Crimson Trail

by Amber Sky

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Human, Other, Original Character, Adventure, Violence, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6005

A griffon gets sent to Earth, and now needs to find her way back to Equestria.

When a griffon running from her past gets displaced from Equestria, she soon finds herself seeking out help and making new friends. But unsure where she had arrived, and with no way back to Equestria, how will she get back home?

A huge thanks to Mischievous Blue, FlashDrake and EverfreePony for the edit. Without them this story would not have been posted. Also thanks to TheDevilsLotus for cover art.

This story is a remake of my original story also called Crimson Trail, which was started back in late 2014. Since then the story has been rewritten, and refined multiple times and is finally at a state for me to share it again. I hope you enjoy.

Published 2016-08-08 22:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-11-19 00:13:16 UTC

Chapter 1: Flash of Bad Luck

Author's Note

8 months of writing. and still another 10 days to work up the courage to post it.
~~~
[Edit:11/13/2017] Have made a few small changes here and there to clean up the continuity for the rest of the story. Also had it re-edited so it should have less mistakes now, but if you do see any please tell me and I will fix them as soon as I can.

Chapter 1: Flash of Bad Luck

Edited by: Mischievous Blue, FlashDrake and EverfreePony

Chapter 1: Flash of Bad Luck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FIGHT!

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

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

~SHING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~ End Chapter 1 ~~~

Chapter 2: A New Place and a New Journey

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