Chapters I'm Going To Catch That Horse If I Can
The cool evening was quiet save for the rapid beating of hoofs in the leaf litter. Applejack ran through the shrubs that dotted the mysterious valley. Her mind was reeling from what had just happened. One minute she was bucking trees, the next she was here. She didn't recognize the landscape at all. Throughout her life, she'd been all over Equestria and could orientate herself from anywhere. But this was the first time she felt truly lost.
The more she tried to remember what had happened, the harder it seemed to be. Certainly she'd had her fair share of cider in her days. She could throw them back with the best of them. But she'd never blacked out and woken in a strange place. Her breath didn't smell of cider. It wasn't even cider season. Nothing about what was happening made any sense. And what was worse, for all her running, she hadn't seen a single other pony since she arrived in this place.
She tried to find the highest ground she could to scout out the area around her. Up on the top of the ridge, she could see for miles in every direction. She raised her hoof to shield her eyes from the sunlight. Her hat and ribbons were missing when she arrived. She felt naked without them. Nothing about the landscape looked familiar. No sign of Ponyville, or anything even resembling civilization. But there, just at the edge of the forest where it met the meadow below her, she saw a small group of ponies. She raced down the steep slope of the hill. Hopefully they'd be able to tell her where she was and how she could get back to Ponyville. She rushed up to the group, anxious to find out what the hay was going on.
"Hey y'all. I don't suppose you'd be able to tell me where I am would ya?" She asked the group. The other ponies glanced at the newcomer. But none spoke to her. "Oh, I'm sorry about that. I was a mite rude there. Let me introduce myself proper. My name is Applejack and I seem to be a bit lost. If y'all could help point me in the right direction I'd be plum grateful." She said. Again she was met with blank stares and no responses. The rest resumed chewing on a bit of the grass at their hooves.
"Um, I apologize for just rushing up on y'all like this, but I'm in a bit of a jam and I really need your help." She pleaded. She waved a hoof in front of one of the pony's face. "Hellooo?" The pony's eyes followed her hoof for a moment before ignoring her once more. "What in Equestria is going on around here?" She muttered to herself.
She waited around for several more minutes, if only waiting for somepony to tell her to leave. Anything to get some kind of reaction from them. There was something just so unsettling about the dull look in their eyes. Like nopony was home. The gentle breeze tussled her mane. But then, all at once, the head of every one of them shot up, their ears perked as they all looked at her. Applejack felt her heart lurch with adrenaline. It was so creepy the way they all acted like that. Were they going to attack her? She backed away slowly. Their eyes didn't follow her. They were looking at something else.
In a flash they all galloped away from her. She didn't even have a chance to run after them to ask what it was. She lost track of them as the scattered into the dense forest. She looked back across the meadow. She couldn't see what it was that had spooked them. But if they were all running, she knew better than to stick around. She ran into the woods after them.
Arthur crouched, stalk still in the tall grass and cursed under his breath. He was so close. Another few steps and he could have lassoed one of them. But the wind changed and the herd had caught the smell of his scent. He rose to his feet and recoiled his rope. He'd been tracking that pale orange one up over the ridge all afternoon. She was by far the most beautiful mustang he'd seen since he moved out into the country.
He latched the coil of rope to his belt and started the trek back to his ranch. He was familiar with the herd she'd run into. He had a few from that group back at his stables. The rest didn't have the coloration he was looking for. Except her. But tomorrow was another day. It was another chance for him to try to catch his chestnut mare.
He didn't get inside his new home until after dark. He hung his hat by the door and kicked off his boots. There wasn't any time to waste. He had a quick dinner and hit the hay. He'd have to be up before dawn to make it back to the pony valley in time to track her again.
It wasn't Applejack's first time camping. But even when she was roughing it, she still packed at least a small saddlebag of supplies. She'd never gone off into the woods like this with naught but her wits. But if her wits were all she had, they served her well. The rest of the herd was long gone by now. She'd managed a simple shelter from branches and foliage. She'd brought together a heap of loose grass and leaves and burrowed herself into it. It was no sleeping bag, but it would do to keep the chill of the night off of her.
Her stomach growled. In her haste to escape whatever had scared the others, she'd neglected to eat. The others seemed content with eating the grass. And as simple a pony as she tried to be, she really didn't enjoy eating grass. Sure there were some grasses she enjoyed. What she wouldn't do for some Kenbucky Blue right now, she thought as her mouth watered. Another rumble from her belly told her that entertaining such thoughts did not improve her situation. Her tired body much preferred she just lay her head to rest.
RINGringRINGringRINGringRINGringRING!
Arthur smacked the clock beside his bed. It was only four thirty in the morning. It was still very dark outside. But he knew that his quarry would be up with the dawn. And it would be no use trying to track her if she already had a head start on him. He dragged his tired body out of the bed.
The old embers of the cooking stove were just barely enough to get the coffee percolating. He poured it into a mug and stirred in a bit of cream and a couple lumps of sugar. His fingers let go of the spoon and it stood straight up in the black beverage. It was ready. It might have tasted like death warmed over, but it worked by golly. Part of him missed the convenience of the automatic coffee machine at his old job. With the push of a button he had a perfect brew. But this, it kicked like a mule. He theorized that it worked by burning a hole through the wall of his stomach to inject caffeine directly into his heart.
At least that was how it felt.
The rest of his routine was a chemical blur. A hearty breakfast, a light lunch to go, boots on and out the door. The eastern sky was just barely beginning to lighten. If anything were out and about with him this early, he'd be able to see their silhouette. He picked up the trail of where he'd lost the chestnut mare yesterday. His feet moved in practiced silence as he reached the edge of the forest.
The first streak of sunlight cut in through the branches of the trees. Applejack had already been awake for a while herself. As a farm pony, she'd always been an early riser. She made short work of scattering the branches of the shelter before she moved on from the site. She turned about in place, trying to figure out which way she had come into the clearing. She had been walking toward the setting sun last night. So she decided to keep moving west, with the rising sun behind her. Hastily, she put as much distance behind her as she could.
Not long after she'd left, Arthur carefully crept into the clearing. He kept his head on a swivel and his ears on high alert, sensing for any sign of her. His mentor had taught him about tracking. Is was as much an art as a science. It was detective work, looking for clues in the forest. Ponies were notoriously difficult. They didn't leave distinctive cloven hoof prints. The soft pads of their hooves left only the subtlest trace of their passing. But the pressed circles of grass, and broken twigs, they were enough and often the only thing he had to go on. But then, a breakthrough!
He darted quickly toward the scattered grass. It had clearly been in a pile recently. It was dry, lacking the morning dew of the forest around it. A pony had made its bedding here. He scooped some of it up in his hand. It wasn't warm. But it wasn't as cool as the rest of the woods. The pony had been here recently. His eyes quickly darted around, looking for any sign of her. He brought the grass to his nose and smelled it. He'd been working with ponies long enough now to know the scent of a mare's sweat. And there was something else in her aroma. It smelled vaguely of... apples?
He pulled the red orb from his lunch bag. It wasn't his apple he smelled. This was something different. He let the grass slip through his fingers, silently drifting to the ground. He continued moving forward, in the logical direction of her path. A couple of mangled ferns told him he was on the right track. His mental map had him a couple clicks to the east of the brook that ran through this part of the valley. It seemed a likely place toward which a thirsty pony would head.
Applejack was delighted to have happened upon a small stream. And there, on the banks, were a few berry bushes. She carefully nipped a few strawberries from their stems. It wasn't until she'd had a couple did she realized how hungry she'd become in the last two days. The tedious work of picking them one at a time kept her from the glutinous satisfaction of gorging herself. But she knew better than to say no to the chance to eat. She took her time with the process.
Arthur's heart leaped at the sight of her. He'd moved abreast of her trail, keeping himself downwind. Also, he didn't want to be spotted by any of the other ponies with her again. But just like when he was following her yesterday, she was all alone. She'd never seen her with that herd yesterday before. She must have been a stranger to them.
She was all exposed out by the bank of the river, giving him a clear view of her in the morning sun. But likewise, he couldn't get any closer to her without exposing himself as well. He didn't want to lose her again, so he bid his time, waiting there in the brush. His time could certainly be worse spent. She was certainly the prettiest mare he'd ever seen. So he just enjoyed the scene of her taking a meal.
Applejack could feel her stomach giving her mixed signals. The berries were delicious, but so much sugar at once had made her a bit queasy. She needed something with a bit more sustenance. Some nice wheat or other grain. She leaned down to the water to take a drink. That was when she'd caught her reflection. She looked like a fearsome predator of the Everfree. He mouth and cheeks were stained red from the raspberries. Not to mention the rest of her was quite a mess as well.
While she had no problem getting dirty, she certainly didn't like being dirty. After a hard day's work on the farm, she'd always be the first to bathe. She felt the sweaty mess of her tangled mane sticking to her matted fur. She stepped into the stream and dunked her head under the water, soaking her hair. She rolled around in the water, feeling it washing the grime from her.
Arthur took a chance as she dove under the water again, dashing closer, just behind the berry bushes. When she came back up onto the banks, she'd be right in front of him and he'd be able to lasso her. He unlatched the rope from his belt, ready for her to step up onto the land.
Applejack's body rose up out of the water, wading just at the edge of the sandy bank. She shook her head and flank, whipping her mane and tail about. Droplets of water arched through the air, shimmering in the morning sunlight. Arthur's thumb nervously ran over the knot in the loop of the lasso. Just a bit closer and she'd be his. She turned her back to him, looking out across the stream, trying to survey a shallow point to cross.
He waited a moment, but she didn't seem like she would be moving. Not any closer to him anyway. He needed to take his shot now while she wasn't looking. He readied to toss the rope and jumped forward through the bushes. But it was a critical error for him in two ways. Firstly, the prickers of the raspberry bushes snagged his rope, causing it to fall pitifully short. And secondly, said prickers cut up his arms something fierce, causing him to involuntarily yelp.
Applejack practically leaped out of her fur at the sudden rustling of the bush behind her, followed by the noise the animal made. She'd barely got a look at the thing before her hooves were already moving under her. She went into a running jump, diving halfway across the stream, and speedily paddling to the other side and sprinting up the embankment up over the ridge.
"Damn it." He berated himself, pulling the tangled rope from the bush. "Damn it. Damn it!" He dunked his arms into the river, washing away the excess blood and cleaning the cuts as he hurriedly crossed the water. He'd hoped to avoid swimming today, but the nearest crossing was more than a mile downstream. It was some fallen logs that he had lashed together to make a rudimentary bridge. And by the time he'd made the trip, the trail of dripped water would have long dried.
His soggy boots made obscene squishing noises as he climbed the far hill. His waterlogged clothes kept him from moving with any kind of speed. But he didn't need to. All he needed to do was follow the trail of wet hoof prints. After walking for a short spell, he found himself up on Stony Ridge. She'd gotten away a couple of times before. But after two days, he was determined to lasso her. It was perfect. She was shaking off her wet mane near an old tree at the end of a line of shrubs. Behind was a clear path up to her, a dried river bed.
Luckily his boots had ceased their incessant noise. He moved with silent grace that would make a ninja proud. He reached the edge of the bushes, lining up perfectly with the tree between them. He was able to slink around to the front keeping the wide trunk between them, blocking her view. With nothing blocking his shot, he readied his rope a final time and darted out from behind the tree and flung it into the air.
His aim was true and his rope loop was on point. Before Applejack had a chance to even react to the noise behind her, there was a rope around her. She didn't even look to see what it was that had roped her. She just took off as fast as she could. But she barely got a step away before she felt the tension of the rope pulling back on her. She turned and looked back over her shoulder to see what she was hung up on. That was when she saw it. Whatever it was, it had its hands on the rope, and heels dug it, holding its ground.
Arthur felt a rush of adrenaline. He got her. She turned back on him and dug her hooves in, trying her darnedest to pull away from him. He wrapped the rope around his wrist, pulling it close to him, grabbing another fist full, closing the distance, inch by inch. But she kept on pulling back like a mule going up a ladder. That was when she grabbed the rope with her teeth and started whipping her head from side to side, trying to pull the rope free from his hands.
He followed her motions with his arms, keeping an even tension. But as he got closer, it became harder for him to keep his footing. She was nearly as tall as he was and way more muscular. It was the moment of truth. He wasn't going to be able to pull her back to the ranch on a lead. She was being to stubborn for that. But he swore he wouldn't lose her again today. He gave her one more good yank and jumped up on her.
He'd never tried it before without a saddle. And damned if he didn't land right on her. And she took off running up onto the ridge, higher than he'd ever been before. He held on as best as he could, holding himself steady, gripping her waist with his legs, and wrapping his arms around her neck, rope still in hand. He needed to let her run herself out. Then when she was tired out he'd be able to coax her back to the ranch.
Well she was running along just fine until she stopped like something spooked her. He hazarded a glance over her shoulder. There on the path was a sidewinder all coiled up and ready to strike. Applejack shuffled her hooves nervously, not sure what to do for a second. There wasn't enough room to go around without risking a bite.
In a panic she jumps off the edge with him holding on. Arthur wasn't sure what he expected her to do but he certainly didn't expect this. But there he was, free falling through the air, holding onto his chestnut mare.
Time seemed to slow down. He could feel the pounding of her strong heart against his chest as he hugged her tight. Her hair whipping back in the rush of wind brushed against his cheeks.
They were falling down this crevice, about a mile down it seemed to Arthur. He looked down and he saw this red thing below them coming up real fast and their reflection. It's a little pool of water about six feet wide and one foot deep. They hit it and they splashed it dry. And that was when he lost his hold, and she got away.
He got to his feet quickly. He stood up just in time to see her running off, rope still hanging off of her. Part of him knew he should go after her. But his legs refused to move. He could only stand and stare at her, running free and wild and beautiful. His hat drifted down after him from the fall, landing softly in the remaining puddle, making small ripples. She vanished from his sight and he knelt down to pick up his hat.
He looked up at the ledge above him. The sun was still reaching a good ways down into the gulch. It was still the early afternoon. His shoulder bag managed to stay with him through the wild ride. He took out his lunch. A sandwich. Of course, by using the term 'sandwich', he was being generous. It was little more than a bit of peanut butter between a couple of bits of hardtack. But it kept him going.
He looked back into the distance where she had taken off to and set one foot in front of the other. His boots made little squishing noises from his wet socks.
Applejack kept running. She wasn't sure what it was that had just happened to her but she just wanted to get as far from it as she could. She made her way up an embankment, following a narrow path that ran along the edge of a sheer rock face. Suddenly, the loose ground of the path gave out from under her hooves. She found herself amid a small landslide as she slid through the loose gravel of the steep hill. Suddenly, her descent was halted when the rope around her neck became snared on one of the shrubs dotting the hillside.
She saw stars at the sudden crushing force on her throat. She reflexively reached the the rope, pulling on it to give herself some breathing slack. Her legs struggled to gain traction in the loose stones. She pulled herself up just enough to be able to breathe, if only just.
Arthur followed her trail quickly. It wouldn't be long before her dripped water path evaporated. It led up onto the steep hill at the end of the gorge. He knew that ponies were natural sprinters. Very fast over short distances in a gallop. But unless they were in the paced, trotting mindset for distance, they'd quickly tire themselves. He had this one chance to close the distance on her today before he lost the sunlight.
Again, he found her padded hooves difficult to follow, compared to other, cloven hoofed game. Her trail grew subtle. But he was able to narrow it to a specific path along a narrow pass in front of a vertical rock face. He jogged now, confident of his path. That is, until he came to the break in the ground. The color of the exposed dirt showed that it was fresh. His eyes followed the path of the pony-sized slide down the hill. There, he caught a glimpse of orange movement below. She seemed to be struggling.
He took a deep breath and stepped off of the path. He tried his best to keep his feet as he descended in a controlled slide. Not half-way down, he ended up on his backside, the gravel tearing up his jeans. He got down to where she was, but she hadn't run off yet. He could see the rope was tangled in the shrub just above her. He grabbed the trunk of it to stop himself. Below, he could see that she was getting very fatigued, from the constant struggle.
He reached into the bush, trying to reach the rope, but the hawthorns cut and stuck him as he tried. He snapped one of the branches, letting out a bit of the coiled slack. Applejack slid a couple of feet lower as her legs went out from under her a final time. The rope pulled tighter around her neck, as her vision faded. Arthur could hear her gasping as her eyes lidded shut slowly.
"Damn it!" He swore, gritting his teeth. He nearly punched into the thorny shrub, forcing his hand forward inside. White shots of pain streaked up his exposed forearm as his bleeding knuckles wrapped around the last bit of stuck rope, pulling it free. The rest of Applejack's body fell limp to the ground as she slide down the hillside.
"Chestnut!" He hollered, yanking his arm free of the bush, cutting it further still. He ran down after her, stumbling on the loose soil. She didn't have far to go before the ground leveled out, and Arthur came tumbling after her. "Chestnut!" He cried out, dropping to his knees beside her. She was unresponsive. His hands moved quickly, taking the rope from off her neck and tossing it away. He put his ear to her chest. Her heart was still beating. He put the back of his hand in front of her snout. He could feel her breath on the hairs on the back of his hand. She was breathing, but weakly. "Come on!"
Though she was only as tall as his shoulders when she stood, even with legs almost as long as his, she was much heavier than he was. He was a strong man by any measure, but there was no way he'd be able to carry her. Not even a modest distance. He dragged her out of the dirt and onto the soft grass, laying her onto her back. He sat down beside her, holding her head in his lap as he rubbed her chest vigorously, trying to get a response from her. Anything. Anything to get her to wake up. He gave her cheek a quick slap. Nothing too hard.
He could see on her neck the red marks from the rope burn, where it had shorn her soft, orange fur. It had been pulled tighter than it was ever meant to have been. "I'm so sorry." He hugged her close to him. Her eyes fluttered for a moment. She thought she'd heard somepony. That was when she saw the creature that had been chasing her beside her.
In a fit of adrenaline, she scurried and jumped to her feet. But her sudden movement after her ordeal caused her to become lightheaded and she stumbled again. Arthur was just happy to see her alive and well, but moved quickly when he saw her start to waver. Applejack tripped over her feet and fell again. He moved to catch her. He wasn't able to stop her fall so much as soften it as she landed sideways on top of him.
"OOF!" He pulled himself out from under her quickly. Her blood pressure had dropped too quickly when she stood, causing her to faint. He knew he only had a few moments. He pulled the bridal from his bag and fitted her with it quickly, trying a lead to it. This would be much safer than a lasso around the neck. He wrapped the other end firmly around his hand with the glove still on it. The other glove had been lost in the hawthorn bush.
This time, when Applejack woke, she tried to pull away, but felt a firm tension on her muzzle. Her eyes crossed as she looked at the small straps around her face and head. At the other end of the rope she was attached to, stood the creature, holding it tight, with his hind legs dug in. Applejack tried again to yank at the rope, trying to pull it free of his grip. and get away somehow.
"Whoa whoa!" He said, pulling back, though not as hard, but enough to show he wasn't letting go.
AJ's ears perked up. Did that thing just talk?
"Now look," He said, wrapping part of the rope around a nearby trunk for support, holding onto it now with one hand, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." He said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a fresh, red apple. "You see this?" Held it out to her. Her mouth practically watered and her stomach growled. She hadn't had a decent meal since she'd appeared in this world. "It's yours if you play nice. In fact, once we get where we're going, you can have as many as you like." He put it back in the bag, taking the rope with both hands again. "But if yer gonna keep on behaving like a stubborn jackass..." He looked back over his shoulder toward the sun getting lower. "Well, it'll be a long walk back to the ranch. You got that?"
Applejack stood frozen, the line still taught on her, still in shock of this encounter. He pulled the rope off the tree and started to walk, trying to pull her along. She instinctively resisted, trying to step backwards. The rope pulled against his cut-up arm. He winced and cursed, glaring back at her. "Such ingratitude," he muttered at her, "even after I saved your life."
Applejack looked down at his blood, dried on her fur where he'd pulled the rope from off of her neck, and where he'd rubbed her chest, willing her back to life. She looked back up at him. He just stood there waiting patiently.
"Can we move along?" He said, giving her a gentle pull. She looked back over her shoulder again, across the field. She could try the forest again. Everything in her gut was telling her to try to escape, just run. But where to? She knew nothing about this place. Where would she even go? He looked back at her captor. He clearly wasn't about to eat her. And she didn't seem to be in any kind of immediate danger. And the promise of good food, or hell, even any food at this point was worth the risk. She took a nervous step toward him.
"That a girl. Come on, I didn't have much for lunch, and I bet you're getting hungry too." he said. He knew just what to say it seemed. A couple more steps and he started walking himself, keeping a wide berth between them.
They made their way back in the direction they'd come from, a winding path along the bottom of the gulch, heading downstream back to the river where she'd first seen him.
"I'm Arthur by the way." He said. "Sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner, but I uh, heh heh, had my hands full." He chuckled. Applejack tried to speak, but the metal bit in her mouth turned it into a crude vocalization of a whinny.
"Well it's nice too meet you too, Chestnut." He filled in a name for her. "You know, you've had me on quite the run the last couple of days. But I wouldn't be much of a Stetson if I'd just let you get away. No ma'am. I've got a family name to uphold." He looked back a her with a quick smile. He looked up at his cowboy hat and gave it a twang with his finger.
"See this here hat? My great, great grandfather, John B. Stetson invented it back in the 1860's. Made a fortune selling 'em to folks all through the western frontier. The company had been passed down through the family, eventually to me. That business had been my whole life. But I'm older now. I never took time to settle down 'n have a wife 'r kids. So didn't have anyone to pass it on to."
"You ready for this?" He asked as he waded into the river, across to the other side with the raspberry bushes where she'd first seen him. He was in up to his waist. Applejack waited at the shore for another moment. "Come on, I'm gett'n cold." She stepped into the river after him, able to keep her head above water as they forded the shallow river. She climbed the bank on the other side, shaking off her wet mane. Arthur stood and waited for her to finish. She thought he looked silly in his wet clothes and squishy sounding boots as they started walking together again.
"So as I was saying, with no one to pass the business on to, I ended up selling it off to some business called HatCo, down in Garland Texas." He said. Applejack had no idea where that was, but she was starting to enjoy listening to Arthur talk. "I took the money and decided to get back to my family roots, out here in the 'wild' west." He said with an edge of sarcasm to his voice. "Bought me a ranch. And I could have bought some horses too, but I decided to do it the old fashion way." He looked back at her again. She cocked her head a little.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure why I decided to try this." He sighed. "I'm not really any good at it. You're actually only my second one." He smiled. "But don't worry. I've got some great accommodations waiting for you." He laughed again to himself. "Listen to me going on talking to you like this, expecting you to be able to talk back. It's just been so long since I've actually talked to anyone new, I guess I've just really missed the opportunity."
The path out of the valley led up the side of a shallow plateau, and there, as they reached the crest of the top, was the ranch. It wasn't anything remarkable. A fenced pasture, a small farmhouse and a sizable barn. The sun set just as they reached the edge of the property. He took a lantern from off of a hook on the side of the house, lighting it up. He led her inside the barn, opening her stall. She cut him a sideways look.
"Well go on." He said, motioning with his hand. "Oh, here." He turned around and grabbed a pale of apples and set them inside the stall for her. Her stomach took control of her legs, walking her into the stall as the door closed behind her.
"What do you think, Buck?" He said behind her. "Didn't I tell you she was the prettiest mare I'd ever seen." Applejack looked up behind her from the pale she'd been eyeing. In the stall across from her was a stallion that was a bit taller than her. He was about the size of her brother, Big Macintosh.
"Buck, this is Chestnut. Say hello Buck." Arthur said. Buck stared blankly at her with vacant eyes before letting out a snort and a neigh. "At'a boy Buck." He said turning back to Applejack. "Well, now that you two are acquainted, you can go ahead and eat." He said as he unbuckled the bridle from her head, pulling the bit free. Applejack wanted to say something, but thought better of it for the moment, choosing instead to eat for now. "Nighty night." Arthur called from the door as he left them for the night.
Applejack waited until she was sure he was gone. She looked back at the stallion across the way. "Buck, what's going on here?" she asked. He just stared back at her. "What is this place? Where are we?" Still he said nothing. "What's the matter? Can't you understand a word I'm sayin'?" She took his silence for a 'no'. "Horseapples." She muttered before she ate her fill and settled into the soft hay bedding.
Applejack roused to the familiar sound of a rooster somewhere outside. Still a far cry from her bed at home, the hay bedding was comfortable enough. In the barn she was sheltered from the cool of the night. The days were getting longer. She stood and stretched, shaking off her sleepiness. Not a moment later, the door to the barn opened. Arthur walked in, ready and raring to go for her first day. He looked over at her as his eyes lit up.
"Oh, you're already awake." He said, somewhat surprised. "Not like this lazy bum!" He said, kicking the gate to Buck's stable. "Come on, git up!" He barked, as the stallion across the way stood up, a bit drowsy. "Ready for your first day?" He asked Applejack.
Applejack wasn't sure where he was going with the question. All she knew was that the other ponies in this world didn't speak. And neither did Buck, here. Until she understood more about what was going on, she didn't need to make herself stick out any more than she had already. From a hook on the wall, he pulled down the bridle from yesterday and leaned into her stable, trying to put it on her head. Applejack backed away, shaking her head from side to side trying to prevent him from strapping it on her again. He stopped after a frustrated minute of trying with the stubborn mare.
"Dammit Chestnut, now look," he said, "This here is going on ya." He held the bridle up. "Now I was gonna give you these..." He brought over another pail of apples. "But if you gonna keep on going like this, I'll rope ya, and try you down and force this on you. Then you can go and have some plain oats instead." He gave her a minute to think about it and walked across to the other stable. "C'mere Buck."
The stallion across the way obediently walked up to the gate and stood there patiently as Arthur strapped his bridle on his head. "That a boy." He said, giving him an apple before fitting the bit in his mouth. He walked back over to Applejack. "Alright now, we ready to try this again?"
Applejack hesitated for a second. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it didn't seem to bother Buck any. She walked over to the gate and stood still. "You know, I honestly didn't expect that to work." She glanced at him before she bowed her head again. "That a girl." He said, strapping the leather buckles, and giving her an apple as well. He opened the gate to Buck's stable, letting him out first. Then he tied Applejack to Buck as he opened her gate.
"Buck here is gonna help show you around, okay?" Arthur said, leading them outside. The lead connecting them had a generous length, but it kept her in tow. The rest of the day was more or less review for her. He would have Buck do various tasks, such as wearing a yoke and pulling a plow, with Applejack walking along beside him to see how things were done. Then it was pulling a cart, or some other implement. Whenever Arthur would stop for a break, he'd lead them to the water and feed troughs.
The menial tasks she would be required to do when compared to the limitless food and drink, made this less like a prison and more and more like a vacation resort. She idly felt temped to stay, but she was still pained by the memory of home. And she remembered that she still needed to find a way back there. But barring directly asking him, she needed Arthur to give her more information about where she was if she was to make any kind of attempt at getting back to Equestria. But given how garrulous he'd been so far, she needn't wait long.
But as time went on, and the more she learned, the more hopeless it seemed that there would be any chance of her getting back home. In her heart of hearts, she knew what would happen back on the farm. First, she would be reported missing. Then eventually after her family and friends wouldn't find her for a long enough time, she'd be presumed dead. It broke her heart to think that her friends and family would have to wrongly grieve her passing at a faux funeral.
The buds on the trees at the edge of Arthur's pasture were starting to blossom. In another day or so they would all be in full bloom. Applebloom. Applebloom would be old enough soon. She'd be able to help Big Macintosh on the farm. They would be okay. They would find a way. They always had before. She pushed the thoughts away. She wasn't a unicorn who could just magic her way out of this predicament. And running blindly through the wilderness here wouldn't help anypony. She put her head down and focused back on her work.
The last of the plowing had been finished. Arthur walked over to her and disengaged the plow from her yoke. "Come on." He said. He didn't need a lead. She followed him on her own volition. He attached another cart to her yoke, with a hopper on top. He cut open a bag of seed and poured it in. As she pulled it forward, the wheels turned the spreader mechanism, scattering the seed onto the tilled field.
Arthur had been very pleased with her. She was a fast learner, and a hard worker. And she didn't make a mess of her stall. In truth, Applejack had seen Buck soil his stall. And she saw Arthur subsequently clean it without reprimand to the stallion. But she refused to lower herself to that level, taking great care to... take care of that business in the evening before heading into the barn, and likewise waiting until they were out in the morning. Even so, Arthur changed her bedding along with Bucks.
The days were getting longer, and warmer for sure. She still found herself seeking shade, but it seemed to do little to escape the warmth. The humidity was making it worse. She stood by the fence near the brook at the bottom of the banking. Arthur noticed her longing look outward, walking over to her.
"What's the matter Chestnut? You wanna go for a swim?" He asked. She didn't even look away from the water. All she could think about was getting away from this oppressive heat. "Alright, well you just hang on a minute while I take Buck inside. He's liable to run off if I open the gate."
Arthur returned after taking Buck inside the barn. "Alright come on now. Let's go for a swim." He said. That got her attention. She walked with him over to the gate, closer to the farmhouse. They'd have to double back along the outside of the fence to get to the river. As they walked, her rubbed his hand along her neck and back, running his fingers through her mane. She had come to quite enjoy the attention he gave her. But right now her thoughts we only of that cool water they were heading to. When they reached the gate he hesitated, turning to her.
"Okay now. You've been a good girl. So no bridal or rope, okay?" He said, slightly nervous. "So, please don't run off on me, okay?" He put his hand on her cheek, looking her in the eyes. "I don't know what I'd-" he cut himself off. "Just don't run off, okay?" He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. He could feel the warmth positively radiating off of her. Applejack shuffled her hooves impatiently. "Right. Let's go cool off."
He opened the gate. Applejack bolted. "Chestnut!" Applejack stopped at the call of her 'name'. She glanced back at him, he ran over to her. "Sorry, you just scared me." He said, waving her on. She kept it down to a light trot, letting him keep up with a brisk jog. But his leather boots and denim jeans did not good running-wear make. She practically dove into the water, letting its refreshing sensation run over her. She rolled in the shallows, splashing about. Only once she was completely soaked and cooled, did she bother to look back at the banking.
Arthur had managed to stay within sight of the speedy mare. But by the time he got down to the water, he was keeled over, with his hands on his knees, panting. His face practically dripped sweat. Feeling playful, she waded over to him, until the water was only around her ankles. Not more than a few feet from him, she shook herself off, spraying him with the water from her fur and mane.
"Hey! Hey! Come on now!" he scolded, reaching out to try to get a hold of her. Before he could, she jumped away, splashing back into the river playfully. He just stood there, dripping in his wet clothes. "Thanks," he said in a deadpan tone. Applejack suppressed a smile as she settled in for a relaxing soak. Her little stunt did little to actually cool him. The smattering of wet spots on him dried quickly, leaving him a hot as he was before, but now with a miasma of concentrated humidity from the local evaporation.
"Ugh. Might as well." He grumbled to himself. Applejack hadn't noticed him disrobing until he was already down to his skivvies. Sure, she'd seen him without his shirt a time or two before. But now that he peeled off the last of his underwear, this was the first time she'd ever seen him completely without clothes. Leaving them in a pile, he waded into the river toward her. From what she had seen of him before, the rest of him was likewise mostly without fur, which struck her as strange. But then, having been in this world for some time now, it was taking more and more to surprise her.
"I've got to admit," he said, wading over to her, "this was a good idea of yours." Swimming beside her, he extended his arm to her, wrapping it over her, pulling himself onto her. Their buoyancy in the water made him feel lighter on her. He never rode her otherwise. There was a saddle back in the barn. But judging from the size of it, it was clearly meant for something bigger than her, or even Buck. But on top of her, Arthur didn't try to ride her. He just leaned on her. Her soft, wet fur felt nice against his bare skin. Even in the water he could feel her warmth. He rested his cheek on the back of her neck. It wasn't the burdensome heat of a warm day. It was comforting. Under him, Applejack felt like she did the first time he rode her, running up that ridge.
He never meant for her to get hurt that day. She understood that now. He just... wanted her here. How was she to know. Heck, there wasn't a day gone by that he didn't tell her how pretty she was. Between the two of them, he was clearly preferential to her over the other pony in the barn. Her legs settled into the soft sand at the edge of the stream as she laid down in the shallow water. It flowed around them slowly, making little eddies. The sun slowly dried him, still on top of her. His arms wrapped around her strong shoulders, giving her the subtlest of squeezes. "My Chestnut, " he whispered behind her.
GRRRRR
Applejack opened her eyes. She'd dozed off for some time. The sun was nearly set. Arthur had likewise fallen asleep on top of her. Her eyes darted in the direction from which her ears told her the sound had come from. Across the water was a wolf, bearing down on the reposed pair. Applejack got to her feet at once, causing Arthur to fall off, landing in the inch of water beside them. Wet and naked as the day he was born, he looked under her legs along the banking at the wolf eyeing her next meal.
"Oh shit."
Arthur scrambled away, trying to get to his clothes. The wolf moved in, taking chase after the fleeing human. Applejack, in a fit of crazy bravery, put herself between them. She was bigger than the wolf. But a pony still, not much bigger. The wolf made her move, trying to dart around the pony, going for the clearly-easier of the two targets first. Once the human was dead she could deal with the stubborn equine. Applejack was having none of it. She was no aquatic, but her longer legs could still move faster than the wolf's in the water.
Left without a choice, the wolf took an experimental bite at the pony. Applejack gave her a swift kick. It didn't connect as well as she'd hoped, rather, it was more of a glancing blow. It only served to stun and anger the wolf. She changed her approach. Applejack tried to re-position herself for another defensive stance. Nothing was going to get past her and get to Arthur. As she turned in her step, she lost her footing and stumbled in the submerged gravel, falling into the water. The wolf saw her opportunity, ready to pounce on the hapless pony's exposed neck. Arthur leveled his pistol at the wolf.
CLICK
"Get away from her YOU BITCH!"
BOOM
Applejack watched the wolf leaping at her, then, falling beside her in a limp heap after the sound of the blast. She was back on her hooves in a flash. The dead wolf beside her didn't move. She looked behind her. Arthur stood there, naked, and still dripping wet. In his hand was the metal tool she's always seen in his special belt for it. She'd never seen him use it before, and had wondered as to its purpose. Smoke wafted from its tip before he put it back in the holster, on top of his clothes pile. He walked past her, over to the wolf's body, inspecting it. His eyes locked on to the frothing foam around its mouth. He recognized the sign at once. Rabies.
"Oh god." He cried, his voice trembling. "Oh god, oh no!" He turned back to Applejack, rushing over to her. She stood still while he looked over every part of her. She could feel his hands shaking terribly as he ran them over her fur. "Did she get you?" He cried, still checking her for and bites or scratches. "Did she b-bite you!?" She could see the tears running freely down his cheeks. Only after frantically looking her completely over no less than three times, did he take a breath of relief. He wrapped his arms around her, clutching her tightly. She felt his chest heave against her as he sobbed into her fur. "I thought I lost you there!" She stood there with him, ankle deep in the water. If Rarity had taught her anything it was that sometimes you just needed to let someone cry it out. And a few buckets later they'd be right as rain. She did the only thing she could. She lifted her hoof and put it across his back, hugging him back gently.
After a long moment, he pulled away, wiping his face. He glanced up at the fading sunlight. "We'd better get indoors." He said, grabbing his pile of clothes and dressing quickly. The last item being his holster. She watched him strap it on. He motioned to the pistol. "You like it?" He asked. "Colt .45, single action revolver. My great, great grandfather had one like it." Applejack understood part of what he said. He pointed at a thing and said a word, so that was what it was. It mattered little else to her.
Her fur had dried quickly. The coming night cooled the air somewhat, but it was still warm. Applejack still felt much too warm for comfort. They walked back to the farm together. She didn't run off, trotting ahead of him this time.
She never left his side.
His hand never left her back, fingers running through her mane.
After her second night sleeping in the barn, the next morning was hot, even before the sun was up. Applejack roused from her sleep extra early, unable to get a restful sleep. The summer temperatures usually didn't affront her. But when it affected her sleep, that she could do without. The stables had a window at each end, wide open. But there was naught for a breeze, and the hot air hung stale in the enclosure. She contemplated trying to just let herself out. She was about to unlatch the door to her stall when she heard the stable gate swing open. She dropped back down into her stall.
"Morning' Chestnut. I guess I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep, huh?" He made his way over to her, glancing across the aisle. Buck was snoring in his heap of hay. "Heh, that ole boy could sleep through a stampede, I tell ya." He undid the latch and opened her gate, stepping inside to affix her lead. As he wrapped his arms around her to do the clasps, he could feel the warmth positively radiating off of her. He pulled her into a hug. "I thought I almost lost you the other day, girl. I buried the rabid wolf a ways downstream, so it shouldn't attract any more predators." Applejack shuffled her hooves impatiently.
"Chestnut, are you feeling okay?" he asked. She shook her head, trying to pull away from him, anxious to get outside. "Alright alright now. Easy does it." He held her fast, putting his hand to her cheek and forehead. "Do you have a fever? Or is it-" he trailed off. "Wait here." He turned and closed the gate on her again. Applejack was literally chopping at the bit to get out and cool off. All of the commotion had actually awoken Buck, as he stirred from his bedding. After a couple of minutes, Arthur returned with a small, long case. He could see that Buck was getting agitated as well. His nostrils flared and he knocked against the gate with his hooves and reared up.
"Oh, I see what's going on here." Arthur said knowingly. He stepped back inside AJ's stall, turned her around and tied her lead to the posts at the back of her stall. He walked around behind her. Tied as she was, she couldn't see what was going on. He opened the case and pulled out a long thermometer. "This may be a mite cold." He warned as he lifted her tail. Applejack's eyes went wide as she felt him take her temperature, but not in a place that she would have expected. He was checking somewhere else.
"Yep, no wonder you're so restless," he said after removing the thermometer a moment later. "Yer in season." Applejack knew what he meant. It explained her... localized discomfort, and anxiousness. It was her annual heat. She was looking forward to getting back down to that river and cooling off. It was the only other relief for her heat aside from- "Looks like we'll have to get you bred!"
Bred? Applejack panicked. Certainly it would relieve the ache in her loins. And she'd always wanted to have foals someday. But not in this strange world. And certainly not with any of the mute ponies here. In fact, the only pony around was... She looked across the stable at Buck. He was up on his hind legs, leaning on the gate to his stall with that dumb grin on his face, smelling the air. It was obvious he could smell her scent in the enclosed space.
"Well someone sure looks excited to go fer a 'ride'," he said, putting a lead on him. He opened his gate, making a clear path to her. From the corner of her eye, she could tell that he was 'ready'. He reared up to mount her. Applejack pulled away from him and bucked her hind legs with all her might, striking him in the chest. "Hey! Easy girl! You'll feel better after, trust me. Don't you want to be a mommy?" He let Buck approach again. Applejack kicked again, hard. Arthur pulled Buck back just in time to keep him from getting clobbered in the chin. She snorted at both of them with a fierce look in her eyes. "Alright now. Enough of that!" He pulled Buck's lead away. Buck was still raring to go, but obiediently walked back into his stall.
"I can't be having you hurt my stallion now. I'll go get the Phony." He walked out of the stable and disappearing into the farmhouse once more. Fear-fueled adrenaline rushed through Applejack's system. She didn't know what was going to happen next but she was scared. And she certainly didn't want to be 'bred'. Arthur came back carrying a couple of items. The larger of the two was a big cylinder with a couple of handles and a pocketed opening at one end. Applejack recognized it from Equestria as an aid for 'lonely males'. Arthur tied Buck to the posts of his stall and he stepped inside, kneeling beside him. Applejack winced at the sound of Buck being 'relieved'. But at least she would have to worry about Buck coming after her now.
Arthur stood up after a couple minutes, emptying the contents of the Phony into a large, plastic... what Applejack could only describe as a cooking baster with a plunger at one end like a big syringe. He walked up behind Applejack. She saw what he had, and where he was going with it. In a fit, she yanked her lead, snapping it free. "NO!" she cried out, kicking him. She only meant to kick the syringe from his hand, but her aim was a little... off. Arthur was knocked backwards into the post, smacking his head against the beam as he fell. His hat went tumbling as he landed in a heap on the floor, spilling Buck's baby-batter.
"Oh horse apples!" she muttered. She'd seen Rainbow Dash get knocked out in a crash enough times to know that a bump on the noggin bad enough to render someone unconscious was no joke. She ran out of the stable, jumping over the paltry fence that he thought could contain her. She ran to the farmhouse. She'd never been inside before, but the mechanics of the door knob were the same here as in Equestria. She stepped inside and quickly found the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a refrigerator and freezer with ice cubes. She scooped some into a dishcloth and tied it as a cold pack, running back to the stable, opening the gate. She laid Arthur onto one of the horse blankets in the stables, elevating his legs and cradling his head with the ice pack, trying to keep the swelling down. Once he was taken care of, she undid the clasps on her broken lead. The sun was up now. All this running had gotten her even hotter than she was an hour ago.
"Keep an eye on him, Buck. I need to go cool off," she said. She grabbed a pail, and brief jog later, and she was rolling in the water of the stream. The water felt incredibly refreshing, taking the edge off of her discomfort. But she knew that as much as she wanted to, she couldn't stay long. She needed to check on Arthur. With her mouth, she grabbed the pail from the river bank, filling it with water before carrying it back up the hill.
Back inside the stable, she set the bucket down beside Arthur. Every now and then she would take a hoof-full of water and splash it on him to try to keep him cool. The dirt beneath him began to turn to mud. She'd seen Nurse Redheart use smelling salts to help Rainbow Dash wake up. Maybe he had some inside the house. She went back inside and looked around quickly. The bathroom had little in the way of a medicine cabinet. Everything was very bare and modest. Hopefully he'd at least have something for his headache when he woke. She walked back outside.
"Well Buck, I couldn't find a first-aid ki-" she froze in her tracks at the entrance to the stables. Arthur was sitting up on the ground, with his hand on his head, eyes wide and mouth ajar.
"Maybe it's the concussion, but did you just talk!?" he asked in astonishment.
"Um, neigh?" Applejack tried.
"You can TALK!?" He stood up, a bit too fast, and stumbled, falling back on his butt. Applejack ran over to him, stopping just short. His hand landed on the ice pack. He picked it up and looked at it, and the bucket of cool river water beside him, and the blanket. "Was this you!?"
"Uh..."
"Oh my god!" He clambered back to his feet, reaching out to grab her. Applejack was faster and avoided his grasp. She knew she was in trouble now. Why didn't she just keep her mouth shut? She ran out of the stables. He shambled after, following her outside, yelling out as she reached the fence. "Chestnut, wait!" He fell to the ground, clutching his head. It hurt to yell. But the thought of losing her now hurt even more. He screamed again. "Chestnut! I'm sorry! P-please!" His head pounded, throbbing with his racing heartbeat. "Come baaack!" His vision blurred and darkened as he keeled over into the grass. Applejack stopped just outside the gate. Her every instinct told her to run, just run, get out of there! But she stopped and looked back. She saw him on the ground outside the stables. If he'd fallen unconscious out in the direct sun, he would be in serious trouble soon.
"This is a bad idea..." she muttered to herself. She walked back over to him. "Bad idea. Bad idea. Bad idea," she repeated under her breath. When she got close enough, she found him face down in the grass. She grabbed him by the collar of his denim shirt, pulling him back inside.
"Chestnut... don't go... " she heard him mutter, skirting the edge of consciousness. He likely wasn't even aware of what was going on right now. "I love you... " Applejack very nearly dropped him. She was shocked. Sure, she could admit that she liked him. She saved his life from that wolf. And he saved hers. At least twice now. She could have called him a friend. But this , this she was not prepared for. They weren't even the same species!
She stood there for a while, holding him, unsure of what do do next. But whatever she did next, she needed more information. And chatty as he had been in the past, she still needed answers. And she wasn't going to be getting any from him in his current state. She propped him up against one of the posts in the stable, binding his hands to it with some rope, and putting the ice pack back behind his head. She sat down, opposite him. And then, she waited.
Nearly another hour passed. Arthur blinked his eyes open and lifted his head. His vision slowly came into focus as he looked at the orange blur sitting across from him in the stable. "Chestnut..?" Applejack looked up from her daydream, focusing on him now that he was awake. "You came back!" He tried to stand but found himself bound. He struggled at the rope, but if it was one thing Applejack knew, it was her knots. "You tied me up? How? Why?" Applejack just watched and waited, unsure of what to do with him, or what he planned to do with her. "Answer me! I know you can!" he said. Applejack stood, and then turned to walk away. "Chestnut!" he cried out in desperation, Applejack stopped and sighed, turning around to face him. This was it.
"Fer starters, my name ain't 'Chestnut'. It's Applejack," she said. Arthur very nearly scrambled to get to his feet, still a bit dazed.
"You CAN talk!" he said excitedly as he scuffed at the dirt, trying to get traction to stand.
"Yeah. What of it?" she asked.
"This is- this is amazing! This is incredible! A talking pony!" He pulled at his bindings harder, but to no avail. "Please, Chestnu- uh, Applejack, untie me! I have so many questions!" She stepped closer and put her hoof to his chest, pinning him down.
"Now hold yer horses there partner, I've got a few questions of my own!" she said.
"Yeah! Sure!" He nodded. She asked the question burning most in her mind.
"First of all, what is this place? Where am I?"
"Uh, this is a stable, for ponies. Um, this is my ranch, uh, Stetson Ranch, after my family name. Arthur J. Stetson. I just bought it last year and I've been working here ever since."
"I know what THIS place is!" She stamped her hoof. "But I mean this land! I've been all over and I don't recognize any of this place. Where is Ponyville?"
"What? Ponyville? I've never heard of it. But I haven't really been around this state too much."
"State?"
"Texas. The state of Texas. In America?" She stared at him blankly. "Planet Earth?" She shook her head.
"I'm not in Equestria anymore am I?"
"I have no idea what that is. Is that a place where ponies can talk?" He whipped his head around. "Wait, Buck, can you talk?" The other pony looked at the two of them with the same blank expression he always wore.
"No, he can't." Applejack said. "Trust me, I've asked. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I'm the only pony here who can." He looked back at her suspiciously.
"You ain't an alien are you?" he asked.
"A what?"
"A spacer. You know, flying saucers?"
"Uh, no."
"Alright then." He tried to stand again. "Say, do you think you could untie me now? I ain't gonna eat ya, and I'm starting to get a cramp." Applejack walked closer.
"If I untie you, you're ain't gonna to try 'n do something stupid, are you?"
"No, ma'am," he answered. She leaned over and undid the knot tying him to the post. He stood up and rubbed his wrists. "So, how did you get here then?" Applejack shrugged.
"I don't know. I just kinda appeared here one day," she said. "Maybe it was magic."
"Magic? Well, considering that I'm conversing with a talking pony I suppose I can't rule anything out," he said. "Any idea on how to get home?"
"Well if I did, I recon I wouldn't still be here," she said.
"I suppose that's true. So what now?" he asked.
"Breakfast?" she replied. Arthur laughed. It was as simple of a request as any. He turned to get some food, but paused and looked back. "What?" she asked.
"I'm just making sure that your still there and I'm not dreaming. Or dead." He chuckled and continued walking, talking as he went. "Listen, I've been feeding you this whole time, but is it- what do you like?" Applejack smiled.
"Apples are fine for now. We can work on that later." He headed inside. She followed him. He turned and watched her walking into his house.
"Um, come on in, I guess?" It was strange seeing the animal inside his home and not out in the stable. She started looking through the fridge and cabinets.
"You don't have too much for ingredients do you?" she asked, checking the freezer.
"Uh, no... How did you know that-"
"Where do you think I got the ice for your ice pack out there?" she asked.
"Huh." He looked around. He could see where things were out of place from her searching for a first aid kit. He looked back at her, standing upright up at the counter, chopping up apples on the cutting board, holding the knife in her hoof somehow, opening jars of flour and sugar, and mixing in some butter with a spoon in a bowl. "Huh..." He walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror while he washed up. He looked like he'd been laying face-down in the dirt. It took him some time to look somewhat decent, getting the bits of grass out from his hair. He could hear the clatter of pots and pans in the kitchen. Some time later, he made his way back into the kitchen. Applejack was putting a filled pie crust into the oven. "You're... baking."
"Uh huh," she answered, making some tarts in a muffin pan to go with the pie.
"A pony is baking in my kitchen," he said to himself as he took a seat at the table.
"Yeah, well your pantry is pretty bare. This place definitely needs a mare's touch," she said. "Er, a female's..." she looked at him.
"Uh, human," he said. "A woman's touch, as we'd say."
"A lady's?" she asked.
"I guess that works too. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all of this," he said as he put his head into his hands. "So, what? You were a baker where you were from?"
"An apple orchard farm pony. I worked, and lived, at a place called Sweet Apple Acres, with my family." She stopped what she was doing for a moment and looked at the floor. "It's been nearly a week. They probably think that I'm... not coming back by now." A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Hey," he walked over to her and knelt down to hug her. "I'm sorry that this happened to you. I wish there was something I could do to help." Applejack wiped her eye.
"Well, you did enough saving me out there," she said. He looked at her strangely. "The day we met, I was starving. I was glad that you had food for me. I wasn't doing so great on my own out there."
"Well you're welc-"
"Course, that was after you scared the living daylights out of me and jumped on me," she said.
"Yeah, sorry about-"
"And nearly got me strangled with that rope around my neck!"
"Hey! I saved your-"
"And then tried to 'breed' me this morning! What's wrong with you!?"
"Look! I said I was sorry, okay!? I didn't know that you were a talking, sapient, magic pony, okay!? I'm still getting used to all of this!" He put his hands up in defeat. Applejack snorted and took a deep breath.
"Sorry. I just needed to get that off my chest is all," she said, calming down and turning back to the kitchen counter.
"Thanks for last night," Arthur said, "dealing with that wolf. I thought I was dead."
"Heh, me too until you did, that thing, with your..."
"Pistol? Yeah, it's handy to have out here in the wild," he said.
"So, thanks for saving my life too, again, I guess." She brought the tray of tarts over to the table. "Here."
"What are these?" he asked.
"It's food. You eat it." She smirked. He rolled his eyes and took one of the tarts.
"Smart ass." He took a bite, lighting up as he chewed. "Damn, these are good!"
"Darn toot'n!" She smiled. He took a second, and a third. The turn of events left a lot of things uncertain for him. But one thing he know for sure, the pony could bake!
"You know," he said between bites. "you owe me an apology as well. For kicking me in the head."
"I wasn't aiming for your head. I was aiming for that... what you were trying to put in me. Do ponies here not know how too... have foals on their own? I thought I was being pretty clear that I didn't want it."
"Okay. I guess I kind of deserved that. But still-"
"Fine! I'm sorry I kicked you in the head," she said.
"How about we start fresh? Let bygones be bygones?"
"Bygones," she agreed. They each sat there for a few minutes, eating the apple tarts for breakfast. Seeing her sit at the table was still strange. But with each passing moment she was less and less like a pony to him. She looked up at him from across the table. He could talk, he had a home, a business. He was more like the ponies she knew back home than that so-called pony standing out in the stable. After a while, the timer on the oven went off. Applejack took the pie out and placed it on the window sill to cool. But the oven has caused the kitchen to become quite warm. "Land sake, it's warm in here!" Arthur pulled at his shirt to air it out.
"I hear that," he said. "Not that I don't appreciate you cooking for me." She smiled modestly. He smiled back. It was nice. This was nice. This could work. If she was indeed trapped here, this could work. Arthur stood up to leave the room, wobbled and fell back into his seat.
"Whoa there partner!" Applejack rushed over, making sure he didn't fall to the floor. "Looks like that bump on yer noggin did a real number on you. Let's get you to bed so you can rest."
"I'll be alright. There's a lot I need to do today anyway. And I've already lost a lot of time," he said, rubbing his head.
"Like hay you are!" she said. "You need to get better. I'll take care of the chores today. I know 'em all by heart now anyway." She stood beside him. "Can you walk?"
"I think so." He stood again, wobbling a bit off balance, and leaning on her.
"I gotcha!" she said, walking him to his bedroom. She helped him onto the bed.
"Grab me the white bottle from behind the mirror in the bathroom?" She grabbed the bottle of aspirin and brought it back. "So, back home, where did you- um, what I mean to say is, did you have a bed too?" he asked. She nodded.
"Yeah. Pretty much all the same stuff you got," she said. "Maybe not quite as big." She motioned to the king-size bed.
"Yeah, I don't know why I got it. I only ever sleep on this side." He looked back at her. "I suppose I'll have to get one for you. I can't believe you let me keep you in the stable this whole time. I mean- why didn't you say something sooner?" he asked as he laid down to get comfortable.
"Are you kidding me? You saw the way you reacted!" she said. "I can only imagine how I'd react if my pet started talking to me. Scientists would probably want to test it and probe it and whatnot." She looked up at him. "That's not going to happen to me now, is it?"
"Of course not! I'm not going to tell anybody. I would never let anyone take you away and hurt you," he said. A curious thought occurred to her, strange that she only realized it just now.
"Is that what I am to you?" she asked. "A pet?"
"No!" he said immediately, sitting back up. "It's not like that at all!"
"Well, what about before you knew I could talk? Or Buck? Is that what Buck is?"
"Buck? Maybe, yeah. But not you. Not ever."
"So what then?" she asked. He looked out the window for a moment, choosing his words carefully. He didn't want to lie to her.
"A companion?" he said. Applejack could tell that it was only part of the truth. The bit of moisture on his cheek told her that it was far more. She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off before she could say anything, wiping the tear away, "Just a bit of dust," he said un-prompted. Applejack didn't make a big deal of it, quickly moving on.
"Well, you get some rest. And don't worry. I always take good care of my friends," she said, making her way out the door.
"Applejack," he called to her. She stopped, poking her head back inside the room. "Promise me this isn't a dream, that I'm not just delirious right now?" he asked. "Promise me that-" he blinked the tears back in, "that you'll still be here when I wake up?" She blushed, in embarrassment for both of them, but answered seriously. Honestly.
"I promise."
Making Arrangements
Applejack trotted out of the house, into the light of the rising sun. The effect was an immediate reminder as to the purpose of her trip. 'This damnable heat!' she cursed. She made her way along the outside of the fenced enclosure, heading back down to the river to cool off. She sunk into the gentle current, feeling the immediate relief. She paddled about for some time, reluctant to leave the stream. She was so lost in her own little world that she didn't even hear them approach.
GRRRRRRR
The symphony of growls was something that Applejack felt as much as she heard. The bottom of her stomach dropped out in that nauseating feeling of free-falling when you trip over a root while walking in the woods. Her eyes shot open, looking up at the bank or the stream. It was the rest of the wolf pack, searching for their fallen member. They were on the shore, squarely between her and the ranch. Behind her, on the far side of the river was the open wilderness. She could beat them to it, but after that, they had every advantage.
She got her footing in the rocky gravel of the shallows, never letting her eye off of them. They began to spread out, widening their barrier of her escape. They'd have her surrounded soon. She had to act now.
"Arthur!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, up the hill, in vain hope that he'd hear her. One of the wolves let out a shrieking howl and charged at her. She turned and landed a solid kick, stunning him. He backtracked a bit to open up some space for another attack while the others closed in on her while she was distracted. A second lunged at her. She ducked in time, narrowly missing his bite at her neck. He instead tore a section of her mane from her, causing her to yelp in pain. "Aghhh!"
Her hind legs were a blur as she turned and parried, kicking at her surrounding assailants but mostly hitting little more than the air. They grew closer and bolder with their attacks. For all her stamina and adrenaline, it was quickly getting clear that the earth pony was becoming fatigued.
One of them finally gained purchase, landing a bite on her ankle, causing her to stumble. He had a firm grip and was not letting go. The stream ran red. As soon as she was down, the leader of the pack was on her in a flash. She had only the briefest of moments to look up at him coming at her with those wide, menacing jaws. But just an instant before he could land the killing blow on her neck, his head burst with a loud bang.
A gunshot does strange things to a fight. In this case, it stopped it instantly. The entire pack looked to the source of the noise. On the banking, Arthur stood in his underwear with his double-barrel shotgun. Another, brazen wolf ran to take out the new threat before Arthur fed him the second barrel. With two of their brethren fell to the boomstick-wielding ape, the rest thought better of it and fled.
Applejack washed the blood and bits of wolf from her coat and limped out of the water. He helped her back to the ranch, tending to her wound with some bandaging once they were safely back. The next day, she was walking around on it a little better.
"How is it feeling?" Arthur asked.
"Not too bad. It actually doesn't even hurt anymore." she said. Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Really? That was a pretty bad bite." He took out his knife and cut away the old bandaging to replace it. She felt exceptionally warm in his hands. "Feels like you're running a fever." he said. "Not surprising. No knowing what kind of bacteria they have in their mouths. That's what makes their bites so bad." He nicked her leg with his knife as he cut the taping. "Ooh, sorry about that."
"About what?" she asked. She hadn't been watching him.
"You didn't feel that?" he asked. She shook her head. He pressed the knife to her leg near the wound. "That?"
"No." He pressed harder, drawing blood. "Nothing."
"Oh shit," he muttered.
"What is it?"
"Fever and numbness at the site of the bite..." He tried to keep it from showing on his face. 'Rabies' he thought to himself.
"What do we do now?" she asked.
"Let's get you back to the stable," he said.
Inside, he led her into her stall, putting on her rein and added a few more ropes, restraining her legs and body.
"What's the big idea?" she asked.
"I'm sorry AJ, but until we're sure that you don't have rabies, I have to restrain you. Or else you could hurt yourself. Or me. I'll be out here the whole time to make sure that you're fed and have plenty to drink and that you're comfortable."
The next day, Applejack was having trouble swallowing.
Eventually she was refusing water altogether. She began to get more aggressive to the point of becoming belligerent. Her incoherent swearing devolved into a jumbled garble. Arthur slept in the house that night. He couldn't bear to see her like that.
The next morning was rainy, and cold for the summer season. He hadn't slept well. And by the sounds of things, Applejack hadn't either. Arthur had moved Buck to the opposite end of the barn, away from her. He didn't need to see this. Arthur walked out to the barn. He could already hear the banging of her pulling at her restraints. He stared at his boots as he walked.
"Not again." His cheeks ran wet. He doubted it was the rain. "Please not again. I can't do it again." He prayed, not even sure whom to. What kind of god would allow this to happen. He could hear her growling at the end of the row. His vision went blurry with tears, as he pulled the shotgun from his shoulder strap, cocking the barrel open.
He stood in front of her stall. Her eyes were glazed over, her teeth gnashing at the bit as drool ran freely.
"Applejack?" he asked, loading the shells into the chambers. "Please... say something." The mare whipped her head from side to side, pulling at the ropes. He could see where the restraints were cutting into her skin, but she seemed oblivious to the injuries as she tried to lunge at him again, still held in place. "Applejack, please!" He closed the chamber and leveled the shotgun at her. "If you're still in there, please, give me a sign." He held the gun in his shaking hands, his finger moving closer to the trigger. "Anything. Please, just- give me any reason to not do this!"
...
BOOM
"APPLEJACK!" Arthur cried out. He lurched forward in bed. The sheets were clammy with cold sweat. The room listed and spun for a moment. His head still hurt a bit at the sudden movement. He groaned. His attention turned to his bedroom doorway being thrown open. Applejack stood there, her fur and mane dripping wet. He tried to stand but she rushed over to him.
"Whoa, easy there sugar cube. You all right? You look like you seen a ghost or somethin'," she said. He just looked up at her, putting his hand on her cheek, looking in her eyes and then at her ankle for the bite. Nothing. It was just another terrible, terrible dream.
"Why are you wet?" he asked.
"I just hopped in the shower for a bit while you were resting. It's been a while since I last had one. When I heard you yell I came a running. What happened?" she asked.
"It was just a bad dream," he reassured her as much as for himself.
"What was it about?" she asked. He looked at her deep, green eyes, grateful that the sweat on his face hid the truth.
"I don't remember," he lied.
"Well I s'pose that's fer the best." Applejack grabbed a towel from the bathroom and began to dry her mane. A feat for someone with hooves. He grabbed the towel from her and helped to dry her off. "Thanks. But you're looking like a right mess. Do you think you can stand long enough to take a cool rinse?" she asked. He nodded, moving down her body and wringing out the water in her long tail. After, he wiped the sweat from his face. The towel smelled like his shampoo and... her. He held it a moment longer. The scent took him to a happy place, recalling that first time they met, when he jumped on her back and she ran off. The scent of her mane, blowing in his face in the wind.
"Alright." He put the towel down, and got to his feet. He didn't feel pain, or dizzy now. Rather, it was just a dull unease, like being just a little hungover. He looked at his sweat stains. Likely from being dehydrated, he reasoned. She braced herself against his side for support that he didn't explicitly need. He put his arm over her anyway.
"You know, I gotta say, you're taking this whole thing pretty well," Applejack said.
"How you you mean?" he asked.
"Well, I mean if my dog just up and started talking, I don't know how I would have reacted," she said.
"I told you, I don't consider you a 'pet'."
"You know what I mean though. You clearly didn't expect me to talk," she said. Arthur shrugged.
"Well, the way I see it, either I'm dead, dreaming, or it's really happening. In any case, what choice do I have but to accept it?" He looked at her. "So, you had a dog, too?" he asked, trying to change the subject. She nodded. "What was his name?"
"Her name is Winnona."
"I used to have a dog... when I was younger," he said remembering. "He uh- he was a golden retriever that my family had before I moved to the city. But I was responsible for him. Feeding him, taking him for walks and such. Cocky ole' thing. Got into a scrape with a raccoon one night and uh-" She looked at him, and he turned away for a second, blinking back at the memory. "He got sick from the raccoon biting him. And eventually I had to be the one to... end his suffering." Applejack didn't say anything, only listening. "I was barely fifteen. After that, my mom offered to get me another dog but-"
"You wanted him back."
"Yeah. Anyways, when my father died a few years later, my mother and I inherited the company. We didn't really care too much for running a big business like that so we ended up selling it. She retired and... remarried. I took my money and-" He motioned to the ranch house around them. "And I don't know what I'm doing." It suddenly occurred to both of them that they had been standing outside of the bathroom for some time now in idle conversation.
He stepped inside and peeled off his shirt and pants. Applejack just stood in the doorway with idle disinterest. Down to his underwear now he glanced at her.
"Um..."
"What?" she asked. He motioned to his underwear. She rolled her eyes. "Nothing I ain't seen before," she said, referring to when he went skinny dipping in the river with her before. "I ain't going anywhere until I'm sure that you're better. I'm not letting you get all dizzy and fall in the shower alone now." Arthur was about to object. "And you did put a thermometer in my hoo-ha, so I think we're about square." He shook his head, trying to diffuse the situation.
Come on, don't make it weird he tried to reason with his mind. He dropped his drawers and turned on the shower. He stepped inside and closed the curtain.
"So what now?" he heard her ask from the other side. He generated some lather in his hair.
"Well, I need to still try to make the best of the pony ranch venture," he said.
"How so?"
"Well, I still need to go out and catch, break, breed, and sell ponies."
"Break?" she asked.
"Tame," he explained. "The same thing I did with Buck... and you." He rinsed his hair and soaped up the rest of his body. "Of course, you were easy to teach. I was hoping that you would be able to help. But I don't know how you would feel about... capturing other ponies."
"Well, I suppose it's no worse than rounding up cattle, or sheep. And Buck sure doesn't seem to mind having a roof over his head and food provided," she said.
"Okay. I was worried there for a bit." He finished washing and rinsing, turning off the water. He pulled the curtain back just a little, modest even now. "Um, do you mind?" He motioned to the towel on the rack behind her. She turned and passed it to him. "I guess the only other thing would be figuring out what to do with you," he said as he toweled off.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, I can't very well make you stay out in the stables now. I would imagine you'll be wanting to sleep in the house."
"I don't want to impose. But, do you have a guest bedroom?" she asked.
"Sort of. But there's no bed. I've actually been using it for storage." He wrapped the towel around himself and walked back to the bedroom, pulling some clean clothes out of his dresser. He pulled on his pants and sat on the king-size bed as he fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. "I guess... I guess you could sleep on this bed until we get something figured out," he offered.
"But where would you sleep?"
"Well, it is a big bed. More than enough space for two. I don't mind sharing it, if you don't," he said.
"I suppose that would be alright. It's been a while since I've slept on a proper bed," she said. He finished getting dressed and pulled on each of his boots.
"Right, well then," He stood up and straightened out his clothes, "We've got a lot of work to catch up on and then tomorrow it's off to try and catch some more ponies." The two of them headed out and made their way around the ranch, doing all of the usual chores.
Applejack moved about freely, doing many more of the tasks that he had previously thought her lacking dexterity was not capable of. With such an able assistance, they finished all of the work in far less time. Feeding Buck and bringing him fresh water, cleaning the stall, fixing up a few odds and ends and getting the place ready for tomorrow. Arthur picked up his hat from the ground inside the stables and dusted it off before replacing it on his head.
"Don't you think you should get a new hat to replace that?" Applejack asked.
"What? this old thing? Never," Arthur said, adjusting it a little. "I'll never part with it. They'll have to bury me with it."
On the prairie, at the edge of a patch of woods, a small herd of ponies were assembled. Applejack walked over to them with a length of rope, to a tan mare with black spots.
"Howdy," she greeted. "Hey do you mind holding this for a second?" She placed the lasso of rope over her, securing it to her. "Thanks. Be right back." She carried the other end of the rope to the patch of bushes some distance away. "Here you go," she said to Arthur, giving him the other end of the rope. He took it in a firm grip and stood up. The rest of the herd panicked upon seeing him and ran. The lassoed Palomino pony didn't get very far though.
"Wow. That was so much easier," Arthur said. He and Applejack worked together to get her back to the ranch.
"She'll be a much better match for Buck," Arthur said with an awkward blush, remembering the folly of his first attempt at matchmaking. "So, uh, what's her name?" he asked.
"She ain't speak'n to me any more than to you," Applejack said.
"Well, what I mean is, what name should she have then?" he asked. Applejack regarded the other pony. She had never named a pony before. She didn't even provide a suggestion for anypony else's foal. It was stranger still that the pony was an adult. In the pony's eyes, Applejack could tell, she was a feral animal. There was no more sapient thought behind them than her dog. She reminded herself that here, in this world, she needed to think of the ponies they collected as pets more than anything else.
"I don't know."
"Well, what are some of the ponies names from your world?" he asked.
"This isn't a pony from my world," she said.
"Right. Sorry." They walked a bit more while he took time to look her over. The black spots, like large freckles, looked like chocolate chips on a, "Cookie?"
"Cookie?"
"Yeah, because she looks like a cookie," he said.
"Okay. Yeah, I can see it," Applejack said. Working together, the trip back to the ranch took very little time, same with getting Cookie into her stall beside Buck's.
"Wait, so how did Buck get his name?" she asked.
"Oh, well, it was how he greeted me the first morning that I came out here after I first brought him here. Kind of like you did."
"Yeah well..."
"I know, I know. In either case, I know I had it coming. Hopefully Cookie won't make it three for three." They got her into the stall, and fitted her with a bridle and lead. "Let's see how they get along." He took Cookie by her lead, and let Buck out along with her, leading them both out into the fenced pasture. Buck followed her very closely, visibly interested in the new mare. Applejack didn't say anything. But the scent of the other mare was telling of the season's heat.
Applejack felt ashamed to watch the other two ponies as they mated in the field. It was a harsh reminder of her own condition. She trotted behind the farmhouse to the spigot and hose to douse herself with the cold water, focusing specifically on her... lower half. "Damn this heat." she cursed to herself. After a few minutes, Arthur appeared from around the corner of the farmhouse.
"There you are!" he called out. "I didn't know where you went and I heard the water running."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was just washing some mud off of me," she said, turning off the water and coiling up the hose. "Are you, uh, are they... all done?"
"Yup. We'll find out in a few weeks if it takes. And if so, we'll have a new foal for the spring."
"Well that's... that's good, right? I mean, that's the idea, isn't it?" she asked.
"Mhmm."
"..."
"..."
"So, uh, what now?" she asked.
"Well, it's been a long day. I recon we get ourselves some supper, and then early to bed and try for another capture tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have five or six by the end of the week. And we can work on domesticating them. Maybe even have some buyers in the fall."
"Wow. It really sounds like you've got it all figured out," Applejack said.
"Well sure. Now that I've got you here to help," he told her. He wrapped his arms around her in a hugging embrace and kissed the top of her head. It was so light, almost barely there. Maybe he didn't think she would notice the kiss through her thick mane. But she did, even if she didn't let on to that fact. "Come on," he said, letting her go, "let's get you toweled off and then rustle up some grub."
The sun began to set in the window of the kitchen as Arthur dried Applejack's fur with a bath towel. After giving her fur a vigorous rub, he took care to dry her mane as best as he could. Getting the last of her tail dry, he could tell from her fidgeting and visual cues that she was still suffering from her annual discomfort. He tried his best to spare her the embarrassment and finished as quickly as he could.
Inside, Arthur could do little more than lend an occasional hand and just stay out of the way as Applejack moved from fridge to counter to stove. He barely had a chance to start in on his hard-boiled egg salad before she had a dish of corn muffins for him, and a bowl of soup. This was followed by some boiled pasta with sauce, steamed rice and beans. And an Apple Pie for dessert, with home-made whipped cream of course.
"Please, no more!" he begged. He threw his hands up in defeat and pushed his plate away. A man could only eat so much after having lived for so long on on bachelor-chow, which was any meal with, at most, one step: apply heat. Applejack had cooked most of it just for him. She was satisfied with a single serving of salad and a slice of pie. Arthur practically rolled out of his chair. "Ugh, I'm useless."
"We can tackle the dishes tomorrow, I suppose," Applejack said, following him as he hobbled to the bedroom. He slumped onto his side of the mattress and took off his boots, socks and shirt. Applejack stood on the opposite side of the bed and waited. He unbuckled his belt and pulled off his pants, leaving him in just his underwear. He pulled back the covers of the bed and climbed under. On the other side, Applejack did the same. Both had plenty of room on the rather large bed to allow for a polite no-mans-land between.
For a time, each just laid on their backs, looking, more or less, at the ceiling. Each found it far more comfortable to fall asleep on their side. But neither wanted to seem rude in turning away from the other. Nor did they want to seem too forward in turning toward the other.
"Well, uh, good night then," Arthur said.
"Good night," Applejack said back. Arthur pulled the chain on the nightstand light, casting the room in darkness. After a few minutes, he felt her weight shift in the bed. The tension on the covers told him that she had rolled away onto her side, facing the far wall.
'Of course she did', he thought. Why would she roll to face him? They were just sharing a bed after all. It didn't mean anything more than that. He had shared his bed with his dog before. It didn't mean that he loved him.
Well, of course he loved him. But it didn't mean that he was in love with him. Just because Applejack shared his bed didn't mean that she was in love with Arthur either. How could she be? He had been her captor, owner, and at best, roommate. They weren't even the same species.
His full stomach made him drowsy, but his mind refused to let him drift off into slumber.
He was sharing a bed with Applejack. But she couldn't think that it meant that he was in love with her. They weren't even the same species. How could he be in love with her?
There were words for people like that, after all. But Applejack wasn't just an animal. She could talk. She had a mind with thoughts and feelings and personality. She could cook better than he could for crying out loud.
His head and heart were at odds.
He couldn't be in love with her.
'How could he be?' his mind echoed.
...
...
"Could he be?" Applejack wondered.
Out on a capture, Arthur crept closer to a pony he had been following for some time. A beautiful mare with light chestnut colored fur and a blonde mane and tail. His Chestnut mare. As soon as he was close enough, he threw his lasso into the air, and landed right around her. She fought and struggled to get away as he pulled in more of the rope. And then, as soon as he was close enough, he jumped forward to tackle her. And damn if he didn't land right on top of her.
And she took off running. Running as the human clung to her back, with his arms wrapped around her, holding on for the ride. He pressed his cheek to the back of her neck as she ran. He could hear her strong, wild heart beating. He could feel her powerful muscles rippling beneath her fur. He could smell her lovely scent in her mane. He pressed his face deeper into her golden locks, wishing to stay there forever.
"Hmm,"
The morning light streaked in through the curtains of the window. Applejack stirred from her slumber. She realized that she was in a bed. She felt somepony's hoof draped across her. She shifted a little to look at who it was. She felt fingers rubbing her belly idly before Arthur's arm pulled her tighter to him. She suddenly remembered where she was.
She was in Arthur's house. In his bed. He was behind her, holding her tightly to him. She could feel him pressing his face into the nape of her neck. The steadiness of his warm breath on her told her that he was still asleep. Feeling his embrace around her felt... comforting, assuring. She felt safe.
I love you
The words echoed in her mind from the other day, when he was delirious from the concussion and sun. They haunted her thoughts, unsure of their true meaning. He wasn't in his right mind at the time, after all. He could have been hallucinating that he was saying it to anyone. Besides, she told her dog that she loved her. But it didn't mean it was the romantic kind.
Maybe he did love her. But it was the way that one loved a pet. Certainly he cared about her. That much was clear. She cared about him as well. Maybe in the general sense of the word, she did love him. But it didn't mean that she was in love with him. How could she be?
She wrestled with the thought of it.
Still... it seemed more plausible than any kind of a relationship with Buck, out in the stables, even if he was supposed to be the same species as her. The idea of that repulsed her. But Arthur on the other hoof...
Applejack shook her head. It was crazy, that idea. He couldn't possibly like her like that . Not in the way that she needed. She tried to clear her mind of the notion.
Maybe he was just being overly affectionate from being isolated for so long. In all her time here, she hadn't seen a single other member of his species. Certainly not any females. His affection was simply being misplaced. Or she was just misinterpreting it. After all, she reminded herself, she wasn't thinking clearly herself in her condition. Her thighs rubbed together uncomfortably. 'This damn heat.'
Her heart and mind were in a tug-of-war. She clenched her hoof and grit her jaw in frustration. She needed to know, consequences be damned. She rolled over toward him, with his arm still draped over her. The movement was enough to cause his eyes to flutter, stirring him from his dream. She looked at him, less than a foot from his face. He looked back are her big, green eyes and smiled.
"Good morning," he said with a yawn. As he stretched, he realized his arm in her side of the bed's territory. "Oh, sorry," his smile faded as he pulled his arm away. Applejack felt the warmth of his arm on her body leaving her. She felt the comfort and security of it slipping away. It was now or never, she decided. She took his hand in her hoof and held it.
"Arthur, I need to ask you something," Applejack said.
Arthur looked down as his hand, clasped in her hooves, and then back to her face.
They may have been separated by species, many anatomical differences, and cultural barriers.
But her holding his hand, and the look in her eyes shattered all of them.
"Do you love me?" she asked.
Arthur suddenly found it very hard to breath. It was as simple a question as anyone could ask. All she wanted was a little yes or no. But it wan't so simple.
"AJ I... you know I care about you a lot."
"That's not what I asked," she pressed. "I asked if you loved me. After you were kicked, while you were half-conscious, you said 'I love you'." His face turned red. He didn't remember any of that, but still. "Is it true? Do you love me?"
"I- well, yeah. I mean, of course I love you. I-"
"But do you love me like you would love a human mare?"
"A woman."
"Like a woman? Do you love me like that?"
"AJ, I-" he winced and pulled his hand away from her hooves, covering his face. "You must think I'm weird. I'm sorry. I just, I, I-" he gasped, unable to speak through the tight lump in his throat.
"Do you or not?" she asked again. He couldn't bare to look at her. He couldn't stand to see the look on her face when he told her.
"yes" he croaked his confession through his hands, certain that it would ruin everything. He felt her weight shift in the bed. To run out of the room, he figured . At once he felt her weight on him. She grabbed his wrists with her hooves, pulling his hands away from his face.
"Say it!" she barked at him.
"Yes, dammit!" he said, more clearly.
"Say the words!"
"I love yo-hhmmfff!"
He didn't even get out the 'u' in 'you' before she pressed her lips to his, kissing him deeply.
"Arthur," she panted, "would you- could you love me like a woman?" She all but whimpered, "I need it so badly, it hurts." He pressed his finger to her lips.
"Shhh." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, kissing her again as he rolled her onto her back.
No more words needed be spoken.
