Matt Hayser "When Elysium Calls" MLP FiM

 

With Big Mac spending more time with his wife Sugar Belle, Applejack and Apple Bloom mostly work on the farm and hang out with their friends. Some days feel very lonely. Apple Bloom asks her sister if she remembers anything about her parents Bright Mac and Pear Butter. Applejack replies that she can’t remember very much, only that they had cared for her lovingly as an infant. Applejack says that they would be very proud of Apple Bloom for all her hard work in helping other ponies find their cutie marks.

 

After the Mane Six visit the Student Six, who are beginning to tutor the various creature students at the Friendship School, Pinkie rushes back with a newspaper with a headline “Pony Psychic Convention This Nightmare Night.” Twilight and Applejack both roll their eyes, as they don’t believe in psychics. But Pinkie Pie then reminds Twilight about her pinkie sense and how sometimes you have to trust your instincts. Rainbow Dash considers this a cool opportunity to help prank ponies, Fluttershy looks nervous about the prospects of ghosts and Rarity decides it’s worth a shot. Zecora visits and reminds the ponies in rhyme to be careful of which psychics to trust.

 

At the convention, the ponies dress up in costumes and begin to head toward the tents where there are fortune tellers. One pony looked into a crystal ball (the same one in the Pinkie sense episode) and was mostly accurate on accounting present nearby events for the Mane Six. She then told Applejack, “New knowledge will come to you in spirit, though it may take a while for you to hear it.” Applejack brushes it off and leads the way out. The ponies go to other psychics but find they are expensive and sleezy, doing cold readings and general statements. After visiting all of them, Applejack and Twilight deemed it a waste of time, (though Spike and pinkie and Rainbow enjoyed the candy and Halloween fun.

 

The Mane Six then notice a long line to the last psychic they haven’t visited. They see a gray pony with a short brown mane, a white jacket with golden angel wings and two white feathers for a cutie mark. He was the famous Matt Hayser; psychic medium, author, and star of the theater production “Meet the Haysers.” (On “Neigh! Entertainment”). His readings were expensive: 11.11 bits, almost as much as the sleezy psychics…but each and every time, the ponies would leave the booth, crying tears of sadness and joy. He even read fillies and colts with permission from their parents. Rarity fell instantly in love with the handsome colt, Rainbow Dash was instantly amazed, Fluttershy became less nervous and Pinkie Pie was beaming, already planning a “Psychic Party” for later. But the session was soon over and Applejack and the Mane Six had ran out of money. Matt said he’d be back and showed Twilight a cover of his book “When Elysium Calls: Secrets of the Afterlife.”

 

Twilight buys the book and instantly becomes both suspicious and fascinated. Browsing through it, she remarks that no pony has even mentioned what happens after a pony dies. Twilight assumed that they would fade into nothingness while some ponies believed they would go to Celestia’s realm or Tartarus. Twilight and Applejack have arguments and debates with other ponies about what happens after death. Applejack immediately becomes suspicious of the famous Matt, saying he’s only reading for the money and fame. A few other ponies agree with her, but so many claim that Matt is the real deal.

 

Applejack brushes aside the matter, telling herself that she’ll never know what happened to her parents (It’s a kid’s show after all). But one tragic day, Granny Smith is ill in the hospital. Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Applejack and the rest of the Apple family take care of her day by day, until one day, it’s too late, she dies peacefully by herself. Consumed by grief, Applejack blames herself for not being there when Granny needed her. The friends try to cheer up the Apple family, but nothing works. No song, food, magic or even therapy seems to do the trick. Applejack has nightmares of ghosts from Tartarus chasing after her, her parents in cages crying out for help then fading into blackness.

 

With a heavy heart, Twilight realizes that there may be one pony left who could provide solace to Applejack…but busy Matt, his wife Alexa Hayser and their new colt, Royce are about to get on the train back to Bronco Island! Twilight pushes past fans and camera crews to convince Matt to do one more emergency meeting. “The whole Apple Family needs your help!” she said. “Use your magic to read them!” Matt teleports them to the Apple farm and dispels her claim, “I don’t need to use magic in my readings; I was born with my ability.”

 

Applejack becomes suspicious, saying she doesn’t want to pay for a fake reading and theory. Spike lets himself get read by Matt and he reveals he can read any creature, not just ponies. Matt tells Spike about his two dragon parents and Spike cries tears of amazement. Matt says he’ll only charge half price and patiently waits for Applejack to step forward, her whole family present.  

 

Applejack lets herself be read and Matt Hayser tells her not only about her parents but that Granny Smith was there in spirit as well. He says Granny Smith didn’t want her family to see her so sick and that there was nothing they could’ve done to cure her. He says that Applejack and her family did all they could and says that Granny says thank you.  He also mentioned that Granny Smith is “safe and at peace in Elysium with Grand Pear, Bright Mac and Pear Butter.” Big Mac sobs into Sugar Belle’s hooves, Applejack and Apple Bloom embrace. Matt Hayser mentions specific memories about Applejack as an infant with her parents, Applejack riding on her mother’s back, things that Applejack had long forgotten about and that Big Mac suddenly had recollections of.  Matt says that her parents had died from Hay Fever and a string of illnesses, describing their pains through brief feelings in his body. He then mentions signs of their communications and two shooting stars...Applejack gasps as she and her sister remember the two shooting stars they had seen in “Apple Family Reunion.” “Yes, those shooting stars you saw represent your parents, Applejack,” Matt said. Matt also says, “Your father wants to thank you for keeping his special cowboy hat with you. He knows you wear it every single day to remember him.” He concludes while embracing her, “Your parents and your grandparents all love you very much.”

 

Applejack soon starts to believe Matt, much to her surprise. Matt says he can use magic to help others see the dead for a brief period of time. Big Mac says that he had a picture of his whole family and saw “a couple faint white spots in the background.” Big Mac hands him a picture of the Apple Family all together, and Matt’s horn glows silver and blue. “Look closely,” he said. Applejack and the others see Pear Butter and Bright Mac standing with the family, though their bodies were glowing. After a minute, they faded away. “You see those orbs in the picture there? That’s them!”

 

With closure, Applejack thanks Matt Hayser and also her friends for encouraging her to believe in the unseen. Matt waves goodbye and heads back to Bronco Island with his family. As she watched the sun set, she noticed two gifts for her on the table sent randomly by her cousin: a green apple revealing seeds and an orange star and a jar of honey, the same as her parents’ cutie marks. “It might be another sign!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. But Applejack smiles a small smile and says, “Let’s just focus on living our lives the best we can. I know Granny Smith, Mom and Dad would be proud of us no matter what.”

 

Toward the end, Matt Fraser arrives and asks Celestia and Luna if they would like a reading and they agree. After the session, the emotional royals thank him, both getting the chills and ask him where he’s going. Matt smiles. “I heard there are three stone villains close by who could use a good reading...free of charge! Since they’re stuck, I’m sure they’ll be very good listeners!”