I used to think that winter had not meaning, as if it was just there to share the occasional frosty blizzard that turned Ponyville from a lively hotspot, to a vacant igloo. I never seen the real beauty of it until me and Rainbow Dash spent the first day of winter together, or the winter solstice. That's what Rainbow likes to call it.
My mother doesn't really like me hanging out with Rainbow Dash, but she doesn't like a lot of things. She thinks that she's giving me a bad influence, but really, I hear Rainbow Dash say that she's giving me a bad influence. I think Rainbow is right though, because my mom always yells at me for things I don't understand, and Rainbow says that my mom shouldn't yell at me all the time because it's not even my fault, and I agree with her! I wish Rainbow Dash was my mom, she wouldn't yell at me...
Yesterday, I was walking home from school, like I always do. My mother doesn't care how I get home from school, she only cares that I get home around dinner time so I could find something to eat. Anyways, so I was walking, and I realized that I'd forgotten my gloves at my house, so my hooves were freezing from the snow. I was shivering really bad, until I walked for about 15 minutes, and saw a weird circular object in the snow that I hadn't seen before. I was still cold, but I forgot about it, so I wasn't as cold as I was for the past 15 minutes, I was so curious that I decided to go check it out, and, I was excited to tell Sweetie Belle and Applebloom what I'd found, if it was something special that is.
As I dug through the snow, I felt my hooves go numb from the extreme algidity, (which P.S, was a word I learned in school today,) and I pulled it out. It wasn't that heavy, but I had a hard time carrying it. I placed it carefully on the ground, so I could get a good look at what it was.
My heart suddenly stopped as I realized that this was an egg! I had never came upon a egg before, especially in the snow. I observed that the egg had crimson stripes, from the front and back, and the egg itself was a bright orange. I was bouncing in place, like Pinkie Pie would do, I was that eager!
I knew I couldn't bring the egg inside the house because my mom would surely yell at me, but I knew that I could hide it somewhere nearby...
Where could I hide it?
A few seconds later, a lightbulb lit in my head. Maybe the other Crusaders could help me decide what to do with it! Then it would be our little secret.
~~~
"You found a WHAT-?" Applebloom exclaimed from I pressed one of my hooves against her mouth. "It's a secret!" I hissed, glaring at her. I removed my hoof from her mouth when she nodded, understandingly.
It was the day after I'd found the egg, and unfortunately, it was a school day, so it was even harder to find a secret place to tell them where nopony could hear us. And this secret place was... the playground, during recess.
"So you're telling me," Applebloom whispered, trying not to drag any attention onto us, "You found a egg that belonged to a creature? In a snowbank on the sidewalk?"
"Yeah." I stated plainly.
"That's so cool!" Sweetie giggled, "I wonder what animal could be inside..."
"Well, I know it was a bright orange egg, with red stripes," I interpreted, noticing that Applebloom's eyes went wide as soon as I finished saying that.
"A-A orange egg? Red stripes? Oh geez," Applebloom sighed, "It must belong to a Phoenix."
"H-How do you know that?" I asked, shocked that Applebloom knew.
"My sister told me that Fluttershy took care of Princess Celestia's royal phoenix, and after she'd told me, I started asking her questions about what they looked like, and where'd they come from. That egg you found probably belonged to one according to what Applejack told me." Applebloom explained, "And they're very rare."
"N-No! I couldn't have found a phoenix," I gulped, "Phoenix's are firebirds, aren't they? I couldn't have possibly found one in a snowbank. It doesn't make any sense!"
"Well, if you show me what it looks like, aye could determine if it really is a phoenix egg." Applebloom smiled.
"Hey, no fair, I want to come see it too!" Sweetie Belle insisted, "Fine." I rolled my eyes at Sweetie's enthusiasm.
"Yay!" She cheered, trotting to the playground.
Sweetie Belle was probably the most adventurous one out of the three of us, since she loves to get right to the chase. If Sweetie was in my place, I couldn't imagine how she would find her way home.
"So, what are you planning to do with the egg, huh?" Applebloom asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"I'm not sure, what do you think?" I inquired, suddenly, my hooves became more interesting than the conversation.
"I don't know, maybe you should keep it." She suggested, "Rainbow Dash has been busy for awhile now, and we only see you in school and sometimes on the weekends, I think you need a personal friend, a friend you can see all the time." She grinned.
"But, Applebloom," I countered, "I'm not Fluttershy. There's a chance that this phoenix won't like me, it could just fly away as soon as the egg cracks for all I know."
"Well, it's worth a try." Applebloom sighed, smiling at me kindly before running off to play with Sweetie Belle.
It's worth a try...
