A Carrot Christmas Carol

“Here ya go!” Applejack set the bag of apples on the counter of her market stall. “That’ll be four bits!”

“Thanks!” The pale blue unicorn stallion tossed his money on the wood, grabbed the apples, and dropped them in the saddle bag he wore over his coat. He nodded at Applejack and trotted off into the snow.

Applejack looked around the area to confirm there were no other ponies looking to patron the Apple family market stall. The market square, like the rest of Ponyville, was blanketed in a soft veil of white snow, though thankfully no more fell today. Bright green garland and wreaths hung from every lamppost, market stall, and window ledge, the green occasionally broken up by a splash of red from a bow tied around it.

Applejack sniffed and pulled the zipper of her winter jacket up tighter, then reached up to the sign over the counter and pulled out the board pinned to the back, allowing it to swing down and display the word ‘CLOSED’ to anyone in front. She looked down under the counter and smiled at the sight of a single remaining bag of apples unsold.

“Well, back in the pantry ya go for tomorrow!” She grabbed the bag in her teeth and swung it into the cart behind the stall, followed shortly by the locked cash box and several wicker baskets with flakes and crumbs of pastries in them. Applejack stepped her front hooves into her boots and stepped around the front of the cart to lift the harness onto her back. She paused for a moment to stretch before trotting out into the market.

While there was no snowfall, it was still exceptionally chilly in Ponyville. Several market stalls had remained closed for the day, and the hot baked goods Applejack had brought with her in the morning were sold out before noon. Thankfully the wind wasn’t very strong, or she might have been tempted to abandon her typical hat for something woolen and warm.

As Applejack headed down the street, she paused when she noticed the lone market stall still open, the pony attending it showing no sign of packing up her wares like the other tenants. “Howdy, Golden!” Applejack smiled and approached the stall with a large wooden carrot hanging over it. “Pullin’ a late nighter?”

Clad in a snug green jacket and a matching hat, Golden Harvest smiled and shrugged. “I’ve still got a few carrots left to sell, and I’m not busy tonight.” She reached under the counter and held up an empty cupcake tray. “I’m almost sorry these sold out so fast, I could use one myself. With all the rush of the lunch crowds, I only had time to eat a light snack.”

“Now, that ain’t right, is it?” Applejack walked toward and turned to bring her cart into view. “Want an apple or two to tide ya over? On the house.”

“Thanks.” Golden reached out and untied the bag of apples in the cart, then grabbed one and bit into it. Her eyes lit up as she chewed and swallowed. “I always forget how sweet your apples are.”

“Yup.” Applejack leaned in and winked. “Granny always samples one from every tree and tells us to save the sweet batches for Hearth’s Warming. Ponies are doin’ a lot of baking this time of year, so we make sure they get the good ones.”

“Always looking out for the customer. That’s the Apples.” Golden bowed her head.

“What about you? Business been doing good?”

“Same as usual. I’ve saved myself a bit of work cutting down on the cupcakes and the mini cakes to just selling the carrots themselves. Hasn’t affected profits too much.” She looked down at the empty cupcake tin on the counter. “Although on days like today, I think maybe it would have been worth the time investment.” She shrugged and put the tin away under the counter. “Ah well, hindsight is twenty-twenty, as they say.”

“Can always try to make some for tomorrow,” Applejack suggested.

“Maybe, if it’s going to be this cold again.” Golden took another bite of the apple on the counter. “Do you want something for this? I can pay.”

“Nah, one apple ain’t gonna break the bank. Ah could’ve stuck around a bit longer to sell it, but the shops are gonna be closin’ soon and Ah gotta grab a couple things.” Applejack smiled. “The folks are putting up a bigger Hearth’s Warming tree this year, since Pinkie is bringing over her family to stay with us. They left it to me to pick out all the new decorations, and that also means more gifts to get.”

“Oh, well then, don’t let me keep you any longer. It is the rush season.” Golden waved a hoof towards the rest of the market. “Especially on Fridays, everypony is going to be out late shopping, nevermind it’s still more than a week until Hearth’s Warming. I can only imagine what ponies will be like next week.”

“Yeah. You seem pretty calm about it. Already got your shopping done, eh?”

“Oh, I don’t buy Hearth’s Warming gifts.”

Applejack paused. “Why not?”

“I don’t have anypony to buy for, so I don’t need to worry about Hearth’s Warming gifts.” Golden gave a small tilt of her head and shrugged.

“How’s that?” Applejack frowned. “Everypony’s got somepony to buy for.”

“Mm, not me. I usually just spend my Hearth’s Warming alone by the fire reading, or doing some crafts.” Golden’s eyes lit up. “I actually think I’m getting pretty good at making birdhouses. With a bit more practice they may be worth selling. Of course, I only make them for fun so I don’t try very hard, but—”

“Hang on a sec,” Applejack held up a hoof and waited for Golden to stop. “Ya spend Hearth’s Warming eve alone? What about your family?”

Golden’s expression fell. “My family… doesn’t come around for Hearth’s Warming anymore.”

“Why the heck not?”

“They died.”

Applejack gasped and pulled her hat off to clutch it to her chest. “Ah am so, so sorry, Golden. Ah didn’t know.”

“It’s okay.”

“May Ah ask when it happened?”

Golden raised an eyebrow. “Six years ago?”

“…say what?”

Golden snorted and gave a roll of eyes, but her expression was still friendly. “Dad passed away a few years ago and Mom went not long after. They were just old, is all.”

“Uh… Ah guess, then…” Applejack awkwardly put her hat back on. “Ah’m sorry Ah put mah hoof in mah mouth.”

“Don’t be, I miss them but I’m over it. I didn’t see them much anymore anyway since they moved to Canterlot after they retired.” Golden shook her head. “I used to visit them on Hearth’s Warming, and now I stay home.”

“But ya gotta have somepony! What about friends?”

“Oh, I have friends, but they’re usually pretty busy with their own families, and I don’t like being a bother on others. Besides, I’ve never much been one for parties.” Golden looked around the decorated Ponyville and smiled. “I always much preferred seeing the town done up like this and me going out to experience it. We don’t decorate the town like this very often, mostly just Nightmare Night and Hearth’s Warming.” She gasped. “Speaking of, you should be going, right? The shops?”

“Er, yeah.” Applejack nodded. “Ah’ll see ya.” She turned and trotted away, her cart jangling behind her.

“Enjoy meeting Pinkie’s family!” Golden called, waving after her.

Applejack shifted her weight from side to side on the door stoop, cold even though the snow on it had been swept away. She looked either way down the dark, empty street, and then raised her hoof to knock on the door.

After a few seconds, Golden Harvest pulled open the door. Though confused, she still put on a pleasant smile. “Applejack, what are you doing here?”

“Ah just wanted to come by and say hi.” Applejack gave an awkward smile.

“Oh.”

“So… hi.”

“Hello.”

The two stood at the threshold for a moment, Applejack directing her eyes to the door frame to avoid eye contact.

Golden raised an eyebrow and leaned in. “Did you need something?”

“No. Uh, Ah mean, yes! Can Ah come in for a few minutes?”

“…Sure.” Golden’s pleasant smile had faded leaving only her confusion, but she stepped aside to let Applejack into the entrance hall.

Applejack slipped her boots off on a mat to the side where another set of boots lay, and then took off her coat and hung it up.

“Would you care for a snack?”

“That’d be nice, thanks.”

Golden turned a corner in the entrance hall into what Applejack presumed was the kitchen, leaving her to approach the door to the living room. A small table sat in the middle of the room with an easy chair and a sofa on two sides of it. A fireplace on the far wall was roaring with life, the fire’s light flicking on the walls in contrast to the steady light from the bulb above. A hoofful of pictures hung on the walls, a few of them old and faded. The rest of the room contained only a bookshelf and a storage drawer.

“Here we go.”

Applejack turned her head. Another door into the kitchen swung open and Golden walked into the room with a platter holding two muffins, two empty mugs, and a large pitcher. “Hope you don’t mind carrot muffins and flavored eggnog.” She gave a sheepish smile. “It’s a bit of a family tradition.”

“No problem, thanks.” Applejack walked up to the table and helped Golden set the platter down. She reached for the pitcher but got her hooves batted away.

“You’re my guest, you don’t serve yourself in my home.” Golden gave her a scolding look and then began pouring.

“Sorry, ma’am.” Applejack shuffled back on the sofa and waited for her to finish. Golden offered one of the mugs to her and then sat down on the other corner of the couch. Applejack took a sip from her mug and her eyes widen. “Wow, that hits the spot.” She smacked her lips and took a deeper drink.

Golden drank from her own mug and waited for Applejack to finish hers. “So, what did you need?”

“Eh?”

“You said you needed something when you asked to come in.”

“Uh, oh, right!” Applejack muttered under her breath and shifted on the sofa. “Ah just… ya know… wanted to say hi. And, see how you were doing… doing. Ya know?”

“No.”

Applejack gave a nervous laugh and quickly took another drink of her eggnog.

“If you don’t need anything, I was planning to do some reading tonight before bed.”

“Can Ah help?”

Golden was silent for a moment as she looked back at Applejack. She spoke slowly. “Thank you for the offer, but I know how to read, Applejack. Once somepony figures out that part, they usually don’t need much help.”

“Oh, right. Silly me.”

Golden eyed her with new suspicion. “Why are you really here?”

Applejack’s response was to chug what was left of her eggnog. “Woo-ie, that really is somethin’! Got a nice little after-kick to it.” She slid off the sofa to reach for the pitcher and again found her hoof swatted aside. Golden gave her a more stern glare.

“Applejack, I’m happy to invite you into my home if you need something, but now you’re just dodging the question.”

“Ah… see…” Applejack sighed and lifted her hat to scratch her head. “Truth is, all that stuff you said in the market about havin’ nopony to buy for and spendin’ Hearth’s Warming alone… Ah couldn’t stop thinking about it. You, all alone in a cold, empty house.”

“Actually I’m quite warm, the pipes from the fireplace go through the walls on their way to the chimney.”

“Ya know what Ah mean!” Applejack gave her a small frown. “This is the time o’ year to celebrate with friends and family, nopony should have to be alone on Hearth’s Warming!”

Golden rolled her eyes. “And there it is. You know, the only times I ever don’t like the holidays, is when ponies feel the need to say stuff like that to me.”

“Ah-ah didn’t mean—”

“I know you didn’t, nopony ever means to offend me!” She sighed and plopped her flank on the floor in front of the sofa. “Ponyville is a great town, full of friendly, happy ponies. It’s why I wouldn’t move away for anything. This is my home and I love living here with so many ponies I’ve known for years.” She turned her head to look back at Applejack. “But this here, this is my space, my time.”

“But you’re the only one here!” Applejack exclaimed. “Aren’t you lonely?”

“No, I’m not.” Golden turned to the fireplace. “I know four ponies off of the top of my head that, if I asked, would definitely tell me to come to their house for dinner tomorrow night, or for Hearth’s Warming Eve itself. I choose not to go. Do you know why?” She huffed and started to swing her hooves from side to side as she pantomimed her words.

“Because then they have to get gifts for me, and I have to get gifts for them, and they need to cook extra food, and I’ll be expected to bring food of my own, and I’ll be sitting in a room full of ponies I don’t know and they don’t know me, and they’ll start asking questions about what I do and do I have a special somepony and who am I spending the holidays with, and I know they don’t really care because they just met me but they’re making conversation to be polite, and I don’t want to answer but I’m going to because I want to be polite back…”

She gagged and stuck out her tongue. “It’s a lot of trouble and time for everypony, and I’ve just never gotten much out of it.” She calmed down and shook her head. “If I wanted to spend time with a friend, I’d ask and I know I would get a yes most times. But mostly, I like being with myself. I like my privacy and I like my peace and quiet. After spending a day in the market, dealing with all the hustle and crowds and making small talk with customers, it’s nice to be able to come back home and just… sit and enjoy the silence.”

“Ah can’t say Ah can fault ya that. Ah’ve been there a lot…” Applejack bit her lip. “Ah’m sorry. Ah was just tryin’ to make ya feel better.”

“I don’t need to be made to feel better.” Golden’s expression softened. “But, thank you. I know you didn’t mean to upset me. You’re a good pony, Applejack. You just need to think things through sometimes.” She smirked as she reached out to take Applejack’s mug and refilled it.

“Yeah, that’s true for sure…” Applejack took the offered refilled mug with a sheepish smile. She took a long drink and set it back on the table. “So uh, that talk about how you like being alone and enjoying your quiet time… this would be me gettin’ in the way of that, huh?”

“Oh yeah. My night is ruined now.” The words were accompanied by a playful smirk.

“So me comin’ here to talk to you was twice as dumb.”

Golden’s smirk grew into a wide smile. “It’s not every pony who can put their hoof in their mouth three times in one day. Once more and you’ll fall over.”

The two shared a loud laugh that echoed through the room. Applejack gently shook her head as her laughter faded into a small smile. “Y’all are a right-fine friend to be puttin’ up with mah nonsense like this.” She took a drink from her mug as she finished talking.

Golden nodded. “Any time you’d like to come over, Applejack, you just need to ask.” She leaned in and slightly narrowed her eyes. “But I won’t have you thinking you need to take pity on me and spend time with me just for the sake of me not being by myself. And that goes double if you’re not at home spending time with your family.”

“Yup, that’s just not right no matter how ya look at it. But, Ah think Ah wouldn’t mind comin’ over again sometime. Maybe not Hearth’s Warming Eve, but sometime.” She finished off her mug and licked her lips. “Especially if this here eggnog is in good supply! Er, Ah ain’t drinkin’ it all, am Ah?”

Golden giggled. “No, it’s okay, I always keep a few jugs in the fridge. I can guzzle it like a fish when I want to. It is pretty tasty.”

“No kiddin’.” Applejack looked in her mug at the small puddle at the bottom. “Where’d you buy it?”

“It’s homemade, but there’s really nothing special about what goes into it. Eggs and cream, of course. Cinnamon, nutmeg, almonds, brown sugar, coconut milk. And carrots, naturally.”

“Mind if Ah get the recipe, or buy a jug off ya? I think Big Mac’ll love this.”

“Yes to the second but no to the first.” Golden walked back into the kitchen, leaving the door open as she stepped out of Applejack’s view. “It’s a family recipe, I’d prefer to keep it that way, if you don’t mind,” she called back.

“Well, Ah can certainly appreciate that.” Applejack nodded. “Family tradition is somethin’ we farmers have to hold onto.”

“The Apples especially.” Golden came back into the room holding a plastic jug full of thick, creamy, off-white eggnog. “How about ten bits? That’s the standard price, or at least it was.”

“Mind if Ah bring the bits to market Monday?”

“Sure.” Golden winked. “If I can’t trust the Element of Honesty to pay off a debt, who can I trust?”

“Hah.” Applejack took the jug from her and set it on the tale. “You said ten bits is ‘standard price’?”

“Mhm. My family used to sell it by the bottle, back when the Carrot family migrated to Ponyville when my dad was a colt.”

“Really?” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “How come ya stopped selling it?”

Golden’s face scrunched and she looked away. “Sales declined and it wasn’t worth the time and effort to make eggnog in bulk anymore. We wasted too much unsold product.”

“You’re kidding me!” Applejack snorted. “Why the hay would somepony pass up a treat like this?”

“…they had started buying apple cider instead.”

Applejack’s eyes widened.

Golden nodded. “We Carrots did okay in the first year or two once the Apple family started making cider to sell in the winter months. But word got around and business began to shift. Cider doesn’t go bad like eggnog will, and it’s not a festive drink so the Apples could sell it any time they liked. And they could afford to sell it cheaper than our eggnog since they had the huge farm backing their supply and didn’t need so many ingredients other than the apples.”

“Ah am so sorry…” Applejack grimaced. “There goes that fourth hoof o’ mine.” She raised a hoof and made like she was about to bite into it.

“Take it out, it’s not your fault. No member of the Apple family ever set out to ruin us that I know of, and it certainly wasn’t you back then making the decisions. It just meant scaling back certain parts of production, focusing more on baking and the carrots themselves. We did just fine. I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“Still feel bad, though.” Applejack’s eyes lit up. “Hey, now with the Apples so spread out, we don’t have the horsepower to make enough cider to sell through the winter! You’ve got a great opportunity! This is your chance to bring the Carrot family eggnog back to the public!”

Golden smiled and leaned on the table, staring into the sides of the eggnog jug. “Thanks for the thought. I’d like to, if I could. But I’m only one pony, I barely have the time to make enough eggnog to feed myself and guests each winter. Mass production to sell to other ponies? I’d need to hire help, maybe look into special equipment, and I’d need a whole lot of eggs and cream to be able to produce eggnog on that sort of scale…”

When she finished she let out a small sigh. “It’s a nice thought, Applejack. But I just don’t have the means to go for it.” She looked back at the pony in question.

Applejack’s face split in a wide grin.

“Golden Harvest, Ah think you and me need to have a nice long talk at the farm.”

“Here ya go!” Applejack set the bag of apples on the counter of her market stall. “That’ll be four bits!”

The green unicorn mare in front of her pulled out a small purse and floated some bits out of it. “I’ve only got three bits left…”

“That’s good enough for me, then.”

“Thank you!” The mare smiled and set the bits on the counter, then floated the apples to her saddle bags. “Sorry for shortchanging, I didn’t expect to buy so much when I came down here.”

“No problem.” Applejack watched the mare as she trotted away, one saddle bag laden with apples; the other had two glass bottles poking out, each covered by a metal lid with a carrot stamped into it. She smiled and raised her eyes to the other side of the market.

“Everypony, please be patient!” Golden Harvest waved her hooves at the line of ponies leading up to her stall. “I assure you, we have enough for all of you, though I am going to have to insist on a three-bottle maximum for purchases.”

“I’ll pay you double the price for a fourth!” a pony in line called out.

“I’ll pay for another sample!” A stallion thrust a hoof at a tray floating buy in an aura of green magic, small cups of egg nog on it, most of them now empty. Sweetie Belle swung the tray away and shook her head as she returned to the counter.

“I appreciate all the business, I really do,” Golden began, “but at the moment I only have one crate left back here and there’s exactly enough in it to sell each of you three bottles. Unless my supplier comes back soon—”

“Ah’m back!”

“And there she is.” Golden let out a small whimper.

The crowd turned their heads and cheered as Apple Bloom hauled a cart down the street, Scootaloo sitting on a stack of crates lined with bottles of eggnog. She jumped on the front of the cart as it came closer.

“Fresh from, um, the snowbank where we were keeping it chilled, eight more crates of Carrot Family eggnog!” She spread her hooves as the crowd applauded.

A mare looked back at Golden. “Does this mean the bottle limit is removed, now?”

Golden sighed. “I suppose so.”

The line began to clamor again and migrated from the stall to the cart. A white stallion at the front tossed a bag of bits into the cart. “I’ll take a whole crate, I have a big family coming in tomorrow!”

“A whole crate?” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.

Sweetie Belle came around the counter. “I’ll help you, mister. Just tell me where to.” She lifted the crate in her magic and began to follow him through the market.

Applejack waved Apple Bloom over from unloading the cart. Her little sister came up to her and raised her head. “What’s up?”

“Watch the stall for a second, will ya?”

“Sure.”

Apple Bloom slipped behind the counter and Applejack went over to Golden Harvest’s stall. Watching Scootaloo take money and offer back bottles, Golden saw Applejack approached and turned to her. Her eyes narrowed into a glare.

“I blame you for this, you know. I can’t handle this much business. This is your fault.” The twinkle in her eye betrayed her humor.

“Is that so?” Applejack grinned and leaned on the counter.

“Yes.” Golden’s expression softened. “You provided the workforce, the mixing machine, the ingredients. All I did was measure things and haul a bunch of crates of dusty old glass bottles up from the basement.” She made a disgusted face. “Those three did rinse them all properly, right?”

“Ah double-checked every bottle to make sure. They’re clean.”

“Phew.” Golden reached under the counter and put her coin box on the table, the sides pressing out. “You sure you don’t want any of this? Frankly, I think even a fifty-fifty split of the profits is ripping you off.”

“Unless you plan to go on a spending spree sometime soon, Ah think we can hash out that detail later. For now, how’s about you let the Apples keep a crate of this stuff on the farm? Ah could use a cup when Ah go home tonight.” Applejack looked at the tray of small sample cups and picked up one of the two left that still had eggnog in it. “You’re welcome to come on over and have a glass yerself any time ya like.”

Golden took the other cup left and smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The two cups softly clinked.

Author's Note:

When I got my prompts, it was for Golden Harvest/Carrot Top, or the Winneaspolis delegate from Princess Spike. With no idea at all how to approach the former, I began brainstorming for Golden Harvest. Step one was researching fanon on her because I'd never given her much thought, but it didn't seem there was much, so I had a fairly blank canvas to work with in terms of her life and her personality.

My mind of course latched onto the obvious idea of Golden as a foil to Applejack, particularly in the vein of not having a family since AJ and the holidays are all about family togetherness. But I did not want to go the cliched route of Golden being invited to the farm to spend the holidays with the Apples, I wanted to avoid the "loners are freaks" stigma. So, okay, Applejack sees Golden has her own thing going on and understands that works for her. But the idea still felt incomplete.

It was my friend RTStephens who had the idea to bring egg nog into the mix. Carrot egg nog is a real thing, and between it being a holiday drink and working as a parallel to the Apple cider, it was the perfect plot point to bring a more concrete bonding moment and resolution to the story.

Chris enjoyed my entry for him and I'm very pleased with that, and I hope you all enjoyed this too. Happy holidays to all, and I'll see you in the new year.

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Comments ( 7 )

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Phantom Dragon

Phantom Dragon #1 · Dec 29th, 2018 · 1 · ·

That was a pretty good story

Chris

Chris #2 · Dec 29th, 2018 · 1 · ·

I already said my piece on the Jinglemas post, but for the record: this is a sweet story, with a wonderful moral, great characterization, and it was everything I could've hoped to get out of a secret santa. Thank you for writing it--it was a joy to read it, both the first time and again just now!

fanreader999999

fanreader999999 #3 · Dec 29th, 2018 · · ·

Christmas?

Meridian Prime

Meridian Prime #4 · Dec 30th, 2018 · · ·

I think I covered this in my initial comment (gosh darn it WHY didn't I save those), but this is great. One of the more subtle stories in this years crop, and all the better for it.

FanOfMostEverything

FanOfMostEverything #5 · Jan 4th, 2019 · · ·

Brilliant work, especially how you handled Golden's enjoyably lonely Hearth's Warmings. And the conclusion was a wonderful way to make everyone involved happy. Thank you for a great read.

Telaros