1) beginnings
A Winter’s Tale
WinterPony
Chapter one: beginnings
“A man says a lot of things in summer he doesn't mean in winter.” ― Patricia Briggs
"Why are the words goodbye, I'm sorry, and I Love You so easily pronounced but so hard to say?" -Anonymous
Winter hated being a king.
It was boring. It was monotonous. It was tiring. But there was nothing he could do about it. His mother, Soft Tear and his father, Snow Fall had given up the throne when Winter was young and now lived on a leisure island in the south. He hated to admit it, but it was hard for Winter to like his own kingdom. The Ice Kingdom.
Every day King Winter Chill sat slouched on his icy throne. This day was no exception: it was quite an (if not more than) average day. He signed grants for land or bits and oversaw diplomatic meetings. The Ice Kingdom, he felt, had fallen into a simple, repetitive pace.
Winter decided today's work was done and trotted to his chamber, hooves clicking on icy marble. He called to a butler for wine and relaxed himself on his bed. The servant rolled his eyes as he fulfilled his masters request, muttering “drunk before nightfall again.” Winter was not a compatriot to his workers, constantly referring to them as slaves, as he threw bottles at them in drunken rage.
Winter felt the loneliness that so often plagued him, leading him to drink and be rash. He used to have a wife named Blue Sapphire, and he still remembers the scent of her perfume that would overcome him as they kissed. They even a child named Gilded Lotus. He remembers holding them both in his arms. But a sickness took both of them from him, two deaths within the same week. That was about two years ago. It killed him and he mourned constantly, the walls of the castle acting as a never-ending reminder of the loss. He knew he should move on.
The wine came, and Winter gorged himself on alcohol. Glass after glass being tilted back and emptied. He drank to forget, but that was pointless. The more he drank the more he thought of what was missing, the thought of Blue And Lotus festering in his head, making him drink even more. Winter sighed as the last of the day’s bottle slithered down his throat. And with the thought of his family’s death on his mind he drifted off to saddened slumber.
He had nightmares, flashing back to the day of their deaths. His heart once again recollected of the loss, as he watched helplessly as his daughter's chest rose and fell for the last time. He never woke in the night from these nightmares as if cursed to relive every agonizing second, his mind telling him “you terrible husband, you horrid father.”
The next day was the same, as was the one after that: wake up, do your job, drink yourself to sleep. Winter needed a break from the tedium of the castle. Winter decided he needed to go for a walk. He dressed in a hooded cloak, hiding his face from the commoners. The last thing he wanted was a hundred ponies begging his request.
He took a stroll through the marketplace. It was full of vendors selling apples or carrots or whatnot. Everywhere, ponies unknowingly bustled around Winter and he couldn’t help but smirk at the ignorance of his people. He observed the market closely, keeping an eye on his state. Overall, the Ice Kingdom was full of happy ponies without many issues. Poverty was always low and most ponies were employed. Winter was just starting to examine a cart of frost apples, or rather check if the pricing was fair (Winter hated those who took the economy for granted), when something drew his eyes away from the loaded buggy.
A stallion, bright purple with a fiery orange mane, passed by.
"Wow," Winter said under his breath, although he wasn’t sure why he said it. The purple stallion stood out from the Ice Ponies who were shades of light blue and silvery-grey.
He has to be a foreigner, Winter thought, feeling a strange attraction to the stallion. It confused the King, who always had labeled himself straight. He continued to watch the stallion. The mysterious pony, a pegasus, bought some frost apples and a few other items before trotting away.
Suddenly, Winter found himself galloping after the pony. He didn't understand why, but he was just overcome by this urge to know this stallion. Winter wanted the stallion, needed the stallion. And abruptly, he crashed into the stallion, who had stopped at a busy square with a surplus of hoof traffic.
"S-sorry. I was just..." Winter's voice trailed off.
"No no, it's fine," said the stallion, "You seem in quite the hurry."
"No, I-," Winter, a normally witty pony, couldn't think of an excuse, "I'm just looking around. I didn’t mean to bump into you."
"Well, slow down,” the stallion’s voice was light. It reminded Winter of his late wife Blue. “Hard to enjoy the sights when you're moving so quick," the mysterious pegasus said with a slight chuckle. "Name's Arch Angel. Yours?"
"Winter," he said without thinking.
"Like the King?" Arch Angel asked. "Are you related?"
"N-no relation," Winter lied. "Uhm… it’s nice to meet you."
"Same," Arch Angel replied.
Winter smiled. “You aren’t from around here are you?”
“No, I’m from Ponyville.”
“Well maybe I’ll see you around sometime,” Winter suggested.
“Maybe.”
They nodded goodbyes to each other and Winter watched Arch Angel's flank as he galloped away. The rhythmic motion is all Winter would ever need. He would make sure it wasn’t a maybe!
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4097811 well Thankyou for using harsh words to tell me to work on character development. I love it when people think "constructive criticism" means being hurtful and cursing
4097868 this is actually a really hard worked rewrite, from when all I wanted was a post. originally each chapter had 500 words and there was no character development. Me and my friends spent hours on google docs sending comments till they thought it was worthy. I'm starting to think I should just give up already
I could like this. Good OC stories are hard to come by. good job
4097908 Thankyou! Chapter two coming soon!!!
I love gay fimfics...
I love OC story's...
So I can already tell that I will like this..
Good Job. Keep up the good work
4098192 Thank you so much!
the detail is better but it seems mire like you're simply listing off background traits as opposed to useing them with timing and purpose. this can make the passage feel very, for a lack of better term, shallow and meaningless. work to make it flow better.
4100238 okay, i'll work on that in the future!
Another OC fic...
4123983 Not sure if you hate OC fics or like them....