I woke to Cadence and Dash snuggled up to me in the tavern room we were staying at. Smiling I shrink myself down to a small unicorn colt, and crawl out of their grasp and down to the floor. Once I was on my hooves I shifted into my human form, and stretched with a giant yawn.

I get out my clothing, and dress in a white air bender tunic. I then remember something that the medical zebra called me.

‘Why did he call me the chosen one?’ I ask myself as I strap my sword to my side before I exit the room, and head downstairs to get something to eat. On my way down I run into one of the guards.

“Good morning.” I tell him as I pass by.

“Prince, may I know where you’re going?” He asks. I stop walking, and turn to him with a small smile.

“I am heading to breakfast if you’d like to come with.” I tell him. He nods, and we both start on our way down.

“So, what is your name?” I ask the guard.

“My name is Shield Bash your highness.” He tells me. I smirk at his name.

“Well Shield, how do you like the trip so far?” I ask him. He looks to me with an incredulous look.

“What, I’m only here to exterminate an entire species of pony like creatures, and you’re here to look after my kids, and Cadence. You get to tour the capital here while I go and hunt down the enemy.” I tell him. He nods in agreement.

“Well when you put it that way, I am enjoying the trip so far, but would it kill the Pegasi to put some shade clouds up?” He asks. I chuckle, and pat him on the back.

“They don’t have Pegasi here or at least with what I’ve seen.” I tell him.

“Well that just sucks, ‘cause it is too damn hot here.” He tells me. We both share a quick laugh as we enter the tavern’s main room.

I walk up to one of the empty tables, and sit down. The guard sits across from me.

“What can I get for you two?” A zebra mare asks. I look to her to see that she isn’t black and white like a normal zebra, but she is purple and black.

“I am a big eater, so whatever is the local favorite, and at least three plates of it.” I tell her. She nods, and then looks to Shield.

“I’ll have a bowl of grits along with a glass of milk if you have it.” He tells her. She nods and then walks away. I look to the guard.

“Why didn’t you order something more filling?” I ask him.

“Hey I was raised with grits as my breakfast every day. I love them, so don’t you go around judging me.” I laugh a bit at this, and he eventually joins in.

“It’s alright; I was just messing with ya.” I tell him.

“You know for royalty you seem to not care about your title or how ponies should act around you.” He says as the zebra waitress sets out food down in front of us.

“Thank you.” I tell her, before she walks back to the counter of the bar to retrieve are drinks.

“That’s because I am only sixteen and had to live three years in secrecy with a war veteran as my secondary father in a way. I wasn’t taught to act like an uptight professional. I was taught how to survive against all odds.” I tell him as I dig into the exotic meal. It had a small bit of spice to it, but nothing I couldn’t handle. My food looks like it has slices of some pepper in it, and then eggs, and the regular garden vegetables along with seasoning.

“Mmm, this is great.” I say before I attack my food with my sayain stomach. I was finished in a few minutes, and look up from my plate to see the guard looking at me with his mouth hanging open. I roll my eyes before I hear my stomach grumble in complaint of the small amount of food I had.

“Hmm, still not full, well I can fix that.” I say as I look for the waitress. I see her behind the bar, so I get up and walk over to her with my empty plates in hand.

“Did you enjoy your meal?” She asks with a smile.

“I did, and it was great, but I am not full, and ask for three more.” I tell her. She giggles.

“My my, a big stomach you must have.” She says as she takes the plates back into the kitchen area, and a few minutes later she returns with three plates of the same breakfast. I thank her, and take the plates in my grasp before heading back to the table.

“Prince, how in Celestia’s mane are you able to eat that much?” He asks me. I chuckle at his question.

“Well Shield, I am half sayain, and that part of my biology needs large amounts of food to keep my ki, or that explosive, and destructive energy that I have, at high levels so I can use it.” I tell him as I dig into the next three plates of food as he starts to eat his grits.

It wasn’t long before Cadence, and Dash join us at the table. I was now sipping on a giant mug of milk, and the guard was just sitting there, every so often taking a drink of water.

Cadence and Dash order some food, and finish within a few minutes as the others from our ship do the same. My kids all had the same breakfast, and Feather looked to be having fun with them.

“So, are we heading to the capital today?” Cadence asks me. I nod my head as I finish my milk.

“Yes, we are going to be taking an airship there so that we don’t have to walk or hire a caravan.” I tell them as I stand up.

“Thank goodness.” Shield says with a fake swipe at some sweat on his brow. I chuckle as I look for Feather or Zecora.

“Where’s Zecora?” I ask since I didn’t see her.

“She stayed with her friend at the medical hut.” Shield tells me. I nod a few times.

“Will someone go ask her to see if she is coming with us?” I ask the small group around me.

“I will.” Feather says right as she finishes her breakfast. I nod to her with a kind smile.

It was a few hours before we were all situated on the airship that was anchored at the other side of town. I went across town in my human form because I wanted news to reach the capital of the empire that I had arrived and was here to do my job. Zecora ended up staying with her friend, which was fine with me, she is only along for the ride.

“Are we ready to take off?” I ask the captain of the air ship we are all on.

“Yes your highness.” He replies with a nod.

“Good, let’s go then. I have been delayed long enough as it is.” I say as I hear for the bow of the ship on foot. I stood near the guard railing when the three anchors were released, and we rose into the air.
The higher we got the more comfortable the temperature became, and once we reached the proper altitude it was just slightly warmer than jacket weather.

“Artermis?” I hear a filly ask me. I turn to see Sweetie Belle there.

“Yes Sweetie?” I ask as I sit down cross legged.

“I’m scared.” She tells me. I tilt my head.

“Of what?” I ask her.

“I’m scared of myself.” She tells me with her head hung.

“Is this because of what I showed you?” I ask her. She nods her head slowly. I sigh and open my arms to her, and she slowly climbs onto my lap before lying down.

“Tell me what you fear about yourself.” I say softly.

“I’m scared that my anger will get the best of me if I keep bending.” She tells me. I pet her back slowly to calm her accelerating breaths.

“That is a fear all benders have to face, not just fire benders. Earth benders, like Apple Bloom, have to watch their temper for their power could grow out of hoof. Air benders are very dangerous when angered for they can literally make sure you can’t breathe, and water benders can cause massive amounts of destruction if they don’t keep their emotions in check.” I tell her.

“But what about you? Does the avatar have to stay cool?” She asks me. I chuckle at her slight use of slang.

“Especially the avatar, for if they experience an extreme emotion they can enter the avatar state, and destroy whole mountains if strong enough.” I tell her. Her eyes widen a bit at this bit of information.

“But… I’m still scared.” She tells me.

“I know, and I am scared of my power sometimes as well, but you want to know a secret of mine?” I ask her. She nods her head a couple times.

“I use another emotion to keep my fear under control. If I fear something I use my courage to ignore it, and keep moving in life.” I tell her.

“Courage?” She asks.

“Yes, it is one of those complex emotions that can help a lot.” I reply before the unicorns on the air ship start the engines, and we start moving throughout the sky towards the capital of the Zebra Empire.

“So, how do I have courage?” She asks me.

“Were you afraid I would be mad at you for being scared of your bending?” I ask her. She nods her head yes.

“You used your courage to fight that fear, and came to talk to me anyways.” I tell her. Her eyes light up when she understood what courage was.

“Oh, so courage is the ability to have fear, but be able to work through it.” She says aloud.

“Yes, that is the gist of it.” I reply as I give her a hug. She snuggles into my chest for a few seconds before pulling away, and breathing a sigh of relief.

“Thanks Artermis.” She says before she goes back to the other girls. I chuckle as I watch her tiny legs carry her to Scoots and Bloom.

“That was very nice of you.” Cadence says as she walks up to my side.

“It is a lesson that I had to learn as well. I’m glad I got the chance to teach her.” I reply before I look out to the sky, and stretching my wings a bit before tucking them back in.

“I’m itching for some flying, would you like to come with?” I ask Cadence. She nods her head before I open my wings, turn around while holding my arms out, and falling backwards.

As I flip over I roll right side up, and pull out of my dive, and climb back up to the side of the ship before Cadence joins me.

“So how does it feel to have the air running through your wings again?” Cadence asks.

“You were born with wings, so you are naturally inclined to know how it feels, but for me, who recently got a pair, it feels soothing, and greatly calming. I’ve always enjoyed the sky with the ground far below me.” I reply as I do a quick loop, and come up beside her again.

After a few minutes of soaring calmly Rainbow flies up to us with a smile.

“If you wanted to fly, you should’ve invited me.” She says as she pulls up beside me on my left. The ship was now below all three of us.

“Hey Dash, you up for a small airshow for the crew?” I ask. She grins.

“What are you thinking about?” She asks in an answer.

“If you two are going to do some fancy flying, I’ll see you both on the ship when you’re done.” Cadence says before she goes down to the ship and lands to watch us.

“Just follow me on the opposite side so it looks cool.” I tell her. She nods before we both dive down to the front of the ship so that it is chasing us through the skies. I smirk to Dash as I shift into my alicorn form, and letting my mane/tail become a long flowing mass of silvery purple. She smirks back to me before I bank outward from the ship. She does the same, just in the opposite direction.

I set up a telepathic link with Dash so I could tell her what I was going to do.

You there Dash? I ask her as I look to her. I see her correct her flight before looking over to me.

Yeah, you startled me a bit. Is this what you meant by ‘follow me?’ She asks.

Yup, now this is what I have planned. I want to give the crew a good show of synchronized flight before we make it to the capital, so I’m going to give you a quick rundown of images real quick, so be prepared to get some thoughts. I tell her before sending her a small memory video of us doing tricks around the airship in unison. After it was finished I slowly give her a green color thought to tell her to begin.

After I ended the thought we both climb up, and then swap places, just missing each other by a foot before we dived down, and did a loop to level out next to the ship.

I start to climb and bank over the left side of the ship as Dash slowly dives under the right, and we start to fly around the ship as a pair in a double corkscrew, getting faster and closer.

We start to leave a trail with our manes as we speed up our corkscrew before quickly flying out away from the ship, and darting under the balloon of the ship, but over the deck.

We then both climb high up over the ship before diving right next to the sides, and rocketing high on the opposite sides of the ship, causing the crew to give a collective ooo as our trails slowly fade before we both curve out away from each other.

Ready for the finally? I ask Dash.

Yeah, let’s do it. She replies. We both light our hooves on fire with our bending before climbing upward so that we were two times the height of the ship to the ground.

We then take a small break before diving as fast as we could, adding more fire to our bodies, and gaining a mach cone over us.

We’re one fourth of the way through our decent when the ship passes below us.

Join……… now. I tell Dash before we come together, and embrace, but keeping our wings flapping before I power up my ki, and shoot us down so that we can do what I want.

As we come down to the ship’s altitude I make us bank so that we are now accelerating towards the ship. Our mach cone was slowly becoming narrower, so I put on a burst of speed to make it graze our coats.

Right before we crash into the ship I burst us faster, and separate, causing a double flaming Rainboom right behind the ship as we rocket forwards before we splay our wings, slowing down, and letting the ship catch up to us.

My wings are now sore, as I assume Dash’s are as well. As the ship nears us we can hear everyone cheering for us, and we land on deck to collapse in a tired heap. I quickly fall asleep, and can only hope that Dash did as well.

Author's Note

Here it is people. Chapter 21 of TSAoE. I hope you all like it. If not, please leave some constructive critisism.