Gray behind, I don't know what they would do to him but I am sure it wouldn't be pleasant. Calling for help wouldn't work either, no one is in this part of town at this hour I… I know what I need to do.

FIGHT!

Instantly I lunged forward, diving past the lead griffon, striking him in the back of the neck and bringing him to the ground. In my peripheral vision I saw the other two react immediately, both taking up combat stances. This wasn't going to be easy, especially considering I had not needed to fight since coming to Equestria. Physically I was a mockery of my former self, but I still had one thing up on them. I knew how the Griffon guards fight.

One of them attacked, leaping with his right talon extended. I dropped flat to the ground and rolled onto my back. As he passed over I lashed out, kicking up with a hind leg knocking him back and into a wall. Unfolding my wings I flipped myself upright and back onto all fours. In my moment of disorientation, the other guard struck, attacking with a series of quick jabs with his talons. The first swipe landed a grazing scratch across my chest, but the wound was not enough to slow me down. Nimbly I danced around his strikes. His attacks were fast, I had to give him that, but they were also predictable. Like lightning, I grabbed one of his talons mid-strike. Immediately I pulled back and heaved him off balance. He stumbled forward a step and I planted myself, before heaving him up and over, flipping him hard into the pavement with a thud. A moment later a loud pop of his shoulder echoed out, matched by a momentary screech of agony. Releasing his now limp arm he wheezed and gasped for air, curling in on himself.

~SHING

The all too familiar sound of a sword being drawn took my attention as the first guard I had previously kicked into the wall was now back up, holding his now exposed blade towards me.

Great, now things are getting serious. I need to take him out fast before he can get in a lucky hit.

“In the name of the Griffon Kingdom I order you to stand down!” he stated, clearly not sure of his own abilities in this matchup after seeing what I had done to his friend. But at this point I was already too far gone with my decision of fight over flight, and there was no way I would give up.

I faked a lunged left and as expected he brought his sword up to a defensive position. My wings shot forward, reversing me as I kicked a paw of gravel at the defending guard. In his split second of hesitation, I flapped down hard, closing the gap between us. Pivoting on one paw and delivering a full kick with all my weight directly to his chest sent him and his sword both clamoring to the ground. I dropped back down to all fours and looked around at the three griffons, one passed out, one sprawled out across the ground gasping for air, and one curled into a ball with a broken arm... Missing… Am I missing one?

“... A-Akilina? Is that you?” The shaky and scared voice of Gray became audible, and my heart dropped. I had completely forgotten he was there… watching the whole thing.

Turning, I looked to him. Gray stood pressed against one of the walls of the alleyway, shaking nervously as he looked at me, fear in his eyes. I needed to tell him something… anything.

“Look, Gray... I am not who you think I am.” I started but trailed off. I wanted, no needed, to tell him who I was, but I knew better than that. I ran from my past, and it had caught up with me, so it was time to run again.

“I am sorry. It would be best if you tried to forget about me.” Before he had time to reply I gave a two-step run and leaped into the air, wings flapping fast and hard carrying me through the sky, back towards Canterlot University.

A few minutes later i dropped down to land on campus. Walking fast down the granite-laid paths, I made my way back to my room. But it was odd every pony I passed looked at me shocked and confused. They couldn't have found out what I had done so fast, could they? Rounding the last corner, I opened the door to my room, entered fast, closing and locking it behind me all in one motion.

“Welcome back, how was your day… oh sweet Celestia! What happened to you?” the Professor sitting at the table asked, immediately standing up and trotting over.

“What? Nothing happened to me. I am just here to pick some stuff up,” I replied, speaking fast, while trying to keep my voice as calm and level as possible.

“But... you're bleeding dear!” I looked to him, confused for a second. Then I followed his line of sight to my chest where it turned out I was in fact bleeding. The one strike that guard landed must have done more damage than I thought.

“Oh... Well I was...” I thought up a lie, but I just couldn't bring myself to say it to the Professor. Not after everything he had done for me. I sighed deeply, knowing this was not going to end well. “Look, when I was out I ran into some, well other griffons… griffons that I used to know, and well, they recognised me… Gray and I ran but they chased us down.” I started quickly but then stopped as I walked into the bathroom and started dabbing the blood out of my feathers.

“And they attacked you? Was Gray there? Is he alright?” the Professor questioned worriedly, still not truly understanding what had transpired.

“Not exactly, I was more the one on the offensive,” I started a little bit sheepishly, glancing across to him. The poor old pony’s face was nothing but confusion and worry.

“You beat them?” But didn't you say there were multiple?” he questioned, finally starting to understand, but still not believing.

“Look, it’s a really long story, and I just don't have the time to explain.” Moving into my room I reached under my bed, and pulled out a small wooden box. Opening it, I retrieved a sheathed knife and a small bag of bits. Sliding the box back under the bed, I started to strap the knife to my side, buckling it in place, whilst doing this, I spoke again, quicker than before, “I am sorry to do this, but I am leaving for a while, I promise I will come back some day after everything settles down. Then I will explain everything. But until then, please try to forget about me.” The pony was in disbelief of what I said, immediately raising protest.

“What? No, you don't need to go. We can work this out—” He was cut off by a crashing noise and a flurry of splinters as the door to our room was bucked in.

“Royal guard! Stay where you are,” a guard called out. Spotting me, he yelled, “There she is!”

“I am sorry,” I said, hastily hugging the older pony. Quickly ending the embrace I vaulted over the bed towards the window. A crash of breaking glass rang out, as I smashed through. Free falling for a second I stretched out my wings, flapping as hard and fast as I could to gain altitude and distance.

I need to get to the cloud level for some cover. The pegasi will be after me, but I can take them out if need be. It's the unicorns I need to get away from. I just need to get out of here!

It was then I became aware of the presence of something approaching. Making a mid-air turn I saw the something coming towards me fast... way too fast to dodge. Instinctively I winced back as the crackling bolt of magic impacted my chest, but then something happened. The magic stopped. The pendant the Professor had given me formed a small barrier between me and the spell. Before my very eyes I watched in slow motion as the magic changed structure, then imploded in on itself engulfing me in a white, hot flash.

~~~~~ Several seconds earlier, Professor’s Perspective ~~~~~

“I am sorry,” Akilina said before pushing me back. She leaped across the room and out of the window. A split second later several guards filed into the room.

“Are you okay? Did she hurt you?” one asked as she helped me back up to my hooves.

“No, I am fine,” I replied, paying little to no attention to anything but the orange form of Akilina flying away.

“She is too fast for the pegasi. We need to bring her down. Can you use a grounding or binding spell?” one of the pegasus guards asked the unicorn guard who was approaching the window to look out.

“No, nothing that would work on a griffon... I am going to try to teleport her straight into the dungeon,” the unicorn guard replied, as his horn started to glow with several auras of magic.

I understood the concept of a distanced teleportation spell, but even then it was quite a feat to be able to pull one off, for few ponies had the magic stamina needed. A pulse sound shook the room, as the spell was released from the unicorn who proceeded to immediately collapse to the ground in exhaustion.

The burst of magic streaked across the sky directly towards Akilina. She turned as the bolt struck her but... nothing happened, she was still there. The magic was just stopped. The seconds ticked by like an eternity as all eyes were looking to the sky. Then… in a blink she was gone, and in her place was an expanding ball of pure magical energy. The shockwave hit us first, followed by an echoing BOOM. When everything had cleared, there was no sign of Akilina in the sky. Everything, even the nearby clouds had been dispersed by the release of energy.

“Did you get her?” one of the guards asked, his confusion mirrored in everyone.

The unicorn who had cast the spell replied simply, “I… I don't know.”

~~~ End Chapter 1 ~~~

Chapter 2: A New Place and a New Journey

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Chapter 2: A New Place and a New Journey

Edited by: EverfreePony and Mischievous Blue

Pre Read by: ElectroPHX228

~~~~~ 16 years prior~~~~~

Keeping my back low and wings tucked under the black cloak I wore, I snuck my way through the torchlit hallways of the Griffon Kingdom’s castle. The small bag of gold I had lashed to my side jingled faintly with every step I took. But the slight amount of sound it made was barely audible over the nervous beating of my own heart. I needed to get out of here as quickly as I could, before anyone had the chance to find out what was missing.

Damn, I hate sneaking around like a rat. Anything, even gliding out a window would be better than this... but then again, I would assume the castle was designed in a way to prevent simply flying in and out. Not like it matters, my wings are still too small to fly on. But they are getting bigger, so in a year I might be able to start looking for a quicker way out.

I grumbled to myself as I continued down the hall, concealing myself even within the faintest of shadows. One plus was the guards were few; for everything the king was, he really didn't like to keep many griffons in the castle when it could be avoided. This was both a blessing and a curse as the few guards who were around were several levels above a common watchman. They were all educated, had advanced combat training, but above all else, they never shunned their duties.

Hearing the steps of a griffon coming down the hall, I turned and slipped into a servant's door. Silently I made my way down the several flights of stairs before stopping at the bottom and placing my ear against the wall. New steps, quiet at first, soon became louder as they approached. Waiting and listening carefully, I heard the steps begin to soften again as they moved past and away from where I hid. As quickly as I could without making a sound, I pushed the small door out of the way and looked down the hall towards the slowly shrinking torch light of the guard as he continued on his patrol.

Almost out!

Slowly, I watched the guard continue down the hall before disappearing into a separate passageway. Carefully I slipped out from where I had been hiding, closing the small hidden door. At the end of the hall was what I was looking for, the door that was to be my escape, situated just across the grand-sized entranceway.

Slowly, I started towards it, crossing the room, but before I had managed more than a few steps, the main door started to open with an audible creak. Panicking, I bolted back and directly into an ornately carved marble pillar. Stunned for a second, I winced briefly before moving behind the mass of stone. Tentatively, I looked back to the hall I had just come from. It wasn't far, only a couple of steps, but to get there would involve moving directly in sight of whomever had just entered the castle. Likely it was just a guard coming in from a patrol, but if they caught me, I would have bigger problems than what to spend my bits on.

Curiosity got the best of me and slowly I peeked out towards the door. There, I saw a dark blue, almost black griffon enter. A moment later another form walked in and a chill ran down my spine, causing some of my feathers to stand up on end. I watched on in fear as the second form came into the candle light of the hall, and Lord Aurun Golden Feather, the Griffon King himself turned to face my hiding place. Pulling back, I swallowed, heart beating so loud I feared it would give away my position.

Out of anyone who could have come through those doors, why did it have to be him?

As I continued to stand there, just waiting to be discovered, a conversation made its way to my ears and I listened more out of habit than actual interest.

“I understand it's a tradition and all. But don't you feel it's a little early?” the dark coloured griffon asked, clearly continuing with a discussion from earlier.

“It wasn't too early for me… or my father, or his father before him. Anyone who has ruled this castle has done it, and I don't intend to break any more traditions,” the king replied in a strong but old voice. His mind was clearly made up by his tone, and nothing was going to change it.

Risking another glance, I slowly peeked out from around the pillar, and saw the other griffon let out a long sigh, not happy with the answer he had gotten, but also not willing to argue with the king.

“Alright then, but I do just want to say that I don't think it's a good idea,” he said, only receiving a scoff and glare from the king. Clearing his throat, he continued quickly, clearly trying to change the topic,“What do you want to do about the pack of manticores that has been seen roaming close to the east side of the city?”

The king stopped for a moment in thought, then asked simply, “Is the zebra caravan still in town?”

“Yes, but only until tomorrow. Why?” The blue griffon asked, intrigued as he turned to close and lock the door.

“In the morning, go and get them to make up a couple vials of antivenom before they go, and tip them well. When you are done with that, go to the barracks and pick out two or three of the more promising guard recruits. I'll personally take them to clear out the manticores,” the king replied, a small grin crossing his beak.

~Ahem...

The sound of a throat being cleared directly behind me instantly pulled my attention away from the conversation. Fear drove me to turn my head as I slowly looked up to see a dark griffon towering over me with a rather displeased look on his face. Before I had time to do anything, the guard reached down and picked me up before walking out into the open.

“My lord!” the guard called out with a slight bow of his head before continuing, “Look at who I found hiding in the shadows.” He placed me down and pulled off my hood with a talon.

Both the king and the blue griffon turned to look. I knew I was caught, and with no way out, the only question was what was going to happen to me.

“Akilina…? Do I even want to know what you were doing?” King Aurun asked loudly, clearly angry and disappointed.

I pulled back, sinking further to the ground, letting my head drop. I let out a defeated sigh before replying weakly, “Sorry, father. I just wanted to go out to the market is all.”

“Are you kidding me! You were trying to sneak out in the middle of the night to do what? Go shopping?” He growled, steadily increasing in volume, then finally just resigning himself to the situation. Not waiting for a reply he shook his head, causing his red and gold feathers to shift briefly in the torchlight before he continued, “Darkwing, take Akilina back to her room and make sure she doesn't try to sneak out again… I'll deal with her in the morning.”

Nodding, the guard behind me picked me up again, this time he placed me onto his back and turned, heading back down the halls of the castle.

~~~~~ Current day ~~~~~

White. All I was able to see was white in all directions. I felt as if I was falling, although it was a distant feeling, hardly noticeable. The last thing I remembered was seeing that bolt of magic shooting towards me…

What was it, and where am I now?

As I lingered in this state, letting my body recuperate from its earlier exertion, a new feeling became apparent, a soft tugging across every part of my body. I felt as if I was being pulled apart from myself, however it did not hurt. Suddenly, a flash of colour interrupted the formerly unbroken light hue of white. Then it happened again, a flash of green then blue, then green again. Feeling came flooding back to me, and realization dawned that I was falling… falling fast.

Looking around I saw a quickly approaching forest canopy no less than a hundred feet down. Without another thought I stretched out my wings as fast as I could. A sharp pain exploded across my back from the sudden amount of air resistance I was fighting against. Almost immediately my descent began to slow as I tried to angle myself out of the vertical fall. I knew it was not enough; I was still moving too fast to stop my descent. The forest directly below me was getting closer, forty feet... thirty feet... ten feet... Last second before I hit the thick woodlands I tucked in my wings and hunched my legs under myself. Hitting the first tree, I bounced off at a steep aggressive angle, my body screaming out in pain. Then the next tree came… And the next… I had no time to react as the mass of green branches battered me, finally a heavy crack echoed across my skull as I felt my head impact a large branch. My vision bled away into blackness, then, nothing.

~~~~~ Alex ~~~~~

“No, I don’t understand! This whole freaking trip was your idea!” I yelled back towards the phone on speaker, sitting on the dash of my car. Angrily I banked around yet another long hairpin turn, taking it faster than I probably should have.

“Look, I am sorry, man, but some things came up. I just can’t come.” The reply came staticky due to only having one bar of reception, but it did not matter as I interrupted him by angrily grabbing at the phone, hanging it up in the process and throwing it onto the empty passenger seat.

I had been on the road for the last seven hours, driving out to what was supposed to be the meetup location for myself and two other friends. One of them came up with this whole idea of ‘Hey, let’s all go off into the middle of nowhere and backpack around for a week!’ But now on the day of, he decides to call in and cancel two hours before we are supposed to meet up. And since my other friend was planning to carpool with him as he does not drive, he wouldn't be able to make it either.

“Goddamn, I am going to kill them when I get back to town!” I yelled outloud, making my car swerve by accident as a result.

Moving back into the middle of my lane, I glanced to my backseat and looked over all of my new camping gear I had bought especially for the trip. The large backpack filled with assorted… well, stuff recommended by both my former friends, and the salespeople at the store. The tent and sleeping bag rolled up separately, I wondered how much of it I would be able to return. Turning and looking back to the road, my eyes soon drifted to the fuel needle as it edged slowly towards the empty side of the gauge.

Letting out a long and anguished sigh, I slowed on the straightaway, and rummaged around with one hand on the passenger seat for the printed map that had been my guide in this maze of abandoned roads and hilly forests. The last town I had been in was almost two hours back, and I doubted my car’s ability to make it back there without refueling. I did have a jerry can in the trunk, but I prefered not to use that unless it was an actual emergency. The next town was only about forty-five minutes away, and seemed to be a decent size for a road side town. I would probably be able to find a nice restaurant to eat at before starting the long trip back home.

As the minutes ticked by, I reached the top of yet another rather large hill. I had been flipping through the radio and was now confident that every single radio station, on both AM and FM was static. Relenting, I grabbed the car's aux cord and plugged it into my phone, setting it to shuffle.

Suddenly my attention was pulled away from the road and to a slight flash of light as it arced its way across the sky. Pulling my mind back from its wandering, I looked more intently this time and saw it again. A bright white streak of lightning splitting the clear blue sky as it appeared from literally nothing, there were no clouds or anything. Slowing and pulling off the road, I hopped out of my car to look out at the spectacle. Several more discharges went off, and then I noticed a small orb of light that seemed to be the source of the phenomenon. As the thunder started to become audible, the ever brightening orb of light started growing larger and brighter, before all at once it collapsed in on itself in a brilliant shimmer of colour. Then something new caught my eye, as a flaming object seemingly left behind started to fall, disappearing behind the treetops.

What the hell was that?

I thought to myself. Taking a couple steps back, I leaned against my car, only to fall hard onto the dusty road. Scrambling up I turned and looked on as my car rolled backwards down the path I had driven up. Frantically I ran towards my vehicle as it steadily increased its pace. The driver seat door was still open from when I had gotten out, and apparently not put it into park. As the gap between us continued to grow I slowed to a stop and just watched, wincing as the back tail light impacted the metal safety barrier with the pop of plastic, the driver’s door slamming shut. Then with a scraping of metal on metal, the car continued its descent, now adjacent to the barrier for several feet before disappearing down the edge of the hill where the safety fence ended. Only the sounds of crashing from what must have been my car tumbling down a long... long… really long hill were left in its wake.

Ooh shit!

Running over towards the barrier where my vehicle had disappeared, I looked down as it finally came to a stop, luckily right side up at the base of several tall and now rocking trees. Half surprised at not seeing a fireball explode out of my now completely totaled car, I hopped over the fence and started to stumble my way off the road and down the slope.

Goddammit, why did this have to happen to me!

Approaching the wreckage, the smell of oil and gas strong in the air, I immediately tried to pull open the driver's door, but the crumpled roof seemed to be holding it firmly shut. Looking through the shattered windows I soon saw what I needed. My phone lay on the floor half under the passenger seat along with the printed map.

Well great, how the hell am I going to get my phone now?

Slowly walking around my car, I found one of the back doors loose, after a minute of heaving and pulling I got it open to reveal my camping gear. Moving it out to clear the seat, I climbed into the back of my car, and just barely managed to reach my phone and map. On a whim I tried the glove compartment and was surprised when it clicked open. Pulling the small emergency kit from it and my registration, I slowly climbed my way free from the vehicle. Looking at the phone now with a new crack through its screen, I clicked it on but was greeted only with blackness. Trying a couple more times and receiving the same response, I let out another long anguished sigh, then just slid the phone into my pocket.

Well, let's take a look at my life today. Friends ditched me, car totaled, phone broken, and in the middle of nowhere. At least my camping gear survived, so I got food and water, but what do I do now…? Guess the best solution would be to walk to the next town and use a phone there, but with my luck it will probably have a power outage or some other nonsense. I swear I am so done with all this shit.

Starting to go through my bags, I packed everything back up and turned heading up the hill, all the while grumbling and thinking about what I was going to do when I got back home. I had taken a month off work for this trip, and despite all the shit that had gone bad, I had been really looking forward to hiking around and camping. Reaching the top of the hill, I looked out over the forested land and to the still beautiful blue sky. What had been that lightning storm and what was that thing that had fallen? Pulling out my map and eyeballing where I thought it could have landed I marked it down. Then an idea slowly crept its way into my mind.

I had enough food for eight days, and it would only be two at most to get to the town. The object fell only about a day’s hike out, so even if I went there, camped a day and came back I would still have five days worth of food. That is almost triple of what I would need to make it to town with, and that is also assuming I don't find someone to hitch a ride... No, this is a bad idea. I need to get to town and at least let someone know what happened… besides I can always come back to check it out after that.

Rationalizing it to myself I turned and continued down the road towards the town. As I walked I thought about the conversation I would need to have with my former friends, and I wondered how much my insurance would jump. I would also probably call my boss and ask to go back to work early because making money is always better than not doing anything, plus I would get way too bored. The more I thought about it, the more I did not want to go back, and the better camping for at least a few days sounded. A few minutes later I turned around and headed back towards where my car had taken its swan dive. At the top of the hill I took one final glance towards the forest, again eyeballing the direction of the falling object. Then I started down the hill towards the thick forested canopy of trees.

Even if I don't find anything, this will at least give me some alone time to work things out, plus it's not like I have much to lose at this point… only my life.

Chuckling darkly at that last thought, I descended into the woods, mind set and eyes forward. I actually found myself kind of excited and looking forward to what I may discover.

~~~~~ Akilina ~~~~~

“Oh, sweet Celestia, my head,” I moaned whilst rolling over.

At least I am not dead, though I feel like that would be less painful.

Sitting up I took a quick glance around at my new surroundings before all the memories of what had happened back at the university came flooding back. The griffons in Canterlot, fighting, running, and… that bolt of magic... What did it do?

Where am I, and how did I get here?

Taking a longer look around, I was sitting in a small clearing, the forest seemed to mostly consist of pines as far as I could tell. Behind me was a clear path of broken branches and stripped bark leading to a long skid mark of overturned topsoil ending at where I sat. Comprehension dawned and my pains all over decided to hurt a little more because of it.

How am I still alive…?

Trying to stand up, I immediately crashed back to the ground when I put pressure on my hind leg. Looking back at it and the way it unnaturally sagged several inches lower than it was supposed to. Wincing at the sight, I lay back down and slowly began working every muscle of my body, trying to visualize all the damage.

Can barely move my right hind leg, but it feels and looks more dislocated than broken. Left wing is badly sprained to the point that I can't even move it to feel where it hurts. My right arm feels like it has a pulled tendon of some kind in the shoulder. I think my lower ribs are heavily bruised, possibly broken, and back of the head hurts too, hope it's not a concussion. I don't even want to try to catalog the countless cuts and bruises that cover my body from beak to tail. But all in all, at least I have all six limbs.

Slowly getting up again, this time being careful to not put any pressure on my hind leg, I tried to move it again, causing it to twitch slightly. Sharp pain pulsed across my body, before slowly fading into a dull throb and cold tingle at the joint.

Damn that sucked. Definitely dislocated, I need to get it set before the swelling makes relocating it harder than it needs to be.

Looking around, I spotted what I was hoping for, a tree that forked off right at the base. Stumbling over to it along the edge of the clearing, I lay on my side, gently placing my dislocated leg into the V. Putting my other leg firmly against the trunk, I closed my eyes, not looking forward to this.

OK. You can do this… it needs to be done… Three… Two, NOW!

With an eagle's scream of anguish I pushed out against the tree, twisting my hips to pop the joint back into its place. A sickening deep pop reverberated throughout the forest, tears forming and rolling to the ground. I lay there for some time, breathing hard through a tightly clenched beak, as throbs of anguish pulsated with every slight movement. As time slowly began to ease the pain, I opened my eyes, blinking the tears out of them. For the briefest of seconds, a small shimmer caught my attention. Angling my head towards the far end of the clearing, I saw it again. The reflection of something metallic on one of the low hanging branches that I crashed through. With a sense of curiosity temporarily filling me, I unhooked my formerly dislocated leg from the tree and began an awkward three-legged stumble across the clearing.

So you survived the fall too.

Sitting, I reached out to the branch and picked up the small wing-shaped pendant the Professor had given me. Gently opening the small latch with both talons, I carefully slipped it around my neck. Feeling a slight warmth briefly spread throughout my body as the many pains started to ease. I was still injured and felt constant reminders with any movement, but it no longer seemed to be as uncomfortable or distracting.

At least when I get home, the Professor will not be able to get mad at me for losing his gift… That is if I ever go home, I still need to stay away from the royal guard until this whole thing blows over. And if those griffons get back to the Griffon Kingdom and tell dad… Well, I will need to stay clear of there, too. Guess I can always try to stay with the zebras... Hope I remember enough of their customs not to make a complete fool of myself.

Looking around for the sun, I gave a quick estimate of how much daylight was left. Normally when you are lost, your best bet is to travel downhill, as that is what water does. Find a creek, follow it till it becomes a stream, then a river, then follow that until you find civilization. To my knowledge very few if any forests in Equestria were pine… Actually the flora here looked eerily similar to the forests that surrounded the Griffon Kingdom. Ideally I would have liked to just fly up to the cloud layer and drift on them whilst seeing if I could recognize any landmarks. But that did not seem like it was going to be an option anytime in the near future, at least not until my wing had time to heal. What I needed to do was find a safe place to recuperate and plan out my next move. So that meant first I needed a source of water, then food, and finally shelter. I turned, heading south and out of the clearing towards where the land very gently sloped downhill. Moving carefully, I began to distract myself from my pains by trying to figure out this whole crazy situation.

How did I get here? That spell must have had something to do with it, but what…? If I had to guess it was likely a grounding spell made to impede my flying ability. Or maybe tracking spell so that they would be able to find me later… On second thought, there was too much potential magic there to have just been a simple tracking spell. And the guards should have known that a grounding spell would not have a big effect, if any, on a griffon... so why cast it at all? Maybe they were hoping to just slow me down for their pegasus teams. No, that is not how the guards do things, they wouldn't have cast anything unless they were certain it would work. It has to be something different, some single instance spell that would not be affected by a griffon’s natural resistances…

Moving through the forest was very slow, every step sending new waves of pain up and down my body. But I wouldn't let it stop me, I knew I needed to move and the pain was not going to hinder my progress. The biggest problem was with the former dislocation of my back leg; there was not much I could do to get over the natural obstacle course the woods formed. Normally if I have encountered a fallen tree, I could just hop over it, but without both of my hind legs, managing to leap any useful distance was completely out of the question. And so I kept having to double back and walk around obstacles, resulting in an annoying amount of wasted time. Luckily there seemed to be quite a few game trails around, and that meant water was sure to be near.

Hmm, a teleportation spell would explain the power behind it, and would be perfectly capable of affecting griffons as the spell resolves instantaneously with no lingering effects. But a spell like that is not normally something that would be subject to an error big enough to cause me to appear out in the middle of nowhere. If I remember correctly, when a teleportation spell is cast wrong or is incomplete it will either do nothing, or the pony will just appear at some point along the line between the starting location and the destination. Also the destination range is subject to the magical talent of the unicorn casting the spell. Any teleportation farther than a few miles being cast remotely would take an absurd amount of magic. It's still possible, especially considering the skill of the royal guard. However, the ability to have moved me anywhere outside of the city boundaries would be pushing it for being at such a distance from the caster. So how I made it to a location not in the same climate zone as Equestria is still a mystery.

As I walked through the tangles of underbrush, the soft sounds of the forest became audible over my pained breathing. The wind blowing through the trees, creaking of insects, the occasional scurrying of a squirrel running across branches and the trickling of a stream. Smiling to myself at that last one, I turned around to distinguish where the sound was coming from, then headed off in the new direction. It was not long before the creek of running water came into view as it paraded down a small rock face. Approaching it, I eyed it curiously, looking for any of the distinct signs of contamination. Satisfied by its appearance, I dropped down to lap up some of the water, carefully swirling it around in my beak before swallowing. It had the taste of strong minerals, but luckily it did not taste like algae or saltwater. Quenching my thirst, I then wetted my talons and started preening, cleaning the tree sap and twigs out of my fur and feathers.

The only explanation has to have been when the spell came into contact with my pendant, it must have changed somehow. But that kind of thing should not have been possible, it is one of the fundamental laws of magic that ‘Once a spell is formed, it can not be changed, only redirected or dispersed.’ But let’s pretend for a moment that there was a way around that, and I did manage to reprogram the spell’s matrix. The amount of magic in the spell would still be the same and so I would have only been able to change the destination within the initial parameters. Presuming the unicorn went all out with the spell I should have still only been able to appear somewhere within the city. Wait... what was it the Professor had said about this pendant? ‘It allows you to focus more magic into specific areas of your body, heightening them to their maximal potential.’

Finishing cleaning the majority of my upper body I finally reached my left wing. As I began to stretch it out, I hardly managed to move it more than a foot before a shooting pain forced it back into its place. Carefully I began cleaning the wing, trying not to hurt myself any more than I had to. However, with my inability to extend it out fully most of my feathered appendage was tucked away underneath itself and out of my reach. Untangling a particularly painful branch, I decided to just move on leaving it for another time.

What if it was not just limited to within my body? Somehow I may have channeled my internal magic into the spell, changing it with the subconscious destination of the Griffon Kingdom. And the spell, still partially incomplete, ended up dropping me off somewhere along the way… it seemed possible, however the odds stacked against the whole situation were outrageous. I did not even want to try thinking about all the things that could have gone wrong, but then again, I was here… and I had no other explanation that managed to come even remotely close to clarify how or why. So I guess until I think up a better theory, this is what I have to work with. Celestia damn not knowing, it is going to drive me crazy.

As I finished, I was already starting to feel a lot better about this situation. I had a theory, albeit a weak one, I had a source of water, but admittedly I was starting to feel hungry. I knew I should be able to go a couple weeks without eating, but judging by the amount of animal tracks I had seen earlier, catching something shouldn't be too difficult. Treating my wounds was the next big problem I needed to focus on. I really did not want to get an infection out here, but there was not too much I would be able to do other than keep the wounds clean. Something else I really needed to look at, was getting a weapon of some sort. If only I had a knife then I could hunt and actually clean my kills, plus I could better defend myself against any wild animals that may be out here.

Wait… I had a knife, where did it go?

Looking to my side where I remembered lashing one before leaving the Professor, I was not at all surprised to see nothing there.

Of course it is gone. Sure hope I just overlooked it at the clearing and it did not get left behind. If it was, then I probably won't be getting it back… I really liked that knife.

Turning around, I slowly began backtracking to my crash site just as the sun started to dip below the horizon. Again seeing the damage I had caused by my fall, it still amazed me to the fact that I had survived. Slowly I inspected the area, carefully looking along the angle I had entered the clearing from. After a couple minutes I finally found the brown strap and sheath tangled in a low branch. But no knife was inside, the button that was supposed to hold the blade in place had apparently been torn off. Several minutes more passed before finally I spotted the silvery length of metal. It had embedded itself into a branch I had smashed through some eighty feet or so up.

Well great, how in Equestria am I going to get that?

Flexing my wings instinctively, I winced back from the pain it caused. Wing injuries always hurt way more than they needed to, but it was expected from such a sensitive appendage.

Flying up is out of the picture, and the tree is way too thick to shake… doubt I would be able to climb that high either, I could always try hitting it with a rock or stick, but I don't think that would be enough to get it down. Celestia dammit, I'll figure something out tomorrow, it's too late to do anything now anyway. Guess this is a good as place as any to spent the night, I just hope no other animals in the area think the same.

Looking around for the best place to sleep, a sight slowly pulled my attention towards the sky. Off to my east a small trail of smoke peaked out from the tree tops. If I had to guess it looked like it came from a small cook fire. Apparently I was not the only one in this forest… but who could it be? Doubtful it would be the guards as they would not want to alert me to their presence like that, plus if it was from a camp they would have had a bigger fire. The more I thought about it, the more I considered it may be good to check it out after I had recovered a bit more. If I was correct in guessing my location being somewhere around the Griffon Kingdom, finding a hunter may be the lucky break I needed to get the information on just where I had actually ended up. Regardless, it was too late to consider trying to make the trip now, and so I just placed some sticks to mark the direction of the smoke. Then I crawled under the thick branches surrounding the base of one of the pines and curled up around the trunk. Slowly as the soft soothing sounds of the night pulled my consciousness away, I fell asleep.

~~~~~ Gray ~~~~~~

Slowly I came into the Canterlot University dorm building, walking towards Akilina’s room. My mind knew the path, Celestia knows I had walked it enough times. But the actual reason for why I found myself here still avoided me. She had asked me to forget about her, and then she just left. Did I really not mean enough to her for at least an explanation…? I guess that was why I had come after all, to get some answers. As I rounded the corner to stare off at the door, or where the door should have been, I stopped. Angry shouts could be heard coming from just inside the doorway before several of the royal guard filed out of the room.

“Look until I see her again. I am not answering any more of your dumb and redundant questions!” the Professor yelled at one guard who seemed to remain in the room.

“We have been over this, we don't know where she is, and we are asking you these questions to help us find her.” The one remaining guard tried to reason out, but was cut off before he was able to continue.

“Sure, because asking, ‘If she has ever tried to eat somepony’ will help find her! She’s not a savage animal!” he yelled back, disgusted, forcing the guard out of the room with a blue glow of his magic.

“Fine, we will come back after you have had some time to calm down,” the lead guard called back to the Professor before motioning to the others that they were leaving. Looking up and noticing me, the head guard came trotting up, the others flanking him on either side.

“So do you want to tell me why, whenever there are a bunch of griffons in one place, a fight always starts?” he said with a scowl.

“What happened to her?” I asked, a little shakily, ignoring his comment. I never much enjoyed dealing with the guards; they all were so patriotic to Equestria that it bordered with ignorance towards all the other sentient races. To them ponies were perfect, and all the problems in society were the fault of the other races.

“We don't know where she is, but it does not matter. Sooner or later she will have to show up; nopony can hide from the Equestrian guard for long.” Then without waiting for an answer he walked past me and called back, “You better keep your beak clean, or I’ll be after you next.”

One of the guards nudged me out of the way as they passed, but I did not really pay it any mind. Any other day I would have gotten upset at the gesture, it was not my fault I wasn't born a pony. However, I was too distracted by the answer he had given, ‘We don't know where she is.’ It was true Canterlot was large, and had its fair share of hiding spots. But the guards had access to magical tracking spells and stuff like that… there had to be something more to it.

Slowly I approached the room, looking around at the open doorway, and the broken remains of the door scattered across the floor. The Professor was sitting at the kitchen table, weeping softly, as he held a small folded photograph.

“I… don't mean to intrude... But how are you holding up?” I asked softly as I glanced to the photo of Akilina in his hooves.

“She was my daughter… and yes I know not by flesh and blood. But still, I felt as close to her as family,” he replied in a quiet, shaky voice.

“I wish I could say I knew what you are going through, but—” I started but was then cut off by the Professor’s interjection.

“No, you don't understand, and I hope you never have to. No one should ever have to feel the loss of their family.” With that said, silence fell over the room for several moments.

“I shouldn't have said anything.” I apologized before standing up and turning to leave. I had come here to get some answers, but I didn't want to press the Professor after what he must be going through. Having Akilina, his own ‘daughter’, wanted by the Equestrian guard, it must have been awful.

“No... Please, don't go,” he said, reaching out to me with a hoof. Turning and walking back to the chair I sat back down, the Professor noticeably calming a bit. After a few seconds he started up again, “I am not mad at you, it’s just… when she ran... the look in her eyes, she looked so young… so scared...”

“Well, the Equestrian guard was after her, if I was her I would have been scared too,” I said, trying to reason out the situation.

“No, it wasn't like that. I know Akilina, and I have never seen her scared. She could be in a staring contest with a manticore, and still have a smile on her face. But this… it was different, it was a fear that went beyond her situation. It was something more.” The Professor tried to explain but fell short. And thinking back on it, I could not remember a time in which I had seen Akilina scared either. Nervous yes, but never genuine fear…

“I don't want to worsen the moment… but do you want to talk about what happened?” I offered. In response the Professor put down the picture and looked to me. Trying to keep the uneasiness as much out of my voice as I could manage, I quickly added “I don't know anything that happened after she left me. And I wouldn't mind getting the full picture.”

“That’s right; she mentioned you were in the fight too. Are you alright?” he asked sincerely, his question catching me slightly off guard.

“Oh, yes I am fine, but how did you know about the fight?”

“Akilina mentioned it before she flew off. She said it was with some other griffons,” he said, faltering a little at the mention of Akilina as he took another long glance at the photo.

“Honestly, it was not much of a fight at all, I never knew she was so good at martial arts!” I explained a little more excitedly than I wanted to, the adrenalin of the situation running through my veins again as I thought back to it.

“Martial arts?” the unicorn questioned with a slight raise of one of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, you know like karate and stuff. It was awesome the way she fought those other griffons, dropping them one after another. It was like something out of a Daring Do book,” I tried to clarify, then looked down sheepishly as I realized how excited I must have sounded.

“She never took any fighting classes, or at least none that I knew about… I just can't see her wanting to hurt somepony.” He went silent and I could see his mood had shifted. He seemed now to be more intrigued than anything, but the sadness, although faded, still gripped at his heart.

“I never thought I would see her hurt somepony either, but she really did not like those other griffons… I just wish I knew why. How long do you think it will be before we will be able to talk to her?” I asked, but at the Professor's expression I felt something was off.

“You don't know what happened, do you…?” he said. I only replied with a blank look before he continued, “Tell me everything that happened to you first. Then I’ll fill in my side.”

Nodding in agreement, I was happy to finally get some answers. This was why I had come here in the first place, but why did I feel like something was wrong? I stared off into the distance for a moment, organising my thoughts, then I began to explain, slowly at first.

“We had stopped off for food and when we were done, we headed off back to my place. To save time we took a shortcut through some alleyway, but we ended up bumping into some griffons. I think they must have known Akilina ‘cause one said her name, before we could talk she ran off, pulling me along. The griffons chased us and soon we got dead ended, and that is when Akilina attacked them. I don't know how she did it but she managed to fight off all of them by herself, even after one pulled a sword on her.

When they were all down, she flew off toward here. I tried to follow her, however she was too fast, so I thought I may be able to get some answer from the other griffons. But not wanting to go back alone, I told the guard about what happened. After that I showed the guards where the other griffons where, and they were taken in for questioning. A few minutes later I was getting questioned by one of the guards and I heard the explosion and looked up to see that ball of magic… and that is about all I know. I assumed Akilina came back here and the guards are now looking for her.” As I finished I gave a small shrug. Thinking back on it, there were a lot of things I wanted to know about. Like what had happened to the other griffons, and what that ball of magic was. Maybe the Professor's side of things would clear it up.

The Professor thought for a moment, presumably about what I had just told him, but soon enough he started explaining his side of things.

“I was just marking some work when she walked in. I noticed she had streaks of blood across her chest. When I asked her about it, she told me that ‘she had gotten into a fight with some griffons from her past.’ I asked her to elaborate but she instead just went to her room. I followed her and she retrieved a knife and a bag of bits from a box under her bed. She then told me that ‘she was sorry but needed to leave, however she would return someday’. After that the guards arrived and she fled out the window. The guards, not able to chase her, tried teleporting her directly into the dungeon, but something went wrong with that spell… When she was hit it formed that magical explosion, and now we don't know what happened to her. The guards have been searching for her since then, but they are still lost with no leads. And I have just been asked questions till… well I guess you saw what I did when you arrived.”

“Wait… what? Are you saying she was in that explosion… and now she is just gone? Like poof gone?” I asked, trying to clarify.

“Well, yes and no, as far as I have been told nopony knows where she is. But it is assumed she is still alive and just hiding out somewhere,” he answered, down casting his gaze again, this time in thought.

“She can't be gone for too long, the guards can track her with a spell or something, right? Sooner or later she will show up, and then be brought in for questioning like the other griffons... And maybe if we can convince them not to press any charges she won't get in too much trouble…” I reasoned out, stating hopefully, looking towards the Professor as he just shook his head.

“It won't be that simple, the Equestrian legal system is not very favorable to the other races. Ponies are all about peace, assault is not something that can be overlooked that easily. All those griffons need to do is make any formal complaint against her, and she will be facing a banishment from any pony cities,” the Professor explained in a somber tone.

“That's just not fair, she has lived here for years. They can't just banish her like that!” I blurted out in response, not really thinking about what I was saying.

“It's the law, to the guards she is seen as potentially violent, and evading arrest. Unless we can find a life or death reason for why she attacked those griffons, our hooves are tied in this situation,” as he finished in a deep sorrowful tone, I finally understood why he was so depressed. His options were to leave Equestria to live with her in exile. In which case he would lose his job, all his standings, and the years he spent working his way up in the system. Or he would have to leave her, only being able to visit by leaving Equestria. Which admittedly was not the worst solution, however the Professor was starting to get up there in the years, and sooner or later it would become too difficult for him to be able to make the trip.

As I continued to ponder over the situation, trying to find a different solution or some loophole we might be able to use, I stood up and began pacing around the room, soon my attention was drawn to Akilina's door. Easing it open, I stepped inside. The room was simple in layout, only having her bed, a small nightstand, a desk, and a couple bookshelves placed against the walls. Everything was usually kept perfectly clean, but now with the mess of all the broken glass that glinted on the floor and bed the room seemed alien. A soft breeze blew in from the shattered window, and the realization that I may not ever see Akilina again started to settle in. She had been my first real friend, someone who had accepted me for who I was, and not just the way I looked. She had shown me how griffons use their tails in flight, and how to correctly preen my wings during molting season. She had become someone I could talk to about things that the ponies just could not understand. She had showed me that I did not need to act like a pony just to be able to fit in... And she taught me to not be ashamed of what I was, but instead be proud of who I became.

Can I really just continue with my life when she is gone, as if nothing had ever happened…?

Breaking out of my internal monologue as I heard the Professor trotting up to join me in the room, something caught my eye. Sitting on the bed, partially covered by the messed up blanket was a small, oddly shaped brown bag. Walking over I picked it up and pulled the string before dumping the contents out onto the mattress. Several dozen golden coins poured out, and recognition from the Professor’s story jumped to the forefront of my mind, intrigued I looked down and underneath the bed. Sure enough a wooden box lay there, haphazardly slid most of the way to the center of the mattress. I pressed my chest against the floor and reached for it before a soft glow engulfed the box, slowly sliding it out and onto the bed next to the bag of coins.

“I don't think she would like us snooping through her things,” the Professor said simply, but I could hear the slight interest of what we might find in his voice.

“Well if she is gone, and there is a clue to find her in here, it would be better for us to see it first. Besides, when the guards find out about this they will probably take it, and there is no way you will get it back until after this whole thing is over,” I reasoned out, convincing myself and apparently the Professor as well.

The box was well made, but with only one small hinge on the back, carefully I slipped one talon under the top panel and opened it to look inside. There were two other bags of bits, a well-made book with one of Akilina's primary feathers fastened to the cover, a small wax seal with an emblem I did not recognize, a framed photo of her and the Professor at the Grand Galloping Gala and a slightly faded letter addressed to the Professor tucked along the side. Before I was able to make a comment, a blue aura picked up the letter and unfolded it, then the Professor started reading aloud;

To the Professor, there should only be two reasons you are reading this, first being you are going through my stuff, in which case stop reading this, and get out of my room! But more likely, you have found this letter due to me either leaving on good terms, or running from bad ones. If it's the latter case, I just want you to know, I am sorry. Honestly, I wish there were better words to use, but I don't know any. The years I have already spent with you have been amazing. I don't know how much longer I will be able to stay, truly I hope this letter is never read, but clearly that's not the case if you've gotten this far already. I want you to know you have shown me a world that I had never thought I would experience, and for that I am forever grateful. Please believe me when I say, I didn't want to leave; I did it to protect you. The Griffon Kingdom is not a nice place like Equestria. Someday, I know my time here will come to an end, and when it does all I wish is for you to stay safe. Please don't chase after me, don’t try to find me, and don't get hurt because of me. Live your life, be happy, and never forget the Akilina you knew, regardless of what you may hear about me. You were always the father I wish I had, and I will never forget about you.

~Akilina

As the Professor finished, tears forming in his eyes, I finally made up my mind.

I am not going to let it happen, I'm not going to just forget about her like she had asked me to. I don’t know why she needs to run, or why she thinks it would be safer without us… but there was no way I was going to let her face this alone. She had always been there for me, and now it was my turn to return the favor. I will clear her name, and bring her back, if only so she could say goodbye on her own terms.

~~~ End Chapter 2 ~~~

Crimson Trail

by Amber Sky

Chapter 1: Flash of Bad Luck

Chapter 2: A New Place and a New Journey