Happy Hearth's Warming, They Say In The Streets...
There are many things I like about Hearth’s Warming.
The way snow crunches beneath your hooves. The cold tingle of water on your tongue when you stick it out to catch snowflakes. The fact that there is no more school and no obligations; just relax. Or in my case, spend all the time outside! Throwing snowballs and having snowball fights, making huge forts and icy castles. Skating and sledding, drinking hot chocolate beside the fireplace.
Well, those are all pretty boring compared to me.
“Woohoo!” I holler, grinning like a madmare. The wind blows past me and my scooter wheels blaze through the snow. “Yeah!”
One more thing I love about Hearth’s Warming? I could fly. Down the streets! Around corners! Dashing through snow piles! But my favourite of all?
I narrow my eyes and lick my lips. Hitting a small snow pile that looks just right, I launch a couple feet into the air and whoop.
Ramps!
And oh, how I know exactly where all the snow ends up. A lot of it goes against the buildings. Sometimes it just fills up the grooves and pits in the street. A lot of the time, though? They end up in huge piles three ponies high, off to the side of the road! Hah! And I know exactly where the biggest one is, every year, because it’s just that spot. The spot where ponies decide “Hey, let’s leave all this snow here and nopony will question it!”
Sliding into place far down the street it was on, I take a moment to take a breather. Taking off my helmet for a second, I wipe my slightly damp forehead and stare at it. Big Barley. At least, that’s what all the fillies and colts in the playground called it. Shaking my mane, I stretch my wings eagerly and plopp my helmet back on.
“Let’s do this,” I whisper to myself. This year, I’ll get the highest air yet, and maybe, just maybe, I can catch a draft. Glancing to my wings, I wiggle them. Today is the day.
“Three…”
I shake my tail, eagerly prepping myself mentally.
“Two…”
I place a hindleg into the ground and narrow my eyes.
“ONE!”
Fwish!
I could feel it already! The wind rushing through my hair! The exhilaration of not feeling anything under you! Being in control of the wind! “HAHA!” I yell, now nearing the ramp and causing several ponies to jump out of my way. Well, it’s their fault for getting in my way, because this is it. This is the moment!
My scooter slips effortlessly onto the slope, and I can immediately feel the effects of gravity and the snow itself slowing me down, but I persist. Buzzing my wings faster and faster, I find myself maintaining my speed and even speeding up. Almost… there-!
Zwoom!
Straight into the air I go, leaving the ground altogether. The ground looks so far away now, ponies looking up to see what all the commotion was about. Well, Equestria, this is the day I fly! Stretching my wings wide, I flap as hard as I can, smiling wide at the feeling of gaining air.
But in the short span of a few seconds, I soon realise that I’ve stalled, and I’m barely staying afloat. Letting go of my scooter to let it skid down the other side of the snow pile, I strain my wings more and more.
“C’mon!” I beg, “C’mon! Let this be the year! C’mon!”
In that moment, I felt my stupid wings begin to strain and- and-
“AGH!” I shout, feeling my wings cramp, and I begin to plummet.
You know, with how many times I’ve fallen crusading for my cutie mark, you would’ve thought I’d be used to this by now. Failed attempts and botched crusades aside, I felt butterflies in my stomach and hoped I would land in a soft pile of snow.
Well, what do you know, the next thing I find is myself in somepony’s firm grip, completely stopping my short free fall. Already suspecting who it was, I smile.
“Phew!” I sigh, wincing as my wings furl stiffly against me. “Thanks R-”
“You shouldn’t be doing things so risky, young one,” a smooth yet uncharacteristically shaky voice says, and I stop in my words. Wait a second. As we approached the ground, I suddenly realised that the hooves holding me were a light scarlet-orange, almost the same colour as my own orange fur.
As she brought me to the ground, she gently lets me hop from her grasp. A few ponies that had seen the act clapped their hooves at the spectacle, but all I can do is turn around to face my saviour. Focusing on her, I almost recognise her. She was one of the new-old ponies that had come out of that limbo thing just a few weeks ago!
Still adorned in her traditional headpiece and dress from a time long gone by, she stands, frowning carefully at me. She looks almost regal, and in many cases, she was, but there’s one thing that’s putting me off.
Whatever is surrounding her eyes, some sort of eyeliner, is ever so slightly smeared. Her eyes are tinged red, almost like she’s been crying, and I can see a look in her eyes I’ve seen way too many times. I see it in myself every time I look in a mirror.
Loneliness.
“Will you promise me not to do something so brash again anytime soon?” she asks me, her voice wavering ever so slightly.
I can only nod while I look at her intently. She gazes back with the same intensity. “I promise.”
She nods and smiles softly. “Good.” With that, she stretches her rosy wings wide before taking air with one large wing flap. As she begins to fly away, I see her bring her hoof to her face and wipe something away before seemingly looking at it and shaking her head. Watching her fly towards Twilight’s castle, I frowned.
This is a job for the Crusaders.
“Hold on, can you repeat all that? It sounded like a bunch of gobblewonkin’ nonsense!”
I look to both of my friends who are looking at me, slightly confused. I sigh, putting a hoof to my face. “Alright, I’ll try and simplificate it-”
“Simplify.”
I roll my eyes at Sweetie Belle and continue. “Whatever. Simplify. We’re going to throw a “Welcome Back to Equestria” party or something to make her feel welcome.”
“And who are we doing this for again, exactly?” Sweetie asks me.
“That pegasus with all the fancy south Equestrian clothes.”
“You mean Somnambula?” Apple Bloom says. I look at her and raise an eyebrow. She continues. “She’s a reddish-orange pegasus with the fancy eye stuff, right?”
“Yup, that’s her.”
“Well,” Sweetie Belle starts, “What are we supposed to do? And why are we doing this?”
“Because she’s lonely, Sweetie Belle!” I snap, and my two friends fall silent. “Don’t you see the look in her eyes when she looks at everypony around here? Almost as if the idea of Hearth’s Warming Eve hurts her to the core!? As if she feels she’s the only person in the world, even when she’s surrounded by her friends!?”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle share a look as I continue to huff. “No-no, I haven’t noticed,” Sweetie says.
“It’s because she hides it real well!” I shout, “Just like I do, each and every year! I wish I had my family around more, but no, they’re gone, and they’re never coming back! That’s how I know, because I see it in myself everyday! And if there’s somepony else I see like that, I want to do everything I can to make them feel like they’re not alone, like Rainbow Dash does with me, like you girls do with me!”
There’s a silence for a few seconds before I realise that my vision is blurry and my face is streaked with tears. Sniffling, I wipe my face and sniffle before closing my eyes.
“Please.”
Wiping some more tears away, I squeeze my eyes harder closed, a couple sobs racking through me as I begin to think of how stupid I was just then. Seriously, telling my friends all that? I might as well say goodbye to them. Why would they ever be friends with me after hearing all that? Stupid, stupid, stupid-
Two pairs of hooves then envelope me, and I feel their warm embrace make me cry only harder as I grab them into a better hug.
“We never knew you felt like that all the time, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle whispered, her voice a little shaky.
“And we’re sorry for being so rash on ya,” Apple Bloom sniffled, “I know all too well what no parents feels like, but I have Applejack.”
“And my parents, my parents are always gone on some sort of trip or something,” Sweetie Belle mumbled, “But at least I have Rarity. You don’t have anypony but us and Rainbow and whoever else…”
Nodding and giving a wavering “Mhm,” I hug them tight and smile. “Thanks girls. I always know I can count on you to cheer me up. Now there’s somepony else we need to cheer up.”
Breaking the group hug, we’re all just a little bleary-eyed from crying, but I can see our looks of determination and know that we will not fail. “Let’s do this. Somnambula needs to feel like she has good friends here. And we can do that. Let’s put a smile on her face!”
Smiling at both of my best friends with a unanimous grin quickly spreading across our tear-stained muzzles, we all take a deep breath in and shout:
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS HEARTH’S WARMING CHEERERS YAY!”
…
“So are we getting Pinkie’s help then?”
“She’s outta town, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
As we trot away from the clubhouse, hooves hastily speeding through the snow, I begin rambling the idea I’d been forming since I crashed into Somnambula earlier today. Knowing she was from Southern Equestria sure helped me in some ideas I was thinking, but I have no idea if I can pull it off with just my friends.
“Hey, maybe we can ask Twilight to help us!” Sweetie Belle suggests, “I mean, she could use her skill at magic to make a room in the castle or something seem like a desert, and then I can help make us costumes-”
“-and then I can help set up props and decorations and all that-” Apple Bloom continues.
“-and then we all join up and invite Somnambula to the room and present her with all the things that she remembered and liked way back when, acting something out even!” I finish, fluttering my wings and grinning at my friends. They smile just as brightly back at me and we all beam. This could be fantastic!
“So, what story could we act out to make Somnambula feel all good inside?” Apple Bloom asks as we begin making our way to the castle.
“Why not the most classic legend of her and the Sphinx?” I suggest, recalling that Rainbow had gone on an adventure with Pinkie to the very same temple from the legend.
“No, that’s too contemporary!” Sweetie Belle argues. “Everypony knows that one! What about how she saved everypony from a giant snake that only kept growing bigger and bigger until she fished some sort of rock out that cursed the snake and when she did, the snake threw everything it had eaten up and whole villages and ponies were saved!”
Both Apple Bloom and I skid to a stop for a second to process her words.
“Wait, what?” I say. “Where did you hear that from?”
Sweetie Belle backtracks and turns to us. “Seriously? Weren’t you listening to Pinkie rambling when we got shakes a couple weeks ago? She was talking about how she read Sunburst a story about Somnambula from some dusty old book, and even told us the story! Are you telling me you weren’t listening?”
“Come on, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom tries, “Nopony listens to Pinkie when she starts to ramble.”
Sweetie Belle almost looks hurt and harrumphs. “Hmph! Well, Pinkie has some great stories to tell sometimes. You should both try and listen more often.”
Me and Apple Bloom share a look before sighing. “Alright, Sweetie.”
She smiles and we continue on, rushing up the stairs to the castle and stopping at the door.
“Alright, who’s gonna knock?” I ask.
“T’was your idea, Scoots. You do it,” Apple Bloom tells me.
“Mmhm!” Sweetie Belle agrees.
Giving the both of them an annoyed look to which they replied a shrug, I knock. I step back and we listen as the knocks echoed until they grew too soft to hear, and began to hear hasty hooffalls and the sound of hooves sliding on crystal. Glancing at both my friends hesitantly, they could only share the same look.
As the hoofsteps grew loud, the door swung open showing a somewhat disheveled Twilight. She took a deep breath and was about to say something before seeing it was just the Crusaders. “Oh hello girls!” Twilight said smiling. “How are you today? Good, I hope?”
“Twilight?” Apple Bloom starts, “Y’all right there?”
A few more hairs bent out of place before Twilight replied. “Fine. Fine! Absolutely fine, don’t worry about me, just a lot of things going on right now. Hehe!”
Sweetie Belle raises an eyebrow and glances quickly at me and Apple Bloom. “Okaaaay! Uh, well, we were gonna ask if you could help us with a little something, you know? Like, can we borrow a room and a bunch of supplies, and can you help us make some sand and stuff?”
Twilight blinks owlishly before smiling. “Uh, oh, uh, that’s an interesting request! Ehe! Are you sure you don’t want something else? Ice cream, perhaps? No, wait, it’s cold out. How about some nice hot cocoa? Yes, and with marshmallows and maybe some bread on the side so you can dunk it in! No, wait, that’s something that’s supposedly uncommon. Ah!”
“Twilight, Twilight!” I say, waving my hooves in front of me. “Take a chill pill and calm down! It’s okay, we don’t want any ice cream or hot chocolate or bread or whatever. We just want you to help us a little!”
We watch as Twilight twitches a little before her hair slowly settles and she frowns slightly. “Just something little? An illusion or conjuring spell is quite simple... “ Grinning more naturally this time, she waves at us. “Come in, why didn’t you just say so?”
“We did,” I say under my breath as we pass by her.
“Hm? What was that, Scootaloo?” Twilight asks innocently.
I hesitate for a split second, not enough for her to notice. “Just, uhhhh, thanks, Twilight!”
“No worries!” Twilight smiles, “This is a good distraction, something small, little, surely it can’t be that bad…”
“No! No! No!” Twilight cries, staring at the room she had given us. “What happened to the bed? Where are the drawers? The mirrors? THE BOOKSHELVES!? Did you use it for those stands to make the bazaar? Did you use the bed sheets to make costumes?! Ahhh! No! No! This can’t be! The books are gone! Where’d the books go!?”
Twilight grabs me, now decked out in a mediocre Somnambula costume that I’m still quite proud of Sweetie Belle for, and shakes me. “SCOOTALOO, WHAT DID THE CRUSADERS DOoOoOoOO-?! Nnghhhh uhhhhh…” Her grip on me loosens drastically before the eyes in her head roll back and she passes out, her legs splaying out as she lands in the course rough and cushioning sand.
Landing on my haunches, I widen my eyes and tentatively get up, poking Twilight in the base of her wing. No response. Trotting up to her head, I feel it and widen my eyes at the burning heat underneath my hooves. Pulling away, I turn to Sweetie and Bloom, who’d been watching in silent concern.
“Uh,” I began.
“Just hide her in the snake costsume?” Apple Bloom suggests.
“And then we can, uh, oh! Oh! And then she can tumble out when you finally get the cursed stone out of the snake!” Sweetie Belle finishes.
We share a nod and smile. “Sounds like a plan!” I say, “Great job girls! Alright, let’s just move the body and-”
“Hey Crusaders, is Twilight in here? I forced her to fit a nap into her schedule with how stressed she’s been lately and- and- uh…” Spike was saying as he peeked in but slowed to a stop upon seeing me, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom each with the limb of an unconscious feverish unmoving Twilight in our hooves.
He blinks as his gaze bounces from us to Twilight’s form before laughing nervously. “Ehehe, on second thought, I’ll just go brew a pot of herbal tea for when Twilight is done with her… her nap, yeah! Her nap! And I’ll just uh… yeah-” with that, he shut the door and we could hear is hastily retreating claw steps.
We all blink. “Never speak of this again?”
“Eeyup!”
“I don’t even know what we were just talking about.”
With that out of the way, we finally settled everything down and got everything finalised, and it was still only halfway through the afternoon! We could still do this.
“Alright girls, I’m proud to say this is the best thing I’ve planned ever! Now that it’s all set up, we need Somnambula to somehow find her way to this room. Any ideas on how we can do that?”
We all look up for a second before Apple Bloom mumbles something. “I dunno. Maybe ask Spike to send a flame message whatchamacallit?”
“No, too flashy, and it might be sent to Princess Celestia instead,” Sweetie Belle says. “How about we lead a trail of sand from her room or something to here, and she just has to follow it?”
“Too messy,” Apple Bloom says, “And ‘sides, I think Twilight has enough as it is to worry about, whatever it is she’s got goin’ on.”
Blinking, a brilliant thought pops into my head. “Oh, I know! What if we blindfold her and lead her to this room and just start from there? You know, that trust legend thing and all that!”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes widen. “And then we could get into our places and just tell her to take off the blindfold!”
“And we would be all set in performin’ our thingamabob!” Apple Bloom shouted, and we all murmur our agreements.
“Now comes the hard part, then,” I say. “We have to find Somnambula.”
Apple Bloom taps her chin in thought. “Well, it honestly shouldn’t that be hard if you did see her heading here to the castle just before we came here. We might be able to find her with somethin’ like a directory.”
“What’s a directory?” I ask, puzzling at Apple Bloom.
Sweetie Belle decides to be the dictionary she is and answer my very valid question. “Directory: it just means a mini map or something that shows where you are in a building.”
I blink, raising an eyebrow at Apple Bloom for even knowing the word. “Huh. Well, I think I saw one on the way here.”
“Alright, let’s do this!” Apple Bloom says, and I smile.
“Let’s go!”
Taking our costumes off and putting them to the side, we rush out of the room. We run and run until we reach the corner of the hall where I had seen the directory. Sure enough, there’s freshly taped-on names inside rooms, one of which was Somnambula’s. Strangely, Star Swirl’s room is situated right next to Twilight’s. Snorting at her eggheadyness, I point my hoof at the spot. Looking at my friends, we wordlessly nod.
We rush, wanting to do this as soon as possible. I just can’t stand the idea of Somnambula being all alone like that. Maybe one of the only things that was delaying the reaction was Pinkie’s presence, as they had stuck together side-by-side after beating the Pony of Shadows. Maybe it’s because she visited her homeland and all she saw was a completely different geogramijacal landscape and a statue of herself.
Arriving at her door, I begin to realise that maybe setting up an entire room for a skit that would more than likely end in reminding her of the ponies she’d lost may’ve been a bad idea.
Gulping, we three stare up at the handle.
“I just realised something,” I say to my partners. “We’d really just be reminding her of Southern Equestria and it might make things worse…?”
“Yeah… might not’ve been the best idea in hindisght,” Apple Bloom says.
“Just do it, Scoots,” Sweetie Belle tells me. “We’ve already set it all up. All we can do now is carry out the plan.”
All I can do is nod.
Alright Scootaloo, you can do this. It shouldn’t be this hard. You’ve got everything already planned. It’s all good.
I knock on the door.
A rustling can be heard in the room as I hear somepony hit something.
“Ack!” a voice cries before the sound of hooves hitting the floor echoes through the door. “Sorry! Just a- just a second! Will be out!” Stepping away from the door, I stand idly by my friends’ side as the sound of hooves reaches the door. The door opens, and through the cleaven crack we can see Somnambula with traces of tears still marking her cheeks. It doesn’t seem as bad as it had been when I ran into her earlier today, and… just the sight of it...
It removed what doubt I had in the plan I’ll be setting into action.
“Hi, Somnambula,” I say, looking up at her. She frowns for a second as if remembering me before her face brightens.
“Oh, it’s you from the snow ramp! How are things? I do hope you haven’t been putting yourself in danger since then.” Smiling, she tries her best to look composed.
I guess she does look normal at first glance, but me being me and knowing what I do, she was faking it. Her calm was a disguise. As mine usually was; though I always hid it behind my daring attitude and enthusiasm.
“Somnambula, do you trust us?” I ask, going straight for the fish in the barrel. She blinks, hesitating. Looks like we’ve taken her off guard.
“Trust you?” Somnambula says, her eyes falling on Sweetie and Apple Bloom. “A group of sweet little fillies like yourselves? Of course!”
Apple Bloom winces and smiles. “Maybe not the best idea-” Sweetie nudges her hard and she falls silent.
Pulling the blindfold from its place in my wing, I hold it out. “Will you put this on and let us lead you somewhere? I really- uh, we really want to show you something. It’s very important.”
Staring at the blindfold, she seems to go into a sort of daze before reaching for it. Gripping it, she steps out of her room. Continuing to gaze intensely at it for a few more seconds, she sighs and shuts her eyes.. “If you so wish, for something so seemingly important to you…” She holds the blindfold out to us. “Lead me.”
“Actually?” I say, not having expected her to say yes so readily so quickly. “I mean, that’s awesome and all that, but you don’t even know us that well!”
Looking at each of us softly, she points at each of us. “I know you are siblings and friends of those that bear the Elements. I see the spark that they have inside each one of you. It is enough for me to trust.”
We look at her for a second before I nod. She closes her eyes and leans her head to face down, allowing us to wrap the blind fold around her head securely. Now, with no idea what she would be in for, my friends and I nod at each other before we begin to quickly escort her to the room we had set it all up in.
We throw the door open and lead her in, the sand beneath us beginning to shift under our weight. Closing the door, we quickly grab our costumes and put them on, glancing at the script quickly once more before we start. Murmuring encouragements, we all nod and break off to our starting positions.
“You can take your blindfold off now, Somnambula,” Apple Bloom calls, and as we see her slide the cloth off, we begin.
“Somnambula! Somnambula!” Apple Bloom shouts, running up to me in a comically produced pharaoh costume. “There’s a giant snake that’s been eatin’ up my city and the ponies in it! I don’t know what to do!” She then points to a giant hollow puppet that began dancing in place, slithering around and knocking over a model city we had somehow created.
Smiling widely, I puff my chest out as my candy-rock necklace glows from ethereal enchantment. “Don’t worry about it, Prince Hisan, everything should be fine! All you need is hope!”
“But Somnambula, the snake is dangerous! What are you going to do?”
I brush the question off. “I’ll just walk in and save everypony. It shouldn’t be that hard.”
Apple Bloom stares at me quizically, playing her part perfectly. “One does not simply walk into a snake. You’re crazy!”
“Hey, if I can beat a sphinx blindfolded, I can do anything!” I say. “Sides, that snake isn’t that bad.” Walking up to the snake, I grab a pole and poke the puppet. “Hey, snake! What’s up? Is something wrong? Why are you eating ponies and houses?”
Shaking a little, the snake opens it’s jaws wide and swallows me whole. In an instant, the whole room goes dark and I hear the shuffling of a background setting as I help unfurl the purple rug that would be the inside of the snake.
Tapping my rock-candy necklace, it glowed a bright array of colours. Glancing to my right, I see Somnambula watching the whole thing play out as she sat almost dumbfounded, wordlessly sitting haunches. Frowning, I see Sweetie Belle already waiting for me and drop a piece of my necklace down.
“Hey there stranger, what happened here?” I ask Sweetie.
“Somnambula!” Sweetie cries, “The snake got you too? We’re do-hoo-hooomed!”
“Now now, the way out is that way, here’s a piece of glopaz so you can see where you’re going!”
Sweetie takes the candy and raises an eyebrow. “But what if I don’t want to see the inside of a snake to get out?”
“Deal with it,” I say, “Dark or not, the snake is still there. Like hope! Hope is always there even if you can’t see it very well. Fun!”
“Thanks, Somnambula!” Sweetie says, walking behind a barrier as I start walking in place again. At this point, Apple Bloom runs out still fully dressed in her Hisan costume, and I stop in place, looking at her in disbelief.
“Whoa, hey, who’re you, glowy pony thing- ah darnit!” Apple Bloom began to say before realising her folly.
“Apple Bloom, you’re still dressed as Prince Hisan!” I hiss under my breath. “What the hay?”
“I forgot!” Apple Bloom replies, her eyes flicking to Somnambula, “We were movin’ faster than when we practiced!”
“Apple Bloom, come on, you had one job!” I say, sighing.
“Why are you arguing? Are we skipping the last part? Alrighty then, get into position!” We both hear Sweete whisper from behind the black curtain acting as a wall. Apple Bloom and I glance at each other before widening our eyes.
“No, Sweetie, wait-!” we begin to cry just as the snake bursts out from the curtain ripping a huge tear.
“BLEARGHARGHAHISssSSS!” Sweetie screeches, the snake puppet spitting tiny model buildings and figures of ponies. “OH NO, I’M GROWING SMALLER-GAH!”
Having completely botched her timing, she crashes straight into us as we’re still in the middle of the skit and bringing the entire play to a disastrous end. As we all tumble into a pile of hooves and cheap hastily-made costumes. Still maintaining some momentum, Sweetie seems to have snagged some of the curtain on her. Thus, the whole thing falls on us too, coating us in coarse purple curtain and trapping us further.
As if to add insult to injury, we somehow catch fire even though we don’t have anything that could set fire to us! At least, not this time!
Groaning in pain and anger, I seethe at Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle! Seriously!? I thought Apple Bloom messed up with her costume, you ruined the whole darn thing!” I wriggled, trying to gain some leverage to find to throttle her with. “Come on Sweetie Belle, just because we were arguing, didn’t mean we were skipping whole parts of the hecking play!”
Sweetie Belle’s lip quiver as her eyes begin misting. “Sorry, Scoots! It’s just like Apple Bloom was saying, we were moving faster than we had practiced and you were skipping whole lines from the script and book!” She begins to shake her head and close her eyes.
Apple Bloom glares at me from where she is in the roll. “Now Scootaloo, that wasn’t very nice, and Sweetie raises a good point. Y’all can’t place all the blame on us, ya hear?”
Sweetie Belle sniffles and her voice cracks. “I’m sorry for messing it up Scoots, I’m so sorry-”
A sound from nearby the door made us all stop bickering. All three of our heads slowly crane to look at the one pony we had set this all up for, and the one pony who would’ve been more affected by our failure than all of our own qualms combined. As we fell silent, Sweetie already calming down, we watch as she looks down, eyes closed. From where we are, we can see that she’s shaking and that she’s trying to hold back sobbing.
Feeling defeated, I close my own eyes and feel tears of frustration and fear of impending rebuttal come. “Somnambula, no, it wasn’t any of my friends faults at all. I’m to blame because I came up with the idea. I’m sorry for reminding you of your home and all the ponies you’ve lost-”
“Snrk,” Somnambula interrupts, putting a hoof up before smiling widely. “BWAHAHAHAHAHA!”
In that moment, there is complete silence as we try and contemplate why Somnambula is laughing instead of crying and shouting in anger.
Well, silent, except for her laughing.
“Hahahahaha!” Somnambula continues, holding her stomach and wiping tears from her eyes. “Hah! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Falling on her back, her hindlegs begin twitching and she starts rolling from side to side, bellowing laughter.
We all look at her for another second before we glance at each other. I send Sweetie an apologetic look before sending both her and Apple Bloom a helpless face, shaking my head and pointing my eyes in Somnambula’s direction. They only shake their heads in cluelessness simultaneously, just as lost.
“Hah Hehehe! Ho! Hahahahaha! Heeeeeeeee!” Somnambula cries, her laugh turning into wheezes before she begins to cough. “Heeee! Hehhhhhh! Kaff! Ack! Grough! Agh! Ho, hehehe! Hooooweeee! Heh, hehe!”
She starts to calm down and clutches her stomach tightly, her face locked in a mixture of pain and unbearable mirth. “Ahahaha ahhhhhhhh!” she yells, slapping the sand a bit before jerkily getting up onto four hooves. “Hehe! Ahahah! Hah! Hehe!” She persists, still giggling and wiping the tears from her eyes before coming over to us. She then shakes her head as she helps us untangle ourselves, and we all roll out, shaking ourselves off a little and huddling.
“Ohh, that was- that was so- so terrible! Hah! Eheha!” Somnambula snickers, still wiping her eyes. “Wow! And- and I thought this was going to be something- something crazy that you needed real help with! Hoo! And what a relief too! This was just- just pure gold! Ahaha! Haha! It was great!”
I blink, wiping the mist away from my eyes. “B-but aren’t you mad? Or at least disappointed that we screwed this up?”
“How could I be mad when you went to such lengths to remind me of my true home?” Somnambula says, and the air seems to go from an electrified mirth to a tamed sea. Her smile, however, stayed true all the same. “After all, my little ponies, I am a pony out of time. And it seems you fillies realised this. For that, I am grateful.
“But, Somnambula, miss,” Apple Bloom says, “You seemed so sad. Are you sure you’re fine now?”
Somnambula smiles wistfully. “None of us are truly fine, young one, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be sad and happy at the same time. There is always something about the world we have that bothers us to no avail. But you must remember that even in the darkest of places, hope is present. And you have reminded me of this.”
Stepping up to me, her smile takes on a sad tone as I see a flicker of change in her eyes. “Yet most important of all, something I must keep on reminding even myself…” She tips my head up with her hoof and gets me to look her straight in the eye. “There are ponies who care about you, and you are never alone. There is always somepony who can see exactly what you’re going through, and friends ready to help you.” Beckoning Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle over, she pulls us three into a hug.
“Thank you for this, little ones,” Somnambula whispers, clutching us tightly with both hooves and wings. “It has lightened the darkness I’ve been feeling recently by many leagues, and reminded me why Hearth’s Warming is so special for many ponies.”
We stayed like that for a few more seconds, relishing the unfamiliar but welcome warmth that Somnambula radiated. Soon enough, the hug began to grow awkward, especially between strangers, so we broke off and stood in place for a few seconds.
“Time to clean up?” I ask my friends, who glance around at the sudden mess the room had become.
“Time to clean up,” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle agree, sighing. As we began to split up, Somnambula steps forward with a wing, holding me back.
“Hey,” she says, furling her wing back in. “You were the one to organise this all, were you not?”
I glance into her soft burning eyes for a second before turning my gaze away. “...Yes.”
“Then you are one who can see the storm behind the eyes, hm?” she says. “Not just anypony is able to take a look at a pony and know the raging tempest behind the frightening calm.”
I continue to look away, choosing to watch my friends as they had started cleaning up without me. “I dunno. I guess.”
“It is nothing to be ashamed of,” Somnambula says, and I feel her wing turning my head to look at her. “And I am truly grateful. Today was particularly harsh for me since for the first time since coming back from limbo, I found myself truly alone, travelling back from Southern Equestria. And to run into you today? That could not have been a coincidence. I believe that there are things that happen for a purpose, and maybe I have something to teach you myself.”
She gently lifts one of my wings and I flinch away, frowning at her. She only purses her lips contemplatively. “Do not lose hope. Your wings have yet to grow into their proper forms to let you fly at this age and size.”
“How would you know?” I snap, before widening my eyes. I feel a blaze of embarrassment run through my cheeks. “I mean, I, uh, sorry for shouting at you-”
“It is okay,” Somnambula says, her eyes closed as she nods. “I understand wholly, for I too, was like you once. Surrounded by many strong ponies who could already fly at an age like yours and overshadowed completely by some, I could not take wing until sometime through my teenage years. But I can see the same fire of determination I see in myself everytime I look in the mirror in your eyes. A will of iron.
“Do not lose faith, and do not lose hope. You have yet to reach your full potential, and as I got my title, Hope, I realised this in my younger years.” She then smiles and ruffles my mane. “Just remember that, okay?”
Blinking at the sincerity behind her words, I nod. “I will, Somnambula.”
For a second, Somnambula seemed amused by something before looking out at the room before her and my friends. “You know, I still have no idea what your names are.”
“I’m Apple Bloom!” Apple Bloom cries while handling one of the fake stalls. Pulling a single nail, the whole thing falls to pieces. I roll me eyes.
“I’m Sweetie Belle!” Sweetie Belle yells under at least a ton of fabric, her voice muffled.
Somnambula turns to me last and raises an eyebrow.
“Scootaloo,” I say, “Daredevil-extraordinaire in training!”
With a toothy grin, she she smiles. “Somnambula.” Looking over the room again, she picks up the staff I had used. “Alright, Somnambula, let’s clean up the town!”
Breaking into my own gappy smile, I take off to help the Crusaders. Running up to the snake puppet, I begin dismantling the maw until a high-pitched screaming startles me.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NOT MY BOOKS! NOT MY BOOOOKS!” a muffled voice cries before-
RRIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!
A purple alicorn bursts through the stomach of the snake, shouting in alarm. I shriek in horrified terror, having forgotten about Twilight being inside the snake puppet, and I swear, I’m having a heart attack.
Blinking at the bright lights, Twilight groans, sluggishly shifting around before looking up at the destruction of the room before her and the presence of four ponies looking at her with worried fear.
She blearily blinks again.
“What did I miss?”