SSOWeek - June 2015

Bay

Rebecca had been on her way to Fort Pinta, the key word being "had" as she had been on her way on Midnightwarrior until she heard a whinny from Doyle's Abby. It was not often that someone else visited the desolate church, and she was curious about what someone was doing in there. Perhaps they were tourists? Midnightwarrior easily turned and trotted into the overgrown ruin, ears pricked as he listened for others.

"Hello?" Rebecca called, weaving her dark horse through the fallen stones. She didn't hear anyone respond, but heard the clopping of hooves on rocks and cracking branches. Through the window of the church she saw a pair of ears go past, with no rider on the pony's back. Her horse snorted as she urged him around the church through the graves, and saw a little bay pony moving from bush to bush.

"Hello there, who do you belong to?" she asked, softer now to not startle the pony. The little mare swished her tail and looked at the horse and rider before she took off cantering. Rebecca followed, keeping the pony in sight while trying to fish out a carrot from her bag to try to lure the pony to her. The pony had no tack on, and it didn't even look like she had shoes. Was she wild, or had she escaped?

The little mare bucked and broke into a gallop, neighing all the while as though this were a game to her. She circled Jon Jarl's tomb twice before rushing down to the shore of the bay, kicking up her heels in little jumps.

It was on the sand that Rebecca pulled up on Midnightwarrior, stopping him and watching the pony. As expected, the mare continued on until realizing that she was not being followed. The bay pony looked back at the girl, trotting back before darting away again when Rebecca dismounted.

"Come here, silly. Are you an escapee?" Rebecca asked, not expecting an answer. The carrot offered to the pony tempted her into stepping closer and Rebecca took the chance to look for any brands or identifying marks on her. She knew that there were Jorvik Ponies for sale in Fort Pinta, the pony may have come from there. But first she wanted to get the pony to trust her.

"Here you go, I bet you like carrots," she smiled as the pony extended her neck as far as she could to snatch the carrot out of her hand. The pony snorted, chewing the carrot and sniffing for more when she had finished.

"Are you going to stay here, or do I have to get a rope on you?" Again, the pony didn't offer an answer, flicking her ears around and snorting. The pony pranced closer to Midnightwarrior, nose to the saddle bags and swishing her tail. The taller stallion smelled the little mare, making friends.

"Midnightwarrior, keep an eye on her, Fort Pinta isn't too far of a walk," Rebecca told her horse before she headed down the beach. Glancing back she saw the horse and pony walking around each other, the bay pony throwing in a buck and a rear trying to get the bigger horse to play.

One uneventful trip to see if the pony sellers were missing a pony (they weren't), asking James if anyone had reported a missing pony (no one had), and a quick stop at a store to buy a rope she found the pony still following Midnightwarrior around. They had wandered up into the grass, the dark horse munching while the pony grabbed bites between dashes around bushes.

"Glad to see you two getting along, come here sweetie," Rebecca approached the mare slowly with the rope in hand. The mare pinned her ears back and snorted, not happy to see the rope. When Rebecca took a step closer the pony backed away. The girl stopped, trying to decide what to do. No one had reported this pony missing, she could be wild. Or she wasn't from Fort Pinta. Perhaps the effort of catching the pony wasn't worth it, she could ask around to see if anyone was missing her first.

"Alright, forget the rope," she tucked the rope into a saddle bag and mounted up. The pony's ears went forward, watching the girl pull the stallion's head up from his grazing. He snorted but obliged, walking up to slope and back onto the road.

"What?" Rebecca turned and asked the pony who had decided to follow them. The mare stopped and looked away as though she had no idea what Rebecca was referring to. The girl turned around and moved her horse forward again, glancing back and seeing the pony following again. The mare stopped and looked away again when she realized Rebecca was looking.

"I'm going to Moorland to see if anyone owns you, I doubt you want to come along," Rebecca called back to the pony as though she would understand and moved Midnightwarrior into a canter. She could hear little hoof falls behind her, bouncing along behind them. Rebecca couldn't help but glance back and giggle at the pony. If the pony wanted to follow her she wasn't about to stop the mare, she was a cute and silly thing. Rebecca almost hoped that no one owned the mare so that Rebecca would be able to see her and maybe play with her sometime.