Time Marches Onward

by Dashie1969

Rating: mature
Tags: Romance, Tragedy, Adventure, Sad
Length: 6717

As a pony waits for death, he recalls his life in the blink of an eye, revealing all of the tragedy, love, loss and anguish leading up to this moment, the pinnacle of his mind's realizations.

They say that just before the lights go out, everything becomes clear. Your life flashes before you in greater detail than any memory could ever provide. Love, loss, hate, friendship, anguish and joy are all clear as day in the wake of one's own death. I guess that that's true. My name is Calico, and this is my life. Up until now, at least…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-25 08:10:02 UTC

Prologue

As I hold the breath that I'm positive will be my last, attempting to savor it for all of its worth, I begin to remember what brought me here. All of the fighting, the love, the hate, the passion and the strength. All I know anymore is that it was worth it. Every little bit of joy that I could squeeze from life is mine, in the end. And right here, at the end of the road, I start to see it all more clearly.

“Y'all are new here, aren't ya?” The orange pony drawled. She took a sip of her whiskey and gave me a sidelong glance. I looked a her, trying to focus my eyes on her face. Since when was I such a low tolerance drinker?, I thought absently, looking down at the empty bottle of liquor in my hand.

“Yeah, uhm... I just got here about, like, five months ago or something ago... I think, right? Do you know me? You're not a cop, are you?” I slurred, earning a strange look from the barpony. I flapped my right wing and threw the bottle onto the floor, unable to think of anything better to do.

“Uh, maybe y'all should come on back to Sweet Apple Acres with me if ya need a place to stay,” The pony said, putting her hoof on my shoulder to stop me from falling out of my bar stool.

“You... you just shut the hell up, I don't need anybody to help me get my ass in line... Stay th... Stay the fuck out of my face,” I gave her a glare, got up, flapped my wings absently and immediately blacked out, falling on the floor drunk and drooling like a slackjawed idiot. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was several ponies crowding around, all giving my concerned looks as my vision began spinning.

I opened my eyes, trying to remember where in Equestria I was and who had been kicking my head all night. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. I was in a tiny room with a makeshift bed set up on the floor. None of the walls were painted, and everything seemed to radiate its own hapiness as sunlight bounced off of it. There was a tall glass of water on the floor nearby, and I wondered how I'd gotten here. It took me a god few moments, but finally I remembered most of what had happened as I saw the orange pony who I'd talked to at the bar enter the small room. Upon seeing me awake, she walked over toward me and pushed a glass of cold water within my reach.

“Hey. Where in the hell am I? What time is it?” I said, almost falling on my ass again as I tried to reach for the water on the floor beside me. The world seemed to spin, and my headache only got worse as the seconds went on.

“Y'all don't look so good. Y'all're at Sweet Apple Acres. You blacked out at the bar the other night, and you've been sleepin' in here ever since Big Mac came to help me bring ya here. Ah'm Applejack,” I'd heard the name Applejack before... Damn, I needed to get my head straight. After a few more gulps of water, my head finally seemed to be able to function on the same page as my body. There, I remembered now. I'd seen her handing out cider from her farm's stand last winter. I'd talked to Big Macintosh once or twice. He and I were both regular visitors to the Prancing Pony, the local bar.

“Well, thanks, Applejohn-”

“Applejack,” She interjected.

“Applejack. Thanks for offering, but I can't stay here. I, uh, I've got somewhere to go,” I said, getting out of the bed and trying to leave. Before I could leave, Applejack grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward the bed.

“Do y'all even got a home? Big Mac told me that y'all usually just sleep outside the barn,” Applejack's eyes gleamed with the opportunity to help somepony. Of course, I had nowhere to go at all. I did sleep outside the bar. I'd run away from my old home in Manehattan when I was just a colt, making my way to Ponyville to start a new life. It didn't really work out, obviously. I spent most days getting drunk and sometimes I would go to see Pinkie for something to eat. She'd always call me a “frowny partier” because she said I always looked sad when I drank.

“No, really, I'm fine. I just need to get to-” Applejack put her hoof on my chest and stood between me and the door, giving me a stern look.

“Listen here. If y'all don't got nowhere to sleep, I want y'all to come back on down to the farm and y'all can sleep in the house. It's startin' to get cold outside,” She said, clearly not offering, but simply giving a command. She was good with commands. I'd always liked a pony who knows how to be dominant when she had to.

“Alright, fine, I'll come back. But you're not changing anything by letting me stay here, if that's what you're on about” I submitted, “I'm only staying because you insisted,”. She gave an approving nod and let me leave. Time to get back to my daily routine.

Chapter 1: Old dog, new tricks

The first thing I did was go to visit Vinyl at her place. She was always up for a good drink or two. And who knows, I thought, maybe we could get Octavia to try something stronger than her red wine this time. I could already hear Vinyl's song “Brohoof” blasting through the walls from outside the house. She rushed to the door before I even was able to knock, bottle of her favorite apple flavored liquor already in her hand.

“Calico! Get the fuck in here and party, you crazy son of a mare! I heard about what went down at the Prancing Pony last night!” Vinyl yelled over the music. If there was anything that could cheer me up no matter what, it was Vinyl and Octavia's “parties” that they had almost every day. You couldn't really call it a party, because it was only the two of them most of the time, but hell was it fun. They always had good music and great alcohol. As I looked over vinyl's shoulder, Ditzy Doo and Octavia were dancing, tripping over all of the left hooves that they had, as always.

“Hey Vinyl!” I shouted, embracing her. “What the fuck is up?!” Vinyl brought me inside and poured us both drinks, and Octavia and Ditzy both came and sat down. Ditzy, as always, got herself a glass of water, and Octavia got red wine out of the icebox. Vinyl turned down the music and we all talked for a while.

“So Derpy, what's been going on with you? I hear a bunch of people were starting shit over that whole thing with the town hall,” I said.

“Ah, nothing. Just a bunch of jerks trying to mess with me. I'll just lay low for a while,” Ditzy said, slurring over her words. It's not that she's got anything wrong in the head, she just doesn't really understand much other than the basics. She dropped out of primary school and the Junior Cloudsdale Flight Academy, so she had to teach herself what she did know.

“Well, Vinyl and I have an announcement to make. We were goingto tell you later on, but since we're all here, we figured we would say it now. Vinyl?” Octavia looked excited, and Vinyl smirked at us and winked from behind her blue tinted shades.

“Octavia and I are gonna be adopting a foal!” Vinyl shouted from across the countertop. Derpy almost fell off of her chair and my mouth dropped open immediately. It was no secret that Vinyl and Octavia were... You know, together, but kids? Nobody was going to see that coming. Wow. That meant a lot less dubstep music from Vinyl. I didn't even know she could turn it off without experiencing some sort of mental crackup, let alone turning the shit off for a foal to be asleep.

“Wow, when? That's great you guys!” I said, almost speechless.

“We just finished the paperworktoday. We'll be going to Canterlot to pick her up in a week. We're just so excited!” Octavia was beaming with excitement, and Vinyl pulled her in for a long kiss. Derpy and I awkwardly looked around the room until they were done, which took them a good thirty or so seconds. The rest of the night we celebrated and did shots. Eventually, I decided I was going to walk back to Sweet Apple Acres. Derpy followed me about half way there until she got to her house.

“Hey, how the hell did you get that thing anyway, Derpy?” I asked, gesturing to her cutie mark.

“Hell if I know,” Derpy said, “All I remember is waking up one morning and... bam, there were bubbles there. I still don't know what my special talent is,” She said, chuckling as she left for home. I finally got to the small farm on the outskirts of town to find Big Mac waiting for me at the entrance. He and I walked to the main house and ate dinner with the family, and Applejack brought me up to the guest bedroom.

“Er, Rainbow Dash had a bit of an accident up in Cloudsdale, and she doesn't know if they'll want her back up there for the next few weeks. She's been stayin' here, so you two'll have to share a room until we can get the barn set up for someone to sleep in. If that's alright with you, that is. You could always stay in Big Mac's room,” Applejack offered. Just the though of sleeping near Big Mac made you wince. The pony may have been quiet in the day, but when he was sleeping, you could mistake him for a pissed off manticore with all of the snoring he does. Whoever Rainbow Dash was, they couldn't be as bad as Big Mac.

As I entered the room, I was immediately greeted by the sight of a sleeping blue pegasus with rainbow colored hair. And as much as I hated to admit it, she was absolutely beautiful. Her soft features, her curved body, her lean muscles earned from yers of flying, they all served to make her one of the most beautiful ponies I'd ever seen. She snored softly, not loud enough to keep me awake, but loud enough to be noticed. She had kicked the blanket off of her body, leaving her exposed to the cold. Applejack tucked the blanket back around her.

“Y'all can go ahead and sleep up on the bed with her for tonight, Ah'm sure she won't mind...,” But before she could finish, I was already asleep in the corner of the room, snoring quietly. If anything from today was certain, it was sure to be one thing: I was in love with Rainbow Dash.

Chapter 2: Opposites attract

I woke up and almost pissed my pants. A shrill scream came from the bed, and the blue pegasus flew over to my little corner and demanded to know who I was and how I got inside. Still trying to sort my head out, I began to panic. What the hell was going on?, I thought. At that very moment, Applejack busted in, wondering what all of the commotion was.

“Relax Rainbow! This here's Calico, he's a friend of Big Mac's. He don't got nowhere to stay, so Ah brought 'im down to the farm to sleep here,” Rainbow landed in front of me, her face easing into a smile. She looked at me and chuckled.

“Well why didn't you just say so, and we could've avoided this whole mess?” she asked indignantly. I laughed as she helped me to my feet. She offered to let me take the shower first, so I went ahead and tried to hurry in the small guest room's bathroom so that she could have her turn. She walked right in, brushing past me as I left the bathroom, not seeming to care that I'd just gotten out of the shower. I got ready for the day and went down to the kitchen, where the Apple family served a generous breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and apple turnovers. Everything they ate seemed to have apple thrown in somewhere, no matter what. I ate quickly, and Granny Smith was sure to scold me about how people took their time eating back in her day. I offered to help around the farm, seeing as I had nothing better to do all day. I spent a few hours helping Applejack and Big Mac buck the last few apples out of the few trees left before winter, until Rainbow dropped down next to me, scaring the living fuck out of me. I always hated when things startle me. She laughed her light and contagious laugh when she realized that she'd scared me.

“Hey, I figured that since we're roommates and all, we could hang out for a while. I have a pretty cool spot across Whyte's Wood that I wanted to practice a few new tricks at. You up for a day or two of camping out?” she asked. I looked at Applejack, not wanting to leave her and Big Mac to do the work on their own.

As if sensing my discomfort, Big Mac looked at me and said, “Go on now. Nobody's stoppin' you from goin',”. With Mac's approval, Rainbow and I began packing. When she was just about done packing, she opened up a drawer at the base of the modest bed and pulled out a large bottle of vodka. She gave me a sly smile and stuffed it in her bag along with a few shot glasses.

“I've had this stuff sitting up here since I bought in in Canterlot a while ago. It was a whole fifty bits, so it better be worth it,” I had no idea that a pony like Rainbow would have such good taste in alcohol. I'd assumed that she didn't even drink. This is gonna be a fun trip, I thought. As we left the farm, Rainbow looked me in the eye.

“Hey... You, uh, you seem like a pretty cool guy. Maybe we could go and grab something to eat before we leave for Whyte's wood?” She said, stumbling over her words. Was she asking me out?, I thought, trying to figure out my ass from my head.

“Uhm, sure. That sounds great, I'd love to,” I was no good with girls when it came to dates. I always felt like I was fucking something up when I was on a date. We stopped in to the Prancing Pony, and we both ordered a steak. We both ate as fast as possible, earning us a look from the barpony. I paid for us with the money that Big Mac had given me for helping out around the farm, and we went off to Whyte's wood.  It seemed like the more I looked at her, the more beautiful she got. It was almost indescribable. It was like that perfect midsummer day, where the heat hits you just enough, and everything is illuminated by that perfect light. Her face was mesmerizing. I felt like I could get trapped looking into her beautiful eyes.

“..re you there? Hello?” It took me a while for her to pull me out of my train of thought, and when she did, she gave me a concerned look.

“You alright? You seemed a little dazed there. We need to set up camp here for the night, it's getting too dark to go on,” We began unpacking our things, and I helped her set up a tent just barely large enough for two ponies. We lit a fire and watched the sunset together, and soon enough, she put her arm around my shoulder and rested her head against mine.

I said, matter of factly, “look, I'm no good at these things but... I really like you too, Rainbow. And I... I think I love you. I mean, I barely know you, and I feel like we're meant for each othe-” My words are cut off as she kisses me, her tongue finding its way into my mouth and twisting its way through my teeth and over my tongue. She pulled away from me slowly, her eyes half opened and smiling.

“Technically, the first date was dinner. This is number two,” We both laughed and crawled into the tent, too tired from the long walk to do anything but sleep.

Chapter 3: A purpose in life

As I woke up, I found that Rainbow had positioned her head on top of my chest some time in the night. I put my arm around her shoulders and held her close to me, and decided to savor the moment rather than waking her up so early. After about fifteen minutes, she woke up yawning and stretched her wings. She stood up and made coffee over the fire, then we both drank a mug and re-packed our things for the next part of the journey. The morning was beautiful. The rich green trees and a cool layer of fog from the nearby lake, the sun shining on us in the brisk air. I'd never slept better in my life, not even at applejack's farm where it was warm and comfortable. I was head over heels in love.

The rest of the trip went normal. We sat out and watched the sunset each night, and Rainbow and I would sleep in the same tent every night, cuddling together to keep the cold out. We would wake up each morning, drink Rainbow's amazing coffee, and continue moving on. We really got to know each other. And... I even learned a bit about myself. I'd always thought that love was for weak ponies who refused to accept that the only reason we felt it was purely the drive for sex. I was wrong. I loved Rainbow Dash, whether we were going to have sex or not. This is what everypony meant when they said love. Almost six days later, we got home. I was excited to see Vinyl and Octavia. They would be coming back with their foal in a few hours, and I wanted to be there to see their faces at Pinkie's surprise party. I went back to Applejack's, and was supplied with a dress to give to Rainbow as well as my own dress clothes for the party by Big Mac. He looked at me and opened his mouth to speak. It almost seemed hard for him to do, after all of his years of barely talking.

“So, you love Rainbow Dash then? I'd expect that much,” This left my mouth gaping. You had to know the guy. For the first two months I knew the guy, I thought the only words he knew were yes and no.

“Yeah. I-I guess I do, Big Mac. Yeah, I love her. A lot.” I said, still recovering from the mental blow of Big Mac speaking more than his usual monosyllable one word sentences.

“Listen. I'll tell you this for your own sake. My sister's head over heels for you. She's gonna be hurt when she finds out about you and Rainbow. And Celestia as my witness, if you hurt her any more than that, I will make it painful for you. Drinking buddies or not,” Big Mac had just used sentence structure. Holy fucking shit. I was going to be in deep shit if I didn't listen. He didn't need to tell me what would happen. Forty plus years of bucking apples give somebody damn strong legs.

“I'd never hurt her Big Mac. She's one of the kindest ponies I've ever seen. She took me out of that damned bar and brought me here. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry I have to hurt her at all with this whole Rainbow Dash thing,” I said, hoping to preserve our friendship.

“Right,” he said, monosyllable as ever. Than god, I thought. Back to the usual order of the universe.

Rainbow and I got dressed and ready for the party, and arrived just before Vinyl and Octavia. Pinkie almost gave us away while she was bouncing around. As Octavia and Vinyl walked in, Pinkie flicked the lights and we all yelled, “Surprise!”. But... something was off. Octavia was sobbing, and Vinyl's eyes were red. They came on holding one another, lokking at us with pained expressions. Octavia ran up the stairs to her room sobbing even harder than before, and Vinyl dismissed the party other than me. I followed Vinyl up the stairs to her and Octavia's room where she was still on the bed sobbing into her pillow.

“What happened? Where's the new foal?” I asked frantically. Octavia sobbed ever louder at the mention of the foal, and Vinyl began to cry as well.

“It... I-It's gone, Calico. It was taken on the way back, and we, we just don't know what to-” Vinyl began sobbing too hard to finish the sentence, and I tried my best to comfort the both of them. Of course this would happen to them, just when everything was going our way. I ended up staying the night there, intending to find their new child.

Chapter 3.5

As Octavia and Vinyl woke, I still sat awake and fairly pissed off in the chair I'd sat next to their bed. They knew what I was thinking by the time they saw the look on my face.

“You don't have to do this for us, Cal. We'll find a way to get the foal back,” Octavia said quietly, her voice worn out from crying most of the night. She looked deep into my eyes and knew that there was no changing what I was going to do.

“I'm going to find that child. You and Vinyl are the only reason I didn't go and hang myself off of a light post outside of some bar months ago. I'll bring that foal back here, and I'm going to kill anything that gets in my way,” With that, I stormed out of the house, having an appointment to make.

***

Jorge was a tough pony. I was asking a bit much from him, but if I was going to save Vinyl and Octavia's little filly, I needed him.

“Jorge, don't leave. Jorge! Jorge, don't fucking leave!” Jorge stormed out of my small guest room in Applejack's house. He opened he door and stuck his head in, furious.

“No! I'm fuckin' done! I'm fucking DONE! This is bullshit! This is fucking bullshit! I can't do it Cal! I just can't fucking do it!” He screamed back at me.

“You know what Jorge? You can give up on me now, or you can pull through with this! Because I certainly can't do it without you, and I know you can't make it without me!” I yelled, still trying.

“Well I appreciate it,but look at what you're fucking dealing with here man! You gotta draw the line somewhere! You gotta draw a FUCKING line in the sand Cal! You gotta make a statement! You gotta look inside yourself and say, 'What am I willing to put up with today?'! Not fucking this!” With that, Jorge left, not supplying me with the weapons or the ally that I knew I would need. I would just have to do without. I was going to find that filly. And I was bringing it back to Vinyl and Octavia, whether I came with it in person or in a casket.

Chapter 4: In love and loss

As I was planning to leave for the roads between Ponyville and Canterlot, Rainbow stormed into the guest room. She was clearly worried for my well being, and probably my sanity as well.

“Are you fucking crazy Cal? Just rushing off like this to save that filly? When were you going to tell me about this?” Rainbow was clearly more concerned than she was angry. I tried to comfort her about me leaving.

“Listen, Dashie, I can handle this. I don't want you to worry,” I lied, knowing that I couldn't handle any of what was coming my way.

“That's the thing, Cal... I will worry. I wanted you to be my first. If you... if you die out there, we won't get that chance. Just stay here. Don't take the high road, you don't have to,” She tried pleading with me, but my mind was set. All I could do was comfort her.

“Listen, Dash. A few months ago, I was feeling down. Real down. Vinyl and Octavia caught me about to hang myself, and they helped me down and took me to their house. They fed me and cared for me. They saved my life, Dash. This is the least I can do for them,” I explained, tears coming to my eyes as I remembered that night when I first met them.

“Well then this is the least that I can do for you...” she said softly, kissing me. She laid me back onto the bed and began to rub my cock with her hoof. As I began to stiffen, she put the tip into her mouth and continued to work her hoof up and down. When I began to moan with pleasure, she moved forward, rubbing her clit against my member, shaking with the pleasure. She soon began pushing me into her, slowly sliding down onto my cock. Sweet Celestia, she was amazing. She began to move faster, up and down, the mesmerizing motion lulling me deeper into the pleasure. She leaned down and kissed me, moving her tongue across my teeth and then all of the way into my mouth, still fucking me the whole time. She shuddered with pleasure, suddenly crying out as an orgasm hit her. Her juices and the contractions of her already tight pussy sent me over the edge and I came into her. As she rolled off of me, exhausted, the last words I spoke to her that day were the most true words I've ever said:

“I love you, Dash,” I whispered. I quietly left the room as she drifted off into an almost-sleep, leaving the pony that I loved to go on a mission that would likely kill me.

Before I left, I thanked the Apple family for all of their hospitality, and went to visit Octavia and Vinyl again. I found Vinyl pouring herself a glass of whiskey. Upon seeing me enter, she poured another and slid it across the counter top. She looked more depressed than I'd ever seen her. She was almost like a different pony, and it hurt me to see her like that. I sipped the whiskey and looked deep into her eyes. I saw nothing but pain and hatred for whoever had taken their foal in there.

“I'm going to fix this,” I said in a quiet voice. “I don't care how I have to do it, I'm fixing it,” I finished off the rest of my whiskey, the strong liquid burning my throat the whole way down. I fought the urge to cough and held it down. Before Vinyl could protest, I got up and left, ready to do what needed to be done.

The next week was spent wandering the road between Ponyville and Canterlot. A few times I passed Royal Guard troops looking for the filly along the roads and the edge of the everfree forest, which lined the first half of the road. When I got to the edge of Everfree, I knew what I had to do. I took a deep brath, and I walked into the unholy place. And when I did... The atmosphere changed. It wan't at all subtle enough. It was an instant change. The air was thick and smelled of rot and death, and the fog blocked my vision beyond ten or so feet. I kept walking, trying not to notice the smell. Soon, I got to where I wanted to be. I walked down into the grotto and called Jorge's name. No answer. I called again. Opening his bedroom door. What I saw there... It scarred me.

There, on the small bed, lay Jorge, his neck cut through to the bone, his stomach ripped open and his entrails spread across the sheets in the pattern of a spider's legs. The thick metallic smell of blood filled the air, and a soft gurgling escaped Jorge's ripped and mangled throat every few seconds. But that wasn't the worst of it. On the wall behind Jorge, painted in fresh red blood, were the words “Happy Hunting, Cal”

How did they know I was looking for them? I thought. Suddenly Jorge began gurgling frantically. I ran to him, trying to help. The madness of the situation caused me to lose my cool. I began screaming Jorge's name, and trying to fix his mangled body before I broke down crying. Jorge had been my friend since I'd first come to Ponyville at the age of fifteen. And they had taken him from me. This was personal now. I was going to kill whoever had done this.

Chapter 5: Like looking into a mirror

This day, as far as I figured, was going just great. Let's sum it all up: I lest the most welcoming family I've ever met, I likely impregnated somepony that I'll likely die before seeing again, and I found my best friend murdered. Just swell. I mean, hell, I didn't have all that many marbles to begin with here. What's a few less? As I walked out of the hut gagging, the smell of blood following me out into the polluted air, I noticed something. Every few trees, there was a scratch carved into the wood, pointing in various slanted directions. Coincidentally, those slanted directions always seemed to be toward the next tree. What did I have to lose anymore? I followed the trees, allowing my mind to slip deeper into its own panic a my body subconsciously did the work and filed away memories that I wouldn't know I had until later. How in the hell could I let this happen to Jorge? Was this my fault? How could I have just let him come back here? I snapped out of it when I was smacked in the back of the head by a hard, heavy as fuck object. My world began spinning and suddenly everything but me turned on its side. Wait, no... It's the other way around. I closed my eyes, deciding I needed some sleep, and blacked out.

And there I was, looking at myself in a dark room with one hanging light.

“Son of a BITCH! Hasn't enough fucked up shit happened to me today? I swear to Celestia, too much shit happens now that I'm not a drunk bum on the side of the street anymore. Is this what everypony else's life is like? Cause I ain't fucking buying i-” My rant was interrupted by, well, other me, clearing his throat.

“Mind if I help you to remember that we got ourselves into this?” He spoke. Same voice as me and everything. It was only a little bit creepy as hell.

“Mind if I ask you what the fuck this is?” I said, my profanity complex shifting it into overdrive as I began to panic.

“This... This glorious construct is your mind. It's beautiful, isn't it?”

“Glorious construct? What in high hell is that supposed to mean? It's a blank fucking room!”

“Ah, I see. I'm not allowing you enough. I'm only allowing you to see what you can handle. Which is, I suppose, a good thing for now,” The other me was confusing the hell out of me at this point.

“And who are you?”

“I,” The other me began, “am subconscious you. I tell you what to do, and you do it. I'm the real you, and you're the construct from which I operate. Now, all of that may seem strange, but you're in far more control than I am. It's just that... explaining it any other way would cause you... severe mental complications, such as delusions, amnesia, and an aggressive resurgence of the madness currently consuming the inner layout of your cerebral structures. I'm sorry, am I moving to fast?”

“What the FUCK IS GOING ON!” I shouted, confused as hell, “I know you're trying here, but could you dumb it down a couple million more levels for me, me?” I chuckled at my own joke. The word “Madness” seems to fit.

“Well, if you want the boring version, I'm an illusion of yourself here to help you, you're going insane and you lie to yourself about death because each and every day I try to tell you that nothing happens after it. There, feel better?”

“Way to be a dick about it, man...” I said indignantly, trying to ignore the way that I was talking to myself. “So,” I asked, “why am I here? Am I crazy, or is this real?”

“Well I don't know. I'm just here to warn you that you're going to be facing severe mental trauma in the near future, possibly the second you wake up. I only know what you know. After all, we are the same pony, right?”

“Yeah, big fucking help,” I muttered under my breath.

“I can hear you thinking, remember?” other me chimed in.

“Big deal, wake me up so that I can get this shit done with,” I said, not much caring about anything other than getting out of the insane world of my mind.

“Whatever you say,” New me snapped his fingers, and everything went dark.

And then a light brighter than the sun lit up my face and shined right into my eyes. Today was going just fucking perfect, wasn't it?

Chapter 6: When it's all said and done...

“Finally awake, are we? Good. We can begin now. Do you remember me, Calico Stormwind?” A sinister voice was whispering in my ear. I was tied to a chair, with a flashlight in my eyes. I didn't reply out of stark refusal to believe the voice I was hearing.

“Mmph. Of course not. You always were an ignorant little fuck. Did all of that liquor break your poor little brain, Cal?” I was horrified. I was dreaming. This was some sick joke that my dickhead of a subconscious was playing on me. I tried to struggle, but it was no use. Primal instinct kicked in, and I began spitting threats that I couldn't hold up on.

“Now now, my little baby boy... Where did you learn such foul language? Was it your harlot little bitch with the wings? Or perhaps the DJ and her lesbian sex toy? Or was it that Macintosh, your drinking partner? I'll kill anybody who puts those bad words on my baby's tongue... Like I did with Jorge. Hew was arguing with you, so I killed him for you. Did you like the way I decorated him for you?” I negan heaving and gagging at the thought of what was happening. My mother. She was back for me. The Mare Murderer of Manehattan. I'd run away when I found out that she was the killer. She had murdered anypony that my father associated with other than her and I, and then, one day murdered my father himself while I watched. She ripped his entrails out and began gutting him like a fish. I threw up several times at the thought of the memories I had kept locked away in the dark corners of my mind using the strong barring walls of alcohol as a prison for them.

“Of course,” she began, “You came for this, didn't you? The lesbian's new little baby,” She pushed a small filly, maybe seven years old, over toward me with the heel of her foot. The child wasn't hurt, but looked like she needed fed, and was horrified.

“Look, honey,” my mother chided the little filly, “This big strong stallion came to save you!” My mother drove a knife into my abdomen as hard as possible and twisted it. I suck in a ragged gasp of air, holding it in.

"Oops!" my mother exclaims sarcstically, "Looks like he can't be helping you now!"

As I hold the breath that I'm positive will be my last, attempting to savor it for all of its worth, I begin to remember what brought me here. All of the fighting, the love, the hate, the passion and the strength. All i know anymore is that it was worth it. Every little bit of joy that I could squeeze from life is mine, in the end. And right here, at the end of the road, I start to see it all more clearly. My mother wanted me. Not the filly standing under her, crying. She never killed anybody she didn't need to kill to fulfill her causes. The child would live.

Suddenly, the filly cried out and stomped down hard on my mother's knee joint. My mother backed away, shouting in pain, leaving the knife sticking in me. I use the sweat and blood from my wrists to slip my hoof through the restraints and take the knife. Releasing that breath that I though would be my last, I pull the knife out with all of my will. Blood gushes from the wound, and I slice the restrains on my legs and what still holds one hoof to the chair. I jump up as my mother reaches for the filly, and dig the blade into her chest, allowing for her to release her breath and listening for her heart to stop before I let go. Her body slides to the floor, cold and bloodied. The young filly looks up at my.

“Are you okay? Are you going to save me?” She was so innocent. I hope for her sake that she forgets everything that happened here today. I pick her up, and begin to find my way to the exit.

“Yes,” I say, “I'm here to save you. I'm gonna take you back to your home,”

Epilogue

I collapsed in front of a troop of the Royal Guard, covered in my own blood as well as my mother's, while pleading with them to keep the young filly safe on the way to Vinyl and Octavia's house. I woke up in the hospital with Rainbow standing above me, eyes red and lined with tears. She looked me over the second she noticed that I was awake and embraced me in a long, tight hug. She was crying the whole time, and I even began to cry when I realized how close I had come to losing her forever. The recovery was a long process that included two surgeries and a rib transplant, and Rainbow never left my side throughout the process, never once forgetting to scold me on how worried sick she'd been while I was blacked out. I'd never seen her acting this way. The night I was able to go back to Applejack's farm, she followed me there and slept in the bed with me. We took shots of her whiskey and then, later that night, she told me the news. We were going to be having a baby of our own. we both cried with joy and embraced each other, and when we fell asleep, I didn't have any horrific dreams like I usually did. I dreamed of a beautiful baby boy with rainbow colored hair and blue eyes, playing with the other pegasus children at the Summer Sun Festival. And I knew that from then on, that everything was going to be fine. Even if my life so far did remind me of some shittily thrown together music montage to the Foo Fighters' "Walk".