Hooves were pounding. The constant crunch! of the branches and fallen leaves as the mare worked her muscles to a point she felt she could barely keep moving. But even that wouldn't stop her. The hooves kept flying and her mind kept racing against her fears ink-like darkness and the feeling that was radiating from it.

Heart was beating. She could hear it in her ear. She could feel it pound against her cranium as she flared her nostrils. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. That's all that mattered. More oxygen meant less pain in her limbs. The less of the burning sensations then the easier it would become for her to keep on moving forward. Perhaps then she might be able to extinguish the fears that were creeping up her legs and clinging to her tendrils for dear life.

After all, it's not like Beelzebub cared who he tortured. As long as he was providing some kind of pain the creature from the depths of the nether world was starting to be satiated. His maniacal plans would be halted - if only for a moment - and then he might start to fade into the woodwork again.

He'll never be satiated.

Ear was twitching. All the noises were beginning to mix into one huge cacophony. Crunches with dull thuds and then sharp click!s when she accidentally traveled over rocks. Each sound only resulting in more fuel being added to the ever growing fire that was pushing her back towards the Edge. Just the conception of hearing her loved one's voices and being able to look up at the welkin was enough to force Resplendence to pin her ear back against her neck. She would come back to her family. She didn't care if she was the one to be escorted into Hades' lair - as long as her family could make it out with their lives.

Sight was muddled with tears. One hoof in front of the other. That's easier said than done. She's trying to see just where she's placing her hooves, but nothing seems to be clear. Her petite frame trips multiple times. Her body tumbling to the ground but her hooves seeming to catch her at the last possible second. And then, she has to force her way back onto her hooves only to continue the process - too petrified to even consider to glance backwards.Golden orbs are searching through a hazy vision for an answer. They are searching for a light The darkness had to be looming, though, and there was no explanation for the terror that had stricken her heart into such an over apathetic state.

The air was cold. Too cold. It would have been numbing had she still not possess the ability to feel the dull throbbing of her right haunch and the fierce, snapping pain of her canons as she continued to pound on back towards the Edge. The air seemed to be biting at her pelt, pushing her forward only to dare her to stop but a few minutes afterwards.

However, to stop surely meant death. For all of time continues to move even if she felt like she was stuck in one place. So, if she tried to stand there - tried to understand what was happening in complete detail she felt as though it would do nothing more than to injure those which she was around. No. If she became frozen in her place she could not get back in time to help the herd. So she would not allow her legs to give out. She would not allow herself to stop moving.

At least that's what she thought.

One snag of her flint against a stabilized, fallen trunk as the exhausted mare attempts to leap over it and she has gone tumbling head first into a pile of fallen leaves and branches - her herbs going flying with her and a state of horror has invaded the features on her face. Her eyes are swirling around as they attempt to seize onto something that will tell her if this substance of pure maleficence is still trailing her pale tresses back towards her home behind a glass wall. A few pieces of her tresses seem to pry themselves loose from the baskets they had been woven into, creating small curls of locks around her legs as she tries to cough out the dirt she has exhaled in her tumble.

Answers. She just wanted answers! It seems, though, that if she wishes to gain the answer of whether or not the darkness is continuing it's strike she will have to do the one thing that seems to freeze her body in place again. She has to look back at the substance that will kill them all...

The darkness has halted - for the moment. She cannot waste this time. How long had she been running? How long until she would see the sun beginning to infiltrate the canopy that the looming trees had decided to create? How long until she had to keep moving or risk being swallowed alive by the one thing that had no explanation? Did anyone even know what it was? This thing that was trying to take over all of the lands?

It doesn't matter. Not now.

The pallid mare is scurrying around now that her shaken body is back in it's rightful position - barrel over hooves in order to balance and allow for her ranges of movement. There is a wide array of herbs that had spilled out, colours and sizes varying greatly, and she is snagging up each one with her mouth and dropping them back into her baskets that could almost be rewoven to deal with all the straggling pieces of hair. Perhaps if she hadn't been running so widely, without a single concern for where the branches would snag, she wouldn't be having this issue right now. But, again, such things did not matter. She just needed to stuff the herbs again and then get back to the Edge.

No longer could she see the two family members who had come with her down to the water. The creme coat of the winged one had probably already taken to the sky. All for the better - he's safer that way... And, upon further inspection of the forest the golden hue of the mare's coat with her orange dragon are also long gone. Kaj will protect her. Resplendence must shake the thoughts of worry from her mind. Her family will be safe. They will be there, waiting for her, when she returned at the border. And she will have the herbs, and all will be well.

Right? It had to be. Something had to go right...

Concentrate! She had to concentrate! Her body twisting and turning as she continues to stuff the herbs into her baskets. Cyclically she is is spinning, trying to ensure that she hasn't missed a single herb where she had just looked. And, between each turn on the haunches she is peering up into the sky from the south - her mind attempting to estimate if the darkness is coming closer and faster or if she has more time to try and be certain that all the herbs they had collected would return to the Edge with her.

Two looks. Three glances. Five piles picked up. And the cycle repeated again, four more times before she was able to start to move forward again. Thirty minutes wasted from running from the darkness. Thirty minutes well spent when it came to the health of her herd. Two more careful checks of her baskets for holes that would cause problems and she is off at a quick canter.

How much more ground did she have to cover? Miles? A hundred? A thousand? Too many to count? How much time would it even take? Two hours? No. That's too small of an amount. Perhaps twenty? Maybe, that sounded closer to right. She hadn't kept track of how long it had taken the group to get down to the Endless Blue, but they had been moving slowly.

She shuddered once, muscles trembling in disdain from the amount of effort that was being pulled onto them for just about no reason. No reason other than her life. And her life seemed important - if only to protect those she loved.

She would die for them. That much was evident to the mare as she continued to shove herself forward. They were all she had left - and she would not lose them. She would not lose them without trying very, very hard to save them. No more would die before her eyes. She would not allow it.

More tears. More pain. It was evident this trek back was much worse than her longer one from the Veins. But, this trek had also resulted in more trees, more tripping, more bruised hips than the other one. Still, with a sweaty coat, she catapulted herself forward, stride after stride. And soon, the tripping had stopped. The exhaustion having reached a level that she was too tired to understand she was that tired. Another shot of adrenaline was pumping through her veins and she was going back into full speed ahead.

Nothing could stop her now. Nothing except death.

But death did not come. And for that she was grateful.

The pallid mare was trembling by the time she had reached the glassy walls of the World's Edge. It had once been an image of home - but now she could see the darkness reflecting off the crystaline-like creation that towered endlessly into the sky. Streaks of light were flooding through, a sign that the darkness had no hit yet - but that it would definitely hit soon.

Warnings must be sent out. The Edge must find somewhere safe to reside. The protection of the Moon Goddess would no doubt only last as long as it's strength could hold out. But if the Veins had been taken over it would not be safe here either. They must find a way to protect everyone.

A shudder ran through the mare's spine as she crawled through the entrance, the throbbing pain reaching an excruciating level. And, some of the sweat on her pelt was mingling with shreds of maroon liquid from the scrapes of the trees as she had powered her way back towards her home. She looked broken, but deep in the recesses of her eyes - if one knew her well enough - there was a hint of determination gleaming.

She would not allow anyone to be hurt on her watch.

A cough escaped her throat. A large inhale and exhale and then she is lifting her head up toward the sky and letting out a sharp, piercing cry. "KAJ! EVA!" She yells for first, needing to be sure that the two of them had returned from the venture safely - that she had not lost some of her family the darkness that had been chasing the three of them. "Kahlua! Quilyan! Destrier!" She adds onto her list, the panic evident in her tones as she allowed them to spill forth from her maw in a twisted convulsion.

Resplendence can feel her limbs about to give as she squeezes her eyes shut. Exhaustion is soaking up in her limbs and crashing her body in every single way known to man. She is breathing in more exhaustion than she is exhaling. And, so she begins to crawl a few more steps forward. She needs the trees. She needs something to lean against. She needs some sort of support.

Her golden orbs lock on a thick tree about ten paces from where she was, and she slowly makes her way towards it. Only a few moments and she would be able to rest. She'd be able to rest her weary limbs and explain exactly what had just happened.

Blinking away the tears that were mixing with the froth and blood on her pelt she allowed her body to lean up against the bark of the tree. Her barrel heaving from the exertion necessary in order to return to the inside of the glass box. She just wanted her garden. She just wanted her herbs. She just wanted everyone to be safe.

Safety of the herd came first. Then the safety of Quilyan. The safety of those who are innocent. And then her safety. She didn't matter - not in the big picture. She had learned that by now. But the safety of everyone she loved, and of those who were innocent enough to not understand the pains of the world - they were the ones that mattered. They were the ones she would do everything in her power to help protect.

Slowly, the mare slid down the tree, feeling the bark continue to scrape at her side as her baskets lay down around her, some of the herbs falling out of their allocated positions. And, then one last sharp cry escapes her mouth.

Someone come. Someone help save us...

A terror exists in this world. One that won't stop until all are destroyed. But there has to be somewhere safe. The herd has to be able to be safe.

"Please! It's important!" She whispers, the tears beginning to rack at her body as she lowers her maw to the ground to wait for one of them to come.

Maybe they can find somewhere safe. Maybe the herd can be safe. But she knows this much:

They should be looking for it now - before it got to be too late...