A round unvarnished tale of...

Dust and dirt, the ground cracked under the sun’s weight of rays, stretched forever into the distance through a bowl of red cliffs. Everything shimmered with a haze of heat, giving the already sweeping landscape an ethereal or dreamlike look. But any artwork, no matter the height of its creator’s skills, loses its lustre if stared at for too long, just as a favoured piece of music obsessed over for months can become tiresome overnight. Suppressing eventual thoughts of improvement are inevitably impossible and successively we always look to where or how the grass might be greener.

Boredom had long begun its work obscuring the view’s finely sculpted contours, instead highlighting innumerable invisible imperfections, but at the same time she was trapped by it, the oppressive noontime sun making any action a hardened chore. All she could do therefore was remain seated in her captured spot of shade, a merciful oven as opposed to its surrounding inferno, stewing in a fine coat of her own sweat and inertia as the interminable waiting continued. It was not as if there was anything better to do anyway even if movement had been possible. Appleloosa was a great many things, but interesting was not one of them.

In every direction lay fluffy fields of cloud, a billowing white seabed beneath the clear ocean of the sky beyond. All that may have existed far below lay somewhere invisibly beneath this blanket; masked and hidden from view. Here was a seamless limbo between the floor and the ether, itself inhabited only by the bodies of celestial giants. What those at ground level saw was an ever-changing tumult of weather patterns, focusing on every infinitesimal change, as a pegasus however she had the privilege of this unseen perfection. This space was unchanging, but at the same time its view was never marred by this fact.

She banked lightly in her flight, allowing an extended pale brown wing to pierce the outer layers of the foam and spin a fluffy spiral around her feathers. Like spray following a calmly breaking wave, small airy plumes followed her passing wingtip in ripples. There were no real currents at this height, adding to the tranquillity of the setting, instead the wind running down her flight-suited form came from her speed as she soared onward. This said however the rapidly passing world was caught in stillness, as if she were not moving at all but floating in a single spot. She felt content.

‘Oi Misty snap out of it’ yelled the voice of her rainbow-maned leadpony, cutting through the roar of white noise which enveloped them.

Misty Fly begrudgingly permitted herself to turn to her fellow flyer, re-righting in the process, surprised, but not pleasantly so, by the fact that it was for once Dash acting as the reminder that they were up here for a purpose. As one they ducked down into the upper quilting of the clouds, dropping into the cover of the foggy sheets. From here they could peer through to the earth beneath without themselves being seen. Below was the sharp landscape of the Foal Mountains’ snow-capped peaks with cave entrances and spidery paths just visible to their scanning eyes. The ridges and crevasses of the range were certainly desolate, far beyond any sizeable population, but with this came an imposing form of majesty. They slowed almost to glide, making a sweeping patrol over the craggy surface. Nothing, then more nothing and then microscopic forms appeared, slowly walking a fine trail. The line of ant-like ponies huddled against the cold in navy cloaks, hoods pulled up defiantly against the weather, making their way through an ice-filled gorge. Misty turned again to her leader, pointing out her discovery and receiving a nod in return, Dash’s keen senses having also picked them out.

‘Well looks like the reports were right for once’ Rainbow half-grinned. ‘Plus we won’t be weighed down by lugging any of this junk back with us’ she continued, roughly knocking her wingpony’s saddlebags.

Misty winced back from the impact, hearing the clink of vials from within. ‘Careful! You know how unstable this stuff can be!’

‘Whatever’ Rainbow scoffed, visibly repressing an urge to do a chicken impression, ‘best drop the lot at any rate. With any luck we’ll lure out any roosting bat-ponies and won’t have to search the caverns either. Race you down!’ she yelled, dropping immediately into a nigh vertical nosedive as she spoke.

‘Applebloom where y’ hidin at? asked her sister’s familiar accent.

Applejack’s intended receiver let the question hang in the air unanswered. It was a minor rebellion but a mildly satisfying one nonetheless.

‘C’mon y’ silly filly I know y’ just tryin to worry me.’

‘Quit y’ fussin I’m comin’ Applebloom bristled, hating the title of ‘silly filly’ with a vengeance, somehow made more annoying by the incessant heat. She stood up slowly, wanting to neither leave the limited shelter of the shade nor make any movement unless it was absolutely necessary, with the added mild satisfaction of making her sister wait. Stepping from the shrouded oven into the bright furnace beyond, she found Applejack clinging tightly to her own patch of shadow, still looking wrong in the absence of her trademark hat.

‘I thought I told y’ t’ keep an eye on the clock’ Applejack semi-seethed, ‘the train’ll be here soon.’

The younger sister sighed, not rising to the incentive to create a full blown argument. That would take so much effort that she could not be bothered to muster. Instead she gave an acquiescent shrug and then a nod, coming into line beside the older earth mare as they set off down the main street.

Quiet, deserted and still, not unusual bearing in mind the baking the town was receiving at the hooves of the midday sun, yet still eerie. The only shapes making the exertion to show that the place was not in fact dead were the glittering forms of soldiers acting as guards or on patrol. Their golden shells sent reflected light burning in all directions wherever they strode, looking like miniature shooting stars as they marched to and fro. ‘They’re here for everypony’s safety’ was the line usually used to explain their appearance everywhere, but their constant armed presence was still unnerving. Were they really necessary, particularly in a rural backwater like Appleloosa? The sisters found themselves forced to pass by one of these stern-faced groups, stepping in time in the opposite direction with spear points raised skywards, and Applebloom dropped her eyes trying to look anywhere except towards them.

A chocolate coloured earth stallion stood alone in the midst of a gang of gold-clad protectors, stumbling over muted words being reciprocated by coldly blunt mouth movements on the part of those that surrounded him. Her deaf gaze moved on, meeting a wall of purple irises all staring into her. The smiling visage of Princess Celestia was now as ever-present as her loyal forces, to be found on every street corner or in every building in posters and portraits, stoical yet caring wherever it was placed. ‘Better Together’ read the print coiled around the barricade of smiling alicorn heads on backgrounds of rising suns beneath cloudless heavens. Even where the paper faces were marked by dirt they still shone out, calmly watching over their domain. Celestia bore with her a mother’s look, much like that which had often decorated Granny Smith’s face. Finally hard boards clacked beneath their hooves as they stepped onto the dusty platform.

A storm of dust and snowflakes rose to meet her with each slowing wingbeat as she lightly hovered, touching down on the battered slope. Hooves came to rest on scorched earth, stark black against the surrounding powdery white. What encompassed the landing zone was a mess of craters, with acrid smoke rising from their softly smouldering depths, and crumpled shapes dotted amongst the broken chaos.

‘They never saw us coming’ Misty noted absently.

Rainbow nodded. ‘Reckon they were heading in there?’

Misty glanced, following the direction of her leader’s forehoof, her bright blue irises falling on a cavern entrance, itself set in a cliff face covered in charred impact points. She shrugged, considering the unmoving darkness within with no inclination to investigate further.

Not waiting for a real answer Rainbow made for the cave. ‘Let’s get this over with’ she muttered, mirroring her partner’s own unspoken apprehension as they entered the inner shadows. ‘It’s probably nothing but I’m not taking any more flack for not being thorough.’

Applebloom was again left staring into the emptiness of the middle-distance, following the tracks’ straight route across the baked-solid sands so far as to make the ground’s curvature clearly visible. It was an impressive sight, just like all the others in this artificially elongated day, but equally like the rest made deficient by overexposure. At least she was back in the shadow, ensconced under the platform’s awning, which was a delicious reprieve following the fiery gauntlet of main street. A light breeze had even chosen to pick up, thankfully removing the air’s staleness, even if at the same time it made breathing dirty through stirred dust. The crimson of imperial pendants, set flanking each of the station’s corners, fluttered in the soft wind, looking fluid as it ran through invisible currents.

The sisters shared the planks with a few blank others, equally moulded as mute statues by the shaded kiln, as well as stacked hillocks of luggage and cargo awaiting departure. Even with these settled populace however, the station remained distinctly empty. There were not many reasons of any form for a journey into the badlands, explaining the popular absence and the vacant expressions of those choosing to be passengers to nowhere. An elderly unicorn mare, turquoise mane paled by silvery grey ripples, coughed into her forehoof, succeeding the abrubt noise with violent expletives muttered under her breath. Everypony stood on edge, carrying with them a roughened visage.

A distant shriek, sharp as lightning, sounded far-off, heralding the end of tiresome inertia. Looking in the sound’s direction a darkened plume rose over the horizon, the second harbinger of the approaching train, its smokestack creeping into view above the yellow earth. Applebloom could not help but let out a relieved sigh, even though she was well aware that soon this would only mark a change from being bored waiting for the train to bored waiting in a carriage for its departure and then arrival. For now she would let her spirits be lifted, however briefly, and helped her sister in shouldering their luggage.

Where there had been a faraway shrill wail there was now the drowning rumble of thunder, rhythmically rising from the rails. Fresh sharp cries erupted from abused breaks, splitting ears with their tortured screams, as a fog of dust and steam rushed in to envelop the platforms. When this haze fell the dark engine materialised from within, hissing at its onlookers. Where there had been stillness chaos now reigned, as one hoard of passengers and freight leapt from the carriages, whilst a second smaller swarm tried to force their way on. The frantic blur of barely organised anarchy passed in an instant and Applebloom was swiftly propelled through the teeming mass, appearing in the foremost carriage opposite her sister and beside a window, with their bags stowed safely above them.

Their steps echoed to fill the gloomy tunnel, whilst their eyes struggled to pierce the space, irises becoming black as pupils grew to consume them. Mind tricks played on the edges of their vision forming grinning fangs and glowering faces from the stonework, whilst the running wind whistled between the ceiling’s stalactites, conjuring forth plaintive howls.

‘Buck this’ Rainbow swore, breaking the foreboding tone, ‘there’s nopony here.’ Even as she spoke however her ears twitched searchingly forward. ‘Hang on. Did you hear that?’

Misty heard nothing, but before she could say as much Dash had disappeared, galloping headlong into the shadows. ‘Wait!’ Her shout rang out, following her down the tunnel in pursuit. Almost immediately her progress slowed to a careful crawl as the floor became a minefield of fractured and fallen rock, obviously felled by their earlier assault. She picked her way forward, constantly re-checking her hoofing on the unstable surface which tried hardest to trip her. She rounded a corner and was met by an alien brightness at the end of the un-illuminated cave. Approaching the light through collapsed boulders she exited into a single vast crater, formed from a flattened cavern.

‘What were you even doing here anyway?’

Dash’s cracked voice was carried to Misty’s ears on the light gusts flowing around the jagged bowl, although its elusive speaker remained unseen.

‘Come on stay with me Shy. It’s not that bad. It’ll all be okay.’

The voice had gained a degree of feared desperation, whilst snow had begun to fall into the newly created crevasse.

‘No stay with me! Stay with me!’

Desperation ruptured into terrified cries and then ceased altogether. Misty stepped through the debris, gravel and ice crunching beneath her hooves. A streak of stark red, cutting a laceration across her route, caused her to falter in her tracks. Evidently the cave had not been entirely deserted when they had hit it. Dark smeared rocks paved her continued path. ‘Rainbow?’ No answer met her question. ‘Rainbow?’

A blue-suited shape sat crouched and bent over as it clutched a second pale yellow form, body shaking uncontrollably. Pink hair spilled amongst a rainbow mane which surrounded it, as if to guard it from the harsh greyness of surrounding the stone.

‘Rainbow?’ For a third time her question hung in the air, whilst she reached out to tap her leader’s shoulder.

A darkness passed before Misty’s vision and she found herself knocked over, back falling against the hard ground. Bolts of pain shot through her head, radiating from its back to sting her eyes and blur all site, whilst she could feel a bruise rising on her cheek. How did that happen? Her back felt cold and increasingly wet.

‘It’s all our fault!’

Rainbow’s voice seemed far away, indistinct and almost muddled, much like the swirling sky Misty found herself staring up at. Her forehooves went to her sides as she tried to get up, but found that she could not move. Confused eyes glided downward. Protruding through gaping punctures in her chest were a quartet of stalagmites, stained scarlet by the same fluid that was now spilling across her torn flight suit. ‘Oh’ was all her mind managed.

‘Shy… I’m so sorry.’

The darkness of the caves was returning to encroach upon Misty’s vision. Meanwhile feeling ebbed, including the pains she had been suffering, at the same time as the few lucid cares and concerns which had managed to surface within her. She was calm and floating, rocks becoming pillows and chills being lost to the wrappings of a warm quilt. The world faded. She was content.

As the train finally pulled from the station, quickly establishing its relentless pace, Applebloom’s gaze passed through the pane to watch as the world was flung away behind them. Beyond them was the unknown.

‘It’ll all be okay sugarcube’ the older sister said, although it was unclear to who the reassurance was actually addressed.

Orange eyes retreated from sun-scorched mountains and sands, meandering between rocks, passing back through the clearness of the carriage’s window and then closed lightly into blackness. The day had been long and now all she wanted to do was sleep the rest of it away.