The Fire Horse

Chapter 2 - Kate

     When we arrived back at the stables there was a girl outside the stall next to Fox's. She was petting the black horse with the blonde mane and feeding him an apple. She turned at the sound of Fox's hoofbeats. "Hi" she said "I haven't seen you around here before". I dismounted my horse and as I started to untack I replied "I just moved here, my name's Kate" "Well nice to meet you Kate" the girl replied "I'm My" her horse neighed behind her. My laughed and said "that's my horse, Sapphire" of course also wanting to be recognized Fox nudged my side causing me to almost fall over. I started laughing as well and said "This is Fox". When tripping I had dropped my bag of carrots and Fox was now happily munching away at them. I let him have them since my mom would probably buy way to many at the store like she did before we moved here. I chatted with My for the next hour or so during which I temporarily forgot about the events at the riding hall. Eventually I had to go see my new house, I had rushed to the stables so fast I hadn't even bothered to go and look at it. It was a pretty nice house, it had two floors and the kitchen and living room were downstairs while all the bedrooms were upstairs. Most of the house had hardwood flooring, however the bedrooms had white carpet. I was debating how long mine would stay white after I went to the stables for a few days when I thought about what happened in the riding hall. I wondered if I'd imagined it but I doubted it. I had never imagined that kind of thing before. I looked out my window as I thought. I had a really nice view of the Everwind Fields. I had the perfect spot where I couldn't see that now closed oil drilling spot so it just looked like a beautiful field. I stayed up most of the night thinking about how my horse could have talked to me. I woke up on the floor the next morning and realized that I had fallen asleep staring out the window. I've done that once or twice before while studying for school exams. I decided that if Fox could talk to me on our ride today then it was real, if not then I had imagined it yesterday. Today I decided to explore the area a little and see what was around here. I got on bareback not wanting to bother lifting the saddle after being up until who knows how early in the morning. After warming up a little right outside the barn we cantered off into the Everwind Fields. Before I knew it we were galloping across the fields. It was amazing. I'd galloped in an arena before back at my old barn but there had never been a field like this. I had worn a backpack with lunch in it planning to stay out the entire day so around lunchtime we took a break. Fox was pretty tired after running all morning. I asked if he wanted an apple. "Yes!" Fox replied eagerly. I wasn't shocked this time, that had pretty much worn off after yesterday. We ate and rested for about an hour until Fox said "Look there's a village over there!" I looked over and sure enough there was. I dug a map out of my bag and said "That's Silverglade Village, we can go check it out if you want" "Sure, we might as well meet some more people" Fox replied. It was early afternoon while people were still in work so the town wasn't crowded at all. We looked around a little but it wasn't as exciting as Fox thought it would be. One girl gave us a weird look as we left but other then that nothing happened. On our way back to the equestrian center I thought I saw a wild horse looking as but when I looked at it the dark bay horse disappeared over a hill. It was a little weird considering there are no wild horses here but I didn't think much of it. Soon Fox and I were practicing dressage in the outdoor arena. When we went to do a flying lead change something strange happened. I saw a flash of light below us and immediately I yelled for Fox to stop. My horse quickly stopped and asked "What is it?" I got off and walked over to where the flash had happened and saw something really weird. It was a hoof print but it was burned into the ground still glowing a little red. "I have no idea" I replied to Fox's question. He trotted over to see what I was looking at. "Did I do that?" he asked sounding confused. "I-I think" I said trying to figure this out. I no longer even bothered to think I was going insane. I had gotten past that when my horse started talking. I couldn't figure out how this had happened. I had raised this horse from a foal, I knew everything about him. Or so I thought. Clearly there was something special about him. I just didn't know what.