Author's Note

Hi there; it's me, Fireflower here once more with an electric feel ready with a new chapter of Ocular Spectral Therapy on the way: suffice to say, the past chapters from before were by far a strong note for you all and it will only be a taste of what's to come later on as I write them all them at my fingertips.

As usual, My Little Pony, or rather Friendship Is Magic, including its settings and characters belong to --- you know what? Fk it; you've made it this far so there's no use in me repeating what I had said before in the disclaimers, especially after what y'all had gone through.

However, let me just also say that, with many thanks aside, I hope you can be surprised about this chapter now even more than the others before it and still have the strength to continue onward in staying tuned though the passing times: a special guest is going to be joining our fateful protagonist in the chapter below; but, it will only be the beginning here as we all go on and float onward there.

Yellow

“Attention: the time is now twelve o’clock; lunchtime will start shortly in about five minutes…!” a loud voice had now blared throughout its very surroundings. The shuffling of footsteps followed after the sound within moments, creating an echo that proved to be fainter than that previous announcement seconds ago but much stronger nonetheless; of course, not everyone simply followed suit. Sitting in a nearby table was a tanned blonde slouching back a bit on a chair, her mouth agape with a drop of dribble ready to fall onto the floor.

Suddenly, she had felt the sudden appliance of pressure bearing weight on the left shoulder snapping her awake into purity, choking back a struggle as a pair of eyelids flew wide open and exposed the jade orbs before muttering, “what wait wha who…?”

“Wake up, there’s no use in missing out on lunchtime…” a faint voice entered the blonde’s ears as she turned to find a new face interacting already, “I want to make it here in time to visit my dear sweet Bon Bon again…!” Taking the time to straighten out the white gown, the observer found that the speaker was also another female just like the former but with a light and clear complexion adorned throughout. The blonde quickly found a set of minty tresses reflecting against the light residing in and out from the room they were all in with whiteness in the middle; like the former, the latter had a style where they all touched the nape of the neck. There was but a pair of golden irises that had just made its way all around the speaker’s very pupils; it was a key detail in which the observer in question had already taken notice of within so to speak. One thing that the blonde had in common with the minty individual was the simple choice of clothing draping over the rest of their bodies: a simple thick white gown; however, the latter had only shorter sleeves than the former. Strangely enough, the observer had quickly found that the speaker was not even wearing anything upon her very feet, a rather stark contrast to the former who is wearing a simple pair of sandals instead.

“Who… who are ya…?” the blonde stuttered about as she faced the minty one in front of her.

Pulling the observer up from the chair gently, the speaker answered slowly but calmly, “I’m Lyra; don’t you want to get some lunch…?”

“What about it…?” the blonde grunted as she gotten ahold of the paper and pencil in front the table, “Ah just need to return this here before Ah get to do anything else.”

“Ooookay then…” Lyra spoke calmly as she started to contort her fingers on the left hand and twiddle about with her hair in due time.

As the observer walked over to a nearby desk, she had placed the utensil back onto the wood next to the bell before pressing it; in due time, the voice from before spoke, “who is it; what are you doing here?”

“It’s me… Applejack; Ah have came back to return this to ya…” the blonde replied as she watched the mechanical pencil end up back into another’s grasp, “Ah am sorry that it took so long…”

“Whatever…” was all that became a reply as she had returned to find the minty female pushing the chair into the table upon placing the paper in the white gown.

Standing up straight, Lyra began to walk up towards Applejack quickly with little exhaustion whatsoever and asked, “forgive me for saying this but I haven’t quite caught your name here; what is it?”

“Pardon me for not answering; Ah should have done this sooner…” the blonde had replied to the minty one slowly, “mah name, its Applejack…”

“It’s okay, I was just wondering what was with the pencil and paper that you had earlier when you were asleep; what were you doing?” Lyra had spoken to Applejack as they started to walk away from the tables.

As the two females trudged past the desk earlier, the blonde answered the minty one in mere moments of time, “oh ya meant the paper, Lyra? Ah was just writing a letter here to my sister, Apple Bloom; must’ve fallen asleep after Ah had gotten around to finishing it.”

“Does this happen all the time, Applejack…?” Lyra asked Applejack as both of their feet were still in motion no less, “gee, you must’ve been very sleepy now and then; I hope you are okay.”

“No, not at all; although, Ah do have some trouble trying to fall asleep at night here and there…” the blonde replied to the minty female as they were approaching the doorway in front of them.

As they walked over under the frame, they had found themselves over into a different room from before; although similarly alike in fair dignity, they had possessed a series of traits that proved otherwise. For starters, the tables in front of them were rectangular and made only of metal while providing a bench from both sides for occupants to sit on, all of which that had became constrained in this space. The ceiling itself alone was mostly composed of only glass, projecting the imagery of a bright and plentiful sunshine along with some passing clouds residing in the big blue sky above its very own observers. Aside from the hallway where the two females had exited, there were at least two others within their range of sight, each of them having a crowd of people arriving at the same time period as they were. The plaid walls had only a metal trashcan or two resting up against the simple paint along with a few individuals sprawled about here and there in a variety of different positions whatsoever suffice to say. Within the short walking distance from them was a long line of people, each with an orange flat tray that was being held up in both their hands as they were just moving along in every step of the way.

It wasn’t long when they found themselves joining the people along as they gotten ahold of their trays, standing behind the last person in front of them.

Lyra held the tray in underneath her left arm while Applejack held it in underneath the right as they shuffled about in the line; soon, the former spoke silently, “oh, I can’t believe I’m so psyched about what they’re serving for lunch today…”

“What are ya exactly talking about; how could ya be wondering about what food they’re giving out?” the blonde grumbled as the minted one moved along, “it’s not like they’re going to go through the same thing every over day.”

“Oh come on, Jackie; sometimes you’ll never know what you could get as you go on in life…!” Lyra tittered on before placing a hand on Applejack’s shoulder nearby.

The blonde gritted her teeth gently as she felt the minty female make contact so suddenly and scoffed, “whatever...”

“Good afternoon, my name is Wesson and I will be your chef for today...” a manly voice wheezed from their side when they turned to find a tall figure all dressed in a grayish white, save for a black scarf and a pair of sunglasses, “what will it be…?”

“Why, I’ll have the soup here…!” Lyra answered as she pointed to the pasty red pool in front of her.

Taking up a small bowl in an instant, Wesson scooped out the contents in with a gourd and presented it to the minty female with a huff, “enjoy it while you can…”

“Just let me be, Ah just want to have something to drink; nothing more…” the blonde said as she watched the female in front of her hold up the orange tray, “Ah am not so hungry right now…”

“So be it…” the chef snorted as he watched the two carry onward about their business along with the others.

As they came across a round table in the corner, a vast series of bottles and cartons containing various liquids were all that were discovered: out of all them, Applejack took only a tall red one; after doing so, Lyra soon spoke, “seriously, that’s all you’re going to be drinking for the day?”

“Ah just got out of the bathroom earlier; Ah do not need to torture mahself any further, okay?” the blonde snarled at the minted one, forcing the latter to step back away from the former; soon, a cooled continuation carried onward, “Ah am sorry… Ah didn’t mean to snap at you, that’s all.”

“It’s alright…” Lyra whimpered as she watched Applejack started walking on over to a nearby table and sit down. The blonde had now begun to open the red bottle in her grasp and started sipping from there at once all while that the minty one looked on sadly. At first, Lyra found herself hesitating on what to do here; clearly, the stardust memories of hearing Applejack’s sudden answer at the former had caused a lump to build up inside before being swallowed whole in one gulp.

As the blonde took her lips off of the beverage she had gotten ahold of earlier and gasped for air, she had turned to find that the minty one had stood nearby with a choked out, “hmm…?”

“Hey, I’m sorry if I had made you angry, Applejack; I didn’t mean to come off as hurtful earlier,” Lyra spoke to Applejack slowly as the latter had slowly downed the preliminary mouthful, “you don’t mind if I could come sit and eat lunch here with you, please?”

“No, not at all…” the blonde quickly answered as she prepared to take another sip from the red bottle while the minted one took a seat nearby.

As soon as Lyra rested the tray onto the table in front of them, Applejack made an aside glance towards its contents: a bowl of soup, a toasted sandwich, and a cup of water were all there; taking the sight away, the former then said to the latter at once, “here, you could have my half...”

“Oh this…?” the blonde stuttered in confusion as a sandwich’s half was presented by the minty owner, “Ah appreciate the gesture but Ah can’t; you need it more...”

“Not quite; please, I insist…!” Lyra had quickly spoken up as she still held it up in front of Applejack’s visage, no sign of backing out whatsoever.

The blonde sat the beverage aside from her, raised up her right hand, and said to the minted one, “okay, if it will make you happy, then Ah will eat that; just please, Lyra, leave me be for now…”

Soon, the sandwich made its way into Applejack’s teeth, a trio of curves forming at the corner of the edge as crumbs spread across the consumer’s lips and fell onto the table while Lyra started digging into the soup. The blonde felt her cheeks swell up as the portions of grain and wheat were being reduced to mere particles by the constant grinding within the confined space whereas the minty one slurped down a warm gulp. Within seconds, the two females finally swallowed the first round of their fodder without any trouble to say the least as the remainders in tow now became a fraction less than what they originally had.

“So, Applejack…” Lyra began to speak, catching the eponymous subject off-guard, “how was it?”

“It’s fahn, Lyra; it’s taste fahn…” Applejack answered solemnly as she reached for the red bottle nearby and prepared to drink from it again.

Swallowing the liquid from the cup, the minted female placed it back onto the tray and said to the blonde, “anyways, you had told me that you were writing a letter to your sister earlier; how is she?”

“Oh, you mean Apple Bloom…?” Applejack choked out a bit as the jade orbs felt widened open when Lyra brought up the matter at hand, “she’s okay… Ah was relieved when Zecora offered to take care of her while the town recovers; Ah just hoped that Apple Bloom could get the strength to move past this. It’s just whenever Ah think of mah sister, Ah think of how this war had nearly done us both in just recently: while that we had watched many people all around us getting killed, we get to live on and suffer in silence; in fact, Ah even felt like wanting to die so badly because Ah couldn’t live with the thought of her being taken away. Aside from that, long before Ah was left alone to rot, Ah heard Apple Bloom scream for our grandmother as she got dragged away bah that brute of man, crying for mah help; it was absolutely terrifying to say the least. Throughout that very time Ah had been up, Ah had always looked at mahself and then think of how things could have gotten worse from here and there. Sure, we may be alive but even if Ah get out, there’s no way we can go back home; the pain would be far too much to bear for her and besides, the officials are going to turn the entire farm into a memorial.”

“Oh… I’m sorry that I didn’t know that; it’s just that…” was all that the minted one had said as she watched the blonde drink the beverage up.

Gasping for air, Applejack turned towards Lyra and said clearly, “no, you had nothing to do with this; it is mah burden alone…”

“I’m afraid you are not alone here…” the minty one had replied as the blonde looked onward, “I’ve been also in similar situation as you were…”

“How exactly…?” Applejack asked as her eyelids felt slightly opened up.

Taking in a deep breath, Lyra closed her eyes and began to answer soberly, “when the war had reached to our doorstep, Bon Bon had tried to help me get to safety in the underground tunnels but a large explosion had us separated. All I had remembered before was her pushing me out of the way before the bombs hit us; afterwards, I started to see blackness. When I had finally came to, I felt something stuck inside my mouth: it felt like it had belonged to a man in front of me who proceeded to keep me unable to scream for help as there were two others who joined him alongside. Ever since then, I had been their prisoner for what I had felt like many months on end, being used and abused like I was some plaything of theirs; worse, they wouldn’t even let me use the bathroom. I had cried for so many times whenever they did stuff like this to me, I had begged and pleaded for them to kill me already; but, it had seemed that they were killing me slowly, ramming themselves inside of me day in and day out as I had been starved. Then suddenly, it had seemed that I gotten my wish: someone had tossed a bomb at them just minutes after I had been forced to come; soon, I had gotten knocked back and then…”

A deluge of tears now escaped from the minted speaker’s eyes as they were blocked out by her very hands, a sight that started to make the blonde observer avert the jaded gaze and step out from there. The silent but potent wails that came from Lyra caused Applejack to feel a flood of memories rushing back: her pain had grown, she and her sister were already displaced, and the situation seemed to have mutated. The glimpse that the blonde had taken into the outside world had become filled with only pain and sorrow in the jade orbs rather than of hope and recovery that things had been left alone. Even so, Applejack now felt a tear escaping from the corner of her eyes as she then ran away from the windowpane and from the tables in front of her.

“NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS…!” a voice screeched angrily in the distance despite being ignored by the blonde, “GEEZ…!”

When Applejack soon stopped in time, she had found herself to be back inside the bathroom, truly devoid of any personnel in her view whatsoever. Standing up in front of a mirror, the blonde turned the handles on the sink and started to take her time in catching her breath of fresh air. With her hands, she ran them underneath the downward stream of water below her and caught the rushing liquid within seconds, feeling the blistering cold permeating throughout her palms. Cupping them both together, Applejack picked up the water and threw it upon her very face, washing away the tears that had stained her freckles amongst the otherwise tanned skin. The blonde now felt only more liquids piercing her visage as she still heard the running stream still remaining active below her, staring at the mirror once more very slowly with more moisture from before. Then, she started to shut the faucet off in a heartbeat, its sounds now replaced by its remainders going downwardly into the metallic drain as these jade irises looked on without a care in the whole wide world around her.

“Get a grip already, Applejack; ya still have Apple Bloom there wanting to see ya again soon…” was all that the eponymous speaker had said calmly as she started to exhale gently with both eyelids now closed tightly. Still feeling beads of water fall from the chin and jawbone, the blonde started to wipe them away from her face and began to run her hands over the locks above. With only smoothness staying about in these very strands, she started to silently saunter out of the stagnant lavatory surely soon enough.