A Cold Life

by gracial

The Meeting

Snowi woke up to the smell of pancakes. She got up and trotted to the kitchen, stopping at the doorway when she saw that instead of Twilight, it was Spike who was cooking, “Aren't you a little young to be doing that?” she said.

The baby dragon turned his head around to face her, “Well look who's finally up. You sleep later than me, and that's saying something” he stated, “What exactly tires you out so much? I heard about you going to jail and stuff, and you don't have to do much there. So why exactly are you so tired?”

She shook her head, “Spike, jail is no walk in the park. You have to go through some pretty exhausting things that I'm not sure Twilight would want you knowing about. And you still haven't answered my question.”

Spike looked back to the pancakes for a moment, then put them on a nearby plate, “Hey, I cook for Twilight all the time. She can't cook for her life. Because of that, I'm actually a pretty good chef.”

Snowi raised an eybrow, “Well, guess it can't hurt.” She took a bite and her eyes turned to saucers, “This is the best thing I've had in...forever!” She took the entire stack of pancakes and trotted over to the table.

She was about to to devour them when Spike spoke up. “Hey, those are for all of us!”

Snowi blushed, “Uh, yeah I knew that. I was just, uh, bringing them to the table. You know, so you don't have to after cooking this wonderful meal!” she lied.

Spike rolled his eyes, “Yeah, whatever. You can have four, that's how many me and Twilight usually get. I cooked a few extra for you so that it's even.”

Snowi's face lit up. She took four off of the stack and began to chow down. “Twilight, they're ready!” Spike called and the purple mare came trotting in.

“Ah,” she said, “I see our guest is finally awake...and enjoying the pancakes!”

Snowi lifted her syrup-covered face from the plate and nodded, quickly returning to her meal. Spike and Twilight joined in just as she was finishing. “Darn it, I wish that could've lasted longer” Snowi said sadly.

“It might have had you not completely pigged out” Spike snickered, quickly earning him a jab in the ribs from Twilight.

“Ignore him,” she said, “do you want some orange juice?”

“Yes please.”

Twilight fixed her a glass of orange juice, which she also quickly consumed. “Wow,” Twilight said in surprise, “what did they feed you in jail, grass?”

Snowi shook her head, “No, but it might as well have been. After every meal I felt just the same as I had before I ate. I tell ya, they really don't take it easy on criminals of any sort in Equestria.”

“Celestia, I'm sorry about that” Twilight said, “I do hope, though, that you've learned your lesson because of it.”

Snowi nodded, “Yes, well I wouldn't have wanted to go back regardless. I'm not meant to be a criminal, so I've given up that life for good.”

Twilight smiled, “Glad to hear that! Also, we're going to go see those fillies I mentioned earlier in a few minutes. I just need to finish up here.” She looked up to see Spike putting his and Snowi's plates into the sink. “Is everyone obsessed with finishing before I even get a bite? Spike, what did you put in these?!”

Spike shrugged, “Milk, I guess.”

Twilight laughed, “Oh Spike, I'm just kidding!”

Spike rolled his eyes, “It's too early in the morning for this.”

“Well someone's grumpy” Snowi said, “Anyways Twilight, you probably need to get to eating.” Twilight looked at her meal, levitated a fork over to it, and dug in. Snowi walked into the living room and read one of the many books she had. She didn't bother with the title, as it was apparently the first in the series. It was about some pegasus named Daring Doo, who was trying to get an ancient artifact but was stopped by a giant cat. She read as Daring Doo went through some silly adventure, and eventually beat the cat and obtained the artifact. She couldn't really tell if the cat was a bad guy, or just defending his property, but she didn't honestly care. She looked up to realize that she had only been reading for about thirty minutes.

“Not the longest or most interesting book, but it occupied my time” Snowi said to herself. She looked around to see if Twilight was waiting on her. “Twilight?” she called.

“Yes?” came an answer from the kitchen.

“Are you still eating?” she asked, thinking that either Twilight was a slow eater, or she was a fast reader.

“No, I just finished.”

Snowi got up and walked into the kitchen to find Twilight putting her plate away, “You ready to go?” she asked.

“Ready as I'll ever be. Spike! I'm gonna be gone for a while, so be good while I'm away!” Twilight shouted right before they stepped out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two mares walked up to the barn, “Before we go in there,” Twilight said abruptly, “I need to tell you something.”

Snowi looked at her, “Is it about the fillies?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, their families. You see, I'm not sure if they'll be okay with your criminal record. I'm not saying that you should lie about it, but maybe you shouldn't bring it up. Some of them are very protective and may not ever let you near their foals if they found out about it. Just tell them about your situation, make a good impression, and if all goes well they may let you join their little group.”

Snowi nodded in understanding and Twilight knocked on the door. It opened to reveal a red stallion. “Oh hello Big Macintosh. Is it okay if we come in?”

Big Mac looked at her and then at Snowi. He gave a quick “Eeeyup” and they stepped in.

An orange mare trotted down the stares, “Howdy Twilight, who's your friend?”

“This is Snowi, she's staying with me for a while. She needs some help getting her cutie mark.”

Applejack snorted, “That's funny Twi, but she doesn't look THAT young.” Applejack looked at Snowi's flank to see what her cutie mark was, only to find that it was blank. Applejack's eyes widened in surprise, suddenly realizing her friend wasn't kidding. “Oh, Ah'm sorry, it's just Ah've never actually met a mare without her cutie mark. Ah'll be happy to help in any way.Ah can.”

“Thank you” Snowi responded.

“I think she might need the help of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, that group that your sister and her friends made.” Twilight stated.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, “Ah don't know Twi, they might not even accept her. I don't really know what their rules are on age. Ah'm also not sure if it would look...good for a mare her age to be hanging out with a bunch of fillies.”

Twilight nodded her head in agreement, “I thought of this, but it's worth it if it may help a pony who's gone through so much to finally get a normal life.”

Applejack nodded “That is true, I guess if they'll have ya then there's nothing Ah can say. They're in their clubhouse, planning one of their crusades.”

Snowi smiled when the mare told them where they were. She was worried that she would turn her away. “Thank you Applejack, it means a lot” she said.

“No problem sugarcube, ya'll take care now.” The two mares left the barn, leaving the two siblings. “Ya'll don't think she wants trouble, do ya Big Mac?” Applejack asked after they were out of earshot.

Big Mac looked at her with a blank expression, “Nnnope.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight and Snowi arrived at the clubhouse. It appeared to be fairly quiet, which concerned Twilight. “Well, good luck. I'll see you back at the library.”

Twilight was about to turn around when Snowi spoke up, “Wait, you aren't coming in with me?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, I have my studies to complete. Even if I didn't, you need to do this yourself. I wouldn't be able to say anything that would change their minds anyways.”

Snowi lowered her head in disappointment, sad that her (technically) best friend wasn't coming with her. “I guess you're right, well seeya.” She walked up to the door of the clubhouse and began contemplating running away.

'No,' she thought to herself, 'no more running away. You are going to go in there and get this done, no matter what!' She knocked on the door and heard a quick shuffling of hooves on the inside.

A filly opened the door and stared at her with a raised eyebrow. “Can I help you?”

Snowi gulped in nervousness, “H-hi, is it okay if I come in?”

“Well I don't exactly know you. For all I know, you're one of those business ponies trying to get us to spend a bunch of money. We don't have any money, so go away.”

She tried to close the door, but Snowi stopped it with her hoof. “I'm not a business pony, I need your help.”

The fillies eyes widened in shock, “You need OUR help? Hey maybe we can get our cutie marks in helping people! Yeah, come on in.” The filly opened the door to reveal two fillies standing in the center of the room. “We've been trying to come up with something to do ALL day, I think you might be the answer. That's Applebloom on the right, Sweetie Belle on the left, and I'm Scootaloo.”

“Howdy”

“Hiya!”

“It's nice to meet you girls, I'm Snowi and I-”

“Woah, girls come look at where her cutie mark is supposed to be!” Scootaloo gestured at her flank. The other two crusaders trotted to her side and gasped when they saw that she had no cutie mark.

“Oh mah Celestia, she doesn't have a cutie mark!” Applebloom shouted.

“Oh my gosh, you poor thing! Getting so old and not having a cutie mark!” Sweetie Belle joined in, neglecting the fact that calling ponies old is mean. “Oh, Oh, I have an idea!” she continued, “What if we let her join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“Yeah, that's a great idea!”

“Yeah! Hey Snowi ya wanna join our club?”

“Please!”

“It'll be awesome!”

Snowi couldn't distinguish the voices from each other because they were moving so fast, but she heard the offer and that was all she needed. “Oh yes, I'd love to join!”

The three fillies jumped for joy at their newest recruitment. “Yay, now you just have to take the oath!” Scootaloo said while still bouncing.

“Oath? What oath?” Snowi asked

. “Oh,” Scootaloo stopped her bouncing to answer, “right this way and you can take it.” She walked over to and podium at the other side of the room and Snowi followed. She stepped up to it and pulled and abnormally long scroll. “Do you solemnly swear.....”

-ten minutes later-

“I do” Snowi said after the speech of her lifetime.

“Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” the three fillies shouted in unison.

Author's Note:

Yeah, you saw this coming, right? The CMC were predictable, even if you didn't look at the character tags. If you didn't see it coming, well that was fun, eh? Anyways, once again I had to fix a TON of errors, jeeze that took a while!

Comments

[Big115brony]

“Ready as I'll ever be.  Spike!  I'm gonna be gone for a while, so be good while I'm away!”   Twilight shouted right before they stepped out the door.

The two mares walked up to the barn, “Before we go in there,”  Twilight suddenly said, “I need to tell you something.”  

In this space, try having a boarder or something to signify the change in setting, like these *** ♥♥♥ ♡♡♡ ~~~ === ◇◇◇ ◆◆◆
Great job! The Apples' accents are hard for many people to get right!!! I salute you!