The Coldest Winter

Right, so the story is, of course, one that I had an idea for a long, long time ago, hence the unprofessional dialogue and grammar options you come across as you read along.

It isn't exactly tied into the storyline of the life of Rainbow Strike from The Long Lost Rainbow or All Rainbow and No Colour, but it has the very same themes and emotions.

As a whole series, I can safely say that it is of the thriller variety. A thriller/horror/dark/emotional fan-fiction. It's the very first piece of writing I decided to pursue and turn it into a story, but it's also probably one of the top stories in my listings.

Characterwise, Rainbow Strike is a troubled and depressed pony. He has done many wrongs in his life by misguidance and forced criminal acts, yet underneath his ill doings, he is a genuinely sweet, loving and caring pony. He has always been of the chipper and happy variety, but when his life took a turn for the worst after leaving his home and town to escape ridicule, he lost himself.

The biggest factor of change in his life comes from the female singer and music icon named Remedy, who was also his fiancee. They were due to be married in around a year or so before her untimely murder. Right back at where Strike started, he left the crime-fueled town of Stockholm and headed back towards Ponyville, hoping to start anew.

Y'know, as a side note on his characterisation, I think that, on a personal level, Rainbow Strike's personality comes from my own perception of myself and the world I live in. I'm generally a mixed person with no true or fixed attitude, which gives me a flexibility with my persona.

I know I killed him off, but believe me, it actually hurt to do it.

In the letter in this story at the end, the part where he writes to the CMC is probably where it hits home the most. When Remedy died, she was pregnant. Rainbow Strike would have been a father.

He mentioned that, if his child was born, he would imagine it to be a compilation of the CMC merged into one pony. He thinks of them all as his own children, hence their close relationship. To tell you the truth, if I had a daughter, I'd like to think of her as a cross between Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. She would definitely be my daughter, as I feel that this particular pair reflects my personality the most out of the CMC.

I suppose it hurts a bit on my end as the writer because one thing that I wouldn't mind having in my life is a daughter such as Apple Bloom or Scootaloo, but I know that would never happen.

Anyway, to be blunt about the entire story, Rainbow Strike is basically me as a pony, although not directly. That would be classed a 'Self-Insert Character'.

The rest of the letter is actually just a snippet of Strike's perception on the world and what he thinks of it. Now, I took quite a few pieces of inspiration for this letter, one of which being the suicide note from Kurt Cobain and the others being some of the few suicide notes I've written but ended up throwing away. Yeah, I've been on and off the deep end quite a handful of times.

It's a summary of the pain he's been subjected to and been forced to live through. Eventually, whenever any human being or creature is put through that type of pain and torment or any form of torture that amounts to the equal negativity, they are going to cave at one point at another and want nothing more to have their misery ended.

In a way, it has a bittersweet twist. He's been hurt and abused physically and mentally to the point where he developed a case of PTSD and anxiety attacks, but when his will power to live faded, he took his own life, putting himself at peace. At long last, he has found his state of nirvana. While it's still sad in reality, it has a heartwarming effect to it because of his background.