The falling snow brought a smile to the little orange filly as she stood in the doorway of the school. Around the yard, her classmates ran and played among the falling snow, laughter filling the air. It made her smile in anticipation of playing with her friends in the snow, taking part in snowball fights, or building a snowmare.
“Do ya think we can get a snowball fightin’ cutie mark?” asked a yellow earth pony that stood beside Scootaloo.
“I’ve never seen one, Applebloom. Still, wouldn’t it be odd for an earth pony to have a weather cutie mark?” Scootaloo replied.
“What’s that supposed ta mean?” Applebloom asked.
“Only pegasi have weather cutie marks,” Scootaloo looked back out to the yard, just as Snips appeared above a snowbank and met three snowballs, promptly falling back out of sight, “besides, if it were possible, we’d have got them last year, right?”
“Anyway,” a white unicorn smiled as she begun to speak, “wouldn’t a snowball fighting cutie mark be restrictive? I mean, it only snows in winter.”
“I don't know, Sweetie Belle… Maybe you could make a snowball with magic?” Applebloom theorized.
“What for?” she stopped.
Scootaloo threw a snowball at her. “For that!”
Never missing an opportunity to try to earn a cutie mark, they fought fiercely and passionately for a few minutes. Much to their dismay, it didn’t result in one for any of them.
Defeated for the moment, the Cutie Mark Crusaders begun to walk to Ponyville. Scootaloo pushed her scooter through the snow, with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle standing to one side. As they walked, Scootaloo saw all the decorations ponies had put up ready for Hearth’s Warming Eve. Some homes had lights draped across the front, which twinkled like falling snow, while others had settled for a small tree in the window, surrounded by green tinsel with red orbs and plastic green holly leaves.
“Ah know it didn’t go so well last time, but maybe we can try cookin’ again. Maybe this time it’ll work.” Applebloom suggested as they passed Sugarcube Corner.
Pinkie Pie, who had been standing outside putting up a decoration, had clearly heard that suggestion. At the mention of Applebloom’s cooking, she jumped into the air and gasped loudly at a memory of a previous incident. In a moment, all that remained were hoofprints where she had been standing, and a closed front door of Sugarcube corner.
“I don’t think Pinkie Pie is up for that so soon, Applebloom.” Sweetie Belle said flatly.
“It wasn’t our fault the e-” Scootaloo begun.
“We agreed to never talk of it again.” Applebloom spoke over her.
“But…”
“Never. Again.” Applebloom punctuated her words by tapping her hoof on Scootaloo's chest.
“Fine. Oh, I know! Maybe we can try kayaking!”
“What’s kayaking?” Applebloom asked.
“No idea, but it sounds radical. We can ask Rainbow Dash some other time. This is where I have to go to get home.” Scootaloo answered.
“Ok Scootaloo. Ah, got to go to the farm now anyway. See you both after Hearth’s Warming Eve!” Applebloom said.
With her scooter nearby, Scootaloo watched as her friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle went their separate ways, returning to their respective homes. She turned around and begun walking up a nearby street, the one she always walked to when she knew her friends could still turn around and look. Once in the street, she begun walking towards the edge of the town, folding her scooter and carefully placing it across her back. She took a deep breath of the chilly air, and begun the walk home. It had never occurred to any of her classmates to ask where she lived, or how she was able to get to the school just in time for the first bell, but had they asked, Scootaloo would have admitted she didn’t live far away.
The wintry silence extended all around her as ponies kept indoors, away from the biting cold and falling snow. The only colour in the scene was the orange and purple of Scootaloo, as she trotted happily among the snow. Soon, she arrived at the gates of her home, and looked at the building.
It was a modest size building, made from brown bricks, with normally grey slate roof. The windows were framed by oak wood, but were clearly rotting in places, and the glass had cracked in some. Despite this, the snow covering the roof, porch and window sills made the orphanage look far better than it usually did. From some of the windows the distinctive glow of lights could be seen, with silhouettes of ponies walking around.
Scootaloo grinned from ear to ear. Sure, her home was an orphanage, but it was her home. She trotted through the snow and to the porch, knocking any snow off her hooves before she knocked the door. A minute later, an elderly white unicorn opened the door and smiled excitedly, letting Scootaloo in.
“Welcome back Scootaloo, how was school today?” the unicorn asked.
“It was the same as always miss Amethyst. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tried to make fun of me and my friends for being ‘blank flanks’ and asked how we can bear the shame of not having our cutie marks. And the lesson was just about safety in winter.” Scootaloo answered, walking over to a cupboard, and carefully placing her scooter inside.
“Oh I see, dear, you shouldn’t let those bullies get to you. They’re probably just upset that they don’t have the freedom to find what makes them special anymore. Now, come with me, I have something to show you.” Amethyst stated. Complying, Scootaloo followed the orphanage’s caretaker down the corridor and through the double doors that stood beyond the staircase.
Amethyst paused before the doors, first making sure Scootaloo wasn’t trying to sneek a peak. Amethyst peeked around a door then looked back at Scootaloo with a smile. The doors were thrown open with over enthusiasm on the part of Amethyst.
“Surprise!” Amethyst and the voices of four other ponies called out together.
The room behind the door was filled with a dozen circular tables, each with six stools tucked underneath, both tables and chairs were in various states of disrepair, but were still useable for their intended function. Standing around the room were the other ponies that currently lived there, in all, there were five others besides Scootaloo.
The first was another filly, too old to now be in school. Like miss Amethyst, she had a white, but a pegasus. Her mane and tail were a very light blue, almost white themselves as well, and her eyes were a bright green which stood out more due to her white coat. Her name was Snowdrops, and the only other filly at the orphanage.
Beside her were two earth pony colts, currently one had the other in a headlock as though moments before they had been fighting, both a deep brown colour, and black manes and tails. Their cutie marks were the only thing that helped tell them apart, Oca had an ocarina as his cutie mark, while his brother, Treble, had three notes as his.
The final pair of ponies in the room were a blue pegasus with a matching light blue mane and tail, and swirling clouds for a cutie mark by the name of Skydance, who landed from having been above a window where he had hung a decoration. Finally, a yellow unicorn, with an orange mane and tail and a star tipped wand for a cutie mark by the name of Showstopper, who had only stopped to shout surprise with the others, before continuing to place a star on the top of the tree.
The room was now decorated with Hearth’s Warming Eve decorations, and all five ponies stood among the boxes that had stored them.
In the furthest part of the room stood a tree, scattered around the base were pine needles that had dropped off since it had been put there. It stood tall, covered with tinsel and baubles in a wide range of colours, from red to gold.
While it should have looked good, however, there were very few pine needles on the tree anymore, exposing the trunk and branches which showed signs of having been on fire. The baubles had cracks and the tinsel was more string now.
Around the tops of the windows hung more tinsel, twirled in red and green colours. They were eye catching, as they suited the dark brown wood of the window frames. While on the sills of the windows stood gold candle holders with lit white candles in them.
But much like the tinsel on the tree, most of the tinsel around the windows was just string, the colourful strands of foil having long since torn or fallen off. And the candles and candle holders were just those that normally were in the room placed elsewhere.
The lights, it clearly had been decided, would be hung above the door and on the wall opposite the windows. They glowed brightly in a pattern, in their festive shades of reds, greens, orange and blues.
And as Scootaloo watched the lights, each time they dimmed and went off, two lights somewhere in the chain failed to turn back on with the rest. It wasn’t long before there was a buzzing of electricity and the pop of the lights short circuiting, and Scootaloo watched as Snowdrops hurried out of sight behind the open door with a fire extinguisher.
“What do you think, Scootaloo? The other ponies know how much you like this time of year and wanted to surprise you by decorating before you got home.” Amethyst asked Scootaloo, not looking her in the eye.
Scootaloo didn’t answer right away. She stared at miss Amethyst for a minute, then her line of sight fell to each pony gathered in the room, who were equally smiling. It didn’t take a genius to work out what she really saw in their faces. Despite their best intentions, they were poorly hiding the fact that really, they were disappointed in the state of the decorations.
“It’s really kind of you all to go ahead and do this,” Scootaloo smiled. Around her, the others breathed a sigh of relief, “but miss Amethyst, not to sound like I don’t appreciate this, why can’t we afford new decorations?” she asked.
“I was worried you might notice the decorations are a little… worse for wear,” Amethyst tried to make it sound like the decorations were in a better state than they actually were, a fact she clearly had failed to do by the look Scootaloo now gave her, “but, with the money we have for the winter, its either make sure you all have somewhere warm to stay and food to eat, or new decorations. It simply isn’t possible to afford new ones this year.”
“Cheer up Scootaloo, maybe next year Oca and I will be big stars, touring Equestria. And when we are,” Treble had begun to brag and boast to the point where he failed to hear the other ponies all say ‘if’, “we won’t forget that you need new decorations for Hearth’s Warming Eve here, and will be sure to buy some and bring them personally.”
“Thanks Treble, that means a lot.” Scootaloo replied, rolling her eyes.
--
Scootaloo couldn’t sleep that night. Through the window of the girls room, she watched as the moon, glowing as white as the snow on the ground, rose into the sky. Behind her, Snowdrops had begun her nightly ritual of talking in her sleep. Pausing to listen, Scootaloo held her breath and looked towards the white pegasus.
“No… no seriously, I’m sure about this, you can’t cook pizza in a dishwasher…” Snowdrops mumbled.
Scootaloo begun to breath again, looking in confusion at Snowdrops. Cooking however, she thought, may be a good idea to bring up at the next Cutie Mark Crusader meeting. How hard could it be anyway? Sweetie Belle often mentioned how she had made breakfast for her parents and how much they enjoyed the meals. Sweetie Belle too often said it couldn’t be that hard for them all to try cooking together.
She returned her line of sight to the moon through the window and sighed. The other ponies had all tried their best to look happy when she had returned home, but she had seen it in all their faces. The intention was clear, they had only wanted to make her, the youngest pony there, happy. For the most part, it had worked, she was happy and greatful they had decided to decorate without her, but, the disappointment in their faces behind the smiles had hurt.
“How can I make them all smile this year, and not hide their real feelings behind it?” she wondered.
Outside of the window, Scootaloo could see fresh snow beginning to fall, as clouds rolled in. Quietly, she climbed out of her bed and up to the window, reaching up to it with her front hooves. In the distance, sitting among the blanket of white snow was the rest of Ponyville, and even as she watched, she saw the lights on the houses turn off, as the occupants begun to prepare for a night of rest.
Suddenly, her eyes went wide and a big grin crept across her face, as an idea came to mind.
“That’s it! If miss Amethyst says she cant afford new decorations, what’s to stop me getting the money myself? I can go to Ponyville and do odd jobs, and raise the bits without having to answer awkward questions,” she turned back to look at Snowdrops, who seemed to respond by turning on her side and complaining of exploding green creatures, “and I can see them all smile and mean it! It’ll be great!”
--
Scootaloo walked around the quiet streets of Ponyville early the next morning. Some ponies were up and about their business, passing greetings by a simple nod as she walked past. Ahead of her stood Applejack, saddlebags strapped around her middle.
“Howdy there Scootaloo, what brings ya out this early?” Applejack asked.
“Oh I have something I really want to do today!” Scootaloo answered, her grin from the night before reappeared on her face.
“Ya don’t say, may ah ask what that is?”
“Oh, uh,” Scootaloo paused. It wouldn’t hurt to tell Applejack, but how to tell of her plan without mentioning that she was an orphan, “well, uh, see, there’s an orphanage near to where I live, just outside Ponyville. I looked in a window heading home last night, and well, their hearth’s warming eve decorations are wreaked. I was up all night and decided to get them new ones somehow.” She replied, staring at the ground and turning her right front hoof in small circles.
Above her, Applejack narrowed her right eye and stared at Scootaloo. If she had picked up on the fact the orange filly was hiding something, she didn’t press the issue, and let it slide.
“Well that’s mighty kind of ya Scootaloo. Maybe when ah get these here things for Granny Smith back to the farm, ah’ll stop by the orphanage and give ‘em some of our old stuff. They’re like new and in good condition.” Applejack smiled.
“I think they’d like that. You wouldn’t happen to have anything I could do to earn a few bits would you?” Scootaloo asked, looking up hopefully at Applejack.
“Sorry Scootaloo, since its winter, there’s not much ta do at the farm, and its pointless shoveling snow till Winter Wrap Up day. Maybe you can go help Twilight. Good luck.” Applejack chuckled slightly as she turned and left.
“Thanks Applejack, bye!” Scootaloo called out after her.
Scootaloo turned her attention in the direction of the library, where Twilight Sparkle made her home since she arrived to Ponyville. She sighed, libraries weren’t really her thing, but if she wanted to earn some bits for new decorations, there weren’t many options at this time of the day. Taking a deep breath, Scootaloo begun the trek to the Ponyville library.