It's now approaching 5:00pm, nothing much happened leading up this afternoon. Toffee slept most of the time, Applejack started to help Granny Smith make dinner, I don't know what the hell Mac was doing and I am helping Applebloom with one of two homeworks she needs to do, the one I'm helping her with is History, and the other homework is English, I think.
Applebloom's History homework is currently centered around the Great Equestrian War, that occurred over 9,000 years ago, and lasted twenty years, at the time when all races of ponies were up against the Changelings. We won the war, but many ponies were perished. The Changelings even almost wiped out the entire Unicorn race, and from what I heard, it was a brutal onslaught. The Changelings almost won, if it weren't for Princess Luna killing the Changeling King, Masai in battle, and Chrysalis not being able to command her armies by herself, after he was killed.
Applebloom had a worksheet with questions on them, right now, me and her were on question seven out of ten, the question says "Explain how the Changeling King was killed". Easy, he was killed by Luna after she shot his head clean off his neck, Applebloom should easily get this,
"OK, you know this one, Applebloom" I said.
"Ah know, it's um...King Masai....was killed by Luna" She replied.
"Yeah, you got that part right, so how was he killed?" I asked her.
"Em....He...uh...was killed by....." She struggled.
"Come on, you've got this one" I encouraged her.
"Em...he was..."
Applebloom was interrupted by the dinner bell being rung by Applejack downstairs before she could finish her sentence,
"Aww, damn it, so close, Applebloom" I said.
"Ah know" She sighed, "What was the answer anyways?"
"I'll tell you after dinner" I replied.
We both left her room and made it downstairs into the kitchen, Big MacIntosh was sitting at the very end of the table, beside him was Granny Smith, she was sleeping at the table, the seat beside her is reserved for Applebloom. Across from the table was Applejack, who was across the table from her younger sister, with Toffee sitting beside her mother in her high chair, and there is a seat reserved for me beside my daughter and in front of my brother-in-law. I went over to my seat and sat down, I then asked,
"So, what's for eats?"
"Steak, mashed potatoes, carrots and leeks" Applejack told me.
"Mmm" I hummed, "Sounds good"
"Well, eat up then, sweetie" Applejack told me.
I picked up my cutlery, I held my fork in my left hoof and my knife in my right. I sliced off a chunk of the steak, and ate it, and it was delicious, it was juicy, tender and succulent, slightly bloody, the way I like it.
Toffee, was of course, not having the same thing as us, instead, she just normal baby food, I think it is Turkey Vegetable flavor,
"Excuse me, 'Mel?" Applebloom asked.
"What's up, Applebloom?" I replied.
"After this, can ya still help me with ma homework please?" She asked me.
"Sure thing" I said.
"Thanks, Caramel" She said.
"Not a problem" I replied.
"What kind of homework is it ya'll are doing?" Applejack asked the both of us, as she had some of her potatoes.
"It's History homework, sis" Applebloom replied to her.
"Oh, then it's good yer gettin' help from Caramel, he's brilliant at History" Applejack told her sister.
"Ah know" Applebloom replied, "Caramel, how come yer not a History or an Art teacher? Cause yer great at both"
"Well, little one. I couldn't be either one, because I'm a college drop-out, I don't have the full qualifications to be either" I told my sister-in-law, "You see, growing up in Manehattan, there comes a point where you can't take any more"
"Our cousin Babs is from Manehattan though" Applebloom told me, "She seems ta be doing fine"
"Ah, but you see, Applebloom. Babs is growing up in the good part of Manehattan with your Aunt and Uncle Orange, whilst I grew up in the shit part of Manehattan"
"Sweetie, watch yer language at the table" My wife reminded me.
"Oh, sorry hon" I apologized.
I got my fork and scooped out some mashed potatoes, I ate it. And it was, well, very dry, and needs gravy,
"What was it like growing up there?" Applebloom asked me.
"I don't really want to talk about it, Applebloom, too many bad memories" I told her. "Sorry"
"Oh, it's OK, if it's too personal, then ya don't have ta tell" Applebloom replied.
"Thanks, Applebloom" I said.
"No problem" She replied.
I had another forkful of potatoes, still very dry, I looked around the table to look for the gravy, and it was, across from me, behind the ketchup and near Big Mac. Now, you're probably thinking, why can't I just get up and get it or reach out and grab it? Well, for one thing, the side of the table I was on was against the wall, and I couldn't reach out for it, because this table is fucking huge. So the reasonable thing to do is ask Mac,
"Excuse me, MacIntosh, can you please pass me the gravy?" I ask him.
He doesn't respond, instead, he just sits in his chair, looking down at his food, and starts playing with his food with his cutlery,
"Excuse me, dude, can I please get the gravy from you?" I asked, a bit more annoyed and voice slightly raised.
I leaned over and turned my head to see Applejack helping Toffee eat her food, whilst she was helping Toffee, she looked at me, I twitched my head towards Big Mac, and then Applejack nodded. We were using our special little sign language again, in this case, my head twitch means "Can you do something please, babe?" and her nod means "Sure thing". So she stopped feeding Toffee, who seemed a little fool anyway, and asked her brother,
"Excuse me, big brother, can ah please get the gravy?"
"Eeyup, of course" He replied as he slid the gravy over to her.
She then slid the gravy to me, and Big Mac continued play with his food. I then poured the gravy on my potatoes and asked Big MacIntosh,
"What the hell was that about, Big Mac?"
"What the hell was what about?" He asked back.
"The whole ignoring me completely, when I asked you something?" I reminded him, "That ring a bell?"
"No, ya must've not spoken loud enough" He sarcastically replied.
I was getting aggravated now, but not aggravated enough to make me lose my shit,
"I asked you twice and in the same level of volume as your sister, so if you're able to hear the pony further away from you, then you must've been able to hear me" I told him.
"Caramel, calm down, hon" Applejack said.
I took a deep breath and calmed down slightly,
"OK, AJ" I sighed.
I took a bite of my potatoes, now topped with gravy, the gravy was hellishly rich, it takes like Canterlot food now, which is never a bad thing, Canterlot food is always delicious. So whilst I was munching on my food, Big Mac quietly spoke out to me, with his head still down and playing with his food,
"Asshole"
I dropped on my cutlery on my plate and quickly faced him, "OK, what the hell is your problem, man?"
"Big MacIntosh, please" Applejack said at the time as me.
"What do you have against me, Mac?" I asked him, "I've had to put up with this for seven years, man. I'm apart of your family now, man"
"Don't ya dare say that" He stood up and intimidatingly replied, "DON'T YA DARE SAY THAT YER PART OF MA FAMILY!"
His raging explosion woke up Granny Smith and Toffee started to cry in fright,
"Big Brother, calm down!" Applebloom shouted for me.
"Shut up, Applebloom!" He loudly replied back at her.
Applebloom closed her eyes, holding back tears, that was awful of her big brother,
"MacIntosh, calm down, nothing here is Caramel's fault" Applejack tried to calm him down, "Yer upsetting Toffee"
"It's his fault he proposed to ya, it's this scumbag's fault for marrying ya" He told my wife.
"What the hell are you saying, man?" I asked him furiously.
"Ah don't want a Manehattan college drop-out from a junkie family apart of mine" He replied.
"Big MacIntosh" Granny Smith uttered, "Ya best leave this room, right now"
"Damn right I do" He replied to her command, and left the kitchen.
I sighed in annoyance, and helped my daughter calm down, I then comforted my sister-in-law.
Applejack then came over to me and asked me,
"Sweetie, you OK?"
I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine" I sighed.
"Ya sure, babe?" She asked. "Ya look terrible"
"But I'm fi..." I tried to tell her.
"Look, Caramel, go upstairs and lie on the bed, ah'll talk to Big MacIntosh" She told me.
I opened my mouth but the words I planned to say, didn't come out, as I just realized that arguing with my wife would be stupid and a waste of time,
"OK, baby" I replaced the words I planned to say, "I'll go upstairs"
Applejack leaned over a gave me a small peck on the cheek, then stroked the cheek she kissed with her hoof,
"Hey, babe. Ah'm sure that Big MacIntosh didn't mean to say what he just did, he's just angry about something, is all" She told me.
"I hope he was just angry about something" I replied.
"Everything will be fine" She comforted me, "Look, go upstairs, me and Toffee will be up in half an hour"
"OK" I said.
I left the kitchen and made my way up the stairs, and I quietly passed my raging brother-in-law's bedroom door, and went into my bedroom that was two doors down.
I opened my door and felt a cold gust of wind caused by a draft between my door and my open window, I shivered slightly and went up over to my window closed it, ultimately stopping the draft. I went back to my door and closed it, I then went to my bed and laid myself on the covers, the covers were cold, due to the open window, I don't mind cold covers, or the cold in general. The cold is something is I like in a way, it strangely keeps me awake and focused, and on my hooves. I laid on the cold covers as they slowly warmed up to my body temperature, I was thinking about what Big MacIntosh said, "A Manehattan college drop-out from a junkie family", I kept on reconciling this quote in my head, I kept on thinking about it and realized it was true, I'm a Manehattan college drop-out, and I'm from a junkie family. It's stupid but everypony knows about my past, and most ponies know me for my past, and assume that I've done a lot of bad things in the past. Well, hasn't everypony? Of course I've done a considerable amount regrettable things, but I've never done anything like get addicted to drugs. I've known Applejack and her family for almost a decade, all of them have accepted what's happened in my past, and consider me apart of their family, all except from Big MacIntosh, me and him don't get along much, so we haven't interacted many times, so he doesn't really know what the full story of my past is, but he does know bits and pieces, sadly, the bits and pieces he knows are some of the worse parts of my life.
The worse parts. The worst parts of my life, my neglectful family, their drug addiction, my drop-out. All of them things and more are the things I hate most about my life, I guess my life hasn't really had much of a purpose until I met my wife. she saved me.
Before I met Applejack, I always thought to myself during my youth, that if I die, then no one except from Lucky would care, not even my parents. But now since I met Applejack, I got married to her, and now we share a beautiful baby girl, and I feel better about myself because of it. She gave me a purpose to go on, and my daughter gave me a reason to keep going on.
So now hear I am, still going on, I'm lying on my bed covers thinking about my life and my past. I closed my eyes and kept on flashing back to my past, I kept on going back to the memories of my fifteen year old self, thinking of my parents, my mom screaming at my dad and my dad howling back at her, I kept on thinking of the racket they always caused as I was in my room, and I drifted off into the dreams about my childhood...