Applejack at the Edge of the World

by MagicS

Diamonds to Dust IX

The river heavy lands had dried up a day ago and now Applejack was walking towards a wall of arid mountains in the distance. They had to be the last ones before Equinestan—where she’d eventually find another canyon and another bridge to cross to leave the Kingdom of Diamonds behind. Nothing she wasn’t used to, and she at least had the knowledge that this road would take her all the way there. All she had to do was follow it and there shouldn’t be any issue.

Applejack knew things would be quiet for a while, she was in an emptier part of the old kingdom, and it was looking much like the wastes she had seen in other places. There would be less to see, fewer animals around, and if she found any other towns she was assuming they’d be burnt out and abandoned wrecks.

Also the countryside she was walking through now was quite a bit hotter than the rest of the kingdom had been. She should’ve figured that such a large country would have colder and warmer spots, and right now she was walking through what was essentially a desert in all but name. The mountains ahead looked just as hot as well—the types that never saw snow. Unlike before when she was always happy to have the sun out and on her back she kind of wished for some clouds right now. Applejack was already sweating quite a lot just from the warm air, when she had to carry herself up those mountains it would probably be even worse. She was hoping there’d be a cool breeze traveling through them to give her a bit of respite…

The ground around her was completely dry and the dirt was cracking everywhere off the side of the road, it was good she had filled up her flask not long ago. Unless she came across an old well she probably wouldn’t see water for another couple of days.

Even in the old days before the kingdom went down she doubted many ponies would be living in or traveling through this part of the country unless they were ones going directly to and from Equinestan. If Equinestan was a big place she was sure she’d have seen some roadside inns at some point but there was just nothing out here like that. Not even anything destroyed or abandoned. It’s possible there was something in the mountains instead of on this desert road with nothing but dry dirt and a hot sun around you.

Applejack sighed, briefly removing her hat and wiping some sweat off her brow before putting it back on and continuing her walk.

Wouldn’t be too long before she reached those mountains.

She did finally see some wildlife though. A scorpion was out on top of a flat rock, soaking in the sun. Applejack figured it was probably best to not disturb its tanning session and so she just walked on by it. She couldn’t exactly say she had anything to gain from saying hi to a scorpion anyways, she wasn’t Fluttershy. It’d probably just run away or try and sting her.

Being sick once on this long trip was already more than enough.

She sure did wish she had somepony to talk to though. Again. The brief bouts of conversation she had had since leaving the citadel weren’t exactly enough for her who was so used to always having a friend or family by her side. Marzipan, Pretty Petunia, Winter Moon, Marsh Hopper, all nice ponies—mostly—but in her haste Applejack had always gone right by them. Maybe she should've relaxed a little, not let her mission and Discord’s words get to her so much, and spent more time with them. It would’ve definitely at least fulfilled Pinkie’s desire for her to make a bunch of friends out here. Instead she’d been so antsy it was like she just couldn’t stop herself.

For a pony who longed for a little companionship she’d sure been so bullheaded as to avoid any…

In the end though she couldn’t just ignore the nagging feeling she had had since getting over here—and how much she just wanted to complete her mission now that she knew she was more than halfway there to Elysium’s View. What was the phrase? You can’t have your cake and eat it too?

Applejack snorted. Wouldn’t Pinkie Pie just hate that phrase…

She glanced up at the sky to see if she’d get far enough into the mountains before it was dark. Judging from where it was she’d say she had a couple of hours before the mountains themselves blocked off most of the sunlight. If she could find any old place up in them to spend the night at that would be great. Otherwise she might just have to hop in a cave somewhere.

There had to be at least some kind of inn, or stop, or small mountain village if this was one of the main ways in and out of the kingdom. Applejack would go absolutely nuts if there really was just an empty road all the way to the bridge. That would be like Manehattan not having any trains going to or from it, it just wouldn’t make no sense. Not that she expected everything in her life to make sense, she’d been in far too many weird situations for that, but this kingdom seemed like it used to be a normal place.

In a relatively short amount of time the road started sloping up as she made her way towards the mountains and she left the empty wasteland of dry dirt behind. The road didn’t just ramp up straight of course but had to curve up and turn a few times to keep a steady slope. Just like the one from that hill a long ways back, it was clearly made for wagon travel. In the past there was no doubt in Applejack’s mind that a lot of importing and exporting concerning Equinestan was done on this mountain road. Apparently Equinestan wasn’t directly harmed by anything the Warden had done though.

Well, that was certainly something Applejack wouldn’t complain about. She’d like to visit a country full of life and ponies that didn’t know the hardship the rest of the west had been through.

Considering the typical nature of most friendship missions, she doubted whatever she had to do at Elysium’s View was quite as “dangerous” or pressing at what she had already done at Al-Karamaretel. Only a few times in the past had the Cutie Map really called her and her friends forth for something truly spectacular. And if it was only calling her then Applejack was sure that whatever the map wanted her to fix wasn’t as bad as some of the other stuff out here.

By the time she followed every curve of the road and made it up into the sandstone mountains most of the sunlight was blocked off by the peaks of the mountains and daggers of shadow went all across the road. The road itself also lost its more paved and smooth appearance, turning more into dirt and gravel than a well-made stone road. Not as easy on her hooves but she wouldn’t complain.

And although she didn’t see any mountain village or buildings just yet, she did see something else that was a little reassuring.

There was a signpost off the side of the road with a wooden sign hanging by chains from it. “EQUINESTAN” had been painted in big bold letters on it with an arrow pointing into the mountains right below it. She was on the right track out of here.

Comments

[RoboRed]

AJ definitely has a mission to accomplish but she won't do herself any good if she runs herself ragged in the process. Already had too many rough patches anyways.

[redmar]

At least she is close to the border with Equinestan now.