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Fletcher and Thatcher found themselves hanging around the outskirts of the human village again. As foals they had spent quite a bit of time at the village when they weren’t getting kidnapped or hunted or ambushed by random enemies of Lorenna and her network. As adults they still seemed to spend a great deal of time here. It came from following Lorenna around. When she had business to attend to in the village, or anywhere else that didn’t require secrecy, the twins would tag along to keep her company and assure her safety. Today her business would take a long time, she had promised them as much, and the brothers were more than happy to hang around outside the village to watch the comings and goings. It was harder to do this now than it had been when they were children as they garnered quite a bit of attention. Thatcher often joked that it was because they were just so pretty, far too pretty to be ignored. Fletcher thought that his brother was actually spot on in his assessment even if Thatcher didn’t think he was. Fletcher had observed, over time, that most of the looks they got came from females, or at least the long looks. Even when they were foals they got quick double-takes just because there were two and folk assumed they were seeing things.

“I wonder how much that guy had to eat to get his stomach like that.” Thatcher was saying as he idly observed a dappled grey walking by with bright blue streaks in their mane and tail. Fletcher spared the soquili in question a glance and snorted at his brother. The soquili was definitely round in the belly but not for the reasons Thatcher was thinking.

“Thatcher...that’s a mare and she’s not fat, she’s pregnant.” Fletcher watched with great amusement as his brother’s eyes boggled. For a few moments Thatcher made sounds like he had sprung a leak before diverting his attention elsewhere. He found a speckled and striped mare chasing after what looked to him like a small deer with unusually large ears.

“You don’t think that’s one of us, do you, Fletcher?” Thatcher prompted narrowing his eyes at the little tan thing. It could be a cerynei, possibly, if he squinted just right.

Fletcher shook his head. “It looks too small...” He said then paused.

”Ummm...should we move?” The creature had just taken a turn towards them.

Dita saw the cerynei stallions before Gwendolen did but only because her focus was no longer on the pronghorn. She assumed Gwen could get him like she always did. She assumed wrong. Dita watched as Dart headbutted his friend, mercifully not spiking her with his horns, and took off again leaving Gwendolen to topple back into the stallions behind her. They seemed just as surprised by the events as everyone else was.

Dita hurried over to the cluster of soquili to check on her friend to find her babbling about seeing double. Dita shook her head. "No Gwen, I see them too. They're uh...twins?" She thought that was the term. Dita hadn't met any twins but she knew a few mares who had them. "Are...you two okay?" Somehow this always happened when chasing Dart. Others got dragged into it against their will.

Gwendolen had to admit she was equally relieved to hear that there really were two of them and that they were okay. She smiled as she got back onto her feet and nodded politely to the twins that she could have injured. "I'm alright, thank you." She said looking them both over more carefully. If not for their expressions and crowns they would have looked exactly they same. They even sounded alike. Though with those similar faces they seemed to have decided that Dart was a bad creature and she couldn't have that.

"Oh no, no. Dart's my friend he just gets a little rambunctious from time to time. We're trying to stop him before he hurts somebody by accident." She stopped realizing what she had just said. "Well, anyone else I suppose. It's hard though."

Dart veered sharply away from Gwendolen as she came in close. Her lime green hooves bit into the ground so furiously that she was kicking up small rocks pelting anyone that came in too close behind her. She came around the other side of Dart to get him to turn in the other direction towards the trees. The twins had made this idea sound much simpler than it was actually turning out to be. Dart did not want to move in any predictable fashion but at least he wasn't ramming into soquili now. Though actually tricking him to run into the woods where Fletcher and Thatcher were waiting to trap him "cerynei style" was proving difficult. "Dart please!" She called sounding entirely breathless. "Enough for the day!"

Dita could see that her friend was struggling to get Dart to cooperate. It wasn't surprising, he was built for running through open areas like horses were. The trees would put him at a disadvantage. He must have realized that and was refusing to do anything that they wanted him to. Really they should have thought of this. Dart was no mindless animal. He was a spirit touched as the rest of them. Tricking him was no easy feat. With any luck the cerynei would recognize their struggle and come help out in the open. If the didn't it was going to be a long afternoon.

Dart had no intentions of stopping for the day. It was more than obvious to Gwen but that wasn't stopping her from pleading with the little critter. His refusal to listen was bringing her closer and closer to tears though. She couldn't get him to the trees. Even with Dita trying to herd him with her didn't seem to be doing much. They were now side by side with the pronghorn in front of them. There would be no trapping him like this. They could only chase him and hope that he tired out before they did. That was unlikely.

"Dart, don't you want to play in the trees?" She called making a last ditch effort to salvage their plan. The pronghorn just flicked his tail rudely at her. Tears started pricking at Gwendolen's eyes. It was just too much. She had thought that Dart had been a blessing to help her enjoy life but not she was fairly convinced that his entire purpose was to give her grief. She just wanted to do her work and find a new home and she could do neither thing with her familiar running rampant.

Just as she was about to stop to cry movement to the side caught her attention. She turned just as Thatcher called out to her and came to an immediate stop with wide eyes. They had been in the woods some distance away from them. How fast were they moving that they could catch up so easily? Gwendolen opened her mouth to thank them for coming to the rescue but the only thing that came out was a stammered question. "H-how?!"

The two passed the girls quickly in pursuit of their springy target. Equally springy themselves they were able to match the pronghorn’s movements easily enough. He’d turn and run to the left or right quite suddenly and they would simply angle their leaps to follow after. His sharp turns allowed the cerynei twins to close the gap but unless Dart made several more they’d likely never catch up, the little bugger was fast.

Fletcher was the first to glance over when a voice on the wind tickled at his ear. He grinned to see Dita there. He had been fairly certain that the two would listen to his little brother and sit the rest of the chase out. They had been running after him all day. It didn’t take Thatcher long to notice after his brother did but he ended up laughing gleefully. It was good to have help.

“Let’s follow her lead.” Fletcher said picking up his pace just a little. Thatcher followed his example and before long the two were gaining on the pronghorn. It wasn’t an easy pace to keep and they both knew they’d only get the one shot but they were confident that it would work. They came to the pronghorn at the side and as expected it turned sharply in the other direction so that it was heading to Dita.

“Get him!” Thatcher shouted a little too enthusiastically before he stumbled over his own hooves.