Rarity walked along the small dirt path that was now covered in snow. She smiled as a gentle winter breeze caught hold of her purple mane and red scarf. The trees around her were covered in snow, and once in a while a small late snowflake would drift down from the sky.
This was the only season when Rarity truly appreciated the beauty of the great outdoors.
She turned her head toward some giggling fillys with rosy red cheeks rolling about in the snow. A bright red mare sat nearby, breathing warm air onto her hoofs and looking up sometimes to check on her children. Rarity smiled, waved, then continued on her walk.
Her gaze always drifted to the snow on the distant hills, lit up by what was starting to be a sunset. Right now the sky was just a faint yellow through the white fluffy clouds, lighting each of them up, looking very much like Fluttershy's coat. Rarity looked at her own, liking the way it blended almost completely in with the snow around her.
The snowflake drifters were coming down more often now. Rarity noticed this and smiled happily. She went to a nearby tree and sat down underneath it slowly, making sure her tail didn't get caught in the rough bark.
And then she sat there, watching the snowflakes fall.
Many thoughts passed through her head as she saw the snow drift. She thought of her wonderful friend Fluttershy putting her unhibernating animals to bed. She thought of Apple Jack drinking hot chocolate, finally getting a break from apple-bucking that had took up almost all of fall. Rarity sighed. She always wished she could give her friend and complete opposite a few days, or even a few hours off during the hard apple-bucking season.
But the only way she could do that is to take Apple Jack's work and put it on herself. And that work is so dirty!!
'Unlike this season' she thought tho herself. She smiled and watched the snowflakes drift, making patterns during their long descent to the ground. Once, they made a pattern under a cloud that looked exactly like Rainbow Dash's cutie mark.
Rainbow Dash.
Rarity looked up at the beautiful clouds, now whiter, but just barely you could see a bit of pink. How much work it must have been for Rainbow Dash! So many clouds that covered the whole sky. And she had to do it all by herself. Many other pegasi offered to help, of course, but some got sick and so few were left to help that Rainbow Dash decided to take this opportunity to show off and told them all she could do it herself. Rarity had dropped by Rainbow Dash's cloud earlier and made her some hot carrot soup. She was shivering, but smiled and thanked her in a groggy voice. She was probably asleep by now.
A snowflake fell on Rarity's nose, and she sneezed. She looked up at the pinkish clouds again as the snow fell more heavily. The pink clouds reminded her of Pinkie and the cake shop. Business there was shooting up because of the holidays that always came during winter. It was getting hard for Pinkie and the Cakes to keep up with all the orders. Rarity had went over yesterday and helped with the frosting and took cakes out of the ovens. Pinkie had smiled and thanked her for helping. She looked like even those small things had took a lot off of her shoulders.
The snow was falling a little too quickly now. Rarity got up and started walking back to her boutique. She passed the library and heard Twilight talking to her most loyal assistant and Rarity's "not so secret" lover, Spike. "Argh! I've been trying this spell for days now and it won't work at all!!!" "Well, Twilight, is it really important to learn how to turn pieces of paper into shovels?" "Yes, it IS, Spike. If I could turn the pieces of paper I have into shovels, then I could give some to the ponys that don't have any to shovel their walk!" "Well, even if you did learn this spell Twilight, all you would be doing is giving everyone some extra work." "Spike, You are so hopeless sometimes." Thumping noises came from inside the house and Rarity could tell Twilight was stomping up to her room, leaving an unhappy Spike behind.
Rarity frowned sadly as she walked to her boutique. All her friends were so busy, even Fluttershy, who had to keep her different reptiles and amphibians at a certain temperature through this whole winter. What could Rarity possibly do to help them?
Rarity looked up at the dark, snowflake-filled sky and thought about how the fresh snow would look tomorrow as she went on her daily walk.
Suddenly it hit her. That's it!!! She ran the rest of the way to her boutique and began to work. And work. And guess. And work. And plan. And work.
* * * * * *
Fluttershy checked on her beautiful fish nervously. Were they dead? She almost fainted with relief when she saw they were floating around quite nicely. She had finally found the right hight, angle, and distance to put the fish that was close to her fireplace. This, however, was not so true for the lizards. She could not understand what was going wrong! They were always so cold!
She picked them up and put them beside the fish to see if that would help. Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. She poked her head out just enough to see a bright blue mare standing there looking quite cheery. "Here's the two adjustable animal container heaters your wonderful friend ordered for you." Fluttershy jumped. What?! Had she heard right?! "Oh--um--thank you--thank you so much--" "No problem! She would also like to see you at the boutique she lives in at 2:00, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, the mare turned and left. Fluttershy looked down, amazed at the heaters in her hand. Only one of her friends lived in a boutique.
* * * * * *
Rainbow Dash soared through the sky, kicking some of the assigned clouds away, and bringing in different ones. She was really tired, so she stood herself on one of the clouds and tried to catch her breath. In the distance, she saw a group of pegasi coming toward her. Trying to strike a stunning pose and almost succeeding, Rainbow Dash smiled at them and said "Hey! Whatcha here for, the best weatherpony's autograph?"
"We're here to take over your duties for today." said one of them cautiously. "WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash flew in front of the group of pegasi, and shouted "EXCUSE ME?! ARE YOU SAYING THAT I'M TO WEAK TO DO MY JOB?! BECAUSE YOU ARE VERY MISTAKEN! WATCH, I COULD FINISH THIS IN 10 SECONDS!!!"
The leader of the group stepped forward. "You have an appointment at Rarity's boutique. It has been aranged with Celestia herself by mail, so you officially have today off." Rainbow Dash was dumbstruck. She crouched and scowled. "So when do I have to be there?" she growled. "2--2:00." said the leader."Now, if i may please just--" suddenly the pegasus realised she was talking to thin air.
* * * * * *
"Now, I just don't understand this!!!" Mr.Cake said as he stared at his order sheet. "What don't you understand, Mr.Cake?" Pinkie asked, bouncing out of the kitchen. "I don't understand a lot of things. Like, how do cutie marks appear? I guess if I actually borrowed that book from Twilight when she was trying to explain that to me, I would probably understand that now, but books are just a teensy weensy bit too bori--" "Well, what I don't understand is why everyone changed their orders to such a later date that we can have the day off today!"
Pinkie looked over Mr.Cake's shoulder. Suddenly, a letter was slipped under the door. Pinkie bounced over, picked it up, and read it. "OOH! AN INVITATION TO RARITY'S!" she bounced out the door, shouting "Goodbye, Mr.Cake!" as she left.
* * * * * *
Rarity peeked out her window. Apple Jack, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Everyone was there!
She walked out the door.
In a flash of blue and a small thud, she was pinned against the wall by Rainbow Dash. "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?!" she shouted. "WHY DID YOU CANCEL MY WORK?!!" "I--I--Dashie, darling, you've been working so hard, you all have." she looked down at the floor. "I...I thought I was doing you a favor by giving all of you a day off and...." she caught herself. Rainbow Dash stared at her for a minute, then let go of her. "You could have warned us." Rainbow Dash, looking at the floor herself now.
Rarity looked up. "But then that wouldn't have been a surprise! And the activity would have been less fun!" "Activity?" asked Rainbow Dash. She hoped this didn't mean the spa.
"Yes," said Rarity. "We're going on a walk."