The rattle of plates and the murmurs of the soldiers in the mess tent created a pleasant sound that kept the screeching, howling wind at bay and helped the military to push the thought of the cold out of their minds and allowed them to think warm thoughts. At the centre table sat a pair of young alicorn brothers. The eldest, a white alicorn with a short, ruffled and messy blue mane with the jutting tufts becoming a lighter shade of blue the higher up it went. His angular, watery blue eyes held a certain friendly charm despite his sharp and, while extremely handsome, aggressive features. His tail was a shorter, ruffled mess of blue shades that lightened the further down they went, much like his mane. His brother was an ever-so-slightly shorter dark blue alicorn with a mane of two different colours, with the sides being a very short, few centimetres of black hair with the top was a ruffled and matte head of thick hair that was a deep blue colour, much like his body. Like his older brother, his tail changed shades but went from a solid, night blue to a midnight black final few inches of hair. His lower legs were the same black as his mane and also, a trait shared by the two brothers, were much thicker than their upper legs with very wide and flat hooves.

The two brothers shared the same strong, sharp features and angular eyes but unlike his brother's Artemis's eyes were much colder when he stared off into the distance. The two sat at the table eating a bowl of warm tomato soup with buttered bread to add a splash of flavour to the meal. Artemis had already wolfed down three bowls of the soup whereas Solaris was slowly nursing his first bowl. Artemis mopped up the last of his current bowl with the bread before looking up at his brother with a bored expression.

"I've been wondering-" he spoke up, his voice thick with his rougher-than-posh but posher-than-rough London accent, getting his brother's attention "Are we going to be doing anything out here with the squaddies or are we just here to freeze to death?"

"In my opinion-" Solaris responded, his accent the same as his brother's but in a slightly softer tone "I think we're here to observe how they do things... at least that's what Mum said anyway"

"Then I think we're doing a terrible job right now" Artemis said cynically.

"How so?" Solaris asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Because we can't see anything out here!" Artemis growled "It's snowing so much that I can barely tell the difference between a brick wall and a cliff, and the fact that it's so cold I can't go for a piss without having to worry about my cock receding back into my body"

"I'm sure it's not that bad Art" Solaris said with a quizzical look.

"Oh yeah?" Artemis challenged "It got so cold last night when I looked down I thought I had three balls... I had to sit in the bath trying to coax the bastard back to life!" The brother's looked at each other for a brief second and from the moment that Solaris cracked a smile his brother's anger dissipated and the two of them burst out laughing, trying their best to keep their voices down as to not draw attention to themselves.

"Alright, fine-" Artemis chuckled "Maybe I was exaggerating a little"

"Fucking. Never" Solaris sniggered, setting the two of them off again. There suddenly came a loud ringing of a bell, signifying that the breakfast session was at an end and that they needed to leave the mess tent to go about their regular daily duties.

"Ugh, bollocks" Artemis growled, stacking his bowls on top of one another and getting off the bench he sat on "I'm stuck in the guard outpost all day today learning how to spot and deal with threats in a low visibility environment"

"That sounds somewhat enjoyable" Solaris shrugged.

"Well it isn't, I just stand around freezing my arse off while pricks in a warm bunker lob snowballs at my gob" he said, shivering at the thought of having to endure that training round again.

"Well you're used to that, taking a few balls to the face every now an again right?" Solaris taunted, relishing his brother's angry glare.

"Ha ha ha-" Artemis glowered, walking away from the table "Cunt" Solaris laughed again as he stacked his bowl on top of his brother's and headed out himself, having to spend the day with a room of delegates learning how to negotiate in times of war and in times of peace.

"Yay for me" Solaris sighed "I wonder how Mum's doing right now?"