The Horse's Tale
By ReaverPoet
Title: The Horse's Tale
Author: ReaverPoet
Working from: Once Upon A Time Season 2
Spoilers: Through Season2 "The Doctor"
Rating: G
Complete?: Yes
Disclaimer: No copyright challenge is intended. Not distributed for money.
Summary: Horses have fairy tales too, and they have one about Regina.
Archive: yes, but do not edit in any way, and keep all headings.
Feedback to: ReaverPoet-da . Flames, trolls, and general meanness will be completely ignored.
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The Queen is dreaming. She knows, because she can't hear the magic in her veins, and because she cannot move. She sits in the middle of a vast sea of tall, green grass, which flutters under a soft breeze. The air carries the scent of Spring and apple trees.
Gradually, she realizes that there is a man approaching through the grass. He wears simple clothing, and she can't quite make his face focus in her eyes. He sits very close to her, and she can smell his sweat, which smells like a horse's sweat.
"Do I know you?" she asks.
"No, we didn't really have time, " he replies. His voice is like that phrase of music you hear which is so familiar, but which you can't identify. One you worry at all day, until you can think of its name.
He is silent for a while, and then he begins a story. "The humans in the world you live in now have a fairy tale of you, and they call you the Evil Queen. They have no other name for you. But what you don't know is that the horses of that world also have a fairy tale about you. They call you the Queen of Apples. They told me the story in the stable, before things got loud and frightening. Their stories don't start with 'once upon a time'. They say 'the day that ran ahead of you'. This is how they told it to me.
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The day that ran ahead of you, young colt, there was a great hero among our people, whose name was Defeats the Distance. He lived amongst the humans, keeping the compact that our people made with them long ago. He was cared for by a great lord whose kindness and protection had earned him honor among our people, so that we made the effort to learn his human name, which was Dahn Hiel. Defeats the Distance also had a girl human, who he loved above all others, and he granted her the speed of his legs, and he gave her the distances. He called her the Queen of Apples, and he would allow no other rider to approach him.
It happened that the lord Dahn Hiel wished to become the mate of the Queen of Apples, and one night he confessed this to Defeats the Distance lying on dry straw in the darkness. His voice shed tears as he requested the hero's permission. Of course there was great joy, for who else would the hero ever find to be worthy as the mate for his own true rider?
But the Queen's mother was a woman who could never be pleased with the grass in front of her. She wished her daughter to be the mate of another, because she had low regard for horses. She saw even the greatest prince among horses as just a way to go from one place to the next place. That is also how she saw most of her own people.
She used strange powers, which she had learned from The Man Who Smells Like Nothing to slay Dahn Hiel, so that the Queen of Apples would not be his mate, and would cease to be a companion to Defeats the Distance. With that horrible murder, one third of the Queen's heart died, and she became the Sad Queen.
Because he is drawn to sadness, the Man Who Smells Like Nothing came to her then, and promised her the freedom of the wind and the power beyond mind and muscle if she would do him a favor at a future time. That is how she learned how to send her mother to a far pasture, and shut the gate behind her.
But the Queen was still sad, because one third of her heart had died within her. Defeats the Distance ran far with her, but sadness always ran right after. So, the man Who Smells Like Nothing came to her again, hungry for her misery, and he convinced her that to escape her sorrow, she would have to run farther than anyone ever had, and she would have to carry all the world on her back for the journey. He told her she would have to kill what she loved the most in order to make this possible.
That night, Defeat's the Distance's friends came to him, concerned. "Surely, you must run away very far, so that your girl does not take your life in this evil way. Go and find a new girl to love-this world is full to the brim of the trough with girls who give apples."
Defeats The Distance looked at them calmly and said, "Humans have small, useless legs, and only two of them. They are pretty much helpless to go anywhere. They would certainly all have been caught and eaten by faster animals by now, if horses had not loved them enough to teach them to ride. In exchange, they give us shelter and food, and do all the things that hands let them do. This is the great compact that we keep. If my girl, whom I love, needs to run so far away to escape her sadness, how can she do it on her own legs? I will let her ride my death."
His herd of friends, however, loved him dearly, and finally persuaded him to flee. He startled the boy that came to feed him in the morning, and left the place of men.
He knew he would be sought in the fields and on the roads, so Defeats the Distance went to the woods. There, he wandered amidst the trees, forlorn over the loss of his humans, his herd and his home. When night fell he found a little clearing and slept in the moonlight.
His dreams of far pasture were broken by a loud whinny near his ear, and he startled awake to see the pooka, with the moonlight barely touching his deep black hide.
"Wake up, Runaway! Wake up, Breaker of Destiny!" yelled the pooka, stomping his hooves next to the hero's ear.
Now, young colt, you should know that dealing with the pooka is generally as dangerous as speaking to The Man Who Smells Like Nothing. The pooka is a fairy of the least predictable kind. When you see him, it could be apples or it could be blackflies. There is no way to tell.
"What is it you want?" said Defeats The Distance, rising from the ground quickly.
"I want the world back on its road," said the pooka. "You have broken a thing that I've worked hard to make."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about dental insurance, democracy, social media…never mind. What you need to know is that I have a plan to give the humans here a lot of things they need. The ones who have power here are just happy enough that they will never change on their own. I have plan to alter that. If you just know where to push, it only takes one unhappy weaver, with intermittent cackling syndrome. Never mind. I need you to go back to your girl."
"If I do, she will kill me, so she can be happy."
"Yes, I know, and it won't even make her happy. But it will keep my plan in motion. The girl needs to lose everything that keeps her anchored here. So, I tell you what: I will make you a deal in exchange for your life. "
"What would you give me that I could take with me in death?"
"I will give you a whole new life, Runaway. And I will give the Queen of Apples back the piece of her heart that has died, and the two pieces that are about to die. That's a good deal, right? Much better than anything Rump….never mind. It's a good deal. "
"I get to be a colt again, and my girl won't have to be so sad?"
"Bing! That is correct! I will see to it that three beings are born who will restore her heart. You will be one of them. Do we have a deal?"
Defeats The Distance bowed his head in agreement, and they both bit on the same tree to seal the bargain.
So, the hero bravely went home to his girl, and after much tears she took his life. That is when the second part of her heart died.
However, the Man Who Smells Like Nothing had tricked her, and she did not gain the legs she needed to flee her sadness. It was not until she killed her father, that the last part of her heart died, and she ran far, with the world on her back.
Her sadness ran after her, for there is no happiness to be found anywhere, if your heart has died. This is not the end of the story, though, for in some distant pasture, even as we breathe this morning's air, a colt has been born who will let no one ride him. He runs faster than a beautiful day and his hide is bright like Winter water in the sun. He is Defeats The Distance reborn, and he carries one third of the Queen's heart in his own heart.
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The man rises. He looks at her with a strange expression, she can't place.
"Go find him," he says. "He carries the forgiveness of horses, and has the second part of your heart. The boy had the first piece."
The Queen looks up. "Who has the third?" she asks. But the sound of the magic is already returning, and she can feel herself waking up.