Chapter 19: Autum Fun
***

“Come on, try to keep up!” Scootaloo called over her shoulder, grinning.

Dawn flew after Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle by her side and Apple Bloom and Winter spiraling around further out. Being the first chance they’d had since Nightmare Night, the five of them had decided to go flying together.

“We’re right behind you!” Sweetie called back, doing her best to match the pegasus’ speed.

Really Dawn could go faster, and she was fairly certain Scootaloo could as well. She was getting pretty good at using her magic while flying after all. But they weren’t racing and they didn’t want to leave Sweetie behind. At the same time though, they did want to see what Sweetie could do, so Scootaloo was setting the pace as they flew around above Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres.

Scootaloo grinned and then dove suddenly dropping below rooftop level as they neared the main square. Sweetie and Dawn followed circling around town hall then turning down one of the side streets. They lost track of Apple Bloom and Winter as they wove between the buildings passing sugar cube corner then circling back past the Golden Oaks Library. Though she had no trouble maneuvering through the town, it was clear that Sweetie was at her limit speed wise. She wasn’t going to win any races. But it was worth going a little slower to be able to fly with all five of them together.

They had just about reached the edge of town when Apple Bloom and Winter reappeared from one of the side streets and spiraled around them once before falling into position so they were all in a large wedge formation. From there Scootaloo led them at a slower pace, focusing more on tight turns and maneuvering around obstacles, but mostly just enjoying flying with friends.

After a few more passes through the town and slaloming between some of the trees at Sweet Apple Acres, Scootaloo decided it was time for a break and climbed up above the town and after a slow cooldown lap, landed on a convenient cloud.

“That was so much fun!” Sweetie exclaimed happily as she landed as well. Having cast a cloud walking spell on herself when they’d started, the clouds held her up as easily as any of the natural cloud walkers.

Dawn laughed happily as she landed and just collapsed on the cloud sprawling out on the fluffy surface to rest. Apple Bloom and Winter soon followed suit and before long they were all sprawled out on the cloud resting and cooling off.

“You’re pretty good with those wings!” Scootaloo complimented Sweetie. “They’re not very fast but you can corner better than most the pegasi in town!”

Sweetie laughed breathing deeply. “Thanks, you’re doing really good too! It looked like you hardly have to concentrate on your magic anymore!”

“Yeah, it’s getting easier. Twilight was right, it just takes a lot of practice.” She wasn’t nearly as winded as Sweetie.

Apple Bloom was breathing deeply as well, Dawn noticed. “I still do not understand why you get so tired; you are not even using real muscles,” she said looking at the two of them.

Winter smiled at her sister. “You use more than just your wing muscles when flying, Dawn; you’re constantly adjusting your entire body. Your legs, your body, your neck, almost every part of your body is constantly working.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Mah wings may not get tired, but the rest of me sure does.”

Sweetie nodded in agreement. “It’s a lot of fun though! We’ll definitely have to do this again!”

“I’m game; with Rainbow gone again I need to practice as much as I can on my own.” Scootaloo said with a grin.

“Where’d Rainbow go?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“She did go with Daring Do to check on more of the alicorn prisons.” Dawn answered. Not having any lessons with Twilight since before Nightmare Night, Sweetie hadn’t heard that Rainbow would be leaving again.

“Oh, okay.”

“Yep. They were saying this will probably be their last trip before winter starts, and they won’t be able to search for any while there’s snow on the ground,” Scootaloo told her and Winter nodded.

“As it is, they are going south this time; some parts of Northern Equestria, winter is already getting started.”

“Well I hope they don’t find any of them escaped.” Sweetie said and shivered at the thought.

“Me too… most the alicorns from our time were not nice.” Dawn said softly.

Winter just nodded in agreement.

~~~

“I’m glad this prison is up in the foothills. I’ve fed far too many of the bloodsuckers in those swamps,” Daring said looking down the slopes at the dense canopy of the Hayseed Swamps.

“Heh, yeah, you’ve mentioned how bad the bugs can get a few times in your books.” Rainbow said putting a couple canteens of water into her saddlebags for the day. It wasn’t a warm day, but they didn’t know how long it would take them to find the prison, if they found it at all today.

“Complained really.” Daring said with a smirk. After a moment she sighed. “Dang it.”

“What?” Rainbow asked looking over at her.

Daring frowned for a moment looking off into the hills before answering. “I didn’t want to say anything, but last time I went out I kept getting this feeling like I was being watched. I never saw anypony, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling. I was hoping I was just imagining it and that having you with me this time I wouldn’t feel that way. But I’m getting it again…”

Rainbow looked around, suddenly a little nervous. “You think somepony is watching us?”

“It’s just a feeling, but… yeah; I just can’t shake it.”

“Who do you think it is?”

Daring considered it for a moment, frowning. “If I had to guess; probably Caballeron.”

“Caballeron? Really?” Rainbow asked raising a brow. “Why him?”

“One of his favorite things to do is follow me to whatever it is I’m searching for at the time and then steal it from me if he can. Remember the rings of Scorchero?”

“Oh yeah!”

“That wasn’t the first time he tried something like that,” Daring said with an annoyed snort. “Unfortunately for him these prisons don’t contain any valuable or magical artifacts he can steal, so if it is him, he’s wasting his time.”

Rainbow thought about it for a moment. “Do we need to worry about him freeing the alicorns?”

Daring took a deep breath and sighed. “No; he may be underhoofed and a thief, but he does at least know his history. He knows enough about the purge to recognize what the prisons are, and even he would realize that freeing a purge era alicorn would be a very bad idea.”

“What if he accidentally frees them?” Rainbow asked pointedly.

Daring snorted. “That is a possibility,” she admitted. “I don’t see what we can do about it though, unless we manage to catch whoever it is. We don’t even know if it is Caballeron, it could be just about anypony really; or maybe I’m just being paranoid,” she shrugged. “Either way we’ve got a job to do, just keep your eyes open.”

“Will do!”

~~~

Rainbow’s wings twitched uneasily as she looked down from the cliff, searching for the entrance to the prison that was supposed to be somewhere along these slopes. Her uneasiness had nothing to do with the two hundred celestials drop-off half a step in front of her. She was a pegasus after all. No, it was what Daring had told her that morning that was making her wings twitch.

She hadn’t seen or heard anything but all day she couldn’t help feeling like she was being watched. Several times she’d spun around or suddenly changed directions while flying to see if she could catch somepony before they could hide only to find nothing there. The worst part was she wasn’t sure if she was just feeling that way because of what Daring had said or if she were actually being watched.

It was bad enough that when the amplifier around her neck chimed, she just about jumped off the cliff.

“Rainbow here.” She said after tapping the gem.

“Hey, I think I found it;” Daring’s voice came through loud and clear. “The third canyon south from where we started. I’ll fly up over the ridge, but you better hurry, we’ll be running out of daylight soon.”

“Gotcha, on my way,” Rainbow told her and tapped the gem again. Spreading her wings she took off heading south. She didn’t have to go far before she spotted Daring hovering over a ridge. Daring gave her a wave as she approached then dove down into the canyon. Rainbow effortlessly took a wingpony position as she followed Daring to what appeared to be just a thin crack in the mountainside.

“I already went in until I spotted some pony made tunnels.” Daring said taking out her sunstone and leading the way.

“Sounds promising.” Rainbow said and followed her into the cave. “Let’s see if we can find the first trap, then I’ll call Twi and let her know.”

Daring nodded. “It’s another hallway trap first off, according to the notes.”

The first two traps proved to be no problem, and in short order were deactivated. When they got to the third is when they hit a problem.

“Whoa!” Rainbow said seeing the half-collapsed hall that was supposed to be the third trap.

“Yeah… looks like we can still get through; I doubt the trap is still functional.”

“Yeah… let me tell Twilight anyway.” Rainbow said and tapped the gem in her amplifier before Daring could respond. “Twilight.”

A moment later the amplifier gave a chime and then Twilight’s voice came through. “Hey Rainbow, you through the traps already?” She asked hopefully.

Rainbow gave a smirk. “How’d you know it was me?” She asked, letting some of the amusement show in her voice.

“Really?” Twilight said in a deadpan tone.

She laughed. “Yeah, we’re through two of the traps anyway. The third one is partially collapsed; we think we can still get through, and we’re pretty sure it’s not working anymore, but I thought I’d let you know.”

“Alright, I’m not busy at the moment, so why don’t you go ahead.”

“Already on it.” Daring said already starting to pick her way across the rubble. “We’ll probably be fine so long as we stay on the debris from the collapse.”

Rainbow waited letting Daring get most of the way through the remains of the trap before starting to follow.

Daring made it to the end of the hall without incident. “Yeah, it’s a little tight, but we can get through.” She said and slipped through the narrowest part of the collapsed hallway. “Oh, not good. Looks like the prison chamber is partially collapsed as well.” She called back holding the sunstone up to give Rainbow light.

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

“Daring said it looks like the prison chamber is partially collapsed as well.” Rainbow told her making her way through the ruined trap. Daring waited until she’d reached her, then turned and carefully made her way down the rubble into the large prison chamber. Like the other’s they’d found there was a half dome on one side of the chamber that was where the alicorn would be imprisoned. At least the remains of one, this one had been broken in the collapse that had filled nearly a third of the chamber with rubble. “Oh dang. Looks like the prison was broken open in the collapse.”

“Oh no, do you think they got out?” Twilight asked from the other end.

“If they did it was ages ago, this doesn’t look recent.” Rainbow told her.

“They didn’t get out.” Daring said softly standing at the edge of the depression that would have been under the half dome.

“What do you mean.” Rainbow said stepping up next to her to see for herself. “Oh…” In the bottom of the depression, they could just see the shriveled remains of a horned pony’s head and one foreleg, the rest buried under tons of stone. They’d been dead for some time, judging by how little of the leathery skin still clung to the bones. “Yikes… yeah Twilight, you can mark off this one.”

“She’s dead then?” Twilight asked.

“For a few centuries at least, considering the condition of the remains,” Daring said loud enough to be heard.

“I see. Alright, you disabled the other traps though?”

“Yep, looks like we’re done here.” Rainbow said heavily.

“Alright, that should be Briar Heart… I’ll mark her off as deceased.” Twilight told her.

“Okay, we’re heading back to camp then, so I’ll talk to you later, Twi.”

“Talk to you later, then. Be safe.”

“We will, bye.” Rainbow tapped the crystal again to end the call. With a sigh, she looked down at the remains of the alicorn again. “You know, she probably deserved it, but still, sucks to go out like that… at least it was probably quick.”

Daring nodded in agreement. “She probably didn’t even wake from the imprisonment spell. Guess that’s one less for us to worry about though. Let’s get back to camp.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

~~~

“So you have never been to the Running of the Leaves either?” Winter asked looking up at Sunset.

Walking next to her, Sunset shook her head. “Nope, the Running of the Leaves is mostly an earth pony tradition; I grew up in Canterlot and besides being mostly unicorns, there aren’t really any wooded areas around the city.”

“Yeah, I didn’t ever go to the Running of the Leaves either until I moved to Ponyville,” Twilight agreed walking with Dawn on Winter’s other side as they made their way through town. They were headed to the park next to the White Tail Woods where the start and finish of the race would take place. “I actually participated the first year after I moved here.”

Sunset looked over at her. “The first year? Wouldn’t you have still been a unicorn then?”

“Well yeah, but anypony can participate, you don’t have to be an earth pony. Rainbow was in the race that year as well. There just has to be enough earth ponies that their combined magic is enough to shake the leaves from the trees.” She gave a smirk. “Of course, Rainbow and AJ were so busy trying to beat each other through sabotage that they ended up finishing last.”

Sunset snorted. “Yeah, that sounds like those two.”

“Rainbow was a little disappointed about not getting to have another rematch this year, but she decided that checking on the alicorn prisons was more important.” Twilight said and Winter couldn’t help grinning a little as she noticed the fond smile Twilight often had whenever she mentioned Rainbow. “Applejack is still going to race, though,” she went on. “And I think Pinkie said she’d be joining in this year instead of playing announcer.”

“Spike was going to be the announcer, wasn’t he?” Dawn asked and Twilight nodded.

“He’s done announcing with Pinkie before so he should be fine by himself,” Twilight told them. “A few members of the guard were going to be running too. I even managed to convince Feather to join in since it was her day off anyway.”

“You actually got her to take a day off?” Sunset said with a laugh. “I was wondering why Silver was leading the squad today.”

“Feather takes days off… sometimes,” Twilight said half-jokingly. “She’s just… dedicated.”

“You mean she’s as much a workaholic as AJ.” Sunset said with a smirk.

“Very dedicated.” Twilight amended, grinning. “Seriously though, Feather thinks it will get better once the castle barracks is finished and the rest of the guard can transfer from Canterlot. Hopefully then she’ll feel better about taking time for herself. She’s been a good captain.”

“Heh, yeah, not going to disagree there. She’s definitely a good captain, and much more fun to be around than some of the old guard up in Canterlot,” Sunset rolled her eyes.

“Hey Twilight!” A voice called making them all look up. Twilight looked confused at first but then smiled in recognition seeing the mint green unicorn waving from the road ahead by the entrance of the park.

“Hi, Lyra!” Twilight called back, waving as well.

A huge grin broke across Lyra’s face. “You do remember me!” she exclaimed in a joking manner.

Twilight laughed as they reached the entrance of the park. “Yeah, I’m sorry Lyra, for never noticing you around town. You’d think I’d be more observant.”

Lyra just continued grinning, waving her hoof dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you haven’t had a couple busy years.” She looked over at Winter and Dawn. “And you must be the fillies Lemon Hearts was telling me about! Winter Belle and Dawn Melody, right?”

“That is right.” Winter said, smiling. “Lemon Hearts did mention you as well. You were friends with Twilight at Princess Celestia’s school?”

“Yep!” She looked over at Sunset. “And you must be the famous Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset raised a brow at that. “Famous?”

“Well, famous or infamous, depends on who you ask,” she said with a grin, then held out a hoof. “I’m Lyra Heartstrings.”

Taking her hoof, Sunset smiled. “Pleased to meet you Lyra.”

“So any of you racing?” Lyra asked.

“Not this year.” Twilight said. “We’re just here to cheer on the racers. How about you? You going to race?”

“Yep, me and Bonny both are!” She said excitedly.

“Bonny?”

“Oh right! Bonbon, my marefriend, I should introduce you! You’ve probably met though; she owns the candy store in town!”

Twilight thought back for a moment, she didn’t really frequent the candy store in town, but she had been there a few times. “Oh, is she the mare with the pink and blue mane?”

“Yep, that’s my Bonny! Come on, I’ll introduce you!” Lyra said grinning and led the way toward where the racers were gathering. Twilight smiled, glancing at the others and followed.

~~~

“You got this AJ!” Apple Bloom called encouragingly, watching as her sister took her place on the starting line with the rest of the racers. Once the race got going of course none of the audience would be able to watch. Fortunately, they wouldn’t need to.

“Greetings everypony! And welcome to the Annual running of the leaves!” Spike’s voice rang clearly from above, and Apple Bloom looked up grinning, spotting him in the basket of the balloon overhead. He didn’t have any kind of microphone this year; she could only guess he was using some kind of magic to project his voice. He did know a lot of magic now. “I’m Spike, your eye in the sky for today’s race. The racers are taking their places at the starting line, including my usual co-anouncer, Pinkie Pie who decided to take part in the race this year.”

Apple Bloom blinked and looked again at the starting line. Sure enough, Pinkie Pie was there doing some exaggerated stretches, just a few spaces away from her sis.

“Pinkie is racing?” Scootaloo said seeing her as well. “Yikes, good luck to everypony else.”

Sweetie looked over at her. “What do you mean?”

“Rainbow told me about one time she was trying to run from Pinkie and even she couldn’t escape her. Pinkie can be crazy fast when she wants to be.” Scootaloo told her.

“That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.” Apple Bloom agreed as the racers continued to gather at the starting line.

“Looks like they’re about to start, have you seen Winter or Dawn? I thought they were going to be here?” Sweetie asked looking around the crowds.

Apple Bloom looked around as well. “There they are; over there with Twilight.” she said pointing across the road where Twilight was talking to Rarity and Fluttershy.

“Oh.” She glanced at the start line where the racers were moving into their starting positions. “Guess we’d better wait until the race gets going.”

“With the racers at their marks, Mayor Mare steps forward ready to signal the start of the race.” Spike announced from overhead.

Apple Bloom watched as the Mayor raised a white flag, holding it up until all the racers were ready and watching. A moment later, she swung it downwards.

“The flag drops and they’re off!”

“Woo! Go AJ!” Apple Bloom cheered as Applejack quickly took the lead, Pinkie pronking in the middle of the pack. The crowds cheered as the racers galloped down the trail heading into the Whitetail Woods, leaves falling behind them. Before long they were out of sight down the trail.

“And Applejack takes an early lead, but she’s not alone as the rest of the racers are right on her tail.” Spike continued to cover the race from above. Knowing Spike’s commentary would let them know when the racers were getting near the finish, the crowds around the start and finish line broke up and began enjoying the refreshments and other activities that had been set up. With how popular the Running of the Leaves had become in recent years; they’d decided this year to make it a town festival.

“Let’s go get some funnel cake!” Scootaloo suggested eagerly.

Apple Bloom grinned. “Sounds good to me, then let’s go say hi to Winter and Dawn!”

“Apple Bloom?” A voice she wasn’t expecting said sounding a little nervous.

“Oh, hey Diamond; you need something?”

Daimond Tiara fidgeted, looking down. “Um… remember when you said that Princess Twilight wanted to teach more pegasi and earth ponies to use their magic?” She asked nervously.

“Yeah, Ah remember.”

“Do you really think Princess Twilight would be willing to teach me?”

Apple Bloom looked at her a moment then shrugged. “Ah think so, if you’re willing to put in the work. Why don’t you just go ask her? There’s no harm in asking.”

She glanced toward where the princess was. “Could you come with me to ask?”

“Sure, we were going to go say hi to Winter and Dawn anyway.” Apple Bloom said with a smile. “Come on.” She said and started leading the way.

“Then funnel cake!” Scootaloo said following with Sweetie and Diamond.

~~~

“Applejack has a comfortable lead as the racers reach the first marker, but as early as it is, it’s still anypony’s race!”

Winter smiled listening to Spike’s commentary. Sunset had already gone to check out some of the booths that had been set up. She’d considered going with but had decided to stay with Dawn. Twilight, and Rarity were talking about the progress on the castle with Dawn and Fluttershy listening in. It sounded like the barracks would be done in just a couple more weeks, but the rest was scheduled to be completed just a couple weeks before Hearths’ Warming.

“Are you planning to have any kind of celebration for the completion of the Castle? A ball perhaps?” Rarity was asking.

“Well with it being so close to Hearths’ Warming, I was thinking it would make sense to just hold a town Hearth’s Warming celebration at the castle and just have a small ceremony for the completion of the castle at the start.” Twilight told her.

“The whole town?” Dawn asked excitedly.

Twilight smiled down at her. “Sound fun?”

She nodded. Winter thought it sounded fun as well, though she was a little nervous about how many ponies would be there that they didn’t know yet. But then again, most of the town was here for the running of the leaves, and she wasn’t feeling all that nervous. There really weren’t that many that she hadn’t met yet.

“I do hope you plan on a ball being a part of the celebrations, you do have that marvelous ballroom.” Rarity insisted.

Twilight nodded. “I was thinking we’ll have a sort of informal ball in the ball room, all the refreshments and tables in the banquet hall, and the rest of the celebrations in the entry hall.”

“I suppose that would work best for Hearths’ Warming, but you simply must have a formal ball at the castle sometime!”

“I’m sure we will sometime.” Twilight agreed.

Winter smiled a bit at the thought. She liked Twilight’s idea for Hearths’ Warming better but she wouldn’t mind a more formal ball; a chance to get all dressed up. Rarity had offered to make her and Dawn dresses after all.

Spotting Apple Bloom and the other crusaders headed their way she smiled and waved with her wing. “Hi girls!”

Hearing her, Dawn looked and grinned. “Apple Bloom! Sweetie! Scootaloo! Diamond!” She exclaimed seeing them. “What are you up to?”

“Just cheering on AJ, but Diamond wanted to ask Princess Twilight something.” Apple Bloom said.

Twilight looked over, spotting Diamond Tiara following the other fillies. “Oh, and what is it you’d like to ask me?”

Apple Bloom looked back toward Diamond and nodded toward the princess. After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped forward nervously. “Um, Apple Bloom mentioned that you wanted to teach more earth ponies and pegasi to use their magic… I… I was wondering if you’d be willing to teach me?”

Twilight was definitely surprised but looked down at her consideringly. “Perhaps; why do you want to learn to use your earth pony magic?”

Diamond looked down. “I… after Apple Bloom saved my daddy, I thought a lot about what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be; I used to want to be a leader, to take over my daddy’s business one day, but now I… I still want to… but I also want to help ponies; like Apple Bloom did for me. And I thought, maybe if I learned this magic, I’d be able to.”

Slowly Twilight smiled down at the nervous filly. “Diamond, you don’t need special powers to help ponies,” she said gently.

“I know… but I could help ponies more if I learned this magic, couldn’t I?”

“Yes, I think you could.” Twilight told her. “You know it won’t be easy; it will take a lot of work just to learn how to reach your magic. Are you willing to work hard and not give up when things are tough?”

Looking up at her Diamond nodded firmly.

Twilight considered her a moment longer. “The reason I want to teach more earth ponies and pegasi to use their magic is so that they can then teach others and spread the knowledge of their magic; if I teach you, will you be willing to eventually teach others and pass on what learn?”

“Yes, I will, I promise!”

Twilight smiled. “Alright then, why don’t we go speak with your father and we can make arrangements for you to begin your lessons.”

Diamond smiled joyfully. “Oh thank you, princess!”

“Just Twilight, Diamond; if you’re going to be my student, I don’t want you being so formal all the time.” Twilight admonished.

“Oh, um, okay. My daddy was running one of the stands.”

“Lead the way,” Twilight said then looked over at Winter and Dawn. “Why don’t you two have some fun with your friends; it will probably be a while before we need to gather at the finish line for the end of the race.”

Winter smiled and nodded. “We’ll be fine.”

“Don’t worry, darling, we’ll keep an eye on the girls,” Rarity added, her and Fluttershy having heard everything.

Twilight smiled and then followed Diamond along with most of the townsponies toward where the festival was set up.

Winter glanced at Dawn and then the Crusaders. “So what shall we do?”

“Funnel cake, now!” Scootaloo insisted.

“Maybe we should get some funnel cake before Scootaloo snaps.” Sweetie deadpanned.

Apple Bloom snorted, while Winter and Dawn laughed.

“Laugh on the way!”

“Alright, I would like to try this funnel cake.” Winter said and together they headed toward the rest of the festivities, Rarity and Fluttershy following along behind them.

Author's Note

I realized there was a lot of things I wanted to happen before hearth's warming came around, I thought it would be just one chapter, but before I knew it, it was getting well over 7k words with still more to go, so I decided to split it here. So I have a few thousand words of the next chapter already written. I'll also have a few long chunks of time free of distractions (video games) while traveling for new years. Hoping I'll be able to get the holiday chapters done before too much longer.