//------------------------------//
// Cold Front 
// Story: The Battle of Hearth's Warming 
// by XMark 
//------------------------------//

	The lead bandit pony confidently walked up to Smart Cookie. He sheathed his knife in a holster on his side so he could talk. The other bandits drew in closer, each one watching a different pony in the caravan.
"Toll road, sweetypie. We'll take yer cargo now if it pleases ya."
Cookie groaned. "We ain't got no cargo. Y'all needed to rob us goin' the other way. Seein' as there ain't nothin' to profit from this, how 'bout y'all just let us through?"
"You're talkin' mighty confident for your situation. I'm a proper gentlecolt, so I'll let that one slide, but not one more. We'll take the wagon itself then. Heavy thing, that is. You'll appreciate us lightening your load! We'll even relieve you of the burden of any coins or valuable items you happen to have on ya."
With nothing left to say, Smart Cookie opted to remain silent. The bandit started to chuckle to himself. Then he suddenly locked eyes with Clover. "Well, what have we here? A genuine unicorn. First time I seen a cornie travel 'round these parts without an armed pegasus escort. A fine present, she is. Probably fetch a decent ransom."
"I'm nopony important!" protested Clover.
"Oh that's no matter. I'm quite intrigued... I never tried a unicorn mare before... maybe I'll keep you for meself."
Clover was paralyzed with fear. She looked around at the bandits and realized she was now the center of attention.
"What's yer name, deary?" came the voice of the bandit leader.
"C...Clover. Clover th...the Clever."
"Well, Clover, hop on down from there and give us a kiss." he grinned wickedly, and the other bandits laughed.
Unable to remain silent any longer, Smart Cookie pushed the bandit leader back. "You ain't gonna take her, ya hear?"
The bandit leader leaped back and withdrew his knife. Through clenched teeth he hissed. "You had yer chance."

Clover thought she saw a shadow moving swiftly across the snow. Her eyes caught some movement from above and she saw a shining steel spear shoot straight down from the sky, piercing straight through the bandit leader's neck and into the ground. The knife fell out of his mouth as he gasped in shock. A spray of blood came out of his mouth, and he collapsed, sliding down the spear. A second later, a pegasus in full armor landed on the ground and yanked the bloody spear out. He stomped on the ground and whinnied, clenching the spear tightly in his teeth as he faced the other bandits.

For a moment, the caravan ponies and the bandits alike stood in shocked silence. Banana Split was the first to recover. He swiftly pulled a sword from his saddlebag and charged at the nearest stunned bandit, slicing cleanly across her neck.

A second later the other caravan ponies had also pulled out their swords. The other bandits were converging in on them. Clover could see four archers suddenly making themselves visible from further back in the trees. She shouted a warning, but two of them had already let bolts fly, hitting two of the caravan ponies. One fell down instantly, shot through the eye. The other took the bolt to the knee and was quickly finished by a bandit's sword.

The other two archers took aim at Clover and fired. Her horn flared up out of pure instinct and shot a wave of force towards the arrows, deflecting them off course. Unfortunately, she hadn't properly braced herself and the magic blast whipped her head sharply back, sending her off balance. She flailed her forelegs in the air, toppled back over the edge of the wagon, and landed hard in the snow. A body landed on her, and she pushed it away, not knowing if it was a friend or foe.

She forced herself back to her hooves, and quickly looked around. She could see the pegasus take to the air to swoop towards the archers. She saw Smart Cookie facing off with a bandit, then suddenly turning around and bucking the bandit right in the face with her hind legs. She saw Banana Split wildly swinging a sword between three bandits that were surrounding him. It was chaos and violence all around her. She wanted to hide under the wagon, but knew that she was in this fight whether she wanted to be or not. She galloped to Banana Split and focused her magic on one bandit's sword, wrenching it out of his mouth. Banana Split wasted no time and thrust his sword into the side of the disarmed bandit.

Clover was about to try the same thing on another bandit when she heard a scream from above. She looked up to see the pegasus shooting up to the sky carrying one of the archers. At the apex of his flight, he let her go. She screamed again as she plummeted down, straight toward Clover. Clover jumped out the way and could feel the vibration and hear the crunching of bones as the unfortunate archer made contact with the ground. She looked back to Banana Split to see that he had taken care of the other two bandits he was dealing with. He briefly looked to her and nodded his head.

She looked around and saw that most of the bandits were now running off into the forest since the battle had shifted against them. She heard another scream and a loud crack as another airborne archer came down, this one smashing face-first into the side of the wagon before hitting the ground. Most of the bandits were gone now, but she saw the pegasus touch down to face off against a very large pony, who had a heavy steel ball on a chain as his weapon. Clenching the chain in its teeth, the large pony swung the ball around in a wide circle. The pegasus kept his distance, and stepped back, just out of the range of the deadly weapon. They circled each other cautiously. One over-eager caravan pony rushed in at the heavy bandit, who let go of the chain at just the right moment. The ball flew outward and smashed the pony's face in.

The pegasus took this moment to rush in at the bandit, who yanked hard on the chain to bring the ball flying back. It intercepted the pegasus, glancing off his armor, but snapping his right wing and knocking the wind out of him. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground. The large bandit grinned and galloped forward to stomp the wounded pegasus to death. But he was not out of the fight. Even in his wounded state he kept his wits. He coiled his hind legs and just when the pony was about to reach him, he sprang towards him. The pegasus grabbed the large bandit's front leg and used his own weight and momentum against him. The bandit awkwardly tumbled, his hind legs flying over his pinned foreleg. When the pony was sprawled on the ground, the pegasus put his hind hoof to the side of the pony's head and pushed while he held the foreleg and pulled with all his strength. The bandit's neck snapped and he went limp. The pegasus let go, breathed deeply, struggled to get up, then passed out.


-


He woke up in darkness, with the sensation of movement. He was covered in a blanket.
"He's awake!" came the voice of a mare.
"Where am I?" he asked the voice.
A soft purple glow pierced the darkness. He could see it was from a unicorn's horn. "You're in our wagon." said the unicorn. "We had to keep moving in case the rest of the bandits came back, so we brought you in here with us. I bandaged up your wing. The bleeding is under control, but I don't know if it will recover."
The pegasus shook his head, and opened his eyes wider. He saw that there was some ambient light from small windows in the side of the wagon, but either it was overcast or he had been out for a long time. He could feel the wagon coming to a stop. The back door of the wagon opened, letting in more light, and he saw an Earth pony mare walk in. He also saw that there were three dead ponies inside the wagon with him.

Smart Cookie climbed into the wagon and bowed to the pegasus. "I'd like to thank you for yer help there. I can't tell you how much it means to me."
The pegasus stood up, shaking the blanket off, ignoring the pain shooting through his injured wing. He offered a quick salute and raised his good wing. "Private Pansy, sky security patrol, sector A-7."
"Smart Cookie. And this here is Clover the Clever from Unicornia. Once again, I'm grateful y'all saved us from them bandits."
Private Pansy looked away in shame. "I don't deserve your thanks. If I had fought well, you wouldn't have taken this many losses."
"And if ya hadn't fought at all we might all be dead. Or they might'a taken Clover..."
Pansy fixed his eyes on Cookie. "You must understand that the pegasi have strict orders concerning intervention on the ground. If you didn't have a unicorn with you, then you wouldn't have become a priority for direct action. I would have simply observed from above, and when they were done, I would have returned to Pegasopolis to file a report. Like I said, I don't deserve your thanks."
Clover drooped her head. "And if I wasn't with you, they may have robbed you but nopony would have died."
Cookie put her hoof on Clover's shoulder. "You don't know that. Maybe they had it in mind to kill us when they were done anyway. You never know with them bandit types. And Pansy, don't you get all guilty over what you maybe woulda done had something been different. That don't make what you actually did mean any less in my book."
Private Pansy nodded in reluctant agreement. "Then I must thank you as well. Thank you for caring for my injury. And I thank the brave ponies who gave their lives to bring us to victory." he saluted towards the dead bodies.
Cookie bowed her head in respect. She had personally known every pony in the Caravan who had died today, and the grief was still heavy on her heart.

Pansy looked at Cookie. "This is what will happen next: when I don't return at the end of my shift tonight, they will send a wing of 3 pegasi, one of whom will be an officer. They will patrol my sector searching for me. Finding the site of the battle they will conclude that I was either killed or captured by the bandits. They will search for a short time in the immediate area, but i'm just a Private; my rank doesn't make me a priority for further action."
"What is it with pegasi and priorities?" asked Clover.
"Rank is everything in Pegasopolis." Pansy answered. "I'm only one promotion away from full citizenship. But now with my broken wing I can't even get back there." he smiled faintly. "You're gonna have to suffer my company for the next couple of months at least."
"The more the merrier." said Cookie, but her words instantly reminded her that their number was lower than before.


-


"Who did you say you are again?" asked Sergeant Sprinkles, a highly-decorated and armored pegasus mare.
"Starswirl. You may have heard me referred to as Starswirl the Bearded."
"Let's say I hadn't heard of you. Let's say, maybe, as a Sergeant in the Elite Pegasus Guard, I have more important things to worry about." said the pegasus, as dismissively as she could manage. "Let's say all that is true. Then let me know why it's important that you talk to the Commander."
"The very survival of all of us. Pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns alike."
The pegasus officer rolled her eyes. "Like I haven't heard that one before. Tell you what. Commander Hurricane is in the middle of a very important strategic meeting with Princess Platinum. When he's done with that, I'll let him know you want to talk to him. But believe me, it is in your own best interest that you do not waste his time."
"Very well." said Starswirl. "I will wait here."

Behind the door to the Princess' chambers a very important strategic meeting between the leaders of the pegasi and the unicorns was in session.

Princess Platinum laid back in bed, out of breath and sweating profusely. "Oh, my! Hurricane, darling, we should have these very important strategic meetings more often!"
Commander Hurricane swiftly crawled out of the bed and began to put his armor back on. The Princess stared greedily at his muscular figure as he dressed, admiring the network of scars in his sides, a visual record of his past battles. She watched his wide wings flap as he put his armor on.
"I must say," said Princess Platinum. "I know why they call you Hurricane. I was simply blown away!"
The pegasus Commander fastened the chin strap of his helmet. "A pleasure, as always. However, today I'll have to mix business with pleasure."
"Awwww" whined the Princess, pouting seductively.
"We need to re-negotiate the terms of our security arrangement."
"Oh, and I suppose by re-negotiate, you mean you want more money." she said, her pout still in place.
"Yes. Bandit activity has gone up, and we've had to increase our patrols over Earth pony lands. We don't do this for free."
The Princess stomped her hoof. "And what if I refuse?"
Commander Hurricane shrugged. "You could. But when your food doesn't arrive because bandits are robbing all the shipments, you may find your security budget increasing."
Princess Platinum started to protest, but she had learned in several other arguments before, that Commander Hurricane could not be moved when he made his mind up. "Fine. How much are we talking about?"
"10 percent increase."
"10 percent? You talk about bandits while you try to rob me! I absolutely refuse anything more than 5 percent."
"This is not a negotation. I'm only informing you of the increase. If you have any kind of leverage on this deal, I'd sure like to see it. Otherwise, we're done today."
Princess Platinum fumed silently. She was so angry that she almost didn't stare at his flank as he walked away.

Exiting the Princess' chambers, he walked to Sergeant Sprinkles. They exchanged a brief salute.
"Commander, somepony requests to speak to you. His name is Starswirl. He's waiting right there."
The Commander looked at the old unicorn. "Ah, Starswirl the Bearded. I remember that name. He brewed invisibility potions for Operation Falcon. That may have been the battle which turned the great war against the Griffons in our favour. I will hear him out."
Sprinkles nodded toward Starswirl, who approached Commander Hurricane. "I have a matter of great import to discuss. It pertains to the weather."
Hurricane chuckled. "The pegasi are the masters of the weather. What could you possibly know from the ground that we don't already know?"
"Perhaps weather was the wrong word. I mean a grand climatic shift. Surely you have noticed the winters growing longer and colder as of late?"
"Of course. It happens. Some years are colder than others." Commander Hurricane answered, sounding somewhat condescending.
"We have tracked the stars and determined that the Earth's tilt has been shifted by some unknown force. Our land has been shifted northward, and the shift is still accelerating. I fear the winters will become completely unbearable."
The Commander placed his hoof on his face. "Starswirl, you helped our cause greatly in the Griffon war, but I'm afraid you don't have the same perspective on this as the pegasi. You have not seen the raw power that full battalion of pegasi can command. We have the strength to create and direct tornados, and we can turn an overcast day to a blue sky in ten seconds flat. The pegasi have control of the skies, no matter what they throw at us." He gave Starswirl a firm pat on the back. "Worry not, old stallion. We'll show this winter who's boss."
"Commander..." Starswirl started, but Commander Hurricane was already walking away, clearly signaling that he would not hear any more of it.

The leaders of the unicorns and the pegasi would both not heed his warning. He hoped that Clover would have better luck with the Earth pony Chancellor.