Wind Chaser

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 1
Chapter 9
Chapter 12

Chapter 2

Wind Chaser, Chapter Two

In which the story of the main protagonist is explained in the form of his own introduction, and also in which the author hopes that all of his new concepts are clearly outlined, or at least happily left until later to explain.

This is fun, I should do more of this... although... I'm not sure anypony's paying attention.

* * *

Just after dawn, in the country of England, a young man with windblown brown hair and smiling golden eyes was arriving at work.

Dressed as he was, jeans, t-shirt, hiking boots, a brown bomber jacket and some flying goggles tucked into his pocket, he looked a little out of place as he made his way up the steps of a city office block.

The uniformed security on the door opened it for him as he approached, probably because he was carrying a covered hot drink in each hand, but the crisp salute and quiet ‘Sir.’ would have intrigued the average watcher.

If you were more than the average watcher, you would have seen the way the guard’s eyes were glued to the back of the young man’s neck, right where the big padded collar of his jacket folded over. A tiny pair of copper-brown eyes, topped with a green headband and brown locks of hair, was watching him right back, until they closed sleepily and vanished into the comfort of the collar again.

He walked with an easy strolling gait, lanky legs carrying him quickly through the lobby, and passed a ‘good morning’ with the receptionists, smiling warmly. The effect was of a junior office boy fetching a drink for his boss, but again, both the receptionists and the guard on the inner door waved him on with a salute and a ‘Sir’ in their words.

He was heading down, first the elevator for a few floors, and then down via some stairs, until the floors stopped being tiled in carpet and gave way to concrete and painted guides for different sections.

Eventually he reached it, and ‘it’ was an impressive sight indeed. A steel door, flush with the wall, at the end of its own featureless corridor. Surrounded by black-and-yellow markings and with a yellow-outlined ‘keep clear’ area in front of it, the door was watched by not just a regular roof-mounted camera, but also three separate cameras embedded in the walls to foil anyone who made it this close without setting off the main one. He knew this, he’d been coming here for months now, a guinea pig for the tests they ran within.

Pressing the intercom invoked the bored male voice that inhabited the room beyond, “Access code.”

He grinned up at the camera and gestured with the cups, “I have tea.”

“Close enough.” A buzzer sounded and the door seal cracked open. The internal hydraulics took over and slid the impressively thick door out of its equally impressive housing, the young man hopping inside before it had even opened fully, allowing it to close all the more quickly.

Inside was a mad scientist’s dream. Walls of panels blinked at him, to his right a bank of servers flickered and attempted to remake the mythic labyrinth with the cables that ran between them, the air-conditioned boxes they stood in keeping the rest of the room cool enough to work in. The wall behind him and to his left, and what parts of the far wall that could be too were panelled over in copper and steel. Many of these panels were open, bundles of cables corded together and snaking off to all different corners of the room, hundreds of them taped to the floor to prevent people tripping over them. What wasn’t cabled was covered in switches, dials, displays, gauges and things that went beep every so often.

The crowning glory was the Transporter. A breakthrough in scientific research so profound that the ramifications of it were still being theorised by the experts a decade after its discovery, and seven months after it was eventually built and ready to test. It consisted of a single platform of steel grid, surrounded by over a hundred pointy attenuators, claw-ended arms, projector tipped wands and so many bits and pieces that uniformly conspired to spark arcs of electricity from one chromed surface to another every few seconds.

All of this glorious scientific magic was run from a glass-walled control room at the back, occupied by a single desk, a single monitor and single keyboard and mouse. Admittedly a very large monitor, and very sleek keyboard and mouse, and a very expensive desk, but that was really it. The back wall was covered in a whiteboard of charts and around this were pictures, most of them featuring himself or people he knew very well, and all of them taken on the Transporter. He could see from here the biggest of them, himself holding up a sword as wide as he was, and twice as long, as if it was a prize fish... good times, memories all.

The office contained two more things; an operative in his middle years, and the operative’s lunches and snacks and drinks for the last seven months, or what was left of them. Empty pizza boxes, pot-noodles, mugs, cups, bowls, take-away chinese boxes... sentient life was developing somewhere among them, he had no doubt.

“Morning Allen,” he called as he made his way around to the office.

“Mornin’” Allen’s eyebrows made it over the top of the monitor as he replied, little else changed.

“Tea.” he put the cup down, “Made by mine own hand, flown to you at Mach 3 without losing the temperature, and now faithfully deposited on your desk. Your gratitude may be expressed in the form of interpretive dance.” He grinned, knowing Allen was good for the humour.

Allen greedily slurped at the scalding brew, his hardened, IT department gullet not even flinching from the heat, and he gratefully performed a few seated maneuvers to show he got the joke.

“You’re a wonder, Nick, a true marvel of our age.” Allen pointed out, “How many of our Elite Guardians would you catch bringing the hired help a cup of tea first thing in the morning?”

“I’d pay good money to see some of them try making it... My team’s the only English one around.”

“Americans just don’t get tea, do they?” Allen sympathised,

“Nope, but we can’t blame them all, a lot of them have pretty good taste. Shame the few let the side down.” He chuckled, token USA mickey-taking was always a good subject to work with. “Anyway, let’s get started, the Council wants results, and they want them fast.”

“As always, prove the machine works, and put our best guys on the spot to make it happen. So, where do you want to go today, Nick?”

Nick made his way out the door and went to inspect the Transporter, not for the first time, and see if he could make any more sense of it than last time. “Somewhere fun today, Allen, all my other missions have been all about the doom and saving the universe. For once, I’d like to help out a world that’s also fun to be on.”

“Sure thing, can do.” Allen started keying commands and clicking through menus.

Nick cocked an eyebrow, “You’re kidding? Just like that?”

“Yeah, we put that in over the weekend. Remember the team we had observing the last trip? They found a way to key personality deviations into the process to tailor missions even more precisely to the subjects. You’ll even be able to take Kirianna along with you this time.”

“At last!” Nick smiled broadly, “You awake, Kiri? Hear that? You’re coming with!”

The back of his collar moved and a fairy, an actual, living, breathing, winged and magic-dust-producing fairy sat up and stretched. “And here I was looking forward to a lie in.” She yawned.

Nick tousled her hair with a fingertip, which she warded off with threats of the tiny dagger she kept at her hip.

“You know the drill, lets start this up.” Allen spoke into the monitor’s microphone, his voice emerging over the speakers.

“I never thought I’d be used to this.” Nick said, mounting the platform in the centre of the room and placing his hands onto the panels that lowered out of the ceiling. He looked straight ahead at the red target on the far wall, which kept him from moving too much during the procedure to come. “Teleporting around the world, around dimensions, and saving the universe... I thought it was bad enough with just Earth to look after.”

“Nick, we’re under observation conditions, please keep the chatter down.” Allen warned him, “Besides, you’re the guy who sprouts angel wings and fights off crazy super-powered bad-guys for a living. Oh, and lets not forget there’s a fairy in your jacket.”

“Touché.” Nick nodded, “Right, I’m ready, let’s get this show on the road.”

“Initialising now.” Machinery sparked and hummed to life around the platform, electricity arcing faster and faster between the arms of the device.

“Scanning... objectives confirmed. Nick, your destination isn’t Earth, there are a couple of possibilities... Checking preferences... You’ve got one solid match to your powers and abilites, but here’s the catch; it’s a non-human world.”

Nick didn’t like some of those missions, the ones that required him to become another creature... His last mission had been... well, the singing through his skin had been cool, but the tentacles were just plain weird. Never a water-world, never again. “What’s the reference?” He asked.

“Earth basic world, target species ninety-nine per cent match to earth mammal. No tentacles this time m’man.” Even Allen grinned at this one, he remembered turning Nick into that thing all too well.

“Fun.” Nick said, mostly to himself, “Do it.” Allen keyed the commands.

“Transporter starting up, morphology adjustment initialising. Charging. Sampling target species. Keying to subject A, Nick Evans, and subject A beta, Kirianna. Compensating for soul-link between subjects. Compensating for powers and abilities. Transformation in 3... 2... 1...”

The panels under his hands zapped him, causing Nick to writhe for a second as if tasered. He felt warmer, falling limply to all fours as he tried to shake off the effects of having his mind and body forcibly re-written to another species.

“Complete. Transporting to destination in 3...” Nick had time to blink, realising his eyes were in a different proportion than before, wider, larger on his head.

“2...” He looked down at his... white fetlocks and cream hooves? “1...”

“Scorch m-”

There was a stutter of electrical discharge and a noise. It was the inexplicable sound of somebody popping a bubble that itself was filled with the sound of a metal spring being rung with a wine glass. Nick and his fairy were gone.

* * *

“-e!” Nick blinked, shaking his head and looking around.

It never ceased to amaze him, teleportation and dimensional jumping. People like him had this power, he’d met them, fought alongside them and even against a few, but for him the idea of going to a place completely outside his own universe was still very new and exciting, every time.

But first, time to check out what his new body was like. He had hooves, last he checked, and on looking down, there they were.

“Kiri, I need to borrow your eyes a second.”

I’m not coming out. Kirianna’s voice was in his head, their link letting them talk mind-to-mind, but she usually didn’t use it because it sent over her emotions and connected thoughts too; Nick felt a little wave of red-faced embarrassment from her, and thoughts about hands.

“You know, if it’s that bad, you’re only going to make me laugh harder the more you put it off, right?” Nick couldn’t resist the opportunity to needle his sharp-tongued partner. He felt the equivalent of a mental shrug as she gave in and flew from the back of his neck.

What met Nick’s eyes was... hilarious. She was a little round ball of green fluff, with long dragonfly wings and gigantic copper eyes. It was adorable, absolutely, completely adorable. But like dressing a cat in a tutu, you knew that the cat was planning to murder you in your sleep for laughing. Still, he nearly collapsed from trying not to laugh too much.

Yeah, yeah, pony features, check out yourself before you laugh at me. And Nick’s laughter turned to surprise as she started sending him a feed of what she could see. It was a useful trick almost all the time, everything from eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head in a fight to spy work. Only time it wasn’t was when Kirianna chose to take a shower with other girls. Didn’t matter whether he was able to peep or not, the girls would beat him senseless on principle.

He was... well, loosely, an actual pony. Long muzzle, mane and tail the same colour as his hair had been, coat of soft, white fur, hooves, the whole pony shebang. Only differences from normal were the proportioning, this kind of pony seemed... almost cartoony, the eyes being key to that; they were huge and mostly forward facing, allowing him fairly normal vision. And also the presence of a large brand, or logo, or something on his flank. It appeared to be a standard winged shield motif, if a little childish on the wings, which were folded down the sides instead of spread out, with a red circle device on the shield. Reminded him of his pendant which, like all his clothes, was now missing.

“This is... somehow weirder than everything else I’ve done so far.” Nick commented dryly to his partner. Also weird was the talking, he hadn’t expected to be able to vocalise as normal.

Can you transform? She asked him, curious and with the image of a pegasus appearing in her thoughts, Because pegasus form would be really cool.

Nick gathered himself and did just that. His transformation wasn’t a flashy affair, a burst of air from his gain in mass and a brief light playing all over his coat as if somebody was shining torches on him, and he was done. He stood now a good six inches taller, deep chested and with dense muscles. White wings, wide and sharp-feathered, adorned his back behind his shoulders and the mark on his flank had spread its cartoon wings.

“Pegasus I am.” Nick nodded in satisfaction, Kirianna’s eyes better than any mirror as she circled him to check the changes, “Transformation is a go, and I’m guessing I still have most of the same powers.” He held up a hoof which... failed to do anything at all.

Aww, Nick, don’t feel bad honey, Kirianna’s voice was laden with smirking, it happens to a lot of guys, maybe you just need a few minutes.

“Shut it, tart.” Nick quipped back with a grin. Well, it had happened before, Transcendant powers often didn’t translate entirely from one world to the next. Hurling energy from his hooves obviously wasn’t on the agenda this time.

“These downsides usually balance something else though, Kiri, what else do you think I can do?”

Well we’ll never find out sitting here, lets go find out about this world.

She was right, of course, it was time to find out why he was here.

* * *

Transportation, the greatest scientific discovery of the millenium, even in the first decade of the millenium there would almost certainly be none to rival it for innovation for a thousand years. It was a process by which a person, object or even group of either, could be instantly placed anywhere in the universe. It was by accident that the creator of it also found that it could be used to place them anywhere in any universe. Nick remembered it well, he’d been the test subject.

Over the years of theory, and over months of testing, the accuracy had gotten better and better. That’s when the latest round of ideas had come in. Following the trend of missions that resulted from Transporter use, the theorists formed a loose set of rules. First, alarmingly, the Transporter wanted to help the user. It wasn’t sentient, but it demonstrated too many incidences of spontaneous action that averted disaster or adjusted locations and even whole universes to prevent accidents caused by user-created errors. First rule therefore was that you could calibrate a transport to what the subject was best suited for, the Transporter itself would handle the how to get there. Second, due to the disparate natures of realities, the transporter could also adjust a subject’s morphic field to match the native species of a world, so as to fit in better, or not if remaining human was more beneficial. Even though the process was now a traceable and manageable thing, the Transporter still decided whether it was necessary. Third, the Transporter would invariably attempt to place you where you would naturally encounter the purpose of your travel. If you were going to have fun on a beach, it would place you outside a set of changing rooms in sight of the beach. If you were going to save a world from an evil tyrant, you would be placed near the rebel headquarters. It was a little more nuanced than this, however it was generally deemed that the first individual you met on a mission would be the most influential person in succeeding.

There were many theories too as to why the Transporter would place people on other worlds when looking for ways to help. And it was the popular theory again that the worlds in question needed two things; first they needed somebody with the skills or mind-set of the subject, and while that same person may have already existed in that world, by law of averages, they secondly needed an Outsider. Capital ‘O’. Somebody who could act and then leave, vanish. Whether that was because order would establish itself better without that person, or because that outsider could be used as a scapegoat that would never have to suffer the consequences.

In any case, the Transporter knew what it was doing, and as confusing as this sounded, it had been working out amazingly well so far.

* * *

The world in which Nick found himself was a countryside paradise. Living in England, the country was never far away, however it was ordered, managed. There were fields everywhere, but each was owned and farmed, or simply owned when things got too steep.

Here was rolling, open countryside, fences and hedge-rows were simply non-existent. A forest, deep and heavy with age, clung to the land a few miles away, while a river played its way through a small valley nearby.

It was amazingly peaceful, with a quiet breeze, warm sun, little wisps of cloud on the horizon and all throughout it permeated the smell of summer greenery.

But enough about the ground, what he wanted was the sky.

With a bunch of his new muscles, he threw himself into the air. His wings, ethereal energy made solid, were sweeping again and again, driving him with more power than any normal wing could muster. If he were to stop driving ahead, his wings would float him back down like a feather, even upside-down, but right now, he needed to fly and fly fast.

This was living, this was freedom, this was something so few people could experience back home that he actually felt sorry for anybody that couldn’t fly like this.

His new body adjusted quickly, easily. If there was one thing he enjoyed about changing shape for missions it was the way it was never awkward. In its urge to help, the Transporter reconfigured the brain to the new shape without losing the memories of the original, meaning that while you could feel the difference between, say, four legs and two, you were as smooth and easy on four as you were on two. Or twelve, if he recalled the tentacles. Never again... but still, twelve was a good record for legs. That’s not even including the arms.

The air was crisp and clear, the highest and wispiest of clouds were the only thing between him and space, and it was a matter of moments to reach them. Too many moments though... “Kiri, were you timing that?”

Yeah, what’s your problem? This height usually takes a whole two seconds less than that.

“I think it’s the wings...” Nick mused, floating groundwards, conversely a little faster than usual, “If I go by the proportions of the grass and the trees around where we started, my wingspan here can’t be more than six feet, right? It’s a third what it was back home!” He knocked his hooves together, like slapping a fist into his palm, “Has to be it.” He sat down.

Nick? Kirianna began, Just in case mentioning it breaks the trick... how are you sitting down?

Nick frowned and looked down. He was still above the clouds. He was sitting on the clouds. He stood up. He folded his wings. It felt... like a thick layer of fuzzy cotton, except it was definitely water, and it was definitely holding him up. A non-elastic trampoline of it... a mattress? No... It was like describing what a cloud looked like to a blind person, he’d never felt anything like it, but it was definitely and unquestionably the sensation of standing and sitting on a cloud.

“I think we’ve figured out one of the benefits.” He smiled.

* * *

An hour playing with clouds was well spent. He found all sorts of things out about them, they were solid enough, so long as it was him doing things, the moment they interacted with anything else, they drifted apart like the vapour they were. He could burst them like smoke, spin them like tops, hang from them, bounce on them... and this last one he discovered made any cloud thick enough start to rain. He even doused himself down with some concentrated rainwater too! This was fantastic!

Enough was enough, however, it was time to find some locals to study. First one would be his ‘assignment’, but if he played it right, he could actually find out a little about this world first, and not seem so weird. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, either way, better safe than sorry. Admittedly, his friendly nature had gotten the better of him plenty of times, striking up conversations when a native spotted him rather than playing it cool. As he said, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

Pretty soon though, he was lost to flying again. He loved it, beyond words. Even something as simple to consider, like ‘would the sight of a pegasus be as unusual to ponies as a guy with angel wings would be to a human?’ didn’t register consciously as he zipped about, playing with the air.

Wings scooped and flicked sending him spinning once, twice, three times upwards in a vertical corkscrew. His head snapping around like a ballet dancer’s to lock onto the horizon, keeping him balanced, and letting him practically blast out of the spin and on into more loops and tricks. And finally, dragging Kirianna along by her teeth in his mane, he sprinted straight for a hill with a single tree on it. He wasn’t the most mathematical, but between Kirianna’s timing and some basic sums in his head he could work out how fast he could fly at top speed.

Half way there though, he became distracted yet again. His eyes were drawn upwards to a natural circle of clouds, a ring of little fluffy cloudlets arranged like a finishing goal. It was right over the top of the tree he was aiming for, due up, and high enough to make it fun. New plan, Kiri! He grinned.

As late as he possibly could, his wings providing another amazing talent of nearly pinpoint turning, he pulled up inches from the leaves of the tree on top of the hill. Utterly brilliant as it was, the perpendicular climb was even better. Wings sweeping as smoothly as possible to keep his upwards momentum, he thundered through the ring of tiny clouds.

Sunshine blasted his face as he crested out, balancing backwards on his wings, all four hooves in the air as he kicked them in time to his laughter. This was fan-tastic!!

"YEAAAH!!" he shouted, "That was AWESOME! Kiri, we've GOT to do that again." Laughing, he just lay back and enjoyed the adrenaline high.

There’s somebody here! Kirianna’s voice cracked like a whip, A local, and you’re in luck for a change, it’s a pegasus too.

“What? Local? Where?”

Flipping back over, he found them... her... wow....

What caught him first were the eyes, staring back up at him from one of the small clouds, a pink, like magenta, shading to plum, wide and clear. Next was the windblown mane and tail, they were rainbows! All six colours from one side to the other! Amazing! Well, he admitted to himself that it would be less amazing if they were a dye job, but what if they were real? And then her coat, it was cyan, a light, open-sky blue, unlike anything he’d ever seen on earth. The mark on her flank was a cloud with a tri-colour lightning bolt. Hang on... when had he decided she was a she? But she definitely was, this was a female pegasus.

He was still staring, she was still staring, big magenta eyes giving him the once over the same way he’d been doing to her. Kirianna finally gave up and bonked him on the head, bodily.

You’re being rude, you big oaf!

"Wha-? OH! Right! Sorry Kiri." He hovered lower, this whole experience feeling very surreal, a real pegasus, and she was blue...

"Sorry, I'm not used to this place yet. Nice to meet you." He extended a hoof, hoping that they shook hooves, or something, as a greeting.

She recovered from her stare and gave him a big grin, knocking her hoof on his like a fist-bump, "Heh, nice to meet you too, those were some pretty sweet moves back there." Oh thankyoooou Transporter! He understood the language! Her voice was scratchy, definitely female, but tomboyish. He liked how open she was, considering how much they’d both stared.

“Thanks, I kinda needed to work the kinks out, y’know?”

"Totally. Of course, you're not up to my standard, but you're not bad. Where are you from?"

Not up to her standard, hmm? Well maybe I should test that theory, anyway, "Heh, you wouldn’t have hea-… Oh scorch me! I've done it again!" His eyes flew wide in shock, "Sorry, gotta fly!"

* * *

Not again! Kirianna berated him internally, I cannot believe you did it again.

The chase was over, the blue pegasus was flying back the way they’d come and he was sedately walking down the road, feigning innocence as hard as he could.

This wasn’t going to hold up under close scrutiny, however. Unlike back home, his features didn’t change enough to fool people between his transformation and his regular self. As a human, the disparity between his transformed face, height, stature and so on, could be compounded by a change of clothes and a quick spray of a different deodorant, making it impossible to connect the six-foot-four lanky twenty year old with the seven-foot-four professional athlete type who’d been seen minutes earlier. Here... he was still a white pony, with a brown mane and tail, a green flying pet and a shield mark on his flank. Even if he was pysically different, those three facts would connect him to the pegasus she’d seen before.

He should hide out for a while until things settled down. Maybe that small woodland area from before?

Turning around and heading back towards it, he sped up to a trot, and then a canter, and finally a gentle gallop, stretching his legs over the dirt and even enjoying the feeling of running on four hooves. The authors had the right of it, horses and ponies could run so easily it was ridiculous. Especially if they were in good condition.

He smoothly (this pony thing was actually making him jealous, so much easier than as a human) jumped one of the first fences he’d seen and crossed the small open space into what he now realised was an orchard.

Well tended trees and carefully trimmed grass were the order of the day here, acres and acres of land devoted to an abundance of trees, different types of apple all mixed in together but no trees seeming to interfere with each other.

What Nick couldn’t understand was how she’d been faster than he was. His wings weren’t real, they were energy, and back home they could actually push him to mach 3 and higher, provided he took a rebreather and full body protection to let him stay there beyond a few moments. Today he’d just had it shoved in his face that he was limited to an amazingly slow speed by comparison.

And she’s going... going... gone! Kirianna said, feeding Nick the image of the blue pegasus, leaving a rainbow trail behind her, disappearing over the treetops. She looked ticked.

“Well you would be too if somebody just did what I did.” Nick’s mouth quirked and his eyebrows drew together, slightly regretting it now.

Well, could be worse, at least this one’s still looking for you. Steamed or not, that’s an improvement on that one that thought you were her ex and tried to escape from you for five days. He could feel the needling in her thoughts, she had loved learning about that particular mission, Don’t worry about it, just find out some more about this world then go flying for a while until she spots you and kicks you in the face.

“Either way, I’ve got lots of explaining to do when I meet her again.”

“Ee-yup.” Nick jumped a clear foot in the air.

* * *

I like these kinds of cliffhangers! Thanks for reading, everypony, I really appreciate you taking the time.

No, this isn't my first fan-fiction, yes it's my first Pony one, and I desperately hope I've learned from my mistakes on the others. (I.E. It’s the characters from the series that are important, not your own, and that you need to work twice as hard to reduce the double-whammy of Mary-Sue that OC insert fictions produce.)

Chapter 3

Wind Chaser, Chapter 3

In which the plot is finally formed.

Thank you to everyone who's read so far, that's over a hundred views of this little thing in less than a day from its release... I'm touched (in the head probably, but that's for another time), thank you guys ^^

Now, let's try to make sense of this....

* * *

The sky roiled and spun, darkness slashed by forks of blue and yellow light.

“It is good you have come, Princess, I had thought that the Ponies of Equestria were not being truthful when they said you were still their ruler after thousands of years. It must be a burden.”

“Some centuries are longer than others, Ambassador, I admit.” Celestia smiled. It wasn’t an easy task, considering her conversation partner. Thousands of years of diplomacy with other nations was all that stopped her from using all her magic to seal the borders from this particular species.

“The title of Mikill Úlfur passing down is something of an event amongst my people, and having a visiting dignitary as an officiary is traditional, it prevents calls of bias. The immortal ruler of Equestria is as important a dignitary as we’ve had for many lifetimes.”

“I thank you for inviting me, Ambassador.” Celestia sipped her drink, the ambassador watching every move with quick eyes, the Lupin race didn’t have the same magic as unicorns. “Tell me, is the inclement weather also traditional?”

The yellow eyes blinked slowly, “Not at all, Princess, the weather is from two of our... entourage. They are specialists at working up storms and I find their talents quite arresting to watch. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Arresting, yes,” Celestia, for all her powers, couldn’t help but feel a little at risk out here, and her guards, armour shining in the lightning saturated half-light, were all on edge. “But I can’t help but find myself wanting a little more sunshine in my day.” As much for herself as for her guards, Celestia channelled a little magic and opened up a tiny hole through the clouds that beamed warm afternoon light down onto their camp.

“Marvelous, simply amazing,” their host clapped his paws, finally a reaction, “in fact the contrast between the stormy skies and our tranquil patch of sunshine has to be the most exquisite sight I’ve seen in years. Princess, I must thank you for such a beautiful gift. I have a feeling that the new Mikill Úlfur is going to love you.” he chuckled and gazed around.

His good humour seemed to sour as an aide approached, bearing a scroll. “News, my lord, from the Regent.”

“Yes, yes, bring it here at once.” The ambassador roughly unfurled the paper and zipped through the words. Then he released it, the curl clapping the scroll shut, and let out a bell-toned, baying call to the sky. It was chilling, to say the least.

A flash of lightning answered it and two figures came bounding down out of the clouds, their shoulders decorated with rags that seemed, in some way, to let them run on the very air itself. Such different magics, Celestia thought to herself, with all these things that separate us, no wonder Ponies don’t get on with them very well.

“Fuujin, Raijin, your new orders are here.” The ambassador passed the scroll to the nearest, who opened it so his companion could see too, their eyes, one set brilliantly blue-white, the other a deep amber, flicked through the message.

Lightning sparked over their fur in little arcs, “Understood, ambassador.” One bowed, “We will depart at once.” The other bowed. Their tails flicked sparks as they whisked themselves around and up into the sky with that same peculiar loping gait.

“Such a shame to lose them. Now, where were we, your Highness?” Princess Celestia could only paste on her best diplomatic smile to match the mildly terrifying sight of a wolf grinning with glee.

* * *

This guy’s really hard to read. Kirianna thought to him, He’s either really straightforward, or this pony poker-face is better than a human one.

You’re telling me, Nick agreed. But if this big, red pony, bigger even than himself when he was transformed, wanted to play things silent, then he wasn’t in a position to try and change that.

He’d introduced himself, succinctly, with a simple “Name’s Big Macintosh, yuh’ll want t’come with me.” His voice matched his size.

Now they were heading down to a big american style farmhouse, he could see an old, green coated pony with her hair up in a silver-gray bun snoozing on a rocking chair on the veranda. He was sure she had a title like ‘aunty’ or ‘granny’ just from looking at her.

Just before they got to the door, it burst open and the adorable and terrifying appearance of three tiny ponies (fillies?) suddenly became a whirl of colour, movement and noise.

“Hey big brother! Who’s y’frien’?” A whirl of yellow and red topped by a giant pink ribbon,

“Is he new? Where’d he come from?” White, pink and pale lavender, brushing past the other,

“Where did you get that cutie mark? It’s sweet!” Blurring orange and purple, shouldering both aside... he lost track of which was which as all three just kept talking over each other, inspecting him.

“Ooh, see? I wonder what his special talent is!”

“Wait, weren’ we going t’the clubhouse?”

“Not now, we can see if he’s got a way to find our cutie marks!”

“Are you staying in Ponyville?”

“Do you have family here? Do we know them?”

“Tell us how y’got yer cutie mark!”

Big Macintosh stomped a hoof, hard. The little fillies who’d been circling and leaping all around, and even Nick, were bounced an inch or so off the floor. The three of them looked at their hooves, thoroughly chastened by the red draft-pony’s ‘and what do you have to say for yourselves’ look.

“Sorry big brother, we’ll be goin’. ’Pologies for both’rin’ yuh, mister.”

The look vanished and the deep-chested pony smiled, and bent down to give the little yellow filly an encouraging nudge, smiling to show he wasn’t angry at her.

“Aww, big brother, stop it.” She pushed his muzzle away, embarrassed, “Okay girls, let’s go!”

Nick winced at the volume of their parting shout; “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GO!” all together.

They watched the fillies zip off in a little red wagon pulled by the orange filly, who... rode a scooter that she pushed by buzzing her tiny wings furiously. Adorable, but kids always were when they weren’t causing chaos.

“Mah sister Apple Bloom, the one’s Scootaloo, and t’other’s Sweetie Belle.” Big Macintosh stated, “C’me on in.”

* * *

Watching from a high tower, Princess Luna regretted again letting her sister leave for a foreign land. If only she had gone in her sister’s place... but no, she couldn’t, Celestia was always the public one, Luna much preferred her time out of diplomatic circles. It gave her more time to focus on the work that she’d taken over since her return. And now... now she had to rule Equestria without her sister, which at one point was a dream. At one point. With the world so changed... with pony customs and expectations so different... ruling without her sister at her side was a challenge she didn’t even want yet, let alone knew if she was capable of.

Then this happened, this... sentient storm. No pony had made it, and from the timing, Luna could suspect where it came from. Acting on it though... might cause her sister’s visit to be cast in a bad light. If she dispelled a storm created by these Úlfur, it could be seen as an insult, or a challenge, or any number of things that their customs would use to make things harder for Celestia and for Equestria.

She sighed as it curled out of sight of her window, the weather workers would have to handle it. Unless it became a direct threat to the pony subjects, she could not interfere.

* * *

Thunder crashed and lightning arced, the clouds began to roil and tumble in close formation. The friction of the clouds charging them even further as they flowed through the sky against the prevailing winds towards the city of Canterlot.

Pegasus ponies, hundreds of them, rose up into the air and began coralling the clouds, punching holes through them and herding away the pieces that were chunked off.

Watching eyes took in the organisation and the swift ease of their actions.

“This was expected.”

“Yet, the Regent still decided to try.”

“A test, only, to gauge if they had the skill. Now we work on dividing them.”

“Let us move on.”

As abruptly as it began its approach, the stormy front reared back and began to flow at a tangent to the capital. Ink pooling from one place to the next, as if by gravity, a well of cloud would move and form up, pulling the remaing clouds after it and leaving behind only what the pegasus weather-workers had already claimed.

* * *

Awkwardness, he did his best not to show it. Speak like a movie character in your mind, you must not. Kirianna teased.

Big Macintosh hadn’t said a word to him since opening the door, just led him to a table and brought out a couple of bottles of what turned out to be amazingly delicious apple juice. He’d only nodded when Nick had commented on how nice it was. The two of them then sat down and waited.

What was weird was that it was obviously waiting, not waiting for Nick to start talking, but waiting... for somebody to arrive. Eventually Nick’s curiosity got the better of him, he had to see if this guy really did make conversation. How to start... You could try introducing yourself. Kirianna offered, And try to fit in, their names don’t seem to follow the same trend as ours, make one up.

He thought about it, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Big Macintosh... Hmm, I’ve always wanted to use this one again, Nick thought to Kirianna, Old ones are the best.

“Wind Chaser.” He offered quietly, Big Macintosh looking at him carefully, but not seeming surprised... P-p-p-p-Pony Face, p-puh Pony Face, Kirianna chanted in his head. “My name’s Wind Chaser.” He elaborated, mostly to shut her up, and playing it as calmly as he could.

Big Macintosh nodded, “Ee-yup. Welcome. This here’s Sweet Apple Acres, I’ll let m’sister AJ do the talkin’.”

Nick couldn’t - Wind Chaser, think of yourself as Wind Chaser, even in here! Kiri interrupted him. Wind Chaser couldn’t read him at all, this was getting to be creepy. He’d always been a good reader of people, even the odd professional liar was relatively easy, it was a gift. But this pony? Not a clue. P-p-p- Shut it, tart.

“Not to be rude, but, you don’t seem upset that I was on your land.” Wind Chaser pointed out.

“Nope.” the bigger pony replied. “Reck’n you’ll be wantin’ to talk to AJ though.”

“Why’s that?” he tentatively queried.

“That bein’ her friend Rainbow Dash y’were a-hidin’ from.”

Chaser shut up. How much did he see? We were so focused on that pegasus, Rainbow Dash Yeah, her... If we’re lucky he just thinks we were hiding from her, he might not have seen the flying and transforming. What am I saying? Knowing our luck he saw everything and knows exactly what’s going on.

“Hey, Big Macintosh! I could use a hoof out here!” That was definitely a girl, and her accent matched the big guy’s so... ‘AJ’

For his part, the draft pony got to his hooves and put the empty bottles in a crate before gesturing with his muzzle for Chaser to follow him. Outside, and around the corner, was a large barn, and in front of it an orange mare wearing a stetson was unloading empty wooden buckets from a cart.

“‘Bout time. And-” She paused, and granted Wind Chaser a big, friendly smile, “Howdy there stranger, welcome t’ Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Uh, AJ, you might wanna talk to Wind Chaser here f’r a bit. Ah’ll handle this.” With his added height, Big Macintosh needed to duck a little to slide the remaining bins from the cart onto his back, heading into the barn.

“Wind Chaser, eh? Pleased t’meetcha, Ah’m Applejack.” Wind Chaser found his hoof being shaken enthusiastically, “We here at the Acres love to make new friends.”

When she let go, he grounded the hoof solidly, still feeling the urge to keep shaking it up and down. “Thanks, I’m not used to such hospitality.” He grinned.

“Now,” Applejack started walking, Chaser keeping pace, “What brings y’here?” A dimensional transporter. Shush! “And why did Big Mac wan’ me t’talk to yuh?”

Do we gamble? Kiri’s voice was speculative, She seems normal enough, and she’s a friend of that pegasus. Explaining to somebody has done you good on missions before.

Good point, Chaser mulled it over a moment, but no, it’s probably safer to keep it to myself and come up with something. We don’t even know if they have technology here, at least until we see what civilisation’s like.

“Well your brother kinda caught me hiding from a pegasus called Rainbow Dash in your orchard.”

“What? Why’d you be hidin’ from her?”

“Because she was chasing me. I think I made her upset, but I don’t know why she would be. I’m new around here.”

“E-heh,” Applejack gave an appreciative laugh, “That filly gets riled up so easily, it’s a wonder anypony can get through a conversation with her in one piece sometimes. Y’probably didn’ do anythin’ wrong. Why don’cha tell me about it, an’ we’ll see what we c’n do t’settle her down. If’n yer new, then y’ll love gettin’ t’know the folk aroun’ here, so it’s best if we clear this up quickly like.”

She’s nice, I like her. Remind me to try talking like that when I get my voice back.

Okay, that clinched it. If Kirianna liked her, this pony was definitely trustworthy. Kiri was a fairy, fairies can see things about people (and ponies it seemed) that most wouldn’t understand. Not that she could define it in any case; she was far too flighty for finding scientific explanations. Her specialty was her sense of who might lie to her, or how much you could ‘trust’ an individual.

So, long story short, Chaser decided to trust Applejack with the truth.

“Well when I say I’m not from around here, I mean it a bit more... seriously than most.” He began.

* * *

Once again lightning flashed and thunder rolled in reply. The coded pattern helped them work, especially when they were dealing with a front this large.

They were up in the mountains, hundreds of miles from the capital and a good flight of a pegasus pony from anywhere else, and they were pumping as much power into their little city-destroyer as they could.

Out here, the weather-workers of Equestria weren’t bothered by the brewing weather, confident in their power to curb it and direct it to where it was needed when it arrived. What this also meant was that they weren’t paying attention to how big it was growing behind the peaks.

Howls played back and forth, thunder and lightning in sequence, to keep the massing on schedule. Soon enough it would be large enough, unstoppable enough, to simply let it roll down on the towns and cities of Equestria. The confusion, the absence of leadership from their rulers gone on ‘diplomatic missions’, the complete overpowering scale of the Úlfur generated storm... many nations now paid tribute to their new rulers thanks to this tactic. All it took was a swift entrance into the heart of their government, an offer to let them live out their lives peacefully, under a tithe to the Mikill Úlfur, or suffer the unquenchable power of the storm.

Of course, most countries didn’t have weather workers quite as capable as the pegasus ponies appeared to be, but even they wouldn’t be able to do much with a storm of this proportion.

A few ponies flew up to investigate, the brothers howled in unison and a great clout of wind drove them back, spinning and stunned, to fall into the trees on the lower slopes.

It would be a few hours before the lighter-than-clouds ponies could gather themselves again, but the Úlfur brothers were confident that they hadn’t hurt any of them. It wouldn’t do to give the ponies a reason to choose fighting the storm over the offer of servitude.

* * *

“Yer from another dimension.”

“Check.”

“Yer here to help us.”

“Absolutely.”

“And y’have super powers that turn y’into a pegasus.”

“Like I showed you.”

Applejack looked a little shell-shocked. The transformation, for one thing, had given her plenty of reason to be. But... she believed him. That was the amazing thing, he could see it. So Big Macintosh really does just have a poker face, this one’s easy as all get-out to read. Honest as the day is long, that’s what it is, couldn’t lie if her life depended on it.

“Shoot, sugarcube, Ah reck’n...” Sugarcube, huh? Don’t pretend you don’t like it. “Ah don’t know what I reck’n. But yer tellin’ the truth, so... Ah guess we need t’talk to Twilight about this. It’s a bit much f’r one pony.”

The afternoon sun shone through the window, they were back in the kitchen again, seated at the table with another bottle of apple juice.

“And... uh... Rainbow Dash?”

Applejack recovered enough to give him a wry, lopsided grin. “Don’t’cha worry none about her, she might talk big, but once y’gain her trust she’ll stick by yuh through anythin’. Ah’ll help smooth things over when y’see ‘er agin. Heck, show ‘er that transformation o’ yers and she’ll think it’s so cool she won’ leave y’in peace for weeks.” The thought made her chuckle, which was a relief after all the serious talk.

Chaser chuckled along with her, “Here’s hoping I don’t have to show her then.” It got a laugh out of her.

“Anyhow, we’d better get goin’.” Applejack stood up, crating the empty bottle, “Otherwise it’ll be dark afore we get t’Twilight’s place.”

* * *

“RAAAAAAAAAH!!” Dash dived on him, at which Chaser stepped nimbly sideways, avoiding the head-on crash. “Slippery little...”

“Dash!” The ponies gathered a little way away were taking turns shouting for her attention. This was her third or fourth attempt.

“HYAAAAAAHHHH!” Another flying leap, Chaser’s knees bent and he settled to the floor comfortably, leaving Dash to skim over his mane, nearly colliding with the fence beside the road, “Why you!”

“DASH!” All five tried together.

“RRRR-AAAAAGH!” This time Chaser rolled fully over, giving his back a scratch on the floor, with the rainbow blur skidding to a stop. “When I... oooh... when I get... my hooves... on you...”

“Urgh! I give up.” The lavender mare with the dark mane sat down and rubbed her forehead with her hoof.

“Hii-” Her next leap cut off mid-yell, Chaser reaching out a hoof and pushing hers down towards the ground as she sprang, stopping her dead. The shock vibrated through her visibly, like a stubbed toe, but the size of her whole leg. She blinked twice, and then fell over, clutching her hoof and hissing ‘ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow’ to herself. Luckily the word ‘ow’ was for when nothing seriously hurt, he knew from experience.

Wind Chaser turned back to the other ponies and gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry, I didn’t know what else to do with her.”

A bubbly froth of pink appeared in front of him, baby-blue, smiling eyes dancing in glee, “That’s alright, Dashie crashes into stuff all the time, one time she crashed right through Twilight’s ladder and couldn’t get her head out, and another time-” A lavender hoof carefully prised her away from the startled Wind Chaser.

“Thankyou Pinkie, but maybe we can get introductions done, and then sort this whole mess out?”

A second later, however, Pinkie bounced straight back, “Of course! We need to get introductions done so we can throw you your super-duper-Pinkie-tastic Welcome to Ponyville party! It’s going to be awesome! We’ll have cakes and balloons and streamers and -”

“Pinkie!” Again the purple one pushed her back, Chaser was now sitting, the smaller pony so energetic in her antics he’d been pushed over without realising it.

“Excuse her, she’s always like this.” She looked embarrassed, Chaser for his part blinked at the big, clear eyes... those were really pretty... before giving his normal smile and getting back up.

“Don’t worry about it, I wish even a tenth of my missions were this friendly.”

“You mean having Rainbow attack you is friendly?” She seemed honestly confused as she raised an eyebrow (ponies did have them; they had the muscles, just not the definition of actual eyebrows, myth confirmed!) at Rainbow, who was shaking the pins-and-needles out of her foreleg.

“Compared to some, yes.” Chaser grinned, lopsidedly.

“Yes, well,” She cleared her throat, “Welcome to Ponyville, I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She inclined her head, “This is Pinkie Pie, and I think you’ve met Rainbow Dash.”

“Wind Chaser, and I’m pleased to be here.” He ducked a quick bow with just his head, to be polite.

“Rarity’s going to like him, he acts the proper gentlecolt, don’ he?” Applejack nudged him in the ribs.

“And this is Kirianna, my partner in adventure.” Chaser introduced the fuzzy green ball that climbed up between his ears.

“p-p-PARASPRITE! I knew I should have brought my tuba!” Pinkie Pie panicked and made to run for it, but Applejack stood on her fluffy tail, bringing her crashing to the floor.

“Hold on there filly, this’un’s not the same as th’others. Kirianna’s no ord’nary parasprite.” Then, in a whisper that Chaser could still actually hear, although it probably wasn’t meant to be, she added “Reck’n he’s got her trained or somethin’.”

Chaser kept his face neutral, but sent the equivalent of a mental smirk over to Kiri. He’d explained Kirianna to Applejack back at the farm, but it seemed that she hadn’t quite got the relationship, or the fact that Kiri was a ‘parasprite’ was more important than he’d thought... probably the latter, considering Pinkie’s reaction. Twilight was looking shocked and even Dash had stopped complaining to just stare at Kirianna like she was a rabid dog.

For her part, the copper-eyed fluff-ball sidled back over his head and hid in his mane again.

“So long as it doesn’t breed like the others, I don’t care.” Rainbow finally stated, crossing her hooves across her chest.

“Same here, as long as she’s not the kind that eats everything and multiplies by the second, then I’m happy.” Twilight agreed, “Okay, Pinkie?”

The bubbly pink mare was in his face again, peering at him, rubbing her chin. “Hmm... Okie dokie lokie.” She pulled away a little, then whipped back, “But I’m watching you buster.” She warned, but then giggled and bounced away happily, circling the group in a kind of world-of-her-own way. I like that one too, she’s random! Kirianna giggled in his head.

Kirianna... giggled? Shut it, tart! I’m a girl! I giggle too, okay? She snapped at him, defensively. Could have fooled me, he thought back.

“Anyway, Twi? It’s gettin’ late, c’n Ah leave Chaser with you? Ah think you two have got a mite to talk about, an’ Ah gotta get back t’ th’farm.”

“Sure thing, Applejack, I’ve got plenty of questions for our new friend.”

“Oh, and Chaser, I trust you, an’ I believe yer story, so if’n any o’the girls don’, jus’ remind ‘em o’ that.” The orange mare tipped her hat and left them with a wave.

“She’s right, it’s getting dark already. At least that storm’s gone for the night, I was worried.” Twilight turned and began to trot the way she’d come. “This way, Wind Chaser, we can talk at the library.”

“And don’t try anything funny,” Dash was in the air again, “I’m watching you.” She attempted menacing, but as it was coming from a flying blue pegasus smaller than he was with a rainbow mane and tail she didn’t quite pull it off.

* * *

Alright readers, I may not update this until after Christmas, thanks for giving this a try for now, I appreciate every view this gets XD

Catch you later,
Thaylien

Chapter 4

Wind Chaser, Chapter 4

In which Chaser discovers trees and clouds, Equestria style.

* * *

"It's just so fascinating, you're definitely a pony, but you're clearly not from this dimension!"

"Twilight? He looks just like a regular pony..." Rainbow Dash floated at ease near the ceiling

"Well that's because you're not looking into the right spectrum, see? If your eyes are adjusted to see it, everything's plain as day."

"Yyyyy-eah, Twi? Don't know if you've noticed, but... I'm not a unicorn!" Dash finished loudly.

Wind Chaser felt like a little kid again, Little foal again? Kirianna prodded. Yeah, probably... Either way, this place was perhaps his dream home, were he to retire. It was a massive tree, not high, but huge around. And carved out of it was a library! He loved every bit of it, from the furniture, to the natural finish of all the shelves and walls, the notch-cut stairs around the wall, with bookshelves carved out underneath those too, all the way up to the balconies he'd spotted that looked grown into shape outside.

The evening was warm and a little breathless, no breeze playing around to cool them down, so all the windows were open and the main rooms were golden in the light from the lamps and the dusky twilight.

His hosts... well, that really was a surprise, you couldn't have found a more varied group. After Applejack left them on the road between here and her farm, they had collected two more mares on their way here. A butter-yellow pegasus with thick, light pink mane and tail, who seemed to be skittish of practically everything (when Kirianna had made her appearance, she'd frozen up with a little bleat of fear until Rainbow Dash had shaken her out of it), her name was Fluttershy, which suited her. And the second was Rarity, who ran a clothing boutique, interesting because he hadn't noticed most of the ponies in town wearing clothes, which she designed and made the clothes for. She was a white unicorn, a shade or two into the cold white where Chaser's coat was slightly warmer, it may just have been an optical illusion because of her purple, expertly curled mane and tail instead of his own light brown to contrast with it.

Notice something? Kirianna contemplated, They've all got really pretty eyes. Ponies they may be, but... they'd make pretty cute girls under other circumstances. You're not helping things, I can't concentrate if you're throwing images up in my head.

They were staring at him.

"Sorry, Kirianna's talking to me."

"You... 'talk' to your... parasprite?" Twilight looked at him oddly,

Chaser face-hoofed See, easy to adjust from hands to hooves! Shut it, tart. "She's not a parasprite... or, well, she wasn't before. We're actually, kind of, the same person. She's a part of my personality that got separated from me a long time ago. Long story. Anyway, she looks like this now, but she's not some kind of pet."

"Rrright, and you're not a pony. Does any of this sound insane to the rest of you?" Dash exclaimed,

Chaser looked at her, mildly irritated by the snide comments now, "Fine." In one motion, dramatic as it was, he transformed, spread his wings, and met her eye-to-eye. "Now do you believe me?"

She sank to the floor, wings flat to her sides with shock, likewise the other girls were gaping at him. Fluttershy was... there was her pink tail shaking gently as she tried to hide under the table. He grimaced, that hadn't been intentional, some people, and some ponies, just managed to get to him despite himself.

Twilight was first to recover, "Amazing, I've never seen anything like it! That wasn't magic, that was... I don't even know what that was! You have to tell me everything you can, this is simply too good a chance to waste." He noticed she was levitating a piece of paper and a quill in front of her, horn glowing between her straight-cut fringe.

Magic, ah yes, magic... he'd been to a few worlds that had magic, although all of them had been the kind that people had to use some kind of catalyst for, an incantation, an object, even a clockwork mechanism in one world. Unicorn magic didn't seem to work like any of them. Twilight and Rarity just seemed to generate the magic within themselves, focus it through their horns, and then things happened. Simple as that.

"I'd rather not, Twilight, I appreciate you asking, but I just don't know enough about how my people do what they do to answer questions."

Her ears drooped, in fact her whole body seemed to droop. Then she looked at him and... those eyes! Don't look! It's a trap! Kirianna taunted him, knowing he was weak to puppy-dog faces. The eyes got bigger, and the lower lip pouted... Auugh!! Even I want to tell her everything!

Chaser sighed, "All I know is that we use energy, and all of us use it differently, it changes our bodies, and grants us powers like wings, or heightened speed and strength, and we can project it into the world in different ways. Back home, I can throw balls of energy that explode in a limited range, and even my wings are made of energy, not real flesh and blood."

"They aren't real? Then how can you fly?" Dash tried to peer at him, without moving from the spot.

"Same as you fly with yours, I can't explain it, they just work. They don't just fly either, if I don't flap they negate most of my weight, I fall really slowly, and I can stop and turn instantly without hurting myself."

"THAT'S HOW YOU DID IT!!" She yelled at him, leaping across the room to get in his face, "THAT'S CHEATING!!"

Chaser just rolled his eyes, "Cheating is when you break rules, I don't remember inviting you to chase me across half the sky." Ooh, bad move, you're getting her riled... I know what I'm doing.

"Listen you, nobody, and I mean nobody, bucks out on me!" She prodded him in the chest.

"Well if that's what's wrong, I'm sorry. I didn't expect to meet anyone, and I wasn't supposed to talk to anyone I found, it just happened. Sorry for acting so weird, so... can we move on? I don't want a silly mistake getting in the way of making friends." He met her anger with honesty, and it seemed to work, or at least to confuse the heck out of her.

"Well you can't just...! You... what?" She had been expecting a fight, a good old verbal slanging match, instead she got an apology.

"I mean it, I'm sorry for being rude. But I had a lot of fun flying with you, maybe we could do that again sometime? No cheating either." He smiled.

"I... uh..." She paused, uncertain, and then slowly agreed, "Sure... why not? I guess I had fun... too. Yeah, why not?" She brightened up.

Chaser used Charm! It's super-effective! Kirianna announced in her best dramatic voice.

The other girls had watched the exchange like a tennis match, back and forth, and even Fluttershy had pulled herself out from under the table to see the finalé. All of them were staring at him as he managed to diffuse the hot-headed pegasus. Into the silence, as Chaser looked around to see them, Twilight cleared her throat.

"Yes, well, now that that's, uh, out of the way, you mentioned energy? For your wings? Is there any chance I could examine them?" A pair of glasses floated onto her nose as she raised the quill and parchment again. Chaser felt the urge to look for a quick exit rising.

"Uh, sure, you won't really be able to do much, they repel pretty much everything." He spread a wing as she trotted over, parchment and quill in her wake.

"Let's see now," Her horn glowed a little brighter and a patch of similar glow appeared along the fore-edge of his wing, "that's odd..." The glow slid around like butter in a frying pan. "What if I..." His whole wing lit up, her face looked like it was straining against a weight.

"Don't push yourself, these things can stop artillery." Twilight ignored him and the magic appeared to contract. She moved from one end of the wing to the other, the purple haze running back and forth trying to find purchase on the white feathers until she hit the joint at his back.

Chaser gasped, "That tickles!"

"What?" She lost concentration, the magical haze swirling round and round the joint,

"S-s-stop it!" He shifted his shoulders around, trying to shake the feeling, "That feels weird!"

"Chaser, I'm bringing tonnes of pressure to bear on the surface... and you say it tickles?"

With a snap of air and a gasp from their owner, both wings stood straight up away from his body.

Rainbow Dash collapsed laughing, "Ba-hahhaaah!" She pointed and laughed, "Now I -hah-hah!- now I know you're no pegasus!" She clutched her sides, "No guy would let a girl -puhah!- play with his wings just like that!"

You know, I think she means that wings are- Shut it. Tart. I figured that much. Chaser's cheeks were slightly flushed.

"Oh my, Wind Chaser, are you alright?" Rarity asked,

"Ow..." Twilight rubbed at her nose where his feathers had flicked her,

Pinkie was confused, turning her head almost completely over to peer at him, wondering what happened, and Fluttershy had a hoof delicately over her mouth, her eyes were softly sympathetic, but amused nonetheless.

"You done?" He gave Dash an amused look, lowering his wings, he could take a joke, but she was seriously busting up until he managed to fold his oh-so-amusing wings flat back to his sides.

"He-he, yeah, am now..." She chuckled a little more, but mostly trailed off.

"Interesting," Twilight made some notes, "I didn't know there was that kind of muscle response, I might look into that later... hmm... I wonder if it works on fillies like it does on colts..."

Unfortunately, this set Dash off all over again.

* * *

Back in his regular form, regular pony form that is, things improved again. Apparently the fun Twilight's accidental reaction caused was complete compensation for Dash, when she'd recovered from her laughing fit she'd offered him her hoof again and said she'd probably take him up on that offer of a race or two.

Twilight's questioning was neatly sidestepped and Fluttershy was no longer hiding from him, Rarity seemed to be thinking hard about something and Pinkie seemed content bouncing around and around in a circle off to one side. All positives.

"Well, it's getting late, I should probably find someplace to stay." Chaser prompted, starting to stand,

"Oh, right." Twilight nodded, "Wait, you don't have anywhere to stay yet?"

"Nope, I've only been in this world for a day, remember? But it's a warm night, I won't be too put out if there isn't anywhere."

"So you think you'll just, what? Sleep on a park bench?" Dash snorted, "What for?"

"I honestly don't mind, I've had worse." Chaser chuckled, a wry smile cracking one side of his face,

"Chaser dear, we simply won't allow it, what kind of ponies would we be if we couldn't offer a guest someplace to stay?" Rarity fluffed her hair, face telling everypony that it should be obvious.

"Say, how long can you stay a pegasus?" Rainbow Dash sounded like she was thinking of something,

"As long as I like, sometimes I accidentally transform when I'm asleep, my body prefers the transformed me to the regular me." He didn't see where this was going.

"Then you can stay with me. It's ages since I've had another flyer to talk to. I mean, Fluttershy's okay an' all, but she makes bunnies look like better stunt-ponies."

"You transform when you're asleep?" Twilight enquired,

"Yeah, it's a little embarrassing sometimes, back home I have to keep buying extra sheets since they keep getting torn by my wings or by me growing bigger." He scratched the side of his neck to cover for his mild embarrassment,

"Oh my. Maybe staying with Dash would be safer, at least clouds are easier to replace than bedsheets."

"Ooh! Ooh! Chaser! You totally have to come with us tomorrow!" Pinkie stopped bouncing, somehow ending up right next to him.

"Tomorrow? But Pinkie, aren't we going-" Twilight was interrupted, actually even a jet engine would have been interrupted by Pinkie's enthusiasm.

"TO THE BEACH!" The pink menace blasted, Chaser winced as his ears started ringing, "We're having a beach party tomorrow, all of us are going, but you know what I say about parties and that's 'the more the merrier', and Chaser's new in town so we can make it his Welcome to Ponyville party! Well except that we wouldn't be in Ponyville, 'cause we'd be at the beach, but still! A Welcome to Ponyville party and a beach party all at the same time, it's PERFECT!"

And we thought the new team was a handful, Pinkie's in a whole other league... Can I dye my hair pink? No, your hair would fall out before the bleach was done lightening it.

"I don't want to impose on you girls, it's fine, as long as I know where to find you in case of an emergency."

"Impose? Don't be ridiculous, dear, it sounds like a marvelous idea. Do come with us, Wind Chaser, I insist." Rarity's tone made it non-negotiable.

Do it! "In that case, it would be my pleasure," Chaser gave in with a smile and a polite bow of his head, which the fashionista demurely answered with a smaller nod and a smile, "thanks for inviting me, Pinkie."

"YAYY!! C'mon Fluttershy, lets get those inflatables finished!" A pink blur rushed around the table, grabbed Fluttershy by the hoof and was gone, trailing a frightened mewl of panic from the yellow pegasus being dragged in her wake.

There was a muffled thud from upstairs and a small voice called "Unh... Twilight?"

Her head jerked up and around to the stairs, "Oh no, we woke Spike," She quickly crossed to the stairway, stopping halfway up, "and you might want to head home girls, it's getting late, I'll see you all in the morning!"

Dash and Rarity bid her goodnight as she disappeared from view, whoever Spike was, he sounded young, did Twilight have a son? She doesn't seem anywhere near old enough... younger brother? Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

* * *

This was going to be so cool! Wind Chaser was probably the coolest pony to hit Ponyville since herself, she finally had somepony to talk to about trick flying, and those wings changed everything.

Tricks must be so different with wings that let you float a little, no gravity drops, longer vertical stall times, even simple tricks like a loop-the-loop had to need some re-thinking.

She barely noticed Rarity saying goodnight to her, although Chaser just had to be polite, what next? Offer to escort her home? Blegh... But then he transformed again.

What. A. Pony. Sometimes she looked around Ponyville and wondered what the other guys would be like if they could fly. There were a few male pegasus ponies around, but they were all boring, working stiffs, none of them had that... spark, that love for flying. To them it was just... what they did to get from place to place. But there were a few earth ponies, or unicorns, that looked up at her flying sometimes and she knew, she just knew, they'd love it up here.

And what she had now was the best of both, an earth pony who knew what it was like to fly, and he loved it.

Chaser shot by her in mid-air, bringing her back to reality as he laughed, "Oh-hoh! It's like that is it?!" She grinned and tore after him.

The moon was rising and Chaser's white coat stood out by a mile in the night sky, she caught up and turned in mid-air, back-winging to keep momentum. She put her fore-hooves behind her head and grinned, daring him to do better. He must have seen the look through the darkness, because his flight path ducked down and to the side. A moment later he ringed her with a barrel roll, then another, and another, circling her in perfect sync as she posed in flight. He finished up in exactly the same pose as she held but upside down above her head! He grinned back at her, his path holding him a mere foot over her.

That's it, you're going down, she thought to herself. Snapping around, she dove for the ground. She caught a windmill and spun the blades, letting go in time to shoot skywards again. She burst through a cloud full of water, speed dragging a few drops behind her, but then changed her mind at the last second. Her usual trick would be a rainbow splash from the drops, but it was moonlight, not sunlight, and he was still watching her from that silly pose so...

His eyes widened at the last second as he realised what she was doing, with a quick switch of direction, the water she dragged behind her showered him in the face leaving him spluttering and drifting groundwards like a leaf on the breeze.

It was too much, she collapsed onto a cloud, laughing her plot off at him as he swiped at his eyes and tried to shake his coat out, wafting lower to eyeball her. Somehow she knew that his angry face was hiding a smile, she'd got him good and he knew it. The tiny fuzzball, Kirianna, hovered next to his head for a second, before buzzing down below the cloud out of sight.

"Hey Chaser, what's soaking wet and clueless?" She couldn't help herself, Pinkie had told her the whole story of what had happened while Fluttershy was mean.

"You." He smirked,

"What?"

He flicked his wings and tumbled in mid-air above her, planting a buck on a raincloud Kirianna had been sneaking into place while she laughed. She was looking straight up into it as rain soaked her.

* * *

"My, how beautiful." Princess Celestia murmered, for once impressed by what she saw in this land of wolves.

"The castle of the Mikil Úlfur, bastion of the snowbound lands, Fryst Eldi." The ambassador announced.

The castle certainly was an impressive sight, blue-white stone carved to look like ice, and frosted with real ice that hung from every surface. They had travelled all day by air to reach the border and now into the night to reach the capital, their transportation resembling nothing if not a dog sled. Sixteen wolves stood still, for now, in the tracers, the rags adorning their shoulders keeping themselves and the sled poised in the sky far more solidly than a pegasus chariot, as if they were on the hills below. This vista that greeted Celestia and her guards evoked a cold awe and silence filled with the sound of freshly fallen snow.

The night hung, crystal clear, all around them, and the glittering spires of the castle, filled with fairy-light windows of warm golden torchlight, echoed it back in tribute.

Far below, there was movement as well, the roads and skyways approaching the castle were bustling with activity. Looking carefully, with a dab of magic to enhance her vision, Celestia was able to make out that none of the busy streets or air-paths were occupied by wolves.

"You must be weary from our long journey, your majesty, please, forgive me my flair for the dramatic, let us show you to your state room, the Regent will be happy to receive you formally in the morning.

"Ambassador,"

"Margeir, please, your majesty." The wolf's voice was oily.

"Margeir, why are so many of the caravans and traders from other lands? I see many species represented here, but you led me to believe that the passing of the title of Mikil was not a public holiday."

"Traders? Oh my no, your majesty, these are our work force, our labourers. While the event is not a public holiday, the weeks after it are filled with lesser events for the high born families, the well placed traders and the independantly wealthy. What you see is not celebrations for the new Mikil, but celebrations for all those that find themselves still in favour when he comes to power."

The huge sled began to descend smoothly, Celestia's pegasus guards keeping pace easily, and her two unicorn guards sitting stoic by her sides.

"Still in favour, Margeir?"

"Indeed, your majesty, we Úlfur are a rather more direct race than your own, and when good will is expressed to the Mikil Intended, in the form of visible support or material gifts, it is rewarded when he achieves power. However, if he feels slighted by a family or an individual, they may find themselves... somewhat indisposed when he becomes capable of stripping their wealth and titles from them."

"Fascinating." Celestia's face betrayed none of her outrage and disgust at the way he could speak so freely about that kind of tyranny. It grated on her very bones to consider the idea of simply... taking hard earned wealth or long standing title from a pony just because he or she had not made an offering to her when they could have. That kind of action was a mistreatment of power, but... this was not her land, this was not Equestria, and nopony could be so naive as to believe they could change an entire country by simply expressing distaste at their customs.

Her gaze returned to the streets below, teeming with the workers of five different lands, at least, as they carted supplies to the castle and the city that surrounded it.

"Workers..." She pondered,

"I beg your pardon?" The ambassador cocked his head,

"I just wonder why so many lands are represented here..."

"My dear Princess, that's a trivial matter, their lands simply pay tithe to the Úlfur, a certain number of workers, a certain quota of food and materials, it's all part of their tribute. Without us, they would be unable to rule themselves, but without them our snow covered land would never survive."

"True, Margeir. Did you know that Ponies once tilled these lands, as they do Equestria?" She said it mostly for effect, this was thousands of years ago, long past any history the Ambassador's people would have recorded.

"Why yes, I did. It was the reason our country was founded here at all. In their wake, the ponies that moved to Equestria left a land filled with possibilities for our culture, we ceased to be a nomadic species and founded our lands right here in the one place other species were unable to survive. It was quite a boon."

"Amazing." Celestia was thankfully saved from having to make more of a comment on this, as the sled skimmed to a halt on hard-packed snow and they found themselves in an immense hall, pillared and buttressed, full of sleds and milling úlfur and complete with racks where the sled team could unhook themselves from the tracers.

A young pup, barely grown into his feet, dragged a long walkway across the snow until it slid level with the steps of their sled. Celestia smiled at the gangly thing as he bowed deeply to them all, and stepped from the sled when invited. The hustle and bustle faded as the inner doors of the castle thudded closed behind them; they had arrived at Fryst Eldi.

* * *

Still laughing, Dash and Chaser made it back to her cloud house a while later.

"Forget the tree, when I retire, I want a cloud castle..." Chaser shook his head in awe,

"Pretty sweet, right?" Dash prompted,

"You've got that right... this place is... amazing." The parasprite buzzed and settled between his ears, "Kiri wants to know how you keep the wind from breaking it up."

"Heh, easy, we compact the cloud and make it all one shape, the floor, the walls, the roof, they're all the same bit of cloud, y'see? That way, it's still cloud, but it's hard, like a real house. Then we use regular cloud for whatever we want to put inside, c'mon, I'll show y'around."

Lighting lamps as she went, Dash led the way into her home. She pointed vaguely to the rainbow waterfall and pools outside, then spun through the way to the kitchen, the bathroom and the back room (where she kept all her junk) and finally to the upstairs where she actually slept. Chaser still seemed impressed at the place, but her 'tour' hadn't seemed to improve on that any, and that parasprite kept swinging around and around looking into the rooms she'd mentioned.

"E-heh, not much to it, if I'm honest, but it's home." She felt her cheeks heat up, Fluttershy was the only one that had actually visited her here, she didn't know what Chaser was used to.

"I'm amazed," He eventually said, "I feel like you've made a cloud house out of my own house. Well, except that my downstairs doesn't have walls between the living room and the kitchen, it's all one big room."

"Cool, so, you can stop down here, just pull up any piece of furniture and kick it into shape, I'll be upstairs. Sound fair?"

"More than fair, thanks for putting me up Rainbow." He smiled,

"No probs, you're the first guest I've had up here in a while. And even longer since I've had somepony to talk to about stuff I'm interested in, y'know?"

"Actually, I do. My team back home is great, but there's nobody else I can really talk to about flying, everyone that isn't like me would think I was crazy."

She sat on the sofa, waving him across, and sprawled her legs out to the side. Chaser took the other end, throwing himself down and copying her, their back hooves nearly touching on the cushions.

"Your team?"

"Yeah, I have a team of people that have the same powers as me, it's our job to keep everyone else in the dark about our existence. People having powers is a huge secret back home." His eyes were far away, obviously remembering stuff,

"That's cool, but... y'know, something's been bothering me, you talk kinda funny." It really had been niggling in her mind a little,

"Thanks, you're a real charmer." He rolled his eyes at her, but smiled, so she guessed it was a joke.

"No, I mean, you say things like 'people' and 'anybody', not 'ponies' and 'anypony' like we do. What are you back home then?"

"Hmm, guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you." He rubbed his chin, she leaned in a little, this sounded good. "So, yeah, actually, 'people' are a group of us, but our species is Humans, like you're a Pony, I'm a Human. A human is a person, many humans are people. You'd say 'ponies from Equestria' I'd say 'people from Earth'."

"And 'Earth' is your land?"

"Mm-hmm." He agreed, "Earth is the world, but it's divided up into countries, I come from a place called England. It's nice there, even if it rains a lot."

They paused, companionably, "So what else? You come from Earth, you're from England, you have a team, and you call yourselves... 'people'? What do you look like?"

He thought about it, "Ever seen a monkey?"

"Uhh... yeah, so you're a-" but he cut her off,

"No, we're not monkeys," He laughed, his voice was deeper when he was like this, not much, but it was different. "But we have hands like them, not hooves, and we walk on two legs so that we can use our hands for things while we walk."

"Okayy..." This did sound a bit weird, all she had in her head was an image of a monkey standing up and walking around,

"We don't have a coat, so we wear clothes to keep us warm and covered up, Rarity would love seeing all the fashions. And we don't have the same way of telling each other apart as you do, our manes and skin vary hugely depending on things like style or how much sun we've had or who our parents were, so we recognise each other by features. You wouldn't believe the differences between one human and another, nose shape, ear shape, eye colour, hair colour, height, weight, proportions... we're a really diverse lot."

"Annnd what about you? What did you look like?"

The conversation wound on, she kept finding interesting things in his replies, and kept asking about them. He answered as best he could, and before they knew it, the clock on the wall was striking midnight.

"Hey, wow," Dash yawned, "is that the time? Better get some sleep."

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning." Chaser gave her a tired smile, after his answering yawn.

She flapped for the stairs, flicking off the lights as she went and stopping just before she was out of sight, she saw him stretching out on the sofa. At full stretch, with those big wings, he took up the whole thing easily, even though they'd been sitting there comfortably together before. They hadn't talked much about flying, or tricks, but they'd talked about a lot. It was nice having somepony here at night.

"Goodnight, Chaser." For some reason she felt weird saying it,

"Night, Dash." He opened one eye at her, and his hoof twitched in a tiny wave, and she felt far less weird. It had been a long time, a very long time indeed, since she'd had somepony else say goodnight to her here at home.

She was nearly asleep before she realised she was actually smiling as she sank into her pillow.

* * *

Ahhh... fourth chapter, a little bit of plot expansion, a chunk of playful friend-making, and Chaser gets to go to the beach party tomorrow too.

And before you all ask, no, there's no Romance tag on this for a reason. This is friendshipping, not regular shipping. I do that too, but not now, and not here ^^

Back again soon, I hope, but maybe not. I have real life to contend with, it sucks when that happens...

Chapter 5

Wind Chaser, Chapter 5.

In which they hit the beach.

Yes indeed, just so cliché, I build up the friendships, build up the fun, and then ruin it all with a well placed beach scene. I must be tired, I'm not usually this susceptible to weirdness in my writing.

I've also been reading way too much Through the Eyes of Another Pony, by CardsLafter. If you haven't already started on that, it is unequivocably one of the funniest fictions on the web, and only gets funnier from there. I can't spoil it for you, you have to read it, it's just pure magic to watch this man work. Link here: TTEOAP Your fan-fic reading life will not be complete without it.

* * *

There was a voice downstairs, a colt's voice... Dash rolled out of bed, bouncing slightly on the soft clouds of her floor, and then rubbed her eyes.

"There has to be something Kiri, it's like she has nothing in the house at all!" He sounded... he... Chaser! She bolted for the window, quicker than going down the inside, and zipped back in the front door only to find...

"Dash, did you know that you're completely out of food? I was going to make breakfast, but... what's wrong?" His brow dipped in concern.

"What? Wrong? Me?" She struggled to recover, "Nothing's wrong with me. What, uh, what's wrong with you?" Ugh... nice save genius, hope he doesn't call me on it.

"Well, nothing really, it's just that I thought I'd at least make breakfast, y'know, for letting me stay, but you've got nothing, not a scrap of food up here." The green parasprite buzzed in a little circle next to him, not taking its eyes off her.

"I just... I never eat up here..." She pulled a face, but then regretted it, trying to keep her usual cool face on.

"Never? Well, where do you eat? I'm starving." He cracked that lopsided smile, warm and eager to know.

"Uh... usually at Sugarcube Corner, or I grab something from the market." She didn't really eat breakfast, she wasn't much of a morning pony to begin with. This was the earliest she'd been up in a couple of months.

"Oh yeah?" Chaser gave her a look, as if he could read her thoughts printed on the outside of her head.

"Well, mostly." She countered,

"What about the rest of the day? You've honestly got no food in this kitchen at all." What was that? Was he making fun of her? Well, no, probably not, but why was he pushing?

"I don't cook, so what?" folding her hooves over her chest, she stuck her muzzle in the air, daring him to push further.

"Okay, breakfast out somewhere then. I don't have any money though... Hey, if you cover for me for a day or so, I could probably show you how to make some simple stuff so you don't have to keep buying your meals. I'm kind of a good cook, I'd be happy to help you out. Sound fair?" He paused in his walk to the door, looking down at her,

This was a little weird, the guy obviously hadn't seen her attempts at cooking before, the kitchen in her house was so clean because all she ever did in there was get a glass of water, in case she burned up anything more complicated, like milk.

But... heck, getting him breakfast was no biggie, she had plenty of bits from work, and he could try teaching her to cook if he liked, he probably wouldn't succeed anyway.

"Sure, let's go." Dash felt her usual grin settle into place as she rocketed out the door, leaving him to eat her contrail.

* * *

Princess Luna put down her letter from Twilight with a sigh. A dimensional traveler, deliberately here to help them, but unclear as to when, why or even how his help would be needed... it sounded a bit far-fetched. She would very much like to meet this young traveler, however affairs of state kept her bound while Twilight and her friends, and apparently this 'Wind Chaser' would be moving even further afield on this holiday of theirs, taking the newcomer with them.

On the other hoof, this letter wasn't the one she'd wished to receive, as interesting as it was. Her sister should have arrived at the Úlfur capital last night, but so far not a single message to confirm it...

Strange storms, dimension crossing heroes, and now her own sister not keeping in touch on an important diplomatic mission?

"'Look after the place, it'll be fun, you can make it a learning experience.' Oh how I wish that were the case, sister..."

* * *

"Beach, huh?" Chaser asked after a mouthful of apple cupcake.

"Yeah, Rarity's putting together everything we need, so all we do is show up and carry the bags." This was relaxing, the whole day stretched ahead with nothing but a train ride and some serious fun to interrupt the view. She rolled over on her cloud and kicked her back hooves over the edge.

Chaser's wings were making her jealous again, sort of, it didn't seem to matter which way up he was, just a few wafts of them kept him up and steady. He was watching the ponies below enjoying their mornings, like it was actually interesting to see it all.

She couldn't see the appeal, it was way more fun just to get a nap in before some trick flying.

"Should they be going that fast?" He sounded worried, so she followed his pointing hoof,

"Not that hill again...!" She spotted the carriage, driverless, and careening down the steep hill at the top of Ponyville. It would go for weeks with nothing happening, then, out of the blue, somepony would forget the brakes and end up chasing his own cart to the cliff. "C'mon Chaser, we need to save 'em."

The white pegasus just nodded, righting himself and joining her in a stomach-left-behind dive to the road below.

"GRAB THE TRACES!" She yelled to him over the rush of the wind, already she could see the terrified faces of the four or five ponies in the back of the wagon.

They pulled level, each of them taking one of the long arms in their hooves, "LEFT OR RIGHT?" Chaser yelled to her,

"UP!" She yelled back, starting to climb.

Slowly but surely, the shaking and rattling farm wagon lifted its front wheels, then its back ones, off the ground. "Keep it steady!" She warned him.

All pony transports were made with the idea that a pegasus or two could make it an air transport, so when they hauled on the tracers again, the entire wagon leveled out and followed them through the air. The passengers seemed to start breathing again, and Chaser kept checking back on them, until she gave him something better to do, "Follow my lead, bleed off the speed as we go."

Another nod and he was matching her as she slowed the wagon, curving round in a huge arc and heading back to the foot of the hill where the driver was waiting with awed happiness on his face. His friends, or his family more likely, and his wagon were safe. With a final clatter of wooden wheels and rattly hinges, the two mis-matched pegasus ponies landed back on the road without too much drama.

"Thank you! Thank you!!" The driver insisted on shaking both of them by the hoof, and a younger filly jumped out of the cart and hugged Dash and then Chaser and shyly thanking them both too. The other ponies seemed a little too shaken to do more than wheeze and get their breath back from the fear and adrenaline rush.

"Just doing m'duty." Dash ripped off a cheesy salute and rocketed back into the sky.

"Uh, likewise," she heard her heroic sidekick add hastily, and he followed as closely as he could.

He caught up with her back at cloud level, "Didn't see that coming... Does that kind of thing happen often?"

"Meh, depends. We can go for months between 'em, or sometimes you get two or three in a few days." She reclined on a cloud again, back legs crossed, hoof behind her head and the other lazily waving in the air to emphasise her point. "It's just lucky I'm always around to save their sorry flanks."

"I guess they are," He smirked, and lolled onto another patch of whiteness, parasprite buzzing around him, "what d'you think Kiri? I'm amazed the cloud doesn't tip over from the size of that ego right now."

"You sayin' I've got a big head?!" She got in his face as much as possible without leaving her cloud,

"Yeah!" He laughed, "But it's not like you haven't earned it. That was pretty awesome back there, I'm just glad I could help."

She blushed when she realised he was just teasing, she just hadn't wanted somepony she'd just met to think she was all egotistical about being a hero or anything. She'd learned that lesson at least.

The clock struck the hour, "That the time?" Chaser had an eye trained on the clock tower, "We should head over to Rarity's."

"Let's go then." She agreed, and they took off trailing a rainbow contrail and a vapour burst from the clouds they'd reclined on.

* * *

"Good morning, Princess, I trust you slept well?"

Princess Celestia seated herself at the rather grand dining table in the gathering room of this wing of the palace, a place reserved for dignitaries it seemed, judging by the portraits of official looking members of several different species hanging on the walls.

Pride of place at the far end of the hall was a stained glass window depicting a scene from Úlfur history, she repressed a shudder when she saw that the bottom quarter of the image was stained red to show a pool of blood.

"Well indeed, Margeir, my suite is most elegant, and your servants are exquisitely courteous." It always paid to compliment the help to their master, the good mood was almost always reflected in the service later.

"Splendid." The wolf clapped his paws together and began to tuck into his breakfast politely.

"There is one thing, though," She decided to broach the subject, "I have been unable to send my customary daily letter to my sister in Equestria, would you happen to know why?"

Green eyes widened in effusive surprise, "Oh why yes, of course... yes, that would be it. The palace is warded at all times, but as our magic doesn't match your magic, it would naturally think of yours as alien and prevent it. I must confess it has happened before with a visiting monarch and I beg you to please forgive me for not remembering it sooner. For the mean time, would you be content to pass your letter on to me, that I may send it via our means?"

"Of course, Ambassador, I'm pleased to know that a conflict of magic is all that's behind it, I was starting to fear I'd gone a little strange in the head." She laughed a polite laugh to show the joke, and the ambassador laughed with her out of good manners.

"Here," she levitated the sealed scroll across to his waiting paw and he smiled at her once more,

"I shall see to it that it get's taken exactly where it's needed to be." His tongue tried to loll out of his mouth before he quickly licked it back in again and shut his jaw.

Everything was proceeding as planned.

* * *

"Oh... nevermind." Chaser closed his eyes in frustration and his body seemed to collapse, a shimmer of light and air blurred his outline for a moment and he opened his eyes as a regular earth pony.

Twilight had to admit, that was a neat trick, she had to learn how he did it.

"What? I don't fit in these seats..." He protested as he caught the girls looking at him.

"That's 'cause you're sitting so weird." Dash pointed out,

"So unrefined, darling."

"She's right, y'all do sit kinda funny." AJ snickered,

"Right... I'll try it your way then." He turned his body around and sat down properly, "It's just... I'm comfortable, but my mind says I shouldn't be, y'know?" He sighed.

"Hmm, probably a mental holdover interfering with your perceived proprioception. You did say you weren't a pony before you came here."

"Probably, I mean, where I come from I walk on two legs, not four."

"Pro-pri... ceh... what?" Dash looked confused,

"Pro-pri-o-ception," Chaser enunciated the word, "It's being able to feel where different parts of your body are and be aware of what they're doing. Your hoof-eye coordination is based on how good your proprioception is."

Twilight was impressed, she'd been expecting to have to explain it herself.

"Oh, I think I get it." the pegasus mare thought about it for a bit, "So you're saying that you feel like you should be more comfortable sitting differently, because you used to sit differently before you came here?"

"Got it in one." He smiled.

"Oh look!" Fluttershy pressed her face to the window, "I can see the ocean!"

They crammed themselves to the windows, sliding them open and hanging their heads out into the warm summer air that rushed past. Rarity quickly clapped a hoof to her sun-hat to stop it from blowing away, and they stared in wonder. Even Chaser, who'd seen many things, loved getting his first glimpse of the sea when he went to new worlds. The morning sunshine beamed from behind them, stretching the train's shadow onto the coarse grasses and intermittent sand of the coastal track. Twilight gasped as she took in the vast expanse of water, seeing the blues and greens of it stretching out for miles and miles until they met the sky in a sharp band right at the horizon.

The town of Neighmouth was approaching fast around the long bend of track, a harbour town with the bay full of the colourful sails of yachts and fishing boats.

"I sure hope nothing happens while we're here..." She heard Chaser mutter from the window in front of her, his smile still in place, but his eyes serious as he watched the idyllic little town draw closer. She hoped nothing did either.

Twilight put her hoof out and rested it on Chaser's shoulder, at which he gave her a real smile, to let her know he wasn't feeling down.

"Hey! Don't you know what this means?!" Pinkie waved her hooves, "It's nearly time for ice cream!"

"Boy is it ever!" Applejack agreed,

"I simply must find some time to compare the two most famous ice cream makers in Equestria," Rarity enthused, "Neighmouth and Purbuck ice creams are simply to die for. Even if I will have to watch what I eat for a while afterwards." She fussed with her hat and ducked back inside.

"Who compares?" Pinkie was back inside and rummaging under her seat, "I just want ice cream!" She hauled out a saddlebag bulging with tubs, popped one open with the corner of her hoof and jammed her mouth over it instead. The tub deflated like a juice-box as Pinkie vacuumed the contents, then it popped from her lips and the gluttonous pink face lit up with a grin.

"That was de-licious!" She nearly fell over backwards with her hooves waving for joy, then winced, clutching her head "Oooh... brain freeze..."

Twilight and the others couldn't help but laugh, if nothing else, Pinkie's timing was always perfect.

* * *

"So, Spike..." He kicked a hoof in the sand. It was a beautiful day here, all thanks to the weather ponies of course, but nonetheless, the sun shone brightly, the wide sands glittered and the blue of the ocean was stunning. Ponies were here in plenty, but not enough to make it crowded, everypony had space to run or sunbathe or splash in the surf.

"Wind Chaser." the little dragon gave him a sidelong look, they were both waiting outside the shower block, the girls were taking their time.

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"Didn't see you on the trip here."

"Nope, I like my journeys quiet, so Twilight let me sleep in the baggage car."

Chaser covered a laugh, "They were a little... enthusiastic. Still, I kinda like 'em."

"Like 'em? Who do you like?" The eye Chaser could see narrowed, Keep it light, he's obviously got a point with this. Kirianna cautioned him.

"Well Twilight's been nice to talk to, she's the only one that sounds like she reads books out of the bunch, and Dash is fun to hang out with, she really... gets the whole flying thing. Applejack's a sweetheart, I really have to admire how hardworking and honest she is. Rarity's nice, but... I kinda half think she's sizing me up for a make-over the whole time, makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Pinkie's a laugh a minute, I half want to sit back and watch her make ponies smile, but half want to join in with all her crazy stunts. And Fluttershy's adorable, but I wish she'd stop hiding from me all the time."

"You don't like Rarity?" He seemed to be testing the idea,

"Well, she's probably a nice girl and all, but I'd rather hang out with Dash or Twilight, they're the ones who're into what I'm into."

"Good, because I've really got this thing for her and-" He smacked his palm over his mouth, blushing through his scales Aww, he's adorable!

"Secret's safe with me, little guy." He winked.

"Phew." the hand came away and wiped imaginary sweat off his brow, "So what's this I hear about flying, anyway?"

"What have you heard?" the white pony answered with his own question.

"Twilight said you can fly, she really wants to run tests on your wings, but..."

"I don't have any?" Chaser chuckled,

"No, I mean, well, unless they're stick-on or something." He seemed to be imagining what stick-on wings would be like.

"No, they're not stick-on," Chaser laughed a little harder, "I can transform. I probably shouldn't do it here, while there are a lot of ponies watching, but it's pretty epic."

"Promise you'll show me later?"

"Guarantee it." the little guy grinned up at him,

"I see you boys are getting along fine." Their heads turned towards Twilight's voice and both jaws dropped.

Applejack chuckled, "Y'know, I'd say they're impressed."

"Naturally, dear, I did put a lot of thought into these."

Say something genius, stop spacing out over ponies! I'm trying, this pony mind has hardwiring...

"You look... amazing..." Spike was floating, eyes the size of saucers and his gaze was locked onto Rarity in awe.

"Wow, that's... yeah..." Chaser managed,

The girls laughed at the two of them, "C'mon, lets find a place for our stuff and hit the surf!" Dash raced to the skies.

"Yes, indeed, Chaser, be a dear and help carry our bags? There's a good boy." Oh, tell me you're not going to just wag your tail and- Chaser smiled, moving at last, grabbing the nearest two bags in his teeth, swinging them to his back, and reaching for more, ... Oh for the love of... that's just... Ugh! Men!

Spike tried to do his part, hauling a bag from the sand onto his shoulder, what he succeeded in doing was spinning himself around and face-planting the ground, the bag landing on top with a rather upsetting thud.

"Here little guy, let me get that." Chaser chuckled and picked up both the bag and the dragon with his teeth, setting Spike down on his feet again with the bag firmly settled over his scaly shoulders.

"Thanks," Spike scrubbed sand from his face and spit out a few stray grains, "you're alright, Chaser, y'know?"

Chaser just nudged him on the shoulder with a grin and followed the girls.

Rarity really had done her work well, he had to admit, and his mind was a little conflicted over it. Always found that the case in worlds where he became a different species. He was a human, and a spoken for one at that, but every time he changed shape it came with a whole new hardwiring of things which sparked 'interest' in a male. A little known fact for humans is that the most common and well received signal a female sends that tips the balance in a man's mind between 'hmm, she looks nice' to 'hmm, maybe I should try asking her out' is whether or not she smiles in his direction, or better yet, if she smiles when their eyes meet. It's a powerful gesture, more so than people realise. But there are some things that a man will always find attractive, shapes, sizes, movements and so on. The same is true for male ponies, and males of every species out there, it's even worse for the sentient ones.

Whatever it was that ponies found attractive, those six had it in spades. Shapely legs, or the right kind of flanks, or necks, manes and tails, even something as simple as height if it came to that. Chaser was having a hard time not staring at anything, even with practice, luckily Rarity had given him a spare pair of sunglasses, so he felt fairly safe in examining the outfits she'd designed.

Twilight was fitted with a night-sky blue one-piece, hugging her lines, matching sunglasses and blue sun hat, which let her horn through at the brim (also served the function of keeping it on if the breeze blew), while her waist was accented by a white strip of fabric tied off at the side. Applejack followed close by with a dark green swimsuit top accented by red lines and some denim 'shorts' that were cut off and artfully ragged around her back legs, her mane and tail had been let loose, probably against her protests, and the stetson set off the look perfectly. Fluttershy wore what appeared to be a light green two-piece swimsuit, the lines oddly seeming revealing, despite ponies thinking clothes were optional, modified by an even paler green sarong affair that rippled in the breeze, her sunhat was a demure white affair with a green trimming and her sunglasses were equally green. Pinkie was finding it impossibly easy to bounce around on the sand... she'd been given a white and baby-blue striped one piece with a childish frill around the hips, she'd lost whatever hat she'd been given long ago, but seemed to be rocking the pale blue sunglasses. Rarity looked to be giving Spike a heart attack with a vivid red one-piece that fastened in layers of thin straps all up her back, a white sarong and white sun-hat and red-trimmed dark sunglasses. Finally his eyes caught up with Dash above them, zipping around like a mad thing, her outfit was a sleek, dark racing suit accented by white lines, her sunglasses were black like his own and she too had 'misplaced' her sun-hat, rainbow mane flying free, her one concession to fashion was a splash of rainbow fabric tied at her waist and running free to her tail on one side, much like a sarong only shorter.

How Rarity had put all this together in such a short time was unknown to him. His own board shorts were a similar mystery, with their printed pattern of the mark from his flank Cutie mark? I'm sure the little ones said that... in thin lines all over them, his tail felt a little odd sticking out from the hole in the back, but he could put up with that for now.

They found a clear spot without bother, although he couldn't believe how far they made him walk, whereupon the saddlebags revealed some surprises that Chaser never expected. Two complete beach umbrellas, some spindly, but comfortable, folding recliners, and beach towels for all of them emblazoned with cutie marks for each, even himself.

"Rarity, I... don't know what to say, how did you manage this?" Chaser shook the towel out and stared at the weaving work.

"Oh hush, fabric's no bother if it's something this simple." She doffed a hoof at him nonchalantly, "And I'd already gotten practice doing the others, even my widdle Spikey-wikey's." Chaser had to cover a surprised laugh as she did the pony equivalent of pinching the dragon's cheek affectionately, giving him a gentle shake. Spike's towel was a green and purple patterned, very teenage, garish looking thing, but he seemed to be... was he cuddling it? Probably.

They spread out, each finding somewhere comfortable, under the shade or out of it, but just when Chaser was getting to appreciate the fun of being at the beach again, a rainbow streak impacted the sand in front of him throwing up a burst of grit.

"Chaser! You and me! Right now! Skyball!"

I wondered why she'd been so quiet... Oh shut it, you're such a pessimist. "Skyball?"

"Cool Star and Tornado are running their mouths up there, I need a second player and you're it."

"Hey Dash! Stop playing with the earth ponies and get a player already!" A purple pegasus stallion with a blonde mane and a twister for a cutie mark hovered above with a smirk on his face,

"Unless you want to bring Fluttershy, but that's your crushing defeat." The one next to him was a bored looking cream stallion with a red mane and a blue five-pointed star for his cutie mark, his voice seemed entirely unconcerned.

Fluttershy cringed a little, making Chaser step between the gentle girl and the invaders, giving them his best 'Did I step in something? No? Oh, you must have been talking.' look. "Personally I think Fluttershy would be more than enough for you two, but I think I'll take it from here. Ladies? I'll be back." He gave the girls a polite nod, and transformed. Right now, in front of strangers, with no fear of revealing the transcendants to humanity? He felt like there should have been some background music playing. Don't worry, I've had Club Foot running in my head since you stood up. Thanks, nice touch.

"You wanted a game? You've got a game." Dash grinned, the white pegasus next to her matching her grin for grin.

* * *

"Come on, brother, why are we waiting?" a growl echoed the thunder,

"Orders." the blue eyed wolf replied,

"That's what I mean! We could have this land under our pads already if only they would give us the word."

"Don't forget, that pony princess tore through our net with barely a thought, if we don't ensure the storm is too strong even for her, we'll never succeed."

"And we have! We could conquer a hundred Equestrias with this massing!"

"No... her sister is here. Young and inexperienced, the Regent claims, but powerful. With her and the pegasus ponies... even this may not be enough." He bayed, sending a collumn of air towering high to force the clouds into even more extreme pressure and charge. The constant friction of maintaining the storm had blasted every tree for miles around with discharging lightning.

"We could still-"

"We wait for orders! Until the trap is ready to spring, it would mean our heads to spring it early."

Amber and blue eyes held each other's gaze for tense seconds, and then parted to tend to the monster they had created.

* * *

Ahh, first chapter of the year, it feels good... not as long as some of the previous ones due to wall-o-description, but that's not important. I hope you're enjoying, because I'm loving getting this out of my system...

Also? 2012, Make It Happen. The Year of Friendship

Chapter 6

Wind Chaser, Chapter 6.

In which they play games and have... fun?

So, relaxation over, I've got a fiction to write. My editing projects are all done for now, waiting on more chapters and things, let's get stuck in... By the by, over 1000 views already? I haven't even put up a real story image yet, (the temporary filler doesn't count) you guys are awesome!

* * *

"It's simple, you've got two goals, one ball. Rules say you can't have the ball more than once before the other team touches it, but holding it or carrying it's fine. Both players have to touch the ball before you can score, but you can score from anywhere, even behind the goal if you're fast. There's a time limit too, can't hold the ball for more than ten seconds, other than that, it's do as you please. Oh, and it's non-contact, don't hit anypony, just the ball, okay?"

"Got it. What's the plan?"

Dash and Chaser saw the 'field' above and ahead of them, flying slowly so she could explain the rules, Cool Star and Tornado were waiting for them, ball being hoofed back and forth between them.

"Fly circles round them until they don't know which way is up. Tornado's a good defender, and Cool Star's pretty fast, nowhere near as fast as us though. Just tackle Cool Star, he's the offense, whoever does can hoof the ball to the other to score. Hang back until you get used to it, I could use a good defense."

"Nothing's getting past me." He grinned sidelong at her.

Off to one side, Fluttershy was flitting up and down from the clouds, depositing her remaining friends on a good viewing platform to see the game. Twilight had obviously used her 'walk on clouds' spell, well, they weren't going to want to miss seeing her whoop these silly foals.

They took their positions, Chaser finding a comfortable space to one side of the goal and closer to it than to the middle of the 'playing field'. She could have sworn he'd played this before, that was an advanced tactic... In any case, she faced up to Cool Star at centre court. A vaguely familiar yellow pegasus with a blue mane and an umbrella cutie mark took the ball from Star and gave them both a look.

"I'm watching you two." She cautioned them.

"Get on with it Drizzle," Tornado called from his distance, "we haven't got all day."

"First touch, then the game begins. I don't want this dragging on, there's others that want the court, so you're playing to three." Drizzle told them, Dash grinned at Star, this was hers. "Three, two, one." Drizzle lofted the ball high.

Dash was on it like a hawk, blocking Star with her body and bucking the ball back to Chaser. He caught it, a little tentatively, in his front hooves, but pushed himself out to the side, getting an angle around Cool Star who was heading for him fast. His plan was easy to see, but Star couldn't do a thing to stop it; Chaser threw the ball into clear space and Dash pounced on it, teeth clamping on the soft surface and spinning upwards to confuse Tornado, who tracked her confidently. Confidently, that is, until she kept her roll going, flew below him and hoofed the ball through the goal beneath his back hooves.

The crowd cheered, and she made a bow as the ball was retrieved and passed back to Drizzle. The referee threw the ball loosely into the middle of Tornado's territory, who caught it on a hoof and winged into a wide-field position. He moved to throw, but then dropped the ball just short of his ten second limit, Cool Star snatching it from underneath him at top speed. Dash rushed to catch up, but Chaser held his ground. The cream pegasus took a rolling path, the reverse of Dash's own earlier, to put Chaser at the disadvantage, and shot the ball at the goal from as far to one side as he could go.

She couldn't watch, but had to, and saw a long wing snake out and bat the ball in a wide sweep that sent it right back past Cool Star and high into the airspace of the court. She grinned, this was going to be fun! Mounting the heights at top speed, she looped, catching the ball in her teeth, upside-down, and shot back in a straight line towards the opposing goal. Tornado had made it back, and was turning to spot her. Before he could draw a bead, she used one of her favourite tricks; she aimed and let go of the ball, and then jinked to the side.

When Tornado saw her, she was streaking to the side as if to track around him and shoot. He moved to block her and then... She stopped and grinned, showing him empty hooves. The ball sailed past his head and into the goal, as the gathering crowd went nuts.

She raced back to Chaser and high-hoofed him, "Nice save."

"Nice trick." he grinned back as Drizzle swapped the score over to 2-0.

Beyond them Drizzle threw the ball back into Tornado's range. He and Cool Star had been talking really closely before play resumed, she hoped they weren't actually trying to plan something. This match was hers!

Cool Star took the ball, which was a change of play order, and the two of them charged together, a straight line for the goal with Tornado taking the lead.

The charge took Dash by surprise, though she hated to admit it, but she aimed carefully and tore down through the middle, hoping to rip the ball from Star as she passed between them.

She made it through, but the ball wasn't in his teeth or his hooves as she passed, his face as he saw her was smug. By the time she'd recovered from the dive and turned, she had time to see Tornado try to bull straight past Chaser with the ball on his shoulders.

Chaser took the full weight of Tornado to his chest, wings flaring and stopping them dead, as was their talent, but the ball skittered off Tornado's shoulders, up his neck and flicked off the end of the stallion's nose into the goal. There were a few cheers for a goal, and a scattering of boos, particularly from her friend's section of the clouds. It was even worse when she saw Drizzle putting up the marker for a goal!

"What?! That has to be a foul, ref!" She yelled over the noise of the pegasus crowd and her friends yells of outrage.

"Sorry Dash, he had the ball, if anything it's a foul by Wind Chaser." the put-upon referee stated, she'd signed up for an easy summer job, she wasn't expecting grudge matches.

"That's outrageous!"

"Look, I gave them the goal rather than charge him with a foul, if I did that he'd have to sit out for a time penalty and then how would you win?"

Dash didn't know what to say to that... she'd been about to get even further in the ref's face, but... it seemed like Drizzle wanted them to win. She gave her a questioning look.

"Just go put that idiot Star in his place." Drizzle pretended to glare at her and shoo her back into the playing area, so the other team wouldn't get any ideas.

"Chaser, go high, I'll go low and whichever side you throw." She muttered as she passed him, he nodded and thrust his wings to catch the ball as it was thrown back into play.

She dove under the center point and watched for his play, he went left, Cool Star tracking up on him from the right, but Tornado was tracking her even more closely. She grabbed the ball, then had to make a hasty retreat, pulling up hard and fast to avoid crashing into the burly purple pegasus that charged from goal at her. Before she could do anything more, Cool Star had cut her off above as well!

Chaser was back a ways, waiting for her move, but she had none... Chaser had already had his touch, and he knew it, she could practically hear him counting down her seconds as she hesitated.

A desperate idea struck her, and she threw the ball straight at Tornado, the stallion's eyes widened and he ducked, but the ball hit exactly where she wanted it to; his wing. The upstroke bouncing it clear into space in Chaser's general direction. He was grinning as he dove for it, streaking ahead of Cool Star and latching onto it with his teeth. The crowd, even the ponies below on the sand, cheered at the move, both for him making the catch and for Dash's quick thinking.

He hauled his head around and threw for the goal, ball soaring on a clear line for the victory... until Cool Star got a hoof to it and knocked it clear. The ball spun lazily out of bounds and was caught, returning to the referee for her to restart.

"Close... I can't believe they shut you down like that..." His eyes were fixed on their opponents.

"They're jerks, look at at the stupid stunt they pulled on you." She tried to see if they were any marks on his white coat from the impact earlier, but aside from a light mussing there wasn't anything.

"Me I can take, it's you I worry about." He flicked his eyes to her, briefly in something between humour and friendly protectiveness.

For some reason, she didn't want to snap back her usual 'I can take care of myself' line, so she shrugged and let him continue.

"I've got an idea, hang back and watch my roll, when I throw the ball out I'll pop it straight, take it for the goal, think you can keep up?"

She grinned her usual grin, who the heck did he think she was? "Think you can keep up?"

They broke, Drizzle tossing the ball in and Chaser winging to meet it. When he caught it, he tucked it into his chest and aimed himself, Dash nearly didn't catch on to the move until he did it. He thrust once, hard, with his wings, throwing his whole body forward, but wrapped his wings down around the ball and used their funky gravity-defying powers to let him arc like an arrow from a bow aimed straight at the goal.

She followed, watching his roll as he spiralled gracefully through the air, almost lazily for all he had some major momentum going. Cool Star darted in, trying to find a way past the wings to snatch the ball, but the roll threw him off and he had to make a desperate turn to catch up.

Tornado stood his ground, expecting Chaser to attempt the same move as he'd pulled before, but the white pegasus had some serious speed going and sweat was forming on the defender's brow, Cool Star was barely making any headway, lagging behind Dash by too many lengths to catch up.

He was cutting it close, she started to try predicting when he'd throw the ball, hanging far enough back that she would see it, but it ended up being ridiculously, even comically, easy for her. His spin brought him belly up in the air within inches of Tornado, and he snapped to a halt, wings flaring and stopping all his momentum, the ball popping straight up in the air.

Laughing at Tornado, cowering behind his hooves as Chaser failed to plow into him after all that build-up, she leapt high, grabbing the ball and looping around to fly bodily through the goal, high-hoofing the upside-down Chaser as she coasted past.

To the cheers of the crowd, she and Chaser left Tornado and Cool Star staring after them, "Don't forget to pay for the court!" She laughed over her shoulder before skimming the distance back to her friends.

* * *

"Dearest Sister, this land I find myself in is strange and more than a little worrisome. The úlfur are not like ponies at all, they seem to take an entirely different approach towards Harmony. I would suppose that it stems from them being a species of predators, but that only accounts for so much. In the wild a pack of timber wolves will stake out a territory, patrol its borders and hunt within it for food, the úlfur do not content themselves with such. They seek constantly to expand their territory, their diplomacy taking the lead role, thankfully, but in a way it seems like the whole country is still marking out its territory on the world. I apologise for the delays in my letters, the wards placed on the palace dull all but basic levitations and my guards are getting nervous. In all honesty I cannot blame them, I would feel truly lost were I not still connected to the Sun. I pray that the succession passes quickly and without incident. Only a day has passed and even still I miss our land, our subjects and you more than I believed possible. Signed Tia."

"Excellent." Margier looked up from the letter, "The wards are working perfectly my lord Regent, and I can detect no hidden code within the wording to show she suspects anything, shall I send this one?"

"I think it wise, her sister is a whelp, but even a whelp can cause trouble for us if she suspects anything. Send the letter, but no matter what the content, do not send the next. Keep a copy of this one for comparison."

"Yes, my lord Regent." the ambassador turned to leave

"And Margeir," the Regent turned his gaze to the sunlight pooling in through the large windows, "It's good weather today, take our princess to view the gardens."

"Of course, my lord Regent."

* * *

It probably was more a credit to the unpopularity of their rivals, than it was to how well they'd played, but she and Chaser were minor heroes for the day, ponies were still occasionally approaching them with congratulations.

Obviously she'd been asked out by a round of guys, not to mention some rather forward fillies, they all came to the Dash, but none of them were cool enough.

And Chaser, the lucky stud, was practically beating the fillies off with a stick, even one or two colts too. What was weird here was that she was weighing her admirers up, checking them out a little each time one approached her, but he was just... shutting them down... He was diverting the conversation, ignoring flirts and pointed questions, and not even giving them a chance. Could he really not be interested in any of them at all?

The seven of them, plus Spike, spent the rest of the day leaping in and out of the sea, making a truly epic sandcastle thanks to Twilight sculpting with magic and Spike breathing fire to quick-harden the shell into place, and sipping frosty drinks out of tall glasses on their beach towels.

Chaser actually seemed embarrassed every time the drinks came round and when Rarity had pushed to find out what was wrong, he said he thought they were being too generous, he wouldn't be able to pay them back for all this. The others had heard the phrase 'too generous' when talking to Rarity and giggled at him. Element of Generosity, what else?

"So Chaser, you honestly've never played skyball before?" She raised her sunglasses to show that she was narrowing her eyes at him.

"Well, no, but I've played a few games that are similar. It's different as a pony, and even more different being able to use my powers in front of a crowd without worrying about secrecy."

"In any case, glad you were here, Cool Star and Tornado have been bothering everything female up there all day and tricking ponies into betting on their games, it's about time somepony put them in their place."

"Want me to go put them someplace even more uncomfortable? They sound like idiots." He offered, parasprite bouncing around his head, grinning its diamond-sharp grin.

"Nah, everypony saw us hand their tails to 'em up there, and Drizzle's not letting them back on the skyball court while she's on duty, we've done enough."

Further down the row of sun-loungers, the other girls were having a whispered discussion led by Rarity. Had the two known about it, they would have laughed, but to those five it was quite serious.

"So, dears, what do you think?" Rarity tried to call some order out of the debate.

"We could give it a try," volunteered Fluttershy, "I mean, if you want to, it's not a bad idea, I don't think so at least..."

"Ah still think yer seein' things that just ain't there, but why not?" AJ agreed.

Rarity ignored that, confident in her surmise, "Twilight?"

"Rainbow Dash and... Wind Chaser?" She questioned again, "I dunno girls, I just don't see it, and interfering with it seems kind of... wrong?" The opinion came out as a question, she wasn't sure why she wasn't all for this idea, Rainbow Dash finally had somepony who could keep up with her afterall, but something about Wind Chaser didn't exactly make room for romance.

"Oh come ON Twilight, anypony can see that they're already super-special best friends, and if we help them out I can finally throw a Dash Gets a Coltfriend party!" Amazingly, neither Dash or Chaser seemed to have heard this outburst from the pink party master.

"I say we try it. If y'think it'll work, then go fer it, Dash could do a lot worse'n him." Applejack finally gave in, leaving Twilight the only doubting face among the five of them.

"Fine..." She dropped her head onto her hooves.

"Okay then girls, listen, this is what we'll do." The four of them leaned in, leaving Twilight torn between listening in and watching the other two to check they weren't.

* * *

"Well that was weird..." Dash commented, confused and a little suspicious. She eyed the door of their holiday hut, a broad term for the extensive multi-roomed accomodation Rarity had picked out for their stay, complete with small swimming pool in back.

"I think they're trying to get rid of us." Chaser mused with an unoffended smile on his face, sometimes when girls kicked him out there was entirely no reason for it, he didn't mind as long as he had somepony still to talk to, Kirianna did get a little caustic after a while What was that, tart? You heard.

"So why don't we find out what-" She lowered her body into sneak mode as she spoke, but Chaser turned away from the door and started walking.

He was enjoying, in an odd way, spending time in his transformed state. He'd only ever had a whole day in this state during his basic training, when they forced him to get used to it. And since... well, since then for safety he'd never spent more than a few hours at a time transformed. Even during drawn out battles he'd revert to human for a short time to preserve Transcendant secrecy.

Here was wonderful, he'd had the whole afternoon since the game to just relax and be himself. So he wanted to use this gorgeous evening to just be out in public, as much as that ever was here in Equestria, as himself.

"Hey! Where're you going?" Dash called after him,

"Nowhere in particular, want to come with?" He called back over his shoulder, wings moving to take off. Kirianna buzzed carelessly around his head watching her for him as he rose into the air, looking for a good spot to watch the sunset.

With a last look at the door, and a "But..." Dash gave up and followed him. Unseen behind them, now that Kirianna wasn't watching, the door cracked open and a tower of big, clear eyes peered out.

The white pegasus took his time, lazily looking for a good spot, the blue right behind him. What'cha think-in'? As if you didn't already know. I want to hear it from you properly, I can't deal with all this fluff. Well, it's so nice here, and I mean really nice. The ponies leave their doors unlocked, their belongings on the beach, carts and stalls unattended... they know that nopony would steal from them. And even those two before, Cool Star and Tornado? When we beat them there wasn't any... you know what I'm thinking of... malice. They were hurt, in the pride and ego way, and they didn't like losing to Dash at all, but they didn't hate us for it. No malice... that's a good way of putting it. Yeah. No... real drive to hurt anypony. To win, yes, to threaten, yes, sometimes they actually mean to insult a pony deliberately, but it's as if the idea of hurting somepony is a last resort.

Know something? What? You've been using 'anypony' and 'nopony' for a while now. The fact that I didn't realise that is a little odd... Dash is asking you something. Oh, right.

"I'm sorry, my mind was wandering," He gave the other pegasus his full attention, "What were you saying?"

"I said 'where are you going?' We're heading in circles."

It was true, he'd made almost a complete circuit of Neighmouth town, heading back to the beach. "Oh... sorry, just enjoying the flight." He paused, now that his mind was back in the present, he spotted a place quickly enough, "How about there? The view's going to be awesome."

"What view?" She was closer now, able to talk to him without raising her voice,

"Sunset." He smiled, waving a hoof at the slowly descending orb, and started down, "Plus from there we can also get a good view of moon-rise if you want."

She smiled back and followed him down. His target was a tall sand-dune, a mountain among the hills, even though that didn't make it all that high. The top was covered in the spiky beach grasses native here, similar to the ones back home even, but a shallow depression right in the middle, probably hollowed out by ponies doing just this over the summers, was sandy and soft, sheltered from the breeze.

He flopped unceremoniously onto the sand and rubbed his shoulder into it. That was nice, he liked that, so he folded his wings, and rolled to do the other side, legs kicking at the air briefly. Dash laughed at him,

"What are you, a little colt?" She snickered,

"Don't knock it 'til you try it. Little colt or not, this feels goooood..." He rolled some more on the dry, wispy sand of the dune-top, pointedly ignoring her.

Kirianna saw for him as the cyan pegasus watched him for a second or two more, gave a shrug of her wings, and flumped down to give her own shoulders a scratch.

"See, I toooold ya." He quoted an old line, channeling Chip the Teacup.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Mmmnah!" She finished her own scratch and sat back up, he'd had enough too so he did the same.

Just in time too, the sun had just gotten to the horizon. The air shimmered and broke the bottom of the sun into a flutter of liquid pieces, only bearable to look at due to his stronger eyes in this form. Dash was staring with her shades on, her expression beneath them a mystery.

"Thought so, the sea always has amazing sunsets." He murmured, "Hey, Dash?"

"Hmm?" She roused from whatever thoughts had been going through her head,

"You work the weather, right? Back in Ponyville at least. Don't suppose you know when tonight's moon-rise is?"

"Whenever Princess Luna thinks is best, I guess."

He stared at her now, sunset forgotten temporarily, and the silence stretched uncomfortably.

"What?" She eventually cracked,

"Whenever Princess Luna thinks is best?" He tried to keep some of the disbelief out of his voice, but even for a land of talking ponies, there had to be some explanation.

"Yeah, it's her job to raise the moon and bring on the night 'n all that stuff." She punctuated her words with lazy flicks of her hoof at the sky.

"How... uh... literally is that?" He asked, carefully.

"Literally?" Dash lowered her sunglasses to meet his cautious question with some skepticism of her own, she thought he was joking obviously, "Dude, the royal Princesses raise the sun every morning and the moon every night, except that Princess Celestia did it all on her own for about a thousand years because her sister went all Nightmare Moon on the world so she had to banish her. But when Nightmare Moon broke free, it was up to us to stop her! And Twilight, well at first I thought she was a spy, because she knew all about it, but she got us all together to search for the Elements of Harmony. I totally saved them a couple of times, it was so cool! And then when we found the Elements, Nightmare Moon was waiting and was all 'The night shall last forever!' and broke the Elements, and Twilight was all 'No, we are the Elements!' and we totally zapped that big blue floozy with an Element beam! And Celestia came back and thanked us, and Nightmare Moon turned out to be her sister Luna under some whacky spell which we'd broken with the Elements, and now they're both back in charge and Princess Celestia doesn't have to raise the moon anymore."

He sat watching in complete surprise as Dash told the story, complete with pantomime. Obviously this world wasn't quite what it seemed. When she was finished, he had to sit and think about it, the idea that this could be magic, real magic, and not some religious thing was quite the concept. Literally raising the sun? What a world...

"Heh... sorry..." Dash seemed a little embarrassed, one hoof stirred the sand in front of her as her head drooped a little, "Kinda got into the story a bit."

"What? No, don't be sorry, it was great." He quirked a grin at her, "I'm just thinking about it. My world is very different. Actually... pretty much every world I've ever been to is different from here."

"You've been to others?" She leaned in, and the full beams of sunset caught her face side on, Those are... really pretty eyes... Kirianna's words also sent over some rather odd feelings, which he clamped down on, hard.

"Yeah," he kept the tone light, just like a friend would, "there's hundreds, thousands... millions of worlds out there. I've only visited a few and they're nothing as awesome as here."

"I can believe that." She nodded sagely, "None of them had me!" She grinned her trademark grin at him.

"True, but some of them would have been too much for even the great Rainbow Dash." He didn't mean to, but his eyes betrayed just how serious some of these places had been, there were very few happy memories from the places he'd had to help before. When he met her eyes again, there was a sort of understanding, like she knew he was remembering bad times. "But here... wow..." He looked out at the sunset again, more than half down now.

"What's so different? About Equestria, I mean?"

"We'll start with... ponies. And work from there, okay?" He grinned his own lopsided grin again.

* * *

"Twilight, you're on." Rarity cued the purple unicorn.

"Here goes..." Twilight's horn glowed, hidden from sight in a dip in the gorse-thick ground of the dunes, the wind that played about the hill suddenly began to move with a little more purpose. She used little movements to cut the tops from a half a dozen patches of dry grass and reeds, and suddenly, there was music. It was soft, and the grasses made it pitch high and lilting, as if from a long way away. Then she made sure to funnel that little breeze over the top of the tall dune.

* * *

"And you should have seen her face," Chaser laughed, Dash rolling around in laughter, "I thought she'd flip her stetson clean over when she saw me!" Dash just laughed harder.

Music was playing off in the distance, and the cool breeze was keeping the air clear, while their little hollow on the dune top was sheltered and warmed by the last rays of sunset.

Before they knew it, it was gone and the sunset nothing but a fading glow.

* * *

"Well laughing weren' rightly necessary..." AJ muttered to herself, hauling her load of boxes along the shore.

"Wait, wait!" Pinkie bounced, "That's the signal!" She saw Fluttershy waving from the midpoint between themselves and where Rarity was conducting the whole thing.

Applejack dumped the boxes and hoofed open the lids, there were a few well chosen fireworks, ready to launch.

In her excitement, Pinkie dropped half the matches onto the sand before she managed to spark one and touch it to the taper cord. They both ran for safe distance, heading around from their point of launch through the brush to meet up with Fluttershy before joining Rarity and Twilight to watch.

* * *

There was a scream of noise, Chaser was immediately on his feet, wings flared, eyes flashing. It was so fast that Dash didn't know if she was more scared of the noise or of him, but before she could blink his wing was shielding her from whatever the noise was.

A hitch of silence, and a bang, and Chaser relaxed with a sigh of relief. It was a firework. Another rocket screamed into the twilight air and went off with a burst of colour and sound.

He sat down next to her at that, watching the sky in happy surprise. "Pfft!" She cracked, "Jumpy much?"

"Yeah..." He blushed a little. "Last time that happened I really needed to react that fast, somepony would have been hurt if I hadn't. I should have known Equestria was different." His grin quirked at her again and those huge golden eyes reflected the fireworks.

She sat up next to him, shoulder-to-shoulder, even if he was a good couple of hooves taller than her there, and turned her gaze to the evening sky as well.

More colours burst and bloomed, thumping into the air and making the night sky shudder with their bass cracks and rolls, her chest feeling the deep shocks as if another heart beat erratically on the other side of her skin. Wow... that was girly of her... what brought that on?

But there was music from somewhere, the fireworks were magical, and just as they were fading out... the moon rose behind them.

She turned to see, the brilliant white orb rising quickly at first due to the rush of magic that lifted it, but then... He was turning too, and their eyes locked.

It was a beautiful evening, perfect, and his eyes held her. Taller, muscular, perfectly white coat, a shock of brown mane, and those deep golden eyes, one completely clear in the moonlight, the other hidden and dark with... secrets, in the shadows.

He was strong, good looking, a great flyer... maybe... maybe she could...

* * *

Before he knew it, he was staring at her. He'd turned, Kirianna making 'ooh' thoughts at the rising moon, but managed only to get half way.

She was close, so very close, the music still filtered over them and the moonlight cast half her face in silver, the other half in shadow. The eye he could see was gazing at him, and he could swear that there was no limit to it... just fathoms of depth, right down to her core...

So much of her resembled the one he loved, so much of her was just so familiar. The petite strength, the tomboyish attitude that hid her real feelings half the time and really were her feelings the rest, the coarsely cut hair with sharp colours, even though her voice was different, and she was so obviously a different species entirely, Dash was so much the twin of the woman he loved.

The moment hung there, both of them examining the other. And she leaned in.

At the last, before her slow progress could bring her closer, before her eyes could drift closed and miss his intentions, he turned away.

"Sorry..." He apologised to her. They both knew where that would have gone, and he couldn't do that to her.

"Chaser?" She sounded hurt,

"I'm sorry. There's a girl waiting for me, back home."

"Oh..." Under scrutiny, she seemed to shrink.

"You're a wonderful girl, Dash, and I feel so glad I can be myself around you... but I can't take it further, even if I do think you're wonderful."

"No, I... I get it, it's not right. I should be apologising to you," She sniffed, hard, "sorry for just..."

No, don't let her leave! But Kirianna's words were unnecessary, Chaser wrapped the small pegasus in a hug.

"Don't do that to me, Dash, you're not the sort of pony that apologises for stuff like that. I'm sorry, I'm the one that's an idiot, I don't want to make you feel weird about this."

She mumbled something non-commital to the ground. She needed something to break the mood, something to draw her out...

"This isn't my world, Dash, it's yours. So I'm going to leave again sometime soon. But before then I want to be able to say that I became best friends with the fastest flyer in Ponyville."

She snorted, pulling away, "You mean fastest in all Equestria." She made a passable attempt at her trademark grin.

"You have to be able to catch me before that's true." Dash hoofed him in the ribs for that, then they both sighed, in unison, which made them both stop and look at each other.

For no other reason, they started to chuckle, finding humour in the silliness of simultaneous sighs and looks. Finally, they looked around and noticed it was fully night by now, the moon hung in the sky, slightly gibbous Why can't you just say 'more than half full'? You make things complicated on purpose. Shut it, tart, I'm watching the stars. Go fly about for a bit, you're making my mane itch.

"We should get back." Dash suggested,

"You go first, I'll be back once I've got this sand out of my ear." He excused himself,

"Sand?" She cocked her head back at him,

He tilted his head on one side and patted the other side of his head with his hoof for emphasis, "I think I rolled too much."

"You're such a little colt, you know that?" This was a true Dash grin, bright and breezy.

"You said that before. Go on, Kiri can dig it out for me in a few minutes." He made a show of tilting his head while Kirianna circled back to him and peered into the offending orrifice.

Dash waved once and jetted off, the sand beneath her poofing with the force of lift-off.

Going... going... gone. Right, let's get 'em.

He turned and jumped over the wall of grasses around the hollow, wings coasting him in a high arc until he landed in front of a bush that squeeked.

"Subtle, girls." He chuckled to the now-silent gorse shrub. "You'd better head on back to the hut, because she's going to need her friends. Top marks for the fireworks though, you're a genius Pinkie."

"Thanks!" The voice was shushed immediately.

"You knew all along?" Twilight's voice preceded her out of cover.

"Nope, heard you whispering just now, and figured the rest out from there." He now stood facing the five of them, all looking suitably chastised. I heard them whispering, you big fibber. Shut it, tart, they don't know that you can pass that kind of stuff on yet, the less we let them know about that, the more comfortable they'll be around you.

"You're not mad, are you? We're sorry, we had no idea you were in love already, and you and Dash looked so super-duper sweet together..." Awwww... that little face... I want a Pinkie Pie for Christmas, can I have one?

"Why would I be? Well... except that I didn't want to hurt Dash's feelings like that, but... no, I can't be mad at you. You wanted to help out your friend." They perked up, "But seriously, you should go girls, I don't know how much of that was just Dash putting on a good face."

"Aren't you comin', Chaser?" Applejack said, as she started to go.

"I'll... stay out here a while, she probably won't want to see me again tonight."

He watched them leave, walked up to the hollow instead of flying, and lay back down on the cool sand. "Zoe..." He whispered, knowing there wasn't anypony around to hear him anymore, and then he went to sleep.

* * *

Games and... having fun? Yep, day two of Chaser's adventures in Equestria is now over, what more can I say? This is the reason there's no romance tag here, because seriously readers... there's way too much of that stuff going on with OCs in Equestria. They arrive, they meet, they greet, they fall in love within... eesh, even the first chapter, half of them. I didn't want that for my guy.

In any case, I'm going to go start on the next one! There's still not a single waiting Edit project to do, pony related or otherwise, so I'm going to keep writing.

Onwards and upwards, and once more: Thanks for reading!

Chapter 7

Wind Chaser, Chapter 7

In which an suspicions are voiced.

More and more people are rating my story... people are commenting... I haven't even advertised this yet, it's just, kinda, updating as I go without a fanfare. My readers are the best readers!! A million 'I love you's to Zoe for not kicking me in the head repeatedly for comparing Dash to her, I half expected rage after the last chapter, but she just said I was hopeless and left my fingers unbroken, for which I'm eternally thankful.

Also, thanks to Shira for popping this next idea into my head to lead into this chapter.

* * *

Nick flew across the boundless blue of the sky, feeling the shape of the air with his wings stretched wide. Looking down he spotted the gigantic circles of cultivation in the arid lands of northern Africa, where enormous wheeled arms watered whole acres of crops making the lush greenery easily stand out from 20,000 feet.

He was racing Zoe through the clouds, above the big cumulus piles, but below the stratos, weaving in huge loops between towers and hills and throwing themselves down the valleys between the cloudscapes.

His breathing aparatus tugged at his face sharply, his high-altitude, high velocity gear hugged his body, and the two of them sucked vapour along behind them whenever they passed too close to the mighty cloud peaks, wings not working too hard, pacing themselves at a steady Mach 2.

He knew this journey well, it was the first time the two of them had been on a mission together without the rest of the team, they were nineteen years old and the sky was their home as much as Haven base. Zoe was confident, with just the two of them there, daring him to match her tricks, none of her shyness around strangers, none of her hesitation in public, showed in her effortless flips and spirals as she played with the air around her.

"What's the matter? Can't keep up?" her voice giggled over the headpiece in his ear.

"Enjoying the view too much to try." He teased back.

She gasped in outraged embarrassment, and killed speed just long enough that she was now chasing him. He laughed at her and sped up before she could get her momentum back, and they tore through the mid-day sky hurling taunts back and forth as he evaded her.

It took him a moment to notice, but the pull on his face wasn't the mask, it was the coat of his muzzle...

"Chaser? You okay over there?" her voice wasn't over the communicator anymore, she was shouting over the wind, and it made her voice sound weird.

"Zoe? What's..." His wings weren't gathering as much sky as before... it felt... like he couldn't move them right.

"Chaser?" Her voice was far away, the wind making it scratchy. He looked for her, trying to see her, but couldn't find her in anywhere behind him. His mane kept whipping into his eyes every time he turned to look back.

He wanted to slow down, he wanted to stop, but he knew this mission was important, that she was supposed to be there with him at the end of it... so why couldn't he see her?

A sudden shape loomed on his other side, and he turned to stare straight into deep purple eyes, "CHASER!"

* * *

"Chaser...! It's... me!"

He stared into those same plum-dark eyes, breathing hard, his left hoof was on her chest and his right braced against the ground next to her head, a few rainbow strands pinned to the sand under it.

She was gasping for breath herself, and no wonder...

"Dash? Oh no-no-no... Are you alright?!" He flicked his wings to back off, "Did I hurt you?"

She got to her hooves, a little shakily, "What the hay was that for?!" She demanded, a little shaken,

"I am so sorry..." He couldn't seem to express how upset he was with himself, "You startled me, and I... I'm sorry, Dash, that wasn't supposed to happen." his head sank between his hooves in shame.

"Hey, calm down... it's no biggie..." She looked down and away, "We woke up this morning and we couldn't find you. We were worried that you'd gone somewhere after... last night. Didn't expect to find you still here."

Oh Chaser... you're a horrible pony... even after turning her down she still comes running out to search for you the very next morning? This one's a keeper... Laugh it up, fuzzball... Hey, that's below the belt! You're a bit of fluff, you don't have a belt. All she did in answer was bonk him on the head again with a full-body bash, he was being snappish and he knew he shouldn't be.

"It was a warm night," he made himself sit back up, trying to cheer up and smile so she didn't stay in the funk she was in, "after Kiri got all that sand out, I was so tired I just curled up and fell asleep. I didn't think it would matter all that much." He didn't do as good a job of cheering up as he thought he did; he was too embarrassed to meet her eyes to prove there was nothing wrong. And there was something wrong... after everything he'd said to her last night, he'd reacted so badly to being woken up this morning... over a dream? If he was Kirianna he'd be constantly kicking himself. Don't tempt me.

Dash paused, and looked at him carefully, as if she could see through him now, "Chaser... Twilight and the others told me what happened, that they set stuff up to make it happen, they even told me that you said I might not want to see you again after... that. What gives? We're friends right? Don't go thinking that was enough to get in the way of a friendship, okay?" She put a hoof to his shoulder, finally meeting his eyes.

She's... trying to comfort you? Wait, when did you become the hurt one? You raise a good point, what's going on here?

"Dash... thanks, but I think they got the wrong impression. I just thought you might, you know, want to talk to your friends without me there to make things awkward. I'm more worried about how you feel, I'm the one that was in the wrong, remember?" His hoof moved to rest itself on her shoulder, displacing her own gesture as he raised it.

"Oh come on, I'm the Element of Loyalty here, I don't abandon my friends, especially not for something like that." She puffed up her chest and posed dramatically for emphasis, grin in place as firmly as ever.

"I'll take your word for it then." He quirked his own grin in return.

"Chaaaa-serrr! Wind Chaser!" The call carried on the breeze from further down the beach, an overlapping of several pony voices.

"Oh, forgot to say! We're heading into town before we catch the train home, all the girls have stuff they want to do, come on!"

"Sure, as long as I can stop by the showers before I go, I've got sand everywhere now..."

She laughed at that, and they took off together, throwing up sand and soaring back to their friends down on the beach.

* * *

The seaside town was beautiful, stone buildings abounded to ward off the seaside weather, and the streets were full of people. Residents and market stall owners, young people ready to waste some money and then hit the beach, regular summer tourists like themselves and tourist photographers aplenty (which as everypony knows are a different breed of tourist).

Another gorgeous day had bloomed and it was fast approaching the hottest part of the day, the Ponyville six, Spike and Wind Chaser were torn between finding somewhere to cool off and finding the next place of interest on their little tour. While a never-ending string of clothes, sweets, book shops and souvenir stalls were exerting their siren song on the girls, the shopping bags weighing down the big pegasus were fast convincing her of the former. How he'd ended up carrying all their shopping, she'd never know, but there were at least a dozen different saddlebags and boxes balanced on his back already... not that it seemed to be bothering him at all, he looked as solid as Big Macintosh, for all he was a pegasus.

Spike made an elegant sounding 'hngk' noise behind her and then belched loudly, a wisp of flame and smoke wafting into the air.

"Nice one Spi-" Chaser was interrupted in his male solidarity as he noticed that the smoke had formed into a scroll, tied with a ribbon and sealed, "Well... better out than in." He finished, and she giggled at his confusion as she took the letter.

"Amazing range, I didn't think the Princess would be able to reach us out here by dragon mail..."

"I take it that's... normal?" Chaser muttered behind her, she didn't know who to, but he made a little 'hm' noise as if somepony answered him, so she started to read.

"Dear Twilight, I am growing worried about my sister's diplomatic mission. Her first letter arrived yesterday, via very laboured means, and it seems that something in the úlfur capital is interfering with her ability to perform magic. As I have not received any message before or since on the matter I can only conclude that something is amiss. We would greatly appreciate your speedy return to Ponyville and from there to Canterlot so that we may consult with you on the matter in person." She looked up at the others, "Well we were heading back today in any case, so that's not so bad." She cleared her throat, "We would also appreciate the presence of the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and, if possible, to have the chance to meet the traveller from another realm before his purpose in coming to Equestria is fulfilled. As such, signal your preferred time by return mail and I shall arrange for speedy transportation to the palace for you all. Signed, Princess Luna."

"The princess has invited us to the palace!" Gasped Rarity, magically fanning herself with a souvenir fan from a nearby stall, close to swooning it seemed.

"Well as much as Ah hate t'be away from th'Acres fer too long, it don't sit right to tell the Princess no. Looks like we're headin' to Canterlot ag'in."

"Woo-hoo! We get to go to the palace again! This calls for a celebration! A PALACE PAR-mmph!" Applejack quickly closed the pink menace's mouth before her exuberance drove everyone around them deaf.

"Oh, I hope nothing's wrong." Fluttershy seemed to be contemplating horrors behind her light blue eyes, as she shuddered, "If there's something that's worrying Princess Luna, and that's something about Princess Celestia, then what can we do about it even if we're there? Surely there's nothing that the Princesses can't handle..." She looked around quickly, "Maybe we don't need to go after all." She finished, very quickly, and gave them a hopeful look.

"Don't be silly, Fluttershy, of course there's things we can do. Besides, she just wants to talk with us, what's the worry?" Twilight pushed down her feelings of mild frustration, her friend was just... so nice, that nopony could be angry at her for being shy.

"Oh well... it's just that her... talking... you know?" The shy pegasus tried to edge out of view behind Chaser's burden of shopping bags.

"What about it?" She asked lightly.

"Shes... very... she's very loud..." She could see Chaser having to crane his neck around and back to keep track of the mare hiding behind him, but he gave up and just faced front as the pile of boxes and bags hid her completely.

"Oh she won't be like that," she couldn't help but cajole her timid friend, she had faith in Luna's ability to catch up with modern society, especially after the last time they'd met, "the Princess is a nice pony, like you or me, she just forgets her volume sometimes. Have some faith in her, okay?" She rounded the white pegasus and found Fluttershy sitting up against his back legs, drawing little circles with her hoof.

Before answering, Fluttershy took a deep breath to steady her nerves, it seemed like she was actually going to listen to reason this time, "Okay..." Even so, her voice barely had any volume at all.

"Atta girl." She gave the shy mare a little nuzzle for support, before letting her get up so Chaser could move again.

"Even though we were going home today already, maybe we should hurry up and finish what we're doing here?" She suggested to the girls, "If we get home sooner, we can get to Canterlot at a decent hour and we won't be so tired."

"But we haven't even been to half the candy-shops yet! There's more ice-cream!" Pinkie wailed,

"And the hats, darling, the hats!" Rarity looked shocked that they might leave without ample time to view them all.

"Aw stop yer fussin', ain't nothin' we can say ag'inst an invitation from th' Princess." Applejack tried to calm them down.

"But-!"

"Oh boo-hoo, so you have to miss some silly shopping trip, big deal. We could be dealing with an emergency here!" Dash folded her hooves in mid air as she took the far end of the line. That shut up further protest for just long enough, Twilight decided she'd best head off further argument, Rainbow Dash didn't seem to be too happy with Rarity, unsurprisingly.

"Uh, thank you, Dash. Even though I don't think it's a silly shopping trip, I really do think we should cut things short."

"What about you, Chaser? You've been awfully quiet back there." The rainbow pegasus turned to get his opinion, obviously hoping that he'd back her up.

"I'm sticking with the group decision, your trip, your rules." He kept it matter-of-fact, "But, if it helps, I think Twilight has a point. We'll be travelling a while, and if we start now we won't be arriving late at night at the other end."

It was good to see those two talking normally, at least, she'd been so worried about them after the silly match-making idea last night went wrong. That, and agreeing with her was a vote of confidence.

"Well, I suppose you might be right," Rarity conceded, "but to think of the fashion opportunities I might be missing out on, it's tragic." She fanned herself with the fan even harder, until the store owner tapped her shoulder lightly to let her know he was still waiting for her to pay for it.

"But..." came one last, sorrowful protest.

"It's alright Pinkie, I'm carrying enough sweet stuff in these bags to last you at least four hours." Chaser joked with the downcast-looking pony.

"That's right!" She bounced to life, "Well, it might be right, maybe I should experiment on the way home? I could see how long it takes me to eat a cupcake and calculate it from there, but of course it takes longer to eat a stick of rock than a cupcake, and it takes less time to eat a tub of ice cream than it does to lick a lollipop until it's gone... Oooh... this is gonna be harder than I thought!"

In answer to this, Chaser could only check sidelong to see if anypony could tell whether she was joking... but Twilight knew that this was just Pinkie being Pinkie and left the party mare to come up with her entirely arbitrary theories of candy demolition times.

"Let's go check the train times then." She summed up, and led the way from the market place confidently.

* * *

"Lord Regent Jökull, I hope there is a good explanation for this?" Celestia kept her voice and her pose under control, but wanted, more than anything right now, to storm and shout at him. No, actually, what she wanted most was to be home, with her sister and her subjects.

"My Princess, I am surprised as you are, this incident is most troubling."

"Troubling, Lord Regent? One of my personal guards is recovering in the infirmary from wounds inflicted by claws and fangs."

"I did not mean to make light of this, Princess, only to make clear that I had no knowledge of the events this morning until the report was placed on my desk not an hour ago."

"So, there is, at least, a report from your subordinates on the matter, the guard in question was in no state to be interviewed when I saw him, and his comrades know nothing of his whereabouts at the time."

The silver wolf cleared his throat, and lifted the report in his paw, reading and paraphrasing in his head, "Unfortunately I seem to see, especially if I read through the bias of the úlfur mind, that it was an even-pawed misunderstanding that lead, regrettably, to conflict. The exact cause is unclear, but when superiors arrived at the scene, your guard was injured. He was still quite coherent despite his injuries, and his opponent, pardon me, opponents, were both nearly unconscious. He was distinctly heard to say 'I will defend her with my life' a few more words that were not caught, and then 'you will never take her' before collapsing. After this he was carried directly to the medical wing, along with his opponents, and given emergency aid. While the úlfur are recovered as of the report's writing, and your guard has not, until they are proven to be free of after-effects I feel it is unwise to question them as to the specifics."

He placed the parchment down, eyes betraying nothing. "I confess, the úlfur mind-set may have caused this, it is in our nature to test for weaknesses of character, of spirit, and of body in strangers."

"Weaknesses." Celestia's tone was just short of derisive.

"Please understand, Princess, our customs may be strange, but we thrive as kingdom because of them. If none are found, you see, strangers may easily become fast friends, so we allow for the occasions when it can lead to the opposite. How else could so large a pack sustain itself?"

She held her own council on that particular question.

"Tomorrow is the Right of Passage, the passing of title of Mikil to the heir. I did not wish for events to conspire to ruin your stay like this, however I cannot but hope that you will find the crowning, or lack of it, worth the trouble we have put you through to be here."

With a polite incline of her head, Celestia put on a diplomatic smile long enough to make her exit in good grace.

* * *

She hated chariots. They were so slow and cumbersome... not only that, she was stuck in here with Fluttershy, who was about as much fun as Twilight on a book-rant, even if she was only a tenth of the volume.

Chaser had been pushed onto the biggest chariot with AJ and Rarity, he'd dropped the wings so that he could fit, and now looked like pretty much any other stallion around, only averagely tall and even if he was stronger than most average ponies, he wasn't a match for draught ponies like Mac or the Royal Guards.

Something in the way they watched him though... just the way the Guards had nodded in greeting to him, and they hadn't taken their eyes off him until it was time to fly... it was like they thought he was a threat. "Heh, maybe he would be." She smiled.

"Uhm... who would be what?" Fluttershy came down from whatever cloud castle she'd been visiting in her head.

"Nothing, just thinkin'."

"Oh, uhm, that's nice." And she turned to let her mane trail out from the other side in the wind, gazing back out at the land around them.

Twilight seemed to be having a fairly normal conversation with Pinkie in their chariot up front, but Pinkie kept bouncing in place when she got excited, every five seconds it seemed, and the pegasus guards were getting cross. She smirked, knowing that she'd be able to handle that much bouncing even without a partner to help lift the chariot. Probably.

AJ was laughing, and Rarity was making funny gestures, whatever they were talking about it was obviously fun, Chaser even threw his head back and laughed at one point making his parasprite buzz around until he stopped so she could get back into his mane.

She sighed and put her chin on the rail, feeling a little wave of blue wash her mind. Ever since last night she kept thinking about him. Well, she'd been thinking about him before, but it was because he was new, he was interesting, he was cool. Then last night she'd almost... she shook her head to clear that thought out, bad thoughts!

No stallion was cool enough for the Dash, nopony could match her for speed or awesomeness, or even radicalness. She was the ultra-pony! But even she wanted somepony who could keep up, even she had dreams about meeting somepony who could at least challenge her, it was why she idolised the Wonderbolts. Those were the best flyers in Equestria, and everypony out there knew it because they performed everywhere. When it came to fame and coolness, there were no equals, except for her, and she'd be part of their team soon enough.

She sighed, chin rolling against the chariot.

"Uhm... Rainbow? Are you... do you want to talk about it?" Fluttershy was looking at her,

"Hmph, no." She definitely didn't want to 'talk about it'.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Her friend seemed to deflate, and her eyes actually started to fill... was she seriously about to cry because of being told 'no'?

"Okay, okay..." She broke under the guilt-trip, even if Shy hadn't meant to give her one, "look it's simple. I... wait... It's just that... No, that's not it, what I mean is..." Something tied up her tongue every time she started to explain.

"You... wanted last night to actually work?"

What did she...?! "What?! No! I... No!" She looked away, "Well, sorta."

Hooves gently snuck around her as Fluttershy surprised her with a hug. "It's okay. To be honest, I didn't think it was what you were interested in, but now... even though Wind Chaser's got somepony else, doesn't mean you have to suddenly stop liking him. And he's still your friend, right? Maybe if you just let it be for a while, you'll be able to get over it later, but nopony can just turn off their emotions."

That took a moment to sink in, but when it did, Dash found herself blushing a little. Even so, she felt almost back to normal about this whole thing, "Thanks, Shy, you're right."

Maybe being stuck with Fluttershy wasn't so bad afterall.

* * *

The palace of Canterlot was an awe-inspiring sight. He'd seen a lot of castles, lots of worlds had them, from crumbling ruins to confectionery inspired homes to brooding metal-sided fortresses, but Canterlot was a surprise indeed.

A castle on the side of the mountain, architecture hanging in space, while the city spread out down the slopes where the terrain was shallower. Towers, domes, loops of flying buttresses, the palace seemed to defy the base concepts of gravity or counterbalancing by using grace and elegance as it's replacement for both. Waterfalls tumbled from the outermost edges, cascading in the most brilliant sparkles of light from the yellowing afternoon light, a masterwork of architecture that he couldn't fully explain through conventional observation.

Maaaa-gic! Kirianna's thoughts were full of 'mystical' waving hands and a chuckle. You're probably right, you know. Of course I'm right, who's the brains of this outfit? Uhh... My point exactly. Stop it, you'll make me chuckle and they'll think I'm weirder than ever.

They'd travelled by train from about lunch time to get back to Ponyville, he'd spent a good hour touring around to drop off everypony's shopping and Rarity's luggage, and then came the chariots where he'd had to revert his transformation, again, just to fit in them. He was half tempted to just jump out and race ahead, the palace looked spectacular, and probably would be more-so if he could get a good view of the setting sun to silhouette it. Only good manners kept him in check, although he was fairly sure that the light misting of his wings about to form was already hazing over his back in anticipation. Well look at you, this going around in your real form thing is really getting to you. I'll be back to normal once I'm human again, until then we should enjoy it. Easy for you to say, you can still talk. Don't pout, the Transporter is never wrong.

Before his internal dialogue could stretch any further, and before his wings could come bursting from his back, they hove around the near side of the palace and found themselves looking down into a fantastic garden that stretched back over the valley beyond, complete with hedge maze, greenhouses and statuary all cast in sharp relief in the sunlight.

He felt the shift in balance even as the guards started to drop towards the lawns, Twilight's chariot pulling in first, his own second and Dash and Fluttershy's behind. It was a matter of moments to land, trundle to a quick stop and then hop free of the confines of the gilt-and-white transports.

"Thanks for the ride!" Dash zipped past them all and up into the air, free at last.

"Thank you sirs." Twilight bobbed her head in a quick bow of thanks and the pegasus guards all returned it before cantering their much-lightened chariots up to speed and neatly taking off again, probably to get a good meal and some shut-eye before their next shifts.

Those guys are sharp. Yeah, spotted me a mile away, I wonder how much they could guess? If you're trained well enough, you can spot it in others, and you've had a fair few more years than they have too. It's not hard to tell. My respect for these ponies just went up a notch. Or three.

"Princess Luna!" He heard Twilight exclaim and he turned in time to see the girls all taking a bow, down on one front knee, towards the palace.

They'd landed within easy reach of a set of broad steps, topped by an ornate doorway that now stood open. On these steps was... Wasn't expecting that...

The Princess, crown, torque and matching slippers giving the game away on that guess, stood tall and elegant, almost poised to move on. Her coat was a rich, night blue, her mane, easily the most startling feature about her as it wafted in some ephemeral breeze, barely seemed like hair at all, being filled with stars and edged in pale radiance, and her eyes were youthful, uncertain, and deep teal.

He bowed, as the girls were doing, to make sure he didn't appear rude, but couldn't help raising his head to take in some more details, because whatever his pony physiology had decided counted as good looking was firing off again and again; to his altered self, she was truly beautiful. You're hopeless... every girl, every time, you find something beautiful about them, why is that? Because you're - wait, does she have wings? Because she's definitely got a unicorn horn. So how does she have wings?

Alicorn... Well, strike me sideways. A real alicorn... wow... And either his thoughts had whizzed through all of these points in mere seconds, or Luna had paused for a rather long time before she spoke.

"Rise, Twilight, and your friends too please." Oh wow... now that's the voice of royalty, I really like her too... Again, fairy judgement of like versus dislike was not to be ignored, and his own quick study of her from before was agreeing strongly.

As he stood again, the midnight alicorn was making her way down the steps, gracefully and... yes, deliberately trying to keep her bearing regal, she looked quite young, despite her stature.

"And welcome to you, traveller. Twilight has given me cause to trust that you mean no harm in arriving here." She addressed him directly, the girls shifting slightly to see both of them without having to crane their necks.

"An honour to meet you, your highness," He ducked his head again, politely, Royalty wasn't exactly a foreign subject to an Englishman, "my name is Wind Chaser, I've been sent to your land to provide aid in any way I can, and this is my adventuring partner Kirianna." She hopped a little on his head to get her attention.

"Stars above," She exclaimed softly, eyes fixing on the green fuzzball, "but she is more than that... how has it come to pass that your soul resides in two places? How have you survived? How are you... still... whole?"

"It's... complicated, highness, but we are quite content as two as we were as one." He could formal with the best of them, if need be.

"Astounding..." She looked for a few moments more, obviously seeing what others could not, "In any case, I must not keep all of you standing in the gardens, I have had the servants set out a meal for thee, I mean you."

"Thank you, Princess," Twilight smiled, probably in relief that he hadn't done anything strange, maybe also because of the Princess' hasty amendment, "we'd love to join you."

They made their way inside in loose file, Twilight with the Princess, Pinkie bouncing back and forth, himself next, but he couldn't help overhearing the whispers behind him.

"Told ya that parasprite wasn't normal..."

"I knew from the off, dear."

"Ah thought he jus' had 'er trained or somethin'..."

"And what about that fancy talk? When'd he get all snooty?"

"It's called 'being polite', Rainbow Dash, you should look into it."

"Shucks Rarity, Ah'm polite, but that there was plain fancy."

He stopped long enough to raise an eyebrow over his shoulder at the three of them, twitched a smug grin to show he didn't mind, and carried on, leaving all three red faced at being caught talking behind their new friend's back.

* * *

"The situation is unclear, Twilight, but there are some facts." Luna sat back so that the servants could whisk the used tableware away now that they were finished. A tray full of silver vessels levitated into the centre of the group a few moments later, from which the vessels were distributed quickly and efficiently between the eight of them. I'm really liking magic here.

Chaser tried his and found it to be something halfway between rich coffee and hot chocolate in consistency, but sporting a light vanilla and cream taste to it. You absolutely have to find out how they make this, he hoofed the silver cup higher for her, letting her taste, you'd make a fortune if you could sell it... And think of the team! I wonder what it's made from...

"The first is that communication from my sister is highly limited, and I do not know if my return letters are even reaching her. The second is that she has made mention of wards around the capital, Fryst Eldi, that prevent most magics and limit the rest. Thou - uh - you may have noticed the afternoons lingering longer than they should and the mornings coming a little later, I fear that this is due to Celestia's limited access to her sun, and being unable to raise and lower it as speedily as she is used to."

"Wards strong enough to limit Princess Celestia? Is that possible?" Twilight sounded worried.

"It seems so. However that is not all. This arrived while you were on your journey here." A piece of parchment floated to the unicorn under a haze of blue magic.

"Beware the Mikil?" Twilight read, confused and a little skeptical, "The wolf will swallow the land whole or in pieces? Where did this come from?"

"It was passed to my attention from the guards. They tell me that it was a Deer, although they have no clue as to whence it came nor where it has gone. They said that the poor creature was extremely agitated, and would not stay to even ensure they passed on the message to me."

"Seems mighty suspicious t'me." Applejack tilted her hat down.

"It would be, with the exception that I have done extensive reading into the history of Equestria since my banishment. In the last century, four separate lands and species have spontaneously declared fealty to the Mikil Úlfur and his country, and now pay tribute to them in the form of goods and labourers. One of them, the most recent, is the land of the deer folk."

"Spontaneously? You're sure of that?" Chaser spoke up, surprising Twilight a little.

"There are no records that would indicate anything else, why do you ask?"

"I beg your pardon if I'm covering ground you have already gone over, but why has your sister gone to..." Fryst Eldi. "Fryst Eldi?"

"The úlfur are holding the ceremony that will crown a new Mikil Úlfur, and they have requested my sister as an official witness."

"And how often does this happen?"

"The ceremony? Every time a Mikil dies. This is the first time my sister has been invited, however."

"So... how many new Mikil's have there been in the last hundred years?"

"This will be the fifth."

"And tell me, were the other species that now send tribute to the úlfur also asked to send a representative to the ceremony?" Chaser asked, pointedly.

Luna's eyes flew wide open, and she stared at him as if he'd suggested she shave her coat off. Okay, can we play poker against her? Big Mac's was hard mode, Luna's easy mode with cheats enabled. Shut it, tart!

"Chaser? What are you getting at?"

"He is... suggesting that the... that the Mikil use these ceremonies to draw the leaders of each land away from their country and then force them into swearing fealty to the úlfur..." Her voice was deathly quiet.

"No, that's silly, what makes you say that, Chaser?"

"It's a pattern, Twilight, you might not see it at first, but power is a terrible temptation, especially power over others. I think these úlfur have found an easy way to gain more, and they plan on doing it again."

"Power over others? But I don't understand, why would anypony do that?" Twilight's naivety was cute, but Chaser kept his eyes on Luna as the Princess processed the idea.

"That is just it, Twilight," the alicorn eventually said, "they aren't ponies."

* * *

I tell you what, readers, I'm enjoying this now...

Well, I was before, but I'm really getting into the swing of things. Maybe this not-having-stuff-to-do is actually doing me some good in the old creative department... Who'da thunk?

In any case, I can't promise I'll keep updating at this speed, but for now, enjoy! Thanks for reading!

Chapter 8

Wind Chaser, Chapter 8.

In which many thoughts are contemplated.

I'm up to 8 chapters, and still rated over 4 Stars (okay, I know, I know, I've only been given 19 ratings, but still), over 2000 views too, although a hefty lot of those have been on just the one chapter... I've seen a lot of fics get treated far, far worse, I'm not sure what I'm doing right here, but I hope I keep doing it!

* * *

"C'mon girls, we have to-" Luna put a wing out to interrupt Twilight in her move for the door, "P-Princess?"

"I cannot allow you to go yet, Twilight." Luna's face was serious,

"But we-"

"Yet." Her teal eyes emphasised the point to the smaller pony.

"Yer Highness?" Applejack pressed for more explanation, which Luna gave without further need to hold Twilight back.

"We have suspicions, no matter how verifiable they might be. I would ask you to give me tonight to attempt again to contact my sister. If I cannot, or if I can and she confirms what we suspect, then you must try to reach her yourselves."

"I... understand, Princess. Of course." Twilight ducked her head, embarrassed, and Luna smiled a relieved smile, she'd been worried that her sister's student wouldn't listen to her as she would Celestia; especially after Nightmare Night.

"Your rooms here are still available, should you wish to get some rest, and I can arrange a suite for your friends. However, I wish to speak to your guest in private before he retires for the evening." The white earth pony inclined his head in silent assent, the little green parasprite watching her carefully.

"Ooh, a bath and bed would be just heavenly, thank you, your Highness." Rarity lashed on the emphasis, overdramatising the whole sentence as usual.

"We get to stay at the paa-laace, we get to stay at the paa-laace!" Pinkie sang, hopping to and fro, Twilight and the others ignored her and carried on as if she weren't there, a clever trick actually.

"Oh how wonderful," Fluttershy clapped, "I always wondered what it would be like to stay in a suite. As long as I'm not in anypony's way, the Princess did say a suite, I hope I'm not imposing, that would be awful..." All her confidence drained out of her in an instant.

"I'll summon a servant to show you the way." Luna offered, tugging a bell-pull next to the door.

Twilight felt the need to offer some moral support to their new friend before they left him alone, Princess Luna wasn't scary when you got to know her. "Don't worry, Chaser, the Princess probably just wants to talk about who you are and why you're here. She's not the kind of pony who'll lock you up for breaking the barriers of reality... wait, that didn't come out right..."

He laughed gently, "And don't you worry about me, I'm a big pony, I can handle a little interview well enough. Go get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning."

She smiled back and bid him goodnight, actually she was pretty sleepy after a long day of shopping and travel, and followed the politely silent butler that arrived to direct them to their bedrooms. When she looked back, the doors were already closed on the dining room.

* * *

"You can stop hiding yourself now." The look she gave him was direct, his form was surrounded by a faint haze to her eyes, that of a far larger pony overlaying the more solid form of the earth pony before her.

"Actually, I just couldn't fit in the chariot without doing this, I prefer not to be this way when I don't have to be." He closed his eyes and hers widened in exchange as he transformed right then and there.

"My stars, that is a truly marvellous feat, how do you accomplish it?" Luna looked him over, trying to analyse the changes that must have gone on in his body to account for so dramatic a difference. A pegasus, large and imposing, deep-chested and muscular too, despite the rather obvious fact that he must be light enough to fly.

"I was born this way, your Highness, I transformed just after puberty, and I can now switch back and forth whenever I wish. It's not a common thing, we actually keep our powers secret from the rest of our world, and back home I'm one of those tasked with enforcing that."

"So you are a guard, then?" She momentarily met his eyes for the question, he was obviously trying to distract her from her examination of him.

"As good a description as any." He confirmed, rather shortly.

"And these... wings?" She eyed them and he spread one obligingly.

"A byproduct of my powers. A few of my other powers didn't make it through the transition from my true form to this pony form, but the wings are the main part of them." He thought about it for a second, then snorted mildly, "I think I'd take walking on clouds and weather working over having my original talents, though."

"You are... a most unique being, Wind Chaser."

"Here maybe," he laughed, a lopsided grin tugging at his features, "back home I'm one of a set just like me."

"That wasn't my meaning." Truly, she thought, the way he stood, the way he talked and, more importantly, the way that Twilight Sparkle seemed to have befriended him after only a few short days... he wasn't the invading interloper she had expected.

"No, I guessed as much, but it's fun to tease, especially when I get to tease a Princess. Let's see, you're wondering why I'm here, but you're a little confused because you were expecting somepony who was here to make some kind of trouble, and now that I'm calmly talking to you, instead of running for the hills, you don't know what to think."

She blinked. That was...

"I've had this conversation a lot." He smiled that off-kilter smile again, "And what Twilight told you is absolutely true. That is, if she told you what I told her then it's true, if she left some things unclear, then I can explain a little further if you'd like."

"I... I..." She paused, his self confidence was a little... unsettling. Nopony besides Twilight had been this direct with her, even her sister took a more steering tone with their conversations. "Well, yes, there are one or two things."

She collected herself, and sat down on her comfortable chair at the head of the table, and nodded for him to sit as well. He took the chair to her right, turning himself to present an open and polite face to her.

"Both Twilight's letter, and your own words, indicate that you have no idea why you were sent here, is this true?"

"Not totally, I know why I was sent, but not the purpose of my presence. Let me explain, in my world my job is to seek out situations that need my intervention, because by the time the situation is reported by an outside source it's too late for my efforts to do more than contain the damage. Some very intelligent minds managed to invent a device that is... somehow aware of the world around it in ways we can't explain. Using it, they are able to send me, or others like me, to places where we'll be needed before the event happens, allowing us to watch the situation as it develops and take the best course of action. Now the twist is that the machine sometimes doesn't find a situation in need of my help within our world, and, well at first it was a shock, and now it's fairly routine, but it's capable of sending me outside of my world to help other worlds in the same way. And so," he paused, "here I am. Ready to help, and knowing that you'll need me, but only now beginning to see why."

She... understood. That was what surprised her most, the theory was bizarre, and outlandish, the idea that he had come here with foreknowledge of an event, but no knowledge of this world or what the event would be... But faced with his open explanation, and the honesty in his eyes, not to mention the powers he had displayed so readily, she could only conclude that he was telling the truth. More to the point, a truth that she now understood clearly as one of the more noble acts she had known.

"It's not nearly as impressive as I make it sound though. You could argue that, because I've been trained for it, and because I'm practiced at it, what would be impressive for anybody else is just the expected for me." He shrugged his wings expressively and tried to divert attention by dropping his gaze to the table.

"Being born with talents and being given gifts doesn't make you special, how you put them to use, or whether you put them to use at all, is what makes you special." She parroted her sister almost word for word on the advice she'd been given not a few months after her return to Equestria. Sure enough, they had the desired effect, her sister always did know the right thing to say.

He perked up, meeting her eyes with his rather recognisable smile making them sparkle with a hint of mischief, "Words from the heart there, hmm?"

She blushed a little at that, "Well, yes, my sister told me that."

"Sounds like she knows you quite well." His eyebrow twitched upwards on the opposite side to the quirk of his smile, a gentle teasing again, nopony had been this easy in her presence, not ever. Twilight and her sister were familiar, but the one was still her subject, and the other was still her older sister, it was... nice, to talk to somepony who honestly felt that he could talk to her like this, even if he still bowed and 'your highness'd her.

"I... I wouldn't still be here if it wasn't for her."

"The way I hear it, you're here because of a few other ponies as well." He pointed out mildly,

"Yes, yes you're right. Twilight and her fellow bearers of the Elements have done a lot for me."

He started to speak again, but a yawn started in place of words and he was forced to bite back on it, "Ahh, excuse me your Highness. I didn't sleep very comfortably last night. I was going to say-"

"Oh, no, I apologise. I've kept you overlong, you're tired from your journey." She actually felt embarrassed now, having kept him just to interrogate him like this. While she was having the equivalent of breakfast, the seven of her guests were having a late meal before retiring to bed, the difference in cycles was still a problem for her when dealing with her subjects.

"Please, don't worry about me, I'm used to keeping long hours. If you have any more questions I'll be happy to answer them." She could see the signs of tiredness on his face, now she was looking for them, but they didn't reach his eyes, which were oddly different, the yellow-gold colour looking metallic since his transformation.

She hesitated, "Well, there is one thing." but she didn't want to pry in case it was painful for him.

"There honestly isn't much you could say that I'll take badly, your Highness, go ahead." It was like he was reading her thoughts off the outside of her head...

"Your companion, Kirianna wasn't it? How did she..." She tailed off with no idea how to actually ask how this phenomenon could have occurred.

"Ahh, that story." Wind Chaser sat back with a smile, holding up a hoof for the parasprite to land on in full view, "Have you ever read legends or stories about fairies, your Highness? Little winged beings of magic who have old souls and childlike innocence towards the world around them?"

"I know of something similar, legends of flower ponies, the spirits of nature. They are tiny ponies who inhabit the wild places of the world and tend to the flowers and trees in our place, but they have never really been seen, even by myself or my sister, so whether they exist or not is a mystery."

"That's it exactly, the same kind of stories exist in my world about fairies. They take the form of tiny versions of my species, with wings like insects, be that butterflies or dragonflies or even beetles, and they tend to the wilds. Now, in the same way that I was sent here I was sent to a world where fairies were not only real, but where they were beings formed with exactly the same relationship as you see Kirianna and I have. Each to a person, and from birth apparently."

"A world where ponies live with part of their soul exposed to the world? How strange..." It sounded a little frightening, actually,

"Well it wasn't for them, although I certainly found it strange myself. I was unconscious when I arrived, and Kirianna woke me up. I don't know how she was formed, or why she took the form she did, in my world she looks very similar to my half-sister, except she has my eyes and she's only four-inches tall. I'm sorry that you can't talk to her for yourself, actually, she can be charming when she puts her mind to it. Hey!" This last was to Kirianna herself as the parasprite zipped backwards without looking and bonked him straight on the end of the nose. When she landed, this time on the table, she somehow managed to look like she was sticking her nose up in the air.

Luna couldn't help it, the sight of him rubbing his nose, eyes shooting daggers at the tiny creature, as she stood on her tiny legs and put all her energy into looking offended... she laughed out loud.

Chaser winced as he realised he'd been stupid in front of royalty, but moments later he was laughing too. Kirianna maintained her 'offended' pose for a moment or two longer, making them both laugh even louder, before she broke and buzzed through the air, smiling happily.

It took them a while to calm down, but when they did Wind Chaser spoke first, "Princess, I hope you do manage to talk to your sister, I really hope that the reason I'm here is something that doesn't put her in danger."

"I do too, however, I fear the worst and that she's being held against her will. And I fear that I will ask Twilight and her friends to go to her rescue, while I must stay here and look after the land." She sighed, imagining the six brave young ponies off on yet another dangerous quest.

"And me." He interrupted her thoughts gently,

"Yes, and you." She thought of something, "Though I'm not sure whether I need to worry about you or not."

He snorted a little at that, "Not, definitely not, I've got too many people that worry about me for no reason. But I meant that I'll be going with them, and I'll keep an eye on them. It's what I'm here for, I think, to make sure they're safe."

"You're certain?" The thought was a comfort, somewhat,

"Mostly. Although there could be more to it than just escorting them to distant lands. I have a few talents, and it may be those that are needed instead. There's another thing, though, that you could make use of if necessary." His eyes met hers, very seriously.

"Go on." She prompted.

"I'm not one of your ponies." He stated it very calmly.

"Well that's more than obvious from this conversation alone." She smirked a little, not sure why he was getting so serious.

"Think about it. I'm not subject to you, or even this world, and if necessary I can do the things that you, or your ponies, can't do. Such as cross borders, rescue a captive princess, enrage an entire nation and then vanish without a trace? So you can, if you need to, blame everything on me, make me a public enemy, put out an arrest warrant or even offer a reward for my capture, because I can leave this entire universe to escape them. I'm your political get-out-of-jail clause, in case these úlfur decide to take action after we foil their plans."

"You would do that? You would be named our enemy to protect others?"

His smile quirked again, at long last, "In a heartbeat. It's what I'm here for."

Whatever she had expected of this pony, whatever it had been that she'd feared or suspected him of, all of it was blown away in the honesty of that simple answer.

"But let's hope it doesn't come to that, I might want to come back and visit sometime afterall." And this time it was a grin.

* * *

You're sure that this rescue thing isn't the real reason we're here? Fairly positive.

The serving pony, dressed in carefully ironed jacket, shirt and bow-tie, his cutie mark a silver tray with a teacup on it, walked a pace to the side of him and ahead by a nose to escort him to his guest bedroom.

I dunno, this whole trip seems kinda... nice. Hard to imagine something worse than a kidnapping here. But that's just it, isn't it? We actually can. We don't want to though, because this place is so nice. What am I missing about this?

Passing down a long corridor marked by very few doors, they passed one that emanated giggling and conversation. A moment after they did, however, it opened and disgorged one Twilight Sparkle.

You're missing... the teeth. This is a move with teeth in it. They've moved the Princess into their jaws, holding her hostage, and so they must have teeth to prevent her from being rescued, or... To bite us with if we don't give them what they want... Scary thought.

"Oh, Wind Chaser!" Twilight cantered to catch up, "How'd it go? You were in there a while."

Chaser used Charm it's- Shut it, tart! You're about as subtle as a half-brick to the face. At least I don't look like I've already had one to my face.

Chaser waved a casual hoof and 'accidentally' brushed Kirianna from the air into the foliage of a nearby pot-plant, "Actually it went quite well." He answered Twilight, the mental conversation not taking as long as it did to describe.

Twilight looked between him and the angrily buzzing parasprite, unsure whether to laugh or scold him, "Did she say anything?"

"Oh yes, lots of things." His eyes twinkled with mischief.

She waited for him to elaborate, but he kept up the teasing look until she prompted him, "Like what?"

"That'd be telling." His suppressed grin got more pronounced.

"Chaseeer!" She whined, catching on to his little game,

"Sorry, couldn't resist. But no, don't worry Twilight, the Princess just wanted to know exactly what you said she did. Why I was here, and a little more about me in general. Although she did make it clear that if you six are going on a mission to far off lands, I'm going with you. As if you didn't already know." His expression dropped into companionable honesty, and she smiled back at him.

Aww, lookit her all adorable... Ponies seem to have that effect, don't they? I just want to cuddle the heck out of her. You do and I'll give you such a pinch.

Touching other people was bad for beings like Kirianna, there were a few universes where their odd connection to, or more specifically, separation from each other was mimicked by the people there. In all of them it was common knowledge; you did not touch another person's companion. Your companion was a hardwired line to your soul, so while your partners could touch, or fight or hold another person's partner... the deeply personal connection that physically touching another's soul brought? Was simply too much. You didn't do it.

And I joke about it because it makes you shiver. You are such a tart. And I have fun with it!

"Your room, sir." Their prim escort announced into the pause of conversation.

"Thank you, your service has been superb this evening." As Chaser recalled, he'd helped serve them their meal too, royal servants were a credit to their training.

"Will you be needing anything else tonight? If you wish to tour your guest room, I shall be happy to show you around." Compliments get you everywhere with hired help, Chaser could see the slight lift in the pony's eyes that showed he appreciated it at least.

"No, thank you though. Unless Miss Sparkle needs anything?" He made it a question for her.

"Me? No, thank you," She seemed embarrassed, "I know my way to my old room, that's no trouble at all."

"Then no." Chaser confirmed to their guide, "Oh, but there is one thing, if you could. The Princess may wish to see us in the morning, could you arrange for a wake-up call around dawn for myself and the ladies?"

"Of course, sir, I shall send somepony around." He bowed his head formally and bid them both goodnight before turning to trot down the hallway.

"A very nice pony, that one." Chaser said to Twilight, knowing the servant was still in earshot, "Anyway, I thought I told you to get some rest?"

"You try getting some rest while Rainbow Dash and Applejack start a pillow fight." She chuckled wryly, "And Pinkie's singing too..."

"I can imagine. Now, go get some sleep, that dawn wake-up call wasn't joke." He grinned at her

She groaned a little, but then said goodnight and trotted down the hallway herself. He waited until his manners said he wasn't shutting the door in her face, but then gave in to his curiosity and went to explore his room.

Royal guest rooms are best guest rooms... No kidding...

Now, he hadn't been joking when he told the Princess that he was used to long hours, point of fact he'd been known to go for weeks on random catnaps alone when on a mission, but that didn't mean he would take a... deliciously soft bed for granted.

His front hooves bounced a few times on it, admiring the quality without ruining the effect of the pristine sheets. There was a complete en-suite and the bed itself was half sectioned off from the main room so that you could, if you wanted, have a guest or two in your guest bedroom. Don't say a word, Kiri, I know, okay?

Me? Comment about having guests in your guest room? What would that matter? It's just that you could have guests while you guest, it's not like you'd have a situation where your guest would bring another guest... I mean, that would be ridiculous, because then your guest would guest while you guest while you guest! I will get you for that, tart, somehow, somewhere, I will get you. Be careful around tennis courts, because someday you'll know the true meaning of 'be the ball'.

It's how I know you love me. His brain was suddenly full of puppy-dog faces, anime eyes and visions of every girl he ever knew giving him the same look. He couldn't stay angry under that kind of assault! Good, now, back to business.

He took a quick shower, to appreciate the beautiful workmanship while relaxing, and Kirianna prattled off the points in his head.

First off, let's review; missing princess, race of wolves that have captured her, four different countries have signed over their allegiance to these wolves in short order. All of those countries have signed over said allegiance after their rulers attended this same ceremony that Princess Celestia is now attending. So we know the set-up, and it's only by us being here that the ponies even contemplated the idea of ransom and hostile take-over before it happened to them.

He dried himself by shifting back and forth between his earth pony and pegasus forms a few times, effectively blow-drying his coat from every angle, and then braced a towel against the floor with his hooves, ducked his head under it and used the tension to towel his mane dry. His tail he whipped around to shake off the water inside the steamy bathroom before shaking it mostly dry and leaving it alone.

Very nice, can we move on? He rolled his eyes. What we don't know are two things, the first is whether these wolves will put up a fight, or just stall us with politics until they get what they want. The second is what they're actually going to use to threaten an entire country to get the Princess to agree. From what we know of the Princess, she's a tough cookie and the only threat to her is a threat to her subjects.

I think we'd notice an army, but... they don't seem to have weapons of, well, any kind but their natural ones. The guards might have something, but when you have magic, and pegasus ponies, you've kind of already covered most of the major weaknesses they'd have had to overcome in history. Also, have you noticed? No power resources. No desperation for fuel, food, water, land... there's no necessity that a pony lacks, as far as I can see. Their poor are... well... not, by our standards.

Actually, that's all the more reason for there to be an army coming, a well trained force could bull through any defense the ponies manage to raise and seize... seize control of Equestria by taking the capital... There came a moment of horrifying realisation, Oh Nick... they're going to attack the palace and capture Princess Luna as well! With the two of them under control, they can dictate terms of surrender however they wish...

Don't panic. He headed those thoughts off at the pass, I'm not panicking! We've just got to keep our eyes open. Well, not literally, I'm going to sleep, but if we're fast enough we can get over the border, rescue the missing Princess, and be back here before they have time to launch an attack on the Princess still here.

You're right... there's no sign of an attack out there, and Princess Luna may be able to contact her sister tonight... why don't I feel reassured though?

Because we're the only ones here who know how badly this could really go. Yeah... But we're here now, and this is a world worth saving. This world is worth protecting. Nothing this pure should be darkened by the cruelty of others, and even if I have to make it so we can never return, I'll never let that happen.

It's a promise then. This I choose to do.

* * *

"Wake up." His brother's blue eyes fluttered once, and opened a moment later, awakened quickly and easily by absorbing a little thunder energy from the nest of dark clouds he lay in.

"Three days, brother, three. When do we move?" Fuujin hissed in complaint as he stretched his muscles.

Raijin's yellow gaze met his, and his question was answered.

"We have received orders?"

"The ceremony is tomorrow, their Princess will be confined in the arena, beneath the wards and protections it holds, she will be helpless. We move now, and by mid-morning tomorrow, we will bring Canterlot to its knees."

With howls that rang through the sky, the city killing storm began to move.

* * *

Fun times, I'm really finding this a lot easier to write now, it's so nice to have the end and the actions clear in my head for a change (I start every story I come up with by winging it with the start, and developing the true nature of it afterwards, this one's no different... except that I worked out the true nature of it almost immediately, and now it's flowing like water in my head)!

Thanks again for reading this far, I say that a lot, but it's still a surprise to me that people are reading in the first place.

Onwards and upwards!

Chapter 10

Wind Chaser, Chapter 10

In which things could have gone better.

Welp, I'm back on the regular job madness, so writing this will be slow. There's probably going to be about fifty different changes in the world and my status from now until the end of the chapter, so... I'll just get on with what I can. My EQD submission is getting closer... I'm nervous...

* * *

"Stop fidgeting." Chaser told the gagged and bound Athelgeir, "If your Regent comes through, then I really will let you go, I don't like taking hostages. But it's you, or an entire population of innocent ponies, and I'd rather threaten you than let you do it to them."

Even if he's as strong as you, he's not getting out of there, you know. Let's go! Dash- I know! It's taking all I have to not go after the stupid girl already...

There was a long pause from her, That really shook you up, huh?

I... just didn't expect it. In her defense- Yeah, I know that too, she probably has no idea how much what she said hurts. She's got the emotional sensitivity of a rubber chicken, and I know not everybody thinks about stuff the way I do. So why are you- Because I meant what I said! Even though he was only thinking it, he was breathing a bit unevenly after that little emotional display.

Oh... Yes, 'Oh', he thought to himself. She knew what he meant, how couldn't she when she was linked to his very soul? Had things been different, had there not been someone waiting for him at home, there were any number of worlds where he would have settled down. And when he'd been on that beach before, if there weren't already someone else holding his heart in their hands, somebody he needed to return to to feel whole again, he would have kissed Dash that night and never looked back. Earth would have had to get by without him.

Why are you standing here then? Go find her! The last thing you need on your conscience is her getting hurt because you were too whiney to go help her! Do you see me whining? He snapped the thought at her, tinged with irritation. That's better! Snappy Chaser is way better than emotional, girly Chaser. And go back to using 'somepony' in your head, you'll forget yourself next time you're talking.

He rolled his eyes. She was right, naturally. She was only telling him what he already knew. But sometimes... Hesitating! Shut it, tart, I'm thinking. Could'a fooled me.

"You." He got his captive's attention. "Don't move. If I find you've escaped when I get back, there's nowhere you can run far or fast enough to get away. I will be back, and if your Regent has kept his word you'll go free, understand? Nod for me."

The trussed up úlfur glared, but nodded slowly nonetheless.

"You can kill me later, I'll take you on fair and square next time, no surprise attacks. But right now, I've got a friend to find." He tugged the make-shift hobble/gag combo a little to make sure it was tight, before leaping into the sky.

* * *

Twilight looked back over her shoulder, the storm clouds were amazingly concentrated... they'd managed to move out of its path in less than half an hour of running. And they'd been going nearly another twenty minutes since then.

They could have taken one of the chariots, but one was too small to fit more than two of them, and since Applejack was the only one of them that wouldn't collapse after a few miles of pulling, it was easier to leave them.

It was tempting now to stop and watch for a while, she was sure that, any minute now, the whole thing would start to break up, or burst apart, with Rainbow Dash and Wind Chaser posing dramatically in the middle of things.

Any longer than this, though... she was already starting to worry about them.

"Can we... Can we..." Rarity was puffing from exertion, "Can we please... stop for... a minute?"

Aside from Applejack, the rest of them were in pretty much the same state, she slowed and then stopped, the others drawing up around her. It was a minute before she could even speak, galloping at full stretch for that long was the most excercise she'd done. Ever. Sure she was a lot better off than she would have been a year or so ago, the Nightmare Moon incident had been a wake-up call for how unfit she actually was at the time, since then there had been plenty of times that had brought her muscles into steadily more and more use... Before coming to Ponyville a gallop like this wouldn't have been physically possible for her.

She raised her head and watched the humongous cloud formation, looking dark as a cave underneath but for the jagged blue light it walked on. Her friends were in there... somewhere...

"Ya think they're okay in there?" AJ voiced the question they were all thinking.

"I hope so." She replied, trying to make out details from this distance.

"They'll be fine, silly filly," Pinkie pulled them both to her sides in a hug, "Dashie's the best young flyer, and the best weather pony I've ever met!"

"And, um, Wind Chaser said he'd bring her back safely." Fluttershy's huge eyes were scanning back and forth over the airborne edifice.

"That's right, and Wind Chaser's the most super pegasus from another world I've ever met too! Well, he's also the only pegasus from another world I've ever met, and he's also an earth pony and, ooh... whatever, he's nice, and Dashie likes him, so I like him too. I don't like him like Dashie likes him, because that would be super awkward, but I think we're gonna be good friends. And when they get back we can throw them a party!"

"You're right, my dear, they'll be fine." Rarity's agreed quickly, cutting Pinkie's next sentence off before it could begin. It had the right effect though, and the party pony hugged her friends tighter.

"What's that?" Twilight thought she saw a flash of something magical, right down at the front of the mountain of cloud.

"What's what?" Pinkie craned forward, she looked at the right spot in time to see a waft of smoke rise from it. At this distance it looked tiny, like the little streamer of smoke you'd get from a tea-light candle when you blew it out. But if you looked at the trees near it, the scale was easier to guess and the smoke must have been thirty feet into the air.

It lasted no longer than the haze from a snuffed candle, too, gone in a moment or so. But next thing they saw, a few minutes later, was a streak of white shoot up from the spot and head underneath the edifice of vapour and lightning.

"That was Wind Chaser, had to be!" She found herself smiling, he had been flying fast, so he couldn't be hurt, and if he was okay then Dash was too.

"Hoo-wee, tha's a load off mah mind. An' look! There's Dash!"

"Oh yes! There she is!" Rarity cheered.

Sure enough a rainbow contrail looped high out of somewhere near the top of the towering pile, turned in a broad arc, and dived back down inside again at a different angle.

"Thank goodness," Fluttershy breathed,

"Yeah! Go Dashie! Go Chaser! You da ponies!" Pinkie bounced and waved a pair of pom-poms she'd pulled from... wait... she wasn't wearing saddlebags, where in the hay did she...? Nevermind.

"Hey, Ah know Chaser said t'get as far as we could, but... this is som'thin' Ah gotta see." Applejack seemed to be shifting from hoof to hoof, as if desire to stay and desire to go were warring with each other.

"Go Dashie! Go Chaser! Go Dashie! Go Chaser!"

To be honest, she thought so too, she'd never seen anypony, not even Dash, take on something like this. It wasn't just concern for her friends that made her want to stay, it was the curiosity about whether it could even be done.

"We're far out of the way here, darling, we could stand to at least see them succeed. They'll catch us up easier this way too." Rarity's voice sounded like she was half convincing herself of the idea.

"Go Dashie! Go Chaser! Go Dashie! Go Chaser!"

"I, um... I would... could we stay and watch? If that's... okay?" Fluttershy hid behind her mane a little.

"Go Dashie! Go Chaser! Go Da-gllmp!"

"Fine, we'll wait here for them." she agreed, ignoring the sound of somepony smothering Pinkie behind her, secretly happy that her friends had 'talked her into it'.

* * *

It was definitely darker under here now. The sun had risen further and its warmth now vanished as the rays couldn't spread underneath the threatening ceiling.

The vortex at the core of the storm still spun lazily, or so it seemed, the thing was so huge that it looked that way anyway. Around it wind-speeds were gusting to bone-breaking speeds, too fast to even hope of flying into; if she wanted to keep her wings on her body that is.

She couldn't focus on Chaser right now, whatever he wanted to do, she was going through with this. But... she hoped he was following. Something about the way he'd tried to talk her into coming with him... no! She needed to stay on the job. This was weather working, and he knew nothing about it.

Up... she had to go up, in from the top where the air was thin and she'd have the mass to push through.

A lot of weather theory passed over her head when other ponies talked about it, you weren't supposed to work it out on paper, you weren't supposed to make silly equations about it, weather working was something that you felt in the flex of your pinions and the pit of your stomach.

She barrelled up into the Rub, and then pushed through the underlayer of the clouds before any lightning could focus on her. It was like plowing through cotton candy, except it never bunched up, just tore. A moment or so later, she hit a... well it was a space.

There shouldn't be space here, the clouds were so compressed around the vortex there shouldn't be anything out here but cloud.

Looking around though... her entire idea of what a storm should be within was turned upside-down. The whole thing was hollow!

Like a massive dome, the clouds formed a chamber of immense size that, itself, was full of sparking discharge like a second Rub zone. It was pierced right through the center by a pillar of air and sunlight, the vortex, but it just... boggled the mind. Everything else was a sculpted landscape, ridges, arches and spiraling shapes of cloud formed a vast three-dimensional carpet of texture around the floor and walls, and it was the tips of these shapes that sparked lightning from one to the other.

There was no way to safely fly across the middle, not with the gale-force winds in there, and the lightning made straight lines nearly impossible, safest way to go up was around the walls.

She set off, no point wasting time gawping. Weaving around the cloudscape pillars, towers and arches was a challenge, in a good way, to her acrobatics. The shapes were irregular, the distances deceiving, the whole trip was like an extreme obstacle course from flight camp.

That haunting moan from before came drifting across the inside of the storm, lightning crackles making it distort, but it was far clearer than it had been. Lightning flickered in the arches ahead of her, and suddenly the entire area around her lit up in flashes of electricity. It pulled her up short, the gap between two pillars she'd been about to take had started arcing with flashes and hadn't stopped.

Another low-toned moan, or that's what it sounded like, and lightning flickered again. The noise and the lightning... There was no way they weren't linked.

"Gah!" She actually yelled out loud, lightning was sparking all around her now, above and below since she was half-way up the 'wall' of this place. She had no idea how she wasn't being hit by anything, but the bolts seemed to be happy enough arcing between the cloud shapes, and she was happy to let them not instantly roast her.

Another moan... louder now, and a lot clearer. Looking around for the source of it, since she couldn't well move anywhere else, she spotted movement.

Two shapes were galloping - sort of - through the air on the other side of this weird dome, they were off at a tangent to the vortex, but they seemed to be heading right for it. They leapt into the outside edge, to be whipped around the other side of it from her, one huge swing around. Then she hovered, wide-eyed, as they slingshot themselves off the gigantic pillar of current and into a huge leap straight at her!

Closer, and closer, they hurtled as fast as a flying pegasus, but they didn't have wings. And now it was all too clear what they were; wolves! Úlfur! They were hurtling dead at her, up and up and up, then arcing down in a shallow dive right at the easy target she must have made sitting here ringed by lightning.

She flinched... and a flash of light with the static crack of electricity filled the air with ozone. There were no arcs of lightning left, she was free, technically. But there they were.

Two huge beasts, standing easily half again as tall as she was, shaggy furred, glowing eyed, fanged and panting slowly. They were wearing ragged cloaks, layers of them in a floating, shifting mass behind their shoulders, defying gravity in the same way that the royal princesses' hair flowed in a wind that wasn't there.

"What do we have here, brother?" She stared, he sounded... nice. How in the great wide world of hay did he sound nice?! He was a wolf, his 'brother' there was growling at her, and he sounded like the kind of guy she could meet in Ponyville high street!

The other wolf was growling, deep and low. He stopped long enough to mutter something she couldn't hear, but the first spoke up again quickly.

"Pegasus ponies don't do well in úlfur stormclouds, you want to turn around and head straight out of here little morsel," It was like he was telling her not to step on a flower bed, "before I let Raijin eat you."

Now he grinned, he grinned a whole mouth full of sharp fangs. Raijin did the same, and she froze, wings locking in fright and her hooves touching down on the weird spiral cloud beneath her.

Come on! They weren't so scary! Say something! "Y-you don't s-scare me!" Oh crud...

The first wolf laughed, and Raijin stopped growling long enough to look around to figure out who she could be talking to, before giving her a tilted-head look of sarcasm.

"I say we eat her Fuujin, she's made it this far, it'd only be a fitting reward for her hard work."

Eat... her...?

"No, no," Fuujin laughed, "we can't spoil it for Athelgeir. But afterwards I say we find this one again and play with her a little bit."

They leered at her. She'd never been leered at like that before, not with teeth in it... Oh Celestia she was in trouble now...

"How about we play a little game right now?" Raijin's yellow eyes narrowed at her.

"What do you suggest?" His brother also looked at Dash with a calculating gaze,

"I give her to the count of five, she runs, we chase. If we catch her, she's ours and we eat her!" Raijin's tongue lolled out of his mouth as his grin stretched wide, far wider than any grin even Pinkie could pull off, because hers didn't have canines.

"And if we don't? Let's be fair, brother. How about if we don't catch her, she gets to go free and we wait for a year before trying to find her again?"

"Six months!" Raijin bartered,

"Done." Fuujin turned his attention back to the trembling pegasus, "Understand, little morsel? You run away, we chase. We catch you, we eat you. But, if we don't catch you, you go free and have a whole six months head-start before we chase you again."

Dash felt her wings trying to rise, she had to get away, she had to! But... She looked past them, the vortex in the center... if she could just get inside, they wouldn't be able to reach her in time to stop her, she could escape them and still fix this.

"Five..." Raijin began, tongue slipping back out to loll to one side again.

She squeeked. The Dash didn't squeek! But that had startled her. Think! Think Dash, think! How to get away, how to get away...

"Four..." The wolf licked his lips,

"Better fly, little pony." Fuujin warned her, also cleaning his lips with his broad tongue.

She didn't stop to hear 'three', she was gone. She shot past them, straight out and away, but pulled a tight turn and headed right back at them.

This was a gamble, but she liked gambles. Those wolves didn't have wings, so they might not be able to do this... Fuujin and Raijin leapt aside as she careened between them and... punched into the clouds, powering a hole through into the depths of them.

There was an enraged howl behind her, and she knew she'd done something right. If they didn't have wings, they wouldn't be able to power through clouds like she could! If they had to run, they'd be long behind her when she got out and...

Sweet Celestia, that's good... She broke into clear air.

More howls drifted up after her, and she arced over to see whether she'd been right or not... sure enough, there was no sign of them.

Well then... Why don't we turn this into an even better game? She grinned with newfound confidence, and shot back towards the clouds, higher up than she had been and at a different angle. The wind was a bit of a problem, even up here, but it wasn't like she was aiming for anywhere special.

A moment later, she hit the clouds like a stone through water.

* * *

"Are you alright, your Higness?" Her guard captain asked her, trying to stand at attention, despite the obvious pain in his fore-hoof.

"I'm fine, Captain, your guards deserve much praise for holding out as long as you did." Celestia tried to staunch his wounded pride, at the least.

"No, your highness, we failed. But now that we are here, and they must come in to get to us, we will protect you to the last pony." His eyes betrayed none of the emotions that must be swirling inside him.

Celestia looked around the rather airy cage. For a cage it was, lowered into place over them in the middle of the arena, where the damping spells were strongest. The bars were thin, but they weren't meant to be un-breakable, just something to give the guards enough warning of an escape, and the whole effect was of a square bird-cage.

Four úlfur approached the cage door, dragging something between them... it was her wounded guard, the pony who had been unconscious since his own run-in with the wolves. By the loud groan when they threw him in through the door, he was awake at last.

They looked at him silently, letting two of his comrades help him up gingerly, and his eyes panned around the cage slowly, settling at last on the sandy, icey floor below.

"They really did it then..." He muttered to nopony in particular.

"Yes, they did." Celestia felt it her duty to answer this one, to hear the Regent tell it, he had conducted himself with nothing short of heroic valour, outnumbered and surprised. The report of his words before his collapse made sense now too. "They have captured us all, and they move against our homeland, against my sister, even now."

The guards around her looked at their hooves, all trace of military decorum fading in the midst of their despair.

"There is hope, however." She tried to draw them all up, it was her role as their ruler to provide guidance when they could not find it, and by the sun itself she was going to guide them to their former confidence if she had to talk herself hoarse to do it.

"Hope? You mean that pegasus, your Highness?" somepony asked from among them.

"Yes. As long as even one individual still protects Equestria from harm, there will be hope." She paused, then let herself give a little laugh, "Besides, I don't think that 'young lord Athelgeir' is going to be in the mood for conquering anywhere for a while."

The guardsponies returned her light-hearted chuckle a little tentatively, "It was pretty funny..." one of them actually smiled.

"Can somepony fill me in? What's the joke?" Her shaky guard looked around, curiously, especially at the up-swing in mood.

"Oh you should have seen it... big pegasus took out their guy right in front of the whole arena, threatened to geld him if the Regent didn't do something to stop it."

"No way...?" His eyebrows shot up under the rim of his helmet, this was the best news he'd heard all week.

"Yeah," another joined in, "they had the whole thing projected up on the ceiling, like we were right there next to the guy, the one who was going to be the Mikill thingy." Celestia smirked at 'mikill thingy', "He was going on and on about how he could see Canterlot and how the guards were running scared, as if! Then suddenly wham! we can't see anything at all, it's all white, and this guy yells 'Greetings! These are my hooves!' Next thing we know, the wolf guy's been trussed up like a rodeo cow and this pegasus is yelling at the Regent through the ceiling."

There was no need to steer them on any more, Celestia realised, her guards were fine. As soon as they had something to laugh about, they became their old selves again and conversation started flowing freely all around her.

Just a little hope. That's all it took.

* * *

She blasted into the central chamber again, higher than ever. Every time she was somewhere the wolves weren't, too far away, too fast, too low or too high.

It really was a game! She was flying circles around them and they didn't know what to think, let alone what to do! Oh, if Chaser could see her now!

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Chaser doesn't care! If he cared, he'd be here!

A wolf was on her tail, so she dived into the vortex and let it spin her around and out towards another wall. Best bit about this, the wolves couldn't turn on the lightning, or so it seemed. They didn't want to fry her, they wanted to catch her! So here she was flying in and out, and all they could do was play catch-up. Soon enough she'd have them running to one corner of the clouds before she dove into the very top of the vortex. It'd be cold up there, but not so cold that she wouldn't be able to stand it long enough to dive down again. And there'd be no way for them to stop her!

Just one more pass and... A howl shuddered from across the inner space and the whole wall ahead of her lit up with arc lightning!

She pulled up and turned to head another way, another howl, another wall of light greeted her. Again, she hauled herself into a turn.

"Such a shame, little morsel." She shrieked and dived, he had been right next to her!!

"You could have run!" The other was right there!

She threw herself into the vortex and pulled up as hard as she could, but she could see them both watching her as she sped around the other side, eyes watering. She slid out of the outer jet-winds, feathers a little ruffled even this far out from the core.

They were watching her, standing still in mid-air. Half way up, half way across, and half way around the vortex on either side from her.

She turned left. She turned right... Then she flew for the wall again, and they howled. The lattice of strange shapes lit up in crackles and snaps of pure power. Turning... they were almost on her! On either side, closing in, either one of them could start bounding forward any time and even if she was quick, she'd only escape one to run straight to the other's jaws.

She backed up, slowly, further and further towards the wall full of lightning behind her. She was near the bottom of the space, the wall curving under her, and the úlfur were closing in from both sides above.

"Come to us, little morsel. Come and become ours..." The wolf on her left had glowing blue eyes, literally alive with some kind of energy.

"You lose." The other had glowing yellow, twin lamps of malice that lit his muzzle from behind.

She couldn't speak, could hardly breathe... Lightning behind her, teeth in front of her...

Teeth... Teeth... TEETH!!

Her heart was pounding a mile a minute, and then... everything stopped.

An enormous roar of anger and pain, trailing pure power and dazzling white energy, erupted from above her. One second she was staring at her death, the next both wolves were engulfed in the torrent of screaming, dazzling white.

The lightning shut off like a fire doused with a bucket of mud, just a wet sizzle and the smell of something burning.

It was a moment she'd remember for the rest of her life. She would wake at night, screaming from fear of teeth and death and then remember that pillar of crackling fire that smashed it away from her. She'd remember the roar of it, a battle cry, a scream of pain. She'd try, again and again, to make out a shape in her mind, something that would have given her a clue as to what she was seeing before it ended. And even with hindsight, the details forever remained unclear.

Below her now, in a crater that once had been a tower of cloud shapes, the wolves struggled to rise, only they couldn't, they were being held at bay by...

"CHASER!!" She screamed his name like a drowning pony sighting a life boat cresting the waves towards her.

"FLY YOU IDIOT!" He roared over his shoulder at her, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

She stared, his whole body was smoking, sizzling even, and his coat was pock-marked with red-raw flesh. His wings were pressed, leading edge down, into Fuujin and Raijin's chests as he pinned the two wolves to the floor. A floor which was giving and bending around them as she watched.

A buzzing shape interrupted her vision, distracting her, Kirianna, the green ball of fluff, was making emphatic movements in front of her. Following the parasprite's insistent darts, she saw a hole in the clouds behind her, must have been where Chaser came in, it led downwards and away. A perfect escape, ready made.

"But..." She turned and stared back down. Chaser was losing ground against the two wolves, his wings weren't moving, but the two crazed úlfur were biting and scratching with all their might. While they weren't hurting the un-singed pinions, every time one hooked a claw into his coat, it drew blood. He lost his footing for a moment as a kicking hind-leg caught the raw flesh on his flank.

But he wasn't looking at the wolves, he was looking back at her. Kirianna's teeth found her flank and Dash jolted, glaring at the little creature, but the parasprite just flew in close and grabbed the red tips of her spiky fringe and pulled, trying to tug her along.

"Lemmego!" Dash flicked her head and turned back to Chaser, who was still watching her over his shoulder. Everything his gaze told her said she should go, but what about him? What was he going to do against these two wolves on his own? "Chaser!" She shouted again, hesitating right on the edge of the tunnel through the clouds.

"I SAID GO!!" His voice cracked at her like a whip, and the last thing she saw as she turned tail and hurled herself into the hole he'd made was his desperate face as he reared back to stomp on the struggling úlfur.

* * *

Huh... and you thought the last chapter was a cliff-hanger...

I am so excited... the talented HeWhoErasesMost has agreed to save my embarrassment and do the cover art for my little story here! Go to his page! Give him love for me, I'm so, so very happy I could hug the crazy artist if I could!

Until next time.

Chapter 11

Wind Chaser, chapter 11.

In which consequences are levied.

Crikey, with only my word-of-mouth advertising (not up on EQD or even linked in that many places) I've hit over 3,000 views... thankyou readers!! Loads of love to all of you.

* * *

Watching Dash had been amazing, she was so fast! Those arcing paths, in and out of the clouds, must have been to do with destabilising the storm, but they were amazing just for themselves.

Beside her, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy were all cheering her on. That was the Rainbow Dash they knew! She watched a particularly big loop, and cheered her on too.

Then they waited for the next step. Dash stayed inside this time, she didn't come flying out at another angle. That must mean her plan was nearly done, and the clouds were going to break apart any minute.

"Any... minute..." She murmured,

"Yeah, any minute now..." Applejack agreed.

"Hey... that's an odd one..." Pinkie twitched a little, "hoof-shake, hindleg twitch, bounce twice... Somepony's gonna get hit by lightning!"

"WHAT?!" All four of them demanded together, staring at her.

"Oh no!" Pinkie realised what she'd said, "Somepony's gonna get hit by lightning!"

"Dash!" Applejack jerked her head back around to stare,

"Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease, this is the first time I've really wanted to be wrong..." She twitched and bounced again, "No! No-no-no!" She begged nopony in particular.

They watched the storm, but lightning was flashing all over the place anyway, how could they tell?

"It's gone!" Pinkie yelled,

"Whaddya mean 'gone'?!" AJ demanded of her,

"It's happened! It really happened! Oh no..!" The pink pony's back legs gave out, and she plumped down onto her plot, still staring at the storm.

"No..." Twilight tried to deny it, but she knew Pinkie sense worked... She turned to stare again as well.

"Wait! Look! There!" An orange hoof pointed hard, Dash's rainbow contrail looped around the far side of the storm, low to the ground and upwards. "She's okay!"

There was a collective jump of relief and happiness, but then...

"But... that means..." Fluttershy was the one to say it, but couldn't go on.

"Wind Chaser..." Rarity couldn't say it either.

"No!" Twilight denied this one with a shout, both her friends were okay. There was no way she'd let the girls start thinking anything else. "Wind Chaser's fine. He's got powers, remember? He's got wings that can't be hurt and... and..." She tailed off.

"Yeah," Applejack caught the gist of her words, and tried to carry it through, "he tol' me he heals real fast too, so even if he did get hit, that won' stop 'im fer long."

Rainbow Dash was still flying high, but as they watched she turned and dove, heading right for them. She levelled off nearer the ground and flew for them hard. It didn't take her long to reach them, even running ponies didn't cover that much ground compared to Dash.

The tomboyish pegasus reached them and skidded to a halt on her hooves, barely back-winging at all, and crashed into her sturdy orange friend, nearly knocking her hooves over tail.

"Woah there sugarcube!" The farmer gasped, "What's-"

"Ch-Chaser! He... He's in-" She gasped for breath, "You gotta come now!" Only now did she see that her cyan friend was barely holding back tears.

Strangest of all, Kirianna, the little parasprite, was clinging to Rainbow's mane.

"Slow down, slow down there." Applejack sat the pegasus back, hooves on her shoulders, "Tell us what's happened."

"Chaser's in trouble!" Dash's voice was still coloured with desperation, modified only by the need to make them understand, "He got me out of there, but there's two wolves, and he's all burned from lightning and I don't know what he's going to do and there was so much blood and, and..."

"So he did get hit!" Rarity was stunned, and Twilight had to agree with that, he really did get hit by lightning,

"He did it to save me," Dash sagged, "I was stupid and got caught, they backed me up against a wall of lightning and he... he... he jumped right through it to get to me."

"We have to get there, then, if he's hurt we need to get him to a doctor as soon as we can." Twilight took charge, "Let's go girls!"

Before she could move off, her face was blocked by a buzzing shape. It resolved itself into Kirianna, the little creature bobbing up and down a little lethargically. She waited until she had Twilight's full attention, and then turned and buzzed off down the hill.

"Ah think she means us to follow her..." Applejack said,

"Of course! Princess Luna says they're linked, she can lead us right to him!"

"Follow that parasprite!" Pinkie pointed after her.

* * *

It took them time to get back to the storm, they'd run a fair way before, even if the floating menace had moved closer since then.

Half way there, though, the roiling clouds seemed to hiccup. It was truly strange to look at, she thought, the entire pile of clouds stopped, hitched a little as if hit with a billow of wind, and then... started to recede.

"'S it me, or is that thing gettin' smaller?" Applejack was the only one of them running that had breath to ask,

"And it's going away!" Dash observed, Fluttershy pacing her in air to stop her from rushing off ahead,

"Whaddya think happened?"

"No idea, let's just get there already!"

Twilight couldn't agree more. Kirianna was bobbing and slewing in the air, she looked kind of woozy actually, as far as she could tell, but even so it was actually a little hard to keep up with her. What had Princess Luna said... she was connected to him, or she was part of him... no, that his soul had been split into two parts. That was it. But that just made her even more worried, if the parasprite was as woozy as this, then Chaser must be hurt pretty bad.

They eventually rounded the shoulder of a hill and Kirianna was hovering. Twilight and the girls caught up, not as winded as before, but getting there.

Three wolves, and Wind Chaser. Or... she hoped it wasn't Chaser, now that she saw the strips of raw, singed hide and the burned patches of mane, but there, blackened and singed, was his cutie mark.

The scene was eerily quiet. A wolf was tied up on the ground, not struggling, but his expression so wrathful Twilight flinched even though it wasn't directed at her. The other two wolves, clad in rags and tatters of floating cloth, nursed injured legs, and one was lapping at a huge tear down his muzzle. And they were pacing, or limping, in a loose circle around Wind Chaser, collapsed between them on his side.

"CHASER!!" She wasn't sure who yelled, but it wasn't just one of them, and the two wolves turned their heads.

One after the other, they leered a predatory look at the ponies on the hilltop above them. "Looks like the tables have turned, brother." One said.

"New hostages, against this one." The other replied.

"Not... happening." Chaser stood up.

It was the single most painful looking thing she'd ever seen. His skin looked scalded, his white coat singed and bloody, his legs shaky, one of his eyes was shut and a stream of blood ran from it. And yet he stood up.

He glared at the nearest wolf, wings raising themselves as if he was a bird threatening a rival, "You underestimated me once, don't make the same mistake. Your Regent and I have a deal I intend to honour. Take your pup and go."

They paused and eyed him carefully, the bound wolf struggled briefly, at which Chaser stepped slowly over, bent his head down, and tugged the knot free. All of those watching were silent and still, the only sound was the distant crashing of the storm, and the oddly audible buzz of Kirianna's wings.

"I did not think you would do this, in truth." The wolf said, standing and flexing his ankles and wrists, "You have... my respects for your deeds, were you úlfur your name would be sung for many years for this. As you are not of our pack, when next we meet I, or my second, will kill you." Despite the low snarl that seemed to pervade his words, the wolf's voice sounded as cultured as Rarity's, it was a bit of a shock to hear it from such a savage looking creature. Especially with the polite and perfectly serious threats.

"If you think you can do it, then I'll be waiting. But you bring your fight to me, not anypony else." He swayed slightly.

"Of course. You are the one my people saw, you are the one that humiliated me for all the pack to see... I will take pleasure in tearing your throat myself." With that, the three wolves turned and followed the storm, bounding into the sky on whatever magic they seemed to posses.

Chaser swayed again, "Woah there, easy now big fella." Applejack slid in next to him to hold him upright, trying to not press on the scorched flesh, but he still let out a hiss of pain.

"I gotcha, I gotcha." Pinkie was next there, somehow on his other side without seeming to have rushed. But he gasped again, the pressure of them trying to support him sounding like it was just hurting him even more.

"Oh, Chaser," Twilight inspected him, worried, "this isn't good, why did you..." She couldn't finish the question.

He cracked his good eye open at her, "Seemed like the thing to do at the time." And his smile, though pained, was as warm as ever. Then the eye closed and he sank to the floor, Pinkie and AJ keeping him steady, while Kirianna, unnoticed, swooned away safe in the back of his mane. He was out like a light before he came to rest.

"Chaser?" AJ peered at him, "Ah think he's asleep..."

"Oh my goodness..." Fluttershy put her hoof to her mouth, "Quickly, before he wakes up, we have to do something for those burns."

Her face hardened a little from its usual case of 'I wonder what the world will do next, I hope it's not scary' into a far more dependable frown of concentration. And the side of her that tended to broken bones, bites and even bear backs, took front seat as she began giving out instructions quickly.

"Twilight, can you lift him up a bit? He really shouldn't stay on the ground. Applejack, can you go back and get one of the chariots? Pinkie, I need you to find me a few herbs, and Rainbow... Dash?" She paused.

Twilight looked sideways in the middle of her lift spell, AJ and the others had stopped mid-step as they made to go about Shy's orders. Dash had been silent this entire time, for most of it she'd been staring at the scene in something like shock, it wasn't like her at all.

"Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity enquired, but the pegasus didn't respond.

"DASH!" Twilight yelled, which made her jump and rub her ear, revenge on a small scale for a few days ago.

"What?!" She demanded defensively.

"Are you okay, sugarcube?"

"I..." She paused, "I'm fine..." Her eyes went back to the comatose white pegasus on the ground.

"I need you to find some water," Fluttershy interjected, trying to keep things moving, "we need it to clean his wounds and make some medicine."

"Right..." Then the lights seemed to come back on in her head, "Right! I'm on it!" And she zipped off.

"And, moi?" Rarity looked to Fluttershy for her directions.

"We'll need bandages, a lot of them." Her pale blue eyes were set, sizing up her task without flinching.

* * *

"Is he... he's waking up!"

"Oh no! Make him drink this, quickly, he needs more balm on those burns and we can't have him moving."

You're such an idiot, you know that? Is anypony...? They're fine. Drink.

* * *

The heart monitor beeped, big strong and regular signals. They hadn't hooked up an IV yet, but they'd be around soon. She'd been sitting here for hours now. Talking.

"Stupid guy... Why am I even telling you all this? Why'd you have to do something so stupid anyway?" There was a pause, there was always a pause. He hadn't said anything, not even when the nurses and doctor said he was stable and left.

She didn't hear the soft intake of breath, "You're my friend." He opened one eye at her,

"What the...!" Dash jumped so hard she fell flat on her back, "You're awake?!"

"Now I am." She watched Kirianna buzz up and over the bed, swinging around in a circle and then dropping back down again, looking quite happy.

"H-how... I don't know how much of that you heard..." She climbed back up to her hooves and then to her perch on the stool next to the bed, blushing across most of her face.

"You calling me stupid, that's about it." She watched him stretch, sit up and inspect his bandages, "Were you watching over me?"

"No! The girls just..." That sidelong look, eyebrow raised, "Well they asked me to! They said we would take turns, and I should go first. That's all, okay!"

He smirked and looked away, "Anyway, you shouldn't be moving around yet, it's only been a few hours, how are you even awake?" Fluttershy said her sleepy-drink would keep him out for nearly a day.

"Takes more than a little potion to keep me down. Besides, see for yourself." He tugged back the bandage at the top of his foreleg, the one covering the burn on his shoulder.

"Wait, don't play with that!" There was white there, not red. In fact, she couldn't see a lot of the small cuts the doctors hadn't been able to bandage up in the end. Not that they really did anything more than Fluttershy had done to begin with.

"Wow... that's some tidy work, I need to thank Shy when I see her..." He examined a few of the other bandages, his neck bending in a way that should have been painful for a pony with half his neck burned to a crisp. "How long was I out?"

She sat there and looked at him, there was something... off about this. He woke up early, his coat had grown back on one of his worst burns, he was moving around and talking to her completely normally...

"Dash?"

"What?" She shook herself and met his eyes.

"How long was I out?" He repeated calmly,

"About three hours, dear, how are you feeling?" A pony in a white nurses frock and cap stepped in through the sliding door.

"Ready to fly." He answered her, and Dash stood back to let the nurse check him over.

Strange really, this day seemed like a lifetime, but it was still barely past lunch. They'd left the palace at dawn, fought wolves over breakfast, and then found Chaser before midday... And now here he was sitting up in bed and stretching at the height of the afternoon.

"Simply amazing, Mr Wind Chaser, I can't find a mark on you." The nurse had been unwinding bandages in a rush to find something wrong with him that should, legitimately, be wrong.

"I had brilliant carers." He grinned lopsidedly at the mare, who gave him a startled look, then blushed and cleared her throat.

"Ah, yes, well... You should be very grateful to the girls who brought you in, without them I'm sure you would not have had such a... miraculous recovery."

"Yeah, I owe them a lot." He looked to back to Dash, and for some reason the look he gave her was really embarrassing, her mane felt like it was trying to stand on end, her wings ruffled themselves uncertainly, and she wanted to be free of it as fast as possible.

"Hey, I'll go get the others, they'll want to see you're okay!" And she left so fast she probably blurred.

In the hallway she stopped for a moment, to get her heart-rate back under control. Why was it so hard to stay calm? She was happy he was alright, and amazed too, but she thought about how he'd been... all bandaged and still in that bed... and these words had just kept spilling out of her while he was asleep.

She'd poured her heart out, truth be told, said pretty much everything to him, and all the while Kirianna sat on Chaser's chest, like a defensive cat, watching her as she talked. Talked about her family, which she never did with anypony, talked about her life in Ponyville before and since she met her friends, how she found out that people loved a hero, but being herself was more important, how she loved reading, but that didn't make her an egghead... And then she talked about how, in as long as she'd been here, she hadn't hooked up with anypony, how she knew she was too cool for the colts and fillies all around her, and she'd been waiting for somepony who could race her, who could make her pulse pound with challenge, who... could be her hero. So why did he do it? Why would he do all of those things, and then... not... be...

"You okay, sugarcube?" Applejack, leading the others, found her there, standing in the corridor,

"You look like you ate a baked bad!" Pinkie tried to peer under the rainbow fringe to see what was the matter.

"Oh, hey guys, it's nothing." She didn't meet their eyes, but her chin stopped drooping,

"Aw, hun, Ah know yer upset about Chaser, bu-"

"Wait! Chaser! He's okay!" It hit her like a brick made of happy, and seemed to stun the other girls too, "He's awake and talking and acting like a jerk again, and his coat's all grown back and-"

"Hold up, woah!" Applejack was again the voice of calm, "What's all this about Chaser?"

"He's awake!" she repeated, "The nurse checked and all his burns are gone! He looks just as good as ever!"

"Jus' as good as ever, eh?" AJ nudged her, and she blushed,

"Just as... I mean, he looks back to normal..." Her face could only get even redder as the five girls all smirked to themselves quietly, "Anyway!" She dared the blush to go further, "C'mon, he's awake and the nurse said I should tell you girls."

With a fair bit more smirking and a couple of giggles that she tried very hard to ignore, Rainbow led the way back to the small recovery room.

* * *

"Two. Ponies."

"Yes my Lord."

"Two." The hall was silent, but for the tapping of his claws on the stone arm of his chair.

"We caught the one, she was not a threat, it was the second. The white one, my Lord."

"One?" The pause was deathly, "One. Little. Pony. Did all this?"

Every creature waited with breath held, the guards, the servants, the few nobles who were granted permission to stay and witness... Eventually, the two wolves spoke across each other, words blending as they tried to make their case once more. What came out of it was mostly understandable though, the two of them similar enough in voice that it made sense.

"My lord, he is... We could not kill him! We struck him down with lightning, and he still stood! He dove through our lightning wall and lived! Please, you cannot expect us to have done more when faced with that!" The brothers pleaded for each other, knowing their lives hung in the balance.

"I take responsibility, Lord Regent." Athelgeir had been brooding to one side throughout the interview, "Were it not for my failure, they would have succeeded."

"YOU I WILL GET TO SHORTLY!!" Jökuul roared, finally losing his temper, "And as for you two, I will spare your miserable carcasses for the sake of your talents and the service your family has given the Mikill Úlfur over the last hundred years, but you are shamed. You will report to the eastern marches and will harvest with the weather-workers there as their underlings until called for. I shall see to it that you never rise above rain-catchers until your duties to the throne are restored. Now get out." He finished, sneering.

The two wolves slunk away, bellies low to the ground in shame.

"Now. Athelgeir, son of Athelbjörn, tell me of this pegasus pony."

"Wind Chaser, my Lord, would make an úlfur clan famous. He is strong, unforgiving, never retreats from a challenge and honours his agreements even when it could doom him. Were he one of us, I would raise him on my back after a battle such as this past day. And as he is not úlfur, he is a threat, one which we should deal with at the first chance we get."

"You believe so?" Jökuul actually seemed impressed with this, his anger from before turning to furious thought instead, channeled into mental activity where it was more useful. "He made quite the impression on the rabble in the arena at least. What do you think our little Gisli will say about him?"

Without waiting for an answer, the Regent rose and padded down the dais steps. The arena was only a short walk from the throne room, as were the gardens, the baths and a few dozen other amenities the labouring classes had built as part of their tributes, but the arena was by far the favourite of the rulers of Fryst Eldi. A huge open space where all foreign magics were nullified, free from attempts of assassination or attack, anything that wouldn't be picked up by the wards, would be torn to pieces by his guards.

And every once in a while, it held something precious; the ruler of a land. He remembered the Deer, first ruler of their land, all those years ago when his brother became the Mikill. He had watched through the enchanted crystal dome as his brother had brought honour to his name by claiming their capital as his own... And now his nephew, Athelgeir, had brought himself to shame by being bested by a simple warrior in the midst of what should have been glorious conquest.

Still, all anger aside, their prize remained. His little Gisli, the immortal Princess of Equestria. And her royal guards, of course, but they were pawns to be used against her, nothing more.

He drew out his old friend, a short length of chain that fastened to his fore-paw capped by a metal collar at the end. Úlfur did not use many weapons, not when teeth or claws were more than sufficient, but sometimes it felt good to intimidate with pain implicit rather than death.

He rang the bars of the gate, almost musically in the silence, smashing the capped end of his chain into the thickest bar. Some of the pony guards had been dozing, taking turns at sleep while others watched, but all of them now stared at him in surprise and hatred. He loved the feeling of power that gave him.

"Well now, Gisli, I think it's time we had a talk."

"Jökuul." She answered him shortly, not deigning to rise from the cloak one of her guards had laid down for her.

"So stern, Gisli, I thought we were closer than that." He motioned forward one of his guards, "Bring me one of them."

The guards moved as one, unchaining the gate and grabbing the first pony they could reach, all the while snarling at the others to keep them at bay. They dragged him, kicking and bucking, out into the open and snapped a four-way hobble onto his ankles. This was a unicorn guard, snowy white coat and grey mane, his golden armour had been removed, what need of it had he now? But he looked like he missed it, very much, as the Regent paced closer to him, chain clinking and bouncing along the iced sand in his wake.

"Jökuul! What are you doing?" Celestia stood, head and shoulders above her guards, staring daggers at him.

"Who is Wind Chaser, my Gisli?" he asked, almost casually.

"I have not met him before, I don't know him." She answered truthfully,

"I see. That's a shame." He slashed his paw across his body and his chain cracked against the jaw of the guard. Being well trained, the guard turned with the blow, softening it by pulling his head along with the force, but even so he looked dazed when his head returned to watching the wolf.

"Jökuul!" Celestia's voice was half desperation, half anger, she hated to see her ponies get hurt, in any form.

"Is he a royal guard, Gisli? He is described as being an even larger specimen than these, with a winged shield on his flank. Much like some of the marks you have among your guards here." He pointed to several shields or sword-and-shield motifs he could see.

"I wish he was!" One of the pegasus guards broke in, unasked, "We could use a pony like that, he's got fire."

"Is he not then?" Jökuul's voice was light,

"He is not one of my guard."

"Pity." The chain smashed again, at the shoulder this time, and there was no way for the guard to soften that, the club-like collar caught him solidly on the point of the bone and he let out an involuntary, mostly suppressed, grunt of pain. He was breathing hard through his nose now, teeth clenched.

"Stop this, Jökuul! I will answer your questions, but you must understand, I cannot claim to have met this Wind Chaser, I do not recognise him at all!" Celestia's eyes were starting to brim with tears, she could stand this less than her guard could.

Jökuul smashed his captive in the exact same spot again, the pony groaning deep in his throat, clamping his mouth shut on the noise to try and keep control of the pain.

"You expect me to believe, Gisli, that an untrained and unknown warrior arrives to prevent our conquest exactly as it happens, despite the fact that you are imprisoned here, and is strong enough to defeat both Athelgeir and my Stormbringers and you have NO IDEA WHO HE IS?!" The last words were a shout, and they were matched in volume as he smashed the unicorn guard square in the shoulder on exactly the same spot again, this time drawing a bellow of pain from the suffering pony.

"YES!!" She screamed back at him, tears flowing freely at the pain of her guard, "By my own sun I swear, I have never met, or heard of, a pony like that in my land. My guards tell me that they haven't seen him before either, and I have never set eyes on him before this detestable day began!"

Jökuul gave her a long, calculating look, "Return him. Bring me another!"

"No!!" She ran to stand at the door as it opened, she let her guards catch their comrade as he was thrown in, and then blocked the doorway, wings flared. "If you wish it, I will take any beating you can give me, but they are innocent in this."

His predatory eyes met her tearful ones and narrowed. She was the prize, he couldn't harm her, because how else was he to use her against her sister if he did?

"I swore to my sun, the most powerful thing I hold, that I cannot tell you anything more, and neither can my guards. If you do not believe me, then take me and bludgeon me until I cannot live with the pain. It will not cause me to learn what I do not know." Despite the tears, her gaze was hard and even.

Jökuul didn't give her time to realise she'd won a small victory here, "Who is Twilight, Gisli?" He motioned for his wolves to close the gate, shutting the princess back inside with her ponies.

"My student." She replied promptly.

"Student? His interest perked,

"Yes, I taught her magic when she was younger, and now she studies in the town of Ponyville and serves as their librarian." She had to keep answering him, but she wasn't going to give him everything on a silver platter.

"And why would a warrior know a... librarian?" The sneer in his voice showed his derision of the profession.

"That I don't know. But if Twilight was able to figure out your plot against Equestria, and I believe she has, then I fully believe her capable of recruiting any number of friends to aid her in coming to my rescue."

"Rescue, hmm?" Oh that was precious, the idea that they could rescue their princess from Fryst Eldi? And a rescue led by a 'librarian'... He laughed at the idea.

Celestia remained silent in the face of his laughter, recognising that the last words had been for his own amusement, not directed at her.

"So you think that your student has teamed up with this Wind Chaser to come after you?" He picked up a lump of ice from the floor and examined it.

"As misguided as it may be, I don't doubt that it is the case." Celestia marshalled herself and tried to bury her fears for her student.

"Such a shame, then, that the pegasus hangs in our dungeons. His spirit is strong, but we shall break him soon, I merely hoped to gain something useful as leverage against him. He won't be saving you, Gisli, and if your student ever was with him, then she is not any longer."

Leaving them in stunned silence, tucking his chain back into his robes, Jökuul swept up the stairs and out of the arena.

"They got 'im?" One of her guards whispered, disbelieving.

"Oh horseapples..." Another exclaimed quietly.

"What's going to happen to us now?" A third said.

Celestia simply settled back onto the cloak, laid her head down, and let herself cry. While she'd had that laughing voice in her head, and her guards had been alight with speculation as to who he might have been, she had found hope. Now... that brave pegasus was in an even worse place than they were, and she couldn't find even a little.

Safely out of the arena, however, Jökuul rounded on Athelgeir sharply. "Take the Stormbringers, I don't care what it takes, find that pegasus and make him rue the day he challenged us."

* * *

By that evening, they had made the border with the úlfur lands. No matter what else had happened that day, they still had to rescue Celestia from the úlfur capital, that fact hadn't changed. But she was still marvelling at Chaser's recovery, even though he'd had very little to say on the matter beyond the fact that he was better.

"I heal fast. Not instantly, just... broken bones take a day, more serious injuries a little longer, anything superficial though is usually better in a few hours. I can't thank you enough for everything you did, girls, I wouldn't have been back on my feet again until tomorrow if you hadn't put in so much work for my sake."

The only thing he'd asked for was for a little bit of a hair-cut to even up his mane and tail after it had been burned. And now he, Dash and Fluttershy had flown them across most of Equestria and right up to the edge of the mountains in the space of an afternoon.

How any of them had managed it was anypony's guess, but Dash was always up for the challenge and Fluttershy had rested her wings most of the day, concentrating on her work to heal Wind Chaser, and Chaser himself hadn't so much as blinked at the challenge. If anything, he seemed fresher than the rest of them, even Applejack showing more signs of fatigue than the white pegasus.

Applejack and Pinkie had brought enough food for a decent meal, Rarity had re-packed them some warm weather clothing after the first lot had gone into Chaser's bandages and Twilight magically lit the firewood that her pegasus friends gathered.

"Wow... I'm bushed." Dash collapsed down next to Chaser.

Fluttershy yawned, still in a reserved way, but proportionally to her it was a huge, shoulder cracking yawn for anypony else. "My goodness, yes, I'm exhausted." And she settled down on the other side of Chaser.

The two of them stared into the fire, not seeming to notice the looks that their four friends were sharing with the white stallion.

"Looks mighty cosy over there." Applejack pointed out.

"Indeed," Rarity agreed, "cosy is the word I would use myself."

"Aww, but I wanted a cuddle too." Pinkie tilted her head, then noticed her friends, "What? Pegasus feather's make the best pillows."

Twilight couldn't help but giggle a little at everypony, but before she could add her comment to the mix, a soft snore interrupted her.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had both fallen asleep, leaning their heads on the big pegasus between them. The stallion in question looked at them both in turn, smiling gently, and then back up at the others.

"They've had a long day. And you four too, get some sleep. I'll wake you up if there's something wrong." He gently spread his wings and laid them over the two girls, then turned his gaze upwards to see the stars.

"You sure, sugarcube? You've had a long day too, y'know." Applejack got there first.

"Did any of you get to nap through lunch today? No. You were all rushing around looking after me. Sleep, it's my turn to look after you." His smile was encouraging and gentle.

"I wouldn't call being hospitalised a nap..." Twilight grumbled, but put her head down anyway, draping her warm jacket over her flank in place of a blanket.

"If you're sure then you're sure. But here," Pinkie placed a little plate of cupcakes in front of him before bouncing back to her own place and flopping down, "staying up late is no good without a midnight snack." She yawned too.

"Ugh... I'm going to get grass in my mane..." Rarity complained,

"Ah hush yer whinin' an' sleep." AJ groused back.

"Well I never, I'll-"

"Sleeping is quieter than that." Even Twilight felt guilty at Chaser's soft rebuke, and she hadn't been talking. Soon, though, the camp's only noise was the crackle of the fire and the soft breathing of the girls.

And Chaser watched the unfamiliar stars until the sun came up.

* * *

Whew, I over-ran my word-count goal by a little this time, but I got said what needed to be said, and put everypony where they needed to be. Next chapter... I don't actually know what I'm going to do, but it'll be fun when I do it ^^

Just as a point to any potential writers that are thinking about writing their own fan-fictions here; I'm still making this up as I go. I know the beginning, I know the middle, and I know the end. That's it. Until I'm actually finished writing, though, I have no idea how I'm getting from point A to B to C. So think about it; you don't have to know everything, you just have to know enough to join the dots any way you can.

Also, I love this see-sawing in mood, if Chaser and the girls are happy, everypony else isn't. If I give Celestia and her guards some hope, I'm terrible to the girls and my pegasus guy. And then back again; Celestia's sad, and the girls are happy. It's a new-ish trick for me in some ways; I haven't had the opportunity to use it all that much in my other writing. Fun times.

Onwards and upwards my readers.

Chapter 13

Wind Chaser, Chapter 13

In which I reject the previous reality and substitute a new one.

Okay readers, sorry, that was bad of me. I should stick to the format of the earlier chapters; follow my own advice. This isn't about Wind Chaser, no matter how much I want to make it so, this is about the girls saving their princess and Equestria once again. They just needed somepony to help them along is all.

In any case, first time I wrote this chapter a very good reader pointed out how 'aiming to please' (my words) in my work resulted in an OD of Gary Stu, even if I did write it well enough that they didn't care (their words). So... scrap it, redo it for quality purposes.

* * *

"Pinkie, watch the door!" the shout came from the top of the stairs and around her the guards startled to their hooves.

The clattering of many small hooves rang down the grand stairway, hardly muffled at all by the deep purple carpet that led to the royal box, and then clopping loudly as they rounded that and came thundering into view on the lower levels.

"Twilight?" She wondered aloud.

"Princess Celestia!" And the disbelief shattered, it was Twilight, and the other elements. They slid to a stop outside the cage and their eyes flicked all over the structure, the guards and then met Celestia's eyes.

"My faithful student, how in the world did you get here?"

"Explanations later, beggin' yer pardon yer Highness." The Element of Honesty interrupted Twilight before she could begin, "Let's get this door open."

"Kirianna!" Twilight gasped in surprise, and lo-and-behold, a parasprite buzzed free from her her shoulder, "Where are you going?" She demanded of it.

The little creature arced in close to the door, hovered back and forth briefly, then attacked. The metal screeched from whatever it did there and in a matter of seconds scraps of lock fell from the door, gnawed free by the tiny, diamond-hard teeth.

"What a surprisingly useful creature." Celestia covered for her student's look of disbelief. Regardless of the trouble that parasprites meant to a community, this one had earned a reprieve, "Wherever did you get it?"

"Wind Chaser left her with us." Twilight smiled happily as she stepped aside to let Celestia out of the freshly opened prison.

"The white pegasus? Where is he? The Regent told us he'd been captured yesterday." Thinking of yesterday, she turned to check on her guards, one of whom was still injured from his beating the Regent had dished out. They were mustering outside the cage and watching the exits carefully. "Did you rescue him already?"

"Wha? Captured? Sorry your Highness, but nuh-uh, no way!" Rainbow Dash, always energetic, told her emphatically. "Chaser was with us until just a little while ago. He's still out there causing a distraction for us."

Around her, her guards cheered, with comments like 'I knew it.' and 'Darn wolf nearly had me believing it!' making the rounds.

Twilight flinched, "Kirianna says we should go, now, he's pretending to be caught."

"What? Why?!" The blue pegasus demanded.

Her student paused, "She says that... could you repeat that?" She asked over her shoulder, "Oh, right. If they bring him inside, they won't be watching outside for when we leave."

"He's letting himself get caught? To save us?" One of the guards sounded disbelieving.

"Please, that's nothing." Rainbow Dash swept her hoof out dismissively, "The dumb colt jumped through a wall of lightning yesterday, then went on to whup two wolves and send 'em running home with their tails between their legs!"

"Woah..." The guard stared at her and one of his friends gave a low whistle of appreciation.

"Course, he's still not as fast as me." The overconfident pegasus polished her hoof on her chest and admired it.

"Might we continue this conversation later, my little ponies?" Celestia knew how much her guards needed their morale boosting, but this wasn't constructive in the slightest.

"Well we can't go back, the stag warned us not to," Twilight rubbed her chin, "let's head through that door and work our way out from there. Dash, get Pinkie and catch us up."

"On it!" She streaked up over the stairs.

"Lead the way, Twilight. Captain, form up." And with that they cantered for the far side of the arena.

* * *

Twilight, Rarity and Celestia all gasped in relief the moment they left the Arena. It wasn't much, but their connection to magic had returned. Even as weak as it was, the total absence of it while under the Dome had been like missing a limb.

Two-by-two, the unicorn guards following them showed signs of the same relief, however their training didn't permit them to be as vocal about it.

"My sun... I'll never let anypony take that away from me again..." Celestia murmured.

"I can't imagine what it was like, being there for so long." her student shuddered a little mid-stride,

"That was simply horrid, darlings, let's get out of its dreadful influence and never come back."

"Then follow me!" Dash grinned, racing off ahead of them.

The first corridor was empty, and the next, hooves thundered as they ran en masse through the silent palace. Purple carpets, banners with the Fryst Eldi coat of arms, walls of blue-ice sheened stone all blurring a little as they passed. There were doors, some of which were open, but following Rainbow Dash led them into none of them, just down these two long corridors that seemed to run the length and breadth of the palace.

Actually, architecturally, that was a sound idea, it gave access to all areas of the palace in an almost grid-work layout but the corridors themselves didn't take up too much space so-

"Twilight! Which way?" Dash called back from an intersection.

"Step four, find transportation!" She called back, "We need to find some chariots or we'll never get everypony out of here."

"Great, that's helpful, where's that from here?"

"Left!" One of the guards shouted, "Chariots and sleds are in the south end of the palace, where we came in."

Dash snapped off a semi-salute and vanished down the branch of corridor ahead of them.

"I hope she knows what she's doing." Twilight said to herself, before checking on her other friends.

A door opened ahead of them, but no wolf burst out to confront them, they raced past a startled mountain goat knocking down the tray of food he was carrying.

"Sorry!" she called back, watching the guards behind them dodge and vault over the accident smoothly.

Another corner and Dash was just pulling up in the distance, she turned and came powering back towards them. Behind her a couple of úlfur were filling most of the corridor with their snarling forms.

"This way!" She yelled, barging open a couple of doors, and, as a herd, they followed her through. There was a sign up, but it was in another language, what had they called it... Úlfin? Úlfic? Nevermind. Behind them the last guards bucked their pursuers in the jaws in perfect synch, their thick hooves knocking both unconscious.

Flicker of an empty room, then they exited through the other side and an even deeper chill than outside hit them in the face, this place was frozen! Her mind couldn't process, not in this kind of cold, so she bulled ahead, trying to get through it. Odd shapes and piles tried to catch her eye, but they blurred together in the white frost and the mist that hung in the air.

Another blurry moment and Applejack burst through a second set of doors at the other end, neck-a-neck with Dash, the cold was warmed to a more manageable level. Shelves of food met her eye, storage... a pantry? Crashing through yet another set of doors, and the heat hit her like a wall. Ahead of her, Rainbow Dash arced high over a deer while AJ ducked around and under the... tray...? He was carrying a tray full of food, or what looked like it. This was a kitchen!

For her own part, she went the other way, around the back of the deer, who was now cowering from two close encounters, forming a rock in a stream of galloping ponies.

A table loomed, and she vaulted onto it, right behind Applejack and a pegasus guard who was trying to keep track of Dash. Plates went flying everywhere, a wrong-footed stomp sent a jug of some deep brown sauce hurtling end over end to splatter over a deer in a white apron and hat who was standing by a huge oven.

Everypony... or deer, or goat... Everycreature was staring in shock, they were hurling themselves out of the way as, illuminated by hot red ovens, Princess Celestia, wings raised and mane flowing, found herself galloping across the central table through their kitchen, while ponies and guards upturned everything and everycreature in her way.

A warm, heady smell of cooking was everywhere, butter in pans, onions, garlic, but... something else that she couldn't quite recognise. But whatever they'd been cooking was forgotten by the chefs in the hurtling catastrophe that was a pony stampeding exit.

"Ooh, are you baking? I love baking! Wow, your oven is big! What are you baking?"

"Pinkie!" She shouted over her shoulder.

"Yes, Twilight?" pink curls bounced into view.

"Maybe this isn't the time for that? We're trying to escape!"

"Oh, yeah, silly me!"

Crashing and bashing, followed by rolling plates and platters, another pair of doors blasted outwards. They emerged into what must be a grand dining hall, although it was empty, and they all slowed to kick pots and pans off their hooves, or shake off the splatter of sauce. The only pony untouched by the chaos was Celestia herself, although a very brave pegasus had taken a dramatic dive in front of a bowl of batter to keep her that way.

"Ugh... cream..." Rarity tried to slough the sticky substance from her side without touching it.

"Cream?" Pinkie bounced nearer, gave Rarity's shoulder an enterprising sniff, followed by a huge slurping sound as the impossible pink filly licked the entire mess off her friend's side in one go. "Yummy!"

"Eugh..." Rarity examined her coat, trading cream for Pinky Pie tongue streaks wasn't a step up to her, obviously, "I need a shower! Stat!"

"Shower when we're home safe, escaping now!" Applejack told her firmly.

"That way!" Dash pointed, shaking the last of some flour dust out of her mane, the doors at the end of the hall were due south. Their hooves and wing-beats echoed from the vaulted ceiling, the silence only otherwise broken by their panting breath.

An entrance hall met them through those doors, with a single úlfur at guard by some rather impressive doors at the end. "That's the place we came in!" A guard yelled helpfully, and Applejack bowled the surprised guard over, Rarity accidentally trampled it as she followed, carolling an 'oops, sorry!' back out of habit.

Their mad dash brought them hurtling through the broad pair of doors at the end. And they completely failed to see the steps.

* * *

When the Regent saw the empty cage, Chaser had laughed out loud. The last time he'd seen that expression, it had been on a startled terrier, and the comparison was, to be honest, hilarious.

"You know, if you're busy, I can always come back." He could feel his cheek healing a little, the blood was stopping at least.

"Guards! Where are the prisoners!" Jökuul demanded, shaking the nearest one.

"We... we don't know, Lord, we were summoned to the walls to defend the city from the pegasus."

"USELESS!!" He roared.

"What do you think, 'Lord Jökuul', did I make a good diversion?"

"SILENCE! I'LL KILL YOU MOMENTARILY!"

"Now that's no way to treat a guest, is it?" his grin was impudent, this was his favourite part of a heist; watching everything fall apart on the bad guy, "Besides, you won't kill me before I tell you how I did all this, because you're smarter than that."

"Before you... what?" Jökuul hissed, Not bad for a sentence with no sibilants in it, hmm? No, I'm quite impressed.

"Well surely you want to know, don't you? How one pegasus, all alone, was able to break your prisoners free, then attack the palace so violently that he pulled all your guards away from their posts so that the prisoners could escape." He grinned at the glaring wolf, "And you don't honestly think that I was able to simply smash the walls, knock over your towers and break your gatehouse without any kind of trick to it?"

"You will..." The regent snarled, as if short of breath, trying to keep his temper in check long enough for his prisoner to tell him what he wanted to know, "You will tell me... Everything. Wind Chaser. Everything."

Oh stop being so smug, we helped. But he doesn't need to know that. He doesn't need to know anything, just spin him a tale and get out of there.

I've got a better idea, he thought back to her, I'm bringing the roof down. You're WHAT?! I'm- I know what you said! But do you seriously expect me to believe you're that stupid? Stupid? Me? How many times has that ever worked? Bringing the roof down? Four times. Fine, then how many times have you failed to pull it off? About thirteen or fourteen.

She paused, You're crazy. I can tell you've met me.

"Okay!" He looked at his captors, voice peppy as a cheer leader, "Are you all holding on tight?"

The six wolves around him tugged on his chains angrily, if his hooves hadn't been hobbled together, they would have forced him into a four-way splits, Bambi style.

"Good, wouldn't want to lose any of you just yet. Here we go!" And with a burst of his wings, Chaser took off, úlfur guards thudding together like furry corks at the end of their chains.

* * *

Front of the pack as they were, she ended up in a heap at the bottom with Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and two poor unicorn guards they'd pulled down with them. They slid slightly, the floor cold and slippery as ice... it was ice; a thin layer of it over stone, she cursed the fact that she still hadn't learned to skate after Winter Wrap Up.

"Ooo-ooh..." she moaned, to the accompaniment of similar sounds from all around her, "Is everypony alright?"

"Uh, Twilight?" Dash's voice was a little worried, coming from above her and a little behind, "I think we might be in trouble."

Climbing to her hooves, with difficulty, she discovered that the ominous prediction was true. Surrounding them in a loose circle were over two dozen startled úlfur and even more attendants from different species interspersed among them. Further back, on a raised walkway, she could see even more of them just turning to notice their unconventional entrance.

"Uh... hello." She wobbled on the icy floor and nearly fell on her face before recovering herself with an embarrassed grin.

They didn't seem impressed.

"Ah don' think we'll be buckin' our way outta this'un so easy..."

"Wheeeeee!" Pinkie skimmed around in a circle while Fluttershy seemed to be trying to bury herself in solid ice to hide, but settled for the comfort of hiding behind AJ.

The room they were in echoed every sound in this awkward silence. A huge space that could have been carved out of the palace from much smaller rooms, the ceiling was braced by thick buttresses and columns, the vaulting, while undecorated, was elegant, and the floor was polished smooth and coated with ice, exactly why she'd slipped on the stairs along with everypony else that couldn't stop in time.

To her left a line of thick doors, five or six of them, stood open to the outside world, letting in flurries of icy wind. To her right a matching line of úlfur sleds waited for their masters, one or two at the far end were being polished and made ready again, probably only recently used. Behind them, they'd overshot a small landing area for guests, which led up a grand stairway, at the top of which the Princess was looking worried for their safety, surrounded by her guards. And ahead only smooth ice over stone ran to the far wall, interspersed with the collumns that held up the roof and walkways.

The walkways ran from the level of the door she'd fallen through, across the slippery floor high enough for the sleds to pass under, and then down to platforms next to each sled. That would have been the preferred way to go, except she'd missed the turn at the top of the steps that would have led onto the first one. All of the railings were wrought iron and brass, the icicles hanging from them only giving the place an even starker elegance and reserve to it.

"What do we do now?" Applejack whispered to her.

"Captain?" Celestia's voice sounded completely normal in the face of impending panic, "We require your services. Please requisition us a pair of sleds for transportation." She was poised, hoof raised as if ready to move on, keeping an eye on her student and the other elements. Her captain stood beside her, sizing up the task she'd given him as quickly as he could.

"Yes your Highness." He nodded a brief bow to her, and cleared his throat.

"Pegasus squad, clear us a ride! Unicorns, use what magic you can, make sure nopony slips up, and keep any wolf off our flanks. You two down there, pick up the fillies and make your way to the first available sled. Move your tails!"

A chorus of 'Yes Sir' followed and the guards finally got to take their frustrations out on even terms.

* * *

As battle raged around her, Twilight copied the spell she'd seen the unicorn guards use, coating her hooves and everypony else's with a light layer of magic to keep them from slipping about.

It wasn't for a few moments that she even realised that Kirianna was tapping on her shoulder again.

"Oh, sorry Kirianna, I wasn't paying attention, could you tell me that again?" She waited patiently, "That stupid colt, what's he trying to do? There's no point to all this if he gets himself captured!" A howl from a wolf was cut off as a unicorn sealed its lips with a small burst of magic.

"What did she say?" Dash leaned in close while Applejack and the unicorn guards watched all directions, pacing their walk across the ice to the progress of the guards above them. Pegasus guards were circling the walkway and Princess Celestia paced in the middle of the group like a swan on a river, completely at her ease as her ponies earned their catharsis.

"He's let the Regent drag him into the arena, they know we're gone now, so he's stalling for time."

"That moron, how is he supposed to escape?!"

"That's what I mean!"

"What are you doing? Keep up!" One of their guards shot over his shoulder.

"We have to go back!" Dash told him. A wolf thudded into the ice next to them, unconscious with its tongue lolling out, Fluttershy carefully poked the pink thing back into its owner's mouth, getting your tongue stuck to ice was painful. "Wind Chaser's been captured!"

"Wait, Dash! Kirianna says not to! Uh... Why shouldn't we?" She asked the little creature, but she couldn't read those large copper eyes, they were enigmatic in their default state of adorableness.

"What is it, Twi? We have to go back for him, he'd do the same for us!"

"She says to go, and not wait, he's only staying as long as we do, then he'll escape."

"That's crazy!" Dash shouted over the bedlam, "How is he supposed to do that?"

"I don't know either, but Kirianna is telling me to just go!"

"Then let's go!" The guard behind them, watching their backs, insisted.

Ahead of them a sled was standing open and waiting, two pegasus guards were already slipping into the traces, with another three on the way.

"That one girls, let's go for it!" Twilight made her mind up and led the charge.

Before she could get there, however, everything stopped. The úlfur completely failed to do anything about their charge and soon she realised something was wrong and stopped to see what it was.

A long, baying howl drifted through the air, haunting, but powerful. When it ended, every single wolf in the room turned and bounded for the door they'd entered by, swinging around the ponies and moving as a single entity back into the palace.

"Now tha' was downrigh' unsettlin'..." the orange farmer tipped her hat a little further forward, as if expecting more trouble.

"They're... leaving? At last! I've been just desperate to fix my hair!" Rarity immediately began primping in the nearest ice reflection.

"What are they..." Twilight began, but a series of taps on her shoulder interrupted, "No... no, that can't be right, Kirianna..."

"What?" Dash was there immediately, if nothing else, her instant concern for any news regarding the white pegasus was evidence enough she wasn't over her crush yet.

"Whatever it was Wind Chaser did, he's seriously managed to annoy the Regent. Kirianna says he's the one that howled a minute ago, and now every wolf that heard it is pouring into the arena."

"Then he's in trouble! We've gotta go help him!"

"She says it's... all part of the plan, he's got them surrounded from the... inside? Kirianna, that makes no sense at all!" She glared at the parasprite, who tapped some more, "Well it wasn't a very funny joke." She huffed.

More tapping followed. "Okay, okay, I get it. We'll get moving. But he'd better escape, because if we have to come back and save him, I'm going to lecture him so badly..."

* * *

Five minutes later and they were airborne. The sleds, it turned out, were imbued with their own flight spells; the úlfur weren't a species capable of unaided flight, and so the traces themselves were given the same spell that allowed them to run on air that their cloaks seemed to hold.

AJ, seeing this, had jumped at the chance to try it out, and she'd joined the ranks of those pulling the sled along with one or two of the more adventurous unicorns, leaving some of the pegasus guards free to watch out for pursuit.

"Wait everypony! Stop!" Twilight called out.

"What is it, Twilight?" Celestia looked concerned.

"Kirianna says we should watch the palace." She looked back over her shoulder at the receding shape of it.

Fryst Eldi wasn't looking quite so amazing as it had when they'd first seen it and she was shocked to think that only one pony, even if it was Wind Chaser, could have done all of that. Two towers from the outer walls had collapsed outwards, each of them falling into the snow-fields that surrounded the capital. Walls were cracked or crumbling in places, and there was even a collapsed gate on the near side, the thick buttressing and ice shattered like glass under a hammer.

The sleds pulled to a stop, pegasus and unicorn guards standing on the air as easily as if it were rock.

"What's happening, Twilight?" Rarity asked her from the next sled over.

"Kirianna says 'just watch'."

The pause was unbearable, just waiting and watching now, with no clue as to what they were supposed to expect. She started counting seconds, and, judging by the way Applejack and Dash were both tapping their forehoof more or less in time, they were doing the same.

"There!" Dash pointed, her count had reached about thirty, and the others saw what she was looking at immediately.

The great dome of the arena shuddered and tipped. It fell inwards at one side, and... they saw it crack, a massive fracture running through the very middle of it, and long moments later the massive report rolled around the mountainside.

"What in the world..." Twilight murmured to herself.

A streak of white shot high into the sky, "There he is!" Dash shouted in triumph,

"Yeah! Go Chaser!" Pinkie cheered,

"Right on!" AJ followed.

The dot that was Wind Chaser arced over and gained speed, hurtling back down again. A pause... a breath... And he smashed into the sinking dome like a stone into water.

All of the watchers stood silent and stared as the great dome of the arena rippled in the shockwave, shattering like a mirror out from the centre.

"Stars and sunlight..." Celestia breathed, and Twilight nodded vaguely in agreement.

Kirianna tapped on her shoulder. "He's coming." She told the others.

"A... About time!" Dash found her voice first, "Dumb colt, what was he thinking making us wait like that?!" She folded her hooves across her chest huffily.

They waited, watching the dust settle over Fryst Eldi. A shining white city in the fields of snow, now laid to waste. The roads were full of confusion, there were wolves and other creatures making their way in from all directions, in the air and on the ground.

From all the way out here it was like watching an anthill that had just been kicked.

At last, long minutes of waiting later, Dash spotted him. The guards cheered as Chaser hove into view over a nearby cloud, and Dash and Fluttershy flew out to meet him.

He looked... pink. And dirty, and a little ragged around the edges, but dark pink was all over him. Her friends guided him down into the sled with her and Princess Celestia, hovering back so that they didn't weigh the whole thing down.

Only when he collapsed did she realise that the pink was matted blood from cuts all over his shoulders, across his chest and neck, flanks... his back right hoof was hanging at an odd angle too, a ring of grisly red all that she could see above it. Seeing him burned red and black yesterday, and cut to ribbons today, how much did this insane pegasus do the rest of the time? Knowing how he'd bounced back from the burns, however, gave her a bit of comfort for the future of her big, crazy friend.

"Hey girls..." He winced as Twilight ran a spell over his coat to try and find what was hurt and where, "Your highness, it's an honour to finally meet you."

"Wind Chaser, I presume." Celestia greeted him, concern clear on her face as she, too, tried to guage just what this pony had been through. "I understand that we have you to thank for our fortuitous escape from these lands."

"Seemed like the thing to do at the time." He attempted a smile, but his quirk was on the wrong side, and it was mostly hidden behind his muzzle.

"You're chained, let's get those off you." She started to lean down,

"These? I was starting to like them." He looked down himself, as if he'd forgotten them. "But if you could, I'd be..." He winced again, "very grateful. They're a little tight."

He closed his eyes as a trickle of blood from a cut ran into one. Under the soft wave of her magic, the cuffs clinked free and tumbled over the side of the sled.

As the student and her teacher worked, Kirianna left her perch on Twilight's shoulder in a quiet buzz of wings, slewed sideways through the air and then bombed out onto her partner's back. Twilight gasped and Dash and Fluttershy drew in closer in worry. But the little creature was just happy to be home; she folded her wings back and nestled into the brown mane and made no move to leave again.

"My goodness..." Celestia's eyes widened, "That's... quite..." For once, she didn't seem to know what to say. Twilight remembered how Luna had reacted on seeing the two of them together, but explanations would likely have to wait.

"Chaser?" Twilight prodded him, carefully.

"m... fine..." He murmured, without opening his eyes, "sleep... now." And he was out like a light.

* * *

The three úlfur observed their home with fire burning in their hearts. They watched as wolves were pulled from the rubble of the arena.

"None were killed." Fuujin observed.

"None by him, at least, some... may not live." his brother countered.

"The Arena..."

"The Palace..." Neither wanted to finish as they waited for the third wolf to speak.

"We have... I have vastly underestimated these ponies from the start." Athelgeir paced back and forth, glaring at nothing in particular, "My Uncle and Ambassador Margeir also didn't believe they would act any differently to the other subject species. That was a mistake that cost us all dearly."

"Your orders, Lord?"

"No more tricks, it's time to settle this as a true conquering Mikil Úlfur. We will return to Equestria, I shall grant you robes of the Royal House for your work and together we shall brew the storm to end all storms. And when the world shakes from our very passage in the sky, then we shall offer them their choice with our fangs bare. They will submit, or they will fall."

The three howled to the sky together, but amongst the howls from packs all around the city, it went unnoticed by all.

* * *

Sorry my readers, sorry, I know this took me a long time, too long, in my opinion, but I have a reason. I'm holding back on these last chapters until the artwork is completed, I don't want to submit this to EQD when it's almost done, I want to get a few Update threads racked up ^^

That said, I also re-wrote this whole thing to prevent my ego taking hold. I hope it's up to par, considering it's not how I would have written it originally. But come on; a pony stampede through a kitchen with the mane 6 and Celestia charging down the table is a sight that will live with my imagination forever.

In any case, rest assured, I'm still writing, still planning even more things for this side-world of Equestria, just... waiting. The suspense is killing me!!

Onwards and upwards.

Chapter 14

Wind Chaser, Chapter 14

In which things are calm.

* * *

She was soaring high on a gigantic thermal, warm air under her feathers and warm sun on her back, there was just about nothing more relaxing.

As she spun lazily, higher and higher, the air started to thin out. Above her, the sky was a blue so dark it was nearing black, and she could actually see the curve of the horizon in every direction she looked.

Unlike every other time, though, something prompted her to keep going. Even though the air was thinner, the thermal was still bouying her up like water, tasting of summer days and a warm, white coat.

Normally that last one would have embarrassed her, but not here, not on this colossal updraft. The ground below was a greeny-blue mush of nothing and above her, somewhere, she knew she was following Chaser .

No hurry though, just letting this warm current flow her up into the sky, further and further.

She was so high now that all she could see was blue below and black above, with a little spark of white that she knew was where she was supposed to be heading. Clouds of stardust scudded by, and she tasted blackcurrant sherbet when she burst one accidentally. Stars glimmered and despite knowing she'd left her world... this was cool.

But something wasn't quite right in this other-worldly wonder, a sound. She'd heard it earlier, but not really noticed it because it was so far away.

Tumbling up the thermal... was a howl.

A baying, bell-toned howl.

They were down there, somewhere. So far away it didn't matter, mostly, but they were down there.

And she was scared.

She was here, so high above her friends, so far behind Chaser, and the wolves were behind her.

All of a sudden, Equestria wasn't below her, and the place Chaser was going wasn't above. The ground was behind her, and the place she was going was in front. No more gentle rise, no more lifting through the void.

She was stuck between one place and the next, and now... it was a chase.

Maybe it was...

No, it was a dream, she was dreaming! That's it. She had to wake up before it got bad, if she could just wake up... Need to wake up, Dash.

Wake up, Rainbow Dash.

* * *

"DASH WAKE UP!!"

The cyan mare shot upright in bed at the urgent, nearly panicked, shout, "What!? What is it?!"

"Breakfast." Wind Chaser deadpanned her.

"Whu...? Where?"

"We're going to make it." He smiled back.

"What time is it?" She shielded her eyes and peered at the lit-from-beyond wall of her house.

"Breakfast time." The smile grew to an evil grin, "Come on! Get up!"

"It's like... seven thirty in the morning, Chaser!" She groaned and fell back into her pillow, shoving her muzzle into the cloudy surface.

"It's me or Pinkie, Dash. I told her I was going to teach you, and she let me have all these ingredients. But I said that if I can't teach you, I'd let her take a swing at it." She could hear him smirking.

She popped an eye over the fold of her pillow, "You're eeeevil."

"I can tell you've met me." He laughed, starting for the stairs. "Okay Kiri, just bite her again."

Dash didn't remember how she got up by the ceiling, "Wo-wo-wo-woah! Woah! Nuh-uh, no way! I'm keeping this flank teeth free!" she wedged her back end into the corner for emphasis while eyeballing the little green puffball. Those teeth were sharp.

"Oh good, you're up." Chaser commented without looking, "Come on then, big day today!"

"I am so going to kill him some day..." Dash vowed as he laughed and vanished around the curve of the stairs.

* * *

Somehow, probably through Kirianna watching where he wasn't, Chaser noticed Fluttershy at the door. She was hiding around the corner outside, but a large curl of pink mane stuck out.

"Come on in, Shy, I'm just giving Dash some lessons." He called, surprising his host as much as her friend.

"Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting... am I?" Her little voice preceded her around the arched entrance. Despite the invite, she stayed just outside the threshold.

"Hey Fluttershy, c'mon in! We've got cereal, toast, pancakes, three kinds of eggs, waffles aaaand salad! Actually, isn't this a bit much for just breakfast?" The question was to him, but even so every word was as sunny as the day outside.

"Nah, I'll eat what you don't, big metabolism to deal with here." Chaser grinned, "Besides, I've got to teach you as much as possible in a short time. I don't like leaving a job half-done."

While they chatted, Fluttershy made her way from the door to the kitchen table, peering around at the explosion of food that seemed to have happened since she was last here. Rainbow Dash suddenly became intensely aware of just how much not-quite-food she'd made stick to the walls.

"Ehh... heh, sorry about the mess. That's all me." She shrugged and started placing stuff on the table.

"I didn't think it was possible for cereal to explode, you know," Chaser drew himself a cloud over next to his fellow guest, "but Dash managed it."

"Hey, you were the one that... wait..." She looked around, "No, that was me too." Her shrug of unconcern made him chuckle again.

"Uhm... sounds like... fun?" Fluttershy offered.

"So, what do you want, Shy? Your pick." Dash gestured to the spread, which actually looked quite appetising, despite the chaos around them.

"Are... are you sure I'm not intruding?" Her big eyes turned from one to the other.

"Why would you be?" He asked her, "What's a little breakfast between friends? Kiri!" The last was scolding the parasprite, who was chowing down industriously on a pancake ten times as wide as she was. She didn't even look up as Dash laughed at her.

"Okay, uhm, if you're sure." Again, her eyes flicked between Chaser and Dash, "I'll have a little salad, if that's alright, I kind of... already ate."

"Help yourself. Let's dig in!" Rainbow Dash's traditional enthusiasm threw her at the food with a will. Chaser gentlecoltly hoofed over the salad bowl for his friend before tucking in with a more regulated pace.

"See?" He commented, "It's more than just 'edible', this is actually pretty good. You picked this up fast." He complimented Dash.

"Thanks, I knew I could do it."

"She says that like it didn't take her five goes to make that fried egg." He commented aside to Fluttershy.

"It'ff moff comflicateff'an iff'ookff." A mouthful of food replied,

"That's breakfast-ese for 'thankyou for showing me the way, oh great and powerful kitchen master'." Chaser winked, and Fluttershy giggled into her salad.

"Hey!" She protested,

"Yes, yes, the kitchen master knows what you would say." They noticed that he had a pair of lettuce leaves held up to his muzzle like a long cantoneighs mustache, "You would seek of more wisdom that he has offered so far, but that is not for the un-initiated. If you, young batter-mixer, would take up this challenge, first you must prove yourself capable of filling your mouth with waffles and saying 'fluffy bunnies' with complete clarity. Only then shall you be worthy."

After carefully swallowing her food, Dash leaned across and took the lettuce off his face, eating it deliberately. "You've been hanging out with Pinkie Pie for too long."

"Moi? How could you say such a thing?" He swooned in false shock, imitating Rarity now. At last it was too much for Fluttershy and she broke out in fits of giggles at the silliness.

"Methinks she finds us funny, hmm?" Chaser raised an eyebrow at his cyan friend,

"Of course we are, we're hilarious. And awesome." Dash finished off a waffle.

"You're like a couple of newly-weds." Fluttershy giggled.

She didn't pick up on it, because she wasn't looking, but Dash did. Chaser's mood dropped like a stone. His smile was still there, and his expression hadn't really changed, but there was something in his eyes that had just gone missing.

"Here, I'll wash these up." If she hadn't been watching, Dash wouldn't have been able to see anything different about him now, the laughter still seemed to be there, and he hadn't lost any energy in his movements, but...

As he ferried plates and bowls to the sink, she could tell that what Fluttershy had said bothered him. "Oh, hey, Shy, are you looking forward to today?" He mentioned over his shoulder, "Seems like there's all sorts of events planed."

"Who? Me? No, I uh... That is, I really - uhm... I guess that I... Ohh... I... I mean..." Unfortunately his question didn't keep her spirits up as much as he'd hoped. The shy little pegasus curled in on herself where she sat.

"Re-lax, Fluttershy, it's just a party." Dash managed between bites, "It's not like you've never been to a party before, Pinkie's throwing it, and you've met everyone before, right?"

"I guess..." She shuffled a hoof, "But everyone this time means everyone. Even Princess Celestia will be there."

"Chin up, Shy, you'll face it better with a smile." The white pegasus lifted her chin for her in emphasis, "All of your friends will be there for you too."

They were rewarded by a big smile from her, "Okay, I'll try."

"Atta girl." He stacked another bowl in the draining rack, inspecting it a little, as if the cloud was suspect of something, "Right, the rest we can do later, for now, let's head for the library."

* * *

They progressed at ground level, for Fluttershy's sake, although unlike that silly little filly there was no way she was going to walk, not when she could catch up on some loop and roll practice, and Chaser just floated lazily along without any kind of concern for which way up he was, crazy wing powers... Kirianna had given up trying to find a place to settle on his constantly rotating body and instead had dropped onto Fluttershy's head between her ears. Seemed like the little creature was getting better about touching ponies. Her rump remembered that all too well.

"I hear a lot of different things about Princess Celestia, but you girls have met her, what's she really like?" The question surprised her, and Fluttershy reacted with her usual 'eep' of surprise when somepony spoke without warning.

"You met her too, y'know." she couldn't help pointing out.

"For all of a minute, I came down with an unfortunate case of unconscious after that." He joked lightly

"You mean you took a nap." Dash teased back,

"Yes, Dash, a nap, brought on by extreme levels of awesome from fighting an army of wolves, getting beaten up and then breaking a priceless crystal dome ceiling all because you wanted the easy job."

"Easy job?! Why I oughta-!"

"Oh please! Please don't fight!" Fluttershy was actually standing between them, wow... that wasn't like her at all.

"Alright Shy, no fighting, right Dash?" Chaser, currently slowly rotating completely upside-down, looked genuinely apologetic.

"Fine..." She agreed, dropping it.

A moment of quiet walking later was broken when they spotted some friends. "Hey, there's Applejack and Big Mac, let's catch up."

She was about to race him, (who could resist?) then she saw it was only a little way and not quite worth it, so together the three of them made short work of the distance between them and the apple farmers, but she still felt a slight hankering for a race about now, she certainly wasn't used to this much time and energy in the mornings.

"Morning," Chaser dropped to the ground next to Big Mac, who was hauling a cart full of, what else, apples.

The red stallion nodded politely to the white and AJ gave him a cheery "G'mornin', Chaser." before a mini explosion of apples that threatened to bounce out of the cart yelled "Mornin' Mister Chaser!" as Applebloom hurtled out of her hiding spot.

"Are y'comin' to th' fair, Mister Chaser? We're doin' all sortsa treats an' games an' rides an' food an' jus' about anythin' else y'might wanna try. An'-"

"Whoa there, sugarcube, o'course Chaser's comin', he's one-a the guests of honour." her big sister settled the filly down again.

"Just like me." Dash posed in mid-flap, "Chaser an' me saved the Princess in an epic showdown, pony against wolf! You shoulda bin there to see it, Twilight was all 'You're crazy!' and Chaser was all 'You've met me!' and then I was all 'Give back our Princess!' and I bust' in there like-"

Being nearest, Applejack took the liberty to yank Rainbow Ego down to Equestria again, hard.

"We saved the Princess." The farmpony gave her friend a direct glare, eye to eye.

"Oh, well... yeah, you guys helped." The others laughed at the closest thing to an apology Dash would ever give.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo says you beat up a hundred wolves, didja?" Bloom perked up,

"Actually," her sister headed off another boasting session, "we didn' have to. Chaser here drew 'em all off so we could sneak inside an' free the princess, then the Guards took care of any wolves we met on the way out. It was the perfect jail-break."

"So y'didn' fight anypony?" Rainbow could see the way the filly's poor heroic imaginings were being shattered, but she didn't know what she could say with Applejack standing there to spoil her best stories.

"Well how about the time Rainbow Dash took on the Storm Wolves?" Chaser broke in.

"Storm Wolves?" Applebloom's eyes went wide at the thought.

"Oh yeah." He grinned, and she could see why, it sounded awesome, right? "Two huge wolves that make storms so big they could fit all of Ponyville inside them! She even saved my sorry flank there too."

"Woah!" While Bloom's eyes were shining, she could see Applejack looking incredulous and even Big Mac had stopped chewing his grass stalk in almost surprise. For herself, Dash couldn't quite believe he was going to tell that story.

"Okay, so there it was coming out of the mountains, a super-storm. Black as night and spitting lightning, thunder, hail and rain everywhere!" The white pegasus brought himself up to hover level with the top of the cart and told his tale.

And as she listened, it... well it wasn't outright lies... mostly, but it made her sound awesome, like she was the hero and he'd tagged along against her will, gotten in trouble, and that he'd gotten hurt because he wasn't as awesome as she was. Well, that was kind of true, in some ways, but that wasn't exactly the way it happened...

By the time he'd gotten to the point where he was surrounded by two Storm Wolves and their Prince, and the heroic Rainbow Dash had swooped down with all her friends in tow to save his life, the little group had arrived in the marketplace.

"I can't wait to tell Sweetie and Scootaloo!" The little filly yelled, "Thanks Mister Chaser, that was amazin'!"

"Be back 'fore dinner!" AJ called after the over-excited junior Apple.

The journey ended right behind town hall where a dozen or so ponies were already counting in food for the fair, and they dropped off three full barrels for the main meal before heading on a little ways to deliver the final one to the fair-site itself for all the different treat stalls.

"Ya know, Ah think you might've got hit on the head a little hard at some point, Chaser." Applejack stated conversationally when they'd finished and waved Big Mac off on the return trip with the empty cart, "Don' get me wrong, that was a heck of a tale you told mah sister, but Ah certainly don' remember it quite the same."

"Kids need a hero." Chaser pointed out, a little non-specifically.

"An' that changes the story how?"

He paused and Dash saw that same drop in mood that she'd seen in him before at breakfast, nothing about his expression said he was sad, but something in the eyes wasn't twinkling when he replied, "It can't be me."

Before any of them could ask about that, a familiar voice calling them heralded the arrival of Twilight, Spike and Rarity. The conversation immediately changed topic to the up-coming celebration and who was doing what.

* * *

Cresting the hill, Canterlot came into view. The valley spread out before them, capitol on the mountains, that treacherous forest filled the deepest part to his right, and between the two, in a sun-drenched stretch of rolling hills, stood a village.

He turned to head for Canterlot, but before he took more than a few steps, a sky carriage of gold and white lifted into the air above the spires. White wings preceded it through its course, he couldn't make out the details at this distance, but that many white wings meant Royal Guards to him.

The carriage swept through the skies, lit by the morning sun, and descended over the village. He didn't see it land, but bright puffs of daytime fireworks burst in the air after it arrived followed by...

His jaw slackened a little as a... a... an explosion of colour washed the sky. An expanding ring of rainbow hues made the brightest of fireworks look dim, it was like an aurora wave washing out into the morning blue. And from the center of that magical ring of coloured fire, a rainbow grew in a perfect arc through the open air as if a force was drawing a quill across canvas.

It touched down somewhere beyond the houses of the village and stayed there. The ring expanded until it could no longer hold together and faded, but the rainbow itself hung like a ribbon of coloured glass for as long as he stared.

That was his destination. There was no other being in the world that could summon such a display; the Princess was there.

* * *

Chaser had been dragged off by Pinkie to play all the games he hadn't played yet, Twilight was off doing stuff since the Princesses got here, Fluttershy and Rarity were... somewhere... and Applejack was running her stand. She suddenly found herself with free time and nothing cool to do.

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" One of the passers by waved to her, "Great Sonic Rainboom, that was amazing!"

"Yeah, thanks, it was easy for somepony like me." She tipped him a wave back.

The Princesses were due to make a speech to honour them soon, but the Rainboom had been her job. Now she didn't have anything to do until the ceremony. So, wait around and be bored until the boring bit where she'd wait around some more. Great.

She wanted to fly, her wings itched for it. Everything went dark.

"Guess who!" A falsetto voice trilled, there were hooves over her eyes, she hadn't passed out from boredom, thank Celestia!

"Pff, with that poor attempt? Gotta be Thunderlane." She smirked, thinking of the times the grey pegasus had hit on her using worse and worse methods as time went on.

There was a sigh behind her and a voice murmured right in her ear, "Guess again."

"CHASER!!" She jumped a full foot out of the way, yanking out of his hooves and pawing at her ear.

"Where?!" He yelled, acting panicked, head darting around, "Where?! Oh... right, that's me." And he rolled over in the air and gurned a silly face at her, stupid colt... "Hey, you alright?"

His voice switched to concerned as he flipped the right way up, landed and stepped closer to peer at her. She felt even more heat rising in her cheeks, and she tried not to meet his eyes, "I- I'm fine! Nothing's wrong, okay? Jeez!"

The big, white stallion backed off a little and cocked an eyebrow, "If you say so. You're looking a little flushed. Should we get something to drink?"

Only glad of the reprieve, she agreed, scolding herself the whole way to the soda stand for such a school-filly response to having a colt's voice coming from that angle. "What are you doing back here anyway?"

"Scored a lucky streak on skeeball and won Pinkie a prize, then I told her I should probably check up on the rest of you to see if everypony was having as much fun, she was happy to let me go after that."

"And you surprised all the girls like that?" She hoofed him in the shoulder,

"Nah," He rolled his head in a dismissive expression, "just the one who has the best reaction." And he winked, turning to decide on which flavour he'd like.

For some reason she felt her face light up, we're talking red as her mane streak, and she didn't even know what she said next, but it had to be something that sounded okay, since he laughed it off and didn't take notice of her cheeks while he was selecting their soda.

"So," He said, the pony behind the stand recognising them, it was their celebration after all, and denying all attempts to pay for the sodas, "that was a Sonic Rainboom, huh?"

That perked her up, "Sure was! That's my best move, nopony's even come close to that."

"It was beautiful, I've never seen anything like it." He mused, the two of them finding their way to a bench.

"So mister universe jumper has finally seen something new? I guess I'm just that awesome." Chaser dropped her an amused look, she'd hit a nerve, so she upped the cheese on her cheesy grin.

"You know the regular sonic boom? How fast you have to go to make one?" He asked, and she nodded, "Back home, I look pretty different to a pony, and my wings are a lot bigger, so-"

"How much bigger?" She couldn't help interrupting, this was important.

"Triple the span." He answered her, Kirianna nodding with most of her body on his shoulder, "This width again on either side, my biggest primaries are almost as long as this whole wing."

"Woah..." That really was impressive. Like an earth pony stallion standing as tall as Celestia, that kind of impressive.

"So, my power is stronger there too," He continues, that lopsided smile quirking his face again, "I can fly nearly four times as fast as it takes for a sonic boom." She could only gape at him, mouth hanging open, soda bottle in danger of tipping out of her hooves, "I know a man that can teleport instantly to anywhere he can see, a man that can run so fast he sets fire to the ground and can get traction on water, I've seen a girl who can summon a tornado from the palm of her hand, and that's just my world. I've travelled to dozens of worlds where flight is considered an art, where my wings were considered a sign of being a god or at least a messenger of the gods."

"But." He held up a hoof, "I've never seen anything like the Sonic Rainboom. I may be awesome enough for my world, but you're the awesome one here." And the smile grew into a grin as he gently hoofed her shoulder. Kirianna buzzed to herself on top of his head like a contented cat.

She blushed. Guess that really was a compliment coming from him, wasn't it? "Thanks." She finished off her soda to cover her embarrassment.

"Hey you two," Twilight trotted out of the crowd, "I'm just rounding everyone up, Celestia and Luna will be making their speech soon."

"Hey! Maybe we'll be getting medals this time!" Pinkie bounced along behind her as they passed, heading for the open-backed stage at the far end of the fairground.

"Race ya?" Dash cocked an eyebrow and her own lopsided grin at him.

"On three." Chaser was already on his mark,

They exchanged one look, and both of them yelled "Three!"

* * *

"Our loyal subjects," Celestia began, but he wasn't paying attention.

His cloaks fluttered about him, silken and wafting despite their heavy weaves, his paws sparked against the grass from the enchantments laid into the wrappings.

Athelgeir padded through the empty streets of the village unnoticed by the crowd of ponies that filled the open square before him. Bigger than any one of them, it was a wonder that none turned and saw him, but their attention was fixed on not just one, but both princesses of the realm as the older made her address.

Perfect.

He strode around the edges of the gathering, not making the slightest attempt to hide, but the market stalls and fairground attractions were between him and the crowd. He felt as if the ponies were flick-flick-flicking in and out of existence for him, seen and then unseen, and his blood rose at the way it made him feel like a true predator once more, stalking his unsuspecting inferiors. He half hoped some of them would see him. If he could draw one or two away now it would be a welcome catharsis, but he was happy enough to make his way nearly to the stage itself without detection.

A guard turned and saw him at last, the shocked expression was enough to make him salivate; prey his mind told him. With a single bound he closed the distance and drew himself up for a swipe of his paw that was more a slap than anything else.

Lightning cracked and the rapport thundered around the open space making some ponies scream and jump away, the guard slumped to the ground twitching as the electrical surge spasmed his muscles.

Heads snapped around, Princess Celestia herself nearly broke her royal calm as she was interrupted mid-word to stare at the scene.

Athelgeir mounted the steps and swatted another guard out of the way, his sheer ferocity backed Celestia from the small podium as one last guard moved to intercept him. He ducked low, surging up and into the stallion's rearing attack, bowling the pony over and baring his fangs in a snarl. His enchanted wraps sent a surge of electricity into his victim and made the white guardspony shudder and shake in his grip.

From his place on top of the guard, Athelgeir glanced around for his next target, but found himself in front of the crowd and nearly face-to-face with the microphone, which amplified his heavy growls around the entire open space. He straightened up out of his predatory crouch, rolling the limp guard out from under his pads and spared a glance for the angry, clearly ready to attack, Princess Celestia before he spoke to all of them gathered in front of him.

"Ponies of Equestria, our honoured guest Princess Celestia, and her dear sister Princess Luna. I am Athelgeir of the Úlfur, Mikil in waiting. I am the one who attempted to conquer your lands and levy tribute from you by means of force!"

They gasped, the sussuration of voices rippling across the face of the crowd like a field of grass, even Princess Celestia was a little taken aback by this brash outburst.

"I am here with a message! I am here with a challenge!" He gestured around, "Bring out the pegasus known as Wind Chaser! He and I have a score to settle!"

* * *

Author's Note

Yes ladies and gents, I've returned. I guess I should have marked this as on Hiatus, and for that I apologise, but back I am and this story will be finished at last!

Many thanks for anybody who's actually reading this, it's a great pleasure to know that you're still with me, until next chapter; byes!

Chapter 15

Wind Chaser, Chapter 15

In which things get pretty noisy, pretty fast.

* * *

When a guy stands up and tells a group of innocent people to bring him... The one that you are? Possibly... The one known as you? Nah, just leave it.

When a guy stands up in front of a crowd of innocents and threatens them in front of their leaders, who have the power to blast him into a nice pile of crispy bits, and give him nightmares about it in the afterlife, he's got a plan.

As such, Wind Chaser did not immediately leap out from his place in the waiting tent with the six girls in tow to confront the possibly crazed wolf.

The seven of them had been asked to wait in this nice, shady tent, placed at the back of the gathering ground, directly opposite the stage so that, just like a ceremony inside a hall, they would be called up along a central aisle between the crowds and present themselves on the steps of the small stage. It was a nice gesture, Rarity had said, reminiscent of the ceremonies from their triumph over Nightmare Moon, with the whole open-air parade atmosphere going on as it had.

Now, though, all of them were struggling with the events unfolding. Three guards down, Celestia and Luna sizing up the threat to their subjects before making their move and one manic-eyed wolf princeling shouting down a microphone.

"We have to do something," Twilight began,

"Yeah! We have to kick his flank!" Dash leapt up and out, only to be grabbed by Applejack, yanked back by her tail, "What the-? AJ!"

"Hold yer horses!" The farmer threw a foreleg over her friend to calm her, "We need a plan."

"Exactly, darling," Rarity agreed, "and we simply must do something about those horrible robes, he looks like he's been sleeping in a barn!"

"What's wrong with sleepin' in a barn?" Applejack demanded,

"Oh, well nothing, dear, so long as the place has been thoroughly cleaned first. That, however, certainly wasn't the case for him."

"Ah'll have you know-"

"We don't have time for this!" Dash broke in, "What we need is to-"

"Oh please don't fight..." Fluttershy murmured so low that only Kirianna heard her as the parasprite buzzed nearby.

"I've got an idea! What if we sneak out the back and load up a catapult with cake and cupcakes and banana pudding, because everyone knows that the best KERSPLATS come from banana pudding, then we have to cut the legs of the stage aaaalmost all the way through, that way when we fire the catapult the big mean wolf'll get hit and CRR-ASH! Right through the stage and into a vat of chocolate!"

"Ah said wait! Twilight'll have a plan soon!"

"Uhm..." Twilight herself didn't look too sure of that.

"Everypony calm down." Chaser stepped right into the middle of their group, using his size, wings and best calm, steady voice to get their attention.

They fell silent, except Pinkie, who made some odd sound like she was swallowing back the rest of her words.

"Leave him to the Princesses, if they're as powerful as I think they are, we've got nothing to worry about here. There's something bigger about to happen."

"What makes you say that?" Twilight moved a little closer.

"Dash, remember back at the storm? I said then, if something huge and unnatural is going on, get the guy in the robes with the glowing orb?"

"Yeah, but this isn't like that... is it?" She seemed a lot more willing to listen to him after remembering that.

"Exactly the opposite." Chaser nodded, "The guy with the robes is there in front of everypony this time, so where's the huge, unnatural thing that we'd have to get him for? It's a distraction. He can't stand up to the Princesses, although I'm a little worried about the other ponies out there, but he's either completely lost his nut, or there's a plan going on that he's stopping us all from noticing."

"So what do we do?" Dash was a pent-up ball of action about to explode if she couldn't do something about this soon, hooves spread like a cat about to pounce, tail lashing the air.

"Find it." He replied, "Just keep out of that wolf's line of sight and we'll all look for whatever trick he's got up his sleeve."

* * *

They lifted up the edge of the tent and made a break for it, straight away from the stage and getting a couple of streets away before they stopped to regroup.

"Where to now?" Twilight looked around.

"Uh... girls?" Fluttershy didn't look away from what she had seen, "Maybe it's that?" She pointed a little shakily.

When they looked, the collective size of their eyes was possibly no bigger than a penny. I wonder if that ever hurts... Maybe it's just a special adaptation to something? They have special eyes! Shut up! You'll make me laugh! Thpeeeeethial... Shut it, tart!

As inappropriate as Kirianna was being, the situation looked pretty dire. To the north there was no longer just one spike of a mountain, they'd told him the story of when they'd climbed it to ask a dragon to move along, instead there was a wall. Slate grey, craggy and, worst of all, moving inexorably closer. As they watched the mountaintop was engulfed and from within the depths lightning began to strike at the trees on the slopes, illuminating the silhouette in ghostly fire.

"Heavens to betsy..." Applejack understated, "How'n tarnation are we supposed to deal with that?!"

Dash shook herself, "'We' don't, this is a job for me and Chaser, right big guy?"

"Yeah, I reckon it is..." He replied, thinking hard.

Twilight shoved a hoof at each of them in turn, "Now hold on a minute you two, both of you always throw yourselves into danger and I'm not letting you do it again. We do this together!"

"Um... together? As in, all of us?" Fluttershy timidly raised a hoof.

"Together." Twilight nodded, emphatically. Without another word the little pegasus promptly stiffened with a tiny bleat and fell sideways against Chaser, nearly tipping over completely if he hadn't steadied her.

"I don't think there's a lot you can do, Twilight," Chaser began, "not up there at any rate. Besides, they'll probably need you here in Ponyville."

"But-"

"No 'but's Twi, Chaser's right, what good can the rest of us do up in the air?" Applejack pointed out the major flaw.

"Hey, we've all got something we can do!" Dash broke in, surprising all of them, "Fluttershy, you need to get all the animals somewhere safe, AJ makes sure the farms are secure, Pinkie and Rarity can batten down the hatches, keep the houses and shops safe, and Twi, you should probably get to the square, see if you can throw up a shield that'll protect all the ponies there if that storm gets too close. Oh, and tell the Princesses what's happening, that way they can kick that wolf out while we tear that storm apart."

They paused for a minute, that... was actually pretty good... "What's with you guys? Let's go already!" There were visible head-shakes all around as they got rid of their surprise.

"Alright girls, that's the plan." Twilight rallied them, "Fluttershy protect the animals, Applejack you take the Acres and anywhere else you see along the way, Rarity and Pinkie Pie can look after any building that's in danger, and I'll protect everypony in the square. Rainbow Dash and Wind Chaser, we're counting on you to deal with that storm, watch out for each other, okay? Let's do this!"

Twilight put her hoof in, the others followed suit and then paused again, waiting expectantly. "Well? Come on, now, Chaser." Rarity prompted him.

"Me too? Uh... sure..." He hesitated, but put his hoof in too. With a small, enthusiastic cheer, they broke the circle and galloped to their respective tasks.

Dash and Chaser were left in the street, Ponyville empty around them, and only their sudden abandonment keeping them in place.

"Do you, maybe, have a plan for that, too?" He stared at the threatening wall.

"Uh, sure... kinda." She stood beside him, staring too. Well, she's one-for-one on good plans versus bad plans so far, lets give her the tie-breaker.

"I'll have your back." He reassured her.

"I know." She still stared, then sighed, "Okay, here's what I got. The last storm they made was massive, but inside it was hollow, remember?" He nodded, "Well that isn't normal, storms need all that mass to form rain and ice, but what if it's not supposed to make either of those? What I think it's there for is making lightning."

"Sure, I remember how easy it was for them to make a whole wall of it." He agreed.

"Exactly, so, I had a plan when I saw that first one too. All storms need an axis, the eye of the storm. It's a point in the air that the storm whirls around where the air can be almost still. The bigger the storm, the bigger the eye, and the last one had a huge eye. All that air spinning around, plus that still air in the middle and then all that open space? Perfect for making lightning. Anyway, if I could have got into the eye and started a counter-spin, or broken it up somehow, the whole storm would have collapsed. Only problem was that I couldn't do it fast enough."

"So the same strategy here, then? Get into the eye and tear it apart? You know there's going to be wolves in there too."

"Yeah, that's the plan. As for the wolves, that's where you come in, think you can back me up long enough to do the job?"

"Distraction? That's one of my favourite games! That, and if it's the same wolves, I owe them a rematch anyway."

"Good. Now, let's do this before I regret it." And her head turned, planting a quick, but strong, kiss on his cheek before he could protest. She blushed as his face reddened too, "Don't die in there, okay?"

With a fast-fading rainbow trail behind her, the red-faced pegasus hit the air ahead of him. Yep, called it. Shut it, tart. No, really, how the hell do you do it? Is there some magical field around you? Is it that you already have one girl and other girls just pick up on that and want it for themselves? Seriously, am I the only part of you that ever wonders about this? Since I can't remember wondering about it since you appeared, then yes. ... Fair enough. Look, you know this is trouble. The sooner we leave, the sooner you can clear your conscience and carry on. Do NOT let a cute female guilt trip you into falling for her. And we're having this conversation because... ... Crap. Just... catch up or something.

He beat his wings a little harder, drawing closer to the subject of his internal debate.

* * *

Twilight skidded to a stop behind the tent they'd left a short while ago and thought about her approach. If she just rushed in there, lots of things could go wrong... But if she tried to sneak around she might get caught and the wolf on the stage might come after her.

"I'm still waiting, Your Highness," Athelgeir's voice echoing and slightly distorted through the megaphone, "where is your champion? Your rescuer?"

"Psst! Twilight!" It was Spike! He was holding up the back of the tent and peering out, beckoning to her, eyes wide with fear. She ducked into the opening and gave him a quick hug to reassure him.

"Where is everypony? I looked inside as soon as I could, but you weren't here!" She shushed him as his voice started to climb the panic registers.

"It's alright, Spike, we needed to get to where nopony could see us and we discovered his trick. There's a huge storm moving down on us, the wolf on stage is a distraction until it gets here. The girls are securing the town and the farms in case it reaches us while Rainbow and Chaser are heading in to try and break it up."

"That's a relief, but what about you?"

"I'm going to put a stop to this nonsense here, it's gone on long enough." She started towards the main exit, "Stay here, Spike, and if something happens, run and get the girls."

"Gotcha." He breathed a small sigh of relief at not having to jump out to confront the crazy creature.

"Well, here goes." With a deep breath she stepped out.

* * *

"I'm getting a little tired of waiting, Princess, where is my foe? Is he even in this... place?" Athelgeir's amplified voice was bored, the initial thrill of his entrance was waning now, but neither had the princesses attacked to change the situation, not with his stance right over the top of one of the guards.

"Wind Chaser is right where he needs to be, Athelgeir, stopping you!" A single voice, clear and defiant, rang out from the central aisle.

"Twilight?" Celestia murmured, unconsciously.

"What is she doing, sister?" Luna muttered next to her, the royal poker-face in place.

After a pause, Athelgeir barked a laugh, "Stopping me? Hah! He's not even here." The wolf dismounted the stage with a predatory grace that belied his mass, his robes fluttering and fanning around him in a disturbing parody of the princesses' manes.

"I invoked my right to challenge, the pony Wind Chaser owes a debt for crossing the royalty of the Úlfur, for denying me my conquest, for bringing me shame and for preventing my rise to my birthright as Mikill Úlfur!"

As he spoke, his voice a growl that chilled her to the bone, Athelgeir stalked down the main aisle, ponies shrinking away and trying to find space in the crowd of faces that had turned to watch. Now, he brushed past her, the edges of his robes wafting across her face and bringing with them the scent of rain on the earth, and returned on her other side, stalking away towards the stage again.

"And I do not bring with me simply my own righteous ire and shame, but that of my people. The pegasus who fought my Storm Guards desecrated our most sacred arena, destroyed the great dome which has stood for thousands of years, brought ruin to our capital city, and shamed my father, the Mikill, before he could attain his final triumph and pass on his mantle with pride."

Athelgeir whirled at the last, snarling through bared fangs and glaring at the unicorn intruder with the fury of a true predator, "And. He. Isn't. Here." He bit the words off as statements, the words themselves had teeth.

She should have been terrified, but just one bit of knowledge was all it took to help her keep her cool. Lifting her chin, Twilight put on her best 'conclusion of a lecture' face and gave him the worst possible reply he could have received; "Because you aren't a threat."

There was silence. Even the ponies around her, cowed as they were by the enraged royal wolf, stared at her with the startled expressions of those who could not quite come to terms with the truly bizarre.

"Wind Chaser saw through all this, he saw your plan and he's gone to stop your storm before it even gets here."

There was a sussuration of murmurs and whispers through the crowd while Athelgeir stood, stock still, staring with narrowed eyes at the purple interloper before him.

"Then that is regretable, little pony, because then how will he ever save-" he crouched lower with every deliberate word, legs coiling to spring, "you!?"

* * *

The two of them raced towards what Chaser was beginning to think of as 'the wall'. There didn't seem to be any edges to it, just a top and a bottom and endless grey-purple-yellow-white masses from horizon to horizon.

"Same way in?" He rode the wind like a man paddling out into the waves to surf, all roll and buck, using the downsweep to keep his momentum.

"Keep low until you get in close, then follow me up before we hit lightning and heavy winds!" She yelled back, one hoof pointing to the line of dancing, jagged legs of the bottom-most tier of clouds.

Scale was the most deceptive thing, he knew clouds, had flown through and around them for years, and while Equestria's clouds were a little different to his pegasus body, they still followed at least some of the same rules. The closer he got to the edge of the wall, the more massive it seemed. What he'd first thought was a waving field of grass was quickly resolved into the thrashing tops of trees. Like distant mountains when you walked across a plain, no matter how huge they looked at a distance, the real size was always, always an awe-inspiring realisation.

Feeling like a surfer about to attempt a three hundred foot world record, he rode the wind in closer.

* * *

Twilight appeared again further down the aisle in a flash of her signature magic, leaving Athelgeir momentarily mystified as to her disappearance, only to be forced to back up once again as the predatory prince reoriented himself for a more studied attack.

"Clever trick, little one, but it shall not be so easy to do that again."

"She will not need to." Celestia's imposing voice broke in at last, Luna standing firm beside her, "Your time here is at an end, Prince Athelgeir, and we shall not allow you to attempt more harm on our subjects."

The sight of two alicorn monarchs standing ready to face him down did give the wolf pause, momentarily, "Then it seems my challenge is being taken up by proxy. So be it."

Ponies had already been backing away from the epicenter of this unexpected scene, but now they scrambled, the frightened herd kicking up dust clouds as the huge wolf turned his snarling maw on the princesses in a terrifying display.

* * *

This was it, they were close enough that a stray branch of lightning could snap them out of the sky. Thunder was a near constant percussive peal muffled to a dull roar by the rush of air through their ears. The winds were gusting, filled with billows and currents that they rode with practiced skill, and the sky was cut in half above them by the grey cliffs that seemed to arch outwards over them oppressively. He could see Dash was gearing up to take them into the teeth of it, her body language so much easier to read when they flew, except...

The howl that drifted through the wind brought with it a chill down both of their spines.

Moments later the currents in the air bucked them hard, heaving mounds of air that tried to throw them across the sky, twisting and tumbling. Chaser's unconventional wings let him hold position with more surety, but Dash's skill saw her through with unexpected grace.

"They're here!" She shouted over the rolls of thunder. Ten o'clock, moving to twelve. Thanks.

He squinted his eyes against the rush of air and caught the bounding movements of the storm callers ahead of them. Paws planted firmly on a cloud, one threw his head back and howled another long, low call, followed quickly by a harmonising one from his brother. Kind of pretty, when you stop to listen. The combined, almost sung, tones quickly showed effect.

A downdraft, a vast one that Chaser couldn't feel the edges of, threw the two pegasus ponies at the ground like an angry giant. His heavier frame and ethereal wings buffered him from the sudden direction change, he was able to halt his momentum completely, but the lighter pony was struggling badly. She plummeted with the air, mane and tail tossed in all directions as her smaller wings beat furiously to keep her in control of the dive. Chaser?

But controlling it wasn't enough, she had to pull up, she had to stop somehow! Chaser?! He watched until it became clear that she couldn't, there wasn't enough time before the ground claimed her. Catch her you idiot!

Kirianna cursing him for not acting earlier, Chaser tucked his wings and stooped after her, using the same power that kept him away from the ground to push himself towards it instead, falling fast enough that the downdraft he followed felt almost still around him.

She saw him coming and, despite the glare that told him she didn't want his help, angled herself with him enough that he could slip his back under her until he was sure she had purchase. Then he stopped. The same no-momentum stop he used to escape from her back when they first met was what saved them both from the embrace of the cold ground below. Pressed against his back, touching his wings, was enough to encompass his friend in his powers too... Just. He hadn't been sure that it would work so well in this form, his powers cut so drastically from the heights of his own form, but they were okay.

Safe. Kirianna's mental voice breathed a sigh of relief. 'Kind of pretty'? Shut up, tart.

Dash stood, wings helping, on his back, "That... was the weirdest thing I've ever done."

He and Kiri just laughed, happy that she was okay, but all of their attention focused back on the wolves above them. The edge of the clouds had found them and the winds began to fling rain around. Before they could start to climb against the winds called against them, they were drenched by a swathe of water that poured from the leading storm edge.

Typical, every time we go somewhere nice, the weather follows us. The old joke made him smile a little inside, even if he couldn't muster it outside.

He and Dash ignored the downpour and began their climb back up into the storm, cautious now of lightning, and both tracking the two wolves that now ran back and forth watching the two ponies rise towards them again.

"You think you can take 'em?" Dash asked, sidelong, as she pulled ahead.

"I'll give you as much time as you need. I won't be letting them go without a fight." He assured her.

"Good, I'm gonna fly straight down their throat, keep them off me and let me get inside. No way they're expecting that."

"You better be careful, Dash, that's not going to be easy."

"They can't push through clouds the way we can, so I'll leave them out here for you, just get me into that storm." Came to a hover, turning partway back to him to emphasise her point. All he could do was nod in return.

Hens eggs of rain impacted the dry, dusty ground, throwing up little fountains of debris as they hit. Soon enough though, the parched earth was nothing but churned mud and little rivulets coursing downhill to the nearest streams.

"You sure about this Dash?" the white pegasus yelled over the deluge rolling down on them, wings working to keep himself in place, his question was hurled in the direction of the smaller, cyan pegasus ahead of him.

"No!" she returned, "Got any better ideas?"

Flashes of lightning were arcing from the two figures that danced from one end of the clouds to another in front of them, "Ones that don't involve chances of horrific death? No."

"Then keep them off my flank while I fix this." And with that, they threw themselves into the tumultuous storm.

Author's Note

Annnnd... that brings us back to the start, one nice, neat little loop and you guys know where everything stands.

I love making opening sections to stories and then closing the loop, because it helps me to reconfirm what I was thinking way back when I started the fiction. Now all I've got to do is end this thing right You'd better pay attention you lot! Shut it, tart.

Chapter 1

Wind Chaser, Chapter 1.

In which is started a fan-fic by a guy that prefers to write real fiction... but had to do this because he can’t resist the Brony within. Yes this is a human-becomes-a-pony fiction, and yes I’m hoping to be one of the few to get it right, I just thank you for reading and giving me the chance.

Apologies again to my anon pre-readers, all two of you, and again thanks to Zo for even more brilliance (there’s a reason I love her folks, and it’s not just the stunning plot).

On with the show!

* * *

"You sure about this Dash?" the white pegasus yelled over the deluge rolling down on them, wings working to keep himself in place, his question was hurled in the direction of a smaller, cyan pegasus ahead of him.

"No!" she returned, "Got any better ideas?"

Flashes of lightning were arcing from the two figures that danced from one end of the clouds to another in front of them, "Ones that don't involve chances of horrific death? No."

"Then keep them off my flank while I fix this." And with that, they threw themselves into the tumultuous storm.

* * *

~ One Week Earlier ~

Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, researcher of Friendship, unicorn magic prodigy, and now Librarian of Ponyville, cracked a bleary eye at light streaming through her bedroom window.

"-nd if you don't get up I'm going to eat it all myself!" the young voice behind her finished his ultimatum in frustration.

"Wha-? Spike?" She rolled over to peer monoptically at her assistant.

The baby dragon, only a few feet high, purple scales, cream fronted and topped with childishly rounded green spines, folded his arms at her. More of a toddler dragon than a baby if she was honest, but she knew it would be a long time before he ever reached physical maturity, no matter how grown up he acted.

"Break-fast." He enunciated as deliberately as possible, already walking towards the ladder, "Come on! Get up or I'll eat it all myself." With that he vanished from sight over the edge.

"Spi-iiike... I was up late last night..." But the door closed before she was even finished protesting. Her stomach told her it really was time for breakfast, so, sighing, Twilight dragged herself out of bed. She brushed out her bed-mane, visited the bathroom and headed downstairs to the smell of fresh pancakes.

As far as pony standards went, Twilight was an attractive filly. Straight dark blue mane with a pink streak through it, lavender coat with her star-and-sparkle cutie mark taking pride of place on her flank. Her eyes were her best feature, at least they were when she wasn’t suffering from sleepy-sand attacks, deep purple, wide and emotive. Not that she’d ever really thought about it, when you didn’t have time for making friends throughout your school life, then what need had you of a coltfriend?

Even though a splash of water from the sink had cured most of the tiredness, she was still rubbing at her eyes on the way down, but by the time she got to the table she at least felt like a pony again, ready to face whatever the day brought.

"Hurgk!" Spike greeted her eloquently, then he belched a wisp of flame and smoke that resolved itself into a familiar looking scroll. She caught it with her magic before it fell, brow creasing in consternation.

"I wonder what this could be so early... I only sent my report off to the Princess yesterday..."

"Whatever it is, I think I need a few more pancakes to settle it down." Spike rubbed his stomach and then tucked into the other half of his short-stack.

Twilight read as she ate, it was a pretty short message:

"Dear Twilight Sparkle," pause to chew and swallow, "I am writing to inform you that I will be unable to receive your reports for a few days" - pancake - " as I will be departing shortly on an ambassadorial visit to a northern race we have not had contact with for many years." Maybe a little more syrup, "You may consider the next week a holiday and do whatever you wish with your time until I return. Signed, Princess Celestia."

She swallowed the last of her breakfast, drained a glass of milk and turned to Spike with a smile, "Well, what do you think? Sounds like we can have some fun."

* * *

At the crack of... mid-morning, not very long after Twilight emerged from her room, Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed. She stretched, flapped her wings a few times, and then headed out.

Lazily working her way into the air from her cloudy home she kicked a passing cloud hard to have it spill some rain, which lasted long enough for her to douse down and wake up properly. She gave herself a shake to get her mane out of her eyes and, still dripping wet, she was off.

Actually 'off' didn't cover it, Rainbow went from hover to hurtle in seconds. Throwing herself bodily into the sky and pumping her wings harder and harder to keep the upwards momentum as she streaked into the reaches of freedom.

The sun blasted her, banishing the chill of her shower and she was dry in moments between it and the wind against her face. A cyan pegasus mare against a perfect sky, she would have been easily missed at this height, except for her trademark mane. Defined and vibrant streaks of colour ran through it, all colours of the rainbow, like her namesake. Magenta eyes squinted into the wind until she topped out above the highest, thinnest clouds, revelling in the feeling of near weightlessness for a few precious seconds. As her morning exercise was done, she parked her plot on an outcrop of vapour as only a pegasus truly could.

Looking around, however, all her good mood began to evaporate as fast as the water in her mane. Contemplating the mess in front of her, she decided to get some answers. A moment later, all the sky contained was an echo of "The hay is going on around here?" and a rainbow-streaked trail angling down to Ponyville.

On the horizon, a band of clouds darker than smoke had settled in and wasn't moving.

* * *

Twilight was humming to herself, it wasn't often she got told to take a holiday, so she was going to enjoy it. Only one thing to do with time off; spend it with your friends! First stop Rarity's boutique, as Spike decided.

"Hey, Twilight!" Okay, first stop Pinkie Pie then, "I was on my way to lunch and saw you and I thought to myself 'Hey, it's strange to see Twilight out so early' because you usually have duties at the library or you're tired out from working late or you've got to write a report to the Princess which is really cool by the way I mean who else has a friend that's the personal student of Princess Celestia? But anyway I thought it was odd to see you out so I came over to say 'Hey, Twilight!' and here I am!” She paused for breath, “Hey Spike!"

"Hey Pinkie, good morning." Twilight chuckled as Pinkie bounced in place, "The Princess is going away for a while, so she said to take some time off until she gets back. I was coming to see you and the girls to ask if there was anything you wanted to do together."

"Oh IknowIknow-I-know! This calls for a - wait!” She interrupted herself dramatically, “I have an even better idea, we're going to need INFLATABLES!" A pink blur announced her departure.

Twilight chuckled, "She is sooo random."

"Tell me about it." Spike agreed from her back.

She headed for the boutique at a gentle trot, but oddly enough it was closed, "I wonder where Rarity could be? It's not like her to close for a weekday."

But before she could turn away, the door opened slightly and Rarity's eye peered at her through the crack. "Shhhh..." the eye moved from side to side as if checking they weren't observed. A moment later Twilight found herself dragged inside.

The room was dark, very dark. "Uh, Rarity? What's-" A spotlight flipped on in the middle of the space between her and Rarity.

"Pinkie Pie just told me everything darling, and I have to say I approve entirely. Which means it's time to reveal my newest designs, and trust me it wasn't easy."

"Pinkie?"

"Yes dear, now, come this way." Leading her to the centre of the shop, the spotlight following them somehow, Rarity gestured to the mini stage she used for measuring and dressing her customers. It was surrounded by a curtain for the moment, which rolled back as Rarity pulled on the rope magically while saying "I present to you... Pony Beach Wear!" Light flooded the room.

Six ponyquinnes rotated slowly, each themed to one of the six, and Twilight could only stare. Apart from the coloured sunglasses, tinted to match their prospective owners, there were sandals, light sun-dresses, hats on some, a gigantic parasol, deck loungers and a cold-box in the middle, and even... "Are those... swimsuits?"

Spike jumped from her back to the stage and started pacing around them in awe. There was even a little custom Spike-size dragonquinne with board shorts and sunglasses.

"Absolutely! Don't they look darling? Now, they are optional, as sea-water is so bad for the mane, but I couldn't resist trying to make them once I saw the idea."

She had to admit, now that she was over the surprise, the skin-hugging lines were quite nice, but how practical they would be compared to just swimming normally was yet to be seen. Then again, this was Rarity, and style was often more important to her than practicality. She doubted that Applejack would be wearing hers, but as for the rest...

"It looks amazing, Rarity, perfect for a beach trip, but since when were we going to the beach?"

"Since Pinkie Pie told me that you were planning a beach party with her, of course." Rarity answered absently, toying with the frills on one of the dresses.

"But I wasn't -"

"I'm back! How's the preparations going Rarity?" Pinkie burst in through the, formerly locked, door. Somehow. Considering she was weighed down by a half-dozen saddlebags and boxes tied onto her as randomly as her personality, how she got anywhere was a mystery, "Oo-oooh! So pretty!"

"Pinkie... when did you start planning a beach party?"

"Last week, silly, when else would I have time to get Rarity to make all these?"

"So when I said I had some time off earlier...?"

"Well of course! I knew you'd get some time off sooner or later, and it's summer now, so I thought 'Duuh, of course! Summer means the beach!' and so I told Rarity about it, and Applejack thought about making some apple-juice to take in the cooler, and Rainbow Dash is going to make sure the weather's perfect, and Fluttershy is the one that came up with the animals for my Super Inflatable Animal Beach Toys!" The capital letters were audible.

Twilight face-hoofed, "I should've known... So everypony knows the plan?"

"Absolutely-tootley!"

"We're all for it, Twilight dear." Rarity confirmed

With a wry chuckle, and a big smile, Twilight realised that she had to have some of the best friends in the world, "Thanks girls, a beach party it is."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Twilight looked up from her book on 'Fun at the Beach, a Safe Surf Manual' as Spike belched, she was in time to see the waft of green flame and smoke form into a rolled letter, and she caught it out of the air with her magic, a smile growing as she stood up.

"Thanks, Spike. Now, I wonder what the Princess could want this time?" She broke the seal and unrolled the paper, horn glowing. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, it has come to my attention that somepony has broken the barrier separating our realm from another. Do not be alarmed, this happens from time to time, and it is usually benign. Since the disturbance originated from somewhere near Ponyville I am requesting your aid in finding the source so that they can be sent back. If you do find anything suspicious, please report it to me right away and I shall endeavour to attend personally to inquire into the nature of this situation. Signed, Princess Luna. Well…" she paused, "Guess I had the wrong Princess… that was unexpected."

"Sounds fishy to me," Spike folded his arms, "Broken the barrier? What does that mean? And so soon after Princess Celestia gives you a holiday?"

"I guess it means that somepony or something has come here from another dimension. The Princess did say somepony though…" She narrowed her brow in thought for a second, hoof to her chin, "It is suspicious timing, but... The only thing I can do is go find out. What do you say, my number one assistant, want to do something important?"

"Yeah! Alright, another adventure!" Spike pumped a fist, "We can invite the girls, search, camp out, then hit the beach tomorrow, we'll have a great time!"

"Oh," Twilight looked guilty at having gotten his hopes up, "I didn't mean that, Spike, I was hoping you'd be up to running the library while I was gone, between you and Owlowiscious there's nothing you can't handle, and it's just for today while I look for this 'disturbance'. Do you think you're up to that?"

"What? But I…" He made the mistake of meeting Twilight's eyes, "Well…” Again with the face, "I guess… but…" She was pulling out the eyes now, and the down-turned ears. "Fine. I'll hold the fort." And with that he huffed towards the stairs. At the last step he turned around melodramatically.

"But mark my words… When you end up in need of a dragon, and I'm not there, you'll regret leaving me behind." And he vanished upstairs.

Twilight chuckled, "Oh Spike… Now, what should I take with me?"

* * *

Hurtling across the sky, clouds starting to spin lazily in the after-shock, Rainbow Dash made straight for the distant hill she'd picked for her target this afternoon. Timing herself there, the second she arrived she shot upwards, going from head-on streak to vertical climb in at a bone-bending angle and loving the feeling of pushing the limits of her wings.

She burst through a waiting cloud and leveled off, treating it as her finishing line for the moment. "Whoo!" She spun lazily, "Oh yeah! Who's the fastest? I'm the fastest."

The cloud she'd punched a hole through drifted apart into smaller pieces, and she picked a larger piece to sit her plot on while she caught her breath. With a loud sigh of contentment, she slid her forelegs out and lay down, dangling her hooves in space. This was the life, sleep late in the morning, weather duty for the day, then tricks and techniques in the afternoon. Nap when she needed it, sleep early or stay up late whenever she felt like… who could ask for more? Well… there was always the Wonderbolts, but there was still time before they started recruiting again; time enough to get her performance perfect. Her eyes unconsciously tracked a white dot on the horizon.

That cloud bank was still there, which annoyed her, it was well out of Ponyville limits, miles and miles away, but just sitting there. The weather patrol on duty when it arrived said they'd received a message that it was nothing to worry about, a front brought in by some visiting group or other, and they weren't to touch it. After hearing that, she’d just had to distract herself with practice, clouds like that weren’t normal. “Stupid foreign weather, why’d they have to bring their own rain? What? Ours ain’t good enough?” The white dot again drew her eyes, moving back and forth like a slalom.

Her thoughts were interrupted with a start when she realised what she'd been looking at. A white streak had been zig-zagging and twirling across the lower sky for a while now. Looking closer, a white pegasus was hurtling around and having fun down there. Heh, he wasn't bad either, it's not often somepony could pull off a triple spin air stall without needing free-fall time afterwards. Usually they got dizzy and had to right themselves but not this pony.

She smiled as they burst from a trick into a headlong dash, not too far from where she’d been speeding along earlier. They were streaking straight ahead across the sky, heading for a point below her cloud, probably the same hill she’d been aiming for too. One, two, three… she started ticking off seconds in her head until he vanished from her point of view underneath the cloud she lay on. Wow, that was fast, she thought to herself, almost downright me-like… Rainbow craned her head forward, tracing the white streak the pegasus was leaving. Before her eyes caught up with the pony there was a thunder of air behind her, making her sit bolt upright in shock.

"YEAAAH!!" Shouted a distinctly male voice, "That was AWESOME! Kiri, we've GOT to do that again." And he laughed with total abandonment.

Rainbow nearly flipped herself onto her back as her eyes shot up to find the pegasus above her. With a flick of her wings, she spun the cloud around like a swivel chair to get a proper look. He, the white pegasus, was… floating about in the sunlight, hooves waggling in the air as he laughed. Weirder than anything so far from this pony, his wings were hardly moving at all, it was like he was lying back on a cloud, but there wasn't anything to hold him up.

"What? Local? Where?" He asked out of nowhere, flipping himself over and looking around, then he seemed to spot Rainbow Dash for the first time. He stared. His eyes roved from hers, to her mane, to her wings that were spread wide in surprise still, and then back to her eyes again.

Dash could only stare back, this guy was nuts, and then she goggled; a large, green parasprite emerged from his brown, windblown mane and… peered at her. It buzzed loudly, and bonked itself into the white pegasus' head. "Wha-? OH! Right! Sorry Kiri."

With that, he hovered lower until he was on eye-level with Rainbow, who instantly drew back and eyed him suspiciously. His wings still weren't flapping very much, more like… fanning, almost like a fishes fins did. He wasn't what she'd been expecting at all, this guy didn't look like much of a flier, he was more like a smaller Big Macintosh, strong framed and heavier than a normal pony, but his wings were longer than most too, heavier, and... sharper too, like the birds of prey she'd seen when visiting Fluttershy before. She had to admit, though, if those moves before were anything to go by, then there was more to this pony than just being bigger than average.

"Sorry, I'm not used to this place yet. Nice to meet you." He extended a hoof, seemed normal enough, maybe he was one of these 'visitors' the weather patrol told her about.

Rainbow grinned her best tomboy grin, knocking her hoof into his, "Heh, nice to meet you too, those were some pretty sweet moves back there." There was an expression of relief in his eyes, like he'd been worried about something, they were nice, golden yellow.

“Thanks, I kinda needed to work the kinks out, y’know?”

"Totally. Of course, you're not up to my standard, but you're not bad. Where are you from?"

A moment of thought crossed his face, "Heh, you wouldn’t have hea-… Oh scorch me! I've done it again!" His eyes flew wide in shock, "Sorry, gotta fly!" He hoofed the odd green parasprite back into his mane, turned tail and split like she was rabid!

"What? WAIT UP!" Nobody, but nobody, ran out on Rainbow Dash, especially like that! The miniature cloud burst into vapour as she launched herself into the sky.

* * *

A tome of ‘Viewing the Edges of Beyond’ slammed shut and deposited itself in Twilight's saddlebag under direction from her magic. She sighed and turned to look at Fluttershy, the only one of her friends that was able to join her on her search this afternoon.

"This is harder than I thought…" She admitted, with a hint of hopelessness in her voice. She had followed the book's relatively easy steps to trace dimensional ruptures, breaks in reality, easy if you already knew a thing or two about teleporting that is. It had led her out of Ponyville and along an energy line, like a leyline, that was pulsing like a plucked harp string. This line marked a seam in the fabric of reality, the book said it was where their reality had been 'folded' some time in the past so that travellers could pass through it on their way from one dimension to another, there were millions of them all over, but this was the one to follow. Breaks in reality happened where it was weakest; along these folds. And now they were at the point where it was vibrating hardest, and what she'd found there made her more confused than ever about this whole thing. She kicked the ground half-heartedly.

"Oh, but, um, we shouldn't just, um, give up. After all, this came from the Princess and she wouldn't, um, ask if she… if she didn't think you could do it." Fluttershy offered, hesitantly.

"It's all there in the book, how to look for places where the fabric of reality is thinner, or where it's been broken, and I followed the instructions to the letter… It's just, the book never mentioned this!"

This, as she gestured to the empty grass area on top of the small hill, was actually very complicated if you were a unicorn able to magically tune her vision into the right visual spectrum. Imagine it like ink appearing under a black-light.

"The book says that a break in reality should resemble a sphere of disturbance, like a bubble, suspended around the centre of the break, and it's size and how even the sphere was would show how large the break was or how much mass the subject that passed through possessed. It should also centre right on the pony or object that passed through." She noted, as if reading the inside of her eyelids, "But this is nothing like that."

What her magic-tinted eyes could see was akin to what would happen if you sucked all the air out of the bubble again, the 'skin' of the disturbance was wrinkled and warped, and bunched tightly around the central point with no space for anything to have passed through it. Compared to a bubble, this was a chewed piece of bubblegum. Weirder still were the energy trails that snaked away from it, like the smoke after a firework. If she had to guess, the disturbance bubble had actually popped, sending energy in all directions, while the skin of the bubble had collapsed on itself, leaving virtually no imprint on this world at all.

"I should write to the Princess about this…"

"Of course you should… that is… she did say you should…" Fluttershy agreed, sort of.

Twilight sighed again, "This isn't what I was expecting at all." And she turned her head to get her quill and paper out of her saddlebag, ready to make notes, "Well, the only thing I can guess is that whoever it was that crossed over has gone now. If they were still here the disturbance would move with them, so they can’t be here. Which is probably all for the good. I just…"

"Just what?" Fluttershy asked

"I just wanted to see what it was, or even who it was. Somepony from another dimension, I wonder what they would look like?"

* * *

She was after him like nopony else could be, taking off so fast that the cloud she'd rested on poofed into vapour again. He was pretty easy to see, white coat clear against the ground below, but not that easy to follow; she'd been right to call him fast.

Diving, down... down... and even further down! When was he going to pull up? The grass was nearing, details were getting clearer, Rainbow wondered whether this guy even wanted to pull up, but she wasn't going to back down from a challenge that easy.

Closer... closer... she began to wince as he hurtled towards what would have to become a pony-shaped crater in the next few seconds... and then bam! It actually sounded like a bang, his wings flicked and thrust and suddenly he wasn't there anymore! He'd pulled up, feet to spare and was now travelling just as fast in a beeline away from her. She pumped her wings hard to level back off and follow, the distance between them shortening, a little, because she could cut the corner.

Still, what a move! He'd gone from head-on-collision to parallel with the ground with practically nothing to spare! Working hard now, she closed the gap between them, drawing closer and closer. Heh, he's good, she thought, but I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria! Trees were coming up, the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres orchards.

She wondered if he'd try and lose her in the trees, and, sure enough, with a quick roll to avoid an outlying tree he'd hurled himself into the orchard.

And now this was beginning to tick her off! He wasn't faster than her, that's for sure, but she'd never been good with close quarters. Even with her speed, she wasn't gaining. He seemed to be dodging the trees far quicker than she could, keeping his momentum where she had to slow and speed back up again when things got too close. It was just lucky for her that the orchard was so well kept, otherwise she'd really live up to her old nickname of Rainbow Crash...

There! The end of the trees! She knew he'd seen it, and as much as he tried he still wasn't getting away from her; just a matter of time until she caught him then.

Sweet freedom of open airways! She flexed her neck, loosening herself up after how tense she'd been on that high-speed slalom course of an orchard, before kicking back into full gear. The first houses of Ponyville were coming up, and they whipped over the thatched roofs fast enough to drag bits of straw up after them.

What a chase! She hadn't had this much fun in a race in... heck knows! She was close enough now to see the big copper eyes on his pet parasprite, clinging by its teeth to his mane and staring right back at her.

That's when it happened. That's when this guy finally did something utterly, completely insane. Running from her? Sure, that was weird. Pet parasprite? Not so bad, the things were cute, so long as they didn't breed. Insane quick reactions? So what, how else could a guy that size be fast. This? Now this was totally impossible.

He tucked his wings in, fell onto a collision course with a house, a single wing popped out and spun him around one-eighty degrees, and then... No. Lag. Time. That's what was wrong with this. He should have gone splat against that wall. People should have been reading about him in the paper tomorrow 'Pegasus wrecking ball fails to destroy house!' But no. A single thrust of both wings, and he was instantly heading the exact opposite direction.

She blinked, thinking she'd gone mad, but she'd seen it! That grin on his face, laughing just like he'd been back when he'd first appeared by her cloud. That stupid grin!

Banking upwards, bleeding momentum with gravity to ease her muscles, she screamed into a vertical u-turn. He wasn't going to lose her, not this easily. Again and again, as she turned, she saw that scene. That single, impossible move.

But sure enough, in the seconds it had taken her to make her turn... he was gone.

She swept back and forth over the houses, the one he'd been about to crash into in particular, but there were only three or four houses around. Passing over the last one, she did see a white earth pony with a brown mane walking along the road, which gave her a start, but no pegasus. A fat lot of plain nothing.

* * *

“Dear Princess Luna, I discovered the source of the disturbance you felt earlier today, however from my findings at the site I can only conclude that the incident is over, and whoever or whatever breached our reality has since departed. If you would like to view the site yourself, I have included a map detailing the exact position or I can take you there myself once you arrive. My notes on the disturbance itself are also attached. Signed, Twilight Sparkle.”

She sighed and rolled it up, sealing it with a spell, and hoofing it to Spike. Now that she was home again she was torn between the disappointment at her findings and the surprise at actually finding anything at all. However, because of this it was hard to be excited for the trip tomorrow.

“The beach, huh?” She watched listlessly as Spike carefully burned the letter to send it on its way, “I’ve never been before, I wonder what it’s really like to be there?”

“But you’ve seen lots of pictures, and read those books, right?” Spike said optimistically, “That should let you know what to expect. So you’ve got a heads-up over everypony else who hasn’t been there already.”

“I guess you’re right. But... this one didn’t have anything on the phenomenon I discovered today, what information might the other books have missed out?”

“Now you’re just being silly, Twilight. Let’s just go and have fun, okay?”

“You’re right.” Twilight cheered up at her assistant’s prompting, “We’re going to have fun, whether the book knows everything or not.”

“Hurghk...” Spike agreed, going cross-eyed, and belched flame and smoke, a scroll forming from the particles.

“Humh, I guess Princess Luna wanted to be quick with her reply.” Twilight mused, taking the scroll from Spike and unrolling it.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,” Reading letters out loud was a habit that came from wanting Spike to stay in the loop, “I fear that the results of your survey, as sure as you are of them, cannot be correct.” Twilight frowned, “I would never question your thorough methods, but your notes describe the opposite of what you believe they do, whoever crossed realms actually entered ours fully instead of being forced back out. The disturbance is still present, a living being from another dimension is moving freely around Equestria in the vicinity of Ponyville. I sense it even now. Please, you must make haste and discover the source on my behalf as I am unable to travel myself due to my sister’s absence. I sense that the incursion is not malevolent, but if left unchecked this new being could potentially cause distress to the citizens of Ponyville. Your townspony’s safety is in your hooves.”

Spike stared at her, “It’s still here?”

“Princess Luna seems sure of it. I’ll have to go out and search again then.” She lifted her saddlebags onto her back, checking that the copy of ‘Viewing the Edges of Beyond’ was still inside, and started towards the door.

“I’ll try to be back soon, Spike, it’s going to be sunset in an hour or two, and there looks like a storm on the horizon, so I may be back earlier than that. Even so, keep some supper warm for me if I’m not here in time.”

“Sure thing Twilight, I wish I could help.” Spike looked a little crestfallen.

“Silly, you help me all the time. I shouldn’t have to ask you for help with everything I do, after all, you do so much already.” She smiled at him, and Spike couldn’t help but feel better about things, he knew that Twilight needed him. With that, she stepped out into the afternoon sunshine.

* * *

“Why that no-good, slippery... If I ever get my hooves on him, he’s gonna regret pullin’ a fast one on me!” Rainbow Dash was still steamed. She couldn’t figure out how anypony could pull a move like that, all her flying experience told her it was impossible!

A one-eighty degree direction change with no momentum lag just didn’t... wasn’t... how the hay did he do it?!

She sat on a roof-peak, liking the warm, solid feeling at this time of afternoon a little more than the cooler touch of clouds. She slouched sideways, a hoof to her cheek as she thought, over and over again, about that bizarre encounter. Seeing again in her mind that goofy, moronic, stupid half-grin on his face as he passed right underneath her hooftips, like he’d won some prize for pulling the dumbest stunt ever.

Just who was he? “Well if I don’t know, then I know a pony who does.” She grinned aggressively and took off for Sugarcube Corner.

On the horizon the cloud-bank of thunderous looking darkness mounted higher and higher.

* * *

There were so many places ‘in the vicinity of Ponyville’ she could think of that searching all of them would be impossible on her own. Not to mention one of those places was the Everfree Forest... She wouldn’t be going there on her own again after the cockatrice incident.

As it was the afternoon now, Twilight thought, her friends should be able to help her out. “I just wish the Princess could be more specific about what I’m looking for...” She sighed, a little frustrated with the whole thing.

“Ooh, the Princess? Is it something I can help with?” Pinkie Pie bounced into step next to her. Why was she always there when you weren’t expecting her?

“Actually, yes, if you’ve got time, Pinkie.” Twilight stopped to talk, “Princess Luna asked me to find the source of a breach in our reality, somepony from another dimension is somewhere around Ponyville and I need help looking for them.”

“Are they hiding? I bet they’re hiding, we can play Hide and Seek! And then when we find them we can throw a party! Because they’ll be new, and we won’t have met them before, which means they won’t have any friends here yet, and everybody needs friends, and the best way to make friends is a party! I’ll get started right awa-hngk”

Twilight snagged the bouncy filly before she could make a dash for it, “How about we find them first, and then we start on the party preparations? We don’t even know where they are yet.”

“Sure we do, he’s over at Applejack’s right now!”

“He... what?”

“Pinkie!” With a tumbling crash, Rainbow Dash tackled Pinkie Pie to the ground, “There’s a weird pegasus around here, white coat, brown mane, flying shield cutie mark, where is he?!”

“Pegasus?” Pinkie snorted, getting up “You’re so silly Dashie, he’s not a pegasus! He’s an earth pony, and he’s at Applejack’s.” She booped Dash’s nose.

“What? No, he’s a pegasus! Pulled a crazy stunt and I lost him! Nobody bucks out on me, I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria! That colt owes me big!” She realised she’d been shaking Pinkie, hard, and let go immediately, “Oops, sorry.”

Pinkie Pie wobbled in place, letting out a low ‘ooooo-oooohhhh’ before conking herself on the head to straighten back up again.

“Uh... Pinkie? How do you know-” Twilight tried to get back on track.

“I saw him talking to Big Macintosh, that’s why. He was hiding from Dashie in the apple orchard, and Big Macintosh snuck up on him, which was really cool by the way, I didn’t think Big Mac could sneak like that! So now they’re at the farm waiting for Applejack to get back.”

“I’m on it!” Dash made to zoom off, top speed, but Twilight grabbed her tail with a little magic, much the same way that Applejack would latch onto it with her teeth.

“Wait!” Twilight strained, “Hold on a second!” Dash grounded herself, her tail leaving Twilight’s grip with an audible snap. “Now, tell me what happened.”

“Okay, okay, fine. There I was, enjoying a fantastic day for flying,” Dash began.

* * *

Twilight and Pinkie Pie walked, or bounced, down the track to Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash zipped impatiently back and forth muttering to herself about retribution. Pinkie was filling the air with her thoughts on what would be good for the welcome party for this new pony, listing off hundreds of little considerations as if they were the most important things in the world. To Pinkie, they probably were.

To pass the walk a little quicker, and to practice her new skill, Twilight tuned her magical sight in to the required state to see the fabric of reality, as the book had taught her. Now that she saw it, there really were hundreds of these ‘folds’ in the air. They weren’t long, more like pinches in a cloth than folds along the length of a piece of paper, and the book had said they were where other beings or other worlds had momentarily passed through Equestria and beyond again.

Like sheets of cloth, if you wanted to get from one place to the other the quickest way was to fold the cloth and bring those two points together. But if there were lots of sheets of cloth on top, you’d have to tunnel through them to get there. It would still be faster than the direct route, but it ran the risk of you not using enough energy and stopping somewhere in between those two points, in another reality.

That’s where these disturbances crept in, if you only got part-way from point to point, you stopped, and the energy you’d used kept you suspended there until you went back.

It was strange though, now that she’d had time to re-read the information, the book said that when you left again, the disturbance bubble would collapse and the ‘seam’ would be left pretty much intact.

The bubble of disturbance from before, however, had looked... burst. And there was nothing in the book that described it.

She was missing something. What had Princess Luna said? That it was the opposite? That the disturbance hadn’t actually forced the traveller out, but they’d actually fully transferred into-

“-light?” She looked around in time to see Dash drawing a deep breath before “TWIIILIIIIIGHT!!”

The lavender mare fell backwards, legs twitching at the volume. Pinkie giggled, “Hey! Your hair looks like mine!”

After the fourth, or fifth, time Rainbow Dash had caused her to have this kind of mane-frizz, Twilight had remembered to keep a brush in her saddlebags. She didn’t always remember her saddlebags, of course, but as she had them this time, it was the work of a rather pouty moment to ignore Dash and brush her hair straight again.

She cleared her throat, composed herself, then glared at the rainbow terror, “What was that for?”

“You were freaking me out!” Dash protested, “I tried being polite, but no, you didn’t answer. Your eyes were glowing, and you were smiling weird, I just wanted to know what the hay was going on!”

“Oh... I’m sorry Dash, I didn’t realise.” She grinned a little sheepishly and kicked the ground with a forehoof.

“So what were you doing?” Pinkie bounced in, “You were like-” her eyes went wide and she stared so hard that Twilight thought they’d pop out, “- and then you were like -” She whipped her head around like a bird, picking random spots to look at, “- and then you were like this!” Finally she fell over, twitching her legs in the air with a shocked expression.

Twilight levitated the book out of her bag, “I was practicing the instructions in this, if you’re a unicorn you can use magic to see the places where reality is weaker.”

“Rrriiight,” Dash thought about it, “why?”

Twilight blinked, “I really didn’t tell you?” Pinkie and Dash shook their heads, which made Twilight frown; she’d definitely told Pinkie.

“Okay, Princess Luna sent me a message, she said that somepony has breached the barrier between our reality and somewhere else, and they’re now here in Ponyville, or nearby. We’re looking for anypony that’s strange or different to check whether it’s them or whether it’s something else that’s done it.”

“Oh this guy was strange alright, that move he pulled isn’t possible!”

“So that’s why we need to go find him.” Twilight summed up, pointedly.

“Find who?” Applejack asked

“The guy that’s crossed dimensions to get here.” Twilight answered her, keeping her cool,

“Find me?” a white earth pony asked

“Yes, find you. Now if we’re done asking questions, we need to find this guy.”

She stopped. Hold on a second...

Chapter 9

Wind Chaser, Chapter 9

In which should be pointed out most journeys are begun far more easily than this.

Believe it or not readers I've had the real cover image for this story sitting open in my photoshop for months now... I'm writing the story and I want it to have an image done by me, but whenever I try to find time for art and not writing... it's hopeless, I say, hopeless... Meh, I'll get it done sometime and when I do, I'm submitting this to Equestria Daily as well, what do you guys think?

* * *

"I hope this morning finds you well, Princess?"

"Quite well, thank you Lord Jökuul." Celestia prodded at her breakfast with her magic. Every bit of food in the palace was cold, the vegetables were crisp and clean, perfectly prepared in fact, except they seem to have only been recently thawed from frozen, while at the same time all the drinks seemed to be spiced and warmed through. It was an... odd... contrast, especially at the start of her day.

She found herself longing for something as simple as a daisy and cucumber sandwich with some fruit juice. This was the third breakfast she'd eaten in the palace of Fryst Eldi, but if the ceremony was a success today it would hopefully be the last.

"The day is upon us, coming in no small part thanks to you, Gísli, and today the trials of Athalgeir begin. Today we see if he is Úlfur to the very marrow."

"'Gísli'?" She queried.

"Forgive an old man a little nickname, Princess, it means 'ray of sunshine' in our old tongue. Our names are as symbolic as those of your own subjects, if a little harder to decipher due to their origins in an outdated language."

"Why thank you, Lord Jökuul, that's a most charming sentiment. But please, I would prefer to keep this a formal visit, and such informalities may be misunderstood." Whatever happened here, she did not want to be seen on anything but business-like terms with the leader of the people that would savage one of her guards as a 'test of character'. Her poor pony hadn't woken up yet, but her captain assured her it was a natural, healing sleep, and that he would be ready to travel when it came for them to leave here.

"As you wish, Princess." He seemed not to mind, but she was having a very difficult time taking anything at face value from him. "Now, when you are finished with your meal, we shall have to head to the stadium, the trials of Athalgeir start at dawn."

"Then I shall be sure to signal it with all due decorum." Celestia politely pushed her plate towards the middle of the table, to show she had finished.

"But of course, your Highness, I would appreciate your every effort."

* * *

Breakfast was a subdued affair, the Princess was tired from a long night of throwing her magic at the distance between herself and her sister, hoping to overcome it somehow, anyhow, and coming up short, while the six from Ponyville had been woken up far earlier than half of them liked. The only ones alert and looking rested were Applejack, Fluttershy and Wind Chaser, each of them used to waking up early for different reasons. Dash kept trying to sneak off back to bed, eventually they'd had Wind Chaser simply drag her back by the tail, picking her up and flying her down the hall, despite her sleepy struggles.

"Any luck, Princess?" Twilight asked through a pall of sleepiness, even though she'd gone to sleep earlier than usual...

"I have called for her in every way I know how, I can sense that she is there, but it is as if through frosted glass. I cannot see her, nor speak with her." Luna looked down, sadly, and Twilight's heart went out to the alicorn in sympathy. She felt something similar, her mentor, her teacher, her Princess was gone and there was no way to reach her. What it was like for Luna must be even worse; to be missing a sister must be a hundred times more difficult than missing a teacher.

"Thn ww... pweh, sorry." Chaser spat out the end of Rainbow Dash's tail and sat back down. He'd just finished dragging her back to the table after a second escape attempt, "Then we should get going."

"An' how." Applejack agreed, "We need ta hit th'road if we wanna get there fast enough."

Twilight thought of something, "Speaking of fast, Princess, can we use the chariots again?"

"I am afraid not, Twilight," Luna shut that down pretty quick, to her disappointment, although Dash seemed pleased, "sending Canterlot guards with you could easily be seen as an act of aggression. We don't want them to think we are attacking, not if my sister is truly their hostage."

"I didn't mean the guards, I meant the chariots themselves." She felt a grin coming on, "With Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to pull one and Wind Chaser to pull the other, we could cut our journey in half."

"That's... a good suggestion, Twilight, I shall see to it immediately." A tug of the bell-pull, and a servant stepped in smartly. She spoke a few words to him, and he trotted back out again with competence exuding from his pores. "Now, before you go, I have been thinking of something to say to-"

Luna froze.

"Princess?" Twilight looked concerned.

The Princess didn't move... then a flickering corona of dark blue enveloped her horn and the gentle tone of her magic filled the air.

"Princess Luna?!" The purple unicorn backed away, worried now about the sight of the night princess sitting stock still with her horn ablaze and her eyes filled with the light of an incredible magical effort.

"What's happening?" Dash demanded, finally looking more awake.

"I don't know!" Twilight looked from her friends to Luna and back again, "Stand clear, just in case."

Luna began to stand, then rear back, heedless of the chair cushions or the table as her stumbling hooves knocked tableware over. They backed away, Twilight, Applejack and Rarity on one side, Fluttershy, Dash, Pinkie and Chaser on the other. Chaser had his wings unfurled slightly, ready to shield the girls if it was necessary.

Luna's horn grew brighter, her eyes widened even further, and her wings started pumping. In the ringing silence of the room, Luna rose high into the air, forelegs stretching up, hooves up to her head and head arching back on her neck...

There was a blinding flash that silhouetted the princess against their closed eyelids... and it was over. Luna landed, a little unsteadily, back in her seat and simply looked dazed.

"Princess!" The student was first to jump forward, her friends following soon after to check on their monarch.

"My sister failed to raise the sun..." Her voice, which could be so loud, was deathly quiet.

The girls were silent, but Chaser looked honestly confused, and a little conflicted. He turned to look at her, and his voice was quite serious when he asked "What does that mean, Twilight?"

"If Princess Celestia couldn't raise the sun, then Luna just did... It means Celestia has to be in trouble. There shouldn't be a way for her to lose her power over the Sun, but somehow..."

A sniff sounded, and all of them looked in to find Luna was crying softly to herself, "I never... I never thought I'd ever have to do that..." Though all of them wanted to comfort her, Chaser was the one with the lack of taboo enough to put his hoof to her shoulder. As soon as he did, though, it broke the restraint of the girls and all of them crowded in to hug the tearful alicorn.

"Don't cry, Princess," Pinkie was nearly bawling herself, "Princess Celestia is gonna be alright, I just know it."

"We'll see t' it, yer highness, y' can count on us." Applejack stepped back to stand firm and reliable next to them,

"Without a doubt, dear, we'll find her and see her straight home." Rarity lifted her chin,

"We'll show those úlfur guys a thing or two." Dash hovered above the group, obviously too cool to hug and be girly, shadow-boxing in the air.

"Those meanies, they won't stop us." Fluttershy didn't seem to want to let go, her fear of the princess forgotten in the need for kindness and comfort.

"We'll do everything in our power." Chaser assured her.

"And that's a promise." Twilight finished for them, giving the princess a final squeeze for emphasis.

* * *

Chariots were okay when she got to pull them, of course she was on duty with Fluttershy, not that she really minded working with her friend, but she still wouldn't be able to fly full speed like this. The harness and tack was snug around her mid-section and shoulders, they were flying a long way today so she'd need the extra weight distribution to stop her muscles from getting cramped up.

Chaser was taking up the space of the other chariot's traces by himself, his bigger wings needing the space, and his physique now he was transformed actually making the regular Guards look a little small.

"You can do this, you can do this..." Fluttershy muttered to herself, psyching herself up.

"Of course you can, you're with me, aren't'cha?" She grinned back, and Fluttershy blushed, not realising she'd been heard.

"Just do yer best, Shy." Applejack said from behind her.

"That's all you've ever needed to do." Rarity joined, but then went back to fussing with her mane, "Oooh... Air travel always makes me look a fright... I do wish we could go by carriage."

Carriage, yeah right... she rolled her eyes, Rarity was such a frou-frou girly girl. This was important!

Twilight was still talking to Princess Luna, and the sun was already too high in the sky, they needed to go. Chaser looked over at her with his eyebrow cocked high, then, when he was sure she was watching, he glanced at Twilight and rolled his eyes in huge, over-exaggerated, exasperation, pulling faces at his fellow pegasus the whole time.

She couldn't help it, she cracked up, she tried to keep a lid on it, but noises kept jumping out. She had no idea why it was so funny; it was just so unexpected! Then Chaser made another face, and she doubled over trying to keep it in. When she looked up from that, a tear in her eye, he had a deep, solemn, wide eyed expression locked in. He was looking past her, and she turned her head to see that Fluttershy had looked around to find out what was going on. When her fellow pegasus blushed and hid from Chaser's serious eyes, Dash turned back to see him already making another stupid face, and her laugh hit all over again.

Fluttershy would look, Chaser would instantly sober up, she'd look away and he'd start making faces at Dash again. Look, sober, look away, faces at Dash. By the time Twilight finished talking with the Princess to hop into her chariot, the others had caught on and were writhing in suppressed laughter at Chaser making Dash crack every time Fluttershy turned her head away. They couldn't really explain what was so funny, but every time he switched to serious they nearly swallowed their tongues from trying to sober up too, which made it even worse when he went back to making Dash laugh.

"What are you all doing?" Twilight demanded, always the serious egg-head. Chaser gave her the exact same solemn look over his shoulder he'd given Fluttershy; and Pinkie, Dash and AJ nearly collapsed where they stood while Rarity tried to hide her laugh behind her hoof.

"Nothing much, are we ready to go?" He asked her, dead calm and steady.

"If..." She looked around at the others, and he crossed his eyes and lolled his tongue out at Dash again, making the others bust with giggles, before she looked back and there he was, serious and ready, "If you guys are ready?"

"Of course we are. One second." He turned back to the others, paused, and gurned the biggest silly face he possibly could, this time with Fluttershy looking, making all of them finally burst out laughing. Even Twilight found herself chuckling as Pinkie rolled in the chariot bed, kicking her hooves and holding her sides.

He turned back a few moments later and, with a few fits and snickers of laughter, he finished, "Say the -heh- say the word. We're with you."

"It is good that you can laugh together this way, I worry that you will need that companionship before the end of your journey." Luna's face was still marked by her tears, or maybe they were fresher ones that had spilled since the breakfast table, but she stood tall and smiled at them as they prepared to set off.

"We'll be back soon, Princess." Twilight told her,

"Leeet's go everypony! Head 'em up an' mooove 'em out!" Applejack swung her hat and swatted Dash with it.

"Hey!"

"Uh... Eh-heh, sorry..."

Chaser shouldered the chariot, moving quickly to a canter, then a gallop, and pealed upwards at the end of the lawn, soaring into the sky, Dash and Fluttershy following after when AJ had been properly glared at. They made one quick circle of the palace to get their bearings, before launching into the early morning sky.

* * *

"You see, Gisli, the úlfur are not as old a country as your ponies, we are not settlers. We are hunters, tribesmen, and we are proud. Our pride would not allow us to sit and stagnate the way others do, our pride would not allow us to huddle in the mountains like the griffins, sending the scraps of our society to learn from others when no other course would present itself... No!"

Jökuul threw his paws wide, balancing on his back legs far better than a pony could. He was preaching now, the entire arena echoing to his words. She worried for her guards, all of them down now, injured or unconscious, wounded by teeth and claws, but alive for all that. She hadn't been touched, not a claw had come near her, they had simply flattened her ponies and offered her a path down through their ranks to the arena floor.

Her failure to raise the sun had been their signal, her moment of shock as she reached for the bright orb below the horizon and called in forth... only to find nothing answering her voice.

She re-ran the moment through her mind again and again, trying to drown out the Regent and his terrible words. She had stood stock still, paralysed with dismay and the wolves had... had... leered. A single expression of anticipation, of triumph, of... hunger had passed over them in a wave. Then, almost as one, they hurled themselves at her escort in a wall of shaggy-furred bodies.

When it was over, while she could barely comprehend the change in the úlfur around her, the Regent had turned to her, waving open the path she would take down to the arena and spoke in tones of oily smugness.

"My apologies, Princess, but I'm afraid I must insist on your nickname for now. You see, many old úlfur words have symbolic meanings, as well as literal. Gisli I named you, a ray of sunshine, but where does one of those become clearest? In the darkness, Gisli, in the darkness, surrounded and alone. A hostage, against your country's good behaviour, against your sister, against your warriors."

Now she stood in the centre of that wide space, her gilded hooves steady on the crisp snow and crusted ice that coated the sands beneath, trying and trying again to break through the weight of the enchanted crystal roof of the arena.

The sun... her sun... she couldn't reach it. For the first time in her long, long life she couldn't feel it. Even as a child she'd known the touch of her sun, though it had done as it pleased then and she hadn't been needed to usher it into day and away from night.

Now it rose without her. Luna... she must have stepped in to maintain the balance. At least now somepony would know what was happening, if the ceremony hadn't begun at dawn, she would have raised the sun elsewhere than under this cursed dome, and nopony would have figured out her predicament until it came time for sunset.

"And now we have you." Jökuul finished, leering at her. "Immortal Princess Celestia, one who raises the sun and the moon, my little Gisli." The arena rumbled with laughter.

It was hateful, the way they made her stand here, alone and watched by hundreds of hungry eyes, and she knew from the way the wolves acted that if she didn't, the lives of her ponies would be forfeit. Warrior wolves stood over her pegasus and unicorn guards, licking their lips and panting, as if waiting for her to make a move so they could be free to do as they pleased.

"Now in all of this, I wonder, have you asked yourself where our prospective Mikil is now? His challenge is today, but he's not even in the country." Jökuul turned away from her again, appealing to the masses ranked around the arena.

"Úlfur! What is the challenge of the Mikil Úlfur?!" He roared to them, his voice amplified through the stands.

"CONQUEST!!" The crowd roared back, "CONQUEST AND GLORY!!"

It sent chills down her spine.

* * *

Pulling a sky chariot was actually relatively easy. He didn't have the freedom of movement he'd thought he would, because if he went too fast or swung too hard into corners, his passengers would be thrown about. But there was plenty of room in the sky for manuevers.

Do a barrel roll! Shut it...

"Hey Chaser! Hurry up!" He realised his thoughts and his experiments with his chariot had left him lagging behind the other, but considering they weren't pushing hard yet a few strong beats brought him back level with the other two pegasus ponies. He threw an apologetic look over his shoulder at Pinkie, who'd brought him back to Equestria from his thoughts.

"Hey guys?" Dash called to them, "You remember before we left for the beach there was that weird thunder storm hanging around?"

"I do!" Pinkie bounced and he corrected the roll smartly when she landed.

"Well, yes, but really Rainbow Dash, you're the weather-worker, why are you asking us?" Rarity was spending most of her time low in the chariot to escape the wind.

"Because it's back, and coming up fast over there!" She pointed a hoof off across his shoulders, making everyone turn to see.

A wall of cloud, inky and dark, had appeared out of nowhere. Woah... that's... You thinking what I'm thinking? Gotta be CGI! He face-hoofed. That's not natural, even for Equestria, look at the size of it! Chaser? What? We're gonna need a bigger boat. After a moment to contain the laugh, he shot back the usual response to her silliness and looked back to Dash.

"Is that going to be a problem?" He wasn't sure what they could do except go around it, it wasn't in their flight path yet.

Pony, coming up fast, I think it's Tornado! He turned to look through his own eyes, sure enough, moments later Tornado, his purple coat sheened with sweat, nearly over-shot them at high speed. For some reason he was wearing a hard-hat, a white coat and clear goggles.

"Fly!" He yelled at them from a little above, "Get away from here, that thing's a killer!"

"Wait! Tornado!" Dash called to him as he made to shoot off, "What's going on? Why isn't anypony stopping that thing?"

"Wolves!" He yelled, turning back briefly, "It's made by the wolves, we can't stop it, nothing can!" And he was gone in a blur of wings.

They turned, as one, to look at the massive surging towers of clouds. Lightning flashed and crackled across the near face, stalking over the ground below like crazy legs, and thunder was booming and cracking nearly constantly. Other darting streaks of colour fleeing in the distance were probably more pegasus ponies escaping the dark mass.

Úlfur? Úlfur.

"Rainbow Dash! What are you doing?!" Rarity squeeled, the pegasus in question was tugging the release cord of her tack, trying to get free.

"I have'ta do something! I can't let this thing grow any bigger, and if there's wolves involved then it's definitely those úlfur guys. I've got a straw to pick with them!" She freed herself from the restraints, "Fluttershy, land this thing!"

And with that, she was a dot tailing a rainbow streak across the distance between them and the storm.

Fluttershy meeped in shock and her wings pumped, but she was off-center in the traces and the chariot tipped alarmingly, Rarity screamed and AJ hollered in surprise, both hanging on for their lives.

"I gotcha!" Twilight threw magic at the other trace and steadied the listing air chariot, Chaser felt the added strain as the unicorn's magical grip put the extra weight straight into the floor beneath her, and thus to his back as he now kept a full chariot and a half aloft.

It was a struggle for a moment, but then they found their balance. "We won't get anywhere like this," he warned his passengers, "we have to land."

"Then go, both of you, I'll keep things steady." Twilight shifted her weight a little to the middle of the chariot, for safety.

It wasn't too much effort to descend for him, but the whole way down he worried about Fluttershy, having to do the steering and landing on her own without Dash. They parked up on a grassy knoll, just a rolling rise of turf in a sea of countryside. Looking around for the storm, the sheer weight of the clouds was turning the air yellow and purple, sunlight rising from beyond the mountains casting everything into a throbbing dark light.

Why do you get poetical when you're about to go into battle? I want to remember the best of things before I see something worse. Oh, so now you're a philosopher? Always and never. Kirianna made a pretend retching noise in his head.

"She's heading into that?" Twilight's voice was half disbelieving as she climbed down from the back. He thought it was stupid too, but he'd done worse in his time...

To distract himself from worrying, he turned to check on Fluttershy, the little thing had taken a bit of a shock, and she hadn't even started to undo her harness.

"Here, let me." He lowered his head and gave a quick tug, unhitching her from the tack and then lifted the traces from her back.

"Better?" She gave him a shy smile and he straightened up to look to the others, "Alright then, have a sit down until you get your breath back, you did great, okay?" He placed a hoof briefly on the silent pony's head and gave a carefully encouraging tousle, which got a bigger smile from her in return.

"Chaser?" Twilight was giving him an oddly pleading look, which he was far more familiar with than most would be. A worried friend about to ask him for help.

"I'm going after her." He reassured the librarian.

"Yer going in there too, Chaser? You know anythin' about weather?" Applejack's question was actually a little too well placed, he didn't know anything about weather working, for all his playing with clouds his first day here.

"Enough to not get hurt." He said, shortly, "I'm more worried that there might be úlfur still here with that storm, if Dash can do anything at all, it won't be enough if they can just keep fixing what she breaks in there."

"Be careful." Twilight told him, "But bring her back safe, okay?"

"Count on it." He spread his wings to take off, Wait! The mission! "Twilight, you five keep going, get as far towards the border as you can, we'll catch you up."

"Got it, good luck!"

He hurled himself skywards before anything more could be said.

* * *

This was, without a doubt, the worst storm she had ever seen. Scratch that, it was the worst storm she could imagine. No pony would have created a storm this size! The wind was knocking down trees, the lightning was scorching the earth, the thunderheads looked like they contained tonnes of rain and even ice at the top; they were that high.

Coming this close to it, the front looked like real mountains, thousands of feet of clouds.

"Stop staring and do something about it." She told herself.

There was... over there a big core spiral, the turbine of air driving the storm. In smaller thunderstorms, the eye was barely noticable, a calm patch or a bit that didn't rain on you, here the eye was a pillar of still air surrounded by vortex. If she could break in there and start a counter-spin, it would destabilise the whole thing and the clouds would drift apart where they'd be easy to burst and disperse, cut up and send where they might be needed.

If she could get there.

A crosswind thumped her sideways, pulling at her feathers hard, then a sudden down-draft crashed like a fist. She strained through both and found some purchase to rise back up again.

Something moaned over the wind, or it sounded like a moan. Next thing she knew she was flying backwards, unable to make headway even as she sped up. Well, if not through it... over it? She kept as much speed as she could, but climbed hard.

She was right into the airspace below the clouds now, at least she would be if she could get just a little closer. She dove again, using gravity to cut through the torrent of wind trying to keep her back, then climbed again. She looped up and down like this a couple of times and, on the third swing, made it into the shadow of the thunderheads.

In here now was eerie, the morning sunlight side-on to everything turning the underside of the clouds butter yellow, while the brooding depths of the clouds kept everything else in greys and purples.

The wind was still fierce, but right here under the clouds was what they called 'the rub', calmer than the smashing winds below. It was the lightning zone, where all the air built up friction and charged with electricity from the constant pressure of all that air and moisture rubbing against the pressure from the air and ground below. In those few moments when the charge built high enough, lightning would discharge from one to the other through the points of least resistance; pockets of ionised air or objects that weren't insulated.

Like her...

Another moaning sound, louder now, echoed around her. Lightning flashed right ahead of her, and she flinched. She hated lightning she wasn't in charge of... When she was a kid... no, that's not it, it's these days that it's gotten stupid. Kid fears are kid fears, it's still being afraid when she was all grown up that was stupid.

Looping under a lower cloud, giving her a whole new view on these gigantic clouds, her heart raced as more and more lightning flashed around her, thunder beating on her harder and louder than the fireworks from the night before.

She wished she hadn't left Chaser behind... Why'd she have to think of that now?! Stupid, concentrate! That rookie couldn't keep up with this, he'd only been a pegasus for three days!

"Dash!" His voice came from behind her, she must be hearing things... "Dash come on!" Looking back she saw him, powering through the air, not being buffeted nearly as much as she was, probably because of his weird wings. It was actually a little scary how good it felt to know she wasn't imagining him, instead of irritated that he was actually catching her up.

"Took you long enough!" She yelled to him, "Follow me, and do what I do!"

"Wait! Dash! You have to stop!" He wasn't all that far away, but his voice was almost not reaching her.

"What?" She yelled back, why would she stop?

"Listen! We have to get that wolf! Forget the storm, get the wolf!" He was pointing behind them, at the ground.

She followed his pointing hoof, and sure enough there was a wolf, dressed in a single scarf-like robe that blew around in the gusts from the storm. He was striding along the grass before the leading edge of the storm, a glowing ball floating around him like Kirianna floated around Chaser.

"What does he have to do with this?" She yelled,

"Don't know, but if there's bad magic happening, always get the guy with the glowing orb and robes first." He called back. Well that made less sense than Pinkie did.

"This ain't magic!" She threw back, "This is weather, and I got this! Just stop distracting me and let me work!"

"Dash, no! Listen to me!" he tried to grab her hoof and stop her, but she jinked a little away.

"No! This isn't your world, it's mine, and I know how to fix this. Now you can either do what I say, or get out, what's it going to be?" If he stopped wasting time, she'd be into that vortex and crashing this flow before you could say Rainbow Dash.

He stared at her a moment, before he raised his voice enough for her to hear, "Dash, I need you to trust me on this, that wolf down there-"

"Isn't up here!" She interrupted him, "Whatever crazy idea you've got in your head about this, Chaser, I don't trust it. Hay, I'm not even sure I trust you yet! Now stop getting in my way."

If she'd stopped to look back after that, she probably wouldn't have been able to reconcile what she'd said with the hurt on his face.

Dash hurtled towards the central vortex and shot into the whirling air around it like an arrow.

* * *

"Canterlot is well in sight, Lord Regent, and ponies flee before us. I encountered two abandoned chariots of royal design atop the last hill, it seems we are even scaring the Equestrian Guard with our presence."

"My, my, my, Gisli, who could that have been?" Jökuul flashed her a mockingly concerned look, entirely feigned for his audience.

The dome was alight with warm sunshine, as if the entire stadium were inside the enchanted orb Athelgeir carried with him. The prospective Mikil's face loomed large over one third of the dome, looking past them at a tangent to the rising sun. True to his word, the spires of Canterlot were just visible on the horizon.

The chariots couldn't have been just her Guards, they would have been transporting somepony... But of course! Twilight and her friends, the elements, the moment Luna had been forced to raise the sun herself, she would have sent for them... And they would have set off to rescue her... Her heart sank as she imagined any number of reasons her student and her little ponies would have had to abandon their chariots.

"There are signs of interference, though nothing that cannot be handled. Two pegasus ponies managed to reach the storm and are heading for the centre, fools that they are." Athelgeir's voice was calm and regal, he carried himself with the decorum befitting a conquering hero of these people. But the disdain and scorn in his voice was evident, even though his face remained composed. His audience jeered at the thought, laughing cruelly.

"Can you describe them, Athelgeir, for the benefit of our beloved Gisli?" Jökuul's voice was full of ill-meant humour.

"A blue one, leaving a rainbow trail, and a big white one following her. A female and a male, I would surmise, but two ponies stand little chance." Rainbow Dash? And another pegasus with her... at least she wasn't alone.

"How long ago did they enter the storm, young lord?"

"More than twenty minutes ago, I have not seen them since." Athelgeir sniffed and carried on walking, not even batting an eyelid in concern. The crowd loved it, they cheered for him, although their noise must have been muffled at his end, for he barely noticed.

"Canterlot, and its Princess of the Moon, will be in our paws soo-GAK!!"

"Greetings! I am Chaser, and these are my hooves!" a young, male voice laughed over the yelps of pain from Athelgeir.

Celestia's head jerked at the choke of pain and surprise from the wolf, fully half the dome was filled with white, blurred movement. She searched and searched for some detail in the huge crystal scene, but it eluded her for a full count of ten and all the while the merry sounding words bounced around in her head.

"Stay!" The young voice voice commanded.

Then the whiteness shrank, moved away, and resolved itself into a white pegasus wing furling into the side of a tall white pony with a brown mane. She didn't recognise him, although one thing she couldn't claim was to have met every one of her ponies... she thought that she would probably remember this confident looking pegasus if she had.

"Alright how does this... Woah..." He peered down at them through the crystal. "Princess Celestia! Scorch me, you're alive! Twilight will be so relieved. Are you unhurt?"

She didn't know what to say, but relief welled up in her as she looked up into the pony's concerned gaze, some hope lifted her at last. Her eyes misted slightly as she held his gaze and then gave him a clear nod in answer.

"Make yourself known, pegasus, you have attacked úlfur nobility, a grave crime." Jökuul was calm, too calm in fact, the icy kind of calm that comes from holding back rage.

"You can call me Wind Chaser. And you, puppy, are next on my list of wolves to introduce to my hooves."

Jökuul glared at the confidently grinning pony, "I will have your hooves mounted on my wall for this, you insolent cur! Mark my words, 'Wind Chaser', I will suck the marrow from your bones before I grant you the mercy of death. So says Lord Jökuul, Regent of Fryst Eldi, Ruler of the Úlfur!"

"How do you mute this thing anyway... nevermind." Wind Chaser murmered to himself, before focusing his eyes on the Regent once more. "Call off your storm, Regent, or I'll do things to your little pup here that will make him wish you were in his place. Do I make myself clear? I will geld him, so help me, I will neuter him with my bare hoof. Now send the order, call off this storm. NOW!" The glare on the pony's face would have burnt a lesser will to the floor. She believed every word he said, despite how horrible it sounded. He even brought the audience to silence, all of them staring at him in a kind of horrified shock.

Rather than get into a staring match with the wolf, which she wasn't sure who would win, he returned his gaze to her instead, "My apologies for the harsh language, your highness, but sometimes it pays to show dogs who's boss. Be safe, we will be there for you soon."

He stepped back, revealing Athelgeir hog-tied with his own robe, struggling feebly to even move. "I'd send that order, if I were you, puppy, or this one won't last too long." He threatened.

Not quite believing her eyes, she watched as Jökuul growled once, then pulled quill and parchment from his own robes, and scribbled a quick note, then handed it to the nearest wolf. "Send it." was all he said.

"Thanks, now I'll let the kid go when I see things come to a halt. He'll be free, and relatively unharmed, although he might have a bit of a headache coming on soon." The smirking grin returned. "Until then? Wait and wonder."

The white pony turned his back, his hindquarters rose, then he delivered a sharp blow from his back hooves and the dome appeared to shatter and blast open above them. When the noise of shattering glass and enchantments faded, the dome was intact, but nothing of the viewing orb remained.

She was shocked, but then, oddly, a thought came to her; that was not one of her ponies. The idea was both strange, but at the same time somehow reassuring. She stood exactly in place and smiled her first real smile in three days.

* * *

Annnd... yeah, that's really where I'm ending this chapter. Sorry.

What of Rainbow Dash? What of Twilight and the others? Why was Chaser so hurt? Why didn't they take a chariot with them when they left? Where are Fuujin and Raijin?

All of these questions and more, may not actually be answered in the next chapter. Or they might. I don't know yet!

Chapter 12

Wind Chaser, chapter 12

In which sneakiness is employed.

AwwYeah.jpg I'm cooking with science now! We are on Chaser's fifth day in Equestria, we've hunted him across the skies, put on pony clothing at the beach, made him play pegasus sports, attempted to ship him with Rainbow Dash, made him carry luggage and pull chariots, meet an immortal princess, had him pull silly faces until everypony fell about laughing, watched him go save Dash from wolves, get struck by lightning (several times), hold a noble hostage to sue for a cease-fire, win the grudging respect of his enemies, recover in hospital before then flying across most of Equestria again and keep watch over his new friends while they sleep... It's been a busy four days.

Let's see what tricks we can get him to do next.

* * *

Morning came too soon for Rainbow Dash. She didn't want to wake up, but she knew it was important to. She was warm, pillowed against something soft, and there was a wing across her to stop her from rolling around in her sleep. It felt... really nice.

"Mmm... Mornin' Chaser." She mumbled, torn between yawning and stretching, or cuddling down a bit more.

"Morning Dash, there's some tea ready." Wait... his voice had come from somewhere in front of her...

Her eyes flew open and right there by the fire stood Wind Chaser, watching a slowly simmering pot. So... who... Turning her head she saw the last thing she had expected to see next to her when she woke up this morning; Fluttershy's sleeping face. She shot to her feet in surprise, sending the unfortunate yellow pegasus tumbling completely over onto her back with a squeak of shock.

"Wh-wha? You were... and now she...?!" Dash struggled to get some thought together.

Chaser laughed and picked up the pot with his teeth, talking around it as he poured hot, dark water into cups through a strainer, he couldn't pronounce his p's or b's, but tried anyway "Had to get u- last night, -y the time I got -ack," he set the pot down, "you two had just cuddled in together and left me out. Thought I'd do something useful and make breakfast."

He paused and looked over at the still upside-down pony, "You okay over there, Shy?" Kirianna buzzed in a quick circle over her face.

She rolled back over, looking sheepish enough to baa, and stirred the ground with her hoof a little, "I'm really sorry, Rainbow, I didn't realise you were... uhm... I thought..." And she blushed.

"Here," Chaser set down a cup in front of her, turned around and then brought over a bowl as well, "you'll feel better after breakfast."

"Th-thank you..." She hid behind her mane for a moment or two, then seemed to notice what 'breakfast' actually was. "Oh my, dandelion and daisy, how lovely." And she set to with a will.

"And you," he deposited similar bowl and cup in front of Dash, who still stood as if ready to fly.

"Blackberry leaves and white nettle flowers? I haven't had this in years..." She looked down at it, and had to take a quick slurp of the tea to cover the shot of nostalgia.

"Seemed like the thing to do at the time." He smiled, leaving her to it. He made the rounds, waking up the girls with a hot cup of tea and a bowl of salad to start their day. It wasn't much, but it certainly woke them all up over the next ten minutes or so.

"Chaser, Ah gotta ask, where in tarnation did y'find milk way out here?" Applejack inspected her nearly empty cup,

"I caught and milked a colony of bats." He replied, off-hoof. Pinkie covered her mouth with a hoof, but her eyes were dancing with laughter.

Twilight and Rarity sprayed their mouthfuls across the fire and AJ looked a little ill, Dash could relate. Chaser made a weird noise and then collapsed laughing.

"Chaseeer!" Twilight whined at him, watching him kick his back legs and try to stop his belly laughter.

"It's -hehheh- greensap milk." He chuckled, "Just greensap milk girls... you should see -pfff-ha-hah- your faces...!"

Dash couldn't help it, he got them good, she cracked up and Pinkie was immediately after, shouting "Milked a colony of bats!" and rolling on the ground.

After they'd cleaned up and Pinkie had stopped laughing, allowing time for Twilight to ask egghead questions about the exact process of making greensap milk, they got ready to fly again.

"Okay girls," She addressed her friends as Chaser and Fluttershy buckled into their chariot traces, "and guy, this is going to be a stealth mission, recon, it'll take skill, control, nerves of steel and-"

"Balloons?"

"Balloons. Wait... what?" Pinkie was practically hovering off the ground from the helium balloons she was holding onto, "No! Pinkie! No balloons, we're trying not to be seen, okay?"

"Ohhhh, like hide and seek? I love hide and seek! Wanna see my disguise?!" The balloons all popped like bubble-wrap, landing in a pile of deflated rubber on Twilight's back, making her jump.

"Better than hide and seek, Pinkie, we're playing hide and sneak, got it?"

"Hooray! I'm the best at hide and sneak! Who're we hiding from today, Dashie?"

"The úlfur." She narrowed her eyes and gave her best determined scowl. Also, she'd successfully navigated a conversation with Pinkie without it getting derailed twice or more, that was an achievement.

"Great!" Pinkie threw her hooves up in the air in celebration.

"Twilight, you have the plan, take us through it."

"Uh, right." She unfurled the rolled up paper and cleared her throat, "Step one, find the úlfur capital. Step two, sneak in using cloud cover and find the princess. Step three... Dash? What is this?" She turned the paper around to show that her neat handwriting had been scratched out and replaced by a messy 'Do Hero Stuff!!' with a doodle of two pegasus ponies with swords chasing a wolf.

"It was getting boring, so I made it sound cooler." Nothing wrong with making the plan better, was there? Nothing that she could see anyway.

"Ugh..." Twilight face-hoofed as AJ, Pinkie and Chaser all stifled laughter, "Anyway, step three disable security spells and guards. Step four, escape with the princess and her personal guards."

"Wait," Chaser looked thoughtful, "if she has guards with her, how are we going to escape with all of them? Are they all able to fly? Or will we have to grab some more chariots?"

"Oh, good point." Twilight thought about it, "The royal guards should have transported the princess in her personal sky-carriage, so at least half of them will be able to fly, the others are likely unicorn guards and those are the ones that will need chariots or something similar."

"So 'step four, secure transportation' then?" He suggested,

"Checklist updated. Step four, secure transport, and step five escape with the princess and her guards." That was pretty smart of him, Dash thought to herself, she was more a do-er than a thinker, so she wouldn't have even thought about that until they started to escape.

Oddly enough, it hadn't come up that they might not succeed in this, nopony had even mentioned the idea. There was no plan in place in case they failed... No need, she thought, we don't exactly have any choice, we have to succeed.

"Alright, we know the plan, and we know what we can all do to help. We're not saving Equestria sitting here talking about it, so let's get to it!" She stoked them as much as she could and then buckled into the traces next to Fluttershy. "Ready? Launch!" And they took to the sky.

* * *

It was slightly worrying now, compared to before, because they were all serious. You expected them to laugh? No, just... they're always having fun with this stuff, or Pinkie does something out of the blue... I mean, sure, she's managed to pull a complete outfit change out of nowhere, but that, at least, is likely to help...

Kirianna, eyes in the back of his head, could see everything going on in the chariot, and in the sky above and behind them in a large, panoramic arc. Pinkie was wearing American military camo, a headband and had smeared a little face-paint on her cheeks. She was also watching everywhere for signs of detection, just like he was.

Do you think she's taking this seriously for a change?

As she watched, Pinkie pulled a little device out of her pocket, it looked like a fun-size cereal box fixed up with wires and a speaker on the face. Looking around, carefully, the pink pony talked into it, in a large whisper that Kiri could hear over the rush of the wind.

"Passing point Charlie Delta, no sign of the enemy... no sign of Charlie either, I wonder where he got to?"

Forget I asked... Chaser chuckled under his breath.

Below them the land of the úlfur was a frozen paradise, the snow blanketed almost all of it, and that small portion that wasn't solid white suffered from being so steep not even snow could cling to it.

Those steep portions, however, seemed to have life even so; tribes of what looked like mountain goats skittered up and down the nearly vertical rocks, carrying baskets or children along with them. The settlements were small, but there were many of them. Chaser frowned when he spotted that every wood-and-thatch village, somewhere among them, had a single stone-built house which housed a wolf. They were stationed outside of it, watching the village life, occasionally prowling through it, one or two even snoring away in the comparative warmth of the sunshine. This was definitely a country ruled, not a country shared.

They were weaving back and forth over the clouds, Dash and Fluttershy had taken the lead and their hooves occasionally dipped into the clouds as they flew over, pushing little bridges of moisture out into the spaces where there was no cover. As a convenience he hadn't expected, the chariots also rested on the clouds when they did, gilded wheels making little furrows across the surface, but not falling through.

They stopped frequently to sight out the land below, moving fast when nopony (or wolf) was sighted, and checking their advance to push clouds when there was company below.

Eventually, though, they stopped on a particularly large cloud and looked down upon the busiest looking part of the frozen kingdom.

"Woah..." Dash exclaimed, and she didn't seem to be happy about being impressed,

"Oh my..." Twilight concurred

"Ponyville it isn't." Chaser agreed. No doubt that this was Fryst Eldi, an ice palace between three peaks, with three great roads tracing out along the valleys between.

There was little to no air traffic, and that made the place seem all the busier, because those roads were packed with traffic. Carts and wagons full of covered wares, the shapes of four different species coming and going in all directions, the deer and the goats prominent among them, but standing out from them were long-necked llamas or alpaccas, and pulling many of the wagons were oxen and cows. Could you harm-a-llama? No! They're fluffy!

The sight was a little large to take in, and he could see it was intimidating the girls.

"Twilight, can you feel any of those dampening spells the princess' letter talked about?" He asked, a legitimate excuse to talk as well.

She concentrated, horn glowing, "Actually, yes, it's like a dome over the whole city, once we go inside our regular magic will become weaker, and it only gets stronger the closer it gets to the centre."

"You sure you're up for that?" He turned to look at her,

"I... I'll be fine, it's not like I haven't been without magic before, right girls?"

"You're quite correct, Twilight dear, we are not powerless without our magic. Besides, our princess needs us." Rarity tossed her curls.

Chaser, this isn't going to work... there's too much going on. You're right, but how to break it to them?

"But..." Twilight was sizing up the huge city, "I thought this would be a lot easier than it looks." Her voice tinged a little with despair.

"So many..." Fluttershy finally spoke up,

"Yeah," Dash agreed, "that's gonna be hard to sneak into."

"No... not for you it's not." Chaser made up his mind. Oh boy, here we go again. Shut it, tart, it was your idea!

"What? Why?" the rainbow mane flicked as she turned to stare at him.

"I can distract them." He sized up the area calmly, looking for places that the wolves would have to come from, trying to guess which of the species down there would help them and which would simply get in the way. We could be lucky and all of them get in the way.

"The heck you can!" Dash snapped at him.

"Ya'll do no such thing!" AJ added, "We're goin' in there together."

"You'll..." Twilight paused, "you'll be careful, won't you?"

"WHAT?!" The others gaped at her.

"He's right, girls, look at that place! There's no way we're sneaking in there without a distraction, they've got guards everywhere." She waved a hoof down at the sparkling sculptured towers, "If Chaser gets their attention, we can go around the other side and get in where they're not watching. If we're fast, we can free all the guards and Princess Celestia and be out again before anything else happens."

"Buck. No!" Dash shook her head, "I ain't abandoning one of my friends out here."

Aww, just do it Chaser, they'll argue for hours if you don't, just look at 'em. Twilight sees what you're saying, just promise you'll be safe, you've got me to look after here too y'know, and get on with it while the wolves are having breakfast.

He unbuckled the harness with a tug of his teeth and slipped out of it with a shrug. The chariot settled back on the clouds while he stepped to the edge.

"You know how fast I am, Dash, almost as fast as you. And if you can't catch me, they can't. I'll get their attention, pull as many guards away from their posts as I can, and hopefully kick a few flanks before they chase me off. You girls use the cloud cover idea to sneak around behind them and get inside as fast as you can. Don't take any risks."

He paused on the edge, looking back, their eyes were huge as they watched him, and he thought of something. Oh no, not me, you need me!

"Here, I'll leave Kirianna with you." Dammit Chaser, just dammit all you stubborn pony! Heh, shut it, tart. Get over there. "If it's all clear, Kiri will do this."

Kirianna landed on Twilight in a fit of frustration, making Chaser stifle a shudder at the sensation, and tapped out OK in morse code. "If I get into trouble, then she'll do this." She tapped SOS.

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, "Horse code! I know this, you can send me full messages if you like."

Kirianna tapped 'Oh really -stop- do you understand me now -stop-'

"Yes! That's amazing! Chaser you're a genius. How can we send messages back?"

"Easy, Kirianna and I can talk across distances easily, she can tell me everything you say."

"Everything?" Dash looked a little like she'd been sucker-punched. And you know what that is, don't'cha? She knows I heard everything she said back in the hospital. Don't be evil, Kiri.

Chaser looked back at his cyan friend, "Everything, Dash. But some things stay private, even if she does tell me." He broke the look and addressed Twilight one last time, "You're sure you can understand?"

"Just don't do anything too reckless."

"Have you met me?" Chaser laughed and launched over the edge before anything else could be said.

* * *

"LORD REGENT!!" A guard panted, tongue lolling out to the side as he burst into the throne room.

"I thought I told you I was not-"

"Wind Chaser is attacking the castle!" Jökuul stared at the intruder, dumbfounded, for several tense seconds. "My Lord?"

"Where are my Stormbringers? Where is Athelgeir?!" he shouted at a nearby servant.

"Gone, My Lord, they left for Equestria yesterday." The startled female told him.

"Then I will see to this myself!" His voice snarled and bit out the words before he stormed from the dais and bounded past the guard.

* * *

"What in tarnation did he do?" AJ wondered, their cloud had been pushed around the far side of the castle and they couldn't see Chaser anymore.

Ahead of them, the battlements had emptied of guards like a sink when the plug was pulled. The gates had closed, but that meant nothing when they could fly, and the milling crowds of creatures left outside had no clue what was going on either. Twilight already felt the pull of the dampening spells on her magic, just a little, and it showed in the slight extra strain she felt maintaining her spell to stop four of them from falling through the cloud.

'Look!" Pinkie pointed, and a puff of ice and smoke wafted up from the base of a tower before it slowly began to topple outwards and away from them.

'OK all clear' Kirianna tapped on her shoulder. "We're clear, move us in girls." She whispered to Dash and Fluttershy behind her.

"That oughta do it..." AJ muttered, looking at the rising dust from the collapsed tower.

The cloud edged further down, and they alighted on the very top battlement. The six of them clattered down the stairs, Applejack and Dash leading the way to deal with any úlfur that might still be here, but they saw nopony at all.

"Which way, Twi?" Dash asked her once they reached a corridor, it went off in three directions, left, right and straight out from the tower.

"Straight on, the spells get thicker that way." She could feel it, like walking into deeper water. They set off along the icy halls.

"Say what you like about them, they have good taste." Rarity's breath was a little ragged as they cantered, but she was still admiring the furnishings, "Oh, dear, this feels most peculiar..."

Twilight could relate, her magic, which was always like a vast lake she could dip into for a little spell or two, seemed no less broad, but shallower. Shallower and less connected to her the deeper into the castle they ran.

At the end of the corridor they came to a stop, peering around the corners carefully, but seeing no sign of the inhabitants. Twilight pointed deeper in, towards a pair of doors.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy exclaimed despite herself when they pushed through the large doors.

"Heavens," Rarity agreed,

"Wheeee!" Pinkie slid out into the open space as if skating. Twilight didn't even bother to stop her, there was obviously nopony here afterall.

It was a garden, a whole, sculpted, frozen garden. Her breath came in large clouds, like she'd stepped into a gigantic freezer, and she was thankful for the warm coat Rarity had brought her. Everywhere she looked were white, blue and clear shapes, each a perfect replica of a flower, a bush, a tree...

The frozen gardens of Fryst Eldi were a sight few were privileged to see, a closely guarded secret of the úlfur in fact, because it was rare enough that the wolves actually created something, rarer still that they created art such as this.

"In-credible..." Applejack stared around.

"It's a spell, it has to be, that's why it doesn't melt in the sun, or from our body heat." Twilight breathed hot air onto one of the flowers and noticed that the moisture didn't condense on the cold petals, nor melt them in the slightest.

"Hey! Thss ss cuul! Thee?" Pinkie slid up to her with a flower, broken at the stem, stuck to her tongue, "Ih won' come oph!"

'Hurry' Kirianna tapped, 'not much time left'. The warning sent a chill down her already chilled spine.

"Let's go, girls, we can't waste any more time." And she led the way to the far side of the gardens, looking for a door into the tower in the middle of the city.

* * *

Athelgeir... you were right about this one. "STOP HIIIM!!" Jökuul roared at his úlfur from the high battlement.

The pony was now zipping around near ground level, troops had taken to the air to try and pin him down, and now they were lowering the net slowly, but the pegasus wasn't giving in.

Letting his eyes off the white streak of movement for a few seconds, the Regent eyed the damage already done. An entire tower collapsed, out there on the plain pointing at one of the mountain peaks, half smashed into splinters when it hit the ground. A hole in the city wall, an actual hole as if hit by a boulder, dozens of guards prone on the ground from getting too close to the laughing, taunting pony.

Laughing... he growled in the back of his throat again. All that pegasus had done since he arrived was laugh. He laughed as he ran from the guards, he laughed as he smashed bodily into solid ice like it was balsa wood, he laughed as he swooped low over the ramparts to taunt the waiting guards with his silly words.

When Wind Chaser was caught, the Regent vowed, by the silver in his coat, he would take pleasure in making that pony beg for mercy after this insult.

"SURROUND HIM!!" His voice carried over the plain, rolling to the ears of his troops, "GROUND HIM AND HOLD HIM FAST!!"

They followed as best they could, and soon the pegasus was outnumbered. The sky was a tent of soldiers above him, and the ground a slowly contracting ring of them around him.

Jökuul watched him fight at bay for a few minutes more, bucking soldiers high in the air, or solidly into each other, or whirling around with his wings spread and flinging more of them away with their fore-edges. Many of the soldiers littering the plain were limping to their feet already, and the Regent didn't need to see the end to know he would soon be meeting this pony face to face.

He turned and strode from the wall, heading back to the palace with his personal guards in tow.

* * *

"This must be the throne room... I guess Chaser's doing a better job out there than we thought." Twilight noted as they passed in through the biggest set of doors yet. 'Not long now' Kiri tapped. "We need to hurry."

"This way, young ponies." A deep, soft voice prompted them from the far corner.

It made her jump, Rarity squeal, Fluttershy lock up and fall over, while Dash and AJ whirled at the ready. Pinkie, on the other hoof, had already closed the gap between them and the speaker.

"Ooooh... you're taaaall!" She looked up at him from around his knee level. Tall he was, a stag, huge and imposing, taller even than Celestia, and with a rack of antlers that seemed at odds with the refined nature of his body. "Hey, what's your name? Did you know you've got felt growing on your antlers? It's so fuzzy! And oooh you girls look tiny from way up here!"

"Little one, please, get down." He asked, politely.

"Okie dokie!" And Pinkie hopped from his back.

"Your Princess is through there. Please, save her and leave, as quickly as you can." His melodic voice was very convincing. 'Go now' Kirianna tapped urgently.

"But, what about you?" The question stopped all her friends.

"I am the second of my queen's consorts to reside here, as hostage against our country's good behavior. But it is not an unhappy arrangement. The úlfur may be our rulers, but they have brought us much good. Moreover, they have done something that we could not have done on our own; they have united our nation with three others, and we live in harmony amongst ourselves. The úlfur may impose themselves, but they do not mistreat us."

"You like 'em tha' much, but y'don' wan' us t'have the same?" Applejack looked suspicious.

"We have made peace with what is, and we cannot change it, you should not have to. It is not a gentle transition, the process is not... pleasant. Your princess, however, is immortal, unlike the rulers of our lands. The pain of take-over will not fade with generations, and she will forever rail against her fate. I cannot let this happen. Go to her, and save your land, do not return this way, the servants and guards could return at any time."

He gestured with his head and little sparks lit the tips of his antlers, the door he looked to opened wide for them.

"Thank you sir." Twilight smiled at him,

"Beware, little unicorn, the arena will completely nullify your magic, stay there for as short a time as possible."

"We'll be gone before you know it!" Dash threw a salute at him as she rounded the corner.

* * *

The throne room doors crashed open, "Out of my sight." Jökuul dismissed the stag, who tipped his head in a bow, then made his way out the side door, closing it behind him.

A few moments after he'd seated himself, the doors were flung open again. Two of his soldiers bounded in, flanked by two more and followed by half a contingent for good measure. Behind the two leaders, dragged along by chains, was the white pegasus Jökuul had come to hate.

"Lord Regent, the pegasus Wind Chaser, as commanded." They snapped to attention with vivid precision.

"I would like to commend you all for your efforts," Jökuul drawled, "in capturing... One. Pegasus. I would like to, but instead I am asking myself whether I should be hiring him as my soldiers instead of you! One pegasus against a hundred úlfur and you still let him somehow destroy parts of our very city?! Stand aside, all of you!"

Chains clinked and slithered from their shoulders, and the soldiers backed up against the walls like whipped dogs as Jökuul leaned forward on the throne.

"So, you are the one called Wind Chaser." He addressed the fallen pony,

"Heh, you remembered, you aren't as senile as I thought." The voice chuckled, a little painfully. The chains clinked and slid as the pegasus started to rise, pulling his hooves under him.

"You will stay as you are, pegasus, you are not fit to stand in my presence."

Wind Chaser got up, "Sorry, but your floor is cold. I could catch my death."

"You insolent-"

"Yeah, yeah, insolent whelp, you want to tear out my throat, I heard you the first time." Chaser interrupted. "Let's hear something new, where is the princess?"

The Regent stared at him, anger literally choking off his words. He snatched his chain cuff out of his robe, snapping it onto his forepaw as he bounded forwards, and smashed it across Wind Chaser's face. The white pony rolled his head with it, much the same way the guard had earlier, but came up again looking the same as ever, barring the trickle of blood at his lip.

"Now that was just plain unfriendly. Do you treat all your guests this pleasantly?" Jökuul hit him again, a tear opened in the skin of the pony's cheek, "I'll take that as a yes." He hit him again and blood soaked the white coat of Chaser's muzzle, the cheek torn across the muscle from the impact.

"Would you stop that? It's really annoying." Wind Chaser straightened up again, still unfazed and his irritated expression making Jökuul step back momentarily.

"Who are you, Wind Chaser?" He demanded, voice threatening, "A guard? A soldier? Are you some pup that found importance in your little home town?"

"Something like that." The pony's eyes narrowed in return.

"Because here you are now nothing." Jökuul hissed at him, paw swiping out to wrap the short chain around his neck and yank down. "Why did you attack Fryst Eldi? Why did you attack Athelgeir? Why did you attempt to best us?!"

The pony gritted his teeth and refused to be bowed, even by the chain, "Seemed... like the thing to do... at the time." He forced out, feeling his windpipe starting to pinch.

The Regent roared, rearing back and lashing out with the chains capped club end. At last he got a reaction from the pony, as it raised its wings and tried to fend off the blows, shielding its head and shoulders from the bludgeoning. But if he knew anything about the pegasus ponies, their wings weren't strong, the pain would be excruciating, only a small relief from the damage that would have been done to the head and body.

After a few more swings, the regent settled his rage and drew himself up, the pegasus dropped his wings back, seemingly relieved that the ordeal was over.

"You have failed, Wind Chaser, you have declared yourself an enemy of the úlfur people and will be executed in the arena at dawn. Right in front of your precious princess."

"Then I at least wish to see her before that, I think I've earned at least that much for coming this far."

Jökuul burst out laughing, how amazing, this beaten, captured pegasus, after all he had done... well, why not? "Granted then." He laughed a little more, "You will even be imprisoned with her until the hour of your execution, does that please you?"

"You might be surprised." And... the pegasus smirked. A lopsided grin that didn't ease the narrowed eyes... it unnerved him.

"Soldiers, drag this prisoner along. We will take him to his ruler and let him wallow in his defeat." And at that, he turned dramatically and strode for the side door.

This was going to amuse him greatly. Earlier he had boasted to Celestia that he had Wind Chaser in his paws, and now... she was going to see proof. She was going to despair, to-

He threw open the grand door to the arena and bounded down the first flight of steps. He looked to the cage in the middle and... The pegasus behind him laughed, a huge, happy laugh.

"Guess staying with the princess was a bit much to ask, Jökuul, but I don't mind staying in that shiny cage over there!" The sound of the pegasus' laughter rang in his ears again as he stared and stared at the empty prison on the frozen sands.

* * *

Oh my... that was amusing...

I don't think I've had the chance to make him do that to somebody in years... I love playing around with people in power, it's huge amounts of fun.

Quickly onwards and upwards, readers, this is going to be fun!