So much had changed in the last few weeks, maybe in months, I wasn't sure at this point. Time seemed to blur together as I forced myself to continue moving as if nothing had changed, as if my father hadn't died, as if my mother wasn't back and as if the number of siblings I shared hadn't increased in an alarming rate. The Wildfire's illness, the lack of sanity, had been growing more and more obvious but I knew better than to say anything. There was much work to be done, and work I did.

In fact work was what I was doing when my father, the great Wildfire himself, had died here in the sands that he had called home for so long. I was patrolling the lands of Helovia just outside of our wonderful little island and I had missed the whole thing...I missed saying good bye to my own father, the one man I strove so hard to make sure he was proud of me. The small filly inside of me wanted to curl up somewhere alone and cry for days because he was gone and would never see his grandchildren (if I ever found a soul unfortunate enough to stay with me), I would never be able to spar him again. But I could still make him proud.

Making him proud from his flaming throne in the sky was the exact reason why I kept moving, pushing the feelings of despair to the back of my mind to be dealt with once things on the sandy island returned to some sort of normal. For now, I was going to continue my patrolling but on the island for now. That was how I found myself wandering along the shoreline, allowing the salty brine to lip at my ebony limbs as I walked seemingly aimlessly, always on the alert for anything that could be considered out of the normal.

That's when I noticed the grey and red form crumpled on the sands cooled by the touch of the moon. Sobbing, obviously coming from the figure judging by the steady rise and fall of it's sides, loud enough to be heard over the gentle sound of the waves against the shoreline forced my dark dipped ears forward as electric blue eyes glowed with worry. Ebony painted limbs stretched out as heavily feathered wings stretched out in hopes of keeping my balance as I cantered easily through the terrain I had grown up in towards the sobbing mess. As I drew closer the scent shifted and I could tell something was wrong, the feminine perfume that I could only label as the grey's was mingled with that of a stallion full of malice and ill wishes. Ears flicked back into my two toned mane as I looked out over the ocean in case the suspect was anywhere close by, he may have been able to harass the girl off of the island, but she was in a safe place now.

A soft nicker slipped forward, making sure the startled girl knew that there was someone here to help her rather than hurt her more. The stench of semen and all else that had to do with the act I was unfamiliar with, assaulted the delicate nerve endings in my nasal cavity as I drew closer to her. "Shhh sweet girl, you are safe now." I attempted to comfort the grey, aching to reach out and touch her but something told me that would just make the situation worse so I kept my distance, blues raking over her body to take in any of the damage that might have been caused during her assault.

"Speech."

The grey's sobbing filled the air, mingling with the waves crashing on the sands to create a song full of despair that caused my heart to ache as if the pain was my own to feel. Neons lit up with worry as I drew closer, just close enough that her sobbing nearly took over the thoughts that had been going through my head before, the death of my ave, the fact that now I really had to step in and care for the family rather than run off on as many missions as the Wildfire could throw at me. "Perhaps I don't deserve nice things because I'm paying for sins I don't remember..." The battered creature's voice crept shakily through the waves and salty breeze to my pricked ears, forcing a soft, nearly motherly cluck to come forth as I shook my skull where a tiara once sat gently. "Oh dear, not even the most evil of sinners deserves this fate." I cooed as I took a hesitant step closer to the grey, not wanting to scare her with all that had just happened to her.

Fury grew, boiling deep inside my barrel as she reached out for comfort and the garbled half-cry forced itself from her throat. I would find whoever had done this to my family. We may not be blood but the grey had sworn her life to the Throat so even if there was no DNA shared between the two of us, I would protect her until my own last breathe. A gentle smile was plastered forcefully across my features as I stepped closer to the mess of a mare, dark lips reaching out to brush across her cheek in comfort before lowering my pale, ghostly frame alongside her beaten grey one. A single, large, pale feathered appendage spread out to cover the sad soul from the harsh world around her. Electric eyes kept on the move, watching everything and anything that moved in case the horrid creature who had done this decided to come back for round two.

"Do you know who did this to you?" I seethed, plotting different ways to make the bastard pay for the pain he had forced upon my sister. The potential child that would be developing deep in her barrel, forcing her to remember the horrible act for months and then even years to come. "I can find him, make sure he's unable to hurt another mare in his sick life."

"Speech."