In Equstria there is a holiday that is said to be celebrated by everypony. The holiday is supposed to be a time of love and compassion. Not for me though. My name is Darkfall. I have been wondering from place to place for three years now. I now sit on a bench in a park in a place called Ponyville. It’s a nice town. Small, cozy, everypony knows each other. Right now none of that matters though. It’s dark, and I sit alone watching the snow fall. I imagine in my mind that the snow can erase all of my problems. That after Hearths Warming Day I can go home and have friends again. A false hope.
I begin to leave through the town square. I’ve been here too long and it has begun to bring back memories, bad ones. I had no friends, no family, nothing to call home. This town resembled my home too much. Some say that on Hearths Warming eve wishes come true. I vainly wish I wouldn’t be so alone. That I had at least one friend left in the world, but it was best not to dwell on that. Just keep walking and don’t look back.
I passed several shops. Some had candles in the windows, others were completely dark. I came upon a large shop with a bright candle in the window. I could barely make out the sign. Sugar Cube Corner, must be a candy shop. A figure stood in the window as I passed. The glass was frosted over but he could make out a small pink filly.
My heart stopped. The figure waved me towards the door and I stumbled over, still awestruck. Nopony had ever looked upon me with kindness for years. The feeling felt odd. I was an outcast, no one wanted to get caught in my business. No one should have to.
The door opened. The figure turned out to be a pink filly with puffy hair.
“Hi there mister!” she said.
“What are you doin’ out on a night like this? Wait who cares? Come in and get warm!”
She backed up to let me in. I slowly walked into the shop. A fire was lit on one wall. The door closed behind me.
“Here! Let me take that.”
The pink filly took my cloak and bag. She set them on a chair near the fire. I asked her
“So what’s your name?”
She bounded over to the counter on the far side of the room.
“My name’s Pinkie Pie! What’s yours?”
I almost told her my real name but then caught myself. I didn’t want to get this filly in any trouble. I thought of the best name of the top of my head.
“My name is uh, Silverlight”
She smiled.
“Well hi Silverlight! Where are you from?”
I froze at the question. Where was I from? I was from a country where if you told the truth about your friends’ attacker and the attacker happened to be your brother, you were disowned and then put on trial for lying under oath. She didn’t need to know that. What’s a city had visited in the past month?
“I’m from Manehattan.”
“I’ve been there! It’s Really big!”
I sat down.
“Uh, yeah it is.”
“I’ll be right back! I’m going to get us some hot chocolate.”
She dashed into another room. I wondered how this had happened. Five minutes ago I had been out on the street by myself and, now I was in someone’s home enjoying hot chocolate. By the time this thought had run through my head she was back with two steaming mugs. She handed my one,
“Here you go! I assumed you wanted marshmallows so I already put some in your coco.”
She smiled again and sat down. I asked her a question.
“So where are your parents?”
“On a rock farm.”
The way she said it was so casual I couldn’t help ask another one.
“So who are you living with right now?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Cake. They own the shop. Oh that reminds me. We have to be kinda quiet. They said I could stay up but
that they were going to bed. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize, I’m still a bit surprised you just let me in off the street. I’ve never met you before in my life, so may I ask, why did you let me in?”
“I don’t really know honestly. Like you said we’ve never met before, so maybe it’s that, but I don’t know.”
She turned towards the fire.
“I mean you seem nice…”
The sentence trailed off. We both stared at the fire. The silence stood until she asked a question.
“So who are you staying with here in Ponyville?”
I winced. I’d been avoiding the question all night. I considered lying but it didn’t seem right. I couldn’t lie to her. Especially on a night like this. So I told her the truth.
“I’m actually here alone, I.. I wandered into town yesterday and you actually caught me on the way out.”
My face was downcast now. I had kept moving for years to avoid dwelling on memories, but now it wouldn’t stop cropping up.
She could tell from the look on my face that I was hurting. She moved a little closer.
“Tell me.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“You look like your scared and sad. I may not look like it but I know some things about running. Please, tell me.”
I sighed; there was no stopping it now. I told my story.
“It started about four years ago in a far off country. The name doesn’t matter, just know that it is very different from Equstria. I had a really good friend. We did everything together. Couldn’t break the two of us apart. One night he was attacked. He was brutally beaten and I couldn’t save him in time. By the time the ambulance arrived he was gone. Taken from me…
It started slowly but as it rolled forward it came faster, the emotions spilling over until I broke down.
She put her hoof on my shoulder.
“You don’t have to continue, if it hurts this much I understand if you can’t go..”
“No, I will finish. A few days later the police declared it a random act by a stranger, but I knew better. The day before I had found a bloody bat in my brothers’ room. I declared him guilty and took him to the courts. That very day my family disowned me. They said I was just looking to harm my brother with false accusations and lies. Eventually due to a lack of evidence he was declared innocent. He spread rumors that I had done it, that I had killed my own friend. Everybody I knew turned against me. They drove me out of the town I had been born in. So I began to wander. Not a friend left in the world.”
I was sobbing by this point.
The hurt felt as fresh has the moment I had realized that the ambulance wouldn’t be fast enough. I held my hoofs to my face. I could still remember these being covered with my friend’s blood.
“What was his name?”
I looked up.
“What?”
Pinkie looked me straight in the eyes.
“Your friend, what was his name?”
“Silverlight, his name was Silverlight.”
“But that’s your n..”
“I lied when I told you my name; I had hoped to keep my burden from you. My real name is Darkfall.”
I felt even worse now that the truth was out. But yet again the filly surprised me again. She hugged him. After a moment I hugged her back. They sat there for a few minutes before they broke apart. I stood and moved towards the door.
“Thank you for letting me tell you my story and giving me your kindness. It was something I haven’t felt in a long time. But I don’t want to be a burden, so I guess this is goodbye.”
She hopped to her feet.
“But, but your all alone, where will you go? On Hearths Warming eve?”
“I don’t know. I might wander to the forest for a while, I haven’t really thought of where to go next.”
She pawed the ground a little bit.
“Well if you don’t have anyone to stay with then why not here?”
I stared at her for a second. I had never been offered a place to stay. Not for years, but this, this was so… kind and thoughtful.
“Will they mind?”
I nodded towards the ceiling. She shook her head.
“Their nice ponies. They would let anyone alone stay here on Hearths Warming eve.”
We both walked back to the fire.
“You keep bringing up that holiday, and I’ve heard a lot about it, but I don’t know what it means.”
“You’ve never had a Hearths Warming eve?”
“We didn’t celebrate it back home.”
“Hearths Warming is a holiday to celebrate harmony and friendship. Everyone spends it with someone else. I usually celebrate with my parents but since I moved here I’ve celebrated with the Cakes.”
My face fell again.
“Oh, that’s probably why I didn’t see many ponies out. They were all at home with their families.”
The conversation stalled. The room was silent, save for the fire.
“So what kinds of things have you seen while traveling?”
And so it began. I started with my travels and the conversation went back and forth. Once Mr. Cake came down to see what the ruckus was. He saw the two sitting by the fire chatting about his travels, about her life, laughing all the while. He slowly crept up the stairs.
A few hours later we both fell asleep. The fire died out. I was the first to wake up. I knew it was time to leave, but… I didn’t want to. What I had felt last night was nice. I couldn’t leave her alone for no reason.
I wrote a small note and left it next to her. I grabbed my things and silently slipped out. I was ready to start over. My first stop was to register as a citizen under my new name. I was Silverlight, and I would live up to the name.
Author's Note
This is a bit of a test run for this type of story. Depending on if you all go for it or not will dictate if I write anything like this in the future.
It had been Thirty-two years since that day. He had made himself a life and many new friends. He had never married, never felt the need to. He always wanted to settle down like that but he couldn’t. So he waited. He waited for the pink mare to show up on his doorstep, but it never happened.
Now he sat in a hospital with a failing heart. He had lived a long life, filled with the good and bad. He had only one wish this year for Hearths Warming. But the day was winding to a close and it looked like it would never come true. He sat and pondered what would have happened had he never left.
He heard a soft but familiar voice in the hallway. Then, she stood in the doorway. She had grown older, not as old has him, but older. Her face was streaked with tears. He smiled anyway. It was good to see her after all this time. She walked over to his bed and his grin grew even larger.
She scowled at him for a second then she couldn’t help at smiling too. Eventually she asked,
“So how have you been doing these past couple years?”
He laughed, he couldn’t help himself.
“Couple of years? You make me feel old! I mean look at you! You’re doing well!”
“Yeah, saving the world a couple times will do that to you.”
“I heard about that, fighting Discord, a lunar god sounds like you had your work cut out for you.”
“What about the changelings?”
“Pshh, I did that. What you didn’t see me? I took down about six before the guards showed up.”
They both shared a laugh. The nurse stuck her head in.
“I’m sorry to have to cut your visit short but Mr. Silverlight needs his rest.”
Pinkie looked at him.
“I registered myself under the name. I dropped my other name the same time I dropped my past.”
Pinkie sighed. A doctor walked into the room and spoke with the nurse silently occasionally looking at a clipboard. The nurse’s eyes flicked to the two on the other side of the room. The doctor cleared his throat.
“We have the results from the tests and th..”
“It’s okay doc I already know, I’ve only got a few hours left in me. No need to be so secretive.”
Pinkie gasped
“What do you mean a few hours?”
“Let’s not dwell on that, I’m just happy to have finally gotten my Hearths Warming wish. To see you one more time.”
Pinkie started crying by Silverlights bedside. The doctor left and the nurse followed with a quick,
“You can stay as long as you want.”
Silverlight reached over and hugged Pinkie. In her ear he whispered,
“It’s okay, everypony dies someday. I only wish we could talk without the news hanging over our heads.”
Pinkie looked up.
“How can you be so content? You’re going to die and now I can’t see you anymore.”
“It’s okay, because I can see you now.”
He laid back in the bed.
“Do you remember the day we met?”
“Yes, it’s one of my best memories.”
“It is my best and worst memory.”
“Why?”
“I always ponder what could have happened if I had stayed, if I hadn’t let you down. Do you still have the note?”
He was crying now. She pulled it out of her bag.
“It’s right here.”
“Can you read it to me?”
“Of course”
She unfolded the small slip of paper.
Dear Pinkie,
I can’t let my past burden you. I didn’t want to leave without saying good bye but, I couldn’t face you in the morning. Not as I am. I just wanted to say thank you. For everything. You let me in off the street and showed me compassion. I have never had such a good friend. At least that’s what I hope we are, friends. If you ever want to find me I will be coming back in about, well, some time. Just know that without you I never would have had a life that…
She trailed off to find that he had stopped breathing. A smile was still played out on his face and a single tear was formed at the corner of his eye.
The hospital was silent save for the loud sobbing of Pinkie.
