Curses, Oh My

Cassandra jerked back as the spirited mare in front of her made a play at biting her fingers. “None of that now,” Cassandra replied firmly as she straightened her red tunic and brushed some of the dirt off her black pants. “You know we have a show coming up and you need to have that silver malbec tail of yours groomed. I’ve never seen it this bad, and given how long it is, that’s going to take some time.” 

Sin City snorted in protest, stamping their hooves in protest and sending what almost seemed to be ripples through their white, tobiano markings. What was even stranger, and what caught Cass’s attention, was the pale, phantom markings almost seemed to light up. 

“Well, the attitude isn’t new, but that certainly is.” Cass paused to look at Sin City more closely. She expected glitter to sparkle, but certainly not phantom markings. The skeletal looking coloration along Sin’s front legs, hocks, chest, and ribs was always visible, but it wasn’t bright in color. At least no usually. 

The moment she touched the pale markings, they once again lit up. It was subtle, similar to the malbec coloration of the tall mare’s coat, but not quite. 

“Okay, Sin, what’s going on?” Cass muttered, annoyed at the entire situation. People messing with her horses was never appreciated, and she often chose to meet such actions with unpleasant repercussions. 

All eighteen hands of horse shook as the mare looked towards the corner of their stall, their nearly purple gemstone eyes glowing in frustration. 

Cass walked over and brushed aside the bedding only to find what looked like a curse jar buried underneath. 

“Oh now, is that it?” She turned to look at Sin City. “You saw who placed it, I assume?” 

The mare tossed her head, the white marking up their nose flashing against the darker malbec coloring near her head as the lighting in the stable caught it just right. Again, the phantom markings seemed to glow. 

“Care to show me?” Cassandra murmured as she brushed the mare’s soft nose. She was angry beyond belief at whoever put a curse on her horse. It didn’t seem a harmful one, but there was no telling how it would play out long term. 

This seemed to get Sin’s attention more than most anything as the mare stomped in anticipation and nudged at Cassandra hard. The horse’s rapunzel tail flicking in long waves of hair. 

Cass, as impatient as Sin to have whoever cursed her settled with, led the impatient mare out of Thorn Rose’s main building and out onto the road. She swung up on the mare’s tall back, and then they were racing down the road. 

Cass caught the glow of the skeletal markings, followed immediately by the sound of Sin giving a very angry snort. As Cass looked around to see what had irritated the high strung horse, she spotted the mare’s long rapunzel tail tangling even worse. Far worse than a ride of any kind, no matter how wild it was, would cause. 

“Oh, so that’s it…” Cass smirked, though there was nothing friendly about it. Rather it was pure malice. “Someone should really learn that I don’t play with curses, or those who use them against me and mine. Right Sin?” 

The mare tossed their head, their gemstone eyes flashing with a glint similar to that of her rider. 

The road raced by, Sin’s tail tangling more as the cursed worked its magic on the mare. The reaper markings continued to glow, but in the bright light of day it was far harder to see. 

“Neither of us is going to like having to detangle that mass of hair later,” Cass said as they slowed, the fences of a nearby stables coming into view. “Well, I didn’t ask you to stop, so I’m guessing this is the place the person went?” 

Sin nearly reared, she was so enthusiastic about getting the curse lifted. 

Cass dismounted as they approached the main road up to the stables and placed her hand lightly on Sin’s white and malbec neck, the tobiano markings beautiful in the full light of the approaching afternoon sun. It was a far cry from the tangled, cursed mess of a rapunzel tale that swished in annoyance and anger. 

As the pair approached the stables, a woman stuck their head out of the stables, clearly already displeased to see them. Sin seemed equally agitated, the horse snorting and stomping her hooves, their head lowered to charge. 

“Now, now, Sin. No need for that.” Cass brushed a hand along their nose, though she didn’t yet turn to address the other woman. “I take it she’s the one who put that nasty, cursed jar in your stall?” 

Sin didn’t exactly calm down, but the tall mare did stop looking like she was going to charge at a moment's notice. 

“Can I help you?” The woman asked, clearly nervous. 

Deciding it wasn’t worth beating around the bush, Cass replied bluntly. “You can remove the curse you put on my horse.” 

“I didn’t…” 

Before the woman could finish, Sin bolted forward, all 18 hands of mass storming towards the woman as the cursed tail tangled even further. The mare stopped just short of a collision, but it seemed enough to prove a point. 

The woman shrank back. “Okay, okay, I did it. But that horse was going to run away with the competition unless I did something. How the hell else do you expect anyone to compete against a long, luxurious tail like that.” 

“So you resorted to curses? Oh my, what an interesting choice. And you’re familiar with my reputation? And you still believed it a good choice?” Cass didn’t bother to call off or try to retrieve Sin City, the mare still standing nearly on top of the woman and eying her with fiery gemstone eyes. 

“It wouldn’t have hurt her. Just tangled her tail.” The woman backed up further, her eyes flicking between Cass and Sin. 

“Oh no, that’s not going to fly. Sin’s unhappy with her tail being that tangled. I don’t feel like putting either of us through the torture it’ll be to detangle it. And I don’t want to cut it off either. So I suggest you undo the curse and hope that it undoes every last knot and snarl it caused.” Cass purred, almost sweetly, though it was impossible to miss the wicked grin and the threat underneath the oh-so-reasonable tone. 

The woman blanched and muttered a few words, a loud popping sound clear in the air as suddenly Sin City’s tail was back to the way it should be and the glow from the mare’s phantom markings was gone as the jar in Cassandra’s hand shattered. 

“Wise decision, and lucky the curse was so easy to undo. Otherwise this conversation would be having a very different ending. As it stands, I would strongly advise never setting foot in my stables or chancing my company ever again. You wouldn’t like the consequences.” 

As if emphasizing Cassandra’s statement, Sin huffed and leaned in menacingly towards the woman. 

“I understand.” The woman swallowed, hard, and backed up almost the rest of the way into the house. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” 

“No, I believe this matter is concluded. Just remember, many of those aroung here have teeth… or hooves.” Cassandra smirked, gesturing to Sin City, her voice anything but kind. 

Sin City backed away as the woman scrambled back into her house and shut the door. Once the mare reached Cassandra they nuzzled her and turned to look in the direction of Thorn Rose Stables. 

“Yes, we can go home. We still have to get you cleaned up for the competition after all.” Cassandra used a nearby fence to climb onto Sin City’s back, and the pair took off back towards home. She turned to glance back at the house and shook her head. “Curse. Oh my. Such a fooling course of action just to win a competition.”