The night was perfect for flying, mischief and new encounters, and what place could better serve as scene for these varied urges than the Threshold. A glorious stage to receive her restlessness, a neutral playground full of unsuspecting strangers to receive her twisted affections. Erthë was full to the brim with a desire to laugh out loud as she danced through the heavens on soundless wings, swooping with reckless abandon just above the treetops - so close that she had but to reach out a hoof to knock down the snow that coated every bowed twig and branch.

Being a good child and remaining at home had only worked out for so long. With no actual chores to do and no catastrophes to save the world from she was left to her own devices, a dangerous thing indeed; if only the peace-drunk, flabby-bottomed adults knew what kind of trouble she could get herself into, they would have pinned her down with work a long time ago. They ought to know by now - but apparently they learned slow.

The night was still and quiet for the most part. For the longest time Erthë had encountered nothing but a hunting owl, a drowsy raven on a branch and a couple of squirrels startled from their nests by some horrible (probably imagined) threat. It was quite boring on the whole, so when the sound of voices rose up through the canopy they drew her in like a moth to flames. Without pausing to even consider leaving the poor unsuspecting bastards alone Erthë dipped a wing and turned, drawing a graceful pirouette in the sky as she flew off towards them. An impish grin played on her rosebud lips as she peered down towards the ground and noticed the figures that strolled around down there-. There were three of them, from what she could make out; two large dark ones she had never seen before, heavy and set and moving with that egoistical, brain-dead confidence she associated with stallions, and a smaller, paler figure that gleamed in the spotty moonlight and walked as though drifting on a nightly breeze...

Something about that last figure made Erthë pause, brows furrowed in thought. It was familiar, nostalgic somehow, but for the life of her she couldn't place where she had seen such a doll before. Not recently, not more than once, and yet the brightness of the voice, blurred and wordless from this distance made her heart ache...

Ah well, never mind - she could figure that out later. Now for some fun!

Quivering with pent up excitement the slender, airborne filly pushed her wings down in quiet, steady beats until she gained sufficient height and distance from the snowy canopy, and when she judged the angle to be just right she folded the pale feathers partly to the sides and dropped, falling downwards in a curving arc right above where the scattered horses ought to be.

At the last minute before she crashed into the treetops Erthë spread the wings again and set her feet down, scraping the branches so that snow cascaded down towards the ground in clumps, piles and fine glittering powder, a vertical avalanche that threatened to cover the souls below in icy cold. The rattle and rumble of snow and wood was accompanied by the sound of her laughter, bright and jubilant, triumphant even - and rather than flee the scene before she could be spotted the young snowdrop stretched her wings wide to circle back, almost eager to accept their wrath and complaints if it meant getting to see the looks on their faces.

Erthë

and my knees are shaking - - and my dreams are breaking - - but i know i live today