//------------------------------// // Facing My Demons // Story: Addiction // by FlashFoward //------------------------------// So, death was an eternal darkness? Well, the lack of pain was nice. The wound on your chest was long gone and you felt excellent. However, sorrow now took place of the pain that had inhabited you for so long. Vinyl was alive and well, while you were left to roam about in the darkness. That wasn’t bad though, you cared more about Vinyl then your own being. Would she be able to move on without you around, especially after admitting her feelings for you? Deep down, you knew that you couldn't either. “How long do you plan to keep walking?” A mellow voiced asked. Your old man trotted by your side. If you could see him, either you were really…or just hallucinating. Hopefully, it was the latter. “There is no destination for me.” You deadpan. “Giving up already? That is very unlike you.” Your dad grabs you in a one hoof hug. “I’m no Ace. Besides, enlighten me for what to do then.” You retort. “No reason to get so testy with me now. I’m still your dad and I would like to be treated as such.” Your dad kept his mellow tone, but you caught a hint of a threat in there. “That was really brave what you did back there.” Your dad mumbled after a while. “It was dumb, I ended up dying.” You reply bitterly, thinking back the pool of blood that was to be your grave. “True, but you saved the mare. After all these years, you finally did become the hero in those books you liked to read.” You look up at your dad. “How did you know about Vinyl?” “Well, I know as much as you know and a little more.” He shrugged. “Come on let’s walk to the right path.” Your dad gestures to the darkness and to your surprise, a paved road appears before you. “How did you?” “If I told you, what would be the fun in that?” As you and your dad walked down the road, a question pops in your mind. “Am I dreaming?” “Dreaming? No, I wouldn’t call this dreaming. It’s pretty close to that though.” Your dad replies, sounding cheerful now. Dad, Ace and Vinyl all had that infectious happy vibe. “Where is this road leading to?” “It goes where you need to be.” “And that is?” “Where would you rather be right now? I hope not here.” Dad gestured to the empty darkness around you. You considered this. The only place where you’d like to be is with Vinyl right about now. As much as you enjoyed Dad’s presence, walking around in eternal darkness was going to get boring. “Yeah, being with Vinyl is probably the better choice.” Your dad mused. “Did it hurt?” The childish question slipped from your lips. “What hurt?” You dad looked confused at the question. “When…you know, couldn’t be with us.” You mutter sadly. “Ah,” Your dad’s face went from puzzlement to crestfallen. “I honestly think it hurt more to know that I couldn’t see you and Ace grow up. The only comfort was that I didn’t need to wake up every morning to a tiresome life.” “Mom was ruthless after you passed.” You informed. “She got worse? Is that even possible?” Your dad looked honestly astounded. “Yep, but she couldn’t pressure Ace. He was immune to her words, like you.” You reply, staring at your dad’s tired face. “No, I just knew how to hide the strain of it all. I admire you though, being so selfless. Keep giving and never expecting repayment, that’s what you live by. Course, you do it because it made others happy while you sat in the back, locked in your own prison.” Your dad took notice of the fork road ahead. “Interesting, what could this mean?” You trot over to the fork ahead, but not choosing a path just yet. “Looks like you need to move past a few things to keep going on the right track. It’s like moving past unsettled business, so to speak.” Your dad gestured to the paths. A slight shiver runs down your back when you realize who was walking down one of the paths. Mom was on the left while the right remained vacant. She looked haughtier than ever and glared at your dad with pure spite. “You’re helping him? How utterly useless have you been?” Mom scolded, channeling her rage on dad for now. “I’m being useful believe it or not, got him on this road after all.” Your dad happily replied, wearing his usual smile to instigate her. “Stop smiling, it’s getting on my nerves!” Mom snapped viciously. “I thought you loved my smile, you told me when we first met at least.” Dad noted. Mom pointed her nose up at the air at Dad. “Things changed.” “Correction, you changed.” Dad’s tone sounded bitter, which was rare. An eerie silence filled the air. Mom glared at dad, who looked joyful, before turning to you. Knowing a brutal yelling was coming your way, you ready your mind and body for the onslaught of abuse. “Looks like you never got to be like Super Stallion.” Mom hissed in your ear, shoving aside your dad. “No, I’m not like Super Stallion, I’m my own hero.” You reply after remembering Vinyl’s words. “I liked you more when you were so submissive.” Mom muttered unhappily. “Sorry mom, I changed.” You escape your mom’s grasp and trot over to your dad, who gave you a one armed hug. “Why hug him? I’m the one who carried you and Ace while he was gone! Me, I did it all for you two!” Mom yelled shrilly. She started charging towards you and your dad stepped up to take the impact. You trot passed him and keep him at bay with a hoof. Mom didn’t slow down and her eyes gave the vibe that she was fueled by hatred. There was no turning back now; she was too close to move aside. You caught mom in a hug as she collided into you. The force of the impact didn’t knock you over somehow. “Maybe I should have been more thankful to you. It was just hard to do that when you kept making us feel so useless. But that’s in the past now. I will always love you mom.” You whisper in her ear. She looked up at you, her eyes brimming with tears. The look of hate was gone in her eyes, now filled with a happiness you never got to see from her. “Thank you for forgiving me.” Mom whispered to you. Dad joined in on the hug. The only thing that what make this perfect is if Ace as here. Still, this was long overdue. Mom gave you two a rare smile before disappearing in a wisp of smoke. The puffs of smoke turned into a ball of light as it went high into the sky. You let out a sigh as a great weight lifted off your heart. Even Dad looked more tranquil. The left path suddenly gave you the sense as if it was trying to pull you closer. You obey your instinct and Dad follows you. As you and your Dad walked down the path, your body suffers a terrible burning sensation. Just as you reach another fork in the road all the fibers in your body scream in agony. The pain was so grave that you crumbled to the ground. Dad tries to help you up, but your legs shake violently under the strain. There was a faint sound of hoofs hitting the pavement and you hoped the ponies could help you out. When you look up though, Vinyl and Red were standing at the start of the new paths. None of them made a move to help you up, so you assumed this was just another demon in your heart that you had to conquer. Red suddenly removes a bag from nowhere, which you instantly recognized as your monthly dose of pain killers. A horrible twitch and desperation takes you over as Red placed the bag within your reach. Dad remained silent, but you noticed he was looking at Vinyl. Your heart sank once you realized how disappointed she looked as you greedily grabbed the pills from within the bag. Red looked beside herself with joy as you grabbed the pills though. “Take the pills now!” Red could hardly contain the excitement in her voice. “I wont stop you if you really need those pills.” Vinyl muttered sadly. Vinyl shook her head and started to walk back into the darkness. You throw aside the bottle of pills and crawl to Vinyl’s path. Red’s face went from excitement to pure rage. “What’s wrong with you? TAKE THEM!” Red yelled shrilly. Choosing to flat out ignore Red, you try to catch up with Vinyl. The pain in your body was chewing you out, but you refused to stop pursuing Vinyl. More than once did you want to turn back and take the pills, but Vinyl’s disappointed face was fresh on your mind. However, your body soon refused to progress any further. “Vinyl, I don’t need those stupid pills anymore! I need you!” You yell into the darkness, hoping Vinyl was there somewhere. Tears started to slide down your face as the agony of losing Vinyl and pain started to settle in. Being impaled in the lung, breaking ribs, relapsing, and bleeding out profusely didn’t even begin to compare to how much your heart cried out for Vinyl. You refused to cry as you started to die in front of Vinyl, but the disappointed look on Vinyl’s face was just too much to bear. There were slight hoof taps coming from the darkness in front of you. As the taps grew louder, you could see Vinyl’s distinct red eyes in the darkness. Vinyl soon walked to you and lay down in front of you. “I need you too.” Vinyl whispered. She gave you a kiss and your entire body went numb as her silky lips graced you. There was still that minty taste that you had fallen in love with. To your surprise, Vinyl parted from the kiss. “Come back and there will be more of that.” Vinyl gave you a playful wink before trotting back into the darkness. The paved path becomes visible ahead. Your dad trots to your side and helps you back up. His smile grows even larger at the sight of the path ahead, where Vinyl had disappeared in. “So, that was Vinyl?” Dad asked, looking into the darkness with interest. “Yeah.” You reply dreamily. “She is way too good for you.” Your dad joked. “In all seriousness, I’m glad you found her. “So am I.” You mumble as you look into the darkness. The path ended with a white light cutting through all the darkness. It started from high into the sky and gave you a feeling of hope. As you walked closer to the light, your dad stuck behind. “Come on dad, let’s get going.” You call out to him once you notice how far back he was. “As much as I would love to tag along, it ends here for me.” Dad replied, wearing a strained smile. “What do you mean?” “It’s time for us to head our separate ways.” “You’re going to get stuck with mom?” “If I do, it probably is going to be a lot nicer than expected.” “Dad…I’m glad I got to see you again.” Those words came straight from the depths of your heart. “I’m proud of you Proof.” “It’s been a long time since someone even said my name.” You mutter. “Maybe you should fix that? Then again, your mom always said that was a dumb name I gave you. I liked it though.” “Nah, I like it to.” You reply happily. The light devours you and your sight is blinded. Even if you couldn’t see him, you could hear your dad talking. “You know if this was a dream, that’s one interesting imagination you have.” Maybe you should consider living in a hospital. There were plenty of tubes attached to your body, which rendered you immobile. Talking was useless since a tube was running down your throat and a funny looking mask over your mouth, probably supplying air and food for you. The only thing you could even move was your eyes. Ace was sleeping in a bed next to you, plenty of tubes and wires on him as well. There was a bouquet of flowers and many get well cards on your nightstand. It was difficult to tell who sent them though. A pulse of affection ran through you when you realized Vinyl had been napping on a chair in the corner of the room. Visiting hours were probably long over and she was still here. Red must’ve thrown a fit at this, but you were glad she allowed it. Vinyl looked adorable as she slept in a somewhat curled ball. Her glasses were on her head while her face was buried in her hoofs. Every part of your body demanded to be at her side, but you were too restrained to do anything. Here was to hoping either Vinyl would wake up or a nurse would find you alive.