The swaying motion of the train bordered on hypnotic - mile after mile passing by out the window while the white noise of the tracks hummed under everything.
That Rainbow Dash was asleep as a result was no surprise.
Around the same time the pegasus had dozed off, Rarity had decreed that it was best to be comfortable while they still could be - it was half a day more to Appleoosa and three to Shire Lanka beyond that. Then she had dragged Tempest away to retrieve lunch.
Applejack hadn't paid a lot of attention to that. Her mind was elsewhere, and her eyes were on the rapid passing of Equestria outside the window. As they had gone southwards the snows of winter had reluctantly given way to Appleoosan scrub and dust - the holiday feeling faded with the snow and was replaced by pinprick worries that grew with the temperature.
One pensive thought after another filtered through her brain, each pulling downwards and until they weighed more than the train they were in.
Pinkie Pie popped up beside Applejack, looking eagerly out the window as well. "Whatcha doin', cousin?"
The somber mood was irrevocably shattered by Pinkie's unending smile. Applejack futilely tried to re-establish it with a heavy sigh. "Just thinkin', Pinkie."
"'Bout whaaat?"
Applejack leveled a glowering glare at the party pony. And Pinkie utterly failed to get the hint.
Fortunately, Fluttershy did. "I think what Applejack means is that she's still coming to grips with the news."
"Ooooooooh." Pinkie nodded understandingly. "Well, that makes sense. I mean, who expects this?" She giggled unhelpfully.
A long, deep sigh slipped from Applejack. "That's kinda the whole problem. Ah mean, don't get me wrong. The idea that Ma and Pa... that they're... " She trailed away as a broad smile took over her face.
Both Fluttershy and Pinkie smiled as well.
Shaking her head to dispel the joy, Applejack tried to continue. "Every time Ah think 'bout it, it's like this tiny filly inside me just starts shoutin' with joy. Ah'm gonna get to see 'em again. Say a million dang things Ah never understood needed to be said when Ah was a young'un. Ah'll get to... to feel..." She wrapped her forelegs around herself subconsciously.
Applejack sniffled, and suddenly Pinkie was hugging her with fierce intensity. The farmer's eyes turned to her cousin. "I know I'm not them," noted the Pink One, "but maybe it'll tide you over?"
For several minutes Applejack simply let herself be hugged by Pinkie Pie, unmoving aside from the occasional shuddering breath. Eventually she pulled back - but not out of the hug - with a deep, steadying sigh. "Thanks, Pinkie."
A gentle yellow hoof set on Applejack's shoulder. "I don't think any of us can really understand what you're going through," Fluttershy softly said, "But we're here for you, and we'll do our best."
"Ah know, Fluttershy." Applejack finally managed to gather her wits again. "Ah guess the problem is that Ah just got so many questions about what's gonna happen. It's been so dang long. What do Ah even say to them when we get there?"
Fluttershy's jingling laugh danced through the car. "I have to deal with something a little like that every year. The migratory birds return in the spring, and it's been months since I've seen them. I think what you'll say will be like what I tell the birds. You'll tell them that you love them, and that you've missed them. The rest can wait to be natural."
"But... what if they ain't who Ah remember?"
Fluttershy smiled softly. "Do you love your parents?"
Slowly, Applejack blinked. "Uh... yes?" She politely refrained from noting how silly of a question that was.
"Then it doesn't matter." The pegasus leaned in around the still-hugging Pinkie and took Applejack's hoof. "The rest will work itself out. Maybe they'll be different ponies than you remember, and they'll need time to adjust. You're certainly going to be very different from what they remember, too. But the important thing is that there will be six Apples in that house again. Together."
"And Pies and Shys and--" Pinkie was silenced by an orange hoof before she could rattle on too many others.
Thus there was peace for a long minute before Applejack spoke up again. "Ah just... it took years to get used to them bein' gone. It always came back at the oddest times, too. Like one mornin' two years after, Ah just broke down when Ah realized that Pa would never set the work rotation for the orchard again." Pinkie - still clinging like a cotton candy lamprey - hugged her cousin harder. "You girls know me. Apple family's all about tradition. Habit, really. Ah've finally managed to make my peace an' build those habits without my folks. It ain't that Ah don't want them back. But the practice of puttin' them back into our lives is gonna be just as hard as it was gettin' them outta it."
"There's going to be a lot of tears," Fluttershy advised. "But they're going to be good ones instead of bad."
Pinkie still refused to let go. "And you won't be having them alone. We'll be there for you every step of the way."
Applejack stayed in the embrace of her friends for almost an hour, even after Rarity and Tempest returned.
Appleoosa was behind them now, with the Macintosh Hills rising all around. The train would occasionally slow as it powered up one of the steeper grades, continuing ever southwards. The sun had risen an hour ago, though the light was diffused by heavy cloud cover off to the east. A wild storm on the edge of the Badlands - far enough away to be of no concern but still enough to muffle the morning light.
Most of the group was still asleep - even Applejack had risen late with no chores to get her moving. She wandered the train with a mug of morning coffee (black and fresh, just like it should be), walking along to keep her legs stretched.
At the back of the train she found Tempest. The dark mare stood on the small balcony on the rear of the caboose, eyes locked out on the tiny town fading in the distance behind them. Applejack drew alongside her and, just as they had on Hearth's Warming Eve, the two stood in silence as the world passed by.
Applejack's mug was nearly empty by the time either spoke. "So," she broke the silence with, "Ah'm hopin' you could give me a few more details 'bout how you got to know my parents. Since things've calmed a bit since the orchard."
The reply was slow - mulled over carefully. But also simple. "Okay."
Another sage-covered hillock passed by to the left, appearing and fading in time with Tempest's breath. "I don't know how they ended up in Verko's possession. I probably could have found out from your parents, but I never asked them the story. Verko just said that he'd acquired them from an undisclosed source before selling them to the Storm King. I suspect that he bought them cheap - your parents were..." The corners of Tempest's mouth twitched up in a tiny smirk. "Willful."
Applejack chuckled quietly at the accurate description.
"The Storm King was interested because he'd lost out on Hippogriffia. When the hippogriffs fled out of reach to Seaquestria, he was looking for some way to make up for it. Something to soothe his wounded pride." Tempest sucked in a deep breath. "Verko presented Bright Mac and Buttercup as prime examples of Equestrian ability. And the Storm King loved what he saw." She shook her head. "He always knew the power that Celestia had, but seeing more of what Equestria had to offer a conqueror? It was enough to overcome his fear of her and make him start planning. Considering his options even before he found the Staff."
Tempest's tongue ran across the inside of her upper lip. "You know most of what happened with him after that. But it took time to get there, and his two new favorites were set to work in the meantime." A pause. A hesitation. "Your parents were... themselves even after the Storm King bought them. He thought they could be broken, but even back then I knew it wasn't so easy."
"I met your mother first - she worked in the Citadel itself. It's probably not news, but she's a Tartarus of a cook." Both Tempest and Applejack laughed at that. "Originally both of them were out in the surrounding town, but the minders were worried about escape attempts. Keeping them separate and controlling when they could see each other was a security measure for the King's new prizes. One wouldn't leave without the other."
A quiet sniffle slipped out of Applejack. Their devotion to each other still rang true from the stories she'd been told - as did their unbreakable spirit.
Tempest closed her eyes, calling up the memories. "She tried to connect with me. I was the only pony other than them there, and at first she thought I was a prisoner too. I was..." She hesitated, words thick in her mouth. "I wasn't very kind to her. Unlike some of the Storm King's commanders I wasn't abusive, but I took pleasure in taunting and berating her. I said a lot of cruel things, Applejack, and knowing now who she is makes that even worse."
The empty mug was set aside, and Applejack put her foreleg across Tempest's withers. "You ain't that pony no more, Tempest. Ah know that ain't you, and the only other pony you gotta apologize to is my Ma when we save her."
She let out a long, shuddering sigh. "I know," Tempest admitted. "But these last two years... I spent ten years of my life in service of the Storm King, and the two years after that trying to make up for it. That's half my life. The last two I've spent nearly all of on my own, and what hasn't been? I've spent it surrounded by creatures who hate me. Who only remember me for the wrongs I did to them and are more than happy to remind me about that." She barked a sharp laugh. "You can only live like that for so long before you start to think they might be right about you."
"But they ain't." Applejack's tone held steel in it - unbending in the face of Tempest's sourness. "A pony like that wouldn't have spent years of her life spreadin' the word of the Storm King's defeat and workin' to break the remnants of his army. A pony like that wouldn't have told me 'bout my parents. An' a pony like that sure as sugar wouldn't care if others thought she was good or not."
"That's why I have to do this." The darker mare turned to the farmer, eyes opening with desperation. "Everything has been about me making up for my mistakes. This isn't my mistake - I didn't help, but I'm not the one that did this to your family. This is the first chance I've had in my adult life to do real good, Applejack. Not just to cancel out what I've done but to bring something positive into the world. I need it. I need to be sure what Twilight saw in me is really there." She paused, sucking in a ragged breath through her nose. "You understand, don't you?"
The train rattled onwards, slowing a little as another hill rose ahead. And Applejack pursed her lips before nodding. "Ah understand. An' Ah'll help you as best Ah can. Not just because it's my family, but because you're my friend."
A tension she hadn't realized was there drained out of Tempest and she sagged against the rail. "Thank you."
"Now," Applejack verbally nudged, "Ah believe you were tellin' me about how you knew two particular ponies?"
Tempest cleared her throat, cheeks darkening further with her blush. "Ah, yes, I... yes." The two briefly laughed with each other before she continued. "Despite the fact that I was a horrible pony to your mother, she was never anything but kind-hearted. She pitied me, I think. Which just made me angrier." Tempest sighed. "She cared deeply for the other slaves around her and tried to reach out and bridge the gap with the rest of us - to care about us, too. It didn't work out for her, but Buttercup never stopped trying." She shrugged. "Maybe it was part of her plan to escape, but she never let herself be bent or broken by everything that happened. Buttercup was true to herself - always."
"Ma... she had her share of heartache when she was younger. Her and Grand Pear - he didn't approve of Pa and disowned her for it." Applejack forced herself to unclench her jaw - the story still galled her, even if her grandfather had repented his mistakes. "If she endured that, Ah can't rightly see how anything the Storm King could throw at her would be worse than what she'd already had done."
Quietly, Tempest watched the hills roll by as she considered that. "Explains a lot," she finally settled on. "Looking back, I understand now how strong she was. As opposed to your father, who I always knew was strong. Even if back then I meant his body instead of his soul."
A smile fluttered over Applejack's lips. "Big Mac comes by it honestly. In both cases."
"He does," Tempest agreed with a grin. "Bright Mac, unsurprisingly, got used for heavy labor. And by the time I set out he was the closest thing there was to a manager - even many of the overseers defaulted to his judgement in how to make things work. He wasn't as friendly as Buttercup, but he knew how to keep the work on track." She paused for a moment, thinking. "He hated us and never pretended otherwise - but he knew that if he played the role it would let him have at least a little control over his life. And the lives of others, too. I can see now how he would adjust work assignments and loads so that those who were injured or weak would get lighter duties. I think..." Tempest trailed off with a frown.
"You think?," Applejack prodded gently.
"I think after he lost all of you, he took up the others as a surrogate family," came the admission.
That drove both ponies into a long silence as the train rattled onward.