Feeling paws instead of hooves was strange first. But my mother helped me stay on them and not fall. After some falls felling paws became habit. And later my eyes finally opened. I could see: I was a little white puppy with brown spots. And my mom looked similar. And yes, technically, I was right: our cave, which we used as a home, was next to little river. And also there was a green and beatiful forest inside. I often heard birds' singing.
And also I admited the fact that I couldn't talk anymore. "Whoof, whoof!" That was the only thing which I could say with my dog mouth. But I wasn't very talking puppy (as I wasn't very talking pony), because my mom told me not to talking without needs. So, technically, I only thought about my past and learned how to be a dog.
The first lesson is: afraid of ponies and not trust them.
"They are unpredictable creatures. One day they can feed you, and later they hurt you without any reason, just because they wanted it." My mom told me after I became too adult puppy.
She hated ponies, I guess, they brought her so much pain and dissapointments. Well, if she would know who I was really.... she would think that her son became crazy. And if she had trusted my past, my mom wouldn't have loved me anymore. And I, Mudbriar, would be alone. As a dog. And without Maud...
The second lesson is: not lose the time and do everything for surviving.
"We are wild dogs, so nobody will take care of us. We must do it ourselves. Or...it's too early speaking about that with you, son. I'll tell you later". She told me. I knew that she meant. If I didn't try to survive, I would die because of hungry.
She wanted protect me from that, teaching how hunt, how feel less cold and other. I thanked her for that, but, technically , I wasn't very good wild dog. I couldn't achieved great results in learning. Fortunately, my mom tried learn me more and more. And I'm really sorry, that I couldn't be a good student.
Sometimes we walked together in the forest. I liked my new mom, but, looking on her, I drived into memories about my past. I felt myself a little colt, who I had been once, in her company. That's why I began remember my really mom.
"Look, Mudbriar, it's Twiggy. He is your new friend." My mom said, meeting me with my pet, when I was five or six.
"Hi, Twiggy". That's how I met my pet. And we became friends from that time. I rememdered that episode of my life with smile. Yeah, dear mother, thanks for meeting me, little silly colt in that moment, with Twiggy.
And also I remembered Maud. Had she missed me, too? I wondered, because I really felt her dissapearence in my life. I often saw her in my dreams. After that dreams, I woke up with sadness. If I was a pony, I would cry because of that. Maybe, it would be a little shame for that stallion as I was, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do something with my tears. But dogs had never been able to cry. That's why I felt myself worse. My mom tried to cheer up me, and I pretended more enjoyed, because I didn't want worry her. But actually I wasn't enjoyed.
"Where am I?" I asked heavy air in my last dream.
"That's the place where we can funally be together" The familiar voice answered me. And later Maud came to me. She was so nice in that dream.
"Technically that's only my dream. And...it's so sad".
"I know. So please don't think about that. I can't see you sad". She answered and kissed me. And that's how I began forgeting about unreality of that kiss. And it was bad: I often felt sadness after that dreams in the mornings as I mentioned. Oh, Maud, I'm so missing you. Why did I make that stupid mistake with that ponies? Why didn't I thinking about my safety?
But one day everything changed, and I didn't expect that. I caught a little mouse (technically eating meat indtead of hay and grass was hard to me first, too) and waited my mom to eating it. But she didn't returned too long. I worried about her. My mom had never left me so long, because I was always a little weak puppy for her (but, technically, she was a little right about that). I decided to try find her.
I cleared the forest looking for her, but there was no sign of her, no smell of her. Then I went to the bank of the river and sniffed. I caught the faint scent of my mother. Well, I forgot to mention one of the perks of being a dog: your nose is amazing. So I didn't have much trouble finding my mom.
But there was no happiness when I found her: the flow of water carried her to the shore, she laid motionless. A small fish twitched in her teeth, trying to escape. My mother's eyes were closed, and her head was pierced, blood was flowing from the crack. I felt pain and unbearable, I howled. Mom's hunt today was clearly not a success. The stormy river swallowed her up and killed. I dug a hole and put her body in it. It was the only thing I could do. After standing near the grave a few minutes in sorrow, I left and returned to the cave. I was very sad there, I was alone. The cave seemed cold and unfriendly to me. And mom will never come here again.
No, I couldn't stay here. I decided to leave the cave and go where eyes could see. Only don't stay here, Mudbriar. Of course, I grew up in this cave (if you might say so) but technically, it wasn't my home anymore. The value of the caves as home was gone, along with my mom. Plus, I was old enough to take care of myself by my own. So I left the cave without much regret, many regrets had already been. I don't know where to go, but I expected that my paws would lead me to the right place. And that's how my way had begun. I'm sorry I left the cave, mom, but it was necessary.