Choice

by borvain tavers

Choice

Choice.

Such a simple word, with such a simple meaning.

An act or instance of choosing, selection.

It is something we do every day, often with little to no thought to the repercussions of our choices. Admittedly, most choices are harmless. The choice of what one will have for breakfast is not likely to rock the foundations of Equestria for instance, nor will the choice of what music you will listen to be it dubstep or classical or even something in between.

Very few ponies will ever be faced with the opportunity to make such a choice, likely only the Princesses and a select few of the military will ever make such a choice. But even if I will never make a choice that will have such lasting effects on Equestria I find myself now facing a choice that will forever alter at least two lives.

On the one hoof, I can choose to say yes and bring such joy to those anxious, searching eyes. To agree to a lifetime full of hope and despair, joy and sorrow, of waking up every morning wrapped up in her hooves, feeling her warm breath against my neck as we both wake to greet Celestia’s sun. To see her face scrunch up in anger as we argue back and forth over who has the better genre of music, her muzzle scrunching and eyes crinkling in the most adorable way. To agree to everything that comes with living with another pony, of fighting her for every scrap of blanket I can. Who would have guessed she would be such an outrageous cover hog?

I smile as I look into those beautiful entrancing eyes, how often have I simply sat there and lost myself in their shining depths?

On the other hoof, I can choose to say no. To choose to say no and do what I’ve always done when somepony has gotten too close to me. I can choose to run, to bail and find a new city to live in. How many times have I done that? I’m sad to say that I’ve lost count; I’ve left a trail of broken hearts across Equestria. From the harbors of Manehatten, the sky scrapers of Fillydelphia, Baltimare, even in the glorious mansions of Canterlot I’ve left ponies weeping and cursing my name.

You may ask why. Why have I done such things? The simple truth is I’m scared. I’m scared of what it’ll mean if I stay with them. If I have to give up my freedom and settle down, say that I’m in love with one mare and only one mare for the rest of my life. I’ve never been ready to accept such a thing, always running and moving on.

But, as I looked down into those eyes that were just starting to have a tinge of worry enter them I found myself starting to smile. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel that overwhelming urge to run away. I…I felt safe. I knew that the mare who was gently gripping my left foreleg in both of hers would never hurt me, would never abandon me and would forever stand by my side and proudly proclaim me as her wife and herself as mine.

I have to admit, as I felt tears begin to gather in my own eyes and my throat started to choke up, I never thought I would find such an amazing special somepony. As a filly I had always dreamed of finding a nice stallion to be with but as I got older and realized that I was more interested in mares that dream changed to be a special mare. But as I destroyed relationship after relationship that dream started to fade until it was dust in my hoof.

Just as I had resigned myself to my self made fate, she came into my life. I’ll never forget that first moment I saw her; she wasn’t even performing for a crowd or anything special. She was just out, shopping for groceries, just a normal every day activity. But from the first moment I saw her, I was entranced. I admit that I may have made a bit of a fool out of myself as I followed her around the store, not even pretending to shop just watching her.

Needless to say she quickly finished her shopping and left, though I had enough sense to stop following her as she left. It took me nearly a month after that before I found her again, this time shopping in a different store no doubt to avoid the strange pony that had been following her. It had been a good plan and had I kept going to the same store in hopes of finding her again it would have worked, but I had been going around to different stores trying to find her ever since that day. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to see me but I eventually got her to agree to go out with me on one date and if she didn’t like it I swore I would never ask her out again.

That date was the best time of my life. I know that ponies like to make such dramatic statements and they’ve got twenty different best such and such but this truly was mine. I have never been happier, never felt such a connection with another pony before. I knew that here was somepony special, somepony to be treasured and protected.

I was brought out of my rambling reminiscing as I felt her hooves give mine a squeeze, trying to illicit an answer out of me. To make my choice.

Choice.

Such a simple word, with such a simple meaning.

My smile went from a soft, small smile to a full blown ecstatic grin as I nodded, whispering out my answer.

“Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes Octy, yes. I will marry you.”

Then the most beautiful sight in the world, those amethyst eyes going from worry to joy. Seeing them light up and shine with love is something I will never get tired of seeing.

The gorgeous grey mare holding my hoof let out a happy cry, slipping the engagement band on it before surging to her hooves and capturing my lips in a heart melting kiss. As my eyes slipped shut and I wrapped my forelegs around her I felt the last of my doubts fade away. As her lips parted and her tongue slipped into my mouth I knew that I had made the right choice.

Comments

[Church]

1,111 words? Impressive! *To Read*

I liked it! Your storytelling is simple and easy to understand. Though we don't know who the protagonist is (though we know who our ponies are), it doesn't matter, because the story doesn't need to know. At the end, we still don't know who our characters truly are as individuals, but for a short story like this, it doesn't matter.

I'm not particularly a huge fan of the pairing, but I'll say that I always thought that Vinyl would be the one to propose to Octavia. Then again, your story makes sense. Vinyl would be the one to run away from relationships.

I just don't know.

Overall, well done. Hoorah.

- Church

[supersonic001]

This shit. I like it.

[Shadow_Wolf]

Exceptionally well done! 4 Stars

[Syvvak]

Great story. I was reading it as though it were Octavias view. It was great. Short and sweet and full of feels. Keep it up.

[Doctor Proctal]

Really good story, I liked it a lot.
I was a little confused, though, I thought it was Octavia who was telling the story up until the end.

[Brony Eagle Scout]

Story wise, I liked it, but what threw me off were some of the grammitacal errors in this. There were more than a few comma splices, some of the words Vinyl used sounded off, and there was one formatting error right at the end.
Please don't be discouraged by this, I see a lot of potential in your future works and having the proper grammar will only help get some of the sticklers like me.
Keep at it!

[dormagio]

I had been reading a twilight/trixie fic in another tab and forgot that this wasn't the same pairing. It worked surprisingly well as one of those fics until "Octy" was mentioned. Very well done. Thank you.

[Nyysjan]

This is not a story.
It's a very touching ending of one, or a start of one, possibly a bit from the middle.
But this is not a story.
But whatever, thumbs up and a stache.

[borvain tavers]

1859958
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, I tried to flip the usual story of Vinyl being the one to propose around.

1859976
Aw, you're going to make me blush! I'm glad you took a chance and enjoyed it so much! I'm actually really considering expanding this and making it into a full blown story.

1860035
Thanks!

1860436
You're too kind!

1860567
Hee hee hee! That was my intent! Glad to see it worked.

1861191
Yep! I'm a clever sneaky pony and got everyone to think it was Octy then BAM! Switcheroo!

1861282
Yeah, I have some trouble with comma's and the like. This didn't go through my editor but I'm glad you enjoyed it despite the mistakes!

1866259
Huh, that's pretty cool. I can write Twixie fics without even meaning to! Good to hear you liked it even though it turned out to be an OctaScratch one.

1886717
Yeah, it's really more of a snippet isn't it? I'm thinking about writing more and fleshing it out, put up some more back story. We'll see what happens.

[Syvvak]

2262978
I saw this comment and what story it was to and was like "Fuck, what one was that?" but then I saw my comment and remembered what one it was and how awesome it was.

I'm actually really considering expanding this and making it into a full blown story.

I would love to see that. With the quality and skill of this one I have no doubt it would be great. I eagerly await it. (Cuz we all know you WILL do it.)

[Syvvak]

My smile went from a soft, small smile to a full blown ecstatic grin as I nodded, whispering out my answer.
“Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes Octy, yes. I will marry you.”

Also, you may want to space that.

[TheWordsmith]

all of my marshmellow heart!

I loved it!!