The Yellow Apple Blossom of New Texas

by Stainless Steel Fox

Ambuscade

People started getting off the streets, and getting inside the main square.

"Come on, the Sheriff's office is nearest." Doc motioned to Applejack. "We've got to get inside before they activate defence mode. The whole central part of the town reconfigures into a fortress."

They dashed over, to find a red headed human in a dark grey outfit outside, hanging stuff on one of the hovering steeds.

"Judge McBride?" Doc Clayton asked. "What are you doing out here?"

"Getting ready to ride out! The defence mode system's been sabotaged, Fuzz thinks Scuzz burrowed in last night, we found one of those stogies he smokes." She shook her head. "We should have figured that attack on Drifting Sands was a diversion, it's about as far away from Fort Kerium as you can get and still be on New Texas."

"Tex Hex is coming?" Doc asked.

"That'd be my guess. We got a report from a prospecter up on the High Tops, saw a big group heading out from the Badlands, before he ducked for safety. Considering the size of the haul Tex will make if he raids us, he'll likely have all of his henchmen, maybe some dingoes too. I've got to go out, buy some time for Bravestarr and Thirty Thirty to get back, and for Fuzz to fix the defence system."

"That's crazy!" Doc exclaimed. "By yourself? Can't the Kerium freighter provide cover?"

"They're coming round the long way, via Drywater gulch. It's over the other side of the mesa, where the freighter's guns can't reach. Is Handlebar back on his feet?" she asked in a tone which showed she knew the answer.

Doc sighed, and shook his head. "Still recovering from the Denebian flu. He's in no fit state to tend bar, let alone go off on a jaunt like this."

"Then I'm all we've got. But I can get round there first, set up an ambush."

"Maybe I can help out?" asked Applejack. "Name's Applejack."

The judge turned and noticed her for the first time. "Judge McBride…"

Applejack put out a hoof and she took it. "Pleased to meet-cha, judge."

"You're the Equestroid they found. Can you handle a Neutra-laser?"

"Ain't even heard of 'em, but I reckon if I can kick a rock the size of my head into the chest-plate of one of those contraptions, it's gonna break down."

"It's called a turbo-mule, and I think it would." Judge McBride thought for a moment. "I don't like taking someone just out of hospital into something like this. It's going to be dangerous."

"The Doc says I'm fit as a fiddle. Besides, you folks took the best care of me you could. Figure I'm repaying the favour. I ain't one to stand around when people need help."

"I'm a Galactic Judge. What if I tell you to stay here?"

Applejack flicked her ponytail back. "Then I aim to misbehave."

Judge McBride saddled up, shaking her head and chuckling. "Well it's not like I can't use the help. Alright, you're with me. Doc, if they get past us, you'll be needed at the clinic."

She powered up her turbo-mule and backed up, coming round to face the main gate. "My friends call me J.B. Follow me!"

"Right beside you!" Applejack called out. The pair raced out of the still open gates, and out of Fort Kerium. Applejack noticed the turbo-mule was trailing a jet of flame, but it didn't seem to worry anybody. Then she realised it must be like a rocket, except it wasn't burning out.

It was certainly pushing the turbo-mule along at a clip she'd have been hard pressed to match with her old body, but this new one seemed to take it in it's stride, so to speak. She wasn't even breathing hard, or feeling any strain in her legs or shoulders. She still wanted her old body back, but she was beginning to appreciate the uses of this new one.

They travelled up a dirt trail, past old mine workings, and upwards over a saddle onto a tableland that the main mesa jutted up from. The barren, hard-packed dirt was as good for running as a paved road, and her metal hooves were better than the best sports horse-shoes. She gave a practice leap, and found she could bound a dozen pony-lengths without much effort.

A second leap, giving it all her effort, had her being pushed ahead even after she left the ground. Ducking her head briefly, she saw flames coming from under her rear hooves. They must have some sort of rocket system like the turbo-mule. Her hooves seemed to automatically orient themselves so she balanced on the thrust rather than tumbling. She felt covers snap back as the jets died and she landed ahead and to the side of J.B.

"What're you doing?" she called out.

"Figuring out what I'm capable of." Despite her speed, and the jump she'd just made, she still wasn't breathing hard. All the power must be coming from the machinery. "I'm still getting used to this body."

"I guess you must have been in that vault a long time." The J.B replied. "Look, there's the canyon!"

They slowed up alongside it, and looked out over the depressing depression . About sixty feet wide and almost as deep, it curved around towards them as it passed. The ruddy orange rock was squared off, steep cliffs with a bit of an overhang at the tops. Fallen scree softened the edges at the bottom, and scrub plants somehow found occasional purchase on the cliffs and along the tops. The very edge of the tops sloped down slightly, overlooking the canyon proper.

The judge dropped lightly off her turbo-mule, short of the slope, and started pulling some sort of blocks from a compartment under the saddle. "Tex Hex and his gang should be along in about ten minutes if the report was right. We're going to set mining charges along the top here, and trigger a landslide in front of them.

"It won't block off the canyon completely, but it'll create a bottle-neck, especially if they've got a flat-bed wagon to carry the Kerium. Then the two of us fire down on them. You sure you don't want a neutra-laser?" The judge displayed a gun with a squared barrel and twin grips that had a second block underneath, which she held in one hand. "It fires an electric charge along the energy beam, knocks out people and electronics."

Applejack picked out a suitable sized rock on the ground beside her, and a light patch on the opposite cliff wall. She reared with the rock between her front hooves, flinging it up, then wheeled and ducked her head to sight under the line of her body. It wasn't much different to bucking apples or pillows.

As the stone reached the right point, she kicked out with both rear hooves, and there was a whip-crack double report. The first was her hooves hitting the rock, and the second was the rock raising a patch of yellow dust as it rebounded off the centre of the light patch. "Much obliged, but I'll stick with what I know."

J.B pursed her lips appreciatively. "I never saw Thirty Thirty do that! He usually uses Sarah Jane."

"Who's the what's now?" Applejack asked, looking over the charges.

"Not a who, a what. It's his pet name for his customised positron cannon. It would come in handy right now, we could bring down the cliff on the other side too in a few seconds. I could split the charges, but there's no way to get across."

Applejack ignored asking what in Celestia's name a positron cannon was in favour of helping out. Remembering her test jump, she mused. "I reckon I could get across, if you can show me what to do when I get there."

"You're sure?" J.B asked, moving along the edge to place the first charge. "They aren't exactly complicated. Just set them up about 20 feet… this far away from the edge, arrow pointing towards it." She pointed to an arrow marked quickly on it with white paint. "It's a pre-programmed shaped Kerium charge… anyway, just flip the cover and press the switch to arm it. The light on top will turn red. Then don't be anywhere near it when it goes off."

Applejack picked up three of the six blocks one by one, using her mouth as her forehooves didn't seem to grip, and put them in her saddlebags. Then she ran back from the edge a ways. She galloped forward at full pace, leaping as she reached the edge. The rocket boost kicked in and she soared across the gap, landing neatly on the other side and running out the rest of the way.

She circled until she was opposite the Judge, and started laying out the charges opposite her, following the instructions exactly. She might not know what a shaped Kerium charge was, but anything that could cause a landslide she'd handle with great care. She didn't bother shifting to humanoid form for this task either, the flip cover and push switch were raised, and she was quite adept enough at handling things with her mouth to do something that simple.

With the last charge in place, she did another running leap across the canyon to where J.B was. This was well up-canyon of the first charge, where she lay prone, neutra-laser to hand, looking out through some of the scrubby brush that clung to the edge of the cliff. She had a pair of binoculars, and was examining the trail up-canyon.

Applejack pushed a dozen or so rocks up beside her, easy enough as this place had more then Pinkie Pie's rock farm. She was checking she had a good line of sight when the judge hissed. "Get down! They're coming!"

Applejack dropped down on her belly, legs folded under her, and looked out through the brush. She heard the sound of dozens of turbo-mules, and the occasional whoops and hollers of the riders before she saw them fly into view around the curve of the canyon.

Most of the turbo-mule riders reminded her of Diamond Dogs, dressed up Appleloosan style, though if anything, they were even scruffier than the diamond miners. In the centre was a buckboard style wagon, with a flat-bed behind the drivers seat. It was drawn by a heavier-constructed turbo-mule. The wagon's wheels were folded up under it, and spinning, with spokes looked more like the propeller blades on Pinkie's flying contraption.

Riding the drivers seat was an unpleasant looking human with a straggly white mane and moustache. Alongside him was a short, furry creature in a short long coat, a big cigar in his mouth. Applejack wasn't sure, but she was betting the first one was this Tex Hex, and the second was the Scuzz, who'd sabotaged the town.

"Tex Hex isn't on his Skull Walker?" muttered her companion. "I guess he doesn't trust anyone else to carry the Kerium. Cover your ears, I'm going to blow the charges."

She picked up a small box with a blinking red light on it, flipped a cover and pressed a button. Even with Applejack's fore-hooves covering her ears, the noise was impressive, though there wasn't any big spray or billow of debris. All the force of the explosions was thrust down in a fan shape into the dirt and rock, which cracked, reminding Applejack of the landslide they'd encountered on their quest to stop Nightmare Moon.

In fact it reminded her more of that than she wanted, either the explosions had been more powerful than they'd intended, or the rock underneath them was already weakened. The ground under her started to shift, and she pushed herself up on all fours, scrambling back as the scrub and the first five feet of the edge broke away.

While she made the safety of relatively solid ground, J.B wasn't so lucky. She was pitched forward with a yell as the edge collapsed, and flung out into open air, beyond Applejack's reach. But not the reach of her lasso. The Equestrian turned Equestroid ducked her head and grabbed the lasso, launching it outwards with a long practised skill which seemed to have carried over into this body.

She snagged the falling human neatly, and hauled back, but either her own movements or the added weight caused more crumbling, and her own fore-hoofs went over the edge. She had no purchase to back away, and to try and stop herself would just make her tumble forwards, so she did the only thing she could, let herself run forwards, keeping her feet under her as she galloped down the steep incline. It wasn't quite vertical, more like 60 degrees, and it looked like it might ease off at the bottom.

She adjusted the tension of the lasso almost automatically, and the snared human neatly dropped into the carrying saddle on her back. Designed to be practical as well as decorative, the leather saddle on her Gala costume was designed to distribute heavy loads across her back, such as apple baskets. However it worked just as well as a regular saddle. J.B automatically grabbed onto it, there being no reins or stirrups.

Another flick of the lasso, and it neatly released J.B, and flew forward. A lot of skill, and a little bit of unicorn magic meant it dropped in neat coils across Applejack's muzzle. She let it slide down and shifted her bite to grab the loops as they dropped off the end. All this was done on an almost automatic level, as she focussed her attention on the big problem ahead.

The judge's scheme had been even more successful than she'd hoped. The canyon ahead of the outlaws had narrowed down to a vee shaped notch in a wall of loose boulders and scree. The turbo-mules might be able to inch through in single file, the flying buckboard would have no chance. Clearing the fall would be a major task.

Unfortunately, that meant that the entire gang was pulling up short of the obstruction, and Applejack and her rider were galloping right into the middle of them. They'd only just started to notice the secondary slide, but any second, bad things would start to happen. Especially as the weapon J.B had laid out was currently somewhere under a ton of rock. Their only hope was to keep moving.

Applejack leaped, just as the ground underfoot started to level, and landed her fore-hooves on a turbo-mule, knocking the rider flying. Using it as a stepping stone, she made another jump to the empty flat-bed. It was a good enough surface that she could change direction a bit, and made a third jump, via another turbo-mule onto the ground on the other side of the canyon floor, forward of the flat-bed.

She circled, leaping over a tumbled turbo-mule who's dingo rider had stopped too enthusiastically, heading for the notch, but just before she arrived there, a wall of green flame flared up in front of her, blocking off the gap. The two of them were trapped, between the fames and the full force of Tex Hex's goon squad.

The flying wagon had come to a halt, and air-jets hissed as the wheels spun down and folded vertically, to rest like regular wheels on the canyon floor. The out-riding turbo-mules formed a nearly solid wall blocking off any escape that way.

Applejack wheeled and dropped the lasso, turning to face the thugs. "I'm awful sorry J.B, I did mah best…"

"I know, it's my fault for getting you into this. Thanks for saving me." J.B patted her neck.

"Looks like I didn't save you enough…"

"Well lookie what we have here!" Tex Hex sneered. "Seems we have ourselves a judge. Pity there ain't a trial."

"Heh heh!" The cigar smoking furry at his side wheezed. "You said it boss!"

"Give it up, Tex Hex.!" J.B called out bravely. "You'll never get past this before Fort Kerium goes to defence mode and Bravestarr arrives. He's on guard now. You've failed!"

"Now why should I need to get past, when I've got two hostages? I wonder how many tons of Kerium you're worth to the good people of New Texas? And the horse you rode in on has got to be worth a couple of kilos, if only for the spare parts."

Applejack glared at him. "The name's Applejack, but you can call me ma'am. Or better yet say nothing and high-tail it out of here before I plant these here hooves on your noggin!"

"You ain't in a position to tell anyone to do anything, hobby-horse!" Tex Hex waved a hand, and green smoke welled up in front of them, coalescing into a pair of green snakes, twice as long as Applejack. They were already reared up and hissing, their head level with hers. "You're both going to do what I say, or my pets get a meal."

Now Applejack didn't have Twilight's fear of snakes. She could take them or leave them, and mostly she left them to Fluttershy to deal with. But these things were clearly some sort of hocus pocus, and mighty unfriendly hocus pocus at that.

"Hold on!" she whispered to her rider.

Then she reared up and lashed out with her front hooves, the metal front edge of each hoof striking a snake just below the head. They struck in return, but couldn't do anything to the bronze coloured metal of her fore-legs. Her strikes were more successful, the pair dropped, spines broken, and evaporated as fast as they'd appeared.

Before Tex Hex could do more then yell in anger, Applejack followed up by ducking and retrieving her lasso, snaking it out to capture the head outlaw. Her plan, such as it was, was to capture the bandits' leader and fling him around, hopefully knocking some of his goons off their mounts, and disorienting him enough that he wouldn't be able to command, or do magic. Besides, it looked like he needed to move his hands for that, and if they were bound to his sides, the odds would get a lot better.

Tex Hex was just standing up and going for the gun that had appeared at his belt when the lasso looped over him. It pulled tight, and something unexpected happened. He screamed in agony. Applejack could actually see black smoke rising from where the rope bound him.

She started to flip him into the air, when he disintegrated into a puff of black smoke which rushed away the direction the bad guys had came from. While this was a good thing, as she could feel the wall of flames behind her die, it meant she had nothing to bludgeon the remaining outlaws with.

Fortunately she had a few seconds to work with, as the group of dingoes were as surprised as she was at the turn of events. She, however had a goal, and was quite a bit faster to react. She dropped the lasso again and called out, "J.B! Get to cover and head for the gap! I'll distract 'em!"

Outlying boulders from the landslides provided plenty of places for someone the size of a human to hide behind, an Equestroid, even in humanoid form, not so much. Standing in the open was a sure-fire invitation to see what those weapons J.B had been on about could do, but Applejack was pretty sure if she was in among the dingoes, they'd be less likely to shoot.

When J.B didn't jump off immediately, Applejack shifted to humanoid, sidestepping and reaching behind her to catch the lady judge and put her down by a suitable rock. Then she jumped forward, picking up the fallen turbo-mule she'd jumped earlier in both hands and hurling it at the turbo-mules on one side of the wagon.

It was close enough to the wagon for Scuzz to spit out his cigar in panic and dive away over the opposite side, hitting the ground head first and tunnelling into it at a furious rate. "Ahh! The crazy horse 'vaporated the boss! Me's getting' outta here!"

The projectile also broke up the line of turbo-mules and caused a lot of confusion and panic. A few zig-zag bolts of brilliant white energy flashed past Applejack's head, but they were from across the other side, and more importantly aimed at where she'd been. She landed in her natural form, reckoning she'd fare better with four hooves than just using her fore-hooves.

She body slammed a couple of dismounted dingoes into the ground as she landed, and kicked out behind her at one of the few remaining upright turbo-mules, which took out two more. Then it was down to her hooves and her bite, much as she disliked the idea of these fellows anywhere near her mouth.

Still, grabbing one by the scruff of his neck and giving him a good shake before flinging him away seemed to take the starch out of them and generally caused collateral knock-down damage. Now if only she could find something to take the taste of unwashed dingo out of her mouth, bleah!

If the dingos had worked as a team, coordinated their attacks, they'd have found her easier to take down, but without orders, it was every dingo for himself. Besides, trying to move around or aim a weapon on an increasingly debris-laden battlefield while dodging involuntarily ballistic comrades was mostly beyond their capacities. A few didn't even try, grabbing any relatively intact turbo-mule and heading for the hills.

However, as she put down or ran off more of the goons, she destroyed her own cover, and there was still a relatively intact group on the other side of the flat-bed wagon. One of them, a dingo with a fancy hat, shifted into a moustachioed human. He led a group over the back of the flat-bed, and aimed his pistol at the still battling Applejack, along with the rest of his group.

"If we bring down the filly, Tex Hex will give us as much kerium as we can carry!"

Applejack realised her position too late, and tried to turn and face her new attackers… only to have something fly across between them, and knock the pistols out of their hands. It retracted on a cable, and became the head of a mechanical gavel, wielded by J.B. She also carried a salvaged pistol of her own and fired it in the air.

"Drop your weapons and surrender!" she yelled out.

"We can still take them both!" Dingo Dan yelled, diving for cover behind the seat back of the flat-bed .

Before he could complete the movement, a massive yellow energy blast blew a chunk out of the canyon wall above them.

"I don't think so!" called the voice from above. "But do you want to take on the two of us as well? Strength of the Bear!"

The figure leaped off the edge of the cliff, and dropped the full distance to land lightly, a neutra-laser of his own in his hand. Applejack figured he was this Marshall Bravestarr everyone had been on about.

"Mmpphh! And if ya still have any bright ideas, me and Sarah Jane are ready to dispute 'em!"

A humanoid form Equestroid landed more heavily beside him, a much bigger weapon held in his hands, Thirty Thirty. All the fight went out of the dingos at this point.

Applejack shifted up to bi-pedal form, to get a proper look at the pair. The Marshall had a dark coat… skin and a black mane. He was dressed up in a yellow costume with a white Stetson and some sort of white body armour. Obviously he wore the same sheriff's star she'd seen at the Sheriff's office.

Thirty Thirty had a grey coat and white mane and tail that was even wilder as Rainbow Dash's, which was saying something, as Applejack privately believed the powerful pegasus styled her hair with a hurricane. He was wearing some sort of red harness, and possibly a body suit that matched his coat. His limbs were plain polished steel, and there was no cutie-mark visible.

He strode over, and she moved around the front of the flat-bed toward him. She'd been interested in meeting him, according to the Doc he was the only other member of her new species anywhere.

"Ya crazy filly! What do 'think you were doin'?" he thundered.

Comments

[Stainless Steel Fox]

5749465 You're right. I used the term Equestroid originally, but when I was checking something against an episode for this reposting on FIM fiction, I heard him refer to himself as a techno-horse. I've changed the references back, I like Equestroid better anyway.

Now I'm thinking...

Equestroids! Cybernetic steeds!
Equestroids! Do heroic deeds!
Auto-Trots fight there battle to defeat the evil forces of the Decepti-corns!
Equestroids! Cybernetic steeds!

This so totally needs to be a thing. After all, if Angry Birds can do it...

I started writing something like that myself, but for an excellent Transformers MLP crossover, I recomend Apple Bloom: Transform and Roll Out!