Fly Me to The Moon

Burn gently in the coldest nights.

It was the most important thing Snowbite had ever done in his young life. It had taken months of work with the temperamental and uncooperative ice crystals, but at long last he had finished it. And yet he only took the briefest of moments to admire his masterpiece before wrapping it in some brown cloth and tying the package in twine so that even the shape of the object he'd just created would be hidden. Once finished, the Windygo colt used his mouth to place the package in one of his saddlebags and took off like a gale toward his destination: Quartz Grotto, home of the Crystal Pony Refugees.

Snowbite galloped so swiftly that he cleared a path slightly bigger than himself through the snow with his wake. Of course, it wouldn't be an hour before the Eternal Blizzard covered his trail again, but in the meantime, he felt like he was making his mark on the world. It was a pretty big feeling, and it led him to thinking that on top of making his friend happy, he might just be making the next small steps to improving relations between the Windygoes and the other ponies, which had previously been devastated by the actions of the destructive, hateful Renegades who had made a sport of freezing them to death and killing their crops.

The trip took him half a day, but the Grotto was fairly unmistakable once one got close enough to see its silhouette against the snowy horizon, and Snowbite was so excited about the gift he intended to give his best friend ever that he never burned out, even once his charge was complicated by having to navigate the village's inexplicably labyrinthine streets. Having never seen the Empire itself, the colt didn't know that the Grotto was a pale, sad shadow of the Crystal Ponies' wondrous kingdom, and instead took its beauty at face value. Every last building and fixture was grown and carved from one lusterless crystal formation or another, and they inspired in his mind notions of dull but colorful snowflakes, as seen if viewed extremely closely.

When he finally reached Alex's house, he was still so excited that he pounded on the front door with both of his little hooves in a harsh, rapid beat. There was some muffled, rushed stomping from the other side, indicative of a grown pony approaching the door at a full trot, which caused Snowbite to back away from it quickly. In a bare moment, Mrs. Chrys Beryl managed to somehow throw open the door only a few inches. She looked around in a panic until she saw the Windygo colt sitting just outside, then opened the door some more to address him.

"Snowbite! Hello there! Where's the fire, hon?" she asked with a sweet smile, which quickly dissipated as she saw the colt's reaction. He had crouched down and flattened his ears like he was being scolded, his big gray eyes darting around in sheer terror.

"FIRE!? WHERE!?" the colt's head whipped about himself so quickly that Mrs. Beryl feared he might give himself whiplash.

"Hey, easy now, foal. That was an expression. It means 'what's all the fuss about'?" Chrys tried to reassure the colt, and his response left her wondering how she kept managing to forget that he flipped between emotions like a switch: springing from one to the other in a blur. "That said, what is all the fuss about. I don't imagine you trying to beat down my door just to say 'hi'..."

"Oh, right! I'm here because I have a present for Alex! Where is he?" Snowbite asked as he perked back up to his previously bouncy state. Whatever had gotten into the colt, he was positively glowing. Mrs. Beryl noted that it was strange to see such warmth radiating from a naturally chilly breed of pony, but the sight was no less adorable for it. She was happy that her son had made such a nice friend.

"He's up in his room. Just a moment, I'll call him down..." Chrys offered, and turned to suit action to word, "ALEXANDRITE! PLEASE COME DOWNSTAIRS! YOUR SNO-!"

"I'lljustmeethimupthereMrs.Berylthankyouverymuch!" Snowbite rattled off as he blurred past the mare of the house and raced up the stairs to meet his friend.

"What was that, Mother? I didn't- Oh hey there, Snowbi-oof!" For his part, the blood-red crystal pony with light green eyes had only just opened his bedroom door in time for his wintry friend to collide with him and send them both tumbling into the room, spilling the contents of the cold pony's saddle bags onto the rock-hard floor. Snowbite gasped, but fortunately the cloth wrapping had protected the precious object inside.

"Hey Alex! I made you a present! I galloped all the way here just to give it to you!"

"Oh! Well... thanks. But why now? It's not my birthday. Is it yours?" Alex asked, even though he was sure Snowbite's birthday wasn't for another few moons.

"It's sure not!" Snowbite responded, as chipper as he was that morning.

"It's also not a Crystal Pony holiday today." Alexandrite pressed, trying to sort out what the occasion for this random super-special present was. "Is it a Windygo holiday?"

"Nope!" the frosty colt grinned. "Guess again!"

"Um... I've got nothing. What's today?"

"Today's the day it's been exactly one year since we decided to be friends! Wow, that's a mouthful. They should make a word for that. Is there a word for that? Oh, right! The present! Quick, open it up!"

"Why, is it going to melt?" Alex asked with a half-smile as he used his magic to tug at the twine not. The smile disappeared when he saw that Snowbite was on the verge of tears, though. "What? What is it?"

"I didn't think of that! It might melt! What if it melts? Your present will be ruined! And I worked so hard on it!" Snowbite half-shouted, working himself into near hysterics. Alex silenced him with a hoof, which allowed him to breathe and calm down.

"Just relax. At least you thought to give me a present. That's better than I can say. I didn't even remember that today was important. Anyway..." Alexandrite tugged the knot the rest of the way apart with his mouth, then used his hoof to move the cloth until it revealed Snowbite's present. The sight of it made him cock his head to one side in slight confusion. "Is that a...?"

"Yes! It's a crystal heart! An ice crystal heart! I made it myself! You see, Irememberedfromafewmonthsagobackwhenyourmomfirstacceptedtheideaofusebeingfriendsshewouldtellusstoriesaboutthingsfromtheyouponies'CrystalEmpirethingyandsoIgotthisideato-whoa! What are you doing? How are you doing that?"

"Doing? Doing what? What am I doing?" Alex asked, unaware of actually doing anything but feeling happier and happier about this considerate gift his best friend had given him. There seemed to be a lot more light in the room, but at first he thought that was just due to his change in disposition from the usual Crystal Pony Depression. Now that Snowbite had alerted him to a change, however, he checked himself to see if he was twitching or doing anything else he was hitherto unaware of. Surprised by the sight of himself, he ran to look into the wash basin and was nearly blinded.

Alexandrite had heard from his mother and some of the other adults that a sufficiently happy Crystal Pony underwent a transformation to their true form, but he'd always thought that was just a story they told themselves and each other to keep their spirits up. And yet, here he was, blazing. His once dull red coat now gleamed, and his mane had altered shape to make it look as though his head and neck were on fire. His new form shed light everywhere, both that refracted from around him, and... radiated from within. He was also kind of transparent now, which was a little creepy.

"You look totally awesome, Alex!" Snowbite announced from behind him, returning the crystalline colt's attention to him.

"I know, right? And it's all thanks to you! You're the best friend a colt could have!" Alex replied, trotting over to give Snowbite a big hug. After enjoying the moment for merely a moment, Snowbite's joy at seeing his friend happy with his gift faded into worry. It was so hard to keep that frosty colt in one mood, even happy, for long, one wondered why anypony even tried. But that he did was a testament to the kind of friend Alex was.

"Alex, you're my very best friend."

"And you're mine too, Snow."

"And we'll always be friends forever, won't we"

"Yeah, forever." Alexandrite gave Snowbite a playful jab in the shoulder with his hoof, then scampered back to his bedroom door. "Come on! Let's see if your Ice Crystal Heart can help our whole town!"

"Yeah!"