Rainbow Dash woke up in her house, on the soft cloud floor. She felt uncomfortable, confused at why her limbs were moving. With her subconscious insisting she should be bound up, Rainbow finally jerked awake. She waited, but no breezie came to tend to her. Rainbow waited longer still.

The day lengthened, and it wasn't until midday that her thoughts finally cut through the routine she had built up for a year—a year and a day to be precise. Lifting a shaking leg, Rainbow pushed herself upright. Inhaling deeply, she fought back at the panic. "Foo'." Her speech was stilted, her tongue felt funny being unrestrained.

Turning around like she spotted a piece of paper sitting on the table beside her. At her first glance she remembered that Twilight was supposed to be spending the night. She vaguely remembered climbing off the couch and curling up on the floor; it seemed more comfortable to be on the floor.

Dear Rainbow Dash, please visit me as soon as you are awake, I will make sure you get some food, and you can tell me all about what happened.

—Twilight

Familiarity eased into Rainbow Dash, just the tiny sign that one of her friends was not just expecting her, but cared for her, shoved aside months of the breezies' training. Shaking off the phantom sensation of wearing a harness and bridle, Rainbow Dash grinned and trotted for the door. "Aww yeah, time to make sure I've still got it!" Blue wings with rainbow-colored feathers spread wide, and Rainbow Dash dropped from her home. She was free, free as a bird. She soared and flew. Rainbow climbed as high as she could and tipped her head down.

Her mane and tail streaming behind her, Rainbow Dash entered a crash-dive towards Twilight's castle. She felt as light as a feather and fast as a cannonball. At the bottom of her dive she pulled to the side and up. With her wings fighting incredible strain, Rainbow Dash felt herself slam through the barrier. Rainboom. It almost made her forget all the crazy stuff she had done. The Sonic Rainboom was literally her own personal expression of everything that made her life great. Shedding speed in a spiral around the Castle of Friendship, Rainbow Dash finally pulled up into a hover at the front door.

"Rainbow Dash!" A pink blur rushed at Rainbow, tackled her. "I missed you so much! And then somepony said you had been in town, but when I came out—I was busy baking cupcakes—you were already gone. I have the biggest party planned!"

"Slow down, Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash tried to divest herself of Pinkie's hugs, but doing so was just about impossible. With a resigned sigh, Rainbow hugged her friend back. "It's good to be back…"

Pinkie giggled and squeezed a little harder. "Are you here to visit Twilight?" Her honest and open expression almost ruined the effect of her joke.

"Pinkie, this is Twilight's castle, of course I am here to see her." Slowly easing from the hug, Rainbow Dash got to her hooves.

"Well, as soon as you have seen Twilight we can start the party." Pinkie bounced up to her own hooves and circled Rainbow Dash. "I'll see you then!"

Stepping to the doors of the castle, Rainbow Dash reached to knock on them. The moment her hoof almost touched the doors they flew open. Standing before a crowd that looked like it was everypony in town, Twilight yelled, "Surprise!"

The party had been everything Rainbow had come to expect from Pinkie, and having so many friends around banished all the strange feelings and let her feel like a pony again. At last all the visitors had left, except for four very special ones. Looking around the huge map, Rainbow felt comfort and familiarity settle. "It is so good to be home."

All Rainbow's friends spoke at once, talking over each other for a few seconds before laughing. "It's good to have you home, Rainbow Dash." Twilight watched her friend, amazed that the scared mare from the previous night was back to her old self.

Applejack nodded emphatically. "Ah'm with that, too. Ah heard what happened and… the little folk are not who you want to be playin' pranks on."

"Well, I know that now…" Rainbow rolled her eyes and got a laugh from everypony. "So what did you want to know? I didn't really see that much, they had me working pretty hard all the time."

"What was it like living with all the breezies?" Her full attention on Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy was leaning forward on her throne. "Did you learn their language? They can mostly understand ponies, but it is hard to learn theirs. Did you have any conversations with them?"

Rainbow Dash jerked back a little. "Uh…" She tried to steer attention away from herself by looking around at the others, but nopony was going to cut in on Fluttershy. "I… I didn't get to spend time with them like that." Embarrassment started to surge inside Rainbow, and she turned to Twilight with a panicked look on her face.

"Fluttershy." Twilight drew all the attention away from Rainbow, giving her friend a chance to recover. "You remember how Seabreeze was treating Rainbow Dash, she didn't get to talk to any of the breezies very much." She snapped a quick look to Rainbow and saw the mare looked both mortified and relieved, a horrible mix.

"Oh." Fluttershy dipped her head and leaned back in her throne. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ask something difficult." She withdrew a little more, until a blue flash rushed to her side and hugged her.

Unsure why, Rainbow Dash found tears coming from her eyes while she clung to Fluttershy. "It's alright, Fluttershy." Her voice wasn't even a whisper, if Rainbow hadn't had her snout against Fluttershy's ear the other pegasus wouldn't even have heard it. "I'll come around tomorrow and talk."

Fluttershy felt the dwindling connection to her oldest friend shored up. She squeezed Rainbow Dash tightly and pressed her snout into Rainbow's mane. Inhaling deeply, she was momentarily surprised by the scent of wildflowers, but she didn't care what Rainbow smelled like. Rainbow Dash was still her friend. "I'll make tea."

Wishing her friends a good night, Rainbow stood beside Twilight and waved at Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Worry colored her thoughts, and she couldn't shake the feeling of being out of control again.

Rarity smiled for one last wave back before turning to continue home. "Applejack?" Her friend made a sound of acknowledgement. "Did you notice Rainbow Dash a little… shorter?"

"An her mane 'n' tail bein' all… fru fru?" Applejack looked to Rarity, and got a nod. "Yeah. Twilight said they wouldn't hurt her, but Ah think she ain't come back unchanged."

Nodding, Rarity turned her thoughts inwards. Despite how Rainbow had changed, she couldn't deny that it was a fantastic look, one she was going to work at emulating for her next fashion show.

"You held it together pretty well." Twilight turned and looked at Rainbow, watched her almost crumple. "Hey, don't lose it now, now you can finally relax. If you think you are the only pony who goes a bit off the rails from time to time, remember that I spent a whole day time traveling to try to convince myself not to time travel. And don't get me started on our friends."

Rainbow Dash snorted. "Hey, up until this I was perfectly fine!" She watched Twilight close the double doors, leaving them standing inside the castle, and relief broke out. "I can stay?" Her voice was soft, broken to a whisper.

"Of course you can. If I could have woken you up again last night, I would have had you sleep here. Follow me and we can have some dinner." Twilight's tone brooked no arguments, and when she turned to make her way to the dining room, Rainbow Dash was following. "So just between you, me, and the castle walls, what happened?"

The question led Rainbow right back into her "year and a day," and she felt a warm, happy sensation pour over her like honey. For just an instant she didn't have to worry, or think to far, she could just be happy and do what she was told. "It was… relaxing. I worked every day I was there, and there was not a minute went by I didn't feel appreciated. It was strange, most of the breezies just ignored me, but Seabreeze and Lightbreeze… I was their prized possession."

Twilight didn't cut in with questions; it had taken time but the Princess of Friendship had learned her lesson when it came to cutting people off. Instead of talking, she focused on listening and preparing food.

"It… it was unlike anything I had ever been through before. Every morning they came to me, my day couldn't start until either Seabreeze or Lightbreeze unwrapped me. From the moment they had me uncovered I was their beast of burden. I was washed, brushed, and cared for. There wasn't a thing they wouldn't do for me except listen to me. Nothing I said mattered, nothing I thought mattered. If I screwed up, Seabreeze would use his magic and take… take control of my body.

"I stopped screwing up pretty quick. I learned what he wanted me to do and when he wanted me to do it I was fast to respond. It was confining and freeing." Rainbow stopped her flow of words and closed her eyes. Without anypony else around her apart from Twilight, she could almost imagine she was back in the village. Tight straps around her, a bridle on, and a familiar weight on her snout.

"… Rainbow Dash!" Twilight's yelling finally got through to her friend. "Rainbow, you spaced out a bit." She looked at her friend with a little worry. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Y-Yeah, Twi, I'll be fine. I just need to be reminded I am a pony, I think." Rainbow smiled, but was suddenly distracted. "What is that? It smells great!" She walked over to the two bowls of food and inhaled deeply. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't mashed oats and apples.

"Just a stir-fry. I learned how to cook it back when I was studying. A Neighponese friend explained it as 'using some simple spices and whatever green things you can find.' " Twilight hovered both bowls up and floated them along into the dining room.

Settling both the meals on the dining table, Twilight settled down and started to eat. Opposite, Rainbow Dash hesitated for a full five seconds before she realized what was expected of her. Picking up a fork with one rainbow wing primary, she started eating too.

"You forgot." Twilight set her fork down and watched her friend tense up. "Rainbow, it's alright. It isn't your fault."

"But it is my fault! I pranked them, everything they did was their way of showing me how unhappy it made them. All of this," Rainbow gestured to herself, "is my fault!"

"Rainbow Dash, taking responsibility? This is new." Studying her friend closely, Twilight could see the frustration and confusion. "If you were alone, right now, what would you do?"

The hypothetical question suddenly wasn't so hypothetical. Rainbow Dash's world closed in and she sat still. She looked ahead, eyes blinking, waiting to be told what to do.

Twilight waited a full ten minutes. "Rainbow Dash, I am here." She got up and circled to her friend. Wrapping Rainbow in forelegs and wings, Twilight hugged her until Rainbow started to hug back. "You will be living here for as long as you need to."

Simple words, caring words, but they made Rainbow Dash cling even tighter. "Thanks Twilight…"

The first few days had been hard. Each time Rainbow Dash awoke she was lost and alone, needing to be told what to do. Each day her friend came and told her to get out of bed, to wash and have breakfast, and only when the sun warmed Rainbow's feathers did she get some measure of Rainbow Dash back from the mare who was Seabreeze's pet.

By the time Rainbow had spent a week in the castle, she only needed to be woken, and by the end of a month she could even do that for herself.

Then a day came when Twilight had to attend to Princess Celestia—with Spike too, of course—and Rainbow felt the chill of the surrounding castle. Without hesitation, she flew out and winged her way back to her cloud.

Flying around her home, she did some quick repairs to the cloud. Once she had it to her liking, she headed inside. Everything was neatly laid out, and even the usual messes a month-long absence would cause were not evident. There was only one pony who would do this for her. "Fluttershy." Speaking her best friend's name was like a mystic spell, it banished any hint of the fey training from her immediate thoughts.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash walked through to her bedroom. Soft, fluffy, literally the best type of bed a pegasus could sleep on, the special clouds that made up her mattress and bedding practically sang to her.

The moment Rainbow Dash was on her bed she gave one yawn and her eyes snapped closed. Dreams came and went. Rainbow flew and flew, she spread her amazing wings—that seemed to be covered in almost transparent feathers stained in rainbow hues—and never had to touch the ground.

The flying dream faded and she was back in the breezie village, but rather than all the commands and work, she was just being cared for. It had made her days worthwhile. In the last month her mane and tail might have become a little more tangled and messy than she would have liked, but the breezies always had taken care of her.

"Mmmm…" Rainbow Dash eased back into wakefulness. It was a good day, just like they all had been recently. She was her own mare and didn't need commands to get up. Shifting, she started to roll from her bed when a tiny voice exclaimed something.

Rainbow Dash froze. She knew the voice if not the words. Her heart sped up and she held still.

"Eyta yer." Lightbreeze petted Rainbow's head with her tiny hoof, stroking one ear to show she meant no harm. "Eyta yer." Comforting and calming, she felt Rainbow Dash relax under her attention. Turning to her filly, she nodded towards the brushes.

The soft breezie brushes started up again, and Rainbow Dash was back in the village—in her mind—and back in the care of the breezies. She lay still, lifting her wings when commanded, her tail too when Lightbreeze tapped her dock. It was just like being back at the village except one thing: there was only two breezies, and one of those was a foal.

Lightbreeze tutted at every tangle in Rainbow's hair, but not once did she admonish the pony. She simply did her work, teasing the knots out, adding shine and oil to hair and fur, and even some special dust to her wings. "Eyta yer…" She was almost done. Weaving ribbons into her pet's mane, Lightbreeze worked to pull the mass of hair up into the big ponytail that kept all of Rainbow's mane under control.

Breakfast wasn't going to happen, not because the work was taking so long but because Rainbow couldn't prepare it without being told, and as Lightbreeze's pet she wouldn't be told to prepare her own. So Rainbow waited for the two breezies to finish, the final touches being her tail and a few sharp pokes at her dock. Rainbow finally got the hint, and lifted her dock up so that her tail would arch and flow behind her.

Laying on the bed, Rainbow watched as Lightbreeze and her filly fluttered around before her and each rubbed her snout and kissed her between her eyes. The spell the breezies had on her broke the moment they left her house, not that it was a spell using any actual magic.

"Whoa…" Rainbow sat up, then stood up. Her tail wouldn't go down, not that she dared. With so much tail behind her, Rainbow Dash either had to arch it up or tie it up, and she wouldn't dare ruin the breezie's work.

" 'ow ya 'ackin' it?" Seabreeze fluttered into Rainbow's bedroom as if he owned it. Technically, for a year and a day, he did. "Ya loo' a mite betta." He fluttered his wings and flew slowly up to Rainbow's head.

Rainbow Dash's heart almost pounded through her chest. Having Seabreeze on her again was amazing and terrible. She felt herself sliding back, but not all the way. "I… I really like it like this." She looked into a mirror, spread her wings, and couldn't lie. "It looks awesome…"

"Ya wants more care for a li' work, come 'n' visit. No prank, no punish. Take carea ya, ya 'elp us." Seabreeze rubbed one ear, just like he knew would always distract Rainbow.

Each stroke of her sensitive ear broke Rainbow's resistance a little more, and bit by bit she found herself looking in the mirror and admiring the mare standing there. She looked strong, she looked beautiful, and she looked fast. "Tomorrow… tomorrow night?"

"Aye, ya come 'n' we look af'er ya." Seabreeze slid down Rainbow's head, landing backwards on her snout. Looking at the huge eyes, he aimed a simple kiss betwixt them.

The kiss flicked a switch in Rainbow, and for nearly ten minutes she stood in place. She didn't see Seabreeze leave, but when her awareness snapped back she was aware she was completely alone again. A look back to the mirror told her that the meeting hadn't been a dream. Rainbow looked amazing, and giving a carefree laugh, she ran for the door and launched herself into the sky.

Early evening, and Rainbow couldn't help but itch in excitement. But, there was something important she had to take care of first. Twilight had returned to her castle and found an almost fully herself Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight." Rainbow found her friend in the dining room. "Twilight I think I am ready." With her tail held up in an arch, and her mane in a ponytail, Rainbow Dash looked like she had spent half a day in the day spa.

"Ready?" Twilight looked up from her food. "Ready for what?" Ready Rainbow might think herself, but Twilight thought something was up.

Rainbow didn't pick up on her friend's doubts. "To move back to my house. I haven't relapsed in over a week, and I spent yesterday and today there. Fluttershy must have—"

"Fluttershy spent a day each week taking care of your house while you were… away." Twilight still hadn't worked out a simple way to talk about Rainbow's incarceration. "But that is besides the point. I trust you to make your own decisions now, Rainbow Dash." She stood up and hugged Rainbow.

"Thanks, Twilight." Rainbow Dash hugged her friend back. "I even stocked the fridge, so I don't need to mooch food off you anymore."

"You weren't a mooch. I had to cook meals up anyway, might as well make an extra bowl." Releasing the hug, Twilight gave her friend a little boop on the nose. "If you get hungry, or just want to talk, come back."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You're totally the best ever, you know that right?" Disengaging completely, Rainbow made her way, on slightly shaky hooves, for the door. "I'll visit tomorrow some time."

"Bye, Rainbow…" Twilight sighed as her friend left without a proper goodbye. "I guess she felt a little too coddled? I might write a letter to Princess Celestia and ask her about this."

Rainbow Dash hadn't lied about her fridge—it was stocked—but she wasn't going home. Soaring over town on wings that pushed her faster with each flap than ever before, she was soon gliding over the Whitetail Woods. She could almost feel the touches on her snout that would guide her to circle around and slowly come down to land at the breezie village.

The tiny portal that had been intermittent had been thrown wide lately, exposing the village permanently. She dipped a wing as Seabreeze had always commanded her to and came in for a landing in her old spot. Looking around, she spotted some breezies pointing at her. Without a word, Rainbow curled up on the flat ground beside the house Seabreeze and Lightbreeze lived in.

"Ya back." Seabreeze wasn't asking a question, merely observing that his pet was beside his home again. "Ya a goo' girl. We take care'a ya tonigh', ya work fer tomorra mor'." Walking right up to Rainbow, he began to stroke at her snout.

The familiar settled onto Rainbow Dash like an old blanket. She tucked her pony-ness up inside and wrapped in the simple needs of being Seabreeze's pet. The slow strokes of her snout were relaxing, calming, and as her eyes started to close she felt a kiss between them.

At first the touch of another breezie wasn't felt, but then more and more were around Rainbow. She lifted her wings, arched her back, tucked her legs up and let the fey bind her in ribbons. Each limb was tucked tightly against her belly, wrapped first individually, but then again to completely wrap her.

Rainbow's wings were folded tight, but a group of breezies worked on each side to fold tiny ribbons around each primary, secondary, and tertiary feather. Her wings were poked, and she folded them back up. More ribbons, and she had no wiggle room at all. Eventually her tail was woven with ribbons and worked between her legs.

The last thing she could feel was more of the tiny strips of fabric woven into her mane. Each touch from a breezie was a comfort Rainbow had been missing for over a month. Looking up, her eyes already drifting down again, Rainbow Dash watched the bridle pull over her head. Nuzzling forwards, opening her mouth to take the bit, she took her old mantle with pride and happiness.

The dreams came again, but they went. Rainbow Dash didn't need to dream of her time with the breezies because they had invited her back. She woke to the sound of her belly grumbling. Bound tight, Rainbow Dash couldn't move an inch, and didn't care to. The ribbons took so much time to fit her with, particularly with the new feather-binding that was done, that she truly realized how much she meant to the whole village.

"Ya gonna 'afta lear' breezie." Seabreeze stepped into Rainbow Dash's sight range, much narrowed again by the blinkers of the bridle. Climbing up on her nose, he settled his plot down facing her. "Ya 'member t' firs' thing Lightbreeze said t' ya?"

Rainbow was confused at first, it was the first question that had been asked of her like this. Bound and unable to move, she had no way to avoid the lesson Seabreeze was ready to give her.

" 'Darya eel.' Calm dow'." Seabreeze started to stroke Rainbow's snout. " Darya eel. Calm dow'." He repeated the words again and again.

Hungry and tired, Rainbow couldn't break her attention from the breezie on her snout. The blinkers of her bridle ensured she could only look at him, and with her body still bound she certainly couldn't get away physically. So with reluctance, she listened and learned.

Seabreeze focused first on commands, then on softer things. He made sure Rainbow could understand when a breezie was offering comfort or demanding her do something. It took him all the morning, and by the time midday rolled around he judged her ready for her reward. Lifting his forehooves to his snout, he whistled loudly.

Rainbow knew what was coming and if her tail was unbound it would be wagging. Breezies appeared from all sides and closed in on her. Each ribbon was being removed slowly, and Rainbow would have it no other way. First her legs were released, but she kept them folded under her. Wings came next, and Rainbow heard a simple request.

"Wings out."

The words were clear to her, and Rainbow raised her wings and slowly extended them. Dozens of tiny ribbons wove around her feathers, and she held still as could be while the breezies worked to unbind her. Ribbon was unforgiving. It didn't stretch. Having ribbon wrapped and woven around her limbs was a comfortable strain, having it around her feathers, if they flexed the wrong way, would be horrifying. So Rainbow relaxed.

Brushes came down, borne by tiny wings. Rainbow melted into a veritable puddle as the ribbons in her mane and tail were removed, and the brushing began. She had gotten used to spending regular time in the day spa in Ponyville, but this was something different. Taking care of her mane wasn't just a job, nor was it a destiny, taking care of Rainbow Dash was like life to the breezies.

The brushing seemed to take hours. Rainbow forgot about her empty stomach and closed her eyes. Feeling each stroke of the brushes in an intimate way that left no doubt in Rainbow's mind that she was loved, she was startled from her bliss when a hoof brushed her snout. Rainbow barely got her eyes open before Lightbreeze kissed her between them.

"Good girl. Stay calm." Lightbreeze saw recognition of the words in the mare's eyes and smiled more. "Good pony." She stroked Rainbow's snout again and again, soon settling the mare into a light doze.

Rainbow Dash slowly drifted from her sleep. She was hungry and felt amazing. No bridle bound her, and no harness wrapped her, but despite those being missing she didn't lift her head for a full five minutes.

Looking around, she spotted her feeding trough and climbed to her feet. Tail arched high, Rainbow fluttered her wings again and again as she walked to the half barrel of oats. Stir fry might be good when Rainbow was a pony in Ponyville, but in the breezie's village, soaked oats and apple pieces was pure ambrosia. She ate and ate, eating the food like the animal she was got treated like. With her belly finally full, Rainbow rolled her shoulders and looked up to the sky.

"Come back soon." Lightbreeze's voice was soft, but she watched Rainbow's ears twitch and turn to her. The pegasus launched herself into the sky, as free and as bound as she wanted to be.

Something was different. Rainbow Dash's feathers seemed to catch even more air than ever, and she cruised the sky almost fast enough to cause a Rainboom. Pinning her flight on the amazing night and great morning, Rainbow winged towards home to prepare for her visit with Twilight.

The visit went as well as Rainbow Dash could hope. She had dinner with Twilight and Spike, and everything seemed normal until Spike left them alone, the dragon having an early night. Rainbow was sitting in the library with Twilight, catching up on the latest Daring Do book, when the first real question came.

Twilight lifted her head from her book. Rainbow Dash looked like she had spent half the day getting a makeover, but there was a lot more to it. "You went back to them?" She watched Rainbow jerk and look over the top of the book towards her. "You did, didn't you?"

"Y-Yeah." Part of Rainbow Dash felt bad for admitting it. She had surrendered to the part of her that liked being the breezies' pet, but the oddest thing was it made the pony that she was seem brighter. Being cared for made life better, and it made her able to be a pony. "I don't even know why… It just feels…" She breathed out heavily. "It feels really good. Relaxing."

"What did they do to you? Did they hurt you?" The moment the second question left Twilight's lips she could see that no hurting was involved.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No, nothin' like that. They…" She hesitated.

"Go on, Rainbow. I won't write this down." It took every bit of her self control not to, but Twilight was determined to keep to her promise.

"When I got there, all they did was tie me up. They fitted my bridle," Rainbow Dash's mouth curled up a little, "and they wrapped me in ribbons."

"Ribbons? Bridle?" Twilight itched to get a scroll and take notes. "Describe it."

Closing her eyes, Rainbow Dash rode her memories back to the moment. She inhaled and her olfactory fooled her into smelling the bridle's comforting scent. Her nose twitched as if a breezie had stroked it gently. "When they first put the bridle on I had never wanted something so much as it. I know Seabreeze did some magic with it, but it helped me get used to it. When he held the bridle up, I pushed into it. I love the way it holds me safe, makes me not have to think of stupid things to say, and I can just relax."

There was a dozen things wrong with how her friend was describing the event, but Twilight could glean only that there was a psychological link in Rainbow's head between the bridle and safety. Twilight focused as well as she could, wanting to make sure she could write everything down at the end.

"When it was buckled on, Seabreeze petted me, helped me relax." Rainbow Dash snorted a little. "Like he needed to, but I loved it." She replayed the scene over and over in her head. "And then they got the ribbons out. I fought against them the first few times, but they had me weakened in their magic. I am glad they did. Each ribbon they work around me grips and restrains. When they are done I can't move more than a twitch."

Twilight's eyes widened, she hadn't been aware of everything that had happened. "Is there anywhere in particular that they wrap?" She thought she already knew the answers, but Twilight waited to confirm them with Rainbow's own words.

"My mane, my tail…" Rainbow Dash tossed her head and wiggled her dock in demonstration, and her memories flooded with the memories of being tightly bound. "And my wings. They did something really cool last night." Spreading her wing out, Rainbow looked at the rainbow-hued flight feathers. Something else looked a little different, but she couldn't work out what. "They wrapped each of my feathers in its own little loop. Tiny ribbons all up and down my wing."

Pondering if her friend would notice one little notebook, Twilight was on the verge of breaking her promise. "And then they released you so you could sleep?"

"What?" Rainbow Dash broke from her memories and blinked away her experiences. "No. They left me bound up tight all night. I woke up like that."

Twilight's confusion was plain on her face because her friend groaned. "Look Twilight, you are just about exploding to write this down, aren't you?" Confusion turned to guilt, and Rainbow knew she had guessed something right. "What about if you come with me next time?"

"Next time?" Twilight's voice came in a squeak of shock. She was partly terrified of the breezies—particularly after reading about the old laws and traditions to do with them, the fey were older than Equestria itself—and partly concerned for her friend. "Rainbow Dash, you shouldn't be goin—"

"Twilight!" Spike's urgent call from outside the library heralded him smacking the doors open. "Twilight! I think there is a message… a mes—" Without further warning Spike opened his mouth and let out a gust of flame. It boiled in the air for a second before a single, small piece of paper fluttered down.

Catching the scrap in her magic, Twilight pulled it closer to read.

I will be there tomorrow to talk about Rainbow Dash.

—C

"P-P-Princess Celestia is coming to talk about you?" Twilight blurted the words out before she realized it might worry her friend. "I mean, she must know something about what is going on. She probably knows about the breezies' ancestors."

"Twilight?" Spike was confused and looked to the mare he thought of as his big sister. "What about the breezies? Wait…" Spike went into minor freak-out mode. "Princess Celestia is coming, that means I have to clean the castle extra well. How long until she gets here?"

"Tomorrow." Twilight's answer had the dragon racing back out the library doors. Soon the sound of furious sweeping was heard from the direction he had run. Turning her attention back to Rainbow Dash, Twilight studied her friend. The size change was the least noticeable of all of Rainbow's new quirks, but it had the biggest implication. Her mane and tail were nearly double the length the sporty mare usually kept them, and her eyelashes would have looked like some of Rarity's fake ones, but Twilight knew they were real.

Twilight focused on Rainbow Dash's wings, and picked up what had been bothering her since first seeing Rainbow for the night. Rainbow Dash's primary feathers were not only rainbow colored now, but the very tips of each feather was slightly transparent.

"This was the first time they wrapped your feathers?" Twilight approached Rainbow Dash and reached out with one hoof for a wing to inspect.

"Yeah, it felt really nice." Rainbow didn't need to focus much to slide back towards the memory, and with her friend gently touching her wings it only reinforced it. Folding her legs under her, Rainbow Dash slid slowly to the ground and relaxed.

Narrowing her focus down to just the feather she was examining, Twilight Sparkle discovered traces of magic glinting off the feather. "You are staying here tonight Rainbow, until I can talk to Princess Celestia about this."

Rainbow Dash just nodded, her mind halfway back to just doing what she was told. "Mmm…" She closed her eyes and ignored Twilight, settling on the floor to sleep.

With her wings spread, Rainbow Dash soared over Whitetail Woods. She had her favorite bridle on, and had Seabreeze riding her snout. The breezie knew her body, and how it could perform, better than she did herself, and he pushed her to her limit. Dropping out of a steep dive, she was moving fast enough that a Sonic Rainboom was near.

Seabreeze led her into the trees of the woods. The speed was too much, Rainbow couldn't keep up with the movement of the world and her own body. But Rainbow didn't need to. Little taps, precision-timed, guided her better than she could have. She didn't need to see, she didn't need to think, Rainbow Dash followed her rider and navigated the woods like a blue missile.

Dawn broke as Rainbow landed in her dream. She waited patiently as her mind started to rouse, only remembering Seabreeze's little stroke of her snout as dawn's light pierced the windows of the library.

While Rainbow Dash sat peacefully, her calm mind ran over the dream again, pulling her snout into a big smile. Her waking mind agreed with her dream, there was no way she would have navigated the woods at that speed without Seabreeze.

She ran through the dream once more, gazing out the window at the growing light, letting the day pass by. A twitch in one wing caused her to snap the limb forward for attention. Nuzzling at an errant feather, Rainbow heard the door open and close. Her first thought was that it was Seabreeze, but that was her heart talking. "Twilight?"

"Why didn't you go to your bedroom to sleep, Rainbow?" Twilight floated a tray with a bowl of warm porridge in. "Princess Celestia sent another note, she will be here shortly."

When the tray set down before Rainbow, she had a moment where the smell of the soaked, rolled oats revived the scents of her meals at the breezies' village. Everything she had told her to shove her snout in and start eating, but just having Twilight there divested her of the desire. "Thanks, but it's more comfortable here."

Twilight half expected Rainbow Dash to act strange, or do something weird, but she sat calmly and ate her porridge. "What is so good about them?"

Rainbow calmly ate another spoonful of the delicious meal while she thought about the question. "Seabreeze is amazing. With him in control I can do things I just can't on my own. We are a team, like the Wonderbolts but much tighter. I don't think I could let another pony do… well, do what he does." She shrugged her forequarters a little. "I always tend to speak before thinking or act before thinking. With Seabreeze in control he takes care of the thinking and I take care of the flying."

The sound of heavy hooves coming up the stairs behind Twilight, and then along the hallway had her turn.

Princess Celestia smiled when she saw her former student. "Twilight Sparkle, it's good to see you again so soon." She marveled at how large Twilight had grown, and remarked upon it. "It is hard to gauge height when sitting on a dais, but you are growing taller by the day." She certainly didn't have to bend far to press her neck to Twilight's in a gentle hug.

"Thank you Princess Celestia." Twilight still had trouble knowing what to do with such compliments from her mentor. "But I really wanted to talk about Rainbow today." She drew back and turned to the side, gesturing to Rainbow Dash with a hoof.

Celestia took a deep breath and let it out. Her eyes traced Rainbow Dash's form, and despite her station, despite her stance; Celestia, Princess of the Sun, Co-Ruler of Equestria, envied the pegasus. She bit back on the green monster and shoved it away. "Rainbow Dash? You have had a run in with the breezies."

Rainbow lifted her head up and looked at the Princess as if she had barely noticed her. "Y-Y-Yes, Your Highness!" She sat up straight and snapped a hoof up to her forehead in the sharp salute she had been taught at the Wonderbolts. "I… I played a prank on one of them…"

"That is less than ideal. Becoming a breeziemount is best done as a deal. They would grant much power to a pony who would dedicate their lives to serving the fey." Celestia reached a hoof out to gently stroke Rainbow Dash's mane. "You probably have some questions?"

"Uh…" Rainbow blinked. The only one she could think to ask was, "What is a 'breeziemount'?" but her brain had put two and two together and come up with her. She carried breezies around, they rode her, she was their mount. "Not really."

"Oh come on!" Twilight jumped into the conversation. "What is a breeziemount? What do you mean a 'deal'? What power do the breezies give? And what do you mean 'dedicate their life'?" Writing material was poised already, and Twilight wasn't going to miss this chance at taking notes.

"Egghead." Snorting, Rainbow Dash took a half measure of porridge into her mouth and gulped it down. "A breeziemount is what I am."

"What you are becoming." Princess Celestia was interested to hear what Rainbow Dash would say, but she felt the need to correct the mare on the term.

"Become? I am still changing…" It was a revelation to Rainbow Dash, but one she found herself interested in. "I already fly faster than I ever could, what are they going to do to me in the end?"

Celestia smiled at that. "After. You were answering Twilight."

"Oh right!" Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "A deal is what Seabreeze and me made two days ago. Power… well they seem pretty great with magic that changes things. As for dedicate my life…" The idea was one she wasn't sure she could really answer. "I don't think I have, yet. I have agreed to help them when I can, but I still want to be a pony some of the time."

The news surprised Celestia enough that she stared at Rainbow Dash for several moments before it sank in that the mare hadn't committed herself to the breezies completely. The moment she came to the conclusion she almost kicked herself. "I have some stories to tell both of you. They are mostly old stories, but some are new."

Twilight was a little lost. She wanted to ask what Princess Celestia meant, but just then golden magic carefully dispelled her dictation magic. "P-P-Princess?!"

"These stories don't leave this room, Princess Twilight Sparkle. There are reasons why the breezie are accorded so much in our laws—as you found out, Twilight—and that is because Equestria would not exist without them." Princess Celestia gently probed the room with her magic, sealing it to any outside spells.

"Normally a story like this would start with, 'A thousand years ago,' but not this time. It is far closer to three-thousand years since I went to the breezies. Seabreeze listened to my problem. Discord was rampaging, causing havoc throughout what is now Equestria." Celestia looked out the window at her sun and smiled. "He thought about everything I told him, and he promised me something."

Rainbow Dash, not quite as familiar with Celestia's stories as Twilight, cut in. "Wait. Seabreeze? As in Seabreeze that is still—"

"Is still the leader among the breezies. You are hardly the first pony he has fit a bridle to, Rainbow Dash." Celestia's memory stirred and she smiled at some of her oldest memories. "He proposed a deal to Luna and myself. We found him six common gemstones that we had mined with our own hooves, and he made the Elements of Harmony from them." Tears fell from Celestia's eyes in thin runnels at the memory. "They had a price, and it was both terrible and wonderful."

Rainbow Dash saw something in Celestia, she saw the feelings that were bubbling through her own body mirrored on the Princess' face. She gulped and wondered what the full extent of their price was for her.

"Princess?" Twilight couldn't keep quiet. She shuffled along the floor so she was beside Celestia. "What was the price?"

"Eternity. The breezies disliked what Discord was doing almost as much as ponies. For fey, they have rigid requirements for law. They took Luna and I into their service, not as puppets, but as their protectors." Celestia breathed deep and exhaled. "You are the first ponies in a long time I have told this to, and the only ones living apart from Cadance and Luna."

Twilight bowed her head at the honor of hearing the truth, not that she understood it all.

Rainbow Dash was a little less reverent. "So, did they tie you up?"

Celestia barked a laugh. "We took it in turns. Luna first, for a full hundred years, then I submitted to them." She trembled a little. "They had need for mighty creatures, ponies who would defy all that the world could throw at them. Though we were just unicorns, Seabreeze made us into the first alicorns."

"Cool." Rainbow fluffed her wings and jostled a little in place. "So they made you wings, did they make you bigger, too?"

"Oh yes. Although they didn't have quite the taste for mirroring their own traits as they took up later." Celestia reached out and ran one hoof along Rainbow Dash's impressive mane. "And so we kept our bargain, even as they gave us the tools to keep it. Harmony was not just among ponies, but also between Equestria and the fey.

"Luna… she didn't agree that we should be still bound. She resented our deal. The Elements… I didn't use them on Luna, but it was better that than to explain to everything. They took her. I didn't even know that Seabreeze had come and she was gone the next morning. Suddenly I had power over the sun and moon, and Luna was… she was theirs. I begged them to release her, but Seabreeze told me they knew she had broken her word."

"Nightmare Moon?" The question was soft, but in the wake of having her worldview inverted Rainbow Dash couldn't have spoken any other way.

"Luna was angry, she was furious beyond belief. She resented the power and wanted to be free." Celestia regretted not having waited for tea to be offered. "When you used the Elements on her it was something very special. They siphoned her power and her fate, split it, and implanted a little of it in each of you."

A knock at the door set off a jolt in Celestia's mind, and she reached with her magic before thinking. Breathing a sigh of relief at who she found, she lifted her voice. "Come in, Spike."

"Twilight! What were you thinking." Spike's sass was turned up to eleven and he didn't care if he showed it in front of Celestia. "You know the promise you made to Celestia."

With the weight of the knowledge imparted by Celestia, Twilight's mind raced to think what her promise had been. "Uh…"

"I believe Spike means the promise to always welcome me with tea and cake." Celestia reached a wingtip to Twilight and gently booped her nose with it. "Thank you Spike, your honor knows no bounds."

The praise was enough to derail the next little bit of snark Spike had saved up. "Aww, thanks. I was just doing it because Twilight had forgotten…"

"She is troubled by the things we talk about." Celestia looked to Twilight and Rainbow significantly, then back to Spike.

"Yeah, yeah." Spike set the tray down, but cheekily grabbed a piece of cake from it. "I know when there is 'girl stuff' to discuss." The god of snark was avenged, and he earned the chuckles he got from all three mares. Closing the door behind him, he discarded any urge to listen in and headed for his room to read a comic.

"You taking that power appeased the fey. In their eyes the obligation and power had shifted to others, but it was still there. The deal is now… more agreeable to Luna, although she does have regrets about involving you." Celestia sipped at her tea, politely leaving the cakes for the other two to try first.

Rainbow Dash recovered from the deep revelation about the Elements first, since it helped that her worldview had already been adjusted recently. "Luna's thousand years with them? That was a punishment, like my year and a day?"

"A 'year and a day' is the shortest time they will take umbrage for. My thought is that they liked the prank, but their obligation to punish you was law. Do you regret it?" Celestia looked into Rainbow's eyes, picking for the truth that was hidden inside them.

"No…" Rainbow's voice was nearly silent. She remembered every day as clear as if it were only a week past. Fighting, struggling, and being broken to the bridle, to Seabreeze's control. "Seabreeze is… Okay, he is a lot older than I thought. All this," she waved a wing into the air, "makes a lot more sense when it comes together. The reason he knew exactly how to handle me… practice."

"His bridle is comfortable to wear, and he is kind to those he loves." Celestia finally reached for a slice of cake and nibbled the corner. "What interests me is what will happen now. What do you want from this? Is there something you need?"

"I have my friends, I want to keep them safe." Rainbow's loyalty was beyond question. "And everypony else, too. I want Equestria to last forever as somewhere like… like it is. Somewhere happy, where anypony can grow up and be who they want to be." She looked into Celestia's knowing eyes. "That was your bargain."

Celestia knew it wasn't a question, but she answered it anyway. "It was, and through the breezie's help we have held Equestria like this. But with Luna punished, and the power fragmenting, I guess it might just have been time to shore up our power base." More tea, more cake. "There have been other ponies. They came up with names for the types: breeziemount, goldhorn, thunderwalker… I am sure the breezies don't care about the names, but there was once a pegasus that started looking like you do now."

"Really? What did she look like?" Rainbow Dash ignored the tea, but snagged a piece of cake to nibble on.

"He." Celestia could see so much of him in Rainbow Dash for a very important reason. "Some tribes have ponies that dealt with the breezies as forebears. These ponies passed on traits of their time with the fey to their foals. In unicorns the trait tends to make the pony very tall, long legged.

"Earth ponies tend to become giants. There are some who will tower almost as tall as myself. Big McIntosh carries a little of that." Celestia grinned at the look of shock and realization on Twilight's face. "But the trait in pegasi has dwindled. I knew of just a few living stallions with it. One met a lovely mare, and they had a single foal they loved more than anything in the world."

"Oh no!" Rainbow shot to her hooves and danced back. "This can't… I am like one of the only rainbow-maned pegasi I know!" She stared in shock at Celestia. "Who was the stallion in the past?"

"Hurricane." The moment Celestia said the name, Rainbow Dash started to fall sideways. Gold magic caught the pegasi before she got anywhere close to the floor. "In case it matters, Twilight, I don't think you are related to any of the unicorns who were touched."

"But the Elements did something anyway?" Twilight floated pillows over to her unconscious friend. What did they do?"

"Twilight, your ascension. A buildup of magic infused into you. Each time you used the Elements it increased. The Elements might be bound in the tree, but they still work through you and your friends. I hazard to think how Rainbow Dash's changes will affect the balance. Perhaps breezie magic will spread out to the others." Celestia saw the peace and calm on Rainbow Dash's face, and ached for that hundred years she had spent in Seabreeze's care back. But she had a promise to keep.

Rainbow Dash had her wonderful dream again. She soared and flew faster than she ever had in her life. Mounted on her snout, Seabreeze was more than just her rider. She could feel the breezie's age, his importance in the world, and it translated down to the time he spent with her being infinitely more important.

She felt faster than she had ever been in the waking world, just the slightest flick of her wings would send her speeding off, and a heavy flap would rifle her into a Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash wasn't just a pegasus, she wasn't just a pony of the skies, she was the very definition of speed and loyalty. Her rider was her partner, and he demanded she match his every desire.

A jolt hit her, like a thunderbolt from an angry storm cloud. The fantastic dream faded from Rainbow's mind quickly and she jerked her head up. A sense of danger and urgency filled her and she looked around for the quickest way out of the library. A huge window stood before her, but there was no obvious way to open it. Trembling with the need to be outside, Rainbow Dash threw herself at the glass.

Her heart beat at the moment Rainbow Dash's forehooves hit the glass, and she felt a flicker of something burst through her body. The feeling reminded her vaguely of the times they had used the elements.

Shards of the window pane rained around Rainbow Dash, but she felt the call more strongly in the open air. "I'm coming…" She had never flown so fast in a horizontal line. Ponyville raced past, and then she was skimming over the trees of Whitetail Woods. She wasn't even at the breezies' village when she spotted a group of the fey out gathering pollen… flanked by two timberwolves.

Loyalty to her friends was something that would drive Rainbow Dash to the edges of Equestria, but she didn't need the sharp pang of fear that it caused to aim herself at the nearest wolf. Pumping her wings for speed, she aimed right at the monster and waited for the last moment to turn her body so her hooves were aimed at the huge beast.

Seabreeze was working his magic as fast as he could. Marks of sleep were on both timberwolves, but in their hunting mindset they ignored such needs. Breezie magic was powerful beyond measure, but it always took time. "Klaxon! Klaxon!" He shooed the others behind himself, intending to do what fighting he could as one of the monsters lunged forward. "Lightbreeze…" His voice was soft, the knowledge that he was about to meet a painful end not affecting his emotions nearly so much as the thought that he wouldn't see his wife and foal again.

The power came again, but this time Rainbow Dash only felt it in her hooves. Whatever it was clearly worked for her, not against her, and she tried to focus it further. It wasn't a full rainbow, but she didn't need a full rainbow to beat one timberwolf.

The timberwolf cleared half of the distance between itself and Seabreeze in an instant, but then it was crushed down into the ground. Seabreeze's eyes widened at the rainbow-maned pony stomping the monster. "Girl?" His heart skipped a beat and he turned his attention to the other wolf. "Klaxon!"

The word for alarm pulled Rainbow's attention to the second wolf, and she leapt from the path of its charge at the last moment. The changes in her body made her faster, but fast was its own kind of power. She ran through her choices: taking to the air was out, the wolf could just grab a breezie; taking it head on was not a wise plan— Rainbow was halfway through fishing for more options when Seabreeze landed on her snout.

The world froze where it was, and Rainbow could feel tiny hooves tapping her, guiding her. She didn't have to make a choice because she was flying directly at the timberwolf. As Seabreeze pulled her back to loop, Rainbow Dash lashed out with her hooves.

Real power came now. She felt it tingle from Seabreeze's hooves, and her body took it as a trigger to lash out with such force that she broke bits off the monster. Excitement grew within her, and she felt even closer to her rider.

Again and again they charged the animal, and each time it tried to catch them, and failed. At last, the timberwolf started to turn and flee. Seabreeze guided her to give chase, but the wolf didn't make ten steps before it slowed to a halt and fell to a slump.

"Ya came." Seabreeze hadn't taught Rainbow enough words for a conversation, so he stuck to Equish to start with, but she did know the words a breezie would use with their mount, so changed back to his native tongue. "Good girl." Stroking her cheek repeatedly, Seabreeze guided Rainbow back to the attacked breezies. The timberwolf Rainbow had hit glowed a soft green, but it wasn't regenerating like its kind were known for.

Rainbow Dash watched the green glow of the wolf she had defeated, fade. It finally dimmed down and faded completely. Her hooves hit the ground and, on her snout, Seabreeze was shouting at the breezies he had been gathered with. "Have them grab my mane, we'll go slow." Seabreeze nodded to her, but kept yelling. Terrified breezies grabbed hold of her mane, and Rainbow was given the commands to fly slow and steady. She barely had to flap her wings, the air itself wanted her to fly. "Are you alright?" Rainbow's voice almost trembled, this was the first time she had been able to talk while Seabreeze rode her. "I felt…"

"Ya sav' us." Seabreeze stroked Rainbow's snout. "If'n ya ain't came…" He left it unspoken. The wolves would have killed breezies, broken their little bodies before succumbing to the sleep magic. He lay his head down against Rainbow's nose and breathed deeply of her own breath. It excited him that she had come, and she had responded to his magic as a good mount should. "Mor' trainin'."

"I want to make a deal." The words left Rainbow's mouth in a tumble. She wanted to press on but felt a slow stroking of her snout distract her.

"Deal' afta'." Seabreeze let his well trained mount carry him back to the village, barely needing to encourage her to spiral slowly towards the breezie village. Breezies rushed out to see what had happened that would bring Rainbow Dash back to them, and found the breezies that had been out gathering pollen helping one of their injured members from Rainbow.

"Is he… she…" Rainbow gulped as the hurt breezie was carried away. "Are they alright?" She walked as Seabreeze bid, advancing into the village. She had never been actually within the breezie's home—always around the edges—but her hooves found careful purchase, and it was Seabreeze guiding her.

Despite being huge, Rainbow felt like she belonged. She paused when given the command, and then lowered herself to the ground in what seemed like an open area at the middle of the village. She lay still as Seabreeze dismounted her. The hurt breezie was brought to the only free space in the little park area, leaving Rainbow Dash to wonder what was happening.

Another breezie rushed through the assembling crowd, and flung themselves at the injured fey. Rainbow could see the little mare's belly had a distinct bulge, and felt her throat tighten. "I…" Her voice was loud in the town center. "I'm sorry I couldn't get there quicker."

"You did well." Seabreeze looked significantly at Rainbow Dash. "Bu' ya coul' do betta." He turned to the injured breezie and began a ritual of magic. Life energy for healing. Fire energy to clean. Earth to give his kin strength. Weaving, Seabreeze built the magic up into a minor tornado of energy, and wound it around Softgust. "He be fine, 'cause'a ya." He settled the power and wrapped it around itself to bind and strengthen Softgust. "We owe ya. Ya ain' bound ta us, but ya came."

Rainbow was about to tell them that they owed her nothing, but she knew instinctively that it would insult the breezies. She lay her head down so her eyes were at the same level as Seabreeze. "What're you offering?"

Seabreeze grinned and gestured to Rainbow. "Finishin' thi'." Looking over his mount's body, he gave an involuntary little shiver of excitement—it had been far too long since they had a true mount serving the village.

"That… what would I be like? Would I be fast?" Rainbow's question was answered with a nod. "Would I be able to protect my friends?" Another nod. "Would I want to ever leave?" She saw astonishment on Seabreeze's little face. "Then I want a lot more than that."

"Ya a clever pon'." Seabreeze advanced on Rainbow and walked right up to where her face rested on the soft turf. Catching a huge breath (to him) he exhaled as Rainbow Dash inhaled. Magic flowed, and he watched the mare's eyes widen. "Ya still hafta protect ya friends, but when we call, ya come. I'll bind ya, an' ya me." The breezie's eyes narrowed. "'spose ya wanna horn?"

The question was casual, almost off-the-cuff, but it made Rainbow Dash blink and think about what had happened, and what she was at her core. "Nah, there are plenty of alicorns already. I like flying, and I bet being an alicorn comes with all that extra size, and…" She trailed off at the grin on Seabreeze's face. "Not like we can't come up with a new deal later."

Air energy for flight. Fire energy for spirit. Magic energy for power. Seabreeze was planning the full changes. He knew well that ponies had names for the changes he made, but Rainbow Dash was a very special mare. "By t' time I'm done, ya won' wanna deal lata." The smirk Rainbow wore was a challenge to him. Infusing the shrine around him with all the elements, he began to weave a slow-acting spell.

"Air fer flight." Seabreeze pulled in the invisible power that was the essence of air itself. "Fire fer ya spirit, an' a double 'elpin'." Red flames danced around the circle they were within, woven through with Air already. "Pure Magi', 'cause no mount a mine gon' be light-up." He mixed it through. Earth he wouldn't use, she had no need of its solid nature. "Life…" he paused a moment, "in an endle' stream." From the very heart of the grove a pure green wave swamped outwards. "Maybe this'll match ya ego."

Rainbow Dash could only stare at the whirlwind of power circling the grove. She watched as Seabreeze seemed to weave each of the elements together, wrapping them into a single strand that looked exactly like the ribbons she had been wrapped with. Realization dawned as to the source of her existing changes, and she could plainly see what Seabreeze was about to do. Curling up as tight as she could, Rainbow Dash waited for the bindings.

Seabreeze took the single ribbon and started on Rainbow Dash. Back legs together, then bound tight to her body. He wove up and through her already amazing tail, then bound that under her. She moved for him, as she could, helping him immobilize her. "Good girl. Relax." He kept working, already marveling at her body. Anticipation stirred for the first time in millennia.

Rainbow Dash rolled into place at last, letting the final bindings around her forelegs tighten up. The ribbon trailed around the back of her neck and led to her snout. She wished she had her bridle, but understood that in moments she would be bound with a bridle that didn't need straps. To her surprise, Seabreeze climbed up on her snout and pressed his soft belly to her fur. Staring back at her, he kissed Rainbow between the eyes, and lopped the end of the ribbon over his own back.

Rainbow felt the power of the ribbon moving, but she couldn't work out where it was going. She wanted to look back, to see what was happening, but with Seabreeze on her snout she wouldn't. A revelation came to her as it felt like an ocean suddenly flooded her body: the power was moving into her.

Dreams of flying. Dreams of working with Seabreeze. Dreams of being with her friends. Rainbow Dash floated along happily, her mind skipping from dream to dream, never taking in one more than enough for her to notice that it was a happy one.

Unlike her normal dreams, Rainbow noticed that these were flitting past on great big panes. She was aware of herself hovering in empty air, watching the dreams that were very familiar. Focusing what attention she could, Rainbow looked at one in particular.

"Shining and Cadance's wedding." Princess Celestia walked up and stood beside Rainbow Dash. "These are all your accomplishments." She gestured to Rainbow Dash defending Fluttershy, with changelings all around them.

"Whoa… I thought dreams were Princess Luna's thing?" Rainbow worked her wings, hovering closer to the image of the wedding. "So what is all this?" She gestured at all the floating images around her.

"This," Celestia smiled and pointed one wing directly at Rainbow Dash, "is the first time in over a thousand years that anypony but an alicorn was here. Seabreeze must have taken quite the price from you to secure this."

"I saved his life." Rainbow Dash turned her focus on Princess Celestia. "When I woke up in Twilight's library, I felt a crazy-strong… pulling… in my head." She lifted a hoof and tapped the side of her own head for clarification. "Something felt wrong, bad, so I flew to where it felt strongest and Seabreeze was fighting off some timberwolves."

Seeing Rainbow halt, Celestia was about to prompt the mare for more just as she continued.

"His magic wasn't working or something, I don't know, but he couldn't just zap them. I didn't think, I dove and slammed into one." Rainbow looked up at Celestia, hoping to get some explanation. "One of them was hurt, but with Seabreeze's help I fought the other away until his magic worked on it."

"You saved Seabreeze's life, and the life of other breezies?" Princess Celestia was at a bit of a loss. "What was the deal, exactly?" To her surprise Rainbow Dash pointed and flew off. Idly noting that the mare's tail and mane were both much longer than her body now, Celestia followed.

"Here, this is it." Feeling proud, Rainbow pointed at the image of herself in the breezie's town circle. "Do these things have sou—"

Seabreeze's voice cut Rainbow off. "We owe ya. Ya ain' bound ta us, but ya came."

Surprised at how effectively Rainbow Dash was manipulating the astral plane, Celestia focused on the event. Her mind worked to pick apart the situation, and the meaning behind each and every word. When at last the image faded back from a bound and still Rainbow Dash, she was still struggling to divine all the meanings. "You saved them, and there is nothing a breezie values more than their immortal life. That was why Seabreeze made the deal he did with Luna and I."

One thing still itched at Rainbow's mind, and she thought it a good time to ask. "Was he joking about making me into an alicorn? If I had said yes—"

"If you had said yes, you would stand here as an alicorn." Celestia looked at the shocked mare. "Do you think you chose well?"

Rainbow Dash turned and looked at her wings. Her body shrinking slowly hadn't been easy to notice, but she had. Now her wings looked to have gained some size, "Bigger wings, smaller body. I think I am cool with this."

"If you had chosen to be an alicorn, that likely would have been the end of it. The life of his own kin could not be written off to gain the village a mount. He had to trade as fairly as he could, or risk owing you." Celestia smiled. "You saw that green stream of magic?" She waited for Rainbow to nod. "He bound your life to the world of Equus. This certainly explains why you are here."

"Wait, what?" Rainbow was confused. "I don't get what you mean, 'bound to Equus'?"

"Immortal."

The universe shrank around Rainbow Dash. She closed her eyes to shut out Celestia (because what she couldn't see wouldn't hurt her, right?) and centered herself. "Immortal?" Opening her eyes, she watched Celestia nod. "Huh, cool. So I can't die?"

"You can die if something harms you. Seabreeze is immortal, but the timberwolf would have snapped his body in half." Celestia gestured at the myriad of windows showing Rainbow's life. "This is only the beginning."

"Hold on!" Rainbow Dash tilted her head to the side as she thought. "This is the place Twilight told us about, when she ascended and became an alicorn, right?" Celestia nodded in agreement. "So that means she is immortal too?"

Feeling the tug of the real world, Celestia sped up her speech. "Make sure the breezies are safe, then please bear Seabreeze here."

Rainbow was tugged from the celestial plane and woke up. She was still in the town circle, and resting against her snout was Seabreeze. She tried to twitch a limb, but was reminded of how she was set down to sleep. The enchanted ribbon still bound Rainbow, still gripped her all over and wouldn't let her move.

She took a deep breath and let it out in a puff of air. Seabreeze's wings twitched a little, so she repeated the pattern until the fey lifted his head.

"Alway' t' bindin'd be from them ta me." Seabreeze shook his head and, reaching a hoof out to Rainbow's show for support, he got to his hooves. "Ah can feel t' beat o' ya heart 'n all." Leaning up as far as he could, he kissed Rainbow Dash between the eyes. With his own hooves, Seabreeze began unwrapping Rainbow, slowly easing the spent ribbon from her body.

With her mouth free, Rainbow turned her head. "Princess Celestia said you need to speak with Twilight." As more of her body was freed, Rainbow got to see the full effect of Seabreeze's spell. Her wings had grown—a pegasus notices when her wings change—and half of each feather was now translucent with a rainbow hue. She spread her wings wide while Seabreeze was still working to free her rear.

"Ah tol' ya." Seabreeze felt the mare's enthusiasm for her wings in each flap of the new appendages. "Ya gotta take care o' ya mane an' tail more now. We ca' only do so much." He freed Rainbow's tail from the confines of the ribbon, and the mass of hair caught in gentle breeze.

"Rarity is going to scream when she sees this." Rainbow's snout curled into a smile. Standing up, she felt like a million bits, until the gentle breeze swung around and her mane flew back into her face. "Hey!"

"Ya a vain one." Seabreeze's smile was evidence he didn't consider vanity to be a problem. "An ya got an ego bigger 'en ya 'ead." With Rainbow completely free now, he fluttered his wings and ascended to her face. Dropping carefully onto her snout, he felt the established connection between mount and rider renew.

Rainbow Dash's heart sped up, and she felt the breeze push at her feathers without her even needing to flap her wings. The first double tap on her snout was her signal, and she lifted up into the air. Seabreeze guided her to circle up higher and higher, until the village was but a spec below.

Seabreeze eased back until they were just barely held aloft in a thermal. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened like saucers when the command came to dive; it was just like her dream. Speed was not an obstacle before Seabreeze worked magic on her, now it was her destiny. With her smaller body, Rainbow's wings had increased back up to their normal size.

Her thoughts fled as she hurtled towards the ground. The world rushed up towards her, and her keen eyes picked out the gap in the canopy that Seabreeze had aimed her towards. His hooves guided her, and Rainbow pulled up at his touch less than a heartbeat before she would have hit the ground. Seabreeze anticipated her movements perfectly, and Rainbow snapped her new wings out and began to weave through the forest at incredible speed.

The forest felt alive around Seabreeze, but he was past that. His heart was beating rapidly, and his eyes strained to make out the trees ahead of them. Each twitch of his hooves guided Rainbow perfectly between the old trees, and in a brief moment of introspection he realized that bonding with the mare had been a two-way street.

Clearing the Whitetail Woods, rider and mount yelled out their joy at the same time as they regained some height and flew lazily over Ponyville.

Rainbow's thoughts swirled lazily, and she couldn't help but reflect on the work she had been through to get to this point of mutual trust. While on her snout, Seabreeze instead tried to think of when he had done anything so frivolous or dangerous just for the fun of it. Each set their own mental self-exploration aside as the Castle of Friendship rushed to meet them.

Author's Note

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