Chapter 1: 

Willow glanced at her pale reflection in the mirror whilst tidying a piece of stray hair. She was a rather quiet sixteen-year-old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Today was an ordinary school day - the bus would be at her house at any moment. Willow grabbed her school bag and headed down the stairs to the front door. School was not something she particularly enjoyed - she didn't like studying or having to be around so many people. She preferred to be alone at home, caught up in her wild imagination. Friends were not something she had ever had. Willow pushed open the front door. The air that greeted her from outside was cool and damp. Grey clouds covered the sky showing that rain was on its way. Willow wandered down the long winding path which led to their driveway. Rolling green hills

stretched out in every direction with the odd small forest dotted here and there. There were plenty of sheep too, grazing on the lush green grass. Willow loved living in the country; it was beautiful and peaceful. In the distance she could see the bus coming, so she quickened her pace and reached the end of the driveway just as the bus pulled up. The bus door opened and Willow climbed aboard. She chose a seat near the back and gazed out the window as the bus pulled onto the road. Eventually the rolling green hills started to disappear from view, and were instead replaced by numerous houses. The further the bus drove, the closer together the houses got, and then suddenly they were passing stores and signs. It was not long until the bus turned down a side street and pulled up at Willow's school.

* * *

Willow jumped as she heard the school bell ring. She had been caught up in her imagination again and almost forgotten she was even at school! She quickly gathered up her pencils and books and stuffed them into her school bag. Today had been a pretty average school day and Willow was looking forwards to getting home. The only thing she actually liked about school was art. Willow loved art. But aside from that, she didn't enjoy anything else. In lunch breaks while everyone was hanging with their friends, Willow would just hangout by herself, caught up in her imagination. She tried to stay away from the other teens as much as possible. They usually didn't treat her very nicely. Today one of the boys had purposely put out his foot, causing her to trip and drop her books all over the ground. Him and his friends had just laughed meanly at her while she had hastily tried to gather up her books. No one had even offered to help her pick them up. Willow quickly brushed away a tear. It's no use getting upset about it she told herself. "Willow? Are you OK?" A voice jolted Willow from her thoughts. She looked up to see one of her teachers, Mr. Jackson looking down at her. "You do realise the bus is about to leave, don"t you?" Willow glanced around, suddenly noticing that the classroom was completely empty. Had she really been sitting there for that long? "Well?" said Mr. Jackson. "Oh... I'm fine, I just lost track of time," she said hastily, and jumped out of her chair. She grabbed her school bag and quickly left the classroom, letting the door swing shut behind her. Willow ran as fast as she could to the bus and made it only just in time. She climbed into the bus and sat down in the nearest seat. She was still trying to catch her breathe as the bus pulled out onto the road.

* * *

That night Willow sat on her bed, gazing out the window. It was very dark outside. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost 11:30pm. It must be time for her to go to bed in a minute. It was very peaceful in her room, with the only sound being the clock ticking. It was almost always quiet and peaceful here though. She was an only child and her Mum had died in a car crash when she was little. Willow could hardly remember what her Mum looked like. Her Dad was still alive, but worked crazy hours and went to bed as soon as he got home. So this meant that Willow was almost always alone when she was at home. She looked back out the window to see that great drops of rain were just beginning to fall from the sky. No stars could be seen tonight. She was just about to get up and close the curtains, when she suddenly saw something outside... Something ghostly white... Or was it silver? She couldn't tell. She pulled herself off

the bed and pressed her face against the window, trying to get a better view. As the ghostly shape came closer, she could make out the outline of a horse. A silver horse... And then as suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished. Willow felt a shiver run down her spine. My mind is probably just playing tricks on me... That horse can't possibly have been real. But the uneasy feeling remained. 

Chapter 2:

Willow woke with a start. Trembling, she sat up in bed. Her dreams had been filled with a ghostly silver horse. In her dreams, the horse would only let her get so close and then vanish into thin air. Thinking about it sent chills down Willow's spine. She reached for her torch and shone it at the clock, surprised to see that it was only 2am. She thought she had been asleep for longer than that! Feeling a little uneasy, she pulled herself out of bed and walked over to the window. She hesitated. The silver horse won't be there... she told herself. It isn't real... She timidly reached for the curtain and pulled it back just enough to see through the window. It was raining lightly and the moon was half covered by clouds. There was no ghostly silver horse to be seen. Willow sighed a sigh of relief. She stayed looking out the window for a few minutes, so that she could be certain there was nothing there. Just as she was about to head back to bed, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head quickly, Willow was just able to make out a ghostly shape... the outline of a silver horse... That wasn't there a few seconds ago! It was the same ghostly silver horse she had seen before she went to bed, and also the horse that had just been haunting her dreams... A shiver ran down her spine. She watched as the silver horse slowly picked its way through a paddock, gradually coming closer towards the house. I'm sure that horse can't be real... I must be so tired that I'm seeing things... I know the mind can be a very powerful thing and trick you into seeing all sorts of things that aren't really there.  But no matter how hard Willow tried to convince herself that the horse wasn't there, she knew deep down that it was. Suddenly the horse turned its head and looked straight up at her; it's gaze seeming to pierce right through her. Willow froze for a second and then dropped the curtain and ran. She leaped into bed, pulling up the bed covers around her face, her heart pounding loudly. She stayed in bed for a few minutes, trying to calm herself down so that she could think properly. Once her pounding heart had slowed down a little, she was able to think about what she should do next. Should I go after the horse? Should I wake Dad and tell him about it? Or should I just try and forget about it and go back to sleep? Willow felt rather indecisive. She thought about it for a few more moments. If she woke her Dad, she knew he would tell her she was just seeing things. If she tried to go back to sleep, she would probably just end up having more dreams about the ghostly silver horse. And when she thought about it a bit more, she realised she probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep anyway - she was too shaken up. So that only really left one option - to go after the horse. The thought of it sent chills running down her spine. But Willow knew what she had to do. She pulled herself out of bed, grabbed a flashlight, and put on her thick jacket. Quietly, she opened her bedroom door, and tiptoed down the stairs. She hesitated when she reached the front door. Her heart felt like it was in her throat. Hands shaking, she reached for the door handle and slowly turned it. The door opened with a creak, making Willow jump. She cautiously peered around the door. The rain was getting heavier now and the moon was completely covered by clouds. Where was the silver horse? She glanced around for a few moments. Had it vanished? And then she spotted it - a ghostly silver shape now in the distance... Willow shivered. Terrified, she forced herself to step outside and close the door behind her. It was difficult to see through the rain - even with her flashlight on full beam. But Willow wasn't going back now. She forced her legs to walk, slowly making her way down the long winding path which led to their driveway. She knew that with every step it would gradually bring her closer to the ghostly horse. She reached the end of the path, crossed the driveway, and stopped at the fence. It wasn't electric thankfully and was quite low, so she was able to climb over it without too much trouble. She was beginning to get very wet and cold from the pouring rain. She paused as she noticed the rain starting to get even heavier. Suddenly, a flash of lightning lit up the entire night sky, closely followed by a loud rumble of thunder. Willow jumped. But there was no going back. She slowly began to pick her way across the paddock. The ghostly silver horse was not too far away now. She could only just make out the shape of the horse through the pouring rain. Willow quickened her pace a little, her heart feeling like it was in her throat. Another flash of lightning lit up the sky, followed by more thunder. The silver horse suddenly turned and looked straight at her. Willow froze as the horse's gaze seemed to almost penetrate right through her. And then... it vanished. Willow looked in disbelief at the empty space where the horse had stood only a few seconds ago. She shivered, suddenly realising how wet and cold it was. The rain continued to pour down. More lightning lit up the sky and another boom of thunder closely followed.

Should she stay out here and see if the horse would reappear? Or should she just give up and go back to the house? Willow was unsure of what to do. She thought about it for a little while longer and then decided there was probably no harm in walking a bit further and seeing if the ghostly horse would reappear. She pressed on through the pouring rain, crossing the paddock. The lightning and thunder continued on above her. Willow reached the fence at the far side of the paddock and climbed over. She was about half way through the next paddock, when she saw a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye. Spinning around, she came face to face with the ghostly silver horse... She froze for a second, her heart pounding so loudly that she was sure the horse could hear it... Shakily, Willow reached out a hand to touch the horse... She looked in disbelief as her hand seemed to pass right through the silver horse, as if there was only air there. It really is a ghost horse! She thought. The horse began to fade away and within seconds was completely gone. Suddenly the world around Willow began to spin. It spun faster and faster, making everything become a blur. She closed her eyes and could feel herself falling, falling... 

Chapter 3:

Willow opened her eyes. She felt strangely different, but she wasn’t sure why. It was still night time but she was quite relieved to see that it was no longer pouring down with rain. There was no thunder and lightning either. In fact, it was very calm. She looked around her and saw that she was standing out in the open on a large grassy plain. It seemed to stretch out for miles in every direction. She didn’t recognise her surroundings at all. Where was she? What had happened? She remembered trying to touch the silver horse and then after that everything had become a blur... As Willow was pondering what had happened, a piece of stray hair fell in front of her face. She wanted to push it out of her way, but discovered that she couldn’t. She glanced down at where she expected to see her hands and saw that they weren’t there. Where have my hands gone!? This is so weird!  She then noticed her feet and could not believe what she saw.  She had hooves! Horse hooves... Willow had become a horse! And not just any horse - she had become a silvery grey horse. Just like the silver horse she had seen and tried to touch. Except she was not quite so ghostly. Willow stood there in utter shock, her brain trying to process it all. How is this physically possible?? I must be dreaming! She took a step forward, testing out her legs. They felt strong underneath her. Willow took another step forward, and another, until she had walked about several metres through the grass. It felt quite strange having four legs when she was used to having only two. She paused for a moment, suddenly feeling a huge wave of tiredness engulf her. Her eyes began to close on her, but she was uncertain about sleeping standing up. She knew horses did it, but it still felt very strange to her. So she decided she would lie down instead. Awkwardly, she folded her front legs and lay down in the grass. She closed her heavy eyelids and quickly drifted off to sleep...  

* * *

Willow awoke in the morning to the sound of pounding hooves. Startled, she jumped to her feet and spun around to see a herd of wild horses galloping straight towards her! She froze, terrified that she would get knocked over and trampled on. Her heart felt like it was in her throat. Luckily the horses saw her just in time. They quickly slowed down before coming to an abrupt halt only a few metres from where she was standing. Willow breathed a sigh of relief, although she could see that the horses looked very hostile. The 

biggest stallion in the herd, clearly the leader, eyed Willow up before taking a step forward. His muscles rippled under his dark grey coat. He certainly didn't look like a horse you would want to mess with. "Greetings," he said coldly, "What brings you onto our land?" Willow gulped. "I'm very sorry, I didn't realise it was your land," she said timidly. "Yes, all of the grassy plain belongs to our herd and we will not tolerate other horses on our land. I’m afraid you need to leave - or else, " said the stallion, baring his teeth at her. Willow took a step back, feeling very afraid. She wasn't even sure where the end of the grassy plain was! "Of, of course," she stammered, lowering her head.  "Wait!" called a young black and white mare, who trotted up to stand beside the stallion. "What now?" asked the stallion, sounding very annoyed as he turned to face the black and white mare. "Couldn't she join our herd?" asked the black and white mare, "Our numbers have really diminished, and another horse could be of great benefit to us." The stallion grunted, seeming to realise that the young mare had a point. After a few moments had passed he turned back to Willow. "You may join our herd," he said slowly, "- But -" he paused, narrowing his eyes, "You will need to learn the ways of our herd and prove your loyalty to us, in order to be truly accepted as a member of our herd. And if you show any signs of being disloyal, we will surely drive you out and you will never be allowed back." The stallion's last few words sent a shiver down Willow's spine. But what choice did she have than to join the herd? She had no idea where she even was or what kind of dangers could be lurking in this unfamiliar territory. So joining the herd was probably her safest option... "I will join the herd," she said, "But - I don't know anything about how herds work... I don't even know your names..." She trailed off. "Of course," said the stallion, "We will teach you the ways of our herd, and as for our names - I am Blaze, leader of The Sun Herd " He then nodded to the black and white mare who was standing beside him. "My name is Splash,"  said the young black and white mare. Splash stepped back so that a chestnut mare with two foals, could step forward. "I am Juniper, mate of Blaze," said the Chestnut mare, "And these," she said nodding to the two foals, "Are our foals, Azul and Flame " One of the foals looked almost full grown, while the other was very small. They were obviously not the same age. Lastly a young dapple grey stallion and a young bay mare stepped forward. The young stallion held his head high. "I am Thistle " he said, "And this is my sister -" "Breeze," - The young bay mare cut Thistle off mid speech. "And I am quite capable of introducing myself." Her voice sounded quite annoyed. "Sorry." Muttered Thistle. Most of the horses were looking a lot less hostile now, which gave Willow a little bit of confidence. She took a step forward. "My name is Willow and it is nice to meet you all. Thank you for letting me join your herd." She dipped her head in respect to the leader. "It is nice to meet you too, Willow," responded Blaze, "And we hope that you will quickly learn the ways of our herd." After a moment, Blaze spoke again, this time addressing the whole herd, "We must now continue on our way to find our new grazing grounds. Is everyone ready?" Ready for what? Thought Willow. Are we going to gallop? The horses quickly got into their positions. Willow wasn't really sure where she was supposed to be, so she just trotted over to the back of the herd and stood behind Thistle and Breeze. "I think we're ready!" called out Splash, and all the horses, apart from Willow, nodded in agreement. Blaze started off at a trot and the rest of the herd followed. Soon they broke into a canter, and then a gallop. Willow had never galloped before but it was an amazing feeling and not like anything she had ever experienced when she was a human. She relished the feeling of the wind blowing through her mane and tail, while her hooves pounded the grass below her. After a few minutes had passed, the herd slowed down before coming to an abrupt halt. "This is it! These are our new grazing grounds!" called out a voice from the front. Willow instantly recognised it as being Blaze's voice.

She looked around her, taking in her new surroundings. The grass was so beautiful and lush here and there was a stream nearby that they could drink from. Flowers were dotted amongst the grass too, making it a very pretty sight. Willow looked up to see a beautiful purple butterfly fluttering around above her head. She watched it for a little while, until it fluttered away out of sight. Willow suddenly noticed a horse walking towards her, out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see who it was. It was Splash, the young black & white mare. "Hi Willow," said Splash, her voice sounding welcoming. "Hi," said Willow shyly. "What do you think of the herd?" asked Splash gently. "Well I've hardly been in the herd yet, but I think it's okay. It will be better once I get to know everyone though and have learnt the ways of the herd. At the moment I don't really know where I should be or what I should be doing," said Willow. Splash nodded, a very understanding look in her eyes. "I'm sure you will adjust to herd life quickly," she said. After a moment of silence Splash spoke again, "So where are you from anyway? What brought you to the grassy plains?" She sounded very curious. "Well," said Willow uncertainly, "This is probably not going to make any sense to you, but... I'm actually a human. I found this ghostly silver horse last night and when I tried to touch it I ended up on the grassy plains where you found me. And I had been turned into a horse..." Willow paused, "It's almost as if I was turned into the horse I tried to touch..." she trailed off. Splash looked as if she knew exactly what Willow was talking about, making her feel rather hopeful. Maybe she can help me figure out how to get back to the human world thought Willow. But when Splash spoke it was not at all what Willow expected. "You poor thing," said Splash, "You must have hit your head really hard, and its caused you to have a strange dream as well as memory loss. But don't worry - your memory will hopefully come back with time." Splash looked sympathetic but at the same time Willow felt almost certain that Splash really did know what she was talking about, but just wasn't letting on. "You really must have hit your head," snickered a voice from behind Willow. Willow jumped, not realising there was a horse behind her, eavesdropping on their conversation. She spun around to face a young bay mare. It was Breeze. "I mean who even comes up with those sorts of things? I've never even heard of a human," said Breeze, rolling her eyes. Theres no use arguing with her thought Willow. She'll only think I'm crazy. So instead of arguing back with Breeze, she simply agreed with her, "I guess you must be right and I really did hit my head." "Anyway," said Splash, butting in, "We will help you to learn the ways of the herd, and look out for you until your memory returns," she paused for a moment, "Won't we Breeze," she added in a lowered tone, looking directly at Breeze. Breeze looked as if she was about to argue, but then decided not to. "Sure," was all she said in a rather sarcastic tone, before she turned and trotted off. "Ignore her," said Splash, "She's not particularly friendly to anyone." 

Chapter 4:

Willow awoke to someone nudging her. She blinked open her eyes and saw that it was still night time. "What is it?" asked Willow, still half asleep. "I need to talk to you," said a quiet voice, "It's me - Splash."

"Okay," said Willow, wondering why Splash couldn't just wait till the morning to talk to her. "And we need to be away from here so we don't wake the others up," added Splash. Willow sighed and pulled herself to her feet. She could see Splash quite clearly now and was able to make out her black and white markings. "This way," said Splash quietly, leading the way, away from the herd. Willow turned and followed her through the moonlit grass. They didn't stop until the herd was so far in the distance that they couldn’t be seen. Splash turned to face Willow. "I'm sorry I woke you up," she said, "It's just that I have something I need to talk to you about and I don't want any other horses overhearing it." "That's okay," said Willow. There was an awkward moment of silence before Splash spoke again. "I do know that you are from the human world and have been turned into a horse," started Splash. "You do?" asked Willow, "How?" "I know that you are from the human world because I asked for you. I pretended to not know what you were talking about earlier because Breeze was listening. If we tell the herd where you are from, they will probably think we are crazy... So I think it will be better if we just keep it between us," said Splash. Willow nodded, although she still felt a bit confused. "I can understand what you mean about not telling the herd. And I was quite certain earlier that you really did know what I was talking about and just wasn't letting on... But..." Willow paused uncertainly, "What do you mean when you say that you 'asked for me'?" "Well," began Splash, "About a year ago I met this wise old horse who gave me a quest to save the herds." "Save the herds?" asked Willow, "There's more than one herd? Why do they need saving?" Willow had so many questions. "There is meant to be at least three herds," replied Splash. "A number of years ago there was a great storm and a lot of horses disappeared. Some say they all perished in the storm while others think they could still be out there somewhere..." Splash paused. Willow felt a shiver run down her spine. "Since the great storm, the herds have gotten smaller and smaller and some have even disappeared completely." said Splash, her voice sounding rather hopeless. There was a moment of silence. "So how will you save the herds?" asked Willow, breaking the silence. "Well... I need to find more horses that are willing to join the herds. The only problem is that I don't know where to start and I don't feel like I can do it on my own... It's already been a year and I have pretty much achieved nothing." "So that's why you asked for me?" asked Willow. "Yes," replied Splash, "I went back to the wise old horse three days ago and told him I can't do it alone and there is no horse in the herd that would be willing to help me. So he told me he would send for someone in the human world..." Willow nodded, trying to take it all in. Why was I chosen? How will I be of any help to Splash? I don't even know anything about the herds or this strange world! And when will I get to go home? Will Dad get worried when he realises I'm not at home? Will he think I've run away? Will he even notice? Questions raced through her head, almost overwhelming her. "I understand that it's a lot to take in." said Splash gently, "But once we have completed the quest you will be able to return home and it will be as if no time has passed." No time will have passed? Thought Willow. Does this world exist outside of time? How is that even possible? "We should probably get back to the herd before they notice we're gone," said Splash quietly, interrupting Willow's thoughts. "We can talk about it more tomorrow." Splash's voice was gentle and understanding. She turned and began to trot back towards the herd. Willow quickly followed, questions still racing through her head. 

To Be Continued...