"Ginger, wake up."

Ginger opened her eyes slightly, the bright light from the stable blinding her momentarily. She turned on her back and moaned, "I don't wanna go to school."

The voice again spoke. Ginger recognized as Marmalade, her mother, "Ha, it's not school! It's your breaking!"

Ginger shot up from her bale of hay and looked at her mother's calm face, clearly shocked, "Say WHAT now?" The breaking was a rite of passage that every foal looked forward to. This was when every foal got their first piece of armor and rank in the clan, and some of the lucky ones would join the army of the War Horses.

"Calm down, calm down, you should've seen this coming! Look how much you have grown! Your 14 years old!" Marmalade trotted toward Ginger, her body side by side by hers, "You're almost as tall as me!"

Ginger blushed in embarrassment, "Okay, okay. Let's get ready. I'll start grooming and-"

She was cut off by Marmalades's screech, "Oh, dragon-dung!" Ginger gasped. The word, dog-dung, was not a term you hear in civilized conversations. It's one of the worst horse-swears. Marmalade continued, "Excuse my language! Look at the time!" She glanced over Ginger's body to look at the moons position. This was the horses way of telling time. They did not have clocks, "It's almost midnight! Dust, are you ready?"

Dust was Ginger's father, a brave brown-and-white horse with iron armor in his corner of the stable. She had heard a great deal about him, great stuff. He looked up from his bale of hay, tired. He spoke, "Ready as I will ever be." He got up, shaking his mane, and turned toward Ginger, "Are you ready, Ginger?"

She straightened out her mane in a flash and smiled worryingly, "Yep! Let's hurry! No time, no time!"

* * *

The family walked out of the stable door quickly just to find Gravel, a white-and-dark gray foal outside, smiling brightly. He was not one of the foals getting their first armor. He was way far away from that, "Hey! Whatcha doing! Are you going to your breaking? Tell me ALL ABOUT IT!" Gravel grinned insanely.

"Whoa, whoa there. I'll tell you when I get back," Ginger lowered down to touch noses with the young foal, "Come on, Dust and Marmalade! It's almost time, literally!"

* * *

The gang walked through the gates of the temple, their hooves clopping on the cobblestone floor. The guards to the palace stiffened. One of the guards spoke to Dust, "State your desire."

Dust spoke in a low tone, "We are here to take my daughter to her breaking."

The guard nodded and pointed the way to the ceremonial room. Marmalade, Dust, and Ginger trotted toward the room, the torches illuminating their faces. This was it. The most important moment in her life.

"Everything will be fine," Ginger thought, closing her eyes, "everything will be just fine."