by eleutheromaniac. » Sat Dec 14, 2024 3:38 pm
Username: eleutheromaniac.
Equid Name: Bracken
Short Story: bracken never knew her sire. she was born into the world and he was not there. all she knew was her mother and the two other mares that traveled with them. her mother always made all the decisions: where they slept, where they drank, where they grazed. thats how it always was. her mother's head was constantly on a swivel, ears turning this way and that. bracken never understood why. life was good! she got to play in the snow, and she got all the attention from the mares. she didn't have anyone her age, but she enjoyed the older quid's company.
the four of them spent many years alone, never leaving the icy mountains. they were all she ever knew. she had a knack for finding trouble: a hungry mountain lion, falling in a ditch, finding berries that made the whole her sick. every time she had bad luck, her mother was there to save the day. she fought off the lion, pulled Bracken out of the ditch, and found the herd water to clean out their mouths and bellies.
something changed when she was almost two. something in the air it seemed. all life on the mountain seemed to freeze, then all of a sudden the screeching of birds flying overhead shook bracken's little herd awake. her mothers whole body tensed in a way bracken never knew was possible. something was seriously wrong. her mother's head shot up high, a snort escaping her, a warning. her foot pawed at the ground. bracken knew it was time to go. it was such a blur, bracken cant remember who started moving first, but there they were, bolting from their usual spot. bracken could feel her heart thundering through her chest. her mother was guiding them this way and that, picking up on noises and movements in the surrounding area and dodging them like she could see the threat in front of her. it felt like danger was all around them. this was clearly something bracken had never experienced. but her mother seemed to know. and if it scared bracken's mother, it terrified bracken. but they were going the wrong way. they were headed toward an open valley. bracken's mother taught her to never go to an open valley when in danger. stick to the thick, snowed in forests. seeming to sense her confusion, bracken's mother shot her a look that said it was their only option as they galloped harder. they got to the edge of the coverage, but bracken's mother went out in the open, and seeing no other choice, the rest followed. there was an eery silence that bracken has never been able to get out of her head. a silence like the dead of night in fresh snow. and then, a bang and the earth shattering squeal of pain released from her mothers throat. dark, nasty smelling liquid poured from her shoulder as she crumpled to the ground. bracken skidded to a stop, calling out for her mother, who only weakly lifted her head and squealed again, this time at bracken, telling her to run. bracken was frozen. but she felt the push of one of her companions, forcing her onwards, away from her mother. what was happening? why were they leaving her? where was the danger? bracken didn't know. she just ran.
she now knows there was a time when foreign humans came to their land, hunting her species for their manes, tails, and fur. thats what they wanted from her mother. and thats what they got. they've since gone away, to where, bracken never asked.
she blamed herself for a long time. it was her bad luck that got her mother killed, just like it had made her stumble upon the mountain lion, fall into the ditch, and find those rotten berries. she was inconsolable. her two mare companions spent many moons building her back up, making sure she knew that sometimes bad things just happened. it wasn't her fault. she outgrew them eventually, and they encouraged her to venture off on her own. they taught her to keep her head up and lead with kindness. 'the world may not have been kind to you, but it also may not be kind to others. make up for the worlds failure with your own kindness'. and thats what bracken did. she looks out for others, just like her mother did, in order to honor her.
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
██
xxxxxxxxx ┌─(𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒)─────┐
hi! feel free to call me eleu. i'm an adult user
and i use they/she pronouns. please check
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxout my pixel cat adoptable by clicking here.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
i am always open for a pm, so hmu! c:
the kitties on my prof are of my irl boy, eggbert
trying to collect every pet! help me? press here!
↪my wme herd↩ └───────────(𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒶 𝒸𝒶𝓉)─┘
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx