All This Pain

•Chapter One•

The first thing I hear is a whinny, and not the pleased type. It is a fear-wrenched whinny, and it was coming from my mother. I fell onto the warm, soft hay gently as the whole world went silent it seemed. My mother let out a snort of discomfort with a hint of relief in her tone.

I attempted to open my eyes, and the first thing I saw was a grey blob. The blurriness faded and everything went into focus after a couple of seconds. The grey blob turned out to be my mother, her eyes gently closed. She was breathing heavily as I scooted closer to her.

She flicked an ear towards me, and then opened her eyes, lifting her head towards me slowly. She shook her mane and extended her front legs in front of her. She stood up carefully and adjusted herself. I looked up at her and waited.

I copied her movements slowly and tried to stand up, but the hay was slick and I fell back down on my stomach. Mother nickered towards me and I could tell that she was trying to encourage me to try again. I placed my front hooves out and pushed off with my hind legs, standing up for the second time.

My ears flicked wildly as I stood there, my legs sprawled out. I jerked my head around, checking out my surroundings carefully. I looked towards my mother yet again and she tossed her head happily. I smiled to myself and took a small, wobbly step towards her and almost lost my balance, but I stood still before attempting to take another step.

After a few moments, I was next to my mother when I heard my stomach growl. I whinnied at the sound, becoming slightly spooked. Mother giggled softly and nipped towards her flank, motioning me to drink her milk. I cocked my head to the right before walking over and sniffing her. I craned my neck and started to suckle, before I heard a loud click that came with a flash.

When I heard the strange sound, I jumped to the side and spun around towards where the sound came from, ears flicked forward. There before my innocent eyes stood a disfigured creature, something that didn't look anything like my mother.

It was holding something in its hands, something big and black with a circle in the middle. The man lowered the thing and revealed his face, cocking an eyebrow at me and smirking slightly.

"Well hello, little fella!" he spoke with a deep, pleased tone.

I just snorted, slightly irritated that he had interrupted my meal. I stumbled back over to my mother, feeling half-blind from the flash of the object the man was carrying. I started to suck yet again and after a while, I stepped back and shook my mane, my ears flopping around.

I stomped my front right hoof, wanting to run around. "Mama? Can I get out, pwease?" I asked her, looking up at her with pleading eyes.

"Not right now, baby. We have to wait until the humans take us out to the paddock." she said, her voice soft.

"Okay," I said. I waited a few moments before speaking again. "Can we go out now?"

She giggled warmly and looked towards the paddock. "In a little bit, we have to wait."

A sound of clinking startled me and I lunged towards my mother for safety. She stuck her head out of our stall and looked around.

Before I could even think of what was making the noise, a larger horse pranced by. He was a lot bigger than Mother, but he was being led by a human. You could see the whites in his eyes. He was scared, or worried, one of the two. The trainer had let him stop by our stall and Mother nuzzled the stallion, making me stumble backwards in disgust.

"Cash, meet your new son..." Mother had told the stallion. He looked towards me and smiled warmly, making my muscles loosen slightly.

"Oh! My son!" he said happily, sticking his head in the stall. I lowered my head and kept my eyes on him while carefully taking small steps towards him. I lifted my head and he nuzzled my cheek, closing his eyes and smiling more.

My mother watched us, but the human that was holding my father yanked on the lead line and forced him towards his stall, which was all the way on the other end of the stable. I sighed, disappointed.

My mother pinned her ears as a girl walked by. Her dark brown hair and her silver-blue eyes instantly told me that she wasn't going to be my best friend. Her hair was held in a tight bun and she gave my mother a sharp look. She meant business.

My mother reluctantly followed after the lady as she was being led to the crossties. She was hooked up and I looked down at her hooves, which looked extremely large. She would also shift her weight every time the woman tried to groom her. My mother looked scared, so I was scared too.

And then I wondered, are my feet going to be that big?