the first sign of the changing seasons had come with the soft sound of snow melting. all throughout the forest, the sounds of dripping water was echoing off the leaves- slowly at first, and eventually as the month would run on, so quickly that soon the forest would be awash with the sound of a rushing river contrived of the run-off from the snow.

already, despite the temperature rising no more than a few degrees, the stallion already found that his shaggy, dark red coat that had clung to him and kept him warm in the winter months had begun to fall away in ungainly clumps. littered throughout the forest were matted balls of hair, either from the red dun himself, or the other horses that lived there. thanks to the constant snagging of branches and twigs, it would not be long before his patchwork cloak of red fur became smooth to the touch- but for now vercingetorix appears bedraggled and unkempt in the silvery light of the midnight moon that hung overhead.

catching the softest disturbance that came from an elusive and heavily pregnant mare (that being dresden, whom the stallion had not spotted for a while and supposed that she had wandered off as she was wont to do), the red dun found himself moving through the trees at a late hour with some haste. with the rest of his massively burdened herd tucked away in the middle of a small clearing that had become their bed for the night, vercingetorix had little to fear, except what he found waiting for him in the underbrush of the forest.

even with the dim lighting that was almost untouched by the glowing moon overhead, the red dun could see the form of a small child shivering in the shadows, unaccompanied by a mother and looking as though she had been abandoned. for a moment, he thinks to end her suffering- to stamp the life out of her before she became a burden to the herd and a threat to their safety- but then he remembers she is his, and it seems as though he is the only thing she had. the girl seemed to be graced by luck, being that vercingetorix was nothing like his father, and preferred to think that with so many hugely pregnant mares sleeping soundlessly in the direction from which he had come, it was likely that someone would be willing to take the girl in.

inching forwards, the stallion finds his way in front of the girl, dipping his head to examine her legs from a short distance, assessing their strength and asserting that she would no doubt be able to walk with him back to the herd (naturally, having never been a parent before, he overestimated the newborn's ability to control her own limbs so soon after birth) and from there they could only move forwards. once close enough to the girl, he brushes his muzzle against her shoulder, pleased to find that she sported not only the signature colour of her flighty mother, but that strapped around her legs, shoulders, and back were the stripes that could only be had from his own colouring.

it was doubtless that she was his at this point.

feeling the gentle swell of pride at realization that he was looking down at his first of, perhaps, many children, vercingetorix also found that he was harbouring a particular dislike for the way dresden had so quickly disposed of the girl, disappearing into the trees, perhaps never to be seen again. letting his ears lean back against his reddish-brown mane at the thought, the stallion then stoops his head a little more, moving it to one side so as to place his muzzle behind the girl and guide her back to the group with a gentle nudge.

male, red dun, ee aa Dd, crossbreed, 15.1 hh.
mordred x blackwort.