literature

A Rumble in Appleoosa - (1) Bad Blood

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       Dust billowed over wooden decks, weathering the sun baked wood into splinters. Heat radiated from the ground beneath Applejack's hooves, a reminder of the day's warmth as the starlight twinkled above. The sky over Ponyville was unlike that of Canterlot, but even that little village couldn't stand up to the midnight expanse over Appleloosa. Lonely flats of sand and dust stretched on as far as the eye could see, mountains peaking along the horizon, the soft glow of the moon casting patterns upon the town.
       
       A light pressure tore Applejack from the scene as Fluttershy leaned against her, her eyes stained with sleep from the long trip from Ponyville. The yellow pegasus looked no worse for wear, her lightly toned frame in contrast with the hard working farmpony beside her. In a fit of foalish behavior, Fluttershy nipped at Applejack's hat, flipping it over her own head and patting it down on her pink mane. Applejack chuckled at Fluttershy's tired antics, giving the young mare a loving nuzzle as she heard the train behind her coming to rest.

The strong helmsponies attached to the front of the train were in the process of being unshackled when Applejack noticed a peculiar sight. While three of the strong looking ponies were let off quickly and without fuss to go about their business, the fourth and largest of them was beset on all sides by a number of rope-wielding ponies donned with deputy badges. Applejack raised her head from Fluttershy, watching as the black stallion reluctantly went with the posse, her eyes slowly falling upon the pony overseeing the operation.

       His tan coat fell in line with the western vibe the town gave off, punctuated with his settler's hat and tanned leather vest. Applejack recognized the pony in an instant by his apple-marked flank and messy orange and blond flecked mane. "Braeburn," she breathed, the Earth pony guiding her tired friend towards the respectable sheriff of Appleloosa. "Ah didn't expect ya to meet us at the station, cousin."

       Braeburn turned his attention to one side, his hard features softening immensely as he offered his hoof out for Applejack. "Cousin Applejack, glad to see you could make it out to Appleloosa again." A moment passed as both Apples stared at the passing black stallion, his eyes burning into the sheriff in a cool fury. Applejack watched in wonder as her cousin's face hardened again as Black addressed the Sheriff.

       "Sheriff Braeburn, spineless lawman of Appleloosa," spat the stallion, "to what do I owe this pleasure? You haven't come out to watch over me in four months." Flashing a conspiratorial smile, he leaned against his restraints towards Braeburn. "Worried I might be planning something?"

       "Black Bull. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm here to look over my cousin." Applejack found herself thrust uneasily into the conversation, but luckily Fluttershy seemed too tired to have taken notice. "I've learned not to waste my time with you anymore. Not even you can take four ponies in an even fight." Gesturing to the ponies with ropes around Black Bull, Braeburn's steel gaze never left Black's eyes.

       The stallion made a show of struggling against the ropes the deputies held, but the four ponies held strong against him, proving Braeburn's point sufficiently. Despite this, there was a semblance of a smile still hanging loosely on his face. "I guess not." Applejack caught sight of the other helmsponies, one taking time to watch the scene unfold with guttural chuckle. Black strained against the ropes, stomping a hoof into the dirt, his eyes dead on center with Braeburn. "But they're not gonna be ready one day, Sheriff. Then I'm coming for you, and your family, for makin' a fool outta me!" Snarling, Black Bull heaved one last time, but one of the strong stallions held him still, subduing the hulking beast.

       "That's a darn shame, I was hopin' the community service was doin' you some good, Black." Shaking his head sadly, Braeburn took his hat off, placing it over his vest. Holding it tight against him, Braeburn addressed his posse. "Alright deputies, take him away. I'll put in a word with the parole board not to have him released next time his name comes up." Braeburn stood firm as Black swore, reluctantly pulling at the ropes as the four ponies led him away. Applejack took a short look toward Fluttershy, who thankfully had her head down, her face hidden in her mane as she considered sleeping where she stood, unaware of the abusive stallion whom had threatened them.

Applejack looked back toward her kin. Placing his hat back on his head, Braeburn shook his head woefully. "Sorry about that, 'Jackie. We've had to keep an eye on old Black for awhile now after your brother got to him. He gets let out to do community service from time to time, mostly to pull the train." Black was finally led out of sight when Braeburn let his steel facade fall, the pony's grim features softening into the cousin Applejack recognized. "Shoot! I was really hopin' he'd had learned his lesson, but the time in jail only seems ta' have made 'em worse."

       Applejack nodded, her eyes following the impressive figure. "So that there is the stallion my brother put in his place?" A smirk flashed on her face as her chest swelled. "I reckon he ain't so tough. A good pony with a lick of sense and a length of rope can rangle a rampaging buffalo, Ah doubt he was different."

       Braeburn shallowly chuckled, but made no further effort to steer the conversation toward Black. "Well, it's real good seeing you again. Last time you were this far out, well, I'm glad things have settled with the buffalo, even if Silver Star ain't around here anymore because of it." Eyes scanning the whole of Appleloosa, the stallion stood with his chest out, his gaze checking every nook and cranny of the settler town. "Hope this visit is purely pleasure, this time."

       "Ah hope so too, Brae," Applejack said, her eyes trailing back to the rhythmically breathing pegasus at her side. "Ah wouldn't want anything bad to happen when Fluttershy's around." Upon hearing her name, Fluttershy lifted her head, her eyes drooping as she looked around the landscape like a dream.

       "Oh my, it certainly is pretty here at night," Fluttershy murmured, before looking at Braeburn. "Applejack, when did you become a colt? Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. Oh, think of what new things we can do–"

       Furiously red, Applejack coughed loudly as she threw a hoof over Fluttershy and put her other free hoof over her fillyfriend's mouth. "Well, ah, Ah certainly do think we all should be gettin' on ta bed. Ah know this little missy is more than a mite tired and she starts talkin' nonsense when she is!" Applejack covered as a confused yet completely interested Braeburn listened on.

       "Well I guess... we could be gettin' on to bed." Braeburn nodded slowly as he hesitantly motioned for the mares to follow him to the hotel in which they were staying. As they started moving, Fluttershy started to become more lucid, her wings stretching as they moved. "I tell you, Jackie, Appleloosa's a different town these days. Our trade with the buffalo migration is something else, and we're able to trade with other settler towns all across the desert thanks to them."

       Applejack let Braeburn's praise for Appleloosa wash over her ears as she tended to Fluttershy, who despite carrying on like a trooper, still showed signs of fatigue. Brushing Fluttershy's mane to one side, Applejack dipped under the brim of her own hat to look her in the eye. "Y'all alright, sugarcube? You gonna make it to the hotel?"

       Fluttershy smiled at Applejack's gesture, lightly kissing her nose. "Of course, it's not too far now. I'm sorry I'm so tired, I guess the train really took it out of me..."

       Attempting to banish the redness from her cheeks, Applejack nuzzled Fluttershy before looking up as Braeburn stopped talking. The stallion was staring at the two silently, a cold chill running down Applejack's spine as his silence hung in the air. Pressure pushed at the bottom of her throat as Braeburn didn't draw his attention elsewhere, the feeling clawing and pushing at some unknown anger. Shaking his head shortly, Braeburn shook the frozen expression from his face into a smile. "That'll take some gettin' used to. Come on, fillies, we're here."

       The hotel's exterior was nothing special. Beige sandstone walls glowing with pale moonlight, accented with wooden supports all around the outside. A rustic picture of a pony sleeping in a bed made of hay adorned the center above the doorway in true Appleloosan style. Slowly sauntering into the building, Applejack was greeted with a much more modern style, the inside much more like a Ponyville building than a wooden expanse of boards and brown. "Well that's a surprise."

       "Aw, we know Appleloosa's a tourist location by now, but it ain't right for ponies from out of town to sleep in just hay and wooden boards like some ponies expect us to be sleeping on. We got little comforts of home here now since the last time you and the girls were in." Braeburn's hoof swept across the room, falling upon his hat, tilting it towards the girls as he made his way toward the door. "Well, I know you girls are sleepy, so I'm gonna leave you be for the night. Appleloosa's got a lot to offer, and I could sure use your help out on the orchard. Nothing like back home on Sweet Apple Acres, just some advice here and there."

       "You can count on my help, Braeburn," Applejack said. Fluttershy nodded numbly before dragging herself to her room, Applejack making as if to follow. However, as Fluttershy disappeared, the orange pony doubled back, her intent to track down Braeburn. Exiting the building, the other Apple Clan was standing just outside, the stallion taking Applejack's appearance in stride. "Braeburn..."

       "I know what I did, AJ. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable with your friend there." Applejack settled back, her eyes meeting the ground. So Braeburn was aware of how she felt. He had no right to judge her for who she loved, and here he was, admitting it to the world–

"If it makes a difference, it wasn't because she's a filly, AJ."

       Applejack's head snapped up, her eyebrow furrowing. "What makes you think Ah'll believe that? Ah saw you hesitate when she kissed me..."

       "Now that I didn't do, Jackie," he said, shaking his head ruefully. Clearing his through, he gave his cousin a sidelong glance, a smirk dancing on his lips. "I was surprised at what you did." Braeburn laughed, catching Applejack off her guard. "Back when we were young'uns, I heard the older ponies always say you'd never slow down for a stallion. Married to your work, they'd say, that filly ain't gonna, well," Braeburn paused, attempting to remove the smile on his face as he looked over to his cousin. "I'm right surprised at your tenderness with that mare."

       Applejack didn't even attempt to hide the rushing red in her cheeks. The pressure in her throat depleted, and the rage that had built only accomplished in making her feel small. Pawing at the ground, Applejack hung her head. "Well, Ah... Ah..."

       "It suits you, Jackie." Picking himself up, Braeburn knocked his hoof against the floorboards a couple times as he let himself think. Ponies stumbled out of the Salt Block a hundred yards away, catching his attention. "Although I guess they were right, not a single stallion slowed you down."

       Applejack's head picked up slightly with an apologetic smirk. "Sometimes it takes a mare to do the job right," Applejack chuckled. Braeburn shot her an expectant look, but it collapsed into a deep throated chuckle that betrayed his high voice. "An' not in that way, neither!" Trotting up to Braeburn, Applejack knocked her cousin on the shoulder. "Ah know you stallions have a one track mind."

       Braeburn ignored her jab, shaking his mane about. "I don't know, cuz. What was that she said when she thought you were a colt, again?"

       "None of your business, that's what," Applejack sneered, but her smile took away any force she had behind her words as she fell into a couple of uncharacteristic giggles. "Alright, but we haven't done anything like that yet. Us Apples know how to wait, y'hear?" Applejack threw her hoof around his neck in a hug as she pointed toward the ponies around the Salt Block. "Ah'm hoping you keep that in mind around all the fillies with their tails in the air, Burnie."

       The redness on Braeburn's face reached a level where Applejack wasn't sure if she was suddenly talking to Big MacIntosh.

       -----

       Morning came as uneventful as most days in Ponyville, much to Applejack's pleasure. Sheets of sunlight peered through the wooden blinds across her window, painting the finished wooden floorboards in gleaming yellows. Through emerald green eyes, Applejack didn't even mind the dust that shimmered in the air, reminding her of home. Yawning, the farmpony stretched and raised herself on her hindhooves. Forehooves out, Applejack sloped her back until she felt a satisfying crack as her spine adjusted itself.

The light snapping sound was enough to jostle the pegasus from her slumber. Rolling about in a green blanket, Fluttershy yawned in a much more expressive manner than Applejack, her hooves reaching into the sky as one brushed against the baby blue walls. Applejack smiled down at Fluttershy, moved to help the pegasus free herself from the entanglement of rogue blankets. Yet somehow in the middle of it all the two mares found themselves locked together in each other's hooves, stealing morning kisses in a scene of romantic bliss. Fluttershy's butterfly kisses trickled down Applejack's forehead to the end of her nose.

       Sadly, a knock on the door penetrated their bubble, forcing Applejack to groan aloud as a stray hoof searched for her hat.  Fluttershy giggled, giving Applejack pause as she looked down at her little yellow pegasus with a warm smile. Punishing their moment, a second rap at the door forced the ponies' attention. Applejack sighed and donned her hat, her hooves searching for traction on the bed. "Hold yer apples, Ah'm comin'..." she grunted, having been perfectly content with staying in bed all day for once. "Ah thought this was supposed ta be a pleasurable vacation."

       Fluttershy found it easier to remove herself from the bed once she found her wings, gliding to the floor behind Applejack with a happy leap. "I'm sure it's fine. I mean, Braeburn is family, he's probably really excited to see you!"

       Applejack's ear twitched, giving her pause at the door. Labored breath could be heard on the other side, as if a pony had just run a marathon. "Hun, we saw him last night."

       Fluttershy gave a blank look back at Applejack for a moment, her mouth scrunched as she tried to recall seeing Braeburn at all. "Oh. Um, did we?" However, Applejack's expression softened as she shrugged her shoulders.

       "You were mighty tired coming in, Fluttershy–" Interrupted a third time by the knock on the door, Applejack's eyes flashed dangerously at the door. "Now I said hold on to yer saddle–" Opening the door, Applejack was greeted by a tired and dirty mare that looked suspiciously like one of the farm workers back at Sweet Apple Acres, yet female. "Caramel?" she asked, despite herself.

       "...is my brother," the caramel colored mare replied breathlessly. Applejack's eyes went wide as she nodded slowly. She knew of Butterscotch, Caramel's twin sister, who shared his coloration and even his cutie mark. "The Sheriff said to come here and get you, said it was urgent."

       "The sheriff? You mean Braeburn?" Fluttershy asked. Eyes darting between Applejack and the new mare who showed up, her previous mood had suddenly been replaced with apprehension. Shifting about on her hooves, Fluttershy tilted her head. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

       Taking in a few heavy gasps for breath, Butterscotch nodded before she answered. "You could say that, yeah. He said to come here and get you two pronto. Post pronto. He said he wanted you at the jail three hours ago."

       "Oh my, that's a long time," Fluttershy decreed.

       Applejack chuckled despite the apparent levity of the situation. "Ah think my cousin was using a figure of speech." Without much more dawdling, the three mares were on their way, Butterscotch trying to force a gallop on the girls, a request that Applejack reluctantly abided by. "If Braeburn really needed us this quickly, than he would have come for us himself."

       "I think the Sheriff is busy enough without having to leave the station," Butterscotch shook her head as she informed them. "I'm just a deputy, though. Volunteer. I can make these kinds of runs."

       Applejack gave her an up and down a moment, but kept her opinion to herself as Butterscotch doggedly ran beside her, trying to keep pace. Surprisingly, Fluttershy was doing well enough on her own, wings outstretched. For Applejack, the speed in which Fluttershy galloped with gave her a not-so-pleasant reminder of the time she pulled a cart of three ponies with Dash and managed to keep up with four stallions pulling her. That pony could be full of surprises sometimes.

       As they ran, Applejack came to the sudden realization that she likely would have had a better chance on her own hooves than trusting the four ponies to work well enough together to evade Rainbow Dash. She was so lost in thought that she almost bypassed the Sheriff's Office completely. Applejack skidded to a halt outside the building, with Fluttershy behind her at a much more graceful trot. "Hotter 'n a Djinn's breath out here," Applejack commented dryly, wiping her brow as Butterscotch came to a halt seconds behind them.

       "You two..." she gasped, trying to find her breath, "go on ahead. I'll... catch up." Taking her place next to the door, deputy Butterscotch leaned on her forehooves and slid onto her belly. Applejack tittered her tongue with a smile as she passed Butterscotch, Fluttershy in tow as the two mares entered Braeburn's office.

       "Hey Braeburn, what's all the hullabaloo about?" Applejack called out, her head on a swivel. The settler pony in question popped up from under his desk, a wanted poster in his mouth and a pair of deputy stars in his hooves as he placed them down on the table.

       With a great sigh, Braeburn fell back on his haunches with a small smile on his face. "Hoo boy, am I ever thankful you girls are safe."

       "Safe?" Fluttershy echoed behind Applejack, giving the farm pony pause as she matched gazes with Braeburn.

       "Now whaddya mean 'safe'? We got here yesterday with not a problem in sight. How exactly are we not safe bein' here now?"

        Braeburn's eyebrows shot up, his green eyed gaze meeting Applejack's as he pried himself off the floor. "I'm having a heckuva day, cousin. We got reports earlier this week that some of the excavatin' tools down south have turned up missin', included a which was some TNT. Ain't much gone, but still, I've had most of my deputies workin' on the case, and now this happens."

       Applejack didn't much appreciate beating around the bush, especially from her cousin. "Braeburn, what exactly do you mean? Somepony got it in their head that they're gonna blow up Appleloosa?"

       Sighing, Braeburn shook his head, placing his rawhide hat on his desk over some of his papers. "I gone and thought Butterscotch went and told you, but... well shoot, I guess that doesn't matter now." Kicking a hoof along the floor, Braeburn approached one of the nearby holding cells. Staring at the empty occupancy, the ponies drank in the silence. "This mornin' Black pulled a move some of my deputies weren't prepared for. Black's a big stallion, and when they were harnessin' him up to the train he broke free. Bucked two of the big fellas he works with right in the head, and the other puller betrayed our trust and helped him. 'Twixt the two of 'em they knocked our force unconscious. Most of 'em are in the hospital tending to their wounds, but Black Bull and his buddy Silverback are at large. Nopony saw where they ran off to, neither. It's just mess on top of mess right now."

       Fluttershy took a step back as she heard two dangerous ponies were loose in Appleloosa, but that didn't stop her from finding the courage to ask a question that was bothering her. "Um, Braeburn, I just..." Clearing her throat, Fluttershy willed herself forward. "I know dangerous ponies are a bad thing, and I really do appreciate us letting us know, but, um–"

       "Why exactly is this any of our business?" Applejack finished. Fluttershy was taken aback, but Applejack raised a hoof. "Ah'm all for helpin' catchin' a couple a' ne'er-do-wells, but that don't answer why you brought us down here in such a rush."

       Braeburn sighed, turning toward Applejack. Despite facing her, though, his eyes averted hers as he spoke, "We got reason 'ta believe that Black made his move 'cause you're in town. He saw you and me last night at the station. Figures since we're relatives, he can make me suffer if he hurts you."

       "Oh, my." Fluttershy's mouth was scrunched up, her eyes darting about. "Maybe it would be best for us to leave Appleloosa then? I don't want to cause trouble and..." Unfortunately, Braeburn was already shaking his head.

       "That's what we considered doing first, but Black and Silver are half the train-pullin' team, and they sent the other half away in stitches. An' not metaphoric sense, neither." The Sheriff of Appleloosa took a second glance toward the wanted poster he had appeared with, side by side with an older one that had been made up on Black Bull. "We already put word out to Dodge Junction to see if there are any strong stallions willin' to do the work, but we won't hear back from them for a couple days. Earliest."

       Applejack sighed through her nose. "So what you're sayin' is that Fluttershy an' I are stuck here with a wanted criminal and his pally who want revenge on you for putting him in jail." Tipping her hat back, the mare took the opportunity to sit down, her face a mask of contemplation. "Well what about Big MacIntosh? You reckon he knows anything about me and him bein' siblings?" All Braeburn could do is give her an apologetic smile, a shrug, and a shake of the head. "Well, at least he ain't hoppin' mad. Ah'm rather a double helping of revenge for him, ain't I?" Drawing out a dry chuckle, Applejack shook her head. "Ah don't suppose Ah could get a glass of water? All this imminent danger stuff is making me a bit parched."

       -----

       Fluttershy lazily flapped her wings on a bench in the corner of the Police Station, trying to kill time. There weren't many animals this far out in Appleloosa, a fact that Applejack had claimed would be a bonus for a vacation. A couple days out on the frontier, nothing but each other and the beautiful desert landscapes. Now a pony had broken out of custody and was a physical threat to her marefriend, and all she could do was lie here in the station.

       At least they were safe.

       A soft thud on the floorboards alerted Fluttershy to Applejack's approach, the farmpony carrying a glass of water. "Drink up sugarcube, the desert's a hot place, inside and out." Fluttershy had to admit, the stagnant, dry air of Appleloosa was only offset by the promise that it was, at the very least, a dry heat. The frontier town was blessed to have rain every couple weeks from a combination of luck and paid weather patrol out of Cloudsdale to keep the crops watered during the growing season. But right now some of the clouds had been moving in on their own, and there was the slightest touch of humidity getting trapped in their coats.

       "Thanks." Taking the glass in her hooves, Fluttershy took a small sip, her eyes trained on the cup. There was a silence between the mares, permeated only by the occasional pony asking about Black Bull. Applejack twitched and fidgeted, her tail swishing about. Finally, Fluttershy took her eyes off the cup. "Um, are you alright?"

       "No," Applejack said flatly. Fluttershy's ears retreated back, quieting the pegasus as she returned to her cup. "Not twelve hours and Ah've already ruined our vacation, and we're stuck in some police quarters 'cause my brother put a hard headed brute in his place." Applejack heaved a sigh, her eyes searching the floor for answers. "No good deed goes unpunished."

       "Don't say that," Fluttershy murmured, picking herself up. Leaping down from the bench, her hooves thumped on the floor, alerting Applejack as she drew close. Nuzzling under her, Fluttershy smiled. "We're still together, so it's still a vacation for me." Applejack opened her mouth to argue, but no sound came out. There wasn't any point in it. Right or wrong, she found herself quickly not caring either way, putting a hoof around Fluttershy.

The farmer rested her head over the veterinarian's, closing her eyes as she felt the softness of Fluttershy's hair. She had a wonderful smell of nature about her, contrasting of Applejack's musky smell of hard work that never left her. One of Fluttershy's wings curled around Applejack, bringing the two closer in a more solid embrace. Applejack felt her hoof slowly stroke itself through Fluttershy's mane, her tail starting to fall silent against the floor. Ponies came in and out of the Sheriff's office to report on Black Bull and Silverback, each one taking the time to see the two ponies holding each other in silence.

       -----

"Consarn it!" Braeburn exhasperated, his hooves falling over his desk. Glaring at the telegraph, Braeburn considered bucking the object into next week, but the fact it was their only means of communication out of Appleloosa was enough to make him reconsider.

Lifting her head up, Fluttershy turned to look at Braeburn, who met her gaze with an apologetic smile. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "I hope nopony's hurt!"

"Ah, 'taint nothing but a little cabin fever is all. With no ponies to pull the train, we can't get the next shipment of wood to finish repairing the town's water supply. The old water tower's been creaking fer months, but we only just put in the new order for wood to replace the weak leg." Slipping off his chair and getting on four hooves, Braeburn walked around the table. "Ah had Black on community service 'round there, cleaning up the wood that had been leaking, but he made such a ruckus– I had to move him. Project's been real slow since."

"That's awful. Is everypony going to be alright? How's the water supply?" Fluttershy asked.

"It ain't too bad– we had a lot more rain this year than most. We even have emergency reserves keeping cool in the basement of the Salt Block, just in case."

Applejack sniffed the dry air of the desert town, mildly amused that the town had seen more weather than she had down at the farm some years. "Makes for a good apple harvest this year."

"Should be. My pa and his crew are out working the fields right now, I reckon," Braeburn chuckled, giving his cutie mark a longing glance. "If it'weren't for this Black Bull mess, why I'm sure I'd be out there, helping out. Could have used your help, I know Ponyville ain't quite in season right now."

"Well, if somepony would let me outta this here establishment, Braeburn..."

Braeburn sighed, his tone dropping. "You know I can't let you wander out there, Jackie!" Walking around his desk, the sheriff confronted his cousin head-to-head. "Black Bull is not to be taken lightly– 'Specially when he's out there with Silverback."

Applejack snorted. "You know Ah can take care of myself!" Fluttershy looked away, her wings pulling closer to her body. She was certain Applejack would be fine if some big, mean pony tried to get to her, but...

"Against two powerhouses?" Braeburn took the words right out of Fluttershy's head. "I know you're strong, Jackie, but I can't risk you getting hurt if'n you get jumped by those two."

"And Ah'm saying Ah'll be fine!" A snort. Braeburn knew when his cousin was in a snorting mood, there was little that could ever budge her. He'd have to play dirty.

"Maybe you might, but what about her?" Braeburn said, his voice calming as he pointed to Fluttershy. The pegasus meeped in surprise, but she'd be lying if she hadn't been considering the present danger to herself, as well. Braeburn strategically avoided the icy stare Applejack was giving him as he pressed forward to the door. "What if she can't handle one of 'em? What if they try to use her to get to you, Jackie? I can't let anything happen– to either of you." Rubbing the silver star on his chest, Braeburn gave Applejack what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I'm your big cousin, and I'll do what I can to keep you safe."

She didn't appreciate bringing Fluttershy into the argument, but even Applejack knew there was honesty in his words. "Fine. Just... fine." Applejack spat, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Fluttershy moved to comfort her, but Applejack waved her off. "I'm just gonna go do something useful. Indoors." Braeburn could only sigh as he watched his cousin go.

Watching Applejack head over to the cells, Fluttershy could feel her emotions conflicting. She wanted to be safe, for sure, but she knew that it was in Applejack's very nature to be outside, to be enjoying the open air and the sun on her back. Fluttershy's eyes searched the floor for inspiration.

       "Could we maybe stay at the hotel?" she asked, catching Braeburn's attention. "I, um, I know you're trying so very hard to keep Applejack safe, but I don't think she can stand to be in here much longer." Fluttershy looked over to one of the cells, where Applejack had taken to inspecting each one for signs of weakness. This quickly manifested in bucking the iron bars every few seconds to test their structural integrity. Turning her head back to Braeburn, Fluttershy gave him a big-eyed, hopeful pout, something Rarity taught her some time ago. "Um, Please?"

       Considering the offer, Braeburn's thought process was interrupted by three loud clangs and a loud crashing noise from inside the facility followed by an, "Found a weak one! Hoowee, imagine if some ruffian got his hooves on that one!" Trotting out from the cells, Applejack appeared with a cracked iron pole and a giant smile on her face. With a loud rap against the ground, Applejack beamed at the others. "No need to be thankin' me now, Ah'm just trying to help as best I can. Y'know, indoors. Where it's safe."

       Braeburn sighed loudly as he put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Ah think you can take Cousin Applejack to the hotel and I'll send a deputy over to watch the hotel." Letting his hoof slip, he trotted around his desk and over to Applejack. "Well cuz, it's about mid-day, so I think it's safe for you 'n Fluttershy here to head back to the hotel for the rest of the daylight. I'll be over at night to make sure you're alright. We'll discuss more then." His eyes trailed over the broken iron bar, wincing as he stared at the bent metal where Applejack had bucked it. "Maybe I can keep my station here in one piece, then. I'll send Butterscotch ahead to make sure everything's okay at the hotel. You get ready to go."

       Applejack met his gaze, her hoof sliding off the iron bar on the ground as a bashful smile grew on her face. "Thanks Burnie." Braeburn signaled Butterscotch, the mare nodding and taking off running in a cloud of dust.

       Heading out of the building, Applejack sighed deeply out of her nose, stretching her legs out at every few steps. Fluttershy couldn't help herself to a silly little smile, nudging Applejack as the two made their way back to the hotel. "You really didn't need to do that to get out of there. I know it's, um, dangerous and Braeburn is just looking out for you, but I think he would have listened to reason."

       Applejack laughed, tossing her hair to the side opposite Fluttershy. "Ah don't think you know how Burnie works. That stallion doesn't listen to a thing unless you knock it into his head a few times." Applejack's face turned thoughtful as she reflected back on the iron bar. "Sometimes it boils down to bucking down a house at the supports to get that stallion to pay you two bits of attention."

       Fluttershy seemed to take this in stride, the two trotting mares catching sight of the hotel. "I do hope we leave Appleloosa soon. It's a wonderful little town, but I'm really worried about you, Applejack."

       "Well, that makes one of us." Opening the door, Applejack shook her head. "Ah truly ain't worried about Black Bull and Silverback. If they come lookin' for me, Ah'll be ready and waitin'." Sighing wistfully, the farmer leaned against Fluttershy as they headed toward their room. "Ah just wanna get some proper rest from all that not-worrying and not-vacationing." Fluttershy smiled at the strength Applejack had in herself, leaning closer to Applejack as they opened the door to their room. Applejack put a hoof to her mouth as she called for the deputy Braeburn had sent before them. "Everything spic and span, Butterscotch? Ah–"

       The first thing Applejack saw was the deputy hogtied and out cold on the floor. The second was the pair of hooves headed directly for her head. The last was the coming darkness that fogged her vision as her Fluttershy screamed, and a rugged black stallion smirking over her.
For the uninitiated, this story follows the Appleshy short: Fourth Month and is a spiritual successor to Big Mac's Strange Day.

Applejack and Fluttershy are enjoying their time together as a couple, and the two have taken time to go visit Applejack's cousin Braeburn in Appleoosa and take in the sights of the frontier town. However, seeds of the past have been sown, and it looks like Applejack and Fluttershy are soon going to find out what happens when family messes with the wrong kinds of pony.

EDIT: More story information? More story information.
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Comments4
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zora-artist's avatar
woohooo another part of your Appleshy serie! :iconfluttershyyayplz:
this one is great!!
totally loved it Hidden Brony =)