The sudden arrival of an elder stallion immediately drew my attention away from the frozen mare. It was obvious he was the bigger threat here, despite his age and injuries, and so I whirled away from the freckled mare. She struck me as the sort to stick around and watch, so as long as I could manage to dispatch him quickly, I still had a chance at returning home with a new trinket to parade around in front of the brothers.

"That's where you're wrong old man," I murmured, the words punctuated by a harsh grunt as her kick of protest landed against my hocks. "She's not exactly saying no."

Which was, admittedly, a bald-faced lie. She had said no. In fact, it was the only thing she'd said so far, but she'd said it so quietly and then taken such an obedient step forward right after that I'd already dismissed it. I gathered myself and lunged toward him, a crazed gleam of excitement in my eyes as my teeth sought to marr his pale coat. A part of me did register the arrival of a third, but it wasn't until the pony-sized mare's hooves drove into one of my hind legs - buckling it - that I really took notice. She didn't waste time with words, and it was evident that both she and the cream stallion I was fighting were experienced.

My initial target had still not joined the fray, but a quick sum of math told me that my odds of succeeding in this match had dropped significantly. I didn't exactly have a brother here with me, owing to how quickly I'd snuck away when the challenge was issued. And while a part of me might want to stay on to needle this disgustingly idyllic little herd-life-fantasy they cultivated here, I doubted I would escape with limbs intact. No more had I regained my balance - blood now streaming down my hock - than the dun mare was lunging in again, forcing me to abort my attempt to attack the cream stallion in order to whirl back and defend myself from her instead.

My hooves launched toward her face, but I didn't wait to see if they connected. Instead, I dodged right to give myself enough time to taunt them all with a cheery - "I'll be back, don't worry," - before racing off toward the shore and the escape it offered.

Stallion - Young Adult - 15.2 - Brown Overo