Chapter 15
⋆.:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
THIRD PERSON
05:00
Applejack sprung up from her bed, a wide smile grew on her face as she realized what noise she was awakened by.
It was back. The old alarm that had played so long ago. While the shrieking noises grated her nerves — at that moment, it didn't matter.
Every single death after Applejack met Rarity, right before life tossed their souls back into their rooms to repeat the same day, she had always imagined a scenario like this. Where she'd be back in her real bed, and everything was normal.
Unfortunately, when she visualized scenes in her mind, she knew she was really never present in them. Applejack was merely only able to see the outline of what she longed to view.
But the fact that this was actually happening. She knew that this was real. She could feel the blankets enveloping her, her head on the soft pillow. The real scent of her room filled her lungs, unlike the short images she had created in her mind.
Even though Applejack had just awoken, several thoughts swirled around in her mind, resulting in adrenaline coursing throughout her veins. She cracked a smile. She couldn't believe it was all real.
She pulled her blankets off, revealing a short-sleeved band T-shirt, that Dash had given her, with black leggings. She practically skipped to her alarm to turn it off.
She opened the blinds right next to the alarm, and to her relief, the outside looked normal. Her eyes traced over the farmland with awe. It looked as if everything was never touched with the events that had taken place only a few hours ago.
A sudden dark feeling hit her. Maybe this was just a vision of what could be. When in reality, the universe was still continuously being torn apart. This could be fake, she couldn't let her guard down.
Biting her lip, she looked over to her phone, which sat in its original place. Thoughts trailed through her mind, wondering if the original texts were now there.
Step after step, she walked towards it, remembering the state her phone was in all the other times. As soon as she laid one hand on the screen, it took a few seconds for her to muster up the courage to click the 'on' button. When she did, she let out a quiet, but relieved, giggle. It was back.
Sunset 🥓🌞:
Sunset 🥓🌞: Hey buddy, do you think it's time to see a sex therapist?
03:32
Sunset 🥓🌞: Shit, sorry AJ, Pinkie, and I were on a call. We played a few rounds of truth or dare. She's been silent for five minutes, I think she's finally asleep.
04:20
Everything that she once took for granted was back. Applejack went through her phone, seeing that all of her wallpapers were back to normal.
Nothing was of her parents. Her camera roll wasn't endless photos of her mother, her text messages were what they were before.
"Damn," she spoke, feeling an overwhelming amount of joy fill her.
Applejack could finally live this day with the freedom she hadn't felt in so long. She could finally fall asleep in her own bed, and wake up the next, with a whole life ahead of her. She just had to hope that she wouldn't encounter some stupid event that would result in another death.
That's when it hit her. If everything was back to normal, everything would be normal. If she died, she might not be brought back to life like all the other times. She could actually die.
She sighed shakily. Hopefully, it'd be different. Her past deaths were based off really silly accidents where the chances of them happening were close to a 0. When Rarity and Applejack had met up for one of the first times, a street light had fallen on top of them. Another one of their deaths was caused by a gas leak. These situations weren't very common — the world had just been doing everything in its power to kill them.
Hopefully, death wasn't chasing her down every corner this time.
This was confusing. Applejack didn't know what to make of it, so slowly, she continued the rest of the day.
She reached over to turn on the light, her room quickly being eliminated by the sudden brightness. She changed out of her clothes and into flannel and ripped jeans. She made her way into the bathroom across the hallway.
Applejack soon found herself staring at her reflection deep in her thoughts. She eventually came to an agreement with herself. If she only had one try to do everything without it being repeated, she wanted to make the most out of it.
She put her hair up in a messy bun, which was followed by her splashing water onto her face. Taking in the reflection one last time, she couldn't help but smile. Rarity's plan actually worked.
Rarity.
And as soon as her name came to mind, a new set of adrenaline coursed through her veins. Applejack's heart suddenly beating a hundred times per second. Rarity's beautiful diamond eyes, her perfectly curled hair. How she seemed to be perfectly dressed for any occasion.
Applejack needed to see her.
Stepping out of the bathroom, AJ looked at Applebloom's room knowing that she had to wake her up.
She sighed happily, which was followed by her knocking on the door lightly. As soon as AJ opened it, a warm fuzzy feeling filled her. It was silly, she hadn't realized how much she had missed such a small action.
"Sugar cube, it's time to wake up," Applejack spoke.
Applebloom groaned and rolled over. "I hate Mondays."
"Something about today is different than all the other Mondays. I just feel it."
"Whatever you say sis," she mumbled, burying her face in her pillow.
Applejack lightly shut the door, starting down the stairs, focusing on each of the family portraits that decorated the walls she stood next to. One of the first things she noticed was the lack of her parents in any of them. With 'seeing Rarity' as her top priority, she mentally added 'make Granny Smith hang up their old photos' to her list.
Speaking of Granny Smith - once she finally made it to the bottom of the stairs she turned to look for her familiar rocking chair. And there she sat, staring at the beautiful sunrise.
"Good mornin' Granny."
Granny averted her gaze to see Applejack, she tugged the sides of her mouth smiling. "Awe, look at you. So much like your mother."
Instead of confusion taking over Applejack, like Granny probably expected, she simply just smiled. "Thank you."
Granny gave Applejack a strange look, and she couldn't blame her. Every single mention of her mother Applejack turned away at, leaving everyone with unexplained guilt.
Granny Smith dismissed the idea, continuing the conversation. "It's her birthday today."
"I know. And I miss her a lot, Granny."
After she said those words, Granny's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm as lost as last year's Easter egg. Applejack you whaat-?"
The warm fuzzy feeling Applejack felt continued to grow, though she didn't know what to say to Granny. She looked at the corner of the living room, noticing all of Winona's belongings back.
The memories of what had happened to Winona in the loops suddenly came back. Her disappearance. Putting that dark memory aside, she looked back at Granny Smith.
"Where is she?"
"Eh?"
"Winona?"
Granny shook her head in response. "She's where she always is at this time of day. The fields running around?"
Applejack looked out the window looking for the dog. It didn't take long, but just like Granny said, Winona was out there, running in the field.
Applejack smiled, and without warning, she wrapped her arms around Granny. Granny took the hug, completely weirded out by her grandchild's antics.
"Applejack if this is some sort of joke-"
"I missed you," Applejack spoke. She let go of the hug. "I gotta go, but I'll be back later this time. I promise."
"Why wouldn't you be ba-"
Before Applejack could hear Granny finish her sentence, she was off, with the one destination in mind.
She was going to see Rarity.
05:00
Rarity awoke from her slumber quite peacefully. Right as she sat up from her bed, she could tell things were different.
Good different.
She took a minute to look around her room, noticing how everything was back to the way it was previously. The fairy lights on the wall remained in the same place and color as before. All the effects of the loops, from what she saw, were suddenly gone.
Did her plan to make 'amends' actually work? Confused, her mind traced back to the last thing she remembered. She was at Twilight's, and after apologizing she felt the embrace of death touch her. She fell to the ground and with a weak smile, it took her away.
Except this death was different. She didn't feel the same anger as before. When the white surrounded her all she seemed to feel was peace. Then she saw that memory.
A chill traveled down her spine as she thought of her. The last kiss they shared, their fingers intertwining. Then her walking away and leaving her to Manehattan.
When Applejack walked away from her when she was leaving for the city, Rarity didn't stand up, yelling for her to turn around. She wanted one last smile from her, which for some reason, Rarity was too scared to ask. The dark feeling of regret filled her once again.
This was the last time she saw Applejack.
She should have done something to grab her attention.
Her thoughts continued. If everything was normal, she could see Applejack again. And maybe, just maybe - the universe wouldn't be crumpling around them.
This feeling of hope was what got Rarity up from her bed. It followed her through the morning, building up.
She knew deep down she couldn't let her guard down. This could all just be a fluke, next thing she'd know, something could kill her again.
After a few minutes of noticing how everything was the way it was before the loops happened, she finally started to get ready.
Her eyes met the dress she had worn on the first loops. It was folded in such a way where she could pick it up and go, since she had originally planned on wearing it several months before. With just seeing the little bit of the white fabric, memories came running back.
Without hesitation, Rarity picked up the dress, and threw it into the trash that resided next to her hamper. Instead, she went for something else. She wanted to feel new, this day was a big deal after all. And clothing was just how she expressed almost everything.
She spent a few more minutes there until she believed she had found the perfect match. She showered, dried & curled her hair, and applied some of her makeup. Before walking out, she stared at her reflection. This was the last day of living this day and she needed to make the most out of it.
She walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Right away Sweetie Belle and her Mom turned to look at her. They were both making waffles.
"Rarity, hi!" Sweetie Belle cheered pulling her into a tight hug. "You look so pretty today, you never have your hair up like that."
Rarity smiled at the compliment, she was glad someone had noticed. It made her feel different - a good different. After Sweetie Belle was done hugging her, she pointed at the food.
"I'm cooking with Mom, we're making your favorite. Waffles!"
"I'd love to eat and help cook with you all, but I promised I'd meet someone at Crystal Prep early today." This statement was followed by Rarity walking to the table and grabbing a plain waffle. "Tomorrow though darlings, we'll definitely eat breakfast together."
Sweetie Belle was saddened by the statement. "You promise?"
"I promise."
And just by those two words, Sweetie Belle was back to cheery self. She sat back down onto the chair next to the table, happily drowning her waffles in syrup.
Rarity looked out the window, noticing how the sun had now made its way farther up into the sky. It had bloomed up the horizon and came up as a golden tunnel. Somehow, it felt as if everything was screaming at her to see Applejack.
"Well," Rarity spoke looking back at her mother and younger sister, "I must be going now. I'll see you soon."
"Bye sweetie, good luck with your studies!" her mother called out as Rarity walked towards the front door. She slid on her shoes, reached over to her small backpack which had been sitting there.
"We should do a game night tonight by the way," Rarity suggested before shutting the door. From outside she could hear Sweetie Belle suddenly erupting from her chair in joy.
Rarity giggled and walked down the driveway. She couldn't wait to see Applejack.
hi, i know this chapter has been hella boring, yuh yuh. But if you're gonna take anything away from this, please just read this next part, tyvm :)
06:20
Applejack and Rarity had reached the park around the same time. They both carried nothing but excitement.
The park was beautifully decorated, the sunlight's rays warming up their surroundings. They both took a deep breath, their lungs filling up with fresh air.
Taking a few steps in, both their smiles started to fade when they didn't see the other right away. Because the universe was supposedly fixed, they expected the other person to also arrive early. They were quick to reassure themselves the other person also had a way to go to get to the destination.
They made their way to the park bench, sitting down. Rarity ran her finger over the swirls of the bench, the wood rough against her hand. Applejack stared at the sky, watching the clouds float by.
There they sat, impatiently waiting for the other.
They hadn't realized it, but they let their guards down.
Because when they both fixed the loop - they didn't realize everything was back to normal.
It was like the loops had never happened.
— World Count : 1661
— First published : March 19, 2021
— Final version released : June 30, 2021