T E S A N D E

After finishing my epic and enchanting tale (yes enchanting) Africa began a story of her own which I indulged her with my undying attention. ”Once…” She began with restricted gulps of air begging for release to join in the action. As the grey mare spoke I painted her words as pictures in my head imagining the details as vividly accurate as I could to match her story. Which if one was to enter my head my imagination usually came out like the colorful scribbles of a child’s crayons on paper.
I mean not that I saw the world with smiling sun shines and flowers but it’s just difficult and rather depressing if you look at everything in black and white.
Her story carried me to the mouth of a volcano where she sought the help of a horned horse. On that note I let out a soft gasp, unicorns—are in fact infamous for being aggressive towards Pegasus, a fact I kept in mind when I cross one. I wasn't entirely sure why they were so nasty to us flyers, maybe they're just jealous. What might they have to be jealous about though? They've got one of the greatest weapons in nature mounted on their faces. Though I regularly keep a positive attitude, there comes a point where if you’re not careful you can get into real trouble. It’s one thing to walk the world with a smile on your face but if you’re surrounded by a pack of ravenous wolves and you’re trying to make conversation with them the outcome is most likely to fall in favor of the hungry wolves.

When Africa spoke of the heroic act of the unicorn my lip quivered with excitement and I kicked up my back legs ”Ye got lucky, lass!” I snuck in a brief comment before quickly shutting up to let her continue. Now her story got confusing though as she talked about dogs made of flame. My head cocked sharply to the left, dogs born of fire? I mean I’ve seen all kinds of dogs, wolf dogs, birds dogs, spotted dogs, dogs with skin that sagged to the ground, fluffy dogs, tiny dogs, dogs that snort like pigs. But I’ve never seen a dog of fire ”Ya don’t say, lass…” I breathed with intense curiosity ”Dogs of fire?” I repeated her words to myself, trying again to picture this, having seen lots of dogs it wasn’t hard, but how?? Magic perhaps? My eyes glittered in the sunlight with one ear turned forward and the other sagged in another direction as I thought out the strange possibilities to explain her encounter. In my travels I have come across magic, I’m not a caster myself but I’ve seen the capabilities. And after all this place is called… oh what was it, Helovia? It sounds like a name the Gods would use to describe their sleeping quarters. Ever notice how the names of places always ended with an A?
Africa, Canada, Russia, China, India, Austrial—oops I’m gettin’ off track here!

My attention whipped back to my new friend just in time to hear her speak of treasures and my eyes widened and I bounced in my steps as my mind flooded with thoughts of all kinds of treasures! With a cheery grin and a deep gasp I state, ”Does get splinters in their tongue??!“ I reared up with excitement, my wings opening to add balance and show, yet still careful to avoid accidentally smacking my friend.
I watched Africa stop suddenly to drop her head to the frost covered grass to uncover a frosted flower being choked out by winter’s deadly grip. For a moment I thought she intended to pick it, but after seeing her pull away from the flower I realized her intention was merely to admire its beauty. I enjoyed her gentle nature, she reminded me of my mother.

”You ready lassy?” I asked politely, my wings posed for take-off.