As Splendor brought what was inches from her nose into focus, she barely needed to ask if any moves were left. Dawn edged its fingers between the gaps in the shuttered window, and she was finally able to make out what she was staring at. A strand of hay. She fastened her top lip over her lower one and breathed deeply. Her bright star had dimmed. Considerably.

Now that she could barely see the morning light she faced, for the mess she was in, shouldn't she care? Not really. ...