My body plunged into the thick burning liquid and I fought to hold my breath; the sound of my Mistress' shrill scream set a wave of fear through me.

I didn't worry about my impending death as I sank deeper and deeper into the blazing hot water that felt like diluted tar. I was frightened of how my death would affect my Mistress.

Celestia Rainbow was her name. She'd been my savior, my friend, and a better mother than my own had ever been to me. Did I pity the life I had lived prior to meeting my Mistress?

Yet as I continued to sink deeper into the pool known as Familiar Wasteland, all I could feel was regret.

I wished I'd done better to prove how worthy I was to my family.

I longed to hear my mother's lullabies and listen to my siblings bickering.

My eyes wished to see the flock of us soaring through the sky at sunset, searching for a new nest to call home.

I wished I could prove to my father and siblings that though I was different, I could be as good as or even better than the average male phoenix shifter.

I wanted to prove to everyone else that being difference wasn't a curse. That living a dual life, one of a phoenix and the other as a harpy each had their own benefits, as well as their downsides.

Countless examples of what I wished I could have done differently flowed into my mind from my pitiful past, and as my body slowly shifted back to my little phoenix form, I thought about Celestia.

She'd loved me. Not because of my power or magical strength. Those beautiful big childlike eyes locked onto my injured body, not with anger or disgust, but with happiness. Pure excitement to have found a little-broken shifter like me, covered in mud, blood, and dirt as rain poured on the both of us.

Instead of being treated like a piece of trash, I was picked from the soaked ground like a precious treasure. Her mismatched eyes twinkled with love and the bright smile of her heart-shaped pink lips brought tears to my eyes. She'd taken me from the cold harsh world of a phoenix harpy shifter, and brought me into the warm little comfort of her bedroom, working every day to help me heal.

She saved me from myself and the demons that clung to my mind, and getting to know her made me realize we were just the same. Different bodies and shifters, but what the world gave to us, again and again, was the same.

Maybe that was why we got along, I didn't know for sure. Either way, her presence in my life changed everything, and now that I was sinking to my death, I acknowledged how much I'd miss her. How much I loved every part of being with her.

Whether it was the happy times with us eating at the dinner table as a family, or the sad times when Celestia was sick and I would do my best to keep her warm as she cried herself to sleep. We were there for each other, and that was what taught me to love.

It wasn't long before I ran out of oxygen and the thick burning liquid that scarred my feathers made its way through my nostrils and into my mouth, doing its job to fill me with me with its toxic waste and add my carcass to the list of familiars that died in here.

A prank went wrong. A fight that wasn't my own led to this moment, but as my conscious began to wither, I knew for the sake of those men, I would do it again.

I'd only experienced what love was for my Mistress, who chose to keep me by her side. I had never known what love was from the opposite sex, and I'd finally began to see the difference. Love was love, that never changed, but experiencing love from a group of strangers who weren't obligated to spend time with you, laugh and cry with you, or work together to ensure the people you cared dearly for felt better, made me understand why Celestia loved her men.

It made me realize just how amazing loving someone could be and how much I wished I'd fought harder to savor the moments I’d had with each of the mysterious, powerful, and uniquely created familiars.

I wish I had enough time to love them all once more. At least the second time around, I wouldn't walk towards the unknown challenges of love.