Victory Apple

Rarity cast her magic shield just as she and Fey entered the camp. At the moment, it wasn't as much for protection as it was a show of defiance. And just maybe Rarity's magic would help to cloak Twilight's own magical signature if somepony was watching for that kind of thing.

At the sight of these two new and well-fed ponies, one of which was a unicorn even, the camp began to stir with restlessness. Dark whispers filled the air as disgusted eyes turned their way, but neither Fey nor Rarity showed any sign of weakness. The camp seemed to grow angrier at their defiance.

The two pushed their way to the middle of the camp with ease. Not a single pony stepped forward to challenge them. Rarity chanced a quick glance over to where their friends were tied up as they passed. As much as it pained her, she couldn't say anything, or even give as much as a reassuring nod. The other ponies would see it as a sign of weakness.

A unicorn with a stetson was waiting for them, flanked by two unicorn stallions. She was easily the best-fed of everypony living here, but that didn't mean that Fey couldn't make out the ribs beginning to show through her coat. Others stood scattered around nearby, but only two or three of them seemed to be in any condition to put up a fight.

What in Tartarus was going on here?

“So you found us,” their leader observed with a smirk. It was clear to Fey how tired she was, but also how willing she was to put on a good performance for her many, surprisingly many, followers. She wasn't likely to compromise in this state, but Fey knew that she had to try.

“I wanted to talk to you,” she said.

“You wanted to arrest us,” the pony corrected her.

“No, I didn't,” Fey said. She turned to Rarity and motioned for her to drop the protection spell.

Rarity hesitated, but followed the command. She wanted to look over to where her friends were tied up, but she couldn't risk anypony following her gaze and seeing them being rescued. How far had Twilight gotten?

Fey continued, “There, now we're on even ground. I just came to ask why you're stealing from our settlement.”

The leader gave a dry, humorless laugh. “Take a look around,” she said, “and guess!”

“You're starving.”

“You're a genius,” she spat back.

“Why did you resort to theft?”

“Because we're outlaws,” she explained, motioning behind Fey for two unicorns to surround them, “It's what we do.”

Yes, it is, Fey thought. She quickly dismissed this thought and said, “There must be a reason you couldn't simply ask for help.”

Rarity was tense; they were surrounded now. She wanted to protect herself, to put up the shield immediately. But would they take that as a sign of weakness? The shield would be stronger if she didn't have to maintain it for very long, she knew, but did she have time before the spells hit to throw it up?She wasn't as fast as Twilight, and she wouldn't be able to predict when it was coming. What if they saw her lack of defense as an invitation to attack? And where was the signal that Twilight was done?

Contrary to what Rarity believed, almost no time at all had passed since they entered the camp, and the invisible Twilight was only now finishing whispering the entirety of the plan to their captured friends.

“...need to wait until I have all three of you loose, and then you'll follow me out of the camp. We'll follow you as soon as I've given them the signal to run.”

Victory whispered harshly, “What in tarnation did y'all think ya were doin' coming out here like this?”

“Saving two of our best friends and their dog,” Twilight replied simply, “Now stay quiet and hold still.”

Dash and Victory did as they were told. Victory had so much running through her head at the moment. They claimed to be her friends, even risked their own safety to come after her. Heck, if she was being honest, she almost did feel like she knew them: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and of course Winona. The dog had been all over her as much as it- as much as she could. There was no denying that sense of familiarity. And that moment at the ranch... as well as what the unicorn had said about stealing the cart from her...

Twilight focused all her excess magic and quickly directed it at the chain holding Victory. It broke and fell to the ground. But the use of magic caused her invisibility spell to falter, and she panicked for a moment. Thankfully nopony had seen her this time except Rainbow Dash, who uttered an “uh-oh” to echo Twilight's own sentiment. She still had to cast the spell two more times, and if she was seen they'd never make it past the rim of the camp.

But she shook that thought off; the camp was adequately distracted by Fey and Rarity. But tension was mounting. Twilight couldn't afford to second-guess herself right now. She quickly drew up the magic again and broke the chain holding Rainbow Dash down, feeling herself turn visible momentarily once again.

She didn't get the chance to risk it once more. Much to the surprise of Twilight and everypony else, Victory Apple jumped to her hooves and charged straight for the camp leader. She knew it was only a matter of time before they laid their filthy hooves on her deputy and her friends, and she wasn't going to run away and leave them to fight for themselves.

There was a general outcry from the camp as their prisoner darted forward, and many of them quickly ducked towards their tents. A few ran over, but even those brave enough to block her path were too weak to hold her back. She bowled through them all, and not even the unicorns did anything but watch as Victory collided with their leader and began grappling. The stetson flew off and hit the ground, sending up dust.

Fey rushed forward, Rarity right on her heels with the magic barrier. Twilight and Dash rushed over as well, leaving Winona barking from where she was chained down. Rarity was stopped when another unicorn stepped right in front of her, her eyes hungry for violence but her body barely able to take the hunger. Rainbow Dash was able to hold back both a pegasus and a unicorn on her own just a short distance away with minimal difficulty.

Twilight pulled the leader off of Victory just as Fey grabbed her boss's hair in her teeth, fighting to restrain her. The leader tried to cast a spell, but Twilight cancelled it out with a bit of her own magic. She was starting to feel dizzy now.

It looked like they were done fighting. Everypony had stopped and gathered to watch what would happen now. These ponies were in no condition to fight, and, as angry as she was, Victory didn't have the heart to fight them.

She stood up, looked at Fey once, looked at the bandit leader still sprawled out on the ground, and then looked to Twilight Sparkle. Finally she took a deep breath and told the bandit leader, “Y'all are goin' to pay for yer crimes, ya hear?”

“We've heard that often enough,” the leader spat back, getting up despite her weakness.

“Well, if ya've been doin' this fer long-”

“You don't get it!” she cried. Her composure was gone. She wasn't even fighting to hold back the tears anymore. “We've always been told that. There's nothing you can do to us that we haven't experienced before. Even death is as familiar to us now as the pain of hunger.”

“I... I'm not quite sure what ya mean,” Victory admitted, looking a little less sure of herself.

The leader pointed to a nearby pony, saying, “She was held for five years for stealing food for her child. She couldn't afford it, but they didn't care. And him- convicted for an assault he didn't commit; they just wanted the case closed as soon as possible. Serpentine over there watched her husband slowly rot away in prison for treason, and when that was over they tried framing her as well.

“Everypony here has a story like that. We're not just thieves, we're outlaws in our own utopia. We came out here in hopes of survival, to make it away from the injustice that follows us within the Equestrian borders. But there's no way across this desert. We're going to die here, and no small amount of food or supplies that we take from you is going to make the difference.”

When this was over, the leader was standing tall and proud despite the tears falling from her eyes. She looked over the tired and hungry members of her camp, and called out, “We've survived despite everything against us! We came together as a family to help each other through the impossible task of overcoming tyranny! And is this how it ends?”

Victory was torn. Fey could feel it, and she felt the exact same way. Now that she knew the truth, the memories of those old stories she'd read where the villains' got their comeuppance seemed to be leaving a bad taste in her mouth. And looking over the condition they were in, her survivalist instinct told her that, sadly, she would have resorted to the same means if she had to.

Victory had to say something. “But if that's the case, why didn't y'all simply come into town when we settled and stayed there? Ya'd be a lot healthier and a lot happier.”

“We couldn't trust them,” she explained, “They'd have cast us out, or turned us in- called the army and had us taken away.”
Fey glanced over at Rainbow Dash, whose eyes were open wide in shock at the realization of what they had done. Catching the deputy's gaze, Dash nodded and quickly galloped away in the direction of the town to stop Pinkie Pie.

“If yer tellin' the truth, then ya've got nothing to fear,” Victory tried to explain, “I came into town with nothin', and look where I am now. I have a home and a job! And even though money's a little short I'm always fed. Ya coulda had all this too if ya'd just trust somepony else fer once!”

After a moment, Fey leaned in to remind her, “Ma'am, you didn't trust any of our friends when they first came to town claiming to know about you.”

“She has a point, Applejack,” Rarity added, “If anything, from the way you first treated me and Twilight, you've proved that you would have not been welcoming of these ponies at all.”

“Well I... but that was... the only reason I...!” Victory didn't know how to respond, how to show Rarity that she was wrong. There had been a good reason that Victory did everything she had. She had good reason to distrust unicorns. If it weren't for these thieves- fugitives- in the first place...

But she'd never believe that, not Rarity. She was a smart pony. Victory remembered that- remembered seeing her all those times, giving up her tail to sooth that sea serpent, using her magic to transform the tree that smashed through Twilight's window by transforming it into smaller potted plants. But that was impossible. She'd never met Rarity or Twilight before they came into town. Appl- no, Victory had never seen them before in her life... right?

For a minute everpony looked at her, not sure how she was going to react. She looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown. And then finally, with a great howl, she cried out, “I just can't take this anymore!” and fell to the ground, burying her head in her hooves.

A moment later when she stood back up, there was something noticeably different about her. She walked over to grab the stetson hat from the ground and placed it gently on top of her head before turning to face the leader of the camp.

When she spoke, it was in a soft, understanding tone. “Listen, sugarcube,” she said, “I know it can be frightening learning to open up and trust other ponies, but hear me out. You've been taking food that these poor townsfolk need to survive, and it ain't doing you any good from the looks of it.

“Come back with us, apologize to the ponies you've wronged and explain yer situation. They'll forgive you, I promise. The settlement is horribly underpopulated, and without the extra helping hooves there's no way it'll survive 'till the end of the year. Ya said ya were a family- ya depended on each other. Well, we're all gonna have to learn to trust in each other if we ever wanna survive out here.”

She walked up to the leader of the camp, who shirked back but did not flee. Smiling, Applejack raised a hoof, and after a moment to look around at her poor followers, the leader shook it.

“I hope you're right about this, Sheriff,” she said. Her tone was bitter, but she knew that there was no better solution.

“I am right,” Applejack assured her, “And as soon as we get back home I'll be sure and tell the Princess to send more food out this way.”

Homesickness hit Applejack with the realization of just how long she'd been gone. Her family must have been worried sick. And her friends...

The sheriff turned around to face Rarity, who was standing there with happy tears in her eyes. She came forward a bit and whispered, “Applejack,” and wiped a tear away before bawling out, “I'm so glad to have you back.” Rarity reached forward and grabbed the mare in a tight hug, causing the sheriff to blush a little.

“I'm glad to be back, sugarcube,” she said, “Now would ya mind letting go so I can breathe some?”

Rarity gave a little laugh and did as she was asked, sniffling a little. Smiling, she said, “And Twilight didn't even have to use her memory spell.”

“That she didn't!” AJ agreed, laughing alongside her. Twilight was still sitting on the ground, trying desperately to quell the throbbing pain in her head.

No more magic ever again, she promised herself, not after today. She wasn't even aware that the situation had been resolved and Applejack's memory restored.

Watching all of this from the side was Deputy Lawless. She had nothing to say, nothing she could say. Her entire world had shattered all at once, just like she knew it would. But that didn't make it any easier to bear. Now there was nothing to do but stand in silence amidst the pieces of her broken heart.