They started out beside Macabre, but the tides quickly became too powerful for Clarity. This was the first time the filly had to experience the ocean and she wasn't prepared. She fell behind with each passing minute until Cherish finally took a moment from her own concentration to look for her. Cherish was sent into a panic when she didn't see Clarity at her side and her breathing was too labored to call out to Macabre to wait. Her heart quickly sank, but she found her daughter just paces away.
She noticed the filly slowly falling more behind as she turned directions and swam towards her. Cherish felt her own energy depleted so she knew her daughter was in worse shape. It has been years since she last left the main island. Together, the two fought the waves and Cherish held her daughter up as needed. It wasn't long before they could no longer see Macabre in the distance. They kept swimming in the last direction they last saw her in hopes they would still wind up in the same place.
This was when the storm started. Cherish should have realized the strength of the waves were coming from an impending storm. The rain made it almost impossible to see, the waves almost swallowed them whole many times, and twice Clarity was spun uneath the water. The first island Cherish saw was where she directed her young daughter and by the time they reached the Atlantis shore, the two were exhausted. Cherish had no time to recognize the place before she collapsed on a soggy pile of sand beside her downed filly. They both laid there for a few minutes, each listening to the others labored breaths.
"We are alive." Cherish squeaks out her words between breaths. A stranger's voice causes her body to jerk up and finds herself more alert than she thought she could muster. Blue eyes travel down the darkened shore until she spots two horses not too far away. She recognizes Macabre instantly as a flash of lightning provides a more clear image of what was happening. A stranger, much larger, stallion confronted their arrival. Cherish wonders if this land was his. She worries that they might just fall right into another capture.
One thing she knew for certain, laying here on the beach was not helping the situation. Cherish stands on burning limbs and encourages her filly to do the same. Clarity protests in any way she can, kicking and screaming, but she finally stands up. Cherish guides her filly to where Macabre stands, but her keeps herself behind the mare and Clarity even further, her little hooves barely in the dangerous waters they just came from. The filly's head hung low signaling her energy level. "Do you know him?" Cherish whispers to Macabre. Typically the mare was always happy and energetic but after that swim, she could not shake the sinking feeling in her belly.