Fallout: Equestria - No Mercy

We didn't have a tree this year. Never did. But the date of the holiday kept my lips sewn together. I didn't know what to do on Hearth's Warming. Mostly, because of what happened on that day. Somewhat, because I could remember every little detail. From the way the air smelled, to how his eyes drooped saying goodbye. I felt familiar forelegs wrap around my waist. I nuzzled his neck and rubbed myself against his sheathe. Sunflower nibbled my right ear, talking just after.

"How's my little princess doing?"

"I'm... just being nostalgic. Watching the snow fall reminds me of Him."

"I... I didn't know. I should've brought you somewhere else. We can go to-"

"No... I'm just attached to this place. New Glyphmark is where I grew up. It's where my family was."

We held each other over the snow-ridden wreckage of New Glyphmark. And over the empty sidewalks, we walked, watching the snowflakes cover rubble. I could maybe hear the ghosts of their voices, all the people I never appreciated. I wished for a lot of things roaming my old haunting grounds. But nothing more than Auntie Bruise and First Rains. Although I was happy holding Sunflower's hoof, I felt wrong bringing him to the ruins of an old sanctuary.

I felt deep down that I should've been holding someone else's hoof.

Even though we were side-by-side, I felt a stranger's warmth. The more he showed himself, the less I wanted to stay. Something changed in him after we left prison. His eyes weren't the same. Seemed to glance away from me and show me no priority. Even when we kissed, I could feel a limpness in his forelegs and tongue. I stopped short of my old house, trotting away from him to reminisce.

"Hope... where are you going?"

"I just... I just need time alone, Sunflower. I need to think."

"But why... Why don't you take me with?"

"Because I, I need to be by myself."

I closed my eyes and felt my heart stop. He left like I told him to. And we stayed alone, together, enjoying Hearth's Warming as the world swallowed us whole and split us apart.