Frosty's Trottings

I stayed the night at home, and left early in the morning. I didn't want to say goodbye to my parents in case I got emotional. So I trotted through the snow to the train station, looking at all the birds, whistling in the morning. They were singing quite beautifully. I nodded a greeting to the few ponies who had to go somewhere early, and eventually arrived at the train station. I bought a ticket to Ponyville, and boarded the train.

"Going to Ponyville, eh? I haven't seen you before," said the conductor, "Aren't you a little young to travel alone?" I guess he thought I was younger because I was still a blankflank.

"I'm fifteen." I looked like I had to explain this many times before. I had.

He looked at me weird, and said: "Well, alright... I hope you get your cutiemark soon then."

"I hope so too, mister, believe me."

He nodded at me in a friendly way and said reassuringly: "Don't worry, it's probably not going to take long now, at your age. I'm sure you'll find your niche."

He blew on his whistle and walked off, and the train began to move. I sat back, and looked out the window. I wasn't going to miss this place. I looked around the cabin, and I spotted a slightly fat pony sitting a few rows ahead, who had a daffodil sandwich in a translucent bag. I decided to have a little fun with him. We entered a tunnel, and while it was dark, I froze his sandwich solid. The warmth of the sandwich whirled around me, in a comforting manner. The cabin became lit again by the sun outside the tunnel, and the sandwich's owner got the sandwich out of the bag to eat it, only to see it was frozen. He looked around frantically to see who did it, and I smiled at him.

We entered another tunnel, and I laughed softly. For the first time in a long time, I truly felt happy. Alone, playing with magic, freezing someone's lunch. I felt that I could learn anything if I just tried. It was then, in that moment of happiness, that I got my cutiemark: a dark purple snowflake with a darker shade star in the middle of it. It was beautiful. We got back into the light, and the conductor passed again. He noticed me smiling like a madman, and noticed the cutiemark.

"Woah. When I said I hoped you'd get your cutiemark soon, I didn't think it'd be THIS soon. Congrats, you're an adult now, I guess."

I did a little 'Yay!' and he walked on.

After an hour or so we arrived at the Ponyville train sation, and I hopped off. I walked in a random direction, and suddenly a pink blur stopped in front of me.

"Hi! Are you new?! Do you have any friends?! It would be sad if you didn't!"

The pink bouncing blur then gasped really loudly, and the bouncing intensified.

"WAIT! If you don't have any friends yet, do you want to be my friend?!"

It was at this point that I got fed up with her bouncing and her persistence, so I yelled "No! I don't want any friends!" and I just walked away.

Even here, in this little far-off village it only took five seconds before I was confronted with friendship again. I didn't get why the pink blur seemed so excited and happy about it, though.

I kept walking until I saw a forest. That seemed safe. At last there wouldn't be any crazy ponies trying to become friends with me. I entered the forest, not knowing what else to do. I took in the scenery, which was quite pretty. Everything was white and black, and small flakes of snow fluttered to the ground from the trees, which I liked. I walked on for a bit before halting. I began thinking rationally about the situation, which told me that I needed to make money somehow, and that this forest didn't look like anyone would be living here. I decided to use the bits I had to hire someone to build me a little shack at the edge of the forest. That way crazy ponies would stay away, but I could still go into town to work and buy things.

So I walked back to the edge, and walked along it to see what might be a nice place. I found a nice little accessible clearing not that far away from the edge. It seemed like a nice place to make a little cabin. I remembered where it was, and wandered off looking for someone who might know how to make a cabin. I kept looking around nervously to see if the pink bouncing blur might return to try to become friends with me. I eventually found a farm, which seemed like a nice place to start. I hesitantly walked up to the door, and knocked softly. An orange mare with a cool hat opened.

"Well, hello there, sugar-cube, I haven't seen you around here, did you just move in? What's your name? I'm Applejack, by the way."

I blushed a bit from shyness, and told her. "I just came from C-Canterlot. My name...is Midnight Frost."

"That's a nice name. Well, what can I do ya for?" I had to adjust myself to her accent for a second, because I hadn't ever heard anything like it before.

I said nervously: "Errr... Can you...build stuff?" I blushed deeply as I sought for words.

"No need to be shy, I don't bite," she said, smiling knowingly, "I know someone who's even shyer than you, she's real nice. Anyhow, yes, if ya need something built, you've come to the right place. What do ya need?"

I felt reassured that I wasn't the shyest pony around. "I need a small cabin in that forest over there."

She looked at me doubtfully. "In the Everfree forest? Ya sure about that, sugar-cube?"

I immediately doubted my decision. "Err...not anymore? Why? Is it dangerous there?"

She nodded. "Hmm. Not that much if you're careful. And you stay close to the paths. Otherwise you might be attacked by wild things, like timberwolves, and giant pony-eating plants. Who knows what else might be lurking out there..."

"So I shouldn't ever enter the forest?" I asked slightly scared.

"No, that's not completely true. There are some ponies who can just walk through the forest without any problems, like Zecora." Before I had time to ask, she already answered, "She's a zebra. You'll get to know her before long, she's famous for her remedies. Also, Twilight Sparkle, you know her, right? Princess of friendship and all?"

I knew who she was, but I had seen her in person. I was surprised that she lived in such a small place. "She lives here? Why isn't she in a bigger city, like Canterlot or Manehatten?" I was a bit confused.

Applejack smiled. "It's because her friends live here, in Ponyville. Oh well. Back to business. Did ya have a place in mind where the cabin should be built?"

I was still pondering why friendship was of that much value to the princess. Well, she was the princess of friendship, obviously, but still.

"Yeah, in a little clearing next to the edge of the...Everfree forest, was it?"

Applejack looked relieved. "Ah, that doesn't sound too bad. Show me the spot. Do note that this'll cost ya quite some bits. Houses don't come cheap."

"Don't worry, I brought enough." I smiled an uncertain smile.

Applejack smiled back. "You don't seem like a bad fellow, you can stay with us until your house is done. It'll take a while to finish. And by that, I mean lots. It takes time to build an Everfree forest-proof house IN the forest. We have to bring materials...do the actual building...Takes time, it does. Ya sure ya have enough bits for this?"

I showed her the bag.

"Yep, that ought to do it."

I showed Applejack the spot, and she agreed that it would work out. We walked on back, and we were going to find me a place to sleep.

"We have a spare bedroom for ya, and we have enough food for a LOT of extra guests, so don't worry about it," Applejack said whilst we were walking back to the barn. "I hope you like apples!" she added after a moment.

We went inside, and she brought me upstairs. We walked down the hallway to the very last door.

"Well," she said, "this is your room now!"

She opened the door, and inside were four young fillies playing a cardgame.

"Don't you know to knock before you enter?" said the white one.

Applejack looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said: 'Oh, stupid me, I forgot Babs was already coming over, I'm sorry about that."

She walked back again and beckoned me. I glanced back at the room for a second and then followed her.

"Wait! Who are you? Why are you here?" the yellow one asked.

Applejack looked back and said: "That's Midnight Frost. I'm going to build a little cabin for him."

They seemed satisfied, so I walked on, slightly disappointed that the spare room was already taken.

"Don't worry, sugar-cube, we'll find you a place to stay. Oh! What about Twilight's castle? She's got loads of empty rooms. And you'll get to meet her as well!"

I was getting pretty nervous about possibly staying with the princess, but hey. At least I got to stay somewhere. I agreed hesitantly, and we walked off again.

After a while we arrived at a shiny crystal castle.

"I guess this is it?"

"Yup," Applejack said, smiling, "isn't it beautiful?"

"It's in the shape of a tree. It's kind of pretty."

Applejack sighed. "It's a long story why it's tree-shaped," she said.

We went inside, and walked through the quiet empty castle. It was freaking me out a bit, how quiet and big it was. Applejack poked me.

"I think Twilight's in the room with the map. That's the place where ponies think she is, so she's there most of the time, in case anypony needs her."

I looked skeptical. "Ah don't be like that, sugarcube, she's a nice pony. You'll be friends in no time."

"I'm not even sure how to become friends..." I murmured in myself more than anything.

Applejack looked back at me. "What was that? I didn't quite catch that."

"Err...Nothing."

At the end of the hallway there was a big pair of doors, one of them slightly open. The sound of someone sobbing loudly could be heard. I listened carefully.

"A-and he just said no!" the sobbing voice said. (Loud sobs)

"Awwww, he probably didn't mean it, Pinkie, don't worry," said a different voice, this one calmly.

"He even said... (sob) ...t-that h-he didn't want any f-friends!" said the first voice again. (More sobbing)

The second voice sounded surprised. "Oh. Well, in that case...he did mean it."

"NOOOOO!!!" the first voice cried. (Loud crying)

Applejack looked worried. "Looks like someone was being mean to Pinkie Pie again."

We got to the doors, and Applejack poked her head inside.

"Is everything alright, Pinkie?" Applejack said.

"I think so..." said the voice named Pinkie Pie.

I hesitantly followed her inside, thinking that I might have made a big mistake. Inside I saw a beautiful room with six throne-like chairs, and a giant map, all made of crystal. Not to forget the giant roots of a tree that hang from the ceiling, with little crystal things hanging from them. There were two ponies, one purple alicorn, who I recognized as Twilight Sparkle from all the posters I had seen in Canterlot. I knew she had also been there at big events, but I never went to those. The other one was a bright pink earth pony, (I felt my luck get up, grab its hat and leave the room,) that was looking pretty sad. That one was probably the one called Pinkie Pie then.

"Wait! That's the one!' she yelled as soon as she saw me.

Twilight and Applejack looked at me angrily. "So you're the mean meany-pants then!" said Twilight.

I got really scared at this point.

"N-no! Whatever it is t-that I've done, it wasn't on p-purpose!"

"A likely story! You made Pinkie Pie sad!" Twilight said angrily.

"Nah, I'm over it now." Pinkie said, happily humming a tune. Everyone stopped.

"Wait what?" Applejack asked, "Weren't you crying a minute ago?"

"Yeah, but I'm over it, as I said before." slowly bouncing, Pinkie Pie left.

The three of us were left very confused. Twilight and Applejack calmed down a bit.

"Now what actually happened back then?" Twilight asked.

"Welll..." I began, "a pink bouncing blur suddenly asked me to become friends. I said I didn't want any friends." They both gasped audibly.

"What? What's wrong with that?" I asked, looking doubtful.

"But, aren't you lonely?" Applejack asked.

"Nah, not really," I said, "I just want to study magic. I had to make friendships with important ponies because of my parents, and I'd rather not spend any time with mean ponies if I could be doing cool stuff with magic..."

Twilight smiled. "Didn't meet a lot of nice ponies back where you came from?"

I shook my head. "No, not really."

"If you're just nice to other ponies, you'll make a ton of friends in no time," said Twilight, "just look at Applejack. You're probably already becoming friends with her."

Applejack nodded. "It's been real nice talking with you so far."

I thought about it. Yeah, it had been nice talking to Applejack.

"Huh, I never thought about it like that," I said.

"Making friends is easier than you think," - Twilight smiled. - "I started out the same way, and now I'm the princess of friendship."

I understood now why Twilight had stayed in Ponyville. Friendship.

So far, it had been a good day.