"and so there we stood, our hearts beating as one, several worlds apart."
- looped.
Chapter 1
⋆.:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
"Dammit," I groaned, sitting up. Across the room, my alarm clock was ringing. The noise could be described as something between a guttural cry and a shriek. It was infuriating, it grated the nerves, it made you grind your teeth until it was done.
But it served its purpose.
I pulled my blankets off, revealing my short sleeved band T-Shirt with my black leggings. I stumbled onto the ground, making my way to the obnoxious ringing.
Since I left the curtains closed, my room was pitch black. So I had to "feel my way" over to the alarm. If my room wasn't completely dark, I couldn't sleep.
Once I was there, I shut the alarm off, sauntering over to my window. It was about 5 AM, the same time I woke up every day. I opened the blinds, letting my eyes adjust to the light outside. The sun was just beginning to rise, dawn was my favorite time of day. In front of me, there were fields and fields of farmland. We owned a lot of land, hence us living on a farm called 'Apple Acres'.
I turned around, making my way to my desk, switching on the lamp. My phone was placed in the middle of my desk. I clicked a button, the screen lighting up. I had a few new notifications, the one that stood out the most was from Sunset.
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
I let out a little giggle. Pinkie and Sunset were really good friends, though I never understood how they managed to stay up so late. Especially on school days.
Me 🍎: Good morning to you too
05:01
I opened my door, lurching over to where my little sister's, Applebloom's, room was. I softly knocked on the door, I always woke her up since her school began later than mine.
"Sugar cube, it's time to get up," I told her in a quiet sweet voice.
She rolled over and groaned. "I hate Mondays," she mumbled.
I chuckled to myself, leaving the door open. As I trailed down the stairs, my eyes met Granny Smith sitting on her rocking chair, looking at the sunrise outside.
"Good mornin' Granny."
She averted her gaze to see me, she tugged the sides of her mouth smiling. "Awe, look at ya. So much like your mother."
I raised an eyebrow making my way over to her. She usually didn't talk about my mother like this. She noticed my confusion and sighed. "It's her birthday today."
I closed my eyes and sighed. It felt like a boulder was dropped on my chest. "Right. I- I don't know how I done forgot."
"Don't you worry Applejack," she told me in her usual scratchy voice. There was a moment of silence before she turned her whole body, facing me. "You don't have to do your chores today. Jus' skip those theyer and go take your shower, we can afford a break."
"Thanks Granny. Guess I'll get onto that."
My family wasn't so fond of my parents. A few months after Applebloom was born, they left Granny Smith to care for us. They cut off all contact with us, no one has seen them since.
I guess, if I ever did try to look for them, my first guess would be that they'd be in Manhattan.
I took a shower, ate some breakfast, and went off to school. When I had made it to my locker, about to enter the combination, I heard my girlfriend call me from across the hallway.
Everyone heard us, but I couldn't be more glad to see her.
"AJ!" she shouted, moving a strand of her rainbow hair behind her ear. A grin formed on my face as I ran over to pull her into a hug.
"Jesus, what got you all so 'huggy'?" Dash asked, awkwardly patting my back. I let go of the hug, we just looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds.
"Shit, you got me. What'd I do?"
"It's my mom's birthday today," I announced.
Her expression changed. She obviously didn't know what to say, so she settled for hugging me again. "I'm so sorry."
"It's been twelve years. I haven't seen both of them since."
Everyone knew how much of a sensitive topic it was for me. Whenever it was mentioned, the whole room would go quiet and I'd feel a mix of emotions. Mostly anger.
How dare my parents leave Granny without any explanation. With their three children. They didn't leave no contact with us, no nothing. Granny busted her ass off just to make sure we grew up alright.
"Hey," a high-pitched voice chirped behind me. I jumped, releasing the hug, spinning around. Pinkie was next to Sunset, laughing.
Quickly, Pinkie's smile faded. "Listen, I know what day it is for you. Who'd I be if I didn't remember every single important date to my cousin?"
It was actually unknown if Pinkie and I were related - secretly I hoped not since I knew about her younger sister's crush on my older brother. I didn't know if I should feel bad for Marble or not, since Big Mac was getting married next week to Sugar Belle.
"Anyway, I stayed up all night making some cupcakes for you," she announced, a big smile plastered on her face.
"They looked really good," Sunset commented. Sunset and Pinkie were both neighbors, Sunset had just moved from Las Vegas right before the school year started.
"Thank you Pinkie," I said smiling. "I do appreciate all the work you put into just for us."
"Of course!" the Pinkette chirped. Before she skipped to her locker, she took a second to look at Dash. Dash wrapped her arm around me and gave Pinkie some expression, which made Pinkie blush. Sunset tugged at her arm, the both of them walking to her locker.
I glanced over at Rainbow, deciding not to question the little exchange they both had. It was probably a friend thing, they spent a lot of time together. Dash had a small grin on her face.
"Cupcakes sound good, don't they?"
I nudged her and chuckled, trailing behind Pinkie and Sunset. When Pinkie got to her locker to enter her combination, Sunset seemed to remember something and started to smile.
"Soo," she beamed. "Guess who got a girlfriend."
Dash perked her head up, suddenly interested. "Hell yeah! Who is she?"
"Her name's Twilight, and she lives in the Crystal Empire," Pinkie blurted. "According to Sunset, she thinks she's super duper gorgeous. She has glasses, either has her hair up in a high ponytail, or in a bun. Sunset rambled on and on about how cute she was when she scrunched her nose, or played with her hair."
Sunset's face turned a new shade of red I haven't seen before. "Sorry, I was going to tell everyone as a group, but I couldn't resist on Pinkie and I's phone call last night."
"Awe, Sunset, we're really happy for you," I commented with a smile.
"How'd you two meet?" Dash suddenly asked. Whenever someone announced the fact that they got together with someone, Dash always had her questions.
"Oh uh," somehow her face flushed a new color of red, "Library, about a month ago. I was reading some book on the bench outside, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I believe. Then she tapped on my shoulder, we just started talking. She's read every single book known to man, I swear."
Pinkie grabbed a container from her locker. Sunset continued, "Then I found her Instagram account later that day, and we just talked and talked and I'm here now."
"Sweet," Dash remarked. Pinkie showed us the container filled with cupcakes.
The cupcakes looked delicious, decorated with a nice layer of light red frosting. "Sometimes I forget how good of a baker you are," I admitted.
"Definitely not that good as a cook though," Dash joked. I thought back to the one time Pinkie tried cooking chicken all by herself - I guess eating rocks all her childhood really did make an impact on her.
"Yeah, AJ's the cook, I'm the baker. Anyways, I'll bring the cupcakes to lunch today, so that's something forward to," Pinkie announced.
I glanced at the clock, about five minutes until the first period started. "Reckon we start headin' to class."
And with that, we dispersed to our different classrooms. Luckily, Sunset and I had Chemistry together, so we made a stop at my locker to get a few things, then we were off to class.
And the day continued like any day, the crushing feeling I felt earlier that day, seemed to lessen as it went on.
We had lunch, ate the delicious cupcakes Pinkie made, and continued on with our lives. The usual routine.
The day just seemed to go on and on. And finally, it was the final class of the day. I sat in the back of the class, staring at the clock. I wasn't one to sit and wait in classes like this, waiting for it to be over, but I was getting restless. Home was so much more comfortable than being in a cramped classroom filled with people I barely cared to know.
A rush of relief coursed through me as the clock reached 2:20, the harsh sound of the bell ringing following right after. I stood up quickly, putting my books together while my classmates rushed to get out. I normally waited until they were all gone to leave, the hallways were usually crowded and always moving, I didn't like the rush of them.
As soon as the classroom was almost empty, I swung on my backpack and made my way to the door. A rainbow-haired girl suddenly ran through it, slowing down once she saw me.
Ms. Cheerlie, who was at her desk arched an eyebrow at her entrance. Dash noticed and laughed. "Oh come on Ms. Cheer, not like I'm skipping any classes or anything."
Dash walked over to me, placing her hand on the desk that I was next to. "Hey AJ, I know you've been really sad today. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at my place today. Y'know, to brighten your spirits or something?" Dash suggested.
I didn't have any plans, so I agreed. We continued by going to our lockers collecting our things, and walking outside.
I took a deep breath of the fresh air once I was out of school. People were racing by the stairs, some rested next to the weird horse statue we had.
My eyes met a bus from the Crystal Empire. Someone who I assumed was my age, was walking out. Somehow, even though we were many feet away from each other, we made eye contact.
I could tell, from where I was standing, she had been crying. She had long purple hair, which was all ruined. Her mascara ran through her porcelain colored face. The white dress she was wearing had been tainted from all the black tears this girl was shedding.
And with this, she ran off, her arm covering her eyes. Dash noticed me staring at elbowed me. "Those Crystal Prep kids are dramatic, huh?"
I shrugged and continued walking in the direction of Dash's home. She caught up with me, we small talked a bit.
I wasn't one to really question anything. Shit happened because shit happened. In the grand scheme of things, it ain't like anything would matter, so why care?
Besides, it wasn't like anything was going to last. After Canterlot High School, I planned to move to Appaloosa with my cousin. Appaloosa spoke more to me than this small town. Big Mac would inherit Apple Acres with Sugar Belle, I wasn't sure of what Applebloom would do yet since she was too young. Nonetheless, I had my whole future planned out before me. And I was sure, none of that would change.
I looked up, my eyes meeting the mountains standing tall from afar. I found it comforting that whenever I looked up, the landmark was always in sight. It never seemed to leave me.
"Race you," Dash suddenly challenged interrupting my thoughts. She took off, running down the sidewalk.
"Hey, that ain't fair!" I called after her. I sprinted after her for about a minute until she crossed a certain street.
Foolishly, without looking, I ran after her. But before I could make it to the other side, a loud honk from a car stopped me.
The last thing I saw was a bright white light blinding all my senses. This immense sharp pain spiraled within me, which resulted in a loud snap in my legs. I couldn't react, I could only feel - as my body was being thrown onto the ground. And boy, did I feel everything.
It was like my limbs didn't belong to me, they were all being controlled as if I was some type of doll. I wanted to call out to Dash since she was the only one who could guide me to safety. But she continued to run off, not bothering to look back. I couldn't do anything but fall.
And before I hit the concrete, it all went black.
➵
— World Count : 2,313
— First published : June 1, 2020
— Final version released : June 30, 2021