“Good morning, Applejack! Congratulations on leveling up. Your Small Shield skill is level two, and your Transformations are all level six, so you can use them every half hour. Your Life Magic also reached level six. And you have some quests.”

When Minerva finished her morning update, Applejack opened her Quest panel.

Day 10 – Late Spring, 4147 AA
06:12
TOTAL STAT POINTS: 1
TOTAL SKILL POINTS: 5
TOTAL SPELL POINTS: 3
QUESTS
Suck a Cock
1 Skill Point*

Swallow a Load of Cum
2 Skill Points*

Masturbate
1 Skill Point

Take a Ride With an Equine
2 Skill Points*

Feeling in the Feline Mood
2 Skill Points*

Hankering For a Human
2 Skill Points*

“Wait a moment. Did Ah miscount last night? Shouldn’t Ah only have two Skill Points left?” Applejack asked, sitting up.

“You’d practiced enough you only needed to use five points to level your transformations.”

“Oh, yeah. Ah didn’t even think about that.” Applejack said, flipping the blanket aside, exposing her hard cock. After considering for a few seconds, Applejack started stroking her shaft and licking the head. Before long, she had half her cock in her mouth and was teasing her medial ring with her tongue. As she bobbed and sucked faster, she had to stop moving her hand.

After a couple minutes, Applejack felt her cock flare, and a second later, the first shot of cum filled her mouth. She swallowed it quickly. Then the second, and the third. The fourth shot overflowed her mouth, but Applejack didn’t let her cock out of her mouth. She just pulled back until the flare was behind her teeth, milking the rest of her load into her mouth. She managed to choke down one more mouthful before her orgasm ran its course.

After Applejack finished cleaning up the cum that had spilled out of her mouth, she went to the restroom, barely acknowledging Minerva telling her she’d completed some quests. Then she went downstairs for breakfast, detouring to fill her canteens on the way. When she entered the main room, however, she found that Sauda and Alder were still cooking breakfast. So Applejack sat down and while she waited, she planned her day.

She thought about going hunting again, but she couldn’t deny that proper training would do her more good. So while she wasn’t keen on spending the money, Applejack decided to train at the barracks. But not until she’d spoken with Taki, to make sure she had everything she’d need for the trip.

Eventually, breakfast was served, and Applejack ate slowly, waiting for Taki. Even so, she finished and had ordered a second mug of milk before he came down. As he ate, they talked about everything she would need. She had almost everything, and what she didn’t have, he did.

Except for rain gear, which he didn’t know where to get locally. They asked Sauda, who told them that one of the farm-wives made clothing. She usually brought them into the village once a month, but she also sold them out of her home.

“That wouldn’t happen to be the same person that does leather repairs, by any chance, would it?” Applejack asked.

“No, that’s her father. They live on the fifth farm out. It’s got an official name, but almost no one around here uses it. We just call it the Grün property. It’s called…oh…”. After several seconds of drawing a blank, she looked over her shoulder. “Mama, what’s the name of that farm?”

“Which farm?” Rehema called back from the kitchen door.

“The Grün farm.”

“The Grün…uh…Immergrün!”

“Immergrün!” Sauda repeated, face-palming. “That’s right. You’d think I’d remember that. I’ve only lived here my whole life, after all.”

“Ah guess Ah’ll be heading out that way this morning.” Applejack said, ignoring Sauda muttering in the dryad language. “Then Ah’ll probably spend some time at the barracks.”

“I’m gonna do some more hunting.” Taki said. “Make sure I’ve got enough food for the trip, for Flamme. I want to keep moving as much as possible, and I don’t want to leave the road unless we absolutely have to. Especially for the first day or two.”

“A day or two? Ah thought they were only a couple miles outside of the village.”

“A couple miles? Where’d you hear that?”

“Ah think Hannah said it a few days ago, but Ah’m not sure.” Applejack admitted after a few seconds.

“No, they’re more than half a day’s walk out. If they were only a couple miles, things would be a lot different. Everybody would be a lot more tense, and the guards would be doing a whole lot more. If they hadn’t already started the cull, they’d only be waiting for emergency reinforcements from Silberwald and Neu-Saxony.”

“Neu-Saxony?” Applejack asked

“A mid-sized town, eight or nine days south of here. Guildmaster Rucker sent them a request for help a few days ago.”

After talking for a little longer, Applejack and Taki left the public house. Taki headed west, but Applejack decided to swing by the bakery first. She bought a few pastries and a couple more sandwiches for the trip. Then she made her way to the western gate, and after speaking to the guards briefly—and learning just how far out her destination was—she cycled through her transformations and started galloping.

Forty minutes later, Applejack arrived at a gate hung between two spruce trees. It was labelled “Immergrün Visitors Welcome”, so she went through it and followed the path to the farmhouse. It was a bit of a walk, and by the time she reached it, there was a dryad woman waiting on the porch, a bird perched on her shoulder.

“Can I help you?”

“My name’s Applejack, and Sauda, at Mirembe, said Ah could get some rain gear here.”

“Sure. Come on in.” the dryad said, before whispering something to the bird, which flew off towards the gate.

As she climbed the porch stairs, Applejack briefly wondered if the dryad was like Fluttershy, before realizing the bird was most likely a summon.

“So what are you looking for?” the dryad asked, letting Applejack in. “I don’t have anything that’s really rainproof, but I do have a couple leather coats that have been treated to be water resistant. I’ve also got a few wool ponchos, though only one or two of them would fit you properly. I have a few boots, too, but no caparisons, I’m afraid.”

“What’s a caparison?” Applejack asked, as she followed the yellowish-gray woman through the house.

“It’s a lot like a poncho, but for quadrupeds.” Minerva answered.

Applejack spent the next ten minutes learning how to treat leather, to make it waterproof. And how to take care of it afterwards, to keep it in top condition. It convinced her to go with the tightly-knitted, finely-woven wool, despite the ponchos not allowing quite as much maneuverability as the coats. Though learning they had been waterproofed by being coated with the fluid from a slime-like beastie called a Gel almost made her reconsider.1

Then Applejack pulled out her boots, and the dryad, who had eventually introduced herself as Saguaro, told her that they’d already been treated. She also looked at Applejack’s jerkin, and said that the scratches and punctures were not as deep as Applejack had thought. They were, in fact, minor enough to not need fixing. So Applejack handed over 22 copper coins for the poncho and left.

When she reached the road, Applejack had a couple more minutes before could transform again, so she started jogging down the road.

Barely ten minutes after leaving Immergrün, Applejack slowed to a canter as she heard something large crashing through the woods on the north of the road. A moment later, a large deer with even larger antlers burst from the tree-line. The Celestia-white animal charged across the road, so close in front of Applejack that she not only Sensed it, but she had to back up several steps. She watched the deer bound away over the fence, with far more grace than his size would suggest.2

“Scan.” Applejack chuffed at the fleeing deer.

Hart Of The Woods – Lv. 5
HP: 74

Applejack watched the beastie run for a second more, impressed by the grace, before her ears picked up another creature in the trees and she turned to look. Just as a huge wolf leapt onto the road, close enough to make Applejack rear up on her hind hooves and step back. When the wolf turned to look at her, its snarling face was suddenly overlaid with mauve, and Applejack lashed out with one forehoof.

The canine yelped as it took the kick square on its muzzle, then snapped at her hoof, missing widely since Applejack had already pulled it back.

As her hooves landed on the ground, Applejack realized a couple things. First, she realized just how huge the beastie was. It’s body was longer than she was, and its bushy tail may have been, too. But the most alarming thing was its head. The beastie was tall enough that its head—which she also noticed was shaped differently than Flamme’s—would almost be level with her throat, if it wasn’t lowered. Which scared her enough that when she noticed the mostly grey body tensing up, she immediately reared up and lashed out with both forehooves. One missed entirely, while the other hit the narrow muzzle again.

The beastie snapped at her again, getting closer this time. It yipped a couple times, then swiped one paw at Applejack’s legs as she lashed out again. All three attacks missed, as did Applejack’s next two kicks.

After one more ineffectual kick, Applejack managed to rein in her growing panic enough to stop flailing, and a stare down ensued for several seconds. Then Applejack noticed the creature tensing up again. But instead of reacting immediately, she forced herself to wait a second before rearing again. She balanced on her hind legs for a few seconds, waiting until she saw it start to lunge forward before snapping her hoof out.

Applejack didn’t just feel but heard the muzzle crunch as her hoof connected squarely with the beastie’s nose. It pulled back with a growly bark, and Applejack risked pushing her advantage. She planted her forehooves, then twisted around and bucked with both hind hooves. One hit her opponent’s head solidly, while the other glanced off its shoulder a split-second later.

Looking over her shoulder, Applejack watched the wolf slink back a couple steps, and she backed up enough to keep it in range. Her next buck planted both hooves in its side, knocking it back a few feet. Expecting it to retreat after that, Applejack stopped her attack. Which proved to be a mistake a second later, as while Applejack was catching her breath, it sprang for her back.

Fortunately, Applejack had kept a cautious eye on it, so was able to react in time. While her hooves missed, her buck threw the creature’s aim off, and it ended up laid over her hindquarters, almost like it was trying to mount her. Instead of fully on her back, teeth around her neck, as it intended. That wasn’t enough to protect her from its scrabbling claws though, and Applejack screamed as she felt her sides getting ripped open.

Applejack bucked again, and this time, her hooves connected with its belly. Her next kick hit it square on the side of the head, leaving it both winded and dazed.

As the wolf tried to get its breath back, Applejack wondered if it was worth it to keep fighting, or whether it would be better to try running, so she cast Scan on it.

Giant Gray Fox – Lv. 4
HP: 17/48

Applejack barely noticed it wasn’t actually a wolf. Most of her focus was on its HP. Quickly realizing it had just over a third of its health left, she decided to finish it off. So she carefully stepped backwards, getting closer to the Giant Fox. As it struggled to get back on its paws, she took a second or two to carefully aim her buck.

As her hooves connected, Applejack felt the fox’s ribs and skull both break, and a split-second later, she heard it let out a choked yip when it hit the ground. And when it didn’t get back up, Applejack turned around to get a better look at the almost-dead fox. It was struggling to breathe, and its legs were kicking weakly. Despite that, she approached cautiously, noting that it had 6 HP left.

By the time Applejack was close enough for the Giant Fox to attack, its legs had stopped moving, though it was still breathing roughly. Knowing that the only decent thing to do now was to put the beastie out of its misery, Applejack took a deep breath and raised her hoof. Then she closed her eyes and stomped, caving in the fox’s skull.

A quick glance showed that the Scan panel was gone, meaning the fox was really dead. Then she lifted her hoof and tried shaking it clean. A little bit of blood and a couple bone shards came loose, but most of the blood and brain matter wasn’t budging. So she walked to the side of the road and wiped her hoof on the grass.

Then, as the adrenaline started to fade, the pain in her flanks and haunches made itself known, and Applejack stumbled. Hitting the fence, she neighed loudly, then lowered herself to the ground. A moment later, as her sides continued to burn, Applejack opened her inventory and pulled out a potion, only to discover she was utterly incapable of opening it. After a moment more of trying to figure out some way to hold onto the flask so she could unscrew it with her teeth, she grudgingly accepted that a horse just couldn’t open that flask. But a pony, on the other hoof…

“Sorry, but I can only physically interact with you. Nothing else.” Minerva said apologetically.

So it seemed that she was stuck with the pain until she could transform.

Unless someone else came along first.

“Hey!” a voice called a couple minutes later, making Applejack look over. She spotted a human with a weathered face approaching, with a rifle over his shoulder. And when he saw her move, he sped up, jogging up to the fence.

“Hey, I heard you screaming. You need some help?” he asked, as he got closer. Then he hissed softly spotting her sides, ignoring her nod. “Yeesh. That’s a yes. You got a potion? Good, 'cause I don’t.” he said with a small laugh, taking the flask from Applejack’s mouth.

“Alright, say ‘ah’.” the man said, once he’d opened the flask. Then, once he’d carefully emptied the thin liquid into Applejack’s mouth, he watched the deep scratches shrink. He also cast Clean on her, to remove the blood and get a better view of them. They didn’t close up all the way, but it was more than enough for Applejack to get back on her hooves and moving.

As she tested her mobility, Applejack watched the man walk over to investigate the Giant Fox. After a minute or two, he came back.

“I owe you a pretty big thank you.” he said. “If that thing had followed the Hart onto my property, someone probably would’ve died. Maybe even more than one, since I’m the only one here that can fight right now. The others went shopping in the village earlier, so it’s just me and the grandkids.”

Applejack nodded slowly, not sure where he was going with this.

“I don’t have a lot to offer, though. Our crops are still growing, so I can’t give you any of those.”

Applejack nodded again, trying to let him know she understood.

“About the only thing I can offer you right now is this…” he said, pulling out a Soul Crystal. It was five-sided, each white face bordered with green and decorated with an antler. “I know it’s not much, but if you wanna swing by for supper some time, you’re more than welcome.”

Applejack tried to indicate it was no big deal, but the best she could do was shake her head. He seemed to get the idea.

“Well, if you change your mind, you know where to come.” he said, petting her shoulder a few times. “I’d stay with you until you’re ready to go, but I gotta go let the grandkids know it’s safe to come out of the house.” Then he climbed back over the fence and headed towards the distant house.

Applejack watched him go for a couple minutes, before looking at the Soul Crystal at her hooves. She wasn’t sure how to bag it in this form, or if she even could. But after carefully putting her hoof on the chain, she found she had no trouble. It was only afterwards that she remembered she should’ve scanned it first. Then she walked over to the fox’s body.

Seeing the crushed skull, Applejack couldn’t help staring for several seconds, feeling nauseated. Though despite her mental discomfort, she didn’t feel so much as a twinge physically.

“What’s going on?” she asked, after a moment or two.

“Unlike Equestrian ponies, horses can’t vomit.” Minerva explained, making Applejack look at her, instead.

“This world is so weird.” Applejack thought. Then she moved around to the other end of the fox, touched its tail, and bagged it. A second later, she spotted the Soul Crystal. It was a four-sided pyramid; grey, with tiny black speckles, and hints of brownish-red swirls. This time, Applejack remembered to Scan it before bagging it.

Giant Gray Fox – Increase Perception (Olfactory)

“So it increases my sense of smell?” Applejack asked.

“No, it increases all your senses. It’s just that it heightens your olfactory sense as much as the others, combined.” Minerva explained.

“Ah think Ah’ll hold off on equipping it for now, in that case.” Applejack decided, before bagging it and starting back towards the village.

When Applejack reached Woodglen, the mostly healed scratches were hurting more than a little, so she’d slowed down to a fast canter.

“What happened?” one of the guards asked, reaching out but not quite touching her haunches.

“A Giant Gray Fox.” Applejack said, after she changed back. She noticed the guard shoot a look at his partner, but didn’t know why. Or why the other guard seemed to be stifling a smirk.

“Is there anything we need to worry about?” the first guard asked.

“Ah killed the one Ah ran into, but Ah don’t know if there are any others.” Again, she didn’t know why the guard looked so surprised.

“Do you need a Healer?” the first guard asked, his tone unexpectedly gentle.

“Ah’ll need a healing spell, if Ah’m gonna do everything Ah need to today.”

“You should talk to Weide about that.”

“Ah need to talk to her, anyways.” Applejack realized.

“So you know where to find her?” the second guard asked.

“Just down the street from the guildhouse, yeah.”

“In that case, we’ll let you get going.”

“Have a good day.”

“You, too.” Applejack said, before heading into the village.

By the time Applejack reached Weide’s place, she was hurting badly enough that she was looking forward to the healing spell. Stepping into the house, she found the elderly dryad woman in the same room as the last time.

“Can I help you, dear?” Weide asked, spotting Applejack.

“Ah need a couple things, actually.” she answered, sitting down carefully.

“Healing first, I see.” Weide sighed, shaking her head. “Stand up and let me look.”

Carefully, Applejack stood up and bagged her jerkin and tunic, revealing the scratches.

“Not too bad.” Weide said, inspecting the wounds, which were bleeding slightly. “Regenerate. You should be fine in a minute. Now, what else can I do for you?” she asked.

“Ah’ll be leaving Woodglen tomorrow or the day after, and Ah’d like to stock up a little on birth control.”

“How much?”

“Maybe another nine days worth?”

“Three roots will be six coppers, dear.” Weide said a couple moments later, handing over the bulbous roots. "And I’d suggest either learning restorative magic or at least wearing a saddle blanket in the future.”

“A healing spell probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Applejack agreed. She briefly wondered how Weide knew she’d been attacked in her horse form, but chalked it up to the injury being beneath her jerkin. An injury that had already finished healing, she noticed. So she pulled out six coins and equipped her tunic.

A minute later, Applejack left Weide’s house and headed for the guildhouse. Inside, she found only Mr. Rucker, going over some books at the bar. He looked up when she entered, taking a pull from his mug.

“Morning.” he said. “You’re earlier than usual.”

“Ah just left the herbalist’s. Ah was on my way to the barracks to train. Ah could come back later if now’s not a good time.”

“It’s fine.” Mr. Rucker said, stepping out from behind the bar. “I could use a break from trying to calculate how much to pay for the cull.”

“Cull?” Applejack asked.

“In this case, a cull is when people kill a whole lot of a particular beastie or critter, to keep their numbers in check.” Minerva explained, as they walked back to the appraisal room. "It can also mean removing an animal from a population, if it's unfit for breeding, or sale, or any other reason."

“So, what have you got today?” Mr. Rucker asked, as Applejack opened her Menagerie. Though when the giant corpse appeared on the scale, his eyes went wide.

“Where’d you get this?” he asked, after a moment of speechlessness.

“On the way back from the Grün property. It was chasing a Hart of the Woods, then decided Ah’d be an easier meal.”

“On the way back? Where, exactly?” he demanded.

“Ah don’t know exactly, but Ah’d left Immergrün about ten, twelve minutes before it found me. So Ah was about a thirty minute gallop outside the village.”

“Did you tell the guards?”

“Ah told them what happened when they asked about my injuries, but Ah didn’t think to tell them where.”

“When anything unusual happens in the wild, you need to tell the guards everything.” he admonished her. “If you’re not sure if something’s unusual, you can always ask your mini-divinity. Or just tell the guards, anyway. But, you said you were headed to the barracks next, right?" Applejack nodded. "Then you can tell the commander when you get there.”

“How much of a problem is it, that they were so close?”

“They?” Mr. Rucker asked sharply.

“The fox and the hart.”

“Do you know what level they were?”

“The fox was level four, and the hart, level five.”

“That’s a bit higher than they should be, so close to the village. Hopefully, they were just displaced by the Greenskulls. Fates know, we don’t need another problem.” Mr. Rucker said, shaking his head. “But enough about that. Let’s take a look at this body.”

He spent a couple minutes examining the Giant Fox, pointing out several things Applejack hadn’t had a chance to notice during the fight. Like the fact that the fox was slightly malnourished, thanks to the spiders taking so much of the food. Its fur wasn’t as fine as it could be, but it was in pretty good condition. The meter-long tail, alone, would fetch a good price. And being omnivorous, like a bear—not the only thing the two had in common, Applejack thought—its meat was more than merely edible. And at nearly 100 pounds, there was plenty of meat to be had.

“Pretty good condition, overall.” Mr. Rucker eventually summarized. “I can offer you a silver and thirty for the whole thing.”

Applejack nearly choked at that. It was the largest sale she’d made yet, and more than twice what she’d made on any single creature before. But she hid her surprise fairly well, and quickly agreed.

When Applejack arrived at the barracks, she quickly sought out the commander, and she explained everything about the attack to the woman. Then she went out to the training grounds and found a dryad practicing with a short sword. After practicing the kata with him for a couple hours, she went back to Mirembe for lunch.

When she got back to the barracks, the dryad she’d been training with had left the training grounds. She found someone else to spar with, though he charged her three coppers an hour. Applejack did better than the last time, managing to score several hits, and even “kill” him once. When he slipped on something. She thought he’d be mad, but he congratulated her, saying that some people and several beasties would fake weakness to trick her into lowering her guard.

Around seventeen-thirty, Dwight left to go on-duty, and Applejack spent a little longer going through the kata solo, before returning to Mirembe. When she arrived, she ordered supper and joined Taki at his table.

“Hey, Applejack. Did you have any luck getting rain gear?” Sauda asked, bringing her the beer she asked for.

“Yeah, Ah bought a poncho.”

“That’s good. I got a few things for Flamme to eat, too. Anything else worth mentioning happen?” Taki asked.

“On the way back to the village, Ah was almost run over by a Hart of the Woods. It was being chased by a Giant Gray Fox.”

“A Giant Fox?” Taki asked, followed by Rehema and a couple others a second later, who wanted to know where it had happened.

“On the road, in front of the Merkel property.” Applejack had learned the name from the guard commander. “It attacked me when the Hart got away from it. Ah managed to kill it, but it scratched my flanks up pretty good. Ah was lucky Simon came to see why the Hart was on his property, or Ah’d have had to wait until Ah could change back to use a potion.”

“Wait, you mean you fought it in horse form?” Taki asked. “Isn’t a Giant Fox about the same size as you are like that?”

“Pretty close, yeah.”

“I’m impressed. But more importantly, did you tell anyone about the attack?”

“I told the gate guards when Ah got back, and the guard commander when Ah went to train. And Mr. Rucker questioned me when Ah sold the body.”

“Did you sell the Soul Crystal, too?”

“No, Ah kept it, though Ah haven’t mounted it on anything yet.”

“That’s good. It could be helpful on the trip.”

“How?”

“I like to summon a couple creatures to keep watch during the night, so I don’t have to. Usually an owl or two, but they’re really only good for detecting dangers. A Giant Fox would be much more of a deterrent. It might be a bit of a strain on my MP, but it’ll be worth it.”

Applejack almost asked why Flamme didn’t keep guard, before realizing that he wasn’t nocturnal. After that, their meal was mostly quiet. Taki did confirm that the he’d collected the letters from the mayor, so they’d be leaving around eight in the morning. Nine, at the latest.

After they ate, they moved to the bath. Applejack considered hiring a bath attendant, but decided not to splurge. She also briefly thought about asking Taki instead, but she actually wasn’t all that horny. After a quick bath, she went up to her room and spent an hour practicing with her gun, before one last restroom visit.

Applejack wasn’t very tired yet, but she didn’t have anything better to do, so she got ready for bed. As she did, Applejack checked her Quest panel, to see how many Skill Points she had.

Day 10 – Late Spring, 4147 AA
20:43
TOTAL STAT POINTS: 1
TOTAL SKILL POINTS: 17
TOTAL SPELL POINTS: 3
QUESTS
Suck a Cock
1 Skill Point + 1 Skill Point (No One Said It Couldn’t Be Your Own!)

Swallow a Load of Cum
2 Skill Points + 7 Skill Points (No One Said It Couldn’t Be Your Own!)

Masturbate
1 Skill Point

Take a Ride With an Equine
2 Skill Points*

Feeling in the Feline Mood
2 Skill Points*

Hankering For a Human
2 Skill Points*

It was about what Applejack expected. Her first thought was to level up her transformations again, but she didn’t have enough to do all three, and couldn’t decide which one to leave unleveled. Her second was Sense Presence, but she remembered what Ricardo had said about having it in a town. And since an extra meter wasn’t that much warning, she decided not to bother just yet.

Thinking about earlier, an important question occurred to her. “Minerva, can Ah use healing spells in my horse form?”

“You can use Restorative spells as a horse, but only on yourself.”

“And what level would Ah have to be to learn a healing spell?”

“The first spell in the Restorative Magic school is a weak Heal spell.” Minerva told her. “It only heals one percent of your Max HP, rounded up, plus your Restorative Magic level. With both school and spell at level one, you would restore one percent of 130—which is 1.3—rounded up to 2, plus the school level of 1, for a total of 3.”

“That’s not a lot. Even at level two, Ah’d only get six HP back. No, wait. That’d be 2.6, which rounds up to 3. Plus two would be five. How much MP does it cost?”

“Fifteen.”

“That’s a fair bit of MP… But it’s still better than relying on potions Ah can’t even open. So Ah’ll level ‘em both up to level two.” she decided after a few seconds. Then she laid down and tried to go to sleep, but it was a while before she drifted off.

Author's Note

1. Just like Slime leather is a magical substitute for lycra/spandex—just naturally breathable, instead of needing to be blended with natural fibers—Gel “fluid” (for want of a better term) is a magical paraffin substitute.

2. Compared to Applejack, the Hart Of The Woods was about the size of Big Macintosh, and almost as muscular.