Michael Morones lives a second life during his time sleeping on the brink of death, and that second life happens to be in the best place possible: Equestria.
When Michael Morones attempts to kill himself, he nearly does so. While in critical condition, he lives out a second life as Maroon Hooves. In that life, he recieves all of the love he needed. When Maroon's time comes, will the love go away?
This was a short story I wrote to contribute to the Michael Morones movement. It just felt right. (Oh, and I made the cover myself using skitch.)
The last moments before his new life included the inability to breathe, screaming from loved ones, and blackness. This unforgiving blackness finally had mercy, swallowing him and drowning him in silence.
Why was it wrong to love ponies? Why did everyone have to be so mean? Where was support when he had needed it? Was he dead? Was the silence he swam through, the nothingness, heaven? Was it something in between? Perhaps this was hell. If it was, did that mean that loving ponies was a sin? Was this where he would remain? Forever?
Suddenly, there became a dot of light, almost unbearably bright. He could feel memories of his 11 years of living begin to fly away. Frantically, he began to claw for whatever scrap of his past he could reach. The pinpoint of light had begun to grow, and it seemed that it's growth coincided with the loss of even more memories. As memory after cherished memory continued to evade his grasp, he began to cry. Just before the light had swallowed everything as the darkness had done not long before, his hand touched what seemed to be the last memory he would ever have of being who he was before. He held onto it and did not let go. As the light began to form a blurry picture, the memory spoke to him the one thing he would carry into his new life. All you wanted was love.
These were the first words of his new life. A second memory to keep the one he had grasped company. There were only more memories to follow. His name was Maroon Hooves, because he was a maroon color. He had a mom, a dad, and two sisters who loved him very much. He lived in a world of magic. He had the love he had wanted.
Maroon learned much as he grew up. He learned that his mom's name was Derpy, his dad's name was Doc, and that his sister's names were Dinky and Amethyst, and that he was a lot like his dad because he couldn't use magic like his sisters or fly like his mom. Many of the things he learned felt familiar, like he had known them once before. Many things were new, most of them involving magic and the world around him.
The one thing that stood out to everypony about Maroon was that he had an uncanny understanding of love and life, especially for his young age. It was as if he had lived much longer than his age revealed...
Maroon Hooves grew into a stallion who always wished to make others smile in any way he could. Perhaps one of the best ways in which he learned to do so was through music. He became a quite adept violinist and joined a traveling orchestra. It seemed that his destiny was to bring love through music, as was depicted on his flank: a musical note within a heart. Maroon always seemed to know where love was needed and knew how to give it.
Maroon fell in love with the traveling orchestra's leader, Vivace Symphony, who was the daughter of the renowned cellist Octavia Melody. Surrounded by more love than he had ever had before. He began to wonder what that first memory had meant. All I wanted was love? Does that I lived somewhere before this? Did I not get enough love? This thought would plague Maroon for the rest of his life. Of course, in due time, all is revealed.
Everypony had their time. Maroon understood this. He had had the honor of playing his violin at both of his parents funerals, as well as his sister Amethyst's a few months before. The only people to stand beside him now were his wife, his kids and grandkids, his one remaining sister, and a few of his closest friends. My, how they had all aged, had all grown. Maroon lay in bed, dying, but at the same time, realizing. He could feel dark swallowing him, and at the same time, memories, long forgotten, began to fly back to their master. The more maroon faded, the more he remembered. He had lived before, loved ponies, and was hated for it. He had tried to kill himself. He had been swallowed like this before. As old memories returned, the ones of his life in Equestria faded to make room. Suddenly, Maroon was scared. He realized he was returning to his old life, had evaded death. Would the love go away? Maroon would cherish the love he had received even to his last moments here.
Before he drowned in the silence again, Maroon spoke his last words.
"All I wanted was love, and that was all I got. Thank You."
And with those last words, he was once again swimming in a sea of silence.
He once again floated, the exchange of memory taking place before him bewildering him. For a fraction of a second, he knew that he had two names and two lives. Then, he was no longer Maroon. He began to remember more and more. There was the show, the bullies, the rope.
So he had not died? Was this some sort of place of transition? Some place close to death? Someplace between lives? Within a life? Was he going back? Had he made it, or was he truly dead?
The light reappeared, this time much less bright. This probably meant that he had made it, if not barely. Two memories alighted by him and spoke their truths. They were the first and last memories of his second life. All you wanted was love. You got the love you wanted.
As the soft light begin to lengthen into a crack, a tear in the dark fabric, he began to worry. If I am going back, does that mean that I will once again be without love? Will it go away?
As there became more light, the crack widened and formed a picture, a ceiling. He returned to his former life, still eleven, surrounded by plushies. The more he recovered, the more he found out about the movement, the more he realized that the love hadn't gone away.
Michael Morones continues to recover, regaining more functionality with each passing day. With the help of his fellow bronies, he found the love that he needed, as well as the necessary resources to recover. Even though he may not remember his second life, he still has the rest of his first life to look forward to.
