Though still quite young (barely passing two), Filumena was a very large filly thanks mostly to her father’s build influence and thus appeared much older than she was. Too, she was far more mature given that her dam stopped mothering her so much after her first year. As Oswin fell to personal woes the dedication of being a mother slipped away and Filumena was left to her own devices much the way her other sisters before her had been. Oswald was still near, of course, and did his best to be a diligent older brother, but the older Filumena got the more she wanted to do things without him, too.
So, with Oswin now completely gone from the Peak and Filumena putting a firm hoof down in deciding she would stay, the red-dun roan was left mostly to her own devices. She took to her independence with gusto, though she’d yet to swim off Crossing Isle and travel elsewhere just yet. It felt far easier to explore the place she knew well and with the size of Crossing Isle being what it was, Filumena had plenty of ground to cover. Too, the Lagoon had slowly become a threat, though they’d seemed mostly quiet in their antics the last few seasons. The idea of a rival so close was exciting to her young, adventure-craving mind and wasn’t something she wanted to avoid, but rather something she wanted to seek out.
This meant today she was away from the Peak. Filumena was grazing in the Falls, nibbling down the rich grasses in the lower valley, when she began to hear a strange buzzing sound. Initially she’d assumed it was something like a large horse-fly somewhere off and flicked her tail, stomped a leg and shook her coat to disperse whatever little flies were currently crawling over her skin. The buzzing continued, even growing in volume.
By the time Filumena lifted her head to look, the sky was beginning to blot out in darkness as if night was suddenly sweeping out over the world. It wasn’t twilight, but a swarm of large bugs that blocked the sunlight out. Their little bodies pelted into her as they descended on the Falls and Filumena squealed out, pinning her ears and flicking her tail. Up ahead she could just make out another horse crashing into the pools the Falls tumbled down into and, instinct kicking in, she blindly charged forward after them, deciding to follow wherever they thought they might find safety.
Pushing herself through the living curtain of buzzing insects was more difficult than she’d thought it would be, but eventually Filumena’s thick legs splashed into the cool waters and she found comfort in no longer being tickled by the cicada’s legs. They couldn’t reach her where the water touched her, even as they swarmed above in their panic to land wherever there was food for them to devour. Filumena wasn’t going to wait around to see how long it would take them, following the stranger who’d swam under the falls.
She came up gasping and sputtering, but the force of the water had knocked any remaining bugs off her hair. She shook still as she climbed up onto solid ground, breathing heavy and wide-eyed as she looked at the painted stranger in front of her. This was a very intimate space for the pair of them to share, particularly as strangers, but Filumena was grateful there were none of those bugs in here.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” she said breathlessly, swallowing back as she tried to steady her racing heart. “What are those things?”
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