Tassels has a minion!

Rose the Carousella

'Creak' went the metal as it rubbed against its rusted hinges.

The wind blew through and, almost as though they were tumbleweeds, leaflets of paper rolled across the cracked cement. Weeds crept through the seams of the sidewalk and bugs and birds were the only signs of life within the chain link fence. The machines were prisoners in their own filth. Oil had long since dripped free from the engines of every ride, and moths had eaten through the plush prizes from the game tables. Vines had claimed the lowest quarter of the Ferris Wheel and were fighting to rise higher.

'Creak' the seats swung back and forth in another gust of wind.

The fence sagged on its poles and the metal links were wearing through as wind and rain burned through. Once in a while, a human would enter into the deserted fairground. Sometimes this resulted in theft of a prize or an important part from a motor, but more often the only result was broken glass and spilled alcohol around the park. Always, these visits caused a flurry of activity from the inhabitants of the carnival grounds as they hoped that each drunk or thief would be the one to return the carnival to its glory days.

- - -

Tassels stomped her hoof as the fence rattled once again as a man who could have been in his fifties (or perhaps he was younger. Age, for mechanical beings, did not make much sense) stumbled back through one of the rusty holes. Feather turned to look at the mare behind her sadly. Diablo, all the way across the carousel snorted in annoyance at the mares.

"I told you he was not the one." His leg thrust out as though he were pawing at the aluminum flooring though it was broken off at the knee.

Feather shook her mane at him before turning back to Tassels with a small smile. "The next one. Surely the next person will repair us. Someday we'll have the children back," she nickered. Without the care of a human, the horses' voices squeaked and groaned instead of being as smooth as satin around the metal bit.

Diablo laughed at the pair of them before his red eyes flashed against his black coat. "You silly mares don't get it. No one is coming. We've been forgotten and abandoned. No one wants to fix all this rubbish. Let it go."

"Someday, Tassels. Someday a little girl or boy will ride us again." Feather, who had once been a beautiful pink and gold horse was chipped and the paint had washed away nearly a decade before, leaving only the plastic and metal mold exposed. She hadn't given up hope, and neither had Tassels. She was more vocal about her beliefs than most of the other horses in the ring, and she and Diablo bickered often about a keeper.

"Hush, both of you," admonished Rose, the de facto leader of the ring for as long as any on the carousel could remember. She had been the first and had frequently been chosen by the parents of children who'd want mommy or daddy to ride as well. She rarely spoke, and Tassels jerked her own head up as the white mare spoke. "It is, perhaps, time we listen to Diablo. Humans lead such short lives any child who ever loved us is surely too old to care for this place. No others know we are here waiting. We have decayed too far beyond the capabilities of humans. There is a time for hope and faith, and it has passed."

Silver nodded forlornly, followed by Barnacle and Ribbons. Feather bowed her head and let herself hang limply on her pole in resignation. She had the faith and spirit to fight Diablo, but she could not argue with Rose and the rest of the ring.

Tassels was silent, but she was not going to give time the satisfaction of knowing he had defeated the entire carnival. If the rest of the carousel herd wished to forfeit to the rot and dust, it would not be because Tassels had not done everything in her power.

No carousel horse had ever done it before, but Tassels threw her weight against her pole in every direction. She kicked out, pushing herself off Silver's nose and cracking the dappled stallion's face in the process. It hurt nothing more than his ego, but pride was all any of the horses had left. None had their former glory and the children's love. No one was popular when the children were gone. With each kick and each thrust, Tassels felt the pole bend and sag. After several minutes, it began to crack.

Perhaps it was only because of the neglect that the pole could not withstand the battery any longer, or perhaps it had never been strong, but held the horses trapped in the circle by their minds, but every other horse in the ring stared in shock as Tassels tipped over and fell onto her side.

Outside the ring.

Rose sputtered protests at her lack of control over the situation. "Get back on the platform, Tassels. It isn't safe in the human world," she warned. "They will pull you apart, use you for parts. I command you to get back on the carousel."

The pole prevented her from standing easily, but with the remnants of magic in her body that allowed the carousel horses to move and speak let her tiptoe at least. The faded mare rose from the ground and stared around the ring.

"I do not believe they will hurt me, Rose," she croaked. It had been a long time since Tassels had used her voice, preferring to let Feather and Diablo and Rose speak. "The humans have always loved us. And if it is like you said, and they do not know we are here," Tassels turned and began to walk toward the hole in the fence through which so many humans had come and gone. The fence was no longer a prison and it was no protection for the carnival from Time or Weather. "If they don't know we're here, then someone has to show them."

It was easier to bounce, rising and falling as carousel horses do, toward the fence. It was faster too. Tassels used the bouncing to gather momentum, both physical and psychological, to get through the hole. Three. Two. One.

'Clang!' the sound of metal hitting metal as the pole snagged. Like any horse being tugged, Tassels began to panic and threw her front end toward the grass on the other side of the fence. It didn't work.

Laughter could be heard behind her, though to human ears it would sound like the screams of an un-oiled door hinge. As the initial panic passed, Tassels looked back at her herd, at Feather who watched sadly with her head still bowed low, and at the others who laughed at her misfortune with the fence. Delicately, the carousel mare untangled herself from the wire fence and reversed back into the fairgrounds. If she couldn't go through the hole, there were other options.

She got a running start to her leaps. Three. Two. On one she used all of the magic she could muster and soared over the rusting, sagging fence. The base of her pole snagged again, but this time she was flipped over to the other side. The side of freedom. For the rest of the evening, Tassels balanced on her pole and against an oak tree even older than the carnival was. For most of the night, the other horses kept vigil over her, but one by one they fell asleep.

By the time the sun rose to wake the carousel horses, Tassels had gone.

Art of Tassels:
[x] by Ankoku
[x] by User not found: anquatic
[x] by Shade