phase one

I was nervous.

I had never even been on a roller coaster, let alone sign up for a horse makeover. What was I thinking? Even Maciej thought I was stupid for doing this, I should’ve listened to him.

‘LUNA :)’ popped up on my phone screen and I immediately picked up. “Oh thank god you’re awake, I’m having second thoughts.”

“Did you seriously let that douche get into your head? Ignore him, you’re doing an amazing thing by giving an animal a second chance at life, you should feel proud!” Luna was always my biggest supporter.

I sighed, she was right. As much as I love and cherish Maciej, doing this felt right and what could really go wrong?

❀

“Fuck this.”

“Clover-“

I turned to Luna with wide eyes, “Have you seen him?!”

She sheepishly smiled, “I know what it looks like, but-“

“Are we even looking at the same horse? Look, I tried to be open minded,” I looked back at the fire breathing dragon, “But I don’t know how I can help him. We don’t have any single paddocks anyway.”

Luna pulled out her phone, quickly moved her thumbs, and tucked it back in her pocket, “Paddock is sorted; Maciej is putting a temporary one up as we speak. Now let’s go and find out some more information about him.”

❀

After ten long minutes, we finally found the makeover organiser; a burly man with long, black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

I approached him, tapping on his shoulder, “Hi! I’m here for 6549?”

“Oh hello. I’ve been looking for you actually, to give you the papers.” He handed over a few sheets of paper. “He’s a handful that one, a failed ex racehorse. Got the skill but a rotten behaviour, was banned six months in.”

“Banned?” Luna asked.

He nodded, “Yep, banned from racing. Well, competing at least. Bullied the horses on the track, caused far too many injuries. Made a name for himself too - the Stallion of Mayhem. Was in a news report too if I remember correctly.”

I shuddered and slowly gave a nod, processing the information. Looking over at Luna, we shared the same grim expression.

The man broke us out of the gaze, “Let me know when you’re ready to go, need to make sure the area is clear or he’ll be causing more trouble.”

“We’re ready now,” I said, wondering if I was making a terrible mistake.

❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

We pulled into the estate parking lot, feeling the rocks and dirt under the tyres. Maciej was leant against the fence, his arms crossed loosely against his chest.

The horse box came to a stop, and we hopped down the steps to the ground. Light footsteps came from the back of the horse box - awfully quiet for a horse with such a bad reputation.

“The paddock is up and is far enough from civilisation that we shouldn’t have a problem,” Maciej joked. “I did some research and found this, that guy wasn’t messing around.” He handed me a black and white printed newspaper page.

The headline ‘STALLION OF MAYHEM STRIKES AGAIN’ and underneath, a photo of a very pissed off horse in racing gear. The article explained how he had thrown the jockey off and brutally attacked two other horses on the track. Both were seen by an emergency vet, with one being left partially blind.

The noise in the trailer picked up a little and all three of us glanced over.

“I guess it’s time to let hell loose huh.”