Valaya

Everyone has a story to tell. This is the story of how Valaya came to soar the skies of Pegasus Heights
(©SunBlind)

You open your eyes and find yourself astride a unicorn stallion floating in the sky - no, flying. A winged unicorn. You ask him where you're going, but he says nothing and so you do the one thing you can do - hold on. He was flying high above the clouds so you could see little of the ground below, which was just as well since you must be pretty high. Without warning, you begin to descend, first passing through the clouds, the flying low over the trees. Now you could see how fast you were moving, and it was fast. Should you fall.........

With a sudden stop, Elidan drops beneath the trees and lands near a pile of rocks. He indicates that you should dismount. Once on the ground, he motions towards the rocks with a forehoof. When you do nothing, he scrapes at the stone with his hooves, and then pushes you to your knees. He seems to want something from the rocks, but what it was you couldn't figure out. They look like ordinary rocks to you.

Gently you grab one and hold it out to him. He shakes his head, so you put it back. He smacks you on the back of your head with his horn. You glare at each other for a moment, then you pick up the rock and throw it away. He seems pleased, then urges you to move more rocks. Great, you find yourself in the fantasy world of your dreams and you're moving rocks for a four-legged slave-driver. Whatever happened to those sweet and gentle unicorns that rested their silken heads in maiden's laps?

More rocks. When one slipped he nearly impaled you on his horn. Fine, so he didn't want them damaged, though it was ok for you to throw them. Odd. You feel that one of them is very smooth and rounded. Looking at it you see that it was made up of swirls of blue and purple. It was beautiful and strange. It wasn't very heavy either. But you could feel Elidan breathing down you neck so you prepare to heave the pretty stone.

Elidan takes a fit. He rears up, his hooves flailing the air. Quickly you dive out of the way before the terrible horn comes crashing down. His tail swishes and he shakes his head. Seeing that you are hugging the stone to your chest, he settles down and seems to say that he's sorry. But you could see that he was still watching you carefully. This round rock must be what he wanted. You put it down, he stamps his hoof. You pick it up, he nuzzles your shoulder.

You remount with some difficulty, and with little care for your precarious predicament, he launches himself into the air. You nearly fall off as you clutch his mane with one hand, the other almost dropping the stone. Maybe its some sort of rare gem, but that's dragon lore isn't it?

Once above the clouds again you relax a little more. The ride was smooth and you felt almost safe, almost because you had no idea what this insane horse was going to do the next second. What if he figures out he has little need for pretty rocks after all. Anyway, you fly until he lands on a small cloud, probably his home. You dismount and place the egg in a small impression that he indicates. He stares at it lovingly for a long time, ignoring your presence. "Fine," you think and start to wander the edges of the cloud growing bored.

~She will be my mate.~

"What?" You spin around, knowing that Elidan never speaks. There must be another here. But no, nothing had changed. Elidan still faced away from you, gazing at his treasure.

~She will be my mate. I dreamt it.~ Elidan slowly turns towards you, his eyes soft and sad. His voice was deep, smooth and powerful though he spoke barely above a whisper. Coming close to you, he presses his head against you, his horn resting upon your shoulder. That's when the world began to spin.

When your head finally cleared, you were still on Elidan's cloud but it was now nightfall and the stallion was nowhere to be seen. The moonlight reflected of something silvery and you head over to investigate. It was where Elidan kept his special rock. Only it wasn't there anymore. Instead there was a small foal lying upon broken pieces of an egg. A blue and purple egg you realize hitting your head with your palm. No wonder Elidan got scared when you nearly threw it like the rest of the rocks.

~Her name is Valaya,~ Elidan's soft voice intoned behind your shoulder. You could see him now, slightly to your left, looking gently at the filly. He seemed little more than a ghost.

"How did it get dark so fast?" you ask. But as usual, Elidan remained silent as he watched his mate to be.

Finally, even you grew bored of watching the filly sleep. She was cute but the night was long and dark. You felt a chill on your shoulder as Elidan once more touched you there with his horn. And once again you saw the world disappear into a swirl of colours. You reach out to the stallion to stop from falling, but your hand touches nothing........

You're lying on the ground staring up at the sun. Quickly you close your eyes as you're nearly blinded. Carefully you stand up, and slowly open your eyes again. This time you're not on Elidan's cloud. You're on a much larger one with a yearling drinking from a small pool of water than had collected. Once again, no sign of Elidan.

You walk up to her, asking her name. But she continues to drink, occasionally swatting a fly with her tail. Though how she knew a butterfly had some to sit on her back, you didn't know. She flick her tail at that one. You wait until she's finished and raised her head. Once again you ask her name, but she looks right through you and then turns away.

~She cannot see you, this is merely a dream,~ Elidan whispers as though she might hear him anyway. Then you realized that you had travelled through time, and that this was Valaya much older then when you last saw her. She sniffs the air and her little feet prance about the cloud as if she were dancing. The ghostly form of Elidan begins to dance with her, and soon they were in step.

After a while, Elidan returns to face you. Just as he was about to place his horn upon your shoulder, Valaya suddenly looks towards you and Elidan and she seems to smile at him, although you know that can not be. The last thing you see is that lovely smile before the vortex sweeps you up again in its whirling madness.

This time you were standing. At least until your legs gave way and you sat down hard, or at least as hard as was possible considering one was on a cloud. You look about and sure enough. There was Valaya, now a young filly, almost a mare. She was standing facing away from you, staring up at the stars. She seemed to stare for hours, as if she were watching their movements across the skies. You ask Elidan, who materialized after you, what she sees, but he doesn't respond, lost in his own thoughts.

And so you stare at the stars with the two pegasi. Now that's not something you'd believe if someone told you that one day you would find yourself on a cloud. After a while, you began to see the stars as you never had before. Suddenly all the infinite spaces and the unknown voids made sense. The movements, so complicated, and yet so simple. Stars, systems, galaxies, time and consciousness all melted into one. But the feeling only lasted a moment. But at least you knew that the world really did make sense, in a senseless way. And that magic could be found in your own backyard, should one dare look for it.

Once again you look up at the stars, only to see one streak across the sky. As it passed overhead, the tip of Valaya's horn seemed to glow. Where her horn touched the night, a new star was born. How beautiful you thought. Elidan must be proud of his mate's powers. You wonder if they've met yet. You haven't seen his future self anywhere.

And it seemed as if you were not going to this night either. Once more you felt the heavy weight of the stallions horn upon your back, the stars themselves massed together the flew by you at impossible speeds. Then all was dark.

When you woke up, something felt different. The air seemed fresher, the cloud beneath you cooler. It was like as if up till now you had been a ghost, just like Elidan, and that now you had solidified once more. You wait a bit, with no pegasi in sight. And you wait, and you wait. You decide to walk. You walk till up come to a large mound of cloud. With a smile on your face you plow right through it.

When your sight clears, you discover Elidan is standing with his mate, neither of them aware of your presence. Valaya is now an adult.

Are you in the present or the future? You can't really tell anymore, and maybe it really doesn't matter. You take a last look at the loving pair and silently thank the gentle stallion for your journey through time.

As you turn to leave, you hear for the last time, Elidan's beautiful silken voice saying, ~Thank you.........~

Statistics:
Name: Valaya
Gender: Female
Age: Adult
Sire: Katana
Dam: Elylla
Mate: Elidan
Offspring: None

Text © SunBlind
Silver Unicorns © Silvanon
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