New Hope
    
The chopping of the helicopter’s blades echoed over the dust-brown plains. Strawberry paused to look up. It was gaining on them. . . .
    
Strawberry was the lead mare of one of the herds of the plains. They were being chased by a helicopter. She wasn’t sure why—but she was sure that she had to save her Herd.
    
I must.
    
They’d been running all day. Everyone was tiring, especially the foals. Strawberry didn’t know how she could protect them all. She didn’t know what to do!
    
I’m too young for this responsibility.
    
The helicopter drew in, its blades spinning dizzyingly fast. Strawberry willed her hooves to carry her even faster, as sand whirled above the fleeing herd.
    
Clouds streamed across the sky, stained blood-red from the setting sun, while Strawberry’s coat gleamed in their reflection.
    
Please, we have to make it!
    
Strawberry lifted her muzzle and whinnied hope to the others. “Just a little farther!” she cried. She didn’t know this for a fact, but she had to keep up their spirits or they had no chance at all.
    
Suddenly, out of the clouds of sand that had been obscuring Strawberry’s vision, a cliff of gray stones rose up before them, startling the horses. They skidded to a halt, and the helicopter closed in.
    
Then Strawberry spotted a cleft in the wall of stone—just big enough for a horse to slip through. She didn’t like going into caves . . . but the cave wasn’t big enough for a helicopter to get in.
    
“IN THERE!” she shouted.
    
The Herd streamed through the hole, a thundering mass of hooves and bodies. They ran blindly down a long, dark tunnel, hooves pounding.
    
At last, they emerged. There was a general gasp of wonder that rippled through the Herd. They stood in a huge cavern—so big that Strawberry could not see where it ended. A beautiful waterfall gushed down into a rippling underground stream, trees lined the banks, and there was enough grass to last them for years. Outside, the helicopter circled away.
    
They could live here. They’d found their new home. Their new hope.