//------------------------------//
// Chapter III. Apples 
// Story: A Warrior's Tale 
// by JaysonWrites 
//------------------------------//

The light hurt my eyes

I had woken up to what looks like a small hospital room. It was decorated humbly and was actually pretty cozy. A small window across the room let in a bit of sunshine and cool breeze. From the angle at was at I could tell that I was on the second floor. There was some weird sign hanging off a door most likely the restroom. I must have been sent to a local clinic. I really hope I can communicate with the locals I don’t know any other languages other than English and Spanish. Thankfully my journey was all just a dream. I must have been knocked clean out during the plane crash, rescued and sent here. What a relief, I can go back home and further my training and fighting career. My clothing was lying on a small sofa along with my sports bag. Man, is this bed tiny, well they must also be attending to all the other survivors. I would rather they help the others before they look me over.

As I was getting out of my undersized bed my back was hit with an excruciating pain. No no no nono. Flinging the sheets off of myself and looking beneath my hospital robe, I saw that my torso was rapped in bandages. My cuts and bruises were there, the fight with the monster must have been real. And just like that, my hopes were crushed. 

If all that was real than how did we get here and how the hell aren't we dead. Surely the monster didn't spare us.  
Wait, we must have been rescued and by the looks of this place there must be civilization.

After moving my body around a little I felt like I did twelve rounds with Mike Tyson. But where I hurt the most was the spot where the monster stung me, I promised myself the next time I see that bastard I’m going full out on it. My ankle was also doing better; I could probably run at a pretty good pace. Hours passed and I haven’t seen or heard anybody. Starting to get worried I gently lifted my self from the bed, minding my back injury, to the cold tile floor. I was only able to take a couple steps before the IV in my arm popped out causing a machine to emit a loud and annoying wail. Turning to try to stop the machine from making any more noise I heard the door burst open. 

I yelled over the machine with out looking “Sorry about all this, it’s just that I was growing a little impatient with the hospitality here…” when I didn't get an answer I turned around to see who it was I was talking to. “Do you speak…?” As I turned the two miniature horses and I made eye contact. They were exactly the same like in every way.  Both had a white coat, blue eyes and blue hair (mane?). They were covered in gold armor and a helmet like that of a centurion. But what freaked me out the most was that these horses had wings. We stood there in awkward silence before they remembered they had a job to do. Bringing their forelegs down to the ground and their buts (flanks?) up, they charged. 

HOLY shit they’re gana get us, quick do something!

So I did what any sane man would have done in my situation. I jumped out the window. 
X 

If you have ever had the pleasure of witnessing an Olympic diver at their best it would give you an idea on how stupid I looked falling from a second story window butt naked and arms flailing. My hospital robe had gotten caught on the window tearing it clean off and had left me in all my glory. Landing in the bushes was a godsend, using the branches to cover what I could I made my daring escape. Off down the road could be seen a good town. Many of the builds were yellow timber-framed with thatched roofs and over hanging upper floors. The hospital was at the edge of the town meaning there weren’t many of those mini horses around. It was also quite colorful and well kept unlike my native land of Los Angeles. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear I slipped between bushes, which is much harder than you’ll think because of my larger stature. 
Every now and then I would hear those armored horses running around most likely looking for me. Luckily it was getting dark and I would be able to move easier and maybe find away to get my stuff back. None of my previous injuries seem to have opened up and the pain in my back wasn't getting any worse. Now it was time to play the waiting game. 

X
Grrrrr this game sucks. I've been sitting in this bush for the longest of times. I’m cold and I’m hungry. At least I only have to wait a little longer till I can move around freely. To entertain myself I would play tic-tac-toe with my self or write my name in the dirt forwards, backwards and any other way I thought possible. But now I found a much more amusing game where I dig a hole with my stick than fill it up with more dirt, rinse and repeat. 

Finally I can get up and stretch. It was now pretty damn dark. The only light was that of the moon and the dim street lights of the town. I figured that it would be best to sneak around the border of town sort just to get a feel for things. Sticking only about 20 meters from the road allowed me to navigate my way to the town but also keep an eye out for any horses. How horses build a town and a functioning society is still beyond me. 

X
So after careful consideration and assessment I have come to the conclusion that I’m indeed 100% insane. If it weren't for the armed mini horses running around I would have never guessed that this wasn't a human village. They even had damn door knobs, how the fuck does that even work? I have been trying to get close enough to the town so I could get food or at least some pants but there are too many armored mini pegasi patrolling the town. 
I wonder if all these guards are here because of me. Well, whatever it is doesn't really matter I’m going some where else for food. A nearby hill was perfect for looking out over town and allowed me to get a good view over town. By the looks of it there is a farm out on the border of town the perfect place to get a quick bite to eat before retreating back into the shadows. 

X
The environment here is gorgeous. On my way to the farm I marveled the serenity of this place. Walking to the farm was uneventful since there was really no one out side. I didn't really walk on the dirt road mainly because it hurt my exposed feet and there was less of a chance that I would be discovered. Once I think about it the town isn't actually that large, I could walk form one end to the other in no time. 
Wow, this does not look like any farm I've ever been to. It looks like some fancy rural themed hotel. It is beautifully decorated and its architecture is very welcoming. Not wanting to get to close I went straight to the huge apple orchard looking for some apples to satisfy my hunger. I just really hope I don’t get lost.

Well fuck me we’re lost.

Yup I had some how gotten lost in a matter of minutes. All the trees look the same here and the orchard is crazy big. At least there is no shortage of food around. Good God these apples are the best I have ever tasted, there must be some sort of drug in here these are way too good to be true. I wouldn't mind being lost in here for eternity as long as I could eat these apples. Time went be really fast as the sun was rising faster than I thought possible. I needed to get the hell out of here before whomever runs this farm finds me and shoots me with a shotgun. 

Running as fast as I could, with a bad ankle, in a random direction was my only choice. While running through the orchard I heard a thud coming from nearby. A nearby tree provided cover as I sneaked a peak at the horse. She, I’m guessing no man would ever style their hair like that, had her blonde hair (mane?) tied back in a ponytail. She also wore a brown Stetson over her blonde hair, which is something I thought only a cowboy would wear. Her fur was orange and she had huge green eyes. The horse also had freckles which I didn't think was possible but you know my known facts have recently been throw out the window along with my sanity. I was glad to see that this one didn't have wings but I could see that she did have three apples tattooed on her but. 

What was the term for a little horse again?
Pony dumb ass. 
Oh right.

The pony was doing repetitive work. She would lay down buckets around a tree then turn around and kick it with her back legs shaking and dropping apple from the trees. Impressed with the strength of the hind legs I decided I should also give it a shot. Slowly moving away from her I found a tree a good distance away and gave it a shot. I hit the base of the tree with a straight foot thrust making a louder thud than I hoped but it was strong enough to knock all the apples from the tree. That was pretty good maybe next time I could hit it with my strong leg when I get it back to peak condition. I bent over to pick up as many as my little red prizes as I could. As I reached over for one last apple the beautiful red fruit was crushed under an orange hoof. Shit. I slowly looked moving from her hoofs to her eyes, I was dreading making eye contact with the most likely very angry miniature horse. Her massive green eyes looked into my very soul. They were full of disgust and aversion. 
 Umm where did she get that rope?


X
My inner man would like to say that I put up a fight, that I almost got away and that I totally didn't get caught and bound in less than ten seconds. What was even worse was that she was gloating about it. Getting up on her hind legs and throwing her hat in the air she let out a victory screech. It was humiliating. After calming down enough she started prodding me with her hoof, I showed her my teeth and she quickly pulled back her hoof.  The pony was thinking to herself, probably of what to do with me. She then took a deep breath and whistled. Satisfied that someone probably heard her she sat down a few meters away from me, never moving her eyes from me. 

All I need is a moment, just a moment to untie myself. She had tied my hands and feet together but I was confident in my ability to escape. She hasn't made a sound since she sat down and I have mainly been coming up with escape scenarios in my head. Before I was able to come with anything good a much larger red pony trotted up pulling along a wagon. This one had a red coat and an orange mane. This one is probably male due to his size and muscle. He also had a tattoo on his flank which was of only one green apple; these things must run in the family. His green eyes widened in surprise as soon as he saw me. The orange got up and trotted over to the red one Ha now’s my chance. While they were conversing in some language I didn't recognize I frantically pulled on the rope. Finally freeing myself I got to my feet in a flash, both horses turned and gawked at my height. I was more than double the size of the orange one and the red one was at the height of my stomach. Things are much less intimidating when you’re not tied up. Not wanting to waste anymore time I simply turned and took off in the opposite direction. 

Both of them took off after me, the big red one was right behind me slowly gaining ground. The orange one had disappeared to only appear in front of me moments later lasso at the ready. As she flung the lasso at me I made a sharp 90 degree turn getting away from her lasso but the red horse was still hot on my tail. I needed to get out of the orchard; they had the home field advantage here. 

My ankle couldn't take anymore of this running; I had to pull a quick one on them. In desperation I pulled myself onto a nearby tree. Climbing to the top kept me hidden from them, but they weren't fooled and I could hear them breathing heavily under the tree. Catching my breath I weighed my options. I could either fight both of them at once or keep running. Each sounded like hard work considering I haven’t fully recovered from my previous bout. 

We could always just surrender, it’s not like they were hurting us to begin with.
Na man they were probably just fixing us up so that we have a better chance of surviving their experiments. 
Yeah, I don’t want a probe stuck up my ass either. 

I peered through the thinner patches of leaves expecting to see the ponies devising a plan to get me down from the tree. To my surprise there was nobody around. My natural suspicion told me that they were probably hiding behind a nearby tree or something. Listening closely for even the slightest movement of breath I waited atop the tree. 

Maybe they really are gone.
We waited here long enough. There’s only one way to find out.

Jumping out of the tree as silently and sneakily as I could, I tiptoed around a couple trees looking for the ponies. Fortunately they had left probably going around and gathering up their pony friends. 

Ha, ponies are dumber than I thought

As soon as the thought left my mind I heard rustling in the trees around me. Suddenly a couple dozen guards dropped out of the trees wielding what looked like really sharp spears. 

YOU just had to go on and say it, didn't you?