Raindrop's Hearth's Warming Eve Miracle

“Oh Celestia, your alive!” The princess groans and focused on the red pegasus speaking to her. All around him was pitch black in her eyes, as well as that screech still piercing her ears.

“Rex,” she mutters, “is that you?”

“Yeah!” A white figure then appeared from the corner of Celestia’s sight, a unicorn, moving next to the guard.

“Keep talking to her,” the pale mare demands, “Redheart needs her conscious for the final part of the operation.”

“Got it, Sweet Cheeks.” As the princess’ vision began to come back to her, she saw that she was in her room, lying on the purple carpet next to fireplace. She nearly jumped at the sight of the orange flames, but then remembered defeating it. A group of roughly ten nurses, all surrounding her carrying medicines, bandages, and small metal tools around the resting alicorn. “I found you passed out just outside the castle door, if it wasn’t for that small pony you brought, you would’ve froze to death, or bled out, or-”

“Wait,” the princess croaks in surprise, “bled out?”

“Yeah, when the small pony knocked on the front doors and I looked to see who it was, I saw that you had a nasty cut along your neck to your cheek. So I called all of the local doctors together and we took you in and provided immediate medical attention. There was a whole assortment of other things wrong with you, frostbite, bruises, a broken wing, several more broken bones, hypothermia, random cuts all around you, third-degree burns, magic burnout, and a small laundry list of other fancy things I can barely pronounce,”

“What about the small pony?”

“The turquoise one with the white mane? We left her in care of a doctor in the throne room, seemed a bit shy though.”

“Can I see her?”

“Well, no, the nurses her have demanded you stay put here for about…” Rex looks behind at a small clipboard on the floor with a large wall of text on it. “Eh, six to nine months,”

“Sixty nine months?!”

“No, six to nine months, your hearing maybe a bit down on that.” The bright red pegasus carefully walks over the lying medical tools around Celestia and speaks into her ear. “I’m sorry I ditched my responsibilities. It was dark, scary, and I just couldn’t take it,”

“It’s okay Rex, the pressure you were under would’ve caused a heart attack in anypony else.”

“So, how’d it go with the, thing…”

“It was… eventful, to say the least,”

“What happened to Cloud?”

“…”

“Oh,” Celestia winced and closed her eyes, her eyelids began to water upon remembering the horrific vision of the small yellow pegasus being devoured. Upon seeing this sad display, Rex’s deep blue eyes began to grow and his voice became nervous. “Please don’t cry princess, I’m sure he’s in a better place, right?”

“It’s more than that Rex, he, loved me.”

“He did?”

“He gave his own life, trying to protect me and the small mare from that monster.”

“I-I’m so sorry for your loss, I don’t know what to say…”

“You don’t have to say anything, he did what he felt was right, and we should respect him for that.”

“Yeah,” The air grew silent as the two winged ponies took a moment of silence, as well as the other nurses, in memory of Cloud Prancer Thunder. A minute of dead silence later, a small knocking echoed from the door behind the princess.

“Come in,” A light brown Earth Pony with a green tie opened the door and slowly walked past Rex and in front of Celestia.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, your majesty, during your time of recovery, but the small pony that was with you wants to be with you, I think… She doesn’t really talk.”

“Bring her in.”

“Yes madam,” the doctor exits the room, only to come back shortly later with the small blind pony grabbing hold of his dark brown tail. “Here she is, go on.” Slowly, the small pony, with a small heat bag attached to her forehead, walked towards Celestia.

“Thank you sir,” The doctor gave a soft smile upon seeing the filly sidle next to Celestia as he left the room, closing the door behind him. The No-Pony felt a large groove against her friend’s side, it was dry, hard, and felt metallic for some reason. Warmth was beaming from the princess’ body and radiating the tiny foal as she continued towards the head. The fluorescent, sparkly mane of Celestia ticked the blind filly’s nose, causing her to release a soft sneeze.

“Hey little girl,” Rex said as he looked down to her, “thanks for your help.”

“She did more than that, she actually helped me defeat the Pyrefrost Beowolf.”

“Wait, you defeated the Pyrefrost Beowolf, not just sent him back into the ground? How?”

“Through passion, love, and the magic of friendship.”

“Well, happy Hearth’s Warming Eve!” The guard cheers, trying to gravitate away from the sad moment that had ruptured a while ago, “I have great news to tell you today. The AWE have stopped several abnormal storms in the Everfree Forest, the early winter is mellowing out for now before it’s expected true arrival, and we have rescued a lost pony. By the way, what is her name?”

“I don’t know, I never actually asked her.” The princess then turns her head towards the small mare snuggled against her. “If you can understand me, what is your name, my little pony?” The silence came back once more, as the nurses had already finished their work and have packed their things.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” The red guard lead the nurses out of the warm room soon followed by himself, leaving the two mares be all alone with each other once more. It was almost exactly like the last moment they were together. Only instead of the cold, snowy floor, fuzzy, purple carpet laid beneath their bellies. Instead of the frigid wind blasting in their faces and mangling their fur, the warm radiance of the fireplace ran through their cleaned fur and long manes. And instead of a mountainous fear seeking over them, they were inside a secure sanctuary, far from any harm.

“What’s your name?” The princess calmly asked once more. The small pony took a moment to build up her voice. She figured that her friend was looking for a response from her. So, she took a deep breathe, recited the sounds she had heard in her head, and replicated the one sound she liked the most from her adventure,

“R-R-R-R-Raind-d-drop-p,”

“Raindrop?”

“R-Raind-drop,”

“Raindrop… I like it, I shall call you, my little pony, Raindrop.”

“Raindrop,”

“Good job sweetie. How do you feel about living with me in the castle, I will teach you all that I know, and keep you safe until you’re old enough, by then, hopefully we’ll find your family.”

“Raindrop,” The princess giggled to herself, but cringed at the end as her senses came full circle, with pain and agony all over her. Yet she did not care, for she now had a daughter all on her own, to raise in her own image and one day, grow up to her understand the unknown that is still to be explored in the world. Two shortly drifted to sleep together on the warm rug, feeling as if there was not a care in the world. There was no fear, no sorrow, no harm, no bitterness, no anger, no distrust, no cold, no burning, nothing that would make what felt like heaven any less.

Over the years, Princess Celestia did as she promised. Behind her throne, she created a large room to keep her little Raindrop warm and safe. She taught her how to speak fluently, and even managed to have her speak five different languages without any failure. She taught her about the history of Equestria, and the ponies who lived as citizens. Celestia also taught magic, chemistry, language arts, biology, and a collection of other miscellaneous items to her adopted daughter. Raindrop loved to learn, and every day, her motherly figure would walk into her room and teach her something new and fascinating. Over the course of the years, many events unfolded, struggles occurred in the kingdom, fights occasionally broke between the two of them, and even hearts were broken. Yet, that didn’t split the two apart, they would make up, move on, and life would resume to the paradise they wanted with each other. Rex eventually became promoted to head of security of Manehattan, and moved away. A memorial was built for Cloud, above the repaired grounds of the Pyrefrost Beowolf’s past grave. Celestia and Raindrop held the two stallions close to their hearts and never forgot about them, as close friends.

One night, years later, inside Raindrop’s room in the middle of a thunderstorm in the night, the two were standing at a window, staring at the drops of rain dancing down the large panes of clear crystal. The low fumbling of the silky red curtains by their sides tickled the peace and quiet of the warmly lit room.

“Princess Celestia,” the smaller pony asks, “Where did I come from?”

“I don’t know,” she replies, having already pondered that same puzzle several times, “we found you in the Everfree Forest before the Pyrefrost Beowolf showed up.”

“I remember that, but I was so cold and sick after that night, I lost all memory of before.”

“You were very young. Do you at least remember anything from before?”

“The wind, blowing across my fur, that’s all.”

“Oh… I’m sorry, but that, isn’t going to help much.”

“I know,” A scary thought then jumped into Celestia’s mind, causing her to break her stare from the dark and glance at Raindrop.

“Raindrop, I-”

“I know what you are feeling, you’ve taught me how. Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to leave you, I just… I just want to know.”

But what if where you came from was better than here…

“What could be better than being raised by the greatest pony there is in the world?”

“You know something,” Celestia’s voice became choky and saddened as she spoke, “I used to think like that when I was roughly your age. I thought that my kingdom was the single sanctuary of civilization and perfection in all the land. For years, I tried to tame whatever stood beyond the land and change it to be more, acceptable, to my society. I thought whatever was in the unknown was nothing that would ever be as great as the world I created. Then something happened,”

“What happened?”

“The closest thing to me, ended up being my enemy,”

“Princess Luna…”

“She, the one I looked after and made into my own image after our parents passed on, turned into the unknown. My sister became something that I did not foresee, but I knew that this was the result of my mentality and guidance. After banishing my sister to the moon, I was destroyed, I had created my own downfall. For hundreds of years since, I still stuck with my mentality however, for it was the only thing I was comfortable, yet every night, I was reminded of the unknown monster I created and might create again, within my false perfection. However, one faithful night, not too many years ago, that somepony changed that.”

“Who was it?”

“You. When Cloud and I found you, I had already been seeking your kind, but I was trying to bend it in my own image at the time. However, when we were alone, about to die from the Pyrefrost Beowolf, I saw something in you. You were different; you were not a monster, nor an uncivilized pony. You were somepony special, one that came from other loving ponies and actually helped me. My mentality changed, maybe there were other civilizations that could not be similar to mine, but also enhance mine, it’s just that ponies are so scared of what we aren’t familiar with and try to bend it to our own image to feel comfortable. You’re blind, and yet, you helped me but holding my attack on the Pyrefrost Beowolf until the right moment. Where you came from, I do not know, but I want to find it, and learn from it.”

“So we should expand our horizons instead of containing them.”

“Right.”

“Princess Celestia,”

“Yes?”

“What was he like?”

“Who?”

“Cloud,”

“Well, he was a pegasus, a close bodyguard of mine who talked to you on the Pyrefrost Beowolf’s tombstone.”

“What did he look like?”

“…Well, he was, yellow per say,”

“What did you see in him?”

“…” The princess took a moment to think, gaping back out the window and thinking back to her times with him. “Although he was small, not brave, not strong, a little dumb, and not the most social pony, he had a great heart. I saw that he was an honest, loyal, kind, friendly, generous, and magical friend to be with. He was one of my only true friends, and for the longest time, I never knew that he had, affections, towards me. I was so blinded by my own conquests and duties that I never saw that he loved me. It was only until his demise, in the face of chaos and the unknown… that I learned of his love.” A small steam of tears begins to trickle down Celestia’s eyes and checks. “Some may see me as perfect, but I was just a blind as you are.”

“I was blind too, I used to think outside of my home, was nothing but monsters and dangers in the unknown. Yet I always felt hope whenever I felt the wind. You were that ray of hope I guess, and I would never trade this for anything else.”

“Raindrop,”

“Yes?” Celestia then slides her sitting body next to the turquoise mare and gently wraps her wing around her.

“There may be a time that we may be separated, a time where we might be worlds apart by some monster or even one of our own. A time where I might disappear, with my wings having been plucked from my back and my horn torn from my head, or even being crippling by whatever separates us. But I promise you that I would go to the ends of the world and back just for you Raindrop.”

“But what if you don’t come back, what if you… pass on?”

“I would fight Cerberus with my soul for all of eternity, just to reach you. You have provided the light that I have needed to see, you are worth it.”

“When will I be able to join the other ponies out there?”

“As I said, ponies are very scared of the unknown, and I don’t want to risk you being hurt. Also, there’s been a number of monsters and strange events that have being going around, I just can’t take the risk now. But someday, when the chaos dies down and the ponies become more accepting, you might be able to provide light to the other ponies blind in fear of the unknown.”

“Celestia,”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, my little pony.” The No-Pony and the alicorn princess tightly hugged each other, their eyes both watery. Their fluffed fur and well fed bodies kept each other warm, as the hour nearly struck midnight, onto the land of Equestria.