A Gift of Many Colours
From the outside, Berryshine’s cottage looked no worse than anyone else’s. Usual thatched roof, usual humble country design, usual little hanging flowerpots – though admittedly not as many as there were on other houses.
Berryshine laughed again and skipped over to the front door, soon unlocking it after one or two fumbles. Dinky and Piña scurried in after her, but Ruby felt no pressing need to indulge in such giddiness. If anything, she crept in, still not sure about… well, anything.
Inside, it was a very different world. The wallpaper was peeling off. Damp stained the corners. They had barely any carpet, giving way instead to woodwork and a nasty wet timber smell that clumped like mud on the nose.
Ruby turned back as though to leave, back into the white snow and the open brightness outside.
Then Berryshine beat her to it; she slammed the door shut as though her life depended on such prompt action.
She looked at Ruby. And smiled.
“That’s better,” Berryshine said. Forcing Ruby to sidestep hurriedly out of her way, she went back up the hall to the kitchen. “Now, who wants a nice drink?”
The rumbling, shifting world gave a threatening jolt inside Ruby’s mind. In an effort to keep things steady, she stared down the corridor, barely hearing the excited compliments and gushing words of the other two foals.
Ruby’s mind was a blank.
Berryshine knew her drinks, though. Soon, Ruby heard the sloshing and trickling of poured beverages. She took a step towards the kitchen door, still slightly ajar.
They used to make drinks together, the two of them. Young Ruby had watched in awe as they’d added crushed berries to colourful bowls of punch, or shaken things, or blended things, or kept a close eye on measuring jugs while pouring things out.
They used to take them to everything. Birthdays. Little get-togethers. Cute-ceañeras. All the foals in Ruby’s class used to squeal and cheer whenever Berryshine and she, Ruby, walked into a kitchen, bearing bowls after bowls of punch…
Now…?
Ruby looked at the splinters on the banisters. At the damp stain on the ceiling. She walked to the lounge entrance, and despite the clean carpet she still noticed the frayed edges.
From the kitchen, Dinky was going on loudly about something-or-other. Cheerfully, Piña replied in kind. Well, that was fine. Ruby wanted them out of the way for a bit.
And then she heard a snatch of their talk. They were going on about gifts, and reasons, and trying to find out this and that.
Ruby shuffled into the lounge. Strange, that, she thought in a distant, detached way. The rest of the house is mucky, but she always cleans the carpet in here. It’s the one room we all use. Except for the kitchen.
Her workroom, she reminded herself.
Gifts… reasons… trying to find out… What?
She threw herself onto the sofa. Perhaps, while she had a moment, she could think about that gifts thing. Whether she’d wanted it to or not, the question had stuck to her mind.
“And I reckon,” boomed Dinky from the kitchen, “we’ll shed some light on it.”
Berryshine made an appropriately intrigued response, raising the tone of her voice in that special, humouring way of adults.
Alone on the sofa, Ruby looked around. She wasn’t going to stare at the opposite wall all this time, and now she did so, she saw the bookcase tucked out of the way in the corner. Her mind hummed with interest.
So many Daring Do books. And so many other adventure series. No, she realized: so many travelling series. They had titles like The Lost Land of the Dragon King, or Escape to the City, or A Paradise in Manehattan. Stuck like eyesores among them were the occasional bulky books about home repair and practical lifesaving.
Ruby had considered getting another book as a gift, but then Berryshine could get one of her own so easily. She bought them all the time.
Some of the books were children’s books. Faded with use and with dust. Yet she never got rid of them.
Hoofsteps came thundering down the hall. Idly, Ruby turned her head, trying to pin down something lurking in her mind – something she was sure would make it all make sense – and caught the bright sunlight blazing through the window.
To her surprise, she saw Berryshine go over to them hurriedly, thundering along. She drew the one curtain across.
“If we’re starting the morning again,” said Berryshine as she shut the other, “then we don’t want any sunlight just yet, now do we?”
Ruby looked around, but was plunged into darkness again anyway. Only a thin glow escaped the edges and the occasional holes of the curtains. She could just make out Berryshine, a moving shape, a face obviously with mane and eyes and cheeks and muzzle, but not much more detail than that.
“The other two are in the kitchen: busy,” whispered Berryshine. For a moment, her cheeks stretched in a smile. She held up something. “I found this under the stairs. Remember this? We shoved it onto the Yew Tree one year.”
“What is it?” whispered Ruby.
“It’s still got a bit of magic inside.”
A switch clicked.
Her old decorative bulb shyly eased them from darkness to light. Blue splodges glowed on all the walls, rotating gently. Ruby watched, mesmerized. Easing across, one of the splodges of glowing blue crawled over Berryshine’s wide smile.
“Remember we used to put this right on top of the Yew Tree?” she said, extending her hoof – Ruby winced as one of the glowing blues blinded her for a moment. “You had to stand on my head to get up that high, ‘cause I lost the stepladder in a ditch.”
Old joys – old friends – walked slowly into Ruby’s mind, the surprise reveal at the end of a celebration. Despite herself, she smiled.
“I thought we lost this one,” said Ruby.
“So did I. I thought you might like it. Amethyst bought me that cheap thing after she lost a bet, the tightwad. Grim Reaper, we used to call her before I beat her at her own game. I was a devil with cards back then: just me and Goldie and the Grim Reaper. Goldie couldn’t bluff for toffee, and the so-called Grim Reaper got too cocky near the end and fell right into my trap. Ah, good times.”
Ruby reached out slowly, carefully, uncertainly. These days, she knew this kind of light-based magic was nothing but copper wire and a bit of simple trickery: nothing like Amethyst’s kaleidoscopic gemstone. For one thing, there was only one colour. Nothing else came out.
Her smile faltered. That Berryshine could only get one colour, and Amethyst all the colours of the rainbow…
She turned the thing over and over. Wasn’t there a way to put more colours inside the bulb? She could fiddle with the wiring, or find a unicorn to cast a stronger spell. There had to be more than one colour. They couldn’t just settle for blue.
When she looked up, the blueness wiped across Berryshine’s face, which was also wiped of its smile.
Berryshine coughed. “Anyway,” she said with false cheeriness, “how’s your question thing going? Dinky said you’d got loads of answers, but not the real one you wanted. What was it? The ‘ultimate’ one.”
After all, there was more than one colour. We can’t just settle for one. Amethyst wouldn’t –
Inside Ruby’s head, a light flicked on.
“There’s more than one,” she murmured.
“Is there?” said Berryshine, but all hope was draining out of her voice. “Dinky was saying that, but she didn’t seem to like it very much.”
Ruby looked up sharply. Trust Dinky to get there first! “She said there’s more than one answer?”
“Yeah. Too many, she said. No idea what the real answer was.”
Ruby gave a burst of laughter, and then clammed up at the look this earned her.
“What?” said Berryshine.
“Oh, um.” Ruby stared at the bulb; it was safer, she felt. “Nothing. Just… thinking.”
While the blue blaze shifted and the splodges turned slowly along the walls, Berryshine was silent. Ruby wanted to melt deeper into the sofa, hide within the soft warmth, and sink away from the surface completely.
Strong limbs seized her around the head. Walled in by belly and limbs and the underside of the neck, she was caught within a cramped world of pure burning blue. Close to her ear, she heard Berryshine’s gasps as her precious Auntie Berry breathed.
“We’re all right,” breathed Berryshine, as though reciting a mantra, “so long as we’re in here. You, me, Piña: We’re all safe and sound.”
“Auntie! You’re choking me!”
Yet this time, Berryshine didn’t let go. Heat and embarrassment blazed along with the blueness. In the end, Ruby stopped struggling against what she realized was a hug.
Maybe there were lots of answers. Maybe there was no ultimate reason to give a gift. But maybe, just maybe… Ruby swallowed… there was nothing she could give anyway.
That hug was far too tight. What was going to make that any better?
What was she going to do? Open her mouth to say it was going to be all right anyway, they didn’t do that sort of thing in Ponyville, everyone’s safe and sound? She didn’t think it’d make a difference. Berryshine had hugged that tightly before. Being Berryshine, she’d probably do it again.
Now Ruby’s insides trembled like crazy. She didn’t believe it herself. Not really. It’d be lying to say so.
So what was she supposed to give as a present? A pony couldn’t wrap up an “all right” or a “feel better” and hand it over. Anyway, she wasn’t supposed to. She was a foal. She knew well enough foals in her class gave… stuff to their grown-ups. Thank-you cards. Chocolates. Little foalish things no one really thought were real gifts. That was why she’d turned her nose up at them.
She looked at the blue again. She thought of rainbows.
Maybe… Maybe there are different ways of giving…? I mean, I get different presents from different ponies.
Finally, Berryshine broke free. As quiet as possible, Ruby sucked in a full breath.
Berryshine disappeared behind the sofa for a moment, and then re-emerged with a glass tight between ergot and hoof.
“I put it down there earlier. I’m awful in the mornings,” she muttered, and she downed the lot.
Ruby grimaced and drew back.
Smacking her lips, Berryshine continued with a half-hearted shrug, “Well, I’m awful anyway, but I’m really awful in the mornings.”
“Me too,” said Ruby. “I hate getting up early.”
“Tell me about it.”
From the kitchen, Dinky’s endless chatter rose excitedly.
“Bet Dinky loves getting up early,” Ruby said.
“What, jumping out of bed through sheer excitement? Ha. Oh well, it takes all sorts.”
Feeling she had to meet her Auntie Berry halfway, Ruby said, “Did Carrot Top or Amethyst ever used to jump out of bed?”
“No idea. Goldie hated mornings, I know that, but she had to get up for working the fields anyway, the poor thing. As for Amethyst… hard to tell. Funny, really. I never asked. Doesn’t seem like the type to me, to be honest. I always saw her as more of a late-night scribbler.”
Berryshine tried to down her already-downed drink again, throwing back an empty glass and flailing her tongue for the slightest drop.
Maybe she’s not… bad. Ruby watched the tongue and saw Berryshine’s face clench with frustration. Maybe she’s just… different. Maybe it’s like colours, and there’s no one right colour, or something. Maybe… Maybe she’s… Maybe she just happens to be blue, and Carrot Top’s orange, and Amethyst is… ha! The Grim Reaper is black. Black as the night. Dinky would love that.
Different colours. Like different gifts. Different ways of giving gifts. Or different reasons? I don’t know.
She sighed. She was sure she’d got it then.
Berryshine groaned and dropped the glass. Below, there was a faint thump. Not that she even looked down; Berryshine’s grimace of horror stared up at the opposite wall, as though she were hearing a commanding voice no one else could. A stern commanding voice. Her face twisted up, her ears fell before the intangible gales, and her head even started to sag.
“I need a drink,” she moaned.
Ruby swallowed. Despite the blue splodges, the room seemed a lot darker.
“There’s plenty in the kitchen,” Ruby said, hoping to get through to her.
Berryshine’s voice became panicky. “I can’t go out yet! I need a drink in the morning! You know I’m awful in the mornings!”
The low background murmur of foal voices died away. They must have heard her from the kitchen.
Ruby turned away. She tried to block the voice out.
“If I don’t get a drink… I might as well starve right now! I don’t stand a chance! What am I? Just this little worm in the grass! I can’t face them – No, I won’t face them without a drink!”
Sighing, Ruby turned the bulb off. Hovering orange glares of afterimage faded like ghosts.
So…?
So what now?
I’m not getting her a present. So what if I could do it because of all that tit-for-tat stuff, or because it’d make her act better, or because I “have to”? I don’t care. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care at all. She’s too different. She’s not blue. She’s that sickly green no one wants to look at.
“Auntie Berry?” said Ruby, not looking at her vague outline in the dark. “What does it mean, ‘it takes all sorts’?”
A desperate gasp. A silence.
“I don’t know,” said Berryshine, defeated. “Why?”
Ruby’s insides settled at last. All flat. All dull. All still as a giant, dead desert, with not a blade of grass or living thing in sight.
Her thoughts ran down. Her inner light darkened. She’d run out.
“Just wondering,” Ruby said. She sniffed, as though hoping the trail hadn’t gone cold. Deep within, she’d really counted on this one. She thought she’d had it.
I’m not getting her a present. Ruby curled up. She didn’t want anything to do with anything anymore. Not now. Not ever. Not if she had a million years.
A weak and lonely laugh escaped Berryshine’s lips. “So, um… Good morning, ha. And, um… any thoughts what you’re gonna get for Hearth’s Warming?”
“Why?”
“Oh, don’t start that ‘why do we buy presents’ stuff again. Just go ahead and do it. Any thoughts? I could help, if you want.”
“Um…”
“Well, what about me? Got any idea what to get me? Just say the word, and I’ll write a list.”
Ruby pouted. Might as well.
“Could get you a nice cider,” she mumbled.
A pause, but clearly an uncomfortable one, because it was broken by: “You know I like to do stuff other than drink cider and punch and juice, right? Don’t you?”
“Um…”
“Oh really, stop saying ‘um’. Come on. You’ve got a good brain, haven’t you? I mean, look at all that ‘why do we get gifts’ stuff you and Dinky went on about.”
Ruby glanced across to the vague suggestion of her Auntie Berry. Suspicious. Yet… strangely hopeful.
“You think I’m smart?” she mumbled, a little more clearly.
“Absolutely.” There was no hesitation.
Ruby cast about. “Smart like Amethyst?”
“Sure.”
She wriggled. A chill had escaped down her spine, and in that moment some of the old life came back to her. Hesitantly at first, then more keenly, she chewed and pulled the thoughts back up.
“Well…” she said.
What was it Amethyst had gone on about? You start off asking why we give gifts on Hearth’s Warming… and then you go and ask why you give gifts at all… So then… So then you ask what a gift actually is? I don’t know, but it sounds right, I guess.
A crash of a door, a thunder of hooves, a squeal, and someone rushed into the room and tackled Berryshine so that she fell and vanished into darkness for a moment.
“Piña!” yelled Ruby, standing up on the sofa. “I was talking to Auntie Berry!”
“You’ve had lots of time to talk!” said Piña. “I want time to tackle!”
“You see?” said Berryshine, all warmth again. “This is what I mean. It takes all sorts, like this little beggar. Get off me, Piña. You’re heavier than you used to be.”
Ruby watched their outlines scrabble and wrestle, and heard them laugh and squeal. Gradually, her mind slipped away again. Her legs itched to jump in, but the rest of her waited.
So… if you’re supposed to ask “what is a gift?” then how do you tell? There must be lots of different types, for lots of different ponies… Um…
More thundering hooves, and another foal rushed into the room. “Hey, don’t leave me out!”
“Sorry, Dinky,” said Piña. “Anyway, I beat you to it. Anyway, only family’s allowed to tackle. Anyway –”
“Oh, let her tackle if she wants,” said Berryshine from the floor. “She’s honorary family. Yeah! She can be the mad uncle.”
“I’ll uncle you!” Dinky leaped onto the scrum, and more squeals and laughs broke out. “Whee! It’s fun climbing in the dark!”
“Ow!” said Piña. “That was my ear!”
“All right, now you climb me. It’s only fair.”
“Big Sis says I’m heavier than I used to be.”
“Well, I’m stronger than I used to be. Top that!”
“OK, then!”
“Right!”
While they shuffled and struggled on the carpet, Ruby’s front half jumped up to the arm of the sofa. Not that there was much to watch over. She leaned forwards. So much simpler, if she only jumped on top of them and joined in.
She screwed up her face. No. Too simple. There had to be more than that.
But maybe that was the point. It started with simple things. Included simple things. Or simple things were… were really very complicated. Like love. Didn’t they say love was hard to understand, even though lots of ponies had tried to? After all, if it was big, then it’d take a lot of light to get through all that darkness.
Berryshine yelped and laughed; someone had come a bit too close to a sensitive spot. Just like she, Ruby, used to.
Lost somewhere on the sofa was the bulb. Standing like this, she could almost imagine the arm of the sofa was Berryshine’s head, and all they had to do was stretch and get the light on the top of the tree.
She fidgeted. She felt a surge, but this time rising – joyful – giggling and squealing rather than yelling and snarling.
Why couldn’t this be a gift? It’s like a gift. You can give time and love and friendship and chances and futures to other ponies, couldn’t you?
No, that’s not a real gift. Seriously, it’s got to be something you buy and wrap up. They look at you funny if you don’t. It’s not the right way.
Frustration overtook the joy. Her surge burned, exactly like last time –
“By the way!” cried out Berryshine in a stupidly cheerful voice. “Morning, Dinky!”
“Morning? You call this morning?” Dinky briefly appeared as an outline leaping up and over. “Gotcha! Ammy would call you a lazybones ne’er-do-well! ‘You call this morning?’ she’d say, and then –”
The scuffling stopped. All three outlines were still.
After a while, Piña said, “Wh-what’s wrong? Big Sis?”
Berryshine took a deep, despairing, deadening breath.
“Big Sis?” Piña’s outline backed off hurriedly. She whimpered.
Curious, Dinky cocked her head. Berryshine just sat there, doing nothing. Under cover of darkness and her own hunched shoulders, they couldn’t even tell where she was looking.
“What am I doing?” Berryshine breathed.
Thinking fast, Ruby hopped off the sofa a moment before her Auntie Berry rose up. Behind the foal, the thump of the adult body hitting the fabric was heavy, and the sofa creaked beneath the weight.
Ruby’s surge dimmed again. Frustration hardened, and then all crumbled away. From within, leftover joys disappeared back into her inner world.
She looked at the curtains. It was getting stuffy in here. She couldn’t smell anything now, and she made a step towards the window. By her little leg, the emptied glass of Berryshine’s latest drink bounced off and rolled away. Just in time, she caught its shine wiping across as it rolled.
A tiny thump: the bulb rolled after it. Berryshine must have just pushed the thing off the seat.
Ruby began to levitate that bulb… and then dropped it again. Her surge had a mind of its own, and it was whispering.
Don’t bother. The bulb’s not the real gift. It’s just a piece of plastic and some copper.
She didn’t want the bulb. Until now, she’d forgotten all about the foal’s toy, which was all it was. Some stupid foal’s toy. Easily impressed baby.
But the surge of joy enveloped her, wrapped around her, and coddled her.
But it was babyish.
But… But…
Berryshine stirred on her seat; Ruby heard the sofa creaking. “She called me a lazybones?”
“It was only a joke,” said Dinky loyally.
Berryshine groaned. Ruby creased up her face against the pain.
“A joke!” Berryshine moaned. “No, it’s true. I am. A frightened, overgrown child. Why? I didn’t ask to be this way. I shouldn’t be this way. Of all the pathetic, time-wasting –”
Ruby’s mouth trembled. Hastily, she sniffed. Nothing could help her: she couldn’t stop it trembling.
Then, unexpectedly, Berryshine groaned and leaned forwards. Warm hooves closed around Ruby, much more gently this time. Without a word of protest, she rose up and let the forelimbs wrap around her and carry her up to the sofa. A soft, breathing belly met her. On the arm, Piña put her front hooves to watch over them. Her eyes were shiny.
Ruby clenched her jaw. Whatever happened, she couldn’t break now.
“You know we’re stuck with each other,” said Berryshine miserably. “Unless I do something really stupid and get dragged away. Which I probably will, knowing my ruddy luck.”
“You won’t, though,” said Ruby sharply. Sudden pain shot through her throat, just as much as the anger did.
“No, I won’t. I’m sorry.”
“Carrot Top said the other ponies wouldn’t let you.” Ruby shifted. Until now, she hadn’t realized how long she’d gone without sitting in Berryshine’s lap.
“They’ll try,” said Berryshine, as though not keen on the idea.
“But –”
“Look, Ruby… and you too, Piña. If I’ve got nothing else to give you, I’ll give you this: you can’t choose what cards you’re dealt.”
Against the welling inside her chest, Ruby frowned. “What have cards got to do with –?”
“They’re not real cards. It’s a metaphor. Although it does work with real cards, but… You get what I’m trying to say?”
Piña shook her head, her gaze spell-bound. For once, Ruby was of one mind with her cousin.
Berryshine’s sigh caressed Ruby’s mane, even tickling her horn. “Anyway: you can’t choose what cards you’re dealt. What matters is how you play what you’ve got.”
She gave Ruby a tender nudge.
“You remember that for me?”
“Yes,” said Piña at once.
A new light shone within Ruby’s mind. She nodded once.
Berryshine gave her a moment to wipe her eyes before tapping her. It was a signal to hop off, and Ruby had to be tapped twice before she did so. The room was so cold without a lap to lie on, even if it was stuffy.
I know what to get her. What to get her for Hearth’s Warming.
She kicked the bulb away. It was dead. It didn’t really give off a light, if it was dead. Gifts – those kinds of gifts – were just dead things. So in a way, they didn’t give light. Real light.
Now she felt she was on the right track. After all, they called the feeling a “warm glow”, so…
Wait a moment. You can’t tell with grown-ups.
“Auntie Berry?” she said.
“Yes, Ruby?”
Ruby shivered. “Can you give things… other than things? As a gift?”
Berryshine blew, flapping her lips. “The Grim Reaper’s gotten to you, hasn’t she? What the heck does that mean?”
“No, I mean…” Shame grabbed the words and tried to pull them back. After all, Dinky and Piña were right there watching. “Things like… um… time, and, and… play, and, um… and love and stuff.” She was briefly proud of the “and stuff” she’d wedged in. Any escape hatch was welcome, in case of follow-up questions.
And yet, as soon as she said it, her face… lit up.
It felt… yes, it felt good.
When Berryshine spoke, her voice was equally as bright. “Well, well, well. Ruby is sentimental, after all. You’re like the Grim Reaper. She’s a softie under all that seriousness too, and you didn’t hear that from me.”
“Can you give gifts like that?” insisted Ruby.
Dinky giggled, and Ruby wished she could shut her up. Shame was still itching to take back what had already been said.
After a thoughtful hum, Berryshine said, “Like what?”
“Well,” said Ruby, dredging her memory for clues. Something they used to do together, so long ago… “I liked it when we had dinner at Dinky’s once.”
“I liked it too!” piped up Piña.
Once more, the sofa creaked. Four hooves thumped on the carpet. Berryshine loomed up before her.
“I dunno,” said Berryshine sadly. “It’s a bit last-minute, and –”
“Ah, don’t worry about it,” said Dinky cheerfully. “I’ve got influence. Just say the word, and it’s done.”
“All right, then.” Berryshine chuckled. “So that’s what you want for Hearth’s Warming, is it? A nice big Hearth’s Warming dinner?”
“And then…” Ruby gulped. “And then we could play a game together?”
“Oh? What game?”
“I dunno. Any game.”
“Uh huh. And then?”
“And then… we could go for a walk?”
“Hm. Might be a bit late. I don’t know if I could walk in a straight line by that point.”
“Or…” Piña groaned, forcing an idea out of her head. “Ooh, ooh! How about we clean up the dishes afterwards?”
“Come off it.” Berryshine laughed. “Chores? Really?”
“We could make a game out of it!” piped up Dinky. “Ammy and I do that all the time. Like once, we pretended we were monsters fishing for submarines –”
“What? Old Grim Reaper?”
“Ammy likes playing. She just takes it really seriously.”
“Ah. That’s more like it.”
Biting her lip with excitement, Ruby stamped for attention. “And then we could tell stories. I liked the one about the flying pigs.”
“Nah,” said Piña. “That one was silly. I liked the one with the evil witch and the army of cats. Or… No, better! I liked the one with the slime monster.”
“You’re all silly,” said Berryshine. “The one with the magic goat is obviously the best.”
Howls of protest broke out, but Ruby was jumping on the spot. She wanted to keep talking, to shout out whatever popped into her head, and to ride this surge all the way. She’d make Dinky look like an amateur. She could come up with more ideas if she kept thinking about it.
All too soon, however, the excitement died down. Berryshine smacked her lips.
“So…” she said. “That’s all you want for Hearth’s Warming?”
Confused, Ruby cocked her head. The surge fell back.
“I thought you might want it,” she said.
“Eh?”
“It’s… a gift. Kind of.”
The darkness was still for a while, but not silent, because Piña rather disgustingly started blowing shiny foam out of her mouth.
“Oh,” said Berryshine.
“From me to you,” said Ruby.
“Oh. Right.”
The surge waited.
“How, exactly?” said Berryshine.
Ruby gaped, waiting for an answer to come. Blushes burned on her cheeks. The silence rolled over her. Sheer darkness did nothing; she still felt dangerously exposed.
But there had been that moment… she could’ve sworn this was right.
“It’s a gift, of, um, time,” she mumbled. “And… love, and stuff…”
“Ah. So you’re going for the non-expensive option.”
Horror ran her through. She took a step away from the outline of the sofa. “No, no, I meant –”
Those warm forelimbs gripped her head again. She almost got a noseful of fur.
Then the embrace grew tight, as though it would never let go and never wanted to. Shamefully, utterly wrong for the moment, her eyes began to burn.
“Priceless,” whispered Berryshine.
Ruby kept her mouth shut. Apart from the tremble coming back, she wasn’t sure what Berryshine meant. Far too soon, she was freed from the grip.
“And now, I think it’s about time we did our morning properly and opened those curtains, eh?” said Berryshine.
“I’ll do it!” shouted Piña.
“No, I will!” shouted Dinky.
They both drew the curtains aside – Dinky using her magic on one, Piña using her teeth on the other – and light flooded the room.
Snow dazzled from the ground. Cottages stood together in a vast herd, all strangely uniform under the drifts. One or two had wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys, but that was it.
Ruby stepped aside to let Piña rush past; the young foal clambered up Berryshine’s back to get a better view, and then put her hooves up and rested on her head. Irritated, Ruby clambered up after her, getting a few ticklish giggles for her trouble, and looked out.
Dinky, meanwhile, stood beside them. And that surprised Ruby more than anything; her mouth was a rare thin line, not bursting with energy as usual. Instead, Dinky was quiet, thoughtful, her gaze wide as though taking in – or taking on – the entire universe.
Under the pool of white – which was a lonely sun amid blue skies – roughly a dozen ponies went about their business on the icy street. Lots of them: some smiling, some grumbling, some twitchy, some with wrinkled noses.
Ponies of all shapes and sizes. Ponies of all colours, too.
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Nice Story! Shows how difficult it is sometimes to get the right Christmas present for a Friend or Family Member
8620807
Thank you very much. And you are correct on the difficulty of gift-getting, especially for those poor individuals who have enough of their own troubles as it is. Glad you enjoyed my efforts.
8620904
You're welcome. It's very diffuvult if even tje one you wnat to get the present, doesn't know what he wants.
I'm a little speechless after reading this..... There are lots of thoughts in my head right now and I don't know where to start.....
That question of why we even give gifts, going over all of the philosophic spectrum that question holds. The tragedy, just subtle expressions; of Pina and Berry Pinch occasionally shivering in fear when Berry Punch is drunk again (with the subtle implication of one or another abuse situation that happened some time down the line), yet constantly fleeing into their childlike imagination and shaking the fears off that way; the tiny hints sprinkled on the story that their life at home is anything but easy or comfortable. All very subtle, but every time you come across such a part, like a needle stabbing into your chest.
Some odd name choices for certain background ponies (although, none with such heavy background as the dreaded name you shove on Derpy that I find myself criticizing so often) which breaks the flow of reading, but the rest is excellent.
Now, there only need to be more people who read this. A LOT more.
8665817
Wow! It's extremely gratifying to receive such a thorough and enthusiastic comment. Many, many thanks for giving me a good one!
Originally, that was all there was to the story when I started writing it, but the intellectual focus seemed a bit dry. The Berry Punch side of things was created to give it a proper narrative context (that is, to give it the important drama needed). Well, that and to try out some characterization notes I had for those ponies. In any case, I'm really glad you picked up that "philosophical" part of the story. Exploring the ideas was a big reason why I wanted to write this fic.
I can't add much to your description here, except that I enjoyed reading it. It's exactly what I wanted to get across well, so it's encouraging to see you single it out for such attention.
Must respond to this, though:
I think I might have overplayed my hand there when it came to leaving hints in the story, because I never intended it to be that dark (if only because an abusive Berry Punch strikes me as a character hard to sympathize with).
For what it's worth, the implication was supposed to be that the two foals were scared by Berry's unpredictable mood swings and difficult-to-manage behaviour, because - as shown later on - they either don't know how to deal with it (mainly Piña) or just find it distressing or frustrating (mainly Ruby).
Not abusive, though: it was meant to be more of a "kids have to act like adults because messed-up adult acts like a kid" situation. If I misjudged there, then I apologize for making the story seem much darker than intended.
Just out of interest, may I ask for any particular examples? I think you're referring to Golden Harvest and Amethyst Star, though in my defence A) those names have been established among the fandom for a while, and B) I did at least find a way to include "Carrot Top" as a nickname, if that helps. Especially since I admit my preference for "Golden Harvest" isn't much greater than it is for "Carrot Top" ("Amethyst Star" versus "Sparkler", on the other hand, is no contest for me).
Without reopening that particular debate anytime soon, I will at least say I'm toying with the idea of using "Derpy" in future. Though admittedly, it's more because that'd save me some future headaches than because of anything else. (That said, I used the name "Derpy" for a couple of commissioned Jinglemas pieces, and it is growing on me a bit.)
8691538
hmm true. to me tit-for-tat is just because so that was more my way f thinking rather than anything else. how they react i think (since i just finished chapter 2) that Amethyst care more about proficiency than anything else, but i could be worng since i'm not done with the story.
8744387
Wow. I wasn't expecting this. Now I'm wondering if I should put a "sad" genre tag on the fic. I thought the "drama" one would have covered it neatly.
Concerning the age of the fillies, I'm not really sure. I don't know what it would be in horse years, but I tend to imagine each of them as the equivalent of a human child in double-digit years, maybe 10 or 12 or 14. I never picked one and stuck with it. Ruby is meant to be at an age when she can just about manage Berryshine's behaviour, but still isn't old enough to fully grasp what's going on.
While I'm a bit concerned you found some of the fic confusing - I hadn't intended to confuse anyone - I'm pleased you found it intriguing at least. Especially pleased that you mentioned the philosophical musing; that was my favourite part to include, especially the scene in the fourth chapter where Dinky needs cheering up.
Thank you for the fantastic comment! It's always a great reward to receive feedback like this.
The way you described Ruby's inner thoughts and feelings was so true-to-life. I've been thinking about this a lot recently: people seem to discount the thoughtfulness of children far too easily and, what is far more harmful, often forget the tremendous influence that adults have on them. A throwaway word of praise or scorn may seem insignificant to an adult but could mean an awful lot to a young one. And I think you captured that perfectly.
It was a pleasure to read and I'm sure I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come. Thank you very much for writing this, I hope more will read it in the future.
8937115
Well spoken, and glad you found it that way. Ruby in particular I was anxious to get right, since she was meant to display the range of emotional experiences and thought processes a child might go through, especially in that kind of dysfunctional situation (certainly far more than Pina and Dinky, though I really like how Dinky turned out here). And in general, I try to convey that children are a lot more complicated psychologically than many people give credit for.
Eventually, I do intend to submit this to Equestria Daily; I've got a proofreader looking over it at the moment. So with luck, more people will get a chance to read it in good time, and hopefully enjoy it too. Thanks again for the comment!
Wow! Featured on EQD. Congrats.
9387409
Thank you.
Damn, wow.
9396101
I've said most of what I wanted to say in your review, so I'll content myself to say here: This comment made my day.
9401020
And this is why you are never allowed to leave. >:B