-Thirty-First Sunrise-
-Badlands-
Memoria chuckles lightly as her vision fades, her eyes grown wide. She walks to the luxurious mirror, the only truly clean item in the wretched hut she shares with her two sisters. Part of her frazzled mane falls into her face. In the mirror stands a beautiful unicorn mare, her silky blue mane and tail falling gracefully, and her green eyes alive and vibrant. Memoria smiled in realization that her days of longing for what she once was would be over.
“Girls!” Memoria croaks, her voice raspy and withered from her many, many years of life. Animals screech and bang against their too-small cages stacked against a wall. Memoria snarls and sends a wave of magic slamming into the cages and sends the withering creatures into fits of whimpers. Two similarly aged mares drag their creaky bodies into the room.
“Another one has fallen and this time,” Memoria says with glee. Her two sisters, Smallbeak and Emberglow, let smiles spread across their faces. “this time, her heart will be ours!” Memoria finishes. She slams a cleaver into the counter and all three of them cackle.
“Who shall it be, dear sisters?” Smallbeak asks with her slow creaky voice.
“Through the blood, we shall see,” Emberglow says, turning her head towards the animals. Malice drips from her voice.
“Which of us will be the one,” Memoria says, pulling the cleaver out of the counter viciously.
“To take her heart!” All three of them exclaim in unision. Smallbeak pulls a canine out of one of the cages and throws it onto the counter. Emberglow quickly slices the animal's throat. Memoria than proficiently slices the creature's stomach. All three unicorns then close their eyes and pull an organ from the creature.
“I've the spleen!” Smallbeak triumphantly calls, turning it over in her magic.
“I've the liver!” Emberglow says, her voice swells with pride for beating out her older sister.
Memoria smirks as she looks upon her prize. “And I've the heart!” She exclaims. Her sisters hide their dismay behind masks of approval. Emberglow pulls a dusty box out of a trunk next to the mirror and offers it to Memoria.
“It should last just long enough for you to charm that filly out of her heart.” Smallbeak tells Memoria. Memoria takes the box in her magic quickly.
“I know that!” She snaps. She turns to the mirror and let's her eyes take in her reflection. “Oh to be young again! And I will! We all will!”