A strong wind came sweeping up from the south and set the powdery snow swirling around them until all they could see of each other were darker outlines among the white. It was cold enough to make a black mare shudder weakly as icy fingers searched their way in beneath thick winter coat and shimmering blackbird feathers, but the child only smiled and laughed as she leaped around, trying to catch imaginary monsters she saw in the snow. To her the wind felt only cool, a refreshing change from the stillness that ruled on the vast, seemingly endless plains. It wasn't even that cold anymore, not like it had been before. There was a warmer edge to the wind now, a scent and a new vibration within it that promised change. She didn't know what it might be. She had only been in this world for a few measly days, but even so she was eager to find out what it might be.

The landscape was slowly changing around them. From steep and towering mountains the small group had traveled across a narrow land bridge where the ocean thrashed and pummeled the frozen shore and up onto these wide-spanning wastelands where little, if any shelter could be found from the howling winds. For an eternity, it seemed, they had walked, on and on and on, the black mare and the white stallion and the other, the extra, who belonged yet not in the same way as she or Mother or Father did. She didn't really understand that, and no one had explained it. She didn't know where they were going either, only that they had to hurry.
Now, on the vast horizon, something new had appeared. Way off to the north and a little to the east, like a dark outline against the slowly rising sun, were jagged peaks that glistened with ice and light.

Something wonderful and slightly painful expanded in her chest as she looked at the distant mountains. Like sweet tears she hadn't cried yet, like the first sip of Mother's milk when she was really hungry or like falling asleep curled up next to Father's long legs; it was a feeling she both liked very much and loathed, because somehow it made the girl feel weak.

"Moma, there!" The filly turned and rushed down from the slight elevation she had clambered up onto previously, squealing in terrified delight as the tiny hooves slipped and skidded and dragged up another cloud of snow in the faces of the others. She had to stop and breathe and cough before she could tell the patient mare what it was that made her so excited, but when she was able to convey the message of the glittering peaks she was rewarded with a warm smile and an even warmer hug, one that burned right through her icy flesh and frosted lashes and melted her heart into a warm puddle of goo.

She beamed back, proud to have caused such an expression of relief and animation over her mothers weary face, and she turned to Father with the downy wings flapping in excitement to receive more information.

"Wha's tha?" she asked eagerly, looking back and forth between the white stallion with the blue-tipped spear and the pulling mountains.  "We go there?"

For that much she had understood. Mother was already making ready to continue again after the brief rest, a new sort of determination coming to light in her vibrant eyes, and the direction she headed in would definitely lead them to her discovery. The filly was not objecting; she bounced up to the side of her Shadow after sparing a smile at the extra, the tagalong, and obediently stayed there as they walked. But her thoughts soared on ahead, dreaming up wild fantasies of what might be among those shimmering peaks, and who they might meet once they got there.

It was morning now, but come sunset those towering mountains would have grown much taller indeed, and with the darkening sky as backdrop they looked far less welcoming. By that time the girl would walk pressed against her mother's side, peering with wide eyes at the giant mechanics that loomed up ahead... and for the first time in her life she would find that she wasn't at all eager to walk any further. This adventure couldn't possibly be fun, and she couldn't believe that it would ever end well.