Double Rainbow

Avery-9

My knees knock together and I feel nervous, walking down the old paths. It's already two, almost three days in and I'm just getting here. I feel about to cry as I walk up to the giant, almost stationary cloud. It's moved around the mountain somewhat, but otherwise, my home is the exact same as it was.

"I don't want to." I murmur softly. "I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to." I want to turn back, to hop on the back of Mirage (the nice Dragonfly Canira who brought me here) and fly back home.

I let my wings slowly lift me upwards. I flap once, twice, and spiral up faster and faster, struggling against the still, limp air. I pant and land firmly on my cloud home.

If I can even call it that anymore.

For some dumb reason, I always imagined that when I came back, Shine would be the first to see me and my mom and dad would protect me from whatever else others might say about that horn. Nervously, I cover it up with fluffy pink fur. Now it looks like I have the world's weirdest head growth.

I ignore it and walk forwards. Feeling nervous I pick up my pace a bit. I hear footsteps, muffled by the cloud but still loud and clear, and I run, my wings making a racket as they flap as I restrain myself from getting up and flying away. I slide on the cloud and the figure comes up behind me. It's a young Pegasus Canira, a male with milky but wise eyes.

He looks at me for a while, and says, "Come."

Something about him feels safe and familiar. Like a forlorn pup following her mom, I trot after him, scared but strong. We stop at where the formations of cloud begin, the city. It was only a few minute's walk but it felt like longer.

"I can't go any further." he murmurs, and a tear hits the cloud, staining it red.

Confused, I look up at his eyes and see there are none. There's nothing but empty holes, black where the exposed flesh would've been. "Who... who are you?" I say, scared.

He lifts up his wings. His wings are broken. "Not all of us are lucky enough to survive the fall, sister. Stop them before it becomes too late."

I walk into the city without him. When I turn back, he's gone. Disappeared into mist. He's... gone.

I walk to the only place I know, my old den. A familiar face greets me, my dad. He stares at me, looking straight at the horn, which must've been revealed while I ran.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Avery. Your daughter." He doesn't recognize me. No, he has to. Maybe this isn't him. My dad has to recognize me.

"It... is..." He looks at me, inspecting every patch of fur. "No. My daughter is a Pegasus Canira. Not a Unicorn Canira."

"I have wings! Look!" I cry, opening them and embracing him with them.

He swings his claws across the wingtips. "You are a monster. Get away from us before I kill you. You are not my daughter and if you are I don't want you back."

"Daddy! Please!" Tears stream down my face.

My father slashes the wings again, bloody feathers falling on the floor. "GET OUT!"

I run out of the old den and bump into another Pegasus Canira, a female about the age I was when I left, eleven.

"Hello missus. I'm Cloud Dust, who are you?"

"I'm Avery. Can you take me to the leader of the Pegasus Canira?"

"Of course, missus."

She bounds across the clouds, and we reach a ladder that reaches up higher and higher, a gateway to the stars made out of whispy steps of cirrus. I walk up them. "Thank you!" I call to Cloud Dust, and then I move on.