Foot Prints and Horse Shoes

         I was sitting on a bench, wondering why my mother forced my father and me to move to a large city where you were fined as soon as the word “horse” or anything related to horses was forbidden. To me, it was completely stupid; no one hated horses that much. My father and I loved them dearly; when we were out of earshot from anyone, we would talk and talk about horses. On some days, I would stand by the borderline between the stupid city and the plains, where I would see wild horses galloping happily. I wished that I could leave the city, maybe with my father, to live out there with the horses.
         When we first moved there, I was put into a detention in school for speaking about horses, and drawing them. Many of the kids laughed, and, for the first time, I wanted to skip school completely.
         On this day, while I was sitting by the boundary line, I heard a horse whinnying in the distance. Many people looked around, wondering where the sound came from.
         “They can’t be in here, can they?” said one.
         I looked out at the wilderness in high hopes. Maybe something heard my wish, I thought. Maybe I’ll finally be out there with the horses. But then, my heart sank when I thought about my father. What about Dad? Will he be mad that I left to find the horse?
         All of a sudden, the horse in the distance whinnied again, that time with the sound of distress. I got up, and ran right to the boundary. The horse needs help; Dad would understand.
         I began to leave the city, when a man took a hold of me; it was my father.
         “Paige, where are you going?” he asked with wonder.
         “Did you hear that?” I asked. When he nodded, I said, “I want to go find it,” putting emphasis on the word it. “Can I?”
         He smiled, and said, “All right, go ahead.”
         I embraced him, but then asked, “What about you? Don’t you want to come?”
         He shook his head. “No, I think this is for you; you’ve been wishing to do this more than I have.”
         I embraced him again. “Thanks so much, Dad; this means a lot to me.”
         I ran off through the long, green and brown grass, looking for the horse in trouble. I knew that Dad would understand, I thought happily. I just hope the horse isn’t injured.
         There was moisture in the atmosphere, and clouds were beginning to turn gray. As I ran through the plain, I came across the troubled horse.
         He was a black stallion, with a white blaze on his face. His bright blue eyes showed fear, as his body was sinking in mud. When he saw me, he struggled, not knowing if I were a friend or a foe.
         “It’s all right,” I said calmly, as I entered the mud pit. “I’m here to help.”
         He stopped struggling, and looked at me speculatively. Allowing me to touch his neck, he settled even more, then nickered as I waded through the mud, and found a spot to help out the stallion.
         As I reached the spot, I began to push to help him. He slowly got to his legs, and walked out of the mud with me following.
         “Are you all right?” I asked the horse, knowing I wouldn’t get a proper answer. He nickered softly, and slowly walked around me, as if checking out what I looked like. His legs were still covered in mud, so I had no clue what his legs looked like, though I noticed that there were white features along the horse’s back, and underneath, as well as a mixture of black and white hairs in his mane and tail. “It looks like you could use a bath.”
         The stallion, as if he knew what I said, looked at himself, and I saw what seemed to be a smile on his face, as he put his nose in my hand.
         “Well, I have to go; my dad’s expecting me to be home, I bet,” I said sadly, as I turned to walk away. I looked back, and said, “You’ll possibly be the last horse I’ll ever see,” before walking off.
         The stallion looked at me with sad eyes, then whinnied. I turned to face him, and he was slowly walking up to me. The clouds above me grew darker, though there were no hints of thunder or lightning.
         “I have to go,” I said. “There’s possibly a storm coming, and I should really be getting home, although . . .” I looked at my muddy clothes. “. . . how will I explain this to Mom, or anyone else in the city, about this?”
         The stallion looked at the darkening sky, and brought me to his left side, expecting me to get on in a hurry.
         “I shouldn’t; I’m afraid to hurt you.”
         He nickered, but then looked at the sky again. Then, he pushed me toward his back some more, but that time with a quicker force.
         Giving up, I got onto his back, and once he knew that I was settled, he took off, away from the mud pit, and even further from the city. The clouds ahead of us were much lighter, and we were soon away from whatever the storm had in mind, and we were soon onto taller, greener grass.
         When he finally stopped to rest, he looked at me, and I slid off. In front of us was a large pond, with nothing in it except for fish. The wind picked up, making small waves. I sat on a boulder, looking at the pond; amazingly, it was crystal clear, and the stallion walked right in, pawing the water with his left leg, getting it clean. I smiled while watching him, and he looked at me, waiting for me to say something.
         I looked at the setting sun, and then noticed that the stallion was changing. He became smaller, and lost his hind legs. His hair disappeared, revealing pale human skin. His eyes stayed the same blue color, though the hair became dirty blond, like mine.
         I looked at what used to be the stallion, now a fifteen-year-old human boy. He looked at me, and tried to force a smile. He looked at himself, then at my scared expression on my face.
         “Sorry if I scared you,” he said, looking at me. “I tend to scare anyone when this happens.”
         I said nothing for a moment. “Wh-what happened?” I asked finally.
         “I became human; this happens to me every night, unfortunately.” He then frowned. “I would understand if you want to leave me; I do not have any friends because of this.”
         “You don’t?” He shook his head. “Well, I wouldn’t want to leave you here by yourself.”
         “I will not be alone for much longer; I come here every night, and my mother comes to get me. Only she takes care of me out of everyone else in my herd.”
         I looked around, finding no route I knew to get home. “Can I stay with you? You saved me by taking me here.”
         “You would not want to be anywhere near the herd; my father will kill any human that trespasses. The only reason why he will not kill me is because of my mother.”
         “It can’t be as bad as the city; where I come from, for some reason, whenever anyone mentions something that has to do with horses, you get fined, and possibly get some time in prison.”
         Then, there was the sound of pounding hooves coming from the distance, and the boy turned around to face a dark chestnut mare, cantering toward where we were. She stopped, however, when she saw me, and looked at him.
         He smiled again, and walked up to her, putting his hand on her neck, rubbing it gently. The mare looked at me warily, not completely sure if I were trustworthy.
         “Mother, it is all right,” I heard him say. “She will not hurt you; she helped me out of a mud pit.”
         She looked at him, then back at me, while I still sat on the boulder. I smiled slightly, as she cautiously walked up to me, picking up my scent.
         “Don’t worry,” I said softly. “I would never dream of hurting any animal.”
         She pricked her ears forward, and softened her worried look, putting her nose in my hand. The boy smiled wider, and his mother looked back at him.
         “Can you understand her when you’re human?” I asked him.
         He shook his head. “I wish I did, though.” He then turned to face his mother. “Can we help her?” he asked.
         She looked back at me, and I saw what seemed to be smile on her face as she nickered softly. I slid off the boulder, and she lay beside it. The boy sat beside her, and gently leaned against her body. When I did nothing, the mare looked at me, and nickered again.
         I had figured that she was asking me to lean against her as well, but I only sat nearby. I looked at the boy, and said, “I never got your name; mine’s Paige.”
         He smiled, and said, “I like your name a lot; mine is Ashka.”
         “I like yours, too.” I turned to face his mother, and said, “What’s your mother’s name?”
         “Her name is Crystal.”
         I smiled, and his mother nickered once more. I lay on my back, and gazed at the stars, breathing in deeply. Slowly, my eyes drifted off, and I fell to sleep.
         I woke up to a soft nose touching my back. When I opened my eyes, I found Ashka, as a stallion, nudging me gently with his nose. I smiled as I got up, and I slowly stretched my arms.
         “Hey,” I said. He nickered gently, and looked around. His mother wasn’t there; she had probably went back to the herd.
         The area around us was vast; it seemed to never end. I thought about my father, and looked in the direction I thought was the way we came from the day before. I wonder if Dad’s worried about me, I thought. I bet he is; I didn’t get home last night. But, maybe he knows that I’ll be all right, especially since he knows that I went to see wild horses. I wonder what Mom will say if she sees me with Ashka, if they come to find me.
         Seeing my troubled face, Ashka nickered, nudging my arm. I looked back at him, and smiled. “I’m all right; I’m just thinking about my dad. He let me leave the city I told you about; only he and I break the number one rule in the city whenever we are out of earshot from others.”
         A sad look appeared on his face, and I figured that he thought that I wanted to return. I smiled some more, and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not asking to leave.”
         Ashka nickered happily, and nudged me again, bringing the left side of his back toward me. I slowly mounted, and he walked toward a large forest in the east. The forest was dense, filled with dark brown trunks, and dark green brush. I kept my head close to Ashka’s neck, as he walked through the forest, stopping that time by a large spring. I felt a hint of magic in the air, as the spring sparkled in the sunlight that reached the area. Ashka looked at me, and as I slid off, I heard him say, “This is the only place that I know of where you can understand me; whenever we can, my mother and I come here so I can understand her.”
         I looked around, feeling a sense of protection, as a foal would with his mother. Thinking about his problem, I looked back at Ashka, and asked, “Do you know how you started becoming human at night? Maybe I could help out.”
         He shook his head. “I do not know how it started; all I know is that it started here one night when I was a weanling. I was with a couple of others from the same herd, and . . . that is all I can remember.”
         “Well, I will help you out; I promise.” I smiled. “If this is where it started, then maybe there is an answer somewhere here.”
         Before I could go look, the bushes nearby began to quiver. A jet black stallion appeared, one without any markings. He glared at both me and Ashka, and Ashka began backing away, with me behind him.
         “You have to run,” he told me. “It is my father, and like I said last night, he will intend to kill you.”
         I nodded, and sprinted off through the forest, leaving Ashka and his father. It wasn’t long before I found a hollow tree, and stepped through, staying in hiding for a while. My heart was pounding like a drummer hitting a big bass drum, wondering if Ashka was going to be all right.
         I heard his whinnies not that long later, and I crawled out, finding him looking around for me. When he saw me, he trotted up to me, and put his head on my chest, wondering if I were all right.
         “I’m fine,” I said, as he looked at me with his bright blue eyes. I noticed that there was a hoof mark on his chest, and asked, “What about you? You got hurt.”
         He nickered, and looked around, finding no way to tell when sunset  would be. His mother appeared not that long later, wondering if we were all right. Ashka nickered softly, looking at her, and put his head beside hers. I smiled, wishing my mother was more like his. She then looked at me, and she had a soft look in her eyes.
         I looked around, and I began to hear the sounds of more pounding hooves nearby. Ashka looked at me worriedly, and had me get onto his back again, then ran off with Crystal behind us.
         We stopped at a small area, with a hill on a far end. Ashka looked at his mother, and she smiled slightly, walking through the field.
         “Where is this?” I asked, not expecting an answer.
         As I looked around, I noticed that sun was getting ready to set. I got off Ashka’s back, as he began to transfigure. When he completed, he replied, “This is where my mother and I would hide a few times when this first began. I forgot that this was here.”
         He looked at me, and smiled, with me smiling back.
         “I wish that you could be with us,” he said.
         “I do, too,” I replied. “Though . . . I may not see my dad again.”
         “How much does your father mean to you?”
         “As much as your mother means to you. We pretty much have everything in common; he and I have the same love for horses, and even though he has brown eyes, and I have blue eyes, we pretty much have the same expressions.”
         We talked for hours, before Ashka’s father appeared around midnight, fol-lowed by many other horses. All of them glared at mainly me, and they surrounded us, with a dark bay getting ready to bite me if I tried to escape.
         Crystal whinnied, getting the others’ attentions. She shoved passed them, and looked at her colt, then me.
         Ashka looked at her, and said to me, “She is trying to get you out of here. Get onto her back.”
         “What about you?” I asked.
         “I will be fine; they are not allowed to hurt me.”
         I got onto her back, and she left the entire area, stopping at the spring in the west. She looked around, and then back at me.
         “You will be safe here,” I heard her say, as I slid off her back. “I have to get back to my colt; stay here.”
         I nodded, and she left. I looked at the spring, finding a small water fall beside it. What could have happened here that made Ashka become human at night? I wondered. There has to be an answer.
         Then, a boulder on my right began to sparkle, and gold letters began to faintly show, though they got brighter, and I could read:

Anyone who drinks from this spring will find themselves becoming human at night. If it is human, then they will find themselves as an animal.

         I frowned after reading the boulder a second time. Ashka must have drank from the spring when he was playing in here, I thought sadly. There has to be a way to help him.
         Before I could find anything else, the sun began to rise all of a sudden, and Ashka and his mother appeared through the brush.
         “Are you all right?” I heard him ask.
         I nodded, but feeling myself frown again. “I found out how you began to transform.”
         I showed him the rock, and he frowned, sort of. “So, I must have drank the spring water that day.”
         Again, I nodded, but then heard the bushes opposite us beginning to tremble. My parents appeared, with my father standing far away from my mother.
         “Paige, we found you ” my mother said, trying to force a smile. When she saw Ashka and Crystal, she started to back away in what looked to be horror. “What are you doing with . . .”
         Before she could go on, my father said, “See, I told you that she was all right, Lydia.” He looked at me, and smiled. “I did say that you can’t take her away from horses.”
         She ignored him, though shuddered when he mentioned horses, and waited for an answer from me. “I went to look for him,” I replied to my mother’s question, looking at Ashka. “He needed my help, and he helped me get away from the city.”
         “What do you mean? You love the city.”
         “No, I don’t; you know that. It’s stupid; if you ever say one word that connects to horses, you get in trouble.”
         She seemed to have ignored my last comment, for she said, “Well, come on home with us.”
         Ashka looked at me sadly, but said nothing. I looked at him, and shook my head. “Forget it, Mom; I have no care for the city.” I looked at my father. “Will it be all right if I stay here?” I asked him.
         His smile broadened, and he nodded. I ran up to him, and embraced him happily. “Thanks so much, Dad; I knew that you would understand.”
         “I had a feeling you’d ask that, anyways,” he replied. “I’ll come by and visit as often as I can, all right?”
         I nodded, as my mother began to glare at me. “Fine, if you want to be here, I’ll be home, forgetting that I ever had a daughter.” She stormed off, and before he followed, he glanced at me, and winked. I smiled, as he left, and I turned to face Ashka. A smile was on his face, as I walked up to him.
         “I can see how much your father means to you,” he said. He then turned to face the spring. “I wish I could find the way to stop me becoming human.”
         Then, a small man appeared from the waterfall. Like the area, I felt a hint of magic coming from him. He looked at us, and smiled.
         “I am the spring’s spirit; my home lies within the waterfall,” he said. He looked at Ashka. “Ah, I remember you; you were the young colt many years ago that drank my spring.”
         Ashka lowered his head in shame. “I am truly sorry, sir,” he said with sorrow.
         “I know.” The smile on the spirit’s face widened. “I will relieve you from the curse; you will no longer become human at night.”
         A smile returned on my friend’s face, as the spirit turned to face me. “You were very determined to help out your friend,” he said. I nodded, not saying anything. “I did overhear you telling your mother that you’d rather stay here. If you were to stay here the way you are, now, then I don’t think you would be completely happy. When you wake up tomorrow, there will be a little surprise for you.”
         I nodded again, and said, “Thank you, sir.” As he disappeared, I looked at Ashka, and he turned to face his mother. “Where will we go, Mother?” he asked. “I would not want to return to the herd.”
         She shook her head. “No, we will not return. There is another place only I know of in the west, and it will not take that long to get there.”
         Ashka smiled again, and looked back at me. “Go ahead and get on my back.”
         I smiled, and did what he asked. I slowly leaned my head on his neck, feeling tired, since I didn’t sleep at all the night before. “You wouldn’t mind if I happen to fall asleep, would you?” I asked.
         He looked at me, and replied, “No, of course not.”
         As he slowly followed his mother through the forest, I ended up falling asleep on his back.
         When I woke up, I looked around, noticing that I was on the ground, in a different field. There was a large lake, and a larger hill. Ashka was laying beside me, and Crystal was not that far away, sleeping peacefully.
         “Ashka,” I said, trying to touch him with my hand . . . only, I used my nose instead. What happened? I wondered. That was when I noticed that a complete change went throughout my body.
         I was no longer human. My hands had disappeared, and were replaced by hind legs. Instead of pale skin, I had a black and white coat, short and sleek, as well as a black mane and tail. My wish had come true; I could now truly be with the wild horses.