Shadows

I hurried along to the small cave under the waterfall. I knew that Starfire and Wings would be expecting me. Much as I hate to admit it, I can't possibly stay away when a new foal is born, and they knew it. So as soon as the girl-child Melissa had run into the stable announcing that Starfire was having a foal, I had headed off to the cave.

The birth of their foal had come as no surprise to the rest of us Acrathians. It was a reasonably well known fact over the island that Wings would not keep his second mare foal-less for long. And so now I was off to bless the birth in the name of the Horse God Equus, something I hadn't been called off to do half enough at that time. But that's beside the point.

Seastar, one of Wings' other foals, came running out to meet me. She had evidently been sent out by her sire, no doubt with carefully rehearsed lines that had left her the moment she actually got to me. "Greetings, Morgan!" she called to me. "My new little brother has just started trying to stand up! Come and bless him quickly, before he makes it up the whole way!" (A fairly silly thing to say, but I guess I really have to give her some credit. She did try.) Having told me this, she galloped back the way she had come, small black tail flapping behind. I shook my head and began to trot. I've never exactly been well loved by the foals, and I can't say that I blame them. If I were a small, energetic colt once again, I would be terribly scared of a crabby old Unicorn-priest.

In very little time, I reached the cave and stepped behind the curtain of water. Inside it was strangely quiet for a home so near a waterfall. Starfire's magic at work, no doubt. The new mother lay in the center of the floor, her family in a semicircle about her. Beside her lay a tiny blue roan foal.

"Hello Morgan," Starfire greeted me cheerfully. Trust that mare to be acting perfectly normal after foalbirth! "Just look at my new foal, will you! A perfect image of a Morab, is he not?"

"Yes, he's quite lovely," I replied. "Have you chosen his name yet?"

Starfire laughed at me. "Why of course!" she replied. "He is called Shadows, until he chooses a new name for himself. I've already blessed him in the name of Rela; now you must do the same in the name of Equus."

I nodded, and began to concentrate on bringing forth my clerical powers. They came easily, honed by over sixty years of practice. I had blessed all of Wings' other foals, as well as Starfire herself. I had been greatly surprised that this four year old mare had been able to call upon her powers as a priestess of Magic Goddess Rela in the few minutes it had taken me to arrive.

But that has no real importance in this story. My powers came easily to me, flooding through me and collecting at the tip of my long, golden horn. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Unicorns, the horn is the part of us that all magic is focused to. I bent down and carefully touched the tip of my horn to Shadows' forehead. "Equus," I recited as I carefully let some of the power drain into the foal. "God of Horse and Acrathian alike, I beg that you bless this foal, Shadows, through me, your humble servant." I then went on to say the other lines, the lines I knew so well I didn't even have to think of them. I won't place them here, as they would probably bore you to death. People who don't share the religion of the Acrathians, (and even most of those who do), aren't in the least interested in such things.

All through my chant, Shadows had been staring up into my eyes. I could feel, deep inside me as I recited the traditional lines of blessing, that this foal was destined for greatness. He didn't really need the blessings of the Horse God and the Magic Goddess, but they certainly wouldn't hurt him.

To see if Equus had indeed blessed this little fellow, I raised my horn into the air. Everyone, even Shadows, watched for the Sign. They were not disappointed. A great beam of pure white light surged upwards from my horn, breaking off into small colored pieces as it hit the roof of the cave. These bits of colored light landed on all of the foals, making them glow and drawing gasps of pleasure from them. It seems that Equus is a bit better with foals than I am!

"It's settled," I said proudly. "Starfire, Wings, your foal is blessed by both Equus and Rela. Good luck to both you and he in the future." I then left the family to tend to its newest member.

On the way back to my stall, I met up with the girl-child Melissa. "Is Shadows going to be healthy and okay?" she asked me. To this day, I have no clue how she discovered the name of the new little foal. Perhaps I should go and ask her? Yes, I think I'll do that as soon as I'm done with telling you this story.

I thought of the feeling which had come to me as I blessed the little blue roan Morab. Smiling, I replied, "Is he ever!" I then headed on my way.

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