//------------------------------//
// Part 7: Stormfront 
// Story: The Adventures of Kaela Fie and Caelus Storm 
// by Caelus Storm 
//------------------------------//


The Adventures of Kaela Fie and Caelus Storm



Part 7: Stormfront


Caelus strapped on an iron cuirass, pulling the straps tight with a sharp tug.  He fitted a hoof blade on his right foreleg.

"What happened?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Fie and I were walking home from the Fall Harvest Festival around sunset, when we were stopped by a pair of Night Guards," Caelus said.  Princess Luna frowned.  "They asked if I was Caelus Storm, to which I said I was.  Then I was tackled from the side by a changeling.  While I was dealing with him, the two Night Guards turned into changelings, grabbed Fie, then took off.  I tried to follow, but I was tackled and pinned by the changeling again.  He zapped me with some spell or other, and I lost consciousness."

Caelus slid a helmet over his head.

"Caelus Storm, what are you doing?" Princess Luna said as Caelus rolled out of bed.
"I'm going after the changelings that took Fie, and I'm going to bring her back," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Look, I can have the best of the Royal Guard ready in a matter of hours," Princess Celestia said, "but you're-"
"Excuse me, Princess," Caelus interrupted curtly, "but Fie is my daughter, and I'm not going to sit by when I could be doing something useful.  I am leaving right now, and there better be a cell in the dungeon ready, because that's the only way you'll stop me."
Princess Celestia was silent for a long moment.  Finally, she said, "So be it.  As a Guardian, it is your duty to protect Kaela Fie."
"Thank you for understanding, Your Highness," Caelus said.

Several sets of hoofsteps caused Caelus to turn around.  Princess Luna was flanked on each side by one of the Night Guards, one of which was wearing an eyepatch.
"Princess Luna," Caelus said formally, saluting.
"So you really do intend to go after her yourself?" she asked.
"I do," Caelus answered.
"Then please at least take a companion," Princess Luna said.  A third Night Guard appeared from behind the Moon Princess.  The bat-pony saluted and stood at attention.  "This is Hallow Eve, one of most trusted guards," the Princess said.
The bat-pony mare was only a few years older than Caelus.  Her eyes shone a bright golden orange.  "At ease, Eve," Luna said.
Hallow Eve relaxed her stance and brushed a few strands of her dark blue mane out of her face.  "Thank you, Princess," she said.  She looked Caelus over.  Caelus shivered slightly but met her gaze.
"I like this one," Eve said, almost playfully, "he's got spirit."
Caelus blinked in mild confusion, but before he could say anything, Princess Luna spoke up.
"My sister is preparing a host of Royal Guards as an escort, but that will take half a day at least," she said.  "I will try to hurry it up, but until then, you two are on your own.  So be careful."
Caelus nodded.  "We will, Princess Luna," he said.  Hallow Eve nodded.  The pegasus and bat-pony stood outside the armory, preparing to take flight.
"Fly swiftly, and bring young Kaela Fie back safely," Princess Luna said.
"Yes, ma'am," Hallow Eve saluted.
"I intend to," Caelus said, determination coloring his voice.
Both soldiers spread their wings and took to the sky.  the figures of the Princess and her guards quickly disappeared in the distance.  Caelus looked forward, towards the south.  Hold on, Fie.  I'm coming.


*  *  *


Kaela woke up in the dark.  She waved a hoof in front of her face, but couldn't see it.  Shivering, she curled up on the stone floor, pulling her wings tightly against her body.  Then a thought occurred to her.  She channeled some of her magic into her horn, intending to cast a light spell.  But when she tried to release the spell, nothing happened.  All she got was a spike of pain down her horn.
Kaela cried out.  Raising her hoof to her forehead, she felt some sort of device clamped around her horn.  Kaela took several deep, shuddering breaths.  Don't cry, she thought to herself.  I bet Storm is already on his way.  Any minute now he'll break down the door, and he'll save me.
With a thundering clang, the door opened.  Kaela clamped her eyes shut against the bright light.  There was the sound of somepony being thrown into the cell, and the door slammed shut.
When Kaela opened her eyes, everything was pitch dark again.  "H-hello?" she stammered, "i-is somepony there?"
"Fie?  Fie is that you?"
That voice.  It was hoarse, but it could only belong to one pony.
"Storm?" Kaela said in disbelief.  "Where are you?"
"This way, Fie," Storm said.
Kaela walked cautiously towards Storm's voice until she bumped muzzled first into a furred foreleg.  She found herself in Storm's warm embrace.  She hugged him back.  "What are you doing here, Storm?" she asked.
"I got taken too," he responded, holding her close.
Fie nuzzled against Storm's chest.  "At least we're together," she murmured.  Storm wrapped his warm, feathery wings around her.  Even next to this warm body, though, Kaela felt cold.  Whenever she hugged Storm, she felt all warm inside, like she knew she was safe.
"Fie, what's wrong?" Storm said.
"You're not Storm," she whispered.
"What was that?"
Kaela pushed away from the not-Storm.  "You're not Storm," she yelled.  "Where is he?  What have you done with Storm?"
The not-Storm smiled wickedly.  "Looks like we got caught," he said, his voice taking on an insect-like hiss, "and all that love was so delicious."  The not-Storm erupted in green fire, revealing a huge changeling, one as tall as Celestia.
Kaela backed up until she hit the wall of the cell.  "G-get away from me," she whimpered, trying to hide from the changeling.
"How dare you address me in such a way." the changeling growled.  Her long, jagged horn glowed a sickly green, and a bolt of magic arced through the air and struck Kaela.  "I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings."
Kaela cried out in pain.  She vaguely remembered what Princess Celestia told her about spellshock.  Without her natural unicorn magic, the Queen's spell lanced through her own magic reserves, sending spikes of pain through her head.  She curled up, sobbing.
"You will feed the Hive, one way or another," the Queen sneered before turning to leave.  The door clanged shut, once again plunging the cell into total darkness.
Fie listened to the echoes of her sobs.  "Storm..." she murmured.  but nopony was there to give her solace.


*  *  *


"Are you sure we're heading the right way?" Hallow Eve asked as the two ponies sat around a small campfire.
"Yes, ma'am," Caelus said, staring into the flames.
"Please, Caelus, I told you to call me Eve," the bat-pony sighed.
"Sorry," Caelus said with a slight smile, "Royal Guard training seems to have stuck."
Hallow Eve laughed at that, revealing a fanged smile.  It was an infectious laughter, and Caelus found himself smiling.
"You didn't answer my question though," the bat-pony said once her laughter died down.
Caelus frowned.  "I don't know how I know," he admitted.  "It's just a sort of knowing.  Like, a tugging in the back of my mind."
Eve looked unconvinced, but said nothing.  "You really love her, don't you?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.
Caelus nodded.  "Yes."
"Get some sleep," Eve said.  "I'll take first watch."
Caelus nodded again.  He removed his helmet and curled up on the crass, and he was soon asleep.

He was standing in a clearing.  There was a small, still pond in the center, and everything was calm and peaceful.
"Hello."
Caelus whirled, turning towards the voice.  A tall, blue-green mare stepped into the clearing.  her form was indistinct and blurry, but her blue eyes were crystal clear.
"Who are you?" Caelus asked.
"We don't have much time, so I must brief," the mare said, "but I have entrusted my daughter to you."
"You are Fie's mother?"
"Your bond with her is strong, which is why I can contact you," the mare said, "but yes, I am.  And I am here to warn you that she is in danger.  You must hurry."
"I'm going as fast as I can," Caelus said.
"I know you are," the mare said.  "I can sense your determination."  Her form wavered.  "I cannot keep this link up.  May the winds carry you, Caelus Storm."
The world around Caelus faded away into a blank void.

Caelus woke when Hallow Eve shook him.  Wordlessly, he stood up, nodding to Eve.  Eve nodded in return, curling up in the spot he had just vacated and fell asleep.  Caelus put on his helmet and started scanning the surroundings.  The dream still clung to him through his watch, up until the sun began to rise.


*  *  *


Kaela backed up until she was pressed against the wall.  Her breath came in short gasps, and she couldn't see straight.  Sweat and dirt clung to her coat and wings, but she still shivered.
"Please stop," she whimpered, tears dripping down her muzzle.  The changeling Queen cackled.  Two of her drones were drawing love from Kaela, forcefulyl tearing it out of the young filly.  Their horns flashed green and Kaela cried.
"Hmm...that will be enough enough for today," Chrysalis said.  Her drones immediately retreated to her side.  "Sleep well, godling," she hissed as she left.
The door hadn't even fully closed completely when Kaela stumbled and fell, laying on the filthy floor.  Dirt had worked its way between her feathers, but for the first time in her short life, she didn't have the heart to preen them.  For several minutes she lay there in the dark, panting.  Finally, she curled up, trying to stay warm when she no longer felt anything but cold.  She sobbed.  "Where are you, Storm?" she whispered, clinging to the memory of her father's warm embrace.
Hang on, Kaela, a voice whispered in her head.  He is on his way.
"Mommy...I'm scared," Kaela said into the darkness.
Stay strong, my little cloud, the voice said, fading away.  Stay strong.
Kaela whimpered, once again alone.


*  *  *


Caelus flapped a few times before locking his wings and gliding.  Beside him, Hallow Eve was keeping pace.
"You're faster than you look, cadet," she said.  "I don't think you've slowed down since we broke camp."
"Years of working on the Ponyville Weather Team," Caelus said.  Several moments passed in silence.
"You're not very talkative, are you?" Eve said.
"I just want to save Fie," Caelus said.
hours passed with only a hoofful of words spoken between them.  In the distance storm clouds were forming.
"Hey Caelus," Eve shouted over the growing wind, "we should probably land.  This storm is going to be a bad one."
Caelus gave no indication that he had heard.
"Caelus, did you-"
"I heard," Caelus said.  "I'm going through it."
"That's crazy," Eve shouted.  "With winds that fast you'll be lucky to keep your wings."
Caelus smiled slightly.  "Just stay on my tail," he said, tilting his wings to match the changing wind.  The storm loomed above the two fliers.
A sudden gust blew Caelus to the right.  Instead of fighting it, he folded his wings and let the wind carry him.  The storm howled and roared like some primal beast, tugging at Caelus' feathers and yanking his mane.  He squinted, protecting his eyes from the worst of the rain.
Caelus rolled, twisting to avoid a downdraft.  He sensed Eve behind him.  He turned his head.  the bat-pony was struggling, but she hadn't fallen behind.  A slight change in air pressure alerted Caelus to an incoming gust of wind.  he folded one wing and tipped into the gust, dropping and turning through the dark gray clouds.  A hailstone pinged off his armor.  Another smacked into his primary feathers.  Caelus gritted his teeth.  He had to get through this storm.  A downdraft caught him by surprise, and he dropped several feet before he corrected his flight.
After what felt like hours, Caleus saw a glimmer of light through the dark clouds.  "Eve, you still with me?" he shouted.  He barely heard her affirmative reply over the wind.  Caelus pointed at the light, and Eve nodded in understanding.  In one final push, the tow ponies emerged from the storm.  Slowly, they spiraled to the ground.  Once he landed, Caelus shook the water from his mane, tail, and wings.
"Well, that was something," Eve said.
After they had set up camp for the night and started drying off, Eve finally said, "That was probably the dumbest thing I've ever seen anypony do."
"Hmm?"
"flying into a desert storm," Hallow Eve said.  "Why did you do that?  Come to think of it, how did you do that?"
Caelus shrugged.  "I did it because I had to," he said solemnly.  "As for how, it's what my cutie mark means.  I've always been good at handling storms and foul weather.  Flying through treacherous weather comes naturally to me."
"You're still crazy," Hallow Eve said flatly.
Caelus smiled.  "You aren't the first to say that."


*  *  *


The changelings smacked their lips, savoring the taste of the raw love the Queen was pulling from Kaela.  Fie herself wasn't even struggling.  She leaned against the wall, trying and failing to stay on her hooves.  On her knees, her breath came in short gasps, and the world spun around her.  She gasped again at the sharp pain as Queen Chrysalis pulled more love out of her.  Time seemed to crawl, passing in a haze of pain and exhaustion.  She didn't know when she ended up on her side, or when the Queen had left.  It was a long time before Kaela no longer felt dizzy, but her breathing was still shallow, and she was too weak to curl up and keep warm.
She thought she saw a blue-green mare standing over here.  "Mommy..." she breathed, barely moving her mouth.
The mare leaned down and her horn glowed.  Kaela felt a fleeting warmth in her limbs as her mother touched her.  Fie's wings twitched.  Stay strong, my daughter, her mother said, her figure starting to fade.  Stay strong.
Fie whined softly.  She tried once again to curl up and succeeded to some degree.  She didn't even shiver, no longer sure she was cold because she couldn't remember what it felt like to be warm.  "Storm..." she exhaled, but her mind thought another word.  Daddy...


*  *  *


Caelus rubbed his forehead.  His headache had been steadily growing these past few days.  In his heart he knew he was feeling an echo of whatever pain Fie was in.  That thought had been what drove him these past few days.  Now he stood on a short cliff, looking down at the black carapace of a castle.  It was made of a combination of stone and something black and slightly glossy, giving the structure the appearance of being grown as much as built.
"So that's the changeling Hive," Hallow Eve said, "doesn't look all that intimidating."
Caelus nodded.
"Is she in there?" Eve asked.
Caelus nodded again.  Suddenly he staggered as a sharp pain exploded from his left side.
"Caelus?" Eve said, voice colored with concern.
"Fie," he gasped, "she's hurt."  Without another word, he leaped into the air and flew towards the changeling Hive.