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As Boulderfire and Snakesand argued about who was the better leader and who had the prettier feathers (apparently it was Boulderfire's), Amberfang padded over to Stormsun, avoiding the stomping hooves and swatting tails of Stormsun's kidnappers.

Stormsun stepped to the side and fluttered her feathers, attracting the cub closer.

When Amberfang was close enough, Stormsun stretched out her wing, letting it brush against the sand. Amberfang mewled and stood on her hind paws, digging her sharp teeth into the mantel of Stormsun's wing. Stormsun held her breath and lifted her wing, ignoring the sharp pain with all her might, letting Amberfang climb up on Stormsun's back. When Amberfang was comfortable, Stormsun quickly flattened her wings over the cub, folding them high on her back and trying to make it look normal and not as if she had a lion cub on her back.

Stormsun peered over to her left and at Shelltail, who was watching her. Thankfully, he seemed too tired and groggy to notice what had just happened before his eyes. He yawned, showing his clean, perfect white teeth, before clapping his mouth shut and blinking rapidly.

"Quit it, you two," Shelltail rumbled at Boulderfire and Snakesand. The caption and sky herder looked over at Shelltail. Snakesand barred her teeth at Shelltail, while Boulderfire snorted and flared his wings in an intimating way.

"Well, we all know I'm in charge, right?" Boulderfire scanned his team, trying to look tough, which in Stormsun's opinion, shouldn't be hard for him. He was as muscular as a ice tiger, and taller then any other pegasus Stormsun had ever seen.

To Stormsun's surprise, Boulderfire's cold gaze wandered over to her. He usually never looked at her, or even payed attention to her, probably because he cared nothing for her except for bringing her back to this Spikewing, probably to show how "wonderful" and "skilled" he was at kidnapping helpless foals. How reassuring.

Stormsun stayed as still as a rock as Boulderfire observed her. Well, at least she tried. Amberfang was shifting around, and Stormsun felt one of Amberfang's claws scrape her neck.

When no one answered Boulderfire, he tossed his head and looked in the direction of the Red Rock Mountains, where Stormsun guessed the rest of Desert Herd was.

"Shelltail and Snakesand, you both will grab our captured filly's wings, and we'll fly home," Boulderfire nickered.

"Ahem, I have a name, you know," Stormsun spat. Then she suddenly realized something. Would they discover Amberfang? What would happen to the cub? Stormsun paled. She knew that Amberfang would probably get killed. Well, unless Amberfang could run fast enough. But even if Amberfang could, she's just a cub. There was no sign of Amberfang's mother, only desert, and scattered stones, along with the occasional cacti and dead trees. Stormsun knew that the second the steeds reached for Stormsun's wings, they'd discover the lion cub curled up underneath them. Stormsun's heart pounded. Oh, come on, Storm! You just met this cub, for star's sake! Quit acting like-

Amberfang mewed quietly, and Stormsun remembered where she was and that Boulderfire was still watching her. "Um, sorry..." Stormsun desperately tried to think of an excuse as Shelltail stood, yawning again.

Snakesand looked around, looking bored. "What is it, filly?" She spat angrily. "Let's go already," she muttered.

"Uh... m-my wings hurt. D-do you think we could... w-walk the rest of the way back?" Stormsun nickered, lifting her head boldly. Amberfang seemed to have relaxed, because Stormsun could feel the vibration of her purring, and she was no longer shifting around.

Shelltail grunted. "Whatever, yeah, we can walk," Shelltail said a little to quickly, a hint of relief in his voice.

Stormsun let out her breath, but looked at Shelltail suspiciously. Why did he sound so glad? He didn't appear to be injured, and Stormsun thought that he wanted to get home faster. Maybe he did notice Amberfang, after all? But that couldn't be right, he would've just said so, and why would he care, anyway? Something wasn't clicking...

"Excuse me, I'm in charge here," Boulderfire growled, interrupting Stormsun's thoughts.

Stormsun's ears flicked back to him. "B-but, please?"

Snakesand groaned. "We're going to be here all day, you brats. Let's just listen to the filly and walk, before I go crazy and murder somebody," Snakesand hissed loudly, startling Stormsun.

Boulderfire shrugged his wings. "Alright then. I'm leading the way, though. Snakesand, you go to the filly's left, Shelltail, you go to her right," Boulderfire said over his shoulder, not even looking at them.

Stormsun exhaled quietly and shifted her wings, hopping that Amberfang was as comfortable as she could possibly be. This was going to be a long walk, and Stormsun definitely didn't want Amberfang to start yowling or nipping at Stormsun the rest of the way there.

Stormsun just hoped that this cub could hold it's bladder. And, well, Stormsun certainly didn't want any cat dung on her chestnut hide. For two reasons: 1. Her kidnappers would definitely smell it, which could cause some problems. And 2. Gross.

XD Welp, I hope you liked it! Next chapter will be coming out shortly! Constructive criticism welcome :)