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Alabaster rounded a bend in a narrow corridor through the thick vegetation, when his ears pricked at the sounds of frightened whinnies and snorts from farther up the path. He quickened to a trot, still taking care to not catch his hoof over a misplaced stone or half-buried root, before the path opened to a stone-paved clearing. The remains of stone buildings stood, half-collapsed and choked with vines and vegetation. On the far side of the clearing, he noticed a figure, half-emerged from the underbrush.

A young courser, with a stocky build and a dark blood-bay coat thrashed against the grasp of a thicket of vines, which had woven their way around his left hindhoof. He tried to wrench his limb free, and was standing as far away from the thicket as physically possible, his leg fully extended and his neck twisted back to look at his trapped leg. That’s the perfect plan to break your ankle, Alabaster thought bleakly, surprised that that trapped courser had still not noticed his approach, his attention was completely on the tangle of vines, and the deep dense shadows of the brush behind him. The young bay’s ears were pinned, eyes wide and flashing with fear as he continued his futile attempt to break free, snorting from both exertion and frustration.  

“Calm down, you may hurt yourself like that” Alabaster called out as he drew closer, only a few feet away from the trapped courser. The other’s eyes somehow became wider as snapped his head around to regard the before-unseen spectator. 

“Who are you?” The frightened traveller’s voice projected through the stone ruins, the tone wavering with fear. 

“Alabaster” he replied, his hooves thudding dully against the weathered cobblestones. “Let me help you.” 

“I’m stuck” The other started, “I saw something- a shadow of something, I had to run.” Alabaster eyed him curiously,

“I ran and ran through that brush but I got stuck- you have to help me quickly, please.” The terror apparent in the young courser’s voice made his stomach turn at what could have caused it, he moved quickly to help him break through the vines. 

Alabaster instructed the bay to move back, the tension in the vines lessening, and allowing him to cut through them. Once the hoof was free, the bay courser leapt forward, bounding father into the clearing. For a moment Alabaster was taken aback, as it seemed the traveler might just continue galloping forward and leave the clearing, without a second word to him. After a few paces, the bay seemed to have expended the energy from his previous terror, and slowing to a loping gait he turned and met Alabaster. A nervous flash crossed his eyes as he seemed to scan the bushes behind them, as if he expected something to emerge from the darkness. 

‘I’d thank you, but we should leave here now.” The young courser said, a hint of his previous fear still audible in his words, “I saw… well- there’s something out there. I don’t want to cross paths with it again.” Alabaster found no argument, resolving he would ask the other more questions as they walked, and with that the two coursers set off in the other direction.

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