CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
FLEET OF FOOT
Rush peered out of the window, the low rumble suggesting a storm was on its way. The sky didn’t look particularly stormy though, but he knew all too well how deceptive, and dangerous, the weather could be here in the hills. A rain storm could suddenly spring up out of nowhere and strike you when only an hour before it had been blue skies and sunshine. It was just another aspect of living out here that made life that touch more ‘interesting’.
A pure white muzzle brushed up against the side of his face, making him jump in surprise. Celestia smiled coyly to herself at his reaction. He was so nervous around her sometimes! She peered out the window beside Rush.
“Thunder?”
Rush shrugged. “Looks that way.”
The princess shook her head in dismay. “And I was so looking forward to going for a walk. Still, perhaps we can go out afterwards, if the rain has eased.”
“Tia, I don’t know…” Rush said quietly.
Celestia cocked her head on one side. “Rush, please, we’ve been over this already. I cannot stay cooped up in here all the time. It’s not good for either of us.”
He hung his head. “I know, but I’m worried in case someone sees you or that those… what did you say they were called again?”
“Thestrals.”
“…Thestrals may attack you. Your magic is still not fully recovered; you said so yourself.”
Celestia walked over to her armour and nudged it with a hoof. He was right, of course. Her magic wasn’t back up to full strength yet, and was taking a painfully long time to do so. The natural magic field of this world was all but non-existent, and although she could certainly regenerate it herself, she still needed sunlight and fresh air regardless. Staying indoors all the time would only hinder her recovery, and she had already overtaxed herself recently by helping Rush recover from his fall down the ravine.
She lifted her halberd, checking the weight and feel of it with her magic before grasping it in her forehooves. With a grunt, she reared onto her hind legs and swung the weapon, smiling in satisfaction as it whistled through the air.
“I’m not made of china, Rush.” She fixed him with a wry grin. “I’m quite capable of taking care of myself, as you can see.”
Rush nodded, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I know; I’m sorry. I’m being stupid and selfish, Tia, forgive me.”
Celestia leaned her halberd against the wall and trotted over to the hapless reed worker. “There’s nothing to forgive,” she said, nudging him with her muzzle. “Your concern for me really is touching, Rush, but I need the light. I need to feel the wind on my coat. Don’t you feel it as well? The life of nature all around you, the energy of the land—it’s a part of what you are and who I am.”
Celestia trotted over to the door and opened it, breathing in the fresh winter air. “Come on, Rush, let’s go for a gallop!”
Rush’s heart thumped hard in his chest, the hairs suddenly standing up on his arms as a tingling ran through him. A need, a desire, to throw his worries and concerns to the winds and just run, run and be free…
He looked into Celestia’s eyes, those large, purple, feminine eyes that sent a flood of emotion through him every time. He knew his answer, and by the twinkle in her eyes, she did too.
“Yes!”
Buckling on his reed knife, with no more ceremony or conversation, Rush and Celestia left the house and turned down the forest track. The sun was brighter now, the grey clouds burning away in its warm rays. The air still had a sharp bite to it, the chill of winter forever present, but with the princess beside him, the cold was the last thing on Rush’s mind. After walking a few yards, the white mare turned and shook out her wings, closing her eyes and taking a deep cleansing breath.
“Can you feel it, Rush? All around us, the heartbeat of your world.” She walked over to a tree, leaning a hoof against it and turning to him. “It’s in the ground you walk upon, the leaves in the trees, the air you breathe. Feel it with your body, your mind, and your soul, Rush. Just close your eyes and stretch out your senses, feel it with your heart.”
Rush closed his eyes. He tried to listen, to feel what Celestia was talking about, but he couldn’t seem to experience anything beyond what he normally did. The hardness of the ground, the cold of the snow and air, the way the breeze tickled his nose and ran through his mane…
A gentle, unexpectedly warm sensation began to flow through him, a tingling feeling of ‘expectation’, the sense of wanting to run, to run until he reached the very edge of the world. He could run, he could… and he would!
With a sudden burst of energy, Rush took off down the forest track, his feet thundering beneath him, the wind roaring in his ears. He laughed. He laughed, and shouted, and howled with joy; he was home! Home at last! He picked up speed, the branches and leaves whipping by him in a blur as he passed by. He was unstoppable, as swift as the wind and as strong as a thousand stallions!
Rush’s lungs burned; his muscles thrummed with life. His heart beat in time with the world, his world, his home…
But it wasn’t, was it? It wasn’t his home at all. Willow, his mother had… had what? Images and wordless voices charged through his mind as he ran. Where was he? He wanted to go home; he had to go home! He wanted his mother, his father, to get back to the fields of grass as sweet as—
“RUSH!” Celestia ran up alongside him as he turned to look at her. “By the sun, Rush, stop!” she shouted. “You’re going to hurt yourself like this!”
Rush gradually slowed, coming to a stumbling, steaming halt and stared straight ahead. With a sudden heave, he emptied his stomach onto the forest floor before falling back into Celestia’s outstretched forelegs. He was gasping for air and felt so hot, he felt like his skin was on fire.
“T-Tia, I’m…sorry, I…”
She stroked his hair. “It’s alright, Rush, take your time and get your breath back now.”
He nodded slowly, feeling the softness of her fur against his skin. As Celestia held him, the images began to fade, but… what did they mean?
“Tia?”
“Don’t speak, Rush, just try and find a place of peace inside. Calm your soul and let your body recover.”
He shook his head, squeezing his eyes closed. “No, Tia, I… I think I’m losing my mind.”
She took his face in her hooves and looked down into his eyes, those fathomless purple eyes stripping his soul bare. “Listen to me,” Celestia said seriously. “You’re not, Rush, you’re as sane as I am. There’s just a lot more at play here than I originally suspected.”
Panting, Rush took a quick sip from the water flask he’d brought along. “It’s the box, isn’t it? Your reaction to it, these images I’m seeing—they’re all connected, aren’t they?”
Were they? Celestia watched Rush for a moment in silence before looking up into the sky. It was so blue, so pure and clear. She missed home: the fields, the rivers, the wonderful ponies that she was fighting so hard to protect. Now, this human, this ‘man’, had given her the key to saving her home, and yet had asked for nothing in return. Celestia closed her eyes and began to speak, her voice low and calming.
“They are. At least, I believe they are. Tell me, when you hold the box, what do you see?”
Rush cast his mind back to the last time he’d held it. The images, the sounds, the smells—they were all so clear, so…real. “Fields. Lush green fields, sweet grass, sparkling clear waters in a river that meanders through the land and past the forest’s edge. There were ponies, playing and running beneath the warming sun of their princess.”
Celestia leaned down and kissed him tenderly him on the head. “Tell me,” she asked, “how did it feel?”
Rush rubbed his eyes on his sleeve. “Like… I was meant to be there. I was so happy, just being able to run and be myself. Like now, I felt that I wanted to run, to feel the wind in my hair.” He looked up at her. “Tia… I don’t understand. What is this? Why is this happening?”
The princess held him in her forelegs, closed her eyes, and sighed gently. “Imagine a jigsaw, Rush, a picture broken into many, many pieces. All the pieces are there, we only need to put them together.” She gave him a light nuzzle. “The question is, do you really want to see the full picture, to have the answers to your questions? You have a life here, Rush, a life you’re familiar with, one you understand. If what I think is behind this is true, then…” The princess trailed off.
Rush turned to face her, looking into her beautiful eyes. They looked sad somehow. “Tia, I want to know the truth. Please.”
Celestia nodded slowly and stretched out a wing, brushing snow off him. “Give me a little time, Rush. I need to think on this. Now, how is your leg?”
He laughed. “It’s killing me! I can’t believe I ran so far and so fast!”
“I could barely keep up with you!” The princess chuckled. “Come on, I want to enjoy this sunshine while we can.” She knelt down. “Climb on.”
Rush reached out a hand, then snatched it back suddenly. “No, Tia, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Wouldn’t be right,” she murmured. “Why not? Because I’m a princess?”
He balked. “Well…”
She stomped a hoof in irritation. “That’s it, isn’t it? Titles, nobility…even here...”
“NO!” Rush all but yelled. Celestia started and backed away before she fixed him with an inquisitive gaze. “Tia, you don’t understand! To climb on you, I can’t explain it… It feels wrong, not because you’re a princess, but because I… that is…”
She nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. Of course, of course she knew why. Stubborn as he was, Rush had his pride and that strange honour code which he worked to. Celestia had already known that titles meant nothing to Rush, and she mentally berated herself for suggesting it. Still, she couldn’t let him carry on with that sore leg.
“Rush, I want to continue our walk. Time with you is… special. You won’t hurt me, I promise. So, please, I want you to… Please?”
He looked uncertain, a look of confusion and frustration on his face. To ride her, for his shabby form to sit astride that beautiful creature… it was conflicting with everything he felt. But… to be that close to Tia, to be able to hold her, it was so much more than he could ever have dreamed of. Indecision gripped his heart.
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Right then, enough of this!”
With a flash of golden light from her horn, Rush suddenly found himself picked up off the ground and floated through the air like a bundle of washing. A moment later, he was carefully lowered onto the princess’ back.
“Now, hold me…yes! That’s right!” She laughed as he positioned himself to hold onto her as he had practiced all those years ago as a stable lad. “Good! Now we can enjoy the rest of our walk.”
And with that, the princess tossed her mane, and the two of them trotted off up the road, deeper into the hills.
It was a while until Rush spoke. The warmth from the princess’ back felt wonderful, the rustle of her wings as soothing as the gentle breeze that moved through the trees around them. He wasn’t sure what to think now; in fact, he wasn’t even sure who he was anymore, or more frighteningly… what he was. He had always been Rush the reed worker, the hermit who lived in the hills, the one who…
He shook his head in frustration. It was pointless to overthink things. It was what was here and now that mattered, not what was, nor what had been. He lifted the princess’ mane and felt it run through his fingers.
“You’ll be going home soon, won’t you?” he said quietly.
He felt the hesitation in her steady rhythmic walk, the quavering in her voice. “Yes. When my magic is restored, I’ll have to leave. My people need me, Rush, and I need them as well. As much I…” She paused, giving her mane a shake. “I miss my home.”
He knew, of course, right from the moment he met her, that someday, when she was well enough, she’d leave. Keeping such a beautiful being in a wooden shack in the hills was no life for her. She’d be nothing more than a prisoner, a pet for his amusement. The princess needed to be free, to run, to fly, to live her life in those lush green fields and drink from the sparkling pure waters of the river.
“Take me with you.”
Celestia stopped in her tracks, turning her head to look back at him. “Rush?”
“Please, Tia, I want to. Is it… Can it be done?”
Her eyes were wide, sparkling in the sunlight. “I… I think so. The thestrals followed me through, but Rush, there are no other humans in Equestria. You’d be like I am here, a stranger in an alien world.”
Rush looked at his hands, remembering the feeling of the wind against his face, how his tail had streamed out behind him as he ran. “I wouldn’t be, though, would I? I’m already a stranger here, in this world.”
Celestia hung her head, her breath curling up around her muzzle. “Rush, I—”
Something large flew overhead, something very equine. Celestia stared at it, her muscles rippling beneath Rush’s body.
“Thestral,” she hissed angrily. “As always, their timing couldn’t be worse…”
Rush gasped. “There’s someone on its back! Look!”
The princess nodded. “You’re right, and it looks like they’re heading for your house.” A shock ran through her. “The box!” That must be what the thing was after, and now it had a hostage as well! Were there no depths to which these vile creatures would not stoop?
She whinnied and turned about suddenly. “Hold on, Rush, I’ll try and outrun them. Keep a tight hold!”
In a surge of power, the princess broke into a gallop, heading back along the track the way they had come. Rush clung onto her neck for all he was worth. The thundering of her hooves on the ground and air whipping past was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. There were questions he wanted to ask, answers he needed, but there was time enough for that later. First, they had to deal with whatever was flying their way, and if it was intending the princess harm, then he knew what he had to do.
By all the gods, he would protect her.