Wingbeats

11: Dark Pegasus

Quiet knocking at the door woke me up.

I hauled myself to my hooves and shook out my body stiffly, and guess what? I had another massive headache. Lovely.

I started towards the door, but Zorro got there first.

She shoved it open to a rather terrible sight- our good buddy Whyle.

He was standing tall, proud without a hint of emotion in his black eyes, and his horn was fully healed with not a speck of grime to be found anywhere on it or him. Zorro just stared at him with utter disgust, and it occurred to me that she could probably beat the snot out of him if she really wanted to- she just hadn't been provoked enough yet.

"Get out." She snarled. "You have no reason to be here!" Her ears pinned and she flung her horn menacingly.

"Actually sister, I do have business here. She's coming with me." Whyle gave an evil grin in my direction.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. Why did I always end up with the crazy nutcases? My ears flattened at him as I narrowed my eyes, challenging Whyle to make me come with.

"Now." He commanded and I took a step towards him. He didn't scare me; I'd snapped his horn once and I could do it again, but instead I followed him out the door, understanding I probably didn't have much of a better option considering my current situation (Which just made me want to beat Whyle to a pulp with my hooves even more).

It was stupid mistake on my part really.

...

Nox felt horrible.

His muscles hurt and his wings ached and as he looked back on them he saw that feathers were falling out like leaves off of a dead tree. What was happening to him? But he didn't have any answers, so he curled up tighter, missing his sister more than he ever had in his life.

Another spasm of pain lanced up his wings and he whimpered softly, drawing the attention of Coke who was standing over him.

"Nox? You okay?" The worry was evident in his voice as Nox shuddered again and more feathers fell out. Coke peered closely at his new friend's wings, something was wrong with them, definitely, but Coke couldn't quite place it until he noticed the leathery patches beginning to appear.

They occupied the spaces left where the feathers had fallen, and far from seeming sickly, the leathery skin beneath was strangely healthy looking, soft and supple even. The two large knobs bulging out along the muscles ridges of Nox's wings were another peculiar aspect too.

"Hurts..." He moaned and Coke gently nosed his head, worried.

Coke let out a soft whinny across the grassy yard and a silvery white stallion popped his head up, trotting over briskly. Nox caught sight of him and inched away, letting out a fearful huff of air through his nose.

Coke noticed his agitation. "No, it's alright. This is my friend Sprite; he can help."

Nox calmed slightly, but was still uneasy as he looked up into Sprite's eyes. They were a deep brown, almost black, firm and unwavering but at the same time calm and gentle. Nox felt his breathing and heart beat slow as he drifted into their dark depths, and before he knew it, he was asleep.

The moment Nox was dead asleep, Coke whirled around to Sprite.

"Sprite, he's a dark pegasus. He's not supposed to have feathers, but he doesn't understand what's happening."

Sprite just gave Coke a deadpan look, flicking his white ears as if to say 'and your point is?'

"If Stenmark finds out, he'll take Nox, and there's no telling what they'll do to him. We can't let that happen."

"So," Sprite whispered back, "you propose that we concoct some crazy half baked plan to get him out of here, which may or may not actually be a possibility with Whyle around, so that he can safely learn he's basically wanted dead or alive by Stenmark, who still has his sister at this point?" For a horse that was actually insanely good at negotiations, Sprite was really quite sassy.

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm proposing fairy boy, and we're going to need to get his sister too for this to work." Coke rolled his eyes at Sprite as he gave him a familiar half cocked grin.

"Got it covered Coke." Sprite took off across the grass to rally up the needed horse power for their mission and Coke looked down at the unconscious Nox.

Already Nox's wings were in the middle stages of what was called molt; in a day or two all of the feathers would be gone, revealing their true form.

...

"So, we're going to 'fix me up'. Sounds exciting, but I'm not really in need of repairs, so I'm wondering what this entails? Care to fill me in sir tall dark and silent?"

I was trying to get answers, but I wasn't having much luck because SOMEONE wasn't willing to talk to me about his feelings, or even the weather (which is what normal horses talk about during an awkward silence). He was silent, completely and utterly silent.

Fine.

I could do silent.

I could do silent very well... As long as I had something to occupy my mind that was, such as flying, my little brother, puffer fish (don't ask), and, of course, what in the heck this guy was thinking!

I had no such luck in figuring out what he was thinking as he "escorted" me through the wooded settlement and came up short at an elaborate doorway leading into a HUGE tree. "We are here," he indicated stiffly.

"Well, good to know and thank you, Captain Obvious." I said just as stiffly, arching my neck insolently and not budging towards the door.

Whyle sighed. "Get inside Angel."

I gave him a blithering glare. "Bite me."

The result of our little conversation was me being shoved through the door, shrieking angrily as I tried to at least get a couple of good whacks in. Whyle turned out to be a lot stronger than I had assumed during our last fight, apparently I had had the element of speed and surprise last time.

The inside of the tree was basically a massive, horrifying beauty spa for horses and unicorns that stopped me dead in my tracks and was partly the reason Whyle was able to get me fully indoors and then escape without me raising hell.

"We've been expecting you."

My head whipped around to find a mare staring at me sweetly; she looked like Zorro did in her artificial state, except this was worse, because this mare was ten times more... artificial. Never in my life had I felt chills race down my spine so fast and violently.