All my faults (Working Title)

Little miss sunshine can breathe fire

A/N

It's short and sweet and the next one will be longer 

Photo doesn't belong to me, just thought it was pretty. All credits to owner 

xx

***

I looked out at the sunshine, feeling my mood lift as I walked along the barn towards Carlita, who was waiting, head over the stall, her eyes and rubbery lips already begging for the sugar lumps in my pockets.

"Hey girlie," I greeted her with a scratch on her muzzle and a sugar lump. "Ready to go?"

I flipped on her head collar and opened the stall door, Lotte joined me and we soon had her legs wrapped and her blanket on. I smiled as she searched my pockets while we waited for Ettie to pull up the horse box and the other horses to be loaded. Finally after what felt like an age we walked into the box, securing her in front of a hay net and closing the ramp. Lotte and I piled into the cab and Ettie kicked the box into gear. I bit down on a smile, to be on the road to my first Championship in Germany was surreal.

The ride passed with idle chit chat and Ettie and Lotte singing along to German pop songs that I didn't understand. The country side slipped past as I gazed on happily.

"Have you heard from Conn?" Ettie broke through my happy glaze. Lotte shot a look at me.

"I went to see him," I replied slowly, unsure of the reaction it would elicit. She shot me a blank look and turned her eyes back to the road.

"I know Julia's really angry at him but he's been part of the family for a long time," she sighed, "It's too bad he made those choices, he had a really good future ahead of him."

Lotte and I both nodded, waiting to see if she would go on. "But, he was always a loose cannon, he always had too much ego, even if he did have the talent to match it. Always remember that there is always someone coming after you girls." She nodded at us both.

Lotte and I stayed quiet for a moment.

"Ettie why did you stop riding?" Lotte asked after a moment. I looked across at the older woman, I had been unaware that she had ridden at all.

She sighed, a sad smile playing at her lips. "If I'm honest with myself, I didn't have the talent. And then I had a really bad fall and fractured my back and I just lost my nerve." She smiled at us as we both began firing questions at her. "It was at a young horse show, I was catch riding a youngster and he tried to put one stride in a two-stride combination and we somersaulted. When I came back I just wasn't the same. Julia had always been a friend of mine so when she said she needed help doing the admin at the stables it seemed like the perfect fit. I never left."

"Don't you miss it?" I asked.

"I used to, but I didn't have the heart for it after my fall, and I don't like feeling scared on a horse, I'd rather just stay on the ground and enjoy being around them," she shrugged and smiled.

We lapsed into silence as we drove the rest of the way. Soon the horses were unloaded and the stables set up. Finally, Lotte and I sat down on a hay bale, taking what felt like the first pause of the day.

"Do you think Conn will be OK?" I asked Lotte, she gave me a serious look, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.

"I don't think there's much we can do to help him," she sighed.

"I just don't understand why he would do it!" I sighed. Mindlessly stroking Carlita's nose as she sniffed my jacket.

"People can be truly strange at times," she shrugged. "I mean there are literally thousands of people out there who think Crocs are cool."