The Enchanted Path (Book 1 of the Dreamfarers' tales)

Chapter 9 - Feather Fever

"So, your magic depends on emotions, uhu? I see now why they say never to make a unicorn angry..."

"Yeah...it depends on will as well. But it's a lot easier to let it go by itself...I must learn to take it under control," Dianthus said with a shrug.

"Mhm. That must be why your parents always keep their cool no matter what," Cassidy observed.

"Too much, sometimes," Dianthus shivered. "I feared what my father might do yesterday. I've never seen him like that. His voice chilled me to the bone."

"I bet he was restraining himself from biting Birch's head off before Chief Oak could do it," the pegasus said. "I'll tell you; I was worried myself when I left the two of you alone—not that I could have said or done anything to placate an irate unicorn.

"I think it's cool, though." A knowing smile crept upon Cassidy's muzzle. "I guess we finally found out the way to introduce our pure little Dianthus to the dark side, didn't we?"

"Cassidy, please! You're talking like Birch..." Dianthus whined, fifty-fifty annoyed and amused by her remark.

Cassidy let out the most indignant 'harrumph!' she could muster and ruffled her tail feathers.

"You take that back!"

"And will you stop trying to get us into trouble?" Dianthus asked, a brow raised.

"It wasn't me who got Birch so riled up," Cassidy pouted. "Speaking of which..." she looked at the unicorn, trailing off.

"What?" he asked cluelessly.

"What happened yesterday? It...it wasn't like you at all."

"What is like me, then?" Dianthus retorted.

Cassidy looked taken aback and shifted her gaze.

"Guess I was tired," he said, calmer this time. "His mocking got to me, at last."

"I think it was cool," she said softly. "Real cool. The way you reacted when he first opened that big dumb mouth of his. As if it didn't touch you at all."

Dianthus' voice softened. "It touched me alright. Literally, too, since he shoved me against a tree," he snorted as a sharp pang from his side reinforced his words. His father hadn't deemed it necessary to heal him the day before, nor had Dianthus asked for it, for that matter. "I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction."

"Did you see his face?" Cassidy exclaimed, cheery again. "He couldn't believe it! No one has ever stood up to him!"

"Well, you have. Many times."

"Pfui, doesn't count. I'm a filly. He can't really do me anything without getting into serious trouble."

"I don't think he quite remembered his code of honor yesterday," Dianthus said, frowning. "He was about to hurt you, too."

Cassidy shrugged. "Yeah, that wasn't pretty. He was mad alright." Then she looked Dianthus up and down with a sly smile. "Someone here did remember his code of honor..."

"'T was nothing," Dianthus said, quickly looking away to hide a hint of blush, but Cassidy went on excitedly.

"You got rid of him for good! Actually, I wish I'd stayed to see the best part."

"Nah, I'm glad you went off and sought my father out." Dianthus hoofed nervously at the ground. "I don't know what I could have done if he hadn't stopped me."

"Hey." Dianthus felt the gentle weight of a wing draped across his back. "You're too hard on yourself. It was only a minor burn; he would've done much worse to you."