Almost two years had passed since the four of the pegasi's births, and they were growing up strongly. Dove-Lily, the eldest, had already received her Cutie-Mark. It was a pink water-lily, representing her talent at growing those flowers in a pond that she made after getting the mark. Tornado had gotten his, too, after lifting the water to Cloudsdale. It was a hurricane with water spewing atop of it; meaning he needed to follow the Tornado Day wherever in Equestria it was. Although Shuffler and Snowflake hadn't gotten theirs yet, they were still enthusiastic little colts. Well, mostly Shuffler.
Snowflake, on the other hoof, was more of a quiet little one. He was the runt of the four, with smaller wings that never seemed to grow, meaning he got picked on a lot by his older brothers. Dove-Lily never did that; she always guarded him and stood up for him. Snowflake had always admired his older sister for that. She always did what she could to try to help him get his Cutie-Mark. But every try was a fail. Yet, this didn't discourage him; he was probably too young to get it anyway.
"Kids, time for dinner!" Justice called to the four pegasi. They all always raced down then steps, seeing who was the fastest flyer. Well, all but Snowflake, with his wings as small as they were. Will they ever grow..? he'd wonder at times.
When the four had gotten downstairs, they met their mother and father at the table. Their father, who was always away on trips and errands, was never really around a whole lot. So he was almost a stranger to them. But when he was at home, his looks amazed his kids. He was a muscular pegasis with large, feathery wings. His coat was gray-blue and his mane was black with dark-blue stripes. He had one blue eye and one red eye. Yes, he was deffinately different, but Justice had to have loved him if there was four young pegasi in the room.
• • •
After dinner, the children got themselves ready for bed. They said their goodnights and went for their rooms in their comforting beds. After each of them laying there for about five minutes, they all fell asleep. All but Snowflake. That same thought haunted his head. Will they ever grow..?
• • •
After waking up from an almost sleepless night, Snowflake got up and stretched out. He looked behing himself, at those tiny wings, and sighed. He got out of his bed and looked at a poster in his room that had a picture of Hugo D. Bell holding up a thousand pound dumbbell with one hjoof. It read, "Strongest Pegasis Stallion in Equstria!" Snowflake looked in awe at his hero and hoped that one day, he could have as big wings as he and muscles, maybe bigger than him. He daydreamed happily for a half hour, about himself up there with Hugo, winning a hoof-wresting contest.
Snowflake's daydreaming was interrupted by his older sister walking into his room. She had a tray-table in one hoof and a plate of warm, chocolate-chip pancakes, smothered in butter and syrup; just how he liked them. She set up the breakfast in front of his bed. Snowflake looked over at his older sister and smiled. "Good morning," they said in unison. They did that very often. "I'll leave you to eat while I go eat my breakfast." Dove-Lily said, beginning to leave. "Wait!" Snowflage called. "You can eat in here with me!" he offered. "Hmm... Alright." she said, smiling. "I'll be right back."
Little after she left, Shuffler and Tornado barged into the room. "Oooh, pancakes!" Tornado said, and zoomed over to pick one up. He hovered just out of Snowflake's reach, dangling the pancake temptingly. "HEY! Give that back, 'Nado!" Snowflake said. He tried hard to flap his wings, but they were just too small. "Only way to get it, is to grab it!" Shuffler said, and did the same thing. Now Snowflake's anger was getting the best of him, and a lump formed in his throat. He almost started to cry whe Dove-Lily came through the door. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING TO HIM?! Give him back his pancakes!!" she ordered, angrily. "Whatever you say!" Tornado and Shuffler said. They dropped the pancakes on Snowflake's head and bolted out of the room, laughing.
Snowflake was now weeping softly, the syrup and butter stinging his eyes. Dove-Lily shot over to him and removed the now soiled pancakes from his face, revealing tears streaming down his red cheeks, hot with anger and embarrassment. Dove-Lily picked him up and flew him to the nearest bathroom. The dampened a wash-rag and started cleaning off his face. "Ugh, those RAGS! Treating you like that-they better know they are in for a world of pain when I'm done cleaning you up!" The light gray pegasis said, stream basically coming out of her ears.
When he was all washed up, the remains out of his face and hair, Dove-Lily flew so fast through the house that she blasted straight through the boy's doors effortlessly. The door was locked, but now, it didn't matter cause it had a large hole in the middle of it. The two boys had their mouths gaping open in horror as they looked at their sister, flames shooting up in her eyes. "WHY IN EQUESTRIA WOULD YOU TWO RAGS TREAT OUR LITTLE BROTHER LIKE THAT?! I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD EXPLAINATION FOR IT CAUSE IF NOT YOU ARE IN FOR A WORLD WITHOUT MERCY!" she roared in anger. The two had never seen her like that, and they truthfully feared for their lives.
• • •
"Anything you want to SAY to him?!" she asked, her voice as rough as sandpaper. The two colts were shaking like leaves and their voices were unsteady. "Y-yes... -S-sorry, S-snowflake..." they stammered in unison. "FOR?!" Dove-Lily damanded. "F-for dropping p-p-pancakes on your head....!" they finished. Snowflake accepted their apologies and trudged off into his room quietly. He slowly shut his door and climbed into bed without a noise. Snowflake began to softly and barely cry, because he couldn't believe his brothers would do that to him. The runt. The baby. The different one. Snowflake.
A Different Kind of Snowflake
It was a cold winter day, and Ponyville was about to have its first snowfall of the season. Justice, a beautiful white mare with deep purple eyes and a wavy, short, golden-brown mane, was about to have her very first litter of fillies and colts. She was expecting one filly and two colts, according to the doctor. The pain medication was finally starting to kick in when they told her it was time to deliver the babies.
• • •
After two hours of pushing, she finally delivered all the ponies. The first was a female pegasis withe a dove-gray coat, light pink hair, and bright blue eyes. "Dove-Lily." Justice declared. The second was a male aqua with a black mane and gray eyes. "Tornado." she named again. And finally the third one, a creamy-white male pegasis with cocoa brown hair and dark blue eyes. "Shuffler." she said happily. Justice was proud to have such beautiful kin. But something was wrong. She still looked bloated, like she was still expecting. "Doctor, I think there's one more yet." she said I a worried tone. "Alright, let's try this again."
• • •
The guess was correct, as Justice did have one more. He was smaller than the other three, and looked more like his mother. He was a white pegasis with golden-brown short hair and red eyes. "Snowflake..." she smiled.
Justice now had four ponies to look after. And she couldn't be prouder.