To Be A Woman

"Just a few more laps, come on, Mabel you can do it!" Kirin cheers, the stallion ushering me to run a the last few laps of my daily training regimen. I push myself down to the wire, skidding to a stop and panting heavily. Kirin rushes up to me, giving me a playful nudge as he chatters away about how great my time was. Stephano looks on curiously, looking every so often toward the river and then back at me. My cheeks flush under his gaze, but thankfully, neither stallion seems to notice.

"How'd I do?" I ask, and Kirin cheerily calls out my time on the clock, to which I sigh in relief. Ten seconds less than last time may not seem like much, but when working with a team, it means everything. We all want to be in pique condition for the next competition, so any time we can shave off means mountains to the rest of those participating. Stephano moves in closer, checking the time on the clock before looking at me with the cutest grin any stallion could muster.

"Buen trabajo, Mabel, look at those numbers! You'll be catching up to me in no time!" he exclaims, shoving into me playfully and causing a dark blush to erupt across my face and down my neck.  It's no secret that I harbor one of the biggest crushes on that man that anyone has ever seen, and I cannot help but having one when he does thing like that! After my cool-down. we head to the river, where our next training session was to commence.

"This should be a good spot," Kirin huffs, grabbing the large ropes from Stephano's back and setting them down on the riverbank. The two boys head over to wrap one end of the rope to some fallen trees, to which we wanted to help clear from the river-way. A group of fillies watches us from the other side, giggling and chattering away about how handsome the two stallions beside me are. Kirin gives them an excited wave and an innocent smile, making the fillies squeal and gossip louder. My heart deflates watching them rest under the willow trees, talking about everything and anything, just being... girls.

As a foal, I always knew I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and become top in my Combined Driving team, however there has always been a part of me that had wished to be a bit more girly, to be able to find interest in the things other fillies my age were interested in. I was bullied a lot by the girls my age for being a bit too boyish for them, and I wanted nothing more than to fit in with them, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't bring myself to say I truly enjoyed anything that they did. As I grew older, I thought that I had moved on from such trivial thoughts, but every now and then I find myself longing for something I've never had. I'm broken out of my reverie by Stephano, who hoists the makeshift rope harness around me, looking at me worriedly when I don't match his signature grin.

"Okay you two, you ready?" Kirin calls out from beside me, and Stephano takes his place on the other side of him, nodding in agreement. I sigh, forcing a smile onto my face and giving him a look of determination, which he grins in response to, "Alright then, go!" We dig deep, our muscles straining to move the logs with all our might. We hear them give way to our efforts, and we pull them effortlessly down the river and to the brush-pile the human had made farther upstream. After making sure they were secure, Kirin gives a whoop in celebration, to which triggers Stephano to begin a wrestling match with the older male. I stand aside and watch the two roughhouse, laughing when Kirin gains the upper hand and pins the Barcelonian beauty into the dirt. He begins frantically chattering in Spanish, though neither of us know what he's saying, however it gets Kirin to get let him go and Stephano shakes the dust from his fur.

By the time the last of our training is finished, it's dark, the moon overhead allowing us to make it back home without running into one another. Stephano and I say our goodbyes to Kirin, who makes his way inside the barn, leaving the two of us (plus my thoughts) alone. I shuffle my hooves, looking off toward the riverbank where Stephano's eyes are trained on a small group of mares heading toward us. Leading the charge is Camila, who catches Stephano's gaze and smiles at him, to which he throws her playful wink. She flushes, rolling her eyes and looking over her shoulder at Georgia, who breaks off from the group with Lily and Charlotte. I immediately see the tenseness in his shoulder subside, Camila playfully swatting him with her tail as she passes him to enter the barn. He pays no mind, watching as the three females in front of us loiter around, Charlotte squeaking at something Georgia has said and Lily letting out a loud snort.

"Why don't you join them, amiga?" I hear Stephano call out to me softly, and I look at him, his beautiful brown eyes searching mine with concern. I laugh sheepishly, looking back toward the three girls who have now resorted to nipping at each other and running around.

"I'm... just not into girly stuff I guess," I softly reply, staring at my hooves and trying to look anywhere else but at him. "As much as I wish I could fit in, I just... can't."

"That's what has you so upset? Mabel, mira," he whispers, motioning back to the girls. At that moment Lily is hitting the ground with a thud, bringing a squeaking Charlotte with her and wrestling her into her own little headlock. The girls are laughing loudly, Georgia rolling in the dirt beside them and trying to catch her breath. I laugh along too, the contagious sound too much to bear and Stephano does the same, looking back over to me with sparkling eyes, "You see, Mabel, girls like to wrestle too. Just because you might not be interested in most things women do doesn't mean you are less of a woman yourself. You can love and enjoy whatever you want to, remember that." He says, looking back up to see the three ladies shaking themselves off and moving closer to the barn, Georgia and Charlotte playfully nudging a flustered Lily toward the two of us. They pass us with a short and sweet greeting, and Stephano meets Lily halfway, the two of them immediately in their own little word as quick and easy banter is exchanged between them. Stephano looks back up toward me, nodding and wishing me a good night, and I smile ruefully in return, retreating into the dark recesses of my stable.

I watch the two of them from over the wall of my stall, watching the two of them converse. It's no secret Stephano is madly in love with the girl, I really have no chance, but truly Lily is the only one for him. I smile, my heart breaking, yet filling with a warmth I couldn't deny. Lily isn't the most feminine herself, yet she fits in with just about anyone she decides to speak to. If she can do it, so can I, so maybe tomorrow I will say hello to her and see where it takes me.