Applejack at the Edge of the World

by MagicS

Diamonds to Dust III

It was twilight by the time she reached the city. The last hints of light from the sun were disappearing as Applejack walked from the road leading into it onto the abandoned main street with dust blowing by her. While the streets, much like the large road she had been walking on, were all paved stone and cement, most of the houses were wooden or half-wood frame and kept up with plaster and spackle. The only building she could see that was made of stone here was actually the destroyed castle, its towers and walls still big enough even in their state for her to see over the roofs of the other buildings.

Applejack didn’t know exactly how far the river was now but if she kept walking west she’d eventually reach it as it flowed through the city. Though she didn’t plan on that tonight. Right now she was looking for a home that was still standing and didn’t have any broken windows or nothing so she could stay in it for the night. Everything else could come tomorrow. She did plan to take a more careful look around the city and see if she could find any ponies but only when the sun was back up.

Before long Applejack found that her hooves had carried her into a wide open circle closer to the middle of the city, where numerous streets branched off from and tall buildings and shops gathered around it. Must’ve been an old marketplace or square in the past. There was a large fountain directly in the middle of it but the top half was broken off and scattered on the ground around it, and no water flowed through it anymore. The open shop fronts facing the “square” were all trashed and empty, some boarded up completely while others had fallen apart or even been the victims of fire. This place had likely been the center of chaos when ponies finally realized their kingdom was done for. Applejack looked down one of the streets that went in the direction of the castle and could see that most of the buildings leading that way were at least partially damaged or burnt. Even the stone street showed signs of wear and destruction with scorch marks and chips throughout it.

Applejack turned and looked down a street that appeared to mostly be residential homes. Figuring she could find a good bed there she ignored the destruction and desolation of the city and went that way. Once again she was sure there were no ponies in need or who she could help here anymore.

Walking down the street she found a two-story house that didn’t have any broken windows she could see from the front, the small front yard was overgrown with weeds and a discarded shovel lying on the ground. Applejack shrugged and walked up to the front door—pausing in front of it before just letting herself in, she wanted to be sure she wasn’t really intruding. So as silly as it was, she lifted up a hoof and knocked before entering.

“Hello?”

The house and the entire street remained as quiet as the grave.

Applejack went for the handle and pulled the door open—not locked either.

What she saw inside wasn’t surprising. Furniture was still left around, tables, chairs, bookcases, but they were all empty. No pictures were hung up on the walls, no decorations, it was closer to a brand new home than one that was lived in by anypony. Applejack walked through the empty living room to the kitchen and saw the same thing, looking out the back window she saw an old seesaw in the back yard covered in weeds and dust. She sighed, feeling kind of bad to be “invading” this home even if it was abandoned long ago. But without even a tent of her own she wanted someplace to sleep with a roof over her head.

Applejack went up the stairs to find one of the bedrooms, passing by a closet and a loft before seeing an open door at the end of the hall with a large room behind it. She checked it out and saw that there was no bed left but there was a pile of linens and a couple pillows still in the room. Applejack snorted in bemusement but shrugged and went to sort them out. Better than nothing.

As she curled up in the abandoned sheets inside the abandoned bedroom inside the abandoned house, Applejack thought about how she didn’t even know the name of the abandoned city.

---

When she woke up the next morning there was a beam of sunlight coming right onto her face thanks to the lack of curtains in the bedroom. Applejack was both thankful and annoyed at it. She was enjoying her sleep but she also was bothered by the fact she hadn’t been able to wake up earlier. Maybe she was more tired than she thought. Either way she had best get a move on so she could cover as much distance as possible today after taking a brief look around the city.

Applejack got up and stretched before leaving the bedroom and house behind—closing the door shut behind her out of politeness—and walked back to the marketplace. She wanted to take a gander at whatever was left of the castle before getting some water from the river. Once that was done she could make her way out of the city entirely.

She kept her eyes and ears open the whole time she was walking, just in case there were any ponies out now that it was morning and not night like when she first walked into the city.

Two burned down buildings on either side of the street, no idea what they used to be.

A destroyed wagon left in the middle of the street she had to walk around.

A fork in the road with a small park in the triangle made by it, the park benches and gazebo also burned to a crisp.

An alleyway blocked off completely by trash.

Graffiti on the side of a wall reading “Down with the royal family!”.

A large warehouse with its doors torn open, the insides totally empty.

Not a sign of any ponies. Not a single sign at all.

Eventually she reached the castle grounds and saw that there was no way anypony could be living at it, while the walls were more or less intact the stone buildings inside them had been completely smashed to pieces. Every tower pulled down and destroyed so the few that remained standing at all weren’t even at half their normal height. Compared to the simple destruction she had seen elsewhere in the city—this was an act of coordinated devastation. A mob with tools, time, and ferocity had descended on this castle in the past to try and destroy it and everything it represented completely. Applejack doubted this city was the capitol of the Kingdom of Diamonds for a multitude of reasons but this castle had to be connected to the rulers in some way.

And if the ponies here were going down they obviously decided to bring it down with them.

She just hoped they didn’t get violent with each other.

Applejack took a look around at the streets and the grass that bordered the castle and kept it away from any other buildings being built to close to it. Naturally the grass had been burned just like so much else in the city. She sighed and shook her head before walking west as straight as she could. Time to get to the river.

---

When she finally reached the flowing river it was pretty much exactly what she expected. There was no natural shore or edge of it inside the city, instead it all flowed through a big cement and brick channel. She had to walk up on one of the bridges that spanned it, lean herself over the side, and reach down with flask in hoof to dunk it into the water and fill it back up. Just a mild inconvenience though and it was well worth it to be able to carry as much water as she could. She took a big drink from the flask and dunked it back down to refill it once more.

Now if only she had also found some food while she was here.

There’d be something out there though. This valley might be mostly dead but Applejack bet she’d find something the further she went. That sign back there couldn’t mean there was nothing for the entire rest of the country…

Regardless she still had some vegetables left in her bag and that’d be enough for the next couple of days. Applejack could last just fine.

She pulled herself back up from the river and stretched for a moment before putting the flask away and walking across the rest of the river. On her way out of the city now and she mostly just saw the exact same thing in the other half of it. Graffiti, destroyed statues, burned down buildings, and not a single solitary pony. From what Marzipan said there were still ponies living in the former kingdom but they must’ve collected in other spots. It didn’t really fill Applejack with hope that she’d come across any if there weren’t even any still living here.

Maybe the burned out, dying, valley just held too many bad memories.

Once Applejack reached the edge of the city she stopped and peered across the yellow wastes, nothing but dirt, dried out fields, and clouds of dust rolling by. With a shake of her head she got back out on the country road and hoped that the hills making up the western side of the valley would lead somewhere nicer.

Comments

[RoboRed]

With how abandoned and desolate this place is it's starting to sound near post-apocalyptic. I'm half-expecting AJ to up and start scavenging for scrap, tools, supplies, etc.

[redmar]

There really isný much left of the old kingdom. Even with Applejack's action in the Citadel of Al-Karamaretel it will take a long time before it can recover.

[Doctor Axiom]

11745606
It's medically plausible and a great concept