Mother Hen grimaced. She still remembered the pain - the pain of that loss. Of all the ways her parents could have escaped the agony of slavery, death was not what she expected. One day, she had parents; the next, she was an orphan. In their wake, two infant foals remained. Mother Hen was all they had left, and she couldn't let them meet the same fate their parents did. Thoughts and emotions consumed the mare's mind as she stood idly in the brush. She couldn't let them fall into slavery like their parents did. But how?
Mother Hen's shaky breath escaped her lungs, materializing in the winter air like puffs of smoke. This wasn't what she meant to do. At her feet, the lifeless body of a young stallion - a young prince - lay. The longer she gazed at him, the more she expected his body to start moving again -- his ribs to breathe, his eyes to blink, his nostrils to flare. But they didn't. The mare quivered as the realization hit her: she killed him.
She held the two foals close, wrapping her neck over their bodies in a desperate, tender embrace. Jupiter and Elara were more than her siblings; they were her children - her life. If anything happened to them because of what she'd done...Mother Hen shivered at the thought. She held them tighter. No. She had to protect them - no matter the cost.
Run. Don't stop. Don't slow down. Keep running.
"YOU'RE DEAD, YOU HEAR?" The ragged shout of the king chased after her, echoing inside her ears, her mind, her heart. Tears streamed down her face as she ran away from the only life she'd every known. And now, she could never stop.
"Tsk. Another failure." The voice of her father was the first thing Calypso heard. "What do we do with this one?"The foal's mother shrugged lazily, casting only a fleeting glance at the defenseless child that lay at her feet. "I don't care. Sell it, I suppose. It's useless to us without a horn. Maybe the slave market can find some use for it, anyway."
Hold on. Keep it together. Just a little further. Come on! Calypso gnashed her teeth against the pain. The cart's wheels spun in the mud as her joints quivered under the stress of trying to free it. A bead of sweat ran down her fore. Ugh, what are you doing with your life? She exhaled defeatedly, slacking in her harness. What is everyone else doing with your life?
"You there! Dun!" Calypso flinched. Crud. The soldier stormed up to her, disdain dripping from his massive frame. "What's the holdup?"
Calypso glared at him, tensing her shoulders. She despised him. She despised this life of servitude. She was tired of it. "What do you think?" she hissed, stomping a hoof in the mud. Some of the muck splattered onto the guard's legs.
The guard scoffed in disgust before offering Calypso a swift hoof to the flank. The mare winced, staggering sideways. "Worthless wretch!" he spat. "Watch your tongue. You're lucky to even be here, filth. You're nothing without us. Now, get back to work."
The guard stomped away; Calypso's piercing eyes followed him. Lucky, huh? "Just you wait," she murmured, straining once more against the harness. "Some day, I will be."