Half Moon

The next day...

I get up, and both my headache and aching body is gone. I was next to Nightshade, asleep. I never want to leave him ever again.

Nightshade groggily lifted his head, looked at me, and put his head back down.

I stroke his wing before I get up, careful not to touch the burn. I had healed it enough to stop it from getting infected, but it still had a ways to go.

But today, I feel like my old self. I can walk without pain going through my body like bullets, I can move without feeling like my limbs are stone, and I feel much stronger.

I place my hand about 2-3 inches over the burn and tell Nightshase it's going to sting. He lifts his head and takes quick, shallow breaths.

I close my eyes and concentrate. I feel the power spilling out of my hands, ordering my fingers to twitch, but they refused.

When I open them, the burn is completely gone. Not even a scar. Even the scars on his face were gone. Not just the new ones, but every one.

I want to cry. But I swallow it, hugging Nightshade instead. He nuzzles up to me, and I scratch underneath his chin. He whinnys happily, and sinks even further into the floor.

I smile. He's just too cute. But I also know he's a very qualified warrior, fighting till the end. The new and old scars that used to be on his face proved it.

I stretch, feeling the bones in my back and hands pop. I sigh, even if it did sting for a second, it felt good.

The kids are up to the second floor, so I decide to go up with them.

"Hi, guys." I say, minding my step on the shallow metal grating.

They all smile, and they pull out the game they were playing earlier.

"Wanna go?" Miko asks, handing me a piece if plastic with buttons on it.

I stare at the piece of plastic and take it. I have never seen anything like it.

"I uh... don't know how to play. I've never played a video game before." I say, still turning the piece of plastic in my hands.

The kids smile. I was worried that they would get mad at me. But instead, they taught me how to play.

I competed with Raph, but lost.

Competed with Miko, lost.

Competed with Jack, lost.

Every time I lost one of them would give me better tips, helping me understand the shapes of the buttons and what they do.

Eventually, I got a little bored watching. I had a feeling everyone else was tired of playing, so I suggested something.

"Would you guys like to see what kind of things I do?" I ask, already getting up.

"Can you do cool stuff?" Miko asks, begging.

I nod. "All the time."

Everyone gets up too, but they sit down again when I tell them I would do it right there.

I turn off the TV, and concentrate. I make a glittering blue crystal ribbon come from my fingers, and it slowly spins overhead, showering starts as it went.

I retract the ribbon, and leave the remaining stars to fall.

"Cool!" Miko said, almost falling over. But she caught herself, and sat back up. "Can you do anything else?"

"I would love to, but I want to make sure I have as much strength as possible so I don't wear myself out." I say, shoving my fingers into my pocket and suddenly realizing I had left a feather there.

Miko looks bummed, but Jack and Raph nod.

I look around, and I realize no one else is there.

"Where is everyone?" I ask, still looking.

"They went on a recon. They think they might have found another autobot." Jack says, nodding to the console.

I nod, but I hear Nightshade get up. He shakes off, and tries to walk up the steps, but he slightly slips on the stairs. He backs down and snorts for me to come.

"You guys want to pet him?" I ask, walking down to the impatient pegasus.

They all nod, but Miko jumps up and goes down first.

Nightshade completely ignores everyone until I come. He sniffs me, checking if I had magically pet another pegasus while he was asleep.

He sniffs Raph first, fogging up Raph's glasses. He flinches a little, but I can understand that, because Raph only comes up to the start of Nightshade's chest.

He reaches a hand up, which Nightshade smells for food and then nuzzles for being friendly.

Raph smiles, gently patting his head as he laid down, getting a better look at him.

Miko scratches underneath his chin, and he melts to the floor, lying down contently.

Jack pats the side of his head, not knowing how to handle such a big horse.

I can tell he's a little scared of him. But I can understand, because there's no wild horses in this area.

Nightshade was loving the attention. The snorted happily, and even let Jack scratch his belly.

"Raph, open the groundbridge." Optimus' voice boomed from some sort of hidden speaker, and Raph ran up to his laptop and punched in a few letters and numbers, and a swirling green portal opened.

Everybody walked out fine, but a new bot came in afterwards.

He was the same height as Bee, but he looked completely different.

I felt like I knew him. I felt like I knew where he came from. I felt like I had become friends with him, a long time ago.

Smokescreen.

Miko ran over, immediately asking questions. Nightshade got up, noticing the sudden lack of attention.

He trotted over to me and blocked me from view. Always protective. I sigh and try to move out from the side, but he would still move in front of me.

I sigh and duck underneath his legs.

"Ha!" I say, scratching his neck again to keep him pacified.

When Smokescreen had finally gotten away from Miko's questions, Ratchet called me over.

"Let's take the casts off." He says, telling me to lay down.

I lay down on the gurney, unable to sit still. I was finally going to be able to get these heavy, uncomfortable, and tacky things off.

Ratchet pried them off with pliers, taking them apart piece by piece. Eventually, they were off.

I sat up and stretched my wings out. My wings were sore from not moving them, but I could already feel better. I closed them and sat up from the gurney.

I smiled at Ratchet.

I hopped off and decided to meet Smokescreen.

He looked at me. "What are you?"

"Smokescreen..." Optimus scolded, making Smokescreen back off.

"Sorry." Smokecreen said, looking ashamed. I could tell Optimus was a huge role model to him.

"It's alright. I get that a lot." I say, just as Nightshade trots in front of me again.

He shakes, flaps his wings, and stomps. He wants to go out.

"What is he doing?" Arcee asks, a raised eyebrow forming on her face.

"He needs to eat. And there isn't any grass here. He needs to go out." I say, stroking his neck as I listen to the loud grumble of his stomach.

"If he is that hungry, you may leave to feed him. And come back immediately. Arcee, accompany her, please." Optimus says, asking Ratchet to open the groundbridge.

I nod hopping on Nightshade's back, shrinking my wings. It would be too much weight for him to carry me and my wings at the same time.

Ratchet punches in the nearest grass field, and powers up the groundbridge.

Nightshade cowers a little. He isn't used to that big of a portal.

"Easy. It's just a big portal." I say, patting the side of his neck.

He trots down the path, making sure I'm on his back correctly.

He waits for Arcee and goes through.

When we emerge, a large green field of grass with daisies and other wild flowers cover the land.

I hop off, and Nightshade chows down, happily rolling in the abundance of food.

I look at the field, and it reminded me of when I was human, and I lived in large fields like this.

Arcee sits down next to me and sighs.

"Quiet, huh?" She says, staring off.

"Yeah. I hate it." I say, laughing.

She smiles, a freindly kindness in her eyes I had never seen before.

We start talking about our homes, bit I already knew everything about her home. But I still listened, engrossed in her stories.

I shared my fill, talking about my realm and my position and what I do, and what happened with the last war with the Empress.

"I would like to see that." She says after she commed Ratchet that we were ready to head back.

"That could be arranged. I just have to talk to some elders about it. They are kind of touchy with new people, but I'm sure they'll be alright with the autobots, with you saving my life and all." I say, getting up when the portal opened.

Nightshade came trotting over, belly full and happy.

He nuzzled to Arcee, but she looked puzzled.

"That means he likes you." I say before walking through again.

She smiles.

I can't wait till they see my home.