Blight of The War Horse (Reforged)

“Gooooood morning, Equestria! It’s your host: Loudmouth, coming to you live this beautiful morning in the equally stunning city of Canterlot to bring you today's latest gossip and headliners!”

As the voice blared out of the radio resting on the nightstand, Storm Breaker groaned internally at her tedious task of polishing her armor. “Starting with today’s casual tidbits. Following public feedback, the City Council unveils exciting plans to renovate the Royal Gardens, adding more picnic spots, walking trails, and enchanting water features in the coming week. The royal palace looks more and more like a hotel than a place of royalty, If you ask me, but who am I to judge?” Great…more ponies. And as the announcer kept blabbering on, the warrior moved on to clean her foreleg guards.

Eventually, the voice moved on from the useless city updates with a corny blowing wind effect, “Rolling on over to the weather- if you look outside of your nearest window, if you can, snowfall has increased by another inch in the past hours, causing several cart-related accidents. The higher-ups in Cloudsdale advise ponies to stay safe during these chilling times.

“Overwise, expect a high of twenty-eight degrees and a low of ten degrees with clouds and a small chance of mostly sunny skies.”

The warrior peered to her cell’s window with a ghost of a smile as snow gently floated down, piling heavily on the gaps between the bars of her balcony. Hopefully, the old coot relaid an assignment for today from Luna; there wasn’t much freedom to just get up and leave to enjoy the snow.

But as the warrior paused on applying polishing wax on her grimy armor with a rag, a movement behind the balcony door-frame caught her eye. Using a wing to crawl out of cover, accompanied by a weak gurgling croak, was a decently-sized bird, its back legs and left wings visibly broken. The all-black color of the avian's feathers and beak made it look like the poor thing was dipped in a vat of tar, as the only color besides its void pigmentation was the blood dripping from several wounds.

If she had to guess:

1: It was a common raven

2: Something or somepony- most likely a predator, like a cat -attacked it, and it so happened to land at her cell’s metaphorical doorstep.

The warrior became tempted to ignore the injured animal and continue with her task. She had been overly busy since the Nightmare Night ball two weeks ago, and due to her talk with Celestia, she wasn’t exactly in a good head space to take care of something so delicate. It’d be best to let nature take its course; she wasn’t even sure the guards would let her keep it around.

However, try as she might, her gaze always returned to the pitiful raven at her balcony door every time she tried continuing her polishing.

Hades, the thing was pressed against the window, trying to soak up any heat!

…

Fuck it.

Groaning in exasperation, the warrior moved the foreleg guards across the bed she sat on and stood up, walking over to the balcony door and opening it. Immediately, the raven’s eyes seemed to widen and shine with hope as it hurriedly crawled inside. Truly, the warrior felt some pity for it- she wouldn’t have let it in if she hadn’t. But was she confident in her ability to care for the thing?

“Oh, good morning!” The hovering pegasus stationed outside her cell waved.

“Άντε γαμήσου!”

Abandoning the startled pegasus by slamming the doors, the warrior turned back to check on the raven, only for her heart to melt. Why was she sad about it rubbing its bleeding self on her carpet?!

She quickly ran over and scooped it into her hooves; of course, it thrashed in her grip wildly while squawking loudly. Luckily, the warrior made her way to her cell’s bathroom before anypony outside could hear and locked the door, finally releasing the avian onto the tiled floor. It attempted to fly away to find an escape but ended up letting out a pained shrill call, limping away from the towering figure that had kidnapped it. Sighing, the warrior let the raven back off until it hit the back wall, confusing it as she kneeled down.

The warrior had never taken care of an animal in her life aside from helping her village farmer's livestock from time to time. Her family wasn’t well-off enough to afford a hunting dog due to the taxes forced upon them by the unicorns threatening her town.

The thought of those unicorns almost made her growl in anger, but she kept it in.

So, when it came to mending an animal's injuries, she was practically clueless like a newborn foal. She had taken care of her comrade’s cuts and broken bones in the past, but the avian was a cracked teacup compared to her burly brothers and sisters-in-arms. It wasn’t as simple as using a thread and needle, and the thing was too frightening for any medical application. Well, she could at least try and remedy that second problem.

Softening her posture and features, the warrior took a quick deep breath. “Um, hey, little guy.” She awkwardly said in a quiet tone. “You aren’t doing well and might be starving from the cold, ain’tcha?”

The Raven looked on in confusion and caution as the warrior pulled back her eye cover and pulled out a small bag. Surprise almost crossed the creature’s expression as she opened it and pulled out pale disks covered in transparent crystals that filled its senses with a sweetening aroma it knew from the occasional festival happening in its hunting ground.

“I swiped these from the canteen whenever I could to hold me over. Don’t know what they are, but it tastes good.” She said, reaching out a hoof holding the sugary disk.

Lunging forward with ravenous hunger, the raven clamped its beak on the disk and pulled away, dirtying the floor with crumbs while rapidly chewing. And as she set the second and final one on the floor, she briefly raised and turned to the mirror cabinet over the sink to her left. Pulling back the mirrored door, she grabbed the small medical kit and closed it, sitting back down as the bird finished its treat. It seemed to trust her more than before but still held a sense of weariness; The warrior opened the med kit- ignoring all the crap she didn’t know about -and retrieved a roll of bandages and flat, wooden sticks.

A shallow grin grew on the warrior's face, “Done being a coward?” She asked, the now-full bird responding with a tentative step forward.

For the next hour, the warrior spent her time tending to the raven's wounds. She broke the wooden sticks and used them and the bandages to create splints for its legs and wings, wrapping its cuts with additional bandages.

During that time, The warrior grew an attachment to the avian, and vice versa, the bird sometimes nestling into her warm coat as she cleaned off the frozen and dried blood. She didn’t know why that was the case; it wasn’t as if she was a pet pony in the first place. It was a waste of resources and time to take care of something other than another pony. But the growing smile on her muzzle betrayed the warrior's common display of resentment and bitterness, replaced by a genuine look of happiness. By the time lunch had rolled around, the warrior completely neglected her armor polishing; instead, she watched over the raven, both having moved to her bed where it sat in a bundle of towels.

For what it was worth, the warrior enjoyed the newfound company she’d helped- it does get lonely sometimes when the old coot isn’t around.

“Hey,” She said to the bird, getting its attention, “When you get better, it’d be best for you to leave. I’m sure as hades that I can’t take care of you, let alone myself. So, whatever birdy family or nest you have, it’d be better than this.” She motioned to the cell around her, putting down one of the history books the old coot gave her as a part of her lessons.

Funny, she was more of a caged bird than the actual bird.

Surprisingly enough, the raven jumped out of its towel bed and shuffled to the sitting warrior, nuzzling her left hoof with its beak and giving a caw.

Staring at the bird in surprise, the warrior huffed. “What am I saying? Winter’s just begun, and it’d be a good couple of moons before it ever flew again- he’ll grow attached. Besides that, I think the damn thing’s addicted to those deserts I gave him.” The warrior thought with a chuckle. “And something so cute doesn’t deserve to be thrown out after it’s better.” She cooed, petting the raven's head with a forehoof. The raven released another caw of affection. “Y’know, if you plan on staying with me, you need a name.” Moving her hoof to her chin, the warrior contemplated her choice of name for her raven. Shortly after, the perfect answer came to mind, “Sky Slicer, that’s your name now.” She said to the return of another caw.

“Um, darling, what are you doing?”

Eyes widening in fright, the warrior whipped around to the sound of Olive Branche's voice to find the old coot standing in her open doorway with an amused smile. “You’ve acquired a new pal.” He chuckled, entering her cell and closing the door. The warrior tried to get words out but was lodged in her throat as he walked over. “Where’d you find it?”

“I…uh…” She stuttered, her face reddening.

Olive Branch reached a hoof toward the newly named Sky Slicer, causing the avian to retract. “Aw~, don’t be scared, little guy. I-” Before the old stallion could think about approaching the bird any further, the warrior’s hoof tightly snatched his aged limb and pulled it close, making him release a startled cry as his face was mere inches away from the warrior’s scowling visage.

“Touch Sky Slicer, and I’ll shove this-" She shook the foreleg,"-so far up your ass you’ll be digging shit out of your colon for the next week.” She threatened, venom dripping from every word.

With an uncomfortable chuckle, the old stallion sheepishly drew back his hoof and placed it on the floor. “Ah, I also see you two have a connection.” He nervously said. Somehow, the two ponies found themselves delving into the past hour and a half of the warrior’s day, explaining how she met the injured raven and how she took care of it. All the while, Sky Slicer returned to his improvised nest, taking a nap as the old stallion finished listening to the warrior’s tale. “Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight. You fed a bird sugar cookies?”

So that’s what they’re called, “Yeah?” She replied.

Olive Branch shook his head, “Don’t you know sugar is bad for a birds diet?” He asked, his answer coming in the form of a shocked, almost terrified expression from the warrior. “I’ll take that as a no.” Turning back to the door, Olive Branch looked over his shoulder, “I’ll get you some books about birds from the library. Also, before I forget, head down to the docking area and help the boys move a shipment of supplies around three.” He said before leaving.

Now alone, the warrior switched back to the sleeping Sky Slicer, sighing. Taking care of the little guy was going to be a pain, wasn’t it?

…Whatever, he was cute.