I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray

by TNBi

Prologue

“Your eyes are so strange!”

Snowdrop lifted her head slightly. Even it had been so many years since she last heard such a remark, her heart still tightened a bit — although it was not said to her, but came from outside her house.

She slowly came to her hooves from the chair, reached for her walking stick by her side, and tottered towards the door.

The time was winter. It was snowing everywhere in Equestria, with all the tiny white sprites covering all the land. Even for the city of Cloudsdale, which always floated in midair, there was a thin layer of snow covering its buildings as well. The floor formed by clouds also became stiff, as a result of the water freezing into ice.

She pushed the door open, and saw a number of foals before her house surrounding a gray pegasus mare, making fun of her. The mare was wearing a cloak with hood, and she was hiding her head inside.

“Look! The eyes of this pegasus are so funny!” One of the kids shouted to the others.

The gray mare did not speak, and hid her face in the hood. The foals demanded that she put away that hood and show them her face, but she only responded by shaking her head.

She was much bigger than those kids in size; she could either spread her wings and fly away, or just scold them angrily in defense. Still, the mare only sat there silently, right by the gate to Snowdrop’s house.

“Ow!”

One of the foals caught her off guard, and threw a snowball at her. It directly hit her face, and she shrieked in surprise. Seeing this, Snowdrop knew she should not stand and watch any longer.

“Holly!”

“Uh-oh! It’s granny Snowdrop!” On hearing her voice full of discontent, the foal named Holly froze for a brief moment. The others stopped their actions as well. All of them live in her neighboring homes; that’s why Snowdrop knew every one of them so well.

“It’s definitely wrong to make fun of another pony’s appearance. All of you — you too, Lily, Badger, Gulver and Pepper — now apologize to her; or I’ll tell your parents about this,” said Snowdrop with a stern look on her face.

The kids became uneasy at her remarks. In their eyes, granny Snowdrop was gentle and kind all the time; they realized that they must have done something very wrong that she became so angry like this.

“We’re sorry…” They apologized to the gray mare.

“…it’s okay,” said the mare with a shake of her head.

After the apology, the kids looked back at Snowdrop. She gave them a nod, and they scattered, running away.

“Are you all right? Did you get hurt?” Snowdrop walked slowly to the side of the gray pegasus, who still sat on the ground, covering her face in the hood.

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

“There, let me have a look…”

“No really, I’m really all —”

Snowdrop reached out a hoof and lifted her head from below her chin. Then their eyes met.

“Oooh. You have such beautiful eyes! You really should be proud of them.” A warm smile came to Snowdrop’s face.

“Well… that was the first time ever somepony told me something like that,” the gray mare blushed a little, embarrassed.

“I’ve never seen you before; are you from another place?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing here then?”

“I’m waiting for my friend. He went off urgently to deal with some business, and couldn't bring me along, so we agreed that I’ll meet him up here. It’s just I don’t know for sure when he’ll be here; sometimes he would arrive too late, and sometimes too early,” said the mare.

Too early? Snowdrop was a little confused at that.

“I see…” Snowdrop looked at the gray pegasus, whose cloak was already covered in a thin layer of snow. The mare was trembling a bit; she could have been waiting outside for quite a while.

“It’s getting chilly today — would you like to wait inside my house? I’ll make you some hot tea,” she asked generously.

“Huh? May I?”

The pegasus mare did not refuse; apparently she couldn’t stand the freezing weather outside any longer. As soon as she heard Snowdrop’s invitation, she couldn’t help but beam happily.

Snowdrop chuckled. “Be my guest.”

She led the gray mare into her house. It was not a big one, but it gave a warm feeling to her guest. There were only a small table, two chairs and a brightly burning fireplace in her living room. What made it special was that the walls were decorated with many, many patterns of snowflake.

“Snowflake patterns! Do all of these belong to you? Are you a snowlogist?” The mare asked, recognizing the decors on the walls.

“Snowlogist? What an interesting name for a job. Is that how you young pegasi address snow makers today? Well yes, I was one snowlogist, but long retired…” a smile lightened Snowdrop’s features as she picked up the small teapot from the table, walked to the kitchen, and lifted her head towards the cabinet above.

“Let me see… Where did I put the tea leaves? Alas, I am indeed aging; I remember having made some tea this morning…”

“Can I help?” asked her guest.

“No… no thanks, I have my own way of finding it.” Snowdrop said, closing her eyes gently, and started to grope about. At first the guest was very puzzled at her behavior, but then something even more astonishing came along —

Even with her eyes closed, Snowdrop’s actions were by no means hindered; in fact, she became even more agile and swift. Before long she put her hoof on one of the cabinets, smiled and said, “Bingo — I can smell the pleasant scent inside.”

She opened the cabinet, and the tea leaves were indeed right lying there. She did not open her eyes right away after finding them; instead, she went on blindfolded and put them inside the teapot accurately, then reached for the boiling kettle on the stove, and poured some hot water inside with same accuracy. She waited a few seconds until the dry leaves became soaked and rinsed, then poured the water out of the pot before filling it again with fresh hot water for cooking tea.

The intoxicating herbal fragrance filled the house inch by inch from the kitchen. She then carefully took the teapot back to the living room, and put it on the mat with extra caution.

“How… did you do that?!” The mare asked, her eyes widely open. She had secretly worried several times that Snowdrop could get hurt for doing these without even looking, and thus had dared not to breathe too hard. It was not until Snowdrop had finished doing all these without a hitch that she dared to ask.

“Huh?” Snowdrop opened her eyes, looking at the mare for a couple of seconds in confusion before realizing what the guest had asked about, and she chuckled.

“Oh… That was one of my old habits. I used to be blind in my childhood; that’s how I learned the habit of doing things without looking.”

She poured a cup of tea for her guest, and another cup for herself. The gray mare looked at the steaming drink, and sipped at it carefully, before letting a relaxed expression appear on her face.

“Well…” said Snowdrop, “you remind me of the story of my youth again, one I haven’t told another pony for quite a long time… Would you like to hear it?”

“Sure!” Her gray guest nodded eagerly.

“Okay, let’s see, where should I begin…”

Comments

[Pony_In_A_Fez_03]

This seems good so far!