Winds of Freedom

"So now what?" Sonic asked. He and Shadow leaned against the crumbling brick wall of a building down in the lower areas of Canterlot. They had evaded pursuit for the last two hours, navigating dark alleys and running across rooftops in a seemingly endless chase. After two hours of nonstop running, climbing, and spellcasting, the two boys were exhausted.

     "I'm not sure. I don't have the strength for a long range teleport at the moment, and even if I did, we don't know enough about the surrounding area in order to do so." Sonic sighed in defeat and slumped against the wall, his chest heaving as he drew in deep breaths. He already knew the answer to his question before he asked it, but he decided to ask anyways.

     "Maybe we should go back?" His tremulous query caught his brother off guard, who shot him a shocked look.

     "You're the one who dragged me into this, don't even think of backing down now," Shadow retorted, his face one of amused incredulity. Sonic laughed tersely, but quit, as it used up too much of the precious air he was drawing greedily into his stressed lungs.

     Unfortunately, their short respite was all too short, as they suddenly found themselves surrounded on both sides by the City Guard, the 'little brother' of the Royal Guard.

     "Now then, we finally have you little street rats cornered!" laughed the head honcho of the small troop currently surrounding them. Sonic and Shadow looked at each other tiredly. "Now, I don't know why Celestia wants you two in custody so badly, but it musta' been bad if she's willing to send the whole guard after ya. So, now that you're gonna be dragged back before Celestia to face her judgement, got any last words?" The grin on the leader's face disgusted the two boys, but Sonic wasn't about to let an opportunity like this slide.

     "Last words? Well, I've got a few for you."

     "And what would they be?"

     "That's PRINCESS Celestia to you!" With that the royal twins grabbed all the dumpsters and miscallaneous junk in the alleyway and threw them at the unsuspecting guards.

     "See you later, losers!" taunted Shadow, turning and dashing past the row of garbage covered guards.

     "Come back here!" yowled the commander, glaring at them through a rotten banana peel.

     "Gotta catch me first!"crowed Sonic triumphantly, bowling through the guards rather than going around them.

     Sonic rounded countless corners and spared no one in his escape. Many found themselves losing hats or their dignity as skirts flared up much higher than they were supposed to. Although his chest hurt and his legs ached, Sonic still loved the feeling of the wind on his face. Nothing could spoil the joy of speed for him. His crooked and roundabout journey did have a destination, though: the train station, filled with so many people that they could blend in. Once they lost their pursuers in the crowd, they would be home free, and could go wherever they wanted from there.

     Speaking of 'they', Sonic couldn't see his brother anywhere. Sonic flipped around and ran backward down the hill, his eyes roving the streets above. His search yielded no results, however, even when Sonic cast his eyes all the way up to the castle that sat elegantly at the top of the hill. Sonic sighed and turned around.

     He didn't turn around in time to see the bend in the road. Cries of alarm and rage filled the streets as the historical old library came crashing down around the mysterious blue blur. A shocked silence filled the air as the dust settled.

     "Ouch." People yelped and jumped back as a figure rose up from under the pile of rubble. Sonic shook his head and groaned. He looked around at the people around him, all of whom were staring at him in horror.

     "Just for the record," Sonic gasped out, unaware of the gruesome sight he presented, with blood slowly dropping down the side of his face from a fresh gash in his forehead, "I blame Discord." With that, he pulled himself entirely out of the debris and ran off.

     "And he said what exactly?" Celestia asked, trying to soothe the nerves of the noble in front of her who had come in ranting about the destruction of a priceless historical site.

     "I believe it was, and I quote, ahem, 'I blame Discord'. This only goes to show that this is a direct result of that menace's influence on today's adolescents. If you would only listen to my proposal-"

     "That's quite enough, thank you," Celestia cut him off. She nodded to her personal entourage, who began escorting the noble out.

     "Perhaps you should reconsider, if you would just-"

     "Thank you for your cooperation goodbye!" quickly stated Celestia's assistant as she as politely as she could shoved their visitor out the door.

     "Thank you, Xion." Celestia sighed in defeat. Her faithful friend nodded in agreement.

     "No problem, Princess," Xion smiled wearily at the door, no doubt imagining the earful the guards were getting right about now. "So were you going to tell me what this is all about? Why those two boys are so important?" Celestia looked at Xion sadly.

     "I- I'm sorry, maybe another time, Xion." The insulted assistant ran a hand through her coppery hair and pouted, making sure Celestia saw her comically dramatic face. The results came quickly, a small grin making its way onto the Princess' face.

     "You sure? You know that I'm not the sort to leak information," Xion continued, dropping the silly act. Her statement was true. Whenever Celestia needed to vent and Luna wasn't available, she turned to Xion. She knew more national secrets than the most dedicated of hackers, government officials, or dedicated gossipers. Xion had never leaked a secret, not a one. In her time as Celestia's secretary, she had grown to be the sun ruler's friend.

     "I know, but this... this is different."

     "You mean it's personal." Celestia turned and looked at her in surprise. "Don't give me that look, I've been around the nobles manipulating too long to not have figured out how to read the truth behind the lies. That, and I know you too well." Celestia laughed, nodding in agreement.

     "I'd have to agree. Sometimes I wish I had just skipped straight to a democracy instead of fooling with a monarchy. I thought I would ease them into a more modern government, but I suppose that was foolish of me." Celestia shook her head in regret. "I suppose that noble, oh what is his name? Neku Sakurabi? He's just one of many of his kind."

     "Neku Sakurabi, huh?" Xion rolled the name around on her tongue. "That's a mouthful. Wonder what his parents were thinking."

     "It really isn't," countered Celestia. "I've heard some rather outlandish ones in my day." Then she sighed again, her mind wandering to the descriptions she'd heard of the boy with rocket shoes and the boy in blue. One disappeared, the other with fearsome injuries, but was also off the radar.

     "I've suppose I should explain to you," began Celestia, but halted when her friend held up a hand.

     "Hold on a sec and let me grab a pot of tea. I get the feeling this is going to take some time."