Crystal POV

The next day it was still snowing. Not really a snowstorm anymore but still enough that none of us was willing to go outside. So, we spend another night in the cottage.

The next morning after our free day I felt a hoof poking my side. I mumbled unpleased under my blanket in the hope it would go away. Another poke.

Go away! Me sleeping…

“We are going to leave soon”, I heard a voice which only could be from Blueberry. I shoved my head out of the blanket just to spot my "dear" sister.

More mumble from me. I hate mornings.

It also did not help that on the mountains the sun came up way sooner. And of course, we had to leave with the first upcoming shines.

“Come Crystal, I made breakfast. We have tea that tastes like dirt. Or is it dirt that tastes like tea?”, Zitrus said and laughed about his own joke.

I was not really in the mood for joking but then, in the morning I was not in the mood for anything.

After this short breakfast called tea, and some wake up time for me, we went outside. There was more snow than two days ago, but the sun was shining, making it slowly melt. Today was going to be a warm day, even for this area. This gave us, and mostly me, the energy to move on.

It was getting steeper and from the once so tall mountain was only the summit left. And when the sun reached the highest point, we also reached our highest point. It was not the top of the mountain but still really high.

I felt the wind in my mane, the sun on my back and saw the landscape around me. I could not stop me from feeling proud of what I was able to achieve. A whole mountain climbed by hooves.

I gave a look at Blueberry and for the first time I saw her stunned. I had to agree the view was amazing but for me, being able to fly, it was nothing I hadn’t already seen. But for Blueberry this must have been a whole new experience.

“This is the way we have to go”, said Zitrus and pointed at a natural path, leading down the mountain into a valley. “If we follow it, we come into that valley and will be able to walk between the mountains.” He then turned to me. “Except you like to climb another mountain too”, he ended and gave me a joking smirk.

“Think again!”, I said and kicked some snow into his face. But I too had a grin on my face.

Walking down a mountain was not easier (I slipped four times) but way faster. The snow turned into grass again and it was not even evening when we reached the foot of the mountain. While we walked myself and Blueberry had a training fight with wooden sticks, using levitation magic only. While being stuck in the hoot I used the time to teach Blueberry more about magic. She now was able to lift multiple objects at the same time. The stick fight was a good levitation training while also concentrating on walking and talking.

Now that she knew a basic spell it should be simpler to teach her anything new. Like a blast. A projectile casted by a load of magic. The best combat friend of every unicorn and alicorn.

“Of course a there is not just THE magic blast. Magic shots can come in all shape and size. The size depends on how much energy you put in it and the shape, not latterly meant, what spell you use. There are a ton of different options. From simple knock back or shocking up to burn or melt your opponent.”

Blueberry seems disgusted on the inside when I mentioned the melting part.

I parried a hit with my stick which was aiming for my left shoulder and tried to jab her shoulder in a counterattack. But this lead my defence open and Blueberry used the chance to counterattack my counterattack and landed a hit against my head. Together with Blueberry’s neutral expression, it must have looked like a teacher hitting a ruler on her student’s head.

I rubbed my head and dropped my stick in defeat. Blueberry might not be skilled in magic, but she sure could swing that stick around. I turned my head into Zitrus direction who was walking in front of us.

“Hey Zitrus, I have a question.”

“I might have an answer”, he joked without turning his head in my direction.

“Isn’t Zitrus Mixus a bit of a strange name?”, I asked.

He chuckled at that. “Yes, it is. You see, my mother gave me the name after I was born. She always said that she knew I was a going to be a special colt and stallion. Special in a positive way. A special pony, a Zitrus Mixus.”

“That’s it?” I expected some other story.

“I think it’s a good story. Besides, she might have not been that wrong”, Zitrus said.

“How so?”, I asked.

“Well, for starters I walk right now with two alicorns by my side”, he said and turned his head back in my direction, sticking his tongue out.

I chuckled. Hehe, I started to like that stallion. Damn, I hoped we soon arrived at a settlement again. I could use some pony to get off some heat.
But then I looked at Zitrus flank. How about you and I share your tight tent tonight? I spoke to Zitrus via telepathy.
Zitrus on the other hoof blushed so strong I could even see it from behind. But he just smirked, shook his head and threw me out of it. Much to my surprise that Zitrus learned to shut his mind so quickly. But that didn’t make me to less like him. More of the opposite…

Nearly two week has passed again. We left the valley and the mountains far behind. We were on a place I myself would call “Nothing Important Land”. An area between Ponyville and the White Tail Woods. This place had no cities or a big land to name out. But it had much small villages and house groups.

Me, Blueberry and Zitrus were right now in a small village which had more traders than inhabitants. Which was not fully positive, I must admit. Luckily the story of the now free alicorns already reached this place but it did not help that every pony here gave me and Blueberry some strange looks whenever they could. I am used to have ponies look at me whenever I go, and to be fair I cannot blame them. My kind did some awful things in the past.

Have I done such awful things too while being in the unity? To be honest, I cannot say for sure. Everything what I did while being in the hivemind is quite a blurry. Like I would have been on drugs all the time. Guess that is the reason why I do not think positive nor negative of the Goddess. Her methods have been very extreme, but she actually had the same goals as I have right now. Getting a foal alicorn…

But back on track. Zitrus sold his gems he was carrying around since he left Dusty Village. In return he bought supplies we might need for our journey. And still had some caps left to spend for a two-pony sized tent he saw while walking through the sale stands.

“Now you two also have a weatherproof place to spend the night in”, Zitrus said while binding the rolled-up tent to his saddlebag.

“Or a place WE TWO can spend the night in”, I said and gave Zitrus a mocking bite on the ear. It was hard to tell who blushed more, Zitrus or the mare on the other side of the sale stand watching the spectacle. I myself suppressed a laughter.

Truth be told, me and Zitrus didn’t sleep together. I just liked to mock him in all ways possible. Seeing him blush like a tomato always gave me a smirk.

I looked around. Where is Blueberry? I wondered. I finally spotted her not far away from us on another sale stand. When me and Zitrus joined her, she picked up with her magic a longbow together with some arrows. In fact, the whole stand only sold bows and arrows in all kinds of shape and length.

“Bows?”, I asked. “Who the fuck still uses bows?”

The salespony was an earth pony stallion, beige fur and brown spiky mane. He didn’t seem to mind having an alicorn in front of him.

He laughed before he spoke to me and Zitrus. “That is something I hear a lot. Ponyx is my name and let me tell you that bows are pretty much underrated in our modern times. Of course, we speak here of a real bow, not some foals toy. A weapon able to give precise shots even if the target is far away.”

Ponyx? Is it common now to have strange names? I asked Zitrus but only spoke in mind.

Maybe a nickname, he answered to me in the same way, while to the sell pony he said: "“But a bow is only so good as it’s wielder.”

The stallion nodded. “Indeed. A bow requires practice which is the reason a lot give up of them before they’re getting good in it. Why spending time learning to use a bow if you can just take a rifle, aim and the rest the weapon will do for you? BUT if you manage to have an aim like a rifle then you will see the potential of the bow.”

“And what about me? How does an earth pony use a bow?”, Zitrus wanted to know.

“Simple”, Ponyx said, took one bow from his stand and plugged one ending in the ground. Then he took an arrow with his mouth and clamped it into the bowstring. To be honest it did look possible to do so. But I still had my doubts in this weapon.

“Pfff, and what about the firepower? The range? The fire rates? The magazine which the bow does not even have?”, I asked.

“That is all true and yes, I agree. The bow will in nearly all battles lose against a modern weapon. The handling takes longer and is more complicate, you can only shoot one arrow at a time, and the range is longer than from a small weapon but will never outclass a rifle or even a sniper”, Ponyx explained. “But now you see only the advantage you can get from a rifle. Now look what you get out from a bow. A round from a gun is built to do penetration damage. Kind of like “drilling” into the body, not even bones stop a bullet. An arrow gives an impact damage making a precise hit in the chest for example way more dangerous. It also is a silent weapon, and you can get the arrows in most cases back. I would say, having one pony in the group using a bow is definitely worth it.”

I wanted to say something but as soon as I opened my mouth, I heard a quiet whistle followed by a way louder thonk. Me, Zitrus and the salespony looked in the direction the sound came and saw Blueberry, in her magic grip holding the longbow. While we were busy discussing, Blueberry must have used the time to make her first training shot with the bow. And looking how this first shot went left me and Zitrus stunned. A bit further away was a wooden painted training target. A classic bullseye. And Blueberry hit right into the centre!

Me and Zitrus looked at her with open mouths while Ponyx just gave an amused smirk.

Blueberry on her side did not even look at us. She just watched the training target with a neutral look.

“I like it”, was all she said and used her magic to stylishly swirl the bow and then shouldered it.

“That was so sexy”, slipped out of Zitrus’ mouth.

“Indeed…”, was all my still half stunned mind was able to produce.

Author's Note

Last time I gave some thankful words, I did them for my friends who help me with the story. This time I want to give a thank-you to all readers here.
The story is not famous or popular and still it fills me with happiness to see that others enjoy it. That makes me to continue even more eager.
So thank you all for reading, your kind words or just being here and go with me through this adventure.