A Place Without Aideen's Light - Chapter 4.

(Úplně jsem zapomněla, že jsem to ještě nedopřeložila tssk :/.)

The sun was slowly getting closer to the horison, as Ziggy returned to the Mystic's territorry. Few horses looked up as she stomped through the grass, but it seemed that her dissapearance went unnoticed. Everyone was already used to her playing Hide and Seek with the squirrels and sometimes her play lead her to various places.

The filly leaned down to bite some grass. She heared footsteps behind her. "Willow!" she smiled. She liked the older mare. She knew that Willow joined the herd when she was younger, but Ziggy wasn't even born then. She only knew Willow as a Mystic and couldn't imagine her as anything else.

The older mare's gray-brown fur glistened under the setting sun and the light from mushrooms tangled in her mane grew in intensity. "How was your day, little one?" she asked with a smile. The filly whipped her tail and started happily talking about the Hide and Seek with the squirrels. She knew that Willow would surely believe her.

But she shook her head. "I know you weren't at the Sentinel Tree today. The squirrels chirped about your disappearance. But I think no one else heard them." Ziggy lowered her ears. "So tell me, where did your journey lead you?"

The gray filly knew she could trust the mare. Ziggy lay down on the grass and told her about the strange snowy place, where the big horses with long teeth used to live. She wasn't sure whether to share the experience with the green portal, but she wanted to tell Willow about the blue squirrel who helped them.

Willow nodded her head silently. "You were right not to let Athena go through. The other side of the portal hides terrible things. A secret dimension, that no horse from the Wild Woods should ever enter."

"And the Gray-Worlders can?"

"Usually not. Many of them are also scared, but some are intrigued. The place is colorful, bright and mysterious and some want to see, what it looks like. But dark powers rule over the land and Aideen's light can't reach it."

Ziggy flicked her ears. To this day she'd never heared of a place that even Aideen herself couldn't look over. Everyone said that even in the Gray World, her life-giving light still shone to help lost souls find their way.

"So nobody ever goes there?"

"I can't say that's true. Some brave souls of the Gray World go there and try to rid the land of those dark forces that rule over it."

Willow ruffled the little filly's blue mane with her nose. "You shouldn't go there. At least not for now. Brave humans from the Gray World have more knowledge about how to survive there. We could never do that. Something always happens and changes in their world. We're not built for these changes."

Ziggy threw her mane to the other side and nodded. "Athena was interested in that place. I think she would like to explore it someday."

"Warrior souls dream of adventure and journeys full of mystery.  They'd rather see things with their on eyes than think and wonder and daydream like we do. Let's hope her bravery leads her just where she'd like to end up. Your friendship is a strange one and technically against the rules... but it's not an unusual one"

Willow smiled. "I won't tell anyone about it, don't worry. Just try to keep both of you away from the snowy valley. The blue squirrel might not appear a second time."

The gray filly nodded again and laid her head on the ground. Now that she'd heard all this from Willow, she really wondered who would be so brave to visit the other side of the portal. Could that weird human, who dresses just like their horse, be one of them? If she left with one of the Gray-Worlders... could she see the place too?

She'd never considered leaving the Wild Woods, and this too was likely just a passing fantasy... But for just a moment she thought about one day becoming one of the brave beings to cross the threshold of a different reality. Fripp, the cosmic being, that looks like a squirrel, would be her guardian and hopefully she'd find a human to carry along too. Maybe even Athena would come with her...

They were all just innocent childish dreams. Before she gets to make that kind of decision, many years will pass. Until then she can just wait, talk to squirrels and hopefully continue the secret meetings with Athena. But most importantly she will keep her distance from that strange entrance to another world.

A Place Without Aideen's Light - Chapter 3.

 Ziggy galloped through the snow. Her hooves left deep prints in it. She ran after Athena, who was jumping around and neighed happily. "Come have a look at it!"

"...What is that?" Ziggy asked, weirded out. Athena found a very strange thing. In the middle of a snowy plain, there was a purple structure with a bright green spiral spinning at its heart. The gray filly shivered. She didn't quite know what she was looking at, but she had a bad feeling about it. 

But Athena seemed to be of a different opinion. She trotted closer to the structure and lifted her hoof. "I wonder what it will do when I touch it..."

"Athena, don't be silly! You said we would only take a look!"

But the filly didn't listen to her companion. She stretched her hoof towards the green spiral. Ziggy suddenly felt chilly. Athena's hoof touched the cold emptiness and it was slowly getting lost in it. "It leads to somewhere," the filly whispered. Ziggy rolled her eyes. "Great, that means we can go now!"

"I want to see what's there!"

"No! Something bad could happen!"

However, Athena fearlessly continued. After a short while, her entire leg was on the other side. Ziggy panicked, and so she decided to do the first thing that came to mind. She bit her friend's tail as hard as she could. "What are you doing? I'll just have a look and go right back!"

"What's going on?" The mysterious voice echoed through the valley. Athena stopped in her tracks and Ziggy finally managed to pull her further from the portal. "Don't go closer to that thing!" the voice thundered again and now the brown filly stepped away too.

A strange creature emerged from behind a snowy bush. One would perhaps dare to call it a squirrel, if it weren't for the blue fur. "Get away from that portal while you still can." Ziggy and Athena both froze in surprise when they realised that the mysterious voice indeed belonged to this blue squirrel.

Ziggy made a few steps closer and neighed in delight. "I've never met a squirrel that could speak horsish! He's bilingual, just like me!"

"I'm not a squirrel," the strange guest stomped in disagreement. "I'm a cosmic being far beyond your understanding!"

"...But you look like a squirrel."

The blue creature could not argue with that. He made a few circles in the white snow and then he chirped: "My name is Fripp." The foals introduced themsleves to the non-squirrel as well. Then he straightened his back and looked right at them with his dark gleaming eyes. "This is no place for foals. Especially not with this portal in the middle of everything. I should go back to rest soon, I'm still sick... But I think I should take you back to your herd. Come on, let's go."

Fripp's paws left tiny footprints in the snow and Athena and Ziggy trotted after him. "You shouldn't go back there ever again. That portal leads to a dangerous place." Ziggy nodded in agreement, but Athena was visibly disappointed.

When they finally reached the ned of the narrow path, Fripp stopped. "This is where I'm going to leave you. I can't go any further, I must get back to my rest. Good luck and take care." Athena and Ziggy climbed out of the passage and said their last goodbye to Fripp. But he was already gone. The only thing that remained were tiny squirrel footprints.

A Place Without Aideen's Light

 (A fanfiction for Star Stable Online)

A Place Without Aideen's Light

Chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Chapter 3.

Chapter 4.

A Place Without Aideen's Light - Chapter 2.

 "Where did you guys get the branches that stick out of the ground on your territory?" Ziggy asked. She met Athena again. This time the brown filly came after her to the Mystic's territory.

"Those aren't branches. They're teeth!"

"You're pulling my leg!" Ziggy squealed. "No animal has such big, long teeth!"

Athena's eyes sparkled. She was happy she knew something her friend didn't and she was prepared to share her wisdom. "Not anymore. But long time ago, big horses walked along these paths, and these horses had long teeth. And before them there were even bigger horses. And they had horns. Their heads were as big as an adult Warrior."

Zigg flicked her ears. She didn't know that anyone was there before the herd that later separated into Foresters, Warriors and Mystics. Athena continued. "They were only passing through. They were leaving the nothern lands because of the cold... and maybe something else, too!" Ziggy meekly lowered her ears, "What else were they running from?"

Athena shook her head. "I don't know. But my mom said that there is something they were afraid of." The filly slowly leaned towards her friend. "I know how to get there. We could go find out!" Ziggy frowned. "If our big ancestors were afraid of it, how could we defend ourselves against it? No, we're not going there!"

"We'll just take a look. We won't fight anything!"

The grey filly shook her head stubbornly. "It's too dangerous, Athena. We're just foals!"

The brown filly stomped her hoof. "What else was I expecting from a Mystic, right? I should have known. Only Warriors have the courage to stand against our ancestors' enemies. I'll go alone."

Ziggy wouldn't have minded what she said. She was used to the other herds teasing them after all. Everybody beamed with pride at the traits of their kin and frowned upon traditions of others. But it scared her that the filly said she owuld head to the place alone. What if she got lost? Injured?

Athena trotted up the hill, following the narrow path that lead back to her herd. Her brown fur blended in with her surroundings so she was practically invisible. Not that she needed it, the Mystics were far too occupied with their own thoughts. They wouldn't notice the Warrior foal that entered their territory. 

"Athena, wait!" Ziggy called out and galloped after her. "You can't go alone! What if something happens? I'll go with you!"

The brown filly smiled proudly. She knew she could convince her friend. Both of them looked around carefully, making sure nobody saw them, and headed towards the Warriors' territory. Out of there, they would be on their way towards the ancient lands of horses with long teeth.

When Athena felt sand crushing under her hooves, she flicked her ears, making sure no Warrior was near. She knew they had to mainly avoid Guards that protected path leading out of camp. But the one they were headed for was abandoned and unguarded. Why wouldn't it be? It was narrow, winding and covered in snow. Nobody wanted to go through here.

"It's getting cold out here," Ziggy whispered. The path got narrower and more crooked, but the freezing wind still found its way in. "That means we're getting closer," Athena answered and continued to stubbornly trot towards the mysterious cold place.

Ziggy's feet kept sinking into snow. The narrow path opened up into a giant snowy valley. The thick freezing mist tickled the filly in her nostrils. They reached their destination. "This place is bigger than I anticipated," Athena mumbled. Her brown striped fur didn't fit in to the snowy place at all. It almost looked like from a different world...

"This is the Gray World, right?" Athena nodded. "We're too far from our territory. We're definitely in Gray World."

Ziggy stepped forward carefully. The Mystics had told her about the places beyond her homeland, especially after the friendly horse and his human, who both dressed the same, stomped into their green pastures. She'd always thought the Gray World would be different. That she'd meet way more horses and humans. But there was only white wasteland with barren trees in fron of her.

"Wow, Ziggy, come look what I found!"

A Place Without Aideen's Light - Chapter 1.

 (Poslední dobou dělám hodně přeložených příběhů, ale dělám to jenom protože tyhle fandomy moc aktivních Čechů nemají :D.)

 Calm silence loomed over Mystic's territory. Members of the herd lay in grass between all the purple flowers and contemplated. The squirrels in the treetops chirped happily.

Under a grown redwood tree sat a grey filly with a blue mane. Three sqealing squirrels circled around her hooves. The filly argued with them stubbornly. She was pretty proud of herself. Not even a year old and she already learned a foreign languague all by herself! Only thanks to that did she have any friends among Mystics at all.

She dreamed of becoming a squirrel. She knew, of course, that it wouldn't be possible, but she wanted to get closer to her friends. The other Mystics were all far too old to play with her, so the only ones to run between the redwoods with her were the squirrels. If she didn't have these dumb hooves, she would even climb the trees with them.

She'd actually tried it a few times already, but the branches were too high up for her to reach them. And so she had to sit underneath and watch her friends swing back and forth in the treetops.

The three squirrels climed up the redwood and the filly found herself alone. They liked talking to her, but watching the world from such height was more fun. The foal was upset. She wanted to go after them. She wanted to see what it's like up there.

Her blue mane fell into her face, but she determinedly continues trotting up a hill. She thought that if she climbed higher, maybe she could find a better spot to get onto some branch. She found a big stone sticking out ot the terrain and she trotted onto it. There was a thick redwood branch right under her. "That one could easily carry me..." the filly mumbled to herself and reached out with her hoof.

"This was a terrible idea," the filly said. The branch did indeed support her weight ad she even managed to get to a different one, and another one. But one of these branches suddenly creaked and cracked under her hooves. The filly found herself dangling above the ground and praying to Aideen herself, that she won't break anything.

At last, the branch broke and the filly fell onto a hazel bush. Luckily she was fine. All of her four legs were as agile and quick as ever. As she was making sure she is indeed fine, dry sand crunched under her hooves. We don't have sand like that on our territory... she thought nervously. That meant that her journey through the treetops lead her to a different herd's land.

"Hey, what are you doing here?!" The filly heard hoof clatter and looked around. Out of the cloud of dust emerged a young brown striped filly around her age. She was slightly relieved. She expected to stumble upon an adult.

"What are you doing here? You're not a Warrior!" the filly whinnied and flicked her tail. The other filly lowered her ears. "I got lost. I was climbing trees and then fell down."

"Of course you fell down! You have hooves and no way to grip! You must be very stupid!"

The grey filly frowned and shook her head. "Stupid? Me? I speak the language of squirrels! I bet you can't do that!"

The filly snorted and dug into the ground with her hoof. "I can't do that... But I scared away a snake once! Almost..."

The grey foal flicked her ears. "Scare away a snake! I couldn't do that!"

"There's nothing else for me to do. Nobody wants to play with me, everyone is too busy. So I learn to scare snakes away. One almost bit me, but I'm getting pretty good at it, just so you know!"

A few minutes later, the foals were getting lost in clouds of dust, running in circles and back and forth. They decided to not fight anymore, for their own safety. Maybe they could even become friends... for their own safety.

Their herds won't be too happy about it, of course. Horses from other herds aren't supposed to meet outside of regular gatherings. But maybe they wouldn't have to find out. And so they offered each other a bow, like they saw adult horses do when they introduced each other.

"My name is Ziggy."

"I'm Athena."