Pipsqueak's Voyage

==P==I==P==
Today
==P==I==P==

Pipsqueak gasped for air, tasting the salt of blood and sea as he was hurled through the water. He could feel his forelegs going numb in their vicious battle to keep himself from letting go of the pathetic log that was the only thing keeping him from a watery grave. Another wave, taller than a house, crashed down, sending Pipsqueak and his little chunk of wood swirling and careening underwater. The stallion felt his tiny raft slipping from his grip in the violence of the storm as he was beaten below the surface. He summoned up reserves of energy that should have been exhausted and pulled the wooden chunk against his chest, wrapping his back legs around it as well now to keep his hold.

His head broke the surface just as his lungs began to burn and he took a wild gasp of air, coughing violently as seawater flowed into his lungs. A blast of wind flattened his mane against his face and an explosion of thunder attacked his eardrums. He whimpered as he clung to the wood, feeling his grip weaken again as he saw another massive wave rising from the ocean. He knew he’d never survive this storm. He could already feel himself going numb and losing consciousness. Soon he’d black out and be dragged down into the dark waters below. It seemed like a horrible end after all the trials he’d gone through, but then again, it would be a rest, the last rest, and nobody in the world could blame him for resting after everything he’d done; everything he’d endured.

Nobody, save one.

In his mind’s eye he saw a beautiful mare in a white dress, beaming at him as he slipped a golden ring onto her horn. She looked him in the eye and her look of pure joy made his insides feel like they were on fire. That same fire rose to his eyes as he clenched his teeth and glared at the towering wave. He spat the seawater from his mouth and screamed at the boiling skies and seas, “Come on then! I’m still here!”

The wave suddenly exploded as something enormous surged up from below. Pipsqueak and his makeshift raft were thrown out of the water, flying through the air in the midst of a salty spray only to slam back into the water a few yards away. No matter his resolve, the force of the impact combined with the shock of the sudden surge tore Pipsqueak away from his raft. His mind immediately prepared for the next crushing wall of water to drag him down… but the wave never came.

The stallion lay in the water, eyes and mouth clenched shut in a grim expression of anguish, but nothing happened. He could still hear the storm, the roaring water and howling wind, but the water seemed to have, calmed; frozen, almost. He opened his eyes cautiously and saw his tiny raft drifting a few feet away. He tiredly swam toward it and draped his upper body across the wooden surface. He allowed himself to rest for a moment, unclenching his muscles in an attempt to recover even a drop of strength. Then he looked up.

Pipsqueak’s entire body went numb and the color drained out of him.

A thousand feet above him, black in the light of the electricity fueling the storm, a serpent the size of ten dragons gazed down on him. Its head was shaped like a massive wedge, with fins like sails sprouting from the corners of its eyes. It looked lithe and delicate, despite its roughly cylindrical body being over a hundred feet across. It swayed dangerously in the air far above, looking down straight at the awe struck speck floating in the water below it. A jagged bolt of lightning cut the sky and illuminated its black and emerald armored scales, covering its body in ship sized hexagonal plates. The gleam of a hundred razor fangs glowed in its jaws as a brilliant yellow light reflected off its golden eyes.

Pipsqueak could only stare as his doom looked down upon him. It began to hiss deep in its throat, a sound like the air was being rent in two, and the ragged stallion closed his eyes, tears springing to his eyes as he silently begged his wife’s forgiveness for ever leaving home in the first place.

The serpent tensed, muscles like hardened steel flexed, its hissing reached a crescendo, and it lunged with a hellish gleam of fangs as Pipsqueak whispered quietly.

“I’m sorry Sweetie Belle...”

Ten years earlier…