It was another sparkling day in Equestria. The sun had crawled over the horizon and now shone down, touching everything it saw. The sunlight offered glistened in the water of Horseshoe pond, a strange area named after the shape of the body of water that lay there. The patch of land that lay in the middle of horseshoe pond was inhabited by a great oak tree, whose many branches hung out over the water providing shade for the sea-bound creatures. Surrounding the forest clearing were a circle of fully bloomed roses, their luscious blood red colour providing a beautiful contrast to the green of the stems and grass.
A single pathway went through the clearing, and down the pathway came two young girls, silently walking under the blazing heat. One was about ten and was carrying a backpack. She wore a t-shirt filled with flowers on it that contrasted well with the black background, and sea blue jeans that looked short and tight. She had a pale, spotty face with ivy green eyes that loomed in the sockets. On her feet she had white trainers with orange socks, and her hair was blond, wrapped in a pony tail.
The other who followed was smaller, about seven, and wore a T-shirt that was Fire-red with purple stripes going at a thirty degree angle along with over-sized navy blue jeans. She had pink sandals as if she were on a beach, and her fat feet painfully pushed against the straps, protesting against it's confines. Her face was closer to a square then an oval, and her light blue eyes were inaccessible as they lay idly pointed at the ground. Her hair was also blond, but was instead split into two pony tails on either side of her head.
The leader turned her head to notice the great oak, stopping for a moment to admire the beauty. She then turned to the girl who was following her and grasped both sides of her head softly.
"Card time?" asked the 7-year old. Her voice was young and innocent, if not a bit grating on the ears.
"Yes, card time. Sit down while i get the cards out." Replied the ten-year old. Her voice while speaking to the seven-year old was soft, trustworthy and stern.
The youngest sat down while the oldest opened her bag and looked inside. She shook her head in confusion as to why she had the strange assortment of items, then reached inside and retrieved a packet of cards, a pen and a notebook. She opened the packet and turned to the younger girl. Her distant eyes flickered with expectation. The eldest passed to the youngest the pen and notebook. The youngest's eyes came into focus as she opened the notebook, revealing pages of tables, numbers and statistics that the seven-year old had put together over the time she couldn't remember. The eldest began to draw cards, taking long gaps in between the draw until the youngest said "Ready" when she would then draw another. All the meanwhile the youngest scribbled down more numbers into the notebook, never lifting her eyes to look at the deck of cards until the eldest had drawn the thirteenth card and she had finished writing. The youngest then finally looked up at the deck and said "Shuffle". She then stared at the deck, making sure it was shuffled well by the eldest, for if it wasn't then that would ruin her stats. "Stop" She said. The shuffler halted. "Ready"
And thus they repeated this process a few times, until the eldest spoke: "Enough". The youngest, knowing she couldn't compete with such authority, made her last few notes and put the pen down. She flicked through the pages admiring what she had made. The eldest lay down and took a deep breath. It was a hot day and the long walk would've made her sweat if she hadn't have been shaded by the trees in the forest. She got up and walked over to the shade of the tree. She sat down against the bark and watched the youngest who was still looking at the notebook. She pitied the poor girl, but she didn't know exactly why. She sighed again and closed her eyes to visit fleeting memories...
Running away She remembered the adrenaline...
Holding her hand She remembered the fear...
Don't look back. You've been shot. Your arm... She remembered collapsing. She opened her eyes. The youngest was standing above her, notebook, pen and cards in hand, waiting for instructions. For a moment they stared into one another's eyes. The eldest looked away. "Sit here," She said, patting the ground beside her. The youngest looked at the place she was patting, registering the instructions, before sitting beside the eldest.
"Who am I?" she asked the wind.
"You're Daisy" the youngest replied.
"And who are you?" she asked the voice.
"I'm Rose." the youngest replied
"Why are we here?" she asked the skies. Silence. The eldest faced the youngest.
"Rose, you must realize that where we're going could be a place with many dangers." Silence again.
"So if anything bad happens, you're to come back here, to this weird pond. Got it?" Still silence. The eldest clasped the youngest's head again, as softly as she did before. "Rose, If you get into trouble, you head straight back here. Right? back to this pond, under this tree. Understand?" The youngest nodded. "Good." said the eldest. "Good..." she repeated, slumping back to her spot under the tree.
A few more careless minutes passed. The youngest became more fidgety as time passed, and it was as she began to hum that the eldest took a final deep sigh and rose from the fleeting moment of rest. the youngest copied her, her eyes now stuck to the back of her head. Silently, the pair headed back on to the path they had temporarily strayed from. A Raven cawed and flew and dove close over the two hikers. They continued unfazed as he coldly glided and rose, flying away from the sun for reasons they would never care to guess.