Common

━━ ❧ ━━


Before this mishap, Pippin had not been particularly prone to bouts of independence. The roan stallion preferred the security of the group, did what he believed was expected of him, and believed by virtue of his obedience that his place would thusly be guaranteed. The danger that his being washed off the beaten path constituted was, perhaps, relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. He was physically unharmed. Surely there was but one night of solitude standing between him and reunion.

The gnawing uncertainty grew in his belly like fire in a tinderbox all the same, greedily scorching all his thoughts with words in voices that both were and were not his own.

What if they couldn't wait for him?

What if they didn't want to?

It was at precisely that moment, with his composure balanced precariously on the knife-edge of poise and panic, that Pippin's little world was shattered by the intrusion of an unfamiliar, youthful 'Hello?'

The salutation zipped through Pippin's body like an electric charge. "Ah!" His hooves stamped unbidden at the frigid deadfall beneath them, his salt-matted tail switching against his flanks as he turned to face the sound with the whites of his eyes flashing in the gloom. One might have congratulated him for standing his ground, were it not instantly apparent that his body language hid no propensity toward self-defense. He simply didn't run because he didn't trust his speed and didn't know what safety looked like on this night-darkened shore.

So it was that when he did finally catch sight of the yearling taking shape before him, the relief he felt at not being eaten only served to make him feel worse.

"I know," he replied with what he hoped was a convincing smile, "I took a shortcut and got swept away by a rip current. Silly me, right?" Aw shucks. Golly gee. Why the hell did you say it like that, Pip? "My friends are waiting for me farther up along the mainland; just figured I would sit tight until morning so I don't catch myself trying any more shortcuts." He tried a chuckle and it sounded more confident this time, but his honey-brown eyes flickered anxiously across the young stranger's face for a glimpse of...something, he wasn't sure what.