My activity as of late has been something to scoff at, and I think that it has become something of a wake-up call for me. My meeting in the Dragon's Throat had taken too much of my precious time, and I think that because of my desire to meet with each herd and their leader I have put other -- more important tasks -- behind me. I have been foolish, I know that, but all I had wanted was to offer my healing properties to each faction of land, regardless of their intent or their history. My beating heart is in the right place, I think, but I must learn to prioritize things. Perhaps meeting with the Gods – as I have been doing, but I fear that they have all been too busy to pay too much attention to me – should have been my first task, but wandering the dry deserts of the Throat had not been all bad. After all, I had gained a second shadow.

My bi-colored eyes are too focused on the frosted terrain for me to notice the four magnificent forms of my Gods, all gathered together for what must be the first time in decades. My long chocolate legs are just skirting around the edge of a thistle plant when I hear the cries of some stallion, pleading and crying and questioning something else close by. The dark tresses that conceal my curved face shift to the sides of my golden cheeks when I look up, and my eyes widen in shock at the sight of them all. A trio of heart-branded unicorns, the familiar porcelain forms of the emotional unicorn and the spotted stallion, a little shadow mare, and a scarlet-haired beauty were all staring at her Gods, silently cheering them on and hoping that they would be able to weave the rift closed with their magic. But one by one each deity fell, and after a moment of thought the green God – " “God of Earth,” I murmured to my follower, gesturing to the tall draft with curved horns – appeared to say something to his siblings, and I watched despairingly as each of my beloved creators disappeared and then returned. My dark lips drew together to form a thin line as each God entered the rift, and my striped body began to sway gently, as if it were growing too tired to stand. My dark ears swivel back and forth to listen to the words of each mortal gathered here, but they soon rest in a position that displays my current mood; distressed and anxious sadness.

I think of the words that I should say to honor the actions of my fallen Gods, but this language is foreign to me and I am afraid that I will stumble and fall when I should excel. Finding the right words to say is not my strong suit, but healing the wounds of the broken is, and so instead of commenting on the courage that these beings had possessed, I wade through the deep snow and to where the glassy figure of the rift had been. My long banner of dark braids drags across the field of thorns, ensnaring itself in the occasional bush, but I ignore it. Once my slender legs have carried me to the spot where the Gods had been taken, I pause, waiting for the world to become completely black before performing this private ritual. Only the soft glow of the vibrant trees reaches my golden figure, and the light reflected off my headdress shines in my eyes. The glare of the beautiful trees does not bother me, though, for my dark eyelids have covered my mismatched orbs and I have arched my neck in a deep bow, even deeper than the one that I had graced the Sun God with at our first meeting.

A gentle smile tugs at my lips at the thought of the fiery God, but the feeling is soon replaced by sadness. I have lost him, and with him I have lost a piece of my heart, as I have lost the rest of the beating thing with the disappearance of his siblings. I know that my past with them had not been as full of knowledge and kindness as I had hoped it would have been, but that does not change my opinion of the four creators of this land. I still love them, I still believe in them, and in their name I will forever revere them, for they have always been the light to guide me in times of darkness, and I am certain that they will continue to guide me even in this fearful time of hopelessness.

Walk walk walk.

"Talk talk talk".