The Dawn of Darkness

*Dear Author,

The man in this picture is extremely shy (he might have some social anxiety disorder? You decide) but also extremely intelligent. His only real contact with other people is with his (small?) family, and he uses his horse to fill in for the emotional contact that he misses. As a direct result, he is an extremely good dressage rider though most people at his barn think that his horse is wasted on him and he doesn’t ride at all. One day, someone (the love interest) else sees him riding and realizes that 1. He really is a good rider and 2. He should be competing. Conflict and romance ensue.

*

**Photo Description:**

A tall, thin man dressed in a navy blue and white hoodie, rides a black stallion in an outdoor arena lined with short hedges. The horse, accented with white polo wraps and black and white bridle, trots along the arena rail.

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "**Love is an Open Road**" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

This story may contain sexually explicit content and is **intended for adult readers**. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.