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Property
Just over the horizon, she saw the glimmers of a settlement from her window. It sparkled against the backdrop of dust and death, like the crisp wheels of iron pounding down the railroad's tracks, shooting sparks and shaking the carriage with every inch forward.
Applejack, along with the others; cityfolk, farmers, seafolk and foreigners kept to themselves as they huddled close in this heat. Being full of strangers in close quarters, pushing, pulling and sweating... Anywhere else, there would have been fighting. A clear divide. No one was willing to tolerate such lack of space and air and the right to not smell body odor if they'd been in Equestria. Equestria proper... Not this wasteland that made the Everfree Forest, a unholy place its own right, seem like a tame set of trees and critters.
They were safe in the train, they were told. In those damned letters with the prissy-looking invitations. Promises of riches, glory and sweet, fertile land that was just up for the grabbing. Safe from the wild things. Safe from the wilder things that killed the wild. And to pay no mind to all the stories everyone told with lick of sense about the Badlands. The Badland Territories, the letter explained, was land in need of development. As the old remnants of the first pioneers, they had the right... No, the blessed duty to come back and survey the land. Their old families had signed a charter, a oath, and as the descendents it was time to honor that oath...
Applejack leaned against the window, ignoring the awkward wing of a griffon pressing in her stomach and a goat leaning against her, snoring loudly. The sound was pleasant despite the weight on her skull because if he wasn't sleeping, there would only be silence... And she wasn't the only one thinking those thoughts. There was a peace to be found laying between them like a napping dragon exhaling his ashy fog, blinding all from what it really meant to reach the promised land.
It was nice to meet them despite the circumstances, she thought cautiously. Not that they were all related like her Apple Clan but that their ancestors knew each other, made that place of theirs prosper before the end. They were family, in a way, and if they made through this ordeal, Applejack would invite them back to her home and do things proper-like. Still, it was a shame that they would see each other under this bad omen and never again after. She pledged to remember their faces, for identifying purposes, as the least she could do.
Applejack stretched out a hoof and it didn't take long for another to take hold. Ah, Applejack was afraid. Just like the rest of them.
Nobody cried in the train. They had no right to.
The government thought they were doing them a favor. Goodness knows how they thought disturbing that land of graves was a good idea! Letting the poor folk and the related folk that threw away their last names have first dibs on this soil that they 'mysteriously rediscovered'... This was bound to happen, even if the government was ignorant enough to speed the process of them coming back to that accursed land.
It was a duty they couldn't ignore. They had to pay back what they owed.
And if they could not give back their sweat, their sins, then it must be through blood.
There was an oath...
And somebody always had to pay.
Every last drop.
Even so, Applejack wondered if she could do anything about it. If there was some way that she could change their fates. There's supposed to be a little magic left in this soil. Something that could aid her where all things else failed. If she could remember Granny Smith's stories, find that magical lake, she could put all of this to rest. And maybe Apple Bloom wouldn't come ne-
'Enough of that', Applejack thought, tugging her hoof free and taking a deep inhale. 'Big Mac was just as cocky, had so many plans and promises, but if he succeeded, you wouldn't be here. Or better yet, you would be arriving to pick up a brother and not a rotting corpse to bury-'
The train trembled as it slowed, crawling into the sad sack of a train station. Applejack blinked once, twice and then suddenly she was alone in a world of monochrome and blood.
The trial of the oath had begun.
Applejack, along with the others; cityfolk, farmers, seafolk and foreigners kept to themselves as they huddled close in this heat. Being full of strangers in close quarters, pushing, pulling and sweating... Anywhere else, there would have been fighting. A clear divide. No one was willing to tolerate such lack of space and air and the right to not smell body odor if they'd been in Equestria. Equestria proper... Not this wasteland that made the Everfree Forest, a unholy place its own right, seem like a tame set of trees and critters.
They were safe in the train, they were told. In those damned letters with the prissy-looking invitations. Promises of riches, glory and sweet, fertile land that was just up for the grabbing. Safe from the wild things. Safe from the wilder things that killed the wild. And to pay no mind to all the stories everyone told with lick of sense about the Badlands. The Badland Territories, the letter explained, was land in need of development. As the old remnants of the first pioneers, they had the right... No, the blessed duty to come back and survey the land. Their old families had signed a charter, a oath, and as the descendents it was time to honor that oath...
Applejack leaned against the window, ignoring the awkward wing of a griffon pressing in her stomach and a goat leaning against her, snoring loudly. The sound was pleasant despite the weight on her skull because if he wasn't sleeping, there would only be silence... And she wasn't the only one thinking those thoughts. There was a peace to be found laying between them like a napping dragon exhaling his ashy fog, blinding all from what it really meant to reach the promised land.
It was nice to meet them despite the circumstances, she thought cautiously. Not that they were all related like her Apple Clan but that their ancestors knew each other, made that place of theirs prosper before the end. They were family, in a way, and if they made through this ordeal, Applejack would invite them back to her home and do things proper-like. Still, it was a shame that they would see each other under this bad omen and never again after. She pledged to remember their faces, for identifying purposes, as the least she could do.
Applejack stretched out a hoof and it didn't take long for another to take hold. Ah, Applejack was afraid. Just like the rest of them.
Nobody cried in the train. They had no right to.
The government thought they were doing them a favor. Goodness knows how they thought disturbing that land of graves was a good idea! Letting the poor folk and the related folk that threw away their last names have first dibs on this soil that they 'mysteriously rediscovered'... This was bound to happen, even if the government was ignorant enough to speed the process of them coming back to that accursed land.
It was a duty they couldn't ignore. They had to pay back what they owed.
And if they could not give back their sweat, their sins, then it must be through blood.
There was an oath...
And somebody always had to pay.
Every last drop.
Even so, Applejack wondered if she could do anything about it. If there was some way that she could change their fates. There's supposed to be a little magic left in this soil. Something that could aid her where all things else failed. If she could remember Granny Smith's stories, find that magical lake, she could put all of this to rest. And maybe Apple Bloom wouldn't come ne-
'Enough of that', Applejack thought, tugging her hoof free and taking a deep inhale. 'Big Mac was just as cocky, had so many plans and promises, but if he succeeded, you wouldn't be here. Or better yet, you would be arriving to pick up a brother and not a rotting corpse to bury-'
The train trembled as it slowed, crawling into the sad sack of a train station. Applejack blinked once, twice and then suddenly she was alone in a world of monochrome and blood.
The trial of the oath had begun.