The Appleloosa Extortion (Pt. I)
The Appleloosa Extortion (Pt. I)
Walking up yet another roaving hill of harsh and dry dirt, Sin groaned in both relief and ire.
Appleoosa. The town could have been mistaken for Dodge City, with it's single avenue thoroughfare and such small conglomerate of buildings, including one train station he'd need to pay a visit to, had it not been for the more redish land scapes compared to the brown of Dodge.
"Finally." Scootaloo complained, pulling out her canteen and downing the rest of it. Sin had forced her to ration the water, despite the fact the small settlement was only a two day's trot from the Ravine. Krystal had been surprisingly calm and well mannered during their travel. She didn't complain about the walk, nor the water rationing, and she kept her cool when Angel got a little honery and decided to ride on her back. She was toned, lean and fit, he noticed, the life of a rock farmer had made her well for travel.
The send off from the Ravine Rock Farm was about what the stallion had expected. The family seeing them off, Krystal's brothers begging her not to go, Sandy saying her quiet and tearful good bye mixed with well wishes. and of course Gem and Granite.
The elder stallion had a little "heart to heart" with the Federalist, threatening his life should Sin try any funny business with his daughter. Of course, Sin had no intention on such a thing, but he acquiesced the point all the same.
"She's a sweet girl, the best I could have hoped for. I don't like that she's leaving this farm, and I don't like that she's leaving with you, but Gem and Sandy told me that her heart wasn't in it. I want what's best for her and I want her to be happy. If Gem and Sandy trust you enough with her, than I guess that's good enough for me."
Gem had also spoken with he and Scootaloo, calmly asking that both see her little girl through her journey and allow her to be helpful when she could. Krystal wasn't one for being a free loader, nor did she like to not work when others did, a trait Sin appriciated, and he was more than happy to let the pegasus mare pull her weight. Both he and the filly were seen off with a pair of hugs.
Of course, Krystal had no idea that Gem had already convinced Sin of the agreement and offered to accompany he and Scootaloo in a dignified and elegant charade of "wanting to look after Scootaloo," since the oaken stallion had done little in the way of looking after her hygienic needs.
As much as the blue maned pegasus didn't complain about the traveling, boy did she have a thing or two to say about Sin and Scootaloo's relationship. Criticizing both for their lack of communication and pleasantness. She decried watching them as if "watching stranger's traveling together", an assertion Sin was becoming very motivated to confirm. As irritating as it was, there was a small part of him that found Krystal adorably entertaining when she pouted and patronized them. Especially when she'd try to push the same graceful and patient elegance her mother did at any given time.
Scootaloo took another swig of her Canteen and Sin followed suit. "Glad to see it too, fucking tired of the badlands."
Krystal gasped and snatched Scootaloo away. "Islander! Little ears!" She chided.
That was another thing, Krystal's obsession with protecting Scootaloo from everything. "Swearsies" as she called them were unacceptable for children to hear, so was walking too close to a hole that might be a rattle snake den, or getting to close to a brush that might be hiding some other poisonous animal, or... anything dangerous.
Scootaloo didn't take well to being babied, even bringing up complaints to Sin about the mare's overprotective nature. Sin, of course, reminded the filly that it was her fault Krystal was traveling with them now, and declared that whatever consequences were to follow, she would have to deal with.
It all could have been avoided if only Scootaloo would have done as he said and left the wagon stuck on the incline, and now she would suffer for her lack of foresight.
"Why must you always use such dirty language in front of her?" Krystal asked, coddling Scootaloo in her forelegs.
That was the last straw. With a devilish grin, Sin looked the mare right in the eye. "Fuck."
"You brute!" Krystal scoffed.
"Shit."
"My goodness!"
"Bitch."
"Stop it!"
"Plot?" Scootaloo chirped.
Krystal's eyes shot wide and she looked down in utter shock. "Scootaloo, how could you?!"
"Crap."
Sin felt himself well up with pride as Krystal began to frantically try to correct Scootaloo's mild swearing. The filly looked at him with a wry smile, one matching his own, and indulged her sick sense of fun at Krystal's expense.
"You did this! You corrupted this sweet, delicate little angel with your treacherous vocabulary!"
"Mother plucker!"
"Scootaloo! Stop that this instant!"
Behind a face of stoic amusement, Sin was internally roaring with laughter. Krystal's innocence and kindness wasn't an act by any means, and he was having a little too much fun in destroying and corrupting it.
"Alright, kiddo, that's enough." The Federalist proclaimed, turning around and making way to town. Scootaloo was quick to join by his side and share a laugh about the matter, Krystal following behind, her graceful veneer dropped in favor of a pouting scowl.
As the trio approached, Sin began to feel uneasy about what he was seeing from the small settlement ahead, er, what he wasn't seeing.
Nobody was out and about, the salt bar saloon was shut down, the jail had nobody guarding it's outside, the streets were absolutely destitute, even the saloon held no visible signs of life, a particularly irritating thing, since Sin was in desperate need of mane trimming.
The only place that had any movement what so ever was the train station, where a couple of ponies were finishing boarding.
Just as the ponies upon the boarding platform came into view, Sin froze as his brain registered who was on it.
There, bowing and allowing a few ponies before him, Chancellor Puddinghead stood. Smiling a carefree, smug grin that made Sin want to kick Angel over the tracks. He also saw Panzy and Clover as well, but none of them took notice of him.
That was until it was Puddinghead's turn to board. The yellow stallion stopped and the two enemy's locked eyes. He was there, he was right there!
Sin's instincts flared, yelling and screaming at him to run, to run as fast as he could and take a hail mary shot, but it was too late. With a knowing, malicious smirk, Puddinghead broke eye contact boarded the train.
"Islander?"
Sin gritted his teeth, no. No he'd need to wait, he'd need to wait again!
Stressing and relaxing his muscles, the Federalist calmed his nerves. No, not yet. If Sin made any kind of attack now, he'd be facing not only the entirety of the Trotski out in the open, but be placing Scootaloo and Krystal in the cross fire. No, he'd need to wait this out, if anything, it was good that the Trotski didn't feel like confronting him right now. Even if he did, somehow, manage to take down the entire organization here and now, and both his companions escape unscathed, there was no way he'd be able to explain to either of them why he'd slaughtered so many ponies.
As if destiny was confirming his plan, the train howled its horn and began moving. Krystal herded the quartet away from the tracks and Sin watched the train pass, just hoping to catch one last glance.
His hope was answered. In a single moment, time slowed down, and Sin could see Puddinghead look out at him from the window of the express, giving him one last smug, shit eating grin of satisfaction before passing away into a blur of yellow and orange.
That mother fucker...
'Don't worry, you'll get another chance. Find out where the train is headed.'
"Islander, are you okay?" Scootaloo asked in concern.
"Yea, just... thought I saw someone I knew." Sin replied before shrugging dismissively and making way for the small transit station. He held Krystal and Scootaloo back while he inspected for any missing foal signs, but called them along when he saw none and reminded the filly to keep her scarf up while he replaced his dark cloak's hood. As expected, the small platform was just as barren as the town, save for a very nervous stallion playing ticket master.
"Afternoon." Sin greeted.
"H-h-hello p-partner. W-w-what can Ah do for ya?" He asked nervously.
To Sin's utter discouragement, the ticket master informed him that the train was headed north east, up to Manehatten.
Manehatten, the city of skyscrapers, underground catacombs, and at least a million ponies. The places to hide were uncountable, the ponies were less than helpful and to top it all off, the city was at least seven hundred miles away!
Frustrated didn't do the stallion's feelings justice in that moment, yet again, Puddinghead slipped through his hooves and was on his way to the second largest metropolitan providence that Equestria had to offer. And that didn't even look at all the potential stops that could be made on the way!
'Fuckin-a, dude. You just can't seem to catch a break, can you?'
Critic, how would you feel if I took this cross bow and just shot myself in the head right now? You know, just ended all of my misery in one fell swoop?
'I don't think Krystal and Scootaloo would appreciate that, and I would be very displeased, Sin, I would be very displeased.'
"Sorreh, that's the last train fer a while. Is there anythin' else I can do fer ya fine folks?" The ticket pony asked, feeling a little more at ease. Krystal, before Sin could reply, asked why the stallion was so nervous and why there wasn't anypony out and about.
"Well, ma'am, the buffalo have been causin' us a heep a trouble lately. As I'm sure y'all have heard, n' the entire town's to scared tah come outta their homes no more."
It didn't matter why these ponies were scared, they didn't have time for this nonsense.
"I see, thank you for your time."
Sin's retreat was stopped short by Krystal, who questioned why he wasn't asking the ticket master about the location of the pony in charge to begin his investigation on why the buffalo and Applelosans were in conflict.
"I mean, how are you supposed to solve this if we don't know where the governor is?" Krystal asked, her tone making it sound as if she was speaking to a child.
"Y'all are here tah help stop the buffalo?" The ticket stallion asked with enthusiasm. Sin gritted his teeth, already feeling the stress and irritation of yet a few more days in his hunt being lost to his companion's inability to keep to themselves.
Before any reply could even be given, the pony jumped out of the small booth and ran into town, bellowing of the good news, and imploring everypony that it was okay to come out. That someone was finally here to put and end to the conflict.
Scootaloo looked up at Islander with skepticism. He didn't look at all happy about finding out about the train leaving nor where it was going. Why was that? Did it have something to do with that yellow earth pony? They were looking at each other for a while.
"Great." Islander growled, glaring at the ticket stallion as a few ponies began to tentatively make way out of the buildings. Asking him what was going on.
Scootaloo could figure that out later, right now they had a mystery to solve.
"Don't feel too bad, Islander." Scootaloo said, trying to be encouraging. "You're doing a good thing, helping these ponies out."
The cloaked pony scoffed, muttering under his breath about something Scootaloo couldn't make out. He then grew quiet, looking around the town proper and taking in the scene. "Hey, Scootaloo." He croaked. "You don't happen to know if there's any ties between this town and the... Apple family in Ponyville, do you?"
The filly's eyes furrowed in thought but shot wide as more than a few memories had Macintosh or Applejack mentioning this settlement, specifically their cousing, Braeburn.
"Fuck." She heard him say, prompting Krystal to once again snatch her away from his potty mouth.
Scootaloo felt her barrel tighten, she'd never been here before, but just knowing she was within the grasp of an Apple pony made her uneasy. She adjusted her scarf again, attempting to hide as much of her face as possible, as well as her body.
"Howdy." Said a tan pelted, black stetson bearing stallion. His approach was both with timidness and authority, the silver sheriff's badge on his flank and blue denim vest telling Scootaloo she needed to keep as quiet as possible. "I'm Sheriff Silverstar, local sheriff n' governor of Appleloosa. Who might you three be?"
Krystal was about to speak, but Scootaloo quickly silenced her with a jab to the rib and a shake of the head.
"Good afternoon, Sheriff. I'm... The Inquisitor." Islander nodded before mentioning to them. "These are my companions, Krystal, my assistant, and..."
Scootaloo watched as Islander struggled for a name for her, her eyes darting around for anything she could find to reference, but nothing came to mind, not until a fluffy white rabbit upon Krystal's back came into her line of sight.
"Angel." Scootaloo finished. "Angel Wings. I'm, ummm, I'm a junior inquisitor." She offered a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of her head.
The Sheriff furrowed his brow at the filly, but shrugged and bid them all a well meaning greeting. "Thank y'all fer comin'. Ah'm surprised ya came as soon as ya did. Why Ah only sent word ta Canterlot 'bout this problem just yesterday. That Celestia, always lookin' out for us ponies."
Islander, or the "Inquisitor" corrected him in saying that the three pegasi weren't agents of the crown, but contracted by a private company to solve the matter, Silverstar was surprised to hear this at first, but his shock gave way to understanding as he listed off a conveniently big name in town who was affected by the dispute.
"Is it true, Sheriff?" Asked a large and burly stallion. "Are these folks really here to handle the buffalo?"
Silverstar nodded, placing a hoof on Islander's back and presenting him to the slowly conglomerating town, which had now become a reasonably sized crowd. "This here is the Inquisitor. He's been sent to settle the dispute with the buffalo!"
A roar of cheers and stomping answered his proclamation, complete with whistles and more than a few "ya hoo's" and "Ye haws". Scootaloo watched with a small amusement as Islander grimaced and looked away, obviously uncomfortable with all the attention. It was only fair, he allowed her to suffer at Krystal's hooves, and now she'd relish as he was thrown to the Appleloosans.
After a few more words, and a confirmation from Islander himself, the crowd dispersed, not back into their homes, but to resume their daily lives as normal.
"Well, I bet ya'll would like to get started with yer investigation, then." Silverstar said before walking on to let them get to it, though he was stopped, Islander wanted to start with him, and since the two were already here, they might as well get some questions out of the way.
The sheriff agreed and offered them some Appleloosa hospitality in the town's jail... which seconded as the governor's office.
It felt nice inside, the cool air washed over Scootaloo like a rushing wave, banishing the heat of the outside and leaving her to sigh in satisfaction. The three were lead to a small living area and offered a lemonade beverage, an offer Krystal and Scootaloo accepted with grateful smiles.
"Alright." Sin said, having pulled out a journal book from his saddle bag, as well as a quill. "From the beginning, tell me everything that's happened to lead up to this."
Silver Star took a seat and began recounting the events, taking Islander's words a little too literally and starting from the very beginning of the town's inception a year ago. It was useless information, but Islander's pencil scribbled down everything relevant.
"So, ya know 'bout the first problem the buffalo caused, right? The one the lead to the apple tift?"
Islander nodded, but he didn't want to work off of hear-say, he wanted a full explanation and story to work off of from the more credible source, the sheriff himself. The press, and word of mouth, had a way of... misleading folks.
According to the Silverstar, it occurred as a result of a train heist to get an apple tree while it was in transit from another farm. The buffalo had been causing problems since before that, but that was the catalyst that brought the entire thing to boil. Scootaloo felt an ice cube run down her spine as mention of Applejack came up as being the mare responsible for the tree's transport.
"Somehow or another, three of her friends were stuck with the tree n' ended up with the buffalo tribe. One a baby dragon, another a rainbow mane'd pony mare with a huge chip on her shoulder, and one of the worst preforming pink ponies that I ever did have the displeasure to see."
The words were harsh, but Scootaloo held her tongue.
"Alright, go on." Islander encouraged, flipping a page in his book.
'Shit, so Spike, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie were here? Great, that's just wonderful.'
That's why I changed the names around again, they don't know Krystal, but Macintosh does know my last name, and any correspondence could give Scootaloo away.
Apparently the first conflict was resolved after the "Battle of Applelossa" where in the buffaloo tribe had attacked the small settlement after the buffalo chieftain and Silverstar failed to come to a resolution about how to deal with the Apple Orchard. The orchard being placed onto a traditional stampeeding ground of the buffalo through the land, and barring them from their rite of passage.
In compromise, some apple trees were removed, and a pathway was cleared through the orchard, allowing the settler's and their trees to stay and the buffalo to have their path. In exchange, the ponies were to give the buffalo a tribute, a tithe of apple goods weighing no less than two "Stones" -part of what the natives used as weight units of measurement- which equated to about two hundred pounds of food stuffs every month.
This intreagued Sin. How did the Applelosans know that?
"Scales n' balances provided by Mr. Scales." Silverstare explained. "That rugged pony from before has 'em. When we made the deal with the buffalo, he took one of his scales to their settlement n' measured it against their own scale fer accuracy."
"I see." Sin nodded, jotting the information down and underlining it. "And this lead to the issue, I assume?"
"There ain't no issue!" Interupted a voice, all parties looked back to find the stallion in question standing just inside the front door. A light blue pony with a scraggly red beared and white stetson hat. "Mah scales 'r always accurate. Them buffalo are tryin' to get more than we bargined them for! It's extortion, I tells ya!"
Sin gave the stallion a wary look before turning his attention to the other pony present with him, yet another stallion. This one yellow, with a brown faux leather vest and matching brown stetson.
It was a pretty big claim, stating that the scale was one hundred percent accurate. Something Sin would need to look into himself if he was to figure this whole mess out.
It came to light that the real issue might not be one of extortion, but an issue of weight determination. The yellow pony, a stallion named "Braeburn" was responsible for the delivery of the goods to Thunderhooves, the buffalo chieftain. As a precaution, the stallion was escorted by a couple of local ponies. One being a pony by the name of Professor Cook and another his assistant, Sewing Seeds.
Apparently, during the delivery a couple of weeks ago, the goods were placed against the two "stones" of the buffalo after being weighed by Scales' scales. The Appleloosan's balance confirmed the goods to be within the needed weight requirements while the bison's showed the product to be lacking. Initially, Thunderhooves took this as a small mistake on the part of the ponies, as did Braeburn and Professor Cook. They left the buffalo's home with apology and returned to Appleloosa to re weigh the goods, much to Scales' chagrin.
Though, he agreed and allowed the weight to be retested, and sure enough, the weight came back within the acceptable restriction. Two hundred and fifty pounds.
How could that be? If the "stones" were at a combined weight that showed to be two hundred and fifty pounds, than why didn't the scales mach up in that instance?
Braeburn asked for proof of the balance's results and returned to the buffalo the next day to deliver the tribute. Again, however, the stones placed against the goods revealed the stones to be heavier, much heavier the second time around. Thunderhooves grew angry with this, decrying the Appleloosans trying to cheat he and his tribe out of their agreement. The evidence against his deceleration didn't matter, the scales didn't lie.
"Ah suppose they mighta used different stones, heavier ones." Braeburn suggested timidly. "But Ah have no idea why they'd do that. We gave 'em a pretty good deal, Ah say."
"Because their extortionist savages!" Scales decried, slamming his hoof on the ground. Silverstar tried to placate the pony, but to no avail.
Sorreh, sheriff, but Ah wont tolerate mah good name bein' besmirched by the likes o' them. Y'all were there when we pitted their stones against mah weights. Ya know Ah'd never mis-weigh muh scales to rip off the bison. N' if they're sayin' their scales are right on the matter, than they're sayin' mine are wrong."
Sin knew buffalo, well he knew Federation buffalo. They were a proud and honorable race, a race that was more prone to holding it's word as a matter of principal, especially the more rural tribes. It didn't make sense that they'd intentionally manipulate their weights to get more food, but that could just be generalizing on his part. The Federalist knew better than to openly make such general statements until he had the facts.
"May I see the contract?" Sin asked, Silverstar opened his desk drawer and retrieved the parchment, it was relatively small, so it didn't take long for him to discern. Two stones, named "Soft" and "True" were to be pitted against the Appleloosan tithe every month.
'So, the short and sweet isn't that the ponies think the tribute itself is exploitative, but the buffs are manipulating the weight. Sounds like they think the ponies are doing the same thing.'
Simple enough to solve, just get the two scales together and remeasure. I don't see why this didn't happen already.
Though, upon Sin's suggestion, he found out why. Scales had no interest in intention to take his balance to the buffalo tribe's village, and the ponies weren't going to let them come to town either. A small raid was had upon the Apple orchard itself, stealing over a quarter of that year's yeild. The bison denied responsibility, but all logic pointed to them being the culprits.
Sin finished writing down the information and asked Scales if he might see the scale in question. The pony rolled his eyes, not fond of the implication, but ultimately agreed.
The blue stallion lead Sin, Scootaloo, and Krystal out of the town jail and over to his shop.
Once inside, Krystal gasped.
"Woah." Scootaloo said in awe.
Woah was right, the scale, a gigantic base leading up to a bronze spire that was almost to tall for the building. The beam arms holding two weight pans at either end, connected by three metal chains a piece.
"Got your fifty pound weights, you'r twenty, ten, fives and ones, down to the ounces there, and even grams if you'd like." Scales declaired, pointing to a few bronze weights. The earth pony declared that they were wasting their time in investigating his measuring instruments, that the guard should have been called in to handle the bison and end this fued before it got any worse.
Getting the guard involved prior to finding out the root cause of all of this didn't appeal to Sin. He may not have wanted to get involved with this, but he did, and as such, he was going to do everything in his power to figure out the problem and resolve it peacefully if he could. And the fact that the Trotski were in town not an hour ago did leave him with a couple of suspects. Or it would have, if it weren't for the fact the problems began long before the Trotski had ever even arrived here.
The pony left, informing the three that any damages they caused they would pay for.
"Why did you two lie again?" Krystal demanded, looking between both Sin and Scootaloo.
"It's complicated." Both said in unison.
The off white mare persisted, demanding for both of them to explain themselves. Scootaloo looked back to Sin and gave him an imploring look. The cloaked pony pressed his lips, finding no humor in the scolding stare he was receiving anymore. "Look, there are a lot of secrets between us. Some that are just better left that way."
He hoped that would settle the issue, but Krystal was determined. Nothing short of a full and honest explanation would sate her desire and drive, and she made sure both Sin and Scootaloo knew it.
"Fine, I'll make you a deal. You help us fix things here, and I'll tell you what I know, within reason." Sin offered, gaining a scowl from the orange filly beside him. Krystal was hesitant to accept, but did, only on the condition Sin promised to tell her the truth. A promise he begrudgingly accepted.
That settled, the troop began from ground one, Sin asked Scootaloo and Krystal to begin loading up a few pounds on one end while he loaded another, checking the weights themselves and countering them in parity. At the top of the scale was a small indicator that registered any minor shifts that the balance itself didn't give any visible indication of. After an hour of testing, using different weights against each other, Sin concluded that each of the weights were correct in their poundage.
Leading the stallion to believe that the fault of the missing food stuffs wasn't on the part of the ponies. Though, there was always the possibility that these weights weren't the ones being used...
"What now?" Krystal asked, replacing the final ten pound to it's proper place.
Sin took a second to think. The next logical step would be to test the buffalo's own scale, but that would need to wait until he was alone. There was no telling how he alone would be received by their tribe, let alone two females with him. So the next logical step would be to find the ponies responsible for the food's delivery and interview them.
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Really? The problem isn't that there are apples at all, but that there's a mismatch?
Ponies.
Oh! And there is banditry. Unproven-to-be-buffalo banditry, even.
Its kinda funny how it looks like Sin and Scootaloo are on the same page when it comes to hiding thier names from the Apples, and in fact they're hiding it to prevent the exact same person from finding out... but it's for completely different reasons.
7032385 yea,I liked how that worked out too.
Red has always been my favorite color.
What a dirty little rabbit.
*nods in approval and understanding*
A virtue worth imitating.
I think I'm gonna like her more and more.
I love Sin's way of getting his subtle revenge on Scootaloo. It is sometimes morbidly satisfying.
BRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was the most funniest thing you wrote recently!
Man, that was entertaining.
That....all of a sudden became unsettling.
Oh shit.
Crap. HE NEEDS TO GET ON BOARD! IF HE LOSES HIM THIS TIME, HE MAY NEVER BE FOUND!
Point taken.
*frustrated sigh* This game of cat and mouse is getting extremely frustrating. Had Sin gotten there a day earlier, he would have caught the sons of bitches. *Sigh* dammit.
Grrrrreeeeaaaaaaaaat. Another few weeks of hiking. What could possibly go wrong.
Sin has no choice. He needs to find a faster means of traveling. Walking will take WAY too much time.
Me too.
I figured.
Fuck.
Weeeeeeeellllllll crap.
I don't find that reassuring.
I was wondering when she was going to figure that out.
Interesting choice of name for Sin. The inquisitor. Very fitting. As for Angel, I have a suspicious feeling that the name is going to come back and bite them if word gets to Ponyville about this.
That just compounded the problem even further. Sin needs to solve this before Celestia's agents arrives.
Damn you Scootaloo.
Now it is time to listen to the Appleloosian's side of the story.
Hmm. Very convenient to have two offices whose purpose is to enforce and execute the law combined into one, especially for small town like this. I do wonder who makes the law though?
Very true.
Braeburn?
I agree.
Well, now I have a better idea of the source of this conflict.
I think I know who the real thieves are, but I'm only speculating.
I was thinking along those lines.
In other words, I'm not gonna tell you.
Oh, I'm so looking forward to that conversation.
So, unless I missed something, it appears Scales is not at fault. But there are still too many uknowns that need to be checked.
By the way, I loooooooooove mystery stories.