All this changed when a powerful ship landed on the planet. The main purpose of this ship was to colonize the planet and to make it habitable for others of their kind. They began to build a city.
The colonists, as "progress" was being made, were gradually destroying the animals' habitat and the animals themselves. Hunting parties killed the majestic unicorns and the brave centaurs. One hundred years ago, the rare beasts roamed the planet in great numbers, but now there were only two unicorns and two centaurs left.
"We should reach the edge of the forest by sunrise,"said one of them.
"That's good. Shall we rest for a moment? I'm quite tired,"said the other.
The unicorns stopped, listening for sounds of pursuit.
"Are those wretched colonists gone?" asked Mira, the female unicorn.
"I think so. I don't hear or smell anything anymore," replied Rigel, the male and Mira's mate.
Mira snorted. "Those filthy colonists! They had no right to come here. All of our family and friends are dead because of them. We are the last ones, Rigel. The last of your kind. They call killing us off "progress." It's absolutely absurd."
Rigel neighed softly, knowing the frustrations of his mate...knowing them as well as his own.
"I know, but they don't realize what they are doing. They don't have the intellect to comprehend," Rigel replied, trying to calm Mira into a more sensible state.
"I can't believe you're defending them," Mira muttered darkly, shooting a furious glance over to him.
"I am doing no such thing, Mira. I do not approve of their actions. I am not trying to justify their crimes against us. I am just trying to calm you down so no one hears us!" Rigel hissed at her in a tired, angry, and despairing tone.
"Still," Mira whinnied softly, chastised.
"Hush now, love, " Rigel said soothingly as he rubbed his neck against hers affectionately. "This carrying on won't do us a bit of good. We've got to press on before they catch us."
"I can't hold this pace much longer!" yelled Capella.
"Try to keep going. If they catch us, they will kill us," Orion shouted back at her, his massive chest heaving with his own effort. "But they have to catch us first."
They entered the forest, unmindful of the branches whipping at them as they passed. Their inborn sure-footedness automatically finding safe footing on the trecherous forest floor. A branch whipped across Capella's face.
"Ouch! Blessed be! I hope we lose them in here," Capella panted, putting a hand to her cut forehead.
As the centaurs went deeper into the forest, the ground became higher. They soon came to a stream, and they slowed down to a limping walk, hearing nothing in the woods behind them besides birds scolding their hasty intrusion upon their domain.
"Can we stop for a moment so I can catch my breath?" pleaded Capella.
Orion looked around cautiously. The forest was silent for the time being, no sound of blundering footsteps in the undergrowth. He nodded toward Capella.
"It's safe..for now anyway. Maybe we out-ran them," he whispered, grateful for the rest himself.
"I certainly hope so," Capella sighed.
They rested by the stream for awhile then searced for a prospective spot to spend the rest of the night. Every good spot they judged acceptable was too close to the path for their sense of well-being, so they passed it up. Soon they were nearing the far edge of the forest, and the sun would soon rise.
"Maybe if we went off this path, we could find a good spot to sleep," Capella suggested.
"No, Capella. The ground off the path is too soft and would yeild our hoofprints," Orion said quickly.
"Oh...I see that now," Capella sighed tiredly. "Do you have any idea where we are?"
" Near the cliffs, I think. There might be suitable caves for us there," replied Orion.
Near the two centaurs, a branch snapped. Orion and Capella whirled around to look and listen. Only silence and the dense vegetation greeted their senses.
"Who's there?" Orion shouted into the early dawn.
There was a moment of silence...then a faint voice originating from the thicket called out softly.
"Rigel and Mira," the voice said.
"Show yourself," Orion said, fearing that the colonists were laying a trap, and drawing his bow from his side and notching it with an arrow from the quiver slung across his back.
Soon there was a rustling in the thicket. They saw two white, moonlit figures step out on the path and walk cautiously toward them. As the figures came closer, the centaurs could distinguish their shape.
"Orion, they're unicorns," Capella whispered.
Orion put his weapon away and breathed a shaky sigh of relief.
"Well, at least we know now that we're not the last of the natural inhabitants on this continent," he said.
"Shh!" hissed Rigel.
"Sorry...I didn't see it," Mira whispered.
They both froze in absolute fear as a voice shouted out.
"Who's there?" The voice came from the main path.
"Rigel, who is shouting?" Mira whispered, her whole body trembling.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Rigel whispered back then called out. "Rigel and Mira."
"What did you do that for?" Mira pleaded, on the edge of bolting away from the powerful voice.
"Show yourself!" shouted the same voice.
"Gods...what do we do? What do we do?" Mira asked, close to panic.
"It's not one of the colonists, Mira. None of them ever bothered to learn the language here," Rigel replied, carefully making his way out of the thicket and onto the path. Mira reluctantly followed him.
A short time later, they joined each other on the path. A short distance away from them stood a male and female centaur. Mira heard as the female leaned over to the male.
"Orion, they're unicorns," a soft voice whispered.
Mira stopped as Rigel continued forward. When he was close to the centaurs, he realized Mira was not beside him. He looked around and saw the look of astonishment on Mira's face.
"Mira, come here. It's safe. Centaurs and unicorns have always been allies," he said soothingly. Mira whinnied her surprise and pranced to her husband's side.
"Hello. I'm Mira and this is my mate, Rigel," she said shyly.
"Greetings, one-horns. Very pleased to be in your company," Capella replied. "It's nice to see that there are some of you left. I am Capella, and this is Orion."
Suddenly, a new sound made the four stop and listen intently. They soon made out footsteps and voices coming along the path behind them.
"It's the colonists. We didn't lose them after all. Head for the cliffs as quick as you can," Orion whispered to his companions.
The creatures bolted into the thicket toward the edge of the rapidly thinning forest and the beginning of the spiralling cliffs beyond.
"We've got to hide before the colonists catch up. Our white hides are too conspicuous in this moonlight," panted Mira.
They soon reached the base of the cliff and began their tedious climb up the treacherous path to the top of the tallest cliff. The colonists' voices were getting closer.
"Hurry up. They went this way," one of them shouted, their gutteral language perfectly intelligible to the creatures who had learned the colonists' language in hopes of making peace with them.
Rigel surged forward and reached the top first. The rest were soon at the top as well, and they all hunkered down on the flat top of the cliff.
"Well, here we are," Orion said after catching his breath. "Nowhere to go but down."
"Too bad we're not one of the winged horses. Then we could have flown out of this mess," sighed Rigel.
The sound of voices below became louder. The creatures atop the cliff made themselves as flat as possible to avoid being seen from below. Mira panted harshly, her muscles twitching from strain and fear.
"Are you all right, Mira?" asked Orion quietly.
She looked at him and nodded. "As well as can be expected. I'm just tired." By this time, the colonists had reached the base of the cliff, and their voices were perfectly audible to the creatures huddling on the cliff top.
"Where'd those flighty suckers go?"
"Dunno. They could have gone either north, south, or up the cliff here. We've covered the west and the east is blocked off by these cliffs. We'll have to split up."
"Why can't we just leave these poor creatures alone? After all, they were on this planet first."
"You scared or something? I don't even know why I brought you along. It's our planet now, so shut your trap."
The colonist who had spoken in favor of the creatures said no more.
"Party One, go south. Party Two, go north. The rest of you go with me up this cliff. Everyone, move out!"
The colonists' group split up as ordered and went in the directions assigned them. Soon, it was apparent that the party going up the cliff was having a hard time of it. They did not see the well hidden trail that corkscrewed up to the top and were climbing the less reliable slope. Pebbles were heard crashing to the ground at the base.
"Keep with it. It won't take too much longer to get to the top," the leader of the group said as the party moved steadily upward.
The creatures at the top, hearing the efforts of the colonists' climb looked at each other uneasily.
"Is there nothing we can do? Is there another way down?"Capella whispered frantically.
"The only thing we can do is fight, dear one, " Orion sighed, resigned to fight or die here.
"They're getting close...I've got an idea. Orion, Capella, Mira...we can dislodge them with stones," Rigel said.
As the possibilities for success bloomen in their minds, Orion and Capella got up and grabbed two large stones from the loose rubble dotting the cliff top.
"It's better than nothing. Let's do it. Fight or die, brave friends," Orion said, walking over to the cliff's edge and looking down into the face of his attackers. Picking out his target, Orion threw the stone down with a powerful and accurate thrust. He heard the others grabbing stones of their own, the unicorns pushing theirs toward the edge with their legs.
The leader looked up in time to see Orion at the edge throw the rock. "Hey! There they are. Watch out! Rock coming!" he shouted as the stone went whizzing by him, but it was too late.
"Oof!" someone grunted as the stone hit im in the stomach. The unlucky colonist teetered and fell to his rocky death below, the rest of the group shuddering as they heard the terrified scream the colonist made before hitting bottom...and the unmistakable sound of a neck breaking.
The creatures continued to bombard the colonists with amazing accuracy, the numbers of the colonists thinning out dramatically. Unfortunately, the creatures ran out of large enough stones...and Orion's bow was broken from their hasty climb to the top.
"Oh no. What are we to do now?" Mira moaned, looking around desperately.
"I have no idea," Rigel replied, backing away from the edge.
The leader of the group of colonists poked his head over the edge.
"We've got you now. Nowhere to run to or hide," he said, an evil grin slowly spreading on his face.
The creatures trembled minutely as the rest of the group appeared one by one at the edge of the cliff.
In a blind fury, Orion galloped to the edge where the colonists were appearing, whirled around, and performed a series of mule-kicks in the faces of the colonists, all the while screaming an ancient battlecry that echoed all around the cliffs. Each kick that landed successfully in the face or chest of a colonist launched that colonist far away from the side of the cliff and to their deaths had they not been dead already. A shot rang out, echoing as loudly as Orion's cry. He screamed in fury and in pain as blood flowed freely from his rear flank. He staggered and fell to the ground. He tried to rise, but his leg was useless, the tendons ripped by the bullet. A colonist with a crossbow scrambled up to the top as Orion fell...Capella, Rigel, and Mira frozen in horror. The colonist approached Orion cockily, and Orion looked at him with a terrible gleam in his eye.
"If you're going to kill me, do it now," Orion hissed in their own gutteral language.
If the colonist noticed, he said nothing...only shrugged. "Suit yourself."
The colonist pulled the trigger, and the arrow whizzed through the air and planted itself in Orion's human heart.
"Good shot," a face from the side of the cliff exclaimed.
"Oh shut up," muttered another, his face a mask of disgust and horror.
Capella, freed from her immobility, rushed to the side of her mate whose eyes were already glazing. She began to wail hysterically.
"No! Not dead!" she cried loudly and looked at the colonist with the crossbow. "You filthy pigs killed him!"
The colonists would not have cared even if they had understood her. A colonist with a rifle shot her without preamble. She felt a burning sensation as the bullet entered to the left of her breastbone, nicked her heart, and shattered her lung. She collapsed and thrashed wildly about on the ground, desperate for air. Soon she lay still and gasped her last, her lifesblood oozing out of her mouth and wound.
Rigel and Mira had backed up as far as they were able, eyes wide in shock. They had witnessed the brutal death of their companions and knew the same death awaited them. Their eyes never left the ravaged forms even as the colonists began coming toward them.
Mira choked on her sorrow and prayed for a quick death.
Rigel beside her assumed a regal stance and looked at her. Catching her eye, he mentally pledged his eternal being to her and listened as she did the same.
"Fight to the last, my love," he whispered to her and charged toward the leader, head down, the tall spiral of his horn aimed toward the colonist's black heart, mane and tail whipping in the dawn breeze. Just as his horn pierced the colonist's chest, the colonist fired his own weapon into Rigel's noble heart. Both died instantly, Rigel's corpse crushing that of the colonist.
Mira screamed, feeling her mate's soul escape what was left of his body, and watched as two colonists came toward her. She reared, still screaming, and kicked them in the face, but more of the group were surrounding her, and try as she could, she could not fend off all of them. The colonists in front of her aimed their guns, and just as they pulled the triggers, the colonist who had defended the creatures dove at them and knocked off their aim. Alas, not enough...despite his heroic effort, Mira was hit twice in the head. The force of the point-blank range shattered her skull and threw her backward off the cliff. She fell hundreds of feet to the bottom.
As the colonists gathered at the edge and looked down on the body of the last unicorn, one shoved the defender backward.
"You idiot! You ruined a perfectly good shot. I was going to put its head on my wall....and the hide itself would have fetched a high price at the market," the incensed colonist shouted.
Other colonists turned to the defender. "Yeah. Why did you ruin our sport?"
The defender looked around, realized the danger he was in, and came up with the only excuse feasible.
"I tripped."
The city was finished. It was bright and busy. Living units were opulent and spacious. This lighted city was surrounded by a fortifying wall, and outside this wall, near the main gate, hung a sign.
