Chapter 4 Flying High and Low

Several hours had passed since Giselle and Silverstream ate talked with each other. The zeppelin had docked itself at Ram's rock hill. Giselle and Silverstream had flown off into the remoter reaches of the Macintosh hills until they came upon a fairly secluded area surrounded by mountain peaks.

Giselle grinned, “You ready to fly Silver?”

Silverstream nodded, “you bet.”

“Let's start off easy.” Giselle crouched down. “With a barrel roll.” Giselle shot up into the air and twirled three hundred and sixty degrees before landing back on the ground with a thud. “Can you do that?”

“Technically that was an aileron roll.” Silverstream shot up into the air and twirled just like Giselle had. “And yes I can.”

“Tch, try this.” Giselle once again leaped up into the air and spun around like she did previously. However this time she did several loop de loops before landing on a drifting cloud. “Top that.”

Silverstream crouched down and flew high up. She flew straight downward spinning three hundred sixty degrees before pulling up into a series of loop de loops. As she ascended, she also did a spinning loop de loop before landing on a cloud next to Giselle. “Consider yourself topped.”

“Try this on for size.” Giselle left the cloud and did several spinning zig zags before returning to her cloud.

Silverstream followed behind and flew in a zig zag pattern as well, however before she landed she flew straight through a cloudbank to release a spray of water. When she landed on her cloud a rainbow followed behind her. “How's that?”

“Pretty cool, but can you do this?” Giselle leaped up into the air and flew around an axis before diving towards the ground and doing several loop de loops back up. Towards the end of her flight, she spun around and created a small whirlwind. She kicked this vortex into some nearby clouds as if they were bowling pins. Silverstream jumped off the cloud and mimicked Giselle's movements. However, when she tried to produce a whirlwind, she couldn't manage it.

Giselle nodded, “not bad, not bad. Tricks are one thing but let's see how fast you are. Race ya to that waterfall over there.” Giselle pointed to a waterfall emanating from a far-off mountain. Silverstream nodded and took a position next to Giselle. “Ready,” Both Silverstream and Giselle crouched. “Set,” Silverstream twitched her wings. “Go” Silverstream took off like a bolt of lightning flying towards the waterfall. She didn't focus on anything other than maxing out her speed capacity. When she finally got to the waterfall, she frowned at the sight of Giselle flying next to the top of the mountain. “You're pretty good, but you're a long way from being in the big leagues.”

“I know I'm not the best flier, but I exercise every day. And someday, maybe I could be the very first non pegasus Wonderbolt.”

“You can't do that.” Giselle wiped some sweat from her neck. “Because I'm gonna be the very first non pegasus Wonderbolt.” She pointed to herself with shut eyes and a smirk.

“You wanna be a Wonderbolt?” Silverstream smiled.

Giselle nodded. “Ever since I was a little hatchling. I haven't quite managed the fame of the Wonderbolts, but I did get a bronze in the Equestria games with the rest of the Griffinstone team.” Giselle smirked.

“Wow.” Silverstream brought her talons to her cheeks. “That's awesome! I only fly as a hobby but you're a real professional.”

“Yeah, one of the best jobs ever. I get to fly and get bits for it. What more could a bird ask for?”

Silverstrem's eyes narrowed as she smirked. “You know, I've never won a flying competition before, but I did win one competition when I was younger. Wanna try and beat me at it?”

Giselle glared and grinned. “You're on Silver.”

Silverstream flew up to Giselle and navigated her so that they were flying above the river far below the waterfall. “Do you trust me, Giselle?”

“Sure.” Giselle added before Silverstream seized her with one arm and dragged her into a nosedive. The pair of them picked up more and more speed as they fell. “Umm Silver.. aren't we going too fast?” Silverstream didn't listen, she simply held Giselle close. As the two of them approached the river's surface, Silverstream reached for her magic pendant and gave it a quick squeeze. She saw a flash and felt the cold wind as she turned herself and Giselle into sea creatures. With a splash, Silverstream and Giselle hit the water unharmed. Silverstream let go of Giselle only to see her cringing with her eyes shut. As for what she became, Giselle's head had remained much the same only her feathers had flattened into scales. She had also acquired a scaly underbelly similar to a dragon; her hindquarters had extended outward into a long sinuous tail.

“You can open your eyes now Giselle.”

Giselle gradually opened her eyes up. “So, we're not dead.” Giselle took in Silverstream. “What happened to your beak Silver?” Giselle pointed a webbed talon only to see her changed talon. “Woah,” she looked at her changed talons. “What's this?” Giselle brought her new sea serpent tail in front of her eyes.

Silverstream giggled. “It's my necklace.” She brought attention to the pearl fragment she wore around her neck. “After the Storm King was defeated. My aunt split the pearl we used to turn ourselves into sea ponies among the other hippogryphs. Now we can shapeshift ourselves and others into sea creatures whenever we want.”

“Wow, you weren't kidding about living underwater.” Giselle flapped her back fin only to go around in a circle and land on the riverbed. 

“It takes some getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it.” Silverstream swam in a circle. Giselle watched and tried emulating her trick only to once again spin out. After several minutes Giselle got the hang of swimming by undulating her backside. Once she got the hang of it, she swam around the river laughing. 

“This is amazing Silverstream it feels like I'm flying with my legs... so what was that competition you won?”

Silverstream smirked. “Fastest swimmer in the young sea pony derby. See that rock over there?” She pointed to a boulder several feet down river. “First one to the boulder wins.”

Giselle smiled, “You're on Silver. I think I got this swimming thing down enough.”

Silverstream took a place just behind a noticeable rock in the river, Giselle did the same. “Ready... Set... GO!” She declared before immediately lunging forward at breakneck speed. Silverstream swam as if her life depended on it before touching the rock. She looked back just in time to see Giselle trailing just behind her to touch the rock last. “Yay!” Silverstream extended her arms into the air. “I won!”

Giselle chuckled. “You sure did Silver, let's consider this competition a draw then.” Giselle gently bumped Silverstream on the shoulder. “I wanna swim some more.” The two of them spent a long while swimming in the river. Giselle even attempted to do an out of river jump arc, but never could build enough speed for it. Eventually, the two of them surfaced and sat on the riverbank.

“Thanks Silver, I've never had so much fun in my life. I never liked swimming before, but you changed all that.”

Silverstream smiled. “I'm glad you had fun today.” Silverstream looked up towards the sky and saw the sun close to dipping over the horizon. “Oh no! The ship is gonna leave soon.” Her eyes went wide.

Giselle's eyes soon followed suit. “Geeze leweeze you're right Silver. We gotta go! But we can't make it if we're fish.” She motioned to her changed sea serpent tail.

Without a word Silverstream hugged Giselle and used her necklace to transform them back. Nothing more needed to be said as the two of them bolted off at breakneck speed. They flew back the way they came only stoping for a few moments to take in the sight of the zeppelin unclamping from the dock. There wasn't much time; Silverstream flew like it was nopony's business. She saw herself about to cross the line of the ship's deck. All she needed to do was stop, but it was too late. She collided with something very yellow causing the object and herself to tumble across the deck. Eventually, she came to a stop directly on top of whatever fuzzy thing she had run into. As the dizziness began to fade, she took in the yellow thing she was on top of. She gasped at the sight of a yellow furred kirin with an orange mane.

Silverstream leapt off the kirin and offered her a claw up. “Ohmygosh! Are you ok?”

The kirin groaned and took her claw to stand up. “I'm fine.”

Silverstream frowned. “I'm sooo sorry I ran into you. I had to get back to the ship super-duper fast and err I kinda lost control.”

Silverstream looked back to the kirin and winced at the sight of her bearing an enormous cheery smile the likes of which she'd only seen on her cousin. “Oh my gosh it's a hippogryph! I've never been rammed by a hippogryph before!” The kirin darted around Silverstream before returning to the front. “You're so pink and adorable. Oh introductions.” She cleared her throat. “I'm Autumn blaze, what's your name?” Autumn held out her hoof.

Part of Silverstream wondered if the awkwardness she felt at that moment was how her friends felt when she rambled about plumbing; however, she found Autumn's enthusiasm contagious. Silverstream reached out a claw to shake her hoof. “I'm Silverstream, pleased to meet you.”

Autumn shook her claw rapidly with an enormous beaming smile on her face. “Pleased to meet you too.”

“Are you two ok?” a smooth spanish accented voice asked. Silverstream turned to see a dark brown stallion wearing a white T shirt and sporting a skull and crossbones cutie mark standing behind them. He was standing next to a yellow Pegasus in a green shirt and hat that Silverstream had never seen until now.

“I'm fine how about you, Autumn?”

“Couldn't be better.” Autumn grinned.

“Glad to hear that. Cabelaron, wanna get our prize down to the cargo hold?”

The stallion nodded and picked up a moderately sized crate wrapped up in a chain. “With pleasure, while I'm doing that, you tell the captain what we're putting down there and about you know who.”

The pegasus nodded and left along with Dr Cabelaron and the crate.

Silverstream felt her stomach growl. “Umm I gotta run. I'm famished and need some dinner. See you around Autumn.”

Autumn just gasped. “Hey, I was gonna say the same thing wanna go get dinner together? Think of it as a make up for ramming me.”

Silverstream gasped. “Do I ever! Let's go!”