Applejack trotted out of the house, into the light of the rising sun. The effect was an immediate reminder as to the purpose of her trip. 'This damnable heat!' she cursed. She made her way along the outside of the fenced enclosure, heading back down to the river to cool off. She sunk into the gentle current, feeling the immediate relief. She paddled about for some time, reluctant to leave the stream. She was so lost in her own little world that she didn't even hear them approach.
GRRRRRRR
The symphony of growls was something that Applejack felt as much as she heard. The bottom of her stomach dropped out in that nauseating feeling of free-falling when you trip over a root while walking in the woods. Her eyes shot open, looking up at the bank or the stream. It was the rest of the wolf pack, searching for their fallen member. They were on the shore, squarely between her and the ranch. Behind her, on the far side of the river was the open wilderness. She could beat them to it, but after that, they had every advantage.
She got her footing in the rocky gravel of the shallows, never letting her eye off of them. They began to spread out, widening their barrier of her escape. They'd have her surrounded soon. She had to act now.
"Arthur!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, up the hill, in vain hope that he'd hear her. One of the wolves let out a shrieking howl and charged at her. She turned and landed a solid kick, stunning him. He backtracked a bit to open up some space for another attack while the others closed in on her while she was distracted. A second lunged at her. She ducked in time, narrowly missing his bite at her neck. He instead tore a section of her mane from her, causing her to yelp in pain. "Aghhh!"
Her hind legs were a blur as she turned and parried, kicking at her surrounding assailants but mostly hitting little more than the air. They grew closer and bolder with their attacks. For all her stamina and adrenaline, it was quickly getting clear that the earth pony was becoming fatigued.
One of them finally gained purchase, landing a bite on her ankle, causing her to stumble. He had a firm grip and was not letting go. The stream ran red. As soon as she was down, the leader of the pack was on her in a flash. She had only the briefest of moments to look up at him coming at her with those wide, menacing jaws. But just an instant before he could land the killing blow on her neck, his head burst with a loud bang.
A gunshot does strange things to a fight. In this case, it stopped it instantly. The entire pack looked to the source of the noise. On the banking, Arthur stood in his underwear with his double-barrel shotgun. Another, brazen wolf ran to take out the new threat before Arthur fed him the second barrel. With two of their brethren fell to the boomstick-wielding ape, the rest thought better of it and fled.
Applejack washed the blood and bits of wolf from her coat and limped out of the water. He helped her back to the ranch, tending to her wound with some bandaging once they were safely back. The next day, she was walking around on it a little better.
"How is it feeling?" Arthur asked.
"Not too bad. It actually doesn't even hurt anymore." she said. Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Really? That was a pretty bad bite." He took out his knife and cut away the old bandaging to replace it. She felt exceptionally warm in his hands. "Feels like you're running a fever." he said. "Not surprising. No knowing what kind of bacteria they have in their mouths. That's what makes their bites so bad." He nicked her leg with his knife as he cut the taping. "Ooh, sorry about that."
"About what?" she asked. She hadn't been watching him.
"You didn't feel that?" he asked. She shook her head. He pressed the knife to her leg near the wound. "That?"
"No." He pressed harder, drawing blood. "Nothing."
"Oh shit," he muttered.
"What is it?"
"Fever and numbness at the site of the bite..." He tried to keep it from showing on his face. 'Rabies' he thought to himself.
"What do we do now?" she asked.
"Let's get you back to the stable," he said.
Inside, he led her into her stall, putting on her rein and added a few more ropes, restraining her legs and body.
"What's the big idea?" she asked.
"I'm sorry AJ, but until we're sure that you don't have rabies, I have to restrain you. Or else you could hurt yourself. Or me. I'll be out here the whole time to make sure that you're fed and have plenty to drink and that you're comfortable."
The next day, Applejack was having trouble swallowing.
Eventually she was refusing water altogether. She began to get more aggressive to the point of becoming belligerent. Her incoherent swearing devolved into a jumbled garble. Arthur slept in the house that night. He couldn't bear to see her like that.
The next morning was rainy, and cold for the summer season. He hadn't slept well. And by the sounds of things, Applejack hadn't either. Arthur had moved Buck to the opposite end of the barn, away from her. He didn't need to see this. Arthur walked out to the barn. He could already hear the banging of her pulling at her restraints. He stared at his boots as he walked.
"Not again." His cheeks ran wet. He doubted it was the rain. "Please not again. I can't do it again." He prayed, not even sure whom to. What kind of god would allow this to happen. He could hear her growling at the end of the row. His vision went blurry with tears, as he pulled the shotgun from his shoulder strap, cocking the barrel open.
He stood in front of her stall. Her eyes were glazed over, her teeth gnashing at the bit as drool ran freely.
"Applejack?" he asked, loading the shells into the chambers. "Please... say something." The mare whipped her head from side to side, pulling at the ropes. He could see where the restraints were cutting into her skin, but she seemed oblivious to the injuries as she tried to lunge at him again, still held in place. "Applejack, please!" He closed the chamber and leveled the shotgun at her. "If you're still in there, please, give me a sign." He held the gun in his shaking hands, his finger moving closer to the trigger. "Anything. Please, just- give me any reason to not do this!"
...
BOOM
"APPLEJACK!" Arthur cried out. He lurched forward in bed. The sheets were clammy with cold sweat. The room listed and spun for a moment. His head still hurt a bit at the sudden movement. He groaned. His attention turned to his bedroom doorway being thrown open. Applejack stood there, her fur and mane dripping wet. He tried to stand but she rushed over to him.
"Whoa, easy there sugar cube. You all right? You look like you seen a ghost or somethin'," she said. He just looked up at her, putting his hand on her cheek, looking in her eyes and then at her ankle for the bite. Nothing. It was just another terrible, terrible dream.
"Why are you wet?" he asked.
"I just hopped in the shower for a bit while you were resting. It's been a while since I last had one. When I heard you yell I came a running. What happened?" she asked.
"It was just a bad dream," he reassured her as much as for himself.
"What was it about?" she asked. He looked at her deep, green eyes, grateful that the sweat on his face hid the truth.
"I don't remember," he lied.
"Well I s'pose that's fer the best." Applejack grabbed a towel from the bathroom and began to dry her mane. A feat for someone with hooves. He grabbed the towel from her and helped to dry her off. "Thanks. But you're looking like a right mess. Do you think you can stand long enough to take a cool rinse?" she asked. He nodded, moving down her body and wringing out the water in her long tail. After, he wiped the sweat from his face. The towel smelled like his shampoo and... her. He held it a moment longer. The scent took him to a happy place, recalling that first time they met, when he jumped on her back and she ran off. The scent of her mane, blowing in his face in the wind.
"Alright." He put the towel down, and got to his feet. He didn't feel pain, or dizzy now. Rather, it was just a dull unease, like being just a little hungover. He looked at his sweat stains. Likely from being dehydrated, he reasoned. She braced herself against his side for support that he didn't explicitly need. He put his arm over her anyway.
"You know, I gotta say, you're taking this whole thing pretty well," Applejack said.
"How you you mean?" he asked.
"Well, I mean if my dog just up and started talking, I don't know how I would have reacted," she said.
"I told you, I don't consider you a 'pet'."
"You know what I mean though. You clearly didn't expect me to talk," she said. Arthur shrugged.
"Well, the way I see it, either I'm dead, dreaming, or it's really happening. In any case, what choice do I have but to accept it?" He looked at her. "So, you had a dog, too?" he asked, trying to change the subject. She nodded. "What was his name?"
"Her name is Winnona."
"I used to have a dog... when I was younger," he said remembering. "He uh- he was a golden retriever that my family had before I moved to the city. But I was responsible for him. Feeding him, taking him for walks and such. Cocky ole' thing. Got into a scrape with a raccoon one night and uh-" She looked at him, and he turned away for a second, blinking back at the memory. "He got sick from the raccoon biting him. And eventually I had to be the one to... end his suffering." Applejack didn't say anything, only listening. "I was barely fifteen. After that, my mom offered to get me another dog but-"
"You wanted him back."
"Yeah. Anyways, when my father died a few years later, my mother and I inherited the company. We didn't really care too much for running a big business like that so we ended up selling it. She retired and... remarried. I took my money and-" He motioned to the ranch house around them. "And I don't know what I'm doing." It suddenly occurred to both of them that they had been standing outside of the bathroom for some time now in idle conversation.
He stepped inside and peeled off his shirt and pants. Applejack just stood in the doorway with idle disinterest. Down to his underwear now he glanced at her.
"Um..."
"What?" she asked. He motioned to his underwear. She rolled her eyes. "Nothing I ain't seen before," she said, referring to when he went skinny dipping in the river with her before. "I ain't going anywhere until I'm sure that you're better. I'm not letting you get all dizzy and fall in the shower alone now." Arthur was about to object. "And you did put a thermometer in my hoo-ha, so I think we're about square." He shook his head, trying to diffuse the situation.
Come on, don't make it weird he tried to reason with his mind. He dropped his drawers and turned on the shower. He stepped inside and closed the curtain.
"So what now?" he heard her ask from the other side. He generated some lather in his hair.
"Well, I need to still try to make the best of the pony ranch venture," he said.
"How so?"
"Well, I still need to go out and catch, break, breed, and sell ponies."
"Break?" she asked.
"Tame," he explained. "The same thing I did with Buck... and you." He rinsed his hair and soaped up the rest of his body. "Of course, you were easy to teach. I was hoping that you would be able to help. But I don't know how you would feel about... capturing other ponies."
"Well, I suppose it's no worse than rounding up cattle, or sheep. And Buck sure doesn't seem to mind having a roof over his head and food provided," she said.
"Okay. I was worried there for a bit." He finished washing and rinsing, turning off the water. He pulled the curtain back just a little, modest even now. "Um, do you mind?" He motioned to the towel on the rack behind her. She turned and passed it to him. "I guess the only other thing would be figuring out what to do with you," he said as he toweled off.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, I can't very well make you stay out in the stables now. I would imagine you'll be wanting to sleep in the house."
"I don't want to impose. But, do you have a guest bedroom?" she asked.
"Sort of. But there's no bed. I've actually been using it for storage." He wrapped the towel around himself and walked back to the bedroom, pulling some clean clothes out of his dresser. He pulled on his pants and sat on the king-size bed as he fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. "I guess... I guess you could sleep on this bed until we get something figured out," he offered.
"But where would you sleep?"
"Well, it is a big bed. More than enough space for two. I don't mind sharing it, if you don't," he said.
"I suppose that would be alright. It's been a while since I've slept on a proper bed," she said. He finished getting dressed and pulled on each of his boots.
"Right, well then," He stood up and straightened out his clothes, "We've got a lot of work to catch up on and then tomorrow it's off to try and catch some more ponies." The two of them headed out and made their way around the ranch, doing all of the usual chores.
Applejack moved about freely, doing many more of the tasks that he had previously thought her lacking dexterity was not capable of. With such an able assistance, they finished all of the work in far less time. Feeding Buck and bringing him fresh water, cleaning the stall, fixing up a few odds and ends and getting the place ready for tomorrow. Arthur picked up his hat from the ground inside the stables and dusted it off before replacing it on his head.
"Don't you think you should get a new hat to replace that?" Applejack asked.
"What? this old thing? Never," Arthur said, adjusting it a little. "I'll never part with it. They'll have to bury me with it."
On the prairie, at the edge of a patch of woods, a small herd of ponies were assembled. Applejack walked over to them with a length of rope, to a tan mare with black spots.
"Howdy," she greeted. "Hey do you mind holding this for a second?" She placed the lasso of rope over her, securing it to her. "Thanks. Be right back." She carried the other end of the rope to the patch of bushes some distance away. "Here you go," she said to Arthur, giving him the other end of the rope. He took it in a firm grip and stood up. The rest of the herd panicked upon seeing him and ran. The lassoed Palomino pony didn't get very far though.
"Wow. That was so much easier," Arthur said. He and Applejack worked together to get her back to the ranch.
"She'll be a much better match for Buck," Arthur said with an awkward blush, remembering the folly of his first attempt at matchmaking. "So, uh, what's her name?" he asked.
"She ain't speak'n to me any more than to you," Applejack said.
"Well, what I mean is, what name should she have then?" he asked. Applejack regarded the other pony. She had never named a pony before. She didn't even provide a suggestion for anypony else's foal. It was stranger still that the pony was an adult. In the pony's eyes, Applejack could tell, she was a feral animal. There was no more sapient thought behind them than her dog. She reminded herself that here, in this world, she needed to think of the ponies they collected as pets more than anything else.
"I don't know."
"Well, what are some of the ponies names from your world?" he asked.
"This isn't a pony from my world," she said.
"Right. Sorry." They walked a bit more while he took time to look her over. The black spots, like large freckles, looked like chocolate chips on a, "Cookie?"
"Cookie?"
"Yeah, because she looks like a cookie," he said.
"Okay. Yeah, I can see it," Applejack said. Working together, the trip back to the ranch took very little time, same with getting Cookie into her stall beside Buck's.
"Wait, so how did Buck get his name?" she asked.
"Oh, well, it was how he greeted me the first morning that I came out here after I first brought him here. Kind of like you did."
"Yeah well..."
"I know, I know. In either case, I know I had it coming. Hopefully Cookie won't make it three for three." They got her into the stall, and fitted her with a bridle and lead. "Let's see how they get along." He took Cookie by her lead, and let Buck out along with her, leading them both out into the fenced pasture. Buck followed her very closely, visibly interested in the new mare. Applejack didn't say anything. But the scent of the other mare was telling of the season's heat.
Applejack felt ashamed to watch the other two ponies as they mated in the field. It was a harsh reminder of her own condition. She trotted behind the farmhouse to the spigot and hose to douse herself with the cold water, focusing specifically on her... lower half. "Damn this heat." she cursed to herself. After a few minutes, Arthur appeared from around the corner of the farmhouse.
"There you are!" he called out. "I didn't know where you went and I heard the water running."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was just washing some mud off of me," she said, turning off the water and coiling up the hose. "Are you, uh, are they... all done?"
"Yup. We'll find out in a few weeks if it takes. And if so, we'll have a new foal for the spring."
"Well that's... that's good, right? I mean, that's the idea, isn't it?" she asked.
"Mhmm."
"..."
"..."
"So, uh, what now?" she asked.
"Well, it's been a long day. I recon we get ourselves some supper, and then early to bed and try for another capture tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have five or six by the end of the week. And we can work on domesticating them. Maybe even have some buyers in the fall."
"Wow. It really sounds like you've got it all figured out," Applejack said.
"Well sure. Now that I've got you here to help," he told her. He wrapped his arms around her in a hugging embrace and kissed the top of her head. It was so light, almost barely there. Maybe he didn't think she would notice the kiss through her thick mane. But she did, even if she didn't let on to that fact. "Come on," he said, letting her go, "let's get you toweled off and then rustle up some grub."
The sun began to set in the window of the kitchen as Arthur dried Applejack's fur with a bath towel. After giving her fur a vigorous rub, he took care to dry her mane as best as he could. Getting the last of her tail dry, he could tell from her fidgeting and visual cues that she was still suffering from her annual discomfort. He tried his best to spare her the embarrassment and finished as quickly as he could.
Inside, Arthur could do little more than lend an occasional hand and just stay out of the way as Applejack moved from fridge to counter to stove. He barely had a chance to start in on his hard-boiled egg salad before she had a dish of corn muffins for him, and a bowl of soup. This was followed by some boiled pasta with sauce, steamed rice and beans. And an Apple Pie for dessert, with home-made whipped cream of course.
"Please, no more!" he begged. He threw his hands up in defeat and pushed his plate away. A man could only eat so much after having lived for so long on on bachelor-chow, which was any meal with, at most, one step: apply heat. Applejack had cooked most of it just for him. She was satisfied with a single serving of salad and a slice of pie. Arthur practically rolled out of his chair. "Ugh, I'm useless."
"We can tackle the dishes tomorrow, I suppose," Applejack said, following him as he hobbled to the bedroom. He slumped onto his side of the mattress and took off his boots, socks and shirt. Applejack stood on the opposite side of the bed and waited. He unbuckled his belt and pulled off his pants, leaving him in just his underwear. He pulled back the covers of the bed and climbed under. On the other side, Applejack did the same. Both had plenty of room on the rather large bed to allow for a polite no-mans-land between.
For a time, each just laid on their backs, looking, more or less, at the ceiling. Each found it far more comfortable to fall asleep on their side. But neither wanted to seem rude in turning away from the other. Nor did they want to seem too forward in turning toward the other.
"Well, uh, good night then," Arthur said.
"Good night," Applejack said back. Arthur pulled the chain on the nightstand light, casting the room in darkness. After a few minutes, he felt her weight shift in the bed. The tension on the covers told him that she had rolled away onto her side, facing the far wall.
'Of course she did', he thought. Why would she roll to face him? They were just sharing a bed after all. It didn't mean anything more than that. He had shared his bed with his dog before. It didn't mean that he loved him.
Well, of course he loved him. But it didn't mean that he was in love with him. Just because Applejack shared his bed didn't mean that she was in love with Arthur either. How could she be? He had been her captor, owner, and at best, roommate. They weren't even the same species.
His full stomach made him drowsy, but his mind refused to let him drift off into slumber.
He was sharing a bed with Applejack. But she couldn't think that it meant that he was in love with her. They weren't even the same species. How could he be in love with her?
There were words for people like that, after all. But Applejack wasn't just an animal. She could talk. She had a mind with thoughts and feelings and personality. She could cook better than he could for crying out loud.
His head and heart were at odds.
He couldn't be in love with her.
'How could he be?' his mind echoed.
...
...
"Could he be?" Applejack wondered.