A Thought Among Others

In a flash of blackness, a brown book spiraled down, towards the ground. It landed roughly, but unbroken. A certain rainbow-maned cyan pegasus sat on a cloud nearby, spotting the odd book that came from nowhere. The pegasus had a mane and tail of the rainbow, and cyan fur. Her eyes were magenta, showing curiosity and confusion. She had a cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt descending from it, showing her need for speed. She flew towards the odd book and landed right in front.

"The Journal of Painted Dream," she read aloud. "Meh, seems normal enough. Probably some stupid filly's diary." She rolled her eyes, but then peered back at the journal. "Then again, maybe it's something interesting." She rolled her eyes again. "Nah, it probably is about dumb stuff like colt problems and filly drama." However, her curiosity got the better of her, and she could not help but flip open the front page. "Maybe it's something good, you never know."

Guess what? I just found out my dad disappeared and some psycho person might be out to kill me! Yaaaaay!

...Okay, maybe that isn't self-explanatory. But it's also why I decided I would start writing in this stupid thing. It would probably make more sense if I actually wrote about what the hay I was talking about.

So, my dad is, or was, in this weird cult thing, as they call it, "The Fillydelphia Gatherers of Power". They were kind of almost worshiping this weird insane guy who thinks himself higher than Princess Celestia. Whatever, dude, as long as you don't affect me. Except, he affected me through my father. You see, for some reason, my dad thinks, or used to think, that he was really almighty, and the Princess is nothing. I didn't really support their ideas, but whenever Mom, Monterrey, or I said something negative of it, Dad would get angry and leave for a day. He'd come the next day, and everyone would apologize and it would be all good. Dad never tried to recruit Mom or I, since the cult though as mares as the lower gender. Dad does not think this way, but the cult does not accept mares. So, when Monterrey became an adult, Dad tried to recruit him. Monterrey always told him that he'd think about it, but in all honesty, I think the only thing he thought about it was that it was ridiculous.

This morning, Monterrey burst through my front door (Yeah, thanks for knocking, Monterrey!) . After cleaning up the mess I made when he surprised me, (I was drinking my morning coffee, and he made me spit up on myself. Again, thanks for knocking!) I asked him what the buck was so important that he had to interrupt my early morning coffee. (In exactly those words.) Then, he broke the news to me. Let's see if I can directly quote our conversation.

"Remember that occult that Dad participates in? Well, Princess Celestia found they've been doing sacrifices."

"And why is this so important? Okay, I see that sacrifices are not good and stuff because they kill ponies and stuff. I also am kind of astounded that Dad would do stuff like that, but then again, he's in a creepy cult that's stupid. But why does this matter? Is Dad going to be locked up or something?"

"When the occult found out that Princess Celestia was sending guards to stop their meetings, they issued an emergency meeting. This was two days ago, and Dad hasn't returned yet. Oh, and remember that family down the street, where their son ended up being part of the occult? His parents were found dead, along with a couple other families who had immediate family that were in the occult."

"So... you think we're in danger?"

"Yeah."

"So... where's Mom?"

"She went to go buy some food. You know, since you usually don't have much of anything good to eat, since you never leave your house."

"I have plenty to eat!" (It was here when I showed him all of my awesome snacks, such as haysticks. He pointed out that I had no good foods, which I promptly disagree with, but whatever.) "Okay, so... you came here to tell me about Dad and that other family that was found dead, and claim that we might be potentially in danger, and, while coming here, you left Mom by herself? I mean, if your coming here to warn, might as well, you know, stay with Mom?" So, we left (After I finally got to finish my morning coffee, of course.) to go find Mom, and we did technically find her, but...

The cyan pegasus was getting almost interested in this journal, although she would not admit it. She was about to turn the page, when a pink earth pony appeared behind her.

"Whatcha reading?" she asked, causing the pegasus to almost jump out of her skin. The pink pony had light pink fur, and a puffy darker pink mane and tail. Her eyes were a brilliant blue, and a cutie mark of three balloons, exposing her bubbly, partying nature.

"Gyaaaaah!" Rainbow shouted, kicking the journal under a bench. "N-nothing," she lied, after regaining her composure. The bubbly pink pony cocked her head to the side.

"Are you sure? I swear I saw you reading something, Rainbow," the pink pony interrogated in a suspicious tone, slowly pacing around  the rainbow maned pegasus, supposedly Rainbow, in a circle. A sweat drop slipped down the side of the Rainbow's face. She shook her head.

"Nope, no, no book! I am absolutely sure, Pinkie!" The pink pony, most likely Pinkie, narrowed her eyes a little more, before returning to normal.

"Okey dokey lokey! See ya later, Rainbow!" Pinkie then hopped away, in her own bubbly and quirky way. After Rainbow was sure that the odd pony was gone she took out the journal from under the bench, and opened it to the right page.

HAH! I probably just tricked you just then. Yeah, we found her, alive and fine. She did get food, some delicious looking veggies and fruits. I will admit, it has been a while since I have had a good apple. I love those things.

We went to my home, and discussed everything. Mom was sure that it had nothing to do with the cult, but we should just be careful. I don't get it. How could Mom be so awesome, and be with a crazy dude like Dad? I never understood that. Maybe if she found a suitable guy, her kids wouldn't be so weird. But hey, you're too late now!

So, Monterrey and I had to go to work and stuff. That's not important, so I'll skip over it.

When I got home, I found that Monterrey and Mom were still there. I asked them if they were going back to their homes. Of, course, Monterrey decided without my consent that they were staying at my house for the night. I made sure that it was known that there was only one bed in the house and it was mine.

Of course, it ended up as Mom on the bed, Monterrey on the couch, and me on the floor. Thanks a lot, Monterrey.

Rainbow Dash was about to flip the page, before a thought appeared in her head.

"WHY THE HAY IS HIS NAME MONTERREY?!" Rainbow shouted, almost expecting a response. However, she simply gave up and flipped the page.

This morning was not particularly interesting. I'm really crabby this morning because stupid Monterrey got up early to make mac and cheese. Don't get me wrong, he makes the best damn mac and cheese I've ever tasted, but any loud noise at six in the morning is enough to make me curse and yell. Screw that "early to rise" crap. I need my sleep.

Anyway, today is also when I get the newspaper. So, Mom decided she would read it. What was the front headlines? *Entire Fillydelphian Sacrificial Cult Found Dead*. So, Mom looks if they have a list, and sure enough, they do. Unfortunately, we find the one stallion we had hoped to not find on that list. So, yeah... Dad is dead. Yep. So, we're all crying and stuff, and... yeah. He's officially dead. By unknown cases, they say, apparently there's no wound, or evidence of sickness. Magic, probably. I knew that sick, stupid thing Dad participates in would be the end of him. We all knew it.

The rainbow-maned pegasus stared at the book in confusion. After such a long chapter, how could this one be so short?

"Hey, Rainbow! Are you reading Daring Doo?" Rainbow yelped and turned around, to see a lavender unicorn. Her eyes were a deep violet, matching the color of her mane and tail, excluding the highlights of bright pink. Her cutie mark was of a five-pointed star, and several other five-pointed stars surrounding it, expressing her love and passion of magic.

"I'm not reading anything!" The pegasus quite obviously fibbed. The lavender unicorn raised her eyebrow.

"Rainbow Dash, are you lying about reading a book? I know you do like reading certain books. You have no reason to hide them," comforted the unicorn. Rainbow lowered her eyes, and then peered back at her friend. She stood up.

"You're right. Sorry for lying, Twilight. That wasn't very fair of me." Rainbow picked up the book and showed it to her friend, probably Twilight. "It's a journal of some mare named Sweet Dream. I haven't gotten really far, but so far I'm kinda interested." Twilight picked up the book and looked at the cover with her telekinesis and looked at it.

"Rainbow, how do you know it isn't an actual pony's journal?" Twilight asked, looking at Rainbow with a quizzical expression showing upon her lavender face, the corners of her mouth twisting downwards in a confused frown. Rainbow simply rolled her eyes.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it's fake. It doesn't seem very realistic. Now, I wanna head home and read some more. I'm kinda curious as to what happened to her family, and if they're gonna get attacked, too. See ya, Twilight!" Rainbow grabbed the book and headed to her home in the clouds. The lavender mare simply rolled her eyes and continued towards her destination, Sugarcube Corner, to visit her friend, Pinkie.

When Rainbow was comfortably in her home, she laid down on her soft bed, and reopened the book, to read some more of the pony named Sweet Dream.

Another day, another bit. Well, I could do with another bit each day. I could have a bigger house, and wouldn't have to paint by a deadline. I paint when I want to, not whenever you want to.

Anyway, it has been a while since... well... Dad died. We're all steadily getting over it. Monterrey was the first to get over it; he just knew that Dad's bad decisions were to catch up to him, and his bad choices ended in death. There is nothing we could do about it, so why carry on. Mom... well, she moved on, but there will always be a hole in her heart, a place where something is missing, except the thing that was missing died, so it's never coming back. Boy, am I poetic. I suppose that;s why I'm a painter, not a poet. I don't have a way with words, I have a way with pictures. And paintbrushes, or pencil or chalk. Hey, I'm not picky when it comes to mediums. As long as I am satisfied with my result, I don't care, although I have to admit paint is my favorite. If I wanted, I could use my hooves to spread it across the canvas, to create a mixed and odd background. Of course, I'd have to clean my hooves first so that I don't go tracking paint around the house. Wait. I'm getting off topic.

So, Monterrey and I were looking for food one day, and then, all of the sudden, a mare came up to him. I'm going to try to record the conversation to the best of my memory.

"Hey, you look like a nice stallion. What's your name?" She was a very gorgeous mare, way too pretty for a moron like my brother. Getting her would be a miracle for him.

So, he responds by trying to act professional, making him actually look really stupid. "Um, it's Monterrey Jack..." She actually found him interesting, and then I realized he had a chance with this pretty-faced mare. Now, some siblings would be glad to see their sibling manage to score a really hot mare. Not me. I then come up with the best idea, and walk up to Monterrey.

"Monterrey! What are you doing? You know how jealous your coltfriend gets when you talk to mares!" The mare looks taken aback at my comment, in which she was too dumb to realize it was a lie.

"Um... I have to go. I hope I didn't upset your relationship?" quietly half stated, half asked the mare. Monterrey tried to explain that I was lying, but I had already made things too awkward. The mare then rushed away from the awkward atmosphere. After watching her leave, he turned at me, and glared at me with all of the hatred he could muster.

"You think you so clever, don't you?" Funny, that doesn't sound very menacing. I snickered and trotted past him, towards the store we wished to get food from. Dude, the only time I love my brother is when I get to make fun of his stupid face. I'm sure he absolutely adores me when I do that, too.