Applejack Gets Lost

by MagicS

All the Fruits But One

Halfway across the eastern part of the bridge the five ponies saw that on each side of the distributary large wooden walls had been erected, stretching as far down the river as any of them could see and completely blocking out sight of the other side if you were standing on the ground. Not a good sign for how things were.

Stepping off the bridge the ponies ended up on another simple dirt path leading into a thin forest. From here Applejack could see some buildings through the trees and the hills were big enough to be visible above the treeline, there looked to be a single large building ringed by a wall on top of one of the hills, looking out at whatever was below.

“I’m somewhat surprised there isn’t any sort of small village or even a gate at the only entrance to their town from the south.” Marble voiced his thoughts to them.

“Maybe there was but they stopped caring when things got bad between the two towns.” Obsidian speculated. “You heard from that old pony back there, no one comes up the river anymore. And look,” She said pointing back at the large wall at the rivers edge. “Do you really think that was always there too? I’d say it’s relatively new. Something both towns didn’t build until they started arguing a little while ago.”

“Speaking of that wall there’s likely a break in it somewhere.” Quartz said. “Otherwise it would make trading or contact excessively troublesome and I can’t believe they’ve completely shut themselves off from each other.”

They kept walking down the path with this all in mind, the forest around them made mostly of pine trees and not fruit bearing ones, obviously their orchards were elsewhere. As they got further in the buildings became easier to make out.

Things weren’t exactly as Applejack suspected.

A large part of the forest had been cleared away, what they saw before them was no village but more like a camp or fort, large spiked tree trunks had been stuck into the ground, encircling the whole area. It wasn’t a completely solid wall as there was more than enough space between each trunk for a pony to walk through but it would certainly be an annoyance for any large group coming in. The buildings visible through the gaps looked to all be log cabins and tents of various sizes. A large watchtower had also been constructed on the inside of the camp, tall enough that it towered over any trees. If there was anypony up there they had likely already spotted Applejack and her friends.

Still there was no place else to go so they kept walking. The path still took them on a few more twists through the forest before they got to the large clearing, upon coming out they were on a straight path with a break in the tree trunks, obviously the main entrance to the camp.

“Guards.” Quartz said as he looked on.

And right he was, giving her memories of Cross Way, Applejack saw two guards at the entrance. But these guards already seemed much more serious, the both of them wearing black armor and helmets. The five ponies from out of town also noticed what had been invisible from farther away, a trench had been dug on the outside perimeter of the wall, lined with wicked looking wooden stakes. Applejack grimaced uneasily at them.

But a wooden bridge was built over it where the path went. Obviously the trench was mostly made to discourage any ponies from going in the non-official way. Quickly the five made their way across it, now just a few short steps from the entrance to the camp.

“Alright, that’s far enough.” One of the guards said, a mare as was the other. “State your business. I don’t think you came from Mountain Town.”

“Uh, my name’s Applejack, we’re just passing by really. I’m looking for directions to somewhere and we might want to stay and rest for a day or two.” She told the guard, the disciples standing stoically behind her. “This is Valley Town right?”

“Part of it.” A voice said from above.

Applejack and the others looked up as a pegasus came gliding down to them. From her voice she was clearly female and she wore the same black armor as the others, with a pale green coat underneath. When the pegasus landed right in front of her Applejack realized something else about that armor, it wasn’t metal at all but actually a varnished wood. Ebony most likely.

“I am Thithle.” She told them, speaking with a heavy lisp. “Captain of the Valley Town Fort.” At the end of her sentence a light spittle came from her mouth, narrowly missing Applejack.

“Pleasure to meet you, Thistle.” Applejack said nervously, hoping that was actually her name, and reaching out a hoof.

“Pleathure is all mine.” She replied with a smile and eagerly shook hooves with Applejack. “I thaw you coming from the watchtower. You are in need of direct… direc… directions!” She said forcefully to get the word out.

“Yes, I’d really appreciate that. I’m looking to get on my way home to Ponyville. Have you heard of it?”

Thistle shook her head. “I have not, but I have stayed in Valley Town my whole life. You should go to Big Dad Redwood, our leader. He lives in Redwood Manor on top of the big hill above the rest of Valley Town. Anypony is free to enter.”

Applejack was disappointed that another pony had never heard of Ponyville but at least they were friendly. Hopefully this Big Dad Redwood fellow would have a clue about it. “Thank you, ma’am. Can ya point us in the right direction to get up there?”

“Captain, pleathe.” Thistle corrected, more spittle coming out. “And yes, there is another opening on the north side of the fort. Take the road leaving from it, soon you will hit a four way crossroads. If you keep going straight you will end up at our fruit orchards and vegetable farms, left would take you to the river that separathes Valley and Mountain Towns. But there are gates and drawbridges on each side if you need to get from one to the other. Right will take you into the main part of town, then you can just follow the main road to Redwood Manor.”

“Thank you.” Applejack tipped her hat and she and the disciples started to walk past Thistle and into the fort.

“However!” Thistle suddenly said, extending a wing to block Applejack. “This is a fort, you are not allowed entry anywhere else inside. Keep to the path and head out the north way. Thank you.” She didn’t leave any room to respond, flapping her wings and heading back up to her watchtower.

Applejack turned and shrugged to the others. “I don’t think there’s much for us to do in a fort anyways.”

“Hm.” Quartz mused as they walked in past the two guards, when out of earshot he continued. “This is all a bit strange. I’m not familiar with these towns that much but from what I heard is a fort like this truly necessary? Are they on the brink of war? And these ponies were all farmers on this side, Thistle felt like less of a military captain and more like someone playing a captain in a play.”

Applejack nodded along, she hadn’t really given it as much thought as him but it was kind of weird. And as they walked through the fort she started seeing some unsettling things. Numerous spears, shields, and spare armor lined on racks, a few catapults, ponies going through vigorous exercise drills. And the ones that saw her group all watched them like hawks.

“They’re making sure we aren’t spies from Mountain Town.” Obsidian suddenly said. “That’s the feeling I get from this.”

“And again like that wall this fort has to be new, can you imagine this being the first point of contact for any travelers or traders coming in through the south? It must’ve been made well after the dam.” Quartz figured.

A powder keg. One about to explode. Applejack thought, bringing her mind back to her dark forebodings.

They walked through the rest of the fort uneventfully, not straying from their path or giving the ponies watching them any reason to confront them. Shortly they came to the northern gate. Two more guards were stationed at this one, both of them stallions this time, and instead of staring out at what might be coming to the fort they were both watching Applejack and her group intently as well.

Applejack was about to pass right on by them when suddenly she remembered something.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” She exclaimed and walked up to one of the guards, who was a little bit perplexed at her actions. “Pardon me for asking but I know you were big on farming in Valley Town right? And your captain, Thistle, said that your fruit orchards were right down this road, right?”

“Uhh, yeah? Why?” The guard asked. Confused by Applejack’s sudden familiarity. “We’ve got apricots, cherry trees, strawberries, watermelon, peach trees-”

“That’s all well and good.” Applejack cut him off, a bit of a manic glint in her eyes. “But do you have apples?”

“Apples? What are-”

He suddenly found himself unable to continue as Applejack put her hoof over his mouth.

“Okay! You don’t need to finish that sentence, never mind, I get it!” Angrily she removed her hoof and began storming off out of the fort, grumbling the whole way.

The guard just stared after her, confusion written all over his face. The disciples as well shared a look with each other, wondering what made their new friend so upset.

Comments

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

“Oh! I almost forgot!” She exclaimed and walked up to one of the guards, who was a little bit perplexed at her actions. “Pardon me for asking but I know you were big on farming in Valley Town right? And your captain, Thistle, said that you (your) fruit orchards were right down this road, right?”

[MagicS]

9306864
Thank you.

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Well, this is ominous.

[Maud of Sterner Stuff]

This is a nice story so far. Applejack's my favorite pony, and I think you've got her character down perfect. That's perhaps the most important part of a story like this, so I hope it keeps up.

The humor in the story has been great, too. I can tell there'll be a lot of mileage out of the "What are apples?" gag. I have noticed quite a few missing commas throughout the story, not nearly enough to make it unreadable but still enough to be mildly distracting whenever I notice it.

This Hoof of the Earth technique sounds like a really neat ability. I was a bit surprised by Applejack's stomp in "Helpless Ponies," but now it seems like she may have accidentally channeled part of that power back then.

[redmar]

If the ignorance about aples lasts too long it might drive Applejack mad. Given how tense thiongs are it would take very little for fighting to start and things to get ugly.