Here it is, the Supernova Herd!! Yeah, I'm going to be very descriptive about all the members of the Supernova Herd.

Disclaimer: All these characters are mine.

Deep in the wilderness of the Wild West, there was a sacred valley hidden by mountains and dark forests, haunted by ghosts of deceased horses who died in battle. “It is a haunted place,” the mares told their offspring. “The valley is a haunting yet beautiful place, never seen before by Mankind. Not even us wild horses go into it, for it is sacred and holy. It’d be a curse if any one of us went into it.”

Living in the valley was a giant herd of horses called the Supernova Herd, the biggest and the most colorful herd you could ever see. From the eyes of a human (but no human saw the valley or the horses that resided in it at all), they’d just appear to be nothing more than a herd of moving rainbows. But to a horse, there was more than what met the eyes.

It was extremely rare if a common horse went into the valley, which was known as Valle de Luna, meaning “Valley of the Moon.” Mustangs never went near the valley because the forests surrounding it were, of course, haunted. But where this story begins, it will all change.

This is the legend of the Supernova Herd.

It was a quiet early morning in the Valle de Luna, where our story begins. Cantering close to the valley’s entrance was a stallion of twelve summers.

The stallion was a bay, but his mane was bright green, and running up his legs were royal blue stockings (there was a short white sock on his left foreleg). Unlike his mane, the bay stallion’s tail was black, with a stripe of bright green running through it. His eyes were vermillion and his hooves were celadon. The bay stallion’s name was Komarov.

“Where is she?” the bay whispered to himself, looking amongst the trees. “Where can she be?”

“Komarov, what troubles you?” said a voice behind him. Komarov turned around to see a grulla Appaloosa mare walking towards him, her orchid eyes filled with concern. She had a star upon her head, two white socks on both her hind legs, and a stocking on her right foreleg. Her back hooves were fern green while her front hooves were cardinal red. This mare’s name was Starlight.

“It’s Horizon, Starlight,” Komarov replied, looking towards her. “She’s in foal, and she told me two nights ago that she was going into the woods to give birth, but she hasn’t been back since yesterday night. I sent Mystic Dream to find her, but she hasn’t returned as well.”

“Has Horizon given birth before?” Starlight asked in a puzzled tone.

“No, my dear; this is her first time.”

Starlight stared at him before she dipped her head, muttering, “Oh dear. I knew this would happen…”

“What? What’s wrong now?” Komarov demanded quietly. He was afraid for Horizon.

“This sometimes happens, but I know what it means,” Starlight replied, not looking at him. “If a mare has been gone for nearly two nights, then that means she has had twins.”

“How do you know of this?” Komarov was curious to know.

“My dam has given birth to twins when I was only two-summers-old, and she was only gone for three nights before she returned to the herd. When a mare has twins, she must wait a night or two to regain her strength. Mystic Dream, the mare you sent to look for Horizon, must wait for her until she is ready.” Starlight finally lifted her head to look at her mate and added, “Give Horizon a little more time.”

Komarov didn’t pay attention to his mate and lead mare. All he could do was stare at the dense forest in front of him.

Amethyst eyes slowly opened. These eyes belonged to a palomino tobiano mare of nine springs. Going through her silky white mane and tail were electric blue highlights. She had a stocking on her right foreleg and around her hocks were two Maya blue “rings,” and her hooves were coral red. This mare’s name was Horizon.

Rising to her feet, Horizon looked around. Not far from her left side, the mare Mystic Dream grazed quietly. Mystic Dream was a perlino of sixteen years, with a pink stripe running through her mane and a wisteria stripe going through her tail. There were pink stockings on her right foreleg as well as her left hind leg, and wisteria stockings on both her left foreleg and her right hind leg. Mystic Dream’s muzzle was heliotrope and her eyes were spring green.

“Good morning, Mystic Dream,” Horizon called out to her in a soft voice. “How are you today?” The perlino lifted her head and, upon seeing that Horizon was fully awake, Mystic Dream answered, “Why, good morning to you, Horizon. I’m fine. How are your foals?”

“They’re fine. And today’s the day they meet the whole herd.” Horizon glanced down at the two foals she’d bore two mornings ago. One was a colt and the other was a filly. Both had a white blaze just like her, but they were different from each other in appearance. The colt, Altair, was a tobiano like his mother; only he was a bay like Komarov. There were electric blue stripes running through his mane and one running through his tail, but next to the blue stripe on his tail was a bright green stripe. Royal blue stockings rose up his legs, and on his hocks were electric purple “rings,” similar to what his mother had. His back hooves were coral red and his front hooves were lavender, a throwback to Horizon’s sire. Altair also had three socks on all but his right hind leg. His eyes, like his sire’s, were vermillion.

The filly, Columba, on the other hand, was a buckskin, only that her stockings were aqua (there was a sock on her left hind leg). Her whole tail was bright green and there were also two bright green stripes running through her mane. Columba’s hooves were dark spring green and her eyes were wisteria, like Horizon’s.

“Shall we get going, then?” Mystic Dream asked quietly. “We don’t want to keep Komarov waiting.”

“Yes, let’s depart this place and go back to the herd.” Horizon lowered her head and nudged her twin foals awake, whispering, “Come along, you two. We’ve got to get a move on today.” Columba stirred and opened her eyes, but Altair mumbled, “Ten more moons.”

“Wake up, Altair,” Mystic Dream sternly said. “We’re going to see your sire.”

“Father?” Columba asked as she stood up.

“That’s right, my filly,” Horizon told her with a smile. “We’re going to see your father today. Now come, Altair; you must wake up.”

Reluctantly, the bay tobiano colt struggled to his feet and stood alongside his sister. Mystic Dream nudged the two foals and the four began to move.

Nearly half the morning passed since Horizon, her foals, and Mystic Dream began to make the journey back to the herd. Altair stayed on Horizon’s left while Columba remained on her mother’s right.

Just as the four were reaching the herd, Horizon heard a loud neigh sound out. She smiled; she knew who it was.

“Mystic Dream, it’s Komarov!” she whispered excitedly. Another neigh sounded shortly after the first one. The perlino could tell which one that was.

“And Starlight’s here as well,” Mystic Dream added. “How ironic; we were returning to the herd and the leaders have come to greet us and your new foals, Horizon.”

Nodding her head in agreement, the palomino paint whinnied out, “I’m here, Leader Komarov! Come and see your new foals.” In no time, the bay stallion and his Appaloosa mate were standing in front of the small group.

“We were worried about you, Horizon,” Komarov told the palomino paint. “What happened?”

Before Horizon could answer, Starlight interrupted, “See, Komarov? I told you Horizon had twins. Look.” She gestured to Altair and Columba, who were now standing behind their mother. “When mares have twins, they need a couple days to recover.”

“Here, Komarov,” Horizon told the bay stallion. “Let me introduce you to the foals.” First, she introduced Altair, who looked up at his sire with wide vermillion eyes. Komarov nickered in an assuring way to his newborn son, and the two touched noses.

Then, Horizon introduced Columba, who instantly went up to her sire and touched noses with him as well. Mystic Dream and Starlight looked on peacefully. Once the introductions were done, the grulla Appaloosa stepped forward and asked lightly, “Well, now. Introductions are done. Now, let’s get these two to the herd, where they’ll learn each and every member.” Nodding her head, Horizon urged her twin foals to follow their sire and his mate.

Nearly two hundred miles away from the edge of the forests surrounding Valle de Luna, there was a herd known as the Spruce Herd, which consisted of four mares, three young horses at the age of two, and the lead stallion, Hawthorn, a proud flaxen chestnut overo of seventeen years with hazel eyes.

Right now, Hawthorn was watching his newest mare Wind as she groomed her newborn foal. Wind was a bay mare with copper eyes and the newest mare in the Spruce Herd, meant for a replacement for a previous mare that’d died two winters ago. The foal, a filly, was Wind’s first one. She was a flaxen chestnut like Hawthorn, but solid-colored like her mother. She had copper eyes, a large white star on her forehead, and a stocking on her left hind leg.

“What shall we call her, Hawthorn?” Wind asked the overo stallion, who looked down at his newborn filly. He’d been planning on siring twenty-six foals in his life and name them after a letter in the alphabet. For example, his first foal was called Aspen and his eighth foal was known as Hailstone. The flaxen chestnut filly was the nineteenth foal he’d sired.

“Okay, the last foal was called Rhubarb, which starts with an ‘R’,” Hawthorn pointed out. “Since this one is my nineteenth one, I was hoping her name could start with the letter ‘S’.”

“Like in the alphabet?” Wind asked jokingly. When the overo nodded in response, the bay mare thought for a moment. Finally, she thought up of a good name. “How about Sparrow?”

“Sparrow…yes, that’ll be a perfect name for her,” Hawthorn replied with a smile. Then, he nickered to the other three mares who were standing close by. One was a palomino with a palomino overo filly by her side, the second was a blue roan who had yet to give birth to her foal, and finally, a zebra dun mare with her colt Rhubarb. Hearing their leader’s call, the three mares and the two foals went over to him, wanting to see the newest addition to the herd.

“Has Wind thought of a name for the little one?” asked Sky, the blue roan. Sky was the lead mare of the Spruce Herd.

“She has, Sky,” Hawthorn replied. “The filly’s name is Sparrow.” Rhubarb and the overo filly known as Quassia peered out behind their mothers, anxious to see their new sibling. The palomino mare known as Holly glanced sternly at the two, saying, “Not yet, little foals. You’ll soon be able to play with your new sister in a couple of days.” Sky wandered off so she could keep the two-year-olds away from the new mother and her foal. They were known as Navajo (Sky’s previous foal), Oilseed, and Parsley.

“What’s so great about a foal being born?” Navajo questioned stubbornly. He was a black overo.

“A foal being born means life,” Parsley told him. She was a bay mare and the daughter of the zebra dun, known as Lichen.

“Yeah, Navajo,” Oilseed told him. “We got a new little sister.” Oilseed was a previous foal of Holly’s and he was a plain chestnut, unlike Hawthorn.

“Well, I don’t like this,” Navajo announced. “More foals means more trouble for us. We’ve got to watch over them while the adults graze and answer their stupid questions about life, even the most impossible ones, and by the time they’re yearlings, we’re gonna get kicked out.”

“Navajo, you’re not getting kicked out,” sighed Parsley, rolling her eyes. “When the foals are yearlings, only me and Oilseed are going. You’re going to take over the herd when you’re, like, five summers.”

“But still, I don’t like this,” Navajo protested. And so, the three two-year-olds looked on as their mothers and the rest of the Spruce Herd greeted the little filly, who was looking up at her new family with copper eyes.

Altair and Columba grew up living amongst the Supernova Herd. They played and had adventures with the foals who were born around the same time as they were, they nursed from their mother until they were old enough to be weaned, and they ran alongside their herd in Valle de Luna.

Sparrow also grew up with her birth herd. She frolicked with Rhubarb and Quassia. Eventually, when Sky gave birth to her foal, a blue roan overo colt named Thunderstorm, Sparrow soon had more playmates than she could ever hope for. Wind couldn’t be any happier for her filly.

However, while things were all right for the twin Supernova foals, everything changed when Sparrow turned two. When Hawthorn’s last two foals, Yarrow and Zenith, were born, Navajo turned against his own father by attacking and then chasing the overo away. Then, the black overo proclaimed himself to be the new leader. The palomino mare Holly and the zebra dun Lichen were chased out shortly after Navajo became leader. Sparrow’s mother Wind was still permitted to remain with the herd on account of the fact that she was the mother of Yarrow, and the same went for Sky, who had Zenith. Eventually, when the colts were yearlings, Navajo chased them and their mothers out and invited new mares into the herd. His lead mare was a silver buckskin named Swift.

Out of all of Hawthorn’s foals that were in the Spruce Herd around the time Sparrow was born, only the flaxen chestnut remained, much to Navajo’s annoyance. He’d tried to chase his younger half-sister out, but Sparrow had fought back and was able to keep her right to stay in the herd.

So, Sparrow remained with her birth herd for almost two summers. Navajo would watch his only remaining sibling with irritation. He knew that he couldn’t breed with her; inbreeding led to an unhealthy foal. Also, there could be a chance that she would attract attention from unwanted bachelors. That meant battles for Navajo, and he didn’t want that anytime soon. The black overo wanted her out before she got too old. And soon, he’d finally succeed…

OK, here's a little info about some of the characters' names:

-Altair was named after the brightest star in the constellation Aquila. Columba was named after a small constellation of the same name. It's known as "the dove".

-Komarov was named after Vladimir Komarov, a cosmonaut who died when his capsule Soyuz 1 crashed into a field in the Soviet Union, now known as Russia. He was also the first man to travel into space more than once (his first mission was Voskhod 1).

-Oilseed is a type of vegetable oil (I think).

-Quassia is a type of plant found in South America.

Read and Review, please!!