Princess Ice Sculpture opened her wings, one after the other, then glanced back at Canterlot Castle for the last time. She could hear Princess Celestia, her mother, calling, but she ignored it. The only thing that pained her was when Soarin' shouted her name. She loved him more than life, but knew that she had to say goodbye if she was to do this.
Her dream was to live in Ponyville, make normal friends, So she wore a saddlebag covering her cutie mark and a hat covering her horn. Twilight Sparkle was her mother's student - she'd easily recognize Ice's wings. Now to make a fake name... Icy Skys. Yes, that'd do.
Swallowing, she took a few steps back, then ran and lifted into the air, flying at high speed. Musical notes trailed behind her as she flew, and she couldn't help but feel joy as the wind ruffled her black-and-pink mane. She herself was a snowy white, with icy blue eyes. She didn't mind her appearance, but she'd always hated her name. In fact, she'd hated being a dumb ol' princess.
She hated the life of a princess - no-one treated her for who she really was. Well, apart from Soarin' - but that was it. Soarin' and her had been together for three months now, and she could still remember when they first met. She'd attended a Wonderbolts derby and he'd started talking to her afterwards. They laughed together for hours on end, and she knew that his feelings were true - not just meaningless, empty words.
The bliss she felt when she was near him was something she already missed, but she couldn't stop now.
She almost did, though, when she realised someone was flying after her. No, more than just one pony - three! Three of the twelve Wonderbolts. Glancing back, she easily recognized them. Spitfire, Misty, and, leading the group, Soarin'.
She put on an extra spurt of speed, desperate to lose them so she could make her way to Ponyville and not be found. Her heart was beating fast as they closed the gap, and she swallowed. Saying a quick 'sorry!', she kicked with her hind leg, catching Soarin' in the face. Guilt overcoming her, she raced away. Glancing back, she saw the look of despair on Soarin's face as Spitfire and Misty checked to see if he was okay.
Tearing her gaze away, she hurried to Ponyville, sure that they would now be unable to find her. She smiled at the thought of finally having a normal life, and used her horn to straighten her hat and saddlebag.
Landing just by a farm of some sort, she began to walk along the path, then stopped to a halt when a young filly raced up to her. 'Icy' blinked at the filly, then murmured, "Um, hello?"
"'Ello!" The filly beamed. "Mah name's Apple Bloom! Who're ya?"
Taken aback by Apple Bloom's enthusiasm, it took Icy a moment to reply. "My name's Icy Skys. A true pleasure to meet you, Apple Bloom."
She started walking forwards again, then realised that Apple Bloom was trotting along at her side.
"So, what brings ya to Ponyville?"
Sighing inaudibly, Icy forced herself to reply. "I'm... moving here, you could say."
"Wow! I've never moved before! Applejack - d'at's my sista - went to Manehatten once! I wish I was like her. I don't even have mah cutie mark yet!"
Glancing at the filly's flank, Icy noticed that she did indeed have no cutie mark.
"I'm sure you'll get one." She replied simply, trying to speed up a little and lose Apple Bloom. "Now, I really have to go."
"Aw, really? Guess I'd betta get back, 'den. See ya later, Icy!"
Once she was out of earshot, Icy let out a sigh of relief, murmuring, "Glad I got rid of her."
She made it into the main clearing of Ponyville, and felt a grin form on her face. Now she just had to find a home...
Oh no. She hadn't even given a thought as to where she'd stay! Maybe she could... build a house? Surely a cloud house wouldn't be hard. She just had to stuff some clouds together, right? She had wings, so it'd be easy enough.
Unfortunately, she was terribly wrong. Building a cloud house was extremely hard - the clouds went together easily enough, but they just didn't seem to make a proper shape - no matter a house. Sighing, she sat down on one of the clouds, staring at her 'house'. Suddenly a streak of rainbow shot past her, just behind the clouds she'd put together. Icy flew up slightly to take a look, and suddenly there was a blue face grinning at her from the other side of the clouds.
"Hey there!" It said. "My name's Rainbow Dash, but you can call me Equestria's #1 flyer!"
"I'm Icy - and don't the Wonderbolts already own that title?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but she was still grinning. She flew up and sat on Icy's house. "So, er... what is this thing?"
Icy sighed irritably. "It's my house."
Rainbow looked down, then burst out laughed. "What, seriously?! This isn't a house!"
After a moment, Icy cleared her throat. "Are you quite done?"
Rainbow wiped her eyes, then put on a serious face. "I shall help you build a real house."
"This is a real house!"
"No. No, it isn't."
This time it was Icy's turn to roll her eyes, and then she sat back down. "Let's see you do better."
Rainbow laughed, then glared at her. "I'll do better - in 10. Seconds. Flat."
"Go on, then."
Suddenly Rainbow was racing around, grabbing clouds. Icy counted out loud as she did so.
"1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8..9...10."
When Icy looked up, her jaw dropped in awe. For there, before her, was a magnificient, huge cloud house, complete with a rainbow fountain. She stared for a moment, wiped her eyes, then stared some more.
Rainbow, meanwhile, was grinning. "Yeah. I have that effect on a lot of ponies."
Icy stood up. "So... I can live in it?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, thanks." Smiling, Icy flew inside the house, whilst Rainbow hovered outside, grinning.
