Hammock for Two

Maud's eyes opened as the wildlife began to stir, the noise rousing her. She peered down at the smaller mare in her hooves; the slow rise and fall of her chest; how her mouth hung open slightly, wafting soft breaths into Maud's belly. It was far more intimate than she was used to with another mare. Perhaps more confusingly, she wasn't averse to it.

In fact, she was glad she had come here. Trixie didn't seem to grasp the concept of weather without pegasi to guide it, and the blizzard was supposed to be quite harsh. The poor mare might have suffered intensely without help. After all...

The window at the side of the wagon revealed the snow was deep enough the snow was visible even without standing up. Even if Trixie could have survived the night alone, she would never have a chance of continuing her journey in such conditions.

Maud's heart swelled at the thought—that was what Maud found meaning in: the protection of others. Her only close friend, Starlight, was hardly in need of her help. Historically, she'd protected her younger sisters, and yet... They had grown. Pinkie already had a perfectly capable group of friends to look out for her. Limestone didn't need protection from anyone except her own hubris. And any protection Maud might have offered to Marble was overridden by Limestone's own aggressive form of protection.

There wasn't much Maud could offer back home at all, really. Trixie's unexpected stint as a farmhand had provided her with an outlet when she'd gone home then, too.

Sleeping while wrapped around Trixie had really given her that satisfaction overnight, too—a fragile ego, so much like Limestone... but without the capabilities to back up that ego. A pony that needed her help.

It took several minutes of very careful maneuvers to slip out of the hammock without waking Trixie, but the showmare seemed to be a rather heavy sleeper, so she did eventually manage.

Maud pulled on her frock, fishing around in the pocket for the gemstones she'd spent an entire day digging for. Holding it in her hoof, she looked between it and the sleeping Trixie. "Heh," a small laugh escaped. She put the gemstones away and turned to the door.

The door resisted, but the snow wasn't piled so high she couldn't force it open, and when it finally did, the view was breathtaking. A vast field of white, punctured by trees covered in snow—with their lower trunks buried, and only the pine tops sticking out of an otherwise pristine, frigid purity.

It was too good to ignore. Maud carefully climbed up to the top of the wagon using the door as leverage and trying not to mess up the snow, with limited success, but soon she was perched on top, with a breathtaking view.

Cold. Frozen. Silence. Qualities she would often admire in rocks. For several minutes, she sat in contemplative silence, pondering her swirling feelings for the mare she'd just spent an evening with in alarmingly close proximity. Her hoof absentmindedly kept coming back to her chest, where Trixie's breath had been ruffling her fur.

"Frozen smoke, it's cold in here," Trixie muttered from the wagon below her, the wagon doing nearly nothing at all to muffle her voice.

"Good morning, Trixie," Maud called.

"Trixie finds nothing good about mornings!" There was a crash along with a metallic rattle of something from inside the wagon.

The door opened, and Trixie peeked her head out. Maud could see she was wrapped in all four of the blankets. "Maud? Where are you?"

"Hello," Maud said, leaning off the side of the wagon so she was just inches above Trixie's horn.

"KyAAAAAA~!" Trixie jumped again, just as she had the previous night. It was... somehow cuter. Trixie whirled about, her cheeks flushed with emotions Maud could only guess at. "What are you doing on the roof?!"

Maud looked up at the snow. "Admiring the third most beautiful thing I've seen today."

Trixie didn't seem to take the hint. "Oh, the snow is rather pretty, yes. Too bad Trixie can't move the wagon through it."

Maud frowned. Was she really that bad at flirting? Or was Trixie just that oblivious?

"We're trapped here," Trixie groused. "How long before your atmospheric phenomenon warms up and melts this away?" she asked bitterly.

That was defeatist talk. Maud heaved herself off the roof and followed Trixie into the wagon. "We're not stuck. I can pull it."
Trixie huffed. "Trixie would love to see you try."

"Not yet," Maud said quietly. "It's Hearthswarming today."

"So what?" Trixie asked, tilting her head.

"Tradition is to give gifts on Hearthswarming." Her hoof fished one of the gemstones out of her pocket and held it up. Blue—almost the same color as Trixie's coat. Maud held it out to Trixie. "Cobalt blue spinel," she said. "This is the gemstone I was after. It suits you. I want you to have it."

Trixie looked down at it and her jaw dropped. "M-Maud, you said this is a rare gem... it... it's not valuable, is it? It's beautiful, but Trixie is not sure she should accept this..."

"It's not even the most beautiful thing here," Maud said, trying again.

"The snow isn't important right now—Trixie can't accept this! Trixie has nothing to give you in return!"

"Trixie." Maud shouted. Well, she would have, but... for some reason even when she was upset, it didn't come across that way.

"Why would you go out of your way to find these gems just to give them to Trixie, anyway?" Trixie started rummaging through her boxes of possessions. "Trixie... Trixie doesn't think she has anything that would compare to this."

"Trixie." Maud un-shouted again. "You've already given me a gift this year."

"What?" she replied, stopping to look back at Maud. "What do you mean?"

"You gave me a place to sleep. You shared your warmth with me. The cave—" she trailed off awkwardly, something that wasn't normal for her before she got herself centered again. "I would have survived just fine, Trixie. But you made the night pleasant. Memorable."

"Trixie did?"

Maud smiled. "I have another gift for you, too." She stepped back out of the wagon. "Come on."

Following Maud's lead, Trixie climbed onto the roof of the wagon. "You were going to the Crystal Empire today, right?"
"Y-yes, Trixie has a show at noon."

"Then there's no time to waste." Maud dove into the snow as if it was a pool, fishing around for the tarpaulin covering the hitch. As soon her hooves found it, she flexed and pulled, putting her considerable earth pony strength into it. The tarpaulin pulled up, carrying with it a staggering depth of snow, which she carelessly tossed aside. "We're going to the Crystal Empire today."

"We?" Trixie blurted. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"You gave me a reason to stay."

"What?"

"With you," Maud replied, hitching herself to the wagon—a wall of snow was nothing to a pony who could drive through a mountain with her hooves if necessary, and the crown of the Crystal Empire's spires stood up well above the snow line.

"W-wait, the gemstone you gave to Trixie... A precious stone."

Maud nodded. "It is impure, but it is precious. Like all the things I love." She raised a hoof gesturing at the landscape before them. "I love the silent purity of the snow, but it is marred by trees that ruin it. I love precious gems, even when they are full of stray materials that leave them impure."

She turned to fix her stare on Trixie. "Yet, you're still the most beautiful thing I've laid eyes on today. I would not mind travelling with you and sleeping in your wagon."

"O-oh..." Trixie pauses. She seemed lost in thought for a moment, before another brief "Oh!" burst from her lips. "Trixie... Trixie did not realize Maud felt the same way."

"Then, we have exchanged gifts," Maud said, nodding with finality. "Gifts of affection."

"... Trixie is not used to this. Is there anything else Trixie is supposed to do?"

Maud smiled. "No, Trixie. Just say Happy Hearthswarming."

"Oh... well, then. Trixie has one last gift for you."

The resulting fireworks show could be seen all the way from the gates of the Crystal Empire.