The Great Expedition

Chapter 25

When Stardust woke up the next morning she saw Cobalt right next to her still sleeping. All the memories came back to her. She decided to got talk to Honeysuckle. When Stardust approched Honeysuckle, she noticed that the young mare was a bit wary and would not meet her gaze. When she walked forward toward her, Honeysuckle quickly backed up a few paces. Stardust layed her head down and started to graze just a few feet away. Slowly Honeysuckle walked over to where Stardust was. Soon both horses were grazing side by side. Stardust asked to go on a little trail ride by the field, so that she could explain herself. Honeysuckle agreed and the two mares trotted out of the field, nudged each other as they went.

When Cobalt woke up, the first thing he noticed was that Stardust was no longer leaning on him and that she was gone. He raced out from the hidding spot in the trees. He looked all around the field and even went to all the hidding spots of the field incase she was hiding from someone. He did not see Honeysuckle in his search for his special someone. He started to gallop around the field madly, he nearly ran into trees multiple times. When he reached the middle of the field he stopped, reared and whinnyed loudly. He took off running again thi time throwing in a couple bucks and head twists. FInally when he got tired, he stopped. Even standing he could not be still. he would paw and rear. He tried to eat but could not be calm enough to eat. He was worried about his girl. Had she continued her journey without him? Had he done something that upset her? Was nuzzling last night to much? Was he pushing her to fast? All these questions raced through his head.

Finally Stardust and Honeysuckle came galloping back into the field. Cobalt quickly galloped over to Stardust. Honeysuckle went over to the little pond to get a drink. Cobalt was thankfull that she had left him and Stardust alone. Stardust started speaking about how she went to apologize to Honeysuckle for last night. To bond again Stardust suggested that they go for a short trail ride and Honeysuckle agreed. Cobalt quickly forgave her and they went to the pond. Around mid day the group of three started moving again. This time Honeysuckle was leading so she could race ahead and get some energy out.

Cobalt and Stardust cantered side by side. Occasionally Stardust would break into a passage just to keep up her body in shape and her mind remenbering the moves. Cobalt tried to copy her moves but ended up tripping over his legs and bumping into her more than doing the actual moves. Sometimes Stardust and Cobalt would race to catch up to Honeysuckle. Most of the time Stardust would win due to her stamina but sometimes she would let Cobalt win. Every time Stardust won, Cobalt would be at her shoulder but in the final stretch he would drop back a few paces and after the race he would have to take a long break to catch his breath.

Honeysuckle would sometimes weave between the trees and challenge Stardust to a race. When that happened Cobalt would hang back and let them race. Stardust would always wait for Cobalt to catch up. Honeysuckle could care less about waiting for someone so she would go on ahead. Cobalt liked that Stardust would always wait for him. It made him feel special. As they carried on and Honeysuckle got more and more tired, it was now Cobalt and Stardust leading the pack. They kept hearing loud growls and howls. That made Stardust super jumpy, more then once Stardust would jump and crash into Cobalt. Thankfully Cobalt was steady and strong. So when she crashed into him, he imbraced the impact and did not move a muscule. Honeysuckle was too tired to bat an eye at the noises. Cobalt was used to the noises and was more worried about Stardust.  

Soon the howling stopped and Stardust settled down to her brisk walk again. They stopped under a tree to wait for Honeysuckle to catch up. Once they were back together again, they rested for a bit. Honeysuckle layed down for a long nap. Stardust tried to find a puddle of water to drink but when she found no trace of water, she went to eating. Cobalt lounged around, he tried to master a collected walk, an extended walk and a passage. He landed on his knees multiple time due to his clumsyness. After awhile he gave up and just started eating. Suddenly a mouse ran by Stardust's nose. Stardust threw her head up in the air and reared. She lowered herself to the ground and started bucking with great force. At one point she steppped on the mouse and ultimatly killed it. Some how the mouse got flown up in the air and landed on her white hind dotted with dried blood. 

That freaked the mare out even more. She started bucking harder and higher. The mouse flew off her but that did not stop Stardust from bucking. After she got tired of bucking, she took off galloping downt the trail. Cobalt was torn should he go after her or should he stay with Honeysuckle until she woke up? Cobalt decided that he would wait for Honeysuckle to wake up before he went after Stardust. Stardust also knew the way back so he did not need to worry to much about her. Stardust was also strong enough to win a fight against almost every animal that could be found in the forest. Sure she might be scared and spook but in the end she would fight the danger head on. 

Cobalt busied himself by eating and trying again to master some of the moves Stardust could do. His competitve spirit would kick in when they were racing and when Stardust was doing those amazing moves. 

Author's note

QOTD: What is the story most told to about your childhood from your parents?

Mine would be that we were driving to Saskatchewan when I was a young baby. To fall asleep my parents would put on a lullaby but my dad (who was driving) was getting sleep so my mom would put in a Lady gaga cd. The first song on the cd was Poker Face. The moment it would come on I would start balling. So my mom would put my lullaby back in and the whole drive was switching cds.