//------------------------------//
// In which I get stuck in a petting zoo...and maybe bite someone...just maybe though. 
// Story: Behind Glass 
// by Xhadow 
//------------------------------//

	
Three Days Later


"This... is... stupid..." I glare into the camera for what has to be the millionth picture in the last twenty minutes. 

I'm stuck behind some ornamental fence panels made to resemble a farm fence, but only very vaguely. I loose track of the people going in and out, it's a constant swarm of teenage and younger girls, and even guys. Most snap a couple 'picks and move on, but some stick around and really invest in our captivity. 

"Eh...maybe it could be worse," I mutter as I catch a glance into the next "stall" where Elizabeth is swarmed by over-exuberant young girls.

"You're telling me," the sheep on my right says catching my attention for the first time today, "ever since you two showed up, it took the heat off of us." 

"Glad my helpless captivity conveniences you," I say, studying the small groups of people hanging around the benches and other animal enclosures in the area. 

"Don't try it," the sheep warns, "that collar on your neck; that thing'll put you down faster than their darts." 

"Great, and since I've got these," I held up one of my hooves in despair, "there's no way of removing said collar." 

"I can't help you there, but I know one of the vets here might." 

"Let me guess, the lead Nazi?" I interrupt, "there's nobody here I'd more like to put down than her, believe me. But there's no way I could do anything against her, she's got my number in this body." 

I sat down, surrendering to yet another photograph and pat down. 

"Don't give up, kid. There's always hope, especially for you," the sheep reassures, reaching through the slats in the fence. 

I pressed my hoof against his, "Yankee." 

"Bob," he introduced with a slight bow, "always honored to make the acquaintance of another of God's misplaced creatures." 

"I'm not misplaced," I argue hopelessly, searching in vain for an escape. 

"You sure are something," one of the older guys tells me, dropping to meet my gaze, "it's almost like you're searching for something..." he stops suddenly and reaches for a notebook in his back pocket. 

I tilt my head curiously, what is he doing?

"Maybe, just maybe..." he mutters clicking his pen excitedly, "it's a long shot, but considering that you guys are magical and all..." He holds up the small, black book with a hastily scratched out "nod twice" on the open page. 

I blink a couple times in confusion, I can still read English, but I can't speak it...how is that fair?

He waits for the confusion to pass, hoping for me to comply.

"Craig, stop torturing the horse," his girlfriend admonishes from a distance. 

"Come, on. Please, just prove her wrong...just once." 

Here goes my sanity, I mentally complain as I comply with the message. 

"Jessie, come here," Craig nearly shouts as he leaps to his feet, "he understands, look. Watch." 

"Craig," she says, pointing to me, "it's a horse. It doesn't know how to read." Jessie tries to snatch her friend's book, but he's just a second too quick. 

"I'll prove it to you," he says showing her something he's written just now. 

"Fine, but after this can we go home? I'm sick of this place." 

Let's torture the girlfriend, I decide, bracing myself for whatever simple instructions I had to follow to prove my intelligence...


One word decorates the page, only one. Three letters. 

I'm barely aware of my ears sagging, and I sink back to the ground in a hopeless lump. 

The word fills me with hopelessness, like a millstone around my heart: "fly." 

"I can't," I try to say, jerking on my chain, "it's not long enough."

Of course he doesn't understand a word, and hesitantly takes his infuriated girlfriend home. 

The hours tick by slowly, so slowly it seems that a single day takes all of eternity. it's the same dang thing, day in, day out. I stand here, pace a bit, eat some...what is this anyways? 

Is it bad I've stopped questioning what they feed me? 

So, that's my life as of late, letting little girls run their fingers through my oily coat and laboriously choke down this "food" whatever it is, and no, drinking water does not help. on that topic the water tastes weird, is lukewarm, oh...and drugged. So...yeah, someone wants me to be a nice little pony and will do anything, including drugging my only source of water. 

"This has to be against the Geneva Convention," I complain, pulling with all my might against this stupid chain. 

"Aw! look at this," a voice from behind me shouts, "he's so adorable." 

The next person to call me adorable will die. I kicked the metal post, trying to vent my frustration. 

I started scratching at the base of the post with my hooves, desperate for an escape. 

"Oh, he is just too cute." 

That's it! I turned and bit the hand petting me. 

My satisfaction was cut alarmingly short when I noticed exactly who's hand was currently in my mouth. My gaze slowly travelled up the slender white-coated arms to the slightly alarmed and alarmingly pissed off face of Katherine. 

"Um...sorry...?" I mumbled. 

...and that's why I'm wearing a muzzle and talking to myself about it. Why I bother is a whole other debate, but I'm leaving to get some long overdue exercise.