Flip sighed. There were plenty of ways to do it. Drown himself in the water hole. Climb the hills and let cougars kill him. Eat poisonous mushrooms from the forest. Anything but lose to Jet in a duel. Anything. Why had this happened? He begged the Creator to bless his herd. Flip loved Twilight. She was high on his list of mares. She was gorgeous. And yet this punk, Jet, had just pranced in and lured her away into his labyrinth of good looks. How had it happened? Didn't Twilight know that Jet was up to no good? Flip was sure that once Jet made away with the mare, he would abuse and mistreat her. Perhaps he would transform her into a foal-making factory. Flip was nearly sick at the thought of it. The beautiful mare, used for Jet's personal purposes? How could he!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Viola knew, now. She couldn't deny it. She was pregnant, no matter how much she tried to convince herself that it couldn't have happened. Flip would be happy, and few others would care, but she had strictly been against raising Flip's foals - or any foals, for that matter. The thought of the unborn foal in her womb made old memories, pushed far into the back of her mind in hopes of forgetting them, come back. I was just a filly then. Little more than a yearling. I was scared of the stallion. He was big and rough, and his hooves hurt me. And then, the pregnancy. I tried to kill myself, to put myself out of my own misery. Wretched. I was sick every day. Nearly died. And the birth was even worse. When I escaped, I thought I might even enjoy the foal. I'd enjoy being the big-sister type. I could lie to the foal and tell it I was it's sister instead of it's mother. But when it died, it broke my heart. I've hated foals since then. And Flip, he's just too much like that big stallion - but not as cool, which is worse. I wouldn't go with Jet, either. He's JUST like the stallion. Viola let out a shudder and winced as her newly-discovered foal moved within her.
