Beautiful Lies

Dreamer - Chapter 4

Pea's eyes fluttered open into a world of stars as she floated in the middle of the sky. She was very confused but she spotted a floating garden of beautiful wild flowers in the distance. Taking a wide leap she landed onto the surface and she was finally grounded. In the air were bright sparkling stars and a sea of blackness with purple and blue hues. The grass and flowers around her were vibrant and full of life, they flowed even though no wind was around to push them.

Suddenly Pea saw a figure leap down to her with sparkling white skin, its eyes were a lively purple. Gaining a full view of the creature she noticed it was a graceful but smaller white unicorn with a flowing mane of stars. It trotted delicately over to her its eyes glowing and gazing deeply in Pea's. The utter beauty of this creature left Pea in a frozen state, it stunned her as it bowed gently to her.

Coming back up from its bow the creature spoke in a feminine voice, "Blue eyed one you are in grave danger in the land you stay."

Pea stumbled backward with fear, "What do you mean?"

"Your destiny is of grave importance, I've seen it but in the path that you stay where you are you die" The female unicorn spoke in a deep tone, "You and your herd must move to the magic island of Auroe, it is protected by a magical force field that keeps Death and his fiends out! However it cannot save the entire world, that is where you come in."

The young cream horse let out a scared whine, "How do I get there, why am I so important? I have so many questions!"

"Unfortunately my dear we don't have time, but I await your visit. Listen to my instructions carefully, you must get to the island!" The unicorn declared while using its horn to project a map, "Follow the stars that look like a bird, under it is our kingdom but you must not tell for Death's minions might tell. During the day head towards where the wind takes you, Queen Sunshine will be guiding you from above. When you arrive at the island you must search for me, Star, it will not be easy but I will take you to the Buraq and we will find your destiny!"

The unicorn began to fade back into space, its sparkling skin turning into the stars behind her. Pea raced across trying to find the beautiful unicorn Star once again but she had faded out into the black. She had too many questions just to have her leave so quickly, she had so much she wanted to know. The darkness began to envelope her as well and soon enough the young horse awoken to the real world.

******

Pea shot her head up heaving in air through her sides, that was one of the most lucid dreams she ever had. Around her, her herd was already awake and they gave her gazes of fear and confusion. In the mess she stumbled onto her legs and hobbled over to them as her mother Freya stood tall staring against the wind. Her eyes told of grave danger and worry, but Pea had no idea what was going on in her head. Leaning into Freya's side Pea attempted to comfort her worried mother, the tall horse nuzzled her daughter with one of assurance.

"Pea is everything alright you were whimpering and mumbling things in your sleep!" Socks greeted her with a worried gaze.

The young cream horse attempted to stand tall, "I'm fine I just had a very wild dream."

"I too had a dream my sweet pea, I believe one of great importance" Freya claimed while digging her hoof into the ground.

"I think mine was important too! I saw a unicorn with a flowing starry mane!" Pea yelled in excitement.

Freya nudged her lightly, "Shush, you must not be so loud..."

"Sorry mom..." Pea apologized while lowering her head.

The wind pushed roughly against their flanks and Pea could feel a certain courage to follow it, as if she were certain it's what she had to do. Socks and Melody meanwhile hesitated looking to Freya for her approval on if they should continue or not. A heated sun hung above then burning into their hides as well, it made Pea even more impatient to go. However they all proceeded to wait for Freya's answer, and suddenly her eyes went wide with fear.

Staring off Pea gazed in the direction where her mother had been looking, and there in front of them were the two Freybugs in the flesh. Their scaley skin and sharp teeth was so much bigger up close, and Pea could feel herself tremble with fright. They let out two wide grins which bared their terribly huge jaws, so deadly and terrible. Socks began to back off unable to stand his ground, he began to sprint off into the distance.

"The weak one is getting away!" The red eyed Dementra snarled.

Illusieo nipped Dementra on the ear, "Silence brother, we're here for the one with blue eyes..."

Freya stood in front of her daughter with a fierce glare in her eyes and a puffed out chest. There was no way that Freya was going to let them take Pea, and that's what scared Pea the most. Attempting to protest her mothers bravery the younger horse bumped in front of her but Freya simply nipped her back with a deep snarl. Her mother meant business, the nip on her neck hurt more than her mother ever actually ever did.

"Well, looks like we a have a brave girl don't we little pony!" Dementra taunted Freya with glowing eyes.

Freya lowered her head in aggression, "Do not call me a pony, I am far from a little horse. I will snap your neck and wear your skull as a trophy!"

Illusieo snickered barring his fangs at the large female horse, "Give us that blue eyed one, and we will leave..."

"Over my dead body!" Freya hissed at the vile creatures.

"Fine have it your way!" Dementra leaped at Freya his huge body latching onto Freya's side.

Pea's mother let out a howl of fury and pain while bucking the creature off of her, it hit the ground hard with spattering blood. The second one lunged for an attack and Freya sent it flying with a thundering kick to the head, a crack was heard when the impact landed on it. Once Illusieo was temporarily disoriented Freya leaped onto Dementra stomping her hooves aggressively into its chest breaking through the rough scales. Pea in horror took a few steps back but gathered courage to help her mom, but before she was able to jump in her mother gave her a fierce glare.

"Pea, run!" Her mother screeched throwing Illusieo flying once again before he had a chance to reach Pea.

Pea stomped her hooves, "I'm not leaving you!"

Dementra attempted to slice at Pea's neck but Freya saved her, "My sweet Pea, you must survive do it for me. We will not be able to fight them off, please!"

Pea's mother gave her a pleading gaze as if she were about to cry and Pea gazed at the scene with terror. Knocking back the monsters once again Freya nuzzled the side of her daughter lovingly and then sent her off with a sharp nip on the ear. In hesitance Pea raced off to where Socks had ran and so did her friend Melody. The fighting could be heard from a long shot away but Pea dared not look back. The pounding of her hooves kept her going with Melody not far behind her. Suddenly a cut off screech was heard of her mother and Pea stopped dead in her tracks.

Melody urged her to keep going but the sound shut her entire body off as she glared back at the scene as the two devil dogs had Freya's neck in their jaws. Her entire heart felt as if it were ripped in half, and Pea was stuck as if time were moving so slowly in watching her mother die. The crack echoed for what seemed to be miles and Pea trembled in her knees weakly. How could she have let this happen? Lowering her head in shock and disbelief she glared at the ground in hopelessness.

A sharp pain landed into her side as Melody kicked her back into the moment, she needed to keep running. Trying to cut off her brain she kept going with emotions flooding into her mind. Tears flew past her cheeks as they proceeded to sprint as fast as their legs could carry them. After what seemed like an eternity they reached Socks whose eyes were still wide with terror.

As if the male horse didn't have a brain he blurted out loud, "Where is Freya?"

Melody shot Socks a menacing glare as if she were about to kill him herself, but Pea could not collect her thoughts. Safely out of sight of the Freybugs Pea lowered her head in defeat. She did not carry the courage within her to keep going, a wallop was done to her heart and she was lost. What was she supposed to do without Freya?

"Socks we must keep moving, Pea you must lead the way please you need to keep going!" Melody whispered aggressively.

Pea lied on the ground staring at the dust, "I can't..."

"Pea, you need to!" The mule rose her voice to a near shout, "This is not a matter of just going along, if you don't get up the world will die!"

The cream horse snapped at her, "So what if the world is gone? My mother is dead, because you were all too cowardly to help her! She died because I wasn't strong enough, and because I stopped in that field to rest."

"No, that's no-" Melody attempted to comfort her but was interrupted.

"It should have been me! All of the horses who died, they could all be alive if they just gave me up!" Pea screamed bursting into tears.

Socks lowered his head sadly, "Pea do you remember when I lost my family in that attack...?"

The cream horse sniffled, "Yes..."

"I blame myself every day for not being there, for not being strong enough" The grey horse spoke softly, "I keep going because I know that they would want me to live, and Pea I know that Freya would do anything for you. She wants you to keep going because she loved you with all her heart, and if you stop now all of that would have been in vain."

Pea hesitated for a moment but raised her head, "You're right, we need to follow the wind during the day. During the night we follow the stars, that's where we need to go"

Even though Pea was not enthusiastic about going forward she took a heavy step forward anyway. Her friends accepted that it was the best she could do, she kept moving with a pained head and lost hooves. Her tired body carried her absent of any strive or motivation, all she could think about was Freya. All she wanted was to have her mother back, the only thing that kept her going was being in denial. Some sort of thought in her brain gave her strength because she wanted to believe that she would see her again even though she was gone. That's not how death works however, Pea wasn't new to the concept but she needed something to cling onto.

The night came quickly as they trudged through the dirt and they arrived upon a vast jungle as if it had been untouched. Melody and Socks shared glances of hope and delight, but Pea's expression stayed rather blank. A jungle only meant more to fight through, she knew it wasn't really much of hope at all. They leaped through the leaves and wide foliage into a world they haven't seen before. On the trees there were scattered species of geckos and bugs, all of them throwing in beautiful colors towards their eyes.

With the crew tired from exhaustion they settled down underneath some large leaves that hidden their bodies. Even though they were in the safety of well made cover Pea couldn't help but stir underneath the night. Her friends fell asleep quickly and their light snores could be heard surrounding her. It wasn't a lovely thing to be the only one awake, but exhaustion caught up with her and she finally gave in. Pea's body began to fall into slumber regardless of what Pea wanted. It shut down completely.