appletastic | perfect as apple pie

Applejack could almost hear everything she believed in breaking around her. She shuddered, long and deep. To force these kids to kill or be killed? It was beyond cruel, enough that her temper would be flaring if she wasn't so upset.

"But why? What's the point of dumping you all in there? It's---it's the worst darn idea I've ever heard."

"I don't think I could agree with you on anything more," Mindy said with a bitter laugh. "I mean, its one thing to kill to stop criminals, but this...this was just killing for entertainment even if you could bring people back. Oh, but most of them were adults. There were some kids too...those usually don't last, or do, depending on how keen you are to kill a kid. Most probably hoped some other kid killed them, or one of the things in the Arena. They weren't always so lucky though, I can tell you that."

"Nopony should...by Celestia, how could such a horrible thing happen?" Applejack sounded utterly heartbroken. She rolled from her spot on the couch and yanked Mindy into a rough hug.

"That'll never happen here, I can promise you that. We're about friendship here, nothing else."

"Yeah, you tend to stop asking yourself that after you've been there long enough: then it just sorta becomes a 'wonder what's gonna happen to me next' kinda thing. Sad, but what are you gonna do? So. You make connections. You play games. You train your ass off. You...well, you try to get as close to happy as you can get."

Which was just funny enough that she laughed slightly, nudging AJ. "The messed up thing is? Now that I'm here, I'm just suspicious, like I'm waiting for some death pony to come out of nowhere that I have to rescue you from. Messed up, huh?"

Applejack whimpered, shaking her head. "Actually you're kinda right about that. There is a death pony...but she just sucks people in their bubble and slowly sucks their souls instead of making them kill each other. But we're fighting her, I swear we're throwing everything we've got at her."

She really didn't want to lose anypony else to the darkness, not now.

Mindy looked thoughtful about that. "You know, that sounds screwed up, but I don't think its as bad as that place I was in. And then there was...those few days when they caught me looking for places to talk without guards in earshot, but right when someone killed one of their officers. Those few days were torture."

No, literally. That was literally what went down, torture.

Applejack was about at her limit. She just trembled and clung on some more.

"Gosh, Mindy...I'm just so glad you're out of there. We'll treat you right this time---anything you need, you've got it. Extra dessert? Spa day? The library? I'll get it."

It was so weird being asked what she wanted. Too weird, really. But you know what? Maybe she could just use that.

"Uh," she said quietly. "A spa day sounds nice. They have one in the Capitol, but since I know the luxury I have is owed to them putting me and my tributes in Death matches, one guilty free...would be nice?"

Applejack nodded, her mind made up. "Then come on! There's this great hot spring that opened up not too long ago. Everypony goes there to take a load off their mind."

She gathered up some towels and supplies, then stretched and headed for the door. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Mindy said, who was all too ready to put some of her sordid past behind her-or at least not talk about it anymore. "Lead the way."

As they walked, she paused a moment. "You sure you OK with this? From what I remembered, going to a Spa was never really one of your things, was it AJ?"

"Rarity has a way of talking me into things," she winked. "Besides, I can deal for one day if it's for you."

She gently nudged her friend and led the way, thankfully finding a private pool for the two of them. "Here. Settle in, why don't you unwind a bit?"

Applejack certainly was. It was hot and inviting, and it didn't hurt that it smelled nice.

"Rarity, huh?" Mindy said, cracking a smile. "If she's anything like my stylist Oceana, trust me, I totally get it. Wouldn't even be wearing half my outfits if she didn't put her own personal touch on 'em."

But it hurt less NOT to think about the Arena right now, honestly. She was already starting to ease into the pool, though her obviously being unsteady as a pony had her falling in. A moment later she was up, spitting and flailing.

"Holy spit, how do you even do that with these hooves?!"

She'd taken in the beauty of the spa once she got over her soaking.

Applejack jumped right over to steady her with a hoof, looking apologetic. Thankfully she'd managed to save her hat from taking a dip.

"You all right? All that heat can be a shock to the system. Easy now...just lean on the wall, all right? There should be someplace to sit."

She felt rather guilty about this.

"And how do you even keep that hat on your head all the time?" Ok, at that point Mindy was missing the point. Now that she had gotten over her embarrassment (and that was really what it was, as she head definitely dealt with more pain than this), she was paddling over to the older pony.

"Phew, that's better! I kinda missed the mark there. Thanks."

"Lots of practice," she winked, backing off now that it was clear Mindy was okay.

"Don't sweat it. It takes newponies a while to find their legs again, and you're already ahead of the curve. Soon you'll just have that horn to worry about."

"I guess," Mindy said, starting to splash around. It still seemed to defy logic to her.

"Hopefully I'll stick around long enough that I'll even be able to do that. So what-wait, horn? What horn?"

"The one on your head?" Applejack pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing ever. "Means you're a unicorn and you get magic powers."

That's exciting, right?

Mindy looked at the horn at her head...or tried to, anyway, squinting.

"Is mine broken or something? I don't recall ever having magic powers."

At that, she leans in to expect it a little. "Now that you mention it...huh. I've never seen one like that before."

She looks a little worried. "Nothing hurts, does it?"

Mindy laughed. "I really don't know how to answer that. Everything hurts, and nothing, you know? I'm kinda a sad sack now, and I guess I'll get over it, eventually. I just..."

She lowered her face into the drink. The tears were coming, and she was not about to have AJ seeing her blubbering.

"Mindy..."

Applejack sounded distressed. This wasn't good---the things that had been done to the poor girl. She respectfully let her deal with things on her own...but boy did she want to gather the girl up and give her a big hug.

That could wait until she was a little more ready, so for now AJ just waited.

The memories came back, and they were hazy: by her choice, of course. She knew full well that she could recount them all, in every vivid detail if she wanted, especially if she wanted to revisit the torture chamber again. But even in the fact of that, in all honesty, she didn't figure on them bringing her dad back and then taking him away again. That, honestly, had been a slow burn she never recovered from.

"Look, bubbles," she said, and formed the, underwater with her mouth, gesturing for Applejack to join her.

Distraction. Distraction were good right about now.

Now that was something she could handle. Applejack flashed a thin smile and joined her, yodeling a bit and watching how big they grew.

When she finished, she wiped the water from her muzzle with a grin. "Bet you can go even bigger..."

Yodeling. Heh. Somehow, with Applejack doing it, she didn't find it so bad.

"Bet I can!" Mindy said, and in fact could: one of those things she actually taught herself to do when training for an underwater scenario. In no time, she was blowing some pretty big bubbles.

When she came up, Mindy would find Applejack applauding. "Now that was a whopper! Take a bow, go on," she prodded gently.

It was silly, it was a ridiculous distraction...but maybe she had to start by showing in small ways that Mindy was wanted and loved.

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