Author's Note

This story is dedicated to everyone who pursues their dreams relentlessly, like Ice Harmony.

To Be a Shining Star . . .

Twelve-year-old Ice Harmony tugged on her heavy winter cloak and pulled the hood over her head. Grasping the handle of her overnight bag in her teeth, she dragged it down the stairs and called out, "Mother, where are you? I'm ready to go!"

Rose Petal, Ice Harmony's mother and a pale rose pegasus with a darker red mane and a red rose cutie mark, hurried to help her daughter with the bag. "Do you have everything?" she said, whipping out a checklist (Princess Twilight Sparkle definitely would have approved). "Let's just make sure. Warm sleeping bag?"

"Check," Ice Harmony replied, poking her nose into the bag. Rose Petal checked the item off her list.

"Box of chocolates and candies for snacks?"

"Check."

"Jar filled with working fairy lights?"

"Check."

They went through the entire checklist, and when Rose Petal was satisfied, she zipped up Icy's bag and gave her daughter a hug. "Good-bye, and have fun with your friends," Rose Petal told her. "Be polite, don't eat too much candy, and don't stay up too late!" she called after Icy.

"I'll remember!" Icy called as she left.

Icy caught sight of her reflection in the frosty glass of a front window as she closed the door of her big, floating-cloud home behind her. She was a pegasus filly of twelve years, with a pale, pale blue coat and a softly curled mane of different shades of blue. Her eyes were unbelievably huge and deep sky blue. She didn't have her cutie mark yet. Icy didn't look much like her mother or her father, whom she had never known.

Spreading her feathered pegasus wings, Icy gave a final wave to Rose Petal and flew into the sky. Snowflakes fell from the sky in a thick, swirling flurry, feeling pleasingly light and cold on her coat. She flapped her wings, carried by the cold winter wind, until she reached her destination: the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were three fillies: Applebloom, an earth pony; Sweetie Belle, a unicorn; and Scootaloo, a pegasus. They'd spent years pursuing their cutie marks, and now they had them. Ice Harmony had met the three Crusaders when she first moved into Ponyville two years ago. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were more than happy to help Icy find her cutie mark.

The clubhouse was nestled in a big apple tree in the Sweet Apple Acres apple orchard, just outside of Ponyville. Icy landed in front of the wooden door and lifted her hoof to knock. Before she could, however, the door was opened by Applebloom, a light yellow filly with a big pink bow in her red mane. Sweetie Belle, a white filly with a curly pink-and-purple mane, and Scootaloo, an orange filly with a purple mane, stood next to Applebloom. They had similar cutie marks: a sort of shield with a red stripe, a pink stripe, and a purple stripe on it. Applebloom's cutie-mark shield had an apple, Sweetie Belle's had a music note, and Scootaloo's had a feathered pegasus wing.

"Hi, Icy!" Applebloom said with her slight accent. "Glad you could make it. Come on in!"

The clubhouse was warm and cozy, a welcome escape from the cold weather outside. Three sleeping bags were already on the floor, and Icy unrolled hers next to them. "Oh! I almost forgot," she said, pulling the box of chocolates and candies out of her overnight bag. "I brought candy!"

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo rushed over at the mention of candy. "This is great!" Scootaloo said, popping a lemon drop into her mouth. "Thanks, Icy!"

The four of them ate candy while they created a new list of ways to find their cutie marks. Then Sweetie Belle took a flyer out of her bag. "Look, you guys!" she said excitedly, unrolling the flyer. Brightly colored letters on it spelled out Canterlot Ice-Skating Competition. Beneath it were the words Located in the Canterlot Castle gardens. "My sister Rarity brought it home from Canterlot. You should definitely join the competition, Icy. You're great at ice-skating."

"I don't know, girls . . ." Icy brushed her mane in front of her face like a miniature Fluttershy. "I'm not that good, and I have total stage fright."

"That's nonsense, Icy!" said Scootaloo, her mouth full of candy. "You're the best ice skater in Ponyville and Cloudsdale. You even won the gold medal for the Ponyville and Cloudsdale Ice-Skating Contest."

Icy blushed pink. "But this is the Canterlot competition," she said shyly. "All those high-society ponies will be so much better than me."

"That's not true," Applebloom said firmly. "And besides, it's an excellent way to earn your cutie mark – doing something you're truly talented at!"

"Please, Icy?" Sweetie Belle added, making her green eyes huge and pleading.

Icy sighed and gave in. Nopony could escape Sweetie Belle's "puppy eyes". "Fine, I'll do it," she said. "On one condition."

"What?" Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle asked together.

"You three have to be there for me."

"Deal!" the three Cutie Mark Crusaders chorused.

"We'll help you practice on the big Ponyville pond tomorrow morning," Sweetie Belle promised. "Now, it's getting late, so . . ."

"We should tell ghost stories!" said Scootaloo. She took a jug full of water and dumped the contents onto the fire in the fireplace. The clubhouse was plunged into darkness. Icy and Sweetie Belle yelped in fright, until Applebloom lit her apple-shaped candle lantern.

After Icy took out her jar of fairy lights and Sweetie Belle took out her glass candle globe, they snuggled into their sleeping bags with only the three lanterns for light. Scootaloo told her ghost story first. "On a dark and stormy night . . ."

The next morning, Icy, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle woke up at eight thirty. They rolled up their sleeping bags, cleaned up last night's mess of candy wrappers and scraps of paper, and went outside the clubhouse to discover that a fresh, thick sheet of pure white snow lay on the ground. A thin, gentle flurry of snowflakes spiraled toward the ground. It was perfect weather for ice-skating.

"Get in!" Scootaloo told her friends, gesturing for them to climb into the large red wagon she pulled behind her scooter. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Icy piled into the wagon.

"Scootaloo, don't you think pulling all four of us is a little –" Sweetie Belle began, but she was cut off by her own yelp as Scootaloo jumped onto the scooter and flapped her wings. The wagon was pulled along as Scootaloo's scooter accelerated.

They practically flew through town until they reached the Ponyville pond, which was frozen in a thick, sparkling sheet of ice. "That was great, Scootaloo!" Icy said appreciatively. "You can really ride that thing."

Scootaloo's cheeks were tinted by the faintest pink blush. "Yeah, I am awesome on my scooter," she said.

The four of them had brought their ice skates in their bags, and now they donned the skates. Icy had worn hers out since she skated so much in the winter, so Rose Petal had bought her a brand-new pair for her birthday. Icy's new ice skates were snow white with shiny silver blades and small, glittery snowflake charms dangling from the laces.

While Icy laced up her skates and stepped onto the ice right away, dancing and twirling, the others had a little trouble. Scootaloo was a bit more graceful than the unicorn and earth pony, but she wobbled, too. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle nearly fell down right after their ice-skate blades touched the slippery ice.

"I forgot, I brought my music box for some music while we skate," Sweetie Belle said, grabbing a glass-and-wood box from her bag. She turned the crank with her unicorn magic, and soft, clear notes filled the cool winter air as the four fillies began to skate.

As her friends stumbled and wobbled on the frozen pond, Ice Harmony let the sweet melody fill her heart. She spun and leaped in time to the music, her skates sliding smoothly over the ice. She stopped only when the music did. A bit out of breath, Icy paused and skated across the pond to rest on a bench at the edge.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo stared at her with eyes as big and round as saucers. "Wow, Icy," said Applebloom. "You can't deny it this time – you are amazing! You'll definitely win the Canterlot Ice-Skating Competition."

Icy blushed. "Thanks, Applebloom," she said. "Let's practice again."

They ice-skated until one o'clock, when Applebloom's big sister, Applejack, called them into the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse for lunch. Icy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat around the table and enjoyed a lunch of apple cake, apple brown betty, and apple juice before they went their separate ways.

Icy immediately flew home to tell her mother the good news. She and Rose Petal lived in a large cloud house floating above Ponyville not far from Cloudsdale, the pegasus town. Rose Petal was standing in the foyer, arranging fresh flowers in clear, water-filled glass vases. Her talent was growing beautiful flowers and experimenting with them. She'd made several unique hybrid flowers. She owned a year-round flower shop in Cloudsdale, which she and Icy ran together.

"Mother! I'm joining the Canterlot Ice-Skating Competition!" Icy called as she burst into the foyer, waving the flyer that Sweetie Belle had given her.

Rose Petal looked up from her flower arrangements. "That's wonderful, darling," she said, hugging her daughter. "I'm glad that you've found something to compete in that you enjoy. When and where is this ice-skating competition, Icy?"

"It's taking place at the Silver Moon Pond in the Canterlot Castle gardens, on December twenty-first," Icy said, reading from the flyer. "Today's the tenth – just eleven days away!"

Rose Petal's smile dropped. "Oh, sweetheart, I don't think we'll be able to make it," she said gently.

"What? Why, Mother?" Icy asked, her face falling.

"I'm bringing loads of flowers from the shop to the Ponyville Hospital for the sick patients on December twenty-first," Rose Petal explained, putting a wing around her daughter. "The fresh blooms really cheer them up, so the doctors and nurses requested the flowers. Unfortunately, I'll be there all day. I'm sorry, Icy, we can't go to Canterlot."

"Can't you postpone it for another day?" Icy pleaded. "The ice-skating competition only takes place every two years!"

Rose Petal looked at Icy's big, dewy eyes and relented. "Well, I suppose I can take the flowers to the hospital a day later," she said with a small smile. "Will that please you, darling?"

"Yes yes yes yes yes!" Icy cheered, throwing her wings around her mother. "Thank you, Mother! You're the best! I love you!"

"I love you too, dear," Rose Petal said, smiling. "Only the best for my daughter."

The next day, Rose Petal had a surprise for her daughter. She took Icy to Ponyville's Carousel Boutique, which was owned by Rarity, the Element of Generosity and one of Princess Twilight Sparkle's close friends. When Rose Petal and Ice Harmony entered the boutique with a chime of the bell above the door, Rarity – a pristine white unicorn with a beautifully curled purple mane and a diamond cutie mark – hurried into the main room with a pair of red sewing glasses perched on her nose.

"Oh, welcome, Rose Petal and Ice Harmony," Rarity said, her horn lighting up with pale blue magic to levitate the glasses onto a nearby side table. "Sweetie Belle tells me that you're joining the Canterlot Ice-Skating Competition, Icy. You're here for a new dress for the competition, if I've guessed correctly?"

Rose Petal nodded. "Yes, Rarity, if it's not too much trouble for you."

"No, no, no trouble at all," the dressmaker assured the two pegasi. "I'll have Icy's dress done in no time. Now, just stand on this platform, dear, while I take your measurements."

Icy obediently stood still on Rarity's round platform while the white unicorn measured her with a tape ruler. "Excellent, darling," Rarity said when she finished, writing down Icy's measurements on a notepad. "Hmm . . . I think a glittery dark blue and silver chiffon would go nicely with Icy's light blue coat and blue mane. Will that be suitable for you?"

"That sounds lovely," Rose Petal said with an approving nod. "What do you think, Icy?"

"Great!" Icy gave an excited bounce. "Thanks, Miss Rarity!"

"When should we come back to pick up the dress?" asked Rose Petal.

"Oh, around this Saturday is fine," Rarity said, waving a manicured hoof. "Now off you go, I have work to do. Visit again soon!"

"Perfect. Thank you, Rarity!" Rose Petal called as she and Icy trotted out of the Carousel Boutique.

Every day, Icy practiced on the frozen Ponyville pond with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, skating to the music of Sweetie Belle's music box. She memorized her ice-dance routine by heart and spent nearly all her free time skating on the pond.

I'm ready for this, Icy thought every time she practiced her skating. I'm going to win the competition. I'm sure of it.