Apple Family Business

Later that day...

The late evening crowd at Berry's gave the blue pegasus a once-over as she headed up to the bar. Her well-cut, dark suit jacket and Homburg hat made her stand out from the working-class ponies who frequented the place.

She strode up to the bar, put her hat on the counter-top, and shook out her rainbow-colored mane. "Red Hoof. Make it a double." she said to the bartender.

"No alcohol here; we're legal." protested the plum-coated earth pony behind the bar. "What do you think this is, a joint?"

The newcomer rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. Glass of fruit punch. And none of that house shit."

She gave her drink a rueful frown when she tasted it. "Guess I'll have to wait until I get to Applejack's to do some real drinking..."

"Applejack's?" The bartender paused in the middle of cleaning a mug. Behind the pegasus, a couple of stallions got up from their table, put on their blue-painted helmets, and headed out the door.

The pegasus took another swig before answering. "Yeah, she's an old friend of mine. Speaking of which..." She guzzled the rest of her punch and set the mug down. "I should probably get moving." She set a few bits on the bar, grabbed her hat and walked out.

As she took a moment to get her bearings, a pair of guards approached her. "So you're heading up to Sweet Apple Acres, eh?"

She brushed some imaginary dust from her jacket with a wingtip. "Yeah. What's it to ya?"

"Going to work for her?" one of the guards asked calmly, looking her in the eye.

"None of your business," she answered casually.

"You look like the sort of pony who causes trouble. So we thought we'd let you know how things are around here, before you get involved in local affairs. Community outreach, and all that."

"Is that so?" The mare smirked. "Make it fast, boys. I'm thirsty."

The guard snorted. "Alright, tough gal. In this town, there's the Apple Family, and the FlimFlam Boys. There's a little arrangement between the three of us."

His partner nodded. "You crooks can go after each other all you want. We ain't gonna help ya, we ain't gonna stop ya."

"Just one rule," the first guard continued. "No innocents get hurt. Some old mare get killed in a crossfire, or some family's house gets burned down, and we will Bust Your Ass." He punctuated each of the last three words with a tap on her chest. "Got it?"

"Yeah yeah, I got it. What kinda cheap thug you think I am, anyway?" She turned away from the guards and started walking. As she took her hat off and prepared to take flight, a pegasus guard swooped down behind her to join his comrades.

"Who is that?" the incoming guard asked.

"Just some muscle Applejack called in."

"Oh yeah? Too bad she's going to be too late."

The newcomer's sharp ears picked up the guard's words. She froze just as she was about fly.

The guard continued. "I was doing a flyover at her farm. Flim and Flam's crew are about to hit the place."

Buck!

"How many ya see, Mac?" Applejack whispered into the darkness of the farmhouse.

"Four." Big Mac whispered from across the hall. Each of them was sitting in an upstairs room, peeking around their respective windows. "You?"

"Three, Ah think." She thought she could see the silhouette of two ponies peering around a hay bale, and another by the chicken coop. "Ah think Ah can get a shot on one of 'em." The one by the coop had most of his body exposed, and was holding still while watching the house.

Applejack rested Granny's matchlock on the windowsill, being careful to keep it out of the moonlight. After lighting the wick with a match clamped in her teeth, she drew a bead on the pony below. She struggled to get it aimed correctly; the few practice shots she took earlier did little to make the gun feel comfortable in her hooves. Once steady, she held her breath, and slowly moved the trigger.

Ears ringing from the report, she blinked away the afterimage of the muzzle-flash and looked at her target. She frowned, puzzled, as it stiffly fell over on its side. The ponies outside howled victoriously and charged for the house.

Realization tingled the back of Applejack's neck. "Decoy!" She quickly grabbed another pack of powder and started reloading.

Big Mac watched the ponies charge towards the house, bottles clamped in their teeth. They heaved these at the building, where they shattered. Another tossed a torch, and Mac saw an orange glow flare up under his window. Ok. This could be bad.

He charged out the room and down the stairs, yelling behind him. "They lit it, Applejack! I'm headin' out there!"

Applejack paused her loading to run to the other window. Looking out, she saw Big Mac charge out the back door, to be circled by four ponies, Hank Ketchup among them. They jeered and catcalled as they closed in on him. Applejack picked out a target and finished reloading.

As she was about to take aim, she heard hoofsteps thundering up the stairs. Damn, Ah forgot about those other two! She swung the rifle around just as a stallion in a leather vest appeared in the doorway. Quickly, she pulled the trigger, but her clumsy motion made the shot go wide, sending it through the wall. Before she could recover, the stallion and his friend tackled her to the ground.

Big Mac suddenly charged at the pony in front of him, bearing him down and clubbing him twice in the face with his hoof before the others tried to drag him off. Mac managed to shove off one stallion, then another grabbed him from behind.

Suddenly, there was a crack of thunder. Thick, black clouds rolled in, obscuring the moon and leaving the flames as the only source of light. A lightning bolt flashed across the sky, bringing another crash of thunder. Heavy rain rain poured down, lashing against the building and surrounding farm.

"What in tarnation?" Hank yelled as they held Mac down and pummeled him. "Ain't no rain scheduled for today!"

"And who is that?" one of his companions asked.

Between them and the house, the silhouette of a pegasus stood before the fire. The figure spread its wings and crouched.

"I'm the most awesome pony you'll ever see." And with that, she flung herself at the ponies holding Mac.

Applejack kicked out with her legs, sending one pony crashing into the wall. The other managed to get his forelimbs around her neck and drag her to side. She flailed and struggled as he tried to twist her head around. Spying the rifle on the floor in front of her, she clamped her hooves on it. With a feral grunt, she swung it behind her. There was a wooden crack as it crashed against the earth pony's head.

She pushed him away and stood up. The other pony had recovered and was eying her as he stood back up. Aw, buck this. She grabbed the rifle in her teeth, turned and jumped out the window.

Landing on the soggy ground, she was surprised to see somepony helping Mac fight off the rest of the gang. We're still outnumbered, though. She looked down at the rifle and cursed. The match was soaked and its holder was hopelessly bent. Maybe I can still...

She raised the rifle, aiming at their attackers. "Mac! Get clear!" She moved to keep the slowly dying fire at her back.

The ponies backpedaled from her. The two ponies inside the house rushed out the door; Applejack swung the rifle towards them and they hastily fled for the road to town.

The stranger flew up, and the rest of the gang soon found themselves being chased off the farm by bolts of lightning.

"Y'alright there, Mac?" Applejack yelled over the storm.

Her brother nodded. "I'll live." They both turned to watch the newcomer land in front of them. She shook the rain from her rainbow-colored mane, and sighed at the muddied state of her jacket.

Applejack's face lit up with delight. "Rainbow Dash." She handed the rifle to Mac and stepped closer to her. "Ya came just in time!"

"Of course I did." she replied with affected coolness.

Applejack reached out, and they hugged each other tightly. "Where's mah kiss?"

"Get away." Dash playfully pushed her off.

Applejack jerked her head towards the house. "Come on, let's go in and dry off."

Rainbow Dash paused on her way in to look at Mac, who was watching the last of the flames die out. "Hey Big Mac. How ya been?"

Mac nodded to her. "Fine. Reckon we'll have to repaint this wall."

She grinned. "Same old Mac..."

Soon, all three were warming themselves in the kitchen and drinking hot spiced cider. Mac was holding an ice pack to his bruised face.

"Been a long time, Dash." Applejack said, while looking her friend up and down.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Think the last time was right after I got out." She returned her friend's appraising gaze. "You look good."

Applejack smiled and lowered her gaze to her mug. "Dash, we owe ya big. Takin' the fall for us, like ya did..."

The other mare waved her hoof dismissively. "Ah, it was only a five year sentence. You'd have done it for me." She took a big swig of cider before continuing. "I'm just sorry we all drifted apart after I went in. I mean, a crew as awesome as ours..."

"I know. But I had Family business to take care of..." She sighed and frowned, still staring into her mug. Mac managed to seem more sullen without changing expression.

"Yeah... The, uh, thing with the Cherry Family, right?" Dash asked quietly.

"Yup..." Both Applejack and her brother raised their heads to look at the small memorial shrine to their parents that was laid out on a high shelf.

Rainbow Dash kept respectfully silent for a moment. When she felt the silence becoming awkward, she cleared her throat. "Heard somepony hit them pretty hard..."

Applejack looked back at her drink and nodded. "Damn right." she whispered. Raising her mug, she gulped down some of her beverage.

Dash leaned forward. "I bet the others will be here tomorrow. Probably taking that slow-poke train. Then we can all sit down and talk about this problem of yours."

Applejack's face brightened, and she looked back up at her friend. "I'm looking forward to it, sugarcube."

"Found her!" the guard proclaimed. He slid a manilla folder across the desk. "That's who we saw last night."

The chief of the Ponyville Guard, (whose name was simply "Chief") sipped his morning coffee before opening the folder and examining the contents. "Rainbow Dash." he read aloud. "Suspected smuggler and enforcer. Hmmm... Did five years in Wing-Wing for tax evasion. Known affiliations: Beak Syndicate, Apple Crime Family, Mob Six Crew...." He frowned thoughtfully and scratched his mustache. "Mob Six... Applejack's old outfit..."

The chief sent for the files of the other former crew members, and had the pictures copied and distributed to the guards. Less than an hour later, another guard entered his office.

"Yeah Chief, I saw this pegasus..." He tapped a picture on the chief's desk, showing a mare with a yellow coat and pink mane. "Getting off the morning train. The Station Clerk called for a guard because she had a bunch of caged, vicious dogs in her cargo. The cages were secure, and her paperwork checked out, so I let her go."

The chief stood up and grabbed his helmet. "Tell the colts to keep an eye out. I"m betting we're going to see the rest of them soon." He put his helmet over his grey mane, slipped on his chain mail, and headed for the door.

"Where you going, Chief?" asked his second-in-command, Colgate.

Chief paused in his stride. "To talk to the Mayor. I'm thinking our little arrangement with the gangs isn't going to work out. If they both start calling in help, this might get real big real fast."

That afternoon, laughter and happy chattering could be heard coming from the kitchen of the Apple Farmhouse. Lean, large rottweilers sniffed around the farm, familiarizing themselves with the new territory. Big Mac's watchful face occasionally peered from an upstairs window.

Inside, a large table had been set up in the kitchen, and around it sat six mares and one gangly dragon. All the ponies but one were happy chatting away, catching up with each other. Applejack was the exception; she merely sat back and watched her friends with a big smile on her face. She looked at them one by one, thinking back on their past exploits.

She looked at the purple unicorn to her left. Twilight "The Librarian" Sparkle. Lot of Families don't think much about their accountants and organizers. Thanks to her, Ah never made that mistake. If things were different, Ah think she'd be our leader; but then, Ah was the only one who was Family. She can take any racket and make it into a well-oiled machine. Plenty good with magic, too. She even studied at that fancy Canterlot school, until she got caught running an exam cheating ring. 'Course, we weren't gonna let talent like that go to waste, and that's how she ended up working for me in Detrot. Ah guess lately she been working as organized crime's only efficiency expert.

Next to Twilight sat a green-and-purple adolescent dragon, who had his white fedora pulled low over his eyes. He flipped a coin and said nothing, trying to look tough. Ah never met Spike; Twi says he's her assistant. She bought his egg off the black market, Ah guess. Ah know dragons are greedy and selfish; Ah hope Twilight can keep him in line.

Applejack watched the white unicorn with the purple mane daintily sip cider and laugh at some joke. Rarity. Started out as a cat burglar; she had a real nose for finding a pony's valuables. Now she hangs around rich ponies and runs cons on 'em. Her contacts really opened Canterlot up for all sorts of vices. At least until Celestia cracked down... Heard she's been semi-legit these days, as a fashion designer.

At the opposite side of the table sat a pink earth pony, with a straight mane of slightly darker color. Like the other, she talked and smiled, though a bit more reserved than the others. Pinkamena "Pinkie" Pie. When the Apples needed someone to disappear, they sent her. Clean, nasty, quick, slow, obvious, "accidental", she could do it all. Ah swear she could sneak up on a paranoid bloodhound, or break into the Princess's bedroom. Applejack rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She's nowhere near as hyper as she was; guess its because she off the happy rocks. Ah don't know what she's been doing lately; actually Ah don't know much about what she did before or after working for the Family.

Even quieter than Pinkie was the yellow pegasus next to her, who often shyly tucked her head to hide behind her pink mane. Fluttershy. She works in her own little niche, handling animals. Guard dogs, fighting dogs, messenger birds, plus taking care of any exotic (and illegal) pets the bosses might have. Has her own little ranch where she breeds dogs and who knows what else. She might act timid as a mouse, but the whole reason she ended up working for the Apples is because we helped her get rid of some evidence. The kind of evidence city ponies bury under cement.

Finally, Applejack smiled at her friend with the rainbow mane. Rainbow Dash. When ya need something to get somewhere five minutes ago, she's your mare. Fastest thing with wings Ah ever done seen. Was a real racing flyer back when. She was even expected to win the Cloudsdale Special. One of the families had a lot riding on the second best racer, and they framed Dash for steroid use. Well, just like with Twilight, we took her in. And damn if she ain't proved herself a stand up pony. She even took the fall for the rest of us when the Canterlot Bureau of Investigation was about to nail us for tax evasion. Ah sent her a pie every week for the five years she was inside.

Applejack took a deep breath, then started tapping the table for attention. The others ceased their conversations and turned towards her. She opened her mouth to speak, but faltered. A smile shone on her face as she looked at each of them again.

"Shucks... Ah shoulda done this a long time ago..."

"We were just waiting for you to send the word, darling." Rarity responded. The other nodded their agreement.

"We understand."said Twilight. "Rainbow Dash was in prison, and you had business to take care of. And by the traditions of the Apple Family..."

"Ah know mah own darn traditions." Applejack said in mock-anger. "But yeah, that's something we handle on our own. Though, Ah really wish y'all had been with me...." Applejack sighed and continued. "Then when that was done, Granny needed me here. Ah'd always meant to get us back together, but... Well, never mind all that now."

Twilight nodded. "That's right. What's important is that we're all together now." The other ponies spoke words of agreement.

Applejack smiled a moment, then put a serious look on her face. "Alright y'all, its time to talk business. Here's what's been going on...."