//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Yet to Come 
// Story: A Pony Christmas Carol 
// by ShadowBrony928 
//------------------------------//

Starlight looked around in the empty black void before closing her eyes and chanting to herself "Please wake up, please wake up, please wake up" as she would remember something "Wait a minute...wasn't it 3 spirits that Trixie had warned me about?..." She would soon realize that she was not alone. Starlight would turn behind her to see a tall pony in a black cloak standing there, her cloak shrouding her form in darkness.

"Are you...the ghost of Christmas yet to come?..." the mare just nodded in response "I fear you more than any spectre before you...but I know you intend to do me good...so I'll go with you on whatever trip you wish to take me." the spirit pointed her blue hoof from the robe towards Starlight's left. She could see ponies talking on the street

"Well if you ask me, I'd say it's about time"

"I thought she'd never die."

"At least it'll be a cheap funeral. I can't imagine anyone who'll attend..."

"I might if lunch is provided. Something has to feed my appetite"

"Well I wouldn't dare attend. Black does not do me any favors."

"It appears that...whoever this pony was...she wasn't enjoyed very much in life...spirit...could you show me someone with at least...a little more...sympathy...towards death?"
With a blue glow of her horn from below her cloak, the scene changed to that of the Cratchett house. Except, this time, it seemed far more gloomy than before

"Your mother seems to be walking home slower and slower every day..."

"Well...we can't exactly blame her...at least she should be home soon..."

Twi came in looking down sadly as her family hugged her, the mare hugging back "You went to the hill again didn't you..."

"It just...it keeps her memory alive...you know she always loved the sunset from that hill..." she had tears flowing down her face through her words as she paused and began crying into her husband's shoulder as Rainbob tried his best to comfort her as Starlight looked to the fireplace as it appeared the prior spirit's foretelling had come true.

"An empty chair by the fireplace...and a crutch without an owner...carefully preserved..." the words echoed in her mind as she, herself, broke out into tears. She was so choked up she could barely hold back a sob.

"No...no...not Tiny Scoot...this can't be true..." She let her tears flow for a minute longer before turning back to the spirit "Please, spirit. No more of this place. Take me away." As her words came, the scene would fade, revealing a cemetery

"Spirit...why have you brought me here?..." the spirit merely pointed to a lone tombstone on a hill and covered in cobwebs and snow. The two trotted to it as Starlight gazed upon it "Spirit...who's tombstone is this?..." Starlight would ask as the spirit just pointed to it with her hoof once more. Starlight could tell what the spirit needed her to do "Spirit...before I read the name on this tombstone...tell me...are these the shadows of things that will be?...or of things that may be...only?..." the spirit just pointed to the tombstone once more as Starlight nodded "you're right...I shouldn't delay it any longer..." she knelt down to the tombstone and looked upon it. She lifted her hoof slowly and brushed it off, closing her eyes as the snow came off and then slowly opening them to read the name on the grave "Starlight Scrooge" she read as her face grew pale with fear as she turned to the spirit "Oh spirit...please...I promise I will mend my ways...the lessons of past, present, and future will not have fallen on deaf ears. I will honor Christmas in my heart!! And try to keep it all year! I will become a friend to all ponies. I swear to you, Spirit, that I will change!" she closed her eyes to let everything slip away and allow her to think