Apples to Pistols

by MegaColt

The Path of Vengeance

        Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to a fluorescent light beaming directly onto her tired face. The sky blue pegasus’ head swam in circles as she struggled to take in her surroundings. She was sprawled out on a thin mattress in a plainly decorated room, surrounded by cards and flowers. Several fuzzy figures were moving about the room. As Dash tried to focus in on them, one of the figures began to shout, leaving a shrill ringing in Dash’s ears. Everything around her seemed distant and unreal, like a dream. The pegasus tried to regain focus, but every gasp of air brought her further into darkness.

        A giant pink blob picked up the comatose pony and violently shook her back to life. The ringing stopped, and the world slowly returned back to its normal focus. All of Rainbow’s friends were there for her. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity were joyously hugging each other while Pinkie Pie jumped around the room like she was on an invisible pogo stick. Every part of Rainbow Dash’s body was sore and stiff, but she managed to sit herself upright. “How long have I been in here?” she asked with a grimace.

        Twilight looked at Dash with concern. “You’ve only been in here for a night, but you weren’t supposed to wake up for a couple of days. The doctors finished operating on you about an hour ago. You’re lucky to be alive.”

        The tomboyish flyer clambered off of the operating table and checked the bandages on her stomach. It had actually happened. Applejack had really shot her, and left her to die.

        Rarity walked over to Dash and smiled. “It’s quite curious how we found you in AJ’s barn, yet we can’t get in touch with her right now. I wonder if she had anything to do with this?”

        Twilight condemned Rarity as if she’d accused Celestia of commiting genocide. “Rarity! You know Applejack wouldn’t do anything like that. Dash is her best friend!”

        Pinkie Pie somersaulted over the operating table, and wrapped her hooves around Dash’s neck. “Yeah! How dare you accuse Applejack. She’s probably doing something for Granny Smith’s funeral! Isn’t that right, Dashie?”

        “Actually, guys,” Dash said as she looked at her friends solemnly, “She was the one who shot me.”

        Everyone in the room was shocked, especially Rarity, who had a look of unexpected triumph on her face. “I was merely joking. Are you serious, Rainbow Dash?”

        Fluttershy tried to help Dash back onto the operating table. “I think you’re still a little delusional, Rainbow. Why don’t you rest for awhile? I’m sure it will make you feel better.”

        Dash shrugged her friends off of her. “Guys, I know it’s hard to believe, but you just have to. Applejack is the one who robbed the bank along with Caramel and Big Mac. They were trying to get some money to pay for Granny’s hospital bills because nopony had any bits to spare. I saw them carrying the safe into the barn during my morning warmup routine. I tried to stop her, and I almost convinced her to snap back to her old self, but she’d gone off the edge. She shot me from point blank and left me to die, but I pulled through with gusto.”

        Twilight looked at Dash like she had lost her mind. “Rainbow, Applejack wouldn’t harm a fly, let alone rob a bank. She definitely wouldn’t have shot you. I mean, you’re her best friend. You’ve been friends since you first moved to Ponyville.”

        Rainbow glared at her friends with a fiery determination in her eyes. “Tell me why nopony has seen Applejack since before the robbery. Tell me why there’s an empty safe in AJ’s barn. Tell me why I watched my best friend condemn me to death as she stood over my wounded body. I know what happened, and I won’t back down from the truth!”

        Rarity helped Dash take her hospital robe off, and sighed. “She’s got a point ladies. No one has seen Applejack since yesterday, and we can’t explain that safe in the barn where we found Dash unconscious.”

        Twilight gave the two accusers a tired look. “Well, what are you going to do about it? The Apple family is probably long gone by now.”

        The revenge-obsessed pegasus came within inches of Twilight’s face as she gazed into the unicorn’s eyes. “I’m going to find Applejack, and I’m going to bring her in, or if have to, I’ll put her out of her misery.

        Spike ran into the room with a wanted poster clasped between his claws. “Guys, you have to check this out! It’s a wanted poster with the entire Apple family on it! The Royal Guards think that the evidence points to them, and I hate to say it, but I can’t find anything that says otherwise. The poster says that they were last seen boarding a train for Appleloosa.”

        Rainbow Dash icily peered at her doubters, and said triumphantly, “Do you believe me yet, or do I have to get a confession from that double-crossing mule?” Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but the riled up pegasus cut her off. “I don’t care what evidence you want. I’ll get it for you. I’ll bring Applejack back to your doorstep, dead or alive. I’m going after them, and I’m leaving the second the doctors clear me.”

        It wasn’t the cramped boxcar or even the smell of rotting fish that had Applejack pulling her mane out. It was a growing sense of guilt that was taking its toll on the already stressed earth pony. The orange earth pony sat with her back against a crate and her face in her hoofs. “Do you guys think that Applebloom will be okay living with Rarity and Sweetie Belle? I know she’s better off with them than us, but don’t you think she’ll miss us?”

        Caramel hopped off the box he was sitting on and gazed out of the boxcar’s door at the passing desert. The filly they’d left behind was the last thing on his mind. “I’m sure she’ll miss us, but you know as well as I do that leaving her in Ponyville was the best thing to do.” His mind was on everything he had left behind, and the reasons why he’d decided for the family to flee to Neighxico. It was a beautiful, but desolate place. The kind of land where only the bravest ponies dared to travel. Not even the Royal Guard dared to venture to that forsaken patch of desert.

        The rusty steam engine screeched to a halt at the Appleloosa station for a routine supply delivery. Little did they know that they’d be delivering more than just apple seed on this route.

        The robust earth pony who was in charge of unloading the cargo nearly collapsed under the stress of one particularly large crate. “Gee, what have they got in here? It weighs a ton.”

        The engineer, a scrawny white unicorn, scoffed at the struggling farmhand. “Listen buddy, whatever is in those boxes has been ordered for delivery here. It’s none of my business to know what’s inside.”

        The laborer sighed, carelessly dropping his load behind the depot. “Whatever, that was the last crate anyways.” The colt hurriedly grabbed a clipboard from the engineer and put his mark on it.  “I’m heading home for the night. Catch you later.”

        The unicorn sighed and lightly shoved the earth pony off the locomotive. “Yeah, whatever. I’ve got to get back to Canterlot before sunrise.” The engineer lazily put the brake down and shoveled a few loads of coal into the burner. It only took a few minutes for the train to round the ridge and disappear from sight.

        The three outlaws hesitantly poked their heads out of the crate, peering with beady eyes at the unsuspecting town. The place was pitch black with the exception of several street lamps. Not even the crickets made a sound. It had the aura of a ghost town, but the bandits knew better.

Applejack scrambled out of the crate and signaled for her family members to follow her. “Alright fellas, here’s the plan. We’re gonna play it cool because I’m pretty sure that word about our heist won’t get this far out for a couple more days. For now, we need to get rid of some of these bits so nopony will get suspicious. Any suggestions?”

        The two stallions shuffled their feet in the dirt, their heads fixed on the ground. Caramel trotted over to the depot and leaned against one of the ticket shacks. “Well, we ought to go buy some new firearms. Your old man gave these revolvers to us years ago, and I’m sure in the past decade they’ve made much better guns than what we’ve got now.”

        Applejack pulled her revolver out and looked at it. It was aged with petina and difficult to unload. Her father had given it to her when she was just a filly. It was a family heirloom that had been used by an ancestor in the Equestrian Civil War, according to family legend. A tear slid down Applejack’s cheek as she holstered it. “It’ll be a shame, but I guess you’re right, Caramel. This thing had seen action before any of us were even born. I guess it wouldn’t hurt our chances to buy something a little more modern.”

        Big Mac raised his eyebrows, and stared at the town. “Guys? It’s something like three in the morning. Who are you gonna buy guns from at this time of night?”

        Applejack casually strode over to the town’s general store, dragging her partners into the street. The sign above the door read “APPLELOOSA GENERAL STORE: GUNS, FARM SUPPLIES, ETC.” The orange earth pony rolled her eyes and vigorously pounded her hoofs against the shop’s door, which summoned the shops proprietor, a short and plump earth pony. “What do you want? Can’t you see we’re closed?”

        Applejack pulled a small bag of bits from her bag, and tossed them to the shopkeeper. “Well we say you’re open. We’d like to buy some guns, if you don’t mind.”

        The gun peddler inspected the bag with his bright blue eyes, his mouth watering, and pocketed it. He enthusiastically opened the door, and gestured for the three strangers to step inside his store. “Welcome to my shop! I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with the selection. We have the finest guns in all of Equestria, imported from the world’s finest gunsmiths. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

        Big Mac stepped up to the salesman, and pointed to the shop’s wall. The red stallion towered over the tiny earth pony. “I’m looking for a nice shotgun. The best you’ve got. Price isn’t an issue.”

The peddler looked nervous, but he continued his sales jargon with gusto. “For you, big guy, I recommend this baby. It’s a semi-auto twelve gauge. It’s from Manechester’s finest gunsmith; all custom-made. Heck, nopony can survive a flurry from this lead cannon.”

Macintosh grabbed the gun and threw it on his back. “Give the fella his bits, AJ.”

Applejack flung another bag to the shopkeeper. The stocky earth pony leaped into the air, snatching the bits out of the sky with lustful greed in his eyes. “Is there anything else I can help you kind folks with?”

Caramel chuckled sarcastically and lifted an exotic-looking rifle of of the shop’s wall. “What’s this thing? I ain’t never seen nothing like it.”

The salespony glided across the floor, and came to a perfect stop beside Caramel. “This, my friend, is the latest and greatest in long range weaponry. It’s a bolt action rifle, shipped here directly from the factory in Stalliongrad. I personally guarantee that you can drive nails with it at two-hundred yards. All you have to do to work it is pull up and back on that handle and slide it back into place. Nothing to it.”

Caramel’s eyes were aglow with childlike giddiness as he lovingly stroked his hoof across the rifle’s mahogany stock. “Go on AJ, pay him for it.”

Instead of reaching into her bag, Applejack whipped her pistol out of its holster and shoved it into the store owner’s mouth. “Nah, we’re good, we’ve paid him enough.” The proprietor’s eyes began to water as he started to whimper.

Caramel tried to pull his psychotic cousin off of the defenseless salespony, but she ripped her shoulders away from him. “C’mon AJ, let him be. He ain’t been nothing but cooperative.”

There was a look of sick pleasure in AJ’s eyes as she pulled the hammer back on her revolver. “Now listen here, partner. You’re going to give us them bits back, and let us walk out of here with these guns. And I know that you’re not going to say a word about this to anypony. If you do, I’ll find you, and I’ll kill you. Shoot, I might find that splattering half of your head on the wall over there to be a good bit enjoyable.” Applejack pulled the pistol out of the shopkeeper’s mouth and holstered it. Her victim crumpled to the ground, shaking uncontrollably. He had gone into shock, but Applejack didn’t care. She swept the two bags off of the counter and trotted out of the store. “C’mon let’s go see Braeburn.”

        
Braeburn rolled out of bed as he awakened by the crowing of a rooster. Sluggishly, he began his morning routine, creeping into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Everything seemed perfectly ordinary. At least it did at first. Braeburn's face had a confused expression on it as he noticed a certain smell wafting up the stairs and into his nostrils. It was a familiar smell. One that Braeburn had smelled a hundred times before, but he couldn't place his hoof on it. And then it hit him; it was eggs and bacon! As the blonde earth pony became lost in the intoxicating aroma of his favorite meal, his tongue drooling in anticipation of a tasty breakfast, he came to the sudden realization that he wasn't the one cooking the meal.

        Braeburn threw on his holster vest, and tiptoed down the stairs with his back hugged tight to the wall. He unholstered his revolver, slowly edging his way to the kitchen's door frame. The bounty hunter took a deep breath, and prepared himself for whatever lay on the other side of the doorway. With catlike reflexes, Braeburn jumped into the kitchen expecting to find a bandit scrambling for his weapon, but he was instead met by the barrel of a shotgun. The red stallion behind the barrel grinned and lowered his weapon. “Eeyup, it’s Brae.”

        Applejack was working fervently at the stove while Caramel drank coffee and read the morning paper. “Well, the paper says they’ve got some suspects in the robbery.”

Big Mac galloped to his cousin, ripped the paper from his hands, and pointed to the home’s confused owner.

Caramel downed his coffee, and put on the cheesiest fake smile Braeburn had ever seen. “Oh hey there cuz! Wasn’t expecting you to be up this early. Come over here and have a seat. We’ll catch up on each other’s lives, or something like that.”

        Braeburn made his way into the kitchen, but before he could grab a seat he was interrupted by someone knocking on his door. “If y’all will excuse me.” The three guests exchanged a nervous glance and went back to their tasks.

When Braeburn opened the door the sheriff forced his way into the house and headed straight for the kitchen. When the sheriff got to the pantry Braeburn grabbed him by the shoulder. “Sheriff! What is the meaning of barging into my house like this?”

        The sheriff pointed his pistol at the two colts sitting at the table. “These two are wanted for the bank robbery in Canterlot the other night.” Braeburn scanned the room for Applejack, but she had disappeared. “Now you two had best tell me where the last of you is.”

        Applejack jumped from the shadows with a Bowie knife and plunged it deep into the sheriff’s throat. “I’m right here, sheriff!” She grinned wickedly as she ripped a gaping whole into the sheriff’s neck, laughing maniacally as he fell twitching to the ground like a sack of dirt.

        Braeburn tried to wrestle the pugnacious murderer to the ground, but Big Mac grabbed him, and hogtied him to a chair. “Why are you guys doing this? What’s happened to y’all?”

        Applejack stalked over to the restrained Braeburn and rubbed the dull part of the knife across his throat. “You mean you don’t remember, cousin?” The orange pony’s cheek started twitching uncontrollably, and her eyes began to jump from side to side. “Have you forgotten all of the letters I sent you? The letters about our troubles with the farm, and making ends meet? You probably didn’t even read them.”

Braeburn tried to interject, but he was slapped in the face by the tirading bandit. “Don’t you dare interrupt me, boy. For over a year we lived off of nothing more than hard work and charity. Heck, we were barely scraping by as it was. When the harvest went bad last year we finally hit rock bottom, and then Granny Smith got sick. When she went to the hospital we didn’t even have enough bits for our bread, let alone enough to pay for a hospital bill. We were eating from the garbage, Braeburn! All the other ponies treated us like dirt! They wouldn’t even give us a single lousy bit to help pay for your aunt’s hospital bills. They always told us that they were as bad off as we were, but I knew that was a load of crap. Not even that wicked tyrant, Princess Celestia would help us. So Caramel put the idea in our heads that robbing the Bank of Canterlot would be a good idea to acquire the funds to save our beloved Granny Smith.”

Applejack licked the still oozing blood off of the knife and ran her tongue across her lips, much to the dismay of the horrified Braeburn. “We didn’t want to kill anypony, but it turns out that it’s hard to rob a bank and succeed without a bit of bloodshed. Sure, I felt bad about the killings, but we had gotten away with it. Heck, we’d even gotten the safe in the barn, but then I learned about Granny’s demise, and that we were the cause of her death at that. That’s when my old friend Rainbow Dash jumped me, and tried to get us to return the bits. Something in my head snapped when I pointed my revolver at her. I felt a sort of power that I’d never felt before. I felt like I was playing the role of judge, jury, and executioner all at once. I felt a weird sense of pleasure when I pulled the trigger and watched my best friend hit the floor, begging for help. I feel guilty about it now, but at that moment I thought of her only as my mortal enemy.”

The ringleader closed her eyes and grinned wickedly at her cousin as she muzzled his snout with a bandanna. Applejack whispered into Braeburn’s ear as she stroked his mane. “I know what you do for a living. If you were any other bounty hunter I’d have cut your head off, but you’re my cousin, and I think a lot of you. That’s why I’ve decided to leave your fate up to chance. If you’re lucky, somepony will find you and rescue you, but if you aren’t then you’ll starve in this chair.”

The orange earth pony motioned for Big Mac and Caramel to leave the room. As the trio left the kitchen, Applejack poked her head in the doorway. “Oh, I almost forgot. If you are rescued, don’t you dare follow us. If you do, then I won’t hesitate to end your pitiful existence.”