It’s strange waking up in the wagon, wrapped in my sleeping bag with the blanket Treble made me acting as a pillow. Although this pales in comparison to looking up with my one good eye and seeing Bob just sitting there staring at me. I can hear the rest of the family whispering to each other all around us, and I can feel the wagon moving across the uneven road. Despite all of this, Bob and I just continue to stare at each other like nothing is happening.

“...Bob?” I start in an inquisitive tone, his right ear flicks before he blinks and raises an eyebrow. “...You’re really weird sometimes, you know that right?” He chuckles in response before he raises his head.

“Hey,” he calls out. “Guess who’s awake.”

My right eye widens as a second later Mom’s face is inches away from my own, and I am pulled into a smothering hug. It only lasts a second before my head hits my makeshift pillow once again but it still leaves me stunned. Glancing down I can see Treble glaring at Mom as she holds her wrists. “Really?” Treble starts in an agitated voice, “We went over this last night, Wind. Storm doesn’t need to be held, Snow needs to look her over and make sure she’s alright, got it?” Mom’s wings flare out, only to snap shut when Treble jabs a finger in her face, “Got it?” she repeats with exaggerated patience.

I can see Mom’s hands clenching and unclenching as she glares daggers at Treble before she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them she glares one more time at Treble before opening her mouth, “...I’m going for a walk.” Jerking her wrists out of Treble’s grasp, she walks to the edge of the wagon before jumping down and stomping off into the surrounding trees.

I hear someone sigh to the left of the wagon, “I’ll go make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid,” Gale says, before the rhythmic clanking of his armored paws follows after Mom.

Our group is silent for a while, the only sounds coming from the forest around us. I hear someone let out an explosive sigh from the front of the wagon before a deep baritone voice says in a sing-song tone, “Our little band of misfits~”

I hear Octavia reply with the next verse a moment later in a high pitched voice, “Always at each other’s throats~”

“We’ve been this way for ten long years~” Snow continues as she climbs into the wagon where I can see her.

“And with a little luck, ten moooore~” Bob finishes, holding a steady note.

I perk up a little bit after the little song is over. It might not be heartsong like Treble uses, but it is a reminder that no matter what, at the end of the day we’ll always be there for each other.

Snow sits down beside me and swings her brown bag off her back before undoing the straps holding her wooden staff in place. Her horn sparks a deep blue color, and the staff starts glowing the same as she waves it back and forth over my body. A soft humming sound fills the air as the staff sweeps in and out of my vision. Snow always does this when Mom and Gale come back from one of their “runs” and she is usually done in a few seconds before placing her staff on their chests and healing them.

I start to feel worried when the humming sound doesn’t stop after the first few seconds. Looking over at Snow, I see a frown on her muzzle as her staff passes over my head. She holds it there for a moment before waving the staff back down my body. She eventually sighs and the humming dies down as the staff stops glowing. Snow straps the staff back on her bag before standing up.

“...Soooo…” Bob says, waving his hands in a circular motion.

“There’s nothing wrong with her,” Snow says over her shoulder, “I think I’m going to go for a walk as well.”

“Bring Gale and Wind back while you’re at it!” I hear Iron Hoof bellow from the front of the wagon.

“Will do!”

I frown at Snow’s retreating form until she jumps off the wagon and out of sight. I push myself into a sitting position and look at Bob, “Why did it take so long?” I ask.

“She just wanted to make sure you were alright, she is, after all, going to have to tell your mother about what she found,” he says, looking down at me.

“Ohhhhh… Bob?”

“Yes?”

“Can I take these bandages off?” I ask, reaching for the rough itchy stuff covering the left side of my face.

“No.” Bob and Treble say in unison.

I frown as I weave my way through the trees, following the prints Gale left behind. I try to feel happy seeing as there is nothing wrong with Storm, but that is exactly what’s worrying me... There is absolutely nothing wrong with Storm.

I tighten my grip on the brown bag slung over my shoulder as I think about what happened. That circular rainbow from three days ago generated enough force to create a literal wall of air. It almost felt like a much stronger version of Wind’s “Dance of Death,” except instead of shaping the air into a blade it shaped the air into a warhammer the size of a colossus. It was also overloaded with harmonic magic.

This rainbow has made a mockery out of two of the three fundamental laws of magic. The first law going untouched as it states: magic can only interact with magic. This is largely overlooked since everything in the world has magic to a certain extent so everything can be influenced by it.

The second law states that: the more magic something has, the more magic is needed to influence it. I can lift a rock by levitating it easily, but if I tried to levitate Princess Cadance or an Ursa Major, which both have huge reserves of magic, it would be like trying to lift an entire ocean with my bare hands.

The third fundamental law of magic is: magic cannot blend with other magic unless certain requirements are met. When these requirements are not met it usually ends with explosive results, which is why most battle mages try to combine two or three spells before they reach the target…

This rainbow was so loaded with magic that Storm shouldn’t have been able to survive it. It shouldn’t have cracked her head open, it should have left her a bloody smear on the tree she collided with. With her natural magic still developing, it should have completely crushed her, or at the very least crippled her. Instead, her natural magic pool now rivals that of her mother, and from what I can tell, it is still growing at an absurd rate!

My frown deepens and I stop completely as I realize something. ‘Her natural magic is already almost as powerful as an adult’s, which should be impossible except when she experiences a surge, and it is still growing… If this is her new normal level of magic,’ I think, glancing up at the sky. ‘Then what will happen if she does surge?’

My eyes widen as another thought crosses my mind, ‘What if Storm’s not the only one?’

I return my focus to the forest around me and set off in the direction of the prints Gale left once again, terrified of what might happen if Wind acquired the same boost of magic, and praying to The Sisters that Gale was able to calm her down if she did.

I continue searching the forest while following the tracks, and I eventually hear someone grunting, along with the sound of metal scraping against metal. Picking up my pace, I finally find the two in the most awkward positions I’ve ever seen them in.

Wind Reader is on the ground with her muzzle being pushed against the dirt by an armored back paw, its twin lying against her back right in between her wings, preventing a full range of motion and pinning one of her arms to her lower back. Gale has a talon gripping one of her hooves from the front, keeping it at a bent acute angle. The other armored talon strains between his legs to hold the hoof still that is inches away from connecting with his family jewels and trying to extend a little further. One of Wind’s daggers is lodged in one of Gale’s shoulder plates and Gale’s great axe is lying off to the side on the forest floor. They’re both glaring daggers at each other and the trembling limbs of both combatants on the ground paints a pretty clear picture that this little scuffle of theirs has ended in a draw.

“...Do I even want to know?” I ask, shaking my head in resignation.

“She started it,” Gale grunts out, “Horse wouldn’t listen to me when I told her that Storm would be fine without her for twenty fucking minutes!”

“Storm neeeeds her mother you fucking turkey, now let go of me before I turn you into a fucking hen!” Wind screeches back.

I shake my head again, ‘Considering they haven’t turned the area into a crater yet I believe that my fear was just a fear.’ Looking at the two once more I address the… probably… more sane of the two, “Gale, you are the only griffin I can think of who has the balls to take on a maternal pegasus worried about her foal.”

“While they might be vicious, you said it yourself.” Gale gasps out, “They’re usually worried about protecting their foal… A worried mind… makes mistakes… I don’t need to be better than her.” Gale takes another gasp of air before letting out a strangled roar and leveraging himself up using Wind’s hooves. Wind starts thrashing around but it’s too late. Gale pulls his hind legs over the hoof Wind was threatening to sterilize him with and collapses on her back just below her wings. “I just need to be smarter,” he finishes while taking the dagger out of his red shoulder plate.

“Turkey!” Wind continues to howl from her position on the forest floor, “Pidgeon! You tartarus damned cat, let me go!”

“Wind Reader!” I yell at the mare, she stops completely before looking at me with almost desperate eyes. ‘By the stars,’ I think to myself. ‘Those sailors weren’t joking when they said a pegasus’ maternal instincts makes them crazy.’ Opening my mouth, I instead tell her in a calming voice, “I’m done looking her over, Storm is perfectly fine. I just need to talk to you about something.”

“If she’s perfectly fine then why do you need to talk to me?” I pause for a moment unsure about how to word this and turn my eyes on Gale. The griffin raises an eyebrow at me and gestures with an armored talon for me to continue.

“As I said before, Storm is perfectly fine. She doesn’t even have a concussion, but-”

“But?” I pause and frown as she interrupts me, “but what? What’s wrong with my little angel? Tell me!” she screeches out.

“...She has an abnormally large magic reserve,” I finish slowly.

Wind just stares at me for a few moments before she opens her mouth, “So it’s… what, an improvement?”

I frown at her answer, “Well, yes and no. Storm’s magic reserves are almost as large as yours are, while this does mean she will be very powerful flyer, it also means that she will need to learn how to control her magic quickly, otherwise she might end up hurting herself and those around her.”

Wind lets out a forced laugh as he eyes dart from side to side, “Just so we’re clear, how serious could these injuries be?”

“If it continues to grow at its current speed, she could create tornadoes that could rip her wings from her back if her magic surges.”

Both fighters are silent for a moment as they look at me with wide disbelieving eyes. “...What?” Gale finally asks as a armored talon slowly reaches for his upper back where his wings used to be.

Wind’s reaction is a lot less subtle as she starts thrashing around on the ground again. “Hey!” I yell, marching over to the two as Gale struggles to keep his position. Leaning down I grab Wind’s free arm and pin it to the ground with a white hand before looking her in the eye. “You’re not thinking straight right now Reader, so calm down and I’ll tell you how we can help her.”

“I’m not letting you up until you calm down either, Wind.” Gale adds, leaning forward and looking down at her face. The mother’s gaze quickly flickers between the two of us as her flailing slowly grinds to a halt.

Reader’s gaze finally settles on the forest floor. “...How can we help her?” she whispers in a defeated tone, before closing her eyes.

“The solution is really quite simple. We continue on as if nothing is wrong, the only change is that Bob and I will be teaching her how to control her emotions. Your job is to teach her how to control her natural magic once she starts flying.”

“...That’s it?” Gale asks with a raised eyebrow. “That’s all we can do?”

I silently nod my head, watching Wind’s expression closely. She’s looking at the ground, completely still. “Can you let me go?” she starts in a subdued voice. “I need some time to think.”

I look at her for a moment longer before turning to Gale and jerking my head off to the side. He sighs before getting off Wind’s back and collecting his axe. I pull the younger mare to her hooves, “Come on, you can think on the way back to the wagon,” I say before turning around and starting the walk back through the trees.

Author's Note

Upload speed changes drastically when you actually have fun writing a story.