//------------------------------// // 4 - Scolding and Secrets // Story: Dawn the Derby Horse // by Meadow_Dawn //------------------------------// “Erin Selena Gothard, what do you think you’re doing!” The father asked loudly once the engine was turned off. ‘… Selena? Really? I mean, better than the other pseudonym Erim took as Lufia, but now I’m worried.’ Dawn blinked as she began listening to the conversation. “How worried do you think I was when I didn’t see you at the field when I dropped by for lunch?” the dad asked. “Sorry dad, but I left the note and-” “I don’t care. You didn’t talk to me about it first!” he said sternly. “And you didn’t listen to me at dinner when I said that’s what I was gonna do!” ‘Joy… I can tell where this is going.’ Dawn thought, starting to get moving in the trailer and acting impatient, ‘Let’s see if I can help her out some. “I’m your father, and you need to listen to me.” He insisted. “Dad, ‘Because I said so’ doesn’t cut it, I’m not six years old anymore!” Erin said before noticing the mild rocking from the trailer. She sighed and moved to the back. “Don’t you walk away from this!” He said sternly. “I’m just getting my horse put away, god!” She sighed in exasperation. Dawn was quickly unhooked and led to the gate, guided into the pasture and Erin closed the gate, forgetting to tie up the gate as he tried to continue lecturing. “You’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.” He complained, “You know how much I paid for it when I tried to rush things.” “I’m not rushing things! The races were moved up this year!” “You are!” “Then why did we hit under two minutes at the practice race today, huh?!” Erin said loudly, ignoring Dawn standing right by her behind the gate. The dad blinked and froze in his yelling, quietly asking, “Under two minutes? You expect me to believe that?” “Got the pictures from the derby to prove it.” She said, pulling out an envelope and pulled out one of the ten pictures taken and printed for her to keep, a couple during the race while some of the others showed things like Dawn at the finish line and the time of the race behind her or the final stands with the results on the board behind them. The dad took the picture and looked, seeing his smiling daughter and this new horse, staring at the time. He got a very brief smile as he saw the upset looks of the girls beside her at second and third, knowing how much hell they often gave her. After a couple minutes he gave the pictures back. “Still doesn’t excuse you running off.” He said quietly. “Doesn’t excuse you not listening to what I wanted to do with her or the time being moved up.” Erin countered, knowing she was on dangerous ground. The dad raised his brow and said, “Don’t talk back to me young lady.” “Dad… any relationship is built on respect,” She said, repeating something she always heard him tell her, “if you don’t listen to me, how am I supposed to listen too?” “Don’t think throwing my words back at me is going to work. Put that horse away and get your chores done. We’ll settle this tonight.” Dawn didn’t like the sound of that. She stepped forward, opening the gate slightly and put her head close to Erin’s, bumping their chest on accident. Erin chuckled slightly and shook her head, taking the harness still on Dawn’s head and led her back to the stable area. The walk was quiet, and Dawn didn’t like the sense of foreboding she was feeling, but there was little she could do about it. She could relate to their struggle some, as it reminded her of her old human days. Dawn went into the pen meant for her and an hour later, received a hug around her barrel from Erin when she rushed out and into the stable. Dawn stayed put, knowing that Erin was trying to comfort herself. She wanted to give them a kind of hug back, but that would out her as more intelligent than Erin already suspected. Erin left after a few minutes, walking out slowly and Dawn waited a full hour before she allowed her disguise to end, feeling the ‘muscle’ for it exhausted, but slowly recovering and getting better. ‘Hm, seems it’s not based on love, or I’d be fully recharged from the crowd’s love and no longer sore. Perhaps it’s like other muscles then, and needs periodic rest. In that case, I can hold a disguise for a maximum of four days after a full rest before it quits on me, maybe.’ Dawn thought, ‘As if I needed more challenges to keeping a low enough profile to avoid being experimented on outside of the lime green coat I still wear regardless. Someone will figure out it’s my natural color eventually.’ The rest of the night was quiet, and Dawn suspected she would wait until the morning to find out what happened. Dawn rose early that morning, feeling rested as she donned her disguise. Based on the feel, she felt like it was mostly recovered, but was going to plan on not disguising herself at nights when it was safe to do so, just to make sure she could go as long as needed if an emergency came up. Erin came at the usual time, looking frustrated. “Hey girl.” ‘Hey.’ Dawn thought back to her before blinking as she went off to the other stalls. ‘Well, guessing last night went dismally. Seems like the dad doesn’t realize she does do her chores and wants that to be done his way or whatever… I can’t antagonize him too much if he’s the provider, but I know whose side I’m on then.’ Dawn was without much to do other than plan for the next two hours before she finally came back, grumbling loudly. “Not even worth trying to get more than a bit of a run for a bit.” Erin sighed, “Come on girl, let’s get you some sunshine while I work on my other projects.” ‘Other projects?’ Dawn thought as they got their harness put on them. Erin led Dawn out, then used the fence to climb up and got onto Dawn bareback and led her out toward the back of the property, where another smaller building seemed to be. It was too small for Dawn to really go in, if it had the room, but she recognized a smell she didn’t expect. Dawn was hitched on a nearby post and Erin brought out different stands and a chair to be nearby and brought out a few pieces of leather she was working on. From what Dawn could tell, especially with the sizes of the pieces, she was making armor. With one last trip, she pulled out a barely framed sheet of paper outlining the pattern and the designs that the commission. It was a vague looking thing, with sections outlined and a basic idea of the pattern put down. A second reference sheet seemed more fully thought out, with notes scribbled over it, and while Erin set up, Dawn read it. ‘Ideas for renaissance faire armor – Lady Erin’ Dawn looked at, then blinked, ‘so she’s working on someone else’s as well as working on one of her own? Curious… runework is all wrong for spells though.’ The sides were to have different runes that supposedly meant different things, the notes being full of the combining of letters to make the runes based on what reminded Dawn of older Celtic work. ‘Well, good enough of a theme I suppose.’ Dawn thought, looking away, ‘If I were a human again or could take the form, I’d have to fix a lot of that to make it work in Equestria, but this is for her fun I’d think.’ Dawn was pushed back away from the materials by Erin, and she backed away, preferring instead to watch how they handled the leather. Erin worked on the chest-piece and Dawn waited a few minutes before laying down nearby, partly to rest and to have an excuse to note what things she could or should do if she ever took up the hobby. Erin spent the next two hours on this project, until too much of the shade was lost and it was almost noon. She wrapped up her work with a mild sigh that Dawn wasn’t sure if it was relief or frustration, and put the equipment back into the shed, unaware she was being closely watched for where everything was being put. Erin took advantage of Dawn laying down, patting their neck and sides to keep them comfortable, then got on their back. “Come on Meadow, let’s get some grub and get to your riding. Dawn felt their heels try to dig into her side, and she sighed before carefully getting up and lazily being ‘directed’ over to the back of the house, being loosely tied up to yet another log acting as a post. “Be right back girl.” She said, patting their side and half-running inside. Dawn winced at the slamming of the screen door, but had to admit, this would be an easier way of telling a bit more about the family that was home this time of day. It wouldn’t tell her if they had any siblings that were younger, since they would be at school, but it was something. Erin went into the kitchen, quickly digging into the fridge for her usual items. She wanted a big lunch, relax with her horse for an hour-ish, then get to training after it digested enough. “You get your other work done?” the mom asked, a somewhat rounded woman with auburn hair and in the middle of preparing a pie crust dough. “Yes mom.” Erin answered simply, pulling out lunchmeats, lettuce, tomato, carrot slivers, and setting them on the table. “Fully done?” “As done as I’m gonna get for a bit. Leatherworking can’t be done in one day, and I need to be ready to take a call to let me know when our first races are going to be and where.” Erin said, getting the mayo on the bread she just pulled out. “Just don’t forget what your father-” “I know mom.” Erin said tersely, “Still mad at him for yesterday, but I’m not about to let my word go bad.” “All right. You’re old enough to decide that yourself after all.” The mom said supportively. “Yeah… thanks mom.” Erin said, “Just wish he could understand that.” “I talked it over with him, he cooled down after dinner last night.” “Sure didn’t act like it this morning.” Erin said as she finished laying out the meats and got the rest ready. “It’s unrelated.” “Sure it is.” Erin snorted under her breath. The two women worked the rest in silence, Erin making her sandwiches before packing away a couple apples and some potato chips in a plastic bag before putting it all in a lunch bag and headed back out. “See you for dinner!” the mom called as the door opened. “Yup!” Erin called as the door nearly slammed closed. Dawn winced at the harsh sound, sniffing at the food she smelled Erin had, only to hear Erin giggle. “Come on girl, we’ll get you your food once we get your saddle!” Erin said, deftly climbing up on the makeshift spot and hopping onto Dawn’s back, attempting to get Dawn back to the fields. Dawn let herself get guided back, going into the stables and Erin dismounted carefully, then got Dawn’s saddle on again, repeatedly needing to keep Dawn away from the bag, laughing as she played keep away with her. Sooner than Dawn would like, Erin getting very comfortable with securing Dawn and fastening her faster for it, the pair rode off with the lunch between Erin’s legs as they rode away from the pasture and along the fields that her family tended. She would go to a little nook by the forest that she loved, spend some time with Dawn, then get to their endurance training she planned on. Dawn watched the path as Erin guided her to a small trail between two of the fields, a forest laying just beyond it. To her right, she saw some kind of corn product and to her left, she saw some cotton or other fiber based plant. She wouldn’t like going into that briar patch of plants without having her chitin to protect her, probably extra too. They walked past the fields into the light forest, walking on for a good five minutes before they reached a clearing and a flattened rock in the middle of the trail. “Here we go girl, as good a place as any for a picnic before training.” Erin said, hopping down and sitting on the rock. ‘For you… there’s not even any grass around here to eat, ignoring the risks of parasites and such… oh god, I just realized I’ll have to get checked by the BCD for any new infection vectors on top of that anyway. Ughhh.’ Dawn mentally groaned, letting out a sigh. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you.” Erin said, misunderstanding as she pulled out her apples, cut them, and sprinkled some sugar on them before holding them out for her horse. ‘Damn right you won’t.’ Dawn thought as she continued to play dumb, acting hesitant before eventually taking the slice while Erin ate her sandwich. Things continued like this quietly, Dawn eating and keeping her ears tuned for any unexpected noises, and Erin ate in peace. After half an hour, Erin wiped off her crumbs and put the lunchbag on the saddle, climbing up into it and directing Dawn back the way they came and up the road toward the track. When they reached the road, Dawn moved to a brisk trot, anticipating some heavier workouts today. ----- Dawn was hot and close to sweating, almost not caring how the water in the trough was almost gross now for no clear reason. When she was about to give up and go to the trough, Erin had turned on the hose and held it out so Dawn could drink, almost like a water fountain, and she was glad. It was still a bit more metallic than she’d prefer, but it would do in a pinch and not as bad as the bin was. They took an easy walk back home as a very familiar truck and trailer drove slowly by on the road. Erin gave her dad a nod as he waved, and the dad drove back off toward the home, only another half an hour away. By the time they arrived, it was dinnertime and she barely had time to take Dawn into the fenced area and her saddles off and set to the side before she was pushed to go back inside and eat with the family. Dawn wandered back to the stable to get her own meager meal and wait for Erin to return with the riding gear. ========== “What do you mean, ‘the result is invalid?’” Victoria’s father asked, getting firm with the lab personnel. “Exactly what I said.” The lab morphologist answered. “The samples I received were unable to be registered by our systems, and had to be evaluated manually. I myself put them under the microscope and compared to our characteristics tables. It most closely resembles a pony’s hair and coat, but it is too different to call it that and yet it isn’t a horse hair.” “Wait, you tell me the result is invalid and yet you have proof that what that is isn’t a horse?” “If you’d allow me to make my full report, you will get my complete answer.” The lab doctor replied tersely. Even though it was a client who was paying well for their service, basic courtesies were still expected. “As I was trying to say, the automated results were invalid, the manual review was inconclusive other than to say it seems to be based on some kind of pony equine we haven’t catalogued yet, and the attempts to understand the compound causing the green and vivid yellow pigmentation is inconclusive as well. There’s not enough of it to find out more than it doesn’t match any registered dyes currently manufactured.” “So what you’re saying is I need more.” “Yes. No less than ten from each kind of hair we are trying to work with.” “I’ll see what I can do.” Victoria’s father answered before hanging up the phone. He frowned as he looked around his study, only having the best of the best furniture and some artwork purely to impress clients or business partners that would come to visit. He tried to consider what options would be best to secure his good outcome, weighing the risks of each and the potential reward of finding out the secret behind this mystery ‘horse.’ A private investigator could get expensive quickly, especially if they needed to get a little dirty, not that he liked having any such methods traced back to him. Many of his colleagues, one in particular, court the dangers of such methods far too much and several had been ruined in scandal for doing so. It was a game he did not wish to play any more than necessary. A groomer could get the job done, but they no doubt did it themselves. He held no contempt for those who did their own work and he had encouraged his daughter to do so, but she was too spoiled to listen and he had already removed her allowance to teach her a lesson. It was the only reason she was supposed ride in the first place, to attempt to earn her own money, but then she squandered it by not accepting coming in second. He scowled and refocused his train of thought, considering a groomer again before an idea hit. He started to smile again, business instincts telling him this was the right move, a method that would be sincere, yet also give his labs all the access they could want if it paid off. A brief bit of research later, and he reached for his phone and began dialing a number. Ring… ring… ri- “Gothard residence.” A gruff voice said, scratching noises being heard as beard hair rubbed against the microphone of the phone. “Hello, this is Jarod Pepper. I had reached out to Erin Gothard about her horse and wanted to continue where we left off at the track.” “Well, I’ll have to get her, but she’s busy dealing with the horses and some of her other chores. Can I leave a message?” “I can do better if you’re willing.” Jarod answered. “I wanted to talk to either of you about getting her horse’s pedigree checked. Her performance in the trial race was impressive and should that performance continue, I’ll be making other offers to our mutual benefit.” “And why should she get the pedigree checked just for you?” “Because I’m interested in paying for a foal from that horse and want all the papers in place for it. I’ll cover all the expenses, and in exchange, we both find out. No requirements to promise breeding either.” Jarod answered quickly. He went quiet right after, knowing very often when it comes to business, after the offer is made, the first person to speak loses. There was a pause, and Jarod stayed in his chair, enjoying the wait. They were too practical a people to waste too much time, something he could still respect. The practical people weren’t ones to waste much of anything, or negotiate too much out of him past their ‘fair price’ and were often far lower than the real value. It didn’t hurt they made for good workers if they chose to be employed. “I’ll let her know.” Mr. Gothard answered. “Here, have my number. I look forward to hearing her accept.” He said, relaying his number and hanging up when he knew Mr Gothard took the message. “Now, we play the waiting game. ========== Erin sighed as she finished the last of the section she aimed to get done on the leather commission. She took a picture after getting the light turned on, sending it off to show her progress and make sure they were still happy with the work. She only got the material cost up front, so any sudden changes or additions they spring on her and she’d get to negotiate. She put everything away in the dark, lit only by a partial moon that sometimes hid behind the clouds and sighed. She wouldn’t mind working at night if it weren’t for all the stuff she had to do in the day. She was exhausted, and swore that she saw that green flash of light in the stables and sighed, walking over to it. Dawn had finished experimenting while the others were inside or asleep like she expected, nodding approvingly as she finally got an idea of what forms she could take. Worst case scenario, while she’d have very unusual hair, she could still be a human Erin’s size, as well as a few hybrid forms between her natural form and human. Anything else was out of the question unless it changed more, and that wasn’t likely as the ‘muscle’ didn’t seem to increase despite constant exercise of her disguise. Dawn found her options interesting, yet odd. The shapeshifting alone was different, but even her magic was limited, though slowly opening up. At the moment all she could do was five pounds of weight telekinesis and magical storage access of her princess weapon, a shield. The idea was frustrating, considering she knew she had more she could get, if only it would get within reach sooner, like bacon. When she last used her shield, it was a medium size, having an hourglass shape belying that it could split into two parts and wielded in both arms. She handled it carefully in her modified human shape fondly, feeling comfortable as she tested the shield and could still channel her magic into its shape to her needs. It could never get bigger than a riot shield, but she didn’t need it to. A good offense was also a useful defense after all. She put her weapon away and began trying to relax as her natural form when she heard the crunch of hay just outside her stall and quickly shifted once more into her current disguise, heart trying to race as she prepared to run or attack as needed. Erin blinked as she saw a wave of green fire-light just around the wood of the stall holding her horse and rushed to see what happened, only to find her horse standing there, looking at her expectantly. “I swear Meadow, you are weird.” Erin smirked, “You don’t have to hide secrets from me.” ‘Yes, I do.’ Dawn thought as she stared Erin down briefly before feigning disinterest and beginning to lie down in her usual corner. She had to get Erin to go away soon, her unintended long experimenting session that was supposed to be a ‘quick check’ strained her transformation ‘muscle’ or whatever it was, and she needed to let it rest. ‘I have zero idea what you or others in this world would do if they knew what I could do.’ “Not gonna give up why you put out some kind of green firelight sometimes huh?” Erin asked, giving a sigh as she leaned on the simple guard rail before entering the pen. ‘Come on Erin, leave.’ Dawn thought, debating if she should stand up to make her point, maybe push Erin away. Erin came over and knelt down, petting their side as she thought out loud. “You’re a fast horse, you trust me enough to let me do this while lying down, yet there’s so much I don’t know… only way to get around that is to keep going as we have and I’ll catch you eventually.’ Dawn watched, straining her abilities to the limit as Erin sighed, getting up and walking away back to home on her ATV. Only when she was good and quiet but still heard did Dawn finally revert to what this world called her natural state, panting at the effort. ‘Well… that was close. I’m going to have to keep on my hooves with her around like I should be doing.’ Dawn thought, beginning to go into a light sleep. ----- Erin had turned back, watching the stables and only turning away after reaching the gate. She had hoped she would spot that firelight again, but didn’t see it, the flash hitting the walls only once she was about to stop and dismount to let herself out. “One day, I will find out your secret.” She said quietly to herself, “Even if it means camping out here with you if I have to. I’ll try checking in on you in the middle of the night later on if you don’t reveal it on your own and then worry about camping out…” Erin went inside, ready to slip off her shoes, shower, and collapse into bed when her father approached her. “Erin, before you go to bed, I got a call for you.” “Can’t it wait till morning dad?” she asked quietly, turning to head to the stairs now that her shoes. “Guy named Mr. Pepper wanted to talk about that strange horse of yours.” That got her attention, making her pause and turn around, “What does he want?” “Wants to pay for your finding out what kinda horse you got.” “Yeah right.” Erin rolled her eyes. “Seriously.” He answered, “Said he’d cover all the cost, just wants to also know what she is too so he can make a breeding offer.” “I’ll think about it.” She said, holding back her frustration and then climbed up the stairs. She sighed once she got to the bathroom and got undressed to shower. As the water fell and she washed herself off, she thought. ‘As much as I hate dealing with his kind, that would help with figuring out what Meadow is. Thing is… she’s pretty smart, and if she’s smarter than she seems, that’d be a big breach of trust and she trusts me a lot already… but what if she’s not?’ She sighed, not liking the idea of passing up an opportunity that lands in her lap. She had resentment for ‘big company’ men who forget about caring for the ‘little people’ in lieu of the almighty dollar, but she didn’t want to let that resentment close off a good option. Erin turned the water off and let the water drip down, deciding she would worry about it later while looking into it on her own. When the races start up a month from now, if Dawn does well, she could make it up to the tristate, maybe even the national derby if that speed wasn’t a fluke! Erin sighed happily at the picture that entered her mind as she wrapped a towel around herself. Eighteen million dollars, before taxes anyway, was nothing to sneeze at. She could get her own ranch going, expand the family’s farms, get new equipment, whatever she wanted. If that ran out, she could get sponsorships to cover expenses so they could advertise on her uniform or whatever. Ultimately none of that was possible until she could rely on Meadow winning against some of the best in the country and without any fancy gadgets or coaches. Erin went to her room and got into pajamas before flopping down into bed, glancing out the window toward the shed. She sighed in frustration again as she remembered the strange lights in Meadow’s stable before turning over and going to sleep.