• Member Since 5th May, 2015
  • offline last seen February 4th

miss-cyan


A broke, anxious mess with a sweet tooth. Usually tired or hungry.

T
Source

Harvest Moon is just a quiet, shy little unicorn filly, invited for her first play date in a new city. Things are going very well until her magic suddenly flares up. Then, things take a turn for the worst.

Princess Cadence gets word of the filly's abilities and sets out to gain an apprentice, as well as a new patient. This child is in desperate need of some counseling, and to learn to to control her new magic.

It's not easy, especially for a child, to suddenly be exposed to the evils lurking in pony form.

A story about healing.

Featured on 6/3/2019, thanks c:

content warning: first chapter contains mention of sexual assault of a minor. any future mentions of that sort of thing will be as non-graphic as I can manage.

Chapters (3)
Comments ( 51 )

This just confirmed that following you was a good choice

9659078
awwwww thats so nice of you c: glad you like it so far

9659085
Thank you for writing jt

Nice work so far. Compelling and meaningful. Usually, I'm not a fan of darker stories, but this one intrigues me. I'll keep track of this one!

9659137
thanks! im gonna do my best with this one

9659194
Already off to a good start!

Hmm, an interesting start this, I'll certainly be interested to see where this leads. You know, I had expected a mirror to feature in this young one's Mark, since her Talent seems to partially revolve around granting, perspective.

9659219
first, thanks for reading, glad to see you liking my stories so often c:

second, the cutie mark was really just a flash of "oh, yeah that works perfectly", plus it's a really simple design, like a pony wouldn't know what it meant at first glance. but i do like your suggestion. if i had to wax poetic about what im thinking about now, it'd be something like:

the ponies that Harvest is going to "work with" at some point are going to be difficult. you choose to look in a mirror, but an hourglass? once that thing gets flipped there's no stopping what has to happen. and the sand, representing the horrible stuff she's going to experience through ponies, is going to sit within her for a long time.

Harvest is the hourglass. the individual chambers represent the two ponies the memories transfer to/from, but the whole thing is her. she's gonna carry that weight.

9659269

That's very well thought out, for all that it's a spur-of-the-moment kind of idea. I do love those moments, when an entire concept just drops into your head, very satisfying.

As far as mirrors go, I was contemplating something that came up in a very old fantasy book I once read. Don't remember the title, but the mirror in question was very much a tool of judgment. It worked something like the mirror of Erised from Harry Potter, only this mirror showed the absolute truth of a man, and compelled him to face it without any kind of delusion or evasion.

A fearsome creation really, self-knowledge is a terrible burden to bear. But then, condemnation isn't the purpose of this filly's Talent, so that mirror isn't entirely relevant.

Definitely an interesting kind of apprentice to Cadance. And I wonder what the affect will be of taking her into a city full of traumatised ponies - recently re-traumatised, if this is set at the current point in canon - whose abuser is not available to hurt?

I had thought going in that the main filly would be the one who suffered the trauma, but having her experience it through her magic when it happened to another filly... it's both horrifying, and satisfying (in that she possesses an ability many people probably wish they had, the ability to reveal hidden evils and fight back). I was close to tearing up a few times; it's horrific that things like this should happen to anyone, least of all children, LEAST least of all by the ones who are supposed to protect them. Even though I had to skim the description of what Harvest experienced when touching Peach Pit, the emotional power of this chapter was very strong. I am very interested to see how it continues (and grateful to hear we won't be touching on anything else QUITE so traumatic).

9660149
thank you for reading first off c:

there's something particularly satisfying about having someone who will fight for you when you can't. Harvest is going to try her best to help the helpless. this crap should never happen to children, like you said.

i absolutely know the feeling. several times after i wrote it i tried to think of how to make it easier to handle for some readers, but it's one of those things, yeah? didn't think the reader's imagination was up to the task on this one.

i absolutely promise that i will try to be as non-graphic as i can. anything i write for this story is never for the sake of being shocking or edgy, just getting across how the ponies in the story feel about their traumas.

9659991
i do think that Harvest will focus the professional part of her new job on ponies who can actually be helped in a tangible way, but there's nothing saying she won't take on a few side quests to help ponies feel better for the sake of feeling better. plus she's training to be a real therapist, crystal ponies can make an appointment anytime. c:

9660375
You're welcome! It is very well-written. ^^ And I appreciate that, writing something because it's necessary to the point of the story rather than just for shock value; and I could tell you did at least try to keep it as non-descript as possible without losing the truth of the situation's terrible nature. There was powerful bit of catharsis when she was screaming Peach's pain while beating up Olive; while I of course don't support a child beating someone's face bloody, the AGONY and absolute sense of betrayal in her words were palpable, and one can only hope that Olive's pleas were genuine and he will actually change. (He will no doubt go to jail, of course, but people CAN change, even sex offenders.) It's a painful topic and not one I normally read on, but I have to commend you for writing it well.

I've never seen this subject handled with such care on fimfic before. Add the unique but fitting take on Cadance, and this story is pushed into new territory. Color me invested.

9660781
i aim for handled with care c: i'm glad you're enjoying yourself so far. i like imagining Cadence as very emotionally smart, motherly but not obnoxiously so, pragmatic. she is allowed and expected to express herself, etc.

Very well done, I'll be following this with interest.

Btw

and this filly was dead wringer

filly was a dead ringer

9661264
glad to have you reading

and fixed, thank you c:

I normally like to have some constructive criticism to go with praise. Even it out, ya know? There really isn’t much to criticize here without really picking at little things. The characterization firmly set Cadence up without retreading what the general expectations of the fandom already know. The signature moment was visceral without being too graphic. That’s a hard line to tread. To take a tangent, it reminds me of the advertising for ‘The Happening’. If you remember back to those days, I found the advertising was more impactful than the movie itself because they cut away right before the grizzly deaths happened. In the movie itself those moments were underwhelming because it felt like they stayed on the scene too long just to get the gruesome factor up.

All in all, a very nice start to a story I will be excited to read. If I had to nitpick a thing, I’d say that the parents dilemma of sending their child far away could have been expanded on. It’s a very minor nitpick because it’s entirely a subjective opinion. They aren’t the focus of the story and I respect an author that stays focused on what the plot is and doesn’t get caught up in a hundred distracting side stories.

Heh... even my contrived nitpick turned into praise... I guess I’ll just have to end by saying kudos.

Kudos.

9664346
i took care with the description of the event, that won't change in any point in this story, though it's unlikely things will get that heavy description-wise again.

the parents will have more to say/do next chapter, before Harvest leaves, but yeah, for some reason it didn't feel right to put them in the spotlight during the first chapter, and im still debating whether or not to give them names. i think they speak to more as "Harvest's parents" than who they could be on their own.

i appreciate the compliments and the criticism, glad you're excited to read more c:

9659078
Knew I forgot something! >click<

Very well done. I thought this was a great one-shot until I read the author's note saying there would be more. More?! :raritystarry: My goodness, I can't wait to see where this goes! (It's still a great one-shot though!)

9696137
more just posted! but yes, i felt this had too much to say for just one chapter, glad you like it so far, and thanks for the follow! c:

I wonder what's up with Aura? Young'uns aren't lumbered with as many preconceptions as their elders, so sometimes their first impressions pick up on important things. Of course, sometimes they fixate on the most superficial of things as well, but overall I'd pay attention to someone who makes a child nervous for no apparent reason.

9698407
Harvest’s intimidated because she’s got a crush. she doesn’t know it so her feelings feel like “oh gosh, that filly is so pretty and im a big nerd” too many gay feelings in one little pony.

9698410

Well how adorable! I'm glad to hear that my grey-minded paranoia is unfounded. Aiet, 'tis just the way I think, expecting the worst so that I can better celebrate it's failure to show up.

You know, it occurs to me that this filly's talent will work just as well for the giving of gifts as the excising of trauma. I wonder if she could work out a way to partially repair Alzheimer's and other such memory-killing diseases? That's a touching thought, family members donating memories like one might donate a kidney or other vital organ.

9698415
i hadn’t thought of that. she’d have to train at it, i’d think, as right now she only has the talent for seeing/experiencing traumatic memories. i’m sure Cadence would be up to the task of teaching her to do more good.

i’m sure Cadence would be up to the task of teaching her to do more good.

Well I certainly hope so, regardless of how much good she does with her gift, I worry that too much exposure to the sort of memories that triggered all of this would scar her sense of empathy. Seeing too much of the worst of people, you know? There's a reason that defense attorneys have some of the highest rates of alcoholism amongst the various professions.

9698410
I didn't really pick up on this when reading, but now it makes sense. I'd probably have ended up gay too, had I been in her position.

And hopefully Lit Wick doesn't start sucking out ponies' life force along with their sorrows, lol.

9698614
i’m not a fan of the whole “abused by men so, lesbian” thing. that’s just how Harvest turned out by chance. she’ll get better eventually. but i got what you meant.

and no, Lit Wick’s good, he’s just got spooky goth powers. just wait until you see him in action.

That there’s Lit Wick.” Honey pointed to a gloomy-looking unicorn colt a little older than Harvest who was avoiding eye contact. He let out a big yawn, scratching behind his ear with his hind leg. “He’s a bit prickly ‘round new ponies. Give him a few days and he’ll be stuck on ya like his life depends on it.”

He's a pokemon reference and I love it also I ship him and moony the way to the ponyville and back

Waffle wars was amazing.

At first, Cadence had listened to what she’d had to say about Harvest.

Shouldn't this be Cherry?

secretly giving him so practice being a parental figure to an older filly

Some

Poor Moony and Papa! I have two little girls, so that really . . . ouch.

9699735
the first thing, Cadence is listening to Cherry's opinion on Harvest, to see if like she's gonna be all "she's a tiny psychopath, lock her up" or not, but i see where you thought it could've been the other way around, wording-wise

and fixed! thank you c:

Cherry's moment of horrified realization gave me chills. It felt so...real. I don't know how else to put it.

Your art is really good! Also, there's a warning label that you can use for the spoilered stuff in the description now.

Well that got intense

10022716
i know, next chapter will be a much needed cool down

I like how you're weaving in multiple subplots. It makes Harvest and her life feel more real.

You know, it occurs to me that it's probably a very bad idea to mix Harvest's talent with genuinely malevolent psychopathy.

10022856
in any case, it's sure to be interesting

Lit Wick is rocking some emo mane stuff there I see

10022937
he's based off of the pokemon, same eye color, hair style, and his fur's the color of the flame c:
assets.pokemon.com/assets/cms2/img/pokedex/full/607.png

10023080
Tbf the Pokemon is pretty emo too with the wax right there :V

10673906
yes of course, thanks for asking c: just fell behind in this story, and others of mine, what with finishing up college and finally graduating.

i’ll be sure to hop back on this one soon, glad to see people still interested

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