A One-shot dedication
A letter to a hero
Dedicated To my father Jerry Lyle Jones Born February 3rd 1939 and died on October 11th 2012
Shadow sat at his desk staring at the blank scroll, what was he supposed to write? What words could he used to describe how much his father had meant to him.
“What do I say dad?” Shadow sobbed ad he picked up the quill with his magic and let a few ink drops fall as he thought.
To my father
How are you doing, I’m betting that your fine; after all you’re with all the people you’ve lost. You and my uncle are probably telling all your pervy jokes and knocking them dead up there huh? Probably hanging out with your Navy buddies too, not drinking or anything. Remember what you taught me “Alcohol is pointless, you can try to escape your problems through it, but they’ll still be there once you sober up.
Hey listen you don’t have to worry about me okay? Like I told you before you passed I’m not letting anyone push me around anymore, I’ll fulfill my dreams, and make you proud; I may not be navy material but I’ll still make you proud that I’m your son.
It had been five years since Shadow had tried to follow in his father’s footsteps into the Equestrian Navy, but his right eye was bad, and because he had been a cutter they wanted his medical history; which he was unable to afford because the hospital wanted three hundred bits.
I’ll always love you dad, I can’t afford it but I wanted to put you in an urn that said “Forever in our hearts.” It would have been nice, but I bet since you didn’t like being all dressed up and stuff you probably wouldn’t have liked it.
Sis is having a hard time, but she’ll pull though, I’ll be her for her. I promise. She’s crying a lot but she’s slowly working her way out.
So anyways I guess that’s it. I’ll always love you daddy, and I’ll never forget you.
Your forever loving and loyal son
Shadow
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The body looked the same as the day he had died, but it had only been a day. Unable to afford it they had opted to not embalm the body and so they could not touch the man that had meant so much to them all. Shadow sat alone watching as his mother, grandmother, and, aunt all from his mother’s side try to console the almost completely destroyed mare that was his sister. Her sobs rang though the chapel and made Shadow cry as well. I told myself I wasn’t going to cry anymore damn it, why am I so sad, and yet so happy at the same time.
Shadow’s emotions were like a ping pong ball. One moment he was crying because he knew he would miss his father, the next he was happy that he was gone because his father was in so much pain in the end. Comatose and gasping for air. Once his father had chosen to take the oxygen mask off Shadow made sure no one would put it back on. When one nurse tried he grabbed her hoof and told her. “No he is gone no matter what, if he wants to go now then it’s not your right to stop him. You Doctors said this was about what he wanted right? Well he wants to go.” He then took the mask off of his father’s face and sat there at his father’s bedside until he was gone.
“Good bye Daddy.” Shadow Said as he and his sister put their letters into their father’s casket. The officers presented Shadow’s grandmother a flag which was given to him, which he then gave to his sister. It was the one thing she had asked for, and being that she had left when she was sixteen, and only had seen her father a hand full of times during the remaining twenty years, so she didn’t have much to remember him by, and Shadow didn’t have the heart to say no.
“Present arms!” Ordered the commander of the firing party as they fired twenty one shots into the air for the now dead hero sailor. “Order Arms!” They then left to do the other things that they had to do.
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As they all left the cemetery they talked amongst themselves on who would get the ashes, and it was decided that Shadow, Shadow’s grandmother his father’s wife as they had fallen in love, as she had helped him raise shadow when her daughter had more or less abandoned her colt son, and his sister. They would they go to a nearby forest and plant a tree with some of the ashes and left a plaque which would serve as the place they would go to remember him by.
As they planted the tree, a nice sturdy cedar sapling Shadow poured some of his father’s ashes in the hole,and then the other’s did the rest. He said a silent prayer to Celestia and turned back to the now planted sapling.
“Forever in our hearts, I love you dad.” And then they left.
Author's finishing notes
Dedicated to my father, a fifteen year vet of the united states Navy, and a wonderful father. I will never forget him. A few people have giving me their sympathies and i thank you for that.
Please note that this is a work of fiction. I have not yet wrote a letter to my father,nor have we recieved his ashes yet, but we do plan to bury some with a tree and a marker, so only the above two things are fiction.
I'm sorry that i'm blahing but you have to have at least a thousand words to submit the first chapter of a story, not counting the Author's note, but i'm hoping Poultron or Wanderer D or which ever mod looks at this will allow this to go through anyways. Thanks for reading
