~*~
Part Two
~*~The journey~*~
~~~~
What lies before us and what lies beyond us is tiny compared to what lies within us. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Rainbow Dreams stoppped at the edge of the cliff and peered down at the raging river.
"How are we going to cross the canyon? We just multiple winked across that ditch, I don't think we can multiple wink again!" she said.
Then she spied a bridge, but saw that it was partly broken. Some of the shingles were missing and would have to be jumped. She turned to the other two ponies. "I should go across first," she said "because I have wings. If the bridge brakes I can fly away. You two can't."
She looked at them. "Shall I?" she said, putting one hoof on the bridge.
"Um, Sure, you should go first,"Maple said, looking at the fragile bridge worriedly. "But what if the bridge breaks? Then how will Baby Jedi and I get across?"
She leaned over the water looking at the white rapids. "Oh boy...."
Rainbow Dreams gave a small, lopsided smile."We'll have to worry about that if it happens. In the meantime, I guess I should cross the bridge..." she gave a small, nervous laugh.
She gulped, and with a determined look on her face she took a step. Then another, and another... soon, she was more than a quarter way across the bridge. She strode across it with ease, nimbly avoiding the broken boards.
Suddenly, her hoof plunged through a board! She heard a shriek and couldn't figure out whether it was hers or QM's, or BJ's. "I--I'm fine!" she called back, over the pounding of her heart. "It was only one bo--!"
Suddenly the board broke completely and she started to fall!
"No!" she yelled.
Then her tail was caught by one of the boards and she came to an abrupt halt. "Thank heavens." she sighed.
CRACK!
Her tail came loose and she started to plummet down...down...down....
"Use your wings!"
Rainbow Dreams blinked; the unfamiliar voice had snapped her back to reality. She tried to open her wings, but the wind wouldn't allow her.It pushed them upwards too hard.
The water was nearer. She knew it was over.
The cold water came much to soon. Rainbow Dreams almost cried out, but remembered she was under the water and stopped just in time.
The water snuffed out all sound except for the strange bubbling sound of the rapids.
Rainbow Dreams tried to swim upwards, but her wings kept getting in the way. Her lungs felt as though they would burst.
Suddenly, a white shape plunged through the surface, but Rainbow Dreams couldn't tell who it was because of the red spots in front of her eyes.
She felt herself be grabbed by a hoof. Slowly, ever so slowly, they neared the surface...
Finally they broke, but for Rainbow Dreams, everything had already turned black.
~~~
Rainbow Dreams woke to a pounding pain in her head. "I'm growing a horn." she said groggily.
"No you aren't." said a voice.
Rainbow Dreams stared around and found herself face to face with a pair of golden eyes.
A white unicorn stood before her. Her gray-blue and white hair whirled around her shoulders.
On her hips was the symbol of a full moon. It was hazy in a blotchy place...like a phantom or something.
Rainbow Dreams remembered everything suddenly. "Who are you?" she asked quietly.
"I am Ghost." said the white mare. "Now sleep."
The pony turned and began to walk away into the forest.
Rainbow Dreams almost did fall asleep, but she swayed a little and said "No..come back!" to the departing unicorn.
"I will."
Rainbow Dreams suddenly crumpled and just before she fell asleep, she was aware of a voice calling her name.
Then, for the second time, all went black.
"Rainbow Dreams?" Maple leaned down to her friend. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She shook the fluttercorn pony around a little, hoping to wake her up. "Rainbow Dreams?" she repeated.
Rainbow Dreams woke up and stared at Queen Maple. "I...I..saw...ghost..." she mumbled. Her throat was so dry...
She shook herself awake. "Where's BJ?" she asked suddenly, looking around
"Ghost? What? Who?" The confused unicorn franticly tryed to quickly force the anwsers out of a recently unconscious Rainbow Dreams to, what seemed like, the most intriguing questions. Who was 'Ghost'?
~~~
Meanwhile, Baby Jedi had gone off wandering and soon got lost.
"Oh, fun," She mumbled. "Where am I now?" She looked around, wondering how far she had strayed from her friends. She had run off when the bridge broke, looking for a vine for RD to grab, and couldn't find one. She tried going back, but couldn't find the path.
"RD! QM!" She called out. "Where are you guys?"
~~~
Back in the clearing, Rainbow Dreams sat up. "Drink...please." she rasped.
"Drink? Drink what?" Queen Maple asked Rainbow Dreams, utterly confused. "What??"
Rainbow Dreams was getting annoyed.
"I need...a drink!" she said.
"Oh, okay..."
Maple got a wooden bowl from her sack and dipped it in the river and handed it to Rainbow Dreams.
"Here, is this okay?" she said, very confused. Why did the rainbow color fluttercorn need water? After all, she had just been...swimming!
Rainbow Dreams drank it, but it didn't help her sore throat. She wondered why her throat was sore...
She waved her horn
I wish...I wish...
Her throat felt better.
"Now, where is BJ?" asked Rainbow Dreams.
"Hmm, I don't know..." Said Queen Maple, looking around for BJ "Hey! BJ? Where are you?!" she yelled.
BJ came running up. "Hey, guys! I found you! Finally!"
"BJ!" said Rainbow Dreams "Where were you?"
"Oh BJ! you're here, where were ya?" Said Queen Maple at the same time, smiling.
The pony shrugged. "I got lost..." she said.
"Well, this has been enough of a distraction." said Rainbow Dreams,suddenly getting up. "We'd better get going now if we wan't to reach Flutter Valley by tomorrow."
"Yes, I believe so..." Maple said. "We'd better get outta here and IN to Flutter Valley!"
The white unicorn trotted up ahead, but then turned around and came back when she saw that Rainbow Dreams and BJ weren't following.
"Yep"said Rainbow Dreams "What do you think, BJ?"
BJ nodded. "Yes," she said. "I have a feeling we ought to hurry!"
"I said, we had better get going to Flutter Valley, now come on." said Queen Maple a bit impatiently.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." grumbled BJ.
"Alright... Rainbow Dreams, do you know where we go now?... I'm not quite sure..." said Maple.
Rainbow Dreams frowned in concentration as she peered at the map.
"Well, here's the old bridge.." said Rainbow Dreams, pointing with the tip of her horn at a tiny bridge on the map. "And we have to go..." she traced her horn along the map and pointed to the other side of the ravine "here." she said.
She straightened up and stared at the other two unicorns. "So we have to get across the ravine and onto the other side first." she continued "Luckily, our little--"she smiled a little "--'diversion', if you will, has left us with enough magical energy to cross the ravine."
She promply stuffed the map back into her leather pouch and grinned. "So lets move our behinds and get on our way to Flutter Valley."
"Alright, let's go now!" said Queen Maple.
They multiple winked across the ravine and began again to walk along the path.
After they had been walking awhile, Maple stopped and looked at the ground.There was something there... it seemed to glimmer.
"What's that?" she wondered as she picked up a tiny blue jewel.
"Whatever it is, it sure looks...interesting..."
She turned to Rainbow Dreams.
"What do you think it is? Or what it means ...
Rainbow Dreams peered at it.
"That's a night crystal!" she said surprised.
She saw confused looks.
"A night crystal is a powerful jewel that comes from the 4th world, the barrens." she explained "There was a huge mine filled with them, and ponies and other creatures from all over were mining it when the whole thing collapsed.So the few that were mined were the only one's that escaped the collapse.
"Most of the jewels have dissapeared over the years, so they have become very rare and are worth lots of money! It's strange we would find something so rare just lying on the floor. So unless the pony or whoever owned it didn't know what it was, this is very strange!"
Rainbow Dreams hopped on a boulder and looked down.
"If you look inside of the jewel, there is a perfect map of the stars." she said.
"It's beautiful," BJ said. "But who dropped it? Why is it here?"
Rainbow Dreams shook her head. "I dunno." she replied."And I probably never will. But lets get going...Uh...Queen Maple..I suggest you put that somewhere safe."
"Yes, I will put it somewhere safe now," said Maple as she placed the crystal in her leather pouch.
"I wonder who dropped it...." she mused.
"Me too," said Rainbow Dreams, "But we can't worry about that now. We have a mission to complete, and we have to complete it quickly." She said the last part grimly.
"You're right! We have to save poor baby Crumpet!" Maple replied to the flutter-corn."By the way, what'll we do when we get there. I mean, how will we save her?"
"That's what I was wondering too," BJ piped up. "It won't be easy, that's for sure."
Rainbow Dreams sighed, but smiled a little. "I've said this before, and I'll say it again," she said, "we'll have to worry about that when we get there!"
They kept walking until they came to a slope of bits of shale, with only a couple of dead bushes sticking up.
Rainbow Dreams looked behind her and shrugged at the other two before starting up the slope.
She picked her way through the bits of shale and rocks as though...as though she had done it before, which was of course impossible. She had never been there before!
She collapsed at the top and peered down at QM and BJ, who were having a bit more trouble than Rainbow Dreams.
Rainbow Dreams was puzzled. QM and BJ were as good as she was at this! Why were they having so much trouble when she had had none?!
She was answered when her crystal ball rolled out of her pouch and came to a stop in front of her. It began to glow and Rainbow Dreams peered forward, expecting to see baby Crumpet again, but no..instead she saw a white unicorn coming out of the forest.
Rainbow Dreams expected it to be a vision of them coming out of the forest, and that was BJ! but no...that unicorn had all white hair...and her horn was gold...and she wasn't a my little pony..she was a real unicorn!
The unicorn looked her and Rainbow Dreams felt a rush of recognition.
"Mother?" whispered Rainbow Dreams incredibly.
The unicorn stopped and bobbed her head at Rainbow Dreams as though telling her yes.
Then Rainbow Dreams watched as her mother, Dawn, picked her way up the same slope, in the same route as Rainbow Dreams had taken!
So she hadn't taken the same route before, but her own mother had! that was why she had gone up so easily!
Rainbow Dreams trembled, but she watched as her mother walked up the slope, and stopped on a rock that jutted out from the cliff. Then Rainbow Dreams saw Dawn stop and stare at her.
She heard one word in her head, before the vision ended:
"danger."
The crystal ball rolled right back into her pouch and Rainbow Dreams shuddered.
danger?
Queen Maple and BJ arrived at the top and sat beside Rainbow Dreams.
BJ looked like she was gonna say something, but then a shadow fell over them and they heard a loud squawk that sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Rainbow Dreams felt an impact on her back before she had a chance to look up.
Rainbow Dreams hit a rock and rolled down the slope, coming to rest halfway down at a large boulder.
Gasping, she got up and looked at the thing cirlcing above them.
It was bigger than BJ and QM combined! It had the head of an eagle, the body of a horse, but with wings, and the tail of a lion.
Or at least thats what it looked like to Rainbow Dreams. Everything was mixed up in her mind.
Then she remembered.
It was a griffin!
Rainbow Dreams got up and looked at what was happening.
Queen Maple gasped with horror. She was too shocked and scared to say anything except, "LOOK OUT!!" she screamed at the very top of her lungs.
As the griffin nearly hit her head, she dodged the great creature by a half an inch.
"Oh my gosh! Rainbow Dreams, Baby Jedi?!" she coundn't see the two other unicorn anywhere around her, and she was worried.
"Where are you??"
"Where are YOU?!?" Baby Jedi yelled out. "What's going on? RD? QM?"
Rainbow Dreams thought she saw BJ on one side of her, and QM on the other.
"It's a griffin!" yelled Rainbow Dreams, but I don't know why it's attacking! Griffins never attack without a reason!"
Then she saw the egg!
She was ducking when she saw a blue egg!
It was nestled inbetween two rocks covered in sticks and leaves, the nest, she presumed.
Rainbow Dreams gasped as the griffin circled above her, deciding when to attack.
Despite the fact that it was trying to kill her, Rainbow Dreams was awed when she looked up.
The powerful yellow beak snapped open as the griffin uttered another cry.
Suddenly it dived at BJ who hadn't seen.
Without a thought, Rainbow Dreams reared and she herself uttered a scream, not much different from the griffins'.
The griffin pulled up inches from BJ to see where the sound was coming from. Rainbow Dreams saw a flash of it's yellow eyes and was suddenly filled with rage.
Rearing even higher, Rainbow Dreams hooves slashed the air and she tossed her head, giving another scream.Her eyes rolled, showing white.
The griffin circled, undecided, trying to figure out whether to attack or not. Then it dived, faster than lighting.
But Rainbow Dreams was ready.
Dodging, she bucked out and felt contact.
The griffin cryed in rage. It snapped at her, and Rainbow Dreams slashed at it with her horn, leaving a streak just below it's eyes. The streak began to glow blue and then flashed with light until there was only a pink scar.
The griffin could heal itself!
That was when the strange feeling of pure rage left her and she realized the danger.
Just then she was slammed into a rock.
Gasping, she called out.
"Baby Jedi! Queen Maple! Help!" she yelled as the griffin prepared to dive.
Queen Maple glanced up at the diving creature.
A wave of horrid fear spread over her.
Within a nano-second, she lept into the air, and with all her might, knocked into the creature right before it slammed into Rainbow Dreams. The griffin was only slightly thrown off course but it missed the rainbow flutter-corn.
This angered the beast greatly and it swiped at Maple with it's claw, tossing her to the ground. She lay motionless on a flat rock, but she was not dead and she managed to slit her eye open. She saw the griffin rising into the air, and Maple thought it would surely try to attack again.
"Rainbow Dreams..." muttered Maple. "Look out...for the griffin...can't...move... help... please ...find Baby Jedi....hurry..."
Rainbow Dreams dodged the flying claws just in time. She gasped as she saw Queen Maple.
She then remembered: The only spot on a griffin that can't heal itsself was...was....where?
She had to dodge again. Her mind raced for the answer...
The griffins claws grazed her legs--Legs! It was the legs!
Rainbow Dreams called on all the power she had. Backing up, she ran and jumped at the griffins leg, the side of her horn pressed against it and she heard the griffin shriek in pain.
A hot feeling spread slowly from the tip of her horn. When it reached her forehead, Rinbow Dreams was in such pain, she thought she was on fire.
Then it stopped and Rainbow Dreams was falling.
She twisted like a cat and landed on her feet. Grimacing she stared up. The griffin was falling-- and if she didn't move fast, it would fall on her!
Rainbow Dreams jumped out of the way, just in time.
The griffin slammed onto the rock, hitting it with a blinding flash.
When Rainbow Dreams looked next, the griffin had disspeared and there was only a dark blue imprint of where the griffin had been.
Overwhelmed with exaustion, Rainbow Dreams fell to her knees. But then she saw Queen Maple, lying motionless on the ground.
She gasped, and got up. She stumbled over to her friend, tears in her eyes. "No!" she whispered. "No! she isn't dead!"
Rainbow Dreams lay her head on Maple's chest and listened. There was a faint heartbeat, the last flicker of life.
Rainbow Dreams realized that after she had defeated the griffin, she had no powers! She needed to heal Queen Maple though.
Then it came to her.The night crystal!
They were powerful holders of wild magic...magic that had about everything in it. If Rainbow Dreams couldn't control the magic, then she might make Queen Maple even worse! But if she didn't try, Maple wouldn't survive. Rainbow Dreams would have to take the chance.
She carefully picked the crystal out of the bag and lay it on the ground.
She moved the tip of her horn to the crystal and felt a sudden jolt.
Then, the magic began to move up and down her horn, crackling with energy. It surged through Rainbow Dreams like water in a river, through her veins...
She also felt it trying to escape.
Oh no you don't... she thought, restraining it. It started to fight her, trying to get back in the crystal, but Rainbow Dreams fought even more.
"Don't mess with wild magic--it'll mess right back!" she mumbled.
Then it stopped. She was filled with as much magic as was possible.
Gulping, Rainbow Dreams sorted through the magic until she found healing powers.
Slowly, Rainbow Dreams pressed the tip of her horn to Queen Maple's and closed her eyes, concentrating.
There was a small flash and then they were both bathed in a golden light. The power of Rainbow Dreams horn began to move through to Queen Maple in gold and red lighting bolts.
Then, both their wounds began to stop bleeding. Rainbow Dreams clenched her teeth and concentrated...she couldn't let the magic escape her!
Then, the wounds were simply pink scars...then they dissappeared and fur grew over them.
Then, they both opened their eyes and it stopped.
~~~
Meanwhile, Baby Jedi had fallen a little ways and was now standing on her head. She was stuck between two very large boulders. "Great," she muttered sarcastically. The griffin's screams had stopped, and now all was quiet. It was unnerving.
Finally, feeling the blood rushing to her head, she yelled out, "RD! Maple!" Then she felt something hit her head and all went black.
~~~
Rainbow Dreams and Queen Maple found BJ stuck on her head between two large boulders with a large lump just below one of her ears.
Rainbow Dreams and Queen Maple pried her out. She was unconcious.
"Geez," said Rainbow Dreams, staring at the lump "Whatever she hit, or whatever hit her, must have been pretty hard."
She quickly lowered her horn and healed BJ.
BJ was still unconcious, but waking up, when Rainbow Dreams felt something hit her legs and made her fall over.
She heard a mini squawk and felt something jump on her stomach.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, and stared straight into a pair of yellow ones!
She shrieked, and jumped up. She heard another shriek and what sounded like crying.
Rainbow Dreams looked down and saw a baby griffin!
It was about the size of a medium sized dog, a miniature version of his mother. Blue-grey feathers with bursts of gold.
Rainbow Dreams glanced towards the nest and saw the pieces of the blue egg.
The baby griffin gave another of it's cries that didn't sound nearly as fierce as it's mother. It sounded more like a child crying.
It flapped clumsily over to Rainbow Dreams and stared up at her with it's yellow eyes.
"Poor little thing," she heard herself say "We killed his mommy!"
Maple looked down at the baby griffin. "What should we do with it?" she asked Rainbow Dreams.
She thought for a minute.
It could help them on their mission to save Baby Crumpet... they did need all the help they could get...
"RD, should we...keep it?"
Maple looked at the other two unicorns.
"Oh and by the way, thanks for saving me! I'm sure exactly what you did, as I was unconscious, but thanks just the same!" she smiled.
Rainbow Dreams stared down at it.
"Yes..." she said. "we should keep it. His mother is now gone...and it's our fault, I would feel guilty if we didn't. Besides, we can't just leave him here to die!"
She looked down at the tiny thing and it stared back.
"Hmmm... we'll have to name it...we can't just keep calling it It! But first we need to figure out if it's a boy or a girl. I know how..."
She lifted up it's chin and looked. There was a small black dot.
She let it's chin back.
"He's a boy." she said. "Let's name him...something to do with the mountains,since he's that blue grey color with gold...Maybe... Goldencloud? notice he has those burst of gold on his wings that look like clouds? So...Goldencloud? We could call him Goldie for short."
Rainbow Dreams smiled a little as the baby griffin snapped at a bug with his beak.
"So...let's name him Goldencloud! Our little Goldie!"
"Alright, yes," Maple replied to Rainbow Dreams. "Goldenclod is good."
She bent over and smiled at the little animal and it leaped upon her shoulder, and as it's tiny, but piercing claws grasped her body, Maple let out a loud scream!
"Ouch!" she yelled, startled.
Goldencloud, also startled, hopped back into the ground.
"Well, he has sharp claws, that's for sure!" said QM, rubbing her shoulder .
She thought for a moment before saying, "Can he fly? If not how can he come with us all the way to ponyland?" Rainbow Dreams looked down in thought. Then she had it!
Rainbow Dreams got up and he stayed on. She walked around a bit, and he just gripped the pack.
Rainbow Dreams grinned at QM and the waking-up BJ.
Queen Maple grinned back at RD, as Goldie gripped the pack. "Now we can finally get going!"
Goldie sat on the pack and screeched. He looked at QM and blinked. Then suddenly he crowed out.
Queen Maple giggled a little before setting out on, what she hoped, was a safe trail.
"Flutter Valley, here we come!" she laughed
~~~
A little while later Rainbow Dreams stopped. She told QM about the vision she had had before the griffin came. Then she furrowed her brow.
"I've been wondering..." she said "About what Cuddles said when I arrived at Purple Flower Bluffs...'I wonder why Alberen gave you the crystal ball...probably so you could rescue Baby Crumpet'...well, I'm now thinking the same thing...I mean, when I had chosen to look in the crystal ball, I tried and the crystal ball didn't work until I made it...but when Alberen gave me the crystal ball, and when the griffin attacked, they came without me asking... I don't get it. Was it just a fluke she gave me the crystal ball when Baby Crumpet needed help?"
Goldie screeched.
Maple thought.
"Well, it probably wasn't just fluke," she finally said. "But...how would Alberen know that Baby Crumpet was in trouble?"
The green-haired unicorn wondered... "Maybe Alberen knew what was happening to you..." Maybe... ,she mused. "Hmmmm, what do you think?"
Goldencloud stepped on a beetle and ate it. "Eeeech!" he seemed to say.
"I guess griffins eat beetles!" Maple laughed.
Rainbow Dreams nodded and smiled.
"Yes I guess it wasn't just a fluke...Maybe the crystal ball just shows visions when it want's to...I mean, I've only used it three times before. Two, it did them itself. One, I asked it for one. Maybe when I asked it, it could have said no and it just decided to say yes that time. What do you think BJ?"
Rainbow Dreams wrinkled her nose as Goldie ate a moth.
"Ewww!" she said "Well, maybe at this age they do eat nothing but bugs... But I'm guessing as he gets older we'll have to feed him things like fish and mice...yuck!"
Goldie screeched again and flapped back up on Rainbow Dreams back where he gripped the pack.
"Hunting bugs must tire a griffin out, eh?" grinned Rainbow Dreams.
Goldie screeched...again.
"Do think adult griffins eat things like...deer or some huge animals like that?" Maple looked over at Goldencloud. "I sure hope not. Fish and mice, sure...But not deer and pigs."
Rainbow Dreams grimaced.
"I think they do, but apparently only the sick ones, from what I've read."
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I'll bet that since he's so big, he eats fish..." she said.
Then she stopped.
"Hey..."she said "I just noticed something...Griffins have the head, front, and wings of either an eagle or hawk, and the back body of a lion...Goldie has the head of a hawk,the front of a lion, the back of a horse, but with a lions tail, and the wings of a hawk...which means-"
"Which means what??"
Maple's eyes nearly came out of their sockets when she stared at Goldie. He was different than most other griffins!
"So, is he like part pony or something...?? Or What?!" asked Maple.
"Come on, RD," BJ prompted. "What does it mean??"
Rainbow Dreams gulped. "It means..."she said "that Goldie isn't a griffin!"
There was a stunned silence, and they all looked at Goldie, who made a strange rumbling in his throat and blinked his yellow eyes.
"I don't know what he is!" said Rainbow Dreams a little bit exasperated "Maybe part griffin part...something else. D'you know what? I've heard many versions of what the griffin looks like...I thought maybe it was just people getting griffins mixed up, but maybe...they'd actually seen those different looking griffins for themselves!
"Griffins come originally from Greece, I think, like many others beasts such as the manticore..."--She shivered at the name of the dangerous beast-- "So I guess some of the creatures became mixed as they migrated to other lands away from Greece. I've heard stories of people who met a chimaera, a manticore or a sphinx in the lands serounding Ponyland."
Rainbow Dreams took a big breath. "So basically, Goldie is a griffin-mix with some other sort of beast, I think. Maybe a sphinx? hopefully not a manticore, who has the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. Most likely not. Probably a cross breed with a sphinx. Oh, who cares right now? we have to save baby Crumpet! We can talk about this some other time, maybe when we arrive in Flutter Valley."
"Hmm." Queen Maple thought a minute.
"Yes, he is probably part sphinx an-"
There was a low rumble.
She quickly looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering.
"We should hurry...I think a storm may be coming."
Rainbow Dreams felt goose bumps on her arms as a cold wind rustled the leaves on the poplars. They sounded like they were whispering to eachother.
"Uh, yeah...lets go find some cover..." she gave a nervous grin.
She looked up. "This one is even bigger than the last one. This one might bring on a tornado! I mean....look."
She pointed to the long, flat grass in the small valley plateau. "Perfect conditions for a tornado."
She shuddered."The best place would be to find a cave" she said.
"Yeah, a cave would be best..." said Maple.
She looked around for one as the crisp wind blew her green hair in her face.
just as she was about to speak, she fell through the ground! Goldie, who was on her shoulder, screeched and hopped to the side of the hole Maple had fallen into.
"Help!! Rainbow Dreams! Baby Jedi!" she yelled. "Get me outta here!"
The floor cavity she had tripped into was lined with dead leaf and straw...almost...like it was meant to be a trap.
"Oh.....no..."said Rainbow Dreams in a strangled voice. She ran to the hole, almost knocking Goldie in.
"EEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!" Shrieked Goldie indignatly.
"Quiet." She said, then she leaned over. "Qm-em-em-em-em-m? Can you hear me- me-me-me-me-e-e?" Her voice echoed.
Queen Maple jumped as high as she could, but still didn't reach the half- way point of the side of the hole.
"Yes," she anwsered. "I can hear you...how do I get outta here?"
The green-haired unicorn looked around the inside of hole.
There were small dents in the sides of it. She knew it meant something but didn't know what.
"Rainbow Dreams! Help-elp-elp-elp-elp!", her voice echoed. "Get a rope or something!"
Rainbow Dreams took a big breath. She had to find out what the hole looked like. Then she could figure out what it was.
"Qm! em-em-em! What does it look like down there?!"
She waited for a reply.
Queen Maple looked around the inside of the hole.
"Well," she shouted. "There are little dents in on the walls! And the floor is lined with straw and dead leaves...and oh yes, there is a red wire streched arcross the floor!"
Rainbow Dreams froze.
"A red wire? holes?" she whispered to herself, her voice strangled.
"Oh....my...god..."
She looked up and a drop of crystal clear rain fell on the tip of her nose.
With wild eyes, Rainbow Dreams pawed for a rope among the packs and found one.
It was too short.
holes....holes...
The words echoed in her head.
It was a water trap.
A trap used where the victim would fall in the hole and when the animal moved, their ankle would hit the wire and the wire would wrap around their ankles so they couldn't get out at all. And the holes were used so that if it rained the water would pour through them and drown the animal. If not the animal would simply die of exaustion, starvation, dehydration...
"QM!" yelled Rainbow Dreams. "Don't....Touch....The wire..."
Queen Maple froze at hearing the urgency in Rainbow Dreams' words.
"Okay," she said. "I will not move an inch!"
Rainbow dreams leaned back and released her breath...but it wasn't over yet. Now that it was raining, she had to get QM out. Plus, the storm had conditions for a tornado.
Rainbow Dreams finally found another rope that she tied together with the other one she found.
Slowly, she put it down in the hole, lowering it down.
"Now, grab hold!"
Queen Maple grabbed the rope.
"Okay, I've got it. Please pull it up now!" she said to Rainbow Dreams.
Just then, water started pouring in through the dents in the sides of the hole.
"Hurry!"
Rainbow Dreams pulled and strained, and she managed a bit, being pretty strong, but she still needed someone's help.
"BJ!" she said "Help me!"
BJ rushed over to help RD pull. "It's so hard!" she groaned. "Ow, my hooves..." But she set her jaw and pulled with all her might.
Overhead, thunder rumbled. Rain began to pour down in buckets, drenching them. "Oh, joy," BJ muttered.
The hair on the back on their neck rose. Lightning struck a tree nearby, with a loud cracking sound. The tree split in half and fell with a loud whump! onto the ground.
"Oh great," BJ reiterated. "We may be done for...!" She suddenly screamed as her hooves gave way and she started falling towards the hole.
Rainbow Dreams gritted her teeth and pulled.
"Help us QM! Push up!" she yelled over the wind.
She looked at BJ.
"One...two...three...PULL!!!" she yelled.
The two yanked and Queen Maply came flying up out of the hole and they all sprawled on the ground, gasping for air.
"Now we'd better go to cover!" said the rainbow-patched pony.
"Yes," said Queen Maple. "We should findwhere to stay, like a cave."
She looked around until she spotted a small cave entrace, hidden by a branch of a pine tree.
"There!" Maple said. "We can stay in threre!"
She pointed to the cave before running over to it.
"Perfect! ...Rainbow Dreams, Baby Jedi, come on!"
The three ponies trotted over to the cave and stood at the entrance.
Rainbow Dreams didn't speak.She stood for a second, poised with her head thrust out into the darkness of the cave. She twitched her ears but picked up no sound from inside except for the occasional drip. She flared her nostrils and smelled. No scent except for dampness and mold that grew on the walls.
She flicked her ears one last time and then turned to her companions and nodded.
"It's safe." she said.
They entered the cave, Goldie flopping clumsily behind. There was a moment of silence, then a swishing, and the cave lit up with red-orange light. Rainbow Dreams was holding a torch in a special holder designed for ponies, that allowed the torch to be held away so they didn't burn they're mouths, and left space for them to talk. Her eyes glowed an eerie yellow.
She motined towards the deeper part of the cave and they walked along, their hooves making hollow clopping sounds on the slick stone. Goldie screeched a little as he tripped on a stone, and the sound reverberated off the walls, filling they're ears with the sound. They cringed but continued deeper into the cave.
Finally, they arrived at the end of the cave, which was simply a slightly smaller, rounded cavern.
"Odd," whispered Rainbow Dreams "It looks as though nothing has ever lived here before."
That was when she noticed what looked like the remains of a fireplace. Rounded stones with some slightly charred wood inside, that looked petrified.
She lit 2 other torchs and gave one to QM and one to BJ. This created enough light for them to see other strange things.
There was a wagon. It was missing one of it's wheels, and was cracked and splintered.
There was also a pile of what looked like stones. But when they wen't closer, they saw that they were arrowheads and tools of stone! And an even closer look revealed what looked like 2 rough looking stone bowls.
Also, Rainbow Dreams noticed some markings on the walls. Looking closer revealed that they were ancient hyroglyphics. They were animals, ponies too, some trees and such.
They seemed to illustrate things that had happened to the inhabitants. There were pictures of ponies gathering plants, plants being roasted over the fire...ponies making clothes, eating,...it wen't on and on, circling all around the cave. There was even a few hoof prints.
They were awed.
Rainbow Dreams walked up to the wagon and gulped, a prickle of fear sliding down her spine. What if there were skeletons inside the wagon? But no, when she peeked over there were only some shreds of mouldy blankets and cloth, and an old, wooden trunk.
"Hey guys, look!" Rainbow Dreams said.
The others came and looked inside the wagon as well.
"It's an old trunk!" gasped QM.
Rainbow Dreams nodded and looked closer. It was covered in elaborate carvings of flowers and leaves. The golden clasps still shone feebly.
Rainbow Dreams looked at QM and BJ and without speaking she opened the trunk and peered inside.
It was filled with gold coins, and many, many multicolored gems! In the middle was the largest, most beautiful stone of all of them.
It was a large opal, the sice of two of Rainbow Dreams hooves! It was multicolored, and swirled with rainbow mist.
But in the middle, when they loked closer, was a face.
It was the face of a pony.
"That's Queen Opal!" gasped Rainbow Dreams, "Majesty's great-great-great- great grandma!"
"Queen Opal?" BJ echoed. "What's her face doing in an opal? Am I the only one who thinks this is all a bit weird? Besides, we have to go save Baby Crumpet. We musn't take up any more time!"
Rainbow Dreams whirled around.
"Do you think we're going to be able to save baby Crumpet when we can't even walk without slamming into a tree from the force of the wind?!" She exploded. The sound of her voice echoed loudly off the walls.
There was silence.
"I'm sorry Baby Jedi..." said Rainbow Dreams, "I'm just stressed out." She sighed. "I really wan't to get going but this stupid storm is just....Just STUPID! Will you forgive me?"
She didn't wait for an answer. She pointed to the opal. "Do you guys realize what this is? This is the Opal of Dream Castle!"
She saw confused looks.
"Well, a long time ago--Goldie leave that bug it looks poisnonous-- There was an opal. It showed the picture of the current leader of ponyland. It was created by Queen Opal. But after it was made, it dissapeared, and nobody knew why. It's amazing that we found it. What's even more amazing is my theory. Goldie, leave it."
Goldie stopped trying to eat the bright orange bug crawling across the floor.
"My theory as to why it doesn't show Majesty since she's the current leader, is that these hyroghlyphics are somehow stopping the flow of magical energy from this opal."
Rainbow Dreams clopped over to the wall. "If you look closely," she said "You will see that not only do the hyroghlyphics show things such as gathering food and planting crops, it also shows the cave ponies practicing their magic and such. Maybe if we study these pics, we can figure out why or how..."
She began to circle the cavern looking at the pictures. Then she saw it.
"Here, guys! These one shows them putting magic into the walls! Isn't that amazing? That must also be how they kept animals and such out of the cave, and the magic inside the opal."
She urned to them and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry if I'm boring you," she apologized, "but I have always been fascinated by the ancient practicing of pony magic. And to study pictures of it right here before me from those who actually did it--well it's just a treat for me."
She looked thoughtful. "I have ben considering for quite a while now whether or not I should go into the study of ancient pony magic for a career--I'm almost positive now. Finding a cave like this with all these pictures would definately help me along the rode to becoming a master in the magia de los potros de la cueva, or the magic of the cave ponies."
"Wow..." Maple said surprised. "So you know a lot about ancient pony magic, huh? Cool!"
She looked at a drawing of ponies doing magic, and it started to glow!
"Rainbow Dreams! Look! It's glowing!" Maple shouted. "What does it mean?"
Goldencloud screeched.
Queen Maple glanced back at the opal with the picture of the former queen on it. She senced a tiny ray of possible energy flick from the queen's eye. She knew that if Rainbow Dream's theory was true, then it couldn't have been really energy...but something was going on.
"Rainbow Dreams," she repeated. "What do you think it is?"
Rainbow Dreams didn't look fazed. She looked fascinated!
"Don't worry QM," she said, "this is only another show of pony magic from back then. This must've ben used to warn them of enemies. Intruders. But we weren't sensed right away because the magic is getting old. It shouldn't do anything, so don't worry."
"Okay, I see..." said Queen Maple. "So about how long ago were ponies living in this cave?"
Goldie picked at a beetle.
Rainbow Dreams shrugged. "I'm not sure. There were many different generations, you could say, that lived here. Usually they are reffered to as different clans."
She looked around at the paintings. "From what I can pick up from these, is that these were the bear clan. Cunning hunters, it seems, from the looks of some of these traps. It looks like they also had a green thumb and were good planters."
She saw the shocked look on QM's face when she said "hunters".
"They didn't hunt to eat the meat," she explained, "They just used the skins and furs to make clothing."
Maple laughed. "Okay, I see," she said "Wow, you sure do know a lot, where did you learn all this from?"
She looked around the cave walls. "It must've been neat to live here..." she mused.
"One of my aunts was a teacher of ancient pony magic," Maple sighed suddenly. "She knew so much, but she was killed when I was five. The nasty Wind Dragons killed her and my mother."
Rainbow Dreams was still studying the drawings, which had ceased glowing.
"Well, I have a story...." said Rainbow Dreams. "It all began one day when I was walking around Dream Castle, and I heard Dabble and Scribbles talking about the careers and jobs they'd like to have when they were older. I had never really thought about it until then, and I walked away to think.
"I must've went through every career possible, but I couldn't think of one that would suite me. Artist wouldn't bring enough money if I ever wanted a family... Same thing with author. I thought, 'maybe I could be a scientist'. Well, actually, I had spoken out loud, and Optic, a teacher, had overheard me.
" 'So you wan't to be a scientist, eh?' he asked.
'Well, that's just it' I replied, 'I dont KNOW what I'm going to be. Some people seem to have a clear idea of what they're going to be...but me...'
"He kinda studied me for a sec. Then he just said, 'follow me' and led me down this corridor and into a room that was filled with books! He told me it was his private library.
"He told me to look through some of the books and see if I could get some ideas.
"Well I did just that, and I couldn't find a thing, until I sat at a table-- and lying there was a big, navy book with the title 'magia de los potros de la cueva: the magic of the cave ponies'
"Curious, I opened it and began to read. I was soon engrossed in it. Must've been holding the book a centimeteer away from my nose!"
She laughed. "Optic came back and said 'So, interested in the cave ponies, are you?' 'Yes, very much!' I said. So he showed me some more books, and I've been fascinated ever since."
"Wow, that's neat...I'm not really good at any one thing, I mean, I'm good at lots of things but I don't really know what to study. Being queen of Purple Flower Bluffs gets rather boring sometimes, if you know what I mean..."
Queen Maple touched one of the drawing... Such magic must be held in these, she thought. I wonder if we could use these to help us to save Baby Crumpet in any way... , she mused.
She asked Rainbow Dreams, "Could we use this magic that is in these drawings in any way? I mean to help us get to, or to save Baby Crumpet."
Goldencloud stretched out his neck to peer at the drawing. "EEECH!" he screamed.
Rainbow Dreams nodded. "Yes I know how you feel, " she said symphathetically, "When I was a princess, I was worried I would never be allowed to do anything other than be a princess."
She studied QM. "Y'know, Maple..." she said "You don't have to be JUST a queen. You can be anything you wan't. You could reserve certain days to do whatever you pick, and put someone else in charge that you trust. Majesty does that. She has a cottage on the border of a forest, near Blueberry Baskets' house. Every once and a while, she visits it and paints. Her paintings are lovely."
When QM asked her about the magic, she shook her head viciously. "Oh no!" she said. "You wouldn't be able to get it out of the walls. It has something do to with third or secondary magic.Maybe fifth."
She saw QM stare blankly at her.
"Secondary, fifth, and Third magic are how ponies have divided certain types of magic. There are also sixth, seventh,eighth, etc, types of magic. The third is magic that is sort of like a curse, and is stuck somewhere unless a certain rituel or task is performed.
"Secondary is much more difficult magic. It is magic that is stuck somewhere for good, for some reason or another, and cannot be broken no matter what. That is also the most likely of the two for this magic..."
She sorta smiled. "Besides," she said almost apologetically, "Even if we could, I wouldnt. The thing is is that it just seems...wrong. Like stealing. Plus the magic might possibly be third as well as fifth magic. " Fifth is magic that can be used for only a certain task, or tasks, and is not magic that can be used for almost anything. This magic is probably only useful for alerting the inhabitants of danger, helping predict the weather, and planting crops. So it most likely wouldn't help us."
"Anyway," she added to brighten the mood, "we have all the magic we need in the night crystal you found."
"Yes, I think I will decide on something to do besides be a queen all of the time..." Queen Maple said. "I can let my sisters, Dove and Sky Rocket decide things for me while I go and do something else." She nodded. "It'd be sort of like a vacation for me, I'm always busy,"
"Hmmm, I thought it might be stuck in the walls for good... yes, the night crystal is very powerful, I think, so that'll be enough magic for us."
She thought again about what she would like to study..."Hmmm...I was wondering, do you know if there is a study of plants and different berries and fruits that ponies used long ago? I know a lot about plants, my grandmother did also, and she taught me much about them. Like how to find certain plants that, if said a spell over, would burst into a thousand sparks of light.
"But those were just for fun, there were others that were vital to living in the grasslands were we used to live, like plants that were edible and plats that healed wounds, and many more uses. And fruits too! We were the first ponies to be able to grown the 'bluegnut' fruits in Ponyland, they are native to only Blueland and some parts of Ryhmeland. They actaully grow well here."
Rainbow Dreams' face lit up.
"That sounds like fun!" she said. "Perfect. I also learned a little about healing plants, but not much. Mostly common herbs for teas and such. And I learned which berries are good for eating and dying cloth with. Nothing too useful..."
She listened closely. And swiveled her ears, which were points at the top, yet cupped, so they absorbed a lot more sound.
"Still pouring like buckets," she sighed.
Then she thought for a moment.
"Queen Maple, BJ," she said, "By now, there are probably more ponies than just Baby Crumpet..." she trailed off a bit.
"The thing is," she explained "I was worrying that it might be too hard to rescue them all now."
There was silence as they all brooded.
Then it was broken by Rainbow Dreams who opened her pack, which she had set down by the wagon. She took out the map, and atempted to study it, but it was hard since the stupid torches dipped too far down.
"Stupid thing." she mumbled. Then to her comapnions, she said "Let's make a fire in that old fireplace. We might be stuck in here for a while, and it's cold. Plus if you talk too long with these torches in your mouth, it starts to make your gums bleed."
She looked around then took some broken boards by the side of the wagon. There didn't seem to be anything on them, so she put them in the fireplace, (After clearing the petrified wood out of it, because they were pretty, and also could be sold for money in Ponyland, and Flutter Valley, which could be traded for more supplies if needed.) and put her torch in it so the wood in the fireplace caught flame.
Then she blew the rest of the torch out and stuck it carefully in the corner. QM and BJ did the same, and soon there was a roaring fire, that made warmth in the room, if not a lot of smoke.
Rainbow Dreams was worried there would be too much, but to her surprise, it seemed to just float up and disappear. She looked closer and saw a series of holes in the roof that seemed to be carved into the rock.
That must have taken a long time to carve, she mused, especially since they would have had to chip away the stalgmights (or was it stalagtights?) off to get to the spots where they were needed, and make sure that water couldn't get in.
Rainbow Dreams shook her head to clear her thoughts, then studied the map again.
Her face lit up suddenly.
"Hey guys!" she said, "Good news! Flutter Valley is VERY close by!About an hours walk and we'll be there! Wow. Too bad this stupid rain won't let up." she added.
"Yes! I think that once I get back to Purple Flower Bluffs, I will start studying plants that ponies use." Maple said.
"Wow, yeah, I hadn't thought about other ponies being captured...maybe we should find more ponies to come with us, like a LOT of ponies and them maybe they can overpower that creep that stold Baby Crumpet....of course, he could probably just strap them all down in chains or something..."
Maple put some more wood on the fire.
"Really? Is Flutter Valley really that close? Good, now let hope this stupid rain stops!"
She frowned and listened, only to hear the rain still beating down.
Goldie screeched.
"What is it Goldie?"
He screeched again. He seemed distressed for some reason.
"Eee, eech, eeek!!" he sounded.
"Maybe he's hungry," said Queen Maple. "There aren't any more bugs in here that I can see, what can we feed him? For that matter, what can we eat?"
Maple felt her stomach growl. "I'm getting pretty hungry,"
Rainbow Dreams rifled through her pack and drew out some bread, fruit, cheese and lots more!
"Goldie might eat some of the bread" she said.
She took out a blue stone.
"Thank god for jewels like this, that keep fod fresh for weeks at a time. Because I somehow find mouldy cheese slightly unnapealing..." She grinned and tossed some bread to Goldie who didn't gobble it up like they expected, but held it gently with his claws, and tore of small pieces to chew carefully.
It seemed like he was trying to enjoy it!
Rainbow Dreams laughed. It loked so funny seeing something as fierce as a griffin ( well, gryffin hybrid or whatever) eating bread like it was a rare truffel or something!
Maple looked down at Goldie, happily eating the bread piece bit by bit.
"Oh I am so glad you brought the stone, without we would've been munching rotten food. Not fun."
She took a slice of an apple and sat down, listening to the rain pattering on the ground above them.
Rainbow Dreams listened. "I guess you can here the rain because of the smoke holes in the roof. Thats handy."
She grabbed a slice of apple, then handed one to BJ, and they all munched in silence, listening to the pattering of the rain.
"We've heard enough about me," said Rainbow Dreams suddenly, "Lets hear about you guys. QM, you keep talking about the Wind Dragons, and I heard a little bit about them, but almost nothing. What do they look like? And what war with them do you keep talking about?"
"Well the Wind Dragons and ice blue and white dragons...they are very big, like about the size of elephants...the war with them started when they invaded Ponyland and Weirdland when I was little, about 5 or 6. We fought them, but their powers were so strong that it took years before they finally left...my mother was a queen, of Forget-Me-Not Meadows, and was killed by the Wind Dragon Princess, Onayno. So were many other of my relatives."
Rainbow Dreams was silent.
Suddenly she spoke, her voice barely heard over the crackling fire.
"Y'know, Maple," she said quietly, "You and I are a lot alike. In many ways. I think that is why we became friends. Think about it--Both of us have no parents...well I do. But they are worlds away, and I may never meet them in person. Which is another reason why I wan't to go to Flutter Valley. I wan't to hear more about the father I never met.
"Anyway, we also are royalty--or in my case, former royalty."
She sighed. "We have also both endured wars that I think have aged our minds considerately. I mean, we are younger than some may think we are. Because we have become so silent from all of the events which have befallen us."
She loked up and there was a long period of silence, in which they sat, lost in their own thoughts. Even Goldie stood, looking as regal as a statue.
Finally Rainbow Dreams looked up. "You guys have only heard bits and pieces of my story. Maybe now is time to tell it. When I am so close to finding out more about it."
She began:
"It all started with the day I was born, of course, I was born in a cave with my two sisters. Peppermint, and Ocean Waves. We were all as close as possible, and we lived among the other unicorns, in a herd. My mother was ruler.
"But soon, Dawn, my mother, became very stressed every time she came back from the looking pond. She would pace restlessly over and over. One day I snuck behind her and looked in the pond . I saw big, wooden boxes that rumbled, and they were pulled by what looked like hornless unicorns. I saw a large, brilliant portal being widened and knocked down. Humans were piling inside.
"Then came the worst. I saw for the first time those of my own kind being killed. I saw men drinking from unicorn-horn goblets. I saw them wearing capes of unicorn hair that sparkled and repelled water. I saw them taking unicorn blood and mixing it in cauldren's and making bad smelling potions to sell.
"I was terrified. The murder was horrible. The humans were building ever closer to our herd.
"One day, me and my sisters decided to play tag, so that we could escape the stress of the herd, including my mother.
"We wandered farther away, and all of a sudden, we were at a road.
"We stood there for a second paralized with fear, when suddenly a box pulled by the hornless unicorns walked by and stopped. A human jumped out and yelled, "Albie! Bring the net! Gotta couple o' young'uns."
"We didn't like the look of him. He was round, had a ruby red face the size of a dinner plate, and cheeks so pudgy--he looked like a giant red tomato. He had little black eyes, and was wearing rich sort of clothing.
"So then Albie came out..she was pretty. Except for the black eye, and whip marks, the tousled hair and the many scars. She wore torn black robes. She was holding a net. She stumbled over and the man took the net and swung it before we could escape. He took us inside and stuck us in a tiny, tiny room in the back, and swung the net off. Then he stormed out, his little black eyes mean but pleased.
We heard a yell of "Get goin' ya low down dog! We're late enough as it is. Our next show is in a li'le while an' I don' wanna be late!"
The driver got going, and the cart rumbled along. We cried a little, but silently, as we were afraid of the big man who yelled. We huddled together and slept.
We stopped often and you hear his voice boom announcements about his fabulous gypsie, Alberen, who could dance and sing like a lark... We gradually ignored them.
But one day we woke up and we heard the man say,
"Albie! Bring me my supper."
"But master, my feet are sore--" we heard her say.
"I said bring it! An'do it now!"
"But--but I cant walk master, surely the driver could do it--"pleaded the gypsy.
"He most certainly will not!" growled the man."That's what your for!"
I heard Albie get up then fall back with a cry of pain.
"See, I cannot--"
I heard the man get up.
"Albie, get up." He said angrily.
I heard a gasp.
"No,please, no!"
Then I heard the lashing of a whip and a cry of pain. I heard more and more, the cries becoming weaker and weaker. Then they stopped, but the whips didn't.
Finally they stopped and the man said "Now get outta my sight, now,ya--he cursed--. When I tell you ta do somethin' I expect ya ta do it!"
I heard the sounds of someone crawling across the floor and the door opened and Albie came in.She closed the door, sat down and sobbed. She was torn and bleeding. She had red marks across her face, and a gash above her eye that dribbled blood. Her lip was puffy and bled, her hair was even more torn. And she took off her shoes and her feet were covered with blisters and they bled.
I walked over to her and nuzzled her chin. I was soon followed by Ocean Waves and Peppermint.
She looked at us, and at the meager scraps of mouldy bread on the floor.
"If I have to be stuck with him, then at least no one else will." She whispered. Then she opened our small window, grabbed the net from a corner and put Peppermint in it. She hobbled over to it and lowered her out. Then came Ocean Waves and then me.
When it was my turn, she looked my in the eye, said "Goodbye" and lowered me.
We snuck into the forest and escaped, running, until we found a barn and slept in it. But the next morning, a farmer and his wife found me. So we escaped and journeyed across the forests. Then we found a cave. And inside was a portal. Curious, we touched it and were suddenly in the middle of a King and Queen's throne room.'
We were sort of adopted and had lots of stuff.
We were taught to talk, then told our story. It was horrible to them! So they erased our memories. Luckily, I had a book of memories and my whole story. So I memorized it and soon, though they had been erased, my memories came back.Though some were missing and others too hazy to remember.
But that was after Peppermint and Ocean Waves were taken away.
They separated us for some reason. I was the only one taken into the castle."
Rainbow Dreams stopped. "It's getting late so Ill make it shorter" she said.'
"I was taught many things of being a princess. But I always was more interested in adventers and made friends with a maid. Ocean Waves, though at the time I didn't know she was my sis.
So anyway, one day there was explosions and we found a war had been launched. Turns out that the country we fought with had been tense with us for a loooooooooooong time.
So we esceped. We fled into Ponyland along with others.
But soon I found Ponyland too boring and left. But not before I regained ALL my memories--thats another story-- and found Ocean Waves was my sister.
I left Ponyland, but OW stayed, and I found my way to the place where I now permanantly live, the Rainbow Cloud, a valley that floats in the clouds. I suspect that I will become the next Queen, as there is no Princess, and I am good friends with the Queen. And I have allready been trained to be both Princess and Queen."
Rainbow Dreams finished.
"So you do not know what became of your sister, Peppermint?" Queen Maple asked. "That's awful that you were kidnapped and all. My childhood and life was much like yours, I'll tell you the story."
Her eyes filled with deep concentration.
"I was born in a land very far away, now called Weirdland, for obvious reasons. The creatures there are very odd-looking. My mother, Snow Dusk, was the present queen there and my two sisters, Sky Rocket and Dove, and I lived in a beautiful palace called Moonlake. It was a great life, I must say, but I only lived that life for about four years.
"When I was four years old, the Wind Dragons came into Weirdland because they wanted it's blue gems, called, Whisps. The gems were very rare elsewhere in the world but they were common in Weirdland. Well my mother did not want to give up the gems to the dragons so a bitter war broke out between the ponies of Weirdland and the Wind Dragons.
"It was very dangerous to be in Weirdland, so my mother ordered one of the maids to take me and my sisters to Ponyland. We went to Ponyland and lived with a pony called Moonweaver and her daughters Eleanor, Pristina and Braided Beauty. They took very good care of me.
"But one day, news came to me that my mother, father and aunt had been killed by the Wind Dragons. I was horrified.
"The ponies in Weirdland drove the Wind Dragons out Weirdland but then the dragons came to Ponyland. For weeks everyone was hiding for fear of being killed by a Wind Dragon. Moonweaver took us and her daughters to an abandoned underground cavern we stayed there with some other ponies for five months. Each day some ponies would have to go out and search for food.
"Finally the Wind Dragons moved out of the area that we lived in so we could go back to our house.
"I lived with Moonweaver for a long time and became good friends with her daughter Eleanor.
"Then, when I was fourteen, my two older sisters and I traveled to the Moss Mountains and lived there. When I was nineteen I was married to pony named Hurricane. I had two children, Daisy (short for Daisy Chain) and Clover. Daisy was green-blue with pink and purple hair and her symbol was a purple daisy. Clover was almound colored and hair pale pink hair and a few pink clovers as a symbol. They were both unicorns like me.
"By that time the Wind Dragons had gone crazy looking for Whisps. They took over the Moss Mountains and in a battle, Hurricane was killed.
Maple looked down a the ground in dispair.
"It was awful. Clover and Daisy were miserable and so was I. The Wind Dragons began killing every pony they could find.
"Finally, I had had enough! I quickly rasied a huge army and killed most every one of the Wind Dragons! My sister and I snuck inot the dungeon where some ponies were captured and released them.
"I became quite famous in Ponyland for saving the country! But my troubles weren't over yet. Soon after the defeat of the Wind Dragons, a terrible earthquake nearly split the continent in half. It was a *huge* earthquake. Many ponies were killed and even more lost from the familes. I became complatetly lost from any pony I knew, including Clover and Daisy. After the earthquake, I started asking any and all ponies or other creatures I saw if they had seen Clover or Daisy. I couldn't lose them, I had lost too many other of my family members. Finally, I did find them!
"We searched and seached for a place to live. One day we came upon some purple colored cliffs. Purple Flower Bluffs! They were perfect to live in. There were many crevices in the bluffs and they were heated by hot springs running under the the ground. Soon, some other ponies came to live with us and soon there was a huge herd there. I then adopted another baby called Starlight from one pony called Moondancer. She had two children but at the time could only take care of one and she trusted me to care for the baby.
"So that is the story if my life so far."
Queen Maple looked down at Goldie who was sitting a a round stone. He still was quiet but soon made a tiny "peep!".
Rainbow Dreams sighed.
"Our lives were so horrible...we shouldn't have had to go through that when we were so young..."
She looked down, "I used to dream," she said quietly, "that one day I would have a perfect life. That my parents lived with me in a grand palace.But I soon gave that up. It has changed me, I think. I'm not sure if it's better or worse."
Her eyes glistened.
"I remember long ago
when I was happy
and when all I needed was a hug
and when I never gave a thought to life
and when I took things for granted
and when I was serounded by all the love I could get
but didn't care
I remember
those days long ago
when I was happy
But that was long ago
and now that pony is gone
and I'm serounded by murder and hate
and my world is changed
but I still remember
those days long ago
when I was happy"
Rainbow Dreams paused.
"I wrote that the day I arrived in Ponyland." she whispered.
"Yeah," Maple said softly. "That's the same stuff that has always happened to me, I have a great life as a princess, then I have to move away from my family, my parents and aunt are killed, my husband is killed, a great earthquake separates me from my children and so much other hate and evil is put upon me."
She sighed. "But at least now my life is better, and I have found my children again and live in peace at Purple Flower Bluffs." Queen Maple frowned slightly. "I think that is why set up the whole thing of letting ponies whose family member were lost come to Purple Flower Bluffs. So that, if their relatives or friends are still alive then possibly they may find each other again. Which was exactly what a perfect life would have been to me."
The rain still beat down on the ground above them.
"Also, my cousin, Rainstorm, was capured by the Wind Dragons after I came to Ponyland. No one ever found out what happened to him, but no one said for sure that he was killed. I can only hope that he wasn't and that someday, somehow, I could find him. Maybe someone in Flutter valley would know, but probably not, he never even went to the Valley I don't think."
She looked up from the ground.
"Rainbow Dreams, do you know that your father lived in Flutter Valley?"
Rainbow Dreams frowned.
"What do you mean? I know he came from Flutter Valley...he must have. Because Flutter Valley is the only place where he could have gotten throughthe portal to my mothers world, and my old world."
"Ok okay..." Maple said. "Well mayeb you can find out something about him."
Queen Maple saw a glint from the inside of her bag that was open slightly.
She found it to be her night crystal glimmering. It glowed red and pink.
She pulled it from the bag and looked at it.
"Hey RD, my night crystal is....glowing."
She looked at Rainbow Dreams. "You're kinda the magic expert...what's the deal with this crystal?"
The night crystal flashed and glittered. Beautiful swirls and stars sparkled within it. Suddenly a dark blue moon appeared in a flash in the middle of the crystal. It was almost mesmerizing.
Queen Maple just starred and starred at it.
"Whoa, look at it...it's...beautiful..."
Rainbow Dreams smiled a bit as fire started swirling inside of it. Again she looked fascinated.
"Wow...the girl is in the crystal. It must be Monday the 13th."
Rainbow Dreams explained to the others:
"A long time ago, a girl somehow got inside of a night crystal in her dreams. She was chased by the dark being,into the crystal, then through the crystal, and she escaped by jumping on the moon and staying there. Now on every Monday the 13th, she enters a crystal and escapes the dark being by jumping on the moon."
Sure enough to Rainbow Dreams words, if they looked close enough, they could see a girl hanging on a blue and fushia crescent moon. A cloaked figure was below her.
"The dark being," said Rainbow Dreams.
Then suddenly the crystal glowed and swirled and it was again a map of the stars.
"Wow...cool..." said Queen Maple with an amazed look on her face.
"That's neat...so today was Monday the 13th I guess."
"What else do you know about night crystals?" Rainbow Dreams shrugged. "Nothing else, really." she replied. Then she froze.
A grin slowly spread over her face.
"is it just me..." she asked "Or did the rain stop?"
Queen Maple tilted her head slightly.
"Hey, it did!" she said happily. "Good! Now we can finally get going."
She picked up her bag and stood up. "Come on Baby Jedi, Rainbow Dreams, let's go to Flutter Valley!"
Goldencould jumped up on her sack that was thrown over her back. He gave out a ecstatic scream, "Eeeeaach!"
"Looks like Goldie is ready to go," Maple said, giggling slightly.
They started out of the cave, and Rainbow Dreams picked up some stones and placed them outside in a strange formation so she could find her way back.
They slipped and slid down the muddy path, but the idea that Flutter Valley was so near kept them going.
Soon, they began to smell a sweet perfumey smell, and flowers grew more and more frequntly along the path.
Suddenly they came to a cliff and stopped in awe.
Part Two
~*~The journey~*~
~~~~
What lies before us and what lies beyond us is tiny compared to what lies within us. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dreams stoppped at the edge of the cliff and peered down at the raging river.
"How are we going to cross the canyon? We just multiple winked across that ditch, I don't think we can multiple wink again!" she said.
Then she spied a bridge, but saw that it was partly broken. Some of the shingles were missing and would have to be jumped. She turned to the other two ponies. "I should go across first," she said "because I have wings. If the bridge brakes I can fly away. You two can't."
She looked at them. "Shall I?" she said, putting one hoof on the bridge.
"Um, Sure, you should go first,"Maple said, looking at the fragile bridge worriedly. "But what if the bridge breaks? Then how will Baby Jedi and I get across?"
She leaned over the water looking at the white rapids. "Oh boy...."
Rainbow Dreams gave a small, lopsided smile."We'll have to worry about that if it happens. In the meantime, I guess I should cross the bridge..." she gave a small, nervous laugh.
She gulped, and with a determined look on her face she took a step. Then another, and another... soon, she was more than a quarter way across the bridge. She strode across it with ease, nimbly avoiding the broken boards.
Suddenly, her hoof plunged through a board! She heard a shriek and couldn't figure out whether it was hers or QM's, or BJ's. "I--I'm fine!" she called back, over the pounding of her heart. "It was only one bo--!"
Suddenly the board broke completely and she started to fall!
"No!" she yelled.
Then her tail was caught by one of the boards and she came to an abrupt halt. "Thank heavens." she sighed.
CRACK!
Her tail came loose and she started to plummet down...down...down....
"Use your wings!"
Rainbow Dreams blinked; the unfamiliar voice had snapped her back to reality. She tried to open her wings, but the wind wouldn't allow her.It pushed them upwards too hard.
The water was nearer. She knew it was over.
The cold water came much to soon. Rainbow Dreams almost cried out, but remembered she was under the water and stopped just in time.
The water snuffed out all sound except for the strange bubbling sound of the rapids.
Rainbow Dreams tried to swim upwards, but her wings kept getting in the way. Her lungs felt as though they would burst.
Suddenly, a white shape plunged through the surface, but Rainbow Dreams couldn't tell who it was because of the red spots in front of her eyes.
She felt herself be grabbed by a hoof. Slowly, ever so slowly, they neared the surface...
Finally they broke, but for Rainbow Dreams, everything had already turned black.
~~~
Rainbow Dreams woke to a pounding pain in her head. "I'm growing a horn." she said groggily.
"No you aren't." said a voice.
Rainbow Dreams stared around and found herself face to face with a pair of golden eyes.
A white unicorn stood before her. Her gray-blue and white hair whirled around her shoulders.
On her hips was the symbol of a full moon. It was hazy in a blotchy place...like a phantom or something.
Rainbow Dreams remembered everything suddenly. "Who are you?" she asked quietly.
"I am Ghost." said the white mare. "Now sleep."
The pony turned and began to walk away into the forest.
Rainbow Dreams almost did fall asleep, but she swayed a little and said "No..come back!" to the departing unicorn.
"I will."
Rainbow Dreams suddenly crumpled and just before she fell asleep, she was aware of a voice calling her name.
Then, for the second time, all went black.
"Rainbow Dreams?" Maple leaned down to her friend. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She shook the fluttercorn pony around a little, hoping to wake her up. "Rainbow Dreams?" she repeated.
Rainbow Dreams woke up and stared at Queen Maple. "I...I..saw...ghost..." she mumbled. Her throat was so dry...
She shook herself awake. "Where's BJ?" she asked suddenly, looking around
"Ghost? What? Who?" The confused unicorn franticly tryed to quickly force the anwsers out of a recently unconscious Rainbow Dreams to, what seemed like, the most intriguing questions. Who was 'Ghost'?
~~~
Meanwhile, Baby Jedi had gone off wandering and soon got lost.
"Oh, fun," She mumbled. "Where am I now?" She looked around, wondering how far she had strayed from her friends. She had run off when the bridge broke, looking for a vine for RD to grab, and couldn't find one. She tried going back, but couldn't find the path.
"RD! QM!" She called out. "Where are you guys?"
~~~
Back in the clearing, Rainbow Dreams sat up. "Drink...please." she rasped.
"Drink? Drink what?" Queen Maple asked Rainbow Dreams, utterly confused. "What??"
Rainbow Dreams was getting annoyed.
"I need...a drink!" she said.
"Oh, okay..."
Maple got a wooden bowl from her sack and dipped it in the river and handed it to Rainbow Dreams.
"Here, is this okay?" she said, very confused. Why did the rainbow color fluttercorn need water? After all, she had just been...swimming!
Rainbow Dreams drank it, but it didn't help her sore throat. She wondered why her throat was sore...
She waved her horn
I wish...I wish...
Her throat felt better.
"Now, where is BJ?" asked Rainbow Dreams.
"Hmm, I don't know..." Said Queen Maple, looking around for BJ "Hey! BJ? Where are you?!" she yelled.
BJ came running up. "Hey, guys! I found you! Finally!"
"BJ!" said Rainbow Dreams "Where were you?"
"Oh BJ! you're here, where were ya?" Said Queen Maple at the same time, smiling.
The pony shrugged. "I got lost..." she said.
"Well, this has been enough of a distraction." said Rainbow Dreams,suddenly getting up. "We'd better get going now if we wan't to reach Flutter Valley by tomorrow."
"Yes, I believe so..." Maple said. "We'd better get outta here and IN to Flutter Valley!"
The white unicorn trotted up ahead, but then turned around and came back when she saw that Rainbow Dreams and BJ weren't following.
"Yep"said Rainbow Dreams "What do you think, BJ?"
BJ nodded. "Yes," she said. "I have a feeling we ought to hurry!"
"I said, we had better get going to Flutter Valley, now come on." said Queen Maple a bit impatiently.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." grumbled BJ.
"Alright... Rainbow Dreams, do you know where we go now?... I'm not quite sure..." said Maple.
Rainbow Dreams frowned in concentration as she peered at the map.
"Well, here's the old bridge.." said Rainbow Dreams, pointing with the tip of her horn at a tiny bridge on the map. "And we have to go..." she traced her horn along the map and pointed to the other side of the ravine "here." she said.
She straightened up and stared at the other two unicorns. "So we have to get across the ravine and onto the other side first." she continued "Luckily, our little--"she smiled a little "--'diversion', if you will, has left us with enough magical energy to cross the ravine."
She promply stuffed the map back into her leather pouch and grinned. "So lets move our behinds and get on our way to Flutter Valley."
"Alright, let's go now!" said Queen Maple.
They multiple winked across the ravine and began again to walk along the path.
After they had been walking awhile, Maple stopped and looked at the ground.There was something there... it seemed to glimmer.
"What's that?" she wondered as she picked up a tiny blue jewel.
"Whatever it is, it sure looks...interesting..."
She turned to Rainbow Dreams.
"What do you think it is? Or what it means ...
Rainbow Dreams peered at it.
"That's a night crystal!" she said surprised.
She saw confused looks.
"A night crystal is a powerful jewel that comes from the 4th world, the barrens." she explained "There was a huge mine filled with them, and ponies and other creatures from all over were mining it when the whole thing collapsed.So the few that were mined were the only one's that escaped the collapse.
"Most of the jewels have dissapeared over the years, so they have become very rare and are worth lots of money! It's strange we would find something so rare just lying on the floor. So unless the pony or whoever owned it didn't know what it was, this is very strange!"
Rainbow Dreams hopped on a boulder and looked down.
"If you look inside of the jewel, there is a perfect map of the stars." she said.
"It's beautiful," BJ said. "But who dropped it? Why is it here?"
Rainbow Dreams shook her head. "I dunno." she replied."And I probably never will. But lets get going...Uh...Queen Maple..I suggest you put that somewhere safe."
"Yes, I will put it somewhere safe now," said Maple as she placed the crystal in her leather pouch.
"I wonder who dropped it...." she mused.
"Me too," said Rainbow Dreams, "But we can't worry about that now. We have a mission to complete, and we have to complete it quickly." She said the last part grimly.
"You're right! We have to save poor baby Crumpet!" Maple replied to the flutter-corn."By the way, what'll we do when we get there. I mean, how will we save her?"
"That's what I was wondering too," BJ piped up. "It won't be easy, that's for sure."
Rainbow Dreams sighed, but smiled a little. "I've said this before, and I'll say it again," she said, "we'll have to worry about that when we get there!"
They kept walking until they came to a slope of bits of shale, with only a couple of dead bushes sticking up.
Rainbow Dreams looked behind her and shrugged at the other two before starting up the slope.
She picked her way through the bits of shale and rocks as though...as though she had done it before, which was of course impossible. She had never been there before!
She collapsed at the top and peered down at QM and BJ, who were having a bit more trouble than Rainbow Dreams.
Rainbow Dreams was puzzled. QM and BJ were as good as she was at this! Why were they having so much trouble when she had had none?!
She was answered when her crystal ball rolled out of her pouch and came to a stop in front of her. It began to glow and Rainbow Dreams peered forward, expecting to see baby Crumpet again, but no..instead she saw a white unicorn coming out of the forest.
Rainbow Dreams expected it to be a vision of them coming out of the forest, and that was BJ! but no...that unicorn had all white hair...and her horn was gold...and she wasn't a my little pony..she was a real unicorn!
The unicorn looked her and Rainbow Dreams felt a rush of recognition.
"Mother?" whispered Rainbow Dreams incredibly.
The unicorn stopped and bobbed her head at Rainbow Dreams as though telling her yes.
Then Rainbow Dreams watched as her mother, Dawn, picked her way up the same slope, in the same route as Rainbow Dreams had taken!
So she hadn't taken the same route before, but her own mother had! that was why she had gone up so easily!
Rainbow Dreams trembled, but she watched as her mother walked up the slope, and stopped on a rock that jutted out from the cliff. Then Rainbow Dreams saw Dawn stop and stare at her.
She heard one word in her head, before the vision ended:
"danger."
The crystal ball rolled right back into her pouch and Rainbow Dreams shuddered.
danger?
Queen Maple and BJ arrived at the top and sat beside Rainbow Dreams.
BJ looked like she was gonna say something, but then a shadow fell over them and they heard a loud squawk that sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Rainbow Dreams felt an impact on her back before she had a chance to look up.
Rainbow Dreams hit a rock and rolled down the slope, coming to rest halfway down at a large boulder.
Gasping, she got up and looked at the thing cirlcing above them.
It was bigger than BJ and QM combined! It had the head of an eagle, the body of a horse, but with wings, and the tail of a lion.
Or at least thats what it looked like to Rainbow Dreams. Everything was mixed up in her mind.
Then she remembered.
It was a griffin!
Rainbow Dreams got up and looked at what was happening.
Queen Maple gasped with horror. She was too shocked and scared to say anything except, "LOOK OUT!!" she screamed at the very top of her lungs.
As the griffin nearly hit her head, she dodged the great creature by a half an inch.
"Oh my gosh! Rainbow Dreams, Baby Jedi?!" she coundn't see the two other unicorn anywhere around her, and she was worried.
"Where are you??"
"Where are YOU?!?" Baby Jedi yelled out. "What's going on? RD? QM?"
Rainbow Dreams thought she saw BJ on one side of her, and QM on the other.
"It's a griffin!" yelled Rainbow Dreams, but I don't know why it's attacking! Griffins never attack without a reason!"
Then she saw the egg!
She was ducking when she saw a blue egg!
It was nestled inbetween two rocks covered in sticks and leaves, the nest, she presumed.
Rainbow Dreams gasped as the griffin circled above her, deciding when to attack.
Despite the fact that it was trying to kill her, Rainbow Dreams was awed when she looked up.
The powerful yellow beak snapped open as the griffin uttered another cry.
Suddenly it dived at BJ who hadn't seen.
Without a thought, Rainbow Dreams reared and she herself uttered a scream, not much different from the griffins'.
The griffin pulled up inches from BJ to see where the sound was coming from. Rainbow Dreams saw a flash of it's yellow eyes and was suddenly filled with rage.
Rearing even higher, Rainbow Dreams hooves slashed the air and she tossed her head, giving another scream.Her eyes rolled, showing white.
The griffin circled, undecided, trying to figure out whether to attack or not. Then it dived, faster than lighting.
But Rainbow Dreams was ready.
Dodging, she bucked out and felt contact.
The griffin cryed in rage. It snapped at her, and Rainbow Dreams slashed at it with her horn, leaving a streak just below it's eyes. The streak began to glow blue and then flashed with light until there was only a pink scar.
The griffin could heal itself!
That was when the strange feeling of pure rage left her and she realized the danger.
Just then she was slammed into a rock.
Gasping, she called out.
"Baby Jedi! Queen Maple! Help!" she yelled as the griffin prepared to dive.
Queen Maple glanced up at the diving creature.
A wave of horrid fear spread over her.
Within a nano-second, she lept into the air, and with all her might, knocked into the creature right before it slammed into Rainbow Dreams. The griffin was only slightly thrown off course but it missed the rainbow flutter-corn.
This angered the beast greatly and it swiped at Maple with it's claw, tossing her to the ground. She lay motionless on a flat rock, but she was not dead and she managed to slit her eye open. She saw the griffin rising into the air, and Maple thought it would surely try to attack again.
"Rainbow Dreams..." muttered Maple. "Look out...for the griffin...can't...move... help... please ...find Baby Jedi....hurry..."
Rainbow Dreams dodged the flying claws just in time. She gasped as she saw Queen Maple.
She then remembered: The only spot on a griffin that can't heal itsself was...was....where?
She had to dodge again. Her mind raced for the answer...
The griffins claws grazed her legs--Legs! It was the legs!
Rainbow Dreams called on all the power she had. Backing up, she ran and jumped at the griffins leg, the side of her horn pressed against it and she heard the griffin shriek in pain.
A hot feeling spread slowly from the tip of her horn. When it reached her forehead, Rinbow Dreams was in such pain, she thought she was on fire.
Then it stopped and Rainbow Dreams was falling.
She twisted like a cat and landed on her feet. Grimacing she stared up. The griffin was falling-- and if she didn't move fast, it would fall on her!
Rainbow Dreams jumped out of the way, just in time.
The griffin slammed onto the rock, hitting it with a blinding flash.
When Rainbow Dreams looked next, the griffin had disspeared and there was only a dark blue imprint of where the griffin had been.
Overwhelmed with exaustion, Rainbow Dreams fell to her knees. But then she saw Queen Maple, lying motionless on the ground.
She gasped, and got up. She stumbled over to her friend, tears in her eyes. "No!" she whispered. "No! she isn't dead!"
Rainbow Dreams lay her head on Maple's chest and listened. There was a faint heartbeat, the last flicker of life.
Rainbow Dreams realized that after she had defeated the griffin, she had no powers! She needed to heal Queen Maple though.
Then it came to her.The night crystal!
They were powerful holders of wild magic...magic that had about everything in it. If Rainbow Dreams couldn't control the magic, then she might make Queen Maple even worse! But if she didn't try, Maple wouldn't survive. Rainbow Dreams would have to take the chance.
She carefully picked the crystal out of the bag and lay it on the ground.
She moved the tip of her horn to the crystal and felt a sudden jolt.
Then, the magic began to move up and down her horn, crackling with energy. It surged through Rainbow Dreams like water in a river, through her veins...
She also felt it trying to escape.
Oh no you don't... she thought, restraining it. It started to fight her, trying to get back in the crystal, but Rainbow Dreams fought even more.
"Don't mess with wild magic--it'll mess right back!" she mumbled.
Then it stopped. She was filled with as much magic as was possible.
Gulping, Rainbow Dreams sorted through the magic until she found healing powers.
Slowly, Rainbow Dreams pressed the tip of her horn to Queen Maple's and closed her eyes, concentrating.
There was a small flash and then they were both bathed in a golden light. The power of Rainbow Dreams horn began to move through to Queen Maple in gold and red lighting bolts.
Then, both their wounds began to stop bleeding. Rainbow Dreams clenched her teeth and concentrated...she couldn't let the magic escape her!
Then, the wounds were simply pink scars...then they dissappeared and fur grew over them.
Then, they both opened their eyes and it stopped.
~~~
Meanwhile, Baby Jedi had fallen a little ways and was now standing on her head. She was stuck between two very large boulders. "Great," she muttered sarcastically. The griffin's screams had stopped, and now all was quiet. It was unnerving.
Finally, feeling the blood rushing to her head, she yelled out, "RD! Maple!" Then she felt something hit her head and all went black.
~~~
Rainbow Dreams and Queen Maple found BJ stuck on her head between two large boulders with a large lump just below one of her ears.
Rainbow Dreams and Queen Maple pried her out. She was unconcious.
"Geez," said Rainbow Dreams, staring at the lump "Whatever she hit, or whatever hit her, must have been pretty hard."
She quickly lowered her horn and healed BJ.
BJ was still unconcious, but waking up, when Rainbow Dreams felt something hit her legs and made her fall over.
She heard a mini squawk and felt something jump on her stomach.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, and stared straight into a pair of yellow ones!
She shrieked, and jumped up. She heard another shriek and what sounded like crying.
Rainbow Dreams looked down and saw a baby griffin!
It was about the size of a medium sized dog, a miniature version of his mother. Blue-grey feathers with bursts of gold.
Rainbow Dreams glanced towards the nest and saw the pieces of the blue egg.
The baby griffin gave another of it's cries that didn't sound nearly as fierce as it's mother. It sounded more like a child crying.
It flapped clumsily over to Rainbow Dreams and stared up at her with it's yellow eyes.
"Poor little thing," she heard herself say "We killed his mommy!"
Maple looked down at the baby griffin. "What should we do with it?" she asked Rainbow Dreams.
She thought for a minute.
It could help them on their mission to save Baby Crumpet... they did need all the help they could get...
"RD, should we...keep it?"
Maple looked at the other two unicorns.
"Oh and by the way, thanks for saving me! I'm sure exactly what you did, as I was unconscious, but thanks just the same!" she smiled.
Rainbow Dreams stared down at it.
"Yes..." she said. "we should keep it. His mother is now gone...and it's our fault, I would feel guilty if we didn't. Besides, we can't just leave him here to die!"
She looked down at the tiny thing and it stared back.
"Hmmm... we'll have to name it...we can't just keep calling it It! But first we need to figure out if it's a boy or a girl. I know how..."
She lifted up it's chin and looked. There was a small black dot.
She let it's chin back.
"He's a boy." she said. "Let's name him...something to do with the mountains,since he's that blue grey color with gold...Maybe... Goldencloud? notice he has those burst of gold on his wings that look like clouds? So...Goldencloud? We could call him Goldie for short."
Rainbow Dreams smiled a little as the baby griffin snapped at a bug with his beak.
"So...let's name him Goldencloud! Our little Goldie!"
"Alright, yes," Maple replied to Rainbow Dreams. "Goldenclod is good."
She bent over and smiled at the little animal and it leaped upon her shoulder, and as it's tiny, but piercing claws grasped her body, Maple let out a loud scream!
"Ouch!" she yelled, startled.
Goldencloud, also startled, hopped back into the ground.
"Well, he has sharp claws, that's for sure!" said QM, rubbing her shoulder .
She thought for a moment before saying, "Can he fly? If not how can he come with us all the way to ponyland?" Rainbow Dreams looked down in thought. Then she had it!
Rainbow Dreams got up and he stayed on. She walked around a bit, and he just gripped the pack.
Rainbow Dreams grinned at QM and the waking-up BJ.
Queen Maple grinned back at RD, as Goldie gripped the pack. "Now we can finally get going!"
Goldie sat on the pack and screeched. He looked at QM and blinked. Then suddenly he crowed out.
Queen Maple giggled a little before setting out on, what she hoped, was a safe trail.
"Flutter Valley, here we come!" she laughed
~~~
A little while later Rainbow Dreams stopped. She told QM about the vision she had had before the griffin came. Then she furrowed her brow.
"I've been wondering..." she said "About what Cuddles said when I arrived at Purple Flower Bluffs...'I wonder why Alberen gave you the crystal ball...probably so you could rescue Baby Crumpet'...well, I'm now thinking the same thing...I mean, when I had chosen to look in the crystal ball, I tried and the crystal ball didn't work until I made it...but when Alberen gave me the crystal ball, and when the griffin attacked, they came without me asking... I don't get it. Was it just a fluke she gave me the crystal ball when Baby Crumpet needed help?"
Goldie screeched.
Maple thought.
"Well, it probably wasn't just fluke," she finally said. "But...how would Alberen know that Baby Crumpet was in trouble?"
The green-haired unicorn wondered... "Maybe Alberen knew what was happening to you..." Maybe... ,she mused. "Hmmmm, what do you think?"
Goldencloud stepped on a beetle and ate it. "Eeeech!" he seemed to say.
"I guess griffins eat beetles!" Maple laughed.
Rainbow Dreams nodded and smiled.
"Yes I guess it wasn't just a fluke...Maybe the crystal ball just shows visions when it want's to...I mean, I've only used it three times before. Two, it did them itself. One, I asked it for one. Maybe when I asked it, it could have said no and it just decided to say yes that time. What do you think BJ?"
Rainbow Dreams wrinkled her nose as Goldie ate a moth.
"Ewww!" she said "Well, maybe at this age they do eat nothing but bugs... But I'm guessing as he gets older we'll have to feed him things like fish and mice...yuck!"
Goldie screeched again and flapped back up on Rainbow Dreams back where he gripped the pack.
"Hunting bugs must tire a griffin out, eh?" grinned Rainbow Dreams.
Goldie screeched...again.
"Do think adult griffins eat things like...deer or some huge animals like that?" Maple looked over at Goldencloud. "I sure hope not. Fish and mice, sure...But not deer and pigs."
Rainbow Dreams grimaced.
"I think they do, but apparently only the sick ones, from what I've read."
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I'll bet that since he's so big, he eats fish..." she said.
Then she stopped.
"Hey..."she said "I just noticed something...Griffins have the head, front, and wings of either an eagle or hawk, and the back body of a lion...Goldie has the head of a hawk,the front of a lion, the back of a horse, but with a lions tail, and the wings of a hawk...which means-"
"Which means what??"
Maple's eyes nearly came out of their sockets when she stared at Goldie. He was different than most other griffins!
"So, is he like part pony or something...?? Or What?!" asked Maple.
"Come on, RD," BJ prompted. "What does it mean??"
Rainbow Dreams gulped. "It means..."she said "that Goldie isn't a griffin!"
There was a stunned silence, and they all looked at Goldie, who made a strange rumbling in his throat and blinked his yellow eyes.
"I don't know what he is!" said Rainbow Dreams a little bit exasperated "Maybe part griffin part...something else. D'you know what? I've heard many versions of what the griffin looks like...I thought maybe it was just people getting griffins mixed up, but maybe...they'd actually seen those different looking griffins for themselves!
"Griffins come originally from Greece, I think, like many others beasts such as the manticore..."--She shivered at the name of the dangerous beast-- "So I guess some of the creatures became mixed as they migrated to other lands away from Greece. I've heard stories of people who met a chimaera, a manticore or a sphinx in the lands serounding Ponyland."
Rainbow Dreams took a big breath. "So basically, Goldie is a griffin-mix with some other sort of beast, I think. Maybe a sphinx? hopefully not a manticore, who has the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion. Most likely not. Probably a cross breed with a sphinx. Oh, who cares right now? we have to save baby Crumpet! We can talk about this some other time, maybe when we arrive in Flutter Valley."
"Hmm." Queen Maple thought a minute.
"Yes, he is probably part sphinx an-"
There was a low rumble.
She quickly looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering.
"We should hurry...I think a storm may be coming."
Rainbow Dreams felt goose bumps on her arms as a cold wind rustled the leaves on the poplars. They sounded like they were whispering to eachother.
"Uh, yeah...lets go find some cover..." she gave a nervous grin.
She looked up. "This one is even bigger than the last one. This one might bring on a tornado! I mean....look."
She pointed to the long, flat grass in the small valley plateau. "Perfect conditions for a tornado."
She shuddered."The best place would be to find a cave" she said.
"Yeah, a cave would be best..." said Maple.
She looked around for one as the crisp wind blew her green hair in her face.
just as she was about to speak, she fell through the ground! Goldie, who was on her shoulder, screeched and hopped to the side of the hole Maple had fallen into.
"Help!! Rainbow Dreams! Baby Jedi!" she yelled. "Get me outta here!"
The floor cavity she had tripped into was lined with dead leaf and straw...almost...like it was meant to be a trap.
"Oh.....no..."said Rainbow Dreams in a strangled voice. She ran to the hole, almost knocking Goldie in.
"EEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!" Shrieked Goldie indignatly.
"Quiet." She said, then she leaned over. "Qm-em-em-em-em-m? Can you hear me- me-me-me-me-e-e?" Her voice echoed.
Queen Maple jumped as high as she could, but still didn't reach the half- way point of the side of the hole.
"Yes," she anwsered. "I can hear you...how do I get outta here?"
The green-haired unicorn looked around the inside of hole.
There were small dents in the sides of it. She knew it meant something but didn't know what.
"Rainbow Dreams! Help-elp-elp-elp-elp!", her voice echoed. "Get a rope or something!"
Rainbow Dreams took a big breath. She had to find out what the hole looked like. Then she could figure out what it was.
"Qm! em-em-em! What does it look like down there?!"
She waited for a reply.
Queen Maple looked around the inside of the hole.
"Well," she shouted. "There are little dents in on the walls! And the floor is lined with straw and dead leaves...and oh yes, there is a red wire streched arcross the floor!"
Rainbow Dreams froze.
"A red wire? holes?" she whispered to herself, her voice strangled.
"Oh....my...god..."
She looked up and a drop of crystal clear rain fell on the tip of her nose.
With wild eyes, Rainbow Dreams pawed for a rope among the packs and found one.
It was too short.
holes....holes...
The words echoed in her head.
It was a water trap.
A trap used where the victim would fall in the hole and when the animal moved, their ankle would hit the wire and the wire would wrap around their ankles so they couldn't get out at all. And the holes were used so that if it rained the water would pour through them and drown the animal. If not the animal would simply die of exaustion, starvation, dehydration...
"QM!" yelled Rainbow Dreams. "Don't....Touch....The wire..."
Queen Maple froze at hearing the urgency in Rainbow Dreams' words.
"Okay," she said. "I will not move an inch!"
Rainbow dreams leaned back and released her breath...but it wasn't over yet. Now that it was raining, she had to get QM out. Plus, the storm had conditions for a tornado.
Rainbow Dreams finally found another rope that she tied together with the other one she found.
Slowly, she put it down in the hole, lowering it down.
"Now, grab hold!"
Queen Maple grabbed the rope.
"Okay, I've got it. Please pull it up now!" she said to Rainbow Dreams.
Just then, water started pouring in through the dents in the sides of the hole.
"Hurry!"
Rainbow Dreams pulled and strained, and she managed a bit, being pretty strong, but she still needed someone's help.
"BJ!" she said "Help me!"
BJ rushed over to help RD pull. "It's so hard!" she groaned. "Ow, my hooves..." But she set her jaw and pulled with all her might.
Overhead, thunder rumbled. Rain began to pour down in buckets, drenching them. "Oh, joy," BJ muttered.
The hair on the back on their neck rose. Lightning struck a tree nearby, with a loud cracking sound. The tree split in half and fell with a loud whump! onto the ground.
"Oh great," BJ reiterated. "We may be done for...!" She suddenly screamed as her hooves gave way and she started falling towards the hole.
Rainbow Dreams gritted her teeth and pulled.
"Help us QM! Push up!" she yelled over the wind.
She looked at BJ.
"One...two...three...PULL!!!" she yelled.
The two yanked and Queen Maply came flying up out of the hole and they all sprawled on the ground, gasping for air.
"Now we'd better go to cover!" said the rainbow-patched pony.
"Yes," said Queen Maple. "We should findwhere to stay, like a cave."
She looked around until she spotted a small cave entrace, hidden by a branch of a pine tree.
"There!" Maple said. "We can stay in threre!"
She pointed to the cave before running over to it.
"Perfect! ...Rainbow Dreams, Baby Jedi, come on!"
The three ponies trotted over to the cave and stood at the entrance.
Rainbow Dreams didn't speak.She stood for a second, poised with her head thrust out into the darkness of the cave. She twitched her ears but picked up no sound from inside except for the occasional drip. She flared her nostrils and smelled. No scent except for dampness and mold that grew on the walls.
She flicked her ears one last time and then turned to her companions and nodded.
"It's safe." she said.
They entered the cave, Goldie flopping clumsily behind. There was a moment of silence, then a swishing, and the cave lit up with red-orange light. Rainbow Dreams was holding a torch in a special holder designed for ponies, that allowed the torch to be held away so they didn't burn they're mouths, and left space for them to talk. Her eyes glowed an eerie yellow.
She motined towards the deeper part of the cave and they walked along, their hooves making hollow clopping sounds on the slick stone. Goldie screeched a little as he tripped on a stone, and the sound reverberated off the walls, filling they're ears with the sound. They cringed but continued deeper into the cave.
Finally, they arrived at the end of the cave, which was simply a slightly smaller, rounded cavern.
"Odd," whispered Rainbow Dreams "It looks as though nothing has ever lived here before."
That was when she noticed what looked like the remains of a fireplace. Rounded stones with some slightly charred wood inside, that looked petrified.
She lit 2 other torchs and gave one to QM and one to BJ. This created enough light for them to see other strange things.
There was a wagon. It was missing one of it's wheels, and was cracked and splintered.
There was also a pile of what looked like stones. But when they wen't closer, they saw that they were arrowheads and tools of stone! And an even closer look revealed what looked like 2 rough looking stone bowls.
Also, Rainbow Dreams noticed some markings on the walls. Looking closer revealed that they were ancient hyroglyphics. They were animals, ponies too, some trees and such.
They seemed to illustrate things that had happened to the inhabitants. There were pictures of ponies gathering plants, plants being roasted over the fire...ponies making clothes, eating,...it wen't on and on, circling all around the cave. There was even a few hoof prints.
They were awed.
Rainbow Dreams walked up to the wagon and gulped, a prickle of fear sliding down her spine. What if there were skeletons inside the wagon? But no, when she peeked over there were only some shreds of mouldy blankets and cloth, and an old, wooden trunk.
"Hey guys, look!" Rainbow Dreams said.
The others came and looked inside the wagon as well.
"It's an old trunk!" gasped QM.
Rainbow Dreams nodded and looked closer. It was covered in elaborate carvings of flowers and leaves. The golden clasps still shone feebly.
Rainbow Dreams looked at QM and BJ and without speaking she opened the trunk and peered inside.
It was filled with gold coins, and many, many multicolored gems! In the middle was the largest, most beautiful stone of all of them.
It was a large opal, the sice of two of Rainbow Dreams hooves! It was multicolored, and swirled with rainbow mist.
But in the middle, when they loked closer, was a face.
It was the face of a pony.
"That's Queen Opal!" gasped Rainbow Dreams, "Majesty's great-great-great- great grandma!"
"Queen Opal?" BJ echoed. "What's her face doing in an opal? Am I the only one who thinks this is all a bit weird? Besides, we have to go save Baby Crumpet. We musn't take up any more time!"
Rainbow Dreams whirled around.
"Do you think we're going to be able to save baby Crumpet when we can't even walk without slamming into a tree from the force of the wind?!" She exploded. The sound of her voice echoed loudly off the walls.
There was silence.
"I'm sorry Baby Jedi..." said Rainbow Dreams, "I'm just stressed out." She sighed. "I really wan't to get going but this stupid storm is just....Just STUPID! Will you forgive me?"
She didn't wait for an answer. She pointed to the opal. "Do you guys realize what this is? This is the Opal of Dream Castle!"
She saw confused looks.
"Well, a long time ago--Goldie leave that bug it looks poisnonous-- There was an opal. It showed the picture of the current leader of ponyland. It was created by Queen Opal. But after it was made, it dissapeared, and nobody knew why. It's amazing that we found it. What's even more amazing is my theory. Goldie, leave it."
Goldie stopped trying to eat the bright orange bug crawling across the floor.
"My theory as to why it doesn't show Majesty since she's the current leader, is that these hyroghlyphics are somehow stopping the flow of magical energy from this opal."
Rainbow Dreams clopped over to the wall. "If you look closely," she said "You will see that not only do the hyroghlyphics show things such as gathering food and planting crops, it also shows the cave ponies practicing their magic and such. Maybe if we study these pics, we can figure out why or how..."
She began to circle the cavern looking at the pictures. Then she saw it.
"Here, guys! These one shows them putting magic into the walls! Isn't that amazing? That must also be how they kept animals and such out of the cave, and the magic inside the opal."
She urned to them and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry if I'm boring you," she apologized, "but I have always been fascinated by the ancient practicing of pony magic. And to study pictures of it right here before me from those who actually did it--well it's just a treat for me."
She looked thoughtful. "I have ben considering for quite a while now whether or not I should go into the study of ancient pony magic for a career--I'm almost positive now. Finding a cave like this with all these pictures would definately help me along the rode to becoming a master in the magia de los potros de la cueva, or the magic of the cave ponies."
"Wow..." Maple said surprised. "So you know a lot about ancient pony magic, huh? Cool!"
She looked at a drawing of ponies doing magic, and it started to glow!
"Rainbow Dreams! Look! It's glowing!" Maple shouted. "What does it mean?"
Goldencloud screeched.
Queen Maple glanced back at the opal with the picture of the former queen on it. She senced a tiny ray of possible energy flick from the queen's eye. She knew that if Rainbow Dream's theory was true, then it couldn't have been really energy...but something was going on.
"Rainbow Dreams," she repeated. "What do you think it is?"
Rainbow Dreams didn't look fazed. She looked fascinated!
"Don't worry QM," she said, "this is only another show of pony magic from back then. This must've ben used to warn them of enemies. Intruders. But we weren't sensed right away because the magic is getting old. It shouldn't do anything, so don't worry."
"Okay, I see..." said Queen Maple. "So about how long ago were ponies living in this cave?"
Goldie picked at a beetle.
Rainbow Dreams shrugged. "I'm not sure. There were many different generations, you could say, that lived here. Usually they are reffered to as different clans."
She looked around at the paintings. "From what I can pick up from these, is that these were the bear clan. Cunning hunters, it seems, from the looks of some of these traps. It looks like they also had a green thumb and were good planters."
She saw the shocked look on QM's face when she said "hunters".
"They didn't hunt to eat the meat," she explained, "They just used the skins and furs to make clothing."
Maple laughed. "Okay, I see," she said "Wow, you sure do know a lot, where did you learn all this from?"
She looked around the cave walls. "It must've been neat to live here..." she mused.
"One of my aunts was a teacher of ancient pony magic," Maple sighed suddenly. "She knew so much, but she was killed when I was five. The nasty Wind Dragons killed her and my mother."
Rainbow Dreams was still studying the drawings, which had ceased glowing.
"Well, I have a story...." said Rainbow Dreams. "It all began one day when I was walking around Dream Castle, and I heard Dabble and Scribbles talking about the careers and jobs they'd like to have when they were older. I had never really thought about it until then, and I walked away to think.
"I must've went through every career possible, but I couldn't think of one that would suite me. Artist wouldn't bring enough money if I ever wanted a family... Same thing with author. I thought, 'maybe I could be a scientist'. Well, actually, I had spoken out loud, and Optic, a teacher, had overheard me.
" 'So you wan't to be a scientist, eh?' he asked.
'Well, that's just it' I replied, 'I dont KNOW what I'm going to be. Some people seem to have a clear idea of what they're going to be...but me...'
"He kinda studied me for a sec. Then he just said, 'follow me' and led me down this corridor and into a room that was filled with books! He told me it was his private library.
"He told me to look through some of the books and see if I could get some ideas.
"Well I did just that, and I couldn't find a thing, until I sat at a table-- and lying there was a big, navy book with the title 'magia de los potros de la cueva: the magic of the cave ponies'
"Curious, I opened it and began to read. I was soon engrossed in it. Must've been holding the book a centimeteer away from my nose!"
She laughed. "Optic came back and said 'So, interested in the cave ponies, are you?' 'Yes, very much!' I said. So he showed me some more books, and I've been fascinated ever since."
"Wow, that's neat...I'm not really good at any one thing, I mean, I'm good at lots of things but I don't really know what to study. Being queen of Purple Flower Bluffs gets rather boring sometimes, if you know what I mean..."
Queen Maple touched one of the drawing... Such magic must be held in these, she thought. I wonder if we could use these to help us to save Baby Crumpet in any way... , she mused.
She asked Rainbow Dreams, "Could we use this magic that is in these drawings in any way? I mean to help us get to, or to save Baby Crumpet."
Goldencloud stretched out his neck to peer at the drawing. "EEECH!" he screamed.
Rainbow Dreams nodded. "Yes I know how you feel, " she said symphathetically, "When I was a princess, I was worried I would never be allowed to do anything other than be a princess."
She studied QM. "Y'know, Maple..." she said "You don't have to be JUST a queen. You can be anything you wan't. You could reserve certain days to do whatever you pick, and put someone else in charge that you trust. Majesty does that. She has a cottage on the border of a forest, near Blueberry Baskets' house. Every once and a while, she visits it and paints. Her paintings are lovely."
When QM asked her about the magic, she shook her head viciously. "Oh no!" she said. "You wouldn't be able to get it out of the walls. It has something do to with third or secondary magic.Maybe fifth."
She saw QM stare blankly at her.
"Secondary, fifth, and Third magic are how ponies have divided certain types of magic. There are also sixth, seventh,eighth, etc, types of magic. The third is magic that is sort of like a curse, and is stuck somewhere unless a certain rituel or task is performed.
"Secondary is much more difficult magic. It is magic that is stuck somewhere for good, for some reason or another, and cannot be broken no matter what. That is also the most likely of the two for this magic..."
She sorta smiled. "Besides," she said almost apologetically, "Even if we could, I wouldnt. The thing is is that it just seems...wrong. Like stealing. Plus the magic might possibly be third as well as fifth magic. " Fifth is magic that can be used for only a certain task, or tasks, and is not magic that can be used for almost anything. This magic is probably only useful for alerting the inhabitants of danger, helping predict the weather, and planting crops. So it most likely wouldn't help us."
"Anyway," she added to brighten the mood, "we have all the magic we need in the night crystal you found."
"Yes, I think I will decide on something to do besides be a queen all of the time..." Queen Maple said. "I can let my sisters, Dove and Sky Rocket decide things for me while I go and do something else." She nodded. "It'd be sort of like a vacation for me, I'm always busy,"
"Hmmm, I thought it might be stuck in the walls for good... yes, the night crystal is very powerful, I think, so that'll be enough magic for us."
She thought again about what she would like to study..."Hmmm...I was wondering, do you know if there is a study of plants and different berries and fruits that ponies used long ago? I know a lot about plants, my grandmother did also, and she taught me much about them. Like how to find certain plants that, if said a spell over, would burst into a thousand sparks of light.
"But those were just for fun, there were others that were vital to living in the grasslands were we used to live, like plants that were edible and plats that healed wounds, and many more uses. And fruits too! We were the first ponies to be able to grown the 'bluegnut' fruits in Ponyland, they are native to only Blueland and some parts of Ryhmeland. They actaully grow well here."
Rainbow Dreams' face lit up.
"That sounds like fun!" she said. "Perfect. I also learned a little about healing plants, but not much. Mostly common herbs for teas and such. And I learned which berries are good for eating and dying cloth with. Nothing too useful..."
She listened closely. And swiveled her ears, which were points at the top, yet cupped, so they absorbed a lot more sound.
"Still pouring like buckets," she sighed.
Then she thought for a moment.
"Queen Maple, BJ," she said, "By now, there are probably more ponies than just Baby Crumpet..." she trailed off a bit.
"The thing is," she explained "I was worrying that it might be too hard to rescue them all now."
There was silence as they all brooded.
Then it was broken by Rainbow Dreams who opened her pack, which she had set down by the wagon. She took out the map, and atempted to study it, but it was hard since the stupid torches dipped too far down.
"Stupid thing." she mumbled. Then to her comapnions, she said "Let's make a fire in that old fireplace. We might be stuck in here for a while, and it's cold. Plus if you talk too long with these torches in your mouth, it starts to make your gums bleed."
She looked around then took some broken boards by the side of the wagon. There didn't seem to be anything on them, so she put them in the fireplace, (After clearing the petrified wood out of it, because they were pretty, and also could be sold for money in Ponyland, and Flutter Valley, which could be traded for more supplies if needed.) and put her torch in it so the wood in the fireplace caught flame.
Then she blew the rest of the torch out and stuck it carefully in the corner. QM and BJ did the same, and soon there was a roaring fire, that made warmth in the room, if not a lot of smoke.
Rainbow Dreams was worried there would be too much, but to her surprise, it seemed to just float up and disappear. She looked closer and saw a series of holes in the roof that seemed to be carved into the rock.
That must have taken a long time to carve, she mused, especially since they would have had to chip away the stalgmights (or was it stalagtights?) off to get to the spots where they were needed, and make sure that water couldn't get in.
Rainbow Dreams shook her head to clear her thoughts, then studied the map again.
Her face lit up suddenly.
"Hey guys!" she said, "Good news! Flutter Valley is VERY close by!About an hours walk and we'll be there! Wow. Too bad this stupid rain won't let up." she added.
"Yes! I think that once I get back to Purple Flower Bluffs, I will start studying plants that ponies use." Maple said.
"Wow, yeah, I hadn't thought about other ponies being captured...maybe we should find more ponies to come with us, like a LOT of ponies and them maybe they can overpower that creep that stold Baby Crumpet....of course, he could probably just strap them all down in chains or something..."
Maple put some more wood on the fire.
"Really? Is Flutter Valley really that close? Good, now let hope this stupid rain stops!"
She frowned and listened, only to hear the rain still beating down.
Goldie screeched.
"What is it Goldie?"
He screeched again. He seemed distressed for some reason.
"Eee, eech, eeek!!" he sounded.
"Maybe he's hungry," said Queen Maple. "There aren't any more bugs in here that I can see, what can we feed him? For that matter, what can we eat?"
Maple felt her stomach growl. "I'm getting pretty hungry,"
Rainbow Dreams rifled through her pack and drew out some bread, fruit, cheese and lots more!
"Goldie might eat some of the bread" she said.
She took out a blue stone.
"Thank god for jewels like this, that keep fod fresh for weeks at a time. Because I somehow find mouldy cheese slightly unnapealing..." She grinned and tossed some bread to Goldie who didn't gobble it up like they expected, but held it gently with his claws, and tore of small pieces to chew carefully.
It seemed like he was trying to enjoy it!
Rainbow Dreams laughed. It loked so funny seeing something as fierce as a griffin ( well, gryffin hybrid or whatever) eating bread like it was a rare truffel or something!
Maple looked down at Goldie, happily eating the bread piece bit by bit.
"Oh I am so glad you brought the stone, without we would've been munching rotten food. Not fun."
She took a slice of an apple and sat down, listening to the rain pattering on the ground above them.
Rainbow Dreams listened. "I guess you can here the rain because of the smoke holes in the roof. Thats handy."
She grabbed a slice of apple, then handed one to BJ, and they all munched in silence, listening to the pattering of the rain.
"We've heard enough about me," said Rainbow Dreams suddenly, "Lets hear about you guys. QM, you keep talking about the Wind Dragons, and I heard a little bit about them, but almost nothing. What do they look like? And what war with them do you keep talking about?"
"Well the Wind Dragons and ice blue and white dragons...they are very big, like about the size of elephants...the war with them started when they invaded Ponyland and Weirdland when I was little, about 5 or 6. We fought them, but their powers were so strong that it took years before they finally left...my mother was a queen, of Forget-Me-Not Meadows, and was killed by the Wind Dragon Princess, Onayno. So were many other of my relatives."
Rainbow Dreams was silent.
Suddenly she spoke, her voice barely heard over the crackling fire.
"Y'know, Maple," she said quietly, "You and I are a lot alike. In many ways. I think that is why we became friends. Think about it--Both of us have no parents...well I do. But they are worlds away, and I may never meet them in person. Which is another reason why I wan't to go to Flutter Valley. I wan't to hear more about the father I never met.
"Anyway, we also are royalty--or in my case, former royalty."
She sighed. "We have also both endured wars that I think have aged our minds considerately. I mean, we are younger than some may think we are. Because we have become so silent from all of the events which have befallen us."
She loked up and there was a long period of silence, in which they sat, lost in their own thoughts. Even Goldie stood, looking as regal as a statue.
Finally Rainbow Dreams looked up. "You guys have only heard bits and pieces of my story. Maybe now is time to tell it. When I am so close to finding out more about it."
She began:
"It all started with the day I was born, of course, I was born in a cave with my two sisters. Peppermint, and Ocean Waves. We were all as close as possible, and we lived among the other unicorns, in a herd. My mother was ruler.
"But soon, Dawn, my mother, became very stressed every time she came back from the looking pond. She would pace restlessly over and over. One day I snuck behind her and looked in the pond . I saw big, wooden boxes that rumbled, and they were pulled by what looked like hornless unicorns. I saw a large, brilliant portal being widened and knocked down. Humans were piling inside.
"Then came the worst. I saw for the first time those of my own kind being killed. I saw men drinking from unicorn-horn goblets. I saw them wearing capes of unicorn hair that sparkled and repelled water. I saw them taking unicorn blood and mixing it in cauldren's and making bad smelling potions to sell.
"I was terrified. The murder was horrible. The humans were building ever closer to our herd.
"One day, me and my sisters decided to play tag, so that we could escape the stress of the herd, including my mother.
"We wandered farther away, and all of a sudden, we were at a road.
"We stood there for a second paralized with fear, when suddenly a box pulled by the hornless unicorns walked by and stopped. A human jumped out and yelled, "Albie! Bring the net! Gotta couple o' young'uns."
"We didn't like the look of him. He was round, had a ruby red face the size of a dinner plate, and cheeks so pudgy--he looked like a giant red tomato. He had little black eyes, and was wearing rich sort of clothing.
"So then Albie came out..she was pretty. Except for the black eye, and whip marks, the tousled hair and the many scars. She wore torn black robes. She was holding a net. She stumbled over and the man took the net and swung it before we could escape. He took us inside and stuck us in a tiny, tiny room in the back, and swung the net off. Then he stormed out, his little black eyes mean but pleased.
We heard a yell of "Get goin' ya low down dog! We're late enough as it is. Our next show is in a li'le while an' I don' wanna be late!"
The driver got going, and the cart rumbled along. We cried a little, but silently, as we were afraid of the big man who yelled. We huddled together and slept.
We stopped often and you hear his voice boom announcements about his fabulous gypsie, Alberen, who could dance and sing like a lark... We gradually ignored them.
But one day we woke up and we heard the man say,
"Albie! Bring me my supper."
"But master, my feet are sore--" we heard her say.
"I said bring it! An'do it now!"
"But--but I cant walk master, surely the driver could do it--"pleaded the gypsy.
"He most certainly will not!" growled the man."That's what your for!"
I heard Albie get up then fall back with a cry of pain.
"See, I cannot--"
I heard the man get up.
"Albie, get up." He said angrily.
I heard a gasp.
"No,please, no!"
Then I heard the lashing of a whip and a cry of pain. I heard more and more, the cries becoming weaker and weaker. Then they stopped, but the whips didn't.
Finally they stopped and the man said "Now get outta my sight, now,ya--he cursed--. When I tell you ta do somethin' I expect ya ta do it!"
I heard the sounds of someone crawling across the floor and the door opened and Albie came in.She closed the door, sat down and sobbed. She was torn and bleeding. She had red marks across her face, and a gash above her eye that dribbled blood. Her lip was puffy and bled, her hair was even more torn. And she took off her shoes and her feet were covered with blisters and they bled.
I walked over to her and nuzzled her chin. I was soon followed by Ocean Waves and Peppermint.
She looked at us, and at the meager scraps of mouldy bread on the floor.
"If I have to be stuck with him, then at least no one else will." She whispered. Then she opened our small window, grabbed the net from a corner and put Peppermint in it. She hobbled over to it and lowered her out. Then came Ocean Waves and then me.
When it was my turn, she looked my in the eye, said "Goodbye" and lowered me.
We snuck into the forest and escaped, running, until we found a barn and slept in it. But the next morning, a farmer and his wife found me. So we escaped and journeyed across the forests. Then we found a cave. And inside was a portal. Curious, we touched it and were suddenly in the middle of a King and Queen's throne room.'
We were sort of adopted and had lots of stuff.
We were taught to talk, then told our story. It was horrible to them! So they erased our memories. Luckily, I had a book of memories and my whole story. So I memorized it and soon, though they had been erased, my memories came back.Though some were missing and others too hazy to remember.
But that was after Peppermint and Ocean Waves were taken away.
They separated us for some reason. I was the only one taken into the castle."
Rainbow Dreams stopped. "It's getting late so Ill make it shorter" she said.'
"I was taught many things of being a princess. But I always was more interested in adventers and made friends with a maid. Ocean Waves, though at the time I didn't know she was my sis.
So anyway, one day there was explosions and we found a war had been launched. Turns out that the country we fought with had been tense with us for a loooooooooooong time.
So we esceped. We fled into Ponyland along with others.
But soon I found Ponyland too boring and left. But not before I regained ALL my memories--thats another story-- and found Ocean Waves was my sister.
I left Ponyland, but OW stayed, and I found my way to the place where I now permanantly live, the Rainbow Cloud, a valley that floats in the clouds. I suspect that I will become the next Queen, as there is no Princess, and I am good friends with the Queen. And I have allready been trained to be both Princess and Queen."
Rainbow Dreams finished.
"So you do not know what became of your sister, Peppermint?" Queen Maple asked. "That's awful that you were kidnapped and all. My childhood and life was much like yours, I'll tell you the story."
Her eyes filled with deep concentration.
"I was born in a land very far away, now called Weirdland, for obvious reasons. The creatures there are very odd-looking. My mother, Snow Dusk, was the present queen there and my two sisters, Sky Rocket and Dove, and I lived in a beautiful palace called Moonlake. It was a great life, I must say, but I only lived that life for about four years.
"When I was four years old, the Wind Dragons came into Weirdland because they wanted it's blue gems, called, Whisps. The gems were very rare elsewhere in the world but they were common in Weirdland. Well my mother did not want to give up the gems to the dragons so a bitter war broke out between the ponies of Weirdland and the Wind Dragons.
"It was very dangerous to be in Weirdland, so my mother ordered one of the maids to take me and my sisters to Ponyland. We went to Ponyland and lived with a pony called Moonweaver and her daughters Eleanor, Pristina and Braided Beauty. They took very good care of me.
"But one day, news came to me that my mother, father and aunt had been killed by the Wind Dragons. I was horrified.
"The ponies in Weirdland drove the Wind Dragons out Weirdland but then the dragons came to Ponyland. For weeks everyone was hiding for fear of being killed by a Wind Dragon. Moonweaver took us and her daughters to an abandoned underground cavern we stayed there with some other ponies for five months. Each day some ponies would have to go out and search for food.
"Finally the Wind Dragons moved out of the area that we lived in so we could go back to our house.
"I lived with Moonweaver for a long time and became good friends with her daughter Eleanor.
"Then, when I was fourteen, my two older sisters and I traveled to the Moss Mountains and lived there. When I was nineteen I was married to pony named Hurricane. I had two children, Daisy (short for Daisy Chain) and Clover. Daisy was green-blue with pink and purple hair and her symbol was a purple daisy. Clover was almound colored and hair pale pink hair and a few pink clovers as a symbol. They were both unicorns like me.
"By that time the Wind Dragons had gone crazy looking for Whisps. They took over the Moss Mountains and in a battle, Hurricane was killed.
Maple looked down a the ground in dispair.
"It was awful. Clover and Daisy were miserable and so was I. The Wind Dragons began killing every pony they could find.
"Finally, I had had enough! I quickly rasied a huge army and killed most every one of the Wind Dragons! My sister and I snuck inot the dungeon where some ponies were captured and released them.
"I became quite famous in Ponyland for saving the country! But my troubles weren't over yet. Soon after the defeat of the Wind Dragons, a terrible earthquake nearly split the continent in half. It was a *huge* earthquake. Many ponies were killed and even more lost from the familes. I became complatetly lost from any pony I knew, including Clover and Daisy. After the earthquake, I started asking any and all ponies or other creatures I saw if they had seen Clover or Daisy. I couldn't lose them, I had lost too many other of my family members. Finally, I did find them!
"We searched and seached for a place to live. One day we came upon some purple colored cliffs. Purple Flower Bluffs! They were perfect to live in. There were many crevices in the bluffs and they were heated by hot springs running under the the ground. Soon, some other ponies came to live with us and soon there was a huge herd there. I then adopted another baby called Starlight from one pony called Moondancer. She had two children but at the time could only take care of one and she trusted me to care for the baby.
"So that is the story if my life so far."
Queen Maple looked down at Goldie who was sitting a a round stone. He still was quiet but soon made a tiny "peep!".
Rainbow Dreams sighed.
"Our lives were so horrible...we shouldn't have had to go through that when we were so young..."
She looked down, "I used to dream," she said quietly, "that one day I would have a perfect life. That my parents lived with me in a grand palace.But I soon gave that up. It has changed me, I think. I'm not sure if it's better or worse."
Her eyes glistened.
"I remember long ago
when I was happy
and when all I needed was a hug
and when I never gave a thought to life
and when I took things for granted
and when I was serounded by all the love I could get
but didn't care
I remember
those days long ago
when I was happy
But that was long ago
and now that pony is gone
and I'm serounded by murder and hate
and my world is changed
but I still remember
those days long ago
when I was happy"
Rainbow Dreams paused.
"I wrote that the day I arrived in Ponyland." she whispered.
"Yeah," Maple said softly. "That's the same stuff that has always happened to me, I have a great life as a princess, then I have to move away from my family, my parents and aunt are killed, my husband is killed, a great earthquake separates me from my children and so much other hate and evil is put upon me."
She sighed. "But at least now my life is better, and I have found my children again and live in peace at Purple Flower Bluffs." Queen Maple frowned slightly. "I think that is why set up the whole thing of letting ponies whose family member were lost come to Purple Flower Bluffs. So that, if their relatives or friends are still alive then possibly they may find each other again. Which was exactly what a perfect life would have been to me."
The rain still beat down on the ground above them.
"Also, my cousin, Rainstorm, was capured by the Wind Dragons after I came to Ponyland. No one ever found out what happened to him, but no one said for sure that he was killed. I can only hope that he wasn't and that someday, somehow, I could find him. Maybe someone in Flutter valley would know, but probably not, he never even went to the Valley I don't think."
She looked up from the ground.
"Rainbow Dreams, do you know that your father lived in Flutter Valley?"
Rainbow Dreams frowned.
"What do you mean? I know he came from Flutter Valley...he must have. Because Flutter Valley is the only place where he could have gotten throughthe portal to my mothers world, and my old world."
"Ok okay..." Maple said. "Well mayeb you can find out something about him."
Queen Maple saw a glint from the inside of her bag that was open slightly.
She found it to be her night crystal glimmering. It glowed red and pink.
She pulled it from the bag and looked at it.
"Hey RD, my night crystal is....glowing."
She looked at Rainbow Dreams. "You're kinda the magic expert...what's the deal with this crystal?"
The night crystal flashed and glittered. Beautiful swirls and stars sparkled within it. Suddenly a dark blue moon appeared in a flash in the middle of the crystal. It was almost mesmerizing.
Queen Maple just starred and starred at it.
"Whoa, look at it...it's...beautiful..."
Rainbow Dreams smiled a bit as fire started swirling inside of it. Again she looked fascinated.
"Wow...the girl is in the crystal. It must be Monday the 13th."
Rainbow Dreams explained to the others:
"A long time ago, a girl somehow got inside of a night crystal in her dreams. She was chased by the dark being,into the crystal, then through the crystal, and she escaped by jumping on the moon and staying there. Now on every Monday the 13th, she enters a crystal and escapes the dark being by jumping on the moon."
Sure enough to Rainbow Dreams words, if they looked close enough, they could see a girl hanging on a blue and fushia crescent moon. A cloaked figure was below her.
"The dark being," said Rainbow Dreams.
Then suddenly the crystal glowed and swirled and it was again a map of the stars.
"Wow...cool..." said Queen Maple with an amazed look on her face.
"That's neat...so today was Monday the 13th I guess."
"What else do you know about night crystals?" Rainbow Dreams shrugged. "Nothing else, really." she replied. Then she froze.
A grin slowly spread over her face.
"is it just me..." she asked "Or did the rain stop?"
Queen Maple tilted her head slightly.
"Hey, it did!" she said happily. "Good! Now we can finally get going."
She picked up her bag and stood up. "Come on Baby Jedi, Rainbow Dreams, let's go to Flutter Valley!"
Goldencould jumped up on her sack that was thrown over her back. He gave out a ecstatic scream, "Eeeeaach!"
"Looks like Goldie is ready to go," Maple said, giggling slightly.
They started out of the cave, and Rainbow Dreams picked up some stones and placed them outside in a strange formation so she could find her way back.
They slipped and slid down the muddy path, but the idea that Flutter Valley was so near kept them going.
Soon, they began to smell a sweet perfumey smell, and flowers grew more and more frequntly along the path.
Suddenly they came to a cliff and stopped in awe.