Art by Delirious
Username: TheAlmightyTriscuit
Partner: DeliriousName: A Phantom's Memories / Phantom
Gender: Mare
Personality: Height: 14.2 hands
Halter Color: Some as her eyes
Their Future:
Grey clouds were rolling across the bright blue of an early morning sky, the smell of rain was obvious on the wind and there was a refreshing coolness to the air. Phantom lifted her nose up and took in several deep breaths, she loved days like this, she felt an unexpected friskiness overtake her as she playfully nudged the puzzle shaped marking on her mate, Sin's, shoulder. Sin lifted his head up from grazing to nuzzle the mare's jawbone, no matter how many times they touched, it felt like their was an electric buzz between them.
"You're in a good mood today." Sin remarked with a hint of a smile in his voice.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Phantom asked curiously before lipping at Sin's right ear before trotting away, she was in the mood to play around. Sin trotted after her, he eyed her skeptically, she seemed fine and dandy but her belly was swollen and she was close to giving birth. Recently Phantom had been feeling anxious from all the movement that had started in her stomach area, Sin moved up to her shoulder and nuzzled her neck lovingly.
"How are you feeling today?" Sin couldn't help be a little bit of a worry wart. Phantom was about to have their first foal and he wanted to make sure that the mare took it as easy as possible now that she was almost due.
Phantom slowed to a stop and let Sin continue his nuzzling, she let out a sigh of pure happiness as she closed her eyes. "I feel wonderful.. amazing.. fantastic.." She paused to think about more words she could use to explain how great she was feeling. "I feel.."
What did she feel? She was starting to feel the normal movements of their foal trying to get comfortable, it went from casual moving around for comfiness to more vigorous movement. Was the foal just moving around to be comfortable or was it something more.
"I feel odd." Phantom admitted honestly. Sin stopped nuzzling Phantom's neck and looked into her bright eyes, his own gray-lavender eyes were studying hers intently. "O-odd?"
"Odd."
"I need to lay down." Phantom admitted as she moved away from Sin to lay down underneath the shade of a large oak tree, the branches would be able to provide cover if it started to rain as Phantom was taking time to rest. Sin nervously shifted his weight back and forth as he nervously watched his mate, "Now when you say odd do you mean you ate something bad and feel sick or.."
"Sin." Phantom didn't hear his question that faded into silence a moment before, she was too busy concentrating on what exactly this odd feeling was.
"Y-yes?" He asked as he walked over to her and put his face close to hers, she pressed her muzzle to his as she looked up with worry in her eyes.
"I'm scared Sin, will you lay down with me?" Phantom's voice was small and trembled the slightest bit. Sin didn't hesitate to lay down, he would willingly do anything she asked of him if it was she wanted and would make her happy. He laid opposite of the mare with his shoulder pressed against hers, their puzzle markings matching perfectly in the moment.
"I love you, Sin-"
"I love you too, Phantom."
Phantom smiled at her mate's earnest reply, she knew that he loved her but she would never tire of hearing it. So far they've enjoyed ten months of pure freedom out in the woods with nothing to keep them apart, some days it felt daunting and some days it felt like this was what they were meant to do for the rest of their lives.
"Sin.. I have something important to tell you.."
Phantom looked at her stomach and nosed a spot where a hoof was barely visible pressing against her from the inside.
"She's ready." Sin heard his mate's whispered words and felt his heart speeding up, he loved Phantom more than anything more than eventing, he didn't expect to find anything he would love more than just having her by his side. At this moment his heart swelled as he also nosed the side of his beloved mate, he prayed in earnest for it to be a filly like Phantom was hoping, colt or filly he already loved their foal dearly but he knew that Phantom wanted a little girl first. He was nervous to be a father for the first time but he was also excited to meet their baby for the first time and watch their foal growing and running wild with them.
Phantom stood on a grassy bank at the edge of Sin and hers usual watering a hole, a shallow river without much current to it. Some hot days it was nice to take a dip and cool off. The mare watched from her spot as Sin, a bay stallion splashed through the water with a yearling filly that had his coloring, her eyes and all of their love, clumsily splashing after him in a game of water tag.
"Ashe.." Phantom nickered to the filly gently. Ashe turned to look at her with bright eyes and a happy smile on her face, she snorted and splashed through the water towards her mother before stepping out of the water and pressing her nose to Phantom's.
"Mom you always interrupt our games." Ashe said as she stood there waiting to see what Phantom wanted her to do. Phantom laughed as she groomed her filly's short mane for a few moments. "That's because you get your father too excited and he forgets his age." She said teasingly as Sin approached, he looked affronted at her words. "Do not! I just like showing Ashe the best way to splash up a lot of water at once." Sin's explanation didn't do very well since he smiled halfway through, his mane clung to his face and neck overall he looked like a carefree colt.
Phantom pressed her nose to his before nuzzle his neck right behind his ear. "You are my heart." She said with as much love as she could put into the meaning of those words, Sin's expression changed to loving as he replied with his whole heart. "And you're mine."
They spent a couple moments like that just listening to each other's breathing and enjoying the feel of the other's body just barely touching. No day so far has gone by where they haven't revelled in the joy of just touching each other to prove that they're not a dream and that this is real.
Their moment of silence was broken when Ashe spoke up. "Gross! You guys. come on, I know I'm your filly and everything but get a pasture or something would you?"
Phantom and Sin laughed before looking to Ashe and mobbing her with their affection. "We love you just as much, Sweetheart." Phantom nickered as they held her close between them, she was one of the physical proofs of their love and they adored her from the moment of her birth. Sin looked at their filly and his mate, he was happy in the truest way but.. he sometimes wondered what was going on at Deer Cove Acres, how everyone was doing without him and if his rider had made it to the championship eventing competitions with a different horse.
For a few moments Sin was lost in his thoughts and he didn't notice when Ashe and Phantom moved away or that stranger's hoofbeats could be heard coming through the trees. What did get his attention was Phantom calling his name.
"Sin!" She whinnied a few feet away as she pranced around her filly anxiously, Ashe was panicking and doing her best to stay as close to Phantom's side as possible. Sin jolted back to reality, his ears went up as he scanned for the sounds of another horse, no, horses. Other horses were headed towards them, they could be a wild band of stallions here to try and take Phantom or Ashe. He moved a few feet towards his mate in an attempt to protect her and their daughter when the horses broke through the trees, they weren't a band of stallions like Sin had though, it was something worse.
He let out his shrill whistle of challenge as the horses charged all three of them, there were five horses in all and they all had riders with ropes. Sin put himself between the riders and his family as a rope swung out towards Ashe, he managed to block it but he couldn't block the second rope as it landed snugly around his own neck. He let out another challenging whistle before rearing up to show he wasn't messing around and that he was furious at these humans, before he got all four feet back on the ground one of the other riders had roped Ashe.
Sin watched as Ashe was forcefully dragged away from him and Phantom by one of the riders, he could see the terror in her eyes as she let out a frantic whinny. "Mom! Dad!" She lunged against the rope to try to re-join her parents but the rope and the weight of the horse pulling her away was too strong. "Ashe!" Phantom and Sin both whinnied, Phantom pinned her ears and charged the rider holding Ashe's rope, before she could take a chunk out of his leg, the rider smacked her sharply on the nose. Phantom backed away in surprise and hurt she looked around as she refused to move any farther away from her daughter.
"Phantom!" Sin's call made her whip around as she looked to him, he was now being held by two ropes around his neck, a rider on each side so he couldn't fight either to be free. The mare felt hot tears start to fall from her eyes as she looked back and forth between her mate and their daughter. "Sin.." She said with an aching sadness to her voice. "I'm sorry.." She whispered as she followed the rider who was forcing Ashe along by the rope around her neck.
Sin's felt a sharp pain pierce his heart as he watched the mare he loved more than life itself follow after their daughter. He reared up high and called out to them. "I'll find you both! I'll save you, no matter where you are!!"
He heard Ashe call faintly back to him. "Dad.. I love you.." Tears rolled down his cheeks as he finally stopped fighting the riders holding him against his will and went down on his knees as he broke down. He couldn't let Phantom or Ashe see him like this, he had to be strong in front of them but without them, what point was there for him to fight? He was caught.
~
Ashe snorted loudly as she was pulled along, her eyes wide and fearful, Phantom walked quietly beside doing her best to soothe the filly, it didn't work so well when Phantom had tears that wouldn't stop running down her face. "Mom.. I'm scared." The filly whispered. "Whats going to happen now, when will dad be back with us?" Phantom nosed the filly's neck. "It's alright, I'm here.. Dad will find us soon."
The mare had no idea when Sin would come to find them and it frightened her, she had found the mate of her dreams and she had lost him before she even got to spend half her life with him. She had to believe that Sin would come back to them somehow but at this moment in time it looked pretty bleak to her.
Ashe now looked at her mom with sympathy in her eyes as she nosed her mom's cheek. "You're right, dad is smart and strong, he'll find us."
It was a busy day at Tipping Ranch when, Cassandra 'Chthulhu' Evans was called away from her daily training regime with the new fillies and colts she had on the farm. She hoped that whoever was interrupting her busy day was worth it and not some salesman throwing a pitch, she couldn't stand those kinds of people on days like this. The sun was shining brightly and it was hot, Cassie paused a moment as she wiped sweat from her brow before approaching a middle aged man who was talking with one of the ranch hands. The guy waiting to talk to her didn't look like some slimeball trying to make some money on a scam, he looked just like any of the ranchers that lived outside of town around here.
She walked up to them, the guy took notice of her and stuck out his hand for a handshake, which Cassie obliged, it would be downright rude to avoid any person's offer of a good old fashioned handshake. "Good afternoon, ma'am, my name's Hank Lankford, I live a ways outside of town."
"Good afternoon." Cassie replied politely, she cocked her head slightly as she wondered what this Hank fellow wanted. "Are you here to look for a horse or something? I don't really have any up for sale right now."
"Oh no, ma'am, I heard that someone round here went and lost a horse with an interesting shoulder mark, like a piece from a puzzle or some such thing. It's a mystery to me how a horse gets such a marking but me and my boys we were tracking some mustangs about an hour or two drive north from here and we saw a couple horses, thought they were mustangs. We got up close and saw both these horses had the same puzzle marking, I figured it wouldn't be right to not try to find the owners for them."
Cassie's heart beat faster the longer Hank spoke as she looked at him with surprise and shock on her face. "I did lose a horse with a puzzle marking on her shoulder, she's all white with a couple spots of color on her face and the marking on her shoulder."
Hank's face broke into an honest smile as he gestured to the horse trailer attached to his beat up chevy truck. "That description matches the horse I got in the back perfectly. Sweet as a lamb too, once I roped her filly she came alone as quiet as you could only imagine."
Hank and Cassie walked towards the horse trailer, she contemplated and agreed that Phantom could have had a filly since the time she went missing. She wondered just what the father may have looked like. "You said there was another horse, with a puzzle like marking?"
"Oh yeah, this other horse was colored in except for the marking and it sits right on the spot where your mare has her marking. They matched perfectly in size and placement as if they came from the same puzzle game."
Cassie seriously pondered who else could have a horse with a puzzle marking, she assumed Phantom was the only horse with such a unique and detailed marking. Hank let the ramp down for the trailer and Cassie saw a familiar horse, standing quietly inside. "Phantom.." Cassie called the mare's name as she climbed inside the trailer and rested a hand gently on her shoulder, the mare looked at her with surprise and recognition. The mare knew exactly where she was and let out a long sad sigh, Cassie took the sigh as one of relief and smiled at her good fortune. Phantom looked healthy and the filly that Cassie could kind of see over Phantom's back was stunning, she estimated the filly was around a year or so and was going to be bigger than Phantom just judging on how tall the baby was already.
Cassie thanked the lord, good fortune and Hank Lankford for bringing home her precious mare. Thankfully since Cassie had just come from working with one of the colts and teaching him to follow where she led with the lead rope she still had it on her, she swung it over the mare's neck carefully and used it to lead the mare out of the trailer, Ashe followed her mother obediently, terrified of everything that was going on only finding safety and comfort from her mother right now.
"Mama.. What do we do now?" Ashe asked quietly as she eyed Cassie and Hank fearfully, Phantom looked down the drive of Tipping Ranch, her thoughts were still with Sin and where he was as well as what he was doing now.
"Move Forward I guess." Phantom said with a deep sorrow to her words.
"Back to dad?" Ashe asked hopefully as she followed after Phantom when Cassie was done thanking Hank for bringing her horses home as well as offering to sell him a good horse for cheap to show her appreciation.
"Hopefully."
~
Sin was home or what he had considered home before running away with Phantom, unsurprisingly not much changed since he ran off. It was like he never left but he had and he had been living happily with the love of his life, they even had a lovechild. He had hoped to give Phantom many more foals and that he would be a grandpa one day and watch all of his kin growing and knowing that they had made the right choices in their life to thrive together no matter the cost.
Now it felt like none of it had really happened like his life outside of this place hadn't really happened at all and that Phantom was gone forever as well as his darling little foal who had been born on a slightly stormy day and who had brought out even more love from his heart to envelop both Ashe and Phantom with.
He let out a sad sigh as he wandered aimlessly through the familiar pasture, he noticed one thing in particular that had changed since he was here last. The fences were now higher than before, he didn't dare hope that the old part of the fencing he used to sneak out before would still be down, they probably fixed every small thing to keep him in this time.
Even if he did get out, where would he go? Finding Phantom now would be next to impossible he had no clue where she was or if she even got to stay with Ashe.
"No! I can't think like that, wherever they are, they're together and they're waiting on me to find them!" He spoke encouraging words to himself lest his sad thoughts cause his heart more pain than it already was.
"Who's waiting for you to find them?" A familiar voice asked, it was his friend Xerestrasza, she had been the first to welcome him back, she was still as friendly as before and he wasn't sure but it seemed like she rambed even more now. She started to talk about something that happened while he was away and ended up stopping mid sentence to gasp. Her gasping caused Sin to turn and look at her in confusion, he normally just tuned out her rambling since most of it didn't normally make sense to him.
"..the person who brought you back I heard something interesting about another horse having a puzzle marking just like yours.. they said something about trying to find the person who owned the other one.." Xerestrasza stopped talking a moment and eyed him knowingly. "Sooo.. Is that the mare you ran away with? The one with the other puzzle piece?"
Sin had hoped to hear more about Phantom but what Xerestrasza told him was enough to fill his heart with more than enough hope to believe that Phantom was closer than he had ever expected.
"Sin?" Xerestrasza called his name as she waited for him to come back to reality and answer her question.
"Yes.. I ran away with Phantom, she has the exact same marking I do.. I need to find a way to see if she's been taken to her old home too."
Xerestrasza cocked her head curiously to one side. "How are you going to do that?"
Sin thought about it and looked towards where Tipping Ranch could be found, out past the town, his love was waiting for him. "I don't know yet but I'll find a way."
~
A couple months passed by, the months apart felt likes years due to being separated from each other. The weather went from hot to chilly, Phantom filled out quite a bit in Sin's absence, Cassie at first assumed Phantom just liked eating. Now it was actually found that Phantom was pregnant again and she would probably be due either in January or February, Cassie had wanted to put Phantom back into training to be a dressage horse but that would now be on hold until Phantom's second foal was born.
Ashe had gotten used to being handled by Cassie and by a few of the other handlers that worked at Tipping Ranch, she became a bit more independent from Phantom which saddened the mare but she couldn't stop her filly from growing up, even if Ashe was something she wanted to treasure and keep to herself because she had some of Sin in her blood she knew she couldn't, that wasn't the way when it comes to humans. They sell horses and buy new ones, it happens and that's life for a horse.
Ashe had finally reached Phantom's height, she had the smarts of Sin and looked so much like him that sometimes the sight of her could make tears fall from Phantom's eyes.
~
While all that was happening at Tipping Ranch, over at Deer Cove Acres Sin was training for eventing again. It took him a couple weeks of adjusting and figuring things out that he thought of a daring way to see Phantom again, now he had to play the waiting game a bit to make it so his rider trusted him completely again.
So far everything was doing well, he was eventing like a champ and his rider was completely comfortable with being up on his back. His muscles had strengthened in ways that it hadn't out in the wild, he was ready.
After an exeptionally good day of training with Sin putting his all into eventing with his rider as tired and ready to relax as his stallion. His rider was riding him out of the training area towards the barn to groom Sin before putting him back into his old stall, the reins hung loose in his rider's hands so he couldn't do much when Sin grabbed the bit and took off down the driveway of Deer Cove acres heading for town.
Sin's rider yanked on the reins furiously to try and take the bit back from the galloping stallion, but it wasn't working. Sin had enough energy and strength to keep running and he wasn't going to stop until he was good and ready, his rider just wove his fingers through the stallions mane and prayed they didn't meet a car by accident.
Sin's hooves made loud clacking sounds as they hit the pavement rythmically, he didn't have time to notice that the town was only slightly busier during the day and that a lot of people were gawking at him running down the middle of the street. They probably thought he was insane but right now he didn't care about anything except going to see if Phantom was at Tipping Ranch.
Running up the drive for Tipping Ranch didn't take very long, it was a short drive which he realized he liked since he had run so far already and was losing steam, he was panting now and had worked himself into a heavy lather. His rider pulled on the reins and called a mighty "Woah!" Sin paused, he liked his rider and would have listened to him any other time but right now his rider wasn't going to be able to get him to listen.
The stallion trotted over to a pasture that he could see a vague but familiar horse in. "Ashe!" He whinnied loudly at his daughter who was grazing out with some other yearlings. The filly's ears perked up as she flicked her tail up and whinnied in return as she galloped over. "Dad! How did you get here??"
Ashe reached her head through the fence and touched noses with Sin, the stallion was ready to climb over the fence to be with his daughter again. "I missed you so much.. Mom has been.. very sad without you around. She's been put on stall rest lately.." Ashe's voice was full of worry for her mother, she loved her dad and missed him but she knew that Phantom needed to see Sin desperately right now.
"I have to go see her, I'll come back to visit with you some more." Sin hated to walk away from Ashe but he had to see Phantom. His rider sat forgotten in the saddle he knew now that it would just be a waiting game until he could get Sin to listen again.
"Hey!" Sin called loudly into the barn, faint rustling could be heard as a horse shifted. Phantom's face came into view in one of the stall's her mane was mussed up with straw bits stuck to it, her eyes were blinking rapidly as she woke up. "Hey." The mare replied as she smiled at him. "You're a sight for sore eyes, ya know?" Phantom said as Sin walked over, he nuzzled her cheek before pressing his face into her neck while she returned his signs of affection with some gentle grooming right behind his ears.
"Oh! uh, Sin? You have a person on your back." Phantom looked at Sin's rider in surprise, she hadn't seen him at all when Sin walked into the barn, although it was probably due to her seeing the one horse she was hurting just to be away from.
"Uh yeah.." Sin chuckled awkwardly. "I kind of took him hostage after training today, I had to come and see if you made it back here. I'm so happy to find you did.. I-I've missed you and Ashe so much."
Phantom nickered to him gently and pressed her nose to his. "We've missed you just as much and.. I'm happy to tell you that you're going to be a father again." Phantom's eyes glistened with pure joy when she anounced that she was pregnant again. Sin let out a happy whinny before snorting and pawing the air a couple times. "You're amazing, beautiful, wonderful. I can't believe we're going to have another foal!" Sin's happiness lasted until he felt his rider dismount and grab the reins in his hand, Sin's heart already started to ache again as he faced the thought of being away from Phantom again.
"Well what's all this?" Cassie asked as she walked into the barn, she had heard some commotion going on inside and so she came to check and see if her stallion, Rev, had gotten his head stuck in his grain bucket again to find a person she didn't know with their horse standing and bothering her pregnant mare.
The other person explained about Sin's unstoppable dash over to Tipping Ranch and how they ran through town.
"That's one crazy ride, he ran all this way to spend time with my mare?" Cassie asked curiously as she studied Sin, her eyes locked on the puzzle piece marking on the stallion's shoulder. "Y'know, he looks a lot like my mare, Phantom's first foal, a yearling filly. They have the same coloring, it wouldn't be too crazy to assume that this guy is the father."
Sin's rider shrugged his shoulders. "He did manage to escape a while back, I'd heard he was found with another horse with a similar marking, so it looks like our horses have been together for the past couple years out in the wild."
Cassie could definitely see her mare and this stallion acting like mustangs on their own. "They seem to be pretty close, Phantom hasn't looked this lively since before she went missing, horses have feelings or I suspect they do. It would be a shame and so saddening to keep two horses so close apart, right?"
"Are you proposing I take the mare back to Deer Cove Acres with me then?" Sin's rider asked, Cassie thought it was probably because they didn't want to lose their stallion, Sin was probably pretty valuable to them but Phantom was pretty valuable to her too and she couldn't just give them her mare.
"No, I'm sorry but Phantom is too important, special I should say, to give away. What if we build a joint pasture that we could put them in? It would be between out properties and then when they're put out they can spend time with each other and their filly, Ashe." Phantom's eyes widened as she was listening intently to everything that was being said, she looked to Sin who wore the same expression she did, both their hearts filled with a hopeful longing, could this be possible?
Sin's rider thought seriously about it a moment before nodding, he paused as he looked at Phantom, Sin and then Cassie. "Sounds good enough to me as long as I can still use Sin for eventing then I don't see why that couldn't work."
Phantom whinnied loudly and bobbed her head in excitement at Sin's rider's agreement, Sin who didn't make any exclamation of noise pressed his head firmly against his rider's chest and snorted gently.
Cassie and Sin's rider laughed at the horse's reactions. "I think that's their way of thanking us."
~
Ashe was playfully splashing around in a water trough it was a hot summer day today and it has now been a couple months since Sin and Phantom had been placed in their pasture together. Sin was now able to be an eventing horse like he had hoped and he still got to be with the mare that made him feel like he had already won a million first prize ribbons. Sin watched Ashe playing in the water trough and trotted over, Ashe paused her splashing to give him an adorable grin. He dipped his nose in and pretended to get a drink before he splashed her and cantered away.
"Hey, not fair!" Ashe said as she cantered after him.
Phantom laid in the shade with the newest addition to their family a rose gray colt with lavender colored eyes. She whinnied her laughter as she watched her mate and their daughter playing together, their colt, Jasper, got to his feet and decided to chase after them as well. Phantom followed at the very back, she caught Sin's eyes at the front and gave him a bright smile which he gladly returned.
Words couldn't describe how happy either of them felt at that moment all they could do was enjoy the knowledge that they knew how much the other meant by how they felt and everything they had gone through to be together.
A song that represents Phantom's indescribable love for Sin: Valentine
A song that represents what she would do if she ever had to face Sin and her being seperated by humans: No Place that Far I am so sorry about the length of this, it's just a massive block of text..
