My reflection stared back at me. The tuxedo I was wearing was perfectly fashioned, and fit me like a glove. Rarity does good work, there’s no denying that. Spike, my best man, stood behind me in solemn silence, allowing me a few minutes to simply try and compose myself.

“Icarus, you okay?”

“Just... I’m just feeling a bit philosophical right now, Spike.” I turned to face him. “I’m about to make the plunge into a permanent relationship.”

“Well, go ahead and weave your philosophy. I’ll listen, and it’d be better for you to get it out rather than let it stew inside.”

I sighed, and then turned back to the mirror, looking myself in the eyes. “Sometimes... Sometimes I wonder if, at some point in my life, I could’ve changed it all. Ya know, some decision I made that could’ve made every single choice after it a non entity. What makes this really interesting, though, is the fact that it could be any decision I’ve ever made. Hell, maybe it’s a decision that someone else made that got me where I am today. Maybe it was agreeing to a blue notebook instead of getting a red one. Maybe it was getting a ninety on a test rather than an eighty.

“What if I could have been the greatest man to have ever lived had I just made one different decision at some point in my life? Would I even be able to recognize that different me? Would that decision have changed nothing in the grand scheme? Is there some pivotal point in my life, and if there is one, where is it?

“And what about the people we meet through our life? The best of friends, and the worst of enemies. They all come together to shape a person and give them meaning. For, what is a man without a peer with which to judge him? Were I alone in the universe, I would be the moral standard. I would be the measurement by which all things are judged. So, I ask again, what is the importance of the people we meet?

“They are there to shape you in all things.

“For some, that pivotal choice has yet to come. They have yet to reach their defining moment. That one choice that will shape the rest of their future. And, when I think of that, I have to wonder if I’ve reached that point yet. Have I seen my greatest moment come before me and pass by in a blur of day to day life? I pray to the Creator that it isn’t so.

“So, let us suppose that it hasn’t come yet. Let us suppose, for just a moment, that we know when our defining moment will come. But, to add to the mystery, we don’t know what that defining moment is. All we know, all we can know, is when it will arrive. And then, in that moment of choice, we have to wonder, we have to stop and think; Am I ready for this? Can I really make this decision, and live with it?

“And the answer, is, of course, yes. You can do it. You do it every single day that you live. Every single day that you draw in a breath in the morning, and do the same at night, you have done it. There is no ultimate decision that will have to be made. Only occasional hard choices. And those are the moments that make us who we are.

“Each time you are faced with a difficult choice you are always given one more option than you are told. Suppose there are two doors that you must go through. Each one leads down a different road, and once you choose you can’t go back. For most, there are just those two options. But, for those who see each option as being an awful outcome, there is the escapist method. A choice not to continue. A choice to permanently end your trip down the road of life.

“But what you need to consider, what you need to realize, is that all things will pass. At some point, Creator knows how far along the road, it will merge back together. It may twist and turn a thousand times, but, eventually, it will go back to the straight and narrow.

“Never let anyone drag you down, because, at the end of the road, all you have to do is make peace with yourself. You are your own worst critic, and not one other person on the planet will have an opinion that matters more to you than your own.”

Spike put his hand on my shoulder, and he just motioned his head towards the double doors behind him. “Come on, Socrates. You’ve got a wedding to attend.”

“No, see, I’m Icarus. Socrates was one of my uncles.”

Author's Notes:

If you didn't like it, just deal with it. I was feeling philosophical, and I was, at the same time, thinking about Icarus' future. Decided to combine the two. This was the product. Also, felt like throwing you boyos a bone, since I've been slow with actual content for Fireflies.