//------------------------------// // Honesty // Story: Tales from the Conversion Bureau: The Last Bastion // by Sachiel //------------------------------// Baqsa, Khanate of Kazakhstan, a number of years ago Applejack slowly opened her eyes at the crowing of the rooster, shaking off the lingering effects of sleep she donned her hat and staggered down the stairs towards the kitchen, she rubbed her eyes as she called out “Morning y'all, how'd ya sleep?” oh, right, the kitchen was empty, they weren't there How many years had it been and she still couldn't stop? How deep was that reflex ingrained she wondered as she placed apple slices in the toaster and poured some orange juice. She'd never have admitted it on the other side of the barrier but damn if it wasn't a good way to start the day When the Elements had last met...Faust, so many years ago now, they'd gone to where they felt they were needed. In Applejacks case she'd been surprised where that had been, she'd wanted to go to the USA, she'd visited the vast orchards of Virginia, Washington and California, the ranches of the midwest and great plains. It reminded her of home but...maybe a little too much. For a mare who'd lived, breathed and been willing to die for her family it was more than she could handle That's why she wasn't expecting much when the new Khan of the Kazakhs had invited her to see his nascent Khanate. Plenty of new kings and queens were donning crowns and lots of them felt like having an Element or Elements visit made it somehow more legitimate, that they counted as higher ranked than Princess Celestia. The girls knew that, so they'd done the rounds and one by one, they'd known where they should go when they got there For Applejack part of it had been the genuine warmth and frank honesty of the Khan when they'd met, the respect shown by not going through the same old motions she'd seen elsewhere and had to put up with (her parents and granny hadn't raised a filly without manners). He'd seen past the Element and the legend to a lonely soul who was without family for the first time in her life. He hadn't made big offers, just asked what she wanted and it was pretty straightforward, as fresh a start as she could get The main thing that had made her stay was outside the window, the vast, rolling grasslands of the steppe and the chance to build her own farm, close to home but not enough to revive old ghosts. Most of the time anyway She caught her reflection in the window, her eyes had crows feet and her straw blond hair had some white to it now, getting more each year. Whatever had kept her going was losing its touch. She couldn't begrudge it too much, it had given her plenty of years, long enough to make her fresh start, to make a new family to replace the one she'd lost. She hadn't meant to, just wanted a fresh break but a mare couldn't run a farm on her own, not one as big as hers. For some reason the barrier hadn't made much headway into the Khanate, stopping pretty much right at the border and in every family who decided to try their luck with the Conversion Bureaus there was usually someone who wouldn't go. So there were plenty of people looking to build something new and plenty of space to put them. She'd welcomed the first group of seasonal hands and agri-science students the following year. Plenty of them came back the next year, and the year after that. Graduates were ready to set up shop and many were eager to be near their old teacher, she found she didn't mind so much, the loner thing wasn't for her. Slowly more and more put down roots near her, the little community grew. The Khan had jokingly called it the Baqsa, the Orchard the last time he'd been through to visit his old friend, or was it when she'd been to visit him in Astana? She couldn't remember One day the Khan introduced her to his pegasi adviser Sterling Cuirass and before she knew it they were hitched and expecting their first. Sadly he was her only one, still she'd raised him as best she could, he'd grown, left home and started his own family and Sterling had passed years ago. Without them old habits had crept back, the ghosts returned with less to distract her in her old age. But she wasn't alone With her orange juice and apple toast in hoof she trotted outside to the swing seat set up on her porch, enjoying her breakfast while looking out at what she'd managed to build. She saw past the fields and rows to the closest farm. The Tulayafs had been two agri-science students in her first class, one was the Khans nephew, the other the child of refugees who'd fled from abroad. They'd loved the farm, the outdoors and in time, each other. They'd gotten hitched, settled down next door and had a bevy of young'uns, they'd come over so much she'd practically helped raise them. Their eldest ran their farm now but their second oldest had left home. He hadn't gone far though Sanzhar Tulayaf's footsteps crunched in the gravel as he walked out the door of the farm manager's house, a mug of coffee in his hand “Mornin' Sugarcube” “Morning Grannyjack” he replied, the old mare smiled “Been a while since I was called that” “You said my family were honorary Apples years ago” “Oh yeah, near plum forgot” she laughed, tapping her head “guess the old apple's getting overripe, come on, have a seat” she tapped the bench next to her and he sat down. Next to him a flag hung on a bracket consisting of six purple, yellow, blue, red, green and pink gems arrayed around a six-pointed magenta star on a dark background “What flag is that? It doesn't look like any of the Equestrian ones I saw in my history class at college” Applejack smiled sadly “Maybe one day I'll tell you about it” she tipped the last of the orange juice down her throat and hoped off the seat “now what's on the to do list for today?” “A few fences need fixing and I need to check the sunflowers in the eastern field for leaf rot” “Pretty easy day for us then” they both locked eyes, having an unspoken argument, the same one they had every morning Sanzhar pretty much ran the farm for her these days and he knew she had total faith in him, she wouldn't have taken him on if she hadn't. She knew she didn't have to tag along all the time, she could kick back and enjoy her golden years. There was just one problem: She didn't want to, apparently she'd always had a problem with taking time off. He knew it was a battle he could never win, though he never stopped trying, he didn't want his honorary granny wearing herself out doing work she didn't have to and she didn't want to sit around doing nothing. So an impasse. Then he blinked. Today was another defeat, oh well, she never seemed to get tired anyway “Hang on, I'll bring the truck round” Sanzhar replied, heading off to get the truck warmed up, Applejack savoured her little victory as she ambled down to the mailbox, pulled out the mail and looked through it, spying a letter with the familiar scrawl of her son Bright Macintosh. She opened it, read it and the rest of the mail fell from her hoof, hitting the ground with a flutter. Her legs felt weak and she started to sway, grabbing the mailbox to steady herself when she heard a horn honk “Come on Applejack” Sanzhar called, looking up she forced a smile “Coming kiddo” and ambled off to the truck, trying to wish that letter never existed, An Apple couldn't not keep a few apple trees but they weren't her main crop, she'd diversified (as Rarity would've put it) into a few other things, chief among them sunflowers, she'd always like the plants but the soil around Ponyville wasn't really suited to them. But out here they grew like weeds, and fetched a good price too, enough,to put her kids and grandkids through college... She shook the letter from her mind as the truck pulled up to the fences, she hopped out, ready to focus on the job at hand. It was a pity that two of her agri-science majors were already there finishing it up “Hey boss!” “You...” she pointed to the fence “Saw it needed doing and we were passing by to the vineyard, no problem, we'll take a later lunch today” Sanzhar stepped forwards “Nicely done guys, you saw a problem and you handled it without being told to, when you're running your own farms that's what you're gonna have to do, shows me you're learning what you need to learn while you're here” he turned to his boss “Don't you think?” she startled, the letter had come back “Yeah, nicely done sugarcubes, take an extra hour for lunch, you earned it” “An extra hour?” Sanzhar asked as they climbed into the truck, she looked at him with dull eyes “Gives us plenty of time to take care of the sunflowers, on our own” she replied, something was wrong, the pony he'd known his entire life was sounding weird, she sounded...tired Sanzhar hopped out of the truck and headed over to the sunflowers, they had to check every leaf of every plant for any sign of leaf rot, a long and tedious job at the best of times but it had to be done. Miss one and it could infect the entire field. Applejack trotted off and disappeared into the rows of stalks without a word, almost dragging her feet in the dirt He said nothing and focused on the closest plants, checking each leaf in turn, the good thing about long, tedious jobs was that they gave you plenty of time to think He knew something was wrong, he didn't know what but he knew something was. Every summer when he was a kid he'd follow his parents over when they helped her with the harvest (by then she just had a couple of grandkids staying with her for the summer). Applejack would always scoop him and his brothers and sisters up in her hooves and fawn over them like they were her own. She told them stories about her adventures in Equestira, even showed off her apple bucking on an evening. She'd even do her work with one of his little sisters on her back if they wanted a rest. She always radiated warmth and care, her eyes were always bright and welcoming, even if she was grumpy you knew she was glad to see you. The world could end (and it was going to) and she'd be right there with a smile on her face and light in her eyes slogging through her chores Which is why the muffled sob cut through him like a knife Before Sanzhar knew what he was doing he was sprinting through the sunflowers, finally he spotted a small orange form on the ground, her hat pulled down over her eyes. He skidded to a stop, kicking up a cloud of dust. She raised her head slightly and spoke in a faint voice “Oh, what didja go and do that for? Hope you didn't trample too many of them” she sounded annoyed, it was almost convincing “Applejack, what's wrong?” “No...nothing sugarcube” she held out a hoof for him to help her up, he didn't budge “You've been an awful liar ever since I've known you, you haven't gotten any better” “Nothing's wrong” she replied coldly “Appleja-” “For bucks sake I'm fine!” she snapped, pushed herself to her hooves and then her legs gave out sending her sprawling into the dirt with a cry of pain “Granny!” he was by her side in an instant, she lifted her hat up, her big green eyes shimmered with tears, wordlessly she pulled something from her hat and handed it to him, the letter from earlier, Sanzhar looked up with disbelief “He...he's taking his family to...” she started to shake “...the Conversion Bureau, says they need to have a future” she put her head in her hooves “how does that even work? They're already ponies! Do they just go through or do they get Celestia's potion too?” “I...I'm so sorry grannyjack” “He's a stallion grown, he's gotta protect his family, gotta think of their future” she began to shake “but I...I thought that future would include me, we're family too aint we?” “I...” “Why am Ah losing them again?!” her voice broke before collapsing into more sobs, not knowing what to say Sanzhar embraced her and waited for her to get it all out “Sugarcube” she finally asked “Yes granny?” she looked up at him with a haunted look “It was worth it right? Coming here, doing everything we did, we couldn't stop it, couldn't save you all, what was I thinking starting a new family after I lost my first one? It's all gonna end, what was the point?” “I...” Sanzhar began, faltering, how was he supposed to answer that? He was just a kid in the Khanate, not some high flying element of harmony Then all of sudden he knew the answer, as he spoke a rainbow gleam flashed through both Apples eyes, honorary and not “Because you chose to be honest, you knew what might happen with the barrier, you faced your fears and you decided not to let them control you, to not let the barrier control you, to let it run your life” he waved his arm around the field “you made all this, you made a new start because you wanted to live your life, to make it your own, to preserve hope” Applejack smiled, she pointed to an apple tree at the edge of the field “Wouldya mind taking me to that tree over there? Feeling a bit tired” “Sure granny” he picked her up and carried her over, she smiled as she lay on the grass, feeling the warmth of the sun ahead “Thank you kindly sugarcube, here, you'll need this, keep the sun off” she handed him her hat as she looked out at her farm and the ones visible past its borders, everything here because of her “This is a nice place I made here, reminds me of Sweet Apple Acres” “If it's anything like this I bet it was an amazing place” “It sure was sugarcube” she settled deeper into the grass and began to sing softly, Sanzhar joining her as she drifted off into a sleep she'd never wake from “We're Apples together” “Apples forever” “We're family, but so much more” “No matter what comes, we will face the weather” “We're Apples to the core..”