Chapters What Remains of the Shattered World
Dust flew heavily through the air. The wind blew over the barren landscape and tugged at a worn brown duster and matching cowpony hat. Under all this clothing was an orange coat, and an apple cutie mark. Under the round brim of the hat lay a pair of determined green eyes. A pair of eyes looking for something lost.
She started up a hill. Remnants of white and black sand. What once was a checkerboard, but deteriorated over the years in the absence of his power.
She crested the top of the hill. In the distance she could see the faint silhouette of a very small town in the distance. She tilted her hat back down over her eyes to attempt to block the sand and began trudging down the hill and towards the town.
The hard ground, with a fine soft covering of sand, broke and cracked under her hooves as she cantered into the town. It was as basic as a town could get, one east to west street with buildings lining the north and south sides of it. They structures were decayed and in a serious state of disrepair, and the mare doubted they provided much protection against the elements. On the north side the town snuggled up against a shot rocky hill.
Any ponies that where outside gave her disdainful looks. Others went inside. It wasn't just because she was a stranger, it was what she was carrying. She was a gunslinger. A pair of twin barreled howdah pistols were strapped to her forelegs, and a musket easily twice the length of her torso lay on her back.
Not long after it all began, a griffin figured out they could use the charges from fireworks to launch projectiles at a lethal velocity, in the hopes of defending himself he made firearms. The notion spread quickly, and while many thought them evil, many others thought them a necessity. Though sometimes the ponies who thought them evil needed one, that's where the gunslingers come in. They provide service of some sort, getting rid of varmints, criminals et cetera. Or sometimes whatever or whoever the person with the cash wanted a hole in. Whether guns were good or evil were irrelevant in the eyes of the mare. They existed, and as such will not cease to exist, and will be used as long as they do.
She stood still for a moment, focusing her ears as they lay insider her hat. After a few moments she found what she was searching for. The sound of a honky tonk playing on a piano, a sound typically only found in one type of location. She headed towards the noise, hoping for a lead, after two years of searching, she was hoping for just one clue to lead her to what she was looking for: A tavern on the north side of town.
The buildings in the town blocked some of the sandstorm, but that didn't keep some sand from coming in when she walked through the double doors into the din of the local watering hole. She stood at the doors of the tavern, there were what appeared to be magical blasts decorating various furnishings and parts of the interior. As she started walking through, the conversations died one by one as ponies threw looks at her, either of disdain or curiosity. Some of the conversations resumed immediately after they paused, others kept trying to turn their eyes into the guns they so distrusted to shoot the newcomer.
The gunslinger payed them little heed as she made her way to the bar, where the barmaid sat. She was a unicorn, maybe in her early twenties, just old enough to barely remember the old world. The well armed mare tilted her hat back and sat upon a barstool. "We don't take to kindly to your kind around here" the bartender stated coldly.
"Ah can tell."
"Well what do you want."
"Equestria like it once was."
"I can't give you alcohol strong enough to make you believe that."
"But maybe you can give me some information. Ah'm lookin' fer ponies who used ta be heroes."
"All the heroes are dead."
"Maybe they are, don't keep me from lookin' though."
At that the bartender let her building irritation show, "Are you going to buy anything or am I going to have to kick you out?"
"I'll pay ya fer information, if ya can give it to me." The gunslinger reached her head back into one of the large pockets of the duster and retrieved a bag of bits, letting it jingle as she set it on the bar.
"So what information are you looking for?" She eyed the gunslinger skeptically.
"I'm looking for ponies that look like they should stick out in a crowd of millions, but don't."
"Sounds like a wild goose chase."
"Somepony has ta chase it."
"I don't think I'd remember a pony that won't stick out."
A young unicorn colt with a broom spoke up, "What about that mean flying pony who wouldn't stop crying? Well, feathered pony, she didn't fly too much."
That peaked the gunslingers interest. "Would she happen ta 'ave a yelluh coat, and a pink mane?"
"Yeah that was her!" the colt shouted happily.
"Would ya happen ta remember where she went?"
"No." The bartender spat out.
The gunslinger looked the bartender square in the eyes, "Ain't no use lyin' to me."
The unicorn seemed to recoil at the declaration. Then she solidified her nerves and met the gunslingers stare with one of her own. "I will not let you hunt that mare down."
"Ah'm gonna help her."
"Now who's lying? you're just going to gun her down as soon as you find her."
"Ah don't lie. Ah may shoot ponies, sometimes not asking as many questions as Ah should, but Ah don't lie. She was an old friend of mine before everything went ta shit. How many bits do I have to give ya, I'll give ya every last one if it'll help me get my friend back."
"your bits ain't ..." a loud crash interupted the bartenders dialogue, the piano stopped playing on an off key, and all conversations ceased. The cause of the disruption being the doors.
"Tax time," came the unmistakable gravelly voice of a diamond dog.
The orange mare glanced over her shoulder to see three tall creatures shamble in. Each wielding a glowing crystal blaster from the war. They where walking up to the patrons of the bar having bits handed into their paws from unhappy, and definitely unwilling hooves. The gunslinger slid her bag of bits back into a pocket on the duster.
Finally one of them made it to the bar and pointed their crystal at the bartender, at which the unicorn levitated a bag of bits from under the counter and placed it in front of the diamond dog. "That all? Give more!"
"I d-don't have any more." The crystal glowed a bit brighter. "I swear I don't have any more, please, show mercy."
It was at this time the diamond dog took interest in the heavily equipped mare. "You, give bits."
"Enope."
The diamond dog enraged by this, reached his empty paw out, the crystal glowing sickly purple, "Give!"
Instead of following the requests of the thug she ducked under the creatures arms, then standing up on her rear legs, placed the barrels of one of her howdah pistols under the diamond dogs chin, and before he could do anything, used her other hoof to press one of the triggers.
A ball of fire and smoke erupted and engulfed the diamond dogs face, but what really did the damage was the slew of lead balls that flew through his skull liquefying the brain instantly. Some of the pellets made it all the way through, splattering liquid remnants of brain mixed with blood against the ceiling.
As the diamond dog fell the mare turned to the other two thugs, one had his back to her, with no pony in direct vicinity. The other diamond dog was turning towards her with a glowing crystal about to be aimed her way. Unfortunately the one about to fire was right behind a pony that would be caught in the crossfire should she engage. After a nearly instantaneous calculation, she launched another slew of smoke, fire, and lead at the diamond dog with it's back turned, all nine pellets leaving holes in the creatures back. It then fell to the floor and began twitching. The gunslinger quickly dove out of the way of the blast from the last living diamond dog.
The blast struck the bar sending alcohol and broken glass raining on the cowering bartender.
The gunmare used the mental map of the place she made in her stay here to attempt to figure out the safest angle of attack on the last diamond dog. The diamond dog was almost entirely surrounded by ponies, meaning that the mare would have to get in closer than she would have liked. She ducked under a table to get closer. Damn she thought to herself, there was no way to safely get close enough to minimize collateral to ponies, she was going to have to rush forward and hope for the best.
As the diamond dog started to level the crystal at her, she bolted towards her opponent at a curve in the hopes that it would confuse the dog enough to not be struck. The dog blasted to the gunslinger's left missing entirely. She dove at the diamond dog as he released another shot, this one piercing the mare's duster and singing her right hindleg. The momentum carried her, and she pressed the muzzles of her other howdah pistol into the bottom of his ribcage. Pressing the trigger unleashed the lead projectiles into the chest, tearing upward through lungs and heart and leaving in a spray of blood that rained down harmlessly.
Her momentum caused her to tackle the near dead diamond dog bowling it over, her body then rolling a few more times off of him into a lump of pain. She struggled to reach the flask of whiskey she kept in her duster, and once finding it opened it and poured it over her burn. She bit dents into the metal when the whiskey struck flesh. she finished pouring out the alcohol and put it back into her inside duster pocket. She then fetched some bandages from out of her duster side pockets. she was wrapping her hindleg with a bandage when the shock wore off of the barmare.
"What in Tartarus did you do!?"
"Ah solved yer thug problem."
"No! They're going to get revenge for this. These dogs were part of a bigger pack, and they're going to come and kill us all now!"
"Well how 'bout this, Ah finish solving yer thug problem, and you tell me about the yelluh pegasus."
The gunslinger and the bartender made eye contact and had an argument only they could hear, only they could know about. The bartender yielded, "Fine."
After this agreement the gunslinger began the process of cleaning her guns. She took the brush out of her duster and holding it in her mouth swabbed the barrels, then flipped the brush over and used the wire at the other end to clean out the pinholes connecting the powder pan to the inside of the breech. "Tell me how to find the rest of 'em," the mare stated before beginning to load her pistols.
"They're in a cutie-theif camp due north of here."
The mare held a powder horn in the crook of her foreleg and used her teeth to uncork it. She them poured the appropriate powder down the barrel, then using her teeth she extracted the fixed ramrod and pushed it down the barrel, before tamping down the powder with her hoof. "How far," she asked before once again using her teeth to extract the rod.
"Not much more than a mile, pretty much on the other side of that hill. You can't miss it."
The gunslinger put a small bundle of cloth full of lead shot down the barrel, before once again tamping it down. She then poured the appropriate amount of powder in the flash pan before locking the steel striker in place. She repeated the process for the next two barrels. The last barrel she didn't shoot, had the flash pan open with no powder left from her tumble, so she replaced the powder in that as well, Also checking the musket, and replacing the powder that had fallen out of that as well. The day was almost over, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she could really feel the pain of the burn and the fatigue of the miles she'd traveled today. "Do ya have an open room?"
"Yeah, upstairs, any room you want, we don't get many travelers."
"How much?" Said the gunslinger.
"Excuse me?"
"How much would a room cost."
"Oh, uh. twenty bits."
The orange mare reached into her duster and grabbed the sack of bits and tossed it to the unicorn. "keep the change"
The unicorn regained some semblance of professionalism, "My name is Wet Whistle, what is your's?"
"Applejack. Nice ta meet ya."
Author's Note
Woo! Trying to start writing again. I had this idea pop in my head and it had to get out.
What Remains of the Shattered World
Kindness: Ch1 "Dogs of war"
Applejack chose a room with a north facing window. The moon was full tonight, if more Diamond dogs were coming tonight, they would have no trouble, unless she saw them first. To the north of the town was a field of rocky outcroppings. with boulders, and piles of rocks that would easily provide cover for a firefight. But are too dispersed to make the terrain difficult to get through.
The room itself was pretty basic. it had a bed, a set of sheets with a blanket, a lantern, a small table, a set of drawers for storing personal belongings, and a chair. Her duster was laying on the bed, the musket was leaning up against the window. Her pistols were still strapped to her forelegs.
Applejack was currently sleeping in the chair next to the window. She was tired, after she helped remove the bodies from the bar and cleaned up the blood, refusing help from Wet Whistle, digging graves for them, giving them a proper burial she was indeed deserving some rest.
She was having a peaceful dreamless sleep, the best she could hope fo anymore r.
"APPLEJACK!"
Said mare quickly roused from her slumber, glanced around her surroundings, then made brief eye contact with the barmare who shouted her name. She then looked out the window towards the north.
Once she blinked the bleariness out of her eyes she looked out the window. After a few moments she spotted a group of five diamond dogs, three regular sized, one distinctly larger than the others, and one pup.
Applejack grabbed her musket and aimed it out the window. The dogs were currently a little over a hundred yards away. Just beyond the max range of her musket. As the dogs continued towards the town they wandered in range of the gunslinger, yet the mare did not open fire. The pup would be too small a target at this distance. The average sized ones would be easy targets, but she wanted to hedge her bets as much as possible. The last one might be big, but a .75 caliber ball is plenty for just about anything.
Eighty yards, perfect. Applejack put the front bead on the center of the big ones chest. Slowly, steadily, the gunslinger pulled the trigger. A loud boom shook the building, and a cloud of smoke obscured the window. She immediately bolted over to the room next door.
_-/|-_
Five hours ago
"Why do you want two rooms?"
"Ah'll pay fer both of 'em."
"But why?"
"Ya said the encampment they were in is due north right?"
Wet Whistle nodded.
"If they come ta see why the others haven't come back yet during the night, Ah'll have ta shoot out the window. Which'll tell them exactly where I am, so Ah'll be able ta switch rooms and shoot It'll only work once, but it'll give me another shot from safety."
Applejack took a look out the window, "Ah'll shoot at 'em when they're near those rocks, hopefully they'll hide behind them. It will hopefully buy me time for another shot before Ah have ta face 'em."
_-/|-_
Applejack looked out the other room's window, the large diamond dog lay in a puddle of blood, unmoving. The remaining diamond dogs were shooting at the other window, and trying to hide behind the rocks. She began the process of loading her musket, and in thirty seconds it was ready to fire.
The dogs no longer moved casually they began running quickly, trying to hide as much as possible. One of the remaining adult diamond dogs decided to run through an open clearing to their next cover. Applejack aimed as carefully as she could in the alloted time and fired. Her aim was a little off, and hit the dog in the stomach. A lethal wound for sure, but not a quick death.
At this point she wouldn't have time to reload and stop them from entering the town, she set the musket down against the window, sprinted out the door and stopping only for a moment to tell Wet Whistle, "Ah hope you've made yer decision, 'cause yer time's up."
She then proceeded down the stairs and into the bar area, leaving through the kitchens back door and behind a rock. Peeking out from behind her cover she looked out into the rocky outcroppings. Upon seeing one of the diamond dogs, she jumped towards it and galloped to get it into firing range with her howdah pistols.
The diamond dog noticed her coming and began to turn towards her. Applejack leaped towards the diamond dog pointing one of her pistols at the him, unleashing both barrels of leaden death into his torso, the recoil from the guns spinning her around before she landed hind legs first onto the falling diamond dog.
She climbed off of the corpse and moved away from the rising cloud of smoke. Moving deeper into the rock formations. Keeping herself low to the ground, moving from rock to rock trying to stay in as much cover as possible. Moving next to a tall stone she looked around carefully.so carefully she nearly jumped out of her fur when she heard paws touch down behind her. She turned to look at an adult diamond dog low to the ground in a cloud of dust. Ah forgot to look up... again.
The gunslinger started to turn around right when the diamond dog's crystal weapon started to emanate a sickly purple glow. She realized quickly, that she was far too slow. Applejack was halfway turned around towards the diamond dog when a knife flew threw the air and embedded itself in the dogs neck. Immediately after the gunslingers world turned bright purple.
_-/|-_
Five hours ago
Applejack sat in her room with her musket, looking out the window, Wet Whistle hadn't left yet. "Ya gonna help?" She inquire of the bar mare.
"With what?" The unicorn seemed confused at the question.
"Fighting back, or are ya just going ta sit back till it's too late like most ponies?" This caused a stir in the mare. She leaned back as if offended, but her face didn't hide the consideration.
She leaned back forward, a pensive look on her face. "What would I even fight with? I have no weapons."
"Course ya do. Ya got a kitchen in here right? It probably has sharp knives. It would be what Ah would use if Ah was a unicorn, a whole lot less loading than guns. Or a shovel, a pitchfork. Anything sharp or heavy can be used as a weapon. Ya just have ta have ta be willin' ta use it."
_-/|-_
Ten minutes ago
"APPLEJACK!"
Said mare quickly roused from her slumber, glanced around her surroundings, then made brief eye contact with the barmare who shouted her name. She then looked out the window towards the north.
Applejack grabbed her musket and aimed it out the window. Wet Whistle stared at the mare, admiring her focus. Her nerves consuming more and more as she saw the mare before her hold a weapon, about to kill. Ready to kill, with not a care outside her visible determination to do so. No remorse decorated her features, only cold calculations and patience.
She was broken from this stupor by an explosion of powder. Coming back into reality just to have an orange blur rush past her.
Wet Whistle went to the door of the next room over and watched Applejack load the next round. She could only stare in wonderment at the orange mare's movements. It was easy to see the motions drilled into the very being of the gunslinger as she reloaded her musket.
Soon she was awoken, once more from her trance, by a boom rattling her bones. She watched the mare set her gun down next to the window. Then she rushed out the door stopping only to quickly say, "Ah hope you've made yer decision, 'cause yer time's up," before she rushed down the stairs as sickly purple blasts entered through the window.
Wet Whistle trotted down the stairs. She wanted to hate the gunslinger, but every action the mare did seemed so genuine, so Honest. Despite her job requiring her to be heartless, she seemed so selfless. She could have just pushed her gun into my face and forced me to talk. We both know I would have told her immediately. She could have left the bodies of the diamond dogs in the bar. No, she gave them as proper a burial as exists anymore. She then remembered all that Applejack had told her since she offered to help. She couldn't deny it any longer, she knew the gunslinger actually wanted to help. She knew that she could help back, and keep her town safe. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed the biggest, nastiest knife she could find in a hurry. Then she rushed out the back door and blindly into the rock formations out back. She saw one as it dropped down behind Applejack. She took aim and carried the knife with her telekineses as the crystal started to glow. She pushed the knife all the way into his neck, before he let loose a magic blast point blank at the gunslinger.
_-/|-_
It took Applejack a few moments for the purple to fade from her vision. The near miss leaving her a bit more than a little disoriented. Once her vision returned to her she decided to retake her surroundings. The diamond dog lay on the ground, squirming with a paw to the gushing wound in his neck. The movements where slowing and becoming erratic,
Looking over to where the knife came from laid her eyes upon Wet Whistle, a bloodied knife floating in her magic. She stood there, frozen stiff, eyes locked on the crimson coated weapon. A bit of movement in Applejacks peripheral caught her attention. It was the young diamond dog pointing a crystal at Wet Whistle.
"Look out!"
The stupefied mare, Glanced up at Applejack, then around. Seeing the diamond dog she jumped behind a nearby rock as the dogs crystal began to glow. Applejack started to creep closer while the dog was focusing on the bar mare. The crystal kept growing brighter, much brighter than it should have. Applejack quickly realized what was about to happen, and bolted towards Wet Whistle. "Move!" she yelled.
The bar mare looked around, but didn't move. Looking back to the rapidly approaching mare in confusion. Too late for her, she realized that the gunslinger wasn't slowing down. Wet Whistle had no time to react as she was tackled by Applejack.
Looking over the gunslingers shoulder she saw the rock she was hiding behind engulfed in a massive purple beam that tore through it and any other rocks as it continued it's path out into the desert. Accompanied by a loud rumble that she could feel in her bones.
Applejack couldn't hear it over the loud sound of the blast, but she knew the pup was screaming. She's heard it once before, and it will never leave her nightmares.
The two mares lay in there dirt till the beam stopped. "Are ya okay?" Asked the gunslinger as she got off of the bar mare.
"Yeah, I think so," she answered as Applejack helped her off the ground, "What about that diamond dog?" She asked becoming aware that she was out in the open.
Applejack winced and shuddered, "After one of those, he won't be alive."
"What why?" she said looking over.
She looked over to what was left of the pup, she gasped and covered her mouth with a hoof. The young diamond dog lay on the ground, face contorted in pain, eyes unseeing. It's fur had turned white, and the skin wrinkled along the face and joints, while tightly hugging the bones, ribs clearly visible. As if the dog had been starved for months, and aged tenfold. "Wha... wha." Wet Whistle barely managed to stutter out.
"Those crystal weapons, they allow creatures without innate magical ability to cast beams of magic. However, they use the casters life force. If you use it too much, or lose control, it will kill you, and leave a corpse like that. Just as demented as the Dark King who made it."
"So what now?"
"Now, I hope for a dreamless sleep. Then clean this mess up in the morning," Applejack stated before heading back to the inn.
Wet Whistle stood there, looking at the death and destruction around her. To the dead bodies, the rocks now missing chunks, or just plain missing, and the bloodied knife lying on the ground. It was several minutes before she could tear herself away from all the information she was taking in, but failing to comprehend.
She made it into the inn, and went upstairs to check on Applejack. She was cleaning her musket. A cold expression on her face. "How do you do it?"
The gunslinger looked up from her task, "Do what?"
"Kill so easily, so many. Just one, and I froze. It hurts, thinking about what I've done. How do you do it, make it not hurt?"
"You don't. It always hurts, and won't stop. At least Ah hope not. Ah'd hate not feeling more than the hurt. Because when it hurts, Ah still know Ah'm a pony. Sometimes you need to do it, it's the worst when you find out you didn't need to and it's too late."
At this point Applejack had finished cleaning and loading her musket. "Ah'm going to go to bed now, see you in the morning."
Author's Note
I experimented a bit with flashbacks/timeskips in this chapter. Please tell me what you think.
What Remains of the Shattered World
Kindness: Ch2 "Good Morning"
A pair of mares traversed through the woods, "Ah appreciate yer help Tracker" Stated Applejack, "But Ah don't need it." Yes Ah do.
"Ha, no way you could do this with just those matchlocks." Replied a brash pegasus with a mustard yellow coat and a cutie mark of hoof prints. Her navy eyes piercing through not only her red mane, but through the orange mares fibs.
In a fit of control, the gunslinger asked "Why do ya choose ta help somepony who can't control her lies?"
"Your eyes."
Upon hearing this Applejack gazed quizzically at the pegasus before she continued, "Your eyes, They loose their color when you lie. Also, when looking at you, you look like you should stand out in any crowd, but if I don't focus on you, you don't seem to stand out at all. Your lies are even easier to forget, but your honest moments are easily remembered."
"Ah don't ever lie." Ah wish that were still true.
The pegasus mare rolled her eyes and they continued on in relative silence. Before long they came up on a small camp.
They hid behind some trees and looked into it, gaging the enemy. "Ah can do this on my own."
"Oh please, you can only shoot a matchlock once, so with two of them you only have two shots before a long reload. With this" She held up a crystal , "I can shoot this as much as I want."
Please let me say it, she looks weaker after each fight "Whatever." Let me tell her!
The camp was full of thugs. These thugs had been terrorizing a nearby town. Applejack and Tracker had been hired to get rid of them.
Tears threatened to fall from the gunslingers eyes as she struck a match and lit the wicks on the matchlocks. She then poured powder in the flash pans. Applejack set one of the matchlocks on the ground and held another up to her shoulder. Carefully she aimed at a thug in the camp, then looked over to Tracker and nodded upon making eye contact. Looking back down the barrel of her musket she fired at a thug in the camp, dropping him. Immediately afterwards beams started to fly into the camp.
Applejack set down her spent matchlock and picked up the other one. She took aim and fired upon the next thug she saw. Having depleted her weapons she gathered them up and ran from her position, as the large cloud of smoke was anything but inconspicuous. Once she was satisfied with her new position she set down her guns and began reloading them. After loading the barrels she advanced the wicks and poured in more powder. lifting up the rifle to her shoulder she took aim at the camp, looking for any remaining targets. Tracker landed next to her, "You're too slow, there are only a couple left. I bet I can get them both in a single blast."
Tracker trotted from behind the tree, and held the crystal up towards the ponies bringing their own matchlocks to their shoulders.
Her crystal began to glow, "No, Wait!" Why now?
The crystal's light increased to nearly blinding levels. Applejack, stood there, unable to do anything but watch. Soon Tracker's face contorted into an expression of pure agony, and a scream. Not even a second after the scream started the beam launched. The deafening sound of the blast couldn't drown out the scream.
Applejack continued to stare as the pegasus's skin grew taught around her bones. Ribs and joints slowly, but far to quickly, became more and more visible. Color drained from her body. Her wings snapped out from her sides, contorting in ways that could only be considered unnatural angles.
The screaming only ended when the beam had stopped. The pegasus then fell limply to the ground. Pained expression permanently plastered upon her mummified face.
Applejack ran to the body of her fallen friend, and screamed. As she screamed the world started to shake...
_-/|-_
And the world shook into a blurry wooden room, a room belonging to the tavern. The shaking belonging to Wet Whistle. "You were screaming in your sleep." She said. A concerned look adorning her features.
"Ah tend ta do that from time ta time."
"Nightmares?"
"If only ah were so lucky."
Applejack tossed the covers off of her sat up. From her new upright position she brought her fore hooves up and rubbed her eyes. Once here eyes were clear she glanced out the window. The sky was dark, just beginning to show the first signs of light. The sun would be rising in about an hour.
She got up out of the bed then stretched and popped away whatever soreness she could.
Wet Whistle stood there awkwardly untill she mustered up the words, "Are you okay?"
Applejack looked at the bar mare, letting her gaze into the gunslingers green eyes. It gave Wet Whistle her answer, more than words could ever hope to.
The bar mare opened her mouth to speak but no words found their way out . She let out a small nod and then walked out of the room to perform what duties she had in this dried up settler town.
Applejack made her way to the small bathroom included with the room. She stepped into the bath and turned the water nob. There was no hot water, likely because whatever rune or enchantment that would have heated the water has fallen into disrepair. It's a miracle that a town like this even has water, no doubt due to some patchwork system.
The cold water filled the tub, slowly encompassing the orange mare. She let out a sigh as the water dulled the aches and pains from her body. Soon the bath was full and she turned off the faucet. She sat there there, still, for a few minutes to let the water chill away any remaining aches.
She then began scrubbing herself, kneading her coat and tired muscles. Trying to wash away the dirt and blood of the previous day. The physical blood at least, some blood stains will never wash away.
She took in a deep breath before plunging her head underwater. After a few seconds submerged she brought her head up above the water and began with rubbing the water out of her eyes. She then ran her hooves down her mane.
_-/|-_
After the bath Applejack went to her coat and saddlebags and emptied the contents onto the bed. She had plenty of powder, and plenty of shot for her howdah pistols, and plenty of balls for her musket. There was a folded piece of paper with a drawing of the Elements of Harmony. She had one spare flint, Normally she carried more, but she'd been wearing through them and didn't think to replenish her stock last time she met an arms merchant.
She continued on to check her matchbox, a little low, but plenty for now. Looking a her travel rations she though I'll have to get some more food before I leave here.
Her eyes finally settled on a slightly beat up harmonica. She picked up the small musical instrument, before pulling it to her chest in a hug and whispering "Thank you."
Afterwards she continued checking all of her other odds and ends before placing them back in their appropriate places. That complete she headed downstairs where she was met with Wet Whistle serving a few patrons breakfast. "Good morning, would you like some breakfast?" The barmare asked.
"Let me clean up the mess Ah made last night, then Ah'll consider takin' ya up on that offer."
_-/|-_
Applejack strode into the tavern, dirty, soaked with sweat, and wishing she had waited on that bath. She wasn't going to go wasting water, so she was just going to have to deal with it 'till the next opportunity to bathe.
She walked up to a table setting her hat upon it and then sitting down. She let out a sigh and leaned back. Looking around the tavern was empty. Wet Whistle walked up, "You ready for something to eat?"
"That'd be nice, thank ya kindly."
As Applejack sat there in the quiet room, with only faint sounds coming from the kitchen, she had nothing but her thoughts. Thoughts of her friends, if they where even alive.
She had seen many ponies die since the collapse of Equestria. No small number of those deaths by her own hooves, but also multiple times ponies dieing of everyday things, such as sickness, accidents, age. There was no guarantee that all of her friends were still alive. Not to mention, she no longer had her element on her. It could be anywhere in Equestria, and no telling about the other elements.
She knew she needed to finish up helping the ponies here with their problems, so she could get on after Fluttershy. The longer she took, the farther the once shy pony would get from her.
It was on these thoughts of the yellow pegasus that Wet Whistle came out from the kitchen with a plate of eggs and hash browns. Her magic flickered, and the plate didn't float as steadily as one would normally expect from a unicorn, before noisily clanking down onto the table.
Applejack's trained eyes notices, and she had to double check. "Can ya hold yer hoof out fer me?"
She looked at the gunslinger quizzically before slowly raising her hoof out. Just as the orange mare suspected, it was shaking, completely unsteady. "Are ya okay?" Applejack said before taking a bite out of her breakfast.
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"
The gunslinger gestured towards the other side of the table, "Sit," She said in between mouthfuls of food.
One the bartender had sad down Applejack swallowed, "Yer hooves are shakin', and yer magic's unsteady. Ah've seen it enough times ta recognize it." she took another bite of food as Wet Whistle sat there uncomfortably, "Talking about it'll help. Trust, me."
Wet Whistle stared at Applejack, the gunslingers gaze bore into her soul. She chewed her bottom lip, if only to buy her some time. Eventually she relented. "Okay." She blurted out.
Her head low, the barmare wondered where to even begin, "How do you do it?"
"Do what?" Applejack asked out of formality, she knew exactly what Wet Whistle was asking about.
"Kill, and not become an nervous wreck?"
"No idea," The barmare seemed to brake a little inside, "It is always terrible, eventually, if you keep doing it, you become one big ball of pain. When I first started, I was still under a curse from Discord."
Wet Whistle's eye widened. She opened her mouth to speak when the front door opened. Both ponies turned to look upon the newcomer.
He wore a torn up denim jacket, and a worn out cowpony hat with a brim that sagged down over his eyes. Wet Whistle spoke up, "Oh, Swift, I forgot you were showing up today. I can afford a bit more this week, let me get the bits."
"Yer a merchant right?" Asked Applejack.
"Yes'm," Replied the worn out looking pony.
"Ya wouldn't happen ta have flints fer a flintlock would'ya?"
"I think I might have one or two in the cart. Follow me."
Applejack took a bite of her hash browns and put on her hat before following the merchant outside. Once outside she saw a cart laden with food, booze, and other odds and ends.
With her friends fresh on the gunslingers mind, she pulled out the piece of paper unfolded it and asked, "Would ya have happened ta see anything like these in yer travels."
After a few moments Swift lifted his head out of his cart, a small bag which clattered when he moved dangling from his mouth. Upon looking at the drawing he let out a hmm, "I've heard about them, but only a story from another merchant," Swift said, "Said he found one of those necklaces. Said that after he found it, a pony wearing a black cloak came to him in the middle of the night and offered him an extremely large sum of bits."
"That all?" Applejack asked as Wet whistle came out the door with her own bag of bits.
"The gist of it."
"Well, how much fer the flints?"
He reached over to the cart and picked up the bag upturning it, three pieces of shaped flint fell into his other hoof. he hmm'd as he looked at it, "Ten bits for the lot."
Applejack reached into her duster and pulled out a pouch of bits handing it over to the stallion. He looked at the bag and said, "This is far too much."
"Information has value." Applejack said taking the flints and depositing them in her saddlebag.
Wet Whistle approached the merchant and presented him with a sack of bits, "This should cover the normal shipment, and a bit extra, and two bottles of whiskey if you have it."
Swift took the bag and weighed it in his hoof before nodding and setting it down in his cart. He then walked around to the other side and began pulling out bags of foodstuff followed by two large bottles of whiskey.
"Thank you," Wet Whistle said as she lifted up two bags in her magic and began walking into the tavern. Applejack thanked swift as well before picking up a bag of potatoes and following the barmare. A look over her shoulder let her see a few other townsponies coming towards the merchant.
Once Applejack finished helping Wet Whistle with the food she knew she couldn't put it off any longer. After going upstairs to retrieve her musket she said to Wet Whistle, "Ah'll be checking out that camp now. If'n Ah don't come back by tomorrow mornin', Ah'm sorry."
Applejack adjusted her hat and walked out the door, then around the building towards the diamond dog camp.
Author's Note
I'm finding it far easier to get 2,000 word chapters, I used to have to struggle to get chapters over a thousand words. Now 2k words is just natural.
What Remains of the Shattered World
Kindness: ch3 "Failing Again"
Applejack wove around the rocks occasionally slowing to adjust the strap on her musket. According to Wet Whistle the camp wasn't far. It took less than an hour for the gunslinger to crest the rocky hill that overlooked what remained of the cutie thief camp.
She stood there for a while just looking down at the improvised diamond dog settlement. She had wondered how the diamond dogs who took residence in a cutie thief camp manged to get weapons from the Dark King's slave army. It was obvious now, the camp had crystals black as a starless night rising out of the desert soil.
Torn and tattered banners wafted lazily in the desert breeze, along with the aged cloth walls of the tents. The tents themselves were originally positioned so that they resembled the equal sign that adorned the flank of every soldier in the cutie thief army. Several of the tents had collapsed leaving only a pile of sticks and tattered cloth. All the tents except for one were identical, or at least were at one time. In the center of one of the rows was a larger tent, what once would have served as the sleeping quarters for whoever was in command, while also serving as center of operations.
She sat there, just looking at the camp for no less than half an hour. She saw no movement during this time. Which can mean a few things, all the diamond dog activity is underground, or there where no diamond dogs currently in the camp. She didn't want to assume that there wasn't a large number of dogs waiting for her. However, the ground in this area typically isn't suited for tunneling.
Applejack decided that waiting wasn't going to yield any answers, she was going to have to go in and face whatever is in that camp. She stood up, adjusted her musket, then trekked towards the camp.
As she got closer to the camp she saw many sun bleached skeletons who died in battle. Applejack let loose a prayer to Celestia, wherever she may be. Sadness leaked into her soul, knowing they died for no reason, and she couldn't bury them all. Which was even truer now that she finally had a lead on one of her friends.
It was a strange feeling walking upon a site of battle. Growing up she had never even known of any existing battlegrounds, now she can't help but come across them frequently. The damage to the landscape, the memories, the stories, and the scars in ponies minds will all go on for many generations. Applejack's bones will have long since turned to dust by the time this fades to legend, and things may go back to proper peace.
As she encroached upon the diamond dog settlement, she tried to go from cover to cover behind the pillars and outcroppings of black crystals.
She approached the edge of the camp on the outside wall of a tent on the end she looked down the center of the encampment. She couldn't see anything, nor could she hear anything. If she wasn't informed otherwise she would likely assume this camp to be completely abandoned.
She moved to the door of the first tent and opened it just enough to look in. The tent had the remains of cots and a rusted through coffee pot sat on a rickety old table.
She then went to the next few tents to see similar arrangements. When she went to the middle tent across from the commander's tent, it was full of aged, crates. She couldn't tell if this one was empty just by peaking in the door. She looked over her shoulder and entered the tent. She crept around the boxes, peaked around the corners slowly making her way through the tent. She found no diamond dogs, but there was a few old carts, and various other aged supplies.
The rest on this row where also empty outside of dilapidated beds, collapsing footlockers, and rotted tables, as well as the first half of the other row.
When she looked into the commanders tent, a lone aged diamond dog sat at a dilapidated old desk, a weathered flat cap on his head covering his eyes as he gently snored. Behind him sat a large pile of bits, gemstones, and various other valuable or shiny objects.
She then moved on to check the rest of the camp, which also turning up empty. She also hadn't seen any evidence of tunneling so it was a safe bet that the old dog was the only one home.
She trotted back to the door of the larger tent. She peaked inside and the lone diamond dog was still asleep. She sat outside the door for a few minutes trying to figure out a plan of action. Shaking her head she walked in, "Howdy!"
The diamond dog grunted before tilting his hat back on his head. "Who you?" He grunted.
"Muh name's Applejack."
"Why you here?" He said leaning forward over the desk.
"Business"
"Business?" The old dog said gazing upon the orange mare before him, "You gunslinger, what business you have?"
The dog looked around, noticing the lack of other dogs, "Where sons?" Panic rising in his voice, "You kill."
No use lying "Eyup."
Rage exploded on his face, "Then you die."
He grabbed a crystal from the desk with the intention of blasting Applejack. He was too slow, applejack lifted up her leg in little more time than it takes to blink and fired both barrels of one of her howdah pistols, straight into the diamond dog's chest knocking him over backwards.
With him, this tribe of diamond dogs ceased to exist. She stared at the now dead diamond dog, She knew she was going to have a lot to think about when she was burying this one. As she picked up the lifeless corpse she remembered back to before everything happened. When problems where easiest solved by talking things out instead of violence.
Deep down she wished she could have talked out of this situation, but she knew that it was impossible with how she dealt with this problem from the start. Another failure on her part. It was just so easy to just solve all of her problems with a blast of fire, smoke, and leaden death.
A deep feeling of lethargy engulfed her by the time she set down the corpse of the diamond dog down just outside the camp and then went back to look for a shovel in the camp.
The one she found was as to be expected. It had been left in the camp from when it was occupied, the shovel head had a layer of rust, and the handle was splintered and beginning to crack. It was all she could gt a hold of, and it would have to do.
She only managed to dig a few feet down before the shovel handle broke. She decided that the depth would have to do. She gently placed him in the grave and used the shovel head to scrape sand back to cover him. She stuck a worn plank of wood retrieved from the camp as a makeshift headstone and sent a prayer to Celestia to forgiver her for failing again.
Author's Note
this was originally suppposed to be chapter two, but as I was writing it it just kept growing till I decided to split it up.
Then of course I kept having trouble getting this chapter finished. I'm not very pleased with how the end of this chapter turned out. Not particularly happy with how short this chapter was either, but I do like where I cut it, so i can't complain too much.
What Remains of the Shattered World
Kindness: CH4 "Into the Sunset"
Applejack had managed to combine the three carts in the supplies tents to make a single usable cart. The wheels squeaked awfully because all the grease had long since dried away. Which also made it harder to pull than it should have. However, it was easier and faster than taking all the valuables and bits back in her saddlebags.
The sun was on it's way toward the horizon by the time she made it back to the town with the valuables in tow. She unhitched herself from the wagon and let loose a whistle that most of the town would be sure to hear. Applejack saw several faces peek out windows or look from their porches and their faces light up.
She walked up to the bar and poked her head past the swinging double doors, "Ah got everythin' they stole from y'all," the gunslinger spoke as soon as she laid eyes upon the bartender.
Wet Whistle walked out of the bar and gazed upon the cart loaded with all the valuables and her eyes widened.
"How much fer a glass of whiskey?" Applejack asked as Wet Whistle walked by her towards the cart.
Wet Whistle stopped and looked over her shoulder, "I think You've more than payed for it already, take as much as you like."
"Thank ya."
Applejack nodded her head and walked into the bar. She grabbed a half empty bottle of whiskey and a glass. She sat down and poured herself a drink as the sounds of all the townsponies wafted in through the doorway. She took a swig from her glass and let out a relaxed sigh as the warmth went down her throat.
It always feels good to help ponies. Is what she used to believe a long time ago. The feeling is muted when help involves bloodshed. She idly wondered if once she found Fluttershy, the yellow mare would manage to keep the gunslinger from causing more death. She looked to her whiskey glass, which offered no answers. It did however offer whiskey, which she took another drink of.
Before she knew it the glass was empty and she had to pour herself a new glass. She let this one sit in the glass a little while before drinking it. She had been searching for four years now, it was only just now she had found so much as a lead to one of her old friends.
She slid her glass and the bottle to the side of the table and laid down a worn map of Equestria. If it wasn't for Discord's curse finding any one of them would be relatively easy. Most of them would go to someplace that fits them personally. Rainbow Dash would of course been an exception, a free spirit such as her would be nearly impossible to find without a lead, and as fast as she is, impossible to track. However, from what she heard Fluttershy and potentially the rest of her friends are still at least partially still afflicted.
Rarity in her paranoid, greedy state, would likely avoid others at all costs.
Rainbow Dash would be either on a cloud she is hallucinating to be Cloudsdale. However, that cloud could be anywhere. If she had broken free, and it's quite possible that she would be one of the first one to break free, Applejack figured, she could be flying around anywhere, and everywhere, the only way to meet her is by complete chance.
Twilight would no doubt be in a library. Reading, Applejack always made sure to stop anywhere along the way with a still standing libraries.
If Pinkie Pie where to break herself from the curse she would be easy to find. Just follow the smiles, and Pinkie will be in the center.
However, the first clue she found about Fluttershy made no sense to the gunslinger. Applejack could not figure out why she would be way out here. She could see Twilight going through here, there was supposedly a very large library to the west of this town, In a small city called Hoof Springs. The gunslinger had heard rumors of a large number of books being purchased for that library. A very likely place for Twilight.
Applejack sat there, taking a sip from her glass trying to think, but coming to no conclusions. It was when she was in this state that Wet Whistle walked up beside her. "Hey."
The gunslinger looked over to Wet Whistle. "Thank you, so much," Wet Whistle added.
"Ah believe we had a deal," Applejack stated.
"Yes, the pegasus. She went West., almost due west, a hair north." Applejack looked at the map.
"How long ago?"
"About a week before you showed up."
"Anything ya could tell me would be extremely useful. Down to her coat or eye color. How she exactly acted." Applejack asked before looking back to the map, Hoof springs was the only thing in that direction before miles of empty nearly inhospitable desert.
"Well like we said earlier, she was crying. she told me to go away, before she could hurt me more. She was clearly the only one being hurt though. She came into the bar, bought some food, refilled her water and left, Her coat was a grayish yellow, I don't remember anything else."
Applejack could find no other place on the map for Fluttershy to have gone with the direction she left. The only place west of here was Hoof Springs. Beyond that is nothing but nigh uninhabitable desert. "Ah think Ah'll have to refill my canteens as well. Ah'd better get going right now."
"You're leaving already?" Wet Whistle asked.
"Have to, Ah need to catch up to Fluttershy. This is the first lead I've ever gotten on any of my friends and Ah intend not to loose this trail." Applejack remembered her diminishing rations as well, and decided to catch the merchant before he left town. "Mind if Ah go to the kitchen to refill muh canteens?"
"No, go ahead."
Applejack got up from her seat and trotted over to the kitchen the existed behind the back wall of the bar. She set her canteen under the tap and turned the knob. Wet Whistle cam in after her. "Are you planning on leaving right this minute?" She asked as the water flowed into the water receptacle.
"That's the idea." Applejack affirmed.
"But the day is almost over, wouldn't you rather stay the night and leave in the morning all rested?" Wet Whistle had come to appreciate the gunslinger, and it seemed strange for her to just leave out of the blue. The same way she came into her life, it would seem she was leaving.
"Ah've spent most of my life since Discord out in the wilds, Ah'll rest up just fine knowing I'm that much closer to a long lost friend."
As Wet Whistle was thinking of something to respond to that with Applejack finished filling up her last canteen, and thus had no reason to stay in this building any longer.
"Goodbye, maybe after this is all over Ah'll come back to visit. Maybe you'll get to see Fluttershy when she's no longer under His curse."
Applejack moved out of the kitchen and toward the table where she was eating. Placed her musket over her back, and took a few ore bites of food before heading towards the door, "The food was good, Ah'm sorry I couldn't finish it all, but I'd like to get some supplies from the vendor before he leaves town. Goodbye."
At that applejack left out the front door. Wet whistle followed after her. She saw her go up to the vendor. After a few minutes of talking it appeared that he handed her some fruits, or vegetables and she tipped her hat and went on her way. She walked through town. And the looks on the ponies faces were the opposite of when she entered. The world seemed so much brighter, and not because the sun was being blotted out by a sandstorm. Everypony in this town looked at her with a smile on their muzzle and hope in their eyes.
One could almost imagine that The mad King and following war for the remnants didn't happen. This lone mare appeared like magic out of a sandstorm into a dying town. And in a matter of days she leaves the town a happy place, and just like many a cheesy western, disappeared off into the sunset.
Author's Note
It wasn't until I hit this chapter that I realized that I never named the small town. well shit.
This chapter gave me serious doubts to stop writing this.
But it feels good that I now only have to edit this mini-arc instead of writing it, and I can soon move on to the next mini-arc of the story.
