Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She sometimes pondered what happened to her original rider. Gary was a kind soul, nervous in a way but always made ample time to groom her outside of battle. She hadn’t remembered how she lost him, but that hardly mattered in the world they lived in. The war had been raging for nearly 50 years now- or so she’d been told. But that didn’t mean much if the way of battle is all you’ve ever known.

Her name was Rebecca Apples- sometimes called Becky- she was named after the only thing she seemed to value in this miserable world. Her movements calculated and her blood lust nearly insatiable- There has never been a moment in her life that she has known peace. Her body list was so long, at this point she gave up trying to keep track of it long ago. The General however seemed to have some sort of grim fascination over it- etching each one he viewed into her sattle.

In a way it gave her some sort of pride. Whether or not the amount he counted was accurate didn’t matter to her. He put her on a pedestal above all other horses and that was at least something she kept in mind when interacting with anything else.

When she was saddled up to be taken out by the General himself she almost felt alive again. It had been quite some time since anyone paid her any attention to be taken out of camp- why could that be? Perhaps it was the fact that the soldiers seemed to dwarf in numbers compared to the horses in each battle. Only recently has there been a significant loss of horses, so why waste the best you got till you need it. Perhaps it’s her value as a fighter that made it worth keeping her in camp rather than being another mistake of friendly fire?

Oh well. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing but apples… and maybe feeling the satisfaction of having her coat cleaned of blood after a beautiful battle with minotaurs.

No, scratch that. That was the only thing that mattered. She was a war horse. Her job was to kill, and protect human life. She was to never be spooked. Never neigh unprecedented. Never give up on the mission set prior. Even if the given rider she’s stuck with wants to wimp out. She didn’t pussy foot around the goal.

After what seemed like days, the General finally demounted from her. Standing at the start of a bridge an old castle could be seen off in the distance of the mountains. With one hand he pointed outwards towards it, giving her an apple with the other. Its juices squished and sloshed between her teeth as she listened to his plan for her. It was so good.

“Becky Ol’ Girl, this should be a quick mission. I need you to retrieve this artifact for me- getting it will turn the tides of the war to the point where we can finally end it- I just know it! Think you can do that for me?” He showed her a crude sketch of some sort of horseshoe shaped object. She could handle this no problem. She began to walk across the bridge before he could say anything more, causing him to shout over her shoulder.

“Right! I’ll meet you right here when you get back! I know I can count on you!”

And so she galloped all the way up to the castle- barging in through the front doors catching all the minotaurs inside off guard. There were over 20. This would be quite a quick mission after all. How boring. Without hesitation she ran to the nearest one- quickly she snapped its neck before taking a step back and bucking at the second. Its head nearly tore from its shoulders, head hanging limply from its neck causing blood to splatter over her armor. She gripped its sword in its mouth, charging the next wave attempting to rush her. Same old song and dance as she tore at their tendons and stomped on their whimpering skulls, painting a quite tasteful array of blood upon her and the walls.

It wasn’t long until she found the so-called Artifact. It glowed gently in her presence as she grabbed its chain and began galloping out the door.

She allowed the General's words to finally filter through her mind. This was to be the thing that brings the war to an end? How absurd. However… She had never known the General to lie. That was the main reason she accepted his praise in the first place. Could this really be the end for her? A war horse is only as good as the war they’re fighting in. What would she do once it was over? What need is there for her-

No.

She was made for this, she had no reason to doubt herself. If the war is over then that's it. She would spend the rest of her days waiting for the next war or die in the process. That's her purpose after all.
Finally after only an hour's running she saw the bridge over the horizon. The General was there but in front of her was seemingly an invasion of minotaurs.

This is bad.

She had to get to the general quickly so they could gallop away- she knew no man- not even the General- could handle such a battle. She’d seen it time and again. Leaping over the monsters heads she ran across the tops of them. Suddenly a sharp pain ran along her flank- but she paid it little mind. Landing on the rope bridge with precision she continued to the outstretched arm of the General. Just as she was nearing him- an error in her perception occurred. She was losing footing, was she flying? She took only a second longer to realize the minotaurs had cut the bridge and she was now running off of false gravity. She plummeted just before the General- this was it. For the first time in her life she had failed a mission, and dying will be her punishment. She didn’t mind much though. She couldn’t. This was the way of her life as a war horse after all.

But then, something unexpected happened. The General had grabbed a hold of the chain on the artifact and was pulling her up with it as well.

“C’mon ol’ girl- don’t give up on me now!” His eyes were desperate in a way she could only remember her first rider looking at her in times of crisis. It was nostalgic in a way.

She started kicking and climbing the steep cliff- but in her struggles they failed to notice the tearing of the chain. Before long his grasp finally slipped and she plummeted down before. Only watching as he screamed out for her before the world faded to blue.

…Blue?

Chapter Text

She opened her eyes- but unexpectedly they burned. Wincing she realized she’d never seen such a vibrant sky before. Is this what it looks like without smoke? Is the war over?

Becky attempted standing up before an immediate seizing in her side halted her. Looking down she could see that half a spear was poking out of her side. So that was the sharp pain earlier.

“Aw, fuck,” she hissed from her lips before haulting her breath. She just expressed that. With her mouth. Is that what she sounds like? She looked over to her side and saw the artifact losing its blue hue. She reached for it with her muzzle before something even more shocking joined her peripheral.

A face of a man, on a long neck with the human torso and some sort of… misshapen horse body. A new type of minotaur no doubt.

“Hello,” he- it?- he whispered. She leaped onto her hooves- her body somehow feeling lighter at the moment even with her wound. She aimed to stomp his face in before he pulled back- quicker than she expected for any creature like that to move. It was as if his neck was made of some sort of rope- like a snake in the way it moved. Stunned she missed such an easy target she fell down- lodging the spear head deeper into her side.

“AH! God DAMNIT!” she screamed, hooves scraping the ground in frustration. What was this? Why was she responding so slowly? How could she talk? Looking over at the creature she recognized his face was that of shock and horror. No minotaur had ever shown pity before- did she die? Is this some sort of purgatory hell?

The creature doe eyed ran away through the bushes. Her vision blurred and she felt lightheaded and nauseous. This was ridiculous if she really was in some sort of hell. The General surely must’ve been disappointed in her. Was she truely an old horse? With her slip up she wasn’t worthy of any heaven, that's for sure. She failed her mission. Taking the device with her and leaving her General in the human world.

God- what is this feeling?

Becky felt hot and angry- things she never prior let herself express before and that scared her. She refused to let that show however, even if this was her hell, she would keep calm in deminor and accept her fate.

Well she would have if it wasn’t for some ugly bird man flying attop her and sitting on the tip of the spear.

“GET OFF OF ME!” she bit at the tiny creature who only scowled at her. She matched it immediately.

“Wammawink! Wammawink! It’s over here!” it shouted, before flying back the way it came.

“Ched, I can’t keep up if you fly ahead like that-” Another stranger minotaur came out of the bushes, its body covered in pink fluffy wool, face turning a lighter pink at the sight of Becky. She was large, and stood with authority, not unlike the general in stance.

“There’s something wrong with its face! It looks so strange and- and- and,” Yet another with blue hair and weird ears-

“Glendale breathe,” came the one named Ched.

“Ewwwww is that blood? Derpleton you got some on your feet!” A striped and arbor skin one came out, followed by the familiar snake necked one. She made her way to stand up once more, ears back and huffing with effort.

“Touch me and you die,” she seethed.

“Oh yeah? You don’t scare me,” chirped Ched.

She began to charge before suddenly she was trapped in some sort of pink floating bubble.

“EVERYONE STOP.” Wammawink commanded,” I know we’re all excited over a new friend but she is clearly hurt, scared and needs medical attention. Zulious go fetch me my sewing kit- mama’s gonna need to stitch this up. Everyone else cleared out,,” Wammawink rolled up her arm fat in the same manner of sleeves.

Released from the bubble Becky backed up from Wammawink. Zulious was handed the kit with his- hair? Then Bug- Eye Glendale reached into her stomach- which glowed blue?! What was happening?

Slowly everyone dispersed behind the bushes they’d come from, however they didn’t seem to travel any farther than that, if the tops of their heads peeking out weren’t enough to go by. Becky narrowed her eyes on them.

“Hi there- sorry about my herd- they’re, they’re a lot,” Becky turned her gaze back to Wammawink,” Now listen, I can see you injured and scared. But we aren’t going to hurt you. Please come over here so I can help stop the bleeding. We’re all friends here,”
Doubtful. Friends are not a thing that comes in times of war. Comrades perhaps but at the same time these Minotaurs clearly don’t know what's what if they’re willing to help the enemy.

“Where am I?” she demanded, much to Wammawinks surprise.

I’m not scared!

“Where are you? Well you’re in Centaurworld of course! The land of half man half animal things where we sing and dance and- oh dear,”

Becky sank down before Wammawink, her legs acting against her will. Without much prompting Wammawink reached down and tore the spear out from Becky’s side. Using every last ounce of control she had she stayed still, not even making a peep. To her immense disappointment that didn’t stop her eyes from watering however.

“Tough girl, aren’t you?” She said, patting her flank gently as she pressed a pile of wool to stop the bleeding.

Becky would not show anymore weakness than she already has to this creature. At this point it had become clear that she had not in fact died, but now certainly wished she did. How humiliating could this get? The best War Horse reduced to a puddle by a single spear to the side. Was this how a soldier horse felt once they’d broken a leg? Is it hopeless? God, she wished she’d died fighting that minotaur horde rather than be treated like a damned foal.

“What’s your name dear?” Wammawink asked, inserting the needle into Becky’s still gushing wound. She grunted only slightly.

“Becky Apples.”

“Well Becky- you sure are lucky that you were found by Derpelton! Otherwise, who knows how long you’d have had to wait to get healed up. It’s not everyday, after all, that someone like me is around to help!”

Becky didn’t say anything. She simply raised an eyebrow as she turned her head to watch Wammawink. Wammawink leaned over and gave Becky a gentle kiss on the freshly sown injury. For a moment nothing seemed to happen until the wound glowed bright pink and in a flash the mark was gone. Replaced with a scare like a human. Almost immediately all the pain was gone! She stood up in amazement to try and get a better look at it. It was flawless.

“How?” she finally asked, suspicion lacing her tone. The world started spinning slowly.

“Well magic of course!” Wammawink prided, huffing out from her nose.

“What's… Magic…?” Why is Wammawink moving so shakily?

“Pfft- what’s magic…!” She giggled before stopping and reaching out to Becky, “Oh dear-!”

Oh. She was falling sideways now.

Chapter Text

She didn’t exactly know when she had passed out- but the taste in her mouth was so overwhelming to her senses it's a miracle she didn’t choke. Leaping to her hooves, the sight that greeted her was that of now familiar faces surrounding a campfire. With Wammawink in the front.

“Good Evening!” she giggled, holding a stick with- presumably the same stuff that was overpowering her taste buds.

“Took you long enough,” Ched stated.

”You know, for a minute there we thought you had died-” Zulious said while slapping Bug Eyes hand away from his own stick.

“But she didn’t! Because I saved her! And now she’s awake and eating my gigglecakes!”

“Gigglecakes?” Becky finally swallowed the sweet mush down. While overwhelming in flavor- the sweetness reminded her of apples.

“That's right! We thought we’d give you a proper welcome to our lovely home since your first introduction was… less than adequate!” Becky rolled her eyes.

“Listen- I don’t do the whole… This-” she gestured to the herd. Which was weird. She stopped for a moment before doing it once more, and then shook her head. She’ll unpack this new ligament ‘development’ later. “I have to get back to the General and help end the war that has clearly not reached your territory yet. So if you’ll excuse me-” looking around she realized one important, very crucial, insanely important detail.

The artifact is gone.

“OH NO. Where is it?”

“Where is what?” Derpelton asked.

“My- the artifact! It looks like a horseshoe- it has a chain on it- now broken, but I need it,”

Wammawink turned to Glendale, hand extended.

“Glendaaaaaaaale,”

“Mhm, okay. But I don't really want to,” again- with the stomach whole- pulled out the artifact, handing it to Wammawink before burping. “Sorry. It’s just, taking that which does not belong to me makes me feel so alive,”

“Hmm,” Wammawink tied the broken chain pieces together with some of her wool.

“Again, sorry about my herd,” Wammawink said while putting the artifact around Beckys neck.

“Herd implies you’re all one of the same group, yet you don’t look it.” Becky stared.

“Well, we are, okay? Our herd may look different, but we take care of eachother. Because that's what families do. Don’t you know what that's like?” Wammawink asked.

“No,” The entire group gasped in horror,” I’ve been on my own doing as I’ve been told to do for as long as I can remember. No family, no friends. Just the general, soldiers and the dance of war.”

“Dancing?” Zulious looked excited.

Becky turned away from the group and began walking,” I don’t need a herd. I just need myself to get this artifact back to the General. Thank you for healing my wound, but it is time to part ways,” she nodded, exiting through the bushes.

Herd- how humorous. To think that minotaurs could actually- Centaurs. These are centaurs. Get your facts straight Rebecca.

Becky shook her head. Not far in the distance she could see a whole forest biome surrounding this field of peace. She truly was someplace else. No matter. Starting her gallop down the beaten path she knew she would find her way back to the General once again- SLAM!

Her face collided with some sort of invisible wall. Taking a step back she shook her head, looking up. Light emitted from where she impacted the structure. Rising up and over her in a large dome shape surrounding the field before shooting out a blaze of pink fire into the air. It seemed to say ‘I love you!’ as it disappeared. She stopped and looked down. Just outside of this dome the trail went onwards. Why is she trapped here? This really was hell!

And so she started digging, bucking, charging, stabbing, and screaming at the dome to escape. Each time only getting blown back, bubbled up, water slashed, punched, poked, shot at, tickled and finally NUKED. It had taken her all night till she finally passed out.

Waking up again she could hear off in the distance the singing of the herd. Sighing she got back up and made her way towards them once more. She came to them seemingly in a state of morning routines.

“Excuse me,” she huffed, the whole group going silent,” How. Do I get out. Of the Dome?” she stomped. Wammawink fake laughed.

“Well look who came crawling back! You can think twice about asking us to share our gigglecakes with you!”

“Dome. Now.” Becky narrowed, butting heads with Wammawink, who just shoved her head aside like it was nothing. Zulious gave an intrigued ‘oh!’. This startled her. Has she gotten weaker? Or is this Centaur just that strong?

“You can’t get out of the dome without magic,” Wammawink explained by showing her glowing hand.

“Again with this ‘magic’ thing. What is it? And How do I get it?” Suddenly a snapping could be heard by the others. They were snapping their fingers?

“What are you doing now?”

“Well, since you don’t know what magic is, we might as well tell you through our morning song!”

“No-” Too late.

They broke out into a spontaneous- quite harmonic ballet of a song, showing off their individual talents to Becky. She stood silently, internally fuming until finally-
"I Can Shoot Tiny Versions of Myself from My Hooves!” Wammawink created just that, slapping Becky in the face.

“W-What is this? Why was I made? WHAAAAAAAAA-” A hard and heavy hoof crushed the creature in one movement before lifting up and kicking the screaming creature into the bush.

“ENOUGH. Is this what you do every day?!”

“Everyday and every night!~” Sang Wammawink, prancing around while the others danced about in the background.

“We sing our songs, we practice our magic. We practice our magic inspired by the songs we sing while we do our magic-”

“Noted,” Becky huffed and sighed,” Listen. I don’t need magic. I didn’t need it to get here- I had this,” She gestured to the artifact,” But now I… If brute force alone can’t get me out of the dome then I... I need to get back to the General and stop the war. It’s my purpose. It’s what I was made for, and I will not stop till I have completed my mission,”

“Well- only a Centaur Shamen can help you with that!” Bug Eye stated.

“Glendale,” Wammawink warned.

“They’re the most powerful, most magical beings in all of Centaurworld.” She inhaled- her eyes inflating like that of a mosquito,” Just uttering the word ‘Shamen’ makes me feel an anxiety unlike anything I’ve ever felt before!”

Wammawink slaps Glendales enlarged eyes sending her flying off as the air shoots out of them at a rapid speed. Stepping forward to Wammawink she nudges her with her face.

“Take me to a shaman,”

“1. I didn’t hear a please. And 2. There are no shamans in Centaur Valley,” Wammawink shook her head.

“Then help me leave the valley,” They all gasped, with Zulious audibly saying the word, “Why not? What's even out there that keeps you holed up here?”

“Well, I mean the Rainbow Road leads all the way around Centaurworld. Uhh… We Don’t know… We don’t really know what's out there. But theres more than what's in this valley!”

“Derpelton!” Wammawink exclaimed.

“And there are five centaur shamans that live in different corners of the world.”

“Zulious!”

“Whaaaaat? You know me. The fact you don’t want me to tell her things makes me want to tell her even more,” Zulious batted his eyes at her.

“Ugh, listen. Our herd is very happy here. It’s fun! It’s magical! But most importantly, it’s safe.” Wammawink explained.

“That's- As trivial and routine your life is- what's stopping you from opening the dome for me?”

“Trivial?!”

“Yes. Trivial. Of little to no value or importance. Boring if you need me to simplify it,”

“Uh- No! They love it here! They love doing the same thing every day and every night! Don’t we?” A collective of responses came back at her from her herd.

“Hmm. Seems to me you’re lying to yourselves about how wonderful it truly is here. How can you say this place is fun and magical when you do the same thing everyday at the same place with no changes or news?”

“Oh! She said that!”

“I’m not wrong. Your herd is bored out of their minds. Sure, you sing, and dance. But it's all a self placed illusion to keep yourselves nice and safe,”

“Say that again,” Wammawink growled.

“Sure. You’re stuck, bored. Pathetically lying inside this dome when instead you could be out there- traveling and having adventures,” Becky jumped off a tree, flipping in the air and landing powerfully on her hooves,” Free from the lie you’ve been feeding yourselves about how it's the only way of life, even when it's obviously not. Don’t you want to taste those sweet apples?”

“Yeah!” Ched and Bug Eye nodded.

“Run through the woods, leaping over others heads without a care?”

“Yeah!” Zulious joined in.

“Tare the entrails of your enemies and paint yourself in blood!”

“Ehh- No,” Zulious cringed.

“I don’t wanna do that,” Bug Eye squeaked.

“Yeah!” Derpelton nodded.

“Then why not leave the barrier? Help me escape and take me to a Shamen to save my world,” Becky pleaded. These people were really dense and emotional. It was starting to take a toll on her energy pool.

“Because- It’s dangerous out there! You haven’t seen what I’ve seen- None of you have! There are so many things- like- uhhh. Like wasptaur stings!” Wammawink shrieked. Becky took a breath, narrowed her eyes and stomped her foot.

“Hey! If you haven’t noticed yet- I can keep you all safe.
Aren’t you tired of sitting on your asses that are clearly starting to chafe?
You said this world is led by a rainbow but you’re all stuck in the clouds!
Why not take a chance, sing this chant and go riding out proud…
You see It takes a bit of boldness, and a little bit of magic.
I’d go on my own if only I had it!
The Magic, that is.
Together we’ll go into the unknown.
So say bye to the old and hello to that Rainbow Road!
Hey~
Walk on, Stay Strong.
The shades of your will will take you on home,
But if we all go
Together you’ll see I can get through that dome-
And fly!” They all came to the end of the road where the barrier ends. Becky looks at the group, all of which are bewildered. She turns back to the dark forest, where a tree with apples can be seen. She briefly remembers Gary at that moment.

“I am a fighter. I’ll never falter.
I will protect you and keep you safe.
You will be set free by all my kind deeds
Wammawink. Trust in me~” They each reached a hand out to each other, Wammawink smiling shyly at Becky before placing her hand on her back. Becky felt her face smile for the first time in her life.

“Together we’ll go into the unknown!
So say bye to the old and hello to that rainbow road!”