Applejack's Stetson Hat

by Fattymagee1

Cavernous Melancholy

Tiny water droplets fell from the large, pointy stalactites clinging to the ceiling of the hallway outside Big Macintosh’s dark cell, and their sound filled his ears as he sat on the cell’s dirt-laden floor. A single torch dimly glowed outside of the metal-barred door of the cell across the hallway. Although it was impossible to tell for sure, it seemed to be late at night, as evidenced by Rarity, who lay a few feet away, snoozing on the remains of her now tattered dress.

How could Ah let this happen?

For some time now, those were the only words circulating through the big red stallion’s mind.

All his efforts at saving the mare of his dreams and himself had failed. Even the force of the strong stallion’s kicks were incapable of moving the magically locked cell door. They were now completely at the mercy of the Diamond Dogs, and Big Macintosh knew it. One after another, crushing waves of defeat filled the stallion’s soul as he stared at the burning torch across the hall. A sniffle almost escaped his nose, but he suppressed it. He couldn’t do that, not in front of Rarity.

At this point Big Mac didn’t even care much about his own welfare. Rarity was his only concern now. Perhaps he could sacrifice himself for her freedom.

Maybe the dogs can be reasonable…

The stallion sat there tirelessly for perhaps hours, pondering possible negotiation strategies to bargain with the dogs for Rarity’s freedom. He couldn’t sleep, not at a time like this. Eventually, however, even his vigilance began to falter as his eyes grew heavier and he started to doze off…

Abruptly, a very audible crashing sound reverberated through the hallway and into the cell, rudely tremoring both the stallion and the mare wide awake.

They looked at one another briefly before alternating their gaze towards the cell door. The sounds of footsteps could be heard, immediately followed by the three Diamond Dogs. Two bulldog guards wielding spears were also present, one on each side. Naturally, they were all wearing their special earplugs to protect themselves from Rarity’s incredibly vexatious whining.

The posse rather lazily approached the cell door, each sporting a pompous grin on their face.

The medium-sized ringleader Diamond Dog spoke first in his distinctly screechy voice.

“Good morning, ponies. I hope your sleeping arrangements were comfortable.” The three dogs looked at each other and snickered. “We have plenty of fun activities for you to do today, starting with you digging us a new connecting chamber.”

Big Macintosh gulped before looking to Rarity, whose expression was simply blank.

---

Sweetie Belle’s eyes twitched slowly. The sounds of water droplets hitting the ground, not too dissimilar from the sounds of a leaky faucet, could be heard all around.

The unicorn blinked a few times, raising her head as she gradually came to. She gazed around through her now bedraggled dirt-laden mane in a daze, not really sure where she was or what had happened. She was now in a dimly lit, dome-shaped cavern, the only light emanating from a small hole high up on the jagged ceiling. There were also several dark oval-shaped crevices all around that exited the cavern.

Then her gaze arrived at a motionless baby dragon lying a couple feet away to her left. Almost instantly memories of what had happened flooded into the filly’s mind.

Stumbling into her sister’s home, the distress at the sight inside. The large hole in the middle of the floor. Falling. Spike…

Sweetie Belle attempted to rise to her hooves;, however, the filly squeaked as a sharp pain shot up from her left hind hoof. She collapsed back onto the dirt ground, wincing in pain and breathing heavily.

After a few moments of weathering the intense pain, it finally subsided. But the filly realized, with a sense of dread, there was something very wrong with her back hoof.

Sweetie Belle reached out with her front left hoof, wincing again as she attempted to not move her injured back hoof. Just barely being able to reach, the filly prodded his back.

“S-Spike?”

No response. A chill ran down the back of Sweetie’s spine.

She prodded him again, this time a little harder. “Spike?!”

Spike abruptly squirmed and jumped to his feet, causing the filly to jump in surprise. He peered up at the cave walls, a look of confusion present on his face. “What? What just happened? Where am I? Where’s Rarity?”

Sweetie Belle breathed a small sigh of relief as the dragon spun around and noticed her lying next to him.

The drake stepped towards her with a shocked expression.

“Sweetie Belle! Are you alright?”

The unicorn, despite her pain, attempted to crack a smile. “I-I don’t know, Spike. I-I think there might be something wrong with my back hoof,” Sweetie cringed again as she turned her head to gaze at her injured appendage, ” I can’t move it without a lot of pain. I don’t think I can even walk right now...”

Spike placed his claws on his cheeks as his own memories flooded back. “Oh no! You’re hurt?” The drake looked up at the ceiling, a few rays of light originating from a hole in the ceiling. “We must have fallen a pretty long way down here. Wherever here is.”

Sweetie Belle nodded, trying her best to keep her composure.

“Yeah… it’s good you don’t seem to be hurt, too. But why in Celestia’s name was there a hole in the middle of the boutique?”

Spike checked his own legs with a claw, making sure he had suffered no major injuries himself. “I really don’t know. That was very weird…”

A few moments of silence passed; the two stared at one another as the gravity of their new current situation began to sink in.

“What do we do now?” Spike inquired as he gazed around the potential exits to the cavern in the dim light. .

“I-I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle murmured with a worried tone, “who knows how long it will be before somepony else might come by my sister’s boutique. It was getting dark when we went inside.”

Spike sat down in front of Sweetie Belle. “Well, who knows. Maybe your sister and Big Macintosh are down here, too, and can help us. I just hope they’re not also in trouble.”

Once again, the thought of Rarity on a date with somepony else irked the drake’s mind. But now was not the time for that. He and an injured Sweetie Belle were now seemingly trapped alone in a dark, cavernous labyrinth with no means of escape.

Some evening off this turned out to be! At least I’m not alone though… Spike thought as he turned his attention back towards the filly and grinned slightly.

“Yeah, let’s hope not. Whatever happens, though, we’ll stick together. Even if you can’t walk on that hoof, I’ll figure out a way for you to move. It’ll be okay; we’ll get out of here, I’m sure.”

Despite the sudden burst of confidence, deep down, Spike remained quite unsure of their situation. Sweetie Belle, on the other hoof, despite the pain and potential major trouble she was in, could not help but blush a little at the drake’s bold statement.

---

Big Macintosh and Rarity approached a large rock wall that composed one side of what Rarity remembered was the cave’s large main chamber. In the chamber were several carts for hauling jewels. Several barred exit doors and lit torches dotted the walls. Like in a couple other caverns they had passed through, a large chandelier adorned with several jews hung from the ceiling. Several small openings and crevices dotted the walls, and several columns of rock stretched from the ground to the ceiling. Disregarding these aspects, the cavern was basically featureless like the rest of the caves.

They were led at spearpoint by the two guard dogs, who were, in turn, followed by the three sneering Diamond Dogs. They stopped in front of the wall, where the two ponies were instructed to turn around and face their captors.

The ringleader dog stepped forward, a smirk on his face. “Here is your first task of the day, ponies.” He pointed at the wall. “We are tired of walking around through other tunnels to get here. We want a new tunnel leading straight to our bedrooms!”

The dog then pointed to a couple of pickaxes leaning against the wall to the right.

“You ponies will dig it for us!” The dog glared at Rarity. “And this time, you can’t stop us!”

The three dogs shared a rather maniacal laugh in unison, whilst Rarity and Big Macintosh made eye contact. They continued to stare at one another with hopeless expressions as the two guard dogs directed them with spears towards the pickaxes.

“Ah’m sorry, Miss Rarity,” the big red stallion mumbled as he reached down and grabbed one of the pickaxes with his mouth.

“It’s not your fault,” Rarity countered as she picked up her own.

That was true. It wasn’t his fault that Rarity had been kidnapped. And yet, Big Macintosh couldn’t help but feel responsible for everything that had happened. He, furthermore, had failed to rescue the mare of his dreams, and now the two might be doomed to a lifetime of servitude in this awful place. The stallion could not sink any lower.

Silently the two ponies slowly ambled to the wall, the stallion on the left and the mare on the right, and began to chip away at the wall. Big Macintosh attempted to relieve Rarity’s work as best he could by hitting the wall with all his strength. After a few minutes of snickering as they watched, the three Diamond Dogs left the cavern through one of the barred doors, leaving the ponies behind with just the guard dogs.

After about an hour of digging, having reached a couple feet deep into the wall, the stallion gazed to his left and quickly noticed something peculiar about one of the nearby columns. It seemed rather skinny, almost as if it might break with a good tap. The makings of an idea formed in Big Mac’s head as he continued to dig…

Author's Note:

Sorry again for the long wait to those of you who still may remember this story. As I truly wish to finish this before starting anything else new that is multi-chapter, this will be updated much more frequently now. I probably have about 3-4 more chapters planned for this fic.

Also, special thanks to my new proofreader TheDizzyDan for now helping me with this resurrected story.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Well, it looks like Big Mac have found a way out after all. The question is, will he able to escape with Rarity?

[Inferno demon Dash]

Very good job.