Common

Apolline sniffled, body rocked a little by his urgent, encouraging push. If she had a mean bone in her body (or even any sort of a dominant one) she might’ve turned her ears back and nipped him for pushing at her in this state, but Apolline only caved to his guidance. She was so very lost in this world, so very impressionable. It was good that good stallions found her, ones that actually cared for her and may help her see that her belief that she was cursed was nothing more than fallacy.

She could live quite a happy life, if only she learned how to step away from the past.

Apolline’s red legs unfolded under her body as she shoved herself upright, stumbled and caught herself, giving her water-logged and sand-coated body a shake. She looked at him rather sadly, pitifully, even. Her red hair was soaked and sticking to her neck, coated in gold sand. Her eyes were big and watery, red-rimmed and there was clear evidence of the tears that’d trickled down her cheeks.

“You’re cursed too?” She asked. Even though her voice was still rather sad, there was curiosity, too. She moved a careful step toward him. “What did you do, to get cursed?” Apolline asked, her ears flicking forward and her attention suddenly trained completely on him.

“I refused to be given to a stallion as part of a peace treaty by my kingdom,” she confessed, thinking if she shared her story, maybe it would make the stallion feel more comfortable sharing his. Still, she spoke quietly and even cast a nervous look at the empty beach around them, almost afraid that if she spoke of him, that vengeful stallion would suddenly appear, “And he cursed me…” Her eyes held a faraway look of horror for a moment as she seemed to remember the past that she’d been trying to escape and not knowing how to. “He told me death would follow me, and it did,” her gaze snapped back up to his, focused sharply on the handsome paint in front of her, “My whole kingdom is dead and… and now… and now…” Her voice trembled as new tears rose into her eyes. “And now King Björn and his family are gone, all because he took pity on me and brought me to his home to be safe with them!” She shook her head and snorted, stomping a dainty dark hoof in the sand between them. “I can’t let you make the same mistake. You’re too kind… please.”

apolline
along with the sunshine
there's gotta be a little rain some time