Red Feathers

Bleach.

Of all the smells inside the hospital of the spaceship, I couldn’t stop smelling bleach. I doubted the Humans used bleach like Ponies do, but it was the closest thing that came to mind with every breath I took, and each new breath of air seemed to draw in more and more of the overpowering odor.

Shaking dizziness out my head, I tried to ignore it as best I could.

Just a little bit longer, Raven, that was all it was going to take.

Fidgeting in place, I waved my talons in front of my beak in a vain attempt to fan the smell away. The thought of leaving to get some fresher air was tempting, but Doctor Bonesaw -- a Clone doctor -- had told me to stay put.

It was just that the smell was so strong, familiar, and odd at the same time that I had to find out where it was coming from, then get as far away from it as I could. Although leaving the bed to find the source of the smell would mean I would make Doctor Bonesaw mad by disobeying him. It was so unfair, getting stuck here with the smell and not being able to leave.

“Patience is a virtue,” I whispered to myself to calm my nerves. We hadn’t used virtue as a vocabulary word in school yet, but I guess virtue was a good thing. My mom always told me this or that was a virtue. Honesty, patience, humility. Some words I didn’t know, some I did. I at least knew patience meant staying put and listening, even if you didn’t want to.

That didn’t mean, however, that I couldn’t be patient AND look around.

Rising to my paws and talons on the rock-hard mattress, I looked over the edge of the bed and sniffed.

Sniff, sniff. Yep, more bleach-stuff. Maybe it was the entire floor that stank?

No matter where the smell was coming from, whatever chemical was on the floor got it to enough of a shine that I could see a faint reflection of my face. Super soft, dark black quills, an orange beak, and bright emerald-green eyes. All of it was atop my grey-furred body since my reflection was my head.

Most ponies said I looked cute. I’m not cute, I’m tough.

Opening my beak wide, I bared my teeth at my reflection. It was strange to me that Gryphons had both teeth and beaks, but we were birds and cats at the same time, so it did make a little sense.

“Roar,” I whispered, giggling with an evil smile. Captain Comet, meet your doom!

Keeping my bright smile, I went from staring at my reflection to the room beyond my bed.

Two rows of beds were lined up with a lot of space between each one. I was second to last in a row of ten. Most of the other beds had white curtains pulled around them, the black symbol of the Galactic Republic making the curtains look more like flags. It made it all but impossible to see who was with me in the room. Though it was probably for the best, since grown-ups say I talk too much and they’re too busy sleeping, or doing non-kid stuff.

What few that weren’t hidden by curtains were either sleeping or hurting too much to talk anyways. Ponies, Clones, Marines from the UNSC; it didn’t matter to the Covenant who they shot at. Even kids, like me.

I wasn’t totally alone, though. The bed to the left of mine was occupied by a large human in black armor, ODST written in white letters in several places. I didn’t know his name, but we were buddies, and he was the only one who talked to me while I was waiting.

Though, at the moment, I couldn’t speak to him, and it made me sad every time I looked his way. He was missing a leg, cut off just below the knee, and a blue, Human-sized-and-shaped doctor robot leaned over him. It was wrapping more bandages over the bloody ones with its pincer hands.

A sick feeling worked its way up from my belly and onto my tongue. A sharp metal taste like I was sucking on a copper one-cent bit.

Trying to look away was impossible. I didn’t want to stare, but my breath caught in my throat and fear grabbed hold of me. I couldn’t look away even though I wanted to. Lightheadedness and cold stabbed the back of my neck and crawled all the way down my spine.

Forcing myself to turn and look at my left wing, I gasped for air as I looked through the large gap of missing feathers.

I had been so close to losing my wing -- or worse.

Another shiver ran down my spine. It was the or worse part that scared me. Just thinking about it sent constant cold chills racing down the back of my neck, all the way to the furry brush of my long lion’s tail.

Closing my eyes, I stopped feeling dizzy. Calmly telling myself in a whisper, “Don’t be scared, Raven.” I could feel my heart slow to a steady thump-thump. “You’re a big Gryphon now. In two weeks you’ll be nine.”

I forced a smile -- Though, no matter how old you are, never hit an alien in the head with a Krov stick again. It was a joke to myself to lighten my mood.

Long wooden stick versus helmet, not the brightest of ideas. I left that fight the loser... big time.

Just how many feathers did I lose? -- I wondered. Extending my left wing out as far as I could, I intended to answer that question.

After counting a few of my secondaries, I groaned in misery. It’d be quicker to count how many I had left.

Counting what remained, most of my primaries were still there, and about two and a half of one of my secondaries, close to the base of my wing. The rest were missing -- all burneded up to a crisp and ashes.

I grimaced, remembering how the really nice pony I knew named Fluttershy had to use tweezers to pluck out the broken shafts in my wing. I guess she missed that half-feather. As the saying goes, If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.

Craning my neck, I opened my beak and tried to pull the feather out myself.

Chomp, miss. Chomp, miss.

Slowly, the realization came to me. I let out a low, angry growl, then wanted to slam my head into the wall and cry. I’m as flightless as a chicken and I can’t even preen right. It’s going to take weeks, maybe even months before they grow back.

Either that or I’d molt, whichever came first.

Shaking my head, I gave the wing a second look and a hopeful smile, wishing upon the stars that the missing feathers would pop back instantly.

My smile didn’t last long. Guess the stars were too busy granting wishes to others. I just hoped someone wished the Covenant gone and my mom and dad back.

The no good stupid rotten Covenant! Growling some more, I balled my right talons into a fist and slammed them down onto the hard mattress. “Aghhhh!” I yelled,  just wanting them gone.

Why!? Why did they have to come from outer space and start wrecking things like big mean bullies!? It just wasn’t fair!

Falling back onto my tushie, I wiped the desperate tears out my eyes. It was a good thing Alice was with me so I could give her the biggest hug I’d ever given her. She’d keep me safe while Midnight wasn’t here.

“It’s okay, Raven,” she told me, “Doc Bonesaw will be here in just a minute. Like he said. Then we can go play and you’ll feel a lot better.”

She normally made me feel safe. But the smells, the sights; it was like I was stuck in a nightmare I wasn’t allowed to wake up from. Shutting my eyes tight I hugged Alice ferociously to my chest.

“Playing won’t bring Mommy or Daddy back.”

“Shhhhhh, Raven,” Alice said as I rubbed her head, “You have Midnight and me. Together we’ll find your sister and everything will be okay.”

Nodding to show I agreed with her, I put Alice within reach on my pillow, still sitting on my butt. Her golden fur was dirty, and she was missing an arm, a leg, and an eye, but she still stayed strong. If she could with all that hurt, so could I.

Wiping more of my own tears away, I closed my eyes to think about what my mom once told me. “Raven, the best thing to do when something is bothering you is to think of something else.”

I nodded, agreeing with the advice she had given me a long time ago.

In an effort to follow her word, I tapped my talons a few times on the metal headboard. Focusing more on the sound and sight of my talons and less on the smell and bad thoughts. Time seemed to go from a crawl to a run. And like magic the doctor finally showed up, his heavy stomps drawing my gaze to him.

His white uniform was stained with blood. Just like some parts of the floor.

He was talking with someone, a pony, Miss Fluttershy, I quickly realized. She was the only butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane that I knew, and it seemed both of them were more interested in each other than me. Maybe they would do the thing most adults do: ignore me to keep talking to someone else, leaving me stuck here forever.

I knew it was an exaggeration, but adults could be so slow sometimes. They never paid attention to what I had to say, and they always keep me waiting for them.

Normally when adults were being slow adults, I would grumble a little and bounce in place, but something was wrong. Just from the way they walked with stomps and red faces warned me they were angry. I was about to ignore them both before Doctor Bonesaw said with a heavy sigh, grabbing his nose with his thumb and one of his fingers, “I’m telling you, Fluttershy, there are just too many wounded. We’re out of everything. Before long we'll be using whiskey for anesthesia and garden tools for surgery.”

Sitting up and shifting myself on the bed, I turned to face them both and listen in. Doctor-babble was funny to listen to, so many words I never heard before. I had never heard of anesthesia before. Was it some kind of really boring surgery and it was making them cranky? With so many hurt, he and Misses Fluttershy would have to do a lot of anesthesias.

Was that even a word? It rolled around on my tongue like a fancy word should, but… ah. Who knows? Hopefully they don’t start yelling. Or give me anesthesia. I hate when people yell. And alcohol.

Unfortunately, Misses Fluttershy looked angrier than Doctor Bonesaw, her normally yellow face almost crimson. “And what am I supposed to do!? My doctorate is in veterinary medicine, not miracle working!” Her sudden outburst made Bonesaw hop back in surprise. It wasn’t an arguing outburst, Miss Fluttershy looked way too tired to argue. Large droops hung under her eyes, while her mane had more knots than a rope. The top of which only reached a little below the doctor's shoulders. She even stumbled a little as they walked towards me.

Doctor Bonesaw didn’t return with a yell. Instead he did the opposite, speaking in the calmest voice that could ever come out of a soldier. I thought they were supposed to be tough sounding. “I’m just saying, after that last amputation, we’re running out of everything, even Pony drugs. It was sheer luck that our medicine is even compatible between species. We’re out of morphine, and we’re down to only a couple canisters of biofoam. Not only that, but our bacta supply is down to the last drop.” He sighed and waved his hand towards me.

Looking away I tried to hide the fact I was listening, but I still kept my ears open to what Doctor Bonesaw said next, “I can handle this patient. Go get some rest, you haven’t slept since yesterday’s attack.”

Fluttershy responded with a mumble I couldn’t decipher and stomped away.

Alice’s golden-furred face was locked in a frown, her one-good eye in a squint. “What do you think of her, Raven?”

It didn’t take long for me to answer her, as I was already thinking about just how different she was acting. “I think she’s just grumpy from being tired. After a nap she’ll be back to the same old Miss Fluttershy.” And maybe she’d have another tea party with Alice, me, and Miss Rarity.

Looking up at the Human now towering over me, he asked with a chuckle. “Who are you talking to?”

I knew I could trust Doctor Bonesaw, but his gigantanormous height made me feel so small talking to him. At least he was a doctor, and Mom said that Doctors and Policestallions weren’t mean people.

Grabbing Alice off the pillow, I held my best friend up to him, introducing the two. “This is Alice, she’s my friend, and she says hello.”

“Hello, Alice,” The towering Human’s chuckle seemed more like a gentle giant’s than a monster’s, unlike all the other Humans, who laughed louder than Dragons. He patted her on the head, and I giggled. It was one of those no-reason giggles that I always got when someone did something that only I found funny.

Alice wasn’t so happy with what she mumbled. Gasping, I scolded her, “Alice, be nice.” She could get so grumpy if others touched her. I didn’t want to tell him what she said. Alice used one of the Human bad words all the soldiers like to add to their sentences.

Doctor Bonesaw’s face went from a smile to a frown as hard as stone. “Let’s hurry up. I’m sure Midnight is waiting on you.” Since I was already sitting up, he reached for the ‘bacta bandage’ as he called it, on my chest. Carefully, he pulled off the small grey wires, then the white and grey patch itself.

“The plasma burn healed up nicely, all that’s left is some minor scarring.”

Gulping air, I froze up again. In the center of my light-grey chest was a big pink spot without any fur.

“Is… is this going to stay like this forever?” Chills were tap-dancing up and down my spine. Getting shot wasn’t fun. But having my fur ruined forever would be even less fun. What if the other kids saw me!?

<>~<>~<>

Throwing my uniform over my back, I quickly zipped up the red and black fabric, my claws scratching on metal as I ran to the front of my spaceship to look out the glass. The Requiem was dead ahead, and its gazillion guns started turning our way. “Raise the shields!” I yelled to Alice. She was my first mate, and me, I was Captain Raven Volkov of the Starship Endeavour. And we had just been spotted.

The Endeavour rocked as a torpedo slammed into the side of our ship. Alice yelled from her spot behind her computer station, “Captain, I’m giving the shields all she’s got, but another hit like that and we’re toast.”

Toast? This called for desperate measures. “Blast! The Requiem is too big for us to fight! We have to activate the warp drive and get out of here!”

Alice was too slow, another torpedo hit us and we both died.

But it was all make believe, so really I was okay. Sitting on my haunches to take a break from the fun, I laughed in the face of our defeat, snatching Alice up and giving her a hug. “Good job, First Mate Alice.”

Grumpy as always, she grumbled mostly to herself, “You got us both deaderized by torpedoes, I think I should be Captain Comet next.”

“You wish,” I joked, poking her nose. She growled like a dog, but wasn’t really mad with me. She wouldn't have laughed while growling if she really was mad.

Putting Alice into one of the many deep pockets of my uniform, I buttoned it so she wouldn’t fall out. My uniform wasn’t from Captain Comet and the Starfleet Show, but a grey and black camouflage uniform like the military Ponies wear. It had a hole burned through the chest -- and the armor plate that had saved my life. Poking a talon through the hole, I could feel the furless patch on my chest.

I needed new clothes, and apparently, a new ship. The large rock that I decided to perch upon wasn’t a big enough spaceship to beat the Requiem. About the only thing the rock did offer was a good view. From it, I could see all around with my super-duper Gryphon vision, but honestly, there wasn’t much to look at.

A pile of stones here, a couple tents there. Off in the corner was a blown up Covenant tank. Okay, maybe the last one was a bit interesting. At least the air didn’t smell like bleach. Instead, fire barrels next to the nearby tents sent smoke drifting towards my rock close to the end of the spaceship -- the real one, not my rock-itship. I liked the smell, it reminded me of campfires back in Gryphonia. And the distance from most of the tents was nice because it gave me some peace and quiet.

The Requiem was the name of the spaceship that I had been inside. It was a lot different than the ones I had seen Captain Comet use when fighting the evil Dr. Nefarious Nebulous. It wasn’t a small flying saucer, that was for sure, but rather a giant city sized spaceship that looked like it could defeat Dr. Nebulous’ whole starfleet in one shot. It was like a bajillion hooves tall and almost half a mile long.

When it crashed, it cut an entire mall in half while causing earthquakes strong enough to crumble all the nearby buildings, leaving us with just the mall’s parking lot to set up tents in.

Or instead of tents, we had the subway tunnel, but it was cold and dark down there, with only cardboard for mattresses. It was a good thing Miss Summer and Midnight packed us bedrolls.

Poking the large scar again on my chest, I frowned brokenheartedly. Closing my eyes I couldn’t stop myself from slowly shaking my head in sadness, “Permanent…” I whispered. There wasn’t any pain like a healing-up cut. It was a scar, bigger than any scrape I had gotten before from crashing while flying. I was stuck with it. Fur didn’t like to grow back on large scars.

Alice grumbled inside my pocket, “I’m missing an arm, a leg, and an eye. Don’t worry about a little scar.”

I smiled. Alice was right, of course she was. She only gave me advice that was in me all along, just buried under all the bad thoughts. Nodding, I smiled and said back, “It’s not like I’m the only one with scars. Misses Summer Wind has tons of them. Three great big ones on the left side of her face.”

My smile faded to a worried frown, a shiver rattling me around. Seeing the scars once was enough to scare me and stay in my brain like it had been drawn in my memory with pen. I could easily describe them: three vicious jagged lines running parallel down her ginger-tan face, one splitting her left eyebrow into two.

Adults may call me little girl but I could read. Misses Summer was old enough for history books to tell me where she got those scars, but I didn’t need one. Only Gryphon talons made marks like that.

She wore proof of her fights. She could prove she fought Gryphons and lived to tell the tale just by looking at somepony. Heh, maybe a little scar wasn’t so bad. It’s proof that not even the Covenant can push me around like a little girl…

“Wow, I need to lay off the action novels,” I said amazed with myself, chuckling a little as well. “That almost sounded heroically stupid. Scars are bad, because you need to get hurt to get them.”

“What’s going on here?” I gasped, eeped, spun around, and stumbled all in the span of a second at the sound of her voice. I jumped so fast that I nearly fell off the rock.

“Hi, Mom,” I squeaked, scared out of my wits by the surprise. Midnight stood below me, looking up at me on my perch with her almost blood-colored dark-red eyes, a warm smile on her grey furred face.

As quick as I’d been scared, relief rapidly overtook it. Midnight was here, and as long as she was, I was safe.

Midnight started grinning. The very same grin when somepony’s about to tell me a stupid joke. “Did I catch you doing something wrong?” She asked sarcastically.

Yep, stupid joke. “No, Mom.” I replied with a low groan. I didn’t know why I felt embarrassed at having her imply I was doing something wrong, it just made me feel like my cheeks were on fire.

 Wordlessly, Midnight looked over my dark grey, light grey, and black uniform made of little boxes. It was digital camouflage, made for the city -- according to Summer -- but it didn’t make me invisible. Still embarrassed, I wanted to be.

Midnight wore a uniform as well, and while I wore just a shirt, she wore pants, a shirt, and helmet with goggles resting above her eyes. Oddly, it wasn’t the same color, instead being tan and brown and black, with leaf shaped patterns on it instead of little squares. Almost as if it was supposed to be in the desert.

Like me, she was too small for the uniform. It wrinkled into large puffs around the belt she wore with a canteen, and around the black boots she wore over her hooves, and the metal braces she wore on both her left legs. The entire set -- minus the braces -- looked like it would fit Summer better. Summer was a Clydesdale Pegasus, Midnight was just a normal Earth Pony.

Midnight asked with the same grin, and playful voice, “What are you looking at?”

“Your uniform. You don’t look like the other soldiers we’ve met.”

Midnight’s eyes went wide. “Oh…” With one hoof, Midnight removed her helmet, wiping her brow with the same leg she held the helmet with, showing off her shortly cut midnight blue mane with a single wide black streak. It was shorter than most colts I knew.

Midnight wasn’t what other Ponies called cute or pretty, but she wasn’t ugly. She had lost her tail in the same fight I had nearly lost my wing. I didn’t hear her complain about it. That fact alone made me smile, because, like me, she didn’t care much how she looked. Unlike the fillies at school picking on me because I didn’t have a mane to braid, or large ears to pierce, or my feathers not liking makeup too much.

We both didn’t need that stuff because we were just as good without it. The neigh-sayers were just jealous.

But never again will I put on makeup.

A filly's voice screamed in the back of my memory, “Ha, look at her, she looks like a peacock!”

Midnight quickly put her helmet back on, distracting me from my thoughts and the embarrassing memory.

Climbing up onto the rock by herself to join me, she grunted and her face scrunched in pain. She was up on the rock before I could even offer to help. Even I knew not to stress fractured bones, so I decided to tell her and mean it, “You’re gonna hurt yourself, Mom.”

Earth Ponies -- always trying to prove they’re more stubborn than Gryphons.

We both were stubborn, and a lot alike, but despite our similar colors we weren’t related. I just called her mom because it let me know that I had someone to go to for advice and to keep me safe.

Midnight looked worried, half-frowning as she tapped her chin with a booted hoof. It was never a good sign when the grown-ups were worried. “Listen, Raven, don’t be mad. I haven’t lied to you, per say, but I haven’t been honest with you either.”

The entire world froze and focused directly on that set of words, “I haven’t been honest with you.” If that wasn’t a lie, then what was?

Already I could feel my head heat up as Midnight continued, “I’m not a soldier. Summer gave me her old uniform. I hadn’t even fired a pistol before the day I rescued you from that… thing.” She spat the last word, and my blood boiled even more at the mention of that Jackal. Four days ago it had killed my real mom.

I gripped my talons hard together on a ball, “Summer said both of you were Marines, and you were there to help.” Breathing hard, “And you lied about that!?”

Midnight sighed, “It’s true that Summer is a Marine, but she’s retired. And it is true that we were there to help, believe me.”

Believe her? After she lied? What else was she hiding or lying about to me?

The sound of heavy hooves thumping on the ground made Midnight look behind her before I could say something to her. Looking over Midnight’s shoulder, a large ginger-tan pegasus with a golden mane and blue eyes walked up. Summer Wind.

Looking to me, she said with a grizzed, rough voice. “Hello, Raven,” She looked to Midnight, “Hello.”

I could feel myself cool off enough to speak without raising my voice, saying hello in Gryphian, “Privjet, Summer.”

Her face scrunched into a displeasured frown, responding back in Gryphian, “I haven’t heard this language in quite a few years.”

Holy cow… she knew how to speak Gryphian!? Amazed, I forgot about Midnight’s little lie to me and almost pranced with joy on top of the rock -- I settled for just hopping a little -- then asked Summer everything, and I mean everything, I could think of in Gryphian.

“Equish, please.” Midnight groaned. I could here her thump a hoof against her face.

<>~<>~<>

“I was a part of the Frozen War, over thirty years ago,” Summer told me in Equish. I had sat down and stayed quiet so she could give me a little ‘Story Time’ as she wanted to call it. “Back then, Gryphonia and Equestria didn’t like each other that much. They still don’t, honestly, but you’re proof Gryphons aren’t bad people.”

I giggled at the compliment.

“There was a lot of fighting, but not those great big battles you see on TV. Small little places here and there all over Equus. Vietneigh. Yakistan, Dragon, and Saddle Arabia. Gryphonia, Equestria. The entire world was wrapped up in fighting each other.”

Wow. Summer lived in a very different time. “It must have been scary to live back when everyone was fighting each other.” No wonder Grandpa is always grumpy and complaining about back in my day.

Summer nodded, “Yep.” Looking to Midnight sitting behind me on the rock, she asked, “Have you told her yet? We have to go soon.”

“Damnit,” Midnight cursed. I spun around, Midnight covering her mouth like she tried to stop the word but it already escaped.

Frowning in confusion, I asked, “Go where?” Something was telling me from how they acted that I wasn’t allowed to go.

“Raven, don’t be mad…”

I had already found out she lied to me once. But then she hid something important from me.

“What!” I snapped. She’d lied to me and kept secrets. “What did you think was so important to hide from me, then go ‘don’t be mad’? Of course I’m mad!”

“Summer and I have talked with Fluttershy, and she has agreed to watch you when Summer and I go on a mission. The Humans need my help with the place they’re visiting. My mother used to work there, and she told me all about the power plant. And…” she added hesitantly, “Maybe I’ll find something there of hers to remember her by. Just something to hold on to. You understand, right?”

“Yeah.” I grumbled, turning away from her. Angry, I wanted to say something to make her stay. Even if it was hurtful, “I hope you go and never come back.”

<>~<>~<>

The hanger of the Requiem was cramped and noisy. I had already bumped into the legs of a large white mare in grey robes and told her that Midnight was long gone. She wanted to find her for some reason.

Hours had passed by after I said what I said. Midnight had stayed quiet and just left the rock in a huff while Summer chided me for being rude. I cried for Midnight to stay, but she had just given me the silent treatment and left.

I watched her leave, now I waited for her to come back and right the wrong. It was taking forever, all I could do was watch and listen to the Clones on one side of the ship weld and grind away at metal on their flying machines, while soldiers from the UNSC cussed at one another.

I didn’t want to look on the other side of the hanger. I had already did, the sight almost made me puke before I had turned away. Ponies sat on the smooth metal floor, huddled together in the hangers in one massive talking clump. It was a multicolored mound of fur and flesh, making noises that all blended together, and their bodies reeking of… bodily fluid, being the nice sciency way of saying pee.

One bad thing about crashing a spaceship. Pipes break, and the vents stop working.

It was worse than the bleach smell of the hospital room. The air reeked of sweat, smoke, pee, and other stuff. Alice didn’t like the place, not one bit, and I didn’t either.

Alice grumbled, still in my pocket, “It stinks like shit in here.”

“Alice!” I yelled. Not because I was angry, just so she could hear me over the sound of the Human’s fix-it-up machines, “You know it’s wrong to say words like that!”

“Well, you were thinking the same thing!”

“Yeah, but thinking is different than saying it!”

“No it’s not!”

“Yes it is!”

The arguing went on for a little bit before the roof of the hanger opened, revealing the rolling blackish-grey skies above. That could only mean the ship Midnight left on was back! I could apologize and we could get out of here and I’d never yell at her again. Midnight, I’m so sorry, will you still be like my mom? That’s what I’d ask her and she’d say yes, and I wouldn’t have to sleep in the dark alone or be alone, or ever be mean to her again.

Three large human ships flew in. Two of them looked like white planes with box-shaped bellies and no tails. The other looked like the other two, but instead of having the boxy belly, it had two large mega-magnets that carried a six-legged Clone tank.

My smile faded…

The tank was smoking, twisted and black with char. Like the look of a log thrown into a firepit.

Midnight, Summer, and Summer’s freind Brass had been in there.

The other two ships landed first, the doors on their boxy-bellies opening.

O’Neill, a UNSC Human, hopped out of the nearest.

No!

No, no, no, nonononononooooo!

Blood dripped from the small spaceship. I ran forward, past UNSC Marines with red crosses on their shoulders. Past Clones with the same symbol carrying stretchers.

I didn’t know most of the Humans like they were my friends, but I still knew their names. Brass, Summer’s Pony friend, lay next to a Human, Maria. I could only tell it was her because her crazy grey eyes staring at me, open permanently as her crushed body drippedeverywhere.

A pair of Human arms grabbed around me under my forelegs and my eyes were covered, “Don’t look, Lass… don’t look.” It was O’Neill.

I had already seen enough. All I could do was babble one word, “Midnight.” over and over again.

“I’m sorry, Lass. We couldn’t find her. We couldn’t find her. They took her… she’s gone.”