Africa had not ventured out of the Throat; her sanctuary of sorts, for nearly a week. The comfort and grace of her home was far more attractive than the terror that had befallen her, that very first (still vivid) expedition she had endeavoured to take through Helovia, all those days ago. Still, she was not a hermit at heart and even as she recovered in strength and courage, the young grey Pegasus felt the growing tickle of curiosity, stir within.

This time, she took flight during the brightest part of the day, considering with utmost certainty and care that it would allow her ample opportunity to learn the path she followed, and return home in complete safety- before the threat of nightfall (apparently horrors walked these lands, and Africa was not at all keen to encourage their encounter again, especially after dark). With new meticulousness, her pale creamy eyes sketched the lay of her home- beyond the oasis in particular, and still ever more intimately as she crossed the Throat’s desert border. She flew north, as high as her well adapted lungs would allow given that the air grew bitterly cold the further she climbed, and it thinned and became seemingly impossible to inhale. Never the less, the nervous horse felt at peace and secure, wrapped tightly in the clean blue blanket of sky- far more so than she would probably ever let herself feel on the ground, exposed, again.

She drew a long deep breath, savouring the crisp midday breeze as it gathered in a rush beneath the press of her flapping wings. Travelling swiftly and without hesitation, Africa let her eyes descend to the blending patchwork of landscape below. She was currently travelling above a grassland (she could not tell that the grass was quite high; enough to maybe shelter a horse completely), and quickly it gave way to strange red-brown loam. The sun glistened brightly far above her tilting head, and as she gazed down she saw that it seemed to reflect off many, perhaps hundreds of tiny matter (they were gemstones flickering happily in the sheer brilliance of Tallsun, but the mare was ignorant to this). Africa smiled quietly, suckered by the beauty and extravagance of what she saw, but the gesture was fleeting as she wheeled left dramatically and suddenly.

The earth seemed to open into a great gaping fissure- smoke curled upwards, even as high as she, and she coughed roughly at the charred taste that filled her nostrils. Anxiety began to leak from her throbbing heart and she swept away from the inferno, unsettled and not at all eager to find herself in a new brand of trouble. Midas, as wonderful as he was, would simply not be there every time strife found her; consciously she knew she had to learn quickly, and look out for herself if she were to be a successful Throat member. So she fled that unknown place, not quite ready to face its challenge yet.

Africa sailed still further, having switched her direction slightly west. A meadow, vast and clear for the most part came into view and the young grey horse imagined it to be rather bland- which was a good sign. A river sliced through its centre, and that is to where she descended. Hovering momentarily, with her large feathery wings fanning the flow of water powerfully beneath, she carefully inspected the surroundings. There was a spray of horses a small distance away; a couple of old, woody oak trees quenching their thirst at the water’s edge also, but Africa could see nothing significant, or nobody close by. Certainly nothing resembling that black and white thug, who had a giant horn sticking out of his ugly face. She shuddered and dropped, settling her hooves on the sandy bank of the river.

Treating herself to a sweet tasting drink, Africa ruffled her wings and tucked them gently against her rounded grey barrel. She turned then, her thirst more than quenched, before climbing up the gently shifting slope and into the long swishing grass of the meadow. Violet flowers danced lazily in the warm meander of the afternoon breeze and their prickly thistle cases snagged in the languid twitch of her tail. Quite suddenly, they grey mare happened upon the rump (and then body) of another horse collapsed on the ground, a strangely coloured one and she paused cautiously, her foreleg suspended in waiting. “Hello?” Came the nervous trickle of her voice, “I did not see you there, sorry.” Africa hoped that she hadn’t been a bother, waking them perhaps- but more so, that they weren’t preparing to leap up and savage her in any feral, ill-tempered manner. This was an accident after all, and the grey wasn’t quick witted enough to simply turn and vanish away into the swaying grass.