War Hardens The Heart
Deadly projectiles whizzed through the air.
The battlefield was littered with them, the ground churned up with millions of hoofprints.
I huddled behind the wall of my fort, panting desperately. My breath fogged up the frigid air, but my face was bright red and hot to the touch. I swallowed, watching the enemy fire rain down around me.
There was no way I could win.
It was time for me to make my final stand.
I gathered together my last weapons, levitating them in the air before me, then took a deep breath. I steeled myself, preparing for the worst…then leapt into the open.
Time seemed to slow down. My life flashed before my eyes.
It was strange….one could easily start a war, even without direct intention. Indeed, the true beginning of this one was a phrase, a simple phrase….
“Mom, can we play outside?”
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(A Few Hours Earlier)
The fledgling stages of a snowstorm were beginning outside.
Thick drifts of fluffy white already engulfed the ground, dripping off the trees like a scene from a picture book. Ponies rushed to and fro, finishing errands before the brunt of the storm hit.
“Mom, can we play outside?”
“What?” Mom blinked in surprise, turning to look at the her of wide-eyed, pleading children gathered around her. “I don’t know….the forecast says it’ll really pick up. Also, even the cat didn’t want to go outside today. It’s pretty cold.”
“We’ll bundle up!” Teddy promised. The rest of us nodded energetically, agreeing.
“Pleeeease?” Rights begged.
“….okay.” Mom gave in with a sigh. “As long as you take Wiggles out with you. Come in when the snow gets heavy!”
“Yes!” I cheered. We scrambled out of the kitchen, running for the laundry room where our snow gear was kept.
We struggled into hats, coats, scarves, and fluffy saddles, bundling up as promised. Song Bird helped Wiggles into his things, and by the end, we all resembled Eskimos.
“Hang on a second.” Book stopped us briefly so he could run and get a measuring stick. “Okay. Let’s go!”
Teddy shoved the door open, and we poured out like water from a floodgate. The snow crunched beneath my hooves as I sprang forwards...and immediately tripped.
“Ow.” I said, my voice muffled by the ground in my face.
“Guys, I just measured the snow.” Book Whiz said. I pried my face off the chilly concrete, blinking curiously.
“What was it?” I asked.
“It’s already a foot deep!” Book cheered. “Can you believe it?”
“Wow, already?” Song said, amazed. “I’m going to get a head start on shoveling the driveway.”
“You do that.” I said. My sister vanished into the backyard, returning a few seconds later with a blue snow shovel levitating before her. She began scraping away at the heavy layers of snow that coated the concrete, tossing shovelfuls to the side.
“...I think I’ll join you.” I decided. I didn’t want to get called out for letting her do all the work.
“I’ll do it to.” Book decided.
We both joined in—me using a spare shovel, Book merely pushing it aside with his wings.
Eventually, Book got bored, and left to mess around with Rights and Teddy. Wiggles began to bother me and Song, saying he was bored, so I decided to take him sledding.
Our front yard was perfectly flat. There was no way we could sled on it. Our backyard had a steep slope, but was also full of plants. Thankfully, our super friendly neighbors had a large backyard with a fairly steep hill, and they let us play there!
I dragged our heavy, compact purple plastic sled out of the backyard. Wiggles trotted alongside me as I struggled up the hill, gasping.
“Sledding!” Book called, running over. Rights and Teddy followed him. “Can we sled to?”
“No!” Wiggles pouted, diving into the sled. “Mine!”
“C’mon.” I sighed. “You gotta share.”
“Noooo!” Wiggles shrieked, rolling over.
“Eh, it’s fine.” Teddy said. “We can body sled!”
“Body...sled?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah!” Teddy threw himself onto the snow, plowing face-first down the hill.
“Lovely.” I said. “I think I’ll stick with the sled, thanks.”
We climbed up and slid down several times, but eventually I got tired of hauling the sled up every time.
“Okay.” I said. “I’m tired now. If you want to sled you can do it yourself.”
“Fine.” Wiggles pouted, sitting down with a thud. “I’ll just stay here.”
“C’mon, Twinkle!” Book said. “Try body sledding! It’s fun!”
“Fine...” I sighed.
I threw myself forwards. Snow flew in my face, soaking my coat as I zipped downwards. I yelped, but my mouth instantly became filled with snow before I crashed into a deep bank at the bottom.
“Wasn’t that fun?” Rights asked.
“Nope.” I said, spitting out a mouthful of frigid white. “My teeth hurt.”
“Guys, why don’t we make snow nests!” Book asked.
“Yes!” Teddy said. I leapt up, joining in the eager cheer.
Snow nests were these fort-type things we liked to make every winter. They were made by sitting in a spot on the ground and using your forelegs to scoop nearby snow right up next to yourself. They could be made very thick and strong, which is what we did with these ones. By the end, they really did resemble forts.
Without warning, Book snuck up behind me, dumping a pile of snow on my head.
“Ack!” I yelped, leaping up. My retaliation was to toss a few sloppily made snowballs at him, but I missed…hit Teddy instead.
“Hey!” Teddy said.
“Sorry!” I apologized. “I was trying to hit--” A snowball from Teddy hit my in the face.
At that point, Song decided to throw one at me for no reason.
“What is this?” I asked, pouting. “Gang up on Twinkle day?”
“It looked fun.” Song said, shrugging.
“This is war!” I yelled.
I dove into the nearest snow fort, scooping up a bunch of loose snow. I grabbed a piece of it, packing it into two snowballs. One I tossed at Song, the other at Book. This time I managed to hit Book, but missed Song, because she’d vanished behind the wall of another fort.
“Byyyye!” Teddy chirped, dashing away. “I’m going to sit this one out! I don’t wanna fight you!”
Book sped off to the nearest cloud, grabbing it and pulling it back over to where we were. He beat his cloud into shape, hiding inside the newly made fort.
“Hey!” I protested. “That’s cheating!” I used my magic to pop the cloud like a bubble, and while Book was hovering helpless in the air, Song used the opportunity to hit him with a snowball.
Book dove to the ground, taking refuge within his own snow fort.
The battle…had begun.
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And…it continued.
For hours.
Many hours.
Pretty soon, Teddy got bored and went inside. It wasn’t long before he was also followed by Rights and Wiggles.
Surprisingly, the snow storm didn’t get any worst, but instead fizzled out and disappeared. At one point Dad came out once to finish shoveling the driveway, but we were too immersed in our battle to pay him any heed.
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So yes, how easily one can start a war.
And how quickly that war can escalate.
As time moved slowly around me, I landed on the ground, whipping my hoof forwards and throwing the snowball.
But it didn’t get very far….and neither did I.
A stray projectile smacked into my face, knocking me backwards. I fell squarely on my back, thankfully cushioned by the snow beneath me.
Several more snowballs crashed on top of me, covering me almost entirely, until I couldn’t see anything but a fuzzy atmosphere of white.
There was a second of silence, telling me the battle had been paused.
“…Twinkle?” Song Bird’s voice said my name.
I waved a hoof weakly in the air to show I wasn’t dead, then let it flop limply back to the ground.
“Here, stop the game for a second.” Song said. Her hoofsteps crunched on snow as she ran over to me.
“I’m sorry!” She said. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.”
“It’s fine.” I said, blowing snow out of my mouth.
At that moment, I noticed the crimson tinge of the sky. The clouds that had once held snow had faded away, turning into golden streaks.
“Hey, guys?” I said. “Don’t you think we should go inside now? It’s getting pretty late.”
“You’re right!” Song Bird said, glancing around. “Call a truce for today?”
“Hah!” Book snorted, coming up next to us. “I totally beat both of you.”
“Did not!” I protested, getting to my hooves and shaking the clumps of snow out of my damp mane. “I was obviously the champion here.”
“You got hit in the face!” Book said.
“…..let’s not talk about that…”
“Guys, stop arguing.” Song sighed. “It’s time we go inside now.”
“Okay, okay.” I gave in, rolling my eyes.
“Fine.” Book sighed, doing the same.
We set off across the yard. I shivered shivering slightly as my soggy, cold boots clung to my skin.
It had been a fun day, but I was even more glad to be heading inside…...to warmth.