Moonlight Ride

First of all, I have to say that I am Soooooo Proud of this!

I tried a new shadowing angle (I guess) and Goddess I love it I had to burn the sky a little to darken it and had to get rid of the sun (the heal tool DOES NOTHING)

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I was reading a book on my bed with Ivy and Darius on either side of me, warming my legs through my jeans. I looked over at the clock. 1:03am it read. I rubbed my eyes and closed the book. I was quite tired and I now knew why.
Screw it. I thought. I'll have shower in the morning.
I kicked off my boots and they fell to the floor by my bed. I slid down from my sitting position and the dogs snuggled closer. I drifted to sleep without much trouble.

"Izzy?" I heard a voice through the barrier of sleep.
"Go away." I grumbled.
I felt a hand on my shoulder that gently rocked.
"I swear, Stark." I knew it was him.
"Sit up for a sec."
I growled and rolled onto my back to face him. My eyes weren't working yet so I could see nothing but I blurry figure standing over my bed.
"You're making a terrible habit of this." I growled.
"Sorry." He said. "I just came to get you. I want to show you something."
"Can't it wait until morning?"
"No. It's tonight only."
I sighed and tried to open my eyes.
"Come on, I see you're already dressed."
I growled again and hauled my tired body out of the comfy bed. Pulling my boots on, I thought about what he could possibly want to show me at, I looked at the clock, 3 in the morning.
"If this isn't worth it, he's fired." I told the dogs that were disturbed when I moved away.
I emerged from the house to see Chevy tacked up in a western saddle and a two-ear bridle on the outside of the fence of the paddock. At first I thought Stark had foolishly left him tacked out here all night, until I saw him pet the stallion and climb up onto his back.
"Come on, we're already late!" He called.
Utterly bewildered, I went out the gate and towards them both.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You'll have to wait and see." In the darkness I saw him smile.
I yawned. "I'll go tack Pistol th…"
"No time." He interrupted. "Hop up." He offered his hand. I was a bit sceptical. I had only just met this guy a couple of days ago and already he was offering to take me on a moonlight mystery ride on his horse.
"Come on, don't you trust me?"
Against my better judgement, I took his hand and used the fence as a mounting block. I got up behind him and let my feet dangle without a hold. Stark gently kicked and Chevy walked towards the drive way.
We soon reached the road and turned left, away from town.
"If we're going to get there in time, we have to canter, so I'd hold on."
I wasn't going to hold on to him. But when the horse started to gallop, I felt myself slipped backwards and I instinctively reached forward for Stark. I circled my arms around his waist and pulled myself forward. He turned his head and smiled cockily. I rolled my eyes at his childish behaviour and looked out at the country side that rolled past. Everything looked different with moonlight bouncing off it. The fields we past were turned a watery shade of blue as the moon provided enough natural light to see ahead. The wind whipped my hair against my face and chilled my skin. I instantly wished I'd picked up a jacket. I huddled closer to Stark to try and steal some of his body warmth. He obviously felt it because his torso started to vibrate rapidly as he started to laugh.
"What?" I called.
"It's nothing." He called over the wind. "Like me a little better do you?" He put his free hand on my thigh. I gasped and quickly brushed him off.
"No! I'm just cold, you idgit!"
"Sure, sure."
"If you're going to be like this, then just take me back now!" I called in disgust.
That seemed to work.
"Ok, I'm sorry." He said. "We're almost there."
Chevy was turned into a trail that led off from the dirt road that we were traveling on. It was quite well covered by undergrowth and weeds, but was still visible. We walked for a little while before Stark spoke up.
"Close your eyes." I sighed and did as he said.
I felt Chevy stop and heard the heavy trickle of water that you hear by a stream. The place was dead silent other than the water and I thought it was beautiful.
"Ok, you can open them now."
I opened my eyes and looked around the clearing that lay in front of us. A small stream flowed to the right of us and the space was infested with gum trees, as high far as the eye could see. The moon was at an angle that cast long shadows from the gums and made the clearing look uninviting.
Stark swiftly dismounted and offered his hand to help me down. I slipped forward into the saddle and put my foot into the left stirrup. I swung my left leg over and searched for the ground. Chevy was a little bit taller than Pistol and I wasn't used to the height, so when I found the ground, I slipped forward a little and fell backwards.
Instead of the cold ground against my back, I felt strong supporting arms pull me back up.
"You ok?" Stark asked.
I found my balance again and turned to face him. "Yeah, fine." I said, brushing off his concern. "Why are we here?"
Stark smiled and pointed up to the starry sky. I raised one eyebrow at him.
"You dragged me out here to look at the sky?" He looked away in mock frustration then took hold of my head and made me look up.
My mouth dropped. Beautiful bright dots with shining tails raced across the sky, leaving a lingering trail of dust behind it.
"Tonight's a meteor shower." Stark explained, looking up into the night sky.
I was immediately captivated by the natural event.
"It's beautiful…" I whispered.
"I know." Stark replied.

Both of us had started to get sore necks from looking up constantly, but Stark was prepared. He pulled the picnic rug that acted as Chevy's temporary saddle blanket, from underneath the western saddle that he had taken off the stallion. He laid it out on the ground and lay down on it.
Stark patted the blanket next to him. I weighed my options. My neck was sore from looking up so I sat down on the end of the blanket and lay down. I kept as far away from the stable hand as possible and again looked to the sky to view more of the shower.

I woke up feeling frozen. I sat up and looked around. Stark and I were still in the clearing. I looked at the sky and saw the shower was over. I must have fallen asleep in the middle of it.
I wrapped my arms around myself and looked around again. I could hardly see anything 5 centimetres in front of my face. The moon had been covered by thick clouds and had no light to offer.
I yawned and gently pulled Stark's arm up to look at his watch. He was asleep too and was snoring quietly. 4:00am it read.
"Stark." I shook him gently.
"Mmmhhmm." He groaned, looking up at me.
"We fell asleep." I said. "We have to get back."
He chuckled and closed his eyes again. "You fell asleep." He said. "I just didn't have the heart to wake you."
I pushed his. "For once."
He laughed and turned over. "Anyway, we can't go because we can't see anything." He said. "We'll wait 'til first light."
Almost immediately, he started snoring again. I sighed deeply and lay back down again. I was still cold and I vigorously rubbed my arms in an attempt to warm up. I was about to drift off to sleep again, when I felt a something warm slip onto my shoulders and over the upper half of my body. My eyes opened and saw the red plaid of Stark's jacket. I sat up and saw Stark settled back down in his spot. He had just a shirt like mine on now and I felt bad for taking his jacket.
I shifted closer and lay down with my back close to his. I threw the jacket over both of us and closed my eyes. Just as I was nearly asleep again, I felt Stark shuffle closer, but I didn't care, I just wanted more sleep.

I woke to a whinny from Chevy. The varnish roan stallion tossed his head as Stark patted his neck. I sat up and pulled the jacket around me. It was sunrise and shades of red, pink and yellow cut the sky.
I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "What time is it?" I asked.
"5:45." He replied. He walked over to me and offered his hand. I took it and shakily got up. Stark picked up the blanket and shook it out before folding it up and putting it across Chevy's back. He put the saddle on too and did up the girth and fastened the breast collar. He untied Chevy's reins from a thick branch and put them up on the horse's neck. I walked over to the horse's side and put my hand on him rump. His muscle twitched and relaxed again.
Stark helped me up first and climbed up. He turned Chev around and walked back towards the dirt road.

When we finally got back, it was about 6am and I nearly fell asleep on Chevy's back on more than one occasion on the ride.
I stood by the fence of the paddock, closing my eyes.
"You should go to bed." Stark said from right in front of me.
I nodded and walked right into him. He caught me and kissed my forehead before turning me in the right direction. I walked off and went inside. Bomber lifted his head from inside the dog house and barked a greeting. I didn't have the energy to say hello back and nearly walked into the glass door. I opened it and made a beeline for my room. I stomped up the stairs and collapsed into my bed.

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Long story, sorry

Stock references used:
Horse --- [link] --- By ~FiagaiStock
Horse's Legs --- [link] --- By ~BillTokioHotel

Stock used:
Background --- [link] --- By *RavenRidgeStables
Moon --- [link] --- By ~wachowicz
Jean texture --- [link] --- By ~Babybird-Stock

Tutorials:
Day to Night Tutorial --- [link] --- By ~H-D-STOCK (So helpful!)