For one gut wrenching moment, I had the alarming thought that I’d have to ride on Far Sights back. The big buck was probably more than capable of carrying me, but instead, the job fell to his daughters. One of them returned later that day with a bundle of ropes, what looked like ropes anyway. Long, white slimy, gooey, Oh Goddesses !, it was one of those water dwelling things wasn’t it ?! I closed my eyes when they passed the ‘ropes’ under me, each sister taking a mouthful of the vile things.

Firmly grasping the ends, they flew into the air in a beating mass of wings with their payload, me, suspended underneath. The feeling of the slimy things against my coat and nethers was indescribable, not to mention the sliding, slipping feeling I had as we lifted off the ground. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something…anything else. This was going to be a long trip.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found that the combination of the cool breeze from the Thestrals wings and the rhythmic bobbing of my makeshift sling, was actually quite therapeutic. I even ventured so far as to open my eyes to look down, barely opening them to begin with, I’ll admit, but soon I was able to take in the sheer expanse of the black lake below me. The peculiar half-light in the Withers gave an ethereal beauty to the scenery around me. I marvelled at the co-ordination of the Thestrals and looked into the distance at Far Sight, circling us. “Recon”, I thought aloud. A muffled chirrup caught my attention and I saw Shadow looking back at me, eyes aglow.

I settled back and looked around at the water. We weren’t as high as I’d thought, the Thestrals were struggling a little with their unusual load. I silently thanked them and smiled.

Watching the water below, the ripples on the surface kept catching the light making them sparkle. I followed them out with my eyes….funny, they almost seemed to be following us. It must have a reaction to the downdraught from the Thestrals wings….Only, these ripples were growing larger, growing…and speeding up.

“Far Sight !” I shouted, “Theres something in the water !”, “Shadow !”.

Sensing danger, the Thestrals strained to gain height with Far Sight diving in and around us. I stared down but the ripples had vanished, thank Luna, looks like it was just my overactive imagination. Far Sight continued to circle, urging his daughters to gain height. The strain was almost palpable, if only there was something I could do to
help them, something, anything, no matter how insignificant, but I was helpless, hanging there suspended beneath these incredible creatures.

I looked ahead to see that the light appeared to be, different, in some fashion. I tried to make my eyes focus, straining to make it out and then, there it was. There was no

doubt.....it was…Land ! Sweet, sweet land ! I felt a huge relief wash through me just as the water exploded upwards in a whirling fountain of water, spikes and teeth.

In the blink of an eye one of the Thestrals was gone. In a bone crunching, sickening blur of teeth, sticky warm blood sprayed over me mixing with the chill black water. Slamming back into the lake below, the strangled cry of fear and pain echoing in my ears heralded the horrifying death of one of Shadow’s sisters. Screeching and clicking, they flew for all they were worth. Though I hung on with my hooves and forelegs as best I could, it was clear I couldn’t last long, they couldn’t last long. I glanced down to see the water getting nearer with every exhausted wing beat. I was dragging them down to their deaths.

Far Light cried out for the loss of a daughter. Rage, hate and loss howled out across the water. The creature beneath broached the surface again, flicking the dismembered Thestral’s remains high into the air before she disappeared down its foul maw. As it slipped back beneath the waves, I caught a glimpse of a translucent white eye, heartless and uncaring….hungry. It would be back, and soon.

I was starting to lose my grip. Shadow looked down at me, “Near Beyond” she thought. Goddesses, the look on her face; fear, anger and determination warred with one another. And fatigue. I looked at her two sisters, they were all reaching the end of their endurance. I offered a prayer to Luna and hung on for dear life.

The monstrous lake creature burst up again, arrowing straight for one of the Thestrals…. Ember. She hadn’t seen it. I heaved on the ropes connecting me to her, making Ember lurch to one side with a squawk of surprise as the white serpent howled past. Far Sight almost barrelled into us, raking the thing with a burst of fire from his mouth. My mouth by comparison, hung open in surprise. I’d seen steam rising from Thestrals nostrils and even their mouths, but fire ? Ah hell, why not. Nothing surprised me here now. Well, maybe a little…

We were dangerously low to the water now and the Thestrals were all but spent. It wasn’t far to the shore but at our rate of decent, we weren’t going to make it. Far Sight pulled along side, encouraging his daughters and made a grab for the dangling rope. I saw the danger before they did, the white haze below the waters surface was rapidly approaching from behind, waves beginning to spread out, closing the distance. With a horrible certainty, I knew that any moment now, one of us would be taken. I recalled a pony saying once, “Your words will come back to haunt you”. I remembered mine, “I pledge to you with all my heart and soul, that I will defend her with my life. I will not allow harm to befall her so long as I draw breath.”

I smiled up at Shadow, her tired eyes going wide in realisation. “Forgive me love” I mouthed and let go of the rope.

The water was as frigid as it could be without being actual ice and it took my breath away. The impact with the surface was bone shaking but thankfully, as I hadn’t fallen that far, I was only under for a second before broaching the surface spluttering. The first thing I saw when I could finally pull myself together, were the serpent’s eyes

several feet away above the water line. Those terrible dead orbs had locked onto their next meal.

I spat out water, desperately clawing for the small ball of anger within me, but in my panic for breath in the freezing lake, I couldn’t find any focus. I wasn’t the best swimmer in Equestria to begin with, but try doing it in near freezing water and you improve fast. For all the effort I was putting in, I was only going to die tired when the thing reached me. A moment later, it dived, then almost instantly, shot upwards once more and angled itself for a tasty meal of Fairlight. I’d stared death in the face before and this time was no different, it just had more teeth.

“You don’t scare me you great toothy turd !” I shouted waving my forelegs at it, “I hope you fucking choke !”.

The serpent hissed out a damp shrieking noise as it dove down on me. Well, this was it. Death number two coming up, for Luna’s sake give me a break…..

I’d reckoned without the fire making abilities of Far Sight however, as a jet of his concentrated fire hit the serpent right in its open maw. There was a horrible noise of crackling flesh and the smell of burnt rubber as the thing writhed, plunging beneath the surface once more. Two of the Thestral sisters gained height but one of them flapped downwards, hovering just above me, a rope held in her mouth. “Fairlight !” shadow thought at me in panic.

What was the stupid mare doing !? “For the Goddesses sake Shadow, get out of here ! Get yours sisters and fly ! Leave me and go !”
“No !”. The thought hammered into my head with all the subtlety of a flying brick. In frustration I gripped the rope and she pulled. Even as I kicked with all my might towards the far shore, it was immediately apparent this wasn’t going to work, but…. it may buy me some time to find that ball of power within me. I could sense it, just out of reach. A slippery bar of soap in the bathtub of my being.

Embers cry’s of warning caught my attention as Shadow heaved again on the rope. In helpless horror, I watched as snapping teeth and spiked fins burst from the water beside me, ripping a thick chunk of flesh from her side. Shadows blood fell on my upturned face like warm rain.

With a heart rending scream, the Thestral fell from the sky and down into the inky waters of the lake. I struck out for the floundering mare, grabbing her around the neck to keep her afloat. She was terrified, blood gushing from her wound, mixing with the water around us. Shadow looked into my eyes with a far away look, “Fairlight ?”. There was no mistaking the weakness in her voice, I was losing her. Goddesses, it was happening again. Again ! I felt a dark pit open in my heart and I stared into it, jumped into it, willing myself deeper. A voice, my own, echoed through my entire being. By
all that was good in this world, to all that was evil, the powers of the day and the night, the light and the dark, give me the strength to throw down my enemy and save this mare. I prayed to whatever gods would listen, to anything that would heed my call. I offered them my life, my very soul.

They answered……..

The small hard ball of ice cold anger had never left. I’d just, misplaced it. It welcomed me, filled me, burned my veins and froze my soul. A cascade of power flooded through me….it was me. I howled in agony and moaned in ecstasy as wings as white as snow burst from my back, my coat turning from its dark grey to the same brilliant white as my newly grown wings.

My mind was a tempest of emotions and animalistic instinct. Several feet away, the creature leapt up at Far Sight to be met with another blast of scorching fire. I took the distraction to grab Shadow and with a strong beat of wings, effortlessly pulled her free from the sucking black liquid. I breathed deeply, drawing in the smells and sounds of battle, mixing it with the burning ice in my heart until it was called forth. It demanded its release and I obeyed. Blue-white fog plumed from my maw, passing over dagger like teeth and down onto the waters surface, freezing it instantly. The ice spread out at an incredible rate, hungrily devouring the black water as it broiled along in every direction.

I landed on the thick white mass and gently lowered the panting Thestral onto its ethereal solidity. I let out a cry of anger and magic, the fog coalescing into a wall surrounding shadows body, protecting her. I watched as it froze solid, the blue-white shimmer, sparkling like silver stars. It pleased me. Now….now I was hungry and my hunger demanded it be sated. I turned my eyes towards my meal and smiled, howling a warning out across the water. It was time for vengeance, it was time….to feed.