Winds of Freedom

After a long, drawn out training period, Sonic and Shadow decided to call it a night and headed back to their room. The somewhat long walk between the training room and their bedroom seemed even longer tonight, since both boys were tired and sore. When they started sparring, they didn't hold back. Once they finally made it to the last flight of stairs, they were intercepted by their mother, who wrapped them both in a loving hug. Shadow had grown out of such gestures of affection, so he looked rather uncomfortable. Sonic didn't mind, and hugged his mother back, realizing with a start that he was nearly as tall as her. He was now eye level with the top of her shoulder, which surprised him to no end.

     "I'm just about to raise the moon. Did either of you want to watch?" Luna offered. Shadow immediately shook his head no, as he just wanted to hit the hay, and Sonic, after a moments consideration, also declined her offer. Luna looked slightly disappointed at their refusal.

     "Are you sure? Tonight will be the full moon, and you haven't joined me for The Painting in a long time." Luna looked at them hopefully.

     "Nah, we're both beat. Thanks though!" Sonic said before heading back up the stairs after Shadow. Luna pouted a little before heading on her way as well. Sonic looked back a little guiltily, but he didn't stop. Both boys pelted up the steps as fast as they could, eager to get to the privacy of their room.

     "I think that she's getting pretty upset we keep bugging out on her," observed Shadow as Sonic closed the door.

     "Yeah, but I'd rather watch from here. That balcony they do it from has gotten awfully stuffy as of late." Sonic again looked irritated, much as he had earlier that day.

     "So you sense the tension as well?" Shadow queried.

     "Yeah, like there's something that they're hiding, or something they disagree about telling us. I don't know, it just feels...awkward."

     "Like we can't trust each other." Sonic stared at Shadow as he said this, but realized that what his brother had said was all too true. It felt strained, tense... doubtful. Sonic didn't want to dwell on it, but over the past year, as he and his brother had grown more and more impatient with being trapped inside this cage of a castle, the twins had seemed to drift away from the only life they had ever known. It was strange and frustrating, like floating in a black limbo with absolutely no control.

     "This is pointless! Every time I look for answers I just get more questions. I'm outta here!" Sonic growled before leaping out the window. Shadow looked at where his brother had disappeared into the darkness. Concern was etched on his face, but he did not go after him.

     Sonic dashed to the edge of the roof and leapt off, landing on the edge of another tower and running off that one as well. He continued to perform a rather impressive display of parkour until he finally reached the outer wall, where he screeched to a halt. The frustrated teen walked along the edge, kicking loose stones and staring frustratedly at the ground far below. Today, despite being like every other day, had ticked him off. What was it that frustrated him so? His mind was filled with questions, all of which were clamoring for his full attention. He was so wrapped up in his inner turmoil that it didn't click in his head that he was farther outside the castle than he had ever been. Being so preoccupied, as Sonic paced along the outer edge of the barrier, he failed to notice an old abandoned guard post right in his way. In his irritation, his gait was quick and choppy, and he sped up even more every second.

     Sonic rammed right into the guard post, and with a startled exclamation, took a hasty step back while rubbing his sore nose. In doing so, he only placed half of his foot on the outer edge of the wall, on a smooth, polished stone, no less. With a strangled yelp, he ingloriously fell off the wall and into the world beyond. He hit the ground with an incredibly loud thud, managing to land right on his face. He lay there for a second, not quite believing how clumsy that was.

     "I really should've seen that coming," he groaned, pulling his face out of the dirt, and rising to one knee. His face was now extremely sore, and he was sure his nose would break if it went through too much more abuse. "I really hope no one saw that," he murmured. Suddenly, his situation sunk in. He was outside the castle walls. HE WAS OUTSIDE THE CASTLE WALLS. "Oh man, oh man, oh man, I am in so much trouble if Mom or Aunt Tia find out about this!"

     Without wasting a second, he bounded back up to the top of the wall, using holes and cracks as footholds to jump from. He almost fell once he reached the top, but with a final jump, he managed to pull himself all the way up. Sonic heaved a sigh of relief. He should be fine now-

     "Hold it right there! You are trespassing on royal grounds! Stay where you are, and put your hands up!" boomed out the voice of a guard. Peering through the darkness, Sonic could just see a guard on the next guard post, glaring at him. Doing what any good citizen would do, he rose to his feet...

     And ran as fast as he could back the way he came. Behind him were the angry yells of the guard and reinforcements as they heard the commotion up top, but Sonic was pretty sure they hadn't gotten a good look at his face. He retraced his steps right down to the last tower roof, until he finally saw the window of his room in front of him. One last jump, and he launched himself straight at it. If his aim was right, he would sail straight through the open window. Turns out, his aim was spot on. Unfortunately, it also turns out that the window was closed.

     For the second time that night, Sonic slammed face first into a hard surface. But this time, he slammed into magically reinforced glass, which hurt a lot worse than the packed dirt that directly surrounded the backsides of the castle proper. He let out a small whimper as his already aching nose let out a small pop and hurt even more. Touching it gingerly, he found it didn't seem to be broken. His inventory check was cut short, though, as the yells of the guards got extremely close. Frantic at the prospect of the guards being almost upon him, he urgently opened the window, hopped in, and shut it. Just as he clicked the lock shut, he could see a spotlight hover over the slightly dented window before moving on.

     "Smooth," was the welcome that Sonic got from his brother, who was staring at him from the other side of their vast room where his bed was situated.

     "Wow, your concern for my wellbeing is touching," said Sonic, his voice dripping with sarcasm. But he knew his brother was right. He had only been dicovered since he was being a clumsy oaf. He would never admit it, though.

     "Well, what are brothers for?"Shadow fired back, his voice loaded with as much sarcasm as Sonic's.

     "Oh, shut up and go to sleep," Sonic grumbled. His little excursion had done nothing to improve his mood, despite the fact that it had taken him outside the walls, and he was certainly in no frame of mind for witty banter. He could hear his twin chuckle slightly before rolling over and falling back to sleep. Sonic quickly realized how exhausted he was after the perils of the night, and without further ado, flopped into his bed and went straight to sleep as well.

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     Sonic wearily woke up the next morning, feeling even more stiff and sore than he had the night before. The phrase, "He's gonna feel THAT in the morning" had never held so much meaning to the bruised and beaten up prince. To make matters worse, he hadn't even changed before he fell asleep, which meant that the thick and durable seams of his favorite sweatshirt had dug into his skin. All in all, it had been a rather unpleasant night.

     Sonic took a quick shower and changed into a fresh set of clothing. He was currently at that awkward stage where nothing seemed to fit, so despite being a prince, he had relatively few sets of clothing. He also wasn't the most organized either, so right now, most of his clothing was in a laundry basket in his closet. To his chagrin, he only had a few clean shirts left, all of which being ones he never wore. Finally, he chose the lesser evil and pulled out a vest.

     It was a dark blue that was almost the same shade as his shaggy hair. He shrugged it on without undoing the zipper, almost regretting that there weren't sleeves. To compensate, he pulled on a pair of gloves. Of course, he always wore jeans, so that much wasn't in dispute. All of this took about two minutes, as he was prone to just throwing on whatever was easiest and calling it good. To finish his ensemble, Sonic pulled on his favorite red trainers that he wore every day.

     Having finished his morning routine, he pelted downstairs to breakfast. Unfortunately, he was waylaid by Cadance and Shining Armor, both of whom looked much too cheerful for it being that early in the morning.

     "Oh, so you DO like the vest I gave you," laughed Shining. "I thought you said you would never wear it." It took a moment for Sonic to understand what his adoptive cousin (by way of marrying Cadance, who was basically Sonic's cousin because of her relationship to Celestia) was talking about.

     "Meh, it was the only thing I had left to wear," Sonic replied. He had forgotten that Shining had given this to him. Supposedly, it was a reinforced material used to line the armor of the Imperial Guard. Shining had even gotten it tailored to fit Sonic, as he was too lanky to fit a good deal of normal clothes. While Sonic had certainly appreciated the thought behind the gift, he had just never felt like wearing it.

     "Oh, Sonic, be nice! Shining got that just for you, you know," chided Cadance. As she did so, she pulled her cousin into a brief hug, ruffling his hair with her free hand. Sonic laughed and pushed her away.

     "Oh, get off!" he tried to sound angry, but he failed miserably, earning himself another noogie, this time from Shining. Sonic laughed again and ducked away from his assailants to continue on towards the breakfast hall. "See you later, Crystal Crazies!" he taunted, having given them that nickname after they had taken over rule of the Crystal Empire to the north.

     Sonic finally reached the dining room, and he plopped down in a chair next to his brother. His mother and Celestia sat across from them at the small table, which was only used for the royal family. Sonic was immediately served bacon, eggs, toast, and, to his mother's chagrin, coffee.

     Shadow suddenly elbowed Sonic, who silently hissed in pain as one of his bruises was struck by Shadow's bony elbow. Sonic glared at his twin, but all he got was a meaningful *look* before Shadow glanced at Celestia's coffee cup. 'Ooooohh, I get it...' thought Sonic. He held his hand under the table, and waited for his aunt to take another sip. As soon as she did, Sonic made a pulling motion with his finger. The closer her cup came to her lips, the farther the coffee itself got from that edge of the cup. Celestia took a moment to realize that her coffee was running away inside her cup.

     Luna looked over and giggled. Her gaze traveled to her two children. Shadow seemed as nonchalant as ever, but Sonic had a silent look of concentration on his face, and he was only eating with one hand.

     Celestia tried to take another sip, but her coffee ran away again, this time completely defying gravity on the other side of her cup. She looked at her sister in irritation, but her sister looked like she was about to burst into laughter.

     Celestia tried one more time, this time expecting it to run away again. So, when she found that it actually DIDN'T run  away, she had a mouthful of coffee that she wasn't prepared for. With a series of coughing and wheezing, she finally got over the worst of it, but she swore she could feel the coffee sloshing around in her lungs.

     Sonic couldn't hold it in anymore. He started to laugh, but he tried so hard to keep it in, it almost sounded like he was choking on something too. Shadow, being the quiet person that he was, only cracked a small grin, but the mirth on his face was evident. Luna finally burst into outright laughter at the look on her sister's face. Celestia quickly decided now was a good time for a change in subject.

     "So," she began, "did any of that commotion wake you two up last night? The guards told me that someone tried to sneak onto castle grounds, and that they went right past your window. They didn't manage to catch him, though. Did you see him?" Celestia was desperate enough to change the topic in conversation that she didn't notice Sonic stiffen as soon as she mentioned 'commotion'. It was only Shadow's swift thinking that saved him.

     "Yeah, we woke up when we heard him slam into a window nearby. The idiot apparently thought that we leave our windows open at night and were going to invite him in with open arms." Sonic sighed in relief, but glared at his brother as well. 'I'll get you for that,' he swore to himself. 'Just you wait.'

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     Sonic's revenge would have to wait, however, as they first had to deal with another problem. One that was called 'Prince Blueblood'. He always hung around whenever he felt like it, acting like he owned the place. Normally, Sonic and the phony prince would duke it out in a battle of wits, but this time, Sonic walked right past him without even acknowledging his existence. Blueblood did not miss this implied insult, and whirled around and grabbed Sonic's arm.

     "What, you think you can just walk by one of noble blood without giving them the proper respect? No wonder the Princesses keep you cooped up in here. Your manners are atrocious," Blueblood sneered. Sonic didn't even turn to look at him before he replied.

     "I'll give you respect when you actually start acting like a noble." While Sonic refused to look at the 'prince', Shadow did meet his eyes, and his gaze told Blueblood to let. Go. Of. His. Brother. Blueblood scoffed in feigned ignorance of Shadow's threat, but he did let go of Sonic. He turned around and walked away with a dignified sense of being disgusted by his company.

     "Remind me why that jerk knows we exist?" grumbled Sonic, not really wanting an answer.

     "Because he somehow found us after getting free roam of the castle." Shadow answered, knowing and not caring that Sonic didn't expect a response. "He is certainly too nosy for his own good." It didn't help that he was held as a shining example by the rest of the corrupt nobility. His rather handsome build didn't help, either. He would often be found flirting with the prettiest girls he could find, flipping his immaculate blonde hair while flattering them to no end.

     Needless to say, the twins couldn't help but be jealous that this officious prick had more free rein than they did. To say it was maddening would be the understatement of the millenium.

     "And why is he even called a prince? His relationship with Aunt Tia is incredibly distant!" complained Sonic. Of course, he already knew the answer, as he had asked that question many times. But he just wanted something to complain about, as he was in an incredibly bad mood.

     "And why are you even griping about something we can't change?" countered Shadow. "We can't do anything about it until we're older. All we can do is wait."

     "That's all we've done all our lives, is wait! I'm tired of waiting. I want to leave this castle behind. I want to see the world we live in, not just watch it from our window! We're told constantly to just be patient. Things will change. We'll be able to do more, and actually leave these walls. Well, you know what? I'm SICK and TIRED of being patient!"

     "Is that so?" Sonic and Shadow whirled around to see who was eavesdropping on their conversation. Although, considering Sonic's previous outburst, it was hard not to.

     Despite the fact that they had never met the person they found standing behind them, the twins immediately knew who it was.

     "Discord, I presume?" Shadow smoothly began, cocking an eyebrow in a slight show of curiosity. Discord smiled happily at being recognized. Then, without warning, he reached forward and grabbed the collar of Sonic's vest. The unsuspecting teen yelped in surprise, before falling silent as he saw Discord's hands up close. One had pads like you would find on a cat's paw, and the other had deadly looking claws.

     Sonic, at first uncertain, suddenly narrowed his eyes in anger. He pulled away and out of Discord's grip, spinning into a tight and controlled punch. Discord dodged smoothly away, his body contorting like a snake. Using his wings, Sonic made his own body follow the same motion as Discord's and punched again, feinting at his face while smoothly bringing his other arm forward into Discord's stomach. Sonic executed this technique so smoothly that his lower arm's movement looked like the followup of the first. As such, Discord was completely unprepared for the lower jab, even as he dodged smoothly around the upper.

     Sonic crowed in triumph as his strike hit home. Discord actually looked surprised, and bent over a little as the breath was knocked out of him. He immediately straightened however, and looked at Sonic with a conspiratorial eye.

     "Well, I certainly think that you could take care of yourself in the great big world. I wonder why the Princesses don't agree?" Discord's voice was practically begging them to question him about what he knew. He of course knew everything about their heritage, as you can't keep anything a secret from the God of Chaos, but Luna had begged him not to tell them anything. But that didn't mean he wouldn't help them along, so to speak.

     Sonic, for one, didn't like how obviously they were being led on, or how easily Discord had recovered from his punch, but he was just a bit too curious to stop himself.

     "I don't suppose you would know why they don't?" Sonic asked, adopting much the same tone that Shadow had earlier.

     "Maybe I do, maybe I don't," was his infuriatingly vague answer. "But I do know one thing."

     "And that is?" Sonic goaded on.

     "That vest is incredibly tough. What's it made of, reinforced mithril thread? Don't they use that in the Imperial Armor?" Discord asked, leaning in to inspect the seam on Sonic's left shoulder. Sonic scoffed in impatience and took a step back. The irritation on his face was evident, and Discord felt like their conversation was too serious.

     In order to lighten the mood, he conjured a tea cup and a pitcher of egg nog. Pouring the egg nog into the cup until it was filled to the brim, he leaned forward and took a delicate sniff. His pre-snack requisites having been completed, he dumped the egg nog out over his shoulder and popped the tea cup into his mouth. Both boys stared in horrified fascination as the sound of breaking glass emerged from Discord's closed mouth.

     "Want some?" he offered, conjuring another cup that floated lazily above his palm.

     "I'm good, thanks," Sonic smiled uneasily, unsure what to make of this strange creature with animal hands and mismatched horns growing from his head and similarly mismatched wings sprouting from his back. Discord turned the cup into a swirl of oil, and disposed of it by spreading it in the path of a very unfortunate maid, who, coincidentally, was carrying a basket of laundry.

     "Now," Discord interrupted, drawing the teenager's eyes away from the impending disaster down the hall. "How badly do you want out of this castle?"