Blueberry POV

Two days had passed since we were at the market.

Our journey now was going again into the north. Zitrus got information from a sales pony that between Ponyville and Canterlot was a small slaver camp. Between three and six slavers and bad equipped. But they still try to capture ponies and sell them. Zitrus wanted to spy out the situation himself.

Even though slavers are not ponies you like to joke with, I still followed Zitrus on this task. When I thought about that some ponies keep others against their will and do with them whatever they wanted, it disgusted me. It remembered me being under the control of the goddess with the exception your mind is ALWAYS fully aware of how lost you are. In my opinion slavers were worse than raiders. Raiders trapped you too, torture even and that for no reason. But in the end, they kill you at least. Slavers most likely keep you alive. Giving you no will and life. Day after day. Even when you lost all hope and are nothing more than an empty shell, they still keep you…

I shook my head. These thoughts were not good for me…

I relaxed my shoulders and felt the longbow on by body. Zitrus had bought it for me along with some arrows and a quiver.

The moment he saw me using it he already spent some of his bottlecaps for this weapon and gave it to me. I should look at as my payment, he had said but I could tell there was more behind it.

But to be fair it felt really good to have this bow. I couldn’t even say why. Sure, I had a good hoof (or magic grip in this case) for it. I was way better with it than Zitrus or Crystal when they tried some shots with it. Also having a unique way to defend myself was also an advantage. But what was it that gave me a proud feeling whenever I used it to hit some training targets? I could not say.

Zitrus on the other hoof was carrying the tent that Crystal and myself shared. It was not built to fit ponies in alicorn size, but it did the job. Especially now since even I could feel the nights getting colder.

“Hey Blueberry, could you please shoot this bird?”

Zitrus’ words pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at him and then in the direction he was pointing at.

A grey pigeon was walking on the ground. It seemed to have the wing broken because it was not able to fly anymore and instead jumped around on the ground. A good target for me and some food for Zitrus. The range was a not a very challenging distance for me.

Killing an animal was different for me than just shooting an arrow on a tree bark. I knew the pigeon would die anyways. A bird not able to fly had no chance in the wild. Also, Zitrus would need the food to eat it in the evening. Still, I didn’t want to let the animal suffer. Giving it a quick, painless and all of a sudden death as possible.

I took my longbow with my magic and placed an arrow into the weapon. The bird had already noticed us, but we were too far away for it to feel scared.

I took aim. A slow breath in and out. My eyes followed the line of the arrow. Then I released. The arrow flew through the air with a whistle and missed the pigeon only by a hoof.

Disappointed in myself I saw how the bird made a scared jump and tried to fly away but just fell back to the ground. I knew that now I would have a way more difficult target since it was moving around in fear.

I took aim again. Spending more time to concentrate and planning for my next shot. Another release and this time I hit the bird right in the body, killing it on the spot.

I put the bow away and watched how Zitrus walked to the prey to pick it up along with my two arrows. To my luck, both arrows did not break.

“Thank you, Blueberry. You saved me at least one round for my small calibre.”, Zitrus said with a half chuckle.

I felt a bit of pride from his words and my neutral expressioned face gave a nod.

“I have a question”, Crystal said who was standing in the background during this scenario.

“What is your cutie mark for, Zitrus?”, Crystal asked and looked very closely at Zitrus cutie mark. Most likely also checking out his flank.

Typical Crystal, I thought but I also had to agree that it was a good question. It did not fit during the current situation, but I actually had no idea either, even though I knew Zitrus longer than Crystal did.

Alicorns did not have a cutie mark. They only had their body colour. Unlike other ponies like Zitrus who had one, showing his special talent. I knew his cutie mark was the black rook from chess. Not easy to spot on his black coat and his saddle bag was often in the way, but I had been able to catch a look on it sometimes. (Not in a “checking out his flank” way like Crystal did.) But I never asked him myself what it was for.

“Oh? Well, it is the chess rook”, Zitrus started to explain. “It actually has nothing to do with chess, nor did I got it while playing chess. I would even say that I am not that good in chess. The cutie mark stays for how I am able to study the opponent and make a plan out of it.”

“You mean like tricking him and lure him into a track while he actually tries to do the same with you? Just like a chess game?”, wanted Crystal to know.

“Kind of, yes. But don’t think of it like I would be a commander, leading the chess board and moving my troops to the victory. This is more about the players themselves. I cannot control the battlefield like a strategist, but I can study the opponent player when facing him. As one pony to the other.”

I thought back to the time I first met Zitrus. When he said this words it actually all made a lot more sense to me. He had known that I was an alicorn and what I had been capable of. But then, he still had approached me. Was every word he had said Well planned? I didn’t think so. But he sure had shown his talent that day…

I saw something in the sky flying in our direction. It was too far away so I could not tell what it was, but it had purple colour.

“What is that?”, I asked out loud.

Crystal and Zitrus turned their heads in the direction I was facing. We three stood then side by side and watched the flying object coming closer and closer.

“Is it a bird?”, Crystal asked.

“Is it an airship?”, Zitrus asked in return.

“No, I think it’s a…”, I started but before I could finish my sentence the purple thing vanished in a magical flash of light and
appeared flying in front of us. A purple alicorn! She had a cold emotion when her horn lit up and a magical blast shot in our direction. Or better in Zitrus’ direction who was standing in the middle between myself and Crystal. He was just able to make a jump back when the blast hit the ground where he once stood, leaving a black burned spot.

Me and Crystal also were taken by surprise and made a step away from the impact area. I looked at the purple alicorn just in time to see her vanish again in a magical flash.

Luckily I was able to see enough. She had looked right behind us before vanishing. I turned around and indeed. Our purple sister had used her teleportation magic to transfer right behind us. Her horn already shining again, and her face filled with determination.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion for me. I was able to give a peek at Zitrus and Crystal. Zitrus was not used to teleportation magic to know where his opponent was right now. He was still halfway on turning around only to see the fate that soon would follow.

Crystal on the other hoof spent a lot of time within a wing. She knew how to read teleportation magic of a purple sister. Just like me she already had turned around and her horn was also lit.

Then a green shining magical shield appeared, blocking us from the purple pony. And not a second too early because as soon as the shield was casted it got hit by another powerful magic blast from the purple alicorn.

Author's Note

A short chapter this time. Still i hope you enjoyed it. Write if you do or not so i can learn from it.