The next few days were a blur for Summer, as she tried to concentrate on her training, but at the same time, she was thinking of a future with her and Chase living a perfect life with their foal…
"SUMMER!"
Summer snapped back to her senses.
"Huh? What?" She said.
"I must have repeated myself three times already! I said, when you're ready, forward to canter!" Sherbert instructed, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, right. Sorry. I was miles away!" Summer replied.
She trotted past the H marker in the riding arena, then cantered at C. She spotted Chase standing by the gate, watching her. He looked sad, and somewhat guilty.
Summer stopped cantering, and trotted over to see what was wrong.
"Chase, are you okay?" She asked.
"Summer… I'm so sorry." Chase said quietly.
"Your father just came with some news. Lightning, your old stallion, has died."
Summer's heart skipped a beat. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
"And h-how did he…?" She asked.
"He was attacked by a wolf when he was returning from finding food. He never returned to the herd, so Spirit went to search for him, and found him dead with wolves surrounding him. I'm so sorry." Chase replied.
Summer felt upset. A tear fell from under her closed eyelid. Chase walked forwards to comfort her.
After a few minutes, Summer looked up into Chase's eyes.
"I still have you." She smiled, forgetting her sadness. "My dad told me something when I was young. He said: 'don't let sadness keep you from everything. We have to move on.' So I must move on, too. But you do realize what this means?" Summer said,
Chase shook his head. "No." He answered.
"Well, if I go back to the herd, you are the new stallion leader when I take over!" Summer explained, her eyes shining.
Chase's eyes were wide, and he shook his head disbelievingly.
"But…You said you wanted to stay here." Chase said.
"I do want to stay here." Summer replied. "I really want to be a racer, and stay where my friends are!"
Chase smiled. "I wouldn't mind being wild and free…it sounds challenging!" He laughed.
Summer looked up to the hill that had once been her home.
"Yeah," she replied, "it's challenging alright. Especially when you have horses like Belle bullying you."
"Belle?" Chase sniggered.
"Yes, she was the herd bully!" Summer replied, trying hard not to laugh.
"She?" Chase burst out laughing.
Summer laughed too.
"Yes, she!" She replied.
The two horses rolled on the floor in fits of laughter, "Usually, its us colts that bully! But a filly…a filly!" Chase stuttered, burtsing in to laughter again.
"You're awfully happy after losing someone." Sherbert said.
"We weren't laughing about that! We were laughing about…about…!" Summer answered, giggling again.
Sherbert chuckled a bit, too. "You two are weird!" She grinned.
"Well this is disappointing!" A voice boomed from behind them.
They all stopped laughing, and turned to see Darko standing behind them, with a grey mare by his side.
"It's her!" Summer whispered to her two friends.
"It's who?" Sherbert asked.
Summer swallowed. "That's Belle." She answered…