//------------------------------// // Tusslin' in the town. // Story: Rodeo Rumble // by HumanSVD //------------------------------// Applejack barely dodged King Longhorn’s attack as she rolled to the side. The bull was quick to recover his miss and made another run. Applejack gave King Longhorn a quick buck to the face, which he took full force. He staggered backward, which left an opening for the country mare. Without wasting time, the mare landed a fury of quick hoof jabs and a kick to his jaw. Not wanting to lose the initiative, she jumped on the bull’s head and landed a series of stomps. After a 10-hit combo, the bull recovered and ran away from Applejack as she attempted to land another stomp. Her momentum landed her straight on the ground, and she had little time to react. The bull charged and hit her head on and sent her back flying. She hit a nearby building, leaving cracks on the wooden wall from her impact. King Longhorn attempted to run and land a rear kick, but Applejack recovered and moved out of the way. A large hole in the wall was left as the kick was powerful and the wood was weak. The same family of ponies Applejack saw earlier were in the building. It was a stallion covering his wife and two little fillies. King Longhorn grinned and said, “Hey, partner, nice wife you got there. Mind if I have a turn with her after I kill this one?” The mare cried and held her fillies before the stallion narrowed his eyes and threw a skillet at the bull. King Longhorn dodged it and said, “Even better, I like it when I don’t have permission.” While disgusted at what she witnessed, Applejack saw an opening and ran forward. As she charged at the bull, she thought, ”Longhorn can’t ever be let out again! He’s gonna rape that poor mare! Well, better give a hurting to his goods.” The mare did that as she landed a power buck on King Longhorn’s nether regions. The bull let out a loud crying roar and staggered back before Applejack landed several more kicks and combos. The stallion in the room shouted, “Serves ya right!” before picking up a shovel nearby, just in case King Longhorn came back. The bull moaned in pain as the mare kept landing blows on him. Unfortunately for Applejack, he was more resilient. With seething anger, he spun around and delivered a smack to the country mare’s face. Her stetson was knocked off and flew to the side of the ground. As she staggered, the bull snorted and charged. He delivered a series of foreleg jabs and kicks, which sent Applejack to the ground. Seeing his opportunity to stomp on her head, King Longhorn put all his weight down on the mare with his front hooves. She moved out of the way and attempted to run off. King Longhorn shouted, “Like bucking dung, you’re gonna skedaddle on me! Git back here and die, missy!” The bull ran after the fleeing mare, who weaved through several barrels in her way. King Longhorn simply knocked them out of the way as he ran after Applejack. The mare started to panic as she thought, ”Ah gotta get help! He’s too tough, and Ah don’t have no weapons! Ah need you, Clyde!” Applejack attempted to run into the Rodeo grounds, which King Longhorn knew was trouble for him if she went for help. He had seen some of the ponies and other creatures practicing for the events and knew many would be able to give him a run for his money. If his instincts about Applejack being drawn to Rodeos were correct, it made sense she had friends as well. Using all his steam, King Longhorn ran fast and caught up to Applejack. He bit her tail and yanked her back. The mare screamed as she was flown back and landed on her side very hard. The wind was knocked out of her, but she had enough energy to see King Longhorn pawing the ground for another attack. She quickly got up but not without using more power and ran towards the Salt Block Bar. She had hoped to be able to run into the bar and retrieve an empty bottle as a weapon. She got to the porch but could hear King Longhorn right behind her. Applejack attempted to pull a move that she had seen Rainbow Dash perform in her karate lesson and did her best to perform a backflip. She succeeded and took the bull by surprise. Applejack landed on Kong Longhorn’s back and stomped and kicked his back. He recoiled in pain and attempted to buck her off but to no success as she landed a 15-hit combo on his back. Her luck didn’t last as King Longhorn roared and bucked her off his back. As she flew in the air, the bull managed to land a sickening rear kick to her stomach. Applejack lost her breath as she fell back and couldn’t move anymore. The bull turned around and wiped the blood from his snout, and cupped a hoof to one of his eyes. Applejack apparently landed a hit to his eye in her desperate fight and he began to nurse it. As he walked forward using three legs, King Longhorn spoke, “I have to admit, this was harder than I thought it would be. I’m lucky you had no weapons, but it wouldn’t have mattered. You’re gonna die, and I’m gonna go to Sweet Apples Acres and give your family a nice greetin’.” Applejack’s heart froze in fear as the mare heard the bull’s threatening promise. King Long Horn had apparently figured out where her family lived and appeared ready to bring harm upon them. Applejack started to tear up, thinking about King Longhorn hurting her family. The thought of Big Macintosh being beaten up, Apple Bloom and Sugar Belle being violated, and Granny Smith cowering in a corner at her family’s suffering broke Applejack. The mare pleaded with the bull with hot tears flowing out of her eyes as she said, “No...Please, leave them out of it. This is between you and me. If you wanna kill me, so be it. They ain’t wronged you, King Longhorn.” ”Ah don’t want mah family hurt! Oh, by the harmony, please spare them!” The bull laughed maniacally before coughing up blood. Applejack had given King Longhorn a decent beating, despite being smaller and having no weapons. It wasn’t enough as the bull limped towards her and said, “Oh, they done wronged me alright. They had the crime of being your kin. Now do me a favor, lay on the ground, and don’t move. I don’t want to miss.” ”Ma, Pa, Ah’m coming to join y’all. Sorry Ah let you down.” Applejack tried in vain to escape, but a new scream escaped King Longhorn. He clutched his front right leg as blood began to flow from a cut that wasn’t there before. He was also sporting a nasty bruise on the face. As the bull turned his attention away from Applejack, it was directed to a newcomer. “Get your bitch bull ass outta here, and Ah’ll forget what Ah heard. If not, Ah’m a give you a country ass whoppin’. Or worse, Ah’ll just plain kill you. What’s it gonna be?” Applejack’s eyes widened as she realized who the voice belonged to. Clyde the Cowboy was standing off to her right, holding a very large knife she had never seen before. Fresh blood from King Longhorn was dripping off of it, and that wasn’t the only thing he was equipped with. He had a lasso, a bloody brass ring that looked almost like knuckles, and something in this belt she couldn’t quite identify. The bull turned to the man and said, “Oh, so this is the one you were cheatin’ on with that cow of yours? You got a funny way of showing how much you love your little whorsey. But no matter, you’ll be planted in the ground just like her!” The bull, despite being wounded, pawed the ground and snorted, ready to attack the man. Clyde, for his part, took the lasso out and said, “You brought this on yourself, partner.” King Longhorn charged him, but it didn’t do the bull any good. The man simply did his signature tornado twirl dodge and easily got out of the way. He quickly spun his lasso and roped the wounded bull by his neck. King Longhorn tried his best to resist but failed as the man pulled him ever close to him. Clyde ran and jumped on the bull’s back and yanked his head upwards. The man said, “You gonna give up now and go to jail? Or you gonna be a fool?” “BUCK YOU, HUMAN!” shouted King Longhorn. The angry bull tried his best to buck the man off, but the Cowboy easily held on. This made Applejack wonder about Clyde as she thought, ”Dang, he sure is riding that bull like an expert. Has he gotten into fights a lot? Boy howdy! He’s doing great!” While Clyde and King Longhorn were fighting, Applejack took advantage to escape the two guys locked in mortal combat. Applejack looked around and saw through many buildings that creatures of all races were watching the death battle. The country mare couldn’t help but wonder why nopony or no creature was helping them. If the town had banded together, King Longhorn would have been dealt with immediately. Once Applejack got to a safe distance and groaned from her wounds, she watched as the fight continued, King Longhorn kept trying to buck the man off his back, but Clyde stabbed him with his big knife every second. After every bucking attempt, Clyde would stab the King Longhorn with his big knife and repeatedly say, “Stop hurtin’ yourself, stop hurtin’ yourself.” Applejack chuckled at the dark but humorous sight before her. Under normal circumstances, she would be appalled by such a thing. But after having her body assaulted and life threatened, in addition to your family being threatened by criminals like King Longhorn, it was just plain funny to the country gal. King Longhorn began to tire and, eventually, stopped and collapsed from pain and exhaustion. The man jumped off his back and took the lasso in his hand and yanked it backward. The bull’s head was pulled upward and forced to face the man holding it. As King Longhorn sat on the ground, Clyde asked, “Well, how about it? Are you gonna give up and take your punishment like a real bull? Or are you gonna take the bitch way out?” Applejack had no clue what Clyde was talking about until it became obvious from King Longhorn’s answer. The bull chuckled before laughing manically and said, “So, this is how it all ends, huh? So be it; I’ll take my chances into my own hooves. Besides, your knife ain’t going end me in one go. Enjoy my horns!” With one last battle cry, the bull yanked the rope out of Clyde’s hands and charged at the man standing 10 feet away. What happened next was quick, and Applejack barely had enough time to process it. As King Longhorn made a final charge toward the man, Clyde pulled out a strange device and held it in his right hand. A very loud noise rang through the town, and a puff of smoke obscured her vision of King Longhorn and Clyde. As the smoke cleared, what Applejack witnessed next would be burned into her mind forever. King Longhorn stood still, with Clyde still pointing the strange metal and wood device at him. King Longhorn had this very strange look of shock on his face as if he was dumb and couldn’t believe what he saw before him. Blood started pouring out of the new hole between his eyes, and by pouring, it was very rapid. The bull stumbled sideways and collapsed, with a snorting sound escaping his mouth. King Longhorn’s body turned completely lifeless after a minute. With King Longhorn no longer moving, Clyde put away his weapons and walked over to the bull. He sighed and said, “You just had to be a dummy, didn’t ya?” Ponies, Buffalos, Griffons, and other visiting creatures came out of their homes and buildings to see the fight’s aftermath. Applejack made her way over to the man, and as she met with him, Clyde said, “Sorry you had to see that, Ma’am. He won’t bother you no more.” Applejack grabbed Clyde in a tight hug after looking at the dead King Longhorn. As the man returned the hug, Applejack started to cry. Tears flowed out of her eyes as the man rubbed his fingers through her mane. Clyde did his best to calm her by saying, “Shhh, it’s okay, Applejack. It’s alright.” As Applejack poured her heart out, Sheriff Silverstar arrived with several tough-looking stallion deputies, all armed with crossbows. The law enforcement ponies were surprised to see a dead bull on the ground, with cuts, bruises, and a strange hole wound from his forehead. The Sheriff took one good look at the bull and recognized the face. “Well, I’ll be.” said the Sheriff, “King Longhorn must’ve got out on parole. Afraid this was gonna happen one day. If only Canterlot would’ve listened to my letter.” The Sheriff ordered his deputies to remove the body and ask questions to anypony for witness statements. The Sheriff slung his crossbow on his back, picked up Applejack’s stetson, and walked over to Clyde and Applejack, hoofing over the hat. The stallion asked, “Well, Clyde, you were right about this feller. Surprised at the short work you did for him. I take it you both were in fear for your lives?” Clyde nodded as he held Applejack and said, “Yessir, he was gonna murder Applejack if Ah hadn’t stepped in. Gave him plenty of times to surrender, but he wouldn’t listen.” The nodded and said, “That’s all I need to hear. I will need you to come by and make a written statement this afternoon. Just a formality, but this is a clear case of self-defense and defense of others. Go on and take Miss Applejack to Braeburn’s home, I’ll send the Doctor right on over.” Tipping his hat to Clyde, Sheriff Silverstar returned to the dead bull and put a cover over it. Several deputies were getting witness statements, including the family that King Longhorn threatened. As Applejack still held onto Clyde, the man picked her up and held her. This surprised the country mare, but she didn’t complain and stared into his eyes. Clyde looked back at her as he carried her to Braeburn’s home with a smile. The Cowboy comforted her, saying, “It’s best if Ah take you home. Ah don’t know how bad that feller hurt you, so don’t need you to make it worse by walking." A tear escaped from her eye as her heart beat faster, staring into Clyde’s eyes. The man smiled back before staring forward and focused on getting Applejack home. The mare relaxed into his arms and enjoyed the comforting hold. It wasn’t long until they reached Braeburn’s house and were greeted by the stallion. His cheery smile turned upside down as he saw Applejack being carried by Clyde and started asking questions. Little Strongheart saw Applejack was hurt and helped the mare up the porch steps. Applejack turned around as the mare was being helped up and said, “Thank you, Clyde. Ah owe you mah life.” He tipped his hat towards her and said, “Don’t worry about it, Applejack. You just get some rest for now, ya hear?” Another tear escaped from her eyes before she nodded and went inside. Braeburn and Clyde started talking about the events of the fight and what had happened as Applejack went upstairs into the house. Just as Little Strongheart set her down in the guest bedroom and went to fetch some first aid supplies, Applejack whispered, “Ah’m gonna marry that man someday.” She closed her eyes and began to rest, dreaming happy thoughts of marrying Clyde at Sweet Apple Acres. It was a dream she hoped would come true. But there were many challenges ahead, and she had just begun.