Kickstart My Heartby dragonpony111ChaptersChapter 0: A Mother’s DilemmaChapter 1: December 23rd, 2011Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 1)Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 2)Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 3)Chapter 0: A Mother’s DilemmaRunning… running is all that she had been doing for what seemed like an eternity, not unusual when you’re in the Everfree Forest, a dark place that can mess with the minds of even the bravest ponies. The mother was just doing what she was told. She had not wanted to venture into this mysterious forest in the first place, but had to in hopes of finding her lost filly that wandered in. The mother and her husband had followed their daughter into the forest, the low hanging fog making it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. Though eventually, they found her, by following the hoof marks on the trees and the sounds of wooden thuds; their filly couldn’t talk yet, but loved to kick any and everything she could, and would use this to communicate to her parents something had her upset. The filly was found walking back and forth between two trees with the most frightened look in her eyes, kicking a tree each time she turned around. Her mother ran over to her and said: “There there Kickstart, mommy and daddy are here, now let’s go home, back to our nice warm beds.” The mother kneels down to let the shivering filly climb into her saddlebag, but as she stands up she and her husband hear the growls of timberwolves. Both of them try not to make a move or sound, hoping the wolves didn’t notice them and would pass on by. Though luck was not on their side, as the growls became louder both ponies could see their glowing green eyes staring at them from the darkness, noticing five pairs of eyes in total. They were surrounded on all sides except for one, but that only lead deeper into the Everfree Forest. The husband then whispers to his wife: “Just take our daughter and go, run as far away as fast as you can, I’ll distract them and lead them off, you just focus on getting our filly home safe...” Before he can even finish his sentence, one of the timberwolves lets out a loud roar and charges at him; he turns around and lands a powerful kick with his hind legs right on the wolf’s forehead, causing it to crumble apart. The mother takes her one opportunity and bolts off deeper into the forest. She just keeps running and running, but as she looks back she notices that two of the wolves had followed her, and were chasing her relentlessly. This only drives her harder to keep running. To try and lose them she starts bobbing and weaving through the trees, this causes one of the pursuing wolves to smack right into one and burst into pieces. Due to exhaustion and the weight of her filly slowing her down, the other wolf gradually closes the distance between them, eventually leaping at the galloping mother, and with his powerful mouth he latches on to her left hind leg, sinking his teeth in deeply. The pony lets out a painful yell, and then uses her other hind leg to kick the timberwolf several times in the head, eventually knocking him unconscious, allowing the wounded pony to free herself. It had already started raining but the frightened mare hadn’t noticed, she just kept limping on as fast as she could. After some time the fog started to lift and the mother could make out a clearing in the forest which contained a large house. The pony looked back at her hind leg, which was bleeding profusely and nearly impossible to walk on. Now she knew she couldn’t keep this up much longer, and had to make a choice; either leave her filly behind at the home or attempt to keep on and find her husband. As dreadful of a thought it was, she went with the realistic choice and decided to abandon her filly at the house, hoping who ever owned it would take her in and care for her. By now the weather had really kicked up and the rain was pouring down hard, making it harder to see the house off in the distance. The mother limped on over to the front porch of the house, struggling to fight the cold stinging rain. When she makes it to the porch she notices a pile of cardboard boxes and found one that wasn’t too wet from the rain, she then drags it over to the door. She then dumps her filly out of her saddle bag and into the box; her filly looks back up at her frightened and confused, not knowing what was about to happen. The mother then pulls out a quill and parchment, which were both damp but dry enough to write with, and she scribbles out a message. She folds up the parchment and places it in the box. She then turns to her daughter and places her right hoof on her forehead; then with tears in her eyes she tells her: “Goodbye my dear Kickstart, I just want you to know your mom and dad love so very much and always will. I have to leave you now, but as much as I don’t want to it is the only way. Please be good to whoever takes you in. I’ll try and come back for you if I can but it’s not something I can promise.” The mother then approaches the door, and as weak as she is she manages to give it two strong kicks with her good hind leg. Then she walks back over to the box, gives her filly one last goodbye kiss, and uses the last of her energy to limp out into the rain and back into the forest. She looks back as she can hear her daughter frantically neighing, and sees her feeble attempts at trying to kick her way out of the box. This only saddens the mother’s heart even more, forcing her to look away, and eventually the cries of her filly fade away until they can no longer be heard. She limps for as long as she can back into the Everfree Forest, and after a few minutes she collapses and passes out from the loss of blood and exhaustion. Chapter 1: December 23rd, 2011“Today was the day in my life I found something special, I found a reason to enjoy my existence in this empty secluded house, a reason to breathe in what life has to offer. I have been given a gift like no other, the gift of companionship.” A loud thud from downstairs wakes me somewhat, and then five seconds later a second loud thud causes me to jump up out of my bed. I think to myself: “Who or what could this be at this time of night, its only ten minutes until midnight. I normally don’t have visitors, and especially not during a storm. It can’t be lightning, as that would have been much louder, I better go check it out.” Since I am at least ten miles away from my nearest neighbor, and roughly thirty miles from town, I keep a baseball bat by my bed for protection, one that my dad bought me years ago at Yankee Stadium. I slowly step out into the hallway of my dark house, only lit up by one small lamp I keep on so I don’t bump into things on the way to the bathroom. I flip on the hall light and peer down the stairs. I wait patiently expecting more noise but all I hear is the sound of rain hitting the windows. I decide to slowly creep down the stairs, tightly gripping the bat in case I need to use it. As I make it to bottom of the stairway, I flip the switch which turns on the small chandelier that’s hangs above the entry way, as it lights up the room nothing seems out of place except for some new cracks around the door frame, which puzzled me greatly as they weren’t there earlier today when I came home. I approach the door, with the intention of opening it, but I first look through the peephole, and see nothing but my dark porch and the rainy field beyond. I lean the baseball bat against the wall next to me, and I slowly open the door inward, the hinges creak loudly as they seemed to be loose now. I’m initially hit by a cold rush of wet air as the sounds of heavy rain flow into my house. I look around and don’t notice anything else out of the ordinary, so I just attribute my abrupt waking to the storm and begin to close the door. As I close the door for some reason I felt compelled to look down, and as I do I notice a trail of blood that leads to a wet cardboard box sitting right in front of the door way. I think to myself: “Why is box sitting in front of my door, and more importantly where did this blood come from?” I had moved into this house only two weeks before. Apparently I had a distant uncle, and upon his passing he left his house and small amount of land to me. Too lazy to get rid of them, I just piled all of my moving boxes on the front porch. What was odd about this box was that it was placed neatly in front of my door, and it was still closed, I had been sure I unpacked everything when I moved in. My curiosity gets the better of me and I lean down to open it. As I unfold the cardboard flaps I jump back in reaction to almost being kicked in the face. There was an animal inside, a grayish-blue colored pony, but it was small, like a baby, but seemed small even by pony standards. It tries to climb its way out of the box, but after failing to do so it just sits there shivering, cowering in the corner, looking up at me. I also notice a folded piece of paper inside the box, and as I pick it up I feel that it isn’t paper, but parchment, something you don’t see every day. I unfold it to see a note has been written inside, the ink was starting to run from being wet but it was still very readable. The note read: “To whoever reads this, please take in this filly as I can no longer protect and care for her, I love her with all of my heart and can’t stand the thought of letting anything bad happen to her. If I can, I plan on returning for her, but if I don’t please care for her as long as you can. Lastly, watch out for her legs as she loves to buck, which is why I named her Kickstart.” Wishing I knew that last bit of information before hand, I realized why this pony was here; someone was forced to give her up, but that still didn’t explain the trail of blood leading to my house. I neatly fold up the note and place it on the table that is right inside my house, right next to my keys. Then my attention returns to the little pony sitting inside the box. I didn’t know what to do with it, but I knew I couldn’t leave it out to freeze to death, or worse fall victim to the coyotes that prowl the woods around my home. I grabbed my jacket that I keep on a hook to the right of my door, and I attempt several times to pick up the pony and wrap her in it, but each time I fail as her fear causes her to squirm and kick me. So then I just decide to drag the box inside and close the door. The poor thing was still shivering so I covered her with my jacket. She initially kicks it off, probably afraid of what I might be trying to do to her, but she soon curls up in it, snuggling with it for warmth. She then just laid there, with her big brown eyes staring up at me, causing me to feel something in my heart, a feeling I haven’t ever felt before. For now I assumed it would be best to just leave her be, but I still felt like I needed to do more. After a few minutes of thinking to myself, I realize that maybe I can try feeding her. I walk off into my kitchen and start rummaging in my fridge, I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet so I don’t have much, but luckily enough I find a small unopened bag of baby carrots, one of my favorite snacks when combined with peanut butter. As I return to the entryway of my house I can see the small filly is right where I left her, inside the damp box still bundled up in my jacket, still shivering. As she notices me return she buries her head as deep as she can, I guess in an attempt to hide in my jacket. I haven’t spoken a word to her yet so I thought it couldn't make things worse. I gently say to her: “There there it’s okay, here I brought you some carrots.” I assumed she understood what I said because as soon as I mentioned carrots, she perked right up, with her eyes opened wide. I placed a carrot inside the box, right in front of her head, and she instantly picks it up with her mouth and nibbles on it messily, with most of the carrot getting on my jacket. I then place the open bag of carrots inside the box, and she sticks her head in. I can hear her munching on the carrots as I am kneeling beside the box, watching her eat. After a few minutes her head exits the bag, and her snout is covered in bits of carrots. Her eyes look normal and content now, and she even lets me pet her creamy white mane. After licking her lips she lets out a comforting sigh, rests her head on my jacket, and drifts off to sleep. I thought about trying to pick her up again but I didn’t want to disturb her, so I turned off all the lights and went upstairs back to bed, hoping I can figure out a permanent solution in the morning. Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 1)“I had an important choice to make today, one that affected me more than I could have ever anticipated. I had to choose whether or not to accept what life had literally dropped at my doorstep.” I’m awake again, due to the same reason as last time, due to hearing noises from downstairs. I turn to my clock as I rub my eyes and I see that it is only six fifty three a.m. and that I still have over an hour of sleep left before I normally wake up. These noises are the same but different though, they are the same thuds that woke me up before, but weaker and more than just two. I can hear another thud every two to three seconds. I get up to stretch and let out a long yawn while doing so. I turn on the hallway light and make my way downstairs. As I reach the bottom of the stairway I can see something at my front door, and I can still hear the periodic thuds which are louder now. I immediately think about running back up to my room to get my bat, but I instantly realize I had left it leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. With no better ideas in my mind I just decide to turn on the lights. As I do I notice that the figure at my door was actually that little pony, I noticed she escaped the box by somehow managing to knock it over. Turning on the lights startles her and she charges back into the cardboard box. As I look around the room I can see she knocked over my umbrella stand and broke the potted plant that was sitting next to it; she also left several dents in the bottom of my front door, and the cracks around the frame are much worse now. I walk over to the open side of the box and kneel down to look inside. The little pony looks as frightened as when I first saw her, but this time she seems more afraid of her situation and not of me; she isn’t shivering anymore so at least she warmed up. As far as I can tell she feels safer inside this box, I’m guessing she is trying to cling on to the last thing that reminds her of her life before entering my home. It’s extremely silent now; even the rain has stopped pouring down. For a few moments we just sit there looking at each other, and I can’t help but feel helpless for her; I have no experience with animals as I never had any pets, especially a farm animal. I gently turn the box over back to its previous position. I then kindly say to the filly: “Please stay put for now, I’ll figure out what needs to be done.” The sky is still full of thick clouds but what little sunlight that manages to get through starts to seep in through the windows of the house. I was going to wake up at eight a.m. anyways so I figured I might as well start my day early. I walk back upstairs and take a nice hot shower, then I get dressed; it’s a Saturday and Christmas Eve as well so I wasn’t going into work today; I throw on a t-shirt and jeans, and my favorite pair of comfy sneakers. I walk downstairs to find the pony had fallen back asleep; she must have been tired out from all that kicking. I walk into the kitchen and I start brewing a fresh pot of coffee. I turn on the front burners of my stove and sent down two frying pans, in one I crack two eggs and place three strips of bacon, and in the other I pour out pancake batter. While my breakfast cooks I decide to go outside to enjoy some fresh air; but as I step out onto my front porch I notice the trail of blood again leading off into the field; any attempts to follow it would be impossible as the rain has washed away any evidence from the grass, while the blood on the porch had soaked into the floorboards. A few minutes later I can smell that my breakfast is ready and I head back inside to eat. I ate my breakfast at the small kitchen table like I normally do with all of my meals, as I would prefer to keep my dining room neat and clean on the off chance I have company. While eating my food the pony stirs in her sleep and lets out a relaxing sigh, this quickly reminds me of the pressing matter at hand; that I have an abandoned pony I need to take care of. I begin to ponder some serious thoughts in my head, remembering what the note said and that whoever left it might come back for it. After some time two plausible options came to mind, I could either drop the pony off at the animal shelter in the nearest town, or I could see if my neighbor would be willing to take her in, as he raises farm animals for a living. I also briefly considered trying to keep the pony myself, but her owner might come back tomorrow, or next month, or never, and I honestly don’t know if I can properly care for her; as I’m not a farmer or veterinarian. As I finish my breakfast I look at the clock on the stove and see that it is almost eight o’clock, and I finally make up my mind on what to do. I decided that it would be best to give her to my neighbor, at least that way she can be raised on a proper farm around other farm animals. I carefully attempt to lift the box without waking her, but I fail horribly as the wet cardboard gave way as I tried to lift it. She wakes up and stretches her limbs out in every direction; she then looks up at me with her big brown eyes. This time though I don’t see fear, I see content and relative happiness. Then I try to directly pick her up with my hands, as I do she squirms quite a bit, but this time she doesn’t try to kick me. She must trust me somewhat now but I think she hates getting lifted off the ground for any reason. I grab my jacket out of the box as well and wrapping her in it makes her calm down quite a bit. I then leave my house and begin walking out to my car; it is still chilly outside and windy from the recent storm. The filly buries her head deep inside my jacket as the cold winter air hits her face. When I get to my car I place her in the passenger seat and then I get in. I put on my seatbelt and turn the key to start the car, which takes a few tries as my old car has trouble starting in cold weather. I pull onto the dirt road that leads out of the forest and eventually to a paved street that leads to town. Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 2)“I had an important choice to make today, one that affected me more than I could have ever anticipated. I had to choose whether or not to accept what life had literally dropped at my doorstep.” After a somewhat bumpy ride down the dirt path, I turn right onto the smoothed paved road, and within a minute the pony drifts back to sleep. For now all I see is the open road dimly lit by my car’s headlights; there was also a bit of low hanging fog which hindered my view of the horizon, causing me to drive a little slower than normal. As I’m driving I can hear the pony snoring contently; I try to ignore it but every time she snores I feel something awful inside of me, as if my heart was slowly sinking into my stomach. It made the fifteen minute drive feel like hours. Along the way I had to stop for a minute to let a small herd of cattle cross the road. I turn to look at the filly who was still sound asleep; she had curled up as tight as she could in my jacket, with her head buried between it and the seat. It was a little cold inside my car as the heater hasn't worked for almost two years now, which doesn't bother me as I tend to enjoy the cold. I just sat there gazing at her; seeing her calm like this brought me relief as I felt my heart rising back up, and a warm feeling spreading throughout my body; because of this I start to reconsider what I’m doing but yet again I still feel that I’m making the right choice by giving her up to a better home. My almost trance-like state is broken as the rain returns and the sound of the rain drops hitting my car brings me back to reality. I must have been distracted for a lot longer than I thought because when I looked up the cattle were long gone. The rest of the drive was quite dreadful, the sky grew darker and the rain seemed to come down harder and harder as I neared my destination. Eventually though I make it to the edge of my neighbor’s property; his gate was already open which was extremely convenient, especially considering the weather. I drive inside and onto his cobblestone driveway, but as I approach his home I start to feel darker than the sky above me. I put the car in park but as I reach for the keys to turn off the engine, I hesitate, and can’t resist the urge to look back at her at least one more time. I start feeling weird, and these feelings are very strange and distant to me, feelings of attachment; I have known this animal for barely a day and yet I feel as if she was meant to have wound up at my doorstep, as if fate had chosen me to take her in, and was trying to prevent me from giving her up. After sitting in front of the house for a few minutes arguing with myself on whether or not I can go through with this, my neighbor’s porch light turns on, a signal that he is coming to the door. My breathing becomes rapid as I start to panic, and my mind makes the last second decision that I can’t just let go of her so easily, so I throw the car back into drive, do u-turn, and quickly pull out of my neighbor’s driveway, spinning my tires some in the process. The drive back home oddly enough was almost the opposite of my drive here. The rain lessened as I drove home eventually stopping altogether, and the sky cleared to the point where I could begin to see little patches of blue dot the clouds. For some reason I also started to get excited, about what I couldn’t tell but I just felt like I couldn’t wait to get home, as if I was expecting something amazing to happen. When I get home surprisingly the little pony is still asleep, but when I close my car door as I get out she wakes up, kicks off my jacket, and paces around in the seat, as if she was waiting for me. She lets me pick her up again but she starts squirming around again, so I set her down on the ground to see if she would follow me, and sure enough she does. As I’m walking up to my house I look back to see that her feet are sinking into the mud and that she is struggling to keep up with me, but she looks determined to walk the whole distance. I slow my pace enough so that she is not but a foot away from me, and as slow as it was we eventually make to my front porch. I look down to search for the bloodstains but oddly enough they are completely gone, not a trace of their existence remains. I kick off my sneakers so I don’t track in any mud and I unlock the door. After I open my front door and walk in, the pony follows me but hesitates for a moment at the doorway before entering. I look at the clock and its eight forty three, meaning there is still plenty of time left in the day. Waking up early combined with all the driving left me sleepy, so I decide to take a nap on my couch. I don’t really have a place to put the pony except back in the box I found her in. She squirms as I lift her and set her in the box but settles down quickly. I then grab one of the throw pillows off the couch and place it under her in the box; her tiny body sinks into as she curls up to get more comfortable. She doesn't fall sleep and instead just looks up at me with a blank look on her face; she is probably either wondering what I’m going to do next or just waiting for me to leave the room. Tired as I am I go off into my living room and throw myself onto the couch. I fall asleep almost instantly and I begin to dream. Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 3)“I had an important choice to make today, one that affected me more than I could have ever anticipated. I had to choose whether or not to accept what life had literally dropped at my doorstep.” The details of the dream quickly escape my mind as I wake up from my nap, but I can at least remember the main parts of it. It was the day of my father’s funeral and I was watching it happen all over again like it happened so many years ago. There was a bad storm with everyone huddled closely together under black umbrellas. I was closest to the casket and standing there crying while holding the hand of the police officer that was watching me. I knew this was the last time I’d get to be with the last of my immediate family. Then in the dream time quickly jumps back a few days, that one day when I came home from school to a parentless life. All I can remember from that day was screaming at the officers and asking them where my mother was and why my father wouldn’t wake up. As a nine year old you can’t really figure out what’s going on, but yet you can’t seem to trust all the men who keep telling you everything is going to be okay. That’s really all I can remember from those two days, I guess my mind repressed most of those memories. As I sit up and look at the clock, I can see that it is almost noon. After rubbing my eyes I get up and walk back over to the box as quietly as I can, and I find the little pony sound asleep. I noticed that now the box is dried out and it is beginning to crumble and will eventually fall completely apart soon, so I’m going to have to find another way to contain her for now. I figured now would be a great time to finally explore the small storage shed outside my house, so I walk outside and go to it; the door was stuck but I managed to force it open. What I mostly see at first is old furniture covered in blankets. I begin pulling off the covers and as I do I reveal a nice wooden baby crib. It definitely looks old but the wood didn’t seem to be rotting or anything, and lucky for me it’s on wheels. I shove aside some chairs that were in the way and I wheel the crib out of the shed and into the entry room of my house. I make a good amount of noise in doing so which wakes up the pony. She doesn’t do anything really except watch me with a blank look on her face. I decided that before she does any more damage downstairs, I better focus on getting her upstairs where I can watch her better. It takes me the better part of an hour but I eventually manage to get the crib upstairs and I wheel it into my bedroom. After I come back downstairs to get her I noticed she is pretty muddy from walking around outside, so I decide to try and give her a bath, a memory I don’t think I will ever forget. I pick her up, and yet again she appears to hate it and squirms around in my arms as I carry her; she settles down as soon as I place her in the sink. As I turn on the faucet the cold water shoots out and startles the pony, she kicks once which makes a loud clang against the metal sink, but as the water warms up it looks like she is enjoying it. All I had to clean her with was just hand soap which at least smelled nice so I figured it couldn’t hurt. As I start scrubbing her legs to clean off the mud the soap makes some bubbles, and she begins to purposely stomp them out, also letting out a cheerful winnie. She really loved popping those bubbles, why I’ll probably never know, but at least I found something that brings her joy, which in turns makes me happier as well.
Chapter 0: A Mother’s DilemmaRunning… running is all that she had been doing for what seemed like an eternity, not unusual when you’re in the Everfree Forest, a dark place that can mess with the minds of even the bravest ponies. The mother was just doing what she was told. She had not wanted to venture into this mysterious forest in the first place, but had to in hopes of finding her lost filly that wandered in. The mother and her husband had followed their daughter into the forest, the low hanging fog making it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. Though eventually, they found her, by following the hoof marks on the trees and the sounds of wooden thuds; their filly couldn’t talk yet, but loved to kick any and everything she could, and would use this to communicate to her parents something had her upset. The filly was found walking back and forth between two trees with the most frightened look in her eyes, kicking a tree each time she turned around. Her mother ran over to her and said: “There there Kickstart, mommy and daddy are here, now let’s go home, back to our nice warm beds.” The mother kneels down to let the shivering filly climb into her saddlebag, but as she stands up she and her husband hear the growls of timberwolves. Both of them try not to make a move or sound, hoping the wolves didn’t notice them and would pass on by. Though luck was not on their side, as the growls became louder both ponies could see their glowing green eyes staring at them from the darkness, noticing five pairs of eyes in total. They were surrounded on all sides except for one, but that only lead deeper into the Everfree Forest. The husband then whispers to his wife: “Just take our daughter and go, run as far away as fast as you can, I’ll distract them and lead them off, you just focus on getting our filly home safe...” Before he can even finish his sentence, one of the timberwolves lets out a loud roar and charges at him; he turns around and lands a powerful kick with his hind legs right on the wolf’s forehead, causing it to crumble apart. The mother takes her one opportunity and bolts off deeper into the forest. She just keeps running and running, but as she looks back she notices that two of the wolves had followed her, and were chasing her relentlessly. This only drives her harder to keep running. To try and lose them she starts bobbing and weaving through the trees, this causes one of the pursuing wolves to smack right into one and burst into pieces. Due to exhaustion and the weight of her filly slowing her down, the other wolf gradually closes the distance between them, eventually leaping at the galloping mother, and with his powerful mouth he latches on to her left hind leg, sinking his teeth in deeply. The pony lets out a painful yell, and then uses her other hind leg to kick the timberwolf several times in the head, eventually knocking him unconscious, allowing the wounded pony to free herself. It had already started raining but the frightened mare hadn’t noticed, she just kept limping on as fast as she could. After some time the fog started to lift and the mother could make out a clearing in the forest which contained a large house. The pony looked back at her hind leg, which was bleeding profusely and nearly impossible to walk on. Now she knew she couldn’t keep this up much longer, and had to make a choice; either leave her filly behind at the home or attempt to keep on and find her husband. As dreadful of a thought it was, she went with the realistic choice and decided to abandon her filly at the house, hoping who ever owned it would take her in and care for her. By now the weather had really kicked up and the rain was pouring down hard, making it harder to see the house off in the distance. The mother limped on over to the front porch of the house, struggling to fight the cold stinging rain. When she makes it to the porch she notices a pile of cardboard boxes and found one that wasn’t too wet from the rain, she then drags it over to the door. She then dumps her filly out of her saddle bag and into the box; her filly looks back up at her frightened and confused, not knowing what was about to happen. The mother then pulls out a quill and parchment, which were both damp but dry enough to write with, and she scribbles out a message. She folds up the parchment and places it in the box. She then turns to her daughter and places her right hoof on her forehead; then with tears in her eyes she tells her: “Goodbye my dear Kickstart, I just want you to know your mom and dad love so very much and always will. I have to leave you now, but as much as I don’t want to it is the only way. Please be good to whoever takes you in. I’ll try and come back for you if I can but it’s not something I can promise.” The mother then approaches the door, and as weak as she is she manages to give it two strong kicks with her good hind leg. Then she walks back over to the box, gives her filly one last goodbye kiss, and uses the last of her energy to limp out into the rain and back into the forest. She looks back as she can hear her daughter frantically neighing, and sees her feeble attempts at trying to kick her way out of the box. This only saddens the mother’s heart even more, forcing her to look away, and eventually the cries of her filly fade away until they can no longer be heard. She limps for as long as she can back into the Everfree Forest, and after a few minutes she collapses and passes out from the loss of blood and exhaustion.
Chapter 1: December 23rd, 2011“Today was the day in my life I found something special, I found a reason to enjoy my existence in this empty secluded house, a reason to breathe in what life has to offer. I have been given a gift like no other, the gift of companionship.” A loud thud from downstairs wakes me somewhat, and then five seconds later a second loud thud causes me to jump up out of my bed. I think to myself: “Who or what could this be at this time of night, its only ten minutes until midnight. I normally don’t have visitors, and especially not during a storm. It can’t be lightning, as that would have been much louder, I better go check it out.” Since I am at least ten miles away from my nearest neighbor, and roughly thirty miles from town, I keep a baseball bat by my bed for protection, one that my dad bought me years ago at Yankee Stadium. I slowly step out into the hallway of my dark house, only lit up by one small lamp I keep on so I don’t bump into things on the way to the bathroom. I flip on the hall light and peer down the stairs. I wait patiently expecting more noise but all I hear is the sound of rain hitting the windows. I decide to slowly creep down the stairs, tightly gripping the bat in case I need to use it. As I make it to bottom of the stairway, I flip the switch which turns on the small chandelier that’s hangs above the entry way, as it lights up the room nothing seems out of place except for some new cracks around the door frame, which puzzled me greatly as they weren’t there earlier today when I came home. I approach the door, with the intention of opening it, but I first look through the peephole, and see nothing but my dark porch and the rainy field beyond. I lean the baseball bat against the wall next to me, and I slowly open the door inward, the hinges creak loudly as they seemed to be loose now. I’m initially hit by a cold rush of wet air as the sounds of heavy rain flow into my house. I look around and don’t notice anything else out of the ordinary, so I just attribute my abrupt waking to the storm and begin to close the door. As I close the door for some reason I felt compelled to look down, and as I do I notice a trail of blood that leads to a wet cardboard box sitting right in front of the door way. I think to myself: “Why is box sitting in front of my door, and more importantly where did this blood come from?” I had moved into this house only two weeks before. Apparently I had a distant uncle, and upon his passing he left his house and small amount of land to me. Too lazy to get rid of them, I just piled all of my moving boxes on the front porch. What was odd about this box was that it was placed neatly in front of my door, and it was still closed, I had been sure I unpacked everything when I moved in. My curiosity gets the better of me and I lean down to open it. As I unfold the cardboard flaps I jump back in reaction to almost being kicked in the face. There was an animal inside, a grayish-blue colored pony, but it was small, like a baby, but seemed small even by pony standards. It tries to climb its way out of the box, but after failing to do so it just sits there shivering, cowering in the corner, looking up at me. I also notice a folded piece of paper inside the box, and as I pick it up I feel that it isn’t paper, but parchment, something you don’t see every day. I unfold it to see a note has been written inside, the ink was starting to run from being wet but it was still very readable. The note read: “To whoever reads this, please take in this filly as I can no longer protect and care for her, I love her with all of my heart and can’t stand the thought of letting anything bad happen to her. If I can, I plan on returning for her, but if I don’t please care for her as long as you can. Lastly, watch out for her legs as she loves to buck, which is why I named her Kickstart.” Wishing I knew that last bit of information before hand, I realized why this pony was here; someone was forced to give her up, but that still didn’t explain the trail of blood leading to my house. I neatly fold up the note and place it on the table that is right inside my house, right next to my keys. Then my attention returns to the little pony sitting inside the box. I didn’t know what to do with it, but I knew I couldn’t leave it out to freeze to death, or worse fall victim to the coyotes that prowl the woods around my home. I grabbed my jacket that I keep on a hook to the right of my door, and I attempt several times to pick up the pony and wrap her in it, but each time I fail as her fear causes her to squirm and kick me. So then I just decide to drag the box inside and close the door. The poor thing was still shivering so I covered her with my jacket. She initially kicks it off, probably afraid of what I might be trying to do to her, but she soon curls up in it, snuggling with it for warmth. She then just laid there, with her big brown eyes staring up at me, causing me to feel something in my heart, a feeling I haven’t ever felt before. For now I assumed it would be best to just leave her be, but I still felt like I needed to do more. After a few minutes of thinking to myself, I realize that maybe I can try feeding her. I walk off into my kitchen and start rummaging in my fridge, I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet so I don’t have much, but luckily enough I find a small unopened bag of baby carrots, one of my favorite snacks when combined with peanut butter. As I return to the entryway of my house I can see the small filly is right where I left her, inside the damp box still bundled up in my jacket, still shivering. As she notices me return she buries her head as deep as she can, I guess in an attempt to hide in my jacket. I haven’t spoken a word to her yet so I thought it couldn't make things worse. I gently say to her: “There there it’s okay, here I brought you some carrots.” I assumed she understood what I said because as soon as I mentioned carrots, she perked right up, with her eyes opened wide. I placed a carrot inside the box, right in front of her head, and she instantly picks it up with her mouth and nibbles on it messily, with most of the carrot getting on my jacket. I then place the open bag of carrots inside the box, and she sticks her head in. I can hear her munching on the carrots as I am kneeling beside the box, watching her eat. After a few minutes her head exits the bag, and her snout is covered in bits of carrots. Her eyes look normal and content now, and she even lets me pet her creamy white mane. After licking her lips she lets out a comforting sigh, rests her head on my jacket, and drifts off to sleep. I thought about trying to pick her up again but I didn’t want to disturb her, so I turned off all the lights and went upstairs back to bed, hoping I can figure out a permanent solution in the morning.
Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 1)“I had an important choice to make today, one that affected me more than I could have ever anticipated. I had to choose whether or not to accept what life had literally dropped at my doorstep.” I’m awake again, due to the same reason as last time, due to hearing noises from downstairs. I turn to my clock as I rub my eyes and I see that it is only six fifty three a.m. and that I still have over an hour of sleep left before I normally wake up. These noises are the same but different though, they are the same thuds that woke me up before, but weaker and more than just two. I can hear another thud every two to three seconds. I get up to stretch and let out a long yawn while doing so. I turn on the hallway light and make my way downstairs. As I reach the bottom of the stairway I can see something at my front door, and I can still hear the periodic thuds which are louder now. I immediately think about running back up to my room to get my bat, but I instantly realize I had left it leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. With no better ideas in my mind I just decide to turn on the lights. As I do I notice that the figure at my door was actually that little pony, I noticed she escaped the box by somehow managing to knock it over. Turning on the lights startles her and she charges back into the cardboard box. As I look around the room I can see she knocked over my umbrella stand and broke the potted plant that was sitting next to it; she also left several dents in the bottom of my front door, and the cracks around the frame are much worse now. I walk over to the open side of the box and kneel down to look inside. The little pony looks as frightened as when I first saw her, but this time she seems more afraid of her situation and not of me; she isn’t shivering anymore so at least she warmed up. As far as I can tell she feels safer inside this box, I’m guessing she is trying to cling on to the last thing that reminds her of her life before entering my home. It’s extremely silent now; even the rain has stopped pouring down. For a few moments we just sit there looking at each other, and I can’t help but feel helpless for her; I have no experience with animals as I never had any pets, especially a farm animal. I gently turn the box over back to its previous position. I then kindly say to the filly: “Please stay put for now, I’ll figure out what needs to be done.” The sky is still full of thick clouds but what little sunlight that manages to get through starts to seep in through the windows of the house. I was going to wake up at eight a.m. anyways so I figured I might as well start my day early. I walk back upstairs and take a nice hot shower, then I get dressed; it’s a Saturday and Christmas Eve as well so I wasn’t going into work today; I throw on a t-shirt and jeans, and my favorite pair of comfy sneakers. I walk downstairs to find the pony had fallen back asleep; she must have been tired out from all that kicking. I walk into the kitchen and I start brewing a fresh pot of coffee. I turn on the front burners of my stove and sent down two frying pans, in one I crack two eggs and place three strips of bacon, and in the other I pour out pancake batter. While my breakfast cooks I decide to go outside to enjoy some fresh air; but as I step out onto my front porch I notice the trail of blood again leading off into the field; any attempts to follow it would be impossible as the rain has washed away any evidence from the grass, while the blood on the porch had soaked into the floorboards. A few minutes later I can smell that my breakfast is ready and I head back inside to eat. I ate my breakfast at the small kitchen table like I normally do with all of my meals, as I would prefer to keep my dining room neat and clean on the off chance I have company. While eating my food the pony stirs in her sleep and lets out a relaxing sigh, this quickly reminds me of the pressing matter at hand; that I have an abandoned pony I need to take care of. I begin to ponder some serious thoughts in my head, remembering what the note said and that whoever left it might come back for it. After some time two plausible options came to mind, I could either drop the pony off at the animal shelter in the nearest town, or I could see if my neighbor would be willing to take her in, as he raises farm animals for a living. I also briefly considered trying to keep the pony myself, but her owner might come back tomorrow, or next month, or never, and I honestly don’t know if I can properly care for her; as I’m not a farmer or veterinarian. As I finish my breakfast I look at the clock on the stove and see that it is almost eight o’clock, and I finally make up my mind on what to do. I decided that it would be best to give her to my neighbor, at least that way she can be raised on a proper farm around other farm animals. I carefully attempt to lift the box without waking her, but I fail horribly as the wet cardboard gave way as I tried to lift it. She wakes up and stretches her limbs out in every direction; she then looks up at me with her big brown eyes. This time though I don’t see fear, I see content and relative happiness. Then I try to directly pick her up with my hands, as I do she squirms quite a bit, but this time she doesn’t try to kick me. She must trust me somewhat now but I think she hates getting lifted off the ground for any reason. I grab my jacket out of the box as well and wrapping her in it makes her calm down quite a bit. I then leave my house and begin walking out to my car; it is still chilly outside and windy from the recent storm. The filly buries her head deep inside my jacket as the cold winter air hits her face. When I get to my car I place her in the passenger seat and then I get in. I put on my seatbelt and turn the key to start the car, which takes a few tries as my old car has trouble starting in cold weather. I pull onto the dirt road that leads out of the forest and eventually to a paved street that leads to town.
Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 2)“I had an important choice to make today, one that affected me more than I could have ever anticipated. I had to choose whether or not to accept what life had literally dropped at my doorstep.” After a somewhat bumpy ride down the dirt path, I turn right onto the smoothed paved road, and within a minute the pony drifts back to sleep. For now all I see is the open road dimly lit by my car’s headlights; there was also a bit of low hanging fog which hindered my view of the horizon, causing me to drive a little slower than normal. As I’m driving I can hear the pony snoring contently; I try to ignore it but every time she snores I feel something awful inside of me, as if my heart was slowly sinking into my stomach. It made the fifteen minute drive feel like hours. Along the way I had to stop for a minute to let a small herd of cattle cross the road. I turn to look at the filly who was still sound asleep; she had curled up as tight as she could in my jacket, with her head buried between it and the seat. It was a little cold inside my car as the heater hasn't worked for almost two years now, which doesn't bother me as I tend to enjoy the cold. I just sat there gazing at her; seeing her calm like this brought me relief as I felt my heart rising back up, and a warm feeling spreading throughout my body; because of this I start to reconsider what I’m doing but yet again I still feel that I’m making the right choice by giving her up to a better home. My almost trance-like state is broken as the rain returns and the sound of the rain drops hitting my car brings me back to reality. I must have been distracted for a lot longer than I thought because when I looked up the cattle were long gone. The rest of the drive was quite dreadful, the sky grew darker and the rain seemed to come down harder and harder as I neared my destination. Eventually though I make it to the edge of my neighbor’s property; his gate was already open which was extremely convenient, especially considering the weather. I drive inside and onto his cobblestone driveway, but as I approach his home I start to feel darker than the sky above me. I put the car in park but as I reach for the keys to turn off the engine, I hesitate, and can’t resist the urge to look back at her at least one more time. I start feeling weird, and these feelings are very strange and distant to me, feelings of attachment; I have known this animal for barely a day and yet I feel as if she was meant to have wound up at my doorstep, as if fate had chosen me to take her in, and was trying to prevent me from giving her up. After sitting in front of the house for a few minutes arguing with myself on whether or not I can go through with this, my neighbor’s porch light turns on, a signal that he is coming to the door. My breathing becomes rapid as I start to panic, and my mind makes the last second decision that I can’t just let go of her so easily, so I throw the car back into drive, do u-turn, and quickly pull out of my neighbor’s driveway, spinning my tires some in the process. The drive back home oddly enough was almost the opposite of my drive here. The rain lessened as I drove home eventually stopping altogether, and the sky cleared to the point where I could begin to see little patches of blue dot the clouds. For some reason I also started to get excited, about what I couldn’t tell but I just felt like I couldn’t wait to get home, as if I was expecting something amazing to happen. When I get home surprisingly the little pony is still asleep, but when I close my car door as I get out she wakes up, kicks off my jacket, and paces around in the seat, as if she was waiting for me. She lets me pick her up again but she starts squirming around again, so I set her down on the ground to see if she would follow me, and sure enough she does. As I’m walking up to my house I look back to see that her feet are sinking into the mud and that she is struggling to keep up with me, but she looks determined to walk the whole distance. I slow my pace enough so that she is not but a foot away from me, and as slow as it was we eventually make to my front porch. I look down to search for the bloodstains but oddly enough they are completely gone, not a trace of their existence remains. I kick off my sneakers so I don’t track in any mud and I unlock the door. After I open my front door and walk in, the pony follows me but hesitates for a moment at the doorway before entering. I look at the clock and its eight forty three, meaning there is still plenty of time left in the day. Waking up early combined with all the driving left me sleepy, so I decide to take a nap on my couch. I don’t really have a place to put the pony except back in the box I found her in. She squirms as I lift her and set her in the box but settles down quickly. I then grab one of the throw pillows off the couch and place it under her in the box; her tiny body sinks into as she curls up to get more comfortable. She doesn't fall sleep and instead just looks up at me with a blank look on her face; she is probably either wondering what I’m going to do next or just waiting for me to leave the room. Tired as I am I go off into my living room and throw myself onto the couch. I fall asleep almost instantly and I begin to dream.
Chapter 2: December 24th, 2011 (part 3)“I had an important choice to make today, one that affected me more than I could have ever anticipated. I had to choose whether or not to accept what life had literally dropped at my doorstep.” The details of the dream quickly escape my mind as I wake up from my nap, but I can at least remember the main parts of it. It was the day of my father’s funeral and I was watching it happen all over again like it happened so many years ago. There was a bad storm with everyone huddled closely together under black umbrellas. I was closest to the casket and standing there crying while holding the hand of the police officer that was watching me. I knew this was the last time I’d get to be with the last of my immediate family. Then in the dream time quickly jumps back a few days, that one day when I came home from school to a parentless life. All I can remember from that day was screaming at the officers and asking them where my mother was and why my father wouldn’t wake up. As a nine year old you can’t really figure out what’s going on, but yet you can’t seem to trust all the men who keep telling you everything is going to be okay. That’s really all I can remember from those two days, I guess my mind repressed most of those memories. As I sit up and look at the clock, I can see that it is almost noon. After rubbing my eyes I get up and walk back over to the box as quietly as I can, and I find the little pony sound asleep. I noticed that now the box is dried out and it is beginning to crumble and will eventually fall completely apart soon, so I’m going to have to find another way to contain her for now. I figured now would be a great time to finally explore the small storage shed outside my house, so I walk outside and go to it; the door was stuck but I managed to force it open. What I mostly see at first is old furniture covered in blankets. I begin pulling off the covers and as I do I reveal a nice wooden baby crib. It definitely looks old but the wood didn’t seem to be rotting or anything, and lucky for me it’s on wheels. I shove aside some chairs that were in the way and I wheel the crib out of the shed and into the entry room of my house. I make a good amount of noise in doing so which wakes up the pony. She doesn’t do anything really except watch me with a blank look on her face. I decided that before she does any more damage downstairs, I better focus on getting her upstairs where I can watch her better. It takes me the better part of an hour but I eventually manage to get the crib upstairs and I wheel it into my bedroom. After I come back downstairs to get her I noticed she is pretty muddy from walking around outside, so I decide to try and give her a bath, a memory I don’t think I will ever forget. I pick her up, and yet again she appears to hate it and squirms around in my arms as I carry her; she settles down as soon as I place her in the sink. As I turn on the faucet the cold water shoots out and startles the pony, she kicks once which makes a loud clang against the metal sink, but as the water warms up it looks like she is enjoying it. All I had to clean her with was just hand soap which at least smelled nice so I figured it couldn’t hurt. As I start scrubbing her legs to clean off the mud the soap makes some bubbles, and she begins to purposely stomp them out, also letting out a cheerful winnie. She really loved popping those bubbles, why I’ll probably never know, but at least I found something that brings her joy, which in turns makes me happier as well.
