A tan pony with a brown mane trudged through the snow that buried Ponyville, cloak trailing behind. It was a dark night, and the figure's journey was uninterrupted. He had one destination: a shabby building that had a badly scrawled sign on it that said "bar". It was shabby in both ways; the building itself looked like it violated quite a lot of health and safety laws, and when somepony offers you something, decline, it's better for your lifespan. Finally reaching his destination, the pony looked up at the structure, and pushed the swinging door that lead in.
The interior of the place was no better than its outside. The musk of Tobacco - and an overpowering amount of it - made Caramel's nose wrinkle. Not that he minded, he gruffly sat down in a shifty chair and added to the smell himself. Pulling out a fat cigar from a pocket in his cloak, Caramel held the cigar above a candle that was sitting on his table until it lit up in a ginger flame. Pulling the lit cigar away, he pushed in his mouth, blowing a white smoke out of his mouth every few seconds. The Stallion's eyes stayed closed as he smoked, thinking. Mostly it was about what had caused him to get in a state like this: the death of everyone he had loved.
His parents had gone first, struck down by an illness. Next, his sister had been killed by that same sickness that had killed his/her parents. And as if losing his entire family hadn't been enough, the only pony Caramel had left, his coltfriend, Big Macintosh, had succumbed to that damned illness. He now lay in a bed at the hospital, waiting for the inevitable death that would come in about a week's time.
Caramel had heard the news a four days ago, and had found the very place he was sitting in three days ago. Discovering the bar had given him the chance to drink and smoke away his worries, even though Caramel knew Macintosh would have disapproved strongly of smoking and beer. That made it even worse, causing him to do it even more. Now Caramel sat as a pathetic thing, staying that mysterious pony that sat in the shifty bar drinking all day.
And he hated it. He hated himself over and over, thinking why "couldn't I have also been infected with the sickness, killed with my comrades." After saying this sentence for the thousand's time this day, Three days before Macintosh dies, Caramel finally realized what he was doing was was absurd, asinine. Standing around, doing things he knows he shouldn't and doing them even more because he is.
Suddenly cursing at himself in the bar, letting a single tear roll down his face, the light brown pony rushed out and headed to Ponyville's hospital. Galloping through the dark night, the rushing Stallion reached the hospital within three minutes and suddenly pushing open the hospital's door, startling the clerk, who quickly regained his composure.
"Uh, sir, how could i help you?" Caramel was fast to respond.
"I need to see-" He dragged in a ragged breath, still tired from his sprint. "-My coltfriend, Big Macintosh." The "coltfriend" part made the clerk raise an eyebrow, but he nodded without a word, and showed Caramel through a hallway, eventually stopping after they passed the ninth room. The clerk gestured to a door labeled "10", and Caramel pushed it open, heart beating. The clerk closed the door behind him, but Caramel didn't care. He looked at the big red shape covering most of the bed in the medical room.
Then, Big Macintosh's weak voice spoke out.
"C-Caramel?" He asked. Just the weakened, low voice of his mate made Caramel sad. He dropped down to the bed and rubbed Macintosh's back reassuringly, who smiled, despite the situation, back at him. The first thing Caramel said was simple,
"I'm sorry"
The two words were so truthful and full of meaning, Macintosh knew his coltfriend wasn't just talking about him... dying. Lightly, Macintosh touched Caramels hoof.
"What is it?" He asked. Caramel turned to look at Mac, but before he could say anything Caramel made a hacking cough that made him sound like he was the one dying. During his coughs, Macintosh saw something slip out of his cloak. And it was something Macintosh referenced to as vile, for a fat brown cigar had just fallen out of Caramel's pocket, and instantly Macintosh's expression hardend out of concern.
"Caramel, what did you do?" After a couple of seconds, the hacking horse stopped coughing, and looked back up with tears in his eyes, and then Caramel explained everything. How he had heard Macintosh was going to die, then how Caramel fled to a shady bar hidden in Ponyville, and then how he realized he was wasting away his life, all of Caramel's story to the point to where he ran to the hospital, scaring the clerk. Caramel expected Macintosh to be mad at him; somehow break up with him in the short time he had to live.
But Big Macintosh didn't. He just embraced Caramel.
"I... I don't want to go either" he said softly. Caramel didn't say anything, he just stayed and rested against Mac's warm breast.
(Three Days Later)
Caramel looked down at the water that flowed past the bridge that he was standing on. Only an hour ago, Caramel had gone to visit his sick coltfriend. But instead of seeing the gentle Stallion, Caramel had screamed at the motionless red body. The doctors had come and...
They had confirmed Big Macintosh had died only seven minutes ago. Caramel hadn't even been there, nor had the rest of the Apple family or anypony. No one had been there to watch him go, stay with him. He had been completely alone, nopony to help him as his heart stopped. Caramel couldn't even shed a tear as he looked into the flowing stream of water, just stare in numb sadness. It was still hard getting over that Macintosh won't come back, no matter what. Caramel knew he couldn't do anything to bring the best stallion in Equestria back from the dead.
All he could do is mourn his late coltfriend.
