Fire and Ice

Chapter Four: The Chase

Sticking his head out of the hedge, Rhem whistled to the guard to grab his attention, pulling back the instant the unicorn saw him. The dragon burrowed his way further up the hedge from the inside, stopping just beneath the surface of the top. The guard precipitated himself to the exact spot the Draconian’s head retreated and he prodded the shrubbery for him, the alicorn princess supervising him.

As the unicorn busied himself with that, Rhem popped his head out of the top and gathered himself out to stand directly on top of the hedge. Spear still in his mouth, he whistled to the stallion again before utilizing the powerful muscles in his hind legs to leap, clearing the distance between the walls and disappearing on the other side.

The guard’s jaw dropped wide open while the solar monarch stared for a couple of seconds before snorting and flapping her wings to take to the air long enough to glide over the wall to pursue the dragon.

Rhem would have proved difficult to catch even with his armor on--but since he didn’t have it on, he was even swifter on his feet. A pair of pegasi joined Princess Celestia, accompanying her on both sides. The dragon weaved through the twists and turns without having to slow down. The stallions had to admit they were impressed with his footwork.

Princess Celestia, too, was rather impressed with his speed. Even at a full gallop, they could barely keep up with him. She had originally thought that it was her larger size acting against her, but quickly disregarded that. Rhem was just as big as she was in terms of physical size, and he was alarmingly nimble. However, as they chased him, she smiled--they were gaining! He would have no choice but to surrender!

Glancing behind him to find the winged equines gaining ground on him, he careened, jumping at the hedge wall on his left, meeting the surface with the flats of his feet. Using the built up momentum, he spring off and sailed over the ponies as they passed and onto the other side of the right wall.

Now it was the mare’s turn to drop her jaw at the display of agility, again coming to a stop. This was turning out to be a wild goose chase! He was simply too swift to chase down!

An idea suddenly spawned in her mind. Lifting a hoof, she motioned for the guards to come closer to her.

“I have an idea. Get some of the other guards, and see if we can’t swing around the long way and head him off.”

With resolved grins, the soldiers saluted and took flight to gather more guards.

Now this was going to be interesting, the Draconian thought, having overheard. He pushed himself back through the wall of shrub, emerging a few feet behind the alicorn. The reptilian cleared his throat to get her attention then took off back from where they came.

Princess Celestia watched as her guards flew off. Hopefully, this would work. A classic pincer maneuver…

Upon hearing the dragon, she tilted her head behind her, wings flaring out lightly in surprise. Whirling around, she broke into a gallop, her head bowed low as she charged after him as quickly as she could.

As he rounded another turn, he saw that this particular path led to a dead end, but he continued to run. As he neared the end, he slowed, mentally calculating his speed and mass, and leaped at the wall. Springing off with a back flip, he flew over Princess Celestia and landed gracefully behind her.

Princess Celestia did not even bother to slow down, her full attention on the Draconian. Her eyes pinned on him as he flipped over her, her neck craned up and back as she dashed under him…

… and caused her to run right into the dead end with a comedic thudding SPLAT. Feathers were jarred loose and span in the breeze as she peeled herself off. Stumbling with her vision swimming, she shook her head to clear it… before turning with a soft growl and a notable scowl.

This was getting ridiculous now. At first, it had been cute. NOW it was beginning to become a bit of an insult. Who did this young upstart think he was?

Analyzing and acknowledging the look on the mare’s face, the general dropped the spear. He then sat down upon his haunches and lowered his head slightly with his ear frills drooping in submission, hoping that would appease her enough not to punish him too badly.

Princess Celestia had been taken a bit off guard at the voluntary capitulation. She ceased growling, eyebrows raising and glower wiping clean from her visage. The pony appeared bemused, but she was not complaining.

“Now, what was that all about, General?” she inquired, taking a step towards him.

The scaly creature remained silent for a moment before he actually opened his mouth to reply.

“I was testing the abilities of your warriors.”

The mare’s expression brightened, her face melting into an expression of warmth.

“Oh? Well, isn’t that coincidental? That was actually the very reason we were chasing you. Your king requested to inform you to train with our guards.”

Her smile widened, a soft giggle emerging.

“Although, I think it would be more accurate to say you were training us!”

Rhem shifted his weight uneasily on his feet at the equine’s conviviality. Wasn’t she supposed to be angry with him?

“… You are not going to beat me?”

The princess was rather baffled at this suggestion.

“Heavens, no! Why would I do such a thing? You’re not even part of my army!”

“Because I deserve to be punished for my behavior,” he answered as he shuffled closer and brought himself down onto his belly as if her were to about to receive an actual beating.

“I will admit I didn’t appreciate getting slammed into a wall. But, you know what? I have nopony to blame but myself for that. I didn’t watch where I was going.

“Though, you were showing off… I suppose…”

She raised her hoof, holding it in the air for a few seconds as if to strike, then lowered it and softly tapped the dragon on the nose.

“Honk.”

Princess Celestia wasn’t intimidating, aggressive, or loud and therefore, he showed no fear of her as he eyed her hoof, not flinching nor shutting his eyes as it came down. But, the instant it poked his hose, his face scrunched up into the very image of bewilderment.

“Honk?”

“Consider that your beating.”

Cracking a smirk, the mare proceeded to walk past the Draconian.

Still thoroughly confused, Rhem shook his head and rejected it. Rising up onto his feet, his attention drifted skyward to the fresh group of pegasi.

“What do we do about them?”

Following his gaze, the princess stared at the guards that were descending to meet them. Her grin morphed into a small frown, feeling a bit upset. They had gone the whole length of rounding up more soldiers, only to find they weren’t needed after all. This was actually kind of embarrassing, Had this been an actual capture, she would dismiss them. But Rhem was just messing with them. He had just… been having fun.

‘… Or had he?’ the tall mare asked herself. Fun, entertainment, amusement… Something told her that those concepts weren’t widely practiced in Draconia. Deciding she would find out, she turned to Rhem.

“Tell me, General… are you familiar with the concept of fun? … Humor?” she questioned, the gears in her head already rotating.

Tearing his eyes away from the fast approaching guards, he arched his brow at the alicorn.

“… No,” he responded, though his tonality heavily suggested that he was curious.

She nodded in understanding. Her suspicious have been correct.

“Fun is the enjoyment of pleasure, particularly leisure. An enjoyable distraction, diverting mind and body from any serious task… or compounding it, anyway,” she explained.

Tilting his head, the Draconian furrowed his eyebrows.

“What would be the point of that?”

“When an individual is challenged to think consciously and overcome obstacles, they are more likely to have an easier time with it if they change their perspective and view it as fun. Fun helps others to relax. Fun is… a sort of a social lubricant, important in adding to one’s pleasure in life and helping to act as a buffer against stress.

“I have ruled Equestria for many, many years, General,” she informed, suddenly overcome with a wash of melancholy. “Over three hundred doing so alone… But… it never used to be that way. I… used to rule alongside my little sister. I was forced to banish her… and everyday I have felt the hardship and pain, both emotional and mental, at having to deal with the burden of being a monarch.”

‘There are days where all I want to do is just lay down and cry… but I cannot,’ she thought to herself. ‘I must remain strong.’

“Having fun… helps to relieve that burden. If only for a short time.”

The dragon was completely blown away by this information. Not to mention astonished that she shared with him something so personal. Turning his head and noting that the stallions were almost at their location, he dug his claws into the ground and tensed up.

“What do you suggest?”

“What do I suggest?” the mare parroted. “I suggest we have a little fun. What say you?”

“I got that, but… how so?” he queried, shifting his full attention back to the solar pony.

A small, mischievous smirk crept up onto her face, doing nothing for a good moment. Then, without warning, she quickly reached out to prod his snout again.

“Tag! You’re it!” Princess Celestia cried out, immediately dashing off, not caring if her royal guard did see her.

“Tag…? I’m… it…?”

More perplexed as he witnessed the alicorn retreat into the maze, he momentarily glanced skyward as the troops closed in. Snorting, he pursued the princess, wondering what she had in mind.

The guards were in a fair amount of shock caused by their ruler’s very un-regal behavior. Some of them snapped out of it more quickly than others, but eventually, their collective minds returned to reality and gave chase.

Rhem sped around the corner, pumping his legs vigorously to catch up with the snow-coated pony.

“What are we doing?” he asked once he was running right behind her.

Truth be told, the princess knew she would start rumors about breaking her sophisticated and cultured air, even if for a few seconds--but at that point, she didn’t care.

She was old, damn it. She was allowed to be a little eccentric from time to time. Besides, being capricious kept the royal guard on their hooftips. Bolting ahead at full speed, the equine couldn’t help but feel long buried laughter burble up in peels from her throat. Hearing the general’s question, she threw her head back to give him a full-on grin.

“Having fun!” she called back.

It had been far too long since she had truly enjoyed herself.

Rhem accelerated, slowly gaining ground on the pony. His ear frills perked forth as the princess’ laughter rang through the air. It sounded light, heavenly… almost angelic, with a bell-like quality to it. The last time she laughed like this was when Princess Luna was still free, before she had been consumed by her jealousy and anger.

She did not yet realize this, being so thrilled at having so much fun that she didn’t care. Nothing could bring her down. Even seeing Rhem’s look of uncertainty as he ran alongside her was almost amusing to her.

The Draconian shifted his attention to the path behind him to find the guards steadily catching up. As one closed in, about to make a grab for his tail, he jumped at the wall, his claws gripping onto the hedge and continuing to run. Extending his wing, he swept it back at the stallion and sent him flying into the group behind him where they ended up in a crumpled heap.

Returning his eyes ahead of him, he transferred himself back onto the ground just in time to make another turn.

Princess Celestia easily shifted her weight into the turn to keep up with the dragon. While she was tempted to try and perform the same trick he had done, she was content to just stretch her legs and wings and just sprint.

She often didn’t get the chance to do any strenuous exercise--the burning she was beginning to experience through her legs, her lungs pumping as she charged full on, her nostrils flaring with heated exhaled breath, the feel of the breeze through her mane and against her face, the blood coursing through her veins, the rush of adrenaline!

It felt revitalizing, in an odd sense. It made her feel alive.

She suddenly had the idea of showing up tomorrow morning to run with her guards for their daily constitutional. She could already imagine the looks on the faces of her soldiers and drill sergeant. How shocked they would be!

Sharply turning, Rhem focused ahead and saw that there was yet another dead end ahead, and both he and Princess Celestia were moving too quickly to slow to a stop on time to avoid crashing into it. With a burst of speed, he outran her and leaped at the wall, all four paws meeting the hedge in order to use his body to prevent the royal equine from crashing a second time.

Princess Celestia herself, too mentally distracted, also came to the belated realization that she needed to slow down a few seconds too late. Digging her hooves into the ground to attempt to skid to a halt, she was ultimately unsuccessful and plowed right into Rhem with enough force to send the two of them through the hedge itself.

He was used to landing on his feet whenever something sent him flying or tumbling. Unfolding his wings only to press them back down, on the princess, to keep her against his back, he prepared his feet for a landing. Sliding sideways as they touched the earth, tearing into the grass and dirt, the buildup of soil underneath his paws assisted him in slowing down and eventually stopping.

Straightening himself up with the equine on his back, the general stretched out his wings, enabling her to climb off when she wanted to.

The alabaster alicorn laid sprawled out, eyes spinning in her head for a few seconds. Clearing her head by swinging it from side to side, she let out a chuckle and hopped off of Rhem.

“… Thank you, General Rhem.”

She graciously gave a short bow, her face stained a light pink. That could have turned out far worse than it had. She could only imagine how it would have looked if she had somehow ended up under the poor dragon.

… Or worse, wound up under the poor dragon… right in front of King Talonblaze.

The Draconian nodded and spun around. The guards poured out of the hole he made in the wall, rocketing towards him. Growling lowly, he readied himself for action.

The troops rained down to catch him, but the young general leaped out of the way. As more dove down, he kicked into overdrive, twisting away, slipping right underneath one to escape another and causing two to collide--thankfully, nothing he did resulted in any injuries. With lightning speed and catlike reflexes and flexibility with more jumps, performing flips and twists, he escaped every single attempt at him.

In the end, the stallions were reduced to a massive pile of ponies with Rhem as the triumphant victor.

Princess Celestia, still mildly dazed, merely sat down as she observed. Every time her ponies came close, Rhem would just get out of the way and elude capture again at the last second. It was a complete gong show, an absolute wreck of a demonstration. She was initially disappointed in her guard… but as their persistence lead to failure after inevitable failure, she began to find the whole ordeal very humorous.

Smiling over at the victorious dragon, she couldn’t help but shake her head.

“Very good, General! Impressive! Most impressive.”

“It… was?” he inquired, arching a brow, astounded. He had NEVER received praise from anyone back in his homeland.

Princess Celestia nodded.

“Not many individuals can outmaneuver my guards with such grace and agility… or for as long. You deftly evaded my best, and you made it look like mere child’s play!”

“Your Highness…” a guard groaned as he pulled himself to his hooves. “Didn’t you want us to capture him?”

“Actually, King Talonblaze requested us to train the general.”

“This is so embarrassing… Going down like this… at the claws of somepony so young,” mumbled another guard as he helped up a comrade.

“Should we continue to train with him?” asked a third stallion.

“I don’t see why not.” Princess Celestia smiled gently. “I’m sure that there are some things you all and he will be bound to learn from one another.”

Rhem stood his ground with a soft growl, his brows knitting together as he delivered an intense stare that dared the guards to come at him.