A Winter Tale

A Winter Tale

By Blue Eyed Melloon

Chapter 1: Coming Home

ooOooooOooooOoo

Soarin slipped in and out of the gathering clouds, enjoying the weak sunlight on the tops of his wings and shivering at the slight, cold tinged air around him. It was the type of day that he was glad to be free from his usual duties as a Wonderbolt. The wind caressed his body, carrying him, lifting him higher into the sky and around fluffy pillars of greyish white. Without goggles, Soarin had to squint through the cold air, but he knew the way he was travelling by heart, even if it had been a long time since he had come this way. The prospect of deeply relaxing sped his heart and his wings faster, and his undulating path straightened out into an impatient bee line toward his destination.

In fact, Soarin was enjoying his first day of an entire winter off. He rarely took time off of work, and his commanders knew that he was always a reliable choice to come in on his day off, however sparse or well deserved they may be. Being Mr. Reliable meant that he never took vacations, and his vacation time had added up to where he would have to use it, or lose it. So when Spitfire came to him with that ultimatum, the Pegasus colt decided that he could use an extended vacation at home in Ponyville. He assigned a younger recruit with a knack for organization to take his place in his absence, hung up his uniform, packed his bags and sent them away to his home in the clouds above the Everfree Forest. Now he too was making the trek back to where he had began, the few things he had left at home packed away in the saddlebags that looped across his back.

A sigh escaped his lips as he barrel rolled, forming into a happy smile. He hadn't been back to Ponyville in ages, and he wondered if anyone had moved in or out. The thought of walking the familiar streets again filled him with glee. Hopefully Pinkie Pie would be there, her parties were way too much fun to go without, and Rarity of course, he was in need a of a new winter jacket….

These musings kept his mind busy until he arrived at his second home. He pushed open the fluffy door, noting that the moving ponies had left all of his things in the middle of the walkway. The house was smaller than his usual home. Being a vacation house, it was simpler but inviting. The hallway opened to the left and right a few paces down. The left turned into the living room that was filled with squishy cloud furniture. To the right was the dining room, where chairs for eight were pushed in neatly around the expansive table. The open arch broke the wall between the kitchen and dining room; a window allowed those who were cooking to converse with those in the dining room with no problems. Farther down the hall, it curved to the right, with a bathroom under the staircase that erupted from the floor. It was this path that Soarin followed after inching his way past his pile of belongings.

The staircase led to an open loft with four doors along the walls. Three were bedrooms, one was a bathroom. The whole home felt as if it should be housing a family, not just one pony. But Soarin typically had friends over, and those friends liked to drink cider.  He would rather have them collapse in a spare bedroom than try to fly home after one too many.

After checking to make sure everything was where he left it and hastily emptying his saddlebags onto the cloud bed, Soarin went back down to the front door and walked outside, staring down at the Everfree Forest. It spread out below him like a fluffy carpet, hardly scary and nightmare inducing with patches of golden sunlight illuminating the rapidly depleting leaves. Fall was at its end; tomorrow winter would begin and soon snow would replace the leaves as foliage for the trees. The blue Pegasus took off, noting that the air was a bit colder than when he arrived. Winter may not wait until tomorrow morning.

He circled lazily, enjoying the view from above before landing just outside the marketplace of Ponyville, dried grass splintering under his feet. The market was in full swing, and along with the last minute sales of veggies and fruits, stalls were offering hot chocolate, apple cider and even scarves. Sleds were lined up alongside on building; the pony selling them was talking loudly in hopes of attracting early sales since the air held a promise of snow to come. There was a merry buzz throughout the market, punctuated here and there by a stern haggler’s tone or the loudly spoken greetings of friends from one stall to another. Soon the buildings would be strung with lights, and snowponies would become regular guests in the town square. But for now there was just the promise of those things to come, and even just a promise was enough to lighten everypony’s hearts and souls. Soarin chuckled, seeing two young fillies, one pale yellow and one a bright orange eyeing a pink sled with flowers on it. From the disjointed conversation, they seemed to be trying to come up with a way to pay for it before the snow hit.

“Ah don’t know Scoots, we have to know how to bake before we can have a bake sale.”

“Can’t your family just give us some apple tarts and stuff?”

“You know we can’t do that, we need that money to buy supplies over the winter. Maybe Twist can show us how to make candy! Then we could have a sweets sale!”

“Great idea Apple Bloom! And maybe we’ll get our cutie marks as candy makers!”

Soarin chuckled again, then he pulled out his shopping list, inspecting it once and tucking it under his wing. There wasn’t any food in the vacation home, so his list was quite expansive. He made his way to the nearest stall, inching past the crowds of ponies with apologies and easy nudges.

An hour or so passed before he had finished shopping. His saddlebags bulged with produce, and his mouth was dry from all of the talking he had done. The stall keepers were happy to see him back. He chatted with ponies he had gone to school with, trying to avoid going into too much detail about his job. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy his line of work; it was the greatest job a pony could ever have in his mind. But it got tiring telling the same stories to different ponies who all gave the same reactions. Ponyville was special to him because he had grown up in the town, so everpony already knew him and treated him like everypony else, not like a celebrity. Minus the occasional fan that popped up every now and then. His stomach growled. Time for a snack. He spotted Sugarcube Corner and liked his lips, hoping there might be a few more Sweet Apple Acres apple pies left under the counters. While walking to the front door, greeting ponies he knew and waving a hoof, he spied a pony watching him. They were gazing from behind someone, eyes veiled behind bangs. When he stopped and stared at this unknown pony, he found that they had disappeared. Strange. He thought, pushing open the door.

The ring of the bell above the door prompted a call of “One second!” from under the counter. A fluffy pink head came into view, followed by bright blue eyes that almost vibrated with excitement when she saw her patron. “Soarin! What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for the whole winter.” He said calmly, smiling.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes exploded into firecrackers. Suddenly she was in his face, grin wide enough to split her face in half.

“Really?!” she said, voice growing shrill. “The whole winter?! That means you’ll be here for the first snow, and baking cookies, and Hearth’s Warming Eve, and ice skating and HHHHHOOOOAAAA!” a gasp drew her excited tirade to a stop and she gaped at Soarin as if seeing him for the first time. “But first you need a welcome back party! With cake! And streamers! And balloons!” she started to take a breath to continue her list of things he “had” to have when a gentle blue hoof covered her chattering mouth.

“First, can I get an apple pie?” Soarin asked with amusement, allowing Pinkie to have her mouth back only when she nodded quickly.

“Of course Soarin-woarin! Applejack just delivered the last pies of the year! I know just the one for you!” Her mind was still abuzz with her ever growing list of things for Soarin’s Welcome Home Party. She chattered away while pulling out a steaming confection the likes Soarin hadn't seen in probably forever. His ears completely ignored the excitable pink pony ringing him up. His whole attention was on the glorious thing in front of him.

Soarin left Sugarcube Corner with an apple pie balanced on his back in front of the saddle bags and a piece of paper in his mouth, dictating the time and date of his party. He chuckled from behind the paper as Pinkie poked her head out of the door and said “Bye bye Soarin! See you on Saturday!” He waved absently behind him, making sure not to drop his precious pie. It was growing later in the afternoon. A visit to Rarity would have to wait until next time, but not too long. The wind danced around the clouds that were dropping lower, bringing a trace more of cold into his face. But once he got home, his whole body would be warm from delicious pie.... When his mind came off of the treat warming the space between his wings, he noticed somepony watching him from behind a stall.

From this distance and the angle of their face, Soarin could see that his watcher was a mare. The pale blue fur around her face shimmered slightly in the remaining sunlight, and her mane was chin length, and white. He leaned forward, but he couldn't make out what color her eyes were. Her cutie mark was also hidden from view behind the wooden planks of the stall she was so carefully concealing herself with. Soarin opened his mouth to say something, and he dropped the paper that he held. He muttered something, and bent to pick it back up before it got too dirty. When he looked down to find it and looked back up, the mare was gone. This left him confused, and more than a little concerned. Who was she? Why was she staring at him? He shook his head, playing it off as a fan that just happened to be in town, and took off carefully, making sure his cargo wasn’t wobbly. For now he would forget about the white haired mare. He had a pie to eat.

ooOooooOooooOoo

Panting, a silver blue mare skidded to a halt behind somepony's house. She shivered, feeling sweat beading along her shoulders. Too close. Too close for comfort. She inhaled deeply, feeling the cold air enter her lungs. It didn't sting like it normally should. It felt invigorating. She looked up at the sky in time to see a light blue pegasus circle one more time, and then shoot off toward the walking bridge and the Everfree Forest. A deep sigh wiggled its way out of the mare's lips, and she leaned against the building's wall to keep herself steady.

What a beautiful creature....