★ Tolerance ★ - no posting; NEW POLL!

[Kodabomb]

★ Fanclub ★

Nobody knew they'd have to cope with that feeling of forced tolerance in all their lives, having to go along with strange people on some strange quest for some strange kingdom with some strange war and some more impossibly strange extra quests that in the beginning nobody volunteered for, but the stupid honor of their strange friends was the only thing initially pushing them along.
Coping with each other in a tiny time frame they had to rescue something belonging to none of them was hard to do, when battling monsters, hate barriers and mental tauntings. But of course, these sissy emotional descriptions mean nothing when the true purpose of everything is - in the end - saving the world. Relations with colleagues isn't relevent, right?

★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★

Sup everybody! Tis Koda. asdfghjkl I'm writing a new book that I'm looking for support for, to really actually keep writing it. I think that's the reason Jewel Empire continued - it got real support from a whole bunch of people who really made me feel inspired! My other books that I didn't post online didn't really exactly get much love from me... so they died.
Aaaanyway
I hope you like this odd new addition from me, currently titled Tolerance! It's about a bunch of characters and a bunch of quests and some mental magical world. Please read, give me feedback (PM ONLY, PLEASE NO POSTING) and I hope this is supported!
Thanks!
Sidok ol mooshmii - sid, ool ko sid mowi nol ret woksh dai lungje, tub koi ti taprar?
(don't bother asking what that said, it was meaningless my friends)

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2221287][IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/sp9k75.png[/IMG][/url]

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2221287[IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/105b311.png[/IMG][/url]

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2221287[IMG]http://i62.tinypic.com/2m7zyae.png[/IMG][/url]

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2221287][IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/biqp8n.png[/IMG][/url]

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2221287][IMG]http://i57.tinypic.com/a4ndjc.png[/IMG][/url]

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2221287][IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/qs71wy.png[/IMG][/url]

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from George's point of view. =D

“The machine is broken, because of you!” the dental assistant roared, smoke emitting from her enormous, flaring nostrils. I leaned back in my seat and glared at her, trying not to be deathly afraid of her wrinkly dragon face and piercing eyes.
“I can’t help it! Why can’t you be more tolerant?” I huffed back.
“I was tolerating you! I tolerated you for so long, but you can’t even handle making a filling!” she screeched. I gasped and nearly toppled off my chair, but steadied myself on the desk. “Your stupid hooves just get in the way of the tray and your wings are too large!”
“You have large wings too!”
“How DARE you?” her chest rose and fell, coming closer and closer. I moaned with fear and jumped onto the chair on all four of my hooves, heaving myself over the desk. I bumped my head on the ceiling, and the light fell. It smashed on the ground, and as the assistant clasped her claws around my ankle I fell too. I thumped to the floor into the smashed glass, making me wince, but another yell of horror escaped me as I watched the assistant climb over the desk after me.
“I’ve only worked here for four hours! Give me a chance!” I cried, using my wings to push myself off the floor and slam into the wall opposite. The dragon heaved in a breath and a burst of fire flew from her mouth. I screamed and ducked, allowing the fire to burn a massive hole in the wall.
I used this as an opportunity, getting to my hooves and galloping out the flaming hole.
“INCOMPETENCE! STUPID PEGASI SHOULDN’T WORK IN THE DRAGON KINGDOM!” she screeched, forcing me to dodge a few more fireballs while I sprinted through the dusty streets of rock and smoke. “ESPECIALLY as dentists! DON’T COME BACK! YOU’RE FIRED!”
“You can’t fire me I’M THE DENTIST! YOU’RE AN ASSISTANT!” I hollered, but despite my cries I didn’t turn around. I’d have to go back to the Pegasus kingdom and suck up to my old boss in order to get my old job back. I came to work in the dragon kingdom because of the large salary – dragons have big teeth – but that dental assistant was awful.
I slowed down after a fair while, stretching out one of my feathery wings to examine it. Well, my wing had more damage than the damn machine. Blood seeped from a wound into my plumage. Pegasus blood isn’t like ‘normal’ blood. Why is ‘normal’ blood red? Seriously that’s really stupid. Our blood is rainbow, just like our vomit. It’s easier to spot – if you’re bleeding, you can see it no matter what colour surface.
I licked the wound, but knew it wouldn’t be very much use. Besides – I was in too much of a funk about the idiocy of dragons and their dumb-butt ways. It was an accident that I broke it, as it was the patient’s fault. He tried to bite me! Dragon’s teeth are sharp and horrible. It made me jump, jab my wing on a machine, and break it.
I huffed and continued on my way. I was sweating waterfalls; the dragon kingdom was located over a massive underground lava lake, so the horrible grey-brown rocky ground was constantly smoking. I wanted to get back to the Pegasus kingdom, but it was in the clouds and I couldn’t fly with this injury.
However, as I peered through the thick smoke, I suddenly spotted an end to the gorge I was in. I grinned and looked closer – the gorge led to a forest, straight out of the dragon kingdom! Well, my stay didn’t last long. Perhaps I’d be able to get home by other means, or at least heal whilst not in this place. I began to gallop, running over the hot rock toward the end of the gorge. I could feel the temperature cooling, and my sweat starting to cease.
When I was at the edge of the rocks, I jumped onto a large boulder and sprang over to the grass. I landed smoothly, gasping breaths of cool, forest air. I shuddered, feeling the grass under my hooves, as I began walking once again. My head touched the leaves overhead, and my nostrils filled with the scent of flowers and foliage.
I walked slowly though the forest. There were a few of these forests, unclaimed by any ruler or kingdom. They were simply forests, owned by all creatures. I knew that I wasn’t trespassing and couldn’t be seen as an intruder. I felt rather relaxed. The Pegasus kingdom was extremely strict about who they allowed entry to, tightly guarded. You needed a passport and a visa just so you could visit your family.
Soon, I arrived at a clearing where I could hear water running. Another smile crept onto my face – I could wash my wing in the stream! I hated swimming and getting wet, but I only need splash some water onto my limb and be done with it. I wished I had magic, but Pegasi could only fly. Also run universities, seriously; it seemed no other creature had the smarts for academia.
I crept down to the water’s edge and lay down near it, my fat, horsey butt just balancing on the bank. The water was calm and clear, shaded by many trees. Water creatures like tiny merpuppies and slimy soil-snakes swam all around in perfect clarity. Though, I had to admit; merpuppies annoyed me. I hoped to wash myself quick before the obnoxious creatures leapt out of the stream and started barking.
I reached my wing out, and wincing from the cold, I swirled it about in the water. The rainbow blood seeped into it, making rainbow patterns beneath the surface.
When I’d finished, I took the wing out and flapped it a little to get it dry. The cut stung a bit, but it was fine. It wasn’t going to get infected, as dentist machinery is clean as clean.
All of a sudden, the water made a huge splash. I screeched in terror, stumbling to my hooves and falling away from the bank. I breathed quickly, watching as a creature emerged from the depths of the pool. She was dressed in a tight, black, scaly dress, had dark hair around her white face, and large, blue insect-wings on her back. I gasped.
Then calmed myself. She was simply a fairy, a water fairy. She pulled herself from the water and sat upon the bank, brushing her soaked locks away from her eyes and looking at me. I pressed my lips into a line and looked down at her. Her mouth turns up in a smile, but with fairies it was always so hard to tell what they were thinking. They always looked awfully pretty in their sense, and seemed positive constantly.
“I saw that your wing is bleeding, Pegasus.” She said in a sugar-sweet voice.
“Thanks for noticing.” I replied flatly. She grinned more and I swallowed.
“My good friend, Lady Vanilla, is a doctor. Would you care to have that fixed my a professional?” she offered, standing and fluttering into the air. I stood stock-still as she flew around my tall figure, lifting my wing with her light, delicate hands. I drew it back toward my body and pouted.
“Fine. But I can’t fly, how will I get to the fairy kingdom?” I asked, lifting my chin and watching her as she giggled and floated down. She sat on my back and wrapped her arms around my neck, putting her face near my eyeball.
“With the portal, silly.” She sang. I snorted, shaking my head, making her giggle more as she sat up straight.
“There’s a portal? I thought portals were rare and only for different dimensions.” I replied.
“No, our magic allows us to create portals. Though, kind Pegasus, you must promise not to tell anybody of the portal. It’s secret. But you’re in need, and you are granted permission to know of its whereabouts.” She said.
I looked forward, following where she pointed. Her perfect little fingers showed me across the stream, where a small clearing was. There was nothing suspicious, but I knew of fairies and their wonky magic. I just had no idea that water fairies also lived in the fairy kingdom, or that they used magic. Timidly, I strode toward the water’s edge, not nearly wanting my hooves to get wet. I did want my wing fixed, and I had nothing better to do than interact with this strange fairy.
“What’s your name?” I asked to distract myself as I waded into the shallow, rocky water. I shivered and bit my lip. It was horrible.
“My name’s Viperia.” She replied. I gasped, the water going up to my knees. I groaned and shuffled further. A second later, as the slope beneath the surface went up, I felt the fairy’s legs lift off my back as she flew in front of me and sat on a branch in a tree on the other side. I scowled.
“Doesn’t that mean like ‘snake’ or something?” I growled, launching myself forward onto the bank. Viperia tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Yeah, I guess.” She chuckled. I noticed that her voice was becoming less sugar-sweet, and instantly knew that she was using that first impression to make me trust her more than I did now. I didn’t even know why I was associating herself with me.
“Are you sure this Lady Vanilla is actually a friend of yours, and that she’s real?” I asked, shaking my legs to rid them of the water.
“Yes, she’s a friend. She’s also real. I have nothing to do and I’m helping you because I’m bored.” She replied with a sigh, swinging her legs against her treetop perch. I was seriously starting to think of her as quite the oddity.
“Where’s the portal?” I asked. She raised her eyebrows, then flew like a butterfly from her tree to where a large rock stood randomly in the middle of the tiny clearing. I stood over it, towering above Viperia as she stood flat-foot on the ground.
“You have to spit on the rock.” She said. I pricked my ears and creased my brow. Spit on the rock? I decided to give it a go. Viperia snorted, swishing something in her mouth. I looked away, ready to puke. I then heard her spit, and when I looked over there was a little wet mark on the rock.
“Ew.” I grumbled, before snorting as well. I gathered saliva in my mouth, then spat it at the rock with all my lips muscles.
Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. Viperia stepped back so I followed, when suddenly the rock exploded. The ground opened up, swirling and emitting bolts of lightning and sparkles and rainbows. I stared into it, the rainbows and sparkles going down into the earth farther than I could see.
“To the fairy kingdom!” smiled Viperia. I began to regret it, knowing we could actually reach the fairy kingdom by foot, but as the fairy plunged into the hole I jumped in after her.

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from Vanilla's point of view.

“Lady! Lady Vanilla!” called an all too familiar voice. I sighed – it was bound to be Viperia. I sighed, brushed my long dress down and crossed to the door. When I opened it, I saw her. My friend-like water fairy, Viperia, stood there, squeezing water from her dark brown hair. She grinned at me, allowing herself entry. I was about to scold her for making a puddle on the marble of my hallway floor, but thought against it as I saw she brought a guest.
“A Pegasus? Hello sir, is there something you need?” I asked sweetly.
“I didn’t volunteer to come here. But, my wing’s hurt.” She said, a look of confusion all over his face as he gazed around the room. I turned, my eyebrows flat, as I looked at Vipe. She sat on one of my chairs, reading one of my magazines.
“Yes, she’s the manipulative type. But I hope to fix that for you if you wish to return to your kingdom.” I smiled. I didn’t dare say it, my code not allowing myself to be cruel to anybody, but I was uncomfortable allowing someone from another realm into our castle. The princess would have a fit; I knew that Vipe used the unguarded portal entrance.
“Thank you.” Said the Pegasus. He was very tall, as horses are large animals, so he ducked and just managed to fit through my small door. He came into my room and I secretly used my magic to lock it behind him. I then flittered over to my bag and got out a bottle of potion.
“Lift your wing for me.” I smiled, tentatively supporting it with my hand as it outstretched. I searched for the wound, and quickly found it, stained with rainbows. I bit my lip and cupped my other hand, pouring a handful of the stuff into it and splashing it onto the cut. The Pegasus snorted.
“What’s your name?” I asked with a smile, summoning some magic to the tips of my fingers and massaging them on his wing.
“George.” He replied. I nodded slowly, flicking my fingers to finish the spell. “I’m a dentist.” He added.
“Aah! You Pegasi have the skills of our race.” I smiled. I didn’t want to take back my comment, but I felt George tense up. He didn’t respond. When I was done, I rubbed the cleared-up injury one more time then allowed him to fold his wing again.
I took the potion and delicately floated back over to my bag, glancing at Vipe out of the corner of my eye. I frowned when I noticed she’d fallen asleep, magazine on her lap and drool on her face and my seat. I groaned.
When I put the potion away, I looked out the window. I could see the sun setting over the mountains outside, and just then realized how late it was. I didn’t have to heart to allow George to fly back to the Pegasus kingdom on his own. I turned to him and put my hands together.
“George, would you like to stay in the fairy kingdom tonight?” I asked with a smile. George’s eyes flickered to the window.
“Um, alright. Where will I sleep?” he asked. I laughed, feeling obliged to but not entirely amused.
“My guards will take you to a guest room. You’re welcome to leave whenever you want, but the night it usually dangerous, especially from the air. Those dragons…” I muttered.
“I just spent the day in the dragon kingdom. They’re awful dentists.” Replied George. I smiled. He then turned and ducked back out the door, where I watched my fairy guards lead him away. When he was gone, my smile faded and I walked over to Vipe. I shook her shoulder and she jolted into consciousness.
“Vipe, I need to sleep.” I said. She glared at me.
“Geez, fine.” She mumbled. “Goodbye, Lady.” I opened my mouth as she strode quickly from my room.
“Don’t call me Lady!” I yelled after her. I then sighed, shutting the door, before taking my dress off. I changed into my nightgown and slipped into my bed, gazing outside at the setting sun. I soon fell asleep, falling into my magically summoned dreams.

* * *
In the morning, I was up rather early. I was quickly showered and dressed, and decided to go grab some breakfast. It was usually helpful to be awake, as I got a lot of patients on these days. It was a public holiday in the fairy kingdom – it seemed people liked hurting themselves when they had any length of spare time.
When I exited the breakfast hall, wearily eating a piece of peanut butter on toast, I went to the throne room to talk to the princess. I arrived at the door, drew in a breath, held my body gracefully and turned the handle. I walked into the room, but suddenly gasped at the sight.
The princess was on her throne, speaking to what immediately came to be imposters in my mind. Werewolves – some in human form and some in wolf form, all speaking to the princess intently. None of them looked aggressive, more concerned and pleading. A delicate hand fluttered to my chest, and I looked around more.
George stood in the corner of the room, Viperia on his back. He didn’t seem very pleased she was there, but that was simply Vipe’s annoying personality. I put my hands together and strode to the side of the princess’s throne. She held up a hand to stop me speaking. So instead, I listened to the conversation.
A huge werewolf was speaking, accompanied by one of his human-form friends at his side. I almost recognized them; the wolf-form one was their messenger. All the others just seemed like his friends.
“Your highness, I’m begging you to help us. You’re the only ones who are capable and have the magics and self-control!” pleaded the wolf. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Why should I help you? I doubt that any of my fairies here would bother.” Replied the princess.
“We will give anything. The poor king – he can’t handle himself knowing his daughter is at the merciless hooves of the unicorns!” begged the human-form companion. I gasped. The werewolf princess had been captured by the unicorns?
“I’m sorry, but it’s your problem. It’s your responsibility – if we try to save your princess, it means a fight. We fairies are against war.” The fairy princess held up a hand and closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to help? She thought she was so perfect…
“Please, your highness…” begged the wolf. The Pegasi have no magic, the vampires are too selfish, the dragons know not how to reason, and the animal humans are too timid.” He looked at the ground in sorrow.
“What about the alicorns?” asked the fairy princess.
“They’re always sided with the wicked unicorns. The conflict between the werewolves and unicorns has been going on forever.” Sighed the human werewolf. I examined the princess’s face. She didn’t look at all sympathetic, making me feel sick.
“Do it yourself. Be gone, dogs.” She said. I gasped. The werewolves’ faces looked distraught – how could our princess do such a thing! She was a selfish cow, she always was! My gut lurched, and as the werewolves began to walk away, I felt no other emotion but determination. I leapt forward.
“Stop!” I cried, standing tall. A few of them turned, looking at me with odd expressions. I heaved a breath, summoning bravery in my fragile little mind. “I’ll go, and I’ll help you save your princess!” I cried. I felt our princess’s eyes against my head. I thought nothing of it.
“But surely, my lady, without an army you’ll never defeat the evil unicorns.” Insisted the wolf, sadness in his eyes. I stared him down, though inside I was terrified. I wasn’t cut out for this – I was like a cream puff.
“No, I will.” I looked at the corner of the room. “George, Viperia.” I demanded. Vipe looked down at George and he drew his head back. But all the same, he walked toward me with the water fairy on his back. “We’ll go. We’ll do our best to save your princess.”
“My dear, it will be so dangerous…” whispered the wolf, canine ears lowered. I shook my head, stepping forward gently to hold his big head in my small hands.
“I know. But… but, my princess here is being a coward.” I hissed, turning around to stare her down, as she sat snobbishly on her throne. She gasped.
“How dare you? No mere doctor of mine shall just call me a coward.” She narrowed her eyes at me, thumping a fist on the arm of her chair. “If you go, Lady Vanilla, I can have you arrested.”
“You can’t arrest me.” I retaliated. My heart was thumping in my throat, nervousness consuming me. I had to be brave, be heroic, for the good of the werewolves. “Because I’m not your subject anymore.” I whispered dangerously. Her jaw dropped, standing up.
A grin crossed my face. I stood taller, a violently shaking hand rising toward the front of my dress. I clasped my hand around my doctor’s badge, ripping it from my blouse. Still staring the princess in the eye, I threw the badge at the ground and stomped on it. “I’m no longer your doctor, and I’m no longer a citizen of the fairy kingdom.” I said. I was absolutely terrified, but still stared at her. “I’m not taking a stand against you, princess, I’m going on a quest to save the werewolf princess.”
“Fine. I hope you die in the process.” The fairy princess tried to brush off my words, but I could see a vein in her neck and temple throbbing with utter rage. I knew she wouldn’t dare have an outburst. I turned around, steadying my breathing from my fear, and hoisted myself up onto George’s back in front of Vipe. I grinned at her.
“Goodbye, werewolves. I hope we shall return with your princess.” I smiled down at the werewolves with a nod.
“Lady, wait - ” called the wolf. But I shook my head, clasping my hands around George’s sparkly mane. I felt Vipe’s arms around my waist as George reared and galloped through the hall. All the werewolves, human and wolf, parted as we charged from the room. I used my magic to make the doors burst open, and George charged down the wide staircase of the mountainside palace. Suddenly, when we were halfway down, he spread his enormous wings and took to the sky. I screamed in terror and Vipe screeched with happiness, as we climbed higher and higher, and soon the palace was merely a tiny building on the edge of a mountain range.
From the front doors, I watched the werewolves charge down the steps, as we flew onward toward our quest for the werewolf princess.

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from Viperia's point of view. (fairy on the right)

George, when we were far enough away from the city of the fairies, began to slope downwards. I could see a fire lake far down in the red forest of the phoenixes, where it seemed abandoned enough for us to land. He whinnied and his wings stopped flapping, bracing us against the wind as we were slowly lowered to the ground. We were lurched forward as the Pegasus was a little clumsy, but we seemed to have a smooth landing. I removed my arms from around Vanilla’s waist and jumped off George’s back, before turning to look up at her.
She was breathing heavily, sweating rivers, as her eyes were wide. She looked terrified and nervous, slowly releasing her hands from George’s glittery mane.
“Was that flight scary for you, Lady?” I asked mockingly. She looked at me in anger.
“Yes, but I just can’t believe I’m doing this. I just agreed to save a werewolf princess!” she said. She got off George and leaned against him. “How the freaking heck am I supposed to save a werewolf from a hoard of evil unicorns?” she screeched. I folded my arms and looked at her. I was 16, two years younger than her, but I was just as tall.
“Uh, well you decided to. I think you’re just super lucky you invited us to tag along.” I grinned. I put my hand in front of my eyes to snootily pretend to examine my nails. She huffed, so I lifted myself into the sky and fluttered over her head. “You can’t deny it,” I sang.
“No, I can’t, but don’t make fun of me! We need to figure out how to get to the unicorn kingdom.” She huffed. She slid down to the ground and stared at the red dirt of the phoenix forest, and for a moment the only thing we could hear was bubbling lava and crackling fire. I wiped sweat from my hair line.
We were rather quiet for a while, and though I was pretending to think of ways to help, I was really just watching her and George give their brains a work out. I was too lazy to help, and I knew I wasn’t exactly the brains of any mission.
However, a moment later, it seemed as if George’s thoughts were somehow interrupted. He shrieked, so I looked down to see what was going on.
“What? George, quit screaming!” cried Vanilla. I smirked, flying down a little to see.
“It’s a mouse! There’s a mouse in my mane!” hollered George. He reared, and Vanilla toppled backwards and nearly fell into the fire lake.
“Hold still!” I yelled. I fluttered over the Pegasus and put my arms around his neck to stop him bucking and to calm him. I looked around his head and suddenly saw it – a little yellow mouse scurrying through his mane. I laughed and grabbed it by the tail, holding it front of my face as I landed on the ground. “Guys, it’s tiny! Look at it.” I crooned, placing the little creature on my palm and stroking its head.
“Ew.” Snorted George, backing up. Vanilla moved away from the lake edge and peered at my hand.
“Look… look at the way its acting.” Muttered Vanilla, her brow creasing. I pursed my lips and look at her. “That’s not a mouse.” She said in panic.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not shuddering like a normal mouse!” said Vanilla persistently. “Put it on the ground – that’s an animal human,”
“Oh my lord,” I moaned, quickly putting the little thing onto the hot ground. It squeaked, and as I leapt away from it, the mouse transformed. I gaped, looking at the animal human in awe.
The rodent just turned into a boy! He looked around 15, with simple, clean clothes. He was tall and thin with blond hair, and he looked at us in surprise. I wondered why – we were the ones who just watched a mouse turn into a human.
“What?” he asked. He looked a little shy.
“What were you doing?” asked George, coming up behind the kid and making him jump.
“I was just… uh…”
“Spying? What the heck, boy?” I demanded. I went up in front of him, looking at him in an intimidating manner.
“No! I wasn’t! I was sort of curious why a couple of fairies and a horse were doing in the middle of a phoenix forest,” he muttered, looking at the ground.
“Pegasus!” spat George, extending a wing and hitting the boy in the back with it.
“OK, sorry. I’ll go.” He mumbled, stumbling forward. I jumped out of the way.
“Guys, it’s alright!” said Vanilla tenderly. I winced, annoyed by her constantly gentle tone. “What’s your name?”
The boy rubbed his arm, flushing. “My name’s Hudson.” He replied quietly. Vanilla nodded.
“We can use all the help we can get on this mission.” She said to me and George. We both gaped.
“What? You can’t take this animal kid with us!” I cried in disgust. She raised an eyebrow at me.
“Seriously? You think that without his help we’ll be better off?” she said. I growled.
“No, I do not. But what if you can’t trust him?” I spat. “He could be a spy.”
“A spy? The animal human king doesn’t like contact with any other civilization. He isn’t spying.” Sighed Vanilla. “We’re taking him.”
“Man, fine. How will he travel? You and I can barely fit on George.”
“How about thinking of George’s feelings? You guys are too heavy for George.” Grumbled George. I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t worry. You can just fly.” She told me. I opened my mouth to retaliate, but she shot me a look. “Now, we need to figure out a way to get to the unicorn kingdom without getting caught. We are a tiny little army.”
“We need detailed plans, Lady.” I said bluntly. “You think we can just go there and ask the unicorns to give up the werewolf princess?”
“Don’t call me Lady, Snake.” She hissed.
“Don’t call me Snake, Lady.” I replied, sizing up to her.
“Ladies, Ladies. And Snakes. Calm yourselves,”
“Shut up, horse!”
“PEGASUS!”
“Lady!”
“Snake!”
“We need plans!”
“We need brains!”
“You invited me!”
“I’m a dentist,”
“DRAGON!”
“There are no dragons in this, Hudson!”
“Holy freaking crap there’s a dragon!” gasped George. I growled and looked to where the others were peering. “I hate dragons!”
I saw him. A black and purple figure at the edge of the tree line of flames. I gasped. I didn’t really like dragons either… I panicked and Vanilla jumped onto George’s back. The dragon began slinking out of the trees, quickening its pace as he ran toward us.
I squealed and took to the air, watching as Hudson transformed himself in a lion. I shook my head in annoyance and flew higher, clapping my hands with nervousness as I watched George fly into the air with Vanilla. I put my hands over my mouth, watching while the dragon sized up toward Hudson as a lion. I panicked – lions couldn’t fly! I didn’t know how aggressive dragons could get…
Hudson roared and I wanted to help, the dragon getting closer and closer.
“Vanilla! What do we do?” I cried.
“I don’t know!” she replied. “I’m not an animal genius!”
“That dragon it so close to him ohmygosh…” whimpered George.
I groaned. As much as I initially and presently hated the animal boy, I abandoned the others in the sky and shot toward the ground. The dragon was on its hind legs, and Hudson the lion was hissing and roaring like a cat. I wrapped my arms around Hudson’s maned neck and slammed him onto the ground, flying upwards and pushing him down with my feet. I then flew over the dragon’s face, and he glared up at me with fierce, yellow eyes.
“Go away, lizard!” I yelled. He roared, and as he heaved in a deep breath, I could see fire rising in his throat. I gasped and leapt out of the way, the fire blasting off into the flaming trees. I snarled and flew back down, landing on the dragon’s back and closing my grasp around his muzzle. I heard a roar inside him, but I knew that with my arms closing his jaws shut, he wouldn’t dare blow out more fire.
“What do you want? WE DON’T NEED MORE DISTURBANCES!” I yelled. He trashed his head, pressing my body against his spines, but I still held on. I groaned against the pain, feeling him trying to pry his mouth open as well as my own stomach being stabbed by the spikes.
Suddenly, it was all too much for me, and I was flung from his back. I screamed and fell onto the ground, the dragon roaring and towering over me. I heard Vanilla scream overhead and I cowered below the beast. I tried to scramble onto my feet but failed, slipping over. I yelled as the dragon’s claws came stomping down onto my foot, pinning me.
But in a flash, I was blinded by a huge body smashing into me. I was winded, thrown away from my location and rolled over the ground. When I looked up, I saw that Hudson had changed himself into an enormous, yellow dog, and I watched in dumbstruck shock as the dog then changed into a white elephant. While the purple dragon and elephant fought, I dragged myself away from the scene and stood up. I watched, the shadow of George and Vanilla casted over the two of them.
The elephant was massive, HUGE, but the dragon was powerful, and kept blasting Hudson with little bits of fire and clawing at his invincible skin. The fact that Hudson kept wrapping his muscled trunk around the dragon’s neck wasn’t helping, as dragons didn’t actually have a purpose for breathing other than fueling their fire with oxygen.
But, as long as his throat was held, he couldn’t actually make his fire.
I gasped. That was my chance!
“Hudson! Keep him like that!” I yelled, sprinting toward the elephant that held the struggling reptile off the ground with his nose. When I was a couple of feet away from Hudson, I sprang into the air and flew down onto his back. Panting, I crawled up onto his head and stared the dragon in the eye. He glared at me, tensing, but ceasing his struggles. When I had him completely absorbed into my eyes, I spoke in a low, dangerous voice.
“Why are you here?” is all I asked. He narrowed his eyes.
“I was,” he winced. “Kicked out of the dragon kingdom.” He snarled.
“Why are you here?” I spat again, more harshly.
“I was bored! I wanted to see what you guys were doing!” he growled back. Hudson’s trunk tightened. The dragon remained expressionless.
“If we let you go to speak, promise not to attack.” I said, not blinking. “Hudson will remain an elephant and can crush you.”
“Fine! Drop me, you dumb freaks!” he yelled. The elephant’s trunk released, setting the dragon onto the ground. I flew off his back and hovered over the dragon’s face, folding my arms. I watched as George and Vanilla timidly lowered to the ground.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Bob.” He replied.
“How old are you?”
“702. What kind of question is that?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you here to join our quest?”
“Quest?” suddenly Bob perked up, losing his vicious gaze.
“Vipe! Don’t tell him about the quest!” hissed Vanilla, scurrying to my side. I closed my eyes in annoyance. But Vanilla looked at Bob with a curious and thoughtful expression. “Although, he could be useful,”
“Seriously, Lady? You want to let TWO more stupid creatures into our ‘quest’?” I demanded. She looked at me with a blunt expression.
“Yes, Snake, I do.” She replied calmly. I balled my hands into fists and scowled, not wanting to be called ‘Snake’. Also not wanting to allow a dragon with us. “Also, I do believe Hudson saved your life, and should be allowed to come with us.”
I gaped. “What? I saved him first!” I cried.
“By going down there and tackling the freaking dragon?” Hudson spat back at me. I noticed he’d changed into a little blond cat this time to speak. I sniffed at him.
“Yes! It was going to tear you to pieces, pussy cat.” I growled, stamping my foot and making him hiss.
“You need to stop!” said Vanilla. She put a hand on my shoulder and I snarled, but said no more. I watched as Hudson scampered away from me. “I think Bob should join us. If he behaves.”
“Heck, you don’t even know me yet. You can’t assume what my behavior’s like at all.” Replied Bob. I poked my tongue out at him while he wasn’t looking.
“Well, we’ll see. I guess now, Vipe, you can ride on George with me. Hudson, will you be happy to ride Bob?” asked Vanilla sweetly.
“Uh, ride the guy that tried to rip of my head? Sure, why not?” he replied, shifting his form into the big yellow dog. This made me sure he wasn’t comfortable in his human form. Probably because he knew he wouldn’t be able to run from me. I smirked at the thought.
“Well, where will we go at this point, Lady?” I asked, putting a smile on my sarcastic face. “Because with these new recruits, our aimless and doomed to fail journey will be so much more successful.”
Vanilla glared at me and breathed, containing her anger. I snickered and flew into the air, putting my hands behind my head and leaning back. “We’re going to have to get a map of the unicorn kingdom and the palace.” She replied. I rolled my eyes. Acting like she knew what she was doing.
“Where will we get a map?” asked George, glancing nervously at Bob and shuffling away from him.
“Pssh, as if Lady would know.” I yawned.
“My name is NOT Lady.” Huffed Vanilla through grit teeth. I looked away from her.
“Well, I do know that we can’t go directly there. Any ideas where we can get a map?” she said to the others. None of them said anything. Bob looked at the ground, Hudson sat drooling, George pursed his lips in thought, and I relished in Vanilla’s annoyance.
Suddenly, George said something.
“Actually, the Pegasi were allies of the unicorns for about 300 years. Then when there was a war between them, they went separate ways. The Pegasi were able to steal many important unicorn artifacts from right under their noses. It’s been like that for centuries.” He put in. I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, OK then!” grinned Vanilla. “We should head to the Pegasus kingdom.”
“Good luck getting in,” muttered George.
“What?” asked Vanilla.
“Nothing.” He replied.

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from Hudson's point of view. (human in the picture)

The spines of Bob’s back were hard and horrible underneath my butt. He was a really rough flier too – it was super bumpy and I was jealous of the girls on their smooth-flying Pegasus.
But that wasn’t really the problem. The problem was that my ride actually tried to kill us, and I barely knew these guys. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea I joined them. They didn’t know me, I didn’t know them, and this seemed like an aimless and stupid quest. I considered going back to the animal kingdom, but they were having some political issues. Nobody knew if it was better to have a king or a democratically elected president.
My family hated politics. We had a president once before, but he was stabbed by someone who then made himself king. He killed everyone who hated him, but it was better than having a president.
I looked down and nearly puked. We were super high. I could see plains of multicolored grass, forests, buildings… herds of wild humans in their huts… I even saw one human herd getting their town set alight and stormed by a pack of batgoats.
I shuddered, not wanting to fall, and clung tighter to Bob’s neck. He snarled and turned toward me.
“Don’t hug me, mortal.” He growled. I held up a hand in defense.
“Sorry.” I mumbled.
“How far to the Pegasus kingdom?” I suddenly heard Viperia ask George.
“Over the ranges of the Centaur caves.” He replied. I nodded slowly, though he wasn’t addressing me.
However, there was suddenly a rumbling in the sky around us. I gasped, as the white clouds against the blue began to blackened, closing in all the gaps and covering the sun. It became dark, and the storm clouds thundered loudly.
“Oh my gosh,” I moaned in panic.
“What kind of storm?” asked Bob.
“I can’t tell…” murmured Vanilla, peering up at the sky.
All of a sudden, the clouds erupted with a sparkling liquid. I pressed myself closer to Bob and stretched out a cupped, shaking hand. The icy cold stuff fell into it and I gave it a look. But before I could speak, Vanilla confirmed it.
“Duck for cover! Quick, to the ground!” she yelled. “It’s a sparkle acid storm, hurry!”
I heard Bob moan and swoop downwards, making me scream. We shot toward the ground and I held tight. The ground came closer and closer, and suddenly the dragon swooped upwards. I crushed my teeth together and closed my eyes, when he came down. We lurched and I nearly fell as he deliberately tried to make me annoyed. I didn’t argue.
“Hurry! Don’t stand there!” screeched Vanilla. I didn’t understand why she was being so intent about it, but all the same I charged after the other. “There’s a cave entrance over there!”
I looked, then suddenly morphed my body. I was thrust forward, pushed toward the ground as paws sprouted from my hands and all senses of everything flowed into my mind. My cheetah body whizzed past the others, onto a rock, through the air and down into the cave. I flew down the rock slope into its depths, then skidded to a halt at the wall. I looked up at the others, who were silhouetted against the dark sky as they made their way into the cave.
I then shifted back into a human, and felt blunt and dull when my cat senses were cut off. I rubbed my nose and got to my feet. Vanilla gathered her dress off the floor and went to the centre of the room, and I watched her panicked expression as she rubbed her skin with fingers that magically summoned water. She let down her hair, blond locks falling around her face, spraying water into it. I cocked my head and scratched the back of my neck.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m washing off the sparkle acid!” she replied.
“Why?” said Viperia, sitting cross-legged on the cave floor.
“Because it’s sparkle acid! It’s pretty and glittery for ten minutes before it turns to acid and stings your skin like HELL. It’s really dangerous, you have to get it off.” She insisted. Viperia sighed. I adopted a feeling of panic too. How would I get it off?
“Vanilla, can you spray me?” I asked. She looked at me.
“You’ll have to either strip off or change into something smaller.” She replied, spraying water all over her legs. I flushed.
“Hold on,” I said. I then morphed myself into a shrew, and I suddenly felt warm, covered in all this fur. Vanilla beckoned me over and I scurried to her feet, holding my breath. I suddenly felt a flow of water, not cold like the sparkle acid. It was warm, and I felt it wash over me. I flipped onto my back and she covered my belly.
When she was done, I changed into a human again and steadied myself. I was drenched, but felt better as I watched Vipe begin to itch.
“Man, it’s kicking in!” she squealed, jumping to her feet. “Aagh!” she yelled.
“We don’t have time for you to go private!” cried Vanilla, itching her stomach.
“OUCH!” hollered Vipe again. She quickly ripped off her dress so she was in her tight singlet, and still yelling, she allowing Vanilla to spray a torrent of water at her with both her hands. It shot from her fingers and Vipe sighed, standing with her legs and arms apart. She ran her fingers through her hair and squeezed it.
As soon as she was done, Vanilla screamed and sprinted off into one of the black cave chambers. I heard more water. I then turned to Bob and George. “Hey, why aren’t you guys affected?” I asked curiously, sitting down.
Bob shrugged. “Dragons are immune to things like acid, fire and lava. All that junk.” He said.
“We’re not immune to stuff like that, but sparkle acid is an exception. Perhaps not entirely, like I tingle, but I don’t want to get… you know, wet.” He replied. I nodded. Bob smirked.
I looked over at Vipe, who shuffled over to us. She held her scaly dress in her hands with a pout. “Man, it’s all ripped!” she complained. “I can’t make a dress with magic. Gah.” She tossed the dress aside and put her head in her hands. “And it’s cold with no freaking clothes.”
“Here,” suggested Bob. Using his long tail, he grabbed a bunch of rocks then put them in a circle. He then sucked in a breath, then blew out a gentle ball of fire. It planted itself to the stone. Magic fire.
“Thanks, Bob,” I began.
“Don’t thank me.” He hissed. My eyes widened and I leaned away from him. “We’re not friends.”
I sighed and watched as Vanilla returned. She was clothed, dress undamaged unlike Viperia’s. When Vipe scowled at her, she gave her an ‘I told you so’ look.
“We’ll stay here for the rest of the day everyone.” She said. “Maybe night. Storms last a while, and the night is dangerous.”
“Aren’t caves dangerous too?” asked George as Vanilla sat and leaned against him.
“Yes…” she murmured. “We’ll keep an eye out. I’ve uh, never been in a cave before and don’t know what lives in them.”
“Good one.” Muttered Bob. “Well, with no weapons, we’re bound to defeat whatever evil things emerge.” He said sarcastically. I sighed and put my face in my hands. For a while, it was quiet. The only sounds were the pounding rain and crackling fire.
“Get some sleep. There’s nothing to do.” Suggested George with a yawn. I nodded. I opened my eyes and lay down to adjust myself. Vanilla leaned on George, Bob curled into a ball, Vipe clutched her semi-bare body and I simply let myself slide under.

* * *
When I awoke to most subtle sounds, I leapt into full consciousness and instantly transformed into a fox. My hearing accelerated, allowing me to hear every single tiny peep of noise. I could see everything, vision bright as day. It was night, the storm had stopped, and everyone was still asleep. I didn’t remember what the strange noise was, so I decided to snoop.
My tiny paws were completely silent on the cave floor, and I delicately stepped over Vipe, then the burnt out fire, then Vanilla. I reached the opposite wall, and peered down the two tunnels on either side. Clear as if they were illuminated, and I couldn’t see anything there. It was probably just someone snoring.
However, I suddenly heard something more, and stopped breathing. We weren’t alone! I flattened my ears against my head and crouched to my belly, slinking along the stone. I listened for the noise, and when something shuffled down the left tunnel, I scampered after it.
When I reached the end, about one hundred metres down, I was then disappointed and out of luck in finding something interesting. I sighed at the sight of a nesting family of batgoats. Sheep-sized black goats with bat wings and red eyes, but they were only aggressive toward werewolves, centaurs and humans. I was safe, so I sniffed and turned around. This cave was OK, I convinced myself. It was only inhabited by passive batgoats.
I left the cave tunnel and curled into a ball at my spot, wrapping my fluffy tail around my body and falling once again asleep.

* * *
The second time I woke up, I was thrown onto my feet in an instant.
“Seriously?” I snarled, looking frantically around. “Again?” I glanced at the cave entrance, and saw it was STILL nighttime. Why was it only me? Did everyone else have no hearing?
I sprang over the dead fire and Vanilla in one bound, then sprinted down the same tunnel I’d already been down. It was more reassuring for me if perhaps it was just the batgoats again. I shook the shudder away through my paws and continued running, until I could smell the batgoats’ nest.
However, as I suddenly turned the corner and found the cavern where they lived, I was shocked by the sight. I gulped, knowing things like this happen often, but not while we were in the cave still! A wave of destroyed safety spread over me upon seeing the mother batgoat dead, and her babies running wildly everywhere and bleating. A horrified frown covered my face, watching the little babies sprint randomly through the cave and bumping into each other.
The mother batgoat was bleeding, but how did she just randomly die?
I whimpered and ran back out of the cavern, up the tunnel to where I threw myself at George and covered his big horse muzzle with my paws. He tried to struggle, but saw it was me, and I gently guided him to his hooves. I led him away.
“George, there’s a dead batgoat down there!” I hissed.
“So?” spat George, blinking his eyes from tire.
“So that batgoat was alive like… I don’t know, earlier!” I spat. He rolled his eyes.
“What do you want me to do about the cycle of nature?” he asked.
“We have to explore the other tunnels, just in case something is killing batgoats.” I replied. He sighed.
“Fine! This is stupid, though.” He replied. I shook my head vigorously and lead the Pegasus down the tunnel on the right this time. It slope steeply downwards, and I felt rather intimidated by the fact that we were basically sliding into an abyss of blackness.
In a moment, the cave widened and stopped sloping so harshly. We were in a cavern room, but the darkness stretched on wider and further, probably with cliffs and drops and more batgoats. My sniffing echoed around the cave, as well as George’s sighing. I could smell batgoats and their droppings, but saw no life…
All of a sudden, a massive shape came falling from the ceiling. It thumped to the ground, making me leap back with a fright. I hid near George’s leg, and watched the limp, unmoving shape lying on the rock in front of us. How did it get there? I creased my brow and shifted my form into a human, taking a moment to adjust before walking around to the other side.
I gasped, and abruptly realized that it was the body of a batgoat! “George! George, did you see it?” I asked. “It’s a dead batgoat!”
“What?” he asked, snapping back into focus and looking at me, crouched and leaning away from the body. “How did it drop from the ceiling?”
I shrugged nervously, looking all over. Nothing seemed obvious, except for the blood near its head. So, it died from the cut, not the fall. I hummed and scratched the back of my head. I thought for a moment, but a shudder ran down my spine as I heard George gasp.
“Hudson… Hudson, look… over there…” he whimpered in an almost inaudible voice. I frowned and a flutter of nervousness came over me, looking in the direction that my companion indicated.
Where in the darkness of the cavern tunnel, was a set of bright red eyes.
“RUN!” screamed George. I yelled and tripped over the batgoat, horror flooding through me.
“What? What was it?”
“I don’t know! It was too tall to be a batgoat! Run!” he yelled. His long, muscley legs were able to shoot up the slope of the cave tunnel, and when I shifted myself into greyhound form I felt my own legs disintegrate from fear of what was behind me.
“Guys! Guys!” yelled George, leaping the last few metres at the tunnel end and skidding to a halt near Bob. “Awaken!”
“Shut up!” growled Bob. George dodged Bob’s tail flick and glared at him.
“This is serious! Everyone, up! We’re not safe…” I said, trying to be louder than my average tone but failing. However, Vanilla and Vipe seemed to hear and sat up.
“Something’s in the cave other than the batgoats,”
“Batgoats?” asked Vipe.
“Sssh! Something’s killing the batgoats!” I hissed. The girls creased their brow and Bob sighed.
“We need to be quiet and get out,” I added.
“What are you doing in my cave?” a sinister voice suddenly whispered. George shoved Vipe away from Vanilla, and I muffled a scream with a paw.
“Let me go!” cried Vanilla, beginning to hyperventilate, and I couldn’t imagine how terrified she must have felt. For, holding the fairy around the waist and positioning her teeth over her neck, there was one creature that I dreaded to ever come across.
A vampire.
Tall, slightly taller than Vipe. Black hair that fell to her curvy waist, a black long-sleeved shirt and tight, ankle-length jeans over her white skin. A grin was over her evil-looking face as her teeth bore over Vanilla’s flush neck. Vanilla whimpered.
I knew that vampires had their own kingdom, but it was small, selfish, dark and almost inaccessible. Vampires were never seen outside their kingdom. I was terrified out of my wits.
“Not unless you get out of my cave, mortals!” she hissed in a smooth, gorgeous voice. I stifled my cry of fear.
“We will! We will. I’m sorry, let me go…” Vanilla said in a shaky voice. “Guys, get out of the cave,”
“LET HER GO!” screeched Viperia before Vanilla could finish. The vampire’s demonic red eyes shifted to the water fairy instantly, and in a flash she had tossed Vanilla to the stone ground and launched herself at Viperia. I yelled out when she was shoved to the ground. Vipe grunted from the fall, with the vampire on top of her to pin her on the ground.
“Should I bite you instead? Get out of my cave!” she growled. Viperia panted and tried to kick the vampire off with her bare legs, but even as she dug her soles into her attacker’s stomach she didn’t budge. She screeched.
“Get off! Guys, out of the cave, now!” Viperia snarled. I shifted into a human and tried to make my figure as small as possible, attracting no attention from the vampire.
“Bob, help Vipe!” hissed Vanilla. She sat up, rubbing her head. The vampire laughed and got up, pushing Viperia away from her and standing.
“Why me?” started Bob, running for the exit.
“Trying to set your dragon on me, huh?” asked the vampire, pulling back her shoulders and flicking her black hair.
“No!” growled Bob.
“Guys, out! Now!” cried Vipe. She clutched Vanilla’s arm and ran toward where Bob stood, and I sprinted after George in fear of the vampire. I sprang up the rocks and stumbled to the very top, glancing briefly back to where the vampire stood in the centre of the room. Her red eyes glowed in the dark, her perfect figure of black visible against the grey stone.
“Don’t come back, if you value your lives!” I heard her silken voice yell. I whined like a dog and stood, leaning my hand against George’s shoulder.
“It’s freaking COLD!” complained Viperia instantly, clearly not that shaken by the fact she was pinned to the floor by a vampire. I supposed that wearing only underpants and a singlet in the wide, chilly grass plains wouldn’t be comfortable. I had nothing to offer though. If I got cold, I needed only change into a ragdoll cat.
“Man, she was… that scared me.” Whispered Vanilla, shivering and rubbing her arms as we began to walk over the dark, wet grass.
“Quit shivering, you’re not cold.” Grumbled Viperia. With another shudder, the water fairy walked over to George and jumped onto his back. I didn’t really want to ride Bob again, but I didn’t want to fly either. The only mammal that could fly was the bat, and I hated turning into a bat. They were creepy.
“Does anyone know the time?” sighed George, putting his head down and lumbering along.
“No. Nobody has a watch.” Replied Bob in annoyance.
“Should we be out and flying at night?” I asked quietly, shifting into a donkey so walking wouldn’t so as exhausting or difficult. “The threat we were worrying about was dragons,”
“Dragons? Guys, that is racist.” Huffed Bob.
“Shut up, you tried to kill us!” retaliated Viperia. Bob’s golden, slit eyes glared at Vipe, but she wasn’t at all bothered by it. I sniffed.
“I did not,”
“QUIT YOUR ARGUING!” Vanilla suddenly scolded. Vipe huffed and folded her arms, and Bob shut his mouth but glared at Vipe’s turned head as though considering a new argument in the silence. I trudged along on my heavy donkey hooves.
“We can fly, alright? I’ll just tell any night creatures to spare your lives.” Sighed Bob, blowing a single puff of flame from his mouth.
“Hey!” spat Viperia, insulted. I rolled my eyes. We were quiet for a moment, but when Vanilla mounted George behind Vipe, Bob aimed a disgruntled snort at me. I sighed, shifted into a human, and climbed aboard Bob’s spiny back. I held my breath and clutched his scales, before he crouched and spread his massive wings.
We were in the air in a moment, soaring bumpily alongside George and the fairies. I didn’t know why they couldn’t fly – I’d much rather ride George than Bob. But we climbed into the air, and through the dark I could see the ranges of the centaur mountain caves. Apparently, the Pegasus kingdom was past that, where we’d get the map and inside information of the unicorn kingdom.

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from Vanilla's point of view.

I was almost asleep within half an hour of long, windy, cold air travel. I had my head leaning on Vipe’s back, and Vipe was leaning on George’s neck with his mane sticking to her drool-coated mouth. I was unfocused, gazing out at the slowly lightening sky, watching Bob with Hudson sitting on him, not the least bit tired and probably the most alert of all of us. Even George’s flying was faltering, but it was so instinctive that I wasn’t too concerned. Vipe and I could fly anyway.
The grey sky continued to get light, and to the east I could see the sun slowly rising over the far away reaches of the land. Clouds thickly coated the upper horizon, so the light was dim and calming.
A moment later, my head jerked upwards when Vipe awoke, grunting some illegible things and looking around. I groaned and tried to sit up, but I was able to slump down onto George when Vipe got off George and flew alongside, rubbing her eyes. “Man, how long was I asleep?” she asked over a yawn.
“About twenty minutes. Not long.” I replied, closing my eyes and allowing George’s sparkly mane to cover my face.
“Drool, yuck.” Said Vipe, wiping her face. I laughed, remembering she was still without clothes.
“How far to the centaur mountains?” I sighed quietly. George didn’t reply, so I got a tired response from Bob.
“Thirty kilometers.” He replied. I nodded slowly, still with my eyes closed. That would take a while.
I was about to drift off again, preparing for sleep and feeling comfortable on George’s back.
But suddenly, I was surprised and almost annoyed when I suddenly felt some arms creeping around my waist and holding me. I stiffened, sitting up, and grumbled.
“Vipe, get off me you weirdo.” I said. I got no response, so I creased my brow and lifted my hands to prey the arms from around my waist. But, I was shocked at the touch, when I felt that the hands were not warm like Viperia’s. They were cold, as cold as a stone but soft like skin.
“Hello.” Said a voice.
“What?” a feeling of shock jolted through me and I tried to escape the grasp, my sudden thrust awakening George and making him bump through the air.
A high and musical laugh sang from over my shoulder and I shivered, terrified.
The vampire.
She’d found us again?
“What, let go… I thought you wanted us gone,” I panicked, becoming too scared to break free of her grasp.
“I did, but I don’t actually live in that cave.” She laughed, casually leaning back and releasing me. I flew away from her, leaping away from George and leaving him to freak out that the vampire was on his back.
“Don’t kick us out of something that doesn’t belong to either of us!” yelled Vipe. I didn’t even know she’d noticed the intruder.
“It was funny!” she laughed. George began to hyperventilate, but the vampire got off him and starting to fly – wingless as vampires do – alongside George and Bob. I kept my distance, trying to calculate a plan to get away from her and prevent her following us. I could hear Hudson having a panic attack.
“Can’t you go back to your hell of a kingdom and leave us alone?” Vipe argued. She was brave, able to fly around George and in front of her, so the two flew face to face. Vipe was staring at the vampire with an expression of loathing and anger, and the vampire staring back with an expression of amusement and consideration.
“The vampire kingdom is barely a kingdom at all, you idiots.” She said with an eye roll. “It has no rules.”
“But, vampires aren’t a race. There’re… vampires!” retaliated George, but that burst of courage wasn’t enough to last him without beginning to hyperventilate again.
“I know. But, stop talking.” Sighed the vampire with a grin. “Stop being so scared though, seriously. I’m not that evil.”
Viperia glared, fluttering up to fly alongside me. I had my arms clutching my stomach. “THAT evil?”
“Oh shut up, I’m talking to you and none of you have had your blood sucked yet.” She laughed, flipping over and twirling her black hair through her perfect white hands. “Sorry that I scared you in the cave, it’s just funny!” she laughed again.
“Excuse me, vampire, but we need to do this with nobody else.” Said Hudson in a hushed voice. The vampire expectantly looked over at him, spinning back over on her belly. Hudson had a point – we were advancing and nobody wanted this girl with us. Heck, we didn’t even want Bob or Hudson with us either!
“I won’t bother asking what you’re doing, but now you’ve asked me to leave I’m staying. Also, you’ll need my help.” She grinned, closing her eyes.
“You suck blood and terrorize human herds. We don’t need your powers.” I sighed, going to sit on George again. I stroked his mane to calm him.
“Dude, I’m stronger than anything, I can control fire powers better than your dragon over here, I can fly, use dark magic… Look, I’m powerful but I don’t bother flaunting it.” She said. She smiled, flying around George and doing a loop over, dodging his big wing beats.
“Yeah, well, I play the saxophone, I can burn down an entire castle, and I can fly.” Replied Bob, beating his wings harder and making Hudson cling for dear life. “Don’t bother flaunting it.”
The vampire considered his words, but not to respond or argue. She shrugged, tucking more hair behind her ear. “I’m still coming. Deal with it.” She hissed, narrowing her eyes with a wicked grin that bared her bright white teeth.
I grumbled, nervously watching her. The sun was almost completely up, but still mostly covered by the clouds. I wanted to tell George to fly, go as fast as he can and abandon everything, but I knew he’d never be able to fly faster or be more powerful than our new ‘ally’. Perhaps we wouldn’t trust her – just let her come with but not let her near anything important.
“Oh, my name’s Emma if anyone cares.” She said. I creased my brow and looked at her. Emma? I sighed in annoyance. Great; we now knew her name. Sarcasm.

* * *
“The centaur caves are up ahead! Climb!” yelled Bob suddenly. I lurched out of my odd state of unconsciousness and leaned back on George, clutching his back. I felt Vipe grab my shoulders to grip as well, and the Pegasus began to climb into the sky. Bob was faster than us, and Emma was going back and forward from positions between us. I was wary of her, but so far she hadn’t done anything to make me more so.
The view around was magnificent. Enormous, snow-coated mountain ranges stretched out below, and we were climbing the slope ahead of us. It wasn’t cold yet, but strong winds coming off the flat forest and grass plains were pushed against the icy rocks. It wasn’t hard to spot the caves, dark crevices in the rocks that definitely housed the centaurs of the mountains. Tracks dug and trodden into the mountainsides ran everywhere, up and down the slopes and going from cave to cave. The centaurs had no kingdoms, but a society. But they were aggressive, refusing to associate themselves with other things.
Beyond the mountains lay the Pegasus kingdom in the sky, as well as some of the more lonely and beautiful areas of anywhere.
I continued to tightly hold onto George’s mane, climbing higher and higher. The peaks of the hills could be seen, cragged and snowy rocks topping them. But suddenly, as we got to a certain height, the sun in the east was able to peak through the solid grey clouds left over from the sparkle acid storm.
That’s when I heard Emma start flinching, yelling “Ouch!” I glanced over, not entirely concerned, as she had stopped flying, hovering not far from George and hunching her body to face the west. She was shielding her face with her hands, and I knew why.
Vampires couldn’t be out in full sun. Their skin would be damaged, eventually getting past that and killing them. Knowing this, I did feel a little bit of sympathy, but wanted to see what she’d do about it.
“Ugh, do you want help?” demanded Viperia, not getting off George.
“Ouch! Agh…” groaned Emma. I pursed my lips. “I need… oow… a hat and some shoes…”
“We don’t HAVE hat or shoes.” I moaned.
“Well, um… Ouch!”
I didn’t want to help her, not feeling the same need to do anything with her as I did for the others. But it was against me to simply let her burn. I did have some special magic that would be able to help her, shield her from the sun until dusk. I bit my lip for a moment in hesitation, but then fluttered away from the Pegasus and over to her.
I flew around to her front, and stretched out a gentle hand. Her face was still scrunched in pain, but I lifted up her chin to face me. I sucked in a breath, but knew it was right for me to do something about this. I summoned some magic into my fingers, closed my eyes, then placed one of my palms on Emma’s cold cheek. I looked at her, and her eyes widened and fell into mine. I retained a straight face, before suddenly I felt the powers transfer into Emma’s skin. She gasped, and I fluttered away from her, dusting my hands.
Still looking at me, she tenderly brushed her finger over her forehead, cheek and chin.
“Better?” I asked with a smile.
She considered me for a moment, then turned. She looked toward the sun fearfully but curiously, and I was actually proud to see that the sun did her no damage. She looked at it… she looked at it in awe.
“Have you ever seen the sun before?” asked Vipe flatly, not as bewildered as I seemed to be.
“No, I haven’t…” whispered Emma. Vipe rolled her eyes then looked at me, beckoning me over to George again.
“Hey! Guys, we can’t get to the Pegasus kingdom without crossing these damn mountains.” Roared Bob from not far above us. I snapped out of my daze and looked over, putting my hands on Vipe’s shoulders as George swooped upwards. Emma soared up near us, nervously glancing at the sun now and then.
The air thinned and it became less windy and more cold, and in just minutes, I was able to see over the mountain. The other side was different – far more hilly. To the east lay forests and grass and hills of flowers and rivers, and stretching to the west were craggy hills of stone, ice, glaciers and snow. The hills were close together and rather tall as they continued to the horizon, which was now closer as the view was obstructed by the land masses. Upon reaching the top, only George stopped to catch his breath, but because Bob was a dragon and Emma was a vampire, both of them soared along the mountaintop and began back down the other side.

* * *
“Guys, we have to go down there!” said George, hovering lower and soaring underneath Bob, Emma and Hudson.
“What for?” asked Vipe, not really paying attention.
“The snow lands have the BEST coffee. Who here likes coffee?” asked George enthusiastically. I sighed. I loved coffee, but I didn’t need another distraction. George turned to look at me with raised eyebrows. “We can get takeaway!”
“I’ll go! Dude, I can go with some coffee!” called Bob before I could say anything. I buried my face in my hands, before I suddenly felt George swoop down. Bob and the other two followed, and soon we were landed on an ice street amongst the snowy hills of the snow lands. I considered telling them to go back and get to the Pegasus kingdom – I was the leader after all – but we were already traipsing down the street where George guided us.
“Where would a coffee shop be in this wasteland?” asked Emma, shading her eyes from the blinding white of the snow reflecting the sun. I shivered and looked expectantly down at the Pegasus. “And how would you know anyway?”
“This place is only a little way away from the Pegasus kingdom. We sometimes come here for the world’s best coffee after work.” Replied George, losing enthusiasm as he addressed Emma. He was quiet for a moment, humming to himself in thought, before he made a sudden stop. I lurched forward and Vipe’s forehead bumped in my back. She grumbled a curse.
I got off George and walked to his side, folding my arms and clenching my teeth to prevent me from getting any colder than I already was. This time, it wasn’t the wind making me cold – the air was simply freezing in the snow lands. The fairy kingdom’s season staying constantly at Spring, unless tampered with magic.
“OK, this is a secret coffee shop.” Said George. I almost heard Bob and Vipe’s synchronized eye roll, and did my best to ignore. As Hudson dismounted and came to stand near me, George muttered something, walked to the side of a frozen mountain, and tapped. He tapped a certain pattern, said a password in an unknown tongue, and suddenly a window scraped open from nowhere. It came out of the frozen mountain and I raised my eyebrows, and suddenly a figure came to the window.
It was an ice pixie. Ice pixies were pixies specific to the snow lands, their skin blue and cold and hair light and white and thin. She was dressed in the normal white, icy ice pixies attire, but over the top of that she had an apron with a coffee mug printed on it. She grinned upon seeing us, leaning on the sill of the window.
“Hello George! Brought some friends?” she asked with a smile. George returned the expression.
“Yes, some of them are friends.” He replied. The pixie laughed a high-pitched giggle.
“What can I get you lot?” she asked, turning her body slightly to the inside of her little cave. What a strange little coffee shop.
“Just six takeaway cappuccinos.” Replied the Pegasus. The pixie nodded.
“I’ll add extra marshmallows, just for you George.” She flashed a wink and turned away.
Vipe spoke when she was gone. “Geez, I’m already thinking this place is weird.” She said. George gave her a look.
“That’s Simona. She’s very sweet.” He said matter-of-factly. Nobody responded. In a moment, Simona was back, and she placed six cardboard blue cups on the table full of steaming brown liquid. My mouth watered as she brought a bag of marshmallows and dumped three each into all the cups of coffee.
When she was done, Simona grinned warmly at George, eyes flickering to me and Hudson near him, and gestured to the cups. George took his in his mouth, holding the rim with his teeth. I grabbed my cup and Vipe, handing it to her as Bob’s tail swept forward and spiraled around his cup.
Emma got hers finally, and when George thanked Simone, he thanked her before the window in the mountain sealed up. We walked in quiet for a while, continuing down the ice road, before something came across me.
“Why don’t you have to pay for this coffee?” I asked, curiously looking up at the Pegasus, whose head was tipped back and pouring the contents of his cup down his throat.
“Oh, it’s basically prepaid. If you know the secret knock and secret magic coffee shop words, you’re granted coffee from there all the time. It’s a rule.” He replied. I shrugged.
“Hey, if I’d paid attention to what you said to the magic window, I could have been granted free coffee for the rest of my life!” said Viperia, folding her arms. I sniffed a small laugh and chugged the rest of the coffee, chewing on the marshmallows.
“Alright, now, can we be directed to the Pegasus kingdom now?” I asked over the mouthful.
“OK. Let’s fly!” he said. Hudson sprinted to George before he took off, clinging onto him as all of us began rising into the sky. George flew diagonally upwards, beating his enormous Pegasus wings. I felt the air through my hair and my wings fluttered quickly. Viperia was soaring a fair bit above me.
I was beginning to doubt George’s directions, but as my view was obstructed for a split second by some clouds around, we were suddenly above them. I smiled, staring in wonder – I hadn’t been this high in so long! The clouds stretched like plains, out to a never-ending horizon of white. More clouds were overhead, and the sunshine shone down in rays here and there through the gaps in the white.
“It’s over there!” directed George. I turned my head in curiosity as George began flying over the almost solid-looking mass of clouds. We flew for a while, then, after a few minutes, the clouds in from of my vision cleared with Bob’s wing beat.
Before us lay more clouds, supporting the most stunning of cities. The city was composed of beautiful white houses, the streets made of just cloud. The palace of the Pegasus kingdom stood in the centre of the area, tall and white and shining from the beams of golden sunlight from a gap in the cloud directly over it. I couldn’t help covering my mouth as I gasped.
“Seriously, this is nothing to me. It just reminds me that my parents live here.” Said George, almost unamused.
“It’s amazing!” squealed Vipe.
“Let’s go.” Said George.
“Wait, we’ll fall straight through the clouds. We don’t have Pegasus cloud-walking magic,” started Hudson.
“We don’t have magic!” scoffed George. “The cloud is enchanted. Anybody can walk on it. Unless you’re evil.”
“So, it can tell if you’re evil? It that generalized by creature or persona?” I asked as we flew forward. We reached a bridge made from shining cloud and white rails that stretched to the magnificent gates of the kingdom.
“Persona. We’ll know if Emma’s a liar or not.” Replied George. Vipe shot the vampire a look, and Emma smirked. George was the first to step onto the bridge, walking across as casually as if it was his garden path. I drew in a breath, placed a hand on the rail, then stopped flying. I let my feet fall to the floor of the bridge, and it was strange… soft, light, like I would fall through a mass of foam or air. But it steadied me, and my feet didn’t budge. I took a few steps, keeping my hand on the rail only for comfort, as I stepped over the bridge.
I looked over the rail halfway, and smiled. We were incredibly high, the ground far below so tiny, we could see the shadows of the enormous masses of cloud from end to end. I could see to the extremity of my vision to the east, and the same for the west on the other side.
I then proceeded across, where I stood next to George and smiled up at him. I turned then to watch Viperia walk over, followed by Bob, then Hudson. Hudson was nervously clutching his stomach.
“Pssh.” Said Emma. She continued to float, levitating herself over the bridge instead of walking, her expression amused but unenthusiastic. “Alright, now what?”
“We’ll have to go to the gates. Now, they’ll ask us for passports, and please be quiet while I tell them you’re my dental associates and we’re coming for an emergency appointment with the princess.”
“Wouldn’t lying count as evil?” I asked when we began walking again.
“It’s just a little white lie. You can’t stop anybody from telling those.” Laughed the Pegasus. I looked ahead, and saw we were nearing the gates. “The main purpose of it is to stop the unicorns from the entering. See, the gates will prevent evil from entering, and the ground prevent evil from being already within the kingdom.” He explained. I nodded, but I heard Viperia yawn.
“Will it prevent me from entering?” teased Emma, flying over us with her eyes closed.
“It depends if you’re bad. All unicorns are banned from entering, but everybody else it judged by their personality.” George said with narrow eyes. But I almost wasn’t listening. Up ahead were the enormous, towering silver gates that joined onto the tall, solid white wall around the entire city. On either side of the gates were Pegasus gates in shiny silver armor.
“Halt!” the one on the right cried. “State your purpose and show your passport.”
“Good morning!” said George, putting on a cheery tone. I folded my hands in front of me and stood politely, desperately hoping the others would do so as well. “Now, I’m the royal dentist, George. My associates and I are in quick need of entry – the princess requires an urgent dental session.” He said sincerely.
“Where’s your passport?” asked the guard again.
“I left it within the kingdom from my last time here. If you, for the sake of the princess and her teeth, could let us in, we would be very grateful.”
The guard sighed, cocking his head at the other one. He took a moment to consider, then nodded. The gates swung open, so we were led through into the Pegasus kingdom.

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from Emma's point of view.

The Pegasus kingdom was white – bright clouds of the most fluorescently reflected sunshine coated the roads, the buildings, the sky… it was more than I’d experienced in a lifetime. I’d never been exposed to so much sun, and though I knew it wouldn’t hurt, I was extremely wary of it.
It sickened me to think I was afraid.
But that wasn’t the most of my worries. I was rather concerned if I touched the ground – I told the others I wasn’t evil, and though I was completely convinced I wasn’t, I didn’t actually know. I killed, but only occasionally and only for food. Humans were at the bottom of society anyway.
The city was neat and clean, not something I was used to but something I’d seen. George was leading us somewhere, but I wasn’t bothered with listening to his and Vanilla’s fast and intent conversation. Viperia was trying to butt in, but she had given up and was flying low over Bob’s head.
I was actually rather surprised he didn’t fall through the ground. I wanted him to – Bob simply wasn’t my favourite of my ‘companions’.
Hudson was strolling idly, nervously glancing at the passing Pegasi. They, in turn, looked at us strangely. When one made eye contact with me, I flashed my red irises and bared my teeth. I laughed.
“Everyone, we’re going to the University.” Said George. “We need to get to the Bureau of USD.”
“USD? What the heck?” I asked.
“It stands for Unicorns Should Die. If we can’t get in using the civilized approach, we’re going to have to break in.” he replied. I smirked a little.
“Again – this kingdom is enchanted to stop evil.” Snickered Vanilla. George shook his head. He then led us around a corner, to where the road widened and showed us to a building of magnificently decorated gate entrance. Inside the gate was a building that towered above all the others, with the exception of the castle in the centre of the city.
“This is the most prestigious University in the Pegasus kingdom,”
“Most prestigious? How many of these do you have?” asked Vipe, landing to walk next to Vanilla.
“Uh, 18.” He replied. I laughed a little whilst Vipe gaped and Vanilla grinned like it was Christmas. “So, anyway. We need to go to this University to enter the Bureau of USD, where we should be able to meet the professor.”
“Aw crap, a professor?” I sighed. We walked through the gates, George contently walking toward the grand doors. I groaned. Vanilla was looking rather excited, bouncing on the tips of her bare feet. Hudson looked mildly interested, but the rest of us weren’t.

* * *
George allowed Vanilla to step forward to knock on the door. She smiled nervously and drew in a deep breath, as she smoothed her dress from shoulder to knees, before rapping her dainty hand upon the door. I floated forward to read the sign, my hair falling to dangle over the fairy’s face.
“Hey!” she cried in annoyance. I laughed and floated down.
“Yes, Vanilla?” I smiled, my face near hers.
She flushed and placed a hand on mine, pushing me away from her and making me laugh again. She straightened her ringlets of blonde as the door suddenly opened.
A middle-aged Pegasus stallion stood there, spectacles balancing on the end of his nose as he raised his eyebrows. There was a balding patch in his greying mane and his legs were rather knobby. George stepped next to Vanilla and stretched out a hoof. “Professor! It’s me, George!”
“George? What?” he asked in a soft and rather confused voice.
“You had me in my Biology, Literacy, Math, Art, Music, Physics and Explosives classes when I was in college, remember?” grinned George. The old Pegasus’s expression lightened.
“George, oh my dear boy, how are you?” he smiled, responding to the gesture and shaking his hoof. He opened the door wider with his rump, beckoning us all inside. He eyed me a little. I swooped right by.
“Guys, this is Professor Rupert de Gordon McDenim.” Said George, as he showed us to some seats. Bob was a little awkward in the room, not quite able to fit anywhere, and I was still too secretly nervous to touch the floor. I could tell that Vanilla noticed me, but I ignored her.
“Now, George. What brings you by? I haven’t seen you in years!” smiled Rupert de Gordon McDenim. I decided to mentally call him McDenim and sniffed at that thought.
“Actually, sir, you saw me a month ago. I did that lecture at the convention at the centre of gum and tongue health, and we talked after.” Replied George. McDenim took a moment to consider this, expression confused, but smiled again with a nod.
“Ah, yes. Sorry.” He said. George laughed.
“Anyway, because you’re now one of the Professors at USD, I was wondering if you could do your old friend and his crew a favour.”
“Which old friend, exactly?” asked McDenim. I suppressed a groan.
“Uh, me, sir.” Said George.
“Oh! Silly me,” sighed McDenim, pushing up his glasses with a hoof. “So, what favour would this be, ‘old friend’?” He smiled a tight-lipped smile.
“Well, this is top secret. Please don’t tell anybody, OK?” pushed George. McDenim nodded. “See, Lady Vanilla of the fairy kingdom stepped up to rescue the werewolf princess from the unicorns, and we need to,”
“Ruddy unicorns!” McDenim butted in. “Boy, say no more. Anything you need, I’ll give extra as long as harm comes to those blasted unicorn scum…”
“Oh, well, that’s perfect!” smiled Vanilla.
“Certainly. You’ll need to get there as soon as possible – who knows what suffering the princess is going through.” McDenim stood, so instinctively the others did too. The professor gave George a look, leading us over to his bookcase.
I curiously looked over Viperia’s shoulder to see. McDenim stretched out a knobby-kneed hoof and grabbed a large red book from the centre of the shelf, and as soon as it was removed, the bookshelf slid across the wall and revealed a dark doorway and a corridor.
“This way.” He muttered. I grinned, a mild interest coming to mind for secret doors. We walked down the dark corridor to another door, which McDenim opened using a keypad on the wall.
“Cool.” I murmured.
Inside the room, the walls were lined with glass cases, supporting stacks books, chests, papers and weapons. As the others gathered around one of the bookcases, I quietly floated over to examine the weapons case. I felt drool coming to my mouth as it showed old knives, daggers, swords and bows, bejeweled and carved with heads of unicorns and cryptic words and or runes.
When I overheard McDenim talking to the others, I floated over to see what they were looking at.
“And this is the full map of the security and guard routes of the entire region of the palace and its surrounding walls. The crosses indicate the major guarding posts, and the faint lines show the main paths from the gate to the interior of the castle.” I heard McDenim explaining. “See, this wasn’t actually a map originally for breaking into the castle, it was only a map. So you’ll have to improvise.”
“Wow, thank you so much Professor!” smiled Vanilla, reaching to probe the map lightly with her fingertip.
“Take care of it, George.” Warned McDenim. George nodded. “Now, it’s in my best interest to help you, of course. I’ll provide you with a bag that will have the map and some other things. You lot go and wait in my office, and I’ll organize that for you.” He smiled a little, creasing his face, before we all started back toward the office.
The others sat down on the couch. When I continued to float over them, adjusting my shirt, I noticed Vanilla was glaring at me. “What?” I demanded
“Stand on the ground, Emma.” She said with a straight expression. “You were so confident you’d be able to before…” she trailed off with a frown. I snarled a grunt in annoyance.
“Hey, what if I’m more comfortable with floating?” I huffed. Arms folded, she looked back up at me.
“I was just pointing it out. If you’re so confident, you could just stand on the ground for a moment.” She said. My gut lurched and I tried not to break away from her stare.
“Will the enchantment even work on a floor?” asked Vipe in a bored voice.
“I don’t know.” Replied Vanilla. “Why can’t Emma test it?”
“Quit picking on me.” I growled, folding my arms as well and floating away from her. I went and sat myself down on McDenim’s desk, just as the old Pegasus himself walked in.
“Here we are!” he said cheerily. Vanilla stood and George trailed her as she went and picked up the bag, slung it over her shoulder, and looked warmly up at McDenim.
“Thank you so much, sir, for your help.” She said.
“No problem! Good luck my dear at getting into the unicorn castle. It’s a dark place.” He said, his forehead lines creasing below his fringe at those words. “You know, you’re lucky you have a dark creature on your side to counter that,” he added, gesturing to me. As much as that was probably supposed to compliment me, I couldn’t help feeling… offended? I felt a pained expression cross my face and I looked at the floor.
“Yep, she’s totally evil.” Said Vipe, nodding.
“Hey, I’m not,”
“Don’t kid yourself, you were too scared to touch the floor.” Said Vanilla, shrugging to steady the bag. “At least I might be more… accepting of your evilness.”
“Shut up!” I snapped.
“Good luck!” called McDenim, as we filed out the door.
A few minutes later, we were back outside the university, on the path and then the road. Still in mild thought, I floated along behind the others with my hands in my skinny-jeans’ pockets. When we’d walked a little way in quiet, Vanilla began digging in the bag.
“Alright, so. We have the map, a compass, some notes, uh… some cans of energy drink? Uh, a pencil, a sharpener, a knife, a USD USB stick, some candy and a figurine of a unicorn.” She said. She almost looked amused, taking out one of the energy drink cans and reading the label.
“They have energy drink in the Pegasus kingdom?” asked Bob bluntly.
“Yes. It’s different – instead of the weird sugar-high chemicals in normal energy drink, it’s got stuff that makes your brain go on a sugar-high instead. It’s more of a potion thing.” Replied George casually. Bob scoffed a little.
“What exactly are we going to do with the USB stick?” asked Hudson.
“Yeah, we don’t have a computer.” I added. Vipe shot me a look of dislike and I poked out my tongue.
“It may have information on it,” started George.
“Still don’t have a computer,” I coughed. George made the same face as Vipe.
“But it doesn’t matter.” He pushed. “This mission isn’t to get anything from the unicorns except the werewolf princess.”
“Why didn’t the werewolves just rescue their precious princess themselves?” I asked.
“Because werewolves don’t have the elements of stealth, brains or magic.” Replied Vanilla, putting the energy drink back in the bag. “Which is why they initially asked the fairy princess to do it for them.”
I sniffed and continued to float behind them. We were heading down the main street again, and up ahead I could see the gates in front of the bridge that would lead us out of the kingdom. A strange feeling of relief managed to find its way through me, making me flinch.
The guards let us out when we reached the gates. “Where are we going next, then?” asked Vipe.
“The unicorn kingdom. It’s the only place we can go.” Butted in Bob. Vanilla shook her head aggressively.
“No. We need a calculated plan before,” she started.
“Dude, we can just go. Don’t you value the life of this Princess?” I asked with a smirk. Vanilla looked up at me and I twirled into the air over her head.
“I do, Emma.” She retaliated. “But we can’t save her if we just barge in!” we stopped at the bridge.
“Give me the map,” demanded Vipe. Before Vanilla could answer, Vipe swooped down and grabbed the map out of the bag. She opened it up and scanned it for a moment. “Hey, what the heck? How are we supposed to actually find the unicorn kingdom when this is only a map of the kingdom itself?”
“Ugh…” moaned Vanilla, smacking her forehead with her palm. I creased my brow and came to hover over her. She made a frustrated noise as I reached inside the bag. My hands groped through the needless items in there, before they grasped onto another bit of paper. When I curiously pulled it out, I laughed at Vanilla.
“Are you serious? Wow, Lady, you didn’t look very hard.” I giggled.
“Vipe! How does she know to call me Lady?” she cried at the water fairy, her face going red as I opened the map with a cackle.
“Man, I have no clue.” Replied Vipe casually, making short eye contact with me.
“Ha. Hey, this is a map of the entire land.” I said. Vanilla huffed and fluttered up next to me, looking at the bit of old paper. It was faded blue, though most of it was occupied by a rather colorful landmass in a strange shape. I let out a stream of air – I’d never actually seen what the land looked like. “How many of these maps are there?”
“In the whole world?” asked Vanilla. “I’m not actually sure. I’ve only seen a map once, and it was of the fairy kingdom and the werewolf kingdom.” She pointed to a mountain range on the top centre of the landmass. Marked on the mountains was ‘fairy kingdom’ and ‘werewolf kingdom’, and I raised my eyebrows in some sort of surprise.
“I guess cultures like to keep to themselves.” Sighed George.
“So why are we travelling together? Different cultures?” spat Bob. Vanilla closed her eyes by didn’t look at him.
“If you want to leave, then whatever.” She replied, flying away from me. I watched her land on the bridge and peer over the side, wincing. She began walking across and I floated after her. Vanilla walked with her shoulders back, her carefully stepping feet not allowing her perfect hips to sway. I watched her, and the way her eyes flickered indicated she knew it while she gazed over the side of the bridge. When she reached the other side, she fluttered into the air and smoothed her dress. I soared around her and watched George lead Viperia, Bob and Hudson across.
Before they reached the end of the bridge, Hudson mounted George as he flew off it over near us, and Bob and Vipe just took to the air.
“We should head to the ground. I’m tired of flying and we really need to study these maps.” Pointed out Vipe. Vanilla nodded, and I folded the map I was holding and slipped it into her bag along with Viperia’s. I then put my arms out and pointed my stomach toward the ground, suddenly earning strange looks from the others.
“Hey, Viperia! Freefall with me!” I grinned deviously. A cheeky smile crossed her face and she looked at Vanilla.
“Vipe, don’t,” she started.
“Sound’s awesome.” Viperia hesitated before she bumped her fist against mine. A rush of thrill went through me as I looked at the non-solid cloud beneath my stomach. Vanilla’s eyes widened as Viperia got into the same position as me. I hadn’t done this since I was turned into a vampire. My gut lurched at the thought, but I pushed it away.
“You girls are insane,” whimpered Hudson.
“One, two, three!” I yelled, ignored him as I forcibly cut off my flying powers at the same time as Viperia stopped her wings, gravity taking hold of me and pulling me toward the ground. In just milliseconds we were out of the clouds, making Viperia scream when the ground came into sight, travelling toward us at an impossible speed. We fell like stones, the painful air pressure shoving my facial features into a strange formation and making my hair flail wildly over my skull. Vipe was still screaming at the top of her lungs, the snow-coated ground coming closer and closer and closer.
“HOW DO WE STOP?” she said in hysterical adrenaline-fueled laughter, looking up at me. I laughed.
“Just fly! Fly, you’ll go so fast you won’t even believe it!” I yelled back, spreading my arms further like wings.
All of a sudden, as the snowy ground was mere meters from our falling bodies, I gasped and shoved my weight forward, forcing myself to fly. I came down in an arch, swooping at a million miles a second as my belly touched the touched the snow only briefly. Vipe shrieked and copied, and side by side we soared back upwards so fast everything was a blur.
I did a couple of loops, slowly myself as I continued to laugh. When I was slow enough, my heart rate starting to lower, I just let myself drop. I fell limply into the snow, coming down with a thump into the powdery ice. I sighed while Vipe came falling down next to me with flailing arms and landing face-first in the snow. Only her shins poked out.
I looked up into the bright sky, the shape of the other four evident against the strangely beautiful, shining sun. Wind blew over me from the force of three pairs of wings as they landed, Vanilla coming to stand over me.
“Are you alright? That’s freaking dangerous!” she said, offering me a hand. I smiled and took it, sitting myself up in my little hole of snow. I shrugged and Vanilla pulled Vipe out of the snow by her ankle.
“That. Was. INSANE.” She gasped the second her mouth was out of the snow. “Seriously dude how come I never knew to do that?”
“I know, it’s awesome! I haven’t done it in about… 325 years.” I replied with a crooked smile.
“How old are you?” asked George. I looked up at him and leaned casually on my hands.
“342. Being a vampire made me forever 17. Why?” I asked. He cocked his head.
“I don’t know.” He replied. “Hey, are we going to head straight to the unicorn kingdom?”
“No. We’ll camp. It’ll be easier. But we’ll travel to find a place first.” Said Vanilla, tucking a lock of golden hair behind her ear. I sighed.

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from Bob's point of view. (the dragon in da picture XD)

Though my decision to travel with this pack of strangers was odd and starting to annoy me, I knew that it was better than any other road I had. I’d told them once and I wouldn’t remind them again – I was kicked out of the dragon kingdom. So of course, life outside the dragon kingdom would be empty and boring for a dragon. I still didn’t really know why I thought rescuing a random and irrelevant princess alongside a couple of fairies, a flying horse, a shapeshifter and a bloodsucker was a good idea.
All the same, I went along with every stupid decision the fairy made along the way, including the absurd choice of travelling through the gorge in a harmless area of barren desert. Before entering the gorge, all I could see until my vision was blocked by hills was an endless expanse of red rock, dotted with dead forests, giant skeletons and other random things. When we got to the gorge and descended the slope, night was falling and the sun couldn’t even reach us in the ditch anyway.
By the time we had been walking for half an hour, the moon was up and it was absolutely pitch black. I lumbered along behind the others.
“Are we going to be walking through this thing all night?” I asked.
“I think we’ll camp. How does that sound?” asked Vanilla sweetly to the others. Viperia shrugged and George nodded a little. Vanilla then sighed and peered around a sharp corner of the stone cliff, where a wider area stood open to us. She grinned and went over to the centre of the area.
“Can I get some fire?” she asked.
“I’m on it!” said Emma before I could try. I grumbled. Emma stretched out one hand and shot a ball of fire at the ground, which made a flame that burned magically on the rock, just like mine. She grinned then sat cross-legged in front of the flame, absently looking into it. Vanilla sat near her, Hudson sat opposite, and when George lay down Viperia leaned against him. I remained rather expressionless and lay my long, purple body around the back of Emma, Vanilla and Hudson, looking at the fire.
“Hey, why couldn’t we camp on the surface?” asked Viperia. Vanilla shook her head with a small sigh.
“On the map, this area is marked as the Desert of Hostility.” She replied. “I thought travelling in the gorge would be safer at night.”
“Why’s it called that?” asked George. Vanilla’s troubled face was illuminated by the orange light.
“I’m not sure. I’m quite… uh, wary to find out.” She replied, glancing up at the clear night sky.
“Please, you guys would be safe. I’m a ‘dark creature’, remember?” Emma pointed out with a smile, making her black hair fall over her white face.
“Yeah, I’m just not sure. We’ll stay here, but somebody has to keep a look out while others sleep.” Said the fairy sternly.
“I’ll stay awake. I don’t actually HAVE to breathe or sleep, remember?” I said. Vanilla turned up the corners of her mouth at me.
“Sure. We’ll get some rest.” She said. I nodded slowly as she shuffled toward the ground, laying her head delicately on her folded hands and making Emma roll her eyes. Viperia yawned and leaned against George’s neck as he put his head down, and Hudson timidly turned himself into a sloth and fell instantly asleep. I smirked.
“Man, I guess I should probably sleep,” yawned Emma. I flicked my eyebrows. She hesitated a moment, before sliding down near Vanilla with a hand on the fairy’s shoulder.
“You don’t even know her.” I said in a hushed voice. Her crimson eyes glared at me.
“You don’t know me. Shut up.” She hissed. Emma adjusted herself and soon fell asleep, leaving me the only one awake. I still wasn’t really used to the strange sound of others sleeping in unison. I quietly watched their faces, lit in strange ways by the light of the fire. I didn’t want to feel it, but I did feel a pang of annoyance as I saw Emma next to Vanilla and Viperia burying her face into George’s mane.
I was lonely, yeah. But still – even grumpy and lonely people get, well… truly lonely.

* * *
I didn’t know much time passed, as I’d lost track of counting time years ago. But perhaps a few hours, seeing the moon directly over the gorge and casting ghostly white light over everything and leaving shadows in the rock crevices.
But my silent and dead thoughts were suddenly awoken when a foreign noise came to my ears.
Echoing throughout the dark gorge, making tiny vibrations beneath my sensitive feet.
A growl escaped my throat, low and threatening, as I stood quietly and looked up at the surface. “Come out, coward! If you want to fight then fight me!” I yelled. Nobody stirred from my group, but movements became more prominent at the surface. My heart almost stopped and I held all my muscles still. Silence burned my ears.
Silhouettes, dark shapes against the moonlit sky came to the edge of the gorge at the sound of my voice, demonic glowing eyes staring down on me, the others, and the fire that was practically a ‘COME HERE AND EAT US’ sign. I backed up.
“Crap.” I muttered, as the shapes suddenly began to descend the slopes. I wasn’t afraid. I couldn’t be afraid… my heart began to race. I growled and began to panic, swishing my enormous tail and making it slam into Emma and Vanilla.
“Ouch! What the,” muttered Emma, waking up and hissing.
“Emma!” gasped Vanilla, flushing and getting out from under Emma’s arm.
“Sorry, I,”
“Girls! Help!” I yelped, making the two of them look up. “I know why it’s called the desert of hostility, but they’re sizing up on us!” The horrifying shapes came slowly closer to the bottom.
“Crap!” shrieked Vanilla, making one of the creatures snarl viciously. I backed up more and they got behind me.
“What’s going on?” asked George, waking up. When he cursed and staggered to his hooves, Vipe woke up too.
“What are they?” I said. We got closer together, backing against the fire as the presence of the creatures seemed to summon countless more of their kind.
“They’re…” muttered George.
“They’re Cerberuses!” gasped Vanilla. “But these are hostile Cerberuses… what does this mean?”
“Hostile? Vanilla, they can’t be real Cerberuses.” Strained George, his rump bumping into me. My eyes widened as the creatures came into view – three headed dogs, with glowing eyes and no pupils. They snarled at us, baring sinister teeth that dripped with saliva.
“I have to have read this somewhere…” whispered Vanilla, thumping her fist against her forehead. The Cerberuses were closing in from all angles.
“Any day now!” I roared.
“Zombies! Undead!” yelled George all of a sudden. “I’ve read this! The three zombie heads can do different things… fire, poison and… and…”
“Lasers!” gasped Vanilla. “Guys, we can kill them though! They can’t infect you don’t worry,”
All of a sudden, a massive zombie Cerberus launched itself at me. I roared as one of the heads bit down on my neck and delivered acidic poison into me. Vanilla screamed, but I knew I couldn’t be poisoned. I needed to help the others and try not to be mauled to death…
I yelled again as I turned and a second giant beast leapt at my hind, chomping into me. I slammed my wing onto its head and screamed as a Cerberus crept up on the sleeping Hudson.
“HUDSON!” I roared. I heaved myself into a massive leap, ignoring the agony of a third attack. I came down over the sloth and flung my neck and claws into the ribs of the stalking Cerberus. Its white eyes glared at me when it landed, all three heads snarling at me.
Hudson suddenly awoke and instantly changed himself into a huge stag, not hesitating to ram and stab the oncoming beasts with his enormous antlers. I spun around with a roar, heaving a breath and shooting jets of flame everywhere as I knocked over the three headed dogs with my huge tail.
Vanilla was suddenly flung sideways, and as she hit my leg I realized it was Emma who shoved her and was starting to fling fireballs at all the Cerberuses in sight. She dodged lasers and poison spitballs with agility, flying up and slamming a kick into the throat of a beast. She screamed and thrust herself forward, sinking her fangs into it and draining the beast of its undead blood.
I looked up, and over the top of the seemingly lifeless Cerberuses we’d slaughtered were more. Coming down the gorge slopes from the surface like a river, a river of zombie bark-moans and white, glowing eyes.
“There are too many!” gasped Viperia, screaming and throwing her fist into the jaw of a Cerberus as it jumped into the air toward her. It was flung to the stone cliff, collapsing onto the forever oncoming zombie siege.
I swung my tail around and knocked off a bunch of Cerberuses, and suddenly saw Vanilla still sitting on the ground and waving her hands around near her chest. “What are you DOING?” I growled, shooting a burst of flame at a monster that came leaping at me. I screamed in pain when two more bit down on my side.
“I’m trying to…” then, out of nowhere, out of Vanilla’s hands came a huge weapon. A sword, a golden sword that flashed and emitted light from the silver-white edges of its shining blade. Vanilla yelled in triumph and yielded her sword over her head, flying into the air and bringing the weapon down into the heart of a Cerberus in a single strike.
“YOU MAKE A FREAKING LIGHTENING SWORD AND CAN’T EVEN CONJURE ME A DRESS?” shrieked Viperia as Vanilla flung the sword back and forth and stabbed all the Cerberuses that came close to her.
“SORRY!” she yelled back.
“Whoa,” murmured Emma, but her distraction of Vanilla holding a deadly weapon ended when a Cerberus hurled itself at her and she bit it hard on the neck.
“We have to get out of here!” yelled George, his only weapon being his strong horse kicks aimed to wind his opponents. Hudson was coping, but only just, as his rhinoceros form rammed the monsters like bowling pins.
“We have to fly, and dodge the ones on the surface!” I cried in agreement.
“THERE’S FREAKING THOUSANDS!” hollered Viperia, as suddenly her ankle was grabbed in a pair of huge jaws. “AAAAGHH!”
“VIPERIA!” shrieked Vanilla. I watched on in horror as Vanilla swooped down, lightning sword aloft. I could hear Viperia screaming in agony, completely weaponless. The sword came down and I heard the Cerberus yelp, falling limp as Vanilla grabbed Vipe’s bloody figure and pulled her into the sky just in time.
“Fly! Go!” I yelled at them. Vanilla supported Vipe and strained, flying higher and suddenly tossing the sword down. Emma’s eyes widened and she threw herself into the air, her hands clasping the grip of the sword and her arms swinging down to cut off the middle head of an undead Cerberus.
My huge tail knocked multiple beasts unconscious as I heaved myself upwards, the pain all over my body almost too much for me. I shot into the sky, too fast for the Cerberuses that tried to leapt at me from edges of the gorge. I wrapped my tail around Vanilla and Viperia as I went past them at full speed, climbing higher and higher into the sky with them coiled in my tail below me.
All around the desert, emerging from nowhere like conjured from magic, were zombie Cerberuses. A sea of moaning black bodies and glowing white eyes could be seen as far as our view of the moonlit expanse extended. I understood the concept of ‘desert of hostility’. But where were they coming from?
It didn’t matter. I could hear the slashing, yelping, screaming and thunder from down in the gorge, and I could see the alerted zombies making their way to the edge and blindly wandering down to fight. I couldn’t fly down, I couldn’t land, I couldn’t do anything but hope…
Pained whinnies erupted from down below, snarls following it. I heard Emma yell, her voice echoing throughout as the gorge flashed briefly and thundered from the lightning sword. I could hear all kinds of animal roars, snarls and grunts from Hudson desperately shapeshifting… but I could see the zombie Cerberuses doubling by the second…
“Vanilla, Viperia, you have to fly!” I yelled beneath me.
“But Vipe is,”
“You have to! Please, I have to get the others out!” I roared. Vanilla gasped but I felt her move, then pry my tail out from around her. I swooped down around them, watching Vanilla desperately support Viperia, then shot like a bolt of electricity back toward the gorge. I came to the rim and zoomed down, blowing fire wildly at everything below me as I soared to the bottom where the others were.
“FLY, GEORGE! I’LL GET HUDSON!” I roared at the Pegasus who used his strong but injured thighs to slam his back hooves into the gut of a Cerberus. He grunted in pain and spread his huge wings, kicking the head of a zombie and shooting into the sky and out of the gorge.
Emma was standing on the ground, teeth viciously bared and sword held in defense as she maintained a steady circular distance between her and the zombies. I knew she could handle it, so upon sighting jaguar-form Hudson I yelled for him and flew low. I grit my teeth and tried to stay focused when a set of teeth scraped me from hip to ankle, as I went past and snatched the cat in my tail. He snarled and clawed a zombie before I took to the air, climbing and shooting flame at the ground. We burst from the gorge into the sky and I flung Hudson into the air, making him temporarily airborne before he landed on my wounded back with a thud.
He changed into a human and I continued to climb, finding the fairies and circling them like a shark. Vanilla gave me a desperate look.
“Where’s Emma?” she asked, helping Viperia onto my back. Hudson grabbed her.
“In the gorge, she should be able to get out,”
My words were cut off by a flash of thunder and lightning from below, and with a huge yell the vampire suddenly threw herself into the sky and out into the night, the lightning sword held above her head. Vanilla gasped and Emma flew toward us, panting and steadying herself, still defensively holding the weapon.
“We need to get out of here. I don’t know where these things are coming from.” Said Vanilla, eyes wide as she wiped a cut on her forehead that poured blood. “Viperia got some nasty wounds,”
“Will we be infected by the zombies?” asked Emma, still panting as she absently stroked the lightning sword. Hudson was staring at the ground and its lurking zombies in terror.
“No, they only affect Cerberuses. But where did these ones come from?” replied George.
“It doesn’t matter. This place is cursed. We have to get away from here.” Vanilla shook her head.
“There should be a forest or somewhere less demonic around here somewhere,” said Emma. Vanilla nodded. She gestured for us to follow, and we all began flying forward, trying to get away from this horrific location.

* * *
Upon landing in a forest directly adjacent to the desert, we wasted no time as we hastily began moving through it to get away. Even if we were out of the desert, rouge zombies would be able to follow. We slipped through the stout trees in the darkness, searching for a place we could slow down and tend to injuries. Vanilla wasn’t able to stop and heal Viperia, who was bleeding badly from her side and bare legs, still wearing only her undergarments and ripped singlet.
I wondered why nobody cared while we were in the Pegasus kingdom, but realized that Pegasi are all naked anyway.
“I can smell something up ahead…” muttered Hudson tensely. He sniffed again. “I can smell smoke and living things.”
“Alright, which direction?” asked Emma, who was at the front of the group, stalking along swiftly with the sword swinging.
“Go straight ahead.” Replied Hudson. He then leapt off my back, and halfway to the ground shifted into a dog and trotted up next to George. The atmosphere was hurried, almost panicked.
“There! There, I can see fire!” gasped Vanilla, pointing. I looked over the heads of the others, and through the trees saw an orange glow. I then glanced behind me to make sure we weren’t being followed, before emerging into a clearing.
In the centre was a fire, and all around it were houses. They were rather hidden in the trees, but they weren’t very primitive. The houses were small cottages from wood and stone.
“Hello? Is anybody there?” called Vanilla gently.
“Come out!” barked Emma. Vanilla whacked her in the elbow.
“Kodis? Nev ret ev?” a voice said. I raised an eyebrow.
“Aw crap…” cursed Vanilla. “They’re Plutocows, they only speak Plutonian. I know a little bit, hold on.”
“Oh geez.” Muttered Emma.
“Sol ret plodi rota plakand fo waet.” Said Vanilla. I groaned, not a clue what she was saying. “Sol ret sid nasi fo jelonef nol. Masif, bilinka uhi.”
“Oev? Mark, oev ret ca… obgem haari fo sol?” said the voice. I then heard a door creak open, and two creatures came out. Small, blue cows. So they were Plutocows.
“Sol coj gim ple – sol mooshmi ret jelonefi in sol coj gim fo stelvaa da stellan.” Said Vanilla. Hearing a foreign language was beyond me, and it was impossibly frustrating to hear something I didn’t understand. Emma’s grunt of annoyance seconded my mental statement.
“Vanilla, let’s just go find a clearing or something. They might be evil.” Muttered Emma, swinging her sword in boredom. I knew she was still tense, though. I craned my neck around to look at Viperia on my back. Her eyes were shut.
“Yes, seriously. Vanilla, just heal her already!”
“We need shelter!” she hissed back at me.
“Et, tel sai whi. Coj sid tel da inalemui bilinka, ool ko sid mowi sai.” Muttered the female Plutocow. Around the village, I saw a few more of them curiously peep through their cottage doors. At the Plutocow’s words, Vanilla scratched the back of her neck and glanced at Emma.
“Et… oev onii ret da inalemui?” she asked. I didn’t know what she said, but the annoyed female Plutocow harshly pointed her little blue hoof at both me and Emma. I gaped, her eyes staring me down.
“What? Vanilla, what’s she implying?” I demanded.
“She uh… she said that the monsters aren’t allowed in. She doesn’t like the look of Emma or you. Sorry,” she replied, tugging a lock of her golden hair.
“Man, what? Are you serious?” spat Emma. Vanilla nodded. I sighed, grudgingly accepting, and allowed Vanilla to come and get Viperia off my back. She carried her, weak figure almost collapsing under the weight, and followed the others and the Plutocows into one of the cottages.
When the door slammed behind them, Emma placed the lightning sword on the grass and walked over to the cottage. She put her hand against the window and pressed her face to the glass, golden light over her face as she looked into the house.
“Don’t spy.” I muttered, lying my heavy body down and folding my wings tight around me.
“I’m not actually spying, they’re part of our group.” She growled back. “Stupid Plutocows,” Emma continued to look in, still unnoticed as her eyes flickered back and forth between whoever was occupying the tiny house. I wondered how George even fit inside.
“Just sleep.” I said, wrapping my neck around me and trying to relax. The wounds all over my body throbbed and I grit my teeth, but I knew that sleeping would be the best thing for it.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.” Replied Emma, turning away from the window and stretching. She sat down cross-legged on the grass and stared at the fire by the well in the village centre. I glared at her.
Though it was not needed and my dragon mind and body didn’t require sleep, I slowed my breathing until it stopped and very soon slipped into unconsciousness.

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from George's point of view. <3

Morning’s glow that managed to break through the thick foliage of the forest, peeped through the window on the side of the cottage and greeted me as I silently awoke. When my eyes slid slowly open and I looked calmly around, I realized I was not the only one awake. The female Plutocow – who had come to tell us her name was Eliza – was bustling about in the kitchen area of the tiny house, clanking pans and singing something in Plutonian.
I was lying in the corner, right in the patch of window sunlight. Hudson was slumped against the wall opposite me, Vanilla was lying delicately with her head on a cushion by the couch, and Viperia was on the couch with a blanket. She was the only one in the room with basically no clothes. Apart from me and Eliza, but was it really an issue?
I sat up slightly, and Eliza didn’t turn around. She simply stopped singing, and I listened to her busying herself around with breakfast. I yawned and shuffled my wings, momentarily standing and shaking my head to freshen my mane.
“Ko sid nas wapsi pev.” I heard Eliza say sternly. I turned around and stared at her. She didn’t turn to look at me.  
“I’m just, uh, going outside. For a moment.” I stuttered in reply, moving toward the door. I heard her grunt of annoyance as I opened the door with a long, high-pitched creak, and stepped onto the grass directly outside. I sucked in a sweet breath of cool, morning air and looked around the village. Most of the doors were closed and silent, but a few remained open and I saw a couple of Plutocalves sipping from the stone well and kicking the burnt-out fire.
Not far from the cottage, under a tree, was the big purple lump that was Bob. Meters from him was Emma, sprawled on the ground in inelegance and sound asleep. I lowered my head, brushing my nose along the ground before taking a large chomp out of the grass. I chewed it contently and swallowed, taking a few more bites.
Suddenly the door behind me was thrust open. “Et! Gim whi ev in sid nomini ca!” yelled Eliza. I jumped and looked up at her, blue eyes digging into me as I swallowed my mouthful.
I had no clue what she said, but her confronting and orderly gaze let me know I wasn’t supposed to be doing whatever I was doing. She backed her rump up against the door and showed me back inside, so I stooped my tall head and walked back into the house. She shuffled by me, briefly shaking Vanilla’s and Viperia’s shoulder as she passed.
“Oh, what?” mumbled Vanilla, pushing her large ringlets from her eyes and rubbing them. Eliza glanced at her and smiled. Yes – it was nice to know the pecking order. As Viperia let out a deeply disgruntled snarl and kicked the leg of the couch as she woke, Hudson opened his bright eyes and looked about a little.
“Ko nol gim nomin?” smiled Eliza to Vanilla. The fairy hesitated as she sat up and thought a moment.
“Et, moosh masif!” she replied. Eliza nodded. I put my muzzle over her shoulder.
“What did she say?” I asked, watching the Plutocow curiously.
“She’s offering food.” She replied hastily. “Vipe, Hudson, come and get some breakfast.”
“Oh maaaaaan…” groaned Viperia, nearly falling off the couch but catching herself and thrusting off her blanket. Both her calves and thighs and one ankle sported potion-soaked bandages, and her singlet was basically useless, torn up to her ribcage. She came and sat next to Vanilla, and Hudson timidly slithered over near me.
“Oev to Emma in Bob?” asked Vanilla as a straight-faced Eliza handed her a bowl of grass and mushroom soup.
“Da inalemui?” asked Eliza with a raised eyebrow, giving two more bowls to me and Hudson.
“Masif, sa ret sid ca ina.” Replied Vanilla with a small laugh as Viperia got her bowl and frowned at it.
“Et, momih.” Sighed Eliza, rolling her eyes. Vanilla smiled gratefully and sipped the soup from her bowl, seemingly enjoying it. I knew I would, and poured the contents down my throat. I watched then as Eliza filled two more bowls and walked outside. I heard her yelling some harsh Plutonian and Emma gasping in surprise.
“What was that?” asked Viperia, wiping her face.
“She didn’t really want to feed the others but I thought they had to.” Sighed Vanilla in response.
“Vampires can eat normal food, right?” asked Hudson, lapping the bowl like a cat despite the fact he was in human form.
“Yeah, I think so. Not much, but I’m not going to let Emma go suck the blood of strangers.” Replied Vanilla quietly. When she finished, Eliza came back inside with a very cranky expression, muttering. Vanilla smirked a little, and I could faintly hear some argumentative conversation between Bob and Emma outside.
In a few minutes we were all finished, and Vanilla thanked Eliza as she collected up all the bowls and dumped them in the sink. She then turned, expression concerned, and looked down at Viperia.
“Koi ca gem gim hashimi?” asked Eliza, directing the question at Vanilla but looked directly at a confused Viperia.
“I’m sorry what?” she blurted.
“She’s wondering if you’d like some clothes.” Replied Vanilla with a laugh. Vipe gasped and her expression became enthusiastic.
“Oh my gob yes!” she replied. Eliza cocked her head so Vipe simply nodded instead, Eliza walking over to her bed and rummaging a little.
“Hey, what are we doing today?” I asked. Vanilla sighed and stood up, brushing her dress and straightening her hair. She looked out the window.
“Just continue to the unicorn kingdom.” She replied. “Don’t make me think about it, it’s stressful.” I grunted in apology and didn’t bother standing as the roof was rather low, remaining on the floor as Eliza came lumbering back over. In her mouth dangled a couple of items of clothing, and Viperia’s eyes lit up with appreciation.
“How do I say thank you?” she whispered to Vanilla.
“Tasaf nol,” she replied.
“Tazaf mol!” squealed Viperia. I clunked my hoof to my forehead and groaned, and Eliza cocked her head.
“Fem ret sid woksh fo haar nol lungje.” Laughed Vanilla, stretching her hands over her head. Viperia happily grabbed the clothes that Eliza held and ripped off her tattered singlet, leaving her in her undergarments, and threw on the shirt. A second later she got into the shorts. Both pieces of clothing were large, square-shaped and baggy. Though I had very limited knowledge on clothes, I could tell they were for boys. Vipe didn’t mind. The shirt was deep blue with a light blue snake on it, and the shorts were green.
She smiled at Eliza again. “Thank you! They’re awesome! Where did you get them?” she asked.
Eliza cocked her head and looked at Vanilla who cleared her throat. “Tasaf nol, sa ret naseil! Pev koi nol jin dai?” translated Vanilla.
“Et, ol commu mooshkai dai ‘hashimi’ rot objuk taris.” Said Eliza, laughing. Vanilla giggled and I awkwardly coughed. “Ool jeni objukoni fo jin dai coret sa ret juk sidbet.” The two laughed again, and when Hudson gave her a questioning glance Vanilla just waved her hand and shook her head.
“Et, tasaf nol rot teli sol ret ev.” Sighed Vanilla, smoothing her hair and grinning. “Sol lon nas naop.”
Eliza sighed and glanced around at us, not as enthusiastically as she spoke to Vanilla. But she nodded just as the door suddenly slammed open. Emma appeared at the doorway.
“Hey, we need to get going!” she snarled, making a very clear effort not to make eye contact with Eliza.
“Yep, sorry…” muttered Vanilla. Emma grunted at her and stepped away from the door, and we all followed the fairy outside. Vanilla said farewell to Eliza before folding her arms and walking silently along beside Hudson. Emma picked up the lightning sword lying not far from the cottage and rejoined us. We crossed the circular village, getting some strange and mixed looks from the locals, and very soon we were out of the boundaries and strolling through the green forest once again.
As we walked quietly, I noticed that the sky was dark. It was no longer shining like it had been when I woke up, but coated in dark, menacing clouds that rumbled their way over the landscape. I sighed, but supposed it would be better than walking in full sun. I was just concerned as to what kind of rain it was if it did rain – it never did so in the Pegasus kingdom.
“Geez, Vanilla. You didn’t exactly make an effort to make the cow accept us.” Muttered Emma.
“Hey! Look, Vipe was looking pretty bad. If she refused us entry because of you guys, we may not have found a safe place for miles.” Argued Vanilla defensively.
“You could have healed her yourself.” Said Bob.
“I tried. But the Cerberus bites must have had magical abilities – I wasn’t able to heal her with magic.” Replied Vanilla, straightening herself as she strolled. “So Eliza kindly helped us with potions.”
“Wait, did you remember the bag?” asked Vipe suddenly, sounding like she was trying to change the subject, but looking legitimately concerned.
“Don’t worry, you forgetful worry-warts.” Said Hudson quietly. “I got the bag during breakfast.”
 
* * *
As with all the areas we’d explored, every place of everywhere was divided like it had been chopped with a knife. So it wasn’t odd when the forest was cut off to the most perfect precision, going from dirt, grass, trees and flowers to bare, grey rock. Almost instantly, the six of us stopped at the edge of the forest.
I peered out at the endless expanse of rock, a plain stretching to what seemed like the infinite horizon where it was foggy grey-blue from the rain. The air was flat with no breeze, and nothing for miles and miles around was occupied by even simply a bush.
“Do we just… walk out there?” I asked.
“Yes, I suppose.” Replied Vanilla tentatively.
“Don’t you think if there’s no life, it’s like, dangerous?” asked Vipe.
“No. The rock ground would have just prevented anybody from growing anything. Let’s go.” Said the fairy, taking a slow-paced walk onto the rock ground. We followed. I plodded along a few metres to the right, my hooves clopping noisily over the painfully solid underfoot.
“Ugh, can’t we just fly?” moaned Emma, floating into the air and fiddling absently with her fire powers held in her hand.
“I guess, we’ll,” started Vanilla.
“Wait!” Viperia suddenly said. I hummed in question and looked over at her. The water fairy broke into a brisk sprint, running away from us about 100 metres and skidding to a stop in front of something. She bent over for a second while we stopped and watched, then suddenly yelled and waved for us.
Emma looked at Vanilla and shrugged, so I skipped into a canter and was swiftly at Viperia’s side. However, whatever the fairies and Hudson were reading did not initially catch the eyes of me, Emma and Bob. We nervously walked over to the edge of a massive, immense, black-hole like crevasse. A short gasp hissed through my teeth and I staggered back away from it, making a few tiny stones topple into the endless, eye-straining void.
I looked left, then right, and it seemed like the crevasse stretched forever, dividing the edge of the rock plains and the forest from the rest of the rock plains and whatever was beyond it.
“Holy crap let’s just turn around and walk away…” I muttered, keeping my nervous eyes trained on the crevasse as I walked to the others. Not only did it stretch forever left and right, but from our position to the other side was actually very wide too. This wasn’t simply a dry river-bed gorge like in the desert of hostility – this was a legit crevasse that possibly held more dangers and evil and depth than anything I’d ever been to.
“Let’s just fly over. Hudson, I’ll carry you,” started Emma.
“No! No, Emma, you need to read this sign.” Panicked Vanilla, flailing her arms at the vampire who had suspended herself above the crevasse a little way out from the edge.
“Oh, OK.” She said casually, floating back over and reading it. I trotted over and read it too, Bob looming over us. The sign was simple.
‘To pass through the Granite Expanse, you must first navigate the Dungeon of the Crevasse. Descend into the crevasse and locate an entrance to the Dungeon. The end will lead you out, beyond the Expanse. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLY OVER OR YOU’LL DIE’  
“What? That’s stupid. How will it kill me?” scoffed Emma with a playful laugh, floating back over the crevasse. Vanilla gasped and ran forward, flying into the air and grabbing Emma by the wrist. She dragged her back and looked at her intently.
“Magic. Magic everywhere.” She said. Emma gave her a poker face for a moment then flung away from her with a grumpy huff.
“Fiiiine.” She moaned. “Let’s go in this crevasse.”
“Hey I changed my mind I’m leaving goodbye,” I panicked suddenly, a feeling of dread passing through my body and seriously making me reconsider going down there. I glanced hurriedly at the massive crack in the rock and shuffled away.
“Nope.” Said Viperia. She fluttered forward, landed on my back, and steered me back toward the others with my mane.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” she shoved me toward the teetering stone edge of the deep stone crack and I tried to brace myself by digging my knobby hooves into the rock. “Vipe! Stop!” I barked.
“How do we get in?” asked Bob, able to stand a safe distance from it and crane his long neck to look inside. His yellow eyes went back and forth to scan the area.
“We’ll fly in and find a ledge. Bob, just sort of… climb. Hudson, on George.” Said Emma, nodding her head toward me. Relief washed through me as Viperia got off me and I backed away hastily, and Hudson came over and gently lifted himself onto my back. His grasp on my mane was not as harsh as Vipe’s, but not as gentle as Vanilla’s. Emma soared silently through the air and down a little bit, so I could barely see her head.
“Come on.” Smiled Vanilla nervously. Viperia zoomed toward the crevasse and shot down, past Emma who looked down at her with little concern. I bit my lip, becoming even more terrified. It was fine, it was going to be fine, with the risk of falling to our death in the depths of the Earth…
“Go,” whispered Hudson. I coughed, and just as Bob began to climb down with his wing claws as climbing picks, I tottered toward the edge. Vanilla gave me an encouraging smile and followed the others into the pit. When I was at the edge, I spread my large wings and fluttered out over the darkness, and I didn’t want to look down…
I then began to lower myself. Down, down, down… darker, darker, darker… I tried to breathe steadily, and knew that Hudson was just as nervous. All I could see in front of me was the cliff face moving slowly in front of me, and the voices of Emma, Viperia and Vanilla could be heard closer to me. I turned around a little bit and saw Bob, maneuvering himself steadily but incautiously over the flat face and ledges lining the crevasse.
“Hey! George, Bob!” called Viperia’s voice. I perked up, looking around for her but taking care not to look into the black depths below me, and I started to feel Hudson’s grip turn into Vipe’s grip. I soon spotted them, perched on some sort of surface in the darkness. I squinted and flew down a little, a second later landing next to Vipe on what seemed to be a rough and unwelcoming wooden platform. The planks creaked under my heavy weight, and there were gaps between them large enough for my entire upper body to fall through.
Hudson got off and shifted himself into a cat, so that his weight meant absolutely nothing. I then spotted Bob on the opposite wall of the crevasse, before he launched himself off and flew to the wall above us.
“We need to find where this leads. It might go to a dungeon entrance.” Said Vanilla, peering around.
“Man, it’s dark.” Muttered Viperia. Indeed it was – at our depth, whatever sun that could possibly get through the storm-clouds above wasn’t reaching us, so we were enshrouded in shadows.
“Let’s go along the walkway.” Said Emma, walking past Vanilla and trekking along in front. She was followed by Vanilla, then Viperia, me, Hudson-cat and Bob.
The wooden walkway, creaky and highly unstable, was held by rotting beams to the side of the crevasse cliff and dipped steeply into the depths. At this time, though we were deep, I knew that we were barely a fraction of the way down. I imagined what was at the bottom and all through its maze of caverns – lava lakes, waterfalls, cliffs, holes, remains of past explorers, ravines… I shuddered. It was another world.
We descended slowly, slowly, gasps of fright and horror here and there when the beams decided to give way, falling into the endless abyss or smashing on the ledges just below.
In just minutes, the light of the surface’s grey sky wasn’t reaching at all, and everything was dark. But suddenly, Emma yelled out in warning for us to stop.
“We have to cross here… there are more beams and bridges down there.” She said. I shuddered. Emma floated away and landed on another platform, completely suspended in the air. The fairies flew over after her, Hudson-cat braced himself and leapt over with ease, and I stopped still at the end.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
I looked down.
My gut nearly flew out my mouth and I choked, stepping away from the wooden ledge. The posts and floorboards beneath my hooves shook with my movement, swaying full centimetres left and right and making me gasp a terrified gasp.
“George!” yelled Viperia.
“Gaah!” I tried to move, but with every step the platform just shook. Large boards under me were flung off, tossed into the crevasse’s void.
“Jump! Fly!” gasped Vanilla.
I lifted my wings and tried to jump toward the others on their platform, more pieces of wood falling and making the entire structure sway more. I looked down, a gleam of lava glinting at the bottom of the death-pit, and I flapped my wings once. They began to lift me, and I started to go into the air, jumping one more time and forcing the thing to support my push…
But suddenly, the platform walkway collapsed.
Halfway through the jump, while I was still on it, the wood crumbled underneath me and fell with a crash. It swayed and slammed into the rock ledge, and I tried to fly. I beat my wings a few times but they were caught on the wood, and I was falling. I was on a strange angle and physically could not fly out of it…
“Help! HELP!” I yelled in horror.
As I fell, I heard a few more yells and beating wings. I continued to drop, pain tearing through me as a set of claws ripped at my shoulder. I grunted in agony, and suddenly felt my stomach lurch and fall begin to slow. A long, drawn-out straining moan escaped somebody’s mouth and I felt something wrap tight around my stomach and pin my wings at awkward angles.
I panted and looked up, seeing Bob’s tail wrapped around me. My weight was obviously a lot for him as he heaved. Some sort of relief, or maybe fear, rocked me, as we were hovering in the centre of the dark crevasse.
For a moment, an extended second, there wasn’t anything we could do. There seemed to be no more walkways, and the shattered remains of my platform decorated the ledges around us.
“You’re… freaking… heavy…” heaved Bob.
“Sorry, I…” all of a sudden, something caught my eye. More light, but it didn’t seem to be lava… a doorway? I gasped. “Bob! Bob, down there!” I tried. He grumbled and looked around to where my hooves were flailing.
Bob momentarily lowered me down. In a second my hooves touched solid rock ground and Bob snarled from the relief. I thanked him and walked along the crumbling ledge to a cavern opening that glowed with yellow-orange light. I creased my brow. I then heard a thump and a crack, as Bob landed on the side of the rock.
“George! George! Bob? Are you guys OK?” I heard a voice – Viperia – call.
I cleared my throat. “Yes! We’re fine – Bob saved me!” I yelled. Bob scoffed. “Get down here, I think I found the dungeon!” I couldn’t hear the silence of the fairies’ quiet movements as I moved toward the strange entrance. I couldn’t see very far in, and I didn’t want to set off some sort of trap if I did something wrong in my curiosity.
“Are you fine? Is everything good?” I soon heard Vanilla’s panicked voice say. She landed next to me, stumbling forward a little and steadying herself on my shoulder. Next to her came Viperia, then Emma carrying Hudson-cat. When they landed too, Hudson was released and he shifted into a human, clutching his chest and letting out a breath.
“Yes, it’s alright.” I laughed. “But this might be the entrance,”
“Are you serious?” squealed Viperia, beginning to run forward into the lit chamber. Emma instantly grabbed the back of her tee-shirt.
“Hudson, turn into like a rat or something and scope it out.” She nodded to him. Hudson’s eyes widened and face paled, scratching his scraggy blonde head.
“Aw man…” he muttered.
“You’re the only one who can be small enough and fast enough. Go!” barked Emma. Hudson jumped, focused, and shifted himself into a tiny yellow rat. I screwed my nose up as he scurried away from us, Vanilla holding her breath as Hudson ran into the entrance.
“It’s not a very large tunnel…” muttered Bob, sticking his long-necked head past us to look inside.
“No, it’s just a room, I think,” started Vanilla.
However, a sudden noise abruptly interrupted her sentence. A creak, a thump, and a squeal sounded from just inside the room. Almost instinctively, Vanilla launched herself forward and skidded to the opposite wall of the chamber, panicking.
“Hudson! Hudson, where did he go?” she shrieked. But before Viperia could answer, mouth dangling open, the thump was heard again. Vanilla screamed, and as I gasped, she was gone.
“It was a trap! CRAP!” I yelled, backing up. My ankle snagged on the sharp cliff and I jumped, leaping away from it and smacking into the rock wall.
“Vanilla? VANILLA!” yelled Viperia.
“No, stop!” Vipe threw herself into the small cavern, running into it and jumping up and down at the end.
“VANILLA!”
Then, with a shriek, she was gone too.
“Oh my god oh my god….” I panicked, slamming my forehead into the rock.
“We have to go after them!” gasped Emma. She ran her hand through her thick, black hair and went inside. I wanted to stop her but couldn’t, instead finding myself running after. The thump was prominent, a hatch, and Emma disappeared without a sound.
“Man, don’t…” groaned Bob. I shook my head. I had to go after them – I couldn’t be such a coward. When I reached the end of the chamber, I noticed I was standing over a large but well-hidden wooden hatch.
Before I could even glance back at Bob, the floor gave way.
I couldn’t begin to try to retain the scream that erupted through my lips as I felt, my rump slamming into a wall beneath me as I shot into a tunnel of absolute blackness. I continued to slide, my butt becoming hot and pained from the friction of the rough granite under me. I whacked my head on the ceiling and grunted, feeling a little dizzy as the tunnel went up and down in sharp slopes that made me feel like I was falling. I held my wings tight to my large body – a horse’s figure could not be manipulated to properly sit like anybody else’s.
Suddenly, I was thrown from the tunnel, flung awkwardly through the air with a scream, before my body suddenly went splashing into some sort of water. I flailed my heavy limbs around and felt the water sting my wounds, swimming to the surface and splashing into the air.
I gasped and gagged, coughing up the liquid and shaking my mane. I panted, nearly in tears from the fright and looked around a little. The room was so dark, no light able to reach it from anywhere. I was in deep water, and all around I could smell moss and heard the trickling splash of what was probably a water feature. Water, ew…
“Hello?” I yelled. My voice echoed in the room and I continued to kick in the water. I paddled to the side of it, got out onto the mossy rock-tile floor and shook off the water droplets. “Vanilla?”
“George?” coughed a voice. I straightened.
“Viperia?” I said eagerly.
“I’m over here, I’m just a little hurt, is all,” she replied. I followed the sound of her voice and soon found her, and the fairy lit up her fingers with magical light.
“What happened?” I asked, not bothering to look around until I was sure she was fine.
“I can swim, obviously, but something bit me, I think.” She said almost questioningly. I creased my brow and looked toward the water. The white light of Viperia’s hand made the water in the pool near us shimmer, the surface still rippled from my movement. Her light didn’t reach very far, however, and I couldn’t see where the rushing sound was coming from.
I looked back down at Vipe. She was biting her lip so it was white, holding back tears. I looked at her ankle, and saw that a few deep gashes were making a pool of blood around her feet.
“You need to heal that,” I said with deep concern. She shook her head and swallowed.
“I’m not a doctor, and I don’t have the advanced magic…” she muttered, rubbing it and covering her hands in blood.
“Well, where’s Vanilla?” I asked.
“Vanilla? Sorry, I didn’t see her when I climbed out.” She replied shuffling up with a flinch. We were silent for a moment, the echoing room amplifying the harsh but steady sound of the water.
“How far does the room stretch?” I asked. She flashed me a slightly irritated look and wiped her bloody hand on her shirt, lighting her hand further. Her face became strained as the light glowed brighter and brighter, soon reaching the corners of the room. Mossy, green, wet stone bricks lined the walls, cracked and leaking and slimy. I saw that the trickling was coming from a waterfall-like fountain on the wall opposite to the tunnel entrance. The room was rectangular, almost completely occupied by the brick-lined pool.
Soon the smell of slime and moss was overruled by Vipe’s blood. I felt a little sick.
“Well, how will we find the others?” I asked desperately.
“Did Bob follow you down?” she added.
“I don’t know.” I replied with a sigh. “But vaguely knowing him, he’ll find another tunnel to follow us.” Vipe sniffed.
“Emma? Vanilla? Hudson!” she then yelled. I stood straighter and looked around. “Hello?”
All of a sudden, the water in the pool splashed. I jumped back – was it the thing that bit Vipe? I stood timidly in front of the fairy, as a creature emerged.
A black-haired head burst from the surface and white hands shoved it from the face. I held my breath, but then released and actually let out a short laugh. Bright teeth were revealed in a smile, as Emma swam toward the edge of the pool.
“Emma!” cried Vipe. “Did you bite me?”
Emma’s smile faltered and she glared at her. “No, why? Fairy blood is stupid.” She replied.
“Well, if you were in that pool, it’s the only explanation. Wait, stupid?”
“I didn’t bite you. But I wouldn’t think about it.” Emma shivered. “Yes – stupid. Fairy blood tastes like medicine and sugar.”
“Ew.” I agreed. Vipe slapped me in the knee.
“Anyway, the others are safe. Vanilla and Hudson are in the next chamber, they found it instantly. I just sort of sniffed them out. Do not swim to the bottom of the pool.” She added with wide eyes.
Vipe sniffed and stood, steadying herself on the wall. “So, how’d they,”
“There’s an entrance halfway down. I decided not to follow until you guys came and, well, here you are!” she flashed another smile, pulling her drenched shirt further up over her bust. “Come on.”
“My blood will attract whatever’s down there.” Mumbled Vipe, half-limping toward the water’s edge over Emma.
“Well, lucky you’re a water fairy. Go fast,” replied the vampire. Vipe sniffed, jumping into the water. The light on her fingers was carried under the water with her. It moved down, down, down, following Emma toward the other chamber. I held my breath, though perfectly well-knowing that Pegasi couldn’t swim under water.
My huge, heavy body plunged into the water, enshrouding me in black, cold liquid. I shuddered, not liking the claustrophobic feel of the cold, horrid, water… I knew I was afraid, I was afraid of the water, I didn’t like it, it was consuming me… I began to panic, but the surface was too far above me. I spun randomly about, desperately seeking the glow of Viperia and Emma who were swimming somewhere in the depths I so feared.
“Gaaaaah!” I yelled, my voice muffled with water and bubbles.
“GEORGE!” said another muffled voice.  I looked down. It was Vipe, beckoning me.
Oxygen running out
Water pressure
Depths
Darkness
Blood
I beat my wings. I shot to the surface and broke through, gasping for precious air and kicking for dear life.
But the chamber. I had to get through to the others.
I cleared my mind and tried not to think. I had to not think so I could focus.
That was stupid and illogical.
I tossed myself into the water.
 

[Kodabomb]

This chapter is written from Viperia's point of view. =D

My shoulder hit the ground, hard, as I was tossed from the strange water-tunnel chamber and into the next room. The water magically stopped like there was a wall only affecting it, and forced me through where I toppled more than a metre to the floor. I had no time to look up as Emma landed on me and winded me. My bandages became soaked with water and blood, and I had a few open gashes from whatever bit me. They stuck like freaking heck.
“Where’s George?” was the first thing I said when Vanilla dashed over and helped Emma off me. I sat up and panted, leaning on one hand and rubbing my ankle with my already bloodied other hand. I looked up at the doorway-sized tunnel up on the wall, the water that would supposedly flow straight into this room ending like a pane of glass was shoved against it.
“I saw him get out before I swam through.” Replied Emma, squeezing her drenched hair and making the puddle under her feet even larger.
“Man, that douchebag is afraid of water…” I growled. I tried to listen for him, but the fact that we were well underneath the pool room and the water muffled all sound prevented it. I just hoped he could get through.
“It feels like we’re picking off people.” Grumbled Vanilla. When I glanced at her, she seemed more annoyed at the fact her bouncy blonde curls were dead around her shoulders, her dress was soaked, and her sagging wings were useless.
“He’ll come. Bob will rejoin us.” Sighed Hudson quietly, who was standing next to Vanilla in human form.
“Man, I should go help him.” Said Emma, abandoning her attempts at squeezing water from her clothes and hair.
“I’ll go,” I started.
“No, your blood will attract the creatures in the pool.” She grumbled back, floating into the air in front of the water tunnel.
“They can’t be very aggressive, I mean only I got bitten,” I started to argue.
“You haven’t seen them.” Hissed Emma, shaking her head. I raised my eyebrows, but didn’t argue. Emma was the only one who swam to the bottom, and the one who told us not to go down again. In a second, Emma had floated through into the water tunnel and began swimming up it back into the other room. I imagined how hard it was – and I was a water fairy. I’d swum up waterfalls before.
“Any idea what’s in here?” I asked. The room was lit, it had torches on the wall. It was a rather large, empty room too – it was probably about 50 metres in length and made from the same stone bricks as the pool room, though less mossy.
“It could be anything.” Sighed Vanilla, putting her hands on her hips. “This dungeon doesn’t have just one entrance, so there should be more than one door.” She gestured desperately around. “It will be completely unrelated to the last room.”
“What kind of freaking dungeon is this?” asked Hudson, giving his head a shake like a dog to rid his hair of water. I got splashed and hissed at him.
“Not a prison dungeon. But there’s no other way to describe it, really. Just a cave system of traps, monsters, tunnels, rooms… it’s designed to keep people out of the Granite Expanse.”
“Who would even want to go to that hell-hole?” I asked, attempting to stand up but failing.
“It probably holds the unicorn kingdom.” Said Vanilla. “It’s just a very distant precaution, but rather… effective.”
“Oh my god, Vipe, move,” gasped Hudson suddenly. I instinctively looked up at the door, and my eyes widened. Grunting in discomfort and pain, I hauled my weight out of the path of the incomers and bumped into Hudson’s legs.
Emma flew out with ease, followed by George who fell out with such inelegance and disgrace that he landed on his neck with all his limbs at angles that were definitely not healthy for horses. I stifled a giggle and crawled over to assist him. The wet claw-mark cuts on his shoulder oozed with rainbow blood, smudged into his white coat.
“Oh my gosh. Do not, just do not ever let me oh my god.” Panted George, standing and thumping into the wall. “Dry, dry, I have to be dry,”
“Get over it, we have to leave this stupid dungeon.” I said, giving him a pat on his neck. He swallowed.
“Alrighty, this way mortals.” Sang Emma, leading us down the long, corridor-like room.
“It’s trapped. I swear it’s trapped.” Huffed Hudson right before he shifted into a cat and climbed onto Vanilla’s head. He really liked his cat form, which made me smirk.
“Of course it is. Which is why I’m going first, and I called you all mortals.” Replied Emma, turning around and walking backwards to face us.
“Gee. Thanks.” Panned Vanilla. Emma welcomed us with a twitch of her eyebrows.
We trod carefully, each of us looking in a different direction to search for traps. A hole in the wall, a loose brick, a lever, a button, a door… nothing was prominent. My stomach that was originally filled with something that could have resembled hope was being drained, replaced with nerve and muscle tenseness. I was still confident, but unsureness was lingering. Emma was at the front, all her vampire-enhanced senses could physically be seen twitching.
“Stop.” She suddenly said. I instantaneously halted myself, holding out an arm that made George crash. “This has no physical traps.”
“Physical?” asked Vanilla, standing perfectly still.
“This room smells… it smells like weird.” She muttered, sniffing deeply.
Hudson suddenly shifted into a dog, sniffed, and shifted to human. He wiped his nose and made an input. “Magic.”
“Alright. Don’t do anything.” Whispered Emma. I felt strangely… nervous, so I stood a little straighter and shifted my weight to my healed leg. The air was harsh, tight, quiet… I looked slowly over at Vanilla, who had her eyes closed and hands in front of her, swirling them around a little at her fingers emitted a soft, sparkly glow. She was reading the magic energy – I flunked most of magic school so I didn’t really master anything.
“OK… so.” Vanilla coughed a bit and released, the magic fading and eyes opening. She looked straight ahead, a thoughtful expression on her flushed face as she spoke. “It’s uh, going to show our large fear. It’ll be like a hallucination. It’ll be real, but not able to kill you. Got it?”
My gut lurched. I started to breathe swiftly, my hands sweating as I knotted my fingers together. The others looked similar. “What if we just run?”
“I don’t think that’ll work. Somebody, step forward,” said Emma.
“I’ll uh… I’ll go.” Whispered Hudson. Vanilla gave him a troubled look that he didn’t observe, walking forward timidly. “I shall die.” He said through grit teeth, standing still a number of paces in front. I bit down on my tongue and my entwined hands went white. Was I nervous for me, or for Hudson?
Then it appeared.
In a flash of light, appearing from nowhere and briefly lighting up the room, came Hudson’s fear. It was small, furry, flying… It wasn’t ridiculous. I wasn’t going to tease. I told myself that I wouldn’t tease anybody when a bat came flying at Hudson’s face.
“NO!” screeched Hudson all of a sudden. “NO, GET AWAY YOU HORRID CREATURE!”
“Hudson! Hudson, you have to conquer it!” yelled Vanilla, trying to go forward but getting stopped by Emma. “Hold it, or something!”
“I can’t, UGH!” the bat squeaked a taunting squeak, flapping its little wings and flying all around Hudson’s face and shoulders, making him yell like a small girl. He flailed his arms and repeatedly tried to run from it, but the bat just chased him back to his original spot.
“Grab it! Grab it, Hudson!” shouted Emma, punching her fist into the air. “Just… can I go help?” she asked Vanilla.
“No, your fear will show up too.” Replied Vanilla, shaking her head and clasping Emma’s shoulder as a precaution. She told her to wait again, and we just desperately watched as Hudson screeched and wailed, the bat squeaked and touching him with its teensy feet.
“I can’t grab it it’s GROSS!” screamed Hudson, whimpering and cowering beneath the bat.
“Change into a bat!” I called. “Change into one and it won’t be so scary,”
“That’s also,” Hudson ducked away from the creature and looked desperately at me. “What I’m afraid of! I hate them, they’re,” the bat squeaked and swooped, attacking the back of his shirt and tucking at the fabric. I honestly couldn’t quite understand the fear. It wasn’t a fear of the stereotype or generalized name of bats, but the animal itself. It was the actual bat, as a creature, that terrified him.
“Do it, Hudson! Change into a bat, it’ll help you!” said George desperately.
“Hudson. Hudson, listen.” I cried. I stood in front of the others, calling his name and forcing his focus on me. He coughed and wiped his face of fear-tears, looking at me with wide eyes and his arms over his head as the bat continued to fly around him. I huffed a deep breath. “You’re afraid of not the concept of the thing, but the bat itself, right?” he hesitated, but when the bat swooped and provocatively squeaked he nodded vigorously. “The only way to conquer this is changing into the bat. You have to change into the bat, that’s what you’re afraid of. THE BAT.”
“FUDGE!” he yelled in terror and anger, ducking away and tripping onto the ground, grunting from the fall and rolling onto his back. He let out a tiny squeal and shut his eyes. “But,”
“CHANGE, NOW!” I yelled, stomping my foot. His second squeal was sparked from my outburst, and as his fear flew low down over him, Hudson threw his arms out and stared up at it. His chest rose and fell heavily, panting. Even from here, I could see the sweat coating his forehead…
“Come on, come on…” whispered Emma.
Then, he did it.
Hudson changed into a small, yellow bat, flying around the other one. Hudson-bat’s high-pitches calls were of fear of himself and the other thing. A cheer burst through my throat and mouth, whooping Hudson and clapping.
“WOO! GO HUDSON!” I yelled. The others clapped and whistled too, and as soon as he changed back, the original brown bat disappeared in a flash of light. Hudson collapsed to the ground, hitting his back and lying limp on the ground panting. His breaths were like sobs, broken and terrified, but he did it. Hudson, the most fearful of us all, was the first to get over his fear.
He rolled over and coughed, crying still, wiping his face and eyes and hair. “I’m not, I will never… this isn’t really… conquered…” he gasped, stumbling up and staggering over to us. He tripped and fell into Vanilla’s arms, who gave him a pat on the back as the kid started to calm down.
“It’s fine. Everything’s good.” Smiled Vanilla, pushing him away and holding him at arm’s length. Hudson grinned and nodded, turning away from her and slumping to the floor.
“Who, uh, who’s next?” asked George. We all turned to look at him, and the Pegasus’s expression fell like a large rock in water. “What?”
“Go.” Said Emma. George whimpered, eyes widening. I watched as his breathing started to accelerate, clearly not willing, his entire body tightening as he stared out at the shadowy hallway of a room, the area infused with magic. “Quick, if Hudson could do it, you can do it.”
“I, uh, fine,” he stuttered, stumbling forward a couple of steps. “I don’t know what it’ll be, I’m afraid of a lot of things.” His voice was almost inaudible as his hooves clopped over the dry stone floor. I watched him with my hands still entwined but not as tight. None of the fears were able to kill you. It was fine. George was alright.
He slowly made his way through the room until he was a few metres away from us, then stood still with only his bony knees shaking and almost giving way under his heavy body.
“C… come at me bro,” he said.
A flash of light appeared on the floor. It was tiny, even smaller than Hudson’s absurdly small fear, moving across the bricks toward George’s big hooves.
“What is it,” I started.
“No, no, no,” cried George, his voice heightening, “NO! NOPE, NOPE, GAAAAAAH NO!” he sprung into the air, yelling in a tone so much more girly than Hudson made. I couldn’t help cupping a hand over my mouth from the mixed emotions of hilarity and estranging oddity.
“What is it?” demanded Emma.
“IT’S A SPIDER! OH MY GOD NO GET IT AWAY!” he screeched, flaring his wings and flapping them forward as he tumbled backwards.
“What? George, just step on it!” I yelled, trying my best to stifle a giggle. No teasing. No teasing George.
“You’re afraid of spiders?” asked Vanilla, folding her arms and watching him with a furrowed expression.
“Not just spiders,” he replied, jumping away from it as the spider stopped, flung up its teensy legs and bared its fangs. “Poisonous ones!”
“So, you’re afraid of them biting you, or just… the spider?” I asked curiously, cocking my head and watching George smack into one of the walls and staring at the little arachnid in absolute terror. He didn’t look the position of responding, but amidst his panting he replied.
“Just, just, the whole thing! I’m afraid of it BECAUSE IT’S GOING TO BITE ME! GET IT AWAY!” he screamed. My expression was completely blank as the minute beast crawled closer to him.
“Stand on it!” yelled Vanilla in encouragement.
“No! That wouldn’t be conquering the fear, it would be stifling it!” I blurted, waving my hands in front of Vanilla’s face and looking intently at George.
“Well then WHAT?” demanded George, jumping along the edge of the wall as the spider advanced. I thought. No, I wasn’t the person who was supposed to be thinking… Vanilla did that! I was too stupid, this was beyond me. But, how would you face the fear of a poisonous spider? He was afraid… he was – he was afraid of the poisonous ones only. That meant that letting it crawl on you was just the start.
“Let it bite you!” I yelled suddenly. George looked at me in such instantaneous shock that he nearly fell over, edging away from the spider as he glared at me in horror. I watched the little creature flail its tiny arms.
“What? Are you insane? I’ll die!”
Vanilla looked at me, her eyes bright with sudden understanding. She was getting exactly what I was thinking of. Her gaze then bore right through me, nodding slowly and intently.
“She’s right!” she called at George, holding out her delicate but definite arms. “Let it bite you – the fears cannot actually kill you. It’s IMPOSSIBLE, by the way they’re magically created, for them to kill you. Understand?” she said carefully.
“I can’t believe that,”
“You have to!” she said more harshly. “I guarantee you I know more magic than any of us.” Emma looked at her with a disbelieving that Vanilla dismissed.
“Fine, but… no! Look at it! Horrible little legs, evil little fangs, furry little body, creepy little walk…” whined the Pegasus.
“Little. It’s LITTLE, George, exactly! Clear your mind, let it touch you…” I said firmly. He snorted at me and stood straighter, leaning away from the wall but not quite toward the spider. We whispered more encouragement, our voices echoing in the enormous, silent room. George continued to flash us scared glances, but stretched out a timid hoof toward his ultimate fear that sat irksomely in front of him.
The spider lowered its legs and crept forward, scuttling toward George who began to hyperventilate. Vanilla muttered calming wishes for him as it crawled onto his hoof, ankle, knee, shoulder, back.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…” he whimpered.
The spider lifted its fangs, and brought them down into George’s soft, horsey hide.
“OUCH!” he yelled, bucking. He flung out his large hind legs, kicking the wall and chipping a brick with his hooves. The spider, as soon as George’s feet came clashing back onto the floor, disappeared in a flash of light. “Ouch, OW!”
“WELL DONE!” I squealed as Vanilla beamed, beckoning the panicking Pegasus over to us. She fluttered over his back and touched her glittering fingers to the harmless wound, sealing it up.
“George, you did it!” cried Hudson, patting him on the neck. He didn’t respond, just nodding and sweating while he tried to steady his breathing.
“It’s alright, calm down.” Sighed Vanilla. Her eyes wandered to the empty space of the room. “Three left.” My gut twisted at her words. What were my fears? I didn’t actually know… everybody had lots of fears, minor things that made us jump, but I didn’t know what I feared most, what would run my blood cold and force me to cry. Was my fear physical or mental? I wasn’t afraid of any physical things – I was pretty damn tough and not many real things affected me.
All I knew was that I didn’t want to go next. I remained silent and still as both mine and Emma’s eyes slid toward Vanilla, who held her breath and clutched her body.
“What are you afraid of, Lady?” asked Emma teasingly, but strangely rather gently. Vanilla shook her head and didn’t get annoyed, taking in that gentle tone of voice.
“I know what I’m afraid of, I know what I’ll have to deal with.” She sighed, cautiously releasing herself as though she might fall apart as she strode out into the room. I was almost half-expecting her to perhaps tuck up her dress or pull back her hair, as the fairy stopped in the centre of the darkened hall. Her fear wasn’t going to be a real object. Mental for her – I somehow had to have already known that of Lady.
“What is it?” whispered Hudson. Vanilla turned and pulled her face into a tight smile behind her still drenched hair. Before she could respond, there was a flash of light.
“This should be quick,” muttered Vanilla briskly but nervously.
The light transformed itself into a piece of paper. What did it hold? What kind of mental limitations did Vanilla legitimately have? I knew she had multiple. As Vanilla took hold of the paper that began to fall and held it beneath her eyes, she turned and half-faced us, staring at the paper with wide eyes. I watched her body and stance fold in, taking the pressure. I gasped. I knew what it was.
“What?” mumbled Emma.
“Failure. Vanilla, she’s afraid of failure.” I whispered. Emma puckered her expression.
“How can she conquer something like that?” she asked, looking at the statue-rendered fairy with genuine concern. How much did Emma care about Vanilla? I wondered whether that was actually a relevant question at that moment and decided against it.
“Vanilla,” started Hudson.
“No, no… no! This has to be wrong… I have to correct it! It has to be redone!” cried Vanilla, grabbing the front of her dress and tugging it stressfully.
“Drop it!” yelled George. “Drop the paper, Vanilla!”
“No! No, I can’t!” she said, voice cracking into a stabbing sob.
“You need to calm down!” agreed Emma. “Put the paper on the floor, and walk over to us.”
“No… no, everything’s wrong! How could this happen?” a mass of her damp, golden hair became wound through her fingers and tugged harshly.
“It’s a hallucination. You didn’t make that,” insisted Hudson. Vanilla shook her head over and over, tears flowing from her eyes as she continued to wildly pull her hair. Why was it so hard? “Vanilla, look at me!” The fairy’s eyes flickered, slipping from the paper, to the floor, to Hudson. “Slow your breathing.”
“But,” Vanilla gasped, grabbing her throat to hold back a sob. She turned and nearly fell, catching herself with one foot. I watched her breaths, starting to slow and steady as she puffed air through her broken system.
“Let go of the paper, and come here.” Said George sternly. She gave him a longing look, knuckles tightening and crinkling the paper she was truly so afraid of. Then, her grip slipped, and the paper slid out of her fingers. She forcibly continued to stare at George. He nodded, holding up his hands near him, and the paper hit the floor with a stiff noise.
“Come over.” I said quietly. Vanilla’s stance and the way she walked, stumbling and clearly trying not to look behind her, was as crinkled as the paper. She came closer to us, sucking huffs of oxygen through her nose. Emma opened her arms, and though the desperate fairy hesitated, she fell right into them and the girls closed their grasps around one another.
“Was that hard?” whispered Emma into her hair.
“Yes.” Replied Vanilla. Emma nodded and gave her a pat on the back, and as they broke apart, the abandoned bit of paper disappeared with the same bright flash as it appeared in. Emma held Vanilla at arm’s length for multiple moments, before she cleared her throat and turned away. I folded my arms and looked at the room, heaving in a sigh as I knew I was next.
“I’m going now.” I muttered. “Well done Vanilla.” I nodded to her, gently touching her shoulder as I walked forward. I wanted so bad for something to distract me, get me out of the blind fear that was creeping up on me. Fear, fear of what I had to face. Because I didn’t know. Is this how Hudson and George felt? Did they not know, or were they as assured of their incoming terror as Vanilla? I pulled the hem of my damp, blue tee-shirt down over most of my shorts, and after tucking my thick brown hair behind my ears I shook my fists. I stared at the dark wall a fair way away from me, fluttering my wings and remaining on the ground.
“Come on… I’m ready.” I said quietly, harshly. My heart pumped solidly.
A flash of light appeared in a second, not frightening me. It came at the precise time. It shaped itself, and I expected it to be small and strange like the others. I squinted my eyes, the light forming something larger – taller than me, thin as me, shapely as me…
A fairy. But who?
The light cleared in just a millisecond, revealing who it was.
Her face was pale like my own, her hair longer than mine but the exact same deep brown shade. A rough but concealing fringe, like mine, covered her forehead and aged, hard face that surrounded her harsh olive eyes. Her blue-green faded wings were almost perfect, held stiffly on her back. The face of my mother made me cringe with some sort of… regret, annoyance, anger… but it wasn’t her that I feared.
“Who…” I heard Hudson mutter behind me. But his voice only trickled from his mouth and fell into the room with no response or trailing sound. I glared at my mother with balled-up fist hands.
“What do you want?” I demanded, my voice sharp like a slap in the face as it was thrown into the echoing brick expanse. “Get away from me. These guys love me, you selfish cow.” I could clearly hear Vanilla’s held breath. My mother did not walk toward me. She just stood mere feet from where I was half-perched, and I leaned back on my heel like I wanted to fly from that perch. Her tight lips outlined her words.
“I’m sorry, Viperia, but you have become far too much for a soul like myself to comprehend. I cannot bear you anymore. Goodbye.”
No.
The sound carried toward me, delving into my mind. Grabbing my heart and guts. Squashing them like a soft fruit and filling the empty space with what it was designed to give – fear. My mouth slowly fell open as she began to step away from me. Those words were the very same, a chilling reflection – or an echo – of what she said seven years ago.
“No! NO!” I yelled, stepping toward her. “Don’t go, please! Don’t do this to me again!”
Her gaze was trained on my eyes, cruelly stabbing me. The last time I saw that face was when she did this to me when I was only nine years old, and from then on struck terror into me when I was left permanently alone.
The fear of abandonment.
“Turn around, Vipe! She’s not worth it!” yelled Vanilla.
“Why did you go?” I begged. “Why didn’t you stay?” I found I was now screaming. I wouldn’t cry. I wasn’t going to cry for her. Maybe she wasn’t worth it. But I had to try. “Please come back!”
“It’s a hallucination! Turn around, she’s not real!” insisted George, but I wasn’t listening. Maybe this fake, this pretend holder of my childhood could somehow… somehow… transform…
“The only way to end this is to accept that she’s NOT WORTH IT.” Hissed Vanilla. I heard footsteps, and then fingers wind through mine as our arms touched. She could now be out here, her fear had passed. “We love you more, you’re not abandoned and you shouldn’t be afraid.” She whispered.
“I’m not, I don’t think,” I spat, wiping my face to be assured I wasn’t tearful.
“Just walk with me. Come back here, just completely ignore you. Don’t fear that abandonment again, we would never do that to you.” She whispered gently. I didn’t want to look down at her, but stared savagely at the image of my mother.
“Just, let me…” I said. Vanilla nodded and released my sweating hand, and I stomped toward my mother. I gathered a wad of saliva in my mouth, and as the expressionless hallucination stared at me, I launched a massive spitball that hit her in the shoulder.
And in a second, she had vanished in a flash of light.
I stood there, emotionally worn-out from that short, sharp, hurtful vision that the dungeon room gave me. I could hear the others cheering for me, and though I wanted to smile, I could just… hold myself. Hold myself like she never held me, abandoning me and leaving me in the unforgiving world that was perceived only as a threat to my damaged child mind. But this… this vision that the magic forced upon me was not one that made someone permanently overcome their fear. That was stupid. Stupid enough that I just wanted to scream. No, it made it worse.
I wasn’t going to overcome my fear of abandonment. Following around and loving my friends for the rest of my life would make me more dependent. Despite knowing this, the only thing I craved right then was the company of friends. Always. I threw my arms around Vanilla’s neck and hugged her tight, and she held me gently back. Not in the way she seemed to hold Emma, but it still comforted me. Why was I comparing it to Emma? I wanted to question that but decided I’d done too much thinking already. I needed a break.
“Emma?” I said, pulling away from Vanilla and looking at the vampire a few metres away at the place where the fear magic didn’t reach. She looked at me with wide eyes, the same expression we all gave upon this confrontation.
“Man, I knew this was coming,” she growled, though I could see her concern. She gripped the front of her hair and shoved it away from her face, giving Vanilla a grimace as she walked past us back to George and Hudson.
“You can do it.” Said Vanilla, and Emma’s vampire-hearing easily heard the soft voice. She nodded at us and I saw her hands held stiffly at her sides, stopping them from showing her fear.
“What am I afraid of, huh?” she yelled at the room, looking at the ceiling.
The flash of white light appeared in perfect timing again, right in front of Emma.
However, Emma’s reaction was not the same. While ours took time to sink in, Emma was on the ground screaming almost instantly.
Vanilla shoved her hands over her mouth and gasped, and I watched rather surprised as Emma just sort of lay there, crumpled, screaming in broken yells of terror as her eerie crimson eyes stared at the floor not far from our feet.
“Emma! Emma, what’s wrong?” yelled Hudson, standing up and leaning forward.
“I can’t! No, guys, please!” she begged, trying to shuffle away from the thing that was approaching her. It was scary, it really was, but not as much as Emma perceived it. A tall, hooded figure with a face masked by the cloak, a cloak made from such dark and strange material that it was like shadows. Bony, grey hands could be seen beneath the draping sleeves, holding a crop-reaper aloft.
Vanilla’s breathed. “Death.”
I gasped.
“No, can it kill her?” I gasped.
Vanilla’s blue eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and she clawed at her hair. “I don’t, I don’t know!” she yelled back. “They’re not designed to, but magic can be altered in such a twisted way,”
“Emma! Emma, do something!” I yelled. Panic struck me and I wanted to launch myself at the vampire to get her out of the way.
“Can vampires die?” cried Hudson.
“Not technically, only with sun, but, but… this is Death! Death can kill anybody!”
“It’s not real Death!” cried George defiantly, shoving himself forward to look on in horror.
“It doesn’t matter! It’s a perfect reconstruction and,” Vanilla’s gasp sounded like a scream. “EMMA, LOOK OUT!”
Death swung his reaper toward Emma but she leapt out of the way with a terrified hiss, slamming her back against the wall and grunting, though she tumbled away from it and stood on the other side of Death so she was almost facing us. My heart was beating so freaking fast.
Emma’s arms swung like machines, shooting balls of flame in rapid-fire. But they hit the ‘fake’ Death and did absolutely nothing. “You can’t kill him, he’s Death!” screeched Vanilla.
“Then how do I get rid of him?” demanded Emma, close to tears, springing out of reach of the reaper again.
“You have to conquer it!” I yelled.
“I CAN’T JUST LET IT KILL ME!” she hollered. “DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE?”
Vanilla choked in horrified retaliation. “No! No, look Death in the face!”
I gasped, realizing. I was overwhelmed and starting flailing madly. “His hood! Dodge the reaper, get the hood off, and look Death in the face!” I screamed. Emma’s cry was loud and almost blood-curdling, repeatedly dodging the blade as Death became more and more persistent. I didn’t want to watch it…
“That’s,” dodge, “so,” dodge, “STUPID! Why would it be that simple?” Dodge.
“Just,” started George.
“DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD THIS IS FOR ME?” she bellowed, tears staining her white cheeks. “This is the reason I became a vampire, to permanently dodge Death!” Her breathing heaved like a heavy, heavy sob. My gut twisted, and Vanilla’s face looked like she was ready to just crumble to the floor. “To look Death in the face is UNTHINKABLE, it’s my WORST. FEAR.” Her body twisted, face nearly touching the floor and she karate-jumped away from yet another one of the countless reaper swings.
“All the fears are unthinkable, Emma.” Said Vanilla, pleading. “You have to do this.”
Emma wiped her face and scowled.
“Look Death in the face, and try not to die.” Vanilla’s whispering voice cracked like a fragile china plate.
“Do it.” I begged.
Emma dodged, dodged again, flying into the air and scraping her back along the ceiling. Death’s strange, jerkily moving head looked up at her, and I saw her expression shrivel into one of dread. Emma, for the first time in god knows how many centuries, was truly facing death.
She dodged one more swing, and while Death’s reaper blade was balanced on the ground, one perfect white arm swung down toward his head. The absolute unthinkable panic plastering her entire stance and face and body was so incredibly prominent as her fingers latched around the shadowy fabric of Death’s hood. It fell, down around his skeletal shoulders and revealed his face. I didn’t want to look, I didn’t, taking only half a millisecond’s glance at his skull of a dome. Emma could be seen on the ceiling, looking like she was actually hyperventilating, eyes closed.
Then they opened, and her illuminating eyes bore into Death’s.
And he was gone.