Victory Apple

The blistering heat of the noonday sun beat down against the back of a hardworking mare. Though her hooves were dirty and her neck sore from pulling the cart across the Western Equestria Desert for two whole days, Applejack marched on with her head high and her eyes glued to the horizon. The distant town had been in sight for an hour now, and was steadily growing bigger as she neared; She would arrive in half an hour with the much needed vegetables and fruit seeds for the town.

It had been a long and lonely two days for Applejack. Normally her brother would be the one to make this kind of haul, but Applejack had insisted. This time of year the workload down on the farm eased up anyway, and she knew Big Mac and her sister could handle a week without her. Besides, hauling this cart across the desert was the closest thing she'd had to a vacation in years. It wasn't often enough that she got to visit other towns.

This one was just a seedling settlement in its own right. They had set up on the only spring for miles, a whole three days away from civilization, hoping that the development of their town into a refueling point would lead to attempts of journeys further into and even across the badlands. For that kind of dedication, and that kind of bravery, Applejack couldn't help but admire these folk.

She imagined the residents of this little town, still sadly lacking a name, welcoming her and her delivery with open hooves. It would be nice to talk to them, see how life on the frontier was, especially after two whole days without even Winona to talk to. She could imagine them all now, frontier ponies, most farm-raised like herself, doing their best to ensure the survival of their dream and the hope for a wider Equestria.

And it looked like she was going to get to say hello sooner than she had hoped. Already she could see figures approaching in the distance and coming fast. Her ears perked up and she couldn't help but smile.

“Why, I reckon they sent out the welcome wagon to help me with my wagon. How kind.”

But, as they neared, Applejack could see that they weren't slowing down at all.

“Well, that's mighty odd,” she thought aloud, “They're looking to run right past me. But if they ain't here for me, where are they going?”

Still, she continued forward as merry as she could, intent on making a good first impression on these new ponies. Her determination faltered quickly, though. By this point it was clear that the ponies, there were three of them, were coming straight for her.

Why are they... Oh Celestia they're gonna ram me!

Applejack stiffened in fear as the realization set in. There was nothing she could do, she was so well hooked into the yoke attaching her to the cart that she couldn't turn, she couldn't even back up. She was stuck helplessly in place as one of them, the stallion of the three, ran up and hit her from the side.

Applejack was thrown over, but the yoke prevented her from falling. There was a snap as another pony bashed into the rigging that held her in place, and AJ was quickly sent toppling over. She snapped upright into a fighting pose, intent on defending herself and her cart with her life.

The other two unicorns had grabbed the cart with their magic. Without thinking, AJ charged forward, lowering her head for a headbutt. She was quickly yanked back by something grabbing onto her tail. It was the stallion, who had grabbed her tail with his magic and yanked as hard as he could.

“Oh no you-!” Applejack charged right at him, but he just smirked and cast another spell. AJ came headfirst into an invisible wall, and when she could see anything but stars again it was only for a moment as the ground rushed up to meet her.

***

When the orange mare opened her eyes again the sun had changed position. Still a little wobbly, she struggled to her feet and took a moment to balance herself. The pony glanced around, catching sight of some scattered vegetables. There was a potato there, a head of lettuce here, and a few ears of corn. None of it made much sense to her.

“Now where in tarnation am I?” she asked herself. It was strange- she was alone, surrounded by food, and the top of her head felt strangely empty for some reason. She felt around in her mane, but could find nothing unusual about it. Although, at the moment, the concept of “usual” was still a bit out of her reach.

There had to be some clue as to why she was there, right? Glancing around in the distance, the mare spotted what looked to be a town not too far away. She must have come from that direction, then. There wasn't anything to suggest otherwise. Were there normally towns in the middle of the desert? She couldn't be sure, but that didn't sound entirely right either.

Still not entirely comfortable with the situation, she began in that direction, and it wasn't long before she arrived on the outskirts of the little town. Parts of it looked to be still under construction, but there was still some atmosphere of familiarity- she felt at home amidst these bare wooden buildings. That was a good sign, right? But the place was oddly silent; where were all the other ponies?

A sound caught her attention, and the mare trotted softly in its direction. It had sounded like somepony had raised her voice for a moment. As she got closer in that direction, she could make out the source of that sound. Somepony was talking, addressing a crowd from the sounds of it. She couldn't make out individual words, but her excitement at finding somepony else propelled her faster.

One final turn brought her to the main street of the town. Like the others, it was un unpaved streak of dirt road, but the street was incredibly wider than the rest and the buildings that adorned its side gave off an air of unmistakable attraction.

This is not what caught her attention. Rather, it was the sight of a group ponies standing outside of what must have been the town hall. In the middle of the crowd were three unicorns standing in front of a small cart. The middle one, wearing a brown stetson that failed to cover her horn, looked angry.

“Come on, you filthy varmints!” she cried, “Is that the best you can do?”

The orange pony scooted closer to see that the wagon was partially filled with tools and bags. Some of the other ponies in the little crowd were bustling nervously, but she couldn't guess why.

The unicorn glared around for a moment, before asking through gritted teeth, “So nopony has anything else for us, then?”

Nopony spoke up, and nopony moved to put anything more in the cart.

“Very well then,” she said, motioning for one of her partners to begin. The stallion picked up a nearby barrel with his magic, letting it hover in the air for a moment. Then, to the confused newcomer's horror, he smashed the barrel into the nearest window, smashing them both.

Something snapped in the orange pony just then, she found herself crying out, “Now hold up here, missy!” All the ponies turned to look at her with shock and amazement. The unicorns were the most surprised of them all. Their leader narrowed her eyes in anger at the newcomer.

Instead of backing away from that glare, the lone pony stepped forward and said, “Just who do you think y'all are, stealing from these here townsponies? And vandalism? Why, y'all got some nerve, ya know that?”

The head unicorn turned to the other mare beside her and nodded to her. She nodded in reply before stepping forward to prepare a spell.

Now, the loner already couldn't tolerate theft, and she already couldn't tolerate destruction of property, but using magic to threaten and harm a bunch of defenseless earth ponies? Suddenly the time for words was over.

Running on instinct, she kicked up a cloud of dust and sent dirt flying into the unicorn's eyes. As she screamed out in pain, canceling the spell in the process, the other two made to move. The lead mare swiped at the insolent pony that defied her, but the girl simply ducked and parried with a well-placed headbutt.

The rest of the ponies quickly moved away as the fight began to escalate. While the two mares were occupied trying to handle the earth pony that was easily bucking their hindquarters, the third unicorn grabbed their cart in his magic and made to run off with it. But the feisty little vigilante wasn't about to let him get away.

Leaving the other two alone for a moment to catch their breath, she swiftly began after him. He was slowed down by the weight of the cart, and it was only a matter of moments before she had caught up with him. Wisely, he let the card go and continued running.

Satisfied with the knowledge that the cart was secure, she let him go and turned to face her other adversaries. But both mares had taken off, slipping down the alleyways into the side streets, from where they had any number of ways out of town. They were beyond capture.

The orange pony stood there, panting but feeling great. The other ponies all stood in awe and wonder at what she had done. They had never seen a pony take on a unicorn like that before, let alone three. And it suddenly dawned on them that they were no longer the helpless victims they once were.

Before the young fighter could catch her breath, the townsponies were all over her. They swarmed her, praising her with compliments, and quickly took to parading her around the streets. She was so overwhelmed with emotion at this that, for the moment, she forgot that she couldn't even remember her own name.