Owner: Jitterbug.
Horse's Name: Salem
Height: 16.1 h
Gender: Stallion
Rarity: Very Rare
Short Story: At a young age Salem realised he was different - all the other foals were afraid of him and their parents would often chase him away with bared teeth if he ever went close to them. His only friend was his mother, she always stood up for him and encouraged him, but when he was nearly two she fell vitally ill and passed away. The other DAMs said that she had been infected, cursed by Salem, who they considered a demon due to his scary looks and unusual markings. With his mother gone, it didn't take long for them to drive the young colt from the herd that very night. Being young and alone, there was no way he had any chance against them, so with pinned ears and filled with outrage he galloped away, planning to put as much distance between him and those horrible mustangs as possible. He realised he didn't want acceptance anymore. He wanted revenge.
After a while the soft desert sand disappeared and the scenery changed, so he slowed to a brisk trot. There were more trees and grass, and the sounds and smells were different to that of his desert home. His eyes were getting droopy and his legs tired, so he found a cave where he thought he would be safe from any dangers that may be in this land. He collapsed onto the ground, and with heaving sides and flaring nostrils, he drifted into sleep.
He awoke in the early morning to a horrendous sound, a terrible screeching noise that filled the cave. He bounded up, head held high and eyes wide with fear. All of a sudden a colony of bats flooded into the cave, returning to their home after their night of hunting. Salem had never experienced these creatures in the desert before, so being extremely startled he raced outside, stopping a little distance from the cave mouth and snorting at the creatures. Once they were all settled in, the screeching subsided, and he approached them, realising that they may not be as scary as they seem. He noticed a baby crawling on the ground, which he thought was strange considering all the others were hanging upside down from the roof of the cave, including one particular bat who was screeching and looking quite anxious. Salem sniffed at the helpless little thing on the ground and allowed it to climb onto his muzzle. It's claws dug into his nose, but he beared the pain as he stretched his neck up to the little bats mother allowing the baby to crawl onto its soft fur. The mother bat looked at him with wide eyes as if in thanks - he had made a friend.
When Salem was only a few months old, his mother had taken him to a small village where these strange two-legged creatures known as humans lived. She had warned him to be very wary of humans as they would often try and capture wild mustangs to keep as pets. He had noticed that scattered around the village were pumpkins, however they were quite unordinary in the fact that there were strange faces carved into them and there was a source of light inside many of them. He remembers being quite shocked at the resemblance between the obsured marking on his rump and the toothy grin carved into the pumpkin. He had asked his mother why the humans did that to the pumpkins, and why they had them scattered around their village. She had explained that on one night every year, the humans would celebrate an event known as "Halloween". They would dress up in strange costumes and would often make their houses and themselves as scary as possible. Salem never saw the point of this silly event, he didn't understand why people would want to frighten others. Now not only did he understand, but he had a plan.
On the day of Halloween Salem traveled back to his homeland. It was late afternoon when he found them. The various spotted mustangs were at their favourite resting place, settling in for the night. The lead stallion, mares, fillies and colts all looked so calm and Salem's mouth twisted up into a mischievous smile, excitement in his eyes as he saw them. His heart was cold, the hatred he felt for them was overwhelming, he was so eager to put his plan of revenge into place, though he knew he had to wait for the perfect moment. He stayed nearby until nightfall, always making sure that he was out of sight and downwind from them. The last thing he wanted was for them to realise he was there, they would chase him away again and he would have failed.
His coat glistened in the moonlight, every muscle of his strong body rippled with excitement as he waited. It was about midnight and the full moon was high in the sky. Such a perfect night for Halloween. He stood on the top of a sand dune where he could see the sleeping mustangs below, his smile once again spreading across his face. A low screech sounded and he knew it was time, he reared up high on his hind legs and squealed a loud strong whinny as the hundreds of pairs of wings rushed past him from behind, towards the startled mustangs. The bats were there in no time, swooping and diving before the mustangs knew what was happening. The noise was deafening, the horses panicking, eyes wide with fear. Foals were split from their mothers, colts were bucking and screaming, fillies were running blind from the swarm of mammals. All the while Salem stood, shaking with excitement as he watched individuals flee every which way. He threw himself into a gallop straight towards the commotion, into the cloud of black and happily ploughing into any mustang that was in his path. He had been called
"scary",
"demonic", and
"dangerous" in the past - it was about time he embraced it. Through the other side of the colony he galloped and with a flick of his head the bats followed him away, over the sand dunes and out of sight. His work was done and was loving it. He had shown them what the true meaning of scary was and he knew for sure that it would always be the best Halloween of his life.
Art:By me (Jitterbug.)By Flamestar & StonefurBy яαι∂εη