Born Free

Chapter 14

As I hang my head in a daze, I hear a loud and piercing whinny coming from the 'barn' as Sailor calls it. She was turned out with me to 'improve my domestic reality' as Sailor said. Another whinny lashes out of the barn and the same chestnut stallion I had sniffed noses with comes prancing out, and loaded up into a very long and big trailer. The past two days, Sailor has taught me human words, and what human things may be.

Another neigh comes from the barn below, and a black mare comes walking out. Raven. And beside her, follows and equally black, but white painted foal. I immediately rush to the fence and she tugs on the rope, pulling free of it and loping over. The small and very leggy foal scurries behind her and uneasily sticks to her side as she nuzzles me.

" Aurora, this is Bear," She looks down at the small colt at her side.

" Say hi to Aurora, Bear. She is a part of my herd." The tiny colt looks up at me with deep brown eyes.

" H-hi, Arowa." Raven snorts in amusement at her foal.

" No, dear. It's Aurora." She nickers softly to Bear. His little, black and white, tail flicks from side to side rapidly. I look at the humans slowly approaching us and nicker, letting Raven know that they are there. She throws her head up and listens behind her, letting out a full blown, two hoofed kick. She missed, but they back away, walking around her and when they get close to her side Bear is on, she snaps at them, showing her teeth and nearly knocking Bear over. I walk from side to side along the fence and paw my hoof, hitting it against the rail. They eventually get her lead rope and load her up into the same trailer the chestnut did. I nervously pace the fence, wanting to go with Raven. But not getting near a human. Sailor says the stallion humans are called men, and the mare humans are called women. A man approaches our paddock with a rope halter in hand, I back away, hoping its for Sailor. I pass her and my tail hits the fence and the man passes Sailor, standing head on to me. I weave my head back and forth, looking for an escape route. He corners me as he walks up to me. I let out a piercing whinny and rear up, landing down on the soft, grassy ground. He reaches up to pet my beck, and I charge forward. Sailor tosses her head up, ears back, then walks up to me calmly.

" Just let him lead you. You'll be able to go with your friend." She extends her nose and when I look in her direction, I see Thunder being led by and down the pathway to the trailer. I snap my glance back at the man and turn, facing him. Nervous, my ears flick from side to side. He slowly touches my neck and I flinch, stepping away once. He steps towards me, and I raise my head as he tries to slip the halter on. Sailor nickers lowly, encouraging me to take the halter. I snort, lowering my head and with my tail swatting my flanks, nervously, he clips it in place. Giving me a hard pat, I jerk my head up, letting out a grunt.

" Sorry, filly." He says, pulling on the lead rope. I resist, letting him pull on my head a few times, then I decide to take a step. He walks me out the paddock and I stop, turning to Sailor and I nicker. She looks up at me from grazing, and nickers back. Satisfied, I turn around and rush the man to the trailer. But, when I get there, it just looks like a dark, and scary place. I toss my head back and nervously snort. A comforting whinny comes from inside the trailer and I prick my ears. Thunder. Oh, but it's so scary! Closing my eyes for a second, I launch myself into the trailer. Dragging the man behind me. Scared, I let out a kick, just hitting the trailer with a loud clank!

" Just let me tie you up..." He asks me to walk forwards, and I paw the air in front of me, taking a slow step. Standing beside Thunder, I inhale his scent, but the rope restricting my reach. He squeals in delight, sniffing me back. He bows his head up and paws the rubbery ground, snorting with every hit. Finding a bag of hay ahead of me, I try to coax it out and into my mouth, small holes making it hard to eat.

Thunder sniffs the hay cautiously and starts devouring it in hunger. I hear another man and a horse snort, easily loading. He ties her up and I sniff noses, and she reacts with a squeal and a paw, just missing my head.

" Sorry. I'm Aurora." The red roan mare just snorts. Ignoring her attitude. It's a long ride after they load up another horse, it's coat a dark seal brown. Eventually, I fall asleep, with nervous and alert Thunder beside me.
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I feel my body get thrown sideways and I crash into Thunderstorm, waking the both of us up. I pull back tightly on my rope.

" Calm down, Aurora." The roan mare beside me snorts.

" Sorry, what's your name?" She lets out a huff.

" Scarlet. But the humans call me Foxy." I nod slowly, a steam of fog coming out my nostrils.

" Why do they call you that?" I ask, my steamy breath drifting by her face.

" Probably because I gave them such a hard time before you met me. I kicked a guy, but a couple of horses, and eventually, they beat me."

" What do you mean, beat you?" I ask, concern lacing my voice.

" Just put me in a herd of stallions, they beat on me, then right after I could fight off the last one, they took me and rode me till I broke down." I prick my ears, listening.

" What do you mean broke-" Scarlet cuts me off abruptly.

" I fell down and could barely get up. Then they rounded me up with ropes, didn't feed me, so I gave in." My heart starts to get heavy, the way it usually does when I hear a story like that.

" Never give in." I mutter to myself. She paws the ground, breath streaming from her nostrils. She stops, looking at me with her eyes, the colour of raw dirt.

" What?" She asks. I sigh, Thunder watching me closely.

" My father told me to never give in, okay? So I won't." She snorts, looking away to the brown horse beside her.

" If anything, humans will make you break. Wether it's your untamed spirit, or your life."

Authors Note-
I finally published it! I have been working on it for 3 days (during and outside of school). I really hope you like it and I already have a plan for the next chapter!:)
-A