Celestias sun began its slow ascent into the sky over the Bridles shores coastline, fog from the waters still clinging to the driftwood and other various left behinds of the retreating ocean, giving the landscape an even deeper feeling of eeriness than that stretch of beach usually had. Caws and squawks of the numerous squabbling seagulls broke through the soon to depart morning gloom, the avians bickering over the numerous dead and dying fish on the waters edge waking the only other occupant of this forgotten part the beach. A delapadated driftwood shack silently stood under one the large cliff at the beaches edge, its mere presence a testament to ones life not lived, its sole occupant even more so.
The calls of the scavenging birds was suddenly silenced as a rasping cough echoes through the ever less present gloom, then as the seagulls fled the slight squeak of the door, they began to cry and jeer again, this time in annoyance at a meal interrupted. A gray and white speckled unicorn slowly limped out into the early morning light, only to clench his eyes shut at the brightness, hissing in pain. Blinking his eyes a few times to ease into the stallions usual ritual, he grumbled and snorting spat a rather large lugey onto the fading and splintered boards of his abode. Eyes slowly panning across the expanse of the ocean, his horn glowed a soft blue, and after a moment, a glass with some amber colored liquid floated through the still open door, the same some blue color surround the booze.
As was usually the case with a hangover, or even without in all honesty, the stallions was seemingly set in a permanent grimace, his eyes still wincing slightly from the unwelcome morning dawn. With a slight nod and grunt of something akin to satisfaction, the male lowered his flank to the porch, his tail swishing slightly across the faded compass upon his right haunch. Using his magic to unscrew the top of his whiskey, the stallion brought the mouth of the bottle to his lips, and took a quick swig of the liquor, the liquid burning slightly as it down his throat to create the usual warm spot in his belly he got when he took that first hit of the day. Lowering the bottle, his eyes continue there usual appraisal of his territory, the stopped at a odd patch in the fog that still hung over the ocean.
Squinting slightly, not this time in pain but only to focus, the grizzled stallions somewhat still hooch addled mind tried to make sense of what was coming. The mists of the sea cleared more as Celestias sun rose further along its eternal route, but some the low clouds still clung to the figure the stood upon the deck of the longboat that silently made its way through the blue of the sea. From his vantage, he could clearly see the handle of a sword that was being carried on its back, but what startled the old sea bastard was not the weapon, or the ship. No, what caused the colt to gasp, eyes widening and causing his to almost drop the whiskey was the swords owner.
It was a human. As much as his brain and even his very soul shouted that it couldn't be true, he knew. All the stories of the creatures who once occupied the closets, dark corners, and bed undersides of youth came flooding back in an instant as the vessel drew up onto the sand, its occupant uncrossing his arms, and with a small jump leaped over the side of the longboat. Clenching his alcohol misted eyes as tight as he could, the unnamed stallion gave his head a few hard shakes, then slowly opened his lids in a peak, only to have widen again in shock. The figure hadn't faded, it was real. And it was walking towards him. Gulping, the males body was in paralysis, refusing his minds further screams of desperate self preservation.
Whimpering softly as the human drew, he began to make of details of who was soon to be his executioner. The nimble hands, which he knew at any moment would around his throat, worked slightly to adjust the strap of cloth that held his sword to his back, giving it a better grip on it owners shoulders. Though the skin of the humans hands and face were a soft tan, the rest of his body was covered in a dark blue shirt, similar to the one his commanding officer wore once upon a time, though the right sleeve of the humans was torn off.,The lower half of his vestments was a blood red silk sash wrapped around the waist of the human, the ends of which looped through a steel ring attached to the gray pants, only to be tied in a knot larger then the rings to prevent it from slipping through. Its hoover were black and came up rather high up the creatures legs, a silver buckle on both of the hooves glinting slightly in the light. Eyes traveling up again, he saw as the human walked towards him atop its head was some gold colored fur, and from what he could see some of it was drawn into a tail at the back of the horrors head, much in the style so prevalent among mares.
But what truly scared him, what stopped his breath for a moment, were its eyes. Nowhere near as wide as almost any creature he had ever, the thing was close enough that he could see that they were as blue as the deep sea their owner had just come from. But what unsettled him most, aside from,the height of the human which easily a foot taller then the sitting, was the look and light of the eyes, showing a keenness and strength that in the stallions now boozed and stunned mind briefly reminded of the look of Princess Celestia when he served as one of her guard. Shaking his head again, he clenched his eyes shut once more, wishing with everything that was left that when he opened them again, that he would awaken in his home, curled up on the rags he slept on. Slowly, he opened them, a sick dread now settled in his stomach.
Whimpering, the stallions skidded back slightly as he looked up at the human towering over, ,much of the features of its face blocked out from both shade and the sunlight that shone around the burning orb the figure blocked. But still, he could those eyes, which now shone along with its strength a bit of sadness. Gulping audibly, the nameless colt resigned himself to his demise, and flinched when the mouth of the creature opened, and spoke gently in perfect equestrian, "I'm sorry to disturb you dear sir, but could you tell me the name of where i am?"
Completely floored, the male could only stare numbly up into the face of the human, not comprehending for a few moments what it had said. But just a suddenly as his fear arose, he began to feel anger at the the slight left tilt of the creatures, the sad look in its eyes deepening: the thing was pitying him!
Lips curling up somewhat in sneer, the stallion replied gruffly, snapping mostly to save face "No name for this part, but the rest is called the Bridle shore."
Nodding towards the longboat, he added "And there ain't no way you can park that on my land."
For a moment the eyes regarded him, causing a shiver to crawl its way up the equines spine, and he let out a involuntary yelp, lowering the rest of his body suddenly to the porch and covering the top of his head with his hooves as the hand of the beast suddenly flashed to the humans side. Now body shivering visibly, he let out another whimper, but when now blow came, he uncovered his eyes, looking up and seeing only an outstretched hand and that same damn pitying look. Kneeling slightly, causing the equine to flinch away, the human lay a single platinum coin upon the boards, the edges of which were encrusted with some sort of gems.
Pausing a moment in his bending, his fingers scratched behind the equines right ear for a moment, then with a small smile, the human "Would you be so kind as to allow it for a time?"
Ear that had just been scratched flicking, the grizzled stallion nodded slightly, giving a grunt of assent. And with a nod of his own, the human stood, and walked away, leaving the still shell shocked fellow behind him. Still shaking, the stallion slowly rose the upper half of his body up, his breath rapid, though slowly as he saw he was still magically holding the whiskey in the air. Looking at it a moment, lips pursed then thinning in their usual grimace, he upended the container, letting the liquor flow out and sink into the sand around his home, all the time muttering "No way in tartarus i'm chuggin any this shit again...."
After emptying the container, he chucked it across the beach, and as he turned to go back into his home, his eyes bulged as the fixated upon the single coin he convinced himself was part of the hallucination, and his stomach clenched in sudden fear as he realized that it was all real.
Turning back to the ocean, he yanked his head down, and vomited, the contents of his stomach splattering across the beach rocks.