A Thought Among Others

"Good morning, Rainbow!" yelled a mare at the top of her lungs. Rainbow turned to see the sound of the voice. She was currently at work, as today was supposed to be rain. Accumulating clouds is not as quickly done as destroying them. Rainbow looked at her own level, in the clouds, expecting the outburst to be coming from a coworker, but instead, she looked down to see a familiar pink earth pony.

"Uh.. Good morning, Pinkie," Rainbow shouted back to her peculiar friend. She kicked a cloud into place, filling one half of the sky. "Don't you want to go inside before we finish?" Pinkie simply hopped in place.

"Heh! Silly Rainbow! Rain won't affect me!" giggled Pinkie Pie. Rainbow rolled her eyes. After all this IS Pinkie Pie. She could pretty much do the impossible.

"Oookaaay..." mumbled Rainbow Dash as she kicked a cloud into place. "So, Pinkie, what's up?" Rainbow instantly regretted her words as Pinkie sported a growing grin.

"Why, you are, Dashie!" Rainbow rolled her eyes and continued her work. "But what's up with me is that there's going to be a party next week!" The rainbow-maned maned pegasus raised her eyebrow.

"Huh? What is it for? I don't remember anything going on next week..." Pinkie simply giggled to herself, excited to explain to her pegasus friend the method to her madness.

"It's for a new pony in Ponyville! Two, of them, actually!" Rainbow raised her other eyebrow and paused her work for a moment.

"Really? I haven't seen any new ponies around..." muttered Rainbow. Pinkie once again released one of her usual silly giggles.

"Of course you haven't SEEN them yet, they haven't come to Ponyville yet!" Pinkie Pie then went on her way, humming to herself, and leaving Rainbow confused. After Rainbow shrugged and dismissed as it being Pinkie just being Pinkie, she went on with her work and buck more clouds into their places.

Today was probably the most horrifying day of my life.

I haven't written in here very often, since it has been about two weeks. Mom and Monterrey decided to return to their homes, since Monterrey was just majorly overreacting. This has also resulted in him showing me every time another family has been killed. I will have to say, though, every time has been worse than the last. The first time they just were choked to death. The most recent one had their throats forcefully ripped out. Yeah, the newspaper didn't have a picture, but they described it as horrible as they could possibly describe. I spit out another cup of coffee that morning. I hate it when  Monterrey makes me lose good coffee(although he thinks it's crap. He has no taste whatsoever.). I'd much rather ramble on about things less frightening, but something like I have encountered really needs to be recorded. After all, Mom thinks no one would believe it(and she herself can hardly believe it) and Monterrey would over-dramatize it to the point where people would dismiss him as loony. Might as well be, but...

I really need to get to the point.

So, it was any normal day. I had to go out to get painting supplies, since I was running out. I only keep this diary for stupid stuff that I thought needed to be recorded. My true diary is my art. Countless picture I have painted of stuff I want to remember, like the happy times with Dad, or when I was little. I also paint things the world should see. For example, what happened today.

When I went out, I saw Monterrey and Mom out together as well. Upon noticing me, Monterrey rushed up to me with an urgent look upon his face, while Mom calmly trotted over. Monterrey was freaking out, because they apparently thought something had happened to me. Of course, I was confused as to why. Mom and Monterrey's apartment buildings were set on fire. The only reason I would worry is because they live two blocks apart from each other. Not any other buildings, just theirs.When they told me this, I shouted aloud, "MY ART!" and rushed home to all of my artwork and supplies. They were my life. I doubt I could survive without my artwork and supplies to paint with. Those were packed full with memories, and I wanted only to paint more. Also, I had some unfinished work in there that I was going to sell to customers!

Going home was the easy part. What was not simple was going inside. You see, everything was fine. After going inside my apartment, I went straight to my art room. Not a single thing in there was affected, everything was fine. the only thing different is when I went back into the living room and noticed I had a visitor, which Monterrey and Mom were staring at, frozen in fear.

This visitor was a stallion. Not just any stallion. There was a look in his eyes that made his already too-wide smile seem wider, his already sharp teeth sharper. The look in his eyes was horrendous. That look forced you to feel cold hard fear like you've never felt before. The look in his eyes almost told you, "I'm a psychopath. A really insane psychopath. I'm a really insane psychopath that is about to kill you. He had almost normal colors, a dark green mane, a navy coat, and deep violet eyes. What he wore was weird. He wore a huge cape that was a strangely odd yet yet familiar fabric, which was a salmon-like color. Under the cape, he was wearing pukish-yellow tights, which also seemed to be the same fabric as his cape. That, or he dyed his fur that disgusting color. Ew. Reflecting on this pony, I realize he had no fashion sense, Then again, opposed to I, who almost never wears any clothing, he at least is wearing something.

Joking around, hoping he was just a normal stallion, I said, "What kind of fabric is your cape? It almost looked like you skinned somepony..." He suddenly cackled to himself, and I saw something strange on the flank of his cape...

It was a cutie mark...

Before the stallion could stop laughing, Monterrey lifted up a chair with his magic and bashed him in the head. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we're unicorns, didn't I? Well, being not really focused on magic, we're not too powerful. But anypony can lift simple stuff, and Monterrey has at one point tried to become magic based, but gave up after he found his passion for mac and cheese. He still could lift heavy things, so that was convenient for occasions like these.

We ran straight out of there. Well, Monterrey and Mom did. I, however, had things I needed to retrieve. I might sound stuck up and/or an elitist, but I need to have certain art and art supplies with me. Maybe little things I made for my family and Dad, and just others things to ease my tension and paint. No, without my art I am nothing.

Ever since I was a little filly, I would love painting with my hooves. As I developed magic and learned to use magic to paint, I would paint all day, every day. I would forget about everything else in the world, like no bullies, no troubles. I would feel important. When I first presented my art in front of an audience, I won my cutie mark. I still have that painting, and that one is among the paintings I want with me.

When I went into the room, I grabbed my huge bag I use to fill my paintings and art supplies in, and fill it with my favorite artwork and supplies. I packed as quickly as I could with my magic. Monterrey tried to force me out, telling me to forget about my artwork and supplies. But I needed so much. I needed my painting that gave me my cutie mark. I needed the portraits of everyone I've ever loved. I needed Dad's paintings of remembrance. There was just so much I couldn't leave behind. However, after just some supplies and a couple paintings, Monterrey finally succeeded in making me leave. I resisted until I realized it was hopeless, since Monterrey was much stronger than I was.

We left the apartment building, and just completely left Fillydelphia. We went to Manehattan, which was an hour's train ride away. We had a good amount of money, because I always keep my bits in my art bag, and Monterrey managed to grab his before he fled from his burning home. When on the train, I opened my art bag to see what I had brought. I had with me most of my art supplies, and three paintings.

The first one was the one I got my cutie mark presenting. I probably feel the most proud of this painting, which I painted it only eleven years old. It was simple, only a window and the sky through it, but I still loved that painting anyway. It showed a dark and gloomy inside, and light streaming in from the outside world, a bright blue sky, and buildings gleaming in Celestia's sun. It was based on how I felt, really, except the outside world was actually the dark and gloomy room, while the view out of the window was the beautiful world I loved to paint. Maybe I make the world seem better with these, so I can feel happier.

The second one I brought was from a year ago, a picture of when I and Monterrey were younger, and our family was much more peaceful and filled with joy. We were having a picnic on a grass, laughing and talking with each other. Mom was younger, looked less stressed and her mane and fur was more colored, like it should be, with a light red-orange mane and  light violet fur. Dad wasn't yet corrupted by the evils he had been part of, the green cheerfulness we loved as youths glowing brightly. Monterrey was more easygoing, and not so harsh as he usually is. I was much more young and innocent, living in my very own happy dream. Written across the top was Evening Glory, Grassy Hills, Monterrey Jack, and Painted Dream, the names of our family. It was based on a memory from before I earned my cutie mark, when we left Fillydelphia for a peaceful out-of-the-way town called Ponyville, where Dad was born. It was probably the happiest and most peaceful place I have ever been. Mom said that one day we should go back, maybe even move there, but we never did.

The third one was a recent and unfinished painting of Dad. I had started it and worked furiously on it after he had died. I put my feelings and tears into that, putting everything I loved about Dad in a single picture of a stallion, making him both that cheerful, easygoing, simple father that I loved as I child, before he was tainted and corrupted by madness. He stood atop a grassy hill, like his name, which he used to tell us storied about the time he spent dreaming on one of those hills. The right side of it was not done and completely blank. I didn't know what to put there, but I knew it had to be something important to him, as he stared straight at it with those cheerful yet loving eyes we all loved. This was most important to me because it reminds me of all of the things I loved about Dad. The other side I knew I would paint in when I knew what to put over there.

These paintings are so little of what I loved n life, but they are by far the most important. These paintings were my life. I could never let these paintings leave me, even for all of the bits in the world.

I honestly don't know how I ever escaped my apartment, especially after running to gather artwork. I think that the stallion purposely let us leave. He probably didn't want to get hit with a chair again. Or maybe he just didn't want to bother with us. Either way, I'm writing this in a motel in Manehattan, where we managed to get an apartment with one bed and a couch. Monterrey decided to take it easy on me and let me share the bed with Mom when he got the couch.

After a while, we managed to get an actual apartment. I also managed to find some nice buyers in Manehattan, so currently I'm the one earning money here. Monterrey needs to get himself "situated" before starting to work again. Mom doesn't really work, but she cooks and takes care of us both. We're all living happy here, but still a little shaken.

I've been reflecting on my past for a while now. Yeah, yeah, I know. Seems weird for a stupid, sarcastic idiot like me to "reflect upon things". But yeah, I was thinking. Thinking about everything. When not really thinking about it, it feels as if this was completely out of the blue. However, when I really think about it, we could have prevented this a while ago. If we stopped Dad from joining that dumb thing in the first place, none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have died. We would still be in Fillydelphia, or even in a better place. Our family would still be happy. If we had just payed more attention, none of this would have ever happened. Yet, it did.

Life has its ups and downs, I guess. You can't have all of the happiness without the sadness. But I just feel that now things are unbalanced. Perhaps... Perhaps in the future things will be bright and filled with joy to balance out this gloomy darkness. Yeah. Maybe if I stay positive, things will be positive. Yeah... I hope so.