Nimbus's vision exploded into a series of stars and bright lights as the armoured hoof of the large stallion stuck him square on the nose. The rag-clad teenager was knocked down to the floor as his nose cracked from the impact, blood gushing from his face and staining the snow. Nimbus lay in the snow as his world spun around him, his ears having popped from the impact and the sharp ache of a broken nose making itself known to him.

"Nimbus!" the voice of his younger brother shouted from what seemed miles away. Nimbus slowly got to his hooves and looked at the stallion who had struck him. The armoured enforcer was a towering hulk of a pony, even compared to Nimbus who was a much taller stallion than the average nineteen year old. Nimbus moved his eyes away from the enforcer to see some of the regular soldiers pushing around his brother.

"Hey!" Nimbus roared. His movement forward was quickly intercepted as the enforcer struck him across the jaw once again and knocked him into the dirt.

"If you know what's good for you kid--" the enforcer growled, placing his heavy hoof on Nimbus's neck "You should really stay down and let us do our job" Nimbus glowered at the enforcer for a long second but remained limp on the floor.

"Check the little brat's bag!" the enforcer yelled over to his comrades "He might have some contraband on him!"

"Yes sir!" one of the soldiers barked. They grabbed hold of Cloud's mane and shoved his head into the snow, forcing him to inhale the icy powder and begin to splutter loudly. They tore the satchel from around his side, snapping the lovingly crafted strap and ripping off the cover. They poured the contents of the satchel into the snow and what fell out was a small, hardback book, several blankets, a golden locket and a few gold coins.

"What have we got here?" the second soldier chuckled, picking up the locket from the ground and clicking it open "To my youngest son, I declare my love for you and wish good fortune through all your days?" The two soldiers looked at each other for a brief second before laughing hysterically.

"Give it here" the enforcer called over to them, the soldier obeying and throwing the locket across the gap. The enforcer analysed the locket for a second before tearing the note out of the chamber and throwing it to the floor, slipping the locket into his pocket.

"Oi!" Cloud yelled, trying to push himself up from the snow only to be punched in the gut hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. The young teen dropped back into the snow, once again spluttering and gasping for air as a red tinge became visible on his cheeks.

"You need to teach your little brother some manners kid" the second soldier snarled, picking up the hardback book and opening the first page. After a moment of intense staring the soldier once again began to boom with laughter.

"Looks like we've got another message from dear old Mummy here" he said "Wow, I never expected a tough looking kid like you to be such a mummy's boy!" Cloud twitched once more and for this he received another hard blow to the stomach, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Leave the book Guss, but take the coins and we'll get out of here" the enforcer said.

"T-That's our... money" Cloud groaned, reaching out with his hoof for the meagre amount of gold. The first soldier turned around on him and stomped on his face, his metal horseshoes cutting into Cloud's face and drawing blood.

"Really?" the enforcer said "Because to me it looks like you two are little sneak-thieves who are trying to make off with some poor old mare's hard-earned coin" Nimbus glared with the fires of hate in his eyes at the large enforcer as he continued to speak, Nimbus's body visibly shaking with rage.

"We'll take the money back to the treasury where that nice old mare can collect for herself" he spoke "You two should feel blessed that we let you off this time without a punishment, even after we stopped you from attacking those poor travellers" Cloud's pained expression showed a brief moment of confusion while Nimbus understood fully what the enforcer was insinuating.

"You bandits put up no fight at all and we were able to beat you into submission while sustaining no injuries ourselves" he said, wrapping up the blackmailing statement "And that's how you two got so beat up right? I would hate for myself, the honoured and decorated Major of the King's Guard to have to argue this case in a courtroom, wouldn't you?" The two brothers remained silent, but after meeting eyes across the way they nodded and relaxed as much as they could.

"Good" the enforcer said, turning to his comrades "Alright boys, we smote the vicious bandits so let's get back to the mead hall for our reward" The three soldiers turned and left, heading back up the trail that had been trodden up and down so many times the snow had been almost worn away completely. Whereas Nimbus remained lying on the floor, Cloud quickly got to his hooves with a face like thunder. He rushed over to his fallen items and attempted to salvage what he could. After examining the bag he found that it could be repaired but it could never be restored to it's former appearance and that the book his mother had written for him had the first few pages smudged by the melting snow. Nimbus climbed to his hooves after seeing a large drop of blood fall from the cut under Cloud's right eye hit the snow.

"Cloud-" Nimbus groaned as he stretched his body "Are you al-"

"Those bastards!" Cloud roared furiously, punching his hoof into the snow in rage "How could they do this!?" Nimbus sat down next to his brother and tore a piece of cloth off the ragged cloak he wore. He dabbed it against his brother's wound to try and mop up some of the blood.

"We need to get this looked at" Nimbus said in his usual gruff tone.

"I'm fine" Cloud said, his voice cracking on the last word.

"No you're not" Nimbus sighed "We need to go back into town and see Milla at the inn" Cloud looked at his older brother with an angry glint in his irises for a long second.

"Cloud" Nimbus said sternly, causing his brother to give in.

"Fine" Cloud nodded, tying a rough knot in the strap of his satchel and hanging it around his shoulder. Nimbus smiled briefly before tapping his brother on the shoulder and heading off in the opposite direction of the soldiers, back down towards the Brook, the name of the village they lived in.