//------------------------------// // No Justice // Story: It's Called 'Living' // by appendingfic //------------------------------// IF WE DO NOT CARE, WE DO NOT EXIST.  IF WE DO NOT EXIST, THEN THERE IS NOTHING BUT BLIND OBLIVION. -Terry Pratchett, “Reaper Man” ~~~ Applejack was taking a rest against one of the old apple trees; as much as she hated to admit it, these rests had become a necessity for her old bones. Truth was, she wasn’t certain Applebloom was wrong, insisting she was too old for apple-bucking. But she wasn’t going to go like old Granny, in bed. In any case, Applejack had found hard work was the best way to keep from thinking too much about...well, being old. And what came next. “Mind if I sit a spell?” “Eeyup,” Applejack replied. She’d grown laconic in her old age, seeing more in Big Mac’s tendency not to use two words when one would do. A pale-coated pony sat next to Applejack, leaning against the tree. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Applejack enjoying the quiet, and her companion...well, she didn’t know what. The mare was a stranger to her, something that would have been unheard of five years ago. But then Pinkie had passed, and nopony had the enthusiasm at bringing new ponies into the fold, and Applejack saw more strangers every week. “So, what brings you to Ponyville?” Applejack asked. “Business.” Applejack let that settle for a minute. “What sort of business?” “Had an appointment,” the stranger replied. “And you thought you needed a moment to sit?” Applejack asked. “Nope,” the mare replied. “Appointment’s over this way.” “With whom?” Applejack asked. She turned to the stranger, eyeing her with a narrow gaze. “You’re a mite young for Big Mac, and you ain’t Applebloom’s type, and I know you’re not here for farm business, else I’d know.” The mare sighed. “You’ve found me out. I’m here to see you, Applejack.” “You ain’t with the Revenue, are you?” Applejack demanded. Twilight had insisted she use a whole new accounting system recently, and she’d been worrying about the tax mares ever since. “Ah...no. I don’t have anything to do with...taxes,” the mare said. Applejack stared at her companion, and, suddenly, realized there was another pony present. Or, rather, another body. There was only one orange pony who lived on Sweet Apple Acres. “So, not taxes, then,” Applejack repeated, feeling dazed. “Except in very unusual circumstances, I only meet ponies once. And I don’t demand you have any paperwork.” Applejack chuckled without quite intending it. She’d expected Death to be colder, less friendly. For knowing the Pale Horse had taken her parents when they were still young, had taken Granny Smith from her own bed, the creature should have been harsher. “Is this how you do all your meetings? Chat me up until I let you drag me off to the afterlife?” “I-” The abrupt change in demeanor must have shaken the Pale Horse, because the mare seemed unable to settle on an answer. And Applejack, who’d seen good friends and family pass on, felt her anger surge in the only opportunity she’d have to yell at anypony about it. “Is that how you got my parents to abandon us? Sweet talk and jokes?” The Pale Horse opened her mouth to reply, but Applejack plowed forward, heedless of the mare’s response. “Did you flatter Rainbow? I bet Fluttershy didn’t put up a fight at all, and I’m sure you just told Pinkie how many more ponies she could meet once she was dead!” She threw herself to her hooves and began stalking around the Pale Horse. “You’ve taken too many ponies close to me, and you’re not making it better just by being nice!” “It’s my duty-” the Pale Horse began, weakly. “Buck your duty!” Applejack howled. “Nopony with any heart at all could take a pony who’s got other ponies depending on them, loving them!” And something changed in the Pale Horse. She was no alicorn, but something in her stance gained the majesty of the princesses in their greatest glory. Her blue eyes became as icy and distant as the sky. She looked down on Applejack with the disdain of a creature that was unimaginably ancient. “Would you prefer I took those who had nopony who cared for them? Took ponies who had never truly lived? When I take a pony who leaves behind those who will mourn, I take a creature who has found a place to truly belong, a creature who has had friends, has loved, and has known the greatest joys in life. If you will accuse me of heartlessness, mourn for those I have taken before they have experienced such joy! Be furious I have allowed death to come to those who have known only anger and jealousy! Because at the moment of death, I see the innermost truth of a creature. Those who have known love celebrate it in that moment. Those who have had nothing...” The Pale Horse seemed to fold in on herself; Applejack found herself wondering how much misery the pony of death had witnessed in her existence. “This is why I am kind to you, and make jokes. It is the only way I can help those who have had nothing pass on with some semblance of peace.” The Pale Horse glanced sidelong at Applejack before continuing, and her voice, when it came again, was almost inaudible. “Those that have known love are one of the few comforts I have.” Applejack didn’t have any supernatural ability to know when ponies were lying. But she did have a perfectly natural understanding of sincerity, and while she was aware this could be an elaborate ruse, she didn’t have it in her to let a pony suffer. Even if it wasn’t technically a pony. She reached out to the Pale Horse, and felt ethereal wings wrap around her as she did. “I’m sorry for yelling, sugarcube. I just reckon this is a sore subject for me.” “It always is,” the Pale Horse murmured. “There is no justice in death. Only me.” “And I reckon that’s why you try so hard,” Applejack whispered. “Thank you. I know not everypony appreciates it. But I think I’m ready.” “I’m glad,” the Pale Horse replied, and Applejack hoped the sadness in the other pony’s voice was just her imagination. Because otherwise...well, it made her wish she’d been nicer to her, after all.