July 20,? – There is a reason why I put a question mark on the year. I'll explain, but to do so, I need to tell you about the last session with Twilight. Today's memory was of Christmas.
All that I can remember from that day was that I was talking to someone who had experienced the last Christmas and how unusual it all was. Even back then, I still found the whole soldier’s truce as obscene, I mean I don't remember reading about this the year before. That, and the night when the bloke got a little too carefree and stood up. At that moment, a lump of shrapnel got him. The poor, poor idiot.
As the others went to get the stretcher bearers, the bloke asked me to stay. I could tell right away that he's not going to live for very long. Then, I don't know why, perhaps it was Christmas or maybe it was the blood that was leaving his head, but he asked me to sing a carol. When I asked which one, he asked if I knew, “O Come Emmanuel”?
So I sang as the battle acted as a disjointed orchestra. I sang three verses of the song. By the time I finished singing, I both saw and heard the chap's very last words. Something that I don't believe I will ever forget. How could I? “I want to go home,” and like that, dead.
I checked his dog tag to at least see what the bloke's name was. “Israel Fredric Baker.” What irony! I was singing his name the whole time without knowing it. "Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel!"
After Twilight ended it, I noticed that I felt different. Even though I still feel shaky, yet there wasn't the usual dread nor guilt. I can safely say that I felt a little happier.
Yet I did say that there's a reason for why I wrote the question mark and yes, it does have something to do about the year. Significantly. You see, before I could leave the library, Applejack and Rarity showed up. They told Twilight that their siblings had found something that she needs to look.
We followed them to a schoolyard where we saw a crowd gathered at one corner of the fencing. As much as I could gather, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were digging very deeply in the sandbox in hopes to earn an archaeologist or treasure hunter cutie marks; I don't know which. They got the shovels from the farm and they had been digging up the sandbox for the past few days. From the looks of it, they dug pretty deep.
Of course, no one thought that they would find anything, but they did find a white stone that was stained by the centuries with a name. When I got to look what it was, my felt my heart stop. It was a tombstone lying on its side. A tombstone that read: “Israel Fredric Baker. May 4, 1897 – Dec 25, 1915.”
This means three things. First, this is indeed Earth. This has to be Earth. Second, the tombstone belongs to that chap I've met that Christmas. And in a hole like this, that means that this grave marker has been buried for centenaries. Which means, this has to be the future. Thirdly, even though I don't know for sure, I think that this school, perhaps this whole town might be built right on top or part of a graveyard and none of them have any idea.
The Crusaders asked Twilight if she knows what it is, but I gave them the answer before she could. I told them it's a tombstone. Right away, those three Crusaders jumped right out of that hole.
One of them (I think it was the pegasus in orange) asked what they should do. I told them not to dig any further and to rebury it. And the three of them did as they were told.
At that point, I just left. I was planning to go back to the farm to work. However, the thought of that this is the future came at me at full force. Somewhere along the way near the forest, I stopped to look at the photo of Lucy, and right then, I cried. I cried because since this is the future, that means that everyone that I ever knew, everyone that I've ever loved is dead. Long gone and buried somewhere. And when I saw Lucy's smiling face, I cried like a child.
I cried, and cried, and cried. Even when I tried to get a hold of myself, the tears came back. I don't know how long I laid there on the side of the road crying with the picture of my wife in full view: at that point, I didn't care because I was so overtaken by grief.
Eventually, one of the ponies found me. It was Fluttershy. I knew it was her because of her voice. She spoke quietly to me, she even used her wings to dry my tears (or at least attempted it). She did this until I could be calm enough to speak. She asked what the matter was. I pointed at the picture and my stumbling speech of only two words before I burst back into tears again. “She's dead.”
She put a wing over me and continued to soothe me with her words. Looking back on it, I think it was rather very difficult to cheer me up to tell me that everything is alright. Yet, somehow, I can't explain how it's almost as if she's done something like this before. But at that moment, I needed this more then ever and at least someone is there to be with me.
A few very heavy cries later, Fluttershy has gotten me onto my feet (or hooves), taking the picture with me, and help me walk back to the farm. Along the way to this room she told me that she will talk to Applejack and tell her that I won't be able to work today.
As of right now, it's already past supper time and the sun is right on the horizon. I didn't know that I was crying for this long. I just hope that tomorrow can lead to some kind of miracle. Something that would let me go back to her. Lucy, I really wish you were here.