Snow Daze

Winter morning in Ponyville is a grand time for everyone that lives in the cozy, little town. Snow falls gently onto the ground replacing the once dirt roads with a blanket of fresh, powered snow. Ponies come outside from their houses wearing cozy sweaters while sipping hot chocolate or warm apple cider, laughing and talking merrily amongst their friends. It’s a time to be happy and cheery, where everypony has a smile adorned on their face.

Ponyville’s lake is where ponies would usually go for a swim in hot weather, but was turned into an ice-skating rink from now being frozen over with a thick layer of ice, and ponies saw this as the perfect opportunity to try out some new ice-skating tricks. Many tumbled over and fell, but that wasn’t enough to stop them from having a great time, they were all just happy being around one another since everypony loved the wintertime.

Everypony but one.

A cyan-colored Pegasus mare with a rainbow mane sat down on the icy cold ground next to a large oak tree on a small cliff near the lake while she held onto something close to her chest.

“So are you sure you really want to do this again?” The mare asked with a sigh while looking down at the object that she held in her front hooves.

She moved the object away from her chest and turned it around.

The object turned out to be a very sleepy green tortoise that looked up at the mare with a smile and a single nod.

The mare let out a long sigh that came out in a vaporous form.

“Alright, I guess this is just something that I’m going to have to get used to.” She gave the tortoise a bittersweet smile.

She then set the tortoise down onto the ground, and watched him start to dig a hole before burying himself underneath the dirt and blanket of snow.

This was something that happened every winter; her pet Tortoise, Tank went into hibernation when the cold winter months began which left her all alone in her house during these times, making her really dread the long, cold, lonesome nights that she had ahead of her.

The mare stared at the ground where her pet had chosen to take his long slumber for quite some time, slowly becoming lost in thought.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” A very happy, high-pitched voice shouted from behind.

She turned her head around and looked behind herself; she saw a pink Earth pony with a curly, hot pink mane wearing a puffy, periwinkle windbreaker jacket with a knitted Laplander hat of the same color bouncing up and down coming towards her.

“Hey Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow Dash greeted the pink pony with a slight smile.

“Hey! Why so glum, sugarplum?” Pinkie Pie asked her sad looking, prismatic friend.

Rainbow Dash let out another sigh. “You remember that Tank needs to hibernate every winter right?” Rainbow Dash asked sadly.

Pinkie Pie walked over and sat down next to her blue Pegasus friend and gave her an all too powerful hug.

“It’s okay! Tank will come back! He always does!” Pinkie Pie told Rainbow Dash loudly while squeezing her.

“Errrrrggg!!! Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash began gasping for breath as she struggled to escape the Earth pony's grip.

Pinkie Pie saw the look Rainbow Dash was making and noticed that her face was even more blue than usual, and then quickly let go of her strong grip.

Rainbow Dash fell to the ground as she panted heavily.

Rainbow Dash quickly sat up and regained her composure and looked back at her bubbly, pink friend.

“Yeah I guess… But still, I hate when he has to leave, I just hate being home alone and doing stuff without him.” Rainbow Dash sighed and slouched.

“That’s why I came here!” Pinkie Pie said loudly. “I knew I would be able to find you here and I wanted to tell you that tonight around six-ish, Twilight invited all of us to her place for a sleepover!!!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she threw her arms in the air.

Rainbow Dash perked her ears up and sat up straight.

“Really? Well I don’t know…” Rainbow Dash thought about it for a moment, she was still a little upset about Tank leaving.

“Ooooo come on! It’ll be fun!” Pinkie Pie tried to encourage her friend.

Rainbow Dash smirked. “Ohhh alright.”

“Yippee!!!” Pinkie Pie jumped into the air and cheered, colorful confetti somehow exploded from behind.

Rainbow Dash started to feel a bit better; she knew that she would eventually have to start getting used to the fact that she would be spending every winter from now on without her beloved pet.

“And you still need to tell everypony about your suuuuuper special somepony! Heehee!” Pinkie Pie giggled teasingly.

This caught Rainbow Dash off guard.

“What?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew wide as she stiffened herself up.

“Heehee! Soarin! Don't think that I forgot about your big ol’ crush on him!” Pinkie Pie giggled.

Rainbow Dash blushed briefly and looked away.

“Heh, yeah.” Rainbow Dash replied slightly embarrassed as she rubbed a fore hoof on the back of her neck.

“Hey! So what did happen between you two after that one night?” Pinkie Pie asked as she was eager to know the details of what had happened about two weeks ago since she never got the chance to ask Rainbow Dash herself because everyone had been busy with the preparation of winter for the past few days.

“Nothing happened really. I let him stay the night; we didn’t do much since we were both tired from that crazy camping trip.” Rainbow Dash replied. “So he fell asleep on my couch and I knocked out on my bed and when I woke up that morning he left a note saying that he had to leave, but would love to hangout again soon.” Rainbow Dash smiled when she thought about both of them hanging out again.

“Awh!” Pinkie Pie clutched her heart after hearing the story Rainbow Dash had told her.

“Heh, yeah he has terrible mouth-writing by the way.” Rainbow Dash chuckled when she remembered the chicken scratch writing left on the note.

“So are you going to tell everypony about him tonight?” Pinkie Pie asked in her usual, high-pitched voice as she grinned widely.

“Ohh… I uhh..” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

“Come on! Only me and Twilight know about him! You can’t hide it forever Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie said loudly.

Rainbow Dash was reluctant; she wasn’t sure how she was going to tell the rest of her group of friends that she was interested in somepony because she felt that the second she told them, they would either make fun of her, or wouldn’t stop asking her questions about it. She was also still embarrassed by the fact that she, the great and mighty Rainbow Dash, liked somepony.

“Oh alright.” Rainbow Dash replied with a slight smile. “But how am I going to tell them? I don’t want to just tell them straight out cuz yah know, that’s just not me.” Rainbow Dash said as she placed a fore hoof on her chest.

Pinkie Pie thought for a brief moment before getting an idea.

“I know! We can play truth or dare! I’ll suggest it and I’ll choose you so you can ask for a truth question!” Pinkie Pie chirped and began to rapidly clap her hooves together.

Rainbow Dash didn’t like where this was going. For one, she never chose truth; she was way too daring for that.

“Me choose truth? I never choose truth!” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“That’s fine! I’ll just turn the question into a dare!” Pinkie Pie said.

Rainbow Dash sighed, “Alright, hey see yah later Pinkie Pie, I’m gonna head back home and get ready for tonight.” Rainbow Dash told Pinkie Pie as she got up and began to spread her wings out.

“Alright Dashie! See you later!” Pinkie Pie waved goodbye to her colorful friend.

Rainbow Dash waved back and shot up into the cold, cloudy sky.

As Rainbow Dash flew through the air, something dangled around her neck–a pair of gold colored flight goggles that were a little too big on her that she had put on before leaving her house that morning. She grabbed them with a fore hoof, placed them over her magenta eyes, tightened the strap, and then increased her speed.

Rainbow Dash flipped and twirled through the frosty air before her giant cloud home came into view. She brought herself to a slow glide and aimed herself towards her front door.

She landed gently in front of her front entrance and noticed a flat, white, rectangular object placed on her doormat.

She couldn’t make out what it was since the frigid air had fogged her goggles up; she then proceeded to lift the goggles up and rested them on top of her forehead.

After her vision was now cleared, she then realized what it was: a letter.

She picked the letter up and quickly opened it with her teeth and pulled out a folded, white sheet of paper.

She unfolded the paper and instantly recognized the chicken scratch writing and began to read:

Dear Rainbow Dash,

Hey! How’s it going? Just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for having to leave so soon that one morning, you know how it is at the Wonderbolts academy, haha, so yeah I just wanted to make that up to you and tell you that I wanted to stop by tonight at around 6:00 p.m. hope that’s cool with you! Bye!

-Soarin

P.S. Might be some time after 6:00, cuz yah know, I’m always fashionably late. :-)

Rainbow Dash finished reading the letter and couldn’t help but smile as she felt her cheeks warm up. She didn’t know what it was about that dork, and despite all that had happened that one night, she really did like him a whole lot, and couldn’t wait to see him again for the first time in two weeks.

She then opened the door and entered her home.

Rainbow Dash’s house had always had that cold, sterile feel to it, and even more so in the winter months due to her being all alone.

She sighed at the unwelcoming atmosphere that filled the room as she walked in and quickly closed the door behind herself, setting the letter down on a side table near the entrance.

She gave the letter another quick glance and smiled. She was excited to finally be able to see that goofball again later that day and flew upstairs to freshen up a bit and prepare herself for the evening.