Relentless Gem’s legs were killing her.

Then again, why wouldn’t they? She had been running for what seemed like hours without rest, and at some points she had to leap over the thick roots of the trees that surrounded her, or dart around them to avoid a bad collision. The small voice in her mind that begged for her to just give up grew louder, and to Relentless’ horror, she found herself slowing down in the slightest.

The barking that sounded behind her reminded her why she was running in the first place, and Relentless Gem pushed past the pain of aching hooves and sore tendons as she picked up the pace again. Snow fell all around her, and it wasn’t long before the blue unicorn found herself stepping onto softer snow, her hooves sinking into it and hindering her speed. She frantically looked around to see that she had made it to the clearing of the forest, and the sun was already beginning to dip behind the mountains in the horizon, as if wanting to shield itself from witnessing what could be a gruesome kill.
Another bark, and Relentless Gem turned around just in time to see a wolf lunge at her, its mouth open to show its yellow-stained, sharp teeth ready to sink into her flesh. Its paws were held out to strike her down, and its eyes were filled with the frenzied, hungry anger that was normally associated with wild animals like it.

Desperation fuelled Relentless Gem’s exhausted body, and she did her absolute best to maneuver out of the wolf’s crash course with her hooves still sunken in the cold snow. Her efforts were not all for naught, but she still felt a sharp pain ring out from her flank as a pawful of claws sank into it, adding more pain to the stinging sensation of a thousand knives cutting at Relentless’ body from the cold. Relentless let out a gasp, and on instinct, her hindlegs snapped upward to buck the wolf in the face. The wolf let out a yelp as hard hooves connected, a dull crack sounding as the blow landed. The claws exited the unicorn’s body, but had dragged their way across Relentless Gem’s Cutie Mark, leaving angry red gashes over the large diamond imprinted on blue fur. Blood flowed out of the wound, its warmth giving an uncomfortable contrast to the cold.

Nausea flooded Relentless Gem’s mind, but with the wolf no longer on her, she let out a desperate cry and leapt forward.
For a moment, she realised she was landing on nothing. Instead, she was free-falling through the air, all of the world whirling before her eyes. Then, as she felt ground, the wounded side of her flank pressed against it, and she felt cold snow enter the gashes, giving way to a new pain that flooded her mind and filled her vision with black spots. Relentless Gem opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

Her head fell to the side like a rock, and the black spots gradually covered her vision entirely.

[[[[[]]]]]

The sounds of wind howling was the first thing Relentless Gem heard when she woke up.

As she groggily opened her eyes, she saw that the sun had completely fallen off the sky, allowing the moon to take its place to give light to those who needed it.

Miraculously, the wolves had not pursued her while she had been unconscious. Previous experiences had taught her that particularly hungry predators could get desperate enough to follow their prey anywhere, even if it meant diving to their deaths. If the wolves had been that starved…

Relentless Gem shook her head and looked around herself. She was laying on pillowy snow that had blanketed her fall from earlier, and she thankfully hadn’t sunk deep into it after the fall, and the snow that did cover her body was a thin layer that still allowed for movement.

Remembering the scratches given to her by one of the wolves, Relentless Gem whimpered in fear of the pain that was just waiting to grace her with its presence once she dared to move. She wasn’t feeling it now, but it would undoubtedly come when she tried to get up.

But if she didn’t try, she’d only eventually freeze into a corpse, or be an easy meal for a passing predator.

With this thought in mind, Relentless Gem swallowed a lump down her throat. “Come on, Relentless,” she mumbled to herself as she began to work up the courage, firstly moving her forelegs to confirm that she could truly move around without the snow giving her too much difficulty. When she found that the snowpack sifted easily, she quickly crossed out the option of just staying put.

“Come on, Relentless Gem!” She slowly got up, gasping as sharp pain rang out from her injured flank. She dared not to look at the area where her flank had landed. She would only feel sick.

Once she got back up on her hooves, she wobbled unsteadily, her mind swirling and swimming as the pain flooded it again. For a moment, the blue unicorn thought she was going to pass out again, but she forced that thought down and instead focused on steadying herself and her vision. The pain continued to sting, but Relentless refused to let it overtake her this time. Panting softly, she focused her gaze on the mountains ahead, relaxing her mind as her vision gradually crystallised.

Continuing to pant, she slowly turned her gaze around, scanning her surroundings. When she looked up, she realised that she had jumped off a rather tall cliff. Now, she was standing just inches away from what seemed like a large, frozen lake with snow packed all around it. The land here seemed barren, and she couldn’t see any trees, caves, or civilisation anywhere.

Relentless Gem sighed, dipping her head as she realised she now had another problem. Just how was she supposed to get back to her home village now? With that dive off the cliff, she had no idea where she was now, and she definitely had no idea on how to navigate through this terrain. She should have listened to her sister and stayed at the village instead of venturing out on her own.

Her trains of thought came to an abrupt stop when she heard something in the distance. Her ears twitched, and Relentless Gem looked around, softening her breathing to make sure she wasn’t hearing things.

There was that sound again. It was faint and soft, undoubtedly due to how far apart Relentless and this thing were from each other, but Relentless Gem could just barely make out the sound to be one of a baby crying.

Worry spiked in her heart, and Relentless Gem began to move towards the source of the cries, though she was forced to hobble and limp slowly so as to not worsen her wounds. With her slow pace, Relentless Gem was forced to listen as the cries gradually got louder, and it wrenched her heart and her guts.

After minutes of slowly limping across the ice lake, the blue unicorn’s eyes locked onto what looked like a handle poking out from behind a pile of snow. The cries were much louder now up close, and Relentless Gem hurried on over around the snow, wanting to see what was crying.

Upon moving around the snow pile, she found a rather large basket laying there, and in that basket, she saw the face of a foal poking out of it, the rest of its body covered with a blanket. The foal was sage green in colour with short tufts of a grey mane on her head. In the brief moment the foal stopped crying and opened its eyes to look at Relentless Gem, the mare saw that the foal had golden-yellow eyes that seemingly simmered with underdeveloped energy.

As the foal began to cry again, Relentless Gem quickly magicked the baby out of the basket and into her forelegs, gingerly sitting down in the snow so she could cradle the baby properly without aggravating her wounds. Upon being settled into Relentless Gem’s embrace, the foal stopped crying and sniffled, staring up at the blue mare with curiosity in those golden eyes it had.

Relentless Gem offered the foal in her forelegs a comforting smile, shushing it softly. “It’s okay, it’s okay, I have you now. You won’t be alone.”

The foal, whom Relentless Gem realised was a filly, babbled softly and reached up for Relentless Gem with its tiny hooves. Relentless Gem put one of hers into the filly’s making sure to hold it well with her other foreleg. Once the baby took hold of the blue unicorn’s offered hoof with two of her’s, she babbled happily, and her horn glowed an ethereal white. Upon looking at the glowing light on the tip of the filly’s horn, Relentless Gem felt an unexplainable warm feeling swell in her heart. She felt comforted, like somepony had wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders and told her everything was going to work out in the end, no matter how bleak things seemed to be at the moment.

Smiling, Relentless Gem carefully magicked the filly back into the basket and tucked her in well as she got back on her hooves. Once she was sure she could stand without wobbling or stumbling, she magicked the basket onto her back, keeping her magical grip on it when it became clear the weight was too much for her to handle at the moment. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.” She spoke softly. The baby grunted and cooed in response, and thankfully didn’t cry anymore.

Just as Relentless Gem was sure she was comfortable and ready to go, she heard something that sounded like a bomb going off. She whirled around to the cliff where she had fallen from, and she saw that it was a blast of magic fired into the air, acting as a signal flare to show that there was another pony around, and that the area was safe. Relentless Gem let out a sigh of relief and flared up her own horn, looking around herself as she channelled her magic for a few seconds, making sure the coast was truly clear before she fired off her own blast of magic into the air, the glowing ball of pink energy exploding into numerous sparkles in the air like a firework. Once the deed was done, she slowly hobbled towards the cliff, her wounds on her flank continuing to sting whenever she rested her weight on it.

Her new companion cooed and grunted softly, unable to comprehend what was happening, but at the same time undoubtedly curious to understand everything.

[[[[[]]]]]

“What were you thinking? Running off like that, you could have gotten killed!”

Relentless Gem sighed as an armoured cyan unicorn greeted her by instantly chiding her about her rash decision to venture out into the woods on her own. After firing her flare at the base of the cliff earlier, the soldier ponies at the top of the cliff sent a lone scout down to tend to her injuries and navigate another path back to the village. The journey had been long, but thankfully the scout had been one of the quiet ones who didn’t speak a single word during the entire trip. With the soldiers, an awkward silence was much more preferable.

“Do you know how worried I was? How much I had to beg and cajole the commander to dispatch a platoon to find you?” The cyan pony continued to pester, though she magicked the basket off Relentless’ back and put it on her own. “And what in the hay is this you have here?”

“It’s a filly, Silver.” Relentless Gem responded, unable to find the energy to give any sort of answer to her older sister other than a direct one. “It’s a filly I found at the bottom of the cliff.”

Silver Gem stopped her tirade and her eyes widened in surprise. “You found a filly in the middle of nowhere?” Without waiting for an answer from the other unicorn mare, the armoured unicorn magicked the basket off her back and gently placed it before her. Her already wide eyes widened further when she saw the sage-green filly inside, the filly’s innocent, golden eyes staring back at her in curiosity, having a hoof in her mouth and sucking on it.

Silver Gem cast a sideways glance to her sister. “You found her like this? With nopony else around, or anything to tell us her name or where she’s from?”

Relentless Gem sighed as she stepped closer to the bucket, extending a hoof to the filly, who happily accepted it. “From the looks of it, it’s like someone just left her there. Straight up abandoned her.”

Silver Gem let out a scoff. “That’s not right.” Those were the only words she spoke, and Relentless Gem solemnly nodded in agreement. As they looked back at the filly, they heard the sounds of hoofsteps approaching, and looked up to see an armoured black stallion earth pony making his way towards them. He kept his helmet on, making him look even more menacing along with his imposing physique and stern expression. Silver Gem hurriedly put her helmet back on and saluted. Relentless Gem bowed her head.

The stallion towered over the mares, his voice having the hint of a sinister growl to it as he spoke. “Cadet Gem, I hope you remember the debt that comes with a request like this of the Winter Haral.”

Silver Gem kept up her salute. “Of course, Commander Steel.”

Commander Steel nodded, leaning in close to Silver Gem and invading her personal space. “You’ll be attending the expedition to the Ironpaw Mountains tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

Upon hearing this, Relentless Gem let out a soft gasp. The IronPaw Mountains were said to be one of the most extreme places in the Northern Isles, and most platoons who went there ended up returning with only one survivor who was usually driven mad by the horrors they’d seen. Relentless Gem glanced over to Silver Gem, and she saw her sister was fully ready to accept the assignment. She couldn’t let this happen. Not when Silver Gem was only concerned for her safety.

“Commander, wait!”

Commander Steel, who had turned to walk away, stopped when he heard Relentless Gem’s call. He turned around, and Relentless Gem could swear that his stern expression turned into a grimace. “What is it, civilian?”

“You can’t send Silver Gem to the Ironpaw Mountains!”

“Cadet Gem sent out an entire platoon—”

“She did that because she was worried for me!” Relentless Gem took a step forward, daring to hope that she could appeal to at least a smidge of compassion that was deeply buried behind the icy eyes of the commander. “If anything, I should be the one getting called on, not her!”

Commander Steel didn’t say a word. He only stared at Relentless Gem with those unblinking eyes of his, and the blue unicorn felt a hoof gently press into her side and pull her back. She glanced over to Silver Gem, who didn’t return her gaze. Her heart sank as she realised her sister was telling her to back down and accept what was presented to them. Relentless Gem’s voice died in her throat, and she dipped her head in sorrowful resignation.

As Silver Gem and Commander Steel exchanged a few words that Relentless Gem refused to hear, she stared up at the darkness above, her eyes locking onto the full moon that glowed brightly with the thousands of little lights that littered the abyss of the sky.

[[[[[]]]]]

Relentless Gem sighed as she finally stepped into the warm comfort of the hut she and Silver Gem stayed in together. There wasn’t much room, especially with the massive hay bale they’d shifted to one side for beds and a section of it dedicated to holding their utensils and cooking materials. There was a wooden box at the side of the room, where it was holding something special to both Relentless and Silver Gem.

Relentless sighed and gently set the basket down. The filly had fallen asleep just before they’d entered the hut, and was now snoring softly with a hoof still in her mouth. Relentless Gem gently magicked the filly out of the basket, then paused when she noticed something on the filly’s flank. Gingerly turning her around, she saw seven white circles imprinted onto the green fur of the filly, with six smaller ones surrounding the large one in the centre of them all. A Cutie Mark? At such a young age? Relentless Gem wondered. It was extremely rare for foals, especially babies like this one, to have their Cutie Marks already. Another question soon came to her mind as she looked at the Cutie Mark again, looking at the seven white circles. Just what does this mean?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and closing, and she turned to see Silver Gem had come back into the hut as well, the cyan mare sighing as she slowly took off the bits of armour with her magic. Relentless Gem looked over to her sister anxiously, not wanting to believe that she was being sent to a land she may not return from. “You’re really going?”
Silver Gem nodded grimly. “There’s no talking Commander Steel out of it. Unless you want to be hanged.” After discarding the armour in the same place the utensils were kept, Silver Gem walked over to the box by the side and magicked out whatever was inside. Another filly, this one being a very pale rhino grey with a blue mane, was gently settled into Silver Gem’s arms, who cradled her affectionately for what might very well be the last time she saw her. “Take care of her,” Silver Gem spoke softly, pressing a kiss on the filly’s forehead. “If I don’t come back, tell her stories about me.”

“Don’t say that,” Relentless responded, her voice tinged with a pleading tone. “You will come back. You will survive!”
Silver Gem didn’t respond, and it was obvious she didn’t believe her sister’s words. Instead, she looked over to the baby in Relentless Gem’s arms and nodded towards it, not noticing the filly’s Cutie Mark yet in the dim lighting of the hut. “What’s her name?”

“I don’t know, there wasn’t anything around to tell me.”

“Give her a name then.”

Relentless Gem paused, looking at the sleeping filly in her arms, thinking what kind of name would fit her. The filly’s Cutie Mark entered her mind, and she instantly spoke the two words that came to her mind.

“Lumina.”

She wasn’t sure why, but the name just sounded right. It fit this filly just right, even if Relentless Gem couldn’t fathom a proper reason why at the moment.

“Her name will be Lumina.”

Author's Note

Should I continue this story?