The drawbridge was pretty cool.
Applejack and the others had finished their walk through the forest, going past the intersection that led south to the fort and north to the farms, and ended up at the walled off river. Like Thistle told them there were a couple gaps in the wall here, one of them went sheer into the river and Applejack assumed it must’ve been the space for where the Mountain Town side drawbridge would come down. On their side the pathway led right up the drawbridge, where two pegasi sat in towers on each side of the bridge. Two big sets of wheels sat on top of the bridge that would let go of or retract the chains when needed.
They were ready to cross when it became readily apparent that the two pegasi meant to work the drawbridge were sleeping.
“I can’t say I’m surprised, no one crosses anymore do they?” Obsidian mused. “In fact I’m more surprised that they’ve kept the bridge operators here at all.”
“Well whether it’s slow work or not they’re here and we need em’.” Applejack said, trotting forward to right under one of the towers. “Hey! Wake Up! You hear me, we need you to lower the drawbridge!”
The two pegasi slowly rose from their sleep, one of them slipping off his chair and the other restlessly flapping their wings and kicking their hooves like they were just in a dream.
“Huh? Who’s down there?” The one who had fallen from his chair asked, in the tower above where Applejack was yelling.
On the other side the pegasus groggily leaned out of his tower, drool on the side of his mouth and eyes unfocused.
“These two are not morning ponies.” Quartz stated flatly.
“We’re trying to get to Mountain Town, can you lower the bridge?” Applejack said up to them.
“Ohhhh.” The one above her replied. “Wow, it’s been a really long time since we’ve had anypony going over. I wonder if the bridge mechanism still works. Hey, Canopy, unlock your side.” He shouted over to his groggy companion before turning around himself and flipping a lever by the wheels on his side.
Canopy wordlessly nodded, yawning he flipped a similar lever and started rubbing his back to get any soreness out.
“Okay, spinning these wheels will lower the bridge, I just hope it still works.” The more awake pegasus said as he and Canopy both began turning the bottom most wheel counterclockwise.
A heavy rumbling and metallic clinking sounded from inside the bridge as more gears grinded together. As they spun the wheels the huge wooden drawbridge creaked and groaned, having been set in one position for too long. But still it began to lower. The big chains supporting it as it went down were a bit rusty but still strong looking to Applejack, a few times things got stuck for a second but eventually the drawbridge lowered fully to the other side.
“Thank you.” Applejack called up and the five ponies crossed over to Mountain Town.
Already things were a bit different. The drawbridge on the Mountain Town side right next to them was completely unstaffed and unlike on Valley Town where the forest was thin before getting much thicker the closer you got to the actual town, here the forest was almost completely gone. Most trees had clearly been cut down with just their stumps remaining, and even then Applejack could see numerous holes where the stumps had been dug up as well. The air was quiet and a low fog hung over the ground that must have rolled in from down the mountains. Obsidian noticed that unlike the other side with its squirrels and birds there were no animals scurrying around. For all intents and purposes crossing the bridge seemed to deliver them to a new country rather than a twin town right across a small river. There was no road or path of any kind, all they had to go on was that at least they could see the mountain where the town was situated.
“Well, no welcoming committee is better than a bad one.” Marble said, trotting ahead of Applejack.
“Guess so.” She said and went after him, the others following, the fog being pushed aside as they walked.
Behind them, when it was clear that they were all over, the two pegasi pulled the drawbridge back up. If they wanted to get back to Valley Town they’d either have to go the long way back to the Y bridge at the main river or find somepony’s at Mountain Town that would work the drawbridge on this side.
The fog got thicker the closer they got to the mountains. Still there was no real path, no signs and no ponies around.
“I hope there’s something that’ll show us where the actual town is.” Obsidian spoke up. “I don’t really feel like getting lost in the mountains.”
“I’m sure there will be something the closer we get. There must be some pathway up and down the mountain.” Quartz answered. “And if it wasn’t for that fort there wouldn’t have been anything at this point in Valley Town either. Although the lack of any sort of road is somewhat odd.”
Things were just so desolate over here. It was strange. It felt closer to walking through the Everfree Forest than Ponyville.
Applejack and the group walked as straight as they possibly could from where they stepped off the bridge, sometime having to wind around uneven terrain but for the most part keeping to where they wanted to go. The mountains got closer and closer but unlike Valley Town there was no obvious sign of civilization. Clearly there was no town built into the front of a mountain like Valley Town was for its hill, else they would’ve seen it already, and there was certainly nothing like Redwood Manor looking down from above.
As they got closer to the foot of the mountain there were even less trees and tree stumps, almost all had been cut down and dug up. Applejack knew this was not a very sustainable practice, whoever was allowing this to happen in Mountain Town was pretty short-sighted, or they just didn’t care. Pepper was the daughter of the old leader, was she in charge now? Or maybe her father had already been doing this.
“This place feels sad.” Applejack didn’t turn when she heard Obsidian talk, just nodded.
“It reminds me of the monastery.” Bedrock said.
“Yes, me too now that I think about it.” Quartz drawled, sighing heavily. “That in itself is quite the sad realization.”
Applejack furrowed her brow, the morose conversation getting to her. “Y'all said something about your monastery before right? And you were the last disciples for some reason? Did something bad happen to you Hoof of the Earth ponies?” Her words seemed to bother them, none could meet her gaze and Obsidian even pulled up the hood on her cloak.
“It’s… a conversation for another time, when we don’t have something else hanging over our heads.” The answer from Quartz was unsatisfying but Applejack didn’t want to pry, he had a point too anyways.
The foot of the mountain had been reached.
And luckily for the ponies a wide pathway had been carved into it, snaking up further into the mountains. There were still no signs or anything but there was only one place to go so up the mountain path they went. They got out of the fog quick enough but the peaks of the mountain and the clouds still blocked out most of the sunlight.
“Good thing we’re in shape.” Obsidian said as they rounded the latest hairpin turn.
“This all makes me wonder if there are more ways to get into the main part of town, this path would take a very long time to travel for any ponies carrying a heavy load.” Marble wondered, looking around at the mountain pass.
Applejack kept herself focused and just trotted along, Wavy’s letter still safely in her hat, she didn’t have high hopes for a town that had secluded itself so much but she wasn’t going to let her apprehensions get the better of her. Fluttershy taught her that a little kindness can go a long way, and while she might not be able to make ponies laugh or throw a party as well as Pinkie Pie she figured if somepony’s needed their spirits brightened she wouldn’t be the worst choice for that.
Big Dad Redwood wanted them to convince Mountain Town to get rid of the dam completely though. She wasn’t sure how something like that would go over. She knew it was the right thing to do, it was just making both towns hurt and harming their relationship, but it was obvious something like that was a sensitive subject and the Mountain Town ponies might not react to it too well. Especially if they learn that Big Dad Redwood himself asked them to do it.
After what felt like the millionth hairpin the path finally leveled out and the party found themselves between the sides of two mountains, the dirt path turning to gravel and going down the valley between them.
“More walking, haven’t done enough of that in my life.” Applejack grinned at Marble’s sarcasm.
The mountain pass was uneventful to say the least, but at least here there were some large birds flying in the sky, their caws being something to break the silence every now and then. The pass curved slightly to the left, going south, and upon rounding a corner they finally spied the entrance to the true Mountain Town.
A large iron wall spanned the width of the valley, it was quite distinct from anything the ponies had seen in Valley Town. There was a gate in its center that was already open, the heavy doors resting inwards. The citizens of Mountain Town obviously weren’t expecting guests but it seems they had no reason to keep their doors closed. Beyond the wall Applejack could hear faint sounds and she saw smoke rising in the distance.
“Uh, I know the gate’s open and all but do you think they’d really appreciate us just walking in?” Marble asked.
“The ponies of Valley Town didn’t mind.” Applejack said back. Although even she knew that things were probably very different between both towns, and Valley Town didn’t even have a wall to keep others out in the first place.
Marble snorted but kept walking with her.
The gravel crunched under their hooves as they went through the gate, the town opening up before them on the other side.
Nestled in-between the mountains was a huge plateau. Applejack had thought Redwood Manor covered a lot of area but the plateau could’ve fit several of those side by side. But there was no more room for something like that left over, it seemed almost every inch of space was covered by buildings. Unlike Valley Town these were made of thick stone and metal. Dozens, hundreds, of chimneys and smokestacks rose up from them but only a few of those seemed to be in use at the moment.
“Huh, I was kind of expecting log cabins or something.” Applejack said to herself more than anypony.
“This is quite the town they’ve built.” Quartz looked out at the plateau. “I suppose we should get moving and hope someone will direct us to Pepper.”
The ponies walked down the gravel path that led into town, like Valley Town there were no guards but as they got to the buildings they noticed a few differences. The town was noisy with the hustle and bustle of working ponies, compared to Valley’s calmer feeling, and if ponies weren’t too busy to notice them they would stare openly at Applejack and the disciples, narrowing their eyes in suspicion with frowns clear on their face.
No, everypony looked upset, it wasn’t just from seeing Applejack and them. They all walked with tired, downtrodden looks or angry frowns from place to place. And there were no children happily playing around either.
“Have you noticed that everyone looks more on the thin side?” Obsidian asked.
Now that she mentioned it, yeah, Applejack did notice. Most ponies looked thin and lanky, like Flim and Flam but not as tall.
“We should ask for directions instead of aimlessly wandering.” Quartz decided to walk into the path of a slow moving stallion and ask him outright, the stallion was surprised but pointed them in the right direction to where they could find Pepper, probably just to get them to leave more than anything.
It was certainly good they had directions now too, the town was like a labyrinth, buildings constructed without rhyme nor reason. The streets ever twisting and turning, some spots of the town had buildings crowding and built on top of each other, blocking out any sunlight from above.
“You know there’s something else I’ve noticed about Mountain Town.” Quartz suddenly spoke up.
“What is it?” Applejack asked him back.
“Have you seen any weapons? Ponies with armor? Anything like the fort?”
Applejack stopped. He was right. Ponies looked sadder and angrier than in Valley Town but there was nothing like the fort, no “military” like Thistle and her soldiers or anything like that.
“I’m almost certain that a good number of the buildings here are forges for ironwork's but I haven’t seen a single sword or helmet on anyone.” Quartz finished. “I don’t think Mountain Town is the threat that the sheriff and Thistle might think it is.”
Applejack nodded and started walking again. Mountain Town was just like the main part of Valley Town, the ponies had no inclination to fight each other. If anything it seemed Mountain Town cared even less about something like that.
After far too many twists and turns through the maze of buildings Applejack and the disciples came to a large stone building built right at the edge of the plateau. On it was a signboard that read “Remember Our Founders!” in bold red paint.
“This is it.” Quartz walked forward, pushing open the unlocked doors of the building with the others following him in. The first floor was a simple affair, in front of them was a desk built into the wall with a large series of shelves to the left of it, a staircase that went up to the second floor balcony on their right. There was another door on the back wall marked “private”, it was the only other way in or out of the room on the first floor and considering how big the building looked from the outside there was likely a lot back there.
“We’re not accepting- oh.” A female secretary began to speak before even looking up at them, but when her eyes found them she suddenly changed tone. “Who are you?”
“Well, I’m Applejack and these are my friends. We, uh, came here to see Pepper?”
The secretary's eyes narrowed. “Why?”
Applejack frowned. “We wanted to talk to her about your relationship with Valley Town. We were just over there and after seeing how things are we wanted to help.” Applejack really hoped they didn’t ask if Big Dad Redwood sent them, she didn’t want to lie and even if she did anypony could probably tell that she was.
The mare blew a part of her mane out of her face and reached under her desk to press a buzzer.
Instantly Applejack and the others could hear a door open up on the floor above them.
“Coming! I’m coming! I heard you, I’ll be right there!” A cheerful mare’s voice bellowed out to them.
They heard a pony scampering down the hallway before she swung around the corner and started practically running down the stairs. She had a light pink coat and a curly red mane with a chili pepper cutie mark. Halfway down the stairs she tripped over her own hooves and tumbled down them in a mess.
“Ow.”
“You alright?” Applejack walked up to her, concerned but also wary of the mare’s over-exuberance. One pony like Pinkie Pie was enough.
“Yes! Fine!” She righted herself and shot to her hooves, she was taller than Applejack but thin enough that she clearly weighed a good bit less. “I know Inky buzzed me down for you, can I help you?” Her smile was wider than a crocodiles.
“Well, we just came in from out of town-”
“Out. Of. Town!” She squealed and shook Applejack’s hooves in her own. “It is so amazing to meet you!” Darting over to Quartz and the others she quickly shook all of their hooves as well. “It has been, like, forever since anypony from out of town came by!”
Coughing she stepped back and bowed. “I am Pepper, currently in charge of Mountain Town, daughter of our former leader Green Vine. How may I help you?”
Applejack remembered that Big Dad Redwood said there was officially no new leader but obviously that was old news. Still, Pepper being in charge of things here didn’t exactly fill her with confidence… well, Twilight kind of made her feel that way too sometimes if she was being honest.
“Uh, so first of all I’m Applejack and these are Quartz, Marble, Bedrock and Obsidian.” She said, gesturing to each of them. “And we came here cause...” She glanced at the secretary, Inky. “Actually, sorry if I’m being rude but can we talk somewhere a little more private?”
“Oh, of course, of course!” Pepper nodded eagerly, even though Inky was frowning at her. “Come right on upstairs!” She beckoned them and danced on up, squealing in delight.
As they followed her up Applejack could hear her squeeing some more and talking to herself.
“This mare’s been having too much sugar lately.” She whispered back to the others, getting Obsidian to giggle.
So up to the second floor and back to Pepper’s office they went, unlike Big Dad Redwood’s pristine and luxurious office this was a mess of crumpled paper, garbage, and notebooks. The wooden floor had no carpeting but was instead cracked and stained, stepping over an ink puddle Applejack spotted an overflowing trashcan in the back and a couch with a ratty looking wool blanket thrown over it. Seemed like this might not just be her office but her room as well.
“Okay!” Pepper said, not bothering to sit at her desk but instead pacing in front of it. “So what do you want to talk about? I hope it’s something exciting!”
Applejack fought to not roll her eyes.
“Yeah… the thing is we had heard that you and Valley Town kind of had a falling out.” Pepper’s face dropped, she nodded. “And we wanted to see if we could help you.”
“Huh? Really?” Pepper asked, surprised. “I mean, I’m happy! But you just decided to come here to help us like that? Out of the goodness in your hearts or something?”
“Well to be honest there’s more to it than that, I’m traveling on my way home and my uh, journey I guess, brought me here. And when me and my friends heard about what had happened and what we could do to help we just thought it was the right thing. It just kind of happened.”
Pepper’s huge cheery smile returned in full force. “Eeeeeeee! That’s amazing! It’s like fate brought you here!”
“Actually, uh, what brought us to you was a letter.” Applejack said as she reached into her hat and pulled out Wavy’s letter, showing it to her. “We’ve been to Valley Town first, I didn’t want to mention it out in the open but I don’t wanna lie to ya, Big Dad Redwood asked if we could help resolve things. And his son Wavy wrote this letter to you.”
“It’s from Wavy!” She screamed and grabbed the letter. “Ahhhhhh! I’ve been waiting soooo long! I just knew we’d be able to talk to each other again!”
Oh boy…
“This is the bestest best day ever! And you all just came here this morning? You must be exhausted! I’ll show you the absolute best Mountain Town has to offer! Have you heard of our mud baths? You have to visit the mud baths! Let’s go!”