Erin woke early the next morning, once again taking care of the stables before getting to Dawn with a mild grin, once again only needing to clean up a small area and replace the bedding hay before getting Dawn’s harness on easily. She was entertained at how sleepy Dawn acted, despite her name.
“Come on girl, time to wake up and smell the grass!” Erin said happily.
‘Of course I have to get a morning person…’ Dawn groaned, walking after Erin with half closed eyes.
“Come on.” Erin repeated encouragingly, leading Dawn to a boxy trailer with many holes in it.
‘Ah, so we’re going to a different field. Joy.’ Dawn mentally complained again as she entered the trailer with Erin.
Erin was impressed again. Most horses hesitated getting into the trailer and she had expected Dawn to stop so she could get the ramp connected, yet this horse just stepped up like it was nothing new, standing near one of the hitching posts on her own. Erin watched for a few seconds before entering the trailer. She fastened the things she needed to fasten so Dawn’s weight was less likely shift and unbalance the truck they were taking, then patted her back.
“I’ll be back soon once we get you there. Be good while I’m gone ok?” Erin said.
‘Yes, of course.’ Dawn thought sarcastically, ‘because the first thing I want is to tip everything over and risk more harm to myself than to anypony else.’
Erin got out, secured the back doors, and walked over to the passenger door and got in, her dad having offered to drive earlier that morning.
“So, you’re really set on this mystery horse.” The dad commented.
“Yup, gonna see what she can do in the field while you work, get some averages in and see how she handles before we register.” Erin confirmed.
“All right… I’ll probably watch the first few before I get going. Most of the crew have already gotten things done ahead of schedule.”
Erin stayed quiet, looking out the lightly rusted truck as they got moving and started to drive down to the fields they managed, a bit of land being set aside for testing the horses or giving them space to run.
It only took them ten minutes before they began to slow down and pull in to a dirt field just large enough to imitate a derby track, with barrels imitating the inside fencing.
‘Ok, so clearly they want to see how well I can race. I can’t do as fast of a speed as before if I want to avoid being in the public eye, but it seems like my speed and stamina training from before have carried over from back home. We’ll have to see how attentive Erin is to my performance.’ Dawn thought.
They came to a stop where the stands might have been, just a couple of benches and horse posts for the guests they have visiting, paying hobbyists or friends otherwise. Erin quickly got out and got the trailer opened.
Dawn let herself be guided backward, watching where her hind hooves were and carefully walked down without the ramp again, seeing how Erin was watching closely.
They paused outside the trailer, the harness being tied to the trailer itself, and once again Erin got the saddle equipment out and got Dawn fastened up before mounting the saddle.
‘Hm, skin on fur feels funny.’ Dawn noted randomly, wondering why Erin opted for short sleeves and shorts on this mildly cool day. ‘Would have thought that would feel like petting my cat when I was growing up. Hm.’
Erin gave the light jab with the soles of her boots and Dawn moved away from the trailer, being walked around the course as she observed it.
‘Pretty hard earth there.’ Dawn noted, ‘not very slippery. I’d prefer grass, but like the sergeant taught, I won’t always get what I want in a battlefield and this is no exception.’
Erin watched as Dawn went through the field, riding softly and enjoying their gentle rocking motion. Another day of feeling good about this. If there was one thing she knew to listen to, it was her instincts.
They went around the mile and a quarter of track and Erin pulled on the harness gently to get everything ready. A quick tear tape was strung behind her from one barrel to its opposite side’s counterpart, and she took out the stopwatch and tossed it over to her dad.
“If you’re gonna watch, might as well time us.” Erin grinned.
“Sure. Show me what she can do. After three, I’ve gotta get back to work.” He shrugged, scratching his now mild beard on his face.
Erin went over to Dawn and mounted her again, and Dawn internally smirked. ‘Ok, so let’s see how a more casual pace like before gets measured and how excited they get.’
“Ready!” The dad called, “On your mark! Get Set… Wait for it! GO!”
Dawn snorted at the ‘wait for it’ and no sooner than he had said go, she managed to go into a full gallop just before Erin tried to squeeze her sides.
Erin let out a squeak of surprise before getting her balance again, holding the proper posture she was taught to keep her weight as steady for them as possible.
The dad watched, looking over at the colored barrels, most of them being blue, but eight were red, indicating when they passed each furlong to measure pacing. He hit the button when Dawn and Erin passed the first one and gave a low whistle.
“Thirteen seconds out of the gate?” He said quietly, “That’s real good.”
The rest of the race left Dawn breathing consistently with her heavier exercise breaths, taking the rest of the course in stride. Erin breathed excitedly, exercising by virtue of holding more of her weight into the stirrups than in the seat like she was taught, and this was definitely faster by the feel of the wind than any of her other horses!
Dawn ripped through the tape and continued running, causing Erin to laugh and try to tell Dawn to stop while the dad simply stared at the stopped time until Erin managed to turn Dawn around and trot over to him.
“How’d we do dad?” Erin asked, knowing that it had to have been good based on that look.
“Two minutes, seven seconds…” He said, blinking as he showed her.
“Whoah…” Erin said with a smile, patting Dawn’s neck approvingly, “And she hasn’t even hit her stride from what I can tell.”
“You’re kidding.” The dad said flatly.
“You should hear her breathing after, you saw how she wanted to keep going.” Erin countered, “She could probably go faster.”
“Hun, I know you’re excited, but you and I both know that the derby record hasn’t been beaten in practically fifty years.” Dad said, “If we haven’t had any horse beat it since, I doubt we’re about to with some horse that popped up outta nowhere that can break that under two minute record.”
“We don’t know till we try!” She said excitedly. “Come on Dawn, let’s go reset.”
‘… BUCK!’ Dawn cursed herself. ‘I should have been more cautious, but noooooo, I had to go back to my regular pace out of habit and as a ‘test’ only to find out she can call my bluff! Only way out of it now is to fake breathing hard when we’re done, and even that will probably backfire!’
Dawn let herself be led to the starting line again, Erin fixing up the break and setting up the tape again with intent to reuse it every time she could.
“Ready? Set? Go!” The dad called, and once again, he barely pushed the button down and Dawn went into a gallop.
The trio continued on like this for two more races, Dawn getting another time that was two minutes fifteen seconds the second time, only to hear Erin complain and pull out a bag of sweetened oats to tempt her. Dawn acted interested, sniffing the bag before she took the bag away and put it on the finishing barrel by her father.
“So help me, we are going to see your very best or you won’t get your treat.” Erin threatened.
‘Well, you asked for it.’ Dawn thought. ‘If I can’t fool you, let’s ride. I’m already in trouble after all…’
Dawn dashed once again, running with most of her effort for the mile this time, and Erin clung on tightly as she thought her bribe was working. She rode Dawn to the end, where Dawn broke the tape and only at Erin’s signal a good quarter of a mile later did she slow down into their ‘cool down trot.’
The dad was standing up, waving Erin to get over and look.
“What’s the time now dad?” Erin asked, only to get it shown to her face, “What?!”
“I don’t believe it either.” The dad said, looking stunned.
‘If you didn’t believe it, then you wouldn’t be so shocked and more annoyed.’ Dawn mentally countered.
“You sure you hit it at the right times?” Erin asked.
“You calling your dad a liar?” He asked with a slight grin.
“Just a prankster. I had to get it from somewhere!” Erin said proudly.
“We should get her to the track, see what they would time her at. Maybe this watch is busted.” The dad suggested.
“No, it felt that fast… we just might have a new recordholder horse right here!” Erin said excitedly, going over to get the feed bag for Dawn.
Dawn snorted, not feeling hungry quite yet and ignored the feed. ‘I’m a bloody alicorn for crying out loud! Of course after a good five years of physical fitness training I’d be faster than almost anypony mortal!’
“Really girl? Now you’re saying you’re not hungry after how worked up you got?” Erin laughed. “Maybe she’s the prankster out of the three of us!”
‘No, that would be Tia.’ Dawn mentally countered. ‘Hell, I’d still need more of my shapeshifting abilities to work or illusion magic to really prank you unless I can manage more than my natural form and this one in this world.’
The dad simply laughed with his daughter, patting her on the back and then began walking back to the truck, “Well, I’ll leave you all to it till you give me a ring and I’ll pick you up.”
“Will do!” Erin called before turning back to mount Dawn again and took her out for a trot.
Dawn thought to herself as she let the human on her back do what she pleased, ‘directing’ or ‘leading’ her as she wanted. It left her free to wonder what the next steps she should take would be.
By the time they took a break for lunch, Erin called to request dad get them picked up and back home for a break. Dawn felt mildly tired. She expected to feel a bit sore, but there was a very sore spot just in front of where the saddle was that she couldn’t quite reach to bite at for lack of a better scratching tool.
“Here girl, you did good.” Erin said, approaching and giving the spot a good scratch for several seconds after seeing dawn try to reach it, then rubbed and patted the area.
‘Of course.’ Dawn thought, still mildly annoyed that it still felt very sore, almost painful, yet the rubbing and scratching didn’t help. Still, Erin seemed earnest enough, and they did want her to do well for both of them. It was frustrating she couldn’t taste their emotions, like she had lost a sense. She was grateful it wasn’t a worse situation, but was struggling to keep her act together.
Dawn was guided into the trailer and they were driven over to the main pasture again, where Erin walked Dawn over to the stable and groomed her down before getting her meal of hay mixed with some alfalfa into the trough and refilled her water basin.
Dawn spent the rest of the day relaxing either by eating or walking around the field, taking in her surroundings and trying to guess where she might have been. Nighttime fell and she was guided back to the stable, and she had a limited line of sight to the night sky, but she took solace in how similar the star formations looked.
‘There’s some constellations that seem close to Equestria’s… Wait, that’s Orion, and there’s The Big Dipper… So somehow I made it back to Earth? Maybe not the same one though.’ Dawn hummed. She thought about what she could do if it was, and decided to test her moderate shapeshifting once more.
A quick rush of green fire went up from the base of her hooves and around her body until it vanished at the tip of her horn, only to make Dawn blink at her natural form appearing. ‘What?! I tried to change to be human!’
She tried to test it again, only to feel pain flare up from just under the strip of her chitin that went from partway up her neck down to her flanks. It was a strong, sharp pain reminiscent of a cramping muscle and Dawn could only wait until the pain passed, panting hard.
‘Bucking hell…’ She complained, ‘I guess on a slight upside, managing it is going to be a new challenge to learn this world’s rules. So help me if it still needs love and I can’t taste it to see how much I’m getting I’m going to be mad… guess I have to see if buttering her up more will make it last longer or if this works under new rules. Buck that hurt!’