Snowflake

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Within the cloud town of Aerawatch, resided a filly who loved snow more than anything else in the world. Her name was Snowdrop. Snowdrop was born deaf and unable to speak. In her early youth, she was called many names by foals who made fun of her for her disability. This was a blessing in disguise, as Snowdrop could never hear a bad word that was said about her. However, she possessed keen eyes - ones that could make out the finest of details in just about anything.

Most of all - snow. When other fillies were about playing and frolicking in the winter snows, Snowdrop was sitting alone away from the other fillies, fully content with her solitude. In her solitude, she would attempt to hold a snowflake up to her eyes to be able to see it up close. However, no matter how hard she tried, it always melted or flew away before she could see a snowflake up close. While other fillies enjoyed ball games and tag, Snowdrop’s happiest days were spent in the snow. Though Snowdrop was unable to hear or perceive anything to do with sound - the quiet snow was a perfect reflection of her demeanor.

There was one day that Snowdrop had been alone while the other fillies were playing amongst themselves on the school playground. Snowdrop had attracted the attention of three fillies who always bullied her. This time, the three fillies snuck up on her from behind and threw a hard snowball right at her - the sudden action had surprised Snowdrop, sending her flying into a pile of snow just outside of the playground. The fillies laughed and cheered at Snowdrop’s plight, her back legs sticking out of the snow pile. Snowdrop didn’t understand why they hated her so, what had she done wrong? Was it her clothing? Was it the way she looked? Snowdrop didn’t understand. They didn’t seem to appreciate the snow - or even care about anything else other than themselves.

Snowdrop had gone home that day, sniffling quietly at the way she was treated by her peers. She returned home, and her mother and father saw her with tears in her eyes. Her mother held her close, and her father had asked what was wrong on a chalkboard - so Snowdrop could tell them what happened. Snowdrop could read and write just as well as any other filly, and she would tell them about how the other fillies kept bullying her. Snowdrop wanted to know why they kept treating her like this - and her mother had written down that Snowdrop was special and that perhaps those bullies saw something within her that they didn’t have for themselves.

Later that night, Snowdrop was nestled within a cloud looking up at the Moon and the clouds. Her keen eye could see every star, every contour and crater of the moon - and even the city lights almost over the horizon through the falling snow. It was a cold night, and Snowdrop looked over the edge of her home - at the world below. Down below in the night, she could make out all of the trees, towns, and even a frozen lake or two. Snowdrop wished they lived down below. The Earth Ponies and Unicorns got more snow than Pegasi, after all.

Soon it dawned on her that the class had an assigned project for the Spring Sunrise celebration that coincided with the 100th year of Equestrian Unity. The Princesses were going to be there - and Snowdrop still had no idea what she would do for her project, as well as realizing she had no partner. Having no partner meant that she would have to go it alone. Snowdrop then would go back inside and bring out the small, old telescope her family had given her to use to look at the stars and the moon. Her parents had come out to join her briefly before they returned to making dinner. As Snowdrop observed the moon, she wondered - what if she could observe snow just like with the moon? What would she see? Would it even be possible? It was then, an idea sparked in her head. She had to find out how that would be done.

After dinner that night, she would head to sleep. That night, she would lay in her warm bed, the moonlight casting its light delicately across the tired filly. Up on the wall Snowdrop looked at the various objects laid throughout the quiet room. She would pass out and would wake up to remember a brief but memorable dream. It was hard to remember but she thought she saw something in her dream. Something that had a pattern to it - it was crystalline. Whatever it was, the filly hadn’t had the memory to recall all of what the dream was. So, on that weekend, Snowdrop would spend all of her available time to pursue her goal. Attempting to see a Snowflake up close.

Snowdrop presented the idea to her parents, and they were eagerly supportive of her ambition. The filly tried so many things, such as using magnifying glasses against snow on glass, trying to spot Snowflakes in the air with glasses, and a myriad of other attempts. All of them failed, and for days, Snowdrop continued to try and was determined to fulfill her dream. The project was only a week away, and she realized she had to come up with a successful way to observe a Snowflake. Snowdrop would spend a lot of time at the library, reading up all she could - though Pegasi's knowledge about the affairs of science and advanced imaging of something so small was not something she found. However, what Snowdrop did find was that a rare piece of equipment was visible in the library. It was a primitive Microscope - something that was on display, though it was not in working condition. Snowdrop would approach the librarian about it, and the librarian would only be persuaded to buy it at a high price - one that Snowdrop’s parents were willing to pay for their daughter’s dream. It was on the following day that Snowdrop would tinker with the Microscope and repair the broken pieces on it. Her father had helped her repair it, though in his words, “You deserve all the credit for your dreams.”

It was then that Snowdrop finally had some luck in getting what she wanted. The first few glimpses of a snowflake were rather fuzzy, and it took a lot of time and patience to finally be able to see one for real. When she finally did, she was astonished to see what it looked like. It was symmetrical, crystalline - just like she had seen in her dream! The excited Snowdrop was overjoyed by this, and she was the first pony in history with historical knowledge to be able to view a snowflake for real. When she had showed her parents the flake - they were astonished at the sudden white glow on Snowdrop’s flank, as her cutie mark had finally appeared - a Snowdrop, just like her name. It was then that Snowdrop would continue to study Snowflakes. The clock in her makeshift study would tick away in the otherwise silent room as Snowdrop had managed to perfect a way to focus the Microscope in to view the Snowflakes just as she had wanted to.

The next step was - how would she get others to be able to see them. Microscopes were expensive, and only one pony could see them at a time. As such, Snowdrop would begin to sketch her observations. The first drawings were rather crude, but the more practice she had put into it, the better they had gotten. By then, tomorrow was time for the Winter Solstice celebration. The filly had gone to sleep, more than excited to show the world her dreams. On her nightstand was the best drawing of a Snowflake she had done to date, along with a few written diagrams and explanations of what she saw in each part. The intricate patterns of snowflakes were more beautiful than Snowdrop had ever imagined. Snowdrop expected snowflakes to be the same, but each one had been unique. No matter how many snowflakes she had observed, none of them were the same. Snowdrop had also found that snowflakes did not last very long, and once they were gone - all the beauty that was held within would be gone without a trace.

That morning, Snowdrop had attended the Spring Sunrise celebration - the day that marked the end of winter. A Royal Carriage had departed from Canterlot, of which the Princesses had decided to hold the Celebration in Aerawatch this year after the local Aerawatch buckyball team had won the tournament to host the Celebration a few months back. Each filly in Mrs. Windith’s class had a unique presentation. Some of them had potions, others had some bizarre drawings of otherworldly creatures, some even played practical jokes in an attempt to make the Princesses laugh when they showed themselves - but among them was Snowdrop, last but not least. As Snowdrop walked up to the Princesses, she showed them her folder of her best drawings of Snowflakes. Some of the fillies in the background teased her - but fell upon deaf ears as the Princesses quietly examined Snowdrop’s drawings. Celestia and Luna smiled, and put a ribbon around Snowdrop’s neck in a gentle fashion - Snowdrop had won the competition, and as a surprise, her work was chosen to represent the Centennial Symbol - to mark the Hundredth Anniversary of Equestrian Unity. Snowdrop had given a written speech to the Princesses, and Luna had read it out loud.

“If the Stars of the Night can grant wishes, so too can Winter’s Snow. It has been giving us a beautiful gift all this time, and we've just been ignoring it. Celebrating Spring is good. Winter can't be all that bad if it gives us something so beautiful. It may be cold and dark, but that doesn't mean there isn't any good to it. Maybe winter is sad that everyone doesn't like it. So maybe we might need to make wishes on the winter snow just like how we wish on the night’s stars. Maybe then we can have a happy Winter instead. We already have a happy Spring, Summer and Fall. Can't winter be happy too? Because Winter... It's important. Even if it seems mostly useless, it can give us wonderful things, so...maybe if we just believe, we will have a happier Winter?” Luna had read outloud to the crowd of ponies before them, with Snowdrop standing by her side.

The crowd had mixed reactions, the bully fillies were shocked, while the parents of the foals were all proud of what Snowdrop had achieved - most of all, Snowdrop’s parents.

Upon the unveiling of the Centennial Symbol upon the New Year, Snowdrop’s cutie mark was chosen for it. It was a symbol that was displayed proudly across Equestria, and as an added reward, Snowdrop was given a scholarship at the Equestrian Academy of Natural Science. It was decided that Snowdrop had outgrown her peers at Aerawatch Elementary - and her parents had moved to a closer location to the Academy - in Canterlot. Though the pegasi were still subject to the occasional prejudice at the hands of the Unicorn elite, the gifted and well-loved daughter was sure to make them well-respected. Snowdrop’s family would move into a log cabin on the top of Canterlot Mountain, where Snowdrop could be surrounded by the snow year-round - while also having easy access to the amenities of Canterlot.

It was here that Snowdrop’s abilities truly flourished. Not only did Snowdrop develop and refine ways to observe Snowflakes even more, but she did the same for many other small things. Small insects, crystals, and even the occasional Astronomical discovery - such as a Comet that would come around again in the next thousand years. Despite all of this, her true talent was always the snow. As her research expanded, so too came the technology to expand upon it. A primitive Camera was invented by a fellow inventor three years after Snowdrop began her research at the Academy, and so Snowdrop would use it to take the first picture of a Snowflake. The picture would soon headline the news of Equestrian’s newspapers, with more ponies seeing more hope within Winter than ever - which made Snowdrop very happy.

Snowdrop wrote many books about Snowflakes - some of which are still studied to this day. Within Snowdrop’s works, Snowdrop taught the many ponies of Equestria that nothing is too small to make a difference.

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