//------------------------------// // Training Wheels // Story: Tales of the Battle Foals // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// The next day had at last dawned upon the Great Horn Temple, and the appointed expedition team was raring to go after they had a nice, hearty breakfast courtesy of their excited leader. Fire Fight, Shadow Shroud, Turf War, Spiral Galaxy, Kickback, and Tidal Wave gathered their equipment and needed supplies as their comrades bid them safe travels. “Wait a minute.” Greensprout said. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a string of bottles that contained green substances that were no doubt herbal elixirs mixed by the medicinal monk. “I won’t be there to tend to your bodies, so I brewed these just in case. I trust you’ll be taking a first aid kit as well?” Fire Fight gladly took the bottles. “Yeah. Thanks, Greensprout. Hey, is Air Slash doing any better? He seemed….a little less than okay at breakfast.” Greensprout nodded. “Oh, yes. His strength hasn’t quite returned yet, but his body is slowly recovering. He should be readily healed by the time you return.” Kickback tipped his hat. “Well, that’s a sweet a relief to hear, Ms. Greensprout.” Quantum Tech giggled as she pranced up to Kickback and gently leaned into him. “I’m going to miss you, my doll! Try not to get too lonely without me, ok?” she cooed. Kickback brushed her off to the side. “Oh, don’t you worry, Ms. Quantum Tech…” he angrily mumbled. “I’m terribly sorry that I won’t be able to join you all. Do well to have safe travels now, alright?” Quantum Tech said. “Don’t worry, Quantum Tech. We’ll be right back with Valkyrie! Just hold down the fort ‘til we do get back, ok?” Spiral Galaxy said. Zebota nodded. “We shall. May nature’s plans favor your success.” He turned to Tidal Wave. “I trust that you’ve grown attuned to your new power, my friend?” Tidal Wave nodded. “Yeah! Hey……about it…..” Tidal Wave knew that he probably should’ve told Zebota about the sudden swell of power that apparently wasn’t supposed to happen, but he didn’t want to make him upset and have his new power taken away. All the pain in his spirit inflicted on it by a lifetime of bullying seemed to fade away as he felt the seas themselves roll and churn throughout his soul. It was a comfort that he absolutely did not want to part with. “Th-Thanks again.” “Of course, Tidal Wave.” Zebota said. He looked up at Shrapnel, who had some leather straps tied around his back for his passengers to hang on to. “Travel safely down this mountain, my beast, and take care of our friends. The coming storms will not be easy to brave.” Shrapnel whimpered lowly as he nuzzled his master, who gently petted his chin. Shrapnel then turned to the expedition team and lowly grunted, motioning for them to hop on his back as he crouched down. “He says ‘let us waste no more time, little ones’.” Crazylocks said. “Yeah, we better bounce! Valkyrie ain’t comin’ to us, know what I’m sayin’?” Turf War said. “ Finally, a little field trip.” Shadow Shroud said. They said their goodbyes as they hopped onto Shrapnel’s back. Fire Fight cast his heat bubble around them before Shrapnel began his descent down the mountain. They could here Crazylocks shouting her nonsense to them out in the distance, only to presumably be conked out courtesy of Bullseye’s temper. Shrapnel could do little to shield the foals from the driving snow that rolled down the mountain like countless toys being tossed around by a class of preschoolers, so Spiral Galaxy combined her magic with Fire Fight’s to generate a force field around them. The rising sun off in the distance was their only beacon guiding them towards their goal through the snowy haze. Many a ferocious beast of the mountain merely watched as an unfamiliar monster leapt and sprinted down their territory, but Shrapnel sensed their weakness and dismissed them entirely. It seemed like an eternity through the winter storm, but they eventually reached the foot of the mountain safely and soundly, and the foals hopped off of Shrapnel. “Thanks, big guy. Get home safely now, ok?” Shroud said. Shrapnel grunted and nodded before laying down, the taxing trip down surely having sapped his stamina. He earned the rest. Shroud gently patted him on the head. “You really are a big help, in more ways than one.” The wooden titan’s only response was a loud yawn that echoed into the frozen aether up high. “Rest easy, Shrapnel.” Fire Fight said. “Alright, where to from here?” Shroud pulled out her map. “Hmm! It’s closer than I thought. There’s a railroad track a short hike from here, but it’s a hop, skip and a jump after that. Valkyrie’s definitely gonna have some company soon…” “Well, let’s make sure we’re good guests an’ not be late fer our rendezvous.” Kickback said as he tipped his hat. “Han’le dat! Let’s hit the road, y’all!” Turf War said, and the entourage set off without further ado. True to her map, a single train track dividing a vast meadow of flowers was the lone barrier between them and Galloping Gorge. Just like the fields outside of Hoofington, the grass was just tall enough so that they could crouch down and be obscured by the thick flora. They did so when they saw a train coming from way of in the distance, and then reemerged when it was nearly out of sight after passing by them. “Yeesh. Close one.” Tidal Wave said as he got up. He then noticed that Spiral Galaxy was struggling a little to stand up, so he helped her. “You ok?” Spiral was rubbing her head. “Yeah. I think my magic is just acting up a little. I didn’t have to put a lot into that force field, but I sure held it for a while.” She said. “It’s a good thing I’ve still got this hornband that Quantum gave me. I probably would’ve summoned about a hundred star storms by now if it wasn’t for this handy little thing. Kinda nice that it’s even a little cute!” The foals crossed the railroad track. “Yeah, really. These things have been a real help. Quantum’s a genius!” Fire Fight said. “If a little obnoxious…” Kickback muttered as he lowered his hat. “Have you taken it off since?” Tidal Wave asked. “Why would I? It’s been a huge help for me and controlling my magic.” Spiral said. “Yeah, but if you really think about it, it’s pretty much just a set of training wheels. You’re gonna have to be able to use your magic without it eventually.” Tidal Wave said. Spiral’s mellow enthusiasm suddenly sank at that revelation. “Oh! Um…..Well…..N-No, I haven’t. But….Yeah, I guess you’re right…..” With some hesitation mixed with reluctant curiosity, Spiral took off her hornband. As soon as it was completely off of her horn, a sharp pain suddenly sank its fangs into her head that shot throughout her entire body. “ARGH-!!!” Spiral could feel the weight of the cosmos crashing down onto her psyche, as if to punish her for her prolonged absence. She clutched her head and fell the ground in agony. “AAAAARRRRGHHHHH!!! AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!” It felt as though the universe was ruthlessly threading its immense power through her horn like a sewing needle, and it manifested as a small, space-tearing gravity well burst from it. “MAKE IT STOP!!! AAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!” She could feel it rending the fabric of reality around her, and all she could do was cry for help. “SPIRAL!!” Tidal Wave quickly grabbed the hornband and slid it back onto Spiral’s horn, quelling the storm. “Ugh…..” Even with the storm gone, Spiral’s body ached as though she’d been struck by a train and was sent flying into a brick wall, namely her head. She barely managed to sit up. Turf War sighed. “Damn….I thought we was done wit dis….” “What fools we were….” Shroud said. Kickback lowered his hat. “Tarnation…” “You okay, Spiral?” Fire Fight asked. Spiral seemed a little too dejected to want to speak at that moment, not that anypony could blame her. How stupid could she get!? One little horn accessory was going to solve her quite literally cosmic-scale problem? As if! Her aching eased, but her sorrow grew as she heavily sighed. “I guess…..” “Hey…” Tidal Wave put his hoof on her shoulder, and she solemnly looked up at him. “You’ll get better with time. Ya think it was easy for me being the only pegasus in Cloudsdale that couldn’t fly?” Even if Tidal Wave couldn’t begin to grasp the scale of her situation compared to his, Spiral saw his encouragement and took it to heart. He helped her up as she slowly began to smile. “Thanks….” She mumbled. All they could do was press on towards their current goal. In the White Tail Woods... “YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!” Spike exclaimed. The search party got up early to resume their combing of the woods, only to find something….that they honestly should’ve expected at this point, but not quite on this level. Before them in a big lake just at the foot of a mountain was the ravaged carcass of a hydra. “Holy crow! This is what my son’s been up to!?” Fist exclaimed. “Wow……I almost feel proud.” “Honey.” Cat said. “ These kids don’t screw around!” one of the Bladerunners commented. She used her horn to search for more magical signatures, and she sure enough got some. “Don’t think I need to tell you that they fought this thing.” “Thank you, Silver Gleam.” Knight Soul said. “It’s…..truly astonishing the sheer power that these foals possess.” “Isn’t it?” Silver Spoon cooed to herself. She pictured Fire Fight valiantly facing the scaly scourge by himself and felling it easily with his blazing fury and awesome bare-hooved fighting. “But it doesn’t make it any less okay for them to feel unwanted. We have to find them!” Twilight said. “Who’s there?” Somepony called out from the bushes down the river. They all looked over to see a pegasus and a griffon emerge from the woods. “Huh? Who’re- WHOA! HOLY CRAP!” They saw the dead hydra and nearly flipped. “It wasn’t us!” Scootaloo declared. “Tch. We figured.” The griffon huffed. Scootaloo pouted at him. “So this is where all of that red stuff was coming from! But what offed it?” the pegasus said. He then noticed Twilight. “Princess Twilight!? What’re you doing here?” “My friends and I are searching for a large party of runaway foals, and we think they were here. This slain hydra is pretty much proof that they were.” Twilight explained. The griffon cocked her eyebrow. “Ehh….Foals? Killing a hydra? You gettin’ senile already there, queenie?” Twilight just pretended as though she didn’t hear that and explained to their company about the situation with the foals, and their apparent talent for fighting and surviving. “Have you read the newspapers recently?” “Oh yeah! Those foals! Yeah, can’t say we’ve seen ‘em ‘round here, Your Highness. Sorry…” the pegasus said. Sky Strike walked up to them. “What about my son, Tidal Wave? He jumped from Cloudsdale, and I think he landed around here. Is there a town nearby that he might have gone to?” “Well, we live in Yodelneigh up in the mountains, but I don’t think we’ve seen any strangers….have we?” the pegasus said. “What do we care?” the griffon sassed. “Please! He can’t fly because his wings are…..different, and he thinks it’s his fault!” Sky Strike said. “Different how?” the pegasus asked. “Wait! Wasn’t Aesir walking around the other day with some blue colt?” “Yeah, I think so. What about it?” the griffon said. “A BLUE COLT!? WAS IT TIDAL WAVE!? WHO’S AESIR!? TAKE ME TO HIM NOW!!” Sky Strike shouted. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down!” the pegasus said. “We’ll talk on the way back, okay?” “Let me come too. I feel like I should hear more about this.” Twilight said. “Ah guess we’ll just keep lookin’ ‘round here. Try not to take too long, Twi!” Applebloom said. Twilight giggled. “We won’t, Crusaders.” With that, she and Sky Strike took an unexpected detour to Yodelneigh, eager to speak to this ‘Aesir’.