Rainbow Dash crammed the second chunk of black coal in, completing the snowpony.
Pinkie looked up at their marvelous creation. Nearly as tall as two ponies, it was the most massively magnificent snowpony she'd ever seen.
“Uh... R-D?” Applejack turned her head sideways. “Don'tcha think that's a might crooked?”
Rainbow dropped back down to the snow next to Pinkie. “Hey, I never claimed to be an artist. But, since nopony else can reach up that high, you'll just have to make do.”
The chunk of coal popped back out, enveloped in a blue magical glow. It lowered, then plopped back into the snowy face, perfectly even with the other eye. “There.” Rarity flipped her mane and closed her eyes. “Some of us do have pretensions of artistic talent, after all, and Rainbow isn't the only–”
A snowball smashed into Rarity's face.
Her eyes opened in a fearsome display of rage. “Hey!” She glanced around. “Who did that?”
Everypony glanced at Rainbow, who looked away, whistling.
“Why, you...” Rarity's horn glowed, and a dozen round chunks of snow rose from the ground. “Oh, you're going to get it this ti–”
The color of the magic around the snowballs changed to purple, and they shot back into the ground. “Don't you think we've had enough snowball fights today?” Twilight asked. “Nine in just one morning is a bit much, isn't it?”
“Well, we've got to enjoy it while we can.” Rainbow rolled another one in her hooves. “The warm front scheduled for this afternoon is gonna melt all of this.”
Twilight used her magic to stop the snowball headed for her in mid-flight. It hovered in the air, glowing violet. “Well, at least we were finally able to get our snowpony finished before it melts.” The snowball dropped to the ground. “Can we just enjoy it for a moment?”
Pinkie looked up at their marvelous creation. Four slender white legs held it up, thanks to a little magical enhancement by Rarity, and even the lowest part of its body was level with Pinkie's eyes. The tip of Applejack's old broom stuck out for a tail, and a long row of pine needles made up a very nice – if a little spiky – mane. Its face was lovingly crafted by Twilight's magic, except for the eyes, of course. Those were Rainbow’s addition, with a little help from Rarity. Still... it seemed like it was missing something...
Pinkie gasped. Loudly.
Everypony turned to look at her. “What's wrong, Sugarcube?” one asked.
“Ohmygosh! I almost forgot!” Churning the snow under her hooves, Pinkie ran off toward Sugarcube Corner.
She returned, fast enough to make her friends' heads spin. In her hooves, she held a tattered old top hat. Its sides were wrinkled, the edges were frayed, and the band hung loosely, but it still held a shadow of its old grandeur.
“Pinkie...” Twilight’s eyes opened wide. “Where'd you get that? There's some really powerful magic radiating off of it.”
“I dunno.” Pinkie shrugged as she walked over to the snowpony. “Just something I had sitting around in my closet.”
“Um, Pinkie, I really don't think you should–”
Before Twilight could finish, Pinkie jumped up and slapped the hat onto the snowpony's head.
Twilight glared at her. “Pinkie, that was powerful magic. You have to be careful with this kind of thing. You should have let me examine it first. Who knows what might happen if–”
The snowpony shuddered, making a few bits of snow fall from it.
Everypony turned to stare, wide-eyed.
It picked up a hoof and shook its head, sending little splats of snow all over the place. It put the hoof back down, and Pinkie could see the bits of coal swiveling, as if looking at everypony. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of icicle fangs.
“Woah!” Rainbow took to the air. “Who put those in there?”
“I sure didn't!” Applejack backed away.
The snowpony took a step toward Pinkie, licking its teeth with a snowy tongue.
Pinkie smiled. “Hi! What's your name?”
“Pinkie!” her friends cried out.
The snowpony stopped in front of her, hissing and letting a drop of melting icicle fall from its fangs. “I am...” Its hoarse voice faltered. “Frostbite.” It lunged for Pinkie, mouth open wide.
Applejack's rope wrapped itself around Pinkie, yanking her away to the right, just as Rainbow came in, delivering a flying kick and knocking the monster to the left.
“Hey!” Pinkie yelled out, as Applejack's rope came loose.
The snowpony snapped at Rainbow as she took off again, then turned back toward Pinkie. Snow moved in to fill the hoof-shaped indent in its face. It ran for Pinkie again.
Applejack and Rainbow were already on the move. They ran toward it, the rope stretched taunt between them.
The rope easily sliced through all four of the snowpony's legs as they passed each other. The snowpony didn't slow at all. Its legs instantly reattached and went back into action, if a little shorter than before. The ice-fanged mouth opened again, headed straight for her.
The ground in front of the snowpony exploded in purple fire. It stopped short and hissed, dodging to the side just in time to avoid another purple explosion.
Twilight fired her spell at the snowpony again and again as it retreated, each time barely missing.
With a final, bone chilling howl, the snowpony turned and ran, in the direction of the Whitetail Wood.
“Pinkie!” Twilight stood in front of her, teeth clenched and legs trembling. “What have you done? How many times have I told you not to play around with magic you don't understand? Now look what you've made!”
“I like her!” Pinkie smiled.
“Her?” Rarity's eyebrow rose.
“It tried to attack you!” Twilight covered her face with a hoof.
“Oh, she was just being friendly.” Pinkie giggled. “You'll see.”
“No, it was trying to kill you!” Twilight shook her head. “Come on girls, we've got to find that thing before it hurts anypony.”
Everypony nodded and ran off following Twilight. Except Pinkie.
“Pinkie,” Rarity called out from up ahead, “come on, Dear, we have to go!”
“You girls go on without me.” Pinkie sat down in the snow. “I'll catch up.”
“Just ignore her, ladies,” Applejack said, “We've gotta get movin'if we're gonna catch that thing!”
Pinkie smiled as she thought about all the fun she would have with her chilly new friend. This was going to be perfect!
* * *
A blue jay on the branch above Pinkie called out, and she smiled.
She hopped along through the forest, giggling and thinking of the soon-to-come spring. She knew if she kept bouncing around randomly long enough, she was sure to run into–
The snowmare stood just ahead in a clearing, barely visible against the thick covering of old snow on the ground. She looked up at the sky and shuffled forward a bit before stopping again and dropping her head.
Pinkie popped out of the snow right in front of her. “Surprise!” A blast of confetti came from nowhere.
Frostbite jumped back, her black eyes open wide.
“Hi there, I'm Pinkie Pie–” she smiled “–and I'm sorry my friends made a bad impression on you, but I'm glad I found you, 'cause you looked all sad and lonely and cold out here, but maybe you like being cold – does that mean you like being sad and lonely, too? I've been looking all over for you and I just want to be your friend and sing songs and have a snowball fight – I bet you're really good at snowball fights – and then we can...” Pinkie looked around. Frostbite was nowhere to be seen. “Hey...”
Pinkie slumped back into the confetti-covered snow. How was she going to be best friends forever with the snowpony now? Time was of the essence! She would melt by this afternoon! “How are you going to make friends with somepony like her?” Pinkie asked herself.
“I know!” she answered, “To befriend Frostbite, you've got to think like a snowpony, Pinkie.”
“That's a good idea.” She tapped her hoof to her chin. “But how do I think like a snowpony?”
“How about giving her a gift that a snowpony would like?”
She looked around the clearing... nothing much presented itself as the perfect gift. “But what?”
“Hm...” She looked down at the ground, deep in thought. “Ooh! I know! A necklace of ice cubes!”
She gasped. “That's perfect!”
Leaving a trail of upturned snow, she raced off to Sugarcube Corner and the industrial freezers in the kitchen.
* * *
Pinkie's ice necklace glittered in the sun, but luckily, it was still too cold to melt. It sat on a stump in the middle of the Whitetail Wood, in the perfect place for Frostbite to find it.
It was just a simple thing, a string Pinkie had laid into a tray of ice cubes, letting the water freeze around it, but she was sure – in her snowpony thinking mode – that Frostbite would love it.
Pinkie crouched behind a line of low bushes, never taking her eyes off the necklace.
Sure enough, the snowpony came. Frostbite stepped out from the treeline, glancing left and right before hesitantly stepping out into the open.
Pinkie crouched down lower, her fluffy mane disappearing behind the bushes.
Slowly, Frostbite walked across the clearcut swath, until something glittery caught her eyes. She stopped and stared at the necklace draped on the edge of a stump.
It seemed like hours to Pinkie, while the snowpony just stood and stared at the necklace, but Pinkie endured it.
Finally, Frostbite reached a hoof out and picked it up.
Pinkie's eyes went wide.
She slipped it over her neck, and she looked down, admiring the crystal glint against her white coat of snow. She smiled.
Pinkie popped out from behind her bush, smiling just as wide. “Do you like it?”
Twilight and the rest of her friends popped out from the woods on the other side of the clearing. “There it is! Don't let it get away this time!”
“Trap!” Frostbite yelled, dashing for cover. She dodged magic blasts, pegasus hooves, and tossed ropes alike in her desperate flight to the edge of the clearing, jumping right past Pinkie.
Pinkie's friends weren't far behind. They came running across the clearing, hard on Frostbite's heels.
“Stop!” Pinkie jumped out in front of them.
They crashed into her, one after another, until they all laid in a huge, painful pile just on the edge of the clearing.
“Hey, what gives?” Rainbow asked, pulling herself out.
“I was just about to say the same thing!” Pinkie hopped out effortlessly, landing back on top of the others. “Why are you all scaring off my new friend?!”
“Pinkie,” Applejack said from beneath her, “it ain't your friend. That thing's dangerous.”
With a wave of purple magic, the pile rose up, and everypony ended up on their feet again. “Come on, girls,” Twilight said, already running off, “It's getting away!”
“Won't you come with us?” Rarity turned back and looked at Pinkie before following the others. “We need you, Darling.”
Pinkie plopped down into the snow and crossed her hooves in front of her chest.
“Ah, well... Have it your way.” Rarity shook her head and ran off in the direction the others had gone.
Pinkie shook her head. When would they ever learn?
“So,” she asked herself, “What else would a snowpony like?”
“Snowcone cupcakes!” she shouted without hesitation.
With a nod to herself she ran off to Sugarcube Corner yet again.
* * *
Pinkie stalked her snowpony through the deepest, darkest reaches of Whitetail Wood – which weren't all that deep or dark; it wasn't the Everfree, after all.
Finally, she found what she was looking for – the white pony shape sneaking between the trees.
The snowmare whirled around. “Stop right there! Don't come any closer!”
Pinkie stopped and held up her freshly frozen treats. “I made you some snowcone cupcakes!”
“I'm not falling for any more of your traps!” Frostbite backed away, never taking her cold black eyes off of Pinkie for an instant.
Pinkie stepped closer, and the snowmare didn't step back. “Come on, I made these just for you! They're cupcakes made of snow!” She held them up, smiling. “They're sweet and tasty and cold!”
Frostbite sniffed at the air, before taking a step closer. Her eyes locked onto the colorful cupcakes.
“I've got cherry and vanilla and chocolate and lemon and orange and even Sweet Apple Acres apple-flavored ones!” Pinkie wiggled the tray in front of her. “They're all just for you!”
Frostbite loomed very close now. Her icicle teeth poked out as she licked her frozen lips.
Pinkie just stood still, twitching with the effort of holding in all her energy.
Finally, Frostbite darted in, snapping up the whole tray at once with a giant bite. Pinkie pulled her hooves back just in time to avoid having them be part of the treat.
After a few moments of chewing, Frostbite spit out the empty metal tray. It clanged against a tree root under the snow before coming to rest.
Pinkie jumped up, enveloping the snowy pony in a huge hug. She clung onto the pony's chest, not even able to reach all the way around her.
Frostbite jumped back at first, but soon calmed down once nopony else came running out of the trees at her. “Aren't you afraid of me?” she asked, in her raspy voice.
“Nopey Dopey!”
“Aren't you cold?”
Pinkie shivered, still clinging to Frostbite's snowy chest. “Yep! Cold and happy!”
Frostbite smiled.
That was all Pinkie needed to make all of it worthwhile. She smiled back and dropped back down to the ground. “Now, how about we go meet my friends!”
Frostbite stopped cold. “What?”
“Come on!” Pinkie said, already trotting off. “Don't worry, I'll protect you.”
* * *
“... and then there's Rarity, she runs a dressmaker's shop. Her likes include cats, dresses, and Applejack – her dislikes include dirt, diamond dogs, and things that are uncouth... whatever that means.” Pinkie kept bouncing alongside Frostbite. “Oh, and I almost forgot Fluttershy! She's–”
“Pinkie, look out! It's right behind you!”
Pinkie looked up to see all five of her best friends rushing toward her. It was the moment of truth, and she knew what she had to do.
She ran out in front of them, holding out her hooves, and yelled, “Stop!” as loud as she could.
Thankfully, they all skidded to a halt just in front of her. She would have hated to have to explain their behavior to Frostbite if they kept attacking.
“Pinkie! Get out of the way!” Rainbow Dash flew up above her, ready to take the fight to the snowpony.
“Girls,” Pinkie said slowly, “This is Frostbite. She's my new friend.” Pinkie jumped up, staring Rainbow in the eye as she impossibly hung in midair. “She's not going to hurt anypony.”
Rainbow leaned her head to the side, looking around Pinkie as she continued to hover. “I dunno...”
Pinkie fell back to the ground. “Come on Frostbite,” she called.
The snowpony walked up to them, glancing quickly between them all and keeping her head low.
Pinkie's friends all eyed the newcomer, none of them venturing closer.
“Come on, Frosty,” Pinkie said, “Give 'em a smile!”
Frostbite grinned, displaying her sharp, icy teeth.
Pinkie's friends all backed away hurriedly.
“On second thought, don't smile.” Pinkie rubbed the back of her head. How was she going to get this done? They were both too scared of each other, her friends and Frostbite. “Come on, Girls!” Pinkie waved a hoof at them. “Can't you at least give her a chance?”
Still, none of Pinkie's friends moved. She glared at all of them in turn.
Finally, Fluttershy – Fluttershy of all ponies! – took a tiny step forward, then another.
Pinkie's eyes opened wide.
Step by step, Fluttershy crept up to the huge snowpony. Eventually, their noses, one yellow and one white, touched.
Nothing horrible happened. Pinkie's other four friends gasped. Pinkie herself let her smile grow as wide as it had ever been.
Fluttershy smiled. She hopped up, hovering on her wings next to Frostbite. “Come on, girls, there's nothing to be scared of.” She giggled.
Rainbow twitched and rushed up next to Fluttershy. “Scared? I'm not scared!” She pointed down. “Now, Applejack, she looks scared!”
“Hey!” Applejack rushed up to lay a hoof on Frostbite's shoulder. “I ain't half as scared as you are!”
Rainbow dropped down onto Frostbite's back. “As if!”
Frostbite laughed. It was harsh and grating, but heartfelt.
The ice broke. Even Twilight and Rarity rushed up to take a look at the living snowpony.
Frostbite reared back at first, but as seconds passed and no attacks came, she settled down.
“See, everypony, I told you!” Pinkie swept all of them – Frostbite included – into a huge group hug. The birds chirped, and the sun shone brightly, bathing them all in some of the first light of spring.
Looking at all the ponies around her, Frostbite's heart melted. As the afternoon sun beat down and the warmth of the ponies around her built up, though, the rest of her melted, too.
Within just moments, Pinkie and her friends were hugging nothing but a puddle of water.
Pinkie looked down at it with a wince, watching the pine needles wash past the soggy broomstick. The two black eyes sat there on the ground, still seeming to stare at her.
Fluttershy cringed. “Oh... my...”
“Oh... um, right...” Twilight bit her lower lip and glanced away. “Too much warmth.”
“Don't worry,” Pinkie said, picking up her magic hat, “She'll be back next year!”
THE END
Author's Note
Sorry I waited so long to publish this, folks. I hope you like it anyway!
