My Little Pony: Friendship is Mythic

She moved as fast as she could, through the bustling crowds.

The train station at Dodge Junction was none-too-slow. Being one of the busiest crossroads (as far as trains were concerned) in the whole of Equestria, all of the train stations were constantly packed to the brim with eager ponies jumping on their rides to all the corners of the globe. You could get a ride to Dodge Junction from anywhere, and you could get a ride from Dodge Junction to anywhere.

That was why they were here. They could go anywhere, and they could have gotten here from anywhere.

They were headed from Appaloosa. They were headed to anywhere that would take them.

That wasn't a whole lot of places, at this point, but they still moved.

Applejack didn't think about any of that right now, though. She only thought about catching her train, which she was late for. Moving through the crowds was tough work, but she strong-armed herself through them. Other ponies be damned. She had somewhere to be.

Specifically, not here.

Her head hurt with that old familiar pain. Slight nausea gripped her stomach, but she didn't let that slow her down any. She had places to be. Thinking about it for a moment, fishing through one of her saddlebags, she had a pleasant realization that this old headache and old stomach ache weren't anything that couldn't be solved with some old-fashioned medicine.

So she slowed her pace down some, looking through her bag for another bag, and she found it. Holding it up, she swished it around some, listening for the liquid inside of it. It was an old paper bag, and it held a bottle of old-timey cure-all inside of it. Listening to the swishing from the bottle, she knew that it was still half-full. Good news. It would last the train ride, until she could find another bottle shoppe in their destination.

Giving a toast to herself, she lifted her paper bag up to her mouth and took a big long swig. There was nothing better than this. A bottle of whiskey in one saddle-bag, a fresh pack of cigarettes in the other. Running through bustling crowds to jump on a train at the last minute.

She smiled, to herself. Something about it was so country. So romantic. They were desperados, her and Big Mac, waiting for a train. Pappy would have been proud. They were desperados, had been their whole lives. This was just one chapter in their story.

Some old friends were busy conversing, hugging and catching up on old times. They barred Applejack's path. She muscled through them rudely, saying, "Hey, partners! Get a hotel room! Leave the boarding platform for ponies with something to do!"

And she dashed past them, listening happily to their admonishments of dismay and unhappiness, screaming out calls of 'rude' and 'how uncivilized,' as she ran past. Rude. Uncivilized. Is that what city-folk were calling her kind, nowadays?

She just smiled and took another swig from her paper bag. She liked it. 'Rude' and 'uncivilized' was the way to go. No sense being fancy and impractical. She needed to board this train, and nothing was going to stop her.

Looking ahead into the distance, she could see Big Mac on the loading platform, standing beneath the glaring midday sun. Applejack took a long look at the sun. Days like these reminded her of pappy. They reminded her of-

She shook her head. She didn't need to think about things like that, right now. All that mattered was her whiskey, Big Mac, and the train that they needed to jump on. That's all that mattered, and that's all that Applejack cared about. They were headed to a faraway place, to a place where nopony knew who they were. That's what they needed: a place where nopony knew who they were.

Applejack didn't know where it was; it had been Big Mac who had bought the tickets. It had taken almost all of their remaining money, but she didn't care. All that mattered is that they were getting away from Appaloosa, getting away from the things they had done. Nothing bad, mind you. They just had to make a living. The authorities thought otherwise.

She locked eyes with her brother, and her brother saw her, waving a big hoof over his head. Applejack sped up her pace, running as fast she could towards him, bobbing and weaving through the crowds.

She smiled, feeling a sharp pain of relief flow through her body. She was almost there. The stress was almost over. In just a moments, they would be both be onboard that train, headed to wherever. That was all right with Applejack. She just didn't want to be here, anymore.

Feeling celebratory, she took a big long gulp from her paper bag, feeling the whiskey wash over her tongue and down her throat. It burned like Hell and hurt like Heaven. It was good for her, no matter what any other pony had to say about it, including her brother. This was the life. Nothing was better than this.

And that's when she smacked in a cop she hadn't seen.

Not looking where she was running, Applejack had run straight into a police officer who had been standing there. Both of them tumbled to the ground, landing hard on the concrete of the train station. Her paper bag fell and landed with a thonk, rolling around. AJ reached out for it, crawling around a little bit to chase it, until she finally had her hooves around it.

Standing up, she lifted the bag up, elated that the glass bottle inside hadn't broken. She turned it upside-down, taking another swallow. It felt good, and she savored the sensation of the liquid running down her throat and into her stomach. By now, her headache and nausea were beginning to go away. There was nothing like old-timey cure-all to relieve your ailments.

The police pony slowly rose to his feet, reaching for his hat and putting it on his head.

He turned to Applejack, who was taking another swig from her bottle, and he said, "What're you doing?"

She immediately saw his uniform and hat, and she immediately went on the defensive. The law had only caused her and her family trouble, since as far back as she could remember. She didn't like them. Never had.

Applejack said, "Just trying to board a train." She didn't call him 'sir.' Never had; never would.

Her breath blew him away. He winced and waved his hoof in front of his face, saying, "Whoo-wee! If you ain't drunk, then you're a fool. What're you doing, drinking that much in public? That's more than enough to throw you in the drunk tank, you know."

"I ain't drunk, and I ain't an idiot," was all that she could manage.

The police pony walked over to her, smelling her breath and looking at the bag in her hoof. He said, "Evidence suggests otherwise."

Applejack frowned, pulling the bottle away from him. She said, "Listen! I ain't drunk, and I ain't causing no trouble. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a train to catch."

She tried pushing past him, but the police pony barred her path, always stepping to make sure he was in front of her. She shoved him a little, and he shoved back.

"Get outta my way," she said, becoming very irritated, "I ain't done nothing! You have no reason to be treating me like this."

He pointed at her paper bag, saying, "That's an open container, ma'am, and if I'm not mistaken, you're drunk in public."

That was enough of this. This conversation was stupid. She said, "Get the hell out of my way! I ain't drunk, and it's an 'open container' because I'm drinking from it."

"Ma'am," he said, "You're being belligerent. You can't have an open container in public. That's the law. I just need you to come with me down to the-"

"I ain't going nowhere," she screamed, "You stupid sack of shit! You're harassing me. Just step out of the way and let me get on my train!"

"Calm down, ma'am," he said, "Just come down to the station. I don't want any trouble."

She spit on the ground and said, "Well, if you don't want no trouble, then you'd best be getting out of my way."

He took a step toward her, saying, "Is that a threat?"

She was well past the point of caring what happened to her, at this point. Taking a couple steps back, she said, "Yeah, asshole. It is."

"Ma'am," he said, "You have to come with me."

She turned her rear legs towards him and leaned up on her front ones. She said, gritting her teeth, "Fuck you, asshole! I told you to just get out of my way!"

The police pony let out a cry for help, screaming something over his radio, just as Applejack swung. She was plenty strong. Hard lives did that to folks; it made them strong. She was the best shot she knew, and all of her shots carried all the power of a herd of buffalo. Not even one time had she failed to floor any poor fool who decided to pick a fight with her.

Her legs swung out, kicking sharply into the air.

The whole thing whiffed. She missed the police pony, entirely. Over-stretching herself, she lost balance and toppled to the ground, harmlessly. Maybe she was drunker than she thought.

As soon as she hit the ground, the police pony piled on top of her, screaming for back-up. She kicked and spit and swore and screamed, but it was all for nothing. After just a few moments, other officers watching the train station ran up to them, dog-piling her, too.

There was about five of them and only one of her, but Applejack never stopped fighting. Never stop fighting. That was the law that her pappy had lived by, and it was what she lived by, too. The police ponies tried to constrain her. She even managed to clock a couple of them, knocking out one of the officers in one hit.

And just like that, the fight was over. The last thing Applejack saw was the brawl, before one of her combatants hit over the back of the head with something. She immediately blacked out, falling listlessly to the ground.

***

Applejack woke up, in a cell. Her brain pounded against her skull, seeming to swell up every single time that her heart beat. She licked the inside of her mouth. It tasted like blood, and it was really dry.

Really dry. Her tongue felt swollen. She moved it around, feeling around. It felt like she was licking something sick and wrong. Water. Or whiskey. She would settle for either one of those things, preferably both.

Standing up slowly and woozily, a pain shot through her skull, and Applejack grabbed it. She had been hit over the head, and she was hungover. What a great day. Wiping her bleary eyes, she looked around.

It was a dank cell. Very cold. She would have killed for a cigarette right then, or a nice tall beer. Anything. Even a glass of water would feel like drinking water straight out of a glacier. She was damned thirsty. The assholes who locked her up in there knew that, too.

She walked up to her bars and kicked them, saying, "Hey! Assholes! I want some water! And a phone call, goddammit! I get a phone call!" She kicked the bars again, making as much noise as she could manage.

After a few moments of this, the door opened to the room and a police pony walked in. It was the same cop from earlier; he had a black eye. Applejack looked at the cop and smiled to herself. That's what he got for taking the bull by the horns.

He walked up to the cell bars and said, "Sleep well?"

Applejack lost her temper again. She said, "No, I didn't sleep well, asshole! I want some water, and I want my phone call."

He ignored her cries for water and just walked to his desk, picking up the keys to her cell. He said, "There won't be no need for a phone call today, miss. Your brother's here."

Her brother. Bic Mac. Luna bless him. He was always there when she needed him. She said, "Well, great. When can I see him?"

"I was thinking about letting him in now," he said, "He seems like an all-right feller."

"He is," said AJ, rattling her bars again, "Let me see him."

"I don't know if I like your attitude, little girl," said the cop, "You wouldn't even be here right now if you just followed the law and didn't cause no trouble."

"I didn't cause trouble," screamed the imprisoned earth pony, "You started the damned fight! Let me out of here!"

"All right. All right," said the cop, "I'll let you see him. Like I said, he seems like an all-right feller."

The police pony walked out of the room without saying a word. Applejack was still thirsty, but she would have rather drunken her own piss right then than get a glass of water from anypony there. She just went over and sat down on her bed. This was bullshit, she thought.

She fell asleep again. A short while, thereafter, she was woken up by the sound of something being hit against her cell bars. Slowly opening her eyes and nursing her pounding headache, the imprisoned Applejack looked over at the racket. It was really awful, and it made her head hurt worse. Everything made her head hurt worse.

The police pony stood at the cell bars, along with a very sturdy and tall colt. Applejack immediately recognized her brother. He was red, with a dirty blonde mane, which was entirely covered by a big bandanna that he kept wrapped around his head.

Applejack immediately jumped out of bed and ran over to her brother, putting her hooves on her bars. She said, "Big Mac!"

He shook his head, not greeting her. Disappointment was thick in his voice. He said, "AJ. Why'd you have to go and get into a fight?"

She immediately defended herself, shaking her bars. She said, "But Mac! I didn't! They started it!"

He shook his head, saying, "No, they didn't, AJ. You know that. You started a fight with the police, and now you're in jail. Don't blame this on anypony else."

The police pony nodded and turned around, saying, "Well, I'll leave you two alone for now. Don't bother trying to break out. I've got the key. Besides, your brother here is good enough. Just chat for a while."

And he left, slamming the door behind himself on the way out. Applejack looked at her brother, saying, "So why the hell are you all buddy-buddy with that cop?"

Big Mac just shrugged, saying, "You be nice to folks, and they'll be nice back. Including the police. I managed to cut you quite a deal, today."

"Whatever," she screamed, "This is bullshit, Mac! You know that! I wasn't doing anything wrong."

He shook his head, saying, "It don't matter, now. You're in jail. We missed our train, you know."

AJ huffed, saying, "I damn well know we missed our train. Are they going to give us our money back."

Bic Mac shook his head, saying, "Not on account of why we missed the train."

She swore, profusely and loudly. This was an awful day. They missed their train, she had gotten through in the drunk tank, and now all the money they had spent on their tickets had just been pissed away.

"Well," said the younger Apple, "Go back to them. Tell them it was all a misunderstanding."

Big Mac said, "They ain't giving us our money back, AJ. They said no."

She said, "So what's next, then? What's your plan?"

Big Mac always had a plan. Ever since they had been little kids, he had always been the one leading them onto their next adventure or bailing them out the frequent trouble they got into. He said, "Well, this generous fellow-"

"Generous, my ass," snapped Applejack, "What did he say to you?"

"He's willing to ignore everything you done and let you out of here," he said.

She couldn't believe that, falling completely silent. How had Big Mac managed to sweet-talk his way into a deal like that?

But nothing was free. Applejack said, "What's the price?"

The older brother shook his head, saying, "Don't you worry about that. Just be glad that you're getting out of here."

"No, seriously," said Applejack, "How much are you bribing this jackass?"

Big Mac frowned and shook his head again, saying, "It don't matter none-"

"Of course it matters," she screamed, hitting the bars, "That's our money! We ain't got much! How much does this asshole want?"

Big Mac said, "Almost the whole rest of what's left."

Applejack's mouth fell open. Almost all of it? How much was the greedy son of a bitch going to leave them?

The older brother glared at her and said, "We wouldn't be in this mess if you could just be a nice pony for one day in your life! Why are you going around, starting fights?"

AJ frowned and glared right back, saying, "I'm plenty nice! What're we going to do, now?"

"Well," said Big Mac, "For now, you're going to sit here. He'll let you out in the morning. I'm going to go see if I can scrounge us up a train ticket to somewhere with what little money we got left. Understand?"

Applejack just nodded, skulking and walking away from her cell bars. She laid down on her bed, crossing her arms. Her older brother said, "Hey. Don't worry. We'll make it. Now, I'm going to go. I gotta go scrounge us up a couple of tickets."

Waving bye to his sister, who returned no such sentiments, he slowly left the room, closing the door softly behind him. Applejack just laid on her bed, her arms behind her head. She didn't have anything better to do than wait for the morning to come.

"This is shit," she said.

***

Big Mac's words hadn't rung exactly true. They hadn't let her out, in the morning. She hadn't been surprised. All cops were assholes; she hated all of them. All they had ever done for her and her family was cause trouble and run them out of towns.

Nothing more. Sure as hell nothing less.

Applejack didn't see another pony until about noon, when the kindly police pony from the day before came and let her out her cell. She said nothing to him, and he said very little to her, aside from telling her to not start fights and stay out of trouble.

A big bag full of bits had a habit of making anypony much nicer to you.

Luckily, she found out that Big Mac had been the one who had gotten all of her things, so there wasn't anything for the cops to confiscate. Thank Luna for small miracles.

So, after going through some more short processes, Applejack found herself out of her jail cell and back into the real world. Back into the real, harsh, unforgiving world. Standing on the stairs of the county jail, she adjusted her hat and stared out into the sun.

It was hot, today. Way hotter than it was cold inside. She wiped her forehead. Maybe she would have been better off in jail, after all. Applejack started going down the steps, slowly. She still had the same headache from yesterday. She would need some good old-fashioned medicine to make it feel better.

Her brother was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. Applejack walked up to him and gave him a big hug.

She said, "Thanks for watching out for me."

He smiled and nodded, tousling her hair. He said, "No problem. That's what kin's for, right?"

"Yeah," she said, looking around him for her saddlebags, "That's what kin's for."

Big Mac picked her saddlebags up off the ground and put them on her. AJ immediately rifled through one of the bags for her cigarettes. Pulling out the pack, she put one in her mouth and lit it, taking a big drag.

As her smoke began to drift in the air, Big Mac said, "You should try and save that pack. I don't know when you'll be able to buy another."

"Duly noted," she said, enjoying her smoke too much to care.

The pair began to walk through the train station, again. They were silent, for a few minutes. AJ was too busy enjoying her freedom, and Big Mac didn't want to break the news to her. That could come later, after they had already left. He felt kind of dirty, doing her like this, but if he didn't do it this way, then she would never get on the train.

"So," she said, after a few minutes, "Did you manage to get us some new tickets?"

"Uh...eeyup," he said, "I did."

"To the same place," she asked.

"Nope," he said.

"Oh," she said, unconcerned, "But we are going somewhere, right? Somewhere that ain't here?"

"Eeyup," he said, "Somewhere that ain't here."

"Great, then. I don't care," she said, taking out her bottle and taking the lid off. They both stopped, and Big Mac watched as she took an enormous swallow from it. Pulling the bottle away from her mouth with a pop, smacking her lips, she said, "Boy. That sure did feel great. I'd have killed for a sip of whiskey, when I was in that cell."

Big Mac said, "You should try to stretch out that bottle, too. I don't know when you'll be able to get another one."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, "I get it. We're poor. Really poor, now. I ain't worried about it."

"Well good," said Big Mac, "Me neither."

"So, I assume we ain't riding first class, right," said Applejack.

"Nope," he said.

"That's fine," she said, "I didn't want to be stuck on a train for who-knows-how-long with a bunch of rich, fancy-schmancy ponies who can't even wipe their asses without pulling the stick out of it, first. We riding coach?"

"Nope," he said, "We're riding in a boxcar."

"Is there hay in there?" she asked.

"Eeyup."

Applejack smiled and nodded her head. She said, "Well, that's something, at least. I hope it's soft hay."

"Me, too," he said.

Suddenly, there was a great racket from behind the two siblings. Applejack turned around to see what all the commotion was, and what she saw made her want to break off into a run. Grabbing her brother and turning his head, she pointed behind them, in a panic.

"It's Braeburn!" she screamed.

Big Mac looked at where she pointed, seeing a big crowd of folks being pushed aside by an even bigger group of deputies. Big badges rested on their chests, proclaiming them as officers of the law. At the head of this large group was a sheriff. The sheriff.

The sheriff of Appaloosa. Their cousin: Braeburn. He was a strong stallion, yellow with an orange and yellow mane. Where he came from, he was the law, and he was looking for somepony.

He was looking for them.

Applejack tried to keep her voice quiet, although she shook a little from anxiety. She said, "Big Mac! It's Braeburn! How the hell did he find us here?"

Big Mac never showed worry or panic. He was always stolid and calm. He said, "I dunno, sis."

"He's following us," she said, starting to move even more quickly down the train platform than she had been, before, "If he catches us, we ain't going to no county jail! We're going to prison!"

"I know," said Big Mac, moving down the platform, too, "Just stay calm. I don't know how he got here, but we just need to move real quick and calm-like. Okay?"

Applejack tried to stay calm, puffing on her cigarette. They were in a big crowd, and nopony had seen them yet. Nopony had-

Then the crowd broke. The two outlaws wandered into an open patch on the platform. AJ looked over at the crowd of deputies, with a frown. One of them immediately made eye contact with her. The entire world slowed down. All of it. All of the ponies around them seemed to crawl, as opposed to walk. Even her cigarette smoke seemed to halt in the air.

Applejack gulped. More of the deputies saw them. One of them tapped Braeburn on the shoulder and pointed at them. The sheriff's eyes scanned the crowd for what seemed like an eternity, although it was only just a single moment. His eyes locked with hers, and realization suddenly dawned on him.

He started yelling, barking out orders to his deputies and pointing towards the sibling Apples.

To her credit, Applejack always knew when it was time to run. That time was upon them, now. Grabbing her brother, she broke out into a full sprint, saddlebags jangling all around her. Big Mac followed.

She panicked, huffing and puffing as she ran. Big Mac just ran, without all the ruckus. Taking a spare moment to glance backwards, she saw that her cousin and his goons were all trying to catch up to them. They moved quickly, for such a large group. That had been on this chase for a long time, and they had finally found their quarry. Bystanders on the train platform either ran out of their way or were shoved aside.

Applejack and her brother weaved in-and-out of the large crowd, trying to stay as far ahead of the law as they could manage.

The younger Apple said, breathing heavily, "Hey...Big Mac...Where's our train? Where're we going?"

He didn't want to answer that. Not until they got to where they couldn't turn back. Applejack wouldn't like the answer, and he wanted to belay telling her as long as he could. Pointing to a train that was just starting to pull out, he said, "There! There's our train! Get on!"

AJ didn't need to be told twice, running to a pace that kept up with that of the train, she threw her saddlebags into an open boxcar. Big Mac did the same. The train picked up the pace, and Applejack barely managed to jump inside of it. The older Apple ran as fast as he could. He was stronger than his little sister, but not as fast.

The train almost got away from him, when he took the biggest jump of his life, landing half in the boxcar. His back legs dangled precariously from the open space. AJ helped him swing his way into the train, and then they were off.

After just a few more moments, the train escaped from the loading platform, and the Apples escaped from prison, once again. Braeburn and his deputies ran right up to the end of the platform, watching helplessly as the train carried their quarry away from them, again.

Applejack gave a sigh of relief, fishing out another cigarette. She lit it with her lighter and took a deep puff. Leaning back against the wall of the car, sitting on a pile of hay, she closed her eyes.

"That was close," said Big Mac.

"Yeah, it was," responded his younger sister, "Those bastards almost had us, this time."

She took her hat off of her head and placed it on the floor next to her. She took another hit from her cigarette and unstoppered her bottle of whiskey, taking a swig. Applejack held the bottle out to her brother, who shook his head.

She shrugged her shoulders, saying, "Your loss," and she took another swig.

Big Mac sat in silence. The time to break the news to her was now.

Applejack said, "So where are we headed?"

Her older brother just sat there, staring at her. He took his bandanna off of his head.

"What," she said, staring right back at him, "What's wrong? Where are we going?"

He swallowed, not wanting to say. He decided to just get it over with, though. He said, "Ponyville."

Applejack had been right in the middle of taking a nice, relaxing swallow from her bottle, when he spoke. She immediately spit it all out, sitting straight up. Her cigarette tumbled out of her mouth and onto the floor, rolling out of the open boxcar.

She said, "What? We're going where?"

"Ponyville," he repeated.

She was in shock. She didn't know what to say. So, she said, "You big fucking idiot! Why the hell would you buy us train tickets to Ponyville?!"

Big Mac wasn't bothered by the name. He was more than used to his sister's verbal abuses; she didn't cuss him out often, but she did when she was real angry. Right now, she was real angry.

Applejack said, "Big Mac! Please tell me you're kidding! Why would we be going to Ponyville?!"

He shook his head, saying, "Nope. I'm dead serious. We're going to Ponyville."

Applejack lit another cigarette. There was only silence, between them. The last place she wanted to go in the whole wide world was Ponyville. Granny Smith was there. Old memories were there. That's where they were from.

The air suddenly seemed heavy, in that little boxcar. Neither sibling said anything to the other. Applejack just smoked her cigarette and looked at her brother. What had gone so wrong? When had it all gone so wrong? She couldn't believe he would do this.

All she could manage to ask was, "Why?"

Big Mac said, "It's just time, AJ. It's time to go back."

She frowned, saying, "I don't want to. Fuck you, and fuck Ponyville."

"AJ," said her big brother, trying to smooth things over, "It's been a long time. It's time to go back. We ain't got nowheres else to go."

That much was true. They didn't, especially not now, with no money and the law right on their tail. AJ didn't want to admit all that, though. She wanted to fight it more. She said, "But we can try. We can't stop fighting. That's what pa always said. Never stop fighting."

Big Mac shook his head, saying, "No, AJ. I think it's time to quit."

She stood up, screaming, "No! We can still manage, Mac! We don't need to go there! We don't need no handouts!"

Big Mac said, "Now, you know we ain't getting no handouts. We're gonna work hard for every bit we earn, for every bite of food we take."

Applejack didn't say anything. She just sat back down, crossing her arms. Her cigarette set smoke adrift into the air.

Her older brother said, "And we've got a little sister, AJ. Remember? Do you remember little Apple Bloom? Don't you want to go see her? We can all be a big family again."

AJ shook her head, saying, "No, we can't, Big Mac. We can't 'all be a big family again.' Ma and Pa are dead."

"But why," said Big Mac, "Why can't we? You know we can. We need to go see Apple Bloom, and we need to go see Granny."

"I don't want to see that mean old bitch," said the younger Apple.

"I know you don't, AJ," said her big brother, "But we're out of options. We ain't got no more money. None. Zero. If we go to Ponyville, we can get work at the farm."

Applejack frowned. Honest work. That's what all this came down to, she guessed. Big Mac was tired of their lifestyle, the life they had been living up to this point in time. He just wanted to settle down and work at some crummy old apple farm, day-in and day-out.

She said, "So you want to go work at the farm?"

He nodded, saying, "That's the best thing for us, right now. We can go to the farm, live in the old big house. Remember the house? Remember how warm and cozy it was? We ain't got to sleep on the cold hard ground no more, Applejack. We don't have to scrounge for money or worry about when our next meal is going to be. We don't have to rob folks, no more."

Applejack narrowed her eyes. She said, "Busting our asses all day, in the hot sun, for just a few bits? Toiling hard, every day until we die. Living in one place. That's what you want?"

Big Mac nodded, saying, "Eeyup. That's what's best for us, right now. We ain't got any other options. This is the only thing we CAN do, anymore."

She spit on the ground, crushing out her cigarette and lighting another. She said, "Sounds boring. Sounds like nothing I want a part of."

Big Mac frowned. He knew there was no sense trying to talk sense into his sister. She was so stubborn. He decided to strong-arm her. He said, "Well, I'm going to the farm, with or without you. I'm done with leading the outlaw's life. I want my days to be calm and stable and peaceful."

Applejack's mouth fell open, again. She said, "You would abandon your own sister? Just like that?"

He shook his head, saying, "Nope. I ain't abandoning you. I'm trying to give us a warm place to sleep at night and good meals in our bellies. We have that waiting for us at Ponyville. We just have to go get it. If you don't want to join me, then that's your business."

AJ leaned against the wall, laying in her pile of hay. Tipping her hat over her eyes, she relented. She wasn't happy about it, but she said, "Fine. I'll go back to the farm, but I ain't putting up with that shriveled-up old sack of shit."

Big Mac smiled. She wasn't seeing reason, but he had managed to get her to come with him, anyway, and that's all he asked for. Laying down, himself, and draping his bandanna over his eyes, he said, "Welp, time to get some shut-eye. We'll be there in a few hours. I can't help but think it'll be eventful, when we do."

Then the two siblings fell silent, again. AJ took one last swig from her bottle and stoppered it, putting it beside her. She crushed out her cigarette and rolled over on her side. Big Mac just laid on his back, peacefully resting. He hoped that the hard times were finally over. They just had to get back to the old family farm, in Ponyville.

After a few minutes of silence, Applejack broke it, saying, "Hey, Mac?"

"Eeyup," he said.

"Do you ever miss ma and pa?"

He nodded, saying, "Everyday, sis."

"Me, too," she said, falling silent again.

The only sound that could be heard was the clickety-clack of the train tracks. Applejack spoke over them, again, after a few minutes.

"Hey, Mac," she said.

"Eeyup," he said.

"Do you really think that Granny Smith is still alive and kicking," she asked.

He nodded, saying, "I hope so. If not, then there wouldn't be anypony to run the farm. She needs to be there. I wouldn't worry about it, though. You know her. Tough as a hickory switch and ten times meaner than one."

"Yeah," said Applejack, "She is, ain't she. Hey, you really miss the farm, don't you?"

The older Apple shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Welp, sis. It's just nice there. Lots of good memories. It's safe, and everypony's friendly. It's really a great place to live. That's why I want us to go back."

"Well," said AJ, "You're making it happen. I hope you're right about everything."

"I will be," said Big Mac, "You'll see."

"Yeah," she said, "I'll see. I just hope you're right."

There was more silence. Only the sounds of the train could be heard.

"Hey, Mac," said the younger Apple.

"Eeyup," said the older one.

"Good night. I love you," she said.

Big Mac smiled, even though his sister couldn't see it. He said, "I love you, too, Applejack. Good night."