//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Wind Chaser // by Thaylien //------------------------------// Wind Chaser, Chapter 14 In which things are calm. * * * She was soaring high on a gigantic thermal, warm air under her feathers and warm sun on her back, there was just about nothing more relaxing. As she spun lazily, higher and higher, the air started to thin out. Above her, the sky was a blue so dark it was nearing black, and she could actually see the curve of the horizon in every direction she looked. Unlike every other time, though, something prompted her to keep going. Even though the air was thinner, the thermal was still bouying her up like water, tasting of summer days and a warm, white coat. Normally that last one would have embarrassed her, but not here, not on this colossal updraft. The ground below was a greeny-blue mush of nothing and above her, somewhere, she knew she was following Chaser . No hurry though, just letting this warm current flow her up into the sky, further and further. She was so high now that all she could see was blue below and black above, with a little spark of white that she knew was where she was supposed to be heading. Clouds of stardust scudded by, and she tasted blackcurrant sherbet when she burst one accidentally. Stars glimmered and despite knowing she'd left her world... this was cool. But something wasn't quite right in this other-worldly wonder, a sound. She'd heard it earlier, but not really noticed it because it was so far away. Tumbling up the thermal... was a howl. A baying, bell-toned howl. They were down there, somewhere. So far away it didn't matter, mostly, but they were down there. And she was scared. She was here, so high above her friends, so far behind Chaser, and the wolves were behind her. All of a sudden, Equestria wasn't below her, and the place Chaser was going wasn't above. The ground was behind her, and the place she was going was in front. No more gentle rise, no more lifting through the void. She was stuck between one place and the next, and now... it was a chase. Maybe it was... No, it was a dream, she was dreaming! That's it. She had to wake up before it got bad, if she could just wake up... Need to wake up, Dash. Wake up, Rainbow Dash. * * * "DASH WAKE UP!!" The cyan mare shot upright in bed at the urgent, nearly panicked, shout, "What!? What is it?!" "Breakfast." Wind Chaser deadpanned her. "Whu...? Where?" "We're going to make it." He smiled back. "What time is it?" She shielded her eyes and peered at the lit-from-beyond wall of her house. "Breakfast time." The smile grew to an evil grin, "Come on! Get up!" "It's like... seven thirty in the morning, Chaser!" She groaned and fell back into her pillow, shoving her muzzle into the cloudy surface. "It's me or Pinkie, Dash. I told her I was going to teach you, and she let me have all these ingredients. But I said that if I can't teach you, I'd let her take a swing at it." She could hear him smirking. She popped an eye over the fold of her pillow, "You're eeeevil." "I can tell you've met me." He laughed, starting for the stairs. "Okay Kiri, just bite her again." Dash didn't remember how she got up by the ceiling, "Wo-wo-wo-woah! Woah! Nuh-uh, no way! I'm keeping this flank teeth free!" she wedged her back end into the corner for emphasis while eyeballing the little green puffball. Those teeth were sharp. "Oh good, you're up." Chaser commented without looking, "Come on then, big day today!" "I am so going to kill him some day..." Dash vowed as he laughed and vanished around the curve of the stairs. * * * Somehow, probably through Kirianna watching where he wasn't, Chaser noticed Fluttershy at the door. She was hiding around the corner outside, but a large curl of pink mane stuck out. "Come on in, Shy, I'm just giving Dash some lessons." He called, surprising his host as much as her friend. "Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting... am I?" Her little voice preceded her around the arched entrance. Despite the invite, she stayed just outside the threshold. "Hey Fluttershy, c'mon in! We've got cereal, toast, pancakes, three kinds of eggs, waffles aaaand salad! Actually, isn't this a bit much for just breakfast?" The question was to him, but even so every word was as sunny as the day outside. "Nah, I'll eat what you don't, big metabolism to deal with here." Chaser grinned, "Besides, I've got to teach you as much as possible in a short time. I don't like leaving a job half-done." While they chatted, Fluttershy made her way from the door to the kitchen table, peering around at the explosion of food that seemed to have happened since she was last here. Rainbow Dash suddenly became intensely aware of just how much not-quite-food she'd made stick to the walls. "Ehh... heh, sorry about the mess. That's all me." She shrugged and started placing stuff on the table. "I didn't think it was possible for cereal to explode, you know," Chaser drew himself a cloud over next to his fellow guest, "but Dash managed it." "Hey, you were the one that... wait..." She looked around, "No, that was me too." Her shrug of unconcern made him chuckle again. "Uhm... sounds like... fun?" Fluttershy offered. "So, what do you want, Shy? Your pick." Dash gestured to the spread, which actually looked quite appetising, despite the chaos around them. "Are... are you sure I'm not intruding?" Her big eyes turned from one to the other. "Why would you be?" He asked her, "What's a little breakfast between friends? Kiri!" The last was scolding the parasprite, who was chowing down industriously on a pancake ten times as wide as she was. She didn't even look up as Dash laughed at her. "Okay, uhm, if you're sure." Again, her eyes flicked between Chaser and Dash, "I'll have a little salad, if that's alright, I kind of... already ate." "Help yourself. Let's dig in!" Rainbow Dash's traditional enthusiasm threw her at the food with a will. Chaser gentlecoltly hoofed over the salad bowl for his friend before tucking in with a more regulated pace. "See?" He commented, "It's more than just 'edible', this is actually pretty good. You picked this up fast." He complimented Dash. "Thanks, I knew I could do it." "She says that like it didn't take her five goes to make that fried egg." He commented aside to Fluttershy. "It'ff moff comflicateff'an iff'ookff." A mouthful of food replied, "That's breakfast-ese for 'thankyou for showing me the way, oh great and powerful kitchen master'." Chaser winked, and Fluttershy giggled into her salad. "Hey!" She protested, "Yes, yes, the kitchen master knows what you would say." They noticed that he had a pair of lettuce leaves held up to his muzzle like a long cantoneighs mustache, "You would seek of more wisdom that he has offered so far, but that is not for the un-initiated. If you, young batter-mixer, would take up this challenge, first you must prove yourself capable of filling your mouth with waffles and saying 'fluffy bunnies' with complete clarity. Only then shall you be worthy." After carefully swallowing her food, Dash leaned across and took the lettuce off his face, eating it deliberately. "You've been hanging out with Pinkie Pie for too long." "Moi? How could you say such a thing?" He swooned in false shock, imitating Rarity now. At last it was too much for Fluttershy and she broke out in fits of giggles at the silliness. "Methinks she finds us funny, hmm?" Chaser raised an eyebrow at his cyan friend, "Of course we are, we're hilarious. And awesome." Dash finished off a waffle. "You're like a couple of newly-weds." Fluttershy giggled. She didn't pick up on it, because she wasn't looking, but Dash did. Chaser's mood dropped like a stone. His smile was still there, and his expression hadn't really changed, but there was something in his eyes that had just gone missing. "Here, I'll wash these up." If she hadn't been watching, Dash wouldn't have been able to see anything different about him now, the laughter still seemed to be there, and he hadn't lost any energy in his movements, but... As he ferried plates and bowls to the sink, she could tell that what Fluttershy had said bothered him. "Oh, hey, Shy, are you looking forward to today?" He mentioned over his shoulder, "Seems like there's all sorts of events planed." "Who? Me? No, I uh... That is, I really - uhm... I guess that I... Ohh... I... I mean..." Unfortunately his question didn't keep her spirits up as much as he'd hoped. The shy little pegasus curled in on herself where she sat. "Re-lax, Fluttershy, it's just a party." Dash managed between bites, "It's not like you've never been to a party before, Pinkie's throwing it, and you've met everyone before, right?" "I guess..." She shuffled a hoof, "But everyone this time means everyone. Even Princess Celestia will be there." "Chin up, Shy, you'll face it better with a smile." The white pegasus lifted her chin for her in emphasis, "All of your friends will be there for you too." They were rewarded by a big smile from her, "Okay, I'll try." "Atta girl." He stacked another bowl in the draining rack, inspecting it a little, as if the cloud was suspect of something, "Right, the rest we can do later, for now, let's head for the library." * * * They progressed at ground level, for Fluttershy's sake, although unlike that silly little filly there was no way she was going to walk, not when she could catch up on some loop and roll practice, and Chaser just floated lazily along without any kind of concern for which way up he was, crazy wing powers... Kirianna had given up trying to find a place to settle on his constantly rotating body and instead had dropped onto Fluttershy's head between her ears. Seemed like the little creature was getting better about touching ponies. Her rump remembered that all too well. "I hear a lot of different things about Princess Celestia, but you girls have met her, what's she really like?" The question surprised her, and Fluttershy reacted with her usual 'eep' of surprise when somepony spoke without warning. "You met her too, y'know." she couldn't help pointing out. "For all of a minute, I came down with an unfortunate case of unconscious after that." He joked lightly "You mean you took a nap." Dash teased back, "Yes, Dash, a nap, brought on by extreme levels of awesome from fighting an army of wolves, getting beaten up and then breaking a priceless crystal dome ceiling all because you wanted the easy job." "Easy job?! Why I oughta-!" "Oh please! Please don't fight!" Fluttershy was actually standing between them, wow... that wasn't like her at all. "Alright Shy, no fighting, right Dash?" Chaser, currently slowly rotating completely upside-down, looked genuinely apologetic. "Fine..." She agreed, dropping it. A moment of quiet walking later was broken when they spotted some friends. "Hey, there's Applejack and Big Mac, let's catch up." She was about to race him, (who could resist?) then she saw it was only a little way and not quite worth it, so together the three of them made short work of the distance between them and the apple farmers, but she still felt a slight hankering for a race about now, she certainly wasn't used to this much time and energy in the mornings. "Morning," Chaser dropped to the ground next to Big Mac, who was hauling a cart full of, what else, apples. The red stallion nodded politely to the white and AJ gave him a cheery "G'mornin', Chaser." before a mini explosion of apples that threatened to bounce out of the cart yelled "Mornin' Mister Chaser!" as Applebloom hurtled out of her hiding spot. "Are y'comin' to th' fair, Mister Chaser? We're doin' all sortsa treats an' games an' rides an' food an' jus' about anythin' else y'might wanna try. An'-" "Whoa there, sugarcube, o'course Chaser's comin', he's one-a the guests of honour." her big sister settled the filly down again. "Just like me." Dash posed in mid-flap, "Chaser an' me saved the Princess in an epic showdown, pony against wolf! You shoulda bin there to see it, Twilight was all 'You're crazy!' and Chaser was all 'You've met me!' and then I was all 'Give back our Princess!' and I bust' in there like-" Being nearest, Applejack took the liberty to yank Rainbow Ego down to Equestria again, hard. "We saved the Princess." The farmpony gave her friend a direct glare, eye to eye. "Oh, well... yeah, you guys helped." The others laughed at the closest thing to an apology Dash would ever give. "Hey, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo says you beat up a hundred wolves, didja?" Bloom perked up, "Actually," her sister headed off another boasting session, "we didn' have to. Chaser here drew 'em all off so we could sneak inside an' free the princess, then the Guards took care of any wolves we met on the way out. It was the perfect jail-break." "So y'didn' fight anypony?" Rainbow could see the way the filly's poor heroic imaginings were being shattered, but she didn't know what she could say with Applejack standing there to spoil her best stories. "Well how about the time Rainbow Dash took on the Storm Wolves?" Chaser broke in. "Storm Wolves?" Applebloom's eyes went wide at the thought. "Oh yeah." He grinned, and she could see why, it sounded awesome, right? "Two huge wolves that make storms so big they could fit all of Ponyville inside them! She even saved my sorry flank there too." "Woah!" While Bloom's eyes were shining, she could see Applejack looking incredulous and even Big Mac had stopped chewing his grass stalk in almost surprise. For herself, Dash couldn't quite believe he was going to tell that story. "Okay, so there it was coming out of the mountains, a super-storm. Black as night and spitting lightning, thunder, hail and rain everywhere!" The white pegasus brought himself up to hover level with the top of the cart and told his tale. And as she listened, it... well it wasn't outright lies... mostly, but it made her sound awesome, like she was the hero and he'd tagged along against her will, gotten in trouble, and that he'd gotten hurt because he wasn't as awesome as she was. Well, that was kind of true, in some ways, but that wasn't exactly the way it happened... By the time he'd gotten to the point where he was surrounded by two Storm Wolves and their Prince, and the heroic Rainbow Dash had swooped down with all her friends in tow to save his life, the little group had arrived in the marketplace. "I can't wait to tell Sweetie and Scootaloo!" The little filly yelled, "Thanks Mister Chaser, that was amazin'!" "Be back 'fore dinner!" AJ called after the over-excited junior Apple. The journey ended right behind town hall where a dozen or so ponies were already counting in food for the fair, and they dropped off three full barrels for the main meal before heading on a little ways to deliver the final one to the fair-site itself for all the different treat stalls. "Ya know, Ah think you might've got hit on the head a little hard at some point, Chaser." Applejack stated conversationally when they'd finished and waved Big Mac off on the return trip with the empty cart, "Don' get me wrong, that was a heck of a tale you told mah sister, but Ah certainly don' remember it quite the same." "Kids need a hero." Chaser pointed out, a little non-specifically. "An' that changes the story how?" He paused and Dash saw that same drop in mood that she'd seen in him before at breakfast, nothing about his expression said he was sad, but something in the eyes wasn't twinkling when he replied, "It can't be me." Before any of them could ask about that, a familiar voice calling them heralded the arrival of Twilight, Spike and Rarity. The conversation immediately changed topic to the up-coming celebration and who was doing what. * * * Cresting the hill, Canterlot came into view. The valley spread out before them, capitol on the mountains, that treacherous forest filled the deepest part to his right, and between the two, in a sun-drenched stretch of rolling hills, stood a village. He turned to head for Canterlot, but before he took more than a few steps, a sky carriage of gold and white lifted into the air above the spires. White wings preceded it through its course, he couldn't make out the details at this distance, but that many white wings meant Royal Guards to him. The carriage swept through the skies, lit by the morning sun, and descended over the village. He didn't see it land, but bright puffs of daytime fireworks burst in the air after it arrived followed by... His jaw slackened a little as a... a... an explosion of colour washed the sky. An expanding ring of rainbow hues made the brightest of fireworks look dim, it was like an aurora wave washing out into the morning blue. And from the center of that magical ring of coloured fire, a rainbow grew in a perfect arc through the open air as if a force was drawing a quill across canvas. It touched down somewhere beyond the houses of the village and stayed there. The ring expanded until it could no longer hold together and faded, but the rainbow itself hung like a ribbon of coloured glass for as long as he stared. That was his destination. There was no other being in the world that could summon such a display; the Princess was there. * * * Chaser had been dragged off by Pinkie to play all the games he hadn't played yet, Twilight was off doing stuff since the Princesses got here, Fluttershy and Rarity were... somewhere... and Applejack was running her stand. She suddenly found herself with free time and nothing cool to do. "Hey Rainbow Dash!" One of the passers by waved to her, "Great Sonic Rainboom, that was amazing!" "Yeah, thanks, it was easy for somepony like me." She tipped him a wave back. The Princesses were due to make a speech to honour them soon, but the Rainboom had been her job. Now she didn't have anything to do until the ceremony. So, wait around and be bored until the boring bit where she'd wait around some more. Great. She wanted to fly, her wings itched for it. Everything went dark. "Guess who!" A falsetto voice trilled, there were hooves over her eyes, she hadn't passed out from boredom, thank Celestia! "Pff, with that poor attempt? Gotta be Thunderlane." She smirked, thinking of the times the grey pegasus had hit on her using worse and worse methods as time went on. There was a sigh behind her and a voice murmured right in her ear, "Guess again." "CHASER!!" She jumped a full foot out of the way, yanking out of his hooves and pawing at her ear. "Where?!" He yelled, acting panicked, head darting around, "Where?! Oh... right, that's me." And he rolled over in the air and gurned a silly face at her, stupid colt... "Hey, you alright?" His voice switched to concerned as he flipped the right way up, landed and stepped closer to peer at her. She felt even more heat rising in her cheeks, and she tried not to meet his eyes, "I- I'm fine! Nothing's wrong, okay? Jeez!" The big, white stallion backed off a little and cocked an eyebrow, "If you say so. You're looking a little flushed. Should we get something to drink?" Only glad of the reprieve, she agreed, scolding herself the whole way to the soda stand for such a school-filly response to having a colt's voice coming from that angle. "What are you doing back here anyway?" "Scored a lucky streak on skeeball and won Pinkie a prize, then I told her I should probably check up on the rest of you to see if everypony was having as much fun, she was happy to let me go after that." "And you surprised all the girls like that?" She hoofed him in the shoulder, "Nah," He rolled his head in a dismissive expression, "just the one who has the best reaction." And he winked, turning to decide on which flavour he'd like. For some reason she felt her face light up, we're talking red as her mane streak, and she didn't even know what she said next, but it had to be something that sounded okay, since he laughed it off and didn't take notice of her cheeks while he was selecting their soda. "So," He said, the pony behind the stand recognising them, it was their celebration after all, and denying all attempts to pay for the sodas, "that was a Sonic Rainboom, huh?" That perked her up, "Sure was! That's my best move, nopony's even come close to that." "It was beautiful, I've never seen anything like it." He mused, the two of them finding their way to a bench. "So mister universe jumper has finally seen something new? I guess I'm just that awesome." Chaser dropped her an amused look, she'd hit a nerve, so she upped the cheese on her cheesy grin. "You know the regular sonic boom? How fast you have to go to make one?" He asked, and she nodded, "Back home, I look pretty different to a pony, and my wings are a lot bigger, so-" "How much bigger?" She couldn't help interrupting, this was important. "Triple the span." He answered her, Kirianna nodding with most of her body on his shoulder, "This width again on either side, my biggest primaries are almost as long as this whole wing." "Woah..." That really was impressive. Like an earth pony stallion standing as tall as Celestia, that kind of impressive. "So, my power is stronger there too," He continues, that lopsided smile quirking his face again, "I can fly nearly four times as fast as it takes for a sonic boom." She could only gape at him, mouth hanging open, soda bottle in danger of tipping out of her hooves, "I know a man that can teleport instantly to anywhere he can see, a man that can run so fast he sets fire to the ground and can get traction on water, I've seen a girl who can summon a tornado from the palm of her hand, and that's just my world. I've travelled to dozens of worlds where flight is considered an art, where my wings were considered a sign of being a god or at least a messenger of the gods." "But." He held up a hoof, "I've never seen anything like the Sonic Rainboom. I may be awesome enough for my world, but you're the awesome one here." And the smile grew into a grin as he gently hoofed her shoulder. Kirianna buzzed to herself on top of his head like a contented cat. She blushed. Guess that really was a compliment coming from him, wasn't it? "Thanks." She finished off her soda to cover her embarrassment. "Hey you two," Twilight trotted out of the crowd, "I'm just rounding everyone up, Celestia and Luna will be making their speech soon." "Hey! Maybe we'll be getting medals this time!" Pinkie bounced along behind her as they passed, heading for the open-backed stage at the far end of the fairground. "Race ya?" Dash cocked an eyebrow and her own lopsided grin at him. "On three." Chaser was already on his mark, They exchanged one look, and both of them yelled "Three!" * * * "Our loyal subjects," Celestia began, but he wasn't paying attention. His cloaks fluttered about him, silken and wafting despite their heavy weaves, his paws sparked against the grass from the enchantments laid into the wrappings. Athelgeir padded through the empty streets of the village unnoticed by the crowd of ponies that filled the open square before him. Bigger than any one of them, it was a wonder that none turned and saw him, but their attention was fixed on not just one, but both princesses of the realm as the older made her address. Perfect. He strode around the edges of the gathering, not making the slightest attempt to hide, but the market stalls and fairground attractions were between him and the crowd. He felt as if the ponies were flick-flick-flicking in and out of existence for him, seen and then unseen, and his blood rose at the way it made him feel like a true predator once more, stalking his unsuspecting inferiors. He half hoped some of them would see him. If he could draw one or two away now it would be a welcome catharsis, but he was happy enough to make his way nearly to the stage itself without detection. A guard turned and saw him at last, the shocked expression was enough to make him salivate; prey his mind told him. With a single bound he closed the distance and drew himself up for a swipe of his paw that was more a slap than anything else. Lightning cracked and the rapport thundered around the open space making some ponies scream and jump away, the guard slumped to the ground twitching as the electrical surge spasmed his muscles. Heads snapped around, Princess Celestia herself nearly broke her royal calm as she was interrupted mid-word to stare at the scene. Athelgeir mounted the steps and swatted another guard out of the way, his sheer ferocity backed Celestia from the small podium as one last guard moved to intercept him. He ducked low, surging up and into the stallion's rearing attack, bowling the pony over and baring his fangs in a snarl. His enchanted wraps sent a surge of electricity into his victim and made the white guardspony shudder and shake in his grip. From his place on top of the guard, Athelgeir glanced around for his next target, but found himself in front of the crowd and nearly face-to-face with the microphone, which amplified his heavy growls around the entire open space. He straightened up out of his predatory crouch, rolling the limp guard out from under his pads and spared a glance for the angry, clearly ready to attack, Princess Celestia before he spoke to all of them gathered in front of him. "Ponies of Equestria, our honoured guest Princess Celestia, and her dear sister Princess Luna. I am Athelgeir of the Úlfur, Mikil in waiting. I am the one who attempted to conquer your lands and levy tribute from you by means of force!" They gasped, the sussuration of voices rippling across the face of the crowd like a field of grass, even Princess Celestia was a little taken aback by this brash outburst. "I am here with a message! I am here with a challenge!" He gestured around, "Bring out the pegasus known as Wind Chaser! He and I have a score to settle!" * * *