Victory Apple

The sheriff's office was small but practical. The main room was occupied by the two jail cells and a table surrounded by four pillows to sit on. A rack on the wall boasted an impressive little collection of root beers. An empty doorway exposed the small back room occupied by two beds.

There almost wasn't room for the six of them and their dog. Worse was the revelation of Victory's Deputy, who was watching the office when they arrived, and the little pony was more than a little confused at the sight of five new faces invading what was essentially her home.

Rarity, ever the observant one, took a moment to look over this confusing mismatch of colors. Her deep red coat contrasted starkly with her cyan mane, which had been tied back into a long braid. Rarity had to wince at how little it complimented her tail, which was short but not cropped, rather protruding wildly in every direction like a broom. All her colors were faded, as if exposure to the sun had drained the sheen from them. The only bright color came from her green eyes, wide in fear and confusion. Her Cutie Mark was, curiously enough, a campfire, somewhat out of place in this setting.

Choosing to ignore her for now, Rarity slid up to one of the pillows by the table and rested herself down on one before squeezing ever so delicately out of her saddlebags. That done, she flipped her hair back and told the Deputy, “Young lady, be a dear and bring me one of those finer root beers, will you?”

“Make yourself at home,” Victory half-growled. Twilight furled her brow; Victory's attitude towards her and Rarity was very unlike what she expected from Applejack. She wanted to call her out on it, but held her tongue. There were more important things to discuss at the moment.

Victory sat down on another pillow, and her deputy quickly placed a fresh root beer before her and Rarity. The sheriff smiled and turned the the mare, saying, “Thank you kindly, Fey.”

Fey smiled humbly in return before turning expectantly to the other guests. Hesitantly, she asked, “Would any of you...”

“Ooh! I want a root beer!” Pinkie squealed, quickly taking a seat on one of the other pillows.

Fluttershy managed a “No, I'm okay,” while Rainbow Dash just shrugged and walked forward to sit next to Rarity, leaving the last pillow for Twilight.

Twilight said, “No, that's quite alright. Thank you, Fey.” Fey just nodded and went to grab two more drinks.

At that point Victory addressed Twilight. “So you're the leader of this crew, then,” she said, “Take a seat and tell me why you're here.”

“Oh, no, I'm not the leader,” Twilight explained, taking the pillow anyway, “We're all friends, and we all came looking here for another friend who we recently discovered was missing. But first, tell me, how did you come to be sheriff of this town?”

“I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell ya. About a week ago I woke up nearby in the desert, without any clue of where I was or who I was. I thought I must've come from this town here, since it was the closest thing nearby, but nopony here's ever heard of me either.”

Good, Twilight thought, I can work with that. At least now we know for sure that it's amnesia. She thought about bringing up the wagon that AJ had been pulling, which was now parked just outside the office. But she held her tongue and let her continue.

“When I arrived,” Victory continued, her deputy now sitting beside her to listen, “the townsponies were being terrorized by three no-good unicorns. They tried stealing the good folk's tools, and started vandalizing the nearby buildings when they didn't get their way. I was the only pony who could stand up to them, and I got them to run away and leave the tools behind.

“And then the good folk here made me sheriff. They can't pay much, but I didn't ask for anything. They gave me this home and this furniture, and I get all my root beer free. Bless their hearts. They even gave me a name, since I couldn't remember my own: Victory Apple, on account of my cutie mark. I figure I owe these ponies my life for the kindness they've shown me.”

When she finished, her expression was humble, but her deputy was beaming with pride. She may have only been there a week, but Victory was clearly a treasure to these ponies.

Twilight cast a glance over to Rarity, whose expression confirmed what Twilight was thinking. If that was Victory's reintroduction to unicorns, it would only make sense that she would be a little wary of the two of them. Twilight recognized this to mean that getting Victory to trust them would be a lot harder than she hoped. But even with this explanation Rarity still wasn't ready to forgive Victory for what had happened earlier that day.

“Since then,” Victory concluded, “I've helped a pony or two over some disputes, but nothing big has gone underway. I reckon those bandits learned to stay right clear of my town.”

She almost blurted out how uneasy she was taking so much respect; all the other ponies seemed to trust her so deeply, she was second only to the mayor in this town! But she couldn't say that, not to these ponies. She knew better than to show any kind of insecurity. Why had she almost slipped up?

Before Twilight could say anything, Rainbow Dash burst in, “You kicked unicorn butt! Man, I'd have loved to see that! How'd you do that?”

“Why, it weren't nothing. I reckon protecting ponies is just what I was born to do. Now tell me why y'all are here.”

“You have to believe me,” Twilight began slowly. Taking a deep breath, she locked eyes with the sheriff and explained, “You're name is Applejack. You run Sweet Apple Acres in a town called Ponyville out east. You were only supposed to be gone six days, but when it became clear you weren't coming we set out to look for you. You have to remember: you're our friend; a good, honest workhorse; a loving sister; and a baker too.”

Victory sighed, “I'm sorry, miss. None of this rings any bells. I wish I could bake, I really do. The town needs a few good bakers right now who can help to preserve the smaller portions. We're in a bit of a crisis right now with a food shortage.”

It was Pinkie who interrupted this time, “But you are a baker. You'd come help me bake in Sugarcube Corner all the time!”

Victory Apple's eyes lit up at this. “You're a baker?” she asked. Pinkie fervently nodded. “Good,” Victory said, “Then tomorrow morning you can go up to the bakery and see what you can do to help. And the rest of you-” she looked over their group, “I'd appreciate it something fierce if you could find ways to help out around town while your here. The town needs some good workers to get up on it's feet.”

“That's fine,” Twilight said quickly, before anypony else could interrupt her again, “but when you came you were pulling that wagon out front full of foods and supplies for the town. You said that there's still a food shortage. How is that?”

Victory briefly remembered waking up surrounded by scattered food, but she simply shook her head. “No, miss, there weren't no cart with me. The one outside we confiscated from the bandits when I scared them off.”

“Oh...” Twilight said, not sure what to make of this, “Well, thank you for your time. Is there anywhere we can stay the night?”
Victory thought about it for a moment, then answered, “Well, the inn isn't exactly set up yet for visitors, ya see. But if you can pay or at least help out, I'm sure they'll find something for y'all.” She glanced at Rarity before adding, “Even though it might not be as luxurious as what some of y'all may be used to.”

“Oh Applejack,” Rarity scoffed, still clearly unhappy about how she was being treated, “That is such a bitter assessment. If it means getting your memory back, I would sleep in mud without complaint!” Though she asserted herself quite firmly with this sentiment, all four of the others could tell that she had to push herself to get the last few words out.

“Alright,” Twilight said, “We'll stay the night there. But first... there is one more thing I can do.”

“What's that?”

“It's a memory spell, that should return-”

“No!” Victory said it so fast the Twilight was literally stunned. “No magic,” she said, rigid with either anger or fear, it was hard to tell, “Not on me, and not on these townsponies. Or I will have ya jailed.”

Twilight glanced over at the wall, where a silver collar designed to prevent unicorns from accessing their magic was hanging. She gulped. This was going to be harder than she thought.

But she wasn't going to leave defeated. “Fine,” she said, “You were never one to like magical solutions anyway. I had to learn that the hard way before, and I'm not going to make that mistake again.”

And with that, she bid goodbye to Victory and young Fey before leading her group out the door and into the unfamiliar night.