“Just picking up a few things for Twilight and Spike.”
That was what Starlight said when I asked what errands needed to be run. “A few things” my tail. More like a few dozen! The list was longer than all four of my legs, tail, and most roads combined. That may or may not be an exaggeration, but it needs to be impressed just how stupidly long this list was and just how much time it meant I had to spend trudging through snow.
The weather pegasi? Hard workers. The earth ponies who should have plowed the roads so that a mare could trot through town free from the ever looming threat of frostbite? Lazy slackers the lot of them.
“Starlight,” I said in a voice that was most definitely not a whine, “how many more stores do we have to visit?”
“Just Barn Yard Bargains left,” she said into her list. Her saddlebags were already packed full, and that was after she zapped a few things back to the castle ahead of us.
“But that's on the other side of town!” I not-whined. “It's freezing out here!”
“Freezing?” She pulled her nose out of the stupidly long list to look at me. I won't say I was shaking like a leaf in a tornado, but I was giving it my best shot. “Oh, whoops! Sorry, I guess I kinda forgot about that. Here...” She rolled the list up and stuffed it into a saddlebag. The gentle aura of levitation around her horn flared up much brighter as she leaned in towards me.
“What're you-” a surge of pale green magic washed over me, swirling and churning like a storm. It was bright and slightly worrying, but also warm. So wonderfully, blissfully warm. The light faded away, but a tickle in my horn told me that it'd left a spell in its wake. The warmth persisted as well. It felt like I'd stepped out of the cold and right into the steam room at the spa.
“Ta-da! One personal insulation spell, to go. I've had mine on for so long I just forgot how cold it is today. Uh, sorry about that.”
I gave my mane a light toss and lifted my snout like a stuffy Canterlot mare. “I suppose I can let it slide, just this once. So long as you are more mindful in future.” I shot her a sidelong look and a smirk that I hoped was enough to make it clear I was kidding. I was rewarded with laughter.
“Okay, okay. Wouldn't want the Great and Powerful Trixie to be uncomfortable.”
“Indeed!”
“Seriously though,” she added as we resumed our now much warmer walk towards Barn Yard Bargains, “this is the last stop.”
“What's left to buy, anyway?” Based on what we'd gotten so far, I had a pretty good idea what she was shopping for. All that food and candy had 'Hearth's Warming Party' written all over it. That meant it was just about time for me to execute my plan. It was just a matter of getting her to bring up the subject.
“Decorations mostly. Twilight has big plans for Hearth's Warming. There's a whole thing happening tomorrow where half of Ponyville is going to help decorate the castle.”
“The whole thing?”
“No, thank Celestia. Spike managed to talk her down from that. I'm not sure there are enough decorations in Ponyville. Besides, pretty much nopony is even going to go near most of the upstairs.”
There was my opening. All I had to do was make some comment about how Hearth's Warming was too much work or generally not all it's cracked up to be. Then Starlight would do the usual sort of 'oh, it's not so bad' and we'd go back and forth a little before I 'let' her talk me into spending the holiday with her.
I opened my mouth to make my opening gambit. Starlight beat me to it with a heavy sigh. “Honestly, I plan to just hole up in my room and skip the entire thing.”
“You-- what?”
“I know.” She rolled her eyes and waved a hoof. “Student of the Princess of Friendship, spreading harmony and joy, so on and so on. I'm sure Twilight will try to drag me into it. There will probably be a lecture and a song about what a special day it is. Seriously though, I just don't see the appeal. Ponies go on and on about the friendship and community, but it's really all just about the candy and presents. And, I mean, come on, it's not like the fate of Equestria actually hangs in the balance. That's just an old legend.”
Everything had gone wrong so quickly. I scrambled to pull my thoughts together enough to salvage my plan, but I wasn't sure there was anything to salvage. Starlight didn't like Hearth's Warming. She didn't like the candy or presents. She didn't even like the legend. She didn't like Hearth's Warming.
She planned to spend it alone.
She must have caught some of my thoughts on my face because she stopped in her tracks. “Uh, Trixie? Are you okay?”
“Wha-? Of course! I'm just, er, surprised. Like you said, student of the Princess of Friendship and all that. I figured you'd be neck deep in it.” I was talking too fast, too loud, and too high pitched, I was sure of it. Any second she'd work out what was going on.
“She might drag me in anyway. Twilight can be pret-ty stubborn about that kind of thing. What about you?”
“Me?”
“You planning anything?”
“Er-” I had nothing. I'd been so sure my plan would work or at least not fail until I (accidentally) messed up the party somehow. I hadn't expected to be shot down right out of the gate. Where did that leave me except for where I was always left?
I could still ask her. I could still suggest we spend the holiday together. I could be the one to put my hoof forward and invite her to spend the holiday with me. I didn't have to give up.
But… she was the student of friendship, not me. She had friends, plural. She had Little Miss Friendship herself and she STILL didn't want to do Hearth's Warming. If that kind of influence couldn't make her embrace the holiday, what chance did one lonely, bitter, socially maladjusted, temperamental, self-centered, vain, obnox--
“No,” I said. “Just me and my wagon. Nice quiet day to myself.”
“Sounds good to me. Maybe I'll read something. There are enough books in the castle, after all.”
“Well, it is Twilight's place,” I said. I had just about gotten my usual attitude back up on my outside. My insides on the other hoof… “Speaking of my wagon, I think I'll head on back. It was a long haul to get here.”
“Oh.” Starlight's face fell, giving me another horrible pang of guilt to add to my collection. “Already? How long are you going to be in town?”
“I'll be a while.” I didn't bother explaining that this was because I was basically out of money and would need to do a few performances before I could restock and run away from town as fast as my wagon would let me. “Maybe we can spend some time together after Princess Twilight lets you off the hook for this whole 'Hearth's Warming' deal.”
Starlight's expression brightened. “Alright then. Sorry to drag you out around town like this. I'll see you around?”
“Naturally.” I turned away and walked off as casually as I could, head up and eyes forward. I kept that up all the way down the road, through the snow, across town, and finally up the steps and through the warped, sticky door of my wagon. I hung my hat and cape on their hooks, and sat down softly on the floor.
I took a deep, shaky breath. That was it, then. My plan was a total bust. Weeks of hoping and dreaming up in smoke, just like that. I reached out with my magic to lift the small box covered in bright wrapping paper that sat under my hammock. It wasn't anything fancy, just a solid, sky blue with white snowflakes, done up with a red ribbon bow with a little white tag hanging off it. I twisted my aura to turn the tag over.
To: My Best Friend, Starlight Glimmer
From: The Festive and Generous Trixie
Happy Hearth's Warming!
Reading it made my eyes burn, so I opened my prop trunk, threw the cursed thing in and slammed the lid down. I reared up over the edge of my hammock and flopped into it. Only once I was safely suspended with a blanket wrapped around me did I allow myself to let go of any tears. Me, alone in my wagon, crying into my pillow.
It always seemed to come back to that.