The Adventures of Us.

by Wind of the Skies

Chapter 13

When I awake the next evening in my cozy bed I snuggle deeper into its soft warmth and keep my eyes closed against the sunlight streaming through the window and start drifting back off to sleep. Eventually though I hear a rattling and crack an eye open to see a thestral holding my bag of coffee in his mouth, staring at me with a deer in the lantern light look in his slitted eyes. I sigh in his direction and close my eye again. I hear a sheepish chuckle and the window closing again. After another hour of lazing about in bed I finally wake up and stretch luxuriously before rolling out of bed with a quiet giggle. There, at the foot of the bed is a construction paper card, covered in paper stars and glitter. It reads ‘I’m sorry’ with a drawing of a sheepish pony on the inside. I blink for a second to take in the whole card.

“Oook then?” I shrug and place it back down with a smile. “Nice of them to do that I guess.” I stretch slowly relishing the feeling. I yawn again and grab the tea kettle trotting outside to the fire pit, setting the kettle in the cradle and fetching firewood for the tea. Soon I come back with a bundle of firewood and start trying to light a fire. It takes a bit but soon I have a little fire merrily blazing away under my kettle. I wait around, fluffing my wings idly listening for the whistle of boiling water.

“Oh shoot! Forgot the tea. Silly me.” I hum cheerfully and trot in to rummage through the tea cabinet for some properly cheerful tea. “Earl grey then? Clearly you silly pony.” I giggle to myself and grab the tea before trotting back to the fire and bouncing from hoof to hoof. The water takes awhile to boil but it gets there and soon I have my tea steeping, looking out through the sparse woods on the mountain side I hum happily, taking a sip of my tea.

“Heh. This place is beautiful. I’m glad I found it.” I watch the flowers move gently in a breeze that brings their pleasant scent over. I take a sniff and compare it to that of my tea. “Huhm… not gonna pick a favourite. Lovely scents.” After tea we’ll see about that last bounty. I flit my wings idly and watch the wind across the field pick up, rustling the flowers almost violently. I sip my tea and flare my wings to feel the wind streaming through my feathers. I finish my tea and carry the cup to the stream so I can rinse it out. Because I live in the middle of nowhere. I could probably get someone to dig a well for me but I kind of like being so ridiculously outdated. To be honest I lack a reason for living like this. Wandering back inside I set the cup on the shelf and rummage through my chest again for some unknown reason. Perhaps I’m bored and need to get on with my mission then. I nose a mint plant and hum contemplatively. A chime sounds gently and I snuffle the leaves and go out the door, rejoining the grand adventure once more.

My ears perk as I hear the chime again behind me. When I look I can see an annoyed guard battling with my wind chime and stifling a curse or two. Though he freezes when he hears my chuckles, he turns around and squeaks adorably before waving.

“H-heya Windy. I was trying to put this back up but I kinda got tangled in it… Help please?” Aegis shuffles sheepishly and tugs at the chimes again. Somehow the amazingly silent guard had gotten completely tangled in the chimes. I stifle a giggle and flit back over to the shack, untangling the guard and hanging the darned things up gracefully. They chime sweetly in the wind and I smile, turning to Aegis.

“Whatcha doing here Aegis? Playing with wind chimes?” I smirk and swish my tail briefly before leaning in close and smiling softly. “Or did you want to see your favourite pony another time?~”

He stammers and frowns slightly. “You were gone for over a week, I came up because the mailmare said your letters and stuff were piling up. So I checked it out and flew over here. It was kinda worrying when the door was unlocked and some plates were shattered on the floor. So when I saw the smoke from the fire I came to check it out.” He scratches the back of his head and frowns again. “Also there were a couple important checks that were in the mail by the by.” I pat him on the head and ruffle his mane.

“I’d have figured that my mail would be dropped off at my P.O box. Because I definitely told nopony where I actually live. For sand’s sake I don’t know how you know where I live. I mean, it’s not a secret. I just never told anyone.” So the plate thing worries me a bit but it might have been a rogue breeze. And the mailmare telling him? Somepony is taking me for the fool. I flare my wings slightly and the chimes sound once again. “There’s a few things off here but it doesn’t really matter right now.” Aegis looks at me in confusion and slight concern as he shuffles about quietly. I trot up the mountain and after a brief bit of hesitation the pegasus follows on feathered wing. My ears twitch as I hear the involuntary huff most other pegasi seem to give when they see another trotting somewhere instead of flying. I smirk and keep trotting merrily with swishing tail. Soon we’re deep in the woods and approaching a small glade, the sun shining beautifully and the wildflowers fill the air with a pleasant scent.

“What exactly are we doing here Wind?” Aegis lands and trots forward softly, not taking his eyes off the monolithic boulder in the centre of the glade. I pat his back and jump through the air landing atop the wind-carved boulder and laying down.

“I’m here because I can be.” I watch him carefully wander around observing the whole clearing. “There’s not much here other than the rock and the flowers Aegis, I just enjoy coming here.” A blue jay flies through tweeting merrily and he watches it flit by.

“What is this place? It seems… interesting?” He scuffs his hoof and glances at me solemnly.

“It’s where a dear friend passed on Aegis. Maybe. It’s a mystery to everypony but me what this place actually is, and I aim to keep it like that.” I hum contemplatively and stare him dead in the eye for a couple seconds. He swallows nervously and shuffles until I look away.

“It’s very beautiful in any case. Thanks for showing it to me.” He smiles and sits down quietly. We pass the time companionably, wind whistling through the trees every so often as the sun slowly sets on this glade and the ponies inside.