Chapter 6

Streak

I blinked my eyes open blearily. "Ow…"

"Awake, are you?" said a voice I never expected to hear again.

"Chaser?" I sat up slowly. Sure enough, there he was, just sitting on the floor across from my bed. And…I was in my bed…minus the garb and with a blanket draped over my flanks.

"You led me quite the merry chase." Now that was a pun he enjoyed using, and I groaned in reply as he laughed.

"Anyway…" I focused on him again, "what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. Blood is blood, and I care. I got here after you started that ritual. And speaking of that, you might want to look at your flank."

"What?" I stood up on my bed and reared, letting the blanket slide off. Then I turned to stare.

On my flank was imprinted the Gallopolean royal crest – a four-pointed star overlaid on a sun – and on top of that was a peacock with jewels for the eyes on its tail feathers! (How'd I know they were jewels when they were just pictures on my fur? It's all in the shape. That's all I can say.)

"I…I got my cutie mark?"

"You sure did! I noticed it when I was getting you ready for bed. The jeweled peacock cape was a nice touch, by the way. It reminded me of Jewel-eye immediately."

That mention of my peacock left me immediately melancholy. No…not melancholy…

"I want to go home."

He smiled at me. "Then, by my father's name, let us go. There's a lot to do." As I stood up to follow him, he continued, "You need to be properly installed as princess, you need your sun-shoes, and you need to collect apologies from all of Father's nobleponies for what they've said about you."

I almost missed that last remark in my shock. See, "sun-shoes" are only for the Gallopolean royalty. They're horseshoes that, when a pony's running through the sand, leave a trail of blazing suns instead of the typical U-shape. I was a little surprised Chaser was going to have me get those.

Though after a moment of thinking, I wondered why I was surprised; Sunchaser never did anything halfway.

We were just about to the edge of PonyVille when I looked back briefly. "Can I ever go back?"

He looked back as well. Then he smiled at me. "Yes, my sister; we can come back. Properly this time, of course, with gifts for your friends."

I pranced a few paces, before we decided to run away from our escort and race all the way back home.