Immovable

by Purplescales42

They Want Me Back?

A year. It had been a whole year since Iron Ore first wandered into Ponyville bloodied and beaten. A year since he had found a town that actually wanted him there. A year since the Apples took him in and practically made him family. A year since he had finally found a place to call home.

Iron found it hard to wrap his head around the fact that he had stayed in one place for so long. Normally, he would have found himself kicked out within a few weeks. His more cynical side was telling him that this was just some short lived fantasy and he would be on the road again before he knew it. Iron told that side to shut up.

Iron had also grown much closer to Applejack during his stay. This was definitely something he had not expected. There was a time where he told himself that he'd never settle down with anypony. He didn't think he wanted too. However, Applejack changed that about him. Actually, he found that she had made him reconsider a lot of things during his time with her. The crazy part was that she wasn't even trying to change him, she was just helping him confront those fears and insecurities he didn't want to. On the one hoof, it drover Iron nuts, but on the other? It only made him appreciate her more.

It didn't take long for rumors about the two to start spreading. They weren't mean rumors but they did seem a little nosy at times. Didn't these ponies have something else they could be doing? What really confused Iron was the fact that most ponies acted like he and AJ getting together was inevitable. Did everypony else just see something those two didn't?

You know what? Who cares? Iron certainly didn't. Whether everypony knew what he was doing or not doing didn't matter to him. For once everything was finally going his way and he was going to enjoy it for however long it lasted.

Chores around the farm kept him busy as ever. Today, however, the CMC went ahead and inadvertently added a new one: Fixing up their clubhouse. Apple Bloom was pretty handy with tools but that damage that the little fillies caused required her to seek a little help. Iron was more than willing to lend a hoof promising to not tell Applejack or Big Macintosh what the CMC was actually doing.

"I can't believe you tried fire performance," said Iron as he nailed a shingle onto the roof.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," said Apple Bloom innocently. "Besides, we've worked with fireworks before."

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better." He and Apple Bloom put some finishing touches on the roof. "That should be good."

"Awesome," said Apple Bloom wiping sweat from her brow. "Thanks for yer help, Iron. You still promise not to tell anypony?"

"You promise that you are forever done doing anything remotely related to fire?"

"Ah promise."

"Then your secret is safe with me." He ruffled the filly's mane causing her to giggle. She looked up in the air and saw something approaching them. "What's that?" she asked pointing at the object. Iron looked in the direction she was pointing and saw what looked like a pegasus with a mailbag approaching them. "Oh, it's Derpy." Derpy stopped in front of them and tipped her hat to them.

"Hi!" she greeted.

"Afternoon, Derpy," greeted Iron. "You know the mailbox is by the house right?"

"Yeah, I know," replied Derpy, "but I have a letter for you." She reached into her mailbag and pulled out an envelope. "It says on the front that I'm supposed to deliver it to you directly." Iron took the envelope and Derpy flew off.

"Bye, Derpy!" called Apple Bloom waving to the mailmare. She looked at Iron who had torn open the envelope and pulled out a letter. "What's it say?" Iron didn't reply at first as he read the letter. His eyes widened in shock. "Iron?"

"It's. . .It's a letter from my sister."

***

"Whooee, we sure got a lot of pickin' done today!" said Applejack excitedly as she and her brother carried the last of the baskets to the apple cellar.

"Eeyup," replied Big Mac.

"Would have gotten more if Apple Bloom didn't haul Iron Ore away off to do Celestia knows what."

"Eeyup."

"Any idea what they were up to?"

Nnope. Do ya really want to know?"

"Hmm. . .nah, probably not." The two siblings put the apples in the cellar. "Well, Ah'm beat. Ready to call it a day?"

"Nnope. Gotta do a quick inventory check."

"Alright, see ya later." Applejack left the cellar and went into the house. Apple Bloom ran up to her.

"Hey, Sis, Ah think somethin' is wrong with Iron Ore," she said.

"Whaddya mean?" asked AJ.

"Well, he got some letter from his sister and then went up to his room and hasn't come back out."

"His. . .sister?"

"Ah thought ya said his family went and kicked him out," said Apple Bloom.

"More or less," said AJ. "Ah'm gonna go talk to him." Applejack went upstairs and knocked on Iron's bedroom door. "Iron?"

No reply. She knocked again.

"Iron? Ya alright?"

Again no response.

"Ah'm comin' in okay?" She opened the door and saw Iron sitting on his bed with hit back facing her. Rock was in his tank watching his master with concern. "Iron?" She walked over to Iron and sat next to him. Iron's attention was focused on the letter in his hooves. She nudged his side to get his attention startling him a little.

"Hm? What?" he asked looking at Applejack. "AJ? How long have you been there?"

"Not long. Though Ah guess I could stay here all day and ya'll wouldn't have noticed."

"Sorry," apologized Iron. He looked back at the letter. "I just wasn't expecting this."

"Is it alright if Ah read it?" asked AJ. Iron handed it to her without a word.She took it and looked it over.

Dear Iron Ore,

I doubt you ever expected to hear from me again. To be honest I never thought I would be trying to get in touch with you. Luckily, Stonehead knew where to find you. I don't know exactly how to put this so I guess I'll just come out and say it.

It's about Dad. Stonehead said he told you a little about what was going on but I doubt you know the whole situation. Dad isn't doing so well. They aren't giving him much time before he, well, you get the idea.

I'm writing this to you because we want you to come home. Dad has been meaning to try and get in touch with you for a long time but it just didn't worked out. However, he's pretty adamant now that you come back. Please consider coming back and talking to us. I know you don't have any reason to return and, to be honest, I don't know why Dad wants to see you again, but please think about it.

Your Sister,

Gold Nugget

Applejack folded up the letter and gave it back to Iron. "Wow," was all she could say.

"Yeah," said Iron.

"Are ya gonna go?"

"I'm not sure."

"But Ah thought that goin' home was somethin' ya'll have been wantin' to do fer a while."

"It does cross my mind every now and then," Iron admitted, "but I still don't know."

"Why not?"

"This is the first time in four years that my family has tried to contact me. I don't know if they want to see me because they actually want me back or if there's some other intent behind it."

"They said in the letter that they meant to get in touch with ya before," Applejack reminded him.

"But they didn't," said Iron coldly.

"Neither did you." Iron didn't have a response to that. "This could be the chance to put yer family back together before it's too late. Could ya'll really fergive yerself if yer pa died wantin' to talk to ya and ya did nothin'?" Iron sighed.

"How weak do you think I would be if I said I'm scared to go home?" asked Iron. AJ smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Ah don't think yer weak," she said encouragingly. "Ah remember bein' a little scared to come back home after leavin' my family to live in Manehattan. Ah was afraid they'd not want me back."

"What made you go back?"

"Ah knew Ah at least had to make the effort. It was worth a try. Do ya think yer family is worth the effort?"

"Always with the hard questions aren't you, AJ?" asked Iron with a small smile.

"Somepony has to ask 'em."

"Would you. . .Would you come with me?" asked Iron. "I don't think I can do this alone." AJ looked up at him and smiled.

"Yeah, Iron. Ah'll come along with ya."

***

A few days later, Applejack found herself walking through a small village with Iron. It was smaller than Ponyville. All the buildings were very basic in design. Everything was built for practicality rather than aesthetics. Rarity would hate it here. AJ noticed that most of the stallions were close to Iron's size and a few looked like they were even bigger. The mares looked a little buff too. Applejack was known for her physical strength but everpony here put her to shame. She looked up at the large mountain where the mines were. There were various paths leading from the village to the different cave entrances.

AJ looked at Iron. His face wasn't betraying any emotions. He was stoic as ever. Everypony else, however, seemed to have noticed him. She could see them whispering to each other and giving Iron suspicious looks. Iron didn't pay them any mind though as he walked through the village.

"So which one is yers?" asked Applejack as the approached the houses. They all looked relatively the same. Some basic brick houses all with just one floor each.

"This one here," said Iron walking up to one of the houses. This one was a little separated from the rest of the houses. Iron just stood there staring at the door. "I never thought I'd see this place again."

"Are ya ready fer this?" asked Applejack. Iron took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"Not in the slightest." He knocked the the door. The next few seconds felt like an eternity as they waited for the door to open. Finally, they could hear somepony inside turning the lock and then open the door. A light brown mare with golden mane and tail and Cutie Mark of a golden rock looked at the two.

"Iron Ore?" she asked.

"Gold Nugget," replied Iron flatly.

"Y-You actually came," said Gold surprised. "I didn't think you would." She looked at Applejack. "And who's this?"

"A friend of mine. Can we come in?"

"Oh. Yeah, of course." She stood aside and let Iron and AJ walk in. AJ swore she could have cut the tension in the room with a knife. She looked around seeing a couch, a couple chairs, a fireplace, and a few pictures hanging in the walls.

"Um, nice place ya'll got here," said AJ trying to start a conversation.

"Uh, thanks," said Gold Nugget. Iron ignored them as he headed down the hall. He entered a room at the end of the hall and saw his father, Charcoal, laying on the bed. The older stallion slowly opened his eyes and saw Iron approaching him.

"Hmph. Well, look who showed up," he said. His voice was weak and raspy. Iron remained stoic.

"Hey, Dad."

Author's Note:

So, the time has finally come for Iron Ore to confront his family. I'm still working on how exactly I want to go about this so it might be a little while before the next update. I'm just surprised I actually made it this close to the end. Hopefully, I'll actually be able to finish a fanfic properly for once.

Anywho, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed!