Promise

When I was young, I wandered these woods in the middle of fall. My ears were met with the sweet sounds of leaving being crushed under my little hooves, the gentle blow of the wind as the leaves danced across the ground, and the tweeting of little birds as they flew from tree to tree. Until I heard something much less sweet: the soft sound of crying. Desperately I searched and searched the woods for the source of such a bitter sound, as if my heart would never be able to rest until I did. Then, I found her: a little, unicorn filly letting her tears flow like a river. She stood atop an old picnic table that must’ve been brought there on purpose, and she was surrounded by various toys that sat on things like rusty cans, glass jars turned upside down and stumps of wood. My eyes glued to her as the cobalt blue color of her fur and silver mane stuck out amidst the rest of the woods. I approached her curiously and cautious to not startle her. However, she jolted from the first word that left my mouth. “Hello—?”

“Ah!” She turned and looked to me in shock. I got a good look at her violet eyes, and the tears that ran down her rosy cheeks that glistened in the sunlight.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“W-Who . . . who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I-I was just walking around the woods. I heard you crying. . . Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she wiped the tears from her face as she turned away from me. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Will you just leave me alone?!” I jumped at the sudden fury in her voice, but I wasn’t ready to leave. I could tell there was something that lurked within her heart, and I was determined to dig it out.

“. . . Are these your toys?”

“Yes,” she said with her face hidden.

“I like them; I wish ‘I’ had this many toys.” She didn’t say anything after that, so I tried to find something else to keep the conversation going. Up above her hung a banner composed of a white sheet that was tied to two parallel trees. Written on it with purple paint were the words: Trixie’s Magic Show. I figured this would be a good way to get her to speak. “Are you doing a magic show?”

“Yes, I am. Now go away so I can finish it!” My ears drooped as she yelled at me with the purest anger I’ve ever heard. I turned and started to walk away, until she suddenly called out to me. “Hey! Wait!” I stopped, and walked back over to her pretend stage. “You can watch the show if you want.”

“Okay! Sounds fun!”

“Do you have your ticket?”

“A ticket?”

“Yup. Everypony else had their ticket, where’s yours?”

“I . . . I don’t have one.”

“Yeah, they usually sell out. Hmm . . . You know, I don’t usually do this; but for you. . .” She trotted away to a plastic bucket, reached inside it and returned to me with a slip of paper in her mouth. I held out my hoof, and she dropped the paper onto it. “I’ll give you one free ticket.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm!”

“Cool! So, when does the show start?”

“In . . . a few seconds. Go ahead and take your seat! Just . . . not that one.” She pointed to an empty, wooden stool. So, instead I sat on a large stone as I lit up with excitement. She climbed up onto the picnic table, and at first, she appeared a bit nervous as she introduced herself. “Fillies and gentlecolts! I-I am Trixie, and I will dazzle you with magic like—unlike anything you’ve ever seen!” From there, she began to cast spells that did in fact dazzle my eyes. One spell after another, she grew more and more confident as I smiled and gaped in awe. She made small stones lift up from the ground, and levitated them in the air as she arranged them into incredible patterns. She then made things like leaves and loose tree branches disappear and reappear at will. She ended her show with her grand finale: a lightshow that sent tingles up my spine as my eyes were graced with something so wonderful. Her horn lit up, and orbs of golden light filled the air. They floated by, and I couldn’t resist the desire to try and reach up and grab them like a cat to a dangling string. After a few moments, the lights vanished, and she stood atop her table staring at me waiting for some sort of a response. Without a second thought, I stood up from my stone-seat and jumped for joy as I cheered her on. One of the brightest smiles I ever saw shone upon her face, and her cheeks became even rosier than before.

Together, we sat on that picnic table for hours as we watched the sun descend through the trees. The amber sky coated us in a warming, golden hue; and the air became a bit chillier than before. I could tell that both she and I were getting cold as we shivered, but I had no intention of leaving her any time soon, and I had the feeling that she didn’t either. I praised her for her performance with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, and she humbly tried to hide her smile. “Hey,” I began with one thing in particular on my mind. “Why couldn’t I take that chair over there?”

“Oh,” she said glumly as her smile slowly started to disappear. “That seat’s for my Daddy.”

“Oh, well . . . where is he?” What she said after almost made me regret ever asking, as it changed her mood for the rest of the evening.

“He’s at work. . . He’s a magician, and everypony loves him. . . He said he’d try and be here as early as he could, but . . . I guess he’s going to be late again.”

“. . . I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m happy at least ‘somepony’ was here to see it.”

“What do you mean? This place is packed!” I pointed my hoof to all the toys in the audience. “Trust me, I’m sure they loved it just as much as me.”

She smiled and giggled. “I guess . . . but I’ll never be as great and as powerful as my Daddy.”

“Sure you can! If you want to be a magician just like him; I don’t see what would stop you.”

“What if nopony else likes me? What if I’m just not good enough?”

“Well, ‘I’ like you, and I definitely think you’re good enough.”

“. . . Hey, I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? Sorry for giving such an awesome show?”

She snickered. “No, for yelling at you. I was just . . . upset.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m not mad about that. Besides, we’re pals now, right?” She turned to me confused, but at the same time, happy.

“I . . . I don’t even know your name.”

“Oh, yeah . . . I got an idea! Try and guess!”

“Your name?”

“Yeah!”

“No way, I’ll never get it.”

“Tell you what: if you guess it right, I’ll find you the most beautiful rock in the world!”

“Really?”

“Yup! I double—no—triple promise!” She hesitated, so I decided she needed just a little push. “Come on. What do you have to lose?”

“. . . Okay, fine.” She immediately began to ponder excitedly. “Is it. . ? No. . . Maybe. . .”

“Here, I’ll try to help.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

“Just close your eyes, and blurt out the first thing that comes to mind!”

“How is that going to help?”

“Just try it! You can do it. You’re a magician, aren’t you?” Determined, she shut her eyes, and took a deep breath as her eyebrows scrunched together with thought.

“I’m thinking of . . . ‘snow’. I see snow everywhere.”

“What?! There’s no way!”

“W-What? Did I get it?”

“Yeah! Snow, that’s my name!”

“You’re kidding!”

“No! I can’t believe you got it! I guess I’d better go find you that ‘beautiful rock’ like I promised.”

“Wow, Snow . . . I like your name.”

“Thanks. . . So, now that we know each other, what do you say? Friends?” She nodded her head with a joyful smile as it filled me with a warmth that made my body forget about the chilling winds that circled me. The both of us sat on that picnic table throughout the twilight as we watch the sky turn from a lush violet into the night sky. We gazed up at the stars, and talked about what we thought of the night.

“I love looking at the sky at night,” Trixie began.

“So do I,” I said.

“It’s kind of scary, but . . . it’s just so pretty. I have a bunch of drawings of the moon and stars in my room.”

“You like to draw?”

“Yeah, it’s fun. I don’t just draw stars, I draw lots of other things too.”

“I used to love drawing. I think I was getting pretty good at it.”

“So, does that mean you’d want to be an artist?”

“I don’t know, maybe. It’s been a while since I’ve drawn something. Besides, it’s too late for me to do anything like that now.”

“What do you mean? Why is it too late?”

“Well, I just . . . I-I don’t know. Forget about what I said.” I chuckled, as I ignored how I quickly lost my train of thought. “What else do the stars make you think of?”

“Well, my Daddy and I used to look at the stars together all the time. We don’t really do that anymore. . . Wait!” She shrieked, and hopped down from the picnic table.

“What?”

“My Daddy’s probably almost home now! I need to be there when he gets back!”

“Oh! Well, go on!”

“W-What about you? Will I see you again?”

“Of course you will. Friends don’t just leave and never come back.”

“Okay, umm . . . Can I see you tomorrow? My house is just down that path.” She pointed down a worn path that lead out of the woods. “When you’re out of the woods, you’ll see my house. It’s the little one on the hill, you can’t miss it. Can you come over in the morning?”

“I’ll be there! I promise.”

“Triple promise?”

I smiled. “Yes, I triple promise.”

“Great! I’ll see you then! Good night!” She waved me goodbye, and galloped her way down the path to her home. As for me, I laid down in a pile of dead leaves as my heart pounded. All I could think about was seeing her the next day. I tried to lull myself to sleep as I murmured the something that had been running through my head. ‘Snow’, that’s my name. My name is Snow; my name is Snow.