[TiNyHaNdS05]

Username: TiNyHaNdS05
Equid's Name: Lucas
Height: 14,2 hh
Age: 3.5
Gender: Stallion
Story: It's fall.... the air is chilly, and the cart is dark. Illuminated from cracks in the wooden cart. It's ironic how this all happened, my curiosity got the best of me and it happened so fast....

" I neighed as the wind seeped through my mane, I was proud and wild. Running through the endless mountains and wide open fields of untouched grass. Seeing something in the distance stopped me in my tracks. My herd warned us all to not go anywhere near anything suspicious, but you know how we are.. I jogged through the forest area jumping and dodging branches as I went, upon smelling something burning watered my eyes but kept going. I could see a small fire in the middle of 3 colorful things lying on the ground. Feeling that something is wrong feeling in my stomach, I just kept moving.. closer and closer. I don't remember what I did wrong, maybe my tail accidentally knocked over the metal pot or something but, 3 men sprung up from the colorful bags. All had ropes in the blink of an eye ready to strike, I got scared the only thing I managed to think was kick..kick, kick and run. My legs were flying about trying to find an escape route. I tried to jump through on opening feeling the wide open area at my grasp, but before I could do anything a rope came flying through the air around my neck pulling me back. Next thing I know another rope was around my back left foot and another around my right front foot, I laid there tired and worn out from struggling to get free. The three men were talking and whispering among them selves. Every once in awhile they would glance over at me. They tied me to one of there horses and the other 2 walked behind me, leading me into a metal trailer I stopped in my tracks not wanting me to go in but they pulled harder on the ropes around my neck.

Stopping every know and then when the men needed something, Where ever they were taking me it was far away from home.. They took me out of trailer walking me to what looked like a ranch, opening it up and walking to an area with a a metal box putting me in and tying it to one of the poles. They took put a pair of cutting utensils and walked over to me, fearing what they might do to me I closed my eyes and pinned my ears back, feeling them grab parts of my mane and knew the worst. Each minute feeling my mane be shortened and straight, feeling as if they were chopping part of my body off.. When they were done I felt lighter then before, almost as if they would to take off the ropes I would float away, but it was to good to be true. Then a month would pass and many humans would come by and take pictures or laugh at me, then some other people came and took me into another metal trailer but this one looked fancier. After having many of what they call "test" where they would stick all kinds of cords and hearing beeping noises, was done they sold me to other group of humans. What was know almost a year that has passed by now... The word "wild" and "free" means nothing to me, the world of free pastures and mountains are overcast by shows and flashing of lights, Natures calls are drowned out by cheers and whistles, the sensation of wind hitting me as I run are faded away by the sensation of being in the winners circle, Doing what I want is blocked out as I do what my master tells me... The fire within is now smothered out.".

Yes every now and then I dreamed of what it would be like if I could go back to being... My thoughts were wiped away as the wooden cart came to a jolting and screeching stop, I waited for them to open my cage door, slowly they put down the door. Bright light came into view.... It's show time.

[_Wolfgirl_]

I have a question: Can I use other WMEs in my story? Like the ones I adopted?

[Lilian Nightshade]

I have a question: Can I use other WMEs in my story? Like the ones I adopted?

Yes, you can ^^.

[Hyeva!]

I Just have a small question, are we allowed to add like theme song and art, poem and such?

[Lilian Nightshade]

I Just have a small question, are we allowed to add like theme song and art, poem and such?

No, you can't add anything that's not been asked for in the form. And it also wouldn't help you in any way in the contest since these things wouldn't be judged.

[Scarlip]

I've got a small question too, I hope you don't mind, but are we allowed to put the story as a quote when he himself tells it, or make it italic, divide it into paragraphs and things like that? Because I was going to do that but I'm not sure if it'd count as altering the form or not. ^^

[_Wolfgirl_]

Username: _Wolfgirl_
Equid's Name: Kovu
Height: 14,2 hh
Age: 4 years
Gender: Stallion
Story:
I let the humans slide the halter over my face and clip the lead rope to it. They led me from the green pasture and towards what I learned was called a barn. I noticed a man in a long white pelt standing with a box, and I knew that I was heading towards more testing, more needles being stuck in me, more strange instruments being flung around my body. I looked over at a neighboring field where creatures which the humans called horses stood flicking their tails in the sun. They loved the humans and seemed to thrive with them. I had realized a long time ago that their wild spirits had been broken, and I used to say mine wasn’t. Yet, I’m not so sure about that now. I used to be a fighter, but that’s all gone now.

I remember my herd, running with my family and friends. I was free. I could taste the cool mountain air and hear the cries of the eagles as they circled the sky. We lived high up in the mountains, overlooking a valley. We were proud, wild, and free. I was just a foal then.

The day we came down from the mountains was the last I saw of them, when they locked me up in a dark box that smelled of rust. The stallion had led us down to the valley to drink from the lake when monsters with the strange men had burst through the trees; great beasts that had glowing eyes and growled as they chased us down. The herd scattered and fled in all directions. I remember the fear so vividly; I can still sometimes feel it in my dreams. I had tried to keep up with my mother, but a smaller beast with one eye cut me off. They had surrounded me and a rope was thrown around my neck. I had tried to run but the rope choked me, trapping me there with the monsters. I remember screaming for my mom, and her shrill cry echoing back. The last I saw of her was the herd stallion shoving her back into the safe mountains. I hated the stallion for a while after that, but now I understand that there was nothing he could have done. My mother wouldn’t have survived this, she lived free her whole life… it would have killed her. Now, I’m glad the stallion took her away, she’s safe.

After they caught me and trapped me in the box and I was taken to a research station, and away from my beloved mountains. The last sight I caught as the doors banged shut was the eagle screeching in defiance shinning in the cloudless sky, high above the valley. To me back then it was a sign that I would escape, but now I know that I won’t. I don’t think I could even survive in the wild now… I’ve become too tame.

During that ride I had been confused and terrified… I can’t even remember much about it but that it was the longest moment in my life. I hadn’t been that scared even when a cougar had attacked my herd a few days after I was born…

I jerked back into reality when the man in the white coat patted my side and said some words in his language… The only one I understood was ‘home’. He led me to another metal box and I went in without a fight. This box was just part of my life now. There was no changing it.

I rode in the box for what seemed like hours… and then I caught it… the scent of the mountains. I barley recognized it, but it was there. I raised my head and let out a hopeful neigh. I knew in my heart that I couldn’t return to the wild, and though I wouldn’t admit it, there were a few humans I had become fond of. The box suddenly jerked to a halt and bright light filled the normally dark box. A hand reached in and grabbed the rope and led me out… and there they were! The mountains! They weren’t the ones that I grew up in, but it was still the mountains. I looked around and saw a lone cabin and a pasture. A sudden realization hit me. This would be my new home! No more tests! No more needles!

I heard a nicker coming from the side of me. I turned and snorted in shock. There were two WMEs standing beside a girl a ways back from the box. I hadn’t seen other WMEs for years! I watched as the girl approached me slowly, talking in a gentle voice. She grabbed me and led me over to the two wild Equids.

The brown and white mare stretched her head forward and touched my nose, “I’m Asteria, and that is Artemis.”

The human gestured to the pasture and said two words I did understand, “ Welcome home.”

That’s when it hit me. I might not be able to return to the wild, but I could live here in peace, with the mountains surrounding me. I took a deep breath and could taste the cool mountain air and feel its breeze again in my trimmed mane. I realized then that I could still be free… free here in my new home with this strange girl. This little cabin and pasture would be my little version of free… for I was back in the mountains with other wild Equids, who would perhaps become friends. They were still wild and I would be here in the pasture, but it was still a relief. And for the first time in a long time I felt connected and my spirit began to heal. I was home.

“I am Kovu.” I neighed back. It was the first time I had used my old name… the name I had been given in the mountains many years ago.


(996 words in the story)

[Lilian Nightshade]

I've got a small question too, I hope you don't mind, but are we allowed to put the story as a quote when he himself tells it, or make it italic, divide it into paragraphs and things like that? Because I was going to do that but I'm not sure if it'd count as altering the form or not. ^^

Write the story the way you want, it's not a way of altering the form. It would be if you decided to add extra topics to the form, like art, personality, that stuff.

[Scarlip]

Okay, thank you

---

Username: BlackJack
Equid's Name: Sparrow
Height: 14,2 hh
Age: 5
Gender: Stallion
Story:

A gentle breeze streaks through the swaying grass. It shimmers in all possible colors between yellow and green as the sunlight embraces every single blade of grass. I bend my neck to touch the grass with my muzzle, feeling it softly float around my head. I close my eyes, smelling the incomparable scent emanating from it. The smell of paradise. As I walk slowly through the field with my neck bent forward, enjoying the warm sunlight on my coat, the feeling of happiness that it gives me, I hear a voice calling my name. A soft, gentle voice that I would have recognized in between a million of other voices. I raise my head and perk up my ears, look around and try to locate her. And there she stands, my mother, near the edge of the field, her dun coat shimmering golden in the sunlight. Once again I realize that she is the prettiest, the most wonderful mare and mother on earth. It seems like she was the sun, and the sun up there was just the reflection of her beauty's warm shine. And I start running straight towards her, as fast as I can, happily looking forward to the cuddle.


Rain drops beat my pelt as I run, I dash through the grey, rocky slopes. I can feel pearls of sweat run down my head, along with the rainsdrops, and I cannot tell whether it's the cold rain or the hot sweat soaking it more. Possibly both. But I don't have time to think about that now. I must run. I hear their voices right behind me, I can sense that they are getting closer. Hard, sharp cries, angry shouts, words that are unknowable to me but frighten me to the bone and send shivers down my spine as cold as the mountain glaciers. I hear the blustering sound of hooves coming from the terribly tall equines that seem to be their slaves, that carry them at highspeed, their legs are longer than mine and not as fragile. It sounds like a furious hurricane was right behind me and about to consume me up. I run as fast as I can, taking quick twists and turns like a jackrabbit hoping to get rid of the wolf hunting it down. I don't want to die. Not yet, not before my life has really started even. I want be anywhere but here, I want to get out of this crazy chase and run back to my mother, I want her to look at me with her soft eyes and tell me everything is okay. A rock breaks in half below my hoof, I nearly slip, but manage to regain my balance in time. They seem to be even closer now, and I feel that my exhausted body is about to give in even though my head doesn't want it to. Every single muscle hurts as I dash forward. Eventually I cannot feel my legs anymore, yet they still carry me on and on. Something throws me back so hard and abruptly that I can hear my own piercing shriek escaping my throat as I fall and hit the ground. I feel something around my neck, choking me. Trying to get back to my feet on the wet rocks, feeling the cold, hard ground below me, I realize that it has become quiet. The hurricane has fallen silent. The only sounds I can hear are the rain and my own heart beating hard against my ribcage while I can hardly breathe. And then I see them just meters away. The creatures. They've apparently told their equines, with those weird manes and tails, to stop. One of them has come down, in his hand he's holding the end of that snake-like thing choking me. And I panic and I shout my head off as the weird creature approaches me. Death, I'm going to die now, there is no doubt in that.


Darkness. They have covered my eyes with something, I cannot see them but can sense them next to me, hear their strange voices, feel their cold touches on my sweaty coat giving me chills. Needles. A million of needles. Stinging my skin like a swarm of mad bees, causing horrible pain. Again and again I try to rear up but it's impossible, the creatures have put many of those things they call 'ropes' around my legs, my body, my neck, to make me hold still. They are scared of me, after what's happened last time around, when they thought they had gained my trust. They almost had, until they brought the needles. I drag and pull with all my strength, but there is no possible way out of this. Caught in between these creatures, I let out a yelp in despair as another needle spears my skin remorselessly, and yet another one, and another one, over and over again.


My heart is pounding like crazy, I'm shaking and soaked in sweat as I bounce up from the ground, I don't know where I am, I don't know what is happening, all I can think of are ropes and needles. In panic I fill the air with a piercing whinny and start to gallop around in the box. I want to get out of here. Now. 'Heeeey, boy, it's okay...shhhh! Hush, you know I won't hurt you.", I hear a low voice say. It sounds like my mother's voice, calm and soft. Immediately I stand still. Then I see the girl standing in the corner, as I look at her she slowly approaches me and asks "Shhh....don't regocnize me?" but I do, now. She's the girl that freed me, who's been nice to me, who's helped me understand the strange words. Who's given me this box that I now recognize, my home. She is the only one of them whom I ever fully trusted. And now, as she softly pets my sweaty neck, she whispers: "It was just a dream...".

---
1000 words on dot. x3

[wibeke]

Username: wibeke
Equid's Name: Baldur [Norwegian named meaning "he who spreads the light; brave"]
Height: 14,2 hh
Age: 21 years old
Gender: Stallion
Story: It was my job to protect them, to protect the young and to lead my herd as my father did before me. I was the one they depended on.
I'm sorry to say that I had failed.

The herd had seen them before I did. The two headed monsters, half man and beast, stalking the borders of our territory. Creatures with harnesses on their faces, with short manes and massive heads, and hooves much larger than our own. They towered over us, a second body rising from their backs with a contorted face unfamiliar to all but the elders.
They tried to warn me, but I was much too foolish to listen.
I reared and kicked. They were surrounding me, pushing me away from the herd. The beasts shouted, kicking and driving their mounts forward. I couldn’t keep up. I could feel my sides heaving, aching muscles and a twisted ankle begging for a rest.
I couldn’t stop. I had to escape. The herd needed me, didn’t they?
But the others had gone, blinded by fear and desperate to escape. They would not return. It was never their job to protect me. I was an idiot to think otherwise. They would find a new leader; life would go on with only brief mention of their past stallion.
They would leave him to die.
I let out a shriek, my legs no longer able to carry me as a rope caught hold of my neck.
I tried to get to my feet, only to collapse again as my leg buckled beneath me.
“Easy there boy,” a voice said. I couldn’t understand him. He was climbing down from his mount- slowly as possible, as if he could somehow keep from frightening me. “Yer a tough ‘un, aren’t yah? Lemma see yer leg- easy boy, I ain’t gonna ‘urt yah.”
I responded by kicking out, sending the awkward two-legged beast stumbling backwards. The other creatures behind him grew nervous.
“Hush! Don’t do that, silly ‘orse. Yah see those men behind me? They’ll put a bullet in yur ‘head before yah even got time to stand up!” His tone was more desperate now,. I couldn’t understand is words, but his voice brought me comfort. I laid down my head, no longer trying to kick.
“Good, good ‘orse. See, I ain’t so bad,“ he reassured me, continuing to talk as he examined me and stroking my shoulder. “Yer gonna be fine. Shush, easy boy. Can yah stand?” He gave a tug on the rop around my neck, standing up and trying to encourage me to do the same.
I stood slowly, watching the man closely and he praised me. He returned to his horse, attaching the rope and urging both of us forward. “Hah, we got ‘im! Finally!” one of them said. My human stayed quiet, looking back occasionally to comfort me. I followed him without issue, only bracing against the rope when the others turned to examine me. They were much rougher than my friend, their voices loud and threatening.

"There ya go," my friend said, tying up his mount and taking the rope in his hands. I pulled back, making one last run for home, but couldn't escape his grasp. "Shh shhh, yer okay," he said, continuing to lead me. I limped after him, my legs too tired to protest anymore.
He wrapped my leg and rubbed my forehead, stumbling around awkwardly, doing whatever he could to care for me. I watched him in confusion. The elders of my herd had told stories of humans, of how they were cruel, vicious beasts, not unlike the men that caught me.
But there was nothing cruel in his actions, he studied me patiently and never appeared at my stall without a treat in hand.
I grew to enjoy his company, allowing him to groom and lead me without trouble.
I never softened to the others, who reacted to my terror with rough hands and furious shouts. I kicked out at them, bolted and, on more than one occasion, knocked them over and dragged them through the sand. I found it entertaining, but my friend never shared in my enjoyment.
“Don’t ever try that again, yah ‘ear me?!” he shouted, after I had managed to break free from yet another man who had made the mistake of trying to draw my blood. “I told yah before, they’ll a shoot yah if you ‘urt anyone here.” I snorted at him, only half understanding him but indignant at having been yelled at.
As I grew older the others began to regard me with a mixture of fear and disappointment, with most being unable to handle me and their use for me quickly fading. I had produced many strong young foals, but the humans were never quite satisfied.
My friend appeared at the stable one day, eyes red and teary. “They’re gonna shoot yah, Baldur,” He sobbed, burying his head in my neck. “They said you ain’t gonna make no good foals, and yer an old boy now. They dun wanna keep yah no more.”
I nuzzled him with my nose, sad to see my friend so upset. A small smile came to his face as he looked at me, “Tell yah what, though, I’m gonna buy yah. You’ll be safe with me, and my son wants to meet yah. He always wants to see my ‘funny horse,’ he calls yah” he explained, growing more excited. “He’ll take care of yah, just wait. Yer gonna like him.”
He raced away, excited at his discovery.

My friend returned again, a smile upon his face and a young child in his arms. “I bought yah, Baldur. You’re mine now!”
And as he hugged me, I knew I was safe. He was my herd now, and I would never fail to protect him.