Apples and Horses and Altair

Summary- We all know that Altair is obsessed with apples, but what will that mean for all the Ranger's horses?

… … …

Ash (Evanna's horse) POV

My life can be really boring.

Sure, there are the occasional high speed chases and treks across the whole world, but right now, I was bored to death.

I'm locked in this crazy huge building with individual stalls separated be thick pieces of wood with hay covering the floor.

Some idiot works in the last two stalls on the end. He curses and sets things on fire sometimes. Let's just say his eyebrows aren't the only things that catch fire spontaneously.

Sunlight streamed in because the roof had been blown off recently. That, admittedly had been exciting. More excitement had come a few days later with the arrival of about ten to fifteen more horses. So now there's about twenty five occupied stalls.

The horses brought extra people to help fix the roof, and they started quite quickly. Sometimes I sit and stare up at them. I imagine they envy me, for I am sitting relaxing and they are working in the sun. It's a good feeling.

Anyway, more important is that I have very little to do but eat.

And that's where the trouble started.

… … …

So, it was an average day here. Stare at the people on the roof, eat, nap, and chat with Mint, a friend of mine in the next stall.

I had just woken up from another nap, and was feeling hungry. We have barrels in our stalls full of apples, which is all the horses' favorite food. I trotted over to my barrel, which had been brimming with apples this morning, and found no apples.

That wasn't to say that it was empty though. The idiot who sets things on fire was sitting at the bottom of the barrel (I don't know how he fit his body in there) and he was holding the last apple.

3rd person POV

Yes, for those who guessed already, Altair is the flame happy idiot Ash referred to.

And, yes, he managed to fit his body into a barrel and yeah, he was holding Ash's last apple.

Ash, to his credit, did not immediately try to kill Altair, but he snorted indignantly.

This alerted Altair to the horse's presence, and he jumped guiltily.

"Oh, I'm guessing this is yours." Altair said, blushing at being caught.

Ash tossed his head and snorted again, as though to say, "Why else would it be in my barrel?"

"Well," Altair began nervously, "I want it."

Ash couldn't understand English, but the way he stared at Altair made Altair wonder if he could, and then Altair worried about how long he would be able to live.

Suddenly, Ash plunged his head into the barrel. Altair yelped, and dropped the apple. He picked it up again as Ash yanked his head out and knocked the barrel over. Altair, clinging to the apple, dived out the stall door and out the stables. Ash followed him out the stall and found the other's horses stall doors open, and their barrels of apples empty. Ash woke the napping horses and rallied them to his cause. Sadly for Altair, the other horses were all for it.

Altair himself had gone around behind the stables. He seemed to forget he was dealing with Ranger horses, and they were trained to be clever, sneaky, and be able to sniff things out. It took Ash ten seconds maximum to find Altair.

Altair saw Ash come around the side of the stables, panicked, and ran for it. Not bothering to stay quiet anymore, all the horses pounded after Altair, who had still not dropped the last apple.

It became a comical scene, Altair yelling for help while being chased in a zig zag pattern by the enraged horses.

Evanna had been inside the cottage, sitting at the kitchen table talking to her mother and drinking coffee, when she heard Altair's screams for help. Concerned, she ran outside. The minute she saw what was happening, she fought back laughter with difficulty and pelted after him to try and help.

"Altair, what did you do?" Evanna shouted.

"Annoyed the horses, I think. HELP!" Altair yelled back.

Smothering her laughter again, Evanna whistled. The horses paused, as one, to consider Evanna, who was gesturing them to follow her.

"Ash!" Evanna called to her horse, and she whistled again. Ash's ears twitched with indecision. He seemed to be thinking that on one hand, here was his master calling. But on the other, was Altair, who had made the rather severe mistake of taking all his food.

Deciding food outweighed master this time, Ash swung around and galloped at Altair, followed eagerly by all the other horses. Altair screamed and ran for his life.

Evanna was surprised by Ash's attitude. She wondered what Altair had done to make her horse that mad. Deciding she needed backup, she ran to get all the Ranger's, Ezio, Yue, and Rae.

All of them followed Evanna out to the meadow. Some laughed, like Evanna had, but most everyone looked concerned. Together, they ran out and tried to whistle and call to their own horses.

This tactic worked much better, and eventually the horses began trickling away to join their masters. It took two hours of this, and finally all the horses were restrained and being taken back to the stables but Ash.

"What is it with your horse?" Carter asked Evanna, as surprised as she was.

Evanna shrugged. Then she caught sight of the apple in Altair's hand.

"Oh, that idiot!" She exclaimed, beginning to realize the problem, and she shot off to run beside Altair.

"Give Ash the apple!" Evanna yelled.

"What, no!" Altair shouted back in surprise.

Taking matters into her own hands, Evanna tackled Altair to the ground and pulled the apple out of his hand. "Here Ash!" She called, and held out the apple to her horse. Ash trotted over and picked up the apple in his teeth so he could munch on it.

"Problem solved." Evanna said, standing up while Altair lay on the ground groaning in pain.

"Come here, Ash." Evanna cooed to her horse, leading him back to the stables.

Carter strode over to where Altair lay, and looked down at him with a bemused expression.

"What is it with the horse?" Altair asked Carter.

"I do believe," Carter began, "that you may have just met someone who likes apples even more than you."

And at that, Carter pulled Altair to his feet, slapped him on the back, and walked back to the cottage.

Altair stood frozen there for a while, and then muttered to himself, "Someday I'm gonna chain that horse up and eat a whole barrel of apples right in front of him."

And, smiling at the image, Altair followed Carter's path back to the cottage.