• Published 20th Jun 2015
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Mortal Coil - Reeve



Rarity's Odyssey: Rarity goes on many adventures to reclaim her homeland

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XIII - Homeward Bound

Author's Note:

Part 3

The rest of the day following the assault on the farm was mostly spent cleaning up. Applejack couldn’t be kept down for long, although we were all thankful that she had been wearing her armour, as the wound ended up being a lot more shallow than it would have been otherwise. Even Braeburn was up and about before long; he treated his missing ear as if it were a mild inconvenience, and by the evening, his brother Caramel was already walking, despite his knee. It was certainly a very eye opening experience for me; primarily I got to see that Earth ponies who lived and worked on a farm were unnaturally durable.

While Braeburn, Applejack and Caramel carried on with the farming to avoid losing an entire day of work, Big Mac and I took care of the bodies. They were all brought to the front yard, where we stripped them down. All armour and weapons were taken and left inside the blacksmiths, Big Mac said that Applejack would look them over later and see if they were worth keeping, selling off or breaking down. Generic items like food or coins we stored in a box which was left in the house, but personal items like jewellery or trinkets we decided to leave on the bodies.

Once there was nothing left to do with them, we loaded them onto a cart, four at a time, and wheeled them out to the northwest orchard. The orchard I had noticed on our journey here, the one that had been burnt down. After a few runs, Big Mac had all the bodies shifted from the front yard to the scorched earth beside the old orchard. While he had been making the runs, I went ahead and started digging the graves, magic doing most of the work.

“Are you absolutely sure we should be doing this?” I asked uncertainly, as Big Mac lifted the first body and went to put him in the ground. “What if they have family that will want them back?”

“We don’t have the time to haul all these bodies across the country lookin’ for relatives,” Big Mac replied as he placed the body in the first grave and climbed back out. “Besides, if they did have families, then they shouldn’t have been here attackin’ us, they should’ve gone home.”

I still wasn’t overly comfortable with the idea, but I opted to keep my mouth shut and carry on digging while Big Mac followed behind me, placing one body in each hole before filling it in. It would have been so much simpler if that mysterious stallion had never intervened, sure he saved me from Hatchet, which I had wanted to thank him for, but he didn’t have to kill all those soldiers. They had been beaten, they weren’t a threat anymore, killing a dozen ponies while they lay unconscious or in too much pain to fight back…

It made me think about the drawing I had found on the last body, the wreath of thorns. It matched up perfectly with the one I had copied into my sketchbook, and by extension, it matched up perfectly with the ‘suicide’ note I found on that innkeeper in Glean, and the carving on the stump where I found my knives and that coded letter. As far as I could see, there were only two possible explanations for this image appearing again. Either one of the soldiers had been responsible for its earlier appearances, or more likely, the mysterious stallion had left it there after he killed the pony.

If it was the latter, did that mean the stallion had also been responsible for that innkeeper’s death? Everything about the circumstances surrounding his death pointed to suicide, and even though the drawing bothered me at the time, I was never about to dispute that, now I wasn’t so sure however. After a few hours and a lot of sweating, which made me glad to have left my clothes back in the guest room before starting, Big Mac placed the final body into his grave, and together we began filling it in.

“You never told me what happened here,” I pointed out, gesturing around us at the charred remains of the apple trees. “You sounded angry when you said there was a fire.”

Big Mac frowned, but did not answer, it looked as if he was trying to decide whether to confide in me or not. In the end he didn’t have to, as another voice cut in from behind us.

“It was the rebels,” Applejack said, making us both jump slightly. “During the war, they were holding this place as a strategic location, squeezin’ it dry to feed their army.”

Applejack strode up beside me and stared out over the remains of the orchard.

“It was just over a year into the war,” she continued. “The Equestrian army was approaching; the unit left to hold Sweet Apple Acres stood no chance against them. They decided to retreat, but before they did, they wanted to ensure the farm couldn’t fall to the enemy, that they would never take our supplies for themselves. So they tried to burn it all to the ground, they started with the northwest orchard before the family even knew what was going on.

“When they found out, they fought back,” Applejack said, glancing over at Big Mac who was staring solemnly at the orchard. “It was a risky move, but it paid off. They managed to hold off the rebels long enough for the Equestrians to arrive, at which point they retreated without setting fire to the rest of the farm.”

“That’s why you left them,” I stated quietly, Applejack nodded slowly.

“Ah was way up north when I heard the news,” she explained. “We were fighting in Olympus, it was where ah met Hatchet. When the news reached me, ah… ah was furious. Ah only agreed to enlist in return for my family’s protection, and then they go and pull somethin’ like that! Ah had enough, ah never gave two tosses about the stupid war to begin with, and that was all the persuasion ah needed to turn mah back on the whole thing.”

“I… see,” I replied pathetically.

I didn’t know what to say to that, to me, Applejack’s story was just the cherry on top of the terrible cake that was the rebellion. Ever since I had arrived back in Panchea, I had heard nothing but terrible things about them, not to mention my own personal run ins with its soldiers and officers. It was baffling to think that they won the war, or that they ever had so much support.

“You said you enlisted in return for your family’s protection,” I began. “But did you ever believe in what the rebellion was fighting for?”

“Independence?” Applejack questioned, thinking about it. “Ah don’t really know to be honest. Ah’ve never had a problem with Princess Celestia or Equestria, it would be weird if ah did, considering how far rooted our family is over there. But ah do understand why the rebels wanted to govern themselves, ah just don’t think goin’ to war was ever the way to get it.”

“Enope,” Big Mac agreed.

“Look, we can talk about this later Rarity,” Applejack said with a weary sigh. “We’ve just about finished the rest of the work, and dinner is on, we should all head back now.”

We left the newly established graveyard in silence, and made our way back to the farmhouse. Once there, we got ourselves cleaned up and sat down around the kitchen table just as Granny Smith was setting out plates. She gave a quick word to the whole table before we began eating, giving thanks for all our safety during the recent, troubling events. The rest of the meal passed by in silence, it was only when I finished my last mouthful that Applejack finally spoke up.

“Alright everypony,” she began. “Things have been difficult lately, what with injuries and invasions. We’ve fallen behind in our work a little, although ah think we could be forgiven for that, all things considered. But we do have to get back on track soon, so it’s gonna be a full day tomorrow, all hooves on deck.”

“I can help too,” I added quickly.

“Ah won’t lie, ah was hoping you would offer,” Applejack said, giving a weak smile. “So early start everypony, and just maybe we’ll be able to make the delivery to Mule on Saturday.”

“You’re making a delivery to Mule?” I asked, a little surprised she hadn’t mentioned that to me sooner.

“Yeah, don’t worry, ah wasn’t gonna keep it a secret from you,” she replied as if reading my mind. “If you want to go home, you’re welcome to travel with me then. But like ah already said, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I need to get back home,” I told her. “Once I know it’s fine, I can contact my parents and let them know it’s okay to come over.”

With the plans for the next couple of days established, we all hit the hay, as Applejack would say. The next day played out fairly uneventfully, which we were all extremely thankful for. The only thing of interest that happened during all the work, was when Applejack asked me to meet her in the blacksmiths. The little building was very dark and confined, even more so, now that it was packed and cluttered with several sets of rebel armour. Applejack stood over the anvil in the centre of the room, examining a familiar sword.

“This was the sword Hatchet had,” Applejack explained to me. “That is to say, the one he had before you made him drop it.”

She passed it over to me for me to inspect, it was a long, very slender blade. I knew it to be called a rapier, although I had never held one personally. It was the kind of weapon used in duels between noblemen, or at least, they did in fairy tales and the likes. The blade was steel, while the overly decorative hilt and pommel were silver plated, the grip itself was wrapped in black leather, matching its sheath. The hilt was made up of a knuckle guard, crossbar and very intricate sweepings. I tested it in my hoof, something I wasn’t used to, preferring to use magic for this kind of delicate work.

The blade was shockingly light, similar in weight to my knives, and while it was easy enough to get a hold of thanks to the overly convoluted hilt, the tricky part was keeping my balance on three hooves while I swung it.

“You make it look so easy,” I said to Applejack, who was trying to stifle her laughter.

“Ah’ve had a lifetime of practice using mah hooves,” she explained. “No offence, but unicorns tend to be over reliant on their magic; you forget that using your hooves is pretty instinctual. Give it a little time and it’ll all come back to you.”

“Why are you giving me this?” I asked, sheathing the sword with my magic so as not to make a hash of it. “I figured you’d want it destroyed after what Hatchet used it to do.”

“Ah’m not so vindictive that ah gonna take my revenge on an inanimate object,” Applejack replied with a role of her eyes. “Besides, that sword is definitely not a standard rebel weapon, looks pretty expensive too, so ah’d bet money that Hatchet stole it.”

“So I can keep it?” I asked, levitating the sheath to my side and imagining how it would look with the rest of my outfit.

“You’re pretty good with those knives,” Applejack began. “But it’s easy to lose sight of them, if you drop them. So yes you can keep it, most of this stuff will end up bein’ sold and ah know rightly that it will just end up finding its way back to the rebels.”

Applejack turned to leave, as she walked out of the Blacksmiths, she carried on talking, more to herself though.

“Or the Liberators…” she muttered. “Or the Dragoons… or some other bunch of battle crazed idiots.”

The rest of the day passed by far too quickly, and before I knew it, I was already packing my things the following morning, while Applejack loaded the cart. Once I was cleaned and dressed, the sword did end up matching my outfit nicely, I exited the farmhouse to find the whole Apple family waiting to see me off. Applebloom was first to say goodbye, rushing forward to meet me and pulling me into a tight hug.

“Good luck on your journey Rarity,” she said in a muffled voice as she buried her face in my coat lapels. “Ah hope you’ll come visit us soon.”

“Of course I will Applebloom,” I assured her, as we both walked over to where the rest were standing. “Once I get settled in home, send a letter to my parents and see about getting back to work, I’ll come straight back to see how you’re all doing.”

“Make sure you do,” Granny Smith said, giving me a much gentler hug. “Family don’t forget about one another.”

“Forgetting about my friends and family is the last thing I’ll do in this world,” I told her.

“And don’t forget to go see your friends up in Pivot again,” Big Mac reminded me, while giving me a one legged hug.

“Don’t worry, I have big plans for the next time I see them,” I replied with a little wink.

After saying a quick goodbye to Braeburn and Caramel, Applejack and I began walking down the lane to the exit and the newly repaired sign. I glanced back as we neared the arch, and saw the rest of the Apples waving goodbye to us, I waved back and smiled, although I felt a slight pang in my chest.

“Don’t worry Sugarcube,” Applejack said in a comforting tone. “You’ll be back soon. You will, right?”

“First chance I get,” I promised her. “I wasn’t lying about that.”

The journey south was wonderfully peaceful, and to make matters even better, the weather still hadn’t turned, so we were able to bask in the warm glow of the sun all day. As we walked, we made small talk, we joked and laughed and talked about our lives before the war. I learned that Applejack’s parents had passed away when she was very young, right after Applebloom’s birth. Things had turned momentarily chilly after that revelation, but Applejack was quick to assure me that she had long since adjusted to it.

Applejack was strong, having absolutely no difficulty with the apple cart. Although her strides weren’t nearly as long as Big Macs, so it was easy for me to match her pace on hoof, rather than forcing her to carry me about. The distance between Sweet Apple Acres and Port Mule was almost exactly the same as the distance Big Mac and I had travelled from Pivot, it meant that those two towns were the main trading locations for the Apples. It also meant that it would take us over a day to arrive there, so we’d be camping out for the night.

I wasn’t sure if Applejack took things easier than her brother, or if she was just pretending she did for my sake. Judging from the way her family described her, I would say the latter was more likely. We did make very good progress during the day, so that by the time the sun had set, we were on the edge of the wood that grew next to the river. Once we passed through the wood and crossed the river, it was a quick walk directly to Mule. It felt weird to know I would finally be home after what was easily the most interesting week of my life.

As we sat on opposite sides of the fire, Applejack regaled me with tales from her time with the rebels. Obviously these were times before she found out how corrupt they were and left. She had definitely got around Panchea while serving with them, not a single town, village or city had been spared from the war, so one day Applejack could be taking part in a sea battle in the Horseshoe Bay, the next she could be marching all the way up to Cragsburg to help carry out an invasion.

“Applejack,” I began after a long silence following one of her stories. “A while back I met a guy who used to serve in the Rebellion, he believed the rebels didn’t have any real plan for what to do if they won the war, and that’s why the country’s in a poor state now. Do you think that’s true?”

“Of course it’s true,” Applejack agreed quickly before hesitating. “Well… maybe it would be more accurate to say they had a plan, one that hinged on the rebel leaders sticking together.”

“They didn’t?” I asked, confused.

I didn’t know much about the politics of the rebellion, I knew in general terms what they wanted, but I couldn’t tell you who the main figures were, or what exactly they did. When the rebellion first emerged, I had paid it little heed. It had started off as a small group of intellectuals who began voicing discontent with the way the country was governed. I was sure it wouldn’t last very long, even when the initial group grew into a vast movement, holding rallies and party meetings across the land. I was content to keep my head down and get on with my work, always sure that it would blow over.

Needless to say I was taken completely by surprise when the war was declared. I could tell my naivety on the subject was catching up with me by the incredulous look on Applejack’s face.

“Sometimes ah forget you were away during all this,” Applejack said, shaking her head slightly in disbelief. “Still, ah thought you’d heard stuff since you returned. As the war went on, there were some… disputes among the leaders regarding their ideologies. Some split off near the end of the war, some waited until Equestria officially surrendered. Basically when ponies talk about the rebellion today, what they’re really talking about is what’s left of the Rebellion, the few who didn’t break off.”

“Few?” I repeated curiously.

“Well, few compared to some of the other factions that emerged,” Applejack specified. “Ah bet there’s enough ponies still loyal to the original rebellion to form a decent sized army, but they’ve got nothin’ on the numbers the other groups have.”

“What other groups are we talking about here?” I asked, leaning in conspiratorially, forgetting we were alone in the middle of the Grand Pastures.

“From what ah know, there were three main groups that split off from the rebellion,” Applejack explained. “Out of the original big three who led the Rebellion from the very beginning, two of them separated to form their own groups. On top of that, the Marshal of the rebellion also left to form his own faction.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, I was sure that when I had faced off against Sufferthorn in Pivot, she had mentioned being the Marshal of the Rebellion. Either she was exaggerating her position, or she had been promoted after this other Marshal left.

“Now ah can’t remember which leader started which faction exactly,” Applejack continued. “But there was the Arcane Order in Arclight, the Dragoons in Olympus, and the Liberators in… well, in Mule. Ah’m really surprised you haven’t heard about them.”

“Grass Snake mentioned them before,” I said, remembering back. “But she never got to tell me what they were.”

“Basically they’re bad news,” Applejack told me. “Say what you want about the rebels, but the Liberators are much more extreme.”

“Extreme?” I repeated. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Applejack began awkwardly. “You know how the Rebellion started over a plan to separate from Equestria? Basically the Liberators have this interesting idea that we should go a step further… and take over Equestria.”

I had really picked a bad time to take a drink from my water canteen, although my spit take really helped to emphasis my shock at Applejack’s statement.

“Take over Equestria!” I repeated, aghast. “Wanting self-governance is one thing, but that would just be insane!”

“Ah know that,” Applejack replied calmly. “Plenty of the rebels knew that too, that’s why they had to split off.”

“But you said the split off groups had greater numbers than the Rebellion,” I reminded her. “Does that mean there are lots of ponies joining these… Liberators?”

I inwardly groaned as I realised the reasoning behind the name.

“Maybe they have a really good PR department,” Applejack replied sarcastically. “They’re riding off the steam left over by the war, Equestria surrendered and plenty of ponies saw that as a sign of weakness and decided to enlist.”

“Well what about the other groups you mentioned?” I asked, hoping they weren’t going to be as radical and outright crazy as the first one. “What are they doing differently?”

“Ah can’t tell you a thing about them,” Applejack stated. “Ah just know they exist, but ah haven’t a clue what they want or what they do.”

“So if the Liberators are in Mule,” I began, worry creeping into my voice. “What does that mean for the town?”

“You shouldn’t have to worry,” Applejack assured me. “Ah’ve been down this way a few times since the war ended, the Liberators do all their business in the fort. The rest of the town seems fine, way better than Pivot at least.”

I relaxed a little at that, while it was still weird to think of extremists in my hometown, it was nice to hear somepony confirm the town's wellbeing. We didn’t talk much more after that, we needed to get some rest if we were to set off early the next morning, so we would arrive in Mule before midday. That had been the plan, but that plan counted on the bridge still existing when we arrived at the river. What we found instead was the ruin of what was once a bridge, now reduced to rubble lying on both banks.

Two mares waited at the site, one on either side of the river. They wore dark plate armour that covered every inch of their bodies, but carried their visored barbuta helmets under their foreleg. They were each armed with a battle axe, and strapped to their backs were kite shields, emblazoned with the image of a hoof smashing upwards into the sun.

“Morning travellers,” the mare on our side greeted, she sounded friendly enough for a pony fully clad in armour. “Sorry but the bridge is closed… which was probably obvious.”

“It was pretty obvious Kiwi!” the other pony called over.

“Shush Green Bean,” Kiwi called back. “We’re supposed to be professional about this.”

She turned back to, trying too hard to look serious.

“So yeah, the bridge is out,” she repeated. “We had some trouble with rebel bandits a while ago, who ended up destroying it.”

“And now we get the great job of standing here all day, to tell travellers about the whole mess!” Green bean shouted over.

“Ah think we know the bandits you’re talkin’ about,” Applejack cut in. “We had a run in with them ourselves, but they shouldn’t be causing you any trouble from now on.”

“Well that’s the first bit of good news we’ve had all day,” Kiwi said, glancing back at Green Bean. “The only other news being that the repairs on the bridge have been delayed for another few days, which means we get to stay out here even longer.”

“So is there no way to get across until the bridge is repaired?” I asked in dismay.

“Of course there is,” both mares said at the exact same time.

“There’s a temporary bridge a little west of here,” Kiwi continued. “That’s the other half of our job, to direct travellers there.”

“Well thank you kindly,” Applejack said before reaching into the cart and pulling out half a dozen apples. “Here, you can have these on the house. It can’t be easy standing out here all day, especially with this weather and that heavy armour.”

“Wait, seriously? Wow, thank you,” Kiwi said in shock, accepting the fruit gratefully.

“Thank you!” Green Bean shouted over. “But if it’s not too must trouble, can you wait here until she throws a few over to me? I’m worried if you leave, she’ll keep them for herself.”

“I would not!” Kiwi exclaimed, indignant at the idea.

We both stared at her for a second before she got the hint and tossed three over to the opposite bank.

“Well, we better get movin’,” Applejack said, turning right. “Thanks for your help you two.”

“What a weird couple they were,” I whispered to Applejack as we started walking, the river to our left, the wood to our right.

“Probably the heat gettin’ to them,” Applejack replied, nodding her head sagely.

We didn’t arrive at the new bridge until around midday, the time Applejack had planned on being in Mule. The bridge really was the height of temporary, literally being several planks placed from one bank across to the next. Another pony in dark armour waited here; this one was sitting down, examining the design on their shield with undisguised distaste. As we got close and he heard the cart, he quickly stood up and posed poker straight.

“Find the place alright?” he asked as we approached. “This whole bridge fiasco has caused us a lot of bother.”

“Well the ladies at the… ex-bridge pointed us in the right direction,” I explained as Applejack began crossing the planks very slowly.

“They didn’t happen to say how long it would be before the bridge is fixed did they?” he asked hopefully.

“They actually said it was going to be delayed be a couple of days,” I replied, cringing slightly as I knew it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

“Typical,” he muttered, staring darkly at the shield he had dropped on the ground.

I was quite thankful when Applejack made it across the makeshift bridge quite quickly and I was able to follow her. Once we were clear of the river and finally back on track, we trekked for a short while before we came to the top of a hill, giving us the perfect, scenic view of the Port Mule and the Horseshoe Bay. The city was mostly obscured by the stone wall that surrounded it, travelling into the seas a little before cutting off. I could just make out the roofs of some particularly tall buildings over the top of the wall, as well as the fort at the most northern end of the city.

Beyond the city itself, I could make out the harbour stretching out into the bay, and all the boats and ships that were either tied up or anchored further out. Turning my eyes back to the wall, I could see the western gate which was bustling with activity, that was where we would be headed next, and from there…

I felt my chest seize as I looked out over the city I had lived my whole life in, that I had been separated from for two years. I could already imagine being back in my room in the house, creating dresses while my mother worked in the garden, and my father arrived home from a day on the sea. And Sweetie Belle would surprise us all with dinner, that we’d take one look at before one of us suggested eating out for the evening. I was broken out of my fantasy when Applejack placed a hoof on my shoulder; I glanced around at her to see her smiling at me.

“Welcome home Rarity.”

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