Sandy Scroll awoke to the sound of rusted bells – not so much a chime as a series of dull, metallic thunks in the distance – and was greeted by the familiar scents of dust and ash and centuries-old paper. She rubbed a beige hoof against her aching temple and shivered at the frigid draft that blew through the window in front of her. The fire on her hearth must have died while she had slept, and it had been ages since this town had produced glass with which to ward off the winter winds.
Sand lifted her head from her desk and glanced outside. It was dawn, or perhaps dusk, just as it had been for every hour of every day for as long as anypony could remember. According to Appleoosa’s clock-tower, however, it was ten.
AM or PM? The makeshift day-or-night …show more content…
At least one meal a day. Please. Now, c'mon. My place.” Sunburst gestured with a foreleg.
For dinner was piping hot hay stew, garnished with fresh hay; with sides of crispy hay fries; tender hay-loaf; and various other hay-based dishes. Despite its rather suggestive name, Appleoosa did not produce many apples these days – or much of any other food crop, for that matter: too much effort for too little result. A pony could subsist her entire life on nothing but hay, and so hay it was for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“So, what did you find on your last outing?” Sunburst shoveled a final load of hay into the roaring fireplace behind her before sitting down across from Sand.
“Oh, you've got to see this, Sunny!” Sand levitated one of the pamphlets from her saddlebag and spread it across the table. “It's a map of all of Equestria! From here in Appleoosa, to Ponyville, Canterlot, Baltimare, even somewhere called the 'Crystal Empire'. Hundreds of years old, and in pristine condition too! I was quite surprised to find these out in the open, but I guess since the train was a little further out than my normal sites …show more content…
A few seconds later, though, she shot into the air, effusive as ever. “Oh my gosh, I just had the greatest idea ever! There've gotta still be ponies living in these places, right? And now we know exactly where all those tracks lead. Let's go somewhere – we'll just follow the tracks and there's no way we can get lost!”
"Hmm. There was supposed to be a grand library in Ponyville. The greatest ever built, from what I've heard. And the Canterlot archives in, well Canterlot." Who knew what other buried secrets and hidden truths awaited her out there?
Sandy Scroll thought for a moment. Appleoosa was the only home she had ever known. She'd never wandered more than a few hours' walk from town, and the journey to the next closest settlement would take a full week; Ponyville, at least two. But then she looked to her side. A tattered coil of yellowed paper, peeking above the desert ground -- an indelible mark on her body and on her soul. Was this not what she lived for -- her very reason for being?
Appleoosa and its surroundings had already yielded what secrets they would -- there was little left for her here, no real decision to be
Sand lifted her head from her desk and glanced outside. It was dawn, or perhaps dusk, just as it had been for every hour of every day for as long as anypony could remember. According to Appleoosa’s clock-tower, however, it was ten.
AM or PM? The makeshift day-or-night …show more content…
At least one meal a day. Please. Now, c'mon. My place.” Sunburst gestured with a foreleg.
For dinner was piping hot hay stew, garnished with fresh hay; with sides of crispy hay fries; tender hay-loaf; and various other hay-based dishes. Despite its rather suggestive name, Appleoosa did not produce many apples these days – or much of any other food crop, for that matter: too much effort for too little result. A pony could subsist her entire life on nothing but hay, and so hay it was for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“So, what did you find on your last outing?” Sunburst shoveled a final load of hay into the roaring fireplace behind her before sitting down across from Sand.
“Oh, you've got to see this, Sunny!” Sand levitated one of the pamphlets from her saddlebag and spread it across the table. “It's a map of all of Equestria! From here in Appleoosa, to Ponyville, Canterlot, Baltimare, even somewhere called the 'Crystal Empire'. Hundreds of years old, and in pristine condition too! I was quite surprised to find these out in the open, but I guess since the train was a little further out than my normal sites …show more content…
A few seconds later, though, she shot into the air, effusive as ever. “Oh my gosh, I just had the greatest idea ever! There've gotta still be ponies living in these places, right? And now we know exactly where all those tracks lead. Let's go somewhere – we'll just follow the tracks and there's no way we can get lost!”
"Hmm. There was supposed to be a grand library in Ponyville. The greatest ever built, from what I've heard. And the Canterlot archives in, well Canterlot." Who knew what other buried secrets and hidden truths awaited her out there?
Sandy Scroll thought for a moment. Appleoosa was the only home she had ever known. She'd never wandered more than a few hours' walk from town, and the journey to the next closest settlement would take a full week; Ponyville, at least two. But then she looked to her side. A tattered coil of yellowed paper, peeking above the desert ground -- an indelible mark on her body and on her soul. Was this not what she lived for -- her very reason for being?
Appleoosa and its surroundings had already yielded what secrets they would -- there was little left for her here, no real decision to be