Memories Of Tomorrow

[horsesnhurricanes]

The prairie grass quivered in the wind as Derecho galloped past. It was a glorious, crisp early autumn day, and the paint stallion felt invigorated by the slight chill in the air. "This is the best time of the year to get out and roam across these lands", he thought to himself. He came to a sliding stop at the river that passed through the territory, taking a quick drink from the crystal clear mountain water. Soon, he was back off again, running headlong across the expanse of the grassland. "I wonder what surprises await me today?" He said to himself, as he headed towards the forests to the west.

"Dried grass, yeech!" Scout gagged and spat out the golden blades she had been chewing on. "Dried grass, and more dried grass." She rolled her eyes in utter disgust. "I can't believe it! This whole place is nothin' but dried grass! Autumn sure did get here quick." She shook her head at the thought of what her mother would say, ("All good horses eat dried grass, honey.") as she had left her homeland not long ago.
"Hmm, I better see if the forest has anything in a better selection." Scout found that talking to herself calmed herself in this foreign terrain. She was all by herself, so no one could hear her, right?
The paint mare broke into a quick canter in the direction of forest, which looked decievingly close. As soon as she reached the shade of the towering treetops of the quiet forest, she stopped suddenly to catch her breath before continuing on to look for water and vegetation acceptable enough to perhaps be a possible food source.
The little horse didn't get very far until she stopped in mid-stride and swiveled her ears about. The sound of distant hoofbeats rumbling and the smell of horse sweat made Scout quiver. "Well, I'll be..." she murmured to herself. "Hmm.." she said after further analysis through squinted eyes, "I think I can make him out from here. He must be a bachelor or some really old fellow. Whatever. I hope he doesn't come over here."
Satisfied with her conclusions, the mare tossed her head and returned to her exploration of forest munchies.

Derecho reached the canopy of the forest and slowed to a mild trot. Breathing in the somewhat chilly north breeze, he searched for a place he could spend the rest of the day. As he grabbed a mouthful of berries off of a shrub, he thought he heard hoofprints from further down in the forest, but he paid it little heed. After all, lots of woodland creatures migrated through the woods this time of year, and there weren't many horses in these parts. Also, he still had some exploring to do. Unusually full of energy, he had challenged himself to see how far he could get into the woods before nightfall. With this, he resumed his gallop through the woods.

Just then, Scout spotted a lovely patch of clover amongst the growth on the forest floor. "Clover!" she whinnied with the sudden excitement of her unexpected finding, "Oh, boy, I haven't seen you in awhile! MMMmmmm! Om nom nom nom nom." It was every bit as sweet and succulent as she remembered. "Oh man, this totally beats dried grass," she said joyfully between chomps.
The little gray paint hadn't gotten very far into her delicious forest feast when her ears pricked up a second time. She froze with food still in her mouth. The sound of hoofbeats was getting alarmingly closer! She quickly swallowed and turned to the direction of the sounds. "I don't believe this guy," she said irritated, "What's his problem? Running around in here like he owns the place! Well ya know what?.."
Scout slowly walked toward the sounds, pacing around an area she had calculated he would show up at, if continuing at that direction and speed.
Unfortunately, Scout was not very good at mathematics, and the stallion had suddenly popped out in an entirely different location. He was tearing through the forest as if he had little wings fastened on his hooves. He was a complete blur.
Scout watched, in a daze, as he whipped by. She squinted her eyes, "What the hell?..."
"Hmph, crazy beast." The paint began to turn away when a sudden thought struck her. "What if there's a fire? What if there's.. a.. predator! What if Man is here!" She turned back to go see where he went. "I better go stop him and see what's wong," she decided.
Since Scout was a small breed and because the stallion was running so fast, so far in front of her, it took her quite some time of winding through the forest, leaping over fallen trees, splashing through the creek, turning sharply around thorny bushes, and trying not to upset the local wildlife to try and catch up with him.
As soon as she could see his black tail steaming out behind him, she luched to a stop and bellowed, "HEY!"

Derecho came to a sliding stop when he heard another horses' voice. "Hello? Is someone there?" He was not used to seeing other horses in this outside territory, but nevertheless it was apparent he was not alone in the woods. "Show yourself! I mean no harm."

Scout snorted and rolled her eyes, "Show yourself, huh!" she muttered to herself, "Typical." She slowly ambled up to where he had stopped, clearly taking her time.
He was a gray paint, like herself, only a few shades darker with patches of black running across his coat. His long black mane and tail made Scout began to ponder the possibilities of the stallion being a herd leader of some sort. "Hmm.. maybe his herd is close by.. I better be polite!"
She lifted her head and cleared her throat, "Ahhhum! Excuse me, sir, but is this territory in the state of an emergency?"

Derecho smiled quizzically at the grey paint mare and replied, "Erm... well, not really. I'm just enjoying the first few crisp days of this lovely time of year." Silently looking over the newcomer, he asked, "So, eh, what brings you to these parts?" Looking around him, he stuttered a bit and said "Oh, I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself. My name's Derecho."

Scout gawked back the stallion and shook her head in disbelief. "What?.. That's it?.." She looked at the ground and blinked, trying to hold back her thoughts. "And all this time I was wrong?..Well!" "But he seems nice enough.. be nice!" Scout sighed and shook the stray thoughts out of her head ("Im so gonna get raeped. RUUNNNN!!"), trying to find words for a simple greeting.
"Uh, well, I don't like dried grass.. sir..Derecho....Derecho,sir." Glancing around awkwardly, she sensed something amiss. "Ah, yes, my name!" she thought to herself. "Oh, and they call me Scout by the way."

Derecho chuckled a bit and said, "I believe this is what they call an awkward moment." Glancing at the woods ahead, he said, "I was just going to see how far I could get into these here woods before sunset." Looking again at the mare, he continued, "But I didn't expect to find any other horses here. What brings you to these odd parts? Where's your herd?"

Scout winced at the stallion's remark; how embarressing! "I suppose I should just tell him the whole thing.."
She looked upwards at Derecho with a sideways glance, "Ah, well, ya see, I don't like the taste of dried grass, sir, and I thought the forest had something nicer to eat. And I left my old home because I didn't like it there."
The mare let out a small sigh, her thoughts swimming,"Woo-ee! I'm glad I got that over with! Now what?"
"Oh! Uh, so where's your herd, um, sir? Are you meeting them at the edge of the forest or something? Have you become separated? Running through the forest sounds like a tiresome duty to complete alone, sir. Do you know this place?"

"Well if this forest has anything nicer to eat than those berries back there, they failed to tell me about it!" Derecho replied with a laugh. "I don't really care for dried grass either. It gets rather old after awhile." He paused for a second and looked at the ground before slowly raising his head and saying, "Actually, my herd left quite awhile ago. One morning when I wasn't even weaned, there was a snowstorm overnight. In the rush to evacuate the area, they left me behind. I struggled to survive but as you can see managed to do so. I distrust herds for that reason. So, I kind of wander the land on my own these days." After looking at the trees above for a moment, he continued, "After awhile it gets kind of lonely, but that's the life I chose, y'know?" Giggling to himself, he then turned and said, "Well, can I be of further assistance? I would like to go on with my run. It has been nice meeting you though! You're the first horse I've seen in four months!"

Scout found herself stuttering to make herself heard, "W-Wait! Ummm, may I tag along?.. If that's ok... I really hate being stuck out here by myself in the wild and all.."
She looked back up at Derecho and smiled nervously, "I'll try my best to keep up! I mean, the more the merrier, right?"
She swished her tail feverishly, waiting for any kind of response. "Oh, boy," she thought to herself, "This guy being with what his past is and all.. would probably rather stay alone..I can't blame the poor fella, either."

[scoutasticspats]

It had been a whole day since the awkward beginnings of Scout and Derecho. For the time being, Scout decided to let her guard down (just a little!) and stay with the stallion, after all, a lone mare was fair game for anything.
As she dozed off that night with the Derecho in the vicinity, it dawned on her that she enjoyed the simple company of another lone horse, even though he was still practically a stranger.
The next morning Scout opened her sleepy eyes to whistling birds and the edge of the sun rising up over the mountains, tye-dying the sky into soft oranges, pinks, and yellows. The mare stiffly rose to her feet and and yawned. "Hoo-whee..." She lowered her head and started nibbling at the dewy blades of grass, mumbling to herself, "Oh, wow! Haven't had grass with dew on it in quite awhile! Guess I've been sleeping in too late again.... EH, DERECHO?"

[horsesnhurricanes]

Derecho was dreaming of summer that night. Green fields, afternoon thunderstorms, and hot sun danced through his head. Suddenly, he was jolted awake by someone calling his name. Nearly instantaneously on all four legs and looking around frantically, he panted, "Huh? What? Where's the fire?" It was then he remembered the previous day and Scout, and with an embarrassed look he looked at the understandably startled little mare, said, "Ah, sorry about that. Being alone for so long tends to tamper with one's mind. And sadly enough, it's been ages since I have been awake at such an hour." Glancing around at the dew-coated landscape and brilliant morning sky, he continued, "but it sure is nice to see the sunrise again. It's really quite lovely, isn't it? Especially in this season." After grabbing a mouthful of grass, he said, "So. Scout. What are your plans? What do you want to do? You just wanna, you know, hang out for a bit? We could go exploring or something." He then looked towards the western horizon and suddenly became a bit somber and serious. "Um, well, actually..." he said, this time in a lower tone, "...the truth is, I've been sort of wanting to go visit some weird stone piles I've been told about way over yonder hills. They say it was once built by They Who Walk On Two Legs. But..." Derecho's voice trailed off a bit as he said, "...I don't know. Perhaps it's something we aren't meant to find out. We should probably stick with the places we know, amirite?"

[scoutasticspats]

Scout lifted her head and chewed lazily, "Ah, feeling adventurous, are we?" She swished her tail and blinked, her eyes still half-open from having woken up not long ago.
"Yeah, well I don't usually get up so early, either. Sun woke meh up." She swallowed, having thought about Derecho's travelling ideas, and not really being much of a planner herself, decided to go along with him. "What's another day?" she thought to herself.
She turned toward him and smiled a little, "Ahh, so you want to see the 'weird stone piles'? Sure! Sounds interesting enough to me." She was about to ask how far it was and if they'd get back by nightfall, only to discover she didn't really care. The little paint had a new life now; nothing would ever be the same again, and nothing would ever be how it was.
Scout looked back at the stallion and tossed her head in the direction of the hills, "Well, anytime you're ready, soldier! Lead the way..!"

[horsesnhurricanes]

Derecho smiled at the mare, and said, "Very well then. To the stone piles it is!" He turned and began to head in that direction, but then stopped and turned back to Scout. "You know..." he said, with a little hesitation in his voice, "...it's been ages since I traveled with a frien... er, another horse." Turning an embarrassed red, he said "Well actually we just met, so I don't know if you would call me a friend. I've never actually had any friends, so I don't really know how it's..." looking down a bit then turning again to face the road ahead, he continued "... erm, let's just go."

[scoutasticspats]

Scout walked alongside Derecho and laughed, "Oh, you're a funny one!" She shook her head and smiled at him, "You don't need to worry, I'll be able to keep up through wind and snow! Why, they even sent me out in the terrible hailstorm of '43! You remember how big those hail clods got? Man, that was really somethin'! They didn't call me 'Scout' for nuthin' you know."
The paint mare squinted out in the distance at her new objective (to reach the stone piles asap) and broke off into a trot, peeping over her shoulder to see if the stallion was going to keep up or yell at her to slow down.