The Journey From West Artax

Breeze stared at Butter Crème with a look of worry, who was now laying almost motionless in the guest bedroom's blue bed.

Breeze slowly brushed Butter Crème's hair out of her face, before letting out a deep breath of anxiety; quietly whispering "what... what do I do?" Breeze couldn't help but to give into her now watering eyes as her mind continued wandering to any negative reality that was plausible. Breeze continued on speaking out in a whisper "What caused her to be so afraid...? It must have been something I did... was- is she afraid of me...?"

Breeze thought for a moment before remembering the story she had read. The memory of the story she read brought a violent encapsulation for the still mysterious book that resided under Breeze's wing: slowly she reached to retrieve it once again. She couldn't help but to be drawn into opening it: the book's aura being like that of a siren's song immersed deeply by an open ocean's fog. Breeze hardly gave her actions much thought; gently opening to a page housed in the middle of the book.

The pages of the book remained a stark white, it's radiant color seeming more like a deafening void of static than a plain sheet of paper. Breeze desperately ran her hoof down it hoping something- anything would appear, alas within the despondent night, the book remained cruelly inactive. She stared hopelessly at the page for only a moment, before feeling a sensation of anger painfully overtake her sadness.

Breeze felt her frustration peak into a reckless desperation as she began to scream out in an audible roughness "You harass me with random shit, but when I actually need advice from you, you have nothing to say!" She felt her tears begin flowing as she continued choking slightly "Why‽ what- what do I do... what do you... what do you want from me...? Why won't you answer me"‽

Breeze gave the book one final look over in sorrow, before giving into her anger once more: suddenly throwing the book across the room, causing it to make a vicious "slam" against the room's sturdy wooden door. Breeze watched the book for a moment, half-expecting the book to have some kind of reaction. Moments passed of nothing but silence before Breeze helplessly gave into her sobbing, whimpering "Why...? why...‽" she dropped down, laying her head down onto the bed in a lacyromose manner: speaking out into the bed's covering in a broken voice "I... I did this to her, didn't I...? It's all my fault... what am I supposed to do...?" She stopped to clear her throat for a moment before continuing "And now... I'm yelling at a 'magical' book for answers... I've really lost it..."

Breeze silently rose her head from the bed, tears still binding her vision. She couldn't help but let out a shaken sigh of defeat; not knowing what to do other than simply wait. Breeze gently wiped the tears from her eyes, beginning to look around the room once more, trying in vain to avoid acknowledging Butter Crème's still syncope state.

The bedroom around her held an overwhelming feeling of dread, as if it were highlighted by her lacyromose emotions. As her gaze danced around it, she couldn't help but project her stresses onto each of the room's walls, objects, or silhouettes: Each becoming nothing more than a regret given a harsh personification. It seemed that as each took shape, they mocked her with a devilish laugh. Breeze couldn't help but shudder with each overwhelming chuckle or crackle they gave. As her gaze frantically shifted around the room, searching only for a moment's rest: she stopped suddenly bringing her eyes to meet a single window- sitting just above her on a parallel wall: she found herself enraptured by its dazzling beauty, looking deep into the glistening purple canvas the window held beyond it.

From the window, the Moon's gentle light coated the room in an array of tingling violet drops, not unlike that of a million shooting stars cascading upon the soul. It felt as though the sight of which was capable of smoothing over even the strongest of tempests or roughest of turmoils. As the ardent light reached into Breeze's inner spirits: she felt a delicate love overcome her, like some kind of invisible force had just now embraced her in its wings.

Breeze felt her tears begin to slow their flowing with each second she looked into the beautifully colored golden moon. This time her heart presented its emotions as warm tears of joy, shining brightly against the nights previously chilling palette. She couldn't help but give a smile as the moonlight began to remind her of another brief memory: this time a memory of her cutiemark. She looked away from the moon to see it again: her cutiemark, a simple golden crescent moon with a small maple colored leaf in the center.

The mark was something she was always proud of- perhaps it was the lack of obsession that came with it. Her mark seemed almost overlooked by everypony else, something that only she, herself, cherished. Whereas her family normally bombarded her with compliments and praise for her even most mundane achievements: they didn't give her cutiemark a second thought before congratulating her on any other task. She couldn't help but roll her eyes with a sniffle at the thought; recounting how the only ponies to even attend her cute-ceañera was her Grandmare and sister.

Breeze instinctually reached her hoof out towards the moon's delicate surface, seemingly trying to grab at it and all of its craters. She thought back simultaneously, recounting how she earned her cutiemark in the first place. The sound of the wind roaring as it overtook her on the top of a white tipped mountain. Under that same purple sky, she had felt a feeling deep in her soul as she looked over its edge: a voice urging her to jump, to take in the freedom of the sky. She heard her brain violently screaming at her to stop- how dangerous it was, but alas to the brain's dismay, each of its pleas fell on deaf ears. Breeze remembered how she took those few hoof steps back, before all at once bounding over the mountains edge. She remembered how it felt as she climbed by herself, stood by herself, fell by herself, began to fly by herself. She realized that during no point of getting her mark, did she ever feel truly alone, like something invisible reassured her strength with each step she took.

Breeze went over that memory again and again in silence, slowly beginning to feel that same boldness that she felt back then. Jumping from the mountain's highest peak: knowing no one could ever break her fall- knowing if she failed, no one would be there to save her, and yet she jumped anyway, trusting her gut to guide her. It was since that day that she trusted her gut unquestionably: even if her brain told her to run, hide, or scream.

Breeze finally dropped her hoof from the moon's surface, instead pressing her hoof up against her heart with a cocky smile. With Breeze's tears finally stopping, she spoke out to herself in her usual gentle voice"I got this, it's all gonna be okay".

Copacetically, Breeze reached for a candle she brought to the bedside table, taking the candle into her hooves and lighting it with a single strike of her wing. Breeze then returned the candle back to the table's surface; watching it flicker its tiny flame around the room in a sporadic dance. Breeze embraced the small light of hope it casted with a brave smile. Slowly, Breeze turned to Butter Crème, reaching and brushing her brown mane off her face another time, before calmly stating with a warming tone "I'll be here with you all night if I have to be, Daisy. I just know that you're okay, and I know this is where I need to be... by your side".

Breeze felt herself blush a bit after saying that, but remained absolute in her resolve. She laughed to herself "I once tamed the highest peaks, I won't allow myself to falter now."

She casted her gaze over to the candle once more, before freezing all at once: the mysterious book sat next to the candle in an upright position, now open with new pages visibly shown in the candle's light. Hesitantly, Breeze took the book into her hooves as she began to read it.

The page held a vastly different composure than any other Breeze had already seen: it seemed more like hieroglyphs than any actual words. After examining further it only took Breeze a moment before she froze in terror once more- finally realizing what she was actually looking at. A depiction of a pony jumping off a tall mountain. The pony itself seemed irrelevant at first, but with a more indepth glance; Breeze realized the pony it was showing was her as a filly. Each page seemed to mark another moment of the event and how it transpired: the first page showed her on the edge of the mountain, followed by the next page showing her jumping off, but Breeze was confused, the book showed that there was another pony: A pony with wings as wide as the mountain. They stood seemingly just behind Breeze, following with each step she took- even lifting her up as she began to fall. The last pages seemed to show what looked to be the pony slowly fading into Breeze's wings, causing them to change their form; becoming more like their's. As Breeze looked to the final page, it showed her now radiating a golden glow that coated her from head to hoof. After taking a good look at the page, her face still showing a bit of awe: she watched as the page slowly returned to being blank.

Breeze sat in the silence of her newly refortified mind- holding steadfast to a rather strange feeling in her chest. A feeling she couldn't describe as anything else but a feeling of eyes staring at her just out of sight: she couldn't call the feeling evil or unpleasant, just weird. Breeze quickly searched the room: she turned back to the door only to see it shut firmly. She turned back to any wall she could perceive an unwanted visitor, but no hole or shadow presented itself with relevance. She turned one final time upon herself, finally realizing the feeling was deeply in herself- the presence of something far more benevolent: a feeling of warmth apposed to the usual fright accompanied with anything possibly supernatural in this world. It was a feeling of omnipotent love and comfort.

Breeze found herself looking back and extending her wings to fully look at them, she couldn't help but admire them more so now than ever. Something so easily taken for granted, yet was so easily broken or taken away, she took a moment to feel a thankful smile toward them with a relevance like that of a cloud to a storm.

As Breeze stared reverently at her violet wings, she began to feel a nagging tiredness prying upon her eyes. With an uncertain ease, she gave into the warming feeling of exhaustion with little thought, giving up her remaining worries, the feeling of which was like that of a mother's soft embrace accompanied with a lullaby. She decided half out of her own instinct, half out of her own will to surrender into it; softly laying her weary head onto one of Butter Crème's front legs.

As Breeze's eyes grew heavily to a close, Breeze could swear she heard a gentle wrapping of a harmonic lullaby enveloping her. In her current state, Breeze hardly gave the melody or the unnaturally obtained tiredness much thought, instead choosing to indulge upon their greed within the embrace of the candle's warming light. The darkness of night crept upon and gently grasped her into a peaceful sleep.