A Splash of Color

A Splash of Color

Chapter 1-

"Splaaaaaaaashiiiiiieeeeeee..."

I spin around.

"Splaaaaaaaaaaaaaashiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee."

I shiver.

"D-daddy?" A silhouette of a stallion shows on the wall, but there is no other pony besides me. I feel a breeze on my mane. It smells like my father's favorite cologne.

"Splashie... Come and sit with me."

I walk towards his silhouette, and he appears. But not whole. He is burned and smoking, singed and raggedy. I reach out to him, but my hoof passes right through him.

"But daddy... You're not here." He vanishes, leaving behind only his scent and his voice.

"But of course I'm not. I'm gone."

I recoil, and images flash across my brain. I see my father fall into a pit filled with rainbow liquid, and hear his screams of agony even though I wasn't there. I am almost to the point where I jump in after him, but his screams are replaced with a pained gargling sound. Oh yeah. This is the part where he drowns. I can't bear it, I leap in after him, blah blah blah. Same old, same old. But instead of reaching the rainbow liquid, I keep falling. And falling. The rainbow and the tortured yells of my father disappear, and I fall forever and ever through a dark and bottomless pit.

~~~~~

I wake up, trembling and sweaty. The odd sensation of falling left over from that particularly vivid dream is still plaguing me relentlessly.

Woah... What a dream. I think to myself.

Of course, it's nothing new. I have a dream to a similar effect every night. I have for the past six years, ever since my father died. Directly underneath my cloud bed is the floor of my bedroom, obviously. But I know that there's something there. I reach my hoof down, and into a hidden nook where I keep my most special possessions. Among them is my beautiful cloud-in-a-jar. It's the last reminder I have of my daddy. I talk to it sometimes because its the only thing that will listen.

Puffy, one of my sisters, became really weird after dad died. She wears lots of makeup and is always in trouble at school and with the law. Not at home, though, because mommy doesn't care. She never comes out of her room. Misty brings her food and cooks and cares for the rest of us. Even so, she has problems too. She acts cheerful, but late at night, I have caught her using a knife to make tiny cuts on her left forehoof. It looks painful, but I guess that's how she deals with the sadness. As for me, Misty says I'm depressed. I guess I am. I'm also mute, or that's the nice word for it that Misty calls me. I only ever speak in my dreams. Puffy has some not-very-nice words for it, and she calls me them because she knows I won't say anything back. Misty tries to calm her down, but never really tries to comfort me, because she can't. The few times she tried I either pushed her away or got sadder. Nopony in this broken family can be happy again, or at least that's my opinion. Misty acts happy but it's only an act. She doesn't really feel happy inside.

I watch the sentient cloud swirl away from my hoof's shadow. I know that if the emotion is pure then I can write a wish on a slip of paper and drop it in. I sigh, and tuck the jar under my wing. I trot out to the balcony, where the bright morning sun is beating down. I squint, not having been exposed to bright light for a few years. I look down sadly into the misty abyss, barely covering the thick and dark trees of the infamous Everfree Forest. I wonder what it's like down there, among the spooky trees and mysterious plants. I heard rumors one that a zebra lives down there. A zebra. I've always wanted to meet a zebra, but now I probably won't. I'm not allowed to leave and I don't really want to. And yet I do. I want to leave this city, this house, this family. It's all broken and full of bad memories that spill out through the filthy cracks.

I look down at my cloud-in-a-jar, and contemplate what the wish would be. I glance around and especially behind me, and am not surprised by the results. Mommy never comes out of her room. Misty does most of the work around here, which saps a lot of her energy, so she takes naps at this time of day. And Puffy is out doing whatever illegal stuff she does. So I'm alone. Checking one more time just to be sure, and flapping my wings experimentally, I fly around a little bit, savoring the fresh air. The weather is beautiful, the clouds anything but sparse, but not unpleasantly so. They are all small, and fluffy, and the purest white I have ever seen. I wish that daddy could be here to see it. Then, I know what I want to wish. I zip inside and grab a piece of paper and a pencil. I carefully print the words on it, and through the tip of the pencil I pour all of my sorrow and grief and regret. As I drop the paper into the jar, a single tear falls from my dull blue eyes. It's not a tear of sorrow, but a tear of hope.

The jar glows, and suddenly, I feel... Nothing at all? The jar didn't do anything! I run back out to the balcony and throw the jar as far off away as I can. I wished to see my father again, but I guess you can't bring ponies back from the dead because daddy is definitely not here. I feel a sudden, heavy sense of grief. It's as intense as if I'm watching him die all over again, watching mom slip away into her dark and lonely world of grief, watch my beloved sisters become different ponies. It's horrible and choking. It's also creepily like my dream, only this time it's real and I can't wake up at command. I try everything, but the images flash through my head nonetheless. I curl up into a shivering little ball on the soft cloud balcony, trembling as fresh tears run down my cheeks. The images fade slowly, as I am left with the last one, of my father's tortured screams and final breath. I sob quietly, overcome with sadness. I stumble my way over to the balcony's edge and look down. It's a long way down. A little voice in my head pipes up, quiet but firm.

Good.

I pause and contemplate the possibility of it, of jumping off of the balcony. Wherever I went afterwards, I'd probably see daddy again. That would be the happiest moment of my life, even if it was in death.

Well, too late to choose. Best just stop thinking about it before you change your mind.

I smile sadly and go inside to get another paper. I scribble a quick note to my family and leave it on my bed. It's likely that only Misty will see it. I trot back to the balcony. Before I can stop myself, I leap off. I know that I'm now doomed to die, my fate now sealed in superglue and wax. The feeling of free fall envelopes me and I close my eyes, awaiting the sensation of death.

As I fall to my death, I could swear I hear my father's voice.

"Splashie. Don't do this."

I think a response back because I won't speak.

It's too late, daddy. It's already done.

His voice is not hesitant to respond.

"Splashie, I can't let you throw your life away. I love you but I don't want you to join me for a long time. It's not your time."

I can almost smell his cologne in the wind. His voice fades away as he tells me he loves me dearly. Tears fall from my eyes, being pulled up by the speed of my fall. As I plummet closer and closer towards the Everfree Forest, I become aware of a shimmering magical aura around me. It shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow, and yet, I don't care. I'm so close to the ground now that I can feel it. I feel death creeping up on me. The forest rapidly approaches, and suddenly I smack into a hard surface. It hurts really bad, and I heard my wing crack. I slowly sink into the substance of the surface, feeling like I'm enveloped in liquid silk, and I have time to think one word before I fall happily into unconciousness.

Color.