Dragon Spirit

     A nightly dark purple mare galloped intensely through a vast moorland, eyes glittering with pain and exhaustion. The sun hovered above the horizon ahead of her, taunting her, that night would soon come.

     She had lived in a tribe of ponies who were driven out of their home in the mountains by a pack of timber wolves. She actually hadn't had any parents in her small community, and no pony knew who they may have been. They simply found her as a newborn foal in an empty cave that still hung with the acrid smell of dragon smoke.

     Now, every pony in the small village has been either driven away or killed.

     The teen was given her name from her dark, nightly purple coat and fox looking tail. She had large wings and a brown mane that was in a pixie cut style. Her evidently blank flank was strange for her mature age, as she was apparently lacking in the cutie mark department.

     The dark mare was fourteen now; definitely old enough to take care of herself, according to her tribe's traditions. The teen was supposed to get married to a colt named Fire Shade, but she didn't like him one bit. On the first attack from the wolves, he'd hidden behind the mare and pushed her toward the pack.

     He'd died just before she left; he was torn apart by wolves because he refused to let her carry him to fly away; he was an earth pony, while she had large feathered wings, but he simply galloped on and wouldn't let her save him out of his own pride.

     Tears stung her eyes as she remembered her only friend, Flare, devoured by the timber wolves as he'd protected her when she couldn't fly away. The purple mare shook her head violently, small salty droplets scattering behind her, causing her stride to falter. She fell with a yelp and hit the ground with a crunch of springy grass, and a crackle of her wounded wing becoming more intensely damaged. The teen mare let out a cry of pain.

     She staggered to her hooves again, whimpering quietly. It's not safe yet! They'll hunt me down! They'll kill me! Just like they did with Flare, and Fire, and everypony else.. She lowered her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "No! I have to avenge my tribe!" She half sobbed, half snarled into the howling wind, lifting her head to glare at the vastness of the land ahead of her. "I have to avenge Flare!"

     The teen pushed into a full gallop. Her hooves thrummed on the cold grassy ground, thudding endlessly through the hours of the night. It wasn't like she hadn't already run for two days without a minute's rest, not a bit of food or water. Her ribs poked out of her dark coat, which was dulled and matted.

     Ahead of her, a town came into view from behind a hill. The sun was rising behind her, making her a silhouette on the top of the hill as she whinnied with triumph, churning her front hooves through the air ahead of her as she was held up on strong hind legs. Below her, a thick forest was the only thing that stood between the desperate mare and civilization.

     She staggered a moment and dropped back onto four hooves, charging into the trees with a hopeful glint in her dark green eyes. The dark pony slowed as massive oaks loomed above her, menacing and seeming to reach at her with outstretched branches. She heard a distant cry of a blackbird, and a booming roar from some sort of creature. That sounds too close for comfort..

     The mare finally looked up into a small opening in the high canopy, and flared out her massive wings. She let out a cry as pain pierced her left wing, aching through to her shoulder blade and throbbing at the fractured bones. I'm not gonna die in here! No way in Luna's moon!

     She beat her wings twice and hard, sending jolts of pain as she lifted upwards. She beat twice with her right for every one time with her left wing, cringing with the intense pain as she elevated passed the canopy to the point where she hovered above the treetops.

     The mare nose dived to catch the air, expertly gliding up again while barely flapping. She dived, just rustling the leaves and sending some chasing her, then caught the wind again and glided on the current. With every slight movement, she felt her wing jolt into worse condition, fracturing more, almost breaking.

     She finally soared above the first sign of civilization she's come in contact with; a huge field of rows and rows of apple trees, a couple of buildings scattered about.

     The pony landed harshly, as she couldn't flap to soften the landing, next to the nearest apple tree. She staggered up to the trunk, putting her fore hooves on the tree and craning her neck to take a round, shining crimson apple. She dropped onto four legs again to eat her first food in three days now.

     The apple dropped to the grass with a small thud, bouncing slightly. The mare's dark green eyes rolled slowly to the back of her head. She let out a groan of pain, and collapsed with a thunk, eyes closed and breathing quick and shallow.

     Thunder Lane and Rainbow dash were all helping Big Macintosh and Apple Jack buck apples next to the barn. Thunder sighed inwardly, looking up at the setting sun. Trotting away, he had a sense that he had something to find.

    He plotted in between the rows of apple trees, eyes dull with boredom. He skirted the edge of the rows next to the Everfree forest to see a dark purple mound in the grass, about the size of another pony. He inhaled sharply, cantering swiftly toward to night-colored lump.

     He tripped on an apple that had somehow fallen from the trees, floundering forward with a yelp. He landed with a thump on top of what he assumed was another pony, and he quickly scrambled to the point where he had a hoof on each side of the purple... Pegasus...? he pondered as he saw a twisted feathered bundle that looked like it could be a wing.

     The night colored mare let out a groan as she felt something heavy land on her. Her pupils flicked from side to side until she lifted her face from the grass, foggy green eyes dragging open groggily. She saw two hind legs among.. other things in front of her, though her vision was blurry and unclear. The mare rolled onto her back and looked up into the golden eyes of a confused-looking stallion, the dappled light under the tree above them piercing her eyes so that she should barely see. His face was upside down her hers, and he looked shocked to see her face. She squinted with a murmur "Flare, is that you...? I thought you were killed by the timber.. wolv-" She was cut off by the pony over her tumbling away to the side.

     Thunder Lane rolled off of the mare, hoping so desperately his first impression wouldn't be "a sick pervert." I didn't know that was a mare! Oh crap, crap, crap! What's she gonna say? He craned his neck to look at the mare as he lay on his flank, and he nervously pushed back into a standing position.

     "Guys!" Thunder called, cautiously nudging the mare to her hooves and dipping his head beneath her belly as she staggered about. He lifted his head and pushed her back onto his back, using his wings to support her weight. "Guys! Guys, come here!" The stallion called again, breaking into a gallop back toward the barn.

     When he looked over his shoulder at the dark colored pony, naturally narrowed, almost cat-like eyes gazed at him, glittering with pain, anguish, exhaustion and something else... Like seeing an old friend you never expected to see again. She had a twisted wing, feathers stained with dried blood along with the coat around it. Her mane was brown and short, and her tail reminded Thunder Lane of a fox.

     The dark green eyes were tired and confused, the mare's dark coat was dulled and matted, her ribs poked out at her skin. Her face was foreign looking, as if she was from somewhere far from Ponyville.

     "Why are you alive, Flare? I thought you were killed by timberwolves... Have I died? Was I not able to avenge you?" Her expression grew from confused to pained, grief and resentment croaking in her voice. "Why am I so hungry? So tired, when I have died like you?"

     Shocked, Thunder replied; "Wha... What are you talking about? I don't know who this Flare is, but it's not me. I found you unconscious by a tree.."

     When there was no reply, Thunder looked back again to see the night colored mare unconscious again, muscles tensed and clutching.

     Thunder Lane sighed indignantly, turning back to the barn which was not too far ahead. "Guys! Guys, come see this!"

     He cast his gaze about until he spotted Big Mac. "Macintosh!" Thunder called, cantering up to him.

     The crimson pony turned to face him, raising a brow when he saw the mare on his back. "Kidnapped y'all self a marefriend, have ya?" He grunted, nodding to her.

     Thunder Lane's cheeks grew hot and he flattened his ears. "I found her over by the Everfree. She was unconscious; at first, I thought she was dead."

     "Sure seems dead. Y'all sure she ain't?"

     "She was awake for a while, but she kept calling me Flare and saying I was supposed to be dead."

     "She looks like she ain't eaten in days; get her inside and see if y'all can clean up that wing. Ah'll try to get everyone together. Meanwhile, try to get her to tell you what's goin' on."

     Thunder Lane nodded and trotted into the Apple family house, taking the strange pony into the bathroom. He set her with her flank on the toilet, and her head drooped. He gathered a bucket of water and a wash cloth, then lifted up her left foreleg. This won't work...

     Thunder Lane moved her to the living room and laid her on her side on the floor, taking the rag and cleaning her wing carefully. Careful not to do.. that.. He thought awkwardly as he washed her wing, knowing how... sensitive Pegasus wings were.

     When Thunder lifted the mare's gnarled wing, a groan of pain escaped her. He cringed, then reached forward to clean her blood-stained coat.