My Little Dashie: Fourth Times the Charm

Chapters

The Gala
Spectral Jewel
Goodbyes and Silence
Returning Truth
Racing Stripes and Forgotten Memories (Revised)
Age and Discovery
Darkness Returns
Realization
Back Then
Cold
Getting Better
Newcomer
Heated Discussion
All in a Day's Time
Hard Knock Coughs
Tears of Sadness
A Royal Decision
Dying of the Light
Transcendence
Journal

The Gala

It's been almost an hour since we arrived in Canterlot. Everything looks just so majestic. It looks exactly like how it did in that last episode of MLP's first season. I still remember it. That whole event with everyone wanting their dreams to come true. I don't care as much as the others dreams though because my little Dashie's came true. She finally got to join the Wonderbolts. I remember that day like it was just yesterday. Her cute face when she saw Soarin' just, like the old meme, made my heart explode. Twice. I am so proud of Dashie. That amazing night though was also followed by that disturbing and graphic nightmare afterwards. I thought I would die or succumb to that darkness when Dashie saved me. When we woke up, we were both covered in sweat and fear. Everyone didn't really notice until Twilight saw. Only we saw what horrors were in that nightmare. Never again would I want her to see that kind of thing even if it killed me.

Anyway, we're here. I actually haven't been getting that many stares as I thought I would. I look around and not many of them turn their heads quickly. I think they are actually just okay with my presence here. Hell, I can't wait to see the princess' face. I'm following Dashie and the rest of the gang, Spitfire and Soarin' included. They are all just hoping the Gala goes better than that other one. I am a little behind from them because of the whole wing surgery. It has got me tired every once in a while. I stop and catch my breath for a minute. Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of them turn their heads towards me.

"Dad! Are you all right?" I look up and see the cutest little concerned face. Dashie stopped and came back and then the rest followed. "I'm fine, just a little out of breath is all. Don't let me slow you down." "Com'on Pops! Don't tell me your goin' tortoise on me now. I only got room for one tortoise in my life and that's Tank."

I get up and tap her on the nose. "Tag, you're it!" I run with a surprising burst of energy. As I'm running, I yell out to her "And NO wings!" I can hear a little annoyed yell as she goes fast after me. I can hear her calling me and start to get this smile across my face. From ear to ear. I knew there was no way my aging body could outrun the fastest and most amazing pony in all of Equestria. So I had a great idea that would definitely catch her off her guard. I turn around all of a sudden and open my arms up to catch her. Bad idea. Next thing I know, I not only see Dashie's rainbow mane tumbling towards me, but smell cotton candy and hear Pinkie from right behind me. I just got ponywiched. As me, Dashie, and Pinkie are rubbing our heads and laughing, I hear everypony else crack up also. All of a sudden I hear them stop. 'Well what's stopping them' I thought. I turn my head up and see a tall figure. 'Oh shit, I didn't think it'd be this soon.' I got up and get this very stern look from the regal pegasus. I stare into her and eyes and she stares right back into mine. No matter how tough I am or act, she still kinda creeps me out. All of a sudden our staredown breaks as Twilight walks up. "Why Princess, it's so good to see you." "And the same to you my pupil, along with all of your friends." I cut in "Nice to see you again Princess" with a fake but mocking smile. She notices this and gives me a very subtle peeved feeling. Then she smiles in a very royally fake way and says "Nice to see you too, Brian." Mission accomplished. I have officially pissed her off already. That ought to show her for spending almost an hour of trying to send me back. I could tell we would have trouble the first time she set foot in me and Dashie's house.

"So Princess, do you have anything you wish for me to research or look ever?" that little pony, hell, she always has studying or checking things in mind. That's what I like about Twilight. Her predictiveness and her one track mind. She was too studious for her own good. "No my pupil, I just wish for all of you to have fun." "Well if that's what you want, you wish is my command." Twilight walked towards the library. I just burst into laughter when I saw Dashie and Applejack pull her away. She was acting as if her life depended on being in the library. So we went to the ball room. Everypony was posh and all fancy-like. Rarity didn't really seem as excited but who could blame her? Prince Blueblood was a jerk. We all decided to form our own little gathering. We just sat around and talked about normal things. We look at Pinkie as she starts this weird new dance she calls the “Pinkie Shuffle”. As always, she does her job to keep everyone amused. Everyone was having a great time, just a great big pile of friends and family.

Eventually, other ponies started to gather around us after seeing that Dashie, Soarin', and Spitfire were with us. It got a little crowded for me so I walked over to the corner of the room. I sit down by myself and watch my beautiful Dashie loving all of the attention. A tear rolled down my eye. She is blossoming into a full grown pegasus. I knew I couldn't keep her a little fillie forever. Even though she wanted me to treat her more maturely, in both my heart and hers, she will always be my little pony. My little Dashie.

Spectral Jewel

I'm walking over to old Sugar Cube Corner. I look around the streets; as usual everypony is doing their shopping or just hanging out. Ponies are bow used to my presence than before. One out of ten ponies now glances at me. It's not even a stare or gawk anymore. I'm starting to get friendly with a lot of the ponies here. One of the first that I befriended is Doo. Everypony calls her Ditzy or Derpy of course. I feel it's a little insulting. Anyway, ponies are waving at me as I am walking to Pinkie's. I get to the shop and walk inside. I look around.

"Still as bright and colorful than ever." I said aloud. I was replied to by Mr. and Mrs. Cake. "Why thank you Mr. Dash, we try our hardest to keep the place up and running. It's getting a bit hard with the twins but Pinkie is really helpful. We're surprised she wasn't pulling her hair out because of them." I couldn't help myself, I thought about that episode at that moment. I laughed out loud and then they started looking at me funny. "It's just this funny joke I just remembered." They then laugh just so it wasn't awkward. "Speaking of Pinkie, where is she?"

"HERE I AM!!" Pinkie came crashing down through the ceiling. She landed on all of us. How she does all of this I will never know. It's like she's excused from the laws of physics. Science has nothing on her. "Oh boy, oh boy! I can't wait to get started. Are you ready to get started? I'm ready to get started! Rarity is gonna learn how to Par-Tay!" "Uhh Pinkie? Could you get off of us?" She looked down and smiled "Oh yeah, sorry about that."

We go into the kitchen when she slaps a bakers hat on my head. "Well come on Brian! Cupcakes, cookies, and cakes don't bake themselves ya know?" She stopped for a moment. "OR DO THEY?! Oh my gosh, that would be so cool. Could you imagine if they put themselves in the oven and just baked themselves!?" I'm getting a little annoyed but get over it because she's just being Pinkie. "Shouldn't we get started already?"

I look up at her as she's laughing. She steps aside and everything is already done. I can't help but open my mouth in shock. "Well what do you think I was doing silly Billy? Or more like silly Brian! Hahaha! Hey you ever realize what rhymes with Brian? Lion, trying, flying...." I can't help but raise my voice a little. "Pinkie....." "Okay, Okay, gosh you can be a little dull like Twilight ya know?" We start setting up for Rarity's birthday party. I can tell this is going to be fun knowing Pinkie.

I love this feeling. The wind brushing up against my face and mane as I zip through the skies. It's so awesome. Like really awesome. Like spectacular blah blah blah awesome. It's a nice and kind of windy evening. I'm going to get Rarity and bring her to the party. I can take my sweet time though because knowing Pinkie, pops is ripping his hair out by now. I mean he's only been alone with her once or twice and by the time I get to him, he's banging his head on the door or passed out on the floor. Man that pony is something huh?

So now that I'm done with that good fly-out session, I'm going to Rarity's fancy dress store. I knock on the door "Come on, open up Rare! I’m not gonna wait all day!" The door opens after a couple of minutes and she comes out in this fancy outfit. "Oh hush darling, you cannot rush a beautiful pony such as I" 'More like fancy-schmancy' I thought to myself. I throw her on my back. "Rainboooooowwww!" she said in a whiny tone. "You're going to ruin this absolutely marvelous dress." "Sorry about that, but we gotta make like a Rainbow and Dash."

Once I said this, I fly as fast as I can to Sugar Cube. We got there in ten seconds, flat. She cleared her throat loudly. "Ahem! Rainbow be a dear and open the door for me." "Fine" I open the door and let her go inside. I follow. As I rush in she is happy and overjoyed as the whole store is decorated in jewels. "Oh my! You ponies really know how to treat a proper pony!" Hah! Just wait until she sees that trick that me and Twilight worked on.

I see Dad roll up with a big and giant golden cake. Man that thing looks good. And I mean good. "And don't forget the cake!" he said. "Wow, I can't believe everyone is growing up so fast and mature into beautiful young ponies while I gather dust and wrinkles." he laughed. "Oh darling, don't say that. I'm sure the people in your world still find you to be a very attractive pony, err.....man. Now then, where is Pinkie? She said she would be here."

Applejack stepped up along with Fluttershy. "Ahhh, she'll be here soon enough, don't get yer fabrics in a knot." "Yes Rarity, I think you should take a bite of your cake." Rarity nodded and leaned in to bite. She opened her mouth and got the tip of her tongue on the cake. Then, KABOOM! The cake's top exploded off and Pinkie rushed out of the hole with confetti. "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" I look at Rare and she is covered in cake. She stands and thinks for a moment, moves up to Pinkie, and throws cake at Pinkie's face. Hah! That was a good one! Everyone burst out into laughter and we party. Ponies gave gifts, danced, everything.

Spike goes up and brings her aside for a minute. I can't hear what they say but he gives her something. Something REALLY shiny. Her face lights up and she kisses him all over his face. Hs then passes out, that crazy dragon. I look for my dad and see him sitting in the corner with Twilight, talking and looking at Spike and Rarity. I move in to get closer to what they say.

"So Brian, I was always wondering about human psychology. Do you ever get lonely?" the question came out pretty straight. "Not really, I have Rainbow Dash and.." She interrupted "No I know that, I mean do you ever get.....Lonely..." He turned his head to her. "Well...sometimes. When Dashie left with you ponies, I was pretty sad. But a lot of women from work wanted to start something. I even thought about it too but I wasn't sure. Then I got here and all of that got left behind." She had a very curious tone "So you left what could've been, a man with a loving wife and daughter for Rainbow?" "Yep, pretty much. I have no problems with it now and I won't forever."

Once I hear this I start to feel tears seeking in my eyes. Tears start to drip down my face and I let them. He gave up a normal life to be with me. He could've had a real daughter, his own, but he picked me. he began speaking again "I don't even mind that she's not my biological daughter, she's always my little girl. No one or no pony is going to change that." I am now shooting full bursts of tears out my eyes. He is so loving, he's the best dad a pony could ask for.

"Rainbow!" Twilight called me. "It's time for the present." I wipe off my face and go to her. "Calm down, I got this." She wanted to make sure I got it right, which of course I did, I'm me, remember? "Are you sure you remember exactly how this works?" Dad chimed in "Twi, this is my little Dashie we're talking about remember? I think she has whatever this is all down and I believe she has this in the bag."

He turned to me and gave me a thumbs up and winked. Even though Pops is getting pretty old, he's still that young man who found me. "Yes Brian, I know but it's just that we haven't really tried this before and I don't think I read the guide notes enough. Me and dad say at the same time "Twilight!" She realizes what she's doing and stops. She then gives us each that smile she does when she sees she did or said something wrong.

Dashie went outside. Me and everyone else had to blindfold Rarity. It was a little hard though because she didn't want anyone to close to her because they could ruin her dress. Finally we get her ousted and tell her to open her eyes. She does and we all look up at the sky. A shining star is moving across the sky. It is as bright and beautiful as Dashie. Then suddenly a rainbow starts streaming from Dashie. It is Dashie! The rainbow lights up the entire sky. It’s such an amazing sight.

As Dashie finishes up and lands in front of us, everyone crowds around her and praise her. "Happy Birthday Rare!" she says. "Oh my! This is the best thing i have ever seen! It is almost as good as the gift that Spikey-Wikey gave me." She looked for it but couldn't find it. "Where is it? I had it right here!" Dashie told her to look closer at the rainbow along with everyone else. I look closer and see the rainbow is made of gems! "It's a little somethin' me and Twilight worked on. Spike gave you that jewel so you could see it when it was small but it was really a rainbow gem! No need to thank me, I know I'm awesome."

Rarity had the biggest smile on her face, ear to ear. She froze looking at it and then blacked out. Everyone gathered around her and made sure she was okay. I looked up at the sky and looked at Dashie's beautiful present before it would vanish. I quickly notice when she flies into my lap and snuggles up to me. Her body heat warming mine. It reminds me of when she was a few years older than when I found her. She doesn’t do this often so I enjoy this while the moment lasts. I stroke her mane as we look at it together. I hope Rarity enjoyed this party as much as I'm enjoying it.

Goodbyes and Silence

It's been a about a year since I last wrote in this journal. And I have a good reason. Not long after Rarity's party, some of the most famous flying trainers came into town. I thought they were coming for Soarin' or Spitfire but they weren't even considered. They came to town for Dashie. She was excited and so was I. We couldn't believe it; she was going to be super faster now that she could train with them. It was great...until we found out the time duration.

She had to leave Ponyville and go to their monastery for three years. What killed me most about this was that she couldn't write any letters or visit. She didn't want to go if it meant that she had to leave me and all of her friends behind. Neither did I, but I knew it was the best thing for her. So I sent her with the trainers as I write in this journal. I probably will barely use this thing for the next three years.

Year One

Nothing out of the ordinary happened. Went to some birthday parties and that's it. Worked and helped around town and hung out with the gang. I can't believe it's been a year without Dashie. I'm still ripping my hair out and climbing the walls. I hope she’s doing alright. And if anything happened to her, I’ll make those trainers pay. I can't wait for her to come back. I've been noticing my heart rate is changing. It's probably nothing. I'll probably ask Twilight about it.

Year Two

The same shit as last year. Birthday parties, jobs, etc. Time feels like it’s taking forever to pass. Only one more year to go and I get to see my beautiful little girl. I hope it's not too late though because I'm in my mid-fifties. I am so old compared to when I first found her forever ago. My heart's still a little on edge but I guess that comes with the age. I wish I was just a little bit younger when I found her so I wouldn’t be so old right now.

Year Three

I asked Twilight about the whole heart situation. She couldn’t give me much of an explanation as she didn’t know what was wrong. We looked all over the library and couldn’t really find any book with this sort of description. We finally decided to go to the hospital to have me checked out. Finally, some answers. We waited for a couple of hours before a doctor had finally brought us to an examination room. He agreed with us at first, thinking my heart beats was just my old age setting in. Of course, he checked my just to be sure. It took half an hour before he came back.

He came in slowly and quietly, a stern look upon his face. We knew this was bad, but we couldn’t have known it was that bad. We cried when he finished telling us of the bad news. After an hour of weeping, our faces were tear-drenched and messy. We wiped our faces off and turned to each other. I made her promise me that she would keep her mouth shut. After some time, she reluctantly agreed but urged me to tell somepony. I, of course, declined. I don’t think I can bear to tell Dashie the news.

You know what? I won’t. I can’t, I just can’t. Imagining her face in my head if I told her made tears of sadness roll down my cheeks, their dripping so intense it sounded like I was in a cave. It also made me die a little inside. This was definitely something that had to remain secret. I’ll just have to act as if nothing’s wrong. I’ll have to enjoy the time that I have left. I hope she comes home soon. It’s only a matter of hours before shes back.

Returning Truth

After crawling the walls of my house and going completely bald (figuratively of course), the time is here. Dashie is finally back in Ponyville. I can just sense it. We have a sort of special link that passes physical boundaries. She is taking a while, though, because I thought she would be here by now. She’s probably getting mobbed by the entire town and is being bombarded with questions. Hell, I know that half of the hassle is coming from Pinkie Pie and Scootaloo. Oh well, this gives me an idea; a great way to finally re-unite after all of these long years. I am overjoyed and can’t stop sweating. I write something o a piece of paper, put it on the front door, and make my way out.

Man these ponies won’t get off of me. I can barely breathe let alone think with all of these distractions. Pinkie threw a big welcoming party as I came flying into town. They’ve made me sit here for almost half an hour. I just wanna see Pops again. Pinkie won’t leave me in peace. At least everypony else knows what I want. Well everyone except Pinkie and the squirt that is. Scootaloo is acting just as bad, she keeps asking my all these questions and hugging me. She won’t let go either. I’m gonna go nuts at this rate.

I couldn’t take it anymore. “Would everypony just calm down and give me some time alone!?” I yelled at the town. Everypony saw that I wanted to go back home and nodded in confirmation. I used my newly improved flight speed and whizzed all the way home. I got there as quick as you could say ‘whoosh’. The lights were all out. I thought maybe Dad wanted to surprise me but then I saw a note on the door. I looked at it closely.
“Dear Dashie,
Meet me at the spot where I found you and started this new life together.

Love,

Dad "

Once I finished reading, I knew exactly where he was talking about. I flew at the speed of light towards the lake by the Everfree Forest. I looked for the tree and the beach where I was crying over the lake when he found me. I got over there as quick as I could but there was no one or no pony there. I looked into the lake and closed my eyes. Then I heard a snap from behind me. I was too slow to react but a hand came down on my shoulder. It was warm and soft. I knew who it was. It was Dad.
I turned around and flew into his arms, his big warm body colliding with mine.

“Oh Daddy! I missed you so much!” I said to him while crying. He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear “I know, and I missed you too.” I kissed him on the cheek and looked behind him. All of my friends were looking at us and smiling and crying. The family was finally re-united after these long years. After a couple more minutes of our loving embrace, we walked with our friends back home.

“So uhh Dad, what’s for dinner?” I asked him. He looked at me and smiled. He knew exactly what I was in the mood for. When we got home, he opened the door and inside was all of my favorite food. My stomach made a noise sounding like it was cheering when I opened my mouth. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Everypony laughed and I laughed too. This was one of the best nights of my life.

The entire time we spoke about what she missed and what happened with her. Pinkie made this a great night though because everytime we started talking about all the parties Dashie missed, Pinkie’s hair deflated and she got all sad and grumpy. It was definitely a great night. I noticed something though, whenever we talked about her time at the monastery, she looked away and suddenly had a nervous tone in her voice. My little Dashie was hiding something and I could sense it. After a night of fun, eating, and talking, everypony went home. I took this chance to find out what happened.

“Hey Sweetie, I wanted to talk to you about something.” “Yeah sure, what’s up?” She answered. “Well, I want to know what really happened back during your training. Did you get hurt? Did you meet somepony special?” I asked. “No Dad, nothing happened. It was just a normal training ground.” I could tell she was lying. She wasn’t looking straight into my eyes. I grabbed her head and pulled her face towards mine as I looked deep into her eyes.

“Don’t lie to me Pumpkin, please just tell me the truth.” She cracked. “Alright, alright, fine. When I was there, one of the other fliers tried to put the moves on me. But he was second rate so I just brushed him off. If you wanna be with me, you gotta be able to catch my speed. Hey Look! I just made a rhyme like Zecora!” She rolled on the floor laughing. After I eyed her and gave her a serious look, she got back up. “Anyways, this guy wouldn’t leave me alone. He wasn’t grabby or nothin’ but he kept annoying me. It kinda distracted me for a while but eventually, he left me alone.”

I was relieved. It was just some love sick pony who had his eyes on my little girl. I kind of feel sorry for him though because if I know my Dashie, which I do, she won’t settle for just anypony but the best. “I’m glad it was just something silly like that.” I told her in relief. We went to bed when I felt something crawling up next to me. “Uhh Dad? Since it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, could we sleep together just this once?” I was a bit surprised when she asked this because she was a bit old but in my heart, I wanted this too. I wanted my little girl again. So I answered “Sure Honey, anything for you.”

We went to sleep. It was a good dream. We were flying around and lying down on rainbows. We looked up at the beautiful sky and all of its features. Nothing bad happened for once and I was pretty happy. Dashie was too. I woke up early in the morning but the warmth of the bed was overwhelming. I just fell right back to sleep. I woke up about an hour later to a loud crash. I popped right up to see what it was.

I am a bit nervous. I think it could be a monster or a bear. I run into the living room and just see Dashie in the kitchen. She turns to me and smiles shyly. “Sorry Dad, I wanted to cook you breakfast for once because I saw how happy you were when I woke up. And I think I mighta overcooked the cookies.” She showed me the tray of cookies. Well, it was more like a tray of ash. She managed to burn them so much that it wasn’t even a chewable form. She was a horrible cook but the results were always fun. I smile at her and tell her that it’s fine.

I help her put away the breakfast attempt and help her make an edible breakfast. We got a good breakfast finally. I have to say though, she did really good on the hash browns and the hay bacon strips. This morning has already made me and Dashie laugh. After we’re done, I think I’ll leave my journal alone for a couple of months. It takes time away from these loving moments that I can share with Dashie.

I pick up the full glass next to me and open my mouth to drink. I feel something from the glass fall into my mouth but I quickly realize what it is. I spit out all of the remaining ash in my mouth. I guess Dashie somehow burned the milk too. That’s alright though, because she’s my little angel. And all that matters to me is that she’s back home safe and sound.

Racing Stripes and Forgotten Memories (Revised)

Author's Note: I thought this picture would go nicely with Twilight's scene. Don't view it until you get to the part. It's a surprise and viewing it before hand ruins the fun. http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/289/a/7/crazy_twilight_sparkle_by_brianc1006-d4d26pi.png

Another one of Dashie’s races; man, I haven’t been to one in over five years. I still remember that first race of hers. I remember betting on her against all odds and winning all of those bits. I still have a lot actually. Anyway back to the race now. I made my way over to the betting stand. Most of the ponies were at their seats so it was fairly quick. The same bookie from last time was here. I looked at him and handed my bits. I didn’t even say anything to him as he already knew who I was betting on. I took my ticket and sat down. Not surprisingly, a lot of other ponies had also bet on my little girl. I guess they learned from the last time. I also liked the seat I got. Dashie got me a seat pretty close to the track.

I shifted positions to find the perfect way of sitting. Once I found it, I was pretty relaxed. I let out a loud sigh when I heard a giggle. I looked to my left and I saw an old friend. “Hello and good morning Mr. Dash, have you come to see Rainbow not crash?” “It’s nice to see you again, Zecora. Dashie got you one of these good seats too.” She smiled and answered “Yes, yes, but of course! They were given because I helped her with a horse.” We chatted for a bit more before the race began. We saw the other ponies such as Spitfire and Soarin’ stretching and limbering up. I looked for Dashie and couldn’t find her on the entire track. I looked up and saw a single could in the middle of the clear blue sky. I saw it lower down and saw that Dashie was wearing her shades and sipping on an iced tea.

She’s so cocky. But that is another thing that I love about her. She charges things head on and usually acts first and thinks later. She hopped off of the cloud and waved at Zecora and I. she mouthed something. I squinted my eyes and slowly made out what she said. “Don’t worry Dad, I got this in the bag.” She then gave me a hooves up. The race started but she was still just standing there. About ten seconds passed before she got into a running position.

She then started sprinted and later launched into the air. She whizzed by like a bullet and passed everypony else. She used the moves she had learned at that training camp. It took about twenty more seconds before it was over. Dashie won the race so fast, it made my head spin. I said goodbye to Zecora as I got up to collect my winnings. The bookie smiled and said "Looks like you weren't the only one betting on Rainbow Dash." I didn’t win as much as before but I still received a good amount. Dashie came flying over and we headed back home for the night.

I woke up the next day and saw Dashie was going to sleep in like she always does. I decided to take some money and go to the hospital. It wasn’t completely useless. There were some treatment options I could take but they were a possibility of helping. I took some medicine from the doctors and left. I gave the rest of the money to a donation box that was going toward curing pony diseases and for medical equipment. Hell, if I couldn't use that money, I bet all those other ponies could. I went back home and sat down in the living room. I sat around for about an hour before I had an idea. ‘Why didn’t I think of this before’ I thought to myself. I got up and set out for Zecora’s house. Maybe she had something that could help me. It took a little while because I had to navigate through the blue joke flowers. I finally got there to find the zebra mixing yet another brew.

“Hello yet again, Brian. Perhaps I can help you in a min.” I waited for her to finish and then asked her if she could help. She looked around the room before she pulled out a book with foreign letter in it. She read it out loud. “If a cure is what you seek, you must use drool from a griffon’s beak. But hear me now and be forewarned, the mix will cause discord.” I thought about the rhyme and realized it was futile.

Even if I could find Gilda and she would even give me what I needed, there was a possible dangerous outcome. I couldn’t take that risk so I just asked for some healing remedies. She grinded some herbs and spices together and gave me a bunch. “Take with food, my remedies. For they shall help your health ease.” I went home and decided that was a day. I slept soundly that night.

It’s been a couple of weeks since Zecora started giving me those remedies. I noticed that they started making me feel better. I also noticed that the problem wasn’t as frequent. These were good because I had some important things to do today. I had to help Rarity make a special present for Dashie’s upcoming birthday and I also had to help AppleJack pick some apples for the special cider she was going to make just for Dashie’s birthday. I decided it would be smarter to help Rarity first because helping AppleJack would end up making me dirty.

I walked into the Carousel Boutique and my eyes started tearing up. I was being bombarded with the perfumes and scents in the shop. I choked and coughed as I said out loud “Rarity! Could you please come out here so I can help you already?” The elegant and pampered pony came out very slowly. “Oh calm your horses, darling. I was just wrapping up on my fabulous new Fall Line. Now then, what do you want to help me with? Gathering the materials or sewing the clothes together?” She chuckled after saying the second option. “I’m just joking, honey. The sowing and perfection is up to me. Now be a dear and go fetch those fabrics." I grabbed the expensive looking pieces of cloth and brough it to her. She slowly started cutting them at certain points and stitching them together. She slowly started putting together a perfect dress for Dashie.

Well, I think the rest is pretty self-explanatory. Also, to be honest, I don’t even want to write down what fully happened. The entire time was “As a gentleman you should do this, or be a dear and do that, or sweetie, you grabbed the wrong size.” I was glad to be out of there because I couldn’t take much more of that smell. There was barely any oxygen in that shop. I’m still a little upset though because I didn’t get to see the dress when it was all finished up. I think it wasn't too time consuming though because it only took me about two hours. Oh well, it was nice to finally do some hard work and to get down and dirty for once. AppleJack knew I liked working but she also knew I was getting older so she'll probably give me something easy to do.

I arrived at the farm and saw Granny Smith on her rocking chair. “Well howdy tootin’ there, young’n? Did ya see dat dere clown down the road?” As always, she was just being good old Granny and saying something ridiculous. “No, I’m sorry Granny Smith. I didn’t see any clowns down the road. But is AppleJack here? I need to help her with the cider." She popped right up, cracked her back, and sat back down. “Yessiree! She’s back in the ol’ shed. Go on back and help her” I waved goodbye and walked to the shed. “Well howdy there partner. Glad to see yer still interested in helping me. Go on over to them trees over yonder and pick all of the apples."

I spent about two hours picking buckets of apples. I honestly didn’t even feel like it was tiring or tedious. I enjoyed every last second of it. It was good old fashioned manual labor. It was just as I expected; not too demanding but not too easy. It wouldn't be as hard work for me when I was young but who's complaining. I brought the apples back to AppleJack and she put them in a machine that cut and grounded the apples into a mash. It was then extracted into apple cider. It had one extra special ingredient other than the love and good intention of AppleJack; it contained my love and joy.

We finished the apple cider and we set it in a secret spot for storing. We said our goodbyes as I went to Twilight’s library. I didn’t go for anything for the party but just a little side research myself. I thought over again if I had anything else but nothing came to mind. I took care of Pinkie and her decorations and sweets. I made sure Fluttershy could train her animal friends to sing a certain song that Dashie loved. Dont' get me started either, the birds were messing up the loudest parts. I helped Spike with his comedy act which I thought was great. Spitfire and Soarin’s flying act was going smoothly. And finally, I helped Rarity with her dress and AppleJack with the cider. ‘I got everything done, and it’s not even noon yet.’ I gave myself a pat on the back. I opened Twilight’s door and saw her going just sitting in the middle of the room.

“Twilight? Are you busy?” She turned around slowly with this scary look on her face. “Can you believe it Brian? I forgot to write Princess Celestia a letter about friendship. I did it again.” She got closer and closer to me. She was breathing on me. I backed away nervously and tried to leave. “I guess I caught you in a bad time so I’ll just……….leave.” I sprinted for the door but she was already blocking it. “Oh no, you see Brian, I need to write this letter. It’s been a week since I last wrote her one and I really, really need help with it. I think you’re the perfect person to help me write it.” She grabbed my hands and forced me to a desk. “Now be nice or else I’ll have to get Smartypants.”

I don’t even want to know what she meant so I sat down. Then I remembered an old saying Spike told me about Twilight. “When she goes a little crazy, you have to find me so I can fix her." I wasn’t sure were Spike was, but I needed him badly. I needed the normal Twilight back. So she came back and threw a quill and letter in my face. “Now what did we learn about friendship, Brian?!” She asked in a menacing voice. I was scared out of my mind. She used her hoof to grab my hand and put it on the quill. She yelled at me to write and I didn't know what to do. Just then, Spike came through the door calmly. He looked over at us and quickly changed his mood. He ran over to Twilight and said "Okay, here goes nothing!" He burped and tons of letters from either the past of Celestia covered her. She regained her senses after getting out of the pile.

She laughed and smiled at me awkwardly and started to blush a bright red. She was embarrassed that I saw her like that. “Anyway, Brian, what do you need?” She said in a pleasing voice. “Oh well I was wondering, do you have any books on extending the life of somepony or somebody? I said with an emphasis on the last word. “No I’m sorry but I don’t even have books like that. That’s something that would be top secret or readable with Celestia’s permission.” I was a bit disappointed but I thanked her anyway.

I walked out of the library and started to think. That’s when the realization happened. “Oh hell! I forgot to get Dashie a present. I ran home, grabbed some bits, and quickly scribbled a note to Dashie.

“Dear Dashie,
I have to get something in Canterlot. Will be back soon. If you feel lonely, feel free to have a sleep over. I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Your Loving Father,

Dad”

I took the next train to Canterlot. It was hours before I got there. Good thing I slept because I was tired. I booked a hotel room for the night. I woke up the next day and looked all across the Canterlot stores. There were millions of beautiful stores and presents that tempted me so much. In the end though, none of them were good enough for my Dashie. I finally got to the last store and still couldn’t find anything. I was beginning to lose hope when the idea came. ‘I can go back to Earth and grab a ticket to a Nascar event.’

I ran to the Canterlot Castle and was recognized by the guards. They let me right in. I went into the main hall and found Celestia. “Why hello friend, what brings you here to Canterlot alone?” She looked at me with sincerity as she didn’t forget that moment at the Gala. “It’s nice seeing you too Celestia. I have a bit of a favor to ask you.” She looked with concern and said “Why what is it? You can ask me anything.” “Well, you see, it’s Dashie’s birthday pretty soon and I was hoping I could make a quick trip to Earth and grab a little present for her.” She bowed her head down and reminded me as easy as she could that the hole could not open ever again. She did tell me though, that there was a very powerful time travel spell that worked only once. It would reqiure the power of two other powerful ponies though.

I scrambled all over the palace looking for somepony with powerful magic. That's when I saw Princess Luna. "Hey Princess! I was wondering if you could lend your magic for a minute?" I told her exactly what was going on and she nodded. She slowly made her way to the main hall. Now I just needed one more pony. I looked all thoroughout the castle but it was to no avail. I couldn't find anyone or anypony with strong magic. "Hey Brian, whatcha doing here in Canterlot?" I looked up to see who it was. It was Shining Armor. He was the Captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard and Twilight's big brother. "Hey since you're the captian, I suppose you have strong magic right?" He confirmed my assumption. "Then could you lend your magic to me for a minute?" He went with me to the main hall.

Celestia finally told me the specifics of the spell. It was able to bring me to any single point in time for 10 seconds before bringing me back here. I thought in my head for some time before I had an idea. “Princess, could you take me to that point where you and the others were teleporting from my house on Earth with Dashie?” She nodded and said to grab whatever I needed but not to be seen or heard. Luna and Shining Armor combined their magic and pointed it towards Celestia's horn. THey acted as a amplifier for Celestia's power. Finally a bright blue, purple, and pink ray came at me and surrounded my entire body. It was all dark for a split second but then I was there in my house.

I couldn’t believe it, I was back. I was right behind Dashie and the others as they were teleporting. I saw myself from the past crying and closing his eyes, thinking of every moment they had together as they were about to leave. I saw Dashie doing the same exact thing. As they were disappearing, I grabbed the box out of Dashie’s hands; the box full of all of her mementos and treasures. I remembered that the box never made it to Equestria as Celestia didn’t want any evidence brought back. As soon as they had disappeared, I was back in Equestria.

“Did you get what you wanted, Brian?” I looked at her and smiled. “Yes, yes I did.” She and the others moved next to me as I opened the box. The box full of her entire childhood and our memories together. Inside, there were little racecars, the dog costume I hid her in, tickets to racing events such as the Indy 500, and the first picture of me and Dashie we ever took together. “I got exactly what I was looking for.”

Age and Discovery

Today’s the day. I can’t believe that it’s finally here. I’ve been waiting so long that it feels like it’s been a thousand years. I can’t wait to see what awesome presents everyone got me. I hope they’re so awesome, that they might be as awesome as me.

Pops and the gang made me sit around at home while they set stuff up. I’m getting a little jumpy because I have been flying in circles for the last five minutes now. “Will they hurry up already!?” I yell out loud to myself. This was taking way too long. I started flying towards that door before it hit me. Literally.

A letter dropped onto my head and I opened it up. It was a letter from Twilight telling me to get over to the library pronto. “Oh I’ll get over there faster than pronto. I’ll get over there faster than you can say…….uhm….pronto!”

I dashed over there faster than the speed of light. I open the door and walk in. I couldn’t see anything but black. “Gummy! Get off of Dashie you crazy little alligator you.” I finally could see again but my eyes were covered in drool. “That is absolutely repulsive, dear. Now Rainbow, do you need to go take a bath?”

I guess Gummy jumped on my face and opened his mouth trying to chew. Good thing he doesn’t have or that would’ve turned out a lot worse. Rarity gave me a napkin to dry off my face. “Nah, I’m good. That little thing is pretty cute.”

“Happy Birthday!” Everyone shouted to me. Pinkie came up in a barbershop quartet outfit. She signaled to Spike who played a tune. “Oh….Happy, happy birthday! From me to you! I wish it was my birthday, so I could party too! Hey!” She then started dancing away with a cane.

“Oh Pinkie, you’re just so…what’s the word…you!” Twilight cut in. Soarin’ and Spitfire then came in and said “Ready for your present?” They flew over to a whole flying course outside as some music began to play. It wasn’t long before I knew what the song was.

It was my favorite song back on Earth; The Final Countdown. Fluttershy’s animals began singing the tune and Pops came up in a funny looking suit. He started singing the song while Soarin’ and Spitfire flew through the entire course. I laughed, a lot. I honestly think that Dad has a really bad singing voice but at least he knew all of the lyrics.

It was a pretty good present. I was getting a little thirst though so I grabbed a drink from the table. I chugged it down and it tasted like heaven. It was AJ’s apple cider. "You go on and drink that all up, sugarcube." She said to me. “Oh, man! This birthday party is just so awesome. How could it get any better?”

It got a whole lot better. Twilight got me the new Daring Do books that weren’t gonna come out for the next three months. Fluttershy got me this radical hat that said “Best Flier Around”. I was psyched out.

This day is just so great I have to make up a word for it. Today is….SuperTerrificallyAwesomewithaSprinkleofRadicalness. Try saying that five times fast. Anyway, we spent the rest of the day dancing and drinking.

The cider tastes a little funny like something special was put in it. If I know anypony, Soarin’ probably put some tequila or vodka in it. That crazy Pegasus.

It was starting to get dark and the party was starting to slowly end when I realized Pops still didn’t give me anything. I feel a little steamed that he hasn’t given me anything. I mean, come on. He should’ve given me my present first. Am I right?

So I walk up to him and tap him on the chest. “Hey Pops, where’s my present?” He looked at me nervously. “Well, you see Dashie, I wanted to wait a little longer before I gave you it.” “You forgot to get me one didn’t you?” I said while looking at him blankly.

“No…just wait a little bit.” “Pops, it’s my twenty-fifth birthday. You know me. Waiting is not my style.” He sighed a little and told me to wait a sec. He came up to me and told me to close my eyes. I closed my eyes and I felt something in my hands. “Open them up.”

I opened my eyes and saw some old, dirty looking box. “Dad, I gotta say, this looks like a pretty corny present.” He assured me it was the exact opposite. “Open it up and tell me you still think so. I open the box with half open eyes to show him that this isn’t really an awesome looking present.

My eyes went wide open when I saw what was inside. My mouth doing the same. “Honey, close your mouth. You don’t want bugs going in do you?” I kinda ignore him because what I see inside is just awesome. And I mean AWESOME.

It was all of the things from when I was on Earth. The same box of memories that I was going to take with me back here when the Princess and the others came. I can honestly say that I am speechless. “Dad…I don’t even know what to say…” He pulled my face up so I could see him.

He was holding back some tears and smiling. “How about I love you?” I dropped the box and gave him a big hug. “Daddy, that goes without saying. But I like hearing it so I love you.”

I hope Dashie doesn’t ask what I had to go through getting that thing. All I can think about right now is how she looks while hugging me. I can feel little streams of tears rolling down my back. They’re not cold and unrelenting but warm and soft.

They were tears of joy, not sadness. I hug her even tighter as everyone else is talking or dancing. I loved this moment right here. This would be a moment that I wish I could take a picture of and put it in my book.

I wish we could just stay like this until the end of time. It is not long before the party ends and everypony leaves. Dashie and I are still hugging though. She isn’t crying anymore but she isn’t moving much either.

I loosen my grip but she doesn’t budge. "Uhh, Brian? Rainbow fell asleep..." Twilight comes up to me and says "If you want, you can spend the night here." I thank and accept her offer. "I don't think I can really move without waking her" I told her.

"That's alright, I'll just get you a blanket." She wrapped a blanket around Dashie and I and went to sleep. I sit here, in the middle of the library, holding Dashie in my arms. I slowly lower my eye lids more and more everytime a minute passes. The soft and gentle breathing and warmth of Dashie's body put me at ease. I then fall into a deep sleep.

I wake up at around five or six in the morning. I put the blanket somewhere on the table, get up, and quietly make my way home. The entire town is very peaceful. I guess nopony was up in Ponyville yet. I walk along the marketplace and hear the sounds of crickets.

Some would find this entire place creepy with it being so dark and empty. I enjoy this newfound peace. I hear some birds slowly waking up and chirping. I see the sun start to rise. None if this matters though because I am still happy to carry my Dashie in my arms. She is just so cute. I feel like I am thirty again.

I am finally a few steps from our house. It's probably six o' clock now. The sun is very close to being up all the way. I open my door, step inside our house, and walk to Dashie's bedroom. I lay her down on her bed and cover her in a blanket. She mumbles something under her breath and smiles.

"Daddy....don't....rubber ducky..." Awww, she was having a dream from her childhood. I sit down in a chair in her room and watch her. I look at my adorable little girl sleep the night away. Her innocence still present. I catch myself falling asleep again. I close my eyes and embrace the dark slumber.

Some time later, I wake up because I punched myself in the eye. I was resting on my hand and I guess my elbow slipped. Man, this really hurts. I walk to the mirror and look.

I had a big swollen purple and blue spot around my eye. Well, I already know Dashie and Pinkie aren't going to let me live this down. I laugh at myself for being so stupid.

It's been some weeks since I last wrote in this journal. The last time being Dashie's birthday. The last few weeks were just as I expected. Pinkie and Dashie laughed at me the entire time. I have to admit it was pretty funny. Well it was.

Then Dashie found out. I'll remember what happened on that normal Thursday morning. I woke up later than Dashie did which I did occasionally. Then I cleaned up and went for breakfast. I didn't see Dashie sitting on the couch until I finished pouring my cereal. She was pretty quiet and still.

I walked up to her and saw she was reading something. I wanted to see what it was so I stood above her. Then I saw it. I saw what she was reading. It made me drop my bowl of cereal all over the floor. I heard each little piece roll into little cracks or holes.

She found one of the letters that the hospital sent me. It was the one recommending that I get weekly checkups. "Dad...h-h-how l-long?" She didn't turn around but I could tell she was crying. I started to cry too because this wasn't the way I wanted her to find out.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" I felt like an arrow had been shot through my heart. I thought I would have more time before she knew about my problem. She remembered the last time something like this happened. So did I. It was when she found out about her being a cartoon.

She was about to fly off but she remembered that she promised to listen before doing that. She simply looked at me with reddish, tear drenched, eyes. "I wasn't sure how to tell you this, Dashie. Hell, I don't even know where to begin." She managed to choke out "The B-b-beginning..."

I sat down next to her and told her how on the third year of her training, I went with Twilight to the hospital. I told her about the problem and how it could affect me. "She wasn't satisfied with me yet.

"What is it?" She softly asked me. "It's called cardiac dysrhythmia. It's sort of a weird heartbeat. It makes my heart beat faster than normal and uses more energy. Eventually, my heart will be so overused that I'll suffer a stroke that could kill me."

Once I said this, she hit herself on the head. "I should've never went to that training place for three years! I should've been spending them with you!" I hugged her and soothed her.

"Don't worry, it's a fifty-fifty shot. And besides, with all of the medicine and remedies I've been taking, the chances are much slimmer. I'm going to be all right." She looked up at me. She was starting to loosen up and less tears were in her eyes.

"Really Daddy? Are you going to be here with me forever?" She was still very childish and was speaking in a somewhat babyish way. "I'll always be here with you. My heart can't do anything to stop that." I assured her.

"Do you promise Daddy?" "I promise" And this was a promise I plan to keep. No matter what I had to do or how much it would hurt me, I would stay with Dashie forever.

Darkness Returns

It's been a couple of months since I made that promise to Dashie. We're walking around town now and enjoying the day. We just came from an all-you-can-eat buffet. That was literally the name too. Anyways, it is getting late. It's probably sometime in the evening. Then I hear a squeal. I turn around and see Dashie doing this cute face. It's the same face as when she won the Best Flier's Competition in that one episode of My Little Pony.

I ask her "What's wrong?" and she pointed behind me. I look and see Soarin' with flowers in his hooves. "Excuse me Mr. Dash, but do you mind if I borrow Rainbow for a while?" ".....Sure, I guess you can.." I answer reluctantly. Dashie flies off with Soarin' as they go towards the sky. "Bye Pops! I'll be back home in a couple of hours." She yells out to me. I wave them goodbye and make my way home.

I'm not too happy that he took her away like that. I guess I can't complain though because she's all grown up. Despite this, I still don't like the fact that somepony is going out with my little girl. Soarin' and Dashie had been going out for some time now. I didn't want to believe it but it was happening. They were discreet but I started to pick up on the signals. I hoped that Soarin' and Spitfire had a thing going in but I was wrong.

I get home after some slow walking and sink down in my chair. I grab a bit of beer and drink. I don't enjoy nights like this, nights spent wallowing in self-pity. I drink about three beers before I black out.

Wow, this is just so cool! Soarin' is taking me to this nice view of the moon and all of Ponyville. It all just looks so quiet and peaceful. Almost a perfect night. We chat for a bit before our eyes meet. He grabs my hooves into his hands and looks me in the eye.

"Rainbow, I want you." He said as he looked deeply into my eyes. I wasn't sure what to say because we haven't even kissed yet. I also couldn't do this to Dad because I know he wasn't ready for us being together yet. "I like you too..." I said trailing off. He smiles, knowing what I am thinking. "It's alright, I know it's a little soon." I smile back at him. He leans in to kiss me. I lean in too. Just as our lips are about to meet, I move back.

"Sorry Soarin', I'm just not ready tonight.." He lunges forward and kisses me. My first kiss. I blush at him as he apologizes. "That's alright, Soarin'. But how about we call it a night?" He smiles at me and we go our separate ways. Oh my gosh! He kissed me! He really did it! I skip a little and start dancing and singing. I am just so happy. No, I'm beyond happy. I'm...what's that word Twilight uses? Oh yeah, ecstatic! I trot over to the door. It's half open.

"Come on Pops. You forgot to shut the door." I shut the door as I go inside. It's pretty dark. I scramble around for the light switch and I finally get it. As I flip it, I trip on something. I look down and see that it's a beer bottle. "Aww come on Dad, you didn't have to get drunk! It was just one kiss!" I yell out loud. I look inside his room and see that it's empty. "Huh, maybe he's on the couch." I go over to the couch and see he's sleeping on the floor.

"Dad wake up, you can't spend the night on the floor!" He wasn't moving. "Dad?" He was barely breathing. "Dad!"

I can hear something. No, someone, calling my name. I recognize the voice but can't see anything. I can't move either. I just see all black. I can hear bits and pieces of words. "Get him to Emergency Room 3, stat!" "He's gonna flatline!" "Give him three CC's of anesthetic!"

I wake up in a bright room. I am in the hospital. "Mr. Dash, good to see you're awake." I look and see a doctor in the room. "What happened?" I ask the doctor. "Well as you can see, you're in the hospital. You seem to have suffered a stroke. Thank Celestia your daughter found you or something terrible could've happened."

I looked at him quizzically. "A stroke? Are you sure? The last thing I remember was drinking a beer and falling asleep." "Yes, well I'm afraid it's the disease kicking in. It's starting to take its toll on your body. You're going to have to spend the next four weeks here so we can make sure you're okay now."

I nodded and he left. "You can go in now." Dashie walked in and smiled at me. "Soooo, how ya doing Pops? Feeling better?" I wasn't going to lie, I felt like somepony like Big Macintosh stood on my back and jumped three times. "No."

"Look, I feel really bad about leaving you. If I didn't go with Soarin'...." She trailed off. "It's alright, this is my fault. Probably because I drank those beers." I smile at her and she sits next to me. "Looks like they're gonna have you cooped up in this room for a while, huh?" I answer her like Big Mac' "Eeeyup!" We laugh for a bit. "Well, at least this gives us some time to read some more Daring Do books." As she finishes saying this, she pulls out a huge pile of books. My mouth goes wide open. I can't believe how many books had been made already. I wish we had started earlier.

I can’t believe that I’m almost out of here. Just a couple more days. Me and Dashie finished about four of the six books in that time. Today though, I couldn’t have any visitors. I needed to get my sleep apparently. So it’s pretty early in the morning but I can’t sleep. I spend the whole day just lying there. I have no roommate so it’s beyond quiet in here. Finally, it’s almost nighttime. My eyes suddenly get very heavy. I can’t hold them up and longer. I fall into a deep sleep.

I find myself inside of a forest; the Everfree Forest. It’s dark and quiet. I can’t even here the crickets or owls. I walk along the path trying to find my way home. Suddenly, there is a bristle. Someone or something is following me. I try to ignore it but it’s getting closer and closer. I start sprinting. It doesn’t do any good because it’s still right behind me. I stop and turn around. Nothing.

Then I look at the forest around me and it all turns into a big black void. There is no light except a single spot on me. The light follows me wherever I go. Kind of like a spotlight. I start walking in any direction really. It’s all black and I have no idea where I’m going. Then, there is another beam of light. It’s far off in the distance but I can hear it. It’s Dashie calling for me.

“Dad! Dad! Where are you?!” She says this multiple times as I try going towards her. I run as fast as I can but every time I move, it feels like we’re getting farther and farther apart. A long stretch of darkness grows more as I move. “You can’t go to her you fool. We won’t let you.” I hear multiple voices whispering this in an eerie tone. “Who are you?!” I saw no one or nopony around me. “Why, we’re you. We are everything. We are the Darkness.” I get very furious. “Let me see her! Leave us alone!” It took a while before it answers back. “No, we love playing these games with you. You will never see her again.” It started laughing, more of a creepy cackle.

I could no longer see her light. It was gone. I kept running though but it was useless. The Darkness was winning. Suddenly, a beam of light from the sky spewed forth. “It’s not your time yet son, live. For us.” I look up and it’s my mom and dad. They are smiling and reach their hands out. I grab their hands as they pull me up out of the darkness.

I wake up, covered in sweat. I am breathing heavily as though all of the energy was taken out of me. I realize that it was just a dream, no, a nightmare. I laid in the bed for the rest of the night. Looking at the darkness in my room. I couldn’t sleep knowing that some sort of darkness was trying to envelop me.

Realization

Well, I finally got out of the hospital. It took a while, of course, but I finally got to leave that place. I’m not saying it was bad; in fact, it was actually a pretty good experience despite the visiting hours and the quiet. The food was decent and the staff wasn’t bad at all. I did kind of hate the silence, but I also grew to appreciate it because it helped me think about many things that I never got the chance to. It gave me some perspective on some things that really matter.

As I was saying, the doctor finally let me out after doing some last tests on me to make sure I was okay. Dashie and the others decided to celebrate my return home and threw me a little welcome back party. We spent the entire day at the beach. Dashie, Rarity, Twilight, and I laid back and enjoyed the sun. We took the time to admire the day’s beauty. Spike, Pinkie, and AppleJack played around. The entire day went pretty smoothly.

Dashie had a special set of sunglasses made just for me so that we could look cool together. She said that it raised my coolness and awesomeness level by about twenty percent. The sunglasses weren’t cheap either. I looked at the little inscription on the side and it was a product of Hoity Toity. His products cost well over five hundred bits. I was lucky to have such a loving daughter. I cherished the gift that she had spent so much on.

We stayed at the beach until around five or six in the evening. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. Dashie and I walked to our home by the lake. I walked a little slowly because of just coming out of the hospital. Dashie quickly noticed this and slowed down. I was a little upset at myself because I was slowing her down. She was I was getting a little upset so she flew next to me and put a hoof over my shoulder.

“Pops, don’t worry. I don’t mind slowing things down for you. It’s no problem at all.” I love her. She is so kind and I am proud to say that I’m her father. We followed the road to our home as we got closer and closer. “Say Dashie, I was wondering if you and Soarin’ are still seeing each other.” She fell all over herself and stood up. “W-why do you ask?” She stammered out. “Well, I wanted to know if he still had the guts to face me.” I said very manly. “Well, you see dad, we…..sort of decided to take a little break. You know, because of what happened.” I stopped moving and looked at her. She stopped and turned back to look at me.

“Honey, you know that I don’t blame you two right? I told you that this was my own fault. It’s because I’m too old an-“My sentence was cut off as Dashie put her hoof in my mouth. “Dad, we know you don’t blame us. We just decided that the time wasn’t right is all. And don’t blame yourself either. You’ve been through too much already. If you blame anything, just blame it on luck.” She said as she extended her hoof out. I looked up at her to meet her eye to eye. I reached my hand out and grabbed her hoof.

“Thanks Dashie, I needed that.” We walked home, hand-in-hoof the entire way. We finally got home and we slept. We did nothing else. As soon as we entered our home, we looked at each other, smiled, and went into our rooms. I don’t think I’ve had such a good sleep the entire time I was at the hospital. It was good to be back in my bed; in our home with all of these loving memories.

I woke up really early in the morning. Celestia hadn’t even raised the sun up yet. It was still dark out and Luna’s beautiful moon was still on the horizon. I got up to record all of the things that happened yesterday and today inside of this old. I wanted to make sure Dashie would know my thoughts. I’ve decided to keep all of these journals for the day that I die. Hopefully of old age. I want Dashie to know what I’ve been thinking and to see my point of view in all of the things that have happened in our lives.

I want her to laugh and cherish the precious memories we have made. I know that I am getting old. I can feel the age setting in. My hair isn’t as thick as it was. I am losing more and more hair by the year. My hair has more than half of it’s previous rich and luscious color. My skin is getting wrinklier. Not that much that I am an old crustaceous man but just enough to be noticed. My physique is also declining. I can’t move as much and as fast as I used to in my younger days. It was a little hard getting home yesterday in fact.

My life is slowly coming to an end. I hope it’s not soon though because I still have a lot left to do with Dashie. I am not quite ready for my eternal slumber. My mind set is focused on leaving this life from old age. From living out my natural life and happily at that. Though I hate to admit it, there is something. A though, lodged in the deepest, darkest, and rarely used pits of my mind.

In this dark and small part of my brain lies an idea. More of a thought really. A subtle subconscious idea that I don’t want to believe in. A kernel or seed of thought that I am going to die of the disease. Dying from the darkness. I absolutely detest this thought. I want to eliminate it from any parts of my mind so that it would be like it never existed. But I know. I actually believe that this might happen. Though it is small, there is a belief that I am going to succumb to this dark plague.

For the good of Celestia, I pray that this won’t happen. It would devastate Dashie. I can barely comprehend any thoughts on this. I don’t think I would be able to move on into the next life if I went out like this. I have done everything in my power to prevent this from happening. I have lived a healthy life, taken plenty of natural medicines, and exercised with Dashie. All of these factors have greatly reduced my chances. But still, there is that little idea still lodged deep within my mind. This dark thought’s existence. I know.

Back Then

There comes a time in a man’s life where you stop everything. You cease all movement and actions. You stop thinking about all of the troubles and problems you have. All of the promises you made; just a moment to relax. In this moment, you think about all of choices you have made in your life, all of your actions, thoughts, and words. You look back at them and see if you did anything wrong that you wish to change. You also look back and see if you have really made something out of your life, making it mean something.

I am going through this point right now. I look back on all of the choices I have made. From bothering to go back to that box on the street and finding Dashie to coming to Equestria for the rest of my life. I think to myself ‘I have really done good’ but none of this matters. I have already realized that I have done the best I could in this life. I have realized that I made the right choice coming here and living my life with Dashie. This moment right now, is not about my experiences with all of the ponies. This moment is about my life before.

I never gave much thought really to my early life. Perhaps it was because I was too miserable and didn’t want to excite myself. Or perhaps it was because I had too much in my life going on to think about it. Who knows? All I know is that my life by myself was just an empty shell. A silent part of my life. But the life before that, now that was a different thing.

I remember when I was just a baby. Not much, but I still can remember bits and pieces. I remember when my dad would take me around the house and held my hand. I remember my mom kiss all of my injuries when I fell or scraped my skin. I remember waking up to the fresh, delicious smell of gingerbread men and cookies on Christmas morning. All of these memories were such a fond part of my life.

Being a child was so perfect. I had no worry in the world. My parents rarely fought and I rarely got into arguments with them. They took great care of me and they loved me beyond words. They worked hard so that they could get me all of the necessities of life and all of the things that follow it. They even were able to afford some luxuries for me. To this day, I am grateful for all of the things that they gave me.

I loved my elementary school as well. Even though it was a bit noisy, all of the kids got along. The troublemakers were not bad, they just did a lot of stupid pranks. The lessons were fun and memorable, the teachers were nice, and recess was like heaven. Everyone shared food with anyone who was still hungry or who didn’t have any. The entire town was perfect. My parents also drove or walked me to this certain playground that I spend most of my childhood at. It was a few blocks down but I didn’t mind taking my time there. It was the same one where I had taught Dashie how to fly.

I wasn’t the smartest kid in school but I wasn’t the dumbest either. Entering high school was pretty tough, but it wasn’t so bad once you got used to it. Sure, kids got picked on, but people had backbones. They stood up for the bullied and helped each other out. I wasn’t bullied but I didn’t really stand out either. I can’t say much for my looks. I was literally your everyday Joe.

Everything was going just great in my life. I was reaching the end of high school and ready to enter college when that day came. I still remember it and can relive it just by thinking hard enough. It’s all still recorded in my mind. It was a warm summer day. It was just like your average day, bugs buzzing, birds chirping, and the heat was setting in. The temperature was different as it reached evening. It wasn’t too hot but it also wasn’t too cold. It was mild, just right.

I was ready to go out and hang with friends down the block at the old playground. We would occasionally smoke or drink beer and just talk. We would joke around and do crazy stunts. Anyways, I was ready to leave the door when my eye caught sight of the clock; the classic wooden clock that my father had in his family for generations. It was almost six thirty. My parents had left to go shopping at around four or so and it didn’t usually take them this long to just get some clothes or groceries.

I was getting a little worried so I called my friends and told them I wasn’t going to hang out with them that day. I sat around in the living room and waited for their return. I wasn’t worried much at the time as I thought that maybe the city’s traffic was jammed up. I decided to flip through the TV to find something good to watch while I waited. I found this new show called Walker, Texas Ranger. It was starring one of the most famous fighters of all time, Chuck Norris. Apparently, they were having a four-hour marathon so I decided to watch it. I watched about halfway in before I dozed off.

I woke up and looked at the clock. It was nine thirty. I looked at the key rack to see if my parents had come home yet but it didn’t have dad’s old car keys hanging on it. ‘This is weird’ I thought to myself. There was definitely something going on. I decided to call my parents’ friends and my family to see if they had heard from them. No one had heard from them since they left this afternoon. I was getting anxious and antsy. I then started to panic.

‘Maybe they decided to go on vacation? No that’s stupid, they would’ve took some money or clothes. Maybe they got robbed? No that’s also stupid because the city’s crime rate was at an all-time low.’ Many thoughts raced across my mind as I pondered what had happened to them. I decided to calm down and wait some more. I sat in the chairs, shifting positions and changing seats every so often. I was starting to give up when I got a phone call.

I picked up the phone. “Hello, who is this?” “Uhm, son, is your name Brian?” I never heard the voice before and was getting scared. “Good, this is Officer Jones of the city’s police department. I’m afraid there’s been an accident and we need you here. We have an officer waiting outside and want you to go with him.” I was scared out of my mind. ‘What kind of accident could he be talking about? Why would he need me?’ I looked outside the window and saw a police car with a officer waiting and looking at me. I went outside and he greeted me. He opened the door for me and I got inside.

The entire car ride was silent. He didn’t say much except to ask me my name and my age. I responded but he never gave responses back. When we finally arrived at the city hospital, he got out of the car and brought me inside. He left me at the door and another officer came up to me. “I’m Officer Jones, we spoke on the phone.” I nodded my head and we shook hands. He brought me to a closed door and stopped me. “Son, I want you to know that the doctors did everything they could. I think you should maybe take this slow.” My heart was beating rapidly now. It beat as though I had just run a marathon. I felt like it was going to pop right out of my chest. I slowly opened the door.

I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. My mind was going faster than my body, thinking before I could act. What I saw before me had killed whatever joy and happiness I had at the time. My parents were lying on the hospital beds, bruised, cut, and not breathing. Their heart rate monitors were shut off. I rushed up to their bedsides and buried my face in their hands.

My parents, the people who gave me life, joy, and everything that I have come to know and love, were lying lifeless before me. Every memory of us together was flashing across my mind. I couldn’t comprehend this horrid sight. I cried as much as I could. I managed to choke out a few words to the officer who took off his hat in respect.

“W-w-what h-h-h-happ-pened?” He came up to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. “Some kids were playing around when their ball bounced into the street. They came out suddenly while your parents where driving and your parents turned the car so that they wouldn’t hit the kids. They gave those kids a future life but they……crashed into an empty car….” He stopped speaking because he knew that I understood.

He left me to be with my parents. Almost the entire hospital heard me cry. I could hear some sobbing and discussion outside of the room. I cried for the rest of the night until I had no water in my entire body left to use. I fell asleep while still holding their hands.

When I finally left, my family was there to comfort me. After a few weeks, we put together enough money for a funeral. By this time though, I had no more will to cry or even laugh at anything. I was too weak to give a eulogy so my grandfather took my place. He spoke of many things, including happy times, but again I had no joy left in me.

When the funeral was finished, the will was read and the house and all of my parents’ money went to me. I didn’t care about anything but keeping the house. I decided to stay in that house of ours because their spirit and love still dwelled within. But this loss of life within me led to that silent part. That, unhappy and miserable stage of my life.

This was what my life was like before meeting Dashie. It was a bundle of happiness but was then tarnished by the plague of death and sorrow. A life that was crumbled up and smashed until there was none left. This, was what had happened back then.

Cold

I have to admit, its these kind of days that I love the most. Days that nothing out of the ordinary happens and its perfectly bland. Today, I have not thought about or experienced anything specifically. Today, I finally got to unwind. No serious thoughts about life or any strange occurrences. Today, I just rode the day’s stride as time passed. The morning started out great. Dashie and I had a great breakfast and a good night’s sleep. We chatted about our plans for the day.

I didn’t have much going on except getting some books from the library and getting some food for dinner. As for Dashie, she had weather duty and had to grab some clouds from the mountain. I told her to grab a scarf or hat because it was cold up there but as usual, she didn’t listen. She left the house and flew off. I took my time walking to the library to enjoy the scenery and the beautiful sky above me.

Back on Earth, weather was all up to chance. Any kind of weather took place depending on the position of the sun, moon, you get the idea. But here on Equestria, weather was controlled. And might I add that today was particularly sunny. The birds were singing, the flowers dancing in the breeze, and the warm rays of the sun were hitting my face. Getting older made me unable to do physical activities as much as I used to, but it gave me a chance to look at and enjoy the world around me.

It wasn’t long before my lonely walking was interrupted. Three familiar fillies came walking by my side. “Hey Mister, do ya wanna help us get our Cutie Marks?” Apple Bloom stepped in front of me as she said this. “Yeah! That would be totally awesome” Scootaloo said following her. “Oh please, help us, please?” Finally followed by Sweetie Belle. I looked at them and smiled. “How can I help you girls?” “Well, we were thinkin’ that we could go ‘n’ get our Cutie Marks by doin’ the next thing on our list.”

All of them said at the same time “The Cutie Mark Crusaders Elderly Helpers!” I felt a little insulted. I stopped them. “Are you saying that I’m old? I mean, I’m not that old am I?” Scootaloo came up to me and wrapped a hoof around my back. “Oh no, Mr. Dash, we’re not saying that you old. All we’re saying is that maybe you need a little help. What with living with Rainbow Dash, you probably have your hands full.”

I couldn’t say no to them so I just let them come with me to the library. We got to the library and found the whole place was messy. In the middle of the room, there was a giant pile of books. They weren’t stacked but more like thrown. “Twilight, you here?” Twilight’s head came popping out of the pile and she smiled at us nervously. “Heheh….uhm…” She looked around the library and then turned her attention back to us.

“What do you need?” “Well I was going to ask for some books but I see you’re a little….occupied.” she stepped out of the pile and walked over to us. “No, no its nothing. I was just in the middle of cleaning before Spike decided to go get some snacks, leaving a giant stack of books on my back.” I bent over to pick some books up. “Do you need any help?” “No, I’m good. I should finish this pretty soon. Just tell me what you need.”

I told her that I needed some cooking books and any good book that she recommended. She got the cooking books and gleefully handed me this mysterious looking book. “It’s one of my favorite books of all time, the Adventures of Star-Swirl the Bearded. It’s a pretty good action book and not to mention historically accurate, I think you’ll enjoy it.” I thanked her and we left the place.

“Okay Cutie Mark Crusaders, are you ready for your next challenge?” They perked up and asked me what I needed. “I need you fillies to get the groceries on this list and bring everything back to my house. Do you think you can handle that?” “Oh we’ll super handle it.” Said Sweetie Belle. “No we’ll awesomely handle it!” Butted in Scootaloo. “No, we’ll quadruple handle it!” Said Apple Bloom as she jumped on the others.

They looked at what they were doing and smiled at me. “We’ll just get on it, see ya!” I smiled at them as they ran off to the market. I just hope that they get their Cutie Marks pretty soon. They have good intentions even if they are a little kiddy about it. I wondered what I would do next before something came crashing into me. My head was aching and I was a little frustrated. I looked up and saw Dashie. “Sorry Pops, didn’t see ya there.” I got up and she patted my shirt of dust. “It’s alright, I was looking for you anyway.”

She looked at me quizzically as she tilted her head. “What is it, Pops?” I knew this would be a little hard but I had to give this thing a try. I wanted to see if she would finally go through with this. I felt wrong for even considering it but I couldn’t help it anymore. My old bronyness was kicking in. I felt ashamed as I asked her “I was thinking, maybe we should get you a little visit to the spa.” She looked at me blankly. “Come on Pops, you know that’s never gonna happen.” “Please Dashie, just this once, for me?” I got on my knees and folded my hands.

She turned her back to me and we were silent for a few minutes. I got up off my knees because I knew she wasn’t going to do it. “Fine….just this once.” I was overjoyed. She would finally willingly go to the spa. And with me of all ponies.” We walked to the spa and the first thing they gave her was a relaxing bath. She had no problem with a comfortable bath.

When they gave her the face mask, she struggled a bit, I could tell, but she finally accepted it. She fell asleep for roughly half an hour before the final part of the treatment came. The hooficure. I was getting a little antsy myself because she always freaked out at this part. Once they pulled out that file, she went nuts. She flew all around the building for five minutes before remembering that she came here willfully. She calmed herself down and sat down on the chair again.

I felt like I needed to strap her down for this to happen. Time felt like it was slowing down. That file was slowly approaching Dashie’s hoof. I could feel her getting nervous. Her eyes were darting all over the place. I heard my heart beat as it got louder rand louder. My heart beat was now the only sound as it muffled any others. Thump thump, thump thump. The file was only inches away. It was getting closer. Now it was only a few centimeters away. Thump thump. It was almost touching her. “Nooooooo!” Dashie screamed as she flew upwards and bolted out of the spa. It had almost grazed her but she left, again.

Well it was worth a shot. I don’t think anypony was gotten this far before. I paid for Dashie’s partial treatment and went outside to meet her. “Ohh, you were so close!” She was panting and was sprawled all over the floor. “Could you please go through with the hooficure one day?” She chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll do it after the day you do a sonic rainboom.”We both laughed as I picked her up and carried her home. We continued laughing for about a quarter of the way before she sneezed. I looked at her teasingly.

“Looks like somepony is catching a cold. Too bad she didn’t listen to a certain somebody.” She looked at me with aggravated eyes as I laughed on. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll pay you ba- Ah – ah –AHCHOO!”
I looked back at her. She looked at me. Our eyes were staring into each other’s souls. It was a beautiful moment between a father and his daughter. “Told you.” “Pops, shut up.”

Getting Better

Well, it's been a rough couple of weeks ever since Dashie caught that cold while on the mountain. I can't even explain how many sneezes and sniffles I heard in a single day. She is beyond stubborn. Even after being cared for and taking medicine, she's still sick. Its clearing just a bit everyday but still, she is putting up a fight. I tried taking care of her but I wasn't doing too good. Eventually, I called Fluttershy over. I still remember when she first came to our door that day.

I didn't even hear her hoofsteps as she approached our home. All I heard was a small tapping at the door and I went to see what it was. "Hello?" I said out loud as I peeked my head out. I heard a squealing noise coming from below me. "Uhmm....I'm here to help with Rainbow Dash..." She said in a very hushed voice. "Oh hey! There you are. Thanks for coming." She slowly started to relax again. "It's no problem really, now where is sh-" Dashie sneezed really loudly at that moment. Fluttershy let out another squeal as she cowered again.

I was getting a little impatient so I picked her up and brought her inside. She didn’t even fight me. “So do you need anything to take care of her or?…” She nodded. “What?” She opened her mouth and started to mumble. “So-“ “I can’t hear you.” “ Sou-“ “Could you speak a little louder?” “Soup! I need soup and vegetables.” I scratched my head and went towards the kitchen. I honestly wished that she would stop being so scared all the time.

I brought out some soup and vegetables and handed it to her. “Uhm..excuse me?” I turned around and stared at her a bit aggravated. “What now?” She stared dragging her hooves along the floor. “Well, I’m sure your soup is nice and all but..” I knew what she was going to say. “Let me guess, you need to do it yourself?” She looked up and gave me an approving smile. “I mean only if it doesn’t bother you…” I pointed her towards the kitchen and she happily went galloping to it. I was a bit tired after this ridiculous situation and sat down on the couch.

I heard her whispering from the kitchen. “You can rest; I’ll take care of Rainbow.” I took a little comfort in this because I knew how much she cared for animals and how much of an expert she was on taking care of things that weren’t healthy. I closed my eyes and began to sleep.

Man, this cold is killing me. I feel so cold that its like I’ve been in an iceberg for years! Pops was telling me that my body was extremely hot. Like I drank a whole cup of rainbow juice. Whatever, all I know is that I hate this because I haven’t been able to fly in weeks. My wings feel all sore from me not using them for so long. I’m just stuck in this bed the entire time. Dad went to go check on something but he better be back soon. I am so hungry right now. “Hi Rainbow Dash….” I turned my head towards the doorway. Great the queen of all animals was here to nurse me back to health.

I swear to Celestia that if she talks to me in a baby voice or even treats me like a baby, I am going to….I don’t know, bring her to some dragons? She started coming over to my bed and she put her hoof on my head.”Oh my, that’s really hot.” She patted me on the head and said “There, there, I’m going to make you feel all better.” She’s already doing it. I am getting a little ticked off. “Get off of me would ya?” I slapped her hoof away and turned my back to her.

“Oh dear, but how else are you going to feel better if I can’t take care of you? Now turn around and open wide for the choo choo train.” I turned around and looked at her. “What are you talkin-“ A spoonful of soup went into my mouth. After I drank it, she was ready to get another spoonful. “What do you think you’re doing? Dad was taking care of me just fine!” She started to cower a bit but got back up. “I’m sure he was doing a great job but I don’t think he did it…right.”

I was probably getting the same feeling as Pops because if I know FLuttershy, which I do, she told him this herself. I was about to tell her off but then she said “You’re Dad agrees with me so can we just open wide and say Ahh? You need to drink your medicine soon.” I calmed down and let her have her way. After drinking all of the soup, She gave me some medicine which was grape flavored. Honestly, I hate liquid medicine. I loved the pills they had back on Earth because they didn’t have any taste.

She gave the medicine and I gotta say, it tasted bad. I wanted to spit it out. But it was going to make me better. And if drinking this nasty stuff meant getting back on my wings, then so be it. I slowly started to fall asleep. This routine went on for almost a week before I finally got up and felt better. Fluttershy was about to give me another drink of the medicine when I suddenly stopped feeling so cold.

Man, have I gotta say that this is so awesome. No more being stuck in that room with Fluttershy. I mean, it wasn’t bad but it was annoying. She treated me like a baby. At least when Pops was taking care of me he treated me normally. Oh well, when I finally came flying over to Dad, we were so happy. The first thing we wanted to do was to go on a picnic or have a party but Fluttershy said we should take it easy because I just got better. That pony is a major buzz kill.

I am so happy, after all of this time, Dashie finally got better. I just want to celebrate but we have to take it slow for Dashie’s sake. I want to sing to the world of the wonderful feeling that I’m having. Right now though, we are just going to go around town. When we get the chance, we will have some fun and have life back to normal.

Newcomer

I got a bit behind on my laundry this week, so I was starting to run out of clothes. Rarity did me a big favor though; she told me she would make me some new clothes free of charge. I guess she really does represent the Element of Generosity. Even though she can be a little bit of a neat freak, and can get angry over little things, she is pretty nice. I just hope she doesn’t overdo the clothes because, after all, I just need clothes for my everyday routine.

Since Dashie and I had no plans today, we decided to just clean the house. I guess you could call it a pre-Spring Cleaning. I had Dashie clear the leaves off of the rooftop and all that kind of fun stuff while I took care of the garden and dusted the house. It was pretty fun too because we decided to whistle a song and the other would guess which one it was. I had the upper hand because most of the songs Dashie heard while back o Earth, I let her listen to.

This was actually pretty calming too because there wasn’t any danger or drama involved. It was just good old cleaning with my little girl. I can’t complain, this was great. The occasional cloud of dust made me choke but it was bearable. We just needed to wait until Rarity finished the clothes. After finishing, Dashie decided to just lie around on the couch.

I decided to ruffle around the attic and look for some old pictures of Dashie and I. I also wanted to see if my old journals were safe and sound. After rooting around for quite a bit, I found the old journals. And man, these things gave me a long trip down memory lane. I thought about all of my thoughts and actions during the experiences I had. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It was pretty cinematic, like a movie by George Lucas.

There was a knock on the door but seeing as how Dashie was right downstairs, I let her handle it. I wanted to look a little bit at the old photo album. I could hear some talking downstairs and made out some of the things they said. The voice that I recognized was Sweetie Belle’s who was downstairs for some reason. “Oh hi, Rainbow Dash. I didn’t think you were home. We’re here to drop your Dad’s new clothes off.”

Dashie yelled loudly enough to get my attention. “Dad, Rarity’s new clothes are here for you.” I went towards the staircase back down to the living room. As I was walking, I heard her say something else but to somepony else. I can’t wait to see what Rarity has whipped or uhh “divined” for me to wear.

I walked downstairs to see the whole crowd by the door. Dashie was standing next to Sweetie Belle and somepony that I’ve never seen before in my entire life. “Hello Sweetie.” Sweetie Belle greeted me back. I turned my attention to the new pony and acknowledged him. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you before.” He answered me almost immediately “New around here.” I guess he was nervous not being used to a human. Wait no, he’s looking at me like I’m just some regular pony.

He doesn’t have a Cutie Mark on his flank either. This was suspicious. I eyed the tannish pony and studied his dark brown mane. There was something fishy about him. “He was in the Everfree Forest and he’s got amnesia.” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “Have you now? So, can’t remember anything?” I said as I walked over to the container full of my new clothes.

He answered me somewhat casually. “Not Really.” Time to prod his for any answers. I want to know more about this pony. “You don’t really seem…..concerned about me. Most ponies who meet me for the first time are a little……scared, I guess. You don’t seem phased by my appearance at all.” He seemed to get a little tense when I said this. Let’s see what he has to say.

“Well, that’s probably because I’ve used up my fear from narrowly escaping the clutches of a Timberwolf.” This sounded too good to be true. “You were chased by Timberwolves?” Dashie and Sweetie Belle said surprised. He proceeded to nod and said “Zecora saved my ah-“ He paused. “Flank.” That was it, he wasn’t any regular pony. He almost said ass. Nopony says that in this world. I’m starting to get this very undeniable idea. Maybe, I’m being crazy or my age isn’t letting me think straight, or maybe, he is a human.

Dashie interrupted my train of thought. “What were you doing in the Everfree Forest in the first place?” He shrugged and said “Can’t remember.” Likely story. “Well, I hope you remember soon. It must be horrible not being to remember who you are. Me and Dad had a similar problem a while back.” He looked at her for a moment, wondering what she meant. Then he went over to look at the pictures of us on the wall.

“I hope so too.” I see some sort of look on his face. It looks like he recognizes some of the pictures. How would he know what Earth looks like, let alone what these buildings look like. Time to put some more pressure on him. “Yeah, that’s where I come from.” He answered “Look’s……dreary.” “It is. The name’s Brian. Brian Dash.” I said as I turned to him. Maybe I could get on his good side and see if he’ll open up to me.

“Hello, Brian. I don’t know my real name, but I’ve been dubbed Forest.” It was a pretty weird name but it was understandable. “Forest, eh? Not a bad name.” He answered very hesitantly “A certain pink pony thought of it.” “You mean Pinkie Pie?” He nodded in confirmation. “You don’t have to listen to her, if you don’t like it…..” He answered back reassuringly “No, no. It’s perfectly fine. I think it suits me, actually.

Sweetie Belle interrupted my little investigation. “Forest, we should go. The doctor is probably waiting for us. She motioned for him to leave. He turned to me and waved. “Right. Well, nice to meet you Brian, Rainbow Dash.” Dashie waved to him “Sure. Yeah. Catch ya later. Oh, did Pinkie throw a party for you yet?” “I got a cake and exploding musical boxes full of confetti.” She shook her head.

“No, you’ve yet to experience Pinkie’s welcome to Ponyville parties. All she gave you was a Welcome to Ponyville welcome. You’ll see what I mean. Everypony’s gonna be there.” She grinned at him. He sighed and said “Well then, I can’t wait. You guys will be there?” Dashie and I nodded in unison. “Well then, will I get to meet everybody there?”

That’s it. My suspicion is confirmed. He just said everybody. Who the hell in Equestria says everybody? He is definitely a human. This is getting me a little worried. Why is he here? What does he want? Is he here to take Dashie away or do something horrible to this world? No, I won’t let that happen. I’m going to stop him before he can do whatever he is planning. Not wanting to give away my suspicion, I looked at him casually and said “Yes, you will.”

“Well then, until that time.” He left with Sweetie Belle. As he was closing the door, he looked at me. He noticed me staring at him with this very stern look. He thought nothing of it. Well, he’s wrong. He is in for a world of hurt if he thinks he can do anything to my little Dashie.

“Well, that was nice, wasn’t it Pops?” I turned to her in confusion. “Meeting the new guy, I mean. Seems nice. And besides, this means that Pinkie is gonna throw an awesome welcome party with her awesome cake. Awww yeah!” I nodded and she went to take a nap until it was time to go. I sat down in my chair and thought about him the entire time.

Millions of thought raced around my mind pertaining to him. Eventually, it came time and we headed to city hall. We took our time of course, because I was a little slow and I wanted to think about what to say to him. Maybe a warning? No that’s too direct. Maybe a threat? No. We arrived at the party a little late but it was still good to get there. Dashie saw Forest and went over to him. “Hi Forest. Sorry we arrived so late.” “Hello. I’m about to go home. I feel…..tired.” He actually sounded truthful when he said this but I didn’t care.

“Anyway, its fine. From what I’ve heard, Pinkie throws these kinds of things all the time. I would have understood if you hadn’t come, but since you’re here, try the cider, its simply amaz-“ Dashie bolted towards the table. It was just me and him now. I stared at him, making my doubts very obvious. He nodded at me, and started to walk away. Time for the final push. I want to see if he’ll squirm.

“How’s the weather back on Earth?” That got him. It confused him and made him really nervous. “What?” “How’s the weather back home, I said.” He answered very nervously “I don’t remember where I’m from…….” “I don’t believe you. I think you know very well where you’re from. I don’t know how you’re here, and I don’t know why but if-“ He suddenly regained his calm.

“Look, Brian, I’m tired and I’ve been overwhelmed by the events of today. I wake up in the middle of a forest I know nothing of, remembering no one and nothing, escaping the teeth of a Timberwolf, and then trying to find a place to stay, let along trying to evade Pinkie. I don’t understand what you’re talking about, or what you’re implying. All I want to do is find the answers I seek, and then go home.”

That was the biggest amount of bull I have heard all my life, and trust me; I got plenty from Dashie when she was a teenager. I definitely got under his skin. I kind of feel like playing that song by Frank Sinatra now. I stared at him to get my point across. “Fine, but I’m keeping my eye on you.”

“You can keep two for all I care. If you happen to discover something about me, then please let me know. I might be able to recall who I used to be.” He turned and left the party. I have him right where I want him. He’s on edge, I can tell. Sooner or later, he will tell me who he is. As for now, I’ll let him be and focus on the party that I’m at.

Dashie came up to me with four cups full of cider. “Dad, you have got to try this cider. It is just rad.” I turned to her and smiled, forgetting about “Forest”. I reached my hand to grab a cup but she slapped my hand and said “No way, get your own cup. These babies are all mine!”

After a hours of Dashie drinking apple cider, she finally felt full and tired. I picked her up in my arms and carried her home. She was groaning in pain. “Wwwwhhhyyyy?…..” She asked in pain. “Because you drank too much cider. Her stomach was like a big beach ball. “Noo…whyyy?” Now I was confused. “Why what?” She answered slowly. “Why didn’t you let me drink one more?”

Heated Discussion

Yesterday was eventful. No, it was more like a nuclear bomb being dropped on my mind. I thought life was going pretty easy again when he arrived. This new mysterious ‘pony’ that everyone is all excited about. T

hey call him Forest, but I think that he knows himself by another name. Also, I know that he is human, I can just tell. He gave me a very nervous response when I asked him about Earth. I have to find out his intents. I shared my ideas with Dashie who just laughed it off as a bunch of ‘hoopla’.

I didn’t get much sleep last night. I spent most of the time tossing and turning, thinking about why he is here. I couldn’t come up with anything else besides coming to do harm. I hope this is isn’t the reason but it lurks in the back o my mind. Along with the other horrid thoughts, they linger and lie in wait. I got up finally around five in the morning to just go outside and take a walk.

I couldn’t go far because as I reached the doorway, my heart started beating really fast, almost as if it were about to break through my ribcage and flop around on the floor. I paused to calm myself down. After a few minutes, the pain subsided but it was followed by something else. I coughed hard multiple times. It hurt my chest every time I did.

About seven coughs in, I started to feel something leaving my body. I coughed a final time and blood came out. Not a lot but enough to resurrect the worry and the dark ideas in the back of my mind. ‘Was I getting closer to death? Will I do soon?’ These sorts of questions float around while I clean up the mess I made on the floor. A small little splatter of blood that resembled a figure.

It looked kind of like a snow angel, just a little differences and deformities here and there. Maybe this was a sign of my time. Maybe it was telling me my time on this place was up. My thoughts were shattered when I heard a very loud crow from a rooster. Fluttershy would wake up soon.

I stopped screwing around and erased any evidence of what just happened. I have to take it easy even more now. I cannot put myself in exhausting tasks. I decide to go outside and do some gardening for the entire morning. Dashie wakes up eventually and races around the house for her morning exercise.

“Yo Pops! Since when did you turn into a Fluttershy?” I yell at him as I race around to get my blood flowing. He was gardening for a while and maybe even before I woke up .He barely did any of that his entire life. Maybe he was getting a little pansy on me. “Just making our house look better. Besides what’s a couple of flowers going to do?” He replies.

I turn the corner and stop racing. I look at him as he smiles at me happily. There was something in his eyes though. Deep inside, he had a look of concern. I didn’t want to question about this so I just start helping him. “I guess everypony has to slow down in their life…everypony except me!” I cheer as I go at a faster rate pulling out weeds and trimming hedges. We both laughed as we continued to work.

“Rainbow Dash!” I heard Pinkie’s voice shout in a sin-song way. Dashie dropped everything and charged at Pinkie. I could hear Dashie land on Pinkie and they started to mess around a bit. I decided that I deserved a little break. I stuff my gloves in my pocket and make my way over to them.

I gave the two a smile but saw Forest out of the corner of my eye. I turn a looked at him with an intimidating look. He responded by turning away. Dashie noticed this and elbowed me to get my attention. “Dad, come on. He’s not a human” Dashie whispered non-discreetly.

Pinkie exploded in excitement. “Who’s not a human? Forest?” This caught his attention as he turned to us and gave a simple but clear “What?” Pinkie started to dance around him. “Brian thinks you’re a human, Forest! Isn’t that funny?” She smiled and then giggled at the thought. The rest of us kept serious.

“I guess so. I mean, I don’t look anything like him. For one thing, I’ve got these hooves…..” This statement annoyed me as he tried to pull his way out of the current predicament. I took this as a challenge and spoke with an aggressive tone while moving in front of Dashie.

“If Celestia can change me into a pony, which she did for a little bit, then she can change you too.” He thought a little bit then answered calm yet mockingly. “Then why not go ask her?” That smart motherf- I can’t curse, haven’t for a long time, even in my mind. He resumed his reasoning.

“Yeah, why not go ask and ask her? Surely she would be able to tell if what you say is true.” I was being bombarded with logic, oh the humanity. I was running out of ideas, not getting desperate to catch him in the act.

“You said ‘anybody’! No one in Ponyville says ‘anybody’.” Maybe this would give me the edge I needed. He was quick to retort. “Well, what about other places? Ponyville surely isn’t the only town in……the wold…….” Pinkie jumped in and giggled “Equestria!”

He turned and bowed his smug little head to her. “In Equestria. Thank you, Pinkie.” “Welcome” In a singing voice.

He took a deep breath. I could feel I was going to lose this argument. “Maybe I came from another place. A town where there are more creatures than just ponies.” I got pretty bamboozled at this because there was nothing left to say. He just kicked me in the teeth, metaphorically speaking.

Dashie decided to put here two sense in. “See, Dad. He’s not from Earth. He’s not here to take me away.” My heart was breaking because my little girl was somewhat defending this guy. She put a hoof on my shoulder but the damage had been done. Why was she taking his side?

“What?” Forest asked confusingly. “Dad was scared you were here to take me back to Earth.” He replied with a genuine concern in his voice. “Why would I do a thing like that?” She answered softly. “He’s just protective of me, that’s all. I mean, he did give up everything to come here. She looked at me and grinned.

“That’s very…..well put, Forest. See, Dad?” She said. Why did I want to hit something every time I heard his name? He was already on my bad side, which is pathetic considering not many do.

“Fine, suppose I buy into the fact that you’re from another place, let’s say a big city like Canterlot. That doesn’t explain your lack of any reaction to seeing me for the first time. I’ve been around ponies for five years now, and I’ve seen them all react to me in the same way. First they are afraid, then after a while, they warm up to me. You had absolutely zero fear of me from the get-go. I fact, I seemed familiar to you. You didn’t even flinch when I offered you my hand.”

I think I finally got the edge again. Lady luck was in love with me or something because he got this nervous look again. I was going to win. He slowly choked up “The Timberwol-” Bad choice, that has nothing on me.

“Yes, yes. The Timberwolf scared you and you had no fear left. I don’t buy. You can tell me anything you want, and these girls may believe you, but I don’t. I don’t care what they say, there’s something about you/ Something……..different…..”

Oh no, confidence set in as I finished my speech. “Fine, suppose I say you’re right. I am different, but my next question is this; why would I want to do anything to your daughter?” The tide of this shifted back to him.

I was left speechless. “I don’t know…” I managed to let out. “As I said you last night, when you accused me of being a human, I told you that I was tired and was not interested in your accusations. I stand by that. And I will repeat, if you find out anything about me, then please, let me know. I will be very interested.”

Well, hell. I lost this one. I know when I’ve been beat, I hated the feeling, but still, I’m no sore loser. I turned around and angrily stomped into the house. I shut the door behind me loudly and sat on the couch to think. I could hear Dashie yell after me.

She talked with them a little more and opened the door. She turned around and looked at them, holding a box in one hoof. She closed the door and looked at me disappointed. “Pops, the guy is new in town and you already gotta spook him? Can’t ya just lay off the guy?” I was still not believing this, my little girl is still helping him, even after he left!

I think about what to say but I felt like the bad guy here. I turn to her and say “Sorry, honey. I guess I was wrong. I’ll try to be a little friendlier with the guy okay?” She nodded and smiled at me. Then she flew off to the kitchen while shouting “Oh yeah, we got this awesome cake from Pinkie. I call first slice!” I let her have her fun.

I had just lied to my little girl but this was not a shameful lie. It was a pacifying one. I told her what I wanted to hear so she would not keep an eye on me just in case. A smile came across my face. I just hatched the perfect idea. If he won’t admit it, then I’ll just have to find the evidence that proves he is a human.

I know where he is staying and also know the receptionist. Though she was envious of Pinkie, she knew me very well. We conversed on serious matters of this world which seemed to make her happy. Perhaps as if I was one of her few friends. Anyhow, I now know what I must do. After a quick trip to the hospital, I’ll go into his room while he is gone. I have search for anything out of the ordinary.

All in a Day's Time

I woke up early this morning. I made some breakfast for myself and a bunch more for Dashie. I finished eating and left the house. It was around six in the morning when I left. I had to go to the hospital and check if anything was wrong. The news didn’t surprise me. I prefer not to write about them and just let the matter be. I said goodbye to the doctor and the nurses and continued on.

I heard from somepony, I forget who, that Forest got evicted from his room. I decided now was the best time to carry out my investigation. I didn’t know much, but reading enough books of crime mysteries from Twilight’s library gave me some insight on the matter. I made my way to the hotel.

It wasn’t as busy but I could see the café had some early birds drinking their sip of coffee. I decided not to waste any more time so I went to the counter. There, sitting in a slumped position, reading EquestriaDaily, was Crystal. I cleared my throat to get her attention.

The cold-personality and stare she gave me slowly dissipates. “Brian, nice to see you.” I return her smile with one of my own. “How are you doing, Crystal?” “Not too bad, but I can’t complain.” We first met when she arrived in town. She gave me some odd stares which was normal but slowly, she stopped. She was nervous and cheery at first, but as time progressed, she grew more, withdrawn.

People greeted her but no one had really befriended her. By the time Pinkie came around, it was too late. I think this was the final point in which Crystal just went Abominable Snowpony on everyone. She was sad when I found her. She sat in the lobby, sniffling. I heard her while I was walking by the door.

I couldn’t help but stop to ask her what was wrong. She eventually opened up and told me how she was basically sneered at. She seemed so lonely. I told her that I had once felt this, until I found someone who would care for me. She brightened up and since then we became friends.

Even though she hated me being friends with Pinkie, she still liked talking to me. We talked about all sorts of things, lasting hours even. Now though, I don’t visit her much as my old age makes it hard to go out. We still write to each other though, which is still good.

She claps her hooves together to get my attention, interrupting my train of thought and my memory recollection. “Equestria to Brian, Equestria to Brian, are you there?” “Sorry about that, just really thinking.” “So I see…” She started to laugh nasally and I followed.

I decided to ask her for her help. “So, I heard that the new colt, Forest, stayed here. I was wondering if you could give me his key.” I snarled at the thought of mentioning his name. She gave me a nod. “I see you don’t like him either, shows that we have even more in common.”

I answered her with conviction. “I really don’t like him. He’s been nothing but trouble and he talks a little too much. I also guess no one taught him to respect his elders.” She gave me another approving nod. “Same here, he gave me the same routine.” We both disliked Forest.

She happily gave me the key. “Here you go, have fun, just not too much.” “Thanks.” I went to his room and unlocked the door. Time to go Inspector Gadget on his room. I looked all over the room, bathroom, and closets. There was nothing. I was starting to lose hope when it gleamed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something shiny. I turned my head to see what it was. It was a safe, used from the looks of it. I knocked on the safe to see if it would sound hollow. It wasn’t. There was something inside of the safe.

I tried to pry it open but that didn’t work. I then tried to pick it but that didn’t work either. Finally, I tried every single combination of numbers that popped up in my mind. After an hour of trying, I gave up. I would have to get Forest talking about numbers. I gave the key back to Crystal at the reception desk and left.

I had nothing to do so I decided to take a walk in the forest. I arrived at the forefront of the Everfree forest. It was brimming with sounds of wildlife and magic. As said by many others, this forest was not normal. I was walking around my known surroundings until I decided to take a turn that I had never taken before.

Stretching down before me was the road not taken. The trees seemed to stretch out for me as I walked. I felt many watching eyes looking upon me. Then, I heard a noise; a twig snapping. Something was following me.

“Hello? Who’s there?” I whipped my head in every direction. The forest seemed to freeze at my suspicion. I fastened my pace and tried to leave the forest. More twigs snapped as I moved, each noise was getting closer and closer.

I turned at the final second to see something. I could not make out a figure but could see an aura. A shadow, if you will. It was a blue or azure color. It came towards me as I felt something hit me head. Darkness consumed me as I fell to the floor.

Pops was taking a while. He’s been gone the whole day. I don’t know where he went other than the note he left me. I read it again.

“Dashie,

Went to go take care of business in town. Don’t wait up.

Love, Dad”

Maybe I’m just being crazy. Maybe he was staying the night at one of the others’ house because he was too tired to make it home. I guess that could be an answer. I’ll just go to sleep. When I wake up, I’ll go to all of their houses.

I can’t sleep in my bed so I go to Dad’s room. I find comfort and safety inside of his warm blanket. I shut my eyes and feel relaxed. For some reason, I put my hoof in my mouth and start suckling on it. “Daddy….” I find myself whisper. “Come home soon.”

I heard some shuffling around me. Then I heard some sloshing. Finally, the cold rush of water hits my face. I jump up, taken back by the sudden surprise. I look around me and find myself in a cave. I find myself talking aloud. “Where..Where am I?”

I suddenly hear an arrogant and boastful voice speak, followed by the azure aura. “You are in the home of the Great and Powerful Trixie! Trixie finds you intriguing and wishes to study your body.” I turn and find myself before a blue pony with a silver mane. She is wearing a star-covered cape and has a matching wizard hat on the floor.

I recognize her. She’s Trixie, the boasting pony from My Little Pony’s sixth episode. I had never seen her since then. Dashie and the others also rarely spoke of her. When they did, they wondered where she had gone. I guess I found out.

“Why does my head hurt?” “The Great and Powerful Trixie felt that the only way to subdue a beast such as yourself, she had to knock you on the head with a rock.” I feel my head and feel some blood. It wasn’t bad but it was also treated, feebly. She had probably tried to treat me but wasn’t even sure how to herself.

“Can I just leave? It’s getting dark and my little girl is getting worried.” “Silence, the Great and Powerful Trixie is not finished with you yet. Trixie wants to see how you work, and if you can be controlled.” “Listen Tri- did you just say controlled?” She smiled at me evilly.

“Why, she is glad you asked! Trixie wishes to use you as a means of humiliating that wretched purple unicorn. The one that calls herself ‘Twilight Sparkle’. The one who humiliated Trixie and forced her to live in the forest, eating pine cones and whatever else she can gather.”

This was not surprising. But underneath her tone, I could tell she was a little scared. I got up and started to walk away. “Listen, nopony banished or forced you here. You can go to Ponyville.” “The Great and Powerful Trixie is not done yet!” I turn to face her.

“What’s the worst you can do? Lift me up and hit me with another log?” She pondered this option and shook her head. “No, that is old and not effective. It made Trixie have to treat your disgusting skin. Trixie has a better option.”

“Like what?” I ask her sarcastically. “Well, Trixie does have this whip…” Rarely do I ever curse but this couldn’t go without saying.

“Well, shi-”

Hard Knock Coughs

I vaguely recall what just happened. Trixie was shouting something and then tried to whip me, only ending up doing it to herself. I found the sight amusing and exploded in laughter. In hindsight, I should’ve taken it easy. The sudden burst of energy was pretty risky considering my age and condition. I remember that violent coughing episode. I started to cough up blood. Everything got blurry after that. I could hear faint voices and what I think was Forest. I felt some pushing on my chest.

I blacked out. After a few minutes, I woke up. Apparently, Forest just saved my life. Not long after, some medics and the others showed up. Dashie came to my side and held my hand. I squeezed her hoof tightly, as if she was my lifeline.

The medics got me on a stretcher and took me out of that place. What happened to Trixie, I don’t know. As for why Forest saved me, he probably wanted to look good in front of the others. Maybe…he actually wanted to save me? Nah. I fall back to sleep as the event leaves me exhausted.

The dreams were so surreal. I dreamt of me when I first found Dashie. It was on the off chance that I went back to get a look at it. If it weren’t for my annoying stupidity, this life wouldn’t exist. I would probably be miserable for the rest of my life. The scared look that she first gave me was replaced by a smile. A smile that was warm and loving.

Beep. Beep. I woke up as soon as I picked her up from the box. I can feel the tube in my arm to give me water. I feel naked, like my butt was feeling on the bed. My clothes were taken off as I checked under the covers. I had a hospital gown on.

“Dad!” Screamed the beautiful voice beside me. I turn my head and see Dashie sitting next to me. She grabbed me and didn’t let go. “I was so worried. I stayed here all night to make sure everything was okay.” She grips my even harder. I can’t think of anything to say so I do the next most sensible thing. I pat her on the back as I calmly say “There, there.”

She bursts into laughter and tears upon hearing my voice. Her laughter is quickly interrupted by another voice. “Hey! You’re finally awake! I wasn’t sure what kind of balloon or cake would be good for hospitals so I brought every kind.” Pinkie screamed in my face as she pulled out a small cart. Surprisingly, about fifty caked came out of the two foot container.

She also motioned her hoof upward to gain my attention. I look up and my mouth goes completely open so that a fly can make his home in me. The entire ceiling was covered in balloons. They were almost close enough to touch my hair.

“How did you do all of this?” Dashie shakes her head at me. “You did it now Pops.” “Pinkie pulled out a hat and cane out of nowhere. “WELL……All you need is a couple of balloons and add it to the roof. Then you get some cakes , not too big, to put some extra poof. Making life happy is so fun, throwing parties just forever. So come on and get down, we can just dance whenever! Parties, so fun and happy. Parties, let’s get to clapping. Parties. Parties. Parties. Parties!!”

She slid across the floor as she said the final party. She was now gasping for air. “That was…nice, Pinkie!” She smiled at me. “Thanks Brian! So which cake do you wa-“ “Shut up! I’m trying to get some sleep here!” Screamed a voice down the hall. “I think he’s right, Pinkie.” Dashie said sympathetically.

Pinkie’s hair deflated. “Awww…..and I worked so hard.” The doctor came in and looked all around the room. The stethoscope he had in his mouth dropped, making a loud pinging noise. “What in Celestia?” He said in disbelief. He recovered by shaking his head a few times. “Anyway, nice to see you are awake Mr. Dash. I was wondering if I can speak to you in private. “

I nodded and the two ponies left my room. “Wait Pinkie!” I said calling out to her. She looked at me with big puppy dog eyes. I took a cake and took a bite. Her hair inflated again and she was back to her old self. She smiled so much, that I actually saw her mouth lines go beyond the shape of her head. ‘What the hell.’ I thought.

They closed the door behind them. And I turned my attention back to the doctor. “So doc, what’s the prognosis?”

Me and Pinkie left the room. Pinkie was bouncing around, cheering with each step. I wanted to know what was up. I put my ear to the door to hear what was going on. I suddenly hear and feel loud breathing on me. “It’s not nice to eavesdrop.” Pinkie said loudly in my ear.

“I’m not eavesdropping. I’m…uhh……hearing the news! Yeah that’s it!” She tilted her head at me and gave me an inquisitive look. “Well…if you say so. But I want to hear what’s up too!” She stood on top of me and did the same thing I was doing. Surprisingly, she doesn’t way that much, even after eating all those sweets.

“Mr. Dash, are you aware of what happened?” “Not really, I know that once I started coughing, somepony rushed up and started hitting my chest.” Dad said unsurely. “Well, you are correct. Some young colt named ‘Forest’ saved you. You should consider yourself lucky he was there.” Dad answered the doctor’s statement a bit sarcastically. “Yeah, lucky…”

“So how’s the condition looking, doc? “We did all of the test we could, everything leading back to the same conclusion. The disease is somehow growing. Even with all of the precautions we took.” Dad yelled in disbelief. “What!? I thought it was barely going to show up.” “So did we..but it seems to have proved it wrong.”

A long awkward silence fell upon the room the two were in. I nudged my ear closer to the door to make sure I wasn’t too far. Dad spoke up again. Almost in a whisper. “How long?” The doctor was shuffling around, unsure and nervous to answer Pops. “I’m afraid not long. A week, a month at the best.”

Dad let out a sigh. “So, this is how it ends? I go out like this, and I even get to know an approximation.” The doctor moved closer and whispered something I can barely make out. “Make your peace, sir.” I can hear dad moving around in his bed, unsure of what to think. He then starts letting out a sound that I thought he wouldn’t even consider at a time like this.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” I laughed out in sheer anger and fear. The doctor looked at me as if I were a madman. I could hear some crashing from the door. Who could blame me though? The very thing that I’ve been fighting to stop is now taking me. It was now going to stomp on my hopes and dreams, my fire that burned for Dashie’s love. A couple of minutes pass when my laughter dies down.

I can feel cold brush up on my face. The room had a draft, me knowing only because of the tears picking up on it. The doctor finally understood and nodded at me in acknowledgement. He walked away slowly and opened the door. “You can leave whenever you like, Mr. Dash. I hope this doesn’t end this way.” He said in a very sincere voice.

I wiped my face and was ready to confront Dashie and Pinkie about this. They stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. They slowly trotted over to the bed. “Dashie, Pinkie, I have something to tel-“ Dashie and Pinkie both shoved their hooves in my mouth. “We know.” They said in unison.

We all embraced each other in a circle of love. All of us were sobbing and sniffling. Nothing was said as we all thought the same thing. We knew what the other was to say. All we did, was hug.

Tears of Sadness

Pinkie and Dashie seemed upset that I told them to leave the room. In actuality, I needed some more time to soak this in. The whole news of dying and knowing when terrified me. What was I going to do now that my life has a number on it? There’s nothing much I can say either. I’m not sure how I am going to explain my final thoughts to Dashie, or the others.

I hear hoof steps trotting back and forth outside of the door. Suddenly, two more pairs came closer. “How’s Brian doin’?” Applejack’s voice was muffled under the door, but that accent was unmistakable. “Is he doing well? Perhaps we can have the Princess do something.” Twilight said with some hope.

The conversation was silenced after that. Dashie or Pinkie probably whispered to them the grave news. I could hear them crying outside. Suddenly, the door went flying open. Applejack had bucked the door open with her two strong hind legs. “This can’t be true! Ah can’t believe mah ears!” She along with Twilight ran to my bedside. “Brian, is this true?” Twilight said with a large glint of sadness in her eyes.

I couldn’t say anything, the shock still setting in. I nodded. They both jumped on the bed and hugged me. ‘Was I really this loved?’ The other two who had been with me earlier joined in. I felt like I was being suffocated. This type of suffocation, however, was out of love. I felt the warmth of all of their body heat enclosing me in a circle of love. If I could choose one way to die, it would be this way.

“I…..can’t…breathe!” I sputtered out. “Oh, sorry.” They all said as they backed off of me. They gave me a smile, but the smile didn’t convey the same feeling as their eyes. Their eyes were what told me what they were feeling. Though their mouths seemed to be happy, their eyes showed that they were in complete despair. They looked like their hearts had been torn out.

“It’s nothing girls, I knew that this time was coming sooner or later.” I tried to calm them down with my acceptance. I finally accepted that I would be stripped of my little Dashie and all of her wonderful friends. After all, every living thing gets their allotted time in life; no one can over live it. Well, anyone excluding the Princesses of course.

“T’ain’t fair! You can probably call up the Princess! She can help you out, Ah reckon.” Applejack reasoned. The rest of them nodded in agreement. “I can’t cheat Death himself girls. My time is almost up. We have to just accept that.” They all started crying when I said this, banging their hooves softly into my chest.

“Let’s not make this harder than it has to be. If one of you doesn’t mind, can you move the curtains? I want to look at the beauty of this world. I won’t get to do that much eventually.”Dashie and Pinkie complied. They moved the curtains and a bright flash of sunlight flooded the room. It was magnificent.

I felt like Celestia, herself, was shining the sun on this specific room. Like she knew what was going to happen. I could not but smile at the sight. The waves of the sun peaked the beauty of the ponies around me. I felt something was wrong; they didn’t have their special someponies in their lives.

In my old age and current predicament, I guess any questions I asked wouldn’t be too absurd. “So girls, do you have anypony special in your lives?” “I got you Pops.” I laughed at this. Dashie was being sweet. “Not in that way, honey. I mean someone to, you know?” Dashie looked down at the floor. I knew that her answer would be Soarin’.

Applejack spoke up. “Sorry to say but no, not really. Ah got no colt or stallion to help me buck apples that ain’t family.” “Same here, Brian. I guess I don’t have any time to do so while reading and studying.” Everypony including me looked at Pinkie. She smiled and shook her head. “Nope!” She said carefree.

Applejack had a coy smile on her face. “What about Forest?” We all nodded our heads. Forest was obviously close to Pinkie. “Yeah, whats up with that Pinkie. So you gonna hit the hay with him or what?” Dashie asked inquisitively. “Perhaps they already did?” Twilight blurted out.

We laughed at this, only interrupted by damned coughing. “Take it easy, Dad.” “Well anyways, that ain’t important. We gotta focus on you now, ya hear?” A loud crashing noise from outside stopped our conversation. Twilight pointed her hoof out the window. “Speaking of Forest, there he is.” They all looked, chuckling a bit, and then turned to me.

They told me how he had crashed into a tree, face first, while practicing for the tryouts for some team that Dashie was upset about. They left the room leaving me and Dashie alone. “Dad?” “Yeah?” “Can I go with you?” I did a double take at her. I wasn’t sure I heard her right. “Wait what?” She started twiddling her hooves.

“We both know that I can’t live without you, Dad. I thought about this while I was outside and I was thinking I could ‘join’ you.” “Are you suggesting?…” We both knew what it was without saying the actual word. Suicide. This was such a horrible thing. “No Dashie, no even think like that, let alone talk like it. I don’t want you to ever think about that again, you hear me young lady?”

She nodded as her eyes were shooting streams of tears. She buried her face into my chest. I could feel a lake of tears soak my shirt. “I do-n-n’t want you t-to go, D-d-dadd-y-y!” Her voice was muffled under my shirt, but what she said was loud and clear. “It’s alright, everythings going to be okay.” I lied to her. My heart felt like it was being set on fire.

I could hear sniffling coming from the doorway. I drove my attention to it, seeing all of the ponies had come back, with one extra. Soarin’ came into the room and bowed his head in respect. They all surrounded me for the remainder of the evening. They stayed until visiting hours were over. They all left, not before wishing me luck or saying something that was followed by a memory.

Everyone left except Dashie, who hid under the covers next to me. The lights shut off and we prepared to sleep. She gripped my arm tightly, cuddling it and kissing it. “Good night Dashie.” “Good night Daddy.”

We went to sleep. The soothing sound of silence made my subconscious calm itself. I was floating in mid-air. This floating was interrupted by a sudden ‘thump’ as I landed on my two feet. The road ahead of me was long but relaxing. I walked, feeling more life filling me with each step. The landscape was beautiful, almost like it was back on Earth. I felt no worries at this moment. I closed my eyes while walking.

“We told you that we would win.” Multiple whispering voices said all around me. They were the same ones from before. They were the Darkness, or ‘Legion’, the name it called itself by. “Just leave alone!” I yelled while running faster. I heard the bricks behind me fall into a hole of some sort, getting closer with each few inches. I turned my head and the road behind me was disappearing. I was just a few feet away before it would fall underneath my legs.

“We said we would take you. Strip you of your foolish love. Of everything you hold dear.” I kept running. I could hear a sinister cackling emerge. “WE SAID WE WILL HAVE YOU. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE US NOW. YOU WILL BE OURS FOREVER. VERY SOON, YES, VERY SOON.” The voices were now yelling, ripping the sound barriers of the air. I felt like my ears were bleeding from the very noise. The screeching sound that was everywhere was rising every passing second.

My foot gave way as I tumbled down. The floor beneath me vanished as I fell into an infinite chasm of darkness. The black abyss would take me and swallow me whole. As I saw the last few bricks fall down, the voice whispered.

“Dark slumber awaits…..”

A Royal Decision

I woke up from my realistic nightmare. It was too vivid for my comfort. I could still feel the rush of cold air brush my face as I fell into an empty abyss. I could feel myself covered from head to toe in sweat. I was still in the hospital, safe and sound. Dashie was still there with me. The warmth of her body against mine ensured that. She was probably still asleep, unaware of what I was going through.

During my awakening, I had not noticed that my room was filled with six other ponies. Not only until a far too familiar fancy voice spoke up, did I turn to see the commotion. Pinkie seemed disgusted by something that Rarity had whispered into her ear. Something that was completely revolting or inappropriate had relayed to the joyful and bright pony.

I was fading in and out of consciousness, still tired from the experience. I didn’t get any good sleep whatsoever. I heard Applejack say something, then Pinkie and Rarity responded. Their voices, were drowned out by the next voice that followed. “Princess Celestia…” Twilight seemed to be talking to herself. “I think we spoke a little too loudly my little ponies, we woke up our sleeping friend here.” A regal voice interjected calmly.

All of the ponies in the room turned their attention to me. “Oh..Sorry ‘bout that Brian, Ah reckon we did sound like a heard of cattle.” “Yes, we are so sorry to have interrupted your sleep deary. You must forgive our rudeness.” Rarity added. “It’s nice to see you’re awake, party monster!” Pinkie jumped at me. She suddenly stopped in mid-air when a purple aura sounded her body.

Twilight stepped in front of the others. “Hehe..sorry about that. Pinkie’s just being herself.” The Princess, who was still in the back of the room simply giving a smile, began to speak. “Yes, I heard about the events that occurred. I found it only right to offer any help that I can give.” She smiled at me, but underneath, I could sense that feeling of sadness in her eyes.

After all, Equestria doesn’t have to deal with death that often. It’s almost a very rare thing since there is no war, or weapons for that matter. Even for somepony who’s lived and ruled for thousands of years, Celestia probably has little experience with these kinds of things. I couldn’t help but smile to relieve all of them with the feeling of death.

“Listen, it’s fine, really. I’m going to be alright.” I lied. They all took notice to this and looked down at the floor, examining the patterns of the many curves and colors there. “Brian, we both know what I can do with my powers. I can turn you into a pony, curing you of this and even turning you young again.” She really wanted me to become one so that I can fit in with everypony else.

I simply shook my head almost happily. “I appreciate the offer, Celestia, but I have to decline. We both know that I don’t approve of that sort of thing. And besides, that’s not exactly fair is it? I have had a good long life. Being young again is just not what nature intended.” Celestia smiled at me, understanding my view on the matter.

I could tell though, that she wasn’t too happy with this answer. She knew that I would say this but she had hoped with every single strand of hair on her body that I wouldn’t decline. “So other than that, is there anything else you girls need?” I said, breaking the momentary awkward silence. “Yes, Brian, my pupil has been telling me of this new pony named..Forest is it? She, along with you, believes that he is a human. What do you have to say to this?”

‘Wow, looks like someone brought in the big guns’ I thought to myself. I wasn’t sure on how to answer. I, with every part of my soul and mind, wanted him gone without a single peep. I never had a liking for him. He had some sort of –how do you say- feeling around him that just didn’t seem right. He also said some very distinct words. He just spelled ‘human’ all over himself.

Then again, he was the one to save me from the idiot of a unicorn named ‘Trixie’, the Great and Powerful one at that. He saved me by pushing the air back into my lungs. I’m not even sure what to say after that. Despite all of my suspicions and doubts, I think he might be more different that I thought. I mean, he did save my life after all. I probably would have died if he wasn’t there.

Just think of that, instead of dying from this disease, old age, or some other danger, I would have died from laughing at the stupidity of some washed-up magician. I couldn’t help but laugh again. This was pretty funny. The other ponies in the room tilted their heads, looking at me in confusion and bewilderment. “Sorry, I just thought of something funny.”

“Anyway…I’m really not sure about Forest, Celestia. I mean, he has a very distinct suspicion of being a human around him. I believe it myself. But if I had to ask you one thing, go easy on him. ‘What the hell am I doing?’ He saved my life after all. I guess this makes him less of a bad guy, doesn’t it?” The Princess looked at me, still having that unchanging smile painted on her face. “I see.”

The others in the room were taken back by my words. Of all people or ponies to be backing Forest up, I was speaking on his behalf. I couldn’t believe it myself. The Princess’ soothing voice broke my train of thought. “I shall go and see him myself. Just an observation if you will.” With that, the Princess bowed her head, and left. The others in the room nudged the floor with their hooves before leaving the room, each giving a goodbye as they left.

Twilight, the last one to leave, gave me a questioning stare before shaking her head and left. I was in the room with Dashie again. I thought about what was going to happen in the time to follow. ‘Will I be stuck in here forever? Will I get over this thing? What’s going to happen when I’m gone?’ I thought about these things for a moment, then passed it off as being overdramatic. I needed to think about happy and simpler things.

The doctor came into the room, giving me a warming grin as he walked in. “I see your daughter is still sleeping.” He pointed at the figure under the covers. “Yeah, I guess she still is a heavy sleeper. So doc, will I be stuck in here or will I get to leave?” The doctor, who by now was at my side, gave me a slow “No.” He didn’t want to tell me but I had to remain under intense medical watch. It could be any day when the time would come.

Being here made it easier and gave me a chance of survival. “Hmm..imagine that, me laughing in the face of Death..” We both laughed, but quickly subsided when remembering the third presence was still sleeping. “I will leave you to it, Mr. Dash.” I gave him a passing nod. I folded my arms behind me and rested on them, staring out at the luminescent moon that Luna had just brought up to a full halt in the middle of the sky.

The voice from the dream still echoed in my head.

“Dark Slumber Awaits…”

I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon.

Dying of the Light

Author's Note: Get the tissues. Here it comes.

The days in the hospital weren’t too bad, but there was one thing, the confinement. I couldn’t stand being trapped in the same room for the whole time. I felt like I had traced the entire room’s edges at least five hundred times over. If I actually wanted to, I could probably even draw the entire room from memory. The sketch would be exact, down to every little crack and curve.

The visits were not bad. In fact, they were probably the only thing that was keeping me sane. Had I been alone, I might have started confusing my doctor for a piece of candy and my bed a cloud. I was visited by the ponies, Spike, Derpy, Crystal, Celesta every so often, and many others. They always came around checking on my health and giving me something to talk about. Dashie was always there. She never once left my side.

To my surprise though, somepony that I never expected to visit knocked on the hospital door. The pony that I knew wasn’t a pony but a human. Forest slowly walked in, guided by Pinkie, avoiding my frightening glare. He actually didn’t even speak until Dashie and Pinkie nudged him next to me. I still gave him the cold, steel voice. But eventually, I loosened up. He saved me after all.

I’m not sure if he noticed but he did the same. We got around to talking casually, about small matters like the weather, the food, and ponies in general. The conversation soon escalated to his participation in the race that Dashie couldn’t compete in. Apparently, he was the best runner there. After a long chat about that race, he left the room, giving me a nervous smile.

If I had to say, I think it went pretty good. For someone who I had an eye out for, I was pretty calm and not too short with him either. I guess the feeling of persecution ended. I no longer felt like the Spanish Inquisition or Christian Crusaders. I felt somewhat happy if anything.

Other than that, the time of my stay was pretty routine. Waking up, getting checked, eating the hospital food, getting visitors, and so on. Slowly, the days seemed to go by faster. Minutes had become hours. Hours had become days. Days had become weeks. And the weeks became a full month. The month had passed, long after the doctor’s predictions. I guess this fulfilled the saying 'Time flies when one anticipates death’.

Everypony was starting to gain hope. I had beaten the doctor’s educated guess. They thought ‘Maybe it went away, maybe even back to normal.’ I, however, stayed on edge. I had learned once already that the time when you're completely sure of yourself, when you least expected anything to happen, it would happen. Sure enough because of my readiness, nothing came.

A few days after this, Dashie was being reprimanded. She was taking too many days off from her duties at the skies. She hadn’t done any weather control in a month. On this particular day, the clouds had gotten so out of hand that the whole village was drenched in a large downpour. It felt like a second flood from the almighty being from above.

Dashie reluctantly flew at the speed of light, wanting to finish the job quickly and get back to me.

Man, this is so annoying. I gotta go and clear the clouds because apparently, the pegasi here can’t handle a few heavy clouds themselves. Like really, this is such a bummer. I’m flying around the air though, and I have to admit, there a lot of clouds out here today. Whenever I take one out, it feels like two more pop up in it’s place.

Almost none of the other pegasi are helping. They decided that I could handle this on my own just because I wasn’t there the other times. Like come on, I have a dad in the hospital. DOesn’t that give me a good enough reason for a break? Whatever, I just gotta get the ones around here and I should be done.

I flew around, doing the same thing for what seems like an hour now. These clouds just won’t give up. I finally reach the biggest cloud of all. It was like really gray, almost black. I did whatever I could but it didn’t seem to be affected. Finally, I use all my strength and kick it as hard as I can. The big wisp dissipates and I give myself a pat on the back.

A feeling sends a shiver through my whole body. I don’t know what it is, but I know for sure it’s not good. I never had this feeling before. I can’t even begin to describe it. I remained still, flying in the still dark air, when the feeling comes even stronger. I feel like I’m on top of the mountain that Canterlot is built on. I feel as if I am just wrapped in snow. I decide to do what came instinctively, I fly as fast as I can to my Dad.

“Hey Twilight.” I say with a warming smile. “Hey Brian.” She answers back sincerely. “Sorry the others aren’t here yet. This rain is making them take a little longer.” I nodded in acceptance. “That’s quite alright. As long as they’re here right?” Twilight began to speak in a wondering tone. “You know, I have never seen the rain as bad as it is now. I hope Rainbow can fix this fast.” I laugh at her remark. “If Dashie heard you say that, she’d have a hay d-“ A pain is felt all throughout my body. The epicenter of this was at my heart.

“AAARRRGGGGHHHHH! AAAAHH!!” I scream out loud. “Brian? Brian?!” I can’t respond to the now frantic unicorn by my side. “DOCTOR! HELP!” She runs out of the room for a split second, coming back while dragging five doctors with her. All I can do from this point is grip my chest, trying to feel my heart and hopefully alleviate the pain. The doctors gather around me with multiple things flying.

“Get the anesthetic, and don’t forget the defibrillator unit! He’s having a heart attack!” The doctors rush all around me as the pain over encumbers me. I can’t help but succumb to the need to close my eyes. I can hear little strips of words shouting around me. “His heart is going to fast!” and “It’s getting too much voltage!”

I stop hearing everything, just silence. I don’t see anything either, just pitch black. A far too familiar voice whispered out expectantly “Welcome Back” I felt a sudden jolt thorugh my entire body. “CLEAR!” Another jolt, this time waking me up. I gasp for air, clinging to what was the doctor next to me.

“We saved him, thank Celestia!” The doctors all sighed in relief. “That was too close for comfort, Mr. Dash.” Even though, I was brought back, I felt like something was still paining me. “Excuse me, I don’t feel right…” The doctors looked down at the floor. They knew what was coming. “We’re….sorry, Mr. Dash. It seems that at this point, we can’t do that again…You’re going to go by the end of the night..”

Twilight was covered in tears, the watergates of her eyes by now were completely empty and unrelenting. I on the other hand, was calm. I knew that this was over once I heard that voice again. That evil and menacing whisper. I was tired; I couldn’t go on much longer. They hooked up the heart monitor once again, telling them when I was dangerously low.

Twilight began scribbling furiously into a scroll that she had brought along. She ran around the room frantically. “WHERE’S SPIKE!? I have to get this to Rainbow right now!” It was no use, the dragon was not here. I knew what I had to do. I wrote in a piece of paper, scribbling in my final thoughts and words to my little girl if I pass before she comes back.

I calmly call out to Twilight. “Twilight, my dear friend, will you hold this for me? When I go, I want Dashie to have this.” She started tearing up again, barely able to look me in the eyes. She nodded and took the note. “I hope she comes soon.” The other ponies came into the hospital room. “Sorry we’re late. That darned rain got us stu- Twilight what’s wrong?” Applejack asked.

The look on Twilight’s face explained everything to them. They looked at me and started crying. I faintly gave them a half-smile. I was using a lot of energy to do this simple task. Then ran around to my bedside. Then they realized something. “WHERE’S RAINBOW DASH!?” They said in unison. They all ran out of the room. They came back a few minutes later. They shook their heads in sadness and sorrow.

I smile at them with some energy again. “It’s alright girls. Just don’t let me die alone, okay?” None of them dared to look at my face. My calm and joy smile just made them want to cry. I rested my head back on the pillow, my eyes half open.

“Where is he!? Get outta my way!” That loving voice finally returned. Dashie pushed all of the girls aside and helm my hand. “Dad, I knew something bad would happen. I just felt it!” She was staring right into my soul, teary-eyed. “That’s alright. Life gets you when just one thing isn’t there. It’s funny really.” And indeed it was. I chuckled at this. This happened right when Dashie wasn’t here. No other time when she was had anything occurred.

“Dad?” She looked at me with a smile while covering my hand in tears. These tears were not like the rain. No, they were warm. I loved how they felt upon my chilling skin. “It’s all okay..Just let me sleep for a while…” I said closing my eyes. I went to sleep comfortably.

Dad went to sleep right there. Was he dead? Was he passing right this instant? No, he wanted to take a nap after what just happened. He was just worn out. I couldn’t bear to see him like this, so I went to sleep too. I wanted to get into his dream, if these were his final moments.

I’m in a dark cave or something. I can’t tell, all around me is black. I can hear talking further ahead of me. I fly fast, trying to see what it is. I head Dad’s tender voice. Then, I hear a whisper answer back. Dad is talking to that same shadow guy from before. Then, he starts falling into the floor. I see him, being covered in that darkness like before.

“DADDY!” I call out to him. He can’t hear me. I try to fly to him, but I get pulled back. I look back to my wings. All around my body are dark hands, not letting me move a single inch. Then, my wings disappear, but no pain follows it. I have no idea what’s going on but I know that Dad is falling. I can’t see him anymore, only his hand reaching out.

“NO! DAD!”

I hear Dashie calling out to me. I can’t do anything though, this darkness has me trapped. It wanted to take my soul this entire time. All I can do is reach my hand out, trying to grab her hoof. But then another thing grabs it. It feels like another hand? It feels warm and soft. “Hello, honey.” I get pulled out of the darkness that drowned me. I look to my sides, both my hands holding another. “Hey kid, its time for the big leagues.” Dad said. My mom and dad were here with me, holding my hand and making me somehow fly.

We flew fast, maybe as fast as Dashie. No, we are going faster than her at her best. I hear her calling out for me again. This time in bewilderment. “Daddy?" I flew as fast as I can. My parents guiding me to the light shining high above. We are getting closer and closer. All I want is to spread the light and save Dashie from this madness.

I feel something behind me. A force emerges from a big gush of air and rainbow. Was I doing a SonicRainboom? All I know is that all of the darkness is fading away, Dashie is set free again. As I get pulled into the light, I look down at her. She is smiling, joyfully and amazed at my feat.

“See you later, Dashie!” I wave to her, my parents smiling at the two of us. The light envelopes me. No longer was the darkness plaguing me. No longer did I have to feel pain and suffering again. No longer was there any sadness or grief. This was paradise.

'BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPP' A loud sound wakes me up. I know this sound. I dreaded hearing this sound. It was the sound of a heart flatlining. I couldn't help but cry into his body, which is getting colder with each passing second. Daddy was gone, taken away from my reach. I can hear crying from behind but I don't care. I want to hold him in my hooves. The noise continues to drone the whole time. The sound of the rain pattering against the windows lessen.

I must have been crying into Daddy's body for ten hours. By the time I got ahold of myself, it was morning. The rain had also stopped. I cant cry any more, I used up every drop of water in my body. The girls are also silent. I look up to see Dad's face one last time. What was there shocked me beyond words.

There, on my Dad's soft, aged, face, was plastered a smile. It was a full, whole-hearted smile. He probably used up all of his energy to do this. All I can do in return is smile back. I look back to the others who had also taken notice of this. They come up and give me a hug.

This made me feel better. Not only did I get a final smile from Daddy, but my friends were there for me. I break from the embrace after some minutes and head to the balcony. The sun was glowing in the sky. The sight of Ponyville is amazing. All of the rain was shimmering from Celestia's beauty. It was like jewels had covered the town. I take notice of something colorful out of the corner of my eye.

Twilight and the gang was next to me by now. We looked in awe at what was painted in the sky. It was a rainbow. The most beautiful rainbow I have ever seem. Something was just..different about this one. I examine it more closely. The colors were so contrasting, yet awesome. Red, orange, yellow, green, Dad, blue.. Wait what?

I looked back to where the green was. Next to it, I saw a distant figure smiling at me. "I-IT'S DAD!" I yell out, pointing to the green. The others squinted their eyes, trying to see what I was talking about, but didn't see anything though. I still saw him. He was there smiling at me. He didn't stop. And when the rainbow disappeared, he was still smiling. He would remain happily smiling at me forever.

In my heart.

Transcendence

20 years later

The front door slammed shut with a light kick of her hind leg, after a tiresome day’s work at the weather factory as manager, Rainbow Dash sought a nap. Stretching her wings, she made her way her bedroom.
Rainbow Dash had been all alone for years now, her friends all passing into the great afterlife after living a long, fun, joyful, and loving life. She was the youngest of them all, giving her more time on Equestria. Now with all of her closest friends gone, she was living a sad life. The occasional visits from the grown up and disbanded Cutie Mark Crusaders gave her some joy in life.
She saw the note that rested on the book shelf, the letter that he wrote to her on his deathbed. She took it out of it's stand and laid down on the couch. In pencil, the letter reads:

“Dashie, I know your memory isn’t what is used to be and your hearing is going, that is why I am writing this in a note. I raised you from a filly into the mare that you are today, in a world that wasn’t meant for you. For half a year you were without me, taken from me and put where you belong, but not with who you belong: Me. For those six months not a single day went by that I didn’t think about you, not a single second went by that I didn‘t think about you. After four and a half months when I arrived in Equestria for the first time, my only thoughts were to find my daughter, my little Dashie. Only to be sent back to Earth for another month and a half.

When I woke up in the clearing near the lake, I began to look for you. I found you, crying, I knew that we’d be together forever. I still remember all of our adventures together, my wings, learning how to fly, your races and performances, our mutual dreams, flying together. I still remember your fillyhood on Earth, your first bath, first words, doodles and drawings, our baking mishaps, your first preened feathers, getting your cutie mark. I remember it all, I will never forget. Dashie, I’ve lived a good life, but my time has come, I’m an old man now, everybody has to die eventually. Do not be sad, because I will be waiting for you up there until your time comes, but do not make me wait too long. As the old wise saying goes, ‘don't cry because the good times are over. Smile because they happened.’

I will be watching you, whispering advice in your ear, if you ever need me, just know that I am a part of you; we can still share dreams, remember that, and never forget your old man. I hope you had a good life, because I know I did.
Love, Dad.”

The letter brought tears to the now ex-speedster’s glaucoma ridden eyes. As Rainbow Dash made her way to the bed, she could not help but shed a few tears in remembrance of her father once more. Dash fell asleep, still remembering her times with her Pops. That night she flew with her father again in her dreams before succumbing to peaceful release.

Dashie was in the sky, just not the one that she was accustomed to. This sky seemed endless, and almost golden. Before her were her best friends, all back to their young selves. They seemed to be gleaming with joy. The sight was heavenly. She herself was once again young. All of the age and impairments had washed away like stains of dirt. Suddenly, a voice spoke up behind her, each word like a beautiful symphony to her ears.

“Hello Dashie, it’s been a while.”

“Heya Pops. Yeah, it has been a while. How’s it been?”

“Oh, you know. Same shit, different day.”

Done by the great writer EpicBG who wrote the terrific second sequel to My Little Dashie. His collaboration has given all of you that happy ending for Brian that you so rightfully deserved. And with this final chapter and glimpse, so concludes the life of Dashie and Brian.

Journal

Last night's Gala ended just as I knew it would. By that I mean it wasn't boring that's for sure. After I sat down, I saw someone walk out to the balcony of the ballroom. I didn’t see who it was but they walked in a very depressed manner. I got up to see who it was. As I walked out I heard a big crashing noise from the ballroom. It was Pinkie, that silly mare. She fell all over the punch table and all of it splashed all over everypony. I chuckled and bit but everypony else was a bit ticked off.

Anyways I turned my head and moved just a bit before I got knocked down on my ass. My head hurt and I rubbed the major areas while looking up. There was very a very distinct, royal smell ahead of me. You probably guessed it, it was Celestia. "Well of all of the ponies to bump into..." I said in a sarcastic voice. She didn't even answer me back. This started to annoy me. I got up. "Hey! What's the big idea? You knock me down and don't even say anything?" Knowing her, I was probably the last person she wanted to see. I did like this depressed sight but I knew it was wrong. What kind of man would I be if I let somepony just sit there while I enjoyed their misery. Besides, what kind of example would I set for for my little girl if I acted like this?

I walked up to the full grown pegasus and put my hand on her shoulder. I actually gave her a sincere smile, even though I don't like it, and ask her what's wrong. She turned and looked at me in surprise. "What do you care?" "Just tell me what's wrong." "Fine, it's just that every Gala, I greet and say goodbye to ponies. Then I am all alone. It's just that I have no one close. Twilight is a great student and the best I have but I mean I dont have any relationships as close as Rainbow and yours." she said as she started to shed some tears. "Well if it makes you feel better, I guess you could talk to me about these feelings...." She was now gawking at me, mouth agape. Then she did what I was definitely not expecting and hugged me. Seeing as what just happened, I hugged back. I still can't believe it, I'm now friends with Princess Celestia.

So now I finish writing of the events that happened last night. Oh and I got this new journal from some fancy store at Canterlot. Of course, it didn't come with a quill. So I had to stop at Quills and Mattresses for one. Luckily I got the last one, which didn't make sense to me because of the stores name. My breath is getting a little different every once in a while. Signing off for the night.

Pops is really turning tonight. I hear him tossing around in his bed. I think he's having a nightmare. I also hear him breathing pretty loud, not snoring but sort of like a loud puff. I'm gonna try to get into his nightmare to see what's going on. Then all I hear is the wind. I open my eyes and see I am back on Earth. I also see that I am in front of an abandoned house. It looked sorta familiar. As I get closer, I realize that it's Pop's house. I rush see a shadow in the window.
I couldn't see who it was; actually I think it was just some sorta shadow person. It had no clothes or features. It was just pure darkness. I looked at it when I notice that it's holding up its hand. I then feel my heart skip a beat. My mind is filled with many oncoming thoughts. 'What do I do? Who is that? How can I stop it?' My thoughts were stopped by a sudden scream. I snap back to what was going on when I see daddy looking at me crying. I can see him mouthing some words. "Run! Just run, Dashie, before it gets you!" I immediately run to the door and kick with all my might. I look back and see it hasn't budged an inch. I kick again. Nothing. Then a memory of daddy first found me pops up and I feel so much strength in my body. I kick for a last and devastating time. The door flies off its hinges and I run inside. My dad's face is turning blue. I run to the shadows side and hit it with everything I have. Then it turns around and looks at me. Red Eyes. That's all I see. Just two Red circles looking straight into my soul. I am stunned for a second, then I move quickly to its arm and try to pull it away from dad. It let's go of dad and starts to choke me. I can feel the life being drained from me as it holds me a fee inches from the ceiling. I was ready to die if it meant saving pops when I hear it.
A loud knock and scream. I wake up and see it's morning. I'm covered in sweat but I dont even hesitate for a second. I run to dads room and see that it's empty. I yell for him as loud as I can. "DAAAAAAAADDDD!!!!!" No response. I run into the hallway and see him very tired at the doorway. He turns around and asks me "Had a good night's sleep? These girls here just wanted you for something and I answered the door" I laugh. That horrible nightmare and the first thing he asks me is how was my sleep. Then I feel a weight on my head. I look up and see an orange filly with a purple mane. Blank flank as well. "Hey Rainbow Dash! Did you know you're the most awesomest and most supergreat pony ever? I was wondering if you'd give me a couple of tips, if ya don't mind." I look at dad and he moves aside. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were here. Probably trying another way to earn their Cutie Marks again. I nod and ask them to wait outside. After we are alone, I look at dad and ask him "What happened last night? What was that?" He Looked at me with a confused face. "What do you mean Dashie? What's wrong?" He didn't even look rattled. I guess I had that nightmare and Dad was sleeping alright. I decided to drop it and went to take a shower. After finishing, I ate some breakfast and said bye to pops. I was going out and helping Scootaloo and the others with whatever they needed help with.

"Phew" I said out loudly as I exhaled. She just left and now I can think about it. What happened last night scares me. I think she fell for my lie. I don’t like lying to her but I can tell her that I was having a nightmare that almost killed me. I sit down and think about the events. That shadow just showed up out of nowhere. It told me that my time was up and no one or no pony could save me. I knew this was a lie but still. I can't even think about it. It felt so real just like last time. The pain is so much and the dreams are so vivid. As if they actually happened! But I can't keep thinking about these things. Maybe I'll go to Twilight and ask her if she knows anything about this mysterious shadow. I have something important to do today so I can't think about this all day. I have to help Pinkie set up a birthday party for Rarity. I "Pinkie" promised her and she is someone you definitely do not want to cross when it comes to promises. I imagine she'll go crazy like that episode where AppleJack tried to leave that old western town.