be.

 

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Creme kicked against her stall. She neighed impatiently, and reared. A man finally ran to her and she lashed out, grabbing the rope from his hands. Pulling it into her stall, she tossed it up and down with strong throws of her head. "Alright, Alright, patience!" The man said, opening her stall door and revealing her halter. Creme froze and lowered her head, nickering. The man put the halter on her and lead her out. As she walked around the corral, she saw Bitty, as well as Solomon, which made her heart leap.

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Solomon lowered his head and snuffled the ground, puffs of the thin dust rising around him. He was not sorry. Bitty had deserved it. He didn't look at her, didn't even acknowledge her. He snorted, shaking his mane.

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Creme stiffly walked to her friend. She could sense the tension between him and Bitty, and wanted everything to be back to normal. His white sides gleamed with the welts, and her neck looked shorter with the bandages wrapped around it. Stopping with her small chest and shoulders against the railing, she nickered to him, urging him to her.

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He lifted his head, and walked toward her. He had changed. he was more rigid and not as caring and sweet as he was before. Only one person could change him back.... He slung his head over the railing, and bumped noses with her for a second.

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Creme smiled, and lightly tapped her nose with his. She could feel tension and anger falling off of her friend, and it scared her. She nickered gently and tenderly rubbed her forelock against his neck. She was at a loss of words, and could only do her best to comfort him without them. Her eyes opened and she looked up as Bitty snorted irritably toward them. She pulled back and watched Solomon, she felt him grow furious.

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He took a deep breath, and relaxed. "The Colonel is letting us out to romp today." he said. He looked into Creme's eyes, and in his eyes was a message: I have to get away from here.

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Creme watched him, staring into his deep, violet eyes. She got the message, as much as she didn't want to hear it, she knew Solomon too well to ignore his eyes when they spoke so clearly. She saddened, and moved closer still, bumping herself against the fence. She stretched her neck and laid her nose over his withers, than slowly pulled her head up, gently rubbing his multicolored neck. She blow in his ear, and finally pulled back, her sighed warming his cheek. Her sad eyes replied to him, clearly and genuinely. He had her undieing loyalty. Even if it meant separating them forever.

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He closed his eyes, shuddering at her touch. A new, beautiful emotion was stirring inside him, but he didn't know what it was. He looked into her eyes. "I'll only be gone a few days.... I have to leave... to visit a friend. I'll get a good whipping, but it is worth seeing this friend." He slung his head over her neck, giving her a quick hug, then trotted out of the now opening gates, along with the other stallions.


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Creme nickered as he left, unconsciously nipping at his mane, as if to hold him back. She watched him trot off, then dropped her head. A few days, she could make it. She had waited for him for longer, she could make a few days. But, she couldn't stop watching him. Something felt wrong, and as soon as his hide disappeared, guilt gripped her. But, why? She went to turn away, but her body didn't move. Her eyes didn't twitch, her heart didn't beat. She was weak in spirit and grieving in her soul... he was gone, and this was going to be a very LONG few days, she knew only that.

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Three days had passed since Solomon had left. He had only just left Spirit's herd, and felt guilty. He had felt bad because Creme would be worried, but Rain got sick, so he stayed to make sure she would be OK. He walked along the plains, feeling nervous. He was in the Albino's territory... then his worst fears came true. The Albino had spotted him. Screaming in anger the white stallion charged towards him. Solomon rose into a startled rear, and the Albino hit him head on. he rolled on his back, receiving a kick to the stomach. He lurched to his feet, only to be knocked back down.... he had to fight back.

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Creme trotted at the man's command. She kept in line with the other horses, and her gait was easy, but bumpier than usual. The human noticed her tenseness, and returned her to the pen at the Colonel's command, who was scared that she was sick or maybe pregnant. She was sick, however, sick with worry about her sweet Sully. The man woke the Colonel in a start late that night. Creme had been so quiet that they had just about forgotten that she had been lurking in the corner of the pen when they let the other horses in. More specifically, Bitty's crusher, Andrew Jackson. Jackson was almost as mean as Bitty, and he swiftly and quietly attacked the mare in the night. The man put Creme in her stall, where she laid, still and quiet. Her other friends, Ace and Fidelin, worried about her, and offered her the strength she needed to get better. She was recovering in body, but her spirit wept. It almost wasn't her own pain that she had felt, and she feared that her best friend was suffering the mysterious aches that hung over her like a dismal cloud. Try as she may, depression set in, and her faithful friends didn't leave her aside as she battled the over whelming emotions.

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He arrived at the gates. He took a deep breath and walked inside. The humans grabbed him, and put him into a stall. he was ready for the whipping, but it didn’t come. The horses were talking about someone- a beautiful young mare was sick. Solomon then heard the name "Cremello" he let out a cry of alarm and when a human opened his stall door he pounded out into the aisle. He looked in each stall until he found her. She was in the back of the stall. She was so sick. "Creme!?" he asked, sticking his head into the stallion. When she didn’t answer he panicked. "CREME!?"

 

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Creme perked up, as much as she could in the depression. "You shouldn't have come back," she nickered, slowly limping to him. "They'll whip you," she was thinner than he remembered, and a gray haze seemed to cover her coat, but she hid it well. She hid the pain and anxiety that pressed her mind, the aches and shudders at the sight of his beaten body; her guilt for wishing him back to her, the loneliness that overwhelmed her without him, she hid it all. Smiling as she blinked and stepped into the sun. There was more for her to say than could be said, more joy at his presence than could be felt... And she smiled. Bumping her nose against his, she breathed his scent, his familiar scent. Underneath smell of blood, of sweat, of oak and of pine, underneath it all, he was there, there for her. He was back, and she new that he could never leave him again. Simply enough she had made her mind; she wasn't going to tell him about the illness.

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Solomon, Katrece(cameo) (C) HayleyWolf

Fidelin(cameo) (C) Animal Whisperer

Ace(cameo) (C) Din77

Cremello, Bitty, Andrew Jackson (C) myself

Story (C) HayleyWolf and myself