I can remember coming into this world as a foal. My mother gazed kindly at me and my father sniffed me curiously. The world around me dark, when I looked up I saw a tiny light. My mother told me it was a star. She was wise, and I have learned much from her. My father was very handsome, and I loved him, as he taught me many things about how to survive in the wild; and to stay away from humans. When I tried to stand my skinny legs toppled right from under me. I tried again, but with no luck. Mother licked me, then she stood up and walked off a few feet. My curiousity and hunger made me want to get up even more. After awhile I got the standing completed, but then I faced somthing even more chalenging: walking. I wobbled as I tried to walk, but with little sucess. Father and Mother nickered encouragement, and it really helped. The next time I tried walking, I got the hang of it. Her milk was really worth the struggle. I nursed the creamy, delicious milk until I could drink no more. After I was done nursing, I tried walking faster. The result was not pretty. I did a front-flip and Father had to force himself not to laugh. A few minutes later I was galloping like a pro.
Mother and Father told me to follow them. I wanted to stay where we were, but I was curious where we were going. My legs felt pumped and I often bounded ahead. But I quickly stopped when Mother and Father were way too far behind. Luckily they started trotting so I could run too. When we got to the place, I was astonded. There were many more horses than just me and my parents. But they were all different colors. One was grey, another was brown, and there was pretty palomino that father seemed attached to. He told me that she was my grandmother, Esperenza. I was confused; I had two mothers? Mother told me that grandmother meant that Esperenza was Father's mother. I shrugged and trotted over to explore.The other foals looked like they where seeing a monster or something. They asked me for my name. I tried to tell them, but I just couldn't get it out. It wasn't that I didn't know my name, and I wasn't nervous. My mother came over to see how I was doing. But when she saw me trying to talk, she realized a very disturbing part of me, I was mute. She galloped over to Father and told him the horrible news. Well, he told Esperenza, then she told another mare, and so on. And by the next day the whole herd knew. The foals of the herd were playing, and I tryed to play with them to but they told me to back off, Silent kid. I couldn't believe it; they called me a quiet baby goat. Surprised, I ran away and hid behind my mother. She sensed something was wrong and she asked me what was the matter. I pointed my head towards the group of foals playing in the meadow. She thought that I was shy and too nervous to meet them. I tried to stop her, but she didn't understand. So I spent the rest of that miserablble day pretending to play with a bunch of nonstop taunting foals. I slept well that night. The next day I was wakened by my mother when she got up and shoke herself. The foals waited until my mother left to come and tease me. They were harsher than they were yesterday. First it was Silent kid, now it was Quiet kill. I guess they meant I couldn't call out for help when I needed it, so I was roadkill. My heart was breaking when I was only two days old. I could not take any more of it. I ran away, far into the distance. I kept running, not stopping at all, not for water, not for a rest. My legs felt like lead and I could barely stand, let alone gallop. When I couldn't run anymore,I layed down, and tried to sleep. But I couldn't sleep however, despite how tired I was.I felt that something was watching me. My heart pumped quickly, and I heard warning, desperate neighs in the distance. I saw my mother, she was yelling at me, telling me to run. I tried to stand up, but my aching legs could barely move. My father came running towards me, and I thought he was going to trample me, but instead he leaped over me. My mother came galloping and put herself over me. There was growling in the distance, when I turned around, I saw the most frightening creature of all time. Father told me it was a couger, and that I needed to keep all eyes and ears on the look out for them. My eyes couldn't stay open any longer, and I was out cold.
 
 
 
It has been over a year, and Rain is expecting another foal, and Starlight is still being teased and taunted, some days worse than others. She is very attached to her mother, and hardly leaves her side.  

 

 
My legs felt pumped as I ran with my father Spirit, across the plain, through the woods. I ran ahead of him easily. He told me that my lack of a voice had been returned to me as great speed and endurance. We ran for a long while, until Spirit stopped running from tiredness. Spirit said it was time to go back to the herd, but I was barely breaking a sweat. I galloped all the way to the herd, but I stopped short when I saw him.Shawn, the lead taunter. The one who had broken my spirit. He had been waiting for me to get back from running with Spirit. I quietly trotted over to my mother Rain, and started grazing with her.I couldn't stand completely beside her anymore, beacause of her buldging sides. I didn't mind though, I was too excited about having a new brother or sister. At least Shawn couldn't tease me in front of Rain or he would get kicked out of the herd. Rain didn't realize I was teased so much. She didn't know why I looked down in the dumps all the time. I wish she did, or I would have a lot less problems these days.I nuzzled her, and she nuzzled me back and told me she loved me. I gave a loving look, and I knew she understood me; I could talk with my eyes to horses that knew me well. That night, I felt that something was going to happen, something horrible. My heart was pounding as if horses were galloping in it. Rain nickered to me, asking what was wrong. I gazed worriedly into her eyes. She understood and said she'd had that feeling before. She told me not to worry about it, and just go to sleep. I had a nightmare that night. In my dream, there were horses running across a plain, and two lead horses, but the horses were blackened out. They were galloping, but then they ran into a dry, wicked place. There were also strange creatures standing on two legs. And the creatures were laughing wickedly, while the horses were screaming in fear.I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily; I could hardly breathe. Rain woke up when she heard my paniced breathing. She nickered to me, and I got up closer to her. She saw the fear in my eyes, and she gazed kindly into my eyes. I shivered from my fright, even though I was sweating to death. No matter how much I tried to sleep, my nightmare kept coming back to me, and I couldn't sleep.I was still awake by the time the sun rose that morning. My legs were shaking when I got up, and I couldn't eat anything. My thoughts took me away; I needed to find the reason to my nightmare. It was digging into my mind, and I couldn't get it out of my mind. I was walking around for no reason, and I went to the woods. Unfortunitly, Shawn had followed me, and he showed no mercy in his teasings. He called me the Silent Nothing, and he told me that I didn't belong here, where horses could make noise and talk, and that I belonged in the middle of nowhere, where no sound could be heard.That was it. I couldn't take it anymore. I high- balled to the distance. My legs were running to their limits, but then I stopped. I heard Rain neighing behind me. When she caught up with me, I told her through my eyes to go back to the herd. She shook her head, and walked with me. I didn't know where she was taking me. She was about to tell me, when a strange tight thing was thrown over my neck. My eyes were white with fear, and I wanted to neigh, but I couldn't talk. Rain was neighing franticly, and she reared around for awile, but quickly stopped, for she couldn't do as much when she was expecting. We soon were forced to follow the creatures. I realized they looked like the creatures in my dream, but they weren't the same ones. They were strange and brownish, and they were sitting on horses. I was curious about them, and I walked up to one, but Rain went in front of me. She said that she didn't want me to be domesticated to these two- leggeds. The only ones I should trust were the Lakota, preferably Little Creek, her owner. We walked farther away from the herd, and I was scared.My eyes were white with fear, and when Rain sensed it in me. She gave me one of her calming looks, and I felt a little better. I could hear neighing in the distance. It was Spirit, he was looking for us. Rain neighed out to him, but he was so far away, he couldn't hear her. I didn't want to go with these creatures, and I jerked back on the rope. I should of known he had tied it to the saddle horn, because my rope went so tight I could hardly breathe. Rain pulled it with her teeth some and it loosened. I felt so much better after that. The creatures led us to the desert, and I was reminded of Shawn. All of his teasings and taunts came to my head. They were digging in my head like my nightmare was. I wanted to go home, away from this desert, these two-leggeds, and I wanted to be galloping with Spirit, then coming back to the herd and see my younger brother or sister come into the world. I didn't want Shawn back, or the predators. It was then I realized that I had caused Rain and I to get captured. But there was nothing I could do about it. So I just went along and I hoped we would get out of wherever we were going before the foal came. When we got there, I was amazed. There were horses walking in formation, orderly and neat. Rain was nervous, and I knew she was nervous about the foal. This was no place for a wild mare to have her foal, orderly or not. They led us to the stables, but they only put Rain in. One of the two-leggeds led me over to a two-legged they called Murphy. He tied me up to poles, and I watched him get some clippers. He cut my beautiful mane until it was sticking up like a zebra's. I was mad, and the next time he came back I bit his shoulder. He yelled in pain, and put a muzzle on me. Then he tryed to clean my hooves, which I didn't mind, it was the horseshoes I cared about. When he tryed to put them on me, I kicked him in the face. He gave up on that and decided to brand me. Too bad I couldn't stop him there. I watched as he singed my fur, and I saw the horrible mark: U.S. At least then they put me back in the stable. Then they came for Rain; and I didn't want feel what I had felt. I snapped and kicked, and they roped me, I refused to move. Soon they realized they weren't getting anywhere near my mother, and they left. I nuzzled her and invited her to lie down and sleep. She gratefully did, and I Iayed down with her. I could tell she was exhausted, for her breathing was hard. She looked like she was in pain, and her sides were heaving up and down. It was then I realized that Rain was having her foal right now! She heaved, and I saw two hooves appear, and then a muzzle. The other horses were inching closer, until they were literally an inch close. I solved that problem easily by snapping and laying my ears back. The other horses were surprised and backed off. I watched as the rest of the foal came out. My mother didn't get up after that though, and I gave her a confused look. She told me there was another foal coming, and she hoped that she could make it, for she had little energy. If she didn't survive, neither would the foals. She was giving it all she had, but made little progress. Her body shoke every time she breathed. The foal was almost halfway out, and Rain was barely hanging on. I pulled it gentlly by the mane, and Rain pushed at the same time, it finally got the foal out. Rain was exhausted, and I knew that, but she needed to stand up to let the foals nurse. I coaxed her, until she finally stood up. But she had to lean against me to stay up. The little foals trying to stand seemed to give her a little energy, and she managed to smile a little. The first foal born was a colt that looked like Spirit, except he had cream coat instead of golden. He also had lots of light brown spots everywhere. Rain named him Silver Owl, because she heard an owl hoot in the stable. The second foal was a spotted filly. She had the most beautiful coat. She had a golden mane and tail, and she had a cream body, with golden patches all over. My mother named her Night Hawk.  The foals were adorable, with they're little muzzles and hooves. Silver Owl often ate and slept, however Night Hawk was jumpy, eating from time to time, but mostly running around. Rain and I spent a lot of time making sure she didn't mess with the other horses. Too bad I couldn't be with them all the time, for the two- leggeds there tryed to ride me often, but they couldn't hardly stay on me for more than twenty seconds. I wasn't even breaking a sweat after they rode me. My heart was happy here, even though I still longed for home, where I didn't have strange creatures jumping on my back, and being kept confined and away from the outside world. I missed the green grass, the mountains, and the eagle who flew over our herd daily. But most of all, I missed Spirit, my father, my protector. Everytime the door opened, I gazed out to the outside. It was only a desert with few plants, just shrubs and bushes. i wanted to be out there, with Rain, Silver Owl, and Night Hawk. But with the foals so young, and my mother so weak, there was no way we could escape and survive out there. I saw the lead two-legged gaze at me often, with a sly grin on his face. His grin made me worry, but hopefully nothing bad would happen. That day, some two-leggeds brought in two horses, a black mare, and another that looked oddly familier. He was an appaloosa, and he had a handsome coat. Then it hit me, the stallion was my childhood enemy, Shawn. He had grown, still my age with a glossy coat, and big eyes. His head was high, but I saw the fear in his eyes. I hid myself, hoping he wouldn't see me and start the teasings again. I heard the stable door open, but I didn't look fearing it would atention to me. I just stood there, munching my hay, minding my business. He walked right past me, and thankfully he didn't notice me. My legs were shaking from fright, and I hoped that I wan't showing it. I stayed next to Rain a lot, just to be on the safe side. That night, I had a nightmare, and it reminded me of the one I had as a foal. In my dream, there were horses running across a plain, and two lead horses and two foals, but the horses were blackened out, but they weren't as blackened, just a little lighter.They were galloping, but then they ran into a dry, wicked place. There were also strange creatures standing on two legs. And the creatures were laughing wickedly, while the horses were screaming in fear. My dream woke me again, and I guess I was loud, because all the other horses woke up when they heard me, including Shawn. He was flabergasted to see me there. He gave me a sly look and lowered his head down. Rain nuzzled me, and went back to sleep. I guessed she thought I was too old to be scared of these nightmares, and expected me to just forget about it and go to sleep. But I couldn't forget about it. There was something about those horses in my nightmare that I reconized. My worries soon got me to sleep, but I didn't sleep soundly that night. The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual, because I was worried about what Shawn would do to me today. I stayed close to Rain, but since we horses can't see directly behind ourselves, he could snap at my rump without Rain seeing. Of course the other horses didn't do anything about it, since they didn't care a thing about us mustangs, thinking that we mustangs were just weird. He got away with it every time, and it was driving me mad. He continued this for weeks, until he finally slowed down in teasings. Then, a few days later, he completly stopped teasing me at all. I was grateful, and I just couldn't stop smiling. Night Hawk asked me why I was smiling so much. Oh, how I wished I could tell her, but since I couldn't talk, I would never be able to tell her. Today, three horses were brought in today, and one I realized was Esperenza, my grandmother. Rain asked her how she had gotten captured. She said that Spirit was sending a few horses at a time to look for us, and that most of the herd had been captured already.Unless he had sent more horses, there were only two horses left in the herd, not including him, and a foal. She hoped that the whole herd wouldn't be captured. I was devastated. My whole other life was disappearing right before my eyes, and I couldn't do anything about it. I walked over to the other corner of the stables. Shawn walked over to me. My eyes widened with fear, and I trotted over to the other side of the stables. But he kept coming back, and I kept trotting to the other side of the stables. Finally, he gave up, and I wondered what he wanted to do to me. He kept gazing at me, even smiled some, but he looked away when he noticed I was looking at him. I was confused. One day he was my worst enemy, and the next he's gazing at me like a love-struck yearling. Then I realized something: he was starting to like me as a girlfriend. I wasn't interested in love, and I wasn't about to be my enemy's girlfriend. But I didn't want to break his heart. Now, more than ever, I wanted to get out of this terrible place. The next morning, I heard the stable door open. I got up to see the new horses, but there wasn't a new horse to be seen. The two-leggeds came to me and put a halter on me. I wondered what was going on; the two-leggeds usually came to ride me in the afternoon, not in the morning. They took me to the door and gave me to another two-legged. I realized I was being sold! I jerked the rope, and tryed to get back to Rain, and little piece of my life. Oh, if only I could neigh, and shout. Rain tryed to get out, she was whinnying franticly, and pounded her hooves on the wall. There were tears in her eyes, I felt them coming to me, too. There was nothing I could do, and I had to follow them. I gazed back at them, and I reared and shook my head. Rain, Esperenza, the foals, and Shawn all knodded sadly, too sad to talk. The rest of what life I had left was all taken away from me. I just wanted to go home, where there was fresh green grass, and clear blue waters. I wanted my father back, to be able to gallop with him. I wanted everything back to normal. My heart ached for my home, not being kept in captivity, and then losing all my friends and family, to a new mysterious place. The walk to this place was long and we walked far into the night, until we got to the place. They put me in a small roofless stable. I could barely fit in it. It was made out of steel bars, and they were over six feet tall. My legs were acheing, and I tryed to lie down, but the mini stable was so small I could barely move. So I just slept standing up. In what seemed like minutes, I heard lots of two-leggeds coming my way. Since it was lighter out, I could see around myself more. I was surronded by big metals seats, and they were starting to get filled up quickly. There was a loud booming noise, and I was scared to death. Then a two-legged tied a rope on my head to act as reins. After that he tied a rope under me as a cinch, but without a saddle. He tied it so tightly that I could hardly breathe. My instincts told me to kick and buck, but I couldn't do that since the stall was so small. I felt a two-legged land on my back and the door open. I ran out and kicked and bucked. I heard cheering, and the two-legged pulled as hard as he could with the reins, to the point where my muzzle was touching my neck. I stopped and the crowd yelled and cheered. The two-legged was proud and was waving his hands around in the air. I surprised him by bucking him off. He landed in the dirt with a thud. The two-legged glared at me and stomped over in my direction. I was curious about what he was about to do, but I wished I had run, because he put my reins down and stood on them. Then he took out his crop, and started beating me with it. It hurt dreadfully, and it cut through my skin, and then he jumped on me and smacked me on the rump. I tossed my head up and galloped around, bucking and kicking. Then, I heard a horse neighing. I stopped short in my tracks and turned toward the sound. At first, I couldn't see through the dust, but after it cleared, I could not believe it. Standing there, raising his head up and neighing, was my father. He had been trying to get my attention. I galloped over to him, and I nuzzled with him for a long time. I noticed he was covered in cuts and bruises. I couldn't stay there long because the two-legged jerked my rope. I tryed to buck him off, but it was no use, he just wouldn't come off. He had put his legs between the rope under my stomach. But I had a plan. First, I bit his leg right above his boot. He yelled and smacked me on the neck, but I bucked him off. Then I trotted over to my father, and he told me how glad he was to see me. He also said that this place we were in was called a rodeo, where the two-leggeds rode us wild mustangs almost to the death, until we were so worn out that they couldn't get us to kick and buck for the crowds. Then they put us in these pens until we get our energy back. I could not believe it. These two-leggeds were abusing us horses for money and fame. And I wasn't going to tolerate with it. I played with Spirit's lock until it opened up. Then, with Spirit at my heels, we ran up to the crowd; and it worked, they backed up. Using the bars for support, we climbed up to the seats and ran. We both jumped the gate and ran for it. The two-legged up front thought that I was best in show, and he wasn't just about to let the best go. He was forgetful, because he forgot rope, he pulled out a dart gun. Thankfully he missed, it hit a cactus. I did not need to make a great escape, and then get captured again. We ran through the desert, until we got back to the herd. Except, when we got there, there was no herd!..... to be continued.