I Know My Fate

by Snow Quill

Chapter 2

The next morning’s sun rose a bit brighter as the weather warmed from spring to summer. Sunshower groaned as she stretched out, smacking her lips as Treehugger came in with her morning tea, aurelia gold this time.

The pegasus sat up and looked at the tea with some suspicion. Treehugger had rebuffed any further attempts to talk the night before and now she couldn’t help but feel like she was being buttered up to not bring it up again.

She wasn’t sure why Treehugger was being so dodgy and that worried her. It was clear that whatever she saw yesterday was bothering her and it bothered Sunshower that she wasn’t being told what. They were supposed to be partners, there for each other when things weren’t right.

She didn’t have the energy to fight it this early yet and so accepted the tea with a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’m not on weather duty today, were you going to the shop or staying home?”

Treehugger hummed. “Mmm…I think I’ll stay home.”

She climbed onto the bed and sat behind Sunshower, gently nudging her wings open to preen them. Sunshower grumbled quietly as she drank the tea, now Treehugger was really trying to get on her good side.

She waited until her cup was empty and Treehugger was just petting her feathers, taking the time to find the right words. Finally, she sighed. “Hugs?”

“Mmhmm?”

“I’m going to ask one more time and I really need you to be honest with me - what did you see?”

She could feel Treehugger tense behind her before she shifted to sit beside Sunshower. “Mmm…Visions are vague and could mean something ‘good’ or something ‘bad’ or it could mean nothing at all. I apologize for my mood yesterday, I was trying to sort it out and in truth was frustrated I couldn’t see something more clear.”

Sunshower was still for a moment before she nodded and leaned over to nuzzle her. “Alright. I’m sorry for bothering you about it, I was just worried. When I came outside yesterday you…It looked like you had seen a ghost, and not in the way you would react to seeing one either, but like someone who isn’t used to seeing them did.”

Treehugger returned the nuzzle with a soft frown, “I see. I’m sorry, I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

“Just, please promise me that if something was bothering you you would tell me, that you would let me help?”

“...I promise.”

Sunshower smiled. “Good. Now, wanna do some yoga with me? All that preening has me wanting to stretch my wings out.”

Treehugger chuckled and slid off the bed and offered her hoof. “Some yoga sounds awesome. To the garden?”

Sunshower giggled as she took Treehugger’s hoof. “To the garden.”

~~

Their morning spent in the sun, the afternoon found the pair in Treehugger’s reading room after Sunshower asked for a reading.

Sunshower wandered around the small and cozy room, reminiscing on that first time she walked into Treehugger’s apothecary with a coupon for a hoof reading. It seemed like ages ago that she kept finding excuses to go back, to make sure she got the right tea, to double check dosage and get another reading since she was there.

All until she finally had the courage to confront her true feelings and make Treehugger aware.

Treehugger watched her movements with a patient smile, sitting at her table and waiting for the pegasus to join her. “Which kind of reading would you prefer today my dewdrop?”

Sunshower hummed noncommittally and wandered over to the tarot decks. She picked up the nature set she had gifted Treehugger for their anniversary. “How about the cards? It’s been a while since you’ve read them for me.”

Treehugger nodded, taking an extra grounding breath before taking the cards. She motioned for Sunshower to sit as she shuffled the deck and fanned the cards over her table mat.“How many?”

Sunshower shrugged, her hoof traveling across the cards before stopping. “I think just one.”

Treehugger nodded and selected the card she had stopped on and placed it on the table. The art showed a pair of ponies tangled together on a lush flower bed, but the card was pulled upside down. “The Lovers reversed.”

Sunshower squinted and tilted her head, trying to recall. “Disharmony and loss of balance, usually in personal relationships.”

Their eyes met, the awkward truth of the card almost smothering. Sunshower looked at the card before gently grabbing it and shuffling it back into the deck, fanning the cards toward Treehugger this time. “Your turn.”

Treehugger blinked at her before looking down at the cards. She let out a deep breath and pointed at one. Sunshower carefully flipped it over, revealing a pony hung by a vine on their back hoof. “The Hanged Pony, reversed.”

Treehugger closed her eyes and sighed. “Stalling, fear of sacrifice and needless sacrifice.”

Sunshower nodded, leaving the card out and reaching for Treehugger’s hoof. Treehugger startled slightly, but squeezed her hoof and slowly opened her eyes.

“What do you say about taking a trip?”

Treehugger blinked. “A trip?”

Sunshower nodded. “A trip. My cousin has an art show in Manehatten this weekend, I think it would be good for us to get out of here for a couple days, freshen up our energy.”

Treehugger couldn’t help a teasing smile. “Ah yes, Manehatten, the freshest and most energy friendly capital of Equestria.”

Sunshower tried to hold her pout and frown, but the especially deadpan delivery brought giggles from her. “Okay, point taken but still. They do have some nice rock shops there.”

Treehugger nodded. “That they do. Alright my dewdrop, let’s take a trip.”

~~

Treehugger hoped she didn’t look as nervous as she felt as she and Sunshower walked down the cobblestone streets of Manehatten. She had managed to put aside her worry of her apparently impending death on a beach until she was told Sky Sweeper’s art showing was in the fishing district.

The smell of the ocean stung her eyes and mouth as she surreptitiously shook off the feeling of sticky sand on her hooves.

She nudged Sunshower and smiled when she got a playful nudge back. Maybe the ‘death’ from her vision really was just indicative of change, something changing in their relationship while on this trip.

They walked into the gallery, wandering past small groups of socialites and art critics towards the main attraction.

A yellow mare perked up as she saw Sunshower, politely excusing herself from the journalist interviewing her and trotting towards them with a wide smile. “Sunshower! I’m so glad you could make it. And you must be Treehugger, namaste.”

Treehugger forced a smile and bowed her head. “Kind greetings Sky Sweeper, it’s good to meet you. I look forward to seeing your art.”

“It’s good to meet you too. Here, you two can get a sneak peek.”

Sky Sweeper winked and ushered the two behind a velvet rope and behind plain sheets that were hiding her art until the big reveal scheduled soon.

Treehugger’s eyes widened and she let out a soft ‘whoa’ at the first canvas, a minimalist piece with green and yellow strokes intertwining across a grainy gray background. Sky waved her hoof over it. “I call this one ‘Souls Intertwine’, meant to capture the simple elegance of two creatures coming together and sharing and creating color of their souls.”

Sunshower elbowed Treehugger with a giggle and whispered. “Hey, it kinda looks like us doesn’t it?”

Treehugger hummed. The yellow and green chosen were rather close to their respective coats… “Huh…Interesting.”

The next canvas was slightly larger and more colorful, but there was a melancholic tone to it. The same green and yellow paint were swimming much closer together, rarely leaving each other and starting to create a brown in the center.

“I call this one ‘Time’s Test’, representing the struggle couples go through in coming together but also maintaining their individuality.”

Treehugger hummed thoughtfully and moved on towards the final canvas, the largest piece by far and clearly the final. Her breath hitched and her heart dropped as she saw it, unable to shake her initial impression that it was her vision.

The green and yellow had separated slightly, still twirling their individual streaks but with a small ribbon of vibrant red within them and in the middle instead of the brown from earlier.

“Here is ‘Love’s Harmony’, where each soul has been able to find balance and allow room for a passionate red, representing -”

Red and green and red and yellow.

Sunshower held Treehugger’s bloody hoof to her cheek, sobbing. “Please…Hugs…”

Treehugger snapped out the scene and found herself nearly across the room from the final piece, Sky and Sunshower looking at her with varying levels of concern.

Sky chuckled awkwardly as she placed the sheet back over it. “I uh, didn’t think you would dislike it that much.”

Treehugger winced and held up a hoof to defend herself but Sunshower beat her to it. “Hugs is much more spiritually connected than most ponies Sky, so her emotional responses can seem more…dramatic. She didn’t mean any disrespect.”

“Oh I know that, I was trying to ease the tension with a joke. Trust me, as an artist my goal is to make others feel things.”

Treehugger shuddered and tried to take a breath, to stop herself from hyperventilating but it wasn’t working. It was too much, the salt on her tongue, the red on the canvas, the beach she knew was just streets away…

She turned and ran.

Comments

[Mind Jack]

So she ran off, and something happened?

This is really well-written, but I'm a bit confused by the ending.

[Snow Quill]

11578261
Totally valid. I ended it there on purpose because the ending is shown already, but it’s also kinda open to interpretation, depending on whether you think the vision was literal and comes true or not. I personally like leaving stories with that sort of open endedness and I felt it appropriate for the specific tone and style of this one. It’s definitely gonna hit or miss with some people and that’s totally okay! I hope that, overall, you still enjoyed the story despite the ending not quite hitting

[Mind Jack]

11578377
I did enjoy it. Your writing style alone is very enjoyable, and the characters are cute.

You say the ending is shown. Do you mean in another story, or the vision?

I'm mostly confused about what exactly happened to her in the vision. It's not very clear, unless I missed some obvious signs.

[Snow Quill]

11578580
Yup! So my intentions/interpretation was that Treehugger was recently diagnosed with hemophilia, mentioned during dinner. It’s basically when your blood doesn’t clot right so you continue to bleed a lot even if it’s a small cut (well, slightly dramatized for this story but essentially). The idea is that, as Tree runs, because she is used to nature and softer dirt in general, the rough cobblestones cut her hooves open and she essentially bleeds out on the beach in Sunshower’s hooves.

It was kinda meant to be vague and alluded to, built through hints in the story

[Mind Jack]

11578719
Oh jeez. I getcha now. Quite the sad ending. But very good. ^^