I own nothing but the plot & Two
Still un-betaed
Flashbacks are in italics
I'm starting to feel like a broken record
Thanks to starryequine & Fire Light1 for being my only two reviewers, and for Fire Light1 reminding me that horses use body language, so I hope I have improved in that area.
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Two put her head down and stared at he ground. She knew the story behind her father's hatred of large bands and often turned to it for guidance.
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"Blacklegs, why does my father despise large bands?"
"Ah, good question, it was a long time ago, before you were foaled…" He paused; this was always how he opened up a story. "You father and I lived together in a large band, such as the ones we will be seeing soon, and life was well. We had good grass, and good water. But, there was trouble on the horizon, our stallion, Cirrus's father, was growing old. One year we had a particularly hard winter, and our stallion lost much strength. The following spring a young, robust stallion drove him out. At this time, your father and I were about seven months old, too young to be driven out of the band. That never stopped the new stallion from trying. He kept cutting us out of the band, forcing us behind. This went on for a month, and one day he drove us out, and we, not even trying to put up a fight. He would have killed us anyway if we did. That, my Ginga Nagareboshi Gin, is the reason your father does not want you to join the large bands."
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Spirit saw how depressed Two seemed to be, and walked up to her, he touched her shoulder with his nose to try and comfort her. Two pinned her ears back and wheeled around to face him.
"Get out, get off, leave, and go, now!" She spat.
Two had had it, with ears back and teeth bared, she lunged at Spirit and sunk her teeth into his neck.
Spirit was caught off balance, but quickly regained his footing. He stood alert, looking at Two while she danced around him.
"Come on, afraid to attack a mare?" Two taunted.
Two charged again, but Spirit saw it coming and dodged.
"I just don't want to hurt you." Spirit said calmly.
"I've experienced hurt in all forms; a bit more won't do much harm." Two commented.
Two half-trotted, half-cantered to Spirit and roughly grabbed the top of his neck. Spirit rose into the air, forcing Two to go with him. She teetered for a second on her hind legs before releasing Spirit. Spirit aimed a kick at Two's flank and hit his mark, bringing forth a small squeal of pain from Two.
Two and Spirit circled each other for a few seconds before running at each other, bringing the other up into a rear. Two hopped forward a bit in an attempt to push Spirit over, but she soon found herself being forced to get down on all fours again.
Spirit came at Two multiple times, with Two getting out of his path each time. Two quickly positioned herself in front of Spirit and delivered a series of low kicks to his legs, making Spirit falter and fall.
"Go," Two said between shallow, rapid breaths "I don't want to kill you."
Spirit slowly got up and staggered down his side of the cliff.
Once he was out of earshot, Two added to her statement, "Yet."