Discord Takes His Friends to the Afterlife: Next Chapter Preview · 2:42am Feb 18th, 2019
I’ve been slowly working on the next chapter update, and while it’s been harder than I anticipated, I feel like I’ve made good progress. I’ll likely have it done by next Sunday, at the latest.
For those interested, hit the break below for a preview:
Alright, AJ. You can do this. No need to be all nervous about it.
Even when no one else was listening, Applejack was a terrible liar. Of course she had a reason to be nervous. How could she not be? It had been more than twenty years since she’d seen her parents, and she’d spent her entire life resigned to the fact that she’d never see them again. But within the span of half an hour, everything she thought she knew was turned on its head.
It was almost eerie how closely their house resembled her own. If it weren’t for the lack of surrounding farmland, it would have been a perfect match for the farmhouse on Sweet Apple Acres. It made sense, in a way — no matter the circumstance, her parents would have been hard pressed to give up on the comforts of home.
As she approached the door, Applejack couldn’t help but wonder if this was actually happening. Was it just her imagination? Was it just some sort of bizarre fever dream? Would it even matter if it were real, if she wasn’t going to remember any of it?
No, focus! You’re almost out of time! Worry about that nonsense later!
Before she had even realized it, her body was moving towards the door. Time itself escaped her grasp with each step, moments stretching into hours, only to compress again into mere moments. The pounding of heartbeats in her eardrums drowned out all other sounds, until she reached out with a single hoof, and...
knock knock knock
In the intervening seconds, Applejack considered turning around and never looking back. She doubted there was anything she could say, anything that could make the anticipation any less agonizing. But no matter how many second thoughts crossed her mind, she knew she couldn’t turn back. This was what she wanted, more than anything else in the world.
The door opened with a loud creeaaaaak. There, standing on the other side, was Bright Macintosh, looking not a day older than he did more than twenty years ago.
“Howdy! What brings you to our... our...”
Bright Mac’s words trailed off mid-sentence, leaving his jaw hanging loose. The world around Applejack was drowned out by her own ragged breaths and pounding heartbeat. It wasn’t real, it couldn’t be real, and yet it had to be.
Don’t just stand there! Say something!
“H... h-howdy?”
Bright Mac blinked rapidly, pausing only to rub his eyes. Seeing him there, he was almost like a perfect photograph, just like the one that hung in the mantle above Applejack’s fireplace.
“By the stars,” he muttered. “Applejack? Is that...”
“Yes!” Applejack blurted out. “A-ah, mean, uh, you see...” Her left foreleg rubbed against her right, seemingly of its own volition. She had suddenly become painfully aware of every itch, every passing sensation on her body, everything that reminded her she was still a living pony. “W-what Ah meant to say was, uh...” Her words faded away, and once again, she found herself at a loss for things to say.
Bright Mac stepped forward. His initial shock had worn away, and he approached Applejack slowly, with a smile in his face and a sadness in his eyes. “You don’t have to say anything. Ah know it can be a lot to take in.”
“...Yeah,” said Applejack. “It is.” Her body moved without thought or hesitation, and before long she found herself wrapped in her father’s embrace, sharing a hug that she had not felt since she was a child. “If... if you don’t mind me asking, is ma here right now?”
“Of course,” said Bright Mac. “We were just preparing ourselves a nice meal to share. Ah’m sure your ma would be overjoyed to sit down and have dinner with you.”
Applejack glanced backwards, towards the sky above the Elysium. As always, it was bright blue and free of clouds, shining with a perennial light that had no apparent source. “Ain’t it a bit early for dinner?”
“We’ll call it lunch, then,” said Bright Mac. “Up here, it don’t make much difference.”
Applejack’s hoofsteps grew light and shaky as she followed her father through the doorway, into the house proper. Apart from a few minor details, everything about it looked exactly the way she had left her own home, back in the world of the living.
Had she not known any better, she would have thought she’d never left home at all.
Her breaths became heavy and belabored as she continued following her father into the kitchen. Even now, she struggled to grasp what was truly happening. Her head spun, and her body felt light and airy, like it was all a dream. The living room gave way to the cozy interior of the kitchen, and almost immediately she was greeted by the humming of a familiar voice she hadn’t heard in years. Her heart rate quickened, and she immediately couldn’t help but wonder what, precisely, she was doing there.
...No, that was wrong. She knew exactly what she was doing there. She just didn’t know if she was ready for it.
Seemingly unaware of her thoughts, Bright Mac walked forward, a cheerful smile written across his face. “Hey, Buttercup, you’ll never believe who’s here!”
At the far end of the kitchen, a mare of soft orange and cream colors stood diligently by a pot on the stove, letting the scent of vegetable stew waft across the room as she stirred. As she lifted a ladle and took a single, dainty sip, her eyes widened to attention. “Oh?” she said, turning to face Bright Mac, “who is...”
The ladle abruptly fell to the floor, spilling its contents across the ground. Applejack’s body tensed as she looked into the eyes of her host, yet at the same time there was a deep swelling in her heart, a feeling of safety and comfort she had not known in years. As the conflicting emotions swirled in her head, she could only think to speak a single sentence.
“H... Hi, ma.”
For moments on end, Pear Butter stood silently. Her eyes began to well up with tears, sparkling and translucent like the rest of her aethereal form. As more moments passed in silence, Applejack simply stared back, unable to form even a thought to articulate.
And then, in the blink of an eye, she felt herself being wrapped up in a pair of forelegs, a warm embrace that she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. When it finally ended, Applejack felt the familiar squish of hooves against her cheeks.
“Look at you,” Pear Butter said, starry-eyed. “You’ve grown up so much.”
“Ma, you’re embarrassing me.”
Pear Butter simply gave a knowing smile in response. That smile quickly vanished, however, and a deep wrinkle of concern wrote itself plainly across her face.
“Something wrong, Buttercup?” said Bright Mac.
“No, it’s fine. It’s just... Honey, you do understand what it means that our daughter is here, right?”
Bright Mac’s eyes went wide, and he silently mouthed an ‘oh.’
“Er... am Ah missing something here?” said Applejack.
Both of her parents looked at each other anxiously. “...Is the family okay?” said Bright Mac. “They ain’t taking it too hard, are they?”
“Taking what too hard?” Applejack replied. But before she had even finished the sentence, she’d arrived at the answer. She rubbed at the back of her neck, tripping over her own words as she spoke. “...Oh. Right, that. Er, Ah... well, the thing is... Ah’m not actually dead yet?”
The blank stares she received from her parents were almost painful to look at. Applejack tensely rubbed her own leg with a forehoof as her mother and father huddled together, speaking to each other in hushed tones.
“...She still hasn’t figured it out? What do we say to her?”
“Calm down, dear. It’s normal for folks to be in denial. Just be gentle, Ah’m sure she’ll reach her own conclusions.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow, and coughed loudly into her hoof. “Not to be disrespectful or anything, but Ah heard all of that.” Ignoring the startled glances she received, she continued. “...and what Ah said was true. It’s, uh... hard to explain, but Ah’ve been given a chance to visit before heading back to the land of the living.”
“Oh?” said Pear Butter.
“...Is that allowed?” Bright Mac added.
A deep sigh escaped from Applejack’s throat. “No. No, it ain’t. Ah don’t know how much longer Ah’ve got left, but in a little while, Ah’ll be sent back. And Ah won’t remember ever being here, neither.” Before she could fully parse her parents’ reactions, Applejack forced out a laugh. “But hey, that ain’t nothing! We can still enjoy each others’ company in the meantime, right?”
“Well... when you put it that way, Ah don’t see why not,” said Bright Mac.
“We’d be happy to have you over,” Pear Butter said. “Why don’t you go help set the table for us? The stew should be ready in just a minute or two.”
“...Sure thing,” she muttered. Just like old times...
Oof. Going for laser-targetted orbital strikes to the heart on this one.