Juara

Persevering Pony

""Everyone up!" called Carnis. "Quickly, a messenger from the Grand Meadow needs help immediately. We are going to test all those who want to return with him. So if you want to go with the messenger, Kurir, line up in front of me." Horses lined up in a long line of brave horses, few ponies lined up, and fewer passed. The herd split into sections according to age.

"Ha, ha, ha!" A wicked laugh rose from Cazar, "Pip squeak wants to fight! Ha, ha, ha. What you going to do Jura, fight the leaves! ha, ha, ha." Some of the surrounding 3 year olds laughed and giggled at his cracks.

"For your information I could take you and your whole group out by myself. and someday you'll realize how foolish you really are. And my name is Juara!" Juara retorted. Cazar was taken aback by my confidence,but he soon got over it.

"Ha, ha. If you think Jura over here can fight me, let alone this whole group, Please let out a cheer." Cazar sneered as no one made a peep. Blaze would have cheered with all her heart, but Juara had convinced her to stay back and protect the herd, since Blaze had a few powers too. Before Cazar could go further Carnis appeared to test us. We all lined up and were asked a few questions about the enemies and how to defeat them. As soon as you got one wrong you went to join the herd. In the end Juara, Cazar, and his buddy Gertak were the youngest ones still standing. The three raced across the meadow. Gertak lost, and Cazar wasn't happy about that.

"Gertak! I can't believe you lost to that wimp! Since I'm supposed to find the good in everything I suppose you can be here to protect the herd, while Jura will probably die off before we even reach Grand Meadow." Cazar said angrily. Juara ignored Cazar, and went to say goodbye to Blaze, and her mother.

Soon Cazar, Juara, and two other strong horses were following Kurir to the Grand Meadow. There they would meet up with some other strong horses from other herds to go help fight the Red Tail wolves. Kurir had told them the plan of travel; Since the group was only made up of 10 horses, travel would be faster paced and they would get there sooner. As well they would take a shorter, but harder route to the Grand meadow.

For the first few hours they just kept a steady pace at a lope, Juara wouldn't have been able to do it without her powers. Since Juara was a pony she couldn't run that fast for that long, like a horse would. Cazar was surprised at how Juara could run without tiring.

"Maybe she is not as weak as I thought." Cazar thought to himself. "I hope this doesn't continue, otherwise I will be foolish, just as she said." After about 3 hours of loping they slowed to a trot. Kurir was a blue roan arabian, so he was bred for long treks.

"I hope I am not tiring you out." Kurir inquired."If I am just say so, we will take it slow for about an hour or two then lope for another hour before we set in for the night." Juara was the only pony, and there was only one other mare, she was still young, at 6 years old, and full of energy. The other stallion was 13, but was strong, he was a black Irish Draught horse. Cazar was a Mustang, brown and white appaloosa. There were 5 other horses as well, an Irish Hunter, a Clydesdale, and 2 tennesee walkers. And remember, Juara was a quite a mixture, her Dam(mother) was 1/2 quarter horse, 1/2 welsh pony, and her Sire(dad) was a full blood Thoroughbred. No one was tired yet so they continued just as Kurir planned.

Thunder clapped and mud splashed as they trotted through the storm, toward the Grand Meadow. Cazar was quite surprised that Juara was enduring it all. She wasn't using her powers at the current moment, she was going to try use them as little as possible. Juara wanted to become tough, and able to survive without her powers.

"Hey Juara," Cazar approached timidly, "you a lot tougher than I thought. It's hard to believe your enduring this without wanting to stop. "

"Is that an apology?" Juara asked, in a kind but sassy tone.

"Um, kind of, well." Cazar stammered. " Yes, um, I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Then regaining his courage he spurted, " But I still don't think you could defeat a whole army by yourself, you're so... tiny!" Cazar quickened his trot and went ahead of Juara.

"He's strange, that's for sure." Juara thought to herself.

Soon it was dusk and the storm had retreated to a peaceful, cold, light rain. The 'team' settled under a large oak, near a wide river. Everyone was sleeping, except Juara. She was thinking about her mother, Blaze, and the herd. Suddenly Rayburn walked out into Juara's view.

"Rainy isn't it? I just teleported here from the cave, it's beautiful back there. This is about 589 miles from your home meadow. Any way; follow me, quickly." Rayburn gestured toward the now raging river. Juara carefully followed Rayburn to the river.

"Okay, so I want you to swim across this river, if you start to struggle then I will simply drag you back here, and dry you off, to start again. The other horses don't know I am here because I am invisible except to you. Now go, and no 'buts'." Rayburn instructed. Juara looked at him with a blank look, and then started toward the dangerous river. She faced the river and slowly descended into the icy cold nightmare. Juara took a deep breath, and then plunging into the river, she thrashed out her front legs, her back legs kicking behind. She strained to stay above water and angled against the river in order to go strait across. Juara started to slip under, she suddenly felt warm, and saw her hooves glowing. With the new comfort, and warmth she pushed on. Suddenly she saw a large log bellowing down the furious river.

" Quickly swim faster!" Rayburn shouted. " Swim, you can do it! I know you can escape."

As log neared Juara she felt a warm glow oce again set upon her cold body. With the re-gained courage, she pushed onward, just missing the scratches from the branches. Pulling herself on to shore she collapsed in an exhausted heap. Rayburn jumped to the otherside. Nudging her, he placed a point from his antler on her muzzle, his antler glowed blue as energy flowed into Juara's limbs once again. She looked up, and stood.

"I have granted you yet another power. It shall be quite easier to swim across the river. Try it, and I shall meet you on the other side." Rayburn told, encouragingly. Juara realized she felt fresh and new. Facing the river she vaulted into its cold domain. She found it quite easy to push her legs, as if she was more full of energy and stronger than before. She glided through the rough water as if it were a still stream. Reaching the other side effortlessly she climbed onto shore. Rayburn jumped over and told Juara to return to the tree and sleep. Thankfully no one saw her or missed her.