Summer Herd

Summercloud - Tall and lean golden palomino mare. Light cream mane and tail. Striking blue eyes. Two front white socks, a star on forehead. Light green feathers that fade to light yellow.

Sunblaze - Palomino stallion with four socks, a stripe, creamy off-white mane and tail, and yellow-green feathers. Quiet and collected. He admires Summercloud, and some say that he had a foalhood crush on her.

Brightsun - Bright palomino appaloosa mare with interrupted stripe and star.

Nightshade - Black filly with gold-tipped black wings that fade to silver.

Autumn Herd

Fallenleaf - Bay pinto filly with a wide blaze, two rear stockings, dark brown mane and tail, dark-orange feathers tipped in dark yellow. Brave and fierce, yet also very secretive.

Ambershard - Blood bay mare with black points on her legs, a black mane and tail, and gold feathers tipped in bright red. Ambitious and intelligent. She has high hopes for her herd and is always planning.

Elmfire - Bay mare with dark-red-and-orange-mixed feathers.

Winter Herd

Wintersun - Blue roan with dull-blue feathers that fade to a light blue

Echomoon - Dappled gray with icy blue feathers. two front socks.

Spring Herd

Morninglory - Pale flaxen chestnut and spring green wings that fade to pale yellow.

Springblossom - Fawn-colored snowflake appaloosa, thin blaze, and two white hind stockings. Yellowy green feathers.

Lone Herd

Quicksilver - Silver colt with powder blue feathers that fade to a dark navy and are edged in black.

Hazelflight - Dark palomino pintaloosa with wings a mix of auburn brown, light blue, grey, and evergreen green. One front left cornet and two hind stockings.

Chapter 1

Summercloud looked over her herd, searching for her mate, Shadewing. She then looked up at the Hundred Year Star, not knowing who the black foal was to be born to. She knew it could be coming any day, and that’s what worried the mare.

She heard a piercing whinny ring from the clouds. She clutched her very pregnant belly, not knowing who it was. Suddenly, she felt a hard kick in her stomach. The foal was coming! She galloped to the medicine cave. “Dustroot, my foal is coming!”

The very thought of this foal possibly being the black foal scared her, but she didn’t let her fear show on her face. Dustroot, also understanding the stakes, put her wing on Summercloud’s back for a moment to calm her down.

“It will be alright,” Dustroot promised. Summercloud tried to take her words to heart, but it was hard to focus with the pain.

The pain came in waves, like the ocean. It was hard for Summercloud to stay grounded and not let the waves carry her away. Every birth comes with some difficulty, but hers came with more than others. The sun rose higher in the sky, but she still couldn’t move from the den. Her blood stained the ground, and even Dustroot looked worried. Would this be it? Would she die before she even had the chance to look at her foal?

Gradually, the waves receded and left her with something new. Summercloud felt so weak, but she needed to be there for the foal under her wing. She looked there and felt a sudden jerk in her heart. Was this the black foal? Her fear flipped to shock. I’m still alive? But how? All dams of black foals have died, including Star the Healers dam, Lightfeather! she thought. “Mama!” the filly whinnied, uttering her first word. Summercloud saw Shadewing glide in, then he pinned his ears when he saw the black filly. “Who’s foal is this?” he growled.

“Ask your mate, sir,” said Dustroot. Dustroot fed Summercloud and the foal some aspen roots. Summercloud ate the roots, then nudged them toward her filly. Summercloud stood up and stared at her mate. “She’s my filly,” she said. Shadewing reared, anger radiating from him in waves of heat. "What!" he roared. "I will never have a black foal as my daughter!"

"Yes, you will! She is your filly, you must love her!" Summercloud whinnied. Shadewing dropped his hooves near the filly's tiny head. Summercloud sobbed, but said, "If you won't love her, then I don't want you as my mate anymore!" she yelled.

Shadewing huffed and walked out of the cave, lashing his tail. Summercloud walked over to her filly and laid down next to her. “What should I name you?” she asked the filly.

“Shade!” the filly said.

“You’re as black as night, so I’ll call you Nightshade.”

"Nightshade!" the filly whinnied happily.

Summercloud and Nightshade stood up, and Nightshade wobbled over to her dam to nurse. After Nightshade finished nursing, she and her dam trotted to the tall mound of grass. “Mares and stallions, fillies and colts, I give you. . . the newest black foal of Anok, Nightshade!” she neighed, her voice ringing clear across the flat mesa.

Many angry yells met this.

That filly is evil!

Our lead mare is the mother of the black foal?

Kill her!

She’s a freak!

“Silence!” yelled Summercloud, lashing her tail. “I will protect this rare filly to my last breath; if you will not, you are exiled from Summer Herd!”

Nightshade saw Sunblaze, a stallion who has a huge crush on Summercloud. He bowed his head to the mare. “Summercloud, filly of Oceanwing and Suncloud, will you be my mate?” he asked. Summercloud reared up, shocked. Finally, she let out her breath and hovered. “Yes, I will be your mate,” she said. Nightshade looked at Sunblaze, now Sunwing, and glared at him. Nightshade pinned her ears, not trusting the steed.