In all of Hitch's many years, one constant has held true for Winter Wishday: it was always at grandmother Figgy's house, just the way she liked it. Well, not this year! This year she insisted that she wanted to see what Wishday would be like in Maretime Bay. At Hitch's place.
Which means Hitch and Sparky need to get all of Maretime Bay ready to hold to best, most perfectly-planned Winter Wishday ever!
Hopefully nothing will go wrong.
Please let nothing go wrong!
Additional tag: [Sparky Sparkeroni]
Written for Vivid Syntax for Jinglemas 2022!
Chapters (1)
Nice.
Familiar ground, how Hitch is trying to orchestrate a "perfect"
ChristmasWishday, but finding out what it's really about only when Murphy shows up and things go to Tartarus. But, well - executed.Good to hear from you, Shach.
What's a crestnut?
Awww.... this is precious!!!! As a new dad myself (who just barely survived the holidays), I 100% identify with everything Hitch is going through here! He wants it to be absolutely perfect, but when push comes to shove, he makes time for his son. This got me right in the feels, and it felt plenty cathartic to see my favorite G5 pony going through the same things I've been experiencing, too. And thanks for working Sunny in, too!!
And I LOVE how you alternated the story between perspectives! The way you filtered Sparky's understanding of the world made it all feel very "baby." You've given me something to think about when I hang out with my son tomorrow, which is a true gift (just like the totality of this story).
Thank you thank you THANK YOU for such a delightful Jinglemas gift! I absolutely love it.
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I had no idea this would end up being so poignant, but I'm so very happy that worked on levels I wasn't even trying for! I just wanted it to be energetic, a upbeat, and a bit silly (as befitting a show episode)
This was honestly an exercise in picking a direction and then just seeing what spilled out onto the page. After binging Make Your Mark so I had any idea what Sparky was like, all I knew is that I wanted Hitch being traditionalist, controlling Hitch which led to goofy consequence, and energetic, baby Sparky. The rest essentially was just "I had an entertaining idea! Put that in!"
Including Sunny was one of the easiest parts, honestly. They're childhood friends, so why wouldn't they hang out? It was actually more difficult to not include Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp more, but running with the implication that they had their own things to do in the lead up to Wishday was also a bit of pragmatism; the story could only be so long.
I'm very glad you enjoyed it!
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I dunno'.
I just wanted something that sounded familiar so it could be said to be pony and not just "human Christmas."
Maybe it's a tasty nut from a special kind of tree that only grows on crests of hills.
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Hello, Mike!
Yeah, the core premise of losing control when trying to be overcontrolling, yet learning to enjoy it anyway is a classic. But slipped into a fun story, it's always a good lesson. ...and given how Hitch is, it was pretty natural to include. But that's why we have Sparky: to provide much needed friendly chaos.
Hope your winter holidays have been good ones!
Sparky's POV was absolutely brilliant. There were a couple of things he described that I had to think hard about (such as the 'red crawly') but for the most part every one of his descriptions was immediately obvious. I can't recall ever having read anything quite like that before. I wonder if that's how my little niece sees the world?
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For that I, as an "accomplished" author, thought super duper hard, called upon every ounce of my innate and learned skill, and then reverted to year-old me.
It was an interesting experience to be sure, though it was easy in a way. "What's the simplest way I can describe a thing based on what it physically is and/or does?" Keep it simple, Shachza. Oh, and small. I was actually worried that "big, wide, outside" and "less big, closed inside" would be too... wordy to carry through a bunch.
Though I am particularly proud of and perpetually amused by the toingmaker.
EDIT: Oh, and "snootling." Which was just a word that fell out of my head, and which was like, "I guess that's what I'm calling it now..."
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That's what really sold it. Every description felt perfectly logical for Sparky--even if it was wordy in narration, it was obvious what the thought behind it was.
I'll be honest, I never actually figured out what that was
Just that it made a toinging noise.
When there isn't a proper word for it, invent one
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Then we're in the same boat. It could be anything that toings that could also be threatened by baby dragons toinging it too much!
Snootling is my new favorite word! This story was adorable I hope you write more Sparky soon! He is so underrated and needs more love.
Just curious what was the toingmaker?
Hi