The Long Year

by The Red Parade

January

January.

‘I’m sorry.’

“A lot of ponies have questions for you.”

Cheerilee didn’t answer, staring out the screen door towards her backyard.

Night Glider rubbed her chin. “I get you need space, but you can’t keep hiding this forever. Cat’s already well out of the bag.”

“So what are you suggesting we do?” Daring muttered. “We can’t exactly just pretend that nothing is wrong here.”

“I don’t know. But we need to start having this conversation. The longer it sits…” Night Glider shook her head. “I don’t even want to start thinking of the consequences.”

“Can’t you stop acting so bureaucratic for one second?”

“I’m being realistic. We need to start talking about solutions. This is more than a breach, this is a loose end.”

“Well it’s not like we can just give it back, so do you have any other ideas?”

The garden was gone now, try as they might none of them were able to return to it, as submerging in the lake failed to bring them to the other side.

Cheerilee ignored them both and opened the door, stepping out onto her porch. Strawberry was there, staring at the porch swing that rested behind the wooden railing. “Hasn’t moved once,” she noted. “Just sits there. Stares.”

“I know,” Cheerilee whispered.

Strawberry sighed quietly. “What are you going to do?”

Cheerilee didn’t reply. Slowly, she began to approach the swing.

A mess of wood, leaves, and plantlife sat on it. Empty eyes stared out at the backyard, nothing shining behind them.

It was unnatural. Like a facade of something long gone.

Cheerilee looked to her left. A woodcutting ax was leaning against the wall. She picked it up, weighing it in her hooves, before approaching the swing. Carefully, she lowered herself onto the seat next to the creature.

The creature didn’t acknowledge her presence at all.

Cheerilee lay the ax across her lap and stared at the thing that was almost Applejack.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Malum, malum, malum,” she whispered quietly.

Hours later, it began to snow.

Comments

[mushroompone]

I love this fic to death!!! Talk about a targeted piece lol. I'm so excited to read it again! Thank you for posting it, and thank for your love and support over the years ❤️

[The Red Parade]

11887005
Yes ofc I am so honored you like it and even more honored that we can be friends <3

[darkcyan]

This is such a fantastic story, and worth every word of its length. I love how the little excerpts from pony myth start as a fun little window into the differing stories people (or ponies) tell themselves to explain the world, how it's unclear whether it's the same story being filtered through different lenses or history repeating, and then the slow-breaking reveal that this is just the latest iteration of the cycle.

Relatedly, the final "Malum, malum, malum" resonated the first time I read it, but it was only on second read that I really internalized that this was Cheerilee deliberately taking on the mantle of Elder, and closing the loop of the latest iteration -- much like all the others, not exactly the same, but rhyming.

... And despite the fact that I just spent a couple paragraphs enthusing about the myth-making threaded throughout this story, honestly a lot of my favorite parts were the characters just interacting as characters -- Cheerilee's early discussion with Mac, Night Glider's dedication to bureaucracy and Getting Things Done, figuring out what Strawberry's "deal" was, everything about Cheerilee's and Daring Do's history and how comfortable they are with each other; the way these background ponies interact with each other and with the world is grounded in a way that I think really reinforces the unmooring effects of the grief they're struggling with and the myths they find themselves entangled with, both. It's just all great.

[The Red Parade]

11887447
Thanks, you were a huge help in editing as well! ^^