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// Hoofprints in the Sand 
// Story: Hoofprints in the Sand 
// by DivineRoyalty 
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An elderly unicorn let out a grunt as he shifted positions in his deathbed. This was to be his deathbed--he knew this to be so; seldom was there a time in his life when he was more sure of anything.

The unicorn sniffled as he readjusted the glasses resting on his muzzle, attempting to suck in some of the accursed snot that had been running from his nostrils for several days. He knew not anymore how many boxes of tissues he had gone through in the last week or so, but he did know that it was a sizeable number. It did not bother him, though. Such was life.

The unicorn relaxed as he finally found a position to lay in that did not bring him pain. With a sigh, he settled into the pillow behind him and the mattress below him, staring up at the musty ceiling of his antiquated bedroom. He remembered when this house had first been built. He had been just a foal at the time roaming the streets of Ponyville, and he remembered looking on with awe as the large, burly earth ponies would slave away at digging the hole for the foundation as intelligent-looking mages and casters would levitate large tools or containers of concrete above said hole. He had always aspired to be like those ponies: the hard workers, the smart intellectuals, and the pioneering architects. That had been what drove him through his early days, and a grin began to form on the aging stallion’s face as he started to recall those times.

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. It was not aggressive, nor was it shy; insistent is the word the unicorn would have used to describe it. “Come in,” the unicorn croaked, his voice sounding nothing like it once had.

The doorknob turned, and slowly, the door was pushed open to reveal a tall and slender mare possessing a rather unkempt deep red mane and beautiful ocean-blue eyes. A long horn--longer than most--protruded from the mare’s forehead, and large, powerful wings rested at her side. She was an Alicorn. An Alicorn was visiting him!

...But why?

The elderly stallion’s gaze found the mare’s cutie mark: a glass container of ink with a quill protruding elegantly from it. It was Harmony--the goddess of the Equus.

“Sturdy Will, how good it is to see you!” Harmony chirped, gracefully shutting the door behind her. The elderly unicorn sat awestruck, jaw hanging slightly open and eyes as wide and large as dinner plates.

“L-lady Harmony! W-what brings you to my abode?” Sturdy Will asked this question, but he already knew the answer: he was dying, or already dead, and Harmony had come to take him to Paradise. With a kind smile, she walked up to the elder and sat down onto her haunches next to him. She gave him a knowing look, one that saw through the question he had put forth as a shield and into the depths of his mind, where fear, uncertainty, but also peace resided. The stallion took a deep and labored breath before letting a single pent-up tear fall from his face. “When do we leave?”

“Whenever you would like, Sturdy. But, there seems to be something on your mind,” Harmony said in a soothing voice, one that flowed through and across his ears like silk. “Would you like to handle that first?”

Sturdy Will was surprised at first that she knew about his reservations, but when he took a step back, it was obvious that she would know. This was Lady Harmony, creator of the universe, of ponykind, and of all that was good and right. How could she not know?

After a moment of thought, Sturdy Will gave his reply. “Yes. I would, actually.”

In an instant, the two ponies found themselves in a radically different setting. Instead of an old and dusty bedroom, they now found themselves on a beautiful and spacious beach. Golden sands laid underneath their hooves, and a vast ocean sprawled out before them in the distance. The eternal sky, filled with fluffy white clouds spread out above them, and in the center of it all was the sun, its shining rays warming their bodies. Gentle winds caressed their forms and brought with them the salty scent of the seas, that homely scent that entraps the minds of sailors and permeates the very soul of the coasts.

Most surprisingly, however, was that Sturdy Will found himself roughly sixty years younger. The wrinkles and wear of age had departed his body completely, and he stood the exact same as he had when he had just graduated from university. Harmony, however, had not changed at all.

It did not take long for Sturdy Will’s eyes to discover two sets of hoofprints in the sand, stretching out across the beach. “Who else is here?” He asked with wonder, his mind still struggling to wrap itself around the situation.

“No one,” Harmony answered simply. “This is your life.”

Sturdy Will pondered that statement for a moment. “What?” He asked confusedly.

“This is your life as I saw it, Sturdy. The hoofprints are the walk of life, from one end to another, from challenge to challenge, event to event, and birth to death.”

Sturdy paused for a moment, but then nodded in understanding, and with a hesitant movement, he stepped forward to examine the prints.

As he looked through all of them, from start to finish, he saw different times of his life. He saw the days of his schooling when he got a perfect score on his calculus final exam. He saw the day when his mother died. He saw the day when he married his wife. He saw the day when his foal was stillborn. He saw the very best and the very worst times of his existence, in all of its eighty-seven years.

And through most of it, when he looked at only the hoofprints, he saw his own, and he saw the other set. “Are these hoofprints yours?” Sturdy asked, gesturing to the set of prints next to his. Harmony responded with a nod.

With this information, Sturdy examined the prints again, and this time, he noticed a pattern. In both the very best and adequate times of his life, there were indeed two sets of hoofprints, their indentations engraved in the sand below. In the very worst times, however, he saw only one set.

With anger in his voice and tears in his eyes, he turned to Harmony. “Why?” He half-asked, half-accused. “Why did you abandon me when I needed you most? Why did you leave me when you could have helped me? Why were you my goddess only when I did well?”

Harmony stood resolute in the face of the accusations, and her demeanor remained unchanged. “Oh, my little pony,” she cooed. “I did not leave you in those times.”

“Why then, is there only one set of prints in the sand?” Sturdy Will shakily asked.

“Because, my Sturdy Will, in the times when you were weakest, in the times when life was the worst, in the times of your greatest failings and greatest sadnesses... 

...it was then that I carried you.”

Sturdy Will’s eyes opened wide at this revelation. He looked back at the prints for a frantic moment, looking to verify what had just left the goddess’ lips. When he looked at the prints, he saw exactly as he had before. But when he looked back at Harmony, he saw that she looked completely different.

She was bruised, bloodied, and battered. One of her eyes was blackened, and her wings were crooked and twisted. Several wounds littered her once immaculate form, and it looked for a moment as if she was on the verge of death.

“I endured the storm when you could not...” Harmony stated, hate absent from her words. “...because I loved you. And know that I still do, Sturdy Will.” Her body then suddenly changed back to normal, everything looking as beautiful as it once had.

The two ponies waited in silence for a time before Harmony finally broke it once more. “Are you ready to go?”

With tears in his eyes and a smile on his face, Sturdy Will nodded. “Yes,” he said as he threw his hooves around her in a hug.

They remained in that position for several seconds before Harmony whispered something into his ear.

“Well done, my faithful servant,” she cooed. “Come forward and receive your reward.”

When Sturdy Will pulled away, his saw Paradise stretch out before him. He saw his mother, his wife, his friends, his son, and everyone who had gone before him. Most importantly of all, however, he saw his goddess, a gentle but wide smile on her face as she led him along into eternity. As they walked, Sturdy looked down at his hooves to see that a new set of hoofprints were being left. But these ones brought with them no pain, no suffering, and no sin; they brought with them only eternal peace.