When The Colt Comes Around

Swift looked down the dark hole where the saloon had once been. It was dark, too dark to see. She had never seen the Amphisbaena do anything like this, the serpents usually only came up and left sizable holes, but nothing that could swallow up a saloon.

"Braeburn!" She hollered out for the farm pony. "Braeburn, you down there?" No response. "Ponyfeathers..." She looked at the hole for some way down, she saw none. "I hope he's okay."

--

Braeburn was not okay, well, relative to how he was before he wasn't okay. A rotted wooden beam rested on his torso making it hard to breathe, it felt like one of his legs was broken, and worst of all? He lost his hat. His pappy's lucky hat!

After a cursory glance around whatever pit he was in, he only saw wreckage of the saloon scattered around him. He considered himself lucky that he wasn't impaled by one of the larger pieces of wood that had stuck themselves in the ground. Then he took stock of his own body in greater detail: his front right hoof looked a tad out of place...possibly broken or just sprained. The beam on his chest was rotted to the fullest extent of the word, so he guessed he could move it with little effort.

He put his front left hoof on the beam and pushed, it moved away from him. He added his back hooves to the mix and pushed it away from his body. He rolled to his left, not wanting to put any pressure on his injured hoof. he stood and looked up, nothing. Just darkness. Not even moonlight. Looks like he was stuck down here.

"Well...might as well find mah hat.." The colt knew his priorities.

--

"Why don't I have any rope in this place?!" Swift gave a frustrated groan and kept digging through her belongings. She couldn't find a rope anywhere. She'd gone to every house in the town, granted that wasn't a lot, and still no rope turned up. How was it that no pony in this Celestia-Forsaken town had rope?! She huffed and threw several sheets across the room. "Well...looks like it's time to use what my momma gave me..." She looked up at the horn protruding from her head.

Swift had never been a master magician, nor had she been average in her magical skill. She flunked out of magic school, and still had trouble lifting heavier things with a simple levitation spell. She thought her plan over, it seemed crazy in her mind, but she was going to attempt to levitate herself down that hole.

She gathered up her old spell book, extra ammo for her pistols, and a first aid kit...y'know...just in case. She knew there was a chance she'd get hurt...or worse, and she was prepared for that eventuality. The note she had pre-written was left on her desk, just in case she didn't come back. With a longing glance towards her bed, she left.

The hole was just as dark and deep as it was before. She started to second-guess herself, as she always did. But she steadied herself: it was her job to protect the ponies of this town, no matter what. This was one of those 'no matter what' times. She took her spell book off of her back and set it on the ground and opened it up to the correct page.

"Okay...focus on the object you want to lift..." She closed her eyes and focused on her leylines. They ran from the tip of her horn to the bottom of her hooves, then she felt the leylines that ran through the earth.  She had to block those off, the key to levitating yourself was to turn your magic back on yourself, as long as you didn't redirect it right at your horn, you would be fine. "Spread your magic throughout your body evenly..." She felt her horn light up with energy, she then turned the energy back into her own leylines and spread it out evenly. She opened her eyes. She was floating! "Calm down, Swifty...calm down...focus..." She looked into the hole, then willed herself to go forward.

It took a bit more mental fortitude than she was used to, but she eventually reached the bottom of the giant sinkhole. Once at the bottom, she looked up. She had to be a good 200 feet underground. This didn't set well with her. Something made this cavern, something dug it out, and it sure as Celestia wasn't giant worms. This required brains.

"Well Swifty, I sure know what you're doing..." She instinctively drew her twin pistols. Safety was the number one priority at the moment...so the hammers on her pistols both cocked. She took a step forward on the rubble of the rotted saloon, it was solid enough to hold her...for now.

A loud crunch came from behind her. She spun and leveled her pistols at the sound. "Alright, come out now, you varmint." Nothing could help her get the proper accent down, she tried to get help with acquiring said accent...but everypony always said 'Ya gotta be born wit' it.' Due to that small fact, her insults and threats were very ineffective.

"Swift? That you?" Braeburn poked his hatted head around the corner of a large piece of debris. "Good news! Ah found mah hat!" He gave her his best goofy grin and waved. "Say, y'all fall down this hole too?" He looked up to the sky. "That's a mighty big fall...ah hurt mah hoof on the way down." He lifted his front right hoof, which hung limp. Swift just sighed.

"Your a dang silly pony, Braeburn...you know that..?" She levitated the first-aid kit off of her back and trotted over to the vested fool.

"Funny, ah always thought mah cousin was a silly pony.."

"Who is?"

"She is, Applejack." Swift sat on her haunches, and Braeburn followed suit. The unicorn popped open the kit and dug out a roll of gauze, she roughly grabbed the farmer's tan hoof and looked at it. "Ow! H-Hey, that hurts Swift!" She just gave him a glare that said 'Oh shut up, you whiny foal.' Braeburn, being the respectful gentlecolt he was, did as the lady said.

"Braeburn, what in the hoof happened here?" Swift looked at the hoof and decided it was out of place.

"Well...ah'm not right sure..one moment ah was pinin' for a drink and the next, as the immortal Tom Painty said, Free Fallin'. It came as a mighty sur-AHHHHHHH!" The scream masked the audible *pop* of his hoof going right back into place.

"You big foal..." Swift expertly wrapped his hoof in gauze until she was sure the hoof wouldn't slip out of place. "Alright, now that you're fixed...what do you say we find a way out of here?" Something that sounded like claws against wood came from somewhere around the duo. "Braeburn...please...please tell me that was you.." She closed her eyes.

"Me? Ah'm sittin' here waitin' for mah dang hoof to quit hurtin'." She sighed.

"Great...that's what I thought..." She picked up her pistols. "Okay...whoever you are. Come out here."  Before she could say it again, a smoky gray shape with beady green eyes peaked over a piece of debris.

"Ponies?!" Its voice was like hooves on a chalkboard, high pitched and screechy as hell. "More ponies?! AUGH!"

"Is....is that a dog...?"