The great black mare hurtled towards the monstrous little child. She’d been in a bad mood to start, trying to forget another little black body when this one had appeared so suddenly. This one, so demented, seemed to taunt her bitter memories of the past as much as its shrill voice taunted her in the present. Bitter and angry, Rhanna was bent on crushing in under her massive feet, but her size slowed he down and the little thing zipped out of her reach. When the filly slipped, the mare let out a triumphant bark of laughter, she’d catch it now for sure, the in a cloud of smoke and darkness, her target vanished.

Rhanna skidded to a halt, sliding a bit on the damp ground of the riverbank. ”this is fun!” She heard the giggling voice from over her shoulder and wheeled around to face it. She gathered herself for another charge, but it didn’t come….Something was leaking into her brain. Or maybe her brain was leaking She stood staring as her body seemed to stretch and compress inside her dark skin.

It was agony!

Each beat of her enormous heart was like a hammer’s blow. It crashed in her ears and sent shockwaves through her system as The Sickness spread. It stemmed from the bloody little hole in her neck, the flesh there seemed to sizzle and putrefy in an instant and from there it spread. Surely, This was death, surely she had been cast indo the depths of hell. The Mare thrashed, the entirety of her massive frame writhing in pain. As the flung her head, chunks of her long waving mane flew out and the bones that held on her tail seemed to dissolve and the whole thing fell to the ground with a thump. Where the wad of saliva had hit her face the skin tore with a sickening riiiiippp and from the skull underneath erupted a series of sharp spines, each connected the others by a thin layer of membrane. Her last, vicious thrash ended with her left foreleg slamming into the ground, sending it trembling, the flesh upon it fell away, leaving the bone exposed and emitting a horrid stench of decayed flesh; the mare made to more movements.

It was bliss!

The creature that had been Rhanna stood still as the last wave of The Darkness enveloped her; its shadow was as sweet as summer berries, as comforting as a mother’s embrace. ”I do hope you appreciate the gift that has been given to you.” rotten ears pointed forward to hear the filly’s last words, and the Dark Mare opened her eyes (great milky orbs where once had rested two black pools) in time to see the beautiful little creature vanish into darkness once more. Her jaws spread into a wide smile that leaked a mixture of blood and her own liquefied insides and spoke: “Thank you, sweet child.” The Darkness had taken her.