As the Wind Blows

by Jeevesie

04 - The Best Things in Life

As the Wind Blows - The Best Things in Life

The thunderous clang of a bell pealing from somewhere painfully close by roused Free Bird from a deep and pleasantly dreamless sleep.

For a moment, the pegasus forgot where she was. Leaping up from her mattress in shock and spreading her wings, only to have them hit the walls of her cell as she attempted to take flight, promptly crashing down to the floor in an ungainly heap. Free Bird heard giggling, soft and melodic, and glanced up from where she'd landed in a most unladylike manner, legs still flailing wildly in the air.

There, standing outside her cell's door with the bell she'd heard ringing hovering beside her in the air, was none other than Princess Celestia herself. The alicorn holding one hoof over her muzzle, looking very guilty for the momentary chaos she'd caused whilst still helplessly giggling at Free Bird's predicament. As Free struggled back to her hooves and tucked her wings in once more, she saw a key floating through the air, levitated by a magenta hued glow and into the lock of her cell door. It swung open, and from somewhere beyond where the Princess stood a booming voice rang out. Both Free Bird and Celestia jumped at its sheer volume, the bell which the alicorn had been levitating dropping with a clatter to the stone floor of the dungeon.

"Alright, recruit! Into line. Step it up, no horsing about. Quick, march!"

Laughing once again as she recovered from her initial shock, Princess Celestia stepped back from the cell far enough for the owner of the voice to move into view. Shining Armour stood in full military regalia, medals and all, and glared at Free Bird sternly... albeit with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Are you deaf, pony?! I said march!"

Unsure of how to react, Free Bird exited her cell and stepped into line before the unicorn. She stood tall and proud, though her eyes glanced between Shining Armour and Celestia, silently wondering what in Equestria was going on here.

"Well... you're a bit scrawny. And those wings look like they could use a good work out or ten, but... you'll do."

Turning sharply on the spot, Shining Armour bowed to Princess Celestia.

"Princess. I humbly request that you transfer this prisoner into the direct custody of the Equestrian Royal Guard. So that she might be reformed through military training, and turned from criminal into an upstanding and valued member of pony society."

Shining Armour's performance was so convincingly authentic it wasn't until Princess Celestia began to smirk and flail her arms as she replied, hamming up her performance to the extreme, that the pegasus realised something was up. A plan that made this ceremonial wake-up more than it seemed.

"Oh, I wish I could, Captain. Unfortunately this pony is a political prisoner, held under the second Pony-griffin Pact of Canterlot. I cannot possibly release her under any circumstances, lest we incur the wrath of those who captured her violating their ancestral lands."

By the time Celestia stopped talking, Shining Armour was grinning uncontrollably too. He stopped looking at the Princess, and instead turned to address Free Bird directly.

"Oh, Princess! Would that be the same treaty which says that prisoners may be conscripted for military service, so long as they are not used in any offensive military action which harms the Great griffin Empire or its allies?"

Free Bird's eyes widened. This was news to her, and, judging by the beaming grins now set upon both Celestia and Shining Armour's faces, it was relatively new to them as well.

"Why I do believe you're right, Captain. How on earth did you discover such a loopho-... uh, that is, such a useful piece of information?"

The unicorn grinned from ear to ear, practically dancing upon his hooves as he broke character completely, rushing into Free Bird's cell and grasping her forelegs with his own.

"Two griffins arrived this morning to check that you were being imprisoned correctly. They brought a copy of the treaty with them to ensure all the stipulations were being followed. Their treaty was longer than the copy in the royal records. We thought ours was complete, but they had the only full copy. As soon as Twily... uh, Princess Twilight, that is, looked over the details on the missing pages, we realised that we had your get out clause!"

Shining Armour practically dragged Free Bird out of the cell. He pointed urgently across the dungeon, to where a set of beautiful golden armour was resting.

"Ponies selected to work in Celestia's royal guard can have all sorts of jobs. Guards. Messengers. Flying the royal chariots. But only a select few are chosen to be a part of Celestia's field entourage. Only the most special, those who the Princess knows can be depended on to always do the right thing. Ponies who can offer her both protection and counsel. Not just guards... but friends."

Free Bird turned to Celestia, wide eyed. Could Shining Armour possibly be saying what it sounded like he was saying?

The Princess giggled once again, and nodded as though Free Bird had asked that question aloud.

"I would be honoured if you would join my field entourage, Free Bird. But I must tell you... I'm afraid that if you take up this post, you will not be able to stay here in Canterlot with your new friends all the time."

Celestia's eyes sparked gleefully.

"You see, as ruler of Equestria I am required to travel a great deal. To go to far off lands, to see new places all the time for talks and important events. To meet my citizens and share in their experiences all across this wonderful land of ours. And while travelling, I need ponies at my side who I can trust not only to look after me, and represent the values of Equestria with pride, but ponies who can adapt. Ponies who can quickly grasp local customs and befriend ponies across the land at the flutter of a wing. Ponies who can navigate, and ponies who don't mind moving from place to place to place, sometimes at very short notice."

Watching Free Bird practically quivering with excitement and anticipation before her, the Princess glanced to Shining Armour with a wink, returning control of the situation to him. The unicorn cleared his throat.

"Some say that aside from Princess Celestia herself, her field entourage are the most well travelled ponies in all Equestria. The question is, Free Bird, do you want to be one of them?"

Spreading her wings wide open, the pegasus pony launched herself forward and knocked Shining Armour to the ground with a flying tackle. Hugging him and squealing maniacally with glee.

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!"

She leapt up from where the unicorn lay, dazed and red faced, and only just managed to hold herself back from tackling Princess Celestia herself in a similarly frantic manner. She did still approach and hug the alicorn tightly, beaming as Celestia hugged her back, but held back the majority of her still wildly erupting glee until she'd retreated from the princess' embrace. Bouncing up and down gleefully on her hooves whilst hovering a few inches off the ground, Free Bird felt like she was going to explode with joy. She couldn't ever think of a time she'd felt so happy!

And... strangely enough, it occurred to the pegasus that it never would have been possible without her imprisonment. Without it, she never would have met Shining Armour, or the Princess herself. Never would she have become so closely bonded with so many of the royal guards, and it probably would never have even occurred to her that such a regimented, military job could ever satisfy, let alone exceed, her desire to explore and travel the world. As for all the friends she had made in Canterlot, including the two standing before her now, they would likely never have known that she even existed, thus making it impossible for them to offer her this once in a lifetime perfect job.

Letting loose a giddy squeal as she realised just how much she wanted to find and hug the griffins who had captured her on their land, Free Bird collapsed to the dungeon floor. Kicking, thrashing her wings and howling with helpless laughter, she considered just how much she owed them a debt of genuine gratitude. For without her imprisonment on their behalf, she never could have felt so happy. So complete. So free.

By Jeeves

Author's Note:

The end. :)

Comments

[Rainbow87dash]

Why does this only have five likes?

HERESY!!!

[Jeevesie]

6163812 I think it just got a bit buried amongst other stuff. Unfortunate, as I am really proud of this little series! But so long as those who have read it enjoy it, I'm still happy. :)

[Rainbow87dash]

6163954 This seriously needs more views

[Jeevesie]

6163989 Well, if you know anyone else you think would enjoy it, please feel free to send them this way. XD I'm eager to post more stories and would love it if there were more folks to read them. :3

[Rainbow87dash]

6164008 I'm quite the loner on Fimfic, buuut I can put this into a few groups and see if that brings a bit more attention to this!

I also look forward to more :0

[Jeevesie]

6164015 I hope you'll enjoy my future content. I try to balance myself between more show-themed sweet/bittersweet stuff like this, and a bit of shameless clop every now and then. XD

[Rainbow87dash]

6164024 I look forward to seeing it!

[HgSpartan]

Nice. The only issue I have is with chapter one. She seemed to open up and dump exposition on Shiny too quickly. Not terrible, but it felt a bit rush. Honestly I'm just nitpicking in order to justify the first word of this comment.

[Jeevesie]

6210921 A fair critique, I'll keep it in mind! :3 Thanks for the feedback. :)

[North Bound]

Dear Lord, this was awesome. And deserves more attention.