Birthday Bios: Powder Snow

There is one frustrating thing about this picture, and it’s that I don’t think it properly shows just how massive Powder Snow is. Should have made Double Diamond just a wee bit smaller and let you guys know that he’s supposed to be a normal sized baby. Or maybe stick his wife in there and show you the size difference.

Regardless, I find it funny that around the beginning of the year I did Alta’s bio, and now, nearing the end of the year, I’m doing her husband’s. Snow Family seemed to be nicely spaced through the year, eh?

Alrighty, let’s get on with the story of this Big Ol’ Teddy Bear.

Powder Snow was born in a Whinnyapolis hospital, a tiny, premature foal that could barely breathe. He had to spend a couple of weeks in care before he was well enough to go home to the little town of Snowtrot near the Crystal Mountains. There, the little colt was raised alongside his two older sisters.

Much of his foalhood was spent being the “shorty” of his peers. He grew quite slowly for the first several years of his life, being the size of a normal newborn when he was a toddler, and being the size of a toddler when he started school. Naturally, his parents were worried about this, though taking him to the doctor revealed that he was completely healthy—just growing at his own pace, that’s all.

Still, he did not appreciate his classmates poking fun at how much younger he looked than them. He was older than half of them! And yet, he was often excluded from the winter sports he loved because there were “no babies allowed”, despite him being stronger and sprier than everyone else. Even the teachers got confused sometimes, trying to bring him to the younger class only to be reminded of his age. It was embarrassing for both him and teacher.

Being kind of shy and sensitive, he tended to hang out on the sidelines. Sure, he’d do a cool trick on a sled, knit or sew something nice for somepony, or move something too heavy for a classmate to move, but at the end of the day, he was mainly seen for his size. The jerks of the class were few, but Powder was nervous about everypony following in their lead in making fun of him.

The only ones who ever took him seriously were his lumberjack father and his co-workers in the mountains. Despite him being small, they admired the kid’s strength and ability to withstand even the bitterest cold. He wasn’t allowed to use any of the tools (who would give a kid a saw?), but they appreciated it when he helped haul logs and when he knitted Hearth’s Warming presents for them. Powder Snow felt right at home in the mountains, enough for his eventual cutie mark to reflect that.

He remained short until he hit puberty. From then on, he not only shot up like a weed, but he developed bulk that reflected just how strong he was. And his adolescence consisted of him just growing… and growing… and growing. His classmates then took to poking fun at how big he was (knowing that he was a gentle soul), comparing him to a mountain and laughing when he couldn’t fit in a regular-sized chair. Powder bemoaned never being a normal height, though he was much more help for the lumberjacks.

When he was just hitting his twenties, he decided to explore a bit, despite being nervous about strangers gawking at his size. After visiting a few cities (getting a little too hot for his taste in the process), he heard that the mountains near Salt Lick City had some of the best snow to ski on in all of Equestria. He took a trip there in the winter to see if it was true, and when he tried it out… he wasn’t gonna lie, it was excellent snow. Helps that the residents of the valley were polite and tried not to make a fuss about his size (though he could tell that they were nervous).

While there, Powder met a mare named Alta, who was happy to show her around the neighborhood. He noticed that she liked to climb everything bigger than her, and found it kind of funny and cute. To his surprise, he wouldn’t mind if she tried to climb onto his back.

Before he knew it, through visiting the canyon quarry she lived in, exchanging jokes and stories, skiing together, and numerous other activities, a couple of years had flown by. He realized that he had forgotten about his goal to explore Equestria, and decided that he lived in the Salt Lick Mountains now. And since he and Alta were close already, he might as well marry her. She agreed, and the newlyweds settled in Paddock City, a ski and mining town of the Salt Lick Mountains (stretch of Unicorn Range overlooking the Salt Lick Valley).

Their neighbors thought that they were father and daughter upon first seeing them, and were surprised (and a bit disturbed) to see them flirt. It was pretty awkward for the couple to correct them, but, in the end, it was all cleared up and they made new friends. Powder’s size was useful for a job of hauling things throughout the Salt Lick Area, which sometimes had him leave for days when going farther. When home, he liked to spend time with his wife in playing in any weather (winter especially), cooking, knitting or sewing things for her, or just cuddling.

Soon enough, along came a little colt into the family that they named Double Diamond. Powder was super gentle with his son, who while normal-sized could easily lay in Powder’s hoof for a nap, provided the stallion held still. Powder made little clothes (including a lucky scarf), a couple of blankets, and even a teddy bear for DD, and he and his wife often played in the show during the winter. Double Diamond was at home in the outdoors, just like his parents.

Double Diamond was a toddler when Powder and Alta’s second son, Black Diamond, was born. He was easily integrated into the family’s outdoor activities—though Powder could not for the life of him figure out what was fascinating about rocks. He kept his mouth shout, since Alta came from a rock farming family, and let Blackie do his thing. Still, he managed to bond with him through the family’s romps in the snow, the strength that Blackie inherited, and making him a beanie that young colt loved to wear.

The third son, Blue Square, was born just before Blackie started school. Unlike his brothers, Blue was fussy and preferring the indoors to the outdoors. When he was home, Powder often sat by and knitted/sewed and try to start a conversation while Blue would read a book. The best way to get him to talk was to ask him what he learned. While he didn’t quite understand half of what Blue talked about, he still made sure that the youngest son was comfortable speaking to him.

And then, a few more years passed before Powder and Alta had a daughter, Green Circle (who looked like Powder’s mother). The cheerful little filly liked to ride on her papa’s back, often when he was just hauling something across town, which gave her a chance to wave to townsfolk. Sometimes she even tried to stow away in a shipment meant for a more distant town—thankfully, Powder always caught her in time. As she grew older, she leaned more to an artistic nature, which had her learning some knitting and sewing from Powder.

If there was something that the entire family had in common, it was that they loved going to the local ski resort for some wintertime fun. Even Blue Square enjoyed a turn on skis or a sled. Double Diamond was the most talented in winter sport (sealed by his cutie mark even), but all of them had at least some skiing skills, even if their main talent lied elsewhere. Hearth’s Warming was a favorite holiday, where Powder and family would go and get a nice, big tree for Paddock City’s town square, another for the ski hub, and a smaller one for their own home. They’d even take a little day trip to visit Salt Lick City and see the lights in Spires Garden.

And summertime had them going on trips. They’d camp at another mountain, often facing their squirrely nemesis Chipparooney. They’d visit the Salt Flats that the Salt Lick Valley was named for, Lope Island of the Salty Lake there, and even went beyond the valley for trips to cities that Powder had visited in delivery trips (though he really hated the heat in the southern cities).

When Double Diamond was a teenager, Powder could sense a big ego in the boy. He was concerned that DD was relying too much on being the coolest and most athletic pony in town, bragging about how he could outrun an avalanche, and was even picking on his brothers for not catching up to him. He had to remind him that he shouldn’t rely on his reputation—it could change for the negative in an instant, and be harder to make positive again. DD brushed him off, often going out to fulfil an adrenaline rush—to the point of sneaking out in the winter to the backcountry to ski, which everypony in Paddock City knew was dangerous.

And sure enough, thanks to Double Diamond’s cocky behavior, an avalanche buried the streets of Paddock City, which injured plenty of ponies, damaged property, and blocked homes and businesses. It was an early start in Winter-Wrap Up for the Paddock City residents, including a Powder Snow and Alta heavily disappointed in their oldest son’s actions.

They weren’t the only ones disappointed; everyone in town would be distrustful of him after cleanup, even if plenty of them tried to be cordial. Sometimes, Double Diamond’s peers would remind him of how badly he messed up. Powder Snow got some questions about his parenting skills, which would get him all huffy. However, he was also sad to see Double Diamond getting eaten up with guilt—to the point that the young stallion decided that it’d be best for him to leave to rethink his life.

Now, Powder Snow had bumped into Double Diamond a couple times when on a big delivery, and had gotten updates on his adventures straight from the horse’s mouth. Seeing him face to face also had him seeing DD still down about what happened, and making sure that he was taking good care of himself. But, most of the time, he got the adventure updates with the rest of the family.

Then, the letters stopped. Naturally, he, Alta, and the rest of the kids were worried, and Powder often tried to keep everyone calm while trying to deal with his own worry. Sometimes he’d climb the mountain with his wife to think; sometimes he and Black Diamond would haul things together; sometimes he’d listen to Blue Square ramble on for hours about whatever subject; and sometimes he’d be working on knitting or sewing projects with Green Circle. He knew they were all coping with the disappearance of their son and brother, and he often kept on eye out for him on delivery trips. He has paused in his trips to have a good cry over the possibility that his son could be dead.

However, a few years passed, and a letter finally arrived from Double Diamond. Powder wondered if it was some kind of joke, but he recognized his son’s mouthwriting anywhere. It was shocking to learn that he had been caught in that equality cult in the news, and that since they drove Starlight Glimmer away, Double Diamond was now the mayor of that town. That latter part surprised him, since he didn’t recall DD ever having interest in politics. Still, maybe that Starlight mare taught him something about leadership. In any case, Powder was happy that Double Diamond was alive and well.

They visited that town that Hearth’s Warming, meeting Double Diamond’s friends for the first time and making friends with their families that week, though they irritated him at first. He was amazed at the progress the town was making under DD’s leadership, with DD shrugging it off as “just figuring things out with the help of my friends”. Still, Powder can’t help but be proud of Double Diamond.

And frankly, his sense of humor has improved. He actually found it funny when Double Diamond’s friends gawked at his massive frame upon meeting him.