The blue girl's warning stuck in my mind, her story of a war resounding through the day. The Throat, she told me, was threatened by unicorns - and, I mean, Seriously? Unicorns? Of course it was unicorns, it was always unicorns. The idea that I had narrowly avoided having another home destroyed by the horny brutes left me with a deep sense of sardonic amusement. Had Adrixaura not been so obnoxious, had Seele not treated me like a piece of meat, had Smoke not barged in, unnecessarily self-righteous and determined to save the day - if these things had not happened, what were the odds I would have followed Andromeda, the only one who had been at all decent, home? I'd like to think them very small, but in all honesty... oh, I was tired and angry and stupid when I came into Helovia. I knew perfectly well that I could not retract what I had done, or said. I wanted to believe that Andromeda hated me, that I had lost my chance to find her secrets (a sky pegasus, could she have been from a land not unlike mine?) And, most importantly, I wanted to believe that I did not care, had never cared, and that the idea of unicorns threatening someone else who had shown me kindness was not one that left a shallow black hole in my stomach.

But then, I was never a very good liar.

And so I found myself lurking on the starlit mare's borders, beside a gap in some impossible wall. The dusty sand felt dead against my hooves, so barren and unlike the home I had once loved. Was the entire place like this? I eyed the dark horizon warily. In the distance I could see some macabre light, an eerie glow reflected in the cloudy skies. It brought back memories of a burning wood, and for a bright and horrifying moment I heard the screams, the dying cries of a doomed people, the roar of gods trapped forever in the grip of stone, the death of my home resounding endlessly in my ears.

A shudder racked my body, involuntary and jarring. That isn't here. This is not my kingdom. In fact, I owe these people nothing of myself. I could leave now- should leave now. The words felt hollow inside my own head, cruel in a way I would have once loathed, and oh, so very tempting. I wanted to leave, to let these unknowns burn in the doom they had no doubt brought down upon themselves. I wanted to avoid watching them mourn as I had mourned. I had no interest in investing myself among others again.

And yet... What harm would be found in repaying a kindness? I reasoned silently, stepping forward and past the unfinished barrier. All I had to do was ensure Andromeda's safety, and then I could go about my merry way, back to the wilds and perhaps even out of this damned, dark hell. Oh, I know. I was a fool for thinking life could be so simple. I knew it even then. But cynicism was a vice I indulged too often, and in the bowels of my heart, I clung to the foolish youth I used to be with desperate ferocity, and wondered if he would ever truly come back.

out of the ashes, we rise again