What happens when you logically look at Schrooge's actions?
Charles Dickens's 1843 novel: A Christmas Carol has seen countless renditions and reinvention. Each focusing more on the social and emotional impacts of the journey of Ebeneezer Scrooge from his cynical and self absorbed greed to being a happy and giving individual in the end. And from a heart felt perspective, who doesn't like seeing the moody and miserable transformed into a upbeat and kind hearted person?
But what happens if you look at the story from a more logically and rationally centered point of view?
Warning!
Story contains: OC, I know a lot of people hate OC's, but this story is one of them. (And a little shout out to another Original by FIM's very own: GentlemenJ.)
It was a cold and foggy day in the small village of Ponyville. Typically, around the time of Hearths Warming Eve, the small town would be in a frenzy of happy and colorful decorations, full of lights, ornament ridden trees and the merriest of musical delight; complete with the dancing of the young and the old. The local bakery of Sugar Cube Corner would have it's nationally acclaimed pastries litter the town, the delicious treats of chocolate and sugar bringing smiles to even the most despairing of ponies.
Love, laughter, hospitality and all things good were the very soul of what made Ponyville as well as its citizens...
Alas, economic hardship had befallen the small village this recent year. The town's apple harvest had failed to deliver it's typical bounty thanks to an unrelenting cold that had gripped the small region. It started a few years ago, but slowly and steadily became worse over time, Freezing and killing a great deal of the apple crops.
And with out the village's trademark export, very little money was pumped into the economy to stimulate the accustomed growth.
As such, the town had few lights, the streets that should have been filled with singing and warmth only held faces of sadness or indifference. Scurrying along with not but the most depressing of slow paces. Children did not dance, the trees lay bare and the music did not play. Unless on considered the low clanking of hooves on cobblestone and the low grumbles of miserable ponies "music".
And there was...
Within the heart of the small village, an old banker sat in his office while overlooking a few loan proposals from some street merchants looking to set up shop. The three candles he used as light twinkled off his dull blue eyes, his mouth contorted into a permanent sneer as he analyzed the business propositions.
Sin Scrooge, one of the few ponies in the world who didn't care much for the faux kindness of the world, convinced that all ponies were simply out for their own self interest and gain; irrespective of the consequence so long as they could get away with it. He believed that deep down, all sentient beings: whether pony, minotaur, griffin or all others, weren't really genuine in their proclaimed "kindness" and "love". An act. A bunch of well rehearsed performances where ponies would pretend to like each other to keep up appearances was all he ever saw in them. Repressing their true feelings for the sake of remaining politically correct and presentable to their friends, family and culture... and by all things did he hate such deception.
Oh Sin was no saint by any means, who else would foreclose on a newly opened bakery during a recession when the tenants would knowingly be put out onto the street because the company didn't make enough money? This guy! He felt no guilt, after all; it wasn't his fault that the pastry house couldn't make ends meet, and that's what he told them in the contract.
Unlike the many around him, he didn't lie about who he was or how he truly felt. He didn't give corny smiles to strangers trying to butter him up with conversation, he didn't nod to the failed poet looking for a hand out of food, and he certainly didn't pretend to care about the children using outdated textbooks and learning in less than ideal conditions in school. No, no he was above that. He may have been a lot of things: A cynic, a greedy banker, a tough landlord and a stifler for the rules of agreement, but he couldn't be called: Underhanded, a cur, and most importantly; a liar.
He placed his hoof atop his forehead. He hadn't lived in Ponyville long, a few years or so. His usual clientele in Trottingham, while much more pretensions and pompous, were at least respectful of his intelligence.
"Did these idiots think that just because they asked him on Hearths Warming Eve that he'd accept such ridiculous propositions? The nerve!"
He scoffed before grasping onto a stamp and slamming down a bold, red print "REJECTED" upon all three forms before throwing them in the stack to be sent to his naive assistant, Macintosh, so he could give the imbeciles the bad news. It wasn't so much that he hated the ponies who tried to pull fast ones on him, that'd be like hating a mantacore for wanting to maul and eat him, he just didn't like being scammed.
Er the attempt anyway.
"Mistah Scrooge?" A soft and deep voice called. The oaken stallion let out a sigh and looked up from his desk to find the emerald eyes of his soft spoken assistant peering at him from the door way. "May Ah have a word with ya?"
Sin took a breath and beckoned Macintosh in. He knew what this was about, he'd had this conversation every year around Hearths Warming and it would seem he'd have to have it yet again.
Side stepping the small talk, Sin skipped right to the point. "If you're about to ask for Hearths Warming off, the answer is the same as it was last year." Mac's eyes drooped almost instantly, but unlike last year, he didn't turn around after the request was outright rejected.
"Mistah Scrooge, Ah need tah take it off this time." He said, his voice uncharacteristically unwavering.
Sin looked up with a quirked brow, Macintosh had worked under him from the time he'd bought this shill of a building. Helping him restore it and make it into a presentable banking operation of loans and interest. With as mild mannered as the red pony had always been, the stand he made here was pretty remarkable to say the least.
"And why is that?"
"It's mah sister, Applebloom." Mac replied, his face softening to one of the most disparaging looks the manager had ever seen, and that was coming from a pony who'd heard almost every sob story in the world. "Sh-" he took a breath to steady his shaking voice. "Th- the doctor's say this migh' be her last Hearth's Warmin' with us, on account o' her condition."
Oh yes, he did say that his younger sister had some kind of sickness. Never really went into too much detail on it though.
"You think that's my concern?" Sin asked motioning to the "OUT" labeled file holder for his assistant to take.
"No, sir. Ah was jest hopin' ya'd let me have the next few days off is all."
Sin dropped the two pieces of paper he was holding, his face frozen in shock and his eyes locked on red pony's own. Two days off? TWO, in a row?!
"At this time of year? I'm afraid that such a request is unthinkable." He said shaking his head and going back to his papers. This was defiantly new, but he had other matters to attend to. He wanted to get these last few loan applications reviewed before heading home for the night.
"That wasn't a request."
Sin had to stop from outwardly flinching, he looked up to see the eyes of a stallion who's mind was dead set on a decision made. He'd seen the look a few times in his life, the look that spoke of a pony's will and their steel. It was a key trait the banker sought when deciding on if giving a loan was a good idea or not, and his gut had never let him wrong in deciding yes.
As naive and young as Sin thought the Apple, he was a hard worker and one of the few whom he'd never heard a complaint from. Mix that with the fact the only mistakes he'd ever made were early and understandable and the long hours he'd always put in and you had yourself a pony worth keeping around.
Deciding to buildup the tension a bit, Sin put a hoof to his chin before nodding and granting the request. It was, after all, still his business and his decisions on who was on his staff. While he did feel some what bad for Mac and genuinely hoped he'd give his sister's last Hearth's Warming one to remember before her passing, his decision was purely in the interest of keeping a good employee.
"You know-" he started wistfully. "In all the time I've known you, this is the first time you've ever made a demand of me." Mac gulped, but remained steadfast. "Years you've done as I've asked and kept up with your work, late into the early hours of the morning if need be, even if it was with out pay. I suppose it would be who of me to give you a few days off with your family."
Almost instantaneously, the stallions calm demeanor lit up into a smile like a child who'd just opened up their Hearths Warming presents. "Thank ya, Mistah Scrooge."
"Don't get too excited." The business pony interjected, killing the serine mood. "This will be a one time thing. Now, please file those documents for tomorr-" He paused and corrected. "Monday's meeting with Mr. Thunderlane. After that, call it a night."
With a choras of repeated "thank you's" the cheerier stallion took the papers and made way back to his desk.
Well, it may have cost him an entire day of productivity, but at least that ordeal was over and done with. No appointments were scheduled for the rest of the night, and aside from going through the books for the evening Sin had only one thing left to do for the day. It was the one thing that made dealing with the liars of the world worth it, to endure their insufferable fake smiles and forced kind tones. It was always done at the end of the day to give him at least something to look forward to: counting the money in the register.
That was, until the towns charity drive burst into his doorway with a jolly "Hahaha!" His day of torment had yet to end it appeared.
"Good afternoon, Mister Scrooge!" Sang a pristine alabaster mare with long, curly, royal purple locks falling freely to her shoulders. Rarity, the town's generous beauty, was accompanied by her little sister who oft helped with the mare's "compassionate" work. A small filly who oozed holiday cheer and smiles that made the banker want to slam his head into the desk repeatedly.
Sin had grown to despise charity drives, as if it wasn't enough they'd taken the money he'd loaned them, pissed it all away on ridiculous ventures that he loaned them soley due to his impaired judgement because of a bottle of imported vodka on Thanksgiving last year, thus effectively destroying both their credit and drowning them in debt, but then they ask for more through the middle mare before him? To give her money so she may give it to the very ponies who'd taken advantage of him?
Pft, Screw that!
"Happy Hearth's Warming, Mister Scrooge!" Sweetie chirped with enough sweetness to induce a diabetic coma.
Sin regarded the two for a moment, his mind drifting a bit. 'Speaking of Vodka, don't I still have a little left in the drawer? Yes, I think I do, might be a decent holiday after all. Wait, what were these two- oh yea."
"Hearth's Warming," He chuckled mirthlessly, his cynical stance on the holiday was no secret, and that's the way he liked it. "So, I assume there's a reason for your visit besides pointing out the upcoming holiday?"
Rarity chuckled. "Why yes, yes there is dear." Here it comes. "We've stopped by to see if you'd like to offer any donations to this years Festival of Love." Is that what they're calling it now? Wow...
His stance may have changed for Mac this year as opposed to last, but no such luck would be given to Rarity or her silly pan handling. "Harvest of Love? Hmph," He went back to his papers. "Quite the emotional play on words there, Miss. Rarity."
"That would be Misses Rarity." She corrected, condescension lining her words.
Moving some paper's to ease the growing stress, Sin dismissed the charity organizer with a shrug. "Irrelevant, my answer is still no."
That was that, the banker knew what would come next: A scoff of indignation, an eye roll and the ever popular and self righteous talking behind his back. First came the scoff and then the eye roll, that was enough for his inner self to smirk.
'You'd think she'd change up the show every once in a while.'
The back talking had to wait though as yet another pony burst into his office. "Happy Hearth's Warming uncle Scrooge!" Bellowed the jolly dark grey earth pony. Sin stopped himself from groaning at his nephew's less than tactful entrance
'Oh joy, and the problems just keep on coming.' What made the stallion's coming even worse was the fact Sin had explicitly told Neo two weeks ago that he had no plans on attending his annual family gathering. It wasn't that he hated his family, it was just he had no interest in talking to them. Why couldn't the bloody idiot see that already?!
Never the less, this was a place of professionalism and as such, he greeted his nephew with the most polite of hellos he could manage. Which landed some where between a cat hissing and a mantacor grumbling.
The happy stallion ignored the restrained tone and wondered in to give his uncle a hug. "It's good to see you, again. Having a good Eve are you?"
Sin quickly pushed the well built pony away and dusted himself off. He didn't bother with any more pleasantries and went straight to the point of telling his kin that he still had no plans of attending his party. "Ok, what's the excuse this time?"
"Lack of interest."
Neo chuckled deeply. "Same ol' uncle Scrooge... Oh, good evening Misses Rarity." Neo took a bow, acknowledging the other bodies in the room. "I'm glad to here old Graves finally tied the knot."
"Oh thank you, darling." She accepted gracefully. "I'm so happy he finally proposed, I couldn't believe the way he proposed, it was a-"
And that's all Scrooge cared to hear before harshly clearing his throat and requesting the two to please take their conversation outside of his business. Neo, suddenly remembering why he came, was about to remake the offer but Sin cut him off. "No, I don't want to go to your house for Hearth's Warming and no," he turned his attention to Rarity," I don't want to donate any money to the parasites of society. Now, good night to you both."
And with that, the two considered arguing but thought better of it. With dejected sighs the two ponies and single filly slowly left his office and closed the door behind them.
Going back to his work, Sin couldn't help but overhear the voices from the other side of his door. "Hey Rarity? Why does Mr. Scrooge hate everypony?"
"Oh Sweetie Bell, some ponies are, how do I put it, just not as nice as the rest..." The voices trailed off there, and Sin couldn't be happier about it. He was quite through with distraction for one day and was almost done with the paper work. After this, the night would be all smooth sailing from here. He might even buy a carrot to eat with his porridge for tonight.
"Mr. Scrooge?" Sin's face immediately fell to his desk in utter frustration. There just had to be one more thing didn't there? Always that one last thing to add when he wanted a day to be over with. Every. Freaking. Time.
"Ah'm finished with mah work and am headin' home."
"Very well." Sin took a breath. "I'll see you on Monday, and be prepared to make up for the time you've lost." Macintosh nodded furiously and left with his last words of gratification for the day.
Sin immediately dashed for the front door, turned the opened sign to "closed", locked the dead bolt and shut the drapes.
'Finally.' He thought as he turned his eyes to he cash register. His scowl softening to a gaze of desire with every step. The register opened, accompanied by his favorite sound in the world, cha ching. He looked upon the copious bits of gold inside. Today wasn't the best day his business had ever had, but that didn't concern him. New money was new money, and if there was only on thing he valued on this earth, it was money.
Emptying out the register into a coin purse, he brought the bag to his back desk and set it gently upon the spruce surface. His hoof slowly drew open the drawer and retrieved the clear bottle from it's confines. The stallion smiled, as he observed the amount within. It wouldn't get him plastered, but it would certainly be enough to get him where he wanted to be.
The first few shots all but erasing the past hour of his life, the banking pony started to count his money, placing the coins in to neat little towers for tally.
His body felt tingly, and his mind a fuzzy kind of pleasant.Sin's typically stone cold face was now almost a light with the love of his life being placed in high stacks in front of him. He wasn't sure when he'd fallen in love with money, or placed its value even above that of his own health, but something about the shimmering and shining of gold just made him feel all warm inside. Or maybe that was the alcohol, hard to say at this point.
Just as he was about to place the final coin atop the largest tower he'd made, the bit slipped from his hoof and went tumbling off his desk to the floor below.
"Dammit." He cursed, lowering himself to the floor and reaching for the bit. In retrospect, perhaps having a huge desk that weighed five times as much as he did wasn't the greatest idea in the world. The elusive coin had, to his chagrin, rolled underneath the monolith with the clear ringing of it falling to its side. Never one to let a single bit go to waste, Sin quickly deconstructed the towers and pushed with all his might to make the desk move until he found the precious little bit of currency on the floor.
Suddenly his breath caught in his throat and the startled pony recoiled in shock. There, beneath his desk were crudely drawn red marking of bit signs perfectly circling the coin, each linked together like some kind of chain, with four lines reaching straight for the middle.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again to find the markings gone.
'Wow, I must be more drunk than I thought.' he chuckled before quickly picking up his money, sticking it inside his coin purse moving back his desk. After that, he proceeded to place all of his earnings for the day into the walk in vault in the back and close down the bank. Money counted, safe's locked, key's in his bag and he was ready to stagger home for the night.
The air was cool and the snow crunched loudly beneath his hooves. He turned to admire his the small building for a moment. It wasn't anything special, aside from the slightly darker color scheme and more economical plainness. While the rest of the small town was customized and expressive, his business was a simple rectangular box. Boring, efficient, safe and cheap. Just like he wanted it.
He turned away from his company and heard a small clanking in his bag. He opened it up to find the bit from before had yet to be put in the vault! But instead of reopening the building and the safe, the stallion simply decided to spend the money on that carrot he was thinking about earlier. Porridge was fine and all, but maybe he could allow himself a vegetable just this once.
Quickly making way for the market place, he found only one of the vendors still open. At first he cursed his luck, but was happily surprised to see the keep sold vegetables. With the sudden wind assaulting his naked form, Sin quickly made way through the snow and sought to conduct commerce.
"Evening, Mr. Scrooge." Said the shop keeper. His face hidden behind a pulled down hat and scarf. "What can I interest you in?"
A darker lilac was certainly common enough a coat color, Sin couldn't say he'd ever seen the pony around before. Still something was oddly familiar about him. He found the precarious little vendors cart to hold just the prize he sought and offered to buy one of the biggest carrots he'd ever seen.
The shop keep chuckled and agreed, handing over the orange root and taking the single bit payment. "Hmmm," he mused aloud, calling Sin's interest. "This is a strange bit."
Sin quirked a brow and took a closer look. The coin while having the correct heads, had a distinctly different tails than any he'd ever seen. Instead of the Sun and moon over seeing the Canterlot Castle, it was of a bunch of bit symbols circling around the center on the outer edge. That must have been what gave him that hallucination from before, just a trick of the light.
"Quite," He agreed, pocketing his soon to be side. "Thank you, my good sir, but I'd best be on my way."
"Of course, thank you for your patronage..." The stallion slowly lifted his head, revealing large, green, serpentine eyes. "Partner."
Scrooge stood awestruck, those eyes. Those eyes looked just like...
"Something wrong, sir?"
He looked again to find the pony's eyes hidden by his hat again, his smirk never fading.
"Y- Yes, everything is... fine. Thank you." He slowly walked away, checking behind him to see the vendor one last time before turning the corner. It must have been the alcohol, no pony -aside from batponies- held serpentine eyes. He was just seeing this is all, that had to be it; nothing a good night's sleep couldn't shake off.
Scrooge stumbled up the short, stone stairs up to his danky and run down little house. He didn't need much, no point in wasting money on fixing a building he didn't see as broken.
Staggering in and locking the door behind him, the half drunken stallion took a breath and looked around his home. The curtains lay with multiple tares against the aged and chipped walls with a cracked floorboards strewn about and a small table that looked ready to crumble at any moment standing before a comically heightened chair in front of the fire place.
Feeling relived to be home, Sin wondered over to the kitchen, retrieved a bag of oats from the pantry and began making his porridge for the evening. Poring the water he'd gathered from the winter precipitation, the concoction of "nourishment" finally came to edibility and he quickly brought over the bowl to the rickety table and set it down to cool.
All through out the meal, Scrooge constantly cursed the small draft that carried through the livingroom. It was particularly bad this night, even offering a small wisp of noise to accompany the cold gust that assaulted his coat.
As he took the first sip, the warmth of the soup gave instant relief to the cold. Finally, he relaxed a bit and gave up fighting on thinking about the shop keep he'd seen. Those eyes, he knew those eyes, and to call him partner? How could such a coincidence be possible? But that had to be all it was, right? That and the alcohol. Marley hated the holidays just as much as he did, so thinking about his late partner in the banking industry was only natural.
He finished the stew quickly and grumbled as he made way for his bedroom. The clock in the living room struck, making him jump lightly, for twelve clear and powerful dings.
'Midnight, already?' Wow, he must have been at the office longer than he thought. Time flies when you're having fun, I suppose.
He donned his night wear apparel and took in his tattered and run down four corner post bead. The once lustrous darkened wood had long lost it's shine with small chips missing from the frame. The ripped and torn sheets faired little better, making the effort of pulling them on all but a useless gesture in terms of trapping body heat. Still, the stallion managed.
As Scrooge nestled into bed and laid his tired and drunken head to sleep, a small thought crept into his mind that gave him a small smile. He may have been cold, but that pony he bought the carrot from was in a worse predicament.
'Yea, I may have a it a bit bad, but at least I'm not out selling vegitation at Twelve in... the... morning.' It didn't really dawn until just now how uncharacteristic it was to find a stall open so late. Yes, venders were known to keep shop as late as 8'oclock, but midnight? That was more than just abnormal.
Crash, Sin bolted up and looked to left corner of the room. "What in Tartarus?" He complained as he stood from his bed and made way to the commotion. He froze as his eyes fell upon the small and shattered ceramic pot, pieces of white and dark blue scattered from the more intact hunk in the corner.
"What?" He asked tilting his head and taking a cautious step closer.
'I don't remember ever having a tea pot like this."
A sudden, matalic slinking suddenly caught the stallion's attention with a gasp. It was quick, like a sudden falling of chain from down stairs. Someone was in his house.
Quickly, Sin darted to the other side of his bead and took up a small crossbow he'd aquired for just such an occasion. All the money in the world wouldn't do him any good if some lowlife could just waltz right in and take it, right?
He cautiosly pushed the door to his room open and peered into the stairway outside. He couldn't make out anything other than the darkened hallways and floor boreds. He tiptoed out of the room and down the way to inspect the restroom and then the closet before going down stairs. With very step he took, a small, tingling sensation in his back of his shoulders grew, radiating to a sickly feeling in his stomach. He wasn't sure why, but what ever the feeling was, he knew it wasn't good. Like looking upon two trains about to collide full force, killing hundreds of passengers on board! Or worse, watching a bit go into a storm drain.
He continued to inspect the down stairs, being as methodical as possible with his search. Every rug went over turned, every cubored opened, and ever pan closet went over with a fine toothed comb. Still, he couldn't find anything.
'hmm, must have been the draft.' He supposed, the uneasy feeling in his back subsiding a little.
It came back in full force as he heard a distingishing, metal thud from behind him. He jolted around and held his crossbow at the ready. Another thud, he looked to the stairs. "Show yourself!" Another thud, this one getting closer.
Sin took a breath and steadied his arm, another thud, this one right in front of him. A glint of moonlight caught the small object as it bounced down the stairs and landed at his feet, causing the stallion too look in skeptical bewilderment. A bit?
Indeed it was! A free bit delivering itself just for him! Sin's greed instantly superceeded his fear and he went to pick up the coin. "Hello, my friend." He smiled happily, the empty joy of materialism taking him. "Where have you been hiding?" 'probably stuck in the top stair, maybe if I rattle around more, more money will come out!' It was a neat idea, while he was very careful with his bits, even he has let a few slip from his grip from time to time.
He inspected the golden marvel for a moment then suddenly dropped it in horror and recoild. There, on the tails side was the abnormal chain of bit signs!
"Where are you?" Sin spat, his eyes shooting about wildly, "Oh I see, like to play terrorize the old stallion, eh? Heh, alright; let's see what you've got."
Silence. Scrooge licked his lips, his heaving chest some how gaining less oxygen than if he was breathing normally. Looks like all those years of smoking in primary school were finally catching up with him.
A sudden whisper caused Sin's ear to twitch. He strained his ears for it again, it wasn't the wind, it was a word.
There it was again, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Closing his eyes and putting his ears on overdrive, the stallion took a breath and waited. And waited, and waited, but nothing came.
Finally he let out a sigh, he was tired. He was tired, still a bit drunk and hearing small whispers from a draft. That was it. He didn't remember the tea pot, but he had plenty of things he didn't remember having. The bit was probably knocked loose from top stair and the clanking and whispering were probably just the draft knocking some things over.
Sin chuckled at his own stupidity and slowly opened his eyes. His smile faded instantly, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates while his pupils and retinas constricted.
"Boo."
He jumped backwards and toppled onto the table, smashing it under his weight. There, slightly greyer than he remembered, translucent, and wrapped in dark chains stood his late dragon partner from years ago.
Sin was in shock and terror, both in the matter of seeing a long dead friend and the fact he was a... No, no enough of this. He's not a ghost, this is just a bad hallucination! Curse that vendor, he must have laced the carrot with something! Yea, that's why this was happening! It's all just a really bad trip, or a bad dream.
"Hey Sin... You alright?" Marley asked, peaking over.
Scrooge took a breath and righted himself. "Yes, I uh... I'm fine." he lied, pushing himself upright. Now he was that he was convinced it was a dream, he decided to play along. He hadn't spoken to Marley in years! Might as well see what the old bastard was up to.
"You could have just knocked at the door, you know."
This response confused the drake for a moment. "Knocked at the door? I'm a ghost, dude."
Sin scoffed and chuckled. "Yes, yes you are. A ghost in my dreams." Taking in the sight of his old partner again filled the pony with a bit of nostalgia. Marley had been the only being in the world who'd ever understood him worth a lick. Aside from the lighter grey tint, the dragon looked just like the last time the two spoke. Tall and lanky with spines slicked back going down all the way to the tip of his tail. Any doubt that it was a ghost was relieved the moment Sin realized the bolt from his bow had accidentally discharged and lay on the wall directly behind the spirit.
Marley crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Oh c'mon, you think this is a dream?" Sin gave his friend a dead pan before going through the notes of improbability that ghosts were real. "Alright," the dragon smirked, exposing his claws. "If this were a dream, than you wouldn't feel this!" He launched at his friend, striking his face with a single claw.
"Ouch! Why the living- ouch?" Scrooge repeated as he rubbed his hoof upon his face, realization suddenly dawning. You're not supposed to feel pain in dreams... which meant...
"No..." Sin took a step back. "No, this can't be... you can't be-"
"Oh yea," Marley smirked, nodding his head.
Sin went over the options in his head, cognitive dissonance kicking into overdrive. Ghost weren't real, but here one stood before him, of his old partner no less! How is that possible? Spirits actually exist? No, spirits do exist! Well, there is still the possibility of the carrot being laced with something. No, he'd be staggering around ready to throw up by now if it was powerful enough to give this kind of a bad hallucination.
Alright, what to do... Option A) Run like hell. Option B) Shrug and go back to bed and Option C) See what he wanted. The first one sounded like the best, but if the ghost chased him down, then what? He tried shooting it with a cross bow and that went right through him! And Marley had displayed he was more than capable of doing harm to the living. B would probably end the same way. Guess the only course of action was to see what he wanted.
Sin tried to speak as casually as possible, but stuttering and pauses were anything but irrelevant to one such as Marley. The old bastard was a shark when it came to gauging confidence, he knew just how to exploit and put pressure if he sensed a weak will.
"Sound off like you've got a pair!" Spike barked, making Sin jump.
"Whatdoyouwantfromme?!"
"That's better," Smiling, the dragon nodded before his smirk faded, donning a deeper and more serious expression. "I've come to warn you about the fate that awaits should you continue of the path of greed you've chosen." Sin nodded in understanding.
Marley slowly wrapped his claws around the chains that bound his body. "These, Scrooge, are the chains of my own greed. Forever binding me to this earth for the rest of eternity, a due punishment for a lifetime of unsatisfiable want and claim." He pulled the chains forward and pulled a safe, easily three times the size of Sin, screeching across the floor. "Forever and all time," he paused, the dragon's manner suddenly turning to despair. "I shall carry this burden I made for myself in life."
"Why?"
Spike's mouth gaped, as if he'd just heard the stupidest thing in the world. "What do you mean: why? Because I was a greedy bastard, that's why!"
"Yea, you said that, but why do you have to carry those chains?" Sin asked slowly. "Basically, I'm asking who forced you to do it?"
Spike was about to answer but lost his voice at the last moment. His face scrunched up in thoughtful determination as he put his claw to his chin. After a few minutes to think the answer over, he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, "you know, I'm not really sure how this happened."
Sin furrowed his brow "Well, did you speak to a higher power?"
"Naw, I just got a note."
Sin quirked a brow. "A note?"
"Yea, it pretty much said what I just told you." Marley shrugged, his chains rattling a bit.
Sin frowned in attempted comprehension. "Well, that seems a tad rude. You get sentenced to eternity in chains and all you get is a note about it?"
"I know, right!" Marley exclaimed, happy to finally be understood. "I was a little frustrated for the first few months but after that, the world just kinda went numb, ya know?"
Sin nodded in empathy, could one empathize with a ghost? "Yea, so there's a spirit after all, huh? Weird, I thought we all just lost our consciousness." He paused an thought for a moment. "Wait, does that mean ponies also go to Tartarus too?"
"Ooooh yea." The drake nodded matter of factly.
Sin held out his hoof. "Hold on, this is what I have to look forward to when I die, right? Just being shackled in chains and numb for the rest of eternity?"
"If you don't change your ways." Marley nodded again.
Letting a huge sigh of relief go, Sin thanked Celestia for his luck. When he caught the questioning look of the specter before him, he explained why such a fate was actually a far cry from what he'd feared. "Tartarus is full of burning souls. The worst I'll have is wondering the earth with chains and feeling numb! C'mon, that's an easy choice!"
Marley thought about that for a moment. Yea, his consciousness in it's current form wasn't exactly fulfilling or happy, but at least he wasn't burning for eternity. Suddenly he smacked his claw to his face. "Gah, that's not the point! You're supposed to strive for something better than this!"
Considering the option for a moment, Sin shrugged and inquired about the alternatives and what was necessary to get them. To this Marley also found himself at a loss, literally he knew nothing other than what fate he'd been stuck with and witnessing the souls of other ponies being taken to Tartarus. That was it.
"So... you don't even know if there is a better place?" From the evidence presented, anecdotal though it may be, it seemed there were only two known options to choose from. And the decision wasn't a hard one.
"Alright, you know what? That isn't even the point. I've come here to warn you that you'll be haunted by three spirits tonight."
"Are they all as illogical as you?"
Spike dead panned. "Yea, I'm gonna go now."
"Aw come on Marley, don't get your chains in a knot." Sin withheld the urge to laugh at his own joke, and approached his friend. "I mean, is it really that bad? You could be burning in eternal damnation right now, left to suffer in fire for the rest of existence; for Celestia's sake! Instead, you get to wonder the earth forever and observe the future of the pony race and be undisturbed during the process!"
"Knowing you, that sounds like your paradise, not punishment."
Marley looked back at his friend with contempt. "You think I enjoy this? My drive and thirst for knowledge died with me, Scrooge! I don't want to learn or gain wisdom anymore you fool!" He roared.
Sin took a step back from the sudden and angry out lash. Had death truly changed Marley that much? As long as he'd known the dragon, money and knowledge were the only things that ever mattered to him, and here he could have an eternity of both! Why wasn't he happy? "All I want to do now is rest in peace." He tugged at his chain, "and spare you from the same fate I suffer through."
Sin didn't know what to say. It did pain him to see his friend like this, but the torture made no sense! Marley never hurt anypony, he'd never stolen and since when did a pony wanting to keep what they've earned become a crime anyway? The dragon had done nothing to deserve this kind of suffering.
The clock bell tolled again, one 1'oclock.
With a heavy sigh, Marley spoke again. "My time with you is done, old friend." He turned, offering one last sad smile. "I hope you take heart to what the future has to show."
And with that, the apparition slowly faded until he'd completely vanished, leaving Scrooge standing alone in his living room with not but the ticking of his old clock for company. Questions swimmed through his mind, what had Marley done to deserve this fate? Was there alternatives to that or Tartarus? Who was the one who bestowed such misery, and most importantly, what was it that the one who sent him thought he needed to change and why?
In hind sight, perhaps it would have been better to ask as to why his greed was bad instead of about the chains, all well. If his guess was right, he'd have plenty more ghosts to talk to about it.
Scrooge sat upon his chair, gazing blankly to the now broken table before him with only a few flickering candles fighting to give light and warmth to the decrepit building while his mind attempted to process what he'd just experienced.
'Was that really Marley? Was that truly his deceased partner in the banking game? How could such a thing be? If ghost were real, why wait so long to expose themselves and seek assistance? And if it was true, if ghosts were real and did take up such a cursed existence as his own, why? Who could bestow such pain? What gave them the right or authority?
His thoughts were broken with a start by the dinging of his grandfather clock.
Taking a breath to calm his mind, the stallion pressed his lips. One o'clock. Time to see if the threat was real or if the carrot really was just laced with drugs.
The candles to this right went out, drawing the stallion's attention.
He studied the fire holders carefully before the farthest on on the left suddenly came to life once again, but the flame was different this time, brighter than before. Not long after another relight, and another then the final two. But their light was different this time, brighter, more inviting. Gingerly, the stallion lifted his hoof and moved it closer to the flames.
His hoof was immersed in a tranquil bliss as it sat a mere inch from the candle. The dull ache he'd had in it for years was all but gone, banished by the light of the fire.
'What a comforting light.' Scrooge smiled, placing his other hoof up to it as well. Something so soothing couldn't possibly be dangerous. Well, that was the thought he had right before a crash from his fire place.
"Ah man," The figure complained, rubbing her head and getting to her hooves. "The guy who owns this place needs to clean out his chimney. Ugh, I hate soot!"
"Then perhaps you should have used the door." Sin stated matter of factly, his nerves calmed from the light of the candle. He should have been scared, after all, there was someone else in his house again and down his chimney no less, but dammit if the candle light wasn't just the greatest thing he'd ever felt!
Cleaning the blackening taint from her form, Scrooge took in the translucent, rainbow maned, cyan coated pony before him. Unlike Marley, she didn't bare any chains or a look of sorrow, instead she held a field of arrogance, annoyance and superiority.
"Bite me." She growled, dusting off her foreleg. "So anyway-" the mare continued, her lips twisting into a confident smirk, "I'm the ghost of Hearth's Warming's past, and I'm here to show you your past." She said, placing a hoof upon her puffed out chest.
After a few awkward moments of silence, the specter opened her eyes scoffed. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"
"Huh?" Scrooge tore his attention from the candles, "oh, maybe later." Sweet Celestia, these candles were better than sex!
To his dismay, however, the light and soothing warmth were quickly blown out by the ghost who had, in that moment, become his sworn enemy for all time.
"No, we're doing this now!" She griped his hoof tightly in hers, "right now."
Attempting to pull his hoof away and smack her silly for her crime, Scrooge lost all sense of balance as the world around him suddenly began to spin.
Fighting off the sickly feeling in his stomach, the stallion shook his head and immediately reached for where the spirit was. Failing to hit home, he took a moment to regain his barrings and lost is anger to shock. Some how, he was now outside!
"The demon king?" He gasped, looking around to the new, snow covered surroundings. At first he thought he was outside his home, but the pony quickly found out that not to be the case. But, he was somewhere familiar.
Though the surroundings may have changed, the dull and grey tint the wold had did not. He looked in awe of the large and imposing building in front of him, then to the mediocre court yard to his left, holding naught but a single statue of a standing mare with a content and loving face to any who passed by and finally behind him to the lonely and winding snow covered road that lead back to the only town for miles... How long had it been since he'd been here?
'I know this place.' He thought, walking to the court yard to find the entrance to the building. 'This was my old boarding school that I was sent to.' The place he was banished to when his father had thrown him out of the family home. Gemini never told his son why he had forsaken him but Scrooge knew. His sister, Fanny, had told him that their mother had died in childbirth and father held an underlying resentment for him ever since.
"But why did she bring me here?"
"I brought you here so that you could see." Said the ghost, apparently right beside him now. Her eyes betraying none of her emotion. "To see the past that made you the stallion you are tod- OUCH!" She rubbed her now throbbing scalp. "What the hay?!"
Sin rubbed his stinging, yet satisfied hoof. "That was for blowing out my candles."
Her eyes narrowed, "why you little-" The specter growled.
"Anyway, why did you bring me here?" Scrooge cut her off, his attention returning to the front door.
"As I was saying," she seethed, a grudge quickly forming, "we're here to see what made you the stallion you've become today."
The pony pondered for a bit, he didn't really remember too much of the school. Yea, he'd gone here for a few years, didn't have many friends, pretty good scores on grades and hated the dorm rooms, but nothing all that significant or different from the other colts.
The ghost phased through the door and beckoned the stallion to follow. Uncertain about passing through a solid frame, Scrooge hesitated for a moment before the rainbow maned apparition reached out and forcefully pulled him in.
After a few choice words of her assertiveness, she lead the way through the empty white halls until the two came to a classroom. Sin was shocked at what he saw... There, sitting by the window with a far off stare, sat himself, just himself. Younger, much younger, but still him. School uniform and everything.
The oaken pony held his stone face, but that didn't stop the small bits of his passed from forcing themselves to the forefront of his mind. Memories that he'd repressed after they'd served to fuel his endeavors in years past put a terrifying weight into Scrooge's stomach, and sent his nerves into a freezing buzz. He didn't want to remember what happened here, the the time and reasons for his stay were all linked to the feelings of rejection and pain.
"You remember, right?" Asked the ghost, her attitude turned sage again. "How alone you used to feel here during Hearth's Warming?"
Scrooge nodded, his past memories moving from small doses to washing over him like a tidal wave. "Yes, the other colts all had families to go home to over the holiday while I was stuck here. Alone." He took a breath to calm his nerves. "I already know this."
"Think it might have an some impact on why you're such a miserable old mule?" She asked with complete sincerity. It was almost amazing that such a question could be asked without a trace of smug sarcasm, actually.
All the same, the stallion had to refrain from the emotions trying to consume him with a shrug. "Gee, I don't know. My family disowned me and left me to a boarding school for an event that I had no control over; thus sentencing me to a loveless existence from the age of five to fourteen where I had spent Hearth's Warming Eve and day alone while the entire school had vacated to be with families who wanted them." His words dripped with both venom and sarcasm. "It's a freaking mystery if this might have impacted who I am today."
Holding back the urge to shout, the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Past forced herself to smile. "Yes." She said through clenched teeth. "But don't you also remember? This is the Hearth's Warming you got to return home."
As if she controlled the landscape, a lavender mare walked right through both of them. "Sin?" She called. The stallion at the window looked back at her with a mask of sadness, until he saw who it was. Suddenly his eyes lit up and his mouth bore one of the happiness and most genuine smile of his time.
"Fanny?" The memory scrooge asked.
The mare nodded, her dark purple bangs bobbing over he kind and compassionate eyes for just a moment. "Yes, brother. I-" Tears began to form as she took forth hand embraced him. "I've come to bring you home, at last."
Scrooge scoffed and shook his head at his youth's extacy. His self righteousness in knowledge overpowering his emotions.
He remembered this day, the day he was finally allowed to return home. Finally get to see that piece of work father of his again. Back then, he was full of joy and happiness about the fact. After all, a child being tossed from his home was one of the most traumatic and painful things they could ever experience, yet at that moment, it was like he didn't even care about the crime.
Foolish child.
"Wait, father wants me home?" The memory continued.
Fanny broke the embrace and nodded, her smile never faltering. "Yes, Sin, he's come to see the error of disowning you and demands you home at once!" She beamed.
Now it was his turn for tears. "He... he wants me back? You mean it?"
'Oh yea, he wants you back. Those nine years of him not giving a flying feather about you, where you could have rotted in the street for all he cared? Yea, we'll pretend those never happened. Dumbass.'
And with that, the two walked out of the room. Joy and redemption radiating off them until they were out of sight, leaving only the specter and the present day in time.
For some reason, Scrooge felt a deep warmth inside himself. A kind of warmth that rivaled the candle light from before, with just as much mystery. Though this one he wasn't as fond of.
The memory, the memory was what made him feel this way. His innocence, the joy in his eyes, the nostalgia, his sister. All of it, and none had a right.
He was foolish and ignorant back then, that was no cause for good feelings. Nor the nostalgia of being kept in that cold and loveless hell, nor the joy he felt for finally gaining the privilege of going home. His father bucking abandon him! Why was he so happy to go back? Ignorance and lack of logical comprehension, that's why. The same reason he felt the warmth inside he did now.
A swing of extreme emotional appeals, that was the specter's game.
"By the look on your face, I'm guessing this didn't have the effect I was hoping for." Said the ghost mare, placing a hoof to her chin. "Whatever, I've got something more awesome in mind!"
"What effect were you hoping for?" Scrooge asked calmly. As annoyed as he was with his past's self's foolishness, he was becoming very curious as to why he was being put through all of this.
"Well, you know. Warming your heart and letting your guard down through seeing one of the most bitter sweet moments of your past."
Scrooge furrowed his brow again, attempting to process the logic. "So wait, let me get this straight. You want me to 'open up' by exploiting my emotions and showing my past self being an idiot by going back to a stallion who'd thrown me out of my home for nine impressionable years, and having my sister come and retrieve me on his demand and convenience?"
The specter pressed her lips and shuffled from side to side nervously. "Well, when you put it like that... But that isn't all that happened, after that nine years, this was the first time you were really happy. Look, I'm not good with all this mushy stuff, but it looks to me like you were happy to leave with a mare who cared about you. Besides, you'd have to forgive your father at some point, right?"
"Fanny was a good sister." Scrooge agreed. "A truly kind and compassionate mare, I'll give you that. But my father will never have my forgiveness. What kind of monster throws his own child out when they aren't even old enough to figure out how to make money to survive?"
The ghost sighed. "The only one you're hurting with this grudge is yourself."
"And that's my choice." Sin countered.
Accepting the failure this memory turned out to be, the apparition sighed and waved her hoof, causing the world to spin once more.
Once Scrooge found his baring he immediately took in his surroundings. Though shocking, he felt an uncomfortable sense of ease and uplift from the warm and lively and well lit oaken tavern around him. He looked around and marveled at the familiarity of the many decorations and the faces he hadn't seen for years. There, Thornberry was having a drink with Vonderbuilt! Two of his apprentice predecessors under his master (figuratively speaking) the ever jolly, Fezzwig.
Ahh, a happy memory that even he couldn't deny. But the stallion kept on his guard, he knew the spirit's game now and did his best to psychologically solidify himself. This was the celebration of Hearths warming many years ago when Scrooge was just about to finish his merchant apprenticeship. Everypony was here, Thornberry, Windmane, Fezzwig, Valentine, and even Marley.
"This was your first moment of true happiness after you left the school." The spirit proclaimed, now standing next to him again.
Scrooge nodded, eyeing her skeptically. "Quite."
After a few moments without a word, Fezzwig called for a toast, the joyous laughter and smiling atmosphere dying down to hear what the portly stallion had to say. Clearing his throat, the merchant pushed back his graying main to reveal purple eyes that contrasted heavily to his yellow coat.
"May I have tension please?" The old pony stuttered.
Both Scrooges, past and present, snickered to the jolly and foppish nature. What could he say? Sin always admired his mentor's business ethic and light hearted mannerisms, and time hadn't made such feelings any less genuine. Sure he may have lost out on profit due to his affection and love for his staff, but he'd never met a pony so happy and honest as the master he'd once received tootalige from.
After a few rude, though friendly, cheers from the tavern, the merchant proposed his toast. "To my apprentices Scrooge and Marley." He looked down at the pony and drake with pride. "One with the greatest talent for the art of talk I've ever born witness to and the other for his attention to detail and efficiency."
The tavern went into an uproar of congratulations and agreement. Of course it would, there were all friends and family of Fezzwig; the kindest merchant to ever grace Canterlot.
"When I first met Scrooge, he was but a young colt..." As the pony went into a few more details and accomplishments of his apprentices, Sin's heart began to grow heavy as he took in his former self and the life he once had.
The kind and gentle smile he used to have, his open and friendly demeanor, the plans of marriage, children and a happy life he once held so close to his heart. All of the memories from his past came back again, quickly linked with the guilt that he never wanted to admit to.
Sin's eyes soon found the ground as he contemplated how it was that he became the angry and cynical husk he was today when in his youth he was so full of warmth and potential.
Perhaps his past was something worth reconsidering afterall.
"There we go." The cyan mare smiled triumphantly. "That's what I was hoping to see."
Despite her, Scrooge didn't reply, instead he tried to rationalize what turned him from the path he was on so many years ago. Was it a certain and fixed point? Or was it a slow and gradual process? He can't remember anything he honestly regretted, save a few bad loans and extensions.
"And to my apprentices, I wish a very long and happy life." Concluded Fezzwig, smiling down at the two young stallions. "To Marley and Scrooge!" He cried.
"MARLEY AND SCROOGE!" Replied the tavern taking a drink.
"To Marley and Scrooge." Said a single griffin as the rest of the patrons drank. His smooth and calm mannerisms were a quiet contrast to the rest of the ponies inside.
As the present Scrooge looked to the single griffin who spoke last, it all clicked. He knew exactly where his life had hit the turning point. And just as if on cue, the surroundings once again began to spin.
This time, however, they appeared to be in a white and brown room room full of ponies crowding to get to the front. Past Scrooge and Marley stood behind two desks, each attending to ponies at the front of the lines.
"Wow. You guys were busy." The cyan mare commented and chuckled. "Remember this?"
Again, Sin took a moment to regain himself.
'This method of travel is going to be the death of me.' he thought before he recovered with a breath. He took in his surroundings and smirked. "Yea, this is the bank where Jorkin hired Marley and myself onto after..." His smile dropped and his eyes once again found the hard wooden floor. "After Fezzwig's charity for his employees caused his business to go under."
Why was he feeling so bad about this? It wasn't his fault that the money game was becoming more cut throat. Scrooge rationalized. Yes, what happened to his former mentor was sad, and he took no pleasure in watching the good stallion's world cave in around him, but it wasn't like it was his doing.
"Mistah Scrooge, please." Cried the azure pony standing before his station. "I'm beggin' ya. I just need another extension and I can pay you back the money, I swear!"
The past Sin, who hadn't aged but a bit, stood and regarded the older stallion for a moment with pressed lips. "Alright." He conceded. "I'll give you one more weeks extension, but that's it."
As the patron repeatedly chanted his thanks, the present day Sin scoffed. "How foolish of a decision it was to give Butterbean the extension." Sin said aloud. "He did exactly as Jorkin said and pissed it away on some scam on gold mining."
"Well, do you know why he did it?" The ghost replied, her face showing concern.
"Simply put, I don't really care." Scrooge turned away and walked away from the registers to think, but apparently his guide wouldn't have it. He didn't know how it happened, but one second she was behind him, the next they were face to face, nose to nose almost.
"It was because the catal-" she paused." cala- collotro- collator-" She stuttered, the mood shifting a from slightly intense to almost painfully awkward. "You were going to take his house!"
Scrooge quirked a brow. "I'd imagine that's why I gave him the extensions." And just as the words left his mouth, he beheld Butterbean pass by, his grateful smile still plastered over his face.
Another warm and fuzzy feeling entered the stallions form from the event, and quickly, Sin began to rationalize how said event didn't have the right to make him feel said warmth. Fact of the matter was that he may have helped the stallion keep his house for another week, but he had no right to make that extension.
In one of his few moments of dishonesty, he gave Jorkin his word that he would inform Butterbean of his denied request for more time, and broke it. It wasn't right, Scrooge had no right to play with his boss's money like he did, even if it did make him feel more humane at the time. Jorkin had given two delays already, a third was simply too much.
It didn't matter in the end anyway. Butterbean failed to produce the needed funds and his house was seized a week later as par for the contractual agreement. Scrooge remembered the stallion became a broken husk after that and sent his family away with a letter to one of his kin to give them provision before committing suicide.
It was sad, and whatever power the specter had over his emotions let him know quite well as the warmth he felt quickly turned into crushing guilt the more he thought, still his logic was sound.
"All the same," Sin growled while suppressing the emotional turmoil in his mind, continuing as if the conversation never stopped. "Butterbean didn't need to take the loans, he was caught up in his greed for gold and it, in turn caught up with him. What happened to him was his own fault."
"Oh, really?" Asked the specter, her eye quirking a bit. "And what do you think Fezzwig would say about such a cut throat attitude?"
Another pang of emotion, only this time it wasn't a warm happiness or a cold fear or depression, but a hot rage.
"You think you know what he'd say?!" Sin barked stepping to his guide with hostility. His rational mind was almost frozen in shock over the emotional outburst, he wasn't ready for that. "Fezzwig was a great pony, a good and kind stallion who honest to Celestia made the world a better place and taught me most everything I know. What makes you think you have any right to-"
"If you think that he's so great," She interrupted, pressing her forehead to his and looking him in the eye. "Then why don't you act more like him?"
Sin's emotional manipulation quickly swung from rage to guilt again. Though, it wasn't a particularly pleasant feeling to have, it was one he could control much more efficiently.
"Because, his way of doing business has become far less lucrative than it was in years past." He replied through clenched teeth. "Why do you think he went out of business?"
"Because you and many others lost your love for the world, and your compassion for others." The rainbow maned ghost quipped.
Sin scoffed. "We only followed the desires of the market. The market demanded more in order for our businesses to thrive, and prosper!" He roared, his voice growing in both anger and volume the more he spoke. "Do you know what the market is? It is a reflection of the will of the consumer, the consumer is everypony who buys things. We are the supply, they are the demand. If you're so interested in seeing the world be more compassionate, how about you go after those who make the harsh demands instead of we who work to supply them?!"
A few tense moments passed with no sound to be heard save the heavy breaths of a tired old stallion unleashing a rage that would make a hydra second guess it's ferocity.
But the shocked look on his guides face, Scrooge figured he finally had her. No amount of emotional magic or psychological manipulation could get her out of it. What? Did she think he'd never thought of the 'why is this banking business so cut throat' thing before? Did she think him an unwitting pawn who just followed his love of gold and made his decisions of frugality because he liked to see his employees and constituents suffer?
"Oooookay then." The translucent mare said awkwardly. "So, this didn't work out as I hoped either."
"Obviously not." Sin scoffed.
"Right, well one more stop, I guess."
"Oh joy,"
And yet again, the world faded began to spin again.
Quickly going through the steps of regaining himself, the stallion looked around carefully. There wasn't any loud noises or cluttering ponies looking to get a loan or have fun this time. Matter of fact, there was only one other pony in the room besides the present day spirit.
Sin's jaw almost dropped from where he stood. His younger self, sitting in the after hours lobby of a restaurant he knew all too well. The cloths he was wearing, the nervous look on his face, he knew what this memory entailed.
Figures that wench would throw this in his face.
The clock struck 11 and the door to the business quietly opened, revealing one of the most stunning mares the world had ever been graced to see. Her cherry blossom mane hung loosely, reaching almost to the ground and holding the slightest of curls. Her kind turquoise eyes could warm the heart of even the most hateful of cynics and her cream colored coat was as pristine and lovely as the most beautiful gold coin he could imagine.
His former fience', Belle.
Oh how he loved her in his youth. Her sincere kindness and mild mannered enthusiasm. He remembered the times they shared, taking pony ridden carriage rides through the park, eating and laughing about her family tales and jokes, and the one special night he'd gained her father's permission and proposed to her. Little did his past self know about the heart break and pain that would soon come.
"Sin? Are you here?" She called out meekly. Had it been to anypony else, he call may have been mistaken for a whisper.
"Belle?" The memory called. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" He said leaning in for a nuzzle, only to have the mare shy away from his advance.
"I-" She paused, summoning her fortitude. "I'm here to g-g-give you an ultimatum."
The stallion looked at her with shock. An ultimatum? Her? One would find being hit by lighting more believable than this. "Belle, what's going on?"
"Your love of money, Sin. It's changed you from the stallion you were."
"What?" The memory tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
The present day Scrooge smirked. 'Don't try to deny it, you know you've worked longer hours and become more frustrated with your work. Such stress will cause some alteration of one's personality if continued for long enough.' Maybe that's where he went wrong here. He tried to play it off as if nothing had changed, but with him working longer and completely halting any semblance of emotion to his business ethic, fact was he had changed. But not for the reason's Belle had come to believe.
"You are not the stallion I love anymore." Belle proclaimed with a dejected cringe. "You work from dawn until dusk, spend more time going over your business plans than ever before and seem much more distant than you were."
The memory furrowed his brow. "I've been working longer and harder to secure a financial future for us, surly you understand that."
Present Sin smirked. Wow, he really was under a lot of stress to reply like that. Well, no denying it here, he was a jerk. Well starting out, anyway.
Belle nodded. "I do, and it's changed you. You're not the kind and considerate pony you used to be. When you asked me to merry you, I thought we'd spend more time together, not less."
"We will be, I've just need more time to secure the proper insurance capital."
"And how much is enough?" Belle quipped, small amounts of anger starting to crack her otherwise typically calm form. "How many more nights am I to sleep alone because you're too busy in your study? How much longer will I have to sit and wait until you finally have time for me?"
"I've made time for us."
"When?" The mare demanded. "The last time we even at dinner together was two weeks ago."
Present Sin pressed his lips and nodded his head. It was nice looking back at this memory without the random emotional enhancements. Looking at this memory with objective clarity, he could see that his former self was being quite the workaholic jerk. The money he had at the time would have bought some sound investments and a nice house out in the country or the city, but it was still no gerentee. Especially since it was at the beginning of a recession.
"Belle, look around. Properties are being foreclosed on like mad, businesses are falling under every day and the citizens of Trottingham are slowly becoming poverty stricken." He gently placed his hooves into her shoulders. "I don't want that to happen to us." He took a shaky breath. "I don't want us to live in poverty."
The present day Scrooge sighed and nodded. Financial security for her, that's what it was all about. Ensuring that they would be well off with money and never have to worry about where food came from, or if they'd have a warm place to sleep for the night. It was a fear, almost a phobia to him back them. Ironic, looking at his living conditions now.
Softly, Belle smiled at him before taking a step back and retrieving a small necklace from her neck and placing it on the floor. "I'm sorry, Sin Scrooge." She said, tears rolling down her face. "But I'd rather live in poverty if it was with you than to live in the warmest mansion by myself. I can't keep waiting for you."
"Belle, please, everything I'm doing is for us!" The memory pleaded, but it was no use. How blind could he have been to run expunge the patience of the most patient mare in the world? How inattentive would anypony have to be to achieve such a terrible feat?
"Good bye, Mr. Scrooge." The young mare bid before slowly walking out and leaving the heart broken stallion to himself.
With a shake of his head, the present day Scrooge could only smirk. Wow, how selfish. He works all this time to secure a financial future for her and their children and she just walks out like that? "Wow, what a piece of work."
"I know." Sin's eyes shifted left to find the spirit standing next to him. "You used your desire to keep her financially secure to indulge in your greed. A sad piece of work, indeed."
"Hmmmm, maybe."
"Maybe?"
"When I said I wanted a financial future secured for us, I meant it." Scrooge nodded. "Though, perhaps I did start really caring for money more than I should have at this time." His head turned to look at her more properly. "But when you see stallions and mares groveling at your hooves, begging for even the smallest of copper shackles to buy food, you'd be pretty paranoid about making sure you were never one of them too."
The spirits face dropped to a flat stare. "Really? That's all you got out of this?"
Sin quirked a brow. "What? That I was working myself silly so that we could have a comfortable family upbringing and she walked out on me because I wasn't paying enough attention to her due to my paranoia of poverty and slowly growing love of money?"
In a flash, the spirit's hoof smacked against her face and dragged down her muzzle. "Why are you making it sound like she's the bad guy here? The point was that you were becoming a money hungry jerk who was so concerned with it that you let all of your relationships suffer."
"Yea, I said that."
"No, you justified it."
Sin tilted his head. "And why shouldn't I? I had reasons for what I did." He proclaimed proudly. "And though you may not like to hear it, good spirit, yes I did hate poverty more than I loved her. She obviously couldn't handle that fact and we went out seperate ways."
The spirit rolled her eyes. "Yea, and you threw away the only chance you had at real happiness."
"What? Spirit, I don't know how things work in your world, but here, you can't 'make another pony happy', one can only make themselves happy."
"Okay, you know what? It's obvious you're not going to get it. So, I'm just going to show you one last vision and send you home. After that, you're the Ghost of Hearth warming Present's problem."
With a slam of her hoof, the world began to spin again, this time resulting in the two standing outside the window of a house. Inside they saw three ponies sitting by a warm fire. The first was a growing filly, who played happily on her father's back. The second was the father, an orange stallion with a quaffed man and playful demeanor.
The third was his ex, sitting contently watching her husband and child play.
"There's you're former fiancee with a stallion who knows how to treat a mare right." The ghost spat triumphantly, her smug smile proclaiming a perceived victory.
To her utter shock, Sin merely shrugged. "Alright, glad things worked out for her."
The ghost of Hearth's Warming eve's eye twitched, and jaw clenched. Muttering through closed teeth the only words she could say. "I hate you."
Scrooge bolted up from his bed in a sweat and a gasp. His labored breathing and shaking body spoke volumes to the dread of his dream.
Cyan pony ghost, so illogical, so emotionally charged and manipulative. Truly one of the worst night terrors he'd ever experienced.
He calmed himself and took a breath, giving some thought to the dream's visions against his better judgement. Between her and Marley, the oaken stallion was beginning to think that his life may, in fact, be less than what he was capable of.
Was he a little self centered with Belle? Yea, he was. Were his finances relatively stable enough to see them through if he continued working while he began his family. Most likely yea. So, on that he may have been wrong. Alright, he could admit that, but hey, she was better of for it, now. If the vision the Ghost of Hearths Warming past had shown him of her to be true, than she was just as happy. And that's what he wanted for her right?
The concerned and thoughtful frown Sin wore quickly turned sour. Besides; his resentment for his father and the manipulations of his fellow ponies were still solid enough that he kept his resolve in his ways. He'd dealt with enough of them to know that pity and generosity were more likely to be abused than appreciated. Though, maybe he should give it another chance? Maybe.
As much as Tartarus scared him, the thought of being bound in chains as Marley was didn't exactly have much of an appeal. Maybe there was something better? Maybe in the afterlife there was something more worth while? Maybe-
Scrooge sighed to himself. "What's wrong with me?" He said to no one in particular. It was a dream, an alcohol and drug induced dream! There's no spirits bound by chains, that'd be ridiculous! And even if there were, surly one of them would have approached one of the Princesses or a mage of some kind for assistance and release. At least some kind of report or study about the phenomena would be public knowledge by now, right?
Exhausted and still a little drunk, the stallion resolved to visit the library when it opened and settle the debate on if the ghost was real or a figment of his imagination, and gently placed him self back into bed to sleep.
...
...
DONG DONG.
Chimed the clock.
2 A.M.
A small light pierced the thin vale of the stallion's eye lids.
'Did I leave a candle on?' he asked himself, a small smile creeping on his face at the thought of the warm candles from before.
"Ohhh Scroooooogeyyyyyyy." A high pitch voice whispered. "It's time to wakey wakey eggs and bakeeeeeeyyyyyyy."
The Demon King is that? Scrooge opened an eye to find that the light was peaking in from the crack underneath the door to his room. 'Down stairs? Sighing, the pony threw back the covers and trudged to the door. Whoever it was knew he was awake and wanted him down there, probably his Nephew come to play a prank or surprise him with a meal or something. Though the voice was feminine, maybe Neo's girlfriend?
With no small amount of protest from his exhausted body, Sin staggered out of bed and made his way to the door and down the stairs.
His mouth gaped slightly at what he saw. There, a glowing, well sized fire crackled and roared, casting a golden shine that his living room had never seen before. Within, the typically bare and dingy common room sat a feast of every food imaginable, each looking as appetizing as the last. Mashed potatoes, cranberries, noodle soup, apple clustered, banana bread and so much more. Just staring at the food stuffs was enough to make the stallion's stomach groan with resentment for how long it had yearned for such treats.
"Hi." Chimed the high pitched voice again.
Sin turned his attention to the red chair that now stood in the place of where he had sat not two hours ago. Though, this one looked far more comfortable and inviting. Upon the chair a translucent, pink, smiling pony with a wild pink main sat, an emerald green robe covering her shoulders. "I'm the Ghost of Hearth's warming present." She greeted cheerfully.
Scrooge quirked a brow. While he was more more pleased with this ghosts entrance than the other's, she was still on his property with out permission. And if the latter spirit was any indication, her removal would be just as much a chore to get rid of."
"Indeed." The old pony sighed trudging down the stairs and stood with skeptical eyes. "So, what do you want?"
The mare giggled as if she'd heard a funny joke. "I'm here to show you the error of your ways and how your disregard of the feelings and love of others hurts not only them, but yourself!"
"Really?" Sin dead panned, "and how, prey tell, do you plan to do that?"
The mare placed a tentative hoof to her chin and hummed in thought. "Through emotional manipulation and psychological terrorism of course!"
'Well, at least she's honest about it.' Sin postulated. "And what do you plan to accomplish through all of this?" At least this one was giving him straight answers, maybe he would be able to figure out what all of this haunting business was about.
"Well duh," The mare rolled her eyes. "So you can stop being all mopey dopey and start spreading holiday cheer and be happy!"
"Okay? And why is my happiness so important? And who do you work for?"
"Weeeeelllllll," The emerald clad pony called standing up from her place. "I could tell you, but where's the fun in that?" She asked before stepping to the buffet before her and taking a lemon pie in hoof. "Pie?" She asked. A simple shake of the head from Sin was her reply and the pink mare began to stuff her face. Literally, she slammed her entire face into the pie with an audible "om nom nom".
Sin stood with a bewildered expression. The difference between the former spirit and the current was... off putting to say the least. Why was his happiness so important to these entities? What gain could they have from his cooperation? He was well off in money, yes but did ghosts have a use for money? It wouldn't make much sense to say yes, After all, Marley detested the money he had to carry around on his chains, so obviously it wasn't that.
What could these things want from him?
"Hey, are you listening to me?"
Sin looked up to an annoyed looking pair of blue eyes. "what?"
"I asked," She emphasized, "how you were feeling?"
'How I'm feeling? What in Tartarus is she-' Sin's eyes widened as he took in the window in front of him. He looked around to find he was back on the snow covered streets of Ponyville with naught but the family in the house for signs of life.
"When did you teliport us?" He asked forcefully.
"When you were sitting there looking cranky." The Ghost of the present replied cheefully.
'Well, at least I don't feel sick or dizzy.' With a nod of encouragement, Sin looked through the window to find... Neo? Yep, that was his nephew, as well as a few other ponies he didn't know.
"This is the house of your nephew who you were very rude to for most of your life." The pink spirit informed. "Every year, he'd invite you to his Harths warming party, and every year you'd reject him. But some how, he still speaks well of you." She shook her head. "You're lucky that isn't me, or I'd drag you there kicking and screaming."
Scrooge took a moment to regard the threat. "No kidding."
"Good afternoon everypony!" Neo greeted happily. "And may I welcome you to the most festive party in Ponyville!"
And festive it was, food of all kinds lined the shelves and tables around the house. Warm and affectionate candle light licked every corner of the room to be seen, basking its occupants in an inviting glow that lacked the grey and dim of the outside world. A mare and stallion spoke with smiles besides the window, taking no notice of the eavesdropping of the duo.
"And may I propose a toast!" Neo commanded, holding up his mug. "To all who've employed and given this merry Eve. To my friend's; the Buttermilk's." He nodded to the couple in front of the window. "The Ranger's, and the Scrooges." He nodded to a slightly aged mare with a deep lavander mane and lilac coat.
Sin frowned as he gazed upon the mare who he hadn't seen in years, Fanny. Though her form may have aged slightly, the kind and genuine look in her eyes still held true despite the decade's passing. She took a humble bow and the room's attention turned back to its owner.
"And even to my Uncle Sin Scrooge, who may not be the kindest or most generous stallion, I to wish for all of us to join in a well wish to his health." The grey stallion cheered holding his mug up.
The room went quiet. Scrooge smirked, did his nephew really think that would work?
"I'll toast to his health, to its decline!" Yelled the female of the Buttermilks. Her husband laughed, as well as one of the Rangers, but Neo and Fanny merely stared flatly.
Sin looked through the window to find a blond maned, orange coated mare standing in front of a stove. A ladle in her mouth as she stood stirring a pot of stew.
Sin watched the mare for a couple of seconds before he returned his attention to his guide. "Ummm, okay? Why am I here?"
Again, the spirit gave an encouraging nod to look back at the mare inside. The stallion watched her for a few more seconds, still nothing of note changing. He didn't recognize the mare at all, and while he could smell her delicious cooking from the door way, he was feeling like more and more of a creep just sitting and watching her from the window sill.
"Right, she's very pretty and all, but I'm not really understanding what I'm supposed to be feeling right now."
"Huh? Wait hold on." The spirit said pushing the stallion aside and looking through the window. "Hey, where are they all?"
"They?"
She nodded vigorously. "Uh uh, uh hu. This is the home of your employee Macintosh!"
Ahh, so that was her game, trying to make him feel bad for his employee by showing him to his family life and all of the people whom the individual must support...
As if that hadn't been tried before.
"Of course." He replied condescendingly. A few more seconds past as the mare in the kitchen continued her cooking. The seconds quickly turned into minutes until finally Sin rubbed his eyes.
"Right, well this has been... creepy, but I'm beginning to think you don't-"
"SOUPS ON, EVERYPONY!" The mare cried suddenly. Slowly, a couple of ponies made their way from the opposite room into the kitchen and greeted the mare with compliments to aroma.
"Oh, we were supposed to be looking in that window!" The pink spirit said in revelation as she pointed to the other side of the house. "Oopsie daisy."
Scrooge flinched at his guide's error. If she was going to wisk him away from his bed to peep through somepony's window like some kind of stalker, the least she could do was make sure it was the right window.
"Hey, everypony." Mac announced tiredly as he entered through the front door.
"Welcome home, Mac." The orange mare greeted before she walked over and gave her brother a hug. "Yer frozen to tha bone, here, sit by the fire and warm up." She marshled the red stallion over to the flame.
"Thanks sis." He commented, removing the dark brown scarf and sitting by the flame. "Ah've got some good news."
"Oh, what happened partner? That old stiff Scrooge finally up n' kick the bucket?"
Sin's eyes widened at the wish of his death. Though to be fair, the feeling of surprise quickly gave way to apathy. He didn't know her, nor particularly care for her opinion on him. The two would probably have a merry conversation at his expense.
"Applejack." Mac chastized. "Mr. Scrooge may be a little self-centered, but that ain't no reason tah wish him ill."
Sin's eyes once again went wide. Mac was... defending him? After all the times Sin had mistreated him? Wow, that was... wow.
"Aftah the farm wen' under due to the cold, he's th' reason we'll c'n still put food on th' table."
Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. "That ain't no excuse for him treatin' you like he does." She turned back and began ladling out bowls. "Few times Ah've seen him, he's been nothing short o' a mantacore protectin' its kill."
Mac was going to speak but was quickly cut off by a much older voice. "Yer darn tootin!"
Sin's eyes moved to the marshmellow green mare with amber eyes and a shaky foundation. "Poor ol' Rarity, bless her, actually had the guts to go n' ask that old fool fer charity fer the Harvest o' Love."
"I'm not even middle aged yet." Sin complained to himself.
"Yea!" Another voice cried, though this one was a bright orange filly with a deep lilac mane and tail. "Sweetie was tellin' me about how uncaring and cold he was to her. The guy's a jerk."
Mac made a face as if he were about to retaliate but his words died in his throat as he heard the sound of a peg hit the wooden floor from the stairs. "Mac? Sis? What's going on?" A weak voice called.
Scrooges eyes trailed over to find a small and sickly cream coated, red maned filly standing at the bottom step. His heart skipped a beat and his mouth gaped slightly as he regarded the pathetic creature before him. Her eyes bore a look of exhaustion that he'd only seen from clients who'd spent days to raise money for their debts. The small pair of braces on her legs made it obvious her sickness was both weakening and crippling. But despite both, here mouth was in a slight smile and she made her way to her brother to embrace him and help melt the hard day's work from his shoulders.
"Little Bloom, I assume?" Sin asked out loud.
"Yes." The spirit replied, any giddiness or bubblyness absent from her words. Sin looked over to find the spirit staring at him, her face devoid of emotion. "A small creature who's never shown the world a bit of harshness and coldness." The ghosts eyes and ears drooped as she looked back at the smiling filly, gently nuzzling her brothers nose. "So young, yet her life is so close to an end."
Sin frowned to himself and gazed back to the family before him. The filly grabbing his attention most. He tried to rationalize with himself that the filly may have been innocent now, but would grow up to be just as much a deceiver as anyone else. 'So she'll never become the liar and corrupted mare this world would turn her into. that's not really a bad thing, is it?
"Bloom, don't strain yourself so much." Macintosh said, picking the filly up. "The doctor said that ya'll need tah rest if'n ya wanna get better."
"But Mac, ah wanna sit n' read with ya, again." She coughed a pathetic weeze that progressivly got worse. "Please *cough* can't ah stay? Just this once?"
Macintosh bit his lip in thought before crumbling under the preassure of her puppy dog eyes and setting her on the couch. "Alrigh' you can stay."
"Yay." The filly cried weakly, though the beaming smile on her face was a rarity that the stallion couldn't help but treasure.
"The doctor said that she wouldn't make it to this Hearth's Warming." The Ghost of Hearth's Warming Present said sagely. "They thought her illness would claim her life a month ago. But that little filly is strong, with the right help, she could overcome it."
"She's fighting so hard to stay alive so she wont make her family sad. She loves them very much, and they love her. She just wants to see them happy."
Scrooge pressed his lips together. He didn't know Bloom, but she seemed like a good filly, life had shown her suffering. No parents, poverty, a bad illness that took away her ability to walk and care for herself. Yet she thought about the happiness of others. Maybe... maybe she wouldn't be like everypony else in the world. Maybe she'd turn out better than that.
NO! He was questioning himself again, now. If he was becoming unsure that means he was losing, and the spirits were winning. He couldn't be wrong. This world WOULD turn her into one of them, a lying, conniving cur who looked to exploit the rest with dishonesty and seduction.
Suddenly, a wave of guilt washed over him. His mind drifted from justified apathy to the fact that one so young would die. Maybe I'm wrong? What if... what if she never became one of them? What if she became an honest and good pony, like her brother? What if-
"GAH!" Scrooge barked, trying to rub away the quickly developing head ache.
"You alright?" The ghost asked, a smug smile plastered on her face.
"Fine." Sin replied, clearing his throat. This wasn't good, she had him on the defensive now, and by the look on her face she knew it. If he were going to win in this little game of hers, he'd need to put the terms back on his favor.
But how?
His eyes found the pink mare's again, her smug grin slowly dropping to a concerned and hopeful smile. That was it. No matter how much he wanted to, Scrooge couldn't deny how he felt about the situation any longer. He pitied the filly, and he pitied the family to which she belonged.
It wasn't his problem, but it was a problem that wasn't fair for them to have. Especially little Bloom.
Scrooge smirked to himself, since when in the hay was life fair? He'd know better than anyone that it wasn't, but nobody helped him, maybe... maybe he could help her. Give her a chance he never had.
The two stood their for what seemed like an hour, until eventually the oaken stallion spoke. "You've made your point." He said barely above a whisper.
"YAY!" The ghost cheered, small bits of confetti shooting out from her robes and mane. "So you'll stop being all mean and cynical to everypony then and dedicate your life to love, life and kindness?"
And like that, the moment was ruined. Everypony? That was a joke, right? It must have been a funny one, because Sin couldn't stop himself from chuckling.
"What so funny?"
"Why on earth would I stop being cynical of others?" He replied. "Yea, one little filly may be facing adversities that she didn't deserve, but most of the misery of the world is brought on by it's own greed and selfishness."
"WHAT?!" The pink, translucent mare gasped shrilly. "Aww, c'mon Scroogy, that's really not fair to say."
"Oh?" Sin's eyebrow quirked. "Use your magic to take us two streets over, and you will see why you're wrong."
With her nose in the air, the spirit refused his request. All the guilt and sympathy for Little Bloom he'd just felt suddenly shriveled up and died as a knowing smirk plastered itself onto his face. He had her now.
"What's wrong?" He mocked. "Not willing to hear the other side of the story? To compelled by your master to even confront the idea that you might be wrong?"
In a pink and blue flash, the mare's nose was just a few inches from his, a disconcerting frown etched into her brows. "Okie dokie loki." She said through gritted teeth.
Scrooge waited, but the teliportation never came. Shaking his head, he lead the spirit away from the window and down two streets where the duo came upon a rather well kept and inviting establishment building. Even as the though it was christmas, the company building was bustling with life.
"Tell me, Spirit." Sin paused, allowing her to look inside. "Do you see what I see?"
The pony gave him a look before turning her attention to the joyful party within. A warm, harmonious orange glow illumnated the happy and content faces of the ponies and griffons within. Some were singing, others were cuddling by the fire with their families, and more were dining on a delicious buffet of vegetables.
The decorations of different and vibrant colors complimented and accentuated the lively and inviting atmsphere that simply made the pink mare's heart melt.
"This is the business of Rod Shoemaker." Sin said, looking in at the party with acute disinterest. "Shoemaker came to me when I first came to Ponyville. His business proposal was for shoes that didn't only protect hooves from the ground, but from the elements as well. As luck would have it, the weather here began to turn cold and I agreed to his loan when the other banks in town would not."
The stallion paused for dramatic effect, watching with a satisfying smugness as the spirits eyes practically begged him to continue. "He bought this building and hired most of the employees that you see in that building tonight. You could say that I'm a great deal responsible for their livelihood and happiness right now."
And like that his smugness and sense of self satisfaction increased ten fold. The Ghost of Hearth's warming eve's jaw hit the ground at a thunderous speed, her eyes wide and completely shocked.
"And yet I get no gratitude for helping him and every single employee he has." Sin shook his head, feigning indignation and hurt.
In the blink of an eye, the two were suddenly surrounded by a set of different buildings. These ones holding a much more dilapidated look to them than the previous neighborhood.
"Awww, poor guy." The spirit commented. "No doubt you had something to do with it."
Sin regarded the pink hoof pointing at him than looked back to the broken stallion sleeping behind a couple of trashcans. It took him a moment to recognize the individual in question. "Yes, this is Basket Thatcher." His eyes narrowed. "He was a stallion who came to me with a business proposal that I agreed to give him a loan for. However, luck was not on his side as the business he created quickly went under, and he had to liquidate everything to pay back the money he owed me."
"And look what your greed has done!" She shouted shrilly, motioning to the stallion again.
To this the banker raised a hoof and explained that it wasn't his alleged 'greed' that had put Basket on the street, but a disinterested market base. The spirit once again, motioned to the broken pony, emphasizing that if it weren't for Scrooge's involvement, the pony would have a home to live in and not be disheveled mess he was today.
Bracing himself for the guilt and shame that had influenced him before, the stallion merely shook his head, his loaning practices, while a bit more strict than other bankers, wasn't really that different from theirs. Arguing that no matter what bank Basket had gone to, the outcome would have been the same.
Thatcher's predicament was his own doing, that much the banker knew to be true. Yes, he was foolish for investing in the idea, but his then client had such a determination in his eyes, that the oaken pony would have considered himself stupid and regretted never taking the risk.
The spirit frowned. "No, you made loans that these ponies couldn't pay back and then threw them out into the street!"
Sin scoffed, his anger quickly coming to it's boiling point "I'm sorry, I thought I was dealing with adult ponies who were quite capable of making agreements and assessments of their financial abilities. I didn't know that I was supposed to be their mother and hold their hooves in terms of making capital agreements." Why was this so hard for her to understand? They were the ones who gave their word and property up for collateral. He just gave them the money. "I apologize severely, I had no idea that I was responsible for, not only holding up to my end of the agreements and contracts made, but helping them as well."
The pink pony frowned in frustration and began to speak, but Sin had had enough.
"No, to tartarus with that. These ponies made an AGREEMENT! Why should I feel bad if they didn't live up to their end? No, explain this to me." He held up his hoof, pretending there was a legal document within it. "If it says right here the negative implications that will come should the individual signing on with me fail to uphold their end of the agreement in. Every. Single. Contract that I have ever written includes than why should I feel bad?" His eye twitched. "No, seriously tell me, and I want a logically sound argument void of emotional jabs and heart strings, why I should feel bad when the rules are written out clear as day."
He prodded the imaginary contract for emphasis, this pony was far worse than the ghost of Hearths Warmings past, at least the former was at least some what logical and subtle.
The mare held a look for anger and determination, but it quickly fell to a sigh of despair. "You just don't get it, do you?"
"Hmph." Sin sneered. "No, madam, you seem to be the one who doesn't get it."
"Fine, I'm done here." She rubbed her hooves on her forehead. "I'm going to need, like, a bagillion parties to make me feel better after trying to help you! You know that?"
"Uh, sure; why not?"
In the blink of an eye, Sin was once again laying in his bed.
His eyes blinking a couple of times and scanning the room around him to make sure of the fact. Through everything he'd just whitnessed, past Little Bloom's illness, his employee's defending of him, and his nephew's kind words towards him, one thing stuck out in the banker's mind. A thought that he hadn't had until the moment he'd just 'woke up' and looked directly at the clock on the night stand.
Why were ponies eating dinner and having hearths warming parties at two in the morning?
Three chimes to signal the third hour of the morning, and if what was foretold was true, the appearance of the third spirit.
Scrooge sat in his chair with a small fire before him. Laying in wait for the spector, knowing that there was nothing he could do to to stop it from whatever visions and emotional manipulations it had planned.
He took a sip of watered down tea and stroked his chin in thought. It wasn't that he was afraid of the spirit, it just seemed so much trouble than it was worth. Being whisked away to different parts of time and places, forced to relive memories that he'd rather not. It was annoying and very depressing for him.
Yea, his life sucked. Okay, fine. Now what? Was he supposed to just toss aside all the knowledge he'd accumulated over the years? Just forgo all wisdom and understanding he'd gained in favor of seeing the "happy" side of life? Why?
And who were these spirits working for? Why had they targeted him? What had he done to deserve their wrath and lecture? Surly there must have been more miserable and negative ponies in equstria, right? Like murderers or rapists. Why weren't those three tormenting them?
Wracking his brain for no answers, the stallion resigned himself to sit back and wait. The first two ghost did cause him some stress before their arrival, but they were relatively harmless. If the last one was as nonsensical as the first two, than he Scrooge had nothing to worry about.
It would show him his future, use emotional manipulation, he'd keep his logical composure, argue his case, the spirit would get frustrated and spit him back into his room just in time for his day off tomorrow to sleep in.
So it was, and so it shall be again. Wash, Rinse and Repeat.
Time drifted by, seconds turned int a minute, and the minute turned into a few more. Growing anxious and a bit confused, Scrooge looked up at the clock to see it read 3:30.
"At least the others were punctual." Sin complained. Maybe it would be a no show? Perhaps the other two had convinced it out of a visit due to their own failures? Would seem logical. "All well. Guess I can head to bed, now." The stallion mused before downing the rest of his tea.
Just as he was about to get out of his chair, he was slammed back down by an invisible restraint, his head dizzying from impact. "The hell?"
Suddenly, the chair began to levitate and turn, and that's when any sense of comfort or relief drained away like the color on his face.
A black, equine shaped cloak that stood right behind his chair, a full head and sholders tall than himself. The hood completely covering the figures face in black, and a black and silver scythe rested upon the spirits chest. Though, unlike the other spirits, this one was more solid than transparent. But still, it was defiantly ethereal.
Scrooge forced deep breaths and fought his bladder to stay in control. He'd experienced spirit induced guilt, spirit induced shame, and spirit induced happiness. But spirit induced fear? That was something he wasn't prepared for.
In a sickly slow motion that the stallion watched with pin point attention, the hooded figured lifted the scythe in a black aura of magic and sliced the air between the two. Nothing happened at first, but slowly, white shapes began to matirialize from where the blade had cut the air, in quick order, the shapes began to make out letters and words.
"Greetings, Sinbad Scrooge. I am the Ghost of Hearths Warming Yet to Be."
Before the stallion could even think about a reply, the spirit sliced the air yet again, new letters appearing where the old ones once stood.
"It seems as though guilt and shame have failed to force you to change your ways, let us see if fear will suffice."
The chair turned to the side and lurched Scrooge off. He quickly scampered to his feat and looked in awe of the ghost of Hearth's Warming Future. This was not what he was expecting, not at all.
"W-w-w-what do y-y-you people want f-f-from me?" He stuttered, trying to get himself under control.
Scrooge didn't know how he knew, but he knew that when the spirit's head slightly tilted forward, there was a devious smile growing under it's cowl. Slowly, the air became harder and harder to breath in. The stallion's attention was turned to the creeping darkness that slowly oozed towards him.
Shutting his eyes tightly and bracing himself, Sin repressed the urge to cry out for help. That was the last thing he wanted to do. These things were, for a lack of a better term, bullies. And if his time at boarding school taught him anything, it was that you never show fear to a bully.
He kept his eyes closed for what had to be five minutes to build his confidence, he forced them open and readied himself for whatever terror that was in store. Though, this time he wasn't wisked away to some remote school complex, or to some far of memory in a different city. Hell he wasn't even outside his own house. Now, he was in his bedroom, looking upon a still figure that was covered by a blanket in his bed.
Ghost of the future, aimed at terrifying him straight, showing him a still figure in his bed. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on.
"Dear Spirit." Scrooge croaked pitifully. "What fate has befallen the pony in that bed? Who was he?"
The cloaked figure gently pointed its hoof to the bed, remaining completely silent.
"Pft, I'm just messing with ya." Scrooge laughed. "It's my bedroom and my bed, how would I not recognize it? I'm guessing that's me?"
The spirit took a step back in obvious shock at the calm and even comedic stance the stallion had displayed.
"Ok, let's see here." He stated, before walking to the bedside, throwing every emotion he had into fearless confidence. He pulled back the blanket to expose himself, eyes asleep with a pained grimace etched into his lifeless face. "Yep. That would be me."
He dropped the blanket and walked back to the spirit, his body shaking from the shear cognitive dissonance of what he'd just seen. Yea, he would die eventually, but to actually see your dead lying in bed with a look so pained and pathetic? It was a disturbing experience, no matter how good you were at accepting things for what they were.
As the stallion attempted to collect himself, the door burst open with a male pegasus and female unicorn trotting into his room like they owned the place.
"Quickly check n' see if is true!" The mare cried, her voice giddy and gravly. The stallion of the two, standing where Scrooge had just stood, placed his hoof on the pony's neck. A ear splitting grin slowly took over the pony's face and he looked at the mare malevolent.
"Dead as a door nail."
The two erupted into a cheer and began to savagely tear apart his room. Collecting anything of value and conversing about what was valuable and what price it could be sold for.
Scrooge watched will mild disinterest as his belongings were ransacked and tossed about, every so often an insult was thrown his way by the intruders. He found the act tasteless and completely contemptuous, but what else did he expect? It was simply ponies showing their true colors. He didn't hate them for it, no more so than he'd hate a mantacore for wanting to maul and eat him.
This was simply the nature of all sapient creatures.
It took a few minutes, but the novelty of the situation wore off and stallion began to grow bored with the situation. "Okay? So, there are ponies raiding my room and I'm dead." He stated flatly. "Death happens to all living beings, not sure what you're getting at with it, though."
He looked back to find the ghost looking at him with a tilted head. It's scythe gently swipping the air between them with another set of words forming.
"Does this not trouble you? That you've died and nopony cares for your loss?"
An honestly confused grimace overtook the stallion, a look reserved only for the stupidest of questions asked. "Well, I wasn't really well liked, was I? Kept to myself, kept to my money, rejected countless loans, held to throwing ponies out of their homes for failed agreements and didn't have a relationship with what little family I had. Of course I wasn't well liked."
"Does it bother me? No. If it did, I would have changed how I operated. What?" The stallion chuckled before gesturing to the room. "You think this surprises me? You think I didn't know this would happen? Come on! Seriously? I know you think I'm ignorant, but all it takes to figure out this would happen is like... two minutes of foresight."
The fear completely replaced by indignation, Scrooge legitimately felt insulted at the shock the ghost was displaying. It... it really thought he was that dumb? How? How could anypony think him so foolish?
Suddenly, the shadows of the room again began creeping towards him. The feelings of utter terror they brought coming at him in full force. Though, he knew this fear now, and was already working to maintain his composure. He didn't know what came next, but he was willing to face it.
Taking a breath and opening his eyes once more, Scrooge found himself outside, in a field with small grey protrusions jetting out of the white snow upon the ground. There was no sounds to be heard except faint hick uping sobs in the distance. He looked around and found Macintosh and his sister standing over one of the protrusions. Not seeing the spirit around, Sin slowly made way towards the ponies.
The utter quietness of the environment unsettled him. It was as if the entire world had stopped, save for himself and the other two. No wind, no bugs chirping, no animals moving. Just an ear shattering silence. The banker slowed to a stop just close enough to hear, but far enough not to feel himself intruding. What he heard struck a panging guilt into his heart. Not spiritual induced guilt, but something he knew was genuinely his.
Macintosh was crying, as was his sister. They were apologizing to the grave, wishing that they could have done more for the small filly who lay within. Their hurting cries and begging were too much to bear.
Scrooge closed his eyes. Little Bloom was dead. It appeared that the future was as unkind to her as it was to him. Or maybe it was the greatest kindness, all things considered.
Still, the heart broken weeps of his employee's family was as depressing as it was tragic. He didn't want Macintosh crying, it didn't suit the stallion. He'd never hurt anypony else as far as Sin knew, yet here he was, bawling like a baby at a loss of life. So helpless and incapable, it almost brought a tear to the banker's eye.
"Little Bloom. Ah'm so sorry." Macintosh managed through heeves. "Ah'm so sorry that Ah couldn't afford to get ya better in time. Ah hope-" He swallowed, wiping away his tears. "Ah hope that, at least, you n' Ma n' Pa can spend this Hearths Warming togethah."
Scrooge fought to keep the tears from coming, he'd seen plenty of pitiful displays before in his life; but nothing like this.
He'd rather watch a pony beg for a bit to buy bread a million times over than see the suffering of the Macintosh and Applejack's tears. Little Bloom was gone, one of the kindest and most innocent of ponies in the world, one who'd done no wrong and he wasnt sure was even capable of it, was lost to very creature who stood next to him.
A swift motion to his right and a letters formed in his vision.
'Macintosh Blames her death on himself, all on himself.'
Sin cringed, his assistant didn't deserve this. Mac was a good stallion, a good provider and an all around better individual than he could ever be. Macintosh shouldn't have to suffer this future, and Scrooge etched into his mind, right then and there, that he'd be giving some serious considerations to helping his sister in any way he could.
And with that settled, there was no more guilt to be faced. This was not a future set in stone, and as he conceded to the other spirit, he too conceded to this one on the little filly, Bloom.
"You've made your point." Scrooge declared, watching as the remaining Apple's walked out of the grave yard, heads low and tears still streaming to the frozen ground below. "Is there anything else you wish to show me?"
A sudden wind blew and child the stallion to the core, his vision blured as the wind whipped the snow around him, causing him to clench his eyes shut. It was intimidating how quickly a calm and quiet day could be made into a blizzard at the behest of a single question, but there was most likely a point to it.
Opening his eyes to see the Spirit walking, Sin followed closely behind, taking note of the quickly growing inches of snow he stepped over. Their walk wasn't far, only about five minutes, but even so, at least six inches of snow had accumulated as the fury of the storm ravaged the stallions uncovered face.
And just as quickly as the storm had come, so to did it stop. Scrooge looked around in utter disbelief at the suddenness of it all, but what else was to be expected in a drug induced dream? He saw the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Yet to Be standing besides a modest stone pillar and wondered over, curious as to what else he was going to be shown.
To both his shock and confusion, he saw that the grave he was being lead to was to bore the name: Sin Scrooge. Complete with his date of birth, and a small bit of snow covering his date of death.
He felt a frog in his throat and had to steel his nerves again, he knew the game, he knew he was gonna die some day and he knew the spirit was only doing this to terrorize him. But still, to see your own grave site was a lot like seeing your own dead body, there was just something about it that disturbed you, no matter how well one accepting things for what they were.
Summoning the last bit of courage he had left, Sin sat in wait for the next set of letters to come and tell him what he was supposed to feel. And waited, and waited.
Growing impatient with the spirit's lack of an explination, Scrooge inquired as to what exactly he was supposed to be acknowledging here. Though, all the spirit had done was point it's scythe to the grave once more, a small bit of the snow that marked his date of death blowing away.
"Okay? This is my grave, I understand that, in the future I'm dead. Dead ponies are typically buried and given graves. What am I supposed to do here?" He asked, his patience wearing thin.
A clap of thunder cracked as the Spirit slammed it's scythe onto his tombstone, shifting away more of the snow. Half of the numbers could be seen on the day he would die now.
'So that's it's game, huh?' Deciding to move the process along, Scrooge shifted and removed the remaining snow to expose the date.
"Huh, that's not too far off from now." Sin mused, thinking over the fact that his death was only about 9 months away. "Well, that sucks, I guess."
The sound of the Scythe falling to the ground grabbed his attention, the spirit looking between him and the grave. Apparently he was missing something because it repeatedly pointed to him and then to the grave's date of death.
Unsure of what was going on, Scrooge gently said: "Yea, that's the day I die. I'm going to die, that's pretty much a foregone conclusion for all living things." Again, the spirit pointed to the death date with an almost vicious ferver. "What? That it's going to be in a few months? Well, that's not really surprising..."
The hooded figure stopped mid point and just looked at him, just looked at him. No emotional mind play, no alternative point to be made, it just stood flabbergasted.
"I mean, I live in a crummy house with a draft and don't like to waste money to keep it heated, so cold winters can cause hypothermia. My diet consists of porridge and gruel, along with some alcohol from time to time, not exactly the pinical of nutritional recommendations. My stress is pretty much constant, so that's not good for me either. I don't like to waste money on the doctor, along with- umm what are you doing?"
The ghost was slamming its head repeatedly against his grave, obviously frustrated with the situation. Sin kinda wanted to stop it from it's masochistic onslaught, but at the same time found it rather amusing that he wasn't the only one being tortured tonight.
And that's when it finally hit him.
"Oooooohhhh, Ohh, this is supposed to scare me." He concluded in an "ah ha!" tone, his revelation halting the ghosts self mutilation. "You showed me all of this in an effort to scare me by... showing me that I would die... like everything else in the world... in order for me to change my ways?"
"Oh for the sake of my sister's sun!" The spirit bellowed, legitimately taking Scrooge by surprise. The figure loomed over him and threw down her hood, revealing that the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future was none other than Princess Luna. "We want you to change your ways because they are bad for you!"
"Ooookayyy." Sin gave the rather irritated lunar goddess a look of uncertainty as he tried to figure out what in tartarus was going on. Since when was he ever on the princess's radar for anything? How long had she been spying on him? What did she care about his living conditions anyways? None of this made any sense.
Continuing her tirade, Luna explained with no small amount of patronizing in her voice, that his way of living wasn't one that was ideal in terms of either fulfillment for himself or ethics for those around him. He was a miserable pony that made everyone around him miserable. His family wanted to be around him but he did everything he could to avoid them, and his lack of charity ultimately lead to the death of one of the kindest young fillies the world had to offer.
"Alright, first off: I'm well aware of the choices I've made, I know I'm miserable. I've lived it every day of my life." He stated calmly. "I love money, I love to hold it, to keep it, to cradle it. Money brings me joy, spending money does not. Does that make me greedy? Yea, sure, fine, whatever. My life, my decision to make. Yea, it's caused me to live in some pretty deplorable conditions, but yet again, my life my choice. I'm well aware of this fact."
"Secondly, I don't like Neo, nor his wife. I don't hate them by any means, but they annoy me. I don't know why, but they just do. And no amount of shame and blame is going to change that, so if that is what you were hoping to accomplish tonight, than you're sadly mistaken. And finally, you want to speak to me about ethics? Have you ever been a banker, Princess? Have you EVER had money stolen from you because you thought 'hey, I'm gonna give this guy a chance', only to have your face spat in when they didn't pay up what they owed?" That's when something else dawned on him. "Hold on, are you the one keeping these ghosts as slaves? What the tatarus, Luna?"
Luna snareled and lifted the scythe. "Watch your tongue, peasant."
Scrooge quirked a brow, what did he care what she threatened him with? This was just a dream. "Peasant? Screw you." Luna's eyes widened from the blatant insult. "You come into my dream, try to terrorize me into conforming to your beliefs of charity and morality, instead of sitting down ,like a fucking adult and debating the points logically, and you're going to insult me? screw you, cow."
It took a few moments for the mask of shock to leave her face, but it melted away to a face of wrath and indignation that told Sin he might have overstepped a line. Though after a few calming breaths, the princess of the night was finally ready to debate his views with a logical and objective mind.
"You are right, we had no right to manipulate you as we did. Apparently you'd thought your choices through more than we thought, but we still believe that you are wrong to live the way that you are and think it best for you to change your ways. Not only for the good of yourself, but those to which you hold company and employ."
Sin thought it over, he could easily play the self righteous indignation card and just tell her to piss off, her actions more than warranted such a response, but he still had quite a few questions that he wanted answered. He accepted with the condition that she was to answer said questions and she agreed.
First off, why was she doing this? It had to be more than just his own happiness. Apparently his misery had attracted the fabled "winidgos", who infested the land with a brutal winter due to the growing discourse that he brought to Ponyville. Seems as though the ponies there were far more forgiving of bad debts and didn't hold one another accountable for the sake of keeping harmony and unity in the town.
Ok, fine. That was a fair point, his holding ponies accountable for their agreements had summoned demonic horses that cursed the land with snow and ice. There by destroying the apple crops and sending the town's economy into a spiraling depression. That was a disservice on his part that he would take into consideration.
Second question: If she had the power to influence ponies dreams, why would she go after him for his holding to agreements made instead of going after everypony else and teaching them the importance of keeping their words and the responsibility of financial stability? Yea, she could terrorize him, or she could tell others not to take on debt, he was just the supply, they were the demand after all.
Luna's ears went flat against her skull and she looked away, pressing her lips. To her credit, she admitted that she'd never thought about looking at the problem from that perspective before, she always saw the big bad bank as the problem, not other ponies who couldn't manage their own finances.
This caused no small amount of irritation to the banker. Of course, blame the guy who makes the offer, not the idiot who decides to take it.
Third question: Why did she pretend to care about his happiness?
"Scrooge, there is no pretending here." She said softly. "You are our little pony, and you may not think it, but you are cared for."
Sin gave her a skeptical look and nodded with a sarcastic "Right."
"Why do you believe only the worst in others? Are you truly content with the way your life is? You're cold heart hath turn to stone and dies bit by bit every day. Is this truly the life you want?"
Sin sighed. It wouldn't be correct to say that he was entirely comfortable with the way he was now. Who would be? Eating only the bare necessities and buying only what was absolutely needed to keep him alive in terms of shelter? Nopony in their right mind would answer yes. But in terms of cost vs benefit analysis, money was more important than his health, even if it meant he wouldn't be around as long to enjoy those shining towers of gold.
Fact was that those towers belong to him, he earned them, he took risks, worked hard and earned every last bit he had. In a sense, it was the very purpose of his life, and that's exactly what he had to show for it. He had regrets, sure, and looking back on his life, he wished that he could have done a few things differently. But that was the past, and the past couldn't be changed.
"Your past may not be able to change, but your future can." Luna coaxed, placing her hoof softly upon the stallions shoulder. "Life can get better for you if you will let other ponies into your heart."
Scrooge looked down at her hoof and felt a genuine sense of comfort, though it wasn't something he wanted. "I'm sorry, your highness, but I'm afraid that I have no particular interest in doing so." He stated calmly, gently removing her hoof from his shoulder.
"Why not? Do you hold issue with trusting others?"
Scrooge pressed his lips and nodded in a "so-so" manner. "Yea, I think my father abandoning me, the love of my life walking out on me, and multiple ponies stealing money from me might have caused me to develop some trust issues." He admitted, being completely honest.
"Scrooge." The princess cooed. "The ponies you could befriend are of high moral fiber. You've admitted this about Macintosh when he defended you, as well as little Bloom. Surely you can trust them not to betray you as your father had."
Again, Sin pressed his lips as he chewed the idea over in his head. The world was a cold cruel place, this was a fact of life. He'd embraced it, molded himself by the notion and reacted accordingly in everything he did. Yet, ponies like Macintosh and Bloom did exist, kind and caring ponies who didn't fit his mold of what he thought the world to be.
Though he still couldn't find it in himself to see them as anything other than annoying to be around outside of work. Even if they were good ponies, he just didn't like to socialize. Maybe it was a scar that never healed? But it was a reservation he had none the less.
"Very well." Luna sighed. "Is there nothing else I can say that would change your mind in the way you live? Have you learned anything here tonight that will influence how you will act in the future?"
"No and yes." Sin answered respectively. "There is nothing farther to discuss and I have learned a great deal here tonight. Though, this could all have gone over much more smoothly if you'd have just been upfront and honest about your intentions instead of trying to terrorize and manipulate me into becoming who you think I should be. These tactics of yours have very much put you low on my list of respect and made me less receptive of your words."
Again, sighing at her failure, the lunar princess bid the stallion farewell and hoped that he'd find a way to get past his spite of her and himself and find the happiness she knew that he was both capable of and deserving of.
A gentle heat kissed Scrooge's face and a small shouting stirred him from his slumber. He opened his eyes to see dark bed canopy that he'd seen torn down in the dream. He was back and everything was as it was before.
Crawling out of bed, the banker stretched his back and yawned. He'd felt oddly refreshed, considering his constantly being kept awake all night. Though it was possible that the whole thing was just a dream after his initial falling asleep at around midnight.
He quietly walked over to the window and opened it to see a young colt handing out the morning paper, happily gretting and thanking people for their purchases. "Hey boy!" He demanded, forcing a smile. "What day is it?!"
The young colt looked up at him with his own smile. "Why it's Hearth's Warming day, sir!"
"That's right and many ponies have today off from work! Something else to consider is some ponies like to sleep in on their days off!" He shouted, all the cheerfulness dripping to venom. "So keep it down!" He demanded slamming the shutters and grumping. "Damn kids." Still though, he was somewhat happy to be woken up early.
With a sigh and a heavy heart, Scrooge made a decision to honor the decision he'd made last night. Slowly and with great reluctance, the stallion donned his cloak and a scarf for the weather before exiting his home and locking the door. He took a breath and began the long trek to his place of business.
"Mornin'!" Called a stallion who was humming to himself while shovling the path to his house.
"Merry Hearth's Warming!" Called another mare with cheer.
Scrooge simply grumbled to himself through the chorus of happy greetings and well wishers. It annoyed him to no end the masks they donned. Somehow managing to avoid killing any of them, Scrooge made it to his bank and opened the door. He walked inside and lit the lantern by the door to guide his way to the safe.
He sighed again as he undid the locks and beheld the sacks and sacks of bits there in. It was going to hurt, it was going to hurt alot, but he thought about Mac and his sister. How pathetically weak she was and how such a kind hearted young filly shouldn't have to suffer. He thought about the grave he'd seen and the feelings of guilt and shame that flashed through him at the utter despair Mac had gone through.
Those were his emotions, not ones forced upon him to manipulate. He knew his consciousness was telling him to help. Not because Mac and Bloom needed it, but because they deserved it. Because they could be the good ponies this world needed more of and they deserved to be happy for their morality.
Steeling his resolve, the stallion grabbed a single, heavy bag of bits and closed the safe. He opened it up to see the golden peices of happiness his life had come to collect and pressed his lips, holding back the torrent of tears he knew would be shead. "Hello my friends." Scrooge chocked and sniffled. "You guys will be going to a new home soon. You guys do good there, okay? It's for a very important cause."
The banker closed the bag and looked away. It was painful, his heart was beating a mile a minute and his chest heaved with laboring breaths. He backed away from the bits and opened his desk drawer to find Macintosh's address in his employee records. Once he'd gotten the street name and number, he replaced the file and placed the bits into his saddle bag, killed the lantern and left the bank.
He walked through the market district and was assaulted by the delicious smell of freshly baked bread. He looked left to find a giant brick of garlic bread sitting in one of the bakers windows. It was huge, almost the size of a fully grown pony! He found it impractical, but smiled as an idea came to him. Mac's family had no fond feelings for him, and would likely be warry of his appearance at their home. He'd already committed the entire bag of bits to him, why not use some of it to give them a true Hearth's Warming feast?
"Okay, you can do this, Scrooge." The stallion told himself as he gave the bag of bits one last apoligetic look. He turned away and hesitantly knocked on his employees door. Though he'd never actually seen the house before, it looked just like it did in his dream.
A short time later, the door opened to reveal a jovial Mac who's smile quickly disappeared as soon as his eyes made contact with Sin's. "Mistah Scrooge?" The stallion asked. "Ah thought ya said Ah could have the day off, sir."
"Easy, Mac." Scrooge replied. "I'm actually here to give you something."
Macintosh eyed scrooge skeptically before letting the banker inside. Scrooge looked around, part of him hoping to find little bloom still alive. His heart soared when he'd found said filly smiling and playing with a small wooden toy by the fire place. The Apple clan weren't the only ponies present, Rarity and Sweetie bell were also here, as well as a dark brown pony with gun metal grey eyes that Sin hadn't seen before. All eyes were on him, most accusatory and disdainful but some curious and nonjudgmental.
"So, umm, what bring's ya here this merry hearth's warmin'?" Mac asked, the mare Sin remembered as Applejack now by his side. Sin furrowed his brow and looked to Applebloom, who's curious stare suddenly became nervous and frightened. His icy blue eyes held contact with the young pony for a moment, his mind conflicted over happiness she was alive and fear over how long she'd last.
"I've come to give you this." He held out the bag he had on his back. Again, the secretary was hesitant to make any kind of move. He'd never seen his boss act this way before, interactions with other outside of work was practically unheard of for him. "Well, take it before I change my mind!" Sin barked.
The red stallion looked at his sister and took the bag tentatively. The weight shocked him, it was beyond heavy, but when you've got a bag full of golden bits that had to weigh north of thirty pounds, shock was a term to light to express one's emotions. "Whaaaaaaaa..." Was about all he could muster as he took in the sight. It was, unreal! Applejack took a peak and nearly coughed up the eggnog she was drinking.
"Sweet back side o' Celestia." She gawked, her gaze shifting between the irritated banker and the bag of bits.
"M-m-m-m-mistah Scrooge! Ah can't accept this!" Macintosh stutter pushing the bag back to his boss. Sin's heart lept and for a moment, he thought about taking the bag back and pretending this had never happened, but alas, he'd made a decision and a promise.
"Take it Mac. Your sister needs it more than I do." A ghost of a smile graced his face and before the stallion could dare to retort, a swift set of knocks came from the door. "Ah, there it is. Took them long enough."
The door opened to reveal several ponies carrying an assortment of foods. Ranging from all the classical Hearth's Warming treats of yams and candy apple to pasta and one big loaf of garlic bread. "Order from a, wait, Scrooge?!" The delivery pony guffawed. His surprise compounded when he saw the banker standing within the living room. "Ummm. Hey Fizzy, you sure this was a legitimate order?"
Sin affirmed that he was responsible for the charge and instructed the ponies to place the items on the dismally bare table. The delivery ponies did as they were told, Mac standing awe struck all the while, much to Scrooge's well hidden delight.
You've earned this, Macintosh.
He saw Applejack and Mac talk privatly and turned his attention back to little Bloom, who was beaming happily at the feast being brought to feed her and her family that morning. It was the greatest banquet she'd ever seen, all her favorites were present and it was all she could ever hope to eat!
"What your edge here, Scrooge?" Rarity asked, eyeing the stallion through narrowed eyes. Sin turned his attention to her and gave the first smile he'd ever given in years.
"Just giving a great employee a Hearth's Warming bonus that was a long time coming, Mrs. Rarity." Wow, he'd actually managed to be corgal with, for what she was to the town, his biggest nemisis.
Rarity's eyes widened and she smacked herself to ensure she wasn't dreaming. The pain in her face bringing the fact to life, her own cynicism to his intentions melted away and she stood from her place, bouncing with joy. "So does this mean that you've given up on your horrible and selfish ways? Dedicating your life to making the lives of others happy through charity and good will? Truly it's a Hearth's Warming miracle!"
His smile disappearing faster than a snow ball in June, the brown stallion quirked a brow. "What? Oh, nononononon." He held up a hoof while shaking his head uncontrollably. "No, that's not what's happening here."
The Alabaster newly wed's smile froze into an awkward uncertainty. "What?"
Sin explained that, while yes he was showing charity to Macintosh and little Bloom, it was because they'd demonstrated excellent moral fiber. Well, in the dream they did, anyways. But the rest of the ponies in town? The liars, the cheats, the perpetual victims? Those who'd rather blame him for their plights instead of take responsibility for their actions? He had no affection for them, those ponies who'd swindled and robbed him could up and die for all he cared, decrease the surplus population. The world had too many victims, he'd be anything but sad to see some go.
"'Charity and good will', are you trying to give me a heart attack? Do you think me daft, mare?" The Unicorn stallion at her side raised his head and Sin felt an unprecedented amount of terror at the subtle gesture. But with the night he had, he quickly overcame it. "And on that note, I've got something to tell you, sir."
Mac's wide eyed shock was still present, but he'd turned to see his boss smiling at him all the same. "There is one condition to you keeping this bonus, and that is for you to take little Bloom to the doctor as soon as possible." He nodded for emphasis.
Mac returned the nod with a dumb "Uh-huh." A small bit of drool escaping his mouth to complete the look of a fool.
"And one other thing-" Scrooge gasped, a sharp pain pushing into his chest. He cringed and fell to the floor, writing in pain until finally his heart attack took him.
