MLP: The Journey of the Harmony Knights (Under Editing)

Chapter Four: Flight of the Storm

Shades of violet, sapphire, magenta, and gold shimmered and shined, like a giant rainbow had blanketed the sky and stretched out over the land. It was early morning, but the night stars continued to shine. Despite the lightness of the dawning sky, the stars were so bright and clear like distant diamonds sparkling in the morning sky. While the faint outline of the moon was in a pale circle of silver, glowing faintly in the dawning sky. As the sun started to rise, it had caught the colors of a blazing, aflame ember as it rise in the east.
Without a ceremony, Thundersky and his two siblings began the journey north followed about two hundred ponies with farm animals (and Dawn). When pegasi migrated by air, they flew in V formations, like geese. The bigger steeds took turns bearing the headwinds while the smaller ones drafted in their wakes. But when the desert nomads traveled on the ground, they lacked such organization. As the nomads started walking through the desert together, the desert seemed to never end, it went on forever and ever well beyond the horizon. Dawn found it harder and harder to keep up with the main herd, finding herself trailing behind more as she started to travel. But she wasn't alone, she was traveling with Storm Blaze and her pony friend's two parents. She knows that they were heading towards a nearby oasis as they continued traveling through the desert. But it didn't take long for the heat to rise. Without the sandstorm, air was clear and clean. The only dust that was disturbed was from everyone's footsteps. There was not a cloud in the sky all day. It felt ominous to look up and see only blue without a spot of white in the sky.
Storm Blaze had secretly kept up with her dream visits with Stygian and was stunned to see so many terrible and barely any good memories from Stygian's life, though how he ended up in limbo was still a total mystery. She only told Dawn about it and she had sworn to secrecy about it. Three years have passed since she discovered Stygian's choker, but he stopped responding from Limbo and had seemingly disappeared without a trace.
Many things were very quickly becoming impossible to deal with. Storm Blaze has lost count of the days as they wandered that desert, however when resounding calls sounded from up front, everyone seemed to come to life, rushing forwards up the hill.
"The lake!" Dawn exclaimed ecstatically.
Storm Blaze climbed up onto her frill, laughing. "We made it!" The rest of the ponies joined everyone, laughing with glee.
Thundersky, Rainfall, and Ivypool had all stopped side-by-side at the top of the hill. The rest of the herd spread out so they were lined up on either side of the leaders. They were all stood still. Storm Blaze and Dawn both exchanged uncertain glances before everyone else climbed up the hill to see a relieving sight of greenery and water.
That's when they started approaching a clump of palm trees, sparse green grass, and a small spring bubbling up from the sandy earth. Several members of the herd began to excitedly vocalize and speed up at the sight of the refreshing water. All of the desert nomads galloped towards the oasis excitedly, sounds of joy and excitement filled the air. One by one, all of the ponies and Dawn started drinking from the cool water.
"Thank Equestria!" Sandstorm and a few other mares has been taking care of the thirsty foals.
Never had water tasted so good and appreciated. Their throats opened and washed away the dry soreness that had collected there and even their bodies felt a little better for drinking.
But as they continued drinking from the spring, they soon heard a loud hissing sound. Storm Blaze lifted her head from the spring, droplets of water dripping from her mouth and started looking around warily. She wasn't the only one. Thundersky, Rainfall, and Ivypool each looked around cautiously when they heard such noises. Dawn and the other ponies turned to follow their three leaders' gazes, looking like a group of deer caught in the spotlight (aka, frozen and tense).
Slithering out from underneath the sand, a giant serpent with black scales that has dark eyes rimmed in gold and has a pair of wings folded behind the snake. When the serpent gazed at them, it's as if the serpent's eyes looked like a pair of flames glaring at them.
The tense silence was quickly broken when they heard somepony screaming from one of the stallions. That's when the serpent started attacking them. All of the ponies started stampeding away from the serpent. Storm Blaze turned around and began running, her herd and Dawn doing the same thing.
Storm Blaze didn't want to runaway from the serpent like some coward. She wants to stand her ground and fight against the serpent. But she knew she shouldn't fight against that serpent by herself, that'll be a dangerous fight. Not to mention, she's an inexperienced fighter and only practiced with the other guards before and after she received her cutie mark. But the serpent would keep chasing them again if they don't stand their ground and fight back.
As Storm Blaze weighed out her options, she heard a startled scream. The scream came from a young white earth pony filly with a light blue mane and tail while her eyes were wide blue, who had accidentally tripped over a stone. The frightened filly thought she could make out the serpent's glowing eyes through the sand, but jumping out of the sand was Storm Blaze. She quickly lowered her head and made the filly jump onto her back as they rejoined the herd.
Seeing the filly being put in danger, Storm Blaze had finally made her decision.
She picked up the pace and galloped alongside Dawn, who noticed the stormy look in Storm Blaze's eyes. "Keep going! Take the kid! I'll hold it off as long as I can!"
Dawn's eyes widened with fear at Storm Blaze's revelation. "But you could die!"
"Or I could live." Her blue eyes glowed with firm determination and has an air of a warrior surrounding her. "Now go!" Storm Blaze tossed the filly to Dawn, who caught the filly swiftly. "Go now!" She soon spun around from her herd and led the serpent away from the stampeding herd, much to Dawn's horror.
Without speaking, Storm Blaze switched course and galloped to the sandy hills and dunes, where she hoped she find cover or something that might throw it off her tracks. Storm Blaze dropped her haunches and slid sideways as she continued her run.
With her ears pinned, her neck stretched flat out, and her hooves hitting the ground in almost one beat. She thundered across the plateau, which made her realized that the serpent was herding her in the direction it wanted her to run.
The ground ahead was clear of trees, rocks, and hills — there was no place for a serpent to hide, probably. She racked her brain for a reason why. Perhaps there was an ambush ahead of a gang of serpents or the serpent thinks that Storm Blaze has an injured wing and seemingly separated her from the herd. She would meet her fate head-on.
Storm Blaze prepared for battle and halfway opened her wings for any gliding. She crested the hill, and what she saw sucked the air out of her lungs. Instead of charging into a mob of serpents, she galloped over the edge of a cliff into thin, cool air.
I need my wings! Storm Blaze thought fiercely. I need to fly!
She fell, head over tail, weightless and helpless. She saw the serpent leaning over the ledge of the cliff while hissing in both amusement and hunger, and then her somersaulting body showed her a view of the canyon as it raced to greet her.
But at the same time, something strange had happened. She soon felt something happening to her left wing as she unfolded her right wing as she started magically floating in the air. A newfound energy warmed and cooled her to the skin. The power coursed through her right wing, cleaning, repairing, and giving her right wing newfound and unknown strength. It made her feel more alive and she was breathing fresh air for the first time. Storm Blaze wasn't sure where it had came from, but it felt... quite nice and reassuring.
Storm Blaze looked over her left shoulder and was immediately amazed to see her dream had finally came true. Her left wing is no longer misshape in both height and size than her right wing, her left wing is the same height and size as her right wing.
Storm Blaze's eyes sprang open. She immediately opened her wings, and they caught the air seconds before she hit the ground. Her speed caused her to rocket over the rocks and sand. She careened from side to side, straining to hold the bend in her wings. She wasn't exactly falling, but she was flying.
Storm Blaze let out a breathless laugh, causing a minor shift in her feathers that sent her tilting sideways. She curled her wings over the current and pushed down, righting herself. Behind her, the serpent glided down from the cliff, following her.
Storm Blaze flapped harder while trying to keep her path stable. Flying was a lot like swimming. She angled her wings like she did underwater and turned toward shore. Her control was shaky, but she soared to the nearby geysers at the bottom of the canyon and landed with a slight stumble, while gathering her bearings. The serpent landed on top of one of the geysers.
She stood there, watching the serpent with a fierce look in her eyes. She watched as the serpent sit up on top of the geyser and glaring at Storm Blaze. But she smirked as she remained rooted to her spot. That's when the pegasus and the serpent felt the ground shaking underneath them. Storm Blaze stepped back from the geyser as she felt the ground shaking and she could see small spurts of hot water underneath the serpent.
That's when the hot water had gained enough strength to send the serpent somersaulting into the air from Storm Blaze.
She let out a relieved sigh and flew away from the canyon. She flew up into the night sky, illuminated by the silvery moonlight.
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Everyone started to settle down and get ready for the night. Several large tents, all made of tan or beige linen, circled around the main bonfire while the others made smaller fires for their evening meals. One of the unicorns blew a dog whistle, and a dozen dogs appeared out of the farm animals. They began circling the camp like guard dogs. Many of the ponies walked amongst them and fed them treats, completely unafraid. Many of the ponies have put on their armor for night guard duties while the rest of them were getting ready for the night.
But standing on the hill was a certain cloaked Abyssinian. Dawn was looking around worriedly, she could feel the emotions of concern after the group have been separated from the serpent. She swallowed and her eyes glistened with tears, remembering her birth parents' passing and her sudden separation from her adoptive family.
Dawn remembered her friendship with Storm Blaze that they both had together about nine years. Dawn and Storm Blaze had also become close friends with a kind hippogriff named Fathom, a honest griffin named Grace, a studious zebra named Kenya, and a funny kirin named Rowan Mist. After they met their four new friends, they became penpals over the years.
But Dawn's thoughts remembered what Storm Blaze had told her a few days after she had met her. "Being brave does not being unafraid. It means you are afraid and you do it anyways." Dawn sighed softly as she looked up at the glowing moon. But she remembered when she saw the pure courage and loyalty in Storm Blaze's eyes when they were being chased by the serpent.
She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard flapping wings getting closer to the campsite. She looked up to see a figure being illuminated by the silvery moonlight. The figure is about the height and size of a female pegasus. She narrowed her eyes to see the female pegasus' coat shining a familiar sky-blue dotted in light gold.
"Storm Blaze?!" Dawn's desperate question had caught everyone else's attention and turned to see the incoming female pegasus. "Is that you?!"
Flying out of the moonlight and into the light of the campfire, Storm Blaze landed gracefully on the ground and looked at everyone with a weary smile. "I was wondering if I was ever going to find you guys."
Waves of newfound joy washed over the ponies. Many ponies had cried out, some with joy, others with disbelief, others with amazement. The foals were cheering and dancing, and spouses held each other close, looking at each other with every joyful emotion in their eyes.
Dawn cried out with joy and started hugging Storm Blaze with her parents, a relieved purr could be heard from her as they embraced the courageous blue pegasus. Storm Blaze smiled softly at the reunion of her family and friends.