Spirit of the Wild

Prologue

"Spirit!!!" Said a young voice, calling to me. I turned my head around, my long mane moved swiftly with my movements. A young foal called my name, he stood with other colts.

"Tell us the story of the herds!!!" The colt chirped, whinnying around excitedly. I nodded.

"Okay, I'll try to sum it up." I said softly to the eager foal. He and his friends whinnied, and I looked back in my head to tell the story.

"These grounds were once roamed by just one big herd, it has no name. Every horse was a member of the herd... And all were included. The land was huge, and all predators knew not to mess with them... For Raccoon, the lead stallion, and River, the lead mare, we're not to be messed with. They protected every horse like their own foal. But, due to the herds massive size, it was hard to keep watch over every horse. And even in the largest fields they would settle for the day in, would be gone in the same day they settled. The herd was too big. In the center of their land, finally they decided to do something about it."

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"Well... The first question is where do we start?" A cherry bay mustang mare spoke, pacing around.

"Clearly we have to do something about our population. The group is too big to manage!" A black and white gypsy vanner said, talking to the pacing mare.

"But what would we do?" An orange flaked Appaloosa mare said as she stand next to the hefty stallion, flicking her ears.

"We can't kill or exile our own people, that's madness!" A blue roan stallion snorts, he took a step toward the pacing mare.

"Just give me space to think!" The chestnut mustang mare snorted, backing up from the direction the blue roan was coming from. The blue roan stopped moving as the mare backed up. A screech was heard, as an eagle flew overhead, every horse looked up.

"The eagle from the east is here at least, we know he is doing well." The male gypsy stated. The call was mimicked, by a hawk that was branching on a tree nearby.

"As is the hawk from the west. What are they doing here?" The Apoloosa nickered quietly. The chestnut mustang shrugged. Both birds screamed at eachother, until the hawk the took flight. The eagle swooped down, towards a young colt, looking exactly like the Apoloosa mare. It squealed, and the Apoloosa mare kicked the huge bird square in the face, twisting its beak.

At the same time, the hawk swooped at a dun colt, it squealed and ran away, and the blue roan stallion took action, charging at the bird. His ears pinned as far as they could, he snapped his teeth once, then chomped on the bird's wing. As the hawk and the eagle flew up, they began to fight. Still frightened, the dun colt ran out of the clearing. The brown mustang stood over the orange Apoloosa colt, while the orange Apoloosa mare and the gypsy stallion ran after the dun foal.

"Slow down child!" The gypsy snorted, the frightened colt didn't obey, running into a thin forest. Due to the herd's size, they had never been there. But with just the three horses they could do it.

"Don't be so harsh Raccoon, it's still a foal." The Apoloosa mare sighed as they trotted through the tight woods.

"Sunset, dear, there is a difference between calling an escaping colt back and being loud and mean to it. I can show you mean." Raccoon snorted.

"Don't. You won't hear the end of me if you try." Sunset teased, Raccoon sighed at his mate.

The foal was going full speed, yet was still in clear sight. Finally,mother end of the woods came there. As they trotted through, a huge clearing of long grass with soft moss and crystal rivers flowed, they had never been there. Why had they never looked here!?!

"Woah..." Sunset said in awe, looking at the place. Raccoon nodded, who broke into a gallop and slid to a halt in front of the dun colt. The colt ran into Raccoon, and fell back.

"Gotcha." Raccoon stated, looking at the colt sternly in the eye. The colt's head lowered, ears flattened as if saying 'sorry.' Sunset looked to Raccoon, as if she was going to nag at him for being 'mean' again, but she was still at a loss for words upon being in this new place.

"Come on, we've gotta get back." Raccoon sighed, nuzzling the colt's flank towards the forest again. The dun foal trotted back as the two horses walked beside it. Leaving the place behind.

When they got back, the eagle was swooping overhead on the east wind, while the hawk branched on the west of the clearing. The chestnut mare and the blue roan stallion were in the middle waiting, guarding the black foal and the orange Apoloosa foal. The dun colt trotted to the other two foals, as they played almost instantly seeing eachother again.

"River and I have made a decision." The blue roan stallion spoke.

"The herd will split in two. Raccoon will be the lead stallion of one side, I will be the lead mare of the other side. We will choose who will take the place as our lead partner, and then horses can choose to live with one herd or the other. Numbers are not matters, go simply with your loved ones." River spoke, the herd horses murmured. River walked to the west of the clearing, Raccoon to the east.

As horses went to each side, everything seemed segregated. Sunset and her foal went to the east with Raccoon, the other colts followed Sunset's foal, as their dams followed. The blue roan went on the side with River, as did majority of the herd.

"We will be known by individual names! My herd will be Branching Hawk, the east will be Soaring Eagle." River shouted. "I choose Blue to be my lead stallion. He will protect my herd well." River kept talking, the blue roan dipped his head.

"I say Sunset will by my lead mare. She looks out for all horses, and is brave enough to kick an eagle to defend even the smallest colt." Raccoon shouted, somewhat honored, but also torn seeing his herd ripped apart. Sunset nodded, accepting the role as she stand beside her mate.

"The land will be split. The land to the east of the clearing goes to Soaring Eagle, the west to Branching Hawk. This clearing is any horse's grounds. May the stars watch over you as we part." River said to ever horse, as she turned around and padded into the west forest. Sunset nodded, and did the same.

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"Wow!" Said the foal, looking up at me, but he twisted his head. "But not that story!"

"We ALL know that one..." Another foal sighed.

"Oops...?" I said, confused on what they meant.

"What's your story Spirit!?!" The first foal whinnied.

"Yeah! How did you go from start to finish?!?" The second neighed.

"How did you get from human breakout to lead mare!?!" A third reared up.

"Oh! My story!!! That one takes a little longer then this." I laughed realizing they wanted to hear about me, but boy did I have a story to tell.

"We've got time!!!" All three said eagerly, jumping.

"Okay. It all started years ago...." I began, lowering my face to the foals level. They lay down, looking up at me excitedly.

"Before I became free..."