A silent night loomed across Equestria. Many of its inhabitants lay in slumber, unconsciously awaiting the dawn of another day. In the woods, not a sound was made, other than the soft wind rustling through the leaves of the many trees that grew. Somewhere in the woods, a cottage sat. It's two inhabitants laid undisturbed and sleeping. The two were a couple: Azure Stardust: a unicorn mare with a gentle heart,whom was a gifted healer, and Cairon Strongstone: A canterlot guard, also an exceptional warrior.
Suddenly, a loud crash from outside woke Azure from her sleep. She sat up in bed, and looked out a window to her side. Close by, a two story-barn could be seen, standing tall, only, through the darkness, Azure could see that it now had a hole on top of the roof. She looked down to Cairon, who was still sound asleep. She frowned at the stallion for not having been woken by the noise, and then looked back to the barn again. She had one of two choices: either go back to bed like nothing happened, or slip out into the night to find out what it was that broke through the roof of the barn. She went with her second choice.
Azure quietly slipped out of bed, careful not to awaken Cairon, and opened the door to downstairs. A dim blue light began shining from Azure's horn as she walked down the steps. Although her horn's aura could emanate some light, it wasn't bright enough to illuminate what she needed it to. As she reached the bottom step, she began looking for a lantern. She found it on a shelf right next to the cottage entrance.
Azure's magic enveloped the lantern, and it began levitating and floated down to her side. A simple thought came to her mind, and inside the lantern's bulb, a small, yet bright flame flickered to life, revealing more of the cottage's interior. A table with four chairs at its sides lay on cobblestone floors, a couch sat close by a fireplace that rested inside the walls. Now that Azure had what she needed, it was time to set hoof out into the night. She opened the cottage’s front door and stepped outside.
The night air was cool, and fresh dew coated the grass, which dimly glimmered from the moon's pale light. From the position of the moon, Azure could tell that it was well past midnight, but as of that moment, she didn't care. As she made her way over to the barn, the grass crunched underneath her hooves, and the light from the lantern made the grass surrounding her sparkle. As she drew closer to the barn, she hadn't the slightest idea of what could have caused such a racket at this time of night, but since she was up, she couldn't just let it go unchecked. She walked up to the barn's front doors, and focused her magic on the handles.
The doors slowly opened, creaking in their swing, and stopped right before hitting the outside walls. As Azure entered the barn, she began hearing screeching noises and saw a horde of bats flying in her direction. She ducked in fear, dropping the lantern she carried at her side. The light in the lantern extinguished, and Azure cowered as the the bats flew overhead. After the last of them flew out of the barn,she sighed with relief, picked up the lantern, reignited the flame inside, and continued on into the barn.
Inside the barn, it was eerily silent. Azure looked for signs of movement in each of the pens she passed by, but the only movement there was had been that of the shadows cast upon the walls by the lantern's flame, each stretching this way and that with every movement she made. All the pens and stall that Azure passed by were empty, but then she saw the hole in the roof. As she came closer to it, she saw that it was three to four feet across all around. Right below it, on the ground, something lay, underneath a pile of debris and hay.
Azure set the lantern down in a nearby corner and walked up to the pile. She tossed aside the pieces of wood that lay atop it to a corner opposite of the one she sat the lantern in, and began brushing the debris off. She felt something very strange--fur, and stopped for a moment. She brought the lantern to her side again, and in the light of the flame, she could tell that the thing that crashed through the roof wasn't a "thing" at all. It was a young foal.
Azure uncovered the rest of the unconscious foal in a panic. She noticed a small stream of blood in the dirt, coming from the foal's forehead. Her eyes widened, and she gasped... "CAIRON!!!" she shrieked. The sound of her voice instantly woke the stallion. He jolted up, and looked to the barn where Azure's voice was heard. Hastily, he burst out of the bedroom and out the front door in a gallop, moving as fast as he could.
"Azure!?" Cairon called. Upon entering the barn, he saw the lantern's light and quickly made his way to the far side of the barn. He saw her cradling something, "Azure, are you alri--" he stopped as soon as he saw the foal lying in Azure's front legs, barely breathing, and stood there with his mouth agape. Azure looked at Cairon, her eyes showed great concern for the filly. "Dear sweet Celestia..." he said, his voice worrisome. "Get him to the cottage, now!"
In no sooner than ten seconds, the two were out of the barn. The foal rest atop Cairon's back, his front legs dangled limply at his sides and blood trickled down his head into Cairon's coat. In the cottage, Cairon set the foal down on the couch, and the two gathered all they could to help the foal. Azure quickly bandaged the foal's head to stop the bleeding as best she could while Cairon tried to find anything else that might help the his condition. As he finished getting the medical supplies stored around the cottage, the only thing he could do was watch as Azure tended to the little one.
A task such as this was not unfamiliar to Azure, as she had once been a nurse in times of war. She wasn't a fighter, but her talent as a healer was what made her useful.
Many years back, a great war sparked due to a severe lack of cooperation between griffins and earth ponies. It was late afternoon; many injured knights and warriors were brought back from the battlefield, most, too beaten to continue fighting. Only a couple casualties had been reported that day.
As the injured were brought in, they were taken to different parts of Ponyville’s hospital. Azure was young at the time, but she had been long since been gifted with her skills as a nurse. She was to take care of Cairon, who had sustained many claw marks across his body. His left hind leg had been broken and was swollen.
During Cairon’s recovery with Azure, she and him had gotten to know each other very well. When Cairon had recovered fully, he was called back to the battlefield. Azure, however, didn’t want him to go. She had fallen for him and she felt that having to let someone like him go was very hard for her, as she did not know if she would see him again. Cairon didn’t have a choice though. He had to go, but before he did, he gave her a kiss. She did not expect this, but inside, she felt hopeful that he would return soon.
For a time, the griffins fought against the earth ponies, only to be outnumbered by the pony tribes, then defeated. Peace was once again restored, and over time, so was the cooperation of the griffins with all of the three pony tribes. Months later, Cairon and Azure both searched for a place they could call their own, and found the cottage where they reside now. Sure, it may have been a little deep in the woods, but they didn't care. To them, it was the perfect place to live.
Taking care of the injured foal proved slightly more difficult than Azure thought. The reason being, because she had never tried to nurse any pony as small or young as the little one back to health. Carefully, she bandaged the foal, trying to avoid worsening any injuries he might possibly have. She wiped the blood from his forehead with a cloth, and wrapped a bandage around his head, clotting the bleeding.
A couple more hours passed as Azure took care of the foal. She had Cairon go back up to bed, as there was nothing left he could do to help. Azure focused her magic on the inside of the foal's body, sensing for any bones that might possibly be broken. While doing so, a very dim light shone inside him, over each of the bones she examined. She sensed that some ribs had been fractured, but what she worried about most was the possible damage done to the filly’s head. She had done everything she could for him for now, so turned away and proceeded to the stairs.
Azure gave one last look to the foal. The bandage on his head was stained with blood, and his eyes were closed, but he breathed steadily. "Where did you come from..?" she quietly asked the little one, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. With that said, she ascended up the stairs for the remainder of the night.
Azure slipped into bed, just as quietly as she did when she got out. Her head lay on the pillow, and she looked up at the ceiling. She was still concerned for the foal, and didn’t want to go to sleep. Thoughts and questions of the filly ran through her mind like mad, and each of those, she wanted answered. She hadn’t remembered a time where anything as peculiar as this happened. Some time passed, and eventually, Azure was able to relax. She turned onto her side and closed her eyes.
