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Loving a Unicorn

Breeding a Future

Written by Arian Mabe

Sharptalon leapt down from his perch and stalked up to Celeste, prodding her in the chest with his hard beak. Though she flinched, the unicorn did not budge a muscle and stood firm as he circled her, eyeing her all over like a piece of meat that was being prepared for butchering. Saliva collected in his mouth, swelling over his tongue, and he gulped, licking the edge of his beak. She would be delicious, if only he got his talons into her.

"How does it feel, Celeste," he crooned, "to be nothing but an animal? How does it feel to know that, very soon, your kind will be snuffed out forever? Not a single unicorn, not mare or foal or stallion, will remain."

"That will never come to be."

He chuckled, a raspy laugh that set Christian's skin prickling. He kept his magic just within reach as tensions rose within the shelter, Sharptalon's cronies joining him in circling Celeste. The arch of his neck grew more and more pronounced as he nudged open the doors further, too keen to keep an eye on what the gryphons were doing to be overly concerned about unwelcome discovery. The glimmer of gold casting a haze over the walls shielded him from their view, luckily. Besides - they had more entertaining prey at the tips of their talons.

"Unicorns will never fall, much less from your efforts," Celeste countered, turning so that she kept Sharptalon in front of her at all times, though her tail flicked nervously at the gryphons moving out sight. "Your lies mean nothing here."

"Oh, but they do."

The green gryphon kept his head low to the ground, skulking around Celeste in circles that decreased in sizes. His feathers brushed her fetlocks as he wound himself nearly around her forelegs and she looked down disdainfully, ears flat against her skull. But she did not break. Christian's heart swelled with admiration for his love, her bravery, and he almost forgot that the scene he was watching put her in very real danger. Celeste, however, still seemed to have a handle on everything. Maybe there was hope yet.

"But maybe you are right, Celeste," Sharptalon paused, bringing a forepaw to his beak and tapping the underside thoughtfully. "I could be wrong. In fact, I do believe I am wrong."

The flames in the fire pit danced, casting grotesque shadows across the walls as Celeste backed off, head lifted out of range of the gryphons beaks and claws. Her tail lay tight over her rump and Christian sank back on his hind legs, muscles shivering with restrained tension. He dropped his shield, pulling on magic more suitable to attacking. The area around the shelter was deserted anyway. He steeled himself. Celeste was more important than maintaining concealment.

"I am wrong, Celeste, for you shall be the very last of your kind. You shall linger while your herd dies one by one, in the heart of the land of the gryphons. My kingdom shall grow while yours falls. Not that there was much of it to begin with."

"Do you believe that I cannot extract myself from this location?" Celeste said blandly. "You are not holding me prisoner."

"Then consider this your decree. You will not leave."

Sharptalon leapt for her, beak snapping an inch from her throat. She only jerked her head out of the way a fraction of a second before he would have drawn blood. The gryphon pursued her, movements erratic as he backed her up to the wall. Her rump pressed to the wood and Christian fumbled for his magic, cursing as it slipped out of his grasp. Outside, a gryphon chirped, cocking his head at the strange horse outside their leader's shelter, though Christian was too intent on regaining self-control to notice. The unicorn swore and stamped, fear rising. He could only stay his hooves for so long.

"You may not be a pretty virgin with your mate anymore," he hissed, "but there is so much more where that came from. There is so much more we may desecrate you with."

Christian stiffened. He pushed the door open further, anger seething, but the gryphons did not notice him, even without magic to shield him. Sharptalon flapped, a loose feather landing on Celeste's nose. She snorted it away, horn glowing to cast up a shield, a simple protection spell. Sharptalon proved unfazed and prodded it with a claw, emboldened when it did not sting or shock, only keep the unicorn behind a lightly flickering blue plane.

"You will have a cunt soft enough to take our lengths," Sharptalon continued in a low, deadly tone. "How many gryphons will it take mating with you to see tears run down that pretty little face of yours? Will you weep? Will you beg for mercy? Maybe we will even have your mate watch you taken, abused and degraded. While you watch your kind burn."

Celeste froze.

"I don't think the princess likes that," he squawked to his cronies, puffing up his chest. "Such a shame. She'll have to learn, shan't she?"

They nodded in agreement, drool gleaming at the corners of their beaks. Celeste swallowed and flicked her tail, muscles quivering.

"Sharptalon." Her eyes shone dark and fearful. "This is folly, let us have an end to it at once. Tonight. There is no reason for unicorns and gryphons to be in bad faith with one another. We could even work together - for a better future."

Sharptalon scoffed as his fellows crouched, hindquarters swaying from side to side.

"You just don't get it, do you? Stupid mare. We never intended to let you leave this place. You coming here was nothing more than the start of the end. There never was to be any treaty - this farce of an agreement between us. There is nothing for unicorns left in this world, only death. Beginning with you."

They surrounded her, pressing her back to the wall despite her shield. She pranced and reared, striking out against gryphons that she could not reach through her own protective wall. As long as she kept the shield up, she was trapped. To attack, she'd have to drop the shield and use different magic. Cornered, the unicorn let loose a fearful whinny that chilled Christian to his bones.

Celeste had never made a sound quite like that before. He snorted and tossed his head. There was no plan - he had to act! But he managed to calm himself enough to reach for his magic again and pulled it to him with a relieved nicker, letting it flood him and strengthen his body.

Quickly, quickly, quickly...

Sharptalon struck Celeste's shield, claws flashing.

"Your parents will eventually find your corpse," he cackled, flapping his wings and rocking on to his hind legs as the unicorn swayed in the buffeting blast of air. "After we have demeaned it over and over again. Maybe they won't even be able to tell it's you."

"Get away from her!"

It was not the most terrifying battle cry, but it did the trick as Christian charged into the shelter, magic at full strength and a shock of golden sparks rippling out from him. They struck the gryphons and sent them reeling, clattering into the mound of gaudy gold. Sharptalon landed on his back, legs flailing, and shrieked like a banshee as he struggled to right himself again. His fellows immediately rushed to his side, but the flurry of activity had already drawn attention from outside. Gryphons clustered around the door that Christian had only just left, screeching and cawing at their trapped prey.

Christian pressed himself to Celeste's side, pulling her away from the wall as his sides heaved.

"Christian!" For once, Celeste looked startled, head shaking up high. "How did you come to be here? What is -"

Christian barrelled in front of her and reared, silver hooves flashing. Hissing, Sharptalon backed away, eyeing the stallion with a worrying glint in his eye.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He said slimily. "Is it, perchance, a human who believes he's a stallion?"

Christian snorted.

"That hardly deserves a response. Your bile is nothing but lies, though I won't do you the pleasure of saying you have a silver tongue. It is more a tongue that spews rubbish than anything of a convincing variety."

"Your words wound me." Sharptalon shuddered and fluffed up his feathers, peering up forlornly. "I do not know how I shall go on now that you have set me on the correct path."

The gryphon preened his chest feathers, eyeing them sidelong.

"Better to have two fresh bodies to abuse than one," he said as if to himself. "The more the merrier, isn't it, as the humans say."

The beasts sank on to their haunches in perfect unison. Conversely, Sharptalon sat on his haunches and yawned, a smirk glinting in the corner of his eye. The flames crackled and the shadows trembled.

"Get them."

The unicorns stood shoulder to shoulder as the gryphons leapt for them and slammed their magic into their vulnerable underbellies. The first attack was the easiest to avoid and Christian's heart pounded harder than ever, mane lifting eerily from his neck as if carried by an invisible breeze. His skin tingled with power and he danced from hoof to hoof, knocking the second attack back with a single flick of magic that crackled like wildfire, leaving the gryphon hissing and clawing at his beak. Singed feathers tainted the air and the gryphon eyed him warily, rubbing his cheek.

He reared, head thrown back. He'd never felt so alive! What was going on? Did it matter? The stallion landed on all four hooves, thrust his head forward and neighed with all the air his lungs could hold. Celeste looked at him like he had taken leave of his senses.

"Christian, whatever has gotten into you?" She snorted and frowned. "This is no time for play! This is very serious!"

"I know!" He shook his head apologetically, throwing a buck at one of the gryphons the colour of muddy water to catch him a glancing blow on the chest. "I'm sorry, I just feel..."

He trailed off, tongue too thick in his mouth for speech. Squealing, he lunged at a gryphon a second before he got his beak into Celeste and drove him back, kicking and snapping. He stampeded through the fire, scattering firewood as sparks flew from his hooves, and reared, horn alight. It flashed through every colour of the rainbow - from pink to green to orange to purple to red and more - and should have blinded him as the gryphons regrouped into a tight bunch, others from the exterior darting in to join the fray. The gryphons stalked closer and his horn, searing with unexpected heat, shot off a beam of white light.

It struck the middle of the bunch, scorching a hole in the ground, and a small, tan gryphon leapt away with a shriek, shaking his forepaw. That was all the break he needed. Christian charged, attacking as he bore a hole through their line and forced them back and back, away from his Celeste. His eyes burned and the shelter wavered as if he was seeing it through a magical cloak, yet he had no such invisibility spell under his hold at that time. His hooves slid in the dirt and he gasped, sucking in hefty, greedy breaths.

"Christian! Your magic!"

His lips were numb with the sheer volume of magic coursing through him. Screaming a stallion's battle scream, he fought with snaps and kicks, lending power to his body with his magic to fight like a true, natural equine. The magic only put him on a more even ground with the gryphons. It felt natural to move with his body, twisting. Sharptalon, stalking along the edge of their 'battlefield', tired of the game and leapt on to Christian's back, claws digging in as the stallion hurled buck after buck.

Blasting the gryphon clear, Celeste rescued him just in time, though not in time to escape injury altogether. Christian's sides heaved, breathing laboured, as rivulets of blood ran down his sides, energy fading. Celeste whinnied and threw up a shield, buying them a few moments.

"You're injured!" She nosed his side, a smear of blood streaking her nose. "Put yourself behind me - now."

Obstinately, Christian turned his body side on, shielding her from the approaching gryphons with the bulk of his body. Celeste neighed and darted back and forth but nothing she did managed to shift her around the stubborn stallion, determined to keep her safe at all costs.

What he saw, however, was not promising. Christian's heart sank and he gathered his magic in close, wondering if he had enough strength to transport them magically to another location. From the fear in Celeste's eyes, that telltale white rim around her violet iris, she didn't know how to get them away either. He snorted, jerking his head up and away from a gryphon's testing swipe. Sharptalon bullied his way through the flock to the front of the pack, eyes glimmering. He had them now. The flock approached, bellies slunk low to the ground as they stalked, playing at catching prey they had already caught.

Gryphons screeched and there came an unearthly bang and crackle from somewhere outside the shelter as if something had exploded and set the resulting mess on fire - Christian had seen enough documentaries to know what explosives could do. Sharptalon's head shot up, ear tufts quivering. Christian's stomach rolled as he funnelled his magic away from his body, drawing it from muscle and sinew alike to ball it up in a lump, prepared for who knew what. There was something coming - he had to be ready! Every nerve thrummed with energy and he reared. The tension built and built as he danced in front of Celeste, drawing him to breaking point. The stallion rolled his head and leapt an impressive distance sideways as the doors slammed open, crashing off their ill-designed hinges.

And then all hell broke loose. But it was not gryphons that poured in.

Celeste was not the only one in for a surprise that night as a small herd of mares, which Christian recognised a moment later as the ones he had bred in their first group mating. Karin whinnied at their head, silver horn gleaming white as she called a tremendous bout of magic to her hold. The filly skidded to a halt, flinging the bundle of raw magic into the cluster of gryphons. It exploded, rocking the ground, and Christian staggered, his ears ringing.

Time slowed down. Shadows fizzled into nothing as the flames came under the blows of what could have been a thousand stampeding hooves for all his senses told him. The stallion leaned against Celeste, nostrils flaring, as he watched the mares storm into the gryphons as if from behind a glass screen. Their magic gleamed, bright enough to make him blink spots away from his eyes, and their coats shone with health, vibrancy that he had not before noted radiating from them.

They had no trouble beating the gryphons back and, for all that Vale had said in the 'classroom' about magic within the herd diminishing, Christian certainly did not see any lack of magic in the herd of mares he had bred and loved, though they didn't show signs as yet that they were carrying his foals. He turned his head, looking between the herd, forcing the gryphons back over the mound of gold, and Celeste, eyes wide. She looked at him with as much confusion, regaining lost breath as her nostrils sucked in a much needed, clean lungful of air.

Her sides trembled and she leaned into him as he watched the fray, every mare fighting admirably and scoring hits with tooth, hoof and magic. The gryphons reeled, squawking and calling for help as their leader scrambled in the dirt, feathers in complete disarray. Sharptalon slammed his forepaw into the ground and bounded into the air, rallying his flock. Yet, not a single mare was struck as the gryphons fell back.

Where had all this magic come from? Christian shook himself, mind racing quicker than his hooves ever could have. Maybe they just needed a reason to fight. His ears burned, but it was no time to blush. Everything was coming together.

Was that reason...him? Him and Celeste?

There was little time to pursue that thought - who knew the night could be so eventful when one should be slumbering? - as Karin darted up to him, white nose quivering. Her body glowed as if every hair in her coat had become infused with magic and she bounced from hoof to hoof as he had done earlier, unable to contain it.

"Karin!" He cried, giving a little tired bound on his hooves from sheer joy at seeing her - and so powerful too! "What on earth has brought you here? How did you find us?"

The filly squeaked and bumped her nose against his, flipping up on to her kind hooves to bat away a gryphon that had gotten too close with as much ease as she would swat away a fly with her tail.

"I followed you, silly," she said, using a term she had clearly adopted from him at one point or another. "You were not difficult to track. I am only glad that we did follow you. It was not difficult to rouse the mares and fillies from their bedchambers when they heard you may be in danger."

Christian blinked and took a step back.

"How did you know we would be in danger? Can you see ahead with your magic? Like, into the future? You can't have known we would be in danger all the way back in the village!"

The filly looked at him like he'd gone crazy and shook her head. Spilled fire from the pit spread along a wooden beam and flickered hungrily up the wall, licking and spitting as it discovered a fresh haunch to gnaw.

"Not in the slightest, Christian. I followed you. When has good ever come of a unicorn slinking off into the night without a herd to guide them? Much less in these times."

She spun and floored a gryphon leaping for her hindquarters, her scream that of a mare and not a filly who should have still been growing into herself. Christian's heart skipped a beat and he watched in awe as she defended him.

Maybe he was falling, just a little bit. The stallion tossed his head, hiding his shyness.

The battle was already won the moment the mares streamed into the shelter and Sharptalon drew his gryphons away with many a cursed and shrieked insult, drowned out by the din of their hooves. Throwing himself back into the throng at Celeste's side once they had recovered their strength and their magic, Christian reared and pawed at the air, fire crackling along the ramshackle ceiling above him. Beams cracked and he chased the mares out with a snap and a warning, instinct taking over as he protected them. The gryphons swore and spat as they flew away, nursing their wounds, both physical and mental. Although it was far from the last that the herd would surely see of them, the battle, for the moment, was concluded.

Together, the unicorns were invincible and, if he had it his way, the whole world would know it. The gryphons would never be a threat to them and extinction would be one more word in their historical tomes in years to come as future generations laughed and learned with the old.

As the gryphons retreated, smoke curling from their destroyed keep, the unicorns filed out of the keep in a line, each watching another's back. Christian brought up the rear while Celeste led at the head of the procession, finally a little forlorn and shaken now that the battle was over that she had not achieved what she had left the village to achieve: peace. Yet, at the back of the group, Christian pranced and tossed his head even as his strength drained with the lack of sleep. For he knew exactly what they had achieved and it made his heart sing.

Breeding was not the key to unicorn survival. It was much more personal than that. And as clear as daylight in the mares with whom he had shared love, nips, kisses and a thrusting stallion shaft.

Speaking with Caderyn and Moirin back in the safety of the unicorn village as healers tended to his wounds with magic, Christian watched himself speak and discuss as if from behind a screen. His words did not seem his own and his body was weightless, sensation floating beyond his grasp. It was crystal clear, although not so until he had seen the mares' magic in action, when it really mattered. He watched Caderyn's and Moirin's faces fall at talk of the battle and the danger they had put themselves in, turning as mother and father to scold a most put out Celeste. Christian called their attention back to him, telling them of the strength in the mares he'd bred, full-blooded magic pouring from them like water. It was no coincidence. Their eyes shone with hope they had almost forgotten.

As terrifying a notion as it was, Vale confirmed it, dragging himself with much yawning from his shelter as morning broke. Christian's love and faith for Celeste and the herd could be the only thing that had generated such increased magical power in mares who had previously not exhibited any signs of being exemplary in the field of magic. Although, the stallion itched to study them, to find out what they were now capable of, he was chased off with pinned back years and playful snaps. They told him off, teasing that he'd have to slip out of his shaft and into something more comfortable if he wanted to test their magical abilities. The stallion paced back home with mutters on his lips but a plumper sheath than he had arrived with.

The king and queen grilled Christian until he nearly keeled over from exhaustion and concluded, with his eyelids drooping, that, from Vale's research, unicorns were more powerful with a greater percentage of unicorns engaging in mating. There was no complication in it - only simplicity. Christian swayed as facts and figures and wispy notions spun dizzyingly around his brain. He swayed, head lowering. The stallion's nose brushed the ground and he gave a long sigh as Celeste pressed to his side.

He just wanted his bed and his mare. The conversation rolled on without him and he bobbed his muzzle occasionally, giving the pretence of engagement the best he could. He bit his lip and thought about rolling his eyes, but the motion required too much energy - energy that he didn't have.

One thing he did manage to catch, however, was that, with this new information in mind, they wanted his wedding with Celeste to go ahead as quickly as possible to strengthen the magic in the herd. That was, only if he was okay with that. What stallion would refuse saying his vows to such a beautiful mare? There had been talk for some time of them being wed and, when it came right down to it, the unicorns didn't hesitate to make decisions.

And so it was settled, as simply as coming to an agreement over the evening meal. Christian chuckled, half-asleep, and told the king and queen that Celeste wouldn't even need a white dress as she was already as pure white as newly fallen snow. Caderyn and Moirin stared blankly back at him.

Christian swallowed and smiled cheekily, though it came off a bit crazed in his drowsy state. Maybe he would have to explain that joke to them another time. And he had one more important matter to attend to as they were finally released from the medical shelter, his wounds tended to as much as their magic and potions allowed. Thankfully, none were deep and Celeste had escaped completely unscathed physically, although there was a downtrodden nuance to her gait. Christian pushed his muzzle into her shoulder and breathed in her scent.

"Celeste..." He drew her attention gently as they made their way back from the temporary medical shelter. "You know how your father is talking about us being married as soon as possible?"

She bobbed her muzzle sleepily, eyelids drooping as the sun rose higher in the morning sky, lifting her hooves only just high enough to clear the grass with every step.

"Mmm..." She murmured an incoherent word. "Yes. Yes, I recall."

Christian stopped her under an oak tree, their hooves crushing green leaves as older, drier sorts crinkled brown and broken. But where the new shoots sprouted on the age-old tree, the old must also be cast off.

It was time to cast off the old and embrace the new.

Awkwardly, Christian dropped to one knee, his opposite foreleg outstretched. The movement came off as more of a bow than anything else, something a circus equine would perform. Yet he had Celeste's full attention. She pulled her head back, nostrils flared.

"Christian?"

He smiled up at her as he inclined his horn gracefully, putting every ounce of love into the subtle motion despite the blood splatters still marking his coat.

"Celeste..." He whispered, so soft that his voice was but the lick of a summer breeze. "Would you do me the greatest honour of marrying me?"

The unicorn stood stock still, muscles quivering, and then leapt for him, bowling him in a tangle of limbs sideways to the grass. The mare kissed him all over his muzzle until her lips crashed into his and their tongues battled playfully between their muzzles despite the exhaustion wracking their limbs.

When they broke the kiss, the duo were panting, sides heaving with spent energy. Celeste squirmed and rolled Christian on to his back, resting her body comfortably on top of his as her hind legs slid off his rump to trap him.

"It is not as if I am going to deny you, Christian!" She squealed, laying her head down along his neck. "Yes! I will marry you!"

"Couldn't you just have said yes?" He gasped as she lunged and nipped his chin, a stinging love-bite.

Celeste giggled and ducked her head shyly, peering up at her stud through a haze of white forelock.

"Perhaps I could have simply answered in such a plain fashion. Would you have, however, expected any less of me?"

She wriggled and any words Christian may have had fled his lips as she rubbed over his sheath, his shaft dropping in instant response. The mare snorted and brushed his throat with her lips, shifting her weight to allow his length room to grow, flooding with blood and drawing it from other, more thoughtful, locations. The mare smirked and curled her forelegs around his, laying them on either side of his shoulders as he rolled on his back, finding himself in no position to be pushing the mare off him. Christian's ears slanted to the sides and he chuckled, abashed, as arousal trickled down on to his balls, the unicorn's marehood clearly winking and pulsing out of his sight, wanting what his body had to offer.

A passing couple of mares watched their antics, both clad in a black coat as dark as the deepest night, as Celeste trapped her stallion against the ground and rubbed his shaft between their bodies. The nearest mare rolled her eyes and snorted, tossing her head as if affronted by the display, although a good-natured smile tugged at her lips.

"Those two..." She shook herself, grinning. "It is a shade early in the day for them, is it not?"

Christian and Celeste begged to differ.