Rúmcierr

by Matthais Unidostres

9

Suddenly appearing in a new location, Applejack quickly turned her head in all directions to check out her new surroundings. Panic overtook her for a moment when she realized that all she could see around her was the distant horizon, but the feeling of solid wood under her hooves got her to calm down a bit. She then slowly and more calmly studied her surroundings, and found that she was standing on the very center of a very long rope bridge that must have been about 120 yards long.

Applejack chanced a glance downwards through the wooden slats she was standing on, and gulped as her heart pounded from the dizzying drop down to the sharp rocks below at the bottom of the wide canyon.

“Whoa,” was all Applejack could say at first as she stared downward at the distant ground. She then jerked her head back up and shot a sideways glance to the machine sitting next to her, it’s bottom section still glowing green.

“Ah don’t know if Ah oughta count this as bad luck. . .” Applejack remarked as her eyes briefly glanced downward for the fraction of a second. “. . . Or the danged greatest luck ever,” Applejack concluded as she raised her hind right hoof and tapped it on the wooden slat it rested on.

Applejack heard a loud snap as her hind right leg fell downwards, and she yelped as her other three legs bent at the knee. Crouched down in the uncomfortable position, Applejack said nervously, “This was bad luck.”

She then slowly turned around to see that one of the wooden slats behind her had broken in half. Applejack gulped. Immediately, all of the wooden planks either broke in half, came detached from one side and just hung from one of the ropes, or fell off of the rope bridge entirely in a domino-like succession.

Applejack stared blankly and blinked before remarking breathlessly, “Definitely bad luck. Very bad luck. That’s all Ah’ve been getting, hasn’t it?”

Applejack then turned to look ahead of her, and saw, to her relief, that the other half of the bridge was intact. Applejack breathed in and out slowly and said to herself, “Alright. Ah can do this. Just. . . get across this thing quickly.”

She slowly moved her back right hoof to the slat her back left hoof was resting on, and then carefully reached over and grabbed the device with her mouth, once again holding it by its top with her teeth. She then took a careful step forward, wincing at the creaking sound the wooden board made.

Applejack looked out at the remaining 60 or so yards ahead of her in longsuffering. However, she quickly breathed out through her nose and took another step, this time moving her right legs in unison. She repeated this with her left legs, making sure that each hoof was on its own board, so as to keep her weight spread out.

“Why musht mushcle weigh more than fat?” Applejack said through her clenched teeth as she continued her slow journey, the creaking sound of the wooden boards wracking her nerves.

Anxious to get the ordeal over with, Applejack began taking slightly longer strides, and soon got within 30 yards of the end of the bridge. However, a loud crack suddenly came right underneath her, and when she looked down, she watched as the wood underneath her started to split. Applejack looked out in disbelief as the split raced across the bridge ahead of her, dividing all of the wooden slats in half.

At that moment, Applejack noticed that the wood was still supporting her weight, and saw that the crack that had split all of the planks in half wasn’t deep enough to run all the way through. In spite of all this, Applejack was afraid to move another muscle. But then, Applejack suddenly remembered the Sisterhooves Social where she had started out racing with Sweetie Belle. Applejack recalled how Sweetie Belle had hopped right across the mud pit without falling in.

Applejack closed her eyes and nodded her head, filled with fear as the reality of what she had to do sunk in.

“No choice,” she said through her clenched teeth, while she silently cursed the device she was holding with said teeth. Then, she opened her eyes, looked straight ahead, and hopped forward, moving all four of her hooves close together before she landed on the next plank. Right when she landed, she immediately hopped again, which was very fortunate, as the plank immediately broke in half right after she left it.

Applejack tried to block out the sounds of snapping wood behind her as she hopped onwards. Every board she landed on broke and fell away right after she hopped off of it, and Applejack did not want to think about it as she daintily hopped onward. Rather, she focused on how hopping allowed her to go much more quickly, as she was skipping over three or four boards with each hop.

Applejack was soon within 5 yards of the end of the bridge and firm, solid ground. She eagerly looked towards her goal, smiling around the piece of metal in her mouth as her eyes were filled with hope. However, this all prevented her from noticing the pointy bit of wood sticking out of the wooden slat ahead of her. Her front right hoof landed right on top of it, and the pointy splinter stuck right into the soft inner part of the hoof.

Applejack neighed out in pain, sending the device out the remaining distance and onto solid ground, where it bounced a few times before coming to a rest on its glowing green tripod legs. Applejack reared up on her hind legs and kicked her forelegs in reflex. Applejack gasped and breathed heavily as she saw the splinter in her hoof. She quickly pulled it out with her teeth and spat it away, sighing in relief. However, her facial expression became horrified as she began aware of her current situation.

Applejack gulped for what felt like the umpteenth time to her by now, and muttered, “Maybe. . . if Ah stayed up like this. . .” Applejack pulled in her forelegs close to her chest, and then carefully put her left hind leg forward. “. . . and Ah step really slowly. . .” Applejack said as she put her hoof down as lightly as she could onto the wooden plank.

The moment her hoof touched the wood, there was a loud crack, and the entire remainder of the bridge split in half, sending all of the wooden planks down to the distant, sharp rock-strewn floor of the canyon.

Applejack screamed loudly as she jumped up and flailed out all four of her legs. She fell for about half a second before all four of her outstretched hooves grabbed onto the ropes that were all that remained of the bridge. Her left hooves caught the left rope, and her right hooves caught the right rope. She was hanging with her legs spread out over the deep canyon, with only the old ropes from the rope bridge keeping her from plunging downwards towards the sharp rocks below.

Wide eyed and panic stricken, Applejack stammered out “Ah got bad luck, Ah had a bad idea, an’ AH DON’T CARE!” Applejack’s demeanor suddenly took a complete 180, a look of angry on her face. She took a quick look at her hooves on either side of her before focusing on the solid ground up ahead of her.

“Ah ain’t gonna fall here, an’ that’s the truth!” she shouted, and she wrapped her hooves around the ropes like she was hoof wrestling four Rainbow Dashes at once. She then climbed forward on the ropes, putting all her focus in maintaining her iron grip on the ropes.

After a great deal of exertion, Applejack finally made it to the wooden posts that the ropes were tied to. With a final grunt, Applejack sprung off of the ropes and propelled herself upwards. She actually managed to flip once before landing solidly on firm ground on all four hooves.

Applejack panted as she took a look around her. The destroyed bridge still hung behind her across the canyon, and before her was a green, lush forest. However, what captivated Applejack the most was the ground beneath her hooves. She stomped her hooves into the earth a few times to make sure that it was really there.

“Ah made it,” Applejack said through her panting, but then her eyes widened as she suddenly realized something. “Hey. . . Ah actually made it through that!” she exclaimed. Applejack chuckled nervously, but then this became full out laugh as she turned to look at the bridge and said, “That’s right! Ah don’t believe it! But Ah did it! HA!”

Applejack pointed her right forehoof at the bridge and chasm and shouted gleefully, “How do ya like this apple, huh?!”

Applejack then turned around and did a happy skipping trot forwards, still laughing as she did so. Then she twirled around and began bucking behind her in victory.

However, her celebrations were cut short when she felt her hooves connect with something. Applejack turned her head and saw that in her joy, she hadn’t noticed the strange device, and had kicked the red button by mistake.

“Aw, nuts,” Applejack said with a look of despair on her face as she saw one of the device’s antenna’s start to build up energy.

She quickly turned and ran towards the forest, but the machine zapped her in the rear, causing both her and itself to vanish.