Together, Autumn and Sihle attempted to learn more about the powers that the bracelet seemed to hold, but even after four days of trying dozens of different tests, there was still nothing either mare could do to activate it. Even the pink gem, which had somehow transformed Ner from his corrupted self into a whole and healthy creature, remained inert. Finally, at their wits’ end and having run out of ideas, Autumn and Sihle gave up trying to force the bracelet to reveal its powers. There had been one thing that had crossed both of their minds at one point, but both agreed that a gift as powerful as this would reject the misuse of its power if they attempted to trick it into working. Harming themselves in order to require the healing magic the pink jewel held was both abhorrent in nature and went against everything they both held dear to heart.

Thus, Autumn prepared to leave the safety of her new home, while also learning more about how Ner seemed to function since he no longer sustained himself off dark magic. The massive plant-wolf seemed to now hold to the same rules that normal magical plants did, drinking fresh water from the nearby river and sunning himself in the clearing outside Sihle’s hut when the weather permitted. His loyalty to her was near absolute, even going so far as to defy Sihle when they gave him opposing orders. Sihle stated that it was because of Autumn’s magic that had allowed him to be reborn in the first place that forged this extreme loyalty, although her explanation did nothing to stop Autumn’s heart from stopping every time the wolf managed to tackle her from behind and playfully nibble at the base of her neck. Loyal or not, she was still a prey animal in the instinctive sense and being pinned and ‘bitten’ by a huge predator did nothing good for her peace of mind while she had so much else to worry about.

Finally, the time had come. Autumn had completed all the preparations she could for her voyage beyond the safety of the Everfree Forest, although there was still one thing left to do before she and Ner departed. Tears ran down the mare’s cheeks as she hugged her mentor firmly, her forelegs wrapped around Sihle’s shoulders as the zebra returned the gesture with one of her own. The zebra’s smile was proud and at the same time sad, knowing that it may be many moons before she would see her student again, if ever.

“You will do fine on your own,” Sihle shushed the sobbing mare gently as she pulled away, “the spirits are your allies and you have the gifts of a goddess to keep you safe.” She chuckled softly as Ner leaned down and licked up Autumn’s tears, forcing a giggle from the distraught earth pony’s lips as she wiped the sap from her cheeks, “Although with our leafy friend at your side I doubt you will need them unless the situation turns truly dire.”

Autumn nodded, sniffing loudly as she cleaned the last of the sap from her fur, “I know, Sihle, but it still feels like I’m leaving my home all over again. There is so much I don’t know about the world, and so many things that could go wrong.”

The zebra smiled as she placed a hoof on Autumn’s chest, “You will find the way, as sure as the sun rises and sets, your path will carry you to the destiny you were meant to find. Trust in yourself, trust in the goddess you hold in your heart, and above all else, trust in your fellow ponies to stand strong while you work towards their freedom. It has been hundreds of years since your homeland was taken from you, it will not matter if they must wait a few years more for their salvation.”

Autumn nodded, knowing that the other mare was right, even though there was a knot of nerves coiled tight in the center of her chest. She was ready to go, and the only thing that was currently holding her back were her own fears of the unknown. Squaring her jaw and holding her head high, Autumn managed to share a smile one last time with her mentor and friend before turning around and walking away. Ner fallowed closely at her left side while Sihle called farewell from her doorstep, bringing a single tear to Autumn’s eyes as the duo entered the shade beneath the thick forest canopy.

Sihle did not know the location of the capital city, although in her brief travels to the edge of the forest she had managed to locate a village on the western border. It was a small town with only a few hundred residents by her estimations, which would allow for Autumn to hopefully sneak in and out without being noticed. All Autumn needed was a map and perhaps a disguise, given the simple brown cloak Sihle had given her did very little to hide her rather unique features. She had food enough to last a week or more if she was careful and knew how to forage for more if she had to. Thus, with Ner padding along by her side, Autumn ventured into the unknown for the first time since she left her home, her heart set and her mind clear with the mission she had been given.

It took up to the end of that first day for Autumn to reach the edge of the forest, although that worked in her favor as it would be much easier to work at night instead of having to evade the gryphon citizens during the day. She directed Ner to remain at the forest’s perimeter while she went ahead, knowing that the wolf was not exactly the stealthiest of creatures. She could call for him if needed, but the less attention she drew to herself, the better, unless she wanted to have her face posted on every wanted board in the region. She had seen other escaped slaves’ wanted posters at her home from time to time, usually with rather large sums of gold for their return. However, one fact that had always sent shivers down her spine was that the posters had a line at the very bottom in bold letters, right under the reward value.

‘WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE’

Autumn knew that there were bounty hunters that had come to the farm at times looking for escaped slaves, and from the reek of blood that seemed to cling to them like a second skin, there wasn’t much likelihood that their prey managed to return home in one piece. Autumn hoped to avoid detection for as long as possible, but with as little understanding of the outside world as she possessed, it was only a matter of time until she was noticed. Her only hope was that when the time came, she would have the strength to protect herself.

Working her way from the forest up to the first row of houses, Autumn took a moment to inspect her surroundings while tilting her ears this way and that. The last thing she needed was to have a late-night adventurer stumble upon her by mistake. When she was satisfied that she was alone, Autumn continued into the alley between two houses, her movements slowing with each step until she was literally crawling from shadow to shadow. Her body hugged the ground while avoiding the circles of light that surrounded the scattered street posts, moving from bush to bush and wall to darkness-covered wall. Autumn had a general idea of what she was looking for but having never been outside her home on the farm, her lack of knowledge was beginning to show, and it was starting to frustrate the poor mare. She needed a map, and she knew that it would likely be found in a library or the town hall, but as to where she could find said buildings and what they looked like was beyond her scope of understanding.

It took Autumn most of the night to finally locate what she thought was the library, if the sign out front with an open book was any indication, by which point her nerves had been stretched to near breaking and she could feel the fur on the back of her neck rising in fear with every passing second. She was running out of time, and without a map she couldn’t find her way to the capital, let alone know where to go once she left the vicinity of the Everfree. Autumn slipped into an alley next to the library to catch her breath for a moment, her heart slowing from its frantic racing as she focused her mind.

“You can do this.” She whispered to herself, “Just get in, grab a map, and get out. No trouble.”

Taking a quick glance around her to make sure she was still alone, Autumn picked herself up and slipped out of the alley, working her way across the open road until she could press herself against the library’s wall. She knew the front door would most likely be locked, so she hoped that at least one of the windows had been left open by mistake. Stealth wouldn’t really mean much if she had to kick in the front door of the building, alerting half the village to her presence in the process.

Working her way from one window to the next, Autumn slowly pressed each one upward with a hoof, hoping to find one that wasn’t locked. However, her luck didn’t seem to be on her side at that time, because she completed a circle around the entire building without finding a single open window. Frustrated, and knowing that she had to go soon if she wanted to reach the safety of the forest by dawn, Autumn kicked a small stone before turning back the way she had come.

She had only taken a few steps when the sound of an opening door reached her ears, her head snapping up in panic as she turned towards the sound. Off to her left, where a previously dark alley had sat between two buildings, was now a shaft of light that spilled out of an open door. Autumn’s breath caught in her throat as a gryphon stepped into the opening, casting a shadow against the far wall, before picking up a large bundle and tossing it onto the ground outside the dwelling. It looked like an overly large sack full of grain, but it turned out to be much worse once the tie keeping the sack closed slipped undone.

Autumn gasped as a single taloned hand appeared from the interior of the sack, the light from the doorway leaving no question in the mare’s mind as to what it was attached to. The larger gryphon did nothing as the talon gripped the dirt between the sack and the doorway, digging divots in the soil as the owner attempted to move. The entire scene passed by in front of Autumn’s eyes, the mare frozen in place as the rest of the limb came into sight, followed slowly by the battered and bruised face of a young hen. Autumn was close enough that the cuts on her face and her swollen eye were easy to see, along with the bend in the gryphon’s upper foreleg that was not supposed to be there.

Finally, the poor thing lost what little strength she seemed to possess, her head falling limp against the ground with only half of her body free from the sack. Her claws reached for the other gryphon for a moment before falling still as well, the larger male huffing in finality before closing the door once again. The light from the interior went out shortly after as the resident presumably went back to sleep, leaving the young hen alone in the alley, her breathing rasping in Autumn’s ears as soft sobbing could be heard in the darkness.

Autumn’s first instinct was to run. There was no reason she had to do anything and if the gryphon inside the house came back out, she would be discovered for sure. And yet, as the sobbing hen grew quiet, Autumn felt her heart go out to the poor creature. She didn’t know her, didn’t know what had caused her to end up like this or if there was anything that could be done, but she knew what it was like to feel helpless. Autumn waited for a moment longer, just to be sure that the male wasn’t going to come back, before slipping from the shadows and making her way up to the sack containing the beaten hen.

As she came closer, the smell of sick and blood assaulted her nose, forcing her to cover her muzzle with a hoof as she stepped up to the hen. Now that she had a better look, she could tell that the gryphon had been like this for a long time, if the old scars on her body and face were anything to go by. The feathers on her upper body were uneven and dirty, and the little bit of fur that was visible was also matted with large clumps clinging to her sides. Her other forelimb hung limp beside her, the shoulder joint obviously dislocated while the extended arm was definitely broken just above the elbow. Autumn could see the hen’s eyes were open, but she was either in too much pain or too weak to notice the earth pony’s presence. All she did was stare at the door she had been thrown out of, her breathing rough and shallow as she lay there with only half of her body out of the sack.

While a large part of Autumn’s mind told her to leave the hen and get out of the village as fast as she could, there was a voice that told her this wasn’t a coincidence. Why would the other gryphon have done all of this and then leave her out in the cold to die, when Autumn just happened to be in the area to witness the event and could do something about it? Autumn had heard about divine intervention before from the tales her mother had told her as a filly, but this was the first time she had actually thought about it as something real. Here she was, in the perfect position to help one of her greatest enemies or walk away and let the hen die without doing anything. It was a choice she knew the obvious answer to, but there was still a part of her that said this was a once in a lifetime decision. She could walk away now, or she could break the cycle of suffering that had been perpetuated between her kind and the gryphons for hundreds of years.

She could save one of her enemies and show mercy where the hen’s own species had failed to do the same.

A growl escaped her muzzle as she shook her head, fighting against her better judgement as she paced back and forth. She knew doing anything with the hen could easily come back to very literally bite her in the plot, but if she didn’t help then it was obvious that the hen wouldn’t last until morning. Stomping a hoof to settle her mind, Autumn turned to face the hen, walking up to the battered gryphon and reaching down with her mouth to bite the edge of the sack. The smell of blood and other things nearly made her gag, but she fought through the reflex and blinked several times to clear the tears from her vision.

With a mighty heave, and a soft moan of pain from the hen, Autumn lifted the gryphon’s front half up and over her withers. She grunted as the larger creature’s weight fell limply on her back, her claws dragging in the dirt on either side of her barrel while her lower half trailed behind Autumn’s tail. It wasn’t easy to move like that, but at least the hen wasn’t trying to shift around while Autumn took step after strained step. Even with her earth pony strength, it was a struggle to move with any kind of speed as she worked her way back out of the village and into the Everfree once again. Ner met her at the edge with a happy bark, although his panting shifted into a concerned whine as he sniffed at the battered and bloody gryphon hanging off Autumn’s back.

Autumn pet the lupine gently as she worked just a bit further into the forest, hoping to avoid detection should someone come looking after dawn. She didn’t think it was likely, but better safe then sorry. “Come on, Ner, let’s see if there is anything we can do for her.”

The hulking plant-wolf whined again but followed obediently as she led him further into the forest, stopping at a clearing nearby as she gently slid the gryphon off her back and to the soft grass. Autumn noticed that the sack had slid off the hen’s body at some point in the journey, revealing that while dirty, the soft gold fur and black spots of her hind end were still distinguishable. This paired well with the dark golden-brown feathers that covered her upper half, her beak a soft banana yellow against the green grass she rested in. And yet, her striking coloration was marred by the dozens of scars that covered her back and the leading edges of her wings, working up her neck and across her face in a jigsaw of grey lines and wider masses of scar tissue. That, combined with the obvious broken bones and other injuries that were scattered around her body, told Autumn all she needed to know concerning the type of life the hen had lived.

The hen’s eyes had closed at some point as well, leaving only her weak and rattled breathing as a sign that she was still alive. Autumn knew some healing techniques thanks to Sihle’s teachings, but there was nothing that could be done for the hen in her current condition. Autumn glanced down at the pink jewel that glinted in the moonlight on her leg, letting out a sigh as she carefully placed the corresponding hoof on the hen’s side, closing her eyes as she prayed.

“Please, Faust, give me the power to save this ailing soul.” Autumn knew that every other attempt to activate the gem had failed, but this time there was a reason for its use. She only hoped that it would work this time when it mattered most, “Help me save one who has suffered just as much as any pony, one who deserves your kindness and mercy even more than I.”

Autumn opened her eyes and smiled as the gem began to glow, the light traveling down her hoof and into the gryphon’s body. The wounds and bruising that covered her flanks slowly began to fade, her legs shifting back into position as the scars that littered her coat disappeared one by one. It took several minutes, far longer than the transformation that had changed Ner, but the end result was more than worth it as the light faded back into the jewel.

Laying in the grass, her breathing slow and peaceful as she slept, was a clean, healthy, and as much as Autumn was loathed to admit it, beautiful young hen. Autumn was never very good at telling how old a gryphon was, but if she had to guess, the hen before her wasn’t much older than herself, if not the same age. Even so, there was a swelling of emotion in her chest as she beheld the healed gryphon before her, and she allowed a tear to run down her face as she held a hoof to her chest. Autumn lifted her gaze to the star-covered sky, a smile gracing her lips as she whispered softly into the gentle night breeze.

“Thank you.”

Returning her gaze to the hen, she noticed that the gryphon was shivering in the cold. The smile faded from Autumn’s face as she realized that she only had one blanket, and she wasn’t about to sleep in the cold just to keep the hen from freezing. Glancing at her saddlebags, she debated for a moment about what to do, before letting out a sigh of resignation. She pulled out the simple brown blanket that she had received from Sihle as part of her supplies and walked over to the hen as Ner lay down in the center of the clearing. The plant-wolf rested his head on his front paws, his body facing the duo as Autumn pulled the blanket over both herself and the hen.

It felt both right and at the same time terrifying to be resting so close to a gryphon, but as the hen’s shivering settled, she allowed herself to lay against the larger female’s side as she closed her eyes. The soft beat of the hen’s heart and the now smooth breathing of her lungs soon lulled Autumn into a half-sleep state, quickly fading into true sleep as the warmth under the blanket rose to a comfortable level.

Autumn didn’t feel it as she lay next to her companion, but in her own slumber, the hen wrapped her forelegs around Autumn’s barrel, resting her chin in the earth pony’s mane as her lower half curled up and around Autumn’s body. Ner simply observed them while keeping watch, his glowing green eyes slowly overtaken by the rising light of dawn.

Author's Note

Well, here we go again. Thank you all so much for taking an interest in my books, and I hope that you leave plenty of comments and likes for me if the books proves to be worthy of such praise. In the meantime, I would like to say that I am so thankful for all of the support and help that I have received from my fans over the years, and I hope that you all continue to enjoy my books well into the future.

Also, I wish to say thank you to my Patrons, WuBzY and Earthpatriot117, who continue to support me on Patreon even after a year and a half has passed since they first pledged. Thank you both so much and please understand that your help means more than you could possibly imagine.

Other than that, I hope you all have a happy holidays, and a wonderful new year.

See you next chapter,
Shadow Quill, Messenger of the Moon.