"Your Highness, the yaks to the northwest have declared war on us!"
Flurry Heart, Alicorn of the Tundra and first ruler of Winter's Hearth, raised an eyebrow. "Well," she said. "That's a bit of an inconvenience."
"What are we going to do?" Inkpot, aide to the aforementioned alicorn (and the pony who had announced the sordid news) asked. She stood at the foot of the longhouse, having just barged through the doors; Flurry Heart sat upon her makeshift throne at its head.
"Calm down, Inkpot," Flurry said. She shifted in her throne, putting her chin in her hoof. "What's got them so worked up?"
"They claim we've been sending ponies into their territory," Ink said. "Foraging on their lands, stealing their food."
"Ridiculous," Flurry countered. "We've been nowhere near them. Not on my orders, anyway..."
She squeezed her eyes shut. "Harvest's been at it again, hasn't he."
Inkpot bit her lip.
"I'll deal with him later," she said. "Have the yaks made any demands?"
"They want us to leave."
"What, completely?"
Ink nodded.
Flurry scowled. "So they can move in, I assume. Well, we aren't abandoning Winter's Hearth, not after everything we've gone through. How long do you think we have before they try anything?
"Their messenger is awaiting your reply as we speak."
"...Give me a moment to think."
Inkpot looked on at her princess as she tilted her head up towards the rafters. Her hoof began to tap, unbidden, and she bit the inside of her cheek.
Eventually, Flurry hummed, and looked back down. She was smiling.
"Send for their leader in the name of diplomacy. I don't want a diplomat, I want Thurmund himself. He can bring as many yaks with him as he wants—actually, the more, the better. Tell him whatever he needs to hear, just have him come as soon as possible."
"You have a plan, Your Highness?"
Flurry nodded. "I do. Now, in the meantime..."
"I'm telling you, sir," Johannes said, trudging through the deep snow with his compatriots, his thick coat keeping him warm. "You must not underestimate the ponies!"
"Johannes spend too much time in Equestria," Prince Thurmund, leader of the northwestern yaks, replied. "Ponies just ponies! Weak. Barely able to live in Frozen North. Nothing to be afraid of!"
They were a collective herd of seven yaks, with Thurmund (the largest) in the middle, Johannes (the smallest) to his left, and the other five (Thurmund's strongest fighters) in formation surrounding them.
"But sir, you haven't seen what I have!" Johannes said. "My time at the School of Friendship showed me just what ponies are capable of, and—"
"No more, Johannes," Thurmund said, scowling back at him. "Ponies are weak compared to Yaks. I brought Johannes as advisor because Johannes familiar with ponies, but I not want fly in my ear telling me I am wrong! We are at war!"
Johannes lowered his head. "...Yes, my prince."
"Sire!" one of the guards shouted. "Pony city ahead!"
They looked forward, and there lay Winter's Hearth. Rows of wooden buildings encircled by a large wall stood in opposition to the white that surrounded them, snow on their roofs. It was primitive, by modern pony standards, but the fact it was there at all was impressive enough to Johannes.
"Hrmph," Thurmund grunted. "Not impressive. This best ponies can do?"
"The fact that they've managed this much in only a year is proof enough of what I'm saying," Johannes said.
"Johannes is coward. Johannes go home if Johannes so scared!"
The other yaks laughed at this. Johannes bit his lip, but he had no retort. Just the unease that had settled in his stomach from the moment war had been declared.
They moved onwards, and soon their party arrived at the gates of Winter's Hearth. A pair of ponies in heavy fur coats stood on either side of the wooden doors. They looked, to Johannes, tense; not from fear but from weariness. He couldn't see a weapon on either of them, but that did not mean they were unarmed; they were unicorns, and that alone made them fearsome.
Thurmund showed no signs of sharing Johannes' worries. He stomped ahead of the group.
"Prince Thurmund is here!" he shouted. "Where is Fool Princess who dares to steal from our lands? Fool Princess not bothered to greet us personally?"
The gates to the settlement glowed yellow, then, and were pulled open. Johannes swallowed, for beyond them stood an alicorn, cloaked in furs. She was a good head taller than even Thurmund, and she was smiling. No crown sat upon her head; Johannes fought the urge to bow anyway.
"I'm right here, Prince Thurmond," she said, her voice musical and light. "Welcome to Winter's Hearth."
Thurmund snorted.
"Please, follow me inside," Flurry Heart said. "Let's get out of the cold, shall we?"
"Yaks fine in any weather," Thurmund replied. "Ponies are weak! Need furs just to live in Frozen North! Ponies should go home to Equestria!"
This earned a cheer from Thurmund's entourage.
Flurry Heart smiled. "Thank you for being so concerned for me and my ponies' health, Prince Thurmund, but we make do."
She set off into the settlement. Thurmund scowled, but followed, as did the rest of the yaks.
They were led down a path well-trodden through the snow. As they went, ponies passed them by, some briskly walking on without notice, others stopping and staring at them.
The Princess brought them to a longhouse in the center of the city. The outside was decorated with banners.
"This is our meetinghouse," Flurry Heart said. "And my court."
The door to the entrance was magiked open, and they filed inside. It was indeed warmer in here, Johannes noted, thanks to a large hearth on the left wall.
"Inkpot, could you throw another log on the fire?" Flurry said to another pony who was already inside.
"Yes, Your Highness," Inkpot replied.
"Thank you."
Leaving the yaks in the center of the longhouse, Flurry walked up to the throne at the far end. Levitating the furs off her back, she draped them over the chair, then sat down. "That's better," she said. "Now, to business; Prince Thurmund, I hear you've declared war on us."
"Yes!" Thurmund shouted. "Ponies steal from our lands! Yaks declare war! Ponies leave or be smashed!"
"I see," Flurry replied. "Well, we are unwilling to leave, so it seems we are at an impasse. I am quite willing to settle this diplomatically, however. Perhaps it would calm you to know that the ones responsible for foraging on your lands were not doing so on my orders, and are being punished for it as we speak?"
Thurmund scowled. "Too late for punishment. Yaks need food to survive winter. We will take ponies' food after ponies leave as spoils of war!"
"I am quite willing to share some of our food as a show of good faith to our neighbors," Flurry Heart said. "As long as it avoids war."
"My prince, if I may," Johannes said, speaking up. Thurmund turned to look at him. "This would be a good outcome for us. It would foster goodwill between our peoples, and having the aid of the ponies would—"
"Silence, Johannes," Thurmund said, cutting him off. "This about yak pride! Yaks no need help from ponies! Yaks no need help from Fool Princesses!"
He turned back to the princess.
"Yaks not interested in diplomacy!" he announced. "Leave or be smashed by yaks! Only options! Choose now!"
Flurry Heart sighed. And then she did something curious: she turned to her aide and gave her a small nod. Inkwell then turned and briskly walked out of the longhouse, quietly shutting the door behind her.
Johannes looked at his compatriots. Not one of them seemed to have paid it any mind.
"Are you certain you will not change your mind?" Flurry Heart said. "A war would leave casualties on both sides. Both of our peoples would be left unprepared for winter if this drags on."
"Yaks will win before winter!" Thurmund said, stomping a cloven hoof. "Take ponies' food as they run away with tails between legs!"
"I am warning you," Flurry said, narrowing her eyes, and Johannes' heart sank into his stomach. "You will not find us so easy a victory as you seem to think."
"What can ponies do?" Thurmund shot back. "Ponies are weak. Not suited for Frozen North, not suited for war!"
Flurry let out another sigh. She leaned back in her throne. "It's war, is it?"
Just then, the doors to the longhouse burst open. The yaks turned, and Flurry sat up in her seat. It was Inkpot.
"Your Highness! An Amarok is attacking from the east! It's broken through the wall!"
Flurry shot to her hooves. She didn't bother to grab her furs, just strode quickly but powerfully down the length of the longhouse and out the door.
"An Amarok?" Johannes said. "This is bad... We have to help them!"
But Thurmund laughed. "Help ponies? We're at war! Still, yaks go see."
They filed out of the longhouse and followed the receding figure of the Princess. They could hear screaming, up ahead, and so they quickened their pace.
Soon, the Amarok came into view. It was a giant white wolf, standing two or three times the height of a pony. It had smashed through the perimeter wall, leaving logs scattered across the snow like twigs. Guards in fur coats were swarming it from ground and air, but not making any progress in driving it away as it swatted at them. Thankfully, Johannes thought, it didn't look as though anyone had gotten hurt.
Yet.
They caught up with Flurry and Inkpot, who had stopped some yards away from the fighting.
"Ponies have no chance of besting Amarok!" Thurmund yelled, smiling. "How about this diplomacy? Yaks smash Amarok, and ponies leave forever in gratitude!"
"There will be no need for that," Flurry said. She stepped forward.
"EVERYONE!" she yelled, in a voice that could have split the clouds in the heavens. "GET TO SAFETY!"
The guards looked back at her, nodded, and fled, leaving the great beast standing in the snow alone.
"What Fool Princess doing?" Thurmund asked, incredulous. "Giving up already?"
"Not quite," she said. "Prince Thurmund, I ask that you watch what is about to happen until the very end."
"What?"
With that, Flurry's wings shot out from her sides, pink feathers spanning a meter in both directions. It was then that Johannes noted for the first time just how muscular her lithe form really was.
She can't seriously mean to—
And then she was off, rocketing into the air at incredible speed. Her horn glowed yellow, and a forgotten spear from the ground shot up to her side.
The Amarok had her in its sights now, though. It roared, the sound shaking Johannes' bones. Flurry was unfazed, however; she darted towards it. It raised a great paw, claws glinting in the harsh sunlight, and swung at her. She rolled under it, the blades just barely missing her wingtips by centimeters. It snapped its great jaws at her, but she darted to the side and the beast's teeth closed on empty air.
Slipping past it, Flurry planted the spear into the beast's side, causing it to yell. She wrenched it out and plunged it in again. She made to do it a third time, but the Amarok leapt into the air and came crashing down facing her. With impossible speed, it lashed out with its claws, and this time the hit did connect, knocking Flurry aside and plunging her to the ground, leaving a trough in the snow from where she skidded. The spear, broken into two pieces, went spinning away in another direction.
“Fool Princess is finished,” Thurmund said.
“No,” Johannes replied. “Look!”
Seemingly unfazed, the princess picked herself up and ran at the creature. Her horn illuminated, and a great shield of golden magic appeared ahead of her. With a shout, the shield rammed into the Amarok's face. It roared, and strained against the shield, but the sheer force of Flurry's magic forced it back. Flurry grit her teeth and pushed and pushed and pushed, and the great wolf began to lose ground. It dug its paws into the soil, though, and they were quickly back to a stalemate.
But Flurry had a plan. A second glow lit around her horn, greater and larger and brighter than the first, sparks flying off of it. The snow around her hooves began to steam. Suddenly, a second shield appeared, this one under the wolf. It looked down in surprise as it was lifted into the air, forced up by Flurry's will, a meter, two meters, three meters.
With a great shout, Flurry swung her head up, and the wolf was launched high into the air, with the speed and ease as if someone had thrown a tennis ball, only then a third glow enveloped her horn and a band of magic wrapped itself around the Amarok's leg, and suddenly the beast was being pulled downwards out of the air at great speed.
The Amarok slammed into the ground with an enormous boom. Johannes had to shield his eyes as a rain of snow and dirt hit him from the impact. When he could see again, he saw the once-proud creature limping away, whimpering, out of the hole in the wall and back into the wilderness.
Flurry, now standing in a puddle from where the snow around her had melted, breathing heavily, turned back to look at them.
She smiled.
Prince Thurmund broke.
"Yaks sorry!" he cried as he turned tail and fled. "Yaks no declare war! Ponies can stay! Ponies can stay!"
The other yaks in his entourage were quick to follow him. Only Johannes remained, still processing what had just happened, his hooves rooted to the ground.
Flurry Heart walked up to him. He looked up at her. She was still smiling.
"You're Johannes, correct?" she said. "Thurmund said your name earlier in the longhouse. You were urging him to strive for peace."
He nodded, silently.
"Your friends have turned tail and fled," she said. "Why have you remained?"
"...Pardon me for saying this, Your Highness," he said, slowly, unsure. "But... you staged that just now, didn't you?"
Flurry Heart raised an eyebrow. She was still smiling.
"Perhaps I did. What gave it away?"
"You signaled your aide for something while we were in the longhouse," he said. "Then soon after a random monster attacks? That seems like too big of a coincidence..."
"You're a smart one, Johannes," Flurry said, sitting down. Inkpot draped her furs over her shoulders. "Yes, I did stage that. I wanted to show your leader that I wouldn't be as much of a pushover as I seemed. War is a horrible thing; I thought I could end it without any casualties with just a little bit of subterfuge. I hope you can keep a secret—I'd hate to see Thurmund's pride hurt any further. Oh, which reminds me—Inkpot, arrange for a wagon of food to be brought to Prince Thurmond's people. I'd hate for them to be unprepared for winter because of us."
Inkpot nodded and ran off. Johannes frowned. "But, isn't that reckless? What if someone had gotten hurt? One of your subjects?"
Flurry laughed. "Oh, there was no worry of that. That Amarok is a friend of mine."
"What...?"
"He's my pet," Flurry said.
Johannes's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "You... tamed an Amarok!?"
"It wasn't easy, but he's been invaluable to us. And he's a good boy, really. And don’t worry, he’s unharmed—all of that was either staged or just a scratch to him."
Johannes felt a little faint. If that fight hadn’t been enough of a demonstration of Flurry Hearts' strength, then what she’d just told him was the nail in the coffin.
"I think..." he said. "I think I would like to stay here for a little while. I can help you rebuild your wall. Perhaps learn about how you do things here."
"You're more than welcome to," Flurry said. "I'd like to learn a little from you about your people's way of doing things, too."
Johannes smiled. "Perhaps our peoples can reach a mutual understanding after all."
Flurry smiled back at him.
"I hope so."
