Starlight shimmered across a vast night sky, and pale moonlight lined the underbrush that blanketed the forest floor with gleaming moonsilver. While there was a chill to the air here, it was a welcome one compared to the bitter cold of the Chamber’s misty pine forest and snow laden moorland. The dark mare drifted along aimlessly, no true rhyme or reason for coming to this perpetually autumn forest. A century was long, but the promise of eternity made for an immortal's boredom. While she was never a social creature, not a woman to put on airs of tantalizing allure to draw beings to her like a queen bee, she found herself with a rare, growing need for communication. She had always been a solitary creature, save for when she had her children…that is until they stole away… Maybe that was what subconsciously drew her here from the Chamber. She didn't need a companion, they never stayed anyway…not even her children stayed. Though she knew why, and she had no remorse for how she treated them either…it more so felt like a betrayal in her mind. They all betrayed her, not one of them worthy of her love and attention.

She slipped through the copses, an inky shadow that seeped down to a stream that was thinly frozen over. Tapping a hoof down, she shattered the icy surface with a crunch and dipped her elegant, scarred face to the cool current. She drew in deep gulps of icy water and listened to the sounds of the forest. That is, until the world seemed to quiet. She lifted her head, water still dripping from her black velveteen lips. Her ears swiveled to catch any sound of approach and her heartbeat thrummed with anticipation. She knew that quiet, the kind that would befall the forest when a predator skulked through the shadows, and she was curious as to what it was.

As the silence grew and the last of the scurrying and cricket’s song died down, that was when she spotted him. A black and white mottled creature, the likes of which she had never witnessed before…Her curiosity was piqued. Like an ancient creature of myth, a delightful horror that prowled through the forest trees before her. She did not shy away, for she did not fear death like the creatures that took safe haven from the predator in their hidey holes, death could not ensnare her. She broke the silence with a low wuffle sound that rattled like bones through the still air. She stood in a patch of moonlight that illuminated the spirals of her horns, the curve of her serpentine neck that was void of a mane, and made her white silken tail gleam in contrast to her dark coat.

”And who might you be?”

~ s h a d o w m e r e