Critter Snow Day

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“Sorry, what was that?!” Scootaloo looked at Alula, dumbfounded. It had made her overwhelmingly happy when Alula asked her to come to Sugarcube Corner with her, but now, Scootaloo had second thoughts.

“I am a goddess!” Alula said again. Her mane looked frazzled and she was wearing pajamas.

“A goddess?” Scootaloo repeated. She raised a very sceptical eyebrow.

“Yes!” Alula said with emphasis.

“And why? Because you survived being burnt by a dragon?” The scepticism in Scootaloo's face deepened.

Mrs. Cake came to their table. “Do you want to order something now?” she asked them.

“I didn't just survive getting burnt. There was so much more!” Alula clarified. “I have stabbed myself, I got shot through the head with an arrow, I drank poison, I froze to death, I hung myself in the bathroom, stallions killed me by trampling me to death, I jumped from the clocktower and I got burnt by a dragon.”

“Really, huh?” Scootaloo smiled uneasily. She shifted around on her chair.

“Really! And then I wake up at morning without a scratch!” She looked up, a strangely blissful expression in her face. “I am immortal, Scootaloo.”

“Uh..... How about I just bring you fillies some milkshakes?” Mrs. Cake's eyes shifted.

Scootaloo ignored her. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because I need somepony to believe me!” Alula's answer sounded desperate.

Scootaloo shook her head slowly, eyes closed. “You're not a goddess, Alula. What you say is impossible, not even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have so much power.”

“Should I come back later?” Mrs. Cake asked them.

“How would you know that?” Alula challenged her.

“It's just silly, how–”

“How do you know?” Alula interrupted her. She leaned in close at Scootaloo, until their noses almost touched. There was an aggressive glare in her eyes.

“Because nopony can do this!” Scootaloo yelled now. She was getting annoyed by the claims.

“I-I'll come back,” Mrs. Cake said.

Alula looked at her. “Mrs. Cake!” she said and got up.

“This is Cup Cake.” Alula grabbed her and pulled her at Scootaloo's side. “She owns Sugarcube Corner together with her husband, Carrot Cake, and works here since she was sixteen years old. She used to be terrible at baking, until her friend Buttercup taught her everything about it.”

An embarrassed blush appeared on Cup Cake's face. “Oh, I wasn't that terrible at baking, I just.....”

Alula grabbed Scootaloo's hoof and dragged her with her. “What are you doing?” Scootaloo asked, startled.

Alula dragged her to a table. She pointed at the fillies sitting there. “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They are great friends, but Silver Spoon only started to hang out with Diamond Tiara because her parents have such a huge mansion with the biggest pool in all of Ponyville.”

Diamond Tiara almost spilled her drink. “WHAT?!” she turned at Silver Spoon sharply. Silver Spoon crouched in her seat, blushing.

“Sorry, Diamond,” Scootaloo said, before she got pulled away.

Alula put her hoof around a turquoise unicorn mare. “This is Lyra Heartstrings. Her best friend Bon Bon is a secret agent with the codename 'Sweetie Drops' and since Lyra found out about this, she works with her for a secret organization called S.M.I.L.E.”

“H-How do you know all of this about us?!” Lyra became white as a sheet. She turned around and ran out of the bakery. “BON BON!” she shouted.

Alula smirked, turning at Scootaloo. “Also, she's lesbian.”

Scootaloo frowned. “That proves nothing, everypony knows that!”

Alula ignored her and led her to the next creature. “This is Cranky. Also known as 'Doodle', a name he really hates.”

Cranky gave her a deathly glare. “Never say this name again,” he growled.

Alula patted his shoulder. “He spent several decades searching for his lost love, Mathilda, and even though he found her eventually, he's very depressed all the time and Mathilda has her hooves full with easing his suicide thoughts.”

Cranky's eyes shrunk.

Scootaloo put her hooves on Alula's chest and pushed her back a few steps. “That's all a trick, isn't it?”

Alula's conviction did not falter. “Yeah, so what if it would be a trick? Maybe omnipotent beings use tricks the whole time. They aren't powerful, they are just around long enough to know everything!”

“Really? Ok, let's see then.” Scootaloo pointed at a green pegasus mare sitting at a table to their right. “Who's that?”

“That's Merry May. She used to work in the weather factory in Cloudsdale but got fired because they blamed her for an accident that almost destroyed the entire factory some years ago.”

Merry May's eyes teared up. She rested her head on the table and started crying into her forehooves.

“Okay and her?” Scootaloo chose another creature from the crowd.

“Silverstream. She came from an underwater kingdom called Seaquestria to attend Princess Twilight's friendship school as one of the first foreign students. Her people had to flee under the ocean after an evil warlord called the Storm King invaded their old home and destroyed it. She spent all of her previous life underwater.”

“She's right!” It burst out of Silverstream.

“And her?” Scootaloo pointed at a yellow filly.

“Noi. She wants to work as a gravedigger one day because she loves cemeteries so much. Her close friends sometimes call her 'Sweet Wheat' after that hilarious baking accident when she was younger.”

Noi's head shot around at her. “HEY!” she yelled, angry.

“Just the truth.” Alula grinned at Noi.

Scootaloo pushed her away again. “How do you know all of these creatures?” She looked slightly creeped out now.

“Just like I told you, I know everything! In five seconds, Mrs. Cake will drop a heavy mug in the kitchen. Five, four, three,”

“That's never going to happen,” Scootaloo smiled nervously.

“two, one.”

Scootaloo twitched as a loud clank came from the kitchen.

“Cup Cake?” Mr. Cake shouted. “Are you alright?”

“E-Everything's okay! I just dropped a mug.” Her response sounded a little shaky.

“See?” Alula encroached on Scootaloo, almost pressing her face into hers.

“Y-Yeah,” Scootaloo stuttered. “Let's sit down.” She was the one pulling now and she pulled Alula to one of the last free tables. They sat down opposite of each other.

“O-Okay.” Scootaloo tried to compose herself. “Do you know about me too?” she asked Alula, excitement rising.

“I know all about you!” Alula stated firmly. “You admire Rainbow Dash and you strive to be just like her.”

“That's something everypony knows.” Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders.

“You love flying, but you have a disease that makes your flight muscles weak and stops your wings from growing, so you can't.”

Scootaloo slumped down and cast her eyes on the table. “T-That's what the doctors said.”

The look in Alula's eyes became more intense. “Each summer vacation, your aunts take you on a camping trip because your parents are too busy with work and never have time for you.”

Scootaloo sat motionlessly.

“They take you to a lake, in the middle of the Whitetail Woods. There's an old cabin, with holes in the roof, and the water of the lake is so cold that you never want to swim in it. But your aunts always encourage you, until you do it anyway and get used to the temperature.”

Scootaloo gave her a glance.

“At night, your aunts make a fire and you roast marshmallows and eat sum'yums together. Your Auntie Lofty looks up at the stars and she starts dreaming and tells stories about life on other planets.”

Scootaloo looked up again and into Alula's eyes, breathing stronger.

“You're a sucker for Daring Do books and you love crystals, because the idea of see-through walls amazes you. You're very enthusiastic and exciteable. You're kind and you're always willing to help a pony in need. And when you jump up high into the sky with your scooter, you inspire other ponies to never give up their goals in life.”

“How are you doing this?” Scootaloo's face was filled with confusion.

Alula sighed. “I told you. I wake up every morning and it's always today, Critter Snow Day. And I can't do anything about it.”

Scootaloo did not respond.

“In case you still don't believe me.....” Alula pulled a scrap of paper and a pencil out of one of her pajama's pockets and scribbled something on it. “But please believe me. You have to believe me.” She stopped scribbling and breathed out, calming herself. “Hey, what would you say if we were to spend Hearth's Warming Eve together this year?” she asked, while tucking her pencil away.

“I would say yes,” Scootaloo answered, still confused, but thruthfully. “Apple Bloom celebrates with her extended family on Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie Belle leaves town with her parents over the holidays and Rainbow Dash spends the evening with her friends in Twilight's castle. And I'm tired of spending time with my aunts when my parents rather chase sales figures in their offices than chasing Hearth's Warming gifts for me.” Her ears got folded in.

Not saying another word, but looking deeply into Scootaloo's eyes, Alula slid the paper over to Scootaloo.

The other pegasus took it into her hooves. “When my parents rather chase sales figures in their offices than chasing Hearth's Warming gifts for me.” She stared at Alula and all doubts had vanished from her face.

“Okay, maybe it's really happening. I have no idea how you could know so much if it doesn't.” Alula and Scootaloo trotted through the Ponyville Park.

“There's no way,” Alula said. “I might be smart, but I'm not that smart and I can't read other ponies' minds.”

“I am going to spend the day with you,” Scootaloo announced. “I'll be there and observe what happens, so we can find out what is doing this to you.”

Alula looked into Scootaloo's face and her eyes dissolved in tears. She threw her hooves around Scootaloo's neck and hugged her tightly. Scootaloo smiled.

Inside Alula's room, Scootaloo and her sat on the bed. They were chewing something. A bucket stood at the other end of Alula's bed. The alarm clock showed that it was close to midnight.

“Okay, now watch!” Alula said after a few seconds of quiet chewing had passed. She puckered her lips, then spit out a wet piece of bubble gum. It landed right in the middle of the bucket and disappeared inside.

Scootaloo watched in awe.

“Now it's your turn!” Alula prompted her.

Scootaloo nodded. She puckered her lips just like Alula and spit out her own piece of gum. It landed just a little left of the bucket. Scootaloo looked at the result in disappointment. “It's harder than it looks,” she said.

Alula popped another piece of bubble gum into her mouth. “It's not hard!” She started chewing. “You just need to concentrate harder on your goal. It's more in the tongue than it's in the lips!” Demonstratively, she spit her gum out. It was another perfect landing.

Scootaloo tried it again, too, but she missed a second time. “It's going to take me a few years to learn this.”

“Nah. Only three months. Just do it an hour a day for three months and you're an expert like me!”

Scootaloo chuckled. “So I guess that's how you spend eternity, with weird challenges like this.”

“Yeah. Not much you can do anymore if you lived through the same day 300 times.” Her voice cracked a little. “Yeah, I counted,” Alula added then.

Scootaloo's face took on a horrified expression.

“And that's not even the worst part. What's way worse than that is that you will have forgotten everything tomorrow and that I will have to explain it all again.” She sighed, her lips trembling a little. “And no matter what I do, once the day starts over, everypony will think I'm a jerk again.”

The sudden confession of feelings hit Scootaloo out of nowhere. “You're not a jerk, Alula.” She put a hoof around the other filly and pulled her a little closer.

“It's alright, I am a jerk,” Alula rejected the reassurance.

“No, you're not! I mean, sure, you didn't talk to me for a whole year even though we're technically still friends, but you're here now!”

Alula looked away. “Just because I'm scared and need help,” she admitted. “But it doesn't matter what I am anyway..... I killed myself so often, I don't really exist anymore!” Now she sobbed a little.

“This probably sounds strange, but that's kind of cool.” Scootaloo laughed.

“Cool?” Alula looked at her with a dumb expression. “You're right, that sounds really strange. What would be cool about this?”

“Well, for example, you can do everything you ever wanted!” Scootaloo suggested.

It deepened Alula's frown.

“And you can learn a lot about yourself! If you ask me, that doesn't sound like a curse. Maybe it's a chance!” She poked Alula, motivatingly.

“You're an optimist, Scoots!” Alula laughed, but it was a dry laugh.

“And you're a nice filly, Alula. Don't doubt it, it's really true. Just look at everything a little differently and you'll see that.” She reached out and pulled Alula into a hug, chin resting on her left shoulder.

As her eyes fell on the alarm clock, the numbers switched to midnight. Scootaloo gasped, then released Alula. “Hey, you're still here! I thought you would disappear, Alula!”

Alula looked at the clock herself, then back at Scootaloo. “Not before six,” she cleared up the confusion.

Scootaloo frowned playfully and hit Alula with a pillow. “You liar! You knew that I was waiting for midnight!”

“But I never said midnight!” Alula defended herself. “Are you going to leave now?” she asked Scootaloo, who now stood at the hoofend of the bed. Her eyes were pleading.

“Nah. I still want to see what happens.” She moved back to the pillows.

“That's good.” Alula sighed in relief.

Scootaloo sat down at her side again.

Alula's alarm clock showed 3 AM. She was holding a book about astronomy in front of her, in which Scootaloo and her had been reading for the last few hours. Scootaloo's head began to feel heavy. She leaned it against Alula's shoulder and her eyes fell shut.

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“It's fine, just fall asleep.” Alula looked over to her. “I won't get mad over it.”

Scootaloo yawned. “I'm okay, I'm not tired.” She opened her eyes again and tried to focus on the book. “Where did I stop?”
Alula pointed at a sentence. “I think it was here.”

“Really?” She yawned and her eyes fell shut again.

Alula noticed it. She looked at Scootaloo, then closed the book and put it on her nightstand. She grabbed her blanket and spread it over herself and Scootaloo. Sunken in thoughts, she rested her chin on Scootaloo's mane and closed her own eyes.

“It's just as I said,” she spoke. “”You're always willing to help a pony in need. Even if it's a horrible filly like me.”

Scootaloo stirred. “Did you say anything, Alula?”

“Goodnight,” Alula said, evading a direct answer.

“Goodnight,” Scootaloo drawled in response. She fell asleep and so did Alula a minute later.