It was another day at the School Of Friendship. Pate was up and slowly made his way to the cafeteria. While walking down the hall, he passed by Yona, who was looking out the window.
“Morning Yona,” Pate yawned. He was a bit confused when the yak didn’t reply, she just looked out the window with her tail wagging. “What are you looking at?”
“Snow,” Yona answered.
Pate looked out the window and saw what the yak was talking about. Ponyville was covered by a blanket of white snow, with some more falling from the sky.
“I see, it is.”
Some other students showed up and looked out the window.
“Snow?” Pyther questioned.
“Here we go,” Garry sighed.
“Yaks don’t mind snow,” Yona stated. “Yona can’t wait to go out and play.”
Until then, they made their way to the cafeteria, where students were eating and talking about the snow outside.
“Never really thought we would have snow this early,” Emerald admitted.
“You really think it's as bad as ponies say?” Flare asked.
“I think so, the yaks say it’s much worse in Yakyakistan.”
Speaking of yaks, Trud, Frida, Dotta, and the other yaks were getting excited. “Yak love snow,” Dotta declared.
“No school today,” Trud said. “Yaks get to play all day.”
“Yaks get to show every creature best fun in snow.” They weren’t being discreet about this, many of the students could hear them.
“Subtlety isn’t their specialty, is it?” Moss chuckled to Pate.
“Guess not,” the changeling replied. They both sat down to a certain cheerleader, Shimmy Shake.
“Good morning, Pate,” the mare said.
“Um... Morning Shimmy,” he replied back, “How are you?”
“Just fine. Can you believe it’s snowing already!”
“Yeah, it’s surprisingly snowing. It’s not something we changelings really like. We mostly just stayed in the hive to make it out the winter. It’s pretty warm there.”
“Good to know. I kind of wanted to visit that place since Ocellus told me about it.”
“I’d wait for the snow to be gone,” Moss spoke.
“He’s got a point,” Pate added.
“Okay, I think I can wait for a while,” Shimmy said.
After a few minutes of silence aside from the sound of chewing food, Pate drank his glass of iced water, and the cheerleader had something else to say. “So, Pate, how about we…hang out later today?”
Pate, without realizing, accidentally spat up his water to Moss, who sat beside him, after hearing this. “What? You mean……Like a date, right?”
“Yeah. You did ask me out for one, right?”
“Of... Of course. I did.”
“Alright. I’ll get some more milk, be right back.” Shimmy got up so she could go and get some more milk.
Moss got his handkerchief and wiped his wet face. “What’s the idea of spitting water on my face.”
“Sorry, didn’t realize it.” Pate let out a sigh as he lay his head on the table.
In the boys’ washroom, Pate told his friends about how he was feeling. “I don’t know if I can do this,” he sighed.
“What’s the problem, buddy?” Flare asked before brushing his teeth.
“I don’t know what to do. Shimmy asked me if I can ‘hang out’ later, I have no clue what to do now.”
“Well, I could give you some pointers,” Sandbar said.
“Oh yeah, that’d be great. What do I do? Just tell me.” He asked Sandbar.
“Well, you should try doing what Shimmy likes. Though, don’t be afraid to introduce some of your interests to her.”
“Uh-huh. What else?”
“Hey, if you’re going to be taking this much information, you’re going to need to write this down,” Gallus chuckled.
“Give him a break,” Sandbar said. “I felt nervous when I asked Yona out before.”
“Right,” Pate said. “Just tell me the dos and don’ts.”
“Got it.”
In the girls’ locker room, Shimmy was brushing her mane as she was worried. “What’s wrong Shimmy?” Lighthoof asked.
“Pate and I are going on our first date,” she replied.
“Seriously?” Smolder exclaimed.
“Wait, weren’t you dating while on Nightmare Night?” Silverstream asked.
“That was more of a hangout, actually,” Shimmy stated, “This is an actual date.”
She then turns to Ocellus. “Ocellus, how do changelings do in the cold?”
“Uhh…not very well,” Ocellus replied.
“Didn’t Professor Rarity make some winter clothes for the new students?” Silverstream asked.
“Yeah, she did,” Smolder replied. “Still, those scarfs, mittens, and other things can only do so much.”
“Okay, so maybe we should do most of our things inside,” Shimmy said. Her knees were shivering with worry. “Oh, I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Maybe we could help out,” Tarsi suggested, “Here’s the thing……” The cheerleading group was listening to what she had to say.
Later, several of the students were playing around in the snow, especially the yaks. Pate walked outside in a parka and boots. Even with this wardrobe, he could still feel the winter air blowing on him, shivering all the way. “Gah!” he cried. “How do yaks stand this weather?”
“Yona says they have thick wool,” Shimmy Shake said. She walked over to the changeling wearing a wooly hat, coat, and UGG boots.
“Shimmy!” He said, looking at her, “You...uhh…Look nice.”
“Thanks. You look kinda cute in a parka.” Pate could feel himself blushing.
“Thank you.”
“Listen, I heard that changelings don’t like the cold, so I thought we’d probably go and get some cocoa. Wanna go?”
“That sounds nice. Let’s go.” The two started walking off as a few flying figures followed behind.
They carried on walking through the snow, seeing a couple of ponies shoveling it out of the streets. A good idea, as the snow was getting very deep.
“Wow,” Shimmy gasped, “This is so deep!”
Walking through the snow is getting harder and harder. Pate saw this and turned himself into a bear. In this form, he started digging the mare out and placed her on his back. Because of his change, he ended up ripping his boots and parka.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Just fine. But I think you might want to stay in this form.”
“Why?” The changeling turned bear saw what she meant. “Oh, crud. Why didn’t I think this through?”
“It’s alright. Let’s just get to the cafe.” The transformed changeling slowly walked down the snowy path, startling a couple of the ponies he passed.
“Sorry, don’t mind us!” Shimmy said to the passersby.
She walked over to try and look at her friend. “You know, this is actually kind of fun.” Deciding to have fun, Shimmy decided to try and do some stretching. Pate was quite big right now so she had a lot of space to use.
“You really think that's safe?”
“I did gymnastics when I was a filly. We had to do this on a balancing beam. It’s where Lighthoof and I met up.”
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Hey, Shimmy!” Tarsi said. She, Smolder, Silverstream, and Ocellus were flying overhead. The mare tried sending them a signal before Pate turned his head.
“Oh hey girls, what’s up?” the changeling bear asked.
“Oh, nothing much,” Smolder said, playing it cool. “We’re just……seeing if there are any winter activities.”
“Weren’t the other playing near the school?”
“Yeah,” Silverstream confirmed. “But... I think Dotta said she had a sled being sent by her parents.”
“Wow, that sounds fun,” Shimmy said. “Let me know when you get it.” She gave a wink to her friends. They got the message and flew away.
“Did they seem worried?” Pate asked.
“I’m sure they’re fine. Look, there’s the Ponyville Cafe.” They walked inside where Pate transformed back into a changeling. Now he could see the remains of his winter wear were in pieces and the winter air would make itself known.
“Gah! I wish I turned into a sheep instead.”
“You did help me out of the snow. A sheep would’ve just sunk like a rock in the water.”
The cheerleader got out some bits and called the waiter. “Two cups of hot cocoa, please.” The waiter nodded. “Thanks,” she replied.
“So, can you tell me about changelings?”
“What about?”
“Like what you eat or about babies. Do you start out as larva?”
“Actually, yeah. We started as black and white larvas, but when we get around the age of... Three to five, I think.… I get some things mixed up.”
“That’s understandable. I remember sometimes when my dad got something getting mixed up when I was a filly. I remember this one time when he was supposed to pick up a cart full of party supplies for my birthday, instead, he ended up accidentally taking the apple products from Sweet Apple Acres.” She started giggling from remembering this.
“How did that happen?”
“The crates were both covered up and the carts were identical.” The two then received their cups of steaming hot cocoa with whip cream on top of each cup. “Thank you, sir,” she said, giving him the bits.
Even after Pate blowing on his drink, when he took a sip, it still burned his tongue. “Ouch!” he cried, almost spilled his hot drink.
“Woah, easy there,” Shimmy warned.
“What? I just blew it, and it’s still hot.”
She looked over to a bowl of marshmallows and placed two inside of her drink. Pate also saw it and placed a few into his cocoa. Maybe a little too much. Shimmy just looked at him putting almost as much marshmallows he poured.
“Hey, you want some cocoa with those marshmallows?” The changeling let out a nervous chuckle as he took a sip. His cocoa had cooled down thanks to the overabundance of marshmallows.
“Anyways, I don’t usually get outside the hive. So, I don’t know that much about things, like what you and the other ponies do.”
“It’s fine. You and the others have been here for about a month. The freshmen on the cheer squad have been getting along just great with us. Have you joined any of the clubs yet?"
"Not really. I don't know which one to sign up for. Not unless you need a boy cheerleader for your cheer squad, then I’m in." The two laughed at this as they drank their cocoa.
After that, they decided to head over to the Ponyville Pond. There were a couple of ponies skating around as the pond had frozen over. Pate was shivering due to his lack of winter wear. Thankfully, Shimmy was kind enough to give him her coat.
"Thanks, Sh-sh-sh-Shimmy," the changeling shivered.
"No problem," the mare replied.
She looked down towards the lake to see a mare doing some twirls on the ice and a colt slowly moving backward to help… a yak?
"Is that Yona?" Pate asked her.
“I think that’s her,” she replied, “Let’s take a closer look.”
They went to get a closer look and could see it was Sandbar and Yona, as well as Lighthoof.
"Okay, Yona," Sandbar said. "You're doing way better than last year.”
“Yona like skating,” the yak announced.
“Good for you,” Lighthoof said.
“I didn’t know Yona could ice-skate,” Shimmy Shake said. This grabbed her classmates’ attention.
“Hey Shimmy, hey Pate,” Sandbar said. “What’re you doing here?”
“I thought I’d try and introduce Pate to ice-skating. How long have you been here?”
“Only a few minutes,” Lighthoof replied. “You wanna see what I’ve learned?”
“Sure,” Pate and Shimmy said.
She started skating to get some speed and then did several hops while twirling in the air and spinning still when she stuck her landing. Once she stopped spinning, she struck a pose.
“Wow, that was awesome!” Pate commented. He gave a little shiver as Shimmy’s cold was only giving him so much warmth.
“Pate,” Sandbar asked.
“Yes?”
“Where’s your parka?”
“Oh, it got shredded when I turned into a bear.”
“Oh. Yeah, I think I remember Ocellus accidentally doing that.”
“Changeling be okay?” Yona asked.
“I’m fine,” Pate said, then faced Shimmy, “how about you just give me some pointer.”
“Right,” Shimmy Shake said.
After getting them a pair of skates, the mare and changeling joined their friends on the frozen pond. Pate was struggling to stand in his skates and eventually fell on his belly.
“Just try and take it slow. Okay?” Pate nodded. Shimmy helped him up and they slowly started moving across the ice.
“Man, these skates look pretty sharp.”
“That’s because nothing really grips ice. You try skating towards me.”
“Okay, I’ll try.”
Shimmy moved away from the changeling, stopped, and turned back. Pate moved one of his legs forward and used the skate to pull his body.
“You’re doing good, Pate,” she shouted.
The changeling decided to move a little faster. He didn’t know how to work with the brakes though which caused him to bump into Shimmy, knocking both of them down.
“You okay?” Sandbar asked.
“Just fine,” the two replied. The colt helped the changeling up while the mare was helped by the girls.
“Dang it, I just messed up,” Pate said quietly.
“Look, you just fell down, that’s all. Yona did that all the time the first time she came here. Don’t fret over just one mistake.”
“Okay, you’re right.” With that out of the way, the changeling and mare carried on with skating.
“I think Pate needs more help than Shimmy,” Lighthoof whispered to Yona.
“Right, changelings get worried easily,” Yona commented.
Pate and Shimmy slowly skated around until the changeling slowly gained the hang of it.
“You’re doing great,” the cheerleader commented.
Pate smiled as he tried to pick up speed. This time, he tried to take a turn too fast and he was about to crash into the snow. “Oh no.”
*CRASH*
Shimmy skated over to where the changeling crashed and helped him out of the snow.
“I’m fine,” Pate shivered. “How about we try some more cocoa.” Shimmy nodded. Pate and Shimmy took their skates off and left the frozen pond.
Pate was freezing at this point. Shimmy knew this wasn’t going as she planned. “Let’s just get back to school,” she said.
“Y-y-you sure?” Pate shivered. “I was having fun.”
“But you don’t have a proper coat and I’m pretty sure you’re about to catch frostbite.”
“C-c-couldn’t we stop by P-p-p-professor R-rarity’s boutique? She’s not f-f-far away.”
The cheerleader thought about it and could see that the boutique wasn’t too far away. “Alright. But I’m just worried about you getting sick.” They walked over to the boutique and walked inside to find their professor hard at work.
“Oh, what brings you here?” Rarity asked.
“I accidentally r-r-ripped up my p-p-parka,” Pate answered. “I transformed into a bear to help Shimmy here pass through the thick snow and ripped it up.”
“I was afraid of this. I did warn Ocellus about that the first time I gave her something to wear. Winter wear is just over there.” The two walked over to where the unicorn pointed and they found two green dragoness twins trying out some clothes.
Emerald and Peridot were both wearing similar clothing, blue boots, coats, and mittens. What was different about their wardrobes was that Emerald was wearing a woolly cap, while Peridot had earmuffs on.
“Dang, these are so warm,” Peridot commented.
“Yeah, it almost reminds me of home,” Emerald admitted.
“You’re here too?” Shimmy questioned. The twins looked over to the mare and changeling.
“Yep, we didn’t have any clothes made for us, so we came over here. It was not that easy.”
“Tell me about it,” Pate agreed. He was still feeling cold.
“I don’t know if it's worse for you. You could just turn into a yak, right?” Pate realized what the dragoness meant, and facepalmed.
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
“I’m sure you’ll find something here in this chest,” Peridot said.
“Yeah. Come on Peridot, let’s get going,” Emerald said.
The twins walked towards the boutique’s exit. Pate took a look at some of the clothes. Since ponies and changelings had similar body shapes, there were a lot of clothes for him to choose from. While he couldn’t find another parka, he did find himself a big coat, a scarf, and some boots.
“There, this should do it,” he said. He put the clothes on and they felt like a perfect fit. “How do I look?”
“It’s not as good as your parka, but it’ll do,” Shimmy commented. Pate blushed again as the cheerleader looked behind him.
“Is something wrong?”
“It’s…uhh……nothing. How about we head back to school?”
“Sure.” The two left the boutique as two manikins behind them blinked.
The path to school was much easier to walk in now since the ponies had shoveled almost all the snow away. The changeling and mare looked over to some of the students playing in the snow. The ponies and yaks were having a blast. Frida was making a snow angel when Pate and Shimmy walked over.
“Nice snow angel, Frida,” Shimmy commented.
“Thanks,” the yak replied. “Snow reminds yaks of home.”
“Good for you, Frida,” Pate said. He walked towards the door though Shimmy didn’t follow behind. “Shimmy, is something wrong?”
“It’s nothing,” the mare replied. “Since you’ve got some new clothing, I thought we could stay in the snow a little bit longer.”
“...Well, I do feel warmer, I guess I could try a couple of snow activities.” The mare and yak smiled as they, as well as Pate, went to join the others.
“Not liking the weather?” Geena asked a shivering Pyther.
“Sh-shut up,” the dragoness shivered. “How are you not shivering?”
“The clothes help, duh. Plus, I’ve been playing in the snow before.” Pyther just growled as the couple came walking up to them.
“Hey, girls,” Shimmy said. “What are you doing?”
“Just typical winter activities,” Geena replied.
Suddenly a snowball landed beside her.
“What was that!?” The griffon looked over to Garry and Flare, who had a stack of snowballs next to them.
“SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!” Garry and Flare exclaimed, starting throwing snowballs at the girls and Pate.
“Take cover!” Pate and the girls ran away as the boys threw their snowballs at them.
Thankfully, Frida had made a snow fort earlier, a rather big one too. “Since when did you have time to build this?” Shimmy asked.
“Yak’s trade secret,” Frida replied. Snowballs were still being fired at them and the yak and mare started to make their own.
“What do we do?” Pate asked.
“Make some snowballs, quick,” Shimmy replied. “Those boys want a fight, they’ll get a fight.” Pate did as he was told and helped the girls make some snowballs.
“Alright girls,” Garry said, holding a snowball on his right talon, “show yourselves! Show us what you got.”
Once they had enough, they ran out of the fort and fired back at the boys. Pate could only carry so many in his changeling form. He didn’t want to change and rip his clothes again. So, he did the best with his changeling form. He flew into the air and dodged oncoming fire.
Flare is throwing snowballs at the yaks, but he kept missing them because they dodged quickly.
“Those yaks are huge,” Garry stated. “How are you missing?”
“They’re faster than they look, Garry,” Flare declared. He was taken by surprise when a snowball decked him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
Garry fired back, nearly hitting Pate and Shimmy. The two hid behind the hill. “I’m out of snowballs,” Shimmy said. Suddenly, she was struck in the chest.
“Shimmy!” Pate cried.
“I’m okay.” The two kept being pelted with snowballs, so they hid behind a tree. Pate kept trying to throw at the griffon, but he kept missing. When he was out of ammo, he and Shimmy made a run for it. Garry then saw some snowballs falling from the sky, which he barely managed to avoid.
This gave the changeling and mare enough time to get behind the school. Pate used this chance to make more snowballs. “So, I’m guessing you’re out of the game, right,” he assumed.
“Well, I hit Flare and he didn’t fight back,” Shimmy replied. “I’m guessing those are the rules. Maybe you should try and work on your aim.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you might be trying too hard. Let me show you. Don’t overthink it.” She picked up one of the balls that Pate made and threw it at the school wall. Pate did the same as her, though he was a little off. He tried again and was a bit more accurate.
“Found you!” Garry cried. The two jumped and picked up their snowballs to make a run for it.
“Welp now’s a good time for you to test yourself,” Shimmy said. Pate prepared himself, getting into a throwing stance. Then, he launched the ball at the griffon, but he missed it again.
“You missed me……” Another snowball, thrown by Pate, decked his face, and the other on a wing, making him knocked out of the sky.
“Wow. I didn’t think I would get him.”
“Good job!” Shimmy complimented.
The others, including Frida, Geena & Pyther, went out of their snow forts and congratulated him for defeating him, including Flare, who’s in Garry’s side.
“Good... Shot,” Garry added, raising his arm giving them a thumbs up. The changeling walked over to the griffon and helped him up.
“You okay, Garry?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m gonna say, that was a good shot. Just right at my face. Well done.”
“Thanks.”
“Guys!” Trud cried. The students looked over to the yak, who was pulling two sleds behind him.
“Are those sleds?” Shimmy asked.
“Yeah. Yaks’ parents send sleds for snow fun.”
“Hold on, I thought that the girls were getting that,” Pate said.
“Friends want to sled?” Trud asked.
“Sure,” Shimmy and Garry agreed. With a shrug, Pate followed his friends towards the top of a hill.
“You girls wanna come?” Pate asked Geena and Pyther.
“No thanks, you guys go ahead. I think we have enough for now.” Geena replied.
“Okay, suit yourselves.”
Pate, Shimmy, Garry, and the two yaks were climbing at the hill, getting ready for sled riding.
“I’ve never gone sledding before,” Pate admitted.
“Changeling finds sledding fun,” Trud said. “Yaks go sledding all time.” When they got to the top of the hill, Dotta joined them and got on one of the sleds. Trud decided to get on the other one. Shimmy and Pate got on behind him.
“Hey guys, what did I miss?” Gallus asked as he flew up to them.
“Yaks going sledding,” Dotta explained.
“It looks like you’re setting up a race, huh.”
“That’s what I thought too,” Garry said.
“Friends have race?” Dotta asked.
“Trud accepts challenge,” Trud declared.
“Then I’m in.” Gallus got on the sled with Dotta and Garry. They prepared themselves and then… they launched forward, much to Pate’s surprise.
“Whoa!” he cried. It didn’t take long for them to get to the bottom of the hill.
“...Well, that……was a bummer,” Garry complimented.
“Hill needs to be bigger,” Dotta declared. She looked over and could see some much bigger hills.
“Perfect!” She and Trud started pulling their sleds towards the hills with their friends following behind.
“That was too intense,” Pate said.
“Well, Shimmy seems okay with it though,” Gallus whispered.
“Well, yes. I don’t want to upset her.”
“Then you should try and have fun with this. You can turn into a penguin, can you?”
“Of course, why?”
“Here’s the thing……” The griffon explained what he was thinking while they climbed the hill. After a few minutes, the group finally got to the top of the hill.
“Dotta can’t wait for high speed,” Dotta cheered.
“Trud also can’t wait,” Trud agreed. They started getting on their sleds.
“Ugh... Shimmy,” Pate said to her, “I’m not sure about this.”
“What’s wrong?” the cheerleader asked.
The changeling looked over to Gallus, who gave him a thumbs up. “It’s... I don’t think that high speeds are for me.”
“If that’s the case you don’t have to do this...”
“Nah, it’s fine. I can hang on.” Shimmy was a bit confused, though she didn’t question it as she and the changeling got onto Dotta’s sled.
“On go! Three. Two. One. Go!” On that count, the two yaks pulled their sleds forward to send them and their friends down the hill. It didn’t take too long for them to get to high speeds. The hill was a bit bumpy and without warning, Pate was thrown overboard.
His friends were shocked by this, but the changeling quickly recovered by turning into a penguin and slid down the hill on his belly. His friends were relieved he was alright and were surprised at how much speed he was getting. He didn’t really like it. He covered his eyes with his wings until they made it to the bottom of the hill.
“Pate, look out!” Gallus cried. Too late, the penguin slid into a pile of snow that completely buried him. What was worse, his clothes fell off when he transformed and Pate unintentionally changed back to normal, making himself very cold.
“Pate!” Gallus cried, “are you okay!?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said, starting to shiver.
They quickly called Professor Applejack for helping Pate getting out of the snow. They got their shovels and started digging out. After getting Applejack to help dig him out, Pate was in the lounge near the fireplace shivering. He was wrapped in a blanket and had a hot water-bottle on his head.
“How are you feeling?” the farm pony asked.
“A l-l-l-little b-b-better,” the changeling shivered.
“I’m going to help clear the rest of the snow. Give me a call if you need anything.” With that, Applejack left Pate along with Shimmy and Gallus.
“I can get you some cocoa if you want,” Shimmy said.
“That’d be g-g-great,” Pate replied. The mare walked off towards the cafeteria, leaving the boys in the room.
“You know you don’t have to go sledding in the first place,” Gallus stated.
“Yeah, but I d-didn’t want to up-s-s-set Shimmy.”
“I understand that, but don’t you feel like a doormat? Look, I’m not trying to insult Shimmy, but...”
“Pate, what happened to you?” Sandbar asked. The two looked to the door to see Sandbar and Moss.
“Where were you?” Gallus asked.
“I was with Yona at the rink,” Sandbar explained.
“And I was too busy... Playing in the snow,” Moss admitted.
“Really?” Gallus questioned.
“Hey, they were having a snowball fight, so I had to join in.”
“That doesn’t explain what happened to Pate,” Sandbar said.
“S-s-sledding accident,” the shivering changeling replied. “I just need to w-warm up.”
“I hope you feel okay.”
Just then, the cheerleader squad, minus Shimmy Shake, walked in. “There cold Pate,” Dotta exclaimed.
“You poor thing,” Silverstream sighed.
“Am I missing something?” Moss asked.
“Probably,” Ocellus said.
“Yaks can help warm,” Yona said. She and Dotta walked towards Pate, who was a bit surprised to be sandwiched in between them.
“Okay, girls,” Pate said, “I do feel a little warm though, but I’m being squished. Get me out of here.”
“He’s right,” Tarsi said. “How about we put some more wood on the fire?” She was about to pick up a log, but Moss stopped her.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said, “But don’t you overdo this?”
Shimmy came walking back with a cup of cocoa and was surprised to see her friends in one room. “Oh, hi Shimmy,” Peridot said, a little embarrassed.
“What’s going on here?” the mare asked.
“...I think we overdid this,” Silverstream admitted.
Sandbar looked over to Lighthoof. “Hold on, were you asked to give her some help?” he asked.
“Yep,” the mare replied.
“That’s what we do as well to Pate!”
Gallus let out a snicker. “What a coinkydink,” Silverstream giggled.
“I know,” Grace agreed.
“I appreciate the help girls,” Shimmy said, “But I think we’ll take it from here.”
The boys and girls left the room, leaving just Shimmy and Pate by themselves. The mare walked over to the changeling and gave him his cocoa. “Here.”
“Thanks.”
“How are you feeling now?”
“A lot better,” he replied. He took a sip of his cocoa, which didn't burn his mouth this time.
"You sure are. I thought I heard you screamed when we were sledding."
"I... I was."
The cheerleader was shocked by this. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't want to upset you. You were having fun that’s why."
"Well, I don't want to have fun if you're upset."
Pate let out a sigh. "I thought it was how changelings could help make up for what we did while Queen Chrysalis was in control."
"...Why would you think I would blame you for that? Ocellus said that changelings that were her age weren't old enough to go on hunts. You and the other changelings are doing so much better now."
Pate took another sip of his cocoa and thought before speaking again. "You have a point. I……kind of feeling better about this now."
"I am a cheerleader after all. I've gotta help keep a positive attitude."
"Haaaa, I got it. Say, since when did you first come here?"
"To this school?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it was because of Lighthoof. She and I are best friends and our parents thought we'd fit right in. We didn't like being apart from each other."
"Like when?"
"Well, there was this one time when Lighthoof's family was going on vacation in Canterlot. We...didn't react well to it. We were only like four or five at the time. We kicked, screamed, typical tantrum from a filly."
"I could see that."
"Yeah, we were a little rough around the edges. I remember when we would just run around the house non-stop." Pate laughed at this.
"Hey, that kind of reminds me when I first got my wings. We sort of molt like dragons." He explained what he meant as their friends eavesdropped on them.
"You know guys, I don't think we needed to get involved," Sandbar commented.
"Yeah, you’re right," Ocellus agreed. "They're doing fine." They walked away from the lounge as they chatted away.
"So, how do you all do in the snow?" Silverstream asked.
"It's a little bit annoying," Grace admitted, "But..." They looked to see Flare holding some boxes of chocolate and puppy sitting on his tail.
"What? Did I miss something?" he asked.
They looked at each other for a while, and nodded ‘no’.