//------------------------------//
// Vetnern: To Change Is Human 
// Story: Geoverse: Three Random Things 
// by GeodesicDragon 
//------------------------------//


TO CHANGE IS HUMAN


By Vetnern


Your story begins in the silent quarters of Ponyville hospital, where you are sitting by the side of your best friend Flare. The slow and steady beep from the heart-rate monitor echoes around the room and you know from the news the doctor told you a few moments prior that she is moments away from death.

Your life begins to take a turn as you quickly progress through various upcoming events.

You sit at home with your wife by your side. The silky smooth touch of her eggplant shade fur, gently caressing your skin with every breath she took. You are watching with fingers crossed as all five of your numbers get drawn on the Equestrian Lottery. You stand up in the middle of the room and cry with joy, you cannot believe what you have just witnessed, the loud noise wakes your wife from her peaceful slumber. You immediately tell her the wonderful news and share a quiet moment together, just holding each other close.

A few weeks pass by idly, you no longer have the need to work because you have so much money. You have been drinking more and more ever since you won the lottery, but you deserve a break from all you’ve done. So for now, cherish this glorious alcohol.


***


Two months have passed on since you won the lottery, you have struck a need to satisfy yourself with gambling. But don’t worry, you have more than enough money to enjoy yourself. Just try not to take things too far out there.

You realise that alcohol and gambling just isn’t cutting for you, so you decide to dive into the world of drugs and narcotics to fuel your hunger. You have been away from home for a few days, your wife must be getting worried about you. Don’t let your family get in the way of life, you have to get out there and enjoy yourself.

After returning home your wife questions where you have been, you tell her that you don’t want to talk right now and head straight to bed for a good nights rest. She enters the room and begins to raise her tone of voice at you, but you don’t like this very much. You raise your fist in the air and strike her across the face, she turns to you with tears in her eyes and tells you she’s taking the foals to a friends house.

You couldn’t just let this happen, but you feel powerful now. All the fun you had has finally took it’s toll. You tell her you are sorry and that you’ll drive her to her friends house. She accepts and no sooner than later, you are driving toward Manehattan. Something is wrong though, your wife keeps telling you to slow down. Are you driving too fast?

You are kneeling on the roadside, staring down at the wreckage below. You hear the screams of your young foals as the fire tears away at their flesh. 

What have you done?


***


You burst through the door of your home, screaming in pain. But this is not physical pain, this is something more isn’t it?

You are broken, the things you have done and the loss of everyone you loved has emotionally destroyed you. There is nothing left now but to end your own life, is this really what you have become?

You tie the rope making sure it’s tight, there is no more room for mistakes. As you climb onto the chair you begin to feel that churn of regret in your stomach, it painfully tears away as you lower the rope over your head and secure it firmly around your neck. You close your eyes and push, no need to struggle, you just accept it. The room around you is fading, turning to black. Your only wish is that you could erase all the bad things you have done ever since you won the lottery.


***


You hear a faint noise gradually getting louder, almost as if something was coming closer. You open your eyes and find yourself in your own home, your foals in bed and your wife laying on you, asleep. You look up to the tv and see the lottery results coming out one by one, sure enough they all match the ones on the ticket.

You think to yourself for a moment, about all the pain and suffering you went through. You pull out your lighter and ignite the lottery ticket, the gentle heat from the flame warming your face. Your wife wakes from her slumber and asks if you won. You look at her with a smile and kiss her on the head, pulling her close.

“I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done,” you whisper, the feeling of being reunited with the love of your life fills you with joy, a single tear trickling down your face. But are you a changed man?

You know not why you had been given this opportunity to redeem yourself from the mistakes you made, to come back healthy from the monster you created. The experience of losing those you are closest to can invade even the strongest of minds, the purest of hearts. But there is no need to stoop to a level of such chaos. Anybody can change who they are, you just have to be prepared for the changes that lay ahead.

Everybody who has done wrong, no matter how bad they did it... They deserve a second chance.