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!