Author's Note

Ah, you've made to chapter fourteen of Fireflower's fanfic that goes beyond the typical oneshots made from before, a Mature fanfic no less on the grounds that a previous chapter has dealt with heavy subject matters proven to be unsuitable for those under eighteen, easily offended, and/or quickly nauseated; suffice to say, this was by far another strong note for many readers all and therefore you were all given an option to skip ahead to this chapter: whether or not you have taken this offer, it was only up to you to do so nothing more.

Aside from disclaimers long ago, I want to take the time to say thank you for never pulling out too early since we're now in the the new year and a new month with a new hope to have and hold with tender loving care rather than yet a totally lost cause and the strength to continue onward in staying tuned for the future that is the now; in addition, I would also like to apologize once more for not doing so in time as usual since this chapter here was hard enough to write down given the whole turn of events I had made: at the current rate, everything is starting to make sense soon enough.

Lastly, let me also say that I hope you can find some joy in this chapter now more than in the others before them enough to have the strength in continuing onward in staying tuned though the passing times before it because some special guests are going to be joining our fateful protagonist in this chapter below; henceforth, I will leave you with much to say significantly: thank you very much and I'm sorry once again for keeping you all waiting for the story to be updated.

Purple

“Oh, sweet mother of ––– WE’RE LOSING HER AGAIN!” a shout had quickly begun to explored the darkness, overtaking the incessant beeping that echoed about from all directions.

As soon as the noise subsided, another shout had took its place, “we’ve now gotten the defibrillator ready for use, ma’am; just say the word and we’ll be able to go on ahead at once…!”

“Alright then, make sure that you get a clear alignment with the patient’s heart before start up…!” the first noise shouted off again, making a return trip to the darkness within a moment’s haste, “I’m seeing that you’ve just set the charge at forty; are you ready…?”

“I am… CLEAR!” the second voice responded as upon some loud buzzing, a colorful figure had started to flash into being before being clouded up by the void within only a matter of seconds.

It wasn’t long before the blackness started to return as the first voice asked, “any luck so far…?”

“No, not at all: it seems the gal’s not responding to the charge as we speak…!” the second voice answered back without hesitant as the void solidified itself to its previous state, “I’m bringing up the charge to fifty–two; is that okay…?”

“Just make sure that the equipment is properly aligned again; otherwise, Redheart’s going to be having my ass in a sling for this…!” the first voice shouted off at once.

A whirr of electricity gears up within due time as the second voice stated loudly all at once, “ready… CLEAR!!”

“I just heard a pulse: her heart rate’s at around twenty–seven but she’s still not breathing…!” the first voice spoke again, the beeping now going steadier than it ever was earlier before, “damn it, now it’s falling to eighteen…!”

“I say that we give it another go while we still can, Snowheart; I’m now bringing the charge up to sixty–five at once…!” the second voice had declared at once within due time.

At this moment, two figures were now bursting on through the blackness, both of which clad in white; out of the very two, the one called Snowheart responded, “you still got a proper alignment with the girl’s heart, Blue Shield…?”

“I’ve said it before so I’ll say it again: yes Snowheart, I still got it; do I have your OK, ma’am?” the other figure, Blue Shield spoke back as another whirr peeped within the echoing void, “alright then; here we go: CLEAR!!!”

“Hah…!” a breath of fresh air had escaped into the open space as the blackness was now replaced with the abundance of cool colors painting the visibility with a heighten sharpness of resolution. Within a few scant moments, the white figures that were nearby now stood out in the foreground as the steadiest of beeping were arranged in a clear pattern to compliment the standard ambiance. All that was right behind them were some walls with a door nearby on the right side and the opposite possessing a singular windowpane with some curtains draped over the layered surface.

It was at this moment Snowheart and Blue Shield watched the world around them change in an instant but also noticed one factor staying the same, just migrating from underneath the covers to living underneath a brightened ceiling. Its identity being none other than a tanned blonde slowly emerging upon the gurney at once to find the two in front of her, panting and wheezing at once as a small device was now upon their possession to say the very least. The patient had already came to find that her whitish teal gown had been already torn off a bit, showing a jet black brassiere being worn above a diminutive cluster of some plum dots that rested near the umbilicus.

As the tanned blonde had started coming to terms with the environment that she was brought into, the nurse nearby sighed, “are you alright, Applejack…?”

“Huh… what just happened…?” the eponymous patient replied in confusion as she faced the two people in front of her all at once, “where am Ah; did Ah just die…?”

“No, not at all Applejack… you’re still in the hospital; we’d found out that your heart was slowing down so fast…” the doctor had answered, wiping the sweat off of his brow in an instant.

The tanned blonde slowly sat up a bit and noticed the machinery nearby her, prompting a weak whimper, “tell me, what time is it, you guys…?”

“It’s about a little over a half past ten o’clock, ma’am; lunch should be starting soon already…” Blue Shield said with a wheeze, “in any case, I’m just gonna go on over and tell Doctor Monitor about the whole thing…”

“I’ll follow you; after what I had just seen, at least Redheart’s will go easy on me for all of this…” Snowheart replied as they began to leave the room at once for Applejack to watch them be.

Afterwards, the tanned blonde stared at her abdomen where the gown she had worn had been split in two, its sight leaving the viewer unsettled and weary suffice to say. Out the parts of her dark skin, the spots rested upon there; unlike the freckles that had dressed the cheeks with brightness, they were but a dark purple with shades in a conflict. Applejack started to fasten the garment back together in an attempt to advert the unsavory gaze she was giving off from such a simplistic act thereof.

The tanned blonde looked around to find that this air of loneliness from all directions, encroaching her in the same form and fashion that the darkness had done about not too long ago; as such, she began to speak, “they’re still here; Ah can’t seem to understand why they just won’t go away. Every time that Ah look at them, it reminds me of the whole nine yards that Ah been put through ever since that day. Ah would like to forget about the whole mess already and get on with mah life somehow but it seems that Ah can’t. Oh, what in the world can Ah do about all this…?”

“Excuse me, sir… is this really Applejack‘s room already…?” a faint voice was heard that made her now standing on endwise, “alright then, I can do this; no use backing out from visiting her…”

“Hmm… who could it be now, visiting me at this hour…?” Applejack muttered to herself at once as she faced the door on the right within seconds on the clock.

The tanned blonde quickly focused her jade eyes on the doorknob as it had turned onto its side, the cause of such a rather simplistic change finally entering the room that she was currently in: there arrived a pair of females both alike in fair dignity within first sight. They both had currently possessed only two significant traits that Applejack became aware of already: a set of long hair upon their heads and some purple around their pupils. Of course, the women had possessed vast amount of differences that the tanned blonde quickly noticed in due time; this basically left the observer wide eyed in surprise.

Speaking of the two though, they were the ones who were in a fashion more loud and lively than the doctor and the nurse from earlier had possessed. For starters, one of them was tall and had a bright skin complexion whereas the other was shorter than the former and had darker skin than Applejack herself. Secondly, the taller visitor had a golden tiara with a diamond shaped amethyst that gave way to her multicolored tresses of purple, pink, aqua, and green; the shorter visitor had some locks of purple haze save for a streak of pink. Third of all, the light skinned female wore a long flowing snow white shirtdress with a style that had gave way to the sight of her matching gold necklace; the darker skinned had a light red blouse with an orange neckerchief circling around the neckline. Lastly, the shorter visitor donned a lavender plaid skirt around the waistline that stretched down to her shins, giving some attention to a pair of pink sling backs worn on the feet, attire that was shrouded in ambiguity when it was concerning the taller counterpart.

Anyways, out of the two who were now inside of the tanned blonde’s room, the faint voice that was here came from the darker skinned female who spoke, “are you alright, Applejack…?”

“Twilight… Princess; Ah can’t believe that it’s really you two…” the eponymous patient squeaked weakly as the former visitor started to approach her, “what are y’all doing here…?”

“We came here to see you; I can’t believe that you are still alive…!” Twilight answered Applejack at once, hugging one another within seconds without a care in the whole wide world around the three.

Although that the tanned blonde smiled from the embrace, she said to the dark haired visitor, “uhh… Twilight, as much as Ah appreciate it, would you kindly please let go of me now…?”

“Oh, Applejack… what had happened to you; how did you even survive all of this madness…?” Twilight sniffled as she stared into the jade eyes with but only a tender smile upon the visage, “after what we had gone through in this war, I don’t even want to begin to scratch the surface…!”

“Who said that Ah did…?” Applejack sighed sadly as she started to look away at once.

The bright skinned visitor slowly trudged towards the two and began to speak within earshot, “Applejack… I must give out my deepest apologies for what had happened to you and your family over; I’d absolutely no intention of letting this culminate to a full out assault. It has seemed that I was the most unaware of the troubles that were plaguing the military and the prime minister; thankfully, the mayor had been able to rally the townspeople together to hold on long enough to end the onslaught. Sadly, it was too late to save my niece from the horrors of the war.”

“Ohh… Ah am sorry to hear about the whole tragedy, Your Majesty…” the tanned blonde had said to the princess sadly all at once, “Ah wish something should’ve been to stop any of this…”

“Please, call me Celestia my dearest subject…” the eponymous speaker had softly sighed in due time.

Applejack wiped her own eyes away before facing the princess dead on in the face and chucked, “fair enough, Celestia; still, Ah can’t even believe that everything this family has worked for is gone forever but that’s not the worst of it: Apple Bloom had to watch all of this happen before her eyes. Whenever, Ah think about mah sister, Ah always think of the things that had happened to her: Granny Smith dying, being forced to drink all of the crap that can be found underneath a sink, and worst of all, having to find her own flesh and blood trying to wring the life outta her at once. Even the palm of mah own hands can tell me the stories of the lives that could have been saved, people that had been killed, people that could have been killed; Ah mean consarned it, even Ah came close to dying a few times in the past. Once upon a time, losing the farm by whatever means was a nightmare that Ah along with mah kin wake up from every while; now, Ah find mahself crying a river every now and then moments after when Ah woke up from sleeping. What’s more is that Ah now have another burden to carry: Ah had just gave birth to a blind baby earlier ago and Ah know why that is; the doctors said that the infection Ah had gotten from that day was passed onto him over time. Ah don’t mind having Fluttershy willing to take care and raise him as one of her own but Ah can’t ever even want to talk about what had gone over ever since then; so much for being a strong proud farmer like mahself.”

“Oh my… I am so, so sorry to hear all of this happening to you, Applejack…” the shorter visitor had gasped as she found a tear appearing out the corner of the tanned blonde’s eye, “if I had know about what you were going through sooner, then the least I could’ve done was help you through.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Twilight: after what happened in that house fire, even Ah thought that you were dead too; but still, there was nothing that you could’ve done to prevent it all…” Applejack said to Twilight within due time no less.

At this moment, Celestia placed both of her hands onto the golden necklace gently and said, “true but I guess there’s something else that should also be said about the whole thing anyway: contrary to what you and everyone believes, I’m not as invincible as I was claimed long ago…”

“Now, that is just plumb crazy talk here; you’re Princess Celestia for goodness sakes…!” snapped the tanned blonde in shock, “how in the world are ya gonna tell me that you ain’t invincible?!”

“Perhaps, that this should answer your question…” the princess said before taking off the necklace slowly; suddenly, Applejack widened her eyes instantly from what was behind the item: donned upon the wearer’s neck was but a thin scar found on the right side in the shape of a cross.

The tanned blonde choked out slowly to the taller female at once, “what is that scar on your neck; what happened to ya…?”

“You could call this one a recent reminder of my newest failure, my dearest Applejack…” Celestia answered with a somber gaze pointing to the scar upon the neckline, “a few months ago, the royal ceremony had been the target of a mad bomber, a domestic terrorist by the name of Mercury Promenade. Our guards were unable to stop the intruder from killing the bride-to-be let alone, ingesting a caustic chemical capsule to escape capture. I was able to escape from the chaos but the carriage had been destroyed in the process; that was when I had been shot as soon as I got out. One of my most trusted soldiers had been able to keep news of my unfortunate encounter a secret from the public to avoid escalating the panic beyond control along with Twilight’s location. Nonetheless, it didn’t change the fact that I had lost someone so close to me and my prized pupil too on that same day; I remember the day when they had buried her: a cold rainy afternoon and a small crowd no less. This basically shows me who I am and what the others were; it was that constant thought which refuses to leave my mind…”

“Whoa… Ah never thought of it this way Celestia; Ah am actually surprised that it could feasibly happened…” Applejack whistled softly as the princess returned the necklace back to the original spot.

The taller visitor gulped and said, “I wouldn’t blame you for thinking about it this way: once upon a time, our kind were once capable living long enough all the way to see a century or two pass us by; even so, I refuse to consider myself an exception whenever I think of the times where people have lost loved ones of their own. Still, despite all of that, there are still some individuals who will always keep those near and dear alive in our hearts; I know that you have some that would never stop loving you: your Granny’s passing was something that shouldn’t have happened this way, but not even I’d forget her nor all the others while going on with our lives. Besides, the dead would not allow this tragedy to impede us to the point of stagnation; instead, they would have wanted us to live a long happy life to do the right things and make people feel closer to one another: that’s something that your family would’ve wanted for you and the others.”

“Perhaps, you’re right; to be honest, Ah was never used to the idea that Ah would kill someone for any reason…” the tanned blonde said as she looked at the covers over, “there was always the sheer thought that Sweet Apple Acres would be the home that Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Ah could come back to after a long day; but, now that it’s gone, Ah don’t even know where…”

“Don’t worry about it Applejack, you can stay at my old home in the city for the time being; what matters is that your alive and I don’t want to lose you or any of my friends, not even Rarity,” the shorter visitor replied as she had quickly placed a hand near Applejack’s side.

The tanned blonde focus intently upon that wayward hand sighed softly, “thanks Twilight; Ah would rather not know what would become of me if it weren’t for people like yourself and Celestia here…”

“Just remember that you are not alone here: no matter what happens, there will always be people who still love you and help you throughout your life…” Celestia said as she watched Applejack grip onto Twilight’s hand slowly, “besides, there is still a land that needs a tender hand to be guided out of the turmoil and into peace.”

“Yeah… it’s time that we give peace another chance; speaking of which, maybe Ah ought to write a letter to Apple Bloom as a way of saying ‘hello’ again once Ah get outta of this place…” the tanned blonde had slowly replied with a faint smile appearing upon her own visage at once.

The princess smiled back before heading near the door already and said to Applejack just calmly, “be sure to take it easy from now on, my faithful subject…”

“Ah will try, not just for you ma’am but for Apple Bloom as well…” the tanned blonde spoke steadily at once, “it’s the least that should be done around…”

“And that’s all that should matter for the time being…” the tall visitor said before leaving the room already; at this point, the shorter female was moments away from following the same path.

Twilight began to wave a hand within Applejack’s sight and spoke, “please get well soon, Applejack…”

“That Ah will; goodbye guys…” the tanned blonde replied to the dark haired individual with a wave and a smile, “wow, what a day and it has already started; yet, there’s nothing to do around here…”

Applejack then yawned slowly and began to descend into the comforts of her own gurney, snuggling up in the comforter above with a faint smile upon her face. The bright beams of light that had pierced through the blinds earlier were ignored by the tanned blonde without even a care in the world suffice to say the very least. Suddenly, she had soon started to snore soundly in her sleep, silently staying solitary in the same spot from so long ago within only just mere seconds no less.