Wandering Through my Mind

The twilight stallion stood next to his mate as the others milled about, each of them wearing an odd expression. It seemed to be a mixture of restlessness and contentment, which would normally not be possible to show at the same time. For those two, however, it came quite easily.


"Now what," Amber asked, absently resting her chin on Sparkle's shoulder.

"We make a home."

"I have a home, you silly stallion."

They both smiled there, each of them quailing the urge to call 'race you there.' It was hard to keep still around each other, hard not to chase and play and love. Or it was at times, in any case. Some nights they were perfectly happy to curl up together under some tree and doze, safe in the other's presence.

"We make a Circle home, love," Sparkle nickered. "A home that's fit for all of us, where we can all go to meet another in our family."

"In your lands, as you're lead stallion?" she teased. She couldn't help herself, really, and knew it would make him smile. He came a long way since they first met, all the way to lead stallion of their very own Circle. Their Circle of the Cherished Dreams. Their herd, their family, finally properly gathered.

"It's as good a place as any," came the shrugged response, interrupting the musings that had lit her eyes with joy. The air shimmered with his words, rippling as if it had turned liquid. A shrill whinny was all that was needed to get everyone's attention.

"Come on," she laughed, and with that lunged through the portal, closely followed by her Circle-mates.


"What is this place," Pixie murmured, his ears tilting back as he studied the land they found themselves in. Sparkle and Amber were trotting to the top of a low hill ahead of him, the markings on their side shifting and moving as if they were living elements themselves. Lightning storms breathed across her side, sun specks across his, each of them seemingly born with the adornment of Circle leaders.

Pixie wasn't impressed.

He liked his earthen markings just fine, especially as it helped him to blend into his own element all the more. While they appeared at one with an element, he himself was indeed an elemental. The ground and plants themselves were his friends, his sanctuary. Besides, it was those green markings that had helped to attract his mate in the first place.


"'Tis no land seen by mine eyes before now," Path murmured as she followed him through the shimmering air. "Nay, I know not the scent, nor the sight of this land."

With that, they began to look around, clearing room for the others to follow. It was a very large, very low meadow, simply overflowing with lush green grasses. A stream laughed merrily along one side, disappearing as it curved around vast mountains in the distance.

Without thinking, Pixie placed himself between Path and the running water. It was a shallow stream and wide, fresh and clear, yet he found himself resting his wing against her back in comfort. Her fear was only of deep water, yet she didn't complain at his touch. He was the one Serian that knew her every inch, the one she welcomed beside her at all times. And she knew he didn't see her as weak.

The mountains fascinated Path. They were impossibly tall, half of them capped in show and ice, tinted a faint blue from distance. She thought, for a mere instant, that they became the almond shaped, blue-gray eyes of her bonded, watching over all of them. A very faint smile touched her mouth at the notion, rare and beautiful, vibrant with life though it was but a small grin. Pixie found his heart melting all over again at that smile. There were many things about her he simply loved, but nothing could make him melt quite like her rare smiles. They weren't as rare as they once were, however; not since they chose each other for mates. With a smile of his own he leaned against her side to wait for the others.


"Such an open space," Sign breathed. Her eyes practically glowed as they saw the vast valley that greeted her. "Only in the ocean have I ever seen such a space as this."

A flick of her tail brought her back legs through the portal, her gaze flowing over the other two couples and coming to rest on a distant forest that melted into the foothills of the mountains. As far as it was it was easy to see in its entirety. Her ears swiveled cautiously as she looked everything over, following the trees as they rolled over the land.

The forest wasn't uniform in density, that much she could see clearly. There were places so thin she could imagine she saw the ground, while others were thick enough appear as a solid mass of green. Just under the scent of lush grass and distant pine she could smell a hint of sharp sea salt, tender as her nose was for such a thing.


"So it brings the question that your seas often raise, beloved; what lays beyond?"

That voice was more than enough to divert her gaze from her studied, her mane brushing down over one eye as she turned to nuzzle into West's neck. As the sea needed the beach to shape it and make it whole, so she needed her sandy green stallion. Without him beside her she would falter and fade, just as the great seas faded into the earth to become marsh.

"Perhaps we can find out together, darling?"

"Perhaps," he conceded, his ears perking happily as she played with his horn. "It seems that part of the woodland is the only break in the mountains, here."

"It reminds me of your desert, in a way," Sign nickered fondly. "Only more open, as the sea, since your desert has those great dunes which make it difficult to see far."

"Mmm, and difficult to be seen, if you'll recall," West grinned. The blush that got warmed his heart as no desert sun ever could and he had to laugh as she nipped at his mane. She was his oasis in life, his life saving drink of water in an otherwise unforgiving world. Only she could reach him as she did.


"Oh man, this would be great for tag!"

The merry whinny was enough to make everyone's ears perk as the only single member of their Circle stepped through the portal. The air faded back to its normal texture the moment his tail was safely through, leaving him to run a large circl around those in the flatland. Sparkle and Amber stood side by side on a low, steep hill in the middle of this vast field, watching in amusement as the young hearted stallion enjoyed the freedome of unconfined space.

With a slight nod, Sparkle motioned for his mate to step forward, smiling as she reared up and let loose a powerful whinny. The others followed her example, leaving him to study them one by one as they sent their joy to the Gods.

When they stilled he spoke but two words, the only ones needed for them to explore this shared land of theirs.

"Welcome home."