“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton
Abril 2nd 999 A.B.
The flurries homed in on the young mare as she trudged through the alpine woods surrounding Canterlot. Each step would cause her to cringe as her hooves crushed the frozen grass eliciting the crunch to echo throughout the forest. As she proceeded deeper into the woods, her eyes would scan back and forth, her target had to be near, she knew he was.
Perhaps for the first time in her life the young unicorn was wrong. It had been four hours of futile searching before she gave in. Frustrated she slammed her head into a nearby tree, the resounding thud was soon accompanied by a pained groan. Why can’t you do anything right! the young mare silently screamed at her self. It wasn’t until few deep breaths and an odd song that involves ladybugs later the mare was ready to continue on her journey, a somewhat maniacal grin accompanying her.
A quick glance backwards confirmed that the creature was still in hot pursuit. Careful to not let her hooves sink into the snow the unicorn nimbly sprinted through the exposed clearing hoping to gain a clear shot. Concentrating her magic she tore her rifle from it’s holster. Planting her front hoof in the ground she spun around, her rifle locked firmly into her shoulder, and fired a shot directly at the timberwolf’s head. She would have leapt with joy when the round snapped the wolf’s head clean off if not for the fact that it’s body was still intent on killing her. Letting out a little “eep” she turned around and made a mad dash towards the other side of the clearing, perhaps electric rounds are not the best ammo for killing trees. Wait trees!
A smile spread across her face as a plan formulated inside her head. Forcing all the magic into her horn that she could muster she unleashed it directly into the clearing. Black formed around her eyes as she staggered to the side, nearly blacking out. She shook her head and forced herself to veer to the right. A loud crackling crash followed by strangled yelps signaled her plan working.
The mare staggered several steps away from the fallen tree before she collapsed against into a thorn coated bush. This is going to do wonders to my gear damnit, can you do anything right?
The young mare had taken up the fascinating pastime of tree counting, as fascinating as this activity sounded it fell far short of expectations. An annoyed groan was soon followed by the mumbling of “All this so can I shoot my brother, what is wrong with me.” I can’t believe I’m still trekking through the alpine instead of doing something important! Like drinking hot cocoa, or reading a book, yeah reading a book sounded pretty good, OH! Reading a book while drinking hot cocoa, now thats a plan worth pursuing.
The unicorn crouched low as she peeked out from behind the tree she was currently hiding behind. In the clearing shortly ahead was a small makeshift camp set up. Deciding a bird’s eye view would be best she used her magic to assist her as she quickly climbed the tree, producing baby blue colored steps as she ascended (What did they expect her to climb up like a brute?). She dispelled her stairs and landed crisply on a large branch giving her a perfect view of the enemy encampment. A quick scan confirmed her suspicions, tied up in the middle of the camp was white unicorn with a shield cutie mark. With the target identified she did her not so favorite part of these missions.
In war patience is not just a virtue, it is a necessity. The unicorn began to hate this fact more and more as she waited for the guards to leave her an opening. She could have used anything, but instead hours passed and nothing had changed, same guards, same position. However it appeared that Luck was throwing her a bone after several hours of waiting as one of the guards left to “relieve himself”.
A smile grew on her face as she brought the rifle to her chest. Forcing her magic into the trigger mechanism she took aim at the unicorn standing watch directly over the electrically blue maned prisoner. Slowly she increased her magical potency surrounding the internal trigger until it clicked, releasing the round. Reflexively the mare leapt from her current perch onto a lower branch of a neighboring tree narrowly avoiding a hail of bullets as the guards quickly reacted, must be elite soldiers. She dove off the second branch onto the ground using the foliage to mask her position.
A glance through the brush confirmed that she had hit a vital on the first soldier as his violent twitching faded away to a deathly stillness. A shot ripping through the brush next to her head returned her to the task at hand, there were still two guards with another bound to be returning soon. She takes aim and fires another shot as this round hit the guard square in the chest. The guard cried out in pain as he was thrown backwards onto the ground,his body armor preventing any penetration from the shot; however the electrical discharge was enough to finish him.
The last guard dived to the ground avoiding another shot from the unicorn and unlatched an electrical grenade before he flung it out into the brush. He heard rustling as the mare rolled out of the way of the grenade. He quickly fired several shots into her new position and dived behind a the camp’s supply stash. His gun reloaded he leaned out of cover to begin shooting again, only for a round to scrape his face and release it’s electrical charge throughout his body.
“Hey I heard some noise what’s going on?” the fourth guard called out as he stepped out of a section of the woods. A fourth shot quickly silenced him.
Everything standing in her way was gone, mission complete, so time to rub it in. With a smirk the mare approached the hostage slowly drawing a knife from its sheath on her back leg. Sliding her blade between his coat and the rope binding his muzzle she yanked towards her freeing his mouth. She looked him in the eyes and said “Getting captured by the enemy? You're losing it captain.” Her voice was surprisingly soft and elegant
Glaring at the mare he monotones, “Just cut my bindings already”
“Why of course dear,” she smiles as she began to cut him free.
As soon as the last rope was cut the ex-hostage lept in the air and stood on two legs proudly proclaiming “CAPTAIN SHINING IS BACK IN BUISNE--” but his moment of glory was cut short by the distinct sound of a gunshot.
Near the crown of a pine tree a lavender mare was jumping with joy, quite effectively giving away her position. She had timed her shot perfectly so right when her big brother stood up she put him right back down. Glancing back at him she noticed that he was still convulsing from the charge. It wasn’t for a few more seconds until she noticed an alabaster unicorn , still in shock from the shot, fumbling with her rifle. Pulling back the bolt on her rifle she quickly loaded another round. She dropped to a lower branch as she finished loading her shot, being showered with splinters as a round impacts where she had been standing. Quickly setting her sights on the alabaster unicorn she fired a shot hitting the unicorn square in the chest as expected. However the round that impacted her in the chest and finished her off was not expected. A brief thought crossed her mind as she felt the electricity coursing into her spine “Real snipers use bolt-action damn it!”
Abril 3 999 A.B.
A battle scarred griffon stared over the balcony railing overlooking thousands of his subjects. He had waited forty long years for this day to come and it was finally here.
The day he was born the hopeless title of sixth hier was place upon his name. It was not until a month before his tenth birthday he finally received the honor of being the fifth in line for the throne due to the death of his oldest brother, conveniently giving the second born the kingship. He still thought it was ridiculous to even think about becoming king. That changed six year later when the new king fell ill and passed away in the middle of the night. Now that he was fourth in line for the throne he felt hope kindle in his heart that maybe he would be the one to return his people to greatness. On his twentieth birthday he followed the griffon tradition of joining the armed forces.
Two years passed and he was deployed to Zebrica to assist in an Equestrian mission to remove insurgents. Six years of fighting side by side with the Equestrian forces caused him to realize what the past kings had not. Equestria has gone soft.
The veteran returned to his homeland to discover he was now third in line for the griffon throne. This was closest a sixth child has ever come to becoming king in the empires history, perhaps this was destiny. The event that occurred ten years later only confirmed this in the griffon’s heart as second in line only one stood in his way to becoming king. Two more years went by and the guards found their king headless. Forty years of waiting was over, King Vilit Ubern could finally make his empire great again.
Pride filled his body as he stood on two legs, slammed his clawed fist against his chest, and lifted his wings as a salute to the heavens. He stared out unto the multitude of griffons as they moved in tandem, perfectly mimicking his salute before they shouted “ALL HAIL VILIT UBERN, LORD OF THE SKY AND ALL THAT IT REACHES!”
Author's Note
So was the character switching too confusing or just the right amounts of confusing?
