Hidden Wings - Part I

The silverwing's fate-five years ago

Several Silverwings were peacefully grazing beneath a full moon. Two stood guard at either end of the herd, their eyes looking watchfully into the dark.
Two foals were playing with each other, sparring with their horns. They neighed playfully and tried to fly, but their wings were not strong enough, so they kept plummeting back to the ground.

It was a normal night like the others before.

Suddenly, one of the sentries reared up and roared loudly.

Intruders were coming.

The herd instantaneously started moving, the older Silverwings forming around the two foals.
The leader was a strong mare, her eyes a sky blue and the tip of her horn slightly red from many bloody encounters in the past.

"Get them!", a human voice shouted and abruptly, six figures clothed in black broke through the undergrowth, flying through the night air.

They were wearing masks and had wooden sticks in their hands.

Yelling words unfamiliar to the Silverwings, bright light shot out of the sticks and sliced through several horns of the galloping Silverwings.

Those fell and died instantly, their eyes getting dull and lifeless.

The foals stayed close to their mother, the leader, who led the Silverwings up a narrow path between two mountains.
More light hit her fellow family members and many Silverwings cried out as silver blood gushed from the curse wounds in their fur.

Only five of her herd were left, her two foals included.

The other three grown Silverwings stopped and attacked the black-clothed figures, bright rays of light shooting out of their horns and hitting two masked humans, which fell to the ground, staying motionless.

A Silverwing whinnied in pain, as a red bolt of light sliced through its fur, silver blood running across its back.
Its horn was then sliced off by another curse a masked figure shot at it.

The mare kept going, her heart twisting in pain as she heard her fellow friends and family members dying under the hands of the intruders.

Now only her two foals were by at her side.

Leaping over gaps, the mare tried to bring her foals to safety, who were not old enough to fly yet.

Suddenly, one of them stumbled and fell, its leg twisted in a weird way. The mare nickered softly, trying to hide her panic, while pointing her horn at the broken leg to heal the bone. It cost her precious time, and when they continued to gallop through the mountains, their followers were very close.
The two little foals were exhausted when they reached a dead end, the ground below dropping straight into the black, foaming ocean, many meters below.
The mare let out a wail of despair, turning around to face her two foals. As the intruders got closer, the mother looked up at the full moon, before determinedly lowering her horn.

Not understanding fully, the Silverwing foals put their horns against their mother's, and a flash of bright light erupted from the point where all three horns connected. The light traveled along the horns to the foals, encasing their body in a silver light.

The foals stood still with fear, feeling their bodies change slowly into something unknown.

The mare gave every last drop of her magic she had, before nearly collapsing onto the ground. Her foals were not completely changed yet, they were still each surrounded by the silver light.