The Hateful Six

Chapter 1:
Last Stage to Ponyville

The world was cold. Covered in snow. Forests, plains, mountains, doesn’t matter. It was all covered in snow. One of the coldest winters in Equestrian history, and it was quiet. The sun was covered by heavy clouds, casting the ground below in a moody atmosphere. A bird chirped and flew away, high above a snow-covered dirt road.

A lone figure stood in the snow, a purple unicorn covered in fur coats. She stood on the road, nestled between the ruins of a broken down stagecoach. She stood facing the oncoming blizzard with no fear and waited peacefully. The mare wasn’t sure she could survive the oncoming storm, but she was confident. She waited patiently, her horn glowed in the snow, her hope to catch a traveler coming this way.

Her wait was rewarded when a stagecoach appeared on the horizon. The mare increased the light on her horn and stood up. The breeze was picking up and her fur coats were threatening to fly away. After making sure they were tight again, she looked up again. The blizzard had gotten thicker, but the stagecoach had gotten close enough for the mare to see who was carrying it. An orange mare, also covered in fur coats and had a stetson, galloping at full speed, the stagecoach hitched to her barrel.

Once she was certain the stagecoach was close enough, the purple mare shot up a flare spell. The sudden burst of light drew the orange mare’s attention. For a moment, the purple mare felt a flicker of annoyance, perhaps the orange mare wouldn’t stop, but then before the purple mare could prepare another spell, the stagecoach was pulled to a halt. Even over the now roaring noise of the blizzard, the purple mare heard a heavy thump inside of the stagecoach.

The purple mare started forwards, about to say her appreciations to the pony but then stopped when she saw a metal barrel pointed at her. Underneath the stetson, a set of hard green eyes looked up at her. The earth pony, the unicorn found out, pushed her hat up and kept her rifle trained on her.

“Now, what’s a filly like yerself doin’ out here. Did yer posse die out because they couldn’t handle a bit of cold?” The unicorn narrowed her eyes, this earth pony dared to mock her. She wasn’t like those other unicorn nobles, snobs the lot of them. The unicorn spat in the snow to show her appreciation of the joke.

“I’m looking for a ride. Mine fell apart, as you can see.” The unicorn gestured at the broken stagecoach behind her. It was in a sorry state. The axle had snapped, a wheel was missing, the roof had caved in, and the stallion pulling the stagecoach had perished because of the cold, but the unicorn wasn’t going to tell the earth pony that.

“Ya don’t have to tell me what ah see with mah own eyes.” The earth pony paused as if thinking of something, then she glanced behind her, no doubt checking how close the blizzard was. After a moment or two, the purple mare was sure the orange mare was going to leave her just out of spite, then she said, “where ya headed?” It sounded like she was going to regret that later.

“Ponyville.”

“Yer business?”

“Ah’m the new sheriff there.”

“Is that so?” The skepticism in the earth pony’s voce annoyed the unicorn. She lifted her head to directly look at the mare. They stood like that for a while, the unicorn’s patience was being tested. She didn’t like her patience tested. That must have been shown in her eyes because before she knew it, the earth pony relaxed slightly and grinned, but her hoof never lowered, keeping the barrel straight and true. “Ya got iron?”

“I do.”

“See that stump over there? Drop yer guns on it, slow and steady. Make sure ah can see em, wouldn’t want to get the wrong idea, would we?” The unicorn complied, slowly taking out her pistols with her flickering magic. The earth pony tutted and waved her gun. The unicorn made an annoyed noise but got the message. Her horn flickered off and took the pistols out with her hooves. They weren’t anything pretty to look at, like some other unicorns, but they got the job done. Slowly trudging through the snow towards the log, the unicorn made sure the pistols were in the view of the earth pony’s view the entire time. She placed them on the logs with the utmost care and then turned to look at the earth pony. “Now gimme yer paperwork.”

The unicorn nodded as if that made sense, then started patting around her pockets. The earth pony made another noise and the unicorn slowed down considerably. It took several seconds, precious seconds, to locate the parchment that held her orders. Taking careful steps forwards, the unicorn held out her papers and the earth pony snatched it with her other hoof, the other still trained on the unicorn. Unable to flip through with two hooves doing two other things, the earth pony alternated between the papers before quickly drawing her rifle on the unicorn. As for the unicorn, she just waited in the snow, her flank on the ground and her hooves still in the air, waiting for the confirmation.

“Alright, ah believe ya. Ah still don’t trust ya though, gimme yer irons and ya can help pull with me.” The unicorn glanced at the stagecoach itself and the earth pony caught the meaning behind it. “Ain’t no way yer going in there. Inside is a pony who don’t deserve to be called a pony no more, ah’m takin’ her in.” Then her eyes flickered with something. “Speaking’ of, ah’ll be handing her to ya when we pull up in Ponyville, now that yer the sheriff and all. Now git, gimme the guns and help pull. Wouldn’t want the snow catching up. If ya can’t handle it, ah’m leavin’ ya.”

Taking the hint, the unicorn picked up her pistols and hoofed them over to the earth pony who in turn stashed them in some saddlebags. In the meantime, the unicorn hitched herself to the stagecoach and together, the duo started galloping.

After an hour, the purple mare realized that she didn’t know the earth pony’s name. Thinking to rectify that, she turned to face the orange mare and opened her mouth. The snow blew into her mouth causing her to cough, but she kept her hooves pumping. There was no way she was going let the earth pony see any weakness, but it was too late.

“Is your highness feeling tired?” The earth pony taunted her with a grin and what miffed the unicorn was that she didn’t see a single drop of sweat on her brow.

Founding her voice, she replied with contempt. “Something got into my mouth, nothing to worry.”

“If ya say so.”

“I do say so!” The unicorn made the mistake of stomping her hoof and immediately tripped. She started scrambling to regain her footing and once she did, she casted a hateful glare at the laughing earth pony.

“Like ah said, if ya say so.”

The unicorn didn’t feel like going with her earlier plan but she was better than such pettiness. She let silence draw between them so the two of them could calm down. They galloped for a few more miles, the landscape around them barely changing. Everything was white and the blizzard was making everything more foggier but they could see the road and that was enough. The unicorn finally caved in to her urges to make acquaintances and opened her mouth once again.

“Miss, if I am to thank you, I must need to know your name.” The glance the earth pony gave the unicorn made her pause awkwardly.

“Need to know mah name? What an interesting way to put it.” She chuckled humorously. “And what are ya gonna do with mah name? Drag it through the mud, like all the other unicorns? Yer all the same, aren’t ya, Twilight Sparkle.” She ignored the gasp and continued. “Yea, ah know all about ya. The Sparkle clan, the glory of Canterlot, the noblest of the nobles, the highest of the high, ain’t that right?” The venom in her voice spoke of something. Twilight kept her gaze cool, she’s heard this many times, but every time she hears it, she couldn’t help but hate her ancestors.

“That was a long time ago, miss…?”

“Applejack of the Apple clan, pleasure to meet ya.” The earth pony sneered and looked back to the road, leaving Twilight to her thoughts. The Apple clan and the Sparkle clan have been fighting each other for years. The unicorns have been taking land from the Apples and have their racist views of mud ponies. In return, the Apples make it nigh on impossible for any of the unicorns to acquire any of the apples the earth ponies cultivate. The Sparkle and Apple’s rivalry is well known throughout Equestria and most are terrified when both are in the same room. Then that begged the question, why was Applejack helping her of all ponies? Before she could ask, there was a loud bang startling Twilight to a stop, thankfully, Applejack had the same idea.

The stagecoach halted, the wheels turning uselessly in the powdered snow, and before Twilight could blink, Applejack unhitched herself and bolted away. Not thinking, Twilight unhitched as well and followed. What she saw baffled her.

Applejack was pounding through the snow, the white stuff flying everywhere, as she hounded a naked buttery yellow pegasus who had shackles around her wings and neck. Even from this distance, Twilight could see tears streaming off the pegasus’ face. This must be the prisoner that’ll be brought to her new office once she arrives in Ponyville. The chase was over in moments and the earth pony tackled the pegasus and Twilight winced at how brutal it looked. There was a crack, it was audible even from her, and then the shrieking started.

Applejack somehow produced a rope and hogtied the pegasus and started dragging her through the snow back to the stagecoach and she made sure the pegasus hit every rock and branch on the way back. The closer they got, Twilight saw the broken wing and then the frozen tear-stained face of the pegasus. Her usual soft features were wrenched in agony and sorrow and peculiarity, not hatred. Applejack heaved the poor pegasus back into the stagecoach and got another steel lock from her saddlebags and replaced the broken one. After clicking the lock together, the earth pony dusted herself off, the snow from her tackle fell to the floor in a pile. After that, she trotted over to the reins and prepared to hitch herself when she cast a look back at the still baffled unicorn.

“Are ya coming or not?” Her voice was terse, betraying nothing. When Twilight didn’t come, she turned back, prepared to give a tongue lashing but then paused when she noticed that the unicorn was looking at something beyond her. Looking around, Applejack finally noticed a pink blur that was coming closer with every second. Something about this was suspicious. Whipping around, Applejack drew her rifle on Twilight once again. “Do ya know her?”

“Her!?” The unicorn raised her hooves up in the air in a panic, not realizing she needed her hooves to stand and then promptly fell to the ground. Trying to save face, she pushed herself back up in a scramble and spat out the snow in anger. This mare was getting on her nerves. “Why would I know her!? This is the first time I’ve ever seen that pony!”

“This ain’t a coincidence! Ya stumble upon mah path and then hours later, another mare shows up! Maybe yer in cahoots with her, taking my bounty and splittin’ it!” The earth pony kicked away the bridle and stalked up to the unicorn, pointing the rifle in her face in that weird awkward third legged walk. Twilight couldn’t do anything else but stare back, trying to not let panic show on her face. In the distance, the pink smudge was growing more in definition.

“I promise you, I have nothing nefarious up my sleeve. I have no idea who that pony is or what she wants, all I want is to get to Ponyville.”

“Yeah, well, that don’t look like that’s gonna happen now. The blizzard’s almost upon us.” The earth pony tapped her chin with the rifle before coming to a decision. She opened her mouth but before she could speak, a pink blur interrupted.

“Hello! I’m Pinkie Pie, what’s your name!?”