Hammock for Two

It didn't take long for the cold to start bothering Trixie. She was bundled up well enough; after all, she was a travelling performer, and this sort of weather wasn't uncommon, for her to encounter, especially this far north.

As she walked, a snowflake touched Trixie's nose. "What?" she blurted, surprised. Her eyes crossed as she focused on the tiny point of white dust fading into an equally tiny drop of water on the fine fur of her muzzle.

Looking up into the sky, she realized that she could barely see the moon—dark clouds had blotted out the moon and stars. In the light of her lantern, she hadn't even noticed. As her eyes scanned the sky, however, more white flecks captured points of light from her lantern and reflected them back at her.

It was snowing.

Trixie stopped, unhitching herself from the wagon. It wouldn't do to get stuck in the snow without a chance to set up her wagon, and that meant parking where she was and hoping that it didn't get too bad. She'd learned from previous experiences that it wasn't worth the risk—and she was ahead of schedule by leaving tonight as it was. Worst case scenario... wasn't worth dwelling on.

Two cinder blocks came off the front of the wagon, carried in her magic, thumping to the ground before she lowered the hitch down on them. A folded tarpaulin unraveled to cover them—another lesson she'd learned: Don't let the hitch sit in the snow. If the snow didn't stick right away, or if it melted before she got moving in the morning, the hitch would end up wet, and—

"Hello, Trixie."

"KyAAAAAA~!" Trixie nearly leapt out of her own fur as a very unexpected yet very familiar voice spoke, in very close proximity. Trixie leaned on the hitch, gasping for breath, eyes wide and her heart pounding in her chest.
"M-M-Maud," she stammered out, glancing up at the ghost that seemed to have come in out of the gloom ahead. "You nearly scared Trixie to death! What in Equestria are you doing out here?!"

Maud's head rotated quietly to gaze down the road toward the Crystal Empire, and then back to focus on Trixie. "Walking."

Trixie was still gasping for breath, flabbergasted at this seemingly bizarre and unlikely encounter. "N-no, why are you here. With Trixie. In the middle of the wilderness."

"This isn't the middle of the wilderness," Maud said flatly—much as she said everything. "This is the middle of the road."

A hoof slapped Trixie in the forehead—one of her own, though with the cold numbing her hooves a bit, it could have belonged to anypony for as much as she felt it. "N-no, Trixie means... Oh, nevermind. Why are you," she gestured plaintively at Maud herself, "here." She pointed at the dirt road.

"It's cold," Maud pointed out. She turned back to the north, facing the capital, but her hoof pointed off the road to the right and into the trees. "I was going to get settled in a cave over there to shelter from the snow, but I saw your light and wanted to make sure nopony needed help." She turned back to face Trixie. "The snow is going to be getting much worse. Do you want to come with me?"

"W-what?" Trixie looked around, but Maud was right. The snow was intensifying quite quickly. Far quicker than was normal. "D...do you think it's the Windigoes?" she whispered.

"No," Maud said, not bothering to lower her voice. "In the absence of pegasi to control the weather, snow is caused by atmospheric phenomenon. There's supposed to be a blizzard coming."

"That's not any better!" Trixie snapped. "Trixie won't be able to make it to the Crystal Empire on time for her performance! And why would the stupid pegasi schedule a blizzard on Hearthswarming! Don't they want a day off?!"

"Atmospheric phenomenon," Maud repeated. "You should get out of the open."

Trixie turned and looked at her 'home'. "Trixie was planning to sleep in her wagon tonight."

"It would be safer to stick together in this kind of weather," Maud droned.

Maud was... requesting to sleep together? Trixie's cheeks flushed red as a brief silence passed between them. Brief flickers of her time working at the Pie family rock farm surfaced—the way Maud had always been there for her to help out, and the way she...

Couldn't deny that Maud was an attractive mare, and perhaps one Trixie had paid more attention to than was healthy while working on the farm... "We... we can both sleep in my wagon...?" Trixie blurted.

"Is there room for two?" Maud immediately replied.

"Y-yes... Starlight and Trixie—"

"Okay." Maud's reply came out immediately, and she wasted no time trotting to the back of the wagon. Trixie followed, confused as Maud just stood by the door.

"We... uh... nevermind. I-it's okay," Trixie said, opening the door with her magic. "You can enter."

Maud nodded, stepping mechanically up the two wooden stairs and through the small doorway. Trixie following, hopping up from the first step and ignoring the second.

The interior was, as always, a cluttered disaster. The exterior lantern's glow came through the blue fabric of the wagon, illuminating the framework and casting a deep blue hue across boxes piled high in the front of the wagon. A worn hammock strung across the middle of the wagon was barely visible in the pale light, and the rear of the wagon was barely navigable around more boxes filled with props and other materials she used in her performances.

"Are you sure there's room for two?" Maud asked, stepping into the space the hammock occupied, letting the rope mesh mess up her normally unflappable mane.

Trixie grinned and her horn lit up, turning on the tiny heat lamp that would take some of the edge off the chilly night air and illuminate the interior with a soft glow. "We'll have to share the hammock, but it fits two just fine." She levitated four flimsy blankets from a nearby box.

"Okay," Maud replied as Trixie lined the hammock with two of the blankets. "Those blankets are thin," she deadpanned. "Are they really going to be enough?"

Trixie glanced at the two remaining blankets in her magic—Maud was right. They were thin and tattered. Her lips turned down into a frown. "T-Trixie just... doesn't have a lot of bits, you know?"

"Is that why you're out here?"

Yes. "No," Trixie blurted out, far too quickly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does it for the love of the art! She just finds the bits... convenient."

It was always hard to determine if Maud was buying anything she said. Maybe that little bit of mystery was why Trixie found herself drawn to the mare—it was practically the life-blood of sleight-of-hoof performers to be intrigued by mysterious—wait.

"I-I don't need to pay for a train ticket," Trixie blurted.

"What?"

"N-nothing," Trixie stammered.

With practiced ease, Trixie hopped up into the hammock, then used her magic to stabilize it. Maud to climb on, and the two were suddenly in rather close proximity. The hammock swayed slightly, the two of them pressed together by the hammock's natural desire to cocoon its inhabitant. Trixie covered them with the other two blankets, feeling the soft fabric of Maud's frock against her side and the blankets sandwiching them together.

Maud was looking around the wagon's interior with curious eyes that were making Trixie nervous—what might she find intolerable about such a simple lifestyle?

"Um... Why were you way out here in the tundra anyway?" she said, trying to distract from the state of her wagon.

Maud looked up then, seemingly examining the ceiling. Trixie breathed a sigh of relief. "A rare gemstone was recently discovered nearby. It only forms under rare conditions. I thought it would be nice to find some, so I've been camping in a cave nearby and digging for them. While I was making supper, I saw your lantern in the distance and I knew the weather would get worse. Helping out lost travelers is something my family does." A faint smile curved her lips. "I suppose this is the second time we've helped you out."

"Y-yes," Trixie replied. "Trixie remembers." Her thoughts drifted back to those days she spent on the Pie rock farm, and she found herself laughing. "Trixie remembers Limestone getting so mad. Trixie did not have earth pony intuition for the needs of growing rocks. Y-you... came to my rescue and taught me how to take care of the pebbles. Trixie learned a lot from you."

"My sister means well," Maud said sagely. "But she doesn't know how to express herself."

Trixie nearly burst out laughing at the irony of Maud speaking such words. Feeling like the ice was finally broken, the two of them fell into a routine of small talk as they laid together in the hammock. Even the normally stoic Maud seemed to loosen up a bit.

Soon, as their bodies shifted trying to find a comfortable position, Trixie found herself in Maud's embrace in a position that could only be described as 'the little spoon'. It wasn't so much an intentional hug as it was a natural consequence of the hammock, but... snuggling into Maud felt nice.

"... It's getting cold in here," Maud eventually opined.

Trixie looked up to see Maud staring back down at her. It was somewhat toasty with so much of the larger mare curled around her, but the bite of winter chill was still there. Trixie looked back down at Maud's sides... and the blue fabric there.

"We... could share some body heat," Trixie suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"You're still wearing your frock. Do you normally sleep with it on?"

"And you're still wearing your cape," Maud pointed out.

Trixie did not normally take that off unless... well...

The two of them shared an awkwardly uncomfortable moment.

"Should we take them off?" Trixie wondered aloud.

The disorganized chaos of bailing out the hammock, stripping off their individual pieces of clothing, and climbing back into the hammock in such a tight space was enough to set Trixie back to laughing as the two managed to work their way back into the hammock together—in the same spooning pose they'd been in before.

This time, though, Trixie could feel her fur brushing against Maud's. It felt... nice. The two of them snuggled together. An electric energy danced down Trixie's spine as she smiled—and slowly cuddled into the mare.