• Published 28th Jul 2022
  • 1,349 Views, 93 Comments

Trudge Runners - ROBCakeran53



Applejack wakes up in the forest, finds another creature called a human, and learns that the only way to escape this prison is to collect lumber.

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7: Where the Pavement Ends...

Applejack’s nose wiggled, smelling something cooking.

It was a basic smell, mostly of oats and steam.

And at these sudden smells, her empty stomach decided to tell her, quite loudly, that it would be worth going and investigating this.

Shoving the green sheet off of herself, she sat up, rubbing her eyes with a hoof as she looked around.

The faintest traces of morning sunlight danced through the thin blinds, illuminating enough that she could see the wind up clock on the end table at the head of her bed.

She didn’t actually know what time it was, but using a rough guess of where the sun was, plus feeling the ground and what season the plants told her (those willing to, anyway) , she’d set the clock accordingly. When Bill had retrieved her after both of their showers, she had gone along with 7pm.

Currently the clock was showing about 8am, and with how bright it already was getting to be, she was confident in at least being within a half hour of the actual time. That being said, the first thing to pop into her mind was disappointment.

“Drats, slept in.”

Not a normal practice for the mare, however it did happen from time to time.

Rolling out of bed, she firstly went to the bathroom door and knocked. When there was no answer, she entered, leaving her door open but locking Bill’s door, and proceeded to relieve herself and freshen up.

Once done there, she returned to her room and began doing some simple stretches, all the while feeling and hearing joints crack and muscles loosen. Her stomach protested the delay, but this was an important part of her regime, and her gut could wait a few extra minutes. Each time a joint popped or a muscle strained, her ears twitched and she felt all the more awake.

At one point during her abs and barrel stretches, with her hind legs laid flat and hips resting on a pillow, she glanced over to the desk. Her forward half was supported up with her forelegs straight, giving her ample view of its contents.

One binder was now placed at the center, still closed, where she left it to read, before giving up to the constant yawning and droopy eyes, choosing to go to bed.

A slight frown graced her lips, but she pushed the problem to the side. Wrapping up her morning stretches, she tossed the pillow back onto the bed and quickly made it, fixing the sheets so everything was tidy once more. Walking to the bedside table, she grabbed the two red scrunchie hair bands and walked back into the bathroom. Fishing out the previously used comb brush, she began the ritual of brushing her tail, applying the scrunchie, and followed suit with her mane.

Satisfied, she made for the bedroom door, retrieving the hat which she’d placed on one of the low hanging hooks near the light switch. Fishing her ponytail through the opening on the back, she assured it was snugly fit before opening her bedroom door.

The hallway still looked the same as it had yesterday, and she opted to leave her bedroom door open. Walking down the hall, she noticed Bill had done the same with his door. Nearing the common area, the smell of cooked oats was stronger, and made her tummy growl more feverishly.

There, she found Bill, sitting at the table and eating from a bowl with a spoon. He was better dressed, ready to take on the day. The same, or maybe a different white T shirt was there, but over top it was an unbuttoned blue and white plaid shirt. He wore a pair of long, dark blue jeans, going down to his feet which were covered with white socks. Near the table were a pair of black sneakers, unlaced and ready to be installed.

“Mornin’, Bill,” Applejack said cheerily.

Bill, who’d watched her once she was in sight, grunted a hello while he shoveled another spoonful of slop into his mouth.

Heh, not a mornin’ pony.

Entering the kitchen area, the mare saw a bowl similar to Bill’s on the counter, with a box of what she’d guess to be oats beside it.

Throughout all of this morning, however, one thing eluded her, and it was time to voice the concern.

“Where’s the-”

“No coffee grounds.”

Applejack froze in place, mouth open, eyes wide but pupils small, as those three words bounced around in her head like mini explosions of that gun from yesterday. She kicked her forelegs up, resting her hooves on the counter edge, looking over to Bill.

The man never moved, save for hand down, spoon in bowl, lift to mouth, open and eat, repeat. He continued to stare off into the distance, down the hall.

After several repeated steps, he paused his eating.

“I found filters, we have both an electric coffee maker and a heat percolator for either the stove top or wood burner. There’s packets of powdered milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.” Slowly, Bill listed off these items while counting on his fingers. “There is a waxed jar of honey, a bottle of apple cider vinegar, and I even think there's a small bottle of almond amarillo. And don’t forget all the fucking vodka in the fridge…”

By now, Applejack was in the process of pouring what she confirmed to be oats into a pot of water, intending to boil them until ready. However, hearing Bill rattle off these items, dread filled the mare’s head as she didn’t hear the one thing that truly mattered.

“...and to top it all off,” Bill finally dropped his spoon into his nearly empty bowl, allowing the glass and steel contact to rattle loudly, “no. Fucking. Coffee.”

“Well…” Applejack stirred the oats, “that sucks.”

“I can skip a day, if I’m in a hurry, but two days in a row without coffee? I’m probably gonna die.”

Rolling her eyes, Applejack turned off the stove and picked up the pot with her hooves, placing it onto the ground where she could easily pour the contents into the clean bowl.

Once satisfied, she rinsed the pot in the sink for future cleaning, then holding the bowl with one forehoof she three legged walked to the table to join Bill.

The whole time, he watched her intently, spoonful of oats half way to his face as he stared.

She placed the bowl on the table, then pulled out the chair and hopped up, sitting down and began blowing on her oats to cool.

Bill continued to stare, and Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What?”

The human placed his spoon back into the bowl, then cleared his throat. “Okay, so yesterday my crazy meter was pinged to bending. Now it is a new day, we’re back to zero. So, first that bullshit with you picking things up with those hooves, and now you can just walk on three legs like it’s nothing? What gives?”

Applejack stared at the human like he was crazy, which admittedly, he probably was.

Which also meant, sadly, so as she.

“I dunno, just a pony thing.” She leaned forward, and began lapping at her oats with her tongue.

“Oh no, none of that now. Here,” Bill said, wiping off his spoon on his shirt, he slid it to her. “I wanna see this.”

Raising her face from her bowl, the apple mare shrugged, picked up the spoon with her hoof, then proceeded to eat with it.

Bill stood, leaning over the table to stare at her closer, mere inches away from her bowl as he watched her hoof impossibly hold onto the spoon.

Suddenly, he pointed a finger at her. “That? That’s bullshit.”

“Naw,” Applejack said with oats in her mouth, then swallowed and continued, “what’s bullshit is when it decides to not work. That’s embarrassin’.”

“What, like when a guy has E-D?”

“E-D?”

“You know, can’t get it up to perform.”

Applejack blinked, then snorted a laugh. “Wow, that’s some real table talk there.”

Bill returned to his seat, arms crossed over his chest. “It was the first thing that came to mind, sue me.”

“Naw, seems like ya ain’t got nothin’ worth gettin’ fer all the trouble.”

A shry whistle made the mare’s ears twitch, and she looked to Bill who’s lips were puckered amidst a whistle.

“Dayum, a girl you may be, but no lady.”

Applejack placed the spoon into her now empty bowl. “Well, when ya nab tha bathroom b’fore the mare, that’s what ya get.”

“Cold shoulder. So, what, I just gotta treat you like a lady and you’ll be one?”

“Naw, then I’ll just kick yer teeth in.” Applejack took her bowl, and his, stacked them, and mimicked her earlier three legged stride into the kitchen.

“Okay, now you’re just messing with me.”

“Yeah, and I gotta say, it’s a lot ‘o fun.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Bill leaned back in his chair.

“Feel better?” Applejack asked while rinsing the bowls and spoon.

“Surprisingly, yes. You riled me up on purpose, didn’t you?”

“O’ course, works on mah brother, too.”

“Of course.” Bill slapped his face, wiping both palms up and down, then ran them through his short brown hair, messing it up further.

At least I know he don’t use the brush, might just keep it in my room.

“So,” Bill started, looking around then to the mare, “Flint, or should I say Mister Mclintock, radioed earlier, asked about the gun shot from last night. Told him what was up, we had the map, and hopefully we’ll be finding him sometime today.”

“Great, I suppose ya got the battery taken care of?”

“Yeah, the one in it was toast, but shocker, I found one in the back room. It’s on a bench being charged, so once you’re ready, we can go out, put it in, and fire that little truck up.”

Placing the four washed items onto a dry rack, Applejack wiped her hooves on a small towel below the sink, then walked out of the kitchen.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

With a groan, Bill stood, and began to put on the shoes, lacing them with ease.

Standing back up, Bill looked at a smirking Applejack. “What, at least I can take mine off without a hammer!”

Still sporting her smile, the mare picked up a hoof, and suddenly the iron shoe on that hoof fell to the floor with a clatter. Then, she lowered the hoof back onto the shoe, and gave it a couple experimental taps with the shoe attached once more. She grinned at him.

Bill pointed his finger at her again. “Bull. Shit.”

Finally, Applejack laughed. “I ain’t had nailed on shoes since I were a little filly. Once ya can start to control yer magic enough, most ponies opt out fer magic shoes that sorta glue on, but can be removed easily enough. My brother still has his nailed on, but he’s also larger than a normal pony, and works a lot harder.”

Walking past the mare, Bill didn’t stop pointing at her, and repeated himself, “Bull. Shit.”

With a shake of her head, Applejack followed him down the hall and into the shop, where the inventory lights were still on.

Against the far wall near the lift, several work tables and benches were set up. Bill approached one, which had a black box looking item with two lead posts on top, and was connected with clamps and wires to a box which hummed.

“Okay, looks like it’s barely drawing any amps, so I’d say it’s good.” Turning off the machine, he removed the clamps from the top posts.

“Huh, that’s a battery? Kinda big, ain’t it?”

Grabbing both sides of the battery and holding it away from himself, Bill began walking towards the open garage door. It was currently propped only half way open with a large stick.

“Most vehicles have them about this size. What was weird though was I had to service it.”

“Service it?”

“Yeah, it was dry, no acid. Had to add it, then charge it for a while. I’ve only ever done that with classic car batteries.”

“Why?”

“Storage, I guess.”

They reached the vehicle, the hood already open as Bill went around to the right side of the vehicle, near the hood’s hinge.

“So what’s a battery like from your place?”

Applejack placed her forehooves on the front of the vehicle, watching as Bill placed the battery into a box, sized perfectly to house it.

“Lot smaller. Usually it’s just a gemstone enchanted by a unicorn, but I don’t use ‘em fer much. Can be useful though.”

Bill laughed. “Damn, that would be neat to see. Gemstone, eh? So, what, you just take something expensive and turn it into something useful?”

Tilting her head, she watched him connect two wires to the two posts.

“Expensive? Naw, gemstones ‘re a bit a dozen.”

“Really? So do you have valuable materials? Gold, silver?”

“Our currency is based around gold, silver, copper, ‘dn tin, which is most valuable to least. Otherwise, usually the only things worth value are cursed items or spell books. Again, not really into all that nonsense.”

“Right, right. Okay, I think we’re ready now.”

Walking around the front, past Applejack, he opened the front door and sat inside.

“Say, stay out there for a minute, and let me know if you see anything wrong.”

Applejack gave him a minute to process what he said, then she leaned her head over, past the hood to stare at him with a raised brow.

“Yeah, I know, I just realized it too. Just… if you see any fluids shooting out of anywhere, or parts obviously falling off, let me know.”

“Right.”

Bill turned the key, and the engine began cranking.

Applejack watched as the engine moved, components rotating, a fan like object moving, and it was a lot louder than she expected.

“Oh, hang on, one of these is probably the choke.”

He pulled on something, and she watched a mechanical linkage move. He tried to start it again, and this time the vehicle got much louder, and began to rumble, sounding like it should.

I guess so, anyway?

“Yeah there we go, now to just ease it back.”

Slowly, the vehicle began to run smoother and smoother, until it was quiet and only gently vibrating, occasionally rocking slightly.

Bill got out and joined Applejack at the front, looking around.

“Seems to be okay to me.”

“This is sure somethin’ else, Bill.”

“One of the pinnacle inventions of us humans. They’re one of our greatest tools, and one day they’ll destroy our planet.”

Applejack looked at the human curiously.

He simply waved his hand, “Don’t worry about it. I threw that bag from yesterday on the back seat, and got the map on the dash. Ready to go?”

“Sure!”

Stepping down and off the vehicle, Applejack watched Bill close the hood with a slam, then making sure it was secure. Once happy, he walked her to the right side, opening the door.

“Just hop on in I guess.”

She did so with ease, finding the seat to be fairly cushiony.

Closing the door, Bill walked to the other side, got in, and closed his door.

“Alright, comfy?” he asked.

Nestling her back into the seat, she nodded.

"Good. No seatbelts, so I guess we hope we don't roll this thing."

"Not real sure how I'd strap m'self in anyway. Seat ain't really shaped fer me."

“Eh, technicalities. Alright, so, we got a four speed manual, five if you count reverse. That’s the gears it can go through, direction, and speed we can move.”

“Alright.”

“Also has a two speed transfer case for all wheel drive, so instead of just two wheels propelling us, all four will. Not a thing on all vehicles, but for more off road ones it’s sometimes critical.”

“Makes sense, I guess.”

“And lastly, lever here for differential lock, which allows the wheels to spin together, instead of one faster than the other. I’m a bit fuzzy on how that works, something to do with gears, traction, and rotation, but I had that on my quad before I lost it in the lake and it was great for gripping the mud and dirt.”

“So this here vehicle’s set fer rough stuff.”

“Yeah, so we should have no problem getting anywhere we need to go. Also, now I can test this out.”

Bill reached for a hanging microphone, attached to a radio which was mounted to the center of the dash, and keyed the mic.

“Hey, McLintock, can you hear me?”

It took about a minute, but the radio came to life with some static.

“Sorry, was drainin’ the old water bag. Yeah, you’re a little lost in the buzz, guessin’ yer in that there little four wheeler?”

“Yeah, got it started up. We’re about to head out and see if we can find a way to you.”

“Ten-four. Got that little lady with ya ridin’ shotgun?”

“Yeah, she’s here too.”

“Alright, stay loaded, over and out.”

“Loaded?”

Bill shrugged. “Beats me, half of the stuff he said this morning didn’t make sense. So, are you cool with being a navigator?”

He pulled the folded map from the dash, then handed it over. Applejack took it between her hooves, then began opening it.

“Sure." Once opened, Applejack studied it for a minute, then tapped a hoof on the paper. "So, I say pull out of here, turn right, and follow this road fer as long as we can.”

“Got it.”

The feeling of the vehicle lurching under Applejack made her jump slightly, and eyes go big. She was so used to seeing a pony’s behind pulling a wagon or cart, having nothing ahead pulling them forward was a whole new experience.

“Amazin’. All on its own.”

“Yeah. Okay, so there is a little blacktop road here, and you said follow it until it ends?”

“Yeah, lookin’ at this here map, it should only be-”

“It ends.”

Putting on the brakes gently, the vehicle came to a stop barely fifty feet from where they had started.

“Huh, on here it looks like it’s longer.”

“I bet that’s what they all say.”

Applejack stuck out her tongue. “Hush, you. Alright, so some of this map is openin’ up fer us, so yeah, fer now just follow this here two track.”

“Sounds good. Looks like just dirt to me, agreed?”

Applejack nodded, and so moving the vehicle forward they continued at a quick click, faster than any pony pulled carriage at least, along a dirt path.