Snow fell thick and heavy over Sire’s Hollow, so much so that training had to be canceled that day, in favor of clearing the snow.
Even with the aid of her magic, the task was grueling, but it gave her an excuse to step outside instead of moping in her room. Soon-to-be-ten-years-old Starlight was thankful for the distraction, even if shoveling snow was her least favorite thing in the world.
The young unicorn had just finished clearing the pathway when something cold fell on her neck. She yelped and dropped her shovel with a clatter, she turned and met the grinning face of Sunset Shimmer, who took her role as honorary big sister very seriously, judging by the small snowball she dropped on her.
“You’re getting sloppy, Starlight. How do you expect to win the midwinter tournament if you’re so distracted?”
Starlight frowned and shook the snow from her withers. “But I have been practicing, especially when you aren’t looking.”
“Then you haven’t been practicing, cheeky little brat,” Sunset glared playfully and ruffled the filly’s hair, making her giggle and almost pushing her winter hat off her head. “Oh, I almost forgot.” That was when Starlight noticed that her friend had a medium box balanced on her back, she expertly bucked and the box flew off her back, where it would have crashed on the snow had Starlight’s magic hadn’t caught it in time. “It’s from Canterlot.”
She frowned at first, then her eyes widened in realization. For the first time in weeks, Starlight’s heart did a summersault and her mouth hanged open with surprise. “Sunburst…?”
“That’s right!” Sunset said and reached out to close the little one’s mouth. “He wanted to give you these before he left, but he packed them up by mistake.” The older mare said, rolling her eyes at her cousin’s forgetfulness.
“Give me what?”
“See for yourself.”
Starlight only paused for a moment before running up the cleared path to her house, ignoring Sunset’s comments about magic practice and tournaments. She closed the door behind her with a little more force than necessary and made a bee-line to her room. She jumped to her bed and ripped the box open, inside there was a small stack of colorful magazines with glossy covers and on top of which laid an envelope. She opened it and found a letter inside.
Dear Starlight: Since you showed me a live dragon, I thought maybe I’d show you a real comic book! Read them and tell me what you think when I see you next summer. Please take care of them! See you soon!
Sunburst.
Starlight’s smile grew as she put the letter away, reaching for the first comic that had the coolest cover in her opinion and began to read.