The cloud of black smoke moved forward, lowering to the sand and circling the white dove-girl, moving quicker and quicker. The sand began to rise from the ground, swirling like a silky golden curtain around its dying queen. It rose high enough to completely hide 9/11’s almost dead body and soul. A sudden flash of bright white light exploded from the center of the sand-curtain. The sand spayed outward, scattering across her home, pelting trees and rocks and small desert plants with a great force. The dove-queen was dead, but by her stood an almost transparent white dove and the smoky black silhouette of a butterfly. The two moved upwards with short wing-strokes, and soon they vanished from sight, never to be seen again.

The pain wore off and she shuddered. It was very bright… She squinted and felt very weird. Her form shook and trembled, the blinding white light became worse even when she closed her eyes. Her white dove’s wings began to shrink and the feathers began to disappear into puffs of white smoke. The dove-queen began to shrink, she tried to frantically scream but nothing came out, not even squeaks. What was happening to her? Where were all of her old friends that she was to meet and the Desert in the sky? Where were they and why were her wings gone and why was she shrinking? The light stopped getting brighter, there was a loud crack and a scream…and nothingness returned. For only a moment, of course.

Nine felt herself collide hard against something and could smell again. There was heat and noises. She opened her eyes to see that the bright whiteness was gone, it’d been replaced with…scenery. Nine went to get back on her feet and fell over. Her balance was off horribly! And not to mention she was several feet shorter than before. She lowered her head to look at her clumsy front hooves, yes she was a 22 year old horse but she normally had amazing balance and this was heaven, wasn’t heaven suppose to be perfect? And this was no desert. When Nine looked down, she let out a petrified scream. There weren’t hooves. These weird pale things were attached to her legs, that looked NOTHING like legs. The dove-girl moved her front “legs” to see they’d been replaced with arms, and long thin hands. She had no idea what sort of anatomy this was and what hell she’d been placed in.

“What kind of hell is this??” she shrieked, pulling herself off of the ground. She ran clumsily towards a puddle and looked down, her very pale blue eyes wide with shock. Her white mane was now long blonde curls. Her lovely white fur was now ghostly pale skin. And she was young. Everything was so very different! She wasn’t even a horse anymore. She didn’t know what humans were, or fairies, for that matter. She had no idea what in the world was happening to her. Nine looked up from the puddle and around the area, she spotted some large stones that looked like they’d been there for a while. She walked carefully over to them, getting use to walking on two legs. She reached her pal, thin fingers out and touched the rocks, rubbing the tips against the roughness. She’d never felt this texture before… It was so strange to her.

Was this her punishment for leaving her kingdom in it’s time of need? It was not her fault! Death had sent her daughter to retrieve her from the world. If this wasn’t a punishment then she had no idea what in the world it was.