Lasso

by starcoder

Noose

A little filly walked into the woods, her bag full of barely anything. I couldn't sense anything more in there than an apple and something else unimportant. The girl herself, however, had an interesting aura. I very much liked it. It was some combination of apples and wood and somehow even a breeze. And a mix of love and hate.

How can you possibly be a mixture of both love and hate?

I had no idea it was even possible, at least not until I sniffed her out.

So anyways, I was playing around with a stick when I first heard her hoofsteps. I smelled another smell, a foul one, maybe one of a strange creature of some sort, come in with the sweet smell of apples and love and the rotten smell of hate and smoke. I couldn't see her, so I ran to find her. I could tell she was that way, so I turned to run to her. And that's when I fell down.

I didn't hurt any part of my body, and I didn't fall down on anything hard, but I know I still fell. Instead, my body began to gain weight, slowly, slowly, and I began to fall down into a swirling hole filled with a gross substance that came with a disgusting sense of moisture.

Water.

I paddled for my life, the water keeping me far away from the dry ground where I absolutely needed to be. I didn't care if I couldn't climb up ever again, I just didn't want to be in the water. It felt gross on my fur, soaking through it and touching my skin, making me shiver.

I shivered, and called out, hoping someone would hear me. A few minutes later, when I was just about to lose my grip on life, a little head popped up over the other side of the cliff I fell down. She frowned, starting to feel Sad instead of Love, and then disappeared. I cried and whined and sobbed, pleading for her to come back.

And she did.

Y E S.

I stopped making noise once I finally saw her face again, and she started to lower her body down.

No! I wanted to scream at her. If she went down, she wouldn't be able to rescue us from the cliff!

But then, she started sticking to the wall of the cliff as she came down for me. I was being rescued by a magical pony! Or maybe all ponies were magical like this. All I knew was that I didn't have magical powers like she did, and I didn't care as long as that pony would be able to help me out.

She managed to get herself down far enough to reach the edge of the water, and then she lost eye contact with me and looked back up. Was she thinking about heading back up? She'd better not be. Couldn't she see I needed her? She hopped down and ran to the edge of the water, grabbing me and freeing me from the wet prison.

She put me down, and I shook the water off. She was still frowning, which meant maybe she was angry with me. Angry for being stuck in the water? I knew I couldn't possibly be angry at her, ever. She saved my life and I'm loyal to all those who prove their greatness.

She grabbed me in her arms and started heading back up the wall. And then she stopped. I don't know what happened, but she started falling back down, me along with her. Then I caught sight of a brown snake-like thing. It was very thin, but it seemed to be what the filly was holding onto.

Oh, so ponies weren't magical. This snake was. And now it had let us down.

Such a shame.

I heard a shrill noise, a scream coming from the pony who hugged me for dear life, who also happened to be what I was holding onto for a second chance at life, but then the screaming suddenly stopped. And so does the warmth, the hug, the embrace. It was soothing me until it let go.

Until she let go.

I turned to face her, only she wasn't there. I looked down, and there she was, hitting the water. I fell in soon after, but I managed to make it to shore.

Unforunately, she didn't.

I saw her head bob up once or twice, but she soon disappeared in the water. I didn't want her to drown, although I did hate the water. She saved my life, though, so now I had to save her. I'm loyal to all those who prove they deserve me.

I located her in the water. Her eyes were closed, so I hoped she wasn't gone yet. I grabbed her by her mane, the red chewy thingy on it slipping off. It didn't matter, though, as long as she was safe. I swam to shore, all my energy draining but my determination to save the both of us remaining there, strong.

I dragged her onto shore, and let go for a bit to look for an easy way up. And then I dragged her again up a dirt ramp. At the top, far from the cliff, she sputtered and choked out some water, gripping onto the grass. But she was definitely alive.

My tail wagged. I was happy.

After a little while, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around, holding the snake that betrayed us earlier. And then throwing it. Serves it right.

"That was supposed to be my-" she choked, "my noose."

She brought me into her lap, and I smiled, sticking my tongue out and breathing, hard. I was both hot and happy.

"I- I'm really glad it wasn't.

"Where'd ya come from, sweetie?" she whispered to me, stroking my ears gently.

I smiled even more, panting, even. Yes, yes! I answer. It does feel very nice!

With another stroke, she added, "I bet you're an angel."

She stopped, and I whined. She walked away, looking at me with a look I believe meant she wanted me, and I had no choice but to follow her. I mean, I did have a choice, but she quite literally saved my life, and I saved hers, and we were a duo loyal to each other. And she gives very good strokes.

We ended up at some big red thing, maybe the biggest thing I've seen for a long, long time, and she went off and talked with other ponies. The apple and wood and breeze scent became a lot stronger, as did the love. And the hate started to fade away into something a bit sweeter. But that foul fowl smell was still there.

Maybe it was the snake.

"We'll then. It's gotta be somethin' honorable," a voice that wasn't as pleasing to my ears as the filly's was rung out.

She stroked my ears again and said with her first smile ever, "Winona."

Comments

[Axolotl222]

Ooo. What a twist!

[hoofbeatsoftime]

A heartfelt and hopeful story ❤️

[overdue]

woah, from the description and the first few paragraphs the concept is already fully formed, and what a concept. it's literally perfect

[Acoustic Pulse]

This was really sweet. I'm glad I took the time to check this out.

[6-D Pegasus]

aww that ending tied it all together so beautifully, this is now gonna be my headcanon for how they met

[ThePeer]

oh, look, a story!

small criticism, it was hard to keep track of what was going on at some points of the story. Probably because its 3 am right now for me, and I am pretty tired, but still. It is paced alright, although a little to fast for my sleepy sleepy brain. Besides that, me likey :D

[starcoder]

11660316
Nono, probably not you; my pacing usually sucks all the time

[ThePeer]

11660359
i am willing to help you get better at it, just let me know

[PacifistDoodl3r]

a well written tragic tale of meeting your adorable best friend in an unexpected way! Well done!