by Nugget
The inside of a cottage home was filled with the sweet aromas of strawberry and peach, which arose from its small kitchen. The day was at its evening and Fluttershy was preparing dinner for her little white rabbit when the wall phone rang. The call was from Applejack, and Fluttershy was immediately met with the distress of an apple farmer not knowing exactly what to do.
“Oh… oh my! So, she’s just doing a lot of... rolling?” Fluttershy rose an eyebrow.
It wasn't every day, or evening for the matter, that she received a call like this. In fact, this was the first time in a while that Fluttershy ever had a call from Applejack pertaining towards one of her animals. This left the shy girl to be quite attentive towards what AJ had to say, making Fluttershy constantly repeat “Yeahs” and “Uh-huhs” over the phone. It also made sure to her friend that she was listening.
Meanwhile, as some more of Applejack’s brisk chatter was heard from the phone, Angel Bunny hopped into the kitchen with a look of annoyance. In demand of his meal for the night, he skipped over to Fluttershy’s leg and proceeded to jump up and tug on her skirt. Fluttershy gasped while she glared down at the floor, finding a small, white bunny thumping its leg.
Displeasure soon washed over Fluttershy as the bunny could clearly see her distraught. “...I know, AJ, please hold… please wait… ohhhhh….” Fluttershy grunted.
Taking the phone to her shoulder, Fluttershy stared back at Angel Bunny once more. Sympathizing in a bit of a harsh tone, she said, “Hey Angel, I know you are hungry, but please just give me one second.” Fluttershy took the call back to her ear while the white rabbit scorned.
After Fluttershy apologized to Applejack for the sudden interruption, her hand flew to her mouth in dismay. Startled by the information from AJ, she exclaimed, “Oh, my! That sure does sound... weird.” She then said without hesitation in her voice, “Sure, I’ll be right over.”
Saying her goodbye to Applejack, Fluttershy hung up the phone and presented Angel Bunny his dinner, whom began to quickly relish in the meal with each chomping bite. Having no regards towards his owner’s movements, Angle didn’t see Fluttershy grabbing her keys and purse to leave. However, he did hear her intentions.
“Now, I’ll be back Angel Bunny,” she said while leaning down towards the rabbit, patting its head despite Angel’s disapproval. “Now don’t eat too much of it at once… ok?”
The bunny pointed towards the door.
Fluttershy rolled her eyes, accompanied by a bit of a giggle.
A spiraling trail of dust blew behind a pink and yellow Volkswagen as Fluttershy, flustered from the urgency that drove her to AJ’s farm, emerged from it. “Well Howdy-do there, buddy!” in her usual southern, yet slightly distressed assent. By now, if their phone conversation didn’t convince Fluttershy that Applejack was completely concerned about their subject matter, she could definitely see the strained face of her worried friend.
Fluttershy spoke up. “Well, hey AJ! I-I’m so sorry for not being here sooner, or anything, but-but I got here as fast I could!” She whimpered, “Oh, that poor, poor...” before being slightly hesitant with her words. She wasn’t nervous, but actually excited with the opportunity to work with a, “...horse?”
“Yep, you said it, right… A horse….”AJ was briefly ambivalent. “Wait… You do know something about them right?”
“Oh, yeah!” exclaimed Fluttershy. “I know a lot about them since I- Ah!”
Applejack had grabbed her arm, nearly dragging her friend into the dirt as they ran towards the barn. “Sorry, Flutters… But, we have no time to waste here, sugarcube.”
Fluttershy, slightly stunned from Applejack’s haste, gave into it. “Umm, ok...”
As they entered the barn’s wide passageway, the illuminated bar lights gave Fluttershy enough vision to see some of the livestock sticking their heads out from the ten stalls. While she could see some of Applejack’s cows, Fluttershy assumed the horse was in stall #7 since no animal was visibly seen upon their approach to it. Instead, the only thing that could be observed was the oak and iron stall gate that was marked with the number ‘7.’
“So is she in there?” ask Fluttershy.
“Yep!” replied Applejack. “That’s Winona’s stall.”
Fluttershy peeked between the iron bars. “Oh.”
While the stall was hard to see into, given that it was only lit by the barn’s hall lights, Fluttershy was still able to make out a vast figure that occupied the shave covered space. Taking the appearance of a horse, she assumed it was so as she heard a brief neigh coming from the equine, followed by the sound of tail flicking and snorting. Finally, after Fluttershy’s eyes were able to adjust the dark conditions, she could fairly see the brown and white patches of the horse’s fur.
Applejack joined alongside friend, peering into the enclosure as well. “...And that is Winona. The one that has been acting all strange-like for the past hour.”
Fluttershy tilted her head. “You mean she is the one that has been doing the constant rolling and kicking of her stomach?”
“Yeah.” AJ scratched her chin. “And I think I know what she’s up-”
Applejack’s statement was cut off by the rustling of Winona’s hooves upon the stall floor. With AJ sharply turning her head back to see her, the equine buckled her knees inward and attempted to go down and roll on her back. However, the second after her front knees caved, Fluttershy, while not known for being spontaneously loud at any given moment, shouted at the animal to catch its immediate attention.
“HEY, YOU MISS-Y! DON’T YOU DARE ROLL!”
“Wha?” Applejack was stunned by her friend’s unexpected harsh vocal tone. “Errrm… Hey Fluttershy… Why did you just shout at her?”
Fluttershy began to yank on the stall door. “Because after what you have told me, along with what I just saw her try to do, I have a slight suspicion that she might me-”
Applejack intervened. “-Colicing?”
Fluttershy gulped. “Yeahhh… that… Umm,” she paused. “How do you know that?”
“Welll…” Applejack began to unlatch the gate lock for Fluttershy, “To keep things short, I once spent two weeks at family member’s ranch in Philadelphia… And it was at their homestead that I learned how to care for some of them horses they had. To which, I picked up the meaning of the term ‘colic.’”
Applejack let out a slight hmm. “I’d think they explained it like a type of pain that mostly occurs in the abdominal region… Or, in my own words, a horrible stomach ache that mainly happens to horses… and sometimes human babies. Right?”
“Um, Precisely… And if it goes untreated, well...” Fluttershy posed bitter as she tightened her lips and teeth.
AJ dismissed her words. “I don’t want to think about that.”
Breaking the lock, Applejack slowly slid the stall door to a point that gave Fluttershy and herself enough of an entryway to slip through without potentially letting Winona escape. Soon after, AJ closed the gate as Fluttershy presented herself to the horse with arms wide open, fluctuating them frantically in an attempt to convince the sweating pony to get back up on its hooves.
Sadly, Fluttershy failed to motivate the intentions of a heavily breathing Winona. As she laid her head back down on the ground, it soon became apparent to Fluttershy and Applejack that non-contact methods weren't going to work. They needed to use force.
Applejack crossed her arms. “Huh… She’s lazier than a timber wolf learning its surroundings!”
Fluttershy put her hands on the left side of the horse’s shoulder. Pushing upward, she grunted, “Well, that’s... to… bad for her, AJ.... because we… need her to get her up… NOW!” Fluttershy threw all her weight into her shoulder and successfully managed to maneuver Winona into a defined “sitting position” with all four of her hooves bent parallel to her side. Her flustered back was arched towards the ceiling.
Still not in content with the horse’s arrangement, Fluttershy continued to push on the same shoulder with the new assistance from Applejack. Together, the girls were then able to force Winona to use her fore-hooves to pick herself up and off the ground. Standing once more, she immediately snorted out a breath of air, shook the dust from her head and body, and then turned towards her side to nip her enraged stomach. It was about a minute later she tried to get down on her knees... again.
“Oh no you don’t!” Fluttershy pushed up on Winona’s chest and managed to avert a five-hundred pound horse from buckling its knees again. Instead, Winona shifted herself back onto her four hooves, standing completely upright while swishing her tail. As for Fluttershy, she let out an unsettled huff as she leaned against the equine. She hoped it would keep Winona up while she sought for a better solution.
Gah! I just cannot keep fighting with her all night, she said to herself, I mean, there has to be an easier solution towards keeping Winona up.... hmm. Fluttershy scratched her hair. She heard of its name before, but the device that the ranchmen use to tie up their horses wasn’t a term she used quite often. Therefore, the shy girl’s desperation for its general name somehow translated into her silently snapping her fingers.
Seeing her friend’s struggle, AJ asked, “Is there something wrong, Fluttershy?”
“Um... yeah,” she replied. “What is that thing they use to tie up horses?”
Applejack pondered on the question for a moment. However, since it was very non-specific, her answer reflected the first thing anyone would use to ‘tie’ up a horse. “A rope?”
Fluttershy lightly shook her head. “No, no…”she screeched. Then using her hands, she pointed at her forehead and moved her fingers down in a “V” shape towards her chin. “That thing they use to put around the horse’s face to clip a rope onto.”
“Oh!” exclaimed the farmer. “A halter, you mean!”
“Yeah! That… Umm... ” Fluttershy hesitated. “Do you have a… ‘halter’ to which we can tie her up? I mean, I really don’t want to keep doing this all night, you know?”
“Hmm…” Applejack took her hand to her chin, wondering if she did have one.
About a second later, her thought came to her. “Oh! Um, yeah, Fluttershy! There is a halter and rope my closet at the house…” She began to step away, “I’ll go get it for ya.”
“Thanks.” Fluttershy thought, That would have been very helpful in the first place.
The click-clacking of boots could be heard running down the barn corridor as Applejack returned to stall #7 with a red lead rope and matching halter in hand. Worn out from her sprint, her unsteady hands presented the items to Fluttershy. She, on the other hand, was still leaning up against Winona.
“Here... is… the… things… you needed… Flutter… shy,” AJ panted.
Winona snarled in disapproval of the halter.
“I know buddy, but it’s only for your own good,” said Fluttershy, patting Winona’s forehead.
She took the red harness from her friend and engulfed it around the horse’s face. However, as Fluttershy was about to buckle down the side strap, Winona tried to bend her knees downward. Fluttershy jerked up on the halter, pulling it towards the wooden roof.
“Oh, no you don’t!” shouted Fluttershy, now holding Winona’s head within the halter. “You will not be going down anymore!”
Winona snorted.
Since horses are known to lead with their crowns, the equine had no choice but to keep herself on all fours while her head was still tilted up. That way, she could kept equal balance on her all-around weight distributions despite how dissatisfied she felt. In protest, after she re-corrected herself, Winona let out another loud snort.
Applejack chuckled. “Seems to me like she don’t like that.”
“Yeah, well that’s too bad, though. I mean… Well, we do need to keep her up on her legs that way she doesn't roll,” said Fluttershy, letting AJ clip the lead rope to Winona’s halter.
“I agree,” replied the apple farmer. “She could really do some damage to her internals if she rolled around enough. Ultimately lead towards…” Applejack was hushed by her friend.
She spoke softly, “Please, AJ, I don’t want to think about that.”
“Alright.” Applejack retorted. “Well then, now what?”
“Now...” Fluttershy looked towards the stall gate and motioned the farmer to open it. “Since its the utmost importance that we keep her up and standing, let’s get her out of this stall and tie her up an open place where she cannot roll…” she glared the barn’s bar lights, “...and I can see her better.”
“Agreed…”Applejack followed her friend’s idea as she slid the stall gate away. “...And I think I know a good spot to tie her up as well… Just follow me.”
With Winona being tugged by Fluttershy, she guided the pony by directions from Applejack. It lead themselves towards an open dirt area around the outside of the barn. There, Fluttershy was able to safely tie up Winona to the side of the building where an overhead light illuminated the scene.
“There.”
Fluttershy tightened the knot in the rope and made sure Winona wasn’t able to jerk it free. Thus, with each pull she did attempt, Winona bobbed her head up and down as a reaction towards Fluttershy’s pulls on the rope. This soon caused her to stop what she was doing, calming Winona down in the process.
“She sure does look uneasy,” remarked Applejack as she stood away from her horse, noticing its constant twitching of the skin, tail flicking, and nipping.
Fluttershy implied, “Well, she is in a position that’s unable to take care of what is bothering her. Therefore, unable to roll or nip the areas of pain. Poor thing.”
They both looked back at Winona as she turned herself left and right while pawing the ground, sniffing and sorting the air in frustration. More tail flickering could be seen as she then tried to lower head once again, but was immediately brought back up by the tug of rope and halter. Winona then shook her fur covered skin, curling her lip up as well.
Meanwhile, Applejack was curious as to what Fluttershy was thinking next. “So now what?”
“Now…” Fluttershy exhaled. “Now, we wait until a vet gets here…” She turned towards her friend, “Do you have a number?”
Applejack reached into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone to show Fluttershy. “I do, and I already called one about an hour ago. Dr. Moore should be here at any moment.”
“Oh… I see.”
Fluttershy put her attention back on Winona to notice her moving about at an axis that pointed towards where she was tied up. Since her condition hasn't changed since Fluttershy arrived at the farm, Winona once again nipped her irritating stomach before striking the ground with a loud thud of her fore-hoof. This caused Applejack and Fluttershy to scold her frustrated action.
“Now stop that!” they both shouted as Winona peered over towards them, wondering where the loud voices came from. She then nipped her stomach again.
“Umm…” Fluttershy pondered. “I wonder…”
She began to take couple of steps forward before AJ asked her, “Hey Fluttershy… What are ya’ doin?”
“Oh! What I’m doing is I’m going to check how her stomach vowels are performing,” she replied while slowly approaching Winona.
“Umm…” Applejack was confused. “How are you going to do that? They aren't see through, you know?”
Fluttershy smirked as she patted Winona on the side, kneeling down to put her left ear next to her underside. “Oh, I know, but putting your ear up to a horse’s belly can sometimes allow to you hear anything that their stomach might be trying to process. To which, I don’t expect to hear anything at all.”
Applejack bend down next to her friend. “Is that good thing?”
“No,” Fluttershy sighed. “Not hearing any digestive sounds can yield to a much bigger…”
Winona swung her body away from Fluttershy, to which she lost her support and slightly fell forward before Applejack caught her by the shoulders.
“Whoa there partner!” said AJ with a friend in her arms. “I nearly lost ya there!”
“Yeah, no kidding!” Fluttershy relieved upon the fact that she didn’t face tasting the ground while she got back up her legs. Brushing the horse hairs off her sleeves, she gandered at Winona and saw herself parallel to the side of the red barn. Her convulsions still indicated her discomfort.
That discomfort then escalated into a hasty panic.
The sudden rush of her emotions caused Winona to kick out a panel in the barn and leave a crack in the wood while she jolted her head upward. Applying a tight strain to the lead rope, she then stretched and twisted it as Applejack and Fluttershy, acting abruptly upon their instincts, ran over to calm down and control the horse. However, their rapid movements only intensified Winona’s.
It was at the last second before Fluttershy was able to grab on to the lead rope when it snapped, sending one end swinging toward the barn and the other towards the paint horse. Smacking upside her face, the rope gave Winona enough forceful motivation to gallop away from the barn and off into the vast property that the Apple Family owned. Leaving behind a stunned Applejack and a frozen Fluttershy, whom jumped away from Winona before her takeoff.
Silence then fell upon the friends for few seconds, allowing themselves to process exactly what had happened… Winona escaped.
“Well… Shoot!” cried Applejack as she took off her hat and threw it on the ground, kicking the dirt up with her leather boots.
“I’m… I’m sorry!” whimpered Fluttershy as she curled her arms up toward her face, attempting to cover her shame. “I mean I really, really didn’t mean too-”
Applejack came over to her friend and grabbed her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. The apple farmer was still upset, but knew she will be needing her friend for the next logical step that had to happen.
Applejack took in a deep breath of air before exhaling to say, “Hey… Hey! Its ok there, sugarcube. Nothing is wrong here… It’s just that will have to go catch her and bring her back. No big deal, ya’ hear?”
Small tears ran down from Fluttershy’s eyes before they were wiped away by her sleeves. “Ok.”
Seeing Fluttershy nod her head in approval, Applejack took her inside the barn and walked her over to a small tool closet. After a small light flickered on by AJ turning a switch, the shy girl could then see that the small room included food for the animals and a tool chest for any quick fixes. It also had AJ’s lasso and a five gallon blue bucket that was soon handed to her.
Holding onto it, Fluttershy could see it was empty, covered in a bit of grain dust from its constant use. This was going to be her bucket for the little “operation” AJ talked about while gathering her items. A plan Fluttershy was skeptical of.
She scratched the side of her head. “So let me get this straight… We are going to lure her with the bucket of food and then you are just going to rope her?”
“Eeyup…” the apple farmer replied. “It’s that simple!”
“Really?”
“Really,” repeated AJ. “After all, she has seen that bucket WAY TOO many times to know that it’s always full of food. In fact, since the time I have had her, she would always be poking her head out of that stall as soon as she sees that thing! Therefore, if we put just a little bit of food in there and jiggled it within her sight, then she oughta come run for ya’ as soon as she hears it… and then BAM!”
Fluttershy shrieked as Applejack pulled out her golden tinted lasso to show off. “Ok?”
“Ok,” complied Fluttershy.
“Alright…” Applejack closed the closet door. “Well then... Lets go catch a Winona!”
Fluttershy and Applejack, with a rope and bucket of food in hand, emerged from the back of the barn to catch a glimpse at the darkened tree line. While not much else could be seen with the light from the spot they originally had their horse tied up, it was apparent that those trees seemed to act like a gate into the beyond. A place where they knew a certain Winona could be found.
Once again, Fluttershy’s fear of the unknown, along with the glooming ambiance that surrounded her, seemed to make the girl tremble with her words.
“Ummmm… Applejack, are-are you sure we shh-sh-should go in there? It seems… spooky.”
AJ patted her back. “You’ll be fine Fluttershy… besides, we were just out here a minute ago, why weren't you scared then?”
“Because, there was some light and we weren't looking at... that.” She looked back at the tree line and pointed at a dull spot before it was lit up by a flashlight.
“Better?” AJ handed over the flashlight to Fluttershy.
“Better.” She gulped.
As they proceeded to walk into the forest, the friends heard a faint whinnying from within the vast timbers. This sound then solidified the duo’s desire to go after their horse as they walked past the front of towering facade. Pushing away the gateway of thin branches that hung low and almost in the faces of Applejack and Fluttershy, they both stepped closer into the depths of the forest’s vegetation of bushes and trees while a spot of light was shined in almost every single nook and cranny that “something” could jump or run from.
Fluttershy, again trembling, remained nervous. No amount of self-reassurance from herself or Applejack could help curve the same emotion that ran within her… fear. The same thing she felt when she lost Winona, which kept her from taking the lead rope when the equine kicked upward. Instead, she locked up her muscles and almost screamed a clear yelp, the same sound she keep producing every time a small critter sprang from a piece of nature she shined her light into.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Will you get a-hang of yourself?”
“Sorry!” she replied, continuing to wave the light around.
It took the apple farmer a moment to notice Fluttershy’s flashlight antics and realize the animals were being bothered by her urgent use of its brightness.
She approached her friend. “Hey, hey! Give me the light and take my rope. Alright? Don’t want you to scare yourself into next week… and frankly, I don’t want you to blind these critters as well. Alright?”
Fluttershy nodded and gave AJ the flashlight while taking the rope and dropping it into the bucket. She then got her orders to continue with her friend, however, with the light now in AJ’s possession, the shy girl put her unused hand atop Applejack’s shoulder as she was guided wherever in the woods they needed to go. To what guided AJ remained unclear.
It wasn’t until ten minutes later, after they stumbled through the shrubs and sharp vines, that they got onto a fortunate discovery that helped lead themselves in a direction of certainty. The finding was, after Applejack swept the ground with her light, Winona’s hoof prints, stamped into the disrupted surface of the forest floor. While faint to see, there was enough of a print to clearly define the ‘C’ shape that was angled to the North.
Applejack wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Whelp, at least we have a direction now!”
Fluttershy’s cheer was mild. “Yay.”
AJ sighed. “Yeah… I’ll agree to that. Shouldn’t be too hard now to find Winona.”
Fluttershy was still a bit frightened as she stumbled with her words. “Oh… I hope she is still…” she gulped, “ok.”
“She should be….”AJ scratched her neck. “I hope.”
The two to them began to follow the stamped prints that made their markings through the wet vegetation and mud that covered the undersides of their shoes. While Applejack’s leather cowboy boots proved their durability with each step, not letting nature go within its internals, Fluttershy's “breathe” tennis shoes, on the other hand, seeped in most of the cool water from the muck and moisture of their surroundings. This began to make the pink haired, covered in leaves and a few twigs, girl yelp and squeal to almost every wet step she took. This began to annoy Applejack, making her wish they found the lost horse already.
A few more minutes cruised by and Applejack, uneasy with her friend’s constant high pitch cries, began to rethink about the idea of bringing her friend out into the dark forest. After all, she had known of her consent fears for quite sometime and that literally anything could scare her. This in turn could scar her while she and Applejack regretted the decision of being in the situation to begin with. However, Applejack’s mind track did lead herself to ask:
Should Fluttershy be put in this situation at all?
In short: Applejack had to think, yes.
She was responsible for the horse getting loose in the first place, sadly, she thought. ...However, It’s my fault as well for not thinking and acting calmly when it happened.
Applejack looked back at her friend, whom was still trembling while trying to keep up with AJ’s pace. The farmer then said to herself, Seems like we are both ta’ blame, here.
AJ halted her pace as Fluttershy came towards her side. “You alright there, buddy?”
“Ummm, yeah-h…” she then yelped. “A-Are we-e near-near Winona-a now?”
“Beats me,” replied Applejack. “And at this rate we’ll never-”
A short, yet distinctive long snort was then heard by the friends, coming from a direction that seemed a small distance from where stood. It was then that Applejack held up her flashlight to catch the retinas of Winona’s eyes. Making them glow as she lied on the ground, staring back at the two girls.
The moral of Applejack and Fluttershy then heightened as they almost immediately wanted to express their happiness in finding the horse. However, their desperate search had reminded themselves to remain collective with their movements. After all, finding a horse can be a challenge, but catching one can be the true monster.
It was then that no words were spoken between the two as AJ and Fluttershy, together, slowly began to approach Winona with the rope and bucket in hand. A few inches later, the girls paused as the horse let out another obnoxious snort while rolling onto her side. Repositioning herself into a sitting position, she could then monitor the movements of the friends with ease as they proceeded with their series of tiny steps again. Meanwhile, Winona’s head followed the descent of the feed bucket that Fluttershy lowered.
*Snap*
Fluttershy froze in terror before swiftly glancing at her friend’s boots to notice a broken stick beside them. Then hearing a large shuffle of leaves and dirt, the shy girl turned back to find Winona on her four hooves, a bit startled from AJ’s noise. However, she still had her attention on the food.
It was then that a decision had to be made silently in regards to how they now come towards Winona since she was on her hooves. Inside the mind of Fluttershy, she thought, if we slowly tried to walk towards her and accidentally make another mistake in the form of a harsh movement or suddenly loud noise, then our efforts would surely be gone with the galloping horse. Oh, I wish that wasn’t so.
She then turned to see Applejack shaking her hands up and down while mouthing her the words, “shake the bucket… call her over here.”
Umm… Alright, she said to herself while nodding her head in compliance.
Fluttershy then turned to back to Winona, still standing with her head lowered, and cleared her throat. Shaking the bucket, thus creating a clacking sound with the colliding pellets, she said the words, “Umm… Come here Winona. I have some treats for you.”
The horse, after hearing the pellets from the blue gallon bucket, then rose its head to attention with her ears facing towards the shaking pale. Wide eyed, Winona licked her lips, contemplating whether or not to further investigate the blue rattling object held within the hands of a human she barely knew. It was a risk after all to trust anyone, or any horse for the matter, on the subject of something or anything that could endanger the horse’s life, leaving the fight or flight animal to definitely run away. In this case, the question seemed to be this;
Is their food in there or not?
Winona licked her lips again as Fluttershy shook the bucket once more. “Come on Winona… I know you really want it.”
Indeed she did.
With a single front hoof progressing in front of another, Winona, licking her lips a third time, began to shift and move her entire body over to Fluttershy. Head hung low and sniffing the ground occasionally, the horse walked up to her and bopped its nose upon the bucket. She then, by the will of the shy girl that stood incapacitated by her hesitant will, stuck her entire muzzle inside to find the small ration of grain that laid there.
Upon Winona’s consumption of the green pellets, she further buried her entire head inside the pale and aggressively pushed upon its bottom. Apparently, she wanted to make sure all the found food traces, including the original coat of grain dust, were completely licked up and eaten to their full, dead grass delight. Thus, it made her head attach to the bucket, unable to witness Applejack’s approach towards her.
As the last pieces of the dried up pellets were licked, Fluttershy tried to remove the bucket from Winona, but was met with resistance. Wanting to keep its head inside, the horse tried to push up against the moving pale while it was driven away from her. Eventually, Fluttershy was able to free the paint.
Right as Winona was fully exposed, Applejack, nylon rope in hand, gently, yet quickly tried to apply the lasso around the neck of the equine when she began to back up at its sight. With Applejack’s immediate opportunity beginning to fade at an instant, she too sped up her pace and managed to match the backward speed of Winona. That was when she soon turned herself around to run.
Applejack then knew her chance could be blown.
Acting upon her sudden instinct, she took the lasso and aggressively wound it up around her head in a blur. Within the second she had, Applejack managed to focus on the pole of the equine as its rear legs propelled into the ground, giving Winona enough thrust to swing her butt downward. This allowed her front hooves to come off the ground, giving AJ the sight of her only window of opportunity.
Hoping for a miracle, the farmer tossed the rope, letting its circular momentum take itself in the direction of the fleeing horse. Turning in midair, the loop expanded outward and created large enough gap to fly directly underneath the fore-hooves of Winona. Then as the honda came in contact with the ground, the rest of the loop fell in suit while managing to encompass the exact spot where Winona landed her front hooves. Applejack then pulled on the lasso, tightening it firmly around the equine’s fetlocks while stopping the horse entirely.
Securing Winona within the confines of the nylon rope, AJ cheered. “Yeeee haw! We got her!”
Fluttershy pumped a fist into the air as she leaped. “Woo-hoo!”
Winona snorted. She knew she was caught.
A sigh of relief soon followed with the weight being lifted off the shoulders of the friends. Looking upon each other with lingering exhaustion, both of them were glad to have the paint back within their control. AJ wiped the sweat off her forehead before patting Winona.
“Boy, I’d tell ya, girl. You sure gave us quite an adventure comin’ to find ya.”
Fluttershy nodded her head. “Oh… I agree, and you sure had us worried as well.” She took the equine and hugged it around its neck. Breathing inward, Fluttershy let out a sigh as she had a whiff of sweat, dirt, and alleviation from the unique “horse smell”. A trait the shy girl, and many horse owners, cherished.
“That never gets old to me,” she remarked.
Applejack grabbed the halter that remained secured to Winona. “Alright Fluttershy, come on. Let’s get her home… I’m sure the vet is waitin’ for us there anyway.”
Fluttershy let go of the horse. “Ok… lets.”
The lasso was removed from the lower legs of Winona. Applejack then rewound it as Fluttershy lead the equine back to the barn by holding onto what remained of the red lead rope. Walking through the same shrubs, branches, and vines they encountered before, AJ and surprisingly, Fluttershy were able to transverse through the obstacles without difficulty or hesitation. To Applejack, it seemed as if her friend found some new confidence.
“Hey Fluttershy.”
She, along with Winona, turned their heads toward the farmer. “Yeah?”
“It seems to me like you aren't trembling now.”
Fluttershy peeked at her legs to find them not shaking. “I guess so… Maybe finally having Winona again has helped me to feel a little better about myself, you know?”
AJ nodded. “Yeah, I think I do.”
Fluttershy peered towards her side, hiding a portion of her face within her hair. “And, yet I still feel awfully, awfully sorry for her getting loose in the first place.” Her only viewable eye glanced over to Applejack. “Will you ever forgive me?”
AJ smiled and wrapped her arm over her friend’s shoulders, embracing her in short, yet friendly hug. “Well of course I forgive you Fluttershy, Why else not?”
She let go of her. “Besides, it’s my fault too. If I wasn’t so hasty with Winona then she might not have freaked out the way she did when we tied her up. Might-a cooled down to a cucumber level, I reckin’.”
“Yeah… and I should have taken it a bit easier with her as well.” Fluttershy removed the strands of hair that covered her left eye. She then proceeded to stroke Winona, moving her left arm down the horse’s mane. “Seems I forgot they were very sensible creatures, and do take quite a bit of some patience to work with.”
AJ grunted. “No kiddin’. Yet, from what I just learned, you do still to need to apply assertiveness as well…”
She looked back at Winona, a grin was soon seen. “...but, at the right time.”
Fluttershy agreed. “Oh, definitely at the right time! Otherwise, you’ll ruin this horse or-”
“Send them running’ away from ya’ because their scared?”
Fluttershy slowly shook her head, as to say “yes.”
“I see…” replied Applejack. “It’s like a whole balancing act with her. On one end, when she acts up and gets all crazy like, it should be best to just try and calm her down. Waiting out her emotions with collective movements that can maintain her control. Yet, on the other end, when she doesn’t want to cooperate… aka, havin’ it her way, then being a bit strict, not brutal, just straighten up their act should help correct her own wrongdoing, correct?”
“You are right,” said Fluttershy, whom patted Winona as the barn and the vet soon came into their view. “As long as you reward her in the end for cooperating.”
Applejack extended her left hand upward. “Well of course, duh! Can’t be harsh on her without making up for it.” She came up to Winona and in the same fashion as Fluttershy, she also petted her mane before making her way up to the flock. “Otherwise, a cowboy would lose all their brownie points…”
AJ leaned into Fluttershy and slightly whispered, “...Kinda like putting her away wet.”
They both giggled.
“Kinda like life?” asked Fluttershy.
“Yeah…”acknowledge Applejack. “...Kinda like life.”
With the three of them arriving back at the barn, the vet was soon greeted with an apology from the friends, followed by an explanation in regards towards their absence. Dr. Moore, smiling, forgave Applejack and Fluttershy while immediately tending to Winona’s sickness. After a short examination, her colic was definitely confirmed. Apparently feeding Winona cow pellets wasn't exactly a wise choice, despite the fact it was recommended to Applejack from Winona’s previous owner.
“I guess I’ll have to talk to him about that, doc,” said AJ with antipathy within her voice.
“Indeed, you shall.” Dr. Moore gathered up his belongings to leave. In his chip, drawn back vocal tone, he said, “Whelp, I guess my time here is done, girls. Thank you very much for calling me out here. Just change up the diet a bit and make sure to monitor her for any of the signs of improvement.”
The girls responded in unison. “Thank you!”
“Oh!” he exclaimed while being escorted to the entrance of the barn. “In the meanwhile, keep her on her hooves and moving around. That will help to let her digestive track work more efficiently.”
Applejack then shook his hand. “We will, and thank you once again Dr. Moore… See ya’ later!”
“See ya’! Call me if anything comes up.”
“We sure will,” replied Fluttershy, shaking his hand as well.
With another goodbye from the Dr. Moore, he stored his bag in trunk of his truck and climbed up into its cabin. As the engine began to rev, the girls waved to him before turning towards each other. Looks of dissatisfaction were soon seen upon each other’s expressions, for they knew what was ahead for them.
A beautiful night of walking.
