Leather Steel and Apples

I sat on an anvil in Appleloosa commons. The massive open space behind the bar was filled with tools and a few shower stalls leading out of the back of our pump station. "Yeah, I don't know." I scratched my head with my tongs, watching as Breaburn paced back and forth. "How things workin' with you and Carol?"

Braeburn stopped his pacing, jerking forward slightly and causing his hat to fall forward on his head. He laughed a few times and fixed his hat. "Carolin, you call her Carol she gets a little mad."

I shook my head and fixed my glasses. "Pissed as hell does it better justice." I pushed my glasses back up my nose. "You didn't answer my question though."

Braeburn rolled his eyes. "Ya know, I don't really know what ta' tell ya. Works for me and her, don't really work for everypony. An I met Rarity, she ain't exactly the type I took to like folk like us."

I rubbed my chin, my glove rough against my skin. "Letters seem pretty eager, just don't exactly know if I'm all that good with ponies, or like that I guess." I tapped my tongs against the side of my anvil. "Ya get what I'm sayin'?"

Braeburn stuck his hoof out. "Partner, take pony out of the equation."

I leveled a rather cynical look at him. "You act like that's easy."

Braeburn shrugged and scratched at the dust that littered the commons. "Well it's not hard." He smiled at me. "Besides, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I'll either be fine, or I'll be pretty well fucked." I shrugged. "Stark I suppose, but I'm a realist."

Braeburn gritted his teeth and raised his hoof. "Make ya feel better if I got you a place to stay while you're over there?"

I nodded. "Hmm, it'd help." I looked over at a human girl heading into the showers. I pressed my tongue against the back of my canine tooth. "Hey, Braeburn...you ever hear of Journey?"

Braeburn cocked his head. "Journey?"

I laughed as the girl took her hat off and a shirt flung over the half door of the stall. "Any way ya want it?" I pointed over to the girl. "That's the way you need it?" I laughed hard and rubbed my eyes. "Oh Jesus, sorry."

Braeburn shook his head. "I don't get it partner."

I took a deep breath and coughed. "It's a song back on earth. Don't know why, I always associate pretty girls with Journey." I pulled my hand across my face, my mustache loudly scratching my glove. "Memories I suppose." I looked towards the train tracks out of town. "So you think you can get me a place to stay?"

Braeburn nodded. "And I can get ya work there." He smiled up at me. "Appleloosa ain't the safest either, so getting some rest away from the heat 'll be good for ya."

I nudged my head to the side. "Probably a bit cooler up north a little ways." I rubbed my tanned arms. "Be nice to be white again, not this burnt ass color." I looked around the lot, blacks turned pitch, Mexicans turned Aztec, whites turned Spanish. Even the ponies seemed to have been burned slightly, or cooked. "Fine, ain't like I gotta pack." I set the tongs down and stood up. "Who I gonna be stayin' with?"

Braeburn smiled up at me. "I got an idea, but that don't mean it'll be her. Got lots of family back there, got family all across Equestria, you want a stay in a town you picked the right ponies to tango with."

I snorted out a laugh. "Seems like ya'll are real friendly to humans--"

"Hey!" Braeburn poke his hoof at me. "Carolin is beautiful."

I laughed. "Sure, nothing to do with the fact she saved your ass, or that she could kick your ass." I rubbed my neck and looked over to the tracks, a train hurrying over towards the station. "All you Apples so friendly or--"

Braeburn shook his head, sending his hat off and into the dust. "Dave, I don't know. But you're gonna be better off than the griffons." He shook his head. "Kinda...jer--"

"Assholes...." I shook my head. "Don't split hairs. They're fine, but damned if they aren't some stubborn assholes." I looked across the commons, a griffon was sitting on a roof watching me. "I know you stole my gloves, Vickle! I saw you wearing them!"

The griffon flipped me off and swiped his tail in my direction. Braeburn squinted at the bird. "You still--"

"Yes. Again, stubborn as hell." I put my hands in my pockets. "Don't mean I don't work with the dumb ass! Just means I don't like him too much."

"Fuck you Dave!"

I rolled my eyes. "You first Vickle! I'm waiting for you to bend over!"

The commons bustled with a loose laughter. Even ponies here were a bit more bullheaded and it was nicer than accidentally offending anyone just by saying shit. Braeburn waved his hoof before me. "Train's here. You gonna get going?"

I licked my lips. "I guess so. Just make sure Vickle gets something up his ass. He's been asking for it since he watched me shower!" I kept yelling at the tuned out griffon. "So, who do I--"

Braeburn looked towards the train. "Sweet Apple Acres, or you could find somepony in the farms, but I'll tell AJ personally that you're gonna show up."

I nodded. "Alright then, and they have a forge?"

Braeburn nodded again. "Dave, you're gonna wreck yourself if ya don't relax."

I sighed loudly. "This is relaxed, you'll know I'm not relaxed when the gun comes out." I looked off towards the vast open space outside Appleloosa. "The constant threat of being shot tends to make you a bit high strung, friend." I patted my side, my gun tucked against my hip. "Get some law out here while I'm gone, alright?" I pulled my pistol out and emptied it. "Bandits get to ya, Carolin's gonna kill you worse."

Braeburn shrugged. "She'll kill every bandit, rescue me, just to kill me herself." He laughed and fixed his hat. "Go on, get."

I started off out of the commons, heading through an alley and out onto the main street. Appleloosa was by far the most diverse place I'd seen in Equestria, probably something to do with how new it was. I walked out and over to the town hall, a short walk across the street from the bar. How well they were connected did worry me just a bit, but this was the closest we could get to the old west without time travel.

I stepped inside and the usual mare behind the counter waved me over and lifted the divider. The place was a relic, a small open floor with a set of teller style counters behind bars sitting opposite the main doors. "Appleloosa town hall--"

I cut her off and put my pistol down. "Checking a weapon, and departing."

The mare nodded and pulled my weapon over the counter. She slid a piece of paper and a pencil over. "Sign and we'll have you on book."

I signed what I needed to, wrote down other info to help as well. "Shame about the bandits, ain't it?" I slid the paper across the counter, watching the mare take it into a file.

The mare sighed. "It really is. Makes my job a lot harder." She shook her head. "No offense, but your kind probably shouldn't have made crime so easy, checked your weapons at the door, as it were."

I frowned hard. "Guns are a problem solver, and no different than a pissed off pair of unicorns shooting magic at each other until one is fried dead." I turned to the door and nodded at the office mare. "Maybe you shouldn't make generalizations, ma'am."

I made my way out into the rough desert sun. I had a train to catch, and in all hopes, a mare waiting for me when I got there. I hurried down the street towards the station, another quick walk, another duty path.

I was so sick of dust.

I hurried from the wood planked walkway up to the concrete station sitting out at the end of the road and stepped up. There was no ticket on this line, and I wouldn't have any problem finding a seat. And the sooner I got out of Appleloosa, the better. The train was waiting, the path was clear, and I was on my way to Ponyville.