Sky Dancer, the First Flying Unicorn

by Scroll

Chapter Ninteen: Liberation

“Hold on!” Feather Wind flew to a stop then glowed silver as he suspended himself telekinetically. Stern Wing coasted to a stop then gave slow flaps downward to hold her place in the sky. Together they looked below at some kind of mining town. The sound of that town drifted in the winds which was what led the two of them to fly here. Upon closer examination, Feather Wind noticed something amiss. “That's not right.”

“What is it?” Stern Wing asked anxiously.

Suddenly Feather Wind looked about, then pointed at a cloud while saying, “Come with me. This way.”

His cloak billowed as the winds picked up again which coasted him to the nearby clouds he indicated. Stern Wing followed him. Once they arrived, Feather Wind and Stern Wing landed on the cloud. Feather Wind got down and crawled on all fours until he peeked over the edge of the clouds. While Stern Wing still didn't know what this was all about yet, she followed suit.

Looking below, Feather Wind ignited his horn with a dim silvery aura. At that time a clear square window appeared in front of him that had several clear disks in front of that. As he concentrated, the length between the clear disks grew and some of them also spun about. While that happened, the view out the clear square window magnified, giving them both a closer visual inspection below at anything the lens of the disks were aimed at.

Since this was a spell Stern Wing had observed before, she made no comment at that particular time. The last time he did it, however, she had remarked that between his visual magnification spell and wind eavesdropping, he would make a pretty good spy.

The sight they beheld beyond the magnified square window was alarming and horrifying, yet also mysterious for separate reasons.

What stood out the most was this was a large mining town with carved out paths zigzagging along the side of a hill. Many holes were dug into it. The hills were mined by earth ponies in chains, and they looked miserable. The earth ponies were always linked to something or somepony else, be it a wall, a cart they pulled, or to each other.

There was another species that monitored this work in the mining town. They were a canine species that stood upright, wore savage-looking mismatched leather, and often wielded a whip. Individually, none of them looked too bright either, but a lot of them looked somewhat brutish.

As for the ponies, besides the fact they looked obviously enslaved, there was something else unusual about them too. The more obvious differences about them were the fact that they were larger than Feather Wind or Stern Wing were accustomed to, and they had more elongated snouts.

Feather Wind's spell faded away as he gripped his head, seemingly attacked by a sudden headache. Concerned, Stern Wing asked what was wrong. After he recovered, he replied, “Vivid memories, and not my own.”

“Crystal Sage then, I take it?” Stern Wing guessed. “You've gotten occasional flashes and dreams of his life as your connection to the Red Crystal deepened.”

“That's true but, for once, I don't think this is Crystal Sage's memories this time. Close, but not quite. I'm pretty sure that, this time, it was King Sombra's and that was after his split from Crystal Sage too.”

“What?!” Stern Wing looked very disturbed. “You're getting flash memories from Sombra now? Does that mean he's getting your memories too?”

Feather Wind shook his head. “Sombra doesn't exist yet for many thousands of years relative to this time. Besides, I think these memories kind of came from Crystal Sage anyway. He once told me he received occasional flash memories from his counterpart, and I think the one I just received was one of the memories that was sent to Crystal Sage first.”

Stern Wing looked down below, then shifted her eyes towards her friend. “What was the memory of anyway?”

“A large line of earth ponies locked together in a long iron chain. They drudged down below in misery as they moved in a large zigzag pattern while King Sombra stood overlooking all of this, he himself standing on a balcony with sickly, green flames lighting beside him. Sombra laughed out loud with evil triumph over this scenery.

“That's it. The memory ends there. It was just a few seconds long.”

“I can see the resemblance to this situation,” Stern Wing observed.

Feather Wind nodded in agreement then recreated the magnification window and lens beyond it. He focused on the scenery below him. He also shifted his view back and forth among those below.

“Wait a second. I saw something strange. Feather Wind, zoom up to the ponies' flanks. Any of them will do.” Feather Wind did as requested. “Ah-ha! Just as I suspected. No cutie mark on that one, and he's well into his adult years.”

“This doesn't seem like an environment conducive to inner growth and self-discovery necessary to awaken a cutie mark unless any of them happens to like mining or being enslaved,” Feather Wind commented. “Based on what I read about ancient history, however, I have another theory as to what's going on.”

“What is it?”

“Hold on.” Feather Wind continued to scan more and more of the earth ponies flanks. Example after example proved that they were all blank.

Sometimes Feather Wind took a picture of it. When he did, the clear window flashed for a moment and a smaller copy of the image shifted to the bottom right corner. With each picture he took, another smaller copy was shifted to the bottom right on top of the last image. If Feather Wind later intended to keep a copy of those pictures, he would have to transfer it to another source such as the Red Crystal he wore on his neck.

“Yeah,” Feather Wind said. “It's what I thought. Do you notice something else amiss about those earth ponies?”

“Um . . . besides being bigger, quite a bit more elongated at the snout and all of them not having a cutie mark, no. I don't see anything else . . . wait a second. I take that back. The fact that they are enslaved I count as amiss.” She narrowed her eyes when another theory came to her mind. “Hold on. Are there any mares among this group?”

“Yes, there are,” Feather Wind answered. “I saw a few. Hold on. Let me try to find them.

“Ah! Here. Oh, and over here. There's another one.”

Stern Wing shrugged. “Okay, so this group has both genders, though I think there are more stallions than mares here.” Stern Wing shifted her eyes to her friend. “Why do you ask? What else do you see amiss about them?”

“For one thing, look at their color schemes. What do you see?”

“Mostly earthy hues,” Stern Wing answered fairly casually. “Browns, whites, blacks. That sort of thing. Some of them have mixed spots of those three colors.”

“Yeah, but no pink or purple or green or lavender or blue,” Feather Wind pointed out. “Same thing with their manes and tails. It also lacks the brighter colors.”

“Yeah. So?” Stern Wing said with a careless shrug.

Feather Wind released a long breath then said, “If my theory is correct, as well as the scrolls I've read about ancient ponies, you will not find such colors among any of them because this is the time period before the rise of magic, or rather to say it is just beginning to bud. If you go back far enough then ponies won't be any more intelligent than basic animals. That's why you are not seeing any colorful colors here, and that's why you won't find any cutie marks among any of them either. That art has not been discovered yet.

“Furthermore, if this is the time period before the rise of cutie marks, then there is something else you won't encounter in this era.”

“Which is?” Stern Wing pressed.

“I'll give you a strong hint.” Feather Wind looked at his friend. “The thing that's missing here is what we represent.”

“Um . . . pegasi and unicorns?” Stern Wing made a logical guess due to the example they represented and something she had not seen below so far.

“Right.” Feather Wind nodded. “It's because our species have not evolved yet at all.”

Stern Wing shot her friend a wide-eyed look. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” Feather Wind looked below again. “Of the three breeds, the earth ponies came first. It took regular exposure to magic for the other two to eventually evolve. A lot of ancient archaeological artifacts we discovered attest to this. There are no ancient cave paintings of unicorns or pegasi because, back then, they did not exist. We are looking at a time era here where our breeds had not evolved yet.”

“That's going to make interacting with them more interesting,” Stern Wing realized.

“There's more,” Feather Wind went on. “Ponies from that far back do not speak the same language as the ponies from our era, nor did they speak Old Ponish. Instead, they speak Ancient Ponish, and we hardly have any writings that lasted this long to translate that. Any records from this far back come mostly in the form of the objects they crafted lucky enough to survive about forty-thousand years as well as cave paintings.”

Stern Wing widened her eyes. “And the TARDIS is not here to help translate for us!”

“Right.” Feather Wind nodded. “Fortunately, I've come somewhat prepared for that. Ever since we traveled with the Doctor and I realized that other alien civilizations did not actually speak our language and it was the TARDIS translating for us, I realized the potential necessity to invent a spell that would help translate languages for us just in case the TARDIS stopped becoming available at some time. Communication is a very important skill, after all, and one I did not wish to risk losing in the potential case of the TARDIS's absence. Accordingly, I went into the virtual library inside this gem and did some research to invent a new spell that would help me translate foreign languages. Crystal Sage also helped me out with that a little bit.”

“Please tell me you were successful,” Stern Wing begged hopefully.

“Yes, I believe I've mastered it but, to maintain the spell, it takes concentration which means my horn will remain alight during the spell which will, in turn, tip them off as to my difference. It also makes it harder to cast any other spell that also takes concentration, such as basic telekinesis.

“In addition, if that concentration gets disrupted for any reason, I'll need to recast the spell and hold it in order for those benefits to resume again. If we're going to be here for a very long time, however, I recommend we actually learn their language permanently. For now, the spell will do.”

Stern Wing pushed up with her forelegs into a straight sitting position as she looked at her friend sternly, then asked, “Considering this situation, you know I can't ignore this, right?”

“No. I know you can't.” Feather Wind looked at her. “Trust me, I sympathize too, so I won't stand in your way. All I ask is that we do a little more recon before we push for any drastic action. As soon as our presence is known and they also know what we are, that will be a line we can never uncross again.”

“You don't have to come with me,” Stern Wing offered.

“Yes, I do,” Feather Wind insisted as he also sat up straight as well. “I'm not leaving your side.” That comment made Stern Wing smile. “You'll need me to help translate their messages anyway.

“As for this situation,” he looked over the edge of the cloud again in a downward direction, “I'll push the cloud over the hill and lower it. We can sneak off the cloud beyond their sight. At that point, I'll give you my cloak so you can use it to conceal your wings.”

Stern Wing gave her friend a quizzical look. “That cloak looks like it's made of thick clouds that's constantly leaking down mist with occasional flashes of lightning. I think it's going to stand out about as much as my wings would have. Possibly more so.”

“Not if I cover it with dirt,” Feather Wind said to her with a sly sidewards glance to her.

“Oh! I suppose that could work. Won't that get it dirty, though? Will it still help you to fly later?”

Feather Wind shrugged carelessly. “It'll be a little weighed down but I can still use it to take off. Besides, I can summon rain and winds to help wash it off later. I have other spells too that could help as well if need be.”

“What about your horn? That will stand out as well, especially if it keeps glowing while you use it to translate for us.”

“I'll create a helmet with my crystal magic. If you'll note, some of the earth ponies are wearing helms too. I won't stand out much for wearing one as well. I'll make it a dark hue color to blend in more as a kind of rock.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

xoxo

{It was a plan alright. A flawed plan that had several holes in it.

{Sure, there would have been more flaws if it weren't for the precautions we took, but it did not cover everything.

{For instance, no pony wanted to talk to either of us. It was as if they felt afraid to do so, else they might get whipped.

{For those who happened to glance at us usually did a double-take because there was enough difference in our facial configuration and coloration to be very noticeable, especially in my case.

{Also, while I would not call your mother small by any means, all of the other earth ponies around us were a little bigger than her if they were full adults.

{As for me, they probably mistook me for a foal, and a runt at that.

{The one species that did speak to us, however, were the dog taskmasters, and your mother did not care for what they had to say one bit.}

“Hey!” a humanoid dog cracked a whip at Feather Wind's and Stern Wing's direction as he approached. The dog successfully got the attention of them both, but not the kind of attention he hoped for or expected. “Horses work, not talk! Get precious gems. Yes, yes. Hurry, hurry. Chop-chop.”

“Make me!” Stern Wing spat with a hard narrow stare at the dog taskmaster.

“Hey! Get back to work!” He cracked the whip much closer but Stern Wing didn't even flinch.

Once he stood closer, he noticed something else amiss. “Hey! Where's your collar and chain? Who broke you out?”

“It was never on me to begin with,” Stern Wing reported honestly, “and if you want to get it on me, you're going to have to work very hard for it.”

The dog creature looked upset. “Insolent horse! I hate you! Me beat you now!”

Since he stood close enough to actually strike her this time, he cracked his whip at her with the intention to strike her, but she lifted her left leg and caught the whip. It wrapped around her left leg. With it, she held it aloft.

“You're going to beat me?” Stern Wing asked defiantly. “You'll have to try a lot harder than that.”

“Hey!” the dog yipped in complaint. “Horse let go of whip so me beat you now.”

“You first!” Stern Wing growled defiantly then used her own grip on the whip to yank the dog creature stumbling forward. When he got in range, Stern Wing slugged him hard in the face. He was sent spinning back several feet, spreading dog slobber about as he spun back before tripping and falling down away from her direction. He then crawled back several more feet, stunned and fearful of her.

Stern Wing used her grip on the whip to toss it down to her side. She then rose to her hind legs then stomped down her forward legs hard on the ground.

“Let me get something very straight with you!” Stern Wing said in a boldly defiant tone. “Neither you nor any other creature is going to touch me or put on chains or collars on me without either my permission or a fight! If you are determined enough to try, then we are throwing hooves. You understand me?”

“Bad horse! It's a very bad horse!” the dog creature cried out fearfully as he kept crawling back and, while he did that, Stern Wing matched him step for step, thus keeping their distance between each other fixed.

“Only to bullies like you!” Stern Wing promised harshly.

The dog creature howled up in the air.

Stern Wing almost slugged him for that but then suddenly realized this could be a good thing, so she backed off and allowed him to summon the rest of his pack just so that she could leave a better impression to a larger audience.

Sure enough, the howl was picked up by several others. They used it to home in on the initial call. It only took a few minutes for twelve more to gather. When they did, they circled around Stern Wing who looked back and forth among them sharply through a narrow eye stare.

“What trouble here?” another one of the dog creatures, a taller and darker toned one who wore a collar with spikes on it. He asked aloud in a deeper, gruffer tone.

Since he looked to be the largest of the gathered pack and he spoke first, one could assume he was the leader of this gathered bunch.

“She is!” the initial one in the mismatched leather called while pointing accusingly at Stern Wing. “She not work! She grab whip! She beat me!”

“She is not finished making an example of you!” Stern Wing added menacingly.

“She talk back!” the mismatched leather dog went on. “She talk at all! Horse that talks! Insolent horse! Stupid, stupid horse!”

“Well,” the tall black dog with the spike collar wrapped his whip around his other paw tightly enough to make it creak. “We best make example of stupid horse!”

“You're welcome to try,” Stern Wing said aloud without looking at any one of them.

“Feather Wind . . . take your cloak back.” Stern Wing said as she grabbed it with one of her hidden wings and thrust it upwards.

In mid-air a freak wind blew which caught the cloak and brought it back to Feather Wind. He caught it then quickly put it on.

Notably, its size fit him much better than Stern Wing anyway.

After taking off the cloak, Stern Wing spread her brown wings with black tips boldly and proudly. This demonstration made the dogs about her hesitate with shock.

“Horse with wings!” the dog in mismatched leather yelped in astonishment.

“Get her!” cried the tall black dog.

Upon saying that, the circle of dogs about her closed in from all sides.

Stern Wing, meanwhile, bent down then leapt up into the air. A single flap of her large wings shot her into the air much faster but she did not sail off far enough to disappear.

Because she was no longer between them, however, the dogs paused in their charge.

Up in the air, Stern Wing curved back, looped over then dove back to the ring of humanoid dogs. Upon arrival, she snatched up the one she initially had a confrontation with and flew off with him in the air.

“Put me down! Put me down this instant!” the dog in mismatched leather yelped, startled.

“If you insist,” Stern Wing said after she flew over a quarry then deposited him high above it. That dog cried out as he fell.

In the unlikely event he survived that fall, he would be very gravely injured considering the height and the hard, uneven rocky surfaces he would have landed upon.

Swinging back with a sudden wing-over maneuver, Stern Wing dove back to the ring of dogs. As she closed in on them, she flipped about to aim one hind leg at what she perceived to be the leader of the remaining ring of dogs. That leg sank into his face with sickening cracking sounds which collapsed his skull and bent his face inward, after which the kick sailed him away, twitching.

“Come and get me, boys!” Stern Wing dared after she landed. “I will target the next one who gets closest to me. When you do, you might fare as well as this one had.”

The remaining dogs glanced at each other then they all ran away. They ran so fast that they went on all fours, abandoning their weapons in the process.

A cheer arose from all the earth ponies around them who witnessed this stunning event.

xoxo

{On that day we managed to scare off the few dog creatures that were in the area and freed the earth ponies who were also willing to be liberated, but the next day proved we had more of a fight on our hooves than one little scuffle. It turned out those dog creatures who fled the mines and the quarry only did so to summon the rest of the pack, and it was quite a bit larger than most of us were expecting. The earth ponies we rescued had some idea how many there truly were but not to this degree. Hundreds, almost a thousand of the dog creatures returned with a sizable army.

{I knew we could still deal with them, but we'd have to change tactics compared to yesterday. This time it was my turn to step forward and give an ultimatum.

{I used magic to project my voice into a boom in order to be heard by all of them. I warned them to back off but, as I expected, my small stature didn't prove that intimidating to them at first. Flying up into the air and summoning a storm cloud, on the other hoof, left a deeper impression.

{I caused the storm cloud to rain upon them which, at first, only mystified them. After that, I asked them if any of them knew what happens to water when it's struck by a bolt of lightning.

{To prove I could carry through with that threat, I had a bolt of lightning shot down into a miniature storm cloud I had in front of my hoof. Lightning constantly crackled in that mini cloud after it was shot with a larger lightning bolt from above.

{While holding that lightning close to me, I dared them to approach so they could find out for themselves.

{At that point they'd had enough and started to flee again.

{At first, I thought I heard the end of it for that day so I dissipated the cloud with lightning in it, secretly relieved that I didn't have to use this after all.

{But one hour later I heard a horn in the distance that drew my attention back west. It continued to blow for a while and, while it did, it held my attention.

{They were up to something. I could just feel it, but I had no idea the scope of what they were trying to summon.

{It turned out it was their true boss.}

A thunderous roar spread across the sky which drew Feather Wind's (and many others as well) attention skyward. His jaw slowly dropped as his eyes widened in shock when he beheld a shadow of a gigantic dragon descend from above. It was first visible only as a silhouette through the clouds above before it broke through that and dragged the clouds down with its enormous body, seeming to rip even the clouds asunder in doing so. When the dragon finally hit the ground, it was large enough to cause a localized earthquake. Facing the dragon from the front, it was actually difficult to see the tip of the tail at the other end due to the great distance.

“MEET THE BOSS, MATE!” called a large dog creature from on top of the dragon's head. He had to shout very hard to be heard from that high up. “HIS NAME IS FANG, AND HE HAS SOME WORDS FOR ALL OF YOU!”

Feather Wind swallowed his nervousness and flew up to the dragon's face to be more visible. “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Feather Wind asked in a magically projected voice in order to be better heard. He figured he should establish dialogue to help calm things down and see what he could work with.

The dragon replied with a huge burst of flame erupting from its mouth.

Feather Wind defended himself by conjuring a cyclone ball around him which whirled the fire around him but it was so powerful that it went around his barrier and toasted several homes and ponies behind him.

When the dragon finally stopped, the whirlwind around Feather Wind calmed down. He looked behind him and saw several earth ponies had just been killed, the very same earth ponies he swore to defend not long ago.

At first Feather Wind looked over his shoulder in horror at the earth ponies that died not far behind him, but then he slowly turned his gaze toward the dragon while his head shook slightly which lightly revealed the raging torrent he felt inwardly. It was stronger than he ever felt before. He narrowed his eyes at the dragon with focused fury. After that, he flew further up.

“Fine then!” He hissed at the dragon through tightly clenched teeth. “If that's the way you want to play it, then COME AND GET ME!” he roared then shot a focused magical beam blast right at the dragon's neck but grew momentarily startled to notice the beam had absolutely no effect due to the dragon's really thick hide. He even saw the dragon give a cocky grin since the dragon realized he was immune to such a paltry beam.

But Feather Wind recovered quickly with a new plan.

Feather Wind flew off past the dragon. As he did so, he shot another beam at it, this time aiming at the dragon's right eye. He almost hit it but the dragon closed the eyelid at the last second and, aside from that, the aim was a little off. The beam hit just to the right of the right eye instead but at least he secured the attention of the dragon. He used that to lure its head away from the other ponies.

Feather Wind flew back into the open valley. He stopped for a moment as his body flared with a powerful red aura while he hovered there. He also aimed a hoof down at the earth below. A giant spike made of red jagged crystal erupted from the earth. It continued to grow upwards, eventually towering fifty feet off the ground. The spike was much larger at the base than it was at the tip, looking something like a giant red stalagmite. Smaller spikes also grew off the larger spike, kind of like branches extending off a tree or a lightning bolt frozen in time.

While the spike grew, both of Feather Wind's hooves trembled constantly due to the enormous strain of channeling that much magical energy through his body.

When the dragon nearly caught up to him, Feather Wind flew straight upwards but not too fast because he wanted the dragon to follow him.

Curiously, the dragon entirely ignored the giant red crystal stalagmite.

That was literally a fatal mistake, and also a bit surprising since Feather Wind thought dragons like to eat gems. What he just conjured was likely a bigger gem than all the combined gems it ever gained in its lifetime, and this was a very ancient dragon.

Feather Wind kept flying skywards. He maintained just enough distance to keep out of what he suspected was the dragon's breath weapon range.

During that time, the large dog creature on top of the dragon barely clung onto the dragon's head due to the ripping speed of the wind caused by their rapid ascent, and he yelped tightly due to the strain of that effort.

Since the wind was brushing hard against the dragon’s face due to their rapid ascent, Feather Wind figured that was another factor that would limit the dragon's breath weapon range.

Feather Wind also eyed below him carefully to make sure the giant spike he created was directly below the dragon. If it wasn't, he course-corrected himself up in the air. Since the dragon was chasing him, it corrected its flight below him as well and, in doing so, aligned its body directly above the giant spike.

“I'm sorry,” Feather Wind called down to the dragon in genuine remorse mixed with lingering fury. “I'm so, so sorry, but you leave me no choice.”

He then shot above way too fast for the dragon to keep up which caused it to stop trying. Instead, it paused and hovered in the air, bewildered that the pony he was chasing suddenly had the ability to accelerate faster than an arrow shot from a bow and left a cloud trail tracing a line all the way beyond sight in the atmosphere.

During that time, the dog creature collapsed on the dragon's head and panted in exhaustion.

Hovering in place, the dragon widened its eyes when it noticed the sky above gather clouds then started spinning. A tornado descended down from above far too fast to be natural. Feather Wind came down in the center of it, but not in the lead. The tornado descended ahead of him. As he descended with it, he roared at the top of his lungs, channeling all of his raw savage fury into nature around him

The tip of the tornado plunged into the dragon. Not even a creature that large could resist the might of nature when its hammer came down on him in full force.

Also, the dog creature was flung away from the top of the dragon's head, never to be seen again from Feather Wind's perspective.

The dragon ended up spinning really fast as it plunged downward straight through the crystal spike. As the dragon continued to be plunged downward, it widened the hole in its chest more and more because the spike widened out at the base.

The dragon was still spinning as he plunged through the spike like a reversed drill. The spike also had many more jagged spikes on the spike which was torn off and circulated inside the dragon's body. That, in turn, tore up his innards even further.

This process continued until the dragon was pushed all the way down to the ground with a hole so gigantic in its chest area it practically encompassed seventy percent of its entire torso despite its enormous size.

Feather Wind landed near the impaled giant corpse. He stared at in a long moment of silence with lingering simmering fury that quickly cooled off with regret at this necessity. He then bowed his head in remorse over what he had done.

While that happened, Stern Wing landed beside him.

“I can't believe you did that!” Stern Wing exclaimed to her friend in amazement. “That was an elder dragon, one who was probably thousands upon thousands of years old and you just took him out all by yourself! Feather Wind, you're amazing! After all this time, you still amaze me! That's passing up some previously very high standards too.”

“But I killed him,” Feather Wind said sadly. “I can't help but feel like the Doctor would have found a better way to hoofle this.”

“That was an elder dragon intent on retribution and slaughter. I doubt even the Doctor would have found a better solution than this and, even if he could, it might be through resources that you don't have access to.

“Also recall, the Doctor actually has failed to save some lives many times before, victims and villains alike. He regrets it to every time, but that doesn't mean either of you could have done better if given the chance.

“No matter how much experience either of you have, you don't always have the time to stop and think of the perfect solution to every problem exactly when it occurs, and when you're dealing with opponents like this, their stubborn streak may limit your options very drastically.

“I know you feel sad for the dragon, but remember all the ponies you also saved today. Not only saved them, but helped to free them.”

Adding that last point reminded Feather Wind of them. He looked over his shoulder at the cheering crowd because this victory helped them to secure their freedom.

That did make him feel a little better, but a little bitter too because he also knew they celebrated the death of the dragon. They celebrated the misery of another because that individual would have continued to impose misery upon them. While understandable, it also felt a little wrong to him.

{It was at that moment the reality of how savage a time period we were in more fully sank into me. In such a primitive time, maiming and killing were more quickly considered as a resort but, back when I came from, violence to this degree was rare enough to be considered extremely traumatizing if it happened.

{I mean, I came from a time when the Wonderbolts honestly considered a chocolate cherry cake with custard filling and buttercream frosting rosettes to be considered an actual weapon in warfare. Some of the Bolts actually had post-traumatic stress disorder at the thought of wasting such delicious cake by dropping it from the sky like a bomb at a rampaging heoard of bisons versus yaks in an attempt to get them to break up the fight so they could settle this with a peaceful talk. The horror of all of that delicious cake dripping on the battlefield gave some of the Bolts nightmares for weeks.}

“'Spose we have to deal with them,” Feather Wind figured.

“Well, we did just help liberate their society. What's the next step?

“Also, it's no use concealing our races anymore. I think we made it pretty clear what we are at this point.”

Feather Wind sighed in misery as he hung his head down. “They probably think we're gods now.”

{It turned out I was totally right. The liberated earth ponies called me 'Storm God' ever since that day, and they called Stern Wing 'Guardian Angel'.

{I kind of liked their nickname for Stern Wing. On her, it was pretty appropriate and had a nice ring to it, but I felt very uncomfortable about their nickname for me, especially considering the fact that they honestly did think I was a genuine god.

{It was pretty hard to convince them otherwise on this point. In their world, magic did not exist yet for the earth ponies, and the closest thing the antagonists had to magic was the fire the dragon breathed.

{Since they could not understand the force I tapped into, it was easier for them to call it a supernatural force that was called upon by a higher dimensional being, a.k.a., a god. I could tell them they were wrong till I was blue in the face.

{Well, bluer, at any rate.

{It would do nothing to change what they convinced themselves of. Since that was the only explanation they could understand, it was the only one they would accept even if I told them otherwise.

{At first, I tried to tell them otherwise but it quickly occurred to me how futile that effort was.

{I was smart enough to foresee where this pattern was leading and why it was on that track. Because of that, I wanted out of there as soon as possible.

{But, before leaving, I also told them to call out the name 'Feather Wind' to the wind and whisper a message for me if they ever got into trouble again. That way I'll be alerted to any potential problem of theirs without having to remain with them and continue to guard them personally.

{Of course, even as I told them that, I also figured out how their minds would translate that message. To their ears, it must have sounded something like, 'If you call out my true name, Feather Wind, to the wind, and pray with all of your might, and if you have enough faith in your heart, I might consider bailing you out again if I deem you lowly and pathetic mortals worthy of salvation.'

{I had uncomfortable flashbacks in that moment of Searing Wind teasing me about unicorn supremacy all over again.

{I hate being put on a pedestal! It's bad enough when I occasionally become the center of attention, but that kind of attention only makes me feel more isolated. I don't care if others feel if it's a compliment or an insult. I just want to be treated like everypony else!

{After leaving them, I convinced your mother to land on top of a cloud with me quite a distance from the newly liberated earth ponies. It was there we had a heart to heart talk. One like many before or since.}

“Tell me what's wrong,” Stern Wing prompted, the first to speak between the two after they landed.

“I keep thinking about what happened with the dragon over and over again in my mind. I can't figure out a way I could have hoofled it better, but I feel really guilty for killing him.”

Feather Wind looked over his right shoulder at his friend.

Stern Wing, for her part, crawled forward to her friend's side and draped a wing protectively over him, also using it to pull him close to her side.

“I feel especially guilty that I used the sky to do it,” he went on. “That is an element all life depends upon for continued existence. I know it's going to sound strange but, since I am one with the sky, I feel like I betrayed the dragon's trust by using the sky against it. I used something that was supposed to be shared equally with all life on the planet. Bringing the wrath of all of nature crashing down on that dragon, that was not fair.”

“But you are one with the sky, and it trusted you with this power,” Stern Wing pointed out. “I don't think you were given this power so you could not use it. By using this power, you're just being yourself.”

Feather Wind shook his head. “But it was wrong of me to use the sky against this creature, or any creature for that matter. I trusted my instincts when I leapt off a cliff and the wind told me it would catch me. Now my instincts are telling me what I've done is wrong. Maybe the reason I have this power is because I'm the least inclined to abuse it. Using the wind to assist other creatures and make their lives more comfortable is okay, but using it as a weapon . . . I vow to myself on this night I shall not use this power offensively again.”

Stern Wing was quiet for a moment as she used that time to formulate her words, then she spoke with the same kind of wise cutting power that sometimes surprises other ponies.

“In that case, let me ask you this: If you had the power to travel back in time and do that encounter all over again, what would you do differently? Recall you were dealing with an angry elder dragon. He just breathed fire and killed a bunch of innocent ponies and thereby proving his intent was extremely hostile. He seems to have focused his rage on you in particular since you seem to be the primary instigator of his slaves' liberation.

“You can't control his actions, just your own. You could try blasting him with a beam of magical energy but, since I'm asking you to repeat this scenario by time-traveling into the past, you already know that will do nothing more than annoy him since his scales are far too thick to be affected by such magic. If you maintain your vow not to use the sky against him, then what would you have done instead?

“If you fly away faster then he can't catch up to you. That may motivate him to turn around and continue his wrath against the other earth ponies instead.

“I, of course, would have done everything I could to defend them, probably to the bitter end in this case. Since this is an elder dragon we're talking about here, let's not kid ourselves about my chances against it. I'd most likely be killed along with a bunch of other earth ponies.

“The survivors would be enslaved again.

“If you continue to fight the dragon using your own magic then you might be killed and, again, he'd resume his wrath against the others until they are all killed or enslaved again.

“He's obviously in no mood to talk. He even ignored the giant crystal spike you erected even though it could technically be considered a beneficial food source for him. He's just mad at you beyond all reason.

“So, considering all the alternatives, what would you have done differently?”

Stern Wing was silent for a while as she let her friend digest that question. But, after several minutes of silence, it was clear he could not come up with a helpful alternative, so Stern Wing resumed her point.

“If you cannot think of a better alternative, then it might be wise to consider weather control as an option remaining on the table against your future enemies. Some creatures you might face in the future might be just as powerful, angry, and dangerous as that dragon. If you get stuck in a corner like that again and your greatest asset is the only way to win against what is otherwise impossible odds, then you need to keep it as an option.

“It's okay to use it as a last resort, and it's okay to feel bad if you're forced to use it offensively, but you do have this power and need to take responsibility for it.

“I do not think you were granted this power to do nothing with it. That's just wasteful. Limiting yourself to using this power only for comfort is a considerate thought but occasionally you may face another emergency where it becomes your final and best weapon again.

“Many times throughout history, every other pony who faced this same situation and did not have access to a power like yours, what they did was simply die. Unable to cope against the face of such overwhelming power and rage, they were totally defeated by it. At least you have this option.

“If it makes you feel uncomfortable then, by all means, limit its usage as much as you feel you need to, but don't wipe it off the table entirely.

“You also have a great deal of other powers and training at your disposal. If any of them work instead then, by all means, do so. I just don't want you to avoid this option when all other alternate paths are closed to you. If it truly is the last resort then use it. Either that or let yourself, and everypony in danger, die.

“Also recall this . . . nature itself is not clean of sin. Storms sometimes happen at inconvenient times, even when it's carefully monitored by weather control ponies. On the occasion when the weather is wild and untamed, it will sometimes kill. If nature itself is willing to go that far and you are a part of it, then you should be equally willing to do whatever you must.

“In your case, you also have sentience and a conscience. Since you have it then, by all means, use it to the best of your ability, but don't let that alone limit your options. Instead, consider all the facts as life presents it then make the best decision you can in each and every possible moment. That's the best any of the rest of us can do as well.”

Feather Wind sighed. “I suppose you are right. I still feel sorry for the dragon. It wasn't fair for him to face me and get crushed by somepony who could use all the power of nature itself against it. The very same nature it always depended on to live all along.

“What if we were to face a power like that and I didn't have this power? Then it wouldn't be fair to us either.”

“You're right. It's not fair. It wasn't fair when the dragon's power was used against those earth ponies either.

“You used your power to help save them at the dragon's expense. That was your choice and you'll have to learn to live with it. When you face a situation like this again then you'll have to deal with that as well.

“The Doctor has faced dilemma's like this for centuries. It isn't fair for us to rely on him all the time. He didn't do anything to deserve that kind of a burden without a break.

“His TARDIS keeps on delivering him to places and times where he is needed, but do you know why it isn't constantly delivering him to every place at every second throughout all of time? It is because there really are other heroes like him out there who also do what is needed of them in their own place and time. If the problem has the ability to solve itself then the Doctor doesn't show up because he doesn't need to, and that is fair. Sharing the burdens and responsibilities of life is exactly what we must do instead of transferring it all to him all the time.

“He may be selfless enough to be willing to accept that responsibility and burden, but that still doesn't make it right when there are alternatives. If he's the only one constantly exposed to danger then eventually it really will kill him for good, and then who will pick up the torch?

“Well to that question, I ask another; why wait until it's too late? Help him out now by doing our own parts in life. By dividing the burden equally and fairly, we also divide the danger. What is left for him will, therefore, become more manageable. In gratitude for all that he's done for us so far and even going out of his way to skip the credit for it, it's the least we can do for him.”

“And if he was faced with darkness constantly and without a fair break, there is another way for it to defeat him,” Feather Wind realized. “Without help, it could corrupt his own hearts as well. Considering how effective he has been as a hero, imagine how much trouble we'd all be if he got corrupted into a villain. With the ability to travel all of time and space, he could defeat any of us before any of us were even born.”

“Exactly, so then you agree that it's fair for us to divide the burden for him.

“Also, consider all the mentors you've had in your life. Your father, your uncle, my cousin, the Wonderbolts, Crystal Sage, and the Doctor. Each of these amazing ponies contributed some special training in your life. Do you really think they would be proud of you if you took all that power and training and did nothing with it?

“I mean, you could. You are just as capable of choosing darkness as the light with that power.

“Since you do have it, it's wise to give it some forethought in what kind of life you wish to lead with it. Since you are capable of doing something most ponies could not, what will you do when others have a chance to look up to you?

“It's our chance to shine now, and I think we would do honor to those who helped to train us by following their heroic example.”

“You forgot one.”

“Hmm?”

“You,” Feather Wind pointed out. “You are also one of my many blessed mentors. I look up to you as well. Your bravery, kindness, and strong spirit have been inspiring to me. I'm not likely the only one who thinks so. I'm grateful for all that you've given me as well. Even now, you're trying to teach me, and it's working.”

Feather Wind reached up with his face and kissed the side of Stern Wing's cheek, making her blush. After that, the two of them snuggled closely together.