Down by the Apple Grove

Chapter One

"Lift your legs a little higher--Lisa, a bit more relaxed." The blue horse and redhead girl did as Anne asked, and while it certainly didn't look professional, it looked--well, kinda good. Anne smiled despite herself, and Lisa saw.

"I've made the great Anne happy, have I?"

Anne laughed. "Maybe so." They both smiled before Starshine came to an abrupt halt. He was done with all of the dressage nonsense for the day. Lisa looked at Anne, and Anne got Concorde, prancing in the arena as they usually did on these days.

For a few months, Lisa and Anne had been going to the riding hall every Saturday to fulfill promises they made almost two years ago. Lisa said she wanted to learn dressage, and Anne wanted to learn English. Neither of them had made much progress, but they basked in each other's company.

They each walked their horse out of the arena, turning up towards the cross country track up in the mountains. Concorde huffed his way up there, clearly unamused at tolerating yet another hack in the woods. Starshine flicked his ear in response, and the two started to tease each other in the way that horses do.

"So," started Anne, "anything new happening with you?"

"Nothing really," said Lisa. "I can't wait for school to be over."

"I can't believe we're graduating--we're gonna be free!"

With that triumphant cry, the two horses picked up pace. They sped through the track without a care in the world, the clatter of their hooves not an unusual sound to anyone nearby.

As they neared the end of the track, Starshine quickly turned away from the final jump. Concorde flew right over it.

"What's up with Starshine?"

"Well--" Lisa started. "he's a brat." He nickered in response. "Yeah, you are," Lisa replied. "We still on for next Saturday?"

"You bet!" With that, the two girls went their separate ways, content with their lives.

---

A week later, Anne struggled her way through English class with Lisa. "This is read, and this is read, because it's in the past--"

"I know that already, Lisa." Anne scowled. "But is this lead or lead? It only says 'he took the lead!' How am I supposed to tell?"

Lisa flinched. Anne shrunk back, aware her outburst was too much. "Sorry," she said, looking away.

"It's... fine." Lisa sighed, looking over the sentence. "This is lead because up here, it says he's in a race." She quickly glanced at her wrist, only to gasp. "Crap! My dad wanted me home today really early--I gotta go!" She ran over to Starshine, who was happily grazing nearby. "Sorry, Anne! Next time!"

The pair quickly fled, and Anne couldn't say she missed them too much. Right now, all she wanted was to just learn something with ease, instead of having to ask everyone for a bunch of help. How did people do it? Anne sighed, eventually getting up to her own horse. Concorde, as usual, was shiny as ever, not a speck of dirt to be seen on him.

"Come on," she said, "let's go."

She paused. Where did they have to go? Her parents didn't have to know Lisa left early. She was free, for the moment. A moment's hesitation was met by her companion's swift reply:

Goldenleaf forest?

A smile played at Anne's lips. Why not Goldenleaf forest? The pair made their way over. They felt each other and adjusted accordingly; Concorde dropped his head a little to let Anne see more, Anne relaxed her hold on the reins. They were the picture of horsemanship at its finest. The smell of pumpkins soon graced the air, and they both breathed it in deep.

The Light Ride... memories of two years ago reemerged as they trotted along the path. Strangely enough, all the girls in those memories who said they'd be bonded forever had drifted apart. Lisa and Anne doubted that any of the other girls talked to each other like those two did. And even then, they only talked for those lessons. Those memories weren't the best for either of the pair, and so they stored them away and continued on.

The forest was as picturesque as ever. Somehow, despite it being an admittedly late and wet spring, the trees still had the orange and yellow leaves of autumn, and the air tossed the leaves around like it did when they were little. They picked up pace, galloping through the course in the forest.

A boy rushed out of the bushes, a mere three or so strides from Concorde. He stopped, sliding so far that he was only a mere hand or two from running him over. "I'm sorry!" Anne burst, immediately dismounting.

The boy was frozen in place and Anne got to take a good look at him. He was... cute, all things considered. He had light blue eyes and strong cheekbones. He was also tall, taller than Anne, which wasn't a bad thing whatsoever, and somehow... he just looked charming, darn it all.

"Are you okay?" Anne asked, teetering slightly forward. As if broken from a trance, the boy looked at her, a bit startled. He immediately grinned.

"Yeah, I'm fine! Sorry I just burst out--my horse ran off and I may or may not have fallen off."

Anne laughed. "May or may not have? Well, I don't see any horses under you."

"Maybe not," he replied, laughing as well. "Say--I'm Theo. And you?"

"Anne," she said, holding out her hand. "nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." He smiled that lopsided grin again, and Anne felt her knees weaken momentarily.

"So your horse ran off?"

"Uh, yeah. Squirrel made some sort of noise or something and she just ran off, up that way out of the forest..."

"Can I help?"

"Can you help?" The boy looked bewildered, as if he had never even heard of such a possibility. "Uh--if you're okay! I mean, you don't have to, it's fine--"

"I want to help," Anne said. "Here--hop up on Concorde behind me and we'll go look for her." Anne mounted Concorde, as the boy did after her. His hands fumbled for a bit, before coming to an uneasy resting spot right above her hips. "You sure it's okay?" he asked, but Concorde had already set off, and he had no choice but to hang on.

His mare wasn't hard to find, and within five minutes he was off of Concorde and back on his own mare.

"Her name's Venus, and she's a tad skittish,"

"Fitting for a horse that pretty to be named Venus, hm?"

"You think?" He smiled again at her. "I picked the name out, you know. It was kinda a "rescue" situation."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Some weird horse thieves did some stuff and painted a horse so they could steal the other, but the painted horse ended up being wayyy too afraid of everything and--I'm not boring you, am I?"

"Not at all!" Anne smiled.

"Good, good--so they found out the horse was a fake and got back the real horse, but the fake horse had no place to go, so they put it up for sale and I bought Venus." He stroked the horse's mane as if reliving all the best days of their life. "She's a good mare."

On that note, the both of them had said everything they were meant to say, and they went on their merry way, bidding each other farewell.

As Anne and Concorde trotted off, she could only think one thing:

That boy was pretty darn cute.