The smell of antiseptic hung heavily in the air and almost hidden there in the background was a scent he felt he had forgotten. He thought this had to be a hospital but for some reason his brain felt all fuzzy. Struggling to open his eyes he heard a voice call out, "he's awake!" It was a familiar voice, that of his granddaughter Silver Belle, but sounded like it was coming from underwater. Her voice was all distorted. He was finally able to open one eye; the other didn't seem to be responding properly. A dark blue blur came over and he felt a strong hoof over his. This meant he was in Equestria but he couldn't remember getting here.
"Dad, you're in the hospital. We found you collapsed at home and brought you here. The doctors are saying you had a stroke. Can you understand me?" Sterling asked.
He tried to open his mouth but part of it just felt like mush. His tongue flopped to the side, unwilling to move properly. What had Sterling just said? A stroke? He needed to know where his wife was, she needed to know about it. Rick tried valiantly to get the word out and in the end half mushed - half spoke the name, "Twilight?"
There was a pause before Sterling responded as if he didn't know what to say next. "Mom's been dead for years now. Don't you remember? She got sick and passed away?"
Rick just grunted, the memories coming back to him. He remembered seeing her get sicker and sicker. The doctors in both Equestria and Earth couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. That damned disease stole the love of his life away from him and along with her his desire to live. It left him alone in that damned farmhouse to putter around in with nothing but his memories to keep him company. Sterling and his family decided to move in with him in part so that he would have part of his family close but also to look after him as he so desperately needed during those long weeks and months after her passing.
Rick struggled to get up but all the strength seemed to have been sapped from his body so he just lay there before darkness overcame him.
He must have fallen asleep because when he woke up the light outside had changed and once again he swore that he could smell his wife there in the room with him. Rick called out to her, but all that came from his throat was a pained croak. Immediately a violet blob was at his bedside he was about to call her Twilight before he remembered what had happened. Also the blob called him Daddy so it could only be Twyla. Rick tried to ask her why she was crying but he was far from coherent at the moment. It wasn't long before his strength once again left him and he once more fell asleep.
In the time that followed he would wake briefly, only to hear muffled conversations, pastel coloured blobs in front of his eyes and the scent of pony that he knew couldn't be there but always seemed to be getting stronger. That is until finally he opened his eyes, feeling better than he had in a long time and sat up in bed. His family and friends were gathered around him, his children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews and even some grand-nieces and nephews. They looked sad but for some reason he just couldn't feel bad for them. As he looked around the room he noticed a familiar face peeking around the door frame and his face broke into a huge grin.
He got to his hooves and half walked, half glided over to her before kissing her gently and asking, "Sorry I kept you waiting".
Twilight Sparkle just smiled at her husband before saying, "I've always been here. But you just couldn't see me."
Looking back over his shoulder the realisation of what had happened made him pause for a moment. "I'm dead aren't I?"
"Yes, but it's okay. I'm here to take you on."
Rick paused for a moment looking back at the room where all the grieving and sadness was taking place. "I know I should feel bad about this but I don't."
"That's normal. Now c'mon. We need to go and there's some ponies waiting to see you." Twilight led him down the hall which slowly started to fade away and they soon found themselves walking along a featureless plane. Rick glanced down and noticed he was no longer walking on four legs but back on two. He was dressed in comfortable clothes and when he looked at his hands, gone were the gnarled and liver spotted appendages and in their place were the strong and smooth hands of a young man. He reached down and playfully ran his fingers through Twilight's mane.
Soon, although time felt meaningless where they were, they found themselves in front of a plain white door. The same looking door that had originally linked their worlds so many years ago. Rick twisted the knob and it opened up into the old Golden Oaks Library that he remembered. There, strung across the far wall, was a banner welcoming him and almost immediately Pinkie Pie had launched herself at him and gave him a huge hug.
"Welcome back Rick!" she cried. "We all missed you!" And it was true. All of his friends in Equestria that had died before him were there including Pinkie Pie who years ago had finally succumbed to diabetes which wasn't surprising with all the sugar she ate. "And the best part about this place is you can eat whatever you want and you won't get sick!" And as if to prove a point she pulled a cupcake out from behind her back and stuffed it into her mouth.
Rick and Twilight made the rounds. Some of the ponies he didn't quite recognize as they were old when they died but often times their color and cutie mark did help in making them known. One pony in particular that he didn't expect to see there was the one that he had no trouble recognizing as she was currently at the buffet table trying to decide which cake to eat first.
"Hello Celestia. It's been a while, " he greeted the regal ruler of the day.
"Rick, it's a pleasure to see you as well..." any words she would have said afterwards were cut off as Twilight Sparkle immediately ran up and stood between her husband and her former mentor.
"You can't have him! I brought him here so we could be together forever! You can't take him away from me now!"
Rick stood there, not quite understanding what was happening. He went to speak but Celestia cut him off.
"Twilight Sparkle, you know the rules. He doesn't belong here. He belongs with his own people."
"But he lived here too! He even saved your life! Why does he have to leave after all these years I've been waiting?!" Twilight cried through her tears pleading with her teacher to bend the rules just this once.
"I can't. To balance the books we'd need an Equestrian willing to stay in his place, " Celestia said sadly. She looked at Twilight and Rick for a moment before continuing. "I can bend the rules a little bit, he can stay the night but no longer. Tomorrow morning I need to take him home. Twilight sadly agreed. Needless to say the party was ended rather quickly as everypony wanted to give them some alone time.
"I'm sorry, " Twilight said as they lay in the large bed in the sleeping area upstairs. "I thought that maybe if I brought you here, we could be together again. I should have known better."
"Well how do you think I feel? Here I was since the time I was a kid thinking that heaven didn't exist and not only is there one for ponies but one for humans as well. Damn I feel stupid!" Rick said with a bit of a smile.
Twilight smiled through her tears. She had missed his dry sense of humor as well as being in his arms. They lay there for a while when she felt something pressing against her that she hadn't felt in a while. She smiled saucily at her husband who had a strange expression on his face. Looking under the covers he noticed a part of his anatomy that for the better part of the last decade of his life had been rather useless. "Now there's something I haven't felt in a long time. Wanna give it a test run?" Twlight's come hither gaze left nothing to interpretation.
Afterwards, as they lay there feeling rather relaxed Rick suddenly cried out, "Apple Bloom!"
"What?" Twilight asked a little drowsily. "She's not here is she?"
"No, Apple Bloom is still on Earth with her husband and kids. After Granny Smith died she hardly set hoof in Equestria. Her kids were born on Earth as was her husband. Our kids were born here as well as you. If she's willing to stay there in their afterlife then why can't I stay here? One soul for another. It's perfect!" Rick said with a smile.
"Sweet Celestia you're right!" Twilight kissed her husband hard. "I always knew you were the smart one in this marriage!" She happily threw her hooves around him and gave him the biggest hug of her life or afterlife as it was. They cried happy tears as they realized that they would never again be separated. They kissed and again that led to other things that the two of them had not done in a long time.
The next morning, such as time passed over here, came and they waited for Princess Celestia to show up.
"Celestia, I think we have a solution, " Rick said.
"Yes. If Apple Bloom agrees to stay on Earth with her husband and children then that ought to balance things out and Rick can stay here with me!"
"I see. In the meantime he can't stay here. There's a place for situations like this."
Twilight blanched. "You don't mean..."
"Yes. He's going to need to go to the Waiting Room. He shouldn't be gone more than a few weeks."
"What's going on? What is this 'Waiting Room' and why does this have to take a few weeks?"
Twilight sighed and thought for a moment trying to come up with an analogy that would make sense. "Do you remember the movie 'Beetlejuice'?"
"Sure... oh wait so you mean it's like waiting at the DMV but for eternity?"
"Something like that, " Twilight said.
"Great. Even in the afterlife there's bureaucracy, " Rick grumbled. He turned to Twilight and took her in his arms one last time. She grasped hold of him, unwilling to let him go but eventually they had no choice. "See you soon, " he said before turning around and heading through the door followed immediately by Celestia.
They walked through the nothing until they actually came to a turnstile. Celestia motioned him through and a moment later he found himself in what looked exactly like every government building he had ever seen except the hallways seemed to go on forever. Rick stood there for a moment until Celestia nudged him forward. He was a little surprised to see she looked as she did when she was human. She led him down a series of hallways, past countless doors and offices until they came to a receptionist. She spoke in a language that Rick couldn't understand and he was surprised that Celestia responded in the same way. A moment later, the receptionist handed Celestia a key and she led him down another series of hallways until they came to a featureless metal door with alien writing on it.
Opening it revealed, something that looked like it was out of a Motel 6. That was really the only thing Rick could compare it to. There was a bed, a desk, a TV, a chair and a small bathroom off to the side. The only thing missing was a coffeemaker which made him a little sad.
"Make yourself at home. You'll be here until we can get the paperwork done. Don't worry. I'll come visit and let you know how things are going. But you won't be able to leave this room until this is done. This place is a construct which your mind can't understand so it fills in the details with things that are familiar to you. But trust me on this, you are safe here."
Celestia turned to leave but Rick called out to her, "hold on! I don't see a phone or anything. How do I contact you or room service for that matter?"
"You don't need to contact me and you don't need to eat or drink anything when you're here."
"So why the bathroom then?" Rick asked pointing to the bathroom.
"As I said, that's your mind filling in all the details. But if you want something, you just need to ask for it."
"Okay I want a ham sandwich on rye with hot mustard, some chips and a pickle on the side. And a beer to go along with it." A moment later there was a knock on the door and somebody called out, "room service" before Rick opened the door and received his requested meal. "That was fast, " he said putting the tray down on the desk only to find he was now alone in the room. Sighing slightly, he took a bite of the sandwich and had to admit it was better than he thought it would be but nowhere near what he had hoped.
After a few days of staring at the walls Rick needed to do something. The TV was useless. Not in the sense that it didn't work. It worked fine but it required him to think of a movie or TV show before it would play. Things were just too boring here. If he wanted something to snack on he could get it but even that lost it's novelty when the food was only okay.
Occasionally Celestia would show up with news on how his case was going. She had spoken to Apple Bloom who was more than happy to stay on Earth and agreed to take Rick's place which meant he could have hers but like in any bureaucracy things had to be done in a certain way and that always took time. Sometimes they played cards or Celestia would beat Rick in chess. She was a surprisingly good player but then Rick had to remember that she was a god so that had to be worth something.
But more often than not he was left alone in his room. He took to writing out the days but really it was only his wake / sleep cycles and even that was not something he had to do here but occasionally when boredom got the best of him he had no real alternative than to sleep.
Days turned to weeks. More than once Rick tried to get out of the room but the door wouldn't budge. If he called out for room service there was a hallway he could see but he could never get past the room service attendant to get to it and so eventually he just grew to accept his prison. Then one day, as he was dozing in front of the TV there came a knock on the door and Celestia walked in.
"Good to see you Celestia. Came to kick my butt at chess again?" Rick joked.
"Nope. I came here to have a drink with you, " she said as she pulled an ornate bottle and two glasses from somewhere behind her.
"Well that's a surprise. First time for anything I guess." Rick scooted down the bed as Celestia poured something blue into the glasses. She held one out for him and Rick asked, "so what should we drink to?"
"How about you're getting out of here?" she answered with a smile.
"What seriously?"
"Yes. Cheers!" Celestia raised her glass and drank it all in one shot so Rick followed suit. It was different and had an odd, almost floral taste to it with an underlying bitterness that wasn't unpleasant so much as it was unexpected.
"So what was that?"
"It doesn't really have a name but I like to call it 'Essence of Equestria'. It's something that will attune your spirit to our land." Celestia stoppered the bottle and again made it and the glasses disappear somewhere behind her.
Rick made to leave but Celestia held him back. "Give it a moment, you're still in flux right now." Rick went to argue when a wave of dizziness passed over him and he was grateful that the Ruler of the Day was there to support him. Human or Alicorn, she was still surprisingly strong. "I think you're ready now." They made their way to the door and Celestia took a moment to reflect as she reached for the doorknob.
"It's a shame, I'm going to miss coming to see you like this. I don't have fingers back in Equestria, " Celestia said with a smile as she looked at her digits.
"The doorway is still there and I'm sure Sterling and Glenda wouldn't mind you dropping by once in a while, " Rick said. He looked at his hands as well. "I think I'm going to miss these things too. Oh well, let's get moving."
Celestia led him through the door and surprisingly enough back to that featureless white plane. They walked for a while in silence until they got to the door that led back to Equestria and where he'd spend eternity.
"You coming?" Rick asked as he gripped the doorknob.
"Not now. I still have things to take care of in Equestria."
"Thank you Celestia. Thank you for everything, " Rick said and wrapped his arms around her once again Alicorn neck to give her a hug.
"You're very welcome Rick, " she said as she lay her head on his shoulder and wrapped her wings around him. A moment later they separated and the ruler of the day motioned at the door. "You better go. Somepony is waiting for you."
"We will see you again right?" he asked but Celestia had already vanished and gone back to Equestria. Turning the doorknob he walked through and stumbled a bit as he now had four legs instead of the two he had originally. He was moderately disappointed when there was no welcoming party although given that Twilight was standing there waiting for him, he quickly got over it.
"Welcome home, " she said coming over to him and giving him a kiss.
"Good to be home, " Rick said returning it. "So, there a chance I can find a cup of coffee in this place?"
Twilight smiled and said, "follow me", which he did. She led him to what looked like Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie was busy working as well as eating the products. She paused long enough to give them two cups of coffee before stuffing her face with another cupcake.
The two ponies sat on the patio outside, and Rick took a sip of his coffee. He smiled, looked at his wife and said, "you know, I think I'm going to like it here."