Preview · 6:00am Dec 11th, 2019
With a grunt of effort, and with her tongue dangling from the corner of her mouth—a silly display of youthful concentration—Lime Tart shoved all of the snow off of the buried tombstone. It wasn’t a standing tombstone like some; no, those were far too costly. This was a simple headstone that lay flat upon the ground, and as such, could be covered by snow. Which was a problem. More than a problem, even. It was a source of much distress for Stargazer, who came out to the cemetery every single day to unbury the headstone.
This was one of the many things that made Stargazer sad. His father was already buried, and the tombstone was all that the sad colt had left. To hear him speak of it, every time the headstone was buried with snow, it was as if he had lost his father all over again. While Lime Tart didn’t understand it—she couldn’t even pretend—what she could do was be a good friend, and that meant making the long walk to the cemetery with Stargazer every single day.
These walks were now the most important things in her life. They gave her time to think, to clear her head, and to sort out the sort of pony that she was becoming. A profound change had come over her since she’d ditched her old friends. She was happier now, with both herself and life in general. No longer did she live with shame, nor did she feel that constant pang of guilt. Somehow, with all that had happened, she’d become incredibly good friends with her mother, who’d always been her friend, but Lime Tart had failed to appreciate that until just recently.
“It’ll be Hearth’s Warming soon,” Stargazer said while she slurped in her exposed tongue. She turned to face him, to see his face, to look into his sorrowful eyes.
“Yeah,” she replied.
“I don’t want it to come,” he said rather sulkily. “My mom is miserable. She cries almost every day now. It’s our first Hearth’s Warming without him, and I don’t want it to come.”
It was one of those days. These were not good days when friendship was easy, no. This was one of those days when friendship was hard. Not hard in a bad way, like with her old friends, when she had to pretend to be dumb, petty, and vicious—all of which took quite a toll. No, this was hard in a different way, and truth be told, she looked forward to these days the most. These were the days when she truly felt good, that she was the very best pony that she could possibly be.
A snowflake fell, and then another. These two were just the vanguard, and as Stargazer began to sniffle, the poofy clouds overhead let go. The fluffy white flakes were especially brilliant against Stargazer’s Princess-Luna-Blue pelt, and rather looked like stars. His pale sky-blue mane was a little long now—he needed a trim—and his forelock almost hung over his eyes. Snowflakes clung to the bristly hairs found within his ears and Lime Tart felt her heart go pitter-pat while she studied his cute face.
After some internal debate, she decided to let him be sad—for now. This was a cemetery, a place for ponies to be sad. A place for grief. Her mother said that Grief was the second filly in their relationship, and while little Lime Tart wasn’t quite sure what her mother meant by that, she supposed that she had to share Stargazer with Grief. Getting upset about it certainly wouldn’t solve anything, and would probably hurt Stargazer.
Sometimes, adults said things that made no sense.
Progress is slow. It is my hope to have the whole story completed and released by the 20th. Yes, I am writing. Yes, I know, other things aren't getting updates. All my attention is currently on the holiday story, which is a bitch to write because of this fucking holiday depression. Trying to channel Lime Tart's cheery demeanour is like dragging fingernails down a chalkboard through my brain. She is unreasonably happy and I hate her just a little bit.
Expect occasional progress updates.
I am excite! Lime Tart and Stargazer are so cute, yet they deal with such mature topics, and I jist love it.
You are suffering from bad news, existential angst, twitter/news fatigue and introspection! You are not alone. I too can get down this time of year.
I have a prescription! A warm cookie! A ted talk on https://youtu.be/yCm9Ng0bbEQ how things are getting better. Go get a pumpkin spice latte and avoid the news, bills and twitter! organize a drawer or declutter a surface. Sit in the sun, call a friend and know that you are making our holiday bright and that it it appreciated!
I for one am glad that this world has people like you in it.
Happy Christmas! Jingle jingle jingle!
When a character you create is so cheery that they are a complete opposite to your own personality :P
I'm excited for the new story :-)