Established in May of 2023, we are a realistic wild horse rpg site.
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January 29th, 2024 Hey everyone! Looking forward to seeing old (and hopefully some new) faces as we reboot the site! Keep an eye out for more from us in the coming weeks.
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The morning was cold. Colder than she had anticipated all things considered. Maybe it was the overcast sky causing the lack of feeble warmth from touching the snow covered land that made it feel colder than it was. Maybe it was from being alone that the winter felt more harsh. Had her mother felt like this? Had Dune also spent her life alone until she'd had her? What had her mother's life been like? Why had she never joined a herd? Why did she never come looking-
"No!" The word left her mouth as harshly as a winter wind, the familiar pain creating an ache in her chest. No. Not today. She'd spent enough of her time, her life, wondering about the "what if's" and the "why's." Her mother would've come back for her, right? If her mother had truly cared? Her ears fell flat.
"I wish I'd stop thinking about it. 'Dwelling on the past won't change the present and certainly won't change your future.' Isn't that what you used to always tell me, mother?" Izadora turned her gaze skyward watching the muted gray clouds lazily roll and tumble amongst each other. How could the weather reflect her emotions so well?
Izadora tore her gaze away after another minute or two, her breath billowing out in twin puffs of air as she sighed. For two years she had survived, struggled, searched. How could this be considered living? How had her mother not gone insane from the loneliness this lifestyle brought? What did she do now? Izzy pawed restlessly at the snow ladened ground a rare show of her inner frustrations. Her life had revolved around avoiding her very own kind, but now it was becoming painfully clear this lifestyle, this maddening loneliness, wouldn't bring nothing good if she continued.
What did she do? Approaching a herd was out of the question, but so was expecting anyone to magically appear. Why did she have to be so conflicted? Why couldn't she just be confident and know what she wanted? A second sigh escaped her as her inner turmoil seemed to grow. Well, standing around wouldn't help with an answer now would it? Shaking her head in hopes of clearing some of her indecision Izzy began making her way further within the trees. Maybe walking would help the troubled mare figure out what to do. It certainly couldn't hurt.
Cloudskipper trotted through the crunchy snow, enjoying the sounds underhoof as he made his way through the woods. He kept a quick pace to stay warm in the brisk morning air, though his shoulder ached from it. The aching joint warned him of more snow, hopefully the last of winter before spring came. Though the trees here were barren, they offered more cover than the open valley and riverbanks. He kept an eye on the sky. The birdsong was welcome company on his otherwise lonely walk.
His northward journey had been slow through the winter. With food so hard to come by, when he had found a patch for grazing he had stuck by it as long as it would support him. Cloudskipper was skinny from the scarcity, but he still looked a short, burly pony compared to the average horse.
A word broke through the misty silence of morning. Cloudskipper came to a stop, his head high and ears on a swivel listening for the source. It could be nothing, or it could be something interesting. He sniffed the air, catching the mixed scents of other horses faint over the smell of winter cold. Of course there were others out here. Oxwater had no kings, and many roamed the hardwood forest at all times of the year.
As he glanced around, he heard the voice again, barely audible but close enough to catch some words. They sounded dejected, as downcast as the grey clouds above. He curiously followed his ears toward the sound. The other horse must have started to walk as well, because the sound of a second pair of footsteps joined his own. When the other horse finally came into view, he saw a mare, taller and slighter than himself walking ahead of him. He paused, uncertain if he should approach her further. She looked troubled, and he had no desire to frighten or upset her further.
So wrapped up in her thoughts Izzy failed to take notice of the stallion who'd both heard and now seen her. The area was popular with all manner of equines, but never in a million years did she believe anyone would find her. Her life had been spent hiding so surely she was a master of going unnoticed. Right? Wrong. The mirroring steps of another horse snagged Izadora back to the present, a single ear swiveling back to pinpoint the direction. Her mind must be playing tricks on her, right?
Izadora didn't move, her mind torn two different ways. Did she look behind her or did she pretend she heard nothing? 'Too late on the pretending bit you've already reacted.' That annoying little inner voice whispered. Right then. Inhaling then releasing a slow exhale Izzy hesitantly turned her head enough to see behind her.
It took her a minute or two to spot Cloudskipper. When she did the usually skittish mare stayed where she stood, confusion tumbling through her. He wasn't going to come after her? Had her mother's stories been untrue in regards to bachelor's and stallions in general? 'Don't jump to conclusions so fast.' That little voice whispered, giving Izzy pause. He may not be doing anything now, but that didn't mean he wasn't planning something. Even still…he was only standing there staring at her like she was now to him.
Izzy awkwardly shifted her weight from one foot to the other, seeming to debate what to do before she shuffled herself around to face Cloudskipper. Hadn't she just been berating herself moments ago for running from everything? What if this was her sign to finally take that step forward and do something different? It couldn't hurt, right? Izadora lifted her head a little more, studying the stallion for a heartbeat then took that leap her voice soft, but firm.
The tension was immediately noticeable when the mare stopped ahead of him, and Cloudskipper came to a sharp halt behind her. He could not tell if her stillness was fear or anger. In case either emotion resulted in an outburst, he stepped back to regard her carefully from a distance.
The stallion had no intention of scaring her. His loneliness had simply led to listless curiosity, and he started to realize that coming up behind the other horse was foolish. Even if it wasn’t a stranger in the woods, any would have the right to give him a swift kick for sneaking up on them. He dropped his head in shame when she turned to look at him. Her greeting broke the seal on his lips and he stepped forward to speak.
“Apologies, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he said with a nod of his head. “I got curious when I heard your voice earlier. It has been days since I last saw another horse, and I didn’t think this through too well. I’m Cloudskipper.” After a moment he added, “Though if you’d rather not get to know me, I can leave you be.”
Cloudskipper shifted his weight to pull away from his aching shoulder. That leg pulled up, leaving just the tip of his hoof on the ground to provide support. He looked to the sky while he waited for her answer. The fuzzy grey clouds reflected in his nearly black eyes, rolling in slowly on the bitter cold wind.
Patiently, Izzy listened while he spoke keeping her ears perked forward and attuned to show he held her undivided attention. He was just as lonely as her? Had he lost his family too? Was that why he was here and not elsewhere? The mare tipped her head curiously studying him until she realized she'd not answered. "Oh sorry!" Embarrassed, Izadora ducked her head scrambling to focus enough to give a proper greeting. "I-er-you didn't make me uncomfortable. Or well, not really that exactly you just caught me by surprise and I've not spoken to anyone since I was a yearling so I've only been talking to myself and-"
By her ancestors she was rambling.
Snapping her mouth shut promptly with the realization a fresh wave of embarrassment hit her. She looked like a proper fool unleashing all that on a stranger. "I...sorry. Allow me to redo that. My name is Izadora, it's-um-nice to meet you, Cloudskipper. Apologies for that. I don't mind getting to know you if um...I'm not too weird." Awkwardly shifting her weight from one foot to the other Izzy didn't fail to notice the way he seemed to avoid putting weight on a particular leg. She paused, a small, worried frown appearing on her muzzle. Had he been injured? "Are you alright?" Concern overtaking her previous embarrassment Izzy stretched her neck forward making an attempt to examine him for any obvious wounds. "Your leg. Will you be okay?"
Cloudskipper turned his eyes back to Izadora when she spoke. He was glad to hear he hadn’t made her uncomfortable, but it became obvious she was not in her element. He tried not to let amusement reach his face as she rambled about herself. Her comment about being alone before she introduced herself caught him by surprise. She was clearly a mature adult, though still years younger than him. His days wandering Northward seemed trivial compared to her years alone. He set those thoughts aside as she frowned.
“It is nice to meet you as well, Izadora. That’s quite a lovely name,” he mused. “I do not think you are too weird. Rather the right amount for a horse, as we seem very odd creatures when looked at closely.” He realized his words had begun to wander, and snorted with laughter. “And no apologies needed; as you can see I am prone to rambling as well."
“As for my leg, it’s just an old shoulder injury. Annoying, but it only flares when the weather shifts like this.” Another gust of wind blew through the trees, rattling their barren branches to punctuate his last sentence. He shook himself as if it would shake the cold from his body.
“You said you had been alone since you were a yearling? That’s an awful long time to spend on your own, and so young to leave your mother’s side. I—“ Cloudskipper caught himself faster this time. His face contorted with sympathy and he bowed his head again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. But I am sure that must have been so lonely, all on your own.”
The corner of her mouth quirked up in the beginnings of a smile. How long had it been since she'd done that? Izzy hadn't thought she was capable of smiling anymore, but here she was being proven wrong. "I'm glad to hear I'm not too weird and that your leg isn't-er-well, not that I'm saying I'm glad you got injured in the first place or anything, but um-that...you're okay now?" Izzy ended awkwardly straightening her posture with a sheepish expression. There she went again being weird.
"S-So anyway um-thank you for the compliment -probably should've said that first.- If you like you can call me Izzy for short. It's what my mother used to do." Mentally kicking herself for how scattered her words had become Izzy paused at the mention of her mother. "There's nothing to apologize for Cloudskipper. I don't mind speaking about what happened." Turning gaze skyward the mare was silent for a moment. Soon it would be her third season since her mother had vanished, died, whatever had caused their separation. Had it already been that long?
"I was born without a herd or my father. My mother was alone and raised me that way. I tried when I was a foal to ask about my father, but she avoided the subject entirely whenever it was mentioned. I didn't think too much of it then, not even when she steered clear of herds and bachelors, or how often we moved from place to place. I thought that was normal." Izzy's gaze fell back on the stallion a small, bittersweet smile on her muzzle. "I hadn't been a yearling that long when my mother and I ran across a herd. We had been heading to water and we didn't see them, but the stallion did. There was no greeting, no asking who we were, nothing. All he wanted was to add us to his harem."
A small sigh escaped Izzy as that familiar ache settled in her chest, but she pressed on. She had already grieved plenty over the seasons. "My mother wasn't having any of it. She started a fight with him as fierce as any wildcat and told me to run, so I did. It wasn't until later after I'd ran for what felt like forever did I stop and realize that my mother hadn't followed. I tried searching for her, but the familiar spots we'd been going to she wasn't there. I even waited to see if she would appear, but she never did. I don't know when I realized she wasn't coming back, but after that point I focused on survival and avoiding others. Until now." Izzy flashed him a quick, lighthearted smile. "You're the first horse I've spoken to since."
CHARA: Cloudskipper TAGS:lumiNOTES: That memory paragraph doesn't have to be anything big or a direct connection if you don’t want anything like that, just her story reminded me of his father, who also happened to be a mean stallion WORDCOUNT: 309
Cloudskipper mirrored Izzy’s smile as she stumbled over her words. Though flustered and anxious, the older pony found her endearing. He closed some of the distance between them, leaving just enough room for another horse length-wise.
When she began the tale of her separation from her mother, his smile lessened. He listened with ears forward as she spoke. Cloudskipper felt a pang in his chest, an impulse to comfort Izadora. Her grief— and her attempt to stave it— was audible. He felt for her loss.
“I am so sorry, Izzy,” Cloudskipper nickered. He kept his smile in place, not wanting his pity to be obvious, but he could not stop the furrow of his brows. “The homelands have not been kind to you or your mother, it seems. I cannot even begin to imagine… Stallions like him are monsters, no more fit for leading a herd than a cougar.” He pawed at the ground in anger, forgetting himself.
Though he could not understand her experience, her story rang a bell of familiarity in him. Somewhere in his mind, a memory bubbled up to the surface. A horse Cloudskipper knew to be like the beast of Izzy’s story. The face broke in ripples of cream and silver, impossible to piece together beside the shock of instinctual fear that ran up his back. The memory dissolved before he could make sense of it, and he was left staring at the blank space between them. The small connection to his past disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Cloudskipper reapplied his gentle expression as he came back to himself.
“You’re quite strong to have made it so far on your own. We are not built for a life alone, and yet you carry on. After that, I don’t blame you for avoiding others, though I am glad you would speak to me.”
"It's alright, truly, my mother raised a survivor and taught me how to fend for myself no sooner after I took my first steps. Perhaps somewhere in the back of her mind she expected me to travel on my own eventually. Maybe not that young, but I'm grateful for the time I had with her." Izzy's smile became more genuine a lighthearted chuckle following after. "I'm not one to hold grudges even if I had every right to. I simply move on and focus on the better things life has to offer. Life is far too short otherwise."
Izzy's relaxed demeanor didn't last long. Cloudskipper's seemingly spaced out reaction had a worried, anxious frown replacing her smile. Was he okay? Twisting her ears back then forward the mare hesitated, seeming to debate something before she moved a few steps forward. "Cloudskipper?" Izzy lowered her head to be more eye level with the stallion her concern evident. "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost. I apologize if my story brought up something unpleasant." She fretted examining him anxiously despite his return to normal behavior.
"Maybe I shouldn't have dumped all of that on you so suddenly." Izzy's anxiety was relentless. Had she said too much? Had she hurt him in some way? Her heart sank into her belly at the thought. The last thing she wished to do to anyone was harm them. "I'm truly sorry if I upset you it was by no means my intent." Her head dipped lower with the apology her ears pressed flat to her head. "I hope you can forgive me for causing any distress."
“No, no, it’s quite alright,” he reassured her. “No need for apologies. I am sure you’ve had that weight on your back for quite a while now, and I am more than happy to listen. I just, well, I suppose I had an odd memory. Seems our pasts have some similarities.”
Cloudskipper shook his head free of the last trailing strands over his mind. No sense in focusing on the past for too long, especially if it gave him such blurry clues.
“No distress at all, no harm done. If anything, I am sorry to have worried you over nothing.” As if to prove his point, the pony made a quick circle and stretched his legs. He pawed at the ground playfully with a smile. He wanted nothing more than to wipe the concern from her face. No need for Izzy to worry over him, as her own problems seemed much worse than a ghostly memory.
“The cold is starting to dig in though, and I have been walking a while. If we plan to stay in each others’ company, I’d like to be somewhere with more cover,” Cloudskipper said. He hoped she would agree, as the kind mare had been the warmest interaction he had in months. He also did not want to leave her on her own, not after knowing how much time she had spent like that already.
