Tragedy

Twilight stood outside a ramshackle building that was just a few miles outside of Ponyville. This was the location on the map but Twilight was a bit hesitant. She looked up at the swinging sign. A purple sea serpent with half a moustache was poorly painted on it while a foul smell was emitting from inside the building. And noise. A lot of noise.

Twilight looked at the map again. "Why would they choose a place like this? But, it is where they agreed to meet..." Twilight nervously opened the door and was greeted by a sight she had never seen. Ponies were drinking and singing on tables and talking. But not in any way Twilight was used to. The singing wasn't cheerful like Pinkie Pie's songs and they were horribly out of tune. The drinks were foul-smelling and dark brown and the conversations were turning the air blue. Words Twilight hadn't heard before were being slung around and she was sure she never wanted to hear them again.

She stood aghast for a few moments before slowly turning back to the door to escape, but a few more ponies bundled in behind her, knocking her further inside. "Um... hello I'm..." "Oh, excuse me, I wonder if..." "Could anyone..." Twilight was cut off as she tried to attract the attention of anypony but found she was easily ignored. She noticed a colt behind the bar and, although his outfit was odd, she could tell his job. She walked up to the bartender and after several failed attempts, finally got his attention. She could hardly hear herself over the horrible singing and loud mouthing. "Excuse me, sir, I was told to meet my friends here, I was wondering if a reservation was made under the name Applejack," she half-shouted.

The barkeep looked at her for a few seconds then moved his face right next to hers. "Are you pulling my mane?" he snarled.

Twilight was quite shocked. "Uh? I'm not quite sure what you mea-"

"Buy a drink or get out. Reservations? Does this look like a restaurant to you? If you're here to ask dumb questions instead of drinking, I'll have you thrown out on your flank, you got that?" He snarled again, getting more annoyed as each minute passed. Twilight began to shake in fear as the barkeep eyeballed her. "Right. That's it, you..."

A hoof slammed down in front of him cutting him off. "Ah reckon you should learn to improve yer customer service if you ever want to keep this here 'fabulous serpent' afloat, or do Ah need to have another private discussion with you again, Marco?" a figure next to Twilight barked out in a gritty voice.

The barkeep backed away stammering, "Uh, n-no that's quite alright, Angerjack. H-here let me grab you a drink, on the house, and um, one for you too ma'am." He hurriedly prepared the drinks as Twilight turned to the figure next to her but could not believe her eyes. She tried to speak but nothing came out. The familiar figure turned to her and smiled, but it wasn't a particularly friendly smile.

"Well Ah guess you got the message then, Twi."

Twilight stuttered, "A-Applejack... is it really you?" It looked like Applejack and sounded like her, but this Applejack was huge. Her legs were pure muscle and her hair was a mess under her hat that was worn down over the years while her face was covered in small scars all over.

"You ain't looking so hot either, sugarcube," Applejack said with a chuckle, grabbing the drinks and beckoning a still awestruck Twilight over to a table in the corner. The ponies at that table scattered before the two got over there.

"Sit down," Applejack said in an authoritative tone and Twilight did just that. "Ah gotta say, this weren't at the top of mah list of things to be doin' this week. Meetin' ghosts from mah past, that is." Applejack took a large swig from her drink before letting out a loud belch. Twilight just sat there still in shock.

"Applejack, what... happened to you? You've changed so much..." Twilight paused as she gave a tearful glance to her old friend.

Applejack took another large swig from her drink. "Heh... well now, Ah'm more interested in whut happened to you. Ah seem to recall sumthang about, 'a couple o' months'." Applejack sighed heavily.

Twilight looked upset. "Oh, Applejack, I am so sorry, I am so sorry. I thought it would be, I truly did. B-but then everything went out of control so fast and the Princess... the Princess, she -"

Applejack cut her off mid-sentence. "Ah know whut happened to the Princess, Twi. You think us country folk are that backwards that we can't read the news, or we hide under a rock so we don't hear nothin out here?"

Twilight was taken aback by Applejack's retort. "N-NO! That's NOT what I meant at all, I... I wanted to write to you all, to explain but... oh, I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry..." Twilight broke down into quiet sobs of small tears.

Applejack paused for a few seconds before realizing what she had said. "Aw shoot. No, no, Ah'm sorry, Twilight, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I don't think before I say stuff, it's just... well I got a lot of problems bottled up in me. That letter of yours... Ah mean, Ah'm glad that y'er okay, it's just dealin' with this suddenly on top of my other stuff, Ah'm not sure whut to make of all it," she said as she slowly went to rest her head on the table with a soft thud.

Twilight put her hoof on Applejacks shoulder. "I'm sorry, Applejack, I... I just wanted to see you all again. I didn't know what to do when I learned you weren't in Ponyville any longer, so I sent scouts out and, well..."

Applejack lifted her head and smiled wearily at Twilight. "Ferget it, we're here now, I guess. And Ah meant it; Ah'm glad y'er okay." Twilight and Applejack looked at each other for a minute or so. "So, um, what happened to you, if you want to talk about it, that is..." Twilight asked.

"Sugarcube, I could fill a library. Where to begin... Well that day when you left Ah went back to Sweet Apple Acres. Ah decided that, gosh darn it, if you were gunna be workin hard to save Equestria then Ah darn well better work hard too. Ah vowed from that day on that Ah was gunna work twice as hard and get the farm back runnin' to tip-top shape. So, Ah started to train mahself with Big Mac to get stronger. As you can see, Ah built mahself up to a rather grand size. Them orchards never stood a chance. Thangs were goin' well fer a while, but then we got the news. The Princess... well, right about then nopony was really in the mood to do anythang for weeks. We were all still in mournin' for yeh both. Of course, at the time, we had no idea you were still alive. Anyway, when we finally got back to work, Luna had taken over as Princess. And that's when things started to go downhill."

"Long story short, the whole fundin' and priorities from Canterlot had started to dry up. Granny Smith went an' passed away, an' on top of the funeral costs and runnin' the farm, me and Big Mac started to get a li'l in debt. Well, you know me, stubborn as a mule without somepony like you to show me common sense; I refused offers from those tryin' to help. Round about three years in, the others went their separate ways but Ah decided to stay and save the farm.

"Problem was though, we were gettin' further an' further in debt. Canterlot didn't want to fund a lost cause, an Ah was so dang determined to save our family's farm, Ah was gettin angry an' upset. Then it happened, Big Mac went behind mah back and borrowed money from some shady dealers to get us back on track. Ah know he only did it fer me an' 'cause we was so desperate, that idiot. But, you can guess how that ended up. When tham shady ponies came fer their money, we couldn't pay em, Ah told them that straight. Mah honesty playin' against me in this instance, Ah couldn't have known who they were.

"They burned down Sweet Apple Acres and Mac an' Ah... we tried so hard to protect her. Mac tried a little too hard. They took mah brother's life that night, an' left me fer dead. By the time the guards got there, it was too late. Let's jus' say, Ah took mah anger and pain out on the nearest targets. Banished from Ponyville, Ah kinda wandered fer a spell. An' Ah done sum thangs Ah ain't proud of to survive. Got a name fer mahself around here. Put mah buckin' skills to use fer the right price, an' that attracts attention. An' well, here we are. Ah'm walkin back from mah latest beatdown and some scout stops me an hands me a letter... and here we are."

"Oh Applejack, that's so horrible! Poor Big Mac..." Twilight began to tear up but was cut off by Applejack.

"Yeah, poor Mac. Sorry but Ah cried all mah tears a long time ago. Thankfully Apple Bloom had been moved to Braeburn's town fer schoolin' so she missed all of it." Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. They both talked for a while longer and Applejack had calmed Twilight down some.

"So um... Angerjack?" she asked about what the bartender had called her when she first came him.

"HA! Yeah, cute nickname they gave me." Twilight managed a light chuckle but immediately felt guilty.

"So, do you ever see the others?" Twilight asked. Applejack's face turned a little sour.

"Well, Ah think that question is about to be answered," Applejack said as she looked at a figure standing behind Twilight. Twilight was almost afraid to turn around, but she did slowly, and what she saw wasn't exactly what she expected.

Standing in the middle of the room was a pony with rainbow-colored hair. But she looked like an earth pony. She wasn't a pegasus. "Oh, for a moment I thought that was..." Twilight started to say as she turned back to Applejack.

"Twilight Sparkle, and Applejack?" asked a gravelly voice from behind her. Twilight's body stiffened.