Rampant

“How many other fillies are there in Appleloosa, Daddy?”

It was just a plain little earth pony who asked the question. Beige coat, white mane. She was barely knee high walking beside her dad, her hooves long since scuffed by the grime on the railroad tracks they walked on.

“Lots of them. I bet there are almost as many as in Ponyville,” her dad said. “You’ll get to make lots of new friends there.”

The filly whimpered. “You said you bet. You don’t know.”

“Well, no, I don’t know,” her dad said. “But I do know you’ll make lots of new friends.”

“I don’t want to make new friends,” the filly said. “I want my old ones.”

On the filly’s other side was her mother. She said, “We know, sweetie. We both want our old friends, too.”

“Think of it like an adventure,” the filly’s dad said, brushing his badly-combed mane off of his brow. “A new home, a new school, a chance to start all over.”

The filly slumped her shoulders and let her gaze wander. “Is that why everypony else is coming, too?”

About forty more ponies surrounded the filly and her parents, all of them following the tracks. There were barely any possessions among them—no carts, no rations, no supplies. Just different variations of the same look on each face, whether tilted toward the horizon or locked on the ground. No one else talked.

The filly’s mom smiled anyway. “That’s right, Annie. Everypony needs that chance right now.”

Annie pouted and looked further down the tracks. “What if the ponies in Appleloosa don’t like us? What if they just tell us to leave?”

“Well, Boonehat told us they wouldn’t,” Annie’s dad said, nudging his nose toward the head of the group. “She’s got family there, so she should know. See? She’s leading us all on an adventure.”

The mare leading them was the only pony who still stood tall. Her mane was loose, billowing in the wind, but she ignored it. She checked back on the others constantly, her gaze level despite the sun in her eyes. Annie looked away when the mare’s gaze met hers.

“Just think of all the space they’ll have you can play in,” Annie’s mom said. “And do you know what? You can help us grow our new cabbages there. I’ve always heard Appleloosa has a fine appreciation for good produce.”

Annie rolled her eyes, slouching further. “Whatever.”

Rampant

To Appleloosa, Part One

Ch. 8: The Hopes

What happened? Applejack was still sorting that out. The caravan she led was now miles and hours away from Ponyville, and how long they had to go, no one knew. Whose idea was this? Applejack’s. She knew that much.

She put a hoof over her brow as she peered out to the horizon. The railroad tracks her caravan followed were long abandoned by any trains. Weeds poked up around the tracks the whole way, and they consisted of all other life in the plains she could see.

Even the caravan hardly counted for life, by the looks of their spirits. Applejack was one of the few who still looked alive. Everyone following her clung to their own small groups, whether made up of friends, halved families, or ponies who had no one else. Their mourning period—well, this was it.

Applejack’s own group was just her, Fluttershy, and Kennedy Gold. Applejack kept a slow pace especially for Fluttershy. Fluttershy’s knees looked like were about ready to give out at any time, just as they had looked the whole way, and her face revealed dried streams of tears, all used up. Though still weak, Fluttershy’s voice steadied as she said, “Applejack, why didn’t you go with Twilight and the others?”

Applejack lowered her hoof and looked back to her. Kennedy was on Fluttershy’s other side, her bright pink eyes barely noticeable as she looked down to the tracks. Applejack smiled at both and said, “This is where I need to be right now, Fluttershy. Trust me on that one.”

Fluttershy gave back a little smile. “Did you—did you get to meet him before? He said he found you the first night, in the jail.”

“I did,” Applejack said. “Good kid. And a good son, I think. He really loved you.”

Fluttershy lifted her chin, turning to Applejack. Her voice cracked as she said, “What did he—”

She stopped. Applejack raised an eyebrow, but Fluttershy just shook her head and said, “No, never mind. But he used to travel this way, you know.”

Applejack settled back into a grin. “Traveler, huh? I could see that in him.”

“Oh, no,” Fluttershy said. “For me, he wasn’t. But he traded with Appleloosa. He took a little of what we could grow, and somehow, he always came back with much more.”

“He had a good head on his shoulders, then,” Applejack said. “It’s a good little town. He knew right where to go to get some help when y’all really needed it.”

Fluttershy’s smile dimmed. “Yes, I think you’re right.”

Applejack peered around Fluttershy, looking next to Kennedy. “What about you, Gold? You ever come out this way?”

“No,” Kennedy said, still watching the tracks. “It was just him.”

Fluttershy frowned, but didn’t elaborate for her; Kennedy said nothing more. Applejack glanced between both of them, and without probing, looked back to the rest of the caravan. She noticed Raindawn toward the rear, only one other mare beside him, but even he looked sullen.

“What about that Rainy kid?” Applejack asked, turning back to Kennedy and Fluttershy. “He’s a student, right? Haven’t really met him yet, but he seems nice.”

“Oh, dear,” Fluttershy said, looking back toward her son. “Gold, do you think we should go talk to him? He hasn’t joined us this whole trip. Goodness, I don’t want him to feel alone at a time like this….”

“Rainy is good, Mom; he’s got friends here,” Kennedy said. She cracked a grin, but not one that looked happy. “We should just leave him be.”

Applejack looked back to the tracks, dropping her attempt at the subject. But as she peered outward, she frowned and said, “Uh, about your other brother again—did he ever mention anything about those things ahead?”

Fluttershy lifted a hoof over her eyes, despite the sun shining from behind everyone. “Oh, my. No, he never mentioned those.”

Kennedy looked up and squinted. “Are those… where did those come from?”

A long row of silver spikes—round at the bottom, pointy at the top—were visible in the distance, paced a few meters apart between each one. The railroad tracks headed straight through. The spikes already looked larger than any pony from far away, but as the caravan walked closer, Applejack saw they were at least a good four or five times as tall as any stallion. The row extended as far as she could see either way she looked.

Applejack turned back to the caravan. “All right, everypony, looks like we got some shade! We’re takin’ a break up ahead!”

Upon reaching the spikes, each group in the caravan split to their own and lay down, no questions asked, under what reprieve the spikes offered from the sun. Applejack plopped down under her own, stretching her hind legs out in front of her as she laid her back against the metal.

Kennedy sat on all fours next to Applejack, curling in her legs, and Fluttershy rested beside her. As her mother nestled into her shoulder, Kennedy looked to Applejack and asked, “So, why didn’t you really go with the others?”

Applejack kicked back her hooves behind her head. “Figured y’all needed me more right now.”

“It’s not like we need a guide,” Kennedy said. “These tracks lead straight to Appleloosa. We don’t even need a map.”

“Twilight and the others will be all right without me,” Applejack said, “an’ I jus’ didn’t feel like saying goodbye to Fluttershy so soon. That’s the simple answer.”

“Is there a more complicated answer?”

“I reckon so,” Applejack said, looking to the sky. “But y’know, I always had it in the back of my head I’d get to meet Fluttershy’s kids when they were still fillies and colts. I think it’s as weird for me seein’ you already grown up as it is for you to—well, to see me at all.”

Fluttershy smiled, her mane bobbing over Kennedy’s side as she said, “Oh, that would have been so nice.”

“It would have been nice,” Kennedy said. “But on the other hoof, maybe it’s better you didn’t get to see our family at some points.”

Though her smile lessened again, Fluttershy patted one of her hooves onto Kennedy’s. Despite them, Applejack chuckled, “Well, now, don’t you think I wasn’t a hoof-ful when I was just a filly. I caused my own Granny Smith no end of troubles back then, I tell you what.”

Kennedy’s grin slipped out again, but it still didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah, except you always came back.”

“You and he were fine, dear. You’re all still wonderful,” Fluttershy whispered.

Kennedy failed to repress a blush. She untucked one leg and knocked on the spike they all rested against, no echo in the monolith. “Any-way, it’s too damn weird Silver never mentioned these things. They’re worth a story, and he told you everything, Mom.”

Fluttershy lifted her head from Kennedy’s shoulder, frowning at her daughter a moment as she tapped a hoof to her own chin. “Well, goodness. It is strange he didn’t say anything about these, but he didn’t tell me quite everything, I think.”

Kennedy glanced over to Applejack. “He was a momma’s colt. He told her everything.”

Applejack grinned and pushed herself up further. “If you got a story to tell, I’m listenin’.”

“Thanks, but I didn’t mean it like that,” Kennedy said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s actually keep that subject changed.”

“You mind my askin’ where he got the accent, at least?” Applejack said. “Sounded real familiar, if you know what I mean.”

“It was fake,” Kennedy said, snorting.

“He practiced it so much,” Fluttershy said, wiping her cheek. “He thought it sounded worldly. He always wanted to see the world, to go beyond Equestria… now I wish he had.”

Kennedy looked away from her mother again. Applejack looked back to the sky, shading her eyes with her hoof as she said, “I suppose we all got things we don’t want to talk much about right now.”

Though her gaze remained down, Kennedy said, “The complicated answer?”

“That.”

Kennedy shrugged. “Fair enough. What about these spikes?”

“Maybe they came up recent,” Applejack said. “When’s the last time Silver came out this way?”

“Oh, he got back from his last trip just yesterday,” Fluttershy said. “Do you think he knew something worrying about them, and didn’t want to upset anypony?”

Applejack glanced at their spike again. “Ain’t much upsettin’ about ‘em.”

“Except for whoever had the strength to even put them here,” Kennedy said. “Maybe it’s something beyond them. It’s still a long walk.”

“That’s as good a guess as any,” Applejack said. “It’s the walk that’s got me most worried, though. I know I can make it, but I’m not sure anypony can go all the way.”

The rest of the caravan slumped worse around them, either laying down or massaging their stomachs. Though the shade of the spikes rested their sweating brows, their faces remained all the same, eyes empty as their stomachs and throats even more so.

“How long should we stay here?” Kennedy asked, looking to Applejack. “Are we at least halfway to Appleloosa now?”

Applejack sighed. “Not even. We’re still lookin’ at more than another day’s walk. Don’t know when the next good spot to take a sit-down is, so we can let everypony lie a bit longer, I think.”

Her gaze wandered back to the open plain. Only some mountains rose in the distance off to the left of the tracks, weeds and rocks everywhere else. There were no landmarks anywhere on the way there Applejack ever thought to keep in mind. But as she scanned the plains, another trail caught her eye: something just under the earth burrowing toward the caravan, leaving a long ridge of dirt in its wake as it closed in. Applejack shoved off from the spike and stood up.

“On second thought, get everypony up,” she said, stepping forward. “Somethin’s comin’.”

Kennedy and Fluttershy watched the same for a moment before they got up, then calling to the other ponies. Applejack walked out from the cover of shade straight toward the approaching trail, watching it swerve only for the larger rocks in its course, each time correcting itself toward the caravan. She planted her hooves firm in the dust on its path and narrowed her gaze.

The trail burst up and out just a meter from her, its digger hopping out from his hole clutching a cane in one paw and a fist in his other. He wore a dusty blue suit jacket over his charcoal fur and a diamond-studded collar around his neck, and his wrinkles sagged even further than his scowl. The old dog narrowed his eyes further than Applejack’s as he peered straight at her.

“Didn’t you goddamn powns see the fence?” he spat. His voice had a grisly rasp to it, like he chewed with his throat. He waved his cane toward the caravan and said, “Where the hell is it you think you’re going?”

Applejack pushed away his cane, staying her tone as she said, “We’re refugees, movin’ on to where else we can. What makes it your business?”

“This dirt makes it my goddamn business,” the dog said, smacking his cane back onto the ground. “You’re trespassing!”

“Excuse me?” Applejack said. “We’re in Equestria. You ain’t got no say in where we’re goin’, I can tell you for sure.”

“I’ve got a hell of a lot more say than your indecent ass,” the dog said. “This is diamond dog territory now. That means you and your nudie buddies can take a hike right back where you goddamn came from.”

“Hey!” Kennedy cried, coming up from behind Applejack. “Are you deaf? She just told you this isn’t your land. Go dig a hole back to the rock you came from, pal.”

The dog sneered back at her. “How about as soon as you cover yours, girl.”

Kennedy stepped up further and prodded the sharp end of her hoof into the dog’s jacket. They locked eyes as she said to him, “I’ve had my fair share of starting shit, jackass, and I can assure you that if you’re really looking to go at it, we will be happy to oblige in kicking your ass.”

Applejack lowered her gaze and tapped a hoof to Kennedy’s shoulder. Lowering her voice, she said, “You just make sure everypony’s gotten up.”

“They’re getting up,” Kennedy said, raising her voice. “If you’re not going to handle him, I will.”

“Don’t you hussies start flirting in front of me!” the dog snapped, stepping back even as he waved his cane again. “I know all about your pown sex rituals, and the GAP Pact doesn’t mention a goddamn thing about having to tolerate them!”

“The hay is the GAP Pact?” Applejack said to the dog.

“Maybe you should start paying attention to your own politics, girl,” the dog said. “We diamond dogs bought this land clear and legal, and you should be damn grateful we didn’t just take it. Understand? Now you motherfuckers take your naked asses and get the hell out of here!”

Kennedy gritted her teeth and scoffed, “You’re not even wearing pants either!”

“Excuse me,” Fluttershy called from behind, tottering up to Kennedy and Applejack with nary a scuff over the dirt. She stopped in front of the dog, her old bones barely leaving hoofprints, and asked, “What is your name?”

The dog smacked his cane down again and growled, “Go fuck yourself, granny.”

“Well, Mister Go Fuck Yourself, my name is Fluttershy, and I do not appreciate anyone speaking to my friends and my family in that way,” Fluttershy said. “I’ve met a lot of bullies in my life, and you’re not even the worst. You’re just the oldest. We’ve lost almost everything we had the same as you ever had, and none of us needs to make a fight out of that right now.”

Neither Applejack nor Kennedy interrupted as they watched. The dog laid both his paws on the handle of his cane, heaving out his chest as he said, “Oh, boo-hoo, granny. You think we don’t all have problems? I don’t give a shit about yours, I’ve got my own.”

Fluttershy held even her knees as firm as her voice. “Let me tell you why you need to care. What we’re asking for is a little empathy—the kind you need, when you sleep alone every night and take that loneliness and anger out on other people. If you’re going to keep saying such rude things, that’s your choice, but none of it makes you any tougher. I bet you know it doesn’t. It just makes you feel better in the smallest way it can. Now, what is your name?”

A moment of silence passed before the dog smirked. He said, “I don’t empathize with ponies, Miss Fluttershy. But I’ll make you a deal in the name of commerce: you tell me where it is your band came from.”

Applejack frowned and asked, “What’s the other half of the deal?”

Fluttershy kept her gaze on the dog. “Ponyville.”

“I’m good and familiar with that town,” the dog said. “Heard of the bunch of pricks inside it. How come you don’t know about the GAP Pact if you’re from so close by?”

“Nopony knows about it,” Kennedy said. “It isn’t a thing!”

The dog rubbed one paw over his chin, his smirk growing wider. “Well, well. In that case, here’s the deal: you can pass through after all. You just keep making your way to our outpost, the Dock, and when you get there, we’ll all have a nice talk with your ambassador pown about what the diamond dogs get out of this arrangement. And maybe we can teach you how to put on some goddamn clothes before you leave.”

“Shove it up your own ass, limp dick,” Kennedy snorted.

Fluttershy lowered her tone and said, “Please, Gold, don’t say that.”

“Well, we’ll take you up on that if we get some shelter for the night,” Applejack said, glancing from the dog to the plain behind him, “but we don’t know where any diamond dog settlements are around here. You gonna show us the way to this outpost of yours?”

“Do I look like a goddamn waiter?” the dog said, raising his cane again. “Follow the fucking tracks. You just tell the gatekeepers that Mister Doberman talked to you.”

Doberman tugged his jacket tighter. Glancing to Kennedy and Applejack while he turned to his tunnel, he added, “Mister Doberman, you got that?”

Without goodbyes, Doberman jumped back into the earth and burrowed back in the direction of his first trail. Kennedy flipped a hoof at him as he left. Applejack turned back to the caravan, everyone else in it mulling at a distance as they watched.

“Will they give us any water there?” one of the mares asked, a filly beside her.

“One way or another they will,” Kennedy said, turning back the same.

Applejack brushed away her mane as she fought back a deeper frown. Lifting her gaze up to everyone else, she said, ”Better to reach their place soon as we can, anyway. Shouldn’t be too far away if that old dog just spotted us.”

“Will we have to sleep there?” a young stallion asked with a whine.

“Well, you can sleep out here if you’d rather,” Applejack said, “but if they offer us beds, I’d suggest takin’ one. Y’all ready to keep movin’?”

No one else objected. Applejack turned back toward Doberman’s trail, right beside the railroad tracks, and led onward. The caravan trudged the same, separating back into their groups and dragging their hooves no faster than before. Applejack kept her eyes on the road as they went—though rather than silence again, she heard conversation spring up again from a younger voice behind her.

“Do they have airships at the Dock, Mommy? ‘Cause that’s what it sounds like they have. I bet it’s way cooler there than at Appleloosa.”

The Dock came into view slowly—at least, what Applejack assumed was the Dock. A crane was the first thing visible, the same kind for any old construction. But the next things in sight, rather than a construction yard or any building projects at all, were eight watchtowers in a wide octagon around the crane. The railroad tracks led straight toward the center.

That was all Applejack saw to the Dock, even as she led everyone up between the two closest towers where the tracks led. The sunset was still reflecting off the top of the crane, stretching several times taller even than the spike fence. Although that’s where the railroad led, the tracks ended at a deep circular canyon that was soon apparent between the crane and every tower.

Another diamond dog waited just before the canyon, leering at the approaching ponies. Though he was much taller than Doberman, most of his height was wasted in a deep, constant lurch. As Applejack trotted up to him ahead of the others, the dog folded his arms and said, “State your business, horsey.”

“Your Mister Doberman told us to come here,” Applejack said.

The guard dog glanced to the other ponies a moment, then rolled his eyes. ”Figures.”

He turned around and waved his arm toward the base of the crane, some kind of depot connecting it to the canyon island. At the guard dog’s signal, the grumbles of twisting gears echoed out from the depot as a brand new railroad extended toward the tower side of the canyon, rattling the whole way until its heavy steel beams inserted into the cliff, bolting tight with a big earthen thunk, and connected with the old tracks.

Applejack stepped closer to the bridge, eyeing the gaps in between each board on the tracks. She glanced back to the guard dog and asked, “You never thought about maybe adding some safety rails to this thing, at least?”

The dog turned his gaze away from behind her, his cheeks flushing bright. He said, “Use it or lose it, lady.”

Applejack looked back to the caravan; most everyone had caught up with her, Fluttershy and Kennedy right behind her again. With a hard swallow, Applejack stepped forward. Though she meant to keep her gaze up, not down, definitely up, straight forward, not down, her eyes disobeyed her wishes. She looked down and gasped, not from fear, but shock.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy said just behind her, peering down the same. “It looks like they’ve been here some time already….”

The canyon, carved out in a perfect circle around the crane, stretched forever down. As far as sunlight still shone down, there were mining tracks across even more bridges, platforms with crates of precious metals, spotlights upon countless tunnels in every direction, support beams crisscrossing the whole canyon, and diamond dogs. Hundreds more dogs covered every platform down, pushing carts, lifting pulleys, barking commands.

Applejack looked away only to Fluttershy and Kennedy behind her, all of them paused in their first steps over the bridge. “Why the hay wouldn’t Silver tell anypony about this?”

“Keep your asses moving!” the guard dog blustered, still looking any other direction. “Please.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and focused on the tracks again. The boards were more than wide enough to cross safely, but she took them one step at a time. Without mishap, Applejack stepped back onto solid ground and sighed before the depot’s steel shutter door—then jumped as one of the smaller doors beside it slammed open.

Out strode a pony in a regal cape clasped around her neck by a sapphire gemstone. She held her head high, hardly even glancing at Applejack before beginning what already sounded like a speech, declaring, “Pleasure to make my acquaintance, I assure you. Yes, I am the official Equestrian ambassador to the diamond dog kingdom; you’ve surely heard of me already, but in case you haven’t—oh, goddammit, Applejack? You’re dead. Why are you alive?”

Holding a hoof over her still heart despite herself, Applejack settled into a familiar scowl. “What are you doin’ here, Trixie?”