Much time passed since the days of my youth and the adventures I had with the two-leggeds. We avoided their slow progression across this ageless land yet their presence has been forcing horse, buffalo, deer, and many woodland creatures deeper in opposite directions hoping to find refuge.
Mother had weakened over the years but she always tried to hide it. I knew. I always knew she was growing older and her time would come to join the great herd in the sky and provide desperate company for Rain. But not yet.
Rain. Oh, how I missed her. A cougar had snuck up on her while she slept and though she fended it off, the injuries sustained in the end were simply too much. I wanted to run. Run and find Littlecreek. He would know how to save Rain. He did so before, but her wounds were simply too great and I dared not leave her side.
We spoke softly to one another in her final moments. Reminiscing our younger days when that boy gave me both my freedom and the love of my life. In the end, I accepted her final farewell and I gave her a promise of seeing her again someday. But she would have to wait.
She passed not long after our goodbyes. Rain gave me the best years of my life not to mention three sons and a daughter. Colts who grew into impressive stallions of their own and have since left to wander the vast wilderness and start their own herds. Our daughter, while just as hardheaded as I ever was and am, continues to linger with the herd to tend to Mother when the need arose. She was a wonderful filly. Lead mare material that one. Rain would have been proud.
But I, no, we had to press on. My responsibility demanded it of me and so we headed in the opposing direction of the two-leggeds, leaving the land of my birth for a new adventure. Not just for myself but for the entire herd. It was, believe it or not, kind of exciting! But also extremely dangerous so we took our time and weathered the seasons together.
It was not until the warmth of the following summer did we find what we believed to be our new home. Rolling hills as far as the eye could see in one direction. Plains and a river not too far off that followed the border of a rather large forest on the other side in the other. Home. This is where we would build the new generation of mustang.
***
A year had since gone by since we settled. I sired another colt and filly. The start of our new generation where big hopes and dreams had been placed upon them. I could not wait to see what their future held. Would my own son be the one to run me out of the herd? I smiled at the thought. Let him try. But who knew? Perhaps my time as the leader of the Cimarron was soon to expire?
As my daughter guided the herd to new grazing grounds, I veered off to go for a run as I always did. I yelled across the plains to alert them of my temporary departure. Only after they responded in unison did I take off at a sprint.
There was simply nothing like it. The feel of the earth beneath my hooves as it shifted from my thundering gait and the wind brushing through my mane. Nothing but a wonderful embrace from the mare I loved could ever hope to come close to such a euphoric sensation.
I kept at it. Aimed for the river and just let myself fly across the land as I raced the very wind itself. I came to a sliding stop all but a few paces from the river’s edge. I was exhausted. My breaths came in heavy heaves and my muscles began their inevitable protest but it felt wonderful. I felt as free and alive here as our old homelands.
I drank as if the water was air itself, quenching my thirst rapidly. It helped cool me down but I knew what would quicken that. The current of the river seemed calm enough this day and I jumped in. My head quickly slipped beneath the river but I didn’t care. I welcomed it. I surfaced seconds later with a sharp gasp as I sucked in needed air before I simply paddled in circles. I never said I was a creative swimmer and this did the job cooling me off.
A wiser horse would have reached the shore, shook his coat free of water, and returned to the herd. I never claimed to be a wise horse nor one to learn from past mistakes. I spotted a pulsing glow within the darkness of the forest. It was faint and never seemingly consistent with its flash of light. Slowly, I began to swim to the opposite shoreline and simply stared. It did not have the same glow as a two-legged’s campfire so what could it be? Drying what I could of myself with a firm shake of my body, I ventured beyond the threshold of the forest knowing well my curiosity has gotten me into trouble too many times to count. And here I was falling prey to it once more.
I eventually came upon a sizable pond. We rarely crossed the river, it was unwise to due to the presence of predators and their knack for hiding in the brush, so I was surprised by yet another body of water. However, that sensation quickly evaporated in a heartbeat as my eyes fell upon a glowing cloud a few paces into the pond itself, simply hovering there unmoving. I don’t know how better to describe it. It was such a strange thing to behold and I could not help but be drawn to it. I felt it calling me. I could feel a foreign air push against my approach and yet there was not a single ripple to be had upon the water’s surface to indicate such a breeze.
My ears had pressed forward intently when I began to hear voices. They were muffled but there was definitely more than one distinct individual. I wondered if it was coming from the cloud. Hooves beckoned me to continue my approach and I did so without further hesitation. I felt them become submerged in water as I took step after careful, cautious step toward the glowing cloud. I stopped when I was face to face with it. Looked it from top to bottom and side to side. There was a soft, audible hum coming from it now that I was closer and the voices were becoming more clear.
I don’t know what really happened to anger the cloud and I did not think the touch of my nose to inspect it would have done so. But upon touching the cloud, the glow instantly grew to such intensity that I had to close my eyes. It was but a moment later that a heard a voice. A single voice with such clarity I could make out the gender. Female. The next thing I knew I heard the voice shout in warning.
“Girls! Get back! Now!”
The feel of weightlessness grasped me suddenly and I felt myself being hurled into the great unknown. As the light began to shift rapidly behind the lids of my eyes, I dared to open them for all but an instant. Stars. So many stars were moving past me at an unbelievable rate. I had no idea what was going on. Was I dreaming? I had to be. I noticed there was a particular star growing ever closer ahead of me. Growing larger. I realized then I was heading straight toward it without a way to stop myself. Panicking, I tried to run in a different direction but to no avail. There was no traction for my hooves which were now flailing in all directions as adrenaline told my body to flee.
And I couldn’t. I simply could not flee.
As the star rapidly came closer, I yelled out. I don’t take pleasure in admitting it but I may have sounded like a mare at the time but thankfully it was only my ears that heard it. Upon breaching the light of the star I clenched my eyes closed as I awaited oblivion. It came but it was far from what I was expecting.
Instead of the release of death, I felt myself impact an earthly floor. It was as if I had simply tripped and fallen to which you will never hear me admit to. And yet there I was, limbs tangled with one another as I laid there on my side feeling as if I had just been bucked in the stomach. Only then did I hear something. It sounded like a forest. The soft rustle of the canopy of leaves as the wind swept through, the groan of trees as they swayed, and a multitude of birds singing their songs. There was also a new sound. I heard a collective set of gasps come from all around me.
“Whoa nelly!”
“Oh my! Twilight, why did a stallion suddenly appear? Whatever was that!?”
“I don’t know! It appeared to be a spatial disturbance." The voice paused for a moment before resuming. "A portal of some kind and obviously very unstable seeing that it has now collapsed so soon after forming.”
“What the! He’s big! Look at him!”
“Um, girls? ...Shouldn’t we make sure he is okay? He fell pretty hard.”
There were five distinct voices, all of which were unique in their own ways. With my stomach settling and my breathing slowed, I finally opened my eyes and what did I find? Five fillies and not a single adult or so I thought at the time. They kept up a conversation amongst themselves where I took the opportunity to take a good look at them only to find myself questioning whether I had hit my head in my descent.
They were nothing like fillies where I come from. Large eyes, thicker legs, some with horns upon their brow, others with wings. One even had a hat like the two-leggers would wear. I did a double take at the ones with wings. Wings! I stared questioningly at them enviously. One of the fillies had a cyan colored coat with both a rainbow-colored mane and tail. Another was yellow in coloration with a pink mane and tail. The purple colored one, who was taller than the rest, had both a horn and wings. Needless to say, my jaw dropped. Who were these horses?
“Uhm. H-Hello, Sir. Are...are you okay?”
The yellow one approached me with concern while my mind was still fuzzy but I quickly recovered and brought my attention upon the winged filly. To my surprise I was unable to properly comprehend her speech though I could tell by her voice she was concerned for my well-being. To answer her I untangled my legs and began to rise. Another set of gasps were exhaled by the group as I rose to my full height, muscles rippling underneath my coat as I did so. They ached but I otherwise felt whole. I noticed the fillies were staring at me, their own jaws having dropped in their own moment of disbelief. I could not tell what got them so flabbergasted but the slight pink to their cheeks was clue enough. Had they never seen a horse such as myself before? I was hardly an impressive specimen though that might just be me being modest.
My head turned as I looked down looked down to the yellow one who had taken refuge behind her mane. I lowered my head and I gave her a curious stare before I offered her a smile and answered. I had no reason to truly believe she could not understand me. “I am fine, young one. Sore but nothing I cannot handle. Who are you? Where am I?”
Solidifying what I had begun to dread I received no reply only a questioning glance by the yellow filly whom eventually looked toward the others. For aid no doubt. The others gave me similarly confused glances and toward one another before the cyan filly spoke up for the group. Not that I understood save for the surprise in her tone.
“What the hay did he say?”