I glare down at the book in front of me with my one unbandaged eye. The offending text refuses to yield its secrets, despite my best efforts. My eye drifts towards the inkwell, wondering if I could stop for the day if I “accidentally” knock it over on the book.

“Having some trouble, Storm?” a melodic voice asks, derailing my train of thought. Glancing over my shoulder, I can see Treble looking at the progress I’ve made on my work. I try to cover the book with my arms, but it’s a futile gesture. “...You’re still on the first chapter? Didn’t I give you a key to work with?” I shoot the mare a glare with my good eye, only to look away when she returns my glare with squinted eyes. “Storm…” she starts, in that special voice promising extra work if I don’t answer.

With the air of someone walking to their own execution I extract a piece of paper from several pages further in the book and hand the still damp ink blotched paper to a wide eyed Treble. My eye doesn’t leave the book lying in front of me, as such I know my fate is sealed once a grey hand reaches down and takes the piece of literature. The sound of laughter causes me to look up and see Octavia running around playing tag with two other foals. The forest hiding the city we left just a few days ago sits somewhere behind the orchard surrounding us.

“Storm.” I flinch at the sound of the no nonsense tone of Treble’s voice. Turning my head slowly I look Treble in the eyes, her cold, hard, unrelenting eyes. “You’re grounded.”

“It was an accident, I swear!” I exclaim with a pleading tone of voice.

“So this ink blobbed paper somehow flew between the pages of my favorite book?” Treble asks, holding up said paper.

“...Yes?” I said with an unwavering conviction, strong enough to make any jury agree with me.

“You’re grounded.”

...It wasn’t very effective.

“So… what are you going to do? I’m already forced to stay on the wagon! What more could you do to me that’s worse than not being able to do anything but read!”

“Simple, I think you’ve read enough fiction for this week,” the monster shaped like Treble starts. “I’m sure I can think of some-”

“Nooooooooo!” I scream, as she picks up a book next to my bag. Jumping to my hooves, I lunge for my savior from the madness of being imprisoned to the wagon. “I just got to the good part!” I wail as the she-demon lifts the book over her head.

The monster just looks down at me with a cold calculating gaze. “You’ll get it back in a week.”

I freeze at her words, trying to find the way to make her understand the crime she is considering committing. “But I need to know if Hawkeye makes the shot that will kill the general of the army of the damned! The resistance is being pushed back and Hawkeye’s the only one left who can make the shot!” I explain, jumping in place as I do.

“Do you want to make that grounding last two weeks?”

I stop bouncing as I realize my error. I was not dealing with a demon… I was dealing with the mad god herself.

Treble nods her head once I stop and places my salvation into the void that is her bag. “Oh, and don’t worry about getting bored, Storm,” she states, in a voice that sends a shiver down my spine, before taking something out of her bag. “There are plenty of things you can do to pass the time.”

Staring at the bunch of papers in Treble’s outstretched hand, I feel a cold sense of dread when I realize what they are.

Numbers…

…

So many numbers…

I flop on my back with an explosive sigh as the final problem is finished, the amount of math I’ve done almost turning my mind to mush. The sound of laughter calls out to me through an open window of a nearby barn. Dragging myself to the edge of the wagon, I peek in the window and see my family talking with the owners of the orchard around a caged fire. The sun has long since set behind the trees but the glow of a certain unicorn’s horn is illuminating just enough to make certain that my two wardens and myself are safe.

I hear someone messing with the finished papers. Looking over my shoulder with a tired gaze, I see Snow looking at the complete work with analyzing eyes. My mind drifts for a moment before I look up and start tracing images in the night sky with a finger. The Ursa Major constellation is easy to find once it settles down for the night. Bob says that it is one of the most important constellations out there, as the claw closest to its head will always point directly north.

I blink as several lights shoot across the starry night sky. “Snow?” I start in a curious tone, pointing up at the speeding lights. “What are those?”

Snow and Mom both look up at the speeding lights and only a second passes before Mom jumps out of the wagon and sticks her head in through the open window of the barn.

“Hey,” she shouts, effectively silencing the chatter inside. “We’ve got windigos flying overhead!”

The silence continues for a second before a loud sound coming from my left catches my attention. Turning my head, I try to look for the source of the noise in the darkness of the night, but the shadows seem to absorb the light coming from the stars.

The doors to the barn burst open and a large figure that could only be Ironhoof heads towards us with purpose in his step. Snow is tying down the boxes in the wagon and Mom is glaring out into the darkness with her daggers in her hands as if she is daring it to attack us.

I grab onto the side of the wagon as it lurches forward. Ironhoof is pulling the wagon at a rather fast pace and the uneven ground is doing nothing to help my nerves as the wagon tries to shake me up as much as possible.

I can make out Gale and Bob holding the barn doors open to their furthest extent before Ironhoof turns the wagon towards them and makes a beeline for the shelter. I hear the loud noise again, and when I turn back towards it, I see a large outline arcing through the air before it crashes into the ground a few hooves to the wagon’s right. The thing explodes as it makes contact and I yelp as a tree branch flies over my head, missing me by inches.

I try to make myself as small as possible in the back of the wagon as the scenery changes from the wide open night sky to the inside of the storage building. I hear the doors to the barn slam shut and peeking out over the edge of the wagon allows me to see that everyone is scrambling around, closing windows and boarding them up with wood, or jamming them shut with tools and chairs. I sit there, completely frozen and unsure about what to do, as my family rushes to prepare for… something.

With everyone scurrying around it takes me a moment, but I finally realize that someone is missing. “Mom?” I ask as she passes me with a board in her hands.

“One minute, Storm,” she replies before jumping up a ladder to the upper floor and heading for a window Gale is looking out of. I look at her for a moment before turning to the mare who is still in the wagon with me.

“Snow?” I start again as she rummages through her brown bag.

Snow glances back at me before returning her attention to the bag and pulling out several phials of liquid, “What is it, Storm?”

“Where’s Bob?”

Snow glances around the barn before looking at me again. “Don’t worry about him, he can take care of himself.”

“But-”

“He can take care of himself, Storm!” Snow exclaims, shooting me a glare over her shoulder.

I flinch at her cold tone and curl up with my arms around my knees, trying to make myself as small as possible once again.

I tune out the world and squeeze my eyes shut, wanting to be anywhere but in this chaotic barn where nothing's making sense.

I vaguely note that something screeches outside, a noise that sets my fur on end and has me clenching my teeth as I hold my head. Moments later I am shaken out of my ball by a blue hand. I look up at Mom through blurry eyes, she’s smiling at me and holding out her arms.

“Come on Storm, everything is going to be alright,” she starts as she pulls me into a hug which I gladly return with every limb available. Mom pulls me out of the wagon and carries me over to the fire, where she sits down and starts humming.

Listening to Mom hum while in her warm embrace, I start to calm down, and before I know it I drift off to sleep, oblivious of what is happening outside the safe confines of the barn.

I jolt awake to the sound of someone pounding on the barn doors, a rhythmic and insistent pounding that does not help the headache I woke up with. Looking around with blurry eyes, I can make out Gale prying off a wooden board from a window on the second floor and looking out towards the source of the noise. Light filters in through the window, chasing away my drowsiness as I stretch. Mom is standing by the barn doors holding her weapons in her hands, but everyone else still seems to be sleeping. Standing up, I walk over to Mom and rub the crust from my eyes.

“Hi Mom,” I mumble in greeting, and her head whips over to the right as she looks at me. I can see the bags under her eyes as she smiles at me.

“Good morning Whirlwind, did you sleep well?” she asks in an exhausted tone. I nod my head and look over at Gale as he joins us.

“That’s Bob pounding on the door, and boy do we have a day ahead of us.” Gale states with a note of anticipation in his voice.

“What do you mean?” Mom asks as Gale walks towards the barn doors and lifts the bar holding it closed.

“Why don’t you see for yourself,” he says, pushing the doors open and flooding the barn with light.

I blink several times as my eyes adjust to the brightness, but the sight before my eyes left me speechless.

Bob is covered from head to hoof in a blue substance and behind him is a giant, and I mean that it is bigger than the barn doors giant, dead spider. Hundreds of lifeless eyes stare at us and its orange hairy legs create arches that Ironhoof could easily walk under without ducking. A black and red pattern is displayed on its butt and its fangs are almost bigger than me…

I am extremely glad that the abomination isn’t alive.

“By the stars…” Mom whispers, walking towards the giant as I stay next to the door, completely fine with staying away from the monstrous corpse.

I can hear everyone waking up as light floods the barn and I realize as Mom flies over the spider’s corpse and Bob limps towards Snow that today really is going to be a long one.

Author's Note

This took way too long to publish, but here it is!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a nice day!