Chapter 2 The escape to Hedon

(This chapter is presented to you by blm95tehe)

Cloud was running as fast as his legs could carry him while I flew overhead, making sure no pony, or no thing, was blocking our path. As we looked back, we could see that the monster, Discord, was laying on his back, laughing at what he had done.

“Just look at the little ponies running away!” he laughed, disappearing in a puff of smoke and ash.

The smoke was visible from the dusty trail leading up to Hedon. Everything I had come to know was there, and it was burnt to nothingness. I was deep in my thoughts, trying to figure out what had happened back there.

“What the hell was that all about?” I shouted. “First he kills everything and everypony in sight, then he just lets us go? He must have wanted us to live with the pain, or something like that,” I wondered aloud. “What kind of bucked up creature does that? And what did he do to me? Was it a spell?” Looking down at my chest, I could still feel what he had done to me. “I can’t stop thinking about this feeling I’m having. I can’t put my hoof on it, it’s too faint for me to figure it out.”

“Hey, slow down, I’m losing you!” screamed Cloud, doing his best to catch up to his frantic friend.

I noticed then just how fast I was flying, so I beat my wings twice, dropping out of the sky with incredible speed. Cloud’s eyes grew wide as I fell to the earth, but right before I smashed on the pavement ahead of him, I extended my wings and started gliding towards him playfully. For once, Cloud wasn't happy with my joke. He looked more like he was about to have a heart attack.

“What the hay was that?” he shouted at me. “I already lost my family, and I want to at least keep my best friend!”

“Sorry,” I quickly said. “Do you want me to stay on the ground to keep you from getting into trouble?”

“Me?” he laughed. “Silly filly, you're the one flying like a mad pony.” Cloud started bouncing up and down chanting, “Mad mare, mad mare, so crazy he’ll lose all his hair!”

“Ha ha, very funny,” I said sarcastically.

It felt good for both of us, knowing we had each other to get our mind off of today's terrible events. At a time like this, joking around was the only thing we really could do. It was all we knew how to do. However, I couldn’t stop thinking about Discord.

The fires had died down in Aspen, and the only thing standing was a single tree in the park. Oddly, there wasn’t a single scratch was on it; its lush green leaves were swaying beautifully in the wind.

“What memories had that tree must have seen,” I said. “Parties, a first kiss or two, maybe even a wedding.”

“Some bad memories, now,” Cloud mumbled. He was pointing to the one thing that could destroy this perfect scene: A small filly laid dead below its saddened branches, smoke radiating off her body.

This sight made me snap back to reality, as the realism and horror of these circumstances hit me like a brick wall. I fell to the ground as tears rolled from my eyes. All the pain and emotion flowed over me like a wave form the ocean as the salty tears ran down my cheeks like a river after a storm.

*Hiccup*

Like always, I started to hiccup between my wails.

Cloud stopped and looked down at me. I was his friend, possibly the only friend he had left in this world. He bent down, not feeling like telling a joke or being goofy. No, for the first time in his life, Cloud was completely serious.

“Hey,” he fumbled with his words, being careful of what he was about to say. “You're gonna be fine. I’m here for you man,” he told me, lifting up my chin with his hoof. “Trust me, everything’s going to be okay.”

It was a futile effort. “NO, IT’S NOT, CLOUD!” I screamed, swatting his hoof away from my face. “You don’t get it, you dumb crazy colt! All of our friends and family are dead because of that... that...” I thought what it could have been. “That thing! It just came out of nowhere, and destroyed my life in a few short moments! It looked as natural to him as breathing!”

Cloud backed away from Asher carefully, noticing that something was wrong with him. His eyes had, all of a sudden, changed from green to red, as if his best friend was being transformed into some hideous beast.

“I’ve made my decision, Cloud. I want to kill him. I’m going to kill him. I NEED to kill him. Slowly and painfully. I want to see him gasp for air as I crush his throat!”

Never in all their years of friendships had he had never seen anything like it before. Should I run or help him? Cloud thought. What should I do? I can’t think of anything that could help him!

Noticing Cloud’s distress, I slowly snapped out of my rage, shaking my head. To be honest, I may have just felt tired. My eyes faded back to normal and I fell to my knees, gasping for air.

“What...what happened?” I panted, looking up at my concerned friend.

“I don’t know,” replied Cloud. “You didn’t look...normal. You looked like something different, something I’ve never seen before. It may have something to do with the monster.”

“Maybe. The pain came out of nowhere. Then the anger followed. It wasn’t as simple as anger, though. It was more like...rage. Pure, unbridled rage.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you need to calm down!” smiled Cloud.

I chuckled. “You're right, it’s nothing. I guess its all the stress we're under. Trust me, I’m fine.”

Cloud smiled as he started bouncing up and down again.

“Silly filly, Remember that little ‘pinkie’ filly that used to come into town with her dad selling rocks and how she told you: ‘Don’t wear a frown when life gets you down, just keep smiling?’”

“Yeah, I do remember. And sometimes, she would break out into a song,” I said with a faint smile.

“I wonder what she’s up to these days,” Cloud laughed.

“Living, hopefully.”

“You can be such a downer, downer, downer, wouldn't know a smile if it hit him in the face!” sang my friend.

“Whatever, man. Let’s just get going”

As we walked up the trail, the trees lining the path went from maple and oak, to pines, due to the temperature cooling down. A trail of dust started to form behind us. The rain must not reach up this far; the ground was hard and dry like the wasteland next to Equestria, while a fine layer of dust laid sleeping on the top.

The sun was also poking its head through the tree line, causing the shadows to dance, and like normal, Cloud was going on about how one liked a bird, or how another looked like us. After a while, however, I just tuned him out. That's when I noticed that the birds were following us. Most likely because they hadn’t seen us before. I threw some berries I found on some bushes along the side of the trail. They expertly dived down and caught them in mid air. Like I figured, they had been to a park before.

Ponies would throw berries up into the air, just so the birds would catch them, and get a cheap laugh out of it if one missed or crashed into a tree. For some reason, I never did find it that funny. To be honest, I thought it was a little cruel. Yet here I was, flicking berries in the air, hoping one would screw up for my enjoyment.

Cloud also noticed the birds, and started jumping up to the tree branch where they were enjoying their snacks, just so he could say hello. Instead of getting a greeting back, however, he scared then. They all flew off, leaving their food behind. I shook my head in disapproval.

Then the birds did something very unusual: They made a quick u-turn about a half-mile away, and came back at us. I looked at them with a quizzical expression, having never seen birds do something like that before. Soon enough, they started screeching. Loudly. Once they were at the perfect vantage point, they started to dive at incredible speed.

“CLOUD, RUN!”

As we ran, they started pecking at us, trying their hardest to slow us down. I that wasn't bad enough, the other animals of the forest started throwing nuts at us. This was all too confusing. In all my years of living, I have never seen animals have such a vendetta against ponies. Why were they only starting now? Thankfully, within a short timespan, we made it to the Hedon Falls; a waterfall that ran down the mountain. We immediately jumped into the water in an effort to lose the angry mob of woodland creatures that were trying to kill us. Finally, after a few minutes they decided to move on.

“I guess they didn’t see us jump into the water,” said Cloud, huffing.

Cloud may have been relaxed, but I was furious. “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!” I screamed, not caring if the animals found us again.

“Sorry,” Cloud apologized, “I just wanted to say hello! Is that so bad?”

“Oh my Goddess, you are unbelievable!” I flailed my legs as best I could, trying to accentuate my point. After treading water for a few moments, I was calm once again. “Whatever. They’re gone, and that’s all that matters. Let’s just set up camp here for the night. Luna’s about to bring out the moon, and we need a fire.”

“Oh boy! I’ll start the fire with these rocks.” Cloud said excitedly, picking up two large round objects off the ground and slamming them together.

“No, I’m going to.” I said. “Remember what happened the last time you played with fire? You shot a bottle rocket through my house.” I took a better look at what Cloud was bashing together. “Also, those aren't rocks; they’re turtle shells.”

“What?”

Two very angry turtle popped out of their shells and snapped at Clouds hooves, causing him to shriek, and clumsily fall on his back.

“See? You should clean your ears out or something, ‘cause I have to scream just so you can hear me sometimes.” I snickered.

“Whatever, it’s all good.” said Cloud. He was getting back up, twisting and spinning like some stupid little filly.

I just rolled my eyes and told him to sit, and do nothing. He shot me a look of innocence, making me cringe. I reluctantly forgave him and took off to gather firewood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was almost gone by the time I got back to the camp. When I arrived, Cloud was missing, not surprisingly. After laying out the firewood, I went in search of my friend.

“Clooooouuuuddd?” I called out. “Cloud? I know you’re out here!” After about five minutes of searching, I started to hear giggling from a tree not too far from the falls.

“I wonder who that could be...” I said sarcastically to myself.

Cloud popped his head out of the tree above me, imitating a sloth. Startled, I picked up a rock and threw it at him, causing him to fall. He landed with a thud on the ground by my hooves.

“Why did you do that?” he asked groggily, rubbing his head.

“Because I’m cool like that.” I said playfully, sticking my tongue out at him.

Soon afterward, we went back to the campsite, and started a fire. Cloud found some berries to eat, and some leaves to make a mat that we could sit on. Luna’s moon was midway in the sky when we had finished eating. I let out a yawn and advised Cloud to get some sleep. After all, we had a big day ahead of us.

That night, my dreams plagued me with visions of fire, pain and death, but I was unable to remember what they really were, only that they were terrible. Thankfully, Cloud woke me up during the middle of it, but it wasn’t because he was worried about me...

“Asher, you awake? Ashers?” his voice echoed in my head.

I groaned “Wha...? What could it possibly be at this time of night?”

“I had a nightmare and...well, you see...” he paused

“And?”

“I thought I heard Nightmare Moon.”

I facehoofed. “Really, you act like such a foal sometimes. Some group of ponies saved Princess Luna from her, remember? She’s gone, trust me.”

But I got no response, as he had already fallen back to sleep.I face hoofed myself again and went back to sleep myself. Luckily I didn’t dream for the rest of the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the sun finally rose, Cloud was already awake, playing with some turtles near the water. I walked over and started drinking from the fresh stream of water coming down from above. I only realized while drinking that my throat was completely parched. I drank even faster, trying to relieve the dryness in my esophagus. That was when I heard a splash.

As I had expected, Cloud had fallen in the water. Laughing at his misfortune, I went over to go pull him out. Before I could, however, something rushed past me, knocking me down. I quickly got to search my surroundings. That’s when I saw it. The Griffon.

It had golden feathers with a red beak and large, menacing claws. His feathers were rapidly falling out, revealing cuts all over its body. It’s most hideous feature, the eyes, were pure black. Simply looking into them was a challenge; when you peered into his gaze, it was as if a low growling sound came out of them, implanted directly into your mind.

With a booming, masculine voice, he bellowed: “For the new king, Discord...I WILL END YOU!”

The griffon took off into the air with a flash. Cloud, who had finally gotten out of the water, screamed, and jumped back in. I rolled my eyes at his fear, and took off into the air, thinking the griffon would go after me. I tucked my head under my arms and went right for him. But instead of taking the bait, he flew out of my way and straight for Cloud. He was still in the water, flapping like a foal who couldn’t swim. My eyes widened. Cloud had noticed that the griffon was barreling toward him at high speed, and was trying to get away.

Right before the griffon could sink his claws in my friend, I tackled him, causing both of us to crash onto the rocky bank. Cloud watched as a blur of scratches and bucks went whirling into a cloud of dust. We landed with him on top of me, ready to strike.

“Hey, you bucked up motherbucker! Over here!” Cloud shouted.

The griffon looked up just for a second. That was all I needed. I quickly repositioned myself and bucked him straight into the air with all my might. After righting myself, I shot up into the air myself, and chased after him. Still gasping for air, the griffon tried to get away, but to no avail. I had the advantage this time.

I grabbed him by the chest and decked him in the face. Then again. And again. I poured out all of my anger and frustration into this poor creature. At the moment, I didn’t care. He could’ve been Celestia herself, and I still would’ve kept punching. Eventually, I noticed his now warped and bruised face. In shock, I released my grip, and watched as he fell to the ground. I turned around to see Cloud on the bank of the falls, hyperventilating.

Turning around was a stupid mistake.

Out of nowhere, the griffon got me in a headlock, and started biting a huge chunk of my left ear off. Still in the air, he started spinning in a death roll towards the earth. By some luck, I was able to break free, twirl away from him, and do a loop to safety. Unfortunately, I found myself upside down when the griffon came back. Right before I could react, he slashed my wing with his claws, smashing bone, and causing it to gush blood everywhere.

The griffon, satisfied in his triumph, just smiled and watched as I fell towards the earth. I crashed in the tree line, hitting some branches before landing with a thud right on the edge of our camp. I slowly started to crawl away, but it was in vain, as the griffon was right on top of me. Accepting my fate, I closed my eyes, waiting for him to deliver the final blow.

Instead, all I heard was a sickening crack. Opening my eyes once more, I could clearly see what had transpired: Cloud had bashed the griffon on the head with a huge rock. He delivered blow after blow, blood splattering all over his face and mane.

“You stupid bastard!” He yelled, as he continued to annihilate the griffon’s face with his blunt tool of destruction. “You think you can attack us like that!? Look at my friend’s wing! What made you do something like this!? TELL ME!!”

I wanted to stop him. I really did. I wanted to tackle him to the ground, slap him in the face, do something that would make him stop. At the moment, however, I could only stare. Stare at the unrealistic events now unfolding before me. I was frozen by my own disbelief.

Cloud, the one pony I could always trust to never hurt anyone or anything, was now pulverizing a griffon with a barbaric instrument of death.

Eventually, he tired out. Tears were streaming from his eyes, his exclamations from earlier having devolved into quiet, nonsensical gibberish. Cloud’s face was nothing but a mash a flesh, blood and feathers. As for the griffon...well, I could no longer tell that he was ever a griffon in the first place.

Unbelievably, the griffon’s eyes slowly started to peek open. He was still alive! Not only that, but he was smiling! After a minor coughing fit, he began to speak:

“Please, don’t cry,” he whispered, “I wasn’t myself for a while. You may not realize it, but you saved me. You saved me from...being a slave to Discord. For that, I thank you.”

I crawled over to him, my eyes watering, hoping to give him one last bit of comfort. In my despair, I did the one thing I could do: I embraced him. This was the griffon that destroyed my wing, nearly killing me; and I was hugging him. With the last of his strength, he hugged me back.

“Don’t be sad, please,” He hacked. “This is a much better fate for me than spending the rest of my days as a puppet. We will see each other again one day...I guarantee it...”

The griffin gasped for air in vain, as he quietly slipped away. I closed his eyes immediately after his passing out of respect. At this point, Cloud was completely hysterical, blubbering maniacally. I went over to try and comfort him, but I couldn’t find the words to get him to calm down. He kept talking in fragmented phrases.

“Cloud? Are you alright?” I asked, already knowing the answer

He sniffled, took a deep breath, then spoke. “No, I’m not. I just killed somepony. Somepony that was completely innocent. How am I supposed to live with myself, now?”

“Hey, hey. Calm down. You heard him. You saved him from Discord. He was thankful
for what you did. I guess anypony would rather die if they were being controlled by that monster.”

Cloud’s voice was faint, and would trail off after every sentence he was able to utter out. His eyes were completely void of life, the spark that once inhabited them completely gane. Seeing him like this gave me chills.

“Asher, do...do you think I’m a bad pony now?”

I paused for a moment to think, and try to choose word that wouldn’t offend him.

“Of course not, Cloud. You did to save my life. You had no choice.”

Still crying, Cloud got back on his feet and started digging a hole with his hooves. “I’m going to bury him, then. It’s...the right thing to do.”

Not protesting, I went over to start digging the hole with him, but he angrily pushed me aside.

“Get away from me!” He screamed shakily. “This is my job, and mine alone. I’m the one that killed him, so I’m the one that sends him off...”

Confused and startled, I started checking myself. That’s when I noticed I was covered in blood. I rushed over to the water so I could see my reflection.

I glared at the pony looking back at me in the water. He looked similar, but more aged, with a look of despair in his eyes. A huge chunk of his ear was missing, and his right wing was a bloody mangled of feathers and bone. Cuts covered his entry body.

A ripple ran across the water, distracting me, causing me to blink. That’s when I realized; The pony in the water was me.

My attention immediately gravitated to the destroyed wing. “Oh, shit, my wing!” I exclaimed. “Oh Goddess, what if I can’t fly anymore?!” Searching for a solution, I remembered a Survivalist class Cloud had dragged me to a while back. I guess that class wasn’t a waste of time after all.

I carefully cleaned the blood off my face and wing, and started wrapped both my ear and my wing with some leaves I took from a low resting branch. Cloud was finished burying the griffin, so he came over to lend me a hoof. I wanted to reject his offer as he did mine earlier, but I was in no situation to make such an act. After a few popping sounds and enough pain for me to go blind, my wing was wrapped up in some leaves, along with a stick, used as a splint.

Cloud’s voice was emotionless, “See? I know what I’m doing. Come on, we need to get to get out of here.”

For three days we walked, with no major interruptions. Cloud was starting to get a better attitude with each passing day, and with every step, the air seemed to grow thinner, while a layer of snow greeted us as we came near the top.

“We can’t stay here overnight. We’ll freeze.” I said.

“I know, but I want to reach the top.” Cloud replied. “I need a vantage point, so I can figure out which direction Ponyville is in.”

When we finally hit the top, there was an old sign that read: “Top of Hedon, Ponyville due east, Aspen due west”

“Cloud? Can you see Ponyville, ‘cause all I see from here is the Everfree.”

“No, but the sign said due east, didn’t it?”

“So?” I asked.

“So let’s head east.” he deadpanned.

“But the Everfree is a dangerous place. I don’t want to be caught in it during the night.”

“You don’t have much of a choice, now do you?”smiled Cloud, referring to my wing.

I sighed. “Ok, but how in the hay are we going to go down the mountain? There’s no trail past this point.”

“There may be no trail, but I know for a fact that there’s a waterfall called Dusty Falls not too far from here.”

“And you just happen to know about that?” I asked.

“I read old maps, sometimes” He gave me a wink.

I gave him a suspicious look. “So, what does a waterfall have to do with anything?”

“It’s simple. There’s a stream called Dusty Creek created by the falls. We can ride it down the mountain.”

“Only a crazy pony like you would come up with such a crazy plan!” I said, a grin forming on my face.

“You know it!” he said gleefully.

Cloud walked only two steps before tripping. Without another second, he started to fall rapidly down the mountain. Shocked as I was, I about to take off when I remembered my wing was all bucked up some. So, for the first time in a long time, I started running after him.

As I was running down the mountain, however, I could hear him laughing and giggling until a huge waterfall was in sight. Somehow, he was able to stop rolling right at the water’s edge.

“Hey! I’ll meet you at the bottom!” he yelled, right before plopping into the water, swimming down the stream, and going out of sight.

“Hey! Where are you going?! I never said I was up to this!!”

I sighed heavily. It was not worth the fight, so I jumped after him. It was a lot deeper then I would have liked, and I was having trouble keeping my head above water. It seemed that the farther I drifted downstream, the faster I went. Panicking, I flailed about, trying to find something secure to hold onto. Before I could find anything, the current dragged me down. The cruel water unforgivingly smashed my head on a rock at the bottom, causing me to black out.