In the morning, Summercloud and her foals woke, and the mare rolled to the side, letting Thunderfrost and Nightshade nurse. "Good morning, you both," she nickered. After her foals had drank their fill, they pranced around and tackled each other, rolling around and playing.

Summercloud told the foals to close their ears. They did, and she whistled loudly, calling for a captain. "Hello, Duskfire. I need you to gather your platoon. Search for the black foals of Anok, and bring them here." she said. Duskfire used his wing to salute Summercloud, then lifted off, soaring to his section of the army.

A few weeks later, all the black foals were in Summer Herd. The black colt from Autumn Herd was called Shadowleaf. The black filly from Spring Herd was Springsky. Lone Herd had no black foals.

Summercloud stood on a tall ridge, with the black foals at her sides. She cleared her throat, preparing to speak. "Steeds of Summer Herd, listen closely! Now that the black foals are here, you all must protect them until their birthday. If you treat them good, they will become Healers." she said, and her eyes darkened. "If you treat them bad, they will become Destroyers. If they do become Destroyers, I will personally execute those at fault."

Our lead mare would kill us!

She’s a tyrant!

Kill those foals!

"Be quiet!" yelled Shadowleaf. "Just because she wants to protect us doesn’t mean that she’s a tyrant! I swear that if I become a Destroyer, I will leave and never return to Anok!" he had tears in his auburn eyes. The other black foals said the same, and one by one, the herd dispersed into angry grumbling.

The next few weeks went by smoothly, and the foals had mastered flying. They glided around, touching wings as they passed one another in the air. Summercloud watched them, a smile across her face. A silver blanket Appaloosa stallion walked to Summercloud. "Summercloud, we need to get rid of those black foals!" he neighed. Springsky saw the stallion rear up to attack the lead mare, and she signaled to her siblings. Together, they plummeted toward land and landed in between the two steeds, The stallion crashed his front hooves down onto Shadowleaf’s head. "Get away from Mommy!" Springsky whinnied.

She whirled around and kicked the stallion away from her siblings. Shadowleaf crumpled to the ground. He whinnied in pain as he collapsed onto the ground. “Shadowleaf!” Summercloud wailed. Shadowleaf saw dancing colors as he tried his best to get up. Dizzying lights blinded his vision and a sharp ringing pounded in his ears. He wailed in pain as Summercloud scooped him in her wings. Tears streaked the foals' and fillies' faces as they followed their mother to Dustroot. "Dustroot, Shadowleaf is injured!" Dustroot trotted to Shadowleaf, whose head was bleeding.

"A head injury, that might be tricky," she said upon seeing Shadowleaf’s head.

The black foals crowded closer to Dustroot, and she gently shooed them back with her wings. “I need space to work,” she reminded them.

Dustroot settled Shadowleaf’s head onto a pile of soft moss, and then felt around it to find the point of impact. She winced as she saw the injury, then searched through her herb stores hidden in the cracks of her cave with one wing.

“There isn’t much that I can do with my limited supply of herbs. I will keep him comfortable and give Shadowleaf herbs for the pain. However, if he is bleeding internally, there is a chance that this could be fatal, or result in brain damage.” She looked at the young dam in all seriousness. “I will keep Shadowleaf with me for the next few days.”

“Alright,” said Springsky.