//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Wind Chaser // by Thaylien //------------------------------// 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!