“Not quite what I pictured we’d be doing on this big holiday of yours,” Autumn Blaze said bitterly as they plodded along the train tracks, the only path devoid of most snow, and the only piece of civilization they could see, and they the only two creatures in it.
And it was almost night.
“Not quite what I expected either… but don’t worry!” Pinkie Pie said, grinning wide at the somewhat disgruntled kirin to help lighten the mood. “I’m sure we’ll find some way out of this. I had this happen before and it worked out just fine!”
“Wait, really?” Autumn Blaze asked, with one eyebrow arched. “You went all the way to another country to pick up a stranger you’ve only heard of, jumped on the wrong train twice, and then when the right train got stuck behind a herd of yaks and went outside to play in the snow, but then when the train got going again you missed it and got stranded in the middle of nowhere?”
“Uhh, actually I meant I got stuck on a railroad before with a friend. But back then we had a pump car. Also it wasn’t winter.” Pinkie Pie looked up to the darkening sky. It looked like it would only get worse for the night, which was bad news if they couldn’t find a place to stay.
Pinkie Pie had volunteered to get Autumn Blaze, travelling to the far-away kirin village to bring her back to Ponyville in time for Hearth’s Warming Eve, and show her the traditional pony holiday. Fluttershy and Applejack had been busy with their holiday preparations, and Pinkie had been excited to show her true pony hospitality.
That was all going a bit sideways, now.
“Hey… do you also see that something up there?” Autumn asked, squinting with a hoof over her eyes. “That big dark building-looking shape on the right?”
“The huh?... Oh, yeah I see it!” Pinkie Pie shouted, running ahead towards the rather scary looking cabin shape, while Autumn Blaze kept pace with long bounds through the powdery snow.
It was, indeed, a dark, scary looking cabin just to the right of the railroad. In the growing darkness they could just make out a snow-topped signpost and a railroad crossing sign. Presumably a road ran elsewhere from this station—using the term loosely—but it seemed buried under the snow, undisturbed since the previous night’s storm.
“This is sooooo cool!” Autumn Blaze said, hopping from one hoof to another. “It looks like it should be haunted, right? Oh that would be so awesome if it was haunted. Do you believe in haunted houses? I know I would, or I mean I did, wait, no, I didn’t but… so is it empty?”
There were no tracks anywhere near the door before Autumn Blaze walked around the perimeter, leaving Pinkie at the entrance.
“Hellllloooo!” Pinkie Pie called out in a loud voice. “Anyone home?”
“I couldn’t see any lights inside,” Autumn said, coming back around.
“I’ve been knocking, but no one’s answered the door.”
“Ooh, let me try! I’m a good knocker.”Autumn Blaze tried. Quite aggressively, so much that snow fell down from the eaves.Still no luck.
“So… you thinking empty or haunted?” Autumn asked, after a short stretch of silence.
Pinkie Pie tentatively tried the door knob and found it open. Calling out a few more times, they both went inside and shut it against the cold wind blowing as the night began to settle.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure whose ever it is won’t mind us staying for just the night,” Pinkie Pie said, nosing about in the gloom before lighting a candle. Soon she found a letter on a table, coffee stained and crinkled, welcoming any visitors to rest there for the night.
There were beds with pillows and blankets, somewhat musty, and there was a small stack of firewood besides a cold fireplace that Autumn Blaze took charge in lighting. There were wooden plates and metal tankards, but there was no food or drink to use them with.
“Guess we might be going hungry for a bit,” Autumn said with a half-smile. “Oh hey, it’s starting to snow!” She bounded to the window, apparently taking it in good stride. Pinkie Pie moved to the window beside her and watched the snow fall from the heavy gray clouds that had hung over them all day. “Quite a way to spend the night, huh?”
“Wish we could be in Ponyville, though,” Pinkie Pie said wistfully, resting her chin on the cold windowsill. “There’s nothing else like it, not even Canterlot can top it, and you wouldn’t believe how nice Twilight’s castle looks with all the lights and decorations.” Pinkie sighed, feeling her shoulders drooped. “With everyone gathered together, singing and laughing.”
She missed her friends, and this was one of her favorite holidays of the year. Twilight was going to be there this year to celebrate with them once she was done with her responsibilities in Canterlot, and Rarity would be back as well from her trip to Manehattan. They’d all get to be together.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” Autumn Blaze said, laying a hoof on her shoulder. “It’s my fault you’re stuck here with me instead of with your friends.”
“What? Don’t be silly!” Pinkie Pie said, making herself grin. “It’s no one’s fault, and we could still have a good time! We can, um, well there’s…” Pinkie Pie paused, tapping her chin and gazing around the sparse cabin. “Guess there’s no hot cider. Not even coco. And there’s no gifts here, I left mine all back home. No lights or decorations… we could sing? Although you don’t know the songs...”
“Oh, I love songs!” Autumn Blaze said, leaping to her hooves with glee. “Why didn’t you say so! I’d forgotten, like, all of my songs when kirins lost their voice but now I can sing again!”
“Yes! I can teach you the Hearth’s Warming Eve carol, it’s a classic! Every filly and colt grows up learning it. You always sing it at the end of the pageant telling the story Equestria’s founding.”
“That’s so cool! Like a history lesson rolled up with a holiday. So uh… what is the holiday?”
“Oh my gosh, that’s right! I get to teach you. It’s a story about ponies coming together in the spirit of harmony long, long ago, when the three tribes were separate and the world almost ended in a great, terrible winter…”
Pinkie Pie told her the legend, just as she had heard it since she was a filly, acting out each part like a one-pony play. How the three tribes sent representatives to seek out new lands, travelling through snow and wind to find Equestria. She talked about Chacellor Puddinghead and the other leaders, but moreso about Smart Cookie, Private Pansy, and Clover the Clever, the ponies who truly showed all that made the holiday special.
“Soon, the leader’s icy bodies thawed, and their hearts as well, and they spent the rest of the night singing and telling stories until morning, protected by the Hearth’s Warming Fire that kept them warm.”
“Wow… kinda like us.” Autumn said, listening attentively.
“Huh?”
“Well, yeah. Ponies, or, uh, creatures of different kinds coming together in a crazy snowstorm, all in the spirit of harmony?”
“Oh… I hadn’t thought of it like that, but yeah. It kinda is.” Pinkie Pie gazed about the dark cabin with new eyes. “I’m sure it wasn’t very comfortable in that cave, but that didn’t stop them from making the best of it. Come on!"
Together they searched through the cabin and found candles to light, and a broom to sweep the floor before pulling their blankets before the fireplace, a much cheerier alternative to the soot-stained stove. They filled a metal pot with snow and melted it to fill their cups, and even managed to find an apple, a packet of crackers, and a few cookies in the bottom of their bags. There was a certain thrill to it all as they set the food all on a platter between them, clinking their mugs of ice water together and singing carols and telling stories long into the night, as the storm raged outside.
"This wasn't quite the Hearth's Warming Eve I'd imagined," Pinkie Pie said as they grew quieter between yawns, as the fire dimmed to burning coals. "But it'll be one I'll remember."