nickered and lowered my head in apology. She slowly crept towards me. I noticed that my ankle was wrapped loosely in white gauze. She continued to wrap my ankle and put a splint on too. It was painful but I knew it would help me heal. I got unsteadily to my feet. My ankle felt better already! Me and LightningRod were led to the meadow. The foals peeked curiously around their mothers' legs. Then a gray-white mare with a brown colt aproched me slowly and cautiously. She looked nervous. She softly nickered friendlily. It was Mel! I snorted angrily at her and turned my back on her plea for friendship. I heard her walk away slowly and sadly, and possibly a sniffle. That night me and LightningRod slept in the stall. The next morning the vet came again. He gently took hold of my ankle and examined the makeshift cast with Lightning hovering nervously behind me. "You make quite the splint, Ms. Liana. You don't need me here. Just make sure she has fresh water and green grass. In a month this should be fine." He told her praisingly. But he turned to her and became stern. "But you really should watch this mare better." He gave my ankle a gentle pat. "I can't watch her Dr. Ronson." Liana said shyly. "Well, why not? Why have a horse you can't watch?" He asked her. "Well, she's not mine. Or anybody's, she lives in the dun stallions herd. Last time she left she ran straight to it." She explained. "What?! You tamed a wild horse?! That illegal for anyone except the cavalry or government!" He said angrily and shocked. "No, no, no Dr. Ronson! She was born tame! She was let go." Liana said hurriedly. "I owned her once. She was an excellent show jumper. That is her mate over there," she gestured to LightningRod. Dr. Ronson picked up his bag and said, "That is quite an experience! Most horses released never look back to humans." He said smiling. He shook her hand and left. I walked to the stall door and neighed to be let in the meadow. Liana walked over and clipped a lead to my halter, then opened the door and walked me to the gate. She put me in the meadow and I started to graze. Liana left and went to groom LightningRod. Soon I heard shuffling hooves heading my way and I looked up chewing my grass. It was Mel. Again. I rolled my eyes and went back to my grazing. She spoke softly and tentatively, "Rose... I know what I did at our old home was awful... I'm so sorry... I know you probably hate me, but now I've changed! Ever since the fire... I you hadn't woken us we would all have died... A horrible death. I'm so sorry Rose. I just hope it's not too late for my apology..." She said tearfully. My eyes welled up at the memory of the fire, my mothers death. And I understood. The death of her father had changed her life, like my mother's had changed my life. She had finially changed. For the better. I raised my head, my eyes welling with tears. I smiled tearfully at her and nodded. She beamed at me with tears of joy running down her cheeks. I stretched my neck and hugged her, like a true friend. 

            The next few weeks were happy. Me and Mel surprisingly became best friends and grazed together every day, with her excited colt running circles around us. He came to call me Auntie Ro! He was named Nathan. When I told Mel about my foals and my life in the Cimmaron she seemed crestfallen. "So you're leaving again?" She asked sadly. "You could come too... It's an easy jump over the fence." I told her cheerfully. "What about Nathan? He couldn't jump that." She said. " There's a weak board I can kick out, he can crawl under that." I reasoned. "What about cougars, and snakes?!" She said worriedly. "Remember, we have Spirit at the herd, Mel!"  Mel looked at me with a smile. She nodded at me and said, "That would be amazing. I would love to come, but we'll see if we can get out succesfully..." I smiled at the doubtful tone and smiled misciviously. "We will!" I stated in asingsong voice.

               The next night I waited until every light in the farmhouse was off, and them quietly broke out of my stall. LightningRod peered around suspiciously. We quickly but quietly made our way to the meadow. Mel and Nathan were dozing peacefully. I quietly nickered to them and Mel woke with a start. "It's time!" I called to them. Nathan shook his head and trotted up. "Hiya Auntie Rose! Why are we quiet?"  He whispered quietly. "We're going to a new home!" I explained to him. Me and LightningRod leapt over the fence and trotted silently to the weak spot. I kicked the board loose, which in the midnight silence, sounded like and earthquake. Thankfully only a few deep sleeper horses were in the meadow, and they only stirred in their sleep. Mel instructed Nathan to wriggle through the hole. He eagerly went through and stood on the other side, waiting for us. Me and Mel jumped over the remaining wooden fence and LightningRod came soon after. We trekked  Silently through the woods. Nathan looked around both amazed, curious, yet frightened. To a little colt this forest would look so scary, dark, and deadly. when the trees began to thin we picked up pace, with little Nathan struggling to stay next to Mel. When the sun rose we heard a trumpet blast in the distance. I halted and called for Mel to stop. She trotted to me confused. "Why did we stop?" She asked. "We cant go near the cavalry in daylight. Let's find a cave for the day." Soon after we found a deep cave with luch grass growing at the mouth. Me and Mel began to ravenously devour the grass. Being protective as usual, LightningRod insisted to keep watch as we ate. I made sure to leave a big tuft of green grass for him. A few minutes after we all ate we ventured into the cave. It was surprisingly warm, and soon we all settled down for a nap. Soon Nathan was running around again, rejuvinated from the short rest.

          We waited patiently until nightfall and then me and LightningRod led Mel and Nathan to the huge cave we had found earlier. Thankfully, we found it almost instantly. Mel and Nathan crawled in and LightningRod and I set out for the Cavalry. Once again, the idiots there left the door open! You would think they had learned by now... We stepped quietly to the joint stable where the horses were kept in warm weather. We bit the lock until it popped off and silently the horses poured out. You could feel the tension, excitement, and fear in the air. True to his word, the herd was free of foals, like the leader horse had told me. We crept past the cabins, and thankfully the soldiers continued snorning loudly in their beds. When we got out of the door, we began to trot. We sped up the farther we got, and soon were galloping across the dark plain. Me and LightningRod circled the herd when we reached the cave. We told them to crawl though the hole and they eagerly obliged. Mel greeted then inside the cave and Nathan quietly meandered around their legs curiously. As LightningRod and I scrambled through the opening, the sky was beggining to tinge pink. Just as before, me and LightningRod piled sand and rocks to block the small enterance. "Good" I sighed. fatigued, we all lied down and slept. Later in the day we heard the thud of hooves coming our way. It seemed that the Cavalry had gotten ahold of some more horses. One whinnied. It sounded like one from Liana's new farm. The horses froze as we heard  them gallop by angrily. We ventured deeper into the cave and found a crack that let in light that helped a short but wide crop of tough grass to grow. We all devoured the grass quickly and soon returned to the enterance. We sat staring at the mound of sand and rocks for who-knows-how-long and soon heard the horses head back slowly. As soon as the horses where out of earshot, we reared and bucked in excitement. The stallions dug up the exit, letting in the light of dawn, and we galloped out and didn't stop until we were deep in the woods. The leader horse excitedly ran up to me and said "Thank you so much Rose! Thank you thank you thank you!" He whinnied. "Haha, calm down! It was no problem..." I said. "Me and the bachelors are going east" he told me and galloped off with the bachelors. The couples raced off south. Me, Mel, Nathan, and LightningRod continued north as fast as Nathan could go and and arrived at nightfall. We all reared excitedly and raced down the face of the hill to the herd. Spirit ran up to me. "Rose!" He exclaimed, "We thought you were a goner! Did you save everyone?" He said. "Yes!" I exclaimed. The herd milled excitedly around Mel and Nathan, chatting animatedly. Primrose galloped out of the crowd and shouted "Mommy!" My heart swelled at the sight of my beautiful filly. She had grown so much, she was nearly as tall as me! Soon after Thunder trotted up and smiled. I laid my neck around Primroses'. "I missed you so much mommy" she murmured. "I missed you too babe. It's time for you to meet daddy!" I raised my head and smiled at LightningRod. "This is Primrose, LightningRod. And that is Thunder." I said. I was so happy, I felt that my heart would burst. LightningRod nuzzled our foals lovingly and we bagan to graze contentedly. We were home and together, and that's all I could wish for.