Author’s Notes: Well, after the wonderful reception "Pegasus Flight" received, I’ve been working on a sequel. If you haven’t read "Pegasus Flight" yet, I would recommend doing so before reading this story. Thanks to everyone who sent in feedback! Comments and constructive criticism are welcome at ra_1013@yahoo.com, but flames are cheerfully ignored. Enjoy the story!

Note: *text* = telepathy

~text~ = thoughts

Prologue

It was a perfect fall afternoon in the county of Westchester, New York. The sky was that beautiful shade of blue somewhere between cerulean and azure that poets have tried and failed to convey to their audiences for years. The sun shone brightly, making one of its last appearances before disappearing in the cold distance of winter. Trees arrayed in their autumn finery of red, golden, and orange stretched to the sun in a final show of glory before the sleep of winter. The air held a touch of crispness to remind everyone of the long months of cold that were just around the corner. But for now all was perfect, and everyone who could was outside to enjoy the beauty of nature. The skies just outside of the town of Salem Center held an added wonder. Soaring among the clouds, trailed by the more thrill-seeking birds, was a creature straight out of legend--a pegasus. Anyone close enough to this sight would swear that human laughter could almost be heard as the pegasus seemed to dance through the sky. Birds soared and dipped around it, adding their own song to the almost-laughter and the cheerful neighs and whinnies of their odd flying companion.

A man walked outside of the house in the middle of the grounds the pegasus was flying over. He scanned the sky around him intently, his face brightening into a smile when he spotted the sight in the clouds. Walking out onto the green lawn, he waved his arms. After a moment the pegasus seemed to spot him and angled its wings to carry its course downward. It backwinged to a landing just in front of the man. He hid a smile of amusement and scratched at his head. The pegasus rolled its eyes up and with a snort of equine amusement shook its head slightly to encourage the bird that had landed there to a more stable perch. A casual observer would have been most surprised at what happened next. The air around the pegasus began shimmering and twisting in a way that hurt the eye to look at. When the distortion ceased, a young woman with hair so blonde it looked almost white stood where the pegasus had. Though a prominent scar on her left cheek marred her face, the girl’s eyes danced.

"Weren’t you supposed to be training?" Scott asked his adopted daughter.

"You did say I needed to work on my control of animals," Peggy pointed out innocently. "And it seemed a shame to waste such a gorgeous day."

"You’ve been taking lessons from Bobby, haven’t you?"

"Hmm...if I was I’d have to call you ‘Slim’ and freeze your underwear drawer," Peggy laughed. "Maybe just from Jubilee. She said she’ll teach one member of the Summers family to relax if it kills her!"

Scott sighed. "Between the two of them I just don’t know what I’ll do sometime. They have no respect for authority." He shook his head. "Anyway, I’m moving up your training session tomorrow morning. I want you to get some team practice in, so I’m going to run you with Jean and Rogue at seven."

"I’ll be there," Peggy said quietly. "I’d better get back inside and finish my biology for Hank." He didn’t notice her change in attitude and left her to finish off some business of his own. Peggy went upstairs to her room and opened her biology notebook, but she just looked off into space instead of at the assignment. The training session! That’s why she’d been outside in the first place, trying to forget the disastrous one earlier today. She just didn’t seem to be cut out for the superhero business. She didn’t want to talk to anyone about it--they might think she didn’t want to be an X-Man! Nothing could be farther from the truth. She just wasn’t very good at it. Her mutant power wasn’t exactly combative. What good was turning into a big horse? Talking to animals wasn’t very useful unless Mr. Sinister decided to add a zoo to his arsenal. Peggy sighed and rested her head on her cheek. The X-Men, and especially Scott, had done so much for her. The only way she could possibly pay them back was to become a perfect X-Man. She just didn’t know if she could.

Next chapter--The first meeting between Cable and Peggy. Watch the sparks fly!

This chapter is dedicated to Huan Ha, the very first person to send me feedback on the original Pegasus Flight. I was much encouraged, so thanks to everyone who wrote!