Chapters 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.
“Eight days, she's been gone a whole eight days!”
Applebloom was beginning to hyperventilate. Normally she wouldn't be this energetic as the sun rose, but the stress of her sister being two days behind schedule left her in a state of almost sheer panic. She'd tried to contain it for as long as she could, but seeing her sister's friends standing in their kitchen and suiting up to go out searching for her made the situation all too real.
Big Mac tried to pull her aside and out of the way. Twilight, who had just finished strapping on Fluttershy's saddlebags, turned to her and said, “Don't worry Applebloom, we'll find her. She probably just stayed an extra day to help out. It's a long journey there and back; I wouldn't be surprised if we run into her on the road.”
But her comforting words had no effect on the troubled feelings stirring around inside her. It was the same worry that was plastered over Fluttershy's expression. In fact, their entire gang was unusually silent. Even stubborn old Big Mac had a long face. Only Pinkie Pie showed any sort of energy, twitching and jittering with worry over her pal.
“We'll find her,” Twilight tried to assure Applebloom, aware that she was saying it more to herself. In her head she knew that there truly was nothing to panic over, but her heart was gripped in fear like everypony else's.
Winona sat by the door expectantly. At Twilight's request, Fluttershy had convinced the dog to come with them. It was a feeble hope, but there was always the chance that her dog might help them in locating her... just in case something had happened. And in turn, Twilight was going to leave Spike, still asleep from the night before, at the Apple family farm for Big Mac to look after. It seemed like such an unfair exchange to Twilight, but Big Macintosh had insisted on doing it so Twilight could go.
Rainbow Dash quickly stepped outside once more to fly up and scan the roads on the bleak hope that AJ had traveled through the night and was now coming within sight of the farm. Twilight checked the list one more time to make sure they had everything they would need for the long journey there and back. She was hoping that it wouldn't last that long.
While the others filed out, she bade her goodbyes to AJ's siblings, giving Big Mac the letter she had written for Spike that contained her apology. She thanked him again for looking after the little one, but he shrugged off as nothing. Sparing one last glance at the pair as she stepped outside, Twi magically shut the door behind her. The journey had begun.
***
There wasn't much talk on the train ride to Appleloosa, from where their journey would really begin. After they had all collected themselves, used the bathroom, and found directions to this almost unheard of desert town, the five set out. It was almost noon, and they had to move fast if they had any hope of reaching the unnamed settlement in under two days.
Rainbow Dash flew above, keeping an eye out for any traveling mares and their wagons, while Fluttershy kept her own gaze on Winona. The dog's playful antics provided them their only jolly reprieve from the sullen mission they were on. Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense was on full-time alert; Twilight hoped that it would at least alert them to any coming danger even if it couldn't help them find their friend. Even Rarity, it seemed, had a grasp of their situation enough to keep her mouth shut and not complain about the heat or dust.
Conversation was sadly nonexistent. But with every passing hour, everypony could feel the tension rising. Even Winona, curled up and resting on Fluttershy's back, seemed to sense that their hope was a futile one. When Fluttershy finally came to tears, the group decided it was time to stop and rest for a bit before going on.
When they set up camp that night, too tired and too cold to continue, the five tried their hardest not to think about their mission. They talked and laughed, and even Winona seemed to get her mind off of her master's disappearance. But the weight of her absence was felt by all. Not a single one of them went to bed dry-eyed.
The next day was a little better. It was clear now that Applejack must still be at the settlement. Yet that belief did not end their worry. Each imagined the worse- injury, illness, even capture... what in the wide wide world of Equestria could keep Applejack of all ponies from returning home to her family and friends?
It was late in the evening when they finally arrived. The town had been visible for over an hour, but the initial rush of energy they felt at the sight of it drained quickly as it refused to get any closer to them. When they finally entered the town's outer limits, they were more relieved than eager. It had been a long two days.
“Alright girls,” Twilight finally addressed them, her lips chapped from the arid winds, “We need to stick together for now. It's late, and we need out sleep. Tomorrow we- Winona, no!”
The dog had perked up and dashed away before anypony could stop her. The miserable little group snapped back to full alertness at this and took after the runaway. Dash was the fastest, using her wings to propel herself down the road after her.
But the dog slipped away and the five were forced to a stop. “Oh no,” Fluttershy said, “Where'd she go? Oh where'd she go? Applejack will be so disappointed in me for losing her precious Winona.”
“Get ahold of yourself, Fluttershy!” Rainbow snapped, “She's around here somewhere!”
“We'll have to split up!” Twilight asserted.
“Ooh, like a banana?” Pinkie offered, “I love banana splits! With bananas and cherries and ice cream...”
Ignoring her, Twilight quickly addressed the others, “Rainbow, you fly to the top of these buildings and glance at the side roads from there. Rarity and Fluttershy will watch the main road. I'll ask around if anypony has seen-”
Her instructions were cut short by a familiar voice not too far away. Hearts pounding, each of them forgot what Twilight had been saying and rushed around the building and onto the main street of town. An orange pony with yellow hair and three apples as a cutie mark was standing nearby. Winona was circling her and barking excitedly.
Had they not been so swept up in their joy they would have realized that their old friend was missing her trademarked stetson hat, or that while her mane was still tied back her tail was flowing freely. They should have at least noticed the vest and star-shaped pin that she was wearing. But as they rushed forward to meet her, it was what the pony said that caught them completely off-guard.
“Somewhat get this varmint off me!” The five stopped in their tracks and watched as Applejack tried to shoo away her oldest and most faithful partner as if she were a nuisance. Winona sat down and whined, not sure why her master was acting so strange.
“Applejack?” Rainbow Dash asked, stepping forward.
It took the mare a moment before she turned and asked, “Huh? You talkin' to me?”
Rainbow's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe it. Here was Applejack, standing there and not recognizing them. In fact, now that they had a moment, all five of them could see all the incongruities in their friends appearance. The most striking was her expression- a total lack of recognition. But it was the star-shaped sheriff badge on her vest that caught their attention the most.
“Applejack?” Pinkie asked, “Is that you?”
“Applejack?” The mare asked, visibly confused, “Nah, you must got me confused. Name's Victory. Victory Apple. And I'm the sheriff of this here town.” Her eyes drifted over to Twilight and Rarity, and then narrowed. Adopting a slightly more threatening tone, she added, “I ain't seen you around these parts before. And I don't like no troublemakers in my town.”
“No,” Twilight tried to explain, “She's...” but she could tell that it wasn't going to work. Bowing her head in defeat, she said, “Yes, she's ours.”
“Well you keep her on a tighter leash, you hear me?” she warned, before her expression softened, “Don't want her getting hurt or nothing.”
Rarity cried out, “Applejack, you can't be serious ! How can you not remember your own friends?!”
“...friends?”
“Your best friends!” Rarity leapt forward, and Victory's eyes widened. Instinctively, she jumped up on her hind hooves and pushed Rarity back. The diva stumbled and fell, a look of total shock on her face.
Victory scooted back, but maintained an attack position. “What do y'all mean, friends?” she asked slowly, “Just who are y'all? Where did ya come from? And why do y'all insist on calling me 'Applejack'?”
Twilight sighed and asked, “Is there anywhere we can go to discuss this? We've been traveling for two days now, and we could really use a seat.”
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?”
“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.
“Welcome to- oh, Victory dear, it's you.”
Like many of the buildings in this newborn town, the bakery had no name- no identity. It was nothing like the bright and inviting Sugarcube Corner the six normally visited, and when they followed Victory through the door they felt it a bit offputting. The dull brown wood on the interior matched the dull brown wood of it's exterior, the same dull brown wood that made up every building. Coming from any other town in Equestria, it was clear that no building here had it's own identity.
But when Victory had stepped in, it was with a clear sense of belonging, as if she had known the building all her life.
“Yes ma'am,” Victory replied, tilting her head in a respectful bow, “An' I brought somepony along who could help with the workload for t'day.”
“That's awfully kind of you, dear,” the mare replied, stunned, “But don't you think that five assistants...?”
“Oh, no, I'm sorry, ma'am, only one of these girls is a baker.”
“Oh?” the mare looked relieved, “And who would that be?”
Right on cue, Pinkie Pie came bouncing forward to introduce herself: “Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie! What do you bake here? Cookies? Cupcakes? Brownies? Ooh, I bet you make the best brownies! Just look at this place- it's all brown! Okay, not the same shade of brown, but...”
The mare looked to Victory, asking worriedly, “You sure she's a baker?”
The remaining three and Winona followed Victory out the door and up the road towards the main spring the settlement was based around. Here the scarce grass grew the thickest, making it the only place remotely suitable for keeping cattle. Thus, the settlement's only farm and ranch was set up over this spot.
“Um... Victory?” Twight asked, “Why are you bringing us out here?” Part of her hoped that the mare was going to help out on the farm a bit. It would be probably the best indication that she retained any sizable chunk of her memory, however hidden it may be.
Victory stopped at the main gate and turned to Rainbow Dash. “You there, Rainbow-somethin', you're a weather pony, right?”
“Yeah,” Dash replied, peeved at the thought that “weather pony” was still the best way some ponies chose to define her.
“You and I are gonna see if you can't help improve the irrigation to this here farm.” Without waiting for an answer, she asked the others, “Any of you three good with animals?” She looked down at Winona as she said this, and the dog gave out a happy little bark.
“Um, I am, Apple- I... uh, I mean, Miss Victory.”
Good!” Victory got right behind Fluttershy and began pushing her towards the farmhouse. Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes, but shirked back when she saw Twilight's glare.
“What?” she asked, “You really think I'm going to waste my time helping some farmponies water their grass? Are you nuts ?”
“Rainbow Dash, if we're ever going to get Applejack to trust us, we need to get on her good side; and the five of us didn't exactly make a good impression, remember? Just stick around and help for a while. Maybe they'll even feed you.”
Dash sighed. “Alright,” she said, turning to follow Victory and Fluttershy, “But she's right, you are the bossy one in this group.”
Rarity scoffed, “Now Rainbow Dash, you know that's not a fair assessment. Twilight is simply trying to help poor Applejack in the best way she knows how... even if that does mean she gets a little bossy at times.” She offered a faint smile as she said this, but Twilight was not amused.
Rainbow Dash just stuck her tongue out at the two of them as she walked away. Victory returned shortly after, and her expression said she wasn't fond of the idea of walking with two unicorns beside her.
“Yer feathered friends aren't normal for pegasus, are they?” she asked them.
“Not quite,” Twilight admitted.
Rarity had a slightly longer comment. “Oh, true Rainbow Dash is a bit much sometimes, but darling Fluttershy is just so, well, darling. One cannot help but love her quiet demeanor...”
“Does she always talk like this?” Victory asked Twilight.
Twilight simply hung her head and sighed, admitting, “Yes, yes she does.”
Rarity continued to fawn over Fluttershy, rambling off on various points until she was far beyond circling back to where she started- and then somehow finding a way to keep talking- until they reached the main street of town again.
Victory told Twilight, “One of the others mentioned that you were really into books. I think it was the blue one. So here we are.” They had stopped in front of the town hall, the largest building on the street. Victory walked on in and by the empty reception counter without a second thought, Twilight and Rarity in her wake.
When she opened the door Twilight nearly fainted. There were papers, papers everywhere. Books and files were strewn about all over the place! It was a mess straight from the deepest recesses of tartarus itself.
And sitting in her desk, which was itself buried under stacks of paper, was the poor mayor left in charge of this small town. She was clearly having a bad day, but brightened up the moment she saw Victory.
“Sheriff Apple, what a pleasant surprise!” she cried, stepping out from behind her desk and coming forward to greet them, “To what do I owe the honor?”
“I heard that ya needed some help filin'. They say this one here's an... 'egghead'? She's good with papers, from what I gather.”
“A... unicorn?”
Victory nodded, somewhat sadly, “She's part of a group that's offered to help for a few days. I can vouch for her, don't ya worry.” And as she said that, a part of Victory wondered why she was so willing to trust this stranger. But she put on a calm face, and the mayor relented.
“Alright,” she said, “I really need the help anyway.”
Victory smiled and whispered, somewhat sinisterly, into stunned Twilight's ear, “Good luck.”
This jolted Twilight out of her momentary paralysis, and she had to decide quickly what to do. She had to stay with Victory, to find a way to jog her memory. Oh, but this place just had to be cleaned up! How could she sleep at night knowing that such a mess existed? What if someone came in looking for an important document?!
Defeated by her natural urge, Twilight quickly grabbed Rarity and told her, “Rarity, you've got to listen to me. I don't want you to leave Applejack's side for a second. I... I can't leave this. But you have to try to restore her memory. Tell her everything you can about her and her life in Ponyville. Do. You. Understand?”
Rarity just smiled and rested a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder. “Twilight, darling, I won't rest until she's restored to the good old Applejack we know and love.”
With that promise made, Twilight immediately turned and began shuffling through the wildly strewn papers. Rarity turned and followed Victory out the door.
“So what do you do, miss... Rarity, was it?” Victory asked carefully.
“Why, I'm only the finest dressmaker in all of Ponyville,” Rarity boasted, “In fact, I even made the dresses from our trip to the Grand Galloping Galla. Surely you must-”
“A dressmaker, huh?” Victory mused, “Well, we only got one tailor- she's the one who made me this here vest, but she's married to the blacksmith. And somethin' tells me that a pony like you wouldn't step within ten tails of a blacksmith's shop.”
“Oh, absolutely not,” Rarity affirmed, “Could you imagine all that soot on my coat? Or my hair?! How dreadful!”
Victory groaned. It was going to be a long day.
“Anyway, what did you think of that farm back there?” Rarity suddenly asked.
“Wha? Oh, it's fine, I suppose,” Victory replied.
“Anything specific?” she asked, “I'm more partial to fruit-bearing trees myself, but I suppose they wouldn't grow in a dreary place like this. What about you? Apples for a cutie mark- I bet you'd belong right at home in an apple orchard, would't you think?”
“This here 'dreary place' is my home. And if we could get the water irrigation workin' properly, we'll be able to start growin' trees by this next planting season.”
“An apple orchard would look nice out here.”
Victory gave a noncommittal grunt in reply.
“Um... what about the ranch?” Rarity offered.
“What about it?”
“Wouldn't you like to be out there... um, roping them doggies? Getting- ugh- down and dirty?”
“Not really, no.”
“OH COME ON!”
Rarity's sudden outburst caused Victory to jump, and she instinctively took a fighting pose. Rarity looked angry too, and she pointed a hoof at Victory and said, “I may not like your uncouth lifestyle, but the Applejack I know would never pass up the chance to do some honest hard work, especially if it meant helping out ponies like those struggling farmers back there!”
“Well I ain't Applejack!” Victory cried out. Several other ponies along the street had stopped to watch this unknown unicorn argue with their beloved sheriff. Seeing them argue seemed to stir up a gentle tension in the air. Unicorns were already unwelcome here, and seeing one going up against their sheriff brought up more than one pony's darker imagination.
Victory continued, “And I do help other ponies. But I help in my own way, by keeping peace and upholdin' the law.” Instead of swinging around and delivering a swift, hard buck like some of the onlookers hoped, she simply turned and began moving away at a swift trot.
Rarity, not one to give up on her friends, followed quickly after her. As soon as she got close enough to say anything, though, Victory began picking up speed. She was faster than Rarity too, but Rarity followed despite the dust collecting in her eyes and mane.
By the time they reached the sheriff's office they were in a full-blown gallop, and had to come quickly to a stop to avoid passing it. Rarity slammed right into Victory, flipping over her and landing on her back in the dirt. The sheriff wasted no time in getting through those front doors and calling out, “Fey! I need a drink.”
Rarity winced as she stood up, fully aware that the next glance in a mirror would make her want to faint from how dirty she was. Suppressing the urge to run home and bathe, she made her way into the sheriff's office after her friend.
Fey and Victory were sitting at the table, Victory drinking a mug of freshly-poured root beer. Fey looked at Rarity expectantly, but the irritation in Victory's eyes as Rarity entered the room told her to stay put and not offer the visitor a drink.
Rarity thought better than to put her exceptionally dirty hooves on the floor pillow and simply scooted it aside so she could sit at the table. Leaning her bare haunches against the unsanded wood was not a pleasant prospect, but she was already dirty and she would rather suffer a bit more than ruin a perfectly good pillow.
Victory asked her deputy, “Did anypony stop by this morning while I was out?”
“No ma'am,” Fey replied in a soft but firm voice. Rarity took a moment to look her over again. She had such a dull appearance, but her eyes were fresh with wonder and the confidence in her voice suggested that she had seen much more than she let on. She wasn't quite as strong as Applejack, but Rarity could see that she had the potential to be.
But Victory only nodded and said, “Good. I've had a stressful morning.” Fey's eyes flickered in Rarity's direction, but she said nothing. Her mentor continued, “I'd appreciate it if you took the afternoon patrol.”
“Of course, ma'am.”
As the deputy began to walk away, Victory called out, “Oh, and miss Lawless?” The deputy paused at the sound of her name. “Check up on the bakery for me. I fear I may have made a mistake unleashing that pink fiend upon them.”
As soon as the door closed behind her, Rarity told Victory, “She shows you a lot of reverence.”
“She's a good kid,” Victory said, “I'm just hopin' she learns how to open her mouth a bit more.”
Victory took another swig of root beer. Letting the subject of Fey drop, Rarity leaned in and said, “In Ponyville, your Apple Cider is much more popular than root beer.”
The baker, her husband, and their son worked hard to make whatever breads and sweets they could with the food shortage in place. It was hard enough alone, and the promise of help had seemed like a tantalizing offer. But as soon as she got sight of the pink pony, the baker's gut told her that accepting help was a bad idea. Still, it was at Sheriff Apple's request, so how could she have said no?
The mistake was made immediately obvious when Pinkie Pie immediately decided it would be her job to taste test anything and everything that made it out of the oven. And apparently the only way she could do it was to eat up half of the meager portions that they managed to cook up.
“I'll take that one, and that one, and that one, and that one!”
“Pinkie Pie,” the baker's husband pleaded, “You're eating up our livelihood.”
“No I'm not, silly, the neighborhood if far to big for me to eat.”
Finally, it became too much. The baker took Pinkie Pie and threw her out the swinging doors, where she landed flat on her face in front of Deputy Fey.
“Hiya Deps,” Pinkie chimed. Fey just sighed and shook her head before stepping over the pony to go inside and check on the bakers. It was partially to make sure they were still holding up despite the food shortage, and partially to check to see if they would need any counseling after what they'd been through.
As Pinkie stood up, she caught sight of a familiar two ponies walking down the road. Victory had evidently decided to go on a stroll, and brought Rarity along with her! Rarity was, of course, chatting it up while V listened quietly.
Pinkie jumped at the opportunity to join in, leaping towards them and stopping just short of bowling them over. “Hey!” she said, “Whatcha guys talking about?”
“Well,” Rarity answered, “I'm trying to help Applejack here recover her memories of working on the farm.”
Victory explained, “Or, as she puts it: workin' in the mud with no sense of social graces.”
“I may have, uh, exaggerated some of the more unpleasant details,” Rarity admitted.
“Ooh, that sound like fun. I love talking! And especially the stuff my friends love! Did she tell you about the zapapples yet?”
“Weren't ya helpin' out the baker an' her family?” Victory pointed out.
“I was, but they kicked me out. Can you believe it? How rude!”
Victory groaned. She was going to have to go apologize for Pinkie's behavior later.
For now, she just had to survive it herself.
***
Another rock came crashing down in the lettuce patch, prompting a cry of protest from the farmer.
“You no-good pegasus!” he cried, “Watch where yer throwin' those things.”
Rainbow Dash was further upstream, trying to pry another rock from the riverbed. She was absolutely fed up with this guy's personality, and if Applejack wasn't worth suffering for she'd have given him a piece of her mind long ago.
The farmer began pushing the rock off of his struggling crops. True, he'd mentioned that he needed help deepening the irrigation ditches, but he'd expected the sheriff to maybe find him a strong young stallion to help, not this weak and impudent weather pony.
If they weren't willing to send rain this far out, they shouldn't even be there.
The farmer's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a familiar red mare with faded blue hair.
“Well hello there, Miss Lawless,” he said pleasantly, “Sheriff been keeping you busy?”
“Only as busy as herself,” Fey replied, “Vi- Miss Apple is a good boss.”
“Well glad to hear that- oh, what in tarnation is that pony doing!” Another rock had landed dangerously close to the two, hitting the ground with a soft thump. Fey could hear Rainbow Dash splashing around with enjoyment that she had managed to dislodge another rock from the mud.
The farmer looked ready to blow, but Fey calmed him down by saying, “Actually, sheriff, I came here hoping I could take your assistant away for a while to talk.”
“Keep her,” he replied.
The Deputy had a troubled feeling brewing in her gut as she walked away. She'd been to two of the places Victory had assigned the visitors to, and both of them looked much worse for the wear.
“Hey there Deputy,” Rainbow Dash chimed merrily, still overcome with joy at having gotten that last miniature boulder from the stream, “Here to help?”
“Actually Rainbow Dash, I was hoping we could go somewhere and talk.”
“Sure,” Dash replied, visibly happy at the thought of being done. She flapped her wings and hopped over, floating just above the ground as not to get her wet hooves in the dirt. “What about?”
“About V-, I mean, about Applejack.”
Far on the other side of the only farm, where it became an official ranch, Victory and her two followers were coming up to check on Fluttershy's progress. They found her standing in front of a thin-looking cow, talking to it without success.
“Oh, miss cow, if you would, um, go ahead and follow the others, I'd, um, really appreciate that.”
The cow simply turned away from her and continued munching on the stiff grasses.
“Oh, um... please , miss cow. I'd be ever so grateful.” The cow did nothing.
Fluttershy whimpered and scooched back. This was nothing like talking to her animal friends from the forest. There was a reason Applejack was the town's go-to herder and not her. And now the other ponies were going to be angry at her for not being able to help! And they still had so many other cows to go.
Winona's bark alerted her to the arrival of the others. Fluttershy looked over to see Applejack arriving with Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Her heart settled.
“Oh, I am so glad you're here,” she started, “I'm just not any good at... oh, right... memory loss.”
Victory sighed, “Ya said you were good with animals.”
“Yes, little forest critters and the like. But you were always the one who-”
“Now that's enough!” the sheriff cried, causing Fluttershy to jump, “I'm sick an' tired of everypony tryin' to tell me who I am. I
The tired expressions on Rarity's and Pinkie Pie's face told Fluttershy that they had, indeed, tried approaching this from every angle to no avail. Fluttershy just hung her head in shame.
Victory knew that she had to do something about these cows. Spotting a rope lying up against the barn, she quickly trotted over and picked it up, figuring she could at least pull a few of them in by force if she had to.
But as she began walking over, a strange familiarity with the situation began to arise. She moved faster, and until she knew it was moving at a full gallop towards the other side of the field. She had dropped the rope- she wouldn't need it- and she could hear the patter of the little doggy's feet as it ran beside her. The others were cheering her on, but she couldn't hear them through the adrenaline.
“Get along, little doggies!” she cried, turning around and chasing after the cows. Sensing her intent, they began to move, slowly at first but quickly picking up speed.
Victory ran alongside them, pushing them closer together so they wouldn't stray. On the other side, Winona was helping as she was trained to do. The barn was approaching fast, and Victory began to slow down. She watched them file into the barn with satisfaction, and then confusion. How had she known to do that? Winona was nearby, barking in excitement, and the other three ponies rushed forward and grabbed her in a tight embrace.
“We knew you could do it, Applejack!”
“Glad you're back, AJ!”
“We missed you so much!”
“Gerroff me!” The other three mares stepped back, stunned. Victory pulled herself up and cast a glare at Winona, who stopped yelping and sat still. “I don' know what just happened, but it was just a fluke, ya hear? I'm not Applejack, and yer not gonna convince me otherwise!”
“Oh yeah?!” Pinkie shouted, “Then how did you get all of the cows back into the barn, huh? Huh huh huh huh huh?!”
“I was lucky and they were willin' to cooperate is all,” she replied, beginning to walk away.
***
Twilight didn't know how a mail mare could put up with this kind of workload. She had cleaned up much of the mayor's office only to discover a stack of papers as tall as herself that needed immediate delivery all across town. Cursing the mayor's ineptitude, she had stuffed her saddlebags to their fullest and begun.
She had just finished the final delivery of her third round, and was ready to collapse from exhaustion. There was no way she would survive until the end of the day, but she had no choice other than to continue. Victory needed to trust her, so Twilight had to prove herself to the sheriff.
Or at least she thought she did. It was only a moment later that she caught sight of Victory herself approaching, with Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Winona all in tow. They were all supposed to be working, weren't they?
Twilight waited until they had gotten closer to step out and ask. “Hey Victory,” she said, but stopped. The sheriff's eye had begun to twitch at the mere sight of her, and Twilight knew immediately that her plan of trying to jog Applejack's memories had just agitated her further.
“So,” she continued, afraid of the answer to her next question, “Things haven't been going as well as we'd hoped, have they?”
“You wouldn't believe it,” Victory replied.
Twilight mumbled, “Oh yes I would,” before saying directly, “Any chance we could sit down for lunch and discuss this?”
“Look, miss unicorn, I'm sick and tired of hearing y'all talk about me- I mean you're friend Applejack. As far as I'm concerned, she's not here.”
“But-”
“She's not here!”
The two were interrupted by the sound of Deputy Fey, who had arrived with Rainbow Dash. “Sheriff,” she said, meekly addressing her superior, “there are a couple things I was hoping we could all sit down and talk about.”
Victory looked ready to explode. The six of them actually believed for a moment that she would. But then she stopped, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply. When she began speaking again, it was in a calm, controlled voice. “Look, it doesn't matter if I'm your friend or not,” she told them all, “Right now, I'm too busy helping to protect these ponies from the bandit attacks. If you can find a way to stop them, I maybe can find the time to hear you all out. Until then, I want y'all out of my face. Fey, let's go home.”
As Victroy began her slow walk away, Fey turned to the others and said, “I'm sorry. If there's any way I can help...” she let the words trail away before turning and catching up to her boss.
Fluttershy had to hold Winona back, but couldn't keep the dog from barking after her master. The other four exchanged a glance, and Rainbow Dash asked, “Are you all thinking what I'm thinking.”
Twilight nodded, adding, “But we have to be methodical about it, Dashie.”
“Ooh! Maybe we can get the Deputy to help us.”
“Yes, Pinkie,” Twilight agreed, already beginning to scheme, “Maybe we can.”
***
“Yes, Mr. Clay. Thank you for being so cooperative.”
As the stallion left, Victory sighed and sat down at her table, where Fey had poured them a mug of warm root beer each. She rubbed her temples with her hooves for a moment before removing her hair band, letting her mane fall.
“Hear hear,” her deputy agreed, picking up her own and taking a swig. She seemed notably more relaxed now that it was just the two of them. She asked, “Are you alright? It seems like you've been upset lately.”
“Can't imagine why,” Victory replied, “with these strange ponies commin' in and causin' trouble. Now I gotta go apologize to the townsponies for letting them loose.”
“Have you tried talking to them?” Fey suggested, “That Rainbow pony seemed fairly nice. A little... hotheaded, but nice enough. She cares a great deal about you. I suspect they all do.”
“Oh, but that's the problem,” the Sheriff groaned, “I can't be their friend, I just can't. I'm responsible for taking care of this town. If they're right, then we don't have a sheriff anymore.”
“We can't ever replace you,” Fey agreed, more out of admiration than belief in the fact, “But I hate to see you unhappy about this. You told me you wish you had your memory back.”
“When I said that, I didn't think any of this was going to happen.”
Fey got up from her seat and walked behind Victory, sitting down and placing her hooves on the boss' shoulders. Victory relaxed at the touch of her improvised massage, as she had every time, and Fey ventured to ask, “If they are right, would you leave us?”
Victory took a long time before answering. “I dunno,” she finally murmured, “This is my life, but they're telling me I had another life before, with other friends and a family. I thought I knew who I was, where I belong. Who am I?”
“You're a strong mare whose going to do the right thing no matter what it takes,” Fey reminded her, “And when the time comes, you'll know what the right thing to do is. Worrying about it only makes you stressed.”
“Well I know that last part's true,” the Sheriff admitted, “Just one more question: if I were to leave, would you be sad?”
Fey stopped her massage. She almost didn't answer. Victory was about to prompt her again when she continued massaging and answered, almost with pride, “More than anypony else here.”
She sent Victory to bed shortly after that, and the mare went without protest. If there was one thing Fey appreciated most, it was that Victory trusted her enough to let her make that kind of call. Besides, there probably wouldn't be any more clients today. The sun was almost set.
So imagine her surprise when there came a knock at the door. Fey had already let her mane out of its braid she was ready for bed, but she slid over and opened the door anyway. Twilight Sparkle stood there. It took her a moment to recognize Fey without the braid, but she said quite simply, “I need your help.”
Making sure her boss was sleeping soundly, Fey followed Twilight Sparkle out the door and over to the wagon they had confiscated from the bandits. She allowed Twilight to hook her up and slowly pulled it out of its resting place. In the night, every creak and groan was magnified. But despite the sound, nopony came to check on them, to find out what they were up to.
Twilight walked beside Fey as they traveled down the main street. She carried in her saddlebags a stack of fliers, stopping at every other building to post one up. In the darkness, Fey couldn't read them, but Twilight had made her plan clear enough for her to guess what they said.
As they walked, Twilight decided it was time to learn a little more about Applejack's new friend.
“So, why do I keep hearing the other ponies calling you Ms. Lawless?”
“Fey Lawless,” she replied, “It wasn't always my name. My parents were- still are- jewelers living up in a small mountain town, where I was born and raised. Being what they were, they named me “Flawless Gem”, no doubt hoping I would continue in their hoofsteps.
“I didn't like that name. So I started telling the other foals to call me “Fey”. They quickly came up with the nickname Fey Lawless. Get it? After a while, much to my parent's irritation, it just stuck, and even the adults would refer to me as Ms. Lawless.
“Fortunately, it seemed to suit me. I spent as much time as possible outside of the town in the untamed wilderness. I was always reading adventure books about pirates and bandits and the like, and when me and my friends weren't recreating those stories were were making up our own. As we got older, my friends realized how dangerous that forest truly was and stopped coming. I would find myself often alone out there, in lawless territory.”
Twilight asked, “So, if your cutie mark is a campfire, what are you doing out here as a Deputy?”
Fey chuckled, recalling how she found her special talent, “I was young, still a schoolyard filly, and me and my friends were out in the forest. I slipped and fell into the river. Several days went by before a family, from another town entirely, saw smoke during their yearly camping trip, and followed it to discover my makeshift campsite.
“I had not only erected a fire, but a small tent out of leaves and branches that I was sleeping in. Despite a badly injured leg, which I managed to make a splint for by myself in the second day, I had collected enough edible plants to see me through another week.
“They rushed me to the hospital, where they fed me and fixed my leg proper. Turns out I had washed up miles outside of the search radius. The fact I was alive was so amazing I got headline coverage in newspapers for miles.
“My special talent, Ms. Unicorn, is survival,” she smiled, “And I think one of the reasons I came out here was to test that firsthand, all these years later.”
“Call me Twilight,” Twilight insisted, “That's an amazing story. But why here? Why not stay in the woods?”
She sighed, “Partially to get away from my home. I'd outgrown that place. I'd heard about the plans to build a new settlement out here to allow for further travel into the badlands, and it seemed like such a radical change that I just had to join in.”
“Has it worked?”
“I was voted to become deputy almost unanimously by these townsponies,” she said with a hint of pride, “While we were on the trip here, I did everything I could to help those who got sick or injured, and I tried to keep spirits high. I even made the brightest campfires at night. I had to go around to the different groups and light each one of their fires for them, because they thought that they couldn't do it without me.
“And I had brought no means to earn any money otherwise. Everpony else came bringing their livelihood, but I would have been nothing but a burden. That's why they made me the Deputy. Because they liked me, and I offered nothing else.”
“That seems a little harsh,” Twilight said.
“Actually, I'm glad,” Fey told her, “This is exactly where I want to be right now.”
The sudden announcement about more food raised a few questions, but everypony was desperately hoping for it to be true. They desperately needed the food, and perhaps more than one of them was secretly hoping to see some unicorn tail get whipped. The bandits must have had a pony on the inside, because it wasn't long after the town awoke to discover the fliers that three new figures joined their midst.
Ponies stood in their doorways as the cart made its way down the main road, unaware that it was actually filled with vegetables collected from their own town farm. The farmer had not been pleased at being woken up so late, or at the prospect of giving up his vital crop, but Fey was just as convincing in her approach to the situation as Victory herself would have been. In the end, the farmer was more than happy to agree with their plan.
The hushed silence as Pinkie Pie dragged the cart down the heart of the town was broken only by whispers that floated through the air. Still, she strove onward with a smile on her face, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.
A unicorn bounded out of an alleyway, ramming the side of the cart and causing Pinkie to fumble with her footing. The attacker was immediately joined by two other unicorns, one of whom tore Pinkie from the riggings and made to grab the cart with its magic.
“Oh no you don't!”
The bandits were quite surprised to see a cyan pegasus leaping out from under the foodstuff. It didn't take a genius to
“Now y'all hold it right there!”
Victory and Fey had appeared on the other side of the bandits, and now both sides of the main road were cut off. The surrounding ponies cried out in triumph. The ringleader of the bandits threw Rainbow Dash off of her and looked around. They were securely trapped.
“Escape formation four!” she cried out, and the three each cast a blast of magic at their ambushers.
Rainbow Dash was the closest. She just barely had time for her eyes to widen before she was hit. Her screech filled the air, followed closely by the scent of burning feathers. As she hit the ground, Pinkie cried out and leapt over to her.
Twilight was able to protect her and Rarity with a magical bubble, but when the blast hit she became dizzy from the concentration required to keep the spell from failing. It had been a powerful attack, to be sure. Twi dropped the bubble and followed Rarity as she ran forward.
Fey was only barely able to push the sheriff out of the way before getting hit herself. The shot burned her side and sent her flying back into the dust. Victory leapt to her feet just in time to see her deputy go sprawling across the ground. Blinded by rage, she turned to attack those responsible.
The attacking unicorns had begun to run towards a nearby alleyway. Nopony was moving to intercept, and Twilight knew that they wouldn't be able to capture the bandits if they made it into the winding network of backroads that sprawled across the town. She sent a magical blast of her own towards them, a concussive blast that would have knocked them right out. But in her anger, her aim suffered and her spell ended up splintering the wooden column that supported the overhang of a nearby building.
Rarity took a different approach. She grabbed the stallions tail with her magic and held firm. From so far away, and as strong as he was, she almost couldn't hold him. But his companions went on without him instead of turning to help, and by some stroke of luck Rarity was able to hold her in place until Victory reached him and tackled him to the ground, where he lay still.
The cheers were deafening. Rarity rushed forward and exclaimed, “Applejack, that was fantastic!”
“Thank's Rarity,” she chirped back before quickly frowning. Just there, she had felt something, something familiar. There was something about this pony, this unicorn... she did know her, had... fought beside her before. But before this revelation could break her, she caught sight of Twi and Pinkie Pie huddled over Rainbow's lying form.
“Fey!” she cried, abandoning the unconscious bandit and rushing over to her fallen partner. She was still awake, but breathing heavily. Victory crouched down and asked, “Fey? Are you alright, Fey?”
The deputy coughed once. “I'm... fine,” she struggled to say.
“No you're not,” Victory decided. She turned to one of the nearby ponies and said, “Get the doctor out here, now!”
***
Per Victory's request, Rainbow Dash and Fey were set down to rest on the two beds in her office instead of being taken to the doctor's office itself. They had to carry the two injured ponies in the cart, even though Fey was still conscious and Rainbow Dash woke up on the ride over. They were just too weak to move. Twilight recognized the damage from her studies into magical maladies, though she had never seen such a spell in real life. She asserted that they would be fine, but they should keep from moving or talking until they were feeling better.
As soon as they were both in bed, Twilight began magically healing their wounds the best she could. She was no doctor, and healing spells had never been high on her list of priorities. Why risk practicing them when there were always doctors nearby who could be reached in a moment's notice? But this was not Ponyville, and their doctor was not a unicorn. He had no experience with magical damage and no methods of treating it.
The injuries would have healed on their own soon enough, but Twilight used her limited knowledge to do what she could. As long as there was anything within her power to make the recovery any faster, she was going to use it. All the while she did this, Rarity stood off to the side, wishing she knew the magic to help.
When she had done all she could, Twilight stepped aside and let the others come near. Rainbow Dash was breathing easier, but many of her feathers had been burned away and her fur still had a charred appearance. Her internal organs were unharmed, but she still wasn't able to speak beyond a faint rasp. Fey, on the other hoof, while burned on one side, was talking freely and could almost muster the energy to sit up. Her head hurt a little, but more than anything she found herself needing a glass of water.
“What in tarnation did they do?” Victory demanded of Twilight when they had entered the front room again.
“It's an offensive spell,” Twilight said, sitting on one of the pillows to rest. The healing magic took a lot out of her. “Relatively harmless, originally devised by Canterlot scientists several hundred years ago in an attempt to find an effective stunning spell, but abandoned when they couldn't make it any less painful. The burns will have to heal on their own, I'm afraid. Rainbow Dash won't be flying for a few weeks, unless I can get home and find a spell that will regenerate her feathers.”
Victory glanced into the other room at Fey, who, thanks to Twilight's magic, was able to reach over and lap up the water from the glass Fluttershy was holding out to her. “I guess unicorn magic ain't all bad, then,” she told Twilight, eliciting a smile.
It was short lived, vanishing from Twilight's face before she asked, “What do we do now?”
They both looked at the occupied cell. The bandit was sitting inside, awake now but not saying anything. While he was still unconscious, Victory and Pinkie had affixed the silver collar on him. Seeing it send a small shiver down Twilight's spine. Even if it was for their safety, she didn't like it.
“Now we interrogate,” Victory said, “Get some answers finally. Y'all should go rest up at the inn; I'll watch over Rainbow Dash. I don't want y'all to be here to see this. And there's not enough room for all of us to stay here anyhow.”
Twilight nodded, adding, “I think Fluttershy and Winona should stay. I've done what I can to make the two feel better, but Fluttershy can offer them the bedside manner they need.”
“And ya won't take the dog?”
“I don't think she'd follow anypony but you or Fluttershy.”
Victory sighed, “Okay.”
As Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity filed out, Victory took a good hard look at her prisoner. She wasn't entirely sure how to perform an interrogation, but she was going to get the information out of him somehow.
Fluttershy locked the door to the cell behind her as she entered.
“You won't get me to talk,” the unicorn snarled.
“We'll just see about that,” Victory told him.
***
When the other three finally returned a few hours later, it was to see Victory sitting at her table clutching a keg of root beer. Rainbow Dash was with her, out of bed and sitting up, but clearly struggling to keep her balance. She said nothing as they came in. Fey was walking around, normal again except for the burn across her body.
“Nothin',” Victory told them sadly as they entered, “I couldn't get him to say a word.”
“Nothing?” Twilight asked.
“Well he talked, but I could tell it was all lies.”
The other three exchanged a worried glance at this. Then, to Twilight's surprise, Rarity and Pinkie locked eyes and smirked.
“Let us in there,” Rarity offered, catching the entire room by surprise.
“You two? in there?” Victory asked, stunned, “Well I'll be darned if I let you two inside the cell with a criminal. It's not safe.”
Rarity explained, “I think you'll find that we're more than capable of handling ourselves, aren't we, Pinkie!”
“Oh yes yessiry!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up and down.
Victory looked at Fey and Dash, who seemed as confused as she was, and then back to Twilight, who was the same. Finally she threw up her hooves and said, “Fine by me. Deputy, unlock the door.”
As soon as the door clanged shut behind them, the two interrogators took their place on either side of the prisoner, who refused to look at either of them. He seemed unfazed by this whole turn of events.
Rarity spoke first. “Now deary,” she said, “I know you want to be helpful and tell us where your friends are hiding, right?” He said nothing.
“Well you're going to tell us!” Pinkie asserted, taking on a more aggressive stance. Still no change in the prisoner.
“We'll let you off nice and easy if you cooperate,” Rarity cooed.
“And if you don't, we'll... we'll...” Pinkie Pie couldn't find anything threatening to say. She and Rarity exchanged a worried glance of their own, before Pinkie got a bright idea. “Hey,” she told the captured unicorn, “If you help us out I'll let you try out my famous desert. I call it my Cherychanga. Or maybe I should call it my Chimicherry. What do you think? Chimicherry, or Cherrychanga? Chimicherry? Cherrychanga? Chimicherry...?”
While she did this, Rarity scooted in as close as she could and begged, “Oh please , you just have to tell us where your friends went. It's so important that we know so we can convince our friend to let us restore her memory. If you don't, we will be just devastated ...”
The others watched on as the unicorn, surrounded by the two most annoying voices in the known universe, began to sweat and twitch.
“Would you like some pie!? I can make apple pie, chocolate pie, orange pie, cherry pie, chimicherry pie, pinkie pie...”
“Your hooves are so dirty , when was the last time you had a bath...?!”
“...and it was raining chocolate rain! And I was like, 'Hold on guys! Chaos comes with chocolate rain !'...”
“...and that mane of yours needs a real good scrubbing; I wouldn't be surprised if you had ticks...”
“ENOUGH!” the stallion shrieked, his eyes wide in fear, “I'll talk! I'll talk, just please, no more!”
Satisfied with their job, Rarity and Pinkie exited the cell and allowed a stunned Victory back in.
“So...” she said, quickly regaining her composure, “Let's talk.”
***
Half an hour later a map of the area was spread out on the table. Victory had chosen to let her deputy take over while she sat to the side and nursed her migraine, watching on. The deputy had circled the area the bandits were located, and was going through all that she knew.
“...we're dealing with a group of nine unicorns, if he's to be believed. Now, they're settled right up against this canyon here, which means their back's against the wall- so to speak.”
Rainbow Dash piped up, “I could fly over top of that and... oh, right...”
Twilight said, “I'm sorry Rainbow Dash. If there was anything I could do-”
“You'd have already done it,” Dash assured her. Twilight nodded.
The deputy cast a worried glance at Victory before continuing, “Apprehending a number like that would be tricky, especially if they're all capable of this stunning spell. The seven of us could only capture one, with several casualties. And there's no telling how far they'll go if they feel cornered.”
“Our best bet,” Victory said, “is to scout out the area first- see what we're really dealin' with. If it's too much... well, I hate to say this, but if there's enough uni-... enough of them bandits out there to be a serious threat to my town, we just may have to call in those royal forces for backup.”
“I agree,” Twilight said, “But now that we've captured one of them, I'd imagine that they'd be prepared for him to talk, and may already planning retaliation.”
“He was hard to break,” Rarity reminded her, “He's been trained well.”
“And he won't say why,” the deputy pointed out, “a simple bandit should not have that kind of loyalty to his partners to stay so quiet, especially with the promise of amnesty that we gave him. He was trained to sustain interrogation, and probably torture too. There's more going on here than we know.”
Rainbow Dash cried out, “He's probably lying to us about the camp!” She then coughed once. Her body had not fully recovered to the point of making random outbursts feasible.
Victory shook her head, explaining, “I don't know why, but I can just tell: he's tellin' the truth. He was lyin' earlier when I talked to him, but he's tellin' the truth about this.”
“Ooh! It's the element of honesty, Applejack!” Pinkie squealed.
“Well, whatever it is,” Victory countered, “I think we can trust this information.” She had gone back to rubbing her temple with her hooves, and Fey scooted a little closer so she could reach up and start gently massaging her back. A few concerned glances were shared around the table by the others, but nopony said a thing.
“A scouting party?” Twilight asked, pulling the discussion full circle, “Who would go?”
“I'll go-” Fey began to offer, but Victory cut her off.
“I'll go. It's my responsibility, as is you're safety. I won't send you blindly into danger. From what I understand, Fluttershy isn't exactly the most athletic. Rainbow Dash, you can't fly yet but you're almost healed. I'll take you, and the dog- Winona- too. She can probably help detect if we're about to run into anypony we shouldn't.”
“I'll come too,” Twilight offered.
Victory hesitated, but shook her head. “No,” she said, “You stay here. We're not going to confront them, just get an idea of what we're in for.”
“But-”
“Trust me, Twilight,” Victory said, “If y'all are going to ask for trust, you should at least be willing to give it.”
Twilight paused, but slowly nodded.
“Good,” Victory said, taking Fey's hoof and gently removing it from her shoulder, “We'll leave immediately.”
“However will you find them in this dark?” Rarity asked.
“It gets cold in the desert at night,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, “They wouldn't risk the cold without a fire. Isn't that right, Applejack?”
Victory nodded, eying the map. “And I can get there easy enough,” she said, “Come on, you two. Fey, you're in charge for the night. Sleep well, ya hear?”
“Good luck,” Fey replied, watching as her boss and mentor left with her little group.
When they were gone, Rarity leaned in and whispered, “Now, miss Fey, I don't mean to pry, but what exactly is the extant of your relationship with our friend?”
“What... what do you mean?” Fey asked, a little shocked by the question.
“It's just...”
“Rarity,” Twilight interrupted, “Is this really appropriate?”
“Well I simply must know.”
“I think that's enough out of you two,” Fey said, stunning them all with her sudden assertion. Adopting a softer tone, she told them, “You're all free to stay here, but I'm afraid that there's only one bed other than mine.”
“Well I do need my beauty sleep...” Rarity began.
“Actually,” Twilight said, “I was hoping I could spend maybe an hour and teach you a few combat spells, just in case things do get out of hand.”
“Oh. Well, Twilight, I must say that's a really kind offer, but-”
Before she could get the chance to politely refuse, Pinkie Pie had leapt up and dashed for the bedroom, claiming the bed as her own. Sadly, it was the deputy's bed, and she had to go try and convince Pinkie to switch to the other one.
Rarity turned to Twilight and offered, “I guess we can practice a little bit, since I no longer have a place to sleep.”
“We could go back to the inn,” Twilight told her.
“And leave that poor girl alone?” Rarity asked, “You see how devoted she is to Applejack. The thought of seeing her run off into the night alone must be eating her up inside! Oh, now don't give me that look, I had to say something . You saw how they were.”
“I'd rather not think about it,” Twilight said, “All I know is that it's going to be hard on her when Applejack gets her memory back.”
“And suppose she never does, Twilight? What do we do then? We can't stay her forever, and we can't return to Sweet Apple Acres without her, can we?”
Twilight didn't have a response for that. All she could do was shake her head and change the topic. “First I was to teach you how to conjure a magical bubble for protection. It won't be as strong as mine, but...”
From where she lay in the sheriff's bed, Fey had heard their entire conversation. She turned over and clutched the pillow tightly in her hooves. It was all she could do not to break into loud sobs, but tears ran down her muzzle and onto Victory's pillow anyway.
The moon cast a bright light across the barren plain, illuminating everything the group could see. The three of them traveled in silence, even though the frigid night air cut mercilessly through their fur and into their flesh. Winona stayed in the lead, sniffing the air for any oncoming scents, while Rainbow Dash covered the rear, wishing for nothing more than the ability to watch from the skies.
Winona halted without warning and growled. The others couldn't smell the sudden shift of magic in the air like she could, and were blindsided by the popping of three unicorns teleporting in.
“You shouldn't have come here,” one of the unfamiliar three scowled.
Rainbow Dash leapt at her nearest attacker, catching him off guard. Victory charged right for the the one nearest her, barely dodging her magic attack and headbutting her from the side. Winona barked loudly in the background, but was quickly silenced by a sleeping spell thrown in her direction.
Rainbow Dash was out next, thrown to the ground and held there by a paralysis charm. Victory managed to hit her attacker in the face, but was knocked aside by another. She felt the scrape of a horn against her torso right before a sharp blow to the head.
***
When Victory awoke, it took her a moment to figure out where she was. Opening her eyes, she was momentarily blinded by sunlight, and trying to shirk away only revealed that she was chained to something firm.
“So you're awake, huh?” Dashie noticed, “Good, for some reason they won't talk to me.”
She, Rainbow Dash, and Winona, the latter two already awake, were chained to an iron pole sticking out of the ground. They were in the middle of what appeared to be a large campsite, not too far away from a moderate bonfire. About a hundred yards away the ground ended in a drop-off exposing a large canyon.
“Exactly who is it that won't talk to ya, Rainbow Dash?” Victory demanded, looking around at the different ponies.
There were far more than just nine unicorns. Oh, she could see a few unicorns here and there, but the majority of these ponies had neither horns nor wings, and those that had wings looked too frail to fly. They were hungry, and many were bandaged. Many of the unicorns fared no better than the others. And occasionally Victory could see a small child sitting in the presence of its parent.
This was wrong. They needed help. They needed food. Children shouldn't be living like this. Why were they all here, and why did they not have food or equipment? What the hay had she gotten herself into?
She hadn't the time to ponder this question though. One of the unicorns had walked over, her familiar stetson resting just above her horn. Her eyes and her smirk gave off a sense of triumph. Victory could tell it was false.
“Well, well, well,” the leader cooed softly, “what have we here? You've found my home, sheriff, now what do you think?”
“I don't know what ya think yer doin' here, but when they find out I'm missing-”
“What we're doin' , miss sheriff, is trying to survive! ” she lashed out, momentarily losing her composure. Taking a second to calm down, she said, “That was pretty clever of you, getting our hopes up with that trap. It really broke their spirits when we came back empty-hooved and a stallion down.
“But I suppose it's our own fault, isn't it? From the way you fought us off before, we should have expected a trap, but we got complacent after taking the cart away from you the first time. Guess we thought that, this far out, we wouldn't need to exercise so much caution.”
“What are ya talkin' about?” Victory asked.
“What did you do to him, sheriff?” she asked, “How bad did you torture him?”
“I didn't torture nopony!”
“Of course not,” the leader spat, “you never do.”
Victory had no idea what she was going on about. But one thing was clear: despite her calm exterior, the mare had a lot of hatred brewing inside of her. For whom or over what was impossible to say, but she seemed frighteningly close to taking it out on Victory herself.
And what was that she had said about taking the cart away from Victory?
The leader of the camp wasn't done taunting her though. “If there's any food left at the end of the day, we'll consider sharing it with you,” she told them, “Until then, just watch. You might learn something. Oh, don't bother talking to them. They're under my orders not to interact with you.”
As she trotted away, Victory struggled to find the words to express her anger. “That no good...” she managed to stutter, before her rage collapsed. It just wasn't in her to stay mad. And she knew that it wouldn't help her in this situation to try.
***
Though it wasn't visible in the dirt, Twilight had no trouble finding the magical border when they came upon it. It was thin and feeble, but it was there, ready to alert its caster of their intrusion. And so far away from the canyon, it's radius must have been phenomenal. Twilight wondered exactly what these unicorns were doing out here stealing food if they could wield so much power.
“There's no way they could have detected it,” Twilight told the others, “They'd have been caught instantly. I can make it so that we won't trigger the alarm as we pass, but we'll have to be quick.”
She knew the proximity spell had to be maintained constantly and, as spread out as it was, deceiving it would be relatively simple.
“Okay...” she told them, preparing the spell, “Now!”
As soon as they were over, the group paused and collectively held their breaths. But there was no pop signaling the arrival of a unicorn, and they relaxed.
Fey nodded and said, “I'm guessing that's their only intruder warning?”
“I believe so,” Twilight said, “Just in case... Rarity, I need to conserve my magic. Can you handle that magic-detection spell?”
“Easy enough,” Rarity chimed, allowing her horn to glow softly as the magic stirred within her.
The deputy took the lead with Rarity, while the other three followed. They walked in near silence, ever worried that an attacker was hiding behind the nearest rock, or that Rarity's spell would fail and they'd trip an unseen alarm. Despite what she had said, Twilight occasionally allowed herself a small spell, just to ensure they weren't about to walk into any traps.
“Do you think she's okay?” Pinkie half-whispered, concern painted over her face.
“Oh, I hope so,” Fluttershy replied, “Poor Applejack. Oh, and Winona. Oh, and Rainbow Dash!”
“Girls,” Twilight interrupted, “I'm sure they're fine. Worrying about it isn't going to help matters.”
Pinkie retaliated, “But you saw what they did to Dashie and Fey, didn't you! Oh, poor Dashie, what have they done to you?”
Twilight put out a hoof to stop her and looked her straight in the eye. “I'm worried too,” she assured Pinkie, “But we have to keep our heads about us and hope for the best. We can't let our fears consume us, right?”
Pinkie nodded, but her eyes still burned with worry. Twilight nodded in return and the two kept on walking. Up ahead, Fey was asking Rarity a few questions.
“Is there any way to get the Apple Cider this far out? I mean, I like root beer and all just as much as the next mare, but it's expensive to carry across the desert. If we can find a way to get apple trees to grow and introduce cider as a replacement...”
“Sadly, deary, I don't know the first thing about... um, apple-based economics. Applejack really would be the pony to talk to.”
“I see...” Fey said, crestfallen, “We just really need the town to survive on its own. From the way things are looking, we won't have a very stable economy even once we're fully running. I'm worried that some ponies won't be able to keep their livelihood.”
“My, Applejack really couldn't have asked for a better partner than you, could she?”
“I'm sorry?” Fey asked.
“Why, you're smart, dedicated, and always willing to put the concerns of others above yourself. No wonder she likes you so much. ” Rarity tried to put only a little bit of emphasis on these last two words, but they struck Fey like an axe.
The deputy chose not to say much after that. She just turned her eyes towards the horizon and stared out in that direction, hoping against hope that her dear companion was alright.
Across the barren plane, the campsite came into view long before they reached it. It amazed Fey how much endurance these unicorns must have had in order to make it across the desert and to their little town on the rumor of food. Even if they teleported most of the way there, it was still a tremendous amount of energy they spent, assuming she understood unicorn magic correctly. Twilight had tried to explain it to her that morning as she and Rarity practiced, and all it did was make Fey grateful that she was an earth pony.
“We'll stop here,” Fey finally decided, “Now that we know they're more likely than not being held hostage... and I don't think we can just run in and free them without consequence.”
“I'm picking up more than nine life signs,” Twilight said, scanning the camp with her magic, “A lot more. And they're not all unicorns. In fact,” she strained to make out the individual magic signatures, “Only six, maybe seven of them are, I think.”
“Twilight, can you cast an invisibility spell?” Fey asked.
“Oh dear Celestia!” Twilight cried, causing them all to jump, “You're asking for the moon with some of these spells, Fey... but I think so.”
“Can you extend it to other ponies?” she asked. This, however, was where Twilight drew the line on her magical abilities, and she shook her head.
“I was going to have you sneak in, free them, and sneak them out invisible with you.”
“That's not a bad plan,” Twilight admitted, “But it would take a higher-level unicorn than me.”
Fluttershy tried to say something, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie shouting out, “How about we just ask them to let our friends go!?”
They ignored Pinkie Pie, as any sane mare would at a time like this, and again Fluttershy tried offering a suggestion. But she was drowned out when Rarity said, “If it comes to a fight, we're horribly outnumbered. And I do not want to be running around next to a cliff like that.”
“We need a distraction,” Fey decided, “But what's something we can do that's not too dangerous?”
Fluttershy butt in, “Why don't we ask them why they've been stealing from the town?”
Fey was confused by this. “They're thieves,” she tried to explain, “What more explanation do you need?” But that got her thinking. In all the stories she'd read, the hero had never bothered to find a reason why the villains behaved the way they did. She'd modeled her life after those stories...
Rarity asked, “So you don't even know why these ponies are stealing from you?”
“It doesn't matter,” Fey insisted quickly, almost immediately regretting it, “besides, it's not like they've ever stopped to talk. You of all ponies should remember how hard it was to get just one of them to talk!”
“Be that as it may,” Rarity replied, “It seems as though you could have put more effort into learning about your enemy.”
“And Winona,” Fluttershy added.
“And Winona,” Twilight agreed.
“How about we do both?!” Pinkie chimed in again.
“Explain.”
“Well, Deputy Lawless can go in to try and talk to them like I said, and while they're distracted, Twilight can sneak in and save the others.”
“That'll never work,” Fey insisted, “They won't listen to me.”
“Yes they will,” Twilight told her, “You have to believe me Fey- you're so very good with words. It's so clear that everypony trusts you, you just have to trust in yourself. Remember how you convinced the farmer to lend us his crop?”
“That was different.”
“Was it really?” Twilight asked.
Fey looked from Twilight to each of the others. They were dead set on sending her in as a distraction.
“What would I say?” she whimpered, feeling hopeless.
Rarity told her, “Find out why they're here, and why they're trying to steal so much from your town.”
Fey nodded, saying, “Alright. But you come with me.” Rarity looked alarmed. The deputy explained, “I can't go in alone or they'll eat me alive. Twilight has to be the one to turn herself invisible, but she taught you some kind of protection spell, right?”
“Well, yeah... but I'm afraid it's not quite as good as hers.”
Twilight reminded her, “You have to be confident, or they'll be able to sense your insecurity.”
Turning to Fey, she concluded, “Make sure you have all their attention. We can't risk them spotting us running away.”
“Got it.”
Pinkie asked excitedly, “What can me and Fluttershy do?”
Fey thought about it for a moment. Then she said, “You two go back. Alert the mayor that we're out here and tell the town to prepare for an assault. If we fail, I fear it will only be a matter of time. Have them send somepony right away for assistance from the royal army. If we succeed, we can send a messenger after the first to intercept and call her off.” She looked the pony very sternly in the eye and said, “Pinkie, I'm counting on you.”
“Okey dokey loki!” Pinkie chimed, grabbing Fluttershy and running off with her in the direction they came from. Nopony had the chance to warn her about the proximity alarm, but knowing Pinkie it wouldn't make a difference.
Twilight watched them go and a touch of uneasiness stirred in her heart. “It's not right,” she said, “letting them go. I don't know if we can fight without all six bearers of the Elements of Harmony.”
“Well hopefully it won't come to that,” Rarity told her, but her tone said that she knew exactly what Twilight meant.
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.”
“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.
The dawn of their final day was as peaceful as could be. Sunlight streamed over the quiet town, finding it no longer bustling with discussion about the new arrivals. They were sleeping peacefully in the inn, tired from the past few days of heated debate with the settlers. The only thing out of place in the freshly-named town was the wagon parked outside the sheriff's office, packed and ready for several days of travel.
Twilight had awoken before the sun. It was not the first time she'd beaten her old mentor to the punch, but it was not the time to patting herself on the back. Her sleeping friends were scattered around her, but her attention was still on the silver harness hanging from the wall. Their prisoner had been surprised to see them return with his leader, but his first true emotion was when he broke down into happy tears as she told him that they were done running.
Twilight wasn't sure what she could believe anymore. She didn't know if any of her friends were as secure in their faith anymore. For the past several days they had listened to the refugees, and it made Twilight's heart break to hear such stories. How could Celestia allow these things to go on unpunished? She knew that the right thing to do would be to get her side of the story, but the knot in Twilight's stomach told her that the Princess would dismiss such measures as necessary. There was nothing necessary about what Twilight had heard.
She could hear rustling in the other room and looked over to see Fey entering. “Good morning,” Twi bid, “Is she still asleep?”
Fey nodded. Twilight could see that she was anxious about something. It would be wrong to ask, but she just had to know:
“Do you think you're ready to take over the sheriff position?”
Fey was silent for a moment before replying, “You're asking me if I'm ready to let her go, aren't you?”
“That too, I suppose.”
Fey shook her had, casting a glance into the other room at Applejack in her bed. They had spent so much time together, and the day before they were completely inseparable. Their last day together, and it just wasn't enough.
“I have to be able to take her job, though,” Fey agreed, “I've already had my eye on a girl who I think could make for a good deputy, if somepony just gave her the chance.”
Twilight smiled, asking, “What did Applejack say?”
“She trusts me to make that decision,” Fey replied.
Rarity was beginning to stir, causing Fey to shrink back. She had been intentionally avoiding Rarity since they returned. Not an insignificant task, to be sure. Rarity normally got what she wanted.
But she didn't seem too interested in them this morning. After only a meek “good morning” she made her way into the bedroom to examine herself in the mirror. Once she was satisfied with her hair, the best she could do under the circumstances, she turned to leave only to stop and stare at the beds. Applejack was in hers, still sound asleep, but the other was occupied by Pinkie Pie, who had obviously been there all night. And did the blanket on AJ's bed look a bit disturbed? Rarity knew she was prone to tossing and turning in her sleep, as proven during their first slumber party with Twilight, but she couldn't shake the feeling that-
No. It didn't matter, she decided; only harm could come from prying further. Fey had probably slept on the floor once it became clear that Pinkie wouldn't give up the bed. Still, her eyes lingered on Applejack's bed for a moment longer. She couldn't help but wonder.
***
The sun had fully risen and was casting it's long shadows around the dusty town by the time the six were ready to leave, Winona resting on Fluttershy's back. Rainbow Dash, lamenting her inability to fly, was still looking over her scorched feathers with a mix of woe and rage. Rarity had protruded a large hat to not only hide her unsightly hair but to keep the sun out of her eyes as well. Pinkie and Twilight were helping Applejack herself get hitched up to the wagon.
“A little tighter than I remember it,” AJ grimaced as they secured the yoke. She turned to Fey and told her, “Ya look real good in that vest, sugarcube.”
Fey blushed slightly, insisting, “It's a little big. It was always meant for you, ya know.”
“You'll do it proud, I'm sure.”
Fey blushed harder and turned away for a moment, to embarrassed to even mutter out a “thank you”.
“Take care now,” AJ continued, “And choose yer battles wisely. It was smart of ya to try diplomacy instead of running right in an' fighting them hoof to hoof.”
“It was Pinkie's idea...”
“It was!?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, looking shocked.
Applejack chuckled. “Nonetheless,” she said, reaching forward and stroking Fey's braided mane, “Y'all did wonderfully. Good luck to ya, Sheriff Lawless.”
Fey had to wipe away her tears as she entered the lonely office. They would visit, she promised herself, or at least Applejack would- once per year, when the workload at the farm reached its lowest point. But that day seem so far away right now.
Maybe for the better. She had a lot to do before this town was ready, and she wanted Applejack to be impressed by the progress they'd made when she returned. The newcomers would need some help settling in, and the town needed a little better management overall if it was to succeed. And it would be up to Fey Lawless and her soon-to-be deputy to make it all work out.
Fey grabbed a root beer off the shelf and popped off the lid, setting it down on the table. No mug, she was content to guzzle it straight from the bottle. As she settled onto a pillow, she thought about the girl she planned to deputize. Would the town trust a former bandit as their new deputy, and would the former bandits trust Fey if they didn't have that kind of representation?
Setting the bottle aside, she stood up to go deliver the offer, stopping only to look once at the fresh portrait hanging on the wall. It had been made the day before, of Applejack and herself sitting in front of their building. Applejack was still wearing her vest and badge, but had Fey wearing her stetson for the picture. In the background, the new letters of the building's sign seemed to sparkle. Victory Junction Sheriff's Office . Fey had to smile at the obvious choice the citizens had made in deciding a name for the town.
The portrait also had a title, written on a small plaque just beneath it:
Flawless Victory
