“Dashie! Where are you, Dashie?” I heard Daddy calling me. I was sat inside the box fort we had made earlier that day, when Daddy came in and peeked inside the window. I giggled as he looked inside for me, I liked hiding. Daddy soon walked away from the box, so I jumped out the door.

“Boo!” I said. Daddy turned around and smiled at me.

“There you are Dashie! Do you want to go outside and play, now that the sun has come out?” He said. I smiled. I liked going outside.

“Yes please!” I nodded. I ran to the back door and sat down by it. Daddy came over and turned the handle. As the door opened, I smelt the fresh air and the flowers. I ran out through the gap as soon as possible, and began jumping around on the grass. It felt nice on my hooves, it tickled them. As I jumped about, Daddy came out and started tidying up my favourite flower bed. I  ran into it, the flowers were so tall and I couldn't see where I was going, it was like a maze. They smelled lovely as I ran through them too.

I soon came to the long grass at the far end of the garden. Daddy warned me not to go too far, but I liked running around in it, it was taller than the flowers, and was like being in a big jungle. I ran around in the grass for a bit, and liked trying to find the flowers among the grass, and pretending I was an explorer.

As I played, I heard rustling near me. “Daddy?” I asked. As I sat down, the grass moved behind me. I turned around, and a furry, brown thing walked out in front of me. I think it was a dog, like I'd seen on TV. “Hello doggy!” I said, smiling. “Do you want to play?” The doggy made a “gwwwr” noise back at me.

“Tee hee!” I giggled. I liked that noise. “GWWWR!” I said back loudly. The doggy walked closer and started sniffing me. I sniffed it back, and It smelt funny, but I wanted to play, so I started running about. The doggy began chasing me, it wanted to play too! I ran about giggling, I liked having someone different to play with.

It was still behind me, as I could hear it panting. It sounded tired, so I slowed down so it could catch me, when I felt it pull on my tail! It really hurt as it pulled tightly. “Oww!” I said. I felt like crying, it hurt a lot. The doggy then made a louder “gwwwr” sound than before, and it pulled harder on my tail. It started pulling me backwards, and some of my tail hairs came out. It let go, and started chewing on them.

I was scared now, and started running as fast as I could, trying to go back to Daddy. The doggy was chasing me faster, making it's “gwwwr” noise, louder than before. But I was lost in the long grass, I didn't know where the house was, and the doggy was close behind me. “Daddy! Daddy help!” I yelled.

“Dashie? Dashie, what's wrong?” I heard Daddy say. I ran to the sound of his voice, and saw him standing above me. I ran past him indoors, the doggy was still following me. I ran inside the house, and  into my box fort. I hoped I would be safe in there. The doggy was too big for it, so it started chewing on the wall. It was really scary.

“Daddy! Daddy help!” My fort was shaking about as the doggy ripped the box. I curled up in a ball and tried to hide as far away from the doggy. It soon stuck its head inside the hole it made, and started biting at me, its lips were all wet. “Ahhhh!” I squealed. It was so close, I felt it breathing on me. “Go away!” I squeaked. “Daddy, Help!” I was so scared, I had an accident in my box fort.

I closed my eyes, hoping it would go away soon. I put my hooves over my ears to try and hide the sounds. I heard Daddies voice shouting something, and then my box stopped moving. I sat in my box, shaking. After a minute, I uncovered my ears, and looked up at the hole the doggy made. It was gone, but I didn't hear Daddy.

“Daddy?” I said, hoping he was out there. “Daddy, are you there? I'm scared.” There was no answer. I crept to the window in my box, and looked outside. As I did, Daddy bent down and looked in. “Ahh!” I screamed and ran back, bumping into the wall.

“Ohh, Dashie. I didn't mean to startle you.  Come on out, it's safe now.” He said. I tried to move, but found myself unable to. I sat cowering in the corner. Daddy reached in and picked me up, carrying me out of the box. He started stroking my mane. “Are you okay, Dashie? Did the mean dog bite you?” He asked.

“It...it bit my tail Daddy. It didn't bite me anywhere else, but It was so scary.” I said. I looked at my tail, it had bitten half of it off. It looked all mangled and rough. I buried my head into daddies sleeve, and cried.

“Shush, it's okay Dashie. We'll get you clean, and tidy your tail up.” he kissed me gently on the head, and I felt a bit better. I looked up at him, and he looked upset. I looked back down at the floor, and saw some red stuff on the ground.

“What's that?” I asked him.

“Nothing Dashie. I'll clean it up in a bit.” He said. We sat on the sofa and Daddy put on the TV. I sat on his lap, and noticed Daddy had a towel wrapped around his hand. It was red as well. We watched some cartoons for ten minutes, and I felt a bit better, but I was still shaking. Daddy wrapped his jumper around me and held me tightly. It felt nice.

“Will you be okay here for a minute, Dashie? I just need to clean this up.” He asked me. I nodded my head, and wrapped myself up tighter in Daddies jumper. I watched Daddy go to the sink, and he started washing his hand under the cold tap. He put some white stuff around it, and then started cleaning the floor.

“What's that white stuff?”

“It's a bandage, Dashie. The doggy bit me as well, but the bandage will make it all better. I'll be okay, you just watch your cartoons.” Daddy said. I went back to watching the TV, and I eventually stopped shaking. After daddy finished washing the floor, he gave me a bath, then put me on the counter. “Okay Dashie, I'm going to trim your tail for you, so it looks nice again. Can you sit still while I do it?”

“Yes Daddy.” I said. Daddy then got a pair of scissors, and trimmed the rough bits off. It looked really short when he was done, and it made me sad. I liked my tail being really long.

“Don't worry Dashie, it’ll grow back soon.” He said, stroking my mane. “It looks nicer like this now, better than being all different lengths. Here, I'll even give you a bandage.” Daddy went and got some more of the white stuff from the cupboard, and wrapped it around the end of my tail. It looked funny, but it made me feel better.

“Thank you Daddy.” I said. I lent in and licked his cheek.

“you're welcome Dashie. But lets not go play outside until we can find the hole in the fence, okay?” He said, and I nodded back. I didn't want to play outside anyway. I snuggled back up in Daddies jumper, and he started rubbing my belly. Next Chapter: The Box Fort Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes