Chapters It wasn’t the greatest morning for Snow Veil, having had another of her recurring nightmares. It seemed every night she had to relive the painful day her parents were taken from her.
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It started off as any other day. Celestia raised the sun at her normal hour and activity in Cloudsdale started bustling. Her parents left to their music shop while Snow Veil went to rot her brain at school. She really didn’t like school, felt it was unnecessary. She could easily learn what she wanted to know, whether through books, her parents, or some other medium.
So it was a typical day at school. Snow Veil spends most of her day writing songs, not exactly listening to what the teacher was saying. She spoke with some of her friends, but mostly spent time with herself. Voluntarily. Some ponies poked fun at her for having no friends, but to their amusement, it was self induced. She much preferred to be a loner than to have a large posse following her around. But as the day wore on, Snow Veil could only imagine the even that was going to change her life forever.
Her parents were running the shop as they did every day, getting visits from long time friends and loyal customers. Her parents were loved by just nearly everypony. Her mother was a white pegasus with a straight, blue mane. Her blue eyes were full of kindness and love, for everypony, to the point where everypony wondered why she became a shop keeper rather than a hospital mare. Only she knew the answer and it was to stay close to her husband. He was a striking figure; a larger built body and a light brown coat. His mane was quite a bright blond. His life dream was to open a shop in the business district of Cloudsdale and his wife was in full support.
On her way back from school, Snow Veil was feeling really good as she had survived another day, AND had passed all her classes (it was the end of the school year). On her daily walk to help close the music shop, she was thinking of how her and her parents would spend the long break, but instead, the first sight she saw made her heart skip a beat. The door to the music shop lie on the ground. The police ponies were all over the place taking notes and looking around. There was even a private investigator looking around, placing numbered cards by everything he deemed was evidence. There was a large pool of blood coating the royal blue tiling behind the counter and by one of the shelves as if someone had placed a red carpet over the existing floor.
She didn’t want to believe what she was seeing, but how couldn’t she. It was right there, looking her in the face. She tried to be strong, tried to repress the tears, but the feeling was too overwhelming for her. The only two ponies in her life she would always spend time with and always love talking with had been selfishly taken from her. Stolen from her life. Just like that. In cold blood no less. She knew everyone loved her parents. Who would be so uncaring, so mad that they would commit such an atrocity?
“W-What h-happened h-here” was all Snow Veil was able to manage before she burst out into tears. She ran straight home. No one was going to stop her, prevent her from getting to her destination. She ran through the city, splitting couples, knocking over shopping carts… and ponies for that matter. All the while her eyes were spewing tears.
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She woke with a gasp. Reliving that tragedy was taking a toll on her sanity. Her bed was soaked with her sweat. Her bright blue mane (she took after her mother in looks and her father in personality) was tangled and matted. Her dark blue eyes, bloodshot and tear filled.
“Just a dream,” she thought to herself. “Well, more like a nightmare… THAT nightmare…”
Nearly weekly for the past year and a half Snow Veil had been reliving that moment in her life, that horrible event that changed her life. For better or for worse, she had yet to decide, but for now it definitely felt like it was for the worse, as she never felt any better about it. And to top it all off, in the six years that had passed since the day, the police never caught the two. All Snow Veil could do was sit and hope that her parents were happy; wherever it was that they went after death.
She grudgingly pulled herself out of bed and hobbled to the kitchen, still groggy from just waking up. Sight was also difficult as her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light. She grabbed a box of cereal, a bowl, and some milk. She slowly ate her cereal in solitude. Through some string pulling her aunt and uncle in Manehattan had managed to allow her to legally stay home rather than go to an orphanage. When she finished her breakfast she put her dishes in the sink, the milk in the fridge and the cereal box in the pantry. After everything was away, she wandered out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom.
She stumbled into the bathroom, still half asleep, and turned the hot water on. She know this would help her wake up. When the water heated up she plugged the drain and stepped in. While she was soaking in the tub her mind started wandering. “Has it really been six years? Have I really survived that long with nopony living with me? How have I stayed sane?” She just dwelled on the past until she realized that she had been in the bath for a good thirty minutes. She decided it was time to get out and get ready to take on the day.
She stood up and stepped out of the bath, dried off, brushed her teeth, and brushed her mane. She then realized that working on the weather team was what kept her sane. Down-to-earth, so to speak as she lived on a cloud.
“Today is going to be a good day,” Snow Veil told herself, as she did every morning. “A very good day.”
The clouds were beautiful that morning. About as poofy as they could get. As Snow Veil walked on one, waiting for her instructions on where she was to go, she imagined that that’s what it would feel like to walk on a large helping of cotton candy. With that thought she laid down, well more like fell down. The thought of cotton candy made her suddenly crave sweets. She was still slumped over when the head pegasus flew over and gave everyone directions. Snow Veil was sent to leave her cloud to shade a small village called Ponyville. She loved that assignment, for Ponyville was such a peaceful little village, away from any really developed city like Manehattan, or Fillydelphia. Today was, in fact, turning out to be a great day.
Floating on a cloud over Ponyville, Snow Veil was still all caught up in her thoughts of sweets. Her mouth watered at the very thought of some luscious cotton candy. She had fallen to the point of chewing on her cloud she was so far gone in her daydream. She awoke with a jump, afraid she had slept the day away. Looking around, she realized noon still had yet to come. Celestia was still on her side. She flapped her wings, pushing the could along until she arrived over Sugarcube Corner. There was quite a ruckus going on there for being so early in the morning. She flew her could off to the side a bit and realized it was some kind of party. Noticing the building s exterior, Snow Veil deduced that it was some kind of bakery. Her mouth began to water again as the thoughts of sweets danced through her mind… again. She guessed she should just wait the party out.
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Minutes rolled on by, as speedy as a snail, with every one feeling longer than the last. “I don’t want to just barge on in,” Snow Veil said to herself. “I wasn’t invited. What if it’s a special party for somepony and all I did was manage to ruin it?” It was decided, she would keep waiting, no matter how long it would take. She would show that she had the greater patience.
Again seconds rolled into minutes, which snowballed into hours, and before you know it, Snow Veil had spent seven hours waiting for this seemingly perpetual party to cease so she could slip in and buy some cupcakes (her mind had passed the need for cotton candy as it was much too sweet to eat this late in the evening).
Finally, after what seemed like forever and a day, ponies started funneling out the door. A hyperactive pink pony with overly curly hair suddenly burst from the window and thanked everypony for showing up to… what was that… Gummy’s third birthday party. Hold up. “Who the heck is Gummy,” Snow veil asked herself aloud. “That doesn’t seem to be a very fitting name for anypony,” she mused. Oh well. Everypony was filing our so she decided it was time to head on over. It was cupcake time.
So Snow Veil descended from her airborne vantage point and made her way past the crowd leaving Sugarcube Corner.
“That’s a lot of cake,” she thought, dumbfounded that one building could house that much sweet food. She was just standing there, eyes wide, jaw on the floor. Somepony seemed to catch on to her aura and waltzed right on over and put her hoof on Snow Veil’s shoulder, facing where Snow Veil was.
“Amazing isn’t it. I made all of this, this morning all on my own, just for Gummy’s party. Oh by the way, I’m Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie Pie finished her rushed introduction, completely forgetting to tell poor Snow Veil exactly where she was in Ponyville.
“Wow…” was all Snow Veil could manage until what Pinkie said finally hit her. “Wait, hold up. You made ALL of this?!”
“Yep!”
“On your own?!”
“You know it!”
At this Now Veil’s eyes lit up so more. Seeing what this peculiar pony was capable of. Turning around to face Pinkie, Snow Veil smiled and said, “Yes this is amazing. I’m Snow Veil by the way. Nice to meet you.” Halfway through Snow Veil was bubbling, realizing Pinkie’s over joyous attitude was contagious.
“Nice to meet you too, Snow Veil, and welcome to Ponyville, and more importantly, Sugarcube Corner. I’m the main baker here and I take care of the Cakes’ little fillies. OH! You should see them, they are so cute and love to play. I used to have to break flour over my head to get them to stop crying but now we all get along fine. Oh did I mention I’m the baker here.”
Snow Veil simply nodded her head as she waited for Pinkie to finish her spiel. She finally managed a word when Pinkie had to stop for a breath. “Well then I would like to buy some cupcakes please.”
At this Pinkie’s eyes and smile grew even larger than they already were, which was pretty large, and seemed to consume the rest of her face. The tour began.
“Weeelll, we have vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry cupcakes. Carrot cake and lemon cake cupcakes. Blueberry, cherry, and apple cupcakes. *GASP*”
“The apple cupcakes please.” Snow Veil rushed in before Pinkie could start again. Celestia only knows how long she could have gone on.
“Oh that’s GREAT! You know, the apples for these cupcakes come from the orchard on the other side of town, Sweet Apple Acres. The Apple family lives and works there. You should go sometime and meet Applejack. She is one of my best friends.”
“Ok, I sure will,” Snow Veil stated, Matter-of-factly. Since Snow Veil lacked her saddlebags, she stayed at Sugarcube Corner to eat her apple cupcakes, which turned out fantastically. Her and Pinkie talked for the whole time, with Pinkie talking most of the time. Pinkie talked about her life in Ponyville, her pet Gummy, and all of her friends, which from what Snow Veil could catch, seemed to be the whole town. Snow Veil managed to get her to go on merely by saying “yeah” or “uh-huh”, as Pinkie was talking for the sake of talking mostly rather than for storytelling.
When Snow Veil had finished her amazing cupcakes she decided that she should leave promptly, as to avoid Pinkie finding a new subject to talk about. Right at the end Snow Veil recalled her talking of some trick that everypony said was impossible… Something about a wall or something. Too bad Snow Veil wasn’t really listening, in retrospect, it would have been interesting. So Pinkie and Snow Veil said their farewells and Snow Veil flew off back to Cloudsdale and her house for the night. On her way she was just admiring Luna’s work in the sky. Sure Celestia brought the sun that allowed everything to grow but Luna’s handwork was just downright gorgeous.
“If I never had to see the sun again,” Snow Veil mused, “I would be perfectly content.”
Snow Veil arrived home and began her nighttime rituals. She closed all the blinds to the house, locked both doors, kissed the picture of her parents good night and tucked herself in. she had done this for six straight years and she wasn’t intending to give it up anytime soon.
Snow Veil woke up rather easily. She had dreamt of swimming in a pool of nothing but cotton candy. But that’s what happens when you fall asleep with the remnants of a sugar high. She sheepishly opened one eye to get it adjusted, then the other. Her morning routine had begun. But something was off today. She didn’t feel as active or awake as she did yesterday. Upon realizing why, though, she was more awake than ever. She didn’t have to work this week, starting today! She flew about her house, completely forgetting her breakfast by the way, screaming and hollering, and causing quite a commotion. She had this week to herself, and she definitely wasn’t going to waste it.
Still forgetting breakfast, Snow Veil nearly dove into the bath and bathed in record time. By the time she was ready to head out, the tub still hadn’t finished filling up, let alone draining. Her grin as she stood in her gaping doorway, facing the world, nearly ate her face. She spent the first 20 minutes thinking about what to do, and because of her goofy grin she was catching some awkward stares as well. But that didn’t faze her, today was her day. She thought of Pinkie last night and wondered who this Applejack was and how she could have the best apples in all of Equestria… Didn’t all apples taste the same? Well Snow Veil intended to find out. So off she flew, back to Ponyville.
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After landing in Ponyville, Snow Veil was about to make her way to the Apple Family’s orchard when she was blindsided by a yellow, pink maned, pegasus. This yellow pony seemed hell bent on catching the baby ferret she was chasing. So much in fact, she didn’t notice Snow Veil until it was too late. Too late being her on top of Snow Veil. She looked and saw that she had lost the race, and the ferret had made off without her.
“Darn it!” she exclaimed, though hushed, “That’s one more I’ll have to catch later. Oh! Sorry miss.” She finally broke from her laser focus and noticed the white pegasus she happened to be perched on top of. “Here let me move. I’m terribly sorry by the way, I didn’t see you there and that little ferret left before he ate and now he’s gonna be hungry all day.” She sighed. “Well anyways, My name is Fluttershy. Sorry again for the rude awakening. What’s your name?”
“Snow Veil,” Snow Veil replied.
“I like it,” Fluttershy said, “What brings you to Ponyville today, Snow Veil?”
“well yesterday I came to have some cupcakes over at Sugarcube Corner. I had the apple ones and they were SOOOO good. Pinkie, whom I met yesterday at that outing, told me there were so delicious because the apples in them were from Sweet Apple Acres. She told me to go and meet somepony named Applejack. So I intend on doing so and thanking her for that apples that made those cupcakes so delicious.”
Fluttershy was nodding through all this and when Snow Veil finished, Fluttershy said “well Applejack is one of my best friends. I can, um, introduce you. You know, If it’s okay with you.” Through this whole conversation Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane and her voice was audible… just audible. Snow Veil also though there was some kind of blushing going on too but couldn’t quite see as Fluttershy’s mane was so thick Snow Veil couldn’t see through it.
“I would love that!” Snow Veil exclaimed, slightly startling Fluttershy. “Oops, heh, heh, sorry.” And they were off.
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After what felt like miles of walking the two pegasi approached the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, well according to the sign and the fact that all the trees before the sign turned into apple trees past the sign.
Fluttershy and Snow Veil continued to chat all the way up to the Apples’ barn. They found out they are from the same part of Cloudsdale and had the same third grade teacher, though they were a few years apart. Upon arrival Fluttershy knocked on the door and the wait began. After a good five minutes of scraping sounds coming from the inside, the top door opened to reveal a quite aged, green pony with a walker.
“Oh hi Granny Smith.” Fluttershy said, “is Applejack around?”
“Why dearie,” the decrepit old pony answered, “She’s out bucking the east field with Big Mac right now.”
“Thank you Granny Smith, have a good day.” Fluttershy and Snow Veil left in the direction of the east field which was, as stated by its name, to the east. Their conversation sparked yet again with Fluttershy finally opening up to Snow Veil. She was speaking more openly now and wasn’t hiding behind her mane anymore. This made Snow Veil feel much better as she didn’t truly know what it was like to have friends.
After about 10 minutes of wandering the east field, some grunting could be heard in the distance. Trusting their instincts, as they hadn’t let them down yet, Fluttershy and Snow Veil made their way toward the sound. When they arrived, Snow Veil couldn’t believe her eyes. This tan, blond maned pony was strong enough to kick and apple tree and knock all the apples off, in one hit. Snow Veil hadn’t ever witnessed this kind of strength in her life.
Upon further inspection Snow Veil noticed how fluid this pony’s motion was. There was no wasted effort. She would reel up on her front legs and with what seemed to be all her strength, she would kick the tree with her back legs. All the apples would then fall into the baskets she had placed around the trunk of the tree. It was just so beautifully simple Snow Veil couldn’t help but appreciate it.
“Why howdy there Fluttershy, didn’t notice you there. And who might this new friend of yours be?”
“Hey” Snow Veil said, suddenly very timid towards this new earth pony standing in front of her. “Fluttershy is right, I topped by Sugarcube Corner yesterday as I was craving some cupcakes. Pinkie Pie gave me quite a list of flavors she had, though I chose the apple ones. They were really, really good and Pinkie said I should come meet you because you are the reason the apples are so good.”
“Well, that was mighty kind of her. And yes, Ah buck all these here apples mah self. Well along with my brother, Big Mac.” Applejack took a look at Snow Veil and then looked out at what she had left to buck. “Ah think Ah’ve done my work for today. Big Mac can pick up whatever Ah missed.” She said, seeming slightly fatigued.
So with the that, all three ponies left to the house where they sat and ate lunch. It was a beautiful garden salad adorned with fresh, crisp, gala apples. The ponies chatted over their lunch while Snow Veil attempted to restrain herself. The salad was too good or its own good and Snow Veil was on the verge of just scarfing it down. It was the best thing she had to eat in a while, as her usual dinner was either cereal or something from the diner up the street. Needless to say, Snow Veil definitely wasn’t meant to be anything that had to do with making food. At one point she just ceased all movement and stared down the salad. Applejack and Fluttershy both shared a look and started giggling. The pain was too much for Snow Veil to bear thus she resumed her ferocious attack on the salad.
Snow Veil stopped at her door step. She was reflecting on the day’s events. She met two really nice ponies, of whom she considered her new friends. I mean, wouldn’t spending the whole day with them warrant that thought? Without knowing who she was they showed her compassion. They proved to Snow Veil that everypony won’t try to bring you down and turn you into a depressed, jaded pony. Something was nagging at her though. She felt like she knew Fluttershy already though. She just couldn’t put her hoof on it. Oh well, that was a problem for another day.
Snow veil quickly unlocked the door to her house and walked on in, still musing to herself about her three new friends. She was all bubbly and gitty on the inside but somehow managed to cover it all up and on the outside she just seemed as normal as ever. Almost as if nothing had ever happened. But oh how wrong all the other ponies were it that’s what they thought.
Once inside Snow Veil let out an exasperated sigh. To her it felt like a world of stress had been lifted off her shoulders. She closed the door and walked to her living room where she found a book and began to read. It helped her clear her mind, reading that is, and it was her favorite pastime. It was two in the afternoon.
Once Snow Veil finished her book, she rose from her cushion on the floor and looked at the time. It was nine in the evening. She decided she would just have some cereal for dinner tonight and head to bed. Therefore she did just that and within the hour, she was in bed and fast asleep.
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Snow Veil awoke early the next morning. “I think I’m going to surprise Pinkie today,” she thought. She still had six days before her leave was up. She quickly headed to the kitchen to have breakfast. She remembered the day before and thought about how hungry she was during the day. She was not going to go through that again.
“I’m going to treat myself today.” She thought. She started rummaging through all her drawers, bookshelves, and looking on the counters. “Ah Hah!” She exclaimed, almost loud enough for her neighbors to hear. Snow veil waltzed back into the kitchen with her prize, a dusty old tome that stated ‘Good Eats’ on the front cover in an outrageously large font. The lettering was a bright, shiny gold color, but the shine wasn’t coming out as the cover was covered in a profuse amount of dust. Snow Veil opened the book to the ‘Breakfast’ section and started skimming through all the recipes. She needed something that wasn’t too hard. Something that could be made quickly and without dirtying ever pot and pan in the kitchen. “An omelette you say. I’ll give that a shot.” She read out all the ingredients and the directions as she was gathering everything up. Once all the ingredients were on the counter she began. Within 35 minutes it had finished and she could dig in, which she did, without hesitation. When the omelette ceased to be she dropped her plate in the sink and headed to the bath.
She was in and out just as fast as the day before. She dried off, brushed her teeth, gave her mane a good brush and flip and everything was great. She headed off and left her key in the plant pot by her front door. Her destination was none other than Ponyville again.
She arrived in Ponyville in a little under fifteen minutes as Cloudsdale wasn’t too far away from the rural village. She landed in front of Fluttershy’s house and knocked on the door. Fluttershy opened the door and before she could get a word in Snow Veil began to unveil her plan to Fluttershy.
“Oh, um, well, that’s a great idea and all, and it’s very nice but I have a spa appointment with Rarity today. You haven’t met Rarity yet have you? She’s the designer in town. We have weekly spa appointments that everypony just schedules things around.” Fluttershy got in close to Snow Veil and lifted her hoof up as if to tell a secret of some kind. “You see, whenever anyone messes with Rarity’s plans she throws a bit of a fit. She’s kind of a drama queen in that respect.” Fluttershy returned to normal and continued. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you.” And with that, Fluttershy closed the door to her house and started off down the path into town.
Snow Veil watched her friend walk off. Her ears were put back and she didn’t feel too well. She figured that she would just go read to get her mind off of it. Beyond that she didn’t quite know what she wanted to do. Her idea of throwing a party didn’t really go too well. Snow Veil left to the Library.
The library was a good five minute walk from Fluttershy’s house, well perhaps ten at the slow pace that Snow Veil was walking at. It was two stories and built into the trunk of a tree. When Snow Veil finally caught sight of it, she noticed an unreasonably large telescope protruding out from the side of the. “What is that?” she thought. “Does someone live there or is that there for everypony to use?” This telescope perplexed Snow Veil as she tried to remember back to the Cloudsdale library. She wondered if she had ever seen a telescope growing out from the side, and when she decided there wasn’t she wondered why such an under-developed village like Ponyville would cater to the stargazers. She figured that Cloudsdale would be better suited for the stargazers since they don’t really have any synthetic lights and that they are on the clouds, the only thing that really impedes the view of the cosmos. She approached the door and gave it three good knocks.
A lavender pony opened the door and poked her head out. “Why hello there.” Her smile was quite large, though it didn’t compete with Pinkie in the least. Her mane was a darker purple, darker than her coat, and it had a bright, pink stripe going through it. The stripe almost matched the color of Pinkie’s coat. “My name is Twilight, please come in, the library is open.” The door seemed to grow a purple translucent cloud as it opened wider to let Snow Veil in. Snow Veil took a better look at the librarian and almost did a face-hoof from the fact that she completely missed Twilight’s horn.
“A city with earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi.” Snow Veil was trying to wrap her head around this concept since she was only used to Cloudsdale and the only ponies there were pegasi. Anypony else would just fall right through the clouds.
Snow Veil entered the library and was quite underwhelmed with the amount of books there were. “I guess a city of this size doesn’t need that many books…” Once fully inside Snow Veil turned around and closed the door behind her. Twilight was sitting at a desk taking notes from a rather large book. Snow Veil thought nothing of that after the initial notice and went to look at the comedy section. She really needed something to get her out of the dumps she was trudging through at the moment. She found the comedy section and was looking through all the books, minding her own business, trapped in her own little world. She nearly jumped when she felt something poke her in the side. She was even more surprised when she saw the small, purple, scaly, reptilian creature before her. She had never heard of dragons.
“Hey, I’m Spike. Do you need any help finding anything?”
“No thank you, I’m just browsing.” And with that Spike walked off to a hole in the wall. Snow Veil entered her small bubble of isolation again. She looked back at the shelf and began looking at all the books. She found one, took it from the shelf and began reading. The smell of coffee permeated through the air.
About twenty minutes after Snow Veil started reading Twilight had finished her notes. She walked over to Snow Veil, pulled up a cushion, and began talking.
“I’m so sorry; I forgot to ask your name earlier.”
“Oh it’s no problem. My name is Snow Veil.” Snow Veil said. She looked up from her book and gave a small smile, trying to make Twilight feel better.
“I’m here to study friendship and I don’t even ask the name of the new pony that walks right through the door.” Twilight sighed and looked back up and apologized again.
“Really, don’t worry about it,” Snow Veil said reassuringly. “I don’t have one question though. Why is there a telescope here? Is it for everypony?”
“Oh no,” Twilight replied. “I live here on the second floor with Spike.” Almost like a cue, Spike exited the kitchen with his mug of coffee and walked upstairs to the bedroom. “Princess Celestia sent me here to study friendship since I was isolated from children my age.” Twilight looked off to the side, “Though it was partially self inflicted.” She looked back to Snow Veil, “So I came here and the ponies let me stay here in the library.”
“Ah, because I was wondering why you have a telescope here and Cloudsdale doesn’t.”
“Yea, it’s my telescope. I love to look at the stars at night. They’re just so beautiful.”
Right after this a faint sound could be heard from outside. It almost sounded like a scream, and it seemed, almost, to be getting closer. Snow Veil and Twilight simultaneously looked in the direction of the sound just in time to see a bright blue mare fly clear through the wall. “That wall was at least two hooves thick” Snow Veil thought to herself. She looked back at the mare. The most noticeable part of her was her mane and tail. Both were colored like a rainbow. Her cutie mark matched her mane as it was a lightning bolt which was also rainbow in color. “I wonder if her main is dyed that color or if it’s just natural” Snow Veil thought. The new pegasus hit the bookshelf on the other side of the room and then fell to the ground. Recovery took a whole three seconds and the mare was on her feet again.
Twilight gave her a stern look. “Rainbow Dash! How many times have I told you to use the door like a regular pony?”
“A lot, but I need the newest Daring Do!” Rainbow Dash pleaded. “And I’m not a normal pony.” At this, Rainbow Dash gave a sly smile.
Twilight just shook her head. “That maybe true, but do you know how much those holes cost to fix? And I told you, the author of Daring Do doesn’t expect another book for AT LEAST three weeks.” Twilight was scolding Rainbow Dash like a parent would scold a filly who just messed up.
“Awww, that blows.” Rainbow just sat down and pouted for a bit.
The whole time Snow Veil was just sitting there, watching the whole scene unfold. Rainbow Dash quit her pouting when she saw Snow Veil. Seeing a pegasus she didn’t know, she introduced herself.
“Hey there, I’m Rainbow Dash. Who’re you?”
Suddenly it hit Snow Veil; this was the mare that led the weather team. It was because of her that Snow Veil was able to get to Ponyville the first day. Because of her that Snow Veil met Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and now Twilight. Because of her that Snow Veil got a week off. It was all because of this rainbow-clad mare in front of her.
“My name is Snow Veil.” Was all Snow Veil could manage. She was still dumbstruck when Rainbow turned to leave. But before she could fly off Snow Veil got the rest of her thought out. “W-wait. Before you go, I want to thank you. For everything. Even if you don’t know what it is I’m thanking you for, thank you.”
Rainbow turned around, a quizzical look on her face. “Riiiight… Well you are right in that I don’t know what I’ve done. But whatever it was, you’re very welcome.” She smiled and flew away, right through the hole she had just made.
Twilight looked at Snow Veil with almost the same look that Rainbow Dash had. Snow Veil noticed Twilight’s look. “Man” Snow Veil thought, “I’ll have to explain everything to her…” Snow Veil fixed her seating position and looked back at Twilight. She motioned to Twilight’s cushion. This was going to take a while.
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“And that’s why I thanked Rainbow for everything.”
“I see, so it’s because of her you met your new friends.”
“Yep”
“Well you do realize that they are my friends too. I came to Ponyville when Nightmare Moon began her plan to cause an eternal night. I wasn’t here to meet new friends, but it kinda just happened. They helped me assimilate with the town and now I’m just as accepted as the next pony.”
At the mention of this Snow Veil smiled a little. She realized that through the four ponies she had met, everypony that arrives is able to conform to the town. And from the sound of it, Pinkie throws parties for any and every reason. Snow Veil was considering what a full time life in Ponyville would be like. Would it be expensive to move? Would there be any jobs she could get? These questions and more plagued Snow Veil’s mind. She pushed everything to the back of her head. She had made her decision. She had no friends in Cloudsdale, but she had five waiting here in Ponyville.
She looked to Twilight. “Are there any realtors around here? I would like to get a house.” Snow Veil was fully aware that she had just drastically changed the subject but she had one thing on her mind. She was going to move to Ponyville, as soon as possible.
Twilight pointed Snow Veil in the direction of Manehattan, stating “There are no realtor ponies here in Ponyville.” Snow Veil didn’t want to fly all the way to Manehattan though, nor did she want to pay for a train. She then remembered a story Granny Smith told her when she was over at Applejack’s.
“Do you think the mayor could help me? I really don’t want to go all the way to Manehattan.”
“Probably, she did give land to the Apple family when they moved here.”
“Then to the mayor I will go.” Snow Veil stated as she got up to leave. She closed her unfinished book, put it back on the shelf, and headed out the door. She then proceeded to reenter and ask Twilight for directions as Snow Veil still didn’t know where anything was in this town. Once Twilight pointed Snow Veil in the right direction, Snow Veil was off, for real this time.
Upon arrival to the city hall she was amazed at the sight of the building itself. It had a bit of an old-timey feel to it, though she knew it wasn’t old at all. When Ditzy destroyed the whole second floor, news flew fast. Snow Veil did partake in laughing at her so she wouldn’t feel left out, or awkward. Peer pressure can work like that. Nopony had to tell her to laugh, it just happened. But deep down, she did feel bad for Ditzy. It wasn’t her fault. It just seemed that destruction followed in her wake. Once Snow Veil collected herself, she made her entrance. She walked up to the receptionist and asked to see the mayor.
“Of course,” the receptionist replied, “just give me a moment.” She phoned the mayor’s office and said that there was a pony wishing to have an audience. After her call, she turned back to Snow Veil and said that she would be right out.
Snow Veil thanked her and took a seat. After a few minutes the mayor appeared in the door in the back of the room. She looked at Snow Veil because, save for the receptionist, Snow Veil was the only one in the room.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, if you’ll follow me, I’ll have your audience.”
The walk to the mayor’s office was rather uneventful. The halls were very drab. The walls were adorned with pictures of the former mayors, employees of the month, and the royal sisters. There were doors about every ten hooves, each bearing a number plate and a name plate. Finally they came up to the stairs. The stair well was just as non-descript as the hall way leading up to it. But at the top… the upper floor was entirely taken up by the mayor’s office. There was a large mahogany desk on the far side with a mahogany executive chair behind it. The cushion on the chair was a bright red. A few studs around the edge, connection it to the wooden frame. The carpeting was of a very soft material, matching the red of the chair. On the client side of the desk there was a couch, large enough for three ponies, in the same style as the chair. The desk was adorned with a small green light and lots of papers.
The mayor took her seat on the chair and Snow Veil took her spot on the couch.
“So, what brings you to me today miss….”
“Snow Veil.”
“Right, so why are you here today Snow Veil?”
“Well I was wondering if I could possible purchase a house here in Ponyville. Well I’d like to ask about the price first.”
“Lucky for you, we do have some houses for sale. The cheapest is around 1000 bits. It’s a bit of a fixer-upper. The most expensive is around 3000 bits. It’s in the middle of town. We also have some empty land over by the edge of town. It costs 500 bits.”
“I think I’ll go for the fixer-upper. I’ll need some help fixing it up, but that’s not a problem, I’ll just need to get home and get my money”
With that Snow Veil headed out, bid farewell to the mayor and flew back to Cloudsdale. On the flight back to Cloudsdale Snow Veil was deep in thought. She was thinking of her soon-to-be newest purchase, her new friends, just everything really. She arrived home and picked up her life savings. It was all the money she had ever made, all wrapped up in a rather large purple velvet bag. It lay behind the headboard of her bed. She rechecked how much she had. Around two and a half grand. She picked up the money and flew back to Ponyville and the mayor and closed the deal. She was happy, her smile eating her face; she had just bought a house. She lived by her friends now. Nothing was going to bring her down.
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Over the next few days Snow Veil spend even more time with her new friends. Pinkie even threw a party for her. It was two parties in one; one for Pinkie’s new friend’s arrival to Ponyville and the next for her purchase of her new house. Therefore this party was twice as long with twice as much food. Upon the meeting, rarity insisted that she make a dress for Snow Veil. Snow Veil kindly accepted. How else was she going to blow off time until her house was done? The colts told Snow Veil that it would be cheaper and easier if they just flattened the house and started from scratch.
Rarity called Snow Veil over one day to tell her, her dress was ready. Snow Veil obliged and followed Rarity to her shop, The Carousel Boutique. Rarity opened the door. The dress was set on a mannequin in the middle of the room. There were two spotlights shining down upon the dress. The rest of the lights in the room were off. The effect was synonymous of a divine light shining from the heavens. The dress itself was a royal blue that matched her eyes. The trim on the edge was a light blue that matched Snow Veil’s mane. The pattern on the material looked like someone smeared powdered sugar on it, giving off a sort of blizzard effect. Snow Veil loved it. It looked worthy of the royal court. Snow Veil reached for her purse, assuming she would have to shell out the rest of her money for this magnificence. Rarity saw this movement and stopped her.
“Oh don’t worry about payment, darling. Think of it as a gift, from me to you.”
“Why thank you. I-I don’t know what to say.” Snow Veil was at a loss for words. She had never experienced this kind of generosity, nor did she ever expect she would. “I really love it, but at the moment I don’t have anywhere to put it. Would you mind holding on to it for me for a while.”
“Of course not, darling. It’s no problem at all.”
Snow Veil was overjoyed that all of that as cleared up. Rarity and she spent the rest of the day making small talk over lunch. The colts working on Snow Veil’s new house came in a few moments after lunch finished informing her that her new house was done. Snow Veil thanked them for their hard work and paid them. Rarity put on a bit of a yearning look after the colts left. That told Snow Veil that Rarity wanted to see her new house.
“Alright, we can go. You can stop giving me that look now.”
Snow Veil and Rarity talked more on the way to Snow Veil’s new house, mostly about how Rarity got into dress making. Upon arrival at the new house Rarity couldn’t contain herself. “This.Is.Just.DREADFUL!” Bringing her left hoof to her forehead, “Who thought that that base color and that trim color went together.”
Snow Veil just kept to herself that the colors were going to be changed. She reached over to Rarity. “Let’s just go look at the other rooms okay. The colors will be changed.” The two ponies continued their self-guided tour of the house. It was a modest, single story house: three bed, two bath, a galley kitchen with a dining room at the end and a living room in the middle where all the rooms connected. Rarity managed to contain herself for the rest of the tour and instead gave out ideas of colors that would go well in the rooms.
Snow Veil told Rarity about an idea to get her furniture to the house and that it would include her and Twilight. Rarity knew exactly what Snow Veil was thinking and said she would love to help.
It was another week before the house was livable, as in with all the furniture and painted so Rarity wouldn’t have a heart attack very time she came over. The painting was the fun part. It had to be done first to avoid getting anything on the furniture and more often than not resulted in the ponies painting each other rather than the wall, yet even with all that going on, their teamwork got the house painted in two days.
But like I said, the furniture was a whole other story. Twilight had to cast her walk-on-clouds spell so she and Rarity cold even get to Cloudsdale where Snow Veil’s house was, then Rarity would tell Snow Veil what she should bring, and finally, when all the furniture was in the foyer of the old house, Rarity and Twilight teleported them all to the new house, along with all the furniture. They didn’t want to pay for a moving team. When they got back to the new house, they would all push everything into place, and when a piece of furniture was too large to fit through the door, Twilight or Rarity, whichever happened to be there, teleported it through to the other side.
Save for the furniture that was just brought in, The new house was a blank slate. There were a few photos that adorned the walls that were of Snow Veil and her late parents. Snow Veil didn’t have any flowers or any other kind of flora. She could go out and pick some, but that wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t going to buy any either as she barely had the funds to sustain her for past a week.
The moment she finally ushered everyone out of her house it struck her. A job. She didn’t want to feel like a burden on the society, and even if she had her own money, she would still feel as if she was an anchor on Ponyville. “I’m a pegasus, perhaps a job as a mail mare would work. Or maybe an assistant of some kind. Pinkie is really nice, and so is Rarity.” She decided she would go for a position as a mail mare first. At daybreak of course.
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Snow Veil woke in the morning feeling refreshed and new. In fact, it was the best sleep she had ever gotten. Perhaps it was because she was closer to the ground. Either way she headed to the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast, which, of course, was a bowl of cereal. After that, her bath was next. She wasn’t running for record times today, therefore her bath took around 20 minutes. She got out and brushed her teeth. Everything was great and her day began.
She wanted to find Rainbow Dash first, as she never really left the weather team. Snow Veil did go back after her week off was up, though she figured she wasn’t going to be sticking around. She was like Fluttershy in that aspect, she didn’t really like flying if she could help it. After around thirty minutes of flying around she found Rainbow… and sure enough, she was sleeping. Snow Veil found another cloud nearby and moved it closer to Rainbow so she wouldn’t have to keep flying to stay up. Once by Rainbow, she called out.
“Rainbow Dash! Hey Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow woke with little more than a slight sigh
That was such a good dream too... Rainbow thought to herself. She looked up and around until she saw that it was Snow Veil who was calling her name. “Hey Snow Veil, what’s up?”
“Weeell I was wondering if I could drop from the weather team? But I wanted to ask you so you wouldn’t get all mad if I just don’t show up.”
“Oh, sure. That’s cool.”
“Really?! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” And with that, Snow Veil departed to the Ponyville branch of the post office to ask if they could take on one more.
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Snow Veil entered the post office. Quietly. She looked about for the pony in charge to ask for a job. After five grueling minutes she found the office of the head mailmare. She knocked on the door. She didn’t want to appear to be rude on her first impression.
“Come in.” Snow Veil walked into the office.
For it being a post office, the mailmare’s office was very tidy. There was more in the out-box than in the in-box. The computer was turned caddy-cornered in relation to the desk it was sitting on. The floor was recently vacuumed and the filing cabinets were all in order. It was almost perfect serenity in the room, save for the papers the mailmare was working with. They laid all haywire on the desk. But other than that it was perfect.
“Do you happen to have any job openings here?” Asked Snow Veil.
“Why yes we do. Most are for long distance delivery, like outgoing to Manehattan, Fillydelphia, or Canterlot.” Replied the mailmare.
“I’m not really keen on flying. I may be a pegasus, but I feel much more stable when I have solid ground under my hooves.” Snow Veil kinda laughed to herself at that confession. It was true. Ever since she learned to fly, she never really became proficient in it. Sure she could fly to the store or to a different district, but beyond that she didn’t really feel all that comfortable. She wanted solid ground in contact with at least one of her hooves all the time.
“Well, we do have an assistant position open at the moment. There happens to be a certain mare that is keen on breaking everything we have… I would love it if somepony could help her with that and prevent any more damage.” At the mention of destruction Snow Veil could guess exactly who the mailmare was talking about.
It’ll be a chance to make up for laughing at her Snow Veil thought. “I’ll help assist Ditzy.” Snow Veil said.
“Great.” The mailmare gave an ever-so-slight sigh of relief. “It would be even better if you could start immediately. Derpy is busy tearing up the sorting room in the back…”
At the sound of how the mailmare said Ditzy’s name it could be decided that she didn’t really care for the mare. Hiding her disgust at how the mailmare addressed Ditzy Snow Veil obliged. “Of course, if you would point me in the direction of the sorting room I’ll be off.”
The mailmare walked Snow Veil to the door of the office and pointed down the hall to a rather large, green, double door. “Right through those doors and you will be in the sorting room. Have fun.” There was a hint of jest in the mailmare’s voice right at the end. Snow Veil didn’t care though, she was going to help a pony in need.
Snow Veil started down the hall confidently, the situation couldn’t be as bad as the mailmare made it out to be right? Wrong. Snow Veil opened the double door at the end of the hall and the room’s state was that of a town a tornado had just plowed through. Ditzy had a worried look on her face, and for the record, so did Snow Veil. Snow Veil let the door close and she explored the room further. Packages and envelopes, both empty and sealed littered the floor. The chute that the envelopes traveled through were busted and bent, and with that sight, Snow Veil knew exactly what had happened. In the middle of all this disarray, sat Ditzy.
The poor ting that almost no clue what had happened. She was flying around, sorting the mail like she was supposed to, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her head and before she knew it, mail was flying everywhere. When she was falling to the ground she hit the empty boxes and the stack of large yellow envelopes and knocked them across the floor.
Snow Veil only chuckled to herself at the realization of what had happened. She began by confronting Ditzy, who by now was on the verge of tears after seeing the new pegasus enter the room.
“I-I’m trying my hardest. I-I swear. I just h-hit my head and,” making circles with her front hooves, “all this happened. P-please don’t fire me.” Ditzy was pleading between her sobs.
Snow Veil walked over and set down right next to Ditzy and put her front hoof around Ditzy’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about that. I’m here to give you a had with whatever you need help with.” With that Ditzy lightened up, wiped her eyes and caught her breath. Seeing this, Snow Veil smiled, then looked around the room and jokingly stated, “And right now, I think you would need some help cleaning this up.” Snow Veil looked back at Ditzy and they both giggled.
“Heh, heh, please.” Derpy replied
With that, they both stood up and started picking up the mail that littered the floor. Snow Veil flew up to the mail chute, turned it off, realigned it, and turned it back on. This is great. I could get used to this life. Snow Veil flew back to the ground and helped Ditzy clean up the rest of the mail.