The Great Expedition

Chapter 28

Stardust woke up to birds chirping and leaves swaying in the slight breeze. When she wanted to get up she found it hard to stand. Finally she got to her feet. Cobalt awoke when he heard noises. Together they slowly walked to the water, were Stardust layed down in the water. The water felt amazing on her aching muscles. She layed in the water for close to an hour. By the time she got out of the water, she could not feel the pain that had been all over her. As she made her way back to ''the camp'' Honeysuckle rushed over to her with a bounce in her step. Honeysuckle nudged Stardust. Stardust stumbled sideways and almost fell over. Cobalt come toStardust side and helped steady her. After she was on four feet again, Cobalt walked over to Honeysuckle and bit her. Honeysuckle squealed. Cobalt then pinned his ears and chased her away from Stardust. Stardust leaned down and got to grazing. She was starving. She had not eaten a lot before running off, then the bear came, then she got into the cave were there was very little food and to top it all off she had to swim a great distance on an empty stomach. Stardust gobbled up the grass until she could not eat any more. Cobalt was grazing a few feet away from her. Occasionally he would raise his head and look for any danger that might have came. Honeysuckle was grazing at the edge of the camp with a grumpy expression.

Now that Stardust is here, he is back to being mean to me. Why does his life revolve Stardust? Honeysuckle thought. Around midday the pack decided to continue their journey. Honeysuckle was in the lead so that she could race ahead and burn off some of her energy. Stardust and Cobalt walked side by side. Cobalt slowed his normal pace so that Stardust was not behind him. Stardust was still limping but thanks to the water she felt little pain. Every so often Honeysuckle would race back to make sure the other two were following her before galloping off again. Every little noise spooked Stardust and more then once had she lept into the sides of Cobalt due to panic. Cobalt always held his ground never stumbling to the side when Stardust crashed into him. He was gald that Stardust was crashing into him.

Whenever they got to water, Stardust would head down to the water and lay in it until the pain in her body was gone. Cobalt was always standing on the sand incase she got swept away by the nonexistent current. Honeysuckle would take that time to explore the surrounding, but would come back if something spooked her before going back out.

That is one weird mare. Cobalt thought. Honeysuckle would eat just about anything she came across on her adventures. More then once would she come back in the middle of chewing some wild flowers or berries. Once she had even tried bark before spitting it out. More then once had Honeysuckle got stomach aches from all the food she was tasting. The horses continued on their journey until the sun was starting to set and stormclouds were rolling in. They tried to find a place to set up camp and eventually found a place in the trees. The trees were dense and clustered together to protect the horses from as much rain as possible. Once it started to rain, Cobalt and Stardust stood under one of the bigger trees that protected them from most of the rain. Honeysuckle had other ideas, while the other two were taking cover she was bucking, rearing and leaping in the rain. Honeysuckle stuck her tongue out and tried to get rain drops to fall on it but stopped when no drops landed on her tongue. Under the trees Stardust begain to nuzzle Cobalt as they watched Honeysuckle play in the rain.

At least this will get even more energy out of her and she will not be so annoying. Cobalt thought. When the rain stopped, Honeysuckle sulked back to the tree and layed down to nap. Stardust went out from under the tree and tried to cool her body off in puddles. The pain was coming back again but Stardust had to keep going. 

I can rest all I want when I'm with Kristie again. She thought. Stardust was limping pretty badly and her gashes were starting to get infected. Sometimes the pain was to much to bear and she fell down on the path, only getting up when the pain had eased. Cobalt now tried to be on the side she would collapse on she that she could fall into him and he could gently lower her to the ground. Stardust felt more pain for longer when she hit the ground without Cobalt gently lowering her down. Once Honeysuckle tried but the white mare was too heavy for the other mare to handle and they both went crashing to the ground. 

After a good night sleep the horses carried on thier journey. Honeysuckle was still in the lead to burn off her never ending energy. Cobalt and Stardust walked side by side. Often Cobalt would gallop forward to see where Honeysuckle was but he always came back to Stardust. As they two horses turned a corner, they saw Honeysuckle a few feet away touching noses with a buck with huge antlers. The buck turned his head towards the two horses arriving before bounding away into the forest. Honeysuckle looked disapointed that her new friend got scared away. Honeysuckle started spinning along the trail and adding in a few bucks in mix. Cobalt would not even look at the mare, he was so embarrassed that of the mare. Soon Honeysuckle got dizzy and stopped spinning only then would Cobalt look at her. The group came across a small river. When they reached the river, Stardust promptly layed down in it. She let the cool water run over her body and taking the pain with her. Cobalt and Honeysuckle took giant drinks from the river.

Author's note

Happy long weekend. Will not be posting due to camping and no wifi.

QOTD: Should I make a squel to this book?