"I still can't believe you're moving into that awesome house, Winter!"
"Heh, neither can I, and I've been moving my stuff in for, like, a month now."
"Well, as soon as you're settled in, we have got to have a sleepover!"
I smiled at my friends. Their enthusiasm was encouraging.
"You bet. We'll rent comedy movies, eat burnt popcorn, and sleep on the cold, hard floor of my room. It'll be great!"
We all laughed. Actually, only one out of three of those was correct. The popcorn Star made was never burnt, and the floor of my new bedroom wasn't cold or hard. It had a thick, soft, light blue carpet; it was almost more comfortable than my bed.
Oh, you're probably confused, aren't you? I guess I should provide some back-story before getting into this tale.
My name is Winter. Winter Withers. Terrible name, right? But I guess you gotta learn to live with it. I mean, I have to. Ugh, never mind. Anyway, I'm currently living- well, I'll get to that later. You'll find out soon enough.
Before I moved to the place that ruined my whole existence, I lived in a small town known as Ponyville, My life was perfect. I had a caring, loving coltfriend, and two amazing mare friends. And no, by "mare friends" I don't mean that we were going out. I mean they were my friends, who were mares. I say were, because.... well, you'll find that out too.
Although we had only met a few months ago, Star, Autumn, and I had just... connected. I mean, it sounds weird, but we just knew we could trust each other. We didn't have much in common, just a love of bad comedies (when they're horrible, they make you laugh more). But all of us had recently drifted away from our old friends, and were sad and lonely. We met in the library, when all three of us literally crashed into each other running over to check out the newest magazines. We looked at each other, and BAM! Instant friendship. I have the recipe! All you need is:
-Three lonely mares.
Now, take these ingredients, mix them all together, and presto: friends for life. Now where was I.....?
Oh yes, I was just about to tell you about my amazing coltfriend. His name was Lightning Twister, and he was the biggest sweetheart in the world. Seriously. He's a pegasus, right? So he helps make the rainbows, and can move clouds and stuff. So get this: on my birthday, the last year we were dating, I woke up to a beautiful rainbow spread across the sky, right outside my window. There was a note on my windowsill, saying: "Do you like it? Happy birthday!"
And on Hearts and Hooves day, when I went outside, there was a cloud hovering right next to the tree in my yard... it was shaped like an arrow, pointing up. I looked up, and my name was written in the clouds, surrounded by tiny hearts.
Anyway, that's enough about Lightning Twister. He doesn't really come into this story. Well, a bit, but not much. So what was going on, was that we were moving into this huge old house a couple of miles out of town. I was super excited, mainly because we weren't moving to a new town, so I wouldn't have to leave my recently acquired friends behind. Star and Autumn couldn't wait to come over, and I couldn't wait to get there. Although, I was a bit nervous. For the first time in my life, I would be living nowhere near anypony else, and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. But I was willing to give it a chance; I mean hey, it could turn out to be fantastic! Pfft! Yeah right! Looking back, I should have just put my hoof down and refused to move..... but how could I have known what was going to happen? I can't see into the future! If I was a unicorn, I would have gone back in time, and warned myself, but I'm just an earth pony, just a stupid, non-magical, earth pony- oh jeeze, I'm sorry, I'm getting really off topic, aren't I? Okay, back to the story!
Um, actually, I think that's pretty much all you need to know. I guess it's on to the good part now... hahaha... if you can call it "good". It's certainly exciting.
~
"Winter! Come on, sweetie, it's time to go! Say goodbye!"
I glanced over my shoulder to see my mother beckoning from the side of our tiny car. The moving van was driving slowly up the road, heading out of town. My friends and I had one more quick group hug.
"I'll give you guys a call in a couple of days. Hey, one perk to moving is you don't have to go to school 'til your stuff is unpacked!" I grinned. I trotted to the van where my parents were waiting, and hopped in. Pulling out my music player, I put my earbuds in and sat back to enjoy the ride. At first, as we passed the buildings and roads that were all too familiar to me, I payed little attention; but as we exited the town, I found myself watching the passing scenery quite intently.
We drove past fields, where there were cows grazing, with small groves of trees here and there. Wow, I thought, This really is a beautiful area... I watched as we saw fewer and fewer houses and fields, and more and more trees. Eventually, we were driving through a kind of forest tunnel, with the sunlight filtered through thick branches overhead.
The trees eventually opened up into a large clearing. Right in the center was the house. Our house. Before my family had bought it, it had been broken down, basically falling apart. But over the months, my father had worked hard to repair it, and now the old thing was simply beautiful. We had a large backyard, and the whole forest in this area was free to explore. I planned to build a tree house as soon as possible, for Star and Autumn and I to hang out in. I was actually going to go tree hunting that afternoon, just as soon as I got some of my stuff unpacked.
I pulled my earbuds out, and shoved my music player in the pocket of my jacket. Throwing open the door, I only walked a few steps before flopping down on the damp, green grass. I lay on my back for a moment, simply staring up at the patch of clear blue sky, with the sun shining brightly. Closing my eyes, I let the cool air wash over me, and for the time being, blocked out all sound. Then the car door slammed, breaking my perfect moment.
"Ugh, mom, did you really have to do that? I was in heaven there." I said, sitting up. She chuckled, and leaned back inside to grab a box.
"Here, kiddo, this is most of your stuff. You can come back for the other things later."
The box levitated towards me, engulfed in a light blue magical aura.
Oh yeah, I should mention- my mom is a unicorn, and my dad is a pegasus. Of course I would get stuck with being neither.
Anyway. I grabbed the box, and swung it around to land on my back, then trotted quickly up to the door of the house. It was open; Dad must already be inside. Ugh. I must have packed more stuff in this box than I realized. Barely making it up the stairs, I put down the box for a moment to rest.
I thought about all the hard work mom and dad had put into getting this place fit for living; Celestia knows why they wanted to move here in the first place, but it was a good decision. Once dad had gotten the place stable, mom had began cleaning. First dusting, then scrubbing and polishing, until it looked just like new. Well, there were still a couple of rooms that looked old and gross; mom had shrugged it off with the explanation of "she just didn't know what to do with them". Yeah, right. There were plenty of extra rooms; mom had worked just as hard at getting those clean as the kitchen and living room. The truth was, she explained to me, (with a strict warning not to tell my father), she had just gotten tired of cleaning, and wanted to move in as soon as possible.
Mom had fallen in love with the place the very first time we went to check it out. Actually, not just mom. I had too. At first, Dad didn't want anything to do with the house, but after many evenings sitting in front of the T.V, planning our attack carefully.... mom and I had made a very convincing case.
You see, mom wants to be a writer, and she needed something to inspire her. She claimed that living in town just didn't work for her anymore; that she had always considered it "temporary" anyway. I said that I just needed some space for myself. Our tiny, three room house right smack in the middle of Ponyville wasn't exactly the most quiet place in the world. I love the quiet. At night, I used to have to bury my head under my pillows just to be able to fall into a light, very.... oh, what's the word.... ugh, I can't think of it right now, but I didn't sleep well for all the time we were living in town. Anyway, mom and I kept persisting, and eventually dad gave in. Five months later, we were moving in.
Speaking of father....
"Hey there dad!" I called down the stairs to him; he was stepping carefully through the doorway carrying two small boxes.
"Hi!" He replied. "Wow, this is the first time I've been inside the house since I let your mother take over the cleaning... I forgot just how big it is." He chuckled.
"Yeah, well, probably a good thing you did let her do all the dusting. She was always better at it than- wait, what? I thought you were already in here...." I said, puzzled.
"Nope. This is my first step into this place in about a month. Why did you think I was inside?" He asked, bending down to place one of the boxes on the kitchen floor.
"The door was open..." I replied, now a bit worried. Is it possible someone broke in? A lot of my stuff is here already!
"Ah, I see. Don't you worry, sweetheart, in old houses like this, doors often open on their own. There's no ghosts in this place!" He laughed, and headed back outside.
I rolled my eyes. Duh! I'm not worried about ghosts. That kind of stuff is just plain stupid. Shaking my head, I got back up and heaved the box onto my back. Refreshed from my short break, I was able to trot quickly down the hall to the bedroom.... my bedroom, I had to keep reminding myself. I placed the box on the thick, soft carpet that covered the floor, and walked over to the window seat. It had a wonderful view of the forest below; that was why I had picked this room. Plus, I had always wanted a window seat.
I looked around at the bare, light yellow walls. The large room didn't feel like home yet, but once I got some pictures up, I was sure it would be perfect. My bed wasn't in here yet. Mom and I were going to bring it up after dinner. Then I planned to put up some posters, and pictures of my friends and I. And after that, maybe I would give Lightning a call.
But for now, it was time to go explore the forest.
