• Member Since 31st Aug, 2011
  • offline last seen Nov 24th, 2012

Raefire


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Source

There comes a time where we all must let go. But never will we forget.

Now featured on Equestria Daily! Special thanks to Golden Vision.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 79 )

god damnit man...I'm in school...manly tears shouldn't be shed in the middle of lunch...:fluttercry:

This really hit me hard, especially the ending lines.

I'm not much of a pet lover, but I do have to say. Well done.

wow, just wow... like dark0592 i'm in school, and I nearly started crying manly tears too. This really hit me hard because I have a dog that's getting up there in age, and I can't imagine her gone. You love these pets like a member of the family, and i'm sure it hurts like losing one too when they're gone. Very well done.

TAB

My dog just died a week ago, I had him since I was 12. Old flashbacks are coming
:fluttercry::fluttercry::fluttercry::fluttercry::fluttercry:
Five fluttercrys for you sir

A very nice one-shot. I love a good Winona story, and this fits the bill perfectly.

I know how she feels. I just lost my grandpa recently.

not gonna cry... not gonna cry... not gon-

Applejack smirked, tipping her hat up. “Go on, big girl. You go play with Ma and Pa now.”

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry:

THAT -sniffle, cough- WAS BEAUTIFUL -wipe tears off cheek- I WOULD PAY FOR THIS -more tears :raritycry:- THIS IS BETTER THAN -sniffle- MONA LISA. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :pinkiesad2::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry:

Anyone who ever owned a pet knows how AJ feels in this story.:fluttercry:

Rest easy, Winona.

403082

Aye!

I had a dog pass away nearly 10 years ago, and another one that I would be surprised if she made it through next year.
:ajsleepy::applecry::fluttercry::pinkiesad2::raritycry:

That was beautiful, made me miss my own dog, Holly.
Thanks for writing.

Every pet owner whose ever lost a pet will be able to identify with this story. I know I have, more than once. The loyalty of dogs really can't ever be over emphasized. When my little brother was in his bed, dying of cancer, one of our dogs crawled up into bed next to him and stayed with him the whole time, even after he had passed. My mother and older brother spent the whole night with the dog, thinking that since my brother had went, the dog would go too. He's still around, but he's mighty old.

There's a motto outside of an animal clinic in town that I think says it nicely: Pets aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole.

This was a wonderfully beautiful story.

Every pet owner whose ever lost a pet will be able to identify with this story. I know I have, more than once. The loyalty of dogs really can't ever be over emphasized. When my little brother was in his bed, dying of cancer, one of our dogs crawled up into bed next to him and stayed with him the whole time, even after he had passed. My mother and older brother spent the whole night with the dog, thinking that since my brother had went, the dog would go too. He's still around, but he's mighty old.

There's a motto outside of an animal clinic in town that I think says it nicely: Pets aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole.

This was a wonderfully beautiful story.

:raritycry:

So
Bloody
Sad!!!!

This reminds me of my dog, Willy. I had him for 15 years before he sadly passed away. To this day, I still miss him. I can't even look at a picture of a cocker spainel (That's the type of dog Willy was) without being reminded of him.:fluttercry:
Of course, I do know that he is in a better place now.
To quote Homer Simpson: "He's in Doggie heaven, where there is a moutain of bones and you can't turn around without sniffing another dog's butt."
Excellent stroy, my friend. I give it five sad Raritys.
:raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry::raritycry:

That was pretty sad. And mostly well written.

My only gripe is that apparently Angel outlived Winona, which is weird, considering dogs have a much longer lifespan than rabbits.

471706

Actually, well cared-for domesticated rabbits can live for up to 15 years sometimes. The oldest rabbit on record lived to 18 years and 10 months. Given Fluttershy's talents as an animal caretaker, I'd say it's not that weird at all.

Oh, and the revision of this is coming. Just gotta get it reviewed one last time.

Revision is now live!

Aww. That is one of the saddest things I've ever read. I can definitely relate to this story. I had my 17 year old Dachshund cremated and I sprinkled his ashes in all his favorite spots. :raritycry::fluttercry::applecry:

Before I read this, is it basically a retelling of Old Yeller with ponies?

:applecry: So sad, but beautifully written! I hope to read more of your work. Now I need to go stock up on tissue...waaahhh! :raritycry:

Excellent job. I remember when my dog died when I was a kid. My parents had her since before I was born. Very good job.

It's sad, but beautiful :fluttershysad:

Sigh. I just came back from the dormitory today and saw my dog, like I always do on the weekends. She was so eager to see me.

It's a great story, but I still wish I'd never read it.

:,( so sad! Reminds me of my last dog, and how sad I was when he passed.

God that story hit me right there. :fluttershysad::fluttercry::pinkiesad2: I knew where it was going... but it was still a shock. Dammit... :heart:

All my thumbs up, all of them.

Anyone whose lost a pet or had to let one go will know the pain Applejack's going through, I know I do, well done

man this hit me hard I lost my dog yesterday my parents got her when I was a baby. She was probably on of my greatest friends I miss that beagle so much:fluttercry:

:pinkiesad2::pinkiesad2::pinkiesad2::pinkiesad2::pinkiesad2:
Five sad pinkies out of five :(

Fuck. I have a 15 year old cat in my garden right now, And with this Fic, I just remembered what will happen In some time.

By the story, I give you 6/5. Damn, I would like to be an spider to have many arms so I could give you more than 4 thumbs up. (?)

Wow...this hit me pretty hard. I just lost my 16 year old Golden Retriever, and he was arguably the sweetest dog you'd ever met. Much like Fluttershy in his temperament(afraid of darn near everything, but if anything threatened me he'd jump in to protect me)...I miss him everyday, and just like Applejack, I slept by his side the night before he died...I'm on the verge of tears, and not much is able to do that. Thank you for this...

Wow... that was... that was great.

Powerful, too. My hat's off to you, my good man. I especially liked that last line: “Go on, big girl. You go play with Ma and Pa now.” that was beautiful.

However, I d find myself wondering exactly what happened to AJ's parents. Could you explain at all, or is that part supposed to be left in mystery?

...I need to go outside...there's something I've got to do.

Everyone needs to cry once in a while...

Reminds me of my Shadow, beneath his favorite tree.

This was a very touching story. Solid four stars.

I cried. Then I cried harder when I remembered my dog Mason. She knew how to play hide and seek :fluttercry:

This is pretty much exactly what played out with my dog Sadie. I cried big time.
Also, now featured on TV Tropes under the 'Other' folder.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TearJerker/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicNonCanon

515320

TVTropes? Really? Wow...

I must thank all of you for your comments. As I mentioned in the blog post earlier today (and if the final lines of the story didn't make it blatantly obvious), this story was therapy for me, a tribute to my two best friends that I lost last year (the most lovely Lhasa Apsos ever...) Thank you for letting me know I didn't let their memories down. Someone on EqD commented that they're going to appreciate and treat their dog better after reading this. That...Wow. That moves me more than anything. Please do, good commenter. It's so worth it. Once again, thank you all. I can't tell you how much this means to me.

And suddenly, my heart stopped. You have definitely dredged up memories of past pets, my friend; a truly bittersweet and touching tale. Thank you.

:fluttercry:

If you stop and take the time to really read this story, you will be moved.

Darn you, Rarefire, in the most positive sense possible, for giving me a tear jerker to read at 2:00 in the morning.

I should be typing about how wonderful and bittersweet your story was. How well you conveyed emotions, and made me feel for Applejack... But the truth is, and I suspect it's the same for everypony who's ever lost a beloved pet... It made me think of the wonderful life of my own beloved pet.

Precious was family, a wonderful white cat who shared 20 years with us. She was so sweet and trusting. I remember how she climbed up a tree once, and was too scared to come down. My second youngest brother (the one she loved most... She treated him like her "baby") was still pretty little. She was not very old back then. He walked up and held his arms out and called her to jump. She trusted him completely, and let herself jump 60 feet from the tree, fearlessly, in to his soon to be torn up arms! :twilightoops:

She loved us unconditionally. If we were sick, she came to our side. She saved my mother's life once by not giving up in convincing me to follow her. She was barely conscious. She was in the hospital for over a week, and she would have died that very night, had it not been for that cat. :ajsleepy:

She's been gone for half a decade, and I feel I could water a small tree with all the tears and snot in my nose right now. :raritycry:
I still love her to this day, and I always will. That cat had been with me through most of my childhood, all through high school, and all through college. She saw us grow up and leave home to start our own homes. She saw her favorite boy have a daughter of his own, and she lived long enough that the girl still remembers her.

Dumb eyes... can't focus through all the leaks... Good job breaking 'em, brony! :twilightblush:

Her final day was... well, it was precious! :twilightsmile:
She woke up that morning, and though she didn't eat anything, she really couldn't that day, it was like she had 5 years shaved off her age. Her hips... She was able to jump into the window on her own, like the arthritis just left her. She spent the day just doing the things she loved. She watched the birds from the windows, she snuggled with her favorite toys, and she spent the day with my mother, not leaving her side. She was slower, but more active than she'd been in ages. She knew. I know she knew it. When she was ready, she laid in my mother's arms and slept forever. :pinkiesad2:

I gotta go drink something now... Cause between Winona and Precious, I could water a garden! :fluttercry:

I have to say... I feared for years the thought of her health failing, the possibility of having to consciously decide to put her down. The thought terrified me. It terrified me when she was 12, 14, 16, 18! I could not have prayed for a more peaceful, and a more beautiful way for her to pass. She went surrounded with love, she went with joy, and she went peacefully. What more can you ask for the end to a wonderful 20 years. :twilightsmile:

Precious's final day was beautiful... :pinkiesad2:

Our dog Kunubs... We didn't even get to bury her... :fluttercry::raritycry::ajsleepy:

Kunubs was a farm dog... 100% pure bred mutt! :twilightsmile:
She was "white", and by "white", I mean somewhere beteen white and a grungy muddy yellow, depending on what she rolled in! :twilightblush:
She had many, many offspring, so she does live on. She was also the old Rainbow Dash... :rainbowlaugh::moustache:
The very definition of loyalty. She never killed any animal that we raised on the farm. She cared for them as well. That dog has not only nursed her own pups, but goat kids, and kittens. She once hurt one of the cats purely by accident. She became so depressed that we actually were worried she would make herself sick. She was so happy when the cat recovered! She was protective of every animal we raised. My father had a pigeon coop and also had rabbits. She would never attack the pigeons, ever, and once lunged for a wild rabbit that had gotten in with the domestic ones. She knew it didn't belong, and was protecting her bunnies! You didn't mess with her bunnies! :fluttershysad:

Silly dog was terrified of lightning, and begged to come inside and go into the basement during storms. She had the sweetest eyes. She'd perk one ear up, and let the other one flop. My dad could never say no to those eyes. He hated animals in the house, what with him being the life long farmer. Animals belong in the barn and the coops and the sheds... That dog though, she could sleep in the basement when it stormed. Precious was the only other animal that he "pretended" to not like living in the house. I got the incriminating photos to prove otherwise! :ajsmug:
When Kunubs was still just a pup, antifreeze spilled on the ground while my dad was flushing the coolant from old Dodge Dart. She drank it. She should have died, she was suffering. My dad carried her out behind the grove... but he couldn't do it... he couldn't look at those puppy dog eyes through the sights of the rifle. :applecry:
She made it. She lived. The big softie actually hid her till she got better! :rainbowlaugh:

That dog had lives like a cat. Between the antifreeze, and every other farm risk... For Luna's sakes! We accidentally RAN HER OVER WITH A TRACTOR (Farmall B) at TOP SPEED (15 MPH), on a solid gravel road... and she walked it off! :twilightoops:

Her love for the boys is what got her, though... She used to cross the field and meet the neighbor's dog. For the terrible crime of "making his dog run off to the neighbor's field"... Kunubs disappeared. Of course we didn't know. She just never came home one day. :ajsleepy:

Drunkard monsters should not brag at bars of their crimes against innocent creatures who only know love and loyalty. :twilightangry2::flutterrage:
My youngest brother probably loved that dog more than anyone. He was training for the National Guard... He used to have a bit of a rough streak, and it was either the guards, or jail time. He chose to serve the nation, rather than serve time. He'd been going on some rather long runs to build up his body. There's a tiny little town, barely a village, about 5-6 miles down the gravel road from the farm we lived on. I think it has a population of like 80 people. The gas station/diner/bar/farmer's coop/grain elevator/fertilizer supply/tire shop/mechanic (yes, one place) is the tiny social gathering place for the town, and it connects to all the major country roads too, so all the dirt drunks like it, so they can drive home off the main roads, drunk as can be. My brother had stopped there to use the pay phone (remember those?). He picked up the handset, and overheard our neighbor bragging about how he shot that "dumb white dog" about 3 months prior, after downing a few Milwaukees. Not even sure if my brother bothered with his call. My brother used all of his guard training that night... and walked out. If the National guard did anything for him, they taught him how to hold back his temper.

Still... While my brother did resist the urge to pummel the sick bastard right then and there,
the Guards also showed him how to temper his temper into a focused goal instead...
Vengeance is a dish best served cold, and it takes time and planning to properly chill a dish...

NONE of that drunk's vehicles ever drove again.
My brother made sure of that, as his parting gift before shipping out to Iraq... :pinkiegasp:
Sugar and rice, and sand in his I.C.E. That's what gas engines are 'fraid of. :pinkiecrazy:

My brother waited long enough for the man to destroy his engines.
He then came right out, and told him that he had done it, and why he had done it...
He wasn't gonna hide in a bar, get drunk, and gossip about it.
He told the man, to his face, that he considers the man's wrong now settled.
He didn't need to be driving drunk anyway. Last thing he needs is to add human to his kill count.
My brother also made it clear that the man had the right to make a fuss if he liked. He certainly had the right...
But his Guardsmen... his brothers... also stood with my brother that day.
They all knew what he had done.
They all made it clear they were walking away,
but if he followed them, gave even one of them, gave my brother trouble...
They made it clear that if you mess with one, you messed with them all.
And that man never bothered us again.

That was a dark time, back then...
We lost our beloved dog to a drunk asshole.
We worried for 2 years about my brother.
My brother endured his deployment, and eventually came home safe.
I can't say what he did was necessarily right.
Technically it was trespassing and destruction of property.
It doesn't bring Kunubs back either...
But the one thing it did do...
It sure scared the living shit out of that cowardly sack of shit pet killer, and kept him from driving drunk, to boot!

516519
If I honestly had the chance I would do the exact same thing your brother did in that situation. I'm very sorry for the loss of both of your pets. I know how much mine mean to me, and you've shown me I need to make what time I have with them special. Your story drove me to tears even more so than the original story did. I haven't cried that much in years. Thank you for telling your inspiring story, and I'm sure that asshole will get what's coming to him in the next life.

520575
Yeah... I think the thing that made both of those two pets so special, was they both had that "motherly" instinct. Precious was spayed. Never had a kitten, but she treated myself and my other siblings, as if we were her own kittens. She loved us, and cared for us like we were her own... and in some way, we were hers. :twilightsmile:

Kunubs was the perpetual mother. She had more experience than she ever should have had. She was never spayed, so yeah... poor example of pet ownership there... But you never saw a more loving and protective mother. Not just her pups, but everything. She wanted to love you. Family, friend, stranger, cattle, scootalo... :scootangel: err... chickens, geese, swans, Rarity... :duck: err... I mean ducks, horses, goats, rabbits, pigeons... So. Many. Kinds of people and animals... She loved them all as if they were her own. She was the infinite mother on the farm... She cared for every critter, even the ones she didn't give birth to herself! :yay:

:applecry:
I just lost my cat. He wasnt even a year old D: . Wonderful story!!

488199 We had a mutant zebra finch that lived 16 years. O___o

We've had 3 dogs, the second being the only one I actually cared about because he was simply so naturally well-behaved and intelligent. He's the only dog I've ever seen who could actually differentiate the commands in similar sentences, as well as follow a complex compound command (such as "Go into the den and get your new toy"), far beyond the ability of any other dog. The one we have now... utterly spoiled and uncontrollable. My mom babied him too much.

We've also had many cats. One we still have who is now 12 is named Lucky. He's a very gentle black cat who greets you in the morning, always wants to sit close to you, who 'asks' if he can come up and sleep next to you, and plays with all the others and our dog. He's always the first the accept a new kitten in the house (such as the one I found in October), and of all the cats we had, when he dies I know I'm going to be an emotional wreck that day. You simply couldn't ask for a better cat.

now THIS is what the show should be like

twilight is the smart one
Pinkie pie is the funny one
Rarity is the posh one
Rainbow dash is the cool one
Fluttershy is the cute one
Applejack should be the one we feel for, the one we understand the one we can relate to, loved the story:ajsleepy:

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