Teardrops and Snowflakes

Chapter 3

Twilight Sparkle would never move again. Ever.

Every single muscle in her body radiated tension and exhaustion, and the nice, soft, warm bed she was laying in made moving an extremely low priority. Twilight knew that she wasn’t exactly an athlete, but she never expected to hurt like this, especially after the way she had performed in the Running of the Leaves. So what was different?

Oh yeah. The massive hills, the biting cold, the heavy saddlebags, and those were just the physical problems. She also had to deal with the crushing loneliness. Even when she was young and chose to spend her time in the library alone, she knew that she could find company if she wanted it. Plus she had always had Spike. Out here, there was nothing to keep Twilight company except her thoughts.

Unfortunately, the way her brain over-analyzed everything made her thoughts annoying and unwanted. Even the ones about Trixie.

Especially the ones about Trixie.

Twilight groaned and pulled a pillow over her head, attempting to block out the thoughts. Sadly, these weren’t magical thought blocking pillows and did nothing to stop the thoughts or the blush that came with them.

Why did she like Trixie like that? It wasn’t as if Trixie had ever shown even a semblance of kindness towards her… and yet any thought of the show-pony made Twilight blush. She really had to figure out why, if for no other reason than to know.

Twilight removed the useless pillow from her face and stared at the ceiling. “Stupid heart, liking ponies for no reason at all. Mares even!” She paused. Did she have a problem with the fact that she liked mares? No… at least she didn’t think she did. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.

“Miss Sparkle, your dinner is ready. May I enter?”

The thought of food gave Twilight a tiny burst of energy, and she called out in a hoarse, but enthusiastic voice. “Absolutely!”

The door opened and a hay-colored earth pony stepped through. She looked to be in her thirties, but her walnut hair was as dark as a filly’s and she radiated happiness. Her cutie mark was a bed. Twilight instantly liked her. As the mare set Twilight’s dinner on a table near the door she turned towards Twilight, the beginnings of a welcome on her lips.

“You must be the new arrival my husband checked in. I’m the co-owner of this inn and my name is… Oh my. Are you alright sweetie?” Her eyes had widened in motherly concern, and a confused Twilight turned to look at the mirror next to her bed.

Yikes! Her mane was unkempt and lifeless, her coat was dusty, her tail was matted together, with some parts sticking out at odd angles, and her eyes were dull and drooping. She looked absolutely terrible.

Laughing nervously, Twilight gave the concerned innpony a sheepish smile. “Um yeah, hehe. I’ve just been traveling a lot today and I’m really exhausted. I haven’t had a chance to take a shower yet.” A quick realization made Twilight roll off the bed quickly. She landed with a wince and tried to stammer out an apology. “O… oh gosh, I… I’m so sorry about your sheets. I was so tired that I didn’t even think about how dirty I was and…”

She was interrupted by the warm laughter of her host. “Ahahaha! Oh goodness, I’m sorry but that is hahaha… that is just adorable.” Recovering, she gazed at Twilight with twinkling eyes. “Honey, if your sheets were the dirtiest sheets I had to deal with in this inn I would be a very happy pony. Now, before you eat, why don’t you go take a nice, hot bath? I’ll have your sheets changed in no time.”

Twilight opened her mouth to say that she would take care of it, but the mare was already out the door. Normally she would have insisted, but now that she thought about it, a bath sounded absolutely wonderful.

She slowly walked into the attached bathroom, every step causing her muscles to protest, and quickly ran a hot bath. After a few moments she stepped in. She had barely gotten one full leg into the tub before the soothing warmth made her involuntarily sigh in relief.

Twilight rinsed the dust off her coat and out of her hair, then rested her head on the side of the tub. The hot water was relaxing her muscles and making her sleepy. She tried to fight the exhaustion, but with her muscles finally relaxed it was a vain effort. Her final thought before she passed into a dreamless sleep was “I hope I don’t drown…”

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Twilight felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder and groaned. She knew that she hadn’t been asleep very long, and didn’t want to get up. “Go away Spike. I had a late night.” She tried to turn over and pull the covers over her head, but she realized that she wasn’t in a bed at all. And she was freezing.

Her eyes shot open in a panic, and she found herself staring into a kind, semi-familiar face.

“Sweetie you need to get into bed before you catch a cold. I’ve changed your sheets and put a few extra blankets on. It’s supposed to be colder than usual tonight.”

Twilight blinked, recent events coming back to her. “Oh… um thank you.” Twilight searched her brain for a name and drew a blank. “I’m sorry I don’t even know your name.”

The older mare just smiled, her eyes crinkling at the edges. “Oh just call me Ellie. Now really, let’s get you into bed. That water must be freezing.”

Twilight shivered, realizing the truth in Ellie’s words. “Alright, thank you for waking me up. How long has it been?”

Ellie helped Twilight out of the tub and handed her a towel. “Only an hour or so. I would have woken you up sooner, but a few new guests checked in and I had to tend to them.”

Twilight finished drying off and walked into the bedroom with Ellie. Her sheets were indeed clean, and there were two extra blankets on the bed, both the same color as Ellie’s coat. “It’s no problem Ellie. I shouldn’t have been such a silly pony and fallen asleep in the bath.”

Ellie took a final glance around the room, appraising it. Apparently satisfied, she nodded and took a final glance at Twilight. “Alright, well I’ve set out hot soup for you on the table.” She inclined her head towards the soup. “If you don’t need anything, I think I’m going to turn in for the night myself.”

Twilight had to force herself to look away from the steaming bowl of soup. “I think I’m good now. Thank you for everything Ellie.”

Ellie shot Twilight her beaming smile. “Don’t mention honey. It’s not everyday I get to act like a mother to my guests. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight.” As Ellie closed the door, Twilight trotted over to the soup and began eating it as quickly as she could without spilling it. She was ravenous and the soup was absolutely delicious. Quickly finishing it, she got into bed and pulled all of the covers and blankets on top of her. It was very cold.

Between the warmth of the soup filling her body and the blankets providing a soft cloud of comfort, Twilight quickly felt her previous exhaustion catch up with her. That hour, while nice, had done nothing to reenergize her, and she knew that tomorrow would be even more traveling. The knowledge was sobering, and apparently Twilight’s brain agreed that she needed sleep. She was deeply asleep in less than five minutes.

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The brightness of the midmorning sun slowly brought Twilight back into consciousness. At first, she fought it, but as it became apparent the light wouldn’t go away, she gave in and sat up, stretching. Twilight smiled, feeling an unusual sense of joy, and it quickly grew into a giggle. She was refreshed and giddy and…

And then the hunger hit her.

A low rumble erupted from her stomach. That soup last night had been delicious, but it wasn’t very sustaining. Pausing only to brush her mane and tail, Twilight trotted lazily downstairs looking for Ellie. She saw her sitting at a table, conversing with the pony that had checked her in last night. Ellie saw her and smiled, waving her over.

“Hey sweetie! You look much better this morning. Have a good night?”

Twilight smiled back, taking a seat at the table. “Yes, I had an amazing night. I feel completely refreshed. Thanks again for getting me out of the bath. I really would have frozen last night.”

“Oh don’t mention it. I can’t just let my guests go and freeze, can I? It’s bad for business!” Ellie’s eyes sparkled with humor. “I bet you’re hungry aren’t you?”

Twilight didn’t want to be too insistent, no matter how hungry she was. “Well I could certainly use…” Her stomach had another plan, however, and let out another, louder, rumble. Twilight flushed red with embarrassment.

Ellie simply laughed merrily. “I’ll go and put something together. Why don’t you get acquainted with my husband here? His name is Hearthly, but everyone around here just calls him Hearth.”

As Ellie trotted away to make breakfast, Twilight took a good look at Hearth. His coat was a slightly darker gold than his wife’s, but his mane and tail were a pale reddish hue. Twilight couldn’t see his cutie mark. He spoke first.

“Hello Miss Sparkle. I’m sorry we didn’t get acquainted properly last night, but you looked very tired and I don’t have it in me to keep a tired pony from a bed.”

The stallion’s calm, polite demeanor reminded Twilight of Big Mac. “It’s no problem. I was absolutely exhausted last night; I don’t remember much to be honest.”

Hearth chuckled. “Everypony has days like that, nothing to be ashamed of. What were you doing that made you so exhausted? I would assume traveling since I don’t recognize you. I know every pony in St. Ponysberg.”

Twilight nodded. “You’re right. I’m from Ponyville.”

Hearth whistled, looking impressed. “Whew, you walked all the way here from Ponyville? That’s quite a feat. What brings you out so far?”

Twilight hesitated, not knowing whether she wanted to discuss the reason she was out here. She trusted Hearth though, and any information about Trixie would only help her. “I’m actually looking for somepony that I’ve heard passed through here a few weeks ago. Maybe you knew her. Her name was Trixie.”

Hearth thought for a moment, his brow furrowed in thought. “Hmm, sounds familiar… Was her coat like a powder blue? And her cutie mark was like a wand with some sparkles around it?”

Twilight leaned forward, unable to conceal her elation. “You knew her? Do you know where she went? What did she do here? Where did she stay? Did she put on a show?

Hearth held up his hooves, trying to stop the flood of questions. “Whoa there… One question at a time. She stayed here actually, but I didn’t know her. Ellie handles the guests. My job is to keep the inn clean and keep all of the pipes and fireplaces and other stuff working properly. Ask her when she gets back.”

“Ask me what?” Ellie chose that moment to return from the kitchen, bearing a trey of grass pancakes and apple cider. Twilight’s mouth watered at the sight.

Hearth looked like he was glad breakfast had arrived as well, giving the pancakes an almost predatory look. “She wants to know about that show-pony that stayed here a few weeks back. The blue one.”

“Oh, you mean Trixie?” Ellie looked at Twilight for confirmation, but she was busy devouring the pancakes. Ellie smiled. She loved making other ponies happy.

After a moment, Twilight realized she was being exceptionally rude and glanced up, a guilty look on her face. “Um… sorry about that, I guess I was hungrier than I thought I was. Yeah, her name was Trixie. Did you talk to her?”

Ellie waved away Twilight’s apology. “It’s fine sweetie. I knew that you would be starving when you woke up. Anyway, I did talk to her. She was very… distressed when she came here. It looked as if she had been through some really rough times, so I let her stay here for a couple of days while she got back on her feet, free of charge.”

Twilight finished off her pancakes and gave Ellie her full attention. This is what she wanted to hear.

“I tried to get her to talk to me, tell me what happened, but all she would say is ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie was humiliated and run out of town by a certain pony and her friends.’ She seemed like she had a lot of hate in her. She stayed in her room for two full days; the only time I saw her was when I brought meals to her, and even then she refused to talk to me other than to thank me for the food. On the third day she seemed like a changed mare. She came down at breakfast and asked me all sorts of questions about the town and the ponies in it, and that night she had her first show right out there.” She nodded towards the front of the inn.

Twilight looked down, digesting the information. Run out of town? She left by herself! She gave Ellie an even look. “You said that she had a lot of hate in her… was it towards the pony that ‘ran her out of town?’”

“Well, like I said, she didn’t really talk about it, but that’s what I assumed.” Ellie noticed an unhappy expression cross Twilight’s face and looked over at Hearth to see if he saw it too. He was asleep.

Twilight shook herself. She could analyze that and be sad later, she needed to hear this. “So what happened at the show?”

“Well,” Ellie continued “I only saw a little bit of it, I had guests to attend to after all, but I hear that it went really well. We don’t get a lot of entertainment around here, so anything that’s remotely exciting gets a bunch of attention. At any rate she made enough to pay for a week here, which she did after the show. She seemed genuinely happy. It was almost as if she was a different pony. She was even humming to herself when she came down for breakfast the next morning. She had three other shows that week, and each one was more popular than the last. The day after the last show she bought a trailer and some supplies and left. You know what though? I’ll never forget what she said to me before she left. She came down with her bags all packed and she smiled at me and said: ‘The Great and… no, I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me Ellie. You helped me get my confidence back and I’ll always remember you. Thank you.’ And that was the last I saw of her. Really sweet pony, once you get past all the arrogance and pride.”

Twilight sat there for a moment, not really knowing what to say. On the one hoof, as far as she knew, Trixie was happy. On the other hoof, she hated Twilight. Should she just go back to Ponyville and forget it? The thought felt like a hard lump in her chest.

Ellie watched Twilight’s face go from contemplative, to relieved, to agonized and back to contemplative. She didn’t know exactly what was wrong, but her motherly instincts wouldn’t let her leave it alone. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Twilight looked up, confused. She had forgotten where she was for a moment. “I… I don’t know what I want. I’m going to stay here for another night if that’s okay. I need to think about… things.” Twilight started towards the stairs but stopped. What good would staying in a room all day do her? “Ellie, does St. Ponysberg have any parks? Or just somewhere peaceful?”

It went against Ellie’s grain to watch a pony in distress passively, but she knew that some things were best done alone. “Sure sweetie, just turn right when you leave the inn and go all the way down that road. You’ll see a sign that says ‘St. Ponysberg Gardens.’ That’s as peaceful as it gets around here.”

Twilight nodded and began walking to the door, calling over her shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll be back later.”

Ellie watched Twilight leave with sympathetic eyes. Life was never easy, especially for a mare as young as Twilight. She hoped that everything worked out. In the mean time though, she had work to do. She cleared the table and began walking back to the kitchen, tapping Hearth on the head as she did so. “Wake up, lazy. There’s work to be done.”

Hearth just stretched deeply and yawned. “Already? What did I miss?”

Ellie smiled at her husband’s colt-like attitude towards work. “Not much, just the fact that the fireplace needs cleaning today.”

Hearth shuddered, dreading the work that he knew lay ahead. “Oh goody…”

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Twilight walked the rustic cobblestone streets of St. Ponysberg with a heavy heart. What should she do? If Trixie really did hate her, then there was no reason to keep going. She would only open old wounds that had probably already healed. But… Ellie did say that Trixie hadn’t talked about anything specific. Maybe she had been wrong?

Twilight wished, more than anything, that there was a book for this stuff. She trusted books. Books were her friends. Books were helpful, and didn’t judge you, and kept you company when nopony else would and…

And were completely useless when talking about love.

Twilight stopped walking and looked up at the cloudless sky. Was this love? She had asked herself that before and she still didn’t have an answer. It had to be though… right? Why else would she choose to walk all over Equestria, trying to find a single pony that probably hated her for what she did even if it did save her life.

She sighed. Life was complicated.

Continuing on, Twilight soon reached the garden that Ellie had described. It was… the most beautiful garden she had ever seen. Well… maybe second most beautiful, Canterlot’s garden was tended by two goddesses after all.

A stone fountain stood in the center of the garden, the water shooting gracefully into the air and turning the sunlight into rainbows. A stone path circled it and ran off in multiple directions, often looping around itself, giving the garden a graceful, flowing look. Every type of flower resided in the garden: orchids, roses, lavender, lilacs, jasmine and lilies, just to name a few. Tall hedges surrounded the perimeter of the garden, and were also interspersed throughout, making smaller, private “rooms” for couples that wanted to enjoy the beauty of the garden with each other. It was absolutely quiet, except for the gentle gurgling of the fountain, and the subtle clop of hooves against the path from other visitors to the garden.

Twilight slowly walked through the paradise, her troubled mind being soothed into peace by the beauty around her. The combined aroma of the flowers was sweet and lingering, but not overpowering.

She came to a part of the garden that looked older, the stone path was covered in moss, the grass was a little higher, and the flowers weren’t as neatly trimmed and controlled. It still had the peace of the rest of the garden, but it was as if it had been forgotten by the caretakers. Twilight kept walking and eventually came to a small oasis enclosed by the shrubs. A small pond reflected the sunlight, and a bench sat nearby.

As Twilight walked up to the bench, she could see that it was old, maybe older than the garden itself, and it had been worn smooth by years of weather. Taking a seat, she gazed across the pond and watched the water ripple as the wind caressed the surface. She felt… right. Like there were no worries in her life. She was completely at peace.

Closing her eyes, she reveled in the warmth of the sun reflecting off the water and she smiled.

Opening her eyes, she noticed a small circle of stones off to her right. A single flower stood within the circle and she felt almost compelled to go closer. It was a rose, each petal seemingly crafted by nature to be absolutely perfect. What made the rose special was its color.

It was a soft, powdery blue.

Twilight’s mind saw the rose and knew that it meant nothing. That it was simply a coincidence, an odd phenomenon. Her heart saw the rose and cried out in a myriad of emotions. Joy, longing, despair, love. Twilight felt all of these emotions build up inside of her. They built up inside of her until she thought she would burst. They overwhelmed her mind, and for a moment she stopped thinking with her brain and let her heart do the thinking.

In that moment, she knew that it didn’t matter whether or not Trixie hated her or loved her or even felt nothing towards her. It didn’t matter that they were both mares and it didn’t matter that she had no idea what she was doing. All that mattered was that Twilight saw her, even if it was just one, final time.

Twilight didn’t understand why, nor did she care. All she knew was that her heart absolutely, without a doubt, loved Trixie.