……Slugger made Moondancer and Glory get off and paddle. They were hanging on to the rear of the raft and kicking with all their might, squealing with childish glee as they splashed through the freezing cold water. Sundance sat with Slugger in the center of the raft. She was amazingly effective at convincing the brooding baseball star to keep going, despite the ominous shift in direction that the river chose to follow. He kept the push pole on his lap, so that he could swing back and knock sense into the giggling idiots behind them if the work began looking more like play.
……"You better be right about this," Slugger growled.
……Sundance shrugged and smiled sweetly. "And if I'm not, at least they're the ones doing the dirty work."
……Slugger grimaced. The thought wasn't particularly soothing to him, and he glanced around as they were pushed upstream. The land surrounding them was so barren. Chalky land rose up into hazy mountains against the pale horizon, and Slugger worried. River land was usually fertile, made rich by the river itself, but there was hardly enough vegetation in that empty space to feed a bushmouse. Certainly not enough to feed any hungry, silly little ponies. Slugger worried about Quarty, AJ, Spike and Megan. Fools! Fools in their loyalty, when all reason told them to turn back. They were risking their lives to follow shadows.
……Slugger worried hard about Firefly.
……The girl followed her heart, no matter that it led her into darkness. He had to admire her for that. She was foolishly brave, a thing he blamed her mother for. Those attempts at the Double Inside-Out Loop demonstrated carelessness, and a reckless sense of disregard. Amazing creativity. Spontaneity. Attributes Slugger had never found in himself, no matter how deep he looked.
……Things he had seen in his father.
……Maybe that was why, he realized. It was why he was so pragmatic. It was why he was so careful.
……And why he cared enough about Firefly to put it all behind him.





……Quarty, AJ, and Spike tumbled down the bank and into the shallow edge of the cold clear river, laughing and splashing through it like children. They drew long sips of sweet water and all three of them suffered cold headaches, but it did nothing to dampen their mood. Elation! In the midst of despair, a river cut through it. Through the white, dusty land, this one vein of life revealed itself to sustain them. A wide river, with a deep heart. Quarty lifted his head, water slipping off his chin, and gazed across it.
……On the far opposite shore rose a mountain, tall and dark. He craned his neck, his eyes traveling its thick and wretched structure to where it faded behind the white sky. AJ followed his gaze, the smile slowly diminishing from her face. She twisted her gaze at him meaningfully. "How will we get there?" she whispered.
……Quarty smiled thinly. "I don't know, AJ," he admitted.
……The girl looked around desperately and trotted back onto shore. "There has to be a way," she insisted. "I'm not giving up! Not after we've come so far!"
……"I don't want to give up either, AJ," Quarty told her evenly, slipping his canteen off his neck and dipping it into the river. Cold clean water careened off the lip and rushed inside.
……Spike splashed out of the water eagerly, his little purple legs taking him clumsily across the powdery bank. "Hey guys. I've got an idea!" he shouted triumphantly.
……"I'm all ears, little critter," Quarty told him.
……"We don't have to swim across. We could build a raft!"
……AJ's eyes grew bright. "A raft!" she exclaimed thoughtfully. "But how?"
……"There's lots of old wood just lying around," the baby dragon told her matter-of-factly. "I think it's all petrified. It won't burn but I think it will float!"
……Quarty stared across the river, where the white rapids careened around stones that pierced the surface like knives. He grimaced, looking around at dry land again. The lay of the land bothered him. Nothing about it really seemed right, that there could be nothing in that place alive. "Build a raft," he said quietly to himself. Uncertain, but unwilling to destroy the first shred of hope they knew. His gaze followed the flow of the river distantly, until he was looking on into the far horizon. His jaw fell, and he took a step forward into the shallow water. "Maybe he won't have to!"
……High giggles could just be heard over the roar of the rushing river. AJ and Spike peered past Quarty to see what he was seeing, and air escaped them simultaneously.




……Slugger strained against the push pole while both Glory and Moondancer swam, fighting against the opposing current of the river. Sundance sat perched squarely in the center as their eyes and ears as the water became rough. As the massive black mountain rose out of the river smoke, she knew they had done the right thing. And Slugger knew it too.
……So when the River began to push them back, they refused to let it.
……"Remind me!" Slugger grated, pushing hard back against his pole, "to beat Quarty with this pole!" he shouted, "the next time I see him!"
……Sundance bit her lip and kept quiet, while Glory and Moondancer howled with laughter between breaths.
……As the raft slipped through gentler, shallower waters, a glob of blue slid into Slugger's peripheral vision.
……"Amazing," Quarty commented mildly, grinning his cheshire grin. ""It's like some twisted hand of fate manipulated this perfectly!"
……Slugger's head snapped around to see Quarty, AJ and Spike standing on the shore. As soon as the raft was steady in the water, he tossed the pole aside and pounced on the big blue brother. As they rolled through the sand, the girls realized something amazing.
……Slugger was actually laughing!
……He rested on the sand next to the football player and sighed.
……"Took you long enough to get here," Quarty noted, and Slugger kicked him.





……Lightning huddled low in his cage, his legs folded under him and his chin resting on the cold stone of the throne room's floor. Fatigue began to draw shadows on his face, and his eyes ached with tears he wouldn't let himself cry. No, he wouldn't give the Evil Queen that satisfaction! He only vaguely listened as she prattled, her voice glib, to her ugly little minion about the horrible fate she held for Lightning's future. The pony stared into the orange and yellow flame of the candle, watching as wax bled away from the heat and pooled on the cold floor. The candle was so small now. Soon its wick would burn out and leave him in complete, shattering darkness. Emptiness. He had never been so alone!
……He didn't know how much time had passed since voices he never heard and light he did not see had captured the Queen's attention. Time was beginning to lose meaning. His only glimpse into that entity marked by light was the slow ebb of the candle's wax as the flame melted it away. He didn't know what had happened to whoever had come to rescue him.
……Oh, Firefly, he thought miserably. How I'd hate for you to suffer this way!
……Whatever fate Shrek promised his friends, he dreaded it. He couldn't bear to think of them in pain because of him. No! He would rather die first!
……"Ugly pony likes the light," Bonyo cackled, slinking near the cage and edging close to Lightning's precious candle. Lightning shifted position suddenly, shaking the bars of his cage with the impact and startling the little goblin back.
……"Get back, you disgusting freak!" he shouted, on his feet and glaring intensely down at Bonyo. The thing stepped backwards, grinning a twisted, gruesome grin. Shrek's interest was mildly perked, and she turned her head slightly.
……"Lightning, you dismal beast," the Queen smiled, sitting comfortable on her throne carved from black stone. "How angry you've become!"
……The Mountain Boy shrunk back, staring in the direction of the woman's voice. Witchlight from the candle burned his eyes, and he could only just discern the savage outline of the awful Queen. Oh, he thought, desperation overcoming him. She's right! He blinked back burning tears but couldn't stop them all from falling. Bonyo returned suddenly to the cage, grasping at the bars with his ugly, gnarled fingers and watching the pony. There were hints of confusion and fascination on his face. "What is that water, ugly little pony?" he asked quietly, as tears spilled across Lightning's cheeks.
……Lightning swiped them away and sniffed, staring back with equal curiosity. "They're tears. Haven't you seen tears before?"
……Bonyo shook his head. "No water comes from eyes that Bonyo don't see," he explained, and Lightning realized it was true. "What does the water mean?"
……Lightning frowned, unclear on what he was feeling. Bonyo's never known different. How can I blame him for his ignorance? "They mean sadness," Lightning whispered, feeling the well of them fill behind his eyes. "I'm sad for a lot of things."
……"Sad because you are ugly?" Bonyo smirked. But he didn't loosen his grip, or turn his interested expression away.
……"Sad because you've never seen the sun." Lightning's lips pressed into a thin line, and he said: "Have you?"
……"What sun?" Bonyo shrugged. "My Lady Queen Shrek says the sun would burn too bright!"
……"Yes but it's warm," Lightning sighed. "It gives all things such radiant color, and makes life for all the land."
……"Life lives in darkness," Bonyo pointed out, and pulled a nightcrawler off the wall beside the Mountain Boy's cage to prove it. He dangled the scorpion inches from Lightning's nose, and the pony recoiled. "We have no need of light."
……Lightning grimaced. "Really?" he challenged. "Then why does your Queen desire it so hard?"
……Bonyo flung the scorpion at Lightning, and the creature caught in his long mane. Lightning shook his head fiercely until the scorpion was propelled through the bars. It sat there stunned a moment, then scurried out of the candle's blanket of light. "Queen Shrek wants your eyes, ugly pony," Bonyo smirked.
……"What do you think they're for? To see with, of course." Lightning laughed softly. "Think, Bonyo. What can you see without the light?"
……"Nothing," Queen Shrek answered for her little minion as she strolled across the cold stone floor. Bonyo cringed, one hand releasing the bars, and Lightning shrunk away as the blind Queen approached with a slim smile on her face. She knelt low and in one breath puffed away the candle's light.




……The seven friends stood together on the powdery white shore, staring across the raging river waters at the massive pillar of stone that rose up into the sky higher than their eyes could see. The black mountain was like a scar on the face of the barren white wasteland.
……"So how do we get inside?" Quarty wondered blandly. Slugger stamped his hooves impatiently, shaking white hair out of his face.
……"We wink!" Moondancer exclaimed, as if that answer was obvious. Glory nodded enthusiastically.
……Slugger's eyes narrowed at the two white unicorns. He evaluated them quietly. "How many of us can you transport at any one given time?" he demanded out of them, and their faces flashed into simultaneous confusion.
……"Who knows," Glory shrugged. "Has anyone ever winked someone else before?"
……Moondancer considered her friend's question. "Don't know. I've winked at someone else before." The two unicorns giggled, and Slugger cleared his throat.
……"Cheer down, ladies," Quarty warned them lazily. "Or Slugger might beat you with his push pole."
……"I might beat you with my push pole," Slugger growled under his breath. He turned back to the unicorns and shouted: "Try it!"
……Eyes rounded out wide like full moons.
……"Wink with one of us," Slugger said. "Do it!"
……Moondancer squeezed her eyes shut tight and concentrated, and soon her image began to waver and decompose. Slugger began to fade as well, and they both disappeared in a puff of sparkly light.
……AJ and Glory's mouths hung open, anticipating in the long, quiet seconds that followed. Sundance let her eyes shift across the beach, and Spike twiddled his little purple thumbs nervously. Quarty yawned. "Let's hope they show up in one piece," he remarked playfully. "If Slugger ends up with a horn he might be a little upset."
……"I think it'd be rather becoming," Sundance replied thoughtfully.
……"Maybe, but who needs a horny Slugger?" Quarty pointed out.
……"You're both terrible!" AJ scolded, and the air behind her began to shimmer in two separate places. Light filled in the forms and flashed blindingly. When they opened their eyes and looked, Slugger and Moondancer stood on the beach, fifteen feet from where they stood last.
……"Hooray!" Spike cheered, leaping happily into the air.
……"Wow," Glory drawled, impressed, and Moondancer beamed with pride.
……"We should only attempt one extra passenger per wink," Slugger said firmly, walking back into the center of the group. "Any more than that and we risk weakening the unicorn's strength and suffering unpredictable consequences."
……"At least we know it didn't affect his brain," Quarty noticed to Sundance, and Slugger glared at them but didn't bother asking.
……"The rest of us should stay here with the raft," the young baseball star continued. "That way we secure our ride home, and can return to Dream Valley for reinforcements if the need to do so arises."
……"Okay," Quarty agreed.
……"Who's going up there?" Slugger asked, cocking his head at the mountain, rising high above them in the mist.
……"I will," Quarty said.
……AJ stepped forward boldly, lifting her chin high. "I will, too!"
……Everyone looked at her strangely. "Are you sure, Apple Dumpling?" Quarty asked her gently. "We don't know what we're getting into."
……AJ's face darkened, and she scowled at the Big Brother. "Are you calling me a coward?"
……Quarty smiled patiently. "Of course not. It's just that we'll be in some pretty wild danger."
……"I don't care," the girl insisted. "Lightning is up there. I love him, and I will do whatever it takes to rescue him!"
……"Fine, suit yourself," Slugger said dismissively. The friends took time to say goodbyes, each of them fearing that they may be the last words ever spoken to each other. Slugger watched them silently, waiting by the raft.
……"I wish I could go with you," Sundance told them sadly as they took their places beside each unicorn. Glory and Moondancer clenched their eyes shut and began the procedure. The air around them shivered like a heat mirage, and as the image of the four friends faded, Slugger said:
……"Come back soon."
……Quarty threw them a cheshire grin, and they disappeared.





……Darshan led them through the twisting hallways of Queen Shrek's morbid castle not by the light of the torch he carried, but by the other senses that had guided him for most of the years of his life. Sounds too subtle for Firefly to hear, and scents too delicate for her to smell pulled the young man through the cold stone corridors. A smell of candlewax, he told her, and the sweat of human flesh. Sounds of contact against metal bars, and the cascade of long skirts through the air. Firefly couldn't stop herself being amazed by him; he could see things she couldn't even fathom, without using his eyes. As they walked the long and seemingly endless darkness, she watched him. She let herself become engrossed in him; he was an exceptional treasure to have discovered, and she couldn't wait to show him off to the rest of the ponies in Dream Valley! She knew they would appreciate the extraordinary young creature as much as she did, and she knew they would offer him all those wonderful things that made existing so exciting! Gingerbread would bake him a batch of her extra-special chocolate chip cookies, and Posey would guide him through the explosions of color inside her magnificent gardens. The princesses would delight in his handsome face and insist on giving him a guided, personal tour of the Dream Castle. Firefly was sure Majesty would accept him into the Valley warmly, because of course Darshan would stay. He had nowhere else to go.
……The young man slowed as he walked in front of her and sagged against the wall, his head and the torch dropping low as his strength flagged. Firefly came around to see his face, which was downcast and washed with flickering shadows.
……"Are you okay?" she whispered.
……"I'm sorry," he apologized, and she thought it was unnecessary for him to do so and promptly told him so. "I'm not as strong as you would like me to be."
……"Nonsense!" Firefly huffed, and blew her blue forelock out of her eyes. "You're stronger than I could ever be! I don't think I could do what you're doing after being locked up in a dungeon for so many years."
……Darshan made a wry face for her. "Not much good it will do us both to save your friend."
……Images of the Queen's malformed face flashed into Firefly's mind, and they sent shudders crawling across her skin. Nothing but smooth skin where human eyes should be! Firefly fought back the sense of dread she felt lingering just beyond her conscious thought; she couldn't let such fear overcome her. She had to admit to herself, however, that she wasn't looking forward to confrontation with the Blind Queen Shrek.
……"Any chance Lightning is somewhere other than where Queen Shrek is at?" Firefly asked the young man, daring to be hopeful.
……Darshan looked extremely skeptical. "Firefly," he sighed. "My Lady Queen Shrek has laid for you a trap. Wherever Lightning is, rest certain she will be close by."
……"You're not doing great for my self confidence," Firefly muttered, and began to pace herself in circles. Darshan watched her nervous habit mildly.
……"Just be aware of the danger," he told her. "My Lady Queen is no fool. There is no warmth in her black heart. She employs no other method but cruelty."
……Firefly shook her mane out, and it settled gently across her neck. She turned blue eyes at Darshan as she crept close to him, seeming small. "Do you think we can do this?" she whispered, looking very frightened. "Do you think we even have a chance?"
……Darshan stared down at her, studying her colorful peculiarity, and let himself smile gently. "No one has a chance if you give up," he said evenly.
……It was true. She was cowering at his feet like a mongrel dog, fearing a blow before she even knew if the master would strike. Darshan had made her realize, in his simple, straightforward manner, everything she had to live for. Life was incredibly beautiful! Her life was full of color and light, and for all that she had experienced already in her reckless life, she still had years of life ahead of her. She had the chance of falling in love. She wanted the joy of raising a child, and teaching it everything that she knew. She wanted to grow old and walk among the forest trails in the silver years of her life.
……Darshan reminded her what was important in her heart. Her friends, although she had been so angry; her family, who needed her now so dire. Lightning deserved the chance to experience the rest of his life just as she did, and he wouldn't be able to do that without her help. She wasn't that selfish. All those wonderful things in her life were enough to live for, but wasn't Lightning enough to die for?
……She turned a bold face up at Darshan. "You're right," she declared. "I'm scared, but Lightning needs me."
……"It's all right to be scared," Darshan told her kindly. "I am scared with you."
……Of course he was. Firefly realized it suddenly, how frightened he must be on the inside! Although he smiled so calmly at her, everything in his world was different. Dramatic change could be terrifying.
……And, he knew.
……He had seen Shrek's wrath. Darshan knew more than Firefly what kind of danger they were in. Firefly decided she would rather stay ignorant, or else she might lose whatever courage she had left in her heart.


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