The real meaning behind our cutie marks… that thought had echoed in Golden Breeze’s thought since last night. Be truth to ourselves, accept our lives our choices… Be who we truly are… What have I missed?

Just then, her mind cast back to that chill autumn night. She was only nine by that time, and the day in question was the last autumn day before winter would come, so the nights were already being cold…

~~~~

Las Pegasus has always been a nice place for you to take a vacation and relax the stress of daily life of working and studying. However, living there was another reality completely. The center of the city, all neon lights and casinos, were meant for the tourists and the more wealthy part of the population. Golden Breeze’s family was a rather poor one, living at the periphery of the city where overall violence were higher and chances of living were lower.

Her mother, though, always taught her to never give up and by her example, battled hard every day to grant her and her twin sister’s education since her sire had left. If she had something to not be thankful, it was only the excess bullying other foals had towards her and her sister.

There were also their classes at school as if the neighbors’ foals bullying them weren’t bad enough. Even with they being fast learners, very dedicated and everything else somepony could find the perfect behavior in a student; they weren’t the most popular ones. And besides teaching them the subjects at hand, their teacher wasn’t interested at all in their stories and reclamations. They learned to endure it on themselves.

As the years stretched long, Golden Breeze’s sister got tired of enduring it and started to actually joining that side. Two months later she joined a gang in the streets and not too long after that was found bleeding in an alley. Golden Breeze, though she cried and got depressed for her, only promised to endure it. She wouldn’t suffer the same destiny.

Then came that night about five months after her sister’s death. She was returning from a party with some friends. Her life was finally getting better and she was improving on the social basis. In an alley, though, she saw a young colt shivering. At first she just passed through him and got home. However, her heart took her to the window. It had been a cold night, even for her that was properly dressed. Her decision wasn’t instantly; she took long times looking at him. It was only when two bullies beat the poor colt that her heart put her in motion. She sneaked in her room, took her blanket from her bed and snaked it outside her house. She comforted the young colt with a smile and wrapping him on the blanket. Before going home, though, she gave him a good night kiss in the forehead.

~~~~

So she admitted everything and all she said about her cutie mark was completely true. What she was missing? Wasn’t her generosity good enough?

Then something caught her attention. The feathers of her wings were twitching softly. Not something a pony could see, but she could feel it good enough. Her wings were sensible and, as her understood that, they grew even more sensible. Once, they could detect magic as a dog could follow a scent, now they were able to pick intentions of nearby ponies. Normally this didn’t set off a reaction, only when something differed from normal. And a mix of lust and greed wasn’t normal for ponies’ standards. Thankfully, her gift was wind: an invisible talent by itself that had subtle abilities which were also unnoticed at all. One of those was the fact that she could feel the vibration of air and copy it as she pleased. And sound was nothing more than vibrating the air just right…

“…quite a rare sight! Look at her curves!” it was a whisper. Male voice, talking to someone about a step away from him in maybe what was a four meters distance from herself. They were even behind an apple crate trying not to be seen.

“You tell me,” the other agreed. “And pegasi are a high demand in Canterlot.”

Slavers… probably working for a illegal prostitution house… she thought.

“If we could just keep her from flying away…” commented the first one.

“We’re unicorns, remember? Like we held earth ponies out of the ground, we can keep her out of the sky!” the other replied.

“I don’t know… she seems stronger than standard…”

“Strong or not, two unicorns focusing their magic can’t be stopped that easily.”

I can. But they made it sound like they have others captives… I should call Princess Celestia first but… Deciding quickly what she would do, she got up from the shady she had decided to rest under and walked towards one of the less common streets, purposefully looking for lesser pony movement on it.

She felt one of them teleporting to an alley ahead. They would ambush her, one at each side. She halted. Should she really be doing this?

****

Ice Sapphire was at her room in the castle, practicing her Harmony Armor spell as she tried to figure out her motivation to summon the Divine Armor as well. Then she heard a hoof knocking… on her window. She reached out with her magic, opening it.

“Really, Lightning Dash… I have a door, you know?” she asked.

“Which you cast a silent spell. You haven’t heard me knock all these ten minutes before I got around to your window.”

She opened her mouth to defend herself but her mouth just hangs out open. After a second, she said something, “Touché. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Have you seen Golden Breeze?”

“Not since breakfast. Now that you mentioned it, she hasn’t appeared to lunch.”

“I’ve been expanding my magic to call her attention, of course out of vision from unicorns, but nothing…”

“Maybe she wants to be alone?”

“I have to talk to her. General Celestia wants her to report to her presence as soon as possible.”

That earned a raised eyebrow from Ice Sapphire. “What happened?” she asked.

“She hasn’t entered in details. Only said to call Golden Breeze and report immediately. Seems like a mission or something for us.”

“Sounds serious. Have you called the others?”

“Only Shining Armor left. But he’s Royal Guard Captain. Approaching him on his working hours will be a royal pain in the flank.”

“And your jokes are royal lame, you know?” Ice Sapphire commented.

“Sorry. Someone has to do it, you know.”

She only shook her head, “What plan you have in mind?”

“Wind Script.” At Ice Sapphire’s puzzled look, Lightning Dash elaborated, “Golden Breeze’s talent is wind. She was working on a spell she called ‘Wind Script’. It can only be found if you’re looking for it, a faint trail of enchanted wind that stays in place and forms words.”

“Wow,” Ice Sapphire comment took Lightning Dash by surprise. “I thought it was impossible to cast spells on weather elements let alone enchant them!”

“Of course. That’s because you’re a unicorn. However, Golden Breeze and I are pegasi, interacting with weather is very basic to us, as just feeling magic is to you.”

“Oh, right… kinda makes sense. And with you and her learning magic, this can really have that potential…”

“That’s one of the reasons why Princess Celestia wants it to keep under secret.”

“Haven’t you called her General just now?”

“The General summoned me and Golden Breeze, however, it’s the Princess whom ordered us to be quiet about it that first day.”

“I can’t believe you can separate Princess Celestia… or General Celestia’s behavior after such a short time! How you do that?”

“You know…” Lightning Dash smiled and gave her a wink. “You learn a lot about somepony after a fight with that pony. Princess Celestia is a great ruler and always cares for her subjects and even more for her loved ones. That said, Princess Celestia would never banish anypony.”

“Are you saying…”

“Yes. It was General Celestia which banished her sister. That is, if that old pony tale is to be believed. General Celestia is brave, loyal and can do anything to protect Equestria.”

Ice Sapphire gave it some thought, “Maybe… maybe you’re right…”

“That’s the reason why the Knights of Harmony were supposed to be Equestria most powerful warriors,” Lightning Dash commented. “They excel where common ponies would have problems in doing so.”

“Great. I’ll start tracking that right away. How do I get in contact with you?”

“Just raise your hoof. I’ll be flying all over Canterlot at maximum speed. You should be at visual range every five minutes.”

“So I get to stay with my hoof up for five minutes?”

“Unless you have another plan?”

“Maybe I do…” Ice Sapphire said with a chuckle.

****

Doesn’t matter how powerful they magic were, Knights of Harmony where still just ponies. Golden Breeze learned that the hard way. She was waking up now, and looking around revealed a large room without windows and plenty of mares all around. Unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi alike, there were a few sleeping, but the great majority was fully awake. A dark blue pegasus mare came to her, with light grey, some would say silver, mane and three starts lined by a cloud as a cutie mark.

“Awake so soon?” the mare asked her. “You’re tougher than you looks…”

Okay, maybe Knights of Harmony where a bit more than average pony.

“Where… am I?” Golden Breeze asked.

“Where will be your next house for your following years until you’re too old,” the mare answered. She tried to sound humorous but there was no happiness in her voice. “We’re all in the same boat right now, so there’s nothing much we can do.” Golden Breeze locked eyes with her as she tried to get up, “Easy there, dear. The drugs they use are… rather… heavy…”

Mostly ignoring the warning, Golden Breeze got up as if nothing had happened to her. “Trust me. I’m fine enough,” she said, which was quite true. “The other mares, are they alright?”

“Yes, they are. They’re just sleeping though. We would be of no help to them dead, you know… not many ponies have a kink for dead bodies…”

“So they’re really slavers.”

“You… already knew?”

“Had a guess. Anyway, somepony have to stop them,” Golden Breeze looked around. She couldn’t feel magic outside the room, only of the ponies inside it. Then she turned back at the pegasus mare, “Sorry, what’s your name?”

“I am Alpha Star, darling.”

“Golden Breeze here,” the golden pegasus said. “Let me make another guess: magic-proof enchantments are in place?”

“No magic gets in or out.”

“So unicorns are useless,” Golden Breeze faked her true motivation. “Earth pony-proof walls?”

“We even tried creating a storm cloud, darling, but nothing helps. We have to do as they ask or else…”

I trained with the Princess. There MUST be a way out of this… Of course! with a smile, Golden Breeze giggled and looked at Alpha Star. “You said magic can’t get in OR out, right?”

“Yes.”

“So they can’t feel when we are casting or not. How long before the others wake up?”

“Normally it takes about eight hours. They must be awake in six hours, give or take.”

“We don’t have that time.” Golden Breeze then jumped over a table there and called the attention of everypony, “Before anything else, I need unicorns to cast a privacy spell. We don’t want them to hear us. Follow my lead, and we’ll be out of here in no time!”

A lot of ponies sighed; a few actually murmured something like ‘not again’ before going back to their loneliness. It was a very red unicorn mare that answered Golden Breeze’s request, casting a privacy spell. A few other unicorns then joined her and soon the whole room was sealed, just to make sure nothing would scape.

Golden Breeze noted and grinned. “Good. Listen to me, and listen well. Today they’ve committed a mistake. They got by force a mare that has been training with the Royal Guard.” That wasn’t quite truth, but since they did have some training with the Royal Guard and Shining Armor was in their team, it wasn’t a lie either, a half-truth. “I know you’re not all fighters and that’s not a bother. I don’t pretend on engaging them actively. But first, we’ll need to get to know each other well. I need to know your skills and the spells you know so we can work with it.”

Alpha Star approached Golden Breeze, “But how are we supposed to sneak all of them outside WITH the sleeping ones? I’m sure you’re not thinking on leaving them here?”

“Nopony will stay behind. I will ask you all to endure one more night. At dawn, we all will be out of here.”

****

Lightning Dash, flying over Canterlot, got a nice look on what all his friends were doing. For only four ponies, Canterlot was a lot of ground to cover. However, he soon got the signal he was waiting for. He had to make two detours to catch Blaze and Scarlet Boulder, but soon they all had gathered with Ice Sapphire at one of Canterlot’s squares.

“I found it, Dash. It’s here.” Ice Sapphire said pointing at the air.

“Are you crazy, Sapphire?” Scarlet Boulder asked. “It’s just air!”

“No. That’s what we’ve been looking for. Reach with your magic.” Lightning Dash answered.

Blaze was the first to understand, “This is what you meant for a magic note from... her.”

“Sapphire, what does it spells?” Lightning Dash asked.

The unicorn took some time, focusing his magic to understand the magic writing. “S-L-A-V-E-R-S…” then, suddenly, her eyes opened widely, “That spells ‘slavers’!”

“So the Slavers of Canterlot are not an urban legend,” Blaze commented.

“And it took us a friend to learn that,” Lightning Dash commented. “Any clues?”

Ice Sapphire shook her head, “Nothing my magic can detect.”

Scarlet Boulder then followed something around for a bit, “Her hooves came there, joined another two and then the disappeared.”

“So it’s at least a pair. We have to assume this is a whole group working.” Blaze commented.

“However, we can’t act before contacting the Princess. And she is in court now!” Ice Sapphire commented.

“I will catch her attention. You wait right here,” as they all nodded, Lightning Dash lunched himself in the air once again.

****

Princess Celestia was just about to voice her decision about a grey pegasus’ complains when a thunder roared. It was a sunny day scheduled and looking at the window, she saw it was indeed a sunny day. It only made it stranger. Then came a second one quickly followed by a third. There was a pause then followed by four quick thunders straight.

“There is some pegasus having fun!” said the pegasus in front of Celestia.

“Indeed,” she said rising from her throne. “I’ll return as soon as I can. I’ll see to this matter myself.” And then she opened her wings and flew out of one of the large windows. Above the castle’s roof, Celestia was quick to find Lightning Dash, but no storm cloud around. “May I ask how you summoned the thunder?”

Lightning Dash quickly summoned a few sparks on his hoof and gave a quick punch, resulting in a thunder sound. “Sorry for that Princess. But we need to talk with the General right away.”

Celestia just closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened her eyes again, she looked deeply into Lightning Dash’s. “I hope it was worth, interruption the Princess’s Court.”

“Golden Breeze has gone missing. However, she was able to leave a message behind. The message said simple ‘slavers’,” Lightning Dash reported.

“I see. At least now we have one inside. No, I didn’t know about this, but I guessed. Plenty of mares are being reported as disappeared in Canterlot’s area. Anyway, you have a mission. The five of you shall look for her. I’ll summon Shining Armor myself so you don’t have to worry. Meet him at the center square and then you inform him of everything. Have I made myself clear?”

Lightning Dash made a quick bow, even if he was flying, “Yes, sir!”

Soon, he turned and left to meet with the others, the Princess now returning to her Court.

****

“The night is approaching,” Alpha Star said to Golden Breeze. “They will open soon.”

“Fine. Girls, you remember what you have to do?” Golden Breeze asked.

Her answer was a series of nods and plenty of different affirmative answers. She then grinned back and returned to the ground, lay down and faked her sleep as with the other girls brought with her, or so she assumed. A few minutes later, they heard the door opening in a corner of the room. The voice of a stallion made everypony look at him.

“Are we getting any volunteers?” he asked. “We need an earth pony, five unicorns and three pegasi.” There was a rather long silence. “As usual, no girl wants to offer themselves… Let’s see…”

“I will,” called a, unicorn. Golden Breeze’s plan needed that at least two selected unicorns were chosen and, thankfully, the two she needed had a historic of asking to go when the mood strikes.

“Me too,” called the second unicorn. The others could be chosen at random. The plan was on the right track.

There was some silence before he asked once again. Without any callers, she picked the remaining mares pointing a hoof at them and said mares walked with him outside the room. As soon as he closed the door, Golden Breeze got up again.

“Okay. They will set the axis points as I taught them. The other unicorns keep practicing the most you can, the more coordinates you can place, the better!”

Alpha Star turned to the door, “Golden Breeze! They’re getting back!”

“Crap!” she almost thrown herself at the floor, once again faking her sleep.

As soon as the door opened, one of the two unicorns that had volunteered to go was thrown to the floor. “And the next time you try using magic I won’t be so kind!” called another male voice from the door.

When Golden Breeze heard the door closing again, she raised and darted towards the fallen unicorn. “Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m… fine… I just tried to place an axis closer to the exit…”

“Why! I told you it wouldn’t be needed!”

“And… how would you… find the exit?”

“The only way without an axis to follow!” the realization of that made the unicorn flattens her ears to her skull. “Sorry…”

Golden Breeze shook her head. She was about to say something when she saw a hoof mark at her belly. “They hit you?” she asked.

“Just one of them…”

Enough was enough. Golden Breeze had seen enough violence when she was a child. Now, though, she had the power to change that reality. “Alpha Star, change of plans. You stay here and don’t let any mare leaves this room.”

“What you’ll do?”

“Show them the results of my training!”

“Are you crazy? Even being a Royal Guard, you are just one pony!”

She’s right. How can I play this off all by myself? She thought at Alpha Star’s side in front of the door.

“They will hear you breaking open the door…What will you do then?”

Golden Breeze downed her head. But somepony has to do something… Or else, this will only keep repeating itself… forever…

“The very moment they see what you’re doing, you’re lost!”

Golden Breeze’s mind cast back to her school years. It was not only one or two times she managed to help her friends. Plenty of times, even more so after her sister joined a gang, she had to help them without being seen. Just like his school friends, like her sister… just like that little foal chilling in the streets across her house. Her mother still thought that Golden Breeze’s blanket was lost in the moving they made a few months later…

She had done it once, helping others without being seen. She had done it often enough to call it an habit. Her mother always said she was like wind: silent as a breeze when calm and peaceful, and loud as a hurricane when angered and stressed. She blinked her eyes, regained her temper, looked deep into Alpha Star’s eyes and smiled sincerely.

“Then I shall be invisible, right?”

And just like that, she looked at the door. The door itself barred magic. However, the door wasn’t perfect: there was the key hole. It would be the trickiest thing she ever did, but she closed her eyes, concentrated as much as she could and opened her wings as usual.

There was a faint breeze.

She let a very small smile form in her lips, before focusing back into work. Soon she could feel better. The magic flowing through the door’s key hole informed her there was only one pony walking in the corridor right now and he was about to turn around the corner. As he did, she opened her eyes again, her both hooves touching close to the door knob and then, she forced. Inside the room they were able to hear the crack, but Golden Breeze’s magic has stopped the sound from spread outside. Slowly, she pushed the door open and looked around. The path was safe.

She looked once more to Alpha Star, “I’ll be back to save you and the girls. Ask the unicorns to fake a working lock so they won’t get too suspicious before I return.”

Alpha just nodded and only then Golden Breeze sneaked out the room.

Author's Note

Hey ya! Another chapter up and another bit of background history of our heroes! And as a little treat, a hint about what kind of missions the Knights of Harmony will face in the future. By the way, if you're curious to how Celestia identified the thunders: A long, a short and a long means "K" in Morse code, while four shorts means "H". And I managed to get Scarlet Boulder to talk with you today, let's hear what she thinks will happens!

“Sorry! Can’t talk now! A friend of mine has gone missing! My friends and I are looking for her all over Canterlot! I can’t let her sitting here by herself! I didn’t get my cutie marks for laughing at ponies in need after all! I just hope that she’s alright… The next chapter of Knights of Harmony is: Silent Wind, Loud Boulder”