The sun was hot. Like, unreasonably hot. Summer wasn’t even due to arrive for at least another couple of months. It was SUPPOSED to be winter. You know the sort, yeah? The kind, where, summer was comparable to an angry wife, who kept storming out of the room during an argument, only to pop back in and shriek in her shrill voice, ‘AND ANOTHER THING!’.
Yeah.
That’s what it was like.
The mare stood in quiet contemplation, brooding as her skin pulled in one, and then two quick painful twitches near her shoulder. The second was more sharp than the first, but the sensations of the first still lingered. It threatened to twitch a third time, so the mare swung her head around, and that persistent pest scurried away. Likely to another part of her stonewashed body -- but she was not about to complain. At the very least, her tail worked wonders for keeping most of them at bay.
Before her stood a vast valley, open and free, guarded by tall rather sharp-looking rocks, and hugged by what appeared to be a dense grove. The field was filled with ant-like specs from her vantage point (other horses, she could smell them from here). Some stood peacefully, others scurried from here to there and every-which-were. Shenzi had quietly observed the main isle for a few short months, now. She had arrived after a rather unfortunate series of events that she would rather not even discuss. Partly out of preserving the shreds that remained of her pride, partly out of her lack of memory. That wasn’t important now, anyway. Shenzi didn’t know how she managed it, but not a trace had been picked up by the locals who called this place home; or perhaps she’d merely lucked out in being so grossly uninteresting that even the bachelor stallions didn’t see her as a prize.
Or maybe her parents really HAD taught her well enough, despite their criticisms of her methods. Shenzi could still hear her mother nagging her, only to end her shrill complaints with a sharp bite to her rump. It sent a chill up Shenzi’s spine; she hated that ghostly sensation. Often times, words were best remembered by the young mare when they were accompanied by some sort of action. Especially those which were painful. Shenzi had no shortage of painful memories. There was only one memory she could recall of her mother teaching her some sort of lesson that wasn’t painful. And it was one that had stayed with her to this day..‘If you play stupid games with me, you win stupid prizes.’ It was so simple, it was to the point, and Shenzi, being such a simple creature, appreciated that.
She shook her heavy coat, and decided to make her way down to where she could find some shade, and hopefully, a closer look at some of these locals. Maybe they would surprise her.
.. Or maybe, she would surprise them.