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// Two Hundred, Eighty-Two 
// Story: Counterclockwise 
// by AdrianJNovelle 
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	It was amazing how nopony could predict Dawn's encroaching fate. But yet, it has been anticipated for so long. As he lay in what Twilight prayed was not his deathbed, a strange sense of recurrence, familiarity - déjà vu even - filled her old veins. It was like seeing Princess Celestia that one last time before she and her friends hopped on the train back to Ponyville. How cold and sickened she looked. How lifeless and disease-ridden. Yet, inside, she was as strong as ever. Unfortunately, for Twilight, the strength kept within the depths of Princess Celestia were not enough to liberate her from her prison. And she ended up paying the ultimate price.
Now the same thing was happening to Dawn La'Mare: her husby; as she preferred to address him, her lover, her sweetheart, the father of her one and only beautiful child. The painter whose charisma made him extremely likeable, socialable, and friendly, was now in a bed, his back erected as he sat up, and his eyes as weak and pale as his fragile-looking skin. 
It appeared to just be an extreme case of the flu or something. The doctors ran several tests on the stallion. This disease was not able to kill him. At least, not yet. Until the ticking of his final clock, the stallion would remain either conscious or unconscious in his lonely bed, and barely breathing, wether or not he was dreaming.
Twillight either sat at his beside or stayed with him in bed the whole time. Anacornia understood. She, too, spent much time with her dying father. But, being with a grown-up family of her own now, Anacornia had other responsibilities, and could not be there as often as her mother. Twilight was told to let Anacornia know immediately if his condition grew any worse. It was not. However, it was not growing any better, either. It was as if Dawn had been stricken with an incurable disease which will fester in his bloodstream for the rest of his days. It will be his ultimate killer. But, at this rate, that could be years from now. 
Could he just get out of bed and live his life as if he were not sick? Why should he not live out the last of his life in happiness and not in pain? Then again...what was the point? He did not have the energy to live the life that he would want to, even if his life was reduced to sitting on a stool in front of one of his many canvases and painting a picture of his beloved wife from memory while she spent time with her daughter and her family. He knew Twilight would take care of him.





One fateful evening, Anacornia was called in by her mother. As she suspected when she got the call, Dawn's condition had grown worse. A new, more prominent, more powerful disease has been discovered in his heart. No doubt it was heart disease: nature's bitch. It has taken only a handful of ponies since its first recorded cases. Quite unusual. But those who were diagnosed with heart disease were good as dead. It was only a matter of hours before their bodies just gave.
Twilight and Anacornia (no longer nicknamed 'Little Ana' since she was fully grown and as big as her mother) remained at Dawn's bedside for every one of his final hours. Although sickened, weakened, and definitely dying, Dawn gathered up the strength and energy to give one last speech goodbye to the two mares in his life he loved most of all. Seeing those two together at his final moments filled him with unimginable joy. They would be the last things he would see. And he could not be happier or more content about that. 
"Girls..." he croaked. "I'm afraid these are the last words I will say to you."
Tears already started forming in everyone's eyes. Dawn's, however, were not of sadness, but of happiness. 
"I have lived a long, healthy life with you two. And I would say up until the last minute, I was filled with unparalleled merriment. But that is untrue, for I still feel unparalleled merriment." He coughed. "Sure, I am sick as a dog, and I am to croak any minute...This illness is not your fault. It's not anyone's fault. There is no blame to put on anyone, nor any fault to assign...I am happy - elated - that my last moments here could be spent in the comfort of this warm bed, and in the presence of my beautiful, wonderful, loving wife, and my fantastic daughter."
He coughed harshly. 
Tears began dripping from Twilight's and Anacornia's eyes without stopping as they sniffled.
"Anacornia," he continued weakly, even weaker than before. She put herself before Twilight at his bedside. "You are a miracle child. You have exceeded my expectations for what I would want my daughter to do with her life...And I know you're going to do much more...I'm afraid I won't be able to witness that excitement...but it warms my weary heart just to know that you're happy and with a family of your own who loves you..." Dawn tried to give his daughter a kiss on her horn, but he was too weak to move. "...I could not be prouder of you...nor more content that this is the life you live as I die before you..."
He coughed again, and hacked.
"Twilie...my dear, dear Twilie..."
Twilight put herself before Anacornia again at Dawn's beside, as they were when they arrived.
"You have given me over sixty years of happiness...you have given me a beautiful daughter I could not love any more than I already do...I could never imagine that the night we first kissed would change my life forever...and send me down a path I could never imagine...I am the luckiest, happiest stallion in Equestria...to be married to the most wonderful unicorn in the world...I cannot imagine a better marriage...nor more fulfilled life than the one I have spent with you...and I am crushed that you and Anacornia have to witness my death...that is something I never wanted to put you through...but since I have no choice...I will make it as painless as possible." He coughed again. He would give one last kiss to Twilight's horn, but, of course, was too weak to do so.
He hacked and gagged. 
Time was running out.
"Twilie..." he coughed. "Twilie..."
"Yes, Dawn?" Twilight asked softly.
"Can you promise me something?"
"Of course - anything Dawn - anything."
"Promise me...no matter how long you live...you will try to find happiness...even if I'm not there to provide it...After you have moved on...promise me you will not spend the rest of your days in misery and woe over me...that could be hundreds of years at this rate...and I don't want my passing to be what you remember of me...and I don't want you to spend the rest of your days suffering...over something we had no control over..." he coughed mid-sentence. "...Promise me..."
"Of course, Dawn...I promise."
Dawn cracked a weak smile.
"And...both of you...please remember...that I love you...more than anything...in the universe..." he coughed harshly again. "You two are my world...no matter how long you live...no matter...how much...time passes...you will...be my world...and my life...for you both...is as vast...as the universe...and as...unconditional...as the sun...hundreds...of years...from...now..." one last gargantuan cough, and a desperate breath for air. "...That fact...will not...change..." Another violent cough. "...Sad...or merry...I must...leave you now...Good...bye..."
Dawn gave a weary breath, and closed his eyes for the very last time.