Unionizing Quarreling Legacies

Rolling onto the field, Red's coat shined in the sun, shimmering in its rays. Being injured for the last few days forced her to lay low, far away from the grazing fields just to avoid any potential predators. Normally, Red's been able to outrun the majority of them. In rare instances there'd be a few faster than her, but they'd always chase after slower prey. Like all predators, expending the least amount of energy possible to eat a meal without risk of injury has always been the directive since the dawn of phagocytosis.

After resting for several days, she felt good as new again. Spotting a herd similar to herself, she approached them cautiously. It's leading matriarch half-sprinted towards her, whilst the foals stayed behind, surrounded by the other mares for protection.

Lowering herself, Red made a non-threatening display, as if to submit, doing her best to assure them that she meant no harm. Still, Matriarch charged at Red, chasing her away from the edge of the herd, but still close enough to keep her within grouping distance. As there was always safety in numbers.

Paroling around the outside, Red began to lessen her attention on the group of doting mothers and their offspring to that of how empty she felt. Picking a few strands of grass that broke up through the concrete, only the tallest, greenest, and lushest of the blades were fit for consumption. As anything else would add unnecessary weight had she the need to flee from danger, and the amount of energy extracted from the shorter strands was more trouble than it was worth. Having fasted for three days, fasting for a fourth wouldn't bother her so much, but she'd prefer to not go without.

Inhaling a few clippings here and there, a rumbling approached the group from just over the hill.

A group of males were seen arriving from the short horizon. A young, strapping, stallion of decent age was centered amongst the bunch, leading the group. Meanwhile, an older male strode along by the leader's right side. Although he might not have as much physical prowess as the current younger males, the elder was well respected no matter which herd he belonged to, his reputation proceeded him. The others were a small group of bachelors following in their lead. Two of them were the most boisterous and rambunctious of the entire group, constantly signaling their arrival. So proudful were they that they almost kept crashing into each other. So close to each other's hips one might've thought that they were glued together. Meanwhile the last bachelor cruised near the elder, observing the entire field, being keenly aware of their surroundings. His instincts were always in tune with the environment, as he never truly lost focus on the happenings within his perimeter.

Stopping her late morning lunch, Red watched as the males moved in and to how the mares greeted them. The oldest two were given a warm reception. Elder regarded one of the younger females with a low rumbling in his voice. It was obvious that they had history together. However, as a father, mentor, or lover, Red did not know. Truly, a mystery to her.

The dark horse of the group, the leader, was eagerly approached by Matriarch as she was followed along by her foal. Circling around the youngling, Dark Horse reared up, accepting the youngling as his own. For the young one shared his father's coat, and was just as strapping as he was when was newly born too. He practically mirrored his father exactly, reminding the Dark Horse of the days when he relied upon his own mother's protection.

The group's second highest ranking female tried to approach Dark Horse, trailed by her own get, but Matriarch placed herself between them, displaying to the younger female that those who breed don't automatically attain the group's highest status regardless of how healthy one's progeny is. Vice would still have to wait her turn to be approached by Dark Horse.

Turning her attention towards the bachelors, Red observed the Boisterous and Rambunctious chasing the maiden mares of the group. If anything, they'd hope for a chance at passing on their own traits sooner rather than later, if at all. Dark Horse put an immediate stop to their antics by bellowing out a guttural note whilst charging at them. They should consider themselves lucky to only having been chased away, avoiding a physical altercation.

The observant male, however, had taken notice of Red. As he inched closer, she began to turn in the opposite direction. He wasn't like Boisterous and Rambunctious, and his power was apparent, though he kept it quiet and rather hidden. Red couldn't been quite sure, but even though her full attention was on him, his wasn't entirely on her. Looking around, she couldn't tell what else captivated him so much. She might be a beautiful mare, and several stallions have approached her before, but few, if any, had truly ever enticed her. Yet, this one, right here in front of her, his motives had hooked her curiosity.

Moving to the side of her, Keen keenly circled around her, but constantly kept looking elsewhere. Trying to figure out what he was so focused on, Red fixated her attention on where he had split his to, but sadly to no avail. Was he just looking at the taller stalks of wild grass? What could be in them besides the buzzing insects and the occasional songbird? What was Keen so highly fixated on that diverted any and all of his attention away from Red, a beauty of a mare?

After Keen had finished circling her, he quietly sped off a little bit back towards the group. Trailing around the sides of the harem, he rejoined Elder and slowly cruised the outside of the group, meanwhile Vice was finally displaying her get to Dark Horse from within the center. While Matriarch and D.H.Jr. relaxed calmly within its center, Boisterous and Rambunctious were racing around the outer edges of the grass stalks, displaying to the rest of the group their vitality, which would hopefully allow them the rights to display their virility.

As fun as their race was, it became a lot more dramatizing once a group of predators lunged from the grass stalks. Panicking, Boisterous an Rambunctious started sprinting faster than before when they were racing, finally showing some true initiative in their speed. Sadly, though, they were leading the predators right towards the group.

Noticing the violent eruption of energy take place, Keen warned the group with a signal, and Elder guided Mystery towards the inside of the group, to hopefully keep her safe. Dark Horse ran out, circling 'round to the other side. Placing himself between the would be predators, his mares, and his foals. Upon taking on look at him, they knew that they couldn't take on a such a powerful beast, but if they could separate the herd, they could get a mare, but even better a foal.

The group of three predators broke up and started to try to circle around the group, getting as close as possible without getting clipped by the mustangs. The hungriest, and youngest of the group of predators, tried to go after Elder. Yet, one swift tap from Elder's hip was all he needed to dissuade Upstart.

While the other two were behind the rest of the group, Matriarch moved back to where Dark Horse was, ready to strike back at their assailants at a moment's notice. She wasn't just the lead female due to begetting. Her role required strength that need not rely upon the stallions, but would couple with it greatly.

Chase and Pursuit realized that getting to a foal was going to be impossible, let alone one of the mares, and that even if Elder was the weakest stallion of the group, that they'd be well maimed before they could even feast, and he'd probably be their last meal. As the number one rule of the hunt was always ensuring that you were uninjured and could hunt again the next day if so needed, and to also prevent yourself from being hunted upon by other predators.

This world always functioned off of one simple rule, "Eat or be eaten."

Slowing down, Chase and Pursuit turned towards each other while Upstart rolled up to their side. This herd may be well protected, but not everyone there was a part of it. Upon seeing her coat glistening in the sun, she stood out like a sore thumb. Without hesitation, Upstart immediately sprinted at her, chased by Chased and followed quickly in hot pursuit by Pursuit.

So startled was she, that Red almost froze entirely, stalling to do anything. Out of sheer fear, she turned around, but the grass was so slippery that she could barely get any traction. Meanwhile, the three predators were gaining on her. Though they may be heavier than her, and the mustangs, they knew where to put the power down where it counted. Sadly for Red, they had a better grip than her.

She knew that she could sprint faster than them and that she had a higher top end speed. This wasn't her first rodeo where a group of predators tried to get at her before, but she had just recently recovered from her injury, and so she was still adjusting to her to her bodily repair(s). Had she had started speeding away earlier and started off at a lower speed, she might have been able to speed away by now, but with all the slipping she's done and still doing, as the grass was quite a bit wet, Upstart had caught up to her rather easily.

Using his weight, he swiped Red from behind, knocking off her balance causing her to roll and tumble across the grass field. She might not have been injured like she was before, but new scrapes covered her body and trying to recover from that roll made her weaker than she expected.

Fleeing for her life, she tried to get away, but Chase had caught up to Upstart, flanking Red on her other side. Encircling her, she tried to run away, but both of them kept her from being able to do so. If Red couldn't get away fast enough then she'd be made a meal of in no time.

Having ensnared her within their trap, they'd have to flip her again to get at her delicate underside. Even though she was newly injured, she still had quite a bit of fight left within her. Having learned his lesson from his previous tussle with Elder, Upstart was sure to give Red enough distant. Sure an older stallion still had more strength than an injured mare, but an injured mare that was scared with nothing left to lose was more desperate than a starved predator.

Putting the plan together, the kill zone had been perfectly set up. Chase rushed at Red, only to dodge out of the way, performing a mock charge, just so Pursuit could dash in right for the kill.

Having turned away from Chase when he began charging, Red had begun barreling her way towards Upstart, her only chance was to speed away fast enough. Yet, with Pursuit in zooming in closer, Red didn't have enough time, let alone space, to make an escape.

The faster she ran, the slower time seemed to move. The closer Pursuit got, the more the sense of dread set in. The more Red focused on her instant death the less she focused on her surroundings. The more she focused on Pursuit delivering the final blow the less she noticed Keen sliding into Pursuit and knocking her off course.

Having been fixated on getting a kill, Pursuit was knocked cleanly across the green, as she started to tumble. Keen, however, had maintained his momentum and his balance, and was moving the other way around Red.

Careening around Red, Keen up close and personal to give Upstart the same type of treatment that he'd just dished out to Pursuit. Seeing as how Keen had wiped his packmate clean across the green, Upstart was in no mood to deal with an upstart prey item trying to make a fool out of him. Taking off, Upstart chased after Red, but quickly passed her as Keen was hot on his trail.

Just as Upstart was hot on Red's rear, instead of going after her, he decided to pass her up instead. Chasing Upstart away, Keen strolled up beside Red. Having him by her side, she did feel safer and more comfortable, but once the comfort began to set in so did her injuries. She couldn't go as fast as she wanted, but she could get as far as she wanted.

Though, Red may have felt more comfortable for the time being, it was always calmest before the storm. Sensing something was off, Keen swung his backside towards his left, nearly missing a lethal attack from Chase. Though, Upstart may have returned to the tall grass and Pursuit was still recovering, Chase had a bone to pick with the young mustang. Keen may be observant, but like Red he still couldn't get enough grip upon the grazing fields. Meanwhile, predators such as Chase, Upstart, and Pursuit were heavy enough to throw their weight around where they pleased. Traction had always favored their kind.

Knowing that he'd only be able to beat Chase in a long-distance race, instead of one based around speed, Keen hung back, still choosing to place himself between Chase and Red. Having learned about his limits from playing in the grazing fields ever since he was a foal, Keen, knew that me may not be able to catch Chase unaware like he did to Pursuit and Upstart, but Keen had a plan. Sure, the predators may have a few extra pounds on them with traction to boot, but Keen had agility on his side. It didn't matter how slow he could go, so long as he could just keep Chase out of reach.

As Chase turned back around, charging again at Keen, Keen simply swung himself out of the way. Doing this over again a series of three times, Chase tired of this mustang's antics. So, he figured he'd just rush at the both of them. Instead of turning to go at them from the sides again, Chase went after them from behind. Even if Keen dodged out of the way, he'd still catch Red unaware, since she was slower due to her injuries.

Just as Chase was about to catch them, Keen love tapped Red, nudging her out of the way, whilst knocking himself away from Chase's attack path simultaneously.

Chase may be great hunter, but when a hunt had fallen apart, he was more likely than not to forget his surroundings unless it was part of a strategic trap that he'd set up. Sadly for Chase, this wasn't the case. Even though Keen may be designated as prey, he was sharper than both of their instincts combined. Surprised by the sudden sight herd in front of him, Chase couldn't stop fast enough before Elder and Dark Horse reared up before crashing down on top of him. Trying to back away, Chase was in severly injured at this point, but the herd wasn't letting up. Elder and Dark Horse kept rearing up and crashing down on Chase multiple times, and Matriarch started to join in as well from the side, as if to teach D.H.Jr.

Unable to take anymore, Chase sped away as quickly as his injured body could carry him before collapsing in the tall grass.

No sight and no scent of the predators around, the herd was able to calmly graze again. Resting up beneath a tree, Red laid in the shade, but she still felt empty inside from recovering from her previous injuries. Aware of her current predicament, the other mares gathered around her, accepting her for the time being. Sure, Keen might not be a lead stallion, but Elder respected him enough, and even Dark Horse joined in on pummeling Chase. So this lonely mare must be important. Besides, if Keen saved a mare that wasn't apart of their group, then surely he'd help to save them and their foals too.

While protected by the mares underneath the tree, Keen brought Red bunches of grass over a series of days. After recovering from her injuries, she was able to roam the fields with the group and graze for herself. Although she normally liked sticking alone, being with the herd wasn't so bad. It wasn't just the for the safety or the comfort of being able to rest at will, but it filled her with something that grass blades couldn't.

As dusk fell onto the field, she approached Keen. Signaling to him, what she wanted, they both did what was natural for them.

Rearing up, using his internal gyroscope and lever systems to maintain balance, he extended his cable out from underneath his transaxle. Flooding his tubing with oil, he extended his shaft, inserting his USB into Red's adapter port. Sending the data from his schematics over towards her motherboard, she adopted his drafts onto her blueprints, as her body began constructing and removing any potential malware from his code. Once the data had been sent and received, Keen unlocked, pulling away from Red, careful not to land on her. Though she was a like the mustangs, she was a steed of a different breed.

After several months of grazing and constructing, Red's moment was upon her. The other mares kept the stallions away until she had foaled. Once, it was delivered, only then was Keen allowed to enter and inspect the young one for himself.

It was a boy, and he was perfect. Quite the union between both breeds. His bodily design was similar to Red's, and he had Keens' engine layout, but above all, he was uniquely theirs. A new member of the herd, and a new playmate for D.H.Jr. and Vice's get.

Shaking off the his mother's cleaner, Red's and Keen's get revved his engine loudly, piercing the sky with a twin turbo exhaust note.