“STOP!”

Doctor Dramatico's shout brought the three students to an immediate halt, so quickly, in fact, that the professor himself nearly tripped over their bodies frozen on command. Their muzzles were inches from reaching out into the rain, out from the protection of the cave and into the storm that had so quickly set in.

By the speed and power of it all, Windchaser assumed it to be the work of some monster – possibly the 'Tempest' that was written about on the cave wall. With its work – whatever 'it' was – making apparent the beast's presence outside but yet the glowing, menacing red eyes behind them, danger awaited down either path.

“What are we supposed to do!?” Windchaser shouted, frightened but also irritated. “Go or stay!?”

The doctor's eyes suddenly shifted until they were pressed in concentration. Not a drop of fear showed anymore. Windchaser thought he had to have been trembling, at least inside, but after a quick look-over the older professor looked more confident yet analytical than an expert spy in enemy territory. The new look seemed hardly like a facade, either; the gravity of the situation had seemingly pulled away any and all incompetence Windchaser had previously seen.

“I'm trying it again,” the doctor said. “The teleportation spell. If I failed the first time, I should still have the magic power to get us at least on the grounds. If I fail again, I shall shield the exit and face whatever lies within this cave.”

Windchaser suddenly remembered that he had been in a similar situation before: not being able to teleport – or at least having the ability lessened, in this case – sounded strangely familiar. He remembered what happened when he fell into the pit before sessions began, when Twilight and Luna had saved them from the ghost-like menace. Twilight hadn't been able to teleport them out of the underground passage then, either.

What if that ghost is..?

He dared not turn around. That first encounter on the island with a mysterious entity had resulted in temporary paralysis. If that thing were still alive, and in fact was somehow right behind them in the cave, he wouldn't dare turn his eyes from the torrential downpour outside.

Though Windchaser avoided looking back, a stray light blue streak flashed from out between his hooves. Suddenly, before he could even think of what its source could have been, he was no longer shrouded in darkness; at least, not the surrounding blackness of the cave. It was the dullness at which he had been staring. Outside.

Flickering drops and splashes of water confirmed what Windchaser's mind took all too long to realize: they had teleported somewhere outside.

“Yar, we made it!” Seven Seas declared. “We teleported-!”

But he paused right when the entire group noticed that they indeed had teleported, but were not on the academy grounds. It wasn't even in sight. Instead, they found themselves standing halfway from the towering wall of the crag and the ocean on the beach. They had moved hardly anywhere once more, this time out from the safety of the cave, if that was even plausible still.

Fresh and salty waters mixed into giant puddles that carved conical pools into the sands, the interconnectedness spreading with every second. Rivers ran into the ocean, their starting points even from the top of the cliff. From the look of it, Windchaser figured some kind of flash flood was upon them. When lightning flashed and thunder rolled on just the other side of the island, he wondered if it all were something more.

“Back inside, back inside!” Doctor Dramatico shouted, motioning for the others to get back to the cave.

Windchaser thought it crazy, but he obeyed. He followed Seven Seas back to the mouth of the cave with haste, but as he passed the doctor he saw a horrified look on his face. His eyes were staring out in the opposite direction. Windchaser couldn't help himself; he quickly turned around as well.

Bonfire was headed off for the academy, flames on the tips of her hooves. Windchaser knew it was the sign that she was ready to use her magic for a sprint, one that push so many other self-proclaimed racers to shame.

Before any of the three could shout out at her, though, something more ominous emerged in the sky, something not as flashy but far more intimidating and breathtaking: drops of water were hitting against an invisible surface, like a glass statue, its shape like a carved face of some kind of monster. Its had long fangs and a giant, wild mane.

Is that... a lion's face?

“Bonfire! Get back here this instant!” Doctor Dramatico shouted, his confidence from before falling to pieces. “W-Where are you going!? The academy's too far away-!”

She's going it alone. Typical..!

Windchaser had already made up his mind.

“I'm going after her,” he growled.

And though complaints trailed right behind him, he left everything in the dust – or, rather, the sand – as he took off for the bottom of the trail with a quick magical push from the wind. He kept his hooves off the liquidy ground, but the stormy winds still gave him a great difficulty. But nothing was strong enough to keep Windchaser from completing his chase.

The academy was more than half an hour away, though with his and Bonfire's pace, they would certainly reach it faster than that. They had raced through city streets faster than any had dared to go, and had certainly gotten in trouble a number of times. Windchaser had learned his lessons on manners. Bonfire never really did.

Unless she's actually... changed.

Windchaser felt his heart pumping. He felt like an idiot going after Bonfire. He wasn't even sure of his motive; if anything, it seemed rational to leave her to her own devices. She had annoyed him enough already, and Windchaser had finally managed to get some of his point across in regards to how he felt towards her. But her eyes, the sadness, something was strange about her. She started out her usual snooty self, but something told him it wasn't normal anymore.

The rain didn't make things too much worse, but they didn't make matters better, either. Windchaser specifically had learned to cope with the weather, with his parents as pegasi and working often with the weather. Climbing the narrow zig-zagging paths up the cliff was the hardest part, but that was behind them soon enough. They were on flat land and sprinting against the winds.

Running in the rain had started to bring back memories, though Windchaser kept them in the back of his mind as best he could. He kept his eyes clear and vision focused, but his ears were drowning out the sound of pattering rain on their own; instead, he could hear the playful laughter of years ago. He remembered the first run around he had had across the hills outside the city.

Bonfire had led him out there; she was assigned with watching over him while their parents were off taking care of a storm that had passed. She took the lead the whole time, telling Windchaser to always trail behind. Her tiny figure flashed at the strike of lightning, coming and going just as quickly, and for a second Windchaser thought he had traveled back in time. He felt the same emotion of having a friendly companion.

Bonfire. I still remember...

“Bonfire! What are you doing!?” Windchaser managed to call out.

He knew he wouldn't be able to spare many more breaths. He was always the slower of the two, which is why she always was the one running off ahead. Even when the two practiced their versions of flying – which consisted of using wind and fire to fling their bodies about in the air – Bonfire always had the advantage with speed. She still did, as was made apparent when Windchaser noticed he was starting to fall behind.

Bonfire had always been faster, and he had never liked it. All he could brag about was that his mother was much more skilled a flier than any of the two families. Although she was involved in weather control, Windchaser's mother had been one of the original Wonderbolts. It was only a matter of years before she started helping Bonfire train; it was the young one's dream to become the first unicorn Wonderbolt.

And that was when it happened.

Windchaser felt his speed increasing, but his mind wasn't on that; all he could think about was that one fateful day. Bonfire got careless and, in her overconfidence, let loose too much fire. Her special move had done more than propelled her up and into the air; it dropped Windchaser's mother out of the sky. Wings with severe burns never heal completely. Windchaser wished they could; how fast he ran to save her then showed how strongly he had wished it so. The same speed was and intensity began to emerge in the present chase as well.

Windchaser spotted the entire process begin again before his very eyes. Sparks started to light up from Bonfire's tail as it wildly flailed, but the heavy rain doused it every try before the mare could even leave the ground. Once, twice, then a third time she tried, but Bonfire's flames never lived beyond two seconds. The fourth time she even lunged into the air like a leaping fox, graceful and prepared to take off, but her jump led to nothing. Her failed expectations brought her first-face into the muddy trail. Windchaser finally caught up.

He knelt down to get close, but still had to yell, “Are you all right? Bonfire!?”

The mare's nearest eye rolled over and acknowledged his presence, but her head lifted slowly. Her mouth was not moving but her head rolled about. Windchaser looked around to see if the others had followed them, then scorned himself for such high hopes.

“Windchaser...”

The stallion could barely hear the moan above the rain, but he heard it.

“... I'm sorry.”

He knew what she meant. He knew that she knew. The same look of disgrace, the same instance of a fiery collision, everything then fit the one moment to which she referred. Her 'Hot Rocket' move gone wrong, the crash, everything.

Windchaser shook his head quickly. “No, no, that doesn't matter right now-”

“What are you talking about!? This is it!” Bonfire said as she struggled to get back on her hooves. “There's something strange in this storm, Windchaser! Didn't you see it before!? We're done! I couldn't do it, I couldn't fly and make it back in time to get Luna. Why did you follow me you, you idiot! It's probably coming!”

Because... because...

He couldn't quite put it to words. He searched the sky for whatever 'it' was Bonfire just mentioned, for the monster's face he had seen in the rain, while also looking for some kind of answer to the question.

“Get out of here!” Bonfire shouted. “We're not little ponies anymore, Windy. I can't save you this time, you're just gonna have to-”

“No!”

The mare paused; her struggle to rise onto her hooves stopped. She looked up at Windchaser, who cast down a strong gaze.

“We're not a little colt and filly anymore,” he stated. “It's time we put the past behind us.”

Bonfire's eyes grew wide. Windchaser wondered at the power of what he said. There was much truth in it all, but he never thought Bonfire to react so drastically to anything.

Suddenly she screamed, “Watch out!”

The stallion felt a vibration in the air behind him just in time to roll out of the way, evading a scratch that cut diagonally at the air, slicing the rain as though it were a slim sword cutting through balls of butter. The speed of the strike was like lightning, the crack that followed thunder. Its burst deafened Windchaser, blaring a ring in his ears. He couldn't detect the sound of the winds anymore.

Windchaser closed his eyes, following a technique his mother had taught him. He tried to sense the flow of the air by feeling it, but his panic and the rain combined were interfering too much. The cold droplets that began to feel like ice, like hail even, beat against his head too hard. He opened his eyes, only to behold what he had seen not long ago.

Hovering in the way of the trail was a giant head, like that of a roaring lion. It was not a solid shape, but rather its invisible state merely perceived due to the rain which hit and dripped down its frightening shape. Windchaser had never seen anything like it before, not even as some sort of magic trick.

It reared its head back and let out a large roar, its rumble causing a strong and relentless wind. Windchaser could hardly breath as he fought to keep his hooves on the ground. Bonfire was slipping away on the trail that was quickly turning into thicker and thicker mud.

You may have apologized... but this isn't the end. It's time I play the hero, 'big sis'.

Windchaser remembered a move he had tried out years ago, inspired by the 'Hot Rocket'. Though far less quick and not as powerful, he had at least had it under more control than Bonfire's move; the problem was that he hadn't practiced it since the day of the incident. The day Bonfire took his mother out of the sky.

But that was the past. Windchaser felt he had no other choice. It was time to forgive and forget as best he could.

He began to cast, gathering together the most magic he felt he could use in one shot. The lion-like head grew uncomfortably close as the stallion's charge was growing stronger. His horn glowed a powerful silver, and the wind behind him started to propel him forward. As the launch began, the invisible lion's head drew even closer, until its jaws started to close in preparation to bite down on him.

Like a cracking whip Windchaser sprung forward, flying into the air at the lion's head. It numerous teeth were about to clamp down for a bite. Windchaser closed his eyes to brace for whatever was to follow. He waited, and waited, and waited.

After a few seconds he opened his eyes; he was still flying a ways above the ground, but the lion's face was no longer in front of him. He stopped and veered around to look back down the trail. His heart dropped at the sight of the monstrous face passing over Bonfire's shivering body.

Did it dodge me!?

“Bonfire!” the stallion yelled.

He used the wind's propulsion again, this time keeping himself low to the earth. He stopped short and skidded across the mud until he slid and stood over his old friend, shielding her from the monster's face that now hovered a ways away, eyeing the two as though ready to eat them whole.

Windchaser looked down at Bonfire. Her eyes were filled with confusion and desperation.

“Bonfire, I know it’s hard, but you need to try and use that move again!” Windchaser stated, though it hurt to think and to even voice such a thing. Detaching from his emotions as best he could, he repeated, “You need to do the 'Hot Rocket', Bonfire! I'm too slow to hit it myself!”

The mare's eyes glowed a familiar gold, but there was no accompanying smile. Her eyebrows did not furrow nor eyes narrow in the slightest. She simply stared up, as though lost in thought, leaving Windchaser to look between her and the inexplicable beast floating nearby.

“No, Windy. I can't.”

The monster suddenly opened its mouth wide open, and from within the gap poured out water like a fountain, ten times heavier and thicker than the rain that fell. Windchaser immediately began casting a spell he could only hope would grow powerful enough to help.

He focused on the winds that blew, feeling which bends of air that were near and turning them to form a dome around them. Windchaser crafted a bubble with the strength of the winds, tailoring a cloth of air that protected from the water. A tiny dry atmosphere was soon around the two, though the mud was still wet to the touch.

Windchaser held the shield as he looked back down at Bonfire, whose life still seemed to be fading.

“Look, Bonfire, I know you're nervous about using it!” he yelled, then felt exhaustion begin to kick in. “I... I'm sorry to have ignored you all these years. I shouldn't even be making you relive all this guilt. It just can't all end here!” A light faintly went off in the mare's eyes, but her expression did not change. “Have you really changed over these past few years? Were you really just 'acting like old times', or are you still all daring and troublesome? Huh!? If so, why don't you show it now!?”

He hoped the flare in his voice would kindle some new fire, but Bonfire's eyes weren't changing much anymore. Her body was still motionless except for the shivering from the cold and rain.

“Windchaser! Bonfire!”

The cries came from a ways back down the trail. Seven Seas and Doctor Dramatico had caught up. They were completely soaked but still running, their hooves covered in mud and their faces bearing a terrible fear. When they spotted the floating lion's head, which then was back to hovering with only its teeth bare once more, they both began casting separate spells.

“Watch out, Windchaser! We're going to try and zap it!”

But before they could cast anything, the stallion felt a warmth beneath him. When he looked down, there were no pair of eyes waiting for him. When he looked up, there was a red streak and bolstering flame leaving the confines of the dry bubble. It blasted at the head towering above them. Windchaser held his breath.

Like a bursting bubble the face popped and rain fell like normal again. Bonfire began curving in the air, her flame decreasing, until she was coming back down to the straight portion of the trail for a crash landing. Her body slid across the mud like a ball across a lawn, flying past where the professor and Seven Seas stood, then past where Windchaser was. The three hurried to where her body settled on the path, with Windchaser arriving first.

“Bonfire! Are you okay?”

The body shook with a series of coughs, but the mare managed to lift her head and grin. “Just like old times, yeah? Me saving little ol' you, Windy.”

Windchaser couldn't help but grin himself. The smile was cut short, however, when another terrible roar filled the air. The stallion's mind went from a familiar happy scene to the frightening thought that things were not yet over.

Flying straight at them was the invisible head of the lion. Its rush made the rain streak against its face more, revealing its horrifying details more than ever before. Its mouth was open, eyes wide and angry, mane swishing as though it were soaring like an eagle just inches off the ground. Just as soon as the group started to retreat, Doctor Dramatico made a stand as he began calmly casting a spell.

“Prepare yourselves, students, for something you've never seen before!”

He lit his horn a light blue color once more, but the power involved was immense, forming a giant orb that was nearly twice the size of the professor himself. He held it high and aimed it toward the monster, teeth clenching as he struggled to hold it. After enough aim, the ball suddenly disappeared. Sparks spattered and dissolved in the rain. Nothing happened.

“Actually, I've seen me fair share o' those,” Seven Seas cried.

The professor turned around, his face twitching.

“RUN!”

And the four were off once more. The gates of the academy were over the hill and down its slope, but what remained was still roughly half the trip back to the grounds. They were far from safe anymore, especially with the decreasing speed at which the entire group was traveling.

Slipping and fighting through the mud and rain, Windchaser felt his heart beating a thousand times per second. He had had his fair share of races and moments of fleeing, even times of charging for the sake of charging, but nothing made his mind and limbs as numb as they were than they were in that very moment.

“Windchaser!” yelled Bonfire. “How about we rocket our way back to the academy?”

The stallion thought for a moment, then knew with a look from Bonfire just what she meant.

This is possibly the worst idea. Ever.

Windchaser gathered the winds once more, but the task was more challenging on the move. Rather than using the storm's winds, he built up a shield, first weak then much stronger, from the wind that they broke while running. He spun the wind that flowed to each side of the group into the thread of the windy defense, its power sucking the mud off their bodies and pushing away the heavy rains that continued to fall. With a shake of her fiery mane and tail, Bonfire began to glow an intense red and gold all over.

“Everypony hang on tight!”

The other three did and, within a flash, the group was firing straight off down the trail, up, over and down the hill, hovering just above the ground. Trees flew by in the blink of an eye. Droplets passed out of sight so quickly it hardly looked like it was raining. Windchaser felt a speed he had never achieved on his own. What he could make of Bonfire’s face from the corner of his eye was a stretched smile. She had everything under control.

The advance suddenly ended in a crash through the academy gates as the four skidded to a stop on the commons lawn. There was a strange warmth that came from the earth. The sky suddenly looked much lighter. Windchaser tried to look up at the clouds, but a brightness forced him to close his eyes until something shadowed his vision. When he peeked through his eyelids, the shape of Princess Luna's head came into full view.

In a panic, the stallion stumbled onto his hooves as quickly he could. The ground was much firmer and somehow drier than that of the trail. The headmare looked extremely concerned.

“Is everything all right?” she asked softly.

Her tone made its way perfectly to Windchaser's ears, which the stallion thought peculiar as the rain had been drowning out much of the sound up until then. In his speechlessness he realized there was no rain to be heard nearby at all, nor any rolls of thunder.

“We made it,” Windchaser said, nearly laughing. “We... we really made it. Alive!”

The stallion began laughing as he turned to the others and laughed, helping them onto their hooves despite their weary states. But the rejoicing quickly turned to bafflement as Windchaser observed the ground.

“Did something happen?” Princess Luna asked.

Windchaser, puzzled, began looking around. There were still bits of ice and snow scattered in the grass. The path and lawn was void of any puddles. The air was thin and free of any rainy smell.

Seven Seas began bumbling, “But there... there was a nasty storm!”

Princess Luna looked up at the sky, then back to Windchaser. “A storm? When?”

“But there was lightning, thunder, it was pouring!” Doctor Dramatico added. “We saw the face of a lion in the rain! We tried to teleport back, but the spell wasn't working! Everything else worked but my magic...”

Seven Seas laughed, “As sure as there's mud on me hooves, we were fleeing from a beast in the rain-”

“But there is no mud on your hooves,” Princess Luna stated.

The four looked down. She was correct.

“Come, explain everything to me inside,” Princess Luna said, inspecting the sky carefully. “You all do appear to have scars and bruises. Perhaps we should make sure you are all well and then discuss this... phenomenon.”

Windchaser nodded, as did the others. He looked to Bonfire, who looked as puzzled as he was. Still, the two shared a glance that, to Windchaser, spoke a significant amount, and he hoped it did to Bonfire as well: a simple smile.

She walked up to him and tapped his head with a smirk. “Guess you were right, for once. We did make it out okay.”

“Princess Luna's making it sound like we're mad, though,” Windchaser noted.

But Bonfire giggled anyway. “Out with one issue, in with another.”

As she walked off, Windchaser thought of the matter himself. The grudge he had had not gone, but the initial tension had slacked tremendously. It felt good to be able to at least talk with his old friend again. There wouldn't need to be anymore misconstrued stories at the meal table or testing the waters. It was a step in a better direction.

Out with one issue, in with another... I guess that's an okay way of putting it.

Next Chapter: Chapter 39.5 (Interlude): Incredulity Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes