Love isn't a fairytale

Love isn't always perfect. It isn't a fairytale or a storybook. And it doesn't always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on & never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, & impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, Love is realizing that every hour, every minute, & every second was worth it because you did it together.
- unknown

"Ever wake up, the sun shining through your window, the birds singing, the smell of breakfast wafting through the house, and think 'this is going to be a good day'?" I pause long enough to let out a sigh.
"I've had a great many days like that in my life. Growing up on a farm makes for a pretty simple life, and not much can give you a bad day." I lean back in my chair and take a sip of my coffee. Black, two sugars. The way my Pa drank it. I lean forward again and look across the table at my companion.
"'So why do you sound so sad if you're so happy?' you ask. I know you're dying to know, but it'll come. Let's order us a couple more coffees and I'll tell you the story of my love."

A cold wind blows across the cafe's patio, ruffling the manes of the few willing to cope with the cold weather to have their assorted drinks.
I look up at the giant oak tree that protects the patio from the beating sun during the summer, it's limbs bare and lifeless, and let out another deep sigh.
"Back then I was always happy to make new friends. And with Pinkie around, it was pretty easy, but it seemed like no pony ever stopped to get to really know Pinkamena Diane "Pinkie" Pie for anything but her parties and pastries. I'm one of the few that did." The waiter came to the table and set fresh, steaming cups of coffee in front of each of us, before walking off, oblivious as to the seriousness of the story being told compared to the everyday table talk of the other café patrons. I took a small drink before continuing my story.

"It was a brisk day, much like this, and I was sitting in this exact café, exact same chair, drinking the exact same thing. Black coffee, 2 sugars. I heard the bell above the door ring, but didn't think anything of it. It is a public café after all, ponies come and go as they please." I lean back and stare at the waving limbs of the great tree again. "I remember faintly hearing her voice through the door..." I motion toward the door leading into the interior of the café, "... but didn't realize who it was until a few minutes later. The door to the patio opened and out walked my sister and her friends, the element of laughter bouncy as usual. Until they realized the tables out here only seat 5, that is. I offered to share my table with one of them, and the party pony took me up on the offer.

At the time, I didn't think about it, but thinking back on it all these years later, I notice the wink she gave her friends before she bounced over and the giggled amongst themselves at the other table." I motion to a table where the then fillies were sitting, a young couple talking between themselves, the sounds of fillies and colts giggles and playing floats by on the breeze. I take a deep breath of the cold air and hold it for a second.
"We got to talking, spent hours without even noticing. The other elements of harmony slipped away at one point, but one of them, probably my sister, to pay enough, or open a tab, so that our coffee was always full. I can bet you the waiter walked home with a pretty big bit pouch that night." I let out a small chuckle at my joke, knowing that it was probably true.

"Anyways, back to the story. So, we spent roughly 6 hours talking, just shooting the shit. The only reason it wasn't longer was because the café closed, so we went our ways that night. I didn't sleep that night, I spent the night digesting what I had learned. The next morning I got out of bed, my joints creaking like an old farmhoof's. I realized I'd been laying in the same exact position for hours and hours. I went about my normal morning routine, but with the thought of her still on my mind. After breakfast I walked out behind the house and stretched my joints, getting ready to haul the heavy cart into town for AJ." The coffee sitting in front of me had grown a little chilled over the time I'd been talking, so I downed it in one gulp, can't have cold coffee after all.

"On the way into town that morning, I spent more time worrying about what I would say to Pinkie if I saw her, than to the pot holes in the road. As a consequence, one of the wheels caught a hole wrong and snapped two of the spokes. I had to hold up the cart while AJ fixed the spokes with the extras we kept in the wagon. Lesson learned from a haul in the dead of winter, never a good time to be caught unprepared." The waiter came out of the café door with a twist, the towel over his arm catching the wind slightly, not a single item on his tray sliding even a fraction of an inch, before coming to our table and refilling the empty cups, then making his exit again.

"After we got to town and got setup for the days market, AJ asked me to make a trip to the bakery, a gleam in her eye. At the time I thought it was just the gleam of someone ready to provide for her family, haggling her friends, and selling to the private cider brewers. I made the trip to the bakery, it took longer than it should of. I was worried about what would happen when I saw Pinkie. I walked into the store front, the bell above the door jingaling. I looked around the all familiar room, searching for any sign of the pony I'd spent the whole night thinking of, none appeared. As I turned to walk to the counter, she appeared. The doors to the kitchen swinging open, a halo of light surrounding her, illuminating every curl in her hair, every hair in her coat. My jaw dropped, but was only there for a second before a donut came flying across the room, and she was there, moving my jaw, making me chew, all while asking me how it tasted. Of course all I could do was mumble as she had control of my jaw, but that didn't stop her from asking again." The wind had died off, leaving a dead silence as I stopped talking.

"I should get going, it's starting to get late." The pony across the table from me says. I just start to notice how dark it is getting, the branches of the tree becoming hard to see.

"Alright, Same time tomorrow?" I ask, knowing what the answer will be.

"Sounds good to me. Have a nice day Friend." I hear a pop, and like that, I wake up to a bright new day.