clara's equid blog

[clara.anne]

Welcome!

I am clara.anne and this is my blog (well, I call it blog) for all the stories I write bout my Wild Mountain Equids (their page is in my sig) c:
Some short snippets are from my point of view, an others are of my wild herd and their adventures, or more commonly, misadventures.
Please don't steal anything from here, it would make me sad :c
But thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment <3

Also, for my benefit more than anything: list of 'groups';;

Domestic:
At Elm Wood Stables; Black Caviar- Halter, Harness racing,In Hand

Wild:
The herd; Oratunus (leader), Elentiya (Co-leader), Carivalle, Quiescere (sometimes vanishes with Pyro), Anthello (sometimes adventures off), Arcturus, Ahleesi, Lylac, Nashira (occasionally disappears and pops back)

The wanderers; They are generally with the herd but sometimes go on their own explorations; Chiralo, Romero


Have a lovely day xxx

[clara.anne]

Welcome dear reader.

I am Clara anne and this is my blog. I am not really sure what else there is to say.
I live in Le Chinaillon, France, and do correspondence school. My mother is french and tries to teach me but she is only a primary teacher at the school so she can't really help me with things like Calculus. My father is from London and is a scientist and so he is pretty much gone half the time doing heaven knows what flying all around the world. There isn't really anything extraordinary about me. I am just an ordinary 17-year-old living the life.
A blog is not really a diary and this will be more like mini stories than anything else.
If you do enjoy stories then read on c: I cannot guarantee them to be the most enthralling snippets of literature but none the less, there are words!

Thank you for your interest and dedication in reading this <3
Have a lovely day.

Please note: All this is entirely fictional and springs from my imagination. I don't actually live in France (I wish I did) and this will contain no personal details, don't worry. It is the idea of me as a different person existing in a different world where I interact with my Wild Mountain Equid characters, found here. Wild Mountain Equids belong to horsy1050 and I don't claim to own the species or any of that. I simply 'own' my equid's personalities and the adopted designs really. This is really just a way of writing and expressing myself through words as a sort of ongoing story/diary type thing. An escape from this version of reality I live in ^^

Blog entry 1:
Date: 22nd of November

I can see the mountains from my bedroom window. My desk is scattered with paper and pens and a nightmarish scattering of sticky notes that keep reminding me to study and work harder. It is driving me mad. I need to go down to the field and exercise Claviar. She’s had breakfast and is now just trotting around like she’s doing dressage in front of hundreds of people. We need to practice with the lead rein again when she goes over the jumps. Well, she actually already has it mastered but I like the excuse and seeing her shining eyes just makes my day.
It isn’t snowing yet but the chill seeps through the house. It is the weekend so mama is at home baking. The chocolate smells are much more welcome than the cold.
I realise I have been staring at the mountains now for a whole 10 minutes. Well, these essays are going fabulously. Can you hear my sarcasm?
It will snow over Christmas which I love and perhaps I will finally be able to fix the mini sled and persuade Claviar to let me attach it to her. It would be so amazing to be able to be pulled along by her when she is galloping full speed. She is incredibly fast and she looks so beautiful when she runs. I wrote a poem, but who knows where it is now, my room has been taken over by study notes.
Oh dear, I better go, mama is calling. Time for muffins and then more algebra!

Love Clara
xxx

[clara.anne]

Berries

Featuring: Oratunus, Lylac

"And so I told the baby bunny I couldn't adopt him and he had to go back to his momma. And he did! The end!"
"Well Lylac that's very nice."
"I know. I'm a bunny saver."
Oratunus nodded weakly and forced a tired smile. Now he understood why Carivalle had given him 'the look' when Lylac had declared she wanted to go picking blackberries. Just when Quiescere was now old enough to understand personal space and had stopped her non-stop chatter, this little filly had decided it was her turn to play chatterbox. It was absolutely exhausting.
"So, what kind of berries are your favorite Orato?" She chimmed, dancing her way over the grass, practically bouncing with every step.
He felt quite old next to her all of a sudden. Not that he was old, heck, far from it. There was just something about her endless energy and high-pitched giggles.
"Ah, I do believe the answer to that is blueberries."
Lylac wrinkled her muzzle in disgust. "Ew, blueberries taste like insects."
Oratunus let out a short chuckle. "You ever tasted insects Ly, hon?"
She sniffed haughtily and shot him a look with her deep purple eyes. "No, but I have good connections with others who have informed me about what snails taste like."
"I'm sure you do."
He watched in amusement as she trotted ahead, head held high and tiny hooves striking the ground with dignity. What a right little princess, he thought with a tenderness.
Then Lylac fell back into pace beside him. "How far now?" She asked, blinking her large eyes.
Oratunus considered the question. "Not long now m'lady."
Lylac giggled and flicked her tail. "Do you want to hear another story? It's about when I found a dinosaur!"
Orato groaned inwardly, thankful that Chiralo nor Romero were not here. Tactfulness was not their speciality.
"Well, how about eye spy?"
Lylac was oblivious to the not so subtle change of topic.
"Ooo yes! Let's! I'll start!" He grinned as she leapt in the air, spinning around, brows furrowed in concentration.
"Uh- um, I know! Green!"
"Oh no hon, you say the first letter, not the color." He corrected gently.
Lylac burst into a fit of loud giggles. "Oh of course! Oops! Well, 'G'!"
Grass, Orato thought instantly, but didn't say anything.
"Hmmm, let's think... Goat?"
"Hehe, nope!" She sang, skipping beside him.
"Gate? Goose?"
"Wrong and wrong! I'm gonna win!"
"Oh dear, you are too good!"
He couldn't help but play along. She looked so pleased with herself.
"Granite? Ground? Gravel? A grenade?"
"All wrong! What's granite? and what's a grenade?" She looked up at him and Orato silently cursed himself. Grenades. He had been getting stupid. This wasn't Romero playing. That stallion liked to list things from microscopic organisms to nuclear weapons. Neither of which were ever present.
"Granite is a type of rock." He smiled down at her.
"Is a grenade that too?"
Orato gulped. "Ah, well..." He trailed off and then caught sight of the horizon below the tree line.
"Oh look! Here we are!"
Lylac instantly forgot about the grenade and gave a small shreik, galloping on her tiny legs toward the large patch of vines and flowers stretched out along the edge of the plain.
Saved by the berries. And now it was time to make sure she didn't eat too many and get a sore stomach. The last time had not been at all pleasant. For anyone.
Oh, never a dull moment Oratunus sighed, but couldn't help but grin. He wouldn't trade anything of what he had for the world. Including overexuberant fillies.

[clara.anne]

The Bee Incident

Featuring Ahleesi and Arcturus

The two foals were stood, their necks craning as they stared at the large, bulbous yellow lump dangling from the end of the tallest tree branch.
"I told you they were bees. Wasps have a distinctly different sound." The skinny filly said matter of factly, tilting her head slightly.
There was a short pause while they both continued to watch in intrest as bees buzzed to and fro.
"Yeah." The bright-coloured colt said slowly, almost as if he hadn't been listening.
The sound of the bees was like an hum, like they had a tune that they couldn't quite sort out the notes for.
"Well, Arc, we should best head back before Carivalle sends a search party."
The filly said quickly, lowering her neck to ease the muscles that had been straining for at least 15 minutes, staring at the bee's intricate home.
Arc did the same, and then turned to her. "Don't you want a closer look at the hive's engineering Ahleesi? We could go up the bank?" Arc suggested.
His small, yet muscly build dwarfed his friend, but her green eyes flashed with a bright intelligence as she shook her head.
"Of course, it would be fascinating! The detail that goes into a hive, and the geometry..." She trailed off, looking wistful. Then she sighed and looked at Arc.
"However, the toxins in a bee sting could be highly unagreeable."
He nodded and smiled.
"Well, that was interesting."
"Ot certainly was." Leesi replied brightly and they both began treading carefully past the tree, back the way they had came.
Ahleesi was just about to rattle off a fact about the flight patterns of bees when Arc suddenly tripped.
His hoof lodged in a root and he hurtled sideways, bashing into the tree trunk.
"Arc!"
The colt stumbled to his feet, Ahleesi moving to steady him.
"I'm fine- whoops, sorry."
Lees sighed with relief. "It's okay, no harm done."
They smiled at each other for a second and then both their smiles froze.
"Does that sound...louder to you?" Arc softly uttered, his eyes wide.
In unison, they both looked up slowly.
The air around the hive was flashing black and yellow and the hum had turned to a roar.
They gulped.
"Oh grass-seed."
"RUN!"
They took off, faster than rabbits with a fox on their tail. They hurtled through the trees, bashing their way through the undergrowth, both of them with hearts pounding.
The swarm was right behind them, swirling through the air and twisting like a dark cloud with a mind of it's own.
"THE LAKE ARC, THE WATER!" Ahleesi called out, the trees flashing past her, and she caught sight of her friend between the green trunks. He was going just as fast as her, legs moving like a blur.
"GOT IT!" He yelled back, his words much quicker and louder than usual.
Their breaths were ragged and both of them nearly tripped multiple times. However, this time luck decided to play on their side.
The swarm still raced after them, the noise was impossibly loud, almost as great as the beating of their chests.
For a second, Ahleesi had a jolt of remorse. All this in the name of scientific discovery. Oh, how silly she'd been. A swarm of bees was even more dangerous than the deadliest of poisonous snakes. And she'd brought Arc along too. How could she have been so stupid?
But she couldn't do this now. She had to focus. "COME ON!" She cried out again to Arc who was starting to slow down just the slightest. He speed back up but didn't seem to have the energy to reply.
Just when she thought they couldn't keep it up, there was a flash of blue between the trees. They both put on a burst of force and erupted from the forest, throwing themselves toward that dash of blue. With a gigantic splash they were submerged, pulling themselves to safety under the cool water.
When they resurfaced, gasping for air, Ahleesi saw the tail of the bees vanishing back into the trees. Her eyes locked with Arc's and she saw her immense relief echoed in his own sky blue eyes.
"Well."
"That's over."
They stared at one another for a few seconds, their hoooves treading water, and then they burst out laughing. It was probably relief more than anything else but they laughed and laughed, their sides still heaving and tossing their heads wildly like idiots.
When they finally dragged themselves out, still giggling, Arc looked over at Ahleesi and raised his eyebrows.
"Best not tell Cari 'bout that one."
She grinned back, shaking the water from her coat.
"Yes, best not."
And they set off, walking along the lake edge, chuckling at each other's dripping selves.

[clara.anne]

Moon waltzing

Featuring Quiescere and Anthello

Anthello wasn't quite asleep yet when he saw the mare slowly tiptoeing under the branches of the great oak tree and out into the field. He raised his head and blinked his eyes sleepily.
Okay, he thought, Quiescere is on one of her crazy adventures again.
He slowly got to his feet, careful not to stir the others. He smiled when he saw little Lylac tucked beside Carivalle with the mare's tail almost covering the foal's tiny self. Arc lay between Ahleesi and Orato. Those two foals had only finished discussing some strange theory half an hour ago about space and oxygen that he hadn't bothered to keep up with. Leesi's brain was filled with too many cells. It disconcerted him. Chiralo was sprawled across the grass in her usual manner and Romero was snoring quietly a little away from the others, also splayed out just as obnoxiously. And there was Quiescere who had been next to him, now trotting through the long grass, the moonlight making her cream coat glow. He made his way after her, sighing quietly and urging his mind to wake up. His head protested. Apparently because the stars were out, he should be too. When he was far enough away from the herd, he called softly out to her with a bird whistle like she had taught him. She spun around, not looking at all surprised.
She waited for him to catch up and smiled warmly at him.
"Hello Thello." She chuckled softly. She still finding that joke funny after over a year of it.
"Hey, what's up?" He rolled his shoulders, shaking his mane out slightly.
"Hope I didn't wake you." She stared up at the sky, her eyes starting to get that vacant look she often slipped into. It was happening less and less now though. Ever since her third birthday, there was sonething different. Like all the strange awkward and wide-eyed stuff in her that he'd come to understand was slowly being replaced by a graceful, mature creature. It was odd. But good in a way. They were both growing up. Anthello wished he would become more elegant. Unfortunately he was just as clumsy as he'd been two years ago. Hopefully less gullible, though.
"Oh no, I wasn't asleep."
"Good."
He waited for her to elaborate.
"I was going to go moon waltzing. Like I used to." She said eventually, and her tone surprised him.
It was soft, almost sad.
"Used to?" He asked quietly.
"I haven't for ages. Things just-"
"Are different?" He suggested.
She looked at him, her eyes wide.
"Yeah. I guess we are just growing up, huh? The world isn't different, just us."
He looked right back into her dark eyes.
"Yeah." He whispered.
They both turned and looked up at the moon.
It seemed to smile at them.
"We still are the same though. We always keep part of who we are right?" Anthello pondered out loud to the stars.
"I suppose. I just feel like the world isn't all as beautiful as it was."
"You just notice more flaws now."
She was quiet.
"Nothing is perfect. That's what makes this all so great."
She blinked. "This?"
Anthello smiled slowly. "Life." He paused. "It's a mix of so many things. But it's still amazing, right? We can see the faults in it, sure, but that's good. It means we appreciate the better things too. We can appreciate the moon because we know sometimes it's not there, like during the day or when it's covered by clouds in a storm. But it's still there and when we see it, it's good again. And you know what, I don't feel too old for whatever this moon waltzing is! Do you?"
Thello stood up straighter and grinned at her.
Quiescere looked at him again with the most curious look on her face.
"You know what, neither do I." And her eyes sparkled silver.

[clara.anne]

An introduction

featuring the whole herd and Nashira

The foal, cloaked in darkness stood shivering at the seam of the wood. She could hear the equids chattering, laughing and groaning and rushing through the grass. She hoped that the bay mare's offer hadn't expired. Her papa had bid her farewell tearfully but he seemed so distracted. She didn't really mind, she'd be back anyway. It wasn't really a goodbye, they both knew that. She'd just decided she needed to find her own way and that travelling herd who had left a day before, after mingling for a day with her and her father's herd, had seemed so full of life. The three other foals had been annoying granted, but they had been open too. They hadn't cared that she was so silent. They weren't too annoying, just bearable. And the big lava stallion was kind, as were the bay and cream mares in particular. Her papa said she should seize her future. The herd they were currently in was large and kept breaking up time and time again. She had had enough of instability. Her mother had vanished after a day so there was strike one. Even though the foal was so young, she felt like this was her chance.
With a small sigh, she held up her head and slowly stepped forward to where the trees gave way to the long meadow grass. Then, she was out in the afternoon sun and she could see them. In a few seconds, she took it all in. Closest to her, the giggly filly, Lylac she'd called herself, was prancing about and singing, oblivious that the other two foals (she'd forgotten their names) were having an avid discussion and completely ignoring her. Further away, the graceful and tall cream mare was grazing the long grass beside the grey stallion with the tousled mane who seemed to be pondering a deep thought. Beside them, the short stallion and the palomino mare who'd been very rude yesterday appeared to be arguing or complaining about something. She could hear them from here. Then her eyes were drawn to the two equids she needed to talk to. She took another tentative step forward. Suddenly, the pretty brown foal turned her head and caught sight of her.
"Nashira!" She exclaimed loudly. She sounded surprised, but for some reason also happy. Nashira froze as the other equids began turning their heads her way, a few of them beginning to smile.
Without another second, Shira bolted. She raced over to the nice bay mare and stallion on the other side of the meadow, skidding to a halt and nearly tripping over her own hooves.
"Nashira dear! You changed your mind!" the mare exclaimed, moving toward the filly with a delighted expression. The foal could have collapsed with relief. However she didn't and instead took a deep breath and managed to say "Yes, and I hope to stay."
The stallion shared a look with the mare and smiled broadly too.
"Of course Nashira. Welcome to the herd."
And even as the rest of the herd began closing in with questions and happy exclaimations, the filly managed a small smile in return.

[clara.anne]

Silence is a virtue

Featuring Nashira, Lylac, Ahleesi, Arcturus

"So... Do you like butterflies?"
Nashira didn't reply and nearly gave a groan and lay her head back down on the grass.
"Oh! I know- you must like dandelions! I live dandelions. They are so pretty. Imagine a pink one. Oh wow. Fabulous."
They had been situated under the willow like this for at least 15 minutes. Lylac had talked the whole time and Nashira hadn't said one word.
"Erg, I give up then, what do you like? Rainbows? Oh, unicorns?"
Shira didn't bother to stifle the groan this time.
"I like silence." She said quietly and not without venom.
Lylac was either ignoring that, or was just stupid.
"Silence? That's a stupid thing to like. I hate silence." She seemed genuinely confused.
"I can tell." Nashira replied grudgingly.
"Oh for goodness sake Ly. Can't you see that Nashira is trying to get some peace and quiet."
The pangare filly had appeared at the edge of the willow's shadow, rolling her eyes with the large golden colt beside her.
Despite the fact Ahleesi was a stuck up know-it-all, this time, annoyingly, Nashira had to agree with her.
"Come with me and Arc, Lylac, we are going to go fish-watching."
Lylac snorted. "Ew, it could be muddy."
"Lylac it's time to go. Now."
After being here a week, Nashira already knew that when Ahleesi raised her voice like that, you listened and obeyed. Nashira was yet to test her authority but so far it seemed she only used the 'voice' on Lylac.
"Fine." Ly sighed sadly and slowly got to her feet. "The fish better be pink."
She sniffed and then beamed in Nashira's direction. "Bye bye Shira bestie, see you later!"
And then she flounced after Ahleesi who had already started off but looked back to give Nashira an apologetic look.
Nashira just glared.
"Its Nashira. Not Shira." She scowled.
"So sorry about that." Arcturus, the broad young colt said with slow articulation. He gave her a small smile and then followed after the fillies at about half their speed.
He was a gentle-colt that one, with a slow everything. He seemed nice enough though, and he didn't pry. To bad he pretty much spent all his time with Ahleesi. Sure, the filly wasn't that bad, certainly not like Lylac, but she sure seemed to know a lot and knew it too. She was always blurring put some complex theory and it made Nashira feel really in-superior. She guessed she should be grateful, the filly looked out for her and explained a heap of stuff. If Nashira was the emotional type maybe she'd talk to her about stuff. But she wasn't. So that wasn't going to happen.

wip

[clara.anne]

The outing

Featuring Nashira, Lylac, Ahleesi, Arcturus, Ashfen

"WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?"
"Lylac please just-"
"OHMAGOD WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE"
"Lylac-"
"I CAN"T SEE I'M BLIND! I-"
"LYLAC!"
Four voices bellowed into the dark.
A short, restless silence settled.
"Right, thank you. so now we have got that sorted..." Ahleesi trailed off, her voice fading into what was her thoughtful tone. She was thinking. That was good because this morning, Ashfen really had no ideas left. Of course, they could heave against the stones some more but they'd just tried that and that had set off Lylac again when Arc declared them too heavy.
To be honest, Ashfen was glad it was dark. The dark always helped him think and he found it calming being enveloped in the shadows. He wasn't a dark equid in anyway, no, he was no way like Nashira who had said nothing the whole trip and glared at anyone and everyone while they walked along the forest tracks. But the darkness meant possibilities and the chance that there was always a way out. So he stayed beside Lylac who was shivering like a daisy in a strong wind, and made sure she knew he was there. The others had little patience for her shrieks and concerns for spiders, mud, monsters, tree sap, the wind... the list went on. But Ash didn't mind, she was quite a sweet thing really.
"We should walk around the outside of the cave, try to-"
"Get our bearings yes. That sounds good." Ahleesi interrupted Arcturus who always spoke at 2 miles and hour. Now he thought about it, Ash realised Arc never finished many sentences when Leesi was around. Arc was the oldest, but Ash couldn't imagine a time when Arc had been without his best friend. Even after a few weeks of being here, Ash knew those two were inseparable.
There was a short silence during which Lylac whimpered loudly and Ash could almost feel the wave of annoyance wash over Nashira to his other side. Somehow, in the time since his arrival, he'd also managed to become the mediator for Lylac and Nashira. When the other two foals were lost in their world of science or whatever they called it, he had worked out how to distract Lylac and let Nashira fall back into her silent existence. This was made easier by the fact that Lylac had a crush on him. All it took was a smile and a short question about her mane, or how her eyes looked like some purple gem he couldn't remember the name of, and she left whatever battle she was unwittingly losing against Nashira and began chattering in his ear. He didn't mind.
"Okay, you three stay put, Arc and I will move slowly in opposite directions and count how many steps until we meet. Try to stay quiet."
He heard Ahleesi take a deep breath and then the sound of two sets of hooves against mud and rock.

wip

[clara.anne]

Girls vs Boys
23 Nov 2014

[Before Elentiya, Nash, and Ashfen]

"Okay, so where are we gonna hide this darn blossom branch." Chiralo scowled, her teeth clenched around the thick twig. She looked quite comical with the blossom flowers exploding from one side of her mouth. It was probably best not to mention it.
Carivalle glanced around. They were making their way up the thin track, overgrown with strange plants tucked between pine trees. They had to find somewhere to hide this thing quick before the boys declared war.
"Oh I know, we could put it in the river!" Quiescere beamed, dancing along from one patch of sunlight to the next.
Chiralo made what sounded like a choking noise.
"Don't we want them to find it?"
Carivalle sighed and looked across at Ahleesi who had quietly spoken. The poor filly was starting to look quite bewildered. And that was unusual.
"Yes we do, sweetie."
Leesi screwed up her face.
"Well then I don't know if that would work. It would be washed downstream, unless we attached to something like an anchor but even then, the force of the water is very great, perhaps the petals would be torn off."
"Yes, perhaps not."
There was a short pause during which Chiralo rolled her eyes more than once and Quiescere pointed out a pretty flower to no one in particular. Then there came a loud shreik.
"OH MY GOSH"
They all spun around just in time to see Lylac leap into the air, looking absolutely horrified with her front hooves covered in mud.
"Ew Ew Ew Ew Cari Cari help me it's mud oh my gosh!"
The filly was jumping on the spot, seemingly about to burst into tears as she flailed her legs about, mud splattering the leafy forest floor. Carivalle instantly darted over, slipping past Quiescere and Ahleesi who if anything, seemed a little amused. Well, actually Quiescere looked as vacantly innocent as usual and Ahleesi was probably trying to work out how exactly to tackle this new issue involving mud and their extremely fussy herd member.
"Oh dear, Lylac it's just mud, honey."
"But it could have snakes and spiders and other bugs in it and it's all brown and gross and I hate it oh it feels so disgusting, get it off!" The high-pitched words gushed out so quickly and Carivalle could hear Chiralo's groans accompanying in the background.
She shook her head and smiled reassuringly to the wide-eyed filly.
"it's alright, we are close to the stream, you can wash off there."
Lylac replied with a whimper, staring at her dirty legs like the world was ending, one continent at a time.
"Yeah, well if we don't hurry up, the boys will find us before we have even hidden this stupid thing," called Chiralo from further up the path, her consonants slightly muffled from the branch.
Carivalle nudged Lylac forward gently and the filly moved forward mournfully. Carivalle smiled slightly.
"Oh don't worry, I'm sure they are having their own issues."

...
{Meanwhile, in a forest clearing about 10 minutes away}
...

"Look, I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but isn't it obvious?"
"That's exactly why it is a good idea! If it's too obvious they won't look there!"
"And if your theory is cracked, they will find it in a second and we'll lose! Come on! They already have the snow incident over us, we have to get this!"
"But I reckon that if-"
"Uh, guys?" A throat was cleared.
The argument abruptly stopped and Oratunus sent a small awkward smile at the two stallions who were in heated debate.
"Thank you." He straightened up. "As I was saying earlier, this is just fun competition. Perhaps we shouldn't take this so seriously."
The short red dun stallion scoffed.
"Fun competition? Seriously? We are not going to lose to a bunch of giggly mares and fillies! This is war!"
Anthello nodded. "Romero has a point."
Oratunus sighed. "It's a game. I think a level head might be-"
"Dude, you do not understand how crucial this is!" Romero snorted.
"Yeah. It's crucial."
Oratunus gave them both a long look and then smiled slowly.
"See? Now you two are agreeing. Was that so hard?"
"What-" Romero started. "Ah, forget it."
Anthello looked considerably lost.
"Wait, so we should hide the branch here or...?" He trailed off, brows knitting and knees jittering like they did when he was thinking.
Oratunus smiled. "Actually, I sent Arc off to hide it while you two were..." he paused, "discussing it. He should be back soon."
Romero flinched violently and his head shot up.
"What?!?! Why the heck did you let him do it?! He's barely a colt!"
Anthello just looked thoroughly disappointed. He had probably wanted to be the one to hide the blossom branch.
"I trust his judgement Rome." Oratunus said firmly. "Besides he had the idea to hide it in a bush that would cover it and also be hard to find, allowing us time to track down theirs."
"A shrub? Really?" Romero looked incredulous.
"His idea certainly was making more progress than yours was."
"Hmph."
Romero glared broodily at Oratunus who just raised an eyebrow and held his stare in return. Anthello shrunk back slightly, looking awkwardly at the ground.
Then, a vibrant colt treaded slowly into the clearing, hesitating when he saw the stare-off.
"Um, he-hello, guys? I hi-id the branch."
"Great." Romero said through clenched teeth, unmoving.
Oratunus smiled and then broke away from Rome's gaze, nodding his head at the worried looking colt. "Well done Arcturus. Very good job. Now, I wonder if the girls are ready."
...
{Meanwhile, by the wide river about 10 minutes away}
...

"Honey, the mud is definitely gone." Carivalle nudged the filly who was still splashing around at the water's edge.
"But I can still feeeeeeel it!" Lylac whined, looking down at her front hooves with despair.
Chiralo had given up, dropping the branch a few minutes ago and had now settled under the nearest willow with her eyes closed. Quiescere was making small ripples in the water with a hoof and humming a random melody.
"Right guys", Carivalle raised her voice, turning to the others, "Let's hide this branch quickly."
Quiescere looked over and Chiralo gave a groan.
"Oh, I already did it." Quiescere said placidly.
"YOU DID WHAT?" Chiralo got to her feet faster than Carivalle thought was equidly possibly and she herself involuntarily winced.
If Quiescere hadn't expected such an outburst, she didn't seem at all surprised. She just tossed her mane a little distractedly and gave a wan smile in Chiralo's direction where the mare stood fuming.
"Please tell me it's not floating down the river..." Carivalle trailed off.
Quiescere gave a tinkling laugh. "Of course not!"
Chiralo trotted over, her eyes dark. "So, where is it!" She demanded, and Carivalle made a mental note to never suggest playing this game ever again.
"It's wedged under a big lime rock just there." Quiescere prodded the surface of the still patch of water where she'd been standing just before.
Chiralo let out a rush of air through her nose and waded out to where Quiescere was standing. She opened her mouth and then abruptly closed it. A dangerous smile slowly crept over her face.
"You know what, Quies?"
"Why do the birds nest in Spring?"
Chiralo paused. "Uh no."
"Oh... Why the only-"
"QUIESCERE!"
"Yes?"
"You are actually quite a genius."
Then, the palomino mare tossed her head back and started to laugh. Carivalle rolled her eyes and Lylac splashed over to have a look at this new hiding spot.
Quiescere just smiled.