White days of Winter

3

Of Heights and Snowballs

“And… perfect!” Twilight sat with a satisfaction smile after watching how Sweetie Belle could conduct the magic just the right way to illuminate a small portion in the air, although she could not give it a definite shape yet, this was certainly a very good improvement for a couple of days. “So, you really read the book I lend you”.

“Yeah! It was very useful.” Sweetie Belle was excited about what she could perform, and certainly understood the value of learning on her own, but her excitement soon disappeared. “Though… it's not much… this spark I have makes it very difficult.” Sweetie Belle hoped she could at least make a heart with such a simple spell. “Maybe I should stick to basic levitation, I mean I don’t need more to live well.”

“Oh Sweetie Belle” Twilight walked in front of the discouraged filly until she could meet her eyes. “Don’t put yourself down like that, and don’t think so low of your spark, believe me, its potential is beyond measure, in fact… there’s a pony I respect and fear in terms of magical ability.” Sweetie Belle looked at Twilight with curiosity, Twilight Sparkle, an alicorn princess fears a normal pony?

“And who is that?”

“That would be Starlight Glimmer, I’ve fenced with her either playfully, or with… real intend to be lethal… and I could never defeat her, I’m so glad she uses her power for good now, and… “Twilight smiled and got close to Sweetie Belle’s ear. “She’s a bearer of a green spark, just like you.” The little unicorn never really paid attention to Starlight’s magical aura, so this was a surprise.

“Woooow…” Her eyes shone just thinking about that, Sweetie Belle would be happy just being able to do a tenth of what that unicorn was capable of.

“How did I not think of that sooner? Ugh! Of course, she’d be a better help for you! She’s had the same struggles and...”

“It’s ok Princess Twilight, I like the way you teach.” The little filly tried to reassure.

“Oh… yeah, thank you.” Twilight got up and walked towards the door. “I believe you have plans today, and I must run some errands myself, come to the castle whenever you like, I’ll make sure to have Starlight there to help you.”

That was true for the most part, Sweetie Belle was called to the clubhouse that day for what they said it was a ‘first priority’ meeting, and no excuse could be given to get her out of those, not even a lesson from an alicorn princess.

Rushing to get to the clubhouse in negative fifteen minutes, Sweetie Belle ran non-stop. It weighed on her to have to face her friends after how she’s been acting lately, but then again, she should be addressing her own concerns right now. She took a moment to breathe while already being in the doorstep, and finally gathered the courage to walk in.

“Oh! Hello Sweetie Belle, you’re late again.” Scootaloo complained as soon as Sweetie Belle placed a hoof inside. “What’s with you? Anypony would think you’ve been avoiding us.”

“O… of course I’m not avoiding you!” ‘I’m just avoiding Apple Bloom’ Sweetie gulped. “It was my sister’s idea… I got Princess Twilight to help me improve my magic and…”

“You’ve been taking lessons from the princess on your own?”

“Like I said I… it was my sister’s idea... and…and…”

“Hey, everything alright over there?” Sweetie Belle felt a soft hoof on her shoulder and turned around to see those sunset-like eyes looking directly at her, the little unicorn chuckled nervously getting away from the touch, a burning blush forming on her cheeks.

“Yes! everything’s fine, Ha ha…” This was exactly what’s been happening all this time, sadly, Sweetie Belle found herself losing control again. “Anyways, why was this meeting called? What’s wrong?” She tried to change the topic.

“Oh… yeah” Apple Bloom swept off her confusion and got to the matter at hand. “There’s been certain rumors going around, and Ah reckon’, they are not good.” Apple Bloom walked towards her friends and gave the dire news. “Apparently, Diamond Tiara’s parents are separating” Sweetie Belle gasped at the new information. “And ah was meaning to ask you girls if we should do something for her… She did recognize us as her friends after all.”

“Yeah… but… Is there really something we can do about that? And even after she said we were her friends I think she just said that in the heat of the moment, we haven’t really talked with her much after that day.” Scootaloo argumented.

“And she already has Silver Spoon, I’m pretty sure she will be the one cheering her up.” With that said, Sweetie Belle knew it probably wouldn’t be so simple for Silver Spoon, separations were almost never heard of in Equestria, of course being in the middle of that would be devastating for any son or daughter.

“Still” Apple Bloom insisted, “I know It ain’t none of our business, but maybe we should check? maybe even confirm if the rumors are true.” There was a moment of silence in which Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other, both still having their very understandable doubts.

“Yeah, we can do that much, I guess” Scootaloo agreed, she got up and took her scarf readying herself up.

“Alrighty! Let's go!” Apple Bloom got up as well, following the Pegasus outside. The last one standing there was Sweetie Belle who was grateful that, for a moment, she could focus her attention elsewhere, she decided to follow her friends, not before being stopped by an understandably concerned Apple Bloom.

“Hey… Sweetie Belle?” The little unicorn flinched at her name being called.

“Y-yes?”

“Before we go… please listen to me.” Apple Bloom walked back carefully, she didn’t know anything of what was happening, but she knew she should be as delicate as possible. “We have helped a lot of ponies around, and we’ve done a pretty darn good work!” She directed her gaze towards the wall, full of pictures, full of the best memories they could build together, proof of their purpose and legacy, even if in the present, it was a short one. “But that doesn’t mean our own problems are any less important, don’t keep ‘em locked away for the sake of the rest.” She placed a comforting hoof on Sweetie Belle. “Its not a secret that you have something going on, but… Ah just wanna remind you, you can trust us.” At this point Sweetie Belle fell under a powerful spell, smiling sweetly at the wonderful filly in front of her, this was exactly the reason that made the unicorn fall for her, her confidence alongside the biggest heart you could find ever.

“I… I’m sorry…” Sweetie Belle’s smile soon vanished, “I do have something going on… and… I can’t tell you yet, I’ll make sure to find some help, just please… leave this to me this time.”

“Ah see…” Apple Bloom nodded in understanding, for now, she was relieved that her friend admitted having some sort of problem. “Well, please find that help soon, and… ya’ll stay safe, okay? That’s all I’m asking.”

“Mhm! I promise!” Both fillies smiled at each other, it was alleviating having some of the weight of that encounter lifted.

“Hey! What’s taking you girls so long?!” The voice of Scootaloo put the rest of the group on task again, Apple Bloom took note on supporting her friend later, even not knowing her reasons, right now, it was time to see Diamond Tiara.

“Coming!”

Despite the grey color of the sky with no visible sun over the clouds, one could say it was a relatively nice day, bright enough to be walking around and the lack of wind made it very comfortable to stroll around the white landscape. Sweetie Belle was humming, just this instant she could let her mind just stay away from any thought and just enjoy the fresh feeling on her hoofs, and the gentle cool caressing of the air on her cheeks. It did help that her friends engaged in very fun conversations in which everypony was included, in a formation that had Apple Bloom leading the way. This was the life, Sweetie Belle’s wide smile shone while enjoying a common day with her closest friends. Talking a little about the problem with Apple Bloom did much good, maybe it was not a bad idea to tell, to confess.

They did not really have much time to just visit Gold Air Hills, it was a place too far from their own path home, so none of them knew nothing of it besides de fact that this was a place for fancy ponies only. Still, the ornaments, the big houses, the majestic statues induced a lot of wow’s out of the fillies who stared at everything in awe. They walked through the beautifully built road past a bridge that led towards an entrance with a very distinctive letter “R” on it, symbol of the Rich’s family.

It didn’t take long until they caught sight of a lonely filly walking outside of that entrance, with a frown on her face and with slow steps. Diamond Tiara looked pretty much normal, and if not, perhaps a little bored.

“Let’s go girls” Apple Bloom said with determination and led her friends towards the pink filly.

Diamond Tiara was lost in thought, her best friend was not available and even though she was the first one to know, she just couldn’t adjust her tight schedule. Making things worse she’s seen many of her things being moved out, she did not know exactly where, she could choose some of her most valuable items to be taken where her father designated and was told clearly that most of the big things had to be left behind. And making things even worse, some ponies approached her failing in trying to comfort her, this did nothing but infuriate the filly, who saw nothing but bootlicker parasites that she did not even know, or maybe some so called friends coming to pry into the life of others. Along her life, she has seen many fake smiles and fake friendliness towards the members of her family, and themselves being the ones doing it as well, it was a good thing that her father also knew how to play that part, it was necessary to keep their way of living.

Still, she could not do more than let into the air a defeated sigh, she had come to terms that this was really happening. And rather than any devastation, there was just numbness, nothing in her chest to be felt, nothing in her head calling for attention, no tears to be spilled, perhaps this was the way somepony felt when their world is falling apart.

The trail of thoughts was suddenly broken when she heard hoof-steps getting close, odd, Silver Spoon was to be free in about an hour, not that she was complaining, even if she was not willing to admit it, Diamond Tiara was craving for some company, but you know what they say, careful what you wish for.

It was a big surprise seeing those three approaching the lonely filly, Diamond Tiara was expecting pretty much anypony but them. They all had smiles on their faces and their pace reflected positive energy, at this sight, Diamond Tiara’s natural reaction was to growl at them internally. Not because of an unjustified hatred towards the Crusaders, that stuff was in the past, but because she felt a glimpse of envy watching them so happy, while her own life was falling apart. Obviously, this kind of thought was something she was going to keep to herself.

This was pretty much going to be an awkward encounter, with the Crusaders in front of Diamond Tiara in complete and excruciating silence, Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow at the trio letting the seconds tick away.

“Ahem! Er… Howdy!” Apple Bloom felt the need to break the silence since all of this was her idea.

“What in the world are you three doing here?” Diamond Tiara asked, still baffled about the unexpected guests.

“We just thought we’d stop by and say hi.” Only when she uttered these words, she realized how dumb this little excuse sounded, Apple Bloom could only cringe coughing awkwardly.

“Well… hi?” Diamond Tiara has admitted to herself to be dense and stubborn sometimes, but she never thought of herself as stupid, the reason of this visit was clear, the real question was what they wanted from her.

“This isn’t working Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo said, earning a glare from her friend.

“Well…” Apple Bloom continued” Since you said we were your friends and all… We just came to check in on y’all.”

“Oh is that so?” Diamond Tiara pondered many theories, was this situation being used as casual gossiping? They probably wanted her to hand over some stuff she wouldn’t take to her new place? Diamond Tiara brushed off those thoughts quickly, even when she met many fake ponies in her life, it didn’t feel like the Crusaders were that way.

“Is it true your parents are splitting up?” This direct question directed all the gazes towards Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle poked the pegasus with her elbow at the insensitive way she expressed the question. “Ouch! What?” she said with a tone of annoyance. “We’re gonna be here all day pretending, and she already figured us out!”

“Well, it seems one of you gets it.” Diamond Tiara said with a much neutral tone in her voice. “I appreciate that you got to the point, and doing exactly that I tell you, yes, it is true, and I’m ok, you don’t need to come all the way here to check in on me.”

“We’re sorry to hear that Diamond Tiara, I don’t know what it must be like.” Sweetie Belle said sympathetically, for the young unicorn this was a very different scenario, there was Diamond Tiara standing, the architect of many of her ruined days, of many fights and many poisonous comments about her friends, alone and, most impressive of all, being polite and civil towards them.

“Yeah, don’t be so worried, my dad says this is for the best, and I totally trust him, also Silver Spoon has been doing her best in giving me a helping hoof so, its all good.” Apple Bloom smiled in relief hearing those words, her older sister always remarked how important friends were, so when Diamond Tiara bestowed that tittle onto her, she took it very seriously.

“Ah’m certainly glad about that Diamond, if we can do anything ta help, we’re here! Are ya hungry? Wanna just talk?”

Diamond Tiara was ready to send the Crusaders home, but she started wondering if that was really what she wanted. Right now, hanging out with the Crusaders sounded like a much better plan than being left alone with her thoughts again. It gave her some sort of comfort to be able to break the silence. The pink filly nodded.

“Yes, I can think of something you can help me with, with one condition” The scene changed, now the fillies leaned towards Diamond Tiara with curiosity in their eyes. “Not a single word about my parents or anything related, do I make myself clear?”

“Transparent!” Sweetie Belle said, or rather, squeaked.

Now it was Diamond Tiara’s turn to lead the group. They kept true to their word and did not mention anything about the latest events in the pink filly’s household. They soon were away from any known path walking on pure, untouched snow, going up the hill, the Crusaders could have asked where they were going if it wasn’t for the nice, calm, and fun chat that begun between. Though Diamond Tiara had little to add, she kept an attentive ear to the conversations, she came to realize how similar those conversations were to those she used to have with Silver Spoon, school talk, an occasional tease, plans to play later, or organization on how they would do the vacations homework, and at times they included her in the conversations, maybe they didn’t know much about the life of the high classes, but they were certainly pleasant to be around with.

Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but wonder how things could have been, what would have been of her if she was smart enough to not be an absolute jerk towards these ponies, especially Apple Bloom, whom was the first target of her unreasonable attacks. Maybe she could have formed a trio of her own along with Silver Spoon, she knew very well that Silver Spoon only followed her in those shenanigans until the silver filly herself got fed up with her attitude. Some regret stung in her chest, she could whine about her mother being the reason behind it all, but that would be a poor excuse, Diamond Tiara knew very well she made the conscious choice to act that way.

“It gets a little tricky from now on, try to follow my steps” Diamond Tiara commanded, the walk turned into climbing, and the other fillies obliged without any retort.

Soon they could walk again through some pine trees, with the height the wind blew with some more strength, still not enough to be considered unpleasant.

“Welcome.” Said Diamond Tiara, with an almost imperceptible smile, all the fillies found themselves in a clear space with no pine trees, covered with a smooth layer of snow, this was the top of the hill they were climbing. They could watch the entire Rich’s property, with a good portion of Golden Air Hills too. Whenever Diamond Tiara reached this place, suddenly she felt clarity in her body and mind, it served as a reset button from anything that could be troubling her, It was a cleansing experience.

“Oh wow!, isn’t this something else?” Sweetie Belle said in awe.

“Yup! It sure is” Apple Bloom was the first one to walk on the edge of the rocky side of the hill to have a better view of the landscape. “Is this something like, your special place Diamond?” Diamond Tiara nodded, and smiled proudly, enjoying a bit too much the opportunity to brag a little without sounding like a jerk.

“My dad used to bring me here a lot, those were the good days, I just wanted to visit it one last time…” She admitted with some melancholy in her voice, even if she did not intend to, which led to an exchange of worried and sad glances among the Crusaders.

Maybe the pink filly was being too open or permissive with ponies she honestly hardly knew but felt comfortable enough to let them be in such a private place, memories passed through her mind almost seeing them in front of her eyes when she younger, coming for a picnic, for games, or alone with Silver Spoon to just chat.

While she watched the Crusaders chatting and giving comments about the nice place they were in, a mouth got just one inch away to Diamond Tiara’s ear.

“Boo!” The scream that came from Diamond Tiara’s lungs was so loud it could have been enough to produce an avalanche, lucky for them there was not enough snow for it to occur. Of course, it startled the other fillies as well, turning around immediately, they saw Silver Spoon on her back, laughing so loud that even her glasses fell off.”

“What the hay Silver Spoon!!” Diamond Tiara yelled still trying to regulate her breath. “Do you float or something?! I can never hear you when you get this close!” As much as Silver Spoon wanted, she couldn’t form a single sentence. “Its not that funny!, Stop doing that!” The whole scene drew some chuckles from the three little Crusaders as well.

“I’m so- I’m sorry!” Silver Spoon could at last get up letting her laughter die out as she wiped some tears from her eyes. “Oh Diamond, you’re just too much fun” She picked up her glasses and finally addressed to the other fillies. “I see you’ve found yourself some company.” All of them greeted each other, Silver Spoon nodding to each one of them.

“They heard about what happened, I’m just showing them I’m fine.”

“Of course you are” Both fillies directed their eyes towards the last position of the Crusaders, and found out they were nowhere near that place.

“Alright everypony! Take positions because this is about to get intense!” Both friends turned around to find an already well-built snow fort with the Crusaders already protected behind it holding snowballs and grinning menacingly.

“When did they-?” Diamond Tiara looked at them, agape not believing her eyes, just some seconds ago they were right in front of her.

“It’s the rich versus the awesome! Do you accept the challenge?” Scootaloo continued.

“Oh, is that how its going to be?” Silver Spoon got in guard, not letting any of the fillies abandon her sight, ready to act.

“Oh no no no, definitely no”. Diamond Tiara said. “I’m not taking part in this childish game”.

“C’mon Diamond, are ya chickening out of this one?” Apple Bloom teased, which earned a furious glare from the pink filly.

“Don’t you dare call me a chicken!”

“Well, taking into account the teams, this is going to be very unfair.” Silver Spoon added.

“Because we’re three against two? Don’t worry, we’ll be nice.” Scootaloo said. “Sweetie Belle hardly lands any throw.”

“Hey!” Sweetie Belle reacted to mean comment.

“Oh no girls, not at all” Silver Spoon grinned with predatory intent “It will be unfair for you.".

“Like I said, I’m out, have your fun” Diamond Tiara proudly wanted to walk away, too bad it was too late, just a second after she said that a snowball landed directly on her face, some of it getting into her eyes, Apple Bloom attacked first. The pink filly wiped her face with her hooves looking completely annoyed. “Silver Spoon…?”

“Yes Diamond?”

“You can handle two of them, right?”

“With ease” A second snowball targeted Silver Spoon but she dodged it gracefully.

“Then let's get them!”

This day could only be described as wholesome, it was so long since Diamond Tiara had some honest, uninhibited fun. She laughed while everyone focused their offensive on Silver Spoon, whom they could not hit at all, which only increased their frustration.

“Stop. Dodging!”

“I told you it would be unfair!” Silver Spoon jumped evading another snowball with very sharp reflexes, and with even sharper accuracy, hit Apple Bloom right in the nose.

Diamond Tiara was hit many times, but she didn’t care anymore, they were the winners already. Even if she wanted, she wouldn’t be able to erase her own smile, forgetting completely about anything that was happening around her, this hill was the whole world for now.

Sadly, as the saying goes, there just too few of the good stuff, and bad luck is always lurking at every corner.

You could call it misfortune, or perhaps call it destiny, depending on the results. Sweetie Belle tried to sneak behind Silver Spoon, and prepared to finally defeat the agile filly, Diamond Tiara was distracted forming another snowball to notice, just as she locked in her target and got up, Silver Spoon dodged yet another shot, and the friendly fire landed directly onto the unicorn’s eyes.

Blinded, she took a few steps back, shaking her head, not noticing how dangerously close she was to the steep edge of the hill. When Diamond Tiara looked up, she was horrified.

“Look out!” She jumped and managed to grab the unicorn’s hooves with her own. Unfortunately, the slippery snow betrayed her.

Both fillies fell from a very high altitude.