Phantom Stallion: Witch

by: domina tempore

Author's Note: When I was a kid, I adored this book series and all the characters. Now that I'm older…I still adore them (:0. I've never tried to write fic for it before, but everything is worth at least one chance, right? This one is short and sweet, just testing the waters of this fine fandom ;).

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the series; Terri Farley is that lucky lady. I just happen to love playing in the beautiful world she's created. No copyright infringement intended!

vovovovov

She was an absolute witch.

From the first time that Jake saw his horse – young and smart, all fury and fire – he knew. He had her name, he knew who she was, and he was certain that there was no other horse for him. She was perfect. Black as night, she had an attitude like you wouldn't believe; she was beautifully built, beautifully spirited, and she was just plain beautiful.

Witch.

He named her easily, her coloring and the way she moved and acted factoring heavily in his decision. After watching him work with her, his family agreed that it was the only thing she could be called. She seemed to fully relish the chance to test him, determined to make him work for what he wanted. Jake spent weeks gentling her, playing the same follow and retreat games daily for hours on end until finally, she trusted him. When this initial bond was accomplished, he rewarded her with a rosy apple and a secret name.

Tradition

He'd been taught to call a horse by a secret name by his father, who had been taught by his father, who had been taught by his father; it was an ancient Shoshone tradition that had been handed down through generations. A name for your horse that they would answer to, that they would always obey, and only you knew it. It was insurance that a horse would never serve more than one master, but more than that it was a sign of a deeper bond. A sign of respect. A brotherhood between man and mount.

Anastasia.

It was a word that only his horse heard. He had studied her briefly in school – the mysterious lost Russian princess - and while Jake would never admit it, he thought it was one of the most beautiful names that he knew. And after getting to know Witch, he knew that in spite of her general irritability, there was no name that would fit her better than that of a princess. He came to find as well that whenever he whispered it to her, Witch would arch her neck, hold herself a little more proudly than she had before. What Jake believed, his horse came to as well. She was the queen of Three Ponies. But even though she lorded over the rest of the ranch, it was something that she never did to Jake. Their trust in each other made him something that was unfathomable to the horse in any other human. They meant something to each other.

Equals.

fin.

vovovovov

A/N: I'm sure that I'm woefully inaccurate on what Jake would secretly call Witch, but it was necessary for the story to have something along those lines. Also, it's 3:30 in the morning, and I like the name Anastasia (and I doubt that's a much-used word on Three Ponies, haha); please bear with me? (: