Owner: Me?Sarcastic?
Show Name: A Gentle Giant
Barn Name: Garreth (Welsh name meaning gentle)
Gender: Stallion
Age: 8
Halter color: Silver
Pearl/jewel color (halter): Eye color
History: Garreth enjoyed searching caves for treasure. It wasn't big treasure, mind you; a rusted knife here, or a broken necklace there, but he loved it. Most days he would spend exploring throughout the many caves behind his herd's grazing grounds. One cave was particularly large, and he had been looking through it all day. He was tired and grimy, so he was ready to get home, clean off, and go to sleep. Only then did he realize that there was one little problem; he had no idea where he was. He'd wandered so far in, and not marked the way out, that he was completely lost. The stallion cried out for help, hoping someone, anyone, was listening, but there wasn't a sound in reply.
Garreth began to panic. He had no way of knowing where to go, no one knew he was here, and the only light was the dim glow of holes in the ceiling far, far above. He called out again, the echoes bouncing off the cavernous walls. Nothing in reply. Having no other options, the stallion decided to start down one of the paths at random, hoping it would lead outside. He walked slowly, carefully feeling around in the pitch blackness so as not to fall over anything. As he walked, the walls and ceiling around him felt like they were pressing down on him. He started to think he was going insane, until all at once he realized that the path was just narrowing, until it was so small that he could barely turn around.
Suddenly, Garreth stumbled upon what seemed like it was a rather deep hole. He nearly fell into it, but jumped over just in time. He was going to continue on his way, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. At the bottom of the hole, a orange light glowed faintly. All his worry and panic was curbed by acute curiosity. His sides scraped the walls as he turned around and looked down into the deep crater. It was big enough that if he fell in, he wasn't confident that he'd be able to get back out.
Nevertheless, he had a strong urge to try. The little light almost seemed to be calling to him. The walls of the depression were steep, but not all that high. Only to about the stallion's head. Finally deciding to go against his better judgement and try, Garreth started with his back legs first. Slowly, he eased his back leg down as well as he could. He couldn't quite touch the bottom, so he moved his second back leg into the hole, making him slide down the steep sides until hitting the bottom. He determined that he would likely be able to make it back out, so he reared back and dropped down on all four. The bottom of the pit wasn't huge, but it was large enough to fit at least one other horse in with him.
Garron then turned his attention to the incandescent orange light which he had risked himself to get to. He bent down close to it, and saw that it was a beautiful little orange gem. He went to pick it up with his teeth, and found that the gem was attached to something else. He couldn't quite tell what it was in the very, very dim light (which was all coming from the gem), but it was small and felt like something made of cool metal.
Moving the item securely into his mouth, Garron then directed his thoughts back at the obstacle before him. Rearing up once more, he placed his front hooves on the wall of the crater. His front hooves landed just below the lip. He could try running up the side, but he doubted he could on the slick, steep rock. The next idea was trying to climb by digging his hooves into any crevice he could find, but that would also mean he'd probably need his mouth, and he wasn't about to abandon his new possession. In the end, he chose to try and somehow lift up his back legs, enabling his front hooves to reach solid ground and then pull himself up as best he could. First he had to find a rock to stand on. Dropping down again, he used the weak light of the gem to look around the small area. Quickly, he found a suitable stone and rolled it carefully over to where the lip was lowest. Then, he stepped up on top of it. It held his weight easily. Now for the moment of truth. Planting his back legs firmly on the rock, he lifted his front hooves to the opening. At that moment, the stallion felt a rush of joy when they landed on the solid earth above. They just barely reached, but they reached nonetheless. Now came the hard part: the pulling.
Straining every muscle in his body, Garron inched slowly up the crater as he pushed off with his back legs and pulled hard with his front.
Slowly, he rose, and soon his head was above the edge. He gently spat out the gem thing on the floor and dug his teeth into the hard earth, as he pulled the rest of his body up, up, up. It felt like centuries before his neck even cleared the gap. Next came his broad shoulders, chest, mid-section, and with a final heave, his back legs. The brown and white stallion laid there for a minute, catching his breath and giving his muscles a rest, but he'd done it. He'd done it! That gem thing better be worth it. He thought crustily.
At last, Garreth lifted himself to his hooves, picked up his treasure, and jumped back over the pit, as the path he'd taken was simply too narrow to go much further. Upon reaching the main cave again, he chose another path. As he walked tiredly down this one, he felt a slight breeze waft over his sweaty coat. A draft! He picked up his pace quickly, almost cantering in excitement down the ever-widening passageway, until he saw the dim light of stars ahead. Geez, I was in there a long time! he thought in wonder.
Breaking into a gallop, Garreth quickly cleared the cave and raced out into the wonderful warmth of the open fields. He whinnied in pure exhilaration. What was in front of him made his all the more joyous: his herd. He guessed that in his wandering, he must've made a full u-turn, as he could see his earlier entrance only a few yards away. Smiling, he stared off towards the others, stopping only a few feet away when he realized that he still hadn't looked at his treasure.
Carefully laying it on the ground, Garreth was now able to see it much more clearly, thanks to the moon. It was a key. To what, he had no idea. The gem in the center was held by bronze, and there was a golden dragon encircling it, as if guarding it. The rest of the key was simple black with a little bronze wire wrapped around the shaft part. It was beautiful. Garreth knew right then and there that this key unlocked something important, and if whatever it unlocked was freed, something terrible would happen. Determined to keep it safe, the stallion noted that the tail of the dragon was a perfect circle with a very small opening at the bottom. Cautiously, he linked the tail through his silver necklace, a treasure he'd garnered much earlier in his travels, and pressing hard with his teeth, closed the gap so that the key wouldn't fall off. Now, the key would be safe with him always, as he never took off his necklace.
Satisfied that it wouldn't fall off, Garreth walked forward to join the rest of his herd, who were all too happy that he was unharmed and home. A few of the others asked about the key, but he simply said it was a little trinket he'd found in the caves. No one really bothered him about it. Garreth went back to the caves the next day, but found that his original entrance had caved in, and he wasn't able to even find the second one. Soon after, his herd moved on from the meadows near the cave, and he was forced to go with them. He had a feeling something had been in that cave. Something that this key would've unlocked, but he would never find out... (Word count: 1,418 words.)
Other: If I win this boyo, I would like to give him the aforementioned necklace.
