Upon a Pale Mare

My companions, and the earth pony colt with the salmon color fur stood around me. Their eyes were wide with horror, their jaws hung open, stares fixed on my flank. The lack of baths on our trek was indeed a blessing, for if they had known...

"No, no,"

"NO!"

I was still spinning. Maybe, if I spun fast enough, I would wake up from this terrible nightmare.

"Nonononononononononononono,"

I slapped myself across the face. I was hyperventilating. My head felt light, as if it would float up into the air, and away, and I sway.

I looked up at the ceiling, at the stars now unseen behind thick layers of granite and marble.

I wanted to scream,

'O WHY GOD? O WHY ME WHY ME?

But I did not.

I met the eyes of my companions.

The meaning of this new insight was not known.

All we knew, is that dark days were ahead.

The salmon colored foal could not know. How could he?

He had not seen what we had seen.

The full extent of our horror was lost on him.

I stared at my cutie mark.

My cutie mark stared back.

* * *

"Since y'all ar all spick and span now, hows about fillin yer bellies? Ahm sure y'all ain't eaten good in a long while." The salmon colt sifted through a barrel near the table, and he pulled from it a sack of alfalfa pellets. "Ah figure it goes without sayin, that thure ain't been apples round these parts for a long while. Ahve been livin off a lifetime supply of dis here foodstuffs," he says, and before he can sling the sack upon his back, I took it from him, and swung it over my shoulder. He thanked me, and I nodded in reply. "Wellp, lets head off to ma dinin’ room,"

We followed him down the hall.

"You eat in a libary?" Myrrh asked, surprise evident in her tone.

"Wellp, it's nice ta make full use o' ones space, dis is a castle after all. An' Ah never did finish learnin' ta read, so Ah ain't got much use fer a library! 'Specially one with books as fancy an' complicated as deese..." his voice trailed off, as if there was something he left unsaid.

"An' deres not too much junk floatin about in hurr anywho, makin fer a nice place ta sit,"

He indicated where I should set the sack down, and I did so. He tossed a lantern at our small dragon friend, with a, "If ya'd be so kind," He took the hint, and we no longer stood in near total blackness. He set the lantern down on the floor. The dragon's scales were a dark violet, now clean and shimmering in the light. The salmon pony rummaged around in a pile of junk, before he procured four bowls. He filled three with pellets, before handing one to each of us. He apologized for not having anything more suitable for a dragon. The child exclaimed, while he simultaneously sprayed everypony in the vicinity with moist alfalfa particles, "It's food!"

The three of us sat around the lantern. The salmon colt filled his bowl and joined us. He slowly ate his pellets, one at a time, while the rest of our faces were shoved into the bowls as deeply as possible. We were snarling like the starving beasts we were, as we gulped down the pellets.

"Wow, y'all must be really hungry,"

The three of us made, what were little more than happy grunts, in reply. His voice was barely audible over the sounds of my own mastication, "Wellp, Ahm sure glad Ah could be sum help,"

"Ahm just glad y'all didn't make me have ta shoot ya,"

Myrrh swallowed a large chunk with difficulty, before she asked, "Have you had to do that before?"

He did not reply.

A cold haze fell upon his eyes.

You don't learn that kind of stare in Sunday school.

I thought about asking where he put the bodies, but I decided against it. I looked up from my pellets. He looked older than I in the warm glow of the lantern. He was staring down at the bowl in his hooves. I was about to change the subject, when the salmon pony looked up, and pointed while he said, "Ya think ya might wanna feed dat dere critter? Ah bet hes as starvin as y'all"

I could barely make out what the young dragon said, with his mouth so full. I thought he said 'What critter?'. With the muffled words, he sprayed us again with alfalfa clumps. I grunted in disgust, as I wiped the wet hay bits off my neck.

I repeated his question.

"That critter," he said.

He pointed behind us.