The earth eyed mare was far from a creature of the grass, and her thick coat bristled and shifted in the chilled night air. Soft snow fell and rested on lashes that cradled them as gently as a child, and the breath that moved past her lips puffed in a white cloud that danced like silver in the bright moonlight. Did someone approach? Her ear slid back, listening for steps in the thick snow, but she realized this far too late.

A cold, metal chain wrapped itself around one of her forelegs as she was turning, but she danced to the side and avoided the metal on her other three limbs. She was trapped, but she was able to rotate three hundred and sixty degrees in either direction. Angered, harsh eyes spied a figure in the distance that grew. Hair sprouted from the most foul figure she had even laid eyes on, and her jaw dropped in disgust.

What could have made such a demon, and what did it want with her? No cries of fear or tender begging words moved past her lips, and she faced her foe with head held high, disgust and arrogance clear in her square, regal expression. Moonlit reflected off of two chains that flew through the air, and she watched, able to predict from their flight that they were aiming to cross around and trap her to her place. However, she would not allow this tactic to win like the other chain had.

She closed her eyes and pulled the snowstorm inward. Ice and harsh winds lifted her mane and embraced her body tightly, leaving an immobile, icy statue where the mare had been. A audible clank broke the silent night as chain met ice, holding a thick armor in place. Seconds passed with no sign of movement of change.

Suddenly, the crystal armor shattered in a glorious array of glassy ice, shards slicing through the air and landing with puffs on the snow. She sprang from her icy chamber, shooting out from under the metal chains that fell to the ground, fooled by ice. The mare puffed a breath of white and watched the foul monster, one leg still attached to the ground.

Dots of blood began to drop to the snow as she strained against the binding.


[385 words :: One magic use :: One of the chains caught her foreleg. She pulled up her ice armor when the chains started to wrap around her body. She pushed past the ice armor and darted out from under the chains to escape them ]