Kickstart My Heart

by dragonpony111

Chapter 1: December 23rd, 2011

“Today was the day in my life I found something special, I found a reason to enjoy my existence in this empty secluded house, a reason to breathe in what life has to offer. I have been given a gift like no other, the gift of companionship.”

A loud thud from downstairs wakes me somewhat, and then five seconds later a second loud thud causes me to jump up out of my bed. I think to myself:

“Who or what could this be at this time of night, its only ten minutes until midnight. I normally don’t have visitors, and especially not during a storm. It can’t be lightning, as that would have been much louder, I better go check it out.”

Since I am at least ten miles away from my nearest neighbor, and roughly thirty miles from town, I keep a baseball bat by my bed for protection, one that my dad bought me years ago at Yankee Stadium. I slowly step out into the hallway of my dark house, only lit up by one small lamp I keep on so I don’t bump into things on the way to the bathroom. I flip on the hall light and peer down the stairs. I wait patiently expecting more noise but all I hear is the sound of rain hitting the windows. I decide to slowly creep down the stairs, tightly gripping the bat in case I need to use it. As I make it to bottom of the stairway, I flip the switch which turns on the small chandelier that’s hangs above the entry way, as it lights up the room nothing seems out of place except for some new cracks around the door frame, which puzzled me greatly as they weren’t there earlier today when I came home.

I approach the door, with the intention of opening it, but I first look through the peephole, and see nothing but my dark porch and the rainy field beyond. I lean the baseball bat against the wall next to me, and I slowly open the door inward, the hinges creak loudly as they seemed to be loose now. I’m initially hit by a cold rush of wet air as the sounds of heavy rain flow into my house. I look around and don’t notice anything else out of the ordinary, so I just attribute my abrupt waking to the storm and begin to close the door. As I close the door for some reason I felt compelled to look down, and as I do I notice a trail of blood that leads to a wet cardboard box sitting right in front of the door way. I think to myself:

“Why is box sitting in front of my door, and more importantly where did this blood come from?”

I had moved into this house only two weeks before. Apparently I had a distant uncle, and upon his passing he left his house and small amount of land to me. Too lazy to get rid of them, I just piled all of my moving boxes on the front porch. What was odd about this box was that it was placed neatly in front of my door, and it was still closed, I had been sure I unpacked everything when I moved in. My curiosity gets the better of me and I lean down to open it. As I unfold the cardboard flaps I jump back in reaction to almost being kicked in the face. There was an animal inside, a grayish-blue colored pony, but it was small, like a baby, but seemed small even by pony standards. It tries to climb its way out of the box, but after failing to do so it just sits there shivering, cowering in the corner, looking up at me. I also notice a folded piece of paper inside the box, and as I pick it up I feel that it isn’t paper, but parchment, something you don’t see every day. I unfold it to see a note has been written inside, the ink was starting to run from being wet but it was still very readable. The note read:

“To whoever reads this, please take in this filly as I can no longer protect and care for her, I love her with all of my heart and can’t stand the thought of letting anything bad happen to her. If I can, I plan on returning for her, but if I don’t please care for her as long as you can. Lastly, watch out for her legs as she loves to buck, which is why I named her Kickstart.”

Wishing I knew that last bit of information before hand, I realized why this pony was here; someone was forced to give her up, but that still didn’t explain the trail of blood leading to my house. I neatly fold up the note and place it on the table that is right inside my house, right next to my keys. Then my attention returns to the little pony sitting inside the box. I didn’t know what to do with it, but I knew I couldn’t leave it out to freeze to death, or worse fall victim to the coyotes that prowl the woods around my home. I grabbed my jacket that I keep on a hook to the right of my door, and I attempt several times to pick up the pony and wrap her in it, but each time I fail as her fear causes her to squirm and kick me. So then I just decide to drag the box inside and close the door. The poor thing was still shivering so I covered her with my jacket. She initially kicks it off, probably afraid of what I might be trying to do to her, but she soon curls up in it, snuggling with it for warmth. She then just laid there, with her big brown eyes staring up at me, causing me to feel something in my heart, a feeling I haven’t ever felt before. For now I assumed it would be best to just leave her be, but I still felt like I needed to do more. After a few minutes of thinking to myself, I realize that maybe I can try feeding her. I walk off into my kitchen and start rummaging in my fridge, I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet so I don’t have much, but luckily enough I find a small unopened bag of baby carrots, one of my favorite snacks when combined with peanut butter.

As I return to the entryway of my house I can see the small filly is right where I left her, inside the damp box still bundled up in my jacket, still shivering. As she notices me return she buries her head as deep as she can, I guess in an attempt to hide in my jacket. I haven’t spoken a word to her yet so I thought it couldn't make things worse. I gently say to her:
“There there it’s okay, here I brought you some carrots.”

I assumed she understood what I said because as soon as I mentioned carrots, she perked right up, with her eyes opened wide. I placed a carrot inside the box, right in front of her head, and she instantly picks it up with her mouth and nibbles on it messily, with most of the carrot getting on my jacket. I then place the open bag of carrots inside the box, and she sticks her head in. I can hear her munching on the carrots as I am kneeling beside the box, watching her eat. After a few minutes her head exits the bag, and her snout is covered in bits of carrots. Her eyes look normal and content now, and she even lets me pet her creamy white mane. After licking her lips she lets out a comforting sigh, rests her head on my jacket, and drifts off to sleep. I thought about trying to pick her up again but I didn’t want to disturb her, so I turned off all the lights and went upstairs back to bed, hoping I can figure out a permanent solution in the morning.

Author's Note:

The italicized font at the beginning of the journal entries give some extra backstory.