"Then stay... please. Or take me with you" she let her brown eyes land on his. She couldn't look away. She was to scared that if she looked away he would disappear again... for good. She nuzzled him. "You're the entire reason I DIDNT go after you. You said you would come back. I trust you. And when you didn't come back for a little I got scared. Really scared West. When Ghost left I knew for a fact something was happening. I went to the beach. I though Laz was coming back to me but it was a different lion. West... it almost attacked me. But Fisher came back and scared him off. I though he was you at first and I was so happy but it wasn't." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I shouldn't have been such a stuck up mare and snapped at you. But since we aren't blaming ourselves, I'll just blame the heavens for not making me realize I needed you sooner. If I had known before you had left, I would have fought -almost literally- to come with you. "

Ghost stood up and shook out his coat before walking over to west ebony and Dixie " my mission was successfully completed" he said to Dixie before looking at ebony " do you want to come with me to the stream " he asked before looking at west "look at the perks for not being stupid" he joked before shaking his head

West didn't know how to respond. But he knew one thing. "You can't go with Dixie, you're still injured. If you push your leg too hard you will unravel all the progress you've made." He said quietly, closing his eyes in pain as she started talking again. It just reminded him how utterly stupid he was for running away and how much it hurt her. He never wanted to hurt her. Never. West had just never known how to help so he was being a moron and running away from his problems, which always ended badly, and hurt other horses, and hurt himself, and the literal only good thing that came of it was Ebony. As she explained that a different Lion had found her his ears swiveled back with concern and regret that it wasn't HIM making sure it didn't hurt her. It had to be Fisher, a stallion he didn't even know. This whole thing was all his fault, it really was this time. He made the decision to leave, even when Dixie pleaded with him to stay. "I can't really express how truly sorry, in all overuse of the word, I am. I should've never left, I'm sorry it put you through all that, and I wish I had the capabilities to make better decisions. I'm 98 percent sure it's programmed into the stallion gene to be an idiot. I'm not going to leave within the next day or so, but if Mystery doesn't come back, I need to find her. You know as well as I that she is important to everyone in this herd, and I need to make sure she is okay. You cannot go with me. Unless your leg is perfectly healed and you can gallop circles with no pain, it is too much of a risk, and I know it hurts and I am sorry, but I can't put you in danger. It would hinder your fighting and running ability in case we came upon mountain lions, bears, wolves, or other stallions." He stated quietly, searching for the right words to use. "If I have to leave, if she doesn't come back, I'll only stay out a couple days at a time. Ghost is completely capable of watching the herd for that long." He added before glancing up as the white stallion approached. He sighed slightly at the words, wincing as pain yet again stabbed at him from his wounds.

-

Ebony had almost fallen asleep when a louder voice approached. She groaned and opened her eyes, seeing Ghost. He then asked her if she wanted to go - to a stream! "I love to play in streams! In a very sophis- sophistaculted... so-phis-ti-cated manner that is." Ebony sounded out the word with a proud grin, bouncing up and away from West. "Lead me to the stream, Walrus!" She giggled notoriously.

(Hold on DONT read it yettttt)

-

Dixie listened to his words, sadness washing over her. "Is there anything I can do to fix my leg faster? Staying here alone drives me crazy... Macy doesn't talk to me anymore and I barely see Scarlet because she's always with Fisher. And of course, Mystery is gone too." She sighed, looking up a him. "As long as you PROMISE that you will be back, I'll be ok. But you know that the second you don't come back, I'm sending a search party, and you I will be one of the searching horses." She was kind of joking, kind of not. Either way, hee smile was half the happy smile she wanted. She extended her head as far as possible until she could touch Wests muzzle. She booped him then relaxed her head. Dixie gave a slight giggle "yes, Ghost, yes it was" she rubbed her head against Wests leg in order to scratch a little spot that itchy. "Ahhh that feels good" she turned her head so she could get another spot. She ended up rubbing a little bit more until she felt like he had probably had enough. "If I put any pressure on any of these scratches, it's not going to hurt you right...? I know you say your not fragile but I can tell every time you laugh a little or move wrong you wince" hee eyes scanned her body for a second, trying to find another spot that wasn't covered in scratches

ghost chuckled before troting ahead of ebony and leading her to the stream he dipped his head to take a drink before looking at ebony " here it is" he said before splashing her with the water

(West is the king of getting hurt and pretending it doesn't hurt even though everyone can clearly see it does xD)

+++

West sighed heavily. "You can rest. Plus I just brought you a new buddy that will probably Chat away for hours." He gestured towards the filly who was tramping in the stream. "I will be back Dixie. Plus I can't leave for a few days either. I'm too battered to get anywhere." He said firmly, but the end was more of a huff. "No search parties necessary." He shook his head, reaching back slightly to nudge her back before.. (CONTINUING MY LAST POST) West snorted slightly, making sure not to move his head too much, and watched Ebony run off with a small grin. "She's going to be a fun little filly to have in the herd." He commented before chuckling. " 'I love to play in streams! In a sophisticated way of course.' " He shook his head slightly, glancing at Dixie as she seemed to be talking to him. "It doesn't hurt too much, really. The wincing is just little tiny stabbing pains every once in a while, not because of anything pushing on my wounds." He answered firmly, although he knew he probably had to get up and get some of the bigger ones washed out.

-

Ebony let out a squeal as she got splashed, skidding to a stop in the water and sending a wave of water at Ghost. "Take that!"

Nooo wait. West. I changed it!)))

(WHY) DID YOU DO THAT TO ME)

ghost jumped over the wave of water soaking his legs up to his knees before he hoped around ebony with a snort "nice try goose!" he joked before doing a mini rear to splash ebony again after that he steped out of the water to shake out his coat

I was typing when you sent 😭 so I fixed it )