This is how I think the movie War Horse should have played out. It starts at the part where Emilie and Joey ride into the German soldiers on accident.
Disclaimer: I don't own War Horse... or else this would have happened.
Emilie screamed for her grandfather as the soldiers tried to grab the reins of her horse. She saw Topthorn come running over the hill. Her grandfather came shortly after. The soldiers finally caught Joey's reins but a man ordered them to keep Emilie. Her grandfather tried to convince them to let go of her.
"Please, sir. She's my granddaughter!" He begged.
The man he was talking to pulled his gun out and shot him.
"She's mine now. Take the girl and the horses away. They'll be of use soon enough." He ordered.
Emilie jumped off of Joey and ran to her grandfather's side. He looked at her and handed her the scarf that was attached to Joey.
"Be brave... and stay strong... I love you so much... My little girl." he said before he died.
"No! Grandpa! Wake up!" Emilie said shaking him.
A soldier picked her up. She tried to fight him but then she felt cold steel at her throat.
"I'll cut your throat if you're not careful. Now get back on that horse and stay on him until you're told to get off. If you don't, then you will die." He threatened.
Emilie swallowed hard and nodded. The soldier put her back on Joey. She patted his neck.
"It's alright, Francois. Ve'll be fine." she said.
Joey snorted in response.
They got back to the base camp near the front line of the war a few hours later. The man leading Joey handed the reins and Topthorn's lead to another man.
"I leave you to look after these two until they are needed to pull artilary. Do what you want with the girl for all I care." He said before leaving.
Emilie twitched nervously. The man looked up at the girl.
"I won't hurt you or let anyone else touch you. I'm so sorry they got you." he said.
Then a dapple grey horse pulling a cannon went down. One of the men came up with a gun and shot it. Emilie nearly cried but she didn't have the time to because the man pointed at them.
"Bring that one here." he ordered.
The man started to lead Joey over but he shook his head.
"Not that one! The black one!" He snapped.
"But his leg is injured. He needs rest, sir." the man insisted.
"Bring him here. If he dies then we'll use the brown one."
Joey, realizing they were going to use an injured Topthorn, ran up to the place were the dapple was and pranced around energetically showing that he was energized.
"See. Take him! He's stronger!" He said.
The man shrugged and gestured to the other men to hook him up. Emilie walked next to the man and Topthorn.
"Do zey let zem rest?" She asked the man next to her.
"No. They pull until they die." he answered.
"But zat's so horrible! Why can't zey just switch ze horses around so zey all can rest and live?" she asked.
"Because it would take too long." The man answered.
"How can people be so cruel?!" she cried.
"Because this is war and war itself is cruel." he answered.
She silently cried as they followed the horses up the hill. Emilie was releived when Joey was unhitched and sent to rest up for the rest of the day. She helped the man care for them. She stayed with him.
A few days later, Topthorn was doing so well. Emilie was riding Joey as the man that cared for them lead them away. Topthorn had just got done pulling a cannon along side Joey. Then Topthorn laid down. The girl jumped off of Joey but broke a bone in her ankle on accident. The man knelt down next to her and helped her up. He set her back on Joey.
"Stay on him. I'll tend to the black one." he said before turning to Topthorn.
"Please don't give up now. Get up!" he said.
Topthorn didn't move. Then a huge explosion went off and the man ran away shouting:
"RUN! RUN AWAY!"
Joey stood next to his best freind. Topthorn barely managed to get up. Then a tank was heading their way.
Spooked, the two horses ran. Emilie clung to Joey for dear life. Next thing she knew, Joey and Topthorn ran into a trench but the soldiers spooked them even more and the two horses ran out onto no man's land. Emilie clung to Joey and closed her eyes. Joey tripped on razor wire. Emilie was thrown from his back and into the mud. Joey tried to stand but the wire held him down. He flaled around in panic but he just got caught even more in the wire.
Then he stopped flaling when he realized he had no way of getting out of the wire. He layed there and rested. Topthorn came back and laid on the ground in between Emilie and Joey.
Emilie tried to stand but her bad ankle wouldn't allow it. She weakly crawled next to Topthorn to keep warm. She fell asleep thinking that she would never wake up.
An english soldier noticed a shape in the middle of no man's land.
"What's that? A cow?" he said out loud.
"What? Let me see." a man next to him said.
He passed him the binoculars.
"That's diffinitely not a cow." he said handing it to the next man.
"I think it's a horse! Look!" the man said giving the binoculars to someone else.
"Yes. I see it! Wait... there are two of them!" a man said.
"Let's try calling them." one man suggested.
All the soldiers tried whistling. The horses perked up but none of them moved.
"I think they're caught in wire." a man said.
"Maybe someone should go get them." another man suggested.
"And get shot?! I don't think so!" another one of the soldiers said.
"I'll go." a soldier said.
The soldier boldly and cautiously walked out of the trench waving a white flag. A warning shot was fired.
"I have a white flag, you fools! I just want to get the horses!" He shouted.
The man walked up to the brown horse and noticed he was caught in wire. Then a soldier from the opposite side came up with a set of sheers.
"You looked like you needed help." He explained.
Both men carefully cut the wires around Joey. Joey stood right up when the last of the wires was pulled off. Topthorn wanted to get up but couldn't due to the fact that Emilie was passed out next to him. The men flipped a coin for the two horses. The English soldier won them both. He walked up to get Topthorn and was shocked to see a girl passed out next to him.
"Someone get me some help! There's a girl out here!" He shouted.
Another soldier from his side ran out, took off his jacket to wrap around the girl, and he carried her. The other soldier grabbed Topthorn's reins and manage to coax him up. Both soldiers walked back to their trenches and back into town.
Albert was being told to lie down and sleep when he noticed everyone was talking about something.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Oh nothing. A girl and a couple of injured horses were found out in no man's land. I doubt they'll make it. Now go to sleep." The doctor said.
Albert couldn't help but wonder if one of the horses was Joey.
Meanwhile, a man in charge went to get a doctor to look them over. Emilie was rushed into the medical building to get evaluated and treated. The doctor evaluated them both.
"The black one make it just as long as he's given plenty of rest and his leg is needing to be patched up. But the brown one won't be able to heal right."
He gestured to a man with a hand gun.
"Put the poor thing out of his misery." he said.
The soldier that lead him in stopped him.
"But sir! He's no ordinary horse! He can pull through, I know it!" He said.
"We have no one to tend to him and you have to go straight back to the lines. Without someone to care for him, he'll only suffer more and then die. Shoot him." the docter ordered.
Joey's head was lowered to the ground. Joey was too worn out to care about his life anymore. In his head, he no longer had anything to live for. Just as the man was about to pull the trigger, everyone heard an owl like whistle. Joey lifted his head. After a minute, the man shrugged it off and lowered Joey's head to shoot him but the sound happened again. Joey lifted his head up. The crowd parted to let the owner of the sound through. It was none other than Albert Naracott. Joey trotted straight over to him.
"Hey Joey." he said petting him.
"Step aside, boy. The horse is too torn up to keep alive." The doctor said.
"But sir, he's my horse." Albert said.
"You can't see. How do you know for sure?" he asked.
"His name is Joey. He has four white socks on each foot and a marking on his head like so." He said making a shape on his own head to show them.
"He doesn't have any markings." the man said.
"Wait. It's because of the mud." The soldier that led him in said.
He grabbed a water bucket and wiped off his legs to show four white socks. The doctor pulled out his own rag and wiped off Joey's head to reveal the white mark. He turned to Albert.
"Alright, we'll patch him up as best we can and he can live. But you must tend to him and the black one here." The doctor said.
Albert smiled as he took Joey's reins and Topthorn's lead rope.
"Yes sir!" He said happily.
Meanwhile, Emilie was watching from a window. She watched Albert lead the two horses away to a stable. She sighed in releif. A nurse came in and urged her to lay back down. She fell asleep with a smile.
The next day, Emilie walked into the stables where Joey and Topthorn were kept. Albert was already in there brushing Joey. His blindfold was just removed that morning. He noticed her.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Emilie. I own these horses." she said.
"No you don't. I raised Joey." He said.
"His name is Francois, and I saved him." she said.
"If you did then thank you but he is my horse. If he wasn't then he'd be dead." he said.
"Prove it." Emilie said.
Albert set the brush down and backed her up back passed the door until they were about ten yards away. He then stood ten feet away from her.
"Call him." he said.
Emilie huffed.
"Francois! Come here Francois!" she called.
Joey just stared at them. Albert smirked and put his hands together and blew making that owl noise. Joey went trotting right over to him. Emilie gaped in shock and in jealousy.
"In all ze time I've had him, he's never come to me like that." she said.
"Now do you beleive me?" He asked.
"Not entirely." she said.
Then Albert noticed something that Emilie was holding. He grabbed it.
"Was this on Joey when you got him?" Albert asked.
"Yes. It vas on his bridle." Emilie replied.
"This was my father's. He fought in a war and he got this from it." he said.
Emilie stood there speechless. Her grandfather told her what it was. She knew that Albert wasn't lying. She sighed.
"Alright, I give up. He's your horse." she admitted.
She walked off (More like limped off because of her sprained ankle) glumly. Noticing how sad she was, Albert decided to ask her something.
"You know, I could use some help looking after these two." He said.
Emilie gasped in astonishment.
"Oh can I?!" she asked exstatically.
"Yes." He answered.
The war had ended but it turned out that all horses had to be auctioned off except ones belonging to officers. Emilie and Albert glumly walked Topthorn and Joey outside only to see a crowd of soldiers and nurses. The nurses were the ones Emilie helped in her spare time. One of the soldiers stepped forward.
"We've all pitched in our money. Here's fifty-five to buy them back." he said handing them money.
They walked over to the auction. Joey was up first. One of the soldiers shouted bids for Albert. Emilie grabbed Albert's hand as they watched. The got Joey back for thirty-five ginnies. Topthorn only costed ten. Emilie hugged Albert overjoyed that both their horses were back with them. But then she let go realising that she probably over reacted but Albert just smiled and pulled her into another hug. They had grown close in the time they were together.
At that moment, Emilie realised that she was in love with Albert.
Emilie and Albert rode back to his farm they could see it in the distance. Albert promised that he would take care of Emilie until she was able to go home but she said that she would go where ever Joey and Topthorn would go as they were the only thing she had left. She and Albert rode on Joey and Topthorn trotted next to them by a lead.
They didn't have anything against Topthorn. It's just that Albert didn't want Emilie to fall. She leaned back against him and sighed in contentment. Albert rested his chin on top of her head for a second and then he went back to focusing on the rode.
"Was there any other reason why you came with?" He asked.
"Well... there is one." she admitted.
"What would that be?" he asked.
"I...I well...umm." she hesitated.
"Spit it out." he said.
"Iloveyou!" she quickly said.
"What?!" Albert asked not knowing if he heard her right.
"I love you." she said.
Albert didn't say anything for a minute and just stood there in a daze. Emilie was afraid that she just ruined her freindship with him. She tried to quickly think of something to say. Then Albert grabbed her hand and lowered his head next to her ear.
"I love you too." he said.
Albert didn't know how Emilie managed to turn the way she did as quickly as she did but she managed to turn around and kiss him. It was an akward and uncomfortable position but Albert deepened it. Joey paused when he noticed the slack in his reins and how odd the position of his riders felt. Both Topthorn and Joey seemed to chuckle at the sight.
They parted and she leaned back against him. He hugged her from where he was. Then he made Joey walk again. The couple sat in silence and enjoyed eachothers company all the way back home.
Well that's that. This is actually how I thought the movie would play out but nooo, the girl was killed off. Either way it's still a happy ending. This is just the best possible way to end it... no wait... the girl's grandpa would still be alive but that would have made it more complicated. I just wish these two would have ended up together.