//------------------------------// // Take the first step // Story: Stairway to Heaven // by Brolkier //------------------------------// Images of my life continued to flow through my head, as the slinky took step after step. I remembered all the fun times that I had with my mother and friends as a filly. The interactions that I had with my father, as I grew older. And of course, all of the wonderful places that I took my slinky to. Watching the slinky go on and on, it felt like all of it had happened such a long time ago. If only it had. It had only been a few years after I finally matured into a young mare, that I ended up here. I still don't know how it happened, but I knew that it had to just be another step in my life. I was admitted here at the Ponyville Hospital just a few weeks ago, thinking that I was just going through some slight illness. I was wrong though. Whatever this was, it was like a disease that spread over my entire body. I was covered head to toe in green spots, which were all very painful to the touch, and made my life miserable to move around. It started off as just a few spots and posed me no problems at all, just some slight itching, but as the days carried on, it began to get much, much worse. I began to develop several different symptoms. Symptoms that none of the ponies at the hospital had ever seen together before. It was a complete mystery. They gave me the best care that they could provide, trying to treat as many symptoms as they could, but to no avail. My body and mind were getting weaker as the weeks rolled on. Eventually, I couldn't even get out of bed on my own, not without assistance. This was by far, the most difficult step that I was facing in my life, and as I watched the slinky continue, I thought back to other rough steps in my life, and how I had dealt with them. /)(\ /)(\ /)(\ /)(\ /)(\ Just like any other filly, I got picked on at school at one time or another. At first, it was because I had a blank flank. Then, it evolved to the other kids making fun of me, saying that I didn't have a father that loved me, since he was never around for me. Finally, it grew to everypony making fun of my cutie mark, believing that I was just a filly that only played with toys, and saying things like I would always just play with myself, instead of others. I got over them calling me "blank flank" when I got my cutie mark. I ignored them saying I had a father who didn't love me, by convincing myself that he was always just really busy. And I dismissed all of their remarks about my cutie mark and my life, as I eventually realized that I didn't care what others thought about me. The pain of all of it happening still hurt, but I always overcame it by taking one step at a time, just like my slinky. Eventually, I graduated from the school, and began to take my life into my hooves. I wanted to go out and see the world, and experience all there was to offer. It was this goal, that actually allowed me to finally get to know my father more. When I had finally been around him long enough for him to acknowledge me, I tried my best to fit myself into his life. I would see him off at the train station, and welcome him back if I knew he was coming home. If he had local work, I would stop by where he was working, and play with my slinky on the tracks that he and the other workers had already laid down. And whenever he had been given time off from work, I tried to get us to do things together as a family, in hopes of bringing us closer together. It all worked, but failed at the same time. Instead of getting a wave back from the train station, I would get a yawn as the train pulled away, and a thousand yard stare, as it pulled back into the station. Whenever I played on the completed portions of the train tracks, I would occasionally get yelled at by him, saying I was in the way of small carts that followed behind them on the tracks. And despite all my best efforts, my father never showed much care for the activities that I tried to get the three of us to do as a family. Instead, he'd either stick around till he got bored, and leave, or would go off and do his own thing, while my mother and I did what we had planned. No matter what though, I always took everything he did and said one step at a time. I figured that I would warm up to him eventually, and that some day, we would all be a loving, happy family. I continued to maintain that mentality, and lifestyle, as I got older and explored the world as much as I could. To me, life was a staircase, and just like my slinky, I valued and enjoyed every step of it. I climbed, and climbed, and climbed, facing every obstacle that came my way. At least, until the day came when I contracted this illness. I woke up one morning, and noticed when I looked in the mirror, that a couple of green spots had appeared on my body. I tried asking my friends about it, when I went about my day, and they all suggested that it might just be an allergic reaction to something, or perhaps some form of the pony pox. I didn't really think much of it at the time, so I tried doing my best to take care it. I should have known better. Days went by, and I began to notice that the spots were starting to spread, and that they were itching at times. It even got to the point, where the spots somehow affected my muscles under my skin, and made it painful to move at times. It was then, that I finally decided to go to the hospital, to see what was wrong. If I had just gone sooner, then perhaps things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.