hundred years, hundred more
someday we may see a
woman king, sword in hand
swing at some evil and bleed

There was freedom in flight. To be able to carry oneself high and far in a sweep of wings and nothing ahead of you but sky. It was freedom indeed and that feeling was not something the young pegasus took for granted. Her life might be split into two parts: before flight and after, and that had been struggle enough for her. When her mind wandered, she might still hear them; the voice of her insecurities, the voices of her half blooded brothers, they were the same. Each time she caught herself hearing them she berated herself for giving them any thought at all. That brood of her sire's get and each one meaner than the old fool couldn't get at her anymore and she needed to remember that. It had seemed that her wings might never grow at all, and when they did, before she learned to use them, that mob had kept them as busied and featherless as they could manage. But flight and freedom were hers now...and she had taken her trophy.

In the months after her first harrowing flight, she had been unsteady, easily blown off-course by every gust of wind. She had been so hesitant, so unsure (not that she would ever have admitted it) but from that initial trepidation came only a stronger drive. If she was going to fly, she would fly better than anyone. Higher. Faster. Farther. What had started as aimless wanderings had turned into training exercises and she was at it now. So different from the frosted tundra of her birth, the forest she now found herself sweeping over was as dynamic as she could want. She darted over the canopy, skimming her hooves along the tree tops; when one tree towed above its neighbors, she raced straight at it and looped around to change direction. Now, instead of toppling head over hoof when the wind came up unexpectedly, she was learning to use it. With each warm summer gust taught her a new way to turn, to brake, to accelerate. When she caught a particularly strong upward draft, she hurtled into the clear sky, spreading her wings wide and letting out a sound of joy; a sound of triumph!

This last burst of energy had gotten to her, or perhaps she had been in the sun to long but the first glint of silver from the ground had her circling low over the trees, finding a gap in their branches. When she touched down, it was a sure bet that any creature within a hundred yards had heard her. She could leave the ground in a heartbeat, with only a flurry of air from her feathered wings, but getting back down was always awkward. She stumbled, one hoof over another, but righted herself as quickly as possible and stilled to listen to her new surroundings. Not that she was actually very still. Her hooves shuffled as though they had forgotten quite how to work and her tail swished into a patch of shorter shrubs, sending them rustling. She did manage to gather a good picture of her surroundings, though it was more from looking than listening, she settled her head down to drink along the small stream that wound through trees.

megaera
this also has been one of the dark places of the earth