//------------------------------// // Day 6: As kids play // Story: A mare and her dog // by cammera //------------------------------// Applejack woke up to the barking of Winona, feeling unusually heavy and slow, and her nostrils blocked. Without worrying for any of that, she jumped outside the tent, looking for the threat that Winona had dec- "A bird!?" she shouted at her "Ya woke me up for a gods damned bird!?" The pidgin flew up to the starry sky, her childs following close behind, and Winona threw herself at the ground guiltily. "Just stay quiet" she said, entering her tent. -º- The second time Applejack woke up that day, she did because she couldn't breathe. Inundation, she though in the first instant, her hooves leashing in search of something to grab a hold off I rested in an inundation area again Then reality set itself, and she realized that there wasn't any water nearby. Just blocked nostrils and a dog sleeping in her chest. She let her head fall to the mat with a sigh. "Cold outside?" she asked to Winona, eyes closed. Winona woke up and moved from her. Applejack opened her eyes to see her: ears down and tail moving in short waves. The very picture of canine shame. "Dontcha try that at me" she yawned and searched for a paper towel to clean her nose with. -º- Her hooves complained about the effort, but she pressed forward. Rest would come at five. She sneezed. Or at three, maybe. She cleaned her nose again. At least, so much snot meant the cold was already going away. -º- At half past two, a trail of smoke rose from the wayside and Applejack drank a cup of nearly scalding hot tea, Winona sleeping in her shadow. She finished drinking it and saw a glint in the distance. Curious, she took off her saddlebags, took a small monocular from them, and climbed a tree holding the instrument in her teeth. A smile showed itself in her face. A city, just what she needed. A good night's rest with a thick ceiling over her head, and warm soup. With onion. She'd eat the things like fruits when she got there. She climbed down from the tree and put on the saddlebags, packed everything, threw dirt over the fire, and walked off whistling for Winona to wake up. -º- She reached the city at dusk, nodding politely at a few locals and searching for some inn. After a few minutes without luck, she walked to a foal wearing some strange gizmo in his head. "Exc- Excuse me," she tapped him in the shoulder "Is there some inn in city?" The kid turned to her, a stern expression many a general would've been proud off. He simply stared at her. Applejack gave a good look to what he wore: several rubber tubes connected some kind of tank, from which a liquid sound came, to four sprayers -two in the jaw, two just under the mane- in the head. Some kind of mouth-trigger was connected to what looked like a valve in the tank. A sense of dread formed in Applejack. "Doncha-" the kid closed his jaw, pressing the trigger, and Applejack was sprayed with what felt like gallons of water. She insulted the kid with the kind of language that a proper young lady shouldn't know about, but learns anyway. Winona watched Orange Hat Horse glaring daggers at Annoying Brat, and that Annoying Brat was already trying to run away, and did her part-- she jumped in the foal's way and growled, bearing her teeth. "Clockwork!" shouted a female voice that Applejack recognized, after a moment, as Equestrian "What did I tell you of doing that?" a mare walked to them and Winona eased her posture, recognizing Shouth Horse as her senior in punishing Annoying Brat "Sorry, miss- Oh, dear, you are sick aren't you" she asked in Equiish. Applejack looked at her in confusion, and then shook her head. "You are Equestrian?" she asked "But how- Oh" she blushed "Sorry if you heard, uhm, that" "Don't you worry," the mare smiled and catched the foal by the mane distractedly before he managed to scurry away "Come, you'll spend the night at my home" "You don't-" Applejack tried to start. "You'll spend the night at my home"