Early Sunsets Over Equestria

by The Red Parade

Later

I woke up alone.

The spot next to me wasn’t even warm, meaning that whenever Applejack had left, it had been a while ago.

It took me a bit to find her. She wasn’t in the bathroom and she wasn’t in the kitchen.

No, she was on the front porch, sitting in her granny’s rocking chair with a blanket wrapped around her.

“AJ, what are you doing up so early?” I mutter.

She doesn’t answer. The chair rocks back and forth as a few birds start chirping in the distance.

“AJ, talk to me.”

“I think it happened.” Her voice is hoarse and her eyes still don’t meet mine.

I blink. It takes some time for me to figure out what she’s saying. “Did you get a letter?”

“I felt it,” she says. “I…” Her voice falls off for a second. It takes a few minutes before she tries again. “I had a dream where it happened. She was there and said that it was time for her, and she was there to say goodbye.”

I lower my head. “I’m… I’m sorry, AJ. Really.”

“She…” her voice breaks. “She’s not hurting any more.”

I move in and hug her. She buries her head into my chest and lets out a scream.

It might have woken everyone up. It might have scared the birds away. For all I care it could have broken all the windows.

Her tears fall into my coat and she grabs me tight. Her body shakes violently, her voice descending into nothing more than choked sobs interlaced with gasping breaths.

I don’t say anything.

I don’t think there’s anything to say.

We stand there as the sun starts to rise, holding each other in silence as her tears leak onto the porch. Time marched on past us, but I didn’t notice or care. The wind kicked up piles of dead leaves in the orchard, and after some time the birds dared to chirp again. It was peaceful, in ways that were both absolutely right and wrong.

It was hurt and it was relief. It was warm and cold, the heat of summer and the chill of winter.

We got the telegram from Appleloosa hours later.

[end]

Author's Note:

"I don't know what you're going through right now. And I can't say I understand because I don’t and I never will. If it’s amazing I hope you remember to breathe, if you're caught up I hope you remember to let go. If it's overwhelming I hope you remember that you're a pony and that’s beautiful. If it's heartbreak I hope you remember you're never alone.  If it's nothing I hope you're brave enough to see past it and strong enough to get there. I know you are. 

And it's easy for me to say from back here but everything is ok, even when the barn is burning down and your world is on fire. Savor every second of everything. No matter what we have or haven't done, our best days can never be behind us. I hope you remember that.

If you're reading this, I wish you all the luck in the world, you need it more than I do."

Comments

[Aldon]

This really hit close home to me...when my mom died of her sickness that plagued her for years it felt like RD felt, just everything was colorless and wrong since it wasn't like I wanted things to be, but I knew that no matter what nothing would change and since she wasn't hurting anymore...everything was right and wrong at the same time.
Without my friends and family just being there for me when everything felt like it was crumbuling beside me I understood the power of just being there.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for this story and for reminding me that even after these past few years there's a lot to never forget and much more to learn.

[Basilisk]

This was a nice little story. It had a good pase, and felt very real. Perhaps a little too real? I hope you haven't go e through something like what AJ did.

Though, I relate more to what Fritter was going through, as opposed to AJ or RD, considering that I've actually had leukemia before. The sense of not being in control, of having others make decisions for you, and knowing that they just want to help but they're not actually helping. You have to put on a strong front for them, even though you're the one who's sick. The conflicting feelings that you're the one who's suffering, but they're the ones who're going to have to live with your death for the rest of their lives.

Anyways, good story. Definitely deserves attention.

[Charlie Gordon]

Utterly real, and absolutely heartbreaking. Thank you for this.

[The Red Parade]

10922008
Thank you!

10922476
I’m sorry for your loss, I’m glad this piece could resonate with you!

10922675
I’m glad you’re still with us, thank you for the comment!

10922708
Thank you!

[RedYak]

This is an incredibly sad and well written story! This seriously made me feel really sad. If you don’t mind me asking how did you become so good at writing and what tips would you give someone wanting to learn how to write stories? Again, really good story! Can’t wait to read more/finish reading your other stories!

[FreeHomeBrew]

You did a really great job "spoiling" the end without ruining it. It's a great tragedy with a good sad satisfactory ending. I do recommend either getting an editor or re-reading your work in about a month and patching whatever you can find. There were a few bits that were a little difficult to parse.

Man gets about 30000 days to live if lucky. About 80 summers. In that time, the window of opportunity for anything at all is always smaller than that. We may die before our time and never even get some opportunities. Even if we live another 100 years ourselves, our older family surely won't, and so our common time is foreshortened for us both.

I essentially regret every second I waste on youtube even if it's video's restoring faith in humanity. Habits are hard to break and I figure that if I were to know I'd die within 5 or so years, I'd still struggle to change them. Your story got me to thinking a bit and I thank you for that. I think I would like to see a followup story where you can explore this topic more in-depth (as this was fairly superficial, and I mean that in the absolute most positive sense).

Thanks again for the good read!

[freecozyglow]

Now I interrupt this fan fiction to bring you a special message from the Princess of Friendship's voice actress herself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzqmvInMsVU

[Shakespearicles]

“Doesn’t mean the problem is something we can punch to death.”

"I want my father back!"

[SigmasonicX]

This was nice and sweet, even with the sad ending. It was interesting seeing all these characters play off each other, including with Luna's odd presence. Honestly, for a period of time, I wondered if Rainbow was just imagining her and she wasn't there, up until other characters talked to her. You did a good job writing Apple Fritter, especially with her being mute in this story.

[Mystic Sunrise]

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Literally, nobody fucking cares, spambott.