A/n: In all fairness, the last two chapters SUCKED. But hey.Whatever. That's just life sometimes. The story WILL GET BETTER. But this chapter may not be spectacular… but I HAD to write it. You'll see why. It was just too good of an idea to pass up. It was either this or in the CIC/BP series. And I figured that poor Ty has had enough airplane issues in that series.

The Ridge

Chapter 3: Of Colts and Girls

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Heartland

Amy leaned over the stall door and peered into it. Her eyes softened as she saw the little blue roan colt curled up in the mounds of straw and bedding. His head rested by his front hooves and his eyes were closed. His sides rose and feel gently with his breathing.

Amy scanned him for the hundredth time since he'd arrived an hour earlier. He was too skinny. She could count his ribs through his coat. The blue roan coat was dull even in the sun bathing him and his dark mane and tail matted. He couldn't be over two months old.

Amy's chest tightened as she watched the little colt sleep. How could someone abandon him?

She opened that half door quietly and slowly creped to his side. She kneeled down next to him and ran a hand over his thin coat. The colts shoulder twitched and his eyes flew open. He raised his head and looked at Amy. His big, dark eyes seemed defiant. Amy laughed and stroked his nose. The colt took a snap at her hand but missed.

"Hey there, little guy," Amy laughed gently.

Amy moved her fingers across the colt's nose in T-Touch. By the time she's reached his neck, he'd dropped his small head back into the hay.

After receiving the phone call from Ty earlier in the week, Amy hadn't been sure when the colt would arrive. She certainly hadn't expected it by the end of the week and was no short then amazed when Ty called her back the next day to announce the travel plans. She's waited all day for the little colt to arrive. She'd spent a good hour preparing the sunniest stall they had in the barns in just the right way and then had busied herself with yard work where she could easily keep an eye on the driveway. When she's seen the trailer bumping down the driveway she's thrown her rake away and ran to meet the truck.

The man driving the truck had been gruff and brandished the clipboard for Amy to sign before he would say anything to her anxious questions about the colt. She'd followed close behind him as he and his partner lowered the ramp none too gently.

The colt was smaller and weaker then she'd imagined but Amy's heart immediately went out to the little horse. As he was led out of the trailer, he was sluggish and his hooves dragged on the ground. His drooping ears barely flickered as Amy rushed to his side. His eyes were half shut and dull as she looked into them. Upon her questions, the man told her that the cross country journey had been hard on the "little thing" and that they'd had to give him something to keep him calm.

Now the colt was settled into his stall. The drug seemed to be wearing off as he dozed. Amy worked a piece of straw from his matted mane and resolved to give him a bath and a good grooming as soon as she was sure he was okay. Scott was coming by later to take a look at him; even though Ty had assured her numerous times that a vet had already taken care of him.

Amy stopped her T-Touch and sat in silence with the little colt for several minutes. She crossed her legs, put her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands and watched the colts every move.

"You need a name, don't you, guy?" Amy said suddenly. The colt barely moved at the sound of her voice. Amy shifted through the names in her mind but none of them seemed to him the magnificent little creature lying in front of her. Five minutes passed and Amy sighed with frustration. She reached out and stroked the colts back. "What should I call you?" she pondered aloud. "Something good…" she muttered. "You're such a dazzling little guy…" her hand stilled and she sat up straighter. A smile took over her face.

"I've got it," she cooed in the little colt's ear as she hugged his skinny neck. "I'll call you Dazzle.

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Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Heartland

At ten months old, Dazzle had grown from the tiny abandoned colt he's been found as to a strong, independent beautiful colt. He already stood at 14.2 hands high and showed no sign of stopping. His legs were long and slender and the muscles rippled through his haunches, neck and shoulders. His head was big and proud and his ear perked and alert at every little noise. His mane and tail were dark and silky and his blue roan coat gleamed in the afternoon sunlight.

He's come so far, Amy thought as she watched him prance around his separate pasture. His steps were high and he tossed his head. She smiled, always amused by his antics. He was so much like a little boy.

Dazzle froze and lifted his head into the wind. He whipped around in a small circle and caught sight of Amy watching him. He flung his head up and down, his mane blowing. He let out a squeal and galloped to the far side of the pasture, kicking up his heels in a series of small bucks as he left Amy with the same mystified expression she had every time he acted that way. And then, Amy thought, he hasn't come far enough.

The colt was strong willed and had an independent, spirited heart. From the moment he'd gotten his strength back as the abandoned two-year-old colt, he'd been nearly impossible to manage. He could be polite enough. He would stand for a grooming or a bath or to be taken from his stall to his paddock. But with each passing week it became harder to do just these simple things with Dazzle. Amy had taken to leaving him in his pasture all the time, as he seemed to think being caught was a game to be played.

We should have given him a smaller field, Amy thought ruefully. She looked around the pasture. It stretched to the edge of the woods and rolled over the hills. Dazzle had made it his home. And he would not let anyone take him out of it. It wasn't that he hated her, Amy knew, he was just proud. And as he got older, that pride grew.

Jack and Lou, and even Scott, had tried to convince Amy to sell him. Clearly Dazzle was not meant for this life. They were getting nowhere with him. Let some else try their hand at him. They'd tried everything they knew. But Amy wouldn't stand for it. If Dazzle was unmanageable at Heartland, his home, how would he be in a strange place? If she sold him once, he'd keep on being sold and eventually he would end up being sold for meat. No one wanted a horse they couldn't control.

So Dazzle would stay at Heartland. Amy wouldn't have it any other way. She's think of something to tame the high strung colt.

Amy sighed and climbed up over the fence to perch on top of it. Five minutes passed as she sat there, watching Dazzle roam through the grounds that he had long since memorized.

"Any luck today?" Joni asked. Amy turned around and looked over her shoulder to see the girl behind her, leaning on a pitch fork.

"No," Amy said, looking back towards Dazzle. Dazzle was watching them, not too pleased at there now being two. "I just don't understand what's wrong with him," she admitted.

Joni perched next to her on the fence.

"Maybe there isn't anything wrong with him. Some horses are just this way. It's just… Dazzle," Amy mused.

"Yeah, maybe," Joni agreed. "But he can't live in this pasture his whole life. He needs to be able to trust people."

Amy nodded. "It's not trust though," she argued. "It's just his will. He doesn't want to be tamed." Amy watched Dazzle squeal in their direction and give several wild bucks. He galloped down the hill towards them and slid to a stop in a cloud of dust several meters away. He squealed again, stretching out his long neck before cantering away again. Amy laughed tensely. "See? He's telling me he's protecting his freedom and that I should back off."

"He can't live this way, Amy," Joni said again.

"I know," Amy said defensively. "But he's still young. And he's definitely half Mustang. He just wants freedom, independence. But he's only ten months. It won't last forever. He's just like a teenager going through their rebellious stage. He'll settle down eventually."

Joni looked skeptical, not at all convinced. "Maybe you should consider selling him." Amy's head whipped around to look at Joni through narrowed eyes. Taken a back, Joni held up her hands and explained herself. "To someone that has a lot of land and a herd of horses that they let run free. It would be like the wild. Maybe that's what Dazzle needs."

"What stallion would accept a ten month old colt into their herd? That's like asking for trouble."

Joni was silent. Amy looked back a Dazzle, feeling smug that she'd managed to shoot down another argument for selling Dazzle for the time being. Joni left a minute later, mumbling something about finishing with the horses. Amy nodded and continued to watch Dazzle.

Dazzle wasn't going anywhere. She wouldn't let that happen. He was going to stay at Heartland. Ty was coming in a week and she wanted Dazzle to be here. But it was more than that. Dazzle seemed to be her biggest key to getting Ty back. The old Ty. The Ty that she missed every day. The Ty that she wished she could talk about the horses with. She loved the new Ty because he still was Ty. But sometimes it just wasn't the same. He'd cared enough about Dazzle to save him in the desert. Maybe he'd care enough to save him again.

Dazzle had worked his way into Amy's heart for more than one reason. She needed him to stay. He was the biggest hope she had left. If he left Heartland, her hope left with him. She needed him to stay. For her sake.

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Ty sat uncomfortably on a cracked polyester chair in the terminal. He watched the flight board as his flight slowly ticked closer and closer to the top. Thirty minutes until boarding time. Ty watched amusedly as the passenger lounge filled up. Apparently a lot of people were hitting Virginia for an exciting summer.

The man sitting on the row of seats across from him looked at him and asked him the time. Ty stared at him for a moment before sweeping his thumbing across the face of his iPod so the sound turned up. He looked away and stared at the far wall.

His eyes fell on a girl. She looked his age, maybe a year younger. And she was looking at him too. She was tall and slim, curvy and busty. Her skin was tanned and her hair long and blond and shinning under the florescent lighting. She was wearing a tight white t-shirt, short shorts and heels. Ty frowned. Girls like that made his head hurt. Sure, she was hot but it still made his head hurt. Once he would have liked that girl but now… now she just made his head hurt.

She started to come towards him and Ty just watched with a calm expression on his face as he thought through the nearest escape routes. He frowned. Ty Baldwin didn't do escape routes. Once he would have like the blond girl. Once he would have been the one to go up to her. But now he was annoyed at the blond girl. And now he was planning escape routes.

He'd found something he liked better than those girls. But what was happening to Ty Baldwin?

"Now boarding Zone 2 of flight 1515 to Virginia."

Ty jumped out of his seat, grabbed his boarding pass out of his pocket and shoved through the mass of people to get to the door. Someone yelled behind him but he didn't care. He shoved his ticket at the flustered girl that was collecting them. She handed it back to him after scanning it and he stomped off down the tunnel.

Finally finding his seat towards the back of the plane, Ty kicked his bag under the seat in front of him and dropped into his seat—conveniently a window, if he was going to be traveling coach he wasn't being stuck in the middle of two strangers.

The loud steady beat of his music filled his senses and he stared out of the little oval window, watching the workers loading the luggage onto the plane. Ty was able to tune out everything going on around him until the air around him brought a cloud of perfume and something brushed his arm. He turned his head slowly and saw the blond girl sitting next to him. A smile tugged her lips up at the corners as she pulled a shiny fashion magazine out of her oversized purse. She shoved it into the pocket on the seat in front of her, but not before Ty caught the advertising for the 'Latest Sex Position' blaring off the cover. Ty frowned and looked back out the window.

As the plane started to roll backwards, Ty shut off his iPod and pulled the headphones from his ears. He slowly wrapped them around the iPod. The blond girl took the opportunity to start up conversation.

"Hi," she said brightly, turning in her seat to face him. Her eyes were green, like a cats. Ty wasn't sure how they could stay open with that much makeup on them. His head felt foggy with the sent of her powerful perfume. "So are you going to Virginia too?"

"Yes," Ty answered tersely.

The blond girl was not dissuaded from his coldness. "Going home or just visiting?"

Ty debated the answers. "Just visiting," he settled on.

"Oh," the girl said. "Visiting family?"

Ty sighed. He hated people asking his questions. "My girlfriend," he said. The blond girl frowned. Ty smiled smugly within.

"Oh," the blond girl said. "That's nice." She was silent for a moment, rethinking her approach now that she knew Ty was not single and free for her taking. "I'm Ashley Grant, by the way," she said.

Ty stared at her. "Okay."

"And you are?" The blond girl, Ashley, pressed.

"Ty Baldwin," he finally said.

Ashley's eyes widened and her mouth formed an 'o'. "I know you!" she said excitedly.

Ty was taken aback. "No," he said, clearing his throat. "I'm pretty sure you don't."

"No," Ashley said with a waved of her manicured hand. "I definitely do. You used to live in Virginia right?" Ty nodded slowly. "And you worked at Heartland?" Ty nodded again. "Went to Jefferson, best friends with Amy Fleming," Ashley said.

"So what?" Ty said blankly.

"I used to go to school with you. I'm in Amy's grade. You know," she said. "My family own Green Briar."

"Fascinating," Ty said disinterestedly. He chose to ignore the way she'd said Amy's name like it was a disease.

Ashley scrutinized him with her shard green eyes. "You're very different then I remember you being."

"So I've heard."

"So," Ashley continued, not swayed in the slightest by Ty's obvious disinterest in her and their conversation. "Who's your girlfriend? I may know her."

Ty looked at her for a long moment. The gleam in her eyes made something twinge in his chest. He'd make the answer good. Just to torment her. He already had the feeling that he hadn't much liked this girl in his younger years. She was hot, but exactly the type of girl that now annoyed Ty to no end.

"I think you do actually," Ty said with a grin. Ashley's face brightened. Ty was finally seeming to take an interest in her. "Amy Fleming."

To his chagrin, Ashley seemed to ignore the name he's given her. "Well then I guess you'll be at Heartland a lot. Green Briar's not too far away, you know," she said. "I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"Really?" Ty said. "Because I'm really not thinking so."

Ashley's face fell and she scowled. She whipped out her magazine and turned to face forwards in her seat, crossing her long leg tightly over the other.

Ty grinned as he pulled his iPod back out.

There it was. The one piece of Ty Baldwin that he didn't feel like he was losing yet. And it was the one piece he was determined to keep. No matter what happened. No matter who.

Uh-oh. Amy's convinced she can change Ty and Ty is quite determined not to be changed. D-R-A-M-A. Fun times ahead. And I couldn't figure out a name for Dazzle and then it hit me. This Dazzle will kind of be like Dazzle from the books. It's brilliant I tell you ::evil laughter:: I know the chapter is short and not very good but hey, it's a chapter! Part II of The Charade is next so get ready for that one. And I am so very tempted to write a short Halloween thing. Come on. Who ISN'T interested in a haunted Heartland?

Lots of reviews make me happy so… review! Please? Pretty please?With a cherry on top?

Aspires to be dictator of the world

Steph Malfoy