The Honest, The Liar, and The Ugly

by Mod On Death

The Mine

Applejack arrived at the entrance to the mine just out of town. She had decided to put on a Duster and managed to get the holster for her lassos tightened just right before she left. She saw that Braeburn was standing next to Flintbit, who had finally managed to fall asleep.

"So, where's this help you were talking about before?" Applejack asked, seeing nopony else around.

"She'll be here in just a moment. Just wait." Applejack was surprised to hear that only one pony would be arriving. Not only that, but her cousin had apparently chosen a girl. "Mr. Flintbit, you can leave now."

"Huh? Oh. Alright. Good luck you two," he said, heading back to his house.

"Braeburn, who exactly-" Applejack's question was answered as she saw a familiar face appear from one of the bushes. "Little Strongheart? What're you doing here?"

"It's just 'Strongheart' now. I became a full adult in my tribe," she explained. "And I come here to check that the town hasn't suddenly started expanding again without letting us know. After all, we don't want a replay of last time."

"Really? Seems like a whole lot of effort to keep visiting here just for that." Applejack gave her a look of suspicion, thinking that she had another reason for going there.

"Doesn't really matter now," Braeburn said, getting them back on topic. "Strongheart, we need your help with something. We think we've cornered a group of bandits in this mine and don't want to have too many in there in case they use dynamite."

"Why don't you have the sheriff here to help out?" Strongheart asked.

"The sheriff's already here," Applejack told her.

"Really?" Strongheart said with a smile. "Congrats, Braeburn!" she said as she gave him a big hug. He gave Applejack a look of awkwardness, her returning the expression.

"Eh, not exactly," he finally said. Strongheart let go upon hearing this and looked at Applejack.

"Wait, you don't mean-"

"Eeyup. Kinda a long story, but pretty much the past sheriff died and made me the new one right before he went. The killers might actually be hiding in this mine as we speak."

"Well, what's the plan, sheriff?" Applejack noticed Strongheart roll her eyes back when she said 'sheriff'.

"I actually did find this old map of the mine before the big collapse." She took out a parchment with tunnels and rooms outlined. "Not exactly sure what areas are cut off with the collapse, but I think that they would primarily be hiding in these main areas." Three large chambers were circled while other tunnels had notes for things such as 'traps'. "I suspect that we should see signs of life while down there that'll help point us in the right direction. I want us to stick together this entire time. One of us gets separated and we become slim pickings. You ready?"

"Ready," the two replied. Lifting up her lantern, the sheriff and her posse descended into the mine shaft.

---

The three found the mine to be much different from what the map had originally shown them. Instead of a clearly organized system of passageways, it was a complete mess! Tunnels were either collapsed with new fissures apparently having opened up in their place. Also, they couldn't tell if they had entered any chambers, since all the tunnels looked the same.

"Twilight'd have a fit if she saw how bad this map was," Applejack said, tossing it aside. "Alright. Looks like we'll have to comb the area and set up signs so we don't get completely lost. Anypony have something like that on them?"

"Maybe. You mind putting the light over near that pile of rocks?" Strongheart asked. Applejack obliged and Strongheart started examining the pile. Picking up one of the rocks, she started making a large "#1" on the wall. "This place seems to be full of chalk."

"Huh. Makes you wonder why they didn't bother mining for that stuff instead of gold," Applejack commented, grabbing a rock as well, making marks on whatever wall she happened to pass by.

"I think they may have done that as well. I'm not really sure on all the details of this place," Braeburn admitted. "Though, to be fair, it was closed when I was just a colt."

The three continued to go deeper into the mine, noticing that passages that would have made this place a maze had been boarded up. The wood seemed to be out of place for such a decrepit setting, as if newly placed. Suspicions that this place was inhabited were confirmed when Applejack found herself just on top of a wire that, if fully pushed, would have dropped a large pile of rocks right on top of them.

"Well, looks like we've got something," she whispered, gently backing off of the trap. "Better be extra careful now. Check the floor and move slowly."

The group continued on at a snail's pace, spotting more traps along the way. The second one they encountered was a change in the pathway that opened up to four other passages. At the end of each passage was a closed wooden door. Using her senses, Strongheart warned the others before they made the folly of opening them and instructed Applejack to give her of of her lassos. Using it, she tied the handle to the door and stepped away as far as the rope went, pulling open the door with a yank and reveling a large pike that jutted out. She repeated this with the others (the traps being the same) and went through the safe passage.

"So, they seem to have put a whole lot of effort in this place," Braeburn pointed out as he avoided another one of the rock traps.

"Yeah. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you really think about it. I mean, when I said 'traps' I thought of simple stuff like string with cans to act as an alarm or something, but here we have fake doors and rock traps here. Also," Applejack stopped in her tracks and pointed to a pitfall with spikes on the floor, "it looks like death pits as well. Starting to think that this isn't the bandit's place."

"They could have just put some extra effort into it," Strongheart replied.

"These are bandits in a small town. Pretty sure that they'd do whatever they could to get in and get out of here. It's not like they could have lived here and spent the money without anypony else noticing," Braeburn explained. "It's not like they'd build something this big for such a short time."

"OoooooOOooo!" a voice seemed to echo from further within the mine. Applejack, Strongheart, and Braeburn stood completely still, trying to comprehend what they just heard.

"Is that what I think it was?" Strongheart said, starting to shiver with fear.

"I think so," Braeburn whispered, just as scared as her.

"You two are joking, right?" Applejack couldn't believe those two. Raised in the rough and they were cringing at some howling.

"Hey, I told you that this mine is probably haunted. It's not like we can just fight ghosts!" Applejack was sure that to Braeburn his logic made sense, but to her it just seemed like he was chickening out.

"Whatever. If you two are gonna be like this then I'll be going without you two." She jumped over the pit and proceeded along the passage, lantern raised in front. The more she heard the noises, the more she started thinking about what those two had said. "It's probably just a thing that somepony is doing to trick us. Probably somepony who's lived down here for years and gone crazy. Probably a cannibal -" Applejack noticed that she was starting to freak herself out and decided to stop talking. "Come on. What's the worse that could actually be there?"

"Get out!" the voice yelled out. Suddenly, to the surprise of Applejack, three white flames suddenly appeared and started to approach her. Freaking out, Applejack immediately started galloping back from where she came.

"Applejack?" Braeburn asked, seeing her suddenly galloping at them with all her might. Without a word she jumped over the pit and the two followed her. In their haste they forgot about the rock trap and triggered it. Braeburn ended up getting hit with one of them and had his leg trapped under several others.

"Braeburn!" Strongheart yelled out, pulling on him. Applejack saw what had happened and went back to help, trying to move the large rocks. The three saw the lights get closer and closer, hearing the voice calling to them.

"Hold on!" the lights seemed to yell, but at the point none of them were paying attention.

"Go on without me!" Braeburn yelled, hoping to spare his friends.

"I ain't leaving you fer dead!" Applejack told him, noticing her accent flaring up again. Seeing that she wasn't doing much good, she decided there was only one other way to help out. "I'm gonna take on that ghost!" With hopeless abandon, she rushed forward, having no idea how to fight the supernatural. As soon as she got close to the lights she tackled, hoping that something would happen. As luck would have it, something did. She felt herself tumble into another pony who had apparently attached three lanterns to his back with some contraption. She was finally able to see the old stallion now, his face covered with a thick and long beard.

"Sorry fer scaring you three like that," he apologized. "Thought you might have been ghosts."

"Wait, you thought we were ghosts?" Braeburn asked, finally prying himself free.

"Yeah. I'd been hearing odd things lately and decided to set up traps fer them and trying to scare them away from here just in case." The three stared at each other in disbelief as they heard what he just said.

"Sir, how exactly would traps have discouraged them if they were ghosts?"

The bearded stallion looked like he was about to say something when he just stopped. For a full minute he just stood there, his mouth open. He finally admitted, "Because I'm an idiot."

"Well, I guess this solves the mystery of the mine," Applejack said, frustrated at this twist. "So I guess this was just a waste of time then, huh?"

"Hey. We at least know what the townsfolk were talking about before when they said there were strange noises around here," Braeburn told her, trying to come with anything that might console her. "And at least we're all safe and sOWWW!"

"Sow? What's that supposed to mean?" Applejack realized that this wasn't some weirdly accented word, but her cousin screaming out of pain. The leg that'd been trapped under the rock was twisted in a painful manner, making it difficult for him to stand.

"Aww great," the bearded stallion said. "Looks like he may have broken it. I'll help you three up to the surface. Make sure nothin' else happens." He led them through the tunnels, explaining who he was and his history with the mine.

His name was Golden Lead, and he was the prospector who had originally purchased the area for digging and created the mine. He originally found gold in the mine and decided to settle on mining for that for several reasons apparently. The first reason was that while he knew about the other minerals in the mine, he knew that they weren't worth that much and wanted to dedicate his crews to gathering the most valuable rocks. He also didn't have any place to store the other materials. He eventually got trapped down in the mine during the great collapse and survived off of the rations less fortunate miners had on them. When he finally managed to get out, it had been several months and his company had been liquidated, his own personal assets given to the families of the other miners who had passed. This had all occurred since he had been presumed dead along with everypony else. Seeing as he had no money, family, or even a place to live, he decided to spend his days living in the mine.

"Sounds like you've had a busy life," Applejack told him.

"Yeah, well, a whole lot of it was avoiding the buffalo tribes that seemed to live around here. Didn't want them to find out about my operation." Strongheart shot him a disturbing glance. "Sorry, I guess. Anyway, yer friend should get some help. Feels like hes gettin' a fever."

"We'll get right on that, Golden Lead. Thanks fer the help. You wanna stay at our place? It's got actual beds," offered Applejack.

"I might actually take you up on that offer. It's been pretty depressing living in the mine lately. Keep on having to worry about some goop-" Golden Lead shut his mouth when he came across the entrance and saw a pack of bobcats right out there, looking at the four of them. They started growling and began to circle around the entrance.

"Think we should pull back into the mine," whispered Applejack, slowly moving back.

"Don't think we should," replied Golden. "This boy's fever is getting pretty bad fast. Don't know how long we could be in the mine if they follow. Can't be sure we'd outrun them either."

"Well, it looks like we've only got one option then." Strongheart revealed a sheathe and took out a sharp dagger, holding it in her mouth.

"Looks like that." Applejack took out one of her lassos and started whirling it around. "Might not be as effective as your thing, but just watch."

In an instant, the bobcats descended. Strongheart took the front and leapt into the heat, drawing the attention of the feral felines. Applejack lassoed one of the cats and reeled it in, bucking it as soon as it got close. The force was enough to knock it out of the lasso, sending the cat limping away injured. Strongheart saw this working and decided to go with that plan, holding off the cats with her agility and her blade while Applejack dealt the real damage.

"Why isn't Strongheart just using her blade?" asked Braeburn. "Seems like it'd be faster to just kill them."

"Because they're smart enough to know that is you show the cat who's boss then they'll back off, but if you mortally wound it then they'll fight to the death," explained Golden Lead. "Remember that they're trying to do whatever it is that makes it the fastest so we can get you out of here." Just as he was explaining this, two bobcats suddenly turned their attention to the wounded pony. Seeing as he was an easy target, they lunged forward. Golden Lead saw this and took off one of his lanterns and started swinging at them. "Back! Get back!" he yelled, the flames scaring the cats.

After a solid ten minutes of fighting the cats seemed to realize that this wasn't worth the pain and limped away, hoping to find an easier meal. By that time Braeburn was starting to feel real ill and needed to be carried the rest of the way. The clinic was closed and Braeburn ended up directing them to the doctor's house instead. Applejack yelled as hard as she could, declaring that it was the sheriff and that there was an emergency.

"Coming! Coming!" the doc could be heard saying as he opened up his door. "What is this?"

"Doc! Braeburn's leg got messed up and now he's got a real bad fever," Applejack told him. "You gotta help him out fast!"

"Alright. Place him down on the couch gently." Golden carried him over and placed him down with care. The doc approached him and touched his leg, feeling the bone. Braeburn cringed while he did this, biting down to keep from screaming out.

"How bad is it?" Applejack asked.

"Definitely broken. Needs something to hold it in place. Fetch me my medical bag from the counter. Buffalo girl, I need you to talk to him and make sure he stays awake for this. Don't want him to fall asleep and end up unconscious. Beardy, I need you to hand me my tools when I ask. Got it?"

"Right!" they yelled, performing their tasks. In a minute everything was set up for the doctor to begin.

"Okay. Sheriff, I'll need you to help hold him down. Beardy, be prepared to get me what I need."

"What's first?" Golden asked.

"First, get out my bone saw."

"WHAT?!" everypony else in the room yelled out.

"I need you to saw off a piece of wood that I have lying around. Check out my closet. Think I have enough for a splint." Following the doc's order, he found a piece of wood and started cutting it. "Okay. Bring what you have over and let's set the leg back again. Sheriff, get in position and hold him down."

"Is this gonna hurt?" Braeburn asked meekly.

"No. I just need her there so that when I- oh! Hello, Princess!"

"WhaAAAAAAA!" he yelled as his leg was twisted into place.

"Okay. Now, hand me the splint and some of the bandages there." Golden handed him the splint and bandages and began his work. Strongheart consoled her friends as the bandage was wrapped tightly around his leg, trying to keep hi from passing out from pain. Before they knew it he was finished, the bandage cut with the bone saw. "Now I'll start on the fever." He reached into the pocket on his pharmacist jacket and pulled out several pills. He then carefully selected the one he needed and handed it over. "Swallow this and get some rest. I'll have you stay here for at least the night. Might need to sleep through tomorrow as well."

"Thanks," Braeburn said, swallowing the pill and finally passing out.

"Okay. Now, all of you get out and let me get my sleep." Without letting them utter a single word, the doc pushed the three of them out and shut the door.