The Licked Hoof
Prologue
Winonatank
Celestia's luminous sun was lowering down across the Equestrian sky, the light slowly diminishing in the cosy residence of Ponyville. Somewhere on the far side of town within the lush orchard of Sweet Apple Acres, an orange earth pony was finishing her day's work. Just by the force of one strong buck, a bunch of apples fell with a loud thud and into the once-empty wooden barrel.
Applejack grinned in satisfaction, wiping tiny traces of sweat on her forehead and adjusting the position of her trademark cowpony hat.
"Woof, woof," barks were heard. Applejack whipped her head to the source of the barking only to be tackled down onto the dusty dirt ground by her dog, Winona.
The earth pony laughed as Winona licked the left side of her face which certainly tickled her, "Okay, Winona, we're done for today, you adorable little thing."
Getting up on all four hooves and placing the apple-filled barrel onto a pull-cart, the two pals headed back to the barn.
"Easy does it," Applejack reminded Winona as they carried the barrels off the cart and put them in the storage room below the barn.
They were about to set a barrel down when- "APPLEJACK!"
The booming of a loud pony's voice caused Applejack to spill the barrel they were balancing and trip over one of the apples, flattening it into a pancake in the process. Stars swirled around her head as she eased back into consciousness and looked up to find the faces of her friends; Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy. All of them had paranoid expressions as if they had just seen the Headless Horse from Twilight's sleepover story.
"What in tarnation are ya'll yelling about? I just stepped on a perfectly good apple!" She grimaced at the sight of the apple which had been murdered by her own left hoof.
They all apologized for barging in uninvited and helped clean up the spilled apples. Once finished, Applejack lead them inside the Apple's household to talk.
"Oh Applejack darling, we've come to warn you about something awful," Rarity spoke, her voice filled with concern. However, Applejack noticed that it lacked its dramatic essence which was unusual for a total drama mare like Rarity.
Applejack scoffed in annoyance. "Let me guess, your tail's gone green," she joked.
Rarity was taken aback, "What? NO, of course not. Applejack, this is serious."
"Yah don't say? How so?"
"It's awful, Applejack," Fluttershy spoke silently with a hint of fear, "Just awful."
"Now what could be so awful, sugarcube?"
"Do you remember that convicted pony a few years ago?"
Applejack cringed upon hearing this, remembering those frightening headlines of a murderous pony serial-killer. Eventually, he was confined behind the walls of the Manehatten Prison which wasn't far from the outskirts of Ponyville. She nodded to indicate that she understood and waited for Fluttershy to continue.
"Well, you see-"
"THE CONVICTED PONY HAS ESCAPED FROM THE MANEHATTEN PRISON!" Pinkie interrupted Fluttershy loudly, earning a light yelp from the timid yellow pegasus, "We thought you knew, smart cookie."
"I've kind of been busy all day," Applejack pointed her hoof to the spilled apples, sarcastically stating, "As you can see."
"Then it's a good thing we came," spoke Rarity, "We've come to invite you over to the library."
Applejack shook her head sadly, "No can do, sugarcube," earning gasps from her shocked friends.
"B-but we don't want you to get hurt darling," Rarity insisted, giving Applejack a pleading look. She was really worried about the safety of her earth pony friend.
Seeing Rarity's persistent insisting eyes, Applejack sighed heavily. "I'm really sorry to cause ya'll so much worry and stuff but I'm the only one left to look after Sweet Apple Acres tonight. Granny Smith's assisting Applebloom in the Junior Pony Scouts and Big Mac wouldn't tell me where the hay he was headed off to, that one tells me nothing these days. I-I just need to take care of my home while everypony's out is all," she felt a warm body of fur pressing against her hind hooves, "and Winona."
Sighs were received from her friends; they knew that working pony all too well, she was the most dependable pony they knew and at times, she would have the loyalty of Rainbow Dash. Rarity spoke once again in a defeated tone "Alright Applejack, we understand. Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?"
"On my own?" Applejack questioned with a raised eyebrow. "I'm never alone, as long as my Winona's by my side; nopony can get past Sweet Apple Acres while the two of us are here." Winona circled around the ponies, jumping and barking, making the ponies laugh at her playful antics and ease.
"Alrighty then smart cookie," Pinkie Pie came up and gave Applejack a hug which was reciprocated. Fluttershy did the same, quietly bidding her a safe night and stood next to Pinkie who was waiting at the door. This left Rarity, who was standing still, glaring at Applejack.
The earth pony rolled her eyes in response, "Is your hair in a knot, sugarcube?"
"Applejack, of all the ponies in Equestria, you are by far the most stubborn pony of all," Rarity retorted.
Without warning, the violet-maned ivory unicorn sped towards the orange earth pony and hugged her protectively. "Be careful you brute," she said in a muffled voice, her face lay against Applejack's long blonde pony-tailed mane.
"You bet I will, sugarcube," Applejack returned the hug and patted her on the back being a tough pony and all; quite uneasy with all the care of her friends being showered upon her. Once the two friends separated, they all left through the front door waving goodbye, leaving Applejack with little Winona crouching at her hooves.
The night had already befallen and looking out the window, Applejack caught sight of Luna's beautiful pale moon well up in the dark velvet sky; it was surrounded by the stars which Twilight took a strong fascination with. Applejack couldn't blame her, who wouldn't be fascinated? Sometimes ponies overlook the spectacular sight of Luna's moonlit night. Winona's rapid barks broke the farm pony out of her gaze, smiling understandingly at her little pet's wants and needs. "Okay you, its supper then we'll hit the hay for today, how you would like that?" Applejack offered, which Winona eagerly accepted to with wet doggy dribble coming out of mouth and a happy "Woof."
So off they went into the kitchen where Applejack got out some bottled cow's milk, bit the plastic seal off and poured a few millilitres into Winona's milk bowl. Winona trotted over to her dog bowl and started licking up the sweet delicious milk while Applejack herself munched on an apple (as expected). 'Sweet and juicy,' she thought through each bite, 'like all apples should be.'
Their humble supper was short-lived when a loud crash was heard from upstairs. Applejack quickly flung her apple core straight into the bin and headed towards the sound's location, Winona abandoned her unfinished milk; immediately following after her.
Once the two reached the alleyway of the second floor, Applejack stood still while Winona began barking dangerously at anything that might harm the farm pony. "Hush Winona," she silenced her gently and listened closely for any more sounds.
Carefully approaching the door of her bedroom, she felt her heart beating rapidly, remembering her friend's warnings of an escaped pony convict, as she peeked inside. Relief washed over her now paled face upon realization that it was only a rusty metal pail knocked down by the force of the wind coming from an opened window.
Chuckling at her little scare back then, Applejack walked inside and turned the pail the right side up, examining the damage, 'Nope, no dent'. Winona leaped inside the pail from behind, snuggling up comfortably into a little ball of fur, fitting perfectly with the pail's shape. "Oh Winona," Applejack bit onto the pail's handles, picking it up along with Winona inside, and setting it down on the wooden floor space next to her single bed. Switching off the lights, Applejack laid under the covers of her bed with one hoof sticking out towards the floor.
Now Applejack wasn't the type of pony to be scared, as far as everypony's concerned, she was the tough one next to Rainbow Dash. Despite this conformity, she couldn't help but feel a tad bit worried about the amount of concern her friends showed her today. Especially Rarity who came close to almost begging her to come with them and that was when Applejack started to panic.
What if the danger was more than what she had thought? This was a convicted killer they were talking about and Manehatten Prison wasn't that far. Besides, she had once visited the bustling city of Manehatten during her fillyhood years - It was only one train ride away from Ponyville. The almost inaudible howling of the wind and the tip-tapping of tree branches against the windowpane irked her to nervousness until she felt a wet lick on her hoof. She smiled at this.
"Winona, you sweetheart," Applejack thanked her friend, almost all feelings of unease slipped away from her conscience with the touch of Winona's wet dog tongue. She had been Applejack's best friend for many years and her presence somehow calmed and soothed the tireless pony whenever she felt afraid. Finally, the effect of a long day of hard work overpowers her, and with another lick from Winona, Applejack's eyes slowly sealed shut. The earth pony dissolved into a sleeping state.
It was around midnight when Applejack stirred awake to hear a dripping sound coming from the hallway. "Leaky tap I suppose," she mumbled to herself before getting out of bed.
She instantly remembered her friends' warnings about the escaped convict and decided not to turn on the lights. Besides, that would indeed attract unwanted attention to the Apple household, especially at this dark time of night.
Applejack cautiously walked out of the bedroom, entered the bathroom and turned the tap handle using her hooves. She twisted it tightly shut in the opposite direction. The dripping immediately stopped and she hurriedly went back to her room, quickly getting under the safety of her bed covers.
Her breathing became erratic and the usual thudding of her heart accompanied the panicking earth pony's sudden paranoia until a wet tongue licked her exposed left hoof. Her breathing returned to normal and Applejack felt much safer with the reassurance of her friend.
"Oh you, what would I do without you?" Applejack whispered, glancing at edge of her bed out of the corner of her eyes. She was thankful to have her best friend by her side all the time. A lick was all it took for Applejack to calm her nervousness and fall asleep again after receiving one last lick below the bed...
The long night was finally over and Luna's beautiful moon had gone down, in its place was Celestia's glorious sun. Rays of light shone through the window panes of the Apple house, warming up on Applejack's cheeks causing her to stir slightly and shift sides; still half asleep.
The cock-a-doodle-doo of the Apple Family Rooster was enough to fully awaken the snoozing earth pony, literally making her jump out of bed in surprise, knocking over Winona's pail in the process and banging her head hard against the wooden floorboards.
Applejack groaned, rubbing her now aching head and slowly picked herself up. She noticed that the pail was empty and Winona wasn't anywhere in sight.
'That's strange,' she wondered to herself, 'Winona always woke me up before the Rooster calls.' Thinking that Winona must've gotten hungry and had already gone down to finish the leftover milk from last night's panic, Applejack shrugged it off but still kept her suspicions.
Her mane was all tangled as a result of tossing and turning in fear of a convict who never presented any harm. Her friends' concerns must've caused her to overreact about this, now that she thought of it. Chuckling lightly at how scared she was last night, Applejack trotted to the bathroom; attempting to fix her 'unruly mess of a mane' as Rarity would've commented.
Once she had opened the bathroom door, the young Apple came face-to-face with a distasteful and grotesque sight. Splattered and dumped like a crushed jelly donut within the sink was little Winona covered in blood; her pale lifeless body had been turned inside out. Bodily organs were scattered in the blood-filled sink alongside pieces of ripped out fur.
Winona's head had been sliced off and was staked onto a tap handle with her tongue sticking out in a yelp. Applejack just stood there in shock with a look of complete horror. She became bombarded by mixed emotions of fear, anger, terror, sadness and hurt. She stared helplessly into her best friend's scared eyes, hoping that by some miracle she would show some sign of life left in her but the dark black pupils only stared back at her emotionlessly - dead.
Tears began to travel out of Applejack's eyes, sliding over the mournful pony's face. Winona: her dog; her pal; her best friend - was gone. Through eyes blurred by her sadness, a message on the mirror caught Applejack's attention. There on the looking glass, overlooking Winona and written in blood, read the words, 'PONIES CAN LICK TOO.'
