Applejack Gets Lost

by MagicS


Helpless Ponies

An unruly crowd had gathered at the intersection in front of town hall the next day. Applejack saw many of the ponies that had been watching the big fight were there, mixed in with a number of guards that Applejack recognized and a lot of elderly ponies that Applejack hadn’t seen before.

After the fight had dispersed yesterday, Wheel had the guards clean up. The smoke they had seen came from a torch thrown into a cart hauling carrots so thankfully no buildings were lost. Tomato and his group ended up going back to the farms to repair the fence and take care of all the wrecked vehicles. Now Applejack stood inside town hall, watching from a window as fed up ponies gathered to air their grievances with the mayor and Sturdy Wheel.

Heading to the lobby she saw Wheel nervously pacing around while Fruit Basket watched.

“At least they aren’t rushing in here.” Applejack said to get their attention.

Wheel stopped and looked at her, dismay written all over his face. “Everyone’s angry, we almost had another kidnapping, the ponies are tired of this. You can see out there we’ve got a lot of old folks who don’t want to be dragged into a big fight. Parents too who don’t want their foals in danger.”

Applejack just sighed and walked up to him, putting a hoof on his shoulder. “How come you didn’t tell me about Sandstone’s demands? You said you didn’t know much about the raiders.”

“I didn’t want it to get out that he offered a “peaceful” solution. I didn’t want ponies to think we were just being stubborn or that things might be better if we just capitulated to him.” Wheel frowned. “Also I did just meet you two days ago.”

“Hehe, guess so. I like to think I’m a pretty trustworthy pony though.” She winked at him. “And I’m not from around here.” Applejack gave him a sad smile as she continued. “I can already tell that you’re the type who likes to take everything on his shoulders, believe me you need to let others help you out. I learned that lesson a long time ago. You’ve got friends here don’t you? Tomato, Spring, your sister right?”

Wheel smiled in response. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Thank you.”

Suddenly a loud crash sounded throughout the lobby as the door to the mayor’s office slammed open and the three ponies in the lobby turned their heads to see the commotion.

“Ruckus! As if the first time something bad has happened to them!”

The fattest stallion Applejack had ever seen waddled his way out of the office, sucking in his gut to make it through the door frame. Grey coated with a bald head but a huge bushy brown beard, despite his size it was easy for her to see the family resemblance to Sturdy Wheel. Fruit Basket obviously took after her mother, something she must be quite thankful for. The mayor swayed with each step as he walked over to Applejack and Wheel, she noticed that although he was very wide he was only slightly taller than she was, and he carried a well-worn grumpy look on his face that made her think he probably even slept wearing a frown.

“Hi dad.” Wheel said exasperatedly. Face a perfect example of being too occupied with something more important to care.

Applejack raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. “Do ya sleep in there or something?”

The mayor turned his face to look at her, big eyeballs staring her down. “New visiting pony, welcome to our town! And yes!”

“Riiight...” Applejack said, backing up a step or two.

Wheel just shook his head. “Well now that you’ve formally met, Applejack this is my dad Hard Head.”

“Pleasure!” Hard Head bellowed out and reach a hoof forward for her.

“The same.” Applejack replied gingerly, eyebrows scrunched up as she shook hooves with the mayor.

Hard Head went to look out the lobby window, seeing the large crowd that gathered before the town hall. Blowing air out of his nose he turned back to his son. “You tell them that Sandstone gets nothing. We give nothing. They can’t come in to town. Ponies like that no good. Scaredy cats out there need sense knocked into them!”

Applejack found herself nodding along with him a little, even though she would’ve been a little less rough about things. She knew most ponies out there were probably just scared, and for good reason, but she also knew you couldn’t just give in to ponies like Sandstone. Give em an inch and they’ll take a mile, Granny Smith taught her that. She had no doubts that if the town just gave up it would very quickly stop being the quiet and peaceful place that they all liked it for in the first place.

“They’re angry dad. They think this could’ve all been avoided and that we’ve been lying to them. Even some of the guards are upset about it.” Wheel sighed and went to take a seat in one of the lobbies chairs. “I’m worried that things have gotten too out of hoof, that no pony out there will listen to us, and Sandstone said they’d be back soon so we really shouldn’t even be arguing about things like this.”

“What kind of talk is that?” Applejack said to him sharply, causing the three family members to look at her. “Sometimes you just need to up and do something even if it’s trouble. And I told you it’s not like you’re alone, I’ll help you out gladly. You and the others in this town were still kind enough to help out a complete stranger even though you’re under attack by all them fellows. I owe ya.”

“Haha! Listen to visitor pony! More sense than son!” Hard Head laughed grandly, trotting to Applejack’s side and slapping her on the back.

Wheel looked between the two of them and to his sister who was nodding along with a big smile on her face.

He got back off the couch and began walking out the hallway to the atrium. “Alright, alright, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Not a time for moping.” Steeling himself and carrying a focused look in his eyes Sturdy Wheel approached the door.

Applejack followed close behind him, ready to give her two bits to the crowd if need be.

Pushing open the door the two of them went out to face the crowd.

“Oh, finally decide to grace us with your presence?” An elderly grey maned and blue coated stallion sarcastically asked Wheel. “Lucky we had the common decency to not go in and drag you out, sonny.” A few of the other old ponies started grumbling at that, clearly agitated at Wheel staying inside for so long.

“Look everypony, I know you’re upset but I want you to calm down and listen to reason. You can’t just buy into what Sandstone says, you all know what he was prepared to do to Bouquet yesterday.” Wheel said as he surveyed the crowd, holding his hooves out for silence.

Applejack figured Bouquet was that lime-green mare she rescued yesterday. She could see some of the ponies in the crowd mumble their assent and nodding to each other, acknowledging the truth in Wheel’s words. They were mostly the few guards that had gathered though.

“Feh!” The same elderly stallion that had first spoken spat. “None of this would be happening if you and your darn father told us about what was going on in the first place! You didn’t even let us talk about it!”

“That’s right!” A guard Applejack recognized from their defense of the farms yesterday said as he walked forward. “And I’m tired of all this! Some of us could’ve died yesterday!”

Shouts and accusations started flying from the crowd. Wheel tried to get them to be silent so he could speak some more but they weren’t giving him an opportunity. Applejack could see Clod and his cream colored partner whose name she still didn’t know in the crowd trying to calm down some of their fellow guards to no avail. Things were getting a might bit hairy for Applejack’s taste and as she looked beside her she could see the sweat rolling down Wheel’s face, he was trying his hardest but things were getting out of control as more and more ponies shouted over each other.

“I just want my foals to be safe!”

“Just let them have some of the south side of town!”

“Let’s throw the mayor out and tell Sandstone he’s gone!”

“Forget it all, just throw down our weapons and hope they aint too bad.”

This place is turning into a powder keg with a short fuse. Applejack thought to herself. Something would need to be done.

Wheel was nervously stepping back from the crowd of ponies as they encroached on him. The elderly stallion flanked by a pair of irate guards.

“Enough!”

The shout wasn’t enough to get everypony’s attention but what followed right after it was. Applejack balanced on her forelegs, raised her hind legs up, and slammed them as hard as she could into the ground. A shockwave sent through the ground made everypony nearby feel like an explosion just went off right next to them. Town hall shook briefly and its windows rattled, more than a few elderly ponies and even some of the sturdier guards simply fell over from Applejack’s powerful ground buck. If she had been standing on stone instead of dirt she would’ve smashed it like glass.

“Yer all acting like a right bunch of fools!” She told the assembled ponies, glaring at the ones who tried accosting Sturdy Wheel.

The elderly stallion just stared at her with a confused look on his face. “Uhh… who are you?”

“Oh, uh, I’m Applejack. I’m from out of town, hehe.” She replied, grinning and rubbing the back of her head.

“Well forgive me, but I don’t give a wooden bit about what some outsider thinks!” He yelled at her.

Applejack frowned but didn’t let him rile her up. “But it’s because I’m an outside that you should all listen to me right now!”

At that many of the ponies in the crowd started murmuring in confusion, wondering what the hay she was talking about. Applejack took that moment to place herself in-between Sturdy Wheel and the other ponies, standing as tall and proud as she could.

“I’ve only just gotten here but I’ve already seen how bad a pony Sandstone is. All it took was meeting him once! And I’ve also seen how good of a fellow Sturdy Wheel is and even though he was a bit gruff I think the mayor really wants the best for you all too. And believe me when I say I’ve fought a lot of villains, I wish there was a peaceful solution all the time but sometimes you gotta fight. It just can’t be helped. If you show weakness to a bully like Sandstone you’re inviting him to do anything, he won’t stop at just one little thing or one little portion of the town. You’re all gonna be in trouble. This isn’t a problem you can just wish away either.”

The guards before her were cowed by her speech, lowering their heads and backing off in embarrassment. The elderly pony too rubbed his chin and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something before closing it and backing away.

A lone mare with a troubled face took the moment to speak up. “But what if they really get mad next time! They’ve just been raiding us for food mostly but Sandstone really seemed angry yesterday after you rescued Bouquet. I’m scared for my babies!”

Applejack looked at her with a sympathetic face. “I know, it’s scary, I’ve lost ponies close to me in the past and it hurts.” She said as she raised a hoof to her heart. “But please, believe me and Wheel when we say that doing nothing or rolling over is gonna make things a lot worse.”

“I agree with Applejack!” A voice from the back of the crowd shouted.

The crowd turned to the speaker and Applejack looked past them to see Clod.

“Soda and I were the first to meet her, she only just came into town two days ago. But yesterday she was willing to throw herself into danger to protect us from the raiders. She put herself in harms way just to protect some strangers and some town she’s never been to, when she could’ve just gone on her way. No normal pony does that kind of thing! She’s a good pony and I trust her!” He said, stamping the ground for emphasis.

The other guards stomped their hooves along with him, most of the rest of the crowd perking up at what Clod had said.

“But… but still.”

Applejack turned to see the elderly stallion speaking up again, but with a more dejected look this time.

“They’re dangerous, and even our “guards” aren’t really fighters or anything. We don’t have a way to really defend ourselves and what if they start setting buildings on fire next time instead of just carts?”

Keeping her face even and eyes filled with strength Applejack went over to him and rested a hoof on his shoulder.

“I’ll be here. If it comes down to it I’ll even deal with Sandstone personally. Clod’s right, this aint my home and I could just leave. But I won’t. Not until I’ve helped you all through this.”

“I’ll keep fighting too.” Wheel said as he came up beside her.

The stallion looked between the two of them and quietly nodded, then turned around and headed back through the crowd. The rest of the ponies slowly dispersed with him, some still upset or angry but not willing to continue the argument. Applejack saw the frightened mare trembling with watery eyes as she walked away.

I hope I wasn’t just blowing hot air.

The guards ended up being the only ponies remaining at the intersection, even the ones who had been angry and moved against Wheel, waiting for anything else Wheel or Applejack might have to say.

Taking a look over the ponies before him, Wheel spoke up. “Alright, I want somepony to gather up all the rest of the guards besides those on watch and bring them back here. It’s time to start preparing.”