The morning rays of sunlight slowly crept their way down the wall, and soon they were shining on Chloe’s sleeping body. The bright light caused her to scrunch up her face as she stirred from her peaceful slumber. She gave out a quick yawn and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, trying to adjust to the light.
The sun shouldn’t be up yet… A quick glance over to her digital clock on the dresser told her that it was already twenty past six in the morning. She blinked, rubbing her eyes again as she stared as the clock in a sleepy haze. That can’t be right. I set it for five, didn’t I? She checked the alarm; it was set to seven.
“Ugh, I swear I set that last night! How in the world did I forget?” she grumbled, throwing the covers off before stumbling to her feet. She swayed slightly, using the bed to steady herself as she regained her balance. Chloe carefully walked around the piles of clothes that were strewn about the floor and made her way to the bathroom that was just outside of her room.
It only took her a few minutes, as opposed to the normal half hour, to do her morning routine. Usually she dreaded mornings, and most days she was lethargic and dead to the world until well after breakfast. But today, today was different. This was the day that the horse her father had bought—her horse—was arriving. The plan was to wake up early to get the morning chores done so she could get the stall ready for the new arrival that would be here in—.
“Crap! They will be here in less than two hours!” She wasn’t watching where she was going and almost tripped on a pile of dirty clothes. Eh, I’ll just deal with those later. She quickly kicked them out of the way and threw on the first set of clean clothes she could find.
The smell of pancakes and sausage that her mother had no doubt started cooking while she was in the bathroom permeated throughout the house. Although she was hungry and hated to miss such a wonderful smelling breakfast, she didn’t have time for it right now. Chloe practically ran down the hallway and into the open kitchen where her mother was just finishing up another batch of pancakes.
“Hi, Mom! Bye, Mom!” Chloe shouted, running past her mother as she made a beeline towards the front door.
“Hey! Where you off to in such a hurry?” Her mother poked her head around the corner, the frying pan, complete with pancakes, still in her hand.
Chloe stopped, looking back to her mother. “I gotta get my chores done before they drop off my horse, and I forgot to set my alarm last night so I’m running late,” she explained in a rushed voice.
“Not until you eat some breakfast.”
“Bu—”
“No ‘buts’, missy.” Her mother cut her off, giving her that look that said ‘do as you’re told or else’. She went back to place the final batch of pancakes on a plate and started to make her own plate of breakfast.
“Yes, ma’am.” Chloe sighed and reluctantly headed back into the kitchen to get a plate. At least her stomach thanked her for it. Fine, just a single pancake and sausage link, and then onto the chores. She placed the small amount of food on her plate and grabbed a glass of orange juice before sitting down at the dining room table.
“That all you’re going to have?” her mother prodded as she sat down at the table with a full plate.
“Mmhmm,” Chloe replied while chewing down the last bit of the sausage link. Her mother gave a disapproving look but said nothing more. She stood up and downed the last of her juice. “Thanks, that was good, Mom. Love you,” she said, giving her a kiss on the cheek before taking her dirty dishes to the kitchen sink.
“Love you too, dear. And don't push yourself too hard this morning. I don’t want to see you getting hurt again because you weren’t paying attention again.”
Chloe rolled her eyes as she headed to the front door. It was just the one time when she accidentally knocked herself out trying to carry a bit too much at once, causing her to stumble and fall. Yeah, maybe she should have been paying more attention to where she was going instead of thinking about that cute boy from school. She rubbed the spot on her head where it had collided with the fence post that day. Her mother would never let her forget about that moment. “Mom, I’ll be fine! Don’t worry. I’m just doing my morning chores, like always,” she replied with a groan, closing the front door.
The morning went by quickly for Chloe as the time drew ever closer to the arrival of her new horse. She had gotten the horses and pigs fed in record time as well as the eggs collected from the chicken coop. They didn't have too many animals and their main source of income was from the crops, which her father and uncle tended to while she mainly took care of the animals, as well as some of the lighter work that needed to be done around the farm.
Chloe had only started to muck out the stall when she heard her father pull up to the barn in his old pickup truck. She could never forget the sound that truck made. It always meant that her father was home from the fields. Usually she loved when her father came home and could spend time with him, but right now, it was causing her to panic. The stall was still a wreck, and her father pulling up to the barn could only mean one thing. Her horse would be here at any minute, and he wasn’t going to be too happy that she wasn’t ready yet.
After months of begging and pleading, Chloe had finally convinced her father that she was responsible enough to have a horse of her own. She had taken on more chores and responsibilities around the farm to show him that she was serious and could handle it. And now that the day had finally arrived, here she was, sleeping in and having to rush to try and finish the morning chores. But even after her rushed pace, the stall had barely been touched yet. Gah, this sucks. Why did I have to sleep in today of all days?! She threw another pitchfork full of old hay from the stall floor into the wheelbarrow. She could hear the sound of her father’s boots approaching. Luckily the stall was at the far end of the barn, which gave her a little more time to get ready.
“How’s it going in there?” he asked with a chuckle, leaning against the railing, seeing that the stall still needed some work. She had actually made it farther than he thought she would have by now.
“It’s going fine, I’ll just be a few more minutes, Dad,” she replied with a grunt, throwing the last of the old straw and muck into the barrow. “I just need to move this out and bring the fresh hay in.” She set the pitchfork to the side, looking over to him as she grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow. “They’re not here yet are they?” she inquired, pushing the load of muck out of the stall, past her father. She knew better than to stop working just because she was having a conversation.
“Naw, they’re not here yet.” He walked alongside his daughter as she wheeled the muck out to the compost heap. “You sure you are ready for a horse of your own?” he grinned, but she didn’t see it. “It’s a big responsibility, you know.”
Chloe dumped the old hay and muck on top of the compost pile. “Yes, Dad, I know. And yes, I’m ready. I just messed up this one day.” She moved the wheelbarrow over to the fresh hay as her father continued to follow her in silence. He was making her kind of nervous. “I just forgot to set my alarm clock is all, it won’t happen again,” she kept talking, hoping that her father would let her off easy or at the very least, say something to her.
He continued to watch her, grinning the entire time.
Chloe grunted, picking up a hay bale, placing it in the wheelbarrow, and headed back into the barn. “So how come you’re following me around?” she asked, not being able to bear the silent treatment anymore.
“Oh, just making sure you can handle all this by yourself is all.”
“You know I can! I do this almost daily for the other horses! So what is the real reason?” she asked, eyeballing him as they came to a stop outside the stall. She hefted the bale out of the barrow, setting it down outside the stall gate. Not wanting to waste any more time while she waited for her father to answer her, she walked into the stall and began to scrape the manure that was still left into a corner. With the manure scooped into the wheelbarrow, she moved it out of the stall. She undid the twine holding the bale together and started spreading it out on the floor as quickly as possible. There was at least another bale to lie down and fluff before the stall was ready.
His stoic face turned into a grin as he watched her. “I just came by to see how you were doing, like I said. But,” he started, leaning up against the stall fence as he tipped his old John Deere hat up a bit. “I also came here to tell you that they called me early this morning and they are going to be late bringing in the foal. They should be rollin’ in around noonish. Momma told me you slept in late so I figured I would let you cook under pressure a bit,” he finished with a laugh.
Chloe instantly stopped and glared at her father. Her eye started to twitch. “What?! What do you mean they aren’t coming until noon! You mean I didn’t have to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off all this time?!”
“Eeyup.” He had just gotten that single word out of his mouth before he had to duck, narrowly avoiding a face full hay as he laughed.
“That’s not funny, you big jerk!” Chloe yelled at him, stomping a foot as he ran out of the barn, leaving her to finish the work. “Ugh, I swear!” She fumed for a moment, looking around at the nearly finished job and sighed. “Well, at least I don’t have to rush anymore...”
<><><><><>
Chloe and both her parents were all sitting down at the dining room table, just finishing up lunch when they heard a truck pull up and honk its horn a few times in quick succession.
Her father looked out towards the front window, spotting a truck and trailer with a ‘BB Farms’ logo on the side. “Well, looks like they’re here,” he said. “You ready to go meet your new horse?”
Chloe looked over to her dad and grinned as she got up. “You know I have been waiting for this for a long time. I’m as ready as I will ever be.”
“Well, get your butt moving then, missy.”
“Have fun you two!” her mother called out to them as they headed outside, leaving her with the clean-up.
Chloe practically ran outside to meet their neighbor who her father had bought the foal from. “Hiya, Mr. Brenson!” she said as he got out of the truck.
“‘Ello there, Miss Griffin,” the older man greeted her in a friendly tone, tipping his hat. “Excited about the foal, are ya?”
Chloe nodded her head. “Very much, sir. Can I see him?” She could barely contain her excitement. “Can I?”
“Woah, slow down there, Chloe. Let the man have some space,” her father said, walking up to greet their neighbor with a hearty handshake. “How ya doing, Bernie?”
“Oh, not bad fer an ol’ feller.” Bernie chuckled as they shook hands. He glanced back over to Chloe who looked as anxious as ever as she waiting for them. “I suppose I can let you see him now,” he said, walking to the back of the trailer as Chloe excitedly followed with her father trailing behind them both. Bernie opened the gate, letting Chloe see inside. “Get on up there and see him fer yourself.”
Chloe didn’t need any more of an invitation than that. She climbed into the trailer, eager to see her new friend. There, in the back, laying on some bedding and facing away from her, was an unusually proportioned small, grey foal. Something about the filly in front of her registered as being a bit off as she approached this young horse. First off, she was told she was getting a colt, not a filly, and second, its head was quite large compared to the rest of its frame. A feeling of uneasiness as a strong sense of deja vu crept over her. Kneeling down next to it, she tentatively reached out to touch its back, not wanting to frighten it.
The instant her hand brushed up against the foal’s fur, she felt as if she was being pulled by some unseen force into the foal. Her mind went white as a myriad of sensations filled her head before everything went black. When she came to, she was no longer in her own body, but in the body of the foal. Dread washed over her as she looked to the entrance of the trailer, wondering what had just happened. This whole thing seemed familiar yet distant at the same time, like she had been in this body before and yet, it wasn’t her body.
Speaking of her body, it was nowhere to be seen. She looked out towards the back of the open trailer, seeing nothing but pitch black. It was like all the light that was in the trailer refused to go beyond its confines. She rubbed her eyes to try and clear them, hoping that this was some sort of trick. She stood up with ease in her new body like it had known exactly what to do. She had expected to stumble, at least a little bit, having been a biped her whole life. She shook off that thought for now and headed to the end of the trailer, where the light met the blackness outside.
“Hello? Dad...Mr. Branson? Anyone?” she cautiously called out into the nothingness. After hearing absolutely nothing except for her own breathing and heartbeat, she stuck a hoof into the void. A feeling of warmth washed over her as her hoof penetrated the blackness, making her quiver from the sensation. It didn’t feeling dangerous or anything, just warm. So she stuck her head out, trying to get a better look at what was happening outside. The rope, which she hadn’t realized was around her neck, was pulled taut, stopping her from leaving the trailer. Stupid rope.
Chloe sat down to untie the rope, but as soon as she touched it, a flash of blinding light obscured her vision, causing her to shield her eyes with a forearm. When the intensity of the light died down, she removed her hoof only to see that the darkness was gone, replaced by the familiar sight of the barnyard. Chloe gasped, starting to backpedal at what she saw next. Instead of her father and Mr. Branson standing outside, there was a creme colored mare and a blue stallion standing a few feet away. They looked like they were chatting to each other, but turned their heads simultaneously towards her when she gasped, with wide, almost malicious, grins on their faces.
Both of the ponies started moving closer to her, their faces kept that same eerie grin, their eyes never falling from her own. Chloe backed up farther into the trailer as the beads of sweat that had formed on her brow turned into rivulets down her face. A green colored mare had materialized, seemingly out of thin air, just behind the other two ponies. Chloe locked eyes with the new mare and a warm smile appeared on the mare’s face.
Something inside of Chloe told her that this new mare was friendly and here to help her. She gave a pleading look to the mare to come save her as the other two inched closer and closer. The look the green mare gave the filly was calming, as if to say everything would be alright. Chloe glanced over to the two other ponies, but they had disappeared as strangely as they appeared. She looked around for them in confusion, glad that they were gone, but wondering at the same time where they had went.
The blond maned mare kept her warm smile as she walked closer, stopping only a few feet from the confused filly. The mare opened her muzzle as to speak, but in an instant, a black tendril shot out from her mouth, wrapping completely around the dumbfounded filly, blocking out all light, sound, and air.
Chloe fought desperately to get free, but the more she struggled, the tighter the black tentacle squeezed her. Each passing second, it wound tighter and tighter around the filly, until she couldn’t move anymore. She started to panic; her attempts to free herself had been for naught and had rapidly depleted her oxygen supply. Her body felt like it was burning up, and her mind was racing as to what had just happened. Her entire body felt weak, like it was being drained as she drifted off into a calming sea.
<><><><><>
Chloe jerked in her sleep, startling herself awake. She was very hot and had sweat running down her face, stinging her eyes. She tried to take a breath but something was blocking her throat, and it was moving! The tickling in her throat caused her to hard cough with the last bit of air in her lungs. This dislodged a large moth that had been blocking her windpipe. How it had got there in the first place though, she hadn't the faintest idea. Chloe watched it fly out from her mouth and up to the ceiling. Gagging, she took in as much air as her small mouth allowed her to. It took a few moments to get her breathing back to normal as the burning in her lungs faded away.
Holy crap! That fucking moth almost killed me! She went to rub her eyes, but discovered that her legs were bound tightly against her body. She blinked a few times, getting the sweat from her eyes as they adjusted to the dim light in room, looking down over her bed. During the course of the night, she had ended up cocooning herself in the large blanket and ended up almost completely immobilized by it. So hot...stupid blanket. Get off of me!
She rolled from side to side, working herself free, inch by slow inch. It had taken a good ten minutes or so for her to completely free herself and throw the blanket off. “Ahh, so much better.” She laid there on her back, spread eagle, letting the cool room air flow over her.
The sun was just starting to rise as evident by the faint reddish-orange glow that was creeping into the room from the window behind her. What a really messed up dream that was. Something about chores, pancakes, and horses… She stared up at the ceiling, watching that murderous moth fly around, while trying to recall her dream. The pancakes and horse parts made sense. She could chalk up the pancakes to her being hungry and the horses due to the fact that she used to raise them and is now in a world that is apparently run by them, but the chores? She hadn’t had to do chores in years. The longer she thought about it, the more the memories of the dream slipped away from her. Crap, now I can't remember any of it.
Chloe was starting to get cold as the room got steadily brighter. She pulled the blanket back over her body as her fur crunched a little from the dried sweat, making her cringe. “Eww. I’m going to need a nice, long bath after last night. Who knew having fur covering your entire body could make you so hot?” she muttered, rolling her eyes, snuggling up in the blanket again. “Just another one of those little things that I’m going to have to get used to, I guess.” It didn’t take long for her to start lightly snoring again under the warm blanket.
“Rise and shine!” Came the all too cheerful sounding voice. Chloe had only been asleep for around thirty minutes before the sound of hooves and a familiar voice woke her from her light sleep.
Chloe groaned, pulling the blanket over her head, shielding her eyes from the bright morning sun. “Five more minutes.”
“Come on now, it’s time to get up. Granita is here to take you home.” Came another familiar, but deeper voice. “But before that, I need to do a final check-up on you.” He moved over to the side of the bed, gently nudging the filly while Heartsong wheeled a cart up to the other side.
When Chloe rolled over and opened her eyes, the first thing she saw a blue stallion on one side of her and a creme colored mare on the opposite side, both with a grins on their faces. Her face went white, and she froze with the blanket held tight in her hooves, as part of her dream came flooding back into her mind. She wanted to scream but the rational part of her brain won out and reminded her that it was just a bad dream, a nightmare. Chloe let out a sigh, loosening her grip on the blankets. She seemed to be getting those a lot lately. Maybe it was her mind’s way of trying to tell her something. Or, it could just be her mind’s own way of coping with all that has happened.
“Morning, sugar.”
The sound of Granita’s voice made Chloe look up to the mare that was standing at the foot of her bed. When did she enter the room? Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the warm covers being removed. She looked over and saw Dr. Charts pulling the blankets from her. What the hell? Those were warm! Chloe shot a scowl to him.
“This will only take a few moments, then you can eat and go. Now let’s have a look at your chest.” The bandage lit up in his golden magic, easily and painlessly coming off, just like last time.
Chloe laid there silently as the doctor went over her injury as Heartsong chatted with Granita while getting the filly’s breakfast ready. After checking the cut, he pulled the stethoscope from his neck and checked her breathing. Soon enough, the stallion was finished with his exam, writing down his findings on his notepad.
Dr. Charts looked up from his notepad over to Granita and Heartsong. “Well, good news. Everything seems to be healing just fine. The cut is almost completely gone and her breathing is normal. She is expected to have a full recovery within a week.”
“That is great news, Doc,” Granita exclaimed, giving the filly a smile.
Chloe gave an unsure smile back to the mare. It was a bit unsettling to have all three of them in the room with her and not being able to understand what was really going on. She got into a sitting position, spying the food on the cart. She could smell something sweet and fruity emanating from it. The smell was making her belly grumble and it was very hard to think about anything else during the short exam.
“Yes, it is. I’m glad she is going to be alright,” Heartsong said, nodding in agreement, setting down the small tray of food across the filly’s lap.
Chloe wasted no time and eagerly dug into the bowl of oatmeal that had bits of apple in it, giving it just that right amount of sweetness. As the filly ate, Heartsong and Granita said goodbye to each other before the nurse left the room with the cart to go tend to the other patients. Dr. Charts set down his notepad and looked over to Granita.
“We should talk.”