A Tender Touch of Snow
A story by Duskhoof, Edited by Synesisbassist & AmorousArts

Chapter Five

It was noon. Precisely four in the afternoon, if the gentle bongs of the old grandfather clock in Cadence’s room was anything to go by. The sound soothed Twilight’s new aches and made her smile as she snuggled her cheek into a soft feather-filled pillow, while her body got used to being awake once more.

Life was odd. She was utterly exhausted and her lower half felt like it had been in a boxing match with Iron Will, yet her heart was full of songs and joys and energy. Unlike the last time she awoke, she remembered where and how she had been before sleep overcame her. Unlike the last time, she now had somepony in bed with her. All she needed to do, to understand who, was tilt her head to the sight of the blossom leg hugged around her.

“Mmm… Cadence?”

There was no answer. It seemed like her big sister had crawled into bed and passed out cold once she’d had her fun with Spike…

Spike…

Twilight carefully moved slowly, so as not to disturb the other Princess. She lifted the hoof hugging her off from around her and snailed gently to the edge of the bed. As she ran out of mattress to shuffle on and her hooves hung over the side, she tipped one shoulder forward to shift the balance, rolling her off of the bed and onto her hooves. A sharp pain lanced through her flank and she sat quickly, adding another sting through her. She put her hoof into her mouth to muffle the yelp and shut her eyes, letting the drip-droplets tingle along her eyelashes.

When she could stand it once more, she stood carefully and limbed over to the window, a hoof resting on the glass. Outside of the palace walls, the world kept going; the shops were finishing trading for the day, ponies were eagerly taking their gifts home to be wrapped and given away, good cheer to all ponies was a cause for celebration. Yet, in her own little bubble within the feminine scented room, Twilight’s eyes could only fall on the empty shallow pit quickly filling with snow, where her special some-creature had arisen from with her magical touch. Just like they had on the day her cutiemark came to her. She traced the pane between her and the reminder of what had been and sighed fondly.

“Spike…” It hadn’t been him. It had been a snow doll built with enchantments and her own perception of what Spike would be at that age. Yet, it had felt like him. It had breathed like him. It had bred her how she imagined he’d breed her... She touched her stomach tenderly, flat once more. Still, her backside did not feel quite as messy as it should have been, with it only as matted as it would have been after a heavy session with just her and her hoof.

“Mmm...Ladybug?” Her head turned, her mane flying out like the skirt of one of Rarity’s dancing dresses. Slowly, Cadence’s uncouth hair lifted out of the sheets, followed by her horn, her nose and the rest of her head. There was a squinch of coral and black between her mostly shut eyes as she spotted Twilight. “He’s gone, Twilight.”

“I know.” Despite feeling the carp swirling inside the pond of sadness in her heart, she smiled over at her. “Thank you for showing me the spell, Cadence. It was a lot of fun.” She swished her hoof back and forth on the window, then turned to the coat rack, gathering up her items to brave the outside world once more. The light fuchsia sister-in-law watched this with a puzzled and concerned frown.

“You’re going? You haven’t gotten cleaned up yet, Ladybug.” She tried to sit up straight in the bed and gave an “oof,” as she discovered she was having the same trouble as Twilight’s faltering walk was experiencing.

“I’ve got a lot to do and plan for tonight, Cadence. I can get a quick shower once I’m back in my old home. I don’t feel all that dirty, really.” She was determined, the coat was already on and her magic was fumbling with the zipper to it, although the previous activities had affected her horn’s depth perception. Cadence grasped the zipper instead and pulled the two parts of the jacket together, sealing it all the way up to her chin just like she used to when the young alicorn was a foal. A motherly smile turned up her lips at the memory.

“When the animated creature turns back to snow, everything created by it turns back as well. Even its semen. You have a lot to do?” She asked calmly, looking to understand rather than interrogate her friend. Even so, Twilight faltered. She licked the dryness from her lips and wandered back to the end of the bed, sitting to gaze up at her brother’s partner.

“The whole business with the photo and the signatures and Celestia? It’s all because of the journal I found in my old library. It once belonged to Celestia a very long time ago.”

“I remember,” Cadence assured her, shifting to sit closer to Twilight, “but I don’t understand how-”

“The journal had some of Celestia’s deepest, darkest secrets written inside it,” Twilight explained, her expression apologizing for interrupting, “about her, and about…” She hesitated as she realized how sensitive the information she was about to give was. Cadence rested a dainty hoof on her shoulder.

“You can trust me not to tell another soul, Twilight.” Cadence advised, giving her aching leg a rub. Twilight sighed, appreciating the suggestion and the stroke and nodded.

“I know… Celestia used to be in a relationship with somepony who later became her enemy. That pony was-”

“Sombra,” it was Cadence’s turn to interrupt as she correctly guessed the name of Celestia’s old lover, “I did wonder why Celestia sent us to the Crystal Empire when it returned instead of coming herself.” Twilight nodded gently.

“It broke her to defeat him the first time. I do not think she could stand the idea of doing it again…”

“... Because she still loves him,” concluded the Princess of Love, closing her tired eyes and sighing through a partially stuffy nose. “After all this time.” She helped tuck Twilight’s scarf up to her throat without it choking her and gave her a faint look of consideration. “When I saw her before the pageant I was curious as to why she seemed so lonely. I was going to talk to you about it, but you figured it all out before I had a chance to, clever little Ladybug.” She moved down to touch noses with Twilight, and the little Princess returned the embrace happily. They hugged and held their last share of affection for that afternoon for a short while, parting naturally when Twilight tugged on her hat and collected her saddlebag. “What is your plan? It is a little too late to find Aunty Celestia a coltfriend before Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“I know that Cadence,” Twilight hearteningly replied, hobbling towards the door, “I’m just going to make sure that she spends the night with ponies who have cared for her instead. Past and present.” Turning the bedroom handle, she gave her sister one last look. “Again, thank you so much for showing me that spell. See you tomorrow for Hearth’s Warming at Mom and Dad’s, Cadence! Give my love and belly raspberries to Flurry Heart and Shining.” She giggled as she exited, fettering along the corridor towards home.

Before she was too far gone, a thought struck Cadence. She jumped from the bed and skidded over to the door, sticking her head out to call after her.

“We still need to talk about this stuff with Spike!”

“We will!” Twilight waved, clearly dismissing the implications, “after Hearth’s Warming! See you soon, love you Caddy!” Then she was gone and the Matchmaker sighed, resting her head on her doorframe with a glance at the stallions guarding it. They were obediently blind and deaf to all that had occurred there, as they were supposed to be.

She slipped back inside and shut the door, clumsily finding the balcony window now empty of her beautiful loving volunteers who had been made from the temporary tools nature provided. She could make more, but there was no need when her real warrior, teddy bear, and prince would hold her tonight.

As she watched new snow arrive, she sighed and let the cold glass chill her pressed nose.

“Did I do the right thing?”

~~

The clock on the mantelpiece ticked steadily over the radiant glow of the fireplace that night. The walls coated in burgundy and sunflower wallpaper of the sitting room were lit well by lanterns, candles and the glittering lights dressed on a Hearth’s Warming tree. The rest of the room was filled with elegant bookshelves, seats and an excellent coffee table with the remains of that evening’s supper on a golden tray. The scents of cinnamon and spiced apples hovered through the room like Hearth’s Warming specters and occasionally the odor of the crackling wood in the hearthstone came to meet it.

There was a flutter as Celestia turned the page of the journal she was devotedly reading between her forelegs, laying out to bask in the presence of the fireside. All regalia and essence of her regal position were put away for safekeeping tonight, she was just Celestia. As a mere pony, she could divulge in her past and worry about whether she had made the right or wrong decisions, rather than accept that she had to make them for the good of ponykind. She could be proud of herself for the things that she did right, and lick her wounds for the faults in her stars.

Her hoof traced a drawing of Sombra. It was a good drawing, she was quite the traditional artist and yet most ponies did not know this. There was a lot that ponies did not know about her, such as her ability to create beautiful music with a flute, a harp, and a guitar. They had not heard her sweet singing voice and her powerful rendition of some of the Hearth’s Warming classics. They did not know that she could love one above all others and trust and need them. They did not know her. They just knew the idea of her.

She pressed her lips on the image that had lasted over a millennia and sighed softly, her eyes glancing to the music box playing faint jingles after all this time above her fireplace.

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Sombra. I hope you are somewhere warm and loved...”

A knock sounded on her door. She had expected it and she knew it was not the maid coming to clear her dishes away.

“I did ask to be left alone tonight,” she called insistently but not furiously to the door, “I apologize Twilight Sparkle, but I need my space.”

“Erm, ma’am, it is not the Princess,” responded the guard loud enough to get through the solid pine, “it is her assistant, the young dragon.” Celestia’s ears perked at this and she got to her hooves, trotting gently across the carpets that muffled her steps, before unlocking and opening the door.

Spike’s head turned from the guard as though he’d been having a quiet word with him and looked up brightly to the intrigued, relaxed Celestia. He was covered up in a hooded top and scarf, his namesake poking up the back of the hood in several small hills. In his claws sat three gifts arranged in size. Celestia could only blink thoughtfully down at him, giving him a moment to speak.

“Oh, Hi Princess,” he started as though they’d bumped into each other passing in the street, “I don’t want to disturb you. I just wanted to leave the gifts from Twilight, Moondancer and I with you and wish you a happy Hearth’s Warming.” She levitated his burden away from him and placed the presents in a safe place, then turned back to him with a kind smile.

“I’m sorry Spike but I have to ask, did Twilight send you?”

“Twilight? Nah, she’s with Luna and her filly-friend tonight, helping them celebrate Hearth’s Warming Eve. We were going to leave your gifts with her, but…” He gave a great sigh, pushing his claws into his hooded top, “I’ve always been a little obsessive about making sure my friends get their gifts firsthand from me after I never got to give Moondancer a birthday present.” He shrugged softly and Celestia considered it before she beamed again.

“Well then, in that case, thank you, Spike. It was most thoughtful.”

“You’re welcome, Princess,” he bowed gently and backed up slowly, playfully saluting on his way back up, “I’ve got to get back before they query where I am. Have a really nice Hearth’s Warming, Princess Celestia. See you again soon!”

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Spike,” Celestia offered the little drake as he hurried away, then backed up into her room, thanking the guard as she shut her door slowly.

Turning, she looked around at the orange flickering fire, the greens and reds of the decorations lovingly dressing the room, the bookcase filled with her favorite stories, many of which she’d read to friends, pupils and one little dragon in times gone by. Finally, she looked down at the old, dusty, leather-bound book laying on the carpet. She gazed at it as though it had appeared from nowhere and collected it in her magic, sitting it delicately on the shelf with the rest of the books. Immediately, she reopened her door and stepped out.

“Spike!” She was just in time, he’d only gotten as far as the first pillar, as though he hadn’t been in a rush to run away at all. He turned around and waved at her, making her laugh. “Wait a moment, I just have a few things to grab and warm clothes to discover, then I would like to join you.” She disappeared back inside and the hooded drake grinned in satisfaction, resting on the stone column.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he chuckled to himself, “Spike the greatest actor in the world does it again.” He wandered back to the guard with his pointed tail swinging in pride and waited for her Highness to reappear. She shimmered into existence in the doorway, having teleported away to her quarters briefly to dress for the occasion. He admired the designer saddlebags having a hard time hiding the Hearth’s Warming gifts inside them and stepped back to let her out.

“What changed your mind, your Highness?” He asked as she closed the sitting room door and nodded to the guard to attend them.

“My own advice to Twilight in, what feels like, a very long time ago,” she advised, giggling and letting him lead the way to their next destination.

~~

The cocoa steamed away happily in the tall bronze pot it had been brought into the hall in. The smells were enough to waft around Luna, Moxie, and Twilight despite their distance from the hot beverage, enticing them to come over. The table between them equally teased and encouraged them to feast as it too had been filled with every Hearth’s Warming goody imaginable, from cakes to pies, bites to mouthfuls, fruits and nuts, and baked delectables. Yet, it was all going untouched.

Moxie, in her first Hearth’s Warming Eve visit to the Palace, was a single audience member to a debate that had been going on for so long that only she had realized one of their party was missing. Her head volleyed back and forth between the game of verbal tennis.

“...And I say you should be the one to invite her, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna insisted. “This was all your idea. She should know that you were the one to arrange this for her.”

“I don’t want her to know I arranged all of this, Luna,” came the reply. “I just want her to come down and have a good time with all of us. I don’t think she’d do that for me, she’d find an excuse. But I think she might for you.”

“An incorrect assumption, little Sparkle,” The Night Mare advised, “I believe she would listen to you first and foremost, as you are so clever that you would find a way to encourage her down.”

“If you don’t decide who’s going up to ask her to join us, I’m going to go up myself,” Moxie ordered her superiors, obstructing the last round of their match. The Princesses both turned to look at her, causing her to subconsciously fiddle with her awkward eyepatch, a crimson one for the season, and shrug to them. “How about we all go together, hon?”

“That…” Twilight stopped to think about it, “that isn’t a bad idea?”

“I knew there was a reason I loved you, dearheart,” Luna chirped, trotting over and nuzzling her beloved on the cheek.

“You only love me for being the voice of reason?” The ebony and ivory maned mare quizzed with a flourish of her eyebrow, “the other week it was for my fantastic butt, the week after it was for my ability to dance like a megastar, which is it, Luna?”

“It is all that and more,” Luna remarked, smirking, “there are too many reasons to count, let alone advise you of them all, but I shall let you know each time one appears to me. Come, let us go find our main guest.” She helped shuffle her vision impaired darling off of her chair and the three grouped at the end of the table, trotting as one along the short walk to the entrance. What they did not expect was to have a well-dressed Sun Goddess and her little dragon friend stood on the other side of it when Twilight opened it. It seemed the pair had not expected this either.

“Good evening, all,” Celestia greeted them cheerfully, “either your psychic powers are more influential than I had perceived, Twilight, or you were expecting us.” She glanced to Spike who gave an abashed chortle, kicking at an imaginary football. Twilight gave a devoted grin to Spike and then addressed the question with a step back.

“We were all going to come up and ask you to join us, but I guess Spike beat us to it.” She walked forwards until she was beneath Celestia’s gaze and conveyed her honesty through her body language up to the grand mare. She took a breath, then started to write her old tutor a letter vocally, holding her fuzzy violet chest with a hoof. “Dear Princess Celestia, I know you want to be alone this Hearth’s Warming Eve, but I’ve come to learn something over the last few days that I wanted to share with you.

“It’s important to remember the past, the ponies we’ve loved and lost, and the ones that tenderly touched our hearts then had to go away. However, if we keep on looking at what came and went, we won’t see what we still have and we’ll miss making magical moments with those ponies before they too have to leave us.

“That is why, on this Hearth’s Warming Eve, I ask you to come to join us for a little bit, share stories and laughter with us and let the old woes of long ago go just for tonight. Would you like to do that, Princess Celestia?”

The tallest pale as pearls pony lowered her head to Twilight’s, sharing a ray of sunshine in her face that could heat and melt the coldest of hearts.

“Twilight Sparkle, that sounds like a excellent idea.” Her legs slipped out and wrapped around the smallest Princess in the room, pulled her in and held her close as they laughed and cried and enjoyed the love the other shared for them. Luna rested a wing on Moxie’s back, the red velvet love shifting in and kissing at the chilled blue cheek. Spike watched with a pleased sigh, then yelped as a purple wing bound around him and squeezed him close too. Momentarily, a peck brushed his scales, but it was so quick that he could not tell which Princess it was. They all unwrapped from one another and the colorfully glistening mane of Celestia lifted once more, her eyes thanking them all. She slipped out the foil papered gifts hid in her saddlebag and slid them under the tree for all of them with a daytime aura as she spoke.

“Twilight, Spike, Moxie, and of course Luna, thank you for arranging this. Let us not let this feast go to waste. Is that baklava? I love baklava...” She guided her friends and family back into the warmth of the room, closing the doors behind them.

~~

A refreshing blast of silver fragments burst across Celestia’s snout, making her squeal out and duck too late to avoid the bombardment her sister threw at her. “Ahh!”

“Haha! That put them off!” Luna exclaimed gleefully, pointing across the snowy battlefield at her older sibling, “we are winning, Twilight Sparkle!”

“That’s great and all but we are trying to build the fastest snowpony by hoof, Luna, not start a war!” Twilight grunted as she hurriedly molded the head to go on the base of the figure they were building. The first to get the scarf around a complete snowpony would be the winners. The other group, consisting of Spike, Moxie and Celestia, were still shaping the limbs from the block of ice they’d constructed. Another ball of snow whizzed over their heads.

“Don’t worry, your Highness! I’ve got this! Keep going you two.” The one-eyed pony dived into the snow and snatched whatever they could spare, clumping together an arsenal, before peering out with a smirk. “Hey, sweetheart! Kiss THIS!” Luna looked over to see her mare spin, wiggling her curled chess tail and the flank it was attached to at her. She laughed and gathered a globe to throw at it, but suddenly her fillyfriend vaulted and span in the air, whizzing a ball towards her.

Luna’s wings sprang out and she squealed as the bolt crashed off of her horn, the equivalent of having brain freeze applied directly to the skull. She neighed and bucked as she tried to shake off the sensation, inadvertently smashing through their own submission to the competition and to the lamenting cries of Twilight. There was a louder groan as a large company of the guard from the Day and Night corps who’d been invited to watch the proceeding winced at seeing one team fall so severely behind the other.

“Haha! Now we’re winning, your Highness!” Cheered Moxie, getting behind Celestia to help roll the body for their statue as the other Princesses attempted to rebuild their efforts.

“My dear Moxie, call me Celestia. After all, you are the mare who captured my sister’s heart.” Celestia reminded her endearingly. Moxie fell behind the pushing of the torso for their creation, looking in reverence at the Princess almost blending into her surroundings. She gasped gently and felt a happy heat warm her chilled single eyeball. She was accepted.

“Celestia, I- AHH!” A fragile dove replaced the touching moment with an engagement as it burst into pieces across her chest, Luna whooping at another successful hit. Moxie blinked at her applauding future wife and snorted, stomping her hooves into the white shifting sands.

“HEY! We were having a moment, hon!”

“LUNA!” Twilight clopped her forehooves together demonstratively. “Focus! You’re behaving worse than Rainbow Dash after one of Pinkie’s cakes!” Luna fell back to task with a tiny apology and urgently attempted to repair the damage done to their work of art with her racing partner. The gleeful whoops when Team ‘Tia got their body on top of the legs did not help sustain their spirits.

From that point, any attempts to put off the other team were left to the wayside as they concentrated on being the first to finish. Twilight and Luna had a stroke of luck as Celestia accidentally dropped their snowpony’s head on top of Spike as they tried to sculpt it onto the top of their fiddly ice carving, causing him to flail as it replaced his actual head for a few seconds before shattering. The audience cringed.

“Opps! Sorry Spike!”

By the time they’d rebuilt a new one, the other team had their body renewed and were catching up on the lead. The chassis of their pony was placed down and the pair gave a supporting bugle to each other as they hurried to collect the finishing parts. They were lucky that the head Twilight had made earlier had not been destroyed in Luna’s prancing, yet the other group were now neck and neck with them. Both competitive parties cautiously tried to lift the shaped heads on to the frames of their models, both seeking to be careful and at the same time be faster than their acting adversaries.

However, one of them was faster. One managed to slot the head on, pat the neck around it to make sure that it stayed in place, gave it big black coal eyes and pointy ears, before finally wrapping it up in a warm woolly scarf. The referee, a nearby guard, blew the whistle he was given and held up his right leg.

“THE WINNERS,” he called to the groaning losers, “Celestia, Moxie annnnnd Spike!” The crowd applauded and stomped in congratulations as the triumphant team stepped around to the side of their creations and took a bow. There was mumbling between some of the soldiers in the left half of the spectators followed by a member of the rank breaking through to gallop over.

A gold canteen, emptied and cleaned with a sticker stuck to it that claimed it to be a trophy for “The Winners Of This Year’s Snowpony Contest,” was passed to the referee who looked at it and offered it to the Princess with a humble bow. She took it gratefully without a single concern for how small and insignificant it ought to have been and looked out over her shared squad. Clearing her throat, she straightened up.

“Thank you all for coming out tonight. My fellow Princess Twilight, who has long surpassed being my student and teaches me more often these days, gave me a good bit of advice tonight. This celebration is about enjoying being together with friends, family, and comrades. That is why, on this night for the foreseeable future, this competition will be held for all those in the Royal Household who wish to enter. A golden canteen shall be the prize for the winner. Afterward, the great hall will open up to everypony, so that all can share and be thanked for their hard work throughout the year.”

She glanced to Luna and Twilight, broadcasting joyful gratitude across their group. The Night Princess nodded and stepped out in front of their defeated monument, lighting up her horn for the doors behind them to open wide and allow every witness in.

“Spread the word, good ponies. Tonight’s festivities are on us.”

~~

Author's Note

Want to discuss the story? Follow me to get ‘Switched On,’ on Discord...

One of the pieces of music I was listening to while writing this was ‘Carol of the Bells,’ by Dean Evenson, have a listen...

Nearly there...

Thank you to Syn and AA for their editing on this story.

If this is when you stop reading, goodbye and safe travels.

If you're still strapped in for the ride, see you in the last chapter.

All good things,
Duskhoof