Snowflake Frost

I got home that evening practically beaming. I had snagged one of the books about magic at school and started learning magic the way that unicorns do, but using the tip of my wing in place of the much referenced horn. By the end of the day I could perform both telekinesis and the shield of magic that I had used earlier. I actually never found a guide to telekinesis, but as soon as I figured out how to channel magic through my wing it just sort of came to me. So naturally the instant I got home I wanted to show my parents. I did, and they were as shocked as I had been.

Ponykind puts up a façade of acceptance, but in reality anything strange tends to get shunned. A pegasus with magic would probably find itself less welcome in Iron Valley than a zebra. Everypony would get spooked if they knew what I could do, so we decided it would be best if we kept it a secret. Of course Silver Stone had already seen, but my parents were pretty close to the Stones, my father and Ms. Gem Stone had grown up as friends.

Mr. Jade Stone was a mine manager, he and his wife looked almost identical, dark grey coat with that black hair that their whole family had. In fact, they all almost looked identical. They were all some shade of grey with black hair and red eyes, and only the tiny details set them apart. For example, their pegasus daughter, Soft Stone, had a wavy mane, Gem had a curly mane, and both Jade and Silver's manes were unusually straight. Soft was several years older than Bronze and I, but Silver was in our same year at school.

Our whole family had them visit for dinner that evening, and after a load of explaining, everypony in both families swore to keep my gift a secret. Silver even apologized to me, and by the end of the evening we were dangerously close to being friends.

The end of the school year was the last year of public schooling, and both Bronze and Silver ended up working in the mines. Of course, there wasn't much of another option in Iron Valley, you get out of school and into the mines.

I, however, ended up working as a weather pony. Iron Valley had little use for weather ponies, but a few years ago the mayor had found enough to hire Soft Stone, and when she offered me a job, I just couldn't refuse. Soft and I were the only pegasi in town, and pegasi just don't do well in the mines. We generally just kept the ground wet enough to stop dust storms, not that they were much of a problem, and provided cloud cover for the exposed portions of the mines. I gave most of the money to my parents, so did Bronze, life isn't cheap and every bit helped. The little money I kept for myself started to add up over time. There wasn't much to buy in Iron Valley though, so I just kept the money.

One day, Silver and I were out exploring. There wasn't much else to do in Iron Valley, and the difficult mountain terrain meant that the area outside of town was mostly unmapped. I had seen a hiding place when I flew over before, and as we crested the final hill it came into view: an old strip mine, only twenty or so feet deep, was perfectly hidden under a huge overhanging cliff.

"This. Is. Perfect!" Silver practically exploded with joy.

"I still don't know what you're up to Silver. Ya' mind telling me why we spent weeks looking for a hiding spot" I emphasized hiding spot with a hint of sarcasm. I figured she had something else in mind, but she wouldn't tell.

"Well, now that we're here, I'll tell you. You remember that fight we had?" I remembered it perfectly. "See, I figured that sense you have to keep your magic a secret, you don't get a lot of practice, and you can't get good at magic without practice. So you have to practice, because it's no good for you to have magic if you don't use it." She kept going "I figured that if we found a place where no pony would find us, then we could, you know, practice magic"

"You mean, like, fighting magic, right?" It wasn't a question of what she meant, but rather if she was serious.

"Uh-huh, and 'cause we're this far away from town, no pony should hear us. It's brilliant!" She was practically gushing with enthusiasm.

I knew that arguing with Silver was out of the question, I'd given up arguing with her about a half a year ago. We'd gotten to know each other pretty well recently. I trusted her, maybe not with my life, but more than I trusted most anypony else "Okay, when do we start?"

"Right now!" She shouted, and the games began.

For years, we'd come up to the strip mine to practice. We did it every day after her shift. She used what she'd learned in the library's books, but I found it was easier to just channel magic and make it up on the fly. At first she was way better than me, but I quickly caught up, and from then on we just got better and better. She learned how to teleport, so did I, I learned to turn invisible, if only for a short while, and so did she. Our magical skills just kept growing, far surpassing anypony else in town. It was great fun for both of us. Neither of us got our cutie marks though, which was a little disappointing.

"Getting tired?"

"Maybe..." I drew a struggling breath "a bit..."

"C'mon hornless wonder, get up and hit me!"

"Aww come on. Cut me some slack. It's my birthday!"

"Did you let up on me when I turned nineteen?"

I hadn't, and she saw fit to return the favor. "I give." I conceded "You win."

"Damn right I do!" She broke into a fit of laughter.

"Okay, well lets go, I don't want to miss my own surprise party." My family had been preparing it for a little while now, but I caught on pretty quick. I still had to pretend to act shocked, what's the fun in spoiling the surprise?

Silver had faked not knowing what was going on, but I knew all of her tells. After all of our time together, we'd gotten fairly close. We didn't argue (she was always right anyways) we didn't fight (except at the strip mine, of course) and we didn't often lie, because we could both read each other far too easily. So when she tried to pretend that there was no surprise party, her face only confirmed that there was, in fact, a surprise party.

The walk back to my family's house was uneventful. We talked about magic, and about what surprises definitely did not await me at my house, but most of the way we just walked in a friendly silence. It was dark by the time we arrived at the door, and I opened it to reveal Bronze. "Surprise!" he shouted. "It's your birthday."

"Aww, thanks guys, you didn't have to." It was one of those things that you just say, but it was my birthday, so yes, they did have to.

Bronze looked like he was going to say something, but Soft interrupted from the kitchen "So, you two together yet?"

Soft and Bronze had taken to pretending that Silver and I were an item, and I suppose I couldn't blame them. From there perspective, we worked the same hours, and when we got off of work we both disappeared off into the countryside. Neither of us returned until late in the evening, when we would walk in sweaty and tired. So I was unsurprised by Soft's question, I worked with her, I got an earful of this every day. Silver decided that a real surprise was in order.

"Yep! We had an absolutely romantic evening. Snowflake is just such a gentlecolt."

"WHA?!" I was beyond shocked.

She kept on going "Oh don't pretend, my little snow angel, it was a fabulous evening. We don't need to hide anymore."

Bronze was cracking up. He just would not stop laughing. "She" he tried to speak but just laughed some more. "She even has a pet name for him! This is too rich." He fell over, and just kept laughing. My face must've been blood red by now, a white coat does nothing to hide a blush. The teasing did not relent, and for the rest of the night Silver glued herself to my side. When I was blew out my birthday candles (I did complain that I was far too old, but mother insisted), and the room went dark, she made an outrageous kissing noise. I gave up trying to defend myself after that.

It only stopped when the Stones saw themselves home. With the party over I happily climbed into bed, shut off the lights, and closed my eyes. I was interrupted, however, by a noise. It almost sounded like somepony teleporting, but that was, well it was impossible I told myself. The only pony in town I knew who could teleport was... "Silver?"

In a hushed voice replied "Yea, sorry."

"What are you-"

She shushed me "Quiet, your family would think the wrong thing if they heard us"

"That's your fault. So what is this about anyways?" I turned to look at her, but I couldn't see too well. I lit my feathers, and her face came into view.

"I..." She drifted off into silence

"What is it Silver?" The silence persisted. I began to worry, this was all so strange. Silver usually just said what she thought, she was never at a loss for words. She was just staring at me, we were just staring into each other's eyes. I was about to say something when she spoke again.

"I'm sorry Snowflake."

I was going to tell her that It was no big deal, that it was still a fun party, that it was all okay. I opened my mouth to speak and then she kissed me. It wasn't long, but it didn't matter, it got the message across.

"I'm sorry. I'll just go." And before I could say a thing she disappeared.

"No, wait!" I spoke too late. I panicked, she was sad and it was my fault. I teleported as far up as I could, straight out of bed, through the roof, and into the air above. I spread my wings and quickly scanned the ground, hoping to spot her. I noticed her sitting on top of my roof. She hadn't noticed me yet. I had to do something, so after a moment of indecision I flew down as quietly as I could and landed right behind her. I was greeted by the sound of soft sobbing. I had no idea quite what to do, but I knew I had to do something. I walked up next to her and sat down.

"Silver..." I didn't quite know what to say, so I just stopped with her name. I didn't know if I loved her, I always thought of her as, well, forbidden. She was my sparring partner, and my friend, maybe my best friend, and she was crying. I had to do something, she was crying and it was my fault. I draped my wing over her back and scooted up next to her.

She stopped crying, and looked at me. Her face was so close. "Do you?" she paused.

"I don’t know" a moment of silence passed. "but I... I could try."

"You mean it?"

I answered with a kiss. This time not brief and cautious, but long and passionate. We finally broke from each other, and a long drawn out "Aww" broke the silence. The source of the noise was above us, and as we looked up only to see Soft was hanging over the side of a cloud. "That was just adorable." she cooed

Silver's happiness was not to be spoiled "Shove off Soft, his brother doesn't spy on his love life, you should take the example."

"Actually" Bronze spoke from the window, his head just peaking over the edge of the roof "you see, I took her example"

"Bronze Alloy I swear to mother bucking Celestia, I will grab you by the head, pull you from that window, and let you drop." I threatened. I didn't mean it, but if you weren't my brother you wouldn't know it.

"Soft'd catch me" He said simply.

"Maybe, maybe not." Soft taunted from her cloud.

"Now if you two don't mind, we were having a moment here" I said.

"We don't mind" They replied in unison. Neither of them budged.

"Could you, you know, leave?" Silver pleaded.

They looked to each other, then, in unison again, "No."

I decided to break it all up. "Okay, it's late, we should all be in bed anyways." I said. "I'll see you at the place tomorrow Silver." We just stared at each other for a moment. It's amazing that I'd never noticed just how pretty she really was. "Goodnight." I stood up, flew off the roof and through my window. Bronze, Soft, and Silver all went their separate ways, but Silver made a point of hanging her head over the edge of the roof to say her farewell in privacy.

When everyone was gone, and I had gotten back to bed, Bronze opened my door just the slightest bit and whispered "Goodnight, little snow angel." I didn't even care. I went to sleep that night feeling a bit happier than usual.