I woke up on my bed and groaned softly, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I peeked outside to see the sun just barely rising over the mountain peaks. When we first bought the property, Fluttershy jokingly called this place, "The House of the Rising Sun," and I laughed so hard I pissed myself. Good times. When we got married, when we danced at the reception, we both slipped on each other, and that ended up being our wedding photo. It was embarassing for the two of us, but we later laughed about it on our honeymoon.
5:30 A.M. it read on the clock. I wish I could sleep all day, but I have work to do. I look down at Fluttershy, gave her a kiss on the cheek, which makes her smile and lets her know that I'm about to start my work. I get my clothes on. I put my hat on. I put the gloves on and zipped up my jacket and put my boots on.
It was time for me to start my day. My name is Chase Vander Dussen, I am now 35 years old. I live on my own farm in the mountains of the Crystal Empire. I am married to Fluttershy, Element of Kindness and I am the parent of three wonderful foals. I am very proud of them. They take after both of us. Kindness, and my unique personality mixed together created a wonderful thing... if only they didn't wake me up every morning. But that's a story for another time. Every morning I have the same routine: I get up and go about my business around the farm. I pick the fruits, load them onto a train of my own design. I grow some damn good fruits, which is why there's an extremely high demand.
I scratched my beard with a gloved hand as I worked. My hair barely started graying in some places, but I was still pretty damn spry for a 35 year old. There was a field overlooking the whole property. I actually built the house myself, with Fluttershy pitching in to help. I did the building of the house while she read the instructions. I worked day and night on the house.
I adjusted my fedora and jacket so I could keep warm and the sun out of my face. Today was a different kind of day. I leaned on the wooden fence overlooking the farm. I waved goodbye to my kids, and they waved right back. I felt accomplished, and yet... I felt like there was something missing from all this.
I headed back down to the house, trudging through the snowbanks, and saw some wood, with an axe laying next to the pile, I had ordered that needed to be chopped. I use this wood for fires to keep the fruits of my labor from freezing up and dying.
I grabbed the axe and grabbed the first block to begin chopping the wood. I had lost a lot of weight since I started physically working on a fruit farm. I stopped snoring, and I had a significant change in attitude. I no longer felt the need to put off tasks until the last minute and got them done a lot sooner.
WHACK!
THUMP!
WHACK!
THUMP!
WHACK!
THUMP!
WHACK!
THUMP!
WHACK!
THUMP!
And that's how it goes, every morning. Fluttershy sends the kids off to school in Ponyville. I miss the rascals, but I push on with my work, not stopping. For tomorrow is a new day. I was pretty happy.
On the outside, I was happy, but on the inside, I was a hollow shell of a man. Suffering.
I hear a faint flapping of wings as Princess Luna descended upon the farm.
"Hello Chase."
"Luna, my old friend." I acknowledged, putting the axe down, taking a break. I was finished with the wood anyways. I had a lot to do on the farm, but I had plenty of time to do it.
"What're you doing here? I thought you were with your sister."
"I was, but I told her I wanted to visit you."
I was about to say something, but she said, "I just wanted to talk."
"About?"
"You."
Huh. Usually she talks about Equestria as a whole.
"Okay?"
"Chase, are you happy?"
"Of course I am."
"No, I mean are you truly happy?"
I thought about it for a moment, she's never asked me that before. A part of me wanted to tell her the truth, I wasn't happy. Another wanted me to flat out lie and say that I was fine and dandy. Tears threatened to spill out and splatter on the snow, not that anybody would see them.
My shoulders sagged, might as well tell her the truth. Nothing gets past her it seems. "No. I'm not. I guess I just felt empty inside, even after marrying Fluttershy, best thing that ever happened to me. I think my depression hit me harder than I thought it did. I never fully recovered from it. I am indebted to Celestia for bringing me here. For the longest time, I never knew what I wanted to do with my life or myself, but now, here I am... picking and growing fruits all day. Never thought I'd see myself doing this."
"Neither did I." replied Luna, with a wing hiding something, but I thought nothing of it.
"Fluttershy's taken the kids to the train station and went with them to Ponyville. She won't be back for another hour. I just wish that we weren't completely alone."
"Maybe I have something..." she folded her wing and I saw a sight I thought I would never see again.
A golden retriever, fully grown, and with the name, "Lily Vander Dussen" on the tags came barreling towards me, tackled me and started licking me on the face.
"LILY!" I cried out with joy, "Ew, ew! OKAY! OKAY! Gerroff me!"
I cried tears of joy, happy to have my friend back, embracing her like there was no tomorrow. Luna meanwhile flew off and bid me goodbye as I was reunited with an old friend.
"If this is a dream... I don't want to wake up."
"Thank you."
I'll never let go. I had my friend back, I had a wife and three wonderful kids, something I enjoyed doing. Yes. Life was good to me. All was well.
Author's Note
The lesson I'm trying to teach here is this: Live your life to the fullest, be grateful for the things you have. Life is precious, and you will always have people who care about you, no matter how bad life may seem.
"Live today.
Not yesterday.
Not tomorrow.
Just today.
Inhabit your
moments. Don't
rent them out
to tomorrow."
This was my first one-shot and I had fun writing it. I wrote this as a way to channel my grief for the loss of my pet, Lily. She was the sweetest, kindest, most loyal dog I could've asked for. The sister I never had. I miss you so much.
Rest in peace, old friend.
