Glimmer groaned as she paused to wipe the sweat off her forehead, resting her arm against the wall as she stared at the stall floor. Adora had instructed her to clean ten stalls and she had just finished mucking out the ninth one which meant there was one more left to do. She hadn't imagined it would be as physically exhausting it was but she'd underestimated just how heavy straw and manure could be.

She begrudgingly walked over to the final stall, lugging the manure bucket behind her as she rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but be mad at her mom for signing her up for something like this without even talking to her about it first. She knew her mom just wanted to see her happy and to see her overcome her fear but she didn't know if she could overcome it. She'd seen multiple counselors and therapists over the years and even though her fear wasn't as intense as it was when she was little it was still there.

When she was little she used to have nightmares every night about horses and even seeing one on the tv screen or seeing one on a book cover would send her into a panic attack. Now she had somewhat more control of her anxiety but she'd be lying if she said that being in a barn full of horses wasn't ramping up her anxiety to a certain extent.

She was halfway done the last stall when she felt a hand make it's way to her shoulder and when she peered around she was greeted by Adora's smile and friendly blue eyes.

"Hey Glimmer, I see you're almost done mucking out the stalls, great job!"

Glimmer shrugged as she cast her focus back to the stall. "Thanks, I guess." she muttered.

"I'm guessing you're still not too happy about being here are you?" Adora asked, her tone softening as she pulled her hand away.

"What do you think, sherlock?" Glimmer bit back, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she tried not to roll her eyes.

Adora ignored the blatant sarcasm and pressed forward. "Look I get you don't like being around horses but I think you'll like it here. You just need to be in a safe environment with them and maybe then you can learn to trust them again."

"You don't know what I've been through, how can you understand what I'm feeling?" Glimmer snapped, trying not to let herself tear up as her grip on the manure fork tightened, her knuckles growing white as she clenched it as tight as she could in her hands. "I didn't ask to be here and after today hopefully I'll never have to come back. Just please tell me what you want me to do next and let me do what needs to be done so I can go home."

Adora's shoulders sank as she sighed. "Fine, after this you can fill the water in all of the stalls and that will be all for today. I already did most of the chores this morning." she said quietly as she began walking off down the aisle before pausing and turning around. "I'm sorry Glimmer, I thought you might enjoy it here but it was nice to meet you." she said, a small half smile on her face before she turned around and walked out of sight.

Glimmer felt a pang of regret in her chest as she watched her walk off. She heard a soft whinny from the next stall over and when she peered her head around a corner she saw a chestnut mare leaning her head out and watching her. Glimmer found herself smiling and before she knew it she had wandered over to her and before fear could set in she found herself gently stroking her forehead.

Then the fear set in and she pulled away, grabbing the manure fork once more as she set forth to finish cleaning the stall and get started on her last task so she could get the hell out and go home.

/

When Angella picked her up she was full of questions for her daughter, asking her how the day went and what kind of stuff she did and if she had fun. Glimmer tried her hardest to ignore her questions as she rested her head against the window, shutting her eyes until her mom eventually gave up on asking her questions.

When they arrived home she found that her mom had prepared a big pancake supper for the two of them and the pink haired teen's face immediately lit up.

"Wow mom this all looks amazing!" she exclaimed, taking a seat at the end of the table as her mom sat down next to her.

"I wanted to make you a special supper since you actually made a huge step today by being around horses again. I'm proud of you."

Glimmer's face fell as she stared at the pancakes in front of her. "I didn't choose to be around them, you signed me up for it without my knowledge and practically forced me to go."

"I did not force you to do anything Glimmer. I did not drag you out of the car, we came to an agreement and you chose to go in there. I didn't make you do anything."

"Well you didn't give me the option to say no!" Glimmer protested, her face growing red as she suddenly lost interest in eating anything.

"I am your mother and you are still a minor! Can't you just trust that I have your best interest at heart?" Angella shouted as she stood up from the table, slamming her fists down as the table rattled.

"If you had my best interest at heart you wouldn't force me to try and face my biggest fear when I'm not ready! You said I don't have to go back if I hate it and guess what? I didn't like it and I'm not going back." Glimmer shot back before rushing off to her room.

"Glimmer come back here right now!"

The teen ignored her mother as she slammed her door behind her, sinking to the floor as she leaned back against her door, tears streaming down her face as her brain replayed the memory of her dad's fatal fall once more. She buried her head in her knees as she sobbed.

Part of her knew it was stupid to blame Mara for her dad's death, she was just a horse and she hadn't purposely killed him. She hadn't attacked him or tried to sabotage him, her legs got caught with the jump and she fell, the poor mare lost her life too. But in Glimmer's mind it was easier to blame Mara since at least then in her mind she could tell herself that there was a reason behind her dad's death and he didn't die for no reason.

Her eyes drifted around her room until they settled on a box in her closet she hadn't looked at in years. She slowly got up off her floor and walked over to her closet, sitting down on the floor as she pulled it out. The black box was covered with a thin layer of dust which she gently brushed off before carefully removing the lid.

On top was a small paper bag that contained a small chunk of Mara's mane that the vet had cut off as a memento when she died. Glimmer had never actually looked at it even though it was unsealed. She put it down on the floor and pulled out the first gold metal that was sitting in the box. All her dad's metals were kept in this box, this was the first gold metal he'd ever won at the olympics. Her mom told her he'd been competing in Brazil and that'd he beaten all the other competitors by a long shot.

The gold metal still shone and shimmered and she held it close to her chest before setting it down on the floor. Carefully sorting through every medal as she examined each one closely.

Then at the bottom of the box were the two final items it held. One was a photograph of her dad and Mara at their last international competition before the accident. It had been an action shot, taken as he was clearing a 1.8 metre jump and the look on his face was one of pure joy. He was smiling away and you could see the power Mara had as her front legs were coming down from the jump. She always cleared the biggest jumps with no issues which always made Glimmer wonder why she messed up on that one important jump.

And then the last photograph. It was one of her on Mara while her dad held the reins in his hand. Glimmer had a goofy grin on her face as she held her arms high up in the air, her dad was busting a gut laughing and Mara had her head held high with her mouth wide open as if she'd just let out a loud whinny.

Glimmer couldn't stop the tears from coming as she clutched the photo to her chest. She knew deep down that Mara was a good mare. She'd been a great competitor for her dad and was always full of fire and sass when it came to him but whenever Glimmer was on her back she was calm and gentle and was the kindest and safest mare ever. She had always taken such good care of her and back then Glimmer had trusted her more then anyone, she'd seen Mara as her best friend.

She still had one memory of her fifth birthday when her parents had taken her to see Mara. Her dad had let her hop on his back and he had walked away for a minute to tend to something in the barn and he had instructed Glimmer not to move at all and to keep Mara halted until they came back. The second she was alone Glimmer's mischievousness got the better of her as she started squeezing Mara with her legs, yelling "Faster faster" until the mare started trotting.

Glimmer had never even ridden the mare by herself before and when she started trotting she immediately grabbed onto her neck for support but instead of being scared she laughed and squealed with joy the whole time, squeezing her even harder in an attempt to make her canter.

Somehow she managed to stay on and when her dad came back and found the sight before him he'd panicked and rushed into the arena to stop the mare. And that was the last time Glimmer had been allowed to be around Mara without any supervision.

Glimmer found herself lost in her thoughts when the sound of her door opening shook her out of them. She turned around to see her mom walking in, the anger on her face dissipated as she approached her.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you mom." Glimmer said quietly as she looked back at the photo in her hand. "I overreacted."

"I'm sorry I forced you into doing something you were scared of without asking your opinion on the matter first. I won't force you to go back if you don't want to."

The pink haired teen shook her head. "No I want to go back and give it a try. But if I don't wind up liking it can I still drop out?"

Angella nodded, smiling at her daughter as she pulled her into her arms. "Of course."

Glimmer smiled as leaned against her mom's shoulders, the tears still falling as she felt her mom's hand caressing her hair. "Thanks mom. I love you."

"I love you too Glimmer."

/

The next day came and before Glimmer knew it they were heading back towards the barn. Her mom dropped her off and waved her goodbye, leaving Glimmer to go in alone and find Adora and tell her she wasn't giving up.

The barn was relatively empty save for one another girl who was tending to her horse and eventually Glimmer found the blonde outside, carrying a large bale of hay inside.

"Hey Adora!"

The sudden noise startled the blonde, causing her to almost drop the hay as she looked up to see the other girl approaching her. A smile crossed her face as she set the bale of hay down on the barn floor. "Glimmer, you're back!" she exclaimed. "I thought you gave up on this place."

"Yeah I thought so too but I wanted to give it another go." she replied. "I'm sorry if I was a bit harsh on you yesterday."

Adora gave her a warm smile as she patted her on the shoulder and Glimmer couldn't help but admire how pretty she was, the way her blonde hair fell around her shoulders and how her blue eyes sparkled. "Don't worry about it, I forgive you. Now come on lets get you working."