//------------------------------// // From Dust // Story: The Ballad of Big // by Broseph_Stalin //------------------------------// Chapter Five - From Dust The slog forward was a hot, dry and dusty ordeal. Soon, after what seemed an hour of marching amongst mindless steer, Applejack was finally relieved to hear Big’s call of “Whoah, woah!” The collective halting of hooves on the flat-packed earth only added more to the billowing rust cloud that was blowing in behind. Jumping up in the air in an attempt to see where the group had stopped, she had no luck of any view over the mountains of steer before her. Finally, she just decided to plant her hooves and wait, and was banefully rewarded with Big Jim’s shout of “Applejack! Get’chr damn flanks up here!” Filing between the sea of roan with a hot, indignant breath, she finally popped up and out the last row of steers to find the rest of the posse circled about around Big. As AJ looked up further, she spotted, some hundred yards away, the rotting fortress of an abandoned mining town. As she trotted up to meet the rest of the posse, they all looked up at her wide-eyed, with jaws hanging slightly agape. “What?” Applejack asked, stopping in place herself in surprise. Big just shook his head and broke the haze. He pointed back at the assortment of cattle as he addressed his posse. “We’ve got a sandstorm flyin’ in here some hundred feet a second. Now, thankfully for us, Halterville is just sitting here, and if we can shove them cattle into the streets behind the buildings, they should be good to go, safe from the brunt of that storm. We’ll all just have to find a building to hole up in. Ya'll got that?" A chorus of Ayes gave him a wide, satisfied grin, and on command, each member sprang into action to gather up the gang of steer that they were responsible for. >>---- (ɃɃ)----> As AJ wrangled up her crowd of cows, she was taken aback at the town that was quickly coming into view before her. From far away, it had looked like any other shantytown pulled up out of the hot desert sand. But once she had come closer, she had noticed the broad spans of rusty brown rooftop that lay collapsed in on themselves, wooden carcasses of an age of reckless abandon. She noted a few splashes of color that lay peeling and cracked in the harsh sunlight: candy oranges, apple reds, verdant greens and ocean blues. Putting the thought away to worry about later, Applejack focused on her task at hand. Cursing and shoving, she wrangled up all the cattle she could into the long streets that were littered about with errant bushes, shrubs and the occasional tumbleweed. Once the vast majority of cattle had been amassed behind the buildings for safety against the brunt of the storm, Big's hollering shouts and whip cracks (along with plenty of shoving and curses on hot breath) had every head of cattle jam-packed into the weed-strewn streets, and not merely a moment too soon. As Applejack slammed the last cow into the streets, a sting of hot sand on her rump made her leap forwards a pace from out of cover of the dilapidated buildings, and she was instantly swallowed up in a blood red cloud. Sand whipped around her face, stinging the uncovered portions of her body: head, neck, and legs were rubbed raw by the caustic winds. Gritting her teeth, she spat out a mouthful of scalding sand and squinted her teary eyes against the onslaught of earth and wind. She couldn’t see ten feet ahead of her, and her heart sank in a dread that only a pony close to death knew. Grabbing frantically at her neckerchief, she jammed it up her neck to cover her face and nose. With a violent gust, her hat was ripped right off her head and blew out of her flailing grasp as she screamed aloud. Blinded, burned and bleeding, Applejack stumbled and cried out helplessly. Her legs, battered by the unending sand, began to shake violently, and she hardly realized she was falling to the earth. Tears mixed with the sand and blood on the ground, and things began to grow dark. This was it. The end of her journey was here. >>---- (ɃɃ)----> She had barely realized that a hoof was jabbing into her side. Giving into actions out of her control, she could only follow the tug of some unseen force as she felt lifted up and taken away from where she had lain, powerless and close to death. Hearing the seams of her shirt ripping, she felt a dragging sensation overtake her as needles stabbed into her sides and her legs. Agony drove her to wherever she was being taken. And so suddenly, the noise was gone. The pain was gone. The suffering was gone. Coughing violently, Applejack could only tell one thing about where she was now: away from the devils that prowled in the hellstorm outside. How long she had been trapped there, though, she had no idea. As she hacked up phlegm, blood and sand, the world about her became more lucid. Blurs gave way to shapes, shapes became surfaces, and surfaces became rotted wooden planks. She was indoors. Regaining her equilibrium, AJ took to her feet shakily, and took in more of her surroundings. Torn up satin seats sat virtually unused; moth-chewed curtains hung limply in moldy air; gaudy, dust-dressed gold lamps and a dilapidated stage revealed where she had been rescued to: a long-abandoned saloon. Looking about, her savior was nowhere to be seen. Adjusting her eyes to the dim, reddish light, she shuddered as she heard the rancorous moaning of the sandstorm outside. Her eyes fell across relics of a long-gone goldrush: a bar stood empty, collecting dust, and cobwebs clung desperately to chairs stacked in the furthest corner of the room. Applejack's gaze finally rested on dancing fingers of light that crept down a flight of stairs. Deciding that was probably her best option, she took to her feet gingerly, and sauntered on unsure hooves towards the light. With a handful of violent creaks and moans from the decaying wood underhoof, she reached the top of the stairs, and squinted as the light of an oil lamp seared against her sensitive eyes. Close by to the light was a colt in a black hat: “Dodger?” Applejack stuttered and coughed heavily at the effort. The colt’s ears flicked up in surprise, and folded down just as quick. Turning about, he put down the cards he was holding and straightened up. “Hullo, missus. How are you feeling.” The sentence sounded like a flat statement to Applejack. “Uh, fine. Jus’ a bit sore... plenty of sand to last me a lifetime, too.” Her quiet chuckle was lost within the empty timbers of the building. With a moaning creak, the boarded-up windows at the other end of the room shook as a powerful gust of wind blew past them. Dodger turned back to his game silently. “So… you saved me then?” “Aye,” the pony replied quietly. Applejack was a bit taken back at the colt’s mannerisms. “Well, Ah really have to say...” she started, taking a step forward. With a prick of the colt’s ear, Dodger turned about to face Applejack. “Thank you, so very much, from saving me from the—” “Stop,” Dodger gruffed. Putting his cards down flat on the rickety table before him, he turned his body about to face AJ. “Huh?” Applejack grunted, taken aback at Dodger’s sudden bodily shift. “Ah said, don’t move, missus.” Applejack just raised an eyebrow at the colt. “Why?” “Because,” Dodger said, tilting the brim of his hat up, “this floor ain’t strong enough to hold all yer weight. Stay over there.” And with that, the pony turned back to his cards without another word. Red hot anger hissed and sparked as the cold waters of understanding collided in Applejack’s head. Deciding it'd be best to listen to the advice she was given, she went about setting up a makeshift bunk to wait out the storm. As she lay back against her bulging saddlebag, she felt for her hat and frowned as her search came up empty. "Ya'll seen mah hat?" she asked over to Dodger. "Wind prolly took it," the colt added stiffly without moving from his game. Applejack just sighed and made herself comfortable in her nest. Reaching into her vest pocket, she carefully slid her picture out from the hidden pocket and stared longingly at it. Amid the flickering lights of the oil lamp, she smiled quietly as the timbers of the building moaned and heaved slightly from the blaring sand outside. Feeling her eyelids grow heavy, she abandoned herself to the sweet allure of sleep’s embrace. >>---- (ɃɃ)----> Jolting awake, nightmares tore at the corners of AJ’s consciousness as she shook sleep from her mind. Groaning heavily, the pains of her travels made themselves very apparent in her sore joints. Snuffling a hoof under her nose, she wiped away crusted blood and sand. A dim recollection told her she had nearly died in a sandstorm earlier. Sitting up further, she let her eyes adjust to the dim, reddish light: only one lamp helped to stave off the darkness, and the bloody red that melted into the room from the half-boarded window was exceedingly morbid. The colt was still sitting at the table, playing cards. Applejack began sitting up, shuffling the sand off of her gear. She looked back up at Dodger, who was staring intently at a card. As Applejack squinted, though, she noticed the card was exceptionally bigger than was the norm, and seemed much glossier in the greasy light of the lamp. A sting of panic bit her hard as she shuffled a hoof through her belongings. “Hey! Gimme back my picture!” Applejack barked, surprised at the little fire in her voice. Her blood boiled on, however, as she saw the colt jump up and tuck the picture away into his vest. “I wasn’t doin’ anythin’. That’s my playin’ card, missus. I—” “Horseshit that’s your card! That’s mah picture and it’s… it’s the only one I have of mah family! Giv’r here, now!” Applejack felt her face prick hot with blood as she stomped straight up to the colt. 'C'mon! I know ya'll got it. Give it up right this minute!" Dodger's eyes went wide as he watched Applejack march towards him. Knocking over the table in fright, the lamp flickered and died with a crunch of broken glass and a flutter of cards. He tucked himself into the wall and watched with moistened eyes. “I-I just wanted a bit of your life. I never had I family, I j-jus’ wanted tah know how it felt—” “Shuddup! Shuddup!” She was taken aback by the colt's words, but the stress of the last few days was boiling her blood. The mare wouldn’t have any of his excuses. She was tired of this stupid posse, this stupid job. “Yah stupid welp, I’ll whip yer hide for takin’ what’s mine!” “Missus, the floor, you’ll—!” the colt squeaked as Applejack stomped towards him. “Why I’ll—!” Her voice cut off as the pony cried out and charged back at her. Taken wholly aback, AJ stopped in place and didn’t even give notice as the floorboards below her moaned and cried out with a shattering shower of splinters. Applejack was flung out of the way by the colt's little body as a gigantic cross-beam smashed from out the floor and the entire world was pulled out from below her. The last thing she saw as the very ground beneath her feet disappeared was the teared-up, bloodshot wide eyes of Dodger and her photograph flutter past her face. As the floor came suddenly up to greet her, the rest went black again. >>---- (ɃɃ)----> Somepony was crying and hollering and making a nasty noise. Applejack yielded as a volley of heavy hoofbeats smacked her stomach; she felt as the blows to her face brought pinpricks of numbness. "...killed him, ya killed him, ya scrawny little bitch! I'll kill ya!" a heavy, piercing voice guttered into Applejack's ears. She winced, expecting more punishment to come, but as she waited on, nothing more came to fall on her. Only the sound of heavy sobbing could be heard. Yet again, the tang of blood sat heavy on Applejack's tongue and it mixed awfully with the taste of silent tears. Vision came back to her, and light mixed with shadow into a sickening display. The forms of three ponies came into view: one tan giant, another sky-blue stallion, and a dainty little mare with perfectly round, white curls. Straining to get up, she saw the mare break way from the other two and a hoof was extended to her. Taking it gingerly, Applejack was set up on four rickety knees as sand dumped off her body. The rest of the world came rushing into her senses as she took her first steps up. "You okay?" Midnight asked Applejack. She was whispering. "Yeh... I'm— I'll be okay I 'spose." Midnight smiled weakly in reply. "I, uh, think you should go wait outside darling. The sandstorm's gone, someone needs t'be with the steer. Go on," she added with a terse whisper. Applejack raised an eyebrow as the mare's voice was stuck in her throat. "Midnight... What's wrong?" Applejack asked carefully. The mare looked at the ground, her lip trembling lightly. Confused, Applejack looked around the room, and followed the trail of movement. Big Jim sat bawling, his face buried in monstrous hooves that had probably never been wet with pity. Bo sat next to the giant, whispering mild words as he put his arm around Big’s shoulder. Large, heavy sobs resounded in the bleak half-darkness of the room, in stark contrast to the warm light that flooded inside from a wide open door. Straining to see past the thick darkness of the saloon's corners, Applejack searched through the mess of tattered debris and jutting wooden beams. Her scream caught in her throat as she spotted the source of such horrendous misery: the body of a colt lay crucified on a shattered support beam. The far end of the thick, wooden spike impaled itself through his back and pierced itself violently out of his neck. Applejack looked away at as she spotted the colt's eyes, wide with the fright of an eminent death, lit up by warm fingers of dancing sunlight. She could only stare at the blood that pooled near a tattered black hat on the floor.