I finally came upon a mare that had given birth to a foal. The mare was a silvery white with a golden horn, like in a fairy tale. She had fairy wings that were a white see-though color. Her foal was a light brown colt with high white stockings. He had no horn, but the feathered wings were white like his mother. She looked at him with soft orange eyes, like she loved him even though he was different. He was the first one to spot me. I had been hiding in a bush, not knowing if they were friendly or not. He stared at me with big green eyes. His mother saw what he was looking so intently at. He got up and walked cautiously over to where I was hiding. When he was almost on top of me, I dashed out and ran to the other side. His mother laughed a little, at his curiosity and my scaredness. "It's okay. You have no reason to be afraid of us." She extended he muzzle in affection. The colt walked up next to his mother. "Play!" He pranced in place. I shook my head making my mane flop back and forth. "I am Wind and this is my son Spirit." She introduced them to me. "Play!" Spirit said again, still prancing. "Snowflake." I whispered. "Is that your name?" Wind asked taking a step forward. I bobbed my head. "Okay. Why don't you come back with us to our herd? I am sure that some one can care for you." She started walking to the left of where I had been hiding. I stood in the corner for a minute. "Play!" Spirit came behind me and pushed me in the direction of his mother. "Come on." His mother led the way. We walked through the trees and came upon a clearing of a whole herd of other unis. Many of them came up to Wind as we came into the light. My eyes hurt as if they never really saw the sun until now. "And who is this little one?" one of the mares turned their attention on me. I cowered behind Wind. "I found her in the patch." Wind looked at me with kindness. "Come out. They won't hurt you." I took three steps out behind her. "Ohh. Look at her." At first I thought that they would also scorn me for being different. "She is so beautiful. Look at the moon on her rump." "And those dots under her eyes. They look like snowflakes." They covered me, pointing to my markings. "Okay everyone. Lets give her some room." Wind pushed into the group. The others moved off, talking about me. Spirit had already gone off with a bunch of other foals. Wind led me to another uni. A stallion at that. He was a big grullo. His horn was a dirty gold, but his wings were a more brown color. His ruby red eyes held kindness that would calm anyone. "Who is this?" he asked. "This is Snowflake." I stood there looking up at the great stallion before me. "Actually," I started, "it's Snowflake Moonlight, but I like Snow." "Okay then. Snow it is. You are welcome to this herd." He smiled. "Will you look after her?" he turned to Wind. "Yes, of course, my husband." She bowed then rubbed her neck against his. "Then you should show her the rest of the herd, my wife." He pointed to the rest of the unis standing, grazing, talking, playing with the foals. There were many unis, all of different colors. Some had both a horn and wings, some with only one or the other. There were even a few with neither of them. I looked around trying to understand why they didn't outcast the different ones. That was the only way I knew, if you weren't like us then you didn't belong. Wind took me to the other foals. Spirit came up and started pushing me towards the others. "Play!" It seemed like that was the only word he knew, but I didn't think so. The other foals took me in right away. We would play tag, hide-and-go-seek, and even race sometimes. When they first raced, I stood on the side. "Come on!" one of the foals said. His name was Hallow Green, Llow for short. He was a grey unicorn with green dots on his rump and under his eye. His eyes were a forest green color with a bent back silver horn. He became my friend from the first day that I came. We walked over to the start line. There were five others there with me and Llow. "Get ready! Get set! GO!" We took off. Llow was very fast and took the lead quickly. I was third behind another winged uni. I past her and took second. My heart was pounding with excitement, my lungs filling with air to keep me going. My stride lengthened. I was soon running next to Llow. He looked like he was getting tired while I still felt fine. I burst ahead and crossed the finish line first. The other foals came around me, cheering. When the next race was starting, they went off. I found Llow off behind the crowd that had just left. "You were really great!" I congratulated him. "Yeah…" he looked down. "Come on. Lets go watch." We walked over to the course. After a minute, he touched me. When I looked at him, he leaned his head over to the left. We walked a little off. "How did you win?" he asked. "I lengthened my stride and come out from behind." I shrugged as if it was no big deal. "I have never been beaten by any equine in their first race." He looked astonished. I shrugged again. "Beginners luck?" I smiled and raced back to the others. Llow kinda got over it. I guess. He never spoke of it again. We would race sometimes, just me and him. I would give him tips on how to get more speed.

We both grew up, though. He became a hansom stallion and I became a flowing well muscled mare. Spirit became very attached to us. He would come hang out with us some nights. Over time, he also became a hansom stallion. Soon it was time for the colts to leave. I could stay because I wasn't blood related to anyone. One night as Spirit, Llow, and I were out watching the constellations, they asked, "Come with us?" "Why? I have a great home here." I looked at them. Llow turned to me. "We're your friends. Do you think that you can be a foal forever? Try to be friends with new little ones? Look at the other mares. Do you really want to start fretting over the next foal born? That wouldn't be you. We want you to come with us." We got up. I looked at the herd, sleeping in a big group. "Ok. Let me go say good bye to Wind then." I walked flat footedly over to where Wind slept then pushed her with my muzzle. She looked up at me with those orange eyes I had seen the first day she found me. "I'm leaving." "I know. Don't forget though," she got up,"You can always come back. I love you." She placed her neck on my back. "I'll miss you too. But I don't think I'll come back to stay. Maybe to visit though." I smiled and back up. She waved with a wing and I trotted back to Spirit and Llow. We trotted off into the forest, leaving our foal hood lives behind, but keeping the bond between us strong.

We trotted a while in the night then found a place to rest the night. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I found both of my friends gone. I got up and sniffed the air to get a scent. I heard them talking a little way off. "I love her. There is nothing you can do about it." Llow had just said the words in anger towards Spirit. "She is basically my sister. I won't let her go with some idiot that will get her killed!" Spirit pinned his ears back as he yelled. They were about to go at each other. "Wait!" I jumped out and in between them. "I don't want you guys to kill each other. That would just be stupid." I tried to make what they were doing sound dumb. "Snow-" Llow tried to start but Spirit cut him off. "No! Snow let me tell you." Llow struck out at him. "Stop it! Both of you! You two are friends. Why are you doing this?" I looked at both of them in dismay. "I love you, Snow. I want to take you and make a new herd." Llow stepped forward. Spirit reared and hit Llow in the neck with his hoof. Llow pushed me out and kicked at Spirit. I jumped in again. "Stop! Now!" They stopped. Both of them looked at me. I had tears starting to come down my face. "You are my family. Both of you. Llow, I love you too. Spirit, you are my brother and I respect your opinion. I won't... go with either of you... if you guys... keep fighting." I was sobbing and had to take a breath every couple words. I hated to see my family torn like this. I hated even more that it was over me. I turned and ran. Ran as fast as I could. I could hear their hooves after me, but I soon out ran the sound. I stopped after a while. I stood there sobbing, my whole body trembling. I started walking back to them. My mind thought of every bad thing that has ever happened. My mother leaving, me being different, me running off, and now, my family fighting over me. Everything had to do with me. "Why?!?!" I yelled out into the darkness. A bunch of birds flew from the tree tops. "Why am I so different?" I asked myself. A comet raced across the sky as I asked as if the heavens promised to answer. "Snow!" Llow came up. I was still crying and hadn't heard him come. "Are you okay?" he looked into my sky blue eyes with his forest green ones. I had to tell him. "I'm so... different. No wings. No horn. No family. What's wrong with me?" I laid my head on his neck. "Nothing is wrong with you. It's that bad things have happened to you. It's not your fault." He wrapped his head on my own. I heard Spirit come up and his grunt of disapproval. He had always looked out for me as an older brother, even though I was older than him. "Do you want a hug too, Spirit?" I asked. "Come here." He rested his head on my back and mine on his. "Lets go back to sleep. Is that okay with you to?" I smiled as I joked. "Let's go." Spirit started off. We got back to the grounds and went back to sleep with the sun coming in a short few hours.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. A head was lying on my back. When I turned it was Llow. Spirit wasn't at the grounds. I slowly got up so to not wake up Llow then went to go look for my brother. As soon as I was far enough from Llow, I started yelling for Spirit. "Spirit!" I ran through the trees, dodging in and out of the light peering through the tree tops. I found him standing near a cliff. "There you are. Why aren't you at the grounds?" I came up next to him. "I don't want you to be with him." He looked out to the vast trees in front of us. "I know, but I love him." I turned to him. "Then... I have to leave. I can't see you with him," he shook his head. "Snow... you have no idea of what he is capable of." "And you do?" I snapped back at him. "Unfortunately, I do." He looked to the ground at his hooves. "I'm sorry. I have to go." He spread his wings to go. "Wait. At least say good bye." I stepped in his path. "To you yes, him no." he stopped. I wrapped my head on his neck. I never wanted to let go. He backed up and wiped a tear off my cheek. "I'll visit you." He turned and flew off. I stood there watching him go. In time, I got over the reason why he left, but why he left at that time, I still don't know. I don't think that I'll ever know. Llow finally found me still standing at the cliff. He never asked why I was there. I always thought he already knew. Then we stared a new journey, just us two.

coming...