Her Rising Dawn

Part 16- She Doesn't Care

It was mid-morning when I came back to Crystalia. The bat was hot on my heels as I stumbled back with trembling legs. I was gasping, wheezing, sweating and panting. The thoughts were so much now, I barely let myself breathe. I burst into the castle with gusto and ran inside. A guard stopped me suddenly.

"Princess Kat, where have you been?" he asked. I shrank back with flushed cheeks. "Where is my family?" I asked back, ignoring his question. The guard looked around. "They left Crystalia 4 hours ago back to krewdom. Apparently the castle there has been rebuilt," he replied. I nodded shakily. "How am I supposed to return?" I panted. The guard smiled. "No worries, Queen Kim has left you a horse to return, I'll show you the stables." I bowed. "Thank you a lot," I said. "Please tell Queen Kim that I'm in her debt. She had done so much for me, and I don't know how to repay her." The guard laughed. "No worries Princess Kat. Now follow me."

The guard led me to the stables, where dozens of perfectly groomed ponies lined the walls in small stalls. I grimaced at their sleek, perfect stature. I'd rather pick the dirtiest, ugliest and most disgusting horse than those stupid ponies who I think don't even know how to ride away.

"The horse is over there," said the guard, pointing to the far corner. A brown horse was there, with shiny fur and white spots. He was dirty, but at least he wasn't like those prim ponies. The name on his stall was 'Cocoa.'

"Cocoa," I repeated. "As in the krewdom's messenger horse?" The guard nodded. "Yes, I believe so," he replied. I bowed again. "Thank you so much. I'll find time to repay you back," I said. The guard tipped his hat and left. I hopped onto Cocoa's back and grabbed the reins. "Let's go!" I yelled. Cocoa reared back and galloped off eagerly like speed.

The fresh morning air blew in my face and I cheered as me and Cocoa raced through the familiar path back home. Home. What a beautiful word. But my smile faded when I realized the bat was still following me. "Faster Cocoa faster!" I commanded. Cocoa ran at top speed but the bat continued. I gave up eventually. There was no point trying if the bat wasn't gonna give up.

The 3 of us galloped into the lands of krewdom once more. I admired the landscape before me, it had been ages since I last saw the kingdom. An hour or 2 so, we were back at the castle. It was rebuilt to the same structure as before, and I breathed in the sweet scent of flower perfume. Ahhh nature. 

I hopped off Cocoa and stroked his brown chocolate-like mane. "Thanks Cocoa," I whispered, my fingers trailing through the small strands of fur. I offered him a sugar cube as a reward and his wet, square toothed mouth chomped it up. Once I led him back to his stall- with extra hay and water- I headed inside.

I walked inside the castle and entered the throne room, which was recreated to how it looked like in the beginning. Gold was seated in her throne, reading a scroll in her hand. Rainbow sat on the carpeted floor tracing circles over and over her palm. Gold noticed me and glared at me. Not very nice of her huh.  Lunar gasped and rushed over to me, throwing her arms around me and giving me a very big embrace. Nice to know that SOMEONE is glad that I'm back.

"Oh Funneh you're back!" cried Rainbow, looking up from the ground. "When you weren't in bed this morning, I figured...I thought that..." Her voice trailed off into a happy squeak. Lunar patted my back. "It's good that you're home. With the bad things evolving, I expected the worse!" 

Then that was when they saw the bat flitting near me. "Woah did you make a friend or something?" asked Rainbow, reaching for him. The bat squeaked and nuzzled her fingers, maybe the bat wasn't that bad at all. I sighed. "It's a long story." Lunar made herself comfortable on the floor. "Share it then!" she said.

And I did. I shared about my journey, the manor, the monsters. The bat perched on my shoulder as it cocked it's head, as if it was paying attention too. "-and the fire, remember? It didn't kill anyone, Draco's army was growing. We're outnumbered!" I finished. Lunar squealed, Rainbow gaped, the bat hid under my hair, Gold was just being silent still. "That doesn't explain the bat though," pointed out Lunar, gesturing to the fluffy creature on my shoulder. "I was spotted by the bat, and I ran," I said. I sugarcoated the fact about Draco sending it to me to spy on me. The last thing I needed was them freaking out. "So you did get answers right?" pressed Rainbow. "Did you did you did you?"