//------------------------------// // 3: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades // Story: Trudge Runners // by ROBCakeran53 //------------------------------// The door swung open, revealing darkness, save for the shade covered light from the lone window on the back wall. Applejack peered inside, with Bill right above her, as the two looked around. “Hard to tell,” Bill started, then reached his arm into the room, slapping the wall with his hand, “but I’m sure there is a- ah, there!” He found the light switch, and like the others, rotated it and clicked on the single light fixture on the ceiling, illuminating the room. It wasn’t too small, but still slightly larger than Applejack’s own bedroom in the farmhouse. More akin to her parents' old room, the largest bedroom in the house, but this room was also sparse on fixtures. A lone desk with an old wheelie chair, a pillow sitting on the seat. A bed, unmade, had a scattering of papers and a few books on it. Speaking of which, random papers were scattered about everywhere. The walls, mostly around the bed and desk, were covered in sheets of paper, mostly charts, graphs, and other things Applejack had no clue on. There was a dresser which was bare on top, and a simple end table beside the bed which had a digital alarm clock on the ground beside it, flashing a green 12:00. Also scattered about, on most every flat surface, were empty containers of either food or drink. “Wow, it looks a lot like my college dorm, but only on my bunk mate’s side.” Applejack smiled. “Only their side?” “Well… maybe some of it was mine too.” She snorted a laugh. “Reminds me a lot of my friend Twilight, actually.” “The nerd one, right?” “She was less apt to pout if ya called her well read, but yeah.” “Is it bad to imagine a pony like you pouting adorable?” Shaking her head, Applejack stepped into the room proper. “Naw, we’re all about cutesy stuff. Just our thing. Been called out on it a lot too, but mostly we ignore it.” “Wild how you’re so self aware of stuff like that.” She shrugged, flipping through some papers on the carpeted floor. “I’m tha Element of Honesty. I notice these things more aptly than most.” “You’re the… no, no, never mind. Another time.” Bill joined her in the room, kicking some stray papers. “So, make anything of all this?” Looking up at the wall, Applejack tilted her head. “Actually… yes, but not in the way ya wanna hear.” Walking towards the bed, Bill smacked the crumpled up comforter, sending dust in the air, and then promptly sat down, the bed creaking and moaning from his weight. “Alright, hit me with it.” The farm mare sat in the center of the room, then pointed at the wall with the desk. “All that nonsense? Not sure without actually sitting down to read it, but there”, to which she pointed at him, or more so, the papers on the walls around the bed, “that there is stuff I’m sure I’ve seen in Twilight’s lab before. Magic runes, symbols, and the like. I think a unicorn was in this room.” “Woah, unicorns are a thing then? So wait, what are you?” Bill asked, picking up a random strand of hair, its blue color not normal looking to him. “We have three tribes. I’m an Earth pony, ya see? We’re in tune with nature and the land we trot upon. Unicorns are all about magic and smarts, sport a pointy horn on their heads. Pegasi, ponies with wings basically, focus on the weather, and bravado.” “Wow, see, back home we just have humans. Everything else is just on the food chain.” Applejack stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Yeah, no thanks. Sounds lonely.” “Your loss then.” Looking around, there was one last thing that wasn’t apparent before walking in. “Huh, a door?” she asked, approaching. “Yeah, saw that, but figured we’d get to it eventually,” Bill then promptly kicked back, swinging his legs around so he could lay on the bed, however his bare, dirty feet still hung over the foot board. “Right now though, I’m more tired than anything.” Applejack shook her head. “Until yer hungry.” “Right.” The mare reached for the door handle, and tried to turn it, but it was locked. “Weird, locked too. Wonder why?” “Beats me,” Bill said as he continued to lounge about. “Alright lazy bones, enough of that. Let’s check the other rooms, then we can rest.” Groaning, he sat back up, brushing more of the blue fur off the bed, then stood. “I guess so. Okay, so next door?” “Sure.” They walked out of the room, leaving the room door open. This door had the rope on the handle. Applejack had no doubt it was home to a earth pony like herself, but one never knew things until they saw it with their own eyes. Bill placed his hand on the screen thingie, and it was first amber in color, then quickly shot to red, flashing an alert. “Huh, that’s weird,” Bill removed his hand. “Said something briefly, about already registered?” Applejack tapped her chin, then marched forward, and stood up on her hind legs, using one forehoof to stabilize herself on the wall, and placed the other onto the screen. Just like the previous room for Bill, it was amber for a while, flashing all manner of words and numbers, then went green, and the sound of the door lock undoing signaled her to return to all fours. “That was weird,” Bill said. “Maybe,” Applejack then stretched her neck out, grasping the door handle with her teeth, and could feel the many little indents of another grabbing this handle in similar form. Smiling, she turned her head, and the door opened. She let go with her muzzle, and pushed the door with a hoof. It was dark, and when Bill tried to find the switch, he found nothing. Thinking quick, Applejack used a hoof and found a switch set lower, and instead of a turn knob style it was a flick switch, obviously having been modified as there was no protective plate over it and some exposed wires, and moved it up, turning on the overhead light. This room was much like the previous one, however the most apparent thing was the lack of mess, instead the bed was made, the floor was litter free, and besides the layers of dust on each surface, it was hard to tell it had been lived in at all. The desk, however, held multiple binders of paper, closed and off to the side, as if they had been organizing, put to the side for later, and then forgotten. Then, something else caught her attention. “Hey, look,” she pointed at the right side of the room, where a lone door stood. “Oh, do you think maybe…?” Bill asked. Shrugging, Applejack marched forward, then grabbing the handle, it effortlessly turned, and she pulled the door back. Both human and pony peered inside, and noticed right away another door straight ahead. “Wait, is that-” Bill started, only to be interrupted by Applejack marching into the bathroom, hooves lightly clicking along tile, then unlocking the other door, opening it, and revealing the other bedroom. “Eeyup. Joined bathroom.” “Well that would make things awkward then. Thankfully we probably got two other rooms to pick from.” Applejack simply hummed, then returned to the second room. Looking around, a few other objects caught her attention. A normal wind up alarm clock on the bed side table, still as a ghost. Then, something was just barely visible from under the bed. “What’s that?” she pointed. Bill, who was standing near the bed, looked down to where the mare’s hoof was pointed, leaned down, and pulled out a shoebox. “Woah, holy shit this is heavy.” Leaving the box on the floor, he simply removed the lid. “Honestly, not sure what I expected… but I’m still shocked.” Applejack joined the human, and looked into the box as well. Well over a dozen iron horse shoes, all crudely made and extremely worn, lined the box. “Wow, this here pony sure was a worker.” Applejack picked up one with both of her forehooves after sitting on the floor. “Big feller, too. Maybe not my brother’s size, but close to it.” “I didn’t even realize you had shoes on.” She smiled, and showed off one of her own shoes. “Yeah, our town farrier has a unicorn friend who enchants her shoes for quietness. When you start hearing them though, it means they’re near their worn limits and time to get new ones. Granted, on hard surfaces like tile or stone, ya will still hear a little something.” “Wow, a lot like car brakes. That’s… smart.” Applejack nodded, then placed the shoe back into the box. “I reckon, my brother goes through a pair about every year, or if we’re in a pinch and buy the cheap magicless ones, about every three months, give or take when he has them pulled for special occasions that warrant them more than a few days.” “Are these ones magical?” he asked. “Well, if there was another unicorn here, and he knew the spell, possibly. Hard to say.” “Well,” Bill began, licked his lips, then looked under the bed, “yeah, there’s a couple more boxes down here.” “Crud,” Applejack swore. “That would mean we’re talking about years this pony might have been here?” Bill said, then looked at the mare, a frown on his face. “Considerin’ just how worn these here are.” She gave the box a light kick. “Even if they aren’t magical, this pony got all the time out of these he or she could. That’s… not too reasurin’.” “Nope.” Applejack walked over to the desk, which she noticed had had its legs cut down, and a normal wooden chair was with it to the same effect, save it had a cushion on it. She gave the cushion a slap, sending dust about. “Also, seein’ how much dust there is, I’d wager there ain’t been nopony in here fer… a good five years at least.” “Any other observations to drive in just how fucked we may be, Miss Wonderful News?” Applejack stuck her tongue out at him. “Smartass, I’m just tryin’a figure some of this out.” “I know, but the more you say out loud, the more dread I feel.” The mare shrugged. “We’re alive, coulda’ been a lot worse.” “I’d argue, but I feel as though it would be a losing argument.” “Good, yer learnin’.” Applejack gave him a wink. “That’s not what I… oh never mind,” Bill said with a sigh, waving a hand at her. “Anyway, let’s check out those other rooms before I feel any worse.” Nodding in agreement, Applejack marched out of the room, to the door just across from them, and tried her hoof on the screen. It did the same thing it had for Bill’s hand previously. “Huh, try again?” Bill walked over, placed his hand on it, and again, amber, then red, denying them entry. “Well, that sucks. So, what, we got a one time deal, and we’re stuck with our choice?” “Seems that way,” Applejack said as she tried the last room, which got the same result. “Drats.” “Yeah, drats alright. I could have had two whole rooms to myself, plus a bathroom, and now I gotta share with you!” The mare raised a brow at him, the faintest smirk on her face as she gave him a glare. “Okay, that sounded bad. Sorry, I just mean… I’ve never had to share a bathroom with a woman before. Or, uh… lady horse?” “Mare, and pony, remember?” “Right, that, sorry.” “Well yer in luck then, partner. I got a older brother and a baby sister I share one with at the ranch, so I know how to not tick ya off or nothin’.” “Huh. So you still live at home with the folks?” Applejack twitched, but not offended. “Folks ‘er gone, passed several years prior. Just us three and our granny. We run an apple orchard.” Bill seemed to flinch at the mention of her passed on parents, but didn’t dwell on it. “Oh, wow, so you’re a farm pony. That’s…” he paused for a minute. “That’s…?” He sighed. “I wanted to say that that’s good because if we’re stuck here too long, we can do a garden. I have limited experience, but I know the basics. Just… admitting that out loud stings.” Nodding in agreement, Applejack walked over and placed a hoof on his thigh, giving it a couple of pats. “Don’t worry, Bill. We will figure this out. Just need to get some grub, rest, then make some plans on how ta get out of here.” “Right, right. Say though, now that I’m looking at this, if there’s just us two, but four rooms… would that mean-” Bill was interrupted from a sound coming from the lounge area, the keying of a microphone, then a crackly voice muddled by static. “Hello? Hello? Is anybody out there?”