Just a brief vision I had of Shadowmere's humble beginnings. Enjoy.

It was a dark night when the foal was born. The light of moons and stars were denied a presence by the dark, rainless clouds that covered the sky. A single torch burned within the stable walls, struggling to hold the weighted shadows at bay.

A single stable hand witnessed the blessed event. He clung to the torch fearfully, feeling as though something frightful presided over fine breeding mare's hours of labor, watching from the dark around them. There was reason to fear for both mare and foal by the end, so arduous was the birth. And when at last the deed was done and the newborn lay in the straw, it proved all in vain… Stillborn.

Then, though the air did not stir, the loan torch was snuffed out and the stable was cast into complete darkness. A chorus of surprised snorts and whinnies from those beasts yet awake and a yell from the man left on watch for the sake of the birth. Then, in the dark, two lights, blazing red in the dark. The eyes of some hellish beast. The stable hand rushed to relight his torch, terrified he might cast light upon his doom. And when at last the torch flared, the foal stood in the straw, alive and well, looking upon the man with eyes that blazed like red-hot coals. And the stable hand fled.

The creature grew, though not as the rest of her ilk. The filly shunned her fellows and denied any man to approach her. She weaned early, abandoned by her mother who seemed to fear the filly's bite. She denied any attempts at conditioning and to such an extent that the trainers were not only forced to abandon their efforts but also to place her in a paddock of her own.

She gaining hands at an astounding rate, a strength to match her size and a beauty that rivaled her ferocity. Truly a worthy mount for any great lord or king…were one capable of taming her. But, as things stood, she remained both the envy and fear of men and mer.

The creature became a blessing and curse upon the stable that was her home: too dangerous and uncontrollable to be bridled, too magnificent to be set loose. And so she remained isolated and untouched.

Until one day, a man came who did not fear her.

His first enquiry after the mare was halted. "She's a monster. None shall ever ride that beast." But the man would not be swayed and entered the paddock.

Such an intrusion would ordinarily be set upon by the resident with teeth and hooves until the intruder was driven out. But for this one, the mare refrained, looking upon him with interest in the demon eyes that were her birthright. Neither faltered in their gaze, man and mare stared into the depths of the others soul and saw there something…kindred.

Then the man stirred. In the first movement of their first contact, he drew a hand from his robe and offered a single bright red apple. At this, the mare deigned to approach.

The man paid gold and saddled the mare without incident, to the astonishment of all onlookers. Then he mounted and the pair departed, leaving nothing but an empty paddock and a few apple seeds behind them.

Short and sweet. How do you think it suites our beloved Void Mare?