“Mother, may you remind me why we are traveling away from home in the midst of a snow storm?” This question was squeaked out from a young, white unicorn filly, whose flank bore no cutie mark. Aquamarine, or Aqua, had the leader of the Unicorn Tribe as a mother. She kept her vibrant green eyes as thin slits, for the harsh wind thrashed her blue mane around into her face.
“Hush, child!” Her mother hissed in response. She then realized the mistake she made by raising her voice, so she quickly looked around for anyone who may be listening. Quietly and in a low, gentle whisper, she began to explain. “The heart of pegasi territory isn’t far away from our current location. It is of extreme importance that we remain silent, or those ruffian scum may hear us… Who knows what those barbarians may do if our cover gets blown?”
Little did they all know, is that they would soon find out, for the Pegasus chief, his teenage daughter, and a large group of pegasi warriors watched their every move while remaining tucked away in the dense forest that marked the boundary between Earth Pony and Pegasus land. Sapphire, the chief’s daughter, kept her eyes tightly locked upon the leader of the Unicorns, Queen Crystal.
“Dad,” she muttered loudly enough for her father to hear her over the raging storm. Her blue eyes remained on the Queen. “when should I fire?” The bow in the dark grey mare’s grip has a tight grasp upon it. Sapphire hadn’t shed blood in awhile, so she felt very eager to begin the attack on the tribe she so deeply despised. Her father shared her enthusiasm, and he chuckled at the sharpness in her voice.
“Whenever you see a good opportunity to shoot.” He responded. Squinting her eyes for a more clear view through the harsh snow and fog, she pulled an arrow from the quiver strapped onto her side. Drawing it back on the tightly pulled elastic string on the bow, she prepared to shoot Crystal through her chest, or any other area that would injure her badly enough that she would not be able to continue on. Dipping the head in a numbing, quick acting poison made from the extract of a rare flower would offer extra assistance in doing this. After she waited for a fair amount of time, she eventually saw the perfect opportunity, and she released the nock of the arrow from her grasp. Its launch proved to be successful, and it pierced the air with a sharp, crisp whistle.
Behind her, Crystal heard the sickening sound of flesh becoming penetrated.
“Ack!” a stallion guard shrieked. Aqua, turned to see an arrow lodged into one of her escort’s left shoulder, gushing blood and swelling terribly at the puncture. His legs started to wobble, and he couldn’t help but collapse onto the fresh powder snow.
“Damn it! I missed!” The group of unicorns froze. They all turned to look at the woods nearby, where the scream had come from. None of them knew if they should flee, or if they should investigate. They had no time to think it over fully, because another yell come from the same area.
“Attack!” Seemingly out of nowhere, a group of fully armed ponies bearing wings and full sets of armor charged out of the forest. Axel, the chief Pegasus, and his daughter led the brigade towards Crystal’s smaller escort group. With the commanding guard stallion of her army bleeding on the ground and short of breath, she quickly realized that she had a disadvantage.
Crystal was never the type of pony to back down; she felt it as a sign of weakness. However, both of her children nearby had never experienced battle before. She couldn’t afford to let the only heirs remaining to her throne get hurt, and considering that her husband recently fell victim to Axel’s unforgiving blade, she had no plans on having any more foals.
“Gale!” She yelled out to her teenage son, hoping to be heard over the wind and the pegasi battle cries. He looked at his mother excitedly, thinking that this would be his opportunity to serve his tribe and battle.
“What, Mother? Shall I ready myself and the other troops for battle?” Crystal ignored his question completely.
“Take your sister and Silver Blade back to the castle!”
“Mother, please trust me! I can fight, just let me prove---”
“NO! Go now! Silver is injured and is in no condition to fight. And do you really want to watch your sister and him get killed by these lunatics!?” This comment made Aqua wince.
Reluctantly and with no response, he picked Silver Blade off of the ground with a burst of his green magic and threw his little sister onto his back. After looking back at the group for a split second, he quickly, he began to dash in the opposite direction.
“Hey!” Aqua shrieked, bouncing around on her brother’s back and holding on for dear life. “Put me down! I wasn’t born yesterday, I can walk!” She received no response from Gale until they were a longer ways away from the battlefield. As soon as he looked behind himself to see only fog and snow, he sat down to allow his sister to slide off of his back and plop onto the ground. He then glared at her angrily.
“Must you always act like such a spoiled little brat? You couldn’t keep up with your stubby little legs! We have a lot more to worry about than your petty needs!”
“… You’re acting like Mom.” Aqua murmured. Gale, knowing how awfully Crystal treated the both of them after their father’s death, - especially Aqua- took this as an insult, but knew that what he had said offended his sister deeply.
“I didn’t mean that… I was just angry.” He pawed at the ground with his hoof. “Sorry…” Gale looked at Silver to see if he had heard what was happening, hoping he wouldn’t have any anger towards him for snapping. However, what he saw made him forget about the whole thing: the guard lay on the ground, coated in thick blood that stained his light gray coat, and very short of breath. ‘How could I let this happen!?’ He thought as he ran over to aid him. If he didn’t stop his loss of blood soon, the most important unicorn in the army -and more importantly, his “father”- would face an untimely death in the snow.
