Heartland Hooffall [Wild Mountain Equids]

[LadyCrowsong]

Originally hosted on other sites, this will probably become the primary posting place for the story. I have long had some parts of my WME lore in mind and other parts are newer and still developing. The shorts posted will serve as record, in some sense, and note which characters are relevant where/when etc.

This is all for fun and the pieces featured will likely serve as not only relaxation but also as writing warm ups too, since I do write, publish, and sell books as an indie author anyway too.

Wild Mountain Equids Official
My Equids (Chicken Smoothie)
My Equids (ToyHouse)

Please no posting in this thread, thank you!

[LadyCrowsong]

1 :: 281 words

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From the sunset emerged a figure, not large in stature and looking smaller than normal from the weight of defeat coupled with age for once nagging him with great fatigue. His herd looked up as he they recognized his return and began closing the distance to meet him with great care. Among the others, Iagan felt as though he were to collapse into the tall grass.

“Welcome home,” Rafaella pressed her nose to his shoulder, inhaling his sun-seared scent.

Esther dipped her head and Cadmon pressed himself against his senior to offer support, both offering their part in the medicine hat mare’s sentiment shared. Aislinn, heavy with foal, told her longest held friend, “All has been well here.”

Iagan could not be bothered to so much as flick an ear in acknowledgement. A heavy sigh fell from him, “She seems to have vanished.”

Esther glanced to Cadmon before uneasily stepping aside, placing some distance between herself and the others. In her mind was still the filly who seemed to have gone faster than she had come, not that it was of matter any more….

A long exhale swept from Aislinn to Iagan and she promised him, “Rosetta is fine. I chose the same sort of path that she has and she has a ferocity that I never quite knew for myself. Don’t worry.”

Cadmon snorted, “Heavens knows she can hold her own even against stallions! It would take the world ending to cause her harm.”

Rosetta Zorrane’s father let his muzzle rest low like his legs. He said nothing more, and so his herd followed suit. They huddled together to brace against the evening chill and stand strong in unified support.

[LadyCrowsong]

2 :: 245 words

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The stunning chestnut pinto trotted toward him. Carollan did not care to greet her formally but just with a flick of his tricolor tail.

“Where’s Nakai?” the mare asked, cheerily alert as always.

Carollan snorted, “He’s gone to run with others.”

She grabbed at some clover and munched several moments. The stallion rolled eyes and grabbed a mouthful for himself.

As if on cue, as soon as he was mid-chew, she commented, “I suppose he’s off to better now.”

Better? Betraying his own blood and foalhood best friend brought him to better? Carollan grunted as he swallowed and quickly grabbed another bite despite no longer having any hint of an appetite.

“I’m sure Iagan and Cadmon will welcome you if you are too alone.”

Perhaps a visit from Sri is worse than being all alone! To her he said, “I don’t need my mother’s herd. I am fine as I am, even if no one else knows my worth.”

Sri seemed to slide around him, circling almost like a shark, eyeing him before landing an ending blow. But then she abruptly halted and looked up at the first stars showing in the sky.

“Just because you aren’t aware of who seeks your light doesn’t mean there is no one watching and waiting for your next amazing move.”

How was it she could always divert to nonsense when she ought take accountability for insensitivity? As per usual, Carollan found himself awing at Sri with incredible incredulity.

[LadyCrowsong]

3 :: 456 words

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The foals were whinnying happily as they awkwardly darted around each other, within easy reach of the mares but daring enough distance to begin building their confidence toward independence. Aislinn was grazing, Rafaella was tugging debris out of Cadmon’s mane as he stared longingly into the distance, and Rainhart found herself feeling more at home than she had in a long while.

There had been a time she did not really know these equids but others instead, and had very different relations and understandings and ways in which she navigated the world. While she retained her inherent nature, she found herself having shifted into a new mode of being among this herd.

“Iagan,” she softly called to him and approached where he stood alongside a cold creek, “do you have a moment?”

He snorted the last of the water dangling from his muzzle so the droplets would fall to the ground rather than quiver along his nose’s whiskers. “Of course, what do you need?”

She closed her eyes, their cool depths contained for the consulting of her soul’s innermost desires and instincts, and after a long breath she told him, “I would like to remain here with your herd as part of your family.” Originally she had intended to stay near only while pregnant and until she and her foal would be strong enough to set out once more. But as the seasons changed she found her heart had softened to theirs and now that her filly was born and growing there was no way she could break them away from the others.

Green gaze filled with warmth, the secure kind rather than fierce, Iagan stepped to Rainhart and pressed himself against her. The way he commanded his own strength was continuously admirable, able to throw and project himself when needed but with his loved ones he was able to be so gentle and kind.

The stallion was one capable of burning as well as warming, and with his mares and foals he chose to use his fire for safety and brightness.

“I’m thrilled that is what you want and I know the others will be glad to find out your decision as well!”

As they returned to the rest of the herd, Edmund and Isadora both suckling from Aislinn in Rainhart’s short absence, they found nothing but love to meet them. Even Cadmon, who had been unknowingly cold since Esther’s recent departure, cheered and became chipper upon learning Rainhart’s decision.

Whatever was to happen next, big or small or easy or hard, it would all be well. The herd had each other and was filled with monumental respect and care for the others within it. As long as their family stayed strong they would succeed.

[LadyCrowsong]

4 :: 310 words

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The pair did not often get to stand so close as they now did, pressed against each other with hearts beating in unison for the first time in a long time. Still, nothing had changed, as it seldom ever did, regarding their feelings and trust for each other.

“What if she’s found trouble?” he wondered of their daughter.

His beloved mate chuckled, “You mean, like you used to find trouble as a young stallion?”

Iagan huffed with both amusement and exasperation. “Attia, please, that was different.”

Attia’s blue eyes twinkled both from the sparkling stars above and humor regarding her lover’s hypocrisy. “All the fences you’ve jumped, the people and creatures you’ve faced, and the disasters that nearly led to your own doom… and Rosie never strayed quite as far or as dangerously as you did. She’s fine, I know it.”

“I wish I had such confidence,” his head dropped with his sigh.

Her patterned muzzle tickled behind his ear, the scent of her breath sweet as it fell around his face, “You don’t trust my instinct?” He looked up to her to protest but she continued, “You’ve never fretted like this about Kotaro and Nakai.”

With a flare of impatience his forehoof stomped the cold ground beneath them. “It’s different!” he insisted to her.

“I’m not so sure it is,” Attia asserted. She could have offered reasons why she found it so but that had been tried in the past and she already knew he would dismiss it all regardless. And so she opted to let the state of it all hang between them, dangling dangerously close to disruptive.


By the time he set out into the wilderness again they had reset, as they always did, and Iagan found himself carrying notions not new to him but held for consideration in ways he had never before allowed of himself.

[LadyCrowsong]

5 :: 637 words

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The air was warm and salted as it filled his lungs, expanding and contracting with each surge of energy he expended. A constant crashing was muffled in his ears, the waves seemingly never ceasing to fall over themselves onto the loose sands of the seashore.

“This is great!” Iagan flared his nostrils with enthusiasm.

The ruddy stallion cantering alongside him offered a slight snort in good humor, “I’m glad you find it so invigorating!” His tone suddenly shifted, sounding now of a soft somberness, “But consider from deep within yourself if it is all you are truly called to keep.”

The younger stallion stopped, nearly tripping his father in the process. The abrupt consideration seemed a sort of accusation and so Iagan asked, “What are you trying to tell me?” An anger flared as he felt Kae’ouit had implied disfavor.

Kae nuzzled at his son’s shoulder. “Your journey has clearly been fruitful to you, and not just in finding me,” he told him, “but as exciting and enticing as it all is, I suspect nothing here is meant be yours for long.”

“And why not?” Iagan demanded, “What if it’s what I want?”

A breath from deep within the elder of the two fell, followed by heavy silence. When he looked out beyond the coast he finally spoke again, “My colt, it is easy to confuse what wants are rooted in goodness and which are from frivolity. What you want here cannot sustain you but there is greater nourishment, and fulfilment to your desires, to be found in wants you are not letting yourself witness.”

Before Iagan could argue his father continued, turning to face him with intensity unmatched, “I do see much of myself in you, but I also see your dear mother too. In your rebellion don’t detach yourself from all that she has instilled into you. You must balance us both in the way that is only meant to be done by you as our son.”



Much time had passed since he had met his father at the seaside. Years had come and gone without further glimpse or word. Was Kae’ouit still burning bright for himself out there? Iagan dismissed the thought with a flick of his ear, surely his father was fine!

He considered his own foals and wondered if he had served them well enough. Despite that most of his development was formed by Famous, that brief bond with Kae had set a bloom that had not yet begun to wilt within him… had it? Had Iagan strayed too strict with Kotaro and Rosetta and Nakai? Had they left him as was natural or out of a similar desperation to escape suffocation that he had felt for himself so long ago too? Would Isadora follow suit? Had even Carollan felt nearly snuffed out by his grandfather’s care when the intent was to protect and tend him when his mother would not settle enough to mind her firstborn?

He looked out at his herd as they slept, huddled together neatly under the stars.

Something Aislinn had once said rang in his ears, echoed in his heart: “Cadmon holds you in high esteem and, honestly, thinks quite dearly of you. Perhaps I shouldn’t have had him away from his father, but the fact is that I did… and whatever he lost from my mistake I think he has found something made up for in his relationship with you now, you know.”

Cadmon had been a cautious but curious colt then and had grown into a confident stallion since, though one recently begot by grievings. Still, he stayed strong and stoic and Iagan admired him for his ability to naturally keep calm and controlled and quiet when needed. He felt they had little in common but his pride for the soft buckskin was undoubtedly immense.