//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Wind Chaser // by Thaylien //------------------------------// 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 Our names are as symbolic as those of your own subjects, if a little harder to decipher due to their origins in an outdated language."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!