Running on all Fours

Morning

She lifted her eyelids and blinked twice, before a yawn escaped her mouth, echoing through her kennel. Winona lifted her head and shook her body a few times before stretching out her limbs, ready for her morning run with Applejack.

She slowly stepped out of her kennel and looked up into the morning sky, watching as several bright blue birds flew by at high speed, causing her instincts to take control. Winona barked at the birds as the encroached on her territory, causing them to change direction as she started to chase them as fast as her legs could take her.

She chased the foreign invaders around the apple orchard, eyes locked onto them the entire time and barking at them to keep them flying the opposite direction. Winona simply wanted the birds away from her apple orchard and would do anything to protect her land.

These particular birds had gone through this routine every morning for the last several weeks. It excited them to be chased by Winona, and whether they planned to or not, they always seemed to fly over the orchard just as Winona was waking up.

Winona skidded to a halt as a powerful smell whisked up into her nostrils. A smell unmistakeable to her, one she very much loved...breakfast. She turned tail and sprinted straight towards her home, spotting Applejack placing down her food bowl.

Applejack herself had woken up slightly earlier then Winona and attended to a few morning chores before piling some generic brand dog food into Winona large red bowl. She had quickly taken outside to her favourite pet, spotting her as she sprinted full force to the bowl she had just placed down.

Winona reached the bowl and licked Applejacks hoof twice in appreciation, before wolfing down into the meal before her. The taste was great to Winona, a cross between grass and apples, she was sure Applejack picked this food herself, and was immensely enjoying her morning meal.

Applejack stood back and watched her favourite pet eat her meal for a few moments before turning and heading back inside herself to prepare for that mornings apple bucking.

Winona didn’t take long to finish off her meal and walked over to her water bowl, lapping up several mouth full’s of water to satisfy her thirst, before restarting her days adventure. Applejack was very unrestricting to Wynona, allowing her to explore the apple orchard as she pleased.

She began to run straight into the orchard ahead, enjoying the morning wind brushing against her brown fur. It felt great to be running again, her legs keeping her at a nice pace as she ran carelessly around her favourite place in the whole world.

Winona slowed down to a full halt and took in a large whiff of her surroundings. She could smell the crisp apples ready for picking, just above her in the trees. She could smell the tasty dry grass below her and she picked up the smell of Big Mac in the distance, her other friend. He smelled slightly of apples and sweat which caused Winona to scrunch up her wet nose, before returning to her morning exploration.

Her tongue hung out the right side of her mouth as she trotted slowly around the orchard, head always swivelling, searching for something she hasn’t seen before, anything at all. On this day, she is finally lucky and spots something peculiar beside an apple tree several yards in front of her. She picks up pace to close the distance on her target of interest.

As she approached, the object of her interest becomes clearer.  Its smaller then she first thought and took the shape of what appeared to be a diamond and was made of some sort of cold, hard material that Winona had never encountered before, but she knew exactly what to do with it.

Winona gripped the object in her jaws, feeling the cold metal press against her teeth as she began to use her paws to dig through the grass and dirt beneath the tree. Several minutes passing before she believed the hole to be deep enough, and dropped the strange object into the hole, quickly piling the dirt back in the hole and stepping back to admire her work.

She stood on the spot for a few moments, tongue hanging out of her mouth as always before she felt as if she needed to continue on her way. She turned her head and lifted herself off the grass and began her jog back towards the house.

In the distance she spotted Applejack hard at work, bucking the trees with her back hooves making the apples drop down and into the bucket she placed below the tree. Winona decided to leave her friend alone and continue her daily activities with the next one on the metaphorical list...laps.

When she arrived at her destination close to the house, Winona stretched once more to keep her limbs from hurting as she readied to run around the house a few times, as per usual. She wound herself back and kept her eyes forward before starting to run at half speed in a circle around the farm house.

She never did understand why she did this only that it felt good as the wind brushed through her fur whenever she picked up her pace. Remembering this, Winona did just that picking up the pace to a full blown sprint, straight around the house.

One lap...two laps...three laps. Winona continued her run until she had made ten full laps of the house, and feeling her legs becoming tired, she began to slow down to a halt before her kennel. She made her way to her water bowl and lapped up several more mouthfuls of water to compensate for the water she used during her run.

After she quenched her thirst, Winona began to feel slightly tired and decided to take a nap for a little while, to prepare for her afternoon routine, whatever that may entail. So she slowly made her way into her kennel and laid down on the red wooden floor, closing her eyes and drifting into her wonderful dreams.

She had a big afternoon ahead of her, and planned on getting a little rest before then.