There, tucked away in one of the crooked valleys at the base of the Peak – one that never saw sunlight, the scarred, skeptical mare tucked herself away. She did not spurn company when it was offered her, but neither did she give anything in return beyond light, trivial conversation that ultimately meant nothing. Not yet. She wasn’t ready to open up, not for anyone. (Far beyond the reach of this mountain’s shadow, though, there was one…) At night, and the early hours of the morning, she roamed, ever restless, amongst the foothills, as if on guard against enemies that she was certain would appear. The savage mare, Shenzi, stayed, long after the flame burning inside her dwindled to smoking embers.

She was no prisoner here – she would never be held by anyone against her will again – but she bound herself to the cold monolith with its gleaming crown of ice. The reasons were her own, and even she didn’t quite understand them. She only hoped she’d be forgiven for all that she’d done.

And all that she hadn’t.

The changing of the seasons was what it took to drive her out of the shadows. The fierce barb mare was not blind, nor was she unintelligent despite what her stunted responses and grunts of affirmation or denial in response to the few conversations others had engaged her in might have suggested. The white and gold mare, who’d been one of the two who’d led her away from the Lagoon, had grown heavy with child. The stirrings of guilt burned like fire in her belly as Shenzi picked her way across the rocky slopes, letting loose a call for the two whom she felt she owed a debt for securing her freedom.

Anger had blinded her in the beginning. Some days, still did. After that, it was a misshapen creature born of fear and remorse in equal measure that had kept her company. Until now, she’d been unable to ask what it was they’d had to promise in sacrifice to set her free. Too burdened with shame (for what she hadn’t been able to do – save herself, for what she had done, to her own son). But even as her shame continued to grow, enough that one day it might drown her, Shenzi would no longer hide away like a coward.

If what she feared was indeed true – that the palomino mare who numbered among the leaders here had given herself to the Lagoon… Shenzi had no doubt that soon those wolves would be at the threshold, and when they came, she would fight to protect the mares who’d done so much for her.