Ranger hopped forward in alarm but stopped, not wanting to slam into her. He didn't let his expression show much anymore, it fading into a stony look as he looked at Angel. He finally went to get moss, soaked it in the river, and wiped the dust, blood, and grime off with it. Ranger bit the headstall off and pawed it away, looking a little... angry

"Woah." she said when she finally saw the wounds. They were bad. "How does a mare get this beat up?" she asked nobody in particular. "Except when you hang around Spider and his gang..." she muttered to herself.

"Humans." Ranger snorted sourly, shaking her dark pelt. "There shouldn't be much of a question in that." He almost growled, pacing back to the river and getting a drink of water before coming back and standing a couple feet away from Angel. He had already done what he could for her wounds, pressing wet moss into them

"I've met a few." she said quietly. "They would never have done this..." Her voice was low, as if realizing that stallions may not be the only evil in this world. She was originally raised with humans. An amazing girl named Lila, and her treat giving brother, Denis.

Ranger lowered his head slightly, his eyes glazing over with sadness... like he was remembering a bad memory. "Some humans are good. Some try to help... but there are the dangrous ones. The ones that try to rip your pelt from your body. The ones that try to make you pull heavy equipment all day. The ones that, when they give up on taming you with whips, will send you to a meat store to be murdered and eaten by dogs." Ranger spat out the last part.

"Wait." she lifted her head with confusion, "how do you know this?"

For some reason, she noticed his voice, and the way he put that last part, as if it happened to him...

Ranger looked at the mare with the same cold harded gaze that had flooded his eyes when Angel came running up. "Because I was that horse humans captured. I was the one they whipped. I was the one they tied to a post for days with no food or water. I was the one they failed to *break*. I was the one that got sent in a meat truck. And last but certainly not least, I was the only horse that survived the crash of that meat truck, watched my herd die around me, and escaped back where I belonged." Rangere answered in a quiet voice, though it held no grief. Only a steely anger that showed as he looked back the way Angel came

"Wow." She said quietly, "I'm so sorry. I was originally born in a farm with humans. I had two people, Lila, my pet person, and Dennis, the treat bringer. They were really young, but they loved me, they were there from the day I was born till the day they had to move, and they let me free. Thinking that I would be happier in the place that I belong." Her gaze suddenly turned cold as she got to that part. As that was the part where she met Spider, who tricked her, manipulated her, fuelled her hatred for stallions.

Ranger flicked his ears to show he was listening to what she said. "I'm glad you had a good experiece with humans." He muttered, though he did cast a side-glance at her whe her gaze hardened. Ranger actually put the pieces together rather quickly, taking a long shot. "I'm guessing you met a rude stallion and that is now why you hate stallions?" He asked tenatively

"OK, you're smarter than you look!" she joked. "But yeah. I met Spider. You know, if I recall right, one of his buddies looked a lot like you..." She recalled. "He was only there for a little bit, saying he wanted to steal something or another, but no, it couldn't have been you. I think his name was Roger. I think?"