New Beginning

  A few weeks passed and Snowflake and Spirit started to get used to being in school, but her brother was still a little on the timid side, like always. Soon after their first day of school, the siblings and Dinky Doo were now a part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

  In the warm confines of the Carousal Boutique, Sweetie Belle asked her older sibling, Rarity, to make three more capes as the white, unicorn mare quickly worked in her shop. Rarity excused for being too busy at first, but when she told her it was for Snowflake, Spirit and Dinky Doo, she looked at her little sister with wide eyes and went right to working on the capes.

  "Why didn't you tell me it was for the three!?" Rarity rapidly worked on her sewing machine and levitated a few fabrics to her way, snipping them away with her scissors.

  "I forgot?" Sweetie answered unsurely, standing right behind her sister with a tilt of her head.

  Rarity finished, folded the capes neatly in her magical grasp after at least fifteen minutes and gave them to her little sister, "There, now go along darling, I have designs to work on, and customers to please." she went back to her work table, gently pushing her glasses up her muzzle.

  "Thanks, sis!" Sweetie Belle thanked her, put the folded capes on her back and scurried out the door, but forgot to close it behind her. Rarity sighed as she felt the cool wind going against her white coat, swung her horn up and closed the door with a little smile.

  Sweetie Belle had a white tricycle with a few light purple ribbons and a plain old basket at the back. She put the capes in the basket and got on her tricycle. She then put on her white helmet on, decorated with a few flowers and rode off towards their headquarters in Sweet Apple Acres.

  It was a little difficult trying to get to the tree house in all the snow, but with a little determination and some self couching, she managed to reach the place.

  She grabbed the capes from her basket as they hung from her mouth and started going up the steps while gasping through her nose. She knocked on the door as she held her head up to keep the new set of capes from dragging in the snow.

  The door opens and Apple Bloom smiled, "Good, ya got the capes!" she said and stepped aside to let Sweetie Belle in.

  Sweetie set the capes down on a small round table and sat down with a tired huff.

  "Oh yeah! They're goin' to be so stoked!" Scootaloo looked at the neatly folded capes with a big smile and glinting eyes.

  As Apple Bloom looked at the capes, a small memory forces its way into her line of thought, remembering something on what tomorrow is going to be and looked at other two fillies, "Hey girls! Tomorrow's Snowflake's and Spirit's Birthday!" she said happily.

  "Really? How do you know?" Scootaloo asked as she stared her friend in confusion.

  "Ah asked Winter and Fluttershy of course! Ah wanted to know when their birthdays were." she answered.

  "They're goin' to be even more stoked now!" Scootaloo bounced around, fluttering her little wings with a bright smile.

  The next day, Winter brought Snowflake and Spirit to school this time around. When they got there, he opened the gate and the two siblings quickly scanned the snowy school yard, and found the Crusaders and Dinky Doo near the steps, seemingly waiting for their arrival.

  They both bolted towards them, "Hi, girls!" Snowflake greeted as they reached them.

  "Hey!" Scootaloo greeted and pat Snowflake on the head with a smile of her own.

  Then Winter whistled. They all looked at him and he pointed at Apple Bloom and waved her over. She galloped over to him and he crouched down, "Apple Bloom, can you and the others distract Snowflake and Spirit? We're going to set up a surprise party for them in Fluttershy’s cottage." he whispered to her.

  She nodded happily, "Will do!" she said quietly.

  "Good. You and the other three can come along in the party if you like. I already invited your sisters, so there’s no need to go and ask." he whispered to her again.

  She smiled a little wider and saluted, "Thanks, Winter." she thanked him and put her hoof down.

  "You can go back now, just keep this a secret from Snowflake and Spirit, okay?" he said to her. She nodded and zipped her mouth with a smile. He smiled back and petted her on the head, "Good." he said to her.

  She ran back as the lone human started going back with a close of the gate, "What did you two talk about?" Scootaloo asked.

  "Uh… nothin’ interestin'" she smiled nervously.

  "Okay, so what do you guys want to play before school starts?" Dinky asked the little group as she sat beside Spirit.

  "Want to make a snowpony?" Sweetie suggested.

  "Sure, why not." Scootaloo answered and they all started to roll large snowballs on the snowy ground. Just as Cherrilee rang the bell, they were finished.

  At the end of school, the same snowpony they created was destroyed mercilessly by the school bullies.

  Scootaloo stumped up to them in rage, puffing out her now red cheeks, "Whatcha' do that for!?" she yelled at the five with a flushed, fuming face, surprising the younger fillies, but their two leader snorted at her.

  "Hahahaha! Because it's fun!" Diamond Tiara answered with an evil grin. "What are You going to do about it?" she poke the orange filly’s check a little hard. Scootaloo didn’t wince as they both faced down, Tiara daring her to make the first move as her smile widened.

  Before anything happened, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started to drag their friend away from the five, "Let me at ‘er! Let me at ‘er!" she struggled as her friends pushed her away, flaying her fore hooves the bane of their existence.

  "She ain't worth it, Scoot!" Apple Bloom struggled to get her away from the bullies mocking bullies.

  Then the five started yelling, "Scootaloo-Scootaloo!" like chickens and acted like one as well. Then they all laughed and fell on the snowy ground flaying their limbs, while rolling like evil, ugly Gremlins.

  With some time and some convincing, they finally got Scootaloo to stop her from beating the daylights out of Diamond Tiara and her new, additional minions.

  Snowflake and Spirit were just small enough to fit in the baskets on the tricycles as they rode to get to their tree house. Snowflake was on Apple Bloom's tricycle, while Spirit was on Sweetie Belle's. Dinky Do stood on the back step of the tricycle on Scootaloo's, steam still pouring out of the orange filly’s ears as she angrily road, leading the little bicker gang.

  "So, what cutie mark are we trying to get today?" Sweetie Belle asked as the peddled.

  "Uh…" Apple Bloom thought for a moment, sweat starting to form. "Why don't we just play for a couple of hours?" she answered nervously.

  "Okay, so what are we going to play, then?" Scootaloo asked next as she glanced back, now slowly calming down, the thought of playing with her friends distracting her from the bullies with the after school incident.

  "How about a snowball fight? We can make snow forts and we battle it out." Dinky suggested, looking back at the little group.

  "That's a great idea! Hurry! To our headquarters!" Scootatloo pointed up ahead and zoomed toward the Sweet Apple Acres, Dinky Doo holding on for dear life as her eyes watered from the rushing wind blowing at her face.

  "Okay, ta be fair, Scootaloo, Dinky Doo and Spirit will be the first team. Ah, Sweetie Belle and Snowflake will be the second." Apple Bloom said to semicircle of Crusaders. They all nodded and went to their places and found themselves a spot about fifteen feet from each other right under their tree house.

  The four older ones quickly started making their forts and the two siblings started making snowballs for the battle to come.

  The snow was a little deep on the area they were in, so they dug down about two feet and hit frozen ground, a few stands of green, wilting grass poking out. Then they started making the wall next and made a little stairway to go up. Snowflake and Spirit cleared three square foot of snow and made a little hill of snowballs behind the wall.

  After fifteen more minutes, both teams practically made miniature snow castles right under their tree house.

  Apple Bloom went up to the ledge to look at the enemy fort with her teammates. "Ya ready yet!?" she yelled. They waited for a moment, and then a snowball flew up and almost nailed Sweetie Belle on the face, causing the filly to “Eek!?” as she ducked down.

  Scootaloo and her team popped out their heads from behind their snow wall, "Dose that answer your question!" she yelled back with a smirked.

  "Battle stations!" Apple Bloom yelled a battle cry and threw one of her fore hooves in the air. The three grabbed their snowballs and went back up.

  "Sweetie Belle, ya keep passin' snowballs with yer magic!" Apple Bloom ordered. Sweetie Belle saluted with a little frown and puckering her lips up and went back down, sat down near the pile, her little horn now starting to glow a Lime Green.

  Spirit peeked up and was nailed by his sister on the face and fell back on his bum. "Hahahaha! Gotcha!" Snowflake laughed playfully.

  Then a snowball hit her on the face in mid laugh as well and fell on her own bum just like her brother, "Right back at, ya!" Spirit yelled back, followed by a little chuckle.

  "Oh, this is on!" Snowflake was passed snowballs by Sweetie Belle from bellow and the two siblings started to throw snowballs at each other in an all-out war.

  Apple Bloom made a snowball about the size of her body and rolled it over to Sweetie Belle, "Ya think ya can throw this at the others?" she asked her with little huffs.

  "I… I think so." she answered and concentrated on the large snowball, scrunching up her face in shear concentration. The thing slowly rose off the ground and floated in the air. She then swung her head towards the sky with an arch and threw the mass of snow towards the other team.

  "Aaahhhhh!" Scootaloo screamed as she was hit by the snow bolder and made a half circle hole at the top of their fort, where Scootaloo once stood.

  The snow bolder was halfway buried at the other wall of snow fort. Spirit and Dinky crumbled away the large snowball and Scootaloo appeared, pressed up against the snow wall.

  She spat out a chunk of snow and blew her mane away from her eyes, "Dinky, Spirit… make a bolder." she said to her team. They both saluted and quickly made a snow bolder just like the others did.

  Spirit and Dinky stood up straight and saluted, "It's ready, Captain!" they said to her.

  Scootaloo pulled herself out of the snow and fluttered her wings to get the snow out. She went up top, tightened her scarf and then pointed with her hoof, "Fire!" she yelled with burning passion.

  Spirit first threw a couple snowballs at the peeking Apple Bloom. When the filly ducked away, Dinky levitated the snow bolder with a wince and a little grunt, then threw the mass of snow with her magic.

  Apple Bloom waited a few moments for the snowballs to stop being thrown at her but when she heard nothing anymore, she slowly peeked over the edge, squinting her eyes at the other fort to try and find any signs of their enemy.

  “Anything, yet!?” Snowflake yelled from the bottom, stroking her friend’s mane as Sweetie Belle huff and puffed from exhaustion.

  Apple Bloom looked down at them with shake of her head, “Nope! Nothin’ ye-”

  “Fire!”

  The moment she looked back, she screamed with wide eyes. "Aaahhhh!" the snow bolder hit the little filly as her other two teammates scrambled away from her sides to try and get out of the way.

  Sweetie and Snowflake scrambled up and quickly scurried over to the half embedded snow bolder. They both crumpled away the snow and found Apple Bloom frowning, stuck in the snow with her limbs sprayed out. "Sweetie Belle… Snowflake… on mah word, fire ALL the snowballs." she said to the two.

  They both saluted and went over to the pile; "Ready!" they said in unison and got ready themselves ready.

  Apple Bloom shacks herself out the snow and fell on the ground with a grunt. She gets up and looked at Snowflake, "Snow, how fast can ya dig?" she asked her.

  "Fast." she answered simply.

  "Good, get behind the enemy lines, and when yah finish, get back, grab a few snowballs and we’ll surprise ‘em." she said to her. Snowflake saluted, dropped two snowballs she held and with a crack of her fingers she learned from her father, she started digging quickly towards the other fort. Apple Bloom went back up the ledge and yelled, "Fire!" at Sweetie Belle. Then a horde of Snowballs started pounding the others seconds after her command.

  "Get in cover!" Scootaloo yelled and the little group went under a little space under the wall, huddling together as a rain of snowballs bombarded them like a hailstorm.

  After a few more moments, Snowflake came back just as Sweetie Belle finished two thirds of the snowball pile; "Made a tunnel behind enemy lines, ma'am!" she got out and stood straight.

  "Good, grab snowballs for yourself and Sweetie Bell." Apple Bloom said to her as she grabs her own snowballs from the shrinking pile. “When she’s done, both of yah come in.” Snowflake saluted once again and started picking up snowballs as Apple Bloom crouched in the little cave system.

  Apple Bloom positioned herself at the end of the tunnel under one of the little patches of light going through the snow.

  "Out of Snowballs!" Sweetie yelled.

  "Fire!" Scootallo yelled from the other side, then falling snowballs started to pound the fort.

  Snowflake and Sweetie Belle goes in the cave mouth with their last bit of ammunition.

  The shock-in-all version of the snowball fight stopped and the three Crusaders started to wonder if they won the battle.

  "Helloooo!?~" Scootaloo yelled with a little smirk. After a moment, the three then looked at each other in confusion when no reply was said.

  "Fire!" they all heard a muffled yelled around them.

  Snowflake, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle popped out of the snowy ground with a small explosion of snow, armed with snowballs, surrounded the three with devious smiles.

  Dinky was the first to go down, Spirit was next and Scootaloo was bombarded last.

  "We won!" Apple Bloom yelled with her hooves out in the air and the three started cheering in the snow.

  Scootaloo wiped the snow off her face, "Hahaha! That was Fun!" she laughed again and her team started to laugh along as well.

  The Crusaders got onto their respective tricycles, but Apple Bloom when up to the steps of their tree house. "Go on ahead, ah have ta pick somethin' up in the club house." she said to them. Snowflake gets out of Apple Bloom’s basket and went on Sweetie Belle's tricycle, and sat beside her brother.

  "Don't take too long, or your hot chocolate might get cold!" Scootaloo yelled as Apple Bloom went up the steps.

  "Ah know Scoot! Ah won't be long!" she went into the tree house and the others started going.

  She peeked out and waited till they were out of sight. She went over to the small desk and grabbed the capes and threw them onto her back. She went back out, put the folded capes in the basket of her tricycle, puts on her orange helmet decorated with red and green apples and started following the new bike tracks.

  As the little group reached Fluttershy's cottage, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle parked their tricycles beside Winter's mountain bike. They took off their helmets and hung them on their handle bars as the rest of the Crusaders gets off to stretched a little.

  "Oh my goodness, am I getting cold!" Scootaloo shivered as well as Dinky and Sweetie Belle, they both nodded in agreement with their teeth chattering.

  Snowflake and Spirit seemed okay as they watched their shivering friends, "It's not That cold to me." Snowflake said and Spirit nodded.

  "W-well, I was b-born in the summer, not w-winter." Scootaloo stuttered and knocked on the door shakily.

  They waited for a moment then the door swung open and streamers popped out, balloons rose and Winter and ponies yelled out with party hats on, "Happy Birthday!".

  The two siblings gaped in awe and fainted on the snowy ground with a little thud.

  "Oh my." Fluttershy said, then Apple Bloom shows up.

  "Howdy y'all! So what… oh…" she looked at the passed out siblings on the ground with the folded capes on her back, still wearing her helmet.

  After a moment, Snowflake and Spirit woke back up on the couch with a blanket covering them and saw many eyes looking at them with party hats on.

  "SURPRISE!" Pinkie suddenly popped up in front of them and threw out her fore hooves, throwing confetti in the air.

  "Aahhhh!" the two yelled in shock. Once they saw who it was, they put their hands on their chests and took their time to try and slow down their pounding, little hearts. Fluttershy hugged them both to comfort the little ones.

  "Pinkie, you almost gave them a heart attack!" Twilight said to her with a little frown, Spike sitting on her back as he ate a cupcake with a messy cheek.

  "Ha! But they didn't! So the party must go on! I just knew how much to scare them so they wouldn't heart attacks! I learned my lesson with Granny Smith." she said to her proudly, as Aj was next to scowl at her. Rainbow dash face hoofed herself with an audible bonk.

  "Are you two okay?" Fluttershy asked them with a bit of a worry in her tone.

  They both took a deep breaths and let it all out. "Uh-huh." Snowflake nodded and Spirit as well.

  "Happy birthday, little ones!" Luna jumped at the back with a bright smile.

  The two gasped, "Aunty!" they both cheered on the couch.

  Princess Luna, a tall, blue Alicorn, walked up to them with a bright smile, and leaned down to the two, nuzzling them. “Great to see, you both, as well.” She said and stepped back.

  Then Apple Bloom and Scootaloo went up front with capes on their mouths. They both sat down on their rumps, held the capes with their hooves and showed them the folded capes, "We are happy to give ya two, the official Cutie Mark Crusaders capes." Apple Bloom said.

  "Really!" Snowflake said with a bright smile, Spirit as well as they both started giddily bouncing on the couch, draping out the blanket from their sides.

  They both nodded and wrapped the capes around their necks and tied them, "Welcome ta the team!" they both saluted.

  "Yay!" they both started jumping around on the couch while hugging one another.

  Snowflake looked and saw Dinky Doo had a cape as well. "Oo! You have one too!" Snowflake and Spirit went down with a little hop and went up to Dinky. She nodded happily with a bright grin. "The… Best… Day… EVER!" Snowflake yelled happily as the group chuckled and giggled at her excitement.