//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Swayback Mountain // by butterscotchsundae //------------------------------// "Are ya sure ya really need ALL tha' stuff, Rarity?" Applejack looked over the bulging saddlebags that the unicorn pony was carrying with difficulty up the sloping mountain path. "We ain't goin' to one of ya fashion shows, ya know!" "Ah... ah... Of COURSE I know that, darling," Rarity was short of breath, and she kept shifting the saddle-bags so that they would sit more balanced on her back, "But...ah... when you said you were planning to go to the Swayback Mountains....oh... I just HAD to come with you." "Y'see," frowned Applejack, " Ah jus' don't get why you need to travel so far to collect berries. There's a whole FOREST a' berries right nexta Ponyville..." "But... ha, that's better!" The saddlebags, which had been threatening to pull Rarity over, were finally sitting correctly. "But DARLING, I already explained – I don't need just any old COMMON berries. I need SPECIAL berries that only grow in the Swayback Mountains. They're the only berries in ALL of Equestria whose juice is a perfect azure, and I just NEED that colour dye for my latest range of accessories. Not that a pony as..." she looked Applejack up and down critically, "close to the earth as you are, my dear, would understand that." "Ah unerstand PLENTY, little miss 'Everything hasta be per-fect!'" Applejack shook her head, "Ah shoulda never told ya that I was going to compete in the ro-dee-o in Colt Springs, and that them Swayback Mountains was right on my way." Rarity sniffed, "Well, seeing as how we're already climbing these beastly mountains, I suggest that we just make the best of a bad situation." She broke into a trot and passed Applejack, who snorted in frustration. Tha' indigo-maned unicorn pony was as much trouble as a barrel a' parasprites! Applejack was about to catch up with her when she heard a low rumble from behind them. She turned and saw a rank of black clouds being pushed into position by a squad of Pegasus ponies. She groaned and hit her head with her hoof. "Now how in tarnation did I forget that there was a thunder-storm planned for tonight?" She broke into a trot, then a gallop, and as she sped past Rarity, who was already puffing from the thinner air of the mountains, she cried "Ya better put ya runnin' horse-shoes on, little missy! There's a storm a-brewing and it's comin' right for us!" Rarity looked back, and cried out "Eep!" She broke into a gallop as well and was soon next to Applejack. "I just WOULD have to have forgotten my RAINCOAT!" she complained, "And now with all this galloping, I'm getting absolutely coated in dust and perspiration!" "Ya sure are sweatin' like a prize pig!" Applejack laughed. Rarity said nothing, and merely turned her snout up in disgust at such a vulgar comparison. ************ To the south, in the skies over Ponyville, Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. The Pegasus ponies were all pushing the dark clouds in the completely wrong direction and things were getting out of hand. Clouds crashed against clouds, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and rain started soaking exactly the wrong parts of the countryside. "That Ditzy Doo!" Dash muttered. "This is the last time I let HER organise a downpour!" She jetted off to the area where Ditzy Doo and several of the less experienced Pegasus ponies were mashing together the smaller storm-clouds, piling up them up into a gigantic thunderhead. But Dash was too late to prevent disaster. It flashed with a sudden eye-shattering streak of errant lightning, and the thunder that followed rolled over the landscape like a shockwave. ************ The rain started to fall, softly at first, in brief squalls that passed as swiftly as they came. The thunderstorm was still far off, but Applejack knew that it was going to be a huge one. Jus' what do those Pegasus ponies think they're doin'? Applejack thought to herself, shaking her head in disbelief. They're jus' big ol' show offs! An' speakin' of show-offs.... She turned back to where Rarity was struggling to keep up with her. The unicorn pony's saddle-bags were slowing her down, and her mane was wet with sweat as well as rain. "C'mon princess!" said Applejack, "At this rate we ain't gonna reach the river before nightfall – and ah sure as apples don' wanna camp where there's liable to be a lan' slide..." "Just...just..." Rarity panted, redoubling her efforts, "let..me...catch...my...breath...a..moment." Applejack groaned, but she stopped to let Rarity catch up. "As soon as we're over the rise it'll all be downhill!" Rarity nodded, throwing a foreleg over Applejack's shoulders and leaning against the earth pony as she gasped for air. "It may be...that I DID... pack a FEW too many... items..." Applejack looked at the bulging saddle-bags "Jus' what DID ya pack? We're only gonna be away fer three days tops! "Well," said Rarity, her face no longer as flushed as before, "There's three days worth of outfits OF COURSE, and each outfit NATURALLY needs a small selection of accessories to go with it, so that I'm ready for any kind of situation. And then there's my make-up box – and since I have NO IDEA what kind of lighting to expect in Colt Springs, I simply had to bring ALL of my foundations so as not be caught out. You see, Applejack," Rarity raised her nose in the air and her face grew haughty – "Not everypony can be as reckless and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-saddle as YOU are, my dear. I MUST be ready for every eventuality, or else I shall look ridiculous in front of everypony. And FASHION DEATH is quite simply the most DIRE of fates!" She tossed her mane in emphasis. Applejack rolled her eyes in irritation, "Ah kin think of a DOZEN worse things than lookin' the foal in fronta others – bein' struck by lightning or swept away by a ragin' torrent bein' foremost in my mind at the moment." She gestured towards the approaching black thunderhead and the blue haze of torrential rain beneath it that was sweeping across the landscape towards them. "Now let's git goin'! " Not long after they reached the ridge top. But the path down the mountain side was almost invisible now – the sky was covered in cloud, and twilight spread over them. Applejack led the way, gingerly testing every new ledge of rock to make sure it was safe, and Rarity stuck close behind her. "Don't follow quite s' close!" warned Applejack, "Or else we'll BOTH end up on the bottom of this mountain a might faster than we expect!" Rarity stopped abruptly. Some scree, loosened under her hooves, fell away down the mountain side and she jumped back with a yelp. The rocks fell for several heartbeats, then clattered ominously somewhere far below. "What did Ah tell ya?" Rarity moaned. "I don't think I can go on!" she sobbed. "I can't see a THING!" Applejack flashed in anger. "Ya GOTTA go on, missy! Else the rain'll catch up with us and then these rocks'll be slippery as well!" Rarity closed her eyes and swallowed. She nodded. "Very well. Let's go on then!" Progress was slow, but with Applejack's sharp cajoling and the threatening peals of thunder that came sooner and sooner after the flashes of lightning that gave birth to them, Rarity found the courage to go on. They were almost at the bottom of the mountain; beneath them the river that flowed down the mountains and across the plains to Colt Springs became visible, appearing as a sinuous cobalt-gray path with every flash of lightning. "Jus' a small ways left now, Rarity," said Applejack. "Then a quick gallop across the bridge an' we'll be on the other side and we kin make camp under one a' those rocky outcrops!" "Oh thank Celestia!" cried Rarity, "I simply CAN'T wait to be out of these wet and sticky saddle-bags. Let's hurry up and...!" But in her haste to move off, the unicorn pony's hoof came down too hard on a rock hidden in front of her by the wet mud. She slipped backwards, landed on her side and started sliding precipitously down the path. Rocks and mud came away with her, and Applejack had no time to react as the muddy unicorn pony and part of the mountain side struck her and knocked her off her feet. Together, spattered in mud and screaming, they careened down the path, dislodging more stones and mud as they went. Three heartbeats later they reached the bottom – but they didn't stop. Close to the river the mud was even deeper, and although they were both able to right themselves, they kept sliding, their hooves skating across the bank. And then with a colossal splash they were in the bitterly cold water of the river. Applejack surfaced first, coughing and spluttering. "Rarity!.... Rarity!" She cried out, but her friend was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Rarity surfaced near her. She was coughing as well, dazed but uninjured. "C'mon lil' missy!" said Applejack, taking hold of one of Rarity's saddlebags in her mouth and pulling her towards the opposite bank, "Swim harder!" "I can't swim!" Rarity cried, "I can only pony-paddle!" "Then pony-paddle as hard as ya can!" Several desperate minutes later they were on the other side of the stream. It wasn't so muddy here, and Applejack pulled Rarity from the water onto the wet sand. The unicorn pony coughed up some more water, but she managed to raise her head and smile at Applejack. Rarity's eyes were moist from tears, river water and rain. "Oh my darling Applejack!" she breathed, getting to her feet with difficulty and pony-hugging her Applejack by putting her neck over her friend's and nuzzling her cheek, "You saved my life!" Applejack's eyes flashed with anger, but then a flush of overwhelming relief washed over her and she softened. They were safe! She pulled out of the hug and smiled at the grateful unicorn pony. "Shucks, Rarity," she replied, "Twern't nothin' at all." She lowered her eyes in modesty, but she opened them when she heard Rarity shriek. "Applejack!" Rarity cried, "Your hat! It's gone!" "My hat?!" Applejack lifted a hoof and felt her head all over. Rarity was right! It was gone. "My hat!" Applejack burst into tears and Rarity looked at her in shock. She'd never seen the earth pony so upset. "My hat! It's gone! Ah've gone an' lost it!" "Oh my dear," Rarity "I'll make you a new one as soon as we get back to Ponyville. Don't you worry about...." "Ya don' unerstand!" cried Applejack, "That was my pappy's hat!" She sobbed, "The las' time Ah saw him alive he took it off his head and gave it to me, an' he said "This is yours now, my lil applebucker. Keep this here hat safe – and don't forget that yer pappy loved you more 'n anything else in the world!" Rarity's eyes welled up, but then they grew steely. She shook the tears from her eyes and jerked her head out of the wet saddlebags. "I'll find your hat darling!" she said, galloping away at full speed downstream along the beach. "Wait! Rarity!" Applejack shouted out to her, but the unicorn pony didn't stop. "Tha' silly filly is gonna do somethin' crazy, I jus' know it!" By the time she'd caught up, Rarity had spotted Applejack's hat floating in the river – it was almost invisible, but it was her hat alright! Rarity stopped and stabbed her horn into the air. Purple-azure energy sparkled along it, and in the river the hat was surrounded in the same light. But it quickly flickered and faded. "It's too far away!" said Rarity in frustration. "Rarity! Don' do nothin' sil...!" But the unicorn pony had already leapt into the river, and was paddling towards the hat. "Oh pony-feathers! Why don't ya ever listen t' me?!" Applejack galloped up the beach keeping alongside her. Rarity was right behind the hat now and purple magic once again sprang to life along her horn. This time the glow remained strong, and with difficulty she lifted the hat out of the water and floated it across to Applejack on the shore. Once the glow flickered, and Rarity almost dropped it, but she bit her lip, squeezed her eyes shut and with a final burst of magic the hat at last made it tothe river bank. Applejack grabbed it in her mouth and flung it far from the water – for she could see that Rarity was exhausted and barely able to keep her head above water. Then the unicorn pony suddenly stopped swimming and slipped under the surface. Applejack leapt into the river and in moments was next to where she'd last seen her friend. She took a deep breath and dived down, searching with her mouth and fore-hooves for Rarity in the black, swirling water. An age later, her lungs burned and she was forced to surface again. But with a desperate sucking in of air, she straight away dived down again. And this time she found her. With no saddlebags to grab this time, Applejack had Rarity's curly tail in her mouth, and painfully she dragged her sopping and unconscious friend from the water. "Oh Rarity!" Applejack muttered, wiping the water from the unicorn pony's face. "What've ya gone and done t' yerself? Ya crazy lil' filly!" She put her cheek to her friend' s mouth. Rarity wasn't breathing. Applejack didn't hesitate, but at once took a deep breath, put her lips against Rarity's pale blue ones and breathed out. Breathe, darn you! Breathe! Don't give up on me, Rarity! Breathe! Applejack stepped back and looked at her friend. She lay there, unmoving, in the dark, the rain falling about her. New tears burst out in Applejack's eyes. "No. Oh Celestia, please no," she whispered.