Chapters Chapter 1: Life's a Funny Little Thing
I watched the dirt get kicked up behind me from the tires, digging and throwing clouds of the stuff up and behind truck as it tore down the empty roadway. The old dirt road jumped and bounced me across the cabin. I'd be damned near thrown out the window if I hadn't had a seatbelt on. I had the window rolled down as the smell of hot air and sand filled my nose as I drove down the dirt road. The radio spewed static and the window was stained from sand. The outside was hot, the sun blasting down heat on the truck. I would kill for something to drink but there's no drink and there's no ponies here.
I watched the cactus and mesquite trees fly past me as I flew down the road. I cocked one foreleg up and rested my chin on it, still focusing on the road. I tried to play a song in my mind, something that I knew and could sing along to. One song I began to remember, it was the last one I had heard before my radio lost signal.
"Hush-a-bye, don' you cry." I began to sing aloud.
"Go to sleep you little baby, when you wake you shall have cake, and all the pretty little horses." I forgot the rest and just whistled the melody as best as I could remember it. A strange little tune it was, little minor and major parts. A soothing little melody. With the song on my lips and the melody in the brain I began to dose off, it's what happens when you been driving in a car for almost a full day, non-stop.
The static of the radio sweered and whirred as it began to pick something up. I snapped out of my drowsiness and tuned the radio to get a better signal. Then, to my dismay I heard it...
The blare of trumpets...
"Ella es la más hermosa yegua en el mundo! Podía mirar en sus ojos toda la noche si ella me hubiera dejado!"
"Dammit," I sighed. I don't know why mariachi music is the only kind of music there is on the radio this far into the desert, and the only kind of music I hate. I might as well keep it on, I don't speak spanish but I'll live with it still playing.
Things back home aren't doing so well, we can't even really call it home. I hate to keep the idea in my mind when traveling these routes but there's nothing else to think about. Back on the home front, things weren't going so well. The farm was bought out around six years back after Granny died and we were forced to move out. We found a place in a small city out to the east but things were never the same. We decided to scrape up some money to buy an apartment there with all the fixings, beds, fridge, new stove. We've all changed in that time, for how much experience we had working on the farm, if we went back doing what we did everything would be new for us.
Unfortunately, one or two years after that Applebloom contracted a sickness that a very very small number has survived from. A disease that strikes the lungs and heart, a virus that attacks the circulatory system. Blood is incorrectly circulated through the body and by the time it gets to the brain it's feeding it oxygen exhausted blood. If her heart doesn't stop on her, her brain will. It's painful from both sides of the equation. You may never know when you're going to get the call. It's painful, her headaches have the same amount of pain as breaking a bone, too much movement could put her in worse condition. Through all of it though, she still has the courage to be able to smile through it all. It hurts me to think about it. The wound it's created has already cut deep into my heart, but what it's led to, it's like somepony is just pressing salt on it. Now she's back home fighting for her life every second. I'm usually out on the run doing odd jobs almost half way across Equestria looking for any kind of work that I could find.
Big Mac broke his hind leg two years ago and cracked a rib last week,he's damn near falling apart. He takes care of little Applebloom while I'm away since he can't do much else. Every bit, every speck of currency I come across I put towards medication and anything poor Applebloom wants and needs. Every little toy and such she wants she gets. I know I shouldn't be doing that but she's had the disease for about five or six years and the normal mare only lives with it for four. Any day now she's going to go, I try to stay close so I'll be there when it happens. After all, she is my little sister.
I've managed to hold a few bits for me but I either use it for gas or booze. I need that now a days to numb the mind, calm me down, ya know? The pain doesn't really go away, the best i can do is numb it. Sometimes though, life just likes to back hand the shit out of you. It can be a real bitch sometimes.
I want to give up sometimes, all I ever wanted was for her to live a good and long life, but now I'm just hoping she makes it through the night. I never thought that life would be this hard, I never thought it could get this hard. I'm not doing this for myself though, this is all for her, I need to keep telling myself that. Every step I take is another day I can keep her alive.
The last job left me helping some oil rig problems that I assisted with. Pay was fine and will be enough to fill Appleblooms prescription. The forty two bits I got from it jangled in the glove box, clinking against a little thirty-two special I had there I kept from the farm. I haven't the need for it yet but I feel as if with every day that passes I'm going to need it more and more.
An orange ball began to pass down over the peaks in the far west. The sun resting for a short summer slumber. With that the cool night started to peel over across everything, a blanket of cold rushed in and chilled the crisp night air. I rolled down the windows and let one hoof hang in the wind. The day was coming to a close and there wasn't a town for miles.
It probably wasn't the smartest thing a mare like myself could do but it wasn't the first time I did it either. I remember nights like this, out on the farm, where I could sleep out under the stars and not have a single care in the world. Now though? Not even safe in any meaning of the word. I pulled off the side of the road, clicking open the glove compartment I slid the little revolver in the back of my pants. I unlocked the truck and got out, arching my back to stretch it. My spine unwinding with loud cracks.
I jumped over the walls of the bed of the truck and tucked my hooves under my head. Instead of closing my eyes to sleep I stared at the moon and stars. I wonder sometimes, not if it's even possible, but I wonder something. That part of the moon we don't see, I like to think it's just a mirror to another world. Like this one, where everyone's the same, but everything works the way you wanted it to. A perfect world, if I may.
As I got carried away with my thoughts a single star shot across the sky, leaving a remarkable trail as if soared cutting the night sky. I remembered what Granny used to say, wish upon a star, you're dream will surely come true . I rolled over on my side and began to think of something to wish for.
"I wish everythin' worked out fer once." I whispered to myself before tucking my forelegs into my chest tightly and dosing off to sleep.
That morning something broke my slumber. Noises out on the desert, not too far away, maybe over the next ridge or so. It sounded like long cracks, one following the next out in the distance. Some were loud and only rang out once or twice, others were quiet but rapid fire.
It was still dark out, pin streaks of clouds were painted across a dark purple sky, still early in the day. The moon was just falling over the western horizon. Stars still shone brightly, decorating the scene. I began to rub my eyes to get adjusted. Crisp cool air invaded my nose, the sweet cold dry air was refreshing. The sounds still echoing out in the close distance. Then they stopped. I finally realized what they were, gunshots. Not just one or two, there was a fight, with a lot of ponies out there in the desert shooting at each other.
I jumped over the railing of the truck and hopped into the drivers seat of the truck. As I turned around in my seat to back out into the highway something huge lit up the dark early morning. A bright orange light flashed out in the desert. I could feel the heat from it against my face and peel through my mane. I turned the wheel around and made my way into the desert.
The terrain was rough, the car jerked and shook as the wheels tumbled and rolled over and over. Cacti and desert shrubs were pulled from their roots as I tore over them. It took me awhile to finally clear through the brush. In a matter of minutes the wheels evened out and the truck leveled, and was driving on a tight soft strip of dirt.
Up ahead I could make out a few shapes in the early light. They looked to be cars and trucks of some sort, I'm not sure of any specifics about them but they were vehicles all right. I pulled down the shifter and the truck yielded to a slow stop. I opened the door and sat there with my hooves resting on the wheel. I reached one over to the glove box and drew the pistol from it warm slumber.
"Everypony fine an good out there?" I asked slowly getting out. My hoof upon meeting the floor was met by a heat as well as a deep shadow as the sun was pulled up and the light casted out across the land. Now, when your eye meets witness to something you can't comprehend you find it as normal, and until the encounter ends you still find it as such.
Sixteen, that how many I could count, sixteen bodies laid there. Each on one side of a group of cars or the other. Buzzards were now soaring overhead and the blood was just now setting into the dirt. My mind felt fine, this felt normal, I have never seen a single dead colt or mare in my life but this, despite how normal it felt, seemed odd.
I turned my focus to one particular car, yeah that one, the one that was smoking. The car was black, the windows broken, one door off the front was the only one still attached. In the front was a corpse that was in such bad shape I couldn't even tell if it was even a horse it was charred so badly.
One buzzard finally made its landing, it jumped from body to body until it began to poke an older horse slouched up against one of the trucks. The horse swatted at the bird, cursing at it as it jumped off to another body.
"I'm not fuckin' dead yet you flyin' varmint!" He screamed at the thing raising one hoof. His eyes stared blankly at a patch of dirt in between his legs and one hoof pressed up against his waist. Red was seeping out of his side as the stain of the same color grew. At that point I drew the gun and aimed it at him.
He looked over to me with eyes that were near death, his lips were dried and chapped and the rust of age on his voice came out as he spoke.
"Shoot me," He muttered.
"I ain't got too much time left anyhow." His head rolled over to where it was.
"What in tarnation happen'd here?" I asked, not taking the gun off of him. There was nothing, not a single sound from him.
"Hey," I said moving over to him.
"I'm talking to you!" I demanded nudging him hard with one of my hind legs. He fell over to one side, his mouth hung open and his expression was empty.
"Mister?" I asked backing away. He was dead, no doubt about it I didn't need to check for a pulse, the look just gave it away.
I looked around to see if anyone else was still alive there. A shotgun rested on the ground by another dead horse, except, this one was a pegasus. I picked up the gun and cocked the pump back, it had two shells. One already in there and the other was spit out onto the ground. I did what was smart and picked it up and placed it back into the gun.
I passed by more of the ruin, the number steadily increased. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-two. Then it all ended with one, one that laid upon the rest on a small pile of three. A metal briefcase was under his foreleg, It shone brightly amongst the blood and bodies. A splatter of red stained the front of the case. As I trudged closer I was just starting to smell what was around me, my mind was starting to piece together what happened. Within seconds I felt sick to my stomach.
"They're... they're all dead..." I mumbled under my breathe, my legs felt weak as I fell beneath them.
"They'rall dead..." I said again slowly breathing hard. My heart pounded against my chest as I began to take it all in, they killed each other, they all did. I propped myself up using the gun I acquired and looked over the grizzly scene.
"Applejack, jus calm yerself." I said softly to myself.
"Yer alright, that's all that matters right now." I said dragging myself to my hooves.
I quickly went to the dead horse holding the briefcase, he was staring up into the sky. His open forelegs stretched across two others who were in the same slumber. I grabbed a corner of the case and pulled it out slowly. I flipped it onto my back and ran for my own truck quickly.
I jumped into the drivers seat and tossed the shotgun into the seat next to me beside the briefcase. I began to back up before I noticed something move. I clicked the truck into gear and spun around. A single round tore through the mirror hanging above my head exploding into tiny glass shards as two more flew through my wind shield leaving tiny holes in its place.
I followed my tracks out to the main road and burned rubber going down the highway. The ride wasn't as jerky as I remember, but that might be because I'm shaking too. You don't feel the same after something like that, ya know? Whatever was so important about that briefcase though was pestering me, haunting me, taunting me and asking me what was inside it.
I drove down the highway faster than I thought it might go. The smell of dirt and blood stuck to the inside of the car. My heart was beating through my chest the farther I got. I was nervous and I was more than sure it showed on my face. I shifted my gaze from the road to the briefcase. Now the only question going through my chest was why I took it in the first place.
Now that I was far away from the scene the whole picture began to piece together, and my heart sank deep into my stomach. I felt like I was going to vomit... Scratch that. I rolled down the window and slowed down a little. The sun hit my face as I threw up over the side of the truck. I rolled myself back into my seat and took a deep breath. Sweet Celestia, how many dead stallions were there? I already forgot how many I saw but they were all dead, all of them. A stinging was brought to my eyes, I wiped away the sweat from my forehead.
"Wha could be in tha' case." I asked myself looking back out to the road, the black asphalt bleached to a light gray from the sun. The heat was beating the ground and the desert. The sun was ruthless as it cruelly melted the air around the truck.
"I reckon i'd be fairly importan' if all them be killin' over it."I said to myself once again.
The anxiousness and fear came over me quicker than cows are drawn to water on a day like this. What could be in there? Should you drop it off to the authorities? Braeburn is a deputy in one of the towns close to where me and the rest of the family are living. I could tell him about what I saw out there and what I have here.
The box stared me down hard in the seat next to me. I had to see what was in it, no, I needed to see what was in it.
I spun the wheel around and stopped the car next to the highway and sat there for a second, the heat pounded the windows as soon as the engine stopped. I sat there for a second thinking. I was scared and anxious about opening the case. I took my hat off and leaned on the steering wheel with my forelegs, pondering what I was supposed to do. I moved my gaze back to it, the case. I stared at it for a moment, then looked away again. I sighed hard and broke finally.
I spun the case around and clicked the locks on the side and opened it. I felt a chill colder than a glacier travel up my spine. No, unbelievable, I would have never guessed this in my wildest dreams. One thing that came to my mind that I said in disbelief.
"We could save Applebloom with this." I was out of breath, utter happiness and joy was a complete understatement of what I felt right now.
Inside the case was rolls over rolls over rolls of glittering bits, there could be thousands and thousands here. The inside shone and glistened with gold, the gleam nearly blinding. I sat there a minute and thought. A single idea was the only thing passing through my mind.
"We can save my sister." I said aloud. "And if we have 'buff left over we could try to buy back the farm!" My mind flooded with old thoughts that I was for sure had been long forgotten. Dreams became close realities, I reckon that there are more to come though. I closed the case with a calm expression, trying to hide my happiness from whomever may be watching me.
I popped the clutch back into gear and steered back to the highway and barreled down the road. The thoughts, the wonders, the possibilities. The happiness of being able to tell her that she will be able to go outside and we could go back to our farm, and she could be with all her friends again. Big Mac would be happier, Applebloom would be healthy, I would just like to have that back again, everyone being happy again.
I was so caught up with what I had going on in my head I hadn't been paying attention to how far I had traveled down the road, nor where it had taken me. I had ended up driving towards a little town centre. Of the town four or five building stood on all four roads leading in and out of the little group of brick and plaster. I began to feel a tightening on my stomach, the one you get from not eating in a day or two, yeah that one all right. As I pulled into town I saw signs, big banners strung from building to building. 'Welcome to Cottondale, happiest town in the West.' it said in royal blue letters against a pale white background.
I shifted gears and slowed the car as I pulled into town. As I got out of the truck I was immediately greeted by the heat and sun, beating down with no end it seemed. The hot dirt and asphalt rose up from the ground and ripped up into my snout. The long early shadow of mine was casted out over the ground.
I had parked on the street in the town, the sleepy diner that laid still across the way sat in silence on the city block. A sign on top that I could barely make out against the light read out 'Joe's Diner' in neon lights, currently turned off. Before I set out completely I grabbed the case and brought it with me, balancing it carefully on my back.
As I walked in the smell of fresh baked bread and scrambled eggs warmly greeted me at the door. As soon as the door shut most of the eyes were focused on me, most of the stallions at the bar on my right had turned around and stared disapprovingly at me. At the closer end of the bar a display case held different pastries and such all revolving in a little showcase. From there, on the other side of the bar, were booths that were lined against the windows, all empty except for one, one table at the far end had a stallion or mare sitting at it with his or her hooves kicked up on it. A long black hat was pulled over his or her eyes. I walked over to a booth and sat down at it, keeping the briefcase close to my side.
The waitress emerged from the kitchen with a slight swing in her step as she strolled around the counter, from there she grabbed a notepad from under the bar and walked over joyfully to my booth.
"Welcome to Joe's Diner!" She exclaimed cheerily.
"Thankya," I said relaxing a bit in my seat but still keeping the case pressed close to me.
"Can I start ya off with something to dr-"
"Coffee." I said interrupting her mid way.
"Coffee, please." She raised an eyebrow and trotted off.
"It'll be just a minute ma'am."
I sat there for a moment before noticing the menu on the table already, resting behind a retro napkin holder. Quicker than I thought I could move and filed through every dish and entree the had on the menu. Multiple things stood out that looked more than appetizing. My mouth began to water as I thought of the taste.
"Here's your coffee, sugar!" She said placing a mug in front of me. I Picked up the cup and let the steaming hot beverage empty down my throat and melt my body all the way down. I emptied the coffee cup before I even tasted it. The waitress stood above me with an amused smile.
"Stranger, you must'a been mighty thirsty!" She said filling the mug up again with a coffee pot she had brought out with her. "Now, is there a hunger to match that thirst?" She asked bringing out a pen and pad from a pocket in the red apron she wore.
"Uh, where do I start." I said peering through the menu.
"One full stack of yer hay flapjacks, an order of th' hash-browns, an' two or three of the muffins you have there on the display thingy." I said closing the menu.
"Wow, when was the last time you ate? Three days ago." She asked with a smirk.
"Just bout." I replied. She laughed and I chuckled a little bit. The saddest part is it wasn't a joke.
As the waitress trotted off I looked down to the case resting beside me.
"Applebloom, everything will go back to normal soon, I promise." I whispered to the case.
"I promise."
Hours went by and I managed to find a motel farther into town, a little beat down place with broken in and cracked windows and dirty walls. I had stayed here plenty of times before, I knew I could afford a higher end place right now but I don't want to be spending too much on me. It's to important that I get as much of it home as I can.
The room was grungy and the walls were painted two unfinished colors, a lima bean green and an ocean blue. There was no TV and the bed felt like any old bed to me. I haven't slept in a comfortable bed in forever. I had the case sitting next to me, the black box's cold metal exterior rested against my flank, on my other side I kept my pistol under my hoof.
The night began to pull its beautiful embrace over me, I could feel my mind relaxing and my body being pulled down. That song began to play in my head as I slept...
Blacks and Bays
Dapples and Greys...
And all the pretty horses
It was like a memory, a far off picture formed with the lyrics
Long fields of apple orchards and green groves.
When you wake you shall have cake
A large red barn emerged in the distance, a beautiful little scene.
Go to sleep you little baby.
In front of the barn Applebloom danced around with her friends, I myself hauling in apples from a previous harvest, and Mackintosh bucking trees in the south orchard
Way on down yonder
The barn walls fell over in four directions and the apple orchards disappeared into the ground. In their place, miles and miles of gravestones.
Down in a meadow
Big Mac stood next to me, along with all of our family, or what was left of it, stood around a hole in the ground. All of us in tears and a coffin sat next to me.
Lies a poor little child
Everyone there was dressed in black, the only one I didn't see was...
The bees and the flies are picking out its eyes
Applebloom
Crying for its mother
RING
RING
RING
The phone began to ring next to my bed, it was early, before the sun was even up.
I stretched my back, I had slept vertically sitting up most of the night. After the satisfying crack of my shoulders I moved to the phone beside the bed. I picked up the phone and brought it to my ear, it took my a second to clear my throat and adjust to being awake.
"H-Hello?" I managed out of my mouth.
There was a pause on the end of the line.
"H-hiya Appl-" There was a lot of coughing on the other line.
"Applejack." My sister said over the phone.
"Applebloom," I said quietly. I looked over to the clock perched on the other side of the bed.
"Applebloom, what are ya' doin awake at four in th' morning? And how did you get this number?" I asked into the phone a little worried.
"I was worried bout'cha sis." She managed out before coughing again. "And I tried all the other places you've stayed in."
I chuckled a little.
"Where's Big Mac?" I asked.
"I think he's asleep on th' couch." She answered. "When you gonna be back?" She asked.
"Soon, could ya' go and get Big Mac for me?" I asked.
"Sure thing." She said. I heard a little call go out on the phone.
"Macintosh!" I heard her call out before coughing. I heard mumbling on the other line then a muffled voice. I heard Applebloom say Applejack wants to talk to you then some scratching.
"Applejack?" I heard Big Mac ask over the line.
"Mac, I found somethin'!" I said eagerly. "Somethin' that can get us out of where we are."
I heard a sigh on the line.
"Sis, what did you do?" I heard him ask in an angry tone.
"Macintosh, you'll never believe i-"
"What did you do Applejack, and why are you callin' this early?" He asked sternly cutting me off.
"No, I found money. A lot of it." I said. Another long silence was on the phone.
"How much and how did you find it." I heard on the phone.
"A couple thousand bits, and I found it in the desert." I said, I didn't tell him the whole truth but it was better than telling him a lie.
"Applejack, don't you lie t-"
"I'm not!" I yelled into the phone.
"I was drivin' in the desert when I found 'n empty truck with a case inside an I took it." I explained.
"Ya' stole it then?" He said angrily.
"No." I responded timidly, now here's the part that I hate to have to do.
"I saw him next to th' truck with a rattlesnake on him, he'd been there for awhile." I heard Big Mac sigh on the other line then. My heart broke a little as I said that, I hate to lie but when I have to I have to.
"Just get back home, Applejack." I heard him say.
"Don't worry, could ya put-"
Click
"Applebloom on."
I took a deep breath and put the phone down. I fell back onto the bed staring at the ceiling.
I can save her now, I can bring her back to Ponyville and start from where we left off. I looked at the briefcase again.
"Finally we can have it back." I said aloud beginning to shut my eyes. The Cold of the night began to slip in again, I gently closed my eyes and began to dose off still sitting up.
Ring
Ring
Ring
The phone went off again, kicking me from my sleep. I picked it up off the stand.
"Hello?" I asked into it.
"So, Applejack, interesting we meet this way."
"Who- Who is this?" I asked. "How do ya know my name?"
"You own that little four-by truck in the parking lot of the lazy days motel outside of Tuscan, correct? License plate 'R-D-F-1-2-2-5', registered in Texas?" He asked, his voice was monotoned and scratchy and sounded like he had something stuck in his neck as he spoke. "It doesn't really matter who I am at this point, what really matters is that you have something that doesn't belong to you and it is my job to make sure that I get it back and wipe away anyone who gets in the way." He said.
"I don't know what you're talkin bout." I spat into the phone
"Oh, come now." He said reassuringly.
"I watched your truck drive into the desert this morning." My heart sank as he talked.
"I watched you drive into town, I saw what you had for breakfast." As he said that the picture of that one at the diner with the black hat pulled over his eyes.
"By that long pause I think you're trying to precess what you are hearing." He said smoothly this time.
"Now, I'm going to tell ya this as plainly as I can." I said into the phone.
"I will not give up this briefcase, no matter what you say, no matter what you do." I slammed the phone down, hanging it up on the receiver. I sat there watching the phone. It rang again, I watched the phone shake as it rang,
Ring
Ring
Ring
He's not going to get that case, ever, not even from my cold dead hooves.
Ring
Ring
Ring
I don't care who he is. Never, no matter what, he won't take it from me. He won't take away that dream that is almost real away now. Nothing is going to stop me.
Ring
Ring
I picked up the phone.
"Well, that was very uncalled for." I heard the same stallion say.
"You are not going to take it from me."
"It's for your sister, isn't it?" He said blandly.
I stopped moving, a chill ran down my spine and my body froze.
"Well, how about this. Give me that case and I won't kill you and I won't go after your family afterwards. You have four hours to give me the package and my deal will be null and void and your family can live happily ever after" The the phone clicked. I dropped the phone down to the floor, ripping the other half with it. I could feel the tears beginning to form under my eye.
"So close," I said under my breath. "So damn close."
"But nothing ever happens the way it's supposed to!" On that I picked up the phone and hurled it across the room, it smacked the wall with a loud crack and exploded into pieces that peppered the room. My rage boiled deep inside as I slumped to the floor. I won't be able to save her now, if I try he's going to go after them, if I hand it over I'll have to watch her die slowly and painfully. She's gone through so much and she still has the courage to smile.
I felt water run down my cheek as the tears rolled down my face and dripped to the floor. With a single hoof I wiped away the tears. The pain was still there, but a new kind of hurt was there, a new kind of pain deep down and cut like knives. It's not the feeling of sadness, It's the feeling of desperation, no matter what the two paths are unavoidable and either way no one will win.
There are those who make calls, write messages and deliver words of hope. Those who bring that fire that might be able to bring a bigger flame and melt away the ice that is desperation. I tried to peel that thick skin, that cold embrace and melt it away, the truth is though, it will always be there. The paths may be different but the end will always be the same no matter how long it takes you to get there.
Now the bigger question arises.
Am I willing to give up my life for my sister...
Yes,
Yes I am.
