Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-2601:647:4000:5CE0:FC5C:33DA:7CF0:60A-20191024050134/@comment-2601:647:4000:5CE0:8150:45BD:7FCB:5331-20191026181610

Ch 2.

"They're at the Sanctuary?" Sophie shouted over the whistling wind. She recognized the familiar surroundings, and the enormous silver gates in the distance. She tromped through the knee deep crunching snow, Keefe following her. Sophie squinted over the flurry of snow, trying to make sense of the shadows surrounding her.

Places to hide.

"Yep," Keefe said behind her, breaking Sophie out of her trance. "The Council set up a special pasture for Glitter Butt and Shimmer Booty. And guess who convinced them to bring Sparkle Tushie Number 1 and Sparkle Tushie Number 2? Yours truly, of course!" He flipped his thumbs at himself as if he were flipping suspenders, making gun shapes with his hands.

"Shimmer Booty?" Sophie snorted, even though cold wind was striking her cheeks. "Is that your new name for Greyfall?"

"Hey, you didn't want it," Keefe told her. "So I awarded it to Greyfall. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That you're ridiculous? Yes," Sophie smirked. Keefe snickered.

"That's not what I meant. You think Greyfall will like it?"

"He'll probably keep it forever, no matter how much I disapprove," Sophie sighed. Keefe pumped a fist and whooped. Sophie supressed a smile, imagining what Grady would say if he were here. Probably something about the irresponsibility of That Boy. Just thinking about it made Sophie want to roll her eyes, but instead she strode up to the gate and stared at it intently.

One hundred and seventy two seconds ticked past until the gates swung open, and an elf with tangled hair and sharp features emerged to greet them. Jurek's tone was as husky as ever as he beckoned at him, saying, "Took you long enough."

"We had a small mishap," Keefe informed him. "But we're fine now. How's the Twinkle Hide family?" Sophie had to roll her eyes at his nicknames, but took a relieved breath when Jurek assured them that the alicorns were fine. He led them past sapphire blue lakes and emerald green hills,  peppered with flowers as colorful as opals. Shady trees with graceful topaz limbs drooped their leaves on grazing animals. The sky was an illusion, but was clear blue and looked so real Sophie wanted to believe it. And lastly, at the very back, grazing upon the soft purple blossoms of three large hilly fields, were Silveny, Greyfall, Wynn, and Luna.

''SOPHIE! KEEFE! KEEFE! FRIEND! VISIT! KEEFE! BABY! BABY! KEEFE! KEEFE! KEEFE! KEEFE!''

Babies, Sophie corrected, laughing as the adorable and gangly Wynn and Luna rushed onto her and licked her face until Sophie figured she was going to die. But then Wynn raced off to nuzzle Keefe, who was stroking Silveny, and Greyfall let Sophie stroke him. He pressed his velvet nose to her cheek, whinnying softly. Luna was more ecstatic, bounding around and shaking her pearly body, ruffling her cute wings.

''FWIEND! SOPHWIE! KWEEFE! KWEEFE! MAMA! ''Luna explained to her, still more hyper than Amy when she was five years old and had eaten too much candy the day after Halloween. Still, Sophie had to smile at Luna's attempts at pronouncing the Enlightnened Language. Silveny switched over to dive bombing Sophie, along with Wynn, as Greyfall and Luna trotted up to Keefe.

''MISS! MISS! SOPHIE! FRIEND! ''Silveny told her.

I missed you too, Sophie told the alicorn.

''FWIEND! MAMA! DADDY! GWITTER BUTT! SPWARKLE TUSHWIE! SHWIMMER HIWDE! ''Wynn told her, bouncing around and flapping his blue tipped wings.

''FLY! FLY! FLY! ''Silveny told her, dive bombing under Sophie so she toppled onto Silveny's back. Sophie had just enough time to grab Silveny's mane when all four alicorns took off, Keefe clutching Greyfall's neck. Wynn and Luna flittered around their parents as Silveny and Greyfall made big dips and stunning swirls, manuevering gracefully to a stop on the shores of soft velvety flowers.

''SWOPHIE! VWISIT! SWOOM! KWEEFE! KWEEFE! KWEEFE!'' Wynn and Luna bounced around as Silveny and Greyfall gently nudged their children to their sides, nuzzling Sophie and Keefe as they left the Sanctuary. Sophie felt her heart ache- she missed the alicorns so much. Another part of it was not for focusing on Tam and playing around with glittery winged horses instead. The last part was selfish- she wanted those stupid boy problems to go away. Crushes were overrated.

Sophie hugged Keefe as she leaped away with her home crystal, arriving just as Grady was training with a new flareadon in the pastures. Sophie had named her Rumi, due to her sleek elegence and delicate tail that swished like a phoenix every time she flew. Rumi happily snapped up the veggie treats Grady was tossing her. Sophie went over to stroke the giddy flareadon. Hello, Sophie said kindly. In response, Rumi sent her images of happy flareadons and snatched up the newest treat. Sophie laughed.

"Hey, kiddo," Grady said, pausing his treat-flinging. "Back so soon?"

"Yeah," Sophie said, thankful Grady wasn't on overprotective dad mode. She slipped inside, where a batch of brattails, starkflower stew, and chocolate strawberry custard busts were waiting. Biana was sitting there, looking slightly sheepish.

"Hi," she said carefully to the perfectly dressed brunette. Biana's hair fell in thick locks down her pale face. Her teal eyes glistened and she wore a green and silver dress with leggings and heels. It seemed like Biana was mourning. Her cheeks were slightly wet, and she nodded back.

"You're wondering why I'm here," Biana said after a stretch of silence. "Just... have you reached out to Tam yet?" Sophie explained the details and gave Biana Tam's message. Biana's whole face glistened and the tears vanished. She smiled broadly, and then the grin faded when she noticed Sophie's face. "What's wrong?"

Sophie sat down slowly and reached for a brattail. She chewed on the tuber thoughtfully before spilling.

"Biana... I'm unmatchable."

"What?" Biana asked, nearly dropping her half eaten custard bust.

It didn't hurt as much as before, but her chest felt tight as she nodded, spooning stew into her bowl. "I'm sorry," Biana said softly.

"It's all right," Sophie said, her voice thick. "And I feel guilty when Linh's worrying so much about Tam, and I'm fussing over Fitz breaking up with me because of the Vacker legacy... whoops."

"MY BROTHER DID WHAT?" Biana screeched. Her eyes glinted as she patted Sophie on the shoulder. "Don't worry, after this I will find him, drop him like I do in tackle bramble, and then kill him several times." Sophie felt her lips curl into a slight smirk.

"Anyways," Biana continued, "I feel like we haven't really talked like friends in ages. So how about we do splotching?" Sophie smiled as Biana narrowed her eyes at a brattail. The tuber floated up and threw itself on Sophie.

Telekinesis.

Sophie caught it with her mind, swiveled it, before snatching it out of the air and stuffing it into her mouth. She swallowed, beckoning for Biana to follow as they raced into the pastures.

Several hours later, Biana was covered head to toe in colorful paint, while several slashes of color had grazed Sophie's skin. Both friends were laughing, sprawled upon the cool grass. Sophie used her mind to toss a splotcher from one hand to the other.

Suddenly the flashbacks hit her.

Sophie screamed, doubling up as she felt cool hands press to her temples, the migrane nearly splitting her skull. She swayed back and forth, groaning as she clutched her temples, which were throbbing with the force of a thunderstorm. She felt cool, slender hands dig into the flesh at the base of her neck, but no pain was triggered. The numbness of her brain spread to her whole body, as a shard of memory resurfaced.

Green eyes.

​​​​​​​The monster that had been banished was back, screaming and tearing at her brain with its claws. But all that mattered were the eyes.

Green.

Green.

Green.

Irises.

Pupils.

Wide.

Scared.

Frightened, even.

Because they would never be the same.