The Sweet Taste of Apple

by Icecane

An Old "Friend"

Trader was forced onto his four hooves. Before even the thought of trying to run away or make any attempt at escape, magical auras circled around each of his legs and a larger one around his body to cover his wings, linking together to make mystical shackles that kept the pegasus at their mercy. He barely noticed it however, his eyes still locked onto the gryphon before him. Even the throbbing pain in his head was nothing but a distant memory, even as it was worsened by the burly stallion's blow.

The gryphon's wings and feline half were a pure, jet black. As dark as a starless sky and just as vast. His feathery, beaked head was an ashy-gray, while his beak and clawed hands were the typical yellow.

His eyes never left the stallion as he slowly ran his talons across his face. It was just gently enough as to not break the skin, but Trader could feel the tips pushed against him with just enough force, he was made fully aware how easily the gryphon could rend his flesh with a simple twitch of his fingers.

“It's been a long while, Trader,” the gryphon murmured, flicking a finger just so to scratch a few hairs off of the pony's nose.

Trader continued to show little reaction to what the gryphon was actually doing, his legs shaking below him as his mouth trembled open from his attempts to speak. “I-I don't know why you're here,” the pegasus managed to finally say. “But... but I swear I-”

“You know very well why we are here,” the gryphon snapped, his eyes narrowing momentarily as his voice turned to a low hiss. “I know how you lost your last job back in Manehattan. What? Did you think you could hide out in his little town out in the middle of nowhere? Trying to avoid me again?”

Eyes widening even more, Trader managed to shake his head at the sudden accusations. “N-no,” he responded, practically begging for the avian creature to understand. “I swear, I wasn't trying to run! I-I had to come! If not, I wouldn't be able to pay-” His pleas were then cut off as he was grabbed by the throat.

“That's the same excuse you've always used,” the gryphon growled, his piercing eyes looking straight into Trader's. Though his ire was growing steadily more and more, there was a slight bit of amusement shown as he watched the pegasus struggle to breathe. “I've put up with you for far too many years, Trader. I'm done with it. Now, I'll have to take what you owe me from your hide!”

As the gryphon's hold on the stallion's neck tightened, he thrashed more and more as his ability to breathe was cut off from him. Before Trader could lose consciousness, the gryphon's hold on him was suddenly lifted, spurred to do so as a loud, outraged voice rang into their ears.

“What's goin' on here?”

The gryphon whirled around, seeing an orange-coated, blonde-manned mare standing just at the entrance to the alley. Applejack's eyes were chiseled into a seething glare,locked firmly onto the gryphon before they darted to every other pony there. Trader shifted uncomfortably in place as he felt the farmpony's gaze fall on him, lingering for much longer before she looked away and back at the miss-matched flier in front of her.

“Who are you?” Applejack demanded. “And what are you doin' to Trader?”

With a sneer, the burly stallion took an aggressive step toward the mare. Before he got any further, the gryphon held out his arm, stopping the stallion in his tracks. Instead, he stood idle as he attempted to wipe the blood away from his face.

The gryphon simply directed a smile to the mare and bowed his head toward her. “Greetings, Miss,” he said warmly. “The name's Vincent Sickler. Me and my associates are... old friends of Trade Jack here.”

A gaze of scrutiny developed on Applejack's expression, clearly not buying it. “You don't look like any kinda friends Ah've seen,” she responded, her eyes focusing on the magical shackles wrapped around her pegasus friend, as well as the swelling, bruised flesh around his eye where the stallion had struck him.

Vincent smiled a little, gesturing toward Trader casually. “We've had a bit of a... falling out...” he explained. “Not that it's any of your concern, but young Trader here isn't all he might appear. The awful truth of it is, he's rather irresponsible when it comes to his money and has acquired quite the debt with me.”

Blinking in surprise, Applejack looked to Trader, as if to gain some answers or semblance of truth to what the gryphon was saying. The pegasus said nothing, his expression of shame directed at the ground as he made no eye contact with her, his lips shut tight. “Trader...” she said, trying to coax a response out of him, “is this true?” But again, the stallion said nothing.

A delighted smile shown on the gryphon's expression as he eyed the pegasus. “So you know this mare?” he said in amusement, turning back to Applejack as his smile turned to a devilish grin. “Well, you're not the only soul he's kept secrets from. But yes, he's rather irresponsible with his money. Sad thing, truly it is, but I've done all I can to better him.”

Despite his tone and demeanor, Applejack could see through the act. If the two stallion thugs wasn't indicator enough, she could see the malevolence burning in his eyes. Just being near him sent a small chill across her back, causing her to glare at him.

Vincent saw it too, raising his hands defensively as he said, “Believe me, I've been nothing but kind to him. Even giving him years to pay off his debt, when I was well within my right to demand it all then and there. But now, I've grown tired of his little games, so I've decided to take his debt the usual way, taking him instead of his money.”

There was a glint in his dark eyes, making the chill crawling across Applejack flare up for just a moment, nearly causing her to shudder. “What are you goin' to do with him?” she asked.

“Why, give him a job, of course,” Vincent answered. “We will take him back to my homeland. Emperor Griffon prefers exotic help in his palace, and he just adores pegasai. He's willing to pay a good amount as well, maybe even enough to cover Trader's debts.” His gaze then drifted to said pegasus, smirking slightly as he offhandedly said, “'Course, we'll have to make him ready for such a job. Obedience is so hard to teach these days... He won't be the first I've broken though...”

A look of horror crossed the mare, understanding full well what they were planning for her pegasus friend. Looking at him, there was only a moment where their eyes met. The farmpony could see the pitiable scene in his gaze. It was clear that he knew from the start, but there was no fear in his eyes, just heart-wrenching acceptance.

Vincent could see the outrage that Applejack was feeling as well. “If you have any issue with this, you are welcome to take this matter up with Princess Celestia. I'm sure she'll care enough to look into it... in about a year or two,” he said with a laugh, turning away from the mare as he had nothing more to say to her.

Applejack looked to Trader, seeing how helpless he appeared, how he had given up. Though he had kept secrets from her, dealing with characters she would never want any association with, he was still her friend.

“How much does he owe?” Applejack asked, earning a curious stare from the gryphon as he looked at her.

Only pausing for a moment, Vincent amused grin returned as he said, “Twelve-thousand bits.” Letting the heavy number hang in the air, he turned back to Trader, ready to ignore the earth pony yet again. But he didn't fully turn away, stopping in his tracks as he heard something from the mare he did not expect.

“Ah'll pay it.”

Everyone suddenly stopped, surprise quickly crossed the two stallion thugs as their eyes immediately darted to their gryphon leader. Vincent slowly turned back to the farmpony, an arched eyebrow in his expression as he wasn't quite sure he had heard her correctly. Even Trader's eyes were wide, staring at his friend as he shook his head, saying, “No... Applejack don't.”

Quickly, Vincent's hand balled into a fist as he plowed it into the pegasus' gut. The bound stallion lurched forward, collapsing onto the ground in a sputtering, coughing mess. “Quiet,” the gryphon snapped. “It's rude to speak when you're not spoken to.” His expression softening, he looked to Applejack with a curious gaze. “So, Miss, what was that you said?”

Applejack didn't falter as she met the gryphon's gaze and determinedly said, “You heard me. Ah'll pay off Trader's debt.”

“That's quite a large sum,” Vincent replied, his expression still showing a bit of interest in her words. He gestured to the fallen pony. “Especially to waste on a lowly thing like this.”

“Don't worry about that,” the orange-coated mare returned, “Ah can pay it.”

Scratching his chin in thought, the gryphon looked off aimlessly for a moment. “Well, it would save me the trip back to the empire,” he murmured to himself. “Might even be more than what I'd actually get... Plus the time spent getting him ready...” A smile spread across his beaked face as he slowly approached the mare, holding out his hand. “Alright then, you've got yourself a deal.”

At first, Applejack only looked at the outstretched palm, locking eyes with the gryphon for another moment before she raised her own hoof and shook his hand.

---

Only a few minutes passed before Applejack was staring at the gryphon just outside Sweet Apple Acres. His two thugs were with him, as well as Trader, looking just the same as he had before.

Vincent gaze never stayed still for long. There was a clear interest as he looked about the area, seeing the vast fields of trees and the cozy farm that the Apple family took great care of. “What a fine piece of real estate you have here,” he murmured, clearly liking what he saw.

Applejack didn't respond to it, having trouble simply looking at the gryphon without glaring. He and his ilk were exactly the kind of people she didn't want around her farm. Now, thanks to Trader, she was making a deal with them. The mare's only response was a sudden turn of her head, throwing a hefty sack filled with coins toward them.

With a metallic jingle, the bag landed before the gryphon. Vincent didn't even make a move for it. Instead, the bag was consumed by a magical glow as it was lifted in the air and floated before the unicorn, his eyes set in a look of concentration.

The bag itself, already bulging as it was filled to burst, squirmed and writhed as the clinking of the bits against each other filled the air. After a moment, the sounds stopped and the unicorn looked to Vincent, giving a firm nod.

“Well then, it seems our little transaction is complete,” the gryphon said, gesturing to Trader. The magical shackles disappeared and he gave the stallion a hard swat on the flank, causing him to walk forward. “Enjoy your purchase.”

Allowing the pegasus to pass, he walked past the two stallions who held him, his eyes to the ground as he practically shuffled his hooves. Just as he began to pass by Vincent, the gryphon shot a taloned hand out and grabbed him by the back of his neck, pulling him close to where his beak was just a few hairs away from his ear. “I hope you realize how much she's wasted on you,” he said harshly, “on such a worthless creature.”

With that, he shoved the stallion forward, not even earning a response as the pegasus continued shuffling toward the earth pony before them. Trader didn't even look up to Applejack as he stood by her side, standing there like a dog awaiting his next command.

Vincent merely chuckled lightly to himself, bowing once again to the mare. “Good-day to you now,” he said cordially. “May we do business again in the future.” His wings then unfurled and the gryphon took off, disappearing in the sky and leaving the two stallions he left behind to gallop away, leaving the farm behind.

With a sigh, the farmpony set her gaze on Trader, still not looking at her or speaking a word.

---

There was little of the sun's light still in the sky by the time Applejack managed to sneak out of her home, carrying an ice bag filled with the frozen cubes. None of her family had seen Trader yet, it was easy enough them to believe her explanation that the exhausted pegasus was going to spend the night relaxing under the stars. It wasn't technically a lie, as it was the actual plan for the stallion at this point.

Silently though, Applejack headed into the barn, where a certain white-coated stallion sat. Trader's head hung low as he sat on the floor, his only movement being the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

Approaching him, Applejack sat in front of him and wordlessly handed him the bag of ice. He took it just as silently and held it up to his face, pressing it against the black eye he had received, flinching the moment the cold touch graced the swollen flesh.

The barn fell into a tense silence as Trader continued to sit without saying a word, holding the bag of ice to his face while Applejack didn't utter a thing, simply looking at him with an expectant gaze.

After an eternity of nothing but quiet air sped by, the pegasus' nostrils flared as he took in a deep, prolonged breath. Only pausing for a moment more, he said, in a shaken voice, “I-I'm sorry, Applejack... I didn't want you to be involved in any of this...”

Seeing that he has now chosen to speak the first word, the orange-coated mare took it as her chance to talk. “Who were those people?” she asked, her tone flat. “What did you get yourself into?”

Trader's entire body shook as he heaved a shuddering sigh, preparing himself for his own explanation. For a single moment, he looked up, meeting the mare's gaze before he went back to staring at the ground. Though he didn't want to say, he knew he had no choice now. Applejack had earned the right to know, especially after what she did.

“It was years ago,” he explained. “I had returned to Los Pegasus after I heard what happened to my parents. After the ceremony was said and done... I learned the state that my parents left their business in. My mother's store, everything she had dreamed to have, there was so much money owed on it... I don't know if it was because of their deaths... or something else, but with them gone, there was no way to pay for it all. So the store was seized, to be sold to whoever offered the most after the date they set.”

Trader slowly shook his head, and Applejack could see tears slowly falling down his face, his breathing becoming unsteady. “E-even the money I had made as a cloudie didn't even come close to paying for it,” he continued. “But... it was my mother's store... her life's work, that my father built himself... I couldn't just let it be sold off. There was no way I'd ever be able to earn enough for it by normal means though... so I took up gambling.” A shaky sigh came from him, helping Applejack to realize what was going to happen next. “Of course... I've always had such bad luck... I lost every bit I had to my name... Broke, with no hope or means to getting the sum I needed, I ended up hearing about a gryphon who loaned money to those who needed it. Even if I had known exactly who he was at the time... I don't think it would have changed anything...”

His entire body started to tremble, as though shrouded by a cold chill. Watching him, Applejack wasn't sure if it was out of fear for what had nearly befallen him mere minutes ago, or from years of pent-up anguish pouring out of him. “I was desperate!” Trader said, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself of something, rather than explain to his friend. “I had no other choice... A-and he just gave it to me... All of that money... It was just enough to set me as the highest buyer for the building. But, of course, things never turn out the way I expect... Someone else ended up outbidding me, able to offer so much more for it. I had already offered everything I had... all I could do was go back to Vincent, beg for more money. And he did just that, allowing me to get back in the lead... but it just repeated itself... Again and again, I was beaten by someone else, and I had to keep borrowing money. The amount was far more than the place was actually worth, but I didn't care.”

Oddly enough, despite his appearance or actions never changing, there was a brief moment where a smile crossed the pegasus' face, a small glimmer of happiness in his eyes as he said, “Then, I eventually won...” And just like that, it faded, dropping the stallion right back into the mess he had become. “I was a fool, never realizing it until it was too late... too late to see the obvious, to see who was outbidding me... I played right into Vincent's hands, knowing how desperate I was, to pay anything to keep my mother's store, borrowing any amount necessary...”

A saddened frown formed on Applejack's face as she stared at her friend, unable to believe it all. “And that's how you got into debt with him,” she murmured.

Trader gave a weak tilt of his head, his only response to the mare. “I didn't keep the store for very long...” he murmured. “Vincent took it for himself to pay off my debt to him, tore it down soon after... It didn't even come close to paying off what I owed... Though, what he told you was the truth, he was lenient, giving me time to pay him back bit by bit... I don't even know why, maybe he was just toying with me... or maybe I just wasn't worth the effort. So, over the years, I tried to hold whatever job I could, keeping the bare minimal of what I earned to survive off of, and saving the rest to pay him back. Sometimes, he'd send a few of his goons to rough me up every so often, make sure I remembered our deal I guess.”

Applejack was utterly shocked. Never, not in a million years, would she have ever thought that such a thing had befallen her old foalhood friend. She couldn't have anticipated the real reason for such a distasteful gryphon to know him. She almost felt ashamed, her mind actually thinking so many worse reasons for it. There was a moment that she was actually angry with him, thinking that he had gotten into something so horrible for completely selfish reasons. Now, all she could feel was heartache and pity.

Losing the farm, it was one of her greatest fears, to lose everything that her family had worked so hard for. It was a fear that had almost been realized on more than one occasion, making her heart skip a beat just thinking about it. It seemed to be a fear that was shared by her friend, perhaps not something as big as a farm, but something that was as equally important to him. Unlike her though, he had actually gone through it, coming out far worse in the end. She knew it was something she had yet to experience herself, wishing with all of her being that she would never have to.

A stunted sob escaped him as more tears fell from his eyes. “He's right though... I am worthless. Applejack, you... you should have just left me to my fate... not waste all of that money on me...”

At that, Applejack's eyes narrowed. Anger consuming her, she stamped a hoof down hard on the ground as she looked at her friend. “Now, don't you go sayin' that!” she shouted. “You're not worthless. Ah don't care what that feathered monster thinks! He hasn't seen you like Ah have! You're a strong, dependable, hardworkin' pony that's as nice and sweet as they come! Aunt Orange saw it too, thinkin' so highly of ya to send you all the way back home to us! It's what Ah see every day when you go out tryin' harder than almost any other pony Ah've ever seen!”

Trader merely shook his head, not convinced by the mare's kind words. “But, Applejack...” he murmured, “all of that money... how could you-”

“Don't you fret about that,” the orange earth pony reassured him. “Unlike that Vincent fella, Ah could never put a price on a pony. You're my friend, Trader. Ah'd have paid twice that much for you. Course, we'll still have to tell Big Mac and Granny Smith what happened, they won't believe that that much just up and disappeared into thin air. But, they'll understand completely. And don't go thinkin' you've made the farm broke or anythin'. We aren't foolish enough to not have a bit of money saved up for rainy days.”

Though it seemed impossible, a weak smile slowly appeared on the stallion's lips. “But, Applejack,” he replied, looking up at the mare, eyes still glistening with sadness, “I'm a pegasus. If it ever rains, I can just move the clouds out of the sky for you.”

With a simple giggle, Applejack developed her own smile. Without warning, she wrapped her forelegs around him and brought him into a comforting hug. “Ah wouldn't have it any other way,” she murmured as she held him tight.

Wrapping his own forelegs around the mare, Trader returned the gesture. As the warm embrace lasted, a light, contented sigh came from him, his body no longer trembling.

Comments

[Icecane]

I guess the biggest problem with the chapter is how little I really know of Equestria's economy. I mean really, what's a bit worth to them?

One of the few episodes where their money is used is in the Fluttershy/IronWill episode. She buys a tomato for like, one bit, but then buys a large bundle of vegetables for like two bits I think... In the Gala Episode, doesn't Applejack sell Soarin' an entire pie for only two bits? So yeah... it's really weird...

Also, yes, I really do think that the Apple family would be those types of people who don't trust banks. You know, they'd keep all of their money buried in the backyard or under their mattress.

[High_Wind]

imgace.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Well-Shit..jpg

[Crom251]

2767043 I feel sorry for that astronaut.

2766766 Yeah, I think that about the Apple family too.

[Theta]

2766766 I look at their economy as like the 1930's American economy... Or more like the 50's, in a way. Things were a lot cheaper (damn inflation/stagflation) back then, a dollar went farther than it does now. Plus the economy was doing well, people were spending more and more on luxury items, and more and more families became middle class.

[The Warrior Scholar]

....holy crap.... just..wow...that was....powerful.....