A/N: Enjoy this next part.
Pony got up in the morning, touring the department of emotional therapy had entered his mind, but he didn't let that stop him from doing those things he does that holds life at the farm together. He got the rooster to wake up and start crowing. Everyone got up tired and all. Pony just sat down and waited for breakfast to be prepared. Even when everyone was eating, Pony was still wrapped up in his thoughts. His birth parents. He was found in a city somewhere else. The idea of him working in emotional support.
He ate his breakfast, but he had those thoughts regardless. Annie now paid attention to his look of concern. It wasn't hard for her to figure out. Pony was heading to the door, followed by Annie after breakfast was done.
But the moment he approached the door, they gasped in surprise. Dr. Bynes was there. She was surprised too. Dr. Bynes quickly composed herself.
"Uh, hi Annie. Hello, Pony."
"Hi." They both said.
"Well what a surprise. I was planning to see you and, lo and behold, the door was opened as soon as I was going to knock. Ha, ha, ha."
"Uh, doctor, what brings you back here?"
"Funny you should ask. I should've brought this over yesterday." She reached into her purse that she had, and presented a DVD. The two took a look at the title. "An educational DVD about emotional support?"
"Count on it. It should give you at least some motivation, or a positive idea about how you can feel about working in the field of emotional support."
"Funny you should mention that. I was heading over to the library to read about emotional support."
"Oooooh, I like your motivation already."
Helen and George were drawn over to the doorway by the talking.
"Who are you talking to?" The parents soon became surprised when they saw the answer and their jaws dropped. Dr. Bynes smiled and waved at them. But the parents were speechless. Soon, George spoke up.
"Uh, what are you doing here?"
"Just here to give an educational DVD to Pony. I should've done this yesterday. It didn't occur to me yesterday."
Pony took a look at the back of the DVD's box. He saw the runtime for the film. "2 hours, 53 minutes? For this program?" He looked at Dr. Bynes. "There is so much to learn, Pony. One can be talented at something, but they need more than raw talent to be as good as the paid working professionals. It takes skill, real skill, and in applicable fields, real discipline to become very good at variable topics. It's hard work. Nothing worth having ever comes easy."
"Annie and I won a contest to meet the singer, Blake. That didn't take hard work. That was worth having. What do you say to that?" Annie felt unsure about that when she heard it. And Dr. Bynes laughed at that.
"Do you have a DVD player? Or a laptop that has one?" The family darted their eyes left and right.
"Mmm, no, no, not really. No. No." Pony looked at the DVD again. "'Emotional Support 101 for Humans & Animals.' '2 hours, 53 minutes.' 2 hours. 2 hours. I could watch a movie about Cop Dad that ran for 6 hours if it was ever made." Annie found Pony's statement absurd. "Yeah, right. There's no way you could do that." "Hey I could." "I would love to see you try. You couldn't even go without distracting me at doing a project I was doing with Gerry so he could go to space camp for two minutes." "But I did stand still doing nothing while you tried to get a haircut for a lot longer than that."
"You know what, why don't you come over to my residence? In fact, I invite you all. What do you think?"
"Uh-" said George.
"No wait. I got a better idea. There's a TV connected with a DVD player somewhere in the emotional support department I work in. I invite you all there. What do you think?"
Everyone spoke in words of agreement. "Yeah that does sound like a better idea." George said.
"Perfect, see you there." Dr. Bynes took out a pen and notepad. I'll give you the address.
Dr. Bynes was finished having a meatball sub sandwich she was having in the break room. Her phone rang, she answered, talked a little bit. She gasped in excitement. She ran as fast as she could to the main exit, and saw for herself, the Bramleys were here indeed.
"Welcome, Bramleys. Welcome to my workplace."
Pony and everyone else watched the emotional support educational film. Educational films wasn't one among Pony's tastes, but he stayed watching it regardless, as much as it was boring for him and Annie. Afterwards, everyone went into Dr. Bynes office. Dr. Bynes wanted to hear the feedback.
"Now that you've got your first look at emotional support, what do you think?"
"Mm, there are some interesting parts. There was certainly a lot of things I didn't know about. That's really the process for becoming an emotional support animal?"
"Indeed."
"Why do dogs and cats seem to get all the honor?"
"Now you know a lot about emotional support. Of course, that's only so much. But not completely all of it."
"This is a lot to take in. So do I get my own office or something after becoming a licensed or whatever emotional support animal?"
"Mm, I will see what I can do. But I do know you deserve your own office. Just imagine what people would think of you making a difference as an emotional support animal."
"But I make a difference for my family at the apartment. My absence made things difficult when I was being a class pet."
"Listen, Pony. Listen to this. It's from religious text. Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others. If you put in the effort to positively improve yourself and your life, you could become the best you. But if you're still feeling unsure, be sure you all have my card. There are those living in the world less fortunate than you in lots of ways indeed."
"Interesting. Mm, thanks, doctor. Good-bye. I'll think about it."
"Good-bye, Bramleys."
"Good-bye." Everyone else said and waved. The family went back to their truck and drove away. Pony was thinking so much about this on the way back, unlike the rest of his family about this. However, George was internally fine with Pony for how he is right now.
He doesn't have a lot of respect for him, but he loves him regardless. He acknowledges that he is family. Then he thought about the time that Pony tried to prove that he was useful. Sure, Pony ended up getting the truck destroyed, but hey he wanted to prove himself despite the end result.
It's just emotional support. It probably wouldn't be a lot of fun for Pony, he's a fun lover. But he thought some more. Pony does have talents of his own, heck he proved himself as a delivery equine, maybe he could become qualified to work in emotional support?
Pony did also succeed in teaching him how to act like him. After so much driving, the truck parked in front of the apartment. Everyone got off and was heading back to the apartment. However, Pony just walked a few feet away from the truck, stood still, and stared off into space.
He thought about something for a few minutes. It was 2 minutes before his family noticed he wasn't catching up. Pony was brought back to attention when he was called by Annie, and he ran up to them. After that, they had gotten back to their residence.
Pony tapped George on the shoulder and was about to ask.
"Hey Dad, I know that I'm one eighth donkey on my mother's side. But yet, I was told that I was found in the city as a foal, all alone. And my birth parents were said to not be in the facility you found me in. How did you know that I was one eighth donkey on my mother's side?"
"Actually, Helen saw you engaging in donkey-related behavior. She asked about that detail to Mark. He said that on occasion as you lived there, every now and then you engaged in a few donkey-related behaviors in the past. It's a good thing you had almost outgrown them by the time we first met you, although afterwards you instantly outgrew them. Mark said you once had a DNA test performed by a female veterinarian, and she revealed the answer of your genetics. You were 7 eighths pony, but one eighth donkey."
"Ah. I see. Well, thanks for the information." Pony walked away.
Pony followed Annie to her bedroom. He decided to make a puzzle as he sat down on the floor. He spent time focused on the puzzle. However, there was something unusual.
Annie paid attention separately three times to the fact that he was making the puzzle exactly as to how a person should put it together, by simply grabbing and calmly placing them, not by stomping on them. This felt too unusual of Pony to do it. She couldn't help but feel that Pony still had his mind on emotional support. Pony's dissatisfied expression was unchanged too.
Pony took his time putting the puzzle, it took him almost 30 minutes. He had completed the puzzle, but his expression didn't change. He sighed. He put his head onto his hooves.
Pony thought he should get some rest and lied down on his bed of straw. He knew his mind needed rest. 2 hours had passed. He was feeling relieved.
But then, his birth parents came to his mind, and so did him in his own office. Then, he thought about Gerry, someone he didn't think of highly but he didn't exactly act like a jerk to the boy, even if not like that on a daily basis. He thought about the fact that the boy wasn't very self-confident or something. And that boy's going to grow up years later.
What if in the worst case scenario, Gerry doesn't become successful or get a respectable job and is filled with so much self-doubt. Does Pony want that for himself? He shuddered after thinking that. But, emotional support still felt like a difficult thing for him to accomplish.
Later, Pony had lunch with everyone else. He still ate slower than everyone else. Everyone noticed this one by one. Annie thought of something and decided to take him to the park.
They went to the park, where Annie looked and looked, she saw it, she pointed it out to him, and he quickly got excited at seeing ducks. He chased after the ducks in the body of water, the ducks were faster then him, swimming off as he tried to go after them, but he was catching up to them regardless. He tried to catch several of them, but they flew away. He laughed to himself.
Then he thought about George. He was more than well educated on farming, and he was making a name for himself. As a farmer. His ears dropped and his expression changed as he made his way back to land.
George actually made the effort to improve his life. What did Pony do for a living? Nothing for long. He's been living like a dog for years of his life.
While Annie walked up to him, he was thinking to himself, then he thought about Hero Horse. He was not a real being, but he was someone who lived as someone great, he was a protector of the innocent, and it took effort on his part. Pony started to lighten up almost medium. He sat down on a rock thinking, Annie fruitlessly called out to him.
Then he looked at Annie, and she asked him if she was all right. He wasn't mentally paying attention though. Then he thought about the fact that she will grow up to an adult one day, and she could be working as a farmer, or something better than that. That's a sign of improvement.
The last thing Pony thought about was Dr. Bynes. She would've gone to different schools to become what she is. Pony thought next about the history of equines at work. They worked in more than 1 work field.
Draft horses, war horses, plowing, racing, dancing, polo mounts, hurdle and obstacle jumping. But he could work as something above those fields. Or above most of them. Then he thought about Annie again.
Would it actually be worth it to work as an emotional support animal? What if he gets Pony time with her drastically reduced to her. But then he thought about the statement about how there are people in the world who live life worse than her.
He was unsure how to resolve this. Finally, he came back to reality. Annie was seemingly blankly staring at him. Pony got up.
"Annie, could we arrange an appointment between us, Clara, Heston, and Brian? Can we talk about it with them after a game of tomato balls in the court?"
"Sure, Pony. I'm okay with that."
Fortunately, they were able to spend time with their friends later today. However, Pony needed to find a way to clear his head during that time. So he went to the library and was reading a lot of joke books. Although he needed to keep the volume of his laughter down, even though some of the jokes were very humorous.
But then he saw some college students reading books on a table, although he didn't know they were college students at the time. He asked them some questions related to what they were doing for, and they answered them, a few of which he learned they were studying to become workers in different field. Veterinarian, chef, pilot. Pony was almost medium interested.
Pony listened on as he asked and was being told so much on college education, especially that it takes a variable amount of years. The fact that it takes so long at college started to scare Pony. What if Annie was going to college for so many years? He may not see her for a long time.
Pony sat somewhere else worried, and put his hooves on his head. He was getting scared from the thought of it. But then he thought to himself. Most, if not all of Annie's friends would get older and graduate from high school. High school came first before college, and he was told that there was lots of studying in high school.
He remembered when Annie needed to do her work to help Gerry win a trip to space camp. He thought to himself for a while. Then the realization came to him. Annie had a future that she could decide for herself, and as much as he may be scared or worried about getting any amount of less time to spend with her, he had to support her.
He can't hold her back, at all. Then he looked back at the college students and thought to himself again.
Pony went with Annie to the basketball court, where most of their friends were gathered. Annie explained the entire situation with Pony and emotional support, and asked them what they thought about Pony's choice. They had become unsure about what to say for 5 minutes.
"Well?" Pony asked, a little bit suspiciously, squinting his eyes.
"Uh, listen, Pony. You're not exactly someone who could even survive high school." Heston calmly said, trying not to sound so hurtful. Pony's jaw dropped a little bit anyway.
"But hey, you still can put in effort to help out. There was the time you had ended up filling up the basketball court when you thought you were a unicorn." Clara added. "Not to mention you did try to help out a mistreated chicken, even though she ended up momentarily being evil, but you managed to make her be good again . But you also helped find a missing turtle. No offense, but those are the types of things. You did also end up saving Annie at the trash dump and even though she didn't get her haircut you made it to the theater on time."
"And uh, listen, Pony. No offense, but you're more of a fun loving guy who doesn't look like he'd bother putting up with the hard work that comes with emotional support for years. We're not sure if you can go somewhere positive with the process that requires you to take to become an emotional support animal." Brian said.
Pony was having mixed feelings about this. Annie put her hand on his side, she wanted to comfort him.
"But the three of us have talked it over before we spoke up, you have done more than one difficult thing in your life indeed. If you're really willing to put in the effort to become one, then we encourage you to try it anyway. You're Pony. You made a car on your own, you and your family made it to Annie's granny's house for Christmas, you survived and got a bear off your path on the way, you got over your fear."
"I don't know anyone else who could do those things as good as you." Said Heston.
"You are special enough as you are, but you've got a thing for making a good amount of people not feel lonely, not to mention you used to be a barista, that's something, but if you really want to do this, then you take the choice and tackle this, if you really want it. Listen to what your heart says." Said Brian.
Pony was drawn to that last thing that Brian said and his face became blank for a few seconds. He got up.
"Thank you for your time. Annie, let's go home. I need to clear my mind, and then afterwards do some thinking."
Pony was watching something on the TV with Annie for an hour, his mind was cleared, afterwards, he looked on Dr. Bynes' card for 3 minutes. Then he thought to himself for a while. He thought about many events in his life. He was a successful delivery pony, he can play the tuba, he survived a skydiving experience with and did his part in saving the took-took, he made it all the way to grandma on George's side's house, that time he got over his fear of plants, everything he did to take care of the problem with the woman who was playing the tuba so loud, and more things and accomplishments he did.
After giving it some more thought, he discussed it with everyone else at the dining table, and after a moment of reluctance, they gave him approval, not that they were enthusiastic about this, especially Annie, not that Pony felt 10 times better about this, but, there was a decent amount of confidence and sureness inside him. He went over to the phone booth he and Annie used when they wanted to meet the singer, Blake. He called Dr. Bynes' and told her about his decision. She understood.
He was told that he'd need to be present at her workplace. Then she gave him a list of times for a brief appointment with her for today in revelation about this last option she previously spoke about, which he quickly let Annie listen to on the telephone and shortly informed her, so she could remember them easier. After that, Pony told her good-bye and someone will call her later, Annie wrote down all of the times that Dr. Bynes had spoken of on a piece of paper, although she was still unsure about this. The next thing they did was tell the parents about everything they had heard.
Afterwards, they picked 4:51 for their appointment, Dr. Bynes was informed, and everyone else spent more time doing their own things as time had flown. Once the time was getting close, everyone got into the truck and drove off to the emotional support building. Dr. Bynes had everyone sit down in a conference room as she turned off the light and showed them a map on a slide through a projector, onto a sheet. It was a map of the whole world, with red lines and dots, and names, she explained that this classified option she presented, which she nicknamed "the adventure route," would have anyone attending be flying by jet to see many different countries in the world, not only to see emotional support in-person, but also learn about lifestyles, and they'd be educated about emotional support and on a side note, other applicable topics during the journey.
Among what she said, that Pony has to stay with her during this journey, since he'd be in unfamiliar territory, and he can't go around to wherever he likes in any place he'd get lost, he especially can't come into the paths of people and animals that'd want to kill him, and she also explained because he's the first exceptional animal like himself to take this, he'll need to have a tracking device implanted into him, so he won't get separated forever, in the event that he does. Everyone was unsure about this, even the doctor herself. She had heard that Pony was stupid, but she hoped that Pony wouldn't take this option, not that she doubted Pony could improve himself. Pony looked at the map, and thought to himself for a short while, he knew he'd be away from Annie for, a long time for sure, he loved her, he was feeling unsure, and he thought to himself a little bit more. Afterwards, he spoke up.
"I know what I'll do. This is hard, what lies ahead is uncertain, I'd be away from everyone I know, but I'm taking this flight. I want to go." Everyone gasped. Dr. Bynes was beginning to worry though, but she remained on living up to his choice. "Very well, then, Pony. Rest assured your transportation will that."
"How are you going to do that? Dad once didn't pay for my ticket on a plane in December. He said it would've cost a fortune."
"Mm. Don't you worry about a thing, Pony." Dr. Bynes raised her finger when she said that. "There's a rich friend of mine who has a luxury jet. She pays for maintenance and staff for it, but I won it from her in a chess game. Nobody will have to go through any of the hassle that comes with putting animals on planes." The doctor was writing something on a notepad.
"Really? Hmm."
"Here's the address for where the plane will be." She gave out the torn piece of paper she wrote on. "Be there by, um-" She scratched her chin and looked up, with a raised right eyebrow. "I'll talk it over with my boss. Then I'll tell you when to come."
George and Helen talked things over with Dr. Bynes concerning Pony's absence and his presence in different countries, while Annie was talking to Pony over him leaving. After a while, against her worries, Dr. Bynes managed to talk the parents into giving their approval for Pony to leave, so did Pony at least give Annie some assurance that he'll be fine and things will go smoothly, even if mostly. Meanwhile, the parents also explained so many details about Pony and his requirements. Dr. Bynes wrote them down on her notepad.
Afterwards, everyone left, but the family was worried about Pony. Could he stand a chance against all the countries he'd visit? So far from home, too? Pony wondered to himself if he was doing the right thing.
Hours later, Dr. Bynes called them and said that she was allowed to go, and they should come by 12 o' clock, but she told them because there was a number of different matters to be taken care of, getting a polyglot translator, for example, the flight would happen in 3 weeks, later, everyone had dinner, then they all went to sleep, during all this time between everything that happened, everyone did things to distract themselves. Pony was in his straw bed, thinking to himself, he was starting to feel doubtful. Then he thought of something for a while, he was encouraged, and went to sleep. In time, a big day is coming for him. Well, more than a big day.
The sun rose on the farm Pony was living at with his birth parents in Florida. Pony woke up, but he didn't quite yawn there, unlike people do when they get up. He looked at his mom, in almost a little bit of admiration. The donkey yawned. Pony nickered a little bit at her. She looked at him in indifference shortly, and turned back to looking blankly at the stalls in front of her.
In 10 minutes, farmers came into the barn and filled the troughs for the donkeys and ponies to feed from with hay. Pony ate from the trough his mother ate from, she didn't mind sharing food with him. He loved how it tasted, now that he was fully weaned. His mom only paid a little attention to her son as she ate.
Pony's dad was eating in his stall, he wasn't thinking about his son. He looked at his mate shortly, he soon thought about his son for 10 seconds, and smiled a little bit, changing his expression too, before continuing to eat. All equines in this exact barn ate until they no longer felt like eating. Afterwards, they were taken outside to another trough where they drank water together.
Later, they were out in the field, doing their tasks to guard the sheep. Pony, meanwhile stood next to his mother. He looked at the sheep for 10 minutes. Inside him, he wanted to play with the lambs there, but he didn't want to get caught by the farmer for merely playing with them, or even physically reprimanded by either of his parents, but he knew life here on the farm was unfair, and there should be some more fun interactions to be had between the animals that live here.
Pony's ears dropped and he frowned. He wished he was down there with the sheep, even if he has to do it in daily moderation. His mom walked along and he followed her. 14 minutes passed, Pony stood next to her, while she ate grass, they were standing in front of some tall grass, separated by the fence.
9 more minutes passed, and Pony turned around from behind and looked around for 5 minutes. 2 minutes passed, and then, a small group of coyotes snuck into the fence, stealthily. Pony fully turned around after 3 minutes, he was shocked when he saw the coyotes running off for almost 7 feet, he whinnied in alert to his mom, she turned around and then she saw the coyotes. She brayed and ran after them, followed by her son. Unbeknownst to them, a few seconds after they were gone, two predatory animals had growled and gotten in, but they weren't coyotes.
The coyotes caused lots of sheep to scatter when they were approaching them, but the coyotes split up and managed to surround a small group of sheep. One of the coyotes grabbed a ewe's front right leg, and another caught her left hind leg, and a third grabbed her neck. Despite her resistance, the coyotes continued to gang up on her, soon joined in by the last 3, trying to bring her down. Meanwhile, another small group of coyotes were chasing sheep elsewhere, but it wasn't long before they were kicked around, and trampled against, and driven away by Pony's dad and two other donkeys.
Pony's mom brayed angrily and caught up to the other coyotes, and kicked them one by one. She trampled on two of them. Despite their superior numbers, Pony's mom was quickly proving to be too much for them, while Pony stayed underneath her. The coyotes had enough risking to take punishment and retreated while the donkey chased after them.
The coyotes escaped through the fence and ran off. Pony's mom quickly stopped and watched as they ran off. Pony backed off, and his mom turned around. She lowered her head and looked at him for a moment.
She scanned him for 4 minutes, but they both looked too late and suddenly, Pony's mom was pounced on by a male Florida panther from behind, attracting them with his roar (not the same level as a lion's roar though)! The panther locked his jaws onto the donkey's neck, while she was on the floor. She brayed at her son, she wanted her son to run and get help! Pony didn't want to leave his mom behind, even though she didn't show him a lot of love.
Suddenly, he heard some growling turned around, and the panther's mate was in front of him, her teeth were bared. Pony was getting scared. His mom struggled to break free, but the male panther kept his teeth on her, and weighed her down while she was getting up. She urged her son more to get help, but Pony wasn't mentally focused on what she brayed out.
The panther roared at him, and he turned and ran as fast as he could! The panther gave chase after him. Despite that, he still went in the direction his mom hoped he would go. Pony ran in a curvy line as the panther chased after him.
Soon at one point, Pony passed by the head farmer who was riding on horseback from a distance, to his shock when he saw this, but he could quickly see the donkey that was being attacked. He quickly rode on, and shot repeatedly at the panther, but he missed. The panther saw him coming, and quickly turned and ran away, the farmer shot three more shots even after he went over the fence, but he missed every time. Meanwhile, Pony ran more and more as he tried to escape the female panther.
He saw a large rock next to one part of the fence. He ran towards it, jumped onto it, and quickly jumped over the fence more and more, he ran some more and pretty soon, the panther was starting to get tired, she wasn't as fast as equines were. Meanwhile, Pony's mom lay dying on the ground, almost so much flesh was torn out. A puddle of blood had poured out.
The head farmer caught up, and he was soon joined by Pony's dad. He approached his mate. She made some sounds to him, explaining to him about what last happened to Pony. He was shocked.
Soon, the donkey brayed her last braying calls, breathed her last breath and laid her head down, closing her eyes. The pony stallion looked at her in sadness and he felt remorseful and worried as he thought about his only son. The lead farmer and a few other farmers searched around in the sheep field, but found no trace of the pony foal. Pony's dad started to feel regretful about not being a better dad, but the other donkeys mostly looked at him in contempt at the chance they had gotten.
Meanwhile, Pony had ran for several miles until he stopped, he looked around himself. He had gotten tired. There was mostly open grassland around him. At different parts, there were groups of trees.
He thought about his mom. He got scared. He thought he should get back to the farm. But as soon as he was walking back the way he came, he saw the panther was approaching in the distance.
She was panting. Even worse, her mate was with her. Pony was not thinking clearly and ran off some more. The male panther saw him running, then he thought about something, and growled as he explained to her what he saw, and what he thought for them to catch him.
The female panther nodded in agreement. Alongside them were their cubs, previously, the cubs had watched from behind a rock as their parents had engaged in the hunt. It was rare for these cubs to see their father. They were Florida panthers, not lions.
Pony meanwhile had ran off and went into a forest. He was looking around himself as he saw trees. He could hear birds chirping. But this was unfamiliar territory.
Pony walked in the forest for a couple of minutes. Then he came to a clearing where there was water. And there was also a medium sized patch of grass close to the water, that was given light through a hole in the trees which Pony saw for himself. He didn't like living on the farm, but he knew he had to get home, he hoped his mom was all right.
He sniffed the grass. It smelled good. He munched on the grass for 2 minutes. Then he turned around and before he raised his head, he saw 70 juvenile reptilian animals in the water.
He thought they were some kind of strange lizards, he was told about lizards as one of the wild animals when he lived on the farm. But what he didn't know was that they were really juvenile American crocodiles. The juveniles made some sort of calls that Pony didn't understand. But he thought the sounds were cute.
He made his way around and put his hooves into the water as the juveniles followed. He lowered his head and put his snout in the water. The crocodiles surrounded his snout, making their calls as he smiled. He thought he could become friends with them. Five juvenile crocodiles swam around his legs, making their calls. Pony snorted water through his nostrils that were submerged and bubbles came out.
The juveniles kept on calling. Pony thought they loved it and smiled. Pony turned around and walked a little bit more as the juveniles followed him, but then he heard something else. The sound of something coming out of the water followed by a sound that sounded between deep and high.
He looked around himself, but as he turned around, he saw ripples in the water following something going inside. Pony was starting to feel uncomfortable. The calls from the baby crocodiles didn't distract him. Pony slowly backed away to land.
Suddenly, the mother crocodile leapt out of the water roaring with her mouth open, lunging for the foal, but he quickly turned and made it back to land! He turned around and was breathing rapidly. His eyes were shrunken and his jaw was hanging. He hasn't seen any reptiles that big.
The crocodile walked onto land, hissing. She wanted to feed her children. She approached Pony while he backed away. She ran for Pony and lunged, wanting to go for one of his legs!
Pony dodged, turned around, and ran, he wasn't wasting time staying here, he ran and ran as fast as he could into more of the forest for 4 minutes. He stopped and patted heavily. He looked around himself. He saw nothing but forest. He got scared again.
How was he going to get out? He heard his stomach growling. He was hungry. He thought to himself, took a deep breath and went onwards in a direction facing back.
He looked around in the forest. He didn't see any familiar food that he could tell was for him to eat. He heard birds chirping while he was at it. He didn't notice this, but from above, three Burmese pythons rested among the tree's branches, looking at him.
Pony explored through the forest for a while, until he'd realized he'd been going in circles in one portion, given he saw a few trees that looked similar. He was getting worried. He wasn't experienced in this place. And if he didn't get out sooner or later, he could die.
And he was still hungry. He then came up with an idea. He sniffed something, but pretty soon, he smelled a few more things. Oh boy, this place was filled with smells.
However, he smelled something familiar. He could tell which one it was now in seconds, his species' sense of smell was better than a human's sense of smell. He went ahead, navigating the forest, as much as he was hungry and as many smells as there were. He went in a different direction going forward for a while, trying to follow the smell he knew where it led to.
He took a number of turns until he found it for himself. A medium sized amount of grass in a small opening. He quickly walked over it and began to eat. 9 minutes had passed.
Pony had managed to eat enough grass, and he felt satisfied. But when he turned around, he saw one of the male panther leaping for him! He dodged and ran off as the panther chased after him, he screamed a foal's scream, he wanted to live! Pony made curvy turns while the panther ran after him across the forest.
Pony was starting to lose the panther until his leg got caught in a snare. He was pulled back from running any further. He pulled his leg but it was no use. Then he saw a male Burmese python, forking his tongue out, approaching him.
Pony was told about snakes but he hadn't seen any snakes this big. Pony was getting scared. And then he heard a panther's call not too far behind. He nickered.
This was bad. Pony watched as the snake was approaching the tree the snare was tied to now instead of him. Pony heard the noise of running paws growing. Pony frantically pulled his leg that was ensnared.
Pony was nickering. He pulled some more on the rope. The sound of running paws grew more. Pony then started to scream, desperately trying to escape as he pulled his leg, he was so focused on wanting to live!
His effort only kept the rope tight on him. The snake was closer to the tree. Then Pony thought of something, and desperately chewed on the rope as quick as he could, he chewed even faster as he heard the sound of running grow faster by the second.
Soon enough, by the time the panther saw him, Pony had broken out and accidentally tripped over the python, but he got up and fled, the panther saw the snake, quickly thought and made another decision and attacked the snake on the head, the snake's efforts to break out proved futile, the cougar repeatedly attacked the snake close to his head, tearing out flesh, blood loss killed the snake in 23 seconds. The panther looked at the dead snake, thought about something, grabbed him and pulled him along, walking away. He decided he would share it with his family, in spite of the fact he didn't see his cubs a lot. This was a rare instance of such a thing done by a solitary cat.
Pony ran almost several miles, before he reached a wide river. He looked up and saw a blue sky, and then in front of him there was more forest. He looked around himself. This was really new for him. He looked behind him, then turned around, and he thought how big this forest could be, if he could survive, and if he could make it back home.
He thought he could get lost in here. Then he thought he should follow the river, and maybe it'll lead him back home. He was a child, but he sure thought it would help. But he really wasn't experienced a lot with navigation, he wasn't taught about this, not even by wild birds that came to the farm.
He decided he will rest, but he stayed standing up, he didn't want to let his guard down against any wild carnivores that tried to attack him in surprise. But first, he lowered his head and drank from the river. It tasted good to him right now. Then he went to rest, while still awake, even though it got boring as it went on, he could hear birds chirping too as time passed. 1 hour passed, the sun had moved in that time.
But Pony did not stay focused on his goal. He saw two things approaching in the water, two animals. They weren't crocodiles. They looked like some fat things he had no idea what they were.
He whinnied at them for a greeting. They didn't answer. He whinnied again, but he was not responded to. As they were passing by, Pony followed them and whinnied repeatedly, but he still had gotten no response.
The animal's heads came out to breathe. Pony was surprised and whinnied out to them. They turned their heads and saw him. Pony whinnied and jumped around.
The animals were quiet, they made no sound, but they approached the shore. Pony didn't know their species, but they were manatees, such gentle animals. Pony whinnied, asking to play. They didn't respond.
Pony raised an eyebrow. Did these animals not speak or something? He nickered, and slowly got into the water, after looking around himself. The manatees swam on, and Pony followed, swimming alongside them.
Pony could see that they were underwater again. He submerged himself and waved to the young male manatee calf, he whinnied out underwater, but it was muffled. Soon, he could feel too much water inside him and burst out coughing and breathing. He looked at the manatees swimming. He became amazed and bewildered.
He wondered how these animals could be underwater longer than him. He caught up to them as he swam (swimming was something he was taught back at the farm). He whinnied at them again. He still got no response, he started to get annoyed.
He submerged himself again, waving to the manatees. They looked at him, but they made no sounds. They stopped and held their place in front of him. Pony nickered to them. He approached the mother manatee. The calf approached him. Pony waved at him.
The manatees wondered about what this strange animal who met them was doing. Pony swam around them. But soon he felt the need to go up to the surface. He quickly got up and gasped out.
He looked where the manatees were, and they came out. He thought they were cute for how they looked. The calf approached him and nudged his head against his body. Pony smiled.
The calf swam around him for 2 minutes. Pony waved at him. The manatee looked at his flipper, submerged himself, flipped himself midway, and waved back. Pony whinnied happily.
The manatees nudged their heads against Pony. He smiled in appreciation with his eyes closed and nickered. They swam past him and he followed them. He felt safe for the moment and he wanted to play.
The manatees swim across the river for a while, while Pony followed them. He often went under the water, trying to play with the calf, although every time he'd quickly get desperate and go up for air (not to mention along the way he saw fish, but they were always scared off by him when he approached them too closely), he didn't learn to hold his breath. There were times he'd gotten tired and stop for a moment, but after getting enough energy, he'd continue to follow them, even though the manatees didn't stop to wait for him at all. Pony followed them on more and more, at one point, the manatees went down in a deeper part, to a supply of plants at the bottom of the river, and ate on them. Pony followed them, and watched as they ate.
He breathed out bubbles a few times as he watched, then he felt the need and quickly swam up and breathed out. He swam to the shore. He thought to himself, then he remembered something the chickens told him about humans holding their breath, he thought he should give it a shot, he held his breath, ran and jumped into the water and swam down, rejoining the manatees as they ate. But unfortunately for him, he could see he was being raised upwards, and he tried to swim back down, but he wouldn't stay down and was getting raised up again (he didn't know it's because he held his breath).
He kept trying to stay with the manatees, but it was quick for him to be raised up, and in a short time, Pony could not hold his breath any longer, he let it out, and he swam back up to the surface. He panted when he walked along. He turned around and looked around himself for 3 minutes, and then the manatees came out. They looked at each other for a few seconds. The manatees then swam along the river, while Pony stayed behind and watched until they disappeared.
He shook his head. How could animals like them stay underwater for so long (and he remembered the fish too)? Pony then looked at the river, while he listened to birds chirping. Maybe the river could lead him back home? He was a child, he didn't know better, no river was even slightly close to his farm, but he went with what he felt and followed the river for a while, he once stopped to eat, time had passed and at one point, he arrived at a swamp.
It was mostly quiet. Pony walked around, looking around himself. He could hear birds, but he didn't see any animals around. He looked down, and to his surprise, he saw a group of five turtles (he was told about turtles as animals that lived in the wild, but from what the farm animals learned, they were also kept as something called pets).
They were red-eared sliders. Pony whinnied toward them. They were startled, but they calmed down and looked at him. They made no response.
Pony nickered and whinnied toward them a little bit more. There was still no response. Pony furrowed his brows. Are these turtles quiet animals too?
The turtles quickly made their way and were heading to the water, as Pony watched. He could see that these animals were slow. He hopped around and whinnied at them, asking them to play. They made no response, but they looked at him, and submerged underwater.
Pony placed his head underwater and looked at them as they were swimming away. Pony raised his head up and looked around. There were no other animals that he saw. He looked around some more, and he could see that he was in unfamiliar territory.
He looked at the path behind him. He thought he could go back that way and then try to find a way out of the forest-somehow, for the last part. But Pony felt like he should get some rest, he walked back onto land, then he saw one side of land with a tree that he felt he should rest at, across a wide body of water, filled with green stuff, rocks, and what looked like-logs, most of them looked like logs. He walked towards it, getting into the water, the water was quickly getting up to half of his stomach, his hooves walked on the ground and made sound waves in the water, Pony quickly felt his feet were losing the connection to the ground and so he took to swimming.
Pony soon got onto a rock, then walked onto, some sort of grayish log mixed with green, he crossed it and jumped onto another rock. But soon after Pony got into the log, two eyes opened at the front behind him, and an ominous breathing sound was made. Before Pony got onto the rock, he heard the noise, and he started to feel unsettled. The sound of motion in the water was made.
Pony turned around, he saw the log was gone. He started to get scared. He quickly looked around himself. He faced forward, then to his shock, a large male American alligator leapt out of the water roaring with his jaws wide open!
Pony jumped to his left and into the water. Big mistake. The alligator turned around and began to swim after him, as the foal quickly turned around and swam desperately as he could. The reptile quickly caught up to him and opened his mouth, trying to catch him, only for Pony to dodge him.
The alligator turned around again and swam quickly towards him, his jaws opened and when he lunged, Pony dodged again and grabbed onto his neck. The alligator tried to shake Pony off of the neck, and he shook him off in 7 seconds. Pony went to the surface, he quickly saw a group of logs and rocks. He wasted no time and swam as fast as he could. He was midway there, and he could hear the alligator swimming behind him, he quickly remembered, he dodged and held onto the alligator's neck as he rushed towards him, they made it to the rock, and Pony jumped onto the rock and then ran onto the logs before stopping at one.
He breathed heavily, he looked at the water. The alligator was gone. It became clear to him that he had to get out of here fast. Suddenly, he felt the land underneath him starting to move and rise up.
He looked down and then around, and to his shock, he could see he was standing among a group of alligators! They all looked hungry! Pony screamed and ran across them as he went! Pony dodged the first two alligators that lunged at him from different sides, unfortunately for him, the next alligator (another male) he ran onto leapt out from underneath him, Pony was thrown off and fell into the water!
Pony turned his head back and quickly saw the alligator swimming towards him, he got scared and swam off when he saw a wide rock as the alligator chased him. Pony quickly got onto the rock, nearly dodging the beast's mouth when it tried to grab him. Pony quickly looked around himself, breathing rapidly, he could see there were many alligators around him. How was he going to get out of this alive?
He turned around and saw a female alligator lunge towards him onto the rock, but he dodged her, then he dodged a male alligator leaping onto the rock and he quickly saw a line of rocks separated more alligators, the first one was 7 feet away. He couldn't believe he was doing this. He ran straight ahead and jumped towards the next rock, but he fell two feet in front of it to his shock. He fell into the water after crashing onto another alligator, and dodged three more alligators that crashed into each other.
He swam and reached the rock, but was grabbed by another alligator by the tail, he was pulled into the water and Pony screamed as the giant reptile did a death roll trying to drown him. Pony's throat was getting flooded and he was starting to lose consciousness, until another male alligator rammed the one that was rolling him, and they soon fought each other trying to kill Pony first. The foal quickly swam up to the service and coughed and breathed for air. He climbed onto the rock, but he quickly got grabbed by another female alligator pulling him back into the water!
Pony was desperate to escape! He plunged his left hoof into the alligator's eye repeatedly until she let go. Pony swam to the surface and saw the middle of the line of rocks, he swam forwards, he climbed onto the rock, he saw that more alligators were coming for him. He got scared, but he didn't. Price another female alligator leapt closely at him from his left side, he tried to dodge, but he got pushed into the water! Pony quickly went to the surface, but he got grabbed by another alligator, dragging him underwater as he screamed, but he got released after another alligator got slammed by another one, he swam up, he got grabbed by another one, it dragged him deeper, but it got slammed by another one, he saw another female rushing towards him, he shortly looked at the surface, he dodged her when she rushed him, he grabbed her tail, she tried to shake him off, then Pony saw another male, rushing towards him.
He turned around and saw the female trying to lunge for him. He dodged her when she lunged towards him with her mouth wide open and grabbed the male's neck, trying to shake him off and the female off when she accidentally grabbed him as he went for the surface. Pony got a breath of fresh air as he reached the surface, but he saw the female climb onto the male and tried to grab him again but he jumped onto her mouth and head and galloped shortly across her, then onto a rock, dodging the male alligator, then he jumped onto a thick log, galloping dodging two alligators that lunged for him left and right. He saw that the shore was close and he jumped onto the next two rocks, but the moment he jumped off the next rock, he was grabbed from the left hind leg by another male alligator and pulled into the water!
Pony screamed underwater again as he was dragged down, he saw his front hooves, but before the alligator could do a death roll, Pony punched him in the eye repeatedly, he got released and swam up, but the alligator swam towards him, Pony saw him, got scared, dodged a little bit, spread his legs, and put them around the alligator's mouth soon after it opened, it swam towards the surface, Pony got a breath of fresh air once more, but the alligator opened his mouth in anger knocking the foal off to the left! Thankfully, Pony was on shore now, but he soon saw the alligator joined by 13 more from the water, Pony acted quickly, turned around and ran off, outrunning the closest one when he tried to chase him and grab him again! Pony ran into the approaching forest for a while, until he stopped and took quick breaths. He looked around himself. The forest area around him sure looked unfamiliar, there was nothing around him that he remembered.
Then again, Pony didn't pay deep attention to largely anything while he was in this foreign biome to him. Pony looked at different sides of his body. He saw red liquid on him. He became a little bit uncomfortable.
It wasn't hard for him to figure out it was blood, he'd been told about it on the farm. The thing was, he had gotten bite marks from the alligators. Fortunately, they weren't even a little bit severe. But he knew another thing for sure, the scent of blood attracts carnivores. He remembered the Florida panthers and the Burmese python.
He became scared. He had to get out of here, but how? Does he stand a chance? Pony was reluctant, but he snorted, and went on his way.
Soon, Pony thought about his near-death experiences. So this is what it's like to live in the wild, huh, for herbivores? Birds chirped as Pony walked across the forest. For the rest of the day, Pony was going around in the forest, left and right, trying to find a way out.
He'd been looking hard to find food and water. For a while, he faced the threat of hunger and thirst. Life in the wild was getting through to him worse. On occasion, he had to survive encounters with predators, he knew for sure to avoid staying where there could be crocodilians for too long. But he also knew that he'd have to drink if he was thirsty, but he almost did half good at keeping his guard up.
Later in the afternoon, Pony had found a way out of the forest, he entered into grasslands, he looked behind him, but the environment in front of him was still nothing familiar. Pony walked around, looking around himself, there was nothing familiar that he saw, but thankfully, there was lots of grass for him to eat. Later, he saw a shadow move across the ground. He looked up, he saw something flying in the sky. He quickly figured out it was a bird, he nickered.
But what he didn't know was that the bird was a male golden eagle. The eagle flew around, then he saw the pony foal on the ground looking up. The bird swooped down. Pony could see he was coming down, he thought he wanted to become friends.
He happily whinnied at him, but when the eagle was getting closer, Pony's eyes shrank, he figured out what kind of bird it was and saw that the eagle's talons were opened. Pony dodged the bird, he was screaming and ran for his life as the eagle proceeded to chase him. The eagle caught up to him and opened his talons again, but Pony saw this and dodged again. The eagle chased the pony from above, in 10 feet was another forest. Pony ran across the grasslands, panting, the eagle flew ahead and tried to cut him off, he swooped down and opened his talons again.
Pony shortly saw the eagle as he was getting close to the ground, he dodged and he kept running, he saw the forest and ran straight into it. Pony ran for a short while, while the eagle surveyed the forest, Pony hid from under a particular group of trees, catching his breath and fearing for his life. The eagle looked around from above for 5 minutes, and when he saw nothing, he flew away, screeching. Pony looked around at the forest.
He snorted in dismay. He thought he'll be safe near the forest for now. He looked at the tree he lying near. He thought to himself.
He backed up and jumped onto the tree trunk, he tried to climb up to the tree, but he quickly slid off, and he didn't get up midway. He tried this 4 more times. He nickered. Later, Pony watched the sunset in the grasslands with a somber expression to the end.
He knew he had to stay somewhere in the forest. He stayed near the tree he tried to climb later that night, and stood up with his ears drooped down as he heard animal noises in the dark, especially hooting from birds called owls. He was told about different wild birds while he lived at the farm. He thought about the farm.
He thought about all his friends on the farm. He didn't know if he would ever see them again. Life on the farm was bad, but he loved his friends there. Life in the wild was feeling more miserable.
He sniffled a few times. It took a while for him to go to sleep. Several miles away, there was a tree, far bigger and taller than any tree here in Florida, it wasn't even a real tree at all. That was Pony's next destination.
The camera cut to an aerial view of the forest Pony stayed in, and it zoomed out, revealing the state of Florida for 5 seconds, then at medium level, it zoomed out more, revealing the entire country of the United States. Pony has a long way to go, he didn't know it, but he is destined to end up in Washington, to gain the loving family he'll cross paths with. But the journey there will not come without danger.
A/N: Stay tuned for the next part.