[Zichiino]

((Phew! So, for those who have been waiting, here's my acceptance post for Zichiino finally >_>
So much stuff has been going on, and I'm still recovering from being sick too. Fair warning, it is rather long, and gets kind of crappy - I think - towards the end, as I had been working on it for days at that point in bits and pieces and kind of was done, and just wanted to finish it up. Oh also, can everyone see this colour well, or well enough atleast? I have arctic ice, and I think it should look ok on the forest one if I'm remembering it correctly, but idk about anything else - if anyone even uses those that reads this lol
So yeah - oh! And yes, Witch gave me permission to come in from the mountains ~))



Bright light pierced the lids of his eyes and he grumbled and rolled over. There was no lush grass, and he was down on his side...why was he down? The stallion cracked his warm brown eyes open, peering around. Lots of bare dirt, rocks, little shrubs.
Clouds rolled over the sun, and he looked to the sky to see mountains loomed around him and the sky was mostly clouded, giving a grey cast to the day. The weather was nice though...he snuffled and heaved himself to his hooves, catching his breath as he noticed how sore he felt. And hungry, and thirsty.
Taking a more open-eyed survey of his surroundings, he spotted a tiny pond, down far lower than what it seemed to usually be, with a few ferns taking root in the more fertile soil around it. Had it not rained in some time? Had he...who was he? The grullo horse raised his head and snorted, scented the air. There was a faint smell of...blood, and decay. A needle seemed to pierce his heart and his stomach clenched, a vision of a mare's face flashing in his mind.

Shaking his mane, he trotted towards the little pool and took a long gulp, then stripped a couple fern leaves for lack of anything better. That settled his stomach slightly, and he raised his head to look around, really searching this time. He dreaded what he would find. He dreaded the possibility of it being someone close to him and...him not even knowing. She would go without honour, or respect, or even acknowledgement.
There weren't many places for a horse's body to hide, really. There were a couple large rocks and...oh, there was a path! A narrow little thing, crowded by brush over in a corner of the little valley. Perhaps...the smell came from there?
He set himself to a fast walk and made it there quickly, and when he stopped to focus, he could smell it. Stronger than before. Uneasily, he ate some leaves off of the scrub-type brush and nosed aside branches as he cautiously ventured forward. It took a sharp turn, then descended, down into a dark cave that had a small entrance crowded by more brush. This brush looked like it had really been trampled through, and there at the entrance, he could see...a nose. The shadow of a head and start of a neck. Old blood crusted the nostrils and a couple flies buzzed away as he slowly approached, head down and wide-eyed.
The smell became pervasive, and he finally stood before the corpse. He let his eyes adjust, then reared his head back at the sight that greeted him.

Blood crusted the mare's side and belly, where four long gashes rent the coat along the ribs and four more cruelly deep into the stomach just beneath, spilling innards onto the dirt floor below.
He nickered shrilly and snorted, stamping his hoof. What creature could have done this? He remembered that there were large, even hellish beasts, but to kill for sport? Or had he driven them off without a single scratch to show for it?
Flies buzzed loudly among the wounds, and he winced before looking to the face of this unfortunate soul. It was the same as what had appeared to him. A pang of hollow loss twisted his stomach. Not really knowing what to feel and knowing he couldn't linger here, he shook it off and grabbed a piece of the mare's chest halter (?) in his teeth, hauling her out of the entrance.
More guts spilled out and he grimaced, hurrying his pulling despite the ache in his muscles.
Once the grullo stallion got her over as far as he could and the path cleared as much as possible with hooves and dirt and branches, he went back to the pond and drank deeply, then stripped another small fern leaf and nibbled on the leaves of the bushes.
Hopefully the cave went all the way through, and down away from these uneasy mountains, or to somewhere where he felt safer atleast. Hopefully it wasn't pitch black all the way through, and hopefully there was some food and water somewhere close.

A shrieking howl startled him greatly, bouncing off the mountain sides around him, and he booked it back to the cave, carefully threading his way down through the offal and steep bits near the entrance.
And it was pitch black as he walked further in. He would need to be careful with his steps very soon. For now it seemed it continued in a gradual (though not always at the most comfortable angle) and not too rough decline.
As he walked on and on, time lost a lot of its meaning. It was an endless black that he could barely see in, and the terrain only seemed to be getting rougher. Fortunately, the air also became more humid as he descended, so thirst would be that much less of a problem. Where there was humidity, there was often pools, or at the very least water that might drip or leak.

As he slept restlessly and shallowly and his hunger and thirst started to build, his muscles began to constantly ache. Then sharp pains came, especially to his joints whenever he stumbled over a rock or missed a steep step downwards. No sign of food, certainly, and the walls felt like they crowded in on him in the suffocating darkness.
And then he heard the water, a trickle into what he found to be a small pool. Ice cold. He drank carefully, though it was still a shock to his system.
Reluctantly, he moved on, pushing himself to keep moving. At this point he really didn't have much of an idea how long he'd been travelling. It could be as little as a day, or as long as four. There was no way to tell. No cracks had ever shown him the sky and that was not entirely a surprise when going through a mountain.
After a while, finding he started to be unable to sleep entirely, he began to see things...things that wouldn't be there, shouldn't be there. Certainly not this clearly. And yet...a bright flash caused him to rear up, and when he opened his eyes the light had dimmed and in front of him was a horrible creature. It looked like a huge wolf and something alien; horns and spikes and a reptilian tail, and scales where there was no fur and a snarling mouth full of bloody teeth below bright yellow eyes with slit pupils. He roared and barreled for it, and came up short when he ran right through; was gone when he spun around to find it.
And then what felt like a paw slashing into his flank, and he screamed, this time in pain as well as challenge and spun, flailing his hooves.
At air. He looked wildly around. His flank no longer hurt and there was no gash. Snorting and moaning, he pawed at the air, and when he felt another ripping of claws into his thigh, he launched forward into a gallop.

A bad idea, of course. Maybe a dozen seconds later, his front hooves flailed into empty space, and he went tumbling down a steep incline, head over tail and shrieking the whole time.
The wall to his head ended that, and he passed out immediately.
The stallion startled awake, jumping to his feet and trembling as he looked around, breath coming in heaving gasps. His head hurt something awful, and he was pretty sure he felt some blood crusted in his forelock and dripped down one side over his eye.
And then there were flashbacks that rocked him to his butt; the first was of that same beast, pouncing on the mare he saw earlier. Did this animal live...in this cave? He hoped to everything good that wasn't the case, but where was it if not in the valley or this cave? Why had it attacked and proceeded to leave her rotting?
Once again, not something he need dwell on. Not now. Hunger clenched and twisted his stomach, and his mouth was dry again. The air was less humid. How far had he run, and how far had he fallen? Was he approaching an exit? How long had he been out, for that matter?
He pulled himself up and gasped as muscles screamed in protest. There was blood caked around numerous other scratches and cuts; they were on his legs, sides, flank, and maybe his neck and face and chest but he couldn't tell ...everywhere pretty much. A good number  of them seemed tiny, which was good, but still...

The grullo pushed onwards again, so exhausted. He really hoped the exit was soon, and preferably led to somewhere well-lit and with water at the least. Food and safety was not something he was going to hinge anything on. Really, even just water...
Slowly, light seemed to start filtering into his eyes. He snorted and did his best to pick up his pace slightly. There was another step down before the cave floor levelled out, and he breathed a sigh of relief and kept pushing himself forward. As gradually as the light brightened, it still made his eyes ache as he started to be able to see beyond the exit.
Adrenaline started to trickle into his veins as he anticipated finally getting out of this godforsaken place, and he was able to force himself into a loping, achey trot, and as he burst into the sunlight, his hair all matted with dirt and blood, he lifted his head to the sky and let out a joyful whinny.

[Sybella]

She'd created quite the hobby of exploring the territory of Gemini, and as of the past few days she had more confidence as she navigated her way through the land. Having a rank and a purpose seemed to be the change she needed, giving her a reason to wake up each day. Being a shepherd filled the void that was slowly cracking her porcelain state. The pups were a blessing, although they weren't her own blessing. They were still quite joyous to be around.

Today she had her first "day off". She had no duties to tend to, so she'd decided a stroll was necessary. No point in being lazy and dwelling on her misfortunes like she'd done previously. Besides, each day she ventured she discovered new glories and wonders. Her new home had so much to give.

As she walked along the perimeter of the mountains, she made a point to look up. The lengths of the mountain made her feel so small and - better yet - made her problems feel so insignificant. She continued to stare longingly at the rigid edges and angular points of the mountain top. She wanted to prolong the feeling.

But, unfortunately, it was interrupted. By... a whinny? She didn't even know what that noise even was. The investigation didn't take long, though, she fixed her gaze back towards the path she was being carried and saw a hooved-creature prancing excitedly and making all sorts of noises. She marveled at him, having never seen such a graceful looking beast before. Regardless of the fact that he looked like he was in rough shape, he seemed to have a very noble poise about him.

"G'day!" She called loudly from the distance that she sat, feeling as though she still needed to be guarded. This guy was much larger than she was, and she was alone. He didn't seem to hear her, so again she raised her voice, letting her chords reach further to him. "Halllllooo! Are ye alright, sir?!"

And, at that moment, she felt a little bit overwhelmed. Here was a creature who held no familiarity to her, who definitely didn't reside in Gemini, who could probably pumble her to a pulp, and she was dealing with him all on her own. She had never used her title to accept anyone into the pack before. Did they have standards? Qualifications? Shit... was there a test she didn't know about? She tried to recall everything that she learned at the Rangers meeting about Saboro. And then she recollected her time with Echo, recalling everything he'd taught her, and remembering the moments in which he gave her a rank. Her heart felt a little warmer now, at the thought of her friend.

That seemed to be all it took to regain her confidence again, as she stood taller now, chest heaving out. She tried to make her small frame come to look as intimidating as she could next to a god damn horse.

Let's see what he thinks of her badass stance.