The Appleloosa Extortion (Pt. III)
The Appleloosa Extortion (Pt. III)
Sin was not happy with his current situation.
The buffalo encampment was much larger than he'd anticipated, and the bison numbered in at least one hundred strong. One hundred large, muscular, irritable, buffalo. Each glaring down at he and Krystal with demanding and accusatory eyes. All made even more menacing when flicker of the pyre before him danced just so, exposing these hate filled orbs just long enough to show their bloodlust before disappearing again.
There was no escape to be found in any given direction. No matter what weakness he tried to find, every possible avenue of horizontal escape was bared by at least seven or eight of the bulky bastards, and they knew it. Some looked tense, anxious, ready to pounce and pummel him into the hard ground in jumbled mush of flesh, blood and bone if he tried anything.
Sin was not happy with his current situation at all.
'Nightmare's ready.' Said Critic.
Sin knew she was out of her little box, he could feel her in his mind now, taking a sick and twisted delight in his anxiety and reservation. Not that it mattered anyway. The aura would work against him here, if there was one thing he'd learned, it was that the more minds he had to use the aura on, the more extreme and painful the consequential head ache became. Sombra's threat against her caused the Nightmare to spare him the pain last time, he didn't think he'd get the same protection here.
He could also feel Krystal, pressing up against his side and shivering in fright. He placed a hoof over her forleg and squeezed his fetlock around her own. "Don't be afraid." He whispered.
"Th-they're so big." She argued, wrapping both her forelegs around his own and squeezing, as if his appendage would somehow protect her from the bison should they decide to trample them where they stood. "Th- this was a mistake. We shouldn't have come here..."
Sin's eyes gave a quick dart about, making sure that the circle of potential enemies about hadn't closed in. He didn't like seeing how terrified Krystal was, not only in her emotional duress, but in the fact that she could freeze up if things took a bad turn and be rendered unable to escape.
As admittedly terrified as he was to do so on an emotional level, Sin raised his other foreleg and wrapped it around Krystal's neck, bringing the mare into an awkward hug, whispering into her ear. "You need to relax, alright? When things get dangerous and terrifying, that's when you really can't be afraid. Things look bad, but are as good as they can be right now, so you need to relax a little. Alright?"
Krystal buried her face into his shoulder. "I- I can't."
"Yes you can." Sin asserted, tightening his grip. "Your mother told me you were a strong mare, stronger than what I thought. Don't prove her wrong now."
Krystal's breathing calmed a little, and she looked up into Sin's eyes with amber orbs of desperation. "What if she was wrong? What if I am too weak for this?"
Shaking his head, Sin held to his point. "Now isn't the time for self doubt, you made the decision against that the minute you decided to accompany my here, besides-" He gave her a confident smirk. "You're the one who's going to get us out of this, remember?"
The mare sniffled and began to protest him, but was silenced as Sin gave her a few more words of encouragement. She'd managed to pick him up and carry him about a good ten minutes before coming out here, he knew she was capable of getting them to safety if need be, she just needed to have the confidence to do so; and he was the only one who could give it to her.
Krystal gave him a bleary eyed smile. "Y- you really think I can?"
'She'd better, or this could be the most painful and bloody negotiation you've ever been in.'
Sin, in a rare moment of emotion, widened his eyes and looked around before smiling. "I don't have any other way out of here, if I didn't trust that you could do it, I wouldn't have allowed us to be caught."
Krystal gave a weak chuckle at the half joke, the encouragement seemed to have done it's job and the mare's trembling and helpless form regained some of it's strength and resolve.
"Just remember, Scootaloo's waiting for you back at the inn." Sin reminded, hoping to give her just a little bit extra push.
Krystal's grip tightened, looking at the stallion with grim but determined smile. "She's waiting for us."
Shaking his head, Sin chuckled at how absurd he was being. Here, in the heart of, what would likely be certain death if he said one thing out of line, he was trying to make somebody smile. Since when did he become so fucking sentimental?
'Since you decided you weren't the cold hearted ass hole you always portrayed yourself to be?'
"Isn't that precious? Do you think they will share a passionate kiss?" The Alicorn mocked.
"What brings you to my lands, little pony?"
Sin took a breath and looked upon the biggest and most terrifying buffalo he'd ever come across. A dark, dark brown mammoth of a bison with a full bouquet head wear of white and brown feathers, held within a blue band upon his head. His voice was deep, grainy and held enough malice to make the Nightmare herself second guess her own terror.
"It does not!"
Sin gently pried himself off of Krystal and preformed the gesture of clapping and offering his hooves again. Luckily, these buffalo spoke Equestrian, so he didn't need to dust off his old language courses again.
"Forgive me, Chief Thunderhooves. My coming was of no offense to you or yours, I have come to investigate the conflict between the Appleloosans and your tribe."
Thunderhooves snorted, small bits of steam cleaning the air before him. "And why should I believe you, hooded one? Your people are the ones who settled these lands and caused the first conflict many moons ago."
Nods and grunts of agreement echoed around.
"So I have come to understand." Sin acquiesced before elaborating that he wasn't from Appleloosa, or Equestria for that matter. This explanation didn't sit well with Thunderhooves and he demanded the stallion explain why he'd come here in the first place.
Sin cleared his throat in irritation, enforcing that his tolerance for insults had their limits. "I have come to inspect your scale for measurement accuracy."
The buffalo chieftan's eyes narrowed and he slammed his hoof down in a show of indignant rage, sending a small tremor quaking through the earth. "Our stones are true! You waste your time coming to judge them, hooded one." He growled, informing the stallion of his dwindling patience.
"Chieftan, the agreement between your tribe and the Appleloosans stated that you and they were to exchange two hundred and fifty pounds of apple products a month for their trees being on your land. Two hundred and fifty pounds equals two of your stones: Soft and True." He removed his cloak and dropped down the saddle bags carrying the weights.
Thunderhooves was not making this easy, he was lead by anger and resentment, looking for a reason not to listen to him. Sin expected that though, it always did help to expect the worst of others, cynic's code. It would probably take a bit more convincing and ego stroking before he'd be allowed to judge the scale.
Once Krystal added her own weights, Sin explained his intent, about checking the stones against the weights and seeing if they added up. The implication wasn't lost on the chieftan, who growled a disgusting and hateful snort, reared up on his hind legs and slammed both onto the ground.
"YOU DARE TO INSULT ME!" He bellowed. "Our stones are true!"
Nightmare, I need you to release yourself from the aura for a second.
"Excuse me?"
The aura was meant to assist in situations like this, to placate and deescalation through a subtle assertion of dominance via uncomfortable and inexplicable fear. Could backfire and make him act in desperation, but he's too emotional to listen to reason.
The Alicorn gave a sound of irritation and proclaimed herself free of it. Sin hoped she was, otherwise what he did next would likely get them all killed.
It was a medium level of it's capability, more than the subtle discomfort he usually gave off, but not so bad as to induce a sickening sense of impending doom.
Thunderhooves sneer dropped a little, and the bison around shifted to warry.
It was kinda funny how animals worked, even the sapient ones. Dominance and "alpha" traits were the order of the day on a primitive level. Prior to their ability to reason and think, all beings were lead by feelings and emotion. The perception of dominance and threat, the sympathetic nervous system's "fight or flight" mechanism, the instinctual nature of sub-sentient psychology. The Centaur knew this and developed magic in accordance to these laws, using their ability's for magic to cultivate means to attack their threats on a subconscious level rather than the conscious mind.
"I mean no offense, but I will need to see that for myself." Sin said, cautious to keep his tone neutral.
Breathing heavily, Thunderhooves calmed a little, but he wasn't ready to acquiesce just yet. It was, however, a good start.
"We bison have not committed dishonesty, it was the ponies who lie! Those... Appleloosans!" He spat in utter disgust.
Sin nodded his head, maintaining eye contact with the chief. Again, he would need to observe the facts for himself, but something told him that the buffalo was telling the truth.
Though, that did leave the mystery, if the native's and the settler's scales were both accurate, than why hadn't the weight of the goods added up?
Suddenly, a smaller bison stepped forward, a blond haired, light brown female youngling. "Chief, I think we should listen to him."
Thunderhooves regarded her for a moment. "Little Strongheart, to indulge his request is to admit that we could be wrong! It is an insult to our honor to assume-"
"He's not assuming, Chief." Strongheart interjected, looking back at the pegasus. "He's just trying to fix what's broken between us, he wants to help, but he can't help us unless we're willing to let him."
Sin sighed in relief as Thunderhooves and the youngling continued talking, she was having much more luck in making the chief see reason than he was. Someone willing to indulge intellectual honesty and rational thought was a nice change of pace.
Finally, but with great reluctance and reservation, the chieftain agreed to the measurement and lead Sin and Krystal to the otherside of the village. The scale was about what he'd expected, a large board pivoting on a rock, the very middle of the board marked to signify it's middle, and a couple of stones sitting at one end, all lit by a semi-circle of torches.
Thunderhooves made a gesture and a couple of his tribes-buffs inspected a few of the rocks, placing two well sized stones on one end of the balance, while he and Krystal placed the weights onto the other end.
As he suspected, the scale balanced out perfectly.
He asked what the last result was, finding that the results were similar. Now that left only one of two possibilities: Either food was, somehow, disappearing between the scales, or a different weight was being used on either side. Figuring it out would be simple enough, all he'd need to do was follow the new cargo escort and observe the next weigh in.
He wouldn't be able to prove who was at fault for the last mis-weigh attempts, but at least this would be enough to resolve the current debt.
The ponies rounded up the scales and asked if he could arrange a new shipment to be delivered within the next two days. Thunderhooves was reluctant, but a little coaxing from Strongheart quelled him.
"I hope you guys can fix this." Strongheart said, looking Sin in the eye. "I like you ponies, but it's not fair that you guys tried to cheat us like you did."
Sin nodded his head. He still had some interviews to do and figure out why the discrepancy happened, though this did narrow down the list of suspects. Braeburn, the Proffesor, and his assistant would be seeing him tomorrow.
"Scoooootalooooooo." Called a ghostly, drawn out wail.
The filly ran, running away from the pink pegasus pony chasing after her. Panting and gasping for breath as she leapt through the foilage of the Everfree.
Panic coursed through her veins as she ran as fast as her little legs would carry here. The pink pony was getting closer, she could hear it with every cooing call the voice made. Scootaloo chanced a glance back and her heart jumped into her throat.
The pony... she was floating behind her. Not flying, just floating, looking at her with a glaring and knowing smirk. "I'm gonna get you, Scoootaloooo..."
Sqealing, Scootaloo tearfully yelled at the haunting figure to leave her alone, but to no avail. No matter how quickly she ran, no matter how many twists or turns she made, the pink pony was there. Floating slowly closer and closer, her calm and relaxed form only serving to unsettle Scootaloo more and more.
This wasn't happening, this couldn't be happening. Scootaloo had escaped her! She'd gotten away! How was this possible? No, no she wouldn't go back, she wouldn't let it happen.
Her lack of attention forward cost her dearly, a stray branch jutting out from the ground grabbed at Scootaloo's leg and tripped her, bringing the filly rolling to the ground.
Panting and breathing heavily, the filly forced herself to her hooves and looked back, but the pink pony was gone. She looked left and right, even turning around, finding nothing but a cliff behind.
Scootaloo took a few more seconds of observation before finally relaxing a little and sighing in relief.
"Scootalooo..."
Lavander eyes shot wide and narrowed to pinpricks. Scootaloo's head jetted up and she screamed, seeing the pink pony floating upside down above her, smiling a wicked and evil grin.
"No, get away! Get away from me!" The filly screamed, backing up and flailing her wings about, but it was a pointless effort, every movement was mirrored by her pursuer in absolute sync. Pink legs slowly reached out, promising captivity and to take Scootaloo away forever.
"No! No, no, stay back, stop!"
Suddenly, a stinging flash of black and blue shot from behind, hitting the ghostly mare and zapping her from existance.
"Scootaloo!"
The filly turned, still panting in fright, to find Princess Luna standing on the cliff's edge.
"Scootaloo, are you alright?" She asked calmly, her voice helping to sooth the poor filly's nerves.
It took a few more calming breaths and more than one look around, including straight up to ensure the pink pony's absence before she could give a reply. "Yes, thank you. Princess." Scootaloo said, greatful to the lunar pony for her help.
Luna offered the foal a gentle smile. "We have heard much of what has happened to you, Scootaloo, and we are here to convince you to go back to Ponyville with your family."
The relief Scootaloo had felt immediately disappeared, fear and panic retaking their place in the filly's body as she came to realize she'd only traded one pursuer for another. "No! No, I can't go back!"
Luna sensed the tension and lowered herself into a laying position, making herself as small and non-threatening as possible. "Why ever not, little one?" She asked, genuinely curious and sympathetic. "Is it not better to be back home than travel about as you are now?"
Scootaloo remained tense. "I don't want to go to a foster home!"
Luna tilted her head, asking about why she was so reluctant to go back to living with Macintosh and Annabelle. Scootaloo's desperate puffing turned slightly angry, and she recounted the events of what had happened as she knew them.
Shaking her head solumnly, the night princess corrected that Scootaloo was never going to be taken away from her home. "Scootaloo, do you really think Macintosh or the element of loyalty, Rainbow Dash, would have allowed that to happen?"
"Yes!" Scootaloo answered, though, the odd look Luna was giving her made her second guess her outburst. Rainbow Dash was an Element of Harmony, the Element of Loyalty no less. Their talks and time spent together had shown the filly that the prismatic mare did care about her, but... there just wasn't enough between them to convince Scootaloo that she could trust her. Yea, she admired Rainbow and all, but there was a difference between admiration and friendship.
"And Macintosh?" Luna countered.
Scootaloo scowled. "He let that pink pony take me! He did nothing, he just sat there and let it happen."
"For good reason." The lunar alicorn retorted. "You weren't going to be taken to a foster home, Scootaloo. She was just going to ask you some questions about how Macintosh was treating you and-"
"LIAR!" The filly shouted before turning around and running away. "You're on her side, you're both government!"
Some how, the filly's path was bard by Luna, sitting in the exact same position. It was like she'd never turned around, but just ran. The princess of the night opened her eyes, their gentleness hardening slightly. "Scootaloo, you must heed me. The stallion you travel with is a very dangerous and bad pony. You need to get away from him."
Scootaloo looked around and slowly began backing up, keeping her eyes planted firmly on Luna as she did. Yet again, dream logic reared it's ugly head, her hoof steps doing nothing to increase the spacing between them.
Luna continued trying to coax and convince her to abandon Islander, telling her that he was not safe to be around and that his reasons for travel were bound in vengence and murder. Scootaloo didn't know if she believed that or not, but it didn't matter. Islander had saved her twice, he fed her and gave of himself to see her fed and warm.
As much as it did sicken Scootaloo to think she was traveling with a killer, Luna had no proof to her claim. "And even if you did, I would rather try and stop him from killing than go back to Ponyville!"
Luna sighed in irritation. "We know you are scared and mean well, but you must believe us. You must get away from him."
"No. I. DON'T!" The filly shouted back, her fear foregone in favor of anger. Luna may have been the princess of Equestria, but as of that moment, Scootaloo didn't give a flying feather about her. Luna wanted her to suffer, to hurt in foster care for whatever reason. If Luna didn't care what she wanted, than why should she care what Luna wanted?
The Alicorn was about to reply, but her form suddenly turned staticy and shifted in and out of existence. "No... back. Scoot- ... to me, y-... away from-... too late!"
In a flash of teal, the Lunar princess was gone, and with her dispersal, a pleaseing melody permiated throughout the landscape, a soft, loving hum that made Scootaloo feel calm and slightly tranquil. She looked around for the source of the noise, hesitant to accept the soothing delight it offered, but she couldn't find it. Soon enough, the filly lost her struggle against it's loving sound and allowed the music to carry her away into a more peaceful slumber.
Sin watched as Krystal lay in bed with Scootaloo, stroking the filly's mane and humming contently to her. The filly was in the middle of another nightmare, shivering and crying beneath the covers when they'd gotten back and the off white mare immediately went to work trying to sooth her with humming.
It worked rather well, Scootaloo was smiling now, having turned her body and embraced Krystal's barrel, the older mare drooping a lazy wing over the filly as she hummed. "This always helped with my brothers when they had bad dreams. Momma Gem said it's part of my special tallent."
Sin agreed, her voice and humming was quite soothing and comforting, he'd never say it out loud, but he wished she'd do it more often.
'Sin, outside, NOW!' Critic snapped.
What? Why-
'Don't argue, just get away from her humming, NOW!'
Sin stood from his place, telling Krystal he needed to step out for a bit and closed the door behind him.
Alright, what the fuck was that?
'Luna was inside Scootaloo's dreams while we were away, she knows where Scootaloo is!'
Sin furrowed his brow.
Yea, I kinda figured she would be, probably in Krystal's dreams too, why is this a problem again?
"She's never been inside Scootaloo's dreams until tonight." The Nightmare replied.
Sin was surprised to hear this, he figured that it was due to Scootaloo that Luna had found him and sent her agents to collect. This, however, was contradicted by the Alicorn, stating that she had been circling about both Krystal and Scootaloo, protecting their minds from Luna's invasion.
Wait, you're just telling me this now?!
"As you have a tendency to say, Sinbad. What would you have done with this information if I had given it to you?"
Sin growled under his breath, he really was not in the mood to have his own words used against him. He was tired, and already he could see the slight shift in the east of sunrise. He wouldn't be getting much sleep, if any, tonight.
Alright, fine. What's the point of telling me this now? And why were you so insistant on me leaving the room?
"Because, Sinbad, that mare's voice... her song, I do not know why, but it weakens me at your proxy."
Sin wasn't sure what she meant by his proxy, but it sounded as if Krystal's voice had some kind of counter-affect against the Nightmare, something that both intrigued and unsettled him.
How about right now? Are you still able to shield their minds from her even though she's humming?
The alicorn replied in the affirmative, so long as Sin himself wasn't hearing her song, the nightmare could adequately guard against her creator's invasion. It was an odd specification, the Federalist would have figured the humming itself would have weakened the Nightmare, but he was more than happy to have the advantage.
Wait, I thought it was Scootaloo that told Luna we were in Dodge City.
"No, that was not her. My creator had managed to breach and see slightly into her memory, but that was before Dodge City, back in Trottingham. How that welp's minions discovered we came to Dodge, I am uncertain."
That did not comfort Sin to know. Soarin knew he was in Trottingham, so why hadn't they attacked then? Speaking of which, chances were they'd been tracking him since then, yet only once had they made a move, why was that?
'I don't know, dude. But I think you're safe for the time being. Best to get some sleep, you've got three ponies to interrogate tomorrow.'
He planned to, right after Krystal finished her tune.
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Oh, Luna. You're cute when you say things that are technically true, but in a context that is manipulative.
Sorta... I can't remember if Luna knows that Sin has the nightmare inside him, which would be a legitimate reason to say he's dangerous and bad, but the reason Luna wants to find Sin is because she screwed up so hard and trusted people that are far worse than Sin, and are now allowing them to tell her what to do.
Why does that seem to be true with multiple groups when regarding the alicorns? Like... someone who is far worse than Sin is able to convince them to arrest or otherwise pursue Sin, and they don't get all indignant or self-righteous about them...
Until then she were doing so well.
7041659 luna does know sin has the nightmare, hence her reason for not telling triple m. Fearing the would take him away before she could exercise it.
And he did commit a crime, hence Celestias pursuit.
Let me guess. He's held as a prisoner?
Sounds intimidating.
Then it is a good thing he brought Krystal along.
I hope her fear will not paralyze her from functioning if she is called to do something drastic.
That's my biggest fear.
That's what teamwork is about. Each player strengthening and covering the other's weakness and vice versa.
There we go.
I'm starting to see the critic as angel with a halo and the alicorn as the demon with horns and a tail. Quite appropriate.
HAHAHA.
It is always difficult to negotiate with an angry person.
Fingers crossed.
I'm getting that vibe myself.
I was wondering where she was.
Agreed.
That's one less variable to worry about.
hmmm. Either an Appleloosan committed robbery and fraud on the way to the Buffalo tribe or some bandits not associated with either parties stepped in. Those are my hypothesis.
Yup. Those are the last variables that need to be crossed before we can come to a reasonable conclusion.
Dream sequence.
Jeez, that sent chills down my spine.
I hate those moments. They scare the hell out of me.
That is very unsettling.
O.O................Uh oh.
Let's see how this goes.
Fair enough.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand you just made it worse Luna. There's no way she is going to listen to you now, not after all the times Sin has rescued her from danger.
Yeah, that's not gonna happen.
So Krystal has power over Luna. Sweeeeet.
Uh oh.
That's good. Krystal can keep the nightmare in check if she gets out of hand. Then again.....this could also become a liability if Sin needs the nightmare's help......it's a fifty-fifty.
You can thank Shade for that. Cheeky bastard.
I have a suspicious feeling that Luna has planted seeds of doubt in Scootaloo. the orange filly is going to figure out really soon about Sin's motives. I am not looking forward to that conversation. DAMN YOU LUNA!