After dragging her friend into the cabin and setting her down in the middle of what probably passed as a ‘living room’, Emerald watched the great being quickly tend the dying fire by stoking the low coals and applying fresh lumber. If she was being completely honest, it was a little fascinating to watch the bull move so gracefully around the room on only two legs, but she figured she was getting a little delirious and chalked it up to an acceptable bit of personal weirdness to find something so interesting. She noticed that he never did remove his coverings though, and the unnerving silence coupled with her exhaustion caused her to open her trademark bigmouth.
“What happened to your horns?” As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt as if her brain began to look for possible exits from her skull, maybe even planning to live the rest of its days in the cabin while mourning its ex-host.
The bull turned to her and cocked its roundish head, his soulless black lenses pinning her in place. “Horns…” It didn’t seem to be a question, but Emerald was terrified she had just bucked a great big storm cloud by accident and was too busy trying to backpedal to notice any strangeness.
“Oh my sweet Cel- I mean, I didn’t mean anything by that!” The mare was waving both hooves in front of her as if chasing off a bad dream. “I know how minotaurs get, I mean how some minotaurs- I know horns are… Please don’t kill me!” she squeaked at the end, her hooves covering her head while she trembled next to Snowy.
When she didn’t die after a few moments, she peeked up from under her hooves to see the bull facing away from her and moving a large metal table while occasional mutterings could be heard, the table’s craftsmanship beyond anything she had ever seen before and its composition was nothing she could name offhoof. With that unusual grace she had noticed before, he brought it over to a large…looming shape. It was hunched over in the corner of the room covered by a large white sheet. She almost yelped when he finally spoke in that mellow baritone.
“Yes. Well, some…minotaurs…are probably rather…prideful of their horns? As for me, don’t worry about it,” he said, waving a mitten about casually. “I myself am not offended by your question. Let’s just say… The reason I’m all wrapped up like this is partially related.” The bull turned to her and nodded. “You would find looking at my exposed form rather…unpleasant I wager, so I’ll just stay like this for…courtesy’s sake.”
Emerald winced at the implications. Apparently the poor bull was horribly disfigured, and had lost his horns in the process, leaving him a shunned outcast. He was obviously forced into living all alone out here in the woods because of his deformities, cast out from his herd. She felt just terrible for reminding him of the ordeal, especially after he offered to help them so easily. It was a real tragedy she thought, being how super smart he was for a minotaur, that he was ostracized for being all…scarred up and gross. At least that’s what her imagination kept picturing.
“I’m terribly sorry ah…,” she paused as if just realizing something important. “Um, I don’t even know your name… Oh gosh, how rude am I? My name is Emerald Breeze and she is Snowy Skies,” the mare said while placing a hoof to her chest while her wide eyes belied she was still a mite frightened. “I apologize for not introducing myself, er us earlier. I was so scared she was going to… I didn’t even remember to ask your name, I’m sorry,” she finished while looking at the floor in dejection.
“It’s quite all right,” the bull commented as he continued to move items around the cabin’s large space. “Extenuating circumstances can forgive a lapse in manners I think. You can call me…” The bull paused a moment and cocked his head before releasing an amused chuckle. “Hornless. You may call me Hornless; a new name for a new life, I suppose.” He whispered something inaudible to himself while he moved over toward Snowy’s unmoving form and began to look her over while Emerald struggled not to cry.
“H-Hornless... I- Are you, *gulp* sure?” Her ears were flat against her skull and she looked like she wanted to leave the cabin and bury herself in the snow forever. “I really didn’t mean to- Are you sure that name is what you want to be called?” The mare’s eyes were simmering with unshed tears as the stress of today’s events began to mix with her emotional high of seeing hope when she least expected it and her physical exhaustion. She was a good pony and here she had just carelessly breached a huge, personal issue with the only being in the Everfree that was willing to help them.
The bull paused a moment to look over at the pegasus. “Now-now, let’s have none of that. I'm pretty sure you had no ill intent when you asked and I’ve taken no offense. We have more important things to worry about anyway, like saving your friend and getting both of you out of this forest safely.” His gentle but firm tone showed her he really wasn’t mad and Emerald wiped her eyes with a fetlock in relief.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
The biped chuckled warmly. “You're quite welcome,” and in one motion he gently lifted Snowy Skies and moved her to the strange metal table, laying her on a blanket Emerald has missed him placing earlier. “I’m afraid I have to admit that I’m an engineer, not a doctor,” the bull nodded at Emerald to show he was saying something important. “However, I believe I have some things here that I can use to stabilize her before we let the Mark three work its magic.”
Emerald tilted her head in confusion. “Who’s ‘Mark’, and what kind of magic are you talking about?”