Chapter 1: Errare Equus Est
It was in the evening when I had finished chewing on my quill. I grimaced at the taste of feathers in my mouth and wondered why I ever thought that was a good idea. I never did that with ballpoint pens and you couldn’t chew a keyboard.
Twilight landed somewhere near me. By the way she lasered in on my writing as soon as she landed made me regret deciding to write on the porch where I’d have a lovely view of the scenery around me.
“You've been here for months now, and you still have horrible hoof-writing,” she commented almost immediately.
I took in my messy writing and the various implements for writing scattered across the table. An ink pot, a pounce pot, a quill and several scrolls were stacked and arranged on the desk. I eyed them maliciously as I answered Twilight, trying not to look in her direction.
"Back in my world," I began, trying unsuccessfully to keep the quill from bleeding all over the page. "I would have the magic of computers and the keyboard to help me with my writing." I glanced at Twilight. "I'd also have a way ~~two too~~ to correct my mistakes without crossing them out. My handwriting would also be fine if I had a ballpoint pen."
Twilight chuckled. "Well it's teaching you to think more about what you write down, before you write it down. You don't need it, though, you're a good writer."
I set aside the scroll. "What is it this time, Twilight?"
Twilight gave me a lopsided smile. "Whatever do you mean?"
I rolled my eyes. "Every time you try and butter me up with praise like that I know you're trying to get me to do something." I steepled my fingers. "What is it?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but since you asked..." She trailed off, smirking. She knew I would take the bait. Curiosity killed the oblivious human.
"Alright, I'll do it, whatever it is, but I better be able to bring my laptop next time I'm here."
"Excellent!" Twilight exclaimed, then dampened her enthusiasm with a sudden wave of serious consideration. "Okay, I need you to help me with somepony."
"Uhuh..." I waved her to go on, intrigued, despite myself.
"She needs help with making a snowpony."
I raised an eyebrow. "A snowpony."
Twilight nodded, smiling a little.
“You're asking me, a writer, from a land that doesn't see snow, to help a pony make a snowpony?” I leaned back in my chair eyeing the alicorn critically.
Twilight shifted uncomfortably. “Well when you put it that way…”
“No.”
Twilight rounded the table as I rose from it, heading me off. “Oh come on! I'm overloaded with work for the upcoming Hearth's Warming festivities and Snowball needs some help!” She glared at me. “Besides, you just said you would.”
Well she was right about that. So I just had to help this… “Snowball?” I frowned. These ponies and their names. “I take it she has something to do with snow?”
Twilight nodded emphatically. “That's the one.”
I sighed, rubbing my hand across my face. “Alright, I'll give it a go.”
“I knew you would—” Then Twilight caught my expression. “Ahah, I mean, thanks.”
———————
Twilight pointed me to the snow field north of Ponyville, where most the residents were making some neat ice sculptures and snowponies. Apparently there was a competition around this time. When Twilight described Snowball to me, I thought it would be relatively easy to find her. Turns out trying to find a white pony in snow was about as easy as Fluttershy on Nightmare Night. Actually, come to think of it, she'd always be in her cottage, wouldn't she? I mean as a pegasus though there were a lot of—
"Oof!"
"Oww!"
"Sorry!"
"I'm sorry!"
Ah. Found her. I blinked at Snowball. It was a young-looking unicorn with a nervous aura around her like she was worried the sky would fall on her. The unicorn bit her lip, looking uneasily at me while I studied her in turn.
"Uhh, hi?" I ventured, after several seconds of silence.
"Hi?" Snowball dipped her head in greeting, then sat down on the snow.
I groped around for something to say, but nothing really came to mind. I shrugged. It was better to be direct. "So... are you making snowponies?" I gestured to the half-completed sculpture she had.
Snowball glanced uneasily at the sculpture then back at me. She nodded silently.
"And you're halfway there?" I continued.
Snowball shook her head. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, coming to her hooves. "This is just the base!"
"The base?" I cocked my head shifting my view to the icy block that made up her snowpony.
Snowball nodded emphatically, then she gestured to the snow field. "Uhm... it's actually bigger than you uhm... think."
I followed her hoof as she pointed to the snow plateau. Then I realised.
"Wait... is all that—?"
Snowball nodded smiling, her smile was positively beaming in comparison. "Yep! It's going to be the best snowpony ever."
Now I knew why Twilight was so concerned with this pony. She needed some help.
"That... seems like a big task, sure you can handle it?"
Snowball didn't dim one bit. She danced around the base and giggled happily. "Yep. I'm going to make this in five tiers! There's going to be a horn here, the details of the coat here, and over here there's going to be shavings that describe the beginnings of her mane—”
It was a lot to take in. I was impressed by her vision, but a niggling doubt wormed at the edge of my mind.
"You uhh... you have made snowponies before, haven't you?"
Snowball shook her head giving me a sweet smile. "No, why?"
My jaw worked as I tried to find the words to explain this in the nicest possible way. The way she was so enthusiastic and confident made me rein back some comments hanging on the tip of my tongue. "Alright, I mean you do know what you're doing right?"
"Yep!" Snowball replied easily. "I've watched other ponies do it. I think I can do it."
The way she said those words drew a heartfelt grin from me. "Alright," I replied gently. "How about some help? I can always help you out too."
"No..." she said with a determined grit of her teeth. "I can do it on my own."
I chewed my lip, then shrugged. I couldn't force her to accept my help.
"Mind if I make a snowpony near yours?" I asked instead.
Snowball looked surprised, but nodded, not saying anything further. I took a spot to her right and began building my simple little snowpony.
——————
We were halfway through meshing our respective bases when I heard passing ponies approaching the plateau.
"Woah, what's this?" One of them said.
"Ugh, I don't like it," the other added. "Is this an amateur?"
"I don't know, it's rough but I like it. It's got a unique style to it."
"Whatever, I'm not voting this one the best of the snow plateau."
Snowball hesitated, then glanced at the field, watching a pair of ponies tracking across her base unknowingly. Her cheeks flamed as she stared at the snow, her hooves slowing what were once feverish movements.
I stop my work and head over. "What's wrong?"
"They don't like it," she mumbled sullenly. "I-I mean one did, b-but the others!"
I patted her on the head. "Don't worry about it," I said, rolling my eyes. "Just focus on what you want out of this snowpony. Rome wasn't built in a day."
"What's a Rome?"
I cringed. "Uhh, never mind."
I headed back to my little piece of art. I couldn't quite get the legs right... Glancing back I smiled to myself, seeing Snowball working hard on her base again.
——————
"Done!"
I whipped around, what? Already?! I sagged. Oh, it was the base. Impressive, though, the little unicorn had finished the base herself. Throughout the whole time I've been here I hadn't even seen her use magic, which was rare, she was following the earth pony tradition of doing it by hoof. Her base was several feet long and a couple of feet wide and thick. You could tell just from the foundations that it was going to be an ambitious undertaking.
"Oh look, she's done the base. Pfft, it still doesn't look all that great."
"I don't like it, it's still not my taste. I'm going to look at the previous winner's circle."
Snowball had that forlorn expression again that made me sigh. I clambered over to her corner as she sat on the snow. Tears welled in her eyes as I tried to wipe the piteous look from my face.
"Don't listen to them," I said. "Come on. You can do it. You just have to focus on your motivation. Why did you want to make this snowpony in the first place?"
Snowball sniffed, looking back at her base. "I want ponies to enjoy it," she mumbled.
I ran my fingers through my hair. "You care what other ponies think?"
"Of course!" she snapped. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Hey," I said. "Take a look at mine. What do you see?"
Snowball glanced at my snowpony and choked back a laugh despite herself. "It's horrible. It doesn't even look like a pony."
"There," I said with a grin. "It is, isn't it? But I like it, and I made it to my vision, it's a part of myself." I frowned at her. "It's a human, by the way."
"A human? What's that?"
I sighed. Then shook my head. "Never mind. How about I start helping you with your snowpony?"
Snowball smiled slightly. "I'd like that."
We didn't finish on time, but we did have fun.
Author's Note
I made this little snippet to encourage some young writers out there. If you want to improve, please know that there's help out there and to keep that passion despite criticism. Take the criticism, accept it, incorporate it, and then improve!
Next Chapter: Will be all yours, dear writers.
As always, my ardent readers, thanks for reading!
