My Little Pony - Over the Rainbow
Applejack was in the kitchen of the farmhouse at Sweet Apple Acres, setting out breakfast for the family. Outside, the world seemed silent, as if they were the only ponies in all of Equestria. The snow from the night before covered the ground in a sparkling white layer of powder, making everything seem light and shiny. Just as she was about to serve some pancakes, the doorbell rang.
"Granny?" she called from the kitchen but there was no reply. "Apple Bloom?" Silence, once again. "Big Mac?" She sighed, wiped her hooves on her apron and trudged to the door.
"Good moooorning Applejack!" cheered Pinkie from the porch.
"Pinkie, what are you doing here so early?" asked Applejack.
"I came to see if you wanted to come play in the snow with us! Rainbow Dash just got a snowmobile and - "
"Sorry to interrupt, Pinkie, but I got some stuff to do for the family today."
"Oh, okay. Well, see you later!" Pinkie bounded off down the front path, and Applejack sighed once more, then closed the door. When she returned to the kitchen, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh were all sitting around the table.
"Mornin', everypony," she mumbled. The three just hummed a slight grunt back at her. She knew they did not want to make her feel bad on today especially, but their lack of response made Applejack feel like she had reminded a gang of prisoners that they were to be executed that day.
"Now come on, we can't be like this every year," she said, trying to stay strong.
"I know," Apple Bloom whimpered almost silently, "it just doesn't get any easier, like I was told it would."
"It never gets easier. No matter what anyone tells you, it never goes away."
"Yup," heaved Big McIntosh, still staring into a bowl of porridge and apple sauce.
"Granny?" asked Applejack, "you want some pancakes?" Granny Smith just looked up and nodded sadly, not saying a single word. How could she, when her eldest granddaughter was standing doing what she was supposed to be doing, but she just could not move a muscle? Just then, there was another loud knock at the door of the farmhouse.
"That'll be the mail man," sighed Applejack, who lifted off her messy apron and slumped her way to the door. When she opened it, she jumped back, astounded to see who was there.
"Applejack!" cried Pinkie, throwing her arms around her friend, "You said you had a lot of work to do for your family, so we decided to come and help you!" Standing on her front porch was Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight, while standing on the ground behind them were Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who had come to see if Apple Bloom wanted to join them, as Scootaloo had a new sledge and wanted to try it out on some nearby hills.
"T-that's mighty kind of ya, but I'm afraid it's not the sort of thing I think you guys would be able to help with," stammered Applejack, "Thanks for the offer, but we're just gonna get on with us ourselves."
"But you don't have to!" protested Twilight, "Can you at least tell us what it is and we can see if there is any way at all we can help you?" Applejack closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to fight back tears. She closed the door over slightly to ensure that the others in the kitchen could not hear her.
"Today is…" she started, "It's the anniversary of my parents' death." The group of ponies all gasped in shock.
"Applejack!" gasped Twilight, "I'm so sorry, I-I never knew!"
"It's okay, guys. It's just that this day is hard for us every year. I can't quite face going out right now, given the circumstances."
"Well, can we come in for a moment?" Fluttershy whispered quietly.
"I guess so. I'm certainly not doing anything today." The group followed Applejack's gesture and wandered in to the farmhouse.
"What do you mean, you're not doing anything today?" asked Rainbow Dash, confused, "I thought you had things to do for your family."
"Basically," she heaved, "it means we're staying home and in separate rooms, because it's just too tough to see each other, as it just reminds us of what happened."
"What did happen?" Pinkie's voice squeaked from the back of the group.
"Pinkie!" scorned Rarity, "Didn't you hear Applejack? She does not want to talk about it."
"No, it's okay, Rarity," she said, surprisingly, "I've known all of you for a long time. I guess there should be no secrets between friends." She motioned everyone to sit down. Big McIntosh and Apple Bloom stood in the doorway, listening. Granny Smith, however, stayed at the table, just staring at the clock on the wall.
"It was only a year after Apple Bloom was born that they died," she began, "Big Mac and I were still only young too. You see, it was winter. Big Mac and I had taken Apple Bloom out to play in the snow on our own. We were building snowponies, making snow alicorns, throwing snowballs, you know, all that kind of fun you have in the snow when you're a kid." The other ponies were listening intently, nodding every few minutes.
"Well, we had never been ice skating before, so we took Apple Bloom out to a lake outside of Ponyville to play. The three of us held hooves and skated with Apple Bloom in the middle. What we didn't know was that the ice wasn't thick enough to hold the weight of all three of us. Mom and Dad looked out of their window and saw we weren't there, and panicked, so they ran off to look for us. We had been on the pond for about an hour when we saw a crack in it. We tried to avoid it, but it kept getting bigger and eventually turned into a hole. Big Mac and I knew it was too dangerous, so went off into town to see the lights being put up." The other ponies looked a little confused.
"Then Ma and Pa caught up to Granny, who said she'd seen us skating at the lake, so the rushed off to it and saw the hole in the ice."
"They thought you fell in?" It was more of a statement than an answer coming from Twilight, but Applejack nodded nonetheless.
"Yep. So…" She took a deep breath. "They panicked. Pa dived in first, but didn't come to the surface within a few minutes, so Ma jumped in after him."
"They got caught…under the ice," Big McIntosh mumbled from the doorway. This was the first time he had spoken since the group entered the house, and Big Mac was a pony of few words anyway, which surprised everypony a little, considering how he had just joined the conversation like that. He wandered in and sat down next to his sister.
"Granny was in town, when she saw us, grabbed us both and stuck us into a nearby cart, ordered the driver to take us to the lake and sped off. When we got to the lake, there was no one there. She then told him to take us to the farmhouse, and directed him on the route they would have taken. We didn't see them. The three of us still didn't know what was going on." Big Mac was fighting back tears, something which the ponies hadn't seen in him before.
"It wasn't until Granny got us to the house and called the Fire Brigade that she told us," strained Applejack, "We stayed in the house and Granny looked after us until someone came to the door. We thought it was our parents, but it was a fire pony. She asked Granny to put us in another room while she spoke with her. Naturally, as kids, we sat at the top of the stairs listening in on every word."
"That's when we heard that our parents didn't make it," Big Mac sighed, "and it was all my fault."
"Stop saying that!" screamed Applejack, who stood up in protest.
"I'm the oldest! I should have known better!"
"People skated on that lake all the time and still do, and we had never heard of anyone falling in. We did nothing wrong, it was just a series of events that didn't go to plan. It is no one's fault, Mac." She sat her hoof on his shoulder. Just then, Apple Bloom ran in, climbed up onto the couch between them and buried her head between their arms.
"I don't want to hear any more!" her muffled sobs came from under their arms.
"Honey, I know. That's why every year we stay here."
"But…" Rainbow Dash bit her lip, "don't you think talking about it would help?"
"I must admit, telling you guys made me feel a bit better just there," Applejack supposed, "There's not much else to tell. After that, Granny brought us up. We went to the funeral, but only Granny got to see them before because we were too young. I just hope that they can still see us and watch over us, and that in the end, they're the ones who'll take me over."
"Over where?" sniffed Apple Bloom, wiping a tear away with her hoof.
"To the other side."
"What do you mean?" Scootaloo questioned her.
"When you, you know…die. When you pass over."
"You mean when you go to heaven."
"IF it exists," Rainbow Dash said sternly.
"Whaddya mean, 'if'? Of course it exists!" giggled Sweetie Belle.
"Well, how come we can't see them?"
"Because souls are invisible to living beings," explained Twilight. Applejack nodded in agreement.
"It's true. Granny used to take us to church…until Big Mac and I started asking too many questions about contradictions and got kicked out of Sunday School," chuckled Applejack, who was beginning to ease up.
"Yup!" smiled Big Mac, remembering the fun he and his sister had had when they were young ponies.
"So, if souls are invisible, and the Earth is billions of years old, doesn't that mean there could be billions of souls in one place?" asked Rainbow.
"That depends," said Twilight, "The population of Earth was not the same even a hundred years ago. The population is growing exponentially, meaning it constantly increases. Plus, ponies did not populate the entire of the Earth and still don't even today, so it's possible that only a few generations of spirits could exist in Equestria."
"You all believe in spirits?" Rarity asked sheepishly.
"Don't you?"
"Well…I suppose. I was always taught that death was the end, and after that your body was in the ground and that was it." On hearing this, Apple Bloom buried her head back into her brother's arms.
"But then what happens?" asked Applejack, "I mean, does your life just become darkness, or is it like sitting in a movie theatre, watching your life as you saw it through your eyes over and over again forever?"
"I was always taught about reincarnation," Fluttershy said softly.
"What's that?" asked a confused Sweetie Belle.
"It's when your soul travels into another body that is born after you die. You could be a pony in your first life, then come back as a bear, or a dragon, or a butterfly, or a bunny, or a griffin, or even another pony. I hope I come back as a bunny so Angel and I can do more things together!"
"I don't want to be anyone else," grumbled Scootaloo, "I like me too much." The ponies all laughed.
"You're all wrong!" laughed Pinkie.
"Excuse me, Pinkie?!" shrieked Applejack.
"I'm sorry, but I know what happens. Really. One day, my Pinkie-Sense didn't work. I was in my bedroom, when all of a sudden Rainbow Dash flew in the window, knocked me over into my wardrobe, knocking my bowling ball off the top and onto my head and then I hit my head on the floor."
"Oh yeah!" Rainbow Dash remembered, "Why did you have that bowling ball anyway?"
"For my bowling class, silly!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Anyway, when that happened, I blacked out. After a few seconds I could see this bunch of balloons in front of me, and you guys know how much I love balloons! So I grabbed it, and it started to lift me into the air. I went through the ceiling, then the roof, above the clouds, until I couldn't see anything below me. I was so high up, but I wasn't scared. Then the balloons stopped taking me up and started moving forward, until I came to this platform being held up by…well, nothing. The platform was attached to this bridge, which had flags and streamers and bunting and balloons all over it, and it had a rainbow polka-dot wall and a rainbow brick pattern on the ground. I couldn't see ahead of me, but it looked friendly enough, so I hopped along until I came to this massive archway. It looked similar to the bridge, but on the other side were lots of ponies in the most beautiful garden I had ever seen, and the garden led to a massive rainbow castle that spouted rainbows and confetti from its turrets."
"Huh?" Twilight looked at her, bewildered.
"Then I saw Great-Granny-Pie. I knew it was her, because she moseyed over to me and gave me two bits and some ribbon candy, just like she always did. Only thing was, she passed away five years before, so I couldn't understand why she was there. She smiled at me as I ate the candy, gave me a hug and kissed me on the forehead. She then took me back across the bridge. The balloons were still there, so she told me to grab them. Then all she said was 'See you some day, Pinkamina', smiled at me, then pushed me off the plinth. I started screaming, even though the balloons were keeping me from freefalling. Then I woke up with Rainbow Dash crouched over me asking me if I was all right, and saying 'Oh please wake up, Pinkie!' over and over."
"So…you think you saw heaven?" said Applejack.
"I don't know what I saw. All I know was I had a near-death experience, and saw the place we go when we die. My Pinkie sense told me one thing and that was where I truly was. People we love must wait for us in the garden to meet us when they hear we are coming to see them, so that we know even though life is over, it's okay, because we are still with the people we love and can watch over those still there."
"So, what you're saying is when you die, your soul sees the balloons, and knows instinctively to grab them, and when you do, you start to float up to the rainbow bridge, over which is an archway that leads you to heaven, where those you love who died before you are waiting?" asked Twilight. Pinkie nodded.
"That…actually sounds really nice, Pinkie," smiled Applejack, "even if it's the end of somepony's life, it's comforting to think that they can see us still by crossing the bridge, even though they can't be with us, and that we get to meet them again when our lives end."
"But what if you're bad?" whimpered Apple Bloom, "Sunday School teacher used to tell us if we were bad we wouldn't go to heaven."
"Well…I don't know," said Pinkie, "but what I'm certain of is that there is nopony very bad there. There are people who play pranks and are naughty there, but no truly bad creatures."
"I won't make it there then," sighed Big Mac.
"What are you talking about?" shrieked Pinkie, "How could you not be there?"
"It's my fault that…"
"Stop saying that it's your fault!" yelled a voice from the kitchen. Granny Smith hobbled into the living room and stood over her grandson.
"Now you listen to me, young Mac. What happened was an accident, it was no one's fault. Yes, you could have told your parents where you were going. No, you shouldn't have been playing on the lake alone. But your Ma and Pa did what they thought was right. They didn't care that you ran off or played somewhere they didn't want ya to: all they wanted to know was that all of ya were safe. That's why they did it. I told them that's where I last saw youse, if anything, it's my fault."
"No, Granny!" yelled Apple Bloom, jumping off the couch and running into her arms.
"It's nopony's fault…" muttered Big Mac quietly.
"It's nopony's fault," Granny Smith reassured him, sitting down on the other side of him from Applejack and putting her hoof on his other shoulder.
"Granny…" Applejack sobbed, her bottom lip trembling, "that's the first time you've ever said a word about…"
"About that day?" She nodded. "I never wanted to upset you three, so thought that what we had done for the past few years was the right thing to do. I never realised that after all these years, letting go of everything I had bitten my tongue about for all those years would make me and you kids feel…better." She looked up and smiled, then looked down to Apple Bloom, whose head was still tucked into her side.
"Tell me, honey, what do you remember about that day?"
"Granny, don't she's too young to - " Granny Smith raised her hoof and cut Applejack off.
"Well," Apple Bloom began, wiping her nose, "I remember the fun we had that morning, playing in the snow, 'cause it was the first time I played in it. I remember us going into town, Granny showing up and taking us home, then the last thing I remember is Applejack and Big Mac cryin' on the stairs and I couldn't figure out why…and then I kept asking Granny where Mom and Dad were and she just told me she didn't know, and then I asked when they were coming home, and she just looked at me and said 'I don't think they's comin' home, sweet-pea' and I started cryin' too." She looked over to her brother and sister. "I didn't know what was going to happen. Who was going to brush my hair, tuck me in and make me apple fritters when I'm sick? Who was going to plant the apple seeds and do apple buckin' and plough the fields? If it hadn't been for Granny and Applejack and Big McIntosh…well, I don't even know what woulda happened. I thought I was going to be alone after that, and that I'd never see any of my family ever again. If we hadn't all pulled together like we did, I wouldn't have an amazing life like the one I have now."
"It's true," agreed Applejack, "and you know something? It's coming together like we have now that makes this family better. From now on, on this day each year we won't hide away from each other, but spend time together as a family, remembering everything good that ever happened while Ma and Pa were still here, and even the good things that have happened to us after. They wouldn't have wanted us to be sittin' around cryin' about them not being here, they would want to know that we were happy and having a good life!" They all nodded in agreement.
"We'd best leave you to it," Twilight smiled softly.
"Thanks guys," said Applejack tearfully, "for everything." They all crowded around their friend and group hugged, then quietly left the Apple family to themselves.
The family spent the rest of the day looking at the old pictures of their parents in the old photo albums, remembering all the wonderful memories they had made together.
"When was this one?" asked Apple Bloom, pointing to a photograph. Granny Smith squinted and looked closer.
"That," she began, with a slight sadness in her voice, "is the last photograph of your parents. It was taken the day before, you know." The picture was of Applejack, Big McIntosh and Apple Bloom when they were younger, with their parents and Granny Smith. They were all standing at the door of the farmhouse, dressed in warm winter clothes and huddling together for the camera.
"Oh," Apple Bloom looked up at her grandmother. She could see that this was taking its toll on her emotionally, "Granny, are you okay?" Granny Smith sighed, then turned to Apple Bloom.
"I'm all right, sweet-pea," she said, "it's just difficult, ya know, thinkin' about your Momma, and how much I miss her. A mother should never outlive her daughter. It's the little things, ya know? I loved bringing you kids up and seeing you grow up, but I'm upset that she's missed out on all that."
"Well, maybe she hasn't. Maybe Pinkie was right, and if Momma and Daddy can still see us, then they didn't miss out on us growing up."
"I hope you're right, honey-pie." The four of them hugged together on the sofa.
"All right, I reckon that's time for bed for you young 'uns," said Granny Smith. The three young ponies tiptoed up the staircase, while Granny Smith stayed sitting on the sofa, still holding onto the photo album.
"Granny?" whispered Applejack, "You okay?"
"I'm fine, sugarplum," she smiled, "Don't worry, I'll be up in a minute." Applejack went back up the stairs to tuck Apple Bloom in. Once she was out of sight, Granny Smith sighed heavily and looked out the window at the clear night sky.
"I hope you can see this, honey," she whispered, "I just hope you know how great you kids are." She took the photo of her daughter out of the photo album, kissed it gently, then sat the picture down on top of the book. She smiled gently at it, then turned out the light.
"Good night, honey," she whispered into the darkness.