Horse Apples

by Cheesetheory

Chapter 2: Good morning sweet apple acres

I don't know how long I sat there, staring at the woody appendage sticking out of my head, It was like waking up one morning to find you had an extra leg. When I snapped out of my stupor the first thing I noticed was that my surroundings were slightly darker, or perhaps dimmer would be a more suitable term, given the cause of the change, as when I looked up I noticed that clouds were beginning to cover the skies.

'How long was I out?'

I continued staring at the clouds for a few minutes before I noticed something. They weren't moving, I continued to stare at the motionless shapes, trying to find any signs of movement, eventually I concluded that they hadn't budged at all since I started. However i did notice that there were holes in the clouds in odd places, and far too many holes at that.

"I'm no expert in meteorology," I said to myself, "but I'm pretty sure clouds aren't supposed to have that many gaping holes in them."

"I'm working as fast as I can!" Came the response. It sounded masculine, but that didn't tell me anything about the speaker.

'Did the clouds just talk back? Am I dreaming?'

It was only when something poked its head down through the cloud that It hit me. It was a person on top of the clouds speaking, not the clouds themselves, although it didn't help my case at all. Now I just had to figure out how they got up there in the first place. I took a closer look at the speaker and noticed that their face resembled that of a horse, and as they came down through the hole I was able to get a good look at the rest of their body. He was most definitely male, of that I was certain, but what was particularly jarring was what he was.

I was looking at a horse, with wings. he was light brown in colour with a dark brown mane, his muzzle was slightly shorter than that of a regular horse and sat below two eyes that I could swear took up the majority of his face.

Not wanting to leave him hanging I said "I didn't mean to insult you, I'm just confused, could you tell me where I am?"

He responded "Why, are you lost? Where are you anyway? I can't see you anywhere."

"I'm down here, as hard as it may be to believe, I'm an apple."

"Oh, are you here for a family reunion or something? They live just over there," he said while pointing to my left, "it's the big red farmhouse, you can't miss it." He seemed to give up trying to find me and instead opted to simply look in the general direction of my voice.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it" and with that he flew away, no doubt to continue doing whatever it was he was doing.

My eyes stayed trained on the spot where he was hovering just a second ago as thoughts began to swim through my mind, 'Who and what was that? Did he say family reunion? Are there other talking apples around here? Hopefully they'll have the answers, right now I have to find a way to get to them, maybe they can help me, whoever they are.'

W ith renewed vigor I attempted to move my new fruity body, and was rewarded with some movement. I continued to sway left and right, pushing with all of my might, I felt like i was about to break free when I realised what would happen to me upon hitting the ground.

"I'm starting to seriously regret not asking that horse for help, but would he really believe a talking apple would be asking for his help?"

Having no way of safely reaching the ground, I decided to stay put and wait for help. 'What was that guy doing anyway? He seemed offended when I mentioned the unnatural cloud cover, did he do that? I guess it makes as much sense as anything else I've experienced so far. I'd still like to know where exactly I am, and why I'm a talking apple for that matter. Hold on, I'm a talking apple, I have a voice, and they can hear me, I might just be able to summon help after all!'

I gotta tell ya', it feels weird taking a deep breath when you don't have lungs, or a mouth, or any extremities for that matter. It's like walking on nothing, You know something should be there, and you can almost feel it, but you know for a fact there's nothing there and whatever you think you are feeling is just your mind playing tricks on you. Nonetheless take a 'deep breath' I did, and what followed was the result of much practice shouting orders at people in a busy kitchen.

"Help! I'm stuck in a tree and I can't move, somebody please help me!" I bellowed. Well it wasn't completely a lie, I was indeed stuck in a tree and in need of help, but how exactly was I going to explain my situation?

'Hi, i'm an apple, but I used to be a human, can you get me down from here and perhaps take me to your leader?' It sounded ridiculous, but I would need some kind of message to relay when help finally did arrive. 'On that note, will these people believe me? Well surely if they have talking horses, then a talking apple wouldn't be too far of a stretch, or maybe they will take one look at me, shake their heads and walk off. Anything's possible I suppose. Also, since he referred to it as a farmhouse, I think it's safe to assume I'm in an apple orchard, and since i don't know its size or in what part of it I currently reside, I can't say for certain whether my call was heard or not.'

After a few hours with no response I relented, "Where are they? I'm starting to get worried, if they didn't hear me then there's a good chance the farmhouse is located far away from here. On the bright side, I don't feel hungry or thirsty, I guess I wouldn't have the need for such feelings when the tree provides me with all the nutrients I need. Come to think of it, how long could I survive without the tree's support? Well I may not feel hungry, but I do feel tired, if help was going to arrive it would have done so already." Accepting my immediate fate seemed to comfort me somewhat, and I slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

~-~o-~-~-~0-~-~-~O-~-~-~O-~-~-~0-~-~-~o-~-~

I awoke to the sound of thumping, followed by the clopping of hooves coming from my left. turning to face the source, I was greeted by another horse, although this one was orange with blonde hair and lacked wings, also, it appeared to be wearing a stetson hat and had an image of three apples adorning its rear. Its face was also different to the last horse, the muzzle was slightly flatter and more feminine, although it appeared to have a stronger build than the last one, so I couldn't be sure. It stopped at one of the trees, then turned around and bucked it, causing all the apples to fall perfectly into buckets underneath. I watched it do this to five more trees before getting to mine, when I was struck by a brilliant idea.

I waited for it to get close, biding my time. When the horse was within range, it turned around and cocked its legs, and right when it was about to buck I shouted "Look out, a snake!", this had the desired effect, as it misfired and ended up falling on its haunches. All the while I laughed my nonexistent socks off, the horse on the other hand, looked less than pleased.

It looked around for the source of the disturbance and, with a heavy southern accent, bellowed "Who said that? Show yourself!"

As my laughter died down and I began to sober up, it occurred to me that I was ruining my one chance at freedom, so I quickly responded "Sorry, I couldn't help myself, I'm up here, in the tree,"

"Now what compelled ya' ta do that?" she said, more calmly this time. She continued to look around for signs of life in the tree, and began to scowl when she found only apples. Her voice told me that she was certainly female.

"yeah, I suppose it was a nasty thing to do, sorry." I said, not wanting to come off as a complete jerk.

"That's better, now would ya' mind tellin' me where ya' are? I can't see ya'll anywhere"

"I'm right above you, I'm the one that's moving", As I said this I put energy into shaking left and right, to prove my point.

Upon seeing me one of her eyebrows raised in suspicion, "Is that so?, and ya'll are sure this isn't just another prank?"

"Hey, I apologise for scaring you but you have to believe me, I really am an apple, I don't know how this happened but I need your help. I've been here for a day now and I'm bored out of my mind"

"Uh-huh, and what have ya' been doing in that time?"

'Brain, whatever you do, do not mess this up', "Oh, you know, just hanging around", 'why you little-'

Without another word she turned around and bucked the tree, causing all the apples, including me, to fall into the buckets. The fall was softer than I expected it to be, like falling on a springy mattress. She proceeded to pick me up by the stem using her teeth and promptly walked back in the direction she came. I was too ashamed to say anything after that, and so we continued in silence.

After a few minutes I spoke up, "So where are we?"

She didn't respond

'maybe I should just leave her alone for now'

After another few minutes we came to the end of our short journey, and I was greeted by a large red farmhouse surrounded by fields, sheds and other buildings of that ilk. When we got there she placed me on a fence post and said "Welcome to sweet apple acres."

Comments

[b300mussolini]

neat story and i can honestly say i have no clue where you are going with this story short of suddenly due to reasons our apple is not a apple anymore which would be kind of sad. i hope to see what you can come up with. favorite and upvote have been earned