//------------------------------//
// Final Chapter 
// Story: It's Not Easy Being In Love (Anachronic Version) 
// by Gutovi 
//------------------------------//

Date: Unknown.
Unknown.
Location: Unknown.
Point of View: Rainbow Dash

A blinding white light woke Rainbow Dash up. Everything around her was white, except for a pale orange and pale golden blur next to her.
“Ugh… Where am I?”  she asked, trying to regain her senses. She felt like waking up after a big accident crash, when she couldn’t tell which way was up.
“In hospital Rainbow.” The blur told her, it sounded distorted, and she couldn’t quite make out who was talking. 
Seemed like not only sight and hearing were not completely regained, she couldn’t smell a thing, and she could barely feel her hooves.
“A-Applejack?”
A heavy sigh was heard. “Not this again…” The voice was clear now, it was a stallion’s voice.
Finally, Rainbow Dash regained her senses, and notice she was resting in a hospital bed, and the pony to her side was a doctor. His coat and mane were the same colour as Applejack’s
“W-who are you? What happened?”
Another sigh escaped the doctor’s mouth. “I hate it when this happens. Maybe if I tell you some things, you will remember the rest. I’m doctor Straitjacket, do you remember me now?”
“No…” Rainbow Dash answered.
“I work at the hospital, I’m in charge of the psychiatric rehabilitation wing.”
“And why are you here then?”
“Rainbow… you are in the psychiatric rehabilitation wing. You have been here for two years now.”
“WHAT!?”
“You suffered a strong traumatic experience. When ponies suffer these kind of experiences, their minds tend to use different methods to ‘escape’ and not face their dreaded reality. In your case, your mind decided to self-induce amnesia, and refill those tragic memories with false ones.”
Rainbow Dash’s mind was struggling to process what she was hearing. “D-doctor… you’re kind of creeping me out…”She soon noticed the lack of a certain farm-pony. “W-where’s Applejack? W-where’s my marefriend?”
Doctor Straitjacket sighed once again, but there was so much pain in this last one. He looked at Rainbow Dash with a sympathetic expression and said. “I… I’m so sorry to tell you this Rainbow… but the traumatic experience I was talking about… it was your best friend Applejack’s death.”
The world seemed to twist around the pegasus and everything started to get darker. Her heart stopped beating for some seconds and her chest tightened. “W-what?”
“Applejack died two years ago Rainbow Dash.” The doctor explained. He rested a hoof in Dash’s shoulder. “She… she died while fulfilling her duty in the crystal empire. She gave her life to save you from a dark crystal that protruded out of the ground because of King Sombra’s dark magic.”
“N-no, you’re… you have to be lying. I remember this big Apple family reunion she organized that year.”
“That never happened Rainbow Dash, my wife, Apple Fritter, is a member of the Apple family, and there was a big reunion that year, but was not organized by Applejack, and the purpose of that reunion, was to commemorate both her death, and Granny Smith’s, who passed away a few days after her grand-daughter. She was too old to take a blow like that.”
“N-no, no, No, NO! YOU’RE LYING! I’M GETTING OUT OF HE-” it wasn’t until now that she noticed she was being restrained but a straitjacket, tied to the hospital bed. “L-LET ME GO!”
“I’m sorry Miss Rainbow, but I had to restrain you after last year’s incident. J-just calm down.”
She suddenly started feeling a lot sleepier and relaxed. She noticed an empty syringe being magically taken from her neck. “Wha…what was that…”
“It’s just something to ease your anger, and help you relax. I’ll leave you alone now.”
“N-no… wait, I want you to answer me. I-if all you say is true then who saved Spike from those timberwolves two years ago?”
“Ah… yes, that’s also another anecdote you usually use to try and escape reality. Don’t you wonder why do you know so much about what happened in the forest, if you weren’t there?” the doctor asked her. “I’ll tell you why, it’s because that was you, but you told everypony it was Applejack, you tried to convince Ponyville of that, including you.”
“N-no…”
The stallion took a step forward and asked “Ever wondered why Princess Celestia decided to make Discord an ally? It was because since the Element of Honesty wasn’t here, there was no way to stop him, if he ever escaped his stone prison.”
Rainbow Dash’s brain was screaming for him to stop, to stop this nonsense “T-that never happened, Applejack never died, this guy is trying to fool me!” but slowly… slowly but steadily, she started remembering. Remembering every single painful moment. Every night she spent grieving. Every night she considered killing herself just to meet Applejack again. Every single tear shed. Every rose she left in Applejack’s tombstone. Every caress she gave to her iconic Stetson, which was kept safe in her bedroom’s night stand. Every glance at the picture of the love of her life she had on her bedroom’s wall. 
She slowly, steadily and awfully painfully, she realised the sad truth.
Something inside her head clicked, she felt her heart stopped beating, her lungs freezing and everything slowly fading to black.
A final whisper escaped her cold mouth. “See you soon AJ…”

















Date: Two years after King Sombra’s failed attempt to take Crystal Empire back.
During “The Games”.
Location: Unknown.
Point of View: Applejack

“Y’all ain’t getting rid of me that easily RD! If y’all leave this world it’ll be only after Ah know there’s nothing else fer me to do!”
She felt the rope grab something, so she planted her hooves on the ground and started pulling.
“Ah. Ain’t. Losing. Y’all! Not. This. Way!” She exclaimed between pulls.
With a final strong pull, she went flying a few hooves, but noticed a poly-chromatic pegasus come out of the portal, filling her heart with glee.
She spitted out the rope, and went to wake up her unconscious lover. “Rainbow! Rainbow wake up!”
“Wha-what..?” the mare answered, slowly waking up.”
“Rainbow come on! Y’all entered the wrong portal, but Ah could take y’all out before it was too late, but if we don’t mover right now, Oblivion will catch up with us n’ we’ll be doomed!”
The mare seemed to have suffered a strong shock when she entered the portal because she seemed to be spacing out. Suddenly she asked “S-so… it’s that portal?” she said, pointing to the other portal in front of the two mares.
“No… it’s actually this way.” Applejack said before carrying the pegasus on her back and jumping off a cliff.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING! WE’RE GONNA DIE!”
“No we ain’t!” she exclaimed as they plummeted towards the ground, where another portal was waiting for them. 



Date: Two years after King Sombra’s failed attempt to take Crystal Empire back.
Midnight, right after Rainbow Dash and Applejack finish “The Games.”
Location: Rainbow Dash’s Cloudhouse, Above Ponyville.
Point of View: Rainbow Dash

“A-amazin’? AMAZIN’!? Dashie we could’ve died jes now n’ y’all say it was amzin’!?”
She knew her marefriend was at the verge of crying because of terror, anxiety, fury and tension, but she couldn’t act any differently. Rainbow Dash’s happiness in that exact moment met no match.
Half a minute ago, she was inside a living nightmare, where Applejack was dead and she was a suicidal psychiatric patient. And now she was laying in her bed with the love of her life on top of her.
Her heart was pounding in her chest while happiness and adrenaline flooded her body. The only pseudo-logical answer, as logical as one in that state could muster, was to smile wider than Pinkie Pie and to hungrily kiss Applejack with all the love and passion her body could give.
The blonde mare refused at first, still in a fragile state, but soon she kissed back with even more strength and hunger, if that was possible, than Rainbow Dash.
The only two purpose of this night were to forget every second of suffering she had to endure in this day and to pleasure Applejack until she couldn’t give her anymore, just in case she couldn’t get any other chance. “I’m not risking the possibility of losing her without showing her all my love.”
But there was one single problem. Applejack couldn’t walk on clouds, so she would plummet to her death.
“A-Applejack” she said between pants as her lover stopped kissing her, moving to lovingly bite her neck. “Y-you can’t support yourself on a cloud, th-this is too dangerous!”
Her lover stopped to look at her and with a wolfish grin she said “Hold my tight fer a second Sugarcube…”
Rainbow Dash obliged, and soon felt Applejack move her hooves around her waist.
“Ah never untied the rope, with a little noose here…” she said as she tied the other end of her trusty rope around her own waist. “N’ voila! Now Ah can’t fall ‘cause we’re not getting separated ‘til  tomorrow, now close yer adorable piehole n’ kiss me, ‘cause y’all started a fire it ain’t putting out itself.”



Date: Two years after King Sombra’s failed attempt to take Crystal Empire back.
Before “The Games”.
Location: Unknown
Point of View: Applejack

Applejack slowly woke up after getting hit by a million forgotten memories.
“The hay was that…”
“I’m sorry ponies, but there’s no way of making the feeling so many things in so little time pleasurable. Your brains aren’t prepared for that.
Applejack woke Rainbow Dash up and looked towards the place where the voice was last heard. “So… it was y’all the one who made our friends n’ family act that way? So we couldn’t win?”
“Well… I didn’t actually cursed your friends, but instead I cursed you and your little marefriend so everyone you told you were together would act against it in their own way. Don’t worry, you’re free of it now, and they don’t even remember what happened, so you can re-tell them you’re together, and they’ll answer naturally this time. If they approve it or are against it it’s not my fault anymore.”
“So… are we free now?”
“I lost my bet, so I don’t have any business with you anymore.” Amnesia said but soon continued “My brother however…”
Oblivion talked again, with his death-like voice. “I never agreed to that bet… so I could crush you right now. But I decide we can have a little race that will decide your fate. We’ll call it ‘The Games’.”
“But if it’s just one, why do you call it ‘The Games’ as if they were more than one?” Once again, as soon as the words left her mouth, Applejack regretted it.
“You are one tough little pony to talk up to me like that. I admire that, but let me explain this. We will call it ‘The Games’ because with that I mean that even if you win the race against me, which is the challenge, you can still loose later. So it’s like if they were two games not just one.”
“And what are this race’s rules? What’s the catch?” Rainbow Dash said, getting back to her senses.
“It’s simple, you’re playing an obstacle race against me. You just need to get to the other side of this course.” With the snap of whatever appendage the beast had, part of the cave started glowing in reddish light and slowly, the rocks started changing and breaking, forming an obstacle course.
Applejack took a few steps towards the edge, and noticed that the reddish glow was generated by a river of lava that flowed under the race track.
“I’ll be chasing you, which means that if you’re not faster than me, you’re dead.” Oblivion said with a sadistic tone in her voice. “And the ‘catch’ as you would say it, is that after you get there, you will have to enter one of these three portals.” with another snap, three portals appeared making a poof sound
Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other worried.
“No wait, this would make things better.” He added. And one of the portals disappeared and two poofs were heard, but there was no new portal, which made Applejack wonder what just happened.
“You see…” Oblivion explained “You take the right portal, the story ends, you two wake up in your little cloud bed and live your happy life. You take the wrong portal, you stay in my dimension, and I show you the rabbit hole, a rabbit hole full of pain, suffering and your worst nightmares.” He said laughing maniacally filling Applejack’s heart with fear.
“Oh, and I forgot.” Oblivion continued.
“C’mon, isn’t this hard enough?”
“There’s going to be a little penalty and advantage. You get to choose. You, rainbow coloured one.”
“Y-yeah?” Rainbow Dash asked puffing her chest, trying to look tough.
“You get to choose, do you prefer to lose your wings… or lose your sight? No matter what you choose, it is until you finish the race… if you do, that is.”
Applejack looked at the course for some seconds and told Dash “Rainbow, there are some parts of the race that can’t be done without wings!”
“S-so… I guess I must go blind for the sake of us winning?”
Applejack kissed her and said “Ah’ll be your eyes.”
Rainbow Dash nodded and gulped. “I-I choose to lose my sight.”
Suddenly Rainbow Dash started shrieking and convulsing.
“RAINBOW! WHAT’S HAPPENIN’!?”
“I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you that it was going to be absurdly painful.” Oblivion said. “And now, orange one, you may choose an object you own, to help you in this race.”
After thinking all of the possibilities, she quickly decided for what she considered the most fitting of her current needs. “Ah want mah rope.”



Date: After King Sombra’s failed attempt to take Crystal Empire back.
Rainbow Dash’s first day working at the farm.
Location: Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville.
Point of View: Rainbow Dash

“I have no idea who did that apple-shaped cloud, but it saved my flank. I just couldn’t stop staring at her flank... that swing had me drooling all the way here.” she noticed her wings were rigid as planks once again. “And what in the world is wrong with you two? I’m starting to believe this wasn’t my wisest idea, if I can’t even walk to the Acres with her, I won’t be able to work with her everyday.
“We’re here Dash. Come with me, Ah’ll show y’all the applebuckin’ technique.”
Rainbow Dash walked next to Applejack, toward an apple tree that had no apples. “AJ… this one’s empty.”
“Ah know, it’s fer y’all to practice. Now c’mere.”
Rainbow Dash positioned herself as she saw her orange friend do many times.
“Now, the most basic thing is positioning yerself. Applejack said while walking towards Rainbow’s flank. The orange pony swung her tail at Rainbow’s face, a gesture that made the daredevil pegasus feel blessed.
“This is bad…”
“Y’all see, if y’all get yer flank too close to the tree…” the orange mare said as she gently pushed Dash’s flank closer to the tree. “Yer kick won’t be complete, so it will not only end up with the baskets empty, but it also with y’all hurting yerself.”
“Uh-huh…”
“Now, if we get a little farther…” Applejack whispered into her ear as she pushed Rainbow’s flank once again, but this time away from the tree.
“This is definitely bad…”
“Y’all will miss the tree. So y’all need to be at the exact distance from the tree.” She finished, moving her cyan friend once again.
“I can’t do this.”
“Huh?”
“Oops, shouldn’t have said that aloud… but it’s true, I can’t.” “I’m sorry Applejack but I can’t take anymore. It’s too difficult.” She looked away to try to lie and not being busted “A-actually, I’m here because… uh… Pinkie dared me! Yeah… that’s right. B-but I can’t do it, i-it’s not my stuff…”
Applejack seemed a bit pained, but understanding.
“A-ah guess Ah understand… W-well… Ah hope y’all change yer mind one day. Ah’d love to have y’all here.”
“Okay see you later!” With that, Rainbow Dash took off and flew away. “Smooth move Casanova!” she thought, while facehoofing.



Date: Two years after King Sombra’s failed attempt to take Crystal Empire back.
The day after “The Games”
Location: Ponyville centre, Ponyville.
Point of View: Applejack

“Well… that was better than expected… We defeated two super-powerful villains, had an amazing night, told everypony we were back and together, they were all happy, you’re not dead, I’m not crazy, and now we’re here, in Ponyville finally able to relax and have a good time.” Rainbow Dash said while smiling widely.
“Ah said we deserve this. We’ve suffered more than enough.”
“Though there’s something I still don’t get… How did you know the real portal was down that cliff?”
“Well…” Applejack explained “Before startin’, Ah saw him making one of the portals disappear. At first Ah thought he was jes bein’ nice n’ letting us jes two portals to decide, but when we escaped the tunnel, before we crossed the finish line, Ah noticed something strange below us but Ah had no idea what it was.”
Rainbow Dash went pale and looked at her marefriend. “Wait, you mean you weren’t sure and you just jumped off a ridiculously high cliff towards a lava lake!?”
“It was... Ah leap of faith if y’all like.”
“You’re crazy.” 
“Says the pony who jumped through a portal without thinking about it fer a second.” Applejack said gently hitting her marefriend.
“I hate you.”
“Ah love y’all too.”
“Is not easy being in love, is it?”
“Who cares, the reward is more than worth it.” Applejack said kissing her marefriend passionately.