Facing the Devil ( beginning 5/5 )

Part 1: Shut up, Malachi
Part 2: Dibs on the Devil
Part 3: The 'Miniature' Division
Part 4: The Sleepy One
Part 5: facing the devil (you are here)

Part this five of the horses' introduction to the stable! This is probably the last part of this story line, as it finishes setting up the dynamic between the characters and all the horses are now settling in! It's not the end of the plot/story of course, because that would be very unsatisfying xD WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN!

Anyway, this was pretty quick. It's Spawn and Chris! It's pretty sketchy, because it's an attempt to kick myself out of this stupid art block. It didn't work very well. I did spend LOADS more time on Chris than I usually do on my people though -- I'm realising that they get worse and worse with each drawing I submit xD I'm pretty happy with this one though; it's a rather accurate representation of him. Maybe. Now let's watch him get eaten alive!

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Horses Present:

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A loud trumpet and something inside the trailer clanged painfully as the three young people watched on, each with a different expression plastered on his or her face. For Marianne, it was complete horror. She didn't want to know what was in there, and she didn't want anyone to die because of it! How on earth could they send her such a... that?! She had no idea what to call the thing inside the trailer, but she was sure that if something happened, she would sue. Maybe.

Malachi's expression was quite different. Instead of panic, his features were splashed with an irritated frown. This was not going to be fun, he could tell. Why? Because Chris had called the problem horse. Which meant they were in for many months of gloating if and when he finally managed to back the horse inside. He wondered briefly if the horse had any training as he glanced over at Marianne, who supposedly had all the information on every horse they'd seen. But not with her, apparently, which was very much off putting considering the last time she'd put something down, they hadn't been able to find it for over a week, and then only when he'd managed to step right into it -- and now his favourite pair of trousers and one of his paddock boots was covered in a very unflattering shade of electric blue paint.

Chris, on the other hand, looked very much like a kid on his first trip to Disneyland. His brown eyes were open about as wide as they could go, and glittered with a sort of foreboding mischief which could only mean he wasn't planning on thinking before he leapt in and wrestled the proverbial alligator to the ground. He was getting all too much pleasure from this, and it was safe to say that that in and of itself was more than enough to send Marianne fleeing into the stable to hide in the darkest corner of the feed room. Unfortunately, she'd learned all about that look. It meant something unfortunate was going to happen; he always grinned like a maniac before setting off one of his 'science projects' in the lounge.

They stood for a moment, not speaking, only staring, before the moustached delivery man stuck his head out the window and asked them if 'they'r gonna git a move on.' That was all the cue Chris needed apparently and leapt over the paddock fence, patting the trailer encouragingly as he made his way around. The plan was simple enough: the trailer was parked at the gate, so that the horse would be let out into the small paddock. That way, if she bolted, she'd only have fence to run into. Then Chris would close up the trailer, it'd drive out, and they'd shut the horse in to cool down. Easy as pie.

Marianne hadn't liked the idea of letting the horse out in a paddock, though she had to admit it made sense. But the idea that Chris would be trapped alone in their with an angry horse and an empty trailer made her heart jump into her throat. Yes, there was a gate, and yes, he was about ten feet away from them as he unlatched the trailer door, but it was still terrifying.

"Oh, I can't watch," she half whined, hiding her eyes behind her hand and turning her head away from the obviously insane equine. "I mean, I knew he was an idiot, but this? Tell me when it's over," she told Malachi, wincing at the sound of the trailer door coming into contact with the freshly shovelled drive.

There was another angry whinny, and this time, without the door to muffle it, Marianne could tell just how furious the horse inside was.

"Careful Chris!" Mal called out as Chris peered into the trailer, catching a first glimpse of the horse inside.

"Careful? HA! I laugh in the face of careful!" Chris exclaimed, which was definitely not what Marianne wanted to hear as she hid behind the impenetrable danger-shield which was her hand.

"Don't be a morron!" Malachi called out as Chris disappeared into the trailer.

There was no reply, and Marianne came out from behind her shield and looked toward the trailer, which, for one terrifying moment, was dead silent. There were no whinnies, no words, no sounds of any kind. And then all hell broke loose.

The horse inside screamed so loudly that Marianne shoved her hands over her ears instinctively, eyes wide with horror. The next thing she knew, Chris was falling out of the trailer, dropping flat on his stomach on the ground just as a muscular red mare leapt out of the trailer, soaring over the ramp, her hooves pounding down into the snow as the man in the trailer quickly drove out of the paddock, it's door still lolling open like a tongue as it dragged through the snow.

"No! Not Yet!" Chris called desperately as the red horse reared up, sending snow flying everywhere as it's menacing hooves scraped the air like rakes. He rolled over on his side as the horse with the fiery mane charged at him, narrowly avoiding her hooves as she beat against the fence. She was not at all happy to be locked up in so small a spot. At least she hadn't noticed the gate yet. "The gate!" he called out desperately as the big, heavy horse swung around, whipping her loose flying lead into the back of his head as he pushed himself back to his feet.

"CHRIS!" Marianne screamed, in a complete and total panic now that things were going exactly as she'd expected them too. "GET OUT OF THERE! GET OUT!" she howled, jumping up and down, waving her arms to try and catch his attention.

"Shut up, Marianne!" Malachi snapped as he dived for the gate, pulling it closed and bolting it shut just as Chris was throwing himself at it. "You're not helping!"

"YOU'RE not helping! Get him out of there, it's gonna EAT HIM!" she yelped, jumping up and down for lack of anything better to do.

"Stop yelling! You're agitating her!" Malachi snapped as the red horse threw itself at Chris again, who ran for the relative safety of the fence.

"I'm already agitated!" Marianne snapped back as Chris made a sharp turn toward the gate. Surprisingly, the mare did the same, stopping only to rear and buck at the sound of the trailer engine revving.

"Not you, the horse," Malachi told her, reaching an arm out to Chris over the fence as the mare snorted at the trailer, and searched the small holding pen for the invader.

"Her?! How is that a girl?!" Marianne asked desperately, making it a point to lower her voice despite the overwhelming urge to shriek. Chris ran towards Malachi, grinning like a maniac as the mare followed in hot pursuit. Chris grabbed his hand, and Malachi pulled as the younger boy vaulted himself into the air, and the chestnut mare's head flew out, her strong teeth closing around his shirt. There was a massive riiiiiiiiip, and the two boys slammed into the snow, breathing hard as they watched the mare, trotting around the pen with her piece of shirt between her teeth, waving it like a victory flag.

"I hate you," Mal grumbled at him, sitting up on his elbows as he watched the pretty little demon prance around her pen.

"I love you too," Chris told him, wiping sweat from his forehead and trying to recover his breath. "But hey! She'll make a heck of a barrel horse. Did you see that turn?!" Chris asked happily, jumping to his feet and brushing the powdery snow off his trousers.

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Horse Ref:
www.flickr.com/photos/markpino…