Infinite Horizon (Prequel)

>You've lived a long, long, long life.
>Longer than any good man ever had before you.
>Which is good, because you've never been a good man.
>"Daddeh?"
>Ahh, A little bit of sunshine is climbing up her carpeted mahogany ramp into your bed.
"Yes Swan?"
>"Yuu nuu feew gud?"
>You take your time answering this.
>Fluffy Ponies, what ever would you have done without them?
>You were already a septuagenarian when they were introduced, but there was something so... pleasing about them.
>They were affectionate... but you've known much false affection in your time...
>Every marriage after your first really.
>But beyond that, they were... honest.
>When something smelled like shit, they would tell you.
>They didn't ask for anything more than any other pet you ever owned.
>And they loved you, old blackened heart and all.
>Time to be honest with them.
"No Swan.  I'm going to die soon."
>"Nuu daddeh!  Nuu sai dat!  Swan Nuu wan Yuu goh fowevah sweep."  She lowers her voice.  "Swan wuv Yuu."
>You cheated your way through college, clawed your way to the top of a meaningless company, and, through some underhanded financial shenanigans, turned it into the biggest multinational conglomerate the world ever had seen.
>You bought entire legislative bodies in order to avoid any manner of prosecution, and got away with so much that they tried, feebly, to get you anyway.
>Some have even invented new laws after-the-fact, purely to prohibit doing what you already did.
>And now, you find yourself feeling guilty as sin.
>All because you'll be making a fluffy pony sad.
>You raise one hand, weakly, and Swan snuggles in to it, giving it a cuddle.
>Your skin is as thin as tissue paper, even the parts that are supplemented by polymers.
>You have a kindred body in the fragile fluffy pony at your side.
>As she cries gently while hugging your hand, you smile and exhale.
>Owning a fluffy pony has made your life a better thing for many years now.
>Well, several dozen fluffy ponies actually.
>A few at every home you own.
>It's much easier than flying fluffy ponies from country to country.
>Some won't even allow the little darlings, so you had to get yours through special exceptions.
>Some are ferals who you adopted on impulse.
>Some are the...
>Twentieth?
>Twenty fifth?
>Whatever.
>Nth Generational descendants of fluffies you owned before.
>All lovingly kept on your property.
>They made you feel... alive, in a way no human ever could.
>And now, you're dying.
>You've been in the same bed for five days.
>This isn't like your fourth honeymoon, as much joy as that memory brings you, it's more that you are simply too weak.
>The flies are already starting to buzz around you.
>Strictly metaphorically speaking, no insect has come within a hundred feet of you in the last ten years.
>In this case, the flies are your relatives, your business partners, even your own staff.
>They've all been "loyal" and "friendly" with your near-infinite pockets for the last ninety or so years.
>You've bought them everything from cars to college degrees in order to get them to just leave you alone.
>And now, they're all looking for the big payout.
>Four generations of entitled bastards who have had as many children as possible to get as much of your money as they can, on the off-chance that you split it evenly or take a fancy to one of them.
>Every last one is a useless, greedy fuck who couldn't put a hammer to a nail without banging both their thumbs.
>Then calling a lawyer to sue the people who made hammers, nails, and wood.
>Well, very nearly all of them.
>What those fuckers don't know, is the air-tight, iron-clad, quite nasty provisions you have written into your will.
>You're ready to fuck them all over, just for being the useless parasites they are.
>Exactly as the ornate mantelpiece clock's hands overlap, a butler enters your bedroom.
>"Sir?  How are you feeling today?"
>Dumbass.
>Just focus on how gentle Swan is, holding your hand.
"Thirsty.  Bring me water."
>"I am obligated to remind you, Sir, that Your doctor has said that you will receive all fluids intravenious-"
"Water DAMNIT."
>Raising your voice was a mistake, your dry throat cracks, and you start into another body-wracking cough.
>Swan jumps on your arm, holding you tightly.
>"Nuu daddeh!  Nuu make sicky noise!  Daddeh nee wawa!  Pwease fwiend, bwing wawa tuu Daddeh!"
>The Butler scampers away, in a professional manner.
>Pathetic wretch, taking orders from a fluffy pony.
>But no fluffy has ever called him a "meanie", so you left him a little cash.
>Swan is still hugging you.
>So fragile, so kind.
>When the butler returns, with a small crystal glass filled with some sort of ridiculously over-priced water, your vision is already beginning to go gray.
"Give it to me" a gasp "I need water..."
>He raises the glass to your lips, and hesitantly tips it into your mouth.
>"Wawa gud foh daddeh, dwink cawfuw..."
>Your throat contracts and, involuntarily, you inhale as the slim trickle of water passes your throat.
>So this is how it ends...
>Fluffy loving human corperate bastard drowns.