Chapter Zero: The Prologue
~ Chapter Zero ~
Prologue
"You're going to Appleloosa?" asked a surprised Twilight Sparkle, now looking up from the book that had previously occupied her focus. "Why are you going there Applejack?"
"Twilight, we've been over this already, this year the Apple Family Reunion is being held in Appleloosa, seein' as how they finally got that town hall completed. Everypony there is so proud and anxious to use it, there sure as hay wasn't any way to talk em' out of it." Applejack explained. She wasn't against going in the least, the only problem was finding somepony to handle Sweet Apple Acres while the Apples and the rest of her friends were in Appleloosa. "Remind me why all of you wanted to come to our Family Reunion? It's nothin' special, really."
"Well, Pinkie is determined to prove to the Appleloosans that she in fact CAN sing, Rarity said she wanted to experience the 'Rustic feel of an old Western Town.' Rainbow Dash wanted to see the Buffalo Tribe again, while Fluttershy feels she is obligated to go because the rest of us are going. As for Spike and I, we feel it would be nice to go and meet your family as well as get out of the town for a while, kind of like a vacation." Twilight explained in her usual long-winded way. It always amazed Applejack how Twilight could say so much in such a manner, but that is still nothing compared to Pinkie Pie's ability to recite a full-length novel in a matter of minutes. Regardless of this, she was grateful that her friends would be joining her on the trip to Appleloosa.
"Well, Ah' reckon that's alright with me sugar cube, but Ah' do need to find somepony to handle the Farm while we're up at The Reunion." Applejack openly wondered, hoping Twilight could offer some sort of a suggestion.
"Well, I suppose you could ask around Ponyville, I'm sure somepony would be willing to help. Maybe that stallion who lives in that blue box down near the Marketplace? What was his name again?" Twilight tried to think of some more suggestions. "Maybe Lyra and Bonbon? They are always willing to lend a hoof." she suggested.
"Ah' suppose so, Ah'll ask around the town. Thanks a ton, Twilight." She yelled to the purple mare as she walked out of the Books and Branches.
"No problem AJ, we'll meet you at the train station this afternoon!" Twilight yelled back to her departing friend. "Spike! Have you finished packing your bags yet?"
"Almost, Twilight! Just a few more things...." The small dragon called back to Twilight. "Now, do I take more blue gems or red gems?" He asked aloud as he stood upon his two bags full of gems.
"Spike, we're only leaving for a few days. You don't need to pack up all of your gems!" Twilight scolded the small purple dragon with a sway of her head. "It's a wonder you can even lift those bags!"
"Fine, I'll put one back." Spike whined as he placed one bag back into a closet. "Happy now?" He asked sarcastically.
"Very." She said with a smile.
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"Thanks you two! Ah'll be sure to leave a list of things y'all will need to know!" Applejack called back to Lyra and Bonbon, the two of which had just accepted Applejack's request to watch over the farm while she was gone. She waved them a hoof goodbye as she headed for the train station. It was nearing time for the train to leave, and it had taken longer to get Lyra and Bon Bon situated than she had intended.
"Ah' really hope those two can handle lookin' after the farm for a few days..." She thought aloud as she came up to the train station. "Now which train is headin' for-" Applejack was stopped on that thought as a brown stallion had suddenly come up to her and looked her up and down.
"'Ello miss! I'm a representative of the Railway Management and Repair Agency," The stallion spoke with an odd accent, and flashed a white card at her containing the same information on a very official-looking license, "I'm called the Doctor." The Doctor extended a hoof, expecting her to shake, but Applejack just stood there and looked at him waiting for him to continue. "Right, no hand- er... Hoof-shake. Well then, I'm terribly sorry miss but I'm afraid there will be a very slight... delay in the trains departure today. I'll have to-" The stallion stopped and looked back at the track as a rather large growl-sounding explosion had just occurred. "Right, should probably go and work on that, I'll have to refer you to uh, let's see..." The Doctor looked around quickly as of to find a specific pony, "Ah, Ditzy! Could you come over here? I need you to stall- or uh... Talk to this madam here while I go and see what I can do about those tracks." The Doctor quickly grabbed the gray mare and slid her in front of Applejack.
"D-Doctor wait, what do I-" As the brown stallion ran off towards the tracks before Ditzy could speak to him, she turned back to face Applejack. "S-so, um, you run Sweet Apple Acres with the other Apples, right?" Ditzy stared at Applejack almost pleadingly as more sounds emanated from the train tracks, this time some yelling and an odd buzzing sounds accompanied the explosion.
"Look, Ditzy was it? Are you gonna let me on mah' train or are you just gonna sit here and babble at me?" Applejack was beginning to become annoyed at these two ponies who were denying her access to the train, and more annoyed by the fact that she should have left for Appleloosa by now.
"I'm sorry, but we have to uh... Make sure none of the tracks are loose. You don't want the train to de-" Ditzy paused as another set of yells and odd noises engaged their ears, "You wouldn't want the train to derail would you?" Applejack started to ponder this. There had never been a problem like this before, so why would there be one right when she wanted to leave for Appleloosa? She thought on the subject a little longer before ultimately leaving it to just bad luck. Weird things were always happening in Ponyville, why not now?
It was then that her train of thought stopped as the Brown Stallion staggered back over from the station. "Everything is fine now, you all may continue to your trains and begin your departure, and Ditzy," He turned to the gray mare.
"Yes Doctor?" she asked, seeming a bit confused.
"I have to ask you if you would kindly bring me inside, as I think I may..." with a plop, he fell right to the ground, much like a boxer would when they lose a match by knockout.
"Oh dear, um, well miss, I guess you can get on your train now, sorry for the trouble!" Ditzy apologized to Applejack as she dragged this beaten and knocked out stallion away.
"Right, uh, no problem sugar cube, thanks for the uh, help?" Applejack replied. With this Applejack finally boarded the train and went in search of her friends and family.
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"Wow Applejack, all that happened and we didn't even hear it? Odd..." Said a very interested Twilight, who was sitting in a section of the train with the rest of the gang, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbowdash, and Pinkie Pie all sat around her. In the booth across from them sat the rest of the Ponyville Apple family, Big Macintosh, Applebloom, and Granny Smith.
"Sure was sugar cube, and I'll tell ya, that 'Doctor' was an odd one. He talked real fast and with an accent like Hoity Toity. He said he was with the 'Railway Management and Repair Agency', ever hear of such a thing Twi?" Applejack asked the purple unicorn.
Twilight scrunched up her face, giving a funny expression that implied that she was thinking. "I can't say I have, though you say his identification had an official Royal Seal on it?"
"Yes'm. Still strikes me as odd though." The situation leading her up to boarding the train had Applejack worried, but she just pushed that to the back of her mind because she had to focus on the upcoming family reunion. They would arrive in a few hours and she had to plan out what she could find to do for all of her friends. She wasn't worried so much about her own family as they have attended the event in the past, but to her friends this was all new.
"Well, the way you described him, he sounded very, alluring." Rarity said with the twinkle of interest in her eye she had whenever anypony talked about a stallion that was above the normal average of attractiveness.
"Now hold on Rarity, I think we have more important things to worry about right now. Like what we are gonna do when we get to Appleloosa. Maybe we could take a tour, see what's new since the last time we visited." Twilight suggested.
"Well, Ah'm hopin' to introduce y'all to some of my favorite family members. There's some wacky ones that I think some of y'all would get along with real nice." Applejack could think of a lot of relatives that would get along well with her friends, for example, Rarity would likely get along well with her uncle and aunty Orange, while Rainbow Dash would get along with her cousin Dayton. Dayton was one of her best friends when she was younger, and they would wrestle and run around in the back of the farm all of the time. Even though he couldn't fly, Applejack still figured Rainbow Dash would get along well with him.
"Well I just hope I get some of the apple cider you guys are bringing along, I still never got to have any last season after the Flim and Flam fiasco." Rainbow Dash always held that against Applejack, to the point where Applejack actually promised her that the next time she made a batch, Rainbow would be the first to get any.
"You'll get some, don't you worry Rainbow. You just gotta wait until we get to Appleloosa and set everything up." After having to run around Ponyville for a few hours to find somepony to watch the farm for her, and not forgetting the events that lead up to Applejack getting on the train, she was really tired and wanted to go and lay down for a while. "Now if y'all will excuse me, Ah'm gonna go get a bit of shut eye before we arrive. Ah've been up since dawn lookin' for somepony to take care of the farm, and I'm plum tuckered out. Twilight, I'd be mighty appreciative if ya' could wake me up when we're about to arrive."
"Sure thing Applejack, go take a rest." Twilight replied. And with that, Applejack walked to one of the back cars of the train to take a rest.
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"Applejack? Applejack! Wake up! We're in Appleloosa!" Applejack awoke to find her dear friend Twilight standing above her bed yelling down in her face to wake up.
'Not exactly one of the most comforting wake up calls, but itt'l have to do." Applejack arose with a yawn and a stretch and thanked Twilight as she made her way out of the train. She stepped onto the baked dirt of the Appleloosan trail and took in the rustic smell of the 'Old Western Settlement.' Appleloosa was becoming her home away from home, and she was doubly excited to be there being that the Apple Family Reunion would be taking place there as well. All the family she hadn't seen in the past year would be in attendance and she couldn't wait to see them all. She wanted to introduce so many of them to her friends from Ponyville that she was almost frolicking down the trail to the Appleloosan Town Hall.
As she walked into the town hall, she was greeted by dozens of familiar faces, Apples and Appeloosans alike. She was almost overwhelmed by the amount of ponies she saw, but was still a bit disheartened that she couldn't find the specific stallion she was looking for. She decided to go and see if the Mayor may know where he was.
"Excuse me, Mr. Mayor? I was wondering if you had seen Dayton Apple around here anywhere?" Applejack asked.
"Well hello Applejack, nice to see you around here again. I'm afraid I haven't seen Dayton around today, poor boy. He's been a bit distraught with the recent events that had befallen him. Such a shame." The Mayor said, a tone of unadulterated pity in his voice.
"Recent events? What are you talkin' about mayor?" Applejack asked, now a mix of confusion and worry.
"Oh, Ah' forgot that you aren't a resident of the town, well let me explain. A few weeks ago, Dayton and his friend, Valor was it? Well, those two went down into the mine shaft to pick up on some barb tabs for the saloon, and while they were down there, one of the miners hit a soft spot in the rock and caused a collapse in one of the sub-shafts, which just so happened to be the one the boys were in." The Mayor paused for a second to let this sink in.
"Wow, that's terrible! So Ah reckon everything turned out alright seein' as he made it out and all." Applejack said with a half-hearted smile, hoping that she was right.
"Well, Ah wish Ah could say that, but that just ain't the case here. When that shaft collapsed, it knocked a ton of sharp rock fragments out of place which fell on top of the boys while they were in the shaft." The Mayor shifted unsteadily and swallowed hard. "By the time we had dug them out, a shard had already pierced Dayton's throat and had just completely mutilated that Valor boy. We got them both to the hospital back in town, but it was too late. Dayton managed to be saved, but he's become a mute, and the Valor boy was already dead. Dayton has been sour and distant ever since. A cryin' shame, such nice boys too." With this The Mayor turned and went back to setting up the table he had been working on.
"Sweet Celestia, that's just terrible! Poor Dayton... Ah' cant imagine what he's goin' through right now... Mayor, do you know where Ah' could find him?"
The Mayor turned as he thought on this, "Well, you can usually find him out back of the Saloon. Ah' reckon that would be as good a place as any to start lookin'."
"Alright, thanks a ton Mayor." Applejack now had two things on her mind. The first was how this would affect the Family Reunion, and the second, whether or not Dayton would show up at all.
'For now Ah' only have one goal, find Dayton and see what I can do.' This reunion was definitely not going as planned.
