Chapter 1
“Everypony off!” Throngs of ponies disembarked from the locomotive that was currently stalled at the station. All of the multicolored equines grumbled as they were herded onto the platform. Questions were filling the air, all directed to the train operators and staff, which were standing at the engine.
“What gives, guys? I have a gig I have to get to tonight.” One of the ponies was a bit bolder than the rest, she trotted up to the crew of the locomotive. Her magenta eyes flitted between each member of the staff, each looking more worried than the last.
“I’m sorry miss-” A pony in grimy black coveralls started.
“Scratch. Vinyl Scratch.” The mare responded, trying her best to not sound annoyed.
“I’m sorry Miss Scratch.” The coverall’d pony spoke again. “Seems something’s wrong with the engine. Darn thing is just overheating too quick, and we don’t wanna risk none of your lives.” There was a chorus of agreements from the rest of the staff. “I reckon we were lucky to make it to Appleloosa before we had to shut her down. We should have her all patched up come morning, though. So-” The pony cleared his throat and spoke to all of the passengers now. “-y’all should find a place to stay for the night, because we ain’t moving until morning!”
The crowd all groaned, matching Vinyl’s sentiments exactly. She didn’t want to spend the night in this podunk little town in the middle of nowhere, especially when she had a show to get to back in Ponyville! Imagine the disappointed crowd when they learned she wasn’t coming! Imagine the ruined party! It really did break the unicorn’s heart.
“Whatever…” Vinyl grumbled as she turned around. “Can I at least get my stuff off of the train?” That’s all she wanted was her gear to maybe get some practice in through the night. It would certainly help raise her spirits even a little.
“The porters are gonna get the carry-on stuff off for the passengers, but the bigger stuff is going to stay in the luggage car.” Vinyl’s eye twitched involuntarily at the news. Her turntables were in the luggage car! Her record player was in the luggage car! Even her records were in the luggage car! What in the name of sweet Celestia was she supposed to do without any of that stuff?
“Whatever…” Vinyl said once again, her voice little more than a growl at this point. She trudged off to wait with the crowd for her personal effects. She ignored every pony who tried to start conversation with her. Right now she was in a bad mood and didn’t want to be talked to.
After gathering her meager suitcase from the porter, she took off into the station proper. The unicorn briefly entertained the idea of staying in the station for the night, but seeing as how the clock on the wall told her it was only a quarter past four, that seemed like too long of a wait for her.
“Why not go enjoy the town?” She asked herself quietly. She had heard of Appleloosa once, in passing, when talking about Buffalo or something. It was a little frontier town that most ponies knew nothing about, or didn’t even know existed at all. So that either meant it was a diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered or completely uninteresting and boring. Finding out which would be better than staying in the station for the night.
As she exited the station, she was immediately blinded by the sun overhead. The platform had at least been spared the harsh light by the awning overhead, but now she was completely exposed.Grumbling out a few choice curses at the sun, the unicorn got a pair of purple tinted sunglasses from her suitcase and put them on. If she was going to suffer, she was at least going to do it in style.
She gave a cursory glance around. Meaning she basically saw the whole town in one turn of her head. Appleloosa seemed to consist of one main street, lined with a few stores, a post office, and a saloon. Other than that there were a few houses in between the business oriented buildings.
Vinyl sighed as she spotted a tumbleweed making its way down the street, graciously aided by a breeze. It was like a real cliche, this town. A cliche she didn’t even like at that. The sun, the tumbleweed, the old western aesthetic, and the dry cracked dirt beneath her hooves all went against her nature. She liked concrete jungles with bars and clubs and ponies who liked to party. Appleloosa met none of those requirements.
Vinyl decided that her first course of action would be to go to the saloon and see if they had a room to rent for the night. Plus it wouldn’t be a bad place to get a drink. Preferably alcoholic in nature.
So she set off across the street towards the saloon. As she crossed, she felt the eyes of the townponies on her. Was it because they recognized her as the greatest DJ to ever live? Or was it because the horn and pearlescent coat was noticeably out of place in the heavily earth pony populated area? Either way, it emboldened her. The attention was something she fed off of, it made her brave and fed her soul. So ponies staring, be it for good or bad reasons, was okay with her.
She pushed the swinging doors of the saloon open with her magic. She guessed the spirit of cowponies before her took over as she did so, because she felt a slight swagger in her step as she trotted in. The looks from the patrons were expected, and even welcomed. They stared at her from underneath large stetsons and bushy eyebrows, their glares cautious and amused.
“Howdy.” Vinyl said as she approached the bar and the dark brown pegasus tending it. “What’s on tap?” Vinyl was going to stick to casual conversation and try not to get sucked into anything before she had a few drinks in her. Truly, it was the Scratch way of doing things.
“Cider.” The dark stallion answered with a gravelly tone. Vinyl waited for a second, expecting him to go on, but he simply left it there and continued polishing a glass that he held in his wings.
“Right, guess I’ll take one of those then!” Vinyl answered enthusiastically. Cider was something she only had when Sweet Apple Acres had their yearly cider extravaganza, and during that time she drank herself into a stupor. So needless to say, cider was okay with Vinyl.
The stallion nodded and took the glass in his wings on the counter. He then turned around and opened a cabinet just below the bar, inside she saw dozens of glasses, all covered with a thin layer of frost. The barkeep took one of the chilled glasses and put it underneath the tap, filling it perfectly to the rim and putting it on the bar for the unicorn.
Vinyl nodded and flipped a bit from her bag onto the bar. As the barkeep took the bit and trotted off, Vinyl looked down at her drink. The amber liquid inside smelled like heaven to her, and the cold radiating from the glass made it that much more inviting. She raised the glass carefully in her magical grip, careful to not even spill a drop of the sweet nectar, and took a sip.
“Oh, that’s the good stuff…” Vinyl said quietly as she relaxed on the barstool she was sat upon. It tasted exactly like the stuff back home, and that was just perfect. Vinyl closed her eyes and took another sip.
“Ain’t it though?” Vinyl was startled by the sudden voice beside her, nearly spilling her drink. She swallowed what she had in her mouth and turned her head to see the intruding presence. “Ah’m sorry ‘bout that, miss. Saw ya over here enjoyin’ my family’s cider and thought Ah’d come see how ya liked it.” The stallion now standing beside her was a light gold earth pony with a caramel and blond streaked mane. His piercing green eyes radiated warmth and friendliness, the kind that not even Vinyl could be mad at. Topping off the visage was a cowpony hat and a tanned vest, a truly Western individual
“Well it’s good.” Vinyl responded, doing her best not to get mad at the new pony. He had almost made her spill her cider, after all. No amount of happy eyes could change that. “Reminds me of the stuff from Sweet Apple Acres back home.” The stallion took a seat on the barstool beside her, and tapped the bar once. The barkeep came and put a cold mug of cider in front of him, which the pony gladly drank.
“That’s ‘cuz it’s from Sweet Apple Acres.” The stallion sat down his glass on the bar and held out a hoof towards Vinyl. “The name’s Braeburn. Braeburn Apple, and that delicious ambrosia you are so delightin’ in is one-hundred percent Ponyville cider. ‘Fraid our trees are too important to waste any of the produce on cider, even the bad ones. So we just import some from Sweet Apple Acres every once in awhile”
“Vinyl Scratch.” She took Braeburn’s hoof with her own and gave a hearty shake. The earth pony’s grip was as strong as she had thought it would be. It was the grip of a laborer, a farmer.
“Pleasure to meet ya Miss Scratch.” Braeburn took the hat from atop his head and placed it on the bar. “So you’re from Ponyville, huh? Gonna guess y’all know my cousin Applejack then.” Vinyl shrugged her shoulders and gave a sound that responded in the neutral.
“I mean, I know of her. We don’t cross paths often or anything, I just buy cider from her a few times a year.” Somehow Braeburn’s persistent smile seemed to be contagious, making Vinyl’s own mouth spread into a warm grin. “Damn good cider, though.”
“Agreed.” Braeburn raised his glass towards Vinyl. “To good cider?” Vinyl shrugged and brought her glass to bear. They clinked their mugs together, then downed some more of the golden liquid. “So what brings ya out this far, Miss Scratch? Y’all roll in with that train out by the station?”
“Yep.” Vinyl nodded. “Just my luck that the thing breaks down, too. I have a show in Ponyville tonight, that I’m definitely not going to make.” Vinyl frowned at the thought, just another disappointment to add to the pile.
“Ah’m awful sorry to hear that. It ain’t no fun missin’ out on a paycheck, ah know that. There’ll always be another one down the road, though!” Again, Braeburn raised his glass. “To future opportunities.” Again, Vinyl raised her mug and toasted the stallion. Besides the double toast, the optimism that Braeburn displayed was endearing. It was something that Vinyl needed right now.
“Well I wasn’t getting paid for it, anyways. It was for a good friend, I was doing it pro-bono or whatever because I owe her a lot.” Vinyl sighed and thought about the mare that would be waiting at home for her friend to return, only to catch word that she would spend her birthday alone. Just another disappointment.
“Well that’s awful nice of ya, Miss Scratch. Ah’m sure she’ll understand that it ain't your fault.” Braeburn took another sip of his cider. “So what is it ya do, exactly? Some kinda performer Ah gather.”
Vinyl had to give it to Braeburn, he was actually quite the conversationalist. When she showed even the slightest apprehension towards a subject, he said one last thing and moved on to something new. He didn’t pressure her on anything, just kept the flow going.
“I’m a musician, actually. I was on tour and heading back home to rest up before the next leg when the train broke down.” Vinyl would say she was a DJ, but frankly ‘musician’ was much easier. Around here she wasn’t even sure if these ponies knew what a DJ was, so it was best to just simplify the concept.
“World could always use more musicians, Miss Scratch. Whaddya play? Guitar? Piano?” After he was done talking, the stallion finished off his glass of cider in one long swig. That was impressive considering it was over half full at the time of drinking.
“I mean, I play a little guitar sometimes.” It wasn’t a lie, at least. Vinyl’s mother was a guitarist and Vinyl had picked up a lot from her, so she could play a mean guitar if need be. “Mainly I play a bunch of newer stuff, y’know like electronic music.”
“Y’mean that noise with all the beeps and bass?” Vinyl nodded, figuring this was going to be the way it was going to go. “Can’t say ah’m a fan, but more power to ya!” Well that was a lot warmer reception than she was expecting. Usually she was met with ‘that’s not real music’ by most traditionalists, so this was a nice change of pace. “Like ah said, we could always use more musicians, no matter what they play.”
“What do you do, Braeburn?” Vinyl already knew that the answer was ‘farmwork’, but she figured it was nice to ask at least. Plus, maybe if she was nice enough to him he would foot the bill for her next drink.
“Ah work for the Bureau of Agriculture and Land Development.” Well nevermind for expectations, then. “Been out here for a good few years, now. Tryin’ to help Appleloosa get started up as a real town and make sure they don’t starve or nothin’.” An Equinitarian, then. Alright, Vinyl could deal with the bleeding heart kind, she liked ponies who liked to help.
“I was actually expecting you to say ‘farmhand’.” Vinyl said with a chuckle. “No offense or anything, Braeburn.”
“None taken, Miss Scratch. Ah know ah don’t exactly look like no government crony. It throws a hefty number of ponies off, actually. Don’t worry none, one of these days ah’ll have a suit and a desk job.” The stallion spoke with a large amount of sarcasm in his words, causing Vinyl’s smile to splay wider.
“To desk jobs and fancy suits?” Vinyl raised her glass this time, holding it towards the stallion. He then raised a full glass of cider that Vinyl hadn’t even seen the barkeep deliver and clinked his glass against hers.
“Ah reckon they deserve one too.” The stallion said as he knocked back some more cider. “‘Fraid this is gonna be my last glass, though. It ain’t even five o’clock yet and ah’m already a cider deep, if ah keep goin’ ah ain’t stoppin’ anytime soon.”
“Fair enough.” Vinyl conceded, still on her first glass. It wasn’t any trouble to her if he wanted to stop drinking. She had nothing better to do tonight, so getting hammered off of cider actually seemed like a decent play.
“So you’re gonna be here in town for the night, right?” Vinyl looked to Braeburn, she was half-expecting the conversation to be over now but it looked as though she was wrong. Whatever, she was up for some more talking.
“Looks like it, yep. Probably gonna get a room here at the saloon or something.” She saw no harm in talking to Braeburn about this, he didn’t seem quite like the stalking type. “I’m going to drink myself silly, first.” Vinyl punctuated that statement by downing what was left of her cider and putting the mug down on the bar.
“As much fun as that sounds, ah might have a better idea.” Vinyl cocked an eyebrow at the cowpony, basically signalling him to ‘shoot’. “Celestia knows if you’re ever gonna come on through here ever again, and ah’d hate for ya to waste your time here sittin’ in a bar gettin’ shitfaced. So ah could give ya a tour of the town.”
“Vinyl threw the thought around in her head. She could either be here all night drinking, and probably get progressively more mad at herself for the train being delayed...or she could get a tour of Appleloosa with a friendly stallion and see where that went. What a hard decision.
“Alright, you convinced me.” Vinyl took a few more bits out of her bag and put them on the bar for the barkeep. “Take me on your tour, Mr. Guide.” She stood up and lifted her suitcase into the air.
“Well alright!” Braeburn stood and grabbed his hat, placing it gently upon his head. “Whenever you’re good to get goin’, so am ah.” Vinyl gave a cursory glance, making sure her suitcase was all zipped up and nothing had fallen out. Seeing nothing out of place, she gave Braeburn the go ahead.
First they strolled out of the saloon to stand in the late afternoon sun. Vinyl looked up in the sky, not seeing a cloud for miles around. That surely didn’t help the heat, which was borderline unbearable. She would deal with it for a bit longer, she figured.
“Well we’ll start the tour right here on good ol’ main street!” Braeburn gestured a hoof grandly to the two the two rows of buildings on either side of the street. “Seein’ as how it’s the only street, that sorta makes it the de facto ‘main street’, but more and more ponies are moving on down here, so ah’m sure pretty soon we’ll have a ‘First Street’ to go along with it!” They trotted along the dry dusty road, getting looks from the ponies passing by.
“Isn’t it a bit...ambitious to want a town out here, in what is basically the desert?” Vinyl was a bit curious about the state of this area, it didn’t look like it was inhabitable at all by normal pony standards. What drove these ponies out here?
“Well that’s what ah’m here for. So far me and my colleagues have diverted one of the rivers and we’re plannin’ on havin’ it run right by town by the end of the year. Then we got the orchard out in the plains that’s supportin’ the town’s growth. Really, it’s all comin’ up Appleloosa!” Braeburn’s downright radiant smile made Vinyl start to believe that this little town could make it somehow. There was just such positivity and energy within the stallion that it just made you believe whatever he was saying. Power of positivity, she guessed.
“That’s actually really impressive.” Vinyl said aloud. “Gotta say, seems like you have your work cut out for you.” It would take a lot of love and hardwork to get this town where it needed to go, even Vinyl could tell that.
“Ain’t nothin’ like a good project to keep ya goin’.” Braeburn pointed to a building just beside the saloon. “That right there is the Doc’s office. He’s an awful queer fella, though. He’s always rantin’ and ravin’ about Celestia knows what, a blue box or something like that.” Braeburn twirled his hoof by his temple, making a goofy face along with it. “Past all that he’s an alright pony. He always keeps us patched up, and he helps keep the morale up with his antics.”
Vinyl was going to question Braeburn’s usage of ‘queer’, but she just assumed it was meant in the classical sense and not the more modern, more offensive way. Braeburn didn’t strike her as the type of pony to insult somepony else so nonchalantly. For now she was just going to keep quiet and take in the tour, absorbing what she could.
----
“Finally we have my humble abode!” Braeburn waved his hoof at the small wooden home in front of them. It was just on the edge of town, just far enough so he wouldn’t be bothered by the riff-raff, but close enough where he could help quickly if needed. “It ain’t much, but it’s home for now.”
Vinyl glanced at the sun which was now hanging just above the horizon, getting ready to fall so that the moon may rise. The tour had taken much longer that anticipated. That was largely due in part of the detour all the way out to the orchard that Braeburn had insisted they visit. It had been nice, but the trek had left Vinyl exhausted.
“It’s...nice.” Vinyl managed to say between beleaguered breaths and wiping the sweat from her brow. Her hooves were aching like she had never felt before, and worse it felt like she was going to collapse at any moment.
“Ah-” Braeburn took off his hat and looked down at his hooves. “-Ah’m...shucks ah’m sorry about draggin’ y’all around in this heat.” The stallion was clearly embarrassed at his mistake of dragging the unicorn through the harsher climate. “Ah-y’all should come inside to cool off for a bit maybe. Ah’d hate for ya to pass out or somethin’.”
“Good...idea.” Vinyl trudged behind the stallion as he walked up the door of the home and held it open. She walked in and spotted a couch, which her hooves guided her to and she promptly collapsed upon.
“Ah was gonna say ‘make yourself at home’, but y’all were a step ahead of me.” Vinyl saw Braeburn out of the corner of her eye take his hat and vest off and hang them up. The stallion then went out of her limited view. “Stay right there and ah’ll be right back.”
Vinyl gladly obliged her host and kept herself on the couch. It felt nice to relax and let her legs rest for even a few moments. She had to admit that, aside from the near-crippling exhaustion, the tour was rather nice. It was nice to see Braeburn’s outlook on the town and hearing all of his little factoids about the buildings and ponies of the town. Nothing negative either, like not even once. Most normal ponies would at least say ‘I hate that pony’ or ‘she’s an idiot and the town bicycle’ but not Braeburn. It was all ‘she makes the best pies’ or ‘he’s a bit simple but he tells the best jokes.’
“Y’all awake?” The cowpony called out. Vinyl responded with a half-hearted mumble. “Good. Ah got ya some ice water to cool ya off.” Vinyl lifted her head, using her magic to bring the glass close to her and drink most of it down in one gulp. “Ah am awful sorry about makin’ you trudge through the heat. Ah shoulda known better.” The earth pony put a hoof to his head, silently admonishing himself.
“It’s alright, Braeburn.” Vinyl said as she polished off the glass of water and a few of the ice cubes that lay dormant at the bottom of the glass. “Not your fault I’m out of shape.” Sure she was used to the limelight, which was no slouch when it came to making her sweat, but that was different than trotting around a town in blistering heat.
“You? Nah, you’re as fit as a fiddle Miss Scratch.” There that was again. He had been calling her ‘Miss Scratch’ all day, even throughout the entire tour. She hadn’t addressed it because she felt it wasn’t important at the time, but this moment offered her a chance to remedy that.
“You can call me Vinyl, y’know. I’m not gonna get mad at you for dropping the formalities.” Vinyl didn’t feel like she was dying anymore, so she at least tried to add a bit of her usual flare to her speech. A bit of sarcasm mixed with an earnest chillness, her very own special blend.
“Sorry Miss-uh...Vinyl.” Braeburn stammered out. “Ma and Pa liked to hammer etiquette into myself, so ah’m inclined to be a bit polite.” Boy, the cowpony could say that again a million times over, the stallion was overly polite but not to an annoying degree. “Besides the near collapse, ah hope y’all enjoyed the tour of the town.”
“It was nice.” Maybe not Vinyl’s usual style, but it had pried her thoughts away from forlorn thoughts of home and the disappointed ponies waiting for her there. “Seems like you’ve got a nice little town here, Braeburn.” Vinyl levitated an ice cube out of the glass and popped it into her mouth.
“You bet it’s nice!” Braeburn said, obvious pride filling every word. “It’s the best little town this side of the Canterlot river, you can bet your on that!” Vinyl could only smile at the amount of positivity that radiated off of the stallion, it was like an infection. “It ain’t mine, though. ‘Fraid I’m just here to help, not to stay.”
“You’re not going to live here?” Vinyl just assumed that Braeburn was so enamored with the place that he would stay here forever, didn’t seem like he ever wanted to leave. “You got a house and job here and everything.” Vinyl flipped onto her side so she could study the cowpony easier. RIght now he was looking at his hooves rather nervously.
“Well as much as ah’d like to hang my hat here for the rest of my days, Ah’m afraid that it just ain’t in the cards.” Braeburn took a seat in a rocking chair adjacent from the couch. His smile turned into a soft frown, dampening the mood as a whole. “Ah gotta keep movin’ after this, gotta help another town and another after that. It’s my job, after all.”
There was a sad twinge to the stallion’s voice. Vinyl could empathize with that, the whole constantly moving thing. When she was on tour Vinyl always felt out of place and without a home. It’s the reason she always went back to Ponyville when she could, to plant some roots and fill up her soul with the feelings only a home can give.
“A rolling stone gathers no moss, Braeburn.” Vinyl said calmly. “Maybe you should plant some roots here, like permanently or something. It’s really obvious you love the place.” Vinyl wasn’t one for giving life advice, but she was one for pointing out the extremely obvious.
“Other towns will need my help after this, Vinyl.” Braeburn sounded like he was trying to explain that to himself more than his houseguest. “Ah can’t just leave all them other towns out there without my help.”
“You think this place won’t need your help?” Vinyl retorted, crunching on another ice cube. “Dude, this place is basically in the middle of the nowhere with a tribe of buffalo right next door.” Yeah, Braeburn had told her about the indigenous creatures and how they had reacted to the orchard sprouting up. Hell, it seemed like the stallion was the main point of contact between the tribe and the townsponies. “I mean, what if the orchard starts to die? What if the river runs dry? What happens if a tornado comes through? I get that other towns need help, but that doesn’t mean Appleloosa will be all flowers and rainbows forever after you’re gone.” Their eyes met and Vinyl delivered her final statement “I think Appleloosa will always need you, Braeburn.”
“Ah-well thank you for the kind words, Vinyl.” Braeburn smiled again, but not his usual exuberant smile. This was more subdued and calming. “But Ah only love Appleloosa so much ‘cuz it’s given me so much good work over the year ah’ve been here. There’ll be other towns that need my help just as much and ah can’t just go and abandon that callin’ ‘cuz ah like it here, much as ah would like to. The ponies of Appleloosa’ll have to learn how to get along by themselves, we all gotta sometime.” So it was independence he was striving for this town? When she mulled over what she learned about Braeburn from today, it all seemed to fit in place. He wanted to help them help themselves, not just help them out of the goodness of his heart. His kindness and sweat was so that they could survive and have the ability to thrive. A very Apple Family way of thinking, actually.
“Huh, guess I misread that one.” Vinyl relented sadly. “Sorry, I just thought that you’re in love with this town so much that you didn’t want to leave.” Vinyl sat up now, having regained some of her strength from the trip around town.
“Have…” The stallion trailed off then stopped. He cocked his head to the side, a thoughtful expression plastered across his face. “Have y’all ever loved somepony, Vinyl?” A weird question, and kinda personal.
“Yeah…” Vinyl said quietly, her thoughts drifting to a particular stallion. “Yeah, I have.” She felt her heart start to turn to stone, locking up and not wanting to come out anymore. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to hold back any thoughts that might come.
“Well if you love somepony or something a lot, you can’t smother ‘em. You gotta let ‘em make mistakes and grow on their own. You can be there to help ‘em the best you can, but when you know there’s nothin’ you can do for ‘em anymore, that’s when you gotta let ‘em go.” Braeburn came over and sat beside her on the couch. “Ah love this town more than anypony ah’ve ever known! It’s like a foal to me, and ah know that once it’s all grown up it won’t need me anymore. Ah’d love to babysit it my whole life, but it wouldn’t be fair to the town to have me around imposin’ my values and tryin’ to shape how it grows. Ah gotta let this town be it’s own thing once it’s all said and done.”
“Leaving hurts the one you left behind, too.” Vinyl was still a bit bitter about certain things in her past. She couldn’t help it any more than she could help her love of music, it was just ingrained in her at this point.
“Ah sure hit a nerve, didn’t ah?” Vinyl offered no response, she was too lost in introspection to answer. “Well ah’m sorry if ah made you upset, just wanted to explain my point of view.” There was an uncomfortable silence that stretched a few seconds, that is until Braeburn broke it once more. “So why don’t’cha tell me a bit about your home? Y’all basically know everything about me and Ah don’t know nothin’ about you. It’d be nice to hear about the mare you got waitin’ back in Ponyville.”
“Right, she’s gonna be pissed.” Vinyl was back to thinking about home now, and that didn’t make her mood any better. Braeburn nudged her side, attempting to pry some information out of her. “She’s...well she’s like a sister to me, y’know? We were practically raised together, and tonight is her daughter’s birthday and I’m going to miss it...again.” Three years in a row now. She was hoping that this time would be different, that she would actually make it this time. Well, fate had decided that it was not to be this time, and that was not her fault. “She’s done so much for me over the years and I can’t even make it home on time.” Vinyl muttered a few choice curse words under her breath, mainly directed towards herself.
“She’ll forgive you, don’t worry.” Braeburn said it so nonchalantly, like it was a given and not something to hope for. He caught onto her skepticism and smiled. “If she really is like family to y’all, ah reckon just like family she can forgive most anything as long as you didn’t mean to do it on purpose. That’s what family is all about, forgivin’ and lovin each other no matter what.” Oh yeah, he was an Apple through and through.
“I hope you’re right, Braeburn.”
“Ah know ah am!” The stallion added happily. “Now, if y’all are ready to take a short walk again, we might wanna try and get you a room at the saloon. Celestia knows all the other passengers might try for one too, and we don’t want’cha out in the cold tonight.”
“Good point.” Vinyl felt her heart lift a little, like she was told something that she desperately needed to hear today. Which, quite frankly, she was. Every once in awhile it was nice to hear ‘everything will be fine, quit worrying.’ It was validation in a usually cynical void that was her home life that everything was alright, no matter what.
Vinyl grabbed her suitcase, which she had almost forgot she was dragging around all day, and stood up. She didn’t feel quite refreshed, but she did feel better than when she was outside. She looked to Braeburn and nodded.
Braeburn simply lead Vinyl out of the house and back down to the saloon. There wasn’t any talking or anything like before. She didn’t know whether that was because they were both pondering things said earlier, or if it was just because there was really nothing to be said right now.
“Here we are!” Braeburn announced loudly, drawing Vinyl’s attention to the saloon. “Now y’all have a good night, alright?” Braeburn started to head back to his house, but Vinyl reached out with a hoof and stopped him.
“Hey Braeburn?” The stallion turned around. “Thanks. Y’know, for being a good guy and all.” Vinyl wasn’t very good at pleasantries, she could admit that. “If you’re ever in Ponyville or anything and have some free time, hit me up or something.” She could always use the company if she was around, plus he wasn’t bad company to have.
“It ain’t no problem, Vinyl.” Braeburn gave her a winning smile once more. “And if y’all ever find your way back to Appleloosa, give me a holler and we can do this again.” His grin turned more sheepish. “Maybe this time without the heat stroke.”
“Agreed.” Vinyl and Braeburn just stood there for a second, both of them just staring at the other. “Uh...well...take care, alright?” With that, Vinyl turned around and headed towards the doors of the saloon.
“Ah mean, this don’t have to be goodbye quite yet.” She stopped at Braeburn’s words, cocking an eyebrow. “Ah could go for a few drinks or something.” That made Vinyl smile, as it let her know that she was just as good of company to him as he was to her.
In her personal opinion, though? Braeburn was the best kind of company, the kind that you could just talk to without any worries. He would smile and tell you everything good with the world, all the while never harboring any ulterior motives.
Yeah, she could go for a drink with Braeburn. In fact, maybe everyone could use a drink with Braeburn.