While it was they that moved quickly, it seemed much the opposite. Equestria was hurriedly sliding past them. The lack of active effort to move forward only amplified this sensation. Their new insect wings seemed fine for balance and direction, but largely useless for controlling where they ended up. The breeze had them, and they were living up to what they had become, subservient to its desires.
None of this stopped Scootaloo from swooping from one side of the wind tunnel to the other, savoring the freedom of functioning wings. "How are you two doing?" she shouted at the two foals that were not crusaders.
"I'm fine," assured Prickle Berry, her unusual strength of little use as she hurled through the air. "Thank you."
Scootaloo looked towards the other and he fidgeted. "I'm alright!" chimed Featherweight, who had finally lived up to his name, blowing on the wind like a loosed feather. "You look like you're having fun."
"That's because she is," assured Apple Bloom, half-crashing into Scootaloo. She was not as skilled with her new wings. "Miss Cheerilee said we gotta back each other up though."
Sweetie joined the meeting, a glowing pad scribbling away with a quill closely beside her. "We get to have fun and learn things. An ideal combination."
Apple Bloom shoved Sweetie away a little. "You are takin' this real serious, aintcha?"
"If I don't, who will," countered Sweetie with an extended tongue. "You'll be thanking me when I stop us from getting a failing grade."
Scootaloo threw a leg over Sweetie's withers. "I'll thank you right now! You're giving me more chance to enjoy these wings." She tried to buzz them, but breezie wings were not really made for that, especially in the middle of a carrying wind. They could give her flight, but pegasus wings had perks. "Hm. These are still new."
They were approaching a mountain range that filled their visions. The winds were pushing them right towards it. "Look!" came Prickle's cry, directing their attention at a swirling vortex the wind was bringing them towards.
Sweetie flipped pages and got to a new bit of note taking. "I remember hearing about that. That means we're about to arrive at the home of the breezies."
A moment of colors, and the breeze was gone. Despite that, they didn't crash to the ground. Scootaloo did a loop in the air with a wild wooping laugh, for she could fly freely. "Woo!"
"Ah, there they are being." Sea Breeze was there, perched on a mushroom and looking over the five arriving breezies that had been ponies. "Welcome. Now, two of you are coming with me, yes? Three of you will be with her." He pointed at a second breezie with a bright smile. "I do not care which is which. Pick now."
Sweetie pointed at Sea. "Weren't you... You met the girls, I think? Fluttershy mentioned you."
Sea cringed at that. "Ah, yes. I did do that thing." He rubbed behind his head lightly. "Make your decisions quickly now."
The other breezie seemed far less tense about it. "You'll all have a great time. Thank you for coming so far to reach us." She spread her hooves and thin legs. "We welcome you!"
Apple Bloom took a step forward, enjoying the feel of ground beneath her hooves, however strange they had become. "Um, hiya! Well, if it's two ta one and three fer the other, this seems like an' easy choice." She directed a new hoof at the smiling female breezie. "We're comin' with you!"
Sweetie waved at the two other foals, Prickle and Featherweight. "Have fun! One of you should take your own notes." She shook her notepad for emphasis on that.
Featherweight drew a camera from his pocket. "I'm going to get tons of photos!"
Prickle clapped at that. "That's a good idea. Everypony back home will be so excited to see that." The two of them closed with Sea Breeze.
Which left the female with the crusaders. "Hello, little ones. I am being Swirly and it is nice to meet you all." She dipped her head at the foals that were small even compared to her. "You are all safe and well?"
Scootaloo snapped a sharp salute. "All present and ready to go!"
Sweetie pointed at her busy notepad. "Why can we fly here? I don't feel a breeze, and none of us are being carried away."
"That is a great question!" Swirly clapped with a smile. "You are paying attention. This is a special place." She directed a hoof about. "In this vale, we can fly easily. Even outside--" She pointed to the portal back. "--we can fly, but it is harder, especially a long long way away. We could never be making it from your town without a good breeze." Her wings flapped, more of a flutter as she lifted into the air. "If you will following me? I have nice place for you all."
The crusaders followed, two on hoof with Scootaloo giggling as she flew overhead. It wasn't a fast flight. Rainbow Dash was safe, for the time being, but it was flight. "There are a lot of mushrooms," she noted as she drifted along.
"We do love our mushrooms," Swirly agreed. "You'll be in one, living." She pointed to a large, wide one with a brightly blue roof. "There we are!" She stepped up to the door and brushed it aside, having no lock or even much of a latch. "This is being your home for new. Is good, ja?"
Apple Bloom poked her head in the fungal architecture. "Neat!" She poked a wall, confirming it seemed solid enough to not crash upon them. "Is this your home?"
"No." Swirly inclined her head. "I am being next door." She pointed the way. "Look out window there and see me. You call and I come quick."
Sweetie blinked at that. "We're living alone?!"
"Sweet." Scootaloo swooped up, landing in the middle of the room. "So, uh, do we just explore? Because I'm down with that."
Swirly laughed at the energetic spirit. "No, that was not the deal made." She curled a hoof on her chest. "You are student. I am teacher. You will learn, yes?"
Sweetie brought her hooves together in a little clop. "Oh! I didn't realize. Hello, teacher. Are we part of a larger class?" She considered their orangish-pelted teacher with purple-berry mane. Her mane was long and flowing. She had long lashes, but that seemed to be a common point among all breezies, herself currently included.
Swirly put her hooves close together. "We breezies do things small. Small classes, small students. All is being small, yes? You are my class, and I am already proud." She nodded with a look of complete satisfaction. "Assignment for today is easy, relax. Get settled in new home, hm? Tomorrow, adventures begin!"
Apple Bloom offered a hoof. "Well, shoot. Thank ya kindly then, Miss Swirly. We'll be doin' our best to be right courteous guests in yer town." All three bobbed their heads in agreement with the idea. "Alright, girls. Let's unpack!"
With a communal cry, they charged off, each finding a room for themselves and unloading what they had brought into them. It became clear that whatever they had stashed away had shrunk when the rest of them did. Scootaloo tapped at her chin. "I'd better remember it all..." Or it'd become eency tiny when she was full sized. Er, or stay eency tiny. Either way, that'd be a sad way to lose her things.
When Apple Bloom emerged from her room, she saw Sweetie seated in the living room first. "Huh, already done?"
"Yup!" Sweetie inclined her head. "I only brought a few things, like a brush."
Apple Bloom quirked an ear at that. "That's all ya need?"
"We're here to live like breezies," argued Sweetie with a smile. "I can't do that if I bring Ponyville with me."
"Huh..." Apple Bloom frowned with new thought. "Ya might have a point there. Too late fer that though, already here, an' unpacked."
Scootaloo soared down the stairs, landing between the other two girls. "I am loving this so far."
Sweetie burst into giggles. "If you like it so much, why not stay?"
Scootaloo began tapping her hooves as she counted, "One, then I'd be away from you two, so that's already a dead idea. Two, I'm a pegasus, even if flying is fun, I'm still a pegasus." She rolled her eyes. "And a breezie is not a pegasus. Three, did I mention you two wouldn't be here, or the rest of my friends? Pass! But I'm going to enjoy it while I'm here."
Apple Bloom got the smuggest of smiles. "Pity Rainbow weren't here to hear ya say that. Yer givin' her a run for the loyalty badge."
Scootaloo colored swiftly. "I'm not trying to show off!"
Sweetie giggled. "Nothing wrong with being a good pony. I try to be generous, like my sister, when I can."
"And ah'm down with honesty." Apple Bloom nodded, no shame in taking after her sister present. "Now, uh, bein' honest... What's fer dinner? That flight took a lot out of me." She frowned. "Which is kinda confusin', seein' as we weren't doin' the flying. We were just kinda blowin' in the wind an' all."
Swirly cleared her throat, reminding them that she hadn't ever actually left. The three started, but she was smiling kindly. "The pantry, it is full of tasty things." She trotted right past them to show the way. She reached up with her hooves, brushing a few cabinets open. "All good things for little breezies to become bigger."
Scootaloo bumped against Apple Bloom as she followed. "Even gliding takes power. Less than flying, but not nothing. I'm extra hungry! I was steering."
Sweetie snickered at that. "You didn't have to, but you sure had a good time with it."
That got Swirly's attention. "You seem very talented in flight. Were you a pony with wings before?"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo bobbed her head fiercely, fluttering her wings. "So I knew how to use them already." She spread her wings as wide as they'd go. "But they are definitely different."
"I can only imagine." Swirly nodded with thought. "Our wings, they are made mostly for catching wind. Pony wings? They make the wind, do they not?"
"That isn't a bad way to phrase it." Scootaloo peeked at her alien wings. "But that sounds funny." She giggled at the idea. "I was making wind."
Sweetie rolled her eyes at that. "Ignore her." She instead advanced on the opened cabinets. "Ooo." She stared a moment, nothing happening. "Oh yeah..." She did not have a horn. What she saw would not come to her no matter how much she stared at it. She reached with her hooves instead, drawing out a bundle that she soon had opened, revealing to all what seemed to be a stack of granola bars.
"Oh, is very tasty." Swirly set a hoof beside them. "Honey? We love it. Nuts, also good. Honey and nuts? Perfection!" She casually snatched one of the bars and chewed loudly into its crunchy sweetness. "Mmm."
Sweetie joined, the others not long after her. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of crunched granola bars in the tiny mouths of the four breezies. A fine dinner, if one were a breezie. Sweetie waved her empty hoof. "Huh... I'm not hungry. That wasn't a very large bar."
Swirly nodded as she walked away, brushing the cabinets closed on the way back. "We are being small. Small bellies, small appetites. It doesn't take so much to keep us happy."
Apple Bloom burst into laughter. "Think how many bits we could save if we ate so little as ponies?"
"Ponies are not being breezies." Swirly waved a hoof in a warning way. "As ponies, eat as ponies are doing. Do not eat like breezies do. For now? You are breezie. We eat as breezies." She clapped her hooves. "And, as breezies, sleep as breezies. Tomorrow, adventure as breezies! Fun, yes? I will be returning in the morning, and we start."