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Chapter 947 Back On The Saddle

It seemed as if I was missing home more than I ever realized.

Feel-good reminisces came in soft, serene waves submerging me neck-deep in nostalgia. The air crisp with a dying winter\'s dew, and the vast quiet stretching far into the boundless horizon where you could practically see where the soil meets the sky; city life might have its sprawling vistas, but I\'ll take clear, blue skies over soaring concrete any day of the year.

I didn\'t get much of a chance to properly soak in everything the last time I was here, and even when I did get those scarce opportunities, Harry\'s life would be there dangling in front of my eyes, swaying continuously, hanging by a thread that was any moment ready to snap unless I did something.

So this was a nice change of pace, really… being home just for the sake of being home and nothing more, even if it\'s only just for a little while.

Sammy escorted a rowdy, eager Lyn out of the barn and onto the field. With a bit of imagination, I could still almost quite make out the gigantic pillar of ice that she accidentally formed before Ash shattered it into a million tiny glimmering pieces while getting acquainted with Dad.

She continued to yank and pull, getting a little surlier each time Lyn would yank and pull back from her too. I\'d help her out, thing is, that might just inadvertently imply I didn\'t have any confidence in her abilities, and how could I, as her loving caring older brother, do her like that? I\'m pretty sure the Spartans had a similar philosophy.

"You\'re an ass," Sammy said, tossing Lyn\'s reins over in a less than cordial manner. "That hurt, you know? My palms are burning, and you just freaking stood there."

"Pretty sure it is not supposed to," I said. "If you know what you\'re doing anyway."

To better demonstrate my point, I beckoned Lyn over to my side with the smallest tug of her leash, and she obediently followed suit without so much as a snort.

"Good girl," I said, showering her with many pats and praise. "Y\'see? Nothing to it."

"Oh, okay, so that\'s how it is," Sammy began stamping her hooves into the ground, her lips puckered tightly as if she just tasted something sour. "Fed and groomed you day after day, even brushed your tail, filed your hooves, but sure, you go nuzzle up to the guy that couldn\'t be bothered to see you. Women. Pfft. Typical."

"If she\'s giving you so much trouble, then why still put up with her?" I asked.

"Duh, why else?" Sammy scooted forward, giving Lyn\'s soft, long mane a deep, tender stroke. "Because she\'s pretty."

There seems to be a critical lack of self-awareness going on here, but I didn\'t come here to sort out the pot over the kettle. Time for Chester to jump on the saddle and show what he can do.

I set my top hat aside, and after some slow, cautious clambering, I managed to climb onto Lyn without having to hear the dreadful shriek of torn fabric. It\'s been a long while since I had my feet dangling in the air and the hefty breadth of rope in my hands. I got a bike, sure, but nothing compares to pure horsepower.

"Here," I reached my arm down towards Sammy. "Hop on."

"Oh, so now\'s when you help, huh?" she ignored my helping hand and just pulled herself up out of sheer spite. "Do me a favor—make this worth it? If I did all this and you just start sauntering through the fields, I\'m gonna lose my absolute shit."

I left her hanging with a small smirk. What she decided to make was her problem. I spurred us forward, slowly at first and maybe for a little longer than a certain someone was accustomed to, and already I could make out the little discontented grumblings rumbling from behind me.

Then, faster, as I nudged Lyn onwards from the stirrups; a light squeeze of her body encouraging her to pick up the pace. After a few more kicks, she was pretty deep into a steady, growing rhythm of speed. I could feel the wind blasting, hear it, louder and louder in a rustle of pure pressure.

Before long, we were crossing the fields in a blur of winding greens. Sammy was taken much by surprise and found herself practically clinging onto me for dear life. I glanced back at her for a second; her sour mood completely blown back by the fervent joy of terminal velocity—kind of.

"Was she always this fast?!" Sammy blurted out in awe. "Emerald never came close to this with me—what the heck!"

"Maybe she thinks you\'re confusing her with someone else," I yelled back, drifting us away from an incoming fence line and back onto open acres. "Try calling her with her actual name next time."

"I am! Emerald!"

I breathed in, careful not to swallow any bugs. "Such a bad name…"

"I like it!" She said defensively. "Not my problem you don\'t got taste!"

Lyn chimed into the discussion, belting out a long disgruntled whinny while whipping her head around. Don\'t need any lessons in vocabulary to understand that one.

"Fine! Tell you what, then!" Sammy suddenly declared. "You show me more of what Emerald can do, and maybe I\'ll consider it!"

"Show you?" I asked, confused. "Show you how?"

"Like this!"

And then, in the corner of my eyes, I saw Sammy stretching her hand out. Doubt had only barely manifested in my thoughts before I suddenly heard it; a crackling, a frothing, the air itself as if boiling. I looked ahead and felt my heart freeze.

"Ice?!" I yelled. "Sammy, what the hell?!"

There it was, a blockade of thick ice stood in our path. A long line of shimmering white, almost blinding underneath the midday sun, as if it had always been there—out of nowhere—and I had completely forgotten about it.

Because, of course, every farm has its personal great wall in the backyard, didn\'t you know?

"Just jump, Big Bro!" Sammy said, an eager smile present in her echoes. "Amanda showed me a clip of you doing it before! Loads of times! Just do it again!"

There was actually more than one way to approach the situation. Sure, the wall was short enough to vault over, but we were also still far enough away to decelerate in time, and if not that, the wall certainly wasn\'t long enough to stop me from just simply swerving us around it.

Either of the latter options would have been the safer, wiser choice. As the older sibling, I should be looking here to set a good example. Let\'s not even start on the fact that Sammy had misused her powers again. That\'s a whole \'nother can of worms by itself!

Yet, despite telling myself this, and being 100% aware of it, I gave Lyn another kick, and a second later, the pounding of her hooves against the earth began to sound like thunder.

We were close, closer than I could react, to realize, close enough that I could almost see my expression reflecting back at me in the glossy, icy void of pure white. Then, suddenly, we were soaring, flying—for a moment, weightless—and with a reverberating crash of mass and gravity we landed on the other side of the wall, speeding towards a wide, unhindered horizon.

"You see?" Sammy exclaimed, a delighted smirk peering at me from the corner. "Nothing to it, Big Bro!"

"Yeah, whatever," I said, too busy still weathering the rearrangements my organs took. "You satisfied now?"

"Just with that—you kidding?" Sammy chortled, raising her hand again, much to my horror. "You can definitely do more than that!"

"Sammy—!"

"Oh, come on!" Sammy said, bringing out the pleading, begging little sister energy when she wanted things her way. "Like, listen—do this for Lyn, alright? Do this for her! This is the first time in like, forever you\'re with her. Make it count! Don\'t you wanna make it count?"

Before I could even say anything, Lyn interjected with a loud whinny, rearing her head to the side with the green in her eyes practically staring me down. I could only blink in disbelief.

"Now you\'re taking her side?"

Another snort, and I knew I was outvoted two-to-one.

"Just one more round around the field," Sammy said. "Only this time with some added… flair to spice things up. Think you\'re up for that?"

Lyn let out a neigh, voicing her eager consent. On the other hand, I was still much on the fence about things.

I\'m no stickler for fun, I just wanna make sure things don\'t go too far. And turning our barnyard into a pseudo-obstacle course definitely seemed like it was riding along the lines of too far already.

"I\'ll clear everything up once we\'re done," Sammy added, as if reading my exact thoughts. "What Mom don\'t know won\'t kill us, right? So, what do you say?"

I think this was a terrible idea. But what I said instead was another thing entirely.

"I\'m not jumping through any rings of fire," I told her, looking at her, and trying to suppress the smile on my face. "You understand me?"

Sammy just laughed, stretching her hand out at the ready. "No promises."