Boom

  ( Winterwish )

  Winterwish raced through charred destruction as fast as she could, but with every kick of ash, the little red fairy strayed further and further ahead, until she vanished into the dense thicket.

  "Cherrychomp!" Winterwish wailed.

  Dammit! What do I do?

  Chasing was hopeless. There was no way she'd catch up, yet her head was a chaotic maelstrom. All she could think to do was pump her legs. Never before had she been so frustrated by the limits of her own limbs.

  Suddenly, a sliver of clarity glinted within the panic.

  Flare!

  She skidded to a stop and looked for the supply bag, only for her heart to sink. It was still lying near the mutated corpse. She yelled at the Muncher. "Forget about me! Go! Go, go, go!"

  Yet the floating fruit refused to disobey its last order. It stuck with her, panting and growling.

  "Do you have a brain in there? Ears? Listen! Cherrychomp is in danger! Go help her!" she pleaded. "Don't let your master get hurt!"

  Winterwish didn't know how much cognitive function the magical minion was capable of, but that didn't stop her from trying to reason with it. She flailed and screamed until something about her cries reached its monstrous mind. With a rabid roar, the Muncher hurtled after Cherrychomp like a cannonball, smashing into the thicket without slowing.

  With eyes locked on the distant bag, Winterwish burst into a sprint once more, every stride hindered by internal cold. Rampant emotions caused unwanted frost to stiffen her skin and numb her limbs.

  I can't lose control. Not now!

  From deep amongst the trees, trunk-quivering explosions rang out.

  Faster, faster, faster! I can't let her get hurt!

  Winterwish pounced upon the bag. In her haste, unfeeling hands ripped the material apart, scattering supplies all over the burnt debris. She grabbed a tumbling flare and aimed it at the clouds before yanking its striking cord...

  No ignition. No launch. She squeezed the casing. Vinegar oozed through chilled fingers.

  "No!" she cursed.

  Winterwish scrambled through hot cinders, tossing sodden flares and rations until something sparked to her side. Smouldering embers had triggered a dry fuse. With no concern for her own safety, she dived for the active explosive, rolled onto her back and thrust it high. A split second later, screeching brightness tore towards the sky, before blooming into the shape of a butterfly.

  Good, now -

  Boom!

  Another distant detonation, far mightier than before. It was enough to make the seared ground at her back lurch. Flocks of enchanted birds fled from coiling canopies.

  What the heck was that?

  Winterwish snatched a second dry flare, pushed to her feet and started to run once more. She didn't want to consider if her choices had been right or wrong. She didn't want to imagine the possible consequences of her delays and failings. She just wanted to reach Cherrychomp as quickly as possible.

  Every second dragged like an eternity as Winterwish followed the trail of devastation. The sounds of combat were no more. Nothing had broken the silence since the final, belly-drumming blast. Whatever Cherrychomp had given chase to was capable of frightful destruction, leaving behind bombed clearings of mangled earth and splintered trunks. Yet there was no sign of the little red fairy, not until Winterwish practically flung herself out into the largest crater yet. At its sunken centre, a tiny, tattered body lay motionless amidst strewn scarlet.

  "Cherrychomp!" screamed Winterwish.

  She wasted no time, launching the second flare immediately, before rushing to her sister's side. The little red fairy was limp. Her eyes were closed and her dainty dress was ripped from the blast.

  "Cherrychomp! Are you ok?" Winterwish tried to wipe the stickiness from her fallen sister's face, only for it to crystallise into crimson frost. "Wake up! Please wake up!" She tried to check her pulse, just as Splishsplash had shown her, yet frozen fingers detected nothing. She lowered her ear to Cherrychomp's lips, listening for the slightest whistle of air whilst watching her chest.

  "She popped my cherry," whispered a weak voice.

  "...Huh?"

  "My Muncher," Cherrychomp sat up and lifted a drenched, dripping arm, "she 'sploded it."

  Winterwish looked at the splattered clothes, then the puddles surrounding them, and finally her own stained, shivering hands. She raised a frigid finger to her lips and licked. Tangy juice spread across her tongue. "...You're ok? You're not hurt?" she whimpered.

  Cherrychomp's cheeks swelled to a pout. "No. Not 'k. Sticky."

  Winterwish's vision shimmered. She threw her arms around her sister and squeezed tightly.

  "Cold!" whined Cherrychomp.

  "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" chanted Winterwish.

  "What for?" asked Cherrychomp.

  "For being ok!" said Winterwish. "I thought you were hurt! Don't you ever run off like that again!"

  "Uh-oh..." mumbled Cherrychomp.

  Winterwish leaned back to see the little red fairy's face flooding with worry. Her lower lip started to wobble. Tears gathered, then spilled down cheeks, diluting gooey Muncher remnants.

  "Hey, what's the matter?" asked Winterwish.

  "I wasn't supposed to l-l-leave yooou!" Cherrychomp blubbered. "M-Merrymint is going to be so maaaaad with m-meeee!"

  "She won't," said Winterwish. "Everything's going to be ok!"

  But the waterworks continued to flow and pained sounds reverberated from Cherrychomp's throat.

  In the distance, a blazing fireball approached. Queen Titania was coming.

  "I won't tell on you," said Winterwish. "I don't want you to get in trouble, so we'll say we stuck together the whole time, ok? Remember what Merrymint said the other day? Big sisters don't cry!"

  Cherrychomp blinked and sniffed a dozen times in a quarter dozen seconds. "Y-you p-p-prooomise?"

  Winterwish tightened her warming hand to a fist. All but the little finger. "I pinkie promise!" she swore.

  "P-pinkie promise!" Cherrychomp tried to suck up the remaining bubbly sadness, before embracing the small digit with her own.

  Winterwish let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief and looked to the sky. Titania would arrive any moment. "Where did the baddy go?"

  Cherrychomp glanced over one shoulder, and then the other. Finally she raised her nose and loosed a wet, crackly sound. "Can't smell. Snotty."

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A wall of searing heat rushed over them, whipping at hair and fluttering clothes as Titania slammed down like a meteor.

  "Girls! Are you ok?" The Queen rushed from the flaming impact on foot, stopping just a few paces away.

  Winterwish jumped to her feet to report. "We're ok! But we were attacked, by... by a baddy, right Cherrychomp?"

  "Where are they now?" asked Titania.

  "They got away. I'm sorry, my Queen," said Winterwish.

  With a billowing beat of butterfly wings, the monarch shot into the air once more. There she hovered, engulfed in fury, no doubt scanning the surroundings.

  Winterwish reached into her pocket and rolled the twin vials of faefire between her fingers. If she'd been thinking clearly, perhaps she could've taken advantage of the incident to test its effect. Yet, having seen ichor's corruption first-hand, she felt all the more reluctant to waste such a precious resource in mere experiment.

  Winterwish took to one knee as Titania descended. "Forgive us, Queen Titania."

  "You have nothing to apologise for," said Titania. "This was unexpected. I am just glad you're unharmed. Now tell me of this enemy. What did they look like?"

  Winterwish tensed. "I think you got a better look than me, right Cherrychomp?"

  Twin rubies looked to Winterwish, then to the Radiant Queen. For some reason, Cherrychomp seemed hesitant. "Well... at first I thought they was a baddy. An' they smells like a baddy. But..."

  "But what?" asked Titania impatiently. "Speak."

  Cherrychomp started to bump the tips of her index fingers together and lowered her gaze. What she said next filled Winterwish with both fear and confusion. "I didn't recognise 'em, but... they was a Fairy Princess."

  Queen Titania's eyes widened. Silence took hold.

  The dreadful quiet was only broken by a burst of leaves when Bubblebun shot out from the tree line. She raced towards them, her powerful legs thumping at blasted earth until she reached the scarlet-stained princess' side, and immediately grabbed her to check for injuries. "What happened? Are you ok?"

  "Still sticky," huffed Cherrychomp. "Muncher got 'sploded."

  The iridescent rabbit's ears flopped with a groan. "It's juice? You've gotta be kidding! Winterwish, you're good too?"

  But Winterwish had barely registered the question. Her gaze switched back and forth between Bubblebun and Titania. Something had just clicked. An answer she'd been seeking.

  That's got to be it... That's why Queen Titania was so upset with me! I have to tell Puddingpuff...

  "Yo, Winterwish!" shouted Bubblebun. "You good?"

  "Y-yes!" Winterwish shook her head and returned her focus to the present. "Sorry."

  The Queen remained quiet, her fiery eyes shifting from one lower corner to the other in deep, focused thought.

  "What happened?" asked Bubblebun.

  Cherrychomp began to explain. "We was attacked by a F-"

  "Enough!" snapped Titania.

  The group flinched.

  "Bubblebun, return to Cutiehorn immediately and continue your assignment with haste," said Titania. "Be watchful for anyone suspicious, and question everyone you encounter. Once you're done with the villages, cover as much ground as you can, and do not hesitate to launch a flare should you encounter a single hostile."

  Bubblebun spared only a second to glance to her sisters with curious concern, "...Sure," before bounding back from whence she came.

  "Princess Cherrychomp. Princess Winterwish. You are to tell no one of the enemy's identity," said Titania sternly. "No one but Splishsplash. Recount to her the events in detail so she can report back to me. Am I understood?"

  The pair peered at one another rather shakily. "Yes, Queen Titania," they said in unison.

  "Good," said the monarch. "Cherrychomp, are you capable of creating a new Muncher?"

  "Yeah. Think so!" The little red fairy tugged a shiny reagent from her belt and tossed it into the air where magic transformed it into a fresh beast, identical to the last.

  "Get on board and stay close to me," said Titania. "We're returning to the palace."

  Upon their return to the palace hillside, Queen Titania ordered Candy Town's bell to be rung, summoning the other Fairy Princesses.

  Soon enough, they were joined by Splishsplash, Sunshine and Puddingpuff. With each arrival, Winterwish explained their scarlet-stained appearance to ease varied levels of concern.

  It was of course Merrymint who was most distressed. She caught Winterwish in one arm and Cherrychomp in the other, before squeezing until the pair could barely breathe. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again!"

  "I'm so, so sorry." Winterwish hugged her Mentor back. "I didn't mean to cause all this trouble."

  "Don't be silly," said Merrymint. "None of this is your fault. From now on, we stick together, ok?" When she tried to release them, the little red fairy's face remained glued to her sleeve. Only after they both retreated a step and leaned backwards did the sugar crust pry apart.

  "That will have to wait," said Titania. "Merrymint and Puddingpuff, I need you to partner up and comb the Enchanted Forest."

  Puddingpuff tilted her head curiously. "And what exactly are we to look for?"

  "Anything out of the ordinary," said Titania. "Do not let your guard down."

  Merrymint looked to Winterwish apologetically. "I'm sorry. We'll talk when I'm back, ok?"

  "It's fine. Just... be safe." Winterwish glanced to Puddingpuff. "Look after her, ok?"

  "Of course." The pink princess gave a polite smile.

  "If you encounter any trouble, launch a flare. Winterwish, give -" Titania paused. "Where are the supplies you were issued?"

  Cherrychomp glanced around cluelessly as if they might reappear somewhere nearby, whilst Winterwish winced and hung her head. She knew exactly where the supplies were. They were scattered across the burnt remnants of a village Queen Titania herself had likely annihilated.

  "I'm sorry, my Queen. I lost them in the chaos," she said.

  "It's fine!" blurted Merrymint. "I can just send up a tornado if we need help!"

  Titania nodded. "Very well."

  Both Splishsplash and Sunshine were ready and waiting before the Radiant Queen. Splishsplash with patience. Sunshine with barely contained eagerness.

  "Splishsplash. Take Winterwish and Cherrychomp inside. Help them get cleaned up," said Titania.

  "Understood," said Splishsplash.

  "And me, Queen Titania?" asked Sunshine, trembling.

  The matriarch looked to the sky. "I need you in the air. Act as my messenger. Check in with both teams and relay back to me."

  Great golden saucers widened. Despite the seriousness of the situation, a smile spread across Sunshine's face. Neither faint, nor feigned, but one of full-blown pride. "Yes, my Queen!"

  Winterwish couldn't help but fear for her sisters as she watched them race for the trees.

  Cherrychomp, meanwhile, was back to her usual carefree self. She gave her pet a squelchy hug. "Sorry Mister, but you know the rules. Munchers is for outside only!"

  The spherical fiend let out a sad whine, before spinning and shrinking back into a regular cherry.

  With a swipe of her hand, Cherrychomp caught the fruit and tied it back to her belt. "You comin', Wintywish?"

  Winterwish nodded slowly and took one last glance back at the Enchanted Forest.

  Please come back safe, everyone.