War of the Weather

Climate Change

It was never disclosed one way or another whether Breezy Shell was an expert of the outdoors but it was quickly apparent to Rainbow Dash that despite her frail frame, looking as if a good strong wind could easily send her tumbling,  the pegasus seemed to have no trouble navigating the tunnels, that seemed to twist continuously and vertical. Breezy was a pony of few words  but energetic and spry.The few times she did speak, her questions were strange.  Not in a disconcerting way but oddly specific as if groping for a particular answer that would satisfy the guide.

“Miss Rainbow Dash, I have to ask you a question! Sorry, do I seem to forward, that was too forward, was I?”

“No you're fine, I just go by Dash really.” said Rainbow Dash. She felt a little amused by the pony’s stammering. The poor thing had almost tripped when her hoof hit a small dip in the path but she took it in stride and kept going, actually turning to walk backwards to face them in the tunnel.

“Okay, Miss Dash, if that’s alright with you. Are.... you a real element of harmony?”

“Hm?” Cloudchaser’s singular comment. Even she seemed to pick up on the oddness.

“Uh, well...heh.” Saying it was out of left field would be generous and at that moment she wasn’t prepared to explain. “Yeah, I guess you could say that... but not literally, more like I'm a bearer of it.”

“I see.” Breezy Shell said while shifting her back hooves over a few uneven areas in the path she couldn’t see, she didn’t turn back around as she still had a question to ask.

“What about the others?  Do you know about them? Where they are?”

Where were the usual questions? The normal predictable ones. Questions about how fast she could fly, if she could actually dodge lightning or how many times she could perform her sonic rainboom in the span of a day.The sudden forwardness on the topic of her duty as a bearer of an element  took Dash off guard. Though it wasn’t wasn't a secret at all, the subject was usually saved just for her friends and the princesses.  She glanced around the  walls of the tunnel,  etched in shadow broken up periodically every few feet by torch light. She could feel her voice rise and envelope them in an echo, multiplying the puzzlement in her tone.

“They’re... around.” Dash’s response was brief, looking at Breezy Shell she didn’t seem to be the kind who’d be interested in the elements of harmony, though she knew most ponies had to at least recognize her, by now, by name if not sight. ‘Maybe she really is a fan. Just a weird one.’

When they finally reached the tunnel exit it opened into darkness. Dash realized that the tunnels were pretty much the only way a pony could make it to the top of the mountain as its straight vertical sides made traveling along on the outer edge impossible.  And for most pegasi trying to fly straight up for so many miles would tire them before they could even make it half way.

The harrying winds blasting snow down the steep sides wouldn’t do them any favors. Any pass leading up the mountain from the outside was thoroughly snowed in year round.

“We are here. There’s not much to see, but this is where we started seeing signs first.” said Breezy almost nonchalantly.

“Wow this is it?” asked Cloudchaser tentatively, literally high stepping through the deep piles of snow in order to reach the pale little village trapped between the looming walls ahead of them. It was dark and foreboding, but something told her she didn’t want to fly in this weather.

“Just over the hill and we’ll be there!” Breezy Shell cantered off into the falling snow and dark night with no trouble, her form blended in perfectly with the stone and snow to the point that the others nearly lost sight of her.

“Hey, wait up!” Dash called out and pulled her hooves out of the deep snow, she took flight and sailed over the hill towards the dark.

“Don’t leave us behind! Ugh, some guide she turned out to be...” muttered Cloudchaser

Thunderlane came up beside her and chuckled, “Eh, come on, there’s no point in trying to walk through this anyway.”

Soon they were both flying through the air after their companions.  When they reached the wooden gates, Dash wasn’t surprised to see a few dim lights flickering in several of the wooden cabins. Canterlot guards had made camp days before, apparently stationed earlier to secure the area as they searched and waited for another anomaly to hit.

Briefly Rainbow Dash glanced upwards, not sure what she would see up in the dark sky and the high slabs of rock which seemed to claw into it.. An odd feeling washed over the pony, like she had expected to see something up there. She wasn’t disappointed, but puzzled;  If there were ponies at camp they wouldn’t all be huddled inside the cabins, some would be patrolling and she would see them in the air. Breezy stopped just at the top of the hill.

“Oh, visitors!” Breezy sounded surprised, and this in turn surprised Dash.

“Say what?” But before Rainbow Dash could say more the gray pony was pushing through the snow, she seemed to almost glide in it, Dash thought. Through the gates she went without turning around but it didn’t matter now, Thunderlane and Chaser weren’t far behind.

“She is pretty weird, isn’t she,” Thunderlane whispered to the blue pegasus as he flew over the hill.

“Yeah well, she got us where we needed to be, so let’s just get a move on.”

The little outpost was dark and quiet, besides the slight illumination by candle light peaking through some of the windows, the place was the definitive picture of abandoned.  Snow crusted every roof and frost covered each window.  Dash noticed hoof prints in the snow, though they were few. She could tell there was a path underhoof but she figured there really wasn’t much need to shovel it clear. No chimney smoke either, now that was weird. What pony would want to be up here shivering? She chose one of the cabins from which she could see candle light and decided to make her presence known.

“Hey, we’re here!” she pushed the door open and stepped inside of the dimly glowing light of the cabin, at first seeing no one. “Hello? Is anyone in here?” In fact there was but it took a little while for Dash’s eyes to adjust in the low light. Her eyes swept the room and met the candle, the pony next to it gave nary a glance in her direction. A powder blue pegasus with light pink hair was hedged into a corner of the cabin next to a pair of candles. Her nose was hovering over the pages of a book but from a distance it was impossible for Dash to tell what.  She stepped closer and saw various items on the floor, surrounded the pegasus. Binoculars, jackets, pens and quills, candy bars. Small books were stacked to a side and what even looked like a comic book or two. Did all of it belong to this one pony?

Dash took another step but the other pony still hadn’t noticed her standing only a few feet away.

“Ahem...Uh, hi?” she said, “Are you with the search team?” Not sure how to address this stranger,  Dash grimaced when she didn’t get a response. “Uh, hello?” Still nothing.. “Earth to four eyes!” she nudged the pinky pony’s shoulder, finally shocking the mare into attention.

“Uh, oh!” the other mare paused for a moment giving Rainbow Dash a hard glance over the thin rims of her eyeglasses. Dash stayed quiet as the other pony examined her. Once she was satisfied she smiled and introduced herself.

“Greetings! You’ll have to excuse me, I didn’t mean to ignore your entrance. My name is Wind Whistler, researcher. And you are?”

“Rainbow Dash is the name! But you can just call me Dash!” Rainbow Dash said, tapping her chest with a hoof.  After a moment her smile faltered. “And I’ve got a question to ask.” Dash glanced around the featureless and notably empty cabin before asking, “Where is everyone?”

Wind Whistler was silent for a moment. Her eyes caught the special vest Dash was wearing, the patch showing the seal of Cloudsdale; she was here on business. Wind Whistler hesitantly glanced down at the open book but Dash could see in her eyes that she was searching for an answer.

“There is another pony here actually.... well, we’re not here on any official business.” she said.

“Then what are you here for?”

Just then, another pony came into the cabin through the only door; he was larger than both of them, and had several bags around his neck and a lantern in his mouth. The light was dim and it was hard to make out much of him in the darker part of the room.  But before Rainbow Dash could fully process the brown fur and the cap of straw blonde mane, the new arrival wrestled the bags off of his neck and onto the ground and set the lantern on a small bed pushed against the wall. Then he started to speak without looking up.

“Yo, Whistler, didn’t find much but I remember the cabins on the west side are locked, so I’m gonna go back and...” When the pony looked up the first thing he saw was Dash, and it was at that moment Dash’s mind could finally comprehend who she was seeing.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Dash’s wings flared in astonishment..

“Dumbbell?”

“What are you doing here?” They both demanded at once before immediately launching into their individual defenses.

“None of your business, Rainbow!”

“Well I’m here on behalf of Cloudsdale so yeah it kinda is my business! We came all the way up to the frozen north because of all the weird weather stuff going on, and trust me when I say I did not expect to see YOU here!”

Dumbbell scowled. “So the higher ups dropped you here. Huh, can’t see what they could expect out of you.”

“More than you’ll ever know, and none of that concerns you.”

“There is no reason to be antagonizing, Dumbbell.” said Wind Whistler and she stood next to Rainbow Dash.  “She has a perfectly good reason to inquire about our presence.”

“Speaking of,” Dash looked between the both of them expectantly. “Where the heck are the royal guards? They were supposed to be here!”

“Royal guards? From Canterlot you mean?” asked Wind Whistler.

“Well duh,” insisted Rainbow Dash. “What other royal guards are there?”. She somehow suppressed an eye roll.

“There aren’t any.” stated Dumbbell. “We were the only two ponies up here till you showed up.”

“And how long have you been here?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Only a day. We couldn’t be here before that, the path was blocked.” The end of Dumbbell’s sentence was almost lost under the sound of hooves clammering on the ice slick stone steps, pushing open the door and stumbling inside.  It was Thunderlane and Cloudchaser who had managed to spot their silhouettes in the window and barged in, almost hitting Dumbbell with the door in the process.

“Hey! Watch it will ya?” exclaimed Dumbbell. He hiked up his fear leg, though, resisting the reflex to kick back against the door.

“Geeze, there you are Rainbow-hey, Dumbbell!” Thunderlane paused taking in everyone in the cramped cabin before looking back at the brown pegasus again. “What are you doing here?”

Dumbbell sighed, putting his rear hoof down. “So this is what you meant by ‘we’.” he said to Rainbow Dash. She confirmed with a nod before bringing the most prevalent question back to the forefront. “I’ve asked, now Thunders’ asking, so I’ll ask again. What are you doing way up here in the Crystal mountains, in this camp?”

Dumbbell cocked a smile. “Would you believe, I’ve taken up a sudden interest in treasure hunting?”

“Be serious.” Dash growled.

“I am, got a treasure map stuffed into one of these bags here.” Dumbbell insisted pointing  at the cluster of bags tossed onto the bed.

“Ugh!”

“Say, about that.” Cloudchaser gently pushed her way over to the bed, which was actually hard to do, the cabin was really small. “Look at this stuff. Isn’t this outpost the same place all those crazy thrill seekers were before they vanished?”

“They’re called storm chasers.” Dumbbell insisted on the correct name.

“Whatever, if the guards aren’t there, and they aren’t here, me and Thunder have been all over this place by now...These supplies belonged to the ponies who went missing five months ago!”

The unease began to settle. As if the small group of ponies were caught in something forbidden like witnessing a grave robbery.

“What are you two up to?” Rainbow Dash was about to turn on Dumbbell again but the stallion cut her off before she could, this time with honesty.

“I came here to bring their supplies back to their families.”  he said.  The sudden forwardness took Dash by surprise. She leapt off of her offensive front, took a step backwards and glanced at the floor.

“I thought this had all been taken care of.” she said.

“The only safe passage to the outpost has been blocked this whole time. Nopony has been able to come here to reclaim their belongings.” said Wind Whistler. “Not until just a few days ago.”

“Royal guards or not, I didn’t want to just wait.” said Dumbbell stubbornly.  Rainbow Dash surmised then, that the missing ponies must have been his friends, and considering the fact that the mystery of their disappearance had remained unsolved, he and anyone who knew them must have been emotionally wasted. When the only safe path up the mountain became unblocked, he’d obviously jumped at the chance.

“Sorry to hear about that, then.” Dash’s apology was muted yet sincere, and the tense atmosphere subsided.

“Yeah, no big deal.” Dumbbell looked down, Rainbow Dash caught sight of his knit brows and something else etched under his eyes that told of a deeper disquiet, but she put her curiosity aside. Now wasn’t the time anyway.

“If you two are here then the situation here can’t be all that bad.” Dash said. “You guys haven’t noticed anything weird going on up here have you?”

“Nothing up here but snow and wind.” Dumbbell answered calmly.

“From what I heard the sky went completely dark over the mountain the day those ponies disappeared. said Cloudchaser as she peaked tentatively out of a frosted window. “Maybe we shouldn’t stay here long.”

“Perhaps she’s right.” said Wind Whistler.  “Dumbbell and myself traveled here at our own risk. But if you were intended to meet someone here for protection, it could be within your best interest to return at a better time.”

“If you two can stay a day up here on your own then so can we! No way we’re gonna leave this place with nothing to report back.” said Dash.

“It would be safer to simply return to the Crystal palace-.”

“No way! We’ve got beds, right? We can just stick it out here til morning. The Canterlot guards will definitely be here by then.” Dash noticed Wind Whistler’s lingering look of doubt which irritated her. “You got something to hide?”

The accusation took the other pony surprise, making her face stretch in a way that her glasses nearly fell off the bridge of her nose. She caught them and stammered an apology as she readjusted the spectacles.

“No, no it’s nothing like that, please excuse any misgivings.”

At this point, Dumbbell returned to the door, stepping back out into the frosty night to resume his exploration of the little outpost. “Hey, do whatever you want, no ones gonna stop you, Dash. I’ll be out of here by tomorrow morning before another freaky storm comes.”

“Too late for that, sorry.”

“What? Who said that?” Dumbbell was a little more than half way over the threshold when  another voice reached him from somewhere in the snow beyond.

“Who’s out there?” he squinted his eyes, just barely able to see the form of a pony standing alone in the snow between the cabins. The figure stepped closer, revealing itself to be Breezy Shell cantering calmly up the snow covered path.

“Only me, but as I was saying, it’s too late to leave, we’re going to be snowed in very soon.”

“Who are you?” Dumbbell scowled, he hadn’t met the guide pony who had slipped away to some place remote as soon as Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and Cloudchaser had walked in.

Cloudchaser met Dumbbell at the doorway. “Oh, thats our guide, Breezy Shell, she lead us up here.”  Both ponies made room for Breezy though she stopped at the door, peering into the dark cabin like like an owl searching a barn for mice.

“Bunker down and spend the night, its all we can do for now. A storm is coming soon.”

“What? You’re kidding!” Dumbbell stepped out into the night, looking up he saw the clear sky speckled with stars. “It’s a clear sky, not even snowing!” At that moment there was a sudden gust of wind, it rushed into the village with a gleeful howl, buffering the sturdy walls and pushing the settled piles of snow out in powerful flurries. The brown stallion was nearly knocked off his hooves, taken by surprise by the sudden rush, he scrambled back inside and slammed the oak door behind him. He shook himself to release the snow from his coat. And the chill, it was unbelievably cold!

It was very light but everyone swore they heard the guide pony chuckle. “I told you.” she said.

“She told you.” both Cloudchaser and Thunderlane repeated.

“Shut up!” Dumbbell shook one last time to get the chill out, then he sat down and sighed. “Damn. I didn’t see this coming.”

The wind picked up in prevalence as it ushered itself through the aisles and pathways, blowing soft snow hither and thither, it howled low and almost ominously. As if succeeding something else, proclaiming its arrival. It was oppressive and Thunderlane, for one, was tired of being cooped up in the small space.

“Well looks like we’re going to have to make the best of it. Until tomorrow anyway,” he grimaced and placed a foreleg against his belly. “None of you guys would happen to have food would you?”

The question was met with blank stares until Cloudchaser opened the door to go outside and find a place to sleep for the night.  “I bought a bag of chips before we made the hike up here.” Thunderlane quickly followed her to the door. “Willing to share?” he pleaded.

“No. These are special cucumber chips with crystal dust sprinkled on top. They weren’t cheap but they taste de-li-cious. And are mine.” Cloudchaser made sure to sound out the last word lovingly much to her brother’s annoyance.

"Do any of these cabins hold extra blankets?"  asked Rainbow Dash.

"Oh there won't be any need." Wind Whistler chimed. "These homesteads are quite solid.  And going by a few cursory observations, they've each been laced with a spell that expels excessive cold air. You will be nice and warm anywhere you choose to sleep tonight."

The others could still hear Thunderlane’s  pleading with his sister as they walked further away in search of their own individual sleeping quarters. Soon after the rest dispersed as well, there was little left to say or do with each other and the only thing left to do was wait for morning.  Breezy’s prediction on the storm seemed to be correct, as suspiciously sudden as it was, Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she rested on the bed inside of a little lonely cabin she had picked for herself.

A coincidence most likely, though she couldn’t be rid a nagging suspicion over the strange pony. Her mannerisms, her strange tone when she talked, and how she often seemed to simply vanish without telling anyone where she was going or where she would be. Not the best idea in a place like this. Even if the Crystal kingdom was technically only a few miles away.  But it wouldn’t do any good to get up in the middle of the night, causing a disturbance over silly feelings and ridiculous uneasiness. She chalked it up to the nervousness of a rookie. After all, the head of the Wonderbolts herself had given Dash this task. She made up her mind to ask about the snowstorm tomorrow, despite a part of herself saying it was pointless to suspect anything and to just dismiss the current events as a string of bad luck.

As it was, the wait for the royal guard who were meant to meet the group in the Crystal mountains would be futile. On the day before the the wonderbolt trainees had started their journey, two pegasus guards were on route from Canterlot. Everything was quiet and fine as they flew over the expanse of rolling green hills, dotted by clusters of trees, woodlands, and the wide river that flowed strong far north to far south. It all looked peaceful until they neared the Neighagra Falls and the tiny village nestled on the small mountains on both sides of the vertical drop. A sturdy wood bridge  connected the sides. ‘Not any more’ one of the pegasi thought as they flew over the site. That morning he saw no bridge, only the support beams that ran along the bottom and what attached the bridge to the side of the mountain. The middle part of the structure looked to have been ripped away completely.

“Hey, Targe, do you see that?” The first pegasus guard pulled the attention of his partner down toward the cascading falls and the destroyed bridge. The other pony was equally surprised and both decided to swoop in on the village and investigate. They flew down over the mist of the fall, discovering massive chunks of the wooden structure shattered along the rocks and floating out into the pool to join the river further out. Both of the royal guards were nothing but baffled.

“What in the world happened?” asked the other stallion, who was named Silver Barding. “Lets go back up and see to the villagers, better make sure they’re alright.” Targe nodded and they flew back to the ledge of the waterfall to the small mountain’s morningside, over the dirt path leading from the bridge. They saw the little wooded homes sitting back a small distance from the falling water, sitting partially hidden amongst the tall evergreens. An initial scan from the air revealed nothing, none of the villagers were outside or performing any sort of business amongst themselves.

“Let’s split up, I’ll check this side, you fly over to the opposite side, we’ll make better time that way.” said Silver Barding. The two split and began their investigation. Bard landed in front of the first home and, deciding to be cautious, first investigated by peeking through the window. It was a small house, almost like a hut more than anything, with a homely picturesque living room holding a simply built table with chairs, a fireplace and shelves stacked with various items and knick knacks. But he detected nothing outwardly hostile, and could only hear the light breeze flowing loosely and the distant crash of the waterfall.

After searching the perimeter of several more homes he quickly realized that the little village truly was deserted, at least this part. But where had everypony gone? Just as he was beginning to contemplate entering one of the homes, Barding heard the soft sounds of hoofbeats behind him, he turned quickly to see a shape melting back into the forest.

“Who’s out there?” he said, not expecting a response and not getting one, he turned and followed the retreating sound. Whoever it was, already knew he was following, so there was no need to be cautious.

“Stop right there!” he shouted the order but the figure did not stop, but Barding was a fast runner even when encumbered with armor. He put on a burst of speed  just as the object of his pursuit reached a small clearing. He overtook the other pony, grappling him to the ground, ending the chase, but not before they both rolled further down the hill several more feet.  The runner went still immediately apparently with no spirit to fight and it was at that moment Silver Barding was aware of the presence of others.  Cries of other ponies and hooves galloping toward him. He looked up and saw villagers, he assumed. What had to be the entire population, at least a hundred or more, huddled up into the shallow bowl of a valley below the village. Some seemed to be relieved to see him, recognizing his uniform.  Others scared and a few confused by the sight of the pony underneath him.

“I-I’m sorry, sir! I d-didn’t mean to do anything w-wrong!” said the smaller pony, a teenage colt who was still caught up in the guard’s hooves.  Slightly befuddled, Bard stepped away and allowed the pony to stand up scuttle into the crowd of approaching villagers.

“You’re here to help us, aren’t you?” asked a mare in a light blue bonnet  and brown hiking boots. Her question was mirrored by several others asking the same thing. Bard stamped his hoof several times to quiet them all down.

 “I’m Silver Barding of the Canterlot guard. Tell me, what has happened here?” He had to yell out again for order to be maintained as they swarmed him with hurried explanations.

“Last night, some strange creature flew into our village and started terrorizing us!” said one villager.

“Then we all ran outside and that’s where it got us. It was like... like a wind!”

“I thought it was a dragon, but it had a bird’s face!”

“Yeah a really mean face, absolutely ghastly!”

“Quiet all of you, quiet!” Silver Barding ordered, his mind racing. He couldn’t make sense of it with every pony clamoring at once. To their credit they followed his order and shut up immediately.

“Now let me get this straight.  You’re telling me some kind of demon scared you all out of your homes and you all ran here?” he asked.

“It didn’t chase us here,” one mare said, her eyebrows creased as she tried to describe what had happened. “It picked us up and moved us here.”

“What?”

An elder stallion who had stayed near the back of the crowd finally decided to walk forward, his face looked grim but his eyes were drooped with worry.

“Not all of us are here, a few who didn’t leave their homes in time... don’t know what happened to them.”

“There is another guard searching the cabins on the other side of the bridge.” Silver Bard said.

“I th-thought so! I th-thought I saw another pegasus flying over the falls w-with you.” the pony who spoke was the small teenager he had tackled before. He apparently suffered a bad stutter.

“I was t-t-trying to sneak back up there to s-see you-but,” he swallowed and his ears twitched incessantly. “I got sp-p-ooked by the wind and ran, and then y-you followed me!” he said excitedly, almost panic stricken. “Th-that monster destroyed our b-bridge, to the only safe way off the mountain, and... And if your friend is still over th-there then he might already be...” he trailed to silence.

“Already be what? What?” Silver Barding insisted but the teen colt didn’t respond. He was looking past the guard, over his head. Bard turned left and right,  and saw everypony else also staring at the sky.  He turned around and looked up himself.

Rocketing up out of the trees like a geyser was a beam of green light. It shimmered and wavered, putting off a striking amount of light against the afternoon sky. A warning beacon! Silver Barding reacted just as a forceful gale  erupted from the treeline, followed by a foreboding wail that sent every bird in the forest into the air.

It’s strength give him need to brace himself. He could feel his hooves digging into the dirt and he heard many behind him shout in surprise when the wind struck them. They scattered backwards, trying to find cover.

“Nobody move from here!”  he ordered, he did his best to throw his voice over the force of the gale.  He galloped back into the valley, spreading his wings. Then he was in the air, banking out and over the windstream. The beacon was still strong and from his new vantage point, he could see the tumult of dirt and destruction at its base. Yep, Targe was definitely in trouble. Barding flipped his visor and slid the spear out of its holding and in a dash he flew down into the expanding tornado.

The pegasus guard heard the crack and splinter of a log cabin collapsing under the force of the wind, he had to swerve in mid air to avoid parts of trees and homes thrown wild. Bard saw another blast of green magic in the storm of dust, dirt, and debris. It connected with something solid but it was impossible to see what it was.  Targe was fighting the anomaly, spear plunged halfway into the ground with his hooves wrapped around it, to keep his aim steady but mostly to keep himself from being blasted off the ground and into the forest. Silver Barding landed next to him, shouting at the top of his lungs to get his voice over the wind.

“Get in the air!” . Just then, he felt the ground shake beneath his hooves. A shattering rumble of a large piece of roofing being dragged across the terrain right across their path. They shot upward, avoiding the debri and into the open air. From there they could see that every home was completely leveled and scattered.

“Whats going on here?” asked Barding.  Targe shook his head, his nostrils heaving. By the looks of it he had already been in a fight.  “I don’t know what it is, Bard!” “It just hit me like a wall. I could feel the thing on me but I couldn’t see it, and the next thing I know, its tearing the place apart!”

“I see that.” Silver Barding mumbled. At that moment something rushed up to meet them, grazing Barding across the flank, he flinched and flew back, confused and suddenly intensley cold. “Whatever it is, its invisible!”

“No it isn’t....there it is!” Targe shouted pointing up with his spear. Bard could just barely see it against the slowly setting sun but there it was. Small body with a form that reminded him of a dragon, but the wings were feathered.  The creature dived just as both guards shot out streams of repellant magic from their spears. The green blasts met their mark and the animal was thrown off course, careening sideways and away from the mountain top.

“Stay on it,” Bard ordered, they would have to give chase, wherever it went, and possibly capture it before it could cause more trouble. The creature dropped and leveled out when it was a fair distance away from the two guards, it looked like it was trying to escape. The guards kept pace, the crystal tips of their spears recharged with magic, they aimed and fired.  The green bolts of magic hit their mark, a satisfying ‘thump-boom’ was the report as the repellent spell exploded against their quarry.  It flapped its wings and floundered before losing altitude. Just as the two pegasi began to close in it suddenly vanished, melting into the air.

“Where did it go?” said Targe. Both guards braked in the air, searching the sky, it was nowhere to be seen.

“It couldn’t have just vanished...could it?” They hung in the air silently, a similar thought floating through their minds, unicorn teleportation. But this was no unicorn.

The guided rush of wind hit Targe with no warning. Like a solid object it hit straight on with enough force to send him into a tailspin, blowing Barding away by several yards. Barding struggled to regain control and by the time he did, it was just in time to see his partner floundering with terror down into the tree tops. He heard the howling screech dangerously close to himself and another rush of wind travelling north filled his ears with an angry wail, pulling him along its slipstream until he was able to force himself free. Then it was gone.

Barding felt lost as he hung in the air, not even realizing that the thing had ripped his spear right out of his hooves.

“Targe?” Silver Barding said aloud, but then he remembered what had happened.

“Targe! Hold on!” The guard dived back down to the mountain, through the pine trees, in the spot he could only guess was where his comrade had fallen. It didn’t take long to find him. He had crash landed on a pile of unrecognizable debri, what used to be a sturdy two story home. He landed and stood over his friend, trying to understand the damage with a desperate haste.

“Targe! Targe are you alright! Open your eyes”

The pony laying on the ground flinched and stirred slightly against the rubble, his eyes opening stubbornly despite the guard’s pain and exhaustion. Barding felt a rush of hope fly through him though he saw Targe’s foreleg trapped underneath heavy cabin logs, he knew his friend was injured.

Barding walked over to the logs and began to pull them away, gently so as to not cause further damage.

“Start talking to me, friend, I’m getting you out of this mess.” he said.

Targe coughed and flinched again. He felt numb and consumed with fatigue with every part of his body, except for one.

“My leg...its...”

Silver Barding wasn’t able to respond under the strain of moving the heavy log. As it finally rolled away, the two guards could only look on in confusion. Targe’s foreleg up to the knee was no more, what sat in its place was nothing more than pale blue shattered and dry crystalline ice.

.