Breath of Dragons 2

by Tatsurou

Earth and Sky

Having managed to acquire the Dream Pillow at last, the group was ready to make their way back to Seabreeze...once they promised they would be back to attend the royal wedding once all the details had been worked out.

"After all," Fleur commented slyly, "one of you has to catch the bouquet."

Spike wasn't sure why that caused such competitive glances to be exchanged between the mares, or why it caused Pipsqueak to become so terrified.

Once they reached Seabreeze's glade, Seabreeze was waiting for them. "Well, finally found your way back, eh? Sure took you fools long enough. It's hardly my fault if all the important memories are lost forever because you took too long! What took you so long, anyway?"

"Well," Spike began, "first we had to save a kingdom from a demon trying to turn it into a flying battlestation."

"And then we had to fetch a pet and husband for a spoiled queen," Pip added.

Seabreeze scoffed. "I'd accuse you of pulling my leg, but you don't have the imagination to make something that crazy up on your own. Where's the pillow?"

Spike pulled it out. "So how do we use this, anyway?"

"I fall asleep on it, and it sucks you into my dreams. Duh." Seabreeze promptly curls up on the pillow.

Spike sets it down. "I will never understand-"

---

"-artifacts," Spike finishes as he finds himself and the others in a strange land of bright colors. "I feel funny."

"You look funny," Pip countered.

Turning, Spike saw that he and his entire group had been physically transformed into forms that resembled Seabreeze. Their limbs had become long and lanky, large antenna sprouted from their heads - in some cases in place of horns - and they all had huge gossamer wings...or so it seemed until they saw a leaf bigger than the entire group.

"We're..." Spike began.

"We're Breezies!" Fluttershy squealed joyfully.

"That's right," Seabreeze said from behind them. "In my dreams, you take the form of my people. Welcome to my dream world, the world of my memory."

Surrounding them were buildings that seemed tall, but really only reached four feet in height at the most for the tallest, which resembled skyscrapers from their angle. Pipsqueak mumbled that they were more like 'thighscrapers', which got him a glare from several members of the group. Breezies of many colors and ages flittered between the buildings, going about their tasks. Several other gatherings of buildings could be seen off in the distance.

"This is my home dimension," Seabreeze said sadly. "Or at least, the image of it stored in my memory. Ages ago, all of this was...destroyed, in the Wars of Desire. All the magic of my race and my home dimension was funneled into me, along with the essence of the dimension and my people being implanted indelibly into my memory. That process also gave me flawless recall, so everything I ever saw and heard through the wind would never be forgotten. Each Breezie here is not just the memory of an individual Breezie I knew, but also a repository of important memories."

There was a loud thump, and the breezies all hid. "And now that demon is devouring them, destroying my memory and the hope of my people's resurrection!"

The demon in question...was a bullfrog. It let off a loud croak and shot out its long tongue. A breezie that hadn't hid fast enough was seized, and pulled into its maw.

"No!" Rainbow shouted, dashing forward as fast as she could. She swung her staff, striking the frog's gullet at full speed, causing it to belch and release several breezies.

"The breezies it has eaten are still inside!" Luna shouted. "If we keep hitting it, we should expel them all, and force the demon to reveal its true form."

"Then it's a good thing you got me here," Applejack said, flying up. "Ain't nopony hits harder than me!" She delivered a hard buck to the frog's gut, causing it to belch up more breezies, which flew away to safety.

Apple Bloom, meanwhile, had pulled out what looked like a long tube. "Say hello to my little friend!" she shouted as she laid it on her shoulder. As soon as it was in position, a rocket went off to slam into the frog's side, exploding and releasing more breezies. "Owch, the backfire burned my wing!" Apple Bloom complained.

The group continued to deliver heavy blows to the frog, causing it to belch out more and more breezies...until eventually it exploded. What was left behind was a bird like creature with a writhing mass of tentacles growing from its body instead of wings. "So it is you..." it hissed.

Scootaloo gasped. "You!" she roared in rage. "What did you do with my father?"

"What?" Spike demanded.

"He's the one who attacked Everfree! He's the one who made me forget!" There were tears in Scootaloo's eyes. "He's the one!"

Spike's temper hit a very short fuse. Charging forward, he seized the demon by it's neck. "Where is he? Where is Father Starswirl?"

Twilight's gasp of amazement went mostly unnoticed.

The demon chuckled. "He is with God now..."

Spike blinked, tears forming in his eyes. Throwing back his head, he roared in emotional agony as flames erupted from his very being. The demon cried out in pain...

---

Spike leaned against a nearby tree, crying his eyes out, as Seabreeze floated up from the dream pillow. "Well," Seabreeze said, "I'd say that you've dealt with the demon, and restored most of my memory. I think I can answer your questions now." He noticed most of the group was ignoring him, clustering around Spike and Scootaloo to offer comfort. Seabreeze sighed. "Look, I know what you learned was painful, but don't give up hope. If you do that, the demons win. They seek to crush hope. I don't know why, but they do. Also, I know to the south are two bastions of unwavering hope that you simply must make contact with. I have faith you will be able to save this world...

"...assuming you idiots get off your asses and get moving!" With that last derision, Seabreeze flew back towards the tree.

"Wait!" Spike called out. "You said something about the hope of your people's resurrection?"

Seabreeze nodded. "A prophecy given by our eldest elder when my home fell: when the dragon rises from the deepest darkness bound by the eternal light, life will return to the fallen, and those destroyed shall fly again. The keys rest in the abyss." Seabreeze shrugged his shoulders. "That's all I know."

Spike nodded. "Alright." He gathered himself, managing to stand up. "Let's head south."

---

As the group headed south, they crossed a bridge and came to a large canyon they needed to pass through. However, the canyon was filled to the brim with thick, impenetrable fog, to the point where they couldn't even see the end of their muzzles. Even the flapping of wings didn't create eddies in the fog. "How are we supposed to get through?" Spike demanded, his words also muffled by the fog.

"This fog is heavily charged with pegasus magic," Luna spoke up. "With the amount of magic in the fog, the only way we'll get it clear is if we find the source of the fog and disperse it, so the path will be clear."

"In that case, we need to head to Sky Tower," Rainbow pointed out. "It's the only place below the sky that can exert this much control of weather."

"And where's that?" Applejack asked.

"In the middle of the ocean," Fluttershy responded..

"Then that's where we'll go," Scootaloo concluded, turning to leave the canyon.

The group made their way to the nearest beach before calling Steve with the bell. "You seem to be calling me out far more than you ever did before," he says jokingly.

Scootaloo laughs. "Do you know where Sky Tower is?"

He nods. "Climb on." Once everyone was on board, he carried them due north to the Tower rising from the center of the sea.

---

Inside the tower, the group was met by Seaponies, resting in various basins around the main entrance. "What brings you here?" one asked.

"We need to stop the fog," Spike explained, not sure how else to explain it.

"Oh. Then you need to be at the top of that tower," the seapony replied, pointing to another tower that rose much higher. "The only way in is through this tower, though, and most of it is underwater." She shrugged her shoulders. "But the entire path is underwater, so unless you can hold your breath, fight sea monsters driven mad by the storm, and find your way through the maze of the towers...you're out of luck."

"Or I could just fly over," Rainbow pointed out.

"Except that the Wind Shaman strikes anyone who approaches the tower from the air with lightning," another seapony pointed out.

Rainbow pouted, but Twilight brightened. "Or I could turn us into seaponies. Then we could breathe underwater, right?"

Everyone turned to Twilight. "What?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. After spending time as a quadraped, I did some research about spells to transform into other races while in my cell. I found a spell that can work, but it needs a racial sample as a basis. And since there are seaponies here..."

"Wait," Rainbow speaks up. "I thought you were researching a spatial manipulation spell for your nethers."

As Twilight blushed, Rainbow blinked. "Why would she be researching that?"

"Cause she's worried she might hurt herself when she tries to ride the Double-D," Pinkie replied with a titter, jerking a thumb back at Spike.

Spike tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?"

"Anyway," Twilight interrupted eagerly, "I hadn't finished that spell, but this one is ready. So let's get in the water, huh?" She runs over to one of the seaponies and her horn glows. The seapony glows briefly, and Twilight comes back to everyone, her magic flaring as she pushes them all into the water.

As they came to a halt in the water, they all looked over themselves. Two results of the spell became rapidly apparent. First, all of their lower bodies had turned into either fish or dolphin tails. Second, they were all completely naked.

"Well this was unexpected," Twilight said, desperately covering herself.

"Oh...my," Fluttershy added, mirroring Twilight's actions.

"Well, I got all I need," Applejack spoke up, after checking to make sure she still had her hat. Apple Bloom also seemed content with just her ribbon, especially when she saw Pips embarrassed reaction.

"This is going to take some getting used to," Scootaloo commented, trying to get a look at her tail fluke and spinning in circles as a result.

Rarity crossed her arms over her chest, blushing. "So much for ladylike decency," she mumbled.

Rainbow, however, was spinning around in a circle. "My wings! Where are my wings? Where are my wings?"

Luna sighed, not bothering to cover herself. "It appears that your spell pushed all things that would interfere with swimming - anatomical or otherwise - into a subspace pocket of sorts, Twilight. Our clothing would have weighed us down, and feathery wings would have gotten waterlogged and sent us to the bottom." She held out her arms, blinking as webbed fins unfolded from her back like wings to attach to her wrists. "It appears we have been optimized for underwater travel."

Spike nodded, doing his best not to stare at all the floating breasts. "Then let's swim."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said happily. "I think I've got a handle on it, so just do what I do!" She started swimming forward, undulating her body for movement forward, beginning to sing. "Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll-"

At that moment, a massive octopus lunged forward, trying to snap Pinkie up in its jaws, its eyes glowing red. Spike swam forward, his sword appearing in his hand as he slashed, driving it away.

Pinkie blinked. "Wow, tough crowd. I didn't think that song was that bad. Who doesn't like finny fun?"

As more giant fish swam by, their eyes glowing red, Luna whispered, "I think our voices attract them. We'd best swim in silence."

Everyone nodded and continued to swim. Since the inside of the linked towers was a real maze, it took quite some time to find their way through. Eventually, after exploring the entire tower, getting caught in several currents and eddies, and nearly getting eaten by giant sea creatures several times - not to mention several embarrassing moments as various mares were pushed up against the stallion or drake they had their eye on (in the case of the stallion, followed by angry glares from protective older siblings; in the case of the drake, followed by the stallion mouthing, "You lucky bugger!") - they eventually reached the top of the second tower.

Laying on the top of the tower and idly redirecting clouds, fog, storms, and just about anything else in the sky, lay a pale green pegasus mare. She had a yellow and orange mane and tail, with eyes that seemed to match both colors. Her athletic yet generous figure was barely contained by a yellow and blue bikini. She stretched out her wings. "Hmm...maybe I could stir up a tornado..."

"Maybe you could move the fog bank south of Canterlot!" Pipsqueak complained.

"Yeah!" Rainbow added. "Just who do you think you are?"

The mare turned to glare at them. "I," she began, "am Lightning Dust, Wind Shaman. From here, all the weather of this world is mine to command, and unless you happen to be the chosen of the dragon clans, I don't have to a thing you-"

Spike broached the surface, shaking water from his spines. "Have we got the fog bank cleared yet?" he asked, blinking water from his eyes.

Lightning Dust froze. "...the Shamans are gathering, aren't they?"

Luna nodded. "Sunset and Lyra have already joined Granny Smith at Dutchcolt."

Lightning Dust's eyes widened. She quickly undid her changes to the weather before spreading her wings to leap into the air, mumbling, "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" the entire time.

Luna chuckled. "It seems our path has cleared. Now we need merely return to-"

---

"Twilight!" Luna complained as they floated in the lake around Canterlot. "Do you have any idea how disorienting it is to be teleported mid sentence when not in one's own form?"

"Sorry," Twilight apologized, "I just didn't want to have to go through that tower maze again." She swam towards the shore of the lake. The others followed, eager to get back on shore. Once there, Twilight reversed her spell, transforming everyone back.

Rarity stared down at her dripping clothes. "Well, at least there's a camp grounds we can warm up and dry off at," she murmured.

"And once we've rested up," Spike adds, "we go south."

"Yeah," Pinkie mumbled, gazing nervously in that direction. "South..."

Comments

[Nealend86]

"Yeah," Pinkie mumbled, gazing nervously in that direction. "South..."

What Pinkie, don't you want to see your dad?

[DARKPHANTOM13]

Well, Spike has proven once again just how thick his skull is. Looks like Scoots and Spike is going to hold off on whole family reunion for a while. Once again Spike has a strong will not to stare at uh oppertunity right in front of him.

Wait, Pinkie is nervous? That can't be good.:oops:

[DX-1118 C]

4265609
4265886
I thought south was a misadventures of flapjack reference.
...
What? Can't a guy have a little sister? .............. wait, that was west...

[DARKPHANTOM13]

4266229 In all honesty I'm glad that show died, I never understood why my little brothers liked it so much.

[Dirty Bit]

That Kingdom Hearts reference

And I forgot that Pinkie was the Rand of the group.

I await the Earth shaman

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said happily. "I think I've got a handle on it, so just do what I do!" She started swimming forward, undulating her body for movement forward, beginning to sing. "Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll-"

At that moment, a massive octopus lunged forward, trying to snap Pinkie up in its jaws, its eyes glowing red. Spike swam forward, his sword appearing in his hand as he slashed, driving it away.

Pinkie blinked. "Wow, tough crowd. I didn't think that song was that bad. Who doesn't like finny fun?"

1: I enjoyed it too, after a fashion.
2: Apparently that octopus doesn't.
3: reference to Kingdom Hearts 2.
4: Speaking of, CUE THA MUZAK!

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Yeah!" Rainbow added. "Just who do you think you are?"

Near reference to Gurren Lagann.