Teardrops and Snowflakes

Chapter Four

Twilight found herself lying on an extremely soft bed, softer than she remembered it being the night before. She snuggled into the warm embrace of the covers, attempting to recapture sleep but it escaped her grasp and she gave up. As her senses attuned to the world of the living, a scent struck her. It was familiar. More than that, it was the one scent that she had desired more than anything else for the past eight days.

The sweet, refreshing fragrance of jasmine and mint.

Twilight’s eyes shot open as she sat up and quickly searched for the source. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t in the same place she had fallen asleep. Dark wooden planks covered with rugs made up the floor, and the walls were little more than that. The room was small, maybe three ponies across and two wide. Where was she?

“I’m glad you’re awake Twilight. I’ve been waiting for such a long time.”

Twilight froze. That voice… she heard it whispered on every breeze that touched her. She dreamed about it every night. It was the voice of the pony she loved, and sweeter to her than any melody she had ever heard.

She turned her head slowly, as if moving too fast would make its source disappear, and sitting at a table she hadn’t noticed before was a pale azure mare with deep purple eyes that drew Twilight into their depths. The Great and Powerful Trixie sat less than ten feet from Twilight, and the proximity made her heart begin to race.

After a moment Twilight found her voice. “Trixie! B…but how… where…” Trixie raised a hoof, stopping her.

“Shh. Don’t talk.” Trixie got up and slowly walked over to the bed Twilight sat in. As she got closer, the intoxicating aroma made Twilight light-headed. Trixie’s hoof on her neck only intensified the sensation. “Oh Twilight… We have so much to talk about.” Trixie cooed in Twilight’s ear, the hot breath making her spine shudder.

Twilight almost gave in, but something was wrong. Something didn’t add up, and after being overwhelmed by emotions just three days ago, her brain wasn’t going to be silenced again.  The realization hit Twilight with a crushing sadness.

Looking at Trixie with teary eyes she whispered the question she already knew the answer to, her voice only just choking out the words. “This… this is a dream… isn’t it?”

Trixie’s demeanor changed instantly. Her previously soft, lyrical voice turned harsh and angry. The intoxicating scent became a stench that made Twilight recoil, and the gentle, petting hoof became rougher and more purposeful. Trixie’s laugh was harsh.

“Of course it’s a dream you foal! In what other place would the Great and Powerful Trixie surrender herself to you? The Great and Powerful Trixie hates you, remember?”

As everything faded into black, Twilight let out an anguished cry. A cry that channeled all of her love, frustration, hatred, and pain into one, final word.

“Trixie!”

Twilight’s eyes opened, and she felt the wetness of tears sliding down her cheeks and onto her already soaked pillow. She buried her face into the pillow and held it there as forlorn sobs racked her body.

As the sobs diminished, Twilight was left feeling hollow. She lay unmoving for what seemed like hours, simply thinking about her past and her future.

After accepting her feelings in the garden, she had returned to the inn, giddy with her newfound knowledge. The next morning she had left, Ellie and Hearth providing her with extra provisions even as she denied needing them. Ellie had even refused payment.

“You’ve chosen a hard road honey, a road that most never take. I don’t need your bits, just promise me that you won’t give up, okay?”

At the time, Twilight had just smiled and hugged her. The kindness of the innpony putting a lump in her throat that prevented her from doing anything more.

The next day Twilight passed through two towns even smaller than St. Ponysberg. Asking about Trixie didn’t gain her much information, besides the fact that her shows had been very successful in both towns. Twilight stayed at an inn in the second town, but without Ellie and Hearth there, it felt cold and lonely.

Her days passed uneventfully, the burning in her muscles and the cold wind biting her flank being her only companions. Honestly, it was a nice change of pace. It seemed that Ponyville was always on the cusp of one disaster or another: a dragon one day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders missing another. The peace and consistency were... nice.

Peace was a relative term however. Twilight’s mind would not be silent for even a moment. It was constantly racing in order to try and predict what Trixie would do when she saw Twilight. In one scenario her mind had come up with, Trixie had instantly fell into her arms and they had participated in some actions that left Twilight with a furious blush. In another Trixie had completely shot Twilight down, telling her that she hated her and that she never wanted to see her again. Twilight had no idea what would happen, but that didn’t stop her mind from conjuring up the best, and worst, scenarios.

The light of Celestia’s sun rising over the horizon gave Twilight the will to move; she couldn’t let a silly dream stop her, could she? No, instead she would journey farther; close the distance and find out the true answer.  

Going over to a small table in the room, Twilight unrolled the map she had left there last night and traced her progress so far. She had traveled an impressive distance, being a little more than half way to Trixie’s “vacation spot.” Twilight doubted that Trixie would still be there, but it was better than just wandering Equestria, asking random people if they knew where she was.

Twilight studied the route she would be taking during the next few days. It looked as if it was just more of the same hills, valleys, rivers and roads that she had dealt with before, at least up until a certain point. After that she would have to travel through a “Whitebark Forest.” Twilight frowned, and then shrugged. It couldn’t be any harder than traveling over what she had already… right?

She rolled the map up and put it back into her saddlebags, along with the rest of her belongings. She thought about leaving Rarity’s jacket out, but she didn’t think it was quite cold enough for it just yet.

After taking a shower and cleaning up the room, Twilight pulled out two apples and ate them. Breakfast wasn’t included with the room here, and while she did have a healthy amount of bits, she didn’t want to pay the ridiculous rates here. Satisfied that everything was in order, and with a mostly full belly, Twilight left the inn and continued on her way.

The hours passed, each growing colder than the last. After the third hour traveling, Twilight had to put on Rarity’s jacket and boots. After the fourth, she was shivering even through the clothes. Winter had finally settled in for the season, and it was settling with a vengeance.

Twilight thought about making a fire, but one of the first lessons she had learned was that making mobile fire was an extremely bad idea and she wasn’t willing to lose any more time. Her heart couldn’t take any more delays.

So Twilight let her mind drift and put her legs on autopilot. If she didn’t think about the cold it wouldn’t bother her. At least it wouldn’t in theory. Her first thoughts were of her parents. It had been so long since she had seen them. Sure she wrote them letters fairly regularly, but that was no way to communicate with her own parents. She missed them.

Then, of course, she wondered what her parents would think about what she was doing… what she was. Would they care if she liked mares? Would she care if they did? She knew the answer to that one at least. She wouldn’t care if Princess Celestia herself disapproved.

Twilight frowned. Would the Princess care? No… of course not. Celestia was the most understanding pony she knew. Back when she was living in Canterlot, Twilight went to Celestia about any problem she was having and the Princess helped her, no matter what. This would be no different.

Shaking her head, Twilight turned her thoughts to other things. She thought about what her friends were doing in Ponyville and what Trixie might be doing… wherever she was. She thought about science and philosophy and some of her past adventures. Eventually she wasn’t even thinking coherent thoughts; it was more just a blur of colors, numbers, and emotions flowing through her brain. And then she snapped back into clarity, registering her surroundings.    

She was… in the middle of nowhere. Fields of grass and rolling hills spread out in every direction and the road was nowhere in sight.

Twilight stopped and looked around for a moment, her brain slowly connecting the dots. Then, when everything clicked into place, she panicked and began to run in circles, willing her brain to think of a solution.

After the fifth or sixth circle, her brain came through for her. Pulling out the map, she looked for a field of grass near the road she had been traveling on. Unfortunately, the map was not very detailed, and Twilight couldn’t find a field of grass anywhere near the road she had been taking. Twilight let out a shuddering sigh and racked her brain for ideas, attempting to stop the fear she could feel building up from consuming her.

Teleportation? No, she had no idea where she was, so she had no way of knowing which direction to teleport in. Plus it did have a limited range. Unfortunately.

Maybe she could go back the way she came. Which was… darn. Twilight facehoofed, wishing that she hadn’t run in circles.

As Twilight stood at the top of the hill, the wind started blowing and Twilight knew that whatever she decided to do, it would have to wait until the next morning. She was exhausted from traveling all day and after the sun set the temperature would go below freezing and if she didn’t want to have this journey cut short, Twilight would need a campsite.

She magically cleared an area of grass and made a small fire pit. Then she filled it with grass and shrubbery and lit it. After making sure it was stable and wouldn't start a massive grassfire, Twilight got out what camping supplies she had.

Her saddlebags had been too small to pack a full size tent, but she did have blankets and a sleeping bag. That would have to do. Twilight laid out the sleeping bag and stuffed it with the blankets, then put together a stew using the ingredients that Ellie had given her and let that start heating.

Having a clear goal had suppressed Twilight’s panic, but now, no longer having anything to do, it came back in full force. Best case scenario, she would find the road or a village or a landmark of some kind and get right back on track. Worst case scenario, she froze to death that night and never saw anypony again.

Twilight shook herself. Dwelling on it wouldn’t help her. Instead, she pulled out a book on wilderness survival and began reading while the stew finished.

It wasn’t anything compared to the food she had eaten in Ponyville or even at Ellie’s inn, but it was still warm and filling. After finishing and packing away her utensils Twilight burrowed into her sleeping bag and just watched as Luna’s moon rose over Equestria.

Twilight had watched this happen countless times back in Ponyville, but this was different. It was more peaceful, as if rising over this endless sea of grass allowed the moon to shine with a purer light. It was calming and beautiful.

Twilight soon fell into a deep and dreamless sleep, the cold unable to penetrate the sleeping bag. She didn’t hear the first howl.

Something caused Twilight to stir. She immediately knew that she hadn’t been asleep for very long, maybe an hour at most, and opening her eyes only confirmed that; it was still the middle of the night. She started to roll over the go back to sleep, but a snuffling noise caused her to tense up.

Listening closely, Twilight noted that it wasn’t one snuffling noise, but multiples and those noises were getting closer each second. She opened one eye slowly and tried to take a look around.

The sky, luckily, was cloudless, so the moon was able to light up her campsite fairly well. With her half-open eye, Twilight was able to see four hairy, muscular legs. They definitely didn’t belong to a pony and any other creature she could think of with legs like that was dangerous and deadly. Regardless of what it was, she didn’t feel safe while she was wrapped in her sleeping bag.

Twilight weighed her options. She could just lay there and hope that they went away or she could leap up and try to fight or make a run for it. She wasn’t much of a fighter, although in a pinch she could pull of some telekinetic levitation and slam things against other things, and if she just lay there, she wouldn’t be able to do anything if the unknown presence did attack.

That left leaping up and trying to run. Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to memorize where she left her bags. She didn’t care about most of what was in them, but she refused to leave Trixie’s hat and cloak. After remembering the general area of her makeshift camp, Twilight prepared to move.

She channeled magic through her horn, letting off a brilliant, blazing light in an attempt to blind whoever or whatever was around and got out of her sleeping bag as quickly as she could. She glanced over to where she had seen the leg and saw a massive, black-furred wolf holding its paws over its eyes.

Looking around, she saw that there were four of them. Four huge, hungry, killer wolves that could run faster than she could, hunt her by her scent, and would love to have her as a snack.

She was dead.

Fear and adrenaline pumping in her veins, Twilight magically lifted her saddlebags onto her back and galloped as fast as she could in a random direction. Anywhere was better than in the midst of those wolves, and that blindness wouldn’t last long.

She had covered about fifty feet when she heard the first howl. It was a howl of anger and hunger that chilled Twilight’s blood and made her stumble. She didn’t fall, but she knew that if she did she was dead.

She heard the wolves begin their pursuit; their huge paws hit the ground with a resounding thud and each thud was closer than the last. She wasn’t going to outrun them. Twilight racked her brain for spell she could use to defend herself with. Levitation wasn’t going to cut it, as soon as she lifted one, the others would rip her apart. The flash spell she used to daze them before might work again, but she wasn’t counting on it; she needed a spell that would make them run away or at the very least slow down. Then it hit her.

Fire.

She had to be careful though, she didn’t want to start a raging grass fire. Maybe just a small burst in the air would scare them off? Twilight didn’t know, but she had to do something. The burst of energy she had gotten from the adrenaline was running out.

Twilight concentrated, then sent a jet of flame into the sky that ignited the field around her for fifty feet. She looked behind her and saw that the wolves had stopped pursuing for a moment. The fire had worked! She doubted that another display like that would work again though. The next one would have to actually hit them.

Twilight took the moment to pause and rip off her saddlebags, tossing the food she had onto the ground. Maybe the wolves would go for the easy, fire-less food instead of her. Looking back at the wolves, she was surprised to see only two of them. What had happened to the others?

The answer came quickly, as she heard the growls behind her. She had taken too long to dump the rest of her food and now she was surrounded! Fear clouded Twilight’s mind, and she saw her life flash before her eyes. The years with her parents. The years with Celestia. Her life in Ponyville. Trixie.

Trixie…

Twilight’s eyes hardened. She couldn’t die here. Not in the middle of this Celestia forsaken field miles away from anypony else. She couldn’t die without seeing Trixie again. She wouldn’t.

The wolves began circling Twilight, victory and hunger gleaming in their vicious, yellow eyes. One howled. A cry of victory. They had Twilight cornered and they knew it. They didn’t care if she could conjure fire or not. It had been so long since they had last tasted pony.

One leapt at Twilight, his fangs aimed at her neck, the thrill of victory running through his muscles. And then he was gone, lost in the searing white cone of fire emanating from Twilight’s horn, the heat magnified by her fury. Not even the bones were left when the fire died.

The remaining wolves immediately backed off but didn’t run away. They were so close! They just had to wait for a weak spot.

Twilight buckled as the fire cone fizzled out. The amount of magic that had taken combined with her exhaustion and lack of sleep was forcing Twilight near her breaking point. She couldn’t pull off that move again.

The wolves saw her fall and howled. Their prey was weak! They would eat well tonight! They fell into a triangle around Twilight and began to move in. Twilight saw this and racked her brain again. What could she do?

She felt a burning pain on her flank and instinctively kicked out, eliciting a satisfying whimper of pain. Whatever Twilight did she had to do it now. Concentrating on a point near the horizon, Twilight focused the rest of her magic into a single spell.

The two uninjured wolves leapt at Twilight, but a moment before they landed, she disappeared in a flash of light.

Twilight reappeared about halfway to the point she was aiming for, her reserve of magic wasn’t able to get her the full distance. She should have just teleported sooner, but the thought hadn’t occurred to her. She collapsed almost immediately, breathing heavily.

Twilight knew she had to move --the wolves wouldn’t be put off by her teleporting away for long-- but her body wouldn’t let her. She was both physically and magically exhausted. Unconsciousness claimed her quickly.

Twilight awoke some time later feeling extremely sore, still exhausted, and freezing cold. A bleary look at the sky told her that dawn was coming and, sore or not, she had to move. Rising from the uncomfortable position she had collapsed in, Twilight was immediately reminded of the wound she had suffered. The burning pain was hard to mistake.

Looking back, she saw it was a claw mark that had barely missed her cutie mark. It didn’t look deep and, luckily, it didn’t look infected. Not that she could do anything about it if it was anyway.

Twilight turned her attention to the land around her and was greeted by the most beautiful sight she had seen in hours: trees. More specifically, a lot of trees. It was a forest. Whether it was Whitebark Forest or not, she didn’t know. But at that moment she didn’t care. Anywhere was better than these plains.

It took her about an hour to reach the first tree. One excruciatingly long, agonizing hour. Twilight had almost collapsed twice, and she didn’t know how much more her body would take without proper rest. She still didn’t feel safe though. Those wolves had been the scariest thing she had ever seen. Even worse than the Ursa Minor. At least she had been able to levitate him and not worry about being attacked from behind. Twilight shuddered thinking about how close she had come to death.

She couldn’t stop, not yet anyway. She would just go a little farther, and then she would rest. Just a little farther…

Twilight was still saying that after she had spent an hour in the forest. She had come to the conclusion that the forest had to be Whitebark Forest, considering all of the trees were birch trees, and she didn’t want to stop. She was so close. She was also afraid that if she stopped to rest, she wouldn’t get back up. She was so cold. Rarity’s jacket might as well have been made out of paper. She had thought about putting on Trixie’s cloak, but decided against it. She didn’t feel right wearing it.

Twilight was so exhausted that she was practically sleepwalking through the forest when she tripped over a protruding root. She hit the ground hard and just lay there, too exhausted to blink much less move. She felt the cold from the ground seep into her, and she knew that this was the end. She would never see Ponyville again. She would never see her parents, or Princess Celestia, or her friends ever again. She would never get a chance to tell Trixie that she loved her. The thought sent tears down her face and as they hit the ground and froze, Twilight faded into darkness, her final thought being an image of her love, The Great and Powerful Trixie.

As she lay there, the first snowflake of winter fell from the heavens, and kissed her cheek.