//------------------------------//
// The Lament of Sweeney Trot 
// Story: The Lament of Sweeney Trot 
// by KenSES64 
//------------------------------//

				     The Lament of Sweeney Trot
By: KenSES64

My name is Sweeney Trot. I run a barber shop in Ponyville. My usual days are normally boring. I’d wake up, eat and work in the shop. Some days I get customers, some others I don’t. Some would say that it’s a simple life, but I wouldn’t say that. Or at least since that night two years ago.

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It was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. Thanks to connections my wife had in Canterlot the two of us got tickets to it. We rented a hot air balloon simply because it was cheaper than renting a chariot. Oh would that be such a bid mistake. If only we decided to pay a few dozen extra bits. 

PEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

A hole unexpectedly ripped in the balloon and it started to descend... fast. We grabbed on to each other tightly preparing for the worse. I looked into her eyes and gave her a kiss before we hit the ground. One final kiss.

CRASH!

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Beep...Beep...Beep

I awoke in a white room. I moved my eyes to see a white earth pony mare with a pink mare and a red cross as a cutie mark. I instantly recognized her.
“Nurse Redheart?”
She turned to me with a slightly surprised look on her face.
“Oh your finally awake. You were in a coma for the past three days.”
“I can’t remember. What happened?”
She fell silent for a few seconds.
“You see there was a crash.”
Then it came back to me.
“What?! Where is she?! Is my wife okay?!”
Nurse Redheart put her hoof on my shoulder. It’s is when I noticed the bandages on my legs. 
“I’m sorry Mr.Trot, but... she... didn’t survive the crash.”

My heart sank and I broke into tears.
“No! Celestia please no!” I cried out not caring if the whole hospital could hear me.
“Mr.Trot please relax.”
“Relax?! RELAX?! I JUST LOST MY WIFE AND YOU BUCKING TELLING ME TO RELAX?!”
“Mr.Trot, I know that this is a horrible situation and I do hate it when I have to break the bad news to ponies, but you are still injured, so you shouldn’t move much.”
“How badly?”
“Amazingly nothing is broken, but there are many bandages all over your body.”
I decided to take her advice and lied down to think. 

My beautiful wife. The love of my life. Gone. Thanks to a faulty balloon. Why Celestia? Why not me instead?

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A week later I was released from the hospital. So after was the funeral. Closed casket. Quite a few ponies came to say that they were sorry for my loss, so I heard the same thing several times, but I didn’t care.

Afterwards I actually sued the rental company and won, but I didn’t really care about the money. I just seemed like the only legal way to get revenge. Yet, I’ll admit that a few illegal ways did cross my mind many times, but I feel causing them to lose all their money and shut down is good enough because if the roles were reversed I feel like she would of done the same.

A month later I was sitting in my shop looking at a picture hanging on the wall. It was of the two of us on our wedding day. Our smiling faces, her light pink coat that went very well with her dress and her purple mane in the way it was styled, she truly never looked more beautiful than she did on that day. I was just wearing a simple black suit. I mean I guess I did look good with my white coat. When looking at the picture now I noticed that our cutie marks, her’s of a red book and mine of a straight razor blade, were kinda blurry.

Then I noticed a razor on table and a thought somehow got into my head. Should I do it? Should I try to... join her? I picked in up a slowly put it against my own neck. A tear rolled down my cheek and even though part of me wanted to make a quick sweep and end it all, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill myself. Maybe it was that I felt that she wouldn’t want me to, but whatever the case I just put it down. 

CRASH!

The sound of broken glass came from behind me. I turned to see a baseball surrounded by shards of glass. I ran outside and saw a young unicorn colt with a light blue coat and brown mane. The second I was outside he turned and ran.

I fallowed him till he ran into a house. I walked up to I and knocked on the door. It was answered by a red unicorn mare with an orange mane. I think I saw her at the funeral.

“Oh hello Mr.Trot.” she greeted.
“Afternoon. It seems that your son broke one of my windows with a baseball.”
She let out a sigh and called for the colt.
“Snips!”
He walked out from the other room. Now I saw that he didn’t have a cutie mark yet.
“Yes Mom?” He asked resistantly. 
“Did you break this stallion’s window?”
“N-N-No.”
“Don’t lie to me young colt.”
He looked down at his hooves.
“Yes.”
She then turned back to me.
“I’m sorry Mr.Trot, we’ll repay you if...”
“No need to. I still have a lot of money form the court case so I can take care of it.”
“Oh, well then how about Snips here works in you shop for a while.”
“What! But, Moooom!” he groaned.
“Okay, I can us some extra help. Does two week starting tomorrow sound like fare punishment.”
“Yes I does.”

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The next day around 2:30 P.M. he came by.
“Uh...Hi Mr.Trot, umm what do you want me to do?”
“It’s simple. If I get a customer you’ll have to sweep up there hair after I’m done cutting it.”
“Oh okay that seems easy enough.”
So he sat down looking a little board, and then he noticed the picture on the wall.
“Is that of you and your wife?”
“Yes. It’s of our wedding day.”
“She looks beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“So what does she do?”
“She used to run the local library.”
“What do you mean by used to?”
I fell silent for a few seconds before answering him.
“Let’s just say she’s in a better place now.”
“Oh”
He fell silent as well before he saw that it was now 4:00 P.M.
“Oh uh...bye Mr.Trot I guess I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Okay.”

So for the next two weeks he came by and did what I asked him to. Whether it be sweeping up hair or cleaning off razor blades. On days without customers we’d sometimes would talk and a few other times I’d actually help him with his homework. Then on the last day his father walked into the shop. He was a bulky unicorn with the exact same color scheme as his son.

“Ah I assume you’re here to pick up Snips.”
“Well yes, but I’d like a manecut first.” He responded.
“Okay sir now sit so I can...”
He shook his head.
“Not from you, from Snips.”
Both mine and Snip’s mouths dropped.
“Umm... Dad. I haven’t really cut anypony’s mane before.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

So Snips started to cut his father’s mane like he asked and surprisingly he seemed to be a natural at it. I reminded me of myself when I first gave somepony a manecut. In the end he did a really fine job.
“Wow, not bad at all.” His father said.
“Really?” Snips asked.
His father nodded his head. Ships beamed a huge smile and there was a tingling light coming off his flank. With a flash of light there was now an image of a pair of scissors.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! My cutie mark! I got my cutie mark!”
I couldn’t help, but smile at his joy. I reminded me so much of myself at his age.

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Since that day I’ve become good friends with Snips and his family. He even still helps me around the shop even though he doesn’t have to. I now actually feel happy again.

My name is Sweeney Trot, and my life is now what most ponies would call simple.


THE END