//------------------------------// // Stick goes to Appleloosa // Story: Story of a Stick // by Xinrick //------------------------------// “Sweet mother of god isn’t there anything around here!?!” I shout in dismay, not believing that after miles and miles of running I have yet to find anything remotely close to a city. “Come on, there’s magic and insect horses managed to make a home in a desolate wasteland, there has to be something here…” I complain, continuing to run through more and more nothing. “Monster!” I heard someone scream as it was followed by the sound of hooves stomping against the ground. “Someone help!” “What’s wrong?” I call out, rushing over and finding a...female buffalo having some native american symbols on her body. “NOT ANOTHER ONE!” She screams in terror while turning swiftly around and running away as fast as she physically possible. “Lady wait!” I shout while following the buffalo female, rushing after her quickly. As I followed the buffalo I saw a bunch of sand up in the air, which made me worry that something bad was happening. “Ah shit…” I frown, thinking that either someone was attacking the village or magic was going wrong. Little did I know that both were correct. “Oh come on! Issat all you got you hicks!?” I heard someone shout. “The fuck?” I mutter, rushing faster and skidded to a halt to see a...very bad scene. Buffalo’s were all dried out looking like mummies, but thankfully or worriedly no children seemed to be among the many dried out bodies. “Oh my god…” I mutter, finding this seen just horrifying. “Howdy pardner. Don’t think that ah didn’t see ya over there. Gimme a few more minutes and we’ll have all the jerky we could evar have. Just gotta peel the meat off the bone.” The smile the brown stick figure gave made him look innocent as if he was just hunting down wild beasts. “Are you fucking kidding me!?” I shout. “Water~...” A male buffalo wheezes out weakly. “Oops. Missed one. And what’s yah problem? I’m just getting some food ready after winding up in this weird horsey land. Maybe I should get horse tongue as well…that always has an interesting texture to eat.” With a wave of his hand sand starts to climb up on the buffalo while his other hand rubbed his chin as if pondering which pony he would capture. I shoved my hand into my armory and pulled out a long sword that seemed to reflect the light like water. “Aqua jet!” I shout, a sudden jet of water shooting out and rushing towards the stick figure in hopes to make him stop attacking the innocent buffalo. “Nuh uh huh. Not today pardner.” He raised his right hand grabbing the water and drying it out within milliseconds. “Why are you trying to murder innocent people!” I shout, pulling out a katana from my armory and readying myself to fight this bastard. “Innocent people? I see no people, all I reckon that I see are animals. Meat. Food. Go an’ give your hippie speeches somewhere else hombre. I don’t need another lecture from some tree hugging beatnik.” He turned towards another and moved more sand over another buffalo. “Geyser!” I shout, stabbing my long sword into the ground and it pulsing, the ground rumbled before jet’s of water suddenly rammed into the controlled sand and stopping them from attacking the people. “We’re in a world we don’t know about, and if I have learned anything is that apparently animals like ponies, and apparently Buffalo now, are sentient here you racist cowboy wannabe!” I shout. “Hmm…well sucks to be them then.” He placed his hand on the ground. “Wasteland Tremor.” The entire area outside of the village immediately turned to sand as whirlpools of sand began to try and absorb the buffalo. “One sword water style…” I mutter, pulling out my long sword and readying it. “Water cyclone!” I shout, spinning for a moment and swinging it, a massive cyclone of water suddenly and absorbing all the dried out buffalo that were trying to be absorbed and swiftly rejuvenated them and transported them to the nearest possible location where it would be safe. “One sword style, Kuzuryusen (Nine Headed Dragon Flash)!” I shout, nine flashes of light were sent straight towards the bastard sand bender. “Tch.” The bronze stick figure took the blows and was cut to ribbons. That revealed that he was only a sand double. From out in the nearby town screaming was heard. “Wasteland Cataclysm!” The whole town was immediately turned to sand and the screaming was starting to get quieter. “One sword water style!” I shout while jumping into the air, raising my sword high. ”Don’t fail me now…” I think to myself. “GRAND FLOOD!” I shout, swinging my sword down and hitting the ground with my blade, the sound of a tidal wave suddenly roaring through the planes as it sped around me towards the town trying to stop the sand bender and help the civilians he was trying to murder. “Sables.” The stick figure created a mini sandstorm in his hand before releasing it through the town tearing any still standing structures towards the tidal wave. When the two met half the water was dried out but the sandstorm was stopped. Frustrated, he got away through the vast desert he created from his hand. I growled and dashed off towards the town, hoping to god the people I heard screaming we're okay. “Fuck that guy for right now, I need to make sure our fight didn’t kill anyone…” I mutter, bolting towards the town in hopes of finding okay people. “Name’s Duster pardner. Don’t forget it.” The voice called as he appeared below me and grabbed at my chest. “Desert Prison.” The hand which drained water was right against my chest. “Water Pulse!” I shout in desperation, my long sword so close to me and the hand a bubble of water formed and exploded, hitting the arm and me as I was sent skidding away and covered in water. “Ow…” “Now ain’t ya just the slippery varmint I’d ever seen. Don’t worry, once ah beat your skull in I’ll make sure you get all the jerky you could want.” Duster grinned as he dried himself off quickly and more sand formed in his hand. “Sables: Burden!” A swirling mass of sand was sent towards me. “Fuck!” I shout, running away as fast as I could. “Water pulse!” I shout, hopping into the air as my sword formed a bubble underneath me and blew up, sending me flying away from the mass of sand. “Nopenopenope!” I shout, continuing to run quickly. “Guess ah have time to make that jerky then.” He tossed another at me and then one at whatever buffalo he saw in the area. “NO!” I shout. “AQUA JET!” I shout, leaping into the air and holding my Longsword and Katana close to me as a wall of water surrounded me as I dashed towards the sandstorm that was aimed at the buffalo. ”No! No one’s going to die on me while I’m around!” I mentally shout, my missile like form swiftly darting through the air and intercepting the Sables that would have hit the buffalo. ”This is gonna hurt…” I think to myself. “One sword water style, Water dragon!” I shout, swinging my blade up as a dragon made of pure water roared and dashed towards the attack. “Desert Spada!” A large blade of sand came from below speeding along like a torpedo causing a fissure to open beneath Simon and the Buffalo. “Sables: Burden!” Another condensed blast of sand came rushing out aimed for Simon. “Oh come on!” I shout, pushing myself towards the buffalo and grabbing them quickly. “Aqua Jet!” I shout, surrounding the both of us in a cone of water and shooting off away from the attack. ”Shit, this is so not good!” I think to myself, flying up and trying to get out of this fucking trench. ”Rain...if I could do Rain dance…” I think to myself, trying to figure out what to do next. “Ah another one.” Duster looked down on one buffalo that was closer to him. “Guess it’s my lucky day. Desert Prison.” He placed his right hand on the buffalo. “Shit shit shit!” I shout, dashing towards the actual ground and dropping the buffalo in my arm on solid ground and dashing towards the man. “Hydro Pump!” I shout, skidding to a halt and swinging my sword, a powerful stream of water racing towards the man. He picked up the buffalo and placed him against his body for the attack. I quickly raised it out of the way of his shield and it hit the ground behind him. “Come on don’t be a coward!” I shout. “Stop using civilians in a fight!” “They are mah food eventually. Why should I listen to some polecat hollering about animal control?” He grabbed the buffalo by the neck and slowly let his powers do the job. “You want this emergency food supply released then throw me your water sword right at my feet.” “We’re in a different world than our own, are you that stupid to think that the sentient people here are still food?” I growl, ready to just bitch smack this asshole. “I guess you are then.” He grabbed one of the buffalo’s leg and broke it. “Stop!” I shout. “Fine…” I growl, tossing my long sword over to the guys feet. ”One sword style…” I think to myself, knowing full well this bastard won’t abide by his word. “Sables: Burden.” The sword instantly snapped from the hit with the magic inside it dissipating. Then he tossed the buffalo off to the side. “ First ah’ll kill ya. Yah all’re getting in mah way too damn much. “Desert Spada!” A long blade of sand rushed off for me. “One Thousand Worlds!” I shout, blitzing past the sand blade and slashing at the brown stick figure with the intent to knock his racist ass out. “Desert Grand Spada.” A blade of condensed sand blocked the blade but the sand was knocked away from the impact. “Desert swamp!” A whirlpool of sand appeared below the two dragging them in. “Iai!” I shout, swinging my sword swiftly and with massive amount of speed and force behind it towards the sand bender. Duster allowed him to get dragged further into the sand to dodge the blow. “Not today hippie!” He then shot himself forward tackling Simon into the ground of the whirlpool. “You’re gonna drown!” I swiftly kicked Duster in the balls and leapt out of the whirlpool that he basically tackled me out of. “Dragon Hammer!” I shout, swinging down into the whirlpool and a force of a dragon’s tail slamming down into it heavily. A hand popped out of the ground grabbing my leg. It was covered in blood but it gripped tightly around my leg. “Desert Prison.” He wasted no time and allowed his powers to activate. “Shit!” I shout, feeling myself turn into a prune. “Not...today asshole!” I shout, raising my katana and stabbing down into the sand where Duster had to be. “Motherf-! My shoulder!” He quickly popped up away from where I was clutching a stabbed shoulder while blood flowed from his mouth. “No, I want this special meat. Now!” Before he could move again he started to float into the air. “Looks like you're just dust in the wind.” I say with a grin, seeing my Katana fall out of the fading Duster. “Now…” I mutter, going into my armory and feeling a lack of a water longsword. “Oh...wait...that fucker broke it…” I mutter. “Damn it!” I shout angrily. I sigh out and summon a water dagger. “Good thing I always carry multiple weapons of the same enchantment.” I mutter while summoning up some water and downing it quickly, my leg starting to feel a whole lot better. After my heavy drink of water I put away my water dagger and my Katana, and grabbed both pieces of my broken longsword. “Thanks buddy, you served me well.” I nod to the blade. “I wonder if they have blacksmiths around here…” I mutter. “H-hello?” Someone calls out, which makes me snap up worriedly. “Hello?” I ask back, looking around and seeing a young buffalo girl walk up carefully and worriedly. “Oh, hello. What’s your name?” I ask, getting down on my knee and wincing in pain. “Okay...that hurts.” I mutter. “Are you alright?” She asks worriedly. “Oh just a scraped knee, nothing special.” I say with a chuckle. “But what’s your name little one? I’m Simon.” “I’m Little Stronghoof.” The buffalo girl nods, shuffling on her hooves nervously. “But...why did you help us? When we were back to normal we thought...you were going to help that monster?” “I would never help someone like that, trust me.” I state. “But how is everyone? Where are the kids?” I ask, worried about them all. “The children are in the apple trees off that way.” Little Stronghoof says, pointing a hoof towards the apple farm that I somehow completely missed. “And when you used your water magic we were all suddenly feeling better.” She says. “How...how did that happen?” “His ability was to bend sand to his will, and given sand dries everything out...you could see how that could fit.” I shrug. “But I’m glad to hear you're all alright. I was scared he got the kids.” “We immediately evacuated the children when things started to get worse.” The buffalo girl says. “That’s good...is it alright if...I meet the rest of the people?” I ask nervously. “They might still be traumatized by the whole event...so please, be gentle with them.” Stronghoof says. “Frankly I wouldn’t expect them to like me anyways.” I shrug while getting up. “Oh, also, does this town have any metal workers?” I ask curiously. “It...probably used to.” She says while showing the massive amount of sand there. “Shit...well let’s meet the locals though.” I say, getting up. “Hopefully they like me.” I say while following Little Stronghoof and putting away my broken Longsword. And let’s just say the reactions were...mixed to say the least. When the Buffalo saw me they were nervous and backpedaling away from me but given that Little Stronghoof was there leading me they seemed a little less scared of me but still wary. The ponies on the other hand looked at me with contempt for literally no reason, except a pony in a cowboy hat who was looking confused at the young buffalo girl. “Ah reckon there’s a reason that there feller is following ya Stronghoof?” The pony in the ten gallon hat asked. “He saved all our lives Braeburn.” Little Stronghoof said. “Do you know how many times that brown thing kept telling us he was going to turn us into ‘jerky’?” She asks. “I’m sorry I destroyed a part of your town…” I say bitterly, feeling like crap about that part. Braeburn sighed. “Ah know you’re all telling me the truth but I don’t know how long I can keep the other folks from following through on their anger. Appleloosan’s do know a thing or two about fighting and these folks are still feeling anger from the attack. I can get you some supplies but I think you need to get out of here before they follow through with mob mentalities. Still I’m happy as a hen who just hatched all their eggs that you protected Little Stronghoof. You can consider yourself an honorary Apple for that.” “All in a day’s work for being a hero. Saving people from being turned into food and then being treated as a villain because fuck you that’s why.” I frown. “Fucking bullshit honestly…” I mutter bitterly. “Ah’ll go and stall them. Also the reason is the collateral. Since a few ponies saw you control the water to go where you wanted it to go. Heat of battle and all I know that’s tough. Stay safe out there.” Braeburn mentioned as he trotted off to go keep the ponies busy. “Why am I being blamed for the collateral when the bastard I beat turned this city into a small desert?” I complain. “Well see ya.” I say to Little Stronghoof before running east to wherever the fuck next. “My, he takes things so personally doesn’t he my dear?” A very tired looking draconequus slowly slithered into view behind Stronghoof. “Well...I suppose it’s because everyone blames him for destroying their homes and ignoring the fact they saved their lives. But the buffalo won’t forget.” Little Stronghoof says. “Except for the unconscious one right?” Discord laughed as he snapped his fingers and turned the desert back to plains and the houses back to normal surprising and shocking every single being there. “H-how?” She asks, surprised by the town being suddenly rebuilt. “My dear…I’m an incomprehensible being of chaos who dashes the minds of the sane and insane constantly. Who the buck do you think I am?” He placed the lampshade back on his head and walked through a waffle. “Party time!” “Uh…” Little Stronghoof mutters. “I’m strong...but I’m not strong enough for this…” She shakes her head, not believing what Discord just did, even though she shouldn’t be surprised by the randomness. “That’s one rift then…” Discord muttered to himself as he returned back to Celestia. The party was over long long ago. This was far more entertaining. To be continued...