Chapter 1
I walked as I had so many other times before, observing things that could drive some men crazy. An empty town, void of vibrancy and life. A waste of hard labor. Isn't that a shame? That's the first thing that comes to mind when I walk through the streets of this earthly purgatory. Needless to say the sky was gray and filled with clouds. I hadn't seen sunlight in ages. As I walked through the empty streets and next to the dozens of abandoned buildings scattering the block, trying as hard as I could to remove my problems and insecurities from my mind for even a fraction of a second, I came across something. A lone, brown cardboard box. There was no reason this should have stood out to me, it was as bleak as everything on the street. I stopped, willing to test one of fates many trivial pursuits, and when I did I noticed something even more strange about this box. It read GivE To GoOD HoMe on the front. "A stray cat, a bow of unwanted toys..." I thought to myself. "Maybe something worth finding." I decided to have a look.
I opened the brown cardboard box, and what I saw would change my life.
I stood there, completely motionless as our eyes locked with one another. She was beautiful. Her bright cyan coat's pureness was seemingly untouched by the bleakness of the world around her. Her multi-colored mane glistened in the miniscule ray of sunlight that peeked out of the small crevasse of the gray storm clouds overhead. She looked back and forth surveying her surroundings with fear in her eyes. I wish that I could have told her that there was nothing to fear, and that I wouldn't lay a finger on her. She sat there in the small brown box, scared and confused, until she looked back up and into my eyes. I couldn't help but smile. Millions of thoughts raced around in my head, "How is she possible? How is she here? Why is she here?" My train of thought was broken when I noticed her squirming around in the box. Her small hooves not even strong enough to put a dent in her cardboard prison, and she had no control over her tiny wings. She was helpless. "Helpless and vulnerable." I thought to myself. "Who would ever do this to a filly Rainbow Dash?" Then I turned to her once more, looking her in the eyes and said aloud, "Don't worry, I'll find a home for you."
I reached out and gathered her into my arms. This frightened her immensely. She began to squirm even more, rustling her wings and shaking her hooves. I lifted her closer to me and stroked her head as calmly as I could. I ran my fingers through her silky smooth rainbow mane, steadily going back and forth. This seemed to calm her, as she began to stop resisting. After a few minutes of this mutual bliss, she had quieted down and had completely ceased her movements. I whispered in her ear, "Everything is going to be okay. I won't let anything happen to you." And just like that, she was asleep. I looked down at the small ball of cyan fur in my arms and sighed. My heart exploded....... twice. Everything about her was perfect. But then a horrible realization entered my mind. I couldn't send her to a shelter or else she would be shipped off to some sort of laboratory and experimented on. I couldn't keep her either, my job was far to demanding to spend the time to raise a filly. I didn't have many friends, and the few I did wouldn't understand my situation. I sat in the middle of that dark, lonely street for what felt like hours until I finally came to a decision. Tears were streaming down my face when I realized what I had to do. I set the rainbow filly down on the sidewalk. I stood up, wiped my face, and cleared the lump in my throat. The filly soon woke up once it felt the frigid sidewalk on the back of it's head, as opposed to my soft arms. Our eyes locked again. It looked at me yet again with fear and confusion and I met it's gaze with sternness. I could read her expression. She wanted to ask me, "Where am I? Who are you? Where's my mommy? What is this place?" The look on her face was so sad, yet she didn't let even a single tear escape from her eyes. Those eyes. I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted it to stop. I NEEDED it to stop. My heart was pounding and I was holding back another onslaught of tears. I spoke aloud once more, "You don't belong here. I wish I could help you, but I'd like to think I'm about to do you a favor." It was then that I stepped closer to her. "My dreams had almost come true." I thought to myself. I looked her in the eyes one last time. Her deep black eyes just gazed deeper into my soul. Such innocence. I then spoke aloud for the final time, "I'm sorry." She continued to look at me, her stare unchanged. Rightfully so, she couldn't understand me. I cleared my head, raised my foot, and with all the force I could muster, stomped down hard on her head.
Her head was instantly crushed underneath the hard, unforgiving leather of my boot. Blood shot out in every direction, oozing through the soft pieces of what was left of her skull. I began to rub my boot across the pavement, smearing the dead filly's brain on the sidewalk. I noticed one of her eyes floating in a puddle of blood next to the rest of her body. The deep black pupils still seemed to look through me even after death. It drove me crazy. Her coat was no longer bright cyan blue, but a deep red. It had lost it's original gleam and had seemed to suddenly fade to bleakness. Her main was now only one color, a deep shade of crimson. Such elegance and perfection, wasted on this world. I took a few steps further back and the turned around and began to walk away. After about ten strides though, I stopped and looked back at her. She, who could have helped me find myself. She, who could have given me love. And she, who could have changed my life. It was my turn to gaze into the unknown, into the deep sea of crimson that I had created. It was a sea of mystery that I would never be able to navigate. I turned back and once again walked, but this time I didn't stop. And I would never stop again.