• Published 14th Jan 2017
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Cruel Twist Of Fate or (Friendship Is Tragic) - SapphireWings999



My wife, my friends, I've lost them all. Why did it have to be me? What have I done to deserve this?

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Chapter VIII: Remembering Those Passed

As the day went on, we continued with more episodes from their show as well as some more of the Disney movies. We’d completely wrapped up Season 2 in that time and the girls particularly liked the 2-part finale, a few of them even noting similarities between Chrysalis’ disguising herself as Princess Cadance and Ursula’s disguise in the latter portion of The Little Mermaid. Twilight even got a little teary-eyed remembering both of the episodes themselves.

In regards to the Disney movies, we watched both The Rescuers Down Under and had just finished watching Beauty And The Beast when I paused to check with them about what their thoughts were on the movies.

“So how’d ya guys like tha movies?”

“I really enjoyed that Rescuers sequel,” Rainbow spoke up. “It was much more action packed and I definitely found it to be far better than that other one we’d previously watched.”

“Darn straight,” Applejack affirmed.

“Personally,” Rarity began, “I think that Beauty And The Beast might be my new favorite Disney movie. Belle was such a dynamic character, the story was great, the songs were incredible, and the villain was very memorable.”

“I know right?!?” Rainbow exclaimed. “I found it particularly interesting how Gaston was the villain when, in any other story, he would’ve been considered the hero. He even had the look and build of a traditional hero. Not to mention the design of the Beast was really cool too.”

“Mhmm,” I commented. “Tha animators created quite tha mishmash when designin’ him. From what Ah’d heard, they designed him with tha head structure ‘n horns of a buffalo on a bear’s body along with tha brow of a gorilla, jaws like a lion’s, boar tusks, ‘n both tha legs ‘n tail of a wolf.”

“I really enjoyed the songs too,” Pinkie piped up. “They were very catchy and fun.”

“It certainly was a very solid movie,” Twilight stated. “Not perfect, but pretty close.”

“Something that you guys might be interested to know was that, when this movie came out, it was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards,” Savannah explained, “and currently the only hand-drawn animated movie ever to be nominated.”

“Oh my. That must have been huge for a movie like that to get that kind of recognition,” Fluttershy remarked, wonderstruck.

“That it was,” I followed up. “Fer an animated movie ta receive that kind of attention was practically unheard of at that time. Ever since then, only 2 other animated movies have ever been nominated fer that same honor, but we’ll hopefully get ta those later on. No animated movie has ever won Best Picture, but Ah try ta remain enthusiastic that one will someday.”

“It was also the last movie that Howard Ashman was fully involved in before he passed away,” Savannah continued. “He was famous for writing the songs in this movie, The Little Mermaid, and a few of the songs for our next movie, Aladdin. The Little Mermaid and Beauty And The Beast even had him working in a producer role so he clearly had a pretty strong hand in the development of both movies.”

“Wow,” Twilight commented. “I don’t believe I’d ever known that before.”

“If you watch the credits of this movie, you’d even notice a dedication that states: ‘To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman 1950-1991’.”

“Wait a minute. 1991?” Pinkie puzzled. “Isn’t that your birth year, Davey?”

“Yeah, but how’d ya know that?” I asked before suddenly realizing. “From when you guys were in ma head, right?”

“Yuppers!”

"There was even an extremely influential Disney chairman at that time named Jeffrey Katzenberg," Savannah began, "who was quoted as saying that there were always 2 angels who were watching over Disney to put their magic touch on their films. Those 2 angels being Howard Ashman and Walt Disney."

It was then that we all heard crying coming from me and Savannah’s room. Clearly, Ariel had woken up.

“Ah’ll go get her,” I announced as I got up.

Walking back to our room, I turned on the light to reveal Ariel standing up and hanging onto the bars of her crib, wet streaks running down her face from where tears had been and a sad pout on her lips. I then walked over and picked her up, holding her close to me to comfort her.

“Hey. It’s O.K.,” I whispered softly. “Daddy’s here now.”

She calmed down more and more, sighing softly as I held her. Turning around to take her out of the room, I was surprised to see Fluttershy standing in the doorway. I hadn’t even noticed or heard her following me.

“Is she O.K.?” she questioned, concern evident in her tone.

“Yeah. Ah think she jus’ woke up ‘n got scared that there was no one else around.”

“Oh. That’s good to know. I’m just glad that it wasn’t anything too serious.”

She paused briefly before speaking up again.

“Do you know if I could hold her?”

“Are ya sure ya know how too?”

Fluttershy then gave me a cocked eyebrow that seemed to imply “Really?” before plainly replying.

“I’ve handled baby animals plenty of times before. I’m pretty sure that handling your daughter won’t be all that more challenging.”

I couldn’t help but smile at Fluttershy’s spunk. She’d definitely come quite a long way from where she started out and I always enjoyed getting to see her more feisty side.

“Point taken,” I remarked as I carefully handed my daughter off to her.

It probably goes without saying that Fluttershy held Ariel with all the care and tenderness that would come with someone of her nature. Ariel even tried grabbing ahold of her long, rose-pink hair while Fluttershy just giggled softly before speaking.

“Hey little one. You enjoying my mane- er… hair?” she swiftly corrected herself.

“Who wouldn’t enjoy yer hair?” I questioned. “There’s such a natural softness ta it that Ah’m sure any mare back home wishes they could have a mane like yer’s.”

Fluttershy blushed deeply at my comment.

“You wanna head back inta tha livin’ room with tha others?”

“Sure.”

And so we made our way out of my room to join the others in the living room. Upon entering, they were quick to notice us as well as the fact that Fluttershy was holding Ariel, Pinkie being the first to speak up about that fact.

“Aww! Look who Fluttershy’s got!”

“Did the little darling sleep O.K.?” Rarity questioned.

“Ah believe so,” I answered. “Ma guess is that she woke up ‘n got scared when she realized no one else was around.”

“Does someone wanna go see their mommy?” Fluttershy asked Ariel as she brought her over towards Savannah.

“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Savannah replied as she gratefully accepted Ariel from her.

“How do ya guys feel ‘bout us watchin’ Aladdin fer tha time bein’?” I brought up.

“I’m in,” Rainbow affirmed.

All of the other girls voiced their interest in seeing it also.

“Then it’s settled,” I commented as I popped the DVD into the PS4 and sat back to watch the movie with the others.

* * * * * * * *

A while later, we sat around the kitchen table eating fried egg sandwiches that I’d just cooked up while discussing Aladdin. As one could probably imagine, there was a lot to talk about with that movie in particular.

“So did ya guys enjoy tha movie?” I asked after swallowing a bite of sandwich.

“Mhmm,” the girls simultaneously replied.

“It was soo awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “That flight through the cave, the villain, the climax, it was all too much!”

“It did have a very positive message about the importance of one’s individuality,” Twilight mentioned, “as well as being true to who you are and not changing yourself because you think that’s what others might want. That was kind of a problem that I had with The Little Mermaid, but, at the same time, it wasn’t bad enough that it ruined my viewing experience.”

“Understandable,” I acknowledged.

“My favorite character was the Genie!” Pinkie stated excitedly. “He was fun, funny, and entertaining, or as I’d like to say ‘fun-tertaining’.”

I smiled softly at Pinkie’s remarks before Savannah spoke up.

“The Genie is very easily a lot of people’s favorite character from the movie. A good chunk of that has to do with the man who voiced him, Robin Williams. This guy was such an unbelievable talent, a master of improv, and a comic legend. He was the kind of person who, if you threw anything at him, he would automatically come back with 5 jokes at once. In fact, the majority of his lines in Aladdin were ad-libbed on the spot. He was very easily the single greatest comedic mind of our time.”

“Um… ‘scuse me Sugarcube,” AJ began, “but what do ya mean… ‘was’? He ain’t dead… is he?”

Me and Savannah’s faces suddenly turned despondent. Fluttershy was quick to notice this before breaking the awkward silence.

“He is isn’t he?” she questioned solemnly.

“Unfortunately, yes,” I answered with a sad sigh. “He committed suicide a little over 2 ½ years ago followin’ an incredibly serious ‘n long struggle with depression.”

“His was the kind of talent that many could only ever dream of having and the world as we know it became a much sadder place with his passing,” Savannah added.

All the girls’ expressions were instantly downturned at the unfortunate news that me and Savannah had delivered.

“It sounds to me like his passing must’ve been quite a big deal around here,” Rarity stated, “much like when you told us about the passing of that other guy, Michael… Jameson was it?”

“Michael Jackson,” I politely corrected, “‘n yes, it was a major, unfortunate event. People like Robin ‘n Michael are some o’ tha rare few celebrities whose passings affected people of multiple generations. As sad as it is ta admit, mos’ celebrities who pass on either only strike hard with tha younger or older audiences, but these 2 were the exceptions. Millions connected with ‘em on a personal level, makin’ it all tha more tragic when they did pass.”

“The only good thing I can think of that came from Robin’s passing is that it helped bring more awareness to the issue of suicide,” Savannah continued, “and more steps have been taken since then towards the prevention of future occurrences.”

“That’s good that more suicides have been prevented,” Fluttershy spoke softly, then sorrowfully. “It’s just really unfortunate that it took an event as terrible and tragic as this for that change to come about.”

“No arguin’ there, Flutters,” I agreed.

“But enough about that,” Savannah began as she brought her plate over to the dishwasher before picking up Ariel out of her highchair. “How do you guys feel about us moving on to the next Disney movie in the line-up?”

“Sounds good ta me,” AJ replied, polishing off the last of her sandwich.

“What’s next?” Rainbow questioned.

“That would be The Lion King,” I stated.

“You girls might want to be careful, though,” Savannah remarked. “David has been known to get pretty emotional during this movie.”

“Hey. That’s just one scene ‘n, if any of you girls knew tha scene Ah was talkin’ ‘bout, not ta mention factorin’ in tha young age Ah first saw it at, ya’d completely understand why.”

“There’s nothing wrong with letting yourself go emotionally and expressing how you really feel,” Twilight affirmed with a smile.

“Anyhoo,” Rarity started, wiping her mouth with a paper napkin, “I’m sure that all of us would love to see this movie.”

“Uh huh,” Fluttershy mentioned.

“So what’re we waiting for?” Pinkie asked.

“Nothin’,” I answered. “Let’s go.”

* * * * * * * *

An hour and a half later, the movie was over and the girls were very quick to speak up about what they’d just seen.

“Well, I can certainly say that the visuals were quite impressive,” Rarity stated. “I mean, did you guys see how huge and epic this movie looked?”

“I know, right?” Rainbow agreed. “It’s incredible how they managed to show soo much size and scope to it.”

“The story I also found to be pretty solid,” Twilight added, “though I feel like there was one major area where the story suffered the most.”

“Where was that, Twi?” Savannah puzzled.

“The way that it botched up the moral at the end. Don’t get me wrong. The moral itself is one that’s rarely seen about the choice one faces regarding their own past, no matter how painful it is, and how they can either run from it or learn from it. The problem lies in the fact that the story itself, particularly the climax, doesn’t support its own moral.

“When adult Simba goes to face his past and confront Scar, no one else comes to his aid when he reveals that he’s responsible for Mufasa’s death. Except for the fact that that wasn’t what really happened. Once he finds out that it wasn’t his fault, that’s the only time anyone else helps him. All his fears were based on a past that never existed and even if he did actually kill Mufasa, whether or not it was accidental, the movie seems to act like he deserved to die for it.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Lookin’ back on when Ah was a kid, Ah’d be lyin’-”

“Haha! ‘Lion’. Good one, Davey,” Pinkie giggled.

I couldn’t help but smile at her pun before recollecting my thoughts.

“Lookin’ back on when Ah was a kid, Ah’d be lyin’ if Ah said Ah didn’t spend a fair amount o’ time tryin’ ta convince others that Ah never really made any o’ tha mistakes Ah made. Ah jus’ felt like tha movie was tellin’ me ta never take responsibility fer anythin’ unless Ah didn’t actually do it ‘n that that was tha only way Ah’d get a happy endin’.”

“Even then, though, it doesn’t completely destroy the movie,” Twilight added. “It’s just kind of a minor nuisance more than anything else.”

“I loved the songs the most,” Pinkie piped up, “especially Hakuna Matata!”

“Ugh,” Rainbow protested. “That song annoyed me soo much you’d never believe,” her tone changing to a more positive one. “Circle Of Life was pretty cool, though, and Be Prepared was totally awesome!”

“Be Prepared is one o’ ma favorites too,” I stated. “While err'body ‘round me was singin’ Hakuna Matata, Ah was tha one kid tryin’ ta sing Be Prepared.”

"I thought Be Prepared was a pretty good song too," Fluttershy began, "though, for some reason I can't quite explain, that part where the legion of hyenas were goose-stepping past Scar was kind of unsettling."

"I can understand that," Savannah replied. "Even when I was a kid it was unsettling for me, though I couldn't say why at the time."

“Ah noticed ya startin’ ta tear up a bit durin’ tha scene of Mufasa’s death,” AJ observed. “Was that tha scene you ‘n Savannah were talkin’ ‘bout earlier?”

“Yes. Yes it was,” I admitted. “Even to this day, that scene still gets me every time. Ah can’t even listen ta tha music in that scene without gettin’ choked up.”

“My heart was right there with you,” Fluttershy affirmed, softly. “It certainly was an emotionally tense scene and I can see why a scene like that could scar someone the way it did to you.”

It wasn’t until after the word “scar” had already escaped her lips when she’d realized the unintentional pun she’d made.

“Oh,” she giggled, mildly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of a moment like that.”

“It’s O.K., Flutters,” I replied. “Ah’ve unintentionally made that pun more times than Ah could count.”

“Speaking of Scar, I thought that he was only an… average villain,” Rarity spoke up. “Granted, he’s the first Disney villain I know of to get in a kill, unless you’re counting the hunter who shot Bambi’s mother or possibly even the Headless Horseman,”-Fluttershy meeped at the mention of the Headless Horseman-“but after he gets what he wants he just turns into a little primadonna and loses all enjoyability as a character. I mean, by Celestia, Rainbow Dash! You thought Ariel was whiny? Scar makes her look like an under actor by comparison!”

“She’s gotcha there, Dashie,” Pinkie remarked, playfully, as Rainbow gave off a slightly annoyed scowl.

“Scar probably ranks in my top 10 favorite Disney villains of all time,” Savannah began, “but not much higher than that.”

We then noticed Ariel rubbing her eyes and yawning softly.

“Looks like someone’s ready to call it a night,” Savannah commented as she picked her up. “If you guys want, you can start on the next one without me while I put Ariel down for the night.”

“Ah’d say we probably have time fer one more before we call it a night ourselves,” I stated as Savannah and Ariel headed to the back and I went to put in the next Disney movie, Pocahontas. “Unfortunately, this is tha point where Disney movies started ta go downhill fer a while, jus’ ta give ya guys a heads up.”

“Thanks fer tha warnin’ Sugarcube,” AJ replied.

“This next one is very loosely based off of actual events in our country’s history, as in, tha creators definitely took a large amount o’ creative liberties with tha story.”

Settling in with my friends, the movie began.

* * * * * * * *

After the movie was over, I noticed that my friends had very dumbstruck expressions on their faces. Twilight was the first to speak up.

“Wow. That movie was soo predictable that it was actually painful to sit through,” she bluntly stated.

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow agreed before turning to me. “You weren’t kidding when you said this is where Disney movies began to take a nosedive.”

“I can hardly even remember any of the songs from this movie,” Pinkie commented sadly. “The only ones that come to mind are Colors Of The Wind and Savages, but even those are really weak when compared to songs like Part Of Your World, Friend Like Me, and Hakuna Matata.”

“The story just seemed like a tired, recycled bore that we’ve heard countless times prior,” Rarity affirmed. “I could literally predict every moment that was going to happen. I’d be willing to bet that your daughter, Ariel, could predict it it was that bad.”

“Something I never understood is why the animals didn’t talk in this movie,” Fluttershy puzzled. “I mean, with a movie like this that seemed heavily focused on communing with nature, it seems like a really bizarre choice from a creative standpoint when only the tree talks. What’s with that?”

“Not ta mention tha villain was one o tha weakest, mos' forgettable characters Ah can think of,” AJ concurred. “Ah mean, aside from jus’ wantin’ gold, there’s nothin’ else ta his character ‘n even wantin’ gold ain’t tha least bit interestin’ as far as Ah’m concerned.”

“What’s really funny,” Savannah began, “is that the people at Disney thought that this movie was gonna be their big hit instead of the Lion King. There’s a certain tragic irony that Lion King was the bigger hit while this movie was a critical failure.”

“I guess that’s just part of how life goes,” Twilight stated. “If we always knew for certain what would be a hit and what wouldn’t, life would be pretty boring. That uncertainty is a nice way to keep ponies guessing.”

“Well, Ah think it’s ‘bout time fer us ta get some rest fer tomorrow,” I yawned while getting up. “See you girls in tha morning.”

“You too, darling,” Rarity replied with a smile.

As we headed off to our separate rooms, I was eager to put this day behind me as soon as possible. First of all, that dream had still been haunting me in the back of my mind. As of that moment, I’d heard nothing about any family deaths and wanted more than ever for this dream to be proven wrong so I could stop worrying about it. Not to mention that I could enjoy our time together much easier without that thought lingering over me.

Settling in next to Savannah, I closed my eyes in the hopes that sleep would come quickly. This was one moment where I actually looked forward to the coming day. This dream would be proven wrong; nothing more than empty bluster. I swore it.

Author's Note:

Hello Everypony. SapphireWings here and guess what? It's my birthday, but I'm not the only one getting presents. I'm presenting y'all with the newest chapter of my story. Things have been pretty hectic around here as it gets closer to Christmas. Had a Christmas show these past couple of weekends, been busy with work, had to get all my shopping done not just for Christmas but for all the birthdays that happen within this period, and my parents were out of town the first weekend of this month so I was needed to help out with the younger ones. Progress is being made, though, and I'll be wrapping this story up soon although exactly when that'll be is, as of yet, unknown. Anyhoo, I appreciate your support and stay tuned for more chapters.