Rúmcierr

by Matthais Unidostres

20

Applejack and the machine flashed back into existence several meters above a shingled roof.

She took a quick glance down below her and said, "Dang it." She then fell straight down, landing face down onto the roof so hard that her hat popped off and floated down after the machine. Applejack then began sliding down the slanted side of the shingled surface. She grunted and ow'ed again and again in rapid succession as she slid down the rough, bumpy slope. She eventually reached the edge, and let herself fall off the side of the roof and land on the ground in a heap.

Applejack stood back up slowly, her eyes spinning and her vision doubled, and up ahead of her was the machine, complete with her hat resting on top of it. Applejack shook off her dizziness, and immediately balked and stepped back as she fully took in the complete scene in front of her.

The machine, and her hat, was sitting on the very edge of a considerably long wooden cantilever. The long wooden beam, around 4 yards long, was wide enough for Applejack to comfortably cross with no issue. However, what truly gave Applejack pause were the large amount of signs posted all over the edge the cantilever extended out from. Various Xs, stop signs, and skull and crossbones symbols sent a pretty obvious message to the pony.

Applejack's eyes took in the various warning signs before her, and yet her eyes constantly went back to her hat atop the hated machine resting on the end of the cantilever. Her stubbornness began to quickly resurface as she looked down the plank, and she walked over to the edge for a closer look.

Applejack looked down over the edge, and her pupils shrank a bit when she found that she couldn't even see the ground due to all the clouds below. Then she looked to the side, and her nerve returned slightly when she saw how thick the wooden cantilever was. It wasn't a plank as much as it was a sturdy looking slab of wood.

Applejack backed up from the edge and tapped a forehoof onto the anchored end of the cantilever. "Shoot, Ah ain't nearly as heavy as Big Mac," she said as her gaze looked down the length of the sky high path towards the two needed items, "And Ah ain't afraid of heights."

Out of reflex, Applejack reached a forehoof up to adjust the brim of her hat, only to realize that she wasn't wearing it and frown as she put her hoof back down and stepped out onto the cantilever. She lowered her body slightly and took another slower step, talking quietly to herself, "Just walkin' in a straight line. Nothin' to walkin' a straight line. Ah've seen newborn calves walk straight lines."

After a second slow step, Applejack suddenly felt the entire cantilever shift downwards about an inch.

"Eenope!" she said with wide eyes as she hopped backwards. She fought to catch her breath and calm her heart, but then her eyes caught sight of the machine, with her hat still on it, sliding a bit closer to the very edge of the cantilever.

Applejack blinked and looked from side to side nervously. Then she peered down to her left to the seemingly endless fall below her, still masked by clouds.

"Ah'd never get it back. . .Ah'd never get home," Applejack said to herself as she slowly lifted her head back up to look towards the goal. She sniffled a bit and shut her eyes tightly. She forcibly choked back a near sob, then opened her eyes and breathed in and out softly and slowly. Applejack then looked down at her forehooves, and she carefully slid her right forehoof forward, making sure not to lift it off of the wooden beam. She then did the same with her left forehoof, her ears perked up to take note of the subtle creaking of the wood. Once her forehooves were moved, Applejack carefuly began to slide her back hooves forward, while at the same time turning her body bit by bit until she was standing sideways on the cantilever.

Applejack breathed through her nose as her mouth was held in a frown of concentration, her eyes darting back and forth as she began to slowly slide all four of her hooves as close together as she could. Then, once she had achieved this, Applejack carefully walked sideways, gently lifting the hooves on her left side up and over, then moving her right hooves after them.

After a painstaking few minutes, Applejack was nearly at the very end of the cantilever. She paused when the machine and hat were approximately within leg's reach, give or take a few inches, and stared down at the wooden beam she was standing on. When she saw the wide open nothing below her, the platform she was standing seemed to become all the more smaller.

Applejack quickly lifted her head back up and turned back towards the machine nearby. "Woo, doggie," she remarked breathlessly, "Well, Ah know enough about levers and such that getting any closer to edge would be a no-no. So, Ah guess here's the moment of truth."

Applejack steeled herself, her body perpendicular to the cantilever, the hat and machine directly to her left, and her left foreleg raised slightly for the pivotal moment.

"Alrighty," she said to herself, "So. . .hat or button?"

Applejack stood weighing her options for a moment. Then she took a quick glance down and gave a quick nod. "Button. Sure as hay, the button. Of dang course, the button."

Applejack slowly swung her left foreleg further to her left and reached out towards the red button on the machine. Much to her displeasure, the button was just ever so slightly out of reach. Applejack carefully leaned her body to the left, her right hooves raising slightly off the beam as she strained to reach the button. Balancing on one hoof, Applejack extended herself as far as she dared until her left forehoof finally reached and pressed the red button.

Applejack could see the green energy building underneath her hat, and in the next moment, there was green flash and both her hat and the machine were gone.

Applejack stood alone on the edge of the cantilever, staring at where the two sought after objects once were.

"HUH!?" she suddenly shouted, only to immediately shove her left forehoof into her mouth for some irrational fear that her voice would cause the cantilever to fall. However, this action only threw off her balance, and Applejack ended up falling sideways down onto the very edge of the cantilever. Applejack immediately panicked, crying out and kicking her hind legs, which ended up going over the side and leaving Applejack hanging on for dear life by her forelegs. Applejack felt the structure wobble violently, and a look of grief overtook her face as she said, "Aw, nuts."

The cantilever buckled like it had been some kind of lever being pulled, going down a full 90 degrees and leaving Applejack suspended right above the great heights below.

Applejack was hugging the wooden beam as hard as she could, and she called out desperately to the mountain town nearby, "HELP! GET ME OFF OF THIS DANG THING!"

Then, something quite unexpected happened. The cantilever suddenly popped back up to its original position. However, it happened so fast and with such great force that it only ended up flinging Applejack upwards and into the distance, away from the mountain top town.

Applejack was shouting and flailing her hooves wildly as she went up in a high arc, and then quickly began falling downwards towards the obscured ground below.

"NOOOOOOOOO! This ain't fair! It ain't fair, ya hear me! Ah deserve a fair an honest chance to get back home!" she shouted as she fell down in a steep arc.

Then, there was a flash, and both her hat and the machine appeared before her.

Applejack gaped at what just happened, then she looked upon the round device with loathing and said, "Fine. You win. Do what you want to me. Hurt me. Just don't kill me."

As the pony and two inanimate objects fell towards the clouds below, Applejack gently pushed the red button again with her right forehoof, and the machine zapped her hat away.

"Don't kill me!" Applejack demanded as she hit the button again, and this time the machine cause both itself and the pony to disappear.