GREEN
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5386 29.97 KB 264
5386 29.97 KB 264
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“Sky Meadows, if you don’t mind me asking, what makes you so sure that you know the way out of here?”
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>Stepping confidently over a small rock, the mare neither broke stride nor deviated from her straight path as she glanced back at me with a playful smirk
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>“Silly pony, do you doubt me? I’m no better equipped to lead us out of the forest than you – is it just taking time for you to get used to life as one of our friends?”
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>She spoke in a warm manner without condescension, but it was quite clear that she was poking at the fact I’d not yet grown completely accustomed to my new body
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>Even as the other ponies in the herd marched unwaveringly forward through the forest in a loose formation, I found myself stumbling over fairly minor slope changes
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>It didn’t help that it was getting toward the middle of the evening, with only sporadic moonlight fighting its way through the leafy canopy in denser patches
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“No, I trust you, but I don’t understand how…”
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>I slowed to a stop, settling my hooves softly on a patch of dirt that was once the bed of a shallow, dried-up creek
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>A few feet away, I could quite easily discern the blades of long grass fringing its banks
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>Glancing beyond them, a patch of white birch trees stood starkly against the darkness of night, still only to a visible depth of a few dozen yards
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>Dim silhouettes stretched out beyond, a myriad of vertical lines that revealed little about the varied pines, oaks, and maples littering this patch of forest
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>Narrowing my eyes, I tried to level my gaze at where I was pretty sure the horizon should be, carefully scanning across with a slow turn of the neck
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>After a quick set of glances back to the left and right, I let out an irritated sigh
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>Nothing… not even the vaguest hint of light from a city or town where we could make some more friends… What were these ponies seeing?
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>The rustling of hoofsteps had ceased, the other ponies in the herd noticing that I’d fallen back a few paces
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>The rhythm of a casual canter broke the silent pause as Sky Meadows turned about and approached me
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>I briskly directed my gaze to the left and right of her smiling muzzle, hopeful to catch a glimpse of something, anything, before she made me feel foolish for being so blind
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>“Naaaaah, what’re you looking for? Ponies have good eyesight, but it’s not quite miles-through-the-dense-woods good.”
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“Okay, so how are you seeing the right way out?”
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>I stretched my neck to the side, figuring I might see some previously unnoticed saddlebags or map at her side
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“Do you have some kind of guide, or a compass or something?”
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>Sky Meadows shut her eyes and giggled softly
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>With a good-natured lunge to my side, she leaned her head close to mine and I heard a sharp flick, the muscles at the base of my ear and a few locks of mane registering the impact
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>Satisfied with the firm swipe she’d made at my ears using her own, Sky Meadows leaned back and met my gaze with a thin, toothy smile
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>For a second, my brow furrowed as I tried to process her wordless response to the question
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>My brow then rose a moment later, the answer slowly beginning to make sense
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>I perked up my ears as much as I could, flicking them independently about and catching the dull clamor of the forest at night
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>The leaves rustled in every direction, a function of nocturnal animals and the gentle breeze blowing through
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>Somewhere far away, an owl’s hooting broke through the night
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>Tuning my radar to the space directly ahead where all the ponies had halted, I first noticed the steady tempo of their relaxed breathing
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>That wasn’t all I heard though; indistinctly, a distant rumble was perceptible, still at least a few miles away
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>Occasionally, the rumble would be modulated by the faint rise and fall of a car engine thundering to accelerate, pass, or make a turn
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>We may have been the only ponies in the woods, but there were plentiful friends to be made wherever those sounds were originating
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>Breaking from my stare, I made eye contact with Sky Meadows and silently indicated my newfound understanding – I guess we were never lost at all
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>She turned to regroup with the other ponies, with myself following suit a moment later at a brisk trot
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>Clementine Breeze had turned to greet me, the Pegasus evidently not fully sated by the brevity of Sky Meadows’ navigating lesson
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>“Ponies are great at seeing over long distances; if you want to SEE where you’re going, you COULD always knock down all the trees – no forest, no problem…”
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>Excitedly, she unconsciously twitched a few feathers on one of her wings
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>“But that isn’t the kind of problem to be solved by kicking; this is a problem for flying!”
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>Daisy stumbled a few steps backward to give Clementine Breeze the appropriate space for unfurling her wings in all their glory
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>Feathers fluttered in the breeze as her wing tips snapped outward, bending slightly at the joints as she planted her hooves and primed her muscles
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>With a powerful jump and effort behind her wings, she went airborne, launching herself skyward with a gust that disturbed all the leaves on the ground where she’d once stood
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>A steady rhythm of flaps announced her ascent toward forest canopy, each wingbeat growing slightly fainter as her silhouette shrunk against the night sky
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>A rustle of vegetation and snapping of branches in the treetops accompanied her disappearance from view
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>I few errant leaves drifted down toward us as I turned to Daisy, who was still staring upwards with lips pursed in mild annoyance
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“She’s done this before?”
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>“She did once after you’d run off… She can be a bit… excitable. Especially when flying’s involved”
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“Ah… I see…”
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>I couldn’t blame her; if it were me I would’ve been equally as ecstatic to try out the gift of flight my friends had given me
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>Storm Cloud fluffed her feathers and preened a few back into alignment, momentarily contemplating going after Clementine Breeze, but setting the notion aside rather quickly
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>Daisy’s ears were on alert, perked up and flicking every few moments as she kept her gaze fixed skyward
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>I pointed my attention in the same direction, picking up little more than a few gusts of wind snaking their way through the leaves far above
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“She IS coming back, right?”
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>“She’s just scoping things out; she flew up pretty high last time and got a good look around”
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>“She might see something interesting - yeah, in the meantime we’re just standing around waiting for her to return, but it’s not all bad”
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>I gave a nod of understanding – it probably wouldn’t be more than a minute or two and then we’d be back on our way toward making a bunch of new friends
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>The other ponies around me showed an array of fairly neutral expressions, but I couldn’t contain a grin of absolute glee
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>Hundreds, thousands of new friends - just a few miles away - and with five of us now, it wouldn’t take long to befriend them at all!
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>The magnificent thought filled me with a warm feeling as I looked around at these loving members of my herd, currently complacent in gravity’s grip
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>Suddenly, all the ponies swiveled their heads as a distant crack rang sharply through the air, a low drawn-out rumble echoing as it bounced from tree to tree
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>The sound didn’t originate nearby, but as several pony’s eyes went wide, it was apparent that something about it had shaken them to their cores
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>Daisy’s heart sank, a frantic rhythm of rustling leaves accompanying the anxious trampling of her hooves upon the forest floor
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>“No… no nonono! Clementine Breeze!”
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>She galloped a few paces in the general direction of the sound’s source and leapt onto a modest boulder, still woefully short of the treetops
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>Her eyes were primarily fixed ahead, darting slightly to one side or another, occasionally interspersed with a moment’s glance back at the treetops
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>Her whole body was trembling, tail and ears twitching without any conscious directive from the frenzied unicorn
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>After a few seconds of mild shaking, she flinched, the dreadful report rewinding and replaying in her mind as clearly as the when she’d first heard it
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>“We just got to be friends… please… no… please bring her back…”
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>Daisy choked back tears as her soft begging struggled to be heard
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>“Please come back, Clementine… please…”
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“Daisy, what… what was that sound? I don’t know what to make of it… it sounded dreadful…”
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>She let out a sniffle as she tried to regain enough composure to put words together, in spite of her persisting frenzy
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>“I know that sound… it’s an awful lot like one of the handheld devices some people use… when they’re really insistent on not being friends… really, really insistent…”
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>Every phrase seemed to draw the full contents from her lungs, her breathing now characterized by an irregular rhythm of hyperventilating
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>“I don’t know exactly what kind of magic it is… but it’s very loud… it’s like little fireworks… there’s a bright flash… a brilliant light fills the room for a moment…”
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>“Oh no, Clementine Breeze… please don’t… no… you can’t be a victim of that terrible thing… not you…”
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>Daisy leaned back on her haunches, settling gently into a seated position on the boulder while she struggled to compose complete thoughts
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>“This is all my fault… I should have stopped her… She doesn’t… She doesn’t deserve…”
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“Daisy! Maybe we can help her – please, think for a moment! What happens after the flash of light?”
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>With unfocused eyes, she swallowed and let out a long, shuddering exhale
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>It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop as the other ponies leaned forward, desperate for any clues that would lead to a course of action
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> “If the person cast the magic on you, you got very sick… and it’s not gradual like influenza or feather flu or pneumonia; it happens in seconds”
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>“These ghastly metal parasites spawn in the muscle – or even worse, I’ve heard sometimes they appear in organs – and they do terrible, terrible things…”
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>“I’m just glad there was a unicorn with a first aid kit nearby the last time we tried to make friends with someone wielding one of those dreadful things”
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>“She found where the parasites had done damage, extracted what was left of them with a pair of tweezers, and I helped her collect the parasites’ remains in a small shallow pan”
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>“They were like stout little cylinders attached to flattened flowers, mostly grey metal with some parts covered in copper, and… oh my… everything was covered in blood…”
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>“The poor pony didn’t take the magic well… she was just a filly… but thank goodness, the unicorn bandaged up the parasites’ damage and stayed with her while she got better”
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>“It was hard at first to be friends with the fellow who did it… but we knew it was the right thing to do, and he’s one of the nicest Pegasi you’ll ever meet”
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>“And it’s… it’s really a miracle… I was sure that was going to die right there… she’d been bleeding so much…”
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>Daisy wavered slightly upon the boulder as queasiness began to show its influence, her eyes simultaneously full of tears
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>I stepped forward on the off-chance she’d fully lose her balance, but also to improve the chance of my question making it through the fog hanging over her mind
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“Daisy, please, we have to help Clementine Breeze if she’s hurt out there; say we find her and there are parasites in her body, how will we know?”
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>“I… I-I-I don’t want to want to remember much more…”
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>She looked at the faces of the distraught ponies around her, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply
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> “B-But if I’m… If I’m doing it for her… okay… I honestly can’t bring myself to forget the memory; it’s as clear as day…”
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>“The filly we were treating… the parasites had dug holes… burrows… from where they’d spawned up to the skin, cutting a straight line through tendon, muscle fibers, you name it”
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>“I guess that they did so immediately because they needed air… she said the way her ears were ringing from the noise of the magic, she didn’t even notice the parasites in her leg at first”
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>“Soon, there was a fiery… agony… where they were resting, then numbness, and the filly felt very tired and weak not long afterwards… she ended up collapsing on the spot…”
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>“The holes in her leg were bleeding profusely; it took some time to actually find them among her bloody, matted fur… All the blood…”
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>Daisy’s voice trailed off as a new voice spoke up from the tail end of the herd
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>“That sounds an awful lot like a gunshot wound – you sure you’re not talking about a gunshot wound?”
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>Each of us spun around halfway to face the unseen voice, eyes going wide as they met… Clementine Breeze
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>The chipper Pegasus was looking as healthy as ever, once you looked past her expression conveying an intense bout of confusion
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>With a collective gasp and a round of relieved smiles, Storm Cloud and Sky Meadows tackled her; Daisy and I joined the hug with a bit less zeal a moment later
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>“Clementine!”
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>“Did the magic not affect you?”
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“We were so worried about you!”
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>There was a certain irony in how Clementine Breeze had returned from her flight unscathed, only to be crushed half to death by a pile of concerned friends
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>Wriggling free from the fray in a flurry of leaves and loose feathers, she stood before us and started asking her own questions
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>“Is this magic device y’all are talking about a simple run-of-the-mill firearm? Like, they shoot regular bullets, that come out of a barrel, and go into whatever they’re shot at?”
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>“Nah, that doesn’t sound in line with her symptoms. She didn’t feel the parasites landing on her or going IN; we figure the magic spawned them right inside the muscle itself”
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>Clementine Breeze let out a sigh and rolled her eyes; both ponies seemed quite adamant about how they thought this particular type of magic worked
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>“No silly, it’s not- she wouldn’t- she probably wouldn’t feel the bullets, and I don’t mean… ‘parasites,’ going in at all considering how fast they are; a firearm can-“
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>“Ohhh! I see the confusion. See, he didn’t have fire arms – it was a device he was holding, not a part of him…”
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>“About eight inches long, blocky, made of a shiny silver-black metal, and it had a hole in the front for casting the magic”
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>“Oh my, you…”
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>Clementine Breeze chuckled to herself, having completely lost touch with Daisy’s narrative
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>“You thought a firearm was literally, like, fire… arms? Flames coming off of the wrists, Rapidash-style? Good gravy, you really are an imaginative little pony, Daisy…”
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>“Heh, just telling what I know – you heard that loud crack too, right? I’ve seen one of the devices that makes that sound up close; we were just worried the magic had hit you”
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>“I’m… all good, no, ahem, ‘magic’ here. Morning Star, I’m surprised you’re not jumping in the discussion - years in the Marines, you definitely know a thing or two about rifles”
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>Huh? Back up a sec.
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>What did she even think she was talking about - why was she putting ME on the spot like this?
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>Thankfully my fur was already crimson, as it helped hide the rosy flush in my face
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“Uh, yeah, yeah! Years with the… Marines… you’d think so! We didn’t actually spend much time around rifles, totally sorry. Guess what you thought about Marines was a bit misled”
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>Clementine Breeze was locked into a thousand yard stare, a subtle smile of insanity accompanying her infrequent eye twitches
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>“Welp… guess I better just commit myself to a pony insane asylum…”
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>Daisy walked over uneasily and deftly placed a hoof on her shoulder
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>“Clementine Breeze, dear, are you feeling alright?”
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>“I don’t get it, I only went down to the range for a few hours each spring and fall to blow off some steam – for me, shooting was just a hobby, a hobby! I don’t get how this is happening!”
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>“How… what is happening?”
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>“I’m the only one here who knows the basics of what a firearm even is! And how it works! Morning Star, for a couple years you probably spent every morning cleaning one!”
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“I don’t remember doing something like that… even once…”
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>“And that’s what’s so messed up! You were telling me about your time with the Marines the very last time we were hanging out! I remember!”
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“No, I’m sorry! I must have just been telling a tall tale; I swear I don’t even know what a ‘Marine’ is!”
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>“You don’t just forget whole years of your life – think, Morning Star, think, think!”
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>Clementine Breeze had gradually closed the gap between us, and was confronting me eye-to-eye unnervingly inside my private space as I frantically scanned my memories
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>Daisy once again walked up and rested a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to flinch and her intensity to falter
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>“Clementine, it’s not your fault… it’s certainly not his either…”
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>“Daisy, do you know what’s going on? Please… why do none of the other ponies in our herd remember these things I’m talking about? I’m not crazy…”
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>“I know you’re not crazy. I know. When a new friend joins a herd, good friends help them move past the things they struggle with… and it’s different for everypony”
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>“I’m not sure I understand…”
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>“Before we met our friends, all of us did things we wanted to forget. Some little things… some big things. We try to forgive and forget, but the hurting never fully goes away… not alone”
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>Daisy turned back to face me, directly meeting my gaze with a warm expression even though she wasn’t addressing me when she spoke
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>“Morning Star doesn’t have any recollection of his time with the ‘Marines’ because he wanted to put the memory in a glass bottle and toss it into the ocean”
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>“And in a way, he couldn’t forget the blemishes of his past without a little help from us”
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>“He just wanted a better life – to sleep more soundly and to live without his burdens – and with our friendship, that’s what we gave him – that’s what YOU gave him”
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>“Clementine Breeze, you’re the angel that put her wing around him and took away that weight when you became his friend…”
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>“Yes, it means he doesn’t remember the part of his life with those things – rifles, I think you called them”
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>“I understand it upsets you, and I can’t ask the ‘old’ Morning Star what he thinks… but I would bet my last bit that he’s happier leaving behind the part of himself shackled to them”
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>“Clementine, you’re a very generous Pegasus, and you… freed him”
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>Clementine Breeze and I had both raised a fetlock to wipe our eyes, slightly embarrassed that Daisy knew this part of us better than we knew ourselves
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>For a few moments, a quiet stillness filled the air except for the gentle rustle of a few leaves
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>In time, Storm Cloud worked up the courage to ask a question that had been lingering on her mind
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>“We don’t have memories of the bad times… Do any of you… remember your lives as a young filly?”
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>She was met with a multitude of nods and approval
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>“Oh, certainly!”
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>“Yeah, it was such a fun time!”
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>“Sky Meadows was telling me all about her schoolfilly days! Never a problem she couldn’t solve!”
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>After the clamor died down, Clementine Breeze put forth the question no one else would
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>“Storm Cloud, did you?”
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>Storm Cloud shifted nervously on her hooves, sternly staring downward as she tried to avoid eye contact
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>“That’s the thing, it’s just… I didn’t know whether it was normal… I can remember quite a bit about my parents at least…”
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>“My father must have been a Pegasus too, because he always said he was flying around the country – not sure about my mom because she never went with him”
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>“I can remember their faces from our time vacationing in, uh, White Tail Woods. They both had lighter tan coats – kind of funny considering I ended up as a purple Pegasus”
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>“I think mom was an Appaloosa; she had a few black, blue, and purple spots on her coat; I remember them especially well during the times my father spent in town”
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>“I wonder if that’s where my purple genes came from? They were odd spots; not always in the same places and tended to fade… like chalk in the rain”
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>“Well, anyways, it doesn’t… seem… bad… from what I can remember. Odd that so many years – entire decades – of my life are represented by just a few events in recollection…”
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>She sighed, having spent a significant amount of brainpower simply trying to recall the memories
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>“…But I’m sure it’s well and truly for the best. Thank you. All of you, and especially Daisy… for being my friend.”
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>Storm Cloud narrowed her lips and drew them back, still deep in a strange region of scrambled thoughts, somewhere on the borders of confusion, friendship, and faded memory
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>She resurfaced back to reality with a gentle embrace from Daisy, a cuddly gesture to reassure her friend that everything would be alright
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>“It’s what friends do. I did it for you, and I know you’d do the same for others”
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>“Of course I would, Daisy, you know I would!”
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>With a merry smile and a newfound spring to her step, Storm Cloud stepped free of Daisy’s hug and cantered off in the presumed direction of town
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>“Come on guys, we got friends to make! Clementine Breeze, you see anything worthy of note while you were skybound?”
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>All eyes shifted to the mildly startled Pegasus, her wings bumping outwards into a nearby tree upon unexpectedly hearing her name
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>“Wha- Oh, right! Town’s a couple miles off, right in the same direction we’re already headed!”
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>“Didn’t see a whole lot else; it’s a bit dark to make out much.”
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>“To me, I think it’s rather late in the evening for it, but a few places were having massive bonfires and cookouts!”
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>“One city waaaay off in the direction of the mountain range had some super plumes of smoke – I wish you all could’ve seen it!”
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>“Probably some chef who isn’t quite used to hooves, trying to grill a bunch of veggies with too much water content – need to dry them out first, silly guy!”
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>“It also sounded faintly like a ton of fireworks going off over there – pop pop pop! I wonder if they’re all celebrating a bunch of new friendships?”
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>Daisy had begun to slowly walk in the herd’s predetermined direction, but spared a glance over her shoulder to answer Clementine Breeze
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>“Could be! Earlier today I met a couple unicorns who said they were planning to teleport over that way and make some friends! Must’ve gone well!”
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>The trot through the forest proceeded in relative silence, at least with no ponies saying anything while the leaves underhoof did plenty of talking
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>Gradually, the scattered profile of the moon visible through the trees ascended higher and higher, indicating time’s incessant march toward the middle of the night
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>The usually monotony of trees passed without comment, interspersed with the odd fern, puddle, or boulder
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>It didn’t take long for them to become more clearly visible, for a greater multitude of them to be seen from any particular vantage
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>The further we trotted, the more the air seemed to take on a soft, glowing quality, meagerly illuminating just a bit more of our surroundings
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>Cresting the top of a large, gently sloping hill, I was overwhelmed by the orange light spilling from a street lamp a few dozen yards away
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>Through narrowed eyes, I noticed Sky Meadows pick up her pace to a leisurely gallop, visibly eager to look at something that wasn’t just endless leaves
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>She came to rest near the gravelly shoulder of a desolate back road, the other four of us joining up not long afterwards as our eyesight slowly adjusted to the glow
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>We all sat without any intention of seeing anyone, but nonetheless, as our pony ears flicked about and our gazes swept across the horizon, our surroundings came into focus
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>There were definitely people lacking friendship somewhere nearby, and we were going to find them and help them, as good friends!
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>Still, presently, we found ourselves in the middle of the woods, the cracked road little more than a winding approach to the town proper
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>Aiming my perked ears in that direction, a low rumble of bass, a smattering of vehicles, and even a racket of voices, were all undeniably present
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>The lamp near us cast a dim light upon a simple road sign a few yards ahead
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>Half a mile to the town center on the left road, half a mile to the university on the right road – take your pick
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>A part of me gave thanks that I hadn’t forgotten how to read when I became a pony
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>Reading was the source of so much pain in undergrad that the fear of losing the ability struck me as hauntingly valid
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>Not far beyond the sign, the road split before veering off into the trees in either direction, the path for both becoming obscured
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“So which way are we going?”
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>A brief rhythm of clacks broadcast Storm Cloud’s pacing onto the road, her gaze vacillating between the two roads, then back to the sign labeling them
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>“I think I know where I’d like to go… Sky Meadows and I know a lot of people at the university – from classes, parties, campus activities, you name it…”
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>“Moreover, I know they’re not happy… I want them all to be happy… oh, how wonderful it’d be if we could go show them the blessing of friendship!”
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>Daisy’s expression presented a small, lopsided smile and eyes with just a hint of lament as she approached the enthused Pegasus
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>“Okay, Storm Cloud, I want you and Sky Meadows to go to the university…”
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>She paused, the second half of her sentence hanging momentarily in the air as she gently sighed and her voice softened further
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>“…because I know you two have learned a lot today, and you’ll be great at it… I want you to find your friends and show them all about friendship”
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>All of us, except for Daisy, stiffened as the implications of her request began to set in
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>Why hadn’t she mentioned the rest of us?
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>Surely she wouldn’t suggest splitting up the herd, right?
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>As the pieces fell into place, a question broke forth from each pony’s concerned thoughts
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>“Daisy, are you not going with them?”
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>“You’re at least going to go into town with us, right?”
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>“I thought friends weren’t supposed to leave each other?”
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>“You’re practically the leader of our herd, what if we have questions and you’re not there?”
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>Daisy’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully in response to the barrage, her brow furrowing as she took in all the questions
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>After a moment of internal processing, she walked to an ideal spot on the road where she could turn to address us all, face-to-face
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>“Morning Star and Clementine Breeze, I want you to lead the way on the other road to the town center – don’t worry, I won’t be far”
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>I opened my mouth in protest, but halted when Daisy made eye contact with serene, reassuring eyes
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>Her expression alone spoke a thousand unsaid words, the most clear of which were ‘I believe in you’
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>“I know it may seem odd, because good friends are loyal to each other and, on the surface, maybe that means they stick together no matter what”
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>“But to be clear, this isn’t a definitive goodbye; this is a ‘see you later’ because very soon we’ll have cuddled with everyone in this town - shown them the value of friendship”
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>“There will be much celebrating tomorrow; I know I’ll be able to easily find you amidst it all because there’s nopony else like any of you”
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>“The chipper little purple Pegasus who was willing to be my friend the moment I arrived here…”
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>“The caring blue mare whose tenacity and tenderness have been the stuff of picture book stories…”
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>“The orange Pegasus who carried friendship miles through the woods for a hurting companion…”
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>“And the crimson pony who taught us all something about accepting the help of friends, even when it may seem daunting…”
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>Even though I knew it was coming, Daisy’s flattery overwhelmed my resolve not to blush
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>“You’re all the best friends I could have asked for, and I know you’re each going to make dozens, hundreds of friends with wonderful qualities in their own rights”
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>“You’re becoming the ‘leaders’ of your own herds, and some time – or even times – tomorrow, you too may find yourself splitting them to more effectively seek others”
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>“I know it’s difficult, but it’s what we must do; you’ll find that some folks don’t want to snuggle if we’ve been in a place too long… in some ways we’re up against the clock”
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>“You’ll find out a lot of things for yourself… Somewhere between the snuggly embrace of a new friend and the companionship of the old ponies in your herd, you learn a lot”
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>“I certainly had to… I’ve seen a lot in the past few days… and I appreciate that you all trust me with your lives on account of that, but it hasn’t always been that way”
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>“If you think I’ve always been the ‘wise pony’ I am today, I’m flattered, but considering the fact I don’t remember much from before the day I met my first friend…”
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>She paused, trying to find the best way to phrase her thoughts
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>“…I probably wasn’t someone I’d remotely want to return to being. Let me tell you, if that version of myself can become somepony’s friend, anyone can”
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>“In the few days since then, I’ve been in a lot of places, and I mean that physically and emotionally”
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>“One place had steep rolling hills and large white cottages as far as the eye could see… another had tall buildings along a shore…”
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>“Whenever we ran out of people with which to snuggle in a certain place, it always hurt to leave, but unicorns do what we have to do… through joy and sadness, confidence and fatigue”
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>“One moment our friends are a hoof’s reach away, and it seems in the blink of an eye we’re saying goodbye, and poof, off to somewhere else”
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>“That’s how I came here and first met you, Storm Cloud. While I temporarily left friends behind to do so, I wouldn’t have gotten to know you if I didn’t”
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>“I’ve cherished the time we’ve had… and the memories we have yet to make… thank you… thank you all”
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