He stood there in the snow, trying to stuff it back inside of his winter coat. Why did he feel the need to take it out and look at it?
The young soldier shivered as he walked in the crinkling snow, clutching his rifle, watching his breath reflect the cold air. He and his squadron had wandered into this abandoned village to look for what little supplies they might find.
It was a cold winter’s night, but bright with the light of the moon. Luna… he thought. No…why could he not stop thinking about it?
What did that matter now? He might not even live to see another day. He already felt like he was half freezing to death. Why did this part of the world have to be so cold?
At first he thought it was just in his head. The unrelenting thoughts…he thought he could hear the soft flutter of wings.
He tried to shake the sound from his head until he realized that something was actually flying near him. His eyes darted around anxiously…not one of his fellow soldiers were nearby. He had wandered away from the group. No one was nearby.
The further he walked, the louder the noise. He found himself standing near a dilapidated house that was halfway burned out from an enemy attack. He soon realized that somepony…no, somebody…what is wrong with me? was inside. Knowing his duty as a soldier, he kicked down the barely-hinged door.
The fluttering rustle stopped and the soldier heard loud clattering. The soldier looked around for signs of movement, but saw nothing but charred and broken pieces of furniture.
The clattering became louder and the soldier clutched his rifle, placing his finger on the trigger.
The soldier ran into the next room, where he had heard the noise. As he ran, something bounced around in the inside of his jacket. As the soldier burst into the remains of a bedroom, he aimed his rifle and scarcely believed his eyes. A small grey horse-shaped creature with avian wings and a yellow mane was shivering, trotting around aimlessly, knocking against everything with its hooves.
The soldiers stepped back, dropping his rifle and rubbing his eyes to make the illusion leave.
The grey pegasus twitched in alarm and looked up at the soldier, her crossed-eyes filled with fear. She backed away slowly before galloping away and knocking muzzle first into a wall. Blood dripped from her nostrils and water dripped from her eyes as she shivered and whimpered.
Both the soldier and the pegasus looked down when something fell out of the soldier’s jacket. A stuffed doll plopped to the ground. Why did he have to bring such a keepsake along?
A small plush toy, a grey pegasus, with three bubbles stitched into its flank, a yellow mane and askew plastic eyes lay at the soldier’s feet. The pegasus peered curiously at its own image in doll form.
The soldier heard several footsteps drawing near him and started to raise his rifle until he realized that four of his comrades had found him.
As he was surrounded by his brothers-in-arms, the young soldier knew what he had to do. He couldn’t let them hurt her...who knows what they might think of doing...they were bored, hungry, and cold...she was weak, defenseless, and scared...
The soldier raised his rifle and aimed it at the pegasus. Water was beginning to blur his vision. He could almost see the pitiful cross-eyes looking at him.
A shot rang out, and the pegasus fell backwards. Blood formed around the fresh hole in the creature’s neck. The soldier fell to his knees and wept, dropping his rifle again, as his comrades formed a circle to examine the same creature. In another time and place, the soldiers would have wondered how and why a small horse grew wings, but now they were hungry, cold, and bored. Mostly hungry.
The other soldiers dragged the creature’s corpse out of the house as the young soldier wiped the tears from his face and picked up his stuffed Derpy. He examined the fresh specks of blood soaking into the cloth. Derpy was stitched in a tranquil smile. The soldier started to cry again, but stifled his tears and placed the bloodstained Derpy back in his jacket.
The soldier rejoined his comrades in the snow, knowing his own hunger would drown out his sorrow in due time.
Due time arrived quicker than expected. The soldiers gathered what kindling and debris they could. Together, they had lighters and matches enough to start a decent fire. They also had their combat knives.
It wasn’t until they had spread the grey pegasus on her back that they realized she was in fact a pegasus. Most of them started to presume she was some kind of extraterrestrial. Still, their ravenous hunger outweighed their curiosity and disbelief. Rations only lasted so long.
The pony’s skin cut like butter and her body drained within minutes. A glistening pool of blood dyed the snow crimson. The ribs were cut apart and intestines removed. At least in this instance, pony tripe tasted a good bit better than pig tripe.
The choicest cuts of meat were from the ribs and flank. It had a delicate balance of the taste, texture, and tenderness of venison, veal, and good old-fashioned horsemeat. The wings, on the other hand, had the awkward shape of large poultry wings, but the taste of tough jerky. The feathers were plucked and the soldiers found they made nice souvenirs.
The soldier who had taken the shot initially could not bring himself to share this quarry. The smell of the cooking meet brought revulsion, as he knew the source all too well. But as Derpy gradually looked less and less like Derpy and more like a barbequed pig, the meat became more appealing. The soldier’s survival instincts activated, his stomach demanded food, and the scent only reinforced this command. Derpy was the best pony he’d ever tasted.
After the meal, one soldier decided to put the corpse to good use and stripped Derpy’s skin from her bones. The pelt was cleaned with melted snow and carefully dried out by the fire. The soldier soon had a small throw rug with four palm sized hooves and a horse shaped upper jaw attached.
Many of the larger bones were cut in half and kept as the marrow would be used for future nourishment. The only parts thrown into the fire were Derpy’s little pink brain, due to the risk of disease, and the eyes, because no one could stand to look at the all too human glare of her irises staring back at them.
The soldier who had taken the prey sobbed softly to himself, clutching his plush Derpy to his chest. She didn’t deserve to be eviscerated, but then again, neither did many of the poor souls he saw on the roadsides and the battlefield. As a token gesture, or possibly an act of justification, the soldier tossed the plush pony into the flame.
The moment he did so, a wild thunderstorm cracked directly above him, lightning flashed above the sky, and a torrential rainfall drenched the soldiers. The fire was quickly put out and the half-charred plushie seemed to stare directly at its owner.
A large, heavy object descended from the sky and the soldiers scrambled to retrieve their rifles. They all aimed in anticipation as an enormous flying carriage pulled by two large black equine creatures with bat wings landed on the ground. A third equine, of a deep blue color, and a crescent moon on its flank levitated from the seat of the carriage and raised its front hooves.
“HATH ANYONE SIGHTED A SMALL GREY PEGASUS IN THE VICINITY?!!” the equine said in a booming voice.
The soldiers looked at each other in utter amazement, then confusion, and then in the sharp, cringing realization that this extraterrestrial of some sort had arrived to retrieve one of its own kind.
One anxious soldier fired a single rifle shot. The bullet slowed its trajectory in midrange before it halted and dropped harmlessly in the snow. Another soldier shot an accusing glare at his comrade before the soldier who had fired the shot felt himself levitating and drifting toward the large equine.
“THOU WOULDST DARE ATTACK A ROYAL PRINCESS?!!” the equine boomed, “EXPLAIN THYSELF AT ONCE!!”
“It was him!” the soldier panicked, “He killed your friend! We had nothing to do with it!”
The soldier flailed and pointed accusingly at the one who had shot Derpy. The accusing soldier was flung back toward the ground and the accused soldier floated toward the princess.
“DOES HE SPEAK TRUE?!!” the princess inquired.
“Listen, Luna...” the soldier began, “I can explain...”
“OUR NAME?!” Luna shouted, “HOW DO YOU KNOW IT?!”
“Because you’re a children’s cartoon show...” the soldier said plainly, “You’ve only been off the air a few years....”
“YOUR WORDS ARE CONFOUNDING!” the princess decried, “WHAT IS THIS ‘CARTOON’ THAT YOU SPEAK OF?!”
“An animated program...” the soldier said, as if speaking to a small child, “A television show made for little girls...on the Hub...it developed a cult following called ‘bronies’...”
“WHAT IS THIS ‘TELEVISION’ YOU SPEAK OF?!” Luna inquired.
“Moving pictures with sound...” the soldier muttered, “I don’t have time to explain...look, I shot Derpy...I killed her...you want to kill me? Fine. We’re all probably gonna die out here anyways. But leave them out of it. I’m responsible.”
Luna’s eyes welled with tears and her face flushed with anger.
“WHY WOULDST THOU DARE MURDER SUCH A HARMLESS CREATURE, FOUL DEMON?!!” Luna raged.
The soldier tried to speak but found himself unable as Luna was unconsciously strangling him with her mind. He coughed and sputtered for air as Luna released her grip.
“It was a mercy kill...” the soldier said, “She would have frozen to death, starved, or worse...”
“WHY COULDST THOU NOT OFFER HER FOOD AND WARMTH?!!” Luna demanded.
The soldier broke into maddened laughter at the irony of the statement, deciding to make Luna angry enough to kill him immediately.
“I ate her!” he said, “I shot her and ate her! And I liked it! Derpy was the best meal I ever had! You’ll never find her body! There’s nothing left! So either kill me or take me back to Equestria, or whatever half-flanked idea you’ve got planned!”
“WE SHALL TAKE YOU BACK!!” Luna decided, “BUT ONLY SO THAT WE MAY MAKE YOU ANSWER FOR YOUR VILLANOUS CRIMES!!”
Luna’s bat-guards suddenly nabbed the soldier and forced him to lie across their backs. Luna resumed her seat in the carriage and it left in a bright flash of energy, making the storm disappear just as quickly as it arrived.
The other soldiers just stared at the sky in wonder as the moon shone down on them. The soldier who had turned Derpy’s skin into a pelt looked admiringly at her cutie mark.
“Good thing that loudmouth broad didn’t notice this, eh?” he commented, “Those cute little marks sure do look swell on this thing. Look kinda like bubbles, don’t they, fellas?”
Author's Note
This story was originally meant to be serious but the first version failed moderation. I have a link to it on one of my blog posts. The password is snow
