A mare and her dog

by cammera

Day 26: As loans are reclaimed

The forest wasn't relieved. To feel relief it would've needed the ability to feel or understand sadness, which is a hard concept to grasp for something that is, ultimately, a demi-inteligent (And arguably demi-existing) system made of loosely connected components with a tendency to either die or have a inteligence equal to that of all of its non-intelligent vegetal cells.

All the same, the rodents that had hampered its growth had recently been stricken en masse, reducing their genetic variety far beyond the no-return point. To be exact, both of the remaining ones were male, so whatever fun they had wouldn't hurt anyone.

In the depths of the forest, veins that only those deeply attuned to the magics of life would've sensed throbbed impatiently, bursting to release energy that had been built up for over a century.

-º-

Somehow, the idea seemed to have alighted a flame too intense for the waters of forgetfulness to extinguish.

Or more probably it was related to the part where the wisp hadn't talked of anything else, or even stopped talking, since the idea had entered her head.

The name had to be pretty, first and foremost. It also had to be easy to remember, which in Applejack's honest opinion would be wasted effort, and, for some strange reason, daring.

She gave the wisp a look. Not a coward, maybe, but daring was a precise word that people used for precise reasons.

So, after a having tried to find a tactful way to ask it, she gave up.

"Why daring?"

The chatter stopped dry.

"I d_n'_ _now" said the wisp after a moment.

They walked in silence for a moment.

"So, uh..." There was no tactful way to act this "What were you, when you were alive?"

"I __ink I w_s a guy" a moment passed "Oh! You _ean the sp_cie_?" Applejack nodded "I... I was __g- big, and... hairy, a lo_ o_ hair..." she paused for a moment "I __ink I had horns?"

"A buff-?" there seemed to be a small shaking in the ground "Did you notice something?"

The wisp seemed to be somewhat dimmer and wavered at the edges now, as if Applejack's eyes couldn't quite focus in her.

"I _eel _e_rd..." she fell closer to the ground "_ome__ing is w_r_ng... c__ we res_ f_r a _it?" she asked weakly.

It took Applejack a moment to understand.

"Rest? Yeah, but what's wrong?"

Without answering, the wisp floated to a bush and seemed to merge into it, vanishing. Applejack tried unsuccessfully not to shudder when the bush faced her despite lacking a face.

"__e fores_ is _oing _ome__ing" she said, her voice a smidgen stronger. Somehow, the raw presence that gave Applejack a sense of which way she was facing was lacking, now, and disappearing quickly.

"Can I do s...?" something rocketed to the front of her mind "wait, guy?"

"Nan_a wi__ k_ow wha_ _o do" she said weakly "She's _lose by, just..." a tiny spark pointed northward "__ere"

Comments

[Aatxe360]

Curiouser and curiouser.

[Aatxe360]

"Can I do s...?" something rocketed to the front of her mind "wait, guy?"

This struck me as odd. It works fine as a random oddity, but I lost myself somehow.