Winter’s Howl
Chapter 11: No Two Flakes are the Same
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Snowstorm turned to Rainbow, raising an eyebrow, “What do you mean? Those two apologized. Besides, it’s not like I was that hurt…”
“Well, in case you didn’t notice while you were ‘not hurt’ one of the little squirts ran off.” Rainbow replied.
“Wait….wait….what happened? What did ah miss?” Applejack sat on her bed, confused. Her tears had finally subsided, but her eyes remained bloodshot and sore, her mane was a tangled mess.
“The CMC ran over Snowstorm here in a toboggan earlier this morning, almost knocked him out cold.”
“Ya don’t say…” Applejack chuckled a little. It was refreshing for her to smile, it had been a hard day.
“Yeah, yeah but I’m fine. Besides, I’m sure the kid didn’t MEAN to hit me with an over-sized sled.”
“Probably not, but I’m kinda the only one who the kid looks up to around here. No one even knows her parents, or siblings, or anything! I’ll let her introduce herself when we find the little rascal.”
“What? So she just lives here…alone?”
“I don’t think so, but whoever her parents are aren’t around often enough to scold her when she bucks up, so I try to make myself a model citizen.” Rainbow wore a large grin, holding her head high while closing her eyes and pushing her chest out, holding a hoof across it.
“Alright, alright…where do we think she is?” Snowstorm gave Rainbow a dead-pan stare, clearly un amused by her prideful display.
Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but found no words. She closed her mouth and looked down, opening her eyes. She wore a quizzical look and held a hoof to her chin. “…good question. I honestly have no idea where the little tike coulda ran to, but I’m sure she’s somewhere around town. It’s not like there’s too many places to hide.”
“Well…where should we start?”
“Town square I guess. Applejack? You wanna come?”
“Ah’m sorry Rainbow but Ah look like Ah just went through an Appleosan twister. Ah’ll have to pass.”
“That’s ok. Nobody can look as gorgeous as ME all the time.” She resumed her prideful pose.
“Ah’m sure,” She gave rainbow an unnoticed dead-pan stare. “No if’n you’ll excuse me, Ah’d better get cleaned up.”
Applejack pushed the two out of the door and closed it. Rainbow and Snowstorm looked at each other briefly.
“So…Town square?”
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The pair walked through the center of Ponyville, enjoying the sight of the sleepy town, covered in a pure white blanket. The cottage homes that surrounded them looked all the more cozy with a thick icing of snow atop their roofs and the gentle billows of smoke coming from their chimneys. Three non-home establishments we’re open for business, and the pair figured the closest to their location was a fine place to start. Gently, they opened the door to the Carousel Boutique.
As the door opened, a small bell rang above the door, briefly followed by an overdrawn “Coommiinnng!” from the second story of the establishment. It was the first time Snowstorm had entered the boutique, and he was shocked at how messy it was. Rarity, the shops owner, seemed so organized and posh that the slightest mess would drive her up the wall. The gentle sound of hooves against tile could be heard as Rarity descended the stairs into the main room of the establishment.
“Welcome to Carousel Boutique! Where everything is-“She stopped her normal introduction when she saw her rainbow maned friend. “Why Hello Rainbow, a pleasure as always! And Snowstorm! So good to see you again! Tell me, have you come looking for a fine jacket to keep you warm today? Because I think I have just the-“
Rarity was cut off by Rainbow, “Actually, we we’re wondering if a certain little trouble maker came wandering through your shop today?”
“Sweetie Bell? Yes she was here earlier, but I haven’t seen any of her friends. Why? Did they do something wrong?”
“Well, sorta. Not really your sister or Applebloom so much as…”
“I see.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, no. I haven’t seen her today, but I will keep an eye out for her. Let me know if you find her.”
“Will do Rarity.”
“Oh, but before you leave, Snowstorm, dear, would you mind if I got your measurements?”
“E-excuse me?” Snowstorm was somewhat taken aback
“Watch what you say next girl…” Rainbow gritted her teeth.
“Oh relax you two! And get you minds out of the gutter, honestly. I was planning on making Snowstorm here a lovely suit for the upcoming Winter Ball is all. My home warming gift!”
“Oh…Ok, yeah I guess we’re not in any hurry.”
“Splendid! I’ll go get my measuring tape!”
Rainbow waited until Rarity was out of the room when she spoke to Snowstorm. “You foal…you have no idea what you’ve done…”
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Two hour of ‘measuring’ later (really just Rarity blathering about how ‘fabulous’ he was going to look in his suit) the pair exited the boutique. Snowstorm turned to Rainbow, “Don’t ever, EVER, let me go in that place again.”
Rainbow chuckled. “Oh please. Once she made me be a living manikin for 4 hours in the LAMEST get-up ever.”
“That…that is torture in some countries!”
“Tell me about it.”
“So, where to next?”
“Uh…the library. Twilight probably wants to know that your back in town.”
“Good call.”
The two entered the library, greeted with a familiar warm air and scent of old parchment. Twilight sat at a small table, reading. She looked up at the sound of the door opening.
“Rainbow! And Snowstorm!! You’re back! I was worried about you two!” Twilight wore an enthusiastic smile. She turned to Rainbow, “Where did you find him?”
“In the Ponyville park, right before the snow broke.” She answered, smiling at Snowstorm.
“Wow, what luck! Did you make it back to your house ok in the weather? It snowed pretty hard last night…”
“Um…I kinda just stayed with…Snowstorm…heh” Rainbow blushed.
“Oh…oh-kay then…well…As long as you were safe.” Twilight gave an awkward smile.
“Yeah, we were.” Rainbow answered. “Anyway, have any of the CMC stopped by here today? We’re looking for them.”
“No, sorry. Why? “
“ONE of them didn’t apologize to poor Snowstorm here after crashing into him with a sled.”
Twilight giggled. “Nope, haven’t seen ‘em. Take care you guys!”
“We will, see you later Twilight!” The two left the library.
“Only one place left…” Snowstorm started.
“To Sugar Cube Corner!” Rainbow finished.
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Unlike the past two establishments, Sugar Cube Corner was bustling with activity. A large sign, “NOW SERVING HOT COCOA!” was probably drawing in a large number of ponies. The two entered the building, and strangely enough, Snowstorm felt comfortable with the crowd, likely because there were about this many ponies the last time he was here. He approached the front counter alongside Rainbow, and rang a small bell. Pinkie Pie emerged from seemingly nowhere, as the counter she stood behind was too small to hide her entire body without painful contortion. She smiled widely.
“Hey Dashie! Hey Snowstorm! How are you guys? How about this snow huh? Lots of ponies love hot chocolate on a snowy day, you guys want some?”
“That sound great Pinkie, but we’re actually looking for someone.” Rainbow answered, smiling herself
“Really? Y-ya don’t say.” Pinkie’s smile now seemed more forced, her eyes looking from side to side.
“…Yeah…and we were wondering if you’d seen them…”
“Nope! Haven’t seen them anywhere Dashie!” Pinkie began to sweat.
“I never told you who we were looking for, Pinkie…”
“Uh…well, I uh…”
“She’s upstairs, isn’t she?”
Pinkie nodded, sighing. “She made me promise not to tell you where she was…”
“You didn’t. We guessed.”
“Oh yeah!” Pinkie smiled again, finding this to be a perfectly acceptable answer.
Snowstorm and Rainbow walked up the stairs of Sugar Cube Corner, the commotion of the ponies below slowly dying away. When they reached the top of the stairs, Snowstorm seemed surprised to see it empty, while Rainbow gave a dull stare at the bed.
“Get out from under there squirt! We know you’re in here.” Rainbow called to a seemingly vacant room.
There was a small sigh as the orange pegasus wiggled her way out from under the bed.
Snowstorm saw the small filly's face.
He froze.
His mind went blank, but screamed all at the same time.
Shock shook through his body.
It had been years...
The orange pegasus spoke quietly“Hey Rainbow Dash…" her head lowered, "Hey Snowstorm…”
Snowstorm’s brain racked him for words, searching for the right thing, for ANYTHING to say. Finally, a simple phrase managed to escape his mouth.
“Hey Sis…”