Winona woke up, and she was alone.
-º-
The moon shone over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
"Isn't it beautiful?" asked someone behind Applejack.
She turned to the voice, startled, and saw a stallion sitting near the shed.
"Hi?" she waved a hoof, thrown off-center "You a traveler too?"
"Resident" he shook his head and walked closer to her, making her take a step back.
"There is people living here?" she asked "Why?"
"A few" he nodded.
Applejack watched him silently, hoping to find out what was so eerie about him exactly. light brown coat, black mane (Under the moonlight, at least), a strange accent...
"You talk Equish?" she stammered.
"I talk a lot of languages," he smiled at her and took a step closer "I could teach you a few, if you want?" he approached his face to hers far beyond what she was comfortable with, so she went for what had worked for drunken stallions and mares before.
Applejack slapped hi-i-i-
-º-
Winona whined.
Orange hat horse just kept staring at the moon, not paying heed. From time to time she'd say something under her breath, too softly for Winona to understand.
-º-
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
"I heard" Applejack turned to the source of the voice "that if you look at it for long enough, the mare in the moon herself comes to your dreams"
A burst of laughter escaped Applejack "Mare in the moon? She's Luna, sugarcube"
He gave her a confused look, then made a fa-a-a
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
-º-
Winona stood with her face nearly against Orange hat horse's, her front paws in her chest. She barked at her face, but her horse didn't answer.
There was a fluttering, and she barked louder and in more anxious tones.
With nothing else to do, Winona let herself fall and bared her teeth.
-º-
"You what now?" she asked in confusion "I don't-"
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
"Got distracted by it?"
She turned to sitting the stallion, regarding him curiously.
"You a traveler too?" she asked.
"No," he shook his head "resident. There are a few of us here"
She nodded, not having anything else to say.
"Why are you here?" he asked after a moment "Most people avoids this place"
"Just traveling" she shrugged.
"In a rush?" he pressed the matter, standing, then started walking to her.
"Not really" she through of taking a step back, but decided to stay firm. She could take care of anything he tried, after all.
"Are you willing to stop for some time, then?"
She started answering before what he had said sinked in.
"I am not that kind of mare" she scowled at him.
He laughed, a sound that unnerved her. It was wrong in just too many ways for her to count- It had a liquid quality, for one, not unlike a water bag falling and breaking against the ground.
"No, no, I didn't mean to imply that" he explained like a father does to a child.
Applejack stood, "I'll be going now" she said slowly, then walked to the sheds for her bags, pushing him in the way and throwing him to the ground without effort as a warning.
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
A sharp pain made itself present in her leg, making her whimper, and she looked at it. Several small wounds bled in it, only deep enough to be unignorably painful. She looked around for whatever had bitten her.
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
She whimpered from the sudden pain in her leg, and looked around for whatever had bitten her.
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
She whimpered from the sudden pain in her leg, and looked around for whatever had bitten her.
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
She whimpered as something she couldn't quite see dragged her from a hindleg.
The moon shover over her, painting everything white. She hadn't ever realized just how big it was.
-º-
Winona ran, grabbing her horse's leg in the same careful way she had carried pups before and taking her into the shed. She had hurt the leg, but only barely.
Outside, a roc landed in the clearing Orange hat horse had been in and started screeching, extending both his wings and shaking them angrily.
Winona watched curiously as the roc pecked at several spots of the ground, as if trying to catch something. Minutes later, a figure loomed from the trees... two rocs hopping, one young and the other a female with both wings hurt, the myriad of small punctures in them covered by blood clots. Someone hopped from the younger roc's back.
The old zebra advanced to the male roc and said something Winona couldn't make out, soothing him, then stood still, a small wasp of light floating around her head.
"A dog?" the zebra looked directly at Winona "Oh, yes, a dog. Hi," she smiled softly and walked to her "Protecting your owner, weren't you?"
-º-
Applejack scream "ed her rage into his face, draining her lungs, Do you think I'll just stop my travel for a... whatever you are!?"
The moon shover over her-
"No! Don't even try that! You think I'll fall for i" t now?, painting ev that I am just some idiot you can snare into your dung erything eon or whatever it is!?
Shh...
Applejack and the stallion looked up, one surprised and the other angry.
"You dare-"
Your dog is quite loyal, you know? asked a voice without paying him heed Her gesture of protection is what started breaking the charm
"...rip your legs from..."
but it isn't quite broken yet. You need something else. A memory, mayhaps?
"...and shove it into..."
Applejack looked at him again, a stallion of shifting aspect the shouted angrily at the heavens and the green-tinted moon.
In one fluid movement, she rotated her body with her forelegs as her axis and bucked him, feeling an undeniable pleasure as she did so.
"What are you doing!?" he got up, perfectly healthy "Do you think you can-"
"No. I can't hurt you," she advanced to him "But believe me I can make you feel pain" she added.
He watched her, an eye twitching. Her head ache increased, but she kept advancing and, without bothering to say anything else, lifted a hoof, warning him.
He simply stared back.
In a purple flash, a monocular appeared over one of her eyes, showing a rock falling from the sky.
"A" said a disembodied voice "place" said the same voice in a completely different tone "of" "memories" a pause "And" "A tool to see beyond your sight"
A tent formed itself around them, and the rock bounced on it.
"A home to warm your heart" Said a different voice, softer.
The monocular showed her a wall of water advancing to them. When it hit the tent, it slowly filled with water.
Even when it was filled, Applejack kept staring, holding her breath.
The monocular disappeared, and Applejack kept staring at him.
"You know what!? You aren't worth it!" he shouted at her face, spitting on it "Go, you bitch!"
Before she had time to answer, the whole world dissolved and reformed, leaving her a dark shack with an old zebra and a roc's head poking through a . Her head ached terribly, and her lungs felt empty.
"Most ponies take longer" she said, surprised, in Tharatean "Those must be good memories, traveler"
Applejack didn't quite hear her, as she was already falling unconscious.