Flight of The Avali: Season One

The next day:

Both Einuli and Applejack were patiently awaiting Rainbow Dash’s return to consciousness. Thankfully they had arrived mere minutes before she woke up, and they didn’t have to wait long for their friend to come back to them.

“Uuh…” Dash groaned groggily.

“Good mornin.” Applejack was the first to greet her as Einuli was making sure everything was alright internally.

“How long was I out, and… did everything…” Dash began.

“Everything went smoothly. Just don’t attempt to move, if you fall it might hurt a lot more than usually.” Einuli said, “And a little under thirty six hours.”

“Well, that’s great to hear.” Dash laughed quietly. “Nnnn…” She attempted to move her arm.

“You’ll need a few minutes to an hour in order to move fully again, so just relax.” Einuli said, guiding her arm back down. He was silent and Dash could tell there was something on both her friends minds. “What’s up?”

“I have something I need to tell you.” Einuli said.

“Well, I’m definitely not going anywhere. And, not like I would even if I could.” Dash laughed, “So shoot.”

“Alright… it’s… hard on me to even think about this… let alone talk about it.” He said quietly.

“Then you don’t…”

“I need to tell someone.” He stated firmly, “Regardless… of how it makes me feel. I need to get it out.” He pulled a chair up and sat down, AJ sitting down on the bed beside Dash. “It’s been… I don’t even know how long anymore… since I was left as the sole survivor of my pack.” He let out a long shaking breath. “I was a lot younger than I am now… but, I guess that would be obvious. I was hatched and raised with them… there were twelve of us in total… We were less friends, and more family. We did everything together, things that most other species wouldn’t ever come close to understanding… that was life, and… it made me honestly happy. Though for most… I was a bit of a ‘freak’ compared to other Avali… I’m a full foot larger than I’m supposed to be… I don’t breathe methane, and, despite being an Avali… I felt unwelcome constantly around anyone outside of my pack.”

“Wait… you’re a foot larger than any other members of your species? I thought you were just short.” Dash laughed.

“Most of them are only about three feet tall.” Einuli nodded. “But, I’m four and a half feet tall.”

“Wow.” Applejack commented.

“Like I said, we were so close… that even if one of us died, it hurt as all so much. We’d be shut down for days afterwards, barely eating or sleeping… it was like… losing a piece of yourself.” Einuli explained with a shiver. “So… when those FUCKING pirates…” For once they heard him get angry, and him baring his teeth, his feathers puffing out, and the growl in his voice honestly scared them.

“Attacked us… they slaughtered everything on the colony… I was… o-out trying to collect my thoughts… trying to just get level-headed… I… I came back to find everyone dead, e-except for one of my closest friends. S-she was struggling to stay alive…” He shivered violently. “They had… infected her with some sort of virus… or something. I know what it is now… but then, I just thought I could save her… keep her alive…” He closed his eyes. “I… I managed to get her to the colony’s ancient starship… w-what we’re on now. I tried to nurse Sithali back to health… and I thought it was working! I forced it all back into remission and she just… just rested…” He muttered quietly. “The mutagen in her body was working, despite not showing any signs… she somehow knew… a-and it was a week and a half after we left the dead colony... it manifested… I was forced awake as I heard her screaming so… so loudly, i-it’s painful to think about even now… I rushed into the room she was in, vines and stems were sprouting from her stomach and legs, slowly beginning to consume her… I m-managed to halt it for a few minutes, culling her pain…” His shaking stopped entirely, and they didn’t know if him crying and shaking worried them more than this utter… silence. He just seemed dead in remembering these moments.

“E… Einuli?” Dash spoke uncertainly.

“The infection was too far along for me to do anything.” Einuli said, for once he did sound dead, absolutely emotionless. “All I could do was put her down. End her suffering.”

Dash and Applejack were silent.

“Before I… killed her… She spoke one final thing to me… asking me to never let this happen again.”

“And… I won’t let it happen again. To anyone. I don’t care who or what they are, what they’ve done. The only group that I believe deserves to die are those disgusting creatures, threatening your planet right now. And I’ll do anything in my power to destroy them.”

“Anything.”