“It is done.”
You look down beside you, and there she is. Red. You look back up to the creator.
“What, that’s it?”
“Yeah. What? Did you expect a big flashy show or something?” it asks. “I’m all fucking powerful, dumbass. I’m not gonna sit here and do some big Dragonball Z montage thing for making an identical universe.”
“But what about this thing?” you ask, pointing at the mannequin.
“Oh, yeah, that was pretty much just a visual aid. I mean. I literally just made a copy of the world we’re in right now, except removed red. It really wasn’t hard. Although I must admit I rushed a little bit of the configuration. There’s still all kinds of little glitches in the system around tags and shit.”
“Wait, does this mean?”
“This is the happily ever after?” Red asks.
“Yeah dude.” it says. “This is the happy ending. Congrats and all that. Now if you excuse me, this is the easy half. Here. Go crazy.”
He claps his hooves and a bright flash of white light fills your vision. You feel Red’s hooves wrap around your leg.
And then when you open your eyes, you stand in the living room of your home. You look down to Red and she still clings tightly to your leg.
“We’re home?” you ask.
Red perks her head up and looks around.
“We are. Wow.”
She loosens her grip on you as you head to your door and open it wide. The sun shines brightly on another beautiful day in Equestria. The birds are singing. Squirrels are running up trees. The air is crisp and clean. You examine your door and there is a lack of any worn indentation from a familiar three knocks every morning for year upon year upon year.
“It’s… normal.”
You look back at her.
“It’s really normal.”
Red moves to the telephone in your home and dials a sequence of numbers. She places the receiver to her ear.
“Oh, hey Doctor Greymare. -- I’m good, how are you. -- Great.” She looks at you.
You step inside and you close the door behind you.
“Yeah I just wanted to get the schedule for this week -- Oh yeah I misplaced my-- Oh yeah it’s no trouble.” She places the phone to the front of her neck. “I work at the hospital again. Everything really is back to normal.”
You move to her, kneel down and wrap your arms around her. She wraps her hooves around you and clings so tightly you can feel the air escape your lungs. Her body temples. Tears run down the side of her face and press into your cheek.
“We really did it.” she says.
“You did it,” you say. “All I did was fight her. You did all the work.”
“Even then,” she says, “I had help.”
A voice begins to speak on the other side of the phone. She breaks the hug, and listens carefully.
“Alright. Morning shift tomorrow. I’ll be there. Thanks. -- Bye.”
She hangs up and wipes the tears from her face.
“Now what?” she asks. “Now what do we do?”
You pick her up in your arms.
“Well, in my opinion,” you lean in and press a kiss on her forehead. “Tonight, we celebrate.”
She smiles and lets a chuckle out. A stray tear rolls out of the side of her eye. You kiss it before it goes too far.
“Then tomorrow? And the day after that? And the rest of our lives?” you add. “Whatever the fuck we want.”
“See you tomorrow, Applejack,” you call out to your employer as you walk the familiar path back home. In your pocket jingles a fresh new batch of bits. And in your heart, a new warmth. In your brain, a new sense of purpose.
Life is good.
Your muscles are sore from another long day of apple picking. It’s hard work, but it’s good. It keeps your body active. You get plenty of fresh air. The Apples could certainly use the help and they’re good to you and Red in the winter months. It’s like having an extended family in this world of Ponies.
You try to trace the time in your mind. Three months? Yes. 93 days, actually. You’ve made a habit of tracking days and remembering the things that are supposed to be true in this world. Just to be sure.
So far? No memory loss. Every day just goes like the last one. You and Red both have free will. Your actions have consequences. Chopping down a tree actually makes it fall down and change going forward. No glitches. It’s like this is the real world.
Who knows, it might even be the real world.
Then, you see her. Your breath hitches in your throat. Your muscles tense.
You leap into a nearby bush.
The familiar yellow pegasus hums to herself as she flies past you down the path to the Apples place.
Your mind races. Why could she be here? Was she beginning to remember? You pause, and wait for her to fly out of sight.
Except, she couldn’t be. This is a different Fluttershy. She hasn’t even cared that you exist. Outside of one ‘Hi’ at the market, you would go as far to say she didn’t even know who you are.
She hasn’t laid one trap. She hasn’t tried to hit on you once. In fact, there’s a rumor in town she’s dating Discord.
You move out of the bush, your heart racing.
“I’ll never get used to this,” you mutter.
You continue on home and approach the door. You knock on the door three times and let yourself in.
“I’m home!”
You look to the living room, where Red sits reading a book.
“Welcome home, dear,” she says warmly. “How was work.”
“Oh you know. Big Mac is a chatty Cathy. Applejack cracks the whip and if I see another apple, I might go insane.”
Red sucks in air through her teeth.
“This is a bad time to say I made apple pie then, huh?” she says.
You can’t help but laugh as you close the door and make your way to the couch beside her.
“Well, I’ll make an exception for you.”
“How did your appointment go today?” you ask. “No weird medical stuff?”
“No, surprisingly,” she said. “Despite everything. All tests were negative. No bone weirdness. No cancer. No internal damage. Everything is normal.”
You wrap your arm around her.
“So all in all, we did get it. The happy ending.”
Red turns to you with a smile.
“Is it too soon to make a bad joke?”
You furrow your brow at her.
“How bad?” you ask.
She ponders for a moment shrugs then asks.
“Are happy endings your fet-”
“If you end that sentence,” you say your voice laughing in disbelief. “I swear to God.”
“Okay, okay too soon then,” she laughs.”But there is one more thing.”
“Is it another bad joke, because I swear.”
“No jokes, I promise,” she says with a smile. “Just. Promise not to freak out?”
You nod and pull her close.
“At this point. Nothing can shock me.”
“I’m pregnant.”
You hold your breath for a moment.
A smile curls on your face.
“I take back what I said.”
“Is that bad?” she asks. “I mean, we never really thought about-”
“No, I’m happy.” you say looking her in the eyes. “I’m really happy.”
She smiles and looks up at you.
“So am I.”
You cradle your hand behind her head and feel her silky soft mane run through your fingers.
“We finally did it. After all the B.S. we had to deal with.”
“”We did,” she says. “And all of it was worth it.”
You lean in and press your lips against hers.
The future is unknown. The road is long. Hardships impact even the happiest of lives. There’s no such thing as a happily ever after. You and Red have a long journey ahead, but one thing is for sure. No matter what problem comes in your way, the two of you can crush it.
You two earned your happy ending. And you earned a long, happy life with each other.