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“Beacon needs space and rest.”

That’s what Rowena was told by Emerald when she tried to walk up to him. And yet Pyrrha was right at his side, leaning right up against him as her obnoxiously named twins snuggled on his other side.

Rowena stood on a hill staring down at them with narrowed eyes, trying to control the little flame that threatened to grow.

“You know, if you had Beacon’s foal, you’d be allowed next to him,” came a sneaky little voice. Rowena turned, narrowing her eyes at Glynda.

“Have you been here the whole time?” Rowena asked. The little roan mare just shrugged.

“Maybe.”

“And you didn’t help with the bear?” Rowena asked sharply.

“Didn’t feel like it,” Glynda responded. Rowena narrowed her eyes.

“You know I could still tell Beacon about what you did at the pond,” Rowena warned. Glynda grinned like a foal getting ready to attack her siblings.

“If you wanted to tell them about it, you would have already,” she said. “But you understand I’m the only other mare in the herd that doesn’t blindly admire Pyrrha.” Rowena glared harder, then shook her head.

“I don’t care about Pyrrha,” she stated, turning to face the remainder of their family.

“No, but you care about Beacon. Right now he’s trapped under her spell, and you want to save him,” Glynda pointed out. Rowena clenched her jaw.

“Beacon has a right to spend time with other mares, it’s how life is,” she said, repeating what she had been telling herself for weeks. Glynda gave a low, animalistic chuckle.

“Never thought I’d see such a clever mare bend her knee to a such a seductress,” Glynda sniggered.

“I’m not bending my knee!” Rowena snapped. Glynda just shrugged again.

“Sure. Just remember, the more you let her get away with, the more she’ll take. That is also how life is,” Glynda told her, and sauntered away toward the pond. Rowena glared after her. Beacon would never forget her. He would never choose Pyrrha over her.

‘But the herd has,’ came a small little voice within her that emulated Glynda’s sneer. ‘Pyrrha keeps sending you away from him like today with Creeda. And then she swooped in to be with him, and he looked so happy and at peace...’

The flame from before turned to ice. Sharp, cold ice that refused to melt. Her ears went back and her tail swished angrily as she gazed at Pyrrha snuggled up with Beacon, her invisible hands holding him tight with no intentions of letting go.

“Cypress!”

Rowena spun to see Ponderosa’s son galloping toward the herd, a flashy mare behind him. Rowena’s face twisted into a scowl as her anger found a target.

The liver chestnut roan tore down the hill, intercepting the young stallion before he got any closer to her Renowned Artist.

“Where the hell were you?” Rowena demanded. Cypress backed away a few steps, glancing from her to Beacon.

“I was just patrolling, and then I was helping her. I heard the bear—but what happened? Where’s the herd? Where’s mom?” Cypress asked rapidly, his round eyes wider than the moon.

“Well while you were off playing with a mare, the herd was vulnerable and attacked!” Rowena spat.

“But—the rest of the herd, what—?” Cypress stammered.

“They were taken,” Rowena spat, “something Beacon could have dealt with if you were here to help him!”

“Rowena, enough!”

Beacon’s first mare turned on the flaxen Arabian trotting up to them.

“There’s nothing Cypress can do about it now, there’s no need to make him feel bad,” Pyrrha scolded Rowena as she gave the Arabian a look that would have scorched the skin off any other horse.

The Arabian turned to face Cypress.

“For future reference, Cypress, just the slightest distraction can spell disaster for the herd,” Pyrrha told him. The young stallion lowered his head.

“I’m sorry…” he murmured, his eyes looking close to tears.

“What’s done is done. We need to get the herd back,” Pyrrha declared as Emerald, Penny, and Nix drew close. The Arabian thought hard for a small while, then she met gazes with the snow leopard. “Nix, you ready to prove yourself?”

The cat sat straight up.

“Prove myself?” she asked.

“I need you to help me take back that herd,” Pyrrha explained.

Rowena stepped forward.

“I’m coming with you,” she declared.

“No,” Pyrrha came back firmly. “You and Cypress are staying.”

“But I can help!” Cypress exclaimed, echoing Rowena’s thoughts.

“No, not in this situation,” Pyrrha repeated. Rowena lashed her tail furiously, gritting her teeth.

“We are perfectly capable of—”

“You aren’t,” Pyrrha interrupted with a sharp edge to her voice as she rose taller on her hooves. Even Rowena had to admit she wanted to take a step back from so much assertive energy.

“I appreciate it, but you’ll only get in the way. However, I do need…” Pyrrha looked beyond Cypress to the beautiful mare he’d brought home. “I know you’ve just arrived, but would you be willing to come with me?”

Rowena’s jaw dropped.

“Excuse me?” Rowena snapped, her tone heightening. “You’re going to bring her—?!”

“Chill out, Rowena, my plan requires a distraction, and the last time I checked, you’re an intellect, not an actor,” Pyrrha said, annoyance at the tip of her tongue as her tail flicked. The pretty mare behind Cypress tilted her head, then stepped forward, giving Pyrrha a nod.

“How is a pretty face and a half-grown cougar going to get the herd back?” Rowena asked sharply.

“You’ve grown up in the wild, you wouldn’t understand. Besides, the more horse I take, the slower we are, and the further they get away with our herd,” Pyrrha said. She caught Rowena’s eye purposefully, and they challenged each other to a stare down of fiery browns and icy blues. “Just stay here and make sure he’s safe—make sure they’re all safe.”

With that, she glanced at the new mare and Nix before loping off in the direction of the tracks the herd had left when they were stolen. Rowena watched her go with a body so tense she could hardly feel it. ‘Our herd.’ Not ‘Beacon’s herd.’ And being an intellect had nothing to do with being an actor. She was perfectly capable no matter what the human-bred brat said.

Rowena paced a four-length line in that area with her ears pinned all the way back and her dripping tail thrashing with every step. She never once took her gaze off of where Pyrrha and the other two had disappeared as the same two thoughts repeated in her mind: ‘She’s no better than me, and she will not steal Beacon from right underneath me.’

And, finally, as Cypress sighed and moved a little closer to Beacon, she decided she would prove it. She would show that bitch she could get the herd back faster and safer than Pyrrha ever dreamed.

“Horse friends! Horse friends!”

Rowena spun around, watching a little tiny…thing float from a nearby tree toward them from the opposite direction.

“Do you know the mare friend called Ponderosa?”

Cypress lifted his head, his ears flicking forward.

“Yes, did something happen?” he demanded, stepping forward.

“She’s had her foals, but she’s sick! Really, really sick!” the creature squeaked. All thoughts of Pyrrha vanished from her head, replaced by worry over the big veteran who had always been by her side. Cypress, meanwhile, stood frozen in the rain, his legs shaking as his voice refused to function no matter how his jaw quivered.

“Take us to her,” Rowena demanded, trotting forward. The little creature nodded frantically.

“Right this way!”

-

Cypress didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t what was in front of him.

His mother—his epic, brave, tenacious mother—was on the ground with her eyes closed and her breathing almost nonexistent. Her coat was dulled, mangled, and stained with her own blood. Cypress tried to remember to breathe as he stood just a few steps away. Words tried to come out, but they couldn’t.

He spun around to face Rowena.

“We need blackberries. A-and fernroot—as much as you can find!” he said quickly. The little creature from before dashed off at the order, but Rowena was watching Ponderosa, her eyes furrowed and red.

“Hurry!” Cypress cried.

“Cypress…” Coco murmured, taking a step forward. The dark speckled mare’s gaze shifted to Ponderosa. “She’s…gone.”

The young stallion turned, and his heart clenched.

His mother’s weak breathing had ceased, her lungs released of air.

“Mom?” he asked, his voice barely coming out. He reached over with his nose, stopping an inch from her skin. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to try. So he nudged her gently in the shoulder, just like he did years ago in that human place when she would lose herself in thought. This time, however she didn’t flinch in response. He tried again, and again, and again, yet the result was the same.

She was gone, taken by the wind.

Cypress’s legs vanished from underneath him. He went to his knees, collapsing and crying and rambling. He didn’t even know what he was saying, but he was afraid that if he stopped talking, it would become real.

His mind started to betray him as well, scrounging up every detail it could to keep his mother alive. Some were memories he had held close to his heart, like playing in that little stone stall he’d been born in, and the stories she’d tell him of the wild where she’d grown up.

But it was the little things that got to him. The things he’d nearly forgotten, like the truly rewarding smile she gave him when she was proud of something she’d done, the boop on the nose she gave him every morning, the way she exuded power, wisdom, and safety no matter where she was or what situation she was in, and the way she was always there to guide him and teach him.

And now…now she wasn’t.

Cypress didn’t even know how long he had laid there when he felt a nudge on his shoulder.

“Coco and I are taking the foals and finding higher ground south. We won’t be far so just…take your time. We won’t return to Beacon without you,” Rowena explained so softly her voice could have been carried off by a breeze. Thankfully, the air was thick and still, not unlike the whole world seemed to be through the lens of Cypress’s sorrow.

He couldn’t process the information with all the memories clouding his mind. He hardly knew Rowena was next to him.

Coco glanced at Rowena. Carefully, she stepped forward, her head low.

“Before she fell asleep, she…she told me to tell you something,” Coco said. “She said that she’s proud of you. Proud of how honorable you are, and how good you are at protecting the herd. She said that you shouldn’t ever lose that. A-and she said that just like last time she had to leave you, you have to be brave. Brave like Captain Squirrel and Bob the Bird.”

Cypress choked out something between a sob and a cold, empty laugh, the last word stabbing him straight in the chest as he lifted his head to meet Captain Squirrel’s gaze. The proud soldier was scowling down at him, disapproval written all over his face.

“This is why you should not have abandoned your post,” the Captain told him. Cypress averted his eyes, finding his mother’s softly closed lids.

‘‘They were taken,” Rowena spat, “something Beacon could have dealt with if you were here to help him!’’

The truth hit him like gust of icy wind; he hadn’t been brave, he had been stupid. Stupid enough to get distracted by Vacuo, allowing for the destruction of the herd and Beacon’s horrid injuries, preventing help from getting to his mother in time to save her.

It was all his fault.

As they had explained, Coco and Rowena led the foals south, and Captain Squirrel walked off with a disappointed sigh.

He was alone again.

But this time, he didn’t feel sorry for himself. He hated himself.

So he forced himself onto his hooves, ignoring the weightlessness in his legs and the little shake they gave when he shifted. He turned, tearing his heart away from the comfort of his mother. His hallow chest and feeble legs unbalanced him, and with every step he threatened to collapse. But he pressed on north into flat, unknown meadows. Then he closed his eyes, letting his mind torture him with every little memory of his mother it could find as he continued marching forward into hell.
Stallion ID: #2 Beacon

In response to: --
Art features: Cypress
Story features: Pyrrha , Emerald , Penny , Beacon , Rowena , Creeda , Kaza , Cypress , Vacuo , Coco , Ponderosa , Glynda [12]
Word Count: 2,116

Aging: --
Healing: --
Pregnancy: --
Captured: --
Mare Steal: --
MS Pregnancy: --
Destination of Bachelor: --

Items you are using: --
Companion Animals:
- Nix: Snow Leopard [Protecting]
- Thor: Sugar Glider [Caring]
Members that own outside horses: --
Rolls: Normal

Other notes: Ponderosa is deceased

Beacon - Rowena is in the PPJ
Cypress - everyone but Dawnie + Vacuo

Description

“Beacon needs space and rest.”

That’s what Rowena was told by Emerald when she tried to walk up to him. And yet Pyrrha was right at his side, leaning right up against him as her obnoxiously named twins snuggled on his other side.

Rowena stood on a hill staring down at them with narrowed eyes, trying to control the little flame that threatened to grow.

“You know, if you had Beacon’s foal, you’d be allowed next to him,” came a sneaky little voice. Rowena turned, narrowing her eyes at Glynda.

“Have you been here the whole time?” Rowena asked. The little roan mare just shrugged.

“Maybe.”

“And you didn’t help with the bear?” Rowena asked sharply.

“Didn’t feel like it,” Glynda responded. Rowena narrowed her eyes.

“You know I could still tell Beacon about what you did at the pond,” Rowena warned. Glynda grinned like a foal getting ready to attack her siblings.

“If you wanted to tell them about it, you would have already,” she said. “But you understand I’m the only other mare in the herd that doesn’t blindly admire Pyrrha.” Rowena glared harder, then shook her head.

“I don’t care about Pyrrha,” she stated, turning to face the remainder of their family.

“No, but you care about Beacon. Right now he’s trapped under her spell, and you want to save him,” Glynda pointed out. Rowena clenched her jaw.

“Beacon has a right to spend time with other mares, it’s how life is,” she said, repeating what she had been telling herself for weeks. Glynda gave a low, animalistic chuckle.

“Never thought I’d see such a clever mare bend her knee to a such a seductress,” Glynda sniggered.

“I’m not bending my knee!” Rowena snapped. Glynda just shrugged again.

“Sure. Just remember, the more you let her get away with, the more she’ll take. That is also how life is,” Glynda told her, and sauntered away toward the pond. Rowena glared after her. Beacon would never forget her. He would never choose Pyrrha over her.

‘But the herd has,’ came a small little voice within her that emulated Glynda’s sneer. ‘Pyrrha keeps sending you away from him like today with Creeda. And then she swooped in to be with him, and he looked so happy and at peace...’

The flame from before turned to ice. Sharp, cold ice that refused to melt. Her ears went back and her tail swished angrily as she gazed at Pyrrha snuggled up with Beacon, her invisible hands holding him tight with no intentions of letting go.

“Cypress!”

Rowena spun to see Ponderosa’s son galloping toward the herd, a flashy mare behind him. Rowena’s face twisted into a scowl as her anger found a target.

The liver chestnut roan tore down the hill, intercepting the young stallion before he got any closer to her Renowned Artist.

“Where the hell were you?” Rowena demanded. Cypress backed away a few steps, glancing from her to Beacon.

“I was just patrolling, and then I was helping her. I heard the bear—but what happened? Where’s the herd? Where’s mom?” Cypress asked rapidly, his round eyes wider than the moon.

“Well while you were off playing with a mare, the herd was vulnerable and attacked!” Rowena spat.

“But—the rest of the herd, what—?” Cypress stammered.

“They were taken,” Rowena spat, “something Beacon could have dealt with if you were here to help him!”

“Rowena, enough!”

Beacon’s first mare turned on the flaxen Arabian trotting up to them.

“There’s nothing Cypress can do about it now, there’s no need to make him feel bad,” Pyrrha scolded Rowena as she gave the Arabian a look that would have scorched the skin off any other horse.

The Arabian turned to face Cypress.

“For future reference, Cypress, just the slightest distraction can spell disaster for the herd,” Pyrrha told him. The young stallion lowered his head.

“I’m sorry…” he murmured, his eyes looking close to tears.

“What’s done is done. We need to get the herd back,” Pyrrha declared as Emerald, Penny, and Nix drew close. The Arabian thought hard for a small while, then she met gazes with the snow leopard. “Nix, you ready to prove yourself?”

The cat sat straight up.

“Prove myself?” she asked.

“I need you to help me take back that herd,” Pyrrha explained.

Rowena stepped forward.

“I’m coming with you,” she declared.

“No,” Pyrrha came back firmly. “You and Cypress are staying.”

“But I can help!” Cypress exclaimed, echoing Rowena’s thoughts.

“No, not in this situation,” Pyrrha repeated. Rowena lashed her tail furiously, gritting her teeth.

“We are perfectly capable of—”

“You aren’t,” Pyrrha interrupted with a sharp edge to her voice as she rose taller on her hooves. Even Rowena had to admit she wanted to take a step back from so much assertive energy.

“I appreciate it, but you’ll only get in the way. However, I do need…” Pyrrha looked beyond Cypress to the beautiful mare he’d brought home. “I know you’ve just arrived, but would you be willing to come with me?”

Rowena’s jaw dropped.

“Excuse me?” Rowena snapped, her tone heightening. “You’re going to bring her—?!”

“Chill out, Rowena, my plan requires a distraction, and the last time I checked, you’re an intellect, not an actor,” Pyrrha said, annoyance at the tip of her tongue as her tail flicked. The pretty mare behind Cypress tilted her head, then stepped forward, giving Pyrrha a nod.

“How is a pretty face and a half-grown cougar going to get the herd back?” Rowena asked sharply.

“You’ve grown up in the wild, you wouldn’t understand. Besides, the more horse I take, the slower we are, and the further they get away with our herd,” Pyrrha said. She caught Rowena’s eye purposefully, and they challenged each other to a stare down of fiery browns and icy blues. “Just stay here and make sure he’s safe—make sure they’re all safe.”

With that, she glanced at the new mare and Nix before loping off in the direction of the tracks the herd had left when they were stolen. Rowena watched her go with a body so tense she could hardly feel it. ‘Our herd.’ Not ‘Beacon’s herd.’ And being an intellect had nothing to do with being an actor. She was perfectly capable no matter what the human-bred brat said.

Rowena paced a four-length line in that area with her ears pinned all the way back and her dripping tail thrashing with every step. She never once took her gaze off of where Pyrrha and the other two had disappeared as the same two thoughts repeated in her mind: ‘She’s no better than me, and she will not steal Beacon from right underneath me.’

And, finally, as Cypress sighed and moved a little closer to Beacon, she decided she would prove it. She would show that bitch she could get the herd back faster and safer than Pyrrha ever dreamed.

“Horse friends! Horse friends!”

Rowena spun around, watching a little tiny…thing float from a nearby tree toward them from the opposite direction.

“Do you know the mare friend called Ponderosa?”

Cypress lifted his head, his ears flicking forward.

“Yes, did something happen?” he demanded, stepping forward.

“She’s had her foals, but she’s sick! Really, really sick!” the creature squeaked. All thoughts of Pyrrha vanished from her head, replaced by worry over the big veteran who had always been by her side. Cypress, meanwhile, stood frozen in the rain, his legs shaking as his voice refused to function no matter how his jaw quivered.

“Take us to her,” Rowena demanded, trotting forward. The little creature nodded frantically.

“Right this way!”

-

Cypress didn’t know what he was expecting, but it wasn’t what was in front of him.

His mother—his epic, brave, tenacious mother—was on the ground with her eyes closed and her breathing almost nonexistent. Her coat was dulled, mangled, and stained with her own blood. Cypress tried to remember to breathe as he stood just a few steps away. Words tried to come out, but they couldn’t.

He spun around to face Rowena.

“We need blackberries. A-and fernroot—as much as you can find!” he said quickly. The little creature from before dashed off at the order, but Rowena was watching Ponderosa, her eyes furrowed and red.

“Hurry!” Cypress cried.

“Cypress…” Coco murmured, taking a step forward. The dark speckled mare’s gaze shifted to Ponderosa. “She’s…gone.”

The young stallion turned, and his heart clenched.

His mother’s weak breathing had ceased, her lungs released of air.

“Mom?” he asked, his voice barely coming out. He reached over with his nose, stopping an inch from her skin. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to try. So he nudged her gently in the shoulder, just like he did years ago in that human place when she would lose herself in thought. This time, however she didn’t flinch in response. He tried again, and again, and again, yet the result was the same.

She was gone, taken by the wind.

Cypress’s legs vanished from underneath him. He went to his knees, collapsing and crying and rambling. He didn’t even know what he was saying, but he was afraid that if he stopped talking, it would become real.

His mind started to betray him as well, scrounging up every detail it could to keep his mother alive. Some were memories he had held close to his heart, like playing in that little stone stall he’d been born in, and the stories she’d tell him of the wild where she’d grown up.

But it was the little things that got to him. The things he’d nearly forgotten, like the truly rewarding smile she gave him when she was proud of something she’d done, the boop on the nose she gave him every morning, the way she exuded power, wisdom, and safety no matter where she was or what situation she was in, and the way she was always there to guide him and teach him.

And now…now she wasn’t.

Cypress didn’t even know how long he had laid there when he felt a nudge on his shoulder.

“Coco and I are taking the foals and finding higher ground south. We won’t be far so just…take your time. We won’t return to Beacon without you,” Rowena explained so softly her voice could have been carried off by a breeze. Thankfully, the air was thick and still, not unlike the whole world seemed to be through the lens of Cypress’s sorrow.

He couldn’t process the information with all the memories clouding his mind. He hardly knew Rowena was next to him.

Coco glanced at Rowena. Carefully, she stepped forward, her head low.

“Before she fell asleep, she…she told me to tell you something,” Coco said. “She said that she’s proud of you. Proud of how honorable you are, and how good you are at protecting the herd. She said that you shouldn’t ever lose that. A-and she said that just like last time she had to leave you, you have to be brave. Brave like Captain Squirrel and Bob the Bird.”

Cypress choked out something between a sob and a cold, empty laugh, the last word stabbing him straight in the chest as he lifted his head to meet Captain Squirrel’s gaze. The proud soldier was scowling down at him, disapproval written all over his face.

“This is why you should not have abandoned your post,” the Captain told him. Cypress averted his eyes, finding his mother’s softly closed lids.

‘‘They were taken,” Rowena spat, “something Beacon could have dealt with if you were here to help him!’’

The truth hit him like gust of icy wind; he hadn’t been brave, he had been stupid. Stupid enough to get distracted by Vacuo, allowing for the destruction of the herd and Beacon’s horrid injuries, preventing help from getting to his mother in time to save her.

It was all his fault.

As they had explained, Coco and Rowena led the foals south, and Captain Squirrel walked off with a disappointed sigh.

He was alone again.

But this time, he didn’t feel sorry for himself. He hated himself.

So he forced himself onto his hooves, ignoring the weightlessness in his legs and the little shake they gave when he shifted. He turned, tearing his heart away from the comfort of his mother. His hallow chest and feeble legs unbalanced him, and with every step he threatened to collapse. But he pressed on north into flat, unknown meadows. Then he closed his eyes, letting his mind torture him with every little memory of his mother it could find as he continued marching forward into hell.
Stallion ID: #2 Beacon

In response to: --
Art features: Cypress
Story features: Pyrrha , Emerald , Penny , Beacon , Rowena , Creeda , Kaza , Cypress , Vacuo , Coco , Ponderosa , Glynda [12]
Word Count: 2,116

Aging: --
Healing: --
Pregnancy: --
Captured: --
Mare Steal: --
MS Pregnancy: --
Destination of Bachelor: --

Items you are using: --
Companion Animals:
- Nix: Snow Leopard [Protecting]
- Thor: Sugar Glider [Caring]
Members that own outside horses: --
Rolls: Normal

Other notes: Ponderosa is deceased

Beacon - Rowena is in the PPJ
Cypress - everyone but Dawnie + Vacuo