Star Stable: The Lost Legend

Chapter One: Moorland Stables

As the sun rises, it had casted golden beams of light upon Jorvik. The landscape had changed dramatically. The city was long gone behind her. The bus had went its way through a mountain pass. Craggy green mountains loomed overhead, some still wearing the last vestiges of snow on their peaks. The eighteen year old girl had seen astonishing pictures of Jorvik. High mountains, gentle rolling hills and slopes, and a rich shade of emerald green that almost looked photoshopped. The sparkling, vast blue sea around the island seemed endless. It brought the stories of colorful fairy tales she'd read when she was little to life.
She inched closer to the window, not willing to be seen by anybody. The girl waited a few hours and watched as the others they either gotten off the bus or had gotten onto the bus. But it wasn't long till she had arrived to Moorland Stables.
She got out of the green bus with her brown duffel bag planted in front of a pair dark brown boots and looked at the stables with admiration. The teenage girl had jumped out of the bus and looked at the stables with a determined smile. The wind gently ruffled her long, wavy sandy-blonde hair catch the morning light. As the sun continued rising into the dawning sky, the girl's bright blue eyes that shone like the sea and sparkled with spirited fire. But the most unusual thing that she has was a scar marked over her right eyebrow. Her skin is lightly tanned from her time in the sun. She was dressed in a blue sweater with a dark blue t-shirt underneath her sweater. She also has dark blue pants that's folded at her dark brown riding boots. She strapped on her black fingerless riding gloves onto her hands.
Her name is Erika Skyqueen. But to everybody else, she's a total mystery.
But Erika remembers those years of her life with much more clarity than most other children. She remembered that she and her family used to live in Frost Village that's way up in the Winter Valley, beyond the Northern Mountain Range.
She remembered the Jorvik lullaby that her mother had used to sing to her in the cottage and the books that her mother had used to read to Erika about Jorvik's legends and myths, though Erika's favorite story was about a woman and her fearless steed has protected the island of Jorvik during a massive blizzard in the Middle Ages.
She remembered all of those trips in the countryside of Jorvik on the weekends. She had seen the national parks, the mountains, the forests, and the lakes. In a way, those trips has been helpful for her sharpening her survival skills her father had taught her — how to navigate, how to camp, how to make a fire. She enjoyed stargazing with him and learning the hidden meanings behind those stars.
She remembered the games she used to play with her older brother when he was done with school. He used to take her to the countryside to visit a few friends of his and let her pet the horses, who were curious about Erika and seemed to be eager whenever Erika petted one of them for some reason. She sometimes hitched piggyback rides on him and pretended that he was a pony.
She remembered when she visited the countryside with her parents and her older brother, but Erika had managed to sneak into a huge paddock with eleven partly trained horses and the head stallion took her into the center of the herd to be cared for by the motherly mares and played with the three foals. It had almost gave her family a heart attack and a nervous breakdown to boot. It took both of her parents to talk to the protective horses into giving Erika back to them, much to her amusement.
She remembered watching her mother cooking delicious sweets in the kitchen that Erika used to assist in and had cooked spicy food to keep both her father and her older brother out of the kitchen. Erika and her mother had laughed at the startled expressions on their faces before they start running around in circles and Erika quickly gave them two cups of cold milk to help them.
But unfortunately, Erika remembered the fire incident. She was fast asleep when she felt the room somehow heat up and had been set aflame. She heard her parents and older brother yelling and screaming outside of her room. Her mother had came into Erika's bedroom in her white nightgown and took Erika to the fire escape with a duffel bag filled with Erika's things and her family's possessions to remember them by. But when the fire was gone as well as the building, so was her family and a piece of Erika's childhood innocence. That's when Erika had made herself stay at the inn and had decided to signup to work for Moorland Stables to rekindle her love for horses again.
She had never seen such a beautiful stables before once she had gotten off of the bus. It has white petals falling from the trees around the blacksmith's cabin and workshop. She could smell the sweet scent of flowers in the grass and see grassy slopes outside of the stables. She noticed that there's about six or seven paddocks with some experienced and new riders on different kinds of horses or some pasture horses grazing peacefully in two of the paddocks.
It's both simple and beautiful in her eyes, she could sense most of the horses' presences within the stables and the paddocks. Erika never felt so excited and nervous about going to the stables that's filled with other riders around her age and who are probably horse crazy too.
Moorland Stables is a large and busy bounded area. As she walked closer, Erika could see a glimpse of the main area has a massive, white and tan stables with a few white and pink striped trailers by the stables. She saw a small, white fenced-in red and white house on a hill, outside of the beach. She also saw about three or so racetracks for a riding club probably. There's a few shops that sells riding gear, clothes, food, and drinks that lines up towards the riding club's arena. She also saw that there are there are three gates outside from the stables, one leading to the race tracks and a club of girls, and the last one leads to the outer part of Moorland which connects to Fort Pinta and Silverglade Village.
But she walked towards the gray-brown inn that's outside of the small courtyard with iron gates with the line of both new and experienced riders. Erika walked towards the inn by the paddock and found a black door with her name on the brown plack. She used her key, which she was given by the instructor at the station, and unlocked the door with the key. She pushed the door opened and looked around warily.
The room is pretty descent: a clean white bed with soft-looking pillows on the left side. A window seat with blue curtains and a white cushion at the right side. A wooden desk with a mirror. A pencil box with pencils and pens on the desk. In other words, it seemed to be like a casual hotel room that she and her parents had rented awhile back when they were on the move.
After she finished unpacking most of her things and gently gotten a glittering black box out of her bag, Erika slowly opened and smiled at the gift inside. The amulet, set in a filigree of finely wrought gold, was a silvery-gray gem engraved with unique markings on its smooth silvery surface. She gently put it around her neck and blinked in surprise when she suddenly saw a brief, white light before it disappeared all too quickly.
She headed towards the courtyard and tried her best not trying to get any unwanted attention from the other riders as they all rode back and forth, barely noticing her as she kept walking towards the small courtyard and halfway hidden in the shade. But as soon as she stepped out of the shadows, she felt herself bumped into someone. She spun around defensively, but she soon calmed down when she realized that she had accidentally bumped into a boy two years older than her. He seemed to be slender and slightly muscular. He has warm hazel eyes and his eyes gleamed with an earnest light. His hair is lustrous black, which appeared light in the sunlight. He has light tan skin that clearly shows he had spent some time in the sun. He was wearing a black shirt and gray pants, a bronze necklace with a golden star, a brown belt with a silver buckle, and brown riding boots.
"Welcome to Moorland Stables, Erika. I'm Justin Moorland," said Justin. "Isn't the stables fantastic?"
She eyed him warily before looking at him in the eyes. She smiled shyly and looked around the stables, marveling the beauty of the stables.
"It's very beautiful," said Erika quietly.
"You'll work in the stables, alongside with Maya." Justin walked away quickly through the gateway showed her to Maya, but Erika thought she saw something in his gaze that she hadn't gotten the chance to see.
She tried her best not to start speed walking as she paced as walked towards the stables, it's usually not really helpful for her anxiety or excitement. She knew she should of least looked both ways before crossing the road, but something had caught her eye and saw a group of friends laughing and chatting with each other as they rode their horses. Erika was all alone and she felt the familiar pang of loneliness creep into her chest. The way the riders stand together is something that she had longed for so long: friendship.
The girl was all alone and she felt the familiar pang of loneliness creep into her chest. You would think that after traveling alone for years, she would get used to staying by herself... but she never did. Her nomadic lifestyle was fun and beautiful in its own way; no fights with anyone, no set schedule, she was living off the land, and so on. But she longed for one thing: friends. The people she usually came across out here were either liars or thieves, so there were no real opportunities for friendships.
But Erika had always have a soft spot when it comes to animals, especially horses. She loved horses when she was a kid and loved anything that involves horses. She had seen a lot of horse shows and performances of all sorts as well as cross country races and championship races just as well. She used to ride at a stables on a brown pinto mare named Patches or on a dappled gray stallion named Oliver for her riding lessons at the stables. But one day, Erika had somehow gotten into a riding accident in the past on an unknown horse. For the last four years, she wasn't able to ride till she had regained her strength and recovered from her injuries to begin riding again.
That's when she suddenly saw some people walking around and had horses with them through the stables, but Erika had caught the eye of a city-looking girl around her age talking to Maya with her horse by her side. The girl has long, tawny hair and an open, lively face that brimmed with courage and mischief. Her warm hazel eyes shone with hidden leadership and determination. By the girl's side is a small, muscular golden chestnut horse with a long, wild yellow mane and tail. The horse is actually really pretty, with an unruly forelock and mischievous air. But when Erika realized he was looking at her, his big brown eyes felt almost... human? If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was trying to tell her something. That made Erika feel really uncomfortable, so she looked away.
Who was that? wondered Erika as she started walking away and looking around the stables curiously. Is it true about those horse rumors? If it is, how come it feels like I'm the only one who feels it?
Erika walked behind the girls as they led horses into the stables and the horses would each get their own clean, spacious, sawdust-scented stall. The riders would also get hay and fresh water for the horses, but Erika gave the feed and water to the unmatched horses. She currycombed the horses, cleaned out their hooves, and combed their tangled manes.
Though, she has a slight heartache as she remembered how grim and lonely she was, roaming the city's streets and everyone had started avoiding her for some reason. Many people tried to avoid her for some reason and she does the same, but some people hurt her and she keeps away from other people. Not many people around her age would show her the same kindness as grownups do for her. She was living off the land, taking on challenges, and so on. The people she usually came across out here were either liars or thieves, so there were no real opportunities for friendships. She knew that people have their own reasons for their own choices. But it doesn't quench her loneliness and the longing for friends.
But now, she wants a partner more than anything in the world. Not just a human partner or a pet partner... She wants a horse partner to be at her side. She had seen a huge deal of people with their horses and they almost seemed to be... bonded with each other somehow. Erika wants to have that bond too with her own horse just as well. But when? When would she actually bond to her unknown soul horse? How much longer did she have to wait to find the horse?
She looked at the stables longingly and hugged herself as she struggled to push her thoughts away. Erika closed her bright blue eyes with a weary sigh and gazed up at the sky wearily.
It was the only time when she suddenly felt that she wasn't alone anymore and the only friend she might find in the countryside. With any luck, Erika might finally find her own soul partner. But she didn't notice that her silver amulet had gleamed like a fallen star.