Morning reared its head in the dark forest. The sun's rays cutting through the inky darkness like warm spears of golden light piercing through the heavy mist. The forest is still quiet, a silence only broken by the occasional owl call and the sound of hooves crunching through the snow. The dark figure slips through the snowy path with purpose. Though this land was reborn anew, she could feel the familiarity…she knew the scent of the pines and the feel of the morning mist against her thin, dappled black coat. Though the path was unfamiliar, and the landscape different from its prior life, the thrum of the Chamber's still beating heart and remnants of its ancient dark magic remained. A thrum that seemed to whisper to her soul to return home.

It had been over half a century since the dark mare had set foot in the pines, especially after the cataclysm that swallowed the dark forest whole…thought never to be seen again. The cold misty air caressed her like a longing lover that sent a shiver through her bones. This was where she was meant to be. Her lithe body slipped through the trees like a shadow, save for her silvery tail that dragged behind her like a thin veil of spider's silk that hissed along the snowy forest floor. Her scarred face was held high atop her sleek serpentine neck, lowering only to occasionally dip her spiraled horns below the snow laden pine boughs. Shadowmere’s confidence was high as she finally stepped into the clearing, her old Chamberling soul alight as she entered the land that was both old and new and her inky gaze fell upon The Tree. With its bare charred branches that looked as if they were reaching their gnarled fingers to grasp at life as it burned, frozen in time, an eternal beacon of ancient dark magic.

She did not see anyone, and if there were anyone around she wouldn’t have noticed. Her gaze fixed on that charred tree, and she seemed to glide through the snow towards it as if she were being pulled to it like a magnet. Dark and looming over her, she took a knee, her muzzle dipping low as she whispered in her deep, ragged voice. “I am home…”

~ s h a d o w m e r e