The road through the mountains carried on as Applejack went up and down the hilly and rocky landscape in-between the large mountains. She had come out into sort of a valley that existed in the mountain range, full of evergreen trees, with streams of water visibly running down from some mountains. The air was thinner than usual though, telling Applejack despite the “normal” foresty look she was actually at a pretty high altitude. Straight ahead she saw the road curve slightly south as it went up a new mountain. Which made Applejack a little worried since she was no longer going straight west. But if that’s the only way she could get to Roc’s Nest and then Station Ponywares then so be it. The only other thing that really caught her eye out here was the large group of mountains slightly northwest. They were noticeably taller than any others she had seen in this range or the entire Undiscovered West so far. They even had snow at their peaks.
“Good thing I don’t need to climb over those,” Applejack whistled in relief.
She glanced up at the sky again: Noon.
“Has to just be right up around that mountain,” Applejack said. Perhaps trying to convince herself or force what she was saying into reality. “Right up around that mountain.”
There was another thing she was thinking about that she had kind of ignored until recently. What if these ponies weren’t friendly to outsiders? If they relied on travelers coming through here they probably would be but then again the ponies of Fire Vent should’ve been the same way. And Applejack saw how many of them were depressed, apathetic, and downright rude. If Roc’s Nest was in trouble they really might not have the patience or any friendly greetings to give some random pony walking from the east.
Applejack sighed, she was just going to have to believe in the kindness of ponies.
“Not everywhere can be Ponyville though. Can’t expect Sweet Apple Acres hospitality from everypony either,” Applejack muttered.
There was that dang ol’ pessimism again. More times than not in her life she figured whenever she went someplace new that the ponies or other creatures she met were perfectly good and upstanding folk. But the bad times had a way of sticking out in your mind more than the good. And Applejack had learned to never count on her luck. She couldn’t even win a game of cards to save her life.
Applejack made it to where the road started to curve south around the mountain, picking up her pace a little bit. She wanted it to be well before evening or even late afternoon before she got to Roc’s Nest. The more time was left in the day, getting there before ponies were winding down to either eat dinner or go to bed, the better luck she would have. So Applejack trotted along briskly, her hooves pounding against the gravel road.
She heard the loud cry of a bird overhead and looked up to see what looked like a large eagle flying north. Applejack only got a small glimpse of it before it disappeared from sight.
The next minute and she was finally rounding the mountain and could look on to the next one the road traveled by.
And her eyes widened as she finally saw her next destination.
It was like a big chunk had been taken right out of the mountain and buildings had been constructed or carved in the empty space, going up closer to the peak or down to the base in four distinct levels while the road went right through the middle of them and continued on west. She had never seen a town quite like this before. It was almost like a reverse Canterlot, constructed inside the hole of the mountain instead of on the side of it. Just much smaller and not as pretty of course. The buildings were mostly made of stone but Applejack saw plenty of wooden ones as well. The roofs were triangular in style, constructed with wooden shingles and brick chimneys poking out of some of them. Most buildings too were of average size, no skyscrapers, no huge warehouse-like things, the architectural style and location may have been totally different but the feeling it gave off was similar to Ponyville. A small, close-knit, and just a bit out of the way sort of place.
“Well I’ll be, guess I’ve found Roc’s Nest,” Applejack said as she stared at it.
There was the nagging issue that right now she didn’t see anypony wandering the streets outside, but she was still far away and there was plenty of the village hidden away by its own buildings. She wasn’t going to worry about nothing yet.
Instead Applejack inhaled through her nose and nodded before walking down the road and across to the next mountain. It was time to get up there, say hi, get some food, and then get a good night’s sleep. In that order.
Once she made it to the carved up mountain and stood right on the boundaries of town, she stopped again and took a look around first. There really weren’t any ponies out. None that she could see yet. But the buildings and everything looked far too nice for the place to be abandoned. Were they all inside for some reason? When she went to take a step into town—something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention first. There was something half-buried in the dust and gravel off the side of the road.
Applejack walked over to see what it was and immediately frowned.
A wooden sign. Broken in half at the stake. She picked it up and read: “Roc’s Nest” right across it.
She could do nothing but shake her head as she put the broken sign back down. “Why can’t signs ever be good?”
She wasn’t going to take it as too bad an omen though. Fire Vent’s welcome sign was in just as bad shape and that town was perfectly alive. This sign was probably just another victim of apathy and a lack of travelers coming through. Far be it from her to complain about the ponies of Roc’s Nest just not having it in them to do anything about it during rough times like this.
So Applejack walked into town and looked from building to building, trying to spot any ponies. She noticed that most windows had wooden shutters covering them—all closed up. It made her think even more that for whatever reason all these ponies were staying bunkered down in their homes. Did she just go walking up and knock on random doors? Did she find a bench to sit on and wait for ponies to come out? Did she go looking around for any signs of what was going on? Applejack was starting to get frustrated. And hungry.
Her hooves stopped at an intersection where another road bisected the main one she was on and went both up and down the tiered village. Turning around in a circle a few times she looked as far as she could into the buildings but still didn’t come up with anything new.
Applejack shook her head and was about to continue on-
“Psst! Hey!”
A whispered shout came from her right and Applejack looked down the road to see a mare sticking her head out an open window, holding the shutters open with her hooves. She had a downright angry frown on her face as she glared at Applejack.
Before Applejack could gather her wits about her the mare clicked her tongue in frustration. “Hey! What are you doing out there? Get in here right now!” She slammed the window back shut.
Applejack furrowed her brow, confused, but able to tell that that mare was mighty serious about something. She ran for the building—a single-story home by the look of it—and politely knocked on the front door. Immediately she heard a lock being unlatched and the door swung open, with Applejack then being pulled inside.
“Geez! What’s the matter with you?!” The mare said as she practically spun Applejack into her living room and locked the door back up. Turning around she glared at Applejack once more. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous out there right now, haven’t you—wait.” The mare stopped in the middle of her sentence and blinked. “Who… who are you? I don’t recognize you.”
“I’m confused,” Applejack frowned and shook her head. “Uh, I mean my name is Applejack. I was just passing through here.”
“A traveler?” The mare’s eyes widened. “Haven’t seen any in ages.” She scrunched up her nose, a frown still on her face, and almost begrudgingly lifted up a hoof for Applejack to shake. “My name is Alpine Climb, nice to meet you.”
She was an icy blue mare with a snow-white mane pulled back in a tight ponytail that seemed to almost yank on her scalp. Her coal-black eyes made the glaring she had given Applejack even more pronounced.
Applejack grimaced for a second but decided she still should just be polite. “Pleased to meet you too. You mentioned something about it being dangerous outside? Are the other ponies here okay?”
“Everypony’s okay so long as they stay indoors. The rest of the village knows what to do,” Alpine Climb said. She raised an eyebrow at Applejack. “What do you know about Rocs?”
“Umm… not so much as my friend Maud, but I know they’re harder than dirt and all,” Applejack shrugged.
“Not rocks, you dolt. Rocs. The giant birds of prey? The Rocs in Roc’s Nest?” Alpine Climb frowned.
“Oh,” Applejack blinked. “Ohhh, I knew that word sounded familiar. Twilight told me Spike almost got ate by one of them once...”
“So you didn’t know anything about them and yet you’re still traveling through here?” Alpine huffed.
“I’m from far away. And I heard this was the fastest way to get to the Citadel of Al-Karamaretel,” Applejack said.
Alpine Climb’s eye twitched.
Uh oh. Applejack gulped.
“Al-Karamaretel? Al-Karamaretel! That blasted Citadel! It’s all their fault that all these horrible things have happened lately! First we lose all our business and now we fear for our lives every day! Ever since trade dried up we’ve just been suffering non-stop! What business do you have with that place?” She walked up and grabbed Applejack. “Huh? You working with them or something? Maybe you’ve got something to do with everything being stopped!”
“Hold your horses right there!” Applejack yelled and yanked the mares hooves off her. “You’ve got it all wrong, Miss. I aint ever been there and I don’t know why they’ve done what they’ve done. I just need to travel past the Citadel to the other side of the canyon.”
Alpine Climb frowned, searching into Applejack’s eyes and trying to discern if she was telling the truth or not. “Okay… I guess it’s probably unlikely you’re working for them at least.”
“Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt,” Applejack rolled her eyes. She looked around the interior of the room they were in, noticing the locked up windows on every wall. “Uh, if we’re going to be in here for a little while, do you mind telling me what’s happened in Roc’s Nest? If it aint any trouble.”
“Tch,” Alpine Climb clicked her tongue. “I don’t really care to humor you but I guess it’s better than standing around and talking about the weather. Take a seat if you want.”
Before Applejack could, Alpine had already hopped into a chair. So Applejack took a seat on the couch opposite her.
“Roc’s Nest was named after the huge birds of prey that live on the higher peaks of these mountains. They’ve never really been a problem, typically they don’t target adult ponies, and our ancestors viewed them as majestic fliers or some gobbledy-gook like that,” Alpine Climb started. “They usually don’t even fly out to around the village. Well that changed a few months ago. Maybe they could sense the fear and desperation in the village, or maybe they could sense something else on the wind, like the whole world is messed up. But they started harassing and targeting us practically every day. They’re big and strong, and we don’t have any weapons, all we can do is hide from them like this when one or a flock are spotted coming near. I don’t know how, but I know they can tell something messed up is going on in these lands. They can feel how screwy things have gotten since Al-Karamaretel closed the bridge.”
She clicked her tongue again and frowned, staring off at the wall. “And those big dumb birds are just one problem. Hay, they’re just a symptom of the bigger problems. Even if it wasn’t for them it seemed like we we’re going to have to abandon Roc’s Nest soon enough anyways.”
“What do you mean?” Applejack asked.
“Look at where we are. Do you think a village like this can survive on its own? We rely on trade. And now that’s all dried up thanks to those Al-Karamaretel scumbags,” Alpine Climb angrily grit her teeth.
“I’m really sorry about all that… I just came from Fire Vent and they’re going through the same thing. I’ve heard a lot of places are facing trouble like this thanks to what’s changed at that Al-Karamaretel place,” Applejack sighed. “You don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing? Are you just as in the dark as Fire Vent was?”
“No clue,” Alpine Climb shrugged. “The rare traveler that’s come through after being turned away or given up at the Citadel hasn’t been able to tell us why either. And it’s not like we’ve sent anypony of our own to figure out what the problem is.” She frowned. “Tch, Fire Vent? That vacation spot under the volcano? We’re worse off than they are—we don’t have the natural resources around us that they do, and we’re not as close to other towns.”
Applejack wasn’t about to get in a match about who was worse off. Neither of these places were her home or anything to begin with. And Alpine Climb’s foul attitude was wearing on her anyways.
“You said things were already bad even before the Rocs started attacking?” She asked, curse her politeness and need to help ponies.
“Yeah. Because shortly after trade started to dry up—flu season hit. We ran out of medicine, normally we get plenty of it from caravans and other merchants passing through. But not anymore. We had to start relying on old recipes made with medicinal herbs passed down for ages, but we even ran out of all that stuff too not long ago. It’s not just because of the Rocs that there weren’t any ponies out there, half the village is sick and can barely leave their homes to begin with. At some point or another we’re really going to have to send for help or just take everypony and leave the village altogether. But we just don’t have the money. We mainly let travelers stay here, get food and board for free, and they’d trade us what we needed in return. So we don’t have the money saved up for anything now,” Alpine Climb shook her head. “What a mess we’re in.”
“Uh, I take it you don’t have extra food to share with a traveler in need then?” Applejack winced.
“Certainly not for free,” Alpine Climb narrowed her eyes. “If you’ve got something to give us first—or a lot of money—then perhaps we’ll have something for you too.”
Applejack sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ve got some, yeah...” She frowned just slightly at the other mare. “But I think I’d like to meet and talk with some others from Roc’s Nest first.”
“Hmpf, fine. I know I’m not exactly the nicest mare you could’ve first ran into around here. I can introduce you to our apothecary—she’ll tell you all the same though. And even though there might be some kinder ponies here in Roc’s Nest you’re still not going to be getting anything for free. Hospitality or not, we can’t afford to just do stuff like that,” Alpine Climb said.
“That’s fair enough. When can we go out and meet them?” Applejack asked.
“Actually, I’d say it should be-”
Ring ring ring ring ring!
“Right about now,” Alpine Climb said as she hopped out of her chair while a loud bell continued to ring.
Applejack nearly had to cover her ears. “What the hay is that?!”
“That’s our bell, if it’s ringing it means the Rocs are gone for now and it’s safe for ponies to come out again,” she snorted. “Don’t expect to see many actually do that though. Even the ones who aren’t afraid or sick probably don’t see much point in actually leaving their homes. There’s no telling when those birds might be back either. Tch, welcome to Roc’s Nest.”
“Good to know at least...” Applejack muttered as the ringing finally stopped—though phantom echoes still rung in her ears for a bit anyways.
“The apothecary is just up the road, on the top level of town. Should only take us five minutes to get there from my home,” Alpine Climb said. She then went around her living room and started unlocking the windows, letting them open up like normal and airing out her house. Sunlight poured in and if it wasn’t for the hard frown on the mare’s face her home would look downright cozy right now. As she went to unlock the front door, she stopped and turned back to Applejack, raising an eyebrow at the other mare. “Why are you so curious about all this stuff anyways? Why do you even care? If you’re going to Al-Karamaretel then Roc’s Nest should be nothing more than a day’s stop for you. If even that.”
Applejack furrowed her brow, staring at Alpine as if it should’ve been obvious. “Well you’re in trouble, aint you? And if you need help then I’d like to help out however I can.”
Alpine Climb snorted. “Well unless you want to climb a dangerous mountain that’s home to dozens of giant deadly birds of prey in search of rare medicinal herbs, there’s not much you can do for us.”
To Alpine’s surprise though—a look of consternation came across Applejack’s face as she chewed on her lip and looked up at the ceiling before finally sighing deeply and hanging her head low.
“Aw dang it.”
...Yeah, I'd rather take having strain from money woes than being stuck dealing with a plague and watching for murderbirds from above...
Seriously though, what the heck is Al-Karamaretel doing with that bridge? I can't wait to find out.
I wonder if Applejack can figure out what's caused the change in behaviour by the Rocs thouhgt hat would be more Fluttershy's department.
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I'm purely guessing but maybe whatever is west of alkaramaretel is so bad, that the smart thing to do is close and defend the gate.