Applejack at the Edge of the World

by MagicS

Diamonds to Dust X

The mountains were hot but it wasn’t an unbearable place to travel through. Not as bad as some of the colder and hotter places she had been in her life. A few times while walking through them she could see off the side of the road how far the cliffs went down into the mountain canyons and gorges, seeing only rocks and the occasional shrubby bush growing along the sides of them.

Last night was a miss. She ended up sleeping under an overhanging rock because she couldn’t find anything else. Woke up covered in dirt and staring a coyote in the face.

Course he ran off scared once she screamed in his face.

Applejack was pretty sure today would be the day she made it to the bridge and got out of here. Whether she found a city or town in Equinestan soon after that was anypony’s guess, nopony had told her what the nearest stop after crossing the border was.

The hot sun came down on her back the further she walked, over, between, and through the dusty and arid mountains. The colors of orange and yellow, just like herself, were her biggest companions in the mountains. Proud rock formations stood tall in the gaps between mountains, centuries old if not even older. She spotted a few mountain goats having a much easier time traversing the landscape around her every now and then. Occasionally a hawk would circle overhead or the sound of a rattlesnake’s rattling tail would grab her attention.

It was around noon that she finished curving around one of the mountains and came to a large flat area with a cliff going up and up to the right side of the road. Carved and built into the side of the cliff was a number of buildings. Some made out of wood with others clearly built from stone taken right from the mountains. Looks like she had found the supposed mountain village, for all the good it did her now. It was practically all buried in dust as well with quite a few of the wooden buildings looking like they were about to collapse. The ponies that lived here had probably ran out to Equinestan when they realized just how bad things were going to be in the Kingdom of Diamonds. Applejack suspected that this village was abandoned for longer than any other place she had come across in the kingdom.

Nothing to look for here. Any food would be long dried out or rotten, any water dried up unless there was a well or pump, and she didn’t want to waste time looking for one. Applejack just sighed and continued on through the mountains. She still had plenty of biscuits and enough water to last for a few more days. That was all she needed right now.

Past the abandoned village and she started to notice something nice though, the road was starting to slope down. Just ever so slightly but it was starting to go downhill. The village might have been the actual middle ground of the mountains and now she was on her trip out of them.

Applejack sure hoped that was the case.

The heat of the sun didn’t abate while she traveled, and her hooves were getting a might bit sore and hot at this point too. There was at least always something to look at compared to more desolate areas of the kingdom—whether it just be more interesting rock formations or more animals that found her to be a curious sight but still kept their distance. More than once she got the feeling she was actually being trailed by a coyote or two but they were being smart and not bothering her. Maybe they could tell she was too healthy to try and attack. If they did get the wrong idea she’d have to set them straight.

Fluttershy forgive her.

Thankfully there was nothing like those Rocs living in these mountains. Only animals like that could really prove a problem for her.

Speaking of Rocs, Applejack hoped Roc’s Nest and Fire Vent were both already doing a lot better now. At the very least, word had to have reached them by now about the Citadel. It wasn’t much but the thought of that still brought a smile to her face.

By late afternoon she had descended quite a bit through the mountains and if her eyes weren’t deceiving her she was just about walking through the last line of them. There weren’t any others she could see beyond in the distance. Despite the heat and a bit of exhaustion plaguing her, Applejack quickened her pace so she could hurry up and get out of these dang mountains. It was Equinestan by night or bust.

The road straightened out in a few miles, no longer sloping, and leading right between two mountains. Applejack squinted ahead at what she thought was a natural rock bridge connecting them for a moment but what was actually an archway constructed over the road. She could see it carved far smoother than any naturally forming rock formation could get. Further there looked to be a pedestal on top of it and a bunch of rubble on the road—after what Applejack saw when she first entered the kingdom she could guess what that all was: another destroyed statue.

Reaching the archway she found her assumptions proven correct, the destroyed remains of a pony statue were scattered all over the wide road. It had been pulled or pushed off from above on the archway. Well, Applejack hoped that the ponies who did that were doing a lot better now.

Regardless, she walked through the archway and came out onto a wide plateau where the road ended with the last line of mountains. Nothing was blocking the sun anymore and she was up high enough where she could see for miles into the distance.

The plateau she was on was definitely pony made, carved or blasted out a long time ago and perfectly square with a railing made of interlocked logs going all around it to keep ponies from the dangerous cliffs. Directly in front of her and at the middle of the plateau was the only gap in the logs, the bridge had to start there. There also were the remains of several shacks and buildings on the plateau, but nothing remained standing at all anymore. It had all been destroyed long ago. What must’ve been a busy place in the past for receiving visitors was as quiet as the grave today.

Applejack walked past it all towards the bridge and looked out across it and the canyon. Taking a glance down she saw what Pretty Petunia had mentioned, hundreds of feet below, the floor of the canyon was covered in sharp rock formations, essentially nothing more than a bed of spikes, with nowhere to travel up and out of it. This bridge was the only possible way for a pony on hoof to cross over to the other side. Applejack gulped, the thought of falling or getting stuck down there was very unpleasant.

And the bridge itself was odd. Right at its end here at the plateau were massive wheels built right into the ground with ropes thicker than her entire body wrapped around them and going into metal holes in the ground. Applejack bit her lip and sent a small exploratory tremor into the bridge, getting an image of it inside her head.

It split right at the midpoint, right in the middle of the canyon where the middle of the bridge rested atop a tall pillar that helped hold it up. If the wheels were turned clockwise they’d pull up the ropes and the bridge itself would be raised… it was a drawbridge.

Applejack nearly groaned in relief. Thank Celestia it was already down and nothing had happened to it. The way this bridge was constructed she was sure it was more susceptible to disrepair or breaking. Or being destroyed by the maddened citizens of the Kingdom of Diamonds. But thankfully everything about it still looked alright. Perhaps the ponies who ditched out on the kingdom at least had the sense to not destroy one of the only ways back into it from here. Applejack didn’t know how far one would have to travel to find another way through the mountains or just go around them altogether. She might’ve been in trouble if the bridge was out when she got here. Instead—she had her way into Equinestan and it was just a brief walk down the bridge to get there.

From here she could see out past the borders of the Kingdom of Diamonds easily too. On the other side of the canyon a vast forest stretched into the distance, starting up just a hundred yards or so away from the canyon. The dirt road leading away from the other end of the bridge split north, south, and west, the western road going straight through the forest.

Applejack breathed deep—happy that there was still an obvious and direct route to go in. And happy that it would certainly be a nicer place to travel through than these mountains or the desert before them.

Cracking her neck, Applejack started her way down the bridge.

Comments

[RoboRed]

Sharp pointy rocks at the bottom of a long drop does not sound like a fun way to go.

[redmar]

At least the Kingdom of Diamonds didn't require Applejack to do much work to get across. I doubt she'll have it so easily in Equinestan.