If I had loved her this much all along.. [Frolic&Spin]

The stallion seemed distant for a moment, a halfhearted smile growing across his lips. She was so dark now... But maybe he could change that.

"Shall we take her home, then?" His gaze shifted to the filly a ways down the shore, beckoning her with a soft nicker. Bellatrix lifted her fine head with basket handle in mouth, earning her a chuckle from her Grandfather.

The filly pricked up her tail as she trotted over to her elders, innocence and hope gleaming in her ruby eyes. Maybe seeing everyone together would help open Frolic's eyes, Spin hoped silently while awaiting her reply. Maybe she'd have hope.

She smiled at the filly, more than willing to take her home; to hopefully see the others. Before she got too close though, Frolic looked to Spin and said quietly, We've both been broken; can we build something whole from the pieces we are?

She'd seen him go distant; it worried her. If nothing else, she would stay with him to make sure he would be alright. Maybe they could finish healing each other; although she didn't think she needed healing. At least her mind wasn't splintered any more.

Come, she said to Belly, lowering her nose to look in the basket with interest, let's go show everyone what lovely treasures you found. And then you can show me around a bit, hm? I'd love to visit your home.

A slight shrug was given, not expressing in words as the filly drew near. He tossed her a sidelong glance, before smiling down at Bella.

"Well little one... Lead the way."

Bellatrix grinned, then proceeded to spin on a dime and haul off across the field away as fast as her tiny legs would carry her. Spin couldn't help the toothy grin that cracked his lips, she was most definitely of their bloodline. Couldn't walk anywhere, it was either running or standing. He reared suddenly, muscles bunching in his haunches to propel him forward after his granddaughter.

The ground between them was quickly ate away before they even reached the treeline, he threw a glance over his shoulder as both their ashen blue and black tails slipped between the trees.

Frolic grinned as well as she followed hot on their heels. The slowest she moved even now was at a trot; it felt right that they should all thunder off.

And as she was still Frolic, however much she'd changed, she couldn't quite help nipping playfully at the foal's tail and prancing over to bump Spin's side with her nose. Decision making wasn't her strongest suit; action was. This was action, and it was here that she again felt that old connection.

If this was to work she knew she'd need more than listlessness from him; but if she could see this hint at there being something left inside him then she could find some small bit of hope. It was odd, for her to be the one that didn't believe in hope while he was the one that seemed hollow and drained.

Until now. Now, she tried to jostle him a bit, tried to bump the filly's rear with her nose, let herself laugh from the run of it. Things would be serious enough when they got there; for now, she could enjoy moving with the two that gave her reason to try for that which she'd given up on.

Bellatrix squealed and flipped her tail over her back as she pranced a few steps before leaping back into stride. She continued to stay in the lead, Spin purposely hanging back to observe. Frolic had been a big part of him for a long time... And when he thought she was gone, he still tried carrying her with him where ever he went. But now she was different, he wasn't sure if it was the same mare he had been breathing for all this time.

That was where the realizations made him seem distant. He was just contemplating and watching. Until she began playing around, then he felt a small weight lift off his shoulders and he seemed to ease. A sly smirk licked up the corners of his mouth and he snaked his head sideways and lip at her shoulder, only to dart to the side immediately after and lengthen his stride to begin catching up to the filly. They were beginning to get close.

Summer Solstice was the first to hear the thundering hooves, his soft nicker echoed in the trees around him to announce the approaching visitors. He began fighting his way through the brush, while SaphireSpin and Ether exited a hut on the top of a hill in a clearing. Stice appeared at the treeline before them, ears flicking back as he watched Spin and Bellatrix slow to a walk as they burst through the trees.

Saphire was about to trot down the hill to greet them, but paused when Ether didn't budge. He stared into the trees, waiting for someone the siblings had no clue was there.

She laughed, prancing to the side and speeding up, trying to match him move for move. For that one, sweet, beautiful moment it was as it used to be; for that one moment, she lost herself again in that delicious love they had once shared.

It was still there; it was still real. Different now, changed through what they'd gone through, but still there. He was, under all of it, still her Spin. Still the one she needed. How had she ever believed she could settle for someone else, to replace this need for companionship with another? It wasn't a need for a companion, a need for future; it was a need for him.

Then they burst through the treeline and, without thinking, she followed; just trotted right out on their heels. And she saw them; her foals, so long since she'd seen them last, and the strange stallion - the one that had used her daughter. She felt an ear flick back, but gave no other indication. Sapphy was grown now; beyond her guidance. If her daughter was comfortable with it, if he was a decent father, then she couldn't say a word.

And Stice; the one to announce their arrival. She hardly remembered when she'd seen them, when she'd still been shattered; if anything, Frolic felt guilty for that. They'd found her, they'd known her, but she'd hardly been able to string a full thought together.

Still, she kept her head high; stepped closer to Spin. That one motion said so much. Her eyes stayed on the others, on her foals that were now grown; for all indication she seemed to be ignoring the stranger. But it was Spin that she moved towards, Spin that she needed to be close to, Spin that she knew was still hers.

Belly's home, she said, And so is Mama.