The Good, the Bad and the Unfriendly

It was a cold dusk now on the open plains that Applejack and Diamond Tiara were traveling through. Applejack still held the reins of their two horses without a fuss, not wearing anything for the cold, while Diamond Tiara was huddled up in the back of the wagon with a blanket wrapped around her. They only had the one blanket like that now so Applejack made sure Diamond got it. Besides, she was used to being cold plenty of times when she had been out traveling alone. Sometimes all she had was Winona to lean up against for warmth. So it wasn’t a big deal being up on the driver’s spot of their wagon all alone with only her light clothes. Applejack was tough and she had things to keep her mind off the cold, like minding the horses and wondering just where the hell they were going in the first place. She had an idea of finding someplace nice and quiet where Diamond Tiara could at least safely settle down. But what was she going to do after that? Did Applejack’s journey have an ending? It had been… nice to have someone else around and actually have a purpose instead of wandering from place to place. But Applejack didn’t know if she’d ever have something that could be considered a home again.

“Are you sure you’re not cold?” Diamond Tiara called out from behind her, interrupting her thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Applejack said back. “Only got the one blanket so you can just keep it for yourself, ya hear?”

No response.

“Something the matter?” Applejack asked. And then a second later felt Diamond Tiara walking up behind her, the younger girl hopping up onto the driver’s seat with the blanket and throwing it over Applejack’s shoulders too.

“There’s no reason we can’t share it. It’s big enough,” Diamond Tiara frowned, looking ahead and ignoring Applejack’s face.

Applejack snorted. “Fine. Be that way then, I told you I wasn’t cold.”

“Well I’ll be even warmer now with your body heat. So we all win.”

“Stubborn girl,” Applejack muttered and reached an arm under the blanket and around Diamond Tiara’s shoulders, holding her closer while her one hand still gripped the reins. “Thanks though. For being concerned and all.”

“Wouldn’t want you to get sick again,” Diamond said as she leaned over and rested up against Applejack.

“Heh, nope, I wouldn’t want that either,” Applejack grinned and looked down at the top of Diamond’s head.

Her breath caught in her throat as a sudden memory assaulted her. A memory of being huddled up in a barn late at night with a little sister who couldn’t sleep. The glow of a candle giving them a little warmth and light as Applejack read a storybook to her to help get her to go asleep. Sitting there together, wrapped in a blanket, small arms around her waist and a red head on her chest. The gentle breathing of a little girl as she fell into a rhythmic sleep. Her body’s warmth. The book being closed and Applejack smiling, hugging her little sister tight and the two of them falling to sleep together.

“Applejack?” Diamond Tiara looked up at her, worry on her face.

Tears were flowing freely from Applejack’s eyes, a droplet fell to Diamond Tiara’s cheek before Applejack could stop it. How long had she been silent?

“What’s wrong?” Diamond asked, one of her small hands reaching up to try and wipe away some of Applejack’s tears.

“It’s nothing,” Applejack finally managed to bite out. “I was just remembering something. That’s all.”

“Bad memory?”

“Good memory… just one that makes me sad now.”

“Oh...” Diamond Tiara looked down. “I… I understand that. I do that too...”

Applejack’s hand gripped her shoulder a little tighter, rubbing it up and down. “Yeah, yeah I know. We’ve both got… memories like that.”

The two of them were silent for a bit longer. Applejack didn’t want to say anything and Diamond Tiara wasn’t sure what to say even though she was curious. She wanted to know more about Applejack and why she was the way she was. What had happened to her that led to the life she was living now?

“Applejack?” Diamond Tiara finally squeaked out, getting the older girl to look down at her. “You… you mentioned being able to understand what it was like—back when I lost my parents. I-I’m sorry if this is p-painful or anything for you but… what happened to you? Y-You said you would’ve had a little sister my age, didn’t you? What happened to your family.”

“I-I don’t-”

“You don’t want to talk about it?” Diamond Tiara looked deep into her eyes.

“I don’t even know...” Applejack whimpered, so unlike the normally strong and cool woman she was. “It’s been so long but it still—I can still feel it like it was yesterday. And I’ve never, never talked about it with anyone but Winona.”

“It’s all been pent up inside you, making you miserable,” Diamond Tiara said and then jolted. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say anything like that, just-”

“It’s alright, I know you’re meaning well,” Applejack quieted her. She took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose. “You’re probably thinking it would be good if I finally talked to someone about it? If I did what you did when I found you and just let it all out? I don’t know. I just really don’t. Whenever I think about it—her especially—I feel like I’m going to become a broken down mess and I won’t stop crying. And I can’t get like that out here. Specially not when I’m looking out for you too.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Diamond frowned. “And don’t use me as an excuse.”

Applejack chuckled. “Heh, you’re a strong girl, you know? Maybe stronger than me in some ways.”

“Then I suppose all I need to do now is learn how to shoot a gun and ride a horse and I can take care of myself out here,” Diamond Tiara scoffed.

“There’s about a dozen other things you’d need to learn to survive on your own. But you’ve got the tenacity down, I’ll give you that,” Applejack reached up to pat her head.

Diamond Tiara smirked. “Well of course.”

Silence reigned between them again for another minute as the only sound from the world around them was the sound of the wagon’s wheels turning as they were pulled by Winona and Silver. The two horses were quiet, huffing only occasionally. Dusk was quickly turning into a pure night as the fields around them became darker and darker while more bright little stars appeared in the sky. Cold, solemn, not even the slightest breeze drifted over the plains. Two girls were huddled up together on their wagon.

Applejack figured she should’ve had them stop a while ago and set up camp but she wanted to keep going through the night. There was nothing to stop for after all and she didn’t know how far they were from the nearest town. South, that’s the direction they were going and that was it. If they wandered upon something then so be it.

Applejack sighed, suddenly breaking the silence. “What happened to me aint that different from what happened to you.”

Diamond Tiara fidgeted, sitting up straighter and looking ahead down the road. “I um, I figured...”

“Yeah...” Applejack swallowed and continued, though her voice was strained. She was finding it difficult to begin. “I just need a moment to get myself together. It’s not something I talk about and e-even now you know how it gets to me and-”

“Hey,” Diamond Tiara put her hand on Applejack’s leg. “I’m here for you.”

“So you’re the one comforting me now is that it?” Applejack couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks though… feel kind of bad getting like this around you. You’ve suffered just as much and it happened so recently.”

“I had you to lean on for that. Now it’s your turn.”

Applejack quieted down and nodded. “Y-Yeah.” She took off her hat and ran a hand through her hair. “So I, uh, I used to be a farmer. May not seem like it now but yep, born and raised on a farm and all that. Pretty much the exact opposite of you I’d say.”

Diamond Tiara grinned. “Maybe.”

“But anyways, it was my family’s farm, had been ours for generations. I lived there on it along with my granny, my big brother, and my little sister. My parents… they had passed away years ago when I was still young,” Applejack fought back a tear.

“I’m sorry...” Diamond Tiara said.

“S’alright, I’ve had plenty of time to deal with that too.” She took another deep breath and continued. “Anywho, the four of us made it work, it was tough but we were all there for each other. Granny Smith, Big Macintosh… and Apple Bloom. She was the same age as you, bright-faced young girl with a red head of long hair. She liked wearing a red bow with it all the time too, heh. Things were… they were good for a long while. Back then I didn’t even practice shooting. Big Mac was the only one who ever used a gun and he just used a hunting rifle for—well, hunting. The revolver I carry with me was my father’s but he only ever bought it just because he thought it was a smart thing to have. He wasn’t no gunslinger either.”

A wistful look came to Applejack’s eyes. “Funny thinking about it now. I don’t think I had so much as picked up a gun in my life for most of it but I turn out to be some kind of natural with them. Now it would just feel wrong to not carry this thing on my hip.” She patted it for emphasis.

“What kind of farm was it?” Diamond asked.

Applejack chuckled briefly and smiled at her. “Apples. We had an apple orchard, the best you ever would’ve seen. We had some pigs, and chickens, and some other stuff too but mostly we grew, harvested, and sold apples and apple products. They’re still my favorite thing to eat in the whole dang world but it’s hard to come across fresh ones.” The smile on her face grew wider. “You know one of these days I think I’ll cook up an apple pie for you. You’ll love it.”

Diamond Tiara smiled. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Hehe… yeah… sorry that I’m getting a bit off on a tangent here but… haven’t really been able to talk about this to anyone in a long time. I’ve got so many memories, so many good memories I want to share too.”

“Don’t worry about that. If you’ve got something you need to say or want to share then just say it. This is your time, Applejack.”

“Thank you. You see we made applesauce, and apple preserves, and jam that we jarred all on our own and sold to passing merchants. We were busy but I loved it. Heh, I preferred being busy and always having something to do in those days. That’s just how I was. And I loved teaching my little sister how to do things. Because there were only a few of us we needed every pair of hands to help out so even at a young age I was showing her the ropes.”

Applejack scratched the back of her head. “She wasn’t as quite into it as I was. Sure she knew she had to help, and it’s not like she gave me any sass or anything—uh, not always at least—but she didn’t love the farm in quite the same way I did. I think she wanted to go out and see the rest of Equestria, she was a curious girl. And I loved her with all my heart.”

She had to lift a hand up to her face and used the back of her wrist to rub her eyes, getting rid of the moisture that was gathering there.

“So this would’ve been four years ago, she was ten. And my brother may have been older than me but he was a real quiet fellow who didn’t have much a mind for the business side of running a farm so I was basically in charge so to speak. I wanted to try and get a new business deal going to get more money into our farm so Apple Bloom wouldn’t have to work so hard. Maybe give her a little freedom, you know? So I started traveling to some of the nearer towns and cities, just talking like a damn fool about our little apple farm with the four of us on it.”

“Thinking back, I should’ve known something was wrong when they were so curious. Especially when they asked how long I’d be away from it,” Applejack said, a vacant look now on her face as she stared ahead.

“W-Who was it? Who found out about your farm and how unprotected it was?” Diamond asked.

“No ones,” Applejack shrugged. “They weren’t any famous outlaws you or anyone else would recognize. Just thugs. Common monsters and bastards who saw an opportunity and took it. They asked me what direction our place was in so they could go and “inspect” the farm while I was still traveling and looking to make more connections.” Applejack bitterly laughed. “And I told them. You know to this day I don’t know what they were really expecting. They had to know from what I was doing that they wouldn’t make much money knocking over our place. Guess it didn’t matter to them. You can be greedy just for cents I suppose.”

“So you were gone when...” Diamond trailed off.

Applejack nodded. “Mhm. If I was there it wouldn’t have made a difference anyways. In fact I’d just be dead too, you already know I wasn’t a gunfighter back then, but I still wake up every day wishing I was there.”

“I-I’m glad you weren’t!” Diamond Tiara suddenly blurted out, then blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry… I know you probably wish you could’ve been with your family but… I’m glad you’re alive.”

“Thank you… that means a lot to me.” Applejack sighed and quieted down for another moment as she struggled with what to say next. “So I wasn’t even late by more than a day. It had all happened pretty much right before I got back to the farm. There wasn’t no fire or smoke or any signs that something had happened, it all looked so normal.” She looked at the back of Winona’s head. “I was using Winona here to get around, she was the one who first noticed something was wrong. Guess she could smell it on the air. Death. Maybe the lingering smell of gunfire. Whatever it was she was getting in a damn bad mood the closer we got back to the farm. I didn’t get it at first, thought she was just being a brat, but when I got back to the farmhouse and yelled that I was back and no one answered… I realized that something was wrong.”

“I stepped through the front door and saw a mess. Every little cabinet had been pulled open and dumped on the ground, chairs were tipped over, papers were everywhere, utensils and other stuff from the kitchen were spilled on the floor… and my granny was dead. She was lying on the stairs, all crooked on them, after taking a shotgun blast to the stomach.” Applejack was stone faced as she continued. “I didn’t scream then or nothing though. I didn’t curl up beside her and cry or try and shake her awake, I ran out looking for Big Mac and Apple Bloom, screaming for them.”

“Well I found Big Mac right behind the farmhouse, a tipped over wheelbarrow next to him. They shot him in the back of the head. Apple Bloom though… I didn’t find her for a while longer,” Applejack rested a hand on her stomach. “My voice was hoarse from screaming so much, I had looked through the house again but she wasn’t in her room or anywhere else. Not the cellar either even though I had hoped so hard that she was hiding in there and I’d open it up and see that she was okay.” Applejack took another deep breath. “It was when I was running through the house again that I happened to look out a window on the second story and saw a spot of red on the ground halfway into the orchard. I knew what that was immediately.”

“I ran down the stairs, past my granny’s body, and right out the door, running so hard my legs hurt. When I came across her bow I saw another trail, and multiple sets of footprints heading down it.” Applejack shivered, suddenly breathing much harder. “I-I can still remember exactly what she looked it. I see her every night. I still… I still...” she started crying freely even as Diamond Tiara hugged her, trying to help her through this. “She had Pa’s gun in her hand, like she had tried to fight them off. Heh, can you believe it? G-Guess she had that same kind of thing inside her that I had, only I didn’t know about it back then. Ten years old and, and—oh god, I can’t-”

Applejack’s dam finally broke completely and she became a sobbing mess on the driver’s bench, Diamond Tiara hugging her around the midsection.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Applejack.” Diamond Tiara said, crying a stream of tears herself. “Just let it all out. Just cry.”

“I didn’t even get to say goodbye—to any of them! And why?! Just for some spare cash?!” Applejack yelled, slamming a fist on the bench. “How could anybody do something like that? How could we be living in a world where that sort of thing happens? I-It aint right! It aint fair! My little sister didn’t do nothing to deserve that and she was gunned down like a dog...”

Applejack wordlessly cried some more until it was just sniffles.

“Ten… just a ten year old girl who had never hurt anyone. Just a kid working on a farm trying to help out her family,” Applejack continuously wiped away at her eyes. “Why?”

Diamond Tiara had scooted as close to her as possible and managed to reach up to rub her head. She almost tried to rock her like a baby, just letting Applejack say whatever she needed to now.

“All the valuables had been taken from the whole house. Even though there weren’t much in the first place. All the money was gone too. I don’t know how many days I just stayed at the farm after burying them, not even sure what to do or if I even wanted to go on living anymore,” Applejack said. “Eventually Winona nudged me with her hoof enough times that I finally got angry enough to get up and do something. Got what little I could together, got my father’s gun, and set out, leaving the farm behind. I still didn’t know what I was doing or what I was looking for anymore. But I knew I couldn’t stay there.”

“And I’ve been out wandering ever since. You know the rest more or less. Kept finding myself getting into trouble and shit like that, became famous even though I never wanted it. Just more bad luck on my end,” Applejack snorted.

“But what-” Diamond Tiara frowned. “What happened to the people who, who… did that. To your family.”

Applejack breathed a slow breath out her nose. “They got caught eventually doing something else. They ended up not so much confessing to what they had done to my family but more like bragging about it. Only… I only ended up reading about it in the paper a while after the trial and execution. I wanted to be there to shoot them myself or at least watch them dangle at the end of a rope. But I never got the chance for that either. Go figure.”

“At least they got what they deserved.”

A spike of anger momentarily surged through Applejack and she sharply looked down at Diamond Tiara. “They deserved a lot worse than that.” Her voice came out in nearly a growl.

Diamond Tiara flinched and looked away. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

Applejack’s expression softened as soon as she realized what she had done. “W-Wait, don’t you be sorry or nothing. I know, I was just… I’m just a bit emotional right now. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, especially since you were just trying to comfort me. Thank you.”

“It’s okay,” Diamond Tiara returned to smiling up at her and she hugged Applejack tighter. “Do you feel better? Talking about it?”

“Better? Maybe. I don’t think I’ll ever feel good again though.”

“I… that’s kind of how I’ve felt ever since my parents died too,” a somber look came to Diamond’s face. “Do you think we’ll ever be truly happy again?”

Applejack’s mouth opened up in an attempt to give the girl an easy lie, but she just couldn’t do it. Her lips opened and closed a few times before she answered. “Naw. Not that I can see. I just don’t know, Diamond.”

Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and nuzzled up against Applejack’s chest while a single teardrop fell down her cheek. “Aint there any justice in the world, Applejack?”

Applejack looked off into the distance, mulling those words over. “Far as I can tell, the only thing that can be called justice is the gun on your hip.”

Diamond Tiara opened her eyes back up and stared down the road along with Applejack. “I hope someday things get better. I don’t want anyone to go through what we did. It already aint fair to us it doesn’t need to keep happening.”

“I can’t say I’m optimistic but… maybe one of these days. You’ve got lots of bad people out there but if there are still good and honest people in Equestria then things will be alright. One day.”

“Do you think you can make a difference? You’ve already done so much good...”

“Heh. On accident mostly. It’s just happened by chance, you know that. And you know how selfish I’ve been in the past. I wasn’t trying to be a damn crusader and stopping all the outlaws. I was just riding, riding away from my past and everything else.”

“But aren’t you different now? If you saw someone else in danger the same way I was I know you’d help them.”

Applejack sighed. “Yeah… yeah I guess I would. Seeing you after all that, it was like a reminder of everything. And I never want to see another girl who’s lost everything.”

“I haven’t lost everything just yet,” Diamond Tiara whispered.

Applejack glanced down at her. “What was that?”

“I said I haven’t lost everything just yet. I still have you.”

“Yeah...” a sad smile formed on Applejack’s face. “And I’ve still got you.”

The two of them stayed cuddled up on the wagon inside their warm blanket as the night went on. It was late now and the chirping of crickets had joined the sound of the wheels turning over hard dirt. Soon Applejack was planning on them stopping. It had been a long day for them, and an unexpectedly intense one for her. They both needed some good sleep. But a half-asleep Diamond Tiara shifted up against Applejack, her eyelids heavy and slowly fluttering open and closed.

She wasn’t sure how Applejack would react to this, but she felt like she was about to drift off to sleep at any moment and she wanted to say it now.

“Applejack?” A tired Diamond Tiara said.

“Yeah? Something the matter?” Applejack looked down at her.

Diamond Tiara shook her head. “No. I just… I just wanted to know-” she yawned, her eyes closing as she nestled against the older girl. “I wanted to know… if I could call you big sister...”

Applejack froze up, her mouth opening up in a shock. “Diamond I—Diamond?” She blinked, the other girl was already asleep.

Diamond Tiara woke up cuddled against Applejack in the back of the wagon. The end of last night was mostly a vague blur to her, she remembered asking Applejack something and then falling asleep. Either way, Diamond Tiara yawned and stretched her arms, extricating herself from Applejack without waking the older girl up. It looked like it was very early morning outside, meaning they didn’t get much sleep. By now Diamond was just as used to waking and sleeping at odd hours as Applejack was though. She looked out the front of the wagon and saw that Winona and Silver were both asleep in their harnesses. They probably deserved more rest than Diamond did at this point. She smiled at the two of them and sat back in the wagon, not sure if she should get anything started for breakfast or if she should just wait for Applejack to wake up too.

Applejack… after everything she had poured out last night, she probably wanted to sleep all day.

She wouldn’t blame her at all for that and Diamond certainly wasn’t going to shake her awake or anything. At least it didn’t look like she had been crying in her sleep or anything. In fact, she looked pretty peaceful. Maybe having Diamond to hug while she slept made her feel better, maybe it reminded her of her sister.

Either way, without anything to do right now, Diamond Tiara hopped out of the wagon and decided to look around. Quietly of course so as not to wake up Applejack or the horses.

They had been traveling over some flat plains the previous day and that was mostly what Diamond Tiara saw around them now. Only a few hills in the distance to the west were about the only thing that caught her eye. She had been traveling through places like this for a while now but she still hadn’t gotten used to just how big and empty Equestria really was. Not after growing up and living in the city for most of her life. When she was younger her parents took her on a trip to Manhattan but for most of the trip she was asleep on a train and didn’t really get much of a look at the wilderness.

Now the wilderness was her new home. Pretty much at least so long as she kept traveling with Applejack. Which… she was pretty sure she wanted to do from here out. At least she couldn’t think of anything else to do with her life now. She had everything and lost it, but then gained something else right after. Maybe she didn’t want to just travel down the road living like vagabonds forever, but she wanted to be with Applejack no matter what she was doing.

A bumbling sound came from the wagon and Diamond Tiara looked back just in time to see Applejack tumble out the backside and land on her back.

“Oomph!” The blonde wheezed.

Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow and walked over to her. “Are you alright? Still half-asleep or something?”

“Uh, yeah, I may have ended up sleep-walking a little bit...” Applejack said, rubbing her hip before standing up. “You woke up before me? I’m surprised.”

“You were probably more exhausted than me,” Diamond shrugged.

“Yeah yesterday was, well, I didn’t expect to end up just talking about all that last night. I’m glad I did though. And thanks for being there for me.”

“Least I could do...”

Applejack reached down and ruffled her hair. “Heh, don’t you ever change.” She took a big stretch and started to walk towards the front of the wagon, also taking a look around at the landscape. “Nothing much out there yet. Guess we better get a move on again.”

“Yet huh? You say that like you’re expecting something soon. We actually got a real destination in mind now?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“Yeah actually,” Applejack smirked at her as she knelt down by the horses and gently started to prod them awake. “You ever heard of a town called Appleloosa?”

Diamond Tiara shook her head. “I haven’t.”

“Figured. Was a small town until just recently, still kind of is, but I had heard that there was a big gold boom there that was attracting all kinds of people. Gold in the hills, gold in the rivers, prospectors and diggers and people just hoping for a new life have been going to Appleloosa,” Applejack said.

“Honestly I didn’t think that kind of thing would interest you,” Diamond said, putting her hands on her hips.

“Heh, it doesn’t. But I figured we could use a change of scenery for a bit, and it might have some opportunities for us. And actually Appleloosa was founded by some distant relatives of mine. Course that was a long time ago, most of them were driven out by raids from local Buffalo Men tribes, and then a new group of pioneers took over. Don’t think I got any family left there. Not that I’d recognize em anyways,” Applejack shrugged.

“Well alright, that’s fine with me then. How long is it gonna take us to get there?”

“Oh just a couple more days on this road I’d say. We’re pretty far in the south of Equestria now.”

“I can’t really tell. I don’t know the layout of the country like you, I can’t even tell how far we travel in a day.”

“Ah, that’s just something you kind of gain with experience. Once you’ve been on the road for a few years you’ll find you just sort of have a sense for it. Same with telling what direction you’re going in and everything.”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it. Until I’ve been out here with you long enough to do it myself,” Diamond Tiara added.

Applejack was rubbing Winona’s ears and coaxing her awake when Diamond said that. She looked over at her with a genuine smile. “No need to worry about that, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. I’d be annoyed if you were thinking of dropping me off in Appleloosa or somewhere else,” Diamond blushed, looking away.

“Hehe,” Applejack chuckled lightly. “I’d never do something like that. I’ll admit at the start I thought about leaving you somewhere safer but… I just felt like we’d be better together. Somehow.”

“Well of course,” Diamond tried to act as haughty and proud as possible, turning up her nose.

It only made Applejack laugh harder of course, and that woke up the horses.

“Whoa there, easy now you girls,” Applejack said as she calmed them down and helped them get up. “Sorry to wake you like that but we’ve got some more traveling to do today. And you probably want to get somewhere where you can get a real drink and something nice to eat, right?”

Winona whinnied back at her, flapping her large gums.

“That’s what I thought,” Applejack looked to Diamond and waved her over. “Come on now, up into the wagon. We’re heading to Appleloosa.”

Diamond Tiara smiled and ran up to her before hopping right onto the driver’s bench. “I’m looking forward to it.” She winked.