Steeds
Hello. My name is Coconut. My person's name is Oscar. That stallion over there is Nathaniel. His person's name is Kieran. People are obnoxious creatures. Oscar was the only person who never annoyed me. Kieran, on the other hand, annoyed Nathaniel more than anyone else. He kept begging Oatmeal to trade people with him—and Oatmeal always refused, because he preferred bucking Makalov.
So today Nathaniel and I ran off together, along with Shimmer (who wanted to play a little prank on Geoffrey). We were in the middle of a field when one of those scary people who could turn into monsters showed up. He wagged his tail around and then pounced on Nathaniel. "Help me!" he shouted, so I kicked the scary person in the butt.
"Babble, babble" he shouted as he ran over to get the commander Ike. Ike was a nice person mostly, but he always looked so dangerous.
He walked up beside me and said, "Babble, babble, babble Coconut? Babble, babble Oscar babble, babble."
I perked up my ears and shouted, "I'M COMING!!!!" I began to gallop back toward the castle, but I had to stop short before I trampled over Ike's mate by accident.
He was so frightened and more fragile than a newborn foal. It was amazing how some people looked so dangerous and others so delicate and they could mate so easily. He yelled at me, "Babble, babble, babble, Coconut, babble, babble, babble! Oscar babble, babble!"
"I'm sorry," I tried to tell him. My face moved slightly to the right in shame.
His angry expression turned sad. He asked (or I ASSUME it was a question at least), "Babble, babble Oscar babble?"
"Huh?" I asked. I couldn't speak person at all.
"Babble, babble, babble, babble, babble, Oscar?"
Nathaniel had been trained to kick anyone who said "Oscar" too much, so he aimed his hoof right at Ike's mate. I tried to shout, "NO!" and stop him but it was too late.
He cried out in pain, and then his eyes released water as well. "Soren, babble, babble!" Ike shouted. "Babble, babble, babble, mad horse!"
"Oh, now you've done it, Nathaniel," I said, "Ike called you a mad horse." "Mad horse" was the worst insult any of us could ever receive. Generally when one of us was called that, he wouldn't come back the next day.
"Babble, babble, babble, Kieran!" I heard Oscar shout, "Babble, babble, Soren, babble, babble, Nathaniel babble, babble mad horse."
"Babble, babble, COCONUT, Nathaniel babble, babble, Oscar!" was the response.
"COCONUT babble GOOD GIRL! Babble, babble, Kieran, Nathaniel babble, babble, babble Soren. Ike babble, babble, babble, put him to sleep," Oscar responded.
I couldn't speak much person, but I did understand those words. They were even more final and defining than "mad horse."
"Babble, babble, put COCONUT to sleep, babble, babble, Oscar. Nathaniel babble, babble GOOD BOY," Kieran responded. "Soren babble, babble, babble, Oscar."
"Ike babble, babble Soren babble, babble, babble, babble. Babble, babble, babble, babble, babble, jerk!" Oscar yelled. He reached for his spear. "Babble, babble, Kieran, babble, put Nathaniel to sleep, babble, babble, put YOU to sleep!"
"Oscar," Kieran said, looking ready to fight, picking up his axe. "Babble, babble, babble. Babble, babble, babble, babble!"
They were seriously about to kill each other when Shimmer stood between their blows. "Shimmer!" Oscar shouted.
"Bab…ble…" Kieran muttered. Shimmer was dying right before my eyes, and Nathaniel couldn't help but believe it was his fault.
Geoffrey walked in to see the horse who owned him killed. "Babble, babble, Kieran, Oscar, babble, babble, YOU'RE FIRED!"
"You're fired" was the equivalent of "mad horse" for people. Oscar and Kieran walked out. I stayed to mourn Shimmer, the brave stallion who gave his life to save Nathaniel, and our people.