She had to admit, it was a nice change of pace. Instead of the rolling green fields and simple woodlands that adorned the lands outside of Ponyville, now Twilight was gazing upon vast and majestic-looking rocky hills, as she and her companions travelled further and further along the train tracks. Their carriage was warm and comfortable right now, and the young unicorn kept her eyes on the scenery outside, with a contented smile on her face as she did so. Applejack and Pinkie were nearby, involved in some sort of discussion, though Twilight could not hear it herself. Letting out a sigh, she finally turned to her two friends, getting off her chair and walking over to them.

"I've never been to Appleoosa before. What's it like?"

Looking to her, Applejack cracked a smile.

"It's a town founded by Apples, Twi. So it's just about the homeliest, friendliest place y'all can find in Equestria."

Giggling slightly, Pinkie looked to the lavender unicorn and nodded in agreement.

"And cousin Braeburn is the friendliest of all. Though he can be a little bit...overwhelming at times."

Applejack rolled her eyes.

"She means he can't figure out when ta stop talkin."

Stifling a giggle of her own, Twilight, to the confusion of her friends, suddenly started to take on a more concerned expression.

"I hope Spike will be okay back in Ponyville."

Gaining a softer expression, Pinkie reached forward, gently placing her hoof upon Twilight's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Twilight. Fluttershy will take good care of him. Besides, he'd have probably been pretty bored coming out here."

Applejack nodded to that.

"True. This is just a visit ta make sure things are goin alright with the new orchards down there."

Twilight looked over her shoulder, out to the window besides her own seat.

"Well, I may not know apples or orchards, but I like to think I could help when we get there."

Smiling, Applejack tipped her hat to her friend.

"THAT'S the spirit, Twi! Ah reckon it'll be good for y'all ta get away from all that politics and stuff."

Sighing, Twilight nodded.

"No argument here. Hearing my brother and Cadence talk about difficulties with Ambassador Rarity can get...trying."

But, it wasn't long before she resumed her earlier smile.

"But, no matter. Appleoosa's not far off now so..."

However, she was unable to continue speaking, as it was in this moment that the door of their carriage opened, revealing one of the train's conductors, a stallion, who stood in the doorway and addressed the passengers in a loud voice.

"We are now coming up to Appleoosa Station! If you would all be so kind as to prepare your belongings and ready yourselves for arrival!"

He left shortly after saying that, and Twilight and her friends looked to one another, nodding in unison before getting to the business of sorting out their respective travel-bags. Once sorted, they waited at their seats, looking out of the windows for a shot while before, finally, Applejack called out.

"There it is!"

Twilight could see that her friend had the right of it, as a town soon appeared on her side of the train as well as the other. She had to admit, it looked pretty much exactly how she'd been picturing it through the entire journey. A town with almost nothing but earth ponies, of many wooden homes, and most importantly of all, with everypony in view bearing some variation of an apple. This was indeed a town of Applejack's kin, that much was obvious, and when Twilight turned to her, she saw a wide smile upon her face.

"Well...let's get to it, shall we?"

Nodding, Twilight placed her bags upon her back, and got out of her seat, following her two friends out of the carriage. After just a short bit of walking, they arrived at the exit of the train, and they, along with a number of other ponies, began to depart from it. The air was warmer than Ponyville out here, and the sun far brighter, as shown when Twilight suddenly shielded her eyes from it for a short few moments. But, before she had a chance to comment on her new surroundings, Applejack beat her to it, taking in a gulp of air before exhaling deeply with a contented expression on her face.

"Ah! Ya smell that, girls? That's proper air!"

Chuckling, Pinkie nodded.

"Yeah, it's nice to get back out here again. It's been, what, two years, cousin?"

Applejack nodded to her.

"Eyup. And here's hopin we can...ah!"

Twilight looked to her after hearing that, and saw, to her slight confusion, that her farmer friend was now pointing straight ahead of her. Turning, Twilight could see that she was looking straight at an approaching earth pony stallion. He was bright yellow in his fur with an orange mane, and clad in garb that was very reminiscent of Applejack's, especially the hat. When he arrived, he did so with a friendly smile.

"Welcome ta Appleoosa, ladies!"

A brief laugh escaped Applejack before she took a step forward.

"Good ta see ya, Braeburn!"

The stallion nodded, turning his gaze over to Pinkie.

"Howdy, cousin Pinkie!"

The party-lover nodded.

"Doing good, Brae. And this..."

She gestured to Twilight.

"...is Twilight. I think we wrote to you about her?"

Braeburn looked to Twilight, who smiled nervously before stepping forward briefly.

"Nice to meet you, Sir."

At that, the stallion chuckled.

"Heck now, Miss Twilight! Any friend of Applejack's is a friend of mine!"

He reached out his hoof, offering it to Twilight, and after just a brief moment of hesitation, the latter accepted it, shaking it slightly.

"Thank you for welcoming us here. I look forward to helping out how I can."

Braeburn nodded.

"Well, ah hope so too."

However, before anypony could say anything else, Pinkie started to take on a somewhat concerned look.

"No offense, Brae...but you're looking a little...tired."

Looking to him closely, Twilight saw that Pinkie was right. There were noticeable dark circles under the stallion's eyes, which, when noticed, caused him to look away, seeming somewhat embarrassed.

"Yeah...well...things have been pretty busy here lately."

Applejack took on a confused look.

"Why? What's wrong?"

Braeburn opened his mouth to speak, only to be halted when somepony called out.

"BRAEBURN!!!"

All four of the ponies turned to see that it was another earth pony stallion, who looked to Braeburn with a great deal of concern.

"It happened again!"

Immediately, Braeburn frowned.

"Are they comin?"

The other stallion nodded.

"Yeah. Doc's lookin at em now."

Groaning slightly, Braeburn nodded back.

"Alright. I'll be over in a bit."

To that, the other stallion started to gallop back where he'd come from, and was, shortly afterwards, joined by a number of other nearby ponies, prompting an understandable amount of confusion from Twilight and her friends.

"Wha...what's going on?" the young unicorn asked.

Braeburn turned to her, then to his two cousins, and started to seem more than a little hesitant. But, in the end, he let out a sigh, raising a hoof and gesturing to where the other stallion had run off to.

"Follow me. It's probably better if ya see it fer yerself."