Winds of the Past Update #4 - A Teaser, and EqD's Friend Off Round 2 · 8:22am Feb 7th, 2015
So I'm back again after what feels like the longest period I've had where I seemingly lost all willingness to write... I couldn't even stick to my hope of releasing this by the end of the year, and am now shooting to have this finished by summer at the earliest. Urgh... But anyway, the good news is that chapter nine is essentially done, and is currently weighing in over 13k words. I know I said before that the chapters would be getting shorter, but I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm incapable of writing anything under 10,000 words... when it comes to this story anyway.
At least that means more content to enjoy, I suppose. 
As for chapter eight, it's... getting there. 
The times I have been up to writing, I spent working on chapter nine and have sort of been neglecting this one... but I can say it's around 7,000 words, and am now devoting whatever time I have to getting this one finished. I'll try and have both these chapters out this month.
I mentioned before also that there were around four, maybe five chapters left? After rethinking some things and the direction this story's going in, I decided there will probably be at least seven more chapters, give or take. Spoiling the final chapters a bit, chapters ten and eleven will take place over several months, and showcase various moments spent between the characters, chapter twelve will be the Everfree Forest, chapter thirteen will be the Grand Galloping Gala, and then you just have the final few chapters which will serve as the finale.
Again, this is just to give you an idea of what will be happening and what to look forward to.
Moving on, I thought I'd do something different this update, instead of the usual word count or promise. >_> I figured I would include a scene from the upcoming chapters, and give you all something to read, and hopefully hold you over until the next update.
The scene shouldn't really spoil anything that hasn't already been established or hinted at. So if you'd like, you can check it out below:
"It feels like I was waiting forever for this... Now it's actually happening..."
Rainbow swam lazily through the night sky, allowing her wings to do the work as she laid back with a forearm behind her head and her other around the unicorn currently curled up and... clinging tightly to her body. Twilight's forearms were draped securely around her neck.
As breathtaking as it was for her, for all the time she had longed for it... deep down, it scared her—even if she wasn't completely aware of it. It might as well have been her unicorn instinct kicking in as she subconsciously held on dearly to Rainbow's body.
Her eyelids closing until her gaze was half-lidded, she gazed out upon the fields beyond Canterlot, a cool wind brushing through her mane, whipping it about slightly. She sighed in content and nestled her head further into Rainbow's shoulder.
It was as she getting comfortable, that she heard Rainbow whisper to her.
"Watch the horn, Twi."
Twilight's eyes widened a bit, and she lifted her head, turning to face her love. "Oh... s-sorry, I, I didn't mean—"
"It's alright," Rainbow said with a soft grin, "you were just getting relaxed, and... it's not your fault that you were born with a deadly weapon atop your head." Twilight's eyes narrowed in annoyance, cuing Rainbow to raise her hooves in defense. "Kidding, kidding..."
Twilight frowned as she settled back down, settling her head on Rainbow's shoulder. She sighed, then muttered quietly, "It wasn't very funny..."
Rainbow gaze lowered, hearing those words, already feeling herself already overcome with a sudden feeling of sadness, and guilt that she had said something wrong. Her eyes widened a bit however, and she felt a little relieved, her ear flicking once as she picked up the sound of Twilight softly asking, "Is this real?"
Her voice sounded so content.
Rainbow closed her eyes, letting out a soft chuckle under her breath, then, with a smile on her lips, gazed once again up at the sky. "I would hope it is," she replied.
Her eyes leisurely observed the stars hung above them.
A few moments passed like that until Rainbow got an idea. An admittedly dumb, and... risky idea... but nevertheless, an idea.
"Hey, Twi, hold on."
"What? Rainbow—!"
She let out a quiet shriek and shut her eyes immediately as Rainbow began to fall backwards, Twilight holding onto Rainbow even tighter than before. Softly, the two fell back through the air, the only things Twilight feeling were the currents of wind rapidly blowing past her, and her heart dropping into her stomach.
She yelled out over the sound of the wind. "Slow down this instant, Rainbow! I told you I, I-I don't like going fast!"
"It's not so bad, Twi," Rainbow insisted. "I swear that I won't ever drop you." Twilight felt Rainbow's hoof coax her cheek, and her soft voice in her ear, persuading her. "Here, just open your eyes..."
Rainbow slowed her descent—Twilight quickly noting due to the lack of wind whipping past her, and feeling as though she was no longer falling, and cautiously opened her eyes. "Whoa..."
She looked around for only a moment before freezing up, terrified, as it occurred to her.
She was still upside down.
"Eep!" Twilight shut her eyes tight and frantically tightened her forearms and forelegs around the pegasus, all while Rainbow softly laughed. "It's not funny, Rainbow!"
Rainbow's laughter died down, looking down at the head trembling on her shoulder, and smiled. "No," she said, as the syllable teasingly lingered, "it kinda is... Especially since I told you that I'd never, ever drop you."
Rainbow's words didn't seem to hep as the unicorn's face remained buried in her shoulder.
Twilight only let out a shaken sigh before explaining, "Unicorns were never meant to be so high up, Rainbow; so excuse me if I'm being a little cautious."
Rainbow simply rolled her eyes in response, maintaining her smile and furthering her hold around Twilight's waist before performing a small maneuver midair, the wind whipping around them gently for a moment before soon slowing.
Feeling as if Rainbow had stopped, Twilight opened her eyes again—slightly at first. Once she felt completely safe... like they were no longer descending, her tail no longer dangling before her line of sight and her mane flat upon her head. Opening her eyes a little more, she found that one spin and a flip later, Rainbow was flying upright. A little hesitant, though eager, Twilight looked around yearningly, taking in every moonlit sight, and building and monument caught in the glow of the city streetlights, before turning upwards to take in the stars.
"Wow..."
Rainbow couldn't help but smile at her reaction. "Pretty neat, huh?"
Twilight nodded before turning to face her, grinning softly in amazement. "It all looks so different from up here, like... I was always looking at stars from my balcony, or through the lens of a telescope, but right now... if I weren't clinging to you for dear life," Twilight added, her smile turning sheepish. "Well, I feel like I could just... reach out and grab one, you know? Like I'm up there with them..."
"I know I am," Rainbow remarked, then backtracked, not wasting a moment upon seeing Twilight looking at her puzzled. "I mean, you just... remind me of them is all," she added as her tone, for a moment, grew sheepish and quiet. "A-and that wasn't meant to be a flank joke or anything! It's just..." Rainbow shrugged, averting her eyes a bit. "Whenever I look up at them, I'm reminded of you."
Twilight's expression softened. "Rainbow..."
Rainbow shook her head. "Urgh, this is getting too sappy... Come on," she said, shying away. "Let's fly some more!"
Rainbow flattened out and dove toward the ground before Twilight could get a word in.
Twilight closed her eyes instinctively, the feeling of her her heart dropping again returning. With the speed Rainbow was traveling and how fast the ground must have been coming up, Twilight feared they would no doubt crash, and cried out the pegasus's name. "Rainbow—!" Rainbow grinned confidently as she neared the empty field, slowing for a brief second before shooting forward at an angle, inches from the grass below, parting the grass as she flew.
Rainbow spun around, allowing once again for Twilight to lie on top of her and relax her nerves. Rainbow grinned up at her, Twilight rolling her eyes before eventually smiling back.
Twilight glanced away for a second to look ahead when what she saw startled her. She gasped suddenly. "Rainbow!"
Rainbow looked at her funny, watching as Twilight hid her face in her shoulder before tilting her head back to see what had scared her.
Her eyes widened immediately.
Rainbow swerved her head and body at the last moment, out of the way of a sudden streetlight. Her wings however weren't so lucky, and the tip of one hit the post, knocking her out of control, and sending the two of them spiraling... then barreling into puddles of mud in the fields outside their home before skidding to an eventual stop.
Rainbow lied there for several moments—Twilight trembling in her hooves as both mares steadily caught their breath and processed what had just happened.
Eventually Rainbow sat up, out of the muck and filth.
"Whew, what a rush!" She grinned, shaking her head, and sending specks of mud flying from her mane. With the side of her hoof, she wiped away a glob of mud from her cheek, then, deeming herself clean, turned her attention to the quivering mare still clung to her body. "See?" she said gently, "I never let you go." Rainbow paused, looking away in thought. "Even if I did sorta crash—ow!"
Twilight backed off Rainbow's chest, though not without punching the mare in the forearm first. It was light—and admittedly weak—but it made her anger evident to the pegasus who recoiled a bit, finding herself quickly stunned by it.
Twilight stood, practically steaming, and in Rainbow's eyes, seemed to be ablaze for a brief moment.
"You featherbrain!" Twilight shouted, forcing Rainbow to recoil further than she already had. "We could very well have died! If you had only just listened to me, we never would have crashed!"
Rainbow's ears fell flat against her head as Twilight continued. Breathing out a sigh of dismay, the unicorn fell back on her haunches, taking another look at herself. "And I'm all covered in mud..." Defeated, Twilight's forearms fell to her sides, her hooves splashing the mud a bit as they fell. "Great..."
Rainbow looked at her, feeling her chest tighten. "Twi..."
Okay, so there was actually very little chance that they would have died, Twilight figured, allowing herself a moment to calm down and think over her words. Taking into account the durability of ponies, pegasi especially; the most either would have gotten was the wind knocked out of them.
At the most, maybe a few bruises.
Twilight looked again at Rainbow. Seeing her downcast, broken gaze caused any lingering anger she felt towards her to melt away. Her gaze saddened, and... what she could only describe as a knot in her throat caused her eyes to produce a few, sudden tears.
She quickly rubbed them away, sniffling once.
Twilight took a deep breath. No, she told herself, I can salvage this.
Rainbow stiffened, her heartbeat quickening as she felt Twilight's gentle hoof on her cheek. "But getting to see Canterlot from so high up, with the wind in my mane and my heart practically beating out of my chest...! It was the most exhilarating experience I've ever had, so... thanks." She smiled, and leaned in to kiss Rainbow's cheek... only to be greeted by the faint, grimy taste of mud. Twilight pulled away, and silently spat out the taste, wiping it from her lips.
Twilight's hoof dropped immediately from her lips, turning immediately to greet Rainbow with a sudden, innocent smile just as she looked at her, her smile slowly returning. Starting from where she left off, she added, "Sometimes I think you know better than I do."
"Nah," Rainbow replied; "I just act on instinct. Whatever my gut tells me."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Even if you end up crashing?"
"Especially if I end up crashing—wha—?" A raindrop had splashed down on the pegasus's muzzle, and she looked up at the sky, the dark gray clouds letting loose some rain. "Huh, it's raining."
"So it is..." Twilight noted, for a moment looking up as well. Rainbow met her cheerful gaze, and immediately, her breath got caught in her throat. "Well, that kind of solves the mud problem, although I already had a couple of spells in mind that would easily have cleaned it off of us..."
Rainbow's heart thumped loudly in her chest, finding herself no longer paying any attention to what Twilight was saying. She was too focused on something else. The rain had added a sort of gleam to Twilight's mane and through Rainbow's eyes, a prismatic backdrop now stood behind her, and sudden sparkles glimmered around her.
It made her want to kiss the unicorn for real right then—not on the cheek, nor on the corner of her lips.
So she did, all while smiling softly at the thought prior.
...And that's all until the next update. 
One last thing I'd like to include and talk about briefly is that this story was chosen for EqD's Friend Off Round 2 by StainlessKey who did an awesome job illustrating this scene from chapter one. If you haven't seen it yet, it's pretty amazing:
Seriously, thanks again, SK for the awesome fan art!
If you'd like to see more of her art, you can find it here. I'd recommend at least giving it a look.
So, that's really about it for this particular update. Thanks again to everyone—old and new—who has read, liked, favorited, commented, and just... basically anyone who has encouraged me to keep writing this, even if you don't know it. I mean, writing this has been difficult, and there's been at least several times recently where I did want to stop writing this, but seeing how much some of you really enjoy this pushes me all the more to actually finish this thing, and hopefully with a satisfying enough ending that you'll all enjoy.
So thanks—again, actually... seeing as this is the second time I've embarrassingly thanked a bunch of people in a blog post.
Until the next update! ^^
Dam, I missed the friend off, again. Oh well, can't wait for next chapters.
Aldo, speaking of, you still taking in pre-readers for this story?
2775856
Taking in pre-readers? I never requested any, so I'm not sure where you got that from... If I need one though, I'll be sure to let you know.
Yo what, you're alive?
Also, I liked the teaser. I am very much looking forward to the official update
2775888 oh, it's just something I do to story's and authors I've really liked. I find it's the best way to get pre-readers for your own story, sneak peaks of your favorite stories, as a way to make good friends
How come I missed this post?
Loved the teaser and can't wait for chapter update 
You are very welcome and thanks for mentioning my dA gallery!
