The sprig of pine and its little trailing clod of dirt leaves Copper’s mouth with a satisfying whish of air, and soars unsatisfyingly right over Maha’s head. She had aimed too high, and the bright sunset-orange filly stamps a tiny hoof in anger.

Beside her, Arcerys jogs forward, trying to see if a running start will help in her quest to get something to stick to her cousin-brother’s bone-pattered coat, but the darker red filly has no more luck than her playmate. She gives an exasperated ‘UGH’ and the two children turn away in unison to hunt for more ammunition.

Copperhead thrusts her velveteen muzzle through the damp spring undergrowth, shoving aside pine needles (tried those) and wet leaves (tried those too). She is delighted to find a great clod of moss attached to a stone (neither moss nor stone have been tried, but neither filly has been able to pick up a stone to attempt, and they’ve since given up). Copper takes a HUGE bite of the stuff and rips it off, certain this will be the winner, and prances proudly over to where Arc appears to be…

…chasing something?

Curious, Copper cocks her head to the side and watches as Arcerys halts suddenly, her head buried in the undergrowth, neck twitching with quick feline movements. Finally, she ascends from the ferns with something in her mouth. Her inkwell eyes cast about for Copper, and upon finding her cousin, utterly beams with pride and darts toward her to show off her treasure.

“A frog!!” Copper squeals, so excited she nearly drops her moss. A frog is way better than moss, but she still doesn’t want to lose it, because it is still inherently an opportunity to harass Maha, even if she will undoubtedly be shown up by Arc.

The red filly nods vigorously, prompting the frog to chirp and croak and thrash in protest. Not wanting to lose this precious weapon, the cousins turn in unison once again. They’ll have to act fast – Copper can see that Arcerys is struggling to hold onto the little green creature without hurting it. They dart back toward their older playmate, and Arcerys winds up to toss the frog at Maha’s back. It’s kind of cheating, to throw something onto a surface where it might (with some luck) balance without falling, because the point of the game isn’t balancing but sticking. Neither filly cares, though, because they both want to see a frog ride Maha around like a packhorse more than they want to adhere to the rules.

As the poor creature sails through the air, another foal steps in to join them. Unaware of their game, she stands right in the imaginary bullseye target that surrounds Maha wherever he goes, putting herself in danger of a frog bombardment. “Oh no!” hisses Copper, while Arcerys shouts at the girl to look out, but they get lucky – unless Maha manages to duck out of the way, the frog is headed directly for his face.