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// The Border (Edited) 
// Story: A Snow Swept Heart 
// by CoverArt 
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	Snowy and Stargazer galloped for as long as they could. The snow and temperature made it hard for them to move and slowed them down considerably. They eventually, however, found themselves at the end of the heavy snow and at the beginning of the tundra that comprised the border of the Crystal Empire and Equestria.
While the war had been over for a few years now, they still had to be extra cautious. The no pony's land between the two countries was about half a mile wide and was marked off on either side by fences. The fences themselves were not really the problem; it’d take a few seconds to fly over. The problem was in getting the timing just right. Soldiers patrolled the outskirts every few minutes and had orders to kill on sight if somepony was trying to get across. Then, of course, there was the Equestrian military, who, if the propaganda was to be believed, were under the same kill orders. While Snowy highly doubted that the Equestrian military would fire at ponies trying to escape the Crystal Empire, she thought it would be safer to avoid them as well.
“Ok, so it looks like the guards patrol in this area every couple of minutes. It’ll be close, but I think I’ll be able to lift you over the fence,” Stargazer explained as he got back to the small hill they were planning from. It was a fair distance from the fence, as they didn’t want to get caught as they were trying to figure things out.
“That only leaves what we do when we get to the other side.” Snowy put a hoof to her chin, pondering.
“If they don’t just kill us when we get over there.”
“Hey! If it was that dangerous, Mum wouldn’t have told us to go there, right?”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. So, what’s the plan, exactly?”
“It’s simple. We sneak over, wait for the guards to pass, then you lift me up and over, and then we run.”
“I don’t think it’s gonna be that simple.”
“Don’t be so negative, Stargazer. Unless you have a better plan?”
“Nope, this is the best we got, but I trust you Snowy. We’ll pull it off.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back before looking back towards the border. Ahead of them, a group of guards was starting to pass in front of them.
“Now’s our chance. They’re passing us. Let’s go,” she whispered, and they started making their way towards the fence, moving slowly to not draw attention to themselves. Thankfully, the lack of trees made it easier to not step on branches, though it also meant they were pretty much out in the open, with only some rocks to hide behind. They hid behind the rocks every now and again when it looked like one of the guards were starting to look in their direction.
They made it to the edge of the road in front of the fence that the guards patrolled and looked up and down it, making sure no guards would see them. They nodded to each other and sprinted across the dirt but stopped just before the fence.
“Ready, Snowy?” Stargazer whispered to her. While there wasn’t anypony around them--they hoped--they still had to be careful about talking loudly.
“Yep. Raise me up,” Snowy said. Stargazer took off and wrapped his hooves around Snowy’s barrel and started to lift her up slowly.
“Gosh, Snowy, I didn’t know it’d be this hard to pick you up,” Stargazer said, pumping his wings.
“Excuse me?” Snowy snapped and glared at him.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” he quickly apologized.
“I’m watching you, Stargazer. I’m watching you.” Snowy narrowed her eyes at him, and they giggled lightly.
They got to the top of the fence, being careful to avoid the razor wire at the top, and were about to cross over when they heard the last thing they wanted to hear.
“Halt!”
Their eyes widened as they heard a guard scream that. Snowy looked back to the road, and to her horror, there was a patrol of guards aiming crossbows at them. They fired.
“Left! Now!” Snowy screamed to Stargazer, who complied immediately, jerking left and just barely avoiding the barrage of bolts.
The bolts hit the ground in several places. However, some hit things that were buried in the ground: land mines. The land mines were lined with special runes that, when pressure was applied to them, overcharged and exploded, sending fire and shrapnel everywhere, enough to maim or kill even the toughest earth pony.
Apparently, a bolt hitting one is just enough pressure to set them off, as jets of flame accompanied by explosions went off below the two airborne ponies, causing them to scream as they jerked to the side at the sudden explosions.
“We can’t land here! You have to fly us to the other side,” Snowy yelled over the jets of flames.
“I’ll try!” Stargazer replied as he doubled his efforts to get them to safety. Snowy kept looking behind them, calling out when to dodge waves of bolts. She even had used her magic to deflect a couple closer ones.
She had just deflected a wave of bolts when one of them managed to slip past her telekinesis and looked to be traveling right at her. She was about to slap it out of the air when she blinked, and the bolt flashed and changed into a sword. She blinked again, and it changed back to a bolt. She quickly batted it down, wondering what just happened.
She didn’t get a lot of time, though, as seconds later, an explosion and a jet of flame shot up right next to them. She screamed and heard Stargazer scream too, though his was mixed with pain. She looked up and saw that one of his wings got scorched.
“Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” she called up to him. He had one eye closed, likely because of the pain.
“I can’t keep us up; my wing hurts too much. Oh, jeez..." he replied as they slowly lost altitude. Snowy brought her hooves in as they got closer to the ground.  They both shut their eyes as they assumed this would be their end: hitting a landmine and exploding into a million pieces.
Instead, they hit the ground and tumbled, giving them a few bumps and bruises, but they didn’t explode. They both opened their eyes and looked at each other, confused.
“Are we dead and don’t know it?” Snowy asked. Stargazer answered with a groan.
“Nope; my wing still hurts like Tartarus.”
Snowy looked around, still wondering why they weren’t dead when she noticed that they were only a few minutes away from the Equestrian fence. A few minutes from freedom.
“We’re almost there, Stargazer. We’re almost there! Come on!” She got up and went over to help him up. He groaned and stood up, only to fall down again.
“Damn. I’m out of energy, Snowy.”
“Nope, not hearing that. Come on.” She lifted him off the ground with her magic, struggling a bit before plopping him on her back.
“Oof. And you complained I was heavy,” she teased as she started to move towards the fence.
“Ha ha, very funny.”
In a few minutes, they were at the fence, not too different from the fence on the opposite side, albeit less intimidating. It didn’t even have a razor wire top. They approached it and were only slightly shocked that a patrol of Equestrian guards was approaching them.
“Stay where you two are, and we’ll have you safe and sound in a few moments,” a female guard told them as she used magic to open a small door in the gate, one that wasn’t there seconds ago. Snowy and Stargazer walked through the door and took their first steps into Equestria, feeling as if their great journey was finally over--or, at least, close to being over. The guard mare looked at them and smiled. They smiled back.
“Welcome to Equestria, you two. I’m just sorry I have to do this. Protocol and all." She turned toward the rest of the guards. "Get the colt to a medic, and then get them to a holding cell!”