A Second Chance

After Rarity finishes taking the measurements from Lou and Arthur, she writes each down on a separate piece of paper for later saying, "Alright darling, let's see what we can do about removing the stains from these clothes. Why on Equestria do you have so many outfits?"

I chuckle and then think something up quickly saying, "Well if you live the life I had as a bounty hunter, you earn the wrath of their friends and always have to change your look so that they can't hunt you down for revenge."

She then smiles and says, "Well since you are in our world now, you don't have to worry about that anymore. What do you plan to do with your life now?"

I turn my head and look outside and think it over saying, "Well...uh...I don't know yet, but I look forward to a long time of peace without always running from serious troubles."

Rarity looks the outfits over and finds some rather hideous outfits and then holds one up to find it badly worn asking, "Um, Arthur darling... Would you want me to repair the worn out...pieces of clothing?"

I look over at what she is holding and sees one of the simple worker's outfits with a hole in one of the elbows and chuckle saying, "I forgot I had those ugly things, you can go ahead and scrap that outfit. Let me take another look at what else I can get rid of."

She lets out a sigh of relief at hearing him call it ugly and says, "Oh thank heavens you also consider this ugly, I was worried for a moment there. I shall set this outfit to the side so you can sort through what you want to keep and discard."

After spending a few minutes sorting through my clothes and discarding the ones I don't want anymore, then sort through a few of the hats I've collected from my travels before moving on to the boot and shoe collection saying, "I find it hard to believe that I have collected this much in clothing alone, I'm glad that I didn't collect saddles as well because we would be here for much longer sorting through them."

Rarity's eyebrow lifts up at hearing that and says, "We also have saddles darling, but they are mostly just fashion accessories and aren't made of leather."

I then walk to the side of the piles of outfits and says, "Yeah, well I guess that is just a human trend then. Uhm...how long do you think it will take to get this heavy blue waistcoat cleaned? I've lost track of how many ponies flip out and start to worry about this blood-soaked sleeve."

She then looks at him and asks, "Would you mind taking it off for me so I can examine it?"

I then nod my head saying, "Not at all miss." then unbutton it and take it off, then hold it out for her to take with her magic or her hand.

Rarity walks over to him and takes the outfit with her hand, using her magic to hold it up so she can look it over. It takes her a few seconds to examine it completely before saying, "Well, it will take me a few minutes due to the blood-soaked sleeve. Would you care to have a seat while I work on it?"

I then smile and nod my head saying, "Of course, miss, lead the way."

She makes her way to a back door where her kitchen is and says, "My kitchen is right through here darling, would you care for something to drink while I work my magic on this?"

After following her into the kitchen and sitting down at the table I ask, "Sure, what do you have available?"

Rarity sets the coat down then makes her way to the fridge, and pulls open the door with a gentle huff saying, "Well let's see... There's grapefruit juice, milk, orange juice, and guava juice in the fridge." she then looks over her shoulder at him and says, "Then there's tea or coffee I can brew, what would you like?"

I think about it for a moment and say, "I think I will have some orange juice if you don't mind."

She then smiles and pulls the orange juice out, closes the door, and then heads to the counter saying, "Oh I don't mind this at all. Forgive my curiosity, but would you feel comfortable with me asking a few questions?"

I watch as she grabs a glass and fills it, then shake my head gently saying, "Of course, what would you like to know?"

Rarity brings the bottle over with the glass, then sets it in front of him and asks, "Darling, back in the spa, you mentioned the civil war between the Union and the Confederacy. I couldn't help but notice how your mood soured for a bit, do you mind if I ask why that happened?"

I grab the glass and take a drink, then let out a half chuckle and set it down with a sigh saying, "Well it's not a happy story, but what happened was that I thought back to how bad my childhood was without my mother around to help raise me. You see, she passed shortly after I turned two, which left my father to raise me by himself once he came back from fighting the Union. With work being so hard to find and a mouth to feed at home, he turned to stealing things from stores or people in order to put food on the table. When I turned five, I followed my father and watched from the corners as he stole things from them. So, I took after him and stole things too, however, he found out and started to beat me for it."

She stares at him with wide eyes as they start to fill with tears and looks away sadly while wringing her hands together saying, "I'm sorry to ask you such a question, I didn't know that it would cause you such pain."

I then raise my right hand up to her face and place my forefinger under her chin, then gently lift it and turn her towards my face saying, "Don't feel sorry for being curious, I'm already over the shit that has happened in my past."

Rarity looks at him with a stunned expression on her face as she blinks the tears away, then smiles sadly and says, "O-Okay, so...what happened after that?"

I then return my hand to my side and sit back in my chair saying, "Well my dad and I continued to steal, though he would still beat me for it. When I was around eleven, he was arrested for larceny, which I watched the no-good bastard hang for it. After taking his hat and losing my home, I wandered around a bit from place to place. But that is about all I will say about my past for right now, alright?"

Unable to help herself, she rushes in and throws her arms around him in a tight hug sobbing while saying, "Oh you poor dear...that is just so absolutely horrible!"

I sigh and hug her back, patting her gently between the shoulder blades saying, "It was definitely not something to be happy about, but I'm over it now so there is no need for you to cry about it for me."

After getting herself back under control, she straightens herself up saying with a slight sniffle, "Sorry about losing control for a moment darling, I cannot even fathom to think of how hard your life was after that happened."

I gently pat her shoulder saying, "Well, to put it mildly, there were hard times and fun times. Would it cheer you up if I asked you to sit on my knee?"

She stiffens up straighter than a board with a fierce blush on her face and stammers, "I-I am not a little filly a-anymore!" then lets out an undignified huff as she then picks up the heavy blue waistcoat and starts working on it.

I chuckle as she works, watching her flick her tail from side to side occasionally while she concentrates on the stain. I then get lost in my own thoughts, thinking, 'I wonder what happened after I died...' With nothing else to do but wait, I move my chair a bit and then lean back against the wall behind me while reaching up with my hand to tilt my hat forward over my eyes to take a little rest while she works.

Rarity can't help but check Arthur out discretely over her shoulder while she takes a moment to focus on the spell to remove the stubborn stain on it while thinking, 'If he goes with us to Canterlot, I should probably think of a way to let him know I fancy him so he asks me out...'

An hour later...

As she lets Arthur sleep, she glances over her shoulder at him and giggles softly at how he snores lightly while he has his hands placed behind his head. Turning back to the fancy black tuxedo jacket, she looks it over closely to find a few discolored spots on it and fights against her body wanting to gag when her nose tells her it is dried blood and lets herself gag mentally thinking, 'Ick! Why oh why does nearly every piece of clothing of yours have blood on it!? Just how much of a bad boy were you? UGH...at least you have some nice outfits to pick from when we go to Canterlot's Grand Theater tomorrow.'

I slowly wake from my nap with a yawn, arching my back to push myself off the wall. The chair's legs return to the floor with a wooden clunk as I then straighten my hat and move my hands back to my thighs, then lean forward a little and move my left forearm over both my thighs and place my right hand over the top of my left wrist. I then watch Rarity continue working on the black tuxedo with a white undershirt and a silver vest over it saying, "Yeah, I bet you were surprised to see that I do have fancy outfits lady Rarity."

Startled from her thoughts, she says, "AH!" as the base of her tail hikes up into the air but manages to keep it from moving to either side and turns her whole body around to face him with a moderate blush on her cheeks saying, "Oh I most definitely was surprised to see your collection of Fancy outfits, perhaps you might consider wearing one of them to the theater. Just so you know darling, there are rooms on the train where you can change clothes if you need to."

I let out a sigh of relief at hearing that and say, "Well that is really great to hear, I can't stand to be in a fancy get-up for over 6 hours. What time will the train be leaving the station here?"

Rarity smiles at him and says, "It will be departing at eleven in the morning darling, though we plan to be at the station by ten thirty while meeting up at Twilight's around ten."

I then run a hand along my chin and idly scratch at it for a moment asking, "Alright then, I will have to be sure to wake up and take a good bath before I leave with you all. How is the stain removal going, are there many outfits left?"

She gasps briefly before saying, "Oh I am on the last outfit now, I was examining this jacket closely and discovered that there is dried blood on it. Just give me ten more minutes and I shall be done." then promptly turns around and begins channeling her magic into her horn to remove the stains.

I then watch her curiously, watching how her horn emanates a light blue aura around it. As I watch her work, I catch her turning her head slightly from time to time occasionally to glance at me from the corner of her eye, then casually flicking her mane. Realizing what she is doing, I chuckle and look around the shop saying, "I have courted a few women in my day, but it never worked out in the end. Each of them did pretty much the same thing you are doing now, though you are a little more skillful in trying to hide it."

Rarity smiles as he noticed her signal and forces herself to keep focused saying, "Well thank you for the compliment, but attraction requires more than just one pony to set things in motion. Don't you agree, Arthur darling?"

I gently smile back at her, shaking my head saying, "I do agree with what you say, and I do find you quite the lady...but perhaps we should wait for the drama from the past fiasco to settle down and for your friend to heal up before we travel down that particular path?"

She lets out a small sigh and finishes the jacket before moving onto the vest, seeing blood splashed over part of the front and groans out loud saying, "Good grief darling, is there any clothing you own that doesn't have blood stains on it?!" while shooting him a stern glare.

Scratching my neck idly with my left hand, I let out a soft half-chuckle saying, "Not really because no matter where I went, trouble wasn't too far behind..."

Rarity channels her magic into her horn to begin casting her spell, hemming and hawing a little bit before asking in a low, serious tone, "With how you speak about the past, your skill with those two weapons, and the appearance of your outfits...am I to surmise that you were a bit of a bad pony?"

I continue leaning forward in my chair with my forearm across my thigh and chuckle deeply with a smug smirk on my face, narrowing my eyes ever so slightly in amusement as I say, "Hmm...yeah, I guess you could say I was a bit on the bad side of society."

She continues working on the stains saying, "I thought you might, because I may not be a doctor, but my eye for details is keen. I noticed several stains that did not look like they came from somepony coughing. Due to how our friendship started off badly dear, I want to improve it by keeping your...troubled past to myself."

I relax my facial muscles and then smile at her genuinely saying, "I greatly appreciate that, if anyone asks or you talk about me, only mention that my past is a troubled and harsh one. If I am going to make the best of my life here, I need people to know and see my current self before they learn about my past and form their opinion around that. No matter how hard you might try, but if the knowledge of one's past such as I got out... It would make it difficult to change their opinion due to them being afraid or hating me. No offense, but with ponies having a herd-like mentality...it would be even harder to change their view of me."

A sad sigh escapes Rarity's lips as she moves on to the white shirt saying, "That is all quite true, and I will be sure to remember and do just that out of respect for you and the sake of our friendship."

I nod, saying, "Thank you, it shows that you are a lady and the Element of Generosity."

She smiles and cheers up while working through the last couple of articles of clothing before moving on to the collection of leather boots saying with a light giggle, "You have quite a shoe collection here darling, however, mine dwarfs yours by a mile."

I look at all the different boots and chuckle saying, "That means that I have too many, let me sort through them real quick." and push myself up out of the chair using my legs, then walk toward the long row of footwear.

After picking through the veritable hoard of shoes, I set a few pairs aside and say, "These ones are what I am wanting to keep, the others I will donate to you as material for any designs you may use them for."

Rarity looks at the several remaining pairs of shoes as her eye twitches in dislike at the mere suggestion of her using leather in any of her outfits, saying with a forced smile, "Why thank you for being so...thoughtful." then makes her way towards the separate group of shoes to begin cleaning them.

I then head back toward the chair to let her resume cleaning and grin mischievously, saying, "You're welcome, I didn't want to be wasteful and just throw them away when someone might find some use for them."

She then starts to clean them with her magic asking, "Sorry for not asking this earlier dear, but how do you feel after going to the spa?"

I smile at her as I sit down in the chair and happily say, "Oh just wonderful, I feel ten years younger and I can't believe how relaxed my muscles and body feels."

Rarity finishes cleaning the shoes, even including the ones he has given to her and then uses her magic to pick them all up and sets them in an empty corner of her boutique. After moving them, she turns to ask Lou how she enjoyed the massage but giggles softly as she notices that she is asleep, then turns to Arthur saying softly, "Poor Lou must be so tuckered and relaxed after her massage, she fell asleep on her hooves. Do all ponies from your world sleep like that, standing up?"

I look over at my companion and grin, lowering my voice and answering, "Many do, though they are able to lie down as well to rest their legs."

A little after sunset

After asking Rarity what is going on in town, I listen to the latest gossip which leads her to tell me how many mares are still hunting for a special somepony. I then wait for her to finish speaking a moment and say, "I am surprised about how the males are so outnumbered here in this town, is it like this all over Equestria?"

She finishes the last pair of shoes and then heads toward the other chair by Arthur saying, "There, finally finished. I can't believe how much I had to clean, it's left me utterly exhausted. Unfortunately, many towns are like this. I was curious one day and asked Twilight about it, but she did not know why. She then said she would do a little research about it, and she got back to me about a month later with the results. When Twilight says she is going to do research, she goes all-out with it because loves learning that much. Anyway, the results she came up with were extremely detailed, however, I only understood bits and pieces. So what I got from that has something to do with certain genes being stronger than others, and after that, she started talking about how she would like to experiment with trying to balance it out to help mares find their special somepony. After hearing her say that, I told her that she shouldn't interfere and leave it to Princess Cadence."

I cock my head curiously, saying, "What do you mean, what does Princess Cadence have to do with any of that?"

Rarity's eyebrows rise as she is honestly surprised and then says, "Oh you don't know? Well, let me tell you then. You know that each pony has something that is special about them, so Princess Cadence's talent is for helping to create couples. She also has a special magic that no other pony can use, the magic of love."

I straighten my head as my eyebrow rises in scrutiny and chuckle, then make a joke saying, "Yeah, Twilight could find a way to balance the female-heavy population and leave the matchmaking to the love doctor."

She then grins at him and jokes back, "You best be careful or the love doctor will try to match you with somepony."

I laugh gently at that and say, "Heh, well I do just fine on my own and make my own choices, so no one will ever control what I do. How much do I owe you lady Rarity?"

Rarity looks around at the clothes and then says, "Well, for how much I had to use my magic I would say about 700 bits, however, since it is so close to Hearth's Warming I shall give you a bargain and ask for 300 bits instead."

I then nod my head and dig into my satchel for the bag of bits and say, "Alright then, well thank you for being so kind." while counting out the amount and handing it over.

She accepts the bits and summons her own pouch, then puts them into it saying, "You are welcome, I will let you know when I have them ready. I would like to make a template for her large shape, would you mind helping me in holding the paper up?"

I stand up out of my chair and say, "I don't mind at all, lead the way."

Rarity then looks around the room, seeing the many piles of cleaned outfits on the floor, and says, "Before we begin, would you mind collecting your things so there is space to work?"

I head over to the boots first saying, "Alright." and start to shove them into my satchel pair by pair, eventually moving on to the clothing first.

As he picks up his clothing, she heads over to her shelves holding many rolls of materials, and starts to look for the one she uses to create a template for. Finding it a few moments later, she grabs a pair of scissors and makes her way toward an open space as more and more piles are collected and returned to the bag.

I spend quite a few minutes picking up my outfits and shoving them back into the bag and saying, "Finally, that is all finished. Now what?"

Rarity makes her way to one side of the open area and asks, "Could you please bring Lou to the center so I have plenty of room to work?"

Making my way to my companion, I stand on her left side while raising my hand to her warm neck. As I start to gently rub her neck, I softly raise my voice saying, "C'mon girl, time to wake up."

Lou slowly opens her eyes saying groggily, "Huh...wha?" As she begins to wake up fully, she sees Arthur standing beside her saying, "What did you need sir? Are we traveling somewhere?"

I continue to rub her neck and shake my head while chuckling, "We aren't leaving town yet girl, I just need you to head to the center of the open space so Rarity can make a template for you."

She then blinks a couple of times sleepily before starting to walk forward saying, "Oh okay."

Rarity watches Lou walk toward the center and smiles saying, "That will be just fine darling, I will be unrolling a length of paper and then making a general design template from paper for the outfit I will be making for your body."

Lou watches as she starts to unroll the paper saying, "Alright then, is it okay if I go back to sleep?"

She holds the paper against Lou's body, then makes it a bit longer than necessary before cutting it off saying, "Go right ahead, it will take me a bit to get the shape right. Before you return to sleep, would you mind turning your head and neck as far to the left and right as you can so I know your range of movement?"

I watch as Lou does as she asks, then make my way toward Rarity, then stand a little distance from her to watch her work. Whenever she asks me to assist her with holding the paper up, I step forth and assist her.

It takes Rarity some time, but she manages to finish making her design template saying, "There we go, finally finished with it. Now that I know what shape your outfit needs to be, I can start coming up with ideas to make it." She then lifts the completed template off of Lou's body and sets it aside to make a mannequin for it to sit on later.

I look outside a window to see that it is getting fairly dark out and say, "Crap, it's dark already?" I then turn to look at Rarity and chuckle saying, "I need to get Lou to the Apple family's barn and get something for us both to eat."

She chuckles and says, "It always surprises me how time seems to fly by when you are busy with something and don't pay attention to anything else. Well darling, since there is no more time today, perhaps you could stop by sometime after Hearth's Warming and New Year's Eve so I can get the shape of your body as well? After all, you are a bit different from us ponies."

I smile and then tip my hat to her saying, "I will be sure to do that, lady Rarity. Take care of yourself now, there's a ruffian in town."

Rarity chuckles at hearing that and waves goodbye with a smile on her face saying, "I will, though I need not fear the ruffian because they are my friend and will not harm me or any of mine again."

I rub the side of Lou's neck saying, "Alright girl, it's time to wake up."

Lou wakes up again and looks at her owner with a sleepy yawn saying, "Okay, what do you need this time Arthur?"

I return my hand to my side and say, "Come along with me girl. I need to get you back to the Apples' farm, get you fed and find something for myself to eat." then turn around and make my way to the door.

After leaving Rarity's boutique, Lou follows me through the quiet town of Ponyville as I look at how each home has some sort of decoration on the house and then think, 'I wonder how it would feel if I had a home for myself...' A few moments pass in silence as I smile at how peaceful it is at this time and recall something that I heard a group of nuns sing during Christmas called Silent Night. Unable to recall the words to it, I begin to hum the melody.

A few minutes later, Lou and I are outside of town when I turn my head to her and ask, "Hey Lou, do you want to come with us to Canterlot to watch a play about the founding of Equestria?"

She looks at him curiously and says, "Sure, I wouldn't mind seeing that."

I then continue walking towards the Apple family's farm and dig into my satchel for an apple then pull it out, and hold it in my palm toward her saying, "Here you go girl, I know it won't satisfy your hunger completely, but I want to at least make sure you have something to tie your hunger over until we get back there alright?"

Lou looks at the apple and perks up a little, saying, "Thank you so much, sir." then trots forward and takes a big bite out of the apple with a loud crunch.

A few minutes later, at the Apple's farm

I walk up to the house and then knock on the door, taking a step back from the door and feel a coughing fit coming on. Pulling out my bloody handkerchief and start coughing into it. I see the door open a few moments later as the coughing fit subsides and look up to see who it is and see that it is a big red pony just a bit shorter than I am, but has way more muscle than I do and ask, "Hello, I'm sorry to bother you at this hour, but would Applejack happen to be here?"

Big Mac stands in the door, looking at the human his younger sister Applejack told him about, and says, "Eeyup." He then sees something in his hand and sees it stained with blood, recalling that he heard coughing earlier, he asks, "Ya alright?"

I then smile and say, "Yeah, I'm alright. Just suffering from a disease that has a treatment, but no cure." I put the rag into my pocket and ask, "Think I could speak to Applejack?"

He then looks the human up and down, then says with a neutral tone, "Eeyup, wait a moment." then closes the door gently to get his sister. Heading back to the dining room table, he takes his seat while looking at Applejack saying, "Applejack, somepony's here to see ya."

Finishing chewing the food in her mouth, she swallows it and says, "Ah wonder who it could be at this hour... Please excuse me a moment, everypony." then gets up from the table and heads for the front door, grabbing her hat as she passes by it and puts it on her head. As she reaches it, she opens it to find her friend Arthur outside and smiles saying, "Howdy Arthur, what brings ya out here at this time of day?"

I then smile at her saying, "Well, I just got back from lady Rarity's boutique after requesting her services to remove some stains on my outfits. Thanks to her spell, I was able to wear this heavy coat without having to worry about ponies seeing the blood and freaking out. However, I do feel bad about causing her to become so exhausted from how much I asked her to clean. Anyway, the reason I'm here is to return Lou to the barn and get her some food. I don't want to burden you by coming at this time of the day, so I can pay you and then feed her myself to save you the trouble."

Applejack smiles at hearing that and says, "It's nice to know that yer tryin' to adjust to things in a different world, but it is no burden on me at all because ah'm just doin' what ah can to help ya get back on yer hooves, er...feet in yer case so don't worry about payin' me. Ah'll be right back, gonna tell the others about this, and then ah'll come over to the barn to feed yer companion awright?" She then grabs the door and waits for his response.

I then nod my head and say, "Are you sure bout that, I'm willing to compensate you for what my companion consumes."

She nods her head and keeps smiling, saying, "Eeyup, ah'm sure. Ah'll be there to feed Lou in a moment."

I then smile and turn toward the barn, but look at Applejack saying, "Alright, I'll go on and put her in one of the pens and start brushing her down. See you in a bit."

Applejack then nods and closes the door gently, then turns around and heads for the dining room. She stands near the table and says in a clear voice, "Ah'll be back in a moment to finish eatin' everypony, ah need to feed Lou, Arthur's companion that he just brought back from a visit to Rarity's. Ah was wonderin' if any of yall would mind if I asked Arthur to join us fer dinner?"

Applebloom and Scootaloo both smile and say simultaneously, "Not at all!" as the former continues, "Ah would like the chance to get to know him better."

Big Mac then looks at his sister and shakes his head saying, "Nnope."

Granny Smith then smiles and thinks it over a moment before saying, "Well ah don't mind as long as he minds his manners and behaves."

She then smiles and says, "Thank yall fer givin' him a chance."

The elderly pony nods her head gently and says, "Everypony deserves a chance, now git goin' before yer food gits too cold."

Applejack then turns around and heads to the door, grabbing her winter coat and throwing it over her shoulders just before zipping it up. Prepared for the cold weather, she pulls the door open and then steps outside while closing the door behind her.

I stand on the left side of Lou as I begin brushing her mane out to remove any tangles when I hear the barn door open and then close, causing me to pause in my brushing as I turn my head to look and see Applejack close the door behind her. I then greet her and say, "Pretty cold out there, ain't it Applejack?"

She smiles and heads toward the cellar door in the back to grab a pail of apples saying, "Darn tootin' it is, even wearing this warm getup in the Crystal Empire can't keep me warm fer long before ah start shiverin'."

I chuckle as I understand that all too well and say, "I know how you feel, I've been through a few snowstorms in my time, and one of them was a little worse than the one just outside of the Crystal Empire."

Applejack pulls the cellar door up and looks over her shoulder at Arthur as he brushes Lou's mane out saying, "Really? Ya've been in one that was worse than that?"

I grin and nod my head while looking at her big eyes saying, "Yep, it lasted for a whole week."

She blinks a couple of times in shock and says, "That's crazy. Ah'm glad that the snowstorms here only last a day or two at most, it would be a big problem if they continued on for much longer."

I spend a few minutes brushing out the tangles in her mane before moving on to her body, starting at brushing down her foreleg first when I hear a door shut with a soft bang. I look over there to see Applejack returning with a bucket of apples when she opens the gate and walks through it, then closes it behind her.

Applejack makes her way toward Arthur and Lou, weaving around the sleeping cows in the pen and being careful not to startle them. As she gets over to them, she sets the wooden bucket within reach of Lou's mouth and asks, Hey Arthur, how dangerous were ya as an outlaw?" while using her right hoof to push around a piece of dirt.

As I start brushing her barrel down, I look to my left to see Applejack looking at the ground while kicking around a piece of dirt idly and sigh saying, "Well since you already know that much, I won't try to hide anything. I was normally cold and always resorted to violence to deal with things, I simply didn't care about killing. At my worst, I was absolutely ruthless and totally unsympathetic to those I hurt. One good thing is that I believed revenge to be a fruitless pursuit, and I still believe that. Even when I resort to violence, it has its reasons to serve a purpose."

Seeing Arthur a little differently, she stops fidgeting with the dirt and looks up at him with a curious but worried expression and then begins to ask while wringing her hands together, "A-A-Arthur...how many..."

Cutting her off I quickly look into her eyes and say, "Don't ask that because I won't tell you, all you need to know is that I've killed quite a few during the pursuit of an impossible dream. I've done so many bad things that my bounty became so high the reward was no longer listed, and instead it was wanted, captured dead or alive. One person told me many years ago that it was 5,000 dollars, which I almost considered turning myself in for it."

Applejack sighs and looks down at the ground, feeling upset about asking that and asks with a worried tone in her voice, "A-Are ya done with bein' that way Arthur, or will ya ruin our friendship and force us to go after ya?"

I sigh and return to brushing Lou's side saying, "I've grown tired of that life. What I want now is to have a peaceful life without having to run away and change locations when past problems catch up. Perhaps one day...god willing, I might get to have a family again one day."

She looks up at him with honest curiosity and feels a hint of happiness, then asks, "Speakin' of family, would ya care to have dinner with us? There's plenty left if yer hungry?"

I then open my mouth to turn down her offer saying, "I'm sure that the food you all have is really good, however, I should finish up here and..." when my stomach cuts me off by growling loudly, making me glance down and then groan saying, "It's a real problem when your own body betrays you... Alright, I will take you up on the offer once I finish brushing Lou down."

Applejack smiles and says, "Okay then, ah'll wait for ya by the barn door when yer finished." then turns around and heads for the gate to exit the pen.

As I return to brushing Lou down, I ask, "Since we're talking about family, do you have a big one or a small one?"

She stops near the door and leans on one of the rails with a smile saying, "The Apple family is so large, we fellow Apples call it the Apple clan." She wants to ask him if he has any family, but decides to save it for a later time.

I finish with my companion and then put the brush into the satchel saying, "Well I'm happy for you then, perhaps someday I will get to see just how large your clan is."

Applejack watches him as he exits the pen and walks toward her, saying with a smile, "Ya'll get to meet another tonight and have a chance to get to know them a little after dinner." then opens the door and walks out, and waits for Arthur to leave as he extinguishes the lantern's flame.

When I put out the last lantern's light, I look over at Lou and say, "Goodnight Lou, I will see you tomorrow." then join Applejack outside and prepare to close the door.

Lou looks at the open door and says, "Goodnight sir, I look forward to it." then returns to her meal as the door creaks while it is shut.