How Scorching Quill Got His Name and Other Drabbles

by PC

Pride and Prejudice

“I cannot believe this! You are a pegasus and you are telling me that you can’t fly us off this blasted island?!”

Gust Kicker sighed, opening her soggy saddlebags and extracting a flask. “I told you, I’m off duty because my wing’s hurt.” She stared at the flask for a moment, then took a long gulp of the chilled vodka inside.

Jewel Pride gave her a glare, her horn flashing white menacingly. “Oh, you’re a drunk as well? Just my luck.” She turned around and began to search through the ship’s debris.

Gust was beginning to dislike the petty noble. She had dealt with many nobles before, but they had usually been former officers who seemed reasonable enough. This “lady” was a self-centred bigot. “Excuse me, your ladyship, but the whole ship’s crew is dead.” She motioned to the debris with her undamaged wing. “If you want to survive, we’re going to have to stick together.”

Jewel humphed as she brushed away chunks of wood from her ornate suitcase.

“It’s getting dark,” said Gust, squinting at the slowly setting sun. “I’ll go search for some wood.”

Jewel Pride turned and raised an elegant eyebrow. “We’re surrounded by wreckage. Is that enough wood for you, or do you want me to grow you a forest?”

Gust was getting very tired of the mare. “You can’t”—she slid her saddlebags onto her back and turned away from the sea—“start a fire with wet wood. Didn’t your private tutors teach you stuff like that? Or did they think that’s too much information for your precious mind to handle?”

A flash of light flew by Gust and she felt the gauze around her damaged wing fall off. Instinctively, she jumped to the side and flapped her wings. Gritting her teeth against the pain of using her left wing, she rolled across the sand and stopped on her hooves, one wing spread and the other tight against her side. “What the hell was that?!”

Jewel sniffed dismissively and turned back to her saddlebags, a sapphire-and-amethyst unicorn blade splitting into its shards and returning to her mane, joined by the sapphire shard that had attacked Gust Kicker. “If you insult me again, I will not hesitate to hurt you,” she threatened without concern.

A vein was beginning to pulse on Gust’s forehead. “You really think it would be that easy?!” Quickly but silently, she launched herself with her one wing at Jewel Pride. Before she reached her, however, she froze in mid-air, white magic tinting her vision.

“Yes, I do.”

Gust was suddenly launched into the air. Before she could reorient herself, she crashed into something hard and everything turned into darkness.

Author's Note:

A short drabble featuring two OCs shipwrecked on an island.

Gust Kicker is partially inspired by Chengar Qordath's Storm Kicker, while Jewel Pride's unicorn blade is directly inspired by/borrowed from The Immortal Game by AestheticB.