Gryphonia Freezes

In the frigid morning following the ponies' escape, I took off from the mountainside of my clan's camp for the last time. The day was young enough that the sun had barely crested the mountains, the air was still heavy with the nighttime cold, and all but one of my clan were asleep.

The one who was not, was my son.

--<(0)>--

"They'll call you a gilder."

"I know."

"You'll be dead to them."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"And I won't be coming with you."

My heart skipped a beat, and felt as if it would drop from my chest entirely.

"I knew you weren't going to ask directly. I figured I could just get it out in the open now."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. I know why you are doing it, but my life is here, Jade is here, and I have political prospects. I'm the next in line for ambassador, and then who knows? I can fix the system that helped kill my brother..."

"No, you can't."

"Just because you couldn't doesn't mean it can't happen."

Silence.

"Look, I get why you're leaving. I won't sound an alarm or anything. The longer we sit here, the harder it's going to be."

"You're right."

"Goodbye, mother."

"I'll see you on the other side."

--<(0)>--

I swear, it was just the wind that made my eyes water.

A guilder, one who forsook the life of the warrior for the gold-plated but hollow life of another land and species. Usually, drakes. Sometimes, dragons.

But drakes or dragons wouldn't put me in a place to find out why. What happened to bring the winter that made my life fall apart.

For me, it would be pegasi.

That day, the flight across the steppe was a flight across a tundra, a wasteland, a frigid pit...

A pit that could never be my home again.