• Chapter One
    All had been warm and quiet at the moment the change occured. The first change was an increasing amount of pressure around him. The next was the feeling of being squeezed. Then after he thought he could stand no more he felt his body being moved on its own. Pressed and squeezed through a very narrow opening the first thing to hit him was the bright harshness of the morning sun. Then the feeling of faliing and landing on the soft plush grass.
    Then his mother was cleaning him and he was cold and damp. He huddled closer to her body for warmth. When he was cleaned he tried standing and it took him a few moments. His mother nickered encouragement and soon he had his footing. He found mothers milk very quickly and was soon feeling full and content. He even forgot his entrance in the world. Soon he was running with the herd and learning the lores of his kind, the Hikken Tribe. He learned quickly which grass to eat and how to avoid the many predators that roamed the great Heartlands prairie. He had an uncanny ability to intimidate the small predators with his body language and more than once the comment was made that he would make a excellent stallion someday.
    He befriended the little ground squirrels and prairie dogs and in turn they helped him out on many occasions. While getting a drink he noticed his reflection. He never noticed himself before. His face was split right down the middle with bi-colours of black and white. The black side of his face extended all the way up to his ear as well as the side of his face. Down his neck was the same bi-colour of black and white with the black ending at his shoulders. He had black socks the crept up just past his ankles and on his left side by his tail was a unique black spot in the shape of a soaring bird. His mother named him Freebird for that very fact. Lastly his mane and tail were black with white streaks going through his hair.
    As he studied his looks something inside him makes him look up. Above the small pond he had been drinking at was a small ledge that extended above the pond and Freebird. Crouched above his head was a big cat. Some kind of cougar except this one's fur was blood red and its eyes were black. "Well, well a lone Hikken away from the herd." the cat snarled sarcastically. Freebird flattens his ears in fear and backs up keeping his eyes on the cat. "Stay and chat Hikken" the cat growls,"we could be close friends." Glancing around nervously and the ground at his feet he spots a abadoned spear left behind by a band of Inga's. As the cat prepares to spring he thrusts his muzzle down to the ground grabbing the spear and tossing his head upwards. the point of the spear thrusts itself in the big cats belly and Freebird let's go and runs for the safety of the herd, neighing fearfully all the way.