Neither Here Nor Mare

Prologue: Dreamer

...No idea...no identifica...

...found.......Alone?...

......Pretty bad shape.......

......ight wing is a mess but shold b....

....anything yet?...

....nearly a month......

Bright lights, snippets of conversation,  like a half dream, real, yet so hazy, the occasional blue blur or pink blob. Was that green hair? The sound of hoofbeats? Dreaming...

The soreness came first, a dull ache creeping up my spine making me wince, my head felt heavy as I stirred at the sound of unintelligible chatter reverberating through it. Battling with their weight I cracked my eyelids.  A wash of brown and white slowly swinging into focus, everything seemed too big and I closed them  tight again.  Meanwhile the sounds gave way to words I recognised, a female voice, light and sounding pleased, but very very close.

"I think she's coming round!"

She?..I thought to myself through a muggy haze.

I opened my eyes fully this time, and was immediately greeted by a pair of huge yellow orbs and white face framed by brown, lightly highlighted hair and a horn.

The girlish squeal that followed could have been heard two blocks away as I scrunched myself up on the bed, the creature standing in front of me moved back with a concerned look as I instinctivly brought my hooves  up to rub my face.

....Hooves..."HOOVES!!" I exclaimed before leaping into the air and promptly knocking myself out on the ceiling, collapsing right back where I'd laid since I'd been brought in.

From the end of the bed the mare exchanged glances with the other occupant of the room, a middle aged blonde man,  who currently wore a bemused look under his wire framed glasses.

He spread the left wing of the unconcious golden pegasi, flexing it gently. Some of its pilot feathers were still matted and broken, but the majority of the wounds she had arrived with were either well scabbed over or invisible beneath her brightly coloured coat.

The white furred mare busied herself fixing the bandages that had come loose from her patient's head, carefully rearranging the long twotone mane and the pillows to give the best support they could.

"At least we know her wings are going to be fine" he mused.

"We still don't know anything about the poor dear, I wonder if she even knows what's happened to her?" The white mare said, her voice a mix of almost motherly nurturing and pity as she surveyed the new bandages that joined those which already adorned the pegasi's body. "I can't believe people can be so cruel."