If wishes were Horses.

Rated K

Disclaimer: I do not own the ninja turtles.

Ramiela was a girl of four and a half, soon to be five, she had dark hair and like all children her age had five fingers on each hand and five little toes on each foot. But she was not a normal little girl for she lived with her father and uncles under the busy New York city streets and their home while deep in the sewers was very neat and clean, this might not seem too extra ordinary other then the fact that Rama, like her father and Uncles, was a giant turtle that walked on two legs like a human and was learning the family tradition of ninjitsu.

Ramiela was at the moment playing in her bedroom with a herd of toy horses that were of every shape size and colour one could imagine. There was tiny small brown and black horses that had come out of some farm playset, there was the bright pink, green, blues and almost every other bright multicolour one could think of, tiny ponies with manes and tales that were as bright and cheerful as they were. There was the horses that were a bit bigger and had a very soft fuzzy like bodies, but the fuzz had worn off in patches here or there over time, and largest of all was the plastic horses that her dollies got to ride. Some of these plastic horses made noises like a real horse.

Rama loved all of her many toys, her dolls, her tea party set, her colour books, her many stuffed animals, her basketball and baseball with bat, but just recently the horses had won her favour and had moved up from being toys she hardly played with to the best toys of all. All children go through such cycles where certain toys might be enjoyed for weeks on end and then forgotten about when they got lost in a toy box, or more likely under the bed.

The turtle child though, was a girl and that meant, like almost every girl that ever existed, Ramiela's heart and dreams were starting to focus on the equine family. There is something that draws females to a horse, the beauty, the flick of a tail, the glossy hide, the long mane, the soulful dark eyes all call to young girls. Sometimes the magnetic pull of the horse is so strong the young girl never out grows it.

Rama made a toy horse go up on back legs and gave a long drawn out "Neeeeeeigggghhh!" Then she made the toy take off over the cement floor of her bedroom, pressing the small button on the horse's back so the sound of a running horse could be heard. She smiled, " You my pretty pony." she pulled the horse close and hugged it. " I wanna horsie like you." She decided suddenly.

With that thought in mind she grasped her favourite toy horse close to her chest and went in search of her father, when she didn't see him in the living room she headed directly for the kitchen knowing that her dad could often be found there in the process of getting meals ready.

Michaelangelo sensed Ramiela's approach even before his daughter neared the kitchen so he was all ready facing the right direction when she came "Hey, hon you hungry?" He inquired, "Lunch will be ready in a few minutes babe," he assured her kindly, smiling as he noticed the toy in her hands.

"Uh huh" Rama replied simply, "Cans I have a carrot for my horsie daddy?"

Mike arched an eye ridge, " If you say the right word I might be able to help you out there," he informed her.

"Pleassssse." Ramiela drawled the word out, "Horsie is hungy daddy."

Mike chuckled as he turned to the fridge, opening the door and removing four baby carrots from somewhere within before handing the baby vegetables to Rama. "I find it amazing that you ignored horses until Karena came into our lives, I think she has something to do with it."

"Tank ya daddy." Rama beamed her appreciation then held out her handful of carrots as an offering to her horse while whispering softly into it's ear oblivious to whatever it was her father was doing.

"Rama your horse can't be on the table when we have lunch." Mike reminded her firmly, "When you are done with that can you be a big girl and set the table for me?"

"Okay daddy," Rama agreed quickly without any hassle, she paused for a moment before quickly blurting out the words " Can I have a horsie daddy?"

Mike turned back towards her, the knife, in his hand, raised slightly up from the cutting board as if frozen there by Rama's innocent question. He gave a quirk of a smile before lowering the utensil to the cutting board and replying, "You have a whole herd of them Rama."

Rama shook her head as she went and sat her horse and the carrots on a side counter out of the way before going to set the table, " I mean a real horsie daddy."

Mike seeing Rama was ready to set the table began to pull out the plates and glasses from an over head cupboard that was much too high for Rama to reach, "Rama we have no room for a horse," he informed her honestly, "horses need lots of room, because horses are very big they wouldn't be happy here."

Rama nodded as she took the plates to the table and skipped around putting plates in front of the chairs, some of the plates were not exactly were placed a little off, to one side or the other, from where they ought to be. "Little Pony then daddy?" Ramiela asked quickly, if a horse was too big then a little pony ought to have enough room here, "Little ponies not big as horsies," She informed him.

Ramiela knew she had to be right that little ponies weren't as big as horsies. Because her big horse was bigger then her bright coloured ponies or other ponies. Her horse was bigger then all the others. Karena had also read her a book about horsies and ponies and it had said there were many types of big horsies and there were some small horsies too. There was a tiny horsie called a miniature one, but most small horsies were called ponies.

Rama came back and took the glasses from off the counter, by where her dad was making the salad, and once again returning to the table to set the glasses somewhere in the vicinity of the plate.

"We don't have room even for a little pony Rama," Mike declared patiently as he tossed the salad, "even ponies need food, water, room to move, a barn to stay warm in at night and grass to eat. The sewer is no place for a pony or a horse. You have Baka," he reminded his daughter of the black cat, " he's a nice pet and fits in wonderfully in our home."

"I take cares of him daddy," Rama insisted as she went to get forks and other utensils from a drawer, these were placed either on the left or the right of the plate depending on her mood, she had yet to learn that when setting the table things had to be placed just so. "I cares for da pony all myself daddy. Noones gotta help me." She assured him nodding her head eagerly.

Mike moved the salad bowl over to the table and fetched the tuna sandwiches and salad dressing from out of the fridge, "Rama you can't have a horse or pony in the sewer," he informed her, his tone saying that is the end of that as he returned to the fridge to get out a jug of juice and one of water.

Rama pouted for a moment, "Cans I have one at da farm daddy?" She asked desperately.

Mike sighed and rolled his eyes, he sat down on a chair and pulled Rama onto his lap, "Ramiela, honey, try to understand, we are not on the farm enough for you to have a horse or pony there, the poor thing would be lonely and get ill if there was no one to give it water or food. There is no room in the sewer for a horse, or a pony, no matter how small." he explained kindly as he could, " I'm deeply sorry Rama but you can't have a horse or a pony."

Rama sniffed and her eyes got watery, her lip jutted out in a pout. " But I wants one. I want's it and I cares for it..." Rama insisted over and over again as if in hopes of repeating it often enough her father would cave in.

Mike hugged her, " I don't doubt that you want one, or even that you'd take care of it. The sewers isn't a very good home for us though we make do, it's a pretty good home for Baka but a horse or pony just couldn't be well cared for here. I'm sorry honey, the only horse or pony you will ever own will be your toy ones, and no amount of tears, begging or longing will give you what you most want." Mike gave her a kiss, " It hurts but sometimes in life all of us have to give up on something we really want."

Rama sniffed and buried her face into his chest feeling the hard shell of the plastron against her face, her chest heaved as she sobbed, and rubbed at her eyes with balled fists. Mike knew how hard it was to throw Rama's dreams out the window, it was hard for him to tell her the truth, and hard for her to accept it. So, all he could do was comfort her as best he could.

Raph entered the kitchen and paused as he saw his distraught niece cuddled up to her father, while Mike rubbed her carapace, "What's a matter Ramiela?"

Rama looked up at her uncle, and knowing full well that he would often do the sort of things daddy, would say no to she appealed to him "Daddy says I can'ts have a pony. But I wants one."

Raph nodded, he would do anything for Ramiela, or close to it, but there was somethings even he was limited on "Hate to tell you honey, dad's right we just can't have a horse here."

Rama's face fell again and she clung to her dad even harder. Mike hugged her closer and glared at his sister in law as she entered the kitchen, "See what you did!" he snapped at her, " This is all your fault, Karena."

"What is my fault and why?" Karena asked, she had learned by this time to not believe or accept everything Mike said at face value.

"Rama wants a horse or a pony, all those movies and horse stories has her thinking that she wants one. You were the one who got her into the horse things."

Karena laughed, " I haven't met many girls, who at one time or another in their life, didn't think about owning a horse," she refuted.

"Yeah, but you encouraged it!" Mike proclaimed.

"Mike, I tell you it is a natural part of being a little girl. Boys like cars, trucks and girls like dolls and horses."

"Yeah but Rama didn't know much about horses till you came." Mike was not give, no matter what sorry excuse Karena gave him, "So I'm still blaming you."

XXX

It seemed after that day Rama, would often ask about horses or ponies, and Karena seeing no harm in feeding her interest continued to do so by getting Rama more books about horses, and finding more movies with horses in them, and their seemed to be absolutely no end to them. She found a poster of different horse breeds and colours and that was quickly put up in Rama's room.

Mike often glared at his sister in law, when he caught her doing anything connected with horses and Rama, not that it did any good Rama refused to be distracted. Raph had bought Rama a stuffed horse which, was for the moment becoming Rama's most constant companion, ranking right up there with her stuffed Franklin doll. Rama herself, pretended her toy horses were real, and also began to run around the lair as if she were riding a horse, whenever anyone tried to tell her not to run, Rama would simply state "I nots running my horsie is."

Of course her imagination and toys aside, Rama still very much wanted a horse of her own to care for, and continued to beg for a real pony for her very own. She wanted to brush her pony and ride it, she wanted to pet it and feed it treats, one day the pony would be named Blackie, another day it would be Choco for chocolate, another day it would be Dusty or Skippy or some other name.

Mike was getting tired of repeating why they couldn't have a horse or a pony and that Rama would just have to forget the whole idea. Mike was starting to wonder if Karena was keeping Rama hyped about horses just so she could get him back perhaps for some of the lessons in Japanese he taught her, when she'd first fallen for Leo, and Leo hardly knew she existed.

In desperation Mike turned to Don, he sat with his brother in the lab as he pleaded with the purple masked ninja "What am I suppose to do Don, Karena is brainwashing Rama into horses, all Rama does is talk about horses, all she wants is her very own horse to care for and love, Baka isn't enough for her and nothing will do short of a horse."

Don chuckled, " I noticed that in school she talks about horses. I decided since she was interested I'd teach her the parts of the horse she can now point out the horse's poll, frog, fetlock,forelock, stifle and other parts that are easier like mane and tail. At least when I teach about horses she pays attention."

"Oh no!" Mike moaned as he slapped his palm on his forehead," not you too. To make matters worse Karena has been suggesting bundling Rama up and taking her for a horse and buggy ride in Central Park, that is not going make Rama stop all this nonsense."

Don shook his head, "There is very little I can do for you Mike, all of us other than Rama maybe, are fully aware that the sewers is no place for a horse. Ramiela like so many other children in the world, is free to dream, pretend and enjoy horses in many forms except for owning one. She will get used to and accept the idea eventually, and until then it is just a phase for her."

"Don there has to be something more for her," Mike pleaded, " I know she can't have a horse I'm telling her that every single day umpteen dozen times a day. But there has to be something you can come up with to give Rama, to try and ease the fact she won't own a horse. Maybe make some sort of computer game or something." Mike pleaded.

"A game?" Don echoed arching his eye ridges, some part of his technical mind latching on to that word.

Mike nodded, " Yeah you know a computer game..." Mike repeated giving Don a puzzled confused look, " I thought you were the bright one Donny and could do that."

Don grinned, " You know now that you put it that way, I just might be able to do something along that line, it might take some time to design it, work out a few things then check it all out and insure there is no problems."

Mike jumped up off the chair he was sitting on and hugged his brother " Your my hero you know that? You are so wonderful, I could kiss you," Mike babbled, "Anything you want it is yours just name it."

Don sighed and rolled his eyes just a little " If that is so, and you will do anything, please leave." Don pointed to the door of his lab.

"Ah, yeah right." Mike agreed with a chuckle before leaving Don to his work.

XXX

It was almost a month later and Rama was still longing for her horse, " I wants a pony. I got's to have a pony" she insisted on a daily basis, she was even starting to call Baka "my pony." She would chase after Baka calling to the cat, "Here pony. Youse da only pony I got cause daddy won't get me one."

Karena was currently on the couch reading to Rama from, yet, another horse book. Rama was snuggled close by her listening with rapt attention when Karena paused and rubbed her bulging belly.

Rama waited for a heartbeat or two before pleading, " More please Aunty."

Karena shook her head, "Sorry honey maybe later the baby is restless and not making things easy on me."

" But ya just started." Rama refuted.

Karena shook her head, "I know but the baby had other ideas," Karena apologized before excusing herself and leaving the room leaving Rama sitting on the couch sulking.

Don entered the living room, " Ramiela, just the person I was looking for. I need you to help me..." Don began.

Rama decided she wanted to be difficult crossed her arms over her plastron and huffed, "Don't wanna."

Don grinned and turned to walk away "Well, I guess I'll have to get someone else to try out this horse game I made."

Rama's head snapped around so quickly, it was a wonder she didn't get whip lash. She jumped off the couch and chased after her uncle "Horse game? Can I please," she begged.

Don paused and laughed, "All right I guess I can let you try it," he admitted as he went over to the game console and put the game into the slot and turned the power on. He had designed the game so Rama would start with one horse, since she couldn't write or print very good as of yet Don gave a list of four names that Rama could choose from for her horse, the names pulled from books or movies. The game was also made so Rama would have to brush, feed clean her horses hooves and clean the stalls.

There was also little trivia things Rama would have to answer to do other things in the game, the trivia was simple stuff for her age, mostly yes and no answers. If she got the question correct she could move on or learn something new with her horse. If she got it wrong she'd have to wait for the next question.

Rama knew how to use the controller, and quickly picked up on what was needed to care for her horse, in no time at all she was immersed in the game, caring for her horse, riding it and the wide smile on her face showed she was clearly enjoying it. In fact it would probably be difficult pulling her away from the game.

"Is it a good game?" Don wondered, "You don't seem to be having any problems with it form what I see."

"It's da best game of all Unca Donatello, " Rama assured him jumping off the bed to give him a hug, "You gives me my horsie."

Don smiled as he hugged her back "I'm glad I could do it for you Rama," he told her quite honestly, maybe with any kind of luck Rama would be nice for him in school for a bit, it was worth a shot if nothing else.

The End